The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Daniel Cormier Show - DC & Ben Askren GO IN ON Jon Jones & Dana BEEF, White House card, Masvidal visiting Ben

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

Ben Askren IS BACK with Daniel Cormier for a brand new episode of Funky and the Champ! Ben and DC give their unfiltered thoughts on Charles Oliveira's dominant performance over Max Holloway and why that fight DID NOT live up to BMF fights of the past. Cormier and Askren dive into the public beef between Jon Jones and Dana White over the newly announced White House card, which will be headlined by Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria. In spite of his frustration, hear why DC thinks Jones is being far too affected by the situation. And don't miss the talk about Jorge Masvidal visiting Ben over the weekend, Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, Sean O'Malley, their new rules for the BMF fights going forward, and so much more! All lines provided by Hard Rock BetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

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The volume. What's up, guys? Welcome to a brand new episode of Funky and the Champ. I'm Daniel Cormier. That has been Asker. Today's episode is brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. They are in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down. Now, that is a total power move.

So Ben, power move or non-power move on Dana White's behalf? And then on the flip side of the coin, power move are not a power move on John Jones's behalf for calling him out. Wow. I never really thought about in a power move context. But, you know, I've talked about in the show. I've had the experience of Dana not telling the truth about me. So I know what that feels like. And I know that I'm probably not supposed to totally trust everything that he says.

That being said, John is equally as enigmatic. You know, he fights. He doesn't want to fight. And really when you look at his record, he very intermittently fights. He has not fought a lot. Honestly, I was thinking even the last decade, I should go look at up the fact check myself. I know 2020 he fought three times. But I want to see the other nine years of that decade, he probably fought less than nine times, I would guess,

which is less than once a year. And, you know, we talked, I think, the last time about the value of fighters and the issue there. We never, we were going to talk about that. We didn't. But I think an interesting topic. But I know, I'm sure they said, hey, John, we're not paying me anymore and he wanted to be paid more.

And honestly, that's probably what it comes down to. Okay, so let me read you what happened. Yes. Dana, you were heated about why I'm not on the White House card, but let's clear something up. My team and I were actually negotiating with the UFC for that fight. real negotiations. I even came down from my original number.

And what I was offered in return, question mark, I was lowballed. If the UFC truly feels like I'm done, then I respectfully asked to be released from my contract. Before that, he said, yes, I do have arthritis in my hip, and it's painful. But that doesn't mean I can't fight. So let me get this straight. If I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine, and I'd be on the White House card.

he goes, that does not make sense to me. So where it started was on Saturday. Dana said something to the effect of John Jones was never going to be on the White House card that affected Jones. Jones comes out and says, yes, I was. We were in negotiations as recently as Friday. Here's where I don't, here's where I'm lost, okay? John Jones has had a lot of interactions with the UFC, positive and negative, right? Correct.

So why would he be so hurt by it if it's if something he, if something he knows isn't being given to the public, why would he be so hurt by it when there have been many occasions where they've talked negative about each other and not been able to come to terms on other things? Sometimes on John's doing, sometimes on the UFC's doing. They have not been able to come together. Why would he be so hurt now?

Because it was made to seem like he was never going to be on the White House. when in reality, from the very beginning, they said he would not be on the White House. Then John said, I want to be on the White House. I'm going to come out of retirement. I want to be on the White House. Why would it hurt his feeling so bad now? Yeah. I mean, that's a great question.

And I have absolutely no answer to you. He seemed crushed. He's laying in bed and he seemed crushed. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, honestly, I have no answer for you. And because to the point you're making, his last fight was 16 months ago. So it's not like he's been an active fighter.

I did look in the last decade. Let's see if you know this, in the last decade, 10 years ago from today, how many times is John Jones fought? I would say he fought. I mean, I was to say three in 2020 because you told me that.

Well, I messed that one up also, though. I was 2019. He did not fight for a really long time. I think the first time he came back was Cyril gone. And then he fought Steepa. He's only fought five times since 2020.

No, it's eight times since a decade ago. So eight times in a decade since 2016. Since 2016. he's fought eight times. That's not very often. One that tells you he's making a boatload of money, right, to not have to fight like that.

And two, John, it really tells me that for as much and for as good as John has been, he really has missed a lot of his fighting years. Because remember this, when he fought, when him and I fought in January of 2015, and then he got suspended when he got into that accident,

I fought Rumble. Then I fought again in October. John and I weren't scheduled to fight until the summer, but he fought in April of that next year. So he missed 15 months. Then when we rescheduled for the summer of that year, John actually got that issue. He was gone again all of 16 from UFC 200

all the way to UFC 214. So it was like he was another year and something, maybe a little longer before he fought again. You're right. So it's like so many, so many times, so many times he's, he hasn't fought. Yeah. And in so many instances, I'd imagine the UFC won't. Ben, since 2015, I fought 11 times.

And I've been tired for the last six years almost. Seriously, that's crazy. No, and so really, and when you look at, you're nailing it because from, he fought, and this was I thought it was 2019, but he fought December 29 of 2018 against Gustafson. twice in 2020 and February 20, I'm sorry, twice in 2019, February 2020. So within a 14 month window right there, you have four of the eight fights within a 14 month window. So that means the rest of the, was that eight, almost eight plus years, he fought only four times.

So it's not very, well, your original point though, why he's crushed, I didn't think of it like that. I don't understand why he's so crushed. Maybe he thought this would be his going out party. Maybe maybe that's what maybe, because he's got to be done at some point. he's been kind of playing around with being done but they came back and then he's done again they came back. I think like,

I think like, but it seemed like his feelings was hurt because like they were calling him a liar. That's what I don't understand. When dude. Yeah. So I don't know the truth because I'm not John or Dana but I can't imagine that's the first time

Dana had something, that's not true about him. But that's not the first time he said anything derogatory about him. Or that, yeah. It's hard to like, it's hard to get that upset when someone actually shown you that behavior before.

But right now it seems like it just really bothered him that he was getting called. I've called him everything. He's been called negative stuff for years. Like seriously. And it's like now it's like this thing bothered him. But I honestly think maybe it was because the White House thing meant something to him.

Listen, in the words, right? I came down from my original number. Yeah. I came down from my original number. So he was trying to make this happen. He came out of retirement to go on that fight card. He had said publicly on many occasions he'd love to fight a leg there. It didn't work.

Can I ask you a question? Yeah, go ahead. What's the percentage chance you give John at getting a release from the UFC? He's not getting released. So you're saying zero? I don't think it's zero percent he gets released. Wow. I mean, I kind of feel, I kind of feel similarly to you.

No chance he gets released. I almost feel like, and Danny doesn't really do this, but I feel like almost out of respect. Just cut him and let him go fight Francis and be done with it. But let me ask you a question. But where is he going to fight? Francis just love the PFL. Francis just loved the PFL.

You didn't see what happened today? No. What? Francis got announced on the MVP Gina Carano Ronda Rousey card against Felipe Linz, I think is his name. He just fought him, didn't he? No. They haven't fought.

I don't, I mean, Francis doesn't fought an MMA fight in a long time. He was fighting MMA. Okay, yeah, maybe it, but yeah. So, hey, would that. that though, there's no way you can release Jones because then if Jones and Francis can be made outside of the UFC, that's you giving someone power. You can't let him go. There's no way that he could actually fight anywhere else or be released. No, I don't think he's getting released. Maybe that would help him in the class action. What was the number? What was the number you think

John was asking for? Because I saw Ariel Hwani talking about this today. He was talking about 30 million. He said 30 million or something. And he said John came down. And he was saying John is worth 30 million and Conner's worth 75 million because they paid that kid Connor been 15 million allegedly, right? I like Aaron, but I think he's off on these ones. I think he's off because I think we did talk about this is that UFC doesn't have to renegotiate this deal for six years. John's not going to be around in six years and Conner's not going to be around six years.

So if you're going to give big money to anybody, it's going to be someone who's like 22 or 23. Iliate to pour you. I mean. Yes. Someone who's young who you're like, okay, this guy is going to be the big star. When I'm renegotiating this contract in six years, these group of people are going to be the big stars. I'm going to take really, really good care of them and make sure that they're still there because John and Connor are going to have nothing to do with renegotiation. And that, unfortunately, for them, that's a fact.

Do you remember that time that date when they signed that deal with, I don't know if it was an ESPN or 2017 or? I think ESPN. Right around UFC, right around UFC 200. No, that was, you know what? That was, that was, that was, I know, Henry was the debut. Henry was the debut. It was when the UFC sold the contract to,

the company that owns it now Endeavor. Oh, when they sold it to a DEMB, it's 16 WRO. Everybody was active. Jones was active. Connor, Ronda. Like, it was the most valuable thing out there because everybody was so active.

Yeah. Everybody was fighting so much. It's like they need to build next group of people so that the next time it comes up, yes, I get it. But I don't, I don't know why that, that probably was my biggest takeaway, was why is John so upset? Like, you don't, that, that's the only thing that I thought. Hey, let me tell you something.

I got to say this, bro, I kind of felt bad for him. That's what, let's go. No, I felt bad for John because it just seemed like he wanted to fight on that card bad. Yeah. Like, think about this, bro. And I've said this time and time again. I think John got to fight Steepa because he goes, give me this legacy one and I'll give you the Aspinall fight.

And then he reneged, right? Remember? I wouldn't be shocked on that. I'm retired. He's like, I'm retired. And he goes, but I kind of want to fight at the White House. I think this is kind of like a, I think this is kind of like a almost like a come to Jesus moment, Ben,

where you're like at 28, 29, no matter what you did, you you got when he got that event canceled with chailed they said he'll never headline again he was selling paper views so you had to go back to him but now at 38 39 he's got like bad hips and injuries and looks like he's on his way out they're kind of like like you said you're not going to prove value to me in the long term so i don't think we need to bend over for you anymore yes it's crazy no i mean i think that's the most sensible thing hey what i didn't get your opinion uh and this is going to be wild coming for me real wild. What if they did a three takedown maximum BMF title fights?

Okay, okay. Three takedown maximum or you only get them in on the top. Did you not like that? No, it was terribly boring. Ben, you're a grappler. I don't, well, listen, even if I was a grappler and it felt weird because it would be a MF fight, but number two is, okay. Charles did not, it was kind of like the Chimaya fight where Charles didn't take chances

on top. He wasn't really, really aggressive with it. Let me ask you this, though. I asked the question to Joe and John, and they kind of shut me down right away. It's a fight. It's just another fight. But yet, maybe Ben, maybe that's an idea. You know what I thought was going to happen?

It's almost like that video game where it's standing bang. Or you get a couple take down to the thing is Charles didn't really need to take him down. He was winning the striking. He was winning the strike. But this one where this is why I did okay in striking M.A. Was he winning the striking because the other guy was scared of the takedown. Like, that's definitely a possibility because

Max Holloway had zero ability to get up. I mean, he never got taken down like that. 21 minutes on bottom or something like that. It was crazy how, but Charles is just this amazing grappler that just controlled him with the grappling. That shit was crazy. So I actually thought Dana was going to say,

you're not getting this belt. That's not how we do this up in here. And he's going to read, I'm taking the title back. So let me ask you this, though. Yeah. When it just was like, Charles is such an exciting guy, right? Yes.

But then after what Ilya did to what, I mean, do you really, do you really blame him for like that fight? Because, bro, once he took him down the first time, he probably was like, oh, my God. Yeah, it was easy. You and I both know, Ben, that when you get a take down on somebody early and they don't get up, you're going back to that takedown, Ben. Yeah. And that's like... Stop sitting over here like you would have been striking.

I said even comes from me, this should sound crazy. But like Chamehav, Chimayev in his title fight took little to no risk on top. Like he wasn't really threatening aggressively. I felt the same way with Charles. And yes, if we're going to have a belt, listen, it was my fault the BMF belt got started or maybe an ATS, maybe Jorge's, something like that.

But I thought it was silly in the first. But if we're going to do it, we got to do it right. We can't do it halfway. You can't pin someone down and get the BMF belt. like you got to earn it the right way or maybe you should have to get a knockout to get like this is up for grabs but if you don't knock that guy out it's vacant again or something. Hey let me ask you question. The BMF in the beginning was a prop. It was laughable. Yeah. Bro, last weekend it felt like everybody's like I'm all in on the BMF type. Yeah.

But that was because the way that fight went between Jorge and Nate, the way that Dustin Justin went, Justin Max went. Yeah. Dustin versus Max went. Everybody's like, yo, I'm all in on this thing and it feels like a world championship. And it feels like if you're holding it, it brings you closer to the actual championship in the world. But after last weekend, was that the last we'll ever see? Here, that's the danger, right?

That's the danger in putting world class fighters who are still relevant to the title picture in that fight. Because to them, it is a means to a end. It's not necessarily the end-all-be-all is to become the BMF champion. The end-all-be-off's like, I got a belt now. I can sit across from Iliant to pour you with a belt in front of me to,

and it looks like a champion versus champion. So that's why we need to make some rules. We need to make some rules. We just do this right now. Me and you and you will make the rules. Let me ask you this, though. Before you go, no, we're going to make new rules. Is it over? Is the BMF title done after last weekend? People, people, it lost a lot of lost her because, you know, like I said, I was not in favor of it in the beginning. But if we're going to do it, you might as well do it right. And so there has to be some stipulation or agreement.

And, you know, like honestly, before he started talking about his family and everything, that crowd was going to boo the crap out of him. But they started trying on his family and they're like, we can't boo his children. That's just rude. I thought he fought a beautiful fight though, man. Well, listen, I'm saying, it's a BMO. Okay, yes, if you're trying to win out, win it was a good one.

but if we're fighting for a BMF title, there should be. Now listen, if you took him down and punched him in the face a whole much times and the fight ended, that is a BMF. If you take him down and cuddle him, not so much. And we're talking about, I mean, I think Charles has, I should check this up, but probably one of the highest finishing string rates. Yes, he's got 21 finishes in the UFC, which is crazy. Which is something ridiculous.

But like I said, he took little to no risk once he got on top against Max Holloway. And he was winning the striking. Okay, BMF rules. Let's go. BMA rule number one. Rule number one. Three takedowns max. Three takedowns max.

I love it. Rule number two. One minute on top. That's all you get. One minute control time and then they restart you? Maybe unless you're in an active submission or something, but yeah, I think something to that effect. Here's so great. Okay, two minutes.

You can have two minutes, Daniel. Two minutes. Yeah, come on, dude. Listen, I love, I love fighting. And I told you, in my early days, I was guilty because I didn't know how to fight. I just knew how to wrestle. I mean, I'm talking. I started in 2009.

I'm having title fights in 2010 and 11. Yeah. I didn't know how to fight. So yeah, I held their ass down. But by the time I got to say, 2000, was it 12 or 13,

I started finishing almost all my fights. I learned how to do damage on top. In order to do damage, you got to take risk. And you got to take, you got to give space. I think that's the problem. You got to give space.

You know what? I'll give you a compliment. You were great at that because you know what you would do. And this is honest. Could be most of the best top people do this. They give space. They let some punches. They get the guy to turn over.

and then they get their wrist and then they punch them more. And then it would be crazy. And then they roll back and they punch them more and then they turn back over. And at some point, and let him get up. You can let them get up to you throw them back down. Yep.

Or they give up their neck or, yeah, all of those things. And then you take their leg and just kind of dump them back to the mat. They get so frustrated and discouraged. It's crazy. You know what's the best when you're on top of somebody like that beat them? And they go,

oh, I mean, it's over. Isn't that the best? When they give that deep breath, like when you're beating them? Yeah. And they get up and then you put them back.

And right when you're jumping back on them, they make that deep exhale like, because they don't want to necessarily get up again. You know what I think I look for when I was trying to break people, maybe I'll do it again at some point is they usually have one burst of like a fit. Are they like, they like, they should freeze her as a can for like 15 seconds. And then once they're done with that, so when they start doing that, you just hold them real tight and just wait for and then they give up.

You know that? They burst. They're like a little fish. It's like the fish when you take them out of the water. and they flop and they flop, and there's a big flop, and then they stop. Yeah, that's what they do. It's so bad.

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In Indiana, if you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help. Call 1-800-9 with it. And if you have a gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. 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 did 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. Well, 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, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band

with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis,

and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted.

She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source. the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action

with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Speaking of the BML, Jorge Mazvedal was at your house. Did he go to your house? He came to my house.

He hung out a little bit. How did this happen? He started saying that, you know, he wanted to meet me and have dinner with me and pray with me and all that stuff. And I said, hey, man, I'm open to it, of course. And so we had a bunch of things going on this weekend. And so I said, hey, man, you know, if you're really serious, I'd love to have you up here. I don't think it's healthy to hold grudges.

Let me ask you a question. Well, let me ask you a question. Yeah. Let me ask you a question. Oh, my God. What if he was like sick or something and he went up and is the ultimate get back? Think about that. He didn't cough in my face one time.

You're evil. You're evil. Oh, my gosh. You're evil. No, it was good. You know what? I admitted to him. Oh, my evil.

How am I evil? Oh, my gosh. That was evil. I thought about one time. You thought about it. You're like, what if this guy's like? Why not? Yeah. Oh, he was great.

But you know, I told him straight up. I said, listen, I actually thought I enjoyed watching you fight. I had nothing against you. But I was going to get left without a dance partner in the UFC. And that's the worst place you want to be. So I said, Marty and Colby were going to fight. I wasn't going to fight Tyrant because he's a really close friend. Wonderboy got knocked out by Anthony.

I just fought Robbie. I kind of was like, hey, I had no one. So I had to just keep picking on you until you got so mad you said yes Otherwise I was gonna sit on the bench for six to nine months yeah, that's the worst You know like I actually thought he was funny and I kind of liked him and you know so we got we got along and we actually had a lot in common kind of you know We're both fighters and there's kind of a lot of things and he's got three kids who talked about kids He's nice he was really that he was super nice he was awesome That's crazy I mean we've also had mutual friends like tyrants are

good mutual friend, Anthony Pettis. And, you know, they always really have liked him also, Dean Thomas, et cetera. So they always said he's a really good guy. And so, yeah, and I said, hey, if you ever wants to come up and train or has a comeback or something, I'd be more than a fight again. From what he said, I would guess the answer is yes. But it doesn't talk to like guarantee. It sounds like, yeah, he'd kind of want to.

He got screwed so bad by the people that didn't give him his money when he fought in eight years. Oh, yeah. We did not discuss that, but I have heard that. Hey, Ben, the other day, we're on CBS, which is crazy, right? Like, we're on CBS, calling flights. I said this whenever I was on air, I said, when I was growing up in Lafayette, like, we didn't have cable. So CBS was one of the free ones, right?

Like, there was ABC, CBS and Fox were free channels in Lafayette. Yes. I'm on CBS. Dana White comes on and announces it. the White House card, right? Yeah. What did you think initially of the White House card? So it's so funny. Michael Chandler was visiting me this weekend

also, and I asked him that morning, I said, hey man, are you slow playing us? Are you going to be announced tonight? Or what's the deal here? He would tell us that son of a gun. So I actually, I'm going to be honest here with the Daniel. We were watching some wrestling.

I went back to take a shit and I started scrolling on my Twitter. I said, oh, that son of a bitch, Michael, he's slow point he's on the White House card. And then I came back out and I confronted him on it. Yeah. So let me think. I like to pour you versus Gaichi.

I like that division is getting situated. I like prayer versus gone. Obviously, I think, you know, John Jones probably would have been a bigger name and a bigger draw there. I will be honest with you, I didn't really know what I'm on Zahabi. I didn't know Kyle Dawkes. So I'll let me run this seat real quick. Yes.

Um, Kyle Dawkins is a kid that got cut from the UFC a little bit ago. He came back and he's been on an absolute tear since. Okay. Amon Zahabia has won a boat load of fights in the row. He's worked himself into the top like five or six in the world. Yeah. He's getting Sean O'Malley. Many thought Sean O'Malley would fight Corey Sanhagen.

Yeah, why didn't that happen? I don't know. I really don't know. But let me run you some odds real quick. I'll tell me what, what is Dawkins is he a striker? Is he a rest of his brother. He's a little bit of a striker. He's a big, tall guy.

His brother used to fight the UFC two. two brothers. Okay. He's good. Yeah. You know, but Bo Nichols is going to be on the card. He's like an American guy that, you know, we all wrestlers and all-American national champion. He's the

all-American guy on the card. Justin Gaichie is the American guy on the card. That Patty Pimbley situation worked out because either you're going to have Patty Pimlin as a champ or you got an American champion with a fight that's going on at the White House. But let me run you some numbers.

Toporia is minus 455 to Justin's plus 350. Wow. Pereira is minus 135 to Gons plus 114. Oh, that's interesting. O'Malley is minus 345 to Zahabes 275 plus. Maricio Huffy is minus 380 versus Chandler's plus 300. Bo Nichols minus 198. Kyle Dawkins is 164.

Diego Lopez is minus 205. Steve Garcia is plus. 170. Those are some big odds. It sounds like if you look at the odds, a whole bunch of mismatches on the White House card, Ben. Well, honestly, sometimes mismatches turn into the best fights, potentially. I like the fight card. What's that?

I like the fight card. I saw a lot of people going, uh, it's supposed to be there. You said it was going to be the greatest fight card of all time. I think you got like the champion in Ilya versus Justin. Yeah. Tremendous fight. I'm good with that one. The Gunn versus Pereira fight is one like, wow,

Pereira's fighting for his third title. How could you be back? Wait. How's that a title? Bro, it's an interim title fight. Tom Aspinall's hurt. He ain't that hurt. Yes, Ben. He had two surgeries on his eyes.

Didn't he just say he's coming back? He said he wants to fight the winner of this fight. Louise, give me what Tom said today on... I thought he said he was going to come back at some point. He said he wants to fight the winner of the fight against these two. But he had two surgeries. two surgeries on his eyes.

October 25. His last fight was only October 25. What's that? Five months ago? Not even. Four and a half? Four and a half months.

He barely hasn't fought, but no, because they just anticipate he's going to be going for a while. That's why. All right. I don't love it, but okay,

I'll go with it. So he said, I want to fight the winner of that. I'm just waiting now to get the green light, the all clear from the doctor, then I'll get to train properly again. Yes.

Okay. I guess I don't know. I feel like I read something that I thought maybe he'd be a chapter. I don't hate that one. Gone versus Pereira. I think it's fun. I think it's a good stand-up fight.

I do think Pereira will maybe struggle with the size. But Pereira is the favorite, man. I know. You agree? I mean, the odds are close, right? So it's only a slight favorite. Yeah. I don't know if I would agree with that.

What about Ilya to poor? You're being such a big favorite over Justin Gates? I mean, I for sure see why that's the case. I mean, that's almost one that would be willing to throw a few bucks on just because you get such good odds on Justin. Can Justin beat him? In your opinion?

I mean, maybe he can't beat him, but can knock him out. Yeah. Yeah, he is good. Ilya is very good. Illy is good. But Justin hits hard and he's very accurate. Justin hits hard and he loves the fight. Yeah.

Do you think that Ilya hasn't fought for a while now since he beat Charles O'Levara, it'll be almost a year. Or maybe it will be a year since he fought last. You think that's going to hurt him in this fight? I don't think it'll be too bad. I mean, it's probably not going to help him, but I don't think it's too bad. You know, when we talk about the fight card, everybody was like up in arms a little bit, right? Like everybody's like up in arms, like, oh, my God, you said it was going to be the greatest fight card of all time. Yeah.

I think it's a great fight card. card and honestly, I think it's going to be a sprint of a fight card. It's like six fights and that's it. But I mean, that's like the whole card. I don't even think there's, there are no prelims. Yeah, that's interesting. It'll honestly be interesting to see how that does because, man,

I am becoming less and less of a fan because like it's under a card. To watch the whole fight, it's like five hours or maybe more. You got to work, so don't listen to me complain because you're working it. You're working way harder than I am. But I just feel like it's just too much time to sit down and watch a bunch of fights.

so then I don't watch the guy's an undercard and then so like an Aman's a hobby he gets on the main card and I'm like who's this guy I don't know who this guy is but for real so he's one seven in a row and I don't know who he is damn it I'm gonna look him up right now

he's ranked six his brother is as for a hobby George Steve oh I know for us see I know for us that's got name recognition right there I like for us he's a really good coach So, but to your point, the greatest card of all time, maybe that's why people are a little disappointed because you have, say, like, a UFC 200 or something like that. 300 was the best. If you're going to hold against that standard, like, if you're holding it's the best ever and you're thinking UFC 200, you're like, yeah, it's a little bit of a letdown.

YouFC 200. It ain't, yeah. Hey, Ben, last thing before I let you go, bro, what was going on with RAF and arm and fighting? What happened, dude? I called that. P.S. what do you mean you called it i so i i was on the broadcast i would go i go on sometimes during the rounds they sent the tv crew to my house you know oh my gosh this ufc i looked at this ufc chartered

you were on it sadly enough it was such a good card oh my god oh you were on i was on ufc 200 i guess anderson i remember that fight i don't know why you got crazy card that was a bully move by you bro. What? You're like way bigger than he is. Man, T.J. Dilleshaw. Kevin Gaslum, Johnny Hendricks, Julianna Pena, Katzangano, Daniel Cormier, Anderson's Diller,

Frank Yeager, Jose Haldo, Kane Velazquez. Brock Lesnar. Oh my God, this card's so good. That's what we're comparing it to. They sold it. Hey, that they sold, the UFC sold the endeavor like right at that time.

Oh my gosh. That was such a great card. So R.A.F. I call it the first round. After the first round, a period was over, they went to me. And I said, hey, man, to me, it looks like Giorgio is trying to not engage. Past Germany, he was doing kind of, you know, the face pokes, which you know, you're a freestyle wrestler. You know, you're not allowed to do that, right?

That's cost one every time. That's against the rules. And so I said, it appears to me that he's trying to piss Armin off because the easiest way for him to win this match is to get Armant to disqualify himself by punching him. And then Armin put on Ariel and he said, He said, I didn't want to get disqualified. So I waited right till the buzzer was over to punch him. And I thought that was like, funniest thing ever. Because it was like clear to me that one person wanted to punch another person.

That kid was mad at you too. Did you see that? He got pretty mad. Why? I mean, I wasn't overly nice. I mean, I think I maybe said things that were correct. But yeah, no, they're redoing it. Again, they're going to let those guys wrestle again.

Yeah. That's bad, man. Why is that bad? Armine's going to hit him again. So supposedly there's going to be something where Armine is not allowed to hit him. You know, Armine did be flying around in private jets and kind of do what he wants.

So I'm like, hey, that kind of makes me a little bit nervous. I think we're going to be able to keep that match under control. I think a lot of people want to see it. But to your point, I feel like it's going to play out pretty similarly to the last one. Because we're talking about one month break. So it's like how much different of a wrestler can you, can you become in a month?

And I think the answer is not all that much. So I think we're going to see a lot of what we were seeing. But, man, people are fascinated. There's something about a fight that wasn't supposed to happen that are people fascinated by. You watch international wrestling like I do. And you know, in Russia, man, do you remember that one where the one guy had a gun? Yeah, he pulled a gun out of his heart shooting. Like, ah, that happened to the national wrestling.

And then I go down in a rabbit hole trying to find out more about who's the guy with the gun. Oh, my God. You get enough. Is RAF everything you hoped it would be? Because it is wild. It is taking off significantly faster. I thought it is getting crazy popularity. We sold out to Phoenix Show.

I think we're going to sell out at the Tampa Show. The numbers of it have been amazing. So yeah, you know, I think one of the things people are, there's frustrations with certain people and, sorry, the fans with certain aspects of what we're doing. It's like, dude, we're on show six. Yeah, you're still learning. show like we're practicing what about still learning yeah we're still learning so we're going to get much much better um i already know we have some improvements coming from the next show i we have a lot of

exciting things going on um so yeah and we are getting more and more and more of the most elite wrestling talent all over the world um so it's all fun you still got to come to a show so we got let's see Tampa we got a uh i can't say the one we were going to go to which might get moved um we have Philadelphia april 18th and then we got some more so i I'm going to get you to come to a show and have some fun with us. Oh, brother. Ben, you're the man. Hey, guys, for Ben Ascran, I'm Daniel Kormner.

You know, it was another episode of Funky and the Champ. Like, subscribe and tell your friends, tell their friends that D.C. has got a YouTube channel. And I'm hanging out on people like Ben. What's up, man? You didn't even brag about your Oklahoma State Cowboys. They did pretty good. Bro, they're really good.

We won the Big 12. We beat this shit out of Missouri. Hey, bro. Stop. Life is back normal. Like that year that y'all won the Big 12. I was like, what is happening? We won the Big 12 a bunch of times, Daniel.

We've been beating these shit out of y'all. Are you going to cheer your team on in nationals or no? I can't. I got to. My son has a state wrestling tournament. Got to go. Tell your son, Steve and Elko State Cowboys, NCAs is more.

And then take him with you. Yeah, I know he wants to go bad. He asked me the day. Mitchell Messerick. I'll tell you, Mitchell Messerang, skipped his eighth grade state tournament to go watch the NCA's. And look at him now. He did okay.

I like going. He walked past me. Mitchell! You said that? No, you did it. Mitchell. All right, I'm sorry, I ruined your ending. I just had to bring up your Elkimo and say, Cowboys.

Until next time, guys. Peace. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

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