Octagonal Relations feat. Karim Zidan | Chapo Trap House 

The name Karim Zidane is the North African equivalent of an American having the name LeBron Jordan. Kudos.

These episodes, discussing the impact of cultural institutions that I’ll never really personally engage with, (most sports.. marvel movies) are.. fucking excellent Nice work, guys

"Sports, they're a lifestyle for some, pastime for others. For most of our listeners they're the thing that the normal members of their families watch while they're editing the Assassin's Creed wiki during thanksgiving. But other than that, they're a vital tool for statecraft." That opening has me cryin every time lmaoo

one of the most well versed and knowledgeable guests, would love to hear more of this guy.

To be honest, I don’t care at all about combat sports. And yet, somehow, I still found this incredibly interesting. Good on you, Mr. Chapo

I'd love an annual(if not more frequent) Karim Zidan appearance. He's one of the most important people in the MMA media and one of the few remaining actual journalists.

Newcastle fan here coming in peace 🤓 The Saudi Government having a hand in the club I support has been crazy. It has transformed the club on a level rarely seen, taking us from perennial relegation battlers to in the Chanpions league. It’s like Karim said, it hard to blame local fans from supporting the takeover, even though it’s disgusting.

we love our boy matt : Mercedes Schlappo Louse

Since Felix didn't watch Napoleon and had nothing to say i guess it is fair for Will to do the same with the UFC

Fight island is literally the plotline for Enter the Dragon .

Karim is a guy whos work is always vital to follow.

Cheers Karim and Felix, this work unveils great and surprising insights in to further issues going on that never get any attention from our shuttered media in 'The West'. Free Palestine!

Get well buddy we miss ya!!!

they should have Zidan on more often

Really really interesting show ❤

I dont heavily follow sports, but its really cool to just hear Felix and Karim have a passionate conversation about political posturing in media in a lens i dont ever really get exposure to

Felix is so good at making the things he likes interesting to someone who knows nothing about it.

A really funny thing in the Newcastle United topic, ever since the Saudi takeover all their away kits have had the Saudi Arabia colors, they just straight up don't even try to hide what's going on lol. Edit: the 2022/23 kit with the Saudi colors was the third kit, not the away kit.

Great episode. Karim is a real mensch and great communicator of what’s happening with sports washing.

Double episode chapo let’s go!

I know that I shouldn't have expected it here but I still wish that they had brought up KS also trying to buy its way into the gaming industry. Outright buying SNK, increasing their stocks at Nintendo, apparently rumored to buy the OWL from Blizzard. That's also a reason why worldwide younger people are gonna be okay with KS and turn a blind eye to them

I can tell I will like this episode thanks lads

I did not realize, until an hour in, that they were saying "spot washing" and not "spot watching".

Damn, this one's really good

Commenting for algorithmic purposes

I can totally see why people in Saudi like MBS. I mean, people here in the Philippines actually like Duterte and could have won reelection if we don't have serving limit.

REMINDER: J. Cole went platinum with no features.

If Riyadh is good enough for Kofi Annan its good enough for Trump.

Not to split hairs with Karim, but the thing the WWE did at the Saudi show where they brought out Iran wrestlers and then had them get squashed by Saudi wrestler's is SUPER common in pro-wrestling, though it's fallen out of favour in more recent years. It's just that usually it's American wrestlers beating up foreign villains. The stuff they did during 9/11 and the invasion of Iran were really insane

speak a little Chinese for em Ramzan kadyrov

For a very brief period i was following ufc and i couldn't understand how generally ignorant and Neanderthal-ish dana and ilk (but mainly dana) are. However i am not the target audience and i probably never will be. Saudis pay for a ton of propaganda from all sides, from sports to the entertainers that still hold their shows there. I wish more people knew just how much money is tied in to the things they think are inherently “american” or “european” 🙄 that doesn't exist anymore.

You guys should do a whole episode on wwe there’s so much to talk about. Tribute to the troops shows where they wrestled in Iraq and iran for soldiers during the war, Donald trump stuff, Muhammad Hasan etc.

The UAE is not the Jiu-jitsu country. At best, it's the Jiu-jitsu city block.

Dates and milk was the line from King Faizal I believe

As a wrestling fan and a chapo fan hearing someone talk about wwe from this perspective is super interesting. The insane exploitation and weird propaganda WWE does is unlike anything. Literally throwing shows at military bases in Baghdad during the iraq war so wild. Thankfully there’s plenty of other companies now that aren’t as gross and sketchy

Do a full on Kadirov episode!

Interesting

There is a lawsuit against TKO the new parent company of UFC and WWE and from what I understand as a wrestling fan the argument is the merger didn't put the stockholders first cause WWE had a buyer. That buyer could have been Saudi and if it turns out that is the buyer I wouldn't be shocked at all. They were heavily rumored to be in the running and they have the money.

My coaches coach trained frank Mir;(

I miss Jordan Breen so fkn much man😔

Ngannou won we all know it

I love how outraged and indignant some people get when they realize they’re not able to decide and impose on others who is and who is not a pariah on the internacional stage anymore. it’s been relatively recent in the world of sports, specially with last years WC but applies to other places as well. I mean, how dare you release your movie on china and middle-eastern markets? how dare you go play on a football league from saudi arabia or accept money from there? didn’t you get our message that these people arent good enough to partake in basic human activities? they know the power of entertainment and sports, and the western powers have monopolized both for decades, making sure that it isn’t helping to humanize people from any adversary nation, and when you have a tiny bit of that power moving to the peripheries they lose their shit lol

And the last shall be first

lol endevor.. i worked with them for a year.. aweful company

Matt

today's guest: The Twitter Narrator. yep. that's a job now, apparently

It's cool to hear Felix talk about something he's passionate about. Otherwise, yawn.

The war in hazaha? Wtf??

No insult to Felix, but this topic is completely lost on me. I can't even pretend to be interested.

Literally could not care less about this shit