 Like a lot of people, I was upset when Jig Paul knocked out Ben Asgrin. Rather, I was more upset that Ben lost than Jig Paul won. There's a difference between the two things. The fight definitely caught the public's imagination. The question is why? I think there was more going on in this fight than meets the eye. And what was going on was the key dynamic of pitting internet culture versus real-world culture, disruption versus the establishment. It's only in this era of social media influencers where a YouTube personality, who happens to take a serious interest in boxing, can command the viewership and kind of money that would traditionally only be reserved for boxers of the stature of the greatest of all time, like Floyd Mayweather or Mike Tyson. The Paul brothers have found a certain angle of attack into combat sports that is uniquely their own, which completely disregards the time-honored traditional gatekeepers, rights of passage, and existing hierarchy structures. Uriah Hall's response, when asked what he thinks of Jig Paul, sums up the duality of what Jig Paul has done. I'm working my ass off, literally, dying. This motherfucker just comes out there, says a couple of shit, and I know what he's doing. Let's be honest, the guy sucks. He sucks. He really sucks. And look who's picking. So I get it, you know, from a business standpoint, a YouTube fighter going out there, or a YouTube person just going out there, and people are feeding off that, because you have people that hate him, and you have people that love him, but you still gotta watch him. He's genius. But at the same time, it's like, it humiliates what I call a real athlete that really put into time. And I know guys behind me not even making that much. I know guys out there that aren't making much than the ring card girls. Jig Paul is the epitome of a chaos agent, bringing deeply ambivalent change. Change that is both helpful and harmful. Like the advantages of technology itself, it is unclear whether this change will be good or bad for society overall. Think about the incredible changes across the globe, born on by accelerating disruptions due to technology. Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, to name just a few, and more recently, GameStop, and the whole phenomenon of NFTs. Jig Paul comes from this world, a world that few ordinary people truly understand. Against this tide stood Ben Ascrin, someone we could understand. I think people tuned into this fight more to see Ben Ascrin than to see Jig Paul, and this interest is clearly reflected in the numbers. Shortly before the fight, Ben Ascrin's appearance on Logan Paul's podcast had nearly twice the views of the appearance of Logan Paul's own brother, Jig Paul. That's quite notable. People identified with Ben not because everyone has achieved the high level of accomplishment he has, but more because his overall attitude and confidence represents a sort of prevailing moral order. Ben Ascrin was the embodiment of the way things work, or rather the way things should work. That is, there is no shortcuts to success, only hard work, sacrifice, respect, hardship, and time. Every compelling fight is over an uncertain outcome. Each side has its pros and cons. Ben, despite not being a boxer, relied on his inner grit and mental toughness. This toughness, born from hardship, was at the heart of the argument of those who thought that he would easily defeat Jig Paul. And you can see this in Ben's own assessment. You know, everyone who's like a real fighter, they understand, and this is whether, like, I would even consider like wrestlers fighters, or maybe Jiu Jitsu, right? Anyone will say combat athlete, but they understand what it's like to really be a fighter. They understand what it's like to go through hard circumstances and battle adversity and deal with it. They understand that thing, that toughness. Jig Paul is a little boy, he is some rich celebrity who wants to pretend he is a fighter by fighting guys who are really bad. We identified with Ben because Ben's inner stability and confidence was reassuring against this agent of chaos, Jig Paul. And what was so upsetting was that that inner stability wasn't enough to win you every fight. And that was a shock, that a man who was able to come back from the dead against Robbie Lawler was not able to take a 1-2 from Jig Paul. The two events just did not exist in the hierarchy that we expected. We don't live in that kind of world. After the fight, I consumed a lot of fight reaction content. I watched Daniel Cormier's reaction, which was very satisfying. And I looked at other people's reactions. All these people who had all these theories and compelling arguments on why Ben would win. It all seemed so certain. And when he got KO'd, it was like there was no certainty anymore. It was like the movie No Country for Old Men, which is about the loss of order in the face of chaos. And it was a very depressing conclusion. However, what I did take away afterwards was a little different. And I didn't take it away until I saw Ben's interview with Arielle Homani two days after the fight. In the last segment of the interview, Arielle asked him if he thinks that KO will affect his legacy. And Ben says, Legacy is stupid. Legacy is something that people shouldn't really be concerned about. Because you should just be worried about what you're doing on a day-to-day basis. Like moving forward, I'm going to keep trying to coach and make kids and change and make lives as I can. And if I somehow long-term achieve something and people want to think back on me favorably or unfavorably, then they're going to do that. But you can't determine what other people think. And you can't let what other people think dictate your actions. And so I've already told you, I think legacy is a relatively stupid concept from a self-perspective. Like I'm going to do this because of my legacy. I think that's a really negative thing for people to actually think about. So I try not to think about it ever for myself. But you don't sit back and say, like, man, when I'm 60, is this going to be the first line? Or is this going to be the footnote? Ever. Ever. That's good. You really shouldn't. It's counterproductive to your current life to think about what people may think of you in your future life. Just like literally do what you want to do in your current life and if it fits your morals and standards. And if you can stand by it, then stand by it. And if you think you should do another thing, then go do other things. And that's it. But to think of what is someone going to think of me in 30 years, that's counterproductive. And you can see how from this kind of thinking, he was a person who was able to go lose to a YouTuber and not give a shit. Take the money and deal with the embarrassment. A week before his fight with Jake Paul, Ben appeared on Logan Paul's podcast, which is like going to the heart of the enemy culture he's fighting. And I think to everyone's surprise, they actually had a nice podcast. Everyone got along. It was very entertaining. They had good energy. And at a certain point, Logan asked him point blank. Are you nervous facing someone who's not a traditional fighter? What is that? I don't know. I mean, I don't know why I'd be nervous about that. I think that should make me less nervous. No, because if you lose, I mean, I'll just say it's over. It's over for you. What do you mean? I'm going to go back. I'm going to run my wrestling academy. My life is not really going to change. A few 13 year olds are going to tease me a little bit. That sucks, man. It's just bulletproof. What are you doing? Logan, I don't know your life that well. I'm sure there's something you've done that you like. Damn. There's going to be some stuff that's embarrassing. Listen, just get over it. You live your life. I'm going to run my wrestling academy the same day. I tell kids, you know, when they're nervous about a big match, I tell them, listen, man, I had the most embarrassing knockout that's ever happened in MMA history. I'm the same guy July 7th as I was July 5th. What do you just shake it off and you keep moving? I mean, listen, he's absolutely right. He's absolutely right. You can see how on the one hand that lack of fire in him also contributed to him losing the fight. Yet he did exactly what he said he would do, make some money, then move on and focus on the things that are actually important to them. He mentions this in the Hawani interview. Because you should just be worried about what you're doing on a day-to-day basis. Like, moving forward, well, I'm going to keep trying to coach the main kids and change the main lives as I can. This is a mission-oriented mindset of a mature person with a greater mission than himself. Aside from the internet versus real world dynamic, one of the most compelling features of this fight is the immature versus mature man dynamic. Here you have this immature young man who is challenging an older mature man who is more grounded and you can really get to see the differences between the two approaches. One of the things Ben said was If the guy's a good boxer, I'm going to lose. I had starched, there was a certain fear he had around me and I was starting to get the feeling that maybe he's not very good. Like, why is he so nervous and worried? Because I'm obviously not a really good boxer. Maybe he's not very good. There's probably, I did the point, just the vibes he was giving me where there's probably a better chance that that's the case than opposite. But I think this was just the nervousness of a younger man who is less secure being around an older man who is secure. An accomplished mature person does not feel humiliation and he does not seek validation from others. Ben Askren chooses where he finds his validation, his family, his mission, not legacy, not what others think about him. We all watch boxing and combat sports not just for what it is, but for what it means. After a fight with such a build-up, generally the outcome leaves one of the fighters with a different attitude. But while Ben was unhappy about the results, in the Hawani interview you could see that he continued to maintain that composure. That is, he was genuinely unaffected by the outcome. And when you look at Ben Askren's past behavior, it makes sense. Ben never really cared what others thought even when he was in the UFC. Do you feel like you're doing this on behalf of the fighting community, the MMA community? Is this MMA versus boxing? Is this fighting versus YouTube? Are you taking that on your shoulders? I don't know if I like the MMA community. On a broader scale, this fight meant something for our culture because it was a very public collision of forces you usually don't see. The fight and all the build-up to the fight, all the discussion, the podcast conversations, it's a story of a youthful internet culture and its first meeting through this fight with a more established male culture with its very different set of values. The culture of combat sports and martial arts is about wisdom, respect, reverence. By contrast, internet culture is bursting with innovation and vital energy, the very energy that's changing the world around our eyes. But its connection to this older culture and what came before it is questionable because internet culture just functions on its own references. In internet culture, everything is a joke and nothing is sacred. The phenomena of Paul Brothers in boxing is a meeting of two different generations. And like all encounters between different peoples, there is collaboration and confrontation. So what did everyone learn? I think the Old Guard learned to respect the New Guard. A lot of people, especially older people, thought of Jake Paul as a YouTuber who comes from a fake online world. They thought he didn't earn anything real. I think his KO was a symbolic win that said, what his generation has to offer is real. It has to be reckoned with. I also think the New Guard learned to respect the Old Guard. Of course, Jake Paul will keep trolling. But just think about how Ben Askern dominated the public relations war simply by keeping an upbeat, honest, champion mindset. He went on the enemy's podcast, Logan Paul's podcast, and made friends with everyone. That was actually a big deal. In an era where technology has led to greater alienation amongst generations, a positive exchange between cultures is no less than a step towards a reunification of our modern world. The Paul brothers are not going away, and neither is the institution of combat sports. This was round one. We all look forward to what round two brings. You want to really fight me? You got an issue with me? Fight me in mixed martial arts. And I'm going to torture you. And I'm going to rip his face apart. I'm going to hurt the kid. And I will teach these kids not to continue to do this with people like me, athletes. That's insane. This is absolutely...