"I'm starting to understand why so many people like her."
Taylor embodied a mix of sexiness and sweetness.
She had a massive fanbase among both the open-minded youth and the conservative industrial workers and farmers.
"Your performance was the highlight of this MV..."
"Have you seriously never thought about acting? You would definitely conquer the big screen, Miss Taylor!"
After wrapping up, David Fincher showered Taylor with all sorts of compliments.
The implication was clear: your expressiveness outshone Beyoncé's.
Bathed in continuous praise from the entire crew, Taylor couldn't stop smiling.
A blush still lingered on her face.
"That was amazing, Taylor. I couldn't take my eyes off you," Leon walked over and praised.
Taylor instantly switched to a reserved expression. "I have to thank you for coming up with such a brilliant script."
For a while now, she had intentionally distanced herself from Leon because of Robbie.
But through this collaboration, their relationship heated up rapidly.
Suddenly, Jorge approached.
Seeing the Mexican tough guy's fridge-like build and dense tattoos, Taylor instinctively frowned.
Jorge whispered in Leon's ear, "Your flight is going to be late..."
Taylor's performance just now was so dazzling that Leon almost forgot about the important UFC event he had to attend tonight.
"I have work to handle, I gotta go, Taylor," Leon said. "There's one last scene the day after tomorrow. Looking forward to your wonderful performance."
Hearing this, Taylor froze for a moment, then lightly bit her lower lip. "Work? It's lunch time."
"Maybe we could have lunch together."
"I remember you said you like Chinese food. I know a pretty good Chinese restaurant..."
Although Taylor tried hard to act aloof, her voice got quieter and quieter towards the end.
Leon's head was full of question marks: This woman is actually this warm towards me?
This was Taylor Swift. Countless men around the world wanted to have lunch with her.
If something really happened between them, it would generate a massive wave of traffic.
Maybe even surpassing the storm stirred up by the "Second East Coast vs. West Coast Gang War."
"This..." With any other woman, Leon would have refused long ago.
But right now, even he hesitated.
Before he could respond, Taylor's face changed in a second.
She waved her hand and said, "Alright~ If you don't have time, forget it~"
Leon wanted to explain, but she had already turned and walked away.
Leaving only a tall, slender back view.
Walking in high heels, the curve of her hips swayed dramatically with her steps.
The scheduled flight would take off in two hours.
On the way to the airport, Leon's phone rang.
It was Sean.
"Good afternoon, Boss. I've already picked up Lil Durk and King Von."
"Great. Take those two kids straight to T-ray's radio station. You know what to do," Leon instructed.
T-ray was a victim shot by Diddy's crew. Having him interview Lil Durk's crew, who shot Diddy...
The show effect would definitely be off the charts.
If not for the official UFC invitation, Leon would have wanted to stay at the podcast recording site to provide guidance.
Nobody knew how to play the traffic game better than him.
Now he could only leave it all to Sean and T-ray.
He wasn't worried about T-ray's eloquence at all.
This fat ngga had squandered the thick lips God gave him for the first forty-plus years of his life.
Wasting his eloquence on women.
He was a talk show genius.
Stand-up comedy is called the art of offense, and T-ray couldn't speak without offending people.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned four bullets from Diddy just by running his mouth.
After an hour and a half flight, the plane landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Leon wrapped himself up tight, walking quickly through the airport surrounded by bodyguards.
His influence was now not limited to the US; he also had considerable influence in English-speaking countries like Canada, Australia, and the UK.
UFC President Dana White attached great importance to Leon's arrival, dispatching a welcoming convoy of five business vans.
Leon even felt this level of reception was a bit excessive.
He was just showing his face at the Rogers Centre for the fight, not for any important business cooperation.
The fight would officially start at 7 PM EST.
The main event featured Canadian Welterweight Champion GSP (Georges St-Pierre) against Jake Shields.
GSP's record was fierce, considered invincible in this weight class.
But Leon wasn't interested in his fights; this guy only knew how to pin opponents to the ground.
Then use gay-like postures to grind the opponent until the end of the match.
On the contrary, the Brazilian José Aldo in the co-main event was someone Leon appreciated very much.
Fists to flesh, a clean and crisp stand-up fighting style.
Rogers Centre, fighter warm-up room.
Meeting Leon for the first time, Dana showed enthusiasm beyond reason.
"Man! Welcome to the UFC live event!" The two shook hands vigorously like old friends meeting.
"Nice to meet you, man. I've always been fascinated by this sport," Leon said.
"That's great! Who's your favorite fighter?"
"The Spider, Silva. That guy is a genius."
"Man, you really have good taste," Dana said. "Anderson Silva is a great fighting genius comparable to Ali and Tyson~"
Obviously, someone held a different view.
Joe Rogan walked up from behind them. "Silva is great, but Brock Lesnar is the best!"
"Joe!" Leon quickly stepped forward to give him a hug. "Long time no see."
As the host of the most popular podcast in America, The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe also had a side job—UFC commentator.
His achievements in this field were equally impressive, considered the most professional MMA commentator.
"Who do you favor for tonight's fight?" Joe asked.
"GSP." Leon spread his hands. "Everyone knows this guy will pin his opponent to the ground and lay on him for the full 25 minutes, torturing the audience while torturing the opponent."
"Haha, I agree with you!" Joe's volume suddenly dropped, whispering in Leon's ear, "Your revenge on Diddy was beautifully done..."
Leon knew the other party would definitely bring up this topic.
Almost everyone who knew him came to ask about the inside story after the shooting.
"That really had nothing to do with me." Leon smiled bitterly.
"Man, you know whose side I'm on." Joe smirked. "Maybe you can give me some exclusive scoop."
Facing such a request, Leon could only say no comment.
Even if The Joe Rogan Experience had unique popularity among podcasts, exclusive scoops had to be saved for his own programs.
He just got off the phone with Sean.
The show, originally scheduled for two hours, had been recording for four hours and still wasn't finished.
There wasn't even a hint of it ending.
T-ray and Lil Durk's crew were thoroughly enjoying their chat.
He called a room full of streetwalkers, and they were drinking while mocking Diddy and his family for fun.
Joe Rogan looked at Leon's outfit, as if thinking of something. "Man, you're wearing this to watch the fight today?"
"What's wrong? Is there something inappropriate?" Leon looked himself up and down.
"This style suits you very well." Joe spread his hands. "Just the price doesn't quite match your status."
A simple but classic Adidas Originals tracksuit.
Usually, he didn't like dressing too formally, nor was he very keen on luxury brands.
Since he was striving for an Adidas endorsement contract, he had filled his wardrobe with Adidas products.
Getting familiar with their design style in advance.
As for the sneaker design inspiration "hijacked" from Kanye's brain, he had already handed it over to a design studio in Los Angeles to draw up the blueprints.
Seeing the two chatting heatedly, Dana tried to interject several times but held back.
Leon noticed these unusual behaviors.
He knew the other party definitely didn't invite him just to go through the motions.
At 7 PM, the audience finished entering the venue one after another.
Rogers Centre had over 18,000 seats, but the attendance rate was less than 70%.
Lacking flagship figures, the attraction of this event was currently declining.
Under Dana's arrangement, Leon didn't take his seat in the VIP section immediately.
After the audience was seated, announcer Bruce Buffer introduced grandly with his deep voice:
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
"Welcome tonight's special guest!"
"Grammy Award winner, American Badass, the bad boy with Iron Balls..."
"Street Jesus—Leon Smith!"
All spotlights focused on the fighter tunnel.
The eyes of the whole arena followed.
A significant portion of the audience didn't know much about the name Leon.
They all wanted to see what kind of character deserved such a grand ceremony.
Even Leon himself felt this fanfare was a bit much.
He was just a popular singer, not some government official.
But UFC President Dana insisted on arranging it this way, whether for traffic or other reasons.
He walked in front of Leon to clear the way. Leon, wearing a simple Originals tracksuit, slowly walked out of the fighter tunnel.
Waving to the audience surrounded by a group of Mexican toughs.
"Is this the guy who almost killed P. Diddy?"
"I'm his fan, I simply love this bastard to death!"
"Fxxk! Is this guy a singer or a drug cartel leader?"
The discussion in the audience didn't stop for a second.
Wherever he went, it was filled with applause and controversy.
Tonight's fights were very boring; the explosive KOs the audience expected didn't happen.
Both main events went the full five rounds, ending with judges' decisions.
GSP and José Aldo both unsurprisingly defended their respective championship belts.
"Fxxk, the PPV sales for this event must suck..." Dana looked worried.
Even though the league currently had such dominant champions like GSP, Aldo, and Spider Silva.
But due to the lack of gimmicks and flagship figures, PPV sales continued to fall.
The flagship superstar doesn't necessarily need a fierce record, but must have topicality!
Brock Lesnar was like this, transitioning from WWE (wrestling entertainment), bringing his own controversy and topicality.
That's why he could create record-breaking PPV sales.
This point also applied to the music industry.
Leon had never topped the Billboard charts, and only had one album so far.
But it didn't stop him from becoming a top-tier star relying on inexhaustible black traffic.
"Dana, I think you need a special star fighter to save your PPV sales." Leon quipped.
Dana's eyes instantly lit up. "That's exactly what I think. In fact, I already have a detailed plan for this."
In the current UFC league, whether it was GSP or Silva...
Their martial artist temperament was too heavy.
And audiences paying to watch this kind of fight wanted to see boiling hormones, fighters smashing into each other until blood flowed...
Two villains risking their lives fighting in the octagon, finally deciding the baddest of the bad!
Dana continued, "Actually, inviting you this time involves some other things..."
"Just say whatever you have." Leon interrupted him. "Phil already revealed it to me."
Dana sighed. "PPV sales continue to be sluggish. The company leadership and I have thought of many ways, but with little success."
"A few days ago, hearing your name repeatedly on the radio and in the news... I suddenly thought of a way."
"What way?" Leon raised his eyebrows curiously.
"If a notorious guy like you appeared in the octagon, the audience would definitely go crazy!" Dana was emotional, lasers in his eyes.
But these words really gave Leon a big scare.
"You mean let me fight in the octagon?"
Although he carried many street labels and worked out regularly...
Once inside the octagon, his true colors would be revealed immediately.
For an untrained ordinary person, entering the cage to face these professional fighters was no different from facing armed criminals.
If there were no rules, no referee...
He'd be seeing God in a minute.
"Man, that's impossible... your imagination is quite rich." Leon quickly refused.
No matter how much Dana was willing to pay, he couldn't walk into the iron cage to fight these professionals.
Besides getting beaten up, his street reputation would also be severely damaged.
"No no no, I don't mean that, man." Dana waved his hands repeatedly to explain. "I want to establish a brand new title in your name, filtering out the baddest and craziest bad guys in this industry."
"I don't quite understand what you mean." Leon shook his head.
He had already heard these words once from Phil.
"Simply put, this new title has nothing to do with championships. This is an honor, can be understood as the Street Champion, the People's Champion!"
It took a full five minutes of listening for Leon to completely understand.
This was another marketing tactic Dana came up with.
Not to select the strongest fighter, but only to select the fighter with the biggest popularity and controversy.
Picking two recognized villains to duel in the cage, the PPV would definitely sell out.
Hearing this, Leon fully understood why Dana could transform from a bellboy to a president. This guy's marketing talent could succeed anywhere.
"I want to name this new title BOB." Dana said.
BOB was the abbreviation for "Best of the Bad," inspired by the villain character played by Hollywood legend Lee Van Cleef in the Western movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
This unprecedented anti-hero character earned Cleef the title of "The Best of the Bad."
In the cooperation plan proposed by Dana, Leon's momentum would be used to promote the first BOB title fight.
And for every subsequent BOB title fight, Leon would personally present the award.
Simply understood as a spokesperson, but not for the UFC event, only for the title of "Best of the Bad."
In return, Leon would receive 10% of the PPV sales of each BOB title fight as a share.
Currently, the price of each UFC PPV was $45.99.
Even calculating based on only selling 100,000 copies, Leon could profit nearly 500,000 dollars.
This left him completely unable to think of a reason to refuse.
"Dana, your talent is admirable." Leon paused for two seconds and continued, "It's just that the title BOB doesn't sound very comfortable, and it's not street enough."
"I want to hear if you have any better ideas!" Dana pricked up his ears.
Based on the media's reports of Leon's notoriety, Dana could only carry Leon's bags when it came to street experience.
"How about BMF?"
"Baddest Mxxherfxxker, full of gimmicks."