The Ariel Helwani Show - Weekend Mega Preview: UFC Kansas City, Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

The Boys in the Back begins with a conversation about Dricus du Plessis teasing fight news (04:16), before jumping into a comprehensive preview of Ian Machado Garry vs. Carlos Prates and the rest of UFC Kansas City (23:44).Next, they break down all angles of the highly-anticipated grudge match between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn (1:04:56).Then, give their picks for the weekend (1:35:55), list their top P4P fighting games (1:44:55), listen to your voicemails (2:11:23), and answer Super Chats (2:44:33).

B-b-b-b-boys in the back. B-b-b-boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another episode of The Boys in the Back on this beautiful, beautiful Thursday in New York City. Spring has officially sprung. It is, what do they call it, quit your job weather outside? It's that weather that you just get a hint of it, and it's just like, man, maybe I shouldn't work five days a week. Nonetheless, I am here at work. I'm your host, Connor Burks, join alongside me.

As always, the man, the myth, the legend. It's the New York Rick. I'm not quitting my job, I'm happy. I've never been more excited. You look out that window right there. You look at that real glass pane window outside. It's just like, you get close, you can kind of feel the warmth. You can kind of just like, you get close, you can kind of feel the warmth.

You can kind of just like, you just smell the springtime outside. Have we already passed that day that you've long talked about or? Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, it was actually like probably a week and a half ago between the Ariel Hawhani show and then Ariel Exade episode.

I went for like a quick walk outside, tulips blooming, birds chirping. Birds just flew by. Yeah, I went for like a quick walk outside. Tulips blooming, birds chirping. Birds just flew by. Yeah, I mean they can hear me. They're calling me to come outside. I just took a big just I was like, oh yeah, it's here. Spring has sprung. I mean, I'm coming to work, like I noticed back in our control room, we got a big coat rack. It's empty these days. No one's wearing coats anymore. It's warm enough. Spring has sprung. It's amazing. I love it.

Yeah, I've been feeling the same. My pool just got open today in the back yard. Oh, wow. We're moving toward it. But I say all that. I say I'm not ready to quit my job to say that I don't know if I've been more excited for a show because we've got a lot on the docket this weekend.

Now, there have been maybe bigger, kind of like more flashy type events, but I don't think many that I've personally wanted to see as much as some of the fights that we're gonna see this weekend. No, I mean, obviously not quitting my job, love my job. Very much enjoy it, but I am 100% with you. I mean, what we have to break down this weekend, UFC Kansas City, banger card in a great city

that's going to have a very loud crowd. You bank Ben in front of 65,000 at Tottenham Hopspur Stadium. Your fight of the year, your fight of your life. I mean, you've been waiting for this one for years since it was supposed to happen back in 2022. A little KSW action, they got a title on the line. They also got Puginowski going up against Eddie Hall. Eddie Hall's back, baby.

Love our pound for pound today as well. Top fighting video games. I think it's gonna get contentious. I think it's gonna get heated. And then voicemails, which is quickly becoming a staple around these parts and quickly becoming my favorite segment. Just reacting to what people have to say.

Yeah, it's gonna be a good one. I'm excited about it. You mentioned U-Bank, Ben. That one's up be a good one. I'm excited about it. You mentioned you, Bank Ben. That one's up there for me. As I've said, across all combat sports, the build to this, and we're gonna get the press conference today. We'll get the weigh-ins, we'll get to the fight night.

But, Brotches and Gary is kind of a fight that like, it may not be like a title on the line, but it's one that I'm really, really into. Like, it's a perfect fight. Can't wait for it. And I just can't wait for Saturday period. I mean, it's just like starting, starting at like 4 30 Eastern time over here, going to like 11 30 PM.

It's just like sick fights the whole way. It's going to be great. Yeah. Here's, we made up a little, uh, a little schedule for you. Noon KSW and you bank, Ben starting 445-ish, we're going to get that Eddie Hall Puginowski walk, 515. You're going to get the welterweight title in KSW, 530, Conor Ben versus Chris, U-Bank Jr.

Six o'clock. It's just like, we're going to go straight, like UFC Kansas City is going to be kicking off as U-Bank Ben is going to be like crescendoing into the latter parts of the fight. It's going to be fantastic. Yeah. There's no time to take a breath,

just rolls into it and we're ready to go. Sign me up. Before we get into that, this morning, DDP, the middleweight champion of the world, Drikis Du Plessis took to Instagram, I believe it was, broke his silence in terms of all the tweeting going on with Hamzad and Caio Bahaglio and Nasruddin Imavov, and he had this to say,

okay, I guess you spell okay with an E down in South Africa, okay so everyone had their opinions and rumors and stories about a shin break and injuries etc. I found it all very entertaining. Unfortunately, I guess that's like unfortunately for the rest of the middleweight division, none of that is true. Myself and the UFC have already discussed the fight date and opponent. The June fight was never signed. I did not pull out of any fight. I am the champion. I know when I fight.

You as a contender, you just show up when we tell you to. Fight announcement coming soon. Stay tuned. Hashtag prepare to be amazed. Hashtag still knocks. Yes, so some clarity. So a little bit. I was gonna say clarity,

but also the waters are muddied now. It's like the June fight was never signed. Does that mean you're going to fight in June? Are you going to fight in International Fight Week or does that mean you're getting saved for a later pay-per-view? We don't know. That's the part that still remains, but the fact that Drickus Duplassia is not injured makes me think that if we are to see Hamza anytime soon, it will be against trick is two plus C and it will not be against somebody else. Right. Because if, if Hamza is ready and DDP is ready

and there's, there is no injury, then there's nothing stopping that fight. And while I would like to see Hamza against anybody, like I would be okay if it had been Kyle or somebody else, the fight I really want is DDP versus Hamza. And so the fact that this means that could be closer rather than further. I would be okay if it had been Kyle or somebody else. The fight I really want is DDP versus Hamza. And so the fact that this means that could be closer

rather than further, I'm fine. Even if it's not June, if it's sometime this summer, if it's even, you know, like a little bit into fall, that's okay for me. I'm a hundred percent with you because like, what I was worried is like, Oh, DDP gets injured. And then we know Hamza sometimes it can be tricky getting him into the octagon and things just don't line up. And then we're going into another year where it's like, when is Hamza gets injured, and then we know Hamzat sometimes it can be tricky getting him into the octagon, and things just don't line up,

and then we're going into another year where it's like, when is Hamzat Shamiah gonna fight for an undisputed world title? I also feel like, obviously, believe what DDP is saying. He's like, I'm not injured, I'm gonna be making a fight announcement soon. But also it felt like the way that Kyle Bahalio spoke to Ariel the other day about like,

yeah, I don't really know what's going on anymore. Like, I't, I don't think it's, it's going to be an interim title fight on international fight week. Kind of like, let you know that like that plan wasn't going to move forward. Yeah. And the other part of that is, you know, I like the idea of Dricus two plus C kind of taking the narrative into his own hands and being like, there's a lot of talk, there's a lot of speculation, there's a lot of things being said. If you hear from the source that I won't be able to fight, then you know. And so we'll see what happens from here. As I said, I'm hopeful now that we will get the fight that we wanted. That's all that matters.

Yeah. When we get it is to be seen. So now we know like the reports are coming out. Ilya will be fighting on International Fight Week and it will be for a title whether it's interim or undisputed. That's what the reports are saying and now we're getting reports that DDP will be fighting defending his middleweight title likely against Hamza Tchermayev. With all of that being said, do you have one more updated prediction for what you think is gonna happen in International Fight Week? I think Ilya versus Charles. Ilya Charles, Pantoja, KKF? Something along those lines because... Cool with that.

And I've long felt like if we are going to have Islam waiting, you can't do much else. Like you really are in a tough spot and the UFC is going to have to sell this card. They're going to have to announce at some point. The easiest thing you can do if Charles is willing, if Ilya is willing, is make that fight. Now, is Issam Makachev going to be stripped for that to be for a vacant title? That's the more interesting part to me, right? Because I think Charles versus Ilya does not need a title, ultimately. But if I'm Ilya does not need a title, ultimately. But if I'm Ilya Toporia, I would feel hard done if I had to vacate my title and it's not for a title

opportunity, right? Why did I have to vacate it? They could have fought for interim, I could have kept holding it, and I could have been a champion. So if Islam's not going to give up his title while he's waiting for something to resolve at 170, then I would feel some type of way if I was Ilya Toporia. Ultimately, I think that's the fight that will get that will be made. I don't imagine they'll strip Islam. I think unlike Ilya, who had two title defenses, no two title fights, Islam has been a long-standing champion. I think he's the number one pound- a longstanding champion. I think he's the number one pound for pound fighter. I think he has earned the right to hold onto that

and kind of decide his future. But we'll see. I mean, ultimately, this is all this game of musical chairs that somehow hinges nearly entirely on Bilal Mohammed versus Jack Delamattalena in the most bizarre way possible. I think it will be Charles versus Ilya, title or no title. I think that fight does not need a title, ultimately. Like that is such a good fight. Those are two extremely big stars for the UFC. I don't

think it needs a title. Well I disagree with you. I would prefer it to have a title on it. I think the UFC strongly disagrees with you. I think they've shown in the past their affinity for having title fights on these big cards. I mean, when was the last one we didn't have a title fight? Was it Jorge Masvidal versus Colby Covington, UFC 272? Like, I'm counting the BMS belt just because they like to put a title on things. Yeah, they-

So I would say I'm with you. I think it will be Ilya Charles. Actually, I don't know. I don't know. They, they tend to want a title atop the bill so they can go. It's for some kind of championship. But if you have the former champion, you can still massage that. You can still make it go.

Ilya Taporio is a champion by all accounts, right? Like nobody's going to look at Ilya Taporio and go, because he gave up the piece of gold that he never lost, is he not a champion anymore? I think you can still find a way to massage that. I think it's still a massive fight. And Charles Oliveira carries himself like a champion, has the aura of a champion, has the fan base, the support of somebody who's a champion.

I think you can figure out a way to make it work. But as I said, if I was Ilya, I would still feel some type of way. Because if Islam can hold onto his, why couldn't hold on to mine? Yeah, I'm with you. Just a matter of weeks, we'll know. I mean, by the week after UFC 315, and I know that's a ways away, but it's like we will know by then. Hopefully. We will know all of this in short order, in my opinion, and then this will all be for not all this discussion, all this debate, but it's fun to have it. While we didn't get fight news from DDP, we did get fight news for Mateusz Gamroth.

The number seventh ranked lightweight in the entire world gets Ludovic Klein, who is running well right now. I believe he- He's got six in a row? Yeah, six in a row with one draw mixed in there as well. But an unranked opponent in the Apex, not main eventing on the Aaron Blanchfield Macy Barber card.

Yeah, it feels like they've got Gamrod in this in this kind of slot where he's asking for big fights. He's asking for the names and it just feels like they're not inclined to kind of put him into that mix. I almost feel like that was kind of appropriate when we were talking like is gamma gonna jump in into that Gachi Fiziv fight that when it fell off from hooker like that might not have been the all action fight but I don't know if he deserves to kind of like be in this spot where he's not even amongst the top contenders he's so good I know he's he's not you amongst the top contenders. He's so good. I know he's not the all action fireworks type guy,

but it's not like he's boring either. I think the idea of Gamratt as this super boring grinder is a little bit overplayed at this point. Ultimately though, kudos to him for giving a guy who's on the rise an opportunity, also proving how gamey continues to be. But I would like to see him fighting the Armins,

the Justins, those types of guys even hooker like that I mean he has a win over Armine he has a win over for ZV as a he went to a split decision war with Dan Hooker last year that was a fight of the year contender like I'm not making the claim that he should be fighting for the title or he should even be like fighting Armine next or anything but this does feel like a bit of like a a demotion stay in your lane, Matej Gamrath. Despite being 24 and three and the number seven ranked guy in the world.

Would they do this to Justin Gaethje? You know? No, would they do it to Patty Pimlet who's ranked one slot below? Well, Patty Pimlet's an exception where I think he's bigger than both those guys already, but like adjusting Gaethje, right? I think Gamrath has comparable wins, if not better potentially wins that went over Armin to me, I think is, is a very significant win. And so, but the difference, the big difference between the two is Gamrot's primarily a grappler and Gichi's primarily a stand in the middle and slug it out. Style wise, I understand why you'd want to highlight somebody like Gichi and put him in those positions, but

like it does feel like a demotion and it feels like something that is particular to him at the, at the end of the day though, if he gets a demotion and it feels like something that is particular to him. At the at the end of the day though if he gets a win here he's still in that conversation he's still top ranked he'll still find a way to kind of enter those equations but it does feel like he's kind of like the black sheep of that division in the sense that like most of the top guys aren't gonna want to fight him because A it's gonna be stylistically not like this like standing in the middle and bang type fight. Secondarily it's a very tough stylistically not like this like standing in the middle and bang type fight.

Secondarily, it's a very tough fight because he's as good as he is. He's extremely good. And then third, it doesn't really like elevate their stock in a way that they could do against somebody else who's in that top of the division. So he's in a rough spot just because of that. But I think he still belongs at the top of this division.

At the same time, good for Klein for seizing an opportunity and good for him for being game enough to take it. Yeah, I mean, Klein can jump into the rankings with this. That'll be 7-0 and one in his last eight. But yeah, Mateusz Gamrath, this feels like one that you go out to the apex, you fight a tough opponent that's on a nice streak, and then if you get a win,

your name stays exactly the same at like number seven in the rankings and you don't really go up at all. But we'll see the much awaited, much anticipated UFC 107 is coming together out there in the desert headlined by Aaron Blanchfield, Macy Barber. We can talk about that on the week of Memorial Day next month.

This weekend though, UFC Kansas City headlined by Ian Gehry, Carlos Proches, which came together in short notice. I'm trying to think in the welterweight division, like this is like a perfect, I like this better than the Jeff Neal fight for Carlos Proches. I wish he had gotten to fight in Miami. I think the crowd would have been great for him and it would have been a big spot, but headlining in Kansas City is not a bad secondary option.

Headlining Kansas City against a guy whose star power is greater than your own even, right? Like all due respect to Jeff Neil, he's not bringing the eyeballs that Ian Machado Gary is, even though he might be a comparable fight or even potentially stylistically a tougher fight, right, for Carlos. This one comes with so much more fanfare.

This one comes with so much more attentionfare. This one comes with so much more attention. This one comes with perceivably more stakes, right? If you beat Jeff Neil, there's still people who will go, okay, you're not jumping into this top ranking. We're not going to fight you. You beat Ian and Gary, and all of a sudden, you're entering the conversations with the Shavkots and the JDMs and the people who are at the top of the division. I mean, if he beats Ian and Gary, you're facing the number seven ranked guy. If he beats him, he immediately jumps in the top 10, whether it's just taking the spot at seven,

whether it's eight, nine, whatever, you are immediately in the top 10 of the division and you get a win and like, if he wins, the way that he wins is typically in emphatic fashion by knockout, creating a highlight against the guy that is a big name, but not necessarily a fan favorite in Ian Gary.

He has a lot of detractors, he has a lot of people that still cheer against him. The respect may be growing, the damn this dude is really down, like we should stop doubting him. He really is a high level top tier fighter, especially after the Shavkat fight, but still not a fan favorite. And if he puts him out, there's gonna be a lot of people

that are going to be cheering him on. And he just continues to grow as this baby face. And now he's immediately slotted in line for this deep, deep welterweight division. If he wins, the top of the welterweight division is so insanely stacked or congested, however you wanna say it. Because you got Balal and JDM fighting.

And then you got Brady number one. You've got Leon Edwards still hanging around, obviously coming off a loss. You got Joaquin Buckley. You potentially have Islam coming up to 170 if things don't go below his way at UFC 315. Proches will be there. Gary will still be hanging around.

Like it's just like, it just becomes so incredibly stacked on Shavkat Rachmanov. Yep. Undefeatedated, owed a title shot. Like it's just so ridiculously deep if he wins. And he immediately goes into that pecking order of like, what's next for him? Is it a Sean Brady fight? Is it a Joaquin Buckley fight?

Or we wanna win away from a title shot for Carlos Pratches and the fighting nerds? I feel like the one might be Leon Edwards, if I'm being honest. I feel like- Leon Edwards or Carlos Pratches. Yeah, I feel like that's the one. If. If I'm being honest, I feel like Leon Edwards or Carlos Bracha. Yeah. I feel like that's the one. If you're, if you're Leon, you're getting a

guy who's going to strike with you now. He's extremely dangerous. Don't get me wrong. I don't think that this is like a cake walk, but you're, if you're Leon Edwards, you get a guy that you at least know is going to stand there and trade with you. And in Carlos, you get a former champion.

You get the guy who was holding the belt before this guy, uh, who also is going to stand there and trade with you and you probably like your chances in that fight it seems like it makes a lot of sense I wouldn't mind on the other side of the coin Ian Gary fighting Leon Edwards because I know I know that both of these guys are going to feel like they deserve a title shot with this win I know that there's no doubt in my mind I don't think they will get it for the for the reason you just said how congested it is at the top. I would have Brady and Shavkat ahead of both undoubtedly, right? Even with a win here, even though it was a close fight, Ian

lost to Shavkat. Shavkat has to remain ahead of him. Thousand percent. Carlos is beating Ian, but he has not beaten the likes of the Shavkots or the Sean Bradys in this division. And so I would keep him behind them as well. I think they're going to have to fight one, possibly even two more times, just depending if, if Islam Makachev comes up, he's skipping that entire line and now you've got to wait another cycle for the Shavkat fight to resolve.

So there's a lot going on here. It's going to be congested. I think the next step is somebody in that top. It might be a Sean Brady. It might be a Leon Edwards, it might be somebody around that range. I feel like Sean Brady is the last guy Carlos Prochez wants to see. Style wise he's the last guy probably everybody in this division wants to see if we're being honest. Like the way he completely dismantled Leon, like it's hard to, if you're looking around the division, it's hard to go that

that's the one that you want to match up with just because of how relentless his style is, but I think we've like, it was not that long ago that Shavkat Rachmanov was the boogeyman of the division. And this one close fight against Ian Gary is, has somehow like kind of changed that. I don't know if I'd want to fight him

either if I was waiting for it. So I guess, I guess just in my head, I've just like automatically slotted Shavkat into the next title fight, but then there was waiting for it. So it's rough. I guess just in my head, I've just like automatically slotted Shafqa into the next title fight, but then there's that world where- Is it Islam? Where it's like, if Islam moves up, it's just like Islam will jump the whole line

and then he's fighting for the title. It's like, and the funniest part is how congested we talk about it is, and then just at the top of it, if he's able to pull off the upset at UFC 315, it could be Jack Della, Matt Alainaena reigning supreme as the king of the division, at least for the time being, which is just hard to fathom when you have just like all these just killers and not saying that JDM isn't a killer,

but just like all these killers stack below. It feels like he jumped the line a little bit, yeah. You actually mentioned both guys will be calling for a title shot with a win. Almost certainly. It just wouldn't surprise me at all, including Ian Gary. And we just talked about Sean Brady.

Ian Gary has essentially said that he'll be calling for a title and that upset our boy Sean Brady. Yeah, what a Brady episode about that. He took to Instagram this morning and responded via his story with a caption saying, Ian Gary's biggest claim to fame is losing a decision to Shavcock, crying like a baby, he didn't get a title shot off a loss,

and now is claiming he will get the title if he beats the number 13. Make it make sense. Clown face emoji, zero top five wins, calls himself an elite striker, but held on for dear life against MVP. Okay, for one, that's some good shit talk. For two, I think it's a little bit unfair to Ian.

Like his biggest victim is not losing to Shavkat and then crying about it, but. Being an undefeated fighter, stepping in on short notice against Shavkat Rachmanov, and taking him to his first decision of his career in a five round fight and it being competitive and close. And then stepping in against Carlos Prochez, another guy who nobody wants to fight.

Like I think Ian has earned himself some respect. But I do love this. But it's good shit talk. I do love this, like Brady kind of busting out of the shell talking shit. Oh, a hundred percent. But also these are the fights to make. You've got Shavkat waiting. He gets next if Islam doesn't come up. If Islam comes up, then you kind of have to wait a little

bit if you're Shavkat. Ian Gary, Sean Brady, if Ian wins. Carlos Proches, Leon Edwards, if he wins. There's kind of these paths to like these fights that I think make a lot of sense. There will be guys at the top of the division like a Joaquin Buckley where it's like who do I fight though? Like what's an opportunity? Maybe he's a potential opponent for Shavkat if they realize that this is going to take longer to resolve and Islam stepping in. There's a lot that remains to be seen. This fight in particular will have a lot of implications for the winner. I just ultimately don't think they will get a title shot next,

but it has a lot of implications in terms of who could be potentially entering that queue, right? Who's going to be the one right behind Shavkat? Is it going to be Brady? If Brady takes a fight against one of these guys, it could become them very quickly if they win. So there's a lot on the line here. I just don't think it's the title. Do you think either guy's stock falls that much of the loss? Definitely not Prochez because like he's just entering this fray, right?

Like he, he's, he's kind of the come out of nowhere John Silva type thing where it's like, okay, we're going to find out if you're a real guy against Bryce Mitchell. We found out he's as legit as they come where it's like, okay, we're going to find out if you're a real guy against Bryce Mitchell. We found out he's as legit as they come. Patty Pimblitt, we're going to find out if you're a real dude against Michael Chandler.

Pass with flying colors, we know. This is that fight for him. He hasn't had that fight yet. This is that fight for him. If he gets past Ian Gary, we know he's big time. If he falters, it was his first big time opportunity. You dust them off, you put them against, even like a Jeff Neal, you rebook that, you run that. And then you have somebody that you can elevate again after he picks up a few more wins.

So I don't think the fall will be far for Proches. For Gary, there's a risk here. And that risk is like you all of a sudden are entering a territory where people are like, yeah, you're not gonna be a champ. Whatever the expectations were for you, you're not gonna be a champ. If you can't beat the Carloses and the Shavkats of the D-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T like you all of a sudden are entering a territory where people are like, yeah, you're not going to be a champ. You're not, we, whatever the expectations were for you, you're not going

to be a champ. If you can't beat the Carlos's and the Shavkats of the, of this division, you don't have a shot because there's three guys ahead of them. Even it's, they're not even the guys holding the title. You've still got Bilal with the title. You've got JDM challenging for a title. You've got, uh, Sean Brady up there who just completely dismantled Leon Edwards. It would really look bad for Ian Machado Gary's trajectory if he were to lose here. I will say though, I think he could get it back relatively quickly, right? With a few big wins. I mean I was gonna say like the the one thing going for him if he does lose,

obviously it's tough to go from being an undefeated fighter to then being 15 and 2, you know, in a matter of months. I mean, it would have just been less than five months ago. He was entering that shot, got fight, undefeated. Now he finds himself 15 and 2 and sort of wondering what's next. He still is only 27. He's still an incredibly young fighter. At that point, do you do Ian versus Colby? Yeah, probably. Honestly, with a loss, Ian versus Colby makes a ton of sense. You get Ian a bounce back type fight, you get Colby an opportunity to prove that Ian Gary is as trash as he's been saying he is and fighting the bums and whatever he was saying about him. And if you lose that one, you know, hopefully Colby rides

off into the sunset at that point and Ian Machado Gary gets back on track. So I think that fight would make a lot of sense with a loss here actually. It's a perfect booking. All right, to the fight itself, Carlos Proches obviously, he's coming in with a game plan that isn't a secret. He's going to come in, he's going to attempt to strike with you, and he plans on putting you out unconscious at some point. Dana White Contender Series gets a second round knockout. Now he's 4-0 in the UFC, all coming by way of first or second round knockout.

No surprise what he's gonna try to do here. Five rounds, he's going to try and keep it on the feet, he's going to try and remain in the striking, and he's going to try and find the chin of Ian Gary, something that no one's been able to do yet. Obviously, first loss to Shavkat Rockmanoff comes by way of decision, he's never been finished. Ian Gary, we have seen him use the grappling more recently and

especially Sean Brady pointed it out in that Michael Venom Page fight. He used the grappling to win that third round to win the fight and remain undefeated. I feel like the best game plan for him here is to utilize that grappling. Yeah I imagine this might look pretty similar to that Michael Venom Page fight where it's like he wants to test himself, he wants to see where he is as a striker. He will, he will strike with Carlos Prochez, but I do think there will be a point in the fight where he's going to recognize that his easiest path to victory, that his best way to kind of get his offense off is going to be in trying to get those take downs. Now, I don't know enough about Carlos's take down defense to know how

effective that's going to be, nor do I particularly know about Ian's offensive grappling. He doesn't really use it that much. Most of his fights are primarily striking. We saw it in the third round against Michael Venom-Page, but Michael Venom-Page is, quite frankly, not a good defensive grappler. That's just the reality of it. He can be taken down, and Ian did.

So I don't know where the levels are at. It's gonna be interesting to see. I imagine it will get tested though. I imagine there will be a point in the fight where Ian does try to get it to the ground or at least is trying to clinch him up against the cage. I was just about to say throughout his entire UFC career, he's utilized the clinch.

Yeah, the clinch is gonna happen. Push people up against the cage, just gotten physical with them. And if it turns into take downs, that's what we're gonna have to see. But even if he can't take them down, he might be able to utilize the clench to negate the range and the lethality, is that a word?

Yeah, that's- Lethleness of Carlos Proches and left, right hand, doesn't really matter. If he's able to touch you on the chin, it's probably not gonna be a good night. Now with that said, Caio Bahalio said to Ariel Hauwani that he's gonna be ready for the grappling and like, you have to imagine if you train him with a 185er who has great

grappling in Caio Bahalio, you feel like you're probably going to be pretty prepped. You have to imagine despite Ian Gary's proficiency in the striking, they know that grappling is going to be an option. Certainly in the striking, I think both are very capable strikers. The big difference is the power, no doubt. Certainly in the striking, I think both are very capable strikers. The big difference is the power, no doubt.

Ian Machado-Garry does not have even close to the power that Carlos Proches has. He is a fight finisher, Carlos Proches. I do wonder, for one, you mentioned a great thing. Training with Caio and other members of that gym, you have to imagine that you've gotten a good amount of rounds in against really, really top level guys. I know, God, John Silva, I know he's only a 145er,

but he's got the tenacity of a 170. And they've been talking about how sneaky his grappling is. He has, his teammates have, they've been talking. So you have to imagine that. You also have to imagine that camp in terms of execution and game plans is also elite of the elite. And you have to imagine that they know what the game plan is going to be for Ian and they know what the game plan is going to be for Carlos. So I think they're going to be well prepared. It's going to be interesting to see if they do clinch up.

Is Carlos stronger than Ian, right? He's going to be, he's going to be big. He's going to, he's going to be big and strong and powerful, but is he, is he going to have more technique? Is he going to be able to prevent Ian from keeping him in those positions? That is the interesting part of this fight for me, because in open space, I do imagine that they're going to be able to prevent Ian from keeping him in those positions that is the the interesting part of this fight for me because in open space I do imagine that

Carlos is gonna have a slight advantage I could see a world where Ian's a little bit like Ian's able to get in and out and use his striking pretty decently against Carlos maybe being a little more busy being able to kind of win the decision type but you're really putting yourself in some dangerous positions against a guy who does not need a big opening to finish. And we think about John Silva the same way, right? A lot of the guys from that fighting nerds camp, if you give them the little opportunity, they will find a way to capitalize on it. But even look at like, Kaio's fight against Jarrett Cannonier, the whole time we're like, he's going to take them down. He's going to take them down. He's going to

take them down. The game plan was no, I'm actually like, I've been training my striking to the point that I'm going to outstrike him and I'm gonna show you I wouldn't be surprised if we see some grappling from Carlos either or at least like a variety of attacks a mix of game plan I just think so highly of that team. I think so highly of that camp I think so highly of their of their IQ and their preparation I don't think it's as simple as like okay okay, Carlos is going to walk forward and throw bombs. He's not that guy. He's not as simple as that. Reducing him to that will be a mistake. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see a varied game plan from both. I'm also very curious to see rounds four and five, those championship rounds. If Carlos Prochez,

obviously if they make it that far and he can't get the knockout, because he's won ten straight fights by knockout early on in these fights. It's just like, man, we've been fighting for 15 minutes. It's just like, I haven't been able to find the knockout. Am I going to be able to find it? You know, how is the cardio, you know, like smoke 12 packs a day, smoke 12 packs a day. Like we know Ian Gary's cardio is going to be ready to go all 25 minutes. It's just like at minute 18, like halfway through the fourth round, you haven't found the knockout and Ian Gary's got you

pushed up against the cage. It's just like, I'm very curious to see where, where he's at mentally, where he's at in the fight, if we do reach that point of it. Yeah, I'm curious to see it as well. It's one of those things though, that I think, especially when it comes to guys who are early finishers, a lot of times the assumption becomes,

well, they are that way because they have no cardio. They are that, like the whole thing around Drickus2 plus C was he's this like gas machine because he's always pressing so hard on the gas pedal at the start and he can't go late. There's always this like counterpoint assumption that like Carlos can't right? But we don't know that. We have no idea. We're gonna have to find that out. I'm interested to find that out. But I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. Other than the the part that gives me pause is how much he smokes, certainly. The idea that he's filling his lungs. I know we love to joke about it. At some point it has to become a bit of a concern, smoking that much. Well, there's just this like, what do you do for your cardio?

Yeah, like we hear Joe Pfeiffer being like, yeah, I slept in hyperbaric chambers for 12 weeks. Carlos, what do you do for your cardio? Yeah, I cut from 12 cigarettes a day to seven. And then you hear like, Marab, it's just like, yeah, we just went through like insane hard sparring rounds and then like I turn around and I'm like, where's Marab at? And it's just like, oh, he just went for a four mile sparring rounds and then like I turned around and I'm like, where's Marab at?

And it's just like, oh, he just went for a four mile run. He'll be back soon. It's just like Carlos is outside smoking a cig, but don't worry. He only smoked 10 today. Yeah, he only smoked 10. So I have some real concerns about it, but at the same time,

his best chance to win this fight is gonna be early anyway, because he's so good there. And because I think Ian is gonna be able to probably have some success in the later rounds not because I think Carlos is automatically going to fall off a cliff although I'm not eliminating that possibility but I know that Ian is going to get what he needs to do done late. He has shown that he's able to do that in the Shavkat fight. He was there in the later rounds and being successful and so I I think it's gonna be interesting to see how this plays out.

I still don't know enough about Carlos Prochez is ultimately where I'm at. I just don't know enough yet. Can we just talk about the fighting nerds though? Let's just live in a world where Carlos Prochez does get this done. He's able to hand Ian Garry a second consecutive loss. He jumps into the top 10 of the rankings.

You then have this guy, Carlos Pratches, let's say he wins by knockout, who's just knocking people out, smoking cigarettes, has this just like cool personality aura about him, is a rising star, top 10 rankings in the division. Then you have Caio Bahalio, top, he's number six right now in middleweight, who has his own personality. He's kind of the OG nerd with the glasses and everything like that. Yeah.

Started it all. Mauricio Huffy, you have him, not yet in the rankings, but ascending quickly to get there. Flashy style, killer KOs. Flashy, crazy knockouts. Yeah. And then you have Jean Silva, who's just this madman personality himself.

Number 11, but like calling for a title and like the way 145 is breaking. Could be fighting for one soon. And then among that big four, I know there's Bruno Brazil and now Oleg Sechak has joined it, but the big four, if he wins, will be 20 and 0 in the UFC. Like it's like hard to fathom how like quickly this gym has just like become this spectacular force in MMA.

There was a time that there were these like mega gyms, right? There was a time where it was like Jackson Winklejohn had the John Joneses and even GSP, and then there was times that AKA had Cormier, Rockhold, Habib, even before that, Fitch, Kosciak. Like there was an era where it was these like super mega teams and camps, and that era seemed to have like faded away. And now I think American Top Team was kind of like the last remnant of that, just because of how big they were and how many different high caliber athletes they had.

But even there, there's so many, like, there's so many coaches, there's so many different, like little clicks and factions within it because it's so big. It didn't quite have that same, like there's one gym in San Jose and it's AKA and we've got these guys. This one is that this one is, is hearkening back to an old era of those super gyms where it's just like you thought you say fighting nerds everybody knows it's that no Nova now it's it's the shoot the box like back in the day this was what it was it was okay if if this gym produced this fighter there they've got to be good and this is the this is the aura that fighting nerds has right now if the if they if you are fighting in that gym there is an assumption that you are an absolute stone cold killer and that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's. And this is the aura that fighting nerds has right now. If you are fighting in that gym, there is an assumption that you are an absolute stone cold killer. And the results are speaking for themselves. Like these guys are. And I just love how they all ride together.

It's just like, Kyle comes on the show yesterday and it's just like, well, where are you at? It's just like Kansas City, dude. Carlos is fighting this weekend. John Silva drops like a video of his weight cut. Carlos popped up in the back of that interview. Yeah, which is also the jackets they have are sick. We'll get to those in just a second.

John Silva drops a weight cutting video and who's there in the trenches massaging his shoulders as he's in the depths of hell of the weight cut? Caio Bahalio. And there's Carlos Proches with him. It's just incredible how they all ride together and they're almost like a family and it really is incredible.

Speaking of incredible, is that what you're about to say? No I was gonna say speaking of that team, yeah Chuck Mendenhall okay on uncrowned.com did a tremendous piece I don't know if we have a screenshot of that but go read the piece by Chuck Mendenhall on the Fighting Nerds. Yeah so he actually spent some time with them down in Miami correct? Yeah. Combined 24 and 0 record in the UFC, Brazil's fighting nerds have taken- I mean, look at the art, by the way. How sick is the art here?

I mean, Uncrowned has gotta have the best art pound for pound in MMA coverage. Sports coverage, it's incredible. They absolutely kill it, dude. It's just fantastic, it's so good. But yes, go read that by Chuck, please. It just came out this morning. This morning.

Just a couple hours ago, I haven't been able to read it yet, I will be reading it tonight. Chuck is poetic. He is a master of the pen, I can't wait to read it. And the fact that he got to spend some time with him makes me believe that it will be that much better. So check it out as well this weekend. One other thing on the fighting nerds,

Carlos Braches, one of his biggest fans, Randy, I believe it's Randy Murphy, who's been battling esophageal cancer for the last year, hit up Carlos Proches on IG and was essentially just like, hey man, I'm battling cancer, it's time for me to shave my head, I'm going to UFC Kansas City, I'd be honored if you were able to do it for me. We have the video. So they were able to actually do it, they were able to do it for me. We have the video. So they were able to actually do it. They were able to link up.

Carlos Prochez is the one that shaved his head. He's like talking a little bit. He's just like, got the baseball, did the first baseball throw. Now I shaved someone's head for the first time. I mean, you're talking about that jacket, by the way. Wow, sick. Venom with the like neon yellow.

I gotta say, I like this way more. Let's invest in more stuff like this than the custom shorts. I don't care about the custom shorts. Shit like this is dope though. Yeah, it's fire. But yeah, I mean, just incredible stuff from Carlos Prochez and the entire Fighting Nerds team.

Yeah, you love to see stuff like this because it would be very easy ahead of the biggest biggest fight of your life to be like now's maybe not the time let's figure it out. I mean for what it's worth he seems like an extremely easy going guy but here we see him you know taking the clippers to it and shout out to Randy obviously going through a tough time right now. I'm so glad that Carlos was able to do this with him what an incredible moment that I'm sure he'll remember forever. And so, yeah. I think we have one more picture of them all together

and like they gave Randy his own fighting nerds jacket and they gave him the glasses and everything to rock up with him. Yeah, you can't even tell which one is Randy. He's just a member of the fighting nerds at this point. He's in the fighting nerds, that's it. You could never tell, but man. God, jackets are sick.

Holy shit. Jackets are sick, man. I need me one of those. I need me one of those. This is the first time in a long time I kind of wanted some specific MMA gear. I think for sale, I mean, they're Venom. I think that's the thing that's popping them off, the fact that they're Venom.

It almost feels like the UFC hooked them up with them. Yeah, the yellow and black. Those are sick. Anderson Silva back in the day vibes. Shout out to Carlos Prochis, though shout out to the fighting nerds for hooking that up. I know that's a really special moment for him. Dude, Randy, that makes everything for him and what an incredible moment.

It seemed like, I know we had heard wind of this last week, right? Because he had sent that message and then Carlos had responded and said, yeah, let's do it in Kansas City. I love it, man. I just love it so much. Prediction for the fight? Because I really don't know what's going to happen. I don't know and it's a bit of a cop out.

And typically, I mean, I'm not known for waffling. I'm not known for sitting on the fence. I tend to say things with my chest and pick. I really just don't know enough about Carlos. I know a lot more about Ian. I know enough about Ian to know that if Carlos is not, if Carlos is not equipped for more than just those early knockouts then Ian is gonna win this fight that's all I that's what I do know if if Carlos is not

equipped for more than just walking through people right if he's not equipped for that long game if he's not equipped for being in a war with somebody and taking it all the way I know that Ian, and I know that Ian is gonna be there at the end and win that fight, but I don't know. I don't know anything about Carlos other than I know he's capable of taking guys out quickly. I know he's capable of that. I don't know, I don't think that Ian is,

this is a step up. This is a big level of competition jump, and I don't think that Ian is gonna be there to just be got like that, but at the same time, the longer that Ian stands with him, the longer that this fight takes place at space, the more opportunities Carlos does have to finish it and find a way. He's just such a freak athlete. He's just such a explosive guy. I could see a world where he catches him. I don't know. I don't know. I honestly don't know, I don't know. I honestly don't know. I don't know.

I'm with you, I truly don't know either. I'm just gonna ride the vibes though. I'm just gonna ride the nightmare. Yeah, I mean, you'd be smart to, and then all of a sudden he's gonna beat Ian two rounds, and it's just gonna be like, we all should have known. Yeah. You said earlier this week.

I think this is one of those classic fights that it's either gonna be like, he starches Ian Gary, and it's like, of course he did, man. Like, he's been blasting everyone's chin into the fourth row we should have seen this coming or Ian Gary is going to be able to get takedowns gonna be able to work the clench gonna be able to have success in the striking in his own right and be like man it was just too big of a step up in competition like we should have known this like he always been doing is knocking people out we never saw him go

the full five rounds I I feel like this is one of those hindsight 2020 type of fights those feel like the likeliest outcomes, right? it's like Ian's Ian wins the decision where he ultimately kind of turns it on late and is able to take those rounds or Carlos get Carlos gets them those feel like the two likeliest outcomes to me Sometimes I feel like when I sell myself of like Carlos ko or Ian Gary decision and it's something other than that It always happens. Or Carlos has the cardio, Carlos is there, and he just takes three rounds from him.

And we all look like idiots, but this does feel more like the former where it's gonna be like, ah, we all should have known. We should have known this is exactly how this is gonna go. But I don't have a strong lean, I don't have a feel, because of how unknown Carlos is, like into this position that's what I love it's a great fight it's a great fight it's very closely lined we don't know what's gonna happen and we're gonna get a lot of questions answered on Saturday

night I can't wait for it I hope the crowd is gonna be electric for it I hope there's big moments and I hope it delivers man because I'm looking forward to it I'm really gonna enjoy it all All right, let's roll to the co-main, Anthony Smith in his retirement fight against Ming Yang Zhang. Anthony Smith, tapology says 59, Sherdog says 59, a couple of people say 60, I think he said 64, 65 earlier this week to Hawani. It is his 25th walk to the octagon,

but regardless, it will be his last retirement fight. I mean, what can you say about the career? Fought for the title, could have taken the easy way out against Jones and gotten the belt, said no. Crazy moment. Kept fighting. He's got wins over Volcanoes de Meur, Gustav Sin, Shogun. Like he's got big wins in his career.

Very, very, very solid career. Like never able to get the title, but still was at that upper echelon of the division. And honestly, at two and five in his last seven, I feel like this is a proper time to hang him up. And he's got his podcast, he's got the commentating, he's got plenty of things on the back end of it, but I feel like this is a good time. Focus on his kids, everything like that. I agree with that, but is this the way you want to go out if you're Anthony Smith? Is this the Ming Yang Zhang? No. No. Because if you're not

familiar, Ming Yang Zhang, 18 wins, all 18 coming by way of first round finish including 11 straight dating back to 2020. So doesn't lose often and when he wins he's usually putting your lights out in the first five minutes yeah that's like isn't really a name an established name in the UFC at all I don't love the matchup from that perspective I just don't like I don't know Anthony's string of like losses and lack of recent success puts you in a tough spot right because there's not a lot of guys you could match them up with it that you go like this this is a sure fire win for Anthony Smith or even like a sure fire way

to come out looking halfway decent and then you just call it a career. There really is no easy way to do that when you're on this type of skitties on, right? Like the last win was that quick choke against Vitor Petrino, which he snatched up like out of nowhere. And he was a massive underdog.

And he was a massive underdog. Before that, it was a split against Ryan Spann where he got nuked at multiple points in that fight and also kind of came back against Ryan. And then it's just been a bunch of red. And so it's a really, it's a really hard position to be in where I don't love this matchup, but I don't, I don't have one that I could just be like throwing out there that I feel like is a perfect one for Anthony anyway, so might as well have him go out on his terms, by the way, he seems like the type that's

not as concerned about that. He's always been the type of guy that's like, don't worry about me. I'm going to worry about me. I'm going to figure out what I need to do. The outside of criticism, like we saw that extremely tough fight against Glover to share the teeth are falling out.

Everybody's looking at the coaches. Everybody's looking at him and being like, this should have been stopped. Oh my God, heaven forbid, Lord have mercy. And he was just like, nah, I wanted it. It was fine. That's what I wanted. This feels like an Anthony Smith type fight

where it's like, yeah, I'm an underdog. I don't give a shit. I'm going to go out there and I'm probably going to try and, I'm going to try and win. And if I don't, I don't, um, he doesn't think, you know, he's going to lose this. This is not a foregone conclusion for him. He feels like this is a winnable fight for him.

Otherwise he wouldn't have taken it. And so I'm ultimately okay with that. And I think Anthony is too, but it does feel like a guy who's like known for coming in as a berserker and icing people quick is not the best matchup for a guy who's on the tail end of the career and has shown to be slower than he used to be unable to defend himself in the way that he used to and on this type of skid. So it's hard for me to look at any other outcome other than he gets beat, he gets knocked out.

I know, and it's great that he's fighting in Kansas City, you know, close to home. But is it great if you're on your back? That's what I was gonna say, you know, if you get finished, because likely if he loses the fight, he will almost guaranteed like be finished. That's how Zhang wins these fights. And right now Anthony Smith plus 325

So the bookmakers don't believe in him either, but I guess you could take solace in the Vitor Petrino fight There's a great win, you know big underdog against the guy that you know hasn't proven himself in the UFC Anthony Smith doesn't need pity right Anthony Smith is a fighter Through and through like one of the definitions of a fighter you talked about how many fights the guys got Been in there with everybody fought John Jones fought for the UFC title against John Jones. He has done everything He's accomplished everything. He doesn't need concern But I can't help but but feel that way but at the same time I do get rubbed wrong sometimes by like if He's not concerned. Maybe that's the sign that I don't need to force that concern upon him or even other people ultimately this is gonna play out the way it's gonna play out hope everybody comes out of it

healthy and Anthony Smith gets a proper send-off in a perfect world you get that Robbie Lawler ending where it's like yeah you're probably supposed to lose this fight you not you get the knockout you walk off into the sunset and everything's great couldn't no no disrespect to Ming-Yang Zhang, like I'm not rooting for him to lose, but I am rooting for Anthony Smith to have a story beginning. So I guess those two things are in opposition.

But yeah, it'd be great to see Anthony Smith have one final moment on the tail end of the fantastic UFC career and get this win, and then ride off into the sunset. We'll see. We'll see come Saturday night. Giga Csikácsé taking on David Onama. Man, Giga.

Like falling on harder times, like going to that Calvin Cater bout in 2022 and in January of 2022 is just like, man, if he wins this one, like we're getting ready to start talking about title fight, essentially gets beaten pillar to post and that one comes out on the losing end fought once in 23 fought once in 24 one and one in those you know and now like we're on the back end of the rankings we're getting David Onama we're an underdog to him if we don't win this one we're probably out of the rankings we're only getting older it's it's just kind of crazy to see like how fast the sport can move without you yeah and the thing about it is he's just kind of crazy to see how fast the sport can move without you.

Yeah, and the thing about it is he's just been inactive, right? He's been out for long stretches and it's hard to kind of stay sharp against these guys. Like last fight, lost to Arnold Allen. Arnold Allen is the cream of the crop. If you're somebody who's not in there and sharpening your skills in the octagon on a regular basis, you can understand why you'd have a tough time against an Arnold Allen who is amazing. Now, granted, Arnold Allen's activity could be a little higher himself as well. Like, I would like to see him fight more. But ultimately, like, yeah, this could be something where all of a sudden

Giga is not a fixture in that division like he was. And maybe O'Nama kind of becomes a name that elevates into that picture. But strike for strike, like, Giga is still as good as anybody in the UFC. Like, as far asiga is still as good as anybody in the UFC. Like he as far as the striking as far as the kickboxing goes the dude is insanely elite. And so I wouldn't be surprised to see kind of like a throwback vintage Giga Chikatsu performance. But it does seem like the the trend the activity level is not on his side at the moment.

And hopefully that doesn't come back to bite him. But yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Giga kind of look better than people might expect. I agree with you. I actually think he's incredibly live to win this fight as an underdog. I think honestly, like, he just avoids getting knocked out

or avoids being finished. He can put on a 15 minute, like, kickboxing class. Strike for strike, he's better. Yeah, David Onama, he's never been finished and I'm not saying Giga's gonna finish him or anything, but 15 minutes and it's just like, oh yeah, I think Giga got that, 29, 28. I could absolutely see that happening.

There's also been some wild ass moments in some David Onama fights. There's been some ones where it didn't look so hot for a while. So yeah, I think this is one of those that Gigo will show up and maybe not be the best version of himself and people will be like, okay, that was it, it was done.

Or he could show up and just be like, yeah, I was inactive, I'm back on track and I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to take it. So that's where I'm at. God, you mentioned that it's almost been three years since that Onama-Landware fight. Insane. One of the most insane fights I've ever watched.

I mean, things got hairy. If you haven't seen it, August of 2022, go back and watch that one. It was absolutely insane. But yeah, I think this is gonna be a solid fight. And I'm gonna say that Giga turns back the clock and gets it done. I think so too.

I mean, the wins for Onama since that Landware loss, Roberto Romero, Pierce Gabriel Santos like giga chakati is a is a massive step up in terms of quality and caliber of fighter from there. There is a chance though that that giga is a diminished version of that that he is not the giga that we saw in the in those past fights but no doubt he will be the hardest competition that David's faced. Yeah, looking forward to that one. Another one I'm looking forward to, Michelle Pahara taking on Abis Magomedov.

I mean, at middleweight, Michelle, up until fighting Anthony Hernandez looked tremendous, and I'm not even gonna discount him too much. Like Anthony Hernandez is 90, yes, but like he is a bad matchup for like 90% of the fighters at 185. So I'm not gonna discount him too much. And then the losses for ABUS,

Kyle Bahalio and Sean Strickland, like that's nothing to turn your nose up at either. Like these are two really talented guys, finishing capabilities on both end. We've seen they can also be finished. I just think this is a fight between two high level guys that's going to be exciting. Yeah, I'm with you.

I think the Anthony Hernandez is just a bad matchup for most guys. And I think Michelle will be able to get kind of back on track against Abel's. But I mean, his middleweight career before that was three fights, three minutes, three first round finishes.

Yeah, he's a freak. He really is like a very unique specimen in terms of how much energy and momentum he brings into a fight that pace. And so even like starting the, the energy in the, in the walkout and dancing every time to the, to the octagon, he's kind of unusual in that way. He's unlike anybody else that I could think of. Maybe Marab, maybe Marab has, has an equal amount of energy.

Uh, but we'll see, like as the later rounds go on, if he's able to control Abel's cause I think, I if he's able to control Abyss. Because I think he's gonna have some success. I think I ultimately favor him in this fight. Honestly, I think he's live for our finish throughout the entire fight, but he's also equipped to go the 15 minutes. Yeah. Abyss, we saw him win by decision, but I still don't fully trust his cardio. Like those first five minutes, he's obviously gonna be incredibly dangerous.

But I think over the course of the 15 minutes, Michelle is much better suited. He got that late choke in the last one that kind of like put a little bit of those concerns away, right? Because against Sean Strickland, it was it was horrible. It was like he had one round and oh my god Holy shit This guy's got nothing else like he is done done because he had Sean Strickland pretty damn bad in a really bad spot And then just couldn't close the deal because he ran out of juice I think I think some of those concerns got put away, but ultimately, I know Michelle can go three hard

and I know at the end he's gonna be live for a finish, as you said, so I kinda lean that way. Yeah, it's gonna be a good one. One that's gotten hairy written all over, Randy Brown versus Nicholas Dalby. I was just going back and looking, Randy Brown, every time he fights, I'm always just like, man, these fights are just

always close, if there's no finish. In the last three years, he's gone to decision in five fights. Two of them have been split decisions. The other three were 29, 28. Like they're always close. I'm not gonna lie. Like we love Rude Boy over in these parts,

but Nicholas Dalby is like not the guy you want to go against with that, especially when he's in a position of being an underdog. Just his last four fights goes to a split with Renat in his last fight, unfortunately loses that one, but a split decision plus 255 in that one. Before that, Gabe Bonfim finishes him as a plus 455 underdog.

Muslim Salikov before that wins as a plus 160 underdog. Warly Alves before that wins as a plus 160 underdog. Warly Alves before that wins as a plus 110 underdog. And right now he is sitting at plus 220. Like this just, to me, this just feels like a spot that has just like Nicholas Dalby split decision victory, Nicholas Dalby, 29, 28, just like written all over it. I just, it just feels like a fight. Even if Randy Brown does win, it feels like it's going to be very close because Nicholas Dalby, like, Randy Brown is not an elite finisher and Nicholas Dalby has never been finished. He's tough. He has got that dog in him. It just,

it just feels like this one's going to be close. Would you feel differently if he had won that Bryan battle fight? Because then he would have been on a four fight win streak. Maybe, but he's still fighting incredibly close. It was still close. And he probably should have gotten the nod in that one. He should have gotten the nod in that one in my opinion. I just feel, look. Still just so close. And I'm with you.

Look, the story of Brandy Brown's career is like, he is extremely talented, but he ends up in these fights where it could go the other way, and then in this Brian Battle one, it did go the other way. And I'm sure he feels like there are other ones where it didn't go his way that he could have had.

But man, Dobby's 40 years old. Like, I just feel like there's some of that magic eventually runs out. Like no doubt he has a dog, no doubt. He is the guy who steals as an underdog, these opportunities away from guys. He has proven to be that guy. We love him for it.

I just feel like right now it's a Randy, it's Randy Brown's time as, as coming into like he's 34. He's in, in, if he's not, if, you know, if he's not at the peak of his prime, he's still somewhere in that range of it. I ultimately think he's just more skilled and I think he will find a way to beat Dalby. And I don't, I don't think we're looking at another like jerk job, weird, close decision for Randy Brown. I think he will comfortably win a decision in this one. Okay honestly Randy Brown gets the nod in that Bryan battle fight he's 8-1 in his last nine with the only loss being title challenger Jack Maddalena like he has had a very successful UFC

career he was saying this week how he still feels like he's not that far from the title. No and the problem is what you said right like it's those close fights yeah the way you get to the title like it's those close fights. Yeah. The way you get to the title is not by having close fights. You have to beat people, you have to finish fights, you have to knock them out, you have to submit them and you have to build that

momentum. The Carlos Proches of the world are the ones who are elevating. Winning close fights is great and you're building up a nice streak but as we see with like a guy like Lerone Murphy who's not even in particularly close fights, all those decisions ultimately don't advance you as fast as a few finishes.

Those 10 decisions is equal to three finishes, especially if they're spectacular. Most verve-loyve. Yeah, most, exactly. So while Randy feels like he's in his prime and at his peak right now and feeling like he's not that far from a title, I ultimately probably agree with him, but he needs to show us something. If he can do

it against Dalby, that to me would be a real statement. So hopefully he can and he can figure that out. I do think he's a level above and I think he'll get it done. Would I be shocked though if Randy Brown's in another close fight and Nicholas Dalby as a dog is finding a way to scrap his way into a fight? Absolutely not. The judges' score is 29-28 Brown. I would not be shocked at all. 29, 28, Dalby. And your winner wise split decision. I can just see it right now.

Would not be shocked. Would not be shocked. 20th Octagon walk for Randy Brown. Crazy. Great career. It's a lengthy career, man. Lengthy career. All right, last one we'll talk about on the main card.

First one on the main card of the night, Icarum Alaskarov taking on Andrei Muniz. First time Alaskarov returns to the octagon since the knockout loss to Robert Whitaker last summer. Yep. Andrei Muniz feels like it's sort of the fight for Ikhram. Like it's just like we saw him, Dana-Y contender series, two UFC fights, big knockouts in the first round.

Now you get a guy that, while he has unbelievable grappling in And Andre Muniz, doesn't have incredible takedowns to get you down there and his striking obviously is lacking. If Ikram can stay off his back, it feels like this one is tailor made for him. It feels like this is a get back on track fight for Ikram.

UFC clearly has interest in Ikram Alaskarov. They gave him that Robert Whitaker fight, main event in Saudi Arabia, three fights into his UFC career. And what we saw ultimately was like a little bit too much too soon, like to step in there against the guy like Robert Whitaker. This feels like a right reset. Look, if it goes to the ground, Moniz is going to be dangerous. I've no doubt.

Like the run he was on, we were talking about this guy is like one of the best grapplers in the UFC, his game got a little bit exposed. We saw in recent fights that just like Paul Craig, even on the ground, he's exposed in certain degrees. It's, it's very specifically his offensive grappling, his defensive grappling isn't as good as his offensive grappling and his, as you said,

perfectly his ability to get you there is pretty limited. His ability to get you to the ground is pretty limited. And so if you are Ickram, you sprawl, you brawl, and you probably win this one. Ikhram also never been subbed in his 17 fight career, like as the combat Sambo background. It just, it really feels like a matchup. Style wise, it's working in his favor. 15 and 2, two losses being to Robert the Reaper

Whitaker and Hamzah Sharmayev priors the UFC is not too bad Yeah, that's not too bad right there. So yeah, I feel like that's a good spot for Rick Rome on the prelims Fireworks, let's talk about it Matt Schnell Jimmy Flick Matt Schnell retired after his last fight in September. If you remember against Cody dirt I actually forgot that well, he's back. It's good that you forgot it because he's back, baby. But yeah, not a good run. Just like Chin doesn't really seem to be there. Three straight losses via finish.

And honestly, if you go back and if you don't count the no contest against Bonterin, a fight that got overturned after the fact, he has actually been finished in his last eight losses. Oh wow. And then Flick retired in his own right back in 21. He's been back, but he also has been finished several times.

He's been KO'd six times in his career, has never KO'd anyone, Jimmy Flick. Flyweights, flyweights, 50 combined professional fights between them, 25 apiece, 41 have not gone to the scorecards. For flyweights, that is insane. Sick. If real ones know, flyweight unders, this is the one you wanna bet on.

This is a flyweight under. Yeah, I mean, this is, this just feels like someone's getting put out. It's gonna be fun until someone's not awake anymore. Yeah, these are two action guys. Like, they want to come in and they wanna finish fights, and obviously, I expect that to happen. Now, do you have a lean in it?

Okay, so here's the thing. If you're Schnell, I feel like you want to just stay standing. I know you've had the chin issues, but it's just like Jimmy Flick has zero KOs. Like go ahead and just like try and uncork this, especially with him having lost six times by KO Jimmy Flick that is. And if it goes to the ground, like Matt Schnell is,

he knows what he's doing on the ground. He's seen it. But man, a dude who has been finished, like I said, in his last eight losses and then including three straight losses by finishing, I wanna say it's four of his last five. And he's like, minus 325? I just like, I don't love that. I would lean Schnell, but would never place Matt Chanel

at this point in his career at minus 300 or something in a parlor. I think Flick is live here. Like, I don't know if I'm all over it, but to your point, it feels like if this is a dog or a pass situation, like Flick, unlike Muniz, I feel like Flick actually does have some like

relatively interesting ways to get fights to the ground, even if it's jumping something. Um, and I also think Chanel is, Chanel is the right opponent for that. Because I think Chanel is feet comfort, like feels comfortable in those positions and might let him kind of play around with it a little bit, as opposed to seeing it as imminent danger, keep them off, keep it standing, let me strike with him, he might just want to mess with it and little bit as opposed to seeing it as imminent danger keep him off keep it standing let me strike with him he might just want to mess with it and go to it so I can actually see a world where flick is able to get it done to like you though I do lean like the game plan if Chanel can execute it is preventive from getting in on anything and just throw the hands until he falls

down like that that makes a lot of sense to me but I could just see a world where Chanel wants to play. Like Schnell wants to like grapple maybe a little bit or see something. So he might put himself in danger. Dogger pass for sure. Finish for sure. Schnell, the owner of the greatest fight I've seen

in person. You'll see Long Island back in 2022, him against Sumo Darjeet. Legendary fight. The arena just, just the roars during that one was just incredible incredible comeback win for him so good to see him back this weekend that should be a fun one Chris Gutierrez John Castaneda this sounds like just like a leg kick warfare insanely close decision like you're not

really certain who won coming out of it this is one of the like high level low level fights like it's it's lower on the card but super high level guys I like this fight a lot. Yeah I don't really have a lean either way I guess I'd say Chris Gutierrez just with the activity on the feet but I mean it could go either way John Castaneda could go to the wrestling it should be fun regardless. Daman Blackshear, Alatang Hey Lee. He's back. Yeah, he's looked great the last two times out. He's nasty on the ground. I mean, if it gets to the mat, like he's going, he's going to have a massive advantage.

And then on the feed, like it's pretty close to even, but then Daman Blackshear is five inches tall or seven inches of reach. Like he's just going to be so much bigger in there than Alateng Heyli. I feel like this is a good matchup for Daman to get another win. Yeah, I'm just wondering at this point,

what can Alateng Hey Lee do to him that Cody Gibson didn't try to do to him in the first round? And Cody Gibson is like the same size as Daman last year. Yeah, and Daman survived it and then found a way to win as he does. So yeah, I just, I feel like this is Daman's fight. Cameron Simon, Malcolm Wellmaker, our very own Pizza Carol,

massive fan of one Malcolm Wellmaker. He'll probably get into that on the crack tomorrow. But how about Cameron Simon? Starts his career in the UFC 3-0, undefeated, is looking good, you know, DDP's on his run. It's like South African MMA on fire and then he gets matched up with C. Rod, Christian Rodriguez, and then Peyton Talbot after that. And now he gets Malcolm Wellmaker, who's undefeated making his UFC debut. He put himself in a spot to get the end and before that Terrence Mitchell, like he's bit, he's, he's put himself in a spot to, uh, to fight these type

of fights, but it feels like he needs one here. It feels, it feels like. It feels like he could use another Terrence Mitchell fight at this point. Yeah. I hope. Yeah. That, that would be the one, but I feel like,

yeah, I don't know. I, I, I lot of people were high on. Now, granted, the start to it was a little bit rocky because some of the strikes and people were complaining about controversial things that were happening in the fights. Ultimately, then I think he cleared that and now he's at this rough patch but against like cream of the crop type like prospects. But he needs a win. He desperately needs a win here. Yeah well we'll see if he gets it done on Saturday. Last one I want to touch on Jacqueline. Amarine versus Pollyanna Viana. This feels like a nice spot for Amarine. Yeah what is she like minus? Minus like 900. Yeah. It's ballooned. It was like minus 350 like a week ago. Oh boy, if you got in at minus 350, God bless.

Everyone's been dumping. Yeah, it'd be clutch if you got in early. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh yeah, just bad spot. I just feel like this one's going to the mat at some point. Yeah.

From there, Emory is going to be able to get the finish. This feels like a showcase for Emory. Feels like Pollyanna can't have too many more fights. I mean, I guess she mixes in the winter once in a while. Three fights ago, she won, you know, and also like Lucindo, Jillian Robertson, these are, these are top fighters win over Jinu Fry. So.

Oh yeah, the Jinu Fry knocked her out in 45 seconds. If she's going to fight, if she's going to fight, uh, if she's going to fight the cream of the crop, yeah, she's not gonna win those fights, she's not gonna look good, but against like the, you know, start of the opening fight of the night type talent, I think she can hang around for a bit. On the roster.

Yeah. You always have a fan in me, Pollyanna, shout out. All right, that's UFC Kansas City, good card. Jocelyn Edwards versus Chelsea Chandler kicking it off. Oh, I know you've been chomping at the bit for that one. Jocelyn Edwards minus 300. Yeah, I mean, look at that. Chelsea Chandler, Jocelyn Edwards,

Kuamba Romero, Amorine Pollyanna Viana, then big well maker versus Cameron Simon. These graphics, man. I mean, are we pros or are we frigging pros around here? I'm really excited for this one. Shnele versus Flick is gonna be sick. That's just like sit your ass down and watch this one, man. You're gonna watch two guys that are 125 pounds scrap.

It's gonna be great. I'm looking forward to these prelims, man. I'm looking forward to this whole card. Kansas City gonna be hyped up. And then the main card, that Icarum Alaskarov kicking it off is nice. This whole main card is nice, man. Michelle versus Abyss, Giga versus David Onama,

Anthony Smith, Zhang Mingyang in the co-main and then the main event, the fireworks, Ian Machado-Garry taking on Carlos Proches. I can't wait for that one. It's a good little card. Love a fight that I'm just like, I don't know what the fuck is gonna happen. Same.

That's the only thing that gets me excited these days. If I feel like I know what's gonna happen, it kinda kills some of my excitement. This one has the feel of, I don't know what we're getting, but I'm excited to find out and I love that feeling. All right. Yep.

Let's move forward. It's time. Feels like you've been waiting for this moment, not just the fight on Saturday, but like this moment right here, as we turn our attention from Kansas City across the pond. So the biggest fight in British boxing. Biggest fight in British boxing,

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 65,000 seat stadium, completely sold out, come Saturday afternoon here in the States, Saturday night over there in London, Chris Eubank Jr. taking on Connor Ben. What's the excitement level at right now? We're at like an 8.5. We're growing. I think I was at an 8 earlier in the week, maybe a 7 even. We're starting to grow because now we're starting to get, we're seeing them, right? We saw the Grand Arrivals. We're going to see the press conference. We're starting to get, we're seeing them, right? We saw the grand arrivals,

we're gonna see the press conference. We're starting to get more of the fight week activities. But in addition to that, as the fight gets closer, you can kind of feel that tension ratcheting up. This is not one of those fights where it's like, I wanna see the press conference because I wanna see what lines they have to say. These two guys do not like each other.

Their families do not like each other. In the case of Chris Eubank Jr., his own family may not even like him and his father, unfortunately, having some pretty horrible things to say about him. There is a lot of drama here. There is a lot more on the line here. There is legacy on the line and there is familial ties and there is a lot more on the line here. There is legacy on the line and there is familial ties And there is a lot more in this than just the standard like Fight just that just the two the matchup between two boxers

Couple that with the impact that this could have on the boxing scene the impact it can have for British boxing The impact of what potential fights? Either of these two guys could get after this on the heels of such a massive, uh, draw and payday, what names you would be talking about fighting next. There's, there's a lot to love here. Um, so much so that like, I can try to say it, but I think the best way to kind of introduce this is

from words by Eddie Hearn who sold this better than I could ever sell. I was just going to say, you give us our sales, the sales pitch, and then let's hear Eddie Hearn. Eddie Hearn who sold this better than I could ever sell. I was just gonna say, you give us the sales pitch and then let's hear Eddie Hearn. Eddie Hearn was talking to IFL TV. I believe this was last night. And they just off the cuff said, why should we buy this?

Yeah, why do we care? Why should we buy this pay-per-view? Let's go to that and listen to the man work, the maestro sell it to you. If people wanna buy this fight, why should they buy it? The side. On Saturday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we reminisce, we revisit the greatest rivalry

in the history of British boxing. Two of our finest pugilists, Chris Eubanks Sr. and Nigel Ben. They gave us two of the most epic fights in this generation of British boxing. On Saturday night we revisit, we're not at Old Trafford like Ben Eubank too, Britt Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It's sold out 65,000 people. The controversy of the first fight, two world-ranked fighters in their respective divisions, but more importantly, their father's sons. An opportunity to settle

the score for the Ben family. This is not Eubank Ben, this is Eubank Ben 3. This is an epic moment for British boxing and a narrative that will never ever be repeated in the history of our great sport. Every generation alive in this country knows U Bank and Ben. The older generation know the fathers, the middle generation like myself know both sets and the younger generation know Chris and they know Connor. On Saturday night you will get a fight built out of rivalry, built out of ego but more importantly built out of family pride and legacy. One of the greatest moments in the history of our sport in this country. The biggest fight in Britain this year, a fight that will have ramifications globally across the planet, a fight that will make in my opinion Conor Benton the biggest

star in British boxing and potentially on a global level. This fight is a crossroads fight. Chris Eubank Jr 35 years of age at the end of his career. Connor Ben coming into the prime. A welterweight stepping up against a middleweight. What will happen nobody knows and that's the beauty of this fight. A tremendous fight with two names that resonate with every household and every family in this country. Do not miss live and exclusive on the home of boxing, Dzone, an opportunity. There is even a link in the IFL bio. This is a pay-per-view you must not miss. Saturday night, it's on. You bank Ben, a moment for the sport we will never forget.

Can we just show some appreciation for Eddie Her and there? I mean, the way that he just, he just, the sigh, and then looks directly into the camera. I don't know if he blinked that entire time. Like it was almost like he was reading off a teleprompter, but obviously he wasn't. His eyes weren't moving an inch. That's just what he does.

But like, I don't know how you can't be excited for that. And he's like, go buy the pay review. It's a Turquilla Chic production, you know, Fatal Fury, everything like that. 24.99 here in the States. Yeah, that's- 24.99. 24.99 for- I sound like I'm trying to sell it to you now. But if you don't get goosebumps, if you don't,

when Eddie says that, when he talks about generational rivalry, when he talks about this is not Eubank versus Ben, this is Eubank versus Ben three. That was such a bar. It's such a lot. That was great. That was great by him. What's crazy is, so much in the fight game,

we have to sell. Eddie, like certainly there's some sales there, right? Of course. Like Eddie Hearn, the Connor Ben's gonna be the biggest star in British boxing. Eddie Hearn represents Connor Ben. Eubank on the end. This is a crossroads fight star in British boxing Eddie Hearn represents Connor Ben This is a crossroads fight you bank is at the end of his career

There's certainly not event entering his fraud There's certainly some sales in there even down to the home of global boxing disowned buy it. There's a link in the bio Part that you do not have to sell the part that is beyond sales the part that is beyond like who should headline you at International Fight Week because is this guy a big enough name are they gonna sell pay-per-views you do not have to sell true animosity you do not have to sell true hatred you do not have to sell a story where my father fought your father how crazy is that as a storyline you you could you could talk all the shit you want on Twitter, you can do this, you can do that. You can't sell this guy popped hot in the previous booking that we had, blamed it on eggs, and I slapped him with an egg. There are some things that go beyond just

the theatrics of the fight game and go onto true animosity, true hatred, wanting to hurt your fellow man in a way that this fight represents that, that other fights cannot. You buy the true dislike between them because their fathers had it. And, and, and then you, and the first fight was sold, the first booking, because the fight ultimately did not happen between Chris and Connor, was sold on the fathers. That was the entire sell of that fight. It was the fathers fought, now we're fighting.

It worked because that's such a great storyline, but you did not feel that Chris and Connor were at each other's throats. Once Connor tested positive and the fight was canceled and then the true rivalry began, the story took a jump to a whole new level because now you have the rivalry between them two. They have their own beef that is beyond just,

I have to avenge my father's honor. I have to represent my family and represent my legacy. And honestly, quite frankly, if you're Chris Jr., are you trying to do anything for your father's legacy? Is that even a concern of you? Or is it only I'm my own man because of the way that the relationship with his father has gone there's so much here there's so much to unpack there's so much true drama beyond just the bullshit theatrics of of the fight game that you can't not watch this

it is just such incredible theater and then we have you know commentary from Chris we had a senior talking about his son. Right, Nigel is going to be there with Conor Bend. The father of Conor Bend will be there. Chris Eubank, senior, is not going to be there. He's saying words of vitriol to his own son. After the XLAP, this is what he had to say about Chris Eubank, Jr. Junior, you're smashing an egg against this guy's face. I taught you that. I didn't teach you that. Who taught you that?

Did Karen teach you that? Who taught you that? That's disgraceful. I have, I can have, I'm going to say, I'm going to stand in your corner. You must say, mad. You must be mad. I would never be in your corner, you must say, mad, you must be mad. I would never be in your corner.

You're a disgrace. You're smashing an egg in someone's face and then you're trying to justify it. There's no justification for that. There's nothing noble about that. It's pretty heartbreaking to hear that. I obviously don't know the intricacies, the details of their relationship

and why they had the falling out that they had, but they hear a father call his son a disgrace over fight building essentially. Like it was, you can call it what it is, but like he smashed the egg on it because of the, of, of Connor Ben testing positive for a PED. As you can see it there in slow motion, Eddie Herna, you know, getting some backlash of the yoke there, smashes the egg on his head because he tested positive for PEDs and Connor Ben was like, I'm eating too many eggs. That's essentially what they blamed it on. He's building the fight and he's doing something like that. To call your own son

a disgrace because of that? That's sad to see. It does go back further than that. I have some insight into, you said you don't know much about so There was a point where Chris Chris was trained by his father and Then there was a point after that where Chris decided I want to do this on my own or I want to bring in other People and make them my primary coaches I'm my own man. In fact Chris senior

Said that he that junior wrote him a letter that basically said, I'm the man now. I make my decisions. And ultimately you're going to have to take a back seat. And this hurt Senior, this hurt his father to the point that he now doesn't want to be associated with him. Now, as Chris has, Chris Junior, I keep saying Chris, Chris Junior came on the show with Ariel and said like, the relationship's not great with his father. He is the reason we are not linking up. He doesn't want to.

Ultimately though, from senior's perspective, Chris is the one that told him off. Junior is the one that told him, hey, I'm the man now, I don't need you. And penned him a letter to essentially say that. There's so much drama there. There's so much intricacy there. You have to also put yourself in the mindset of like Chris Jr.

This, as I said, so much of this appeal is like our fathers fought. Eddie Hearn saying this is number three, but you're not in a good place with your father. Do you care about your father's legacy? Do you care about the U-Bank name at the moment? Now you have this rivalry with Connor Ben that you have to go into. And then when you look across the ring, you're going to see Nigel Ben there. When you go to this press ring, you're going to see Nigel Ben there. When you go to this press conference, you're going to see Nigel Ben there. There's so much here. There's so much meat on the bone. There's so much interesting parts of this fight and the build to this and the tension

between the two. I just don't see how you can't get invested in it. Even if you're not British, I'm not British. I don't care about the biggest fight in British boxing. I care about the fight itself. And you mentioned it though, like seeing Connor and Nigel together and being a constant reminder of like, my dad isn't there

and he actually said this week, Chris Eubank said, of course, Chris Eubank Jr., obviously, of course I've told him that I want him there. I've told him what it means, but he doesn't seem to care or he doesn't seem to understand. Nigel Ben gets it, his son is in the biggest fight of his career and he's with him. My father doesn't get it, what can you do?

It's like, you can tell that it also hurts Chris Eubank Jr. a little bit, your own father not coming there, and just like the vitriol with which senior was speaking in that video, it wasn't just like, nah man, I don't wanna be a part of this. Like it was just like looking in the camera and like gritting his teeth and being like,

you're a disgrace, like you're a disgrace. I didn't teach you any of that. Just adds to the drama and gritting his teeth and being like, you're a disgrace. Like, you're a disgrace. I didn't teach you any of that. Just adds to the drama. And I mean, you go back, there's senior and junior there. And then we also have a picture of Connor Benn and Nigel Benn, just like they've been around this for so long. They've been in this mix.

It's just wild. I mean, just like the fact that their fathers fought, and we're not talking about They fought on the prelims of a PFL card and they were both like 15 and 8 like these guys fought at the highest Level they were fighting for world titles when they fought each other and they put on Absolute wars one ending in by a ninth round TKO the other ending by a split draw Just like massive massive fights not only for British boxing, but just the world of boxing. But the high water mark for British boxing, like the fights that people continue to talk about, is the best in British boxing. And now their sons have both reached an elite level of boxing and now

they are going to fight on Saturday. It's hard to wrap your head around, like an MMA equivalent of that. Imagine two guys who fought for a title twice, two title fights, and then their sons go on to fight each other. No, it's crazy. Like the closest, I guess, equivalent in modern sports right now is like the fact that Brawny and Braun are playing on the same team. Now there's like, you can understand why that's so significant, but no, this is unparalleled. Eddie Hernd said, we'll never see it again. I guess, I don't know, because at some point in history this could happen. Hell, maybe Chris and Connor's children will end up fighting

one day and they'll just continue the trend of this. I don't know if you can definitively say it'll never happen again. I would be shocked if something like this ever happens again, but I can't say for sure. But ultimately, the idea of how intertwined their fathers were and now how intertwined they are, you have to imagine that this does not end here, right? No matter who wins, I can't imagine that the other one is going to be satisfied with the idea of losing to that person, right? If Connor Ben beats Chris Eubank Jr., I can't imagine he's sitting there going, oh, I'm okay with it, I'm moving on with the rest of my career. I'm sure that this is, I'm not sure, I imagine that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I'm sure that this is going to be a good thing for him. I can't imagine he's sitting there going, I'm okay with it, I'm moving on with the rest of my career. I'm sure that this is, I'm not sure, I imagine that this is going to happen again. I imagine that there's going to be a world where this makes so much money and the idea of losing to that guy is going to sit so, I'll say especially on the Connor side, I can't imagine Connor taking it well if he loses to Chris Eubank. Especially because of how

Eubank has treated it, the theatrics, even so far as when the first fight was cancelled, the fighters on that card did not get their pay because that fight just never materialized. Chris in an act of, Chris Jr. in an act of gamesmanship actually wired money to each of the fighters from that card. Yeah, and I want to say it was like 4,000 British pounds. I think it was five. It was a decent amount of money. Obviously like just a bit of backstory

if you've been living under a rock in the world of combat sports. Like obviously, Eubanks Sr. and Nigel Ben fought in 1990 and 1993. Then they were supposed to fight in 2022. That's when Connor Ben pops for the banned substance. He blames it on overeating eggs and that's what caused it. Cancels the fight in 2022.

None of the fighters that were supposed to fight on that card end up getting paid. So now as we come to this rematch or rebooking of the fight, Chris Eubank Jr. decided to make it right and out of his own pocket pay for those fighters' purses or at least part of their purses on that one. I mean, look at that. We've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten fighters and he paid

each of them 371 Great British pounds. Yeah and not only that, there were some that didn't want to give him the bank details. And said maybe they will now. So he said maybe I'll, now that I've shown I paid them, but here's the gamesmanship right? As after my first scheduled bout with Conor, Ben got canceled. Eddie Hearn and Matt Rube never compensated anyone for their training camp, which never sat well with me. So here's a little something to help out the undercard fighters. Even in something magnanimous, even in doing a great deed, Chris is aware of the game and playing the game a little bit. If you go into that tweet, there's a couple of people that are just

like, why do you need to tweet about it? It's just like, because that's the whole point. Yeah, I'm doing them a favor and I want them to see some money from it, but it's like that's the whole point I want to make her and Connor Ben to be the bad guys in this situation. And he's done it well and he justified the egg slap thing. You know, his father called it a disgrace and as you pointed out, it's selling the fight. But there is a modicum of virtue in what he said about it, especially when he came on the show, he spoke to Ariel. He said that he wants people to never forget that Connor Ben is a cheater. He wants the egg was representative of the idea of like this excuse that he had. Again, I don't want to get into the like, Connor Ben-

Bruce Eubanks says apparently egg contamination was the reason for his two failed drug test so I contaminated him with an egg. You know the I felt like Connor Benz was actually hard done because of how long the process took to play out and I think this idea of like you should never fight you like just silly but I do think there's something

to the idea of Chris feeling like Connor Benz is a cheater and I'm not saying that is my position I'm saying that it's his position Connor Ben is a cheater and it should not be forgotten regardless of what happens in this fight regardless of what happens in the build regardless of who comes out victorious this moment this egg slap you will remember and you will remember that that was the reason why I slapped him with an egg was because of what he said the excuse was for why he tested positive and so I understand where he was coming from and I understand

why he'd want to make that significant and make that a moment. There's just there's there's there's so many layers there's so much drama that that is attached to this. It can't help but make for a great fight. I wonder ultimately what the like in terms of the fight itself, Eddie Hearn mentioned that the hydration stipulations that are gonna be in play. Yeah, so Conor Ben typically fights, I believe, at 148. Yeah. And Chris Eubank Jr. fights at 160. That's where the fight will be taking place.

And then they have a rehydration clause in place that you can't weigh in at over 170 the morning of the fight. Yeah, and in the first fight, I believe the fight was contracted, the first booking, I keep calling it a fight, the fight never happened, but in the first booking, I believe it was contracted to 157. And I believe that Eubank was not gonna be able to go above 66, 67, somewhere in that range.

And that was a significant talking point because that's a low weight for Chris Eubank Jr. to get down to and that gives Connor Ben an advantage in my opinion. This 160 and then to 170, this is significantly more favorable to Chris Eubank Jr. and for what it's worth, I think because of how long this fight came to put together and because of the fact that Connor had that positive test that derailed

the first fight, Chris should have that concession. Chris should be allowed to have a little bit of a higher weight and we'll see if Connor Ben can adapt to the challenge. I am a little bit concerned about the size discrepancy. I am concerned that Chris is just ultimately gonna be too big for Connor. One thing that lessens my concerns a little bit concerned about the size discrepancy. I am concerned that Chris is just ultimately going to be too big for Connor. One thing that lessens my concerns a little bit

is the fact that we learned today that the ring is going to be smaller in the fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Connor Ben. And I think that's going to favor, I think that's going to favor Connor, because I think there's going to be a lot more opportunities. Look, like style-wise, there's no mistaking that Connor Ben is a pure aggression fighter.

Like he is gonna come forward and he is gonna wing some shots in there and try to take you out. With the bigger ring, Chris is gonna have more opportunities to circle, more ways to find angles. I imagine that that's gonna be an advantage for Connor in that he's gonna be able to press Chris a little bit more.

The problem that I potentially foresee with a smaller ring is you also might be getting pressed by Chris if you're Connor Ben. If he's closing that space and he's in there with Connor and Connor doesn't have that ability to close the distance and explode because Chris is too close to him, a lot of the ferocity and and that explosive power kinda gets minimized right if Chris is able to put him in a corner and lean on him I don't know how well Connor Benz gonna be able to do against a much bigger man Chris is just gonna be bigger than him in there so it could work in his favor but it all could also could be a detriment if it gets to a situation

where all of a sudden Chris is the one who's closing that distance closing that space and essentially not letting you get your punches off because he's crowding you so much. It's interesting. Yeah I mean it's gonna be an 18 foot ring this weekend and yeah I mean it's it's fascinating stuff I do think that the size is just gonna be too much obviously he's three inches bigger but man he's just gonna be so much actually like thicker more muscular just a bigger guy.

I think he already has the more power, even if they were just fighting at the exact same like weight class pound for pound fight. Like I think Chris Eubank Jr. just has more power naturally than Connor Ben does. And then fighting at his own natural weight class, I think he's just guaranteed to have more power. I think he just has more, more lethal punches in there.

So I just feel like the size is going to be too much of an advantage. class, I think he's just guaranteed to have more power. I think he just has more, more lethal punches in there. So I just feel like the size is going to be too much of an advantage. And he's also on top of that, like the experience, like the guys that, that you bank junior has fought, uh, you know, Liam Smith twice, uh, like it's, I just feel like he's going, going to have the advantage in this one. I think he gets it done. Yeah. And we saw, uh, Connor fight at a higher weight in his last, uh, few bouts.

Now granted it was under. I mean, it was a free broil. It was under fraught circumstances where this was that period where he was still under suspension by the BBOC and was trying to fight in America because they would license him. Uh, he was also dealing with some, you know, personal issues. He talked about how in such a depression when he spoke to Ariel, he was also dealing with some, you know, personal issues. He talked about how in such a depression when he spoke to Ariel, he talked about the, the, what a rough time he was

having at that time. So I don't know how much to make of that, but I I'm with you that I ultimately, I favor Chris in the fight. I think he's going to be too big, but if anybody can find him, it's going to be Connor Ben, who, as I said, is a pit bull. He's going to put his head down and he's really going to try to finish Chris. Ultimately said is a pitbull. He's gonna put his head down and he's really gonna try to finish Chris. Ultimately will he be successful there? I'm not sure.

What's the most likely outcome from a betting perspective at the moment? Is it a Chris finish? Let me tell you right now. Yeah, I mean it's honestly like crazy to even think about it that like he's gonna be going from the ballroom at the Cosmopolitan and the Caribe Royale to an undef- a completely sold out Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Insane. Like you're going from a couple of fans watching you to 65,000 people watching you. In terms of odds, junior by KO is plus 145, Ben by KO is plus 210, junior by decision is plus 280, Ben by decision is plus 145, Ben by K was plus 210, Junior by decision is plus 280, Ben by decision is plus 650. Yeah, so they're expecting that Chris too big,

Connor can't get to him, and all of a sudden in the later rounds, like maybe Chris is able to finish him. I think that's possible. I also think there's a world where Chris is just, I think there's a world where Connor can see the bell. I think there's a world where Connor can get to the end and Chris might win by decision,

but all outcomes I do just think the size difference is gonna be massive. But I'm so interested in the idea of can Connor Ben find him and if he does, what is that offense gonna look like? I love this fight, man. I love the build. I love the fight itself. I'm super excited.

And to Eddie's point, while he was selling a little bit in that promo that we showed, this is the tail end of the, of Chris Eubank junior's career. This will be the last couple of fights of his career. He is 35.

And so, you know, at a certain point you do start to fade, you do start to diminish your skills. I will say in his last fight, he looked great. So I'm not, I'm not not anticipating that but there is a reality where all of a sudden you you are longer in the tooth and your reflexes are a little bit slower and all of a sudden you can be there to be caught so we'll see what ultimately happens I think he's too big but I think Connor Ben is such a

pitbull that he's gonna find a way to at least at least put him in some rough spots early I can't wait for it it's so sick man it's just perfect that it's gonna be happening like right around if put him in some rough spots early. I can't wait for it. It's so sick, man. It's just perfect that it's gonna be happening like right around 5. If you're not excited for this, what can you be excited for at this point? In the fight game especially. In the fight. One last thing on it, I did want to point out one sick jacket that Chris Eubank Jr. got.

It looks like it's from the brand NG, but the script and the font within it is the canvas with Chris Eubank Jr's blood on it. Yeah. Like the gray-ish in the NG and then it's in your blood are canvas with Chris Eubank Jr's blood on it. Yeah, that's pretty sick. Pretty sick jacket, pretty sick jacket for him. And a sick fight, can't wait for it.

I think the crowd is gonna be absolutely insane. I think it's gonna be loud. I think people are gonna be on their feet. I think all of Britain is gonna be on hold for this one. And I think it really is gonna send shockwaves through the boxing world. It feels like one of those, I don't think it's hitting America too much

if you're outside the boxing space, right? It's not hitting mainstream American media. My boys aren't coming over and being like, yo, let's watch a U-Bank then. 100% not. I think it is hitting American combat sports people, right? If you are a combat sports person, I think you're aware of this fight going on

and you know the drama here and you're interested in it. The whole saga when U-Bank, sorry, when Ben tested positive and that fight was off was was covered like moment to moment minutes a minute there was a new update the test that this the BB OC says this there was all that stuff and people kind of followed that story and so I think this is the culmination of that but in the UK it has reached mainstream in the UK it will be viewed by all those boxing fans it is it is a supernova over there it is the biggest fight in British boxing until perhaps Tyson

Fury and Anthony Joshua maybe Lockhorns later this year or ever if they if they do but until then this is gonna be the higher watermark this is gonna be the biggest fight in British boxing it's gonna be fantastic let's stay over in Europe one last event that I wanted to talk about KSWW 105, you're getting the welterweight title fight, but more importantly, the co-main event, Eddie Hall taking on Mariusz Pudzianowski in the world's strongest fight, they're saying. A super heavyweight clash, no weight limit.

Eddie Hall currently saying he is 350 pounds. Let's get some pictures up of these guys. I mean, it's just, it's daunting how big these dudes are. They're, they're terrifyingly big. I mean, just like that, that isn't like strong. That is, that is like terrifying. You think anybody wants to debate that world's strongest fight point? You think anybody wants to say, well, actually it's something else. Cause I don't think there's any other contenders. Haas. I mean, and these dudes are going to come in and bang. So if you don't know, it is just because of the size of them,

just because of the experience of them, it is two four minute rounds taking place. Pooj, obviously he's been around the MMA game. He's fought MMA forever, yeah. He's fought forever. This is gonna be Eddie Hall's like first foray into an actual mixed martial arts fight. I was gonna say, so he hasn't fought

a real one-on-one fight, right? Well, there was one. No, but that's not a real fight. There was one on two. so he hasn't fought a real one-on-one fight, right? Well, there was one. No, but that's not a real fight. I mean, we do have the, we do have the highlight of that. Uh, if you don't know who Eddie Al is, here he is against the, uh, Nefati brothers. What's the KO?

There it is. We got to run, run this back one more time. It's just so the people can see it. He gets the body slam and then immediately gets the KO. Here we go. All right. Body slam.

Now watch bro, get up, get up and flatlined. Completely flatlined. The fight is over. I do like how it was just like he had to get one out and that's in round three. That's in round three. So he had to survive two rounds before that and it was getting into the waning moments. Who knows if the Nafati brothers are going to pull off a decision win there. But yeah, that was the world freak fight league. This is KSW. This is a real mixed martial arts fight against a guy who has mixed martial arts experience. Pooch is like minus 450 right now, rightfully so in my opinion. Well, Pooch was supposed to be like a bit of like an

attraction sideshow type thing and then ended up having a full real MMA career. It's kind of crazy. Yeah, I mean, I can't wait for this one. It's's just like it's such a spectacle. Turn it on, it's a spectacle. KSW is a spectacle in itself. Yeah, 100%. Their production value is just like them and Octagon it's like that European like as they're walking out you're doing the tilted camera like it's Spider-Man in 2002. It's fantastic I really can't wait for it. So your Saturday is stacked. Yeah. Pretty much I I mean, we got the schedule for you. I kind of tried to give a rough estimate of these things. Noon, you start off both cards, KSW 105 and U-Bank Ben.

You can kind of have that on the background throughout the afternoon. If you gotta go run some errands, maybe if you wanna hang out by the pool, if you got good weather, that's when you do it. But around 4.30 is when you wanna get locked in. Expected ring walk time for Eddie Hall versus Pujanowski

is at 4 45. Then like once that ends, I can't imagine it's going to last long. There's only eight minutes of fight time and I'm not sure it's going to go the full eight minutes. You, you, you settle in for the welterweight title fight. You're getting that on that card as well.

Uh, as both their names escape me, uh, I'm not going to sit here and act like an Adrian Bartoszinski versus Andre Grebke. I probably butchered the shit out of both of those, but it is still a title fight in KSW. You can kind of have that as an appetizer as everything's going on over in London and Eubank and Ben are getting ready to make their ring walk. Expected walkout time there, 5.30 Eastern.

And then as that fight is crescendoing into its later moments oh yeah prelims are kicking off for UFC Kansas City and that'll just take us through the rest of the evening Saturday evening sorted lock in done dusted lock in you're gonna need multi screens for like a couple points just to have it maybe an iPad on the side if you need to but I mean it's it's great this is what you ask for as a fight fan. It's the best it's gonna be great I really really love I mean I don't have to say I love you Ben versus Ben everybody knows my position on that one but I also really really

love Gary versus Proches like I love that fight and I think it's gonna be great it's such a fantastic fight night. Yeah it's it think it's gonna be great. It's such a fantastic fight night. Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. Springtime too. Can't wait, give me a Saturday. But before we get to Saturday, we gotta make some picks. Parley Pals and bets. No recap, no big hitters,

obviously because there was no big UFC card, no big PFL card. Well, I guess there was a PFL card, but I didn't bet anything last week and I don't think it's on a people that's, so no recaps for this weekend. Before we get to that, parlay pals, gotta throw into the randomizer.

Randomizer having a hard time cranking up here. There it goes. And Frank, we haven't heard from you yet, but you will go first, Rick will go second, I will go third. And Frank, we haven't heard from you yet, but you will go first, Rick will go second, I will go third. Pete C, I mentioned he was a Malcolm Wellmaker fan, that is actually his parlay pick for this weekend.

Yeah, he's a diehard. He is a, he is an M-dub diehard, Pete C-Carroll is. So Frank, you kick us off. Yeah, you know, this one, there's so many to pick from. But there's only one for me and that's going to be Chris Eubank. Chris Eubank shout out. Too big eh? Too big. All right. Too big, too fast, too pretty. All right I'll take Michelle. Give me Michelle. Michelle Pahara. Minus 142 minus 170 minus 130 on all three of y'all's picks so far.

Oh this is gonna be a taste of a little parlet. I'll take a chalky ass pick though. What do you got? Give me Anthony Smith, Ming Yang Zhang, under two and a half, I think, whoever comes out victorious is gonna end up winning that one by finish. And that gets us to plus 479, plus 479 on that. All right, let's get into the black here.

Love to see it. If we win, we're in the black We're in the green with the dub Not two and a half units remember that one time Frank changed his pick at the last second time Yeah, we had a winner see with the top and he turned it into a loser That was he wasn't at the top when I was there. Yeah, he sure wasn't he sure wasn't Alas alas we live and die with you, Frankie, so it's all right.

I appreciate it. No, no, no. And I think Mike Chandler appreciates it too. Shout out to Mike Chandler, legend, man. I will see him at the top. Regular caller of the show, friend of the show? With a couple cram sandwiches in my hand. All right, I got some picks for this weekend. Let's get into them.

First up, Yeah. Chris Eubank Jr. I'm going heavy on him. I've placed two different. Oh wow, six units. Been placed two different wagers on him, minus 175. They moved it up to minus 170.

Yeah, man, I really do. I just think he's gonna be too big. I think the experience that he has, I mentioned the two Liam Smith fights, the George Groves fight, the Arthur Abraham fight. It's just level of competition that I don't think Connor Ben's seen yet in his career. Combine that with the size, combine that with the power.

I don't think the rehydration clause is a cause for concern. I still think he's just gonna be that much bigger when he gets in there. And also just like, he seems so cerebral. He seems so calm, he seems so focused on the task at hand in the lead up. I think this one is Chris Eubank Jr's to lose. That's the only pick I have for the boxing card.

Over to the UFC, Michel Pajera. I'm with you, man. Love it. I'm not taking a ton away from the Anthony Hernandez loss. I really do think Fluffy is just a nightmare for most of the division. And before that, Michel Pajera was looking great at middleweight three and oh, three fights,

three minutes of fight time. And he gets a matchup in my opinion that he can get a finish. He's live for a finish throughout the 15 minutes. And I also think he's live for a decision win where I don't think Abis has as many past the victory. I think Michelle bounces back, gets one in the win column here and gets it done.

Then we go over to the main event. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I've been looking to smoke a dart for a while and what better way to do it than by celebrating a Carlos Prochez victory. We got the smoke detectors in here. Do we got the smoke detectors in here? Almost littered actually by accident. Uh, but yeah, hopefully we're, we're ripping heaters on Saturday, uh, for one Carlos Prochez, uh, truly this is that, it's just a vibe sped.

I don't know what's gonna happen. Smoke them if you got them on Saturday night, I can tell you that much. But that'll do it for the singles on the UFC card. I do have three parlay's, I mentioned it earlier. Jacqueline Amaran, nice if you got in early. Got her at minus 470, also got her again at minus 550 before she ballooned to minus 800,

and then Daman Blackshire, I hit him the same. Love Pollyanna, big Pollyanna fan, but Amarin, just not a good matchup for her. I think this one goes to the mat at some point, and she ends up finishing her, and then for Blackshear, you could probably say it's even on the feet, but the size differential for Daman Blackshear is gonna be massive, and then once it gets to the mat,

I think they're in different worlds, and I think Blackshear can going to be massive. And then once it gets to the mat, I think they're in different worlds and I think Blackshear can get it done there. Two prop parlays for you, a violence and a pacifist. The violence, Chanel Flick under two and a half. If you get into the stats on this one, eight of his last 10 under two and a half for Matt Chanel and then Flick 15 straight before the Nate Minnest fight did not go to a decision. I like that to go short. Alaskarov in his UFC career three first-round knockouts including the Contenders series. I don't think Muniz is equipped on the feet with him.

I think he's going to get another knockout on this one and then the Ming Yang Zhong versus Anthony Smith fight. Zhong 24 pro fights one decision one third round in his entire career. And then Anthony Smith, yeah, I could see this being like the vet that goes through a decision with him, but like 59 registered pro fights on tapology, 51 have not gone through the decision. I just imagine someone is going to get gotten in that one. And then the pacifist parlay, Edwards Chandler over two and a half. Edwards, nine UFC fights all over the two and a half. Chandler has never been finished.

Four of the last five have gone through a decision. Brown and Dalby Brown, 13 of 19 in the UFC over one and a half. Dalby, 18 of 20 over one and a half. And Dalby's never been finished. I don't really see Randy Brown as the only finisher. Let's stay on the mic. This one goes longer. And then last but not least,

the Chris Gutierrez-Castaneda fight over one and a half. 12 of 13, Chris Gutierrez over one and a half, 12 of his last 13, and John Castaneda, 10 of his last 11, over one and a half. So they're the best, there's the stats, there's the reasoning to back them up. It should be a fantastic Saturday, and I can't wait for it. After you get a few units

and you celebrate with one of those, you know? Carlos Procter's wins, down units or not, I'm bringing these bad boys home and they're getting lit up. Carton's on you yeah? Carton's on me baby. Sig's inside that's what we always say Sig's inside on Saturday. How many cigarettes in a carton? 20? No. Well 200. 210 packs. 10 packs of 20 each, 200 cigarettes. Man, they're taxing on those cig smokers here in New York these days, I'll tell you what, man. The trick is you bring them from another state.

I love how now you're of the culture, you're like us, cig smokers. Hey man, GC and the C stands for cigarette, okay? Since when did we get rid of the ashtray on the desk? I thought that was mandatory. The floor is the ashtray. You fucking, Frankie, you're talking cigs inside language right now, the floor is the ashtray you fucking Frankie you're talking six inside language right now the floor is the ashtray just just put that out there and and get it as far away from you as

possible it has to be Marlboro Reds or what do we that's that's Carlos's cigarette of choice so I support the brand I support the nightmare okay camel Turkish Silvers Frank you're like a smoker you're like he told Frank told me he used to poke he used to smoke two packs a day. No, no, no. I said two lighters a day. You would go through what? Two lighters. So how many cigarettes is that?

I mean, I could get through six packs of one lighter. Oh my god. 12 packs a day. He's a regular Carlos Pratchett. You did actually used to smoke though, Frank. I did, yeah. A retiree. A retiree. A retiree. Some things just never go away. It just feels like you're running a professional broadcast

and you got a cigarette in your hand, I'm telling you. I mean, they used to smoke on the news. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it feels like you should just be having a meeting talking about something important right now and I'm giving a harrowing opinion right now. R slash OSHA, they were showing this guy rigging up an oil rig while smoking a cigarette. I bet Osha would love this

I'm like Osha could sit the fuck down guys busy Professional wait, but what what happens at the end of this video? Nothing bad. Yes. No nothing bad I mean he was just like I should show you the video It's cool Like he this is somebody who knows how to do their job knows how to get the cigarette in the mouth and do his job Like leave him alone. Let him cook now now maybe poor shorts of words if that fire goes on what if Carlos process was smoking in the in the octagon what if he just had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth while he's lighting some Allah

Benson Henderson with the toothpick I mean could you imagine some guy coming to knock you out I mean if anybody could do it, it's Carlos. Oh, it'd be great stuff. I love how much we promote smoking now. I mean, listen. Thank you for smoking. I don't see any Surgeon General warning on here. No Surgeon General warning.

Never mind, I do see a Surgeon General warning. Smoking by pregnant women, not me. What, when are you gonna get low birth weight? May result in fetal injury, premature birth and low birth weight. You're smoking the right brand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think over in Europe, they have the pictures of- The pictures of-

Which are the most metal that you could get. If I'm gonna smoke a heater, I wanna see something metal like that. Yeah. All right. All right, let's go to our pound for pound rankings here. Yeah, let's do it. Everyone ask for cigs and let's lock back in.

Pound for pound rankings this week. So because it's Connor Ben, Chris Eubank Jr. and it's the Fatal Fury card, which is an up and coming fighting video game, what we're gonna do is rank our top five favorite fighting video games. I am very much looking forward to this one. I am very much looking forward to this one.

What's the order we're gonna go with, Frank? We're giving us the order. So the order for today is We're gonna start with me. Okay, then we're gonna go to Rick. Okay, and then we'll finish off of Connor So it's good. All right, hit us Frank. So my number one is Actually giving some love to the SNK, which is the company that's putting out fatal fury, but it's samurai showdown This is a one of the all-time favorites It's actually from SNK was on their MVS system Which if you don't know it's an arcade thing and then they have the AES at home very expensive product But like just look at these graphics like the pixels are insane. You got the ref in the back with the flags

I wish that the UFC would integrate this, you know know like anytime someone does a awesome hit just wave the flag If you haven't played this I highly recommend it. It is as fast as you're seeing it now the action is non-stop You know that that I love the cut to the empty chair the flags is part of like you know Martial arts right you know that oh, yeah, yeah at karate tournaments they they have the flags yeah do they dress up like ninjas do no no they're not just like I think Goddard would do it he's like he probably has one he's like one day they're gonna let me wear this karate combat coming in at my number four this one is from Squaresoft now known as Square Enix but it was one of the few fighting games they came out with.

Yeah, Bushido Blade. Now, what's cool about this one, it's 3D, it's gonna look a little rough around the edges, but the point is, and I love about this, it's with weapons, is that you can one-hit kill your opponent, just like you would in an actual sword fight. So like, combos, all that stuff that was made popular by Killer Instinct and all that, that's great, but just one good hit with the sword, bam. They're done. Wait, time out.

So the game is whoever gets the first hit wins? No, it has to be a good fatal hit, right? Okay. So you have to have a nice opening, but if you time it right and you hit him, bam, it's done. Can you do blocking and stuff though? You can block. You can run around and try to avoid getting hit.

Who's that woman on the bridge in the gray river there at the end? That's the cut scene because that person in that died replay had already like beat the story. Oh, okay You know just like you would do you'd sort someone down you walk away on a bridge I played a lot of fighting games as a kid, and I don't know these two two Boshido blades to find them Yeah, they're a lot of applause from like the hardcore. I mean, I like it. They know they know. Coming in at number three, this is from the Super Famicom. If those don't know, that's the Super Nintendo in Japan.

This is from the Gundam Wing franchise, but it's actually called Gundam Wing Endless Duel. So if you took Street Fighter and you did the sprites with the Gundams and you have their lit up swords and scythes and then you have the machine guns, oh my God, it's crazy. You can pull combos off. This has to be spthes, and then you have the machine guns. Oh my god It's crazy. You can pull combos off this has to be spent. Okay. This is better. No. This is not sped up No, it is I'm looking at the time

It's moving with no time moves faster when you're playing Gundam wing and let's go man like come on It's it's a it's a blast. I actually own a copy of this if you guys ever want to get down Yeah, whatever oh Frankie let me whenever you invite us over that be great. What do you play it on? What do you own it on? I own a super Famicom. Come on. What are you talking about? What is super Famicom? Why do I know that? I just explained that that it's the Super Nintendo in Japan. Like I I'm really upset what makes it different than Super Nintendo. It is The Super Nintendo in Japan. It actually looks different to look you said that again You have that I'm still not understand that in your apartment

I don't know if you know this. If I took the Super Nintendo and I went to Japan, is that now a Famicom? Oh, I see what you're saying. What makes it different? I know right now we're all about a global market, this and that, but it used to be that regions had their own thing, right? So the Nintendo Entertainment System that we know here in the United States was actually called the Famicom in Japan, which is like family computer. So when they did the second generation of the Famicom, it was the Super Famicom in Japan, which is like family computer. So when they did the second generation of the Famicom,

it was the Super Famicom. However, when they were marketing it in the United States, they're like, well, we're gonna call it the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. So they call it the SNES or S-N-E-S, right? However, the look of the system itself, like they had changed the design when they brought it to the United States,

but Europe and Japan actually have this more sleek, rounded corners. The controller has multi-colors on it. It's not just the gray and the purple. These days, we don't really get that. Regionally, we don't have separate machines. If you get a PS5 here, it's the same PS5 in Japan.

Game selection-wise, is it different or the same? Absolutely different. So the case of this Gundam game, it never saw a release in the North American. Oh, okay, wow. So you have that? Have that, yeah. And you'll notice what's cool. My favorite part was he invited us over and said, bring Sigz.

Yeah, bring Sigz. I'm probably just going to be ripping Sigz, playing Gundam, just like... Coming in at my number two. This one's a mouthful, but bear with me. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Sick. a mouthful but bear with me super street fighter 2 turbo HD remix sick I fucking love this game okay like I know we all grew up playing super street fighter 2 or just Street Fighter 2 or maybe even Street Fighter 2 turbo but when the Xbox 360 I think this gift got screwed up the as the Xbox 360 and the ps3 came

out with the HD graphics the good guys over at capcom Or like let's do something that has an HD remix, but they kept it sped up as much as they could so it's super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD remix which I just love the fact that they were like yeah, that's fine the titles fine I'm surprised it actually fit on this graphic. I told Jordan. I'm like this might be a little tough He's like it'll be on two lines, but I think we could squeeze it in there But so help me understand Frank. I know super Street Fighter 2 turbo. Okay. What is HG remix? They've just upgraded the graphic. So yeah, all of the pixel art has now been done in high definition

So if you can we play one more time if it's not a problem. We look at actually it this is it This is the actual footage. These sprites are in high def. You said it might have been a mistake so I wasn't sure. It's just shorter than it should have been. But it does look good. Yeah, that looks interesting. It looks amazing. Good on you for getting gifts, man. I only got pictures. Yeah, you know, like Jordan turned to me and he's like, yeah, can't you do something, you

know, better than the picture? I was like, I got you. Wow. Speaking of got you, my number one is Dead or Alive 2 for the Sega Dreamcast. This is where I cut my teeth on fighting games. This one has a great roster. You just watch this footage for a second. You're just kicking, doing the throws,

got some combos going out here. And then before you know, bam, through the window, you fall into the match. I love it. This game is a popular franchise actually done by team ninja they're the ones who did like ninja Gaiden and all that on the Xbox one of my favorite games again for the combos the throws the counters everything else you could do the franchise is carried on but my favorite is still dead or alive

too it's what I used to play in high school and to be honest I still play it from time to time I love that I'm not gonna I haven't played a single one of those games did you know I'm taking your word for me to up the gifts on purpose Or is that just how they you know I'm not surprised if some of the devices around here just speed gifts up, okay? Yeah, it was going very fast Look great though Dead or Alive. I remember that being on like Dreamcast I think there was one right that the Dead or Alive 2 was on dream. Yeah, and I remember seeing it But I don't think I got many reps in with it. Yeah, you know.

All right, we're in pretty good for almost. I like your list. I like your list a lot. Good job, Frankie. All right, we're going to start off number five. I kind of picked a lot of my favorite franchises, and then I picked like what my favorite ones within the franchises are. So we're going to start this with an all-time classic, franchise that is.

We're going to start with Mortal Kombat, and we're going to go to Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Okay. Big Mortal Kombat guy. Love Mortal Kombat. Love it. The blood, the guts, the fatalities, nothing was better than you beat the guy and you've memorized the sequence

and you can do the, and the toast, the little toasty scream. Just loved all the elements of Mortal Kombat. It felt like the more like edgy, aggressive fighting game at the time when the other ones were like not a lot of blood. And this felt like the more edgy, aggressive fighting game at the time, when the other ones were like, not a lot of blood. And this one was just like, no, we're going to lean the opposite direction.

We're going to go into it. Why trilogy? Is because it had the crazy roster. So there was Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, even Mortal Kombat 3. Mortal Kombat trilogy, we've got now every character they had so far. Every character that has been in Mortal Kombat

now exists in this game. Plus they added the ability to play as Goro, Kintaro, Shao Kahn, which were like the bosses from previous games. Oh yeah, shout out Shao Kahn. Chameleon, Rain, Noob Saibot, the first iteration of Noob Saibot, as a playable character. And all these characters that had been like little scenes or bosses or whatever are now playable different skins for all the cyborgs and different skins for like the scorpion sub-zero who

else reptile all those guys so incredible most of the Mortal Kombat's to me were pretty comparable but the the, the expansion of how many different characters were available for this one was what made it incredible. Plus, it was one I played very regularly. So I think I had this on PlayStation, or maybe PS2. I'm forgetting now. It was probably PlayStation. Probably PlayStation 1, Mortal Kombat trilogy,

great installment in the franchise, crazy roster. Do you know where Noob Saibot got his name? Yeah, it's it's Tobias Boone backwards It's one of the creators Boone and John Tobias. No, there you go Okay, number four Super Smash Bros. Melee I say Melee, so I'm gonna continue to say Melee again Melee, Melee. I say Melee, so I'm gonna continue to say Melee. Again, there's not bad entries in this franchise. Most of these are pretty incredible.

You can pick your favorite Super Smash Brothers. I felt like this one, I played 64 more, but I felt like this was a better game. I felt like this one on GameCube ended up being the better game. Again, crazy roster, like so many different characters you could choose from. I also felt like competitively, this is the one that I know that most of the like pro gamers play because of the

controls and the accuracy to which the movements are made and the ability for people to get their skill set off with the individual characters. So I felt like this was the best one that I had played and the best one that a lot of the competitive players played. Really enjoyed it. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the Super Smash Bros games. They're all incredible.

As I said, 64 was more my lane. I did go onto GameCube and try this one for quite a bit. I played this a lot, but I probably played 64 more. Liked this one better. Then after this, I did not play another one after that so fashion I slept on me I know it's like highly regarded but you went from 64 to what's the next one I mean I think the next time I played it was on the Wii Wii okay yeah I don't even remember the name of that I'm the same way 64 was like that's that was enough for me that was

the classic one but I really enjoyed this one a lot. Number three. Again, I'm just playing the hits. I'm going to my franchises and my favorite from them. Tekken 3. Tekken 3, now I wanna say this. Shout out to Tekken Tag Tournament, which is actually the one, as I said, like last with Super Smash Bros.

I probably played 64 on Smash Bros. I probably played Tekken Tag Tournament more than I played Tekken 3. But Tekken 3 had a lot of, had a lot of plays out of me. What was so special about this one, it like, it just felt so ahead of its time. The graphics at the time, the movement, the speed at the time, and most importantly, the debut of Eddie Gordo, the number one cheese character in all of fighting games. There is no cheesier character than Eddie Gordo. So awesome.

If you have not seen him, he's the green and yellow outfitted Brazilian doing capoeira where all you had to do was spam buttons and he's doing like summer salts flips, doing the, the, the kicks under the hands type thing. Um, he really was the cheesiest video game character ever. Cause you did not have to know how to play these video games at all. All you had to do is press buttons and you could win every single game because Eddie Gordo was that cheese. Shout out to Eddie Gordo and all the people who played him. Actually, no. If you played Eddie Gordo, you're a loser

because you are a cheese master. But when I played him, it was great. All right. Tekken on arcade. I was just about to say, when I see Tekken, I think of arcade. I played more on console. I have played it on arcade, but I played more on console for Tekken on arcade someone say when I see Tekken I think of like arcade I played more on console I have played it on arcade But I played more on console for Tekken when I played it on arcade someone beat me with Eddie of course they can and then to

Dunk even further they reached into their pocket graph 50 cents and handed it to me. Yeah. Yeah, you're gonna Thing or it's like I know I defeated you so bad here kid. Yeah, you didn't lose any money, bro Next time you just pick Eddie. all right number two now this one I played more at home but I mean okay this is kind of cheating I'm picking number two super Street Fighter 2 turbo not the HD version that Frank played never played it I also I also like the the sp, like I like the graphics from that era. I like it not being updated to HD. It's kind of cheating because you could pick any version of Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

All these are iconic. They are the video game basis for fighting games. They are the thing that everything beyond them is based on. They are kind of that gold standard. This one in particular though was the one for me, A, because I played it a lot, but B, because of the debut of the most iconic character in the series for me and the one that I always played, which is Akuma. And he was on the graphics and on the box art. He's the best. He's my favorite character because I liked Ken and Ryu, I liked their style, I liked them, but they kind of felt a little cheesy to me. They needed that dark edge, Akuma was the best

and then he had such an incredible finisher. This is a solid list. Shout out to Akuma, shout out to Super Street Fighter. Shout out to you, man. Thank you. Shout out to you, Frank. Shout out to you, Frank. It's good vibes in here. All right, number one. Light up a man. Thank you. Shout out to you, Frank. Shout out to you, Frank. Appreciate that.

It's good vibes in here. All right, number one. Light up a cigarette. Come get one, bro. Can I have one? Like with a lot of my pound for pounds, I always feel pretty good about my number one. I'm always pretty solid in that

because I know what I like the best. And I'm like, all right, that's my number one. Number one here, Marvel versus Capcom 2. This is the one, this is it. This is a list and a half, man. This is the arcade one. This is the one that I barely played at home because I wanted to play so bad on the joysticks

and play at the arcade. I mean, the concept at the time for me as a youngster of like, wait, you're telling me the Street Fighter guys are facing off with my favorite comic book characters? Oh, and by the way, each of them have these crazy unique skill sets. I have these crazy unique moves. Plus we're getting the hyper combos, plus the animations are like some of the best we've seen at that time. This is the gold standard for me. Like the whole series of of Marvel versus Capcom. I think is quite great

I think a lot of people like later versions as well I do believe that two is the one that has prevailed and sustained throughout time Marvel versus Capcom to arc like if you didn't spend 15 bucks a week in quarters on this at the arcade like you weren't living this this was the one I would I would imagine that some people would say this is not a super well-balanced game because there's a lot of characters that people Like to play and we're probably the best in the game I really like to try out new characters and play all of them I spent a lot of money on this game love this game arcade banger

Malva versus Capcom 2 if you don't fuck with it, I don't fuck with you. Shout out shout out I hope I hold the cigarette like a magic wand. Well, that's because I was, I mean, I was- Holding it like a pencil. Yeah, literally, you hold it like a pencil. That's a solid list, man. Both of y'all's a solid list. I've played most of the games that are on yours.

I had never played any of Frank's, but I mean, I game respect games, so shout out to Frankie for his. All right, mine's gonna be different than your, I was, wasn't like the biggest fighting game guy growing up. All of these games I've obviously played or they wouldn't have made my list. And I'll kind of give you the timeline

on like how I got to loving it. But I'm actually gonna start with a real like competitive sport fighting game. And I'm going to go with Fight Night Champions. Some people are gonna be like, oh yeah, 2004, round three, round four is their favorite. I recently ripped through this on Xbox One. There was just a download for it and I was like, you know what, I'll play it. Story mode

is great. Andre Bishop, you go to jail and then like you work your way all the way through the ranks. The Isaac Frost Championship fight is a bitch. Love the story mode, love playing online. Only one that I ever got to play online. I didn't really, you know, obviously in 2004 you can't, but then round three, round four I wasn't really playing like that. So Fight Night Champion, I thought about maybe some of the UFC games, but the UFC games are, I really only like the storyline. Anytime I error the story mode, career mode, anytime I ever got online I got my ass beat. Fight Night Champion though, shout out.

Can I propose something? Please, go ahead. Is this a sports game? Oh, is it a sports game? Okay, as opposed to a fighting game. It's a fighting game, come on. It's a boxing game. It's a sport boxing game.

I'm gonna accept, but I do see- Would UFC 5 have counted? I think of those as sports games. Wow. By that argument, Super Smash Brothers is a sports game. Why? well by that argument super smash brothers is a sports game why what sport is that fighting that's martial arts okay moving on all right moving on to number four we're gonna get into the fighting games now I guess if that was a sports game it was fine

Soul Calibur 2 this is like my elementary school right here. You got my guy Link. I'm a massive Zelda fan. You got my guy Link on the cover, even though he wasn't a great character. Shout out Ivy. Shout out Zhang Hua. I mean, just like this.

You got Zelda in there? Oh yeah. You got Link in there. Shout out to him. Weapons master mode. You could just go pimp out your character, get him the best outfits, get him the best weapons, everything like that. And then you could go beat

your friends ass but uh yeah I mean huge fan of there's there's a lot of good Soul Calibers I played a couple on Xbox never liked them as much as the Gamecube version Soul Calibers 2 me and my brothers used to run through this like crazy number three this is like a nostalgia play this is like me being a fan of the show but they finally made a decent fighting game for it. Although the story mode was ass, the multiplayer mode was good enough for it to make my list. Dragon Ball Fighter Z was just a DBZ mark

my whole life growing up. There was never really a good one. This one came out. It kind of fulfilled that great character list. You got Goku, Gohan, all the androids, Beerus, Jin-Yu. You got the Cell, you got Boo, you got Trunks. Is that Goku? Yes, that is one edition of Goku.

Why is he wearing the black? What is that? Oh, so this is like teams. You're like changing the clothes for the teams. Like you can have multiplayer team matchups. Like you would in a sport. Yeah, well almost like Super Smash a little bit. Also a sport. Yeah, it was just a game that me and my friends loved that were also DBZ fans, but yeah, you got like,

and also I love the animation, like it almost looked like the cartoon. It does, it looks- The animation was great. Wow. You know, obviously you got the combos. It was sort of like a Mortal Kombat-esque, like the 2D sort of like track view fighting. It was great. I loved it, shout out to it.

Next up though, speaking of Mortal Kombat, this was me and my boys' favorite growing up. Mortal Kombat, that was the name of it, it was actually Mortal Kombat 9, the one that came out in 2011. Wow, wow. Sick. Mortal Kombat, spelling it wrong on the graphic there, but we'll let it splat.

Yeah, the complete edition. Yeah, me and my boys used to just run through this like crazy you know right around the age you start cracking some beers at the sleepovers you run through the Mortal Kombat. Kratos was like a special character in this one. Oh shit for real? The Shao Kahn final boss was a bitch in this one. It would take us like 20 tries to get through it. There was one where they had like Michael Myers and Jesus, is this this one? No, no, no, no, that was, was that Mortal Kombat 11? I don't know.

That was a much more recent one because I had that one and you could play. I saw 9 and 11 come up a lot in best Mortal Kombat list, a lot. 9 was like came out at the perfect time for like, because like Soul Calibur is much less violent like my parents weren't. When Soul Calibur came out I was like 11. You know, Ivy may be a little bit questionable at that point, but like Mortal Kombat, like my parents weren't letting me play that except for like the really old-school ones. Like the one that came out in 2011 was perfect time. I was 18, 17. Me and my boys just running through it. It was great. It was great. So like that was my

first one into like, you get the fatalities where the heart gets ripped out. Crazy graphics. Yeah. So yeah, that one came out at the perfect time and it also happened to be a fantastic Mortal Kombat. So Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat, uh, shout out. But my number one, it's essentially just, it's a franchise. It doesn't matter which one you're choosing.

I'm down to run it. N64, GameCube, Wii, even up under the Switch. I have Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just because I am under the belief that the nostalgia hits you and you're just like, oh no, the N64 version was actually the best. And then you go back and play the N64. I did this with Mario Kart the other week.

You play the N64 version and then you jump to the modern day version and you're like, oh my gosh, the modern day version. What is this one for? This is for Switch. And you got like 59 characters it's absolutely insane. Sonic! The death oh yeah you got Sonic you got Mewtwo gets added for the for the Pokemon like there's you got a Minecraft character on there Pac-Man like it's it's just insane the amount of cloud. Shout out to Final Fantasy. Mega Man's in there.

Wait, is that Kazuya from Tekken? Yes it is. There's so many characters, I can't even see them. It's on the bottom row. That's crazy. I think Banjo Kazooie is in there. King K. Rool from Donkey Kong. Steve.

Shout out to Steve, man. Who's Steve? Steve is from Minecraft. You just have so many characters. You have so many course, you have so many course choices, the graphics are better, any of the Super Smash I'm down for, but

Super Smash is ultimate, especially just because of the depth of it. How many people can play that at once? Online it's like 6 to 8. At a time? Yeah, you can really get going. And then you can also link up where you're playing on the Switch while people are playing on a big screen.

It's fantastic, man. I mean, you can, we used to think- Is that too crazy when there's like eight people in there? Depends on how many friends you got over, man. This is like, we would run Brawl, you guys were talking about the Wii one. We would run Brawl in college a ton, but this has been the kind of post-college,

you just let it rip. I haven't played Ultimate as much as I played. Melee was the one I played the most. That was like I was 10 when it came out and like you know you would do the the glitch to play as the master hand. It was just like it was the shit. But like with uh who is it Kirby? Oh yeah. Suck people in and jump off the stage. Yeah I mean the way the way that the game evolved though it's just fantastic. Super Smash is just like so much nostalgia. I have so many moments like on the N64 with my brothers, so many with Melee with my boys in high school,

with Peral and my friends in college. Just like, is a game that I still play to this day. It's like, you got five, six people over. It's just like, you guys wanna run some Smash? Entered a tournament one time when I was younger and got my ass beat. I was like, I'm sick at Smash, when I wasn't sick. Yeah, you learned the levels.

Yeah, you think you're good, and then you go. You meet people who play this for a living. Paid to enter and everything, just wiped off. You might as well burned it. Yeah, also, if you wanna know how to play, I don't know how you guys play, I am a no time five stock on the multiplayer. What's the default?

The default, I think when you first go into it, is like two minute time. I'm five stock, no time limit. Two minute time in terms of what? Like there's how many kills you can rack up is like how you're gonna win. Like you have to go in and set it. Oh, that's how it plays.

I don't think anyone really plays that way. The way I play is stock, five lives. Yeah, when we used to, or, when I played it was just lives and then when you run out, it's over. Yeah, that's stock. Okay, stock, yeah. Five, was it five? I don't remember what the default was.

I go five. I go five. What I like about Smash and why I think it's such a great franchise and such an enduring franchise is the learning curve is a lot less steep such a great franchise and such an enduring franchise, is the learning curve is a lot less steep than a lot of these other ones. Like if you pick up a controller and try to play Tekken right now,

you're not gonna do anything. You're gonna get your ass beat unless you're playing as Eddie Gordo. Or if you tried to pick up like Marvel versus Capcom 2 right now, you just, you're not gonna know how to do that. Hell, you might not even know how to do a Hadouken from, or a Shoryuken from Street Fighter right now.

So, Smash, you can kind of find your way, because the control scheme is so much simpler. I like the less steep learning curve for Smash. It's just easy to pick up and have fun. And there's just so many characters that kids can have fun with. Mortal Kombat's probably the hardest one to just pick up a

Controller ago But yeah, I had soul caliber 2 as my honorable mention. It's so good. It's so good I played that a lot in the arcade did we Frank did we hit virtue a fighter? Do we play the fighters cool? It just wasn't cool enough for my list I think we all have all have good lists. What about killer instinct that whenever I mentioned it? I also like it makes sense that like there was really no overlap like smash on me and Frank had the same game in the same spot except he had the Bullshit like I had the better rated graphics for no the the sprites from the original are better than the than the smooth I admit that's an aesthetic and that's something I do like as well. That's why samurai showdowns on there

Frank you're pixelated yourself and you don't appreciate what it's a skin condition, right? So that's that's a good point when I play Street Fighter. I feel like I'm just playing with a bunch of people skin condition All right. All right. That was fun. That was fun. It was fun to go down memory lane and think about all the video games I've played over the over the course of my life. But yeah shout out I'm sure people have their own opinions are feel strongly about that one I feel confident I feel like I feel like people will say I know ball on this one but we'll see no they're gonna maybe they'll hate on me they actually lost subscribers after you I would imagine we

did I would imagine we did I would imagine some people were gonna be like oh no is a melee is the best Dragon Ball Budokai, all the different, all the different Mortal Kombat. I totally missed all the Dragon Ball fight game era. I didn't know, like, I just missed those. I was probably playing like first person shooters when those came out, and just, that was the last stuff I played.

I just missed that whole thing, but I was like a Dragon Ball Z fan. If it came out a little bit earlier, I probably would have been all over those. Shout out, shout out. All right, voiceails, Frankie? Yeah. Voicemails!

By the way, can we throw up the number for people to call to leave us a voicemail? You can leave it anytime. You can leave it right now. It's a rolling list. So if you call right now, there's a potential that we will listen to this voicemail next week on the show, but just continue to call. It is always open. You can always leave us a voicemail at 415 SUP BITB. So give us a call. Number one, let's let's hit the first voicemail. Boys, how we doing? Longtime listener, first time caller. Just wanted to say say got a couple questions for you first one What movies are Critically acclaimed that you absolutely hate

the reason I'm asking Wes Anderson Create a movie the Grand Budapest Hotel hyped up The worst movie I've ever seen. So what movie is critically claimed that you guys can't stand? Second question, how bad does Carlos Prochaz flatline the sausage-ing Gary? Thanks, boys. I don't know how bad he flatlines him, but I do got my Nightmare shirt on. I'm a ciggy. Shout out to Full Violence with the Carlos Prochez on the back. Shout out, shout out. We got our Marlboro Reds.

We're supporting. We'll see if he knocks them out. Critically acclaimed movies though. I love the take on that. What do you feel about the take on Grand Budapest? Well, I love that because I've never seen it. I've only seen one Wes Anderson film. Frankie dragged me to it. Meteor City. Asteroid City.

It was ass. That was ass. I was ass. That was ass. I was gonna say, if you're gonna go, Wes Anderson sucks, like that's what I would point to. So you start with that. Yeah. Yeah, and for him to hate Grand Budapest Hotel when everyone tells me how good it is,

it shows me that, you know, Wes Anderson, he's an aesthetic, he's a flash in the pan. Oh wow, all right. Critically acclaimed movie that I hate, I did not like Midsommar, and a lot of people- What? Yeah, see, there they go. What?

There they go. I know Frankie just threw something in the control room. Just spit on your desk. Yeah, I'm not, I'm just, it didn't do much for me. No, this is, this is- Was it just not enough of everything? I just found it to be kind of weird.

I didn't find it to be that exciting. Ari Asteri, that's the, that's his vibe. Well, we're going down the list of critically acclaimed movies that we didn't like. Here we go Frank, say it. Say it Frank. All right, look I did not like Interstellar. Doesn't mean I don't have the potential to like it. I probably need to watch it again. So for this moment right now I can't fucking stand it. A rival is better than Interstellar. A rival is ten times better. You put Amy Adams and Interstellar probably would be like, that's the greatest movie

I've ever seen. I don't need to say anything. There's no point in arguing with ignorance. It's a dumb thing to do. I mean, we just heard the take on Midsommar's, the greatest movie ever. Interstellar's not good. Just look at what happened when it releases 10 years later

in IMAX. It was a cultural phenomenon once again. Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, the list goes on and on. Christopher Nolan, writing, he got the directing chops going. Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack, the special effects, the CGI of space. I mean, it took them like 100 hours to render one second of the black hole. I mean, it just goes on and on. My favorite part of Interstellar though is when they're like Matthew McConaughey we need to send you into space he's like all

right all right all right and then he's like does this robot have a friend? No it'd be a lot cooler if it did. I will admit he did really good on the acting. I like the part where he's pushing the books. Frank drank like eight beers and then went and laid down in an Alamo draft house and passed out six minutes into the movie and then woke up and didn't know where he was so he left. And then he's like, that movie sucked. That's pretty accurate story.

That movie sucked. I'm just like, okay, man, maybe sit down, you know, hit the Benjamin and see where it takes you. Do a little dab. Sound bar on. Do a little dab like a band man. You have to hear your movie though. Then you'll be interstellar. I like,

I like interstellar. Arrival's better. All right. Mine is obvious. Mine is easy. I'm sure the whole entire control room could guess. Lord of the Rings. Oh Jesus.

Stop. They're trash. They're garbage. They suck. They're the worst. There are three hours of walking around each. I don't need to spend three hours watching people walk around. They're hobbits. They're the worst. There are three hours of walking around each. I don't need to spend three hours watching people walk around.

They're hobbits, they're walking. It's fun, they take two steps for every one step of the human. I see nothing wrong with this opinion. Thank you. Thank you, Jordan. Another man who does not know ball coming from Jordan there. Oh, there was a great four minute battle

amongst a three hour movie where they were walking a lot. Tremendous. Like this is what we go with. We go with like one of the, actually the greatest trilogy ever created, and like individually some of the best movies, and like we're not gonna say like the Shape of Water,

like that one best picture, and it's about a woman having sex with a monster. But I don't rate that highly anyway. Everybody else rates The Lord of the Rings highly. It's just, it's just, you know what? It's not good movies, it's not good movies. Andy, her son was in here earlier, director Andy. Andy, her son was in here earlier, director Andy in the back, son was in here earlier,

Rohan, inspired by Lord of the Rings. Literally. And Rick pulls him aside. Kid's like eight months old, pulls him aside, and he's like, hey, your name's fucking stupid because it's after a stupid movie. I was like, Rick, man, take it easy, dude. Put a cigarette on his head.

I was like, listen, you know what he actually put a cigarette on him. Put a cigarette out on his forehead. Listen, kid. Put a cigarette on him. Chill out. I was like, listen, you know what he actually said? Put a cigarette on him. Put a cigarette out on his forehead. Listen, Ken. Stupid Rowan. You know what he actually said? Stupid name and that movie sucks.

I told him, we don't ride for Rowan. Is that a reference to the movie? Oh my God. Wow. God. Love, Lord of the Rings. I might run back the extended trilogy tonight. Extended?

So we've got 12 hours. We've got 12 hours. We've got 12 hours. Four hours. Four hours. Wait, no. I have an idea. Extended. So we've got 12 hours. Four hours. Four hours of walking. Wait no, I have an idea. Movie night. We don't tell Rick what it is even though I'm telling him right now. All directors cuts of Lord of the Rings. All of them. I've actually never watched a director. Lock the doors. Don't let the man out. Don't you need like a month for that? That's too much. Do you need like a couple days? You need way too long to be a... Watch party? We're doing it. Doing Sinners tonight guys by the way. Looking forward to it.

I might join you. I think I'm gonna go tonight too. I think I'm gonna go tonight too. I am very excited for that one. I'm very excited. Jokes, it's not Sinners, it's Lord of the Rings. No, they switched it on me. Yeah, we pulled the rug out on Rick there.

I know it will cost a lot or require a lot of planning, but a good prank could be we all go to a movie and you guys have changed out the movie to Lord of the Rings, in a theater I'm saying, not just switching a DVD, because then I'll just leave the apartment. Yeah, super easy to do. Let's just do it. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go get the biggest fattest burrito I've ever had in my life and watch Lord of the Rings afterward.

So overrated. Ugh, disgusting. Alright, next voice mail. That one took way too long. Alright, let's go. No, that was good. That was good. Glad 24 and Subs, Connor from Boston. I don't know. Shout, that was good. That was good. Glad 24 and subs Connor from Boston Shout out good. So give a shout out to Frank Andy and on-air Jordan being the glue of the show They don't get enough. They truly are and shout outs and love so wanted to do that. Shout out go selfish Oh, that was it. Shout out to him

Shout out to the crew in the back in the trenches with us could not disagree more with one part of that Could not agree more with one part of that. Could not agree more with another part of that. You guys decide which one. We hate you. Fuck the Celtics and Andy Jordan and Frank of the West. We appreciate the love. Next.

Hello boys, this is Arnold Schwarzenegger. First time call, I love your show. My question is, what do you think of TKO possibly doing away with the Ali Act? Thank you very much boys. Thank you Arnold. Thank you Arnold for following in. Are you asking the tough questions? Yeah, so I actually can't speak fully to this, but I do know that this is of concern with the TKO Boxing League. I know that they're not trying to get rid of the entire thing, but they're trying to get rid of one clause in it that will essentially be able to let them operate as a league and like we can lose competitive pay.

I just can't imagine that, you know, obviously I'm speaking sort of out of my ass, not being fully knowledgeable on the subject, but I just can't imagine it's a good thing for the fighters to lose it. Yeah, so I know a little bit about this. As you said, it is not trying to completely dissolve the act, it is trying to make amendments to the act,

but if the amendments are guided by your own selfish reasons for wanting to loosen regulation and restrictions so that you could get what you need done, for for all intents and purposes you are trying to dissolve the significant matters in the act. Experts on this, if you want to know more, if you are looking for expertise, as you said, we're not as well-versed as somebody like John Nash who goes by Hey Not The Face on X. I don't know if he has another platform. He's written about this extensively and will continue to write about it. To my understanding, a lot of this is focused on the belts and wanting to have

a league format in a way that boxing does not allow for, right? One of the main reasons why the UFC has not been able to be replicated in boxing is because that consolidation of power has not happened. And so if the, the amendments to the act, if the parts that they are trying to have amended, create an environment where a league where anybody who they deem fit is given a title shot, you can naturally understand why the other belts and the system that was in place previously, where on the merits of your wins and losses, you advance in the system, then you get a title opportunity, then you get chances to unify, you have mandatory challengers,

all that goes away and it is more akin to the UFC structure where you are just giving out title shots on the basis of your promotion that is contrary to how boxing has existed for the last long stretch. And so, yes, there's, you know, who knows what ultimately happens with that, whether they're gonna be successful in terms of lobbying for that and able to do it. But it's not something that I keep up with on a regular basis.

Somebody like a John Nash would be better for that. So you could follow him and you'll probably get more out of that. Hey boys in the back, this is Trey from South Dakota. What's up Trey? Southrey from South Dakota. Big fan, love the show. But I would just like to start this off with Rick fucking love you dude. I love all the nerdiness that the whole crew incorporates but that your incurable addiction to Magic the Gathering is attractive. And GC loved the Bald Beer brand momentum. And that being said, Frank, Frank, sometimes great lists.

But the list from last week, we should start a petition to remove him from the show. I'll be looking into it legally. You asked Court to look into it legally. Shout out to Trey from South Dakota. Shout out Trey. Hopefully he's part of the Bald Bear brand. You wish that on someone?

GC, Rick and Frankie, how your boys doing? This is Georgie from Baltimore and I'll make it quick. Shout out Georgie. Do you think the UFC would let Conor McGregor use the last two fights on his contract in TKO boxing instead of in the cage. Much love. Probably not. Probably not. I mean unless Connor was just like I ain't fighting again unless I do boxing. Yeah that's probably the only scenario because otherwise you could have him do the boxing and still maintain those UFC fights on his contract just so again and I think we need to a lot of the the

business of Conor McGregor at this point for the UFC is preventing him from going elsewhere there's people who think he'll never fight again the business of Conor McGregor is great business for the UFC but as you continue to see they're selling out arenas they're making their biggest gates ever as the business is great for the UFC a Conor McGregor would be a big boost to it but the biggest boost that they get is Conor McGregor not fighting for a competitor. The biggest boost they get is Conor McGregor not boxing a Jake Paul or going

to another organization. And so the the expediting of his contract would not be in their best interest. They would want to hold him for as long as they possible can so that whenever he does fight it is only for us. Now as we saw with Francis Nganu and I don't know the terms of Conor McGregor's contract when he resigned what it was there was a fight number but there was also a date. There was also for Francis Nganu if you remember that January time frame where it expired and then a year from then was the end of the matching period and he had the ability to negotiate. And so there may be a time where Connor McGregor, regardless of those two fights

becomes a free agent, and then there will be some interesting conversations to have. But either way, I don't think they will substitute boxing for MMA fights because they could conceivably get both. If the biggest fight for Connor is boxing, they could put that on and then say, you still owe us two MMA fights and Connor would still make massive money. They would still make massive money. So I don't think they'll like let him out on that basis. fight for Connor is boxing they could put that on and then say you still owe us two MMA fights and Connor would still make massive money they would still make massive money so I don't think they'll like let him out on that basis yeah the

boys in the back let's put the boys on the map lot of Iowa hit the Moines for a scrap makes Marshall lost get destroyed or dacked. Shout out New York Rick spitting poison is fact. Y'all boys are really cooking like the boys in the track. Five days a week ended off with the crack. And Ariel, he could have left the boys in the back, but he bought the whole team like the toys on his rack. That's real love, real, real love. I real love we all trying to figure out our life and get our check stack so as I sign off for this week hit some balls for y'all don't let the darkness consume what you're working hard for let's go it's Tim from Lincoln Square aka Timmy Tortuga Timmy Tortuga Timmy

Tortuga? Shout out Timmy. I think Tortuga is what he's saying. Timmy Tortuga. Timmy Tortuga? Shout out Timmy. I think Tortuga is what he's saying. Timmy Tortuga from Lincoln Square? Shout out, man. Wow, what a bar. What did he say? The boys in the back cooking the boys in the trap? Yeah, and then he also said, he said the line about like,

Ariel could have left the boys in the back. Shout out. So shout out to Armani for taking us. Shout out Timmy Tortuga in the house, Lincoln Square. That was fantastic. I agree with you about my knowledge and prowess. Poisonous facts. Poisonous facts.

My partner is Nick Diaz. And I'm still going to be saying that I can't fight anymore. This is supposed to be Nick Diaz. I want to find out. I want to see what's up. So GC, you're on a bike. I want to find out. I want to see what's up. So. GC. I do fucking bikes. Triathlon. What's up? Oh that's so good. Yeah I'm fucking down Nick. Come on. Let's get him in the studio. I'll do a whole triathlon against him. I know we had this Brady thing lined up coming soon. I don't know if you want to smoke with with Nick or Nate on the bikes. Those dudes. I'll do a triathlon versus them. Oh I want to see some times on these boys

where if they're just finishing. Are they just finishing? I'll do a time triathlon. Let me get in the water. I'm like a fish. What is good. I'm Chimo talking from South Brazil., shout out. I've been following MMA for years now. So I'm seeing that a lot of people have no love for Rick lately. I find it funny. So my take is I found Rick to be usually the most reasonable one, but sometimes with some absurd takes so I don't know about the second part just to say love you all I want to shout out all the boys in the back and everybody from the Aero Holland show as well also a shout out to your former partners MMA fighting and all that because you have been a big part of my life for a while already.

So really, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And actually I would like to talk, I mean, work with talking MMA shows maybe someday. So my quick one here, question is to all three heads of the Brazilian BAC. All three heads. Frankie is getting included. Have you tried our Brazilian barbecue?

We call it churrasco, which is awesome, I have to say. Maybe we can meet in the next UFC Brazil. Well, that's it. Thanks again. See you. Lights, but. First of all, incredible message. The fact that he's calling in from Brazil. Can't appreciate you enough thank you for for being a part of it not

only here but also in the MMA fighting days have I ever been to Brazil no unfortunately I would love to go close to the barbecue is the churros Korea's here so yeah I mean I love it I'd love to get the authentic thing in Brazil would absolutely love it that in and a little Acai sounds bomb. Have you ever been to Brazil? I have not been to Brazil. I have been to Rio. I went to UFC 237.

I think it was whatever Rose versus Andrade was. Volk and Aldo and Silva and Ryan Spann, I want to say it was. I think it was 237. Had an incredible time. The Acai was as good as advertised. Ariel had been hyping it up for a long time. It was somehow it exceeded expectations based on what he, the level he had set. It was incredible.

And I did the Churrascaria in Brazil. Dude, it was like life changing. It was, it was incredible. So shout out to T I think his name was Timo team Tima Either way shout out. Thank you for that beautiful message Man So now Canada trying to get you guys opinion on Honestly, the state of USC like the quality of of UFC cards, I feel like they could be a

lot better. UFC 314 is pretty good, but the rest coming up are kind of buns. Buns, yeah. Yeah, my thought on that is if they're going to do that, then they're going to have to reduce the number of cards that they do on a yearly basis. Yeah, I wonder, I mean, as we continue to say, like they're going to have to reduce the number of cards that they do on a yearly basis. Yeah, I wonder, I mean as we continue to say like the appetite for it continues to be strong, so I don't know what's going to change at that point. Maybe when the broadcasting gets settled, maybe when the

next broadcast deal gets settled, but it is fair to say like the, in my opinion, the quality of cards across from top to bottom has gone down a little bit but again like they're breaking records on TV, they're breaking records on gate like there's no incentive to change in something drastically changes and maybe the broadcast deal will force that. Hey boys in the back, it's Lucas Mills from Buffalo online. Shout out. I was just wondering what the entire lightweight situation being so wide open recently, especially

if Islam moves up, what do you think Dan Hooker's next fight will be? I know he's coming off a pretty big injury and surgery, but you're supposed to have a pretty big fight against Justin Gaitre. So you could possibly be moving into another big fight, but I was just wondering your thoughts on Dan Hooker's next fight. Have a great show and day. Thank you. Appreciate you. Lucas, right? Calling in from Buffalo. Shout out to Buffalo. Bills Mafia, you'll be watching on Saturday when no one makes the draft pick. Yeah, I feel like Gaethje just going back to the well on that one is a solid play.

I mean, I know he beat Raphael Faziv, but I feel like you just go Gaethje, just like an all out war. Make it exciting. I don't think Gaethje is next for the title. I like the Gaethje fight. If Armin gets left out in the cold for some reason, let's say Ilya and Charles do end up fighting. I don't know who aren't like, cause I guess maybe you could do

Armin versus Gachie, but Max and Dustin seem like they're on a collision course. Then hookers number six. I don't mind Armin versus hooker as a potential fight. Now, you know, that's a big spot for Dan. And you would imagine that Gagey could have gotten that opportunity, but I don't mind it. Let's say it goes Ilya Charles, Islam vacates,

Ilya Charles, Dustin Max, Armin Gagey, and then Dan Hooker's getting left out in the cold. Patti? Moikano, turtle in a tree? Yeah, I guess. But then where does in a Tree? Yeah, I guess. But then you know, where does Patty go? I don't know, it's gonna be... It's gonna be messy.

...you're gonna watch 155 get played out. Yeah. What the fuck is good, lad? Sean Plant calling from Austin, Texas. I have a question for Mr. GC. Yes, sir. It is fucking Carlos' protest fight week. How many goddamn cigs are you about to smoke inside?

I need about 150 to 200. I don't want you fucking breathing on fucking... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This fucking Carlos protest fight week, how many goddamn cigs are you about to smoke inside? I need about 150 to 200. I don't want you fucking breathing on fucking just Sunday morning, alright? Let's fucking torch those lungs, baby. Carlos protest by KO, round two, come on! Wow! Wow! I know what you're fucking breathing, you said. Bro got hyped up there. Uh, I will definitely- Wow! look at that. This is what I'm saying. This is what I think I look like when I'm in here with like, this guy is doing it perfectly.

Look at that. That index between middle and you just kind of let it hang. It just sort of becomes a part of your body, you know. And like I'm actually a lefty on it when it comes to it. I'm a little bit ambidextrous but like you know you can switch it up. This guy's got a right hand. Right hand's a power move. right hand's a power move. Right hand's a power move, but I don't feel as natural. I feel like if I'm gonna go right handed, then I'm sort of hanging it out. When you wear a suit too,

I'm just in a t-shirt and some jeans right now. This guy, by the way, is Edward R. Murrow. Shout out to Edward R. Murrow. I feel like, that's what I'm saying, look at him. The stack of paper in the hands, I feel like I need some papers to read off of right now. I feel like I should be reading something, you know, and it's just like it's so much better when you're stressed out. Like it's just like you can be talking through what

you're speaking through with it in your hand. Like it's just a part of your body just like this. And then I feel like my forehead is never itched in its life until I get a cigarette and then I'm like, you know, we gotta work through this. How many am I gonna be smoking this weekend? I'll smoke one on Saturday before the fights for sure. Give some good juju Carlos's way. And then Saturday evening, probably another two if Carlos is able to pull it off.

We gotta smoke a Marlboro just in case for Carlos. I mean, I paid fucking in New York. These things are not cheap. It's like 25 bucks a pack. It's absolutely. What a habit. He doesn't want you breathing. Yeah, 200 is not happening.

Cigarette inside though, for sure. I'll turn off my smoke alarms. How many is Carlos gonna smoke more importantly? A lot, a lot. Yeah, smoke alarms. I'll take out the batteries for for for for a quick dart inside that feels that feels like real real yeah like that feels like real degen like if I maybe if I lose the Carlos bet I'll lay one up on the on the

stove I do have a gas stove but uh you use one cigarette to light the other come on that's a chain smoker though. That's you. He's just trying to light up one. The SIG definitely got caught on the lighter there. You could see the soot on it. Yeah. But yeah, we'll have a good time on Saturday. Shout out. Sup boys. This is Mike from Mullins, South Carolina by the way of Burlington, Ontario.

Shout out to Ontario. Laying in at a somewhat doughy 185. Fighting weight. Long time first time. Long time first time. My question is for New York Rick. Yes sir. I heard you mentioned a couple weeks ago that you're a big fan of Darren Brown.

And I am too. Just wondering what are some of your favorite things that he's done. You got me watching, rewatching theocalypse and the Push and the Guild Trip. I really like the long kind of long form stuff he's done, but just curious what what got you into his stuff and what you like about it. Shout out to you. I like the long form stuff. Darren Brown is a magician slash mentalist from the UK, whose stuff I got into a long time ago. I like the YouTube stuff better

than I like the long form stuff. The long form stuff is great. He's done a few specials for Netflix and Channel 4 in the UK as well. But I like playing with paper money on YouTube. I like his advertising agency thing he did with Simon Pegg. He's incredible. I recommended this to a friend of ours,

cameraman Nick, and they just have not consumed it. I've suggested that they look for this. I thought they would enjoy it, and cameraman Nick has just not decided to take me up on that. Much like any time I recommend a movie to Frank, so. If you're out there, Derren Brown's great. Look for him on YouTube, look for him on Netflix he's

incredible. Shout out to him the the one the doughy 185 yeah fighting I love more than like Wayne and at the doctor's office and they slide the scale and they're like 171 it's just like weighing in for the welterweight title 171 shout out well no title fight if you're 171. That's true, that's true. Oh, we've lost the belt. All right. Hey, what's up, boys in the back. It's AJ from the great state of Connecticut once again.

Shout out, AJ. So my question for you guys this week is with UFC Kansas City going on this weekend, obviously Kansas City known for the great barbecue. So what are some of your favorite city specific foods? So I got from Connecticut, big New Haven pizza guy. Love New Haven pizza. What are your favorite city specific foods? Thanks. Love New Haven pizza, love bagels. Like if you want to count that as either Montreal or New York. Love, love, thought I was going somewhere with this. I'm not.

What do you like? New York bagels probably high up there. New York bagels. Even above New York pizza for me. New York bagel. Um, give me a Chicago dog. You like the Seattle dog. Love the Seattle dog. Love Cincinnati chili. Some people hate that. I'm not a fan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My dad loves it. He built it up. We went to Cincinnati and I was like, oh boy, dad, we're not gonna agree on this one. Philly cheesesteak. Oh, Philly cheesesteak. How can you not? St. Louis gooey butter cake. Chicago deep dish pizza. Oh yeah, that's the one. That's the one. Crab cake in Baltimore. That's not a bad shout. Wait, crab cakes from Baltimore? Yeah. Lamb ch crab cake in Baltimore. That's not a bad. That's not a bad shout. What's the cakes from Baltimore?

Yeah, I am chowder in Boston Which style though? Hmm, there's different styles. Yeah, I didn't know there's like the tomato base one Yeah, dude, New England all day I've never had red basei. I've never had, yeah, dude, New England all day. I've never had red base time chowder. That shit's white. Frank, what's like a Texas staple? Like what's like a city, a Texas city one? I mean, there's the barbecue, obviously. Yep. I guess, yeah, but that's like Kansas City. I mean, there's a thing called a Frito burrito. That's pretty specific to Texas. I've had one of those. Those are fire. But shout out to London, the prawn cocktail.

English breakfast is hard to top. Buffalo wings? Silly me, I thought Frank was being serious for a second. I'm being dead serious. Buffalo wings are great. Yeah, I mean- New York bagels, my number one though, for sure. Nashville hot chicken is very good.

Yeah, there's some good ones. I like that. Hey boys in the back. Second time caller, long time listener. You know who it is. GC, Rick, Frank, listen, a lot's changed since my last call. Is this Don Davis? Yes.

I got to do a little bit of audio from other media members. Much respect, but let's keep it real you guys know how to drive conversation But sometimes it feels like fighters catch more heat than they should over here at the PFL We've got the full season real standings real stakes game seven bods every night and our discords buzzing fighter AMA is why data drops fans and athletes building something special thought on crown server It's a little quiet these days guys, right? Just facts come check out how the sport of MMA that we all love and watch is evolving

And Frank don't case you don't have Xbox Play me back on Dreamcast and get some fantasy star online at 2-2 rocket on Dreamcast and get some fantasy star online and choo-choo rocket. That man moves. See you guys on LinkedIn. Well T coming out of the DSO. I love Don Davis, man. He's the fucking best. Okay, but what if this is really Don Davis?

It is. I believe that this actually is Don Davis. Shout out to him. Thanks, Don. Yo, what's up, guys? I messed up my last one, so giving it another shot. Shout out, Connor. Shout out, Rick.

Shout out, Frank. My name's Jake. I'm from Denver, Colorado. Shout out, Jake. Shout out Connor, shout out Rick, shout out Frank. My name's Jake, I'm from Denver, Colorado. Shout out Jake, shout out Denver. First time in a long time. So, my question is, I was thinking about the belong Islam situation, you know? Like, Islam waiting to see how things play out with the whole 315 main event, you know?

Like, seeing whether like, Balal loses or not. And like, from my point of view, right? Like it seems like Islam like really wants to move up and like really wants to fight for that belt so I was thinking about from like the laws perspective like It's kind of like obvious I think that like Islam like wants Balal to lose right and like, you know, like the whole narrative They're like they're like friends, right? You know, you know, they're really good friends Like they won't fight each other

but like if you were Balal like would you be upset that like your boys like basically like Plotting on you to lose saying it without saying yeah One is here. We got thick I hadn't thought about it from that perspective Make my life better. Thank you. Thank you brother. Shout out Denver. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective before but Yeah, this whole thing is like I won't fight below it from that perspective before, but yeah, this whole thing is like, I won't fight Bilal, but I'm waiting to see what happens in the Jack Della fight. Well, then you're kind of waiting for Bilal to lose the Jack Della. Yeah, if my boy loses, I'm going to go take his place. It's weird. It is a bit of a weird situation.

I appreciate you, brother. I didn't think of it in that context. Or maybe it's just like, if you're Islam, maybe it's not as nefarious as that. It's just like I hope he wins, but if he doesn't, you know what I mean? I'll capitalize on the opportunity. But it is a bit weird. This is why I just say like, just fight, like fight Bilal. It's athletic competition. It's not like this guy was like your long, like if you were like Islam versus Habib, yeah, I get it.

I understand why you wouldn't, but Bilal, it's like, yeah, I understand. Also, as you pointed out when we last talked about this, it's a lot more Balal being like I'm not gonna fight Islam but I didn't think about it that way. Last voicemail. Last voicemail. Good day boys, it's James Kahuna. I'd like to announce that I'm coming back. I'll be fighting in the GFL against Shogun Hua in a rematch. So many events. Odd Duffy versus John Belonti sponsored by Bam Bam Bunch. Come out and see your boys. Love to see mysterious parade. make the trip out.

Maybe we can play some Xbox when he comes out. Thanks, Mike. Everybody wants to play video games with Frank. I know, I love that, fuck, man. The James Tijuana thing is like one of the funniest things. Jedi Goodman, if you haven't seen it, it's on our Twitter. We should have had the clip ready. He put our reaction and then goes to the clip

of Ariel and Ty, and when Ariel is just like, no, no, no, Jay, he definitely fought, like he fought in a big fight and he won by knockout and then, and then he caught out Jake Paul. And then it's just like three or four seconds of silence. And Ty's just like, James Tahona? Just like, what the fuck are you talking about?

Like, and you're like, you can see like Ty is so adamant that he didn't fight. And then Ariel at one point is just like, no guys, like guys, someone confirmed this for me, like he fought. And then Ty's like, did he fight? And then like, and then he's just like, nah, nah, dude, you're talking about Tyson fucking Pedro, man. All time clip. It's up, it's up on Twitter right now. To be fair, you know, somebody could have helped that Ariel there, but my thing was like- No, I immediately started googling it. Yeah, as I was saying.

And all that came up was just like, James Tihuna hasn't fought in forever. It was just, obviously Ariel's been on the air for three hours at that point, and it is just like Tyson Pedro in a boxing match three months ago. Like, it's okay to have the slip-up there, but just like the whole thing. The way Ty reacted to it was fucking gold. In my head, I had no idea. I was like, oh James Tihuna did a boxing match. That's what I thought too. Fantastic. It was so funny. Shout out to James Tihuna. Shout out to Tyson Pedro. Ty played it solo so good.

Shout out to James Tihuna man. I was like going to bed last night and like James Tihuna popped into my head and I was just laying there in my bed just laughing. You know about the MIB walkout right? Like the legendary.. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out to you. So good. The fact that just like, Ty's was like, you know, he's like the first Aussie, like to make it to the UFC, he's just like, yeah, I know James Tohono, fuck him.

Jake Paul is just like, James Tohono? So good. All right. That's voicemails, we got any super chats? Just a reminder, if you want to leave one for next week and beyond 415 sup BITB, give us a call. Those are fun.

Those are so much fun. I do love it. I gotta say the impressions are like getting. It's good. It's good, man. It's good. Super chats. Sean coming in again.

Ian is a W, but we need an apology from Magni Hate. For the Magni Hate. That's kind of dark, but... Yeah, I mean, that did get a little bit weird, but either way. So whatever. I don't think we need an apology, I'll say that, but I do... He's definitely not going to apologize either. It's been too long.

I think Ian's going to continue to be polarizing. And as I said on the Ari Hallwani show earlier this week, that is better for him. It is better if Ian is polarizing than if he's just this guy that everybody's like, we love Ian. Like it's not, it's not best for him. Play Heel. Jordan writes in top five fighting games. Okay. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. That's on yours. Yep. Tekken. Tekken 8. Mortal Kombat 9. No, it's Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 9, Dragon Ball Fighter Z, and then Street Fighter 2. This guy knows ball, this is kind of a mix of all of ours. I also like how Frank threw it out there and then just decided to stop reading it. Because he started

reading. I know Frank gets very offended if someone speaks over him. Just discombogulately. Sean Plante writes, Anthony Smith's second round sub will feed my grandma. Hopefully grandma's feeding isn't dependent on an Anthony Smith second round sub. Oh, I hope not. Tech writes in, did you see the James Tahun thing? Shout out GDH. The James Tahun lore is gonna get crazy. We gotta make some James Tihuna shirts.

Moderator Elijah Juan Dream writes, Jets going up 3-0 tonight. Yeah, Elijah Juan Dream, Big Jets fan, formerly known as the Thrasher, so I support. Brandon, UFC Undisputed 3, the Warriors, shout out. Def Jam fight for NNY. Oh, shout out. Fight Night round four.

WWE, here comes the pain. Shout out. WWE games don't count. Undisputed three, I- Actually, WWE games probably count. Which one I had that on, but yeah, shout out. That was a good list. Def Jam for NW. Def Jam.

Good one. Def Jam. Why does WWE count, but you know, Conor's Fight Night Championship, no good for you. It counts. It counts. They all count. They all count, but they don't. Those are sports games.

Musician Rick G. writes all count, but they don't. They're sports, those are sports games. Musician Rick G. writes, midsummer was absolute dog shit. Thank you, GC. Rick G, Connor, you guys could stay in your own camp. Shout out Rick G and also shout out to Frank for the heavy emphasis on the shit there. I just want to make sure that the podcast is-

Midsummer was dog shit. Thanks, GC. Yeah, that was good. What else? Adam Rogers, Rogers GC I'm telling you watch the Smith as Demir fight crazy all right we'll do my Swiss brethren Vulcan owes to me did you say that you hadn't seen that fight or something what why is he telling you to watch that one I don't know I mentioned it that was a that was a good win yes I don't know I guess he just knows that like my fandom wasn't like firm because I haven't seen it. I'm not gonna lie. Okay. And then

lastly give me a second to to get this one out for the podcast listeners but Hamashi MMA writes fight game specials in the 90s were like down emoji, back emoji, forward emoji. You get it like the roundhouse. Yeah. So I just wanted everyone to appreciate that. I think it's great. Thanks, Sonashi. Do you know what that is, Frank? That's not an actual movie. It was just typing in random ones. Down, diagonal, over, diagonal, down, diagonal, over.

That's, that's the, sure you can. Oh, all right. I guess I didn't know. All right, that's all of them. That is in fact all of them. Reiza, Reiza adds in one more. Rick Akuma debuted in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, not Super Street Fighter 2 Tur...

not Street Fighter 2 Turbo, you uncultured swine. I said Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Uh, yeah. Wow, Reza. Tell Reza that I said Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. He can hear you. Reza? He said Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Thank you. You uncultured swine. If it said anything different. I think that'll do it for us. That'll be fine. All letters to him. All right. Look at this guy.

This is my dream now now I just want to look I'm just gonna start my own news broadcast that I that I can just smoke cigarettes for after the fight Dixon's oh can't see that one if we send a hundred-dollar super chat so GC like the sick nah I'd get too much trouble after after approaches when do a little video I might just go IG live Dana why do live in a second so I would like a news broadcast. All right guys breaking news breaking news here on the Front here in New York City Carlos proches went by second round knockout more at 11 All right. Yeah, that'll do it for us. We covered KSW 105 we covered

for us. We covered KSW 105, we covered uh, QBank Ben, we covered uh, UFC Kansas City, DDP back, GamRot's got a fight, Top 5 Pound for Pound Video Games, I mean we did it all, it's been a fantastic show, almost 3 hours. One of the most fun shows we've had. Uh, appreciate y'all more than you know. Watch the crack tomorrow, watch the NFL Draft on Saturday! Big Howani announcing a pick for the Buffalo Bills. That's gonna be amazing. We'll see you for the Era Howani show on Monday. Thanks for watching!