MMA Fighting - Between the Links: Episode 23 | Anderson Silva's Last Hurrah? Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya, More

Episode Date: November 3, 2020

Check out episode 23 of Between the Links as Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and The Athletic’s Shaun Al-Shatti as they give their takes on Anderson Silva’s potential final fight in the UFC—a fourth-round TKO loss to Uriah Hall in the main event of UFC Vegas 12—Dana White’s comments about regretting the booking, and how to book him if he were to get one more octagon appearance.   In addition, the panel discusses where Bryce Mitchell goes after his unanimous decision win over Andre Fili, the talks of Jan Blachowicz fighting Israel Adesanya for his first light heavyweight title defense, what Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira are actually fighting for in the UFC Vegas 13 main event this Saturday, the return of The Ultimate Fighter in March, and more.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @shaunalshatti 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, with your host, Mike. Once again, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn, welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links here on MMA Fighting. Hope you all at a happy Halloween. Enjoyed your extra hour of sleep as we're back to kick off this week with some fun, banter and hot takes on the program. We have a lot to talk about from this past week of action.

along with a look at this week's action in the world of mixed martial arts. So let's get to who will be vying for a victory this week. First, back once again after consecutive victories on the show, and he still hasn't gotten his title shot. I've tried, but maybe Phoenix Carnivali has been watching the last couple of weeks and just needed to regroup a bit from MMAFiting.com. Mr. Jedmishu, how are you, sir? I'm doing very well.

Why are we talking about the title shot? I don't need a title shot. The belt is a fairy tale. I am the one people's champ. Everyone knows it. I am the BMF of BTL. Take Diaz, if you will. And so considering that I just have one thing to say,

Sean, don't be scared, homie. I love it. And his opponent, a familiar face for those who have been fans of the site for a long time. Always great to have a fellow bald journalist on the show from the athletic. Welcome back to the MMA Fighting Network, Mr. Sean Elshadie. are you, sir. Oh, I'm doing wonderful. It's glad to be back on. I'm glad to be back on, man. We've been circling each other for a while, Mike. So I'm happy to come on. Also, though, I was led here under false pretenses. I just now found out this isn't a title match or whatever this is. I'm not

here for contender fights. I'm here for the belt. I'm coming for the belt, and I thought that's what this was. So this is for the BMF belt. I guess that's what it is. Yes, the BMF title. It's the most prestigious of all internet media titles. Yeah, that sounds right. That sounds good. Let's do that. All right. Well, let's get right into this before we crown a BTL BMF champion.

Let's kick things off. With Saturday night in Las Vegas, Uriah Hall took on Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC Vegas 12. And the buildup to this fight was quite interesting because when this fight was announced, Dana White told members of the media following a contender series card that this fight was happening and that this would absolutely be Anderson Silva's final fight.

and there was an agreement in place for it to be such. But it was interesting because Anderson Silva continued to do interviews along the way, and he didn't necessarily agree with those sentiments. Still, on Saturday night before the fight took place, it was a night full of Anderson Silva tributes. This is it. Final fight, essentially, whether he liked it or not. So we all saw Uriahal get the finish in the fourth round,

but Anderson certainly had his moments in the fight. So Jed, you won the blind draw this week. We will begin with you. I think if Anderson Silva came out and said, ladies and gentlemen, this is one million percent not my last fight. I have two left in my deal. I'm fighting it all out. I feel like nothing would have changed at all in the promotion of this fight. So what did you make of it?

Why did the UFC continue to go this route, despite Anderson saying, this might not be it after all? Well, they're trying to lead that horse to water and make him drink. They don't want Anderson to keep fighting because Anderson's 45 and he's very expensive and they want to make sure that he goes out and they can feel a certain way about it, I guess. I'm not quite sure why they are so steadfast in him not fighting other than his kind of current run, which is obviously pretty poor from a result standpoint. But the reality is, I mean, we don't need to force Anderson to retire here.

And we can't also just in case that wasn't obvious. You can't make somebody quit this sport. Hell, Chuck Lidale came back at 60 or whatever age he was to get knocked out by Theo. So you can't make him leave. And I think that was my interpretation here is that they were trying to coax him out of the game because he's lost so many in a row. But look at who he's lost to. I mean, look at how he's lost beyond that. He's been competitive in fights.

I mean, you could argue he's the second most competitive person to Israel Adisina, the current middleweight champion in their three-round fight. I mean, there are a lot of people, Anderson beats on Saturday. You know, Uriah Hall just happens to be a top 10 middleweight who caught him, but through three rounds, Anderson may well could have won that fight if it were just a three-round fight. So I think they were just trying to push him off the door because they think that that's what they're supposed to do. And I don't think it worked and I don't think it's going to work. I think Anderson's coming back. Sean, what do you think? Yeah, it was certainly a little bizarre, right?

Like we came into the week really under the guise that, okay, this is going to be it for Anderson. Like this is it. Roll out the retirement package. Everybody, you know, sort of get their, their memories in of Anderson during this week. And then as the week progressed, it was just more and more like, oh, no. Oh, not really, not really. Like, even I spoke to him, I think on Wednesday, and he was just like, no. Like, I'm still want to keep doing this.

By that point, he was just out up front with it. So it was definitely a little strange. But I guess, I mean, like Jed said, you understand where the UFC's coming from, right? This is a guy who, I mean, hell, man. I tweeted this out last week. but if he retired after the step in Bonner fight, whether I think 2012, 2013,

whichever that was, at that point he's 16 and 0 in the UFC. He's peerless. He's doing things that no one ever actually thought possible against the best fighters in the world. And he was like a consensus top two goat figure at that point. He was 37 years old. He could have walked away at that point.

And we'd probably be talking about him for the rest of time as if not the goat, one of the guys that you 100% have to throw into the conversation. And now from the age, of 37 to 45, he has just kind of, I don't want to say ruin that because I understand what he's doing, right? Like, this is his whole life. He cares, this is all he's ever cared about. It's weird because I don't even feel like ever since the Wydenman fight and maybe a little bit after that, but since that period for him in general, it's almost as if he's not trying

in a way that, I don't want to say he's not trying, but it's almost like he doesn't matter to him the results of these fights, the wins or losses. He just likes to go out there and compete and try to do cool things and entertain the fans. So I understand where he's coming from. And ultimately, Jed's right. Like, I would like to see Anderson retire just because I grew up as a massive Anderson Silver fan. He was my guy when I was a fan in this sport.

He was really one of the guys who opened my eyes to what the sport could be and the possibilities and the ceiling on a lot of this stuff. It's hard to watch him lose like he lost on Saturday, especially getting knocked out. And then even the previous fight against Jared Cannon-Ear, gets his leg busted up again. I'm always on pins and needles for Anderson's civil fights now more so than I was back then and for a different reason, right? You just don't want to see this guy get hurt. I would like to see him retire, but I don't think he wants to.

I really don't think he wants to. And Jed, again, is right that he could be competitive against a lot of other middleweights in the world. They keep just throwing him in against the top 10 in the world. If you give him the number 25 guy or number 30 guy, let Anderson just go out there and style on somebody, man. Like, that's ultimately what all of us want to see, right? I don't want to see him fight Jared Cannoneer. I'd rather see him fight Joe Schmoe,

who maybe Anderson can have a cool throwback performance and feel good about himself and go out on a win, something like that. So yeah, I mean, I don't think we've seen the end of him. I think he's going to try to convince the UFC to let him go, let him go box. He's always wanted to do the Roy Jones thing. Let him go to Bellator or PFL or wherever.

You know they would break the bank for that. They would love to have Anderson Silva in their promotion, even if it's just for one more. I don't think we've seen the last of him. But I definitely understand where Dana White's coming from where he says he doesn't want to see it again. Yeah, Sean, I mean, it was interesting because, like Jed said, Anderson wasn't a fish out of water at all in that fight. In fact, like Jed said, you can make the argument. He was winning that fight until he got dropped in the third round.

One judge gave Silva the first two rounds, I believe, which is not outrageous by any stretch. But Paul gets finished in round four. Dana White basically goes off saying he'll never fight here again. He even said that he was threatened putting him in there. Really quickly. Dana just crapping on Uriah Hall quite a bit in the middle of that for no reason. Your eye haul just getting drive-byed in the middle of that rant for no real reason. That was very bizarre.

But Dana does what Dana does. Yeah, I just don't understand why he was so eager to push him out because even when BJ Penn was getting murked by everybody and getting finished viciously, still was okay trotting him out there. He would say, well, maybe we have to have this conversation. But Anis is way more competitive than a lot of these guys that are on this list in all these topical things like Tyrone Woodley and, you know, Carlos Condon until his last win, keeps trotting those guys out there,

didn't really hesitate too much. Now he's starting to talk a little more about Tyron. But what's interesting to me, Sean, is that he still has that other fight left in his deal. He's saying that, you know, I don't want to see him fight in the UFC again, but is there a chance he just doesn't let Anderson go here? Like he just holds on to him the whole time just so

because he cares about him so much that he won't fight again? Like, is there a chance that he just holds on to Anderson and doesn't let him fight anywhere else? I think if it were up to him, I think that he would like to do that. I don't know that legally he can do that, though, because Anderson does have an actual UFC contract with one fight left on it.

If Anderson wants to keep going and says, I want to keep going, they're legally required to offer him fights every so often. Maybe they offer him fights that they don't think he'll accept, but I actually think Anderson would just accept any fight at this point. I think he just wants to keep going, man. Again, I think this is all he has ever known. This is his whole identity.

And it's just what he loves. It's what he enjoys doing. I don't know that when I spoke to him, I did not get a sense from him that he was someone who's ready for whatever the next stage of his life was. Whatever retirement means for Anderson Silva, I just don't think he's there yet. And I know his families wanted him to be there for quite a while at that point at that retirement stage. I just don't, it's hard, man. That's like one of the, again, to be that guy, to be that guy who is so above everybody else for most of your career, this legendary figure. while you're still in the game people are telling you you're the greatest you're the best you're the best

we've ever seen to be that guy and then you lose your title and then basically since he lost his title he has one win in almost a decade at that point seven years eight years that's tough man like i can't i can't put myself in those shoes and understand what that must feel like so i definitely if anderson wants to go out and get just feel a win feel what it feels like to be his old self i understand that man I really do. Jed, what if he comes up and says, like, I want to fight Damien Maya or somebody like that? Where a fight where he's probably not going to get hurt too badly, he might get submitted, he might get choked, but he's probably not going to take a lot of damage in that fight. Is that okay?

Like, do you think the UFC would be like, you know what? We'll do that. It's both of these guys probably last fight. It'd be like a retirement fight for both. Is that something they would do or are they just done with the Anderson's Zillow business? Well, Sean can't put himself in Anderson's shoes. And I can't quite because I don't know what it's like to. lose a lot. That's not something I do.

But I do know what it's like to be the greatest ever something right here. And all the time my family comes to me and says, you should walk away, let Sean, let Brian Keller, let the other people of the world have a chance at BTL. And I can't let that win and go either.

You're not even the champ. We've already established this. I'm titled her pary tails and I've got mine. So, you know, I just make it up belts. all belts are made up Sean all belts are made up that's fair that is fair

my point here being that I get Anderson not wanting to walk away and I can't believe I'm going to say this I agree with Conner McGregor like I don't think he needs to retire I actually think most fighters don't need to retire they just need to be honest about where they're out in their career having BJ Penn keep going out there and fighting top 20 feather band him, lightweights, whatever he's going to choose to compete at, welterweight even, that's a terrible idea and negligent for anybody. But having him compete against other people who the fights can be competitive,

I think that's fine. I think the same thing with Anderson. He, at 45, honestly, tell me he didn't look amazing out there. He looked the same as he ever did physically walking into the cage, and he still looked like he can compete. Just don't put him in against top 10 guys. Damia Mio would be fine. But really, they should put him against the same person

they should have put him against for the last two years, and I've been saying this whole time, give me Anderson Silva versus Robbie Lawler. It's the only fight I want to see. It's the only fight that makes sense. Make that happen and just watch it because it will be incredible. If Anderson gets one more fight, John, if they allow him to do so in the Octagon,

do you agree with the Lawler matchup? Maya, is there somebody else that sticks out to you? Yeah, any of those would be fine. I like Maya. I hadn't thought about Maya until you had mentioned it. considering that would be sort of a fair war farewell fight for both of them I actually The first fight

I have no idea which you can get to now Playboy I got the first fight was pretty bad the first fight was bad the first fight was bad I will for sure but maybe this could be like a you know coming out party for both of those guys

they could take the bad taste out of our mouths yeah I like the Maya fight Lala would be fine I mean, I wouldn't be mad about that. Even just give him somebody I don't even know his name. Like, I'm fine with that, man. Just let Anderson be Anderson. Again, there's no reason he needs to be fighting Uriah Hall or Jared Cananee or anything.

And the fact, like Jed said, that he's 45 years old and he's out here, winning rounds against top 10 middleweights in the world is frankly astonishing and incredible. And the fact that this guy's still able to even do this at this high of a level is really remarkable in a way that, like, I don't think we really actually appreciate. It's just his chin's gone. Like, he just can't take a shot like he used to be able to. And ultimately, that's it. I don't want to get into the good.

Go ahead. I'll say his chin is definitely not what it once was because his chin used to be amazing, but, like, I don't know. Your eye haul hits really hard, and he caught a clean right hand in short behind the ear. Like, that's just going to put anybody on skates. Then in the fourth round, you know, that whole sprinting forward awkwardly is not really.

Lee Anderson's Uvra, and so he got clipped there. I think that he is not a wilting lily from a chin standpoint, and so I think he can still compete. But again, it's just, you're putting him against top ten guys. The math isn't going to work out in his favor all that often. Yeah, I don't want to touch, part of me wanted to touch on the go thing, but we talked about it at nauseam last week, so we'll leave that alone. But before we move on to the next round, let's talk about Yerahall, Mr. Al-Shadi,

because the man's had a crazy year. He's had some big fights booked. They all fell out for numerous reasons. He is the top 10 guy. Now he's got three wins in a row for the first time since 2015. Where does he go from here? I think this was a good one for him, man. I think this was a big one and it was an important one for him.

He's at a really, really rough 2020. He was supposed to be in a bunch of big fights, whether it was the YOL Romero fight, the Jokkeri-Suzza fight. This one, even this one got pushed back. He was supposed to have a good year, and this was really the first time we've been able to see him. Talking to him last week was a really,

really eye-opening in conversation for me because he is someone who has really cloistered himself within himself during the course of this pandemic. Just focusing solely on his craft and getting better. And I really like what's going on with him over at Fortis MMA, man. I mean, Saif Suad is a genius. He's one of the best minds we have in this game. And he really seems to have tapped into an interesting part of sort of that psyche within Uriah Hall where he's a guy who his whole career, basically, we said, like, if you were

controlling him with a video game controller, like, you could make him do better. just because he has this mental block sort of within his performances, it feels like that's been unlocked a little bit. I'm really intrigued in your eye hall, man. This is sort of his last chance to be who we thought he was on the ultimate fighter. I throw him right into that mix now, man. If you give him a top five guy now off of this, I like that a lot. I think he deserves it, man.

I think he definitely deserves it. And that division right now is wide open. There's nobody really like who can say I am the guy other than Robert Whitaker. and I know we'll get to that, but that matchup doesn't seem like it's happening. So I like the idea of Uriah Hall in that mix, though. Jed, what do you think? I mean, there's Jacaree.

He's got a fight booked with Marvin Vittori. We got Y'all Romero, your favorite fighter of all time. He's sitting out there, no real word on what he's doing. There's talks about maybe he moves up to 205, but he shot down that idea many times before. Where does Yerah Hall go from Saturday? I don't know. You're a well-defined fight.

Ikea's hard for me to care or not care but be interested in where your eye is going to go just because he has historically been exactly what he is right now, which is interesting. He is a guy with all the physical tools in the world who makes us think that he can do anything and has consistently faltered when put up against the best competition. And so, you know, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me 17 times. I'm not going to believe you anymore, Your Iowa Hall. So I know he's on a three-fight win streak.

It's not forget one of those as a split decision went over Antonio Carlos Jr. And the other one, Bevin Lewis, and he knocked, it took four rounds to knock out a very old Anderson Silva. I don't like what you're insinuating here about shoeface. I'm just going to say that. What am I insinuating? You can't be putting down shoe face like that. You're just driving by shoe face. I'm insinuating that he may not have deserved to win that fight, not that shoeface is bad at fighting.

Okay. Gotcha, gotcha. Split decision win, not a clear win over Shuface, who is a good fighter, but not a future title contender, I don't think. And, you know, Bevin Lewis, Anderson Silva, it's just I can't believe in Uriah Hall until he wins eight fights. I have this with some people. I'm still convinced Brian Ortega is a terrible fighter. And I'll be convinced of that all the way until he's inducted in the Hall of Fame. And I just look like a fool.

So with your eye haul, I'm going to stick the same thing. He is as good as a top 10, top 15 guy and no further. So, but yeah, I mean, give him Romero. That's a fine fight. Why not do that? Yowell needs somebody to defend his true title against what, like me, he's the uncrowned champion. So let him fight like Sean, somebody who's well beneath his stature and not really worth his time. I'm noticing a pattern here.

I do have to say someone who is actually a champion. someone who is actually great at what they do, don't have to actually say that every single answer. So that leads me to believe you're a little insecure here, man. No, no, no. Have you met any of the champion since Connor McGregor? What? All of the champions say how great of a champion they are.

That's me. I'm a great champion. It's okay. Okay. Well, I don't know if that hit like you wanted it too. Sometimes you'll land. It's okay. Well, I mean, if this is the end for one Anderson Silva, he is absolutely one of the all-time

greats. What a career. Honor to watch him do what he did in this sport, both as a fan and as a journalist. But we'll move on from this topic. The point for this opening round will go to Jed Mishu. He is on the board. Close battle. Close battle. One to nothing, Mr. Mishu. We're going to stick with UFC Vegas to well. The home cooking. Listen, Dickling. Listen, Sean, now you're going to step up your game. Now you're fired out. Doug Crossby.

How dare you? How dare you say that? But listen. Featherweight co-main event. I've never thought he does probably. We might just remember that for future rounds. You're a smart player, Jed. That's why you're moving on every week.

But let's talk about the co-main event. Sean, we're going to start with you here. This is the fight that everybody had their eyes on. Yeah, sure, Anderson Silva, the last fight and all that stuff. but true fans of the sport, the enthusiasts of mixed martial arts, everyone was talking about Bryce Mitchell versus Andre Feely. Bryce Mitchell gets the win for unanimous decision. Great performance.

Stiffest test to date. Camo shorts and all. He is now 5 and O in the UFC. We're not going to talk about the post-fight stuff. It is what it is. He has his opinion? Fine. But, Sean, let me ask you,

has Bryce Mitchell, in your opinion, after that win, passed the eyeball test? Is it time to start looking at him as more than a prospect, but a legit threat at 145 pounds. Here's another theory I got. Yeah, no, anytime somebody starts a sentence, here's another theory I got. I don't want to hear that theory.

I mean, it was a good fight. It was a good win. It was a really good win. I think people underestimate Andre Feeley and people sort of, I think, don't give him the credit maybe for as tough as he is. It was a good one. I understand why Bryce Mitchell was disappointed with it.

He's been a freight train thus far in his UFC career, and he wasn't really that on Saturday night. But it was a good way. man that's the type of win over that sort of rankings gatekeeper that you need if you're bryce mitchell and you're making your way up the ranks here uh i think that that's the type of win that gets him somebody in the top 10 sort of validates also that number 15 ranking that's by his name um i like it i like it a lot and i like what he's doing the camo shorts situation uh is just ridiculous to me because it's just like as i get that is a cool story good for him he got his camo shorts but as we heard about it

over and over and over and over again throughout fight week and the ufc's playing promos for all this. All I could think about was just like, this is ridiculous that we're celebrating that one person got one individual piece of equipment over the course of like five or six years. Like great. Great job, Reebok. You really, I'm glad we're throwing a party because do got camo shorts. Like the fact that that's where we've reached with fighter individualism and just people sticking out and personality in this sport is that, oh, we got camo shorts. This is amazing. This is the best thing ever. It's ridiculous. And I don't even know that that was the intended consequence of all the promotion of that. But that's something.

sort of what came away from me. But as for the win, I liked it. I think it did show maybe that there's going to be a ceiling here in this division for Bryce Mitchell. If somebody can defend that wrestling, and in particular the takedowns and some of the grappling that he was doing, that'll be interesting to see. But, hey, man, it will win as a win. That guy is undefeated and he deserves to be undefeated. I like to see him get a top 10 guy next. Jed, were you impressed with Bryce Mitchell's performance? And if so, is this guy, is this a guy we have to keep our eye on, not just because he's fun and he has opinions and he has camo shorts, but maybe this guy could fight for a title someday.

Do you look at him that way or still way too early to even talk about that? Well, how can you keep your eye on him? If you got the camo shorts, you can't see the man out there. Just to carry on from what Sean was saying, I always find it hilarious when a company tries or government or anyone tries to get credit for problems they created in the first place and solving them. So echoing Sean there.

Way to go, Reebok. You fixed the problem that you were responsible for in the first place. Well done, everybody. As far as Bryce Mitchell, the fighter, goes. I actually left this fight less impressed with them than I was with the Charles Robert fight. This, I don't think much of Andre Feely. I'm going to be exactly that guy.

Sean just said about people underrating or not giving Feely the credit. deserves. I think Phile is a good, not great fighter who got a lot more hype because of his aesthetic and the fact that he was attached to one of the premier gyms at the time in his weight class. I, Philea has never been a great defensive wrestler, and Bryce Mitchell took advantage of that with his takedowns, but he also couldn't really get anything going on the ground. He was doing a lot of holding, not really able to kind of create offense. And, you know, in the Charles Rosafite, we saw the exact opposite. I left the Charles Rosso. I left the Charles Rosso, the fight being super impressed because I think pretty highly of Charles Rosa and what what Mitchell

is able to do in that contest and some of his other ones against you know good but not great competition I felt really impressed by this fight I maybe it was an off night for him not willing to to you know throw the baby out with the bathwater as it were but you would think being as hyped as he should be about finally getting his camo shorts that he would have really styled on Andre feely and he just couldn't do that so I think he's got a lot I think he's got a lot of work to I think certainly a stand-up can use some work on it because if he comes against a guy who is not going to just fall over on takedown attempts, he's really going to have to work a lot harder. And we saw Feeley kind of win those exchanges on the feet and some of the other guys at the top of this division will make him pay a lot more.

So again, I don't, not super down on Bryce Mitchell, the fighter. Bryce Mitchell, the person with thoughts, very different story there. but I'm also just not that pumped on him either. I'd like to see him get back in there and fight another top. I'd like a top 20 or a ranked opponent for him. And Jed, just kind of building on what you said, when you have a division like 145, it's flying under the radar,

but it's very deep, a lot of talent, and you have someone that's trying to burst through the door like Bryce Mitchell is trying to do. The matchmaking does become a little bit more fun. You mentioned a top 20 guy. I mean, Bryce is ranked in the top 15 right now. like do you have a is there a certain matchup that sticks out to you because Ryan Hall seems to be a very popular choice I like the potential of maybe a Dan

Egey matchup what are you thinking in terms of next opponent for Bryce Ege was what I was thinking I hate the idea of a Ryan Hall matchup frankly that's one of those ones that I saw a lot on Saturday as a thrown out possible opponent and it's one of those ones I think people think is going to be way more fun than it is Bryce Mitchell can grapple he ain't Ryan Hall and he would just get tied into knots on the floor with him. You're taking away the weapon that Bryce Mitchell has that makes him a compelling, interesting fighter

and just putting him against somebody who does it better. I just don't think we'd end up with a lot of cool scrambles. I think Ryan Hall will just kind of work him over pretty methodically there. So I'm not that interested in that. I do. I like the Dan Ige. Dan Ige game as hell. Can defend takedowns.

can grapple when need to like he's not he's by no means going to be a fish out of water if Mitchell can get the takedowns and I think he's a much better striker at this point in their careers and so I think that's like a really good developmental test for him plus he was really like denege the fighter um you know I the one issue there is he's coming off a loss but I still think from every other it checks all the other boxes for me it's not too big a step up so I think that that's the fight I'd look for to to be the best Sean, how do you match me, Bryce, from here? Are you in on Mitchell versus Hall or are you against it?

Is there any other idea that you have? What do you think should be next for Bryce Mitchell? No, yeah, I agree with Jed. I like a lot of Ryan Hall fights. Anything you throw out with Ryan Hall, I'm going to be in. But this one isn't, that one doesn't do it for me with Bryce Mitchell. I like something in that 11 to 14 range, like a Shane Burgos, Danny D&A was another one I was thinking of,

or even like an Edson Barbosa, someone like that. I just, I don't think this is someone we need to rush, right? Like it feels like we can take the escalation slow on a guy like Bryce Mitchell, especially after a performance like Saturday, where we saw some holes in his game and maybe some things that he needs to improve. There's no need to rush. I'd like just something of that, someone in that lower ranks of the division, like I said, 11 to 14, Burgos, Iga, Barbosa, any of those, I'll be fine with it.

Yeah, I saw some people throw it Arnold Allen, not a big fan of that one. Arnold Allen 7 and O in the UFC, that's a fight I'd like to see some point, just not right now. Sean, any other fighters on Saturdays? What was that? Arnold Allen deserves better. I mean, Arnold Allen is the guy who should be getting top five future contender fights. Like, he's done so much in this division for where he's at. He deserves a crack at it.

That'd be a, frankly, that'd just be a big step back for him. Yeah, I think maybe the name would be the only thing that would entice him more than anything since Bryce got a lot of hype right now. But any other fighters on Saturday, Sean, stick out to you? Did anyone kind of steal the show in your eyes outside of who we've already? he talked about? Yeah, man. I mean, Bobby Green and Kevin Holland both, man. I mean, I

know Bobby Green lost his fight, but did he really? I scored that in favor of Green. But either way, man, if you look back on all the events since I think June or May, I forget what the stat was, if you look at all the UFC events, you had a one and three shot of seeing either Kevin

Holland or Bobby Green compete. That's how active they have been here. They have basically been in one-third of the events for most of this pandemic era. they were both going for four fights in 2020 just since June or May like that's incredible turnaround times each time for consistency of that

like this has been the pandemic era has been all about adaptation can you just roll with the punches can you just keep it going especially if you're not a top five guy just if you're just someone who wants to just get in there and get some action and these guys have been Mr. Adaptation both of them they've just been rolling from one to the next

to the next every single month we're seeing them fight usually it's on circumstances that are less than ideal opponent changes on two weeks or two weeks out two days out one day out hours out it's and yet they just take just keep it going in stride with it they keep taking the punches and keep rolling in and picking up these nice wins and both men at this point have really worked through the best years of their career in the middle of all this chaos so so credits of both bobby green and kevin holland jett what say you who kind of stole the show for you outside of the names we have already mentioned i mean Kevin holland is

I think the runaway choice, not just because, like Sean said, he's fought what seems like 27 times this year and just tweeted either this morning or yesterday morning that, well, it's November now ready to take another fight. I mean, anytime you get a slam finish, regardless of the kind of awkward injury aspects to that, I mean, it still just jumps out at you. Shout out to Dustin Jacoby. Leg kick TKOs. Always fun and exciting. really was a pretty good undercard, I mean, from an action standpoint. A lot of people turning in, I will say just to also pair it off Sean Moore to Bobby Green, Moise's fight was obviously a really good fight,

but I would say there are just a number of finishes and interesting things that happen on the undercard. You can kind of give a shout out to any of those people. Alexander Hernandez would probably be the big one for me, though. I mean, this is a guy who used to be a ranked lightweight contender. You know, had a lot of hype, talked a lot of shit, came in against a cowboy, of course, and a really good performance from him. He is still a young dude with a lot of potential in that division, so pretty interested to see how he carries forth. All in all, thought it was a very fun night. We were doing post-fight coverage before 10 p.m., which was always fun.

This matchup between these two gentlemen is also fun. The point for round two goes to Sean Elshaddy. Challenger on the board. This is a BMF title fight If I ever saw one, ladies and gentlemen Since Saturday night was full of fights and news and notes That's kind of going to be the theme throughout the rest of the show Because a lot happened on Halloween night

In and Out of the Octagon. First off, we saw Israel Adasani caged side throughout the event watching along. Kevin Holland had some choice words for him But Adasani is there cornering a teammate We'll be competing on the contender series on Wednesday night But Dana White speaks with the media backstage after the event and he said that Adasani's next fight

will not be a title defense against Robert Whitaker. It will not be against the winner of Jack Kermansen versus Darren Till, but he's going to be going for a second belt. Adasani's going to challenge Jan Belhovic for the light heavyweight title on a date TBD. And this is really interesting timing since there's a big main event at 205 coming up this Saturday at the apex. More on that in a moment.

But Jed, let me start with you. Look, Dana has said a lot of things along the way that has put pressure on other fighters. He came out and said Robert Whitaker said he didn't want to fight out of Sanya. That doesn't seem like the case at all. He just said, listen, I'm not rushing back. I want to spend Christmas with my family. I got a kid coming.

I don't want to fight again until March or April. But either way, is this the right move for the UFC to Blukh Blahovic versus Adasanya? I don't know. I mean, my reflexive answer is that this is terribly stupid and I hate it. But there's probably a decent business case for this. I know a couple of weeks back because, again, I'm just hearing. all the time because some idiot that I was competing against whose name I can't remember was making a strong case that the best outcome was Whitaker beating Canaanier so the UFC could

in fact do this and set up a potential John Jones, Israel, Addis in your fight for the UFC light heavyweight title. And again, there's probably some validity to that argument. I just think it's nonsense in part because it overlooks Jan Belhovic entirely as if Jan Belhovic which is an incredibly talented fighter with a lot of skills and who's not just going to roll over for Israel. But then also it's very counting chickens. It's just putting your middleweight champion and that whole division aside when you don't need to.

I mean, Addisonia is a guy you can build. I know that he has a natural rivalry that's evolved with John Jones and they want to strike while the iron's hot and move towards that. But that's why I dislike it because this field, so transparently building to that outcome and not a natural, well, he's cleaned out the division. Now let's see what he can do at 205. This isn't, nobody is looking at this fight thinking, I wonder how Israel Adasanya fights Jan Blahovic. They're thinking, if he could just get past that, then we can get to the John Jones fight. And that's, I just think that's not fun. That's not interesting.

That's not the fight I'd like to see. I don't have much interest in a Whitaker rematch, just because I know how that's going to go. I don't think it's going to be any different than the first time. But I do, when we talked about goats a lot last week and we've been talking about it, basically the history of the sport, one of the things about all the people with real goat cases, with the sole exception of Hrabib and Megamatov at this point,

is that they reigned in their division for a long time. They kept putting together big win streaks, and that's what set them apart from their peers, because it's, you know, I'm not going to say it's easy to win two titles, but it's even more difficult to reign for five, seven years, put together 10, 12 title defenses, night in, night out, just putting on a good performance against the top challenger with everybody all eyes trained on you.

And as much as we love Israel, that's not what he's done at this point. He's defended the belt twice. You know, he could keep fighting in this division, and that's what I prefer to see, frankly. John, we have Adisani going for the second title. He seems like a plethora of other options here. Is this the right play here? Like, how do you explain this move? It's a weird one.

It's definitely a weird one. Usually with these champ-first champ fights, when they get announced, I feel like there's some level of massive excitement, right? Massive celebration online, Twitter, whatever. It felt like this one kind of just came and went without much of that. Maybe I missed it. But yeah, I don't know.

I agree with Jed. this one left me feeling just weird. Like I understand on a base level what they're doing, right? Robert Whitaker wants to spend the holidays with his family. He has a kid on the way. He's not in a rush. It doesn't matter to him to get ready for a fight in February, which I know is sort of what Izzy wants to fight.

But to me, light heavyweight was so fascinating before this announcement. Like, especially why make this announcement this week? Like on the Saturday right before the supposed number one contender fight, You strip away any sense of stakes that we had for this week, simply by just making that announcement on Saturday. If the UFC would have just waited until after this weekend's fight, even that would have been a little more palatal because at least we could have spent a week acting like this fight up on Saturday

means something because now it actually doesn't. Now I have no idea what any of this is supposed to mean what the Light Heavyweight Division is supposed to be doing right now, middleweight, none of that. I really liked where Light Heavyweight was before. They're fighting for the uncrown change. title because that's what this fight should have been. We gave the Beltian Blahovic, who I just told you as a great fighter and I very much have

respect for. But really, the true vacant title fight should have been this one right here. Gover-Teshirea, what he's done in this division, the streak he's on, Diago Santos, what he's done in this division, the fact that he's knocked out. All right, Jeddy, you had your time. It's my time. All right. You had your time.

It's my time. This is my answer. By the way, that's ridiculous because Dominic Ray is needed to be in the title fight. Dominic Reyes 100% deserved to be in the title fight. So you just stripping them out, retrospectively, retroactively. What's that? He lost, just like Tiago Santos lost. They should have had Tiago Santos and Dominic Reyes fight.

That's fine. You just said that this Glover to share fight. Anyway, I've been distracted by you enough. Back to what I was saying. Yeah, no, I don't know. I don't particularly like this for some reason. It'll be fine. like Jed said initially, it is very thinly veiled what they're doing here, but it is very much a, you're teasing the MMA gods.

Jan Balbo Govitz just keeps surprising people. He keeps ruining these parties, whether it's Luke Rockhold or Dominic Reyes, all these different guys, he is ruining the parties. And now you're going to risk perhaps, let's say Habib is still here because it seems as though he might fight again. Izzy is still at least the number two or number three most popular person in this promotion outside of a Connor McGregor type of figure then. you're perhaps ruining any sense of momentum he has by throwing him up against someone who could conceivably win like Jan Bilhovitz is not just going to get walked over by Izzy Adasania.

Maybe Izzy wins that fight dramatically, but anyway, it's still a risky matchup nonetheless. I liked where both these divisions were before this. Like, again, I get it. They're going to start building towards that Jones fight, which is still a little weird to me because what's John doing at heavyweight? How's that even going to work then?

But, man, I don't know. This one just doesn't, it didn't get me going in the way that usually these champ first chance champ announcements did. Jed, how does it feel to be Glover-Teshire right now? Because Glover-Teshirea is on this nice winning streak right now. He's got some big wins. And now he's in this fight with the guy that many feel is the best 205 are in the division right now. And if he wins this fight, especially if the UFC goes forward with this plan,

and Adasania beat John Belhovic, when is Glover-Teshire ever going to fight for the belt? Like, is he just bumming right now at this point? Like I know in your eyes, this is the fight for the uncrowned champion, but officially it isn't. Like, what happens here? If Glover-Teshire wins this fight, at 41 years of age, does this mean anything for him? I mean, he got dealt the bad hand. Look, I'm reticent to say that Sean said something that's accurate, but he did make a point that's not completely without validity. And it's that these divisions were a good spot before this announcement.

You know, middleweight had a clear-cut dominant champion who everyone loves and still had a number of contenders he actually hadn't beaten. And light heavyweight was the most interesting it had been in years. That was the whole talk coming out of Jan Belhovic's title win is that, wow, this division is interesting. It's no longer John Jones putting his foot on the throats of everyone beneath him. Yon's a champion, but Tiago Santos is there just who already had a fight with them. and there's so many opportunities and options. And now 205 is just nothing. And that's just like, yeah, you're right.

If Glover Tashara wins this fight, he got handed a big bag of crap and just has to hold it for a while because he is not going to get to fight Israel or Yon Belhovic. I mean, if Jan beats Israel, I guess that's really what Glover has to do is he has to win this weekend and hope Yon can beat Izzy. Because if Izzy wins 100% it's the John Jones fight. If Yan wins, then maybe Izzy just drops back down and we go back to business as usual.

And then the UFC has lost there. Izzy John Supervite sucks to be them. And frankly, I think that has like a real potential to happen. Of all the 205ers out there, I actually believe Jan Belhovic may be the most difficult test for Izzy to move up against. I mean, I don't think he's going to win a pure striking battle with him. I think the legendary Polish power, I've told you before. I think there's a little bit of branding behind that. It's a little overrated. But the man can crack. He has always been competitive on the feet. Like he doesn't really just get completely hustled there. Izzy's probably not going to like one shot him or really bring the power to the fight that's going to, he's just going to have to outpoint him, you know, be a more classy

fighter on the feet, which he totally can do. But Blahovic is a really good grappler. I mean, we've seen it in his career. He can land takedowns. He can work from top. He can boxing combination on the feet. He's got skills everywhere and he's a huge dude that uses his size well. I think it's a really interesting, difficult fight for Addisina. And so we should probably not count out Jan, I guess is what I'm getting at here. Sean, is Tiago Santos and Glover Tashira fighting for anything more than to fight the winner of Dominic Reyes versus Yeri Prahashka sometime in 2021 at this point. God, that's depressing. I hope, yeah, I was going to say I hope not, But yeah, you're right.

I think that's basically what's happening at this point. Because this sort of, like I said, strips out any sense of stakes that we would have had from this, which is a bummer because it really feels like Tiago Santos, I mean, I know we've focused mostly on Glever to share it, but Tiago Santos has earned this spot. His fight with John Jones was the original Dominic Reyes' fight with John Jones. Like, Tiago Santos deserves to be in this conversation,

and now that's not going to even happen until maybe summer of 2021, if that. The whole thing just kind of, I don't know. Again, it doesn't hit me right. There's so many interesting names right now at 205 between Prashka and Santos and even Glover Tashara. You got Mish, Magalemad and Kalaya, I don't always say that wrong. Even Jimmy Kru, like you have a lot of interesting names just coming up, and it feels like any person could have a cup of coffee with the belt,

similar to how the post-Chuk-Ladell sort of era at 205 win, where it's just you had these title guys just rotating one after another after another. It feels like that's what we could have experienced, and instead we're just getting rushed to maybe a champ-first-champ fight that doesn't feel like the groundwork's been said. It feels super premature to me. Jed, it's been a while since I've asked you this question. And normally when you answer, it leads to events turning out better than what we may have anticipated. But is this a card on Saturday that you'll be waiting for with baited breath?

I mean, if you really dissect the matchups, it's kind of a sneaky good card, especially the main card. But what are you grading this one on paper? just look see right now. I don't think this is sneaky good. I think this is just outright a good card. I'm way more interested in this card than I have been in, you know, this past one or, you know, obviously the pay-per-view, the exception, the couple ones before. I mean, Claudia Godelia, Jan Jan Janon, I'm confident.

I butcher that and I apologize for that. That fight's awesome. Like that fight is a super great strawweight fight. That's probably my most anticipated fight of the weekend, if not this month, frankly. just with the potential Yan-Haw-Haw-Colri-Anderson versus Melvin-Manhofe isn't doing it for you? Look, you're never going to, one, this is my time, Sean. Please, please, please don't know it's my time. I was waiting for that.

I was waiting for me to say a bad thing about Melvin-Manhoof. The man colded Mark Hunt with a punch. As far as I'm concerned, he can do no wrong, and he could probably knock out a building. So I'll always watch Melvin-Manhuff, and then Corey Anderson is, sure, whatever. Corey Anderson's there. The undercard this weekend, though, for the UFC, Max Griffin's fighting. Max Griffin, usually a good time.

And yeah, that main card, love me some Andre Arlovsky. Late career Arlovsky is not a good fighter, but he is just adorably delightful to watch for me for whatever reason. Some mix of nostalgia and hope, I guess. I'm unclear why. But I've always enjoyed watching his fights, you know, well after his prime. And then the main event.

The main event's a really good fight, man. That alone, on its merits, is a really good fright. And we get to see Tiago Santos finally come fight since he beat John Jones without two knees. I mean, it's pretty impressive to beat John Jones. It's really impressive to do it without knees. And so he's the uncrown champion. And if for no other reason, that man will be the champion in my heart, if not on the record books. What do you think of the card overall shot on Saturday?

it's fine it's okay it's not it's not as good as the last couple that we've had i'm not as nearly as uh stoked for it as jett is but i agree there's a couple there's a couple of fights that you really look at and you like like the claudie godelia fight that was a great one i'm not even going to try to pronounce her opponent's name because i suck at enunciations and i think jed butchard a fight a lot also he's right the andre alaski tanner boaster fight like that's all i ever won from heavyweight ms is whatever tanner boser embodies that's all i ever want from here heavyweight MMA. Get this Here Astute, beer swilling Canadian dude

who doesn't really care, is just going to throw bungalows? Like, I'm in on that. Give me that all day. Wow, Saturday night. The word, Here Astute. Not really a man of the people, are you? Sean. Oh, man. Well, that card goes down this Saturday at the apex. Very interesting heavyweight matchup in the co-main event

like they talked about. Light heavyweight fight at the main event is great. Main card's really good. Some good prelim fights as well. as this game gets ready to head into the final question of regulation. And in the lead is Sean Al Shottie. He is up two to one. Gets the point. I would be devastating by that. I didn't know I was going to win the next round.

How dare you pull back the fake curtain, Jed Mishu. My God, this is a serious, serious program here that we're trying to run. But I can't believe we're talking about this in 2020, gentlemen. The Ultimate Fighter is now a category on Between the Links. How about that? But here we are because on Saturday it was announced that the reality show will return in March of 2021. It'll feature the Bannamweight Division and the middleweight division. These prospects will be buying for spots in the UFC.

First off, Sean, I feel like the big draw here to get people back into the show in any way, especially people who have watched like the last 10 to 12 seasons. it's going to be all about who you bring in to coach these fighters. Whoever they book, they're likely going to have to sizzle the crap out of the stake to get people invested. So who should be the coaches if you had the book, sir? I don't give a shit.

I don't give a shit. Like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, right? Like, nobody's going to watch it. It's whatever, as long as they don't delay a fight that I care about, that's all I care. Like, as long as we don't have to wait seven months for a fight that's supposed to happen in a couple months.

Like, that's fine. but I'm not going to watch it. Very few people are going to watch it. We're all over with the ultimate fighter. I don't give a shit. Ah, Jed. What do you think? Do you care enough to name at least a couple of coaching options?

That's a succinct argument against it. I'll give you a little more of that, Mike, just for the sake of it. I have a moderate amount of interest, and by moderate, I mean, very, very small. It is nothing to do with the product itself. I am just interested to see if they're, because I believe this is going to be on ESPN Plus. So on a fully digital streaming platform, I am curious whether they will do what we've seen most digital platforms do at this point,

which is just release it all in one bunch. Frankly, I would be more likely to watch it if they just gave me the full season one day. I'm like, oh, here are all the episodes. You can watch it now. if they try and make me piecemeal watch this over the span of eight weeks, there's a zero percent chance I'm going to watch even one of the episodes. I am not as against that show as other people are just because you don't have to watch it. They're not going to make you watch it. And I think that there's probably some level of value to it. And as much as we really all love the contender series,

that has just become trying to think of the generous way to phrase this. breeding ground for cheap labor for the UFC to short prices on more expensive talent, whereas tough is it probably not that. I'm with Sean, though, largely in the fact that I don't think this matters too much. The only way to make this show relevant or interesting is they need to add a new wrinkle. I mean, you see that with reality television all the time. The reason Survivor still goes on is because they keep adding new wrinkles. If they just ran back the same formula, it gets stale pretty quickly.

and unfortunately tough has kind of done that. And it's not like they have a new weight division they can debut. And they're not. They're doing bannam weight. So whatever. If you're going to pick somebody to get interest, though, let me throw. I do have coaches for you. And I think these coaches make the most sense for it.

We just talked about it. Let's just do Israel Addisonia and John Jones as the coaches. It's not delaying a fight because they're not actually going to fight each other. It's building towards the fight that the UFC wants to build towards anyway. they're already putting all their eggs in the Izzy's going to beat Yon basket. So why not just own it? Just be very forward-facing with it. Hey, let's put these two people who hate the shit out of each other,

get the television content, start building in advance, and then cross our fingers, throw salt over the shoulder, and pray to the MMA gods that Izzy beats Yon so they can set this fight up. I think you just do that. That's me. if you were not tempting fate already enough with the MMA gods just throw a little extra on the fire though yeah screw them

screw them let's just do it like your big thing doesn't delay any fights that won't delay any fights whatsoever I think it I mean that would probably get me to at least watch an episode or two or maybe just look at some clips online look I got Sean who just said he it and give a shit and hates it.

Now he's watching. People are interested. I'm a marketing genius. Book it. I'm still not watching. Let me ask you this, Sean. Because, I mean, like you said, the divisions, middleweight, band-in-weight, why Bannam-Wa-M-Wa-M-Wing makes no sense.

I love the band-of-weight division, but there's already like 80 fighters on the roster that fight at 135 pounds. It's probably the deepest division in the UFC. So why make this even a part of it? But I agree with you. I mean, first of all, the ultimate fighter was crucial. in the growth of the sport when it first came out. No doubt about that.

But all these years later, tanking ratings, season after season, there's just no real evolution to the show whatsoever. Like, they're still doing the friggin basketball jerseys and all that crap. Like nothing changed from like season four to whatever the last season was. So besides John Jones and Israel out of Sunday, maybe getting you to watch an episode, maybe a half of one, is there anything that the UFC can do to make the show? more interesting in your eyes or is this just dead no matter what they try to do?

I mean, I feel like they've definitely tried, right? Like, they did the season with DJ where they had all these guys as champions of the regional promotions trying to fight to fight DJ. They've brought in new divisions with this. They've really tried, like, as best they can to diversify it as much as they can. The live season, I think it's just a dated product. It's a dated product that we're, that I won't say everybody is sick of, but I think a majority of the MMA community is sort of sick of and just kind of over with.

What are they going to do? If they throw in tug-of-war competitions in there, I'll watch those clips on Twitter, or like cable tossing or like whatever the Scottish... Is that what it's called cable-tossing when you're, like, throwing the tree trunks? Like, give me some weird challenges, and I'll watch that online,

but, like, I'm not... There's no way you can really entice somebody, I think, for this program, because we know the beats. We know every single beat of this show and how it's going to go. It's just not compelling television anymore. What I think might be interesting, Jed,

is the fact that we're in such a trying time. Like, I don't think we're going to put all these fighters in, like, one house and have them get hammered and try to fight each other in the backyard. Like, I don't think we're going to see that this time around. Maybe we will. I mean, COVID aside, but. I bet they do a bubble. I bet that's exactly what they'll do is they'll do a bubble and they'll just kind of keep

these guys insulated from the rest of the world. Is there anything? Well, not in the house, though. They might bubble them in a hotel or something, but, like, they want to all be, like, sharing a room and getting smashed together and, you know, putting hot sauce in people's dip cans or anything like that. We're not going to see any of that stuff. But at least we get to get to know the fighters a little bit more, maybe know their stories. I mean, that's one of the compelling parts of the contender series. We get to hear their stories. Sure, they kind of overdo it a little bit

and go back to it with the interviews and stuff like that. But still, it is interesting to see where these fighters come from and the road that it took to get to where they are. And I feel like with this particular season, inside of a bubble like this, we might be able to hear a little bit more about the fighters outside of what they do when they get smashed drunk and eat a bunch of pizza when they're trying to cut weight. So is there anything that makes this interesting to you outside of the coaches? Like can they do anything to entice you outside of getting cool coaches in there to create some drama? Not really.

The only ones I've watched at the last run there were when they were bringing in new divisions. I do think that is compelling for, you know, a lot of reasons. You know, here's the guy who's going to fight DJ. okay, this woman will be crowned the strawway champion. Like those are really good reasons to watch the product in the show because that exists in the architecture we already have in the sport. I think the other way is to at least freshen the product would undermine, I guess, the natural competitive spirit of it.

You know, if you let fighters swap out of their plan fights the day of for whatever reason or, you know, did any kind of weird wrinkles like that just would take away from the actual fighting aspect. The only thing I could think of outside of, you know, what they should have done, frankly, before they let it walk away. They should have just done a women's 145 division to build that division for real. But outside of that, the only thing I could think that would be kind of fun and I would watch because it would be a carnival side show. But just pick all people who aren't fighters. Just take a bunch of people from random backgrounds that have never fought or really trained a day in their life.

And you can put CM Punk on it, so it would be great. He could finally get some wins in the UFC. You just kind of do that. You just go with a bunch of people who aren't actually fighters and just make them experience what it's like to train and be a fighter. Because that would just be more fascinating. You get a ton of people out of that show that would just be like, nah, man, fuck on this.

This sucks. I have to do this and I get paid $8,000 and $8,000. I'm going to go do construction. bye so just get a bunch of just get a bunch of Jason Thackers is what you're saying basically yeah just just a bunch of dudes just be like hey you like to get drunk and throw punches in the bar after you're done work in the deep mine give this a shot for for weeks and see how it goes that would just be fun and interesting at least it'd be better than watching the one hundred and 25th best bantamweight prospect in the southwestern u.s who's going to maybe makes it to the

UFC and sticks around for a little while but doesn't actually have a run built in him. The product is mostly dated. So if you're going to make it fun, you need to do a lot of weird dumb stuff that I'd be into, but I doubt that the UFC would really go for. Yeah, do some eating competitions. Like, let's see who can eat the most hot dogs over the course of like five minutes. Do something weird. Like, that's what I'm here for at this point.

That'd be great. Make it as weird as possible. And then I'm back in. I'm actually fully in on that idea. Hot dog eating contest between the two guys. Whoever wins gets a free round ahead. So there's only two rounds. They win the first one,

but they still have to make weight the next day. I like that. We just made the ultimate fighter much more interesting. Yeah. You could do a lot of fun, stupid things that would no longer make it really fighting, but would be fun. Oh, man.

All right. I mean, Sean Bates. I don't give a shit. You can have this one, Jed. So we're going to have some more fun. Jet has tied the game. And now we're going to get down as a nitty-gritty because this is...

Yeah, right? I mean, you probably would have won if Sean waxed poetically, beautifully about the Ultimate Fighter, but I'm just saying... You guys know the show by now. I'm just saying I gave the answer that everybody here was thinking.

Just saying. That's true. That's true. But it doesn't matter if I agree with you or not. That's not how the points are dulled out. I mean, you... We can't go behind the scene. that much. You guys understand how this all works.

We play this game to get to the knock around and then all the responsibility gets taken off my shoulders and pass on to somebody else. But this is going to be the knock around. One question, neither of these gentlemen know what that question is. They're each going to have 60 seconds to give their answers. Then we'll turn it over to the judge, the jury, the executive producer, E. Casey Liden, who will then render the final decision. Jed, you are the BMF champion.

And since you are the BMF champion, how would you like to proceed? Would you like to go first or would you like to pass it on to Sean El Shadi? I don't know if it's more BMF to go first or to go second. I'm unclear on which one that would be. I'll take first, why not? I'll take first. Why not? All right. Well, here's the question, Jed.

I'm going to say that I kind of thief this one and I'll explain why in a second. But we had a similar question a few months ago. it came with one of the worst answers in the history of the show. But I jumped on a live chat. Shout out A.K. Lee. But I jumped on a live chat with my buddy, John Juncoe, of the South China Morning Post last week. And he asked me this question. And I thought it was really interesting because I'd no freaking idea where to go with it until we started talking about it.

So shouts to JHK for providing the question. But we discussed who was the fighter of the year for the UFC before. now let's switch gears with it a little bit. The question is, and you can either go at this moment or how it could play out at the end of the year, because we still have two months to go, still have some fights to play out that can determine the answer more definitively.

So as of right now, Jen Michoud, who is the 2020 female fighter of the year in the UFC? Who could it be by the end of the year? Who do you think it is? 60 seconds on the clock, your time starts now. Oh, man. that is a good one and I hate now being on the spot

with this I'm so glad you win first I'm so glad you win first I have a little a little bit of regret in in regards to that frankly female fighter of the year I naturally just want to say Valentina Shepchenko

because she is obviously going to win later this year and it's hard for me to think of a number of women who have really stood out as far as putting together a lot of wins that are super relevant in the division. Whereas instead, I mean, you have Chichenko who got a nice TK over Chukagian and we'll get another nice finish there coming up in December, I think, no, or into this month, not December, sorry, when she takes on Jennifer Maya.

So I'm going to give her the lead there. Yeah, let's go Valentina Shvchenko. Can't go wrong with the bullet train. There you go. All right, Sean. Same question for you. Probably pays off for you that you got to go second, 60 seconds on the clock, 20-20 female fighter of the year in the UFC. Who is it now? Who could it be? Your time starts right now. Man, that is tough. And I hadn't even considered how tough this question was until you asked it. And I was sort of sitting here thinking about it because I think Jed's right.

There isn't an obvious answer. And I think both the defaults that you would default to Valentina or Amanda, neither of them have resumes that would blow you away. Because Jed said Valentina, I'll go ahead and say Amanda. And I was going to say Amanda anyway. I mean, let's assume that Amanda gets by Megan Anderson. At this point, she has been a two-division champion in the UFC defending both belts for. or how long at this point? A year and a half, two years?

Like, that's just outrageous. I know the featherweight aspect of that makes it weird. That's not a real division in some sense, but she's still defending that title against actual feather weights. If she gets through Megan Anderson, in addition to getting through Felicia Spencer, to me, that's at least something. I would say Amanda Nunes would get it just because, again,

carrying two belts at once, man. She's doing it at this point for almost two years. That's outrageous. That's ridiculous. So she should get it. She's the female goat. Get Women Fighter of the Year. It's been a weird year.

I would give it to her. See, it's an interesting question because, I mean, I was basically weighing it the same way. And then as we kept talking, there's a couple of names that kind of like sprinkled in. One, Amanda Hebas. One is Amanda Hebas? I know exactly who we should have said now, Sean. I know who Casey would have picked if we had said it. And I won't say it because I don't want to, you know, throw that salt.

And I want to let a true answer be rendered. But we both screwed up, Sean. We both screwed up hard. Now that you're saying that, I think I know the same person. I bet you do. Yeah. Now that you said that, I know what? I should have pandered to my audience.

I didn't realize that panered to the audience. You guys didn't tell me that Casey fixed this. I needed to pander to Casey. We missed the layup is all I'm saying. Great answers, gentlemen. Great answers. Great answers. Let me just say.

Tough question, but great answers. winner by default Mr. Shaheen Alshade. Yeah, baby. What is the default? Is the default? Did he stuck up to you before you read the cards? Oh, man, Casey, let me just say that your mustache is gorgeous.

I'm jealous of your mustache. You made the right call. I am so glad. You're such a wonderful man, Casey. You really are. You're such a smart, intelligent, bright young, men. You have a great future. Five rounds

with Frisia Spencer. Valentina Chupchenko just obliterated Gailinjicabian. Yeah, Amanda just had a baby. You will respect that. Yeah, but that's not Fighter of Year. Also, she didn't have the baby. She was party to the baby.

Don't give her credit for... Look, man, I know you're upset. I know you're upset. I'm hearing a lot of sour grapes. You're coming in talking a lot of trash. You kept trying to tell everybody how great you were. You were trying to convince all of us about how great you were. Your rain, I'm so good at this. You were DMing me days beforehand.

I'm going to smash you, Sean. You don't even deserve to be on this show with me. I didn't even know what I was walking into, and I still came in here and just smashed it and took the title from you. It's mine. I'm sorry. I am great. I shouldn't have gone first, but I've gone second.

Who are you thinking when you rethought? Because I'm pretty confident if either of us said Angela Hill, we would have won. I was thinking to Angela Hill but like getting screwed by the judgment talking

well Sean you are I want you I want you to sit on this I want you to reflect on this I want you really marinate in it for a bit

and just get back to me a couple weeks when you're feeling up to it and maybe you're we can run it back I'm a generous champion I'm just saying I've never reflected

on anything Sean as you well know that's fair well shot You are the BTL BMF champion, and you don't get any prize money. There's no belt because we don't have the budget for that. But you do get 30 seconds to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about. Good, bad, and different in the sport of mixed martial arts.

The floor is yours, sir. Oh, I don't need no belt. Beating Jed is a good enough belt for me. I'm going to put that up up here. Beat Jed on between wings. Just put that up there. It'll be great. 30 seconds.

I don't really have anything. I didn't prepare anything. but I will say it is a very important week. I'm going to go generic with this, but I really hope all of you out there. Go out and vote. It is a really, really important election. You don't need me to tell you that.

It's going to be a really stressful week for, I think, everybody in this country. Just go out there and vote, let your voice be heard. And yeah, hopefully it's a great week. It's so good to be a champion. Jed, I mean, you've won two weeks in a row. Now you're the former BMF champion, a belt that you instituted and created

on this very program before we got rolling here. Any words you'd like to say before we say goodbye? Yes, let's hear from the loser, please. It's only fitting that Take Diaz, like my namesake, was robbed of the belt he invented by some chicanery from the judging and the referee and all of that. So we all know who the real BMF is. I will just echo what Sean said.

Today's really important day, everybody. unlike this show where Mike's votes don't matter. All of your votes do matter, so go out there and cast them for whoever you choose to, and especially in your local elections, those are very important to you in your life. So go out, do your civic duty, get yourself a sticker, and just remember, I'm the real champion, and Sean is a fake and a person. That is all the trophy I could ask for is all this denial. That's it.

I'm just bathing in it at this point. See, look, that's how. you know I'm the real champion too. And Sean's like, I don't need a belt. I beat Jed because it's the same way. You know, nobody wants to win the light heavyweight title. They want to beat John Jones. I am the John Jones of this show.

I'm the greatest of all time. Without the asterisk, just the greatest. It's okay. You are John Jones and that you need to tell us about your greatness every four seconds. Yeah. It's important that you don't forget. Oh, what a battle. has been a rematch. We'll do bonkers numbers. I can already feel it. So we'll have to think about

that down the road. And, uh, Sean, thanks for coming back, man. I appreciate you jumping on this week. Absolutely, man. I always got love for everybody fighting. It's an honor to be back on. Like I said, we were circling each other for a long time, Mike. So it was glad to be on. It's good to see you, too, Jed, even though, uh, you know, probably wasn't the best moment for you, but it happens. Hate you forever. Want nothing but bad things to happen to you and only you. Love you. There you go. Well, that's it. everybody. How much more can be said after that for Jed Mishu, Sean Al-Shoddy. Big shout out to Casey Lydon

for judging. Jed may not feel the same, but a great production work, Casey. Appreciate that very much. We'll see you back here once again next week, right here on Between the Links. 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. Media Podcast Network.