The Ariel Helwani Show - Will Ospreay, Mikaela Mayer, Carli Judice, Ade Oladipo, news & notes

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

Ariel Helwani opens the show by bouncing around the upcoming schedule, including Umar Nurmagomedov’s UFC main event against Song Yadong in Shanghai, Bella Mir’s Contender Series showcase, and more (05:57). Old friend Ade Oladipo reunites with Ariel to talk all things boxing, starting with the reaction to his viral George Foreman clip, then discussing Moses Itauma’s massive potential, the drama surrounding Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury and it potentially not taking place in the UK, Zuffa Boxing’s impact so far, and more (18:01). Unified super welterweight champion Mikaela Mayer joins to preview her bout against Chantelle Cameron, also talking about her contract with MVP, wanting to fight Claressa Shields, Alycia Baumgardner fighting Elif Nur Turhan rather than Caroline Dubois, the momentum in women’s boxing compared to their MMA counterparts, her commentary career, and more (1:01:06). Ariel and The Boys in the Back chitchat about youth sports, fatherhood, and life, before covering some breaking news (1:29:29). Carli Judice makes her show debut, discussing her sports background, growing up as a non-MMA fan, the story being her nickname “Crispy,” her finishing ability and high-volume style, meeting fellow Lafayette, Louisiana native Dustin Poirier, and more (2:00:53). AEW star Will Osprey discusses his massive opportunity to headline AEW All In opposite Kenny Omega at Wembley Stadium, reflecting on his career to this point, his high-flying style, his relationship with AEW boss Tony Khan, the vibe in the locker room, receiving offers from WWE, how the WWE and AEW products compare, loving his time in Japan, and more (2:33:00). Ariel and crew close out the show with your Super Chats (3:20:23).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Errawadis. Tuesday, August 25, 2000. And 26, hello again, everyone. I hope you're doing well. It is great to be here on a lovely, lovely Tuesday in August, in the beautiful city known as New York City. Oh, I am so happy to be here. So grateful for this life each and every day,

we get to come back and talk about combat sports. How lucky are we? How lucky are we, my friends? I'm also grateful for this shirt. You know, sometimes you put on shirts in the morning and you're like, you know what? I'm feeling in this type of mood, this kind of way. But then you sit here and you look at yourself

and you're like, you know what? Maybe it was a bit much. Maybe I'm still on the islands. Is that what this shirt represents? Does it represent island time for you, Frankie? It represents I'm going hunting. Hunting? Which is okay.

Why hunting? It gives you like camo-vise. This is camel? I feel like this is floral. Well, you know, we have different views on things. You feel like I'm a hunter right now. Yeah, like you're going at Cabela's after work to buy a new hunting crossbow or something. Are you getting a little intimidated by that?

Like, does that... No, man, I think I could take you. Does that intimidate? It's just like a slight, like... Does that intimidate? The workplace harassment is getting a little... What are you doing on, man? I'm just curious if it makes you feel some sort of way.

That's all. Yeah, you're good. All right. Just checking. Just checking, Frankie. Great to be here with you. Watched a few minutes of the Jose Marino doc yesterday. Felt really good about where I was. I actually got past episode one, just barely into episode two, and then I fell asleep.

But it was a great night overall. Hope everyone had a great night as well. We had a great show yesterday. Another great show planned for today. Can't wait for this program. In fact, a bit of a reunion coming up in a few minutes time. Can't wait for that. Our old friend Adé Oladipo on a day.

Tuesday sounds familiar. We used to do a show with him. It was called Ariel and Adde. And then the powers that be took us out back and shot us both of the dome. One guy got to stay with the zone. The other got his walking papers. But it's okay because we're still here in the same chair, same studio, doing the same damn thing. After my chat with Adde, and we have a lot to talk to him about the politics of boxing, the drama that is boxing, the saga that is Tyson Fury versus AJ, some personal stuff with him as well. After that, we'll be joined by Michaela Mayer, who is fighting Chantel Cameron in the main event of the MVPW event in Birmingham, England this weekend.

And these two, obviously, two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Michaela Mayer, three-division champion, trying to become a unified super welterweight champion. That's 154 pounds. The ring belt is on the line as well. This is a great, I mean, an amazing fight. great card as well. MVP making some announcements this morning. We'll get to that. Carly Judees is going to join us.

Fresh off her big win on Saturday in Sacramento. Crispy Carly, they call her. Carly Judis, one of the bright young stars in the UFC's Women's Division. They've got a bunch of those coming up as of late. We spoke to Fatima Klein. There's Chanel Dyer. There's a whole bunch.

So stay tuned for that. And Will Osprey, the Pride of Essex, who will be competing in the main event, of the AEW All-In Wembley show on Sunday at Wembley Stadium against Kenny Omega for the AEW Heavyweight Championship. Omega is the champion. These two are magic together. Osprey is one of the great wrestlers in today's business.

One of the darlings, I would say, of the hardcore wrestling community, of the internet wrestling community, had neck surgery in September of last year. His goal was to be back to headline this event in his home country, which he loved so dear. He actually lives in London and commutes every single week to do TV more often than not in America. Isn't that amazing? He lives in London. Think about that. He probably has to leave on a Tuesday to get there by Tuesday night to compete on Wednesdays, come home or actually leave Thursday to come home Friday, and then has to do it all over again.

And that's not when, you know, there's a pay-per-view. Then he stays for the entire week and then comes home the following week. it's a crazy thing. The guy has, you know, has seen and done it all. He was accorded by WWE. He chose to go to AEW. Like I said, a darling of the internet wrestling community. So stay tuned for that. That's the four pack of guests. Of course, a ton of news, as always, to get to. And we will get to that in a moment. But I do want to remind you that today's program is brought you by our good friends over at Cal She. We love Cal She around these parts. And we want you to think of Kalshi as a marketplace where the price on something is basically the odds of it

happening. Sports, politics, whatever's going on. That price moves in real time based on where people are putting their money. So you aren't playing against a house like you would on traditional sports books. You're just, you're playing against your peers. Trade $25 right now with the code Helwani. That's H-E-L-W-A-N-I. And then they'll add another $25 to your account right away. Please trade responsibly and please support them because they support us. There's the QR code right there. Download the app. K-A-L-S-H-I.

I woke up this morning. I didn't grab myself a gun, but it sounded like the song. What show? What show? That's the Spradows. Yeah. I woke up this morning to the face-off in Shanghai between two of the best bantam weights in the world. Umar Namagamadav, Song Yadong.

and what about this from Mr. Sondya Dung. What is that? Is that ore farming? Is that looks maxing? What is that? What are the kids called that? I think that's magging. That's magging, right?

I mean... No shirt with the Vipers next to Umar with a button down that needs a good iron or steam. Yeah. Probably tuck it in as well. Yeah. And song coming out. Shirtless eight pack. Do you think he saw him and was like, yeah, let me just take this off real quick.

Yeah, it tarps off for this one. Man, look at that. He is... some kind of chiseled. What a fight this is, by the way. What a fight. This is a big time fight in the 135-pound division. Marabdu Ali Shvili telling us yesterday,

despite his beef with Umar, he is leaning towards the Dagestani fighter. Let's see what the Kalshi people are saying. All right. They too are leaning towards the Dagestani fighter. What a stretch it has been for Team Habib. Of course, just a couple of weeks ago, Usma Narmaga made off,

getting the big W, PFL, then Isamachev, getting the big W against Ian Gary and now Umar fighting this weekend against one Songya Dong. So that is a big time fight in in the Bantamweight Division. Before we get to that, though, we do have a big time Dana White Contender Series. This has been a great stretch for Contender Series, a great summer, like I said, for the UFC. And it's rare that I'm saying like, oh, I got to watch this contender series. Usually, like, you put it on, you see who kind of jumps out at you. Last week we knew about Namo Fiziel. It didn't work out for him. I do suspect that he'll get another crack.

and we'll be back, maybe have to get a couple wins on the regional scene and then work his way back. Tonight, though, Bella Mir. You know, we've seen a lot of sons of fighters, at least, you know, recently, a sign that we're getting older, but not a ton. Here she is the daughter of the great Frank Mear, former UFC heavyweight champion, one of the greatest fighters of all time, weighing in yesterday. A big opportunity for her. There's a lot of buzz surrounding her, of course. we've been hearing about her for quite some time. And now she's finally getting her opportunity to show what she's all about, at least on this particular stage.

She's going up against Alex Apodaca. And I do believe, according to our good friends, over at Kalshi, everyone's quite high on Bella Mir. And it feels as though, given the relationship with Dana White, the history between Frank Meir and Dana White, that this is one of those where it's not necessarily like, oh, she's already been signed. a la Bo Nickel, but it feels as though like a win gets her in, and it feels as though the UFC is very much behind her, and it feels as though the UFC has been behind her for quite some time. The NIL stuff, the UFC, BJJ stuff, it was a natural that she would eventually come on over

and get this opportunity, had a great amateur wrestling career as well. 23 years young has talked about wanting to go to the Olympics in 2028, so tonight we get our first look at Bellamere inside, the octagon, not necessarily the UFC octagon, but it will be at the apex. And I'm sure, considering the fact that she was born and raised in Las Vegas, there's going to be a very passionate partisan crowd in her favor on that show this evening, Contender Series, which, of course, you can watch on Paramount Plus. Also saw late last night, speaking of Team Habib and Islam in particular, he is back in Russia. He was here in America, obviously was cornering on Saturday in

Tampa. He has arrived in Russia, and here he is gifting his belt once again to his proud father. You see the resemblance. There's a great resemblance between the two of them, and anytime he comes back home, it's a great scene. And there was some talk about his face being all busted. He looks pretty damn good there. If I'm being honest, he looks like he has healed, quite well. So a nice homecoming for Mr. Islam Khachav, the reigning defending UFC Walterway champion.

Carlos Prachas out on social media yesterday, campaigning for the MSG fight against Islam, which would be huge. Is there enough time? That's less than three months from now. Well, according to Kalshi, as far as who is going to be the UFC

Walterway champion by the end of this year, they definitely think it's going to be Islam Khachia. 90% in his favor, 10% for Carlos Proches. Maybe if it's end of 27, that changes a little bit, but I'd be surprised if they squeeze that one in there. There aren't a lot of options. We've talked about Tom Aspinall fighting on that card or wanting to see him fight on that card. No word on that just yet.

Obviously, he's not fighting on the Abu Dhabi card. That's UFC 333, but it would be nice to have him on this card. I don't know if the games are going to continue. If it's not Tom Aspinall, there aren't a ton of options. So maybe they consider that one. It's rare that he comes back this quickly. It's rare these days that any champion comes back this quickly. It would be shades of McGregor Diaz 10 years ago,

where McGregor fought in August of 2016 and then came back in November to fight at UFC 205. So let's see. You know, yesterday we spoke to Marab about his beef with Umar, and he was very complimentary of team Chhabib, and Islam in particular. but when Islam spoke to reporters yesterday upon landing in Russia, he wasn't as complimentary of Marab. Take a listen.

Oh, sorry. Here's, we actually don't have that clip. We just have the quote from the very beginning. He, Marab, wasn't happy at all about my success in the octagon, but Peter Yan, I think he will beat him again now and finally make him shut up. And this was, I guess, in response to comments that Marab made about the Russian flag. I didn't see those initial comments and I've never really felt any sort of friction between Marab and Islam

or even Team Chhabib other than Umar but it seemed as though he wasn't too happy about those comments. So I kind of wish we had Marab on today so we could get his thoughts on and all. Speaking of that team, Usbander Magamatov is teasing us. He is teasing us with this post.

He posted this today at a high level talent no longer decides and there's a UFC logo behind him wherever he may be he's probably that's probably a photo like at the hotel where they practice and train before fights

maybe the slum fight what does that quote mean to you guys back there what does that mean at a high level talent no longer decides what does that mean I was taking it as at the highest levels everybody's talented it's how hard you work once you get there right like at the highest

levels everybody is the Uber elite, elite, elite, and now it's just we're spending more hours in the gym than you are. And that team in particular, I have a feeling has the leg up on everybody in that regard. How are you taking it? Well, you know, the UFC logo is back there. He's trying to say like, hey, you know, here I come to show that I'm the man type of thing. I mean, he's playing games with us. There's no doubt about that.

People keep telling me that he wants to stay at PFL. I don't know if I believe that, to be honest. who's telling you yeah people say that people are telling me is he telling you that um no am i talking to usman no

uh but people are skeptical of any people who are not usman saying that people close to him you know no i think uh until he puts pen to paper signing a pfo contract in my mind he's as good as gone yeah i just don't know like who's there for him to fight

like what is he going to do Well, I mean, I'd watch Paul Hughes versus Usman 10 times, but maybe I'm in the minority. Sure, but I'd also watch Max Holloway versus. There's literally 20 great fights for him in the UFC. There's no legacy. Yeah. Proving yourself on the highest level. All the brand deals and sponsorships and everything that comes with it.

The influence of Habib and Umar and Islam, all the likes, you know, kind of was just whispering in an ear and being like, you know, UFC's the way to go. Okay. Hear me out for a second here, though. we suspect that he would have to take a pay cut to go to the UFC. Do we agree on that? Maybe not significant, but that he'd be making less. I think that, two things. I think that the UFC may overpay him a little bit just to make sure that PFL doesn't match.

And maybe to just fuck with PFL. Like they may try to just give him a huge offer so that PFL does match and put themselves in the hole. Like this has happened. For example, some might say it happened with Bam Rodriguez recently. Zufa offered him a lot of money and Matrum had to match it to keep him. Probably not what they wanted to pay him, but they had to do it. So these games do happen from time to time. Lest we forget, Lynn, comma Jeremy, circa 2012 as well.

Yeah, restrictive free agency. Okay. Then let's say maybe. Maybe he can make more with the PFL. Okay, let me put it this way. Kayla Harrison had a strategy where she was with the PFL, she was making more money that she probably would have made going into the UFC, and then at some point was able to transition over, you know, when she was even more established and she was longer in her career. If Umar, sorry, if Ustman did three more fights with the PFL and they were able to. to come to the table with an offer that was for more money.

Couldn't that make sense to do? Is it a foregone conclusion? I don't think that the UFC is something that will not be there for Usman Nirmaga made of three fights from now. And so I don't know that it's like he can't do a version where he goes back to the PFL for a few fights, makes more money, and then goes to the UFC. That's fair. I mean, it's not a now or never for a guy who is this good and this talented and this young. perfect. It's perfect timing. No doubt. It's so perfect. No doubt. You know, he survived a little scare, but like, just do it. There's, there's no one else. There's no one else. You don't have

to fight Paul for a third time. Yeah. Like you had watched it, but there's literally no one else. It's 100% accurate. Like the, the PFL doesn't have an ecosystem at the moment to support a star like Usman, but you still got to try. You still got to try and keep him. He also thinks in his head he is the best 155 around the world. So, going to to the UFC, sure you're taking a pay cut now, but if he becomes a 155-pound champion and is a long-reigning champion, the opportunities are limitless at that point. Many UFC fighters have thought exactly the same. Yeah. And then they get there and they are not the champion. And we also get there and they are not as good as they take a pay cut. You know, the UFC may just say like, here you go,

here's a nice sweetheart deal. Kayla was a different example, right? It was at a time where she was going to make the most of PFL. So I'm just, I'm just painting a picture where maybe he doesn't have to go right now. But as you said, like the tea leaves say they're all pointing in that direction and it would make a lot of sense. She also had tournaments where it was a million bucks. A million dollar check at the end of it. Yep. Those are long gone. All right.

More news and notes to come. Great start to the day. Will Osprey back in all in Wembley this Sunday. Can't wait for that. Michaela Mayer as well. Crispy Carly, G. A big fan of hers. We're all big fans of hers.

Anyone who continues to get finishes like that, how could you not enjoy? There was once a time, though, my friends. too long ago where every Tuesday afternoon, my friend Adelaideop and I used to chat. I was in this studio. He was in his studio. Everyone was having a grand old time. We were really building it up, building it up, building it up. And then like I said at the top of the show, they took us out back and they shot us both in the head. Apparently, I did not survive, but he did because he is still the reigning, defending face of DeZone boxing. There's a tremendous job also on his YouTube, talking both boxing and football,

he is the one and only, Mr. Green Chair himself. Adeola Depot. Yeah, look at this guy. By the way, I've noticed as of late Svelter and Svelter, I don't know if it's the beard trim or something, but you have lost a considerable amount of weight, no?

I am doing a bit more cardio than I used to, but I do think it's the beard. I do think the beard. Okay. I used to make my face look a bit round and fat. But you're right. Maybe there is, you know, Me, as I get into my sort of, you know, mid-40s, trying to look a bit more swollen and jacked.

I don't know. This is all clean as well, by the way. We're not taking anything. Okay, no peptides, none of that stuff. Peptides, no TRT, none of that nonsense. And we're talking good old-fashioned protein shakes and steaks. I love that. Protein.

That's it. Protein. Protein. By the way, great to see you. Thank you for being here. It's so lovely to talk to you, especially on a Tuesday. You're so busy for you to be able to squeeze us in. amid your busy schedule is really an incredible thing.

And look, let's get right into it. There's a lot to talk to you about Adde. There's a lot to talk to you about it. A couple weeks ago, I'm on vacation, and I'm doing a very good job. I'm doing a very good job. I'm in Hawaii, by the way. Hence the shirt.

I'm still on island time. I don't know if you're feeling it like I am Adé, but here I am. Just a little peak of the guy. Andy, just a little peek. Sorry, sorry. Oh, okay. It was just a little piece.

It was just a little taste. So there I am. I'm trying to disconnect. I'm trying to disconnect. I'm not, but then I go on the social media and I'm seeing my guy getting raked over the coals. What's happening at him? I've seen my guy just, what, what happened? I was taking shots from everywhere. And by the way, as you were on holiday, I too was on holiday. Yeah. I was with the misses. I was in Ibiza. I was enjoying myself. And then I'm getting

people messaging me saying, are you okay? Like, just stick with it. You're the best in the business. I'm like, okay, I have no idea what you're talking about, but thank you. And I was almost taking, I'm not joking. I was taking on their things like Pat's on the back. I had no idea what they were talking about. I'm not as much on Twitter as I used to be. And then I'm seeing people saying you're trending. I'm like, okay? What are you referring to? They said George Foreman. And I still didn't understand it. I was like, I still don't know what you're talking about. Because said George Foreman clip, we filmed with the BBC months ago. Wow. Months ago. Yeah, yeah. Maybe like four months ago. So I'm like, what exactly did I say and what are you talking about? And then I saw a little third. second clip. And I was like, okay, everyone needs to breathe. Everyone needs to breathe and calm down and chill out. I just thought like the boxing, you're not even not even the boxing fans. A lot of the boxing media just want to get angry for the sake of getting angry at anything and something. And I find a lot of them embarrassing. And I could 10-7 quite a few of them, but I won't.

Okay. I don't want to mention them. Some of them, honestly, I was thinking about this for a while. It's like, I'm coming on the 10-7 show. Yes, yes, yes. Did I 10, 7, a few of them, but some of them don't even deserve to be mentioned. These are people that have reached out to me. Oh, Adi, get me on the zone, I'd say. Adi, can you help me, I day? And I'm seeing their tweets.

I'm like, how dare you? Yeah. And then you're doing it for that. Something that was taken out of context. It was ridiculous. Me, G, Man, Emily Eubank, around the table. And we were asked to kind of who is, I think it was the most famous or something, boxer of all time. Emily Eubank went Mike Tyson, G man went Foreman, I went Arlene.

We're defending our guys. G-man said something along the lines of Foreman was famous. He was so famous. Don't you remember the Foreman grill? I started laughing. I was like, you're bringing a Foreman grill to the table when we're going back and forth by Ali and Foreman? And I think they've clipped me up. And yeah, look, it is what it is.

I took a lot of bullets. I survived. And I reached out to my good friend Ariel Hawani. I was like, Ariel, you've taken many a bullet in your time. How do you survive this? And you were very nice and kind in your words. you sent me like a podcast. It was like a seven minute voice.

Yes, yes. A podcast. And I listened to everything and I took it on board and we're still alive. We're still, we're still bouncing. We're still jumping. We're still the face of the zone for those that wanted to be sacked for a form and take, idiots. Okay, so I have a few things that I want to say in response to this. First of all, I hope you viewed those seven or eight minutes as my, my affection for you,

my love for you. And I would have gone longer if I felt necessary, but I didn't think it was necessary, seven minutes is enough as far as voice notes are concerned. I did think for a moment to speak up on this, but I knew at some point we would talk about it and I just kind of wanted to let it be. You don't need me to fight your battles, but I do think it's insane that in the year 2026,

this is what social media has become. If anyone, especially those who are jealous of your success, see any kind of opening, any kind of opening whatsoever to tear you down, they are going to try to use that to tear you down. And so the sentiment of like, let's cancel this guy, for this take that we don't agree with. Whether or not you think it was a good, take, bad take, disrespect, whatever.

Let's try to get this guy fired. He didn't do anything nefarious, unethical, hurt anyone. He just had a take we don't agree with that was, you know, a little far-fetched, sure, I don't agree with it, but I'm not trying to get people fired for takes. Was absurd to watch develop in real time. But that's social media in this day and age,

and I just didn't want it to get you. I didn't want it to make you feel like you were lesser than. That's just the Internet. And it's all a bunch of nothing. But I'll be honest with you. It's easy, you know, a couple of weeks removed to say, I didn't get to me. It certainly did.

Hence why I reached out to you and a few other people, because I was like, what's going on here? Like, what do they want to happen? Do you want me fired from DeZone and talk sport? I'm so confused. As you say, like, in the grand scheme of things, what was said? I mean, was it said something about someone's race, about someone's religious beliefs?

Like, what was actually said? And again, some of the people's, I saw some takes of, does own need to fire him? Yeah, yeah. That's why he's no longer on TalkSport. That's why his YouTube channel's crap. I'm like, are you okay? Are you actually all right with your own sort of life? And I don't mind the average Twitter faceless idiot.

But then when I'm seeing people in the media, like boxing media people that you see at events, that I see regularly at events or when I go to the States and see ringside, I'm like, dude, sorry, If you're trying to take the king's job, you need to do a lot better than that. I've worked far too hard for you minions to come along, and then you're going to take my job because of a George Foreman take. Get a life. It's just jealousy. That's all it is.

That's all it is. But let me give you the opportunity to maybe phrase it in a different way. Because like I said, I love you, but I don't agree with you. George Foreman is one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time, one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time, I'm oldest heavyweight champion, all that stuff, a more, a proper legend. Can I ask, why were you so dismissive of his place in history? You know what it is? I'm honest of you.

It was just almost, it wasn't necessarily anti-George Foreman. I think it was so pro-A-Lee that I was like, no, no, my guy. Yeah, no, not your guy, my guy, Ali. Like, who's George Foreman? So it was almost like school, I don't know, back, I don't know, behind the shed, school yard stuff. where I was like, no, Ali's clearly number one. And anything you say about George Foreman is lesser.

And that's all it was. And it's funny thing is, at the time of saying it, I remember thinking, oh, might get a bit of a, might get a bit of heat for that. But I generally didn't think it would come like this. I didn't think it would steamroll like this. And I think someone wrote, Aday knows nothing about boxing,

how dare he say this about Foreman? I was like, I do understand who Foreman is. Foreman is one of the greatest heavy weights of all time. I was just saying, my guy is number of uno. and by defending my guy, I kind of shot down others. And I've done it to a lesser extent with football, you know, the Messi Ronaldo debate.

Clearly we know Ronaldo's the second best of all time, but Messi's number one, so you're going to shoot down all of Ronaldo's achievement or something like that. But I certainly didn't mean to be disrespectful to the late great George Foreman and to all his family and friends and clearly a million supporters around the world.

I mean, George Foreman is one of the best ever. I was just trying to back for my guy, and I think maybe I batted a bit too hard. That's all it was. You also reside in the world of football. Can I ask, is this a boxing specific thing that you don't know shit about boxing? Or does that also, like, do you get that in football as well? I feel like in boxing, it's like the number one go-to phrase.

Like, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. You didn't watch. You weren't there, blah, blah, blah. Why is it such a thing in boxing as opposed to in other sports? Or is it apparent in other sports as well? No, it's not. It's not. I've covered athletics.

Dude, I've covered tennis. I cover football more so than I. I cover boxing, I think, nowadays. None of that. But boxing is almost like this. They want you to have a university doctorate to cover the sport of boxing. Like, did you remember then 1922? It's ridiculous.

Some of the takes are just ridiculous. And they say it about everyone. There's always why are you talking boxing? I mean, obviously you've heard it said about yourself. And it's like, what do I need to know to talk about boxing? What exam do I need to go through? Do I need to have boxed? And even if I box, do I need to have boxed pro?

Do I need to have boxed pro at a world level? Like, I find it ridiculous, some of the stuff that people say about the knowledge of boxing. I followed the sport. I am ringside for some of the biggest events in the world. I have a YouTube channel where I've got 3,000 videos plus on the sport of boxing. I've done this for many, many moons. I mean, I do know quite a bit about the sport. And maybe there are some people out there that know a bit more.

But let's just, this is the problem with boxing. This is why boxing hasn't grown in many years because it seems to kick away the casual and it's only a sport for the hardcore boxing fans. And I've never been about that. Never been about that. I've never said I was the hardest of hardcore boxing fans. That's a sport I love.

This is a sport I've watched since 1987. So it's quite a long time. And I think that kind of qualifies me to know a bit about the sport. I would put your boxing, I'm not just saying it because you're right here, your boxing knowledge. I would put it up there with anyone who is in my life, anyone who I consume. Obviously, there's people like Teddy Atlas.

I love listening to him. He's a Hall of Fame trainer. I get that. But as far as pundits, host, presenters, as you call them over there, like it's absolutely ludicrous. The ones that are in our orbit right now, on DeZone and other networks,

it's an insane thing. I didn't want to have you on here just to talk about this, by the way, and have you defend yourself. I want to hear your boxing takes because right now I find it to be a very fascinating time. Before I get to the meat of what I wanted to talk to you about, and that's A.J.

no surprise there. What about our guy, Moszatama? Most Satama fighting this weekend. Tufus Tava Tavich. I don't want to put you in an awkward spot here, Adi, but it drives me up the wall that this is on pay-per-view. This can't be on pay-per-view. You need to let the world know who Moszatama is. You need to let the world know how great this guy is. Nevertheless, he can become one of the youngest heavyweight champions of all time. I'm just wondering back home in England, in your country, how big of a deal is he now? I just got a nice little package from his team, the Team Atalma hat and shirt, Nike shirt, super cool. But has he broken through yet, or is Saturday the night where he breaks through?

Saturday's the night. He's breaking through. He hasn't broken through as yet. He's not on the level of, I don't know, Chris Eubain Jr. or Conner Ben or Fury or A.J. But those are behemous when it comes to British boxing. He's on his way. And I think Saturday could be that crowned moment. Oter Arena, almost a spiritual home, a British boxing, it's sold out. And not only is he fighting for a world title, but he's fighting for a world title against a legit opponent.

I remember many people raised eyebrows when AJ beat Charles Martin, right? Charles Martin never really a top tier heavyweight. Philip Hergevich is that. Philip Hergevich is without doubt a top six, top seven heavyweight. So for him to become champion, he's having to beat someone

that is formidable. Someone who, a decade ago, everyone was crowning as the next Vladimir Klitsko. Hasn't quite worked out of that for Philip Hergevich, but he's still very, very good. But he's only 20. Look, let's not forget, Moses is a baby.

Moses is 21. I think it's going to be 22 in December. It might be 22 now, but I think it might be 23 in December. I think he's 21. He's a baby. And as you said, I mean, he's bidding to become the second youngest ever heavyweight world champion just behind Mike Tyson in front of the likes of Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali. It's insane what he's trying to do.

He is special. It won't be easy. And hopefully when he does do that, because we are coming to the end, of the road for AJ, Fury, Usik, I don't know, Dillian White Chazora, hopefully this is the guy that the batting can be passed to, and we've got him for the next 10 years or so, because I do think there is a special, special talent there, and fingers crossed, we see it on Saturday, sorry.

21 turning 22, these are the odds, by the way, according to our good friends over at Kalshi, 86% favoring Mosetama against a very tough guy. I remember not that long ago, Hergovich against Joshua. People are like, okay, what's going to happen? Or Hergovich against Wilder, I do believe. And people are like, what's going to happen?

This is a tough, tough, tough guy who a lot of people think is sort of like a litmus test, I would say, at heavyweight. Not necessarily like a gatekeeper, but if you can get past him, now you're the real deal. One thing I love about Moses, and I know you've had a chance to speak to him as well, very sort of thoughtful and introspective. Like when you speak to him, you don't realize he's 21. He actually is quite wise. Do you feel the same way? There's just something about his answers that I'm really impressed by. I do.

I do. You're right. Sometimes I have to kind of double check that I'm speaking to someone that I'm old enough to be his dad. Yeah. He sounds like a very mature kid. Yeah, it's crazy, right? But then his whole family like that. His brothers are like that as well.

I've spoken to his dad, Charles, a few times. He's like that. So I can kind of see where Moses gets it from. And then you've got Lee Wiley and Ben Davidson, who are very sort of articulate, very smart approach this boxing training. from a very different standpoint. They're not sort of throwback old school type trainers. It's very a new thing they're trying to do.

And if you speak to them, you can understand where Moses gets it from. He almost studies the sport. Moses has said, like, I'm a big fan of it. I always watch tape. And a lot of boxes don't watch tape anymore. They say, I know, I'll leave that to my trainer. He watches tape. He's a big fan of Shakur Stevenson, big fan of David Benavides.

He watches those guys. So he's a student of the sport. And I think he understands who he is now as well. like all the hype was a couple of years ago. And ultimately, when you know, when you're coming through boxing, you kind of get tomato cans, let's be honest of you, you get garbage guys that you really should knock out. Now we understand this is the real deal.

But this is now the acid test. You're getting guys put in front of you that are coming to win. You're now headlining shows. I know you don't like it. People don't like it. But now you're a pay-per-view guy as well. You've got to deliver. All that problem.

It's almost like Frank Warren's gone all in on red. Like this is it. I'm going to be. all him with all my chips on you. So he's got to deliver on Saturday. And I feel like he's someone that again, when you're around, looks like he can handle that pressure. He wins, who does he get?

It really should be Frank Sanchez. Frank Sanchez has taken step-aside money to allow this fight to happen for the world title. It should be Frank Sanchez. The dream, the dream for me, is somehow to see him versus Cabell or Daniel Dubois. I mean, when you're talking about, is he a superstar yet?

You become a superstar, sometimes with big domestic dust stops. And Daniel Dubois is a world champion, should be fighting Fabio Wardley again, if Daniel Dubois can get past Fabio Wardley. Dubois versus the Talma is just, I mean, that's blockbuster, that's Wembley Stadium, that's Tottenham Stadium. Wow. That's a massive fight. So, that's what I would like to see, him versus Dubois or him versus Cabell. But if it's tradition, if it's sort of next man up, it should be Frank Sanchez. All right, let's stick with the heavy weights. Let's talk about AJ Fury. Yesterday, we spent like 45 minutes going through the past week. This was some kind of drama with this email being leaked and Eddie going on.

I mean, this is crazy, man. This is crazy stuff. And they're trying to move it to MSG, November 20th, and Netflix is involved. And you've got TKO and obviously Zufa Boxing and Dana White and Eddie and Matrim. And man, I'm dying to know what you make of all of this. And who's in the right, who's in the wrong, how it's playing out and where it ultimately lands. Well, there's too many cooks in the kitchen, first and foremost. There are too many egos at this table. You just mentioned a few there. Can you imagine trying to arrange something when you've got the egos of Eddie and Dana and sort of Nick Carr, Netflix, AJ, Fury, Turkey? I mean, this was never going to be easy to sort out. I think everyone just assumed, yeah, they're going to

click fingers and it's going to be arranged. No, no, no, no. There was always going to be a problem. Eddie and AJ seem to be sticking with, we signed up for the fight to be in the UK. It has to happen in the UK. Obviously, us in the UK like the idea of it. But it's almost got to a point with me, but I'm like, just have to fight anyway. Like, it's got to a stage now, what, I do not care. I've been waiting for this fight for over a decade. And every time we feel like we're close,

there's another hurdle, another obstacle, another bridge is being built. I think fight fans in the UK are like, we're getting tired of it. You know, both guys aren't at their best. This isn't like Pakel Mayweather, when Mayweber was pound for pound number one, and Pakel had a belt. We understand that both guys are right at the end.

We shouldn't be waiting this long for, two guys right at the end of their careers. And for once, I almost agreed with Dana White as well. I saw Dana White do something at one of the UFC events post the UFC event. And he almost seemed fed up with it as well. Like, you guys are going to get paid $100 million. Can we just make the fight happen? Like, what is happening?

I don't mind the idea of AJ and Eddie sticking to their guns, say in the UK. But ultimately, you've allowed Turkey to come in. Turkey's saying he's paying for it. If Turkey's paying for it, he puts it on wherever he wants. I mean, Eddie and Frank have had nearly a decade of putting this together without the influence of Turkey. You've now allowed Turkey to come in and if I'm Turkey, I do what I want with this fight

because ultimately I'm paying all the big bucks. So if Turkey wants it in New York because it will help Netflix numbers, then it's got to be New York. It's got to be New York. And I do think the Brits would travel. But it is a shame to have two of the biggest British boxing stars of all time.

By the way, with a gap to third, like the number one and number two by some distance, not fighting in a packed out Wembley Stadium, that's a shame. Okay, so I actually want to, like, go through some of the points. That point right off the bat, how do you think, like they come out with it, press conference poster and it says MSG, how do you think the British public will react? Oh, angrily. There's no two ways about it.

Like, when we were first told this could happen, just automatically, maybe it's our arrogance. Not really, but maybe it's our arrogance. We do, oh, Wembley, obviously. Yes, this is the national stadium. Obviously, it's going to go Wembley. And we didn't even think of Tottenham because we thought, oh, Wembley, because ultimately you're getting over 30,000 seats.

And Fight fans have been asking this for ages. And we're all like, yes, we're going to Wembley, it's going to be a fun day out and good. And it's not expensive for fans. You're not thinking of flights. You're not think it's Wembley. If it comes out and says MSG, I'm telling you now,

you thought Twitter exploded for me with George Fawms. Twitter will explode. Because there are a lot of, casual boxing fans that don't know or understand the noise that's happening right now. They haven't got the ear to the ground. So they just assume, like take my sister, for example, she just assumes that of Wembley Stadium. No one even knows what's going on in terms of casual fans. Oh, they are talking about taking this fight to America.

That hasn't sort of crept through yet. So when the casual fans who run the sport of boxing, not the hardcore fans, the casual fans run the sport of boxing, when they hear this and then they hear, okay, but you can fly, to MSG and, you know, it's going to cost you 2,000 in flights, a thousand in a hotel, 500-pound ticket, food. So what could have cost me 500 pounds? And now you're saying it's going to cost me 5 grand, but it's going to be outrage. Okay, point number two, Eddie and AJ essentially say, hey, we sign a contract.

We're just waiting for the date. Now, in the contract that says, we're fighting in the UK. You're trying to change that, and we don't like that. We're sticking to our guns. You say, hey, Turkey's footing the bill. if he wants to put this on the moon or in Saudi, he should be able to. Whose side do you agree with ultimately?

Do you feel like AJ and Eddie have a point? Like, hey, this is what we signed for. This is what you should stick with or ultimately the guy paying should be able to decide. No, I think contracts are important here. And ultimately, if it's written down and the contract, and it would be nice to actually see a physical contract here. But if the contract does say Fury versus AJ or AJ versus Fury, UK,

and AJ is like, you know what? signing it and finally, then you can understand why Eddie is pushing back on this. Because he's like, well, one second, this has taken so long to get over the road. It must have taken ages to get a contract, let alone AJ sign a contract, considering what AJ's been through.

And now you're trying to move the goalpost? Like, guys, we've signed it. We want to do this. We've signed what you guys put in front of us. So if I'm AJ and Eddie, and everyone's like, okay, well, they just want a bit more money. Well, okay, maybe so. But I do believe that,

both of them also want to see the fight in the UK. I do believe that why would AJ want to go to Madison Square Garden where he's fought once and lost his first defeat against Andrew? Why would AJ want to sign up for that? Why would you want to go to where it all came crashing down? And some even say AJ's never really recovered from that defeat. Why would you want to go back there? So if I'm AJ, you want to stick to your guns here, but I don't know.

If he continually sticks to his guns, maybe this fight never happens. What is your response to people who say? say they know it's going to be in New York eventually. It's inevitable. And they're just doing this for the people. It's all a big show. They're trying to be Captain UK here. Eddie's trying to be the White Knight. He knows it's eventually. But after it all is said and done, he'll say, hey, guys, I tried. Tyson didn't care about you. No one cared about you, but we cared about you. Because they'll say, AJ just fought in Saudi. He has fought outside of the UK a whole bunch as of late. He fought in New York in 2019. Like, what is your response to that? Do you think,

think they are genuine in their feelings that, hey, this is a fight that needs to be in the UK, it's a love letter to the UK fans, or is it all, for lack of a better word, performative? No, I've spoken to both privately, and both are insisting on wanting this to happen in the UK, like private conversations. Obviously, I don't know if you saw the piece that me, Tony, Eddie did. Eddie and Tony were going back and forth, and Tony was very... When the cameras went off, we still continued that conversation. Eddie's like, I want it in the UK.

I see what you're saying, Tony. I want it in the UK. AJ wants it in the UK. I've spoken to AJ about this. He wants it in the UK. So I know some people will look at it as just them to, as you said, being performative. But look, there might be an element of truth that.

Eddie's a promoter. Eddie can be a bit performative. But I haven't spoken to them both off camera, both insist we want this in the UK. We sign for it in the UK because we want to give the UK fight fans the biggest fight possible. And that's why we agree to it. Now, look, it might mean they go to MSG because they have no choice.

It might get to a stage where the powers that be say, look, do you want it or not? And AJ wants to fight more than it not happening at all. So I do believe it'll come to a situation where AJ has to go to America. But knowing AJ, why I know AJ, haven't spoke to AJ privately, AJ wants his fight in the UK. Do you blame Eddie and AJ for saying, all right, you guys want this in New York? here's an addendum, here are other things. Boxing related, we're going to get to the other side of it in a moment, but boxing related items in this addendum, we need these things.

And one thing they do bring up is, and when I say they, it's really all Eddie, AJ's not really talking about any of this, but they say, hey, look, when we fight in the UK, we're getting paid X amount. We come over to New York, there's different kind of taxes. We're losing money here. So we want to get paid. We just want to be paid for the prank of fight, whatever we're owed. There's other boxing related items.

We want these fights on. Do you blame them for playing this game now that they know. there's this strong desire to move the fight to here in New York City. No, I don't at all. I don't blame them at all. If there's more money in the pot than you can get it. And they're right, aren't there, though? Let's be honest.

I mean, everyone understands the tax laws in America are a lot more stricter and stringent than they are in the UK than they are in Saudi. So all of a sudden, that number that you were signing for on the contract, well, that number really doesn't exist anymore when it goes to the US. that number changes. So if you were, say, going to get 100 million in the UK, well, it's not 100 million in the US. So look, I understand it, but I am fearful that it does get to a point in this where Fury, Turkey, Dana, say, okay, we're moving on. We're moving on. You know, we can do another fight with Tyson Fury that will still get good numbers, maybe not the record

breaking numbers that it would have with AJ. But we're moving on. It's boring. in this is the number and that is it, accept it or not. And I do think we might be close to getting that. And I think that's the issue here. I feel like the only entity that is close to doing that is Netflix to where they're saying like, look, you're kind of embarrassing us here. Like this is playing out in public. It's a little sloppy. I think those powers that be that you mentioned all still really want this because they know how lucrative. Netflix ultimately doesn't need this. They're doing just fine without it. They're not necessarily in the combat sports business. But I feel like, I'm not saying we're there yet, but that's the one I'm most worried about.

Now, last Thursday, boxing scene Lance Pugmeyer comes out with this report about this addendum, but also about these other items, these darts and snooker items that all of a sudden, you know, everyone's weighing in on and I don't know if you've noticed it, but over here in America, a lot of sort of, I guess you could say, TKO friendly media members are saying, wait a second, this fight is going to fall through because of darts and snooker. Very disingenuous. And Eddie comes out and says, this was clearly plight. planted by TKO, and they're trying to make me look bad, and they're not telling the truth.

I never put any of this in the addendum, but we did send something regarding these items in a different type of email. And, you know, it's up to a sentence. This is my interpretation. It's up to the Saudis as to whether or not they want to lump the two together or view them as two kind of mutually exclusive pieces of business. What did you make of how all this played out on Thursday with this, quote unquote, leaked email? It was the first time, and I said this to, I think it's the Garifay Davis today. It was the first time that I've seen a semi-dent in the relationship between Eddie and the Saudis.

And because I think I watched an IFL TV interview where Eddie mentioned, again, look, you know, I'm not talking about the snooker and the darts, but if you want to pay me for those, then pay me for those. I was like, oh, that's the first time I've heard a bit of a pushback from Eddie in relation to dealings with seller and Turkey. So there's clearly issues there. And these issues might have become bigger because of this AJ Fury situation. I find

I just find the back and force over social media between powerhouse is a bit silly you almost feel like it's good for us because we find out a bit more information but you'd like to think a fight of this magnitude

with sort of figures that be of this magnitude can get around the table and just organise this and sort it out but it did seem to be the first cracks in what's been a good relationship

for two and a half years between Seller and Eddie by announcing that you know hey I've not been paid for the snooker I think it's the Ronio Sullivan tournament. I've not been paid for some darts. And I was like, are we starting to see cracks appear for the first time?

And it felt like we are. Yeah. At the post-fight press conference on Saturday after the littered fight, he said he went on this like six-minute rant on this. And he said friends or maybe former friends. And there were just some like little examples of, hmm, what's going on? In your heart of hearts, what happens? Do we see them fight this year? Yeah, absolutely.

You do? Okay. You do think so. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, I do, I think it gets ironed out. In New York. I'll be shocked to this. In New York, Madison Square Garden. Okay.

Date that's been room in November 20th. I do think this gets sorted out. Okay. I do think that both will realize, like, look, okay, yes, we can go opposites. We can go separate ways. We're not getting paid anything like this. This is the fight we both want. I think both, I've always said, people have always said to me,

is Fury, scared of AJ, is, scared of fear. I said, you must be crazy. These two are not scared of each other at all. They've just been able to make so much money without a fight. fighting each other. Now we get it done. I think, you know, if we're led to believe the numbers, 100 million each, and not getting that anywhere. I mean, both are big names and brands. AJ's not getting 100 million fighting anyone. And though it's Fury, they're not. I mean, they're both people can, you know, Fury might talk and say, oh, I can go this way and that way, you're not

getting 100 million. Plus your career's coming to an end. AJ's career's coming to an end. I think both of them would eventually just become a bit smart, maybe even pick up the phone and speak to each other and get this ironed out. Wow. My only worry for AJ is going back to MSG, fighting in a place. America's not been great for AJ. I know he had the Jake Paul fight there, but it's not a serious fight. America's been very good for Tyson Fury.

He will hop, skip and whistle down the street in America and love it there. AJ maybe not so. So if I'm AJ, if I can get a bit of extra money for fighting in a place where I don't want to fight, I take it. But ultimately, if they say that's the money, take the money. and fight a guy he'd been calling out for a decade. Okay. That is promising.

I like that. And here's what they're saying. They're saying over a gauchy, 77% chance of yes. So the people are believing, although it's coming down a little bit there. And then it's coming back up. So up down, up down,

quite the roller coaster, indicative of how this is... And also, Ariel, I think his excellency Turkey, I think of all the fights he's put... And he's put on some fantastic ones, right? This run that will be nearly three years in October. I mean, he's put on bites

that I never thought he'd be able to pull. put on, this is the hardest one. Sure. And I think there's an ego part of him as well. I'm like, okay, Frank couldn't do it. Eddie couldn't do it. You watch, I will deliver it. And I think this is the one he wants to deliver the most.

I mean, he's done Usik, Fury, and Bivel, but, Zerbibov and others. This is the one, though. This is everything. And I think he is going to make sure this fight happens. Okay. Let us see. I'm curious, we haven't talked in a minute. Zufa boxing approaching nine months old.

Dana White continues to say, judge us by the end of the year. We're getting close to the end of the year. We're not there yet, third quarter. But what do you make of Zufa boxing now that you've seen them leave the apex? They had a show in Bournemouth, another in Vegas, Hulu Theater here, massive one by, I mean, the biggest by far coming up on September 12th, Garcia, Ben. What do you make of them so far? It's getting better.

It's getting better. I think the apex was soulless, and I think that felt bad. But even the ones, the fight at the apex, and yes, it wasn't glitz and glamour. are actually competitive. One thing Dana has done is put on competitive fights. I speak to a lot of people about the Zoufa shows.

A lot of them aren't big names, but watch the fights and they're 50-50 matchups. The one in Ireland, recently, Aaron McKenna becoming world champion was a good show as well. Johnny Fisher's coming up.

Chris Billum Smith fight in Bournemouth was a fantastic war. And then you've got the Conabend Ryan Garcia with Jaya Pateras co-made event. It's good. It's going to take time. I think the problem is, because it was Zouffer and it was Dana Wyatt and it was big money backers,

I think we all expected it to be just Hollywood-level stuff straight away. It does take time. And I think the best thing they've done is come out of the apex. Now we're starting to see sort of real boxing shows, real fans, real noise. And I think it's looking better. And look, they're signing big names. Scho Stevenson. Wait to see who he's going to fight.

Will you shark daddy? Are you signed with them? Yes, I am. Big time. Big time. Because who is he going to fight? I understand what. Shakul, you know, ultimately you see the number on the check.

You're like, okay, give me that. But then you've got to have a wider conversation about, okay, I'm going over. Who do I fight exactly? Because I mess with Shikul the other day. He was on the scales. I think he showed a picture of him on the scale, 143 pounds. And I said, dude, you should be nowhere near fine at 147. It's like, I know, I tell everyone I'm small.

So as much as everyone's saying, fight Conner Ben, fight Ryan Garcia, they're just too big for him right now. And they have no one over at Zouffer at 140 that is a big fight. So it kind of doesn't make sense. If he's not going to go to 147, flying for Zufre and stand at 140 makes no sense. So it does shock me a little bit, yeah. But do you think that their M.O. has changed a little bit

because, look, they're putting on WBC title fights and recognizing other belts. They said at the very beginning, we're not playing with any of them. And that's changed, right? And so even the uniform thing has changed a little bit. Shakur and them, they're not wearing uniforms for their fights. And so maybe Shakur doesn't have to fight other Zufa fighters. he'll fight someone else. I just feel like they came out very strong and they realized, look,

the landscape is a little different. Witness the fact the Ali Act still hasn't passed. I think it eventually passes. I think they all thought it was going to pass a long time ago. And so I feel like they're kind of having to build the plane in the air, which is okay. I've said time and again, if you're counting these dudes out, the TKO guys, Nick Con in particular, Mark Shapiro, Dana White, you're kidding yourself. They're never not going to succeed with those pockets behind them, at least for now, 60% of the company owned by the Saudis, it's not going to fail, but it has changed a lot since what we thought it was going to be, right?

It's changed massively. And I think even the Jaya-Pataya situation, obviously, they've got IBA champion. Jaya right now is obviously trying to take legal action with the IBF. I think that all got messy. They don't want to be associated with that. And obviously, I got in a lot of trouble when I said, who would want to fight for the Zouffer Belt?

And I still remain firm on that. You got in trouble for that? I get in trouble for a lot of stuff. I don't remember that one. No one wants to fight. What happened? I got right. Dude, let me get the Moses fight on the weekend out of the way, please.

But, look, I think that's true. And that has wronged true. Ultimately, even like Ryan Connor, it's WBC Belt. I think they had to backtrack on that big time. These fighters want to fight for real belts. And I think, look, you can come out brash and, you know, we're going to do this, we're going to do that, and fighters all looking the same,

it's not going to work. And I think they've realised that. But look, I'm happy that they realized it and they decided to kind of lead their egos at the door and say, okay, let's change this a little bit. If we are going to try and sign the best fighters in the world, these guys and girls eventually right now are still wanting to fight for the four sanctioning bodies.

They're not really excited about fighting for the Zoufa belts and the Zufa titles. I don't think anyone is, if I'm honest of you. So I think it's smart. they're making. And as you say, they can't fell. The only way it fell is that there's sort of in-house fighting between a lot of powerful people because their pockets right now are so, so deep. But I still think the others are fighting back. DeZone are fighting back, right? I mean, signing the likes of Tiafima Lovis and Devin Haney, I think a big sign. And so I think it's,

I think it's friendly competition. I think it's good for the sport. Obviously, I know you work for DeZone, but you love boxing. Sky Sports this weekend, Michaela Mayer, Shantel Cameron, Caroline Dubbo. They just announced a really good card this morning. Alicia Baumgartner against Aleve Turin, who we both had. I do believe as Women's Fighter of the Year last year, that's a tremendous fight. That's crazy. Sky signing with MVP, I never thought I'd see that. Sky Nicholson, given the beef between her and Nikisa,

Ellie Scottney moving up to 126. How much of an impact is MVPW doing over there in England? Because I would say some of their biggest names are the British fighters. Yeah, it's a big impact. I think it's a shame they're doing the event in this. weekend on the same day Moses is fighting. Oh, yeah. So I think a lot of the noise, you almost forget that Shantel Cameron and Michaela Maya

fighting, that's a really good fight, by the way. You're forgetting about it, Caroline Dewar, et cetera, because Moses has literally taken up all of the boxing noise. So I wish they went on a Sunday. They've done events on a Sunday before, even a Friday. Why go toe to toe with Moses bidding to become a world champion? But apart from that, I think what they're doing is great. I think Nikita does a great job.

I think Jake does a great job. I think that one they've just announced there, I leave. Tujan versus Alicia Baumgardner is incredible. Yes. And let's be honest, the only person they don't have is Clarisha Shilts. I mean, all you have a female fighters they want, they've got. Gabriella. Gabriella.

Gabriela. Oh, sorry, I apologize. I'll take it back. Gabriella Fondora. Pretty much. Gabriel Fondua, you are, Brett. Yeah. Pretty much those two.

Everyone else. Tia Aden from this past weekend. Good. Young. Good. Coming up. Obviously won the Commonwealth title. One to watch in the next sort of 12 to 18 months.

But those are the two, right? Those are the two, Clarissa and Fondora. Yeah, yeah, those are the two. Those are the two in terms of global stars that are making noise. Fondora was female fighter of the year a couple of years ago, and Clarissa's the quote. TMA will get there. She thinks she's going to be a world champion next year. She possibly could.

And then she'll be in the conversation. Obviously, Eddie and Jake now work with each other. So I can't see how she won't eventually join MVP as well. This young man that Eddie announced last week on the boat and Sam Jones gets pushed off the scouser, the good-looking man. Remind me his name. What's his name? Oh, oh, wait, I'm going to get it up right now so I don't butcher this. I had it. I had it because I just saw Eddie interviewing him for IFL. Well, I guess I was going to ask you how big of a deal is the signing, but. Well, Eddie goes great. So Sam Jones and Eddie go crazy about O'Dell. Sam Jones and Eddie go crazy

about all of these signings. And he looks the part. I mean, physically, he's in incredible shape. Obviously, he's a good amateur record. I don't know what weight he's going to fight at. Me and Jamie, Jamie were ring-side talking about it. Like, okay, is he a middleweight because of his size? But he looks like he's ready to go

and they're trying to push him fast. And I mean, you try and see they can tick all the boxes. And what I mean is not just in the ring, but I mean, personality, tick. Good looking, tick. It's important, good-looking tick. And he seems to be quite charismatic as well.

So as long as, I don't know, they move him along the right way, fingers crossed, he can do some good stuff in the next sort of two to three years. Yeah, I feel the same about your beloved Liverpool FC. I see Mr. Klopp behind you over there. You know, not a bad result over the weekend. Is that Mr. Klopp? Yeah.

Is that not Mr. Klopp. Okay. It is not, it is Juergen Klopp. The Gaffir. Look at him and just reminisce about good times. Yeah. Because right now it's, obviously, we're playing you on the weekend. Yes, yes, that's what I was getting to.

Yes, yes. Okay, we can get to it. But no, it's just really bad times in Liverpool. I'm not happy about. I mean, well, what about the great Oliver Glastner, the new gaffer, our fifth in the past 365 days? I mean, I really think he's going to turn things around for us, no? Dude, it's so bad. I'd love you to do a sit-down interview with the CEO, Marion Acres.

Oh, I would fly tonight. What is going on? What do you mean what is going on? He just hires and fires. Like, he just hires and fires. Yeah, he's passionate. He cares. He's, you know, he's got his finger.

on many different parts of the team. He'll even get on the pitch if he has to. For goodness sakes. No, I don't know. It's a bad result for you as well on the weekend. You lost, didn't you? No, yeah, we lost the leads. We gave up a goal in like the 86 minute.

Yeah, at home too. It was tough. It was tough. It's going to be a tough season for you guys. Obviously, no Elliot Anderson. Yeah. Although you are signing Liam Delap by here. Yeah, not bad.

Lost the 1-E. I love a 1-1-1-Bad. Yeah, when he's gone, isn't he to? Ipswich. Coventry. You don't know a ball, huh? You don't know a ball like I know ball, huh? Yeah, I don't know, I don't know football.

I don't know boxing. What am I doing? I was so proud to see you do the World Cup. I mean, you were here in New York, didn't stop by, didn't say hello. I offered you many a time. Oh, I'm so busy. I'm going to Houston. I'm going to here.

I'm going to. Who are you working for? I was working for an African channel called Sporty TV. Okay. When they reached out to me and said, do you want to do it? I was like, they were, I said, I don't even care about the fee. Like, just get me out there. And they're like, we can get you pitch something.

I was like, one second, you can get me pitchside at the World Cup. I'm there. And it wasn't easy. Let me not lie to you. First World problems, but I mean, we were traveling from state to state, motel to motel. I mean, flight to flight. It was hard work. I think I covered like 18 games.

But it was just incredible. There are some that mono is rubbish in America and the water breaks and the hydration. I loved every second of it. I loved every second of it. Apart from the half-time show. show in the final, which I was fine. It was fine. It was awful. What was Justin Bieber singing? I love Justin Bieber. I was talking about him. I sing a song. I sing an upbeat song. I don't know what he's doing. I was a love song. It's a love song that woke up final.

It's a love song to the beautiful game. I was proud. I was proud to see you on the pitch. I was I was proud of you. I am proud to know you. I will always have your back. If you need my services, don't let them get you. F-M-A-M-all. As the great Daniel Ricardo once told me, F-E-A, fuck them all. That's what he says. told me. Oh, okay. Okay. I didn't know we can swear on this show. You know Danny Rick, right? That's my guy. No. You don't know Daniel Ricardo? F1, F1, F1, Superstar. Part of Australia. Danny Rick? I'm sorry, I know about 20. Ah, you don't know F1. Get out of here, Aday. Much love. Peace and love. Peace and love. Thank you, Aday. Go check out

the YouTube channel. He's got a football channel. He's got a boxing channel. He does tremendous work for DeZone, talk sport as well. We love Adé, and we'll always back him. Everyone chill out, okay, everyone calm down. All right, we were just talking about Michaela Mayer versus Chantelle Cameron. What was that? What was that? Someone's... Okay, no problem. We were just talking about Chantel Cameron versus Michaela Mayer going down this Saturday at the BB, the BP Pulse Live in Birmingham in the UK, England, that is. They will be competing for the unified Super Welterweight title. So WBO on the line, that's Chantel's belt. Ms. Mayor has the WBA and WBC vacant ring title also on the line.

And so there's a lot happening here. And it's all going down on ESPN Plus in America, also on Sky Sports over in the UK. Here she is our old friend, Michaela Mayer, kind enough to join us right here. Now there she is. Hello, Michaela. How are you? Hey. Long time.

It's great to talk to you. It's great to have you on. Thank you for joining us from the gym in Birmingham right now. Yes. I tried to make it back to the hotel, but I didn't want to be late. So I stayed in the ring to get this done, but everything is going good. You are a pros pro. We're very unbiased here.

We pride ourselves on our journalistic integrity, but I do appreciate what you just said because 30 minutes from now, Chantel was supposed to join us, and she canceled right before the show started. And so if I am to lean in one direction as a result of you taking the time to do this in the ring and not be late while she canceled, I mean... I would never, Ariel. I would never cancel the Ariel I want it. She's a Brit.

She doesn't understand the importance of your show. Thank you. I appreciate that very much. I saw you guys face off earlier today. What was that like? Oh, my God. We've done so many face-offs at this point. It's like easy.

Like, I just feel like I'm staring at a picture. Like, it's nothing. Okay, so you don't feel any sort of vibe, tension. You're not taking anything away from it. Nothing like that. I'm completely like, I'm numb to that face-off thing, especially with her at this point because we've done so many. but nope, I don't feel anything.

Okay. What is your relationship like with her? Because I know you guys knew each other in the amateurs. You've stayed in touch. There's been rumblings of you guys fighting each other over the years, different weight classes, all that stuff and more. How would you describe the relationship with her?

We're pretty cool. You know, we met up in Orlando, like maybe right when the fight got announced, so a couple months back. And we chatted. Like, we had long conversations. We had, again, a million face-offs. So we got to kind of catch up a little. little bit because we do know each other from back in the amateur days. We've done a ton of

camps together. And we have communicated over social media through DMs on Instagram for a while, just talking about certain things. She had a rivalry with Sandy Ryan for so many years. They're both top of the top girls on the Team GV team. And so we kind of bonded there. And then she always talked about coming up to 147 or 154. And we knew that it'd be a great fight for the fans. So it was something we always expected would happen. Was this a fight that when MVP was courting you, they said, we'd like to do this first, or did you sign with them, and then this one materialized? It was one of the names they threw out there, which I was, you know, I was happy about because

she has been on my list of girls. You know, at this stage, I just signed my last contract of my career, I feel. And so I want to make sure that these next two or three years, I get all the girls have ever dreamed of fighting. And I know I won't. I already missed the Katie Taylor train, right? I'll never get that fight. but Chantel is definitely up there on the list.

So I'm surprised they made it happen first, but then again, I'm not surprised because they've been matching up some, they've been making some pretty great matchups. Yes. And I want to ask you about that in a moment, but you said last contract that you'll sign in your career, I feel like you're still a youngster.

I know you've had a long amateur career and you've been around the block now. I remember when you signed with Top Rank, many moons ago, and you were in our studio. How many fights did you sign for? I signed a six-fight deal with MVP. So that'll be over the course of three years. And you think after that you'll be done?

If I get the fights that I want, yeah. If I get the fights that I want, I think six fights is plenty. It's a long time. Every camp right now is, again, I hear what you're saying because I feel like I'm fighting better than ever. I really do. I've like jumped up a level, several levels over the last couple of years, especially like moving up and weight and not cutting anymore and just bringing Kofi Jin 2 on to my team. So I do feel like I'm fighting better than ever, but I don't think I want more than six fights. Again, if I can get the big fights that I really want, I think that'll be

plenty for me. I think I'll be ready, but you never know. After Cameron, can you rank the top three for us when you say big fights? What are those big fights? Well, Cameron, definitely one of them. I want to finish what I started at 147 and go undisputed. You know, we're one fight away from undisputed against Lauren Price there. I just can't seem to get the freaking fight with her. So I would love for the Starzville line somehow for that. So I can go back down to 47 and become undisputed. And then ideally, Clarissa Shields would be next. Tonsil Cameron, Lauren Price, Clarissa Shields. That would make for an incredible year, I would have no complaints. Have you mentioned, I've seen you and Clarissa talk about each other. It seems rather respectful.

She just won a couple of weeks ago, looked good again, sold out in Atlanta. She has a beef, if we want to call it that, with MVP. Have you talked to MVP about trying to sign or at least trying to make this fight happen? It seems like just Clarissa and Sebastian, excuse me, Gabrielle Fendora, are the only two women out there

that they haven't signed yet. And I know they've talked to Clarissa in the past. How serious have your talks been with them about making this happen? Oh, they're fully on board of there. They're not going to come in between a fight with me and Clarissa Shield. if it does end up happening.

I know that it's still early in talks, but I mean, our teams have spoken several times, and so I've mentioned wanting the fight. Clarissa, I was one of the names she called out after her last win, so it's good to know that she still wants to fight, and I can guarantee MVP won't stand in the way of that. What wait, and here's you giving her props after the win,

what weight would you be most comfortable with fighting her at? 154, but she made it pretty clear that she's not coming down past 160. I think she could. I do. I think she could. I think she lived great cutting down to 160. And then I think there's probably still a little room to go some more. But, you know, that's a call she has to make.

I don't really, I can't tell her to do that. She has to want to do that. So if I want that fight, I'm going to have to meet her at 160. And I'm prepared to do that. Okay. That was going to be my next question. If she says it's 160 or nothing, you'll do it. Yeah, I'll do it.

Okay. This would be great. I don't weigh anywhere near 160. No, I know. But I'll do what I got to do. I've always been that way, you know? I feel like I have the skill now. I have the speed.

I have the power. Now that I'm not cutting weight, everything is coming together. Like, you know, Clors has always been a very fast-paced aggressive fighter. That's why she dominates, especially at those higher weights. That's what she does the best. She's quick and she's aggressive and she lets her hands go. She's a dog like that. but so am I.

That's my style as well. So I feel like she'll meet her match with me, especially me coming up from those lighter weights. She'll meet her match when it comes to that plunge count and hand speed. I would love to see that fight for multiple reasons, but it's also because I feel like we're getting to the end of her career, not like the very end, but there's only so many fights left,

and I feel like she's lacking the proper dance partner, someone who is on her level in terms of stardom, gift of gab, skill, all that, more probably the last time she fought someone who was close to her level, I think, was Savannah Marshall. And it's been a minute, right? It's a bunch of fights where it feels like she's the A plus side and someone else is trying to keep up with her. You would be a perfect dance partner. Right. Like the odds have been like extremely wide in fights with Clarissa. She's always been the heavy favorite. But I do believe that I would, she would meet her match with me. And then she also

has a handful of other girls now, you know? Like there's the three, girls that she called out after her fight are all really quality opponents that I think that would would be really entertaining. I'm not saying they would beat Clarissa. I'm just saying that it would be a very competitive fight. And I think that's what people really want to see. They want to see can Clarissa get in there with someone close to her skill level? Because she has been just sort of dominating everybody she's gotten in there with. We did not speak after you, you decided to sign with MVP after a long run with top rank. Ultimately, why did you decide to do that?

Well, it was really just so that I could get the fights that I want to get. MVP's taken up, they're sort of monopolizing the women's game, you know? Like, they're bringing in everybody. They have a lot of, it's easier to make the fights when you have a lot of women on your roster. And on top of that, they just made a great deal with ESPN and Sky Sports. and they have their Netflix connection, obviously. And so it just seemed like the best move for me. It seemed like the direction everyone was going

and the direction that was really going to help develop the women in the sport. And I thought when I signed with top, and not to say anything bad about Top Rank, I would not be where I am without Top Rank. Like, they made, they built my career in such an amazing way. They gave me such great opposition. They gave me a huge platform for many years.

and I love everything about them. I didn't want to leave them. I just had to go somewhere where I could make the most of this last few years of my career. And so I had to take that chance and go in the direction of MVP because although I've been pro now

for almost 10 years, I spent nine years with Top Rank almost. I thought women's boxing would grow a little bit faster. It was a lot slower to develop than I had hoped. I was the only woman on Top Rank's roster for many, many years until they signed Sanisa Estrada, right? And then there was only us.

They ended up signing a younger girl recently, but, you know, when I left, they didn't follow through with building another roster for women. So now they don't have any. But it just seemed to move really, really slow. And so that's what I really respect about MVP is they're just putting every,

all their eggs into this, like really, really pushing to develop women in the sport. And I'm lucky. I've had the platform for a long time, but there's a lot of great talent out there and they've never had the platform. never had that stage to showcase their skill. And MVP is given them that stage.

So how do you feel like it's going so far? Based on what you're seeing, the way they're promoting, the way they're building these cards, how do you feel like it's going? Well, the matchups are amazing. I mean, like, these last few cards, I've been at a lot of them throughout my training camp and before that. You know, I signed them earlier this year. So I've gone to a lot of the shows.

All the matchups have been really, really, really impressive. Like, if you weren't a fan of women's boxing, you have to be if you followed some of these cards. Because, you know, the Holly Home and Han card, that was a great fight. You had this recent fight with, with Amanda Serrano. Yeah, Amanda, that one too, but I'm talking about Tam, Tam's a bow. Oh, yes. Sugar Neeks was in the main event against Dina Thorsland. Yeah. You know, the card they just announced.

Um, you obviously, we know, we'll talk about that. That's a great card. I mean, this one with, with Caroline Dubois and me and, and Chantelle, it's like, if you know women's boxing, these matchups are making are incredible. And even the names that I don't know, like, I'll go to a card and I'll see some of these girls matchup and I'm like, damn, where did they, like, who's their matchmaker? Because this isn't, I've never heard of either one of these girls, but they're damn good and they're perfect for each other. They're bringing out the best in each other. So I've got to give them props to that. The promoting side is a little different, but I know the things are like different now, right? Like everything is big. They're big at the TikTok, big with the

social media, big with the little reels and the skits and all that. Yes, yes, yes. I'm a little different for me, what I'm used to, but I get it's the day and age for all that. They're amazing at that. I mean, you see these cards and like my whole feed on Fight Week is all these different skits and these ideas that they come up with. They're a very young bunch, the team behind the scenes. Mike Leonardi, the matchmaker, who I think does a great job with his team of finding talent and putting together these matchups. And we just talked about the card announced today. Alicia Baumgartner against Aleph near Turin is a massive fight.

That is a great fight. Are you surprised that Alicia took this fight? Because the knock on her has been that she doesn't want these types of fights. Yeah, I am surprised. It's surprising that she shut down the Caroline Dubois fight so hard, but now she's fighting Aleph, and that's obviously to set her up for the Caroline fight. So I get it. It's a good move.

It's building it, but I don't know. I think that whatever Alicia says on the camera and one thing is completely different from what maybe they're doing behind the scenes. I really don't know. I'm not paying attention. It's not my weight class anymore. But it is going to be a great fight. And I couldn't really tell you exactly who's going to win. I know that Aleph is obviously extremely strong. And Baumgartner is strong as well, but she's a boxer. And I think that Aleph does have a tendency to run forward with big shots. And the pressure, I don't know if she has enough. pressure to break down Baumgardner because I do think pressure would break down Baumgartner. I don't know if she has enough pressure to do that, but she does have enough power if she lands something. So it'll be a really interesting fight to see. It's going to come down to strategy and hopefully, you know, or not hopefully, I mean, hopefully someone gets caught and it's entertaining and gets

knocked out. I don't know. I'm going to say that because I'm going to be watching that fight just as a boxing fan. I was thinking about this knowing you were coming on and remembering that you're signing was announced around the Ronda Rousey Gina Carano fight that MVP promoted for Netflix. And I feel like for the longest time, women's MMA was here and women's boxing was trying to catch up. And I feel like it's reversed. I feel like there are bigger names, bigger attractions, bigger fights to be made in women's boxing, as opposed to women's MMA.

It's a little cyclical. And I feel like right now the scales have been tipped a little bit in the favor of women's boxing. Do you feel the same right now? There's way more momentum. as someone who covers both and enjoys both very much, there's way more momentum, in my opinion, on the women's boxing side as opposed to women's MMA.

I would have never thought about that, but the fact that you say that, yeah, absolutely, which is insane to think about, because there was a point after the Olympics, after the Rio Olympics, where I was going to transition into MMA. Yeah. And I told you I had an offer from Bellator

because that's where the women were getting the attention and the TV time and the respect and the money and all that. And so professional boxing promoters still weren't signing women. And so that was the direction I'm going to go. I was going to go.

But now it's crazy to think that, like, wow, it did kind of flip a little bit. And so you feel that? Thanks to MVP, though. It couldn't have been that way if it wasn't for MVP. Well, okay, so I do agree with you to a degree, but like you made your name outside of MVP, Shantel Cameron, all these people,

like MVP is so young and new. They're cultivating and bringing. bringing them all, like, all you guys under one umbrella, but you were, like, Sky Nicholson, Caroline Dubois, like, these fighters have been- But bringing us all under one umbrella is what's, why you're even able to compare us to the women of the UFC. Okay. Right.

Like, beforehand, you wouldn't have thought that. Like, I was with top rank, matchroom had, like, two fighters, right? It was so, you would never have thought to make that comparison, and you wouldn't have thought that we were doing more than the women in the UFC. But now that we're all under one umbrella, it's a total. different marketing strategy. And it's like we're seen differently almost. So you're able to make that comparison.

That's fair. So a big, big, I think a big, big part of it has to do with MVP. But obviously there's other promoters like Top Rank who's definitely done the work. And we did have a name before. But us all coming together is something that's making it a little special. Based on your knowledge, is the pay comparable, women's boxing to women's MMA?

Or is one greater than the other? For the top stars? Listen, I don't know because I don't know what everyone is getting paid. I think that there is a big gap. I know what I'm getting paid. I know that I've always been taken care of by top rank. And I'm definitely one of the higher paid fighters in women's boxing. But I've also heard some insane numbers that from other women that I just, I didn't even believe was possible.

So I don't, I think there's a huge, still a huge. gap depending on who you are, how good your manager is, and a lot of different things. And I really just don't know how the UFC works once you're, I know once you're out of that, like, 10 to fight, 10 to win. Like, I know like Chavchenko and like some big names. I know they're making big money, right? But I don't know there's a big gap between like the ones who aren't and the ones who are. I think the same as in boxing.

Okay. If you were to do it all over again, like did you ever have regrets, especially early on about choosing boxing over MMA or once you made that decision to go down? No, no. Okay. I'm so thankful that I chose. Okay. I'm so thankful I chose boxing because like boxing was my first love, right?

And I'm glad that I was able to see that through and really finish what I started in boxing because my career has been so amazing. Like it really has. There's been some ups and downs, but ultimately like I'm one of the blessed ones. Like I've had a really amazing career and then again, taking very good care of by top rank and now MVP and absolutely glad that I stayed in boxing. What do you think you'll do when this contract is up? I think that I'll continue on with my commentating, you know,

for Sky Sports and ESPN and, you know, I was hired by NBC to commentate the Olympic boxing for last Olympics, and so an MVP has called me on a few times. So I just, I really enjoy it. I'm getting better and better at it. I've been doing it for like six years now, I think. and I think I'll probably transition to that a lot more full-time. Sean Grandy, who you worked with over in 2024, is a great friend of mine and can't say enough good things

about how good you were as a color analyst for the Olympics two years ago. Oh, thanks. Good to know. He said that to me, but since he said that to you, I believe him. No, yes, yes. It probably means more when he's saying it to other people as well. And I think the world of him as well, that, you know, I think he's one of the great broadcasters in sports, basketball, combat sports, etc.

You mentioned ups and downs. Two pro losses, both of them in the UK. You've had wins in the UK as well, but do you feel some sort of way about fighting in the UK? You know, that's always, I'd be lying to say it hasn't crossed my mind. It's definitely crossed my mind. But I feel like at this stage,

a bad decision can technically happen anywhere. And I'm confident, I'm that confident in myself right now, and my skills and my training and everything that I have going my whole camp. I'm so confident in that. I just don't think the location is going to be the deciding factor. Okay. But you just don't. You did think about it like when you said you're like, back there. Do I want to go back? Yeah. And then the business part of me, like the business mindset

of mine, like kicked in. I'm like, okay, do we have this fight in Orlando, which is where they originally wanted to have it, land of Florida, or do we go back to the UK where I feel like I have a huge following? That's where Shantel is from. Sky Sports really wanted it. And I just thought it would make for a bigger spectacle, a bigger arena. And so I just thought it was a big fight. Man Chantelle is a big fight. It's a big fight for the sport. We've been in this game a long time. And so I just thought it deserved a grander spectacle. Yes. And that was here. Feels bigger in the UK than in Orlando. I've heard you say you've had fresh eyes, quote unquote, in this training camp. What does that mean? Oh, that just means how I brought on Kofi Jansua, right?

And that was not just this camp. That's been two, it's been four camps. This is the fourth camp total, but two years. But, you know, that's still not that long. You know, me and Coach Allen know each other like the back of our hands. We've been together for 15 years. But bringing someone in, especially like later in my career at this like older age, I'm not 15 anymore, right?

And like a little bit hard to break habits. It takes time. So I've had a solid two years with Kofi trying to implement the things that he's good at. and it's still all coming together. So you saw the first Sandy Ryan fight to the second Sandy Ryan fight. I think there was a massive jump there to the Mary Spencer fight.

Another massive jump and like a step up and level and skill that I think a lot of people saw that I know I felt. And that was 10 months ago, right? I had a long layoff. It's been 10 months. But I've been working.

And I feel like you're going to see the same type of jump from the Mary Spencer fight going into this fight. with Chantelle Cameron. I've just gotten so much, so much better. I've added to my game. I don't even think I'm possible to really train for. I told that to Kofi. I'm like, I don't think I am easy to train for right now because I'm not doing what I used to do. I've developed so much. I've grown so much. I'm shadow boxing and my combinations are different. I'm like,

I never used to throw this. Like, how are you even going to train for me when you can't go back and study any tape where I'm doing these things? So that gives me a lot of confidence as well. and yeah the fresh eyes goes back to the fresh eyes just bringing someone in here like cofie who coach all is known for a very long time and approved of him but just fresh eyes coming in here and making sure that I'm not plateauing

at this stage I feel like you either we plateau or you switch things up and you get better and that's what I did I don't have a lot of complaints about what MVP is doing I think it's all working very well one thing I'd love to get some uniformity on the minutes and the rounds it's there's enough

you know like confusion in boxing with the titles and the weight classes, we don't need to add, is this a 10-round championship fight, a 12-round, is it two minutes, is it three minutes? If it were up to you, if you were the commissioner,

what are you choosing for championship fights? If I'm the commissioner, well, let me start by saying that I don't have any, I don't have a problem with the three-minute rounds if the women want to do that. Just know why we're doing that, right?

So, like, my thoughts have changed. At first I was like, oh, yeah, why am I going to do more for the same amount of money. And then I'm like, well, no, this generation, me, we've always had to do more, right? Like, we're always going to do more. We're never really going to reap the benefits of our hard work, of all the, all of our hard work.

We're not going to reap all the benefits. The next generation will reap a lot of it. But we're like the, you know, we're the pioneers, sort of. And so I thought about that. But now I think that in this generation, like with these young people and their attention span, I don't think they care about three minute rounds. I think that they are more excited about the two minute rounds. It's more to the point.

It's more action-packed. It's more fast-paced. And so I think that's what's going to sort of reel in this younger generation and this new demographic. I mean, think about TikTok and Instagram reels and all that. Like they tell you to keep it under seven seconds. Like if nothing is happening in the first few seconds, you kind of switch off. So I don't know. I don't know if this day and age is better for three-minute rounds or two-minute rounds.

I know I'm fighting two-minute rounds because I wasn't willing to vacate my WVC bell in order to go three. Okay, interesting. You bring up a great point, by the way. MVP is very TikTok-friendly, you know, social media friendly. It is interesting that they're in favor of the longer rounds when it feels like our attention spans are getting shorter. I understand and I back any woman that wants to fight three minutes, but I do feel like more often than not, it does lead to more exciting fights. Like there's a part of me that feels like, hey, we may have seen a stoppage in one of the Taylor Serrano fights if they were three minute rounds. But those fights were incredible in large part because they were so fast pace and so much was happening within those two minutes.

It's a tough one. I just see it going back and forth now. Yeah, I know. And it's probably because all the belts, all the belt holders are like the Del VEO, WBC, they're all kind of like have a different stance on that. I don't really know. I have enough to worry about. that's on them. All I know is that I, belts have been a part of every single negotiation I've ever had for my entire career. And so to say that they don't matter to just to voluntarily vacate one is

like vacating. It's like giving away, giving away your negotiation power, right? It's like giving away free money because the more belts in the line, the more money you make, you know? And the more belts in the line, the easier it is to negotiate and get the fights that you want. So I wasn't willing to vacate in order to go three minute rounds. Can I go through minute rounds? Absolutely. Can every female go through minute rounds? No, I don't think so. I think that I've proven I could be a three-minute round fighter. I haven't done it, so who knows? But I just at this stage, not willing to sacrifice my position in order to do it. And I'm not willing, definitely not willing to sacrifice my money to do it. And that would have been the case. I'll let you go in a moment,

but I'm just curious, if this new revived Aliyahe Act passes, I could see a world where MVP makes its own MVPW belt per weight class. It would make the most sense since, you know, as we just said, all the best females in the world except for maybe two are under that umbrella. Would you be in favor of that? Do you like that idea or are you more old school? At this stage, like, it's, as much as I say the belts are important, new random belts aren't so important to me. If MVP wants to do that, that would be because something that they want to do is, it would not be something that I'd be really excited about winning. Right now, it's about getting the names. Like, to me, it's more so about the names. I want the belts for the leverage, but it's to get the names. It's to get the, these

names on my hit list and these girls that I deep down really respect, but want the fight with. I want it because when I go to hang out my gloves in a few years, I want to make sure that I have challenged myself the most I possibly can. And I've gone up against all the toughest girls and push myself and did everything I could to solidify my name and my legacy. So that's what I want to do. It's not so much about the belts anymore. The belts are about leverage and positioning. To me, it's about the names that I can get on my roster, like on my resume. Did you watch Serrano's fight on Friday? I did. Did she win? Yes. I have to be honest, I didn't think that she won the fight. I was, I was kind of

kind of like confused as to what was happening because I don't know if Serrano wasn't feeling her best or or what but um definitely wasn't Serrano's best performance. I had her winning a few rounds towards the end but the first half of the fight I would have given to her opponent. So, um, you know, unfortunate. We don't always know the full story. I wish her the best. Maybe we'll see a rematch. Maybe we'll see a more fight. Maybe maybe it was a fluke. Maybe she wasn't feeling good that night. I don't know what it is. but, you know, I wish for the best, and I know we'll see her back. Michaela, thank you so much. Great to have you on.

Appreciate you doing this at the gym. In the ring, you're a pros, pro. Can't wait to see you back in there in your MVP debut on Saturday. What a fight. ESPN Plus here in America, Sky Sports over in the UK. Thank you, and all the best as always, Michaela. Thanks, guys. Good to see you.

Great to see you. There she is. The great Michaela Mayer joining us from Birmingham. She fights Chantelle Cameron on Saturday. unification bout in the super welterweight division, going to have a great media career when this is all said and done. I remember way back in 2018, she came in our studio to talk about signing with TopRank,

talking about the Bell Tour deal that she was considering. That was in the ESPN days. That was in our old Columbus Avenue studio, the broom closet, if you will. Those weren't great days, but you know, you gotta walk before you run, you know, you gotta. Excuse me, I'm getting offended now. You weren't a part of those days, Frankie.

Voice is getting... Only Rick was a part of those days. It got us to hear. It did get us to hear. I'm a big believer. Maybe this is not the right moment, but philosophically, I'm a big believer in if you are where you want to be,

you have gotten there through all the steps that happened before. It was all worth it if you are where you want to be in this moment. No regrets. Yeah. No regrets. Like that movie. No regrets. Yeah.

One one that I like lately is, oh, what is it? I actually... Yodo? Yodo is a great one. It hasn't really, like, popped off the way I thought it was going to be a thing. Comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah. That's a good one.

That is a great one. I love that one. What do you mean? It's not popping off the way you expect of you, too. Yodo. Oh, Yodo is not. Yeah, yeah. I thought you think comparison is the thief of joy.

It was like... Now, people have said that one. No, no, no, but I thought Yodo would pop off. No, no, that was... Oh, you thought Yoto was going to... Yeah. LK? It was never going. No, LK is not happening.

HK. It was never going. Kids hate LK and HK. They're like, what? Hong Kong? I mean, at least they're worldly. They are worldly. They are. So, just so we wrap up the announcements,

they announced Alicia Baumgartner versus Alephner-Turran. If you recall last year, award show with Addae, we both had her as our women's fighter of the year. She is one of those two fighters that they brought over from Matrum, and this is a big time fight. Baumgart are moving up from 130 to 135 to fight for Aleph's IBF title, and perhaps this means that we get the Caroline fight. This is what she tweeted. I don't follow the standard.

I am the standard. 135, I'm here. Aleph near Turin. Your turn, November 8th, Arlington, Texas. That's a Sunday, by the way. ESPN, the face, the bomb. That's a big time fight. Now, Caroline has since replied to this because they've been going back and forth.

She's fighting this weekend. Actually, Alicia wrote first until Beanhead, which I guess is Caroline initially I didn't know who she was talking about. Don't get quiet now. All that. She ducked 135 talk. Now I'm fighting the champion. Y'all said everyone was avoiding stand on it. Here's Caroline who says, congratulations, coward.

I know those five pounds were terrifying. must burn not getting the fights you wanted. Nah, this works perfectly for me, punk. Make sure you win. I'll be seeing you next year. No more running. There's like legit beef between these two. Almost makes you want to see them fight.

Yeah, enough already. But this is a, like I'll be honest, if we got Alicia versus another like sort of no-nameer, for lack of better word, like lesser known fighter, I would have been like, oh, come on. But this is nice. I agree. This is not like a,

This is not avoiding a challenge. This is a great challenge, yeah. No, this is big time stuff. They also announced a couple of other interesting fights, Ellie Scottney, moving up from 122 to 126 to fight Tiara Brown for Tierra Brown's WBC belt. That belt looks really big, by the way, on the poster. I don't know if that's a Photoshop or a real one, but that is a big time fight. Scottney moving up to 126 from 122.

Tierra Brown, the lone fighter to have defeated Sky Nicholson, who is also on this. this card, this card was supposed to, excuse me, this fight was supposed to be this weekend. Sky Nicholson injured her eardrum, which sounds awful. It sounds like a nightmare. That's why, by the way, you may recall before our break, she had to cancel last minute. That's why she's fighting Mio Yoshida 122 WBC title fight also on that card. Sunday night. ESPN's been doing this Sunday night thing.

women's sports Sunday I think it's called volleyball, softball WMBA of course my fave so this fits nicely with what they're doing

over there I dig it I know on air digs it as well yeah the WNBA the WMLB I wish they would bring back but the Low League

World Series you checking that out I watched yesterday a little bit of I think Pennsylvania against who'd they play

I don't know. But there's this kid on New Jersey who's just incredible. I watched in their regional game to make it to the big quarter series. Connecticut just kept walking this kid. They were afraid of him. And they brought him into pitch, New Jersey. And I think they had one hit after that Connecticut. And he just is like a stud.

Home runs, beats everybody, throws people out. These kids are incredible. They are incredible. I'm not a big Little League World Series guy. I have nothing against it. I just never really got into it. One thing I noticed yesterday, on I think Team Pennsylvania, the pitcher was a girl.

Is that allowed? Is it co-ed? Yeah, I mean, Monet Davis famously did it a few years ago. That's right. That's right. And was on like the cover of Sport Illustrated. Yes, yes. I think actually a women's baseball league after that.

The WMLB. Professionally. Was there a women's baseball league? Yeah. There's actually a movie about a women's baseball league. Yes, yes, yes. There's no crying in baseball. their own. You've seen it?

Come on. Do your kids not play baseball? It came out in like 92 or 93. So that's like right in my sweet spot. Do my kids play baseball? Is that for me? Yeah. Why you guys laugh? My kid does not play baseball yet.

Very early. Yeah, that's right. I thought maybe Frank's son. Very early on they were in baseball leagues, but like you kind of have to pick. You kind of have to pick baseball or soccer. Is this what you told them? No, no, no, no.

You just, like, there's a story in New York magazine about travel sports. Did you guys see this? Yeah, I did. Pay to play. It's, I kind of agree with it. I'm not going to lie. Like, it is kind of crazy. Like, it's supposed to be this badge of honor that your kid plays travel sports.

But in reality, there's no real, like, filtering system. Anyone can play. You just have to pay $4,000, $5,000. And, oh, by the way, drive 90 minutes. they make us drive to Philadelphia. It's like, why can't we just play this team, like some other team of like equal skill, 10 minutes from our house at the park? Why do we have to go to Philadelphia for this?

You have outlined the filtering system. You said there's no filtering system? There is very much a filtering system. It is people who do not want to pay or commit to the excruciating travel schedule that you have outlined. This wasn't a thing, by the way, when I was a kid. Like the rain wasn't a thing. and the amount of rain that we get today compared to back then was anything. And travel sports wasn't a thing.

Rain's definitely increased. I'm going to move on to the second. It wasn't, at least where I grew up. No, the ecosystem was not like this. He's right. It had not developed into this. I think the money. It was fairly big in Atlanta when I was growing up.

Travel sports. Oh, yeah, travel ball. But to your point, what you said earlier, it was used as like a degree of like, oh, that means they're really good if they play travel. Yes. Yeah. Everyone plays travel. It's just a matter of, do you want to devote the time and do you have the money?

Yeah, all these things came up together. The prevalence of AAU now where it's, you know, it used to be kind of more exclusive. Now it's like everybody's playing AAU. Like there is just, there's money to be made in these sports. And the parents get enamored with the, you know, the idea that their kids are on the court. The mixtapes that would come out from all these kids back in the day. Now every kid thinks they're going to be the next, you know, hoop mixtape.

Like, it's just, it is nuts what the youth sports system has become. Also, you used to be able to play multiple sports. You wouldn't have to be like, you know, at 12, I now have to only play soccer. Like, you soccer had a season, basketball had a season, baseball had a season, and then, you know. Aaron Judge is out there playing every single one of them when he's a kid. Now he's, you know, he's a beast. Jeff Samarja, football at Notre Dame, baseball with the Cubs? Yeah.

Jackie Robinson. Yeah. Herdack. Jim Brown? Jim Brown. Dated reference? Jackie Robinson. Jesse Owens?

I'd probably go Bo Jackson or something, but Dionne Sanders? My son asked me, was reading something, and he said, who are the four, someone say Mark McGuoy? Four most famous male athletes of all time. Jordan. It was Jordan, Ali. LeBron. LeBron wasn't one of them.

But Jesse Owens was one of them. And I'm like, hmm, I don't know if a lot of people know. Shots. Who was the reference on this? Oh, it was, I don't know what the reference was. I forget. Oh, yeah. It was Ali, Jordan, Petley, and Jesse Owens.

Top four all time? Yeah. No shot. Jackie. Jackie. It was top five. Sorry. Jackie, Jesse Owens, Pele, Jordan, and Ali.

Rinaldo is without a doubt. Which one? Cristiano. More famous than. R9 or CR7? Christiano. Based on the, based on the, the, the names that you listed, it's very

clear that they're focusing on like impact to culture. Right? Those guys are very, all those names are not necessarily the ones that are... Maybe that was it. Maybe I'm butchering this. That's a culture thing. Okay, so most impactful, would you put Jesse Owens? Hell yeah. Jesse Owens, Jackie,

those are the guys. Ali, yeah, you could throw Jim Brown in there. Like, those are the names. Bill Russell. Bill Russell for sure. Bryce Mitchell. Oof. Sean Strickland Oh my God What about

Oh my son came up to me yesterday What did he say? Oh my God What did he call him by the way Did he call him in his canter In his freedom EKF bro? Did you hear

So like I do the WMBA thing with them All the time Did you hear that a man is going to play In the WMBA? This is what he said to me And I said Oh please not with this I said

What's his name? said, I wanted to know what he would say. He said, he said, Enis Freedom. Yeah. And I was like, well, that's, shout out to him for the freedom. Yeah, he said freedom. I was like, well, you know, he's actually a former Nick. Really? Yeah, he was also on the thunder. He was traded for Mello. Got into it with LeBron. I'm trying to like, this is all nonsense. He's just trying to, you know, and he's like, oh, but would that be cool? Would it that be, no, I'm like, no, this is not what you think it is. Did you sit down and show him the movie Juana Man? No, we didn't get into any of that. But it's historical. It's just, it's just, it's,

wild that I'm at a point where your kids are like consuming all this. They're going to see all of this. They're going to see all of this. And they're also too young to remember Ennis cancer in the NBA. That too. It's only like seven years ago.

He was playing FIFA with a friend of his and he's like and the friend goes it's crazy to be in this stage of life and the friend goes, hey Ariel. So I was like, hey man, how's it going? How's everything? He's like you're, I'm getting into UFC these days. You're my third favorite comment.

Oh boy. I was like, oh, wow. Did you dare ask him? I said, yeah, yeah, I said, okay, so who's your favorite? Cormier. I'm like, oh, I love Cormier. I'm like, do you like him as a fighter as a competitor? And like, no, I like his takes on his YouTube channel.

I'm like, oh, wow, may I suggest the critically acclaimed DC and Haldi show that was short-lived? Who's number two, Joe Rogan? And you're number three. I was like, all right, I'll take it, you know, not bad. I'm like, do you watch the channel? Do you watch the show? Like, no, I see your clips here and there. It's just crazy that I'm at this point now where the

The friends of my kids are into all of us Now how are you talking to them? You grab your son's headset? Like how is the... No, no, no. They do... They're playing FIFA and there's a face time. Oh, oh, no.

Do they ever come over just to play video games? Like that used to be a thing. What would you say? Like when you sit on the couch with your friend, you actually play with each other as opposed to doing it online. You don't have to, though. It's online. Well, like, if they're over...

It's more fun. It's fun to hang out with people in real life. You got to split the screen. I'm a big, don't split the screen. Yeah, but it's like 10 o'clock. Put the screen in FIFA? No, no, you're right. Now what they do is they play on the same team,

which is kind of cool. They're playing on the same team against other people online. That's cool. I actually don't like that. I like to beat my friends. There's that as well, but it's 10 o'clock at night. They're playing, they're talking to each other, and I'm the cool.

I come down. I wonder how Andy would feel about this. No, no, no, because I come down. I'm like, hey, man, like, your mom wants you go to sleep. I don't care if you stay up. It's still the summer break. Whoa.

Just keep it down a little bit. Like you're screaming here at the top of your lungs. Keep it down. You want to keep playing? Undermining mom. Shut the hell up. I'm like, you want to keep playing? Shut up.

Is that, is that... Undermine? Is that a low move on my part? Or like, I'm the cool dad, right? No. I wouldn't be happy. I would say unified front is very important when it comes. So what am I supposed to do?

You say, mom wants you to go to bed. Look, man. You wish you said? Or else. You don't got to. Not in my house. Oh, crotchety mom over there. She wants you to...

Want to smoke a joint? Smoke a joint. Oh, what? You want me to go get you some beers? A bad. You want to say, by the way? Just keep it down, because you're about to get in trouble in three seconds. You guys want some drugs?

By the way, respect to this young man, he's going old guard. Like, D.C. Rogan. I was expecting other names, you know? Yeah, yeah. I thought, shout out to this young man. And whatnot. Also, respect for him going straight to your face.

being like, you're my third favorite. You watch the show? Hell no. I see your clips from time by time. They'll bring up some random things. Oh, I saw you talking to this guy. So you talking to Canello and all that. Rampage?

The Rampage. Dana comes up. Oh, why does Dana White not like you? You know, always, always. Oh, so he just calls you by your first name? Yeah, there's no mister. We don't do the Mr thing. Not even, wow.

You're the cool dad. I actually have a hard time calling my friends now in my fucking 30s when I meet their parents. I have a hard time not being like Mr. X, Y, Z. I'd be weird if you were on first name basis with your friend's parents, I feel like. No, they're like, what's up, Ariel? And it's not just what's up, Ariel. I'm so, like, for being honest, the competition is not that difficult in terms of like, but like, it's like a. Okay or HK?

It's like, we do the whole thing. Oh, you dad. What's up, guys? How you feel? How do you feel? I come in there. I know you stroll in there. Head to toe in the next championship gear.

What's up guys? He's like, oh, God damn it is Mr. Hawani. Ariel, what's up, dude? He makes us call him Ariel. He's trying to call him Mr. Halwani. No, no, no, no, bro, call me Ariel. They're like, what's up? Is it giving the mom from mean girls?

No, no, no, no, no, I'm the cool. I'm the cool. Yo, let's play, let's go play basketball outside. I'll show you guys. We played two-on-two last night. Oh, I love that. You're inviting yourself into their basketball games outside? They're inviting me.

They're inviting me. I'm the fourth. They're texting your boys. Can't get anyone else. This motherfucker. You need one more. Please, guys. Anybody. But then they say like, oh, man, your jump shot, you shoot like such an unc.

Like, it just like, it falls in the hoop like such an old person. Like, what is? It's going in. You know what that is? That's called wet. That's called, like, that's a nice shot right there. That's... Wet is outdated.

Everything is outdated. You shoot like an un. I say hype. They're like hyped. What does that mean? How are you shooting that? It's unk status. Like a jump shot?

The way it falls into the net, Jordan. Generational hate. I actually, I, growing up, like, right around your kid's ages now, I had a dad of one of my friends that was like this that would play. He would be our fourth. Yeah. We didn't have one. He was the best? Or was he too much?

No, he was the man. No, he's cool. Yeah, you had to think there for a second. But he was like, but he was like, onk. Like, he was lefty. Oh, lefty's even worse. He just looked like Jerry West out there. How did I end up here?

Honestly, you're at a good point, though, where you can go show up and be like, I don't feel bad that I'm going to beat these kids at basketball because they're not little kids. We are getting to a point where it's becoming... It'll get to like 7-1, and then I'll have to be like, okay, let me just back you down, back you down, and score 10 in a row. But we are a year away from them beating me. I remember, like, the crossover when I was going up. Oh, I see it. I mean, we'll play 21, and it will get super... I have not lost yet, but it is inevitable.

Like, I can see it now that you're saying you're backing them down, I could see where they're saying, like, this is some... Oh, yeah, yeah. Where you're hitting like a sky hook over them? She's got to put the man weight around. I am like prime Charles Barkley. Tim Duncan, turn around off the backboard. But scoot. You've only got two options.

You either steamroll them and dominate that way you're doing or you do that I wasn't playing for real. You know, you just, ah, you guys got it. I wasn't playing for real. I got to go help on with dinner, you know. Yeah. See you guys. Yeah.

Ever, any ever fears of like MCL, ACL, A C, Tair? It is literally my greatest. In fact, they're playing with slides all the time, and I come out there with shoes, tied tight, not everything, even if we're like playing in the driveway. I will never forget, I will never forget maybe 2011, 2010, Vegas. We used to play Friday mornings like a media basketball game before the UFC events, before the Wands. I'll never forget.

So Mike Chiapetta, if you guys remember, Mike, tremendous writer, no longer covers MMA, kind of left the business, but was a great friend. worked with me at Fan House, tall guy, great basketball player, probably eight, nine years older than me, and he took a step, top of the three point line towards Achilles. And I remember thinking, like, how did that happen? And I've never forgotten it. And now I'm sort of at the same age, maybe a little bit older than what he was. And it's just the biggest, it's my biggest fear.

It's my biggest fear. because it's pretty much putting you out for a year, right? And then... Surgery. Physical therapy. Physical therapy. Driving, all that if it's your right. Oh, nightmare. I've officially retired from like my full-speed basketball.

Yeah, it's terrifying. You're still so young. I'll go out there and shoot hoops, man. I mean, trying to get a torn in the Achilles. I have several friends who have... Yeah, it's awful. ...own ACL playing a rec league basketball game in their 30s. I'm like, enjoy the rehab, bro.

A couple bits of break. news here, guys. Anyone familiar with... Thank you, Frankie. Liam Dallap? Nottingham Forrest, working on a deal to sign Chelsea striker, Liam Delap

for 50 mil, I believe Addae referenced that, so this is exciting. I did see some unfortunate news regarding Dolly Parton, the late great Dolly Parton passing away

at 80 years young. Did you guys see... This is heartbreaking. What an icon. An American legend. icon Frankie, fan? Who isn't a fan?

Dolly Parton Dolly World, was it called? Dollywood? No? Anyone? Yeah, Dollywood. Yeah. What's her most famous song?

Nine to five probably? Yeah, nine to five for sure. Oh, you said Jolene? Ah, Jolene's fair play. Yeah, you're right, actually. Jolene. It's between one of those. Here's USA Today, Dali Parton,

the Queen of Country singing, Damn ad pops up Oh Jesus What a 2026 thing So annoying Rest and peace to death But wait a minute If you'd like to read this article

With a personality as bold As her signature blonde Coff and rhinestone Encrusted Outfits What a lead has died She was 80 years old Parton's death was announced In a video message

From her family On her social media pages And confirmed to USA Today This video announcement Is something Dolly asked Of me years ago Before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. Brian Seaver, Parton's nephew, said in the video, as her head of security for

more than two decades, a role my father, Larry, held before me. I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven't truly felt it until now. It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. Seaver continued, Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by her husband, Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens. Throughout her 60-year career, part and painted, her twang-laced soprano voice

on hits-turned classics such as Jolene, I will always love you, nine to five, coat of many colors. Her 49 studio albums earned 25 number one hits on Billboard's

Hot Country Songs chart, the most of any female country artist, and spanned every decade from Joshua in 1971 to Tyrant with Beyonce in 2024. In addition to a legendary music career that earned 11 Grammy Awards. Parton starred or made cameo appearances in more than 20 films,

including her 1980 debut, 9 to 5 with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Best Little Horhouse in Texas with Bert Reynolds in 1982. Steel Magnolias with Sally Field and Shirley MacLean in 1989. She never saw a door she couldn't open, and the door she opened made and changed history, Cever said. My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you.

She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family whether you liked it or not. That makes me sad. A great philanthropist as well. Dolly Parton. Passing away at 80, I just saw that right now. So may she rest in peace.

May her memory forever be a blessing, a true American icon. We're going to be joined by Carly Judice in a matter of moments. We could squeeze in a couple of other news and notes. I did happen to see this from Gregory Haudriguez, or Gregory Houdriguez, as he said yesterday. This is after our conversation with him on the show yesterday. So you want to be a fighter. Not every fight happens inside the octagon. Many of them happen during the preparation for a fight.

If you ask me, Gregory, do you like fighting? Absolutely. I love fighting. God has been shaping me my whole life to be a warrior. But the hardest part for us athletes is the preparation before the fight. weeks before the fight, I dislocated my toe during sparring and ended up in the hospital. My back locked up. I had a lot of infection, a lot of infections outbreak. I got sick. My immune system weakened. I felt pressure coming from every direction and so many thoughts tried to stop me.

This is the life of a fighter that I chose. And even knowing the price, I would choose it all over again. There he is before the fight, I suppose. And wow, there's the toe. Damn, look at that. Third toe. Oh my dear That is insane That is quite the dislocation right there I wasn't expecting that Okay so makes the win That much more impressive

I spoke to him yesterday He needs some time to heal up I saw that he went to the doctor But no word on how that went But nevertheless he's going to need some time That was quite the battle with Fluffy Hernandez Scott Coker Has a press conference set for

September 14th here in New York. They're going to reveal more about their promotion that they're kicking off in 2027. He did post this yesterday, which I found to be interesting. We've been traveling all over Europe and in Japan specifically going from gym to gym and looking for basically some talent that we feel that we want to sign. And the one thing I found was that, one, there is a enormous amount of talent out there and that there is more fighters than there are slots to fill in the leagues that currently exist. So we took a lot of notes, creating a lot of spreadsheets, we're starting to track individuals. There's more talent out there internationally than I think

I've ever seen before. When you're in these gyms, meeting the fighters, meeting the coaches, meeting the managers, they're super excited to have us on board coming back into the region and coming to pay a visit. I think it really worked. I think it creates a lot of goodwill. But also, we get to put boots on the ground and see for ourselves exactly what's. out there and I really saw, I really like what I saw. Okay. I can't wait to see what they come up with. I obviously cannot wait to see where their shows are going to air.

Network, streaming platform, as I've said a million times regarding the PFL and other entities that are in need of a TV deal, a partner, you're nothing if you don't have a good distribution deal. And so let's see. But also, you know, there isn't that many like young when when strike force was launching when elite XC was the first American okay so I'll say IFL was out there and they did their thing but I felt

like elite XC came out and tried to sign you know the pride guys American guys the Robbie Lawyers of the world the Dias of the world etc former UFC guys. And then they went under, and then Strike Force took over, and Strike Force had a very nice talent pool already. Bellator never really quite got going. They tried to mix the older guys with the younger guys.

Couple of names broke through. But like how many, if you sit down right now and say, like, give me your top five greatest Belator fights. You know, Chandler Alvarez comes to mine, and it's tough to get the five. And then recently, you know, PFL, very few broke through. Let's be honest. Like, can you guys, if I say to you right now,

Give me your top five greatest PFL fights. I'm struggling. Yeah, you just, Hughes and Nirmaga Madov are the only ones. If I said to you, what is the greatest PFL fight? Yeah, Hughes and Nirmagha Madoff. Give me your top two. And I thought Larissa and Kayla was fantastic. Some of the cyborg versus Lyraza was great.

But it's all recent history because they don't have that. They just don't have that. So I'm just curious, like, who are they signing? With the UFC signing people at such a young age, like look at someone like Bellamere. She's coming in, Contender Series, she's going to get signed if she wins, and others. And PFL is going to be, they're going to be a hundred, MVP. They're going to be very aggressive, I think, especially overseas. And they clearly have a relationship with Risen.

It's going to be interesting if Koker is able to establish that as well. I just, where is this talent going to come from? I'm really curious to see what this organization is. Where is this talent going to come from? I think in this day and age with the UFC putting on 43 events, not to mention what, 12 or so contender series, and then MVP, PFL putting on some 20-something events, and then there's the overseas companies,

and then there's a lot of companies that just want to be a funnel to the UFC. Where is it all going to come from? I'm really curious. You have to have an offer that is different than what the UFC can offer. And then you're going to have to overpay. Or yeah. Well, that's one offer, right? A potential offer to a prospective signy that is not what the UFC has is more money or proximity to X, right?

Like if you're somebody who's from Japan and you want to fight in the biggest stages in Japan, you can do that, right? So that's another type of offer. We have this type of deal with this broadcast partner that you might not get when you partner when you sign with the UFC for Paramount. You have to bring something different to be able to pitch this person. and provide it to a potential prospect that they can't offer. So these leagues are going to have to get creative down to Koker's League, PFL, PFL, or PFL slash MVP, anybody else who's out there, you have to come with some kind of unique selling proposition.

Yeah, I'm just really curious. They're going to put on a lot of events. They're going to have tournaments. They're going to want to be aggressive. They've got great minds, and you saw Rich Chow back there in the video. He's one of the great minds. I was talking about this with someone. There aren't a lot of people.

the planet that know how to matchmake for MMA. You know, there's Joe Silva who's, you know, long gone. There's Sean Shelby, who's probably the second greatest. There's Mick Maynard. There's Rich Chow. There's Mike Kogan. There are a couple on the regional scene per se, but it's a job that not a lot of people have the skills for. And so they've got rich. That's great. Koker, the mine, great. He's brought some really great people behind the scenes as well. I'm really curious. I'm really, really curious to see how this all plays out. I'm curious to see how Shakur Stevenson's Zufa career plays out.

And look at this. Holding Mitz for Shakur is the one and only Money Mayweather. Look at that. Looking more and more like his old man. I love watching pros, like supremely good boxers, hip mitts. I don't know why I like it so much. I mean, it's like an art. It's like a dance.

You look at their feet, their stance, their hand speed, the technique. I told you guys I'm going to have a sparring match this year, right? Seriously. I can tell you guys. No. We'll save it for later. What? We'll talk about that later.

We're going to talk about that later. Back into the show, in 30 minutes time, Will Osprey is going to join us to talk about the All-In-Wembley show this weekend that he is headlining August 30th, that this Sunday against Kenny Omega, dream matchup at Wembley, dream scenario for him, Essex Boy, getting a chance to headline Wembley. It's going to be shades of 1992 all over again. That, of course, is when the late great, Davey Boy Smith went up against Brett Hart, main event, SummerSlam, 1992, and went over for the IC title. That was a very, very big deal. A soon-to-be big deal in the UFC, she is well on her way is Carly Judis. She has a has looked very good in her last four fights.

She has won her last four in a row. And in a time period, we were just talking about this with Michaela Mayer, where it feels like women's MMA is in this sort of like peaks in valley phase. It's all very cyclical. Women's boxing is here. Maybe women's MMA is here. To have someone like young Carly Judee's who has won four in a row, three of her last four victories have come via finish.

Her last fight, first round finish. Her first win in that stretch, a first round finish. The second win in that stretch, a third round finish. Her stats are incredible. The body shots that she was hitting Jais Lashavas with on Saturday in Sacramento. Very, very impressive, very fun on the microphone as well. They call her crispy Carly Judis, and she is kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about her recent run as of late. Hello, Carly.

How are you? What's up? I'm great, dude. I'm on top of the world still. Yes. From Saturday or just like from this recent stretch? you've been on fire as of late? From everything, man, since I got to the UFC, it's just been a whole different life, a whole

different world, so I'm grateful for it. It's crazy. I can't even put it into words. It's just different. Everything's different. So you get to the UFC in the summer of 2024 and the debut doesn't go your way, but since then, as I said, undefeated. That's a dream of yours. You get there. You get to the big show. And like I said, it doesn't go your way. How do you feel? after that? Do you feel like, okay, this is, you know, this will be all good, I'll figure it out, was that devastating? How did you process that back then? The first reaction was, you know, my brain wanted to tell me, you're not good enough, you lost contender, you were lucky enough to get a contract somehow with losing, and then you lose your debut, how do you lose two in a row from going

undefeated, fighting, you know, not really good people, you know, not good opponents to coming to the best promotion in the world and then losing two in a row, I was like, you know, my brain wanted to tell me, just give up. You know, it's like, all right, well, am I going to go back to school? Should I, like, should I figure out what I want to do with my life? And it probably took me like a week or two to really be like, what the hell? Like, you're doing this. Like, you put all your eggs in one basket.

You dropped out of school. I had a 4.0 in college. But once I started training, I started failing classes because all I wanted to do was train. So I put all my eggs in this basket and I'm going for this dream. And ever since I decided that day that I am good enough to. be in the UFC and even if I wasn't I was going to figure it out. Yeah, then I was on a roll since then. So mentally and physically, we're getting wins. So I feel, I feel great to look back on that. I appreciate you talking about those sort of negative thoughts, the mental demons, because I know a lot of

fighters go through that. It's not easy. Every performance, every fight is a sort of referendum on the state of your life and career. And so for that to happen so early in your career and for you to overcome it, very impressive. 4.0 in college. What did you study? I was only there for about a year and a half, but I was going for to be a physical therapist, but I hadn't even gotten, like I was still doing my prerequisites and stuff. Yeah, I had a 4.10 high school and college, but school wasn't for me. I wanted to punch people in the face instead. Respect. Weren't you also a softball player? Yes, my whole life. Wow. What position, a catcher? I was a catcher, yeah, catcher and sometimes outfield. Look at you. Me, baby me. Look at you. So you played your whole life. When did you get into martial arts? not till I came back from college and I kind of wasn't doing anything for like a year period and my brother was like he noticed I wasn't doing anything and I've I've competed my whole life so

all of a sudden the only athlete in the family is not doing nothing it's like you know my I shout out to my brother he got me back in the gym and he told me to come try martial arts and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have started this so thank you to my brother but um yeah ever since I stepped foot in the gym I never I never left it was I fought my first amateur fight a year after I started training, you know, and then I went pro, I think two years after I started, after I had my four amateur fights and then I went pro. Did your brother train? Yes, he did train a little bit. He trains off and on still. What was his name? Or what is his name? His name was Colin. Colin. There's a, there's a movie called Fight Fill about Dustin Poirier,

about his early days. Are you familiar with this movie? It's a documentary on the, the local Louisiana scene, and there's a Judeese who's in that movie with your same last name. And so we were wondering if he was related to you. Do you know who this is? No, I don't think so. I know what the fight villains. I've never watched it, which is crazy.

That is crazy. I should have watched it by now. I know, right? I was, like, I barely knew what MMA was six years ago. It's crazy. Me and my coach were actually talking at faceoff while we were waiting to go on stage. He was asking if I used to watch UFC,

and I said, I had never watched UFC a day in my life. I didn't even know it. I thought UFC and MMA was the same thing. Oh, my gosh. Before I stepped foot in the MMA gym. I was just so consumed in the softball world, I didn't even know what it was. Wow. I'd never watch the fight.

That's why even to this day when people ask me like on interviews, what's your favorite fight of all time? And I'm like, mine, I don't know. I don't want to watch much. Okay, I want to ask you that. But the audio is clicking a little bit and I don't want it to ruin the interviews. So we're going to, my guy's going to talk to you behind the scenes and try to fix this. And then we're going to reconnect with you, okay? Okay.

Okay, Frank, you do your thing because I don't want it to bother people's ears. And we'll get to Carly in a moment. She is from Lafayette, Louisiana, which of course made famous by Daniel Cormier and Dustin Poirier, 27 years young, was just recently added to the meta rankings. Did you guys notice that they are using whichever ranking is better on the broadcast? Anyone noticed this? Was that true? Yeah, did you notice that? I thought they were just using the media on the broadcast.

According to a few people, a few sluice online, they've been putting the better one. So if you're ranked seventh in the media, but 10th and meta, they're giving you the seven on the broadcast. What happens if we run into a situation where it's like one guy is seven in media, the other guy is seven in meta? Yeah, I don't know what they do in that situation. That is a doozy. But I think that's interesting. So maybe that's why they kept both, more options. Who knows?

Four-fight winning streak. four performance bonuses in five UFC fights, most in UFC women's flyweight history, which is quite impressive. Six wins via K-O, T-K-O. Just started watching MMA as she got going, which is amazing. Already joint second for most KO slash TKO wins

in UFC female flyweight history with three, only one behind the leader, Valentina Shofchenko, who has four and almost 20 more fights than her in the UFC. Highest average strikes landed per minute in the division's history that's 8.7 per minute and joined first for most knockdowns landed. Incredible. She defeated, as I said, Jaisla Chavez via first round TKO on Saturday at the Golden One Center. That was her third TKO slash KO finish in the UFC in her fifth career first round stoppage victory.

This victory earned her fourth UFC bonus and all three of her UFC stoppages have happened either between 1.30, 139, 140. one in the third round as well. So pretty damn impressive run that she is on. Okay, she's back. Carly, are you there? I'm here. Sorry. Okay, I think we're much better now.

Thank you. Do you remember the first UFC event or fight that you watched? No, I don't even remember. I started watching the fights on TV a little while after I started training, but probably not even until I had my first pro fight. Like, I didn't really care to watch them. I was just training for fun for about a year until my coach was like, hey, if you want to do MMA, you really should start taking Jiu-Jitsu classes.

That's why I was about six months behind in Jiu-Jitsu. I did kickboxing first just for fun to see if I liked it. Wow, this is amazing. You don't often see someone who's completely oblivious to this world and then jumps into it and is so good at it. At your height of your softball career compared to now, do you love MMA more than softball? Are you doing this because the softball career was kind of no more?

How would you compare your love to both? sports? They both have their place. A little bit of both. Soap ball was younger me, you know, and obviously MMA is me now, and it's a totally different person. So softball will forever hold a place in my heart. It taught me so many things. I built so many relationships. I learned how to be coachable. I learned in moments when I wasn't, when I was younger. So I learned how not to act. I learned how to act, how to work hard. But I even tell people, when I, I thought I was working hard back then, it is nothing compared to MMA, right? So it's such a harder sport, but I'm more mentally prepared for it. I kind of quit softball because I was burn out,

and I was 19 years old, maybe, or 20. So younger me, just like quit, right? I quit that. I gave up, in my mind. It's something that I gave up on because my dream was to play in college, and I only went for a year and a half. I don't even think I did. I never finished a full season, and then I moved home. So I love softball, and I always will. People ask me if I miss it, it and I don't really miss it, but like I said, it will hold a place in my heart because MMA is, there's no rush like it. You ask anybody like big football games, I'm sure being in that arena, even tops like Super Bowl, you know, that's just in my opinion. I've obviously never played in a football game, but I would say, you know, the moments that we get in the arena, and I'm

not even a main card, I'm not even huge yet, you know, so I can only imagine. But MMA, I feel like tops any sport, honestly. When you left college and went home, what did you do? funny I was working at Outback for a little while I tell the story all the time I was that's why my brother was like worried about me because I was sitting in the back eating blooming onions that you know didn't get served and eating bread with butter like dipping the whipped butter and eating it and my brother was probably like yo you need to get back in the gym so that's when I started I started out back for a little bit started training and then I moved over and started working out of bakery that I stayed there until I got the call for contender series and after my debut I was able to quit at the bakery and then it would just kept rolling from there. Baking and things of that nature, this is a big part of your life, right? Like, didn't your grandmother love to bake and you'd love to watch her or something like this? Yeah, my grandma owned a cake supply shop our whole life. We grew up in it, around it.

We would help her bag stuff to put in the aisles. We would play, run up and down the aisles. Me and my brothers and sisters, I have one of eight. So, and was single mom. My parents were divorced. Like, you don't even know my whole life story. But it was just, my grandparents was a place that we went to and we stayed a lot. And yeah, so I was around cakes my whole life and sweets.

And like I tell everybody, my grandpa all through my life, we'd walk through his house to go to like the bus stop or to go for our ride for school. And he'd have, first off, he'd be making a rice and gravy at 6 a.m. We'd always smell like onions. Me and my sister were like trying to duck the onion smell, not like, because people are going to think we smell like Vio, but it's really just chicken stew. And then, but back to the sweets, my grandpa would always have cookies. a little cookie box. Even when I went last week, I went and he had peanut butter cookies sitting on the counter and I took some.

You know, so it's like, yeah, my whole life has revolved around sweets and I'm a little addicted to sugar now, but at least I can have discipline whenever it's time to make weight and train and stuff. Okay, I was going to ask, how difficult is it to cut it all out as you're trying to do that? It's difficult, you know, in the moment, but once I set my mind to something, I'm so locked in. like that's the same thing about me taking this running with m-ma as soon as i decided that this is what i was going to do you know with my life i'm not looking back no plan b and same thing with cutting weight it's like all right got a fight on the books you know cut it like i'm making weight but

don't get me wrong like i'll eat like i've ate so much to pass three days since my fight today i went to pick up a meal prep it's three days since my fight i didn't think i was going to be picking up a meal prep till the next time i got a fight call so it's like i was eating so bad that i i was eating so bad that I won't get something healthy today because I'm like, I feel rough. But yeah, I forgot the question because I'm talking too much. No, no, no, this is great. What's the go-to sort of cheat meal? Like, what are you craving the most after the fight?

A burger always. We got smash burgers after this past fight with loaded mac and cheese and loaded fries. Wow. And got extra sauce. And then I got a milkshake. And then we got some donuts and cookies. It was a lot. My stump was hurting.

I feel like we need to get you a donut sponsorship, in particular Krispy Kreme. I feel like that's your jam. Crispy cream is the whole point of my nickname, right? I want my fight style to be crispy, but crispy cream is where it's at. Someone asked me what's the best place. Ever since I started fighting, where's the best place I got donuts? And it's crispy cream. No one can top.

There's good donuts everywhere, but crispy cream is it. I even have a donut tattoo on my wrist. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. And fun fact, I have about five or six people in my family and friends that have donut tattoos. My head boxing coach, he has a big, probably like a five-inch donut on his leg, and he's going to get a sprinkle for every time we win in the UFC. So it's crazy.

My cousin has a donut tattoo just like this, my sister. Yeah, so I got a little cult, a donut cult. Who gave you the crispy nickname? That's a good question. Somebody asked me that the other day, and I couldn't think back far enough. I don't remember. It was when I was an amateur, someone said it because it rhymed. and then they said, well, you love sweets, so it kind of fits, and then it just kept rolling.

I wish I could give credit to whoever gave me that name. I can't remember. The coach that you mentioned that has the donut tattoo, the sprinkles and all that, is this the same crew that you were with when you started? Yes. Wow. I first started training at Head Kicks Martial Arts, and that's Coach Aaron Phillips. And then about a year after I started training, I met Walter Monso.

He was not in my corner from my first two amateur fights, but he was in my last. in there for the rest of them. But Coach Aaron Phillips was there. He was the one that owned the gym that I started training at that I'm still there. And now I train with Walter Monso and Drake Pelligrant helps me with Jiu-Jitsu. So I have, you know, three really great coaches.

And that's what I say all the time also is a lot of people go to big super gyms and try to find these viral coaches and stuff. And I want to be, not only do I want to be a great fighter out of Lafayette, Louisiana from Louisiana. I want to show that you don't need these crazy viral coaches, and viral gyms to be a world champion and that I can do it with my hillbilly coaches. You know, we're Koonass is over here and we can still be great and do great things.

And I'm showing that and I want to continue to do that because I wouldn't be where I am without my coaches. Because like I said, they've been with me since day one and they're going to be with me the whole time. The girls that you were playing softball with high school, college, are any of them still playing, you know, competitive sports, high level sports? No, not anymore. A lot of them coach teams, like travel ball teams. I grew up playing travel ball, like going out, traveling every weekend, trying to get recruited and stuff like that. So I don't think any of them still play.

Sometimes I get asked to go play like slow pitch tournaments. I've only played once in the past five years since I stopped playing, but I would definitely do that again. It was fun. How do they feel about you doing this on the biggest of stages in something completely different? I think, I mean, from, in my opinion, I think they think it's crazy.

I don't know if they could see it. When I was growing up playing softball, I had a little bit of anger issue. You know, if I struck out one too many times, I'd throw my helmet, you know. So maybe they saw it in me. Maybe they saw that I would be hitting somebody one day. It's amazing. We looked up some of your old softball stuff and we stumbled upon the daily. Is it Iberian?

This is an article from March of 2018. Not that long ago, at least not for me. It's no secret that Carly Judice is a big reason why that New Iberia senior high school softball has the success that it does. Is that your high school? I presume it is. Yep. New Iberia is about a 30-minute drive from Lafayette.

That's where I was born and raised and graduated from Nish. Your softball coach at the time, Mitzie La Land? Yep. Saying, quote, when she came in as a freshman, there was a lot of raw talent there. She's a very great athlete and competitor. She's always had the natural physical parts of the game. We just had to do a couple of things to get her mind right, to think back to where she came from as a freshman to watch her grow these past three years has been very special. If we would have talked to that young girl about what's going to happen in the next few years, would you have believed us or would you have laughed?

I don't know. I would have laughed. And I talk about that all the time, too. That's why I could cry talking about it, talking about who I used to be and who I am now. Not physically, not what I accomplished physically in the ring and stuff like that. it's mentally. Like, anybody that knew me back then, I was a mental basket case. Like, I could.

And so the way that I can just go into a cage now, stay composed and execute the things that I do, it is crazy. I couldn't even imagine it when I was younger because I was polar opposite when I was 17, 18, even 19. Like, that's why I came home and quit softball because I was a mental wreck. I didn't want to be away from home. I didn't want to be doing hard things. didn't want to work hard. I had to get up early to lift weights and be in college and make good grades.

It was too much for me. But nothing's too much for me now. The last week of fight camp, my coach was like, he said something along the lines of, it's make or break. And I said, no, it's make because I'm never going to break. You know, no matter how hard it gets, I might sit in my bathroom floor and cry, but I'm never going to break. So, you know, I'm never going to stop. I'm never going to give up. So, yeah, it kind of, it's totally, life's totally different now, even five years. ago, but also when I was 12, I'm not that same person. So what's the difference? Why did you break back then and refuse to break now? I don't know. That's a good question. I learned. I don't know. That's a good question. I've

never thought about that. You put me on the spot right there because I don't know what the difference is. I guess everything I've learned and everything I've been through, I just refuse. I just refuse to quit because younger me would have. I guess I'm trying to like, like watch. Look at me now. to myself, you know, like, look at us. So, yeah, I guess I'm trying to prove myself wrong every day. You know, when I feel like I'm being lazy because I was lazy when I was younger, I tell, like, sometimes I go for runs when I don't want to. Every time, if I don't want to do something, like, I'm going to do it because it's little parts of me fighting younger me, not wanting to do stuff, not wanting to go to practice. My dad has to, had to force me to get up and go hit balls.

Nobody forces me to do anything anymore. Everything is my decision, you know, if I eat something I'm not supposed to. That's on me. Everything is on me. Everything, and it determines the rest of my life and my future and my career. So I'm just more locked in than I guess I ever was. You know, we were reading when we were trying to reconnect with you, some of your stats, and like reading that you're already joint second for most K.O. slash TKO wins in the UFC Flyweight Division and the history of the UFC Flyweight Division with three behind the legend Valentina Shochchenko with four.

And reading the amount of times that you're finishing people, you know, this stat that's been thrown around about no finishes in a title fight for the last five years, things like that. That's why I think you're breaking through is because you're, you're getting vicious finishes. Is this a conscious decision on your part? Are you noticing that there's this kind of malaise around women's MMA and the lack of finishes? And you feel like if you go for it, if you put the pedal to the medal and do this, you're going to start to get notice quicker. Yeah, for sure. You know, I'm not thinking about all these, the numbers and the records. I'm honestly just trying to like go in there and hurt somebody and I'm trying to be crispy.

I know I say that all the time and it sounds like it's just I'm throwing my nickname out there. Like I told my coach I want to be crispy. You know, not just because my nickname, I want to be clean. I don't want to be, because I used to watch videos in me when I was training and my technique was trash. And I still have videos of me training to this day and I look back on them. And I used to rewatch them every night and be like, ew, that's gross. So I told myself, I'm not going to look like that on live television. I'm not going to look like that in front of a crowd.

So one thing ever since I started was I'm going to have the best technique I can. And then once I get it perfect, I'm going to keep growing past that. So I think what separates me and other fighters is like I'm technical, but I'm also trying to hurt you. So once you put technique with, you know, intention and then fighting is not just technique. You know, technique is great, but it's timing and speed and race. rhythm. You know, I dance to shadow box. There's so many things that I try to do different than, you know, other female fighters in particular, because like you said, female fighter, you know, you see a lot of comments if you, if you're scrolling through and reading, female MMA, boring,

you know, all these things. And I say all the time also is I want to change that, even if it's just one fight at a time, you know, I don't want to be one of those, like, turn off the TV kind of thing because a female fights on, you know, or there's too many female fights on the car, this car's going to suck. I want to change that. I want people to be like, Carly's fighting. Let's turn that fight on. Like, this is going to be a work of art. Every time I step in there, it's, I'm trying to paint a work of art. Just flow, like motion, movement, and tension behind everything I do. So, that's what I really try to accomplish every fight camp. And when I go back to the drawing board after fight camps, it's just how can I get a tiny bit cleaner than I was the first fight, the fight

before, and just keep stacking the bricks on top of each other. I love the body kicks. That was super impressive on Saturday. Was that something that you guys worked on in particular for your opponent? Yes, not the teep. I didn't throw too many teeps this fight camp. We were mainly looking for the just the body kick. We call it a slice kick, you know, like giga, I can't even pronounce his name. Chicadee. The Giga kick is what my, yeah, yeah. We call it the, he calls it the giga kick to try to try to slice upward. You know, a lot of people go around with their kicks. So we try to make all my kicks look the same, right? I slowed down the video from the fight with Chavez, and I kept throwing the head kick, and she would cross block. And then when I went to throw that, the teep that finished her,

she went to cross block. So she thought it was coming to the outside because we try not to round my kicks. We try to make everything look like it's coming up the middle. So, you know, we definitely work. We were working that for her because she has a high guard and she stands high with her hands. So, yeah, we were looking for it. But also, I'm looking for the. the opening in the moment every fight, right? I wasn't working teeth set fight. I just noticed it in the fight that she was, it was open and that I could set it up

by doing a few different of the things that I had done. And then we found the opening. So from fight to fight, it's really just, we work on specific things, but when we get in there, it could be totally different than what we imagine. So you just have to pick up the reeds and go with it. You got the 100K bonus.

I saw a video from your manager informing you of this, Brian Butler. How big of a deal is that to you? Man, that's life-changing. You know, I've gotten the other bonuses before, and those were awesome, too. But obviously, 100K is awesome, and it's, it shows, you know, puts me in a great position. Financially, it puts me in a great position to take some time off and train and get ready for whatever's next. You know, not too much time off.

I want to fight again this year. But, yeah, it's life-changing for anybody. But it doesn't change anything as far as what I'm trying to accomplish. Bonus or not, you know, there's so many finishes on the. that card even if it could have been so close that I wouldn't have got it wouldn't have got the bonus and nothing would have changed. I still would have been proud of myself. I still would have came home and I'm getting back to training so I can fight again. You know, goals the same. Keep keep on getting better. Keep on being as crispy as I can and keep on trying to get finishes and work my way up the rankings and

hopefully be champion one day. But like I say all the time, the goal is not to be champion. The goal for me is to be as best as I can, get as good as I can. And if champion comes from accomplishing that, then that's awesome. But if it doesn't, then I didn't do what I said I was going to do and get better. So that's just how I look at it. I'm not chasing a belt.

I'm chasing to be a legend in the way that my performances are art and people love to watch it. I noticed in that answer in the cage on Saturday as well when you were speaking to Michael Bisbegling, you want to be active, you want to fight, you continue to say that. And so if it were up to you, when do you return? How soon do you return?

I would definitely like to fight again this year. I want to fight, you know, three, four times a year. I want to keep it rolling. I saw that UFC announced T-Mobile Arena. That would be, I would love that. I would love to fight in, you know, every time I fought in Las Vegas, it was in the Apex. And I know they have more seats in the Apex, but T-Mobile Arena would definitely top that. So if I can go for, I think it was December 14th or something like that, that would be great. And I mean, I don't care who they give me. I'm going to come in and try to finish it as smoothly as I can. But, yeah, that would be awesome, December. I also saw that you have a number next to your name now, as far as the meta rankings are concerned. How big of a deal was that to you seeing that? Well, so that was pretty cool.

So my mom messaged me this morning. She sent me a little thing that my picture was on it. It looked so chat GBT. And I was like, that's not even real. And then some more people were sending me in it. send to me it and then I saw like the legit thing and I didn't believe it at first and I was like ah and then when I saw it it was pretty cool to see um so yeah I mean because I on Saturday I called out to fight you know top 15 and then to see that you know that's I'm in there it's great but it also

shows how much work that I put in my team has put in and sacrificed um so yeah I it's it's great and it's all real life and it's all big big things are happening and you know I'm growing as a fighter and a person and my name is growing. But like I said, the mission's always still going to stay the same. And no matter what grows around me, I got to keep my head straight on to what I really want to accomplish in this sport. We mentioned that you're from Lafayette. I believe you live in Lafayette still, right? Yep, here right now. It's hot. Have you ever met Dustin Porier? Yeah, for sure. You fought on the same card as him back in July of last year, his retirement card. But have you trained with him. Have you been to his gym? Have you been able to hang out with them?

No, we've never hung out or anything like that. I've seen him a lot in passing and I've seen him at, uh, I've seen him at a training session, but we didn't roll together or anything. It was like a little open mat in jiu-jitsu. So we don't train at the same gyms, but uh, yeah, he definitely, he reaches out to me all the time on Instagram when I'm fighting and he definitely shows his support. So it's awesome to have him, you know, I'm not trying to replace what he did. I'm trying to continue, you know, the Louisiana legacy that we can have great people that come out of here, especially Lafayette, Louisiana. What about D.C.? Is he showing you the same kind of love?

I have never, I don't even talk to him besides my- He's a fake Lafayette guy. He's a fake Lafayette guy. He doesn't live there anymore. He forgot about his roots. I don't know, man. It's crazy. I've only talked to him once. Just once. Did he know you were from Lafayette? In my interview for New Orleans. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right, right, right, right, right. Yeah, I'm not surprised. He had to talk to me. He had to talk to you. He's not going out of his way to DM you, to show you love, give you words of encouragement, right? Like Dustin.

Right, but I mean, I'm sure he's thinking it, so. Okay, all right. Okay, fine, fine. I'm not trying to create a riff between you guys, but it just seems like a little weird that he doesn't even come to Lafayette anymore. He doesn't even hang out there. This is all very exciting. It's amazing to see your success, and we like your vibe around here. You've got a very fun vibe. You're bringing a lot of excitement, and, finishes like that are going to get you noticed. But it just seems like you're so excited to see your career finally take off, blossom flourish, and it's very fun to watch from afar. So keep it up. Continued success. Congratulations. Hopefully we'll get to see you again later on this year. And enjoy this ride. It's only just beginning. And as I said, from this POV, it's very fun to watch from afar. Thank you, man. Thank you so much for having me on. And thanks everybody out there for

supporting me. You know, it means a lot. All I want to do is go in there, hit somebody in the face, go home, spend time with my family and repeat, you know. So this is a fun ride. I'm blessed. I love having the people around me

and the people supporting me from Louisiana, but also other states and other countries. So it's a crazy life. Ever since, you know, everything changed since the UFC and I continue to see how it's going to change more and grow. But keep my head on straight and keep my eye on the price. And by the way, Is this the right technique for a knuckleball, this right here?

Is that right or no? Do they do knuckle balls in softball? Yeah, it's called a change-up. I wasn't a pitcher. I was a catcher. No, I know you're a catcher, but you're receiving the pitch, right? You would know you're the one calling for it, right? Yeah, the change-up, so baseball, you throw like this, change-up, softball, it comes around.

Oh, like that. So you are holding it right. But when they comes around, it's different, yeah. Because in my younger days, people thought I was a bit of a feeling. phenom when it came to softball, so I was just curious what you thought. You played baseball? You played baseball growing up? Yeah, I mean, I was, you know, five-tool, you know, no big deal, but a lot of people are high on my skills, but I went down the media route.

Yeah. Yeah, you know how it is. Baseball is fun. Nobody likes to watch it because it's long, but... I love to watch it. You don't like to watch it. I do, but I've heard, like, so... Yeah. They can't sit through a baseball team. These youngsters with their short attention spans, they don't get it, the beauty of the game.

I know, right? Yeah. I'm one of them. I have a short attention span, but I played the sport so I could sit down a while. You have an appreciation. Saltball games are quicker pace, people say. So I've watched a lot of softball games on my time. I haven't watched too many baseball games.

Carly, a pleasure. Congratulations. And thank you for coming on. We'll talk to you soon. Continued success. Thank you. There she is. Crispy Carly, Judy's.

G.C.'s been on the bandwagon for quite some time with Crispy Carly. Just the debut. Yeah. She said my technique was good with the, you guys. You guys saw that? Did she? She said that. She was being polite.

Five tool. Oh, is that what she said? Five tool. No, I said I was five tool. I'm pretty sure I heard you said that. What were the tools? Running, bunting. Yep.

Stealing. That's that bullshit. That's what they said that you sent out there for? Frank knows all the tools, apparently. What are the tools? Go lay down a bun. There's Jordan. There's, there's...

Do you know the five tools, Jordan? There's fielding, there's throwing. There's speed. There's hip. I like hitting for contact, then there's power. Yeah, that's why. That's essentially what I said. Yeah, it's crazy.

I mean, you said bunting, so I don't know how much power there is there. It's a lost start. The great Tony Ferguson was one of the great bunters of his time. I don't know if you guys knew that. He always talked about that. Would have been a baseball player for MMA. Five tool. We should make, guys, you should make a list.

Top five pound for pound greatest baseball players turned fighters. Tony Ferguson. It's not bad. It's not a bad child. Charlie Judy's Jose Canseco. There you go. Okay. Yeah.

How about pound for pound tools? And we just rank the five tools. Yeah. Great stuff from Carly. I am so very excited about our next and final guests of the day. A darling, dare I say, of the IWC, the internet wrestling community. They love this man, the aerial assassin, they call him, because he's been doing his thing, I mean, working his way up, scratching and clawing, then becoming a sensation over a New Japan was one of the hottest free agents not that long ago and decides to sign with the upstart

All Elite Wrestling, AEW. And on Sunday at Wembley Stadium, it is a dream realized for him because he will get the opportunity. In his home country, he grew up in nearby Essex to headline at the National Stadium against the great Kenny Omega for the AEW Heavyweight Championship headlining at Wembley Stadium, Essex Boy, England's own. not that long ago, going under the knife for a neck surgery. This is an incredible story, and AW, in my opinion, has done a tremendous job of building up to it. It's shades of 1992 all over again, but this time it's England's own Will Osprey in the main event, and he is kind enough to join us right here now on Fight Week to talk about it all. There he is. Hello, Will. How are

you? Nice to meet you. Pleasure to meet you, how you doing? I'm doing great. It's great to have you on the program, and I know it's a massive, massive week for you, so appreciate you giving us some time. how would you describe this week and how it's going so far? I know it's early days, but this feels like the culmination of your life and career and your dreams coming true.

How would you put into words your feelings and thoughts? It's extremely hard, very stressful, one of life's here. It's one of these things where I want to leave the best impression I physically can. It means a lot to so many people

in our country just to see someone from this country like fight for a world championship on such a stage like Wembley Stadium and to do with orly wrestling is going to be like such an incredible moment

for my career. Hopefully I don't let anyone down. Are you nervous? Oh yeah, of course, mate. Like dreading it, man. Because it's something that I'm so passionate about and it's something that I want it for so long against a wrestler that like I have nothing

but admiration, love and respect for. It's, I want to leave the best impression I physically can. So when you say dreading it, I understand what you mean when there's something so big on the horizon that you're so nervous about it. But like when you say the word dread, it almost feels like you don't want it to come.

Like you're so nervous. Okay, okay, okay. What does that word mean to you, dread? Oh, I don't know. I'm constantly thinking about it and I just don't wanna, I don't wanna mess up. Yeah, do you feel that way before your big matches? You've had a bunch or is this a different type of feeling?

This one's different just because of the gravity of, the match and what it means to a lot of people. I mean, like, I'm very good at being able to switch off my emotions just beforehand and just allow the audience to take me on whatever ride that they feel like it needs to go on. But with this one, I think it's because it's so special, because, like you said, it was like, it's my career, it's my life, work, about to come head to head on Sunday. And I just, I've had so many, like, classic good matches.

Well, I mean, classic to a lot of people. but like good to this me but like guys up Brian Danielson like the two matches that I've had with Kenny um guys are like Okada like Kyle and those ones I never stressed about because it was just it was just living in the moment

it was just doing it Kenny's just a different kettle of fish and doing it in a stadium is the thing that always like worries me just because the sound travels up rather than the arenas where it like all gets locked in so like I always get worried about that

like when I've done the stadium last time it was so hard to hear what the audience were biting on. And it was hard for me to judge on how things are going and how to dictate. Because sometimes I just go off the handle and I just change whatever I'm doing out in the ring and just go with what the crowd is telling me to do. I was watching a great multi-part series that AW has put online about everything you've been through over the past year and your road to Wembley and the neck surgery and whatnot. You had the surgery in September of last year.

Do you remember the date that you injured your neck? Or was it just a cumulative injury? No, mate, I'll be honest with you. Like, when the C2 started in 2024, I started feeling something in my hand, but I just didn't know what it was. I just thought like maybe, like it was like a vibration of like the hand

where I've been like chopping people or like bumping and my hand was hitting the map too much. But then I started like getting like a seize up of my trap. and it just, as it just went on, it just got a little bit worse, a little bit worse, and then, like, there would be moments

where I would just take a plain old back bump off a shoulder tackle or off a close line, and I'd completely lose my arm. And I didn't realize the severity of what was going on. It would just, like, you would just spasm.

It would just completely go into, like, a little T-Rex arm, mate. And I would just completely shut off. I'd no idea what, what it was, I had no idea, hey, how severe or bad it was, but when there was a, I'd tell the story about I was taking my son to Epic Universe and it just freshly opened, hey? And he's super, like, buzzing, like, ready to go to Super Nintendo World. And I'm, like, excited as well. And then I had Dr. Wallace called me up and tell me how severe it actually was and what we're

going to need to go through. And it's daunting and it's scary because it's one of those. There's ones where like surgery isn't, it's no laughing joke, is it? It's something that like genuinely like kept me up at night for so long because I didn't know what I was going to look like after the surgery. Like I've heard horror stories, you know what I mean? So being able to get on the other side of it now and like I'm so happy that I went for that journey because it makes me appreciate the struggle that I put my, like the struggle that I put my body through.

It makes me happy that I can still do this again. again and that I could almost be used as like a little, like a little lesson just to like if anyone did watch my stuff like, especially my earlier stuff in Japan where I was throwing my body at the scenery. It was like, hey, no one gets out unscathed anymore, man. Like, I mean, I used to be a rubber ball. You used to bounce back all the time. I didn't bounce back from this one. If you could go back, would you, would you take back some of those moves? Would you not do that? that's that's hard because i i get such a fulfillment and a joy being able to do things that not many people are able to to do so it's something that i like took great pride in knowing that my my art

was so appreciated by so many people then and it lands me the job in it uh the job in a w and it completely changed my life so being honest like no maybe i'll be a little bit more careful about like the landings and stuff like that. But like my bumps are always like crisp. I always attack the mat. I don't like land in positions where my body isn't used to it. But I think honestly just the wear and tear

would just gradually just wear on my discs. It's a riveting watch for multiple reasons. The emotion that you show and are comfortable in showing the relationship and support that you have with your wife is riveting. But also this is footage from September of last. years, you're about to go under the knife. And you're talking about getting back for Wembley in 26. You had this on your mind. And obviously, you had competed at Wembley, not in the main event, not for the heavyweight title, and AEW had been there before. But this was obviously such a big

deal for you. Did you believe in your heart of hearts, you'd be ready? Or were you just trying to put it out there to give yourself something to dream about? The doctor said, if I do my recovery, right, I could be back in six months. Wow. So that made, that made me, like, buzzed, hey, like, because that was a, like, I think Sina went through the same type of deal, and, and he came back in, like, six months. So that was kind of my drive and, like, okay, if I can just lock into my rehab, locking on my physio, and then I was able to, I was able to come back.

Honestly, I'll be brutally honest with you. Like, I, the first six weeks was hell, because being such an. active person and to this be told like, right, stop, don't do anything, don't pick anything up, was crazy to me. It was like mind blind to just sit still for once and having ADHD. Like, I'm buzzing all around the place. Like, I can't control my emotions. I'm just, I'm out there. I'm just wanting to do things. So for those first six weeks to this, don't do anything, was hard. But then afterwards, I kind of found like a little bit of enjoyment of trying to get to know my body again. And so when did you start to feel like you were,

over the hump and that it was going to be okay. When did you start to believe that? How long did that take? I can't make you a specific time. I'll be honest with it. It just happened naturally. Like after a few months of just like rink cycle repeat and doing like the same workouts over and over again.

Like honestly when I was able to like do a bench press again, like that made me feel a little bit better in myself. Like knowing that I could I could pick up weights again. That was a real big deal for me. but I'll be honest with you, I can't really tell me the time on the most. Do you have any limitations now? Just looking up. Looking up is just a little bit like different now.

I like I struggle going further back than this. Like I mean, it looks pretty good anyway. Yeah. Like I really do struggle when, because when I would execute moves like a shooting star press, I throw my whole body into it. Like I had to bridge like my neck backwards to be able to get the rotation underneath me. It's easy doing a moonsault, but pushing yourself forward and doing a backflip is way more difficult. I'll be honest with it.

I think I've lost it. I've lost the confidence about it. So there's no point in even like entertaining that anymore. Like if there was like a trampoline park, I'd give it a go. But like a wrestling ring is far different than a trampoline, eh? Sure. Did you know back then a year ago that the plan was for you to be in the main event and wrestling for the belt? or was that told you later on?

No, because nothing's ever promised and I think there was like talks about it last year when it was like myself and Hangman going for the Owen and like Tony I don't think didn't know which one he wanted to go with. I think like all signs like were great for both of us, you know what I mean?

It was like Hangman's time or the rise with me And when it was time to make decision and Tony decided Hangman, it was kind of like, okay, well, like, it's annoying, not annoying, it's wrong, but it's like it's like one of those things where like, okay, I'm not ready for the world title yet. So it's one of those things where like, okay, we'll have to build up to it. And in a weird way, it's a good way, it's a good thing that I wasn't putting that position to go after the world title because I probably would have had to vacate it the next day. How would you describe your relationship with Tony?

Very good. We've got a lot of love and respect for one another and I trust him. It seems like you have a ton of respect for him. I mean, I heard in that clip that they put out that he paid for the entire surgery and it seemed like that meant a lot to that you said it was like, you know, the price of a house back home, how expensive it was. I think like, I need to get my house re-evaluated. But like, I believe this house is like $420K.

So it was more than that. Wow. I saw that bill and I, mate, I could not believe it. I've never seen anything like it before in my life. And the idea of like, oh my God. I mean, I could have afforded it. I easily could have. But the fact that like Tony done that for me,

and speaks volumes of how much he cares about the talent. Yeah. You arrived at the very tail end of, well, actually it was post-Campunk, but it was like right around the time that all the stuff kind of blew up with CM Punk. And it felt like the locker room was a little bit, you know, there was a rift, there was drama, there was all this stuff. And what I continue to hear is it's night and day.

I heard this from Adam Copeland last week when he was on the show, that it's just a completely different place. And so you can't necessarily speak on maybe what it was like in 23 or 22. But I'm wondering if you can describe what's so great about it right now and what you've heard about how it's evolved. And I know this is something you've taken a lot of pride in and being part of the change. AEW and it seems like it's all coming to fruition. How would you describe it these days? I mean, once again, I can't comment that much because I wasn't there. I was there at the punk and Jack Perry thing.

Like, I was going over the match in my head, and I was sat there thinking to myself, like, oh, I need to get this right and this right. I was like making sure that everything was going on in my head, and I heard a commotion, and I thought they were cutting a promo. So I got out of door. And then it was like, I saw punk walk past me and I was like, oh no, I know exactly what's happened. So it was like funny because it was one of those things where like you obviously read shit all the time on the internet and then just to see it happen in front of you. It was just kind of like, oh, that's, that's lame.

This is like every time I've come here, it's been, it's been super enjoyable. Like I love, love coming to AW every time I done like a forbidden door or if I, if I done one of the random spot matches, like we done the trios, tournament matches. And the environment was great, and it doesn't feel like it's changed since I've come back.

Like, I mean, I feel like there's less of, like, an animosity towards one another if there was anything along those lines. But, like, I can't comment on it. Like, I weren't there. But, I mean, it seems like there's a lot of positivity. It seems like there's cohesion. It feels like everyone's very happy.

And it feels like the business is doing well. I just saw a thing this morning. turning 42,000 tickets sold. Like, like, bro, that, that is, that is wild, man. Like, that's, that's, that's the upstart. That's the number two selling eventually 45,000 tickets for a Wembley show on, on a, that's incredible.

My, my mission, honestly, I really want to try and get it to 50. Like, I think if I can get into 50, I could really give myself a pat on the back. It would be, I mean, it's already, yeah, it's already the most amount of, people that I've ever performed in the main event in front of. So that in itself. And I need to do some clarification on it, but I think it's the same with Kenny as well. I think that's a real cool, like, poetic thing between us, because it's always in storyline, he's always, like, looked down to me. Like, I was never on Kenny's Meg, Kenny Omega's level, but it took both of us to be able to reach that number, which would be, which is great and it's amazing. Like, I just,

I'm super determined to do everything I can. Like, I know I'm doing a couple of media rounds and I'm doing like some big interviews coming up soon so like I'm hoping that I can talk the public into coming over and just putting it over 50. Yeah and and the setup the production is always very impressive and perhaps what impresses me most about it is I would never dare say that you are a homegrown AW guy because you had a tremendous career in Japan and all over the country and all over the world but you and Kenny aren't ex-WWE guys you didn't make your name over there and come over and so the fact that you are sort of fresh faces and selling those kinds of tickets, I think is another feather in your cap.

Yeah, I mean, once again, never been to WWE, never been backstage. I've had a phone call and that's about it. But other than that, man, like, I think that's kind of one of the coolest things about it, just to say, like, there are so many guys, like, that never performed in Wembley Stadium that, like, I generally thought, like, you guys should have, like, guys at the Rock hasn't done it, and Triple H hasn't done it. Like, so many icons of the business have never performed it at, this iconic stadium.

The fact that two guys that never made their name in WW are main event in it, I think speaks volumes of the promoting that AEW has done. And just the feeling around it, like people want us to succeed and want us to do well. I know you were born in 1993. So that was a little less than a year after SummerSlam 92. But eventually you must have seen it and heard about it. to be a Brit competing in the main event,

what Bulldog did. When you watched that as a youngster, when you were coming up, was that ever something you said, like, that would be incredible? Did you allow yourself to dream that big? No, not really, not to dream that big. I wrestled just because I love doing it,

I was, like, obsessed with it. I couldn't shake it ever. And the idea of performing in Wembley, like, I mean, I tell this story a lot, but like every kid in my school wanted to be a football player, every boy in my school, and then you talk to all the other wrestlers on the scene and they'll all tell you the same story.

Every boy wanted to be a player for West Ham, a player for Man United. They wanted to be the England captain and score the winning goal. And like, like, I was shit of football. I was a good goalkeeper. I was a great goalkeeper. I was never going to score the winning goal of anything.

So the fact that I get to represent the UK in something that is so, so important, man. Like, there's never been a British world champion that's ever won the championship on home soil. It's never came home in pro wrestling. On the men side, anyway, the women have done it all the time, but the men, we suck. But, like, now it's like, it's such a, especially after England got knocked out of the World Cup, it, like, really deflated me as a fan. And I just, like, I know England is obviously, like, in the UK, but it's separate to, like,

Scotland and Northern Ireland and Wales. It's still like one of these things like I'd be happy if Scotland won. I'd be happy if any of those guys won because I feel like we're such a hub. And although like there are deep issues between Scotland and England and Wales like that like, and being honest,

I think it's just the English where like everyone can't stand the English really. But like we love one another really. And I think it's something beautiful where I came into the scene around 2012 and all I did for the, four years before I went to Japan

was just travel up and down the country. I got to go to places like Glasgow and Edinburgh and Cardiff and Manchester and Birmingham. And like in that stadium on Sunday, there's probably going to be like, at least like 20% of those people I've probably performed in front of like

working men to club halls and stuff like that. And I think that's such a, I think that's such a cool thing to know that like I've grown up alongside all these fans that supported me from day one. Some of those, venues are tough. I'm sure the accommodations aren't great, not really five star and a plus. Was there ever a time where you were like, man, what am I doing? Is this going to mount?

Mate, somebody, I was in a ring in like this social club and someone whipped me across the ropes and I was meant to duck a clothesline and not only did have to duck a clothesline, there was a projection screen, like right here. So I had to duck the guy and let the close line. Golly. So are you, You questioning yourself. You loved it. I loved it, mate. I loved it. There are so many funny stories that I could tell about British wrestling that don't even seem real.

Like there are nights. There was this crazy nightclub that, like, they had like spots in like Rontford and London. It was called Tiger Tiger. And they had a Christmas do at this underground training facility that we had in Lucha Patania. And they just got wild. and like we were going, hey, don't touch the wrestlers, don't get in the ring. They just got drunk and got in the ring. We end up having a scrap with about like 80 Tiger Tiger Employees.

It was like there's so many, like my missus was doing a show up in Norwich somewhere, and she was like, oh, where's the backstage? It was a van. Oh, my God. They got changed in a freaking van. Those are real humble beginnings, a long ways from Wembley. Undefeated, mate. Britta Ross is undefeated.

defeated. Can I ask, you know, you talk about being a kid and being obsessed with wrestling. I would imagine you were a huge WWF, WWE fan. And so why didn't you ever sign with them? No, you weren't. No, it wasn't like I wasn't. Like, because when I got introduced to it, it was obviously like, oh, man, this is, this is brilliant. Like, I love the idea of this, but I feel like I got into it just as, it was just as WCW and East. ECW were about to be bought out. Okay. Like, I had knowledge of that WWF and my dad's.

My dad bought me, don't tell anyone like this, but my dad bought ECW tapes and I used to watch it. I was like, flipping 10. Watching ECW is sick. But like, after that, I just, it just wasn't for me. I just, I didn't like it. I didn't like the presentation behind it. And I still have those feelings now.

I'm not, but like, I found TNA and I feel like that was a start. that spoke to me, like, the X-Division was huge for me. And then seeing that and then finding pro-wrestling Noah and Dragon Gate and New Japan were like the things that kind of inspired me and made me want to be like a pro-wrestle. Like, they're the things that like drove me. And never, WWEs never really drove me. I mean, I think when you first get into the industry and you first start learning it and, like, even in the schools, like, we had a guy that got signed to WWE and the same.

school. He never end up going in the end because of like heart conditions. But like they would just always tell you, oh yeah, like WW is the route. WVU. And meanwhile, I'm in the background being like, yeah, but I'd like to wrestle in a six-sided ring. And I'd like to, I'd like to go over to Japan and just like learn strong style. So that's just kind of me. I've never been a WVU guy. I think that's not. No, no. I just don't like it. I think maybe one of the first times that I remember hearing about you was this video

that came online of Paul Heyman offering you a contract in 2016. Was that real? Was that like, was he really offering you a contract or was that just for the video? No, it was a genuine contract, but it was for Evolve. And at the time, I was a, I signed a New Japan. So like any contracts that came away, I had to hand over to the office. And it's not like I couldn't pretend like it didn't happen. Yeah.

So like, I just, I hand it over to them. They looked at it. We've got a partnership with Ring of Honor. We'll take you over there instead. So I've done that. I avoided it. I've done one show for Gabe Sapolski before I went to New Japan.

And I have a great, like, a great, not relationship with him because I don't really speak to him anymore. But like, it was lovely to me. And then after I left Ring of Honor, I've done like one more show with him. And that was kind of it. Like, I just not really interested, being honest. Have you ever received an offer from WW?

I received an offer in 2016 to be part of the Cruiserweight Classic and they I think they saw that there was a video that went into Currican Hall of me debut of New Japan and then they offered me like a deal to sign there for them but the money was terrible like it was bad I was making more money in New Japan

oh wow that was the thing that blew my mind like that the And I didn't know I was going to get an offer from New Japan. Like, I just wanted to go do it because the Super Juniors and the IWGP Junior title was like one of the coolest things for me. So then after I signed my deal, it was like funny comparing the tune as being like, like, how am I making more money at this place? I mean, I'm sure I could have made more money in WWU if I'd have signed there and done a good job and especially after 205 happened and all that.

But like, I just, it just wasn't for me. It's never been something that, has taken my interest at all. And in 2024, when you officially signed with AW, did you talk to them at all just to see what the interest was like? Representatives did. Yeah. And what was the interest?

They were interested, for sure. Did you get into negotiations? They did, I didn't. No, no, I don't mean you specifically, but like, was there an offer to look at before you ultimately chose AW? Yeah, yeah, there was an offer. And a really lovely offer as well, but it just involved me moving to the States. I just have no ambition to move over there.

Do you think if that wasn't on the table, you would have considered it? We'd consider what? Meaning if they said you could stay, because I know it's a big deal for you to be back home, to live in England. If they didn't want you to move to the States, would you have been more open to it? No, I don't know, hey, because it's just, I do respect it. I really do. It's just, I don't like the way it's filmed. I don't like the wrestling behind it.

I think it's very minimalistic. It's just like I'll never say never like because that's that's what we kind of do in the industry now is we just want to make sure that we keep all of our options open for sure. But I just right now in the format and how much fun I'm having in AW and just how much freedom I have to be me. Like I don't have anyone putting a script in my hand. Like I have bullet points and I go out there and I just waffle. When you say it's minimalistic, what do you mean by that? I just think like the comparison in. like our matches and our main event matches is very, very different.

Like, they're, like, one spear for them will be, like, like, super satisfying. And, like, I, honestly, I respect it. Like, man, I wish I could get a, like, I wish I could. But, like, it's this not in me. Like, I prefer what we do. I prefer, like, taking people on rides and showing people different ways that I can get into a styles clash. And, like, and, like, the full contact of it.

Like, I've been seeing WV recently. Like, I saw this one clip, and the girl missed her by, like, flipping miles, hey, it was like, country mile. But it's not just the girls. It's the guys as well. And I do wonder if they're being kind of told, like, we're already making money. Like, you don't need to, like, kill one another. And I'm not saying that people, like, everyone kills each other in AEW at all.

But it's just, there's more contact. And, like, I like that. I like to feel alive when I do my pro wrestling. I don't want to, I don't want people to whiff a strike on me. Like, I'd much rather people hit me than it looked bad on TV. I know that's weird. It might be an alien for, but like, no, no, I get it. I mean, it comes across as more real.

Do you find yourself keeping tabs on them just to see, you know, you're competing against them, right? No, no, honestly, I haven't watched WWB properly in ages. Like, this is out of the loop I am with WWB. We were overdoing, uh, wrestlecom for, like, during the WrestleMania weekend. So bear in mind, like it's on all the TVs, it's at all the pool parties, it's everywhere. I didn't see one thing. I still haven't seen one thing from WrestleMania, which is wild to me because there was once upon a time where me and all my backyard wrestling mates would sit there and it'd be like

a spot in April where we just sit down and watch WrestleMania. And like, you admire it and you respect it. But like, I just, I have not seen anything from mania. I just see clits out of the scroll through on Twitter. I'm like, how do with that? Wow. Maybe it's your algorithm. Maybe your algorithm is just feeding you AEW stuff

because that's what you're consuming. Hardly. I mean, there's the AEW stuff. There's New Japan stuff. There's Noah stuff and a lot of Real Madrid now. Okay. Is that your squad? Like, I don't want to like lock in on a squad just yet,

just because I am a bit of a glory, hunter, in this takes of the world. I'm nowhere near Madrid. but like the only way that I could can car part mentalize it was I was a huge David Beckham fan when I was a kid like I loved David Beckham like I got their hair cut and everything

and Real Madrid was his first team when he left Manhattan United I don't want to start with the UK team just yet because I don't know if this is my ADHD kicking in I've only recently just gotten into football and it's honestly it's because of the World Cup I loved it I loved following it I loved how it brought people together

honestly watching the Scottish takeover Boston was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It was so cool to see so many people from so many different walks of life come together. I loved it. I just wanted to know a little bit more about it

and I just said, I'm not ready to commit to a British team because there's a lot of conflicts, but my best mate is a West Ham sport and my uncle's a man United support and Tony owns full of... So there's a lot of things that I need to consider, right?

So I don't want to get fully locked in yet. So I'll go for the group. glory first and I go for Real Madrid and hopefully if they win, then maybe I'll get into a British shame. Well, I got to be honest, Will, you sound like an American right now. You're a 33-year-old young man from Essex. Usually by now you have your club. This is like how Americans speak after the World Cup, not Brits.

I'm surprised you don't have a club. No, mate, like you think about it. I never got into football ever. I was a goalkeeper, but like my dad used to watch. My dad's a Chelsea supporter. And he used to watch it religiously. And all I wanted to do is watch wrestling. Like, I just, I couldn't, I couldn't care anything about it.

It's only recently. And it might be because of, like, wrestling for me now is just so, like, I love doing it, but, like, I kind of want something to feel like a hobby into. Like, and not saying a wrestling, isn't a hobby. No, I get it. Still a passion, but I just want something else to, like, drive me. And, like, I was watching a documentary about Liverpool at Istanbul. Oh, yeah, yeah.

And just the idea of all. Of your team being free kneeled down against AC Milan, which at the time were like one of the best teams going, and then finding a way to come back, I would love to know what that emotion feels like. So then that's why I'm just going to do Real Madrid for now, just to get that glory. And then if it happens, then I'll consider an English team. I do have to say, and by the way, I'm not going to keep you too much longer because I know it's getting late over there and you've got a big week. but one thing that I'm fascinated by is that you remain in England. And I know you've talked about this in a bunch of different interviews, but at some point,

it feels like it's not sustainable for your body and your mental health to be traveling every week to the United States. Something's got to give here, no? Like, I know you have family there and you want to be near your parents and you have a son and your wife, but this is tough, no? A little bit, but, like, I'll be honest with you. Once you're in it, you find a little bit of a routine in doing it. Like, I time my sleeps all the time.

Like, I'll be honest with it, this jet lag has killed me. This one, I'm not, I'm not kicking out of this one very well. Like, even the kid, the kid's been going to bed at 11 p.m. It's nine now. They've got another two hours of been buzzing around the flipping room. So I've got, like, I've got to handle that. But like, honestly, man, like, once you get into like a little swing and a routine with it, it's relatively quite easy.

Well, not a lot of guys do this, if any. No, no, I think it's just me, my wife. and I think, pack, but I think he goes over longer. I can't imagine. One of those kills me for like three weeks,

let alone having to, you know, perform in front of people. Did you get an all-in tattoo? Yeah, yeah, I've got this one over here. Is it for this weekend? No, no, not for this weekend.

No, I've got, oh, you're all about this. I've got like a big flipping venom. I can't even work out where the flipping cameras. There is. Is that new? Yeah, mate, it's brand spanking new.

It's flaking. right now. Look at that. Does that hurt? Yeah, of course he does. It's tattoo. Why would you do that

before such a big match? It would take away from the pain that I'm going to feel when I get need in the face. I'll just be thinking about my arm. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. Do you usually do that before big matches? No, of course not. I just, honestly, I hated the fact

that my arm was still naked before I came back. There was like still elements of like, but I've got, no more ideas, I'll be honest with you. So this was like, oh, this is a cool idea, and I've put it on my body. I haven't really considered it. I haven't talked to my wife about it. I'm sure she hates it.

Okay. May I suggest a Real Madrid tattoo? No, not yet. No, no. There were two early days. That'll be too locked in two early days, mate. What about that mural? I saw someone made a mural of you in London. Oh, mate, yeah, it's an artist called David Speed. I just met him yesterday, actually. Like, I went down and I went to go check it out, because it was just it was mind-blowing

and just like, well, did anyone want to paint this ugly mug on anything? So I was a complete blind away by it and it was fun talking to him because it's a similar

comparisons to an artist journey and a pro wrestler's journey and like how weird it is that we both paint our art on a canvas and that one's on a wall to be honest with yeah. But,

does I take your breath away? Oh, mate, yeah, it was, I was speechless. I generally was. it just comes from a point of like speaking to him he was watching me when I was 17 years old that was 15 years ago

like so it was so crazy that a guy that was watching me in my early stages like I was still back yarding at that time I was still doing backyard wrestling as well when I was wrestling guys like ricochet

yeah so and just because I had that fulfillment and I had that love for it And I just, I don't know, man, like to have that type of connection. And it's not just one person. It's going to be like 40,000 people that have seen me from a very young man, very immature young man into a very immature old man. I'm not old.

You're a young, but look at this. This is tremendous. Yeah, it's beautiful. And I also saw that your gear on Sunday is going to be paying homage to the 1966. World Cup Squad, right? That's beautiful. Yeah, mate. This is tremendous.

So it's going to be the red? Yeah, it's going to be the red and white. Hell yeah. I love that. I always kind of say the white colors are green. The home colors are red, even though last year it was blue, but it was for the British flag. Hey, but red's my home colors. Okay.

We'll end on this. To me, you sort of represent, as I say, said, I hope you're okay with the word. I feel like you're the internet's fans darling. Like they love you, they back you. There's always this talk of Meltzer giving you all the awards and all this stuff, five stars, most five stars, all that stuff and more. And I think part of your appeal is that you said essentially thanks but no thanks to WW over the years and that you wanted to walk down your own path and do your own thing in Japan and now be the man in AEW and whatnot. Are you okay with that being a part of your legacy? Do you like that that is a part

of your legacy to the sort of casual fan like, oh, who's Will Osprey? Will Osprey is the guy who said You know what? I don't want to go to New York. I want to do my own thing. I like wrestling a different way. I like it to be done this sort of way. Are you okay with that or do you want to outgrow that over time? I don't know. Like, I generally haven't really thought about it being honest with you.

It's just one of those things where, like, I remember watching AJ come out in the Royal Rumble. And we were, like, sat eating chicken nuggets in a McDonald's service station like the week before. And I like, it was cool to see that, but it just wasn't, I don't know, it just wasn't like ever like a moment of like, oh, maybe one of these days I'll go do that. Like, I don't know. Like, I never have had that connection. I've always loved my stuff in Japan. Like, honestly, if AEW wasn't a thing, I'd probably still be in Japan. Wow.

You loved it that much. Oh, my, it made a man out of me. Like, they were patient with me. They were kind with me. I was a young 22 year old I've never really been out of England like I done

I done two PWGs and a fold and some European Indies and then all of a sudden they threw them in Japan like I can barely speak English let alone Japanese so it's one of these things where

I had to learn and there were loads of mistakes along the way because I've never been exposed to this level of the industry like I still saw myself as a backyarder even in Japan and I feel like I needed to learn the trade of what wrestling was and that was the fun of it.

They realized that I was just a 22 year old kid that's learning how to be a man. I went to one pro wrestling no event back in 2012. I was blown away by the experience in Japan, but you talked about like how the crowd reacts in a stadium. It's different there, right, the way they react, the clapping, how quiet they are. So how did you adapt to that? To be fair, to be fair, it wasn't a, uh, always silent.

Like it's silent to like an extent where like they're not being silent out of like they're not enjoying it. They're paying attention. They're looking for your technique. They're insightful.

They're not going to make noise unless if you're actually putting in the effort and applying the fundamentals to their full extent, I guess. But like I kind of liked it. Do you know what I mean? It was just kind of like it was horrible during

COVID, it was horrible during that point because I'm actually not forced silence. But then when you got on to like make a bit of noise or if they like, they've done the rumbles where they like sit on the floor, it was this, there's no other drug that can ever replace that feeling of just like connecting with an audience that you don't even speak the same language. Like they essentially adopted me. Tremendous. Let's get you to 50K.

If anyone's at home in the UK, thinking about going to the show, Why should they go on Sunday? Why should they be there? I was a 14-year-old boy when my mom and dad realized that I was being a little shit and said, what does he enjoy doing? And I enjoy wrestling. And my mom and dads found a fabricator or a welder and built a wrestling in my garden. This has been like my life, hey?

Like this gave me an identity. This gave me a purpose. and this this gave me something to shoot for because I wasn't academic. Like I failed all of my exams. I wasn't allowed to go into a performing arts college that everyone in my mum's little drama group that she had, everyone in that drama

got sent over to the Performing Arts College because I got a C in English and I seen maths and I failed. And it must have like, for me, it killed me knowing that like the sum of someone that owns this like drama group over in Essex, sells out in regular events in the Queen's Fear, like, failed.

Like, I failed at the hurdle because I just wasn't smart. I wasn't clever. And I felt so isolated from all of my maids, so I had to go into work as a Mastic man, and I had to travel up and down the UK, just

fixing people's windows. And then when I, when I realized wrestling was something that connected me and made me feel like I could represent my country, it inspired me. It generally made me, like, I could become David Beckham in a weird way, like the guy that, like, flies the flag for the country everywhere that he goes. This, to me, has been, like, a dream of mine for so long. So if you're, if you're not even into wrestling, right? Like, maybe he was into it once upon a time, and you're falling out of it, like,

I generally believe we'll have one thing on the show that we'll find entertaining, but for me, this has been my life's work, my life's journey, and all I want to do is make my mom and dad proud, and I hope to God that I can just bring it home for everybody. Will they be in attendance on Sunday? Yeah, separate seats, I've divorced. Okay, all right, fair enough, but at least they'll be there, and they deserve to be there, delighted for you, and thank you for laying it out like that for us. And yes, the English fans do deserve someone to bring it home finally in that stadium, because there's been some low nights as far as the men are concerned. so happy. The women are great. The women are great. The lionesses are great. It's just the men that are the

problem. All the best you will. And thank you so much for giving us some time, a delight to have you on, and really appreciate your work and everything that you've been through and how you kind of, you know, stick by your guns and the journey with the neck injury, supremely impressive as well. So congratulations on all your success and good luck this Sunday. Bless you, mate. Thank you very much for having me. All the best to you. There he is. Will Osprey. And there's the pay-per-view poster right over there. One of the banners. It's all in London. Sunday, August 30th in the U.S. You could get it on HBO

Max. You could also get it on Prime Video. You could get it on DeZone. If you're in Canada, you could get it on Prime Video. You could get it on DeZone. If you're in the U.S. in Canada, you could get it on YouTube as well, especially if you're in the international

regions. You could get it on YouTube, ppV.com. MyAEW.com. There's a whole host of places. You can also get it on DirecTV on sling on dish at Dave and Busters. I think New York Rick is going to be there. It's at 6.

Fucking out. On. Hey, by the way, similar, uh, sounds kind of like Oban, right? Yeah. Uh, 6 p.m. BST, uh, 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, 10 a.m. Pacific, all in London, live from Wembley Stadium, the big one, not Wembley Arena, Wembley Stadium. Will Osprey versus Kenny Omega for the AEW. heavyweight title.

Also on that car, by the way, Copen Cage, we spoke to Adam Copeland last week, and they are going up against the Young Bucks. Who else? Who else? Willow Nightingale against Mercedes Monet, John Moxley, or Claudio Castagnoli, formerly known as, ah, gosh, how am I going to,

from the Swiss. Cesaro, Cesarro. Against Kyle O'Reilly or Nigel McGuinness. Okay, they're figuring that out. Kevin Knight against Darby Allen, Kyle Fletcher, Takisha,

and Okhada, a whole bunch of things going on. So go check that out. But what a story, Will Osprey. A year ago, going under the knife for neck surgery

and now headlining in his country's national stadium. We saw him at double or nothing. Oh, yeah. Unreal. He's unreal,

flipping around all over the place, putting his body on the line. At that point, that's like eight months after surgery. That's right. That was May, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Crazy. I wouldn't have, I had no idea because I didn't follow it that closely, but would have had no idea. He was doing, he had like the most acrobatic moves on the card. He's incredible. Freak athlete.

Yeah. The internet loves him, loves him, loves him. How could you not? Yeah. But they just kind of love that he didn't sign with it. You know, he's, you know, marches to the beat of his own drum,

that type of thing. When you're introducing him, I understand it's Ariel as in, you know, acrobatics and everything, but you're like, the aerial assassin. Yes, yes. I mean, your name is Ariel. Well, see, that's the thing. This guy was here to kill you. Oh. The Ariel assassin.

Okay, so I don't view myself as Ariel. Ariel? Ariel. You've heard me so many, Ariel. I say Ariel, Ariel. So when people say Ariel, it doesn't, when they say Ariel, like, oh, this aerial shot is brought you by, it doesn't. Okay, wait, wait. Say it the first part of Osprey's name.

Will. No, no, no, no. Oh. The nickname. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It's the Ariel assassin. No, no, no, I know. I'm just saying, give me the side by side of how you pronounce your name and how you pronounce it.

Ariel assassin, Ariel Hualani. Ah, like avocado. Like an apple, apple, Ariel. But Americans, no, they can't do it. American, see, you'll slow. New Yorkers do it, though. New Yorkers make that sound. I'm hearing the exact.

exact same thing. Oh, you, you hear the same thing? Oh, wow. Aerial. No, not even close. You say Ariel. I say Ariel. Arial. Ah, it's like a Ariel. You know how I say orange? That sounded British or something. It feels like I'm loosening up my jaw. I don't know what I'm doing. For some reason, honestly, for some reason, Americans can't say it. I've never met an American. Even John Annick tries. No, no, you're wrong here. New Yorker say it that way. New Yorker say it that way. Ariel. He says it pretty close. Because I know, say this. Because I'm not. I say, what? Assassan?

Ariel. Now his name? Ariel. That was a hard different. You said that was a hard different. You say, Ariel. Now I'm thinking about it, but he said Ariel. Ariel.

Ariel. He says it pretty damn close. It's in New York. This is so great. I say orange and people say, what the fuck are you saying? Okay, yeah, you're right. I am a New Yorker. It's a New York.

We have that in our... Orange. Yeah. Orange. Bull. Orange. That's why you guys have a laugh about the iron, but it's just, it's just my accent, you know? Arn.

No, but whatever word you were saying, iron wasn't even a word. Iron? Iron? I was saying iron! Iron! Did I kill it? You killed, he murdered it. Arn! Man, Will Lossprey. He's, he is fidgety, huh?

He said I've seen him talk about the ADHD and all that stuff. It's amazing. He's a shooter, though, huh? Oh, yeah, he likes... Yeah, you think they like that? What do you say? It's minimalistic. I mean, he's just saying, as you said, he's the Internet's darling because he kind of just

does his own thing. There was no cave fame there. Like, he was just like, this is me. Here it is. Like, I enjoyed that a lot. Give me more of that. Tomorrow on the program, guys, I can tell you that we've got Teofima Lopez coming off his big win over Raleigh-Romero, WBA Walterweight champion now.

So a champion in three-way classes. Sean Brady, who's going to be headlining against Gabriel Bonfim in November. Lots to talk to him about. Of course, he went up against Jordan Burroughs on Saturday. Jose Delgado headlining Noce UFC against the one and only John Silva, replacing Yaira Rodriguez. And the old dog himself, Hafeel Dosangios, who we have not heard from. I think the last time I texted with him was like 23, 22, something like that. that, RDA is back.

So we'll be talking to him. Also, OTN, areahuawani.substack.com is where you can leave your questions. The post is up right now. I actually think it's been so long since I said RDA's name. I may have butchered his name. What did I call him? Did I call him Hafeel?

It's Hafeel dosangios. What did I say? Dosanios? I think it's dosanjos. It's been that long. That's it.com. Yeah. That's it.

Do we have any super chats, Frankie? Okay, we do This is from Sammy Ariel, this is 100% true I dreamt last night that I met you at a signing book launch You released a book! Well, that's kind of crazy.

What do you know, Sammy? Huh? Sammy? Sammy. Appreciate that. That is weird. That is very weird, Sammy. Why? Because you're announcing a book?

No, it's just weird. What do you ask? I'm all the time. What are you asking me, Frank? It's just a very, it's a very specific dream. I had a dream that you call me to help you set up a new laptop. Yeah, I did get a new laptop, but I haven't set it up yet. How do you say my name, Frank?

Most excellency. No, no, no, no, no. Ariel. Ariel? Ariel. To the point when I hear people come and call you Ariel, I'm like, p. No, Ariel, Ariel. No, like, other people call you.

Ariel, Ariel, like Apple. My favorite, I like when someone who speaks Hebrew says my name, because we've already established this line of God, but probably my favorite version of my name is the Spanish version of my name. Ariel. When I see a Spanish guy and he's like, what's your name or a girl? Or a girl, they like, Ariel. Right, Andy?

Yeah. I got it right. Yeah, you know, you did. Ariel. You've been working on the R's. I've been working on the Earth. I've been working on the ours. You know, we're trying to get a little more global.

Gregory, Rodriguez, right? Lobocop. That was crazy. Why? Why? What's wrong? Nothing. That's, okay.

I mean, it's literally his name. Billy is fresh 4203 making my amateur debut at Rampage Combat 2026. What is Rampage Combat? September 26. September 4th, 206. 26. Let's look this up on Tapology. Rampage. Oh, yeah, 4 of September. There we go. Rampage Combat.

Yeah, I'm having trouble finding. What is Rampage Combat? We're looking. That is anything to do with Rampage Jackson? Rampage Combat 4? September 26. Yes, it is promoted by Rampage. Okay. Is it really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's owned by Rampage Jackson.

I have not heard of this. So do we need Rampage Combat 3? There we go. Rampage Combat 4. Yeah, there was a Rampage Combat 3. This is going down in Los Angeles, California at the Mayan. Let me guess. It's streaming on. Kick. Tickets available via Purple Pass? Shout out Purple Pass.

What the hell is Purple Pass? Also, he had... It appears he has the date wrong. He's doing it at Rampage Combat 4th, September... On September 26. I thought he was saying at Rampage Combat on September 4th, 2020. 96. Okay, got you. Okay. We figured it out. We got through it. We got through it.

It's off the description. Rampage Jackson Saturday, September 29th. A lot of dates getting thrown around there. It's a lot. $54 to get in. Wow. Get two Dana White Contender Series for that. Okay. Wait. Oh, two, yes. Two tickets. 25 bucks.

What else? Don Carlo. No love to Brand Risk. Did you see the knockouts? Hunter and Dana were caught watching it during the Sacramento fight. Question. Brand risk. I'm not hating at all. I promise. Boxing or MMA? I believe it's a combo? Is it a combo? Okay. Don't quote me on that. What does it mean no love? Like, what do you want me to do?

I'd love to have Aidan Rosson to talk about it. And I were once friends. I missed the production meeting yesterday morning, but I had assumed we were going to kick the show off with the president. Did we not mention it? We talked about Super Hot Fire. Was that offline? Yeah, we did. Wasn't no neck on the card? No neck? Was he on the card? It was a big knockout. Was it...

The Island Boys? Phase Temper? Oh, yes. He did get slept, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. By... Wasn't it in Austin Brooks or something? Brum.

Austin McBrugh? Didn't Larry Wheels tear his bicep? Is that gonna put the... Oh, no! No, did he? Not out dumb, bro. Oh, you didn't see this. No, this is legit.

Yeah, it's an RIF match coming up, I thought. You could actually see the bicep like split. Oh, perfect. Oh, that's fucked. It was, you know, we were talking about the Achilles. It worried me. too because like mine are getting so big that I felt like shit

Oh that reminds me Let's get back to wait a minute time out So who are you sparring bro? Oh yeah yeah No Nick Who you sparring? Chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill chill No no dude there's no chilling when you're just like yo by the way I'm making my sparring day

You're happening guys Who are you sparring? We don't we don't announce sparring sessions You did you announce the sparring sessions I don't announce a date of location Chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, we just do things. We do things in the shadows, guys, okay? Here's Chezzi, who says, in my opinion, Belamir should get multiple DWCS fights.

All right, let's find out. No. Bone nickel treatment. I mean, I don't mind it. I don't mind it. The women's divisions are shallow. It's not the same. J. Dash says, back to yesterday's Islam, Gary Convo.

If Islam has three fights left and stays champ, I personally want to see Pratchez, Morales, and hopefully Shafkat get chance. Yeah, he said this, three big fights. Ian can work his way back and fight for a belt when Islam is no longer champ. Also, Rick, if he were to beat these three opponents, where would he rank in your all-time list? Yeah, we were talking about this. I say if he can get five more, I will have a real conversation about Islam and John Jones. If he can get five more wins against those three names, maybe two more fights, I would actually entertain the conversation. Also, it depends on how he wins as well.

Like if he's squeaking by with controversial, no? Those guys are young killers in their primes, and he's coming up from a second weight class after a great career at lightweight. Even if he squeaks by by the skin of his teeth, if he can beat Michael Morales, Carlos Proches, those names, ready to at least start talking.

Yeah, if he beats Prochis, Chavkat and Michael Morales, he'd be 32 and 1 at that point. 10 title fight wins, four defenses in each weight class, he would absolutely be in the goal. conversation and many, many people would have them as number one. Here is Sammy who says, Andy, once a year in my city, we have international food market.

I've had, wait for it, Arepa. Arepa? Two years in a row, your take on Arepa. Oh, I mean, it's like a staple at my house. Yes. For the uninformed. What is, and am I saying it correctly? Arepas.

Arepas. Oh, yeah. So would you say arepas or arepa? I mean, you usually have more than one. Sure. Yeah. Okay, so explain to the people. What is it?

Why don't we let GC explain it? Oh, yes, you made it. Of course. Yeah, do we not remember? Oh, my gosh. Venezuela wins the WBC and you had to, how did I forget? Go ahead, please, please, please. What is it?

Cornmeal? Yeah, cornmeal mixed with water that creates the dough. We put it on a, was it a George Foreman grill that we used? Well, shout out to George. Something of the sort. one of the greatest grill masters to ever live. And then Andy sent me a recipe so I could easily stuff them here and then put them on. It was like a chicken salad.

You know, obviously fresh make the chicken. But you can stuff it with a bunch of different things. Cheese, beef, chicken. We had shark, I think, when we did Venezuelan fight feces. We did, yeah. But they're fantastic. It's just a pouch of meat and cheese, essentially. It's the best.

Finished off with a great flon that Andy made. Oh, yes. Yes. All enjoyed? I do recall Did you not like it? I do recall one of us not getting. Yeah, it wasn't here so I didn't get it.

Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, it's mixed two of us then. Shout out to Shehien, who reminds me, Viva Las Arepas. How come we've never gone there in Las Vegas? Tremendous spot. We've been there with Casey and Esther. Oh, wait, that's a real place? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's amazing.

In Vegas. We should go. We should definitely go. We should definitely go. Why haven't we gone there, you ask, about a place that you know about and never told us about. I wonder why.

Who can figure this out? I feel like Casey should have told us, all right? It's his spot. Okay. Tushay. Your point. Casey should have...

It's a Venezuelan Arepas or Colombia Narepas. That's what I need to know. Shahin. Wait, wait, wait, wait, which do you like better? And what's the difference? Venezuela ones. What's the difference? You say that with such confidence.

I am Venezuelan. Yeah, I know. But why is it so much better? They're just made differently. Like, we fill us up, ours up, with a whole bunch of stuff. they usually eat at ripas all the time as like a side. Who's they? Who's they?

Like, Colombians. Oh, shade. And like, don't come at me in the chat if this is wrong. But most of my Colombian friends will just eat an adepa every day just as a side. It's not like a main meal like it is for us. It's a little different. Are you throwing this shade because I have a Colombian guy on my desk now? No, I didn't even notice that.

Where did they come from? What happened? This was gifted to me. Bye? Because of my love from a fan friend, you know? for a man friend In 2023 Yes

Yes Uh Uh Uh Uh, uh, uh, it's a nice one right?

Yeah, it's a nice one, right? Yeah, it's pretty simple. The babel on it's great. Oh shit! Some might say, some might say it's a sign that they rule the Arepa's world andy.

Why is it round? You know, this is a big debate Uh, I do want to let you know it's Venezuelan. Oh great. Yeah.

We should go. Why are you laughing, Frank? Because I went back. Oh, Viva Las Arapas is authentic Venezuelan. I just didn't know there was a beef. I didn't know there was a beef between the Colombian adepas. That's right. That's right.

Shark any of them. I didn't know that there was like a street beef, you know? Oh, I'm looking at the pictures right now. Phenomenal. Glad that you've taken us there all those times. I was going to be in Vegas. Why did I not think of this? Could have been a hell of a lot cheap for the Kama.

You could have just taken us there. Yeah. Nah, it wouldn't have been the same. That's one of the great meals of my life That comic meal I still dream about it till this day Yeah Okay so it's a side

It's a this Anyway so what does Sammy say Oh he's just asking if you like it I've lost my spot with all the Where is it? Yeah he was saying our take on our day pass I can't find the chat anymore With all the other ones

Where'd they go? J-Y-2387 No no no no You've J-WA-2387 favorite Dolly Parton's song. May she rest in peace. I think we could all agree.

Jolie. Jolie. Jolene. No? Jolene. What is he say? Not at Jolina Jolene. Ah, bad.

The tough goal, guys. Pretty work, man. We can all agree this wrong lyric that I'm about to sing is it. That's the one. I'm nine to five. Every day when I'm going out to the subway. Sing it.

Sing it. Sing it. Like, 903 and just fucking it. Sing it first. Working night do vire. Trying to make a living.

Yes. Do your time. That's rolling around. That's it. Okay. Frankie, yours? In the ghetto. It's a cover.

Of course you would pick a cover. How disrespectful. You can pick one of the original. The cover of Elvis Presley. Like, come on. Did you ever perform with Elvis? I feel like they were two Nashville legends or Memphis legends. Memphis.

Memphis. Isn't Dollywood? No, Dollywood is in Nashville. He was in Memphis. Graceline. Grace line. Memphis. Right?

Outside of Memphis. I'm looking at pictures of them. Together or? They performed together? From what I can see, maybe this is Photoshop? No, no, no, no. Dude, they definitely like, I think she wrote a song and he wanted to use it. It's a great song.

Oh, yes. Tumble out a bit and I stoned to the kitchen. Shout out to Dolly, man. Keep going, keep going. Yon and stretch and trash. I like how the southern twang comes in here. According to the AI overview, Elvis and Dolly never performed or even met in person. No, we don't use AI.

AI overview, man? Sorry, I wasn't around back in the 70s when they were hanging out. Fun fact about Dolly Parton, though, Jolene and... It's called Jolene. I will always love you. Yes, yes. Written in the same day, allegedly. Wow.

I will always love you. Is that the Whitney Houston song? Well, it's a Dolly Parton song that Whitney Houston. I didn't realize that she sang it first. wrote it the same day as Joe Lee Joe Lee, shout out question

did they release a cause of death no man it's too soon what's up with that see we talked about this death is so taboo why how they die spontaneous combustion man

like who cares before we can even wait she combust it by the way 80 years old is quite young before we can even get out the condolences you know all right

how did happen okay Okay, last one. This is from Luke. Luca. Speaking of Luca, Donchish, she's looking amazing these days. God.

By the way, isn't this not like the rinse a repeat of every off season? Look how slim Luca Donchitz is. And then all of a sudden he shows up in October and he looks the exact same. Anyway, 4GC. Armin, Despand, Gable Parley,

lockiest lock of all time. P.S. respect Frank's mother. For goodness sake, Ariel would be pissed reversed. I'm not the one writing it. I'm literally driving the train and then I can't stop and then it's like four

questions about God knows what and then it just gets slid in there. You're right. I do respect my mother. How much respect is how much more respect can you show somebody than by kissing their ass? No, we know you respect you. We don't do that, Frank. You do.

Dude, I don't know, man. You betting inside Thuivasa? I guess on a seven-furt. losing streak. Can't do it. Also, Gable, minus 1,500. What's that doing for you?

Yeah, you're right. That's like minus 10,000. Yeah. What is that getting you? Six bucks? Minus 1500, minus 540 and minus 380. Yeah, it's probably that's probably going to reach up.

Armine is the minus 380. Yeah, it's probably going to get you like minus 200, minus 225 or something. I ain't touching that. Fight is a fight. Business. Ah!

All right, Chents. Oh, yes? Was there anything else? That was it. Okay. I do want to remind everyone, It's a little late in the show, but we do have our eBay auction up for the poker.

What are we calling this? A felt top. What is it? Poker Table felt. Poker Table felt signed by everyone who visited us, including the entire uncrowned team back in Vegas, July of 2026, best summer of our lives. Do we all agree this is the best summer of our lives? Absolutely.

I mean, from the Knicks to the World Cup to our trip to Vegas and everything in between, by far, right? Yeah, happy for you, man. I thought we all agree Jordan you agree right I mean your daughter going to the beach Knicks The Knicks alone would make it the best

And then the daughter makes even better Cherry on top She's never experienced the loss in our life It's a good point A playoff loss Wow That's a great point Well it's a great point

She will always be a winner Anyway eBay link in the chat Go support All proceeds Go to two charities Yawani on Jacek's charity, which is called JJ Starr's Foundation.

J.J. Starr's Foundation and also the Cancer Fighters Foundation. Tremendous causes. We back them. We support them. She's one of the many great fighters who signed Maham Miller, Robert Whitaker, Yoniyan Jacek, John Anick,

Frank Lenz, Connor Burks, who else? John Cavanaugh. John Cavendon. Al Jermaine Sterling, Paolo Costa. The list goes on and on.

I said Robert. It was a grand old time. Please go support. We send it to you a one of one. There will never, ever, ever be an MMA memorabilia object quite like this one. Today was a great day, but it is time to say goodbye. And so we shall say goodbye. I can't believe I screwed up that Jolene.

Jolene, I remember reading what it was about. Yeah, it's about a woman. Jolene Yes, keep calling I assume that Being with the ex She said Please don't be with my ex

So you ever heard the lyric I don't think you have So wait She was She was with someone They broke up And now he had a new girlfriend Yeah

It was like prettier than her And what is she trying to say Please don't do that Don't do what Don't be with him Really? Yeah She says please don't take my man

But they broke up Okay I would argue they did it, Frankie. Oh. Okay. Well, that's different. I'm begging of you, please don't take my man. I think the jeet has already been done.

Jolene, real person? This is the real story? I think so. Yeah, Jolene, Jolene, oh, I'm begging you. Please don't take my man. Yeah. Please don't take them even though you can. Your beauty's beyond compare with flaming locks of Auburn hair

with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green. God. Wait a second. Wait a second. According to AI overview. man. Yeah, I wasn't there. It is a fictional story, but it was

inspired by a real-life situation involving her husband and a bank teller. The bank teller in the early days of her marriage to Carl Dean, Dolly Parton noticed her husband was spending a lot of time visiting a local bank, and attractive red-haired bank-tailor was flirting with him. Whoa, what?

I gotta go to the bank. Go to the bank. Go to the bank a lot. He had money. The real bank tailor was not named Jolene. Dolly Godfrey later when she met a young fan with red hair while signing autographs.

She loved the name and told the little girls she'd write a song about it one day. Rest in peace to the iconic Dolly Parton. Thank you to all our guests today. We appreciate them very much. Thanks to them. Thanks to you back on Wednesday, same time.

This is there to be so many.