The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC's heavyweight division needs help, UFC Nashville preview, Petesy Carroll joins | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

The Boys in the Back start the show with Ben Askren’s video from the hospital bed following his double lung transplant (02:20), then react to the PFL announcing a new CEO (07:08).Next up, they tackle how to fix the UFC's heavyweight division (11:47), leading into a breakdown of UFC Nashville (39:01), starting with the Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira main event, followed by the rest of the card.Then, Petesy Carroll joins the Boys in studio to open some soccer jersey mystery boxes (53:53), break down Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3 (1:00:23), and debate the implications of Jake Paul’s picture with Turki Al-Sheik (1:19:27).Finally, the crew makes picks (1:23:39), reveal their Irish culture P4P rankings (1:28:05), and listen to your voicemails (1:42:58).

Buh buh buh buh buh boys in the back. Buh buh buh buh boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another episode of The Boys in the Back. I am one third of the boys in the back, Connor Brooks. Join alongside me. As always, Mr. New York Rick, and what is going on on the forehead?

It is Bring Your Kids to Work Day. Yes, it is. My children are here, my wife is here. It's a madhouse outside everyone brought their kids. I think I asked yesterday I believe there's 80 children here. So yeah I believe it when I got off the elevator I was like expecting a normal day it was actually a kind of calm and quiet on the streets of New York and then when I got up here as soon as the elevator doors open madness yeah complete madness they've taken over the office there's no nook or cranny that you can find peace in but you match the daughters the daughters got a got a horn itself you got the whole unicorn head I mean it

looks great the glitter shining in this light you thank you I think it's one of my finest looks I asked the makeup artist who is extremely talented, shout out to them, what can she do in five minutes because we have to get on air and she made magic. So we actually used a face paint artist before we used the makeup artists that are readily available for us. Correct, correct. One day we'll have to get a little powder, you know?

Maybe I could do some anti-shine on the top of the head. I'm gonna pass. This is the only kind of makeup I'm inclined to wear. Moneymaker looks good as it is. I was just gonna ask, Frankie, how you doing back there, brother? I'm doing great. I'm also wearing face paint.

What do we got, like Kiss, Gene Simmons style? Tiger. An entire luchador mask painted onto his face and he's never gonna remove it. Is there also one more boy in the back back there? Is it Big Pizzie? Is it Big Pizzie Carol? Look at him.

Guy has no idea how to use that microphone. Not at all. The spotlight looks good on him as well. Yeah. It's a packed day. It's an exciting day. Andy also had her son in. He was balling out.

I thought he was about to run the show. Yeah. I think he's the hit. I think he was on the keys though. They had him sit up at the director's spot. Oh, okay. He made some switches. He really did.

He threw over to Z. I was like, all right, I think Rohan's got this. We'll see you later, Andy. Thanks for bringing him in. Yeah, I think he's the biggest celebrity we've got in the house. Fun day in the office though. Fun day in the office.

It may have died down by the time we're off the air, but it was exciting this morning to see everyone's children in the office. Last night, we got an update from Ben Askren. I feel so ridiculous wearing this as we're talking about serious matters of Ben Askren, but, it is very serious.

It is a, it's an uncomfortable watch. It's a scary watch due to his state. I believe he's down to 147 pounds, but it's a hopeful watch. It's inspiring and it's really, really good to see him not only talking, but alert. It seems like himself. This is the update we got from Ben Askren last night. What's up guys? Had not given you an update in a while. Figured you deserve one. Whenever it hits us all the way over, I actually just read through my West Whenever it's all the way over, I actually just read through my wife's journal because I don't remember anything from May 28th to July 2nd.

No recollection, new idea, no idea what happened. We'll kind of go through it all and I just read through my wife's journal, it's like a movie, it's ridiculous. So I only died four times, right? Or the ticker stopped for about 20 seconds. That's not ideal. I don't think you guys know that. But I got the double lung transplant. I made it out to the other side of it. Gaining quite a bit of strength. Learning to use everything again. I was actually on a scale yesterday, 147 pounds. I've been on 47 pounds since 15 years old. So I was like, 50 pounds.

And a 45 degree period. So man that was a battle. I don't remember most of it. And you know the thing that was most impactful to me was all the love I felt from everybody and it's almost like it was almost like I got to have my own funeral right I still remember it 30 years ago Dave Schultz died and you listen to all these older people you know recollect how much they enjoyed him not much they loved him and you know obviously he never had to hear that. I'm sure some people will hold on. But, so man, the outpouring of love from the wrestling community, it was just amazing. It felt so good.

And so, you know, I'm more motivated than ever to keep giving, give back and do what I can and help out the best I can help out. I love you guys. I appreciate you guys. His has been tough, not only on me but my whole family and my close community. So I appreciate everything. I hope you guys appreciate the update and like I said sometime down the road maybe Amy and I can detail everything a little more. Truly, truly incredible stuff to see from him. I mean, it really is like,

it almost makes you emotional watching what he's been through in the last months, six weeks of his life and him talking about not being able to remember any of it and kind of having to piece it together with his wife. It really is, it's incredible to see. Yeah, I said he died four times, only four times as Ben Asher would say,

cause he's a gangster. Um, lost 50 pounds in 45 days, something to that effect. Yeah. 147 hasn't been that since he was 15. I mean, he fought at what? 170? Yeah. Like fought at 170 with a cut fought much higher than that in the later boxing, uh, uh, fight against Jake Paul. But yeah, harrowing stuff, but also inspirational stuff. Like that dude is fought for his life and now he has the lung transplant and has a new lease on life. So happy for him, so happy for the family and just a warrior, a gangster.

Warrior. That's the only way to put it, a fighter, a fighter's fighter. It really is incredible. I can't wait to see the next update when he's only going to be doing better from there. I can already envision like the the next update when he's only going to be doing better from there. I can already envision like the, him on the,

the parallel bars walking, him doing all like a hundred physical things that as he's on the road to recovery, those, all those like rehab videos that we have seen before. And then one day Ben Askren will just be Ben Askren and it's going to be incredible. It's going to be amazing, man. An incredible fight from Ben Askren, incredible work

from his wife, keeping everyone updated, everything that her and his family have had to go through over the last six weeks of the month, incredible work by the doctors with the successful double lung transplant, truly just an incredible, incredible story all around from Ben Askren. And it warms the heart to see and hopefully his road to recovery is a speedy one from here on out. Absolutely. Never easy to transition from something as serious as a life-and-death matter like what Ben Askren is going through, but there was news from the PFL this

morning. They have decided to hire a new CEO, John Martin, who was the former CEO of Turner Broadcasting and CFO of Time Warner. Peter Murray, who was the former CEO of Turner Broadcasting and CFO of Time Warner. Peter Murray who was the CEO will transition to CEO of PFL International and he will report to Martin. I honestly I like this move this to me this feels like PFL is like all right we need to switch some things up and bringing in someone new a fresh set of eyes a new perspective perspective to me feels promising that they're trying to change something. Yeah, what's going to be interesting from here on out is obviously, is this just an executive move by name, right?

Is there just a shuffling of the decks and movement of the bodies and the positions? Or is there actually decision-making power that is happening at the CEO level where he is executing a vision that is his own, that is a new vision from what Peter Murray and the previous regime had laid out for the PFL. So early days remains to be seen, but obviously some incredibly impressive credentials that he's coming with.

And it will be interesting to see like what changes he actually decides to implement as the new CEO. So yeah, it's too early for me to have any kind of and it will be interesting to see like what changes he actually decides to implement as the new CEO. So yeah, it's too early for me to have any kind of thought or opinion on this other than to say like, certainly has the credentials, let's see what he can do with this new era of the PFL. And it could take a while before we have any idea

of what's gonna happen with it because Don Davis is the president, he's sort of the front-facing guy, he takes a lot of the criticism, he also does a lot of the talking is the president. He's sort of the front-facing guy. He takes a lot of the criticism. He also does a lot of the talking for the organization. Peter Murray, we didn't really hear from that much. So who knows how much we're actually gonna hear

from John Martin. 100%. There was a time prior to, like, there was a time, three to five to seven years ago, where Peter Murray was more of the face, was the one at the podium, was the one making the speeches. Don has come into more prominence and kind of been a lot more vocal and a lot more the front face of the company. Now they have introduced the

idea of Jonathan Coachman being like a spokesperson for the company as well. But there was a time where Peter Murray was in the foreground and was much more active and vocal in that role. That time kind of passed and maybe that would have been the writing on the wall. Maybe that could have been something we would have taken note of, but he'll have his own role in the international space for PFL. Um, but yes, let's see, let's see what that

balance looks like. Let's see if now he, instead of Coachman or even if instead of Don, he's going to be the face of the company and the, and the one who's actually facing the media and facing the fans. Yeah. What does this mean for Jonathan Coachman? God knows.

Time will tell. But the spokesman, Jonathan Coachman. Jonathan Coachman actually went and did a town hall with our good friend Mike Heck on MMA Fighting yesterday and sort of gave an explanation, a breakdown of how the PFL tournament works, how it goes from there. Let's just see what the coach had to say. Now, what we're laying out is a scenario where the champion series over the course of the fall, we're going to have eight different champions that we crown.

What that's going to do is now we can now set the table, so to speak, and have eight different champions in the same eight weight divisions that we have in the world tournament. So then the eight winners of the world tournament will then fight their respective champion as the number one contender. Yeah. So that clears it up. So you win the tournament to become the number one contender to fight the champion?

No, you win the tournament to become the champion, and then there's eight champions that will then face the champions. So who are the champions? The champions are the ones who won the tournament to become champions. And then they face the champions. So you become the number one contender. But you're the champion. The champion.

So you have to fight yourself. No, you're the champion and then you fight the champion is how it goes. But who's the other champion? They're the champions from the weight class, not the champions of the tournament. Eight weight classes this fall? Fucking hell. Yes. Yeah.

It's easy. Pay attention, bro. He also said in that interview he does want to become the Dana White of PFO. Coachman said. Yeah. Okay. So maybe then I'm putting too much stock into the idea that the CEO might be forward-facing. John Martin, I doubt it.

Yeah, Coachman and Don. Maybe we'll hear from Don later. I wanna hear what Don has to say about all of this. Not only the town hall. I have a feeling this might have been too quick for us to hear from Double T. Don's gotta gather his thoughts. Don's gotta figure everything out.

All right, that's some news and notes from the world of mixed martial arts. Onto this weekend, UFC Nashville, we get a heavyweight main event. Not only that, we get three heavyweight fights on this car. It feels like we haven't had relevant heavyweight action in quite a while. Yeah, because we haven't.

According to Wikipedia, and I can't confirm whether this is actually accurate. Okay, tell me. So it's like right in this range. According to Wikipedia, 34 heavyweights on the roster. That is not many. Yeah, that feels low. There's not many, so we don't get a ton of fights. There's actually, after this weekend, there's not another heavyweight fight for five cards.

Are you serious? The Walter Cortez Acosta,i Pavlovich card in Shanghai, I believe is the next one after this. Oh my Lord, yeah, okay. Yeah. That is jarring. Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's like 28-ish, this is all according to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia says 28. Women's bantamweight. So it's barely, there's barely like a few more than women's bantamweight. It's basically that, yes. So before we get into the actual card itself, we were sort of thinking like, we're getting a heavyweight main event, we're getting three heavyweight fights,

how much trouble is the heavyweight division in? How, like, how much needs to happen for it to be considered safe? I'm starting to see tweets of people being like, get rid of the heavyweight division and put more money into the flyweights. Tom Aspinall finally becomes champion, only for them to say we're shutting down the heavyweight division and put more money into the flyweights. Tom Aspinall finally becomes champion, only for them to say we're shutting down

the heavyweight division. Breaking news, John Jones leaves the UFC, heavyweight division is scrapped, Tom Aspinall must cut to 205. You cannot do that. This is like, we always talk about glamor divisions, like, oh, 155, you know. Heavyweight is the glamor division.

You get the title of baddest man on the planet. It was, but just based on what you've kind of outlined there, it could not be any longer. They're not even doing fights in this division. Oh, I've done some research. It's in peril. It's in serious trouble. Give me some of the evidence.

Let's pull up the rankings real quick. Let's just leave this up for a second. I kind of just want to go through these, these top 10 right here. So obviously the champion is Tom Aspinall. He's 32 years old. Uh, he has one loss in the UFC. It was, it was to Curtis Blades due to injury. Uh, currently no fight booked for the champion.

Tom Aspinall waiting on that in terms of popularity. He's got like one and a half million followers on IG. Okay. Sirogan, Sirogan is 35. He's three and two in his last five, questionable decision over Volkov, also no fight booked. We have to imagine they will be fighting each other. A million followers on Instagram.

I'm cool with this. I like this as a carry fight. He's big in France. This is cool. Here's where things start getting hairy. Alexander Volkov, he's 36. The questionable decision lost to Gon. No fight booked. First round loss to Aspinall on his record.

Next up, Sergei Pavlovich, 33, one and two in his last three, also first round loss to Aspinall. Number four, Curtis Blades, 34, also a first round loss to Aspinall. Jelton Almeida, 34 years old, four and one in his last five, but he did get finished by Curtis Blades, no fight booked, not really a star in terms of the hierarchy

of the sport. Waldo Cortez Acosta, he's 33, he's fighting Pavlovich in Shanghai, he is riding a five-five win streak, he has 24,000 followers on Instagram. Oh boy. Not a ton of star power there. Marcin Tibera is 39 years old, he also has a first round loss to Aspen Hall. Sergey Spivak, he is 30.

He also has a first round loss to Aspen Hall, is not a star, is one in three in his last four. Derek Lewis is 40. He's two in four in his last six. He's fighting Taliesin Tichar on Saturday. A kind of a star. He's a star in that one, yeah. But on the end of his career, he's 40 years old. Tied to Ivasha, 32, five fight, losing streak.

And then if you get into the latter half of the top 15, Shamil Gaziyev, we love him within the diehard of UFC. No fight booked. He's pulled out twice against Spivak. He has a loss to Jairzinho, who's not even in the UFC, has like 27K followers on IG. Mick Parkin, Aspinol won't fight him

because they've trained together and he invited them to his house. That's right. Martin Buday, Aspinol won't fight him. They've been to the house. And even then, they're not stars. 17K on IG from Mick Parkin, 22K on IG from Martin Buday. And then Rizvan Kunev is 15th and he's 0-1 in the UFC

and he has a loss to play. Do you have a guy who's 0-1 in the UFC in your rankings? How is that even possible? And he's also not a star. Of those, how many interesting, how many fights of those are you like actually interested in any capacity? Tom Aspinall fighting? Yeah. Ciro Ghan and if Waldo Cortez Acosta beats Sergei Pavlovich, I think he would probably give him a title shot. And Jalton maybe. I can convince for a Jalton fight.

Yeah, you can do Jalton as well. The rest, it's kind of tough sledding because Tom has already beaten these guys. So. Beat them and beat them in the first round. Of the top eight, he has beaten five of them in the first round. Man.

He's five and oh against. He somehow cleaned out the division without even having really been that active because John Jones had him sitting on the sidelines for two years. And it's so shallow. Honestly, rank number 13th, Taliesin Tishara is like maybe the best hope

in terms of like presenting something interesting. Something new. He's undefeated. He, all his wins come by finish. Average fight time of a minute 54. Oh, some Tom Aspinall stuff. He's 6'7", with an 83 inch reach. Like he has that gigantic factor to him.

I mean, he's Brazilian, so like the country you get behind him, he's only 25 years old. So like, I honestly think the best case for the heavyweight division is he gets a quick finish over Derrick Lewis this weekend. Yeah, and all of a sudden you're looking at somebody who could crack into the top 10-ish, you know?

Yeah, he'd be in the top 10 after this. Because Lewis was what, nine? Yeah, he'd be in top 10, and then maybe he's like two fights away from getting a title shot. Then like while Aspinall is fighting Ghan and maybe an Almeida or a Cortez Acosta, then Towson Toshera gets a couple more wins.

Yeah, it does. I think you have very well painted the picture though of a division in shambles, a division that needs an injection of talent. To me, there's two quick solves. There are two, there are two fights out there that I think make a lot of sense and would instantly solve the problem that the UFC heavy

weight division has. And it's not, John Jones, not included. Yeah. Number one, Alex Pereira. Yep. If I, it correct me if I'm wrong, that fight has not been booked yet, right? The rematch between Alex Pereira and Magomed Aguilar. That is correct. Scrap that immediately.

It's not official. I don't, I know Alex Pereira wants that fight and I imagine that that's what's going to happen, but he's so much more valuable to the heavyweight division than he would be to light heavyweight at this point. We know he's been the champion at light heavyweight. He was a great champion.

He had some fantastic fights. He did the same at middle We know he's been the champion at light heavyweight. He was a great champion. He had some fantastic fights. He did the same at middleweight. If Magomed beats him again, and then he goes up to heavyweight, there's a lot of luster that's going to be lost. I think you take this opportunity, you see a door open and you go, this is the biggest possible fight we can make for Tom Aspinal right now. And by miles, like there is nobody even close. Serogon, all due respect, is not in the

in the same stratosphere as Alex Perera in terms of notoriety, recognizability, and excitement that fans are gonna have over his fight. As you said, last fight I did not score it for him. I don't think he won that fight and so that's a tough sell for me. Alex Perera versus Tom Aspinall is a fight that I can get excited for. Now, granted, I think there's some severe limitations on what Alex Pereira is going to be able to do against a heavyweight the size of Tom Aspinall, the strength of Tom Aspinall, the speed of Tom Aspinall, but I'd sure as hell like

to see it a lot more than I'd like to see against any of the crop of the names that you just listed. It also gives a superstar Alex Pereira a chance at winning a belt in three different divisions, and if he doesn't then Tom Aspinall is defeating a superstar in Alex Pereira. chance at winning a belt in three different divisions. And if he doesn't, then Tom Aspinall is defeating a superstar in Alex Pryor. It gives him a name value. It gives him probably the biggest name value that you can get outside of John Jones, right? John Jones would have been the number one with a bullet. If he gets a win over John Jones, he's golden for life.

Alex Pryor is the number two option. I don't see anybody else out there. There's maybe one other. And that other option I said that I would say too is Francis and Ghanu and I know Eric Nixik came out and was you know talking about the potential of Francis coming back then Dana was asked about it as if Nixik had said like Francis wants to come back which was never what he actually said. Then Francis is like did I ever say I want to come back and they've done this whole back and forth. actually said, then Francis is like, did I ever say I want to come back?

And they've done this whole back and forth. If the Eagles can be put aside, Francis and Ghanu was UFC heavyweight champion, beat Stipe Miocic, who at that time was, and then by the way, Cyril Ghan, who is likely probably going to be Tom Aspinal's next fight, was a heavyweight champion, never lost his belt, left the promotion, went over to PFL, went over to boxing in his most recent MMA outing, uh, defeated a young, tough heavyweight in Hanan Ferreira. And he's a name that still has a lot of cash, a lot of value. He carries that power with him.

Even though he's getting up there in age, I think there's really, uh, a big benefit to the UFC if they can put their egos aside and get Francis Ngannou in there. Do I think it would happen? I mean at the beginning of the year I predicted it would happen because I had a feeling that this John Jones and Tom Aspinall thing was going to go this way and my bold prediction on our year preview show was that the UFC will get Francis Ngannou back. There's a few obstacles in the way of that though. One, he's with the PFL and

we don't know when he's going to fight next. Now, Don Davis proposed, how about next July, Francis Ngannou is on that White House lawn card. Against Vadim Nemkov. Against Vadim Nemkov. That's a ways away. So I wonder what Francis Ngannou's bookings look like in the next little bit. I hope we see him soon. And unless I'm mistaken, I believe at the time he was saying that he had one more fight or there was reporting out there that he had one more fight.

Maybe that's inaccurate. Maybe he sentry signed. Maybe I have that wrong. But I believe there was a time where everybody was operating under the assumption that Francis had one more fight. If that's the case, man, get him one more fight and let's see if that UFC door opens. When we talked about this last, Ariel Haani did a ranking of like guys that he thinks could potentially come back and Francis Ngannou was dead last on that

list that he thought would never come back because Dana White has the feelings that he does about Francis. To me, at a certain point the business has to be put first ahead of the feelings. Dana White's dealt with some people that he may not have necessarily loved to deal with at times. In the lead up to the Francis Ngannou Free Agency thing, he actually said Hunter Campbell was fully dealing with him. It wasn't Dana who was even doing the negotiating at all.

And Hunter was the one who was quite mad at Francis because he felt like they were going to be able to get the deal done. Now they're in a different position. Now they're looking at John Jones just left. And by the way, left in a way that like probably didn't rub them the right way. Right? John Jones walks out the door. Uh, Hey, I'm just giving up this belt. I don't care. I'm living my best life.

Tom Aspinall is the champ. Great. Not a great way to kind of like, uh, end your UFC career. Probably not the best way that the UFC could have conceived of it happening. So that's one thing that, uh, probably leaves a bad feeling in your mouth. Also, you're going to be able to get the deal done. of like end your UFC career probably not the best way that the UFC could have conceived of it happening. So that's one thing that probably leaves a bad feeling in your mouth. Also you, Dana White had been out here promising 100% this fight will happen and it's leaving a bad taste in the fan's mouth. So now you're in a different position where you don't have that kind of ability to be like our

heavyweight division's humming. So that's one thing. Second thing, time has you know maybe healed some wounds. It's been a while since Francis Ngannou was in the UFC. It doesn't seem like Dana White still has an affinity for Francis Ngannou. But as the UFC promotion, I don't think Francis Ngannou did any wrong by the UFC. I don't think they were hard done. They now have a new, very exciting champion in Tom Aspinall. Egos put aside, Francis Ngannou versus Tom Aspinall to me is the best fight they can

make. And I say that from a Alex Pereira might probably still be a bigger star than Francis Ngannou just by what he's been able to do recently in the UFC run. But from a compelling fight perspective, a power perspective, somebody who could maybe in their prime have matched Tom Aspinall's speed, I'd like to see Francis Ngannou versus Tom Aspinall. I don't think it's going to happen though. All right, it's interesting you say that. You mentioned Alex Pereira. I think that is a viable option that would be a great option for Tom Aspinall. You mentioned Francis Ngannou, which is also an incredible option for Tom Aspinall, but will we see it? I'm just not certain. I think a third option, and it's very unsure of the likelihood of it happening is Tom racks up three, four, five

tighter defenses and then John Jones comes back and fights him. That would certainly be the injection in the arm that that division would need. Is it coming too late? Like what are we going to do in the meantime? What are we going to do in the meantime when it just looks like there's, it's a barren wasteland out there with no options for Tom Aspinal. How are we going to make this work? To me, if Tom continues to rack up wins, and we've talked about this before

when we had the star conversation, if Tom continues to rack up wins, I almost think that it will become this thing like we had with Demetrius Johnson or like we're seemingly having with Pantoja now, where it's like, yeah, he doesn't really have challenges but isn't it impressive how badly he's just beating the brakes off this crop this crop of other guys and I think we'll probably start to enter that territory the requirement

there though is you need to keep Tom Aspinal active it doesn't matter who you throw at him just throw a body at him so if Serogon's up next what the fuck are we waiting for let Let's get this done already. Book the shit and let's get them fighting. And after he beats zero gun, because I don't think zero gun would win that fight. I'm very confident that Tom Aspinall would beat zero gun.

Do Volkov after that one, do another one. Just continue to walk, like run through this list. Jalton Almeida is chirping. Perfect. Jalton Almeida is next. Just start keeping Tom Aspinall busy and at least get the division in a state where, okay, your champion is now unassailable.

Right. In the way that Pantoja is Pantoja has left the field four times already. There's it's seeming like nobody can get up to him. And in that time, if you, if you do this for long enough, eventually you get a Joshua van type character, you get somebody and maybe Taliesin

Tashira, you made a great case for it. Maybe he's that guy that can rise while you do this, but you have to do that. If maybe Taliesin Tshiro, you made a great case for it, maybe he's that guy that can rise while you do this. But you have to do that. If he can keep winning, I mean he's only one and O in the UFC, like he needs to keep winning. If he can get to 11 and O and his average fight time

be two minutes and he's this six, seven gigantic dude, then yeah, like you're making a case for it. But not only that, book the other guys as well. That's it. Yeltsin Almeida is out here begging for a fight, he's talking about how on his Twitter, how him and Volkov have mutually agreed they want to do it in October.

Do Tom versus Gon in October. Book Volkov versus Jelton on the same card and say winner gets Tom if he beats Serial Gon, vice versa. You gotta get these dudes active because it really is, it's in a place of dismay, man. I read a stat somewhere. There's been 14 heavyweight fights this year. There has not been a finish since March 15th when Waldo Cortez Acosta KO'd Ryan Spann, and Waldo Cortez Acosta has fought since then. How many weeks into the year are we?

We're over halfway through the year, man. Got to be 26, 27 weeks into the year. I feel like last month alone in June, there was over 14 featherweight and lightweight fights. Yeah, were 28 weeks into the year. So 14, meaning once every other card, there's a heavyweight fight. If, if the USC runs once a week, which they tend to be around that. Yeah, that's rough, man. And like I said, the next one isn't after the three this weekend, which by the way, five cards, which by the way, I think Derek Lewis and Taliesin Tichara,

the only two ranked ones fighting, it's like Kennedy, Enza Chuquou, and Vitor Petrino's moving up to 265. Like it's not like. So it wasn't even a heavyweight fight ago. Yeah, it's not even like the ranked guys. Walter Cortez Acosta is gonna be the next one after this. Like he is your most active guy.

This will be his third fight of the year. Like I'm not a Soulful Boy guy, we all know that. But like he's the most active dude. He's making a case to get this title shot. Fucking hell, I mean, good for him because. If he beats Pavlovich, because you mentioned like there needs to be a Josh Vann type guy. It was Pavlovich.

Pavlovich was icing everyone. And then he had to fight Tom Aspinall for the interim belt due to unforeseen circumstances on super short notice and then Aspinall iced him and now he's on a losing streak. Yeah and by the way, a thing that happens with heavyweight is like happened has happened with Derek Lewis in the past is you kind of only need to win two. Even if you're on a losing streak you win two impressively and you're right back up there and that's fine for me at this point. Like I'm under no illusion that this division is gonna get good anytime soon.

Honestly, bro, it is the women's bantamweight of the male divisions. It's just like win two and you're in the title shot. The other problem, much like women's bantamweight, is there's not really anybody out there like doing chirping, right? You got a bunch of like silent Russian dudes. And Jelton like politely being like,

hello, would anyone like to fight me? Thank you. There, there's not somebody really making a lot of noise and people like kind of it's, it's why they so desperately need like a Francis and Ghanu like an Alex Pereira, obviously a John Jones. And I even loathe to say the name at

this point, but it needs somebody. It just needs some energy. And if I was honestly, if I was a light heavyweight that even could conceive of bulking up to two 65, or at least just get above the heavyweight limit and feel like you could be like maybe a cruiser weight level, 220 something take a shot, man. Like Jalton, by the way, Jalton was a guy who was

floating between two divisions. Could that be a move for Jamal Hill with the losing street? Try it because you're off in bulk up. If you're, if you feel like you can out technique guys, if you're Jamal, a move for Jamal Hill with the losing streak? Try it. Because you're off in bulk up. If you're, if you feel like you can out technique guys, if you're Jamal, if you are Jamal Hill now, would Jamal Hill in his case specifically,

make sure this is muscle that we're putting on, right? You don't want to just come in there pudgy and, and not have the speed in the deck study that you want. If Jamal Hill can commit himself to really like gaining body mass and muscle and get himself into a heavyweight division, you have to expect that he'd have some kind of technical advantage over a lot of the heavyweights, especially maybe in the speed department. Why not take a shot at it? Because this division is desperate for anybody at this point. And the guys that are

there are kind of knocking each other off or Tom Aspin, I was already walked through them. It just needs fresh blood. And so try to be that fresh blood. I wonder if there's somebody else Jalton was smart to kind of do it right. Jalton is somebody, as I said, who was first in the division, I was already walked through them. It just needs fresh blood. And so try to be that fresh blood. I wonder if there's somebody else. Jalton was smart to kind of do it, right? Jalton is somebody, as I said, who was floating between and then he was just like, you know what? I'm going to stick at heavyweight.

I'm being successful here. He ran unfortunately into that Curtis Blades fight where got a little bit exposed, but I think he can get back right back on track another win and I feel like he's title shot ready. So I wouldn't be surprised if a light heavyweight moved up but I but I also wouldn't be surprised if nobody does and I should. UFC did sign Marcus Almeida 13 time world champion. Oh boy, Wujaca. Yeah, debuts in Abu Dhabi. That boy that boy's nice that boy's nice the Jiu-Jitsu is

filth. I mean they say he's the best heavyweight grappler in the world I mean he's got a big following too he's got like 600k on on it. Oh, no, yeah. Like he could be someone. He could be someone that comes out of it. That's not a bad shout. I forgot that that happened. I mean, he debuts in two weeks. He is, he's an interesting challenge. You know, now that I said it,

if he debuts in two weeks, that's that I read about another one not being until Shanghai has to be wrong. Oh yeah, that's wrong then. It has to be wrong. I guess this Buccecce, this just happened last week, I want to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe it was just a little bit outdated. Um, Buccecce is an interesting challenge. I just like, man, if you're Tom Aspinall,

you keep that on the feed and it probably goes pretty well for you. If it gets on the ground, it's obviously Dicey. He's one of those guys that is just a freak, uh, jujitsu player. Um, I'm, I'm interested in that much more so than any of these other things. I think we're at the point, like, uh, I'm, I'm interested in that much more

so than any of these other things. I think we're at the point, like, you know, I think the comparison to Pantoja to me is the best one where it's like, he's done dirty things. So a lot of the guys at the top of this, uh, ranking bring in the Kaya Socorra and then for the equivalent, bring in Buccecha. Like, let's just do something.

Bring in Buccecha. He's fighting Martin, Martin Buday. Yeah. Could immediately get him into the rankings and it's just like, bro, just shoot this guy up to a time of shot. Do it. Just anyone with any sort of pulse. Build him up as this like demon grappler

that's just gonna be able to take down John Jones and be able to choke him out. If he beats Malkin again, bring over Rue Groog from one championship. Oh, shout out Rue Groog. Ryzen is doing a heavyweight tournament right now and I think the winner's gonna fight Ryan Bader or something like that.

Maybe someone comes out of that and you bring them over to the UFC. Phil DeFries is pretty set in KSW and also him and Tom are boys. Would you be interested in a Ryan Bader fight at this point? With Tom Aspinall? Yeah. It feels like it's past its expiration date a little bit.

It wouldn't do anything more for me than than another guy in rankings. Yeah, I think that's fair. They did also sign 2022 PFL heavyweight champ, Ante DeLeah. Okay, that's actually compelling too. Tom also can't fight him because he trains together. Oh, well that's fantastic.

Yeah. Okay. I know Tom has that rule, but we might have to just break that at some point. Like there's like the, Maybe's like the maybe it's just like Mick Park and maybe even um, Phil DeFries, but like, come on him and filler boys. Maybe the other ones we could scrap with, but how desperate are we that we're like, please have Tom Aspinal fight guys. He's friendly with just so we have somebody for him to fight. It is please fight. Uh,

auntie Dalia before he even made his debut. Okay I'll say this though you've now introduced oh here we go we've got a quote here from Tom Aspinall who said even me who's a heavyweight I looked through the top 15 and I'm like I've never really seen these guys fight before yeah I think that's a lot of people's feeling because they fight once a year apparently and most of the time it's buried on some card that we've never seen. Wow I'm just getting a good look at my unicorn shout out. It looks good man it. It looks good. Shout out to bring your kids to work day here at Yahoo if you're just now joining. That's why his face is painted like that.

Got it done with his daughters. Well, I would have got it done anyway. I tend to do this on Thursdays. You at least laid out some names that I'm like, okay, you've piqued my interest, right? The Buccecce thing is definitely interesting to me. Taliesin Tashara, now I think this weekend has some, a little bit of additional juice for me. If you are the UFC, I think you want Taliesin Tashiera to knock out

Derek Lewis to become someone. Or do you just give Derek Lewis a title shot? I was gonna say, I know he's on a five by lose streak, but how many, how many wins for Tye Tuivasa to get a fucking shot? Neither of them. Two wins? Again, you need excite, like, it can't be stated enough. It's one thing to be winning, right? Like, I think Jalton Almeida certainly has a very good resume, right? He's only got the one loss on the resume at heavyweight. But the, you need somebody who's gonna sell a fight

with Tom Aspinall. I think Derrick Lewis would be a good dance partner and also somebody that we know is going to go in there and try and strike. Now, I think Tom would be best served to just grapple with him and could probably make it look pretty easy. But with a tie to Ivassa, with a Derek Lewis, you at least know you're getting somebody that's

a fan-friendly style and fans are at least going to know the name and have them step in there. But man, it's a tough sell if Derek Lewis is. What's his recent record you said? Two and four in his last six. Yeah, so if he's- 40 years old as well. If he's three and four in his last seven, it's still not a great record,

but I'm honestly at the point of, fuck it. I mean, Derek Lewis said he wanted to keep fighting taxi cab drivers. Yeah, that ain't a taxi cab driver. We can talk about a title shot later. Yeah, but he's, by the way, Derek Lewis is full of shit at times. Derek Lewis has said that many times and has stepped into a title shot with Daniel Cormier.

He's like, ah, I don't want to fight anybody. And then he's fighting Daniel Cormier for the title. If they pay him, the man will step in there with anybody. All right, realistic plan. I think you book. Gone. Cyril and Tom for October. You book Jelton and Volkov on that same one.

100%. You see what happens with Cortez Acosta and Pavlovich. I think you could get a potential, like Pavlovich may need one more if he wins. Walter Cortez Acosta at that point would be on a six fight win streak with a win over Pavlovich. You could put him in.

You can put him into a title. Plus like that's a fight I've been banging the drum for for a while now. This is going to be hard to sell pay-per-views on. All due respect to Tom, who I think, as I said, I think can be a massive star for the UFC. These are not great dance partners. This almost feels like you're gonna have to do.

None of these are selling shit, bro. You're gonna have to do two title fights on Tom Aspinal cards until he finds a good dance partner, which is crazy. Well, that's the thing. He's like, you say new dance partner. Taliesin Tashiera. Well, Taliesin Teixeira, you guys say that, balk at the name until he's 11 and 0.

Ovin tweeted, our guy Ovin tweeted back in March, UFC heavyweight fighters under 30 years old. Mick Parkin, 29, Thomas Peterson, 29, Junior Taffa, 28, who's now fighting at 205 this weekend. Falter Walker, 27, Mario Pinto, 27, Taliesin Cicciara, 25. Yes, that is all. So like who's coming, who's coming down the track?

One thing I'll say to that, just to be fair, heavyweights tend to be older and tend to carry that power longer. Cause they're not the ones having to cut the weight and end up having more longevity. I'm just saying who's coming. No, no. Kennedy maybe? Vitor Petr's coming. No, no. Kennedy maybe?

Vitor Petrino maybe? Yeah, man. It is in rough shape. Can they bring in the dude who just fought on Glory 100? Rico. No, no, no, against Rico, denied the contract. Oh, Artem Vakitov.

Yeah, Artem Vakitov. If, yeah, honestly, yeah, see, here denied the contract. Oh, Artem Vakitov. Yeah, Artem Vakitov. If, yeah, honestly, yeah, see, here's the thing. He publicly said he turned down the UFC so that he could go do this. I wonder if they're like anxious to get back in business with him. I'll say this, he'd be a much more compelling matchup than any of these guys.

All right, so back to the plan. Gone. We do Almeida versus Volkov for a title eliminator then Aspinall fights the winner of that one then from there now we get serious about like Alex like you ready to move up you did your thing in 205. John like how you feeling man you doing all right like how's retirement and then if that's not the thing we fight maybe like Waldo Cortez Acosta. Yeah. At that point we're at three title defenses and like hopefully the UFC has made some drastic move to try and prove heavyweight. And hopefully in

that time a Buccecha can get a win and be somebody who's like an interesting kind of name to enter the mix and we'll see where it goes from there. As I said my number one priority if I'm the UFC is keep Tom Aspinall busy. The other, the other parts will sort themselves, but do not, do not waste this time that you, they, they already wasted a year and a half of Tom Aspinall's, uh, longevity, uh, in, in, in his absolute prime right now. Don't make that same mistake again. Get him, get him these title defenses and then let's see what we can do from there. Let's just rack them up.

Rack them up and put them down. Worst case scenario for the UFC, Tom loses. Yeah, but in that case, there was nobody that he was gonna fight anyway that was like this big fight that you're losing out on. Get him in a rematch with that person. You can easily overcome a Tom Aspinall loss at this point, in my opinion, because there's nobody that is on the horizon.

The John Jones fight was the one where you're like, we cannot fuck this up, and it's already fucked up. I don't think a loss catastrophically hurts Tom Aspinall in the same way it didn't when it was Curtis Blades. Now, certainly that was an injury, but he avenged that quickly. And then you just move right back on track. So get him busy, fight every three months and make sure that he starts racking up title defenses. And no. Salsa boy?

Salsa boy, Waldo Cortez. All right. He is going to be the champion and you're going to be in fucking shambles when it happens. He's going to be the UFC heavyweight champion of the world and he's going to have like 41,000 followers on Instagram. And no finishes. He actually has the last finish in the heavyweight division. And it was like months ago or something? Against Ryan Spann.

Jesus Christ. All right. UFC Nashville itself. just a quick stat to throw out there. I think there are three dudes changing weight classes on this one. You got Vitor Petrino going up to 265. You have Junior Taffa going down to 205. You have Chris Curtis going back down to 170. And then also from an age standpoint. We talk about age. Steven Wonderboy, Thompson 42. Lauren Murphy 41, Derek Lewis 40, Max Griffin 39,

Austin Lane 37, Calvin Kader 37, Chris Curtis 37, Nate Landwehr 37, Chidi Njokwani 36, Tuco Tacos 35. Yeah, and by the way, Ben Foulkes for uncrowned.com wrote an article about...

Oh yeah, but what's going on with the heavyweight division? Where'd all the heavyweights go where did they go ben i read the article the yeah the three it's a very good article he's he's his dumb founded his own where did they go uh oh he also got a mailbag yes okay like is derek louis taliesin deshara actually an ideal headliner for a ufc finite event in my opinion yes because taliesin deshara with his size headliner for a UFC Fight Night event. In my opinion, yes, because Taliesin Deshara, with his size, with his age, with his record, with his finishing capability,

could be a potential fight for Tom Aspinall down the line. And I think Derrick Lewis is a potential fight for Tom Aspinall too, even if this pulls him to three and four. Yeah, I agree, I agree. I keep going back to IG followers. I know it's not an actual measure, but it is a good measure of star power. Yeah. It really is.

Look at Ilya, look at Islam. Look at all the famous guys in the UFC. They all have massive followings. Derek Lewis has the most followers of anyone at Heavyweight. And I'm not surprised at all. He might be your biggest star. Yeah. He's... He might be the most well-known. That's it. It's recognizability. He's not gonna be the biggest pay-per-view seller, right? Tom Aspinall is gonna be the guy that moves the needle for that, but he's the most recognizable name. There's, my balls is hot guy is at least known better than everybody else in that division.

I'm hoping if he wins, there's going to be some sort of crossover. My balls was hot chicken, like a Nashville hot chicken. Hot chicken. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They bring it out. He eats a sandwich with his pants off in the middle of the octagon.

That's, that's best case scenario. I love this wish casting that you're doing. That is the main event. I feel like Taliesin Descheres with his age and his finishing capability where Derek Lewis is at in his career. Like obviously Derek Lewis can always uncork one and just knock Taliesin Descheres out, but I'm gonna say that Taliesin Descheres gets it done. I'm a little worried, I got to be honest. The people who stand in strike with Derrick Lewis, sometimes it does not go well. He just has that concussive power that if you stand with him long enough, you can find it.

But I have been impressed by Taliesin so far. And so the youth, as you said, and the energy and the physical attributes to me are all on that side of the equation and I have to lean that way. But I can close my eyes and see the world said and the energy and the physical attributes to me are all on that side of the equation and I have to lean that way. But I can close my eyes and see the Taliesin Tashara throwing a lunging type thing, missing it and Derrick Lewis just uncorking an atomic bomb on him. Like I can see it in my head already.

At that point, Derrick Lewis title shot will be on a two fight win streak. And which is why to Ben, you know, Ben folks asking the question and you confirming like, yeah, this is perfect because if, if Taliesin loses, it's probably because Derek Lewis took his head off. If he wins, it's because he beat Derek Lewis and now you got a guy. So I like the matchmaking here. I lean Taliesin, but I don't love it either. Yeah, we'll see.

Uh, this is a, this is like one, this card is like a one step up from, from an apex. Yeah. It's not like wildly intriguing, like a one step up from an apex. Yeah. It's not like wildly intriguing, but it isn't happening in the apex. So it'll automatically. Are there anybody with like ties to Nashville? Is there a reason this is happening?

Nate the Train, Nate the Train. Okay, Clark's still. So further down the card, shout out to Nate the Train. Yeah, yeah, shout out to Nate the Train. Co-main event, Stephen Wonderboy Thompson taking on Gabriel Bonfreme. I mean, we all love Wonderboy, love Wonderboy, but it is a 15 year age difference.

He is one in four in his last five and you're getting 27 year old Gabriel Brownfield, who is 17 and one 16 of those wins. Finisher coming by finish. Yeah. This feels like an old lion getting fed to a young lion. I don't love it for wonder boy. It's a very tough matchup for him. I will say this, even in the losses, Wonder Boy is not like getting the doors blown off. That's the thing with Wonder Boy. He looked good in the Joaquin fight obviously until he did. He is still competitive, which is what I like to

see from Wonder Boy. So I'm not expecting this to be like, holy shit, why is this guy even in here? But at a certain point, the youth is going to be, it's so in the favor of Bon Fim that I do worry that Wonder Boy is not gonna be able to win. But as I said, this is not like me being concerned for Wonder Boy. I think he'll give a good account of himself. I think he'll be fine. But I don't think he'll be able to outlast

the younger fighter. I agree. Calvin Cater taking on Steve Garcia in the People's main event. Not only the featured bout of the evening, but also the People's main event. If you don't know about Stevie G, go back and watch his last five fights. Five fight win streak, five knockouts. Been knocking people out since he got to the UFC. That win in like fall of 2021 is when I really started liking him. Charlie Ontiveros.

Yeah. Not Olivera. Ontiveros. Not quite the same level. This feels like two ships sort of passing in the night. Obviously Calvin Kader has fought the way better brand of competition. He's been in there with the much better guys. But he is 37. He I believe is one and four or he's a four-fight losing streak. And Steve Garcia a five-fight win streak. It just kind of feels like these two dudes are at very different points in their careers. One win for Kader since 2020. But you could make the argument, the experience, the guys that he's been in there with,

he's also never been knocked out. He had the TKO injury lost to Arnold Allen, but like he wasn't actually finished. Yeah, that wasn't a knockout, yeah. So the durability could come into play. He could just out volume Steve Garcia, but I'm still going with Stevie G. I think it's Steve Garcia's time. Mean Machine, right?

Is the nickname? I'm a big fan. He's a Mean Machine and he hits hard as hell. Yeah, he can crack. Yes, Cater is extremely tough. As we saw in the, I mean, the Max Holloway fight is like in the pinnacle, is in the pantheon of like the toughest dudes you've ever seen because of the punch volume that Max was putting on him and Cater was able to withstand that. Even if Garcia doesn't finish him I think he's gonna be the more active and more aggressive fighter. He only knows that speed. He is full throttle and I imagine if he I think he will get a finish if he does not get a

finish he will look good in a decision. And so I'm all over Steve Garcia. Giga was like seven and O in the UFC going into that fight. He was a, he's a pretty sizable favorite as well. So Calvin Kater's turned back people before that was two and a half years ago and four losses prior. Yeah. So we'll see what happens.

Nate, the train, Landware taking on Morgan Chachier, the last pirate coming over from France. Nate Landware getting to fight in his home state of Tennessee. I feel like the crowd's gonna be jumping, but the thing is, it's just like, what Nate Landware fight are we gonna get? He either puts on fight of the night, performance of the night bonus performances,

or like the last time out against Duho Choi, like just didn't, didn't ever really get going. Never got into gear, yeah. But to be fair, Morgan's last fight wasn't like that impressive either. Nah man, and he had some momentum going into that one. He was like dropping promos.

Oh, the promos were on fire. It looked sick and he just didn't get going. I do like Nathaniel Wood a lot. So like I rate that highly. I think he's better than, than Nate the Train. You were on Wood on that one. I was on Wood as an underdog, no big deal. Uh, love betting Nate Wood as an underdog,

but Nate the Train thrives in the underdog role. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And in terms of like, who's going to be more of a dog in the fight, nobody's going to be more of a dog than Nate. I mean, Moritz Czachy is, he has like 11 losses on his record.

Yeah. He should win. Morgan should win this fight. He should really like. I think he is the better mixed martial artist. He's a better fighter. This is a real opportunity for him to kind of put that Nathaniel Wood fight behind him and be like, okay, I fucked this up. Like I had the momentum and I fucked this up. I am going to show you the levels to my game and show you where I'm at, because as a mixed martial artist, he's extremely talented and I think he's very,

like he's very capable of fighting at the highest possible level. Nate Landwehr is the type of fight though that can trip you up when you're trying to do that. When you're trying to get back to that spot, he's a, he's a guy, it can be a stumbling block for you. Especially in the volunteer state, baby. Yeah, especially at home.

I imagine the Landwehrs are gonna be out in force. Nate the Train in Nashville. In Bridgestone Arena, that's gonna be fantastic. This main card, it should have some entertaining fights. I agree. It should have some fun scraps on it. I feel like I say that every single card, but it feels like it should.

Vitor Petrino taking on Austin Lane, Petrino moving up to 265, as I mentioned earlier. Austin Lane, 17 of his 19 fights ended by KO whether he wins or loses. 11 victories, 6 defeats by way of KO and Patrino 11 of his 14 having gone the decision. This feels like a heavyweight scrap that could end the the no finish streak. I think Patrino decision is coming. That's my sense. I think Patrino decision is coming. That's my sense. I think that's exactly what's gonna happen. Nothing would shock me with this division. Patrino decision. Junior Taffa taking on Tuko Tacos. Taffa down to 205. He looks to be a

little bit more in shape. Yeah I mean, has he fought at 205 at the USC before? He may have but I know I think this is his debut. This is his debut at that weight. He's always been, like, I remember Junior Tafa fighting as a massive heavyweight at glory and then looking considerably slimmer as a UFC heavyweight. So I'm not surprised. Like he's dedicated himself to the shape.

Now the Tafa brothers fight exactly the same way, which is stand flat-footed and trade hammers. Like they throw bungalows. Yeah. They just throw one of us is getting bonked. That's it. And so like, I think this is good. Like he's going to carry a lot of power into

the light heavyweight division, but the style is very limited. The style is like, if, if you can, if you get into a firefight with junior Tafa, like you're going to lose that cause he's going to be more powerful and he could take a hell of a shot. If you do anything else if you mix the martial arts it could get a little bit dicey so we'll see but I wouldn't be surprised by a junior knockout here. A couple other

fights on the card worth mentioning Chris Curtis our guy Extreme Kotor I spent a minute with him the other week taking on Max Payne Griffin that should be a good scrap he's a big favorite in that one. Jake Matthews, Chidi and Jokwani. That should also be exciting. That one I'm looking forward to a lot. I think it's gonna be fun. If Chidi can make the weight,

he's gonna have a massive size advantage in there. That's always a problem. But it'll be a good scrap either way. Jake Matthews has some crispy boxing. I love the way Chidi mixes in the kicks and everything like that. Yeah, that should be fun. Lauren Murphy with her final fight. The retirement fight. I wonder if we Chidi mixes in the kicks and everything like that. That should be fun. Lauren Murphy with her final fight, the

retirement fight. I wonder if we're gonna get a package. You think we'll have a package? I hope so. I mean they've been good about that. If you say ahead of time, they've been good about that. So that'd be nice if they did that. She's taken on Edwardo Mora. Kennedy Inzichukwu taking on Volter Walker, our third heavyweight of the evening. The first one that will come on Saturday though. Maybe Kennedy can be the guy. Maybe he can be the guy. He's got a great story.

He's a physically imposing type of dude. Maybe Kennedy could be the heavyweight that we've been desperate for. The African Savage. I would love to see him. He's 2-0 at heavyweight. Chris Barnett win. Lucas Breski win. We kinda need to get into the rankings. We. Lucas Bretzky win.

Yeah. We kinda need to get into the rankings. We need a name. We need to bust into the rankings here. So yeah, it should be a decent card. I don't think there's gonna be a ton of buzz around it. It's a 6 p.m. start as well, so don't love that. 12 fights though, we should be out of there

at like 11.30 midnight. You gotta love the poster for this one. It's always Derrick. Show it to the the poster for this one. It's always Derek Chalmers. Nine first-round finishes. Taliesin DeCherra. Eight first-round finishes. Now we don't have it and we don't need it either. It's just two guys with with how many finishes they have. But this is the full card right here. Kicks off six o'clock Eastern. Chris Curtis versus Max Griffin is a scrap. There really are some scraps. We say this every time and then it's like...

Say it every time and then they're all fucking stinkers and the crowd's not that good. I'm hoping it delivers. I'm hoping it delivers in Nashville. Those are not the only fights this weekend, though. Katie Taylor takes on Amanda Serrano for the third time this time at Madison Square Garden, the second time they'll be at the world's most famous arena on Friday night. And what does that mean?

That means our Irishman. The man hailing from the Emerald Isle. Pizzi Carroll is in town and he becomes the first in-studio guest in Boys in the Back history. What's up big dog? Look at this respect. I love this. Yeah I got the storefront on. Shout out the storefront. One of my favorite brands coming from... Oh boy. P hope you don't know like this ends for a bit of a make it interesting. Oh boy. Great country of Ireland.

P.T. don't finish that sentence please. Can we talk about P.T. with the stripes this week? He's been on fire. Oh yeah. Oh shit. Look at this. Is this what you did at a Cotillion back in the day? Ha ha.

Right, right, right, right, right, right. He doesn't know what Cotillion is. I don't know what Cotillion is either. Wow. Hello everyone. Is that just a southern thing? What an honor it is to be here on boys in the back Guys, I mean I've been

You are stunning do you know that thank you the glitter and Frank is very worried about if the glitter is getting on the microphone Okay, I know he goes clean it off. What do you got here some pizzas for us? No, no remember I was telling you had another gift for you. Yes. Well, here it is We have been waiting for these to arrive from Northern Ireland. Get your breath first, man. For all week, like for the whole week. The guys at Mystery Short in a Box sent them from Northern Ireland because I couldn't fit them in my suitcase. I've been waiting, I've been waiting, and they finally got here this morning.

Wow. I got these. Do we have a name? Who can we thank? Connor. Connor. Not this Connor, but Connor from Mystery Shirt in the Box. You legend. Shout out, absolute legend. Great name as well. We have them for everybody.

Everyone backstage has one as well. Are we about to bust these open? Oh! So the whole thing is, right? You don't know. Thank you, Connor. Thank you, Pizzi. You don't know what you're going to get.

The shirt in the box. These are soccer jerseys. We have all we have no idea what's in here No, great luck with mystery. Oh, yes If you were watching our Vegas content last year, leave that with that one's for Ariel. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go Hell, why me that's for you over there on Monday? Yeah. Yeah, this will be this is great, man Okay, come get basketball ones. You can get American football ones. These are all soccer though. This is not Premier League, this could be anything. Well, the reason how I got them first was because I got them for Alwani's kids.

And they got like an Indian second division team. I love it. I love that. Let's see what we got. Do we do it together? Do we do it one by one? Let's go one by one. Who's first? Pizzi? You go first, brother. You brought the gifts in. Or we can get the people in the back to do it.

Yeah, let's do back first. Back first. I want to see what you guys got. Yeah, look at this! All right, let's go. Let's go Frank first. This is incredible. Let's go Frank first. Oh, Jordan already went. The day after the birthday, he gets honors. I can't hear him. Oh, what do we get? He's opening, so he can't really hear. This is really wrapped up. It's a real mystery It looks green. Yeah greens great. What do we got? Wolfsburg Over on there, what do we see? Guyana

Giana! That's sick! Shout out to Carlson Harris! What does Andy get? What does Andy get? What does Andy get? Alright, Andy's next. What is that? Who is that?

Dresden! Dresden! Wow, that Giana jersey's a nice pull. That is nice. That's the winner so far. What'd you get, Frank? What do we got, Frankie? Alright, here we go, Frank.

Wow, shout out to Connor from Mystery Sh shout out, this mystery shirt in the box. This is great fun. All right, Frank, what is it? Oh, is it white? Whoa, whoa, that's a funky one. I like that. Oh, that's Kaiser Schlaun, is it? Or Galatasaray, what is it?

It tells you in the box, they give you a little fact card. It says KS. KS, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? It says it on, like there should be a little bit. There's a slip. Open the box, Frankie. God damn, okay. Yes Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It says it on it like there should be a little slip open the box Frankie Goddamn guys That's a sick one. Oh Yeah, this one rolls right off the tongue. What is it a serious for someone says dynamo? K serious for dude huge pop in the chat for Guyana everyone going crazy

The day Jersey, that's a guy on it. Well here. What do we got pizza? Huge pop in the chat for Guyana. Everyone going crazy. I think Jordan's got the jersey of the day. That's a Guyana, bro. Here, what do we got, Pizzi? Okay, let's see, let's see. Frank is from Turkish professional football. Oh, that's sick. We can wear that when we go get our hair transplants. Let's go, baby.

If there's any deals on transplants, please contact me. Let me see this. Oh, this guy's got a great head. Great head of hair, what's he talking about? Oh, here we go. Here we go. Oh, I see blue. I see something blue. That's like a fancy Navy.

Oh, that's really nice. Oh, I love that nice jersey. What is this? New Balance FC Porto, baby. Wow. Come on, Porto. That one's nice. That's a beauty.

That's our guy, Philippe in Porto with the port wine. Shout out. Incredible. Shout out. All. Shout out. All right, my turn? Yeah, let's do it, Rick. All right, let's see. Oh.

Here we go. This looks white, right? Yeah, a little white action. Oh yes. Oh, some orange on there. Rick loves his orange. You're gonna have to help me pronounce that pizza. FC Porto's fire. Oh yeah this is a nice one. Check marks on the side. Picarno, AZ Picarno from Italy. It is, I think they're a second division. Wow,

Italian second division. I like that. Look at the badges. The badges are that one. Oh, that's... The badge is nice. The badge is a beaut on that one. They're the most languageized amateur club in the Moiner League of the Italian football system throughout its history. Beautiful. Beautiful. Wow, these are great so far. Let's go GC. What did you get?

What did we get? What did we get? I'm nervous. Oh, it's Irish. No way! Yes! Republic of Ireland! Come on! Let's go! Oh, it's Irish! No way! Yes! Republic of Ireland!

Let's go! Nailed it! With the Castor logo on it! This is fantastic! Get a bit emotional here! This is going right on! Yeah, great! We got the Irish jersey on!

That actually looks great! That's perfect! Yeah It's like a bug this is well done I'm wearing to the Katie Taylor fight Fantastic thank you so much That is legendary thank you so wow wow wow I'm getting we love it.'m giddy over here. This is great. Thank you Connor from Mystery shirt in a box. Wow fun is that? You know yourself the Republic of Ireland the team made their debut at the 1924 Summer Olympics reaching the quarterfinals We all remember those quarterfinals in in 24. Oh, it's great. Look at this This is sweet. What a win. What a win. Oh the Anoita jerseys. Thank you

I think I'm falling in love with opening mystery boxes of shit. Just send me shit. This went to love better than the posters. This went to love. This is a win right here. This is a win right here. If you want to get a box of your own right here Mystery shirt in a box. If you want to get a box of your own, right here. Mystery shirt and a box. There you go. And they do have a US one as well, and they have a European one, as far as I know. Lads from Northern Ireland doing that, man. It's class. Fair play. Incredible. Thank you to our friend Connor. Shout out. Thank you. Thank you. That Guyanese is a winner too. Throw that bad boy on, Jordan.

You got a rep guy on in that. By the way, thank you to Pizza Carol for bringing us gifts. I'm so happy they came. I was sweating this. You know I was sweating this all week. Look at Jordan looking slick. Oh yeah. Is that a Hummel?

Is that a Hummel kit? What's the make of that one? That was Renoise. Ask a lot of questions. I just support Guyana. The golden gag bars man. Who's the best Guyanese soccer player of all time? We know Carlson Harris, UFC legend, but best Guyanese soccer player of all time? We know Carlson Harris, UFC legend, but best Guyanese soccer.

Well played. Well done, Frankie. Omari Glasgow, he's Guyanese. Yeah. Jordan might be the most famous Guyanese. At this point. At this point. All right.

You're in town. Yes. Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano. I like how you said that and he said yes like it was a question. You're in town. Yes. Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano. I like how you said that and he said yes like it was a question. You're in town? Yes. Yes. Sitting right in front of my face.

Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, three. You've been all around the city going to all the events. You were at the top of the Empire State Building. You were down in the Oculus. How are we feeling? Are we buzzing? Are we feeling good? Yeah.

It's a great buzz. And as I said to Ariel on Monday, every day it's picking up a little bit more. But the funniest thing you see is I have this complete disparity in opinion from people who are texting me. Some people are like, oh, like how does Serrano think she's going to win this? And other people are like, no, this isn't good. This isn't good. She's dropping four pounds.

I mean, she nearly lost last time. I think like everyone's like, even if it goes to distance this time, she could win every round they're going to give it to Serrano. And I'm like, well, you know, that isn't historically how it's like, even if it goes to distance this time, she could win every round. They're going to give it to Serrano. And I'm like, well, you know, that isn't historically how it's gone, but always the way it is. Uh, you don't hear a peep about it the week before, but as soon as it gets into a Katie fight week and the fact that it's on Netflix, like my dad's like, and I just turned on Netflix and it's going to be on. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, it's going to be there. So, uh, very much.

It's picking up every week and I'd say that it's, it's going to be a fever pitch tomorrow. So I watched the countdown, which Netflix produced, which basically got you hyped for this fight, which was incredibly done. It's just like the UFC one. I highly recommend. If you're gonna watch this fight tomorrow night, you should watch it beforehand. It's only like 45 minutes long. Really good. It's fantastic. But then you made me watch- Did you watch it?

The KD doc. I watched the whole thing last night. It was fantastic from 2019. So it wasn't even updated with all the Serrano Wars and everything like that. It went all the way through her Olympic career. I did not realize just how much of a superstar and how much she means to the country of Ireland. And it was like, I get why you were always like, oh, Katie's fighting, oh, I'm on pins and needles, everything like that now. I get why you feel that way because she really does mean so much to the country. Yeah, she's like a deity. It's almost like a religious deity. It's crazy to say that, but I've never seen a sports star kind of revered as much as her. Like where it's, everyone unanimously is behind her. You don't hear anyone ever be like,

who cares Katie Taylor's fighting? Even if you weren't setting out to watch the Katie Taylor fight, wherever you went, you'd be walking into a room where the fight is on. Like that's the kind of thing it is. And I guess the situation here with Katie now is like, she's getting on. She's 39. Look, I'm not to say Sorano is any kind of spring chicken, but what does she have left to do? She's already beat this girl twice. Like, why are we doing this? What like you're getting into these wars, which are absolutely really, really exciting fights for the people. But you're kind of like at this stage, everyone's like, we just want to see Katie get out of here with, you know, with all of our kind of faculties intact. That begins to get worrying when you're getting

later on and you don't actually understand the reason why they're fighting at this stage. Even though we're all going to be there, we're all going to have our back, it's kind of like, will you ever stop? And she gets really offended when people are like, are you going to retire? She's like, what are you talking about? I'm the greatest champion of all time in women's boxing. Why would I want to stop now? But already people are looking beyond this. They're like, if she loses this fight, it's going to set up a best of five situation with Serrano.

If she wins this, she's going to fight, a trilogy fight against with Serrano. If she wins this she's gonna fight a trilogy fight against Chantelle Cameron the only person to beat her as a professional. So it's like I can understand why she's like I still have all this stuff to do but at the same time you're like you're always gonna have stuff to do. Like John Jones said there's always gonna be someone else. There's always gonna be someone else. The only pushback I'd give to that and I agree with everything you said but with a caveat right. She has nothing to prove and I agree with everything you said but with a caveat, right? She has nothing to prove. Her career is set in stone. She is a legendary fighter. You would say the greatest woman of all time

I would push back but no need to bring that up now. It's tomorrow. Okay, we will give her that. Thank you I think the thing that she's doing now That's that's as important or possibly even more important is setting up for the future of women's boxing Yeah as important or possibly even more important is setting up for the future of women's boxing, which is a card like this on Netflix to be able to present this platform and also have these other women fighting underneath her who are now going to also have exposure. Her and Amanda are pushing the sport forward for a lot of other women, which I think is the best gift she can give back at this point. Now certainly that's selfless, right?

The selfish aspect is like we want her to leave with our faculties and like she doesn't need to get into these wars. But the upside for me is she is stepping in there with Amanda and she is providing a platform for so many women, inspiring a new generation of women and it will continue to have reverberations for women's boxing. This card being on Netflix is a huge step forward

for women's boxing as well. So I think that will be the thing that will be the, the importance of this, right? The thing that it's like why do this? Well, this is why from here on out like I don't know if we need to do this five Don't get me wrong every single time they step in there. It is magic and this third one is gonna be absolutely incredible There's no doubt in my mind, but maybe we don't need to do five. It's especially if she wins. It's absolute magic first fight They threw almost a thousand punches. I think it was 991, 999.

And then they top it in the second fight. Over 1,250 punches thrown in 20 minutes. Like it's absolutely insane the pace they put out. Like they are absolute wars. They are magic, but I think win or lose for Katie Taylor, win or lose for Amanda Serrano. This is the last one. I think Katie Taylor has Chantal Cameron after that. and then I feel like it's off into the sunset. So one more after this one and then that's

it. Yeah I think winner lose. If it goes away right. Because you're very concerned that it will not. You're you're very concerned. It feels like you have a lot of friends back home that are wildly optimistic that it's like that's it's up 2-0 or wildly pessimistic that it's like bro she's up 2-0. I mean it's not gonna complete dilemma all the time like I wake up and someone will text me saying ah she's definitely gonna do and I'm like yeah yeah like you the other day we were talking about who we're gonna pick and you're like are you gonna pick Katie and I'm like will I pick Katie should I yeah I don't mean it's a it's something that crazy to note she's gonna close as the underdog right now she's sitting at plus 140 she closed as the underdog in the first two fights as well.

And in her three of her last five, she has closed as the underdog three and O in the, in the three times. Cause she would have been underdog against Cameron the second time around as well. And she won that one. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's insane, man. Um, I just can't wait to feel that energy again, because look, the, the second fight was legendary for a different reason than the first one. The first one was like the first one, the headline Madison Square

Garden. You had this epic meeting of the Puerto Ricans and the Irish, which people were worried about beforehand. Like this could get to them, but it turned into this kind of beautiful, respectful thing in there, like where everyone's like, Oh, this is great. We're all buzzing off this magic moment. They're having the second fight is like Arlington, Texas. It's not going to have the same Irish diaspora there. Even Katie was booed, you'll remember when she won the fight. A lot of bad things said about Katie and that's got the Irish people's back up as well. Like people are forgetting what that fight meant on that broadcast. There were people saying that Paul and Tyson was a blemish on the sport of boxing. And just before that,

you have one of the greatest fights, probably the greatest female fight of all time. And all they're talking about afterwards is headbutts or was Katie intentionally trying to headbutter. This person who's been like a beacon of sporting brilliance, I think that's really poor. That's nearly the conversation we're having before this. Was she robbed? You know what I mean? This was an incredibly close fight, regardless of what way you scored it. I would not criticize anyone who was like, I think Serrano won that fight.

That's completely fair, really close fight. But to say that Katie Taylor robbed the fight and she used her head to kind of take away from what Serrano was trying to do is crazy. Even on the night we had Rosie Perez who walked it back, who said she regretted saying it would forever be a blemish on Katie Taylor's record. Roy Jones Jr. was trying to explain the orthodox Southpaw thing. Here's the thing, it's probably going to happen again tomorrow. People need to get ready for this. It is a Southpaw against an orthodox fighter. They're going to clash heads. Let's just not be clutching our pearls

and saying it's either Serrano or Katie's fault. This is just a natural consequence of that style matchup. So I think that's gonna add drama as well because I think it certainly happens. The first headbutt, can you imagine the reaction in the stadium? Well not only that and then Amanda's coach is getting on the broadcast while it's going on and complaining about the headbutts and essentially calling Katie Taylor a cheat which is to your point insane. When you go back and watch the lineage of this woman's career, amateurs and through the pros,

to be like, oh yeah, now on fight, million, however many fights she had leading up to this point, now she's starting to headbutt people, she's the cheat is insane to say. Turning here like John Cena, just out of nowhere. But it speaks to a competitive rivalry that I like. It speaks to something that is- It has sold this fight amazingly well.

It sold this fight in a way that, if the story of this series so far was just Katie Taylor beat her twice, that's not compelling. It's not compelling. To your point, why do a third one, right? If that's the story of the fight. But if you can convince people that Amanda Serrano was the winner of that fight, I personally scored it for Katie. I think you either had it a draw or for Katie.

We were scoring in real time. I had it a draw because of the point taken away. So then it's an extremely close fight to your point. I had it for Katie Taylor. Didn't think it was that controversial. This adds a layer. If you can convince people that Amanda Serrano can win this third fight after Katie Taylor

has now won the first two, it at least gives you a reason to tune in. If it's just another win for Katie Taylor, it doesn't have the storyline. Also to your point, there was a wide casual audience viewing that. Yeah, 100%. Who didn't know who either of these girls were. 47 million people.

Who just were tuning in to watch a boxing fight, and it's just like, man, look at these head butts. I don't know who any of these people are. Look at these head butts. Oh, and Amanda Serrano landed 107 more punches and like aren't really familiar with the way that boxing is scored. It's like robbery. That was a robbery, which now has people being like Amanda Serrano deserves this third one and she's going to win this one as well. It's also like to be a casual sports fan and to watch the broadcast, it was,

it's nearly impossible not to have that feeling. Of course not. Every round another commentator is coming on. Then you have Jordan Maldonado, as you say, Serrano's coach coming on saying, she's a dirty fighter. Yeah. For like round nine, it's just planted it all in your head. The decision is read and Mauro and Rosie are like, Oh my God. I think Mauro's call was literally like, how could you possibly rob Amanda Serrano in this way? Yeah, it's crazy dude. But to all the stuff, like in terms of how,

how it's building dude but to all the stuff like in terms of how it's building the fight different, Ariel has a face-off coming out with Katie and it looks like every step of the way for this fight she has been back and back. She is not like going you know listen I'm just here to win or whatever she's been like you're trying to forge a narrative here that the three judges were wrong to score that fight for me that I'm a dirty fighter and she's saying it directly to Amanda, you know that's bullshit, Amanda.

Like, she doesn't say bullshit, she never courses. Which is like, you know that's unfair, Amanda. And Amanda's kind of jarred by that, because she's speaking to you as a sports person. She's like, do you really think that I robbed you of that win? And Amanda's like, I didn't say it, it's just other people are saying that, you know?

Yesterday at the press conference, she was saying how it's just like, I think I won the fight. My family and friends think I won the fight. Most of the public thinks I won the fight, blah, blah, blah. So I take solace in that. And then Katie comes on after and she's like, but you lost the fight. I won the fight. Yeah. It's great, man. It's look, you watch the documentary and I was explaining the situation to Ariel on Monday. Did you see that scene where Brian Peters is typing in?

Oh, look, Jessica McCatskill has the milk thing. And she can switch very quickly when anyone's trying to, anyone's trying to call into question her legacy or what she's done to women's boxing. It's just like, she's like, how dare, how dare she say something like that about me? And I feel like that's the mode she's been in. And we saw the shape of her today, four pounds lighter than she has been has been before she looks like fuck it. She is ready to go do we have any pictures? No, probably not. Sorry. Let's know. We do look at shredded my god

39 years of age in that kind of Nick that is crazy, man Savage it's always gonna be Puerto Rican flag fit there. I really like Amanda though. Like let's not yeah That's the problem with this fight is it? It has tend to create these tribes now because it's like we were either team Katie or your team Amanda That's a bad. That's the best it makes for it makes for the highest drama But god, I really do love them both like they are really just like the pinnacle of they love each other boxing They sure they I think Amanda Serrano posted a picture of them like fitted up Yeah, I was like, all right on a picture of them like fitted up on the Empire State Building

and was like, all right, on a soft note, like we really killed this photo shoot. I think that speaks to how brilliant the athletes are as well, that they can just switch on. Like, do you remember the first fight? Serrano, before they started, is like going to Katie, like mad emotional, like look at what we're doing, look at what we're doing, and just like,

yeah, let's go, bye bye bye bye. It's crazy. That's like one of my favorite scenes because Katie admits afterwards. She could not hear her. Yeah, and so she's like She's crazy It's a it's a great rivalry not predicated on the kind of like trash talk and per se there's certainly the element That's added with this head head, but there's no real hate. They don't dislike each other, but they still are so competitively, um, driven. They are such, they are such elite competitors that it creates this, this natural tension. Katie Taylor does not want to be viewed as somebody who is not of the caliber fighter

that can beat Amanda Serrano. And Amanda Serrano does not want to be somebody who's now oh, in three against Katie Taylor. She, there is, there is something on the line here. There is something for them both to fight for. And I love the story of this fight. You can tell how bad Amanda Serrano won. Oh, she wants it desperately. She obviously wanted the first two, but it just does feel like there's something different with Serrano now. Even when Katie was like, well, I won the first two, Amanda's just like... Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. She talked about it in the immediate aftermath of the second one, just being like, I felt like I had it and it was and I didn't have it and that's a that's a desperate feeling for a fighter to be have gotten two cracks at Katie Taylor and falling

short twice especially in that last one where she thought she thought she had done enough. Do you imagine if she stopped her? I mean the round five in the first one she clipped her in the first round last one because you imagine if she was able to put the stamp and finish Katie Taylor in this fight that would be MSG's roof would blow i'm not doing the video on Saturday just weeping in a bar by myself i mean that'd be a great video it's gonna be electric man it's gonna be electric that fight there's uh there's five other title fights on the card as well i think i think six of the eight fights on saturday night on are going to be for titles. Uh, it's going to be. Big AH in the building as well.

AH, AH, shut up. Ariel will be there, uh, performing, uh, in-ring duties. It's, it's going to be an incredible fight. And as I said, the, the part for me that is so significant, this fight, it could have been anywhere, could have been under any circumstances, could have been on any platform, any arena, I'd watch it.

But the fact that it's on Netflix, the fact that it's on MSG, and the fact that they built a very strong all-women's card underneath, it's compelling watch. It is truly compelling. I just like, to your point, like, Katie having still to do things for like women's boxing and, you know, bringing through this next generation,

I feel like she's done that three or four times. Yeah certainly. So it's kind of like it's the same thing as the Jones thing. It's like oh well we can keep doing this forever you know Katie like when I just I just feel like if she wins this fight and even though the Shantel Cameron fights there is this not the perfect way to go off Netflix? The biggest the biggest fight the biggest trilogy in the history of women's boxing. I think yes I absolutely think yes I don't think Katie Taylor thinks of the competitive drive yes that is the problem and she is she gets so pissed off with people like like me right now being like thinking about all the time because she's like only I'm gonna decide like you don't you don't

watch me for 25 years representing your country and suddenly go you know jog on Katie on, Kay, fair play. I know I was gonna say, I was giving my opinion earlier and I forgot to mention, my opinion means jack shit. She's not writing it down. Connor Burks, P.C. Carroll. P.C. says yes, Connor says... Strike him from the interview. ...legitimate question. Best of five, best of five. Yeah. Do you think she would rather compete until she has the opportunity to step in there and be like, okay, I think somebody better beat me. I'm past it. Now I can walk away or do you think she'd rather walk away feeling like it's almost unblemished, right? Loss is avenged, feeling

like I've done it all and I can walk away on top. I would expect that she wants to know it is fully out of me before she's done. Yes, she will ready go out on her she will go out on a she like loves boxing like yeah all she cares about. The one thing I'll say is that the like in terms of an indicator to me that it could be the last one was the fact our father's back. Yeah, because that was a huge story in Ireland like pete taylor and Katie split. She spoke about it in the countdown, I felt more than ever, you know, like and fair play to her for opening up on that. I feel like she's been in public property since she's a teenager in Ireland, but she also

knows when to keep her distance. She's also like the media have been very respectful of her. She's like, I don't want you coming near my private life. But when it's a public showing of where is her father not in our corner anymore, it's obvious. It's going to be a thing. To bring him back for this one, to speak about it so openly, I don't know. It feels like, you could argue that it feels like a last harass situation, like bring back the guy who brought me to the dance for this biggest fight ever. But again, who the fuck? Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I didn't know any of that stuff about the father.

I didn't know about the split, I didn't know about the struggles with the Olympics afterward. I didn't even know about what she had to do to get women's boxing into the Olympics. 2007? For her to win as well. Like it truly is, if you have time

before the fight tomorrow night, it's just called Katie on Netflix. It's her journey up until like 2018. It's incredible, the backstory, it really was. I didn't know the father thing so then to see it on countdown I was like oh shit he's back now. This is crazy. Seven years later and then the craziest part that I pointed out to you last night, documentary from 2018 she's driving like a Honda around Connecticut 2025 after all these huge paydays big fights still driving the same Honda around.

She's the best, man. She is the best, honestly. And I love the champion stuff. Did you see my champion t-shirt? Oh yeah, yeah, quite nice. Did you see our champion stuff? Yeah, I got one of them as well. Shout out Nick.

We love you, Nick. Sky, Nick, legends. The man. Listen, man, I'm just, I'm giving them all a bit, you know what I mean? You can get it, you can get it, you can all all look I just you but em the champion stuff is class. I mean talk about Didn't they nail that with the two athletes have picked early? Absolutely nailed it They are the two squeaky cleanest like most noble people you get to represent your brand ever Absolutely nailed it and of course first person in the world to get the Katie T shirt. No big deal

You know, these ones are the first in the entire world. get the Katie T shirt, no big deal. You know what I mean? Katie's ones are nice too. You're the first in the entire world. Not even Katie Taylor had it first. She was like, hang on a second. I was like, what the fuck? I didn't think they printed those yet. Is that the guy that keeps talking about me retiring? Get him in here. Beat the shit out of him.

I also didn't know that Katie fought Amanda's sister, Cindy. Yeah. It really goes way back. Oh, there's Katie with the shirt. Whoa, look at that. Looking good, man. Look at Katie in the background. I should say that Casey took this picture of me he was giving out to me because I didn't give him a photo credit he saw me post

it ran away all the way over from where he was he goes hey man give me a fucking photo it's like all right dude it's a decent impression of him I can't lie all right when it comes down to it final prediction with the prediction Katie Taylor decision yeah Katie Taylor decision yeah. Yeah. Frank got me to ride and bet on Amanda Serrano in the first fight. It was a heartbreaker. I saw Katie Taylor as a dog in the second one. I was like, I remember all week I was like, this just doesn't really make any sense. And then she like just kept ballooning. I saw like plus 200 before fight time. And I just kept adding to it. And now after watching all the docs and everything

I'll roll with Katie in the we're gonna go we're gonna go $100 in Katie on Friday Then put all the wins on Tyrone against Kerry Saturday. All right, you can even get lines for that here I don't know actually I was trying to get into my orders betting thing. Oh, yeah, of course What sport are we even talking about soccer Soccer? Gaelic football. Yeah, Gaelic football. Saturday's going to be great. Amanda gets it done. Oh, Francis Amanda.

You'd say that. The real deal. The real deal. I think this is going to be funny when the three of you have chosen sports. It is bizarre that the winner of the first two fights is an underdog and third to me, just from an optics standpoint. It's a narrative thing.

Has to be. Like, it's narrative-driven. But she looks and fucking great Nick again one last point on boxing you see this picture with Jake Paul and Turkey all chic last night PSG Jersey on him yeah PSG Jersey was it was a I wonder if he got it off a mystery football shirts but yeah picture them together and Jake Paul had a quote tweet about it basically talking about how Turkey's been disrupting the boxing world that's what MVP aims to do I'm curious as to if anything comes of this and what it could be yeah I mean it feels strange in that this felt like the big beef in boxing promotions and now it's

like oh here we go I like each other Eddie Herron must be going well where the fuck does this leave me well I mean I mean, unless I'm mistaken, it feels like the business between, uh, matchroom Eddie and Jake has been settled as well. So maybe everybody's playing nice in the sandbox. Maybe there are no obstacles toward any fights anymore. Everybody is just in the tent at this point. We're all just collaborating to make as much money as possible and put on the biggest fights.

And Dana involved as well. Dana, Dana and Jake Paul now have a connection through Turkey. Big D. I wonder how much the Turkey and Jake Paul thing is an actual thing versus just like, hey, let's shake hands for this photo opportunity, know that the internet is going to light up on this and then just move on.

Well, they had to have talked about something. Oh, I'm sure they've talked business, but. You know, Jake with the quote tweet. I mean, is this the way we get Jake Paul versus Canelo? No, okay. I don't think so you you can't I think yeah I you can't be turkey and have been that forceful about the Jake Paul boxing shit is like Reprehensible and I don't like it and then all of a sudden just be like no no I quite like it actually Let's do the Jake Paul thing actually no you might be right because

Turkey's known to just be like. Completely flip flops on things. No, no, no, not completely flip flop on things. Say, I really want this guy to win, but you be in the fight too. Like I really want Tyson Fury to win, but Usyk you do the fight too. And I'm going to root for Tyson Fury, even though I'm organizing this fight.

So maybe it's just a situation where he's like, I really want Canelo to beat the shit out of you, Jake Paul, but I'm going to do the fight so I can watch Canelo beat the shit out of you Jake Paul Maybe that's that's the path to it genuine anything that yeah, maybe they really do and I think people watch the Yeah, like Netflix like imagine the numbers on that massive because that's a bigger fight than Terrence Crawford I know don't please nobody nobody mistake this Terrence Crawford is my number one pound-for-pound fighter I do a full disclaimer.

I need to because people are gonna turn this into like, I think Jake Paul is a better boxer than Terrence Crawford. Terrence Crawford is my number one pound for pound fighter in the world. I think he's tremendous. I think he's going to beat Canelo. For eyeballs, the bigger fight is Jake Paul versus nearly anybody, but Jake Paul versus Canelo

is one of the biggest fights you can make in boxing from a optics perspective, from a who's gonna know the parties involved perspective, but he is not a better boxer than Terrence Crawford. Don't get it mistaken. Put it on Netflix. Yeah. And then you also have the allure of, this is the guy that's gonna beat the shit out of Jake Paul.

Yeah. Like if you do a Jake Paul versus Canelo, this is the first time where it's just like Canelo would be a monster favorite going into that one. Makes his last two fights at a deal absolutely massive or whatever. Also like right now like Jake Paul is like kind of the Netflix plug for for the world of boxing. Does AH get the in-ring job for that one? Yes. Absolutely. Oh could you imagine? Turkey mean, Canelo Crawford gonna be on Netflix. Oh, already, yeah?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Forgot. So Turkey's also the Netflix plug. I don't think any of them have any issues getting on Netflix. Well, the Netflix whole thing, and has been laid out, and Ariel's talked about this many times,

they only want to make big fights. The people that are making the biggest fights in boxing right now, Jake Paul and Turkey Al-Sheikh. So there it is. There you go. Speaking of Netflix, it's crazy like how well they're doing fights. You know, you log into Netflix all the time and it's just Taylor Serrano. It's like you cannot escape it, right? Countdown, weigh-ins live on Thursday. You can get the press conference on YouTube. Spotlight the documentary, the additional shoulder content. It's incredible. And the documentary kind of is a flashback to the old HBO ones. Like it's that good. Yes, really is No for sure. Not so fantastic the access that they have the history that they went through. It really is incredible

I can't believe they got that out of Taylor some of the stuff. Yeah. No, I was just gonna say It's fantastic. It's fantastic stuff. All right let's move on from boxing. We get to do a parlay pals in person. You think you got a winner for us this week? Listen, you keep on asking me and you know I'm very nervous about my pick here. This is the one that will get us into the green if we hit. You lead the way. You lead the way. You kick us off. Come on. I'm in New York for one reason. It's for the Katie Taylor V Amanda Serrano trilogy fight.

And it will be rude of me to come all this way and write a big long feature about Katie Taylor that's on crown.com right now. Shout out. Go read it. It's to be very rude of me to go any other way but to pick the queen of boxing, the greatest of all time, Katie Taylor.

That's where I'm going from. I thought he was going to heel turn and pick Amanda Serrano. That would have been. That would be helpful. Yeah. I don't think you'd be allowed back home. Cannot do that. All right, Rick.

I'll go. I talked about it earlier. Steve Garcia. Oh, the legend. Money line, Steve Garcia. That's my guy. I'm surprised. He's like, it's close to an even money fight.

Yeah, toughest fight of his career, but yeah. I like Steve here. Steve Garcia. The Hive will be humming on Saturday night. We are all part of the Garcia groupies. Shout out to Oh, Garcia groupies. Garcia goonies? Gooners? Garcia's goonies. All right, I'm gonna go with our guy Chris Curtis. Oh, shout out. He's in incredible shape. Action man. When we were in the gym, that guy, Looked really in incredible shape. Action man. When we were at Extreme Quest. When we were in the gym, that guy,

that guy, like action figure is another statement. Literally looks like an action figure. Yeah. Scary. Ridiculous shape. Is he fighting Cobbloth? No. He's fighting Max Griffin.

Yeah, Max Payne Griffin. Frankie, go ahead, Rob. I'm going to take Murphy and Mora to go over two and a half. Classic. Classic Frank. Classic Frank. Get us to the green and that's what matters. Frankie and his women's overs. That is a, that's a big one.

That's a payout on that one. Plus, plus 628. Oh shit. That gets us firmly in the green boys, come on. That Katie line is. It's the Katie underdog. That's really intimidating. Katie with the Steve Garcia.

Yeah. Oh, that could get tasty. Oh. That could get tasty. No, no. What are you sweating about? It's- Do you understand? Like, Chook asked me was like, still breathing during the first fight in MSG. No, really. I can't believe how much of these people, they love this woman. Did you like the second fight better than the first fight? I liked the first fight better. Well, I was at the first fight, so- I was also at the first fight. You were also- I was also at the first fight. Frank was also at the first fight? I like the first fight better. Well I was at the first fight so. I was also at the first fight. You were also. I was also at the first fight. Frank was also at the first fight. Like as I said to Ariel, it was like an afters of a wedding was happening in midtown. Yeah. Because all the Irish were all dressed up but they were also drinking heavily afterwards. So it was just. Irish drinking? Yeah I know it's crazy they just decided to do it for that night I think.

All right let me rip through my picks real quick and then we'll do our pound for pound rankings. Pizzi getting his own list. Oh there's my pick. Katie Taylor. I just can't, I mean I just can't ignore the fact that she is 2-0 and she is being placed as an underdog again. I mentioned it earlier. Three of her last five fights she has been an underdog. She is 3-0 in those fights. Two against Serrano, one against Chantel Cameron. Beautiful. Next up, let's go over to the UFC. Cheaty, if he makes the weight, he's going to have a massive size advantage. I like his striking. I like the way he mixes in the kicks. I like, especially Orthodox versus Orthodox. I think he's faster too. I think he gets it done. Over Jake Matthews. Next up, Steve G, baby. There it is. Yeah, two ships passing in the night is my opinion on this one. Garcia five straight wins, five straight knockouts. Calvin Kader 37, four fight

losing streak. Never been KO'd though, but I think Steve Garcia might change that this weekend. A few parlay's. Teixeira by KO, Patrino Lane by KO. Hopefully not that Patrino decision Rick was predicting earlier. Then we roll on to the next one. I did that, but I added Daniel Zellhuber, I feel confident in him getting it done next week. That is a UFC 318 pick. And then two more before we're out. We saw Danny at the gym too.

I mean, look at, yeah. He could have done an Extreme Couture par, like Chris Curtis and Daniel Zellhuber. Chris Curtis, Moneyline. Lewis DeCherro under two and a half. And then lastly, Morgan Chachier and Taliesin DeCherro, Moneyline. Lewis to share under two and a half. And then lastly, Morgan Chachier and Taliesin to share on Moneyline. I like that. Those are the picks for UFC Nashville, live from the volunteer state, Tennessee. All right, pound for pound rankings in honor of you, in honor of Katie

Taylor. Best thing about Ireland, Irish culture, what makes the Emerald Isle so special? We decided to make a collaborative list, we don't wanna sit here forever, three guys who have never been to Ireland, me, Frank and Rick, and then we'll go against yours, who's obviously you are the guest. You are great at making lists though, like I am terrible at making lists. No, no, your list is gonna be great. Jordan had to send, be like, this is terrible, do it again. By the way, he does that for Frank every week. The most generic list I've ever seen was P.T.'s original list, it literally was just like, Like be like this is terrible do it again by the way he does that for Frank It literally was just like number three literature

Wow How we listed his family members Then Rick and then we'll just keep going okay, all right, so I'm third you're right so I'll start off I'm gonna actually go this is No debating on this is actually my favorite beer, and you can't get more Irish than this, but it's Killian's Irish ale oh yes great pick Killian's Irish red yes, what the fuck is that? What do you mean? What is that? What the?

It's my favorite beer man. What was your first beer? A Killian's Irish Red or a Guinness? What the fuck is that? Did they put Killian's like in a baby bottle for you when you were young? You are some kind of piss Frank. You know that. Of all the kinds of piss in the world. What the fuck? You actually don't like that. Put it back't like this. I wanna see this fucking bullshit. Irish red. This is a rip off of the fucking Guinness logo. A cold pint of the Irish red gets the blood flowing. 1864.

It doesn't even say it's fucking brood, it says brood in the Irish tradition. Brood in the Irish tradition, baby. That's cause it's not brood in Ireland. Let me just get close to this, hang on. He's standing up, he's walking over to the screen Yeah, you've never had a you never served this you've never had a GK IR. It's the only Irish beer that I like to drink Crazy this is made in Irish Irish Number four we talked about it only get better get better. I dream of having this one day.

It's never too hot, it might get too cold. You get some days of sunshine. The weather in Ireland is absolute mint. The way you talk about it, you're like, I can't believe how much I'm sweating here. It's such bullshit. I was like, I wanna go to Ireland where you never sweat. You're like, we don't even need air conditioners.

The weather's so great over there. We never have to even. The smell of peat in the air. We never even have to use the AC. I'm over here spending hundreds on my AC unit every year. The weather in Ireland is absolutely mental. They look gorgeous. Um, okay.

For me, what, you don't know? What's up? He just can't how much We're getting killings after the show baby all right yeah, we should Fucking float to South Africa to get some It's here don't worry. They it's I think it's rude here all right After the show we should actually get this instead yes number three Every year that it comes around, you see that green color.

You know what time it is? It's the shamrock shake. Yeah. Shout out to Mr. McDonald's from Mac Donald himself from the country of Ireland. Mr. MacDonald. You know, it's March when the shamrock shakes are flowing baby. That mint, the greatest export from the Emerald Isle is

the emerald color of the shamrock shake. I absolutely. What a beaut. What a beaut. I mean the taste is delicious. An injection of sugar. I feel Irish drinking it if I'm being honest. How can you not? You have a few Killian Irish's breads and then you go get a Shamrock shake. I put it in the Shamrock shake. Woo, it's like a float, I love it. Frankie, number two? Never had one of them either, by the way.

You're fucking crazy. Number two. I'm questioning how Irish you are. Yeah. Number two's really personal to me because we work with Pizzi day in, day out, and there's the time difference. So while it's already afternoon for him,

it's still kind of early morning for us. And he always just has such a cheery voice when he comes on. He's like, top of the morning to you. Yes. And I'm like, oh, I just love the Irish culture. They are so good at recognizing when morning is and making sure that it's literally the top. There's nothing better.

Peter, I just want to personally thank you for doing that. He was showing me his decorations in his house. Elaine just redecorated and she has that sign up. Yeah. I love it so much. Love it. I absolutely love it. We can't finish any other way.

Number one worldwide celebration. Celebration of all things, Ireland. And that is St. Patty's Day. I absolutely love St. Patty's Day. March 17th, you get the green beers going, then you stamp the Guinnesses. There's nothing more Irish than that. Shamrocks. Beautiful. I would prefer to have Killians on St. Patty's.

I agree with you, Frank, but as tradition, we do the Guinness. Oh, St. Patty's Day, huh? Yeah. Named for St. Patrick. Patty Pimblit. Is that what we call huh? Yeah named for st. Patrick party pinblades One of my favorite fighters as well a great Irish lad fuck his boys I expected you to get angry. I was really hoping you to get mad. I expected you to get furious We felt like we couldn't speak Get an actual we need an actual list. We need we need a real list of of Irish culture. That was pretty

Please let us know look at that. Look at that illustration that illustration oh shit that is amazing got the sweat patch in there that's incredible strovey t-shirt fantastic I don't like forget what my list is just lash them up there and I'll chicken fillet roll right yes chicken fillet today today was a day that I wasn't in my full capacity this morning because we had a... Can we, can we discuss? Sure, sure, sure. We went and we had about 15 Guinness each there yesterday. Even fuller disclosure, you had about 15. I topped out maybe eight.

Yeah, yeah. Rick texted at one point and he's just like, hey, missed all this. Sorry, I've just sunk 10 points of Guinness with PC. I was like, great, can't wait for the show tomorrow. It became a game where we're like, we're still okay. Let's get another one. We're like, what are we doing? There was a point where I then recognized if I have any more, I will not be okay.

So let me stop here. Pizzi still trudged on for another three, four, which was extremely impressive. Can I really break the fourth wall there? I was receiving these texts sitting on my couch, comfortable at home, watching something on Netflix, tidying up some work for the show today, and I whispered to myself, I was like, God, I'm so glad I'm not working there.

We'll have Saturday. It was quite good. We'll have tomorrow, we'll have Saturday, but last night I was like, I'm so tired. It was the appetizer, it was the lubricant for Saturday. We had to kick the toppers on this car. We don't know I've been out with the game for same You know what I mean? We have to check and Yeah, so number four chicken fillet rolls

That was in Ireland right that video I Want one of these this look fantastic yeah so explain this to me because I've always I've heard people talk about this it's nothing crazy like it's not like a special thing it's more like a comfort yeah it's like every news like so it's like a bodega here I guess yeah they have a counter and basically all they're selling all day is chicken filet roll it's our bacon egg and cheese in New York it's that it wouldn't be a breakfast more of a lunch thing but everybody when they're hungover especially just day is chicken filet roll. It's our bacon, egg and cheese in New York. It's that equipment. It wouldn't be a breakfast, more of a lunch thing, but everybody when they're hungover, especially just wants a chicken filet roll,

a bag of tato, Lucas aid. What's a bag of tato? Is that chips? Potato chips. Yeah. Okay, and then Lucas aid is like, y'all's Gatorade. Get some electrolytes into you. All right.

What came first, Gator or Lucas? Lucas, 90s man, I don't know. 90s. I think the Shamrock Shake was actually first. Gator or Lucas? Lucas. 90s man. I don't know. 90s? I think the shamrock shake was actually first. Killians. I was yeah I was thinking of perfect you do a little hair of the dog with Killians and then you get a shamrock shake in your back. I will be fucking strike me down if we find Annie Pobb in American that has fucking Killians. We're gonna find a Killians this weekend I promise. You open the bag and go two killians. I mean it would be it would be great fun to have actual Irish people drinking killians to just like what the fuck is it. Two pints of the Irish red. They're gonna be like of course. And man who knows his alcohol.

Two more Irish reds. Finally some real Irish in here. All right what's number four? We've been on the chicken filler roll for a year now for Irish slang. Oh, yeah Never seen this video. I have I have but it's so long. What is it? Do it again? I don't know I can't hear it All right, Irish slang. So kind of pissed would you use often? Yeah. Yeah, not not you one person. Oh, yeah Lad you lad lad you know yourself yeah yourself that's a great one and dry show you would be someone who doesn't party people would call them a dry show ass ways you do something slightly wrong fair play to him fair play to him I've started using quite a

bit it's so automatic isn't it yeah to be just like if I even decide you might just go for it I even saw Darren till tweeting about Ben Askren last night. He was just like fair play Yeah, yeah, he did say fair play all right, what we got three I learned about oh man, this is Rock Shandy is this Rock Shandy is this video from Alabama back in like 2006 on St. Patrick's Day and like there is a claim that there was a leprechaun in a tree and so they're interviewing all these people and like this one guy's like who else saw the leprechaun say yeah everyone's like yeah do we have the photo of the leprechaun all right he's gonna get over to the leprechaun this this oh look at this thing this episode is off the

rails this it's like a Fanta what is this it's like a Fanta it's Irish but it's way better and this is a rock shandy so it's lemon and orange mixed ago with real bits so you get you get a glass you fill it all up with ice and you just lash that thing on top of it, and you just, ugh, it's terrible for you. What are bits? Bits like little orange, bits of orange. Oh, it's like pulp chunks. Yeah, pulp of orange.

Soda or just a juice? Soda. OK. And it's, you don't drink a lot of them, it's sugary as fuck, but again, when you're hanging out with your friends, nothing better, baby. Nothing better. Is this going with the chicken fillet?

Like, is this like the condiment? Yeah. Why is it called fillet? That's heavy fucking call it yeah oh that's heavy for the same word we're not French mate I'm in Jesus Christ at number number two what is number two ah the beautiful Irish landscape oh look at this what is that stone 240p picture of Stonehenge? Oh, there we go, there's the Skelligs. Wow.

Look at the beautiful sky. That's the Skelligs right there. Oh, yeah. Isn't that beautiful? It is, truly. Yeah, it really is. Jonah used to be a monastery. See their steps?

This looks like it was in like the Star Wars. It was in Star Wars. That was where Luke Skywalker lived. The training, right? Can you see the steps going up there? Yeah. Like that used to be a monastery for monks that would go and live there

and like they'd have to send out boats to get them food and everything. Like you go and learn how to be a monk. Incredible. Like did the brewery for Killian's or what is the drive called? The Ring of Kerry, the Ring of Kerry. Yeah. The really Atlantic way actually. Wild Atlantic way. That's what I want to do. That's on the world. Atlantic way. It's on the ring of Kerry though, as well. The ring of Kerry will take ages like it's you guys going around a motorbikes doing it or big camper vans it's it's class it's really really what will it actually take is it a day like you go around in a day or like people usually take a week and stop oh no but like you could you

could drive in three hours okay how long is the wild Atlantic Way well that's that's all along the coast of Ireland So all along the Atlantic Coast, so it's like Kerry 1600 miles. Yeah up to Dunagall They saw my board you could drive the entire route in 32 hours if you did not stop at all But you you want to stop you have yeah in the different places and enjoy them because they're all very different So some place along there be like fluent Irish speaking places Like they won't speak English. Shut the fuck up. That's crazy. You walk in and speak English and they're just like Wow, can you speak any Irish? Yeah, I'd probably get it. I'd probably be able to you could get by but like it wouldn't be good

It would be like a person speaking English. Yeah, I'm flying out to Ireland. I'm scooping your dog and we're gonna broken English you know I'm flying out to Ireland I'm scooping your dog and we're gonna go drive yeah me and Red you're gonna go drive he's not invited no PC he's welcome to but he keeps he keeps pushing it off he's like no don't come don't come don't we need to we need to get this on the company expense yeah all of us documentary about it it'd be unbelievable the BTS would be I'm trying to stay in the Mike Frank okay number one, sorry. No one heard that on music. Of course. Just wait. Do we have the photo yet? Fair play to them. Yeah, fair play to them. That should have been our number one. This leprechaun. Yeah, so obviously, Ten Lizzy, Shannon O'Connor, Rory Gallagher, Christy Moore, The Pogues. There's me with

Phil and his guitar. The man in the background is a stepfather. He actually died a week after I was uh... channel connor roary gallagher christy more the polls there's me with fill in its guitar at the moment the background is step for the actually do it a week after i was in the house all while crazy i was it was down as grave and fill in his mother just came up with his like i just want to come up to the house brought us all around the house like i hear is drinking with george best and roary gallagher back in the day with a wall or he is playing so that i like to get that's another really famous Irish dude that was a prodigal snooker player back in the day.

So that was an amazing experience. I think he's amazing. He's my favorite Irish man ever. But yeah, our music. Very small place. We have spread far and wide and we've impacted the world in wonderful ways. So yeah, very, very proud to be Irish and most proud of the music I would say. Little Efex effects twin my buddy They're doing yeah, my bloody Valentine, you know, I'm not that into them right? But no really Shut out the island beautiful country Beautiful in that in that Jersey. I mean I'm itching to lose the the undershirt. I can't wait to lose the undershirt

Yeah, shout out to island are like a model that fits so well. It fits perfectly obviously our list in jest we'll be able to give our real list once we all go but yeah once we all go crash in the garden. Please nobody post those and don't do those side by side anymore. Don't take us seriously on it this was all to get pizza fired up. Graphic looks great. Graphic looks fantastic. Beautiful. Thanks, that was great. I was up all night drawing that. Oh, it was fantastic. You did great. You killed it. That's why he was late this morning,

because he was up all night drawing that one. Killian's on me after the show, boys. Thank you. Frank, do we got any voicemails? You want to hang for voicemails, Pizzi? Oh, I got a message from Alan Murphy Shout out to Alan Murphy our researcher. Uh, Jed word for Irish music Says Alan Murphy, I'll know any voicemails Frankie

Not bad not bad Hey boys, it is Noah again. Any update on the merch? Again, I would love a signed t-shirt. It would make my year. Glad you guys had a great time in Vegas. Besides all the Apex posters, come on UFC. Put better posters in those.

My question today? Favorite UFC fight of all time and why have a great week boys. Merch I was actually like as I was falling asleep last night I was dreaming of different ways we could come up with merch. Alright. I mean just like a simple logo centered embroidered is like enough to start but we got to work in like a shout out somehow like shout out in like a circular ring with like our three faces maybe just one that just says shout out It's coming. We'll figure it out. I just think they get your three faces in the corner of a short face

We can have a few options We're gonna make this happen. I yeah. Thank you. Here we can make this happen favorite fight of all time. Yeah, what's your favorite man? Maybe Yuri Glover Tishara inira in 2022. That was a great one. I absolutely adored that fight. I was also, it was like 6.45 AM and I was in Italy and I was out on a porch in Florence drinking beers, watching it. So that might've had something to do with how much I enjoyed it, but that's up there. That's one of my favorites.

You? Either, I love Robbie Lollard v. Nicktea as one. Wow. Yeah, one of my favorites or going back. Well, the reason why I like this one is because it was before McGregor Mendez and everyone in Ireland was watching. And before that happened is Roy MacDonald and Robbie Lawler. And there was all this talk still in Ireland like, is this a fake sport?

And then you just see a man's face nearly hanging off the big face off they had when they had to be pushed apart like it was so primal yeah I was getting all these messages like what the fuck is this sport you know during it and there was Irish journalists there and they were like they'd never been to an MMA event before and I remember texting one of them a guy called Ken Aarley really famous journalist over there I text him and say what do you think of that and he was like that was like a religious experience. I walked into the arena as that fight was starting and then stayed for the

Connor Mendes. So it was, it was, it was quite a trip, um, being there for that. Probably for me, either Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, just that felt like a religious experience, truly. That felt like a religious experience, truly. Or maybe BJ Penn, shirk or BJ Penn, Joe daddy Stevenson, just like domination beat down nasty motherfucker stuff. Um, it's gotta be one of those, those sent me.

All great fights. I think we pick. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm thinking I'm going to stick with, with us. Go for it. It's a great fight.

So my question is, how do you think about All great fights. I think we pick. Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm gonna stick with with us. It's a great fight So my question is Filly calling designing the San Jose now San Jose show Question for you fellas is what does it say about the lack of American champions? That we have that a lack of focus that's a lack of discipline something in the culture. We have no It's holding the mic now And we have a whole lot and it seems like the car just Franks been doing Frank is just What did he say? I appreciate you all. Thank you so much big inspiration He said what do we make of like the lack of UFC champions from America?

My answer is pretty easy and I don't know if I'm right or not But like yeah, I think though just the rest of the world caught up. I think that's certainly true. I think it's actually more obvious than that, which is. American athletes have other sports that pay more money and they go into those sports far more money with far less damage done to your body. You don't have to fight. If you, if, I mean, think of John Jones as an example, his brothers made way more money in the NFL. That is the path.

If John Jones was good enough to be in the NFL, he would have been an NFL player. And so we lose out on the best athletes from America to other sports, especially if you're tall, if you're tall, like the heavyweight division guys, you're going to be a basketball player. That's just guaranteed. If you have the option, uh, football, there's so many other options. Um, we're going to be, we're going to be, we're going to be, you're gonna be a basketball player. That's just guaranteed if you have the option Football there's so many other options. We're the the best American athletes don't go into MMA I love how in exchange for maybe like a glancing fade off the mic every once in a while from Pizzi

We've now gotten him just breathing heavy into the mic. This is what Frank wanted. Yeah. What's up guys? What's up man? I got the perfect name for you. Okay. Mailman Arena, MMA. Mailman Arena. Go ahead and take it and run with it.

That'll be the name of the cage. Just has to be. Mailman Arena. Oh, that was it, thank you man. Peechie, do you know about this? You didn't even ask for road. The mailman fights? was it. Thank you, man. P.T. Do you know about this? You didn't even ask for road. The mailman fights? No.

Thanks for watching, man. We, uh, we, we do these voicemails at the end of every show. I know. We've got a string of mailman calling in, maybe 10 mailmen who have signed up and said, we want to fight for mailman fight league. So Connor and I are about to be the

presidents of mailman fight league. P.T. just wants to fight the mailman. It's going to be incredible. It will be incredible. Have you ever carried mail? Yeah, I deliver telephone boxes when you're... All right, you're in.

Telephone books, not boxes. We also need, if we're going to do merch, we need like two boys in the back. Mailman Fight League. Mailman Fight League, our tagline. So the name of the cage will be the Mailman Arena, the MMA, and then the tagline is the fights always deliver. The fights always deliver.

You know what, you have a pool. You should just get the water out of the pool, call the mail guys over, and shoot it Dan Huckerstal. Well, they're willing to fight on lawns. They said, one of them said they're gonna intercept another guy's route and fight him on the lawn. They keep asking us to pay for the flights, but I think they have to drive up in their mail truck.

Circling. Their little bike. And if you're on a walking route. Our mailmen have cars they don't have little bikes. What's up boys in the back this is Kyle Collin from Billman Ireland. What's up Kyle? Fourth of July or 420? Ah man. Aren't they the same? I'm fourth of July. You can do 420 any day you want. Yeah. It's not really like a wildly, it's kind of like a hush hush holiday. People are

just sort of like, oh yeah 420. If you're waiting to smoke weed on 420 every year, fuck off. Yeah like 4th of July like it really is like the country is taking over. Like yeah if you are not by a body of water at a beach, at a pool, at a barbecue. At fights at the White House. At fights at the White House. If you're not doing one of those things, it's sort of just like, bro, what are you doing?

Like go out and like enjoy your day. Love fireworks. Love, love a couple of dogs, couple of glizzies. Drink some beers. Have a great time. We're like sitting around, oh, it's the 19th of April. Oh, I better get ready to smoke weed tomorrow I'd be like get the fuck away.

When I was like 13 I did. Yeah it was funny in high school and like you showed the high school high and it's just like. I did because I was just smoking weed all the time. Every day yeah. I mean shit. It falls on 420 but I was high on 419 as well. I did not plan it that way Boys in the back, what's up? What's up? I'm from Denver again Colin First off GC still better pray. I never see you around an Avalon bike, but on a real note You know, I've been going through a tough time lately like a really really tough time, and you guys are the constant light in my life. Every Thursday I listen to Michelle. I try to speak to her every two days because it just makes my life better listening to you guys, and you guys really, really, really help me.

So thank you for that, generally. I have a little deeper question for you guys. What is one thing that each of you guys, I want to hear from GC, Frank, Rick, anyone else wants to pitch in either, but what is the most valuable thing that you have learned from loss? From loss. Thank you guys, I hope you all are doing amazing. Love you boys, bye. I mean, first off, let's just say like, hope you're doing well.

That's so nice. And thank you. That means a ton to us. I hope you're not in a situation where we are the light of your life, but like the fact that you said that is incredibly, we appreciate that. We appreciate you listening more than you know and I hope you're doing better and if not you get better quickly and things turn around. For sure. I'll jump in and answering that. Yeah. The most valuable thing I've learned from loss is Jump in and answering that yeah the most valuable thing I've learned from loss is Wanting to be able to say I love you to the person that you end up losing so from that point forward I make sure to let everyone know that I love that I love them guy girl doesn't matter So you guys are probably noticed that I say it a lot. I never told him to never said to me

Yeah, well, we never heard it. You know Frank like that Frank is genuine for the first time ever and we're all just like It's been rescinded I Mean along the same lines like this is a finite thing life life is short and finite and fragile and Maximize that shit while you have it. It's along the same lines as Frank, like spend that time wisely. You talk about loss, like you can lose many things. It's not just a loss of life.

Like you can lose relationships, you could lose jobs, you could lose material items that you find very near and dear to you. Anything you can lose in a heartbeat and it's just gone. And it's the classic, the cliche, like you don't know what you got till it's gone, like just appreciate the things that you have, however they are. Uh, and that, that is a lesson learned through loss for sure.

And one more thing on that. Not, I know a lot of these things feel like they're the biggest thing in the world at the moment in our heads, but zoom out every once in a while and just be like, is this thing that I'm obsessed over actually the biggest thing in the world right now, or are there other things that are more important are there other priorities that I could be focused on not every decision in that moment is going to be the most important thing have a little perspective zoom yourself out and and look around the landscape and make

sure you're prioritized what's really important but this time is super limited and spend spend it with the people that you love. Yeah time is more valuable than money. By leaps and leaps and leaps and bounds. Yeah. Let's just leave it there. Hello boys in the back this is Anna and from Minnesota. Anna. I'm curious to know your guys guys would put on a roster. Who would you put on the main card and who would you put on the undercard? I don't want to do a full card but... Thanks, I love the show. I watch you guys every week. That was a delayed. I'm sorry Ana, I didn't know. Thank you for watching Ana. We really appreciate it.

I mean first and foremost, thank you to all of you for watching. full card but that was a delayed I'm sorry I didn't know I didn't go on watching on it we really appreciate it I mean first and foremost I still am skeptical on it happening I'm just not just not very sure I will have the noise you made as soon as she said the fuck the way it was like it's just like yeah I mean we're talking we talk about like oh he did fight island and he did the sphere it's just like well what about like doing a fight in Africa and doing a fight in Spain and doing a fight in Hawaii and like he's made things not happen before. Devil's, it's a great argument, Devil's Advocate. I don't think it mattered, like in that scenario it was Dana White had to want it,

in this scenario the President of the United States wants this and that is a different Cool. He's fickle. Is he gonna want it next week? Is he gonna want it next year? Yeah, that's the thing. Like I believe when I see it. I hope I'm wrong Do you make a spectacle out of it and like do a bunch of like? What has to be a spectacle? Yeah, but then it's like does that actually give any more credit to the sport that is notoriously been? That's not the objective all right i think connor versus michael that's that's i just remember a h saying earlier this week he's like that would be big for the sport what would he know legitimate i mean boxing guy connor michael oh yeah i have a question what's up man i understand you guys got the mailman league

and everything going on but can you guys talk about something a little? Don't this happening overseas Pt might know a little bit about this maybe you guys can bring him in on this I don't know if you got this familiar with the band Water to prevail Alex the terrible man crazy dude is in bare knuckle He is terrifying and taking names I Alex the terrible dude guys talk about it. He's wrestling bears

video footage on it just I Think that is so bad after you have a musician a young hungry musician from Russia just touring doing bare-knuckle and kicking ass. Yeah, he's... Yo, I'm looking at some pictures right now. It's crazy. And yeah, Red Corner MMA, shout out, put it on the counter. Did some great coverage on it and wanted to hear some input. Shout out, guys. Jesus, alright, man. No, shout out. Red Corner MMA, as I told you.

Remember you had Dennis Goyko on the show? He's the guy who runs that. Yeah, yeah. James Mystery works with him as well. You know James? I know. Yeah. He's a...

This guy fought the owner of the bare-knuckle league in Russia. There are loads of bare-knuckle leagues in Russia and fight leagues, different weird things. Red Corner have a documentary coming out about it all. He fought- About Alex the Terrible. Not about Alex the Terrible, but all these bare-knuckle things.

I'm sure they have stuff with Alex the Terrible too. But he fought the owner of a bare-knuckle company like last week and they went through a decision and he lost and his face was completely destroyed. And he like it felt so good to be in there I didn't care about the result I just wanted to bleed and make another man bleed Wow this guy's playing in front of like 50,000 people he's got like 2 million followers on Instagram if you look if you go into his Instagram you'll see him like wrestling his pet tigers wrestling his bears like he is yo he rocks some

crazy mess look this is from one of his fights yeah we're talking just like hey bail this is this is the guy this is the owner of the fight league that he fought the guy with the cornrows and Alex the Terrible's the guy covered in tattoos on the right and then I think we have one more picture that I just said look at his oh my lord oh this is he does like a face you know like a selfie video where he's like it felt so good to bleed dude this guy is. I'm looking at a picture of him here and he's got an alligator on a chain. Yeah, he's wild.

I'm in followed. Easy. I'm Alex. Do I follow him already? He is followed by Mike Perry and then a couple of my friends from college. He always comes up on my feed. I only like that.

Do you think your friends from college follow him for the music? Yeah both those dudes would like his style of music. Like if you see what he's pulling up it's like it's hard not to be like stay in lock on his content is insane. Yeah this dude is a savage I want to watch him oh my god I'm looking at the tiger wrestling video. This guy is a savage he's

feeding baby bears with with bottles of milk. He's very tender with them as well. This is a great follow. Holy shit, he's wrestling a full-size bear. I'm in on Alex the Terrible. When's his next fight, bro? Maybe when his face fucking kills, I suppose. His masks are crazy too.

I'm gonna have to listen to some Slaughter to Prevail. It's heavy as fuck, dude. It's the heaviest shit I've ever heard. Yeah, it looks intense. It looks fucking intense. Wow, great call. Great call, I was not aware of this guy or this band What up boys in the back, what's up, brother? It's Thomas from Jackson, I tweens

Shut up billion time listener fourth time. Let's go four times for the whole crew actually Which fictional superhero would you guys be and why? Which fictional superhero would you guys be and why? In my opinion Eric Jackman would make a great Batman due to his stoic somewhat dead pantomime Naturally, that's right. And he's always wearing all black Frank would be a great boos banner because he seems very intelligent, but don't piss him off And Connor is none other than Professor X. I'd love to hear your answers.

Thanks for the time boys. And no, me and On Air Jordan don't have beef. I love On Air Jordan and Andy, Connor, the boss man himself, Hill Wani, and we are great. There's one person. There person no one better than that man, and there's no one better than the mysterious one Frank you're the man all right boys wasn't no Frank for the time He loves Frank. Just don't catch that check till Friday, please. I mean you just just can't be bald Without getting you just I mean this is just well if you had one eye, you'd see a cyclops, right? You have a beautiful head though, GC. It's so symmetrical. It's gorgeous.

Bald, throw it out there. Professor X is like 80. He rides around in a fucking wheelchair. It was the wheelchair that got crippled. Of course the youngest member of the team, guys. For Christ's sake. I mean, of course I'm Batman. Obviously I'm fucking Batman. Actually, last time I checked, Pizzi was Blanche's sake. I mean, of course I'm Batman. Obviously I'm fucking Batman.

Actually, last time I checked, Pizzi was Blanche's Batman. Yeah, that's Blanche Batman. That's an offshoot. I haven't saved anyone's life since then though, so I mean. Is Professor X sick? Can anyone tell me?

He's not sick, no. No, he's crippled. No, no, no, no, is he sick? Is he like badass? Oh yeah, he's a total badass. He's an omega level mutant. He's got like insane telekinesis powers. He's elite. I'm moving around like this telekinesis powers. He's a lead control

The fact that you only see him for his handicap is very upset the worst part is You know what you're a can of piss car who's magneto he's the adversary is legit shows man huh is this legit you don't know X-Men? Uh, no, I don't. X-Men has passed my time. Watch Days of Future Past, or First Class. Watch them all, man. What else are you doing? Magneto controls metal. That's his skill. I don't have anything else to do. Alright, yeah, I'm in. Who was he played by?

In the younger version, it's James... McAvoy. Or St. Patrick Stewart. No, that's the old guy version. No, it's St. Patty's doing not St. No, that's the old guy version. No, that's the way Connie Stewart Patty Patty he said it that way to like emphasis. What's up, bro? Yo, what's up boys? What's up, bro from Michigan?

What's up? I'm listening for some caller. I just want to call in and say I love the show and To let y'all know I got my first MMA fight coming up on August. Let's go Connor So pumped to get in there and do my thing. I can't thank you guys enough for keeping me entertained every week. I hope you guys have a great rest of your week and much love. Peace out. Bye. Fuck, appreciate the call. Who you fighting? What card? We want to support man. We want to get the topology page up. Great name, best of luck to you Connor. Come on, let me get through. This is Dominic from Tucson.

You're through Dominic, shout out to Tucson. I don't care who Tom Aspinall fights next. I want it to be like that scene in Jurassic Park where they're just lowering the goat into the T-Rex cage. Whoever Tom Aspinall fights next. Cyril Gonn comes in on a fucking string. So true though. Oh fuck, it is true.

Drop a man. It is true. That Oh fuck, it is. Drop a man. It is true. That was great. They're getting in a shark tank with that guy. Yo. What's good? In the back. Jammer. It's Jammer. Jammer! For that? Who would win in a 2v2

basketball? It might be Jammer for that. Rick and GC versus Ariel and Frank. Smoke session. We got this. Rick and GC. Yeah, yeah. You guys played basketball as well, didn't you?

I just don't know if you'll be able to carry Ariel, you know, but anyways. Is basketball the one with the racket? Ariel would actually be carrying Frank. I've thrown the frisbee around with old Frankie. It was an ugly scene. The coordination wasn't good for him? It was an ugly scene. We haven't thrown anything since. I'm a guy, big fan of catch. Keep the two baseballs because I'm ambidextrous, the two

baseball gloves, keep a football in the car, always got a frisbee with me. I could throw them all, let's let it rip. We had the pig skin at the backstage of the fanatics fest, we're tossing that around. Oh, let it rip. Frankie notably didn't show up and didn't throw it. I think he was scared of that. Yeah he's also gonna be a liability in the post, can't dribble for shit. It's a smoke session. Jesus. You can drive a Zimboni. Yeah. We can play hockey too. Hey this is Lindsay from Nebraska. Oh shit what's up Lindsay? I'm calling this time a bald guy on the right.

Okay I have beef with you saying, I didn't name a random athlete with loose midwestern ties. I grew up a Husker football fan. I only know athletes with loose midwestern ties. Now, I don't know your name, but you know whose name I do know? Mike Ruzier. Tyson Trophy winner, Mike Ruzier. College football hall of famer, Mike Ruzier. Falcon football player winner Mike Ruzier. College football hall of famer Mike Ruzier. Falcon

football player Mike Ruzier. Used to frequently attend my family tailgate Mike Ruzier. I'm a little nervous. This doesn't sound that random. Shout out to a random athlete but I guess I guess I guess you're right okay. Heisman trophy winner doesn't necessarily count as random. Yes, exactly. My bat. Shout out, Kenny Bell. Still waiting on the PFL ticket explanation. Thank you, bye. Wow, that was great.

That was a great call. What is a family tailgate? Wow, you don't know that? No, I know what a tailgate is, like, before a game. But what is a family tailgate? All right, so college football, like, you're gonna have ties where, like, people have cheered for these teams

for generations and generations, and there's probably gonna be, like you're gonna have ties where like people have cheered for these teams for generations and generations and there's probably gonna be like a grandpa who owns like the most primo spot like right next to the stadium and they go the night before and then they set up at like 7 a.m. and they're just running the tailgate the whole time and people just swing in and swing out, grab a drink, grab food like they will literally have like a full buffet spread, unlimited drinks, and people will just pull in, oh, grab a drink, chill for a minute, blah, blah, blah, and then go, and like their season tickets hold up.

That sounds amazing. There are a few things on this planet better than a proper college football Saturday, but like, yeah, it's always like, they've been doing it for the last like 30 years, they go hard, like I used to get kicked out. I paid for a parking spot at Georgia, and I would get kicked out at 2 p.m. on Friday

so people could bring their campers in to Tailgate if there was a football game on Saturday. And they just set up, and it's just, the most unreal food spread, just coolers full of beer and wine and liquor, and it's just, it's incredible. And they usually- No shit face the people be at college football games. You'll see grandparents like walking around just

like 10 sheets of the wind. Don't know where they are. It's fantastic. Yeah. I mean, there's, that sounds like my kind of thing. There's nothing like a college football Saturday, like a proper college football Saturday.

I'm not talking about like, uh, I was going to say UCF nights, but that feels like a dig at at Middle Florida like it just is gonna have to bring me for the next Feufeast I'm available for he's got to bring me to to one of these places. A tailgate? Yeah please. Pizzi they didn't tailgate at Notre Dame when you went there played football? Can't really remember much from that day. No he wasn't able to tailgate because he's on the football team. That was they broke the card machine and everyone was given free beer in a stadium in Ireland Do you know how like it was levels of intoxication?

Don't know man, maybe could have happened. How was the tailgating at Maryland? Yeah, yeah, tell me it's the best I'm really jealous I had a Maryland. Most people go to the tailgate, not many people go to the game. Yeah, yeah. Tailgate's the best. It's not the best. I'm really jealous. It's the best. What's up, boys?

This is Hayden from California. Just shouting you guys out. But yeah, Connor, you gotta head out to Dublin. Magical, magical place. Need to, have to. You gotta go to Bo's, drink some fucking creamers out there. Bo's, great show.

You say drink some killings? Yeah. Go watch some Gaelic football, and then head up to Malahide Castle, go eat some tea too. Maybe ask Petey, he might know a thing or two about that one. This guy knows the plan. Yeah, he knows Malahide Castle everything. I was thinking about the posters you guys got ripped off at. Mm-hmm.

And I was thinking what... Fuck. What uh... What are some bad items you could get from the UFC like a signed her Dean plastic gloves not for Frank Frank I love that an empty monster can that they hold at the end of the interviews but yeah some ideas out there to meet the the number one all-time bad is that dude who caught the Derrick Lewis cup. I was just going to say like a used cup. No, my hand is not going up at all. I'm catching it.

Oh, fuck no, dude. That's sailing right by me. Oh, they automatically go for it. Oh, no, no, no, no. Pluck out the spot. Sound the motto, sign, score a card. Yeah. That would be pretty shit. Sign scorecard Shit a

Used Vaseline stick from the fight, but it's not signed by anyone It's just it's just a used Vaseline stick you have no idea like who was used by a piece of the octagon But no that's cool. It just says your name like the one that they try to advertise No, no he's saying your name written The demo the demo like nothing pisses me off more when they show that advertisement like this could be your name I'm like you wasted some of the real estate to put your name. Yeah, that's funny. It discarded pissed Anyways, I got a question here for New York, Rick. I believe a few episodes back he mentioned something about going on two bachelor parties to New Orleans.

I'm going there for UFC 318 solo. Oh shit, okay, solo. I'm supporting my guy Dustin Poirier, favorite fighter all time. Anyways, if you could show me out some places to go to, that'd be super awesome. I'll be there from Thursday to Sunday. So anyways, much love from Canada, boys. Keep doing your thing. Shout out Chili Wag, brother. You've been to New Orleans before, right?

I have, I have one recommendation and one recommendation only. You go first. That drunk you can't remember, can you? No, it's not that. The Ruby Slipper. It's a brunch spot, so good. I was only there for three days. I went twice. It is phenomenal. Go to the Ruby Slipper to It's a brunch spot, so good. I was only there for three days, I went twice.

It is phenomenal. Go to the Ruby Slipper to get brunch. It's fantastic. And also, skip Cafe Du Monde. I was gonna say, don't go. If there's a wait for Cafe Du Monde, don't go. If you can get into Cafe Du Monde without waiting, at least get some beignets.

It's quite tasty, but. With Mike Green? Not worth it. No, I mean, I don't think Mike's gonna be there what is a beignet did we already talk about this it's just right pastry with yeah fried dough with dough and the powder sugar on it perfect to the killians what isn't in rip bourbon street Bourbon Street is always that that's the recommendation go down Bourbon Street you'll find infinite places that you can drink you get the

frozen drink everyone show you their boobs? That is a thing. There was a lot of that. Did you show off your banger? No, no, no, that's not it. Is it not a trade? No, it's not like that. It's not a trade man. No, there's an expectation that also gonna do that I highly recommend get some drinks and go to the spotted cat It is just live music live jazz music and there's just like a whole strip of live music venues there, it really is like incredible music, Ruby Slipper, Spotted Cat, skip the beignets, and just enjoy the food, because the food there is unbelievable.

Yeah. Don't get your banger out. If I can, real quick, I got married there. Oh, hell yeah. Back in O'Wine, you'll wanna check that out for sure. What was it again, one more time? Back in O'Wine. Okay.

It's like kind of off of off off of Frenchman Street it's a bit of a walk but it's totally totally worth it and then hand grenades like if you're gonna get a frozen drink that's the one you want to try. Yeah the hand grenade is like the the jungle juice like it's like pretty sour if you like a sour drink. That was a good question. Or a Killian's. Or a Killian's. Yeah, a couple cold Killian's always. That'll get the party started.

Irish Red, baby. What's up, boys? It's C.H. Coleman from Small Town, Missouri. We've got a few rapid fire questions, statements, some crew. Let them rip. Rick, fuck the haters. Fuck them.

Don't be swayed by them. You're batting about a thousand. Yes. Keep it up. Love your takes. Thank you. G-Fee, every time I hear your name, I think of Georgia Ways by Quavo and Luke Bryan. Professor Edge. Have you heard that song? And if so, what do you think about all these rap and country collabs that have been coming out lately? I'm kind of on the fence about it.

Frank, I think the correct spelling of P.T.''s name has now surpassed the curiosity of who you really are. I refuse to find out the answer. Gotta keep the kayfaber alive. Jordan and Andy, I love your recent additions to the show, keeping Frank in check. He's a wild man back there. Keep pulling the reins on him. Finally, I know how much you guys love your Midwest fighter recommendations,

but a possible future interview for y'all could be Evan the Phenom Elder. He's a Tennessee lightweight prospect and the UFC has some great stories in history for the short time that he's been in the UFC. Good guy to keep your eye out on. Thanks for all the content guys. Keep up the good work. Shout out to you, brother. Shout out to Small Town, Missouri. I have heard the song by Quavo and Luke Bryan, Don't Need It, Don't Need Those Collaborations. You don't like the country rap mix.

Nah, just Don't Need It, Don't Need That Shit. I know Jelly Roll. It makes me feel like that bullshit. Jelly Roll, they... Is that the fat lad? That's like the industry plan, I see him everywhere. I'm sure people are gonna get offended by that, but everywhere I go, I see Jelly Roll. Post Malone, like this era. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm laughing because he is like, I. I'm sure people are gonna get offended by that, but everywhere I go I see Jelly Roll.

Post Malone, like this era. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm laughing because he is like, I asked him if he was gonna get offended by that. Someone's gonna get offended by that, but I mean, yeah, plus like Quavo. Hey, he's objectively. Quavo and I have kind of fallen off.

The Pizzi name thing, I said Pizzi, and someone was like, oh shit, I thought it was Pizzi this whole time, and I was like, nah, it's Pizzi. I saw that. Sort of for Peter Carroll. You can do whatever you want. I've been called way worse, I won it was pizza this whole time and I was like nah, it's pizza Yeah, you can do whatever you want I've been called way worse PC that's another one. Yeah, but you are actually PC Yeah, you're a Peter Carroll. So you are PC. Yeah, in fact Ariel I think calls you PC every once in a while

You better not know he does I've heard it. I don't want you guys doing it with him. Absolutely not Every once in a while better not no he does I've heard it. I don't want you guys doing it with him absolutely not Pizza Right, okay, I wish I wanted to come on here and say oh they got me again. I'm back in the smart back Stupid stuff on my Twitter, but no. No, I got black out drunk this weekend, 4th of July. Shout out America. And I tweeted some dumb stuff. Okay, we make mistakes.

It's a big mistake. Coachman has locked me out of my Twitter. Coachman. Is he talking about the coach? Yes, this is Don Davis. That is that. Mailman Fight League. I'm getting blown up.

We have a line just for people calling in about this. Look, here's what we're going to do. Tell us, Don. No one likes single elimination tournaments that we see the conclusion of and get undisputed champions. No one likes that so what we're gonna do is have PFL MMA

Which is mailman affliction America, okay one bracket rule versus city carriers and I am pleased to announce the debut of PFL and then a again And I am pleased to announce the debut of PSL MNA again Europe We actually got a call from And we will find this man a competitor To PFL, Chicago. I wanted to shout out a fan who is a listener of this show, Kevin Holland-Oates. We had a great, face-to-face discussion about the development of the PFL.

Oh, there he is. He's done. I'm going to give Frank a little piece of advice. I didn't have this ready to go. He had some great questions about the future of the PSL. I ran some feedback, I got some feedback rather from him about suggestions, input, what he wanted to see out of the fastest rising MMA and Mailman MMA league in the world.

And I was right there. So it's not all like that. Oh, beat the Exit 8, I did it. And, uh, looking forward to their sequel, The Platform 8. Uh, it's got some more mini-games, more horror elements, a lot more walking and observing, so check it out. The walking game from last time.

Take care. Exit 8? The fucking walking game. The walking simulator. All right, so Kevin Hollenhove is actively in the chat. He said, Frank, play my call, damn it. But then I think when we showed the photo, he started laughing. Yeah, he's crying.

Okay, so I think that was Kevin Holland-Oats. In the photo. In the photo with Don Davis. Kevin Holland-Oats. Fuck, I want to meet Don Davis. Double D, baby. I've met Don Davis. God, he always delivers.

I actually think I've met him too, because he came in studio. That's right. Fuck. I'd be too, starstruck, I'd just hug him. Me too. I mean, he calls into the show every week, so we're friends now. I'd be too starstruck. I'd just hug him. I mean he calls into the show every week so we're friends now. I'd love to meet the coach. Yeah. The coach man. The coach. The coach man. Love the coach. Hey boys it's your boy Bodkins. First shout out to GC and the boys and Frank for shouting my podcast out a couple weeks ago. My question to you is, we know Ariel kind of books

all the guests, but it has the Rolodex, but my question for you boys is, you know, who is the one person or fighter that you guys have come across and you're like, holy crap, I'm talking to this person. This is awesome. Thanks boys. Have a great weekend. Shout out Bodkins legend. For me it was the first time I got to meet Izzy right after he beat Whitaker for the second time UFC 271 and we hadn't done a ton of in-studio guests at that point and like going down to get him and then like walking him to the control room and it's just me and him and just like chatting shit and I just watched him fight on Saturday and like I was very new to like to getting the guest thing that was in my back of my head I

was like oh this is one belt on Saturday this is crazy so yeah that was that was definitely one and then McGregor coming in city I was like holy shit holy shit Connor especially with how much security he has so those two for sure Pt were you ever starstruck early? And my man vandal a silver when I was about 20 And I was like train with them fucking I was trying to jiu-jitsu, but he didn't fucking realize that holy shit fucking legs Use me for a demo now, where you like what am i doing

I just build trying to like stand up and look cool like no did you have a second to be like holy shit anderson vanderlei Silva just fucking wreck me or were you just surviving go get him that is crazy so yeah that was a look at a GA hall up the road from my house crazy Crazy when you think about it. But then I mean, I mean I'm at a pretty crazy run in terms of like, McGregor was the biggest sports star in the world and I was kind of living with him for a while and stuff and I think the craziest thing for me is like seeing people react to him during that period when he was on top of the world. Like I was walking through places with him and there was guys like throwing their kids

out of their arms to try and touch him. Like I remember it got really weird after the Aldo one. I was I was meant to be ghost writing his book at that time. So they brought me to dinner after that with all the team and everything. And as he was leaving it, like men, fully grown men, like I trying to touch him like in a way that, you know what I mean? Yeah. And D was standing beside him and I got really fucked up. We had to start blocking lads from like nearly hitting deep trying to touch him. It was insane. Cause it's like, you know, two o'clock in the morning in Las Vegas, it's pretty, pretty crazy atmosphere. And they see this

guy who's just lit the whole strip on fire he's standing right there in front of him so I think that's the craziest of us in people reacting to superstars in the sport and that's probably the craziest thing yeah that's a great one I was I was definitely I went to a BJ Penn book signing his book had just come out after he did he was in signing in Long Island at Matt Serra's gym, or like a bookstore near Matt Serra's gym, the day after losing the belt to Frankie, or like two days after losing the belt to Frankie. And I was just like, holy shit,

BJ Penn's like sitting right there. I was like, you'll be the champ again. I was like, you'll do it. We all thought he would. You'll get it. Also, he won that fight. Yeah, I agree. But yeah, because he was the guy who made me fall in love with this sport. I was just like, Oh shit, he's right here. He's right here in front of me. I couldn't believe it. And then after that, it's a lot more of what you're saying. It's like watching other people kind of freak when they see some of these guys. I mean, it was also pretty cool. Like we were spending a decent amount of time

with Tom Masputal and Andy and Charlie and the rest of the team. And it's almost the opposite of the like, holy shit, I can't believe I'm in this presence. It's like, holy shit, I can't believe how down to earth and normal these people are. Like this is like- I had to remind myself when we were up there chilling,

I was just like, holy shit, this guy is the heavyweight champion of the world right now. He's the baddest man on the fucking planet. I also will say, you talk about people reacting, the Tom reaction in Vegas just like, oh shit this this guy is the heavyweight champion of the world He's the baddest man on the fucking planet I also will say you talk about people reacting the the Tom reaction in Vegas was like that was What you're talking about with with Connor we had to take the back way out Because like the the fans were so intense. We had security everything like that we're going through the tunnels of the Venetian to get him back up to the suite and like People are like closing in like crazy and then they found the elevator we were going to and

Like as the doors are closing people are like Tom Tom Tom like trying to get him to sign shit It was it was intense like I was like, wow, this is like real star power here He's unbelievable that they're like just the nicest guy. It's shocking how nice he is Yeah, like sometimes you get a message from a small spilling haven't heard from you a while everything. Okay, you're like, what the fuck? I'm asking was feeling haven't heard from you a while everything okay. You're like, what the fuck Okay, what the fuck is happening? Yeah, he's cool going and he's led What's up besties in the back is Ben from Patoni, New Zealand, what's up, Ben? I didn't even know this this line would work. I just wanted to call and say Oh it works

Hi Hi Matt Alright see ya That's it If you're like Ben and don't know if this line works, it's right there. It's right on the screen. Leave the boys in the back of voicemail. 415 sup BITB Did you say first Kiwi, Frank? Was that guy from New Zealand? Yeah

Oh fucking shit You kind of no-sold that. we were like, hey, what's up, I'm like, yeah. You know what's up, what's up? So he was probably saying, does it work for international calling? The answer to everybody is yes, you can call internationally. You can call from anywhere.

415 sup B-I-T. I mean, we've had Australia, New Zealand. That's incredible. Yeah, man. France, everywhere. Sweden? Sweden. Amsterdam, Ireland. Yeah, Dublin, right? Or Dublin Today. Yeah, Dublin Today. Dublin today. Yeah, yeah man international show

Bonjour, je m'appelle Denis, I am Denis, I'm from France, I am calling from France the france uh i am a factor in france uh the post oh host man yeah i want the whole fucking way this has to be a joke for me yes once i once i win the competition after is Brian Battle. He wants Brian Battle after he beats up the other Postman. Gros bisou to tout le monde, gros bisou to everyone. Merci. Are we sure this is an hour?

Oh, merci. Merci. A trois. Look at this. La Post. La Post. That's the name of it. Pretty sick logo, can't lie, yellow.

So now we have our European division growing. We'll call Don. La Poste, we have a French. I can get you an Irish Postman. Icelandic. I thought you were filling in. Fuck no, that guy sounded dangerous, no way. French, Icelandic, and now Irish as well.

The European division's growing. Icelandic dude needs to be avoided. Icelandic dudes. I can avoided but yeah I think dudes I can't believe he called in he sounded like a hard man also I'll tell you that Frank is non-stop my ear that's this is 24 you know I gotta give a shout out to New Yorker I care for thank you birthday take thank you here if you're over the age of 21 to 25, I really care that you have a birthday. Congratulations, you're born another year.

What do you want me to throw? Kick your cake parade? Down Park Ave here? Alright man, be well. What do you want? Oh, you're first to text your coworkers. Oh, you got a cake and work. No. You know what 24 hours does? the text your co-workers oh you got a cake in work no okay these guys was fucking and these people instrument you know what 24 hours I'm out get out of here it just takes two seconds I'd say he's one of parties that guy yeah in the chat he's like whoa no one you want to celebrate life busy man yeah he

literally is in the chat 24-7. Exactly. What did Andy say? Andy, you're up. This feels like it's directed at Frank because we've been celebrating his birthday for the past like two months. Fair point. Celebrate life, enjoy things. I interpret all that as him just saying happy birthday really appreciated. The Frank birthday celebration was like three weeks long. The other birthday celebrations was let's see how many we can cram into one hour. Hey, Andy made a cake for everybody. Frank gets three weeks to himself.

Everybody else is like, okay. We're going to Peter Luger's and they asked if it was a special occasion. Did you say Frank's birthday? Yeah, it's Frank's birthday. Oh, we gotta get him a chocolate mousse. Yeah, chocolate mousse. Gotta get him chocolate mousse cakes.

Did you tell everyone what Ariel did at the restaurant in Vegas? Yeah, you said it was your birthday. That's kind of the gimmick now. Yeah, we just say it every time we go anywhere Anywhere we go it is Frank's birthday. You must really like birthdays Frank That joke has gone from us making it to now my wife at home being like oh you guys are going out is it Frank's birthday? I'm actually going over Frank today. Is it your birthday today? Frank? Damn right it is. Nice. Frank's around you. That was all the voicemails. Irish Reds on you.

Killian. Killian. Stick on two Reds, mate. All right, but truth be told, we need to get a Killian sponsorship off this. Yeah, we at least need to get a Killian this weekend. Where did you find that? Like, I've never.

They didn't even spell Killian the Irish way, for fuck's sake. No, no, that's Irish. What do you mean? Where did I have it? I had it when I was in Ireland, bro. All right, Frank screamed in my ear that there are no Super Chats, just wanted that's Irish. What do you mean? Where did I have it? I had it when I was in Ireland, bro All right, Frank rent screamed in my ear that there are no super chats Just wanted to you know confirm that still no super Frank said don't reference it. No super chats. Connor's like yes

Come on, someone get you fucking quit out of pocket. I said I said I said I said I said I said I said I said Nice give us a shit give us a fucking super chat to quit come on Shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out. Nice. Give us a fucking SuperShot. Two quid. Come on. Shout out. They faded away. Alright, I think that'll do it.

A tight two and a half hours for UFC Nashville. Thank you for joining us in studio. Thanks for joining us. No. I just... The official like hand thing. Oh, JD Realty. I just think the official official like oh Jd, realty Frank skip my voice mail. Oh hell no

Spencer labute said uncle I have beats asked for a weekly reminder lighter man skill Yeah, go ahead sit that one out Spencer. I'll take even odds on that I would have liked to you know Maybe not have the music blaring when we did a plug for PT on the crack tomorrow He'll be live here in studio would have been nice if we had a little time Gavin Casey's gonna be here. That's your camera pizza. Now they switched it but that's your camera No Come and listen Right here one o'clock he will be sitting. The studio will be outfitted in green,

it'll look fantastic. We appreciate you coming. I'll be in studio too. I will be back to being a boy in the back. I will be helping. You better be chiming in, GC. Helping produce, only if you need me. I will.

Yeah, Chuck Mendenhall here as well, and then Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano. Look out for an audio only version of the podcast after the fights in the bowels of Madison Square Garden and then obviously back to your regular scheduled programming on Monday afternoon with the Ariel Iwanyi show. That'll do it for us. Thanks again to PT. Look at Rick's face tattoo. Thanks for joining us. We're out of here. Just spilled my water.