MMA Fighting - Between the Links: Episode 22 | Is Khabib the GOAT? UFC 254 Fallout, Lightweight Title Picture

Episode Date: October 27, 2020

Check out episode 22 of Between the Links as Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and journalist Ant Walker as they react to Khabib Nurmagomedov's second-round submission win in the UFC 254 lightweight championship headliner, along with his subsequent retirement from the sport. The panel talks where "The Eagle" sits on the GOAT list. In addition, they lay out what should happen with the lightweight title moving forward compared to what many believe will ultimately happen, talk the three stars--outside of Nurmagomedov--of UFC 254, and reveal what they would choose to watch if they could only watch Bellator 250 on Thursday, or UFC Vegas 12 on Saturday. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Ant Walker: @AntWalkerMMA 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Welcome to Between the Links, your host, Mike Heck. Once again, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links on MMAfighting.com. Hope everyone is refreshed after a pretty damn good UFC 254 event on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi. Well, Saturday afternoon where I'm at, this fight island trip for the UFC is We'll be talking a lot about UFC 254, the aftermath, and much more.

But let's get right after this thing. Let's introduce the combatants first. We have MMA fighting's Jed Mishu joining us. And I have to say, Jed, I have been hit up a lot over the last 48 hours or so about your victory last week. There are some folks out there that are screaming to overturn your win to a no contest against Aaron Bronsetter after seeing, one, how Leon Edwards is now fighting Hamza at Jamev.

And two, because Alex Olivera missed weight and got finished in the first round on Saturday. So how do you react to these talks? Do you think it should be warranted that a no contest might have to come your way here? So who is folks? Is it Aaron? Aaron's just tweeting you a lot asking for that. Like, one, I still maintain that I'm correct. Just because Leon Edwards is getting the fight or Hamza is getting the fight with Leon Edwards,

doesn't mean that's what the UFC should do. In fact, it's very clearly what they're. shouldn't do, but whatever. I think it's a point in my favor that the UFC did it, and they're really bad at their job. So pretty obviously I was correct, and I still would be correct, because Hamzat would have won through Alex Oliver, and that we'd feel even better about his prospects than we will when he probably loses to Leon Edwards in whenever that fight's going to happen. So, Aaron, deal with it. You lost. I am the goat. Expect it. Accept it. Accept it. And be okay. There you got. Well, welcome back to the show, Jed. I appreciate you joining us.

Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Maybe we'll let the peeps decide this. You guys can comment on the page. Let us know what you think. But happy to have Jed back on. He will be facing a returning competitor. This is a rematch from a very memorable matchup. I believe it was the 10th episode of Between the Links. Jed got the nod in that one. Again, a lot of people claiming Tom Fulery with the ending judges. But excited to welcome back, MMA Journalist. Does great work for MMA on points, the body lock, sure, Doug, my main news.com. I don't know, AntWalkers.

There more than that? How are you, man? What's going on? I'm also at karate combat now. That's a very new development. But, yeah, I'm not surprised that there was some sort of controversy with Jed's win last week. I mean, we are talking about the paper champ of all paper champs. And, I mean, this is a guy who's been ducking me since week 10. So no shock that a top-notch competitor like Aaron Bronsetter would also be shafted out of a well-deserved win.

Jed, come get this work. top-notch competitor, are you kidding? Bronz Stenters just a noob. He's nothing. I took no, I took no training camp. I just rolled out of bed and was like, oh, I guess I'll just give Bronsett his business. Easy work, just like my man, and I got a lot of love for him, but we've already been here.

We know what happens. And the same thing's going to happen again. I love it. I like the back and forth to start this thing off. Let's kick things off with the biggest story. to come out of UFC 254. We got Habib Namaga made off submitting Justin Gaichi in the second round with the nasty triangle choke.

Daniel Cormier on Monday on DC and Howlani told the most ridiculous story in regards to that submission because Gaichi's parents were there. Habib could have gotten the arm bar. He transitioned to a triangle because he heard in interviews leading up to the fight that Gaichi wasn't going to tap so he didn't want to hurt him. He just wanted to put him to sleep and then wake him up so that he'd be okay. So it's outlandish and ridiculous and just an incredible story. But I have to say the pressure from Habib was unbelievable.

He was in Gachi's face every second. He got takedowns when he needed him. He gets the win. And then he announces his retirement from the sport. So Jed, before we get into what this all means, thoughts on Habib's performance and how surprised were you that he said this was it following the win? I mean, his performance was just amazing. You want to talk about what I said last week.

Let's remember everyone else here was equivocating about, oh, Justin Gitchie might be the dude. And I have been stalwart from Jump Street that he was not the dude. And in fact, I was very correct. Habib put on his best performance of his career in what turned out to be his final fight. I mean, that's what champions do. Big players play big and big games. That's why I'm not going to play that big today. This is not a big game.

This is easy work for me. so I'm going to take the foot off the gas a little bit, letting it have some moments, I guess. But in the end, same way, I will get the mount finished with the triangle as needs to happen for me to continue on with my career. But I'm sorry, I digress. Let me go back just to round it out.

Not totally surprised. I think everybody thought 30 was going to be the number for Habib. But I wrote right after his father passed away earlier this year that I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw him fight again. Such was their relationship, such as the kind of devastation of that loss, that if he had chose to hang it up right there, you know, without out defending his title again,

nobody would have thought any less of him for doing so, and it might have made a lot of sense for his final fight to be the first fight his father cornered him in the UFC. But I think, you know, coming, doing this in memory of his father, putting on the best performance of his career, and, you know, not talked about a lot, finished with a mounted triangle, same maneuver he finished his first professional fight with.

There's a lot of symmetry, a lot of symmetry there. It's his father's favorite submission. I think that this is about as good a way to walk away from the sport as can be. And so I, like I said, not totally surprised by it, but a little caught off guard. And what did you think of the Eagles performance in the retirement announcement? Do you surprised that it happened so soon, or did you think he was going to go to 30 and O like most of the rest of us did? I'm surprised that I'm so surprised by it. I mean, this is someone who was planning on exiting the sport.

in one more fight anyway. So the loss of his father would only accelerate that timeline due to conventional reasoning. And the only challenge really left for him was George St. Pierre. And that's essentially probably off the table now with a promise that he made to his mother. As far as his performance is concerned, I mean, that was absolute masterpiece. There was literally nothing he did wrong there. He just went on and did business. Now, as much as Jed and I want to poke shots at each other, I will say that we did come to

one agreement the first time we did this against each other. And that was Justin Gachi was not going to be the one to the throne of Khabib. That they could be would probably do exactly what he does to everyone else. And that's break them with his pressure. And that proved to be exactly true. Gachi just, I said this to Casey when I saw him yesterday. And it's like he came in there just as confident as McGregor, as Barbosa, as Michael Johnson. And that's pretty much every high-level opponent that Khabib has stared across at.

And it's like, I'm not going to end up in that position. I am not going to end up on my back with a triangle around my legs. I will not get smacked around on the ground. I will not get choked out. And they all end up falling that same fate. And for Justin Gachi, someone who normally has this endless gas tank of just destructive violence, for him to be halfway through the first round and gasping for air and looking panicked as he's trying to circle out, it says a lot of what could be is what he's capable of.

I mean, that was as complete of a performance as we could ever witness. And to see him just decide, you know, from a position where he could just employ the ground and pound to decide, you know what, I'm going to risk losing this position to get off of submission that I don't need to get off right now. I mean, this was someone playing with their food. This guy is on another level. Well, I mean, I'll follow up on that just because ants, like, Aunt nailed it right there. That was playing with his food, man. And that's the type of stuff when you're day one jih Tzu, you're rolling with a brand new white belt, and you're just like, oh, I know that this doesn't matter. I'm just going to win.

Sure, I'll go for this. And Habeb did that in a world championship fight against the man that almost uniformly was considered his most difficult challenge. Like, that is bananas. I agree. And going back to you, Ant, as you may have seen, and I feel like this happens often in our sport. but I think it's definitely worth the discussion here. Habib ends his career at 29 and 0. He's lost one round.

Excuse me? He's actually lost two rounds, according to the judges on Saturday, because two of them gave the first run to Justin Gachi. And I don't agree with that because I didn't think it was that wide of a gap before Habib took Gachi down and then mounted him and ended the round with the near armbar attempt. But be that as a may,

Habib retires the way he wanted to, undefeated, undisputed, lightweight champion of the world. and there were a lot of people who, like Jed said, believed Gaichi was going to be the guy to beat Habib. So now the goat chatter is back in our lives. And I know goat in MMA and pound for pound, all that stuff, it's very subjective. So with the win over Justin Gaichi and him riding off into the sunset,

29 and 0 as a world champion, the incredible three-fight stretch he's had, finishing Connor, then Porier, and now Gaichie, in your opinion, Ann, is Habib the greatest ever? He's the greatest 155 or ever. That I think we can say without any sort of doubt. But to say the greatest ever ever, I'm going to press to pause on that because I want to see what this resume looks like over time. It's really hard to say someone who had, what, three title defenses is surpassing someone like George St. Pierre, someone like Anderson Silva, like people who went into.

the double digits on the title defense is John Jones. I mean, John Jones was what, 15 title wins throughout his entire career. It is very, very hard to stack up against that resume. The one thing that he does have going for him is that he is undefeated. And that's something with the incredible amount of ways there is to lose in mixed martial arts, to go undefeated after nearly 30 fights is just absolutely mind-blowing. That being said, I don't think he fought the toughest competition until we got to about the Hafeel Dos Anos point. Until we got about there is when we really can start checking some boxes on

Khabib's goat argument. I think Jones has the longer stretch. I think Anderson Silva with his impact on the sport, George St. Pierre, with the combination of the two, including bringing in blue chip sponsorships, probably would get the not in my book, but if you're talking about 155, it's Kabeeb hands down. Jed, we talked about this a little bit last week. And I know you and AK, you had your article talking about it, AK, put him in the top five. You said he's right there if he's not at the top of the list.

Did this solidify it for him? Is he number one in your opinion? First, I just want to quibble with one thing, Ant said, because I do kind of agree with the concept that Habib didn't start fighting the top, top guys until Hafeel Dosanos. I actually start considering like the quality of his career section, the Pat Healy fight right before that. Healy was on an enormous win streak heading into that and was like a really, really good lightweight at that point and Habib just worked him.

And that was the first fight where, you know, he obviously had a ton of fanfare coming in, but that was the first fight where I was like, oh, okay, this dude is for real, for real. And then Hafeld Dosangos, we kind of know everything happened from there. As far as Habib status as the goat, he is unquestionably the lightweight goat and I'm about the biggest BJ Penn fan you can find in the world. It is very clearly Habib is a lightweight goat. As far as the regular goat, you know, the all-time goat of all divisions, nobody's really close.

So that argument is subjective. You know, are you going to value John Jones's kind of rain over the light heavyweight division or the number of title defenses, etc.? There are some of those categories that would be fall short in, or falls short in. But to me, kind of the simplest way, because I fluctuate. Sometimes I'll think, yeah, man, Demetius Johnson was just so much better than everybody at a pretty good division that that should merit it. Or Jose Aldo at his peak was probably the best fighter we've ever seen from a tools standpoint. You know, I fluctuate, but the way I settle it, the way in my head I think about it is, you know, the totality of everything. of the on-the-paper competition, the intangibles, you know, how, if I got to pick which of these careers I'd like to have,

whose career would I prefer? And right now, the only person I would choose to take their career over Habib's is George St. Pierre, and it's really close. You know, GSP had a sustained reign of dominance in the second best division over a number of incredible opponents. Habib lacks a little bit of that, but George St. Pierre also should. showed weakness and it's been talked about a lot. Habib of 93 judges scorecards, like of rounds rendered against him, he lost five of them. That is insane. He was never knocked down. He was never cut in a fight. I'm pretty sure he never committed a foul in a fight, which is also really an insane

stat that he won clean, like he won as dominantly as he did. John Jones pokes everyone's eyes as a strategy. Habib just beats the holy hell out of everybody. I mean, the intangibles that he has are really, really difficult to quantify, and most people boil it down to the O. But I think that there's so much more. He is so much better at what he does than anybody else that it's honestly shocking. And to cap off his career by brawling with Justin Gagy, he brawled with Justin Gage. And it was fine. Like he ate it on the chin. It was like, nah, I'm just going to kill you now. Like he's he's the second best career of all time. And so I think that means he's probably just right behind George St. Pierre for all time. And if he had ever fought Tony Ferguson,

who he would have given the business to as well, then it's really, that would have been really close for me to say he's not the goat. And let me ask you this because I mean, I think you both have stated very clearly, Habib is one of the best ever. And especially after Saturday. And it does kind of sucked that we're not going to see more because he's actually gotten better with each and every fight. Like, it's crazy to see. And plus to hear like what Javier Mendez has been saying

and what Dana White said that he had a broken foot and he had the mumps and he was hospitalized and he dealt with a lot heading into it. So I guess my question is from like a storyline perspective, maybe even a little more beyond that, despite it, you know, us not being able to see him compete anymore and we'll touch on specifics at our next question. Is this a good,

thing for the UFC to make things more interesting or is it a bad thing because we miss out on that potential fight between Habib and Tony Ferguson, Habib and GSP, potential rematch with Connor, which is the fight the UFC seemed to want it from begin with. Like, do you know what I mean? Is this a good thing or a bad thing that he's, you know, doing his thing and now the division has a little more intrigue to it? Well, first, I'll just say it's always a good thing when a fighter exits on top before that inevitable decline. And that's, that's something that he has. when we talk about the Go Conversations where he has that O because he didn't stick around too long. Like we're going to, in a little while, we'll talk about Anderson Silva fighting your Raya Hall here.

That's someone who we can very easily say is stuck around a little bit too long. So that diminishes some of his legacy. BJ Penn mentioned earlier. The spider's coming back at Title I, 2021. See, Jed, talking that nonsense again. So you've got to dock him a point for that. But, man, I really think that that Khabibibat retiring now is kind of inconsequential to what the UFC is going to plan in the future. Because at the end of the day, it's all about how can we sneak Connor McGregor back into a title fight.

Now this just makes it easier for them. The one big loss, I think, for fans and for the UFC, is that we probably will not see the GSP fight. And now, and even if that fight took place on his 30th fight, that would exist outside of any sort of real relevance to the lightweight division, even if George St. Pierre were to drop to lightweight. Neither one of those guys was planning on sticking around and defending that belt. So it was going to be a vacated title anyway. This might accelerate the timeline. But from a business standpoint from the UFC, I don't think it really does anything. And quite honestly, Khabib is still going to have his footprint in the sport.

he is taking over the gym that his father created in Dagestan. There's Islam Makachav and Tugov there. Plenty of people that are coming up in the rankings that Khabib will oversee their careers and plenty of talent in Nagestan that will be molded by him as well. So we'll see him just not in the cage. So his footprint is still there. The UFC is going to do what it's going to do. And they're going to sneak Connor into a title fight.

What do you think, Jed, because we've seen a lot. at like 205. Like when John Jones gets stripped or vacates the title and the Daniel Cormier's and the oblohovitch's win, there's some sort of asterisk against it because, you know, he didn't beat the best to do it. You know what I mean? So now Habib's out and now we have this craziness at 155, which we'll talk about at a moment.

But is this more interesting now at 155 now that Habib's gone? Or do you kind of wish we could see, like, is there anybody out there that could actually beat this man? No, it's definitely not more interesting. I mean, certainly from a business standpoint, this is terrible for the UFC. I think you could maybe read that between the lines of what Dana was saying on Saturday. I mean, they lost at worst their second biggest star in the sport. I mean, I think there's an argument, honestly, that Habib is the biggest star in the sport from a global perspective.

What he brings to the table, the eyeballs, and the interest. But if he's not the biggest, he's number two. And they just lost that in the prime of his career off his greatest performance ever. I mean, it's an interesting scenario. Habib has never been a massive, massive betting favorite. I probably was against Ally Quinta, I guess. But there was lightweight as such a shark's tank that, you know, every new challenger brought interest and brought a level of intrigue to it.

Following this Gatesy fight, he then would have been in that minus 800. Nobody can touch this dude phase, which is still an interesting dynamic to present of, okay, well, maybe this is the guy. Like everyone knows knows how to beat Habib. So you can always sell that. It's always interesting. And you have one of your most captivating personalities carrying the torch. I mean, losing that is not devastating, but it sucks real hard.

And the fact that the lightweight division now is maybe opened up could be cool. But the UFC isn't going to do anything with that because they are creatively bankrupt. And they're just going to try and get Connor McGregor a title belt again. So it's not going to be that fun or interesting in a way that, you know, It should be given the circumstances. Is he done, Jed? Do we think, I mean, we've seen MMMA retirements in the world. We're not really sure.

Personally, I feel like he's done. Do you feel like he's done? Well, fortunately, we're going to have the next 10 years to talk about it because, like Ant said, he's going to be around the sport. And every time he's around the same way we do with GSP and Uriah Faber, someone's like, so, so are you coming back, are you coming back? When are you coming back? How are you coming back?

I think Habib is done. But I will leave a small caveat that maybe in four or five years after he's been better able to process his grief, perhaps he comes off back for a one-off fight. But I would venture to say that it's pretty slim chances. You know, it's a really devout man with a lot of character and moral integrity. And he made a promise to his mom. And I can't see him breaking a promise to his mom to do something as trivial as fight again. do you agree

yeah yeah i agree with that i mean in order for him to fight again he has to talk to his mom and his mom has to give him the green light you know we're talking about someone who um grief deeply affected by the loss of a parent who also was his coach who according to daniel cormier responded to the presence of his opponent's parents by trying to hurt him as less as possible while still beating him up you know, if that story is to be believed, then this is someone who very clearly values family. I mean, even in his post-fight speech, he looked directly to Gehji and told him to respect his parents and appreciate their presence.

So mom is going to be the one to decide this. Khabib is just as powerless in that decision as us three are. So we got to have Mama Nirmugamette off give the green light. And quite frankly, I don't think she's going to. I think I think this is going to stick. That family has a lot more to deal with. And this isn't the only member of that family that passed away due to COVID-19. I mean, this village was ravaged by this.

There's a lot of grief to process, a lot of rebuilding to do in that family, in that extended community. And I think that's where his efforts are going to go for the near future. Yeah, I think I think he's done. I don't think there's anything left really to challenge him. So happy trails, Habib, one of the greatest of all time. What a win, what a career. And listen, if you don't think he's the greatest, he is in this conversation beyond the shadow of a doubt forever and ever. But the point for this round goes to Aunt Walker.

He is on the board, very close round, close it off in a nice way as we head to our next question, which is probably, you know, the ticket seller for this episode. What do we do with this title now? Habib unifies, then retires. So we need a new champion, aunt. and there's a difference between what will happen and what should happen when it comes to the UFC. But if you had the book, what are we doing here with the 100-15-lap-on-tile? If I were to shave my head, or actually, maybe, Mike,

maybe if you were Dana White, because you are the closest physical resemblance to him. If we were in charge of what's going on in the UFC, it's obvious, it's so obvious. You have the most stacked division in all of mixed martial arts. You have this combination of these combustible personalities, these incredible fight styles, no matter how you mix and match them, you will have incredible matchups.

Tournament, tournament, tournament. We have begged and pleaded for the UFC to have some sort of Grand Prix at some point. The last time I can clearly remember one, aside from the tough seasons that introduced new weight classes was flyweight, when they brought in the four-man flyweight tournament. That was so successful. Yeah, that was, yeah, thanks to the arithmetic of the commission. Ian McCall robbed.

Big screw job right there. So, um, poor Ian. But, but like we have the opportunity to make a Grand Prix out of the most exciting pool of fighters in the entire sport. This sells itself. This sells itself to casuals because Connor is already there. Nate Diaz can be inserted into this mix. Michael Chandler is in the UFC now. There are so many names that make this sound delightful.

However, we know what's going to happen. We know this is not the time for tournament. This is the time for the Connor McGregor sweepstakes to begin. And now possibly this fight with Dustin Porriere that we're talking about for January, probably going to be for the vacant title. And whatever, like, whatever, man. it's so frustrating because this is the moment for the UFC to shine. But like my opponent, Jed, has said they are creatively bankrupt.

They have no level of seeing beyond that tunnel vision that they have. And right now that tunnel vision looks entirely green. It's entirely centered on the land of Ireland. It's trash. Trash. How would you, Jed, something tells me your, your tournament savvy here you're in for a tournament, how would you do it?

And if it's on a tournament, how would you do it if you had the book to settle this who's going to be the next champion at 55 here? So I wrote about this for the site this morning about kind of where do we go from here for the 155 division. And I think a tournament I don't think it just makes sense.

I actually think it's the only reasonable course of action here. We kind of forget about it because of the way the last few years have broken out. But Connard Grigger is lightweight rain sort of devalued the belt just because he immediately won it. He was also the champion of another division.

He went off in boxed. He wasn't really interested in defending his title at all. Lightweight is such a stacked division that there were so many contenders chomping to get a fight with him. And it just made a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of people who were following things at that time. And then Habib won the title. And it felt a little weird because he won the title

over ally Quinto on a short-notice fight because a lot of other things happened. But then in the end, we all came to realize that, yeah, the right guy's got the belt. Like, this is the dude. And so it's okay. He reestablished this as the Premier Division. He's the premier guy. This belt means what it says it means. And if we just give the belt to the winner of Dustin Poit and Connor McGregor, that's just so crappy.

Like, it's both guys are good fighters, obviously, and top guys and make. and maybe the winner of that is the best lightweight, not named to be, but very questionable, I would say, though. And so, you know, you want your belts to stand for me and this is the dude with a bullet. Like, make them earn it through a lightweight tournament. I think tournament is correct. The problem is, I don't actually think you get Connor into a tournament. Maybe you can convince him to do a four man where he fights Porre and then fights the winner of another one. but if you're going to do a four-man,

I guess they're going to try and put Michael Chandler in that, and Michael Chandler, damn, sure, not deserve to be in a four-man tournament. If I had the book and I could make it happen, I'd do an eight-man tournament. I'd take the top seven guys in the rankings because it's actually a perfect split. Number eight is Diego Faheia,

who good fighter doesn't really need to be an immediate title contention. Number seven is Paul Felder, who is right on that borderline, and then you fill in the eighth with Michael Chandler to make it all good. You can match them up exactly one to eight style bracketing. It works out super well. You get Gaetty versus Michael Chandler, super interesting fight, especially for those from a couple of years back, who knew Gaetian WSOF, Chandler at Bellator.

Will these two ever compete? You know, you get down the line, you get a bunch of good scraps. And at the end of it, you get no questions asked best guy in the division. I mean, he's not. He's still not the best guy because he's not Habib, but Habib's retired. He's gone. So you get the next best thing. you legitimize that title in a way that just giving it to Connor or Dustin is not going to be as good doing.

But yeah, that's not what's going to happen. I guess that's where we are. It's unfortunate because I actually think it's a bad idea anyway. Like giving Connor another title shot if he wins, was he going to defend that against Tony Ferguson? Justin Gagey? No, he's going to go boxed many pack out. It's just going to be a disaster again. So I hope they don't do that, but I'm pretty confident they're going to.

And there's no chance to do an eight-man tournament because that would be fun and smart and good. And the UFC is none of those things. All right. Well, I think we're all in agreement that they're going to do McGregor versus Porre for the title. Whatever. I mean, these are the two guys. And that's so messed up for Gigi, who is just the interim champion loses to the guy. Like if Habib had retired beforehand, Gage would just be the champion.

I know. So if you could make one fight for the 155-pound title, who would you book? Oh, it's Gatesy Poirier. I mean, it's a rematch. Like, they're the two most recent interim champions. I think Connor is a really good fighter or probably is a really good fighter. He's fought one set lightweight, so we're twice, sorry now, or three times because I forgot about Donald Seroni.

It's fought three times at lightweight, one against the guy who's old and shot, one against the guy who beat that ass, and one of a guy. against the guy who he murked. Like, so I can't say, I have no idea. Connor could be a top two lightweight. He could be a top 12. Like it's, but I know for a fact, Justin Gagetje is one of the three best lightweights in the sport,

and so is just Saborier. So those are the top two guys. They're one and two in the rankings. Anytime in a normal sport where a title is vacated, you just pick the top two guys. They fight the winner as the new champion. Like that's reasonable and acceptable. So if I only got to me,

make one, it'd be that. What about you, at? I agree with that. Gachi and Porriy too would make the most sense. And we know it would be an action fight, but we also know it will be different thanks to the new and improved Gachi that we saw over his last couple of fights before what happened Saturday. Now, one thing I do want to piggyback on what Jay, what Jay was saying about the tournament format, not putting Connor into a tournament. The beautiful thing about a tournament and the presence of a personality like Connor McGregor is you don't need him. in that tournament. You might be better off doing that tournament without him. Let him

fight Jorge Massadol for another iteration of the BMF belt have, I don't know, like Matt Damon or something presented this time. I don't know. I mean, do do that and then let him boxed many pack out and then you can go ahead and give him his undeserved title shot once

the tournament plays out. That would probably be the best way and hopefully through that tournament if say hypothetically Charles Olivera comes out victorious in it hopefully by then he will be a big enough star to where you're like all right

let's let's see what this crazy matchup between him and Connor would look like for for the casuals and you know we can have all of it and actually get a legitimate lightweight tournament I mean if you book McGregor versus Porre for the belt you best put two other 55 pound matchups

on that same card like if you do you don't want to do Gagey versus Chandler I'm cool at that you want to do Ferguson versus Olivera, that's fine. Like, if you want to make that a title fight, there better be a four-man tournament right behind it. And then you book the finals. And then if Connor wants to box Pac-Yo, fine, I don't give a shit.

And then the winner can fight Connor later on in the year. That's fine. As long as Connor defends the title later in the year, whatever you want to do, let's just try to make it interesting. Are you going to make him do that, though? But, you know, before we even continue on about what happens if McGregor boxes Pac-Iall and coming back to the Lightway Division, we're just assuming that Pachial doesn't literally kill Connor in the ring.

So let's just get that out there. Paciol will actually annihilate Connor and he will not be the same person when it's all over with. And we're just, you know, what about Porey? Poria might just do the same thing himself, you know? He's a bad Mamma Jammer. It's a lot different fight than it was, you know, all those years ago at 145 pounds. But one thing that was very noticeable on Saturday and was the UFC gave Michael Chandler a little. little bit of a rub. They ran a promo. They gave him an interview with Anik and DC. Like, what have you made

of this promotional push for the former Bellator lightweight champ? I love it. I love it. This is what the promotion is supposed to do. You're supposed to promote your fighters. You know, you're not supposed to just promote those three letters that are shaped like, you know, like lug nuts or whatever the UFC design is based off of. You're supposed to highlight these fighters and make people want to see them and make people want to watch them. Michael Chandler, while I am not as high on his entrance into the UFC, because I think his best years are behind him, he's an exciting name. He's a high-level lightweight, and he deserves his shot on the UFC roster, and it's good that they're broadcasting this. The last time I can clearly remember the UFC featuring a recent signee who was not booked to fight right away was CM Punk.

And I think that was at UFC 181, where they had some little break in action to interview him. And that was stupid because CM Punk was not a fighter. You know, he was still a white belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Like, what are we doing here? Now we actually have a fighter who deserves the push, someone who has proven himself on a championship level, getting that rub. And it can be very helpful for people who don't watch Bellator,

don't watch mixed martial arts other than the UFC. So perfect. It's about damn time. What did you think about it, Jed? I mean, it was fine. I think, you know, what Anne says, it is good that they give a push. I think it fell flat for me just because they couldn't announce a fight with him. Like that whole package would have hit a lot better if it was, and, you know, he's going to, on December, he's going to be fighting Tony Ferguson or whatever.

And so just, hey, this guy's here now, feels a little, a little empty. And I'm just not that pumped on it. We've talked about it on this show because I've been on so many times because I'm so good and I run all the time. I don't have high hopes for Michael Chandler's career in the UFC. I think it is possible he is a top 10 lightweight. But I also think literally every fighter currently ranked in the top 10 has a very good chance of beating him. And everybody in the top five would definitely beat him. So again, great, always good to add talent.

And it's hard to say that Michael Chandler isn't talented. But is he the most exciting fighter from an in-cage perspective? Not realistically, I would expect. And so giving him a bump is good because it shows they are less creatively bankrupt than they could be. But it's still not enough. I want them to do that more often with more people or just maybe make me care about Michael Chandler because right now I don't. I guess is my big thing. I care that he's there and he's going to be a concern,

but it didn't make me think, oh, this is the dude who's going to wreak havoc over the world. Well, I mean, it sucks that Habib is out of the sport at the peak of his career. But right now, one of the biggest stories heading into 2021 is the direction of this lightweight division. So we will see how it plays out. I think we know how the championship picture is going to play out, at least for the immediate future. but in terms of this game, the point goes to Jed Mishu.

He is on the board. So let's get to the rest of the UFC 254 card. We are equal opportunity debaters here. We're going back to one of my favorite segments, a very popular segment on the program, the three-star segment, a la the NHL. So Jed, let us begin with you. There were some great performances on Saturday night.

Outside of Habib Rabid Abagham-Madoff, who are your three stars of UFC 254? I like this segment because I think, you know, the first two ones, I feel like me and I'm going to agree a lot. He is, you know, smart in the way that he just agrees with everything I say. So, but here we're going to have a little bit of room to separate. So, uh, I think, number one, Phil Hawes, I think you just have to. I mean, this is a guy who's been talked about a lot in certain circles, probably overhyped

considering his actual level of accomplishment at this point. But then he comes in and he is an 18 second knockout. Like, I mean, that's, that's, that's a. about what you can't write that up any better realistically. So I think you've got to give number one to Mr. Phil Hawes. Number two, I think there's a right answer and a wrong answer. And to give Aunt a fighting chance, I'm going to pick the wrong answer here. And I'm going to say Laura Murphy, because Laura Murphy, you know, fine performance over

U.S. Debutante, short notice change of opponent, et cetera. You know, nothing super, super killer about the in-case. product, but on the mic afterwards, that is maybe the most eloquent, well-stated case for a title shot I've ever heard. You know, we talk about GSP's, you know, Dana, please give me a title shot. Laura Murphy just brought a PowerPoint presentation and bullets on here. This is why clearly lined out that I am next in line. And I agree.

She gets it. Like, I mean, she gets to fight Valentina Shepchenko after Shepchenko kills Jennifer Maya. That's fine. we need cannon fodder and Laura Murphy, well done. You made the argument. And then number three, again, I'm not going to pick the, I'm going to leave the softball so Anne can knock it out of the park, make this a competition here. I'm going to take Shavkat Hachmanov just because dude's an undefeated prospect.

And I was talking last week about Alex Oliva being a fun, interesting test for Hamzaa Chameev. You know, Oliverer blew away, didn't look good, et cetera. but that's still a veteran, tough-nosed, super athletic dude, and he got worked by Rockmanov. Like, Rockmanov is, you know, now a really interesting prospect in my mind, more so than his record or anything coming in. I mean, beating Alex Oliva, I put a lot of stock in that as far as developmental and where he's going.

And so that's a dude I'm pumped to look to see where he goes in this division. All right, Ants. You heard Jed's three stars outside of Habib, who are yours? Well, Jed definitely tried to sully the field a bit for me because those were some of my picks as well. One thing that I can't disagree with the Phil Hawes pick, though. Phil Hawes is a guy making his UFC debut who was featured on the pay-per-view main card, 18-second knockout. I mean, that just screamed star.

Like, they believed in him to put him in that prominent of a place in such a big paper. review. So I think that's the obvious choice. I'm not disagreeing with the Lauren Murphy pick, but I'll go with Magamette Ancolaev. You're talking about a light heavyweight division devoid of John Jones right now. The contenders that are rising up through there are quite exciting. And Ankolaev with such an incredible, incredible knockout, certainly deserves his place in that spot as well. Now, I did want to use Rock Monoff for my pick, but just to diversify things a little bit, Let's go with Miranda Maverick. Miranda Maverick was another debutante who was highly touted coming into this,

someone that we were high on based on her run and invictive. And granted, the questionable doctor stoppage might have taken a little bit of shine away from it, but considering the level of technical improvement that she's made and considering also the lack of contenders at 125 for the ladies, I guess same reasoning as Lauren Murphy. we do need cannon fodder in that division. And Miranda Maverick has kind of stepped up to the plate in that regard. She'll have a few fights at least before she has asked to put her head in the guillotine.

But in the meantime, we might get some exciting stuff from her. We might get enough technical improvement to think that maybe she has a chance. So, hey, there it is. Miranda Maverick, Phil Haas, and Anka Laev are my three picks. plus just a great name illiterative mavericks in it just a good name that is a good name

but you know what I do Jed I do want to give you credit for pointing out Lauren Murphy's call out her demand for its title shot was the most eloquent articulate post fight interview that I've ever heard in my life like the Shakespearean language that she was using in there

was it was literary beautiful just just yeah it was honestly one of my favorite parts about the card. Like she, I mean, it felt like she pre-wrote that, but she had rehearsed it enough that it wasn't like too wrote or difficult to say that, yeah, Alaska, next time you see me, I'll be fighting for a title and the next time, or the next time you see me in here, I'm fighting for a title.

The next time you see me leave, it's with the belt. That's not true at all. She's definitely not leaving with the belt. But it was, I mean, really a plus plus for the post-fight speech. I agree. I thought considering she lost a number one contender fight, at least in most people's eyes with Calvio, taking on a short notice opponent that nobody knew of until the media day when she told stories that made her the most interesting person during the media day out of all the fighters on the card. Short of Lauren Murphy flying to Valentina Shvchenko's house and slapping her across the face, this is as good as it could have gotten for Lauren Murphy considering what she was up again. And so I give her an A plus all things considered. But one name that was left up both of your lists,

and I'm curious as to why Jedmishu, Robert Whitaker. No Robert Whitaker, shying here? Why not? I mean, look, full credit to Bobby Knuckles, vintage performance, hell of a performance over a guy picked to beat him. I mean, Bobby Knuckles proved he's still the second, on the third best middleweight in the division behind Izzy and Yol Romero. And then that's it.

I mean, that's really all he did, though. He proved that he's still here, and that deserves credit. And he may have gotten himself a title shot, but he didn't do enough to, he did nothing that made me think a rematch with Adasania is going to go any differently. And so it's hard for me to call him a star of the evening. I think he held serve more so than he won points on Saturday night. What do you think, Hans? I thought Whitaker might have been on one of your list.

It turns out he was on none of your lists. Yeah, I consider putting him more. the list, but at the same time, like, this is simply going to set him up to get decimated again by Israada Sanya. And it was kind of hard to cheer for that. Also, too, I think it's important to note that he did, he did the work of the deep state by actually beating Jared Canaaner. Jared Canaanerner. Jared Canaaner was on a mission to clean up the deep state and to get the Q&ON fools riled up. And now, now Jared Canaan has extra time to go ahead and and get on this MacBook Pro and find more conspiracies to tweet out at random times and

get the idiots all riled up. So I was kind of hoping Canada Air would be distracted by pursuing the middleweight title. And unfortunately, we don't get that. So watch out for your Twitter accounts there, people. So, Jed, as of right now, what, what is Adasani do from here? Because it seemed like Canada Air was a clear path. You waxed poetically on the show last week saying, could Robert Whitaker be the guy? Aaron defended that Whitaker would be him winning was the best case in error.

You said Cannonair running through him, beating the brakes off of Whitaker would have been the best case in air. So where does Adasania go? Because the problem with what Whitaker wants, because I think the UFC is in on giving him a rematch, Adasani is not going to wait until April to fight again. So what are we going to do here? Yeah, the more you talk about last week, the more I realized it was just unfair who put Aaron in here with me because he is incapable of thinking a correct thought about it. sport.

In what world is this the better outcome? Like, oh, well, no one's that excited about this rematch that's going to happen. I mean, I guess it's fine. Or maybe now Izzy goes and fights Jan Blahovic instead, which is also kind of cool, but then sort of just immediately invalidates that, we'll call it an interim UFC light heavyweight title. Does they hand it out? I mean, it's, I just feel like this is not the outcome that makes middleweight fun.

I think it's totally reasonable to have Robert Whitaker run it back with Adisania. Just because that outcome is not going to be different, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it again. Robert Whitaker, what he has accomplished in this division and this sport and his two very, very good wins, you know, in normal circumstances, mandated rematch, and he is clearly the next guy in line. But I wouldn't hate it if, Izzy just said, man, I already tooled up this dude. I know that Canaanir beat him But Jack Hermanson What's you doing?

Let's get busy after I think isn't Hermanson Fighting Till Yeah because Till can only fail upwards It's the only thing he knows how to do So maybe as he's just like I don't want to rebeat Bobby No I already did that Give me the winner of this one sure I mean that that's okay

That'd be at least interesting and new But in a normal world Whitaker would get the next title shot and, you know, we just watched that slaughter again. Do you think it's Whitaker next or does Adesanya go for the winner of Till and Hermanson, and it's like, what do we, or does he go up to 205? Like, what do you think's going to happen? I'm, I'm kind of feeling John Jones now. I think this makes that fight a little more intriguing because, I mean, I don't think many people are too interested in seeing the Whitaker rematch just yet.

Hermanson, if, you know, if he gets past Till, makes sense. But at the same time, it's just not sexy enough. And I see, I see. John Jones not being the light heavyweight champion, being able to take on this sort of super fight without disrupting anything going on in that division and let middleweight play itself out in the meantime. I say if Hermanson gets past Till, then him and him and Whitaker can fight, and then that person gets the middleweight title shot. But in the meantime, let's see what Jones is about.

If they really can put that fight together, this is the better time to do it because it's not going to be as disruptive as it would be any other time. This is a damn good round, gentlemen. Really enjoyed it. The point goes to the man in the yellow hat. Ann Walker. He's in the lead two to one. So let's talk about the rest of this week, all right?

UFC 254, at least for the time being, put a bow on it. Two big events coming up this week. Bellator is back with Bellator 250, headlined by a terrific main event for the vacant middleweight title. between Gagar Musassi and the welterweight champion, Douglas Lima. Cheap plug for myself. I spoke with Musassi last week. Look for that on our YouTube page very, very soon.

But that's a great fight. And then the UFC is back in Las Vegas on Halloween night this Saturday, headlined by Yariah Hall versus Anderson Silva and what looks to be the final fight of the former middleweight champion's career. So, Anne, we're going to begin with you. If you were only allowed to watch one of these cards, and you couldn't watch the other, which one are you picking and why? I'm going to go with Bellator 250.

The Musasi and Lima fight is probably the best fight outside of the UFC that can be made, especially in terms of any sort of cross-divisional matchups. That's just a beautiful, beautiful fight to put together. And then you look at the rest of that card. Henry Corrales always delivers. Nick Newell, someone who is perpetually exciting to watch, is on the card as well. Adam Borix, Adam Borris continually delivers. exciting performances and he's on this card.

And for the people who just like to see some of the silliness, Jake Hager is on this card as well. So it's kind of got a bit of it all for everybody. And that being said, we are going to see what is supposed to be the final fight for Anderson Silva on the UFC card. But let's be honest about that matchup. It's going to be one of three things.

It's going to be either extremely sad. It's going to be extremely boring or it might possibly be exciting depending on which version of both men show up. So I don't kind of, I don't like that. I don't like that, that level of uncertainty. Bryce Mitchell and Andre Feely is, is a good fight. But I mean, I mean, the guy, Bryce Mitchell, I mean, come on now. He doesn't believe in COVID.

So I don't know. And then on top of that, Greg Hardy is on the card. You talk about the ultimate thumbs down for me. Greg Hardy on another main card, trash. pass it, pass it to the left. I'm not interested in that. Jed, you go ahead, pick that up, smoke that if you want to. Way to go out on a limb there, Anne.

It might be exciting, or it might be boring, or it might be sad. It might be one of the three possible things that any fight could ever be. Wow, drawing lines in the sand. This is a very divisive show, Jed. Really staking a hard. there, got it. Look, I get what it's saying, I mean, Musassi Lima is the best fight of the weekend. Certainly, it's, you know, one of the best fights of the year, just full stop,

and certainly one of the best fights of this quarter full stop, you know, maybe the second best fight behind Habib Gici, frankly. So there's a lot of interest there. And the rest of that bell's record is actually pretty good, especially, again, I'm on here all the time because I just do nothing but one. win. We talked a few weeks back about Bellator and how their cards are not really what people are want and the lack of interest. This is not that. A lot of depth, short main card, but a lot of good names and good fights going on there. I think choosing to watch that card over the UFC one.

Also, it's on a Thursday if that factors in. So that's lovely. Just, you know, you don't have to burn your weekend night. Not that anyone has much use for those during COVID, but whatever. But if I have to pick one. I'm still going to pick the UFC, which is a bit of heresy because I do want that main event from Bellator, but the rest of that card, even though it's better and interesting and I will be watching, I don't think it matches up with a sneaky good UFC card this weekend. The main event, you know, it's going to be sad or exciting or boring. It is going to be one of those three things, and maybe all of them. It might be all three of those things at the same time, but it is a moment in MMA, if nothing else, it is the retirement of one of the all-time greats, Anderson Silva.

Maybe he turns back the clock against probably one of the few opponents at this point. He could perhaps beat just because Zerai Hall has a way of beating himself that is almost unparalleled in this sport. But the co-main event is hot fire. I mean, Bryce Mitchell don't love a lot about that man outside the cage, but hard to not love everything about him inside the cage. and Andre Feely is the exact kind of developmental test for him that is going to create a really, really good scrap that I'm super interested in. Kevin Holland, always a good time when Kevin Holland's doing weird Kevin Holland things out there. Bobby Green, Tiago Moises, great fight. Greg Hardy is Greg Hardy.

I prefer to not watch that fight, but it's fine. He's still probably a good heavyweight prospect, just given his athletic background. And then even the undercard, I mean, Alexander Hernandez is fighting. Remember when that guy was a top-tier contender at one point? Still a really good prospect turning the corner. Sean Strickland, a good fighter. Priscilla Cashuera, Courtney Casey is a pretty good flyweight fight. I think top to bottom, it's a really deep, really good card.

So if I have to watch the whole thing and I don't get to just pick one fight to watch, give me the UFC card just for the depths of it. I'm excited to see Dustin Jacoby back at the UFC for the UFC for the. the first time in nine years since his first run, where he got tuned up pretty good for a couple of fights. And then he went on to glory. Then he went back to M.MA like eight years later, got on the contender series,

and now he's on this card against Justin Lodette. So a lot to be excited about if you're an M.M.A. fan this week. But the point goes to Jed Mishu. He ties things up as we head to the knockout round. One question decides at all. I had no idea what this question is until probably 15 minutes ago when it popped into my head, which means neither of these gentlemen have any clue what freaking question this is going to be either. They'll each have 60 seconds to give their

responses. Once they do, we will turn it over to the judge, the jury, the executive producer Casey Lydidd, he will render the decision, Jed. You won last week. As of now, you have the option. Would you like to go first or pass this on to Mr. Ann Walker? You know, I don't remember what we did last time, but I'm going to assume because I'm so great that I was, the winner. And so I went second. So I'll mix it up. I'll go first this time. I don't actually think I've ever gone first. You went first last week. Oh, did I? I don't remember. It's all the winds they blurred together. But yeah, let's go first. Why not? It'll be fun. But it also led to the longest knockout round in history because Aaron Bronsetter went and said Leon Edwards in a six extra minutes.

Aaron says dumb things and then you asked me to follow up. It was my fault. I had to do it. I had to do it for the ratings, all right? So let's talk about it. We're going to sort of build upon that news. I'm going to list these out. I'll say them. The main events for the UFC for the rest of 2020, listing them off,

we have Hall versus Silva, Santos versus Tashara, RDA versus Machachev, Figurato versus Perez for the flyway title, Blades Lewis, Hermanson Till, Nunes-Anderson for the women's featherweight title, and then wrapping up the year, we have Edwards,

versus Hamzad Shemayev. So, Jed, of those headliners to wrap up the year, what are the top three most interesting and intriguing headliners and what takes the number one spot and why? All right. We're going to put 60 seconds on the clock. Your time starts right now. To clarify, we're going with the flyway title fight,

not Valentina Shepchenko, right? That's the main event as of now, yep. Well, that seems like a really poor decision for moving the main event. You should probably put the best fighter on the planet now that Beavs are tired as your main event. But that's just me. Ranking those three, the top three there is difficult. Number one, to me, very obviously, is going to be Glover-Deshire versus Tiago Santos. I know that that's not for the actual light heavyweight title,

but I think that that's for the uncrum champion. I think both of those men deserve a title shot more than Reyes or Blahovic did at that point. So give me that as your number one. Hermanson Till is, like we talked about earlier in this car, is probably going to give you a middleweight contender or potentially. So I'm interested in there. But I will say Nunes, Megan Anderson, just because it's the last person Amanda Nunes has to fight.

And then give me Davis and Figuero. I would have liked Cody Garbrent fight better. I think we actually with Ant talked about this, throwing them bolos, baby. But didn't happen. And instead, we still get to see the first title defense of the new champion. And I'm interested in it. I gave you a couple more seconds because just,

just for clarifying purposes. So Anne, same question for you. Top three headliners. I'll list them off once again for you as well. Hall versus Silva, Santos Tashara, RDA Makachev, Figuerato Perez, Blades Lewis, Hermantz and Till, nudis Anderson, and then Leon Edwards versus Hamzat Shemaiah, the last main event of 2020. What's your top three? What's your number one and why? I know it's a loaded question, but do the best can with 60 seconds. Your time starts now. All right. Number one has to be Santos and Tashara. That's such an exciting. matchup just by the styles the way they'll they'll conflict with one another and then on top of that

two men displaced by john jones in the light heavyweight title picture with renewed life especially given to share his late career resurgence i'll go rdaa makachev as as the number two there that is a very intriguing matchup simply now with with the daghistani absence at the top of the division can mackachachov feel that role now can he take over that place and it'll be interesting to see rd a back at one for where he once held the belt. And then for the number three, probably be the least competitive out of this. But I'd like to see the Nunes and Megan Anderson fight.

I think that probably should be the last women's featherweight fight for the UFC, unless they actually commit to having a full division. And it's another opportunity to see the greatness of Amanda Nunes shine. So against a true 145 of this time, something that is very, very rare in her so-called featherweight career. Okay. So we got two kind of similar answers. We had a little bit of a difference in the middle of there. I think Jed went with the flyway title fight between Figuero and Perez,

and then went with RDA versus Islam Makachev. So now it comes down to one man's decision and one man's decision only. Figurato. He's always hated him. Never been a fan of Davidson Figurato. Well, Casey, maybe Davidson being the new champion has changed your ways, according to Jedmishu. So you've heard their arguments.

You've heard there's 60 seconds apiece. I know it wasn't the question that you really knew about because I didn't even know about it until I asked it or until minutes before I went down. Who won, Casey? Who is the winner? Well, first off, Chad, that last statement was uncalled for. Hey, she and you're trying, King.

Oh, boy, boy. Think about this. I'd like hear the motors running in Casey's Great. It's great. Just this little hamster and a wheel running. All right. You're a winner. MMA fighting zone.

Jedmishu. Oh, man. This is a good battle. Now I get the formula. Okay, the MMA fighting guy wins. I get it. I get it. I get it.

Home or decision? I mean, when you hire the greatest of all time, of course, the greatest of all time, it's going to keep winning. You just shows up, puts in that work. mounts you and triangles you like it's nothing. If MMA fighting is the UFC and you are the greatest, I am fatal, okay? So let's just keep that in mind, all right? I will say this to be fair.

The last two champions and the champion, the current champion, not from M.M.A. fighting, Brian Callagher and Phoenix Carnivalry. Phoenix Carnivali is still the champion, but she's recuperating. She's resting up. She's doing all these different things. She wants to be a prime form which comes back. Well, Phoenix, Phoenix is like a staple of martial arts in general. Phoenix is in her own category.

And Brian Keller, he might as well be an MMA fighting guy. He's on like every other A side. That's true. Brian Kelleher gets on the A side. I've never been on the A side because Jose is just terrified that I'm going to son him in front of everybody. And so he puts boom on there to give him yes man answers. This is, Anne Walker made his best point when it didn't matter right then. A little after the bell shot for Aunt Walker.

What'd you say, case? A little bit, a little after the bell, it was shot from Aunt Walker. I like it. Yeah, it's my Paul Daley. Yeah, yeah. This is what's going on now. All right, Jen, you got the battle, but you won the war. Whatever it is you want to talk about, man.

I hadn't even thought about what I'd say here. But what I guess I would talk about is the legacy of Habibem and the medal. or more than legacy, I guess, just my reaction to him leaving because we talked earlier and, you know, surprising but not shocking that he left. But what was shocking to me was kind of how I felt about him leaving. It's pretty rare that there's a fighter who when they walk away, even though I think it's a good decision for him, it left me feeling a little sad. There was a little bit of an emptiness because unquestionably, this is one of the greatest

competitors we've ever seen in fist fighting, ever full stop. And we're never going to get to watch him again. And we haven't talked about it much today, but he's still getting better. And so the heights he could have reached, we've all been had that kind of taken away from us. But that's nothing compared to what he had taken away from him. And so, you know, my thoughts are with him as he kind of learns to process this grief and move forward. But hell of performance champ and way to go out on top. Well said.

And we're going to give you some time as well. It was a close battle. It's almost like co-champions. That's why I'm not the judge. I can't make these decisions. I don't want that responsibility. It's too much, it's too much weight, Anne.

What would you like to say? I mean, normally at a time like this, I would highlight some new hip-hop album, just that I want to talk about. That being said, reason, dropped a good album. Check that out. Benny the But I still say,

Benny the Butcher's album was really good too, but I still say that Conway the Machines from King to God is the best album of 2020. But other than that, I don't really have nothing else to say. I mean, I'm just so disgusted right now at the hometown decision.

I'm disgusted at the fact that an egomaniac like Jed has more fuel to inflate the size of his head. This is ridiculous. Like I think you guys at MMA fighting are allergic to sexy. That's why I can never get my just-do around here. It's trash. Wow. Look, Anne, you come back anytime because we know Phoenix is ducking me. Aaron Bronstetter is probably just going to keep begging to get this work.

again, but I don't need to get them to business again. I'm always happy to come work you over whenever the fates decide that it is right for me to do so. All right. Well, next time, how about this? How about next time I tune up, Aaron, just to get my exercise in, and then I come and whip you up again, and this time you accept your L. How about that? Oh, yeah.

So are we going to set up a BTL tournament to take over the vacated belt because Phoenix is afraid of me and ducking me? Is that what we're setting up? Sound like it to me. got to think about it she did tell me last week she couldn't do it she said i'll definitely be here next week and then when i hit her up yesterday she said i can i got classes all week you can't do it so yeah i think there's got to be some sort of a timetable before we start making decisions i'm just saying she said she was definitely going to do it and then last week i won clearly

the guy who's going to face her this week nope i can't do it this week i got classes now that class schedule been known forever so just saying just it's not like they've done pop up new class schedules overnight. Phoenix, don't be afraid. Boom, don't be afraid. Aunt, I know you're not afraid. Aaron, you're just wrong. So is cool.

We'll give Jose a little bit of a breather before we invite him back on. Yeah, Jose needs to take a nap for like a year. Yeah, I would agree with that. That's a rough run for him, man. Props for Jose. I don't give him a lot, but props to you for that, buddy. Absolutely. So, Ann, you're the man.

Jed, you're the man. Jed, you're the man. Good episode, good stuff. We're out. We're out of here. Casey on the production side, Esther Lynn, the iconic voice leading us in. Of course, Casey was the judge as well. We'll see you next week. We'll go back once again, Between the Links right here on MMAFighting.com. Good night, everybody. Love you guys. This has been Between the Links with your host, Mike Heck. Brought to you by MMA Fighting, a production of Vox Media.

network.