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He's a dream come true. Brady to throw, throws a deep pass downfield. Got Scotty Miller in the open. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Mahomes, Hartman, making the ghost action.
They're going to run a float pass to Son. Touchdown! The Rich Eisen Show. Wow. Getting to the Super Bowl Bowl wasn't what our goal is.
Our goal is to win. That's it. And now we gotta go get the big one, baby. Unbelievable. Earlier on the show, from NBC Sports, Peter King, still to come.
ESPN MMA journalist Ariel Hilwani. Plus, your phone calls, Overreaction Monday, and more. And now. It's rich. Eisen.
Okay, everybody, hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show on the Air. Peter King's already joined us in hour number one. If you missed it, go to our YouTube page, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. Of course, sitting here on NBC Sports on Peacock, which is a brilliant standalone channel on one of the best expanding, emerging platforms in all of broadcasting. The WWE network has made a deal with Peacock.
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Mike Del Tufo and Chris Brockman across the way. TJ Jefferson in his seat, our social media grandma. Ariel Hawani will be joining us as Conor McGregor got his, what's the word for it, ass beat over there, did he not? Were you surprised about that? Dustin Poirier.
I really wasn't. Like, a lot of people are clowning McGregor, obviously, you know, because he's such a big personality. Plus, they're also not in the same room as he. Yeah. He's such a big personality.
He talks a lot.
So when he loses, people tend to talk a lot of trash by saying. By dissing Connor McGregor, you're not giving Dustin Poirier the the The props that this man deserves as being like, you know, I'm sure Ariel will say he's one of the best lightweights, not the second best lightweight in the world, and that's their most competitive division.
So.
Well, one of the reasons why we're having Ariel on is not only because it was a big UFC weekend from Fyde Island, but he hit me up during game day morning just to say he was watching it. Andre Reid and no, gotcha. No, you've seen Connor throw a football. I don't think he's too into, but he is a Dallas Cowboy fan, I think, because Jerry Jones had him out there. But anyway, long story short, he's a big Bills fan.
And, you know, I wanted to have him on because it was a big UFC weekend. And also, I want him to give voice to the Bills mafia, whose dream season came to an emphatic end. The high watermark of the Bills 2020 season occurred in the first quarter yesterday. Don't forget, man, the NFC championship game that the Eagles won. to make the Super Bowl With Nick Foles in the Philly special.
The Vikings led that 7-0. in that game. And then it just the the roof caved in. And the Vikings were leading 7-0 and had an opportunity to beat the Bucs and Brady to the punch of. Playing in their home stadium for a Super Bowl, being the first to do that.
And then the Eagles just the roof caved in. The top-seeded Eagles just took it over from there. With a defensive play turning it around, the Chiefs are just comfortable trailing in playoff games. It doesn't matter to them. I hope maybe this ends the conversation because.
The Chiefs, if you remember last year, the narrative was: you know, they can't keep coming from behind and winning every single postseason game until they actually did it.
Now, this year, the narrative going into an AFC Championship game is like they're not winning by enough. They haven't blown anybody out in a while.
Well, they just did. And and and Hardman after muffing the punt that led to that 9-0 Bills lead. Hardman Caught a touchdown pass, and Hardman ran one damn near in from his own 10-yard line. And then Tyreek Hill gets going. Kelsey is just, that's, I mean, he's going to Hall of Fame, man.
No doubt. He is absolutely on first battle Hall of Fame status. And the fact that, again, that's another thing that we'll be talking about: Gronk, 87, Kelsey, 87, two of the best tight ends of. Their respective eras. And Gronk got a huge catch they made to help close out the game.
And Bill's mafia, man, and we'll talk about it with Ariel Hawani. Um I'm sure you know he'll he'll be Eloquent about it because he's got a great way of speaking. Just incredibly, yes, right, indeed. It's just incredibly... Inspiring season.
That's the only way to put it. It's that you've got a kid in Josh Allen blossoming. You've got a guy in Stephon Diggs feeling that he's been disrespected by being traded away, despite the fact for a first-round pick. I mean, that is the ultimate respect that a team will trade a first-round pick for you or require one by leaving, having you go somewhere else. And he's proven that he's a dynamite all-pro receiver.
And the defense played very strong for much of the season, but against the Chiefs, many defenses can look silly and just ask the team that the Chiefs are going to see. And one of the things that we'll be talking about ad nauseum over the next two weeks is this is a rematch of a previous game this year in which Tyreek Hill don't forget had 200 yards receiving in the first quarter. First quarter.
So There's all of that.
So, and you got the right coach, you got the right system. The OC hasn't been hired anywhere, so the system will be run back with Brian Dable. Although, The theme to yesterday For the two losing teams is The mantra That Bruce Arians wears on his sleeve. and puts into practice. No risk it.
No biscuits. No biscuit. And the two teams that lost yesterday. are wondering why they did not risk it. because they are currently biscuitless.
A couple of times Josh Allen gets in the red zone. And couldn't put it in the red zone. Could have put the end zone from the red zone. Just couldn't do it. And I understand the first time that Sean McDermott said, We just got to get points.
As a matter of fact, he saw that right in front of his face. In the super wild card weekend when Frank Reich did not take the points. On the road. And we roasted him. We roasted him.
because they came away with nothing. And even just in that respect, like making it 2112, that was the killer. That was the killer to me because you have to take the points. I totally understand. Knowing that the Chiefs are going to get the ball to start the second half, they had to put that puppy in the end zone.
They had to do it in the same way that the Browns almost did it in that stadium, if not for the dumbass pylon rule before the. end of the first half of the division. weekend and in the same way that the Rams did do it. in Green Bay on divisional playoff weekend to keep that a game for as long as they were able to keep it. They made it a 16-game, 10-game, and half, and the Browns were almost ready to do that.
Instead, it was a 19-3 game, and they still almost won. Still almost one. And I'm wondering if by the end of the Super Bowl weekend, we will look back and wonder. If the Browns were the team that gave the Chiefs the hardest time in the playoff run, Put a pin in that. But Couldn't couldn't help but think.
When they didn't score a touchdown there, that was going to be the end of it. And it was a two-score game, and by kicking a field goal, he made it a two-score game. It was just all sorts of craziness from McDermott. kicking another field goal later in the game and going for two. Instead of making it an extra point, a 16-point game, when you go for two and you don't make it, now you're down 17 and the pick almost went the other way.
You could have been down 19, but instead you're down 17, and they did get an onside kick even. Right. But that's nothing. It's mere child's play compared to what we saw. with Matt LaFlore.
And the Packers. And the decision that he made to kick a field goal. Late. Rather than go for it. From the eight.
It rhymes. Certainly, in light of what we saw at the end of the first half, where your defense stopped Tom Brady on fourth and three. with mere seconds to go in the half, and it looked like that they were gonna punt. And then all of a sudden I think Aryans and Brady or I'd love to know the genesis of this. Full genesis of this, the birth of sending Brady back on the field.
No risk it. No. Biscuit. And I thought they were going to just fling one out with just a few seconds left, a few more yards to get. Ryan suck up closer.
For a field goal. And instead, Brady Fades back to pass and finds Scotty Miller down the sideline. And a 43-year-old who's supposed to not have the arm strength anymore because in week one throws one out to the flat and he gets picked sixth. He couldn't get it all the way to the sideline. And oh, he's 43, he's old, he's ancient, he's terrible.
This guy is now going vertical in what is this, week 20. And finding Scotty Miller, and we're all wondering what the hell. And Tony Dungy's tweeting out it's the worst defensive scheme he's seen in a decade. And no risk it, no biscuit touchdown. Touchdown.
To take a two-score lead and have the Packers say, eat that. Crazy. Eat that! At half time. Eat that.
After going for it, I'm fourth down. Correct. You pick up the first, then you go up town. That's no risk it, no biscuit. You see that?
You absorb that. On top of it, you absorb I mean, Aaron Jones, zero fumbles lost. Going into the NFC championship. That was a killer to start the third quarter. And then you coughed that one up.
Now you're down 28 to 10. And that's a wrap basically.
Okay, now you're down 28 to 10. But Rogers does the Rogers thing. Even though The Bucks are getting after him. You know, they missed Bakhtiari yesterday, that's for sure. Bucks are getting after him.
But Rogers is doing it. This has come back for the ages, and you're picking off Brady. Trust me, there's a lot of mistakes that were made. In the second half of that game. despite the comeback for the ages being mounted.
Two. A large part of success, although not the ultimate success of winning the game and making the Super Bowl. But You know. In the forensic CSI Dissection of the Packers' loss, two Brady interceptions turned into. No points.
And let's not forget. They did learn the moral of the story. When you have an opportunity to pick off Brady, you should, because. That Scotty Miller touchdown pass was preceded by. An easy pick of Brady that just dropped to the turf to give him new life.
And are you going to give me that new life? I will just stick the dagger in your heart. But it wasn't a silver steak here. Not comparing the Packers to a vampire. I'm just continuing this analogy here.
'Cause The comeback is being mounted. Despite turning two Brady picks into zero points. And you keep giving Brady an opportunity to beat you. That's a problem. Third and goal from the eight, Aaron Rodgers seems to have an entire half of the field directly to his right in front of him, and he decides to not take off.
and he throws it back across the grain into The teeth of the Bucs defense, and there's. Devontae Adams between two Bucs defenders in a pass that seemed to have no chance of being completed. Fourth down. Cannot believe. Down eight.
Matt LaFleur. With all that he's got at his disposal and slide rules and analytics and whatever. Decides to kick the field goal.
Now, I know mathematics, I've looked this up and people have tweeted at me, whatever, because I tweeted out: hey, all you math analytics experts, please explain to me why a field goal works here. And I'm told it only actually improves, you know, going for the field goal was the right move. I have no idea. I don't know the mathematics. I even saw one that said that it did.
Going forward on fourth down would have only improved their chances by a mere like 3%. I don't get it. All I know is my own two eyes. The same thing with Kevin Cash in the World Series. My own two eyes says Snell should be staying in the game.
Right. And my own two eyes was: it's fourth and eight. Your MVP quarterback can have the ball in his hands. And you're assuming you're going to give this quarterback another shot from the eight. And the People who are going to provide it is a defense.
That, yes, has picked off Brady twice in the second half, but has been picked apart otherwise. And This just isn't. That's Thomas friggin' Brady. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. It's Tom Brady over there. Act like you know kicking the extra point. I mean, the field goal. And sure enough, Brady doesn't give the ball back, and that's all she wrote.
Which is, again, we've seen that for the opponent. We've seen that horror movie. It's Halloween 23, right? We've seen that horror movie. So, Aaron Rodgers showed up to his postgame.
Press conference. And this made a lot of news. I did not watch it live. My Twitter feed just starts exploding during the beginning of the AFC Championship game. And Aaron Rodgers, who all season long has been saying.
He said it on this show. He said it on McAfee a million times where he's kicking it with McAfee and A.J. Hawk. Every single week on his show? And he's just living his best life.
Bad night when Jordan Love got drafted, but you know He's Worked on himself. And you can absolutely understand that he's gutted in the loss. Got it. He's going to be the MVP. He did get his NFC championship game at home, and it's Tom Brady, of all people, coming to his house and denying him.
And some of his receivers dropped some balls. And ultimately, when it came time to his coach, who has been nothing. But Successful. 26 regular season wins in the first two years. A complete heel turn from the Mike McCarthy.
Error in the final years of that. When it came time to it. The coach said. I'm going to trust the defense. That's a fact.
That's a fact. Can't risk it with Aaron Rodgers from the eight-yard line. Got to get the points. I can only imagine how that Felt to Aaron Rodgers. When his buddy Trot out on the field.
for the field goal. And At Rogers, after the game, was asked if he agreed with the decision. I mean, if point-blank question, here's his response. Aaron, did you agree with the decision to kick it there on fourth down?
Well, I didn't have a decision on that one. Yeah, that wasn't my decision, so. understand the thinking above two minutes with uh all of our timeouts but Yeah, that wasn't my decision. He understands the thinking. Later on, when asked if he thought he could score, why didn't he run it?
Why'd he throw it to Devontae Adams? He said, Because I thought that we might have another down. And I've mentioned this with Peter King earlier, and I'll say it here. That makes very little sense to me because if you thought you had another down, you'd run the ball. Get closer.
You'd get closer. You'd get closer. And to me, That is the exact moment I thought There might be a problem between these two guys.
Now Cooler heads can prevail. He's going to go maybe Back out here to Southern California. He's got a spot. He can go on vacation. He's going to do all that stuff.
He's going to clear his head. He's going to clear his head. But to basically come on after the game. Sit in that press conference. And essentially say His future and everyone else's future in that locker room is up in the air.
I really don't know what's next for me, says Aaron Rodgers. This is what he had to say after this. Another soundboard. as much as any of them I just found some really uh special friendships. Yeah you know Mercedes.
And divine T. Especially Tim and I have become really close over the years. Jamal, I love Jamal. Um Aaron Jones. A lot of guys' futures.
Yeah. you know, uncertain, you know, myself included. That's what's sad about it most. I'm getting this far. Obviously, there's going to be an end to it at some point, whether we make it past this one or not, but.
Just the uncertainty is is tough and the Finality of it all. There's a lot of unknowns going into this offseason now. Um I'm gonna have to take some time away for sure and clear my head and Just kind of see what's going on with everything.
So let's put it all together here. Again. If he thought he had another down. The smart play would be to run it.
So he clearly was not going to take any opportunity to. have his coach taken off the griddle. And again, I think That is born out of A fit of peak. I'll tell you what, man. I'll tell you what.
Anybody in any business That you put your heart and soul into your job on a line, and your manager says, Let's play it safe, let's not run the risk of you completing the mission for all of us, you would all be pissed off. I know I would be. I know I would be. First blush. But you don't have to go in front of cameras and zooms in a moment, just literally ten minutes after.
your entire Years' work, months' work, years' work is down the tubes.
So he was not ready to basically I don't think throw LaFleur a little bit of a lifeline there.
Now does that mean that he can't play But what this all means to me, that response when he kind of chuckled and said, including me. Is that yes, he has worked on himself. And again, I haven't spoken to him about this, but. We have spoken with him about it. Yes, he has worked on himself.
Yes, he has found a different plane of consciousness. All year long. But The drafting of Jordan Love is not a bygone. Not by a long shot. Not when they still could not get past where they were last year, with the exception of hosting this game that they lost as opposed to traveling to lose it.
And right in front of him There's a guy late in his career who decided Yeah, I'm done. with the way that things We're done. For me and maybe to me. I'm done with that. Said Tom Brady.
I'm going to go to another spot.
Now, the Packers' current roster is ready to win with Rogers. I don't know if the Patriots current roster Brady looked at and thought that that was ready for him to win in his closing window, so it's a little bit of apples and oranges, but the whole concept of a goat Saying, yeah, I don't have to do it this way anymore. Do I? I'm done. With people not believing in me from either the front office by drafting my replacement rather than a defender that could have stopped Raheem Mostert last year or Tom Brady this year.
I'm done. With a head coach that looks at the scoreboard and says, I'm not going to put the ball in Aaron Rodgers' hand, I'm going to give somebody else a shot. Done with it. And then they stick him in front of a microphone. Can he change his mind?
Cooler heads prevail? Absolutely. Will he play for the Packers next year? I would say yes. After that?
I don't know. That's the way I view that. 844-204-Rich Number to Dial, Ariel Hawani, when we come back. A little bit of UFC, a little bit of Buffalo Bills talk. It's coming up.
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You are. And also point at me when we're back on the radio. Right now, we are very. I got to turn it. Oh, gosh.
I love pointing out you, Rich. Ari Holboni's been holding on. Is he on the phone line, sir? Yeah, he is. The man, the myth, the legend of ESPN.
He has turned himself into a cottage industry. The host and reporter from ESPN on MMA, podcaster, and Bills slash Knicks fan Ariel Helwani here on the Rich Johnson Show. How are you, Ariel? I'm doing great, Rich. How are you?
I'm very envious of you. You got to talk to three of my favorite players yesterday. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out well for us. on Sunday night, but I'm very proud of my Buffalo Bills, and we will be back. You heard it here first.
I appreciate that, Ariel. Yeah, Chris Brockman, he uh he direct messaged me during uh game day morning after as I was as I was interviewing Jim Kelly Berman Thomas and Andre Reid.
So you're you're you're you're diehard.
So um Look, man, it's just not your time. I I it's kind of it's kind of like um You know, being caught up in a moment in time that is. Uh, bad timing, sort of like Ewing when Jordan was around, you know. I mean, because I feel the same way, you know, and it's the crazy thing is that uh Brady is now out of the division and out of the conference, and he may be that for Mahomes still. It's kind of crazy.
When you think about it, it is. Yeah, and he's 24, and I feel like we'll see him again. But look, you know, he stumbled in the AFC Championship, of course, against an older team a couple years ago. And we stumbled yesterday, and I'll say we because I've been on this train with the Bills since 1990 when I saw Scott Norwood go wide right against the Giants. But I will say, just very quickly, I know you didn't have me on to talk about this.
No, it's all good. I will forever, forever be in debt to. Coach McDermott, Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs, that entire team, because it's tough times here, Rich. And as you know, sports is the ultimate escape. And I miss my family back home in Canada.
And to have this team do what they did this year, and as a father now, for the first time, getting to watch games with my sons who are wearing a Diggs and Allen jersey. And even my six-year-old son sat with me until the end yesterday. And he saw how sad I was. And that's how I fell in love with this team when my heart was broken by them. And it's just an amazing thing.
So I will forever be thankful to those guys for giving us what they gave us this fall and winter. And I can't wait to see where they go from here. No, we're not sad today. We're happy because it happened. And I think the future is very bright for the Buffalo Bills.
Yeah, the Bills have got Josh Allen and Diggs and McDermott. And so many pieces are in place.
Now you know which team to target to actually try and put your team together to help surpass. I just love the fact, too, as we're talking to Bill's Mafia with RL. Hawani right here. I love the fact that Diggs was standing out there, the only Bill out there standing watching the Chiefs celebrate with the trophy named after their founder. I just love everything about Stephon Diggs.
I love that, man. Made me cry seeing that. And then to see McDermott come out and console him. And I saw another clip today of Josh going up to every single player. It was like a three-minute clip and hugging them.
And you see the love that they have for him as well and the respect. This young man has come a long way over the past three years, even dating back to last year's playoff where he looked shell-shocked in Houston. I'm just so proud of these guys. And I'm proud to be a Bills fan. When I was a kid, I was tormented for being a Bills fan because I have two older brothers who are Cowboys fans.
And we were the boy I love losing Super Bowl team, right? Everyone used to make fun of us. Those days are over. We're no longer a laughingstock. The Bills will be back.
I have no doubt about it. Ariel Helwani here on The Rich Eisen Show. Let's get into the bread and butter. Let's go back into our lane in that respect. What happened with Conor McGregor?
Over the weekend. What happened? Conor McGregor fought a really, really good fighter. There is no shame in losing to Dustin Poirier. You can make.
the claim that he's the second best lightweight in the world. And it's important to note lightweight because that's the best division in MMA right now, certainly in the UFC, the most stacked by far. It really bothered me when this fight was first announced, and I get it. Connor brings out Casual fans who don't follow this sport as closely as the hardcores, and certainly not myself, and I saw a lot of people saying, Why is he fighting a guy who he beat in less than two minutes six and a half years ago? Like, what's the point in this?
You hardly see fights like this in boxing. And I wanted people to know Nustin Poirier was a much different fighter today on Saturday than the guy who Connor fought six point five years ago. He's improved Incredibly, and not just from a physical standpoint, but from a mental standpoint as well. The guy who fought Connor six and a half years ago was a bit immature and let Connor get in his head under his skin. And we saw on Saturday that he's a tremendous fighter.
And so the better man won. He had an amazing game plan. Everyone said he had to take him down early. He did, clinch with him, he did. And then he attacked that lead leg.
Those calf kicks are just insanely dangerous. And you saw what happened. Connor could hardly stand up.
So he had the great game plan. Connor mentioned that he was rusty, didn't offer any excuses. And so maybe they'll do it again. But make no mistake about it. This wasn't Buster Douglas.
This was Connor losing to a fighter who is just as good as he is. Is Connor as good as he was? How about that for a question, losing two out of his last three? How about that one, Ariel? It's a fair question.
I mean, it's worth noting that. Going into this fight, he fought for a collective 40 seconds dating back to October of 2018. I do believe that Cage Rust, Ring Rust. Is a real thing. You're just, you know, and meanwhile, Pori is fighting two, three times a year, and he's usually fighting 10, 15, 25 minute fights.
Like this guy gets into brawls.
So I'm not ready at 32 years old to write off Conor McGregor. You'll recall back in 2016, he lost to Nathan Diaz. He dusted himself off, and then he came back and beat him, and then followed that performance up with his best performance ever against Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Gardens.
So I think he'll be back. In fact, I just got off the. The Zoom, if you will, it's going to say phone, but it was Zoom, with his head coach, John Kavanaugh. And he told me that. They want Dustin, trilogy fight in May, this time for the vacant title.
So he has already decided what he wants next.
Now we'll see if the UFC obliges. But this man wants to get right back on the horse, and it's very reminiscent to 2016. The day after he lost to Diaz, he said, I want him again. Let's make it happen.
So we'll see if he can right this wrong.
Okay, but we've never seen that trilogy, right?
So what's next for both of these fighters? Ariel.
So I think Connor is going to be very persuasive about Doing it again right away. Third fight, Dustin versus Connor III. Um I would be shocked if the UFC doesn't listen. There's a lot of money to be made there. I think you could sell it very easily.
You got two guys who are one and one against each other, so that's an option. Obviously, Connor versus Nate three is an option as well. You could sell that one really easily. You got the trilogy fight. They're both coming off losses now, so they can get back on track.
Nate is out there campaigning for Dustin, and they were supposed to fight two years ago, so you can obviously sell that. There's bad blood. There's a guy named Charles Olivera who deserves a crack at the belt. he could be an option. What I know for sure is this.
The UFC has options, and that's a great spot to be in. I do believe that Dustin's next fight should be for the vacant title. Khabib Nurmagamedov is the current lightweight champion, but he has made it very clear he wants to retire. I think we should. Respect his wishes.
He wants to retire because his dad passed away last year and his mom has asked him to walk away. Respect that. Let him give up the title. Dustin should fight for the belt next. He should probably be the champion already.
That fight on Saturday should have been for the belt. But let him fight for the vacant title and let's keep this division rolling along. Ariel Hilwani here on The Rich Eisen Show. What's with John Jones gaining 30 pounds? What do we glean from all of this?
Ariel.
He looks good. He wants to move up to heavyweight.
So he gave up his title. He gave up his light heavyweight belt. There's a new champion there named Jan Bohovich. He's fighting Israel. Destiny, your guy.
He's fighting him on uh March 6th. And so They just officially Finalized a heavyweight title fight between the champions Stipe Miacic and Francis Nganu. That's a rematch of a fight that happened in 2018. That's going to be an amazing fight. That's March 27th.
John will fight the winner of that fight. I would say August, September, or so. And what a huge fight that'll be. John Jones, who in my opinion has never lost. He has one loss on his record, but it was a DQ, and it shouldn't have been a DQ.
It was a mistake by the referee. Moving up to heavyweight for the first time, essentially undefeated, going up against the champion, either Stepe, who's the greatest heavyweight champion in UFC history, or Francis, who hits like a freaking like a Mac truck. I mean, the guy's just insane. That's big business for the UFC.
So they've got a lot of big fights. pretty much at their doorstep in in twenty twenty one. Let's see if they can make them all happen. Israel Adessanier? That's how you I I because when he came in here, he's like a Adesanya.
Did he change it? Or did I just botch it to in front of his face and he never corrected me? What about that one? He's a mensch, Rich, as you know. The guy, you know, he's a good man, and we have sort of Americanized it to Edessania.
Okay, a Dessania.
So, Israel is my guy. We're referring to him as my guy just because he said here he wanted to. I heard you're a big fan.
Well, I'm a huge fan. Look, anybody who comes on my show and keeps dropping the sound bites that he drops, talking about wanting to scrape his manhood across the face of John Jones in the home of the Las Vegas Raiders. I mean, he had me at hello, pretty much, to be honest with you. Rich, I feel like you have unlocked a whole new world here. Don't you realize when you have fighters on and when you talk fighting, do you realize that the clips always do way better than the traditional sports?
These fight fans are stars for. For mainstream broadcasters and mainstream shows such as yourself and your show to shed a light on these individuals. And can we be honest? For the most part, aren't they all fantastic interviews? Oh, I don't know.
Like, you don't get a lot of cliche, right? No, you are, by the way, plus one. I am all in on that. I mean, we had Ryan Garcia the other day, and the king dropped that he, you know, once again, that he plans to retire at age 26 to get all negativity out of the world. And I kind of.
You know, question that, not that that's not a very noble gesture or concept, but you know, age 26, you know, how is he going to be understand that he's done, get it all out of his system? He then even said that he's never told this to anybody, that he'd like to take on the world of MMA, that he would like to go to UFC pretty much after all that. And That went everywhere, so I'm all in on that. What did you think of that? Ariel.
So yes, and by the way, I'm happy you mentioned that because we wrote about it on dot com and it made headlines everywhere.
So again, there's an opportunity really to shed a light on these guys. I don't believe that he is going to retire twenty six. You hear this from fighters all the time, especially ones who are that Talented as he is, and he hasn't taken a lot of damage to out of his career. Of course, the next few years can change. Um and quite frankly, there's more money for him to be made.
Like the boxing model lends itself to make more money. Uh witness the fact that Connor made the most amount of money in his career when he fought Mayweather that one time.
So I think that Ryan Garcia is a master promoter. He's a very bright young man. He's incredible box office. He's got the look. He's got the fighting style.
He's got the nationality. He's got the people behind him, all that stuff. Why would you leave? and go to a sport. That you don't know anything about, you don't have the ground skills, you don't have the wrestling, you don't have the jiu-jitsu, you're doing well in boxing, and you're going to continue to do well, and you're making a boatload of money.
So I think he's involved in a bit of a war with Oscar De La Hoya, his promoter. Part of this, I think, is him needling him a little bit. I would be shocked. I'm not trying to suggest he was disingenuous to you, but I would be very surprised if this happens. No, look, Ariel, I'm I'm not above being used in some sort of fight between all world famous boxer and all world famous boxer turn promoter.
I have no problem being used like that as long as they spell my name right. You know, two Eisen, Rich and Oisen. You know what I mean? Absolutely, yeah. The longtime New York Knicks fan.
They can throw that combo. I got to tell him.
Now, Ariel, Ariel. Thank you. No. I will say this. As you know, I despise the owner with a fury of a thousand sons.
Actually, I'm probably understating the amount of sons with which I hate this man. And maybe it's because the fact that I don't see him smugly sitting there sipping coffee with two age in-appropriate ladies on either side, just sitting there and watching the team just be terrible in front of him. But all that said, they are really fun to watch. They are fun to watch, Ariel.
So go ahead. You can crow. I'll give you the platform for that. Go for it. And it's because of one man and one man only: the man who they should have hired three coaching hires ago, the great Tom Thibodeau.
Former Knicks assistant under the great Jeff Fangundi. They should have hired him when he left Chicago. I thought that, I mean, the hires over the past few years from Fisher to Fisdale, I mean, just one mess after the next. Jeff Hornisek as well, of course. He has given this team an identity, of course.
Are they missing a lot of parts? Yes. But he is making them play hard as a team. Defense is tremendous. I think they'll be in the mix for the play-in game.
You know, do they make the playoffs? Who knows? But Emmanuel quickly yesterday, 31 points, I believe, off the top of my head. What a great pick that was. And everyone was making fun of the Kentucky Knicks.
Well, guess what? The Kentucky Knicks are doing pretty darn well. I believe in New York, and we would like to have you back, Rich. This is perfect. I don't know.
I think I torched that bridge like it's over the River Kwai, to be honest with you. I think I blew that thing completely. No, but I do. But it is weird to see Julius Randall wearing Bernard King's number, but he's been dominant. I mean, that's the only word for him.
I just, but they're a better roster. They're better formed. It's not some sort of bizarre mix of kids and veterans that don't work or aren't ready to work together. They're a better team, man. There's no question about it.
They are a better team. I'll put it this way. In 1985, when the Knicks got the first pick in the first ever NBA draft lottery, I believe it was televised on CBS, and there was a shot of the late great Dave DeBusher going crazy, as you may recall. And I believe it was Pat O'Brien on the broadcast who said, and I quote, basketball Is back in New York City, my friends. And I'm not talking about that team in Brooklyn.
I'm talking about the New York Knickerbockers. Basketball is back in New York City, Rich, and we'd love to have you on board. I know. I appreciate that. Thank you, Ariel.
And thanks for the call here. A fun weekend of news and obviously great fights from Fight Island, UFC 257. I'll give you the floor. I can't keep track with everything that's worthy of promoting that you're doing.
So go for it before I let you go here. You don't have to promote anything. I would just ask for one favor over the next few weeks. Can you do me this one favor? Oh, boy.
I'm assuming you're going to Tampa right for the Super Bowl. You're obviously going to be doing a lot of coverage. Can you find a way to mention the fact that the best storyline about this game isn't, you know, Bucks at home, old versus young, Mahomes, Brady. It's the fact. that former Montreal Expos draft pick, Tom Brady, is going up against former Montreal Expos reliever son, Patrick Mahomes Senior's son, the great Patrick Mahomes Jr.
So if you can find a way to reference, in particular, closer to kickoff on Sunday, a mention of the late great Montreal Expos. It would warm my heart because, I mean, look at us: 16, 17 years after our demise, we're still relevant. You know, Tom Brady was drafted by the Expos back in the day, right? You're actually teaching me something new. I did not know that.
Well, there you go. Very quickly, Frank Robinson, 2004, spring training. I went to spring training as a student in Melbourne, Florida. I wrote a fake letter to the Expos and I asked them if I can cover them. In their final season, I was a student at Syracuse University.
No one was applying for credentials, so they said, sure. And I wrote in my journal, I went back and found it at my parents' house: Frank Robinson, the late great Frank Robinson, in the dugout eating popcorn with a young Pat Mahomes who was there because his dad was trying out for the team as a reliever. And all these years later, look at this.
So a lot of Montreal Expo's love. If you could just throw it in there, I'd be forever in debt.
Somewhere, Warren Cromarty is beaming. Ariel, thank you for dropping that knowledge right here on the show. How about that? Steve Rogers, somewhere. Hold on.
I got to get another good one right here. Larry Parrish. Chris Spire, Tim Wallach. My God, how could I forget about Tim? We're all beaming for you.
So I'll try that one on for size. Thanks for downloading me with that. You take care of yourself, brother. You too. At Ariel Hawani on both Twitter and Instagram, the host of Ariel and the Bad Guy on ESPN Plus and the MMA show, his podcast, Ariel Hawani here on the Rich Isaac Show.
All right, let's take a break when we come back. Ariel, not the most famous member of Bill's Mafia that I've interviewed over the last 24 hours. If you missed Wolf Blitzer on Game Day Morning, don't worry, we got you covered. And there's some NBA news: a star returning from COVID-19. When we come back.
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This is the Rich Eisen Show. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, 844-204, Rich is the number to dial.
So, um, Some great stories from Game Day Morning yesterday. The Mayoc one I'm going to hold for the third hour because we need a little bit more time. But um As you know, Cooper, my nine-year-old, Says dead. You know, when he's sitting there in the Zoom Before Super wild card weekend. And we were informed by the producers of NFL Gaming Morning that we're going to be given one final mulligan.
on our Super Bowl picks. Mike Del Tufo's, you're pounding your chest that you have you before the season, you had Bucs versus Chiefs. You had Brady versus Mahomes. You had that nailed down. I had Bucs versus the Ravens.
Around Thanksgiving, though, Bucs weren't looking too great. on their bye week coming up. And the Ravens looked like Garbage. It's the only way to put it. I'm like, I can't do this.
So I got on the Chiefs over the Saints. And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to stick with Chiefs over the Saints. And then Coop comes in and kind of gave me a little shrug. And I'm like, what do you got?
He goes, Packers over Bills. I'm like, okay. We love it.
Okay. I mean, I loved it.
So I went, you know, poor Coop yesterday, as the Bills started losing grip of the AFC Championship game, goes, Dad, I'm sorry. I'm like, Coop, it's okay. It's okay. I assume to apologize. Can you imagine a nine-year-old feeling the weight of getting a sports take wrong when so many people are so successful in this business not caring that they're wrong at all?
I'm like, don't worry, Coop, you're nine. Don't worry about it. Like, literally, grown-ass men don't care about being wrong. You shouldn't either.
So long story short, I go on game day morning. And I'm like, I'm going to choose the bills. I got a call from Andy Gregg, our coordinate, our coordinating producer, during the week saying, we have gotten. you know, for game day morning. to loan wolf the Buffalo Bills.
Bills fan Wolf Blitzer. Yeah. And I'm like. But I'm going to choose the bills.
So.
What's you know, how about I have him help me loan wolf the bills? Here's that moment yesterday.
Well, Wolf, I never thought we'd have this opportunity, but I'm going to take it. I need you to howl like a wolf with me. Uh, to help me loan Wolf the Buffalo Bills. Will you do that for me, please? Just explain exactly when I howl with you.
Yes, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean I'm together with you a supporter of the Buffalo Bills? Is that what you're saying? What I'm saying is, you support my choice of the Buffalo Bills winning the AFC champion. Wolf, my God, my gravitas is going out the window with every single possible second.
Can you make this the situation, William? I'm looking forward. I'm ready.
Okay. I am ready to howl.
Okay, ready? Here we go. Three, two, one. Woo! Mm.
Ha ha ha ha! Yeah. Dragged Wolf down with me. If I was losing Gravitas, I was dragging it. I was going to have Wolf do it too.
Didn't work out. It did not work out. It's great screen grab right there. There we go. Buffalo is going to have its time.
Just not now. Just not now. Brady did the right thing to get the hell out of the conference. Yeah, he sure did. Kelsey's not going anywhere.
Tyree Kill's not going anywhere. Claude Edwards Elaire is still he's not going anywhere. Nobody's going anywhere. Randy Reid's not going anywhere? Yeah, no, Andy.
Doesn't look like Eric Biannaby's going anywhere despite I'm hoping he gets that Texans job. I think that'll be a smart move by the Texans. Looks like it's him and Leslie Frazier. If Deshaun's gone, I hope he doesn't get the Texans job. Like, well, he's not going to take the ten.
Who's going to take the tenants? He's not taking it without. Who's going to Dan Campbell it? Like, yeah, I'll take the job. You're not going to have Matt Stafford.
I'll take it. Apparently, Anthony Lynn took the job knowing that Matthew Stafford's out. Because Dan Campbell wasn't getting a six-year deal from somebody else. And it doesn't matter. I guess you can find somebody else to help you bite somebody's kneecaps off.
Mm-hmm. I can't believe that happened last week. Just again, for in case anyone understands, it was the lions who had their teeth kicked in. And then Right. Or they were going to kick somebody's teeth in, right?
No, I think they got their teeth kicked in.
So then, if they had their teeth kicked in, how are they going to bite someone? Are they going to gum the knee? Hmm. I don't know. It's really weird.
Weren't they punching somebody in the eye too? I don't know. They're taking a hunk out of somebody. Oh, okay. Don't forget that.
Oh, the hunk. It. After the kneecaps are gone. The hunks are coming out. By the way, just this Mayok story, because he made a brief appearance on Game Day Morning yesterday.
The Mayok story is just absolutely fantastic. I mean, it is one of my favorite news stories to tell you. Is it about a particular person? No, you're just going to love it. All right.
You're going to love it. And Josh Allen accepted the Mandalorian nickname. Nice. That all happened. Chris Brockman.
With the news update coming up about an NBA star coming back from COVID-19 tonight and so much more, and your phone calls at 844-204-Rich. Our third hour is wide open for you here on this busy Monday.
