The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Daniel Cormier TV - WWE President Nick Khan on Muhammad Ali Act, UFC 324 Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje
Episode Date: December 4, 2025Nick Khan, WWE President and TKO board member, joins Daniel Cormier to talk all things WWE, WrestleMania, the Muhammad Ali Act, and UFC 324. Khan gives his take on UFC 324 and both feature fights of P...addy Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje and Amanda Nunes vs. Kayla Harrison. Plus, Khan discusses the enhancement of the Muhammad Ali Act, and the congressional hearing taking place on Thursday. #Volume All lines provided by Hard Rock BetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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that will not slow you down.
Let me tell you who's not slowing down.
Is this man right here,
the great Nick Kahn?
Nick, thank you for joining me, man.
I appreciate it.
D.C., happy to be on longtime listener and viewer.
So thank you.
Yeah, I like that.
Hey, Nick, I got a question for you.
Because I like going to the WWE.
Is there a limit on comps?
And is there any celebrity or person
that has kind of pushed up against the limit of people
they would like to bring?
Listen, assume that most of the requests we get are,
hey, I'd like to attend plus one, maybe plus two.
But we set a new limit about a year or two ago.
It's called the Daniel Cormier limit.
It's usually me reaching out saying,
hey, DC, we're going to be, you know, in your neighborhood.
Would you like to attend?
Yes, I'll be plus 43 or whatever it is.
Now, it turns out these are all of your students.
Yes, yes.
Wrestling.
So, you certainly have a soft spot for what you're doing and admire what you're
so we usually approve that.
Oh, my gosh.
Sort of note of who approved 44 tickets for Daniel Formier,
and the answer is we did.
That's awesome, man.
I appreciate that.
The kids love it.
Hey, I'm making dreams happen, Nick.
I got all these kids.
They love the WWE just like me.
They want to be in the building,
and we also get to go watching the access.
We appreciate it truly.
But I wanted you on because so many things have happened.
I was there at the stock exchange when TKO was put on the market for the first time.
And there was so many promises of great things.
I don't know that even the people there could have imagined Ari and Dana and you guys all could have imagined
that it would be what it is today.
Well, by the way, just so you know, going into that,
which was September 13th, two years ago, 2023,
when the conversation with Dana and Ari and Mark Shapiro happened about,
hey, who would you guys like to have from UFC there?
The first name mentioned by all three was Daniel Cormier.
Oh, thank you.
It was an honor to have you there and to be there with you,
the first by all three.
And by the way, to me, you're a true American success story.
you had a goal, you did what you wanted to do with your life,
you continue to do what you want to do with your life.
Most athletes have a tough time,
segueing from in the octagon, if you will, or on the field,
to being a broadcaster.
You've done it at the highest level,
so all kudos and congratulations to you on that.
Look, at TKO, we're merely two years into the race,
two years in change.
And you've seen the UFC deal with Paramount Plus,
which by the way, that's all Dana and Ari and Shapiro and a number of other great executives.
You saw the WWE's move of its premium live events, our PLEs, to ESPN, which years ago would have been unheard of.
You saw W&M Monday Night Raw going to Netflix.
You see our continued partnership with USA Network for Smackdown.
So things are humming at this moment in time.
That being said, that can change in any moment.
So in our business, no different than your business, you've got to earn your job.
keep every day and that's what we're trying to do. Yeah, and it's, it's been great to watch
something go from an idea and turn it into what it's become a monster. Speaking of, you know,
PLEs and ESPN, I remember covering the WWE at WrestleMania back in 2023 in Los Angeles,
and ESPN got the red carpet rolled out for it because it was such a big deal to have the ESPN
at Mania. Now they're a partner. How's that been? I know what's
It's a short time.
And initially, it was thought that the partnership would happen in January.
But it was fast-forwarded, right?
It happened earlier.
And Russell Paloza, how's it been working with ESPN to this point?
So look, even if you look at our launch, which was September 13th with Russell Palooza from Indianapolis,
the way that ESPN covered that event, they made us feel like it was the Super Bowl.
So much so that on college game day that morning, they had Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstree, Nick Sabin,
and Rees Davis and Desmond Howard do their pick for the Brock Lesnar John Cena.
Now, you know what Brock's all about.
Yes.
We've got pushed the Octagon, you know, go and all of that stuff.
Well, by the way, what was that?
Why did that never happen?
Because Brock went back to the WWE.
I mean, hey, listen, Brock in the WWE is such a monster.
He looks in best shaped than I've ever seen him look in his life.
at Survivor Series war games last week,
when he walked out,
his body to get real out there right now,
and it was awesome, man, it was awesome.
As you know, and I'm not saying, you know,
in the UFC every day,
but when he walks into a room,
he looks and usually is the baddest dude on the planet.
Yep.
And that's what he looks like,
and that's his personification.
By the way, he's a gem to work with.
Easy.
So as long as, you know,
he sort of knows things in advance.
There's no issues. We're honored to have him back.
I'm happy he's here.
Hopefully you enjoyed the war games match that he was in.
Dude, the war games match was awesome.
Hey, he's got it.
So many of the guys have it now.
But I tell you, man, when he walks and when Roman walks,
is a different ball game.
It's just a different ball game.
Look, you saw they were the last two to come out.
Yep.
Rock came out and did his damage.
You heard Roman's music hit and that sort of face off,
you know, coming down the,
the ramp that was intense and, you know, the fans seem happy with it.
That is what you hope for when you have those moments.
But Nick, it doesn't happen easy, right?
In like, oh, by the way, so my assistant's sister was one of your classmates.
Her name is Genesis.
There's a girl named Panis.
They were like, tell Nick we said hi.
It's like, Nick, you know what's crazy?
It's like we go in, we're in these high school hallways with these people.
We may not even remember them.
But you become a part of their life, right?
I was in class with Nick Kahn.
The journey that we all take is so different, obviously, but it's so fun.
Your journey was not as easy.
You told Stephanie McMahon that you had to go to your girlfriend, now wife, and say,
hey, could I borrow some money to finish law school?
Hey, hey, Nick, we make investments.
We make investments.
Your wife, talk about making an investment, huh?
She picked the right home.
Of course.
It's kind of you to say, you're referring to Genesis, so I went to school with in Hawaii, by
any kids?
Yes.
Yes.
I remember her, of course.
Yes.
We went to middle school together.
We went to high school together until I moved back to Vegas to finish high school.
Yeah.
So here's what I'll tell you.
You know, some people do make bets at the time.
And as you know, in boyfriend, girlfriend, relationships, people break up, people make up.
So she and I, you know, we met.
It's the fifth, it's a 30th anniversary.
of our first date, December 1.
Yeah.
So that's today.
That's today.
I noticed 30th anniversary of our first date.
She was 19. I was 21.
We met at UNLV.
She was working at the Sharper Image.
I was working at a Moroccan restaurant.
And she decided, you know, to take a bet on me.
And when I needed to get a loan approved for my third year of law school, look, D.C.,
I know you were very rich growing up.
No, hey.
Not me.
I can tell.
I can tell by using the look, even your shirt now,
the same of my shirt.
I'm a man of the people.
It's crazy.
So all I know is I didn't have some relative to sign on.
All my relatives had bad credit.
I did not have a great credit.
And, you know, we and I were broken up for a moment in time.
Oh, man.
A lot because I know how rich you are.
You're so crazy.
You say, my life today holds the one.
I told you,
Oh, sudden, one day when he was talking about the pitterpick, I love Christmas, the pitterpatter coming down the stairs.
I go in the ghetto. There's no pitterpatter coming down the stairs. We don't have a Santa Claus.
Listen, I'm only teasing you, of course. I know.
The richard story. Look, and I were broken up at the time. Like I said, people break up, people make up.
And I called her and said, I'm not going to be able to finish law school. You know, I got no one to co-sign on this loan.
And I was not calling her to ask her to do that. I don't like to ask people for that.
And she said to me, all you need is a co-signer.
And I said, yeah, she said, I'll do it.
She said, just don't tell anybody.
Again, we're really young.
I said, wow, I said, that really means a lot to me, you know, this and that.
And it's something I don't forget to this day.
Yeah.
So she and I have two children together.
You'll often see them at WWE shows with me.
You know, that's my family, and I'm greatly appreciative of that.
That's awesome, man.
And you know what I love most about that, Nick?
And I think that's probably why I was so drawn to you when I met you is that it's always about
your family.
And you have a very busy schedule, right?
but you even said it's always family first for me.
And that's my thought, right?
Like, I love my children more than anything in the world,
and I'll do anything for them.
How do you balance that?
How do you balance life as a high executive
in one of the biggest companies in the world,
busy schedule, would make you sure that the ones that are most important
still feel the love that they deserve from their father and their husband?
Look, I think I try to do what I think you try to do.
And without going down, you know, a sad or dark path here, you know, you went through the unspeakable.
Yep. Yep.
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
At that. Yeah. You went through unspeakable. And there's not a day that I breathe that I don't think about something like that or a day that I don't think on a much lighter side.
Hey, once they hit 18, they're gone.
They're gone. And I read the stat that, you know, by the time they hit, they leave after high school, you've spent 90% of the time.
you're ever going to spend with them.
Oh, Lord.
That resonates with me, and I want to take advantage of every day.
By the way, I'm not a perfect father.
I'm not a perfect businessman.
I make mistakes, but I try to put in the effort to be present.
And I think I got this off of a Shaq podcast.
He did it with Ryan Clark.
It's something I was done, but he's the first person I adhere to articulate it.
He said when he comes home from work, he walks in the house.
and, you know, his, if it's lady friend or wife, I'm not sure, you know, his status, he says,
she'll say, how was your day?
And he always said, today was a great day.
How was your day?
So no matter what happens at work, it is my job to not bring that home.
Yep.
Those frustrations, you know the drill to your children.
Oh, this didn't.
Oh, well, this.
First of all, they don't need to hear that.
They want their father to be there to talk about their dentist appointments and their homework
and their friends and, you know, all of that stuff.
That's what I try to do.
and I try to have them with me,
certainly at every weekend,
WW event that I go to.
That's awesome, man.
That's awesome.
We just had Survivor Series war games
last weekend in San Diego.
It was absolutely amazing.
I mean, Dominic Mysterio is a star.
Obviously, Roman and John Sina
and Brock Lesner,
those guys all in the, you know,
Sampunk.
They're all amazing.
But as you get into 2026,
is there anything that you guys
are looking forward to,
like, elevating again
and raising the bar?
because it seems like in every single step,
you guys just want to raise the bar
and give a better product.
And the athletes are delivering
and so are you guys in the back.
Look, there's many impressive things
that I inherited at WWE.
One of those is that the current generation
of top stars will embrace
the perceived next generation of top stars.
And in that match that you just referred to,
you have, you know, Seth is hurt, as you know,
Now we know the Maskman came in, and we don't know who that is yet, but Seth is hurt.
So if you remove Seth from the equation, you got Roman, Brock, Cody, punk, all in one match together.
And who are they in with?
They're in with people who might just be the next generation of A plus talent.
Bronbreaker.
That's my boy right there.
That's a bad boy.
Brown Breaker's my, you know, I have an interesting story.
I was in Philadelphia when I was the referee for the pay-per-view.
And Bronn Breaker was just a young kid still.
in NXT, he sat in my locker room all day, Nick.
He talked fighting. He talked wrestling. He talked college
sports. And I was like, man, this kid is just
a sponge. He wants knowledge. And I'm telling you, he's taken
that knowledge from the great Paul Heyman and spending time in the ring with those guys.
And keep in mind, his father's Rick Steiner. Yes. I remember when we were
on the uncle Scott Steiner, right? Big, big pop-a-pop.
You know, it's a gene pool there. But sometimes with the good gene pool will come
unnecessary outward arrogance.
He doesn't have that.
Nope.
So it doesn't surprise me that he was in your locker room,
asking questions and wanting to be a sponge.
That's what we found with him.
So Logan Paul, by the way.
Oh, he's the best.
Look at the time that he's put in to hone the craft
or to get to hone the craft.
Amazing.
He's in the ring with these guys with Bronn,
with Bronson.
Don't underestimate Bronson for a big man.
You know, that guy can move.
He was on ESPN.
He was on,
show me and Chale Show the other day.
I love Bronson Reed.
The tsunami might just be my favorite move
in all the rest. He is so big
he just puts all of his weight on him.
You can't kick out. There's no kicking
out of the tsunami, Nick. That move is unstoppable.
Remember earthquake?
You used to do like the earthquake spike.
Of course.
By the way, the earthquake
would jump around John Tentra
and he comes to like a butt squat.
Yes, yes. Right? This is
the full splash. Oh, God.
From the top rope. And by the way, just so you know,
I don't know if it's this way in your home.
That is now the signature move in our house,
father to 14-year-old daughter,
your 10-year-old son.
With a laying on the bed, full tsunami, I agree.
I do it away, but it's a lot of fun in our house.
I love dropping my weight on people.
When I get my athletes and they're like training, do it sit-up,
I might just hit them with a tsunami.
I just come across the top, drop the tsunami on them.
They're like, coach, what is this?
I'm like, let's call a tsunami.
As we look ahead, innovatively, major changes, what can we expect from the WWE going into the next year?
By the way, just quickly, when you did that ref guest stint for us, I think Triple H came up with the idea.
I called Dana White, because you and I knew each other a bit, but you had never done any business together.
I said, hey, you know, we're thinking of using, I texted him.
You know, we're thinking of using Daniel Cormier, you know, for a guest referee,
he calls me like two seconds later.
He's like, I just want you to know this is the best guy.
Obviously, we know your athletic prowess and all that stuff.
But just so complimentary of you and how it is to work with you.
So that's awesome.
That's awesome.
And Dana's the man.
I appreciate him and my relationship so much, man.
People don't even understand.
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Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.
And guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news, new?
Huge news.
We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to it.
We're the first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.
But this one's extra special.
So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should.
call it and oh we were thinking i'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before
jonas brothers was this is how you guys remember it going down yes i have a very different memory of this
we were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast for people could call in and say hey jonas
and then i wrote down on my little note pad hey jonas and offered it up as a potential title
for the podcast but thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey jonas on the iHeart radio app apple
podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.
What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano and our podcast point game is about
defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin
Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nash would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball.
Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah.
You figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time.
You ladies know what I mean.
I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do.
So let's talk about it.
Join me on my new podcast.
How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my GenX squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic.
Yes.
All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own.
I was like, what the hell is that?
I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be.
Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive.
Wait, what sex?
Dating at 45.
How can it be getting naked at 50 with a new guy?
That one's kind of hard.
Well, that's lighting.
They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try.
So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter.
And dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask,
How Hard Can It Be?
I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public.
Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva
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Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms.
So I'm Leanne.
This is my best friend, Janet.
Hey.
And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School.
Absolutely.
Now a redacted amount of years later,
We're still joined at the hip.
Just a little bit bigger hips, wider.
This is a podcast.
We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.
With all the snacks and drink.
Sidebar.
Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?
Oh, they had a bogo.
Well, then you got it.
Do you want a white collar or something here?
Just hit it.
What are y'all doing?
Microphones?
Are you making a rap album?
I would.
Come on.
Could you put?
I would buy it.
Cut through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake.
That sounds delicious.
Oh, you're lucky I'm not a drug addict.
You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic.
You are.
I'm lucky I'm not a killer.
I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on.
Oh.
Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us.
The United States will not stand by and allow any power.
However great, take over another country.
From My Heart Podcast, Saigon.
Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman.
You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?
I should stop talking so much.
I like hearing you talk.
One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart.
This is for Vietnam.
I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire.
Do you rate me?
They're pouring petrol all over him.
He's holding matches.
I'm on a landmine.
For free.
Let's get out.
Freedom for me.
Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict.
Sting, here's madness.
The world should hear about this.
There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything.
Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You're also doing zoo for boxing, no.
Nick, you don't stop.
You're still doing zoo for boxing.
There's a bunch of us doing it, including Dana, who's a face.
and the lead of that promotion.
We have our partners, Turkey Al-Hak
and Dr. Rekhan al-Hartee in Saudi,
who have been phenomenal partners.
They're eight-year-plus partners of the WWE.
There are partners in Zufa.
Dana's the promoter,
so you're going to have all of what we consider
to be his magic all over boxing.
We're trying to get this thing into shape.
To me, you had what was one of the top three sports
in the United States in the 50s and 60s,
which has now dropped off.
Yeah.
With here in terms of its popularity in the U.S.
And, you know, our goal is to help reestablish that.
We'll see if we can do it.
And part of that is in matchmaking, right?
Like, matchmaking the fights is one of the reasons that boxing that struggled at times.
How's Zupa boxing going to differ from that, you think?
So here's what I tell you.
So the UFC card that was announced the Paramount Plus premiere on January 24th.
I love that card.
Yeah.
So I don't know, like you know it, but I know Nunez versus.
Kayla. I know Gaichi.
And Patty.
These to me are matchups
that I perceive as 50-50
matchups. It's one of the things
that has made the UFC special.
The champ fights the number one
contender. If the number one contender isn't
available, the number two contender
comes in, or whatever that might be.
If you look at what Dana,
the Frititas, and subsequently Dana
with Ari, Lawrence, Mark,
Mark Shapiro, everybody have
built, that's the model
of what the fight team should look like.
So is it going to be the boxing of UFC?
Nothing will ever be anything of UFC.
UFC is standalone.
It's one of one.
The next one never looks like the last one.
So to us, we want to make it the best form of boxing it can be,
and part of that is the best have to fight the best.
Features, features, production.
I don't believe that any companies can match the UFC in WWE.
when you do these features before the main fights on the pay-per-view
or when you do the features on the main before the PLEs,
it builds an anticipation that most can't really comprehend.
How can you guys do that in boxing
and use all that great production and all of that storytelling
to help to elevate boxing?
Like how do you move all of those things that are so great into boxing?
So you just nailed it.
it's the storytelling. So if you think about boxing, current boxing at its best, you'll see a
fight or fight, let's say, twice a year, and then you won't hear about them for the rest of the
year. Why is that? If you look at the NFL, which is an 18-week regular season, as you know,
in a postseason, then you got hard knocks, then you got the draft, then you got the combine.
It's something present year-round. So even if the athletes are fighting a handful of times a year,
the fact that you can tell their stories year round,
that's what people want to know.
It's part of the reason why people got hooked on you.
It wasn't simply because you could fight at an A-plus level.
It's because of the story behind it.
If they don't care about the story behind the person,
there's no reason to watch.
No, there's no reason.
We think storytelling is going to be a key part of this.
Yeah, and it's going to be awesome.
There's a lot of existing promoters in boxing.
Is there an ideal relationship with these guys?
Or is it kind of going to be like,
hey, we're going to do our thing and operating this space,
and you guys kind of continue to do it as you did before.
Because I'll tell you one thing, hey, when it was time to do the belts,
at the last fight between Floyd and, not Floyd, it was, Camelo and Crawford,
there was some old boxing people were like, hey, we need to be involved in this.
Like, is there an ideal relationship between Zupa boxing and the existing promoters?
We're just going to do our thing.
So let them do their thing if they want to have 16 different championships.
and sanctioning fees and all of this nonsense.
You want to do that? Do that.
What we're doing, and one of the things, you know, that's top of mind for us,
the Muhammad Ali Enhancement Act.
Yes, yes.
Lawrence Epstein, who you know quite well,
who's, again, one of the architects of the UFC on the board of trustees for Vanderbilt
University, an honest broker, in my opinion,
is going to appear in front of Congress Thursday, December 4th,
to talk about the Muhammad Ali Enhancement Act.
Also appearing will be Lonnie Ali,
Muhammad Ali's wife,
and Andy Foster, the head of the California State Athletic Commission,
as you know.
The California State Athletic Commission voted unanimously 6-0
to support the Enhancement Act.
And again, what this means, D.C. is the act
as currently written, that will stay in place.
We're not looking at one word of it.
We're not looking to change one comma.
But in addition of what exists will be this new option.
where you don't have to use these sanctioning bodies and pay three percent in your purse.
And there's a super champion, champion in recess, all of this chaos and nonsense that we think in part ruin boxing.
Our effort is going to be to do away with that, at least for us.
And if fighters want to stick with the old way, go ahead.
That will remain an option.
And why, you know, that having more options in that way is very important for the boxers and for the fighters.
Andy Foster has long been people talk about,
well, this guy's not getting paid,
this guy's not getting paid, this guy.
Andy Foster has many times said to people,
guys, I was doing this at the beginning of the UFC in boxing.
I know that these guys are making money at a crazy rate
today opposed to what it was before,
because as sport has grown, the compensation has grown.
He's been a supporter and it's great to hear that he's going to be there.
But that seems important to you.
Why is that important to you?
you to be a part of that.
And why do you think you guys are taking such a strong stance
and trying to help with the Ali Act?
Look, we think if you look at boxing again,
one of the most popular sports, you know, decades ago.
So think about this, D.C.
How old are you now?
46.
46, a young man.
So I'm five years older than you.
It doesn't make me any wiser.
It just makes me five years.
So 1971, Ali Frazier, fight each other,
fight of the century, Madison Square Garden,
such a big fight that Frank Sinatra's credentialed
as a photographer for what was then Life magazine.
Jerry Perentio, who later founded Univision,
is the promoter of the fight along with Jack Kent Cook,
who subsequently bought the team now known as the commanders,
the Washington commander.
Yep, yep, yep.
Ali and Frasier each made $2.5 million for that fight.
Your average NFL player in 1971 was making $30,000 a year.
Yeah, they made big.
big money.
Big money.
That's 1971.
Yeah.
Because of the competition between the ABA and NBA,
ABA average player was making about $70,000 a year.
So again, $2.5 million versus $70,000 or $30,000.
So if you were a big athletic kid, you went into boxing.
Yep.
What happened, if you fast forward, remove the Steelers from the 70s.
I really focus on Joe Montana in the 80s and the 49er.
The NFL became the NFL.
NFL and it took off.
Yep.
Bernard Magic come in in 79.
Jordan comes in 84.
The NBA takes off, but the individual
sports stay the same.
So if I said to you in 1988,
who's the fastest man on the planet,
you would say Ben Johnson or
Carl Lewis.
Correct.
Let's see in the Olympics.
If I said to you, who's the best gymnast
gymnasts in the world?
And yes, we have Simone Biles now.
The only one you'd recognize.
The only one.
The only one compared to what it was
in the individual sports.
So much so that in the early 80s,
if I said, hey, in the United States,
who are the most popular athletes?
Okay, Montana Bird Magic.
We got that.
McEnroe, Jimmy Connors.
Yep, Mike Tyson.
Mike Tyson, Boombu Mancini,
Sugar Ray Leonard,
you know, the golfer,
Jack Nicholas.
Jack Nicholas.
Sports stars.
But the leagues became the leagues
in the individual sports outside of UFC
and outside of WW.
and outside of WWE sports entertainment,
they all stayed the same.
Yep.
And that's why one of the reasons why you start to see boxing fade out.
To us, again, the storytelling with the right athletes,
there's a way for an opportunity with young fighters.
We want to get back into the localized gyms
and subsidize some of those gyms.
So it's easy for people to find boxing.
It doesn't need to be difficult,
especially in the United States and certain key international territories.
And let's see if we can do it.
Nick, it was, I tell you, man, when I was growing up in Louisiana,
there was a boxing gym everywhere.
There was a boxing gym everywhere.
If there was one thing you could do, you could box.
And it cost nothing.
And there was always a guy in there that was willing to train kids that didn't have money
because they knew that it could provide an option for you to try to make a living for yourself.
Nick, I'm going to let you get out on this one.
Man, you won $16,000 on Will of Fortune.
I did.
Real fortune. It was a long time ago. I needed that $16,000.
By the way, you may remember this from your own life. When your bank account goes from zero to 16, you think, like, I never have to work again.
It's over. It's over. The drinks are on me. Dinner's on me. But I got money and I got lucky to win it.
And the next thing, you know, a month later, you're like, oh, my God, that $16,000 was not actually that much. I'm still in trouble.
Nick Tom, you are the best.
You are the best, my man.
I appreciate you coming on.
You are the absolute man.
And I wish you all the best and good luck.
And I will see you at the start of
WrestleMania season next year, guys,
which is the Royal Rumble,
which is now on ESPN.
The great Nick Khan,
thank you so much for joining me, man.
I appreciate your time.
Until next time, guys, peace.
Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers.
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Your husband is not who you think he is.
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and these are just a few of the stunning stories
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Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is,
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I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things.
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Every family has its secrets.
But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life?
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This is an IHeart podcast.
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