MMA Fighting - 2023 Half-Year Awards: Debating The Best Fighter, Fights, KOs, Submissions So Far This Year

Episode Date: July 3, 2023

Can you believe that 2023 is already half over? That's right, it's July now which means the year has hit the halfway mark and there's been a ton of stuff that has happened already. So what better thing to do than remember it all? MMA Fighting's Shaheen Al-Shatti, Alexander K. Lee, and Jed Meshew circle up to discuss their picks for Best Fighter, Fight, Knockout, Submission, and more so far this year. Who will take home these prestigious Half-Year Awards? Tune in to find out! Follow Shaun Al-Shatti @ShaunAlShatti Follow Alexander K. Lee @AlexanderKLee Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. What is up, my friends?

Hope you're out there. Just having the best possible day. My name is Sean Oshaddy. I am joined by two of my favorites, the Prince of Positivity, the King in the North. He eggs Alexander K. Lee and of course the legal legal, the mouth from the south. Jedmishu, fellas, it's the beginning of July. Somehow this year is half over. I have no idea how, but how this year is half over.

So you know it's time for some mid-year awards. First of all, just how are we doing today? Does it feel like this first half of the year is blown by for you guys? Because it really feels like it for me. What happened to June? Where did June go? Was there a June? Did June only exist?

in theory. I swear. It's July already, which is great. I love, you know, listen, I love summer. I love July, just as much June. But I felt like the month just passed by. You know why, guys? You know why I passed by? Probably because we got so much UFC. Because we've had delightful UFC cards every weekend to talk about. So who can complain, you know?

And like I said, and really, that's true for most of the half year. We had some great stories. We had some pretty good fights. I guess that's up for debate. We'll see how people agree with us. But yeah, listen, when you have this much MMA content, Where does the time go? I mean, when you are getting Sean Strickland versus Abis Magamette off every weekend,

the time just flies. It just moves so quickly. And now it's America's birthday. And Canada. Obviously very excited about. Is it Canada's birthday? Is it Canada? I think that's what Canada is.

I should know this. You should definitely know this. Well, no, I mean, it is Canada Day on the, it is Canada's birthday this weekend. Well, I don't know when this podcast is going out, but this weekend surrounding this podcast, it is Canada Day. Is Canada Day when you got your independence like 20 years ago or something? The anniversary of Canadian. The anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Okay.

What day exactly is that to you know? July 1st. July 1st. I don't know. Why did you answer it before you? That concerns. I said it. I just said it that it was, I said it way before I said it.

It's a Oslo Canada's birthday. I do know Canada Day's July 1st. I don't know when it was confederated. If you told me it was like 1965, I would believe you. I'd be like, yeah, that sounds right. 1867. 1867. Good for Canada.

Damn right. I also love that any Canadian listeners can't even get mad at us not knowing anything because you're Canadian, AK, you should know this. I don't think we were, I'm trying to think. I don't think we're independent. You know what? Shane, what's going on right now? What's going on over the show?

What's... I think this isn't making into the show. This isn't making into the show anyway. This is absolutely making it into the show. This is absolutely making it into the show. Just one quick behind the curtain, no, because Jed, you already sort of mentioned it. We're actually taping this on Friday afternoon before UFC Vegas 76. So if Strickland v. Mago Medoff just ends up being the second coming of Lawler Condit,

you know why we're not including it for our purposes here, just to let you guys know. But all right, fellas, let's get into it because I mean, here's what we've watched over the past six months. And this can either be, I don't know how you want to view this, but this is what we've watched. It might be depressing for some,

but maybe not for others. 21 UFC events so far. Eight Bellator events, six PFL events proper, and then a handful more when you look at one championship rise and et cetera. BKFC. BKFC.

Can't not include them as well. When you look at all that and you sort of, we've been, you know, in talking about doing this podcast, we were looking at sort of the best of the past six months. What letter grade would you give the first half of 2023? A plus, B, C, minus, like, where are we going with this? How do you feel like the action that you have watched so far? Because we have all consumed a lot of MMA. And I'm guessing the people who are listening in this podcast, we've consumed a lot of MMA. Where are you going with it? How do you feel about

it. I'd love to hear Jed's grade first, unless Jed you'd prefer to defer. Oh, no, I'm happy to give it. No, I'm happy to give the grade. I also, before I just briefly want to say, I look this up so we can continue to provide our readers with great information. Canada became completely sovereign in 1982. So way to go, guys. You're working on 44 years. Is that real? Are you messing with me? That's what Wikipedia says. Yeah, Canada Day is not a, uh, I'd like, Like, you know, it's not our birthday technically. But it's an important day. Hold on.

Wikipedia's entry on it is amazing. They're not the same. They're not the same. That's not a July 4. That's not worth celebrating on July 1st. What, what Jedd just said is not worth celebrating on July 1st. That's not what we celebrate. I have a follow-up question, though.

What is that? What was Canada in 1980? What did it belong to somebody? There's still English, buddy. Why do you think the queen's still on the money? I genuinely lived all of my life without knowing that. No, they, I mean, they've largely been an independent. According to Wikipedia.

I was born in 84, so listen, I've been an independent Canadian from day one. All right, so. Not from day one. What did you say? Oh, 86. Oh, yeah. It was 82. It was 82.

It was 80. I was born free. Born free. Under the yoke of the British. But yeah, apparently they, you know, they largely were autonomous. Great the year. In 82, they got it. All sorts of things right now.

Great the mid year. If you listeners out there, maybe you can understand why, uh, why I'm talking about Canada because this year's been pretty mid. Look, we've had some highs. Undeniably had some, like, some big moments, moments we'll talk about for the history of the sport. John Jones's return, Alexa Grasso's big win. But there's just been a lot of other stuff happening that doesn't feel like it's this monumental, you know, shifting thing. It doesn't feel at least right now like this is going to be a year we look back on in 10 years and say, man, that's, that's 05, you know, that's Shogun's runner or anything like that.

This is just kind of a year. I'm going to go C plus just because there are a couple of very bright moments that give it a little bit of a boost. So we're not failing, but we're not getting B's here for sure. C. Wow. Okay. Set in the bar, very, very average.

What do you think, okay? I'm the Prince of Positivity. just soon as Jed said, there's definitely no B's. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. I'm willing to go as high as a B. Certainly no higher. So they know higher.

If someone were to tell me B plus, I would be, I would question it. If someone were to go anywhere in the A range, I would think they're maybe crazy. Or without sounding condescending, maybe they're a newer fan to MMA, which is also possible. Because I think Jed frames the right way is, what are we going to remember from this year so far? I do think there's moments that will stand the test of time. I think we're going to get to them without giving way too much. I think we're going to get to them on today's show. So, yeah, I'm definitely willing to say that 2023 so far has not been devoid of memorable moments.

I think there's been some good stuff. I also think it's not more fun, but it's a more like, it's an easier time than ever, I feel like, to be an M.A. fan. And some people might disagree because there's all the UFC cars. But I think that's only if you feel obligated to watch every UFC fight night, which I think if you're an average fight fight, you don't have to. You really don't have to. We do. It's our job.

People have heard us in the preview shows. We harp about it all the time. Our energy levels, let's be honest, aren't always there for UFC, Vegas, 70, whatever. No, that's crazy. I'm sorry to feel the curtain back for people. But if you're able to, like, if you're just a fan and able to watch whatever you want, it's just great. You have so many options. Even beyond Belts or beyond UFC, beyond, you know, the mainstream stuff, like you could go on YouTube and watch Check Republic. If you want to just watch Czech Republic MMA, that's like free on YouTube every weekend. They have their own league. They have great highlights. They have good fighters that will probably be, you know, on a better platform someday. So like it's kind of cool that we are in this age. And this isn't exclusive to 2023. Obviously, this has been probably the trend of the, you know, trending for the last few years. But I count that as far as. 2023 because I do feel like I want to believe people are becoming more aware that there's like

life outside the UFC. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's still so heliocentric around like, you know, North American promotions. But I do like that there's options and I think people are getting excited on stuff outside of the big three for promotions, whatever they may be. So that's really what the B is coming from. I think if we're just talking about like North American, you know, what North American and most watch promotions have given us, I'm probably leaning a little more in Jed's direction. Maybe not below B minus, but I get, I get what Jed's saying. So you're giving it a solid B. Jed, you gave it. I'm a generous B. A generous B. I don't know if it's generous.

No, no. I'm a C to C plus. I think maybe closer to C plus because Belator did have a pretty good start to the year. But I mean, ultimately, the biggest story this year is not a fight. It has nothing to do with Engage. It's Francis and Conn of BFL. And if the biggest story is not a fight, it feels like maybe it's been a pretty mid-year of fights, you know? I would push back on that, that potentially John Jones coming back and sort of doing this thing that he had been talking about for 13 years. That's probably as big of a story as the Francis situation. But I think I sort of split the middle between you guys, because both very on brand.

I respected, I love it, uh, AK going high, Jed going low. I think I'd go right in the middle. I give it like a B minus. It certainly isn't some, a year that I, so far. at least, that I would be, you know, bouncing my grandkids on my knee, telling them about 23, the first half of 2023 and how spectacular it was. But I do think there were some highs and those highs were very high, right? And we'll get into it here shortly. And also, I will say, it seems like the next six months is set up to potentially bump that grade up decently.

Like, we have some pretty, if everything plays out the way that we feel it could, and a lot of that is still question marks. We could be talking about this year in much higher regard by the end of it. Would you agree with that? So if we're doing this show after Fight Week, International Fight Week, it's certainly a boost because the two title fights on that are sensational. And I mean, then we've got Poia G. There are some high water marks coming up. But I'll be honest, part of the downfall for me, and I can't speak for anybody else. Part of the reason I, it's hard to for me to ever envision a year being an A plus year anymore is just simply the oversaturation of it. There is simply so much of it. Like, yeah, Volk Rodriguez is awesome. Morano Pants is awesome.

Poeta Gaci is awesome. Even Aspinall returning. It's like really cool. But we're also going to be getting, you know, Holly Home, Reboy and Silva. We're going to be getting a Bellator car headlined by Logan Frigin Storley. Like, there's just going to be a bunch of the good moments, but then just so much in the middle, just such a wall of sound at us, that it brings everything lower. The highs stand out, but everything sort of has this patina of me.

And I think that that's sort of the reality we live in, and it will be tough for me ever to kind of get past that, I think, at this stage. How far back do you have to go to find an A-plus year in MMA? Oh, I mean, off the top of my hands. Yeah, 2016 sort of jumps out on the top of my head or 2015. So that some of the golden era sort of right there, McGregor Rousey.

Anything in the early 2010s was awesome. I did when I did the rookie class ranking in there and anything in that stretch from like 2011 to 2017, most of those years are really damn good. You just had the influx of talent coming from Strike Force, come from WBC. You had women coming into the UFC. You had all this sort of vibrant. exciting times and now we're i mean the sports too big now for that to really happen unless the ufc acquires you know bellator or whatever that would be sick like that would be an awesome year

if that ever happened frankly that would not be sick for fighters paychecks but it would be it would be helpful for better events certainly the fighters don't care about their paychecks so whatever i've stopped fighting that battle they are okay making pennies i can't care enough for them that's just how life's got to be you know what's crazy and i don't want to get up with the whole tangent but they're not It's not that they don't care about, it's not even just that they don't care. It's like they're aggressively angry when you try and advocate for them. Like, they come after you. How dare you tell me I'm not getting paid enough?

You don't know. It's like, okay, all right. Cool. Just a quick look. I think 2016 is the last year that I would be like is like was hot fire. Two Diaz McGregor fights. I think there's probably a year that we're missing in between then. Oh, because that's about seven years in between.

Yeah, I feel like there was a year in between that. pretty good. I remember being very good. But either way, either way, I think we are all sort of talking around the same area, right? C plus B, B minus. We feel like we're in the same range. But that being said, I do think the highs, as we've said, we're very high. There are already a couple notable, very notable things that we will remember by the time the year ends, several years from now. And I'm sure we'll get more as the year goes on. So let's sort of go through these categories that we have laid out in front of us. You know, you know how they go. I mean, they're the very basic categories. Fighter of the year, submission, knockout, and fight.

And we're just going to talk through some of the biggest moments so far the first six months. And so let's start with fight of the year. Because to me, fight of the year is usually the ultimate judger of the year, right? If you have 20 fight of the year category contenders, it's been a very good year. If you have a few, maybe not so. So in looking at for this podcast, I came up with three that I feel really good about that we will still be talking about probably by the end of the year. Give me some pushback if you feel like there's less or more. I'm happy to hear either way. I am shocked to hear this already, so I'm excited. I have one. I have one fight that truly stands out as in all-timer this year and some others that are good. I have a feeling we have the same one.

So I think all of us would probably agree that Makachev-v-vokinovsky is the fight of the half year. Would you guys agree with that? Absolutely. Undeniably, that's a fight that we will talk about for years to come. That is, I'll be fairly surprised if that doesn't win fight of the year, barring some truly epic shit from. I mean, we got Portia Gaichi coming up, yeah. But the stakes are even different. Like, that fight has to elevate even higher because the stakes aren't the same as they were from Machuzev-Volk.

That is such an important. And for me, fight of the year. I say this every year when we do these things. These awards are almost always for me about a nexus between importance and awesomeness because, like, for K.O. and sub, there are just way cooler things that happen on the regional circuit of M.M.A. Like, there are way more exciting fights that happen in Czechoslovakia, YouTube fights or whatever, but they don't mean as much, so they aren't the fight of the year. They're not the things we talk about. Poria Gachi is probably going to be insane, but it, it

has a high degree of difficulty to catch up to just what Makachev Volk meant as a fight for the sport and the history. How dare you disrespect the BMF title? How the vacant BMF title? How dare you? It wasn't like a balls to the wall, like action fight. It was like, but every moment was so tense. There's a roller coaster.

And real tension, like real tension. Not like- There's a story. Yeah. Not like- Like Inganu, like Lewis, where there was tension just because you're waiting for something to happen and you're waiting for you're hoping to god someone would get knocked out. This was like you really believed, just, you know, if you've seen Volcanowski fight before, if you've seen Bokka 5 before, if you're familiar with their resumes.

Like you really, you really believe like either guy at any moment was going to take the advantage, was going to, was going to impose their will and take the advantage. And I'm sure there was moments where they thought they were going through too. And then they were sort of the other guy would counter or make an adjustment and to prevent that from happening. It was a beautiful thing. I even think, I made that caveat up if you've seen these guys fight before. Because I even think if this was the first time you'd see these guys fight and you're at least as somewhat like a casual fight fan, I think you'd still appreciate it.

I think you'd still, there's still that sense that this is something enormous happening and that these two are just from watching how they move, from watching how they're, you know, how that they exchange, you would know these are two of the best guys in the world fighting. Like you would know. You might not know the level. You might not quite understand like the magnitude of it and like compared to other good fights. But it had that I really feel like it had a broad appeal to it. And I also, I got a credit to the UFC and Makachab and Volkanowski for pulling the trigger and just making the fight happen. Because I think we all agree. Sure, there's a cool world where Volkanowski racks have another couple of title defenses.

Makachev racks up a couple of tel defenses. This was his first tall defense. Like before they fought, great, you know, sure. That would have been cool, too. It's even bigger fight. But the fight game is so fickle that if you can just pull, if you can just pull the trigger. And again, for the most part, people wanted it. It's not that Volkanowski and Mokachchev don't have challengers.

but most people had them number one, number two pound for pound in some order. I know we did. And how often do you get to get to make that happen? So credit to everyone involved for just saying, let's just do this right now. It can happen again. The answer is like three times in history. Yeah, it's rare. The top two pound for Mount Fighters in the world have been within a weight class of each other

to compete and did so. It's like the third time ever. Yeah. And it played out that way. It was an exceedingly close fight. And it was controversial. I think some people say the scoring is controversial, but I think in a good way, not in the kind of way that, like,

annoys me where people are like, oh, this is just like such a blatant robbery. Like, I know some people did call it that. But, like, I like the discussion around the fight. I think, like, this discussion around criteria, what do you value more? Chad, you and I have joked about what do people want Machinchev to get super back control or something.

But I enjoyed the discourse around it, which isn't always the case with these big fights that ended up in the controversy. So. He had super back. The buildup was good, the fight itself was good, and I still feel like the discussion after and the possibility of them fighting again. I'm looking forward to it. Again, I don't know how soon I want that to happen, but it left me wanting more while also being a fantastic fight. So I don't

know what else you can, you know, you can ask for from a contests like that. I think that's the one thing that sticks with me most four months later, four months after the fact of just looking back on it. Because we've, Jed, you said it. We've had one versus two before. Not very often. It's a very special, very singular thing when it does happen. But we've had it a couple of times before. And we've also just had a lot of champ versus champ fights, like, especially in the last couple years. Like, it's just been something that we see. There's a much more common now.

Yeah. It's not very often. In fact, I would say it's exceedingly rare that any of those type of fights, the one versus two or the champ versus chance, actually deliver a very good fight, right? Like, often it is a very, either a one-sided fight or just kind of a bad fight. And yet this was easily, I think, not even in my opinion, just generally, like, accepted to be the best champ versus champ fight we've ever had. And it was the best version of one versus two just in terms of a pure in cage action, how it played out. Right. Like this was,

like we said, a roller coaster. This was rollicking. Like the momentum swings. It felt incredibly tense all the way through. And even just the fact that it does leave you with like, oh, you know, I thought Volk won. I thought Islam won. Just that level of a debate that shows you that that was that close of a fight and that competitive of a fight. And just, you know, coming away from it being, I think most people came away from that being more impressed by Volcanovsky, who was the loser, rather than Islam, who is the winner, which again speaks to the tremendous just value of that fight, just in from an incaged perspective that the loser was able to imprint such, you know, like a memory on people like that. I agree. I think this is going to be hard to beat, but also just the sheer fact that this delivered, not very often you could say that, man. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time.

Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun! The morning will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close to you, call 1866-3-3-1-2-60 or visitcomex-xonterio.ca.

With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Very, very true. If you, frankly, if you're doing your own list and this isn't your number one, you're just wrong, man. I guess there's nothing else to say this is, there is only one choice for one. And that's why I said to kick this section off, I was like, I don't really have. This is the only one, like this is clearly number one for me, and it's the only one that's in that tier of here's a fight we're going to think about in, you know, 20 years.

Here's a fight in the next three years. If I'm looking back to 2023, that's the first fight I'll think of, whereas there are other good fights. We're going to talk about them next, but I'm excited to see who you have because I don't have anything that even, frankly, approaches this one in terms, in my regard. Yeah, and let me just, let me add, like, I feel like that's kind of also. speaks to why we've been disappointed with like we've given such a rough letter grade to the rest of the year so far because i'm almost sure shahen i'm almost sure i can quote you like after the is the the makachev wokov wokovokov vokovic fight because this was what february february february i think you said something i think it was you it might even you're jett or someone in our panel wasn't me

but says on the effect of like that is such an amazing fight and man if that is not the fight of the year like by the end of the year like if we have two any fights that top that it's going to be a great it's going to be a fantastic year well no fights have topped it yet so we haven't it's been kind of mediocre. We got six months to go. We got six months ago. We have six months. Plenty of time. We don't even know what will be booked later. Plenty of time. Yeah. I began this segment by saying there were two others that stuck out to me. And I agree, Jed, that this is, Islam Volk is on a tier one. It is by itself. And then I would say tier two is empty. S tier. That's what the kids are saying these days.

S tier. Bang. Islam Volk. A tier, I would leave it empty right now. But I do think B tier, there's a couple that I would throw in. one, Rachmanov versus Jeff Neal. I feel like that still held up. That was exciting. Jeff Neal sort of perform better than I think a lot of people expected he would. And that was the test that we were waiting for Shavkat to get. It was just very exciting all the way through and a hell of a finish. And then also just a man who we've already mentioned a couple times, Justin Gachie and Physiev.

I mean, that was a banger. I'll go back and watch that any day. Like that was just a really fun fight, just like any Justin Gachie fight was. It feels like the baseline for a Gachie fight is like a B tier on this sort of fight. of the year list and that hit exactly with the baseline of what I would want from a gaichi fight. I got absolutely no issues with those as kind of that B tier of things. I would also, I'll throw out, and this is perhaps personal because I was watching this one, Cage Side, and I don't, I haven't, don't really know how that felt live watching on TV,

but Max Holloway, Arnold Allen was like the most tense thing I'd ever seen sitting Cage Side. it was a really damn good fight watching it from there and just hearing the shots and the fight was a lot closer in person than I think it was on TV. So for me, that was a really good one. It's a good shot. I don't know if you guys felt the same watching it at home or not. But I definitely wanted to shot that one out as well. I got to show some. Sorry, Shane, I don't think you mentioned this one.

Chris Curtis and Calvin Gaslow? No, that was also good. I should say Calvin Gaslam. The headbutts seen around the world by every. one except for whoever was referee. It's unfortunate that so much the discussion after, because I remember the night of a lot of discussion was, man,

Calvin's back and people were so great. Like, this is the Calvin we knew was still there. He's still young and still going to run. And then, like, unfortunately, Chris Curtis got a bit annoyed by the, the miss head button and went a bit of a social media rampage.

I think I don't blame. I would be annoyed by that too. I don't blame him. He got torpedoed in the face by a skull. But that did small skull, either. That did overshadow, I think some of the positive discourse.

And then he got headbutted again in the Mavov fight. And now, like, people are almost forgetting what a great, like, battle that was with Gaslam. And you mentioned things being personal. This one was personal for me because I took a lot of crap for the longest time for keeping Gaslop in my rankings. I did take him out before this. He, I think by the time he finally got an actual win, I'd at least had him out for a few

months. But after he won that fight, I'm like, I feel somewhat justified in having hang around a long time because he we know what a skilled guy he is there's just always been circumstances around uh you know his his not reaching his potential whether it's competing in the wrong weight class or losing a weird split decision to darin till or just fighting guys who are better than him like that's why i didn't want to drop him like i was just like oh he's losing to robert whittaker and jack herb like good guys losing a good guy so um it was nice it was a nice to see a vintage gas slum performance and it and a great back and forth fight but

one that, like, I knew Calvin Gasson still had in him and has me very excited for what he has going forward, even though he's facing a killer in Shavcott and fingers crossed, making that cut down to 170 again. I'm very intrigued by the Welterweight thing, just to see, because we've done this so many times with Kelvin, but it's been a while. We've had a nice, like, couple year break here between the last Walter Wade attempt. So I'm curious to see whether it works out for him. Let's move on, though.

We've got a couple other categories here. This next one is Fighter of the Year, which is almost like the MVP. race, right? Like halfway through the NBA season, there's always the half year check-in to see who's leading the MVP race. It's a little harder for us because six months isn't a lot of time. So there's a very limited amount of high-tier fighters who have competed more than once. I think you can find people who have competed more than once. And shout out to Gilbert Burns, already three so far in 2023. Man is just rolling through it, two and one in those three. If he had beaten Boul Muhammad, he would be my fighter of the year at this point, no question to ask.

You took the words right out of my mouth. If you're 3 in 0 by June, you're snapping that up. Also, I'll shout out Johnny Walker and Brendan Allen, both of whom, also Jailton Almeida as well. So how could I forget Jailton? Of course. All of them, 2 and 0. But so far to me, it feels like this is probably a three horse race by the end of the year, depending on sort of how these next results play out between Israel, Asana, Alexa Grasso, and John Jones.

And so I would throw it to you guys, who do you feel like as sort of the frontrunner right now with what they've already done, but also sort of what's ahead? Couldn't disagree more. So I'm going to let AK respond to you before I come in over the top with different arguments. Listen, I'm all in on that Israel Adisanya finally, you know, conquering Alex Padetta. I mean, I've just got to give him the nod right now. like I give him so much credit for the way he handled the loss. The loss was at what, December, right? That was December, end of last year, December?

November maybe. No, I think it was October, maybe. October. Anyway, the last quarter. It was the end of last year. Yeah, last quarter of last year. Loses again, technically for the third time of this guy. You know, first time in MMA, of course, first time in a UFC fight.

But the whole narrative, it's been, we've gone over at ad nauseum. He just can't beat this guy. He can't beat him. And he lost, he doesn't just lose. he lost in a way he'd lost before, which was he seemed to be leading the dance and he gets knocked out, this time on an infinitely bigger stage. Because again, listen, the amount of people who saw that, let's just say in North America, who saw that first fight live is one, 100,000th of probably the amount of people that ended up

watching their actual first M. May fight. So everything was magnified. And then I love that he went that May hour after. He said he would. He told Ariel he would. He's a man of his word. He just seemed to handle the loss really well, which wasn't super surprising. when we know about Izzy, he's pretty like self-confident and self-aware, which, you know,

is good at good at times and bad at times, but has served him well. And then for him to, you know, of course, want to immediately get that rematch and be granted it and then take care of business so emphatically was just awesome to see. And I want to say he's going to have a strong case to finish as the fighter of the year. But yes, the whole, you know, presumably he's defending his title in Sydney, UFC 292, still waiting an opponent and no one's really jumping up. I don't want to get, I don't want to get Jed Sturdy. I actually think there's a very good chance he doesn't defend that title at that event.

Oh, that's, that's, that's kind of, there's only rumors that they're not even doing it at a pay-per-view for something more. That very much might just turn into a fight night. Brutal. Well, hopefully he defends the title anyway, before the end of the year, there's no reason you shouldn't. And in that sense, maybe the time it could work out to have a little more, one of the more intriguing challengers emerged. But, yes, just for that one win, again, like we said,

there's other champions or people who became champions who just have that one win. And yeah, certainly we can have them on the list. But if I'm going number one right now, the most memorable, the fighter who did the most for their career, I'm going to say, I'm going to give Izzy the nod here. It's close, though. It's not like by and mile. It's close. No, I mean, I think I'm with you. I've been kind of vacillating back and forth between him and Grasso.

But I think I sort of land in the same place where just like you look at sort of the signature moment, the signature highlight of this year. And it is Izzy. It is Izzy knocking out. Alex Pereira. Like there has been no moment that has been more memed. There's been no moment that has been in more fan edits, more more fan videos, just been on TikTok and Instagram and whatever else and 80 different versions than that moment. Like we have seen that moment ad nauseum since it happened. And it just, what it meant professionally, personally, the emotion afterwards beforehand, that whole fight week, just that whole storyline. It feels to me like that's sort of the signature

story and highlight of the whole year so far. And so I would agree with you. I mean, I'd lean, is he, I think he may have a tough way to, tough road to sort of win fighter of the year, because I don't know that beating of Robert Whitaker for the third time will sort of be looked at as highly as maybe some other fights and wins that other guys and women will be able to get. But sort of at this six-month check-in, I lean that way as well. But Grasso, I gave a lot of weight too. I almost sort of just pushed it her direction because, again, that face crank, I can't,

I will never get the image out of my head of sort of her, like. the moment she releases it and it almost just looks like Valentina has the world's worst sunburn with different color tone, the white and red on her face from the pressure of that face crank. But I'm very curious to hear your opinion on this, Jed. You're sort of sitting here bemused by our whole conversation. Hit us. What do you got so far? Well, I think your guys are almost all the way wrong about everything.

Here's where all smart. Fair, fair. If we're looking at this as a projection of who will win fighter of the year, my votes are going to obviously be super wrong. You'll find out why in a moment. I would say that if that's the kind of contours of the conversation, I think Izzy probably is the frontrunner to be fighter of the year at the end of the year because if he does get one title of defense,

frankly, if it is over Robert Whitaker, I think that's a phenomenal year for him. He avenges, he beats his nemesis, and he beats the consensus second best dude, even though already has two wins over him. It doesn't matter. He gets another win. Maybe it's spectacular.

I think he's the leader in the clubhouse. I say he's the leader in that because I do not personally believe John Jones will fight again this year. If John Jones fights Stepe Mietich and wins this year, this is not conversation. There's just no conversation to be had. John Jones is going to win fighter of the year if he gets one more fist fight this year. I think you're right. I think you're right. unless Alexa does something

unless Alexa finishes Valentina twice then I think she will very have a very good case. If Alexa Grasso does a spinning flying triangle arm bar it will not matter if John Jones returns after a three year layoff becomes a two division champion

and then goes and waxes steep in November it just the narrative will be too strong regardless of the quality of win or whatever. John Jones will be your 2023 Friday of the few fights one more time. I just personally don't thing that's going to happen. For me, for this, I chose to just look at it at the six-month mark.

And so we're not talking about, you know, fighters we will necessarily remember forever, though maybe. For me, it was who did the most so far this year. Who has been the most pound for pound, you know, dollar for dollar, thrilling television to watch. And it's a man you mentioned, Jeanne, it's Jelton Almeida. Two fights up, two finishes, two performance bonuses. Nobody else is doing that.

I had Brendan Allen on the short list. I had Ian Gary there as well. But for me, looking back at this, I kind of just wanted to give shoutouts to the people who are out here grinding who are putting in the work, getting big Ws, and who won't be in the end of year conversation. I know for a fact, unless Jailton gets two more wins of this magnitude, he's not going to be in the top five.

But I'm looking at them from that. The last thing I'll say on this, I think, well, I think it's, you know, John and Izzy are two sort of the top horses, right now. I would say that's only because of narrative because

nobody has mentioned him yet. Brandon Moreno is about to defend his title against Elhani Panthers. He has lost two twice. He already has a dominant win in the quadrilogy, tetrology with Figgie Smalls. He beats pants in July

in a week from now, which I'm picking him to do that's a hard-ass fight. If we did this show next week, Brandon and Brandon Moreno wins. He is my fighter of the year at this moment in time, unquestionably, and he still has room to get a third fight in there against... I mean, it looks like Brandon Hoyval.

If he has a year where he beats Figgie Smalls, Al-Hanthantosia, and Brandon Royval, people won't love it because, you know, flywates never get the love. He will be my fighter of the year this year because I don't care if Leon Edwards comes back and beats, you know, Colby Covington or whatever, or Jamal Hill beats... We finally get a yeary fight. The only person that would beat

Brandon Moreno for me in that scenario is maybe we can maybe have a conversation about Izumachachev if he goes out and dust Oliver again because fight of the year win over Volk and smoking, you know, Charles Olivera, one of the most exciting fighters of all time, former champion a second time. That's also a very good resume.

But for me, I'm predicting Brandon Moreno for end of the year. So three things. One, I mean, you're playing to the crowd right now. You're playing to the perfect audience with the Jailton. I made a pick. You know that A.K. and I love the Jailton. I made a pick. You will get no argument for me whatsoever about that man deserving anything.

The man hasn't been punched in 2023. I love it. And never will. And never will. Never will. That is the future champion. I'm here for that. Two, I will say I am somewhat surprised by your complete.

dismissal of Grasso in this conversation for a couple of reasons. One, because A, you lost your entire bank account on that fight because you didn't see it coming. I have a very good answer for this, by the way. You were so stunned by that account or so stunned by that result that you literally lost your entire bank account on it. Like that to me plays a part of it. You don't have to keep saying it. You don't have to keep saying it. I feel like I need a hammered home. But also, like, you have been the number one Valentina Shvchenko Stan in my life for, like, three or four years talking about how good this woman is and how no one else stands a chance, and she just rises so far above the rest of the division.

And she finally loses in, like, a really interesting, surprising, like, brutal way. And you're sort of just sweeping it under the rug. That, to me, is surprising, especially if Grasso does it again, like a lot of people who who seem to upset the champion, do they consistently seems to happen again, unless you're Giuliana Pena. And it's just two and O over Valentina. It's surprising to me for you to discount her in that respect.

Number three, I think the Brandon Marino shout is a great, great shout, because if you're three and O as a champion in a calendar year, you're probably a fighter of the year. I would just say that. I mean, you should be. Here's my response to the Grasso thing. It's a fair criticism.

I hear to say it's not. But I've been pretty firmly on the record for this since starting with MMA fighting, however many years ago that was. Tremendous accomplishment if she goes out and defends her title, she will be winning an award that we'll talk about in just a moment here. For me, I don't give a ton of credence to beat in the same fighter twice. I mean, I don't, it's not like a bad thing, but the year Max Holloway was the MMA fighting fighter of the year,

I went hammering tongs with people because Max just beat Josealdo twice. and as great as I think Josie Aldo is, beating the same fighter twice is not to me nearly as impressive as beating an array of fighters, no matter how good that guy is, because styles make fights, you have a guy's number,

you have a guy's number. That's sort of just how it works in my head. If Grasso wins, tremendous accomplishment, nothing to take away from her, but that we'll probably get her in the top five because it's such an important thing, but it won't stack up to, is he getting two wins?

John Jones gets wins. wins. This is a half-year check-in. This is a half-year check-in. So I'm just talking about today. And I thought you said... All of my half-year people were due to won multiple fights. Sure. Well, I thought you said, Makachev would love to. I thought you said Makachev would get points if he beat Charles Oliver. We're talking about right now today.

Yeah, that's if he beats Oliver. It's not beating a guy. It's just not beating the same person in the same year. Two wins over Valentina is an incredible accomplishment. But to me, that will stack up less highly than, you know, Machicev beating Volk and Olavera, or Izzy beating Whitaker and Pereira, or the three that Moreno could have. If you were just telling me,

I got to just pick who are the fighters we're going to talk about the most at the half year. I think Grasso is probably number one or number two, frankly, from that win. But I wanted to give some shine to, you know, the Jelton Almeda, the Brendan Allen, the people who are putting in work a lot and delivering great performances that should be memorable. Understandable. What if Grasso snuck in another title defense in December? If she gets another title defense in September.

December, she's spending in September. Yeah. Yeah, she could sneak in. Well, the problem is if she's doing that, she's probably beating Aaron Blanchfield. Yeah. And I'll tell you what. I mean, then the discussion's over. If she puts two dubs on Valentina and then rolls up Blanchfield, I rescind my Moreno statement.

We're talking about one of the greatest years we've ever seen at that point. I don't think that's happening for, I think Aaron Blanchfield is the champion without a title for the next year until she gets a chance. I mean, you'll get no argument from me on that one. But let's keep it moving because I think we're about to talk about Alexa Grasso a lot more. submission of the year. This is really a one-fight race for me. I mean, you can throw out whatever honor roll mentions you want, but Grasso over Shivchenko by face crank feels like the shoe and winner. It's going to take something really tremendous to beat it. I mean, this is it, right? This is the lock of all the locks for the categories. I wouldn't say it's the lock of all the

locks just because I think fight of the year is pretty much that same lock of all locks. But I think this is a clear number one. I have an honorable mention that I'm a particular fan of that in other years would have a great shot at it. But again, nexus of quality and importance. No more important moment has happened this year. There have been other equally important moments. No moment that is more important, more iconic, the image of Chevchenko with red-faced,

the image of me looking live on, on Eminem. fighting.com website as my dreams. Boop. It's all just, it's too much. I think this is very, very, very likely to win this at the end of the year and certainly gets it at the half year. I was going to say this is, I would almost say it's more of a lock than Makashev Volcanowski's. I feel like we're going to get a more, maybe a high level fight that's, I agree with.

I mean, not higher level in terms of skill, but high level, I don't know, high level fight in terms of excitement. Again, of course, we're thinking about Dustin Gage Gage two and, and. And who knows what else gets booked. So I'd say this chance. But then I realized Olivera is probably going to submit Machachev in their rematch when that happens. So that will become the submission of the year. So, definitely I can't say.

I can't say this. If he does that. If Oliverer submits Mockachev, that is your submission. That's the new one. So I cannot. That is going to happen. So I cannot say that this is a lock. Stay on that train for every.

I am not off yet. I respect the loyalty. But yeah, this is the number one. Shout out honorable mention, I think. For me, a pretty clear number two is Shavkat Rachmanov, Jeff Neal, which got a little bit of loving the fighter of the year combo. But just I loved everything about this because it looked for all the world like Jeff Neal is about to be the first guy to see the scorecards against Shavkao Rackmanov.

He's going to lose, but he's going to be the first guy who gets that moral victory. And then the last minute Chavkot's like, nah, bro, here's a bulldog choke while we're standing against the fence, get out of my cage. I love Shavkarakmanov, like my grown adult son, and he's the number two for me at the half year. Give me any standing bulldog joke. It's just like by far one of the most viscerally brutal things to watch. Just somebody get dumped on the floor after a standing bulldog.

It's rough. It's, I love it so much because people who don't know Jack about fist fighting can look at that and be like, that sucks. Like, you show somebody in Arm Bar who, like, has no concept of fighting? It's like, I don't really know what's going on here. Like, unless they can see the grimace of pain, like, what's happening? Why is the fight over? That's weird.

Everybody has a visceral understanding of that dude, that hurts, man. Don't want to be that guy. I love it so much. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those.

Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region.

See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of food. fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton cross-training tread plus powered by Peloton IQ built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at Onepeloton.ca. Yeah, that's nasty. It's the kind of thing. I think, and was Shopcott, he would have probably

won a decision. It was a good fight. It was a great back and forth fight. Neil gave him absolute hell. He was winning the third round would have won the decision pretty cleanly. Neil was all but toasted. Yeah. Eating a lot of work in that third. And that's what we like to see. We love to see fighters who, listen, winning decisions is great too. We're not saying every fighter who's going to be a star has to be this like killer knockout or submission machine or whatever. They don't have to be. But when you show you have that side of your stuff, man it makes you and we're already talking about Shabkat a lot like we're already you know

before that we're all predicting Shopcott as a future champion at the very least like it'd be shocking if he never fought for a title then he gets a great test in Neil I think we all agree he was a great test I think he was probably like a significant favorite but you know anyone who's watched Neil the guy's been in fantastic form in the past few years so it was so for him to not settle not settle for like getting the scorecard he's like I want to put this away I don't even I don't want to hear the judges I don't want to hear that from He hates judges. He hates judges.

He's judge averse. He and Jailton Almeda, just can't stand him. No. They put judges out of work if they could. So yeah, it's great to see. Again, you really want to see someone who can just has an extra gear and says, I'm going to put this exclamation point on a performance. And it's not easy to do at the UFC level.

To the most part, let me tell you, when you get to the level, he's out especially. And he certainly did the damn thing. Well, let's move on. We have one more big of the big four categories here left. And to me, this is the category that has the deepest amount of options so far in 2023. Definitely this year. Absolutely, right?

Like firework display for the 4th of July, the knockout of the year. I mean, I can just throw out a bunch right now. I don't know if you guys have others, something that stands out to you outside of this list, but I would just try. I think there's a very clear number one. Well, I think I was about to say. Everything else is pretty good. It's also really good.

But Izzy, Alex, too, is the clear number one, right? is just the same as what I said for Fight of the Year. This is the most memeable knockout so far we've gotten this year. You have seen the most fan edits, most different versions of this video, this clip, the celebration afterwards, everything, everything that goes into it. I would also throw out, though, Ismail Bomb Feme, beaten Terrence McKinty with a flying knee, Lorenz Larkin, beaten Machmedov-Berkamoff with the standing elbow, Edson Barbosa, Billy Q, with the knee, patchy mix, half-eone Stots with the knee.

Lots of knees, lots of knee this year. This is the year of the knee. Sadabu Sadiouc versus Shane Mitchell. We just saw that this past weekend with the spinning wheel kick. Also, the KSW punch from the bottom. I can't pronounce either of these gentlemen's names, but the punch from the bottom of Mount. That was one. And then there was also a really-

Kovaki. There you go. Close enough. Close enough. And then one other that I would mention would be the standing elbow KO from the road to UFC. I cannot pronounce this gentleman's name who beat Hansol Kim with the standing elbow.

elbow, but tremendous stuff all around. Where would you guys sort of land with this category? Do you agree, Izzy, Alex is the number one? And would you sort of, is there any else you would throw in that? I'm so tempted to make a case for my boy. Let me try this again. Govatsky. Gobachki. I'm going to say, Christoph, my boy, Christoph, because I just had never seen anything like that before. And I get it. It's a weirdo freak show fight. I don't know if they're both boxers. I know I know Christoph is a boxer. I can't remember his opponent was also a boxer. And again, that's the, only the kind of knockout you're getting where, you know, one guy has that kind of great punching power and the other guy is probably not a super high level mixed martial artists either.

I just, I'm struggling because, you know, we do cover a lot of regional stuff when we get the chance and like, I don't think I've ever seen knockout from the bottom. We've, of course seen. Uriah Hall had one on tough. From the bottom. Oh, Dylan Andrews. Dylan Andrews. With like, like, he was using elbows and stuff.

He was in the bottom of guard, though. Yeah, I don't think he was in Mount. I don't think he was mounted. Yeah, that's the, yeah, I don't think he was mounted. I don't think he had guard because we've seen very rarely chaos from full guard, which are like still impressive. And that's was one of the things that was created that sort of mystique around your eye, obviously, and then also the Adam Chella, the spin kick of death.

And thank God I'm only saying that. I figured really Adam Chella, I think did fight again after that, fortunately. Or maybe it's not a good thing he fought again. Anyway, but yeah, I just never seen this before. we've seen Alexo Linick, you know, submit people from being mounted, right? That's his whole deal, the Elisichio choke, right? But a knockout, like a clear K.O. It was so cool.

So we have to take stakes in an account. It really can't be number one. When I think of the first half of 2023, regardless of just knockout, the most exciting moment for me was, is he pulling that off and finally getting that W? And then the celebration. And again, mileage may vary with these things. I love that kind of spectacle. And it just added to what was already, like, again, one of the best finishes, I think,

in a UFC title fight and definitely the best KO of the half year so far. Well, in particular, right, you look at the context of that whole sequence. Up until the moment that Izzy actually lands the knockout punch, it looked like history was repeating itself all over again, right? Like, it looked like Alex was about to do the damn thing once again. And then it's just like the way we talk. about is he forever for the rest of all of our lives is so vastly different than the than the reality we now live in but he pulled it off i agree with you yeah it's it's the most

arguably it's like one of the five most meaningful knockouts of all time if you consider what what the inverse is like i mean just think think about what happens if you loses like right because he's against the fence i know that is he says he was playing possum i just don't buy it frankly. Like that just feels like a thing that fighters say. He was kind of getting moved around the cage been pretty bad ways in that fight.

And he saw... The light kicks had done their damage too. They added up. Absolutely. And like he's... Maybe he wasn't as badly hurt or whatever, but regardless, if he doesn't score that knockout,

that fight is trending in a very poor direction for him, certainly. And if he loses, and we're talking about a guy who's the second greatest middleweight in UFC. history. I think after the loss of Pereira, he probably can't really ever climb Mount Anderson Silva at this point in time, but he loses that. And now it's what, what's happening to him. This guy, he has been vexed by Alex Pereira his entire combat sports career. Where does he go?

Does he move to 205? It's the, the pair, like the sliding doors moment of that CO is one that I think will resonate for years to come of what could have been. So, One of the most important knockouts, certainly in recent UFC history, I think, and undeniably the one. But, AK, I love the Christoph Glovakie fight. I think that that is one that I will certainly have in my list at the end of the year because it is so unique. I mean, I genuinely don't know if you've ever seen. I feel like I've seen some things close to that, but not the same. And so I know it's happened before because I perused around the internet when it did.

but it's so unique and rare that it's a unicorn. It deserves at least to be lauded as such, even though it's a big show. It happened at a big show. Obviously, not a big, not a big fight with big stakes, but at a massive show. But yeah, so he deserves to be lauded as such. And then the rest of them that were mentioned, all great. But for me, the one I really want to give shine to is patchy mix on Haufian Stats. Tremendous.

Tremendous. I mean, I didn't know Mix could do that. I didn't know that that was, I thought Mix was just, he just grapples some peoples. And then he just cold it because that's the big part also for KOs on me outside. You know, it's wanted to be important. I want the aesthetics to be awesome. Like I think the greatest knockout in mixed martial arts history as far as I'm concerned is Francis on Alistair Overeem because it didn't matter. And it's just the coolest shit you've ever seen in your life.

The photo. The photo of his head popping on. off like a champagne court. I mean, I could just rewatch a loop of that boop, boop, boop over. It's unbelievable. And you get that with the mixed Stott's things. I mean, he just goes flatline down. Izzy's also his flatline,

but it's like a combination of punches that does it. So maybe that docks like a half point from the total. The mixed one is pure and clean, and it mitts so much to Bellator and, frankly, to the non-UFC band and weight division and where we go from here. It's an honorable mention for me, even if it's not the one. Can I just say...

Just really quickly, one aspect of what you just said rings so true, and I hadn't thought about it, but it's 100% right. I didn't know you could do that. That element of a knocker. It's the one or no Mergametteau thing. Yeah. If you can walk away being like, wow, I did not know he could do that. That has such a fun element to any of these, and that's a great point.

you MFers better have Patchy Mix ranked above Henry Suhudo when those rankings come I'm sorry I guess we haven't done a ranking show

in a bit guys I pause I'm getting a little bit antsy but you guys better have him ranked above Henry Suhudo otherwise we're gonna have a problem

we are going to have a problem if I don't see that name above Henry Sehudo going forward I'll check real quick oh okay Hold on. Oh, wait, I see Jet moving names now. He's in the doc moving names now.

He's in our shared doc. We haven't done anything on. We haven't done a ranking show in like a year. Listen, listen, I already had, well, people know, I don't want to get in this whole thing, but I already had Patchy and Bix well ahead of Henry Zahudo because Henry Sudo wasn't in there. I hope that this is the case. If I see anyone rank Henry Sehudo above Patchy Bich after that, it's a spectacular knockout.

I didn't know you could do that knockout. I will be very upset. And they have to bump Sergio up to you. They have to have some people kicked off the panel. I'm just saying if I see that. I will say, I'm glad you gave shout out to Patchy. I want to give also a special shout out to another Bell Tour guy who I'm very much predicting is not going to be on anybody's list by the end of the year. But should be Lorenz Larkin's standing elbow knockout of Brickamoff was.

That was pretty cool. Incredibly brutal. And I just called this the year of the knee. It's also kind of the year of the standing elbow. we're getting a lot of these. And I just love the aesthetic nature. You're talking about the aesthetics. The aesthetics of Larkins right there was just sensational.

And to me, I've always loved Lorenz. He's always been sort of an underdog, dark horse guy in this division that people forget about. That was a nice reintroduction, I think, for a lot of people. Like, oh, yeah, this guy's been around. He's been really good for a long time. He left the UFC as like sort of a top eight, top seven guy in this division, and they completely got forgotten about. So I really appreciate Lorenz sort of re-emerging in this.

sense that like he did last year. And there was a little story there too because the first fight with Berkhamov, Berkimov, Berkimov. Berkimov? You just went through like five versions of it. Berkham. Which one is it? The third one.

Berkimov. I don't know, just whichever one. Help me. The third, this was a rematch because the first fight had ended in, it was iPok, I think, iPok or groin strike. It was in no contest.

Don't recall. You guys don't even remember this. Well, there was, well, to have to his point. Yes, it's always nice when people have a rematch when the first fight, you know, ended in unsatisfying no contest, something like that. And it's ended in such emphatic fashion.

And he was, I believe, an underdog in the first matchup because his opponent has this crazy, like what, like 24 and something record, right? He's got this, you know, one of those loaded. I'm not entirely sure who they're fighting, but certain looks impressive records. And Mukamed Berkimo, thank you. 15 and 15 and oh 15 and what was he 15 and 1 15 and 1 when he ran into

Lawrence Larkin so a lot of people assumed that he take the advantage oh I'm sorry I look it up here a elbow to the back of the head is how the first ended and then poetically a proper elbow to the front of the face and to end of the second fight so yeah it's a aesthetically aesthetically pleasing a little bit of a storyline in there and a really really really big win for for Larkin anything else you guys want to mention that we haven't mentioned so far before we get out of here. It's been, again, a very, I think, interesting year, up and down, a lot of events, some good, some not so good. We've set some highs as we've talked about, some lows as well. Anything that we haven't mentioned so far before we get out here that you want

to mention. I'm just going to throw this out there because I think it's still the funniest thing that's happened this year. And it's from our great friends in BKFC who have leaned all the way into Mike Perry, which, look, if you're going to be going to... to lean into a particular niche of MMA. The Mike Perry one, you can do a lot worse. And Mike Perry, one, there are so many good quotes from Mike Perry on the buildup to his fight with Luke Rockhold at BKFC 41, I think. The one that I'm going to say is obviously the, you're the booger man now after putting

a booger on Luke Rockhold. This is his most infantile, incredibly funny thing. and it still makes me giggle to this day. But a quick shout out to in the same interview, Mike Perry, when Luke Rockhold's talking about, like, what he's going to do to him.

And you don't know, you've never seen anybody like me, bro. Like, I've got the tools. Mike Perry just looks and goes, it's a left or a right. It's not that confusing. It's a left or right hand.

Work, some head movement. You're a South Palm Orthodox. You're a range, I'm an inside fighter. it's not that confusing bro it's just the most incredible Mike Perry response to the Krocold trying to be like

I'm going to show you things like is boxing man we're just going to hit each other it's not that hard just still a plus efficiency yeah a plus economy of words there of Mike just getting a crossing exactly what he needs it's the left or right it's not that confusing is such an

unbelievably cold ether verbal verbal KEL of the year for Mike Perry then he wins the actual fight and pretty, you know, brutalizes Rockhold. Yeah, brutalizes him. And then has the face off McGregor. So, I mean, that's the best week for a fight. Maybe Mike Perry fight in the year.

We miss out here. I'm no fan of Mike Perry at all personally, but boy, if we're talking about who is one of the most talked about fighters of the first six months, he's. He has to be top three, I think. And he set himself up for massive raise. Yes. And I'm including, like, thinking about Izzy, thinking about John Jones, about Alex de Grasso, I would comfortably slot him in there as far as people like, if we're just talking about who fight fans were talking about, who would be like actually talking about,

social media impressions, whatever you want to, he's in there somewhere. I think he's in that top three. I think he not bumps one of those names out of the top three. He was so, his popularity just boomed with the BKFC, that one week with BKFC. It was incredible. Absolutely true. I also, I just got to add this in because I forgot, like I'm pulled up the article now so I could have that quote on the bugger man quote um this maybe is just an award for how absolutely clueless

luke rockhold is really because further down in their like conversation rockold asks and i quote who the f has ever put me out with one shot mike joel romero perry quickly replied then there's a whole other statement from luke rockhold's like justifying it and perry jumps in Michael Bisping, his left hand. You can't say stuff like, who's ever put me out with one shot when there's a laundry list of people who have done that? I love everything about BKFC 41 is really what I'm trying to get at. Give me BKFC 41 fight week over again and again and again.

Who's ever put me out with one shot, Mike? Yo, Romero, Michael Bisping, Jan Blovich, do I need to keep going? incredible. That's all I got. That's the only thing I need to talk about. This is more BKFC in our lives. Real quick, before we get out here, because this has been sticking with me since that whole thing went down. And I still don't know the right answer, but I know which side of the fence I fall on. When it comes to the Bougar man debate, are you team one word or team two words? Is it, is it Bougar man with no space or is there a space between Bougar? I'm very clear one word. That's got to be a one word.

It's like a superhero. You're like a superhero. It's like boogeyman, but booger man. Boogie man would be one word. Boogie man or Booger Woman would be one word. It's just like Superman. Superman's one word.

Booker man is right. Now here's my, here's my counter to that because I think I'm the other one. Yes, boogie man is one word. Superman's one word. I'm your boogie man by Casey and the Sunshine Band. Two words.

No. I feel like that's that's really where I'm, I'm not coming from the boogie man. I'm coming from the booger man. I'm your boogam man. See, I just really like him anointing him as almost this superhero-esque figure. What you want.

I just really want to listen to Casey and the Sunshine Band. I was saying, respectfully, I don't go to Casey and the Sunshine Band for my grammatical answers. Oh, I used it. I just made a lot of people angry. A lot of those got super angry with me. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry.

We're trying to end a positive note here. I just angered a huge, huge set of our fans. our producer case he probably supports not going to casey in the sunshine band since they don't spell it the same oh okay well there we go let's go listen to casey's the sunshine band this has been the half year check-in for mhm a fighting we appreciate y'all for joining us as always that man is jed mishu a man is alexander k lee i'm ashore shoddy it's been a fun half here so far and let's uh hope the second half of the year gives us a lot more to talk about i'm sure it will in the meantime keep it locked to this wonderful website,

this wonderful podcast network, and we will be back with you soon. Enjoy the fights. Love y'all. Podcast Network.