The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Are You Tik Toking Right Now? + Jon Anik

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

The crew talks about the Bama Rush Tik Tok phenomenon, the best and most comfortable running shoes and more. Then, Mike tries to sell everyone on a Twitch streamer that simulated every season from 1983 on in NBA 2K -with mixed results from Stu and the Shipping Container. Plus, with UFC 292 on Saturday, Tony is joined by UFC play-by-play legend Jon Anik to preview Sterling vs O'Malley, Boston vs Miami and the infamous Ray Longo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. This is the Dunlabel Tarshow with the Stugat's Podcast. So for the next two weeks, TikTok is at its prime, at its peak. It is Bama Rush season. So basically, if you're unfamiliar with Bama Rush, it's the process of rushing a sorority at the University of Alabama, which is a very Greek life, heavy school,

and these girls document everything. And what happens is as you start to get all of it on your feed and then you pick your favorites, and you follow them and you see what house they go into and the wild stuff they do. And it is wild how much it has me in a chokehold, and I have got my girl, Bella Grace. I am rooting for her, it's not her.

I'm not really rooting for her. Bella Grace is an underdog, I think. She always comes out with like, you know, her, like she's very sweet, and she wears a really Pulitzer, and I'm really rooting for him. And this whole like process, it is wild to watch the Greek life cycle at Alabama because it's not like anything else in the country.

So, God, how much did you get of that? None of it. I will tell you this, just watching the video, I am as a parent of two children, two daughters in college, a mortified. Yeah, I did not rush a sorority. But it's very stressful at times very mean. This is great choreography. It is. Yeah. No, it's I think it's tougher to go through Alabama

rush than it is Nick Saban camp. Like without a doubt because it is so particular in the rules. Are these clips from this year? Yes. Boy, hot pink is having a moment. Oh, it's all barbie thing. Barbie. Yeah. I have a Barbie sweatshirt. I love it everything they got going on So the rush week salute the Alabama keep doing your thing girls So like this is the thing that when when people rush they say where they're from yeah, so here's how every rush video goes Hi, y'all I'm Macy Leanne and today it's philanthropy. My outfit, my shirt is from Lulu, my skirt is from Zara, my shoes are hokas. This is my Tiffany necklace and roll tide. Hey, and that's how it goes.

And I watch every single one of those because then they'll start getting into the later rounds and they'll update you on the houses they wanted and what their experience has been. It's like a cut throat thing that's unlike anything else. I'm being told that we actually have audio to supplement the video out there. So let me experience this. I'm so glad to be here today Saturday, the first day of rush. It's convocation day. This is my outfit from the Sapvitee.

We got to tell you. These are my golden goose's and then my jewelry is from him line Him line Cartier and then these are gifts that I got and then my Tiffany necklace Yeah, I'm so excited to meet everyone and I got a surprise Nine gifts for the nine days of rush that my mom got me and we're gonna open one This is all the influencer moves right here. It's exciting. We're gonna do all nine. And that being is like twinsky.

Thank you so much. I hope everyone has a great day. Just one today, Billy. I don't even believe that to be her real bedroom. I think that's a set. No, they will decorate their rooms. Like I'm also on that side of TikTok too, of like the Southern door decorating.

Aren't there businesses that do that now? Yeah, like you can hire someone to do it for us Consultants how many live-lapped love signs consult with girls women before they rush sororities and tell them what to expect and how to present themselves And what to do with their hair disgusted by this. I mean, I think I think there's a really dark Under side to a lot of what's happening here, especially at Alabama. It's a lot of performative femininity and it's a lot of extreme privilege,

as we saw in that video, like the amount of stuff, the amount of money it costs to actually rush and to have all these different designer outfits. It's not something that's necessarily attainable for everyone and that's not to say that people who do it are bad people. But the entire system is very rooted in misogyny and racism. They didn't integrate sororities at Alabama, the Hellenic sororities until 2013, which was

a decade ago. That's when I was in college. That's like not that long ago. There's a lot of weird stuff I think that goes into all of this. That, you know, it was definitely not something that I was into when I was in college. I didn't had a lot of friends that were in sororities, but I don't know. There's a lot of status, a lot of who you know, a lot of how you look. It's disgusting, some of it, to be honest. Yeah, it's very expensive and it's very performative.

Can I laugh at this? You made me question this, whether or not I could laugh at this. Yeah, I like laugh at what do you mean? Because it's a funny video. You can laugh at whatever you want to laugh at, yeah. For sure. But I'm still a joke.

I'm sorry. No, I don't know if I can laugh at whatever I want to. No, you got permission now, Mike. So, I need permission. I need permission. Oh, no, you can laugh. You can laugh at these videos. Yeah, you can laugh at these videos.

I think it's still big. Yes. So absurd. Oh, it's so absurd. I love, you can laugh at these videos. Yeah, you can have it grow up. Okay. Yes. So absurd. Oh, it's so absurd. I love the TikToks. I'm in the rabbit hole. I will watch every single one, but I'm not the only one who did this. So in response, HBO like released in Bama Rush documentary, don't watch it. It's genuinely one of the worst documentaries I've ever seen in my life. It's really terrible. I didn't think it was that bad. It's not about Bama Rush at all.

It has nothing to do with it. It's like half about Bama Rush, half about the director. How do people achieve status with this? Is it just social shares? How do you back a horse? So what I felt like that documentary day. Can I bet on this? You can absolutely.

Probably. Really? When I felt like this documentary sort of failed is there are so many like wild things that go on in the underbelly of it where it's like the machine at Alabama which is like student government and like government out in the state that run the Greek life. You were going to talk about like graduate assistants. It's really, really weird and they never really got into it.

They would like go to the surface level and then never touch into it and then go to something completely unrelated. But when I would talk about this online, people would always be like, the machine was never going to let anything come out about Bama Rush. So you will never know publicly the deep underbelly of Greek life at Bama. Well, I don't think I do it for you, and just speak. I got the sense that the documentary maker of the HBO Bammer Rush documentary couldn't actually show what she wanted to because of legal reasons because, or maybe she just didn't have the goods. I'm not sure.

So she used a lot of her own personal story as almost a filler to move the narrative along, which was, but if you do want just an introduction into what the hell we're talking about, the first 30 minutes of the documentary kind of lay it all out. There's women that apply to the University of Alabama and then they go through this whole summer

of figuring out what they're gonna wear and what sorority they wanna be in and then they go through the whole rush thing and that's what it's all about. You kind of get a little glimpse behind what the motivations are of these like 18 year olds that are actually doing this. How long has this been a thing?

Because prior to knowing y'all, like the only Bama rush I was occupied with was Will Anderson. Ha ha. Hello. It's been a very long time. How long would you sit down there a long time? You're so proud.

You look at the smile on your face. Real proud boy with that joke. Now you can laugh at that. That's fine. That's good. That's fine. I think that's an unfair comparison. All right, so I've noticed with the TikTok of the NPCs that they all have to follow a template

is going through your entire wardrobe part of the experience. Everyone has to do that. Yeah, so they'll take us through their wardrobe and kind of the experience, everyone has to do that. Yeah, so they'll take us through their wardrobe and kind of update us on where they are in the business. Why are they having a moment? I don't get it. I love hookas.

They're very comfortable. I don't get it. I had to define hookas in the office the other day because our coworker Carl was making fun of them because they're so dorky and orthopedic looking. Which is true. They are. I am not denying that.

However, if you walk a lot or if you're a runner, they are the best shoes ever and I am obsessed with them. People are trying to get me and my buddy Masters trying to get me into hookers and I will never. I love my hookers. I could never shoot chat. I could never. $20 to everybody is like, do not wear hookers.

Salute to you, my sister Jessica. I don't know where hookers. We got to spray paint some colors. We got to need some new colors for hookas, salute to you my sister Jessica. I don't know where hookas. We got to spray paint some colors. We got to need some new colors for hookas. That's what's the problem. They have a lot of colors. They all look like a puddle of the gaseous. They have ganks to color.

I think their logo is actually their problem. Like it's written out on the side. Like they have a few new styles, you do that are actually not the hookas. Looks like a 9G shoe. But the hookas look nice. They do. That's all you need to know.

The Florida Gator colors. They're really clout. Really? What about the clouds? What about those in contrast to clouds? Well, shout out to them because they sent us free shoes. I think the clouds are shoes. All right, so I wore those shoes throughout Europe,

and that's the place to do it because everyone's wearing those shoes. They're Swiss, right? And I had, I think they're so ugly. I kind of... Hogan and Clouds, by the way, have a connection. I don't know if you guys are aware of this. What's the connection? Roger Federer? Well, no. So this is...

This is hearsay. So this is, I've heard this from someone. So I'm not going to say that I'm reporting this as fact and reckless speculation and all that. So I'm covered from what I hear. So Clouds used to be known as super-duper comfortable. Yeah, I put them on. But then they didn't want to like the shoe, and I was like,

damn, these are comfy. But then the comfort level has changed. And I think from what I hear, Hoka and Clouds had the same distributor or something, and then there was a splitting of ways, and then Hoka got the comfort and cloud was left without that Comfort so Hoka's over took cloud in the in the form of the comfort because they kept the comfort because they had the same comfort Well neither of them had the aesthetics S.B. and ads

Neither of them have the aesthetics for me, but I did wear the clouds What's a company that they're what what are they actually called, the clouds? The, I think clouds. You know, it's on, on cloud. It's on running, I think. On, on cloud. No cloud. I think it's just on.

It's just on. It's on. So I was, you guys don't like these, you don't like the clouds? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Really? I, I wore them.

Sorry. I wore them because I was doing a lot of walk-in, and I thought if I can do this anywhere, it's Europe, and I didn't want to like them, but they are comfy. I'm gonna try them out, Dan. Yeah, I'm not worried. I tried them out because I gave them to us for free, and I actually got two pairs,

and I just gave one sight unseen. I was like, I'm a brother-in-law. You get this one. Happy birthday. And I was like, I'm a brother-in-law. You get this one. Happy birthday. And I was like, maybe I'm dating myself because sneaker culture and goat apps and stock X. I'm very straightforward when it comes to my shoe. Like, Hoka looks like a pale issue.

It sounds like it's not brand recognition. I know they all got to start from somewhere, but- It'll add damn where those immediately. You're so true. The rubber on the shoe in mass count can't out do the actual shoe. That's what I love about them. Give me a little lift.

Make me 5'8." But they're like, I don't get it. I don't. They're expensive, huh? I thought the appeal would be that they're, no, they're, they're quite expensive. The appeal is comfort. The appeal is you can run, you don't have to break them in,

you can literally buy them, put them on your feet, run a 10k and your feet are gonna be fine. There's tons of support. Yeah. So they say, no, I've worn these for years. I can attest to it. I love these.

Not a hoaxa. What? I'm a hoca-grully. What? What joke were you going for? Shixza? I got the point from Tony and you're wearing a hoaxa. I got it.

I don't know how to say it. I don't send you a rogue in Lincoln, you'll get it. Ha-ha-ha. All right, so I saw the plain black shoe that we threw up right over there. And now I understand why they go with the colors because I, that plain black shoe was designed. It looks like you work at a hospital. Like, hey, I'm a nurse.

I wear these shoes that standard is. A lot of nurses have those shoes actually. You can't go strip logo on your shoe either. They got to come up with something. Like a pair of airwarks. That's not a good looking shoe. I can't. And oh, I just can't. looking shoe. I can't. And, oh, I just can't.

I can never. I can. Yeah. I don't care if you can, I can. Okay, if you're listening, send a shoes wall, try it. But if you want to do it, do it. Yeah, we love the Bondy Tens. Seven and a half.

Don't live a tart. Take a mental picture. Okay. I take a mental picture by blinking. Yeah, that blink. I just did that. Okay, great. Still gots. So you've Take a mental picture. Okay. I take a mental picture by blinking. Yeah, that blink. I just did that. Okay, great. Stugats!

So you've taken a mental picture. Now, you should make a noise too. Chh-chh-chh. Did you get it? Yeah. This is the Don Lebatard show with a stugats. T- depends on the watch right because if you if you wear a sew it's usually With an oyster perpetual bracelet. I go Jubilee bracelet to me. That's what Rick Flair always wore and that's when I think Rolex the iconic It's the iconic brand. I'm the if I'm gonna get a Rolex it has to have the Jubilee bracelet and it has to be fluted bezel

Always it cannot be smooth if your bezel is moving. See ya. I don't want to talk to you. You would thrive on Bama Rush TikTok, mate. Really? Yeah. Thank you. Just pointing out, talking about all your jewelry, your problematic race, Jersey. Yeah. It fit right in.

Again, it just slipped my mind, honestly. I'm only wearing it because I'm fat. So, but not for long. And, Ozempic hasn't had the thing yet, where people just balloon back up. They just have really horrible side effects in some of paralysis. Mike, I can see you as a richer mil guy though.

Like we saw, we were with, yeah. With Dion Waiters and he had a richer mil, 500 grand. I wanted to be a rich, I can see at one point getting a richer mil. I wanted to be a richer mil guy. The second that I saw, OBJ, do pregame warmups with one, I'm like, yeah, watch is pretty nice and it's got status and then.

And it's a million dollars, how million dollars how I don't understand that. They should send one to the studio in a women's size extra small. That I don't think that's a sizing chart. I don't think that's a sizing chart. Sorry. I want to talk to you guys about and I was made aware that Dominique talked about this last week and seeing that Dominique mentioned it got me really excited because I've also watched this thing and I think it's the rare it's the rare time that

I can mention a Twitch stream and keeps you guys engaged. Okay. All right. So I don't want to scare you off. I'm going to use some words right now that might scare you off like Twitch stream and Twitch. Give us a firmative reactions so we know when we lose you exactly at what point it is. Got it. So a Twitch streamer decided to

simulate on NBA 2K. Right. All of modern NBA history. Like redo it. Got it. All right. Treat. Nice. Got it. All right. Treat. Nice. Are you okay? Treat. So there is an Error Mode on NBA 2K. Oh what?

Where you can play different Errors. Oh, okay. What he does is, is very by the book, he has certain rules. It's... Araparse Egan. The NBA, so it's in 1983 in this dream. Now it is an eight hour stream and it's edited very tightly.

So it only goes back to 83, you're telling me. Yeah, click it. I'm being told, click productions is behind it. And it starts in 1983. What happens the year after that, Jordan goes into the MBA. So he is simulating all of NBA history from pre-Jordan, just before pre-Jordan. This is a start of bird magic.

Essentially, you're just Jordan, right? Yeah. And so he simulates that to see how NBA history turns out. And I watched a full hour, I'm an eighth of the way through so far, and I got through the first draft. And Barkley goes number one. And this is an expansion year. The Miami Heat come into the league, the Charlotte Hornets come into the league so you experience

the expansion draft. And a guy like John Starks goes to the Miami Heat in the expansion draft. Number two pick is, I forgot forgot who owned it i think it was well it's not important the bulls have the third pick uh... no the bulls have the second pick michael jordan's on the board charles barkley has gone off they'd have to keep a large you on

i just started going crazy bullets up number three they take michael jordan so all of mba history has been altered forever more. And you actually get to watch the NBA finals. Reggie Miller ends up as a Nick. Really? You get to watch these things. You watch these games play out and it's fascinating

and I've sent it to older NBA fans that would want nothing to do with the words Twitch stream and it's actually so well done, so well produced and so interesting to old Fogies that have followed the MBA for a long time. Check it out, I know there is nothing appealing about an eight hour video unless you want to carry water for an OJ documentary. It's hard to get through this, but it is edited so well that you can just,

what is going on right now in that studio? Are you guys tick-tocking right now as I'm talking about that? I was seeking a selfie. You're taking a ride. Carry on. I am boring you that much. I wanted to show off my Marcus Freeman, hoodie. It's a crew night.

I wasn't, yeah, could thank you Tony. Okay. But to answer your question, yes. You guys can keep going. No, no, it's a bad, It's a crew night. I wasn't, yeah, thank you, Tony. Okay. But to answer your question, yes. You guys can keep going. No, no, it's a bad segment then. Clear the line. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Get to actually get why you get what I wanted to say I wanted to say that in that stream Shack ends up going to Sacramento Guess what the nickname is Shack or a man oh

Shack or a man oh Shack or a man oh shack or a man oh I have I haven't gone that far into NBA history I'm bummed that you spoiled that for me. Well, I didn't know if you're gonna watch the hour eight hour twitch I kind of do want to watch. Yeah, he's committed to it. I just really love that even given another opportunity, MJ still goes third in the draft. Yeah. And the blazer's so, why is he got taking his selfie right now?

He loves selfies. Yeah, he's a big selfie. He looks good. Thanks, too. Boring. I guess we lost him. Words hurt. I never...

Why did he throw his door open like that? What was that? I think he broke the wall. These are very sensitive. You can't just go around. Scared poor Willow? Well. What happened?

Oh, good girl. Let's just talk what you guys want to talk about. How did Willow's weekly Wednesday visit turn into an everyday visit? I'll answer. My boyfriend, Leeman, went to Australia, New Zealand for like three weeks. Oh, well.

And Doggie Deak here doesn't open until well after we're already here. So this is my child care while he's out of town. And he's back now. Thank God. Because I'm so hungry. I have an having girl dinner every night for three weeks. Let's girl dinner.

Oh God. Literally my girl dinner, cheese crackers, some sardines maybe, some like trader Joe's, like snack foods, like the little rice mochi things, or like the corn, the giant corn. I didn't say it was good. That's why I'm hungry. Because it's terrible. I am so so ready for my personal chef to be I mean my boyfriend to be back

from vacation. Well, work vacation. So yeah, Will has been here hanging out with us. She's such a good girl though. Everyone loves her except David Samson. I thought your shirt was a play on the Barbie movie because I haven't seen the Barbie movie and I never will. Is this not your mark? Is the mark is in the movie? No, it's just like a... It's just like a... It's a mark is free man.

Appreciation shirt in the font and... Very nice, I was out there. It's a very niche thing. Yes, yes. Yeah. So it's like one of one maybe. Yes, correct. Did you have that made for you? No, my friend and T. public has it up there right now.

So the T. public. Yeah, he, he, him and my other friend designed it and it's for any Notre Dame fan that wants in on the Barbie craze the summer, Marcus in Barbie font. This high coach knows how to recruit. Yes, she is. Just know that I hung on every word.

Yeah. Because I'm a good teammate and insert. It's a flashy nails today. I didn't start flirting in the middle. See, I'm mixing metals too. I have gold chrome nails You feel me if If this segment were up to me, I would have continued talking about Bama rush bike. Let's keep speaking about my Residue I see the movie school days. I think it's like great question. I did never saw my bad It's two Americas black spiky sorry

i forgot what that so the eighty four draft you're telling me they did the draft over knowing what they know now and they still took jordan third well knowing what they know now is not really accurate we're talking about artificial intelligence just taking best players on the board who's spiky a fan of in this scenario so ai thinks barkley is better than jordan well i don't know what alan irson thinks but the computer behind the simulation

where did i a i go i haven't gotten that far you ruin shakram mental for me i would have been like whoo what a clever nickname that now you think of me now i have to i i i i i i i any guy junk stunk at old am I a what? Patek guy or an AP guy. I don't know what you're talking about Patek Philippe Potomac Pigeon

What are you talking about? Okay, you haven't gotten there yet. You haven't gotten there yet. Okay. No biggie. He's an AP guy Should be associated press. Who do you think he is based on just what you know about? Based on Mike, I'd say he's more of a protect guy, but like upper class protect to let you know, like, hey, I got a not a list like, don't mess it up. We're talking about watches. Thank you. This is exactly what the conversation they have

at the Bama Rashes, it sounds like, it's like, are you a Dior girl, or are you a Cartierg mommy? But I do kind of find that interesting. So true. I like people starting my experience with them telling me what they're wearing. I, from head to toe, it allows me to instantly judge them.

I want to see Stu got to do that anyway. You do that anyway. I do. That would be a great grit of death punishment. You have to make a Bama Rush style TikTok every morning before coming into work. I am, I am like the, the Tom Brady of sizing someone up immediately.

You really are. And knowing exactly who they voted for. You're great at it. Yes. I'm incredible at it. Who did I vote for? Where did Stockton go in this drift? I haven't gotten up.

Stockton was already existing. So, Stockton. So, Stockton. 84 draft. Oh, I know Carlmelone was a nick. Mailman. Oh, it's dude. Team look good.

You mail her Carmelone. I told you it went. You actually made it to the finals against the Rockets. And you sold it went. Yeah. We lost a Barclay in the Rockets. You did. You lost a Barclay in the Rockets.

I'm sorry, I lost all you guys Chuck that one I'm intrigued I think this has been going great yeah you've gotten to a lot of subject matter in this I was made to feel pretty bad about that I've never heard a great selfie out of it yeah never experienced that before in my life does someone be so so clearly it's just a selfie yeah I was still following along I knew exactly what you were talking about. Why did Tony throw up deuces in the back row? That was I didn't I was trying to get my point

about Shakur Mano. I had my finger up. That's how we do things around. That was a distraction. Yeah, yeah. It was Tony not the selfie. Yeah, exactly. Sorry.

Yeah, the big airstattel. Mm-hmm. Not the first time Jess has done this. I mean, I take selfies in here all the time yes you don't know this someone's talking to you all the time when you're talking yes but you you're usually not addressing i thought i had a captive audience that i had a captive audience it's tough i might get stuck you're talking about the nba like not not the sport i followed the most you're also talking about a

fictional version of the nba and then you're talking about a fictional version of the NBA that starts over a decade before I was born. It's not like in my wheelhouse. On Twitch as well. Yeah, that's the only thing that I understood. Stockton went to the Rockets. What? Like his big man pairing, it's Barclay and Stockton.

Do you understand like this changes everything? It does actually. It's not Stockton alone. It's Stockton Barclay and Stockton. Do you understand, like, this changes everything? It does, actually. It's not Stockton Malone. It's Stockton Barclay. Who's on NBA on TNT in the future version of this? Well said. Metawell-based, ladies and gentlemen. Whoa, where'd he go?

But the Bulls got Jordan, so everything's the same, right? No, the Bullets got Jordan. The Bullets? They won six titles. And I just realized that he went to the Bulls won six titles and I just realized what I didn't went to the bulls when he retired I just I actually just realized what I did barkley did not go to the rockets I confused color schemes I went with rockets color schemes when he went to the hawk so he joined Dominique Wilkins whoa human highlight film done lebert hard I don't think

in 2021 I can get away with my Michael Irvin radio show and press No, probably still got Kim Kim Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha logo back here. We're doing stuff big and for the return to the studio, we had to talk and bring into the go. The first person that I wanted to have in studio, again, he's at his house in Book of Retone, but John Anik, the return of the go to the MMA hangout. John, what's up, brother? Thank you for joining us. Well, I'm not worthy of the introduction. Please don't call me. It's great to be with you.

I mean, your studio is outstanding. You got a director like cutting shots and cutting angles here early on. So we're all and it's going to be with you. And obviously we got a lot of big things here in front of us coming up in Boston in a few days. So we're excited. So we're going to get to 2.92 in a second. But the last time I talked to you, it was pre 287, which was a great card. And the UFC has been on an absolute tear in 2023, even starting from the one in Brazil, you got the one more sleep shirt from Brazil in 23, then Volk versus Malkovich F 284, 285 with John Jones, Alex Agross, like all the stuff that's been happening. Can you put it into perspective? You've been doing

this for so long is 2023? We're not even done with it yet. Is it the greatest fight year that you can remember? Well, I guess I would just say and keep in mind the promotion cuts my check. So whatever that's worth, I don't know. But I really do believe and I know you're aligned with this. There are 13 to 14 super goals a year. The NFL has won and the UFC has these 12 or 13 pay per views that to me all feel monstrous. So when somebody asks me, or are you excited for Madison Square Garden in November? I'm excited for every numbered pay per view card that the UFC puts forth whether I'm the lead play by play voice or not.

Like I will be buying every numbered pay per view as long as I live. So I say that with complete sincerity, it's just a sports fan and a rabid UFC fan. But this year has been particularly special. The month of July with UFC 290 and UFC 291 back-to-back was just absurd. And Dana White wanted to bring a big card to Boston. And he waited to do a pay-per-view in Boston. And that is our next initiative. And it's just been one big hit after the next.

So we're very excited and not just for New York, but every God darn paper view on the schedule, the rest of the way in 2023. To put into perspective for those if you're still getting into UFC and you've been seeing these fights, like if you started paying attention to UFC in 290, like it was one of the best cards of the year,

one of the best cards we've seen in a long time, two title fights, Volkanovsky, Iyerudryga's, Pentasia versus Marino. John, when you called those, did you feel like you were in the midst of something special with those two fights? Yeah, for sure. And you and I were talking a little bit off the air about international fight week and everything that that week hold for us, promotionally, Hall of Fame induction ceremony, strategically building out a fight card that really is bulletproof to injury and everything else

UFC 290 at its final iteration was just absurd right and you end up losing a fight here there But Drake is duplacied eating Robert Whitaker when you have a singular result like that that just shifts the whole axis of a division and All of a sudden instead of Whitaker pining for a third fight without a Sonya or really positioning himself in this best version and all of a sudden, you know, this dude from South Africa that's just an effing horse comes in and just takes away everything. It's a tremendous sport. It's the greatest unpredictable theater.

And yeah, I mean, certainly those two title fights followed up that fight, even if that night might be remembered for Drake isus Duplassi. But one of my ESPN producers, Charlie Moynihan, suggested after the Volkanovsky performance that, you know, this dude might be the greatest of all time in the not-too-distant future. And sometimes people don't like when we have that conversation. But Alexander Volkanovsky at a time, it was like, man, how's he going to become the greatest featherweight of all time?

Joe Zayato and Max Holloway. And it's like, check that box. How does he become the become the greatest featherweight of all time? It shows a out of max Halloween. It's like, check that box. How does he become the greatest mixed martial arts athlete of all time? Well, longevity title defenses and he's, he's well on his way. Moving on to 291 Salt Lake City, same building, same kick, same result, headshot bang. When that happened, and I don't think anybody, especially not Dustin Porio, but I don't think anybody especially not Dustin Poria, but I don't think anybody saw the head kick coming from Justin Gagy. When that head kick blew through the defense and knocked out Dustin Poria, I was at the key, I was

in Key West on a buddy's bachelor party and I said, hey, I don't care what we do the whole weekend. We are watching 291. I went to this like CD dive bar that was playing it. It was me and like a bunch of people just going crazy. That head kick, same building you called it when Leon Edwards did it to Kamara Usman. And again, just engage the industrial poor, you put us there. So the second time it happened, right? I'm not thinking Salt Lake City. I'm not thinking Leon Edwards at that point in time. Certainly it's nice in the preamble.

But the perfect call might have been like headshot bang. You got to be kidding me, right? Like that would have been the perfect time to maybe trot out that headshot bang call in reference and nod to Leon Edwards. But we talk about these moments where maybe you're hunkering down for more MMA action or not 25 minutes. but I always bring up Jean-Way Lee against Rose Namunis when Rose Namunis kicked her head into eternity. And you think you're settling in for a 25 minute war. And the next thing you know, you're trying to cap a title fight. In this case, a BMF fight, not that I felt like we were necessarily going to get 25

minutes out of Gachi and Porye, but for Justin to do that in that setting, he was so relaxed. And I think there was so much confidence accrued in his win over Rafael Fuziv at UFC 286 not all that long ago. I think he, he read the benefits of being in an active competition cycle, which isn't always his norm. He trained at altitude. He was very confident in the matchup, the rematch,

just a humongous win. Salt Lake City, it looks like maybe it's a three-fight deal who would actually go back there for a third successive year and they're getting like paper views and not fight nights. So it's a big deal. Utah is becoming increasingly a fight town, not that it wasn't before, but they've had a lot of big UFC moments and I know a lot of other fight towns that are getting fight nights Would like their number cards for sure Imagine you've got two big moments in that same card Derek Lewis with the flying knee out of the gate on his UFC's final Fight in his UFC deal now just into another eight fight deal That that I did not see that coming. I did not see that flying me coming

whatsoever. Nor did Markos, Hosheri, O'Pay's out to Lima who can't shoot three weeks later. He says his teeth are still hurting and they're still loose. So it's so interesting. Dominic Cruz is one of my best friends and we've seen Aaron Donald of the Rams and others train with like knives coming at them. You know, Dominic Cruz's mentality was always that, whoever the opponent, those aren't fist coming at you, those are like swords taking your head off. So from Dominic standpoint, it's like, dude, just move your head off the center line. Like no matter if it's the pretty single, whatever, if you think someone's going to touch

gloves into all fighters out there, if you happen to be watching us, no more touching gloves at this point. We've seen it too many times. We just saw one of the fastest knockouts in mixed martial arts history. You don't know if these guys are going to touch or whatever. That was insane though. And I do feel bad for Peza, who with 38, 39 years old and finally built up this momentum to contend. And the next thing you know, you know, he needs his jaw wired shot. Hopefully that's not the case, but tremendous, tremendous win for a seemingly motivated Derek Lewis. And yeah, his bankroll's pretty fat. And it's about to get fat or good for him.

Good for him. And now we move on to the main event this weekend. UFC 2.92 in Boston. I had to wear my heat hat. I know you see it. I know you're a big Boston guy living in South Florida. Yeah. I just had to, you know, make sure that we were repping the home team over here. I'm sorry about that. But Sean Shugo, Mali Contending for the Band-A-Way

Championship against Al Jostirling, who is just on a tear right now. I was in the building for 286 versus him in Henry's Udo. I was actually sitting, uh, ring side with the media. And it's the close I've ever been in that man may fight. And it is such a different experience being that close John. I didn't realize it because I usually watch everything high atop from the perch of media, but I was there ringside. I was right behind Henry's corner and it was incredible. Yeah, our lot of events are pretty special and I do see the Miami Heat had and I will say as a Boston sports fan who's about to go back to the hub. That game seven lost by the Celtics to the heat. Congratulations, by the way,

was the worst Boston sports loss I've experienced since Aaron Boone's home run in the 2003 American League championship series. Bigger than David Tyree Helmockatch. That, that, well, I don't know, that Tyree Helmockatch might have, uh, proceeded. Uh, no, I know you're right. No, because I guess they had won. Like, do the Red Sox hadn't won, so the Boone home run supersedes that,

you know, um, thankfully, Jimmy Butler still has no rings, but Sean Malli, Al Jermaine Sterling is what we're talking about, not him, but I do have a lot of respect for Jimmy Butler. I got to be careful dod Dodging bullets down here in South Florida. Zero rings for Jimmy Butler. At least right now, as we sit here, you know, August, 2023. Anyway, this is a fascinating fight. And the narrative, of course, is that Sean O'Malley has to avoid the grappling game at all costs. He has never faced a grappler like Al Jermaine Sterling, who may or may not be the greatest fan of all time,

but he's won nine fights in a row. And he's one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world who's an underrated striker despite being just this phenomenal beast of a grappler, human backpack, suffocator, all of that, right? The less talked about angle is the channel Malley is a striker unlike anything else. M main sterling has ever seen and every MMA round begins on the feet. What will shot him out? I'll be able to do it. The showcase.

I don't know, but he's had a lot of grappling heavy training camps. He's been building for this moment. He hasn't fought since he beat the dead number one contender, Piotr Yon last October. So it's had a lot of time to prepare for Aljemyne's sterling. It has the right people in theory around him. It's just hard to close these wrestling and grappling gaps. And it's hard to keep Aljemyne sterling off of your legs. haven't forbid he gets on your back. So it'll be interesting to see how the strength, discrepancy, or lack their up plays out if Al Jermaine sterling is able to get the fight to the floor. But you can be sure Sterling and his folks are very mindful of the first 10 minutes and all of O'Malley's danger. And I think he's a problem that Sterling hasn't seen before. So we'll see what he can do with

With a huge opportunity and it's got a boss and backdrop and we can't effing weight John speaking about Sterling. I know that Sterling trained under the famed Ray Longo and I'm wondering do you do you owe Ray Longo any money? I probably do owe Ray Longo money Sometimes we will give him like $250 initiatives like, Hey, by the way, you got two guys funny. You have to see two nights too. If they win, there will be

$500 extra in, you know, the six to eight times we pay the man every year. So do I owe him money? I think you'd have to ask him my man. I think he would always say, Yes, John and it goes me money. I feel like a lot of people owe Ray Longo money.

So I'll give a little bit of backstory. So we have you guys, the Annet and Florian podcast. We have it on a DK network here at the studio. It's usually on in the mornings when we're getting ready with our pre-meeting for the show. And we're always surprised and always excited to see Ray Longo because Ray looks like a guy who is cut of the same

jib as our guys do gots. They're both kind of New York, New Jersey guys. You don't really know where they're getting their money from. They probably sold a couple lemon cars back in the day. And then I saw your post on Instagram where Ray was getting a haircut, brought out a wad of cash, double rubber banded up, no wallet, straight cash, and then gave it, we were, I sent it to Lewis because we were both fascinated with Ray. We need to meet him at some point. I don't know how we can set that up. But it was like, yes, this is exactly what we thought it was. And it's true.

He had the Chris Cross pattern on the rubber bands. He had the grip, the duly grip on the rubber bands. He's gonna absolutely love watching this back by the way, but yes, we asked him, we probed him about it this week on the Anakin Florian podcast. And yes, he, he does carry like a couple of geez as you might expect all $100 bills. But the man is an absolute legend. And needless to say, he's got a big weekend in front of him. But this all originated organically on our podcast as someone who now gives himself a skin fade. I was just asking what he tipped his barber, and he's interested that he didn't tip his barber.

I'm like, well, you don't tip the barber. So that's how this originated. So it's always like these Ray Longo minute men on our show, like coming at me, like I'm coming at Ray Longo, I just asked organically if he tipped his barber. He suggested not. And then I later found out she trained at the gym. So then he does this video for the masses where he pulls out a wad, gives her a hundred bucks that she, you know, puts between her breasts. And somehow I'm the bad guy. Yeah, that was crazy. That was crazy.

Ray Longo, man, what a what a guy. We love seeing him every time he's on, we're like, yes, we have to watch whatever it is. And it's not mute, so we actually don't even know what he's saying, because we're in the middle of a meeting. But we just were glued or fixated on the TV when very comes on. John, thank you so much for hanging out. 292 is gonna be incredible.

Make sure to get the paper view. John's gonna be on that DC and Joe, right? Yes, sir. Huge. It's always bigger when you guys are on. The. It's always bigger when you guys are on. The feeling is just so huge when you guys are on. So we got that. One more sleep.

Go check that out. What's the website for that, John? Millions.co. Thank you for that. And thanks to everybody for supporting the podcast. It means a whole lot. And yeah, we'll see what these New Yorkers can do. By the way, the reason Long goes on our podcast is that the show's hosted by two Bostonians.

So I had to like balance it out a little bit. But I don't room for these New Yorkers at least in my heart, even if they're long those guys. So John Anick, the goat, thanks for joining us.