MMA Fighting - Between the Links: Anderson Silva’s Boxing Triumph, Next Move For Korean Zombie, Usman vs. Diaz?

Episode Date: June 25, 2021

This week on Between the Links, we have the first ever BTL Tag Team Match as host Mike Heck oversees the chaos when Jed Meshew teams up with fellow reporter Fernanda Prates to take on the pairing of Shaun Al-Shatti and Jose Youngs. The panel discusses Anderson Silva’s successful return to the boxing ring over Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. and if it was a win for MMA, what could be next for “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung after his UFC Vegas 29 main event win over Dan Ige and if another crack at the featherweight title could happen, the chances Nate Diaz could jump the queue into a welterweight title fight with Kamaru Usman, and the most interesting event of the weekend between UFC Vegas 30, Bellator 261 and PFL 6. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Shaheen Al-Shatti: @shaunalshatti Follow Fernanda Prates: @NandaPrates 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

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The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Live from M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now your host, Mom. Of course. Of course. I am a blue Skype. Yeah, there we are.

The iconic voice of Esther Lynn did several seconds ago welcome you to a historic edition between the links here on M.Aviting.com. It has been a crazy week with big news and game-changing announcements. And we also have decided to change the game a little bit on this program. ultimate proving ground in the world of MMA media this week. It will not be your typical one-on-one matchup. It is two-on-two. It is a tag team extravaganza.

We haven't done this before. I have no idea how this is going to go. It will probably just be utter chaos, I'm sure, but that's sort of the premise of the show to begin with. So let us get into this. Let us introduce the teams first. The pairings. Let's start with a duo who helped make this concept a reality.

When they battled it out on the show around a month ago against each other coming out of the red corner. First, let us say hello to podcaster and writer extraordinaire. I guess we can now call her Mrs. Fernanda Pratchez. How are you? How is married life? Welcome back. Hello, it's the same as the other life.

We're hearing the word married. It's still intense, strong word, heavy. But I'm doing okay. I'm a little nervous. Not going to lie, I feel like the dynamics we have going on here. several ways in which this can go terribly wrong, but we'll see. And they probably will, but we'll all go down together. As I'm joining, joining Fernando in this venture, the Wiley BTL veteran, Fiery Hot Takes

Galore, he's been calling for this matchup for weeks and weeks. And now it's happening from MMAFighting.com, Mr. Jed Michoudoo. How's it going, my friend? I'm not going to lie, it stings to be just known as a Wiley veteran, because I'm a I'm still a champion, frankly. Look, it's unfair. I'm not even going to talk about the current champion because she's just too good.

So we have to put her in a category of her own, and then I'm the actual champion of the mere mortals, and I'm super excited to be able to lift Nanda Prattis up here with me, so she can also be a BTL champion, and frankly, have the best thing that's happened to her this month happened. There you go. And now introducing their opponents, coming out of the blue corner first, making his first

BTL appearance as a member of the MMA fighting squad. He's been here before. He was even part of the BTL 50 gauntlet several weeks ago. And what I approached him with this yesterday, it took him a mere like couple seconds to accept this idea, this concept. Let us welcome back to the man. Sean Alshaddy. How are you, sir?

I am doing wonderful. It is so good to be back. It's so good to be part again of the MMA fighting team. be home. I'm excited for this. I'm not really sure where this rivalry started.

All of a sudden I was getting called out by Jedmishu for this for weeks on end. He has nothing better to do with this time. And honestly,

it's a little unfair that you're pitting me against my former teammate Fernando Pratch over there because she's fantastic and I don't want to do anything wrong to her. Like this is putting me in a weird spot.

But regardless, Jade, you're going down. And his partner, another BTL veteran, another. Arizona native. He is fired up for this occasion as expected from MMAFighting.com.

The host of the A-side live chat, Mr. Jose Youngs, what's going on, man? I also don't know where this rivalry came with. I also think it's not fair that Fernanda is on Jed's team because everyone likes Fernando and everyone hates Jed. So I think Jed just wants some reason for someone to say any sort of positivity his way. It would be something else if he brought in my actual rival in Nile McGrath, but he's kind of busy writing his dissertation.

comparing Raisin Brand and Wheaties. So he's a little busy. Instead, Jed is here. He's taken time away. He's wiped his hands from the sticky rolloes that's kind of, you know, his life is centralized around. So whatever, we're here to do, whatever this is. And Jed is going to lose.

And Fernanda, I'm sorry that you're attached to the hip at someone that I don't think anyone really has anything positive to say on the internet that is. So let's do it. All right. Now, I know chaos will ultimately rule in the same. matchup, but there are a couple of rule changes I would like to throw out there in the spirit of keeping the show moving in as effective of a manner as possible. So here's how it's going to work. In each round, one member of each team will respond to the question and then it will flip-flop.

So for instance, if Jed and Jose answer the question in row one, Fernando and Sean will answer the question in round two. However, the other rule for regulation that we are going to put in place, should the tag team partner of the individual answering the question just be losing their minds, wanting to respond at the opposing team, we will allow one rebuttal per team throughout regulation. So Fernanda and Sean are battling it out. And Jed is like, I do not agree with Sean at all. He could jump in and say rebuttal and respond to Sean. However, Jose will have the chance to respond to Jed.

So one rebuttal per team throughout regulation, use them wisely. The other rule change is in the final round. If it gets that far, all four players will have 60 seconds to answer the question. And it is a doozy. I know it's a lot. Any questions from the panel before you get going? I will walk you through everything if needed, but is there any questions from the panel? This is like the PFL rules to me.

Like I don't fully understand it, but like I'll just go with it and we'll see where it takes us. It's the same game you played before, but you just have to answer half. the amount of questions. And you're partnered with me instead of against me, so you're going to win. I think you, aren't you the person with the most losses in the history of this show? And the most wins. Look, I'm a home run hitter, Sean. Like, they don't pay me to get walks.

Okay. So, Jed and Fernanda won the blind draw before he hit record. So you guys have to decide who's going to go first. Two of us? Yes. So, Jed, you go first. I feel like I need to watch to master in action before. Okay.

Before stepping in. Let's talk about Anderson Silva. Okay. Although, but so, no, I'm sorry. See, this is, this is that you're already regretting calling me. But then that means I get to answer the following question. You answer a question too, yes. No, let me do, let me do Anderson and wrap Brazil.

Cool. Go for that. I like that better because I didn't actually watch him box. I don't actually watch him box. I was about to make up some stuff. So sweet. Full transparency. All right.

Who wants to go up against Fernanda in the first round? Jose or Sean? Jose, I'll do it. All right. All right. So we got Fernando versus Sean Al-Shadi. So we're going to begin with Anderson Silva and what he did this past Saturday. He takes on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

In the boxing ring. And man, the spider was flowing out there. It was actually amazing to see the old Anderson come out. He was having fun. He was calling Chavez Jr. to the corner and pointing to the ground. It was awesome. Then he wins a split decision in a fight that should not have been a split decision. But it was a clear win for anybody watching the fight for the former,

long time UFC middleweight champion. So, Fernando, we're going to begin with you. What did you think of the spider's performance in his return to the boxing ring? Yeah, I don't. So that's the thing. Full disclosure, I don't understand a lot about boxing like Kowacha, but I don't really understand scoring. that well, so I can speak for what I, for what I saw from and this understone in like,

I'm going to say his name five different ways, guys, on this. My Brazilian way. I can speak from what I saw on this on do on kind of a personal level. And it was, I think it was a joy for everyone, right? I don't know. It didn't feel like there was much of a buildup to the fight, at least on my end. I didn't feel like people were that excited or even like that aware that it was happening. I for sure wasn't that excited.

It was kind of like, oh, of course I'm going to watch it. But like, and then to watch him halfway through the fight really grow into his own and just do understall super things, right? Because that's the magic of it. And to look so freaking happy doing it, right? That to me was the main takeaway from it. And honestly, what I thought was really, you know, heartwarming. And I think that might have been why we got so excited collectively about it was because he didn't really get a.

proper goodbye from the UFC, right? Like, I feel like for UNDESOVA to say goodbye to the octagon, we would need to have a big event, preferably in Brazil, to have, you know, the No Sunshine remix. And, and he didn't get that. He got like a kind of anti-climatic goodbye. There wasn't much of a buildup. It was against you, Raquel, which was a, you know, a fine fight, stylistically interesting and everything else. But it wasn't the right fight for him at the moment. And then after he was done, he didn't really even embarrass himself. But there was a way. He didn't really even embarrass himself.

But the way, you know, Dana White went on to talk about him and the whole conversation and kind of like a lot of promotions saying they weren't going to try to pursue him. It just, to me, the whole way that ended was it left a very sour taste in my mouth. So to watch that, you know, to watch Anderson go out and do that. And you can add all the asterisks to Caesar Travis Jr. And there are several. He's known for not being necessarily done. the most disciplined guy. He came in extremely overweight.

I, again, don't know that much about boxing, but I know that a lot of people put asterisk in his career, even though he was a legit boxer who fought legit names and was an actual champion. Like, all of that aside, I still feel like he did something that was really cool. He looked really happy doing it. And it wasn't expected because with all that aside, I think a lot of people really didn't think that.

ultimately he would have what it took to beat a boxing champion. And he did. So I don't know. That's kind of how I felt about it. I was like weirdly happy by the end of it. Not because of MMA, not because I don't add those stakes to those fights. I don't really think it's like a sport versus sport thing because there are always so

many variables and we're never putting the best against the best. And they're never fighting in the same division. It's always a heavier person anyway. But it just made me happy to see on Deson Silva that guy who gave us so much joy in MMA, kind of get, I won't even call it closure because I think he's probably going to do, I don't know about MMA, but at least a few more boxing fights. But it was really cool to see him have sort of that, that really nice moment. Sean, I know we kind of had this conversation on what the heck, but not everybody, you know, may have seen that conversation or listened to it on the podcast network. So give us your thoughts on what Anderson Silva did on Saturday night. Yeah, absolutely. I think

Fernanda really hit on it. The main thing for me, and I think the main thing for a lot of people in the MA community, just in general, was the joy of it, right? Just to see Anderson out there, once again, joyful, exuberant, enjoying himself, and really in his element in a way that we haven't seen in such a long time.

And for a, I mean, we talk about legends of the game all the time. And I think sometimes we use that word maybe too loosely, and we attribute that to people who maybe don't deserve it. But Anderson's a legend, and he's beyond a legend, really. Like when I was, Mike, we talked about this early this week, but when I was a fan of the sport growing up, Anderson was one of my first favorite fighters. He was the guy who was the wizard who was out here doing things that nobody thought possible. He was out here just really breaking every sort of mold and becoming this singular, unique figure in the fight game and somebody who felt untouchable in a way that was almost supernatural. And the joy he exuded throughout those fights and how much he clearly just,

reveled in being that guy, it has been so unfortunate the last half decade, really longer than that, right? It's been almost eight years now of his very sudden, very sharp decline and how sad that has really gotten. I mean, you look at his last nine UFC fights, he won one fight. And it was a fight he probably shouldn't have won against Derek Brunson. And so it's just he never really had that moment where we could all celebrate him and just have that throwback opponent. And he never got an easy mark on a way out. He was always getting stuck fighting the Jared Canoniers and the Uriah Halls and all of this of the world where it's just like, why are we doing this? Like, who is this for?

No one is, I'm sure Jared Canonier is really happy to have a win over Anderson Silva on his record. And same with Uriah Hall. But nobody actually benefited from that, really. It's not like the UFC had some huge Jared Canineer rise in stock from that. Like that was just spinning our wheels in a way that felt sad. And it just, it didn't feel right. It didn't feel right for a person of Anderson's statured. So to be, to see him back out there last weekend and just enjoying himself and being

Anderson Silva where again, he's doing the Stefan Bonner thing midway through the fight where he's in the corner and he's telling him throw down and like this is come on, come on. And to see his confidence rise throughout the fight and really crest halfway through where he just knew this is me. I am back. I'm in my element. I am that guy once again, even at age 46. the joy that he was exuding and I think the joy that just you could feel from the MMA community

was so cool to experience. It is so rare that we get these opportunities just as a community as a whole to really seem to revel and enjoy something simultaneously on this sort of level. But this really did feel like a celebration in a way, right? Because we've been taking a lot of losses. Let's be honest, we've been taking a lot of losses in this whole MMA versus boxing thing. It's seemingly every month we're getting out here getting embarrassed in front of the world. And this wasn't that. This was the opposite of that. And for it to be a 46-year-old Anderson Silva doing it

against a, yeah, I know who Seiz-Shavez Jr. isn't, you know, the guy that boxing would send to represent them, but to see him doing it at age 46 against a 35-year-old former champion who has 60 bouts of experience in that guy's home on a show that is basically built and dedicated around that guy's father and honoring his father, like to do it in those circumstances. is so unlikely, five to one underdog. And it was just, it's so cool. It was so cool to see that for Anderson because he never got that storybook ending. He never got that closure like Fernandez said, that happy ending.

And I don't know, I mean, this isn't going to be his last fight, right? Because now doors are open and he's probably going to have lots of options in front of him in terms of boxing. But to see Anderson be able to have this moment, a moment he's wanted since the first day he beat the crap out of Rich Franklin. has been calling for a chance to fight in boxing, to see this was just so overwhelmingly cool for me and I think for a lot of people in the community and for Anderson as well. All right. So going back to you, Sean, because I mean, you mentioned we've seen these MMA crossover fights to boxing for a little while now.

It has become all the rage. This one was, I guess, a little less freak showish because it was an MMA fighter taking on a legit pro boxer. It kind of flew under the radar. It was a pro fight. It wasn't against a YouTube. or anything like that. And I'm not knocking the pause because make that money, son.

But after seeing, you know, Connor lose to Floyd and Ben Asker getting lamped, as Jedmishu says, by Jake Paul. Was Anderson's performance, like, it was a great moment for us all to like kind of celebrate him. It was a great moment for him? But was that in your eyes writing the wrong for MMA? Or do we still have to wait and see what happens on August 28th with Tyrone Woodley fighting Jake Paul? I mean, what does that mean, really, though, right? writing the wrong, like this isn't going to stop. This isn't, there's no end in sight of whatever this insane trend and fad of all of

these circus fights is. Like, this is only going to mean, this is only going to lead to more of them because now there's more people looking at this of like, hey, like, that's an opportunity for me to go make a lot of money. If Tyre Woodley loses against Jake Paul, like, I don't know that this changed that, that outcome and how we would feel after that, right? I think we're just going to have to be prepared for MMA to take a lot of L's in this sort of weird saga that this is going to be for however long it lasts. But it was, again,

nice to just have one night where we could not take that L, take a very surprising W at that. And again, just celebrate Anderson. Remember who Anderson is because I think there's a lot of people in the MMA space who were not around in 2011, in 2012 when he was in this huge series with Chal Sondon when he was doing just absurd things to Stefan Bonner and Forrest Griffin. There are a lot of MMA fans right now watching this or just consuming content, probably a majority of them who have no real actual concept and understanding of who Anderson Silva is other than people like us just talking about like how you should have been there. And so for him to just have this one moment where he can kind of be celebrated in that way that he never really was in the UFC

on the way out, I just think it was cool. I don't know that it's going to lead towards any lasting impact, but it was cool nonetheless. What say you, Fernanda? Like, I, I know you didn't really necessarily look at this fight through the MMA fan lens. This is like, you know, this is the Anderson show. You just, you want to see him have his moment. And he did. But in the MMA community, is all right in the world because of what happened on Saturday? Or does the onus still sort of lie on Tyron Woodley to knock out Jake Paul and, you know, stop him from running his mouth?

I have a really tough time with like, because again, like I said, I don't really ever see it as like, MMA versus boxing. I think we have a human tendency to try to add bigger stakes to the situations to get ourselves more emotionally involved. And we do that a lot with this. And it's kind of like, is it MMA versus boxing? Like in this case, more so because you have an actual person who had box for so many years and you had an actual MMA fighter who was at the top of his game and who was a striker.

So, you know, you had more of a parody where you could sort of compare. it doesn't look as oranges and apples, but then you get a fight like Tyron Woodley and you're talking about this guy who isn't, who isn't a proficient, he obviously is a proficient striker to the level that you can be in MMA, but like it was never, it wasn't his thing.

Like he wasn't as much of a technical, spectacular striker as an, against a guy who I am tired of like knocking on the pulse at this point of my life. Because it's kind of like, remember, everybody's just piling on Justin Bieber. Like, it just feels so low-hanging fruit.

Like, I'm over it. But, like, these are people who are having professional boxing fights and are training in boxers. So I'm not just their boxers in my head, I guess. Sorry, boxing people if I'm offending everyone. But, like, so you're having this kind of fight where an MMA fighter who had been declining in his MMA career, who isn't a, you know, who isn't known for being the best boxer,

who wasn't known for being the best boxer. And Tyrant, even, you have that a lot better than with Ben Astrum, right? Because that was the most ridiculous example against the person who is still coming in to the world of boxing. Usually have these huge, freaking size disparities in these fights. The Logans are always, the Pol, sorry, the Logan is one of the polls. I feel like an old lady again. What are TikToks? But you have these, these guys who are much bigger, fighting much older competitors who are coming.

So what is this? Like I don't understand this. What is being proven about MMA and what is being proven about boxing. To me, there's really no such thing. To me, the stakes really are as low as two people and the people around them making money. And I'm fine with that. That's absolutely fine. As long as you're an adult and you're consenting and you're, you know, in physical conditions

because obviously it's a contact sport. You don't want to just, you know, have extremely menacing situations happening. but, you know, these are consenting adults who are medically clear to participate in the situation and make money. Good on them. But to me, this is not a M.MA boxing honor type of thing. Might be an unpopular opinion, but that's just really not the lens through which I watch these things. Yeah, I think the important lesson to learn here is that whether Tyrone Woodley beat Jake Paul or loses Jake Paul, we remember what happened this past Saturday with Anderson Silva and the smile on his face and that moment he had with Canellell.

Alvarez after the fight. That was just so cool. And hopefully that can stick in our memories for a little while these, as Sean said, these crazy fights continue to happen. So we're going to move ahead to the other piece of business that went on this past Saturday night. But the point for round one goes to, now truth be told, I can't hear any of the sound effects. I'm taking a guess that we got it right. But it goes to the red corner, Fernanda, gets her team on the board. Really good round, super close. That's why you're my teammate. Let's go.

It's all good. Carter. Sorry, Shaheen. Still love you. I'll love. We're just getting rolling there. It was like 10 to 9 and 3 quarters, if we're being honest.

It's like star search scores. But now we're going to tag in Jen Mishu and Jose Youngs and move to round two and discuss the Korean zombie getting back on track. Great performance against Dan Igay. Unanimous decision win. Use some very effective wrestling. Just had an answer seemingly for. everything Dan Igay had in that fight.

Plus, we found out that he had a shoulder injury during the fight, which made it even more impressive. So Jose will begin with you. What did you think of the Korean zombie's performance and what it does for him in the landscape of this featherweight division? Well, I'm going to preface this with what I said in the preview show is no one, I mean, everyone take what I say with a grain of salt when I'm talking about the Korean zombie, because I am probably the biggest Korean zombie mark in the MMA landscape. So everything I'd say is going to be completely biased. And I have nothing against Dan Yeh. He just happened to fight the Korean zombie. So I'm going to watch the Korean zombie do anything.

And I'm going to be excited. I could watch him make a bowl of pudding from scratch. And I'm going to be enamored. So of course, I love everything. Use that for Anderson like two weeks ago. Yeah, because pudding's great. I also say. You watch a lot of people make pudding on YouTube.

Here's what. If you want, if you want to run through the lexicon, of Jose, it's make pudding, fight a door, Jedman Shulex Rollo's. Compare someone at T.J. Detweiler, say someone's late because they're auditioning for the dancing raisins. That's the entire lexicon of Jose Young's thing. Yeah, that's, that's whatever his name is, Nile McGrath. Anywho, any who. So, Korean zombie, awesome fight, awesome performance, awesome, everything around. Real bizarre. He didn't get a performance bonus. It's not in the sense that he deserved one because there a lot of great performances that deserved it over a five-round decision win over Danigate.

But this is the first time he's won and not got a post-fight bonus in the UFC. He even dates back to the knockout of the night, submission of the night era before it became the performance bonuses. He was winning everything left and right, even like any time he won. So the fact that he won, his shoulder was trying to run away from his body and he kept on fighting and he got back into the wind column after what he said was a knockout loss to Brian Ortega. No, it was a decision loss, but the Korean zombie says it was a knock-a-lose.

He doesn't remember anything past the second round. So 10 out of 10 across the board, my main man, the Korean zombie, the only MMA shirt that I still own. But again, take what I say with a grain of salt, because anything the Korean zombie does is 10 out of 10 across the board. All right, Jed, Michoud, how are you grading his performance? Are you giving it a 10 out of 10? Do you look at it differently? Would you watch the Korean zombie make pudding or pour a bowl of cereal or anything of the I mean, it was a 10 out of 10.

I'm not going to watch the man make pudding. Like, that's, I'm not going to watch anybody make pudding. That's your laws, bro. No, I'm good. There are a lot broader culinary topics that I could watch. I'd watch him make sushi. Watch them do anything. Also, let's put Davidson Figurato making sushi somewhere.

That is a thing that I'd watch the hell out of. But I digress. It was obviously a phenomenal performance. I mean, I'm not going to argue that Jose is a bigger TKZ fan. Like, that's fine. He can have that one. but everybody is a Korean zombie fan. He is the original action fighter.

He is that dude. And I mean, like Jose said, I hate to give him credit, but like this man is a performance bonus machine. And like honestly, one of the great tragedies of MMA is we lost a good portion of his prime years, quote unquote, to his military service. Because this dude would have been throwing up, you know, fight of the year candidates forever.

And we just missed out like two years of that. but he came back and he's still got that thing on him, man. Like, Danigay can fight his ass off and Chan Song beat his ass. Like, that was a consummate performance over a very tough guy. I don't know what it does for him. Obviously, a win is great. And I will watch him anytime he competes against anybody. I know he was making some callouts after the fight.

I don't know where that gets him, you know, towards moving towards the title shot but i mean it's just frigging dope that that dude is still here because i remember him fighting jos aaldo what feels like 20 years ago and josealdo is still technically a top competitor weight class below but like Korean zombies just dude it's awesome it's awesome to see a guy at that weight class have that kind of longevity and still be every bit as exciting and fun and interesting as he was when he was on the come up so Hell yeah, Korean zombie. That was dope. So we're not sure where this takes him,

but we're going to dive into that a little bit right now because with the craziness of 145 pounds, you get the title fight coming up between Bolknoffsky and Ortega. It looks as if the plan is to try and rebook the Holloway-Rodriguez fight after Holloway's injury. There's a lot of fun options out there for the Korean zombie Jed, but not a ton that make a lot of sense for what zombie is probably looking for. So if you got a phone call right now that,

You are the UFC matchmaker just for the Korean zombie in his next fight. What are you doing with them? I mean, it's just tough because, like, frankly, I just want to give him a title shot. I don't care that it's kind of weird to do it because he lost, like, just a minute ago to the guy who's about to get his ass beat by Alexander Volcanowski, I think, in September. But, like, that's what I want to do. I think the actual answer is you put together the future fight of the year with Calvocator because that would just be absolute banana grams.

And I'll watch the hell out of it. The only part of me that is sad about it is that might end up giving Korean zombie a loss. And then he doesn't get to fight for a belt. But if you, I mean, if you really got the Gahones, just throw him into a title shot. He gets the winner. Max Holloway can go back and fight Yahya Rodriguez because nobody wants Max to fight for the title again because he's already lost the Volko twice. Like, I know that he 100% deserves it. I'm not saying that.

But like Max needs to move up to 155 anyway, makes him hay up there. let's throw TKZ in for a belt, but no one's going to do it. So Calvin Cater, fight of the year. Who says no? Are you saying no to that, Jose? I'm not going to say no to watching the Korean zombie fight anyone.

I mean, Calvin Cater would make the most sense logically in terms of the ranking, but I don't know physically where Calvin Cater is because he was basically a walking corpse against Max Hollow. I mean, there's a reason that Dana White, we came out with the Spencer Fisher story, and then all of a sudden, Dana White is freaking out about Calvin Cater on a,

on national television on ABC because he's like, get this guy to the hospital right away. I don't want him talking to anyone. So the last image we have in Calvin Cater, well, besides, of course, your phenomenal interview on MNAAFighting.com's YouTube page was him getting the soul beating out of him by Max Holloway. So I know Josh Emmett is still on the man from his knee injury.

Arnold Allen is there. I'm not going to say no to watching Arnold Allen by anyone, but it's probably not the most exciting stylistic matchup. I'll say no to that. Yeah, I was about to say that's not the white. Give me the walking corpse versus the Korean zombie. That's a match. That's perfect.

The storyline is perfect. That's fine right there. But like, would you say no to the Korean zombie fighting like Edson Barbosa, who just turned Shane Burgos into another, like, walking dead person? Like, he literally turned the man's brain off with his fist. Or Gigacchikaze who's stealing people's livers with his foot.

Like, I would much rather watch those two fights because that's a fight of the year, performance of the year. Stick it on ABC. sticking on ESPN. I just want that on national television. I don't want it buried on a prelim of a pay-per-view. I want violence personified for five rounds on a nationally syndicated network. That's what I want.

So the Korean zombie versus anyone except Donald Allen. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, but it just doesn't satiate my bloodlust in the MMA landscape. So when I spoke to zombie prior to the fight, he, along with this coach Eddie Chah said that he briefly pondered retirement after the loss of Brian Ortega, Jose, but then said, you know what? Took a look in the mirror. I could still get back to title contention. So give me a fight. Danny Gay was the only guy available.

I want to get back to the belt. So it got me thinking, Jose, if you had to guess, like I know if it was up to you, zombies fighting for titles every time he fights, but do you predict realistically that the Korean zombie will fight for a UFC title before you ultimately cause it a career? I would say it would be closer to yes, especially. given how the featherweight division runs. You get everyone in the top five at one point is either hurt or on a long layoff or change in weight classes or whatever. Like Max Holloway's been on long layoffs, Ortega's been on long layoffs.

Ja'i hasn't fought on what, two, three years. Who knows when Calvin Kader comes back? Korean zombie himself lost like two or three years of his career. So by default, he might just get a towel shot considering he would be a fresh matchup. And Dana White has always loved with the Korean zombie. So, yeah, I would say the answer is probably yes, but it's not going to be in 2021. in 2022. Chad, what do you think?

Will we see Korean zombie realistically fight for a world title once again? Yeah, I think so, but I don't think he gets, I don't think he gets it straight up. I mean, that's the thing about zombie, right? Like, he is, he's so beloved by hardcores that even, like, regular people kind of know who he is at this point. And you can just throw him in there as a short notice replacement. I don't think he puts together two more wins off the back of this over, like, top five competitors to be like, got to give him the shot.

I think they should have given him the shot and not done the Ortega fight, frankly. I think that, that to me made a lot of sense and they should have just done that. And when they moved on from that, I think, I think he's going to bisming his way into a title shot. Like, he's, like, Jose's right, you know, guys fall out, guys get injured, guys take some time off in this weight class. I think that that is very much in play for him because he's going to win, to lose one for however long he continues doing it. And he just needs a little bit of timing.

Somebody gets hurt, pulls out. Like, right now, if something happens to Ortega in the next couple of months, like, KZ's in there, right? Like, that's, I think that that's just pretty logical. Like, I mean, I guess you could put Yair, but really, you're going to put KZ in for September if something happens to Ortega. So, and the way Jose is talking, maybe he'll just go kneecap Ortega and make it happen for Korean zombie. And then we got it. then he's right for the first time that he's ever been right on this program, and we get Korean zombie in a title fight.

There you go. Apparently he's awaiting the results of an MRI for the shoulder, but yeah, if he's good to go, get back to the States, get back to fight ready and get ready for September. Come on. You know that man would fight for a tie. If he was offered a title shot in September, even if they told him his shoulder was going to fall off,

he'd be like, all right, let's go. I'm in. I'll hit him with my other shoulder. Be that. as a may. Good win for zombie. Pretty good spot right now. Better win for Jose. Yes, we'll see where he goes from here. As this tag team matchup moves ahead, I have a feeling we're about to explode into pure chaos. So far, it's been a pretty calm here. But the point for round two of this tag team bout goes to the squad of the Arizona natives, Jose and Sean. They are on the board. It is one to one. I'm liking where this is going. I have a feeling things are about to brew over. Remember, both teams still have a rebuttal should you choose to use it. So tags are made.

Back to Fernanda, back to Sean. Let us discuss the welterweight title picture in the UFC, which appears to be quite clear. But Nate Diaz decided to play his game and insert himself into the conversation this week. He decided to play the game with the champion, Kamar Uzman. Usman took the bait. He told Diaz to call Hunter Campbell. Nate gave some props to Usman in the end.

ends, but Nate likes to plant those seeds. And more often than not, the people react, and he can find his way into these big opportunities. So, Sean, we're going to start with you. Let's kind of switch things up this time around. In today's UFC, is there any chance Nate Diaz jumps the queue and gets this fight despite losing to Leon a couple of weeks ago? First of all, I love the way you phrased to that,

as if Nate Diaz decided to, like, enter into the title picture. Like Nate Diaz is out here, be like, yeah, you know what? I do want to fight for a for a welterweight title. Let's go ahead and do that. Also really quickly, unrelated, but I have to rewind like 15 minutes ago. At some point in that inane gibberish, Jed was saying, he said that no one wanted to see Max Holloway fight for a UFC title again against Volcanowski.

And that's just blatantly false. I think most people would actually really like to see that trilogy fight. I think most people felt like Max is sort of the uncrowned champion right now. And that's probably the most popular fight you could put together in that division, in terms of a title fight. So once again, Jed is wrong and has no actual... Of the people, it's not your turn to talk, Jed.

It's my turn. Anyway, back to... You're on my time now. I'm Brian Hortiguing. No, Nate Diaz is not going to fight for... Kumar Usman for a UFC title. It's frankly, amazing that we're even having a segment about it.

I think that speaks to the power of Nate Diaz and how just the rules don't apply to him at all. He plays by a completely different... set of rules and rankings than seemingly the rest of the population when it comes to the UFC. The Walterweight Division right now is still such a mess. Like if you look at it, there are three people, two people, and conceivably three soon enough who could say that they have a claim to fight for that title. It is so backed up. Colby Covington probably doesn't deserve that fight right now. He's only fought one since he lost, but he seems like he's going to get it. Probably the

biggest fight they can make in terms of the actual people who deserve it. Leon Edwards should be fighting for that title, but he's probably like eight wins away from it at this point. Like, he's just never going to get that opportunity. And then if Wonderboy beats Gilbert Burns, that UFC 264, like he could be that guy who just jumps in front of Leon at that point. So there's no reason Nate should be in this conversation. And again, it speaks to the power of Nate Diaz and how unique of a figure he is with an MMA that we're even having this conversation.

But no, absolutely not. Nate Diaz should not be fighting for the World'sweight title. For Danda, on paper, this seems like Sean said, like an absolutely. outrageous conversation to have, but we have seen crazy things happen before in our sport. We've seen guys coming off of losses get title shots. We've seen guys off consecutive losses get title shots. Is this something that could actually happen because of who Nate Diaz is? Could he talk his way into this next title shot?

Is that even possible here? That is such, the way you phrased it was so sneaky because the question wasn't, should he fight for a title? Because that obviously is no. How should he like in the law? world bypassed the guy who just beat him and who was on this insane street. That is absolutely insane. So if the question is should, yeah, it's a definite no.

But your question was, is there a chance? And I am, I struggled with this. I still am struggling with this because I want to say logically as a rational person, no, of course not. but kill the rationality a chance thank you he's like the devil in my shoulder on my shoulder but if there's a chance

let's entertain this Usman obviously probably would be interested for him that's a more interesting fight for several reasons than Leon Edwards in terms of money and the chances of him winning it not that you know I don't think he's too concerned with that at the time.

He's obviously proven he's an amazing fighter who can be pretty much everyone in the division, including Leon Edwards. But you have that factor of maybe this appeals to Usman. As things are right now, I don't think the UFC could possibly justify it, just doing that now. Like, yeah, you literally just beat, just lawsuit to Leon Edwards, even though if you ask an EDS fan, they'll probably tell you another five rounds than he would have won it.

you can't justify that now, but you can't justify it in a very weird universe in which I don't know. Leon is, they want to schedule a five for two months from now and Leon can't make that deadline for whatever reason. And then they're like, let's just do need this. I think it's highly unlikely and I am with Shaheen and that I think it's crazy that we're even having this conversation. It really just speaks to the mystique of one Nathan Diaz that we're just willing to put him in any title conversation for any title, for any division really at any time. But as painful as it is for you to say this,

if the question is, there are a chance. So you're telling me there's the chance. I am not willing to say that there is a chance. chance. So yes, I guess there is a chance. I can't believe I was to say this. I mean, influenced my Jen, but okay. Like, can I rebuttal my own teammate? Is that, is that like an option? Hey, you can you can use your rebuttal however you want. Go ahead. This should absolutely happen. Why do you all hate fun? Like, what happens? Because

Camar Oussman is the man and he wanted to happen and he should get to say, I choose you. What's going on right now? Nobody cares about Leon Edwards. Colby coming to sucks. Wonderboy wins. Yes, he deserves a title fight. But if he loses, you don't need to run Gilbert Burns right back. And are you really going to put the winner of Lucke versus Keesa in a title fight?

I mean, maybe if this were a sport, maybe they would deserve it. Screw it, man. Nate almost beat him. Let's go. Jose, would you like to say something, Jed, before we turn it over to back over to Sean? With his own teammate, what's going? Talking to Jed is like trying to have an... I love this energy, though.

I feel like I'm a very, like, cautious person, and I feel like Jed's just reckless energy. Like, we really complement each other well as teammates. I learned when I first met Jed about three weeks ago, I learned that you can't really interact with him like a rational human being. So it's like trying to talk to a duck. So no, I don't want to interact with Jed again. Okay.

Well, anyways. So going back to Fernand, Sean, Fernanda will go back to you. And Dana White has been saying it for a while now, but we all know that Dana White likes to say things. It appears that Colby Covington will be next for Usman, that rematch from their incredible fight in December of 2019. Usman's manager, Ali Abdulaziz said that there's some good news for Usman, don't know if it's related or not. And then he tweeted out earlier today that Nate Diaz over Colby all day or something to that effect. But listen, whether it's Nate or if Wonderboy beats Burns or even Leon Edwards gets in there, maybe it's not Nate, but is there any way the UFC changes gears and we don't see Usman Covington 2 next?

See, the way of these questions, my, is there any way? Is there, it's the UFC, there's always a way and there's always a chance? So I struggle with these questions. but I do think logically, right, the Coventon fight is pretty much what I think is happening. And it's unfortunate, because obviously they had such an amazing first fight because obviously everybody just wants to see Kobe Covington get injured and Guzman is the person who has the best chances of making that happen in terms of shot and floyded to the world. But I think it's unfortunate for Leon Edwards.

And I think that we paint him as his very tragic character. And I don't know if he actually likes it that the entire MMA world is always talking about him like this poor puppy that, you know, for him. Like helpless little thing. He's not a helpless little thing. He's a grown man who has built an amazing streak and who has made some decisions. Like, for instance, if I'm Leon Edwards right now, right? And you have the whole beef with Masvidal going on. Why is he not interested in making that happen?

That's a winnable fight for him. That is a fight that could be in any pay-per-view because at this point, even though Mazvedal is on that kind of like little slope, you want to associate yourself with him at this point. So like why not like create that and then maybe, you know, accept that you're not getting a title shot at this point? I don't know, but I think a lot of it, as it always happens in the UFC, has a lot to do with timing and, you know, people get injured and they want to do things at a certain date and if people aren't ready and there's somebody else who is, they come in. I think right now it's pretty unavoidable that it is going to be Muslim and Covington again.

And I have no complaints about that, like the way that the first fight went on. Like, I think there's really no, I take no issue with that at all. I do feel for Leon Edwards because it's very rare for you to build a streak like he did and put himself in a position like he did and still. And still like even though he's coming off that win, a lot of people are still talking a lot more about the guy that he beat than they are talking about him. And just the whole thing really is a little bit sad. But yeah, I'm just thinking that there is just Usman and Covington next. See, I ask the questions that way because we get that very intelligent answer from you. If I just said, will the UFC go another direction?

You could just say no. Yeah, you could just say no. And that's it. Next question, please. But to you, Mr. Alshaddy, let's just say Wonderboy goes out there and starches Gilbert Burns. Let's say he just stops him like mid-second round. It's like a flawless performance. And that is a big if.

This is very hypothetical here. Is there any chance that the UFC just says, you know what? let's give Wonder Boy his opportunity. Let's give him that crack at the belt. Colby can wait. Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's a huge chance.

If the question in general is, is there any chance that Colby isn't the next guy fighting for the belt? I think there's probably a 50% chance. And there's a couple of reasons, right? One is Colby historically is not the easiest guy to deal with if you're the UFC. Like there's a huge chance that Colby's either going to price himself out of it or he's just going to be such a nuisance to them that they're just going to move on and be

like, all right, guy, like, we'll just go to the next person. Like we've done 80,000 times in the past. And then the scenario you just laid out where if Wonderboy goes out there on this big Connor pay-per-view and does something just extraordinary, we've seen the UFC want to try to push Wonderboy into these type of situations. I mean, if Colby's even giving them the slightest bit of guff, they will just go right to Wonderboy in that spot. And that wouldn't be unprecedented. So just in general, absolutely, there's a huge, huge chance still that we don't end up getting

Covington versus Usman 2 next. I think that's probably ultimately where it ends up because Kobe would be insane to try to talk himself out of this opportunity. But I mean, Kobe does what Kobe does. And we've seen it in the past. So I think it's 50-50 shot, but it probably will end up being that. Yeah, Colby seems ready. I spoke with them a couple of weeks ago. He said he's ready to fight tomorrow.

He said the right things about the UFC. Shout out to Dana and Hunter and the whole team. So he's on their good side, at least when he does interview. So we'll see what happens with this title picture. I think it's crazy that we're talking about, Nate, but that is today's UFC. We get ready for the final. You already used your rebuttal. Can I give him my rebuttal?

I feel like he's a more rebuttal-loatly person. He took your team's rebuttal. Dana said that he was getting the next time. It's like a 90-season he doesn't. That's the answer. I'll hold the rules. Listen. We appreciate-

There are no rules here. This is chaos. We appreciate you, Jed. And we're going to hear more from you in a minute. but the last 30 seconds of your vocals don't count. They're just there forever, but they have nothing to do with this game.

So the final tags are about to be made. Shedd's words are equivalent to UFC title shots. It just doesn't matter. This could get ugly in round four. But the point for round three, cue the drums, goes to Sean and Jose. It is two to one. What a battle, ladies and gentlemen.

This is crazy. I feel like the volcano is a bad. boat to erupt because there is a lot of action going on in the world of MMA this weekend. It is Jose versus Jedmishu in this final round of regulation. We have the UFC back on Saturday, the event headline by Cyril Ghan and Alexander Volkov. Bellator is back tomorrow with Bellator 261, interim heavyweight title on the line between Timothy Johnson and Valentin. Madolfsky, the PFL is also back tomorrow.

We got Kayla Harrison and Cindy Danduan on that card. Anthony Pettis will look to get his first PFL win and try to earn a playoff spot. So, Jed, we're going to kick things off with you in terms of intrigue, storyline, overall interests in the aftermath of these events in your eyes. Which promotion is putting its best foot forward, so to speak, this weekend? Look, you should know where I'm going, Mike. It's Bellator, because, I mean, they have a heavyweight main event as well, but there's this way, more fun. I'm not here to tell you that Cyril Ghan versus Alexander Volkov isn't the better fight of the heavyweight main events this weekend. It 100% is. But that fight might be

boring or it doesn't get us anywhere super interesting. Like the winner of that's still not getting a title fight because heavyweight is log jammed in the UFC right now. So it's just a little bit of spinning our wheels, even if it's technically better MMA. Whereas in Bellator, we have a title fight, man. It is an important. interim title, I know, like, Bader is still anomaly the heavyweight champion, despite the fact that he lost his light heavyweight belt, which has always seemed a little dumb to me how that would work. But anyway, he's still the heavyweight champion, but he like doesn't fight at heavyweight ever anymore because he also doesn't fight at light heavyweight. It's been a lot of time doing grand prix and stuff. And we get Tim Johnson, man. I am here for the career, late career renaissance of Tim Johnson. Every year I do a weight division essentially awards of the year. And Tim Johnson was my heavyweight of the year last year. Three fights, three victories, upset win over Tyrol Fortune, upset win over Matt Mitrione.

Split decision over Czech Congo because that's just what Czech Congo does. He wins a split decision. Like you can't beat him or lose to him super definitively, at least not this stage. That's three wins for a dude who nobody believes it. I don't believe in Tim Johnson still, and I'm a Tim Johnson fan. Tim Johnson's family doesn't believe in him, but he put together three wins, and he is the number one or two ranked heavyweight in Bellator's admittedly awful rankings. He is going to fight, like, a legitimately good heavyweight prospect in Valentin Moldovsky.

Like, I'm just here. I'm here for the two big old walruses, just smacking each other around for however long it is. and nobody's talking about it. It's so rare that you get a title fight, be it interim or otherwise, that nobody gives two shits about, but somehow we've managed that with Bellator this week. But I care, Bellator, and I see you, and I'm going to be tuning in. I'm guessing there's air horns coming from KCA.

I don't know. I don't really know. But, Jose, your thoughts. PFL, Bellator, UFC, in terms of storylines and intrigue and interest and things we can discuss after the fact. what has like the most potential to be the best card of the three? Well, Jed's answer was obvious. The second thing announced the Timothy Johnson fight,

anytime there's a tall, goofy white heavyweight, Jed Michoud makes that appointment in television. Now, if you're talking about an actual like athletic sporting event, obviously Cyril gone, Alex Volkov is the, is the way to go. The Kayla Harrison fight, I'm always interested in watching Kayla Harrison fight and obviously what she says after.

See if Anthony Competits can back into the wind column. But unfortunately, that's not my answer. It is the UFC. And I'm going to talk about more. than the main event because I like, I like mixed martial arts, and I'm going to watch the entire card. Anytime you want to throw on Andre Fili on the card,

Tim Means, Hanato Moikano is opening the main card against Jay Herbert, Honey Barcellos, Daniel Paneda. Like, these are names that, like we just talked about fighters, like the Koreans Amar. I just talked about glowingly about how I just love violent, chaotic fighters

who are just high-level martial artists. Everyone I just named is that, and they're all in the main card, Worley Alves. fighting. Of course, I assume he's going to probably call out the marijuana guy, Nate Diaz, not going to happen. Sorry, Charles Rosa has never won or lost two fights in a row in his entire UFC career. So who knows if that trend will continue? I mean, he's fighting Justin James. Justin James probably if he loses, that's a wrap for his UFC career. Julia Vila, at one point,

everyone was very high on her. I know she stumbled in recent, but at least people will tune into her fight. So yes, I am very excited for the UFC on ESPN or whatever it was. Ikeville in a I think he's on this card. I chat with him a lot on Fight Island. I might be an Ikeville and Oeva fan just from having conversations with him. And I don't, I didn't understand a word he was saying. I think he was speaking English. But if anyone has watched King of the Hill, it's basically like talking to Boomhauer.

I just, I'm just sitting there. I'm like, I know I'm understanding like the last word of every sentence, but I'm not quite sure what you're saying, but I'm here for it. So I'm all about it. I know Kenny Endrakew is fighting on that card. Just knocked out of Sanya's opponent. So top to bottom, to answer the question in terms of storylines and where we go after this fight, the answer is the UFC. I know Jed Mishu is a proponent of quote unquote bad heavyweight MMA.

He's also not a steep A Miotr's fan for whatever reason. I guess he just doesn't like good heavyweight MMA. So the answer is the UFC. Look at all that. Look at all that knowledge. Shut it down. That was it. That's the point.

We don't even go to flying around. Well, I will just use my rebuttal quickly. Okay. I will not deny that there's a lot of names, because if not it's just going to go to waste, so might as well. I will not deny that there are a lot of like good names for us, hardcores in the,

in the UFC card. And I had no idea none of them were fighting until I looked at the card today. Because there are just no super compelling fights. And in the sense of popular. In the sense of just like looking at it on paper, yes, Renato Moekano and Haouni Barcellus, who I will forever defend and name drop in everything because everybody should love Howony Barcellus is amazing. But and then you look at the strength of the card and you look at the co-main event and you defend that co-main event. And you defend that co-main event. You know who is going to do a better? You know who's going to do a better job at defending the co-main event? Your teammate Jed Mishu because that that fight is right up his side. Sally, overweight, light heavyweight fighting a tiny heavyweight. That's a Jedmichu fight across the board. Even Mike knows it. Even Mike knows it. That fight's hot garbage. You didn't even mention the best fight on the UFC card, Jose. Sean's trying to big up you with, oh, look at all this

knowledge. Where's the shout out for shot hot Rockmanov versus Michelle Pazazaz. That fight's going to be bananas. That's the best fight on the whole freaking card. And you were just like, I can worry about Jed, I can Google fight cards too. It's off the top of my dome. Can you name anyone else on the Bellator card besides the main event? Probably not. Next question. Why would I? I'm just the main event.

I'm not here for 13. That's the opposite. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. We heard from Fernando. Now we get to hear from Sean. Jed literally just said that that was the best, the Michelle Pereira fight was one of the best fights of the weekend, if not the

best fight of the weekend. That alone makes us win, because we picked the UFC card. So he just made with our point. It's not storyline. Then that's where I will deal.

Bill Johnson's resurgence as a viable heavyweight in the year of the war. They're great names, but we're talking storylines and excitement. If you could only watch one fight out of those two,

you know you're going to watch the Michelle Pereira fight. I'm just telling you. That is absolutely not true. That is absolutely false. I know you way too well. Wait, is it not on this card, by the way.

No, it's fair. It's not. It's not. Different, Ferreira's fighting Nicole Price. Yeah. Oh, if it was Michelle Baha'a, 100% I made on that. Never mind.

My rebuttal is going forward to it. Your rebuttal had a wrong name. You had a Brazilian to check here, Shaheen. That was your doubtful. I have to use my Brazilianist. It happens. It happens. Well, we heard Jed's, Jed knew where the next question was going,

and he answered it, the most underrated under the radar fight of the weekend. And Jose, what is yours? Fight, fighter storyline that isn't getting enough love. What is yours? The Shack-Rack-Rack-Mannoff fight absolutely rules because that's one of the few fighters on the card without Wikipedia page. I spoke with Shack-Rack on UFC Fight Island. Dude was wearing a hat made of a legitimate wolf. Like not a fake, not fake.

Like the fur was made of a living creature, like a wolf. And he beat up a human being on national television and then put on a hat made of a wolf. So yeah, Shaggrakmanoff is about that life. Also, I'm obviously a big Andre Fulie fan. He flies the comic book fan banner like no one else does in the UFC. If anyone's seen his bookshelf, it might rival mine in terms of graphic novels. And I will firmly admit he reads a lot of stuff I haven't read and vice versa. So, yeah, the Andre Feeley fight's always interesting.

Daniel Panetta talk about resurgence. I know he just lost his last fight, but it's good to see him back doing things in the UFC. So one of those two fights probably on the UFC card. And again, the reason why the UFC card is way better than any other card this weekend. Well, that will do it for this round. A lot to think about here. A lot of moving pieces. The volcano erupted a little bit, but wasn't like a crazy eruption.

But the main question is, will we see a knock around after what we just witnessed? The point for round four goes to the answer is, yes, we will see a knockout round. Jed Mishu ties it up for his team. How fitting for a contest like this. So this is going to be a little interesting. All right? So for those unfamiliar with the knockaround, we will ask one question.

It's going to be the same question for everybody. And each of these wonderful competitors will have a chance to respond. But here's where things get interesting. One person from each team will give their initial response. the tag team partner can either agree with their teammates answer and expound further. They can put their partner over, so to speak, or they can completely go against them and trash their answer, if you will, and give their own thoughts on this question. So four responses, one minute apiece.

Either person knows what this question is. Once it's done with the help of the live studio audience, we will turn it on over to the Honorable Judge E. Casey Liden, to rule in favor of the team. team maybe of Jed Ananda or the team of Jose and Sean. So to determine our order, Jed, I think I'm the only person who actually, I think you're the only person I told this to. So you already have a pen and paper ready. So Jose or Sean, whoever has a pen and a piece of handy, grab it. Who still uses pen and paper? I don't have any of that. Anywhere near. I got you, dog. I got you. I haven't written anything on a piece of paper in

quite a long time. At least you can read it. At least you can read it. English and I can't say the same for my opponent, Jed. Okay, so I'm now a Skype simply, but I can see what's happening right now. Hey, I can walk down to a King Coast and print out a fake degree too and hanging on my wall. Listen, it is my lifelong dream.

Listen, I'm thrilled to be working here at MMA fighting, but my lifelong dream is to be a game show host, so I'm trying to like insert a little bit of game show host in this, if you will, into this. So to determine who's going to go first, we need each team to bring one person to the table. We have a little Price's right actions.

It can be Jed versus Jose. We're going to combine a little MMA trivia into this. So Jose and Jed, I'm going to ask you this question. You have 10 seconds to write down a number. What? What? I don't get it right. I don't get it.

Don't worry about it. You're doing great, Mike. Jose and Jed, just for you. Okay? I'm going to ask this question. If you have 10 seconds to write down a number, you're not going to get it right unless you're just ridiculous. us, but the closest to the number will get the champion's prerogative.

Without going over, is this real prices right or is this fake prices right, Mike? Whoever's the closest to the number? Whoever's the closest to the number? So fake price is right. All right. Okay. So Max Holloway has had 24 fights in his UFC career. How many significant strikes has Max Holloway landed in his UFC career? I was going to cheat and send it to you, Jose, but I can't find that. Significant.

Yep. Jesus. He had like 7,000 in his last fight. I'm ready. Four, three, two, one. Time is up. Jose, let's see. What do you got? I wrote 784.

784. Jedmishu. 4,081. Yeah, it's got to be way more than 700. It wasn't working. Probably somewhere in the middle. I'm going to go again. It's got to be four figures,

minimum. So Jed barely wins. Yeah. Way over. The correct answer is 2,618. Nearly a fifth of those happened in the fight against Calvin Cater in January. That is a lot closer than I thought. Yeah. So with that, Jed, you get

the champion's prerogative. Do you want to go first? You want to pass this question on over to your opponents? We're definitely passing because this is chaos and I don't know. We need time to be prepared. We like to call him a coward by not going first. Anyway, hit me with the question. All right. So Jose, you're going to go first, you'll have a minute, and then Sean Elshaddy will also have a minute to answer.

He could either expound on what you said or he can go his own direction. So here's the question. We're past the midway point of the year. Every year, as you know, Jose, we have our list of awards we like to give out, the blank of the year over at M8Bunding.com. So put your thinking cap on because the most contentious category of 2020 was the breakout fighter at the year. It was a two-horse race between Hamzaa Tchaimyev who won the award ultimately and kept in Holland who finished second. So the question is, Jose, thus far in 2021, who is your breakout fighter of the year in the world of

mixed martial arts? That is quite the question. We have one minute on the clock. Your time starts now. In terms of the breakout fighter of the year, I'm going to phrase it in the sense that the reception that this individual got completely caught me off guard. Now, he's been in the UFC for a while and he was even on the ultimate fighter. but the reaction that Brandon Moreno got in Arizona

was as if he was fighting in Mexico. The only fighter, I think the entire week that got more standing ovations than Brandon Moreno was Nate Diaz. So he was the lowest ranked fighter on the ultimate fighter. Like he was the 16 out of 16 fighting and the ultimate fighter. He gets called back to fight a UFC veteran short notice wins

and he racks on a couple more wins and losses, gets cut, comes back, crawls himself back to the top, and is now the champion of the flyweight division. So my answer is Brandon Marano. He got the biggest pops in front of a crowd. He's probably one of the bigger nerds. I mean, the Duke collects funco pops for a living,

and I hate fungal pops, and I think that it's absolutely adorable. So the fact that we are talking about Brandon Marano, the funco pop collectors, the champion of the world, my answer is Brandon Marino. All right, there we go. We bring in Sean Al-Shadi. I'm still a Skype.

Oh, there I am. Hey, welcome back, Mike. All right, Sean, you get a minute. You can either build upon that if you agree with Jose, or you can give your own thoughts on this. Breakout Fighter of the Year thus far in 2021 and go. That was tremendous. I mean, I was going to say Jiri Prasca

because of what we saw with the ridiculousness and the top knot and everything. But, I mean, I have to agree with Jose. Brandon Moreno, man, I was there in Phoenix with Jose and I honestly wouldn't have believed it had I not been there to see it. The reaction that this guy got from the Phoenix populace all week. It was unreal.

He was treated and received like an absolute superstar. Brandon Moreno, the guy who was number 16 out of 16 on his tough season, the guy who was cut from the UFC just a few years ago, the guy who was an underdog in pretty much every single one of his major fights in the UFC, how is this eternal underdog all of a sudden now the UFC champion? This is not something that I think anyone ever really actually thought would come true. Do loves Legos. He's living his dream going to Lego land and living it up large.

It's probably going to get his own Lego figure. All of Tijuana, Mexico, there's murals everywhere for him. It's crazy. The whole world is celebrating Brandon Marino. No one ever saw this coming. We thought maybe he'd be a fun fighter who could maybe get, you know, his name into contention at some point. No one ever thought he'd be a champion.

It's absolutely Brandon Marano. And there's no other correct answer. Okay. Jed is already shaking his head. So that is going to be a good sign. So Jed, do you want to go first? Yeah, I got this. And then Nanda can just come in over the top, put him away.

Okay. So Jose and Sean are going with the assassin baby Brandon Moreno. What say you? Breakout fighter the year thus far in 2021. One minute on the clock starts now. First, shout stout shoddy for his unending love of year, Prohashka. I knew he would say that if he was given the choice. I'm not here to disparage Brandon Moreno. Brandon Moreno's dope.

His win was super sick. He obviously has got something going. He's still a flyweight, so nobody cares about him in a broader sense. The only correct answer is Kamar Usman. Now, last year, Mike, we've seen a show about how Let me talk. I got a minute. Last year, awful performance against Roy Mospital.

He was the least excited fighter. Somehow he's got two. Super dope wins this year, and he is now from good welterweight to legitimately in the greatest welterweight of all-time conversation. U.S. he started pushing that narrative. He blew the doors off Gilbert Burns and then knocked Jorge Moshvedol out.

That's not a thing that happens. This is a dude. who again, last year, he was a good champion that no one cared about now. He is a star. He is obviously the breakout fighter this year if you're talking about where he was to where he ended. Oh, my God. That was so funny. That guy just became a breakout fighter of the year, someone who is already a UFC champion for two years at the start of this year.

Yeah. Not what that category means, my friend. That category means whatever I want it to mean. And it means he, look, Brandon Mariner was a champion. The worst answer. Unquestionably, he went from not champion to champion, but nobody gave a shit about to a guy that we're starting to call the goat. Like,

that is the biggest jump anybody's had in the last. Jed, I take back everything I said. You're a funny guy. Okay. Okay. Hey, all right. Hang on. Hang on a second.

Hang on a second. I will say this for Jed. That is a very open-ended question. You can look at it however through whatever lens you want. And that was the biggest point. of contention with this freaking award last year was Hamzat, a guy that nobody knew, became a star, even though he didn't really beat anybody of significance. And then you have Kevin Holland who had five wins, but people knew who he was.

So it's just like, how do you define it? That's how you define it. And I respect that, Shed. I don't know if Casey will respect that, but I respect it. I have nothing to do with the fine. The UFC champion of two years suddenly became the breakout fighter. There's a lot of talking when it's not their time. my team

hadn't even gotten a shot yet. I know, but now she gets her. It's like Brendan's second run in the UFC by those standards too. Like he's not, he's not in the same like category as he may have as in his just a brand new face. And this is not me hating on Brandon,

but I'm not, I'll have my minutes. So I don't want to. Yes, you will have your minute. You will have your minute. And this is why I think this is why I pick this question because this is awesome. This is chaos.

And this is the way they end the program. So Fernanda, we leave it on to you. Be married wisdom. of Fernando Prattice, one minute on the clock. I will preface this by saying I hate this type of question, because whenever I have to write about it, I like do a lot of research.

Like I'm that kind of person. I don't think on my feet. But I'm going to, I want female representation here. And I'm going to go with one that will be also met with protests, but I will explain. I'm going to go with Kayla Harrison. Because, because Kayla Harrison obviously has had like one fight.

this year. She's having, she's having her second fight for PFL tomorrow, so it's not like she's fought a bunch. But I say that 2021 is the year that we started talking about Kayla Harrison in the same realm as Amanda Nunez and Cyborg. Right before that, we were curious,

we were intrigued, we knew that had all this athletic prowess, but, you know, her competition hadn't, granted, so it kind of hasn't been at the level that we can really test it, but I think that 2021 is the year we started seriously putting her in those conversations,

seriously putting her against the proven best female MMA fighters in the world. And for that, for now, and this might age horribly tomorrow. For now, I am putting Kayla Harrison as my breakout fighter of 2021. Good answer. Good answer. Thank you. Thank you, Chad. I love the encouragement.

I'm feeling like Richard Dawson right now. Just listening to Family Feud, good answers. good answers. So, wow, a lot to digest there. Three different answers. We have two for Brandon. One, right one from the blue corner. I just want to leave my love for Brandon Moreno Express too, because we all did. I love him. He's like amazing, but. Hey, Sean, how many UFC champions has Mexico an entire nation had until UFC 263? Oh, I don't, you know, that's a good question. I don't think they had any until it's a big of a winner. That's different.

It hasn't. We had one good win for like two days. It's almost like someone new has become an international superstar over the course of the past. Wow. He had already made in the star. He had already broken out. He just didn't have the title. I have no idea what everybody just said.

I call him that a superstar. We have no indication that he's actually a superstar. He's a champion. I'm just telling you, Jose and I were here for that arena. If they do any sort of. a show in Arizona again or Mexico or wherever, that's going to sell out very, very fast, and Brandon Miranda's going to be received like a star. I remember all the shows that didn't Cleveland with Steppe after he blew the doors off there as well.

You can definitely trust the UFC not to screw that dog. Steephe, the one that hates Dana White? Yeah, that worked. My argument is just that the breakout champion and breakout fight, breakout star and breakout fighter, that's my whole conversation. Because I would argue that Brandon had already, like his stock had already risen incredibly after the first fight with Dave. And he now became champion. So just throwing it out there for the audience to consider.

We have footstall to Usman and now he's the goat over GSP. That seems like a bigger jump to me. It's all I'm saying. Okay. All right. Let's all just agree that Jed objectively has the worst answer here. Yeah, obviously. No.

Okay. There's only one person that can decide that. And that is the man with the baddestash in MMA media. The Honorable Judge E. Casey Liden. I will say the only reason I left this chaos. The judge? I only let this chaos go on for so long so Casey can gather his thoughts, maybe get the opinions of the live studio audience.

Just a reminder. We will have our preview show for UFC Vegas 30 coming up tomorrow. So stay tuned for that. We will have Bellator coverage, PFL coverage. We will have UFC Vegas 30 coverage. We'll have your people's pre-fight show 30 minutes before. UFC Vegas 30, which is an early start time, by the way. So the pre-fight show is going to kick off at 1230 Eastern, which is just tremendous.

I love that very much. But Casey, history being made right now. Who is the first ever? You know what? It's my show. Screw it. Who is the first ever between the links tag team champions of the world? Is Jed holding up a black power fist?

What is happening? It's at one. Oh. Oh, I can't. You're fingers without a hot. I had the two one. As a Brazilian, I feel like I have to, even though I'm not religious,

I feel like my Brazilian is asked that I thank Jesus for whatever happened. We can't hear Casey. Oh, I'm hearing here. I'm listening to you. I mean, the minute was over a while back. I don't know why you're still talking. But I made my decision. Find arguments for breakout.

Fire to the year. But the winner for the first ever tag team between the links champion is the red corner. Jedmishu. Whoa! Let's go, Nanda. Okay, I have to have to know why, Casey.

I have to know why. I think Nanda said it was a breakout fighter. If Brandon Marino and Figurato had fought in that first fight, say, January 2nd, then maybe I could count that. But Bramarino was already a really good flyweight, number two flyweight, and he won the championship.

What Jed said, though, sold me. Kamar Usman was the most boring World to Weight Champion maybe ever, and two fights after two spectacular victories and destroying Masvedal, he's maybe one win away from considered the goat, or one or two wins away from the goat. And, yeah, I mean, you and you said, you know,

the whole, you know, he'll do great in Mexico. Well, if they took Usman to Africa, anywhere in Nigeria, he'll do just as good. So I went with Uzman for where he started and where he is. Is it just a C? That's ridiculous. No, it's not, man. No, Sean, you can't argue with Casey.

You're going to get just as far as argue with Jed. They're going to be. Oh, no, I went into this thinking when I heard the question, I was like, oh, Brandon Moreno, absolutely. I'm sure you did. Jed sold it. Jed made a better argument. Let me just say, I thought, I thought we were going to be on the precipice of the same, literally, back-to-back years, around the same time, Kamar Usman being potentially one of the worst answers in the history of the program. But Jed did a good job selling it.

A.K. Lee said Kamar Usman was the fighter of the year last year at this exact same time last year and is one of the worst answers in the history of the show. He still gets beat up about that answer. And that's why Kamar Usman is to break out firefighter. because it was a horrible answer by AK because Karuzan was not I don't know what he won't call it a star he is a star now Brandon Marino is on his way to becoming

a star we will hear we will get the thoughts of Sean and Jose in a matter of moments but the Red Corner gets to say their piece first congratulations to Jed and Fernanda the first ever between the links tag team champions of the world

Jed you get 30 seconds to say whatever it is you want and Fernanda you will also get 30 seconds You know, I'm just basking in the glory of this win. You all thought that I was insane for Usman, and clearly I was correct. And I got to throw a shout out to my tag team partner because I think she gives me a much, much needed takes the edge off, makes me a little more palatable, helps some of my arguments. We knew this was going to be a dominant tag team, and this is just the first of many. Fernanda.

Yeah, I agree. I feel, you know, I've got to be honest. Last time, the first time I was on the show, I felt a little robbed, and I think the internet kind of agreed with me, but like the entirety of the internet, but I also knew I had a worthy opponent, and I was on board with a tag team because I felt like, like I said, his reckless energy could really match my sort of more,

more cautious, like cowardly, you could say take on things. So I feel like this was a great team. I'm really happy with our birth. performance tonight. I thought Fernanda was verbally swinging the chair at Jed's back for a second there, but you turn it around. Nothing but respect to your mind. Yeah, exactly. Like, this is all right. Let's hear from the blue corner. Let's hear from the blue corner. Let's get Jose and Sean up there. I have to hear what Sean has to say because the look on his face when he actually like digested this decision. I have to hear you. This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. Casey,

I've known you forever. You have a lot of bad opinions. Like, that's just what it is. It's have a person with bad opinions telling someone else with bad opinions that he has great opinions. Like, sure, I guess the guy that was 12 and O'n't O, coming into 2021 and was a champion for two years and was already a top five welterweight of all time. Oh, yeah, sure. Somehow he's the breakout fighter of the year. Yeah, go ahead and book that Usman Wonderboy fight. And then we'll see how big of a superstar Usman is with all the million pay-per-views. That's going to sell.

It's ridiculous. Oh, and Brandon Moreno versus who? What? Dude. Who, who believe in the Marin-Marino coming in? to 2021. Everyone called that a fluke. Devenson Ficcarado would have won had he not decided to do a couple of fouls in that fight.

Like no one was believing in Brandon Moreno coming in that much. Wait, I'm sorry, was the question, the upset of the year? Was it the upset of the year? Was it just the UFC champion of the year who slightly became more popular? What are we talking about? Slightly? Oh, man. Jed. Usman would out sell Moreno by like 400,000 people. What are we?

Here's a popular champion in the in the here's what. Here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say. Sean, Casey was always going to pick the incorrect answer. So the fact that we were said that we were wrong is a good. Like that is a good. Like you've been at the athletic for a couple of years.

You don't like Casey's been doing the preview in the post fight shows and everything. And as you said like he's as Mike said, what did Mike? What did you say to Casey at a post show a couple of last week? What did we call him? A contrarian. So of course. The one fight answer is going. This is like, let's not forget,

Casey thought Loma Luke Booney deserved a performance bonus for a decision win on a card with like three knockouts and a submission. He said that Bernard Janderob of Devera deserved a performance bonus. Even Mike was like, why? Like, we get it, we get it. Oh, the woman that broke Marada's arm? You can interrupt in a second.

I understand that's the game, but right now the losers, the losers can have their time. Oh, gee. Salt tea I'm not As soon as Jed said Camaro I'm like oh Casey's gonna pick that answer

Like I knew that would come Exactly the right answer The second Jed said Camaro And I'm like oh Casey's picking that I still think We want so I won't debate it I still think that Kayla fits the criteria better

But you know I'm just gonna throw it out there I still think we won't regard We would have one with either answer And Nanda what came with two fighters That was brilliant Smart guy. Kayla Harrison is 1-0 with a win over Marina Mariahs.

I got it's fine. Sean. It's fine. It's not perfect. Just think about what I said like five seconds ago. You've got the ball of it. It's got to be fixed. I get it.

It's okay. I mean, after later later later, it was like, oh, Jose is the right answer. I'm like, yeah, I'm not, I'm not getting it. K's not thinking that one. Yeah, that was until I still heard my correct answer. Oh, no, wait. We're talking about Esther Lynn. Oh, wait, this is Esther Lynn.

Look, look. I can't read it. What is you saying? I can't, it doesn't appear to me. Jedd and Nanda had better formed arguments. Oh. Behind more difficult fighters to make, I can't see the bottom of that. But it is the iconic voice, so it must have been something.

There you go. Very difficult you guys went with. That's just going to kill you every time. So, well, listen. It's all love. I still love all of you. I just hope that this is. This is known, okay?

That this doesn't cause a riff in our beautiful friendship because I love you all. Listen, the only rip that's going to cause is Sean and Jose never wanted to come on the show again. You're welcome. He's got to be like me and Jen forever. Sean, here's how next time you're on, next time you're on, next time you're on, here's what's going to happen. You're going to win the first round, lose the second, rinse and repeat. And then in the final round, you're going to pick Jir Pahaska, Vernage, and, Verna Janderoba as the as the breakout and fighters of 2021 guaranteed victory.

Oh, and throw him and L. Cape in there, too, just to make just for the record. And you are, you are golden winning every single between the legs. You should definitely listen to Jose because he's won a lot of between the links against me. Yeah, you know, the only one, the only one I won is when I brought up Verna Janderova, and I got the final point right. So yes, the math is sound. The system is rigged. That's what you're saying, Jose.

That's a serious accusation. Well, the system was rigged last week when Sean came into guest judge. That was when the system was rigged. Yeah. Don't forget that, Sean. You had yourself. You invited me, Casey. You knew what was going to happen.

I trusted you. I trusted you. Okay. We've gone like eight minutes past the allotted time here. This is great stuff, by the way. And I want to thank you all for watching. and tuning in to this craziness that is BTL Tag Team Championship

match number one. Congratulations to Jedd and Fernanda. Thank you, Jose and Sean. Thank you to E. Chris Lee, Casey Liden for his decision. Until next week, everybody. I am Mike Heck. We'll see you back here between the links.

Good night, everybody. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn may or may not take you out of here. Suns in four. Suns and four. Suns and four. Hawks in six. I can go with that.

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