MMA Fighting - 2024 Half-Year Awards: Debating the Best Fighter, Fights, KOs, Submissions So Far This Year

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

While some years in MMA seem like they go by so quickly, for some reason, 2024 has already seemed like three years have gone by with the highs and lows the sport has had to offer. But it's all about the best of the best through the first half of the year. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they discuss the staff picks for Best Fighter, Fight, Knockout, Submission, and more so far this year. Who will take home these prestigious Half-Year Awards? Did we get them right? Tune in to find out! Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter 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 Cudulian 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-by 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?

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Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2024 MMA fighting mid-year award show. Yes, thank you for joining us to celebrate the very best in the world of MMA over the past six months. I am Mike Hacken joining me to run down these awards, to discuss these awards, maybe even have some great discussion about these awards. He's Mr. No Gray area himself, the hot take kid, the Baron of Boop, Jed Bishu. Jed, welcome to this magical show. I am honestly, like really excited about this, Mike. I know that maybe this isn't exactly the iteration we had thought of,

or maybe something a bit more grand, a bit more people. But I'm just pretty pumped to talk with you about this because we kind of came to this a little fly by the seat of our pants. Hey, we're at the half year. We should do something. This has not been something, you know, to peel the curtain back that we've been planning for months. But as we kind of started to do it,

and I dove into these categories. It was one, a really nice refresher on kind of the year that's been because it feels like it's been three years since January, frankly. And two, really competitive races this year for me. I know that others won't agree, and I certainly think with kind of where we landed, that's a bit ubiquitous around kind of the space for people's kind of suggestions here. but I think that you, if you had a number of choices,

I wouldn't begrudge you for most of these categories. I think there are, it's maybe not like the super, super high end that we've had some years. There we're only six months in. But I do think it is a very competitive year for all these categories. I'm really excited to talk through sort of how we got to where we got. Completely agree. And what I like about these awards, one, like you just said, there are options. You can make cases for other things.

There are some things that are pretty obvious and they're going to be almost unanimous across the board, but you can make arguments for other things. And the other thing that I love about this is when you have a year where a fighter of the year could go in about 10 different directions where at the end of the year,

like it seems obvious who the fighter of the year is right the second. But depending on if this thing happens, this thing happens, or all of these things happen, Then it becomes a much more compelling conversation, which we're going to get into in a moment. And that's kind of the beauty of doing these half-year rewards is you can sort of map out where this could go. And I know doing Fighter of the Year, this could go in a million different directions depending on what the next six months look like.

So very excited about that. And very excited to discuss some of the categories that we have here because the M.M.A. fighting staff, which includes for this particular thing, myself, Jed here, A.K. Lee and Jehine Al Shadi, we had our categories. We made our decision on these awards. We're going to do fight of the year, fighter of the year, knockout of the year, submission of the year, plus some other fun categories we have mixed in because we are not like everybody else out there. We like to have a little bit more fun. The other fun ones are me. I demanded we talk about some of these things. I was like, guys, we're doing this. I will hijack it and make.

sure that these things don't get forgotten. Yes, and you'll know immediately. You probably already know what Jed is talking about when it comes to these special awards without even thinking about it. But we'll talk some honor and we'll mention some other things that we've sort of laid out already. And you can also read all about this, our decisions, how it came to be on MAPFling.com's great website.

So let's get right into it. Jed, first midyear award we're going to talk to, talk about, excuse me, kick us off. Fight of the year. And honestly, there's actually a few really good ones to choose from here. So what gets the nod for you? So fight of the year for our Midway Awards is, and I think this is going to be a fairly ubiquitous one around the space. It is Max Holloway versus Justin Gage at UFC 300.

This was a competitive race for me. I know many people just kind of penciled this one in. I went back and rewatched it because obviously the thing from this fight is the finish like that is that's the indelible moment that lives forever is the 10 second countdown the last second knockout face plant everything that comes with it

and I think with that alone that this would have an argument for that if the fight was nothing for 24 minutes and 50 seconds and then that happened you could still convince me that hey this is supposed to be it because the way I always think about these categories, I always try and frame every year when we do these lists is in five years, ten years from now, when we look back, what are the stories? What are the ones we remember that defined the year? It's very hard for me to imagine any other

fight, any other moment being more memorable than what occurred at UFC 300 for all the stakes, etc. And then we went back and watched it. Like I rewatched it again. And I hadn't rewatched it since the day after, because I usually rewatch, certainly big fights, the paper review after because we're working, and I want to get the experience again. I rewatched it again for this.

And I don't know how it happened. I forgot how awesome this fight was until the finale, because the finale just dominated so much of it, but I personally had it 2-2, heading into the final round. Yes, I thought Max had won the final round prior to the knockout and was well on his way to winning a decision. but I forgot that, you know, in the second round, Max kind of hurt Gaichi a bunch.

And in the third round, or maybe it was the fourth round, Gachi drops Max. And like this is a, this is everything you want in a fight of the year. And this is frankly, and I wrote about this for the website, it is what we thought it was, Mike. I told everyone heading into UFC 300. I stood on the corner and it's not like some incredible hill to be on. I was like, this is the presumptive fight of the year. This is it. As soon as this fight is booked, this is the fight of the year until something knocks it out.

And then it delivered. And it delivered in the most spectacular way possible with the most spectacular finish. So I think that this is going to be fight of the year at the end of the year. I'll be really, really surprised if something knocks it off that perch. Because it's even better than I remembered. And we all remember it so fondly anyway. It's a tremendous fight. There are two fights so far this year that it's almost like if I really,

sat back and thought about it, I could eventually remember every moment that happened in it. That's one of them. And Dustin Porier versus Ben-Wasantini is the other one. Where it's just like, I don't know why those two in particular stand out, especially the second one. But maybe, again, both were finished in violent fashion and memorable fashion and both led to really crazy conversations and things happening. Dustin's of getting a title shot after knocking up Benoit Santini, the road that Dustin took. took to get to that fight where he put the UFC over a barrel and got everything that he wanted. It was just the best all around.

So, yeah, dude, when you think about UFC 300, yes, Alex Pereira booping Jamal Hill and leading to maybe the fastest downfall in the history of the UFC, a la Jamal Hill, is a memorable moment. But when we look at 300, we remember that fight, the moment with Max Holloway, et cetera. but there are other options here, Jed. So you had to land on an honorable mention. There are some interesting ones to choose. I mentioned Dussiporia versus Benoit Santini.

It seems to be like a darling underdog selection for this category. What did you land on? This is pretty easy for me because this was a two horse race. Because when I was previously thinking about the 300, before I rewatched it, my perception of Max Gachie was, yeah, Max was just kind of winning the fight and then it finishes really cool, but that's not necessarily a fight of the year.

Max was firmly in control. And then I rewatch was like, actually, no, I had it squared up and the fight was amazing. So prior to kind of that rewatch, I was sort of trying to be maybe a little edgy, you know, maybe trying to be the hipster pick. But it still is my number two,

and I feel very confident in it. This is a fight that could get replaced. I'm talking about UFC 302's main event is the Machetechre versus Dustin Pori. A fight that I think is an exceptionally good fight. Perhaps not as good as Islamachchev versus Alexander Volkovsky last year, our fight of the year. But still, you know, perception is reality for these things. And as much as everyone was pro, Dustin Porier, it's great.

No one really gave him much of a shot in this fight. And then he exceeds expectations. Horrible first round. The first round everyone thought the fight would be. And then from that moment on, it's a very competitive fight. Porre starts stuffing the takedowns, Islam has to go to his striking toolkit, wins the striking with Dustin Porre, and, you know, then gets busted open by that elbow. And I wrote for the site that it is the first time we have seen Islam Makachev bleed, both

physically and metaphorically, in that, yes, Alexander Volkovsky had him hurt in the fifth round of their title fight. Maybe not hurt, but clearly gassed out and won that round. I had Mokachev up 4 to 1, so it didn't matter because he wasn't going to finish that fight. At the end of the fourth round, I was like, that's a bad cut. This could be, like, this could happen. He could be in real trouble right now. This fight is close and competitive, and that cut's going to go bad.

How is Mokchev going to react? He reacts by being the champion of just a boss and comes out and finishes Dustin Porey quickly and with authority. Like when I'm looking for these fights, I want narratives. I want there to be an ebb and flow a story told. That fight, I think is pretty clear to me the second best fight of this year. And admittedly, a fairly weak year for fight of the year contenders less far. But I do think that these two stand head and shoulders above everything else. And pretty clearly after we watched Max Gachy's above this.

But it's fine runner up for now. Yeah. Great choice. Dustin BSD is another one. DDP Strickland, I think is. really good. One of the closest fights I've ever seen. Shout out to Robert Whitaker, Paul Kostat, that that was a really good fight.

Shout out to Brennan Allen, Chris Curtis, too. That was a fantastic fight. And Dana White is going to love this. Shout out to Arnold Allen versus Movzar of Lovov. I think that is a way better fight that it gets credit for because people listen to Dana. And I still, to this day, don't think he knows what fight he was talking about that night after UFC 290. in Toronto, Canada. So that's fight of the year.

Mine is fighter of the year. Shocker, Justin Gachey is going to win another fight of the year. I think it's his fourth. We're doing the road to UFC 300, like the best fights between 200 and 300 and Justin Gachie and Dustin Pore were in all of them, I think. Yeah. When we did that, I specifically had to be like, I don't want to have more than three fights from these guys. So I was like, I'll change my list around a little so it's not just like

every Dustin Poirier fight or Justin Gagey fight. It's insane. It's absolutely nuts this man's career. We'll go Robert Whitaker, Y'all Romero, too. We'll throw that in there. Which is an awesome fight, by the way. Very awesome. But let's go to Fighter of the Year. And like, this is just the easiest one of the festivities at this point because there's only one answer. Anything else is just plain incorrect and wrong. It is. Alex Poetan Pereira, two and O, two title defenses, two knockouts,

and assumed humbling that didn't happen two card-saving appearances, becoming a star, two meme-like moments, two knockouts that are probably going to be in the top five for knockout of the year at this point. It's Alex Pereira.

But just kind of going right into the honorable mention part of this whole situation, this is why this is such a fun activity because there's a lot of names that can win this by the end of the year because we don't know what's going to happen with Alex Pereira. Is Alex Pereira going to go ahead and fight Magam and Ankelaif? Maybe, but if he does so, is he going to do it this year? Because if there's one guy in the UFC who deserves a breather right now, it's Alex Pereira. This dude's just fighting all the time.

He's had five fights in the last, what, 15 months? It's just crazy to see a champion continuously being marched out there, getting these big finishes. is, does he fight John Jones? We don't know. This might be the year of Alex Pereira at this point. And there's a possibility that these two wins are enough to win him this award. But what if Max Holloway fights Ilya, beats him and becomes champion? Beating Justin Gaghi and Iliottiporia, winning the BMF title and winning the UFC Featherweight title again, pretty impressive year.

Then there's Ilya. If he goes out and beats Volcanovsky and Max Holloway in the same year, if he somehow finishes Max Holloway in the process, the unkillable man, I mean, how could you not vote for him or at least think very highly of him winning this award? And then the dark course of all of this, because people seem to forget this man. And I'm here to tell you, it is my mission in 2024 to make sure you do not forget this man's name. even if you are the biggest Michael Chandler fan on earth. Armin Sarukian has a very good chance to win this award,

because if he goes, if he has a year where he beats Charles Oliva, and Isl Makhachev and wins the hardest championship to win in all of MMA, he will have a strong case to win this award. Why are you shaking your head? I'm sorry for you, Mike. That's just not going to happen. not that he wouldn't do it I think there's

almost a zero percent chance Aramins Rookin is the fighter of the year he would be on ballots certainly but if he beat Mockachev yeah because Fighter of the Year is such a narrative thing and there's so much momentum behind Pereira that I'm not saying he wouldn't deserve

it or and he would certainly be kind of firmly in the top five but I don't think if he goes out there and beats his Lamaikachev that when it push comes to shove at the end of the year, the story behind him is enough to propel him in votes beyond the story of Alex Pereira.

I'm not saying that's right. I'm just saying that's what will happen. Let me ask you this. If Pereira is done for the year, if he doesn't fight again, Ilya beats Max, just wins a 48, 47 decision, and Armin goes out and finishes Islam,

beats the pound for pound best fighter in the world. This isn't the UFC way of doing the vote, but the PFLA tour way of doing it, where it's just merit, merit, merit, the best get the best, yada, yada, yada. Does Armand have the better year overall? I don't think he has the better year overall, but I think it's a great year for him. Like full transparency, I almost assuredly won't be voting for Alex Pereer at the end of the year unless he does fight again. If he fights again and he beats Magermanaghalive, probably just wins it.

Like, if that's what happens, or God, if he, you know, fights John. Jones and beats him, we can all put our pins down. It's done. It's a wrap. If he fights again and wins, kind of regardless of who it's against, I think Pereira is probably just going to take it. If he doesn't, and even if he does, like if he fights him beats Magamagnac-Manak-Live, I will have nothing but total respect for that. If Iliath-Diporea beats Max Holloway, just point-blank he is getting my fighter of the award. Like, I don't, by hook or by crook, if he beats Max this year, he will be the guy getting my vote, sort of regardless of whatever the hell else happens this year.

By that same token, if Harmon goes and beats Islam, I will put him above Alex Pereira. I just don't think enough other people will do it. I have always been of the, hey, just give me your year on paper and what it is. Why I didn't vote for Alex Pereira last year? Great career.

Also got knocked out, like brutally at the beginning of the year. couldn't put him at the top of the level for it. So I think because of the narrative nature, this probably his prayer was to lose. But if there is one person who is going to take it, it would be the winner of the assumed Ilya versus Max fight. Because on the other side of that coin, if Max beats I to reclaim the belt, it's a wrap, boys. We're done here. Like that's book it. That's your fighter of the year, which is great because he would deserve it. He didn't deserve it the year he won whatever year that like 2014 I don't remember what year he won for us

2016 maybe he didn't deserve to win it that year but he would he would deserve it and would get it so my fighter of the year winner is just going to be the winner of that fight almost assuredly but Armin has would have a case I just don't think he'll get there the myth making behind Perera is too much at this point yeah it's got to be a good conversation it was an awesome fighter of the year

contest like this year. It really is. This rocks. It's always a tough year where there's like one clear cut winner almost the entire way like post to post. And you just know it by like July like, all right, it's a wrap. There's no other person that can beat this. And then at the end it's like, all right, well, we have to vote for five people like there are five people to even vote for here. Those are the toughest years. And let me also just say that like this is again, speaking to how much it is a narrative award. A lot of these are, but like this one, like very possibly we're looking at a year

where Islamov-Beats finishes Dustin Porre and then beats Armand-Srucian and just won't even be remotely in the conversation of the war. The top pound-for-pound-fighter the world because the expectations are different. He's the top-pound-fffilever fighter in the world that doesn't matter what he does

unless he gets a second belt. You know, Drick's Duplice can beat Izzy and Sean Strickland and he'll just be like, yeah, maybe he'll be number of, number five. Like, it's, the award is about creating a story and fulfilling that story. And you could be amazing. But guys like Armand, that it's just too tough for him to overcome that.

Yep. Race the runners. Raise the sales. Raise the sales. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait.

Is that an enterprise sales solution? Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your. to be audience today. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Support for this show comes from the audible original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The earth only has a few days left. Roscoe Cadulian 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 let's go to the knockout of the

year is this is this clear cut jed mishu is this the obvious easy choice it's max hallway and there's nobody else really in the mix here or are you looking at this a little bit differently like yeah it was a very cool moment but maybe it wasn't the best knockout of the year so i don't believe it's clear cut. I do believe it will be Max Holloway by the end of the year. For the same reasons we talked about the five of the year, it's just the defining moment of the year. When you look back on the year, that is the thing you will think of.

It's an all-time great moment, an all-time great knockout. I think if I am, you know, push comes to shove, really standing my ground, I would pick the Ilya Tuporia knockout over Alexander Volcanovsky over it. because it is a more meaningful knockout. It's the changing of the featherweight guard. It's, you know, the number two pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The guy who, six months before, everyone was like, he's very clearly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

You're all insane. Getting obliterated by a man his size and weight, not getting obliterated by the top-pound-fpound-file in the world, getting not competitively demolished in a visceral violent fashion. In addition, most years, that's going to win it without question. This year, it just happens to be going up against something that has so much unanimous public kind of support behind it. And legitimately, it's the knockout you will think of first when you look back on 2024.

So I think it will win. I have no issues of it winning. I don't think it's a walk away just because I do really think the Iliate-de-Di-Borriot hit knockout should be remembered for what it was, which was absolutely insane at the time. Yeah. I mean, again, it's all away for sure right now. But Pori, BSD, another tremendous knockout. Pereira Jamal Hill is great.

Pereira Yuri Barashka is spectacular. And then there's like some other ones that people forget. You don't really hear this man's name and the knockout of the year discussion, but Maga Beninkelaif almost murdered, Johnny. Walker. Like that was a brutal knockout. Danny E. Gay knocking out Andre Feely was real brutal. And

your guy, Vinnie Sig's, knocking out Matt Schnell was friggin vicious. Unfortunately, it happened at the world's most famous apex so nobody gives a shit. But at the same token, it was a nasty knockout. And shout out to Phil Haas

who got real good by Brutoffa ahead earlier this year as well. So, it's a really good. Some of these other categories, maybe not as competitive. Knockout got a lot of good, a lot of meat on that bone. You couldn't have a good time watching knockouts from this year thus far. So I'm pulling up the actual article itself and each of us had to choose different awards. So I felt that it would be necessary.

This is actual travesty. And apropos to allow you to announce the. submission of the half year for 2024 in the world of mixed martial arts for M.A.fighting.com. This isn't even a bit. Like, I know that people who know me will be like, oh, Judge's living the bit.

No, like, this is just stone wrong. Like, this is, this could not be more obviously incorrect. It's the only thing I have an issue with. I wish the writer of this particular award was on this pod so I could just rake him over the coals. officially the winner of submission of the half year is Brian Ortega submitting Yaya Rodriguez at UFC Mexico City. It is, it sure was a submission.

He armed triangles him. You know, it was an arm triangle. Great. It wasn't particularly cool. It was just an arm triangle. Like, I don't, Mike, sell me, it's your best friend's responsible this. Tell me why this is better. Because I think our honorable mention is,

is the clear cut most, the most obvious and clear one that could be possible here. I also would think that, like, I'm not even think, I am certain that Islam-Hakachev's submission of Dustin Porier is a substantially better submission than Brian Ortega versus Yaya Rodriguez. Like, this isn't, Yair pulled the submission out of nowhere. I'm sorry, Brian pulled the submission out of nowhere. He lost the first round, then beat the tar out of Yaya Rodriguez in the second round. This wasn't like, oh, we didn't see that coming.

when the third round started and he got the take to him, like, this fight is over. And then he finished it in a, like, cool, he did it. Like, I'm not saying that it's bad, but it's just so clearly not as good as two other options. If not more than that, this one actually, like, bothered me that somehow it won. This probably isn't even in my top five.

It was great to admit. By the end of the year, it certainly won't be. Yeah. Like, I didn't even think about this. until I actually saw it, I was like, oh, yeah. It wasn't just one that, it wasn't a submission that immediately popped in my mind. Weston Wilson's submission popped into my mind before Brian Ortega's did. And that's saying something.

That was the triangle arm bar, only like the 12th ever in UFC history, something of that nature. There's just Jim Miller's face crank against Benitez is a good one. He has cool, unique submissions are done. the first one. Yeah, Macha Chf, Porre is probably my number one, just thinking about it. But there's, I don't know, man, there's just other ones that stood out more. Michelle Pereira against Ehor, I remembered quite a bit. I remembered Kevin Hall and almost breaking McHill Oaxe's arm.

Like, that's a memorable submission right there. So, yeah, AJ McKee, submitting Clay Collard in, like, seconds at PFL versus. is Bellator. Like, and then obviously the honorable mention, which I think may be the actual correct answer. It's the correct answer. What is it? It is Liz Karmouche versus Kanaabe, the rematch at BFL4. This was my vote.

Like this was very obvious to me when it happened and very clearly the answer. Because like, again, Brian Ortega just, he beat up your O'Gigas, got to mount and locked in an arm triangle. You see that happen all the time. And yes, Brian Ortega coming back from the tough circuit, et cetera. etc. Whatever. Liz Camusch was literally 10 seconds away from losing a fight.

Like she, on the judge's scorecards, was going to lose this fight. 29, 28, Takanaabe, get bounced on the PFL tournament, not win the million dollars, her first loss in like seven years or something. It, against someone she had already beaten and beaten convincingly.

And then, out of nowhere, from her back, I am watching this fight. I have money on Liz Carmoochum. moosh, by the way, at this time. Like, oh, my God, she's going to lose. Why are you trying to go for an armbar? This is so stupid.

Holy crap, she pulled a literal last minute arm bar out to win the fight to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. It's an arm bar which just don't really even happen anymore in MMA. It's pretty clearly, to me, the winner. The only other one that I would contend is, you know, you can make the case for, is Islam versus Dustin Porier because that was awesome. and, you know, fifth round, the circumstances are better. I think we got this stone wrong.

Yeah, I don't love this pick. But hey, it's his choice. And, yeah, I don't know how I would. I legitimately think this happened because people were spiting me. You think so? You think this is just to get you upset. Just, you know, why not? Because content, content is king.

And, but yeah, this one, Liz Garmouche is dessert. it and will be mine and is currently the leader in the clubhouse. You know, we've got still six months, a lot of time for submissions to happen. But to me, that's really impressive and a very good submission. And it'll take something to knock it out of there. Completely agree. Now we get to have some fun here. Those are the Meat and Potato Awards.

You had to talk about Brian Ortega for a moment, Jed. So let's lead you into what you really here for. We have an award called the coolest thing at the mid-year point. and something tells me that this is not going to be defeated come December 31st, Chad. Be tough. It would be pretty tough. The coolest thing. When I said at the top of the show that I insisted we talk about some weird stuff,

there were two things that specifically jumped out. The coolest thing was one of them because I don't know if you guys, maybe you missed it. Maybe you weren't focused. One fateful Friday afternoon, we were just sitting around being like, is pretty boring, not a lot going on. And so then I tuned in to a wonderful fight promotion. His name I can't even remember right now. Do you happen to have it on here?

I'll pull it up. World Freak Fight League. World Freak Fight League. Because I keep wanting to call it the other one, which is a more insane name, but also had some weird, cool, stupid stuff happened. I tuned in because the hook to this show was former world's strongest man, Eddie Hall, is going to fight two dudes? and is the world's strongest man strong enough to beat two men is two greater than one you know basic math problems were on display and we learned that if you're going to fight a world's strongest man you better have at least two friends with you because just one ain't going to do the trick

eddie hall has the first ever in recorded combat history power bomb into right cross combination and when i say power bomb i mean you're the pro wrestling guy That is a power, like he picks up a human being and launches him pro wrestling power bomb. And then as that dude stands up, right hand kills him. Just that man might not be conscious yet. It is so unbelievably dope. And the little remember part of this, because everyone just saw the highlight, which is insane, is that this was a two-on-one fight. So after they dragged the unconscious man out of the cage,

The lone other dude just had to go back to fighting Eddie Hall Which was a deeply funny ending of like, okay This was insane and awesome and really one of my favorite things And afterwards Eddie Hall called out Marius Pugnowski Eight-time World Strongest Man or something For a fight that probably will happen at KSW And is immediately in my top five most must-see fights in MMA This was awesome, this is what MMA is supposed to be

and I wanted to make sure we did not forget it at the halfway mark. I'm not going to share all the details for this because I want you guys to do a little bit of work. But I think honorable mention for coolest thing of the year is Eddie Hall and those two gentlemen doing their final face-off. Have you seen this video? Yes. Yes. It's unbelievable. I mean, these people know how to put on a fight.

Them plus what's the other one? It's like dog fight wild is insane. Like they've had so many fight circuses engendered a group of insane freak show combat sports things. And it's the best. I'm a huge fan. The most insane thing award has to be the bite, right? Oh, yeah. This was the other thing that I was,

because we started talking about doing the half years and I was like, I want to make sure I remember some stuff that like happened and was meaningful this year that I feel like will get swept under the rug. I do think there's a second most insane. Like there's a very clear honorable mention, but it happened so recently that I think it kind of subsumes to the bite. But the bite broke through MMA bubble. Like I had non-MMA bubble people asking me about Andre Lima getting bit.

They're like, did some dude get bit at the UFC? And the fact that Lima goes and immediately gets like the bite mark tattoo. toot on his arm to just real carny shit is perfect. And so, like, this is, I've been, I have watched every single fight that has ever taken place in the UFC. I have never seen a man get bitten. It is, I mean, you know, Dustin Porre, like, bit down on Michael Chandler's fingers when Chandler's fish hooking him in their fight, but, like, never seen just a dude leave

teeth marks in another guy. And the fact that we, like, talked about it for a week and then just, kept moving on is insane to me. It's still so insane that that happened. Yeah. Dude got released and he got fined. Igor Severino got fined the same amount of money as Armand Serucia did for UFC 300. Don't punch fans.

Don't buy people. It's very like I feel like these are things that you learn in kindergarten. And so it's okay. Don't hit people and you don't buy people. And it was nuts. and like I can't is that if it's not this the other contender here

is that two weeks ago Dan Ig fought a man on two hours notice that was pretty wild yeah the whole story behind that is incredible yeah it's been a pretty wild year a couple of insane moments a couple of really nutty things a couple really nutty things happened

we have an award called the most MMA MMA promotion of 2024 so far and that goes to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for just kind of doing what they do, Jed. They kind of just do what they do. They're making money. They're sludging through the quicksand of the world's most famous apex, all of the above,

the antitrust lawsuit, them quote unquote losing the antitrust lawsuit, but really actually winning in a big way. But still kind of open end at this point. Maybe, maybe not. It's very MMA. Like, hey, it's done. Maybe it's not done. Who can say?

We're still just doing stuff. Knowing the UFC, the judge would be like, you know what? We really went through this and the fighters get nothing now. We award everything to the UFC, which should just be a horrific story. And Don Davis would say, this proves that the PFL is the best place for fighters. A billion dollar company, PFL.FL. You see old Donnie Davis talking to Forbes? Yeah.

Co-leader things. co-leading. Yes. So we also, the last award is the biggest story. And I can assure you that Don Davis and the PFL is not the winner of the biggest story. Nor do I think they will ever be the winner of the biggest story. Jed, I'm curious before I give my answer to this question. What would you say is the biggest story of 2024 so far?

So I think your answer is probably correct. but I will make the argument for the other thing. Because if your answer isn't right, then my answer is right. And my answer is Connor McGregor. Because Connor McGregor kind of always is the biggest story in M.A. But like we at least finally thought we had it. Like we thought that it was going to happen last December. And then maybe it's going to have a UFC 300.

And then finally, Connor McGregor is going to fight an international fight week. This long two-year almost saga is going to come to, come to completion. Like we're going to finally get him back in the cage and then whatever's next is whatever's next. And then it happens. Connor, they cancel the press conference. It's so cloak and dagger and clandestine

and everybody we know is trying to get answers to what's going on, but is the fight in jeopardy for UFC 303? What the hell is going on here? And no one's talking. For the first time, and as long as I've worked in this industry, Nobody is saying a peep about like what is actually a foot here.

And then Conner's out and the UFC has to scramble. And Alex Pereira steps in at 303. And then it turns out that Conner's out because he broke his pinky toe. And says Connor ever going to fight again now. And it's so that has consumed so much of the last, the oxygen in the room for the last few months. And really for the last couple of years has been the Connor show. and we get such a big moment about it. And it's still ongoing is the thing like it is still happening.

At some point we'll get a now they're going to fight in December and are they? Well, it's it is the focal point of the sport still. And so I would pick it, but I understand the actual winner here and probably is even right. So I wrote the story. And I think if I, if we went up and asked. 25 MMA fans right now. And they're just all on the street. And we walk up to him with the microphone and say,

what's the story of the year? I would say 24 out of 25 would say it's Connor McGregor. And certainly we did this now. For sure. For sure. We did this a couple months ago. Oh, yeah. No, yeah.

To me, the story of the year is UFC 300. Because as someone who hosts a lot of these shows, mostly Q&A type programming, whether it's pre-fight shows or the BTL shows or heck of a morning. By far, the topic I was asked the most about so far this year is UFC 300. What's the main event going to be? What's this fight going to be? What's the co-man main event going to be?

How many title fights are they're going to be? Is the main event going to blow us away? All of this. Like, there's just so much speculation and unfair expectation placed upon this card that when the lineup actually, when we got the main event, where we're just like, eh, like, it was just, just went over like a, like, flatulence in a church pew. It was just nothing. It was nothing.

And then we look at the lineup from top to bottom. We see Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill all the way down to Cody Garbrandt versus Davis and Figurato, which kicked off the festivities. And this ruled. Everything about this ruled, we went on every single show once the line. lineup was finalized. He said, by far, this is the best card, do UFCs ever put together? This might be, and I think we all agree that it was the best MMA card top to bottom put together. And what I loved about this card so much is that you could tell what kind of a fan, what types of fans people were based on their reactions to the card. If they said this card is stinks and it's not good, then you're a noob. You are an absolute

noob. But if you thought this car was great, then you've been along for the ride for a long time. This ain't the brand new Aquaman ride. This is Space Mountain. We've been on this ride for a long ass time. And the fact that we've gone through all these awards, and three of the four come from UFC 300 essentially, fighter of the year, fight of the year, knock out of the year, all come from UFC 300, all great stuff. The card was incredible. But here's what I love most about it. None of the negativity mattered.

And I even remember the preview show where somebody asked a question and super chatted, well, what do you, you know, the UFC's about this. Like, what are they doing wrong? And we started talking about it. And you kind of cut everybody off and said, listen, this is UFC 300 fight week. Like, we're not here to be negative. This is all good. And we got to see the UFC in action because none of the bullshit mattered that week.

None of it mattered. We didn't care about the UFC not caring about promoting anything. We didn't care about them promoting power slap more so than the actual fights itself. We didn't care that they're at the world's most famous apex putting on the worst card of all time week after week after week. We didn't care that they put a junko card in Atlantic City and a junko card in St. Louis and a junko card in Louisville and that they broke gate records. We went from the sludge to like an escalator to the top. It was nostalgia.

We got face the pain. We got gladiator man. We got it all. And the UFC for the first time in maybe a decade had fun. They had fun. And in turn, we all had fun on April 13th, 2024. and maybe the moment that stands out the boast is that months later, we cannot forget about this card because one half of the main event will not stop talking

about it. Every week, Jamal Hill comes out and talks about losing to Alex Pereira, getting absolutely dusted up and obliterated by one of the top five knockouts of the year. He became a meme forever. And he talked a whole bunch of mess heading into that fight, called Alex Pereira the easiest fight, said that when Alex Pereira won the light heavyweight title,

it was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. And then he got folded up, and months later, Alex Pereer cheated. Herb Dean, you know, the whole awkward situation. Demetri's Johnson apparently knows nothing about fist fighting. All of it. This all had to do with the UFC 300.

The highs were very high, and the one low was very, very low, and it continues to just shoot down even lower every time this man goes on social media. UFC 300 is the story of the year, Jed Bishu. And so we're clear. Alex Pereira cheated with the cup check, not with the spirits,

because he also cheats with spirits. So you got to make sure you separate those two things. I am proud of you, though, Mike, because in that argument, you didn't even bring up the fateful post-UFC 300 hit piece on you all doubted it just just everybody is all the media said this card sucked oh god you remember that probably the worst video we need to memorialize that too yes although to danis

credit there were a couple of people who actually were down on the card and again you could tell watching that video like who's been around for a hot minute and who's been doing the damn thing for a while and you can see who was taking out of context And there was some people, but yeah, there was like taking Rick from like two months ago saying stuff versus like both the main events. Yeah. It's like that. And then it's just like a collection of people you've never heard of in this space and just like yeah, man, for the end of the year, things are good. I'm going to make sure we have a list of all the insane stuff that happened. And that will be among them. Oh, 100%. It was so good. Guys, wait till you wait till I announce as you. OC300 main event. You think you might know what this could be, but in a billion trillion years, you'll never guess what it is.

Oh, yeah, it's Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill. Yeah, we could have guessed that pretty easily. That's fine, I mean, it is the best. It's been a really fun year of MMA. And then Dana knew he screwed up,

so he decided to make a media hit piece instead. Like, it's just the best. Like, it's just the best. The card delivered. And it just reminded us that when the U.S. UFC actually cares, it's great for everybody. But they don't care, ever. But the one time they did, everybody won.

And it was just a glorious time. It's a glorious time. So shout out UFC 300. I feel like when you have events like this, it just kind of hurts the soul of the rest of the year because just nothing's going to beat it. There's nothing the UFC's going to be able to put together. It's going to be better than that card.

It's just not happening. And it's unfortunate. But it was great. Well, we had it, Jed. It was great while we had it. It was great while we had it. And, you know, smile because it happened, Mike, not because it'll be sad because it's over. Yes.

Well, speaking of over, this show is over. That is your mid-year awards for 2024. And about five and a half months' time, we're going to start configuring, compiling, getting everything ready to go for the end of the year awards. I'm curious to see if all the names that were mentioned at top billing, will remain that way outside of Eddie Hall, who is a surefire Hall of Famer in that regard. He should win it next year too,

even if he doesn't fight it all in 2025. It should be a carryover award. You have to beat Eddie Hall's moment in order to knock him off the pedestal. I think he has earned the right to do that. If we get Eddie Hall versus Puds, I might actually go to KSW. I might just be like, guys, I'm going to go. I'm going to fly.

We should both just take PTO and go. I honestly might. The fight is, It's so perfect. It's so silly and perfect. Well, that'll be the fight of the year if it happens in 2024. I'm sure there'll be lots of votes for that one. God willing, we get to see it.

And thank you all very much. Jed, enjoy your vacation, my man. I appreciate you hop it on here before taking off and enjoying a well-deserved break from the world of mixed martial arts. Are you watching UFC Denver during your vacation? No. I was talking with Connor this week on Bet's Bard. I will probably

break out the phone for the John Silva Drew Dover fight, but the rest of it, I'll catch up on Monday when I get back. I'll fire it up and, you know, do that thing. And, you know, maybe Sunday, you know, Saturday night, Sunday morning, I'll

you know, log on to nmafinding.com. It's a great website. And I'll get to know what happens and see the important highlights as they fall through. So it'll be maybe this week we'll get new contenders. for all of these awards that we've got right now. Yeah, Drew Dover, Gianne Silva might just find its way into a nomination somewhere.

There's real possibility for a good KO in that fight, so let's hope. Yeah, fight of the year, knockout of the year, all in play. And there you go. Thank you all very much. Back in a few months to award the full year-end awards here on M.A.fighting.com, but we still got time. UFC Denver coming up on Saturday. Stick with us, M.A.fighting.com for just.

I miss you. I am Mikeak. Thank you for listening. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem.

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