MMA Fighting - Between the Links: Episode 50 | Jiri Prochazka, Bellator 258, Diego Sanchez vs UFC, More

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Host Mike Heck will be joined by BTL champion Jed Meshew as he puts his title on the line against five other special guest challengers—including former champions, contestants, and a hungry rookie ready to make a statement—in a gauntlet style tournament.  This week, the panelists will discuss Jiri Prochazka’s highlight-reel KO win over Dominick Reyes at UFC Vegas 25, Bellator 258 and the main event between Juan Archuleta and Sergio Pettis for the bantamweight title, this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 26 event, the impact losing the Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz fight made on the UFC 262 slate, the aftermath of Diego Sanchez’s release from the UFC, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @shaunalshatti Follow Phoenix Carnevale: @microphonephoen Follow Alex Wendling: @AlexWendlingMMA Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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So download the app today and get $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.M.A. Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to the special 50th episode of Between the Links. Hope you're all having a great week.

I'm here in scenic, Uncassville, Connecticut. Mohegan Sun, the site of tomorrow night's Bellator 258 event. I am excited. We're coming off a huge night for Yuri Prahashka. The UFC is back this Saturday. PFL goes down in a matter of moments. A lot going on as always in the world of MMA. But this is BTL 50 and we bring the chaos.

We bring the ruckus and we're doing that and then some this week. Big show plan for everybody. It's not just two people battling out for the strap. There's six people battling it out in the gauntlet. And we'll explain all of that in a matter of moments. But first, let us introduce our six competitors. First, let us welcome back a man who, let's be honest, hasn't had a lot of success on this show,

but he's ready to become the Barry Harowitz of Between the Links, the Prince of Positivity, the co-host of On to the Next One, from MMMfighting.com, Mr. Alex Cayley, aka, how are you my best friend? Hello, my best friend. I think I've had a lot of success on this show. Don't worry about the record. That's not, this doesn't define who I am as a man.

Those are just numbers. I've had plenty of success. I'd love to see the two people who I beat. I honestly can't remember. But no, I'm happy to be here, Mike. Happy to be here for this 50th anniversary show of this iteration of Between the Links. We welcome back our old friend

and a two-time winner on the program. In fact, he is two-and-one against our current champion. Can he do it again and call himself BTL champ from the athletic? One of the best in the game. Mr. Sean Al-Shadi. Welcome back, sir. It's good to be back.

an honor to be back. I'm happy to be back for this 50th show. Man, congratulations on 50. And A.K. Lee, two and eight? That's your record, bro? Come on, man. What are we doing here? Ask the judges. Ask the judges. I don't have the answers for you, Sean. Oh, man. All right. Well, let's continue out. We got a multi-time BTL champion joining us, one of the winningest panelists in the history of the show. And that includes all iterations of it, the host of the A-Sai Live chat. He's getting ready to head to the lone star state in a few days for UFC 262. Let us welcome back, Mr. Jose Young.

So what's up, buddy? Now, let's get one thing straight. When I was on the show after, we like to chit chat for a bit. And I would like to be credited as the creator of this format for episode 50, where I put it out there that we should have some sort of gauntlet style thing. So I am the Pat Patterson to the World Rumble. I am the Chris Jericho to the money of the bank. I am the Eric Bischoff to the elimination chamber,

Jose Young's to the Gauntless style episode of Between the Links. Credit where credit is due. You're welcome, everybody. Well, thank you for everything you have done for this program, Jose. We also have ourselves a hungry rookie joining us this week. She came highly recommended by the judge, the jury, the executive producer Casey Leiden. You can find her work on YouTube. She also does work for Morning Combat, Food Truck Diaries.

She's an up-and-comer in the game for sure. Let us welcome Alex Wendling to the craziest episode we have ever done. Try a life fire, Alex, to say the least. How are you? What's up? I'm super excited. And hey, a two and eight record is much better than having a big fat zero. So if there's any team competitions, I think a good AK-A-J team, I think we would really, really kill it. Wow. This has got me a little bit friendly here. This is what it's like when doves cry. Is 2 and 8 really better than O and O? I don't know that it is.

I don't know. I don't know. We can go from zero to hero over here, though. Just watch, guys. Ah, now people have been asking me for months. When is this person coming back on the show? Well, the answer is right now, and she is coming back with a vengeance because she technically never lost the BTL title.

We kept it vacant for a while, but then she just got so damn popular and gotten so damn busy, she hasn't been able to join the panel until now. We welcome back Phoenix Carnivali to the show. How are you? What's up, everybody? I'm happy to be back. Happy to be talking some fights. And last, but certainly not least, to quote the great John Annik, the man with whom this event was built around, the reigning, defending, undisputed BTL champion, ready to enter the gauntletist champion and aims to leave it the same way, Mr. Jedmishu. Welcome, champ. How you feeling right now moments away from your toughest title defense to date? I'm excited. I will point out

two things. One, I think it's absolute trash that I don't get some kind of champions prerogative here. You just throw me to the sharks. It's going to be fine. I'm going to swim my way out of this one, but still, bad form. And I think we can verify that this is obviously a Jose Young creation, because otherwise, I would get the benefit of being the defending champion. And the other thing is, this is actually going to be super hard because I can't be mean to some of these people. Like, if I'm up against, you know, Jose, I'll just put it through the wood chipper like I've done hundreds of times before.

But, you know, against some of these other people, I can't be mean to them. And we can see an upset. We could see the champion lose his belt. So stay tuned, everybody. Okay. So those watching are probably wondering how this is all going to work. I know Sean Alshaddy is wondering how this is all going to work, so I'm going to explain it right now.

I have right here my Boston Red Sox baseball cap. And inside of this hat are the names of the competitors. And in a matter of moments, we will select two names out of the hat. And these will be the first two to battle it out. They will get one question and the round will go for 10 minutes. Once the round is over, we will then go to the rest of the illustrious panel.

And they will judge the round. They will determine who comes out and moves on And if there is a tie, we will bring in Casey Leiden to break the tie. And once that is decided, the winner will move on. We will draw the next name. And this will go on and on until we draw the final name. And that'll be the knockout round. The winner of the knockout round wins the game and the championship.

Now, if you happen to lose your round, you have the option to stick around. You can hang out. Get to the virtual judges table if you'd like and help us out in that way and continue to enjoy the chaos. get involved. But if you're devastated by how your peers voted and it gets y'all pissed off and you need to take off, that's cool too, but we would love you to stick around. And who knows, maybe Mother Nature will knock out a Wi-Fi signal. Maybe someone's computer needs to be reset. And we need an alternate to step in. Anything can happen here on the program. So it is now time to draw the first two names. And by the way, Jen Mishu, just like the champion gets an advantage for the final question,

there was an emergency meeting of the BTL executive committee late last night and they came to a decision. They have decided to give you a little bit of a break and use a champion's prerogative at the beginning of the show. So your name will not enter the hat for round one. So you get a little bit of a reprieve, Jed. There you go. We gave you a slight advantage as the reigning champion.

I'm sure most people here are hoping their name does not get drawn first, but we know Jed, it will not be yours. I think I want to say thank you. I do like to have at least some, you know, some recognition of all I've accomplished. But I'm just too hung up on the fact that I'm not part of the BTL executive committee. What more does a man have to do? Winning his champion in history.

Come on, Mike. Well, you're going to have to apply for that job. And you have to be voted in by the rest of the committee. But let's get right to this thing. We're digging into the Red Sox hat of fun. The first name, Sean Alshadi. There we go. Let's go.

And Alshadi will face in round one Jose Young's. Wow, a battle of the former A-side hosts. Arizona, baby. Arizona represent. Let's do it. Let's do it. Wow. This is just the way I wanted to start this off.

All right. First battles among us. We got Al-Shadi versus Yon. and we will begin the gauntlet by discussing the big star of this past week in mixed martial arts, Mr. Yuri Perashka. This guy has exceeded the hype he had coming over to the UFC as the former Rise and Light Heavyweight Champion takes on Dominic Reyes and his first UFC main event this past Saturday. The fight was absolutely ridiculous and Yuri is just battering Dominic Reyes.

Reyes is firing back with big shots that Perashka just walks through. Reyes hurts Perhaska in the second. Yuri battles back and lands one of the most ferocious knockouts we have ever seen via spinning back elbow. So, Sean, we're going to begin with you, sir. Not sure what expectations you had for Pahashka heading into this fight, but where are they now? Like, does the UFC have a star on their hands? I mean, the UFC certainly has something on their hands, right? That was an outrageous scene, and that was one of the most entertaining things I've seen all year.

That guy is so fun, man. Yuri Pajaka is just so much fun. He is a breath of fresh air, and people who have been watching this guy for, four years in Risen, probably feel very vindicated right now because we've just been seeing this. He's been doing this away from the mainstream Mayas for a while now. But man, he's a living, breathing flow state. Like he is Tony Ferguson crossed with Justin Gachie in the body of an NBA small forward. Like, I absolutely love everything that this guy is about. He, his whole samurai vibe, the samurai topnot. As a bald man, I'm extraordinarily jealous of the ability to have the samurai

topnot. I'd like to be able to walk through life like that. Everything. he exudes is just interesting to me. He's just an interesting cat. And to me, he's the most exciting and refreshing to talent that has hit this two of five pound division really in like probably the last half decade or the last five years or so, man. It's just, it's awesome to see. And to me, we can't drop the ball here. Like, we have to strike when the iron's hot. We have to just propel this guy into a title shot right away. We can't waste time booking number one contender fights against Alexander Rackich and risk ruining this because there is a shelf life on this, right? The dude gets hit a lot. He just generally takes a lot of damage, takes a lot of risks. I just want to see this

guy fight for a title while he still came before something stupid happens. What do you think, Jose? Do you think, I mean, the performance was amazing. There's nothing else you could say about it. But the UFC sometimes has a hard time jumping on these things and giving big pushes. And I feel like Yuri Perashka with his fighting style. He's got an interesting personality. He's just a funny dude. I feel like they have something here. Do you feel the same way that this guy could, may not just be a future UFC champion, but this guy could be a big star for them. Yeah, well, speaking of my fellow top nodder, Jerry Prohaska,

I mean, sorry, Sean, some of us could grow actual hair. Yeah, he is, he is, he is everything the light heavyweight division needs right now. Because for years, we talked about how, oh, the athletes in America specifically are all going to go do another sport. And it's got kind of been dominated by John Jones for so long. And they've had to call up a lot of middleweights, like the Chal Sondens, Machitas, who eventually did drop down the middleweight, Chal Sondon. Like, it felt like he was fighting a lot of middleweights. And now with John Jones now moving up to heavyweight, and we have an actual light heavyweight contender and Gloved D'Shaer getting his much deserved rematch in your Pahasca.

Like Sean said, you got to strike while the ironed aside. We saw, and I completely agree with his, his comparisons to the Tony Ferguson, Justin Gagee combo. And we saw what happened with the amount of times Tony Ferguson was matched up against Habib. I don't want that to happen with Yuri Perhaska. Book it now, unless the rest of the world opens up and they want to give him a five-round fight in his part of the world because, of course, Alexander Rackich is from his, from his, like, Eastern European market. So if they want to just build like a super card of all these Eastern European fighters, so be it.

But yeah, give him the title shot immediately. Give him the winner of Jan Blahovic and Glove de Cher, have him weighing as a backup. I don't care. I want to see this. I'll watch this man fight adore. He is the equivalent of like 2012, 2013 Korean zombie, where every fight he is in is a fight of the year, performance of the night, whatever you want to call it. He is killer be killed. Tony Ferguson, Justin Gae. Your Pohasca is a superstar, and I never want him to learn perfect English because that is exactly what we need is broken English, samurai, top-knotted, buzzsaw human being of a man, just knocking fools out to captaining human beings on national television.

you're up for Haska as a superstar. I think let me jump in real quick because I think one thing too that I thought was really cool and I really enjoyed about this whole experience was it goes to a conversation that's a broader conversation that I think we have generally a lot of the time

where two fights ago, this dude was a rising fighter. Like that wasn't long ago and now he's already the number one contender in the UFC. Like there's something to be said for the MMA world just always generally like assuming that these non-UFC guys are just generally less talented by default and just how naive that mindset can be

And then we see a guy like this come in and just dominate right away. And it's just one of those things, right? It's wild to me, though, because when we see a hyper-exciting talent like him come to the U.C. Usually, they have to tone it down, right? They can't really do those things. They can't really be as wide open and reckless as they usually have been when every, every fighter you're fighting could be a big fish in a small pond elsewhere. There's just less room for air. But this dude has not toned it down at all.

Like, he's probably actually dialed it up a little bit, the theatrics from where he was, from what he was. doing before. And it's totally working. It's such a unique thing to watch and to watch him do with Dominic Reyes, who was a guy who just a year ago at this time last year, we're talking about him as he should have beat John Jones. He was the uncrowned king at 205. And for Giorita has come in here and destroy him in less than two rounds. I love it, man. I absolutely love it. All right. So we're halfway through the stanza. And by the way, Jose, your hair comment hurts this guy as well. But you guys both talked about it. I'm not sorry. It's all good. I'm not a judge. so you don't need to impress me anyways.

But Phrashka finds himself in an interesting position because like both of you said, he should get the winner of Janbovich and Glovertecera. But the problem is that fights that until September. It's not like the fights coming up in June where like everything lines up perfectly. So the question I have is Yuri's a wild man. Does he want to wait that long?

Like at this point, if he chooses to wait, we might not see him again until 2022. But if he wants to stay active, he could fight Alexander Rackich, who would probably love the opportunity to stop the hype train. So knowing what you know about the UFC and knowing what you know about Yuri,

what do you think happens here? Who are you asking? Jose. Oh, well, knowing the UFC, they're going to book them in a five-round fight the weekend after Jan Boehoeven and Gloved Sheriff. We saw this play out when Corey Anderson fought Yon

when we all agreed Corey Anderson and Yon probably could have been the co-main event for John Jones, Dominic Rays, you know, have if someone gets hurt, there's the backup right there. They're all on the same timeline. Instead, Corey Anderson fought Jan Balovich in New Mexico, where neither of them have ties to the state of New Mexico.

So knowing the UFC, they're going to have this big pay-per-view wherever. And then say the world opens up, Yuri Prakka is going to fight Auxanur in, like, Sue Falls. I don't know, something weird like that, because that's just what the UFC is. It doesn't make sense. No, but MMA is a silly game. And anything the fans want,

the UFC's probably going to do the opposite. So if the UFC is smart, they're out of make this to come. main event or make it a five-round fight where these two are actually big deals, but they're probably going to stick them in a place that unfortunately, it doesn't make sense. And that's, I'm just basing that off of what the UFC has proven to do. Like, why put Nathaniel Wood in London when you can have him fight one week earlier in Rio Rancho? Because that makes all of the sense in the world, right? Or like, why have Arnold Allen fight on London when you can have him fight in Raleigh, North Carolina?

because again, that makes so much sense. So knowing the UFC, they're going to do the exact opposite and put them in a place that doesn't make sense. Why do they need to put them anywhere? Don't book it. Don't book the stupid fight. It's a stupid fight. We're killing off contenders for no reason.

This division is finally interesting again. And that's one thing we always see, right? When these long, rainy champions leave, all of a sudden, the door is open for everybody else. That's what's happening right now. We don't need to match these two up against each other because both of them can get their shot at different times. Like, there is no rush here to, to figure out who among them deserves it.

That fight's not until September in terms of Glover-Deshire, Jan Blakovitz. Let's just wait. Like, let's just chill. Let's just wait. We have a guy here who we all want to see fight for the title. I don't want to risk it. Over at Fight metric, Richard Mann. He's great stats all the time.

And he had a great stat for this one where URI first, first two UFC fights. He's absorbed 6.8 significant strikes per minute. 6.8 significant strikes per minute. That's a lot, man. That's a dude who gets hit a lot. And there's a shelf life on that. We can't let this guy Johnny Walker himself before he gets a chance to actually put himself

in a position where we can care about the big fights that he can produce, right? Like, even Jan Blakovus recognizes it and is calling this guy out. And you never see Jan really doing that in that regard. I just don't want to screw this up. It really feels like this is something the UFC will screw up because Jose is right.

They tend to screw this type of thing up, But there's no rush, man. We don't need to screw this up. Let's let everybody breathe. Let the fight happen in September. And then book Yury against the winner. It's fine. Rackachkin will fight somebody else in the meantime.

His last win was very lacklustre. Nobody's really calling for him to get a title shot. There's no need to rush this. All right. So about 30 seconds for each of you guys here. Sean ran down Dominic Reyes. Like this is a guy who was so close to winning a world championship. And on the cusp of becoming a light heavyweight champion

and knocking off the goat in a lot of people. people's eyes. Now he's on a three-fight losing streak. He's gotten brutally knocked out in two straight fights. You got to feel for Dominic Gray. Great guy in the sport. But Sean, where does he go from here? Quickly. It's tough, man. It is a really tough, the sudden fall of this guy, because we just mentioned it. He was the uncrown king for so long. And there are so many timelines. If you redo this last couple years of his 10 times over, this is probably the worst case scenario, right? Because he doesn't get his Chris Wyatman, Anderson's Civil moment. He doesn't get that legendary moment of I beat John Jones. It's the same situation with Johnny Hendricks and George

St. Pierre. He just loses that moment forever. And that would have changed his life forever. And then the next two fights, just brutal knockouts, like really, really career altering knockouts. He's still young, so you got to think that he's going to be able to recover and get back on his feet and make it done the title run. But man, that is a tough, tough way for this whole situation to go because this could have gone so much better and so many different. Again, if you run this. back 10 times. This is probably the worst case scenarios for him. Jose, what do you think? Where does Reyes go from this past Saturday? Recovery. I don't even want to see, hear him mention the anyone doing fantasy matchmaking for Dominic Gray's because I want when he comes

back, say in 2022, the rest of the division, the rest of the landscape could be completely different. I mean, we saw this mass exodus of light heavyweights either to heavyweight or other promotions. So we have a lot of guys that are kind of ranked by default. That could again all change by the end of 2022. So I see a lot of people saying like, oh, give. him Ankleyev, give him Paul Craig, the winner of Paul Craig, Jamal Hill, give him Anthony Smith. Like I don't want any of those guys matched up with Dona Gras. Donald Grays needs to take a break that's two back to back brutal losses. And again, like he got decapitated on national television by a spinning back elbow. Like don't, I don't want to hear him talk about training.

I don't want him talk about fantasy matchmaking, anything. Take a break. Come back in 2022 and maybe we can have some fresh matchups. And again, he's still an incredibly dangerous fighter. So say you do match him out like say Jamal Hill wins and you match him up with Dominic gray's he's knocking off a contender a future contender right there coming off a three fight losing streak I don't want that to happen either haven't come back after some of these fights play out and then we can think about having Dominic gray is matched up with another fighter all right so UFC Vegas 25 is in the books also a great win for giga chikaze stopping Cub Swanson just over a minute but this is clear the per hashka show he's always been

must-see TV for the hardcore fans now more people see that than ever before and uh This first round is in the books as well. It is now decision time. We had a spirited first round, but only one of these fine competitors can move on to the next step of the BTL 50 gauntlet. So let's go to the judges, and we said trial by fire. So the first one to make a decision will be our rookie,

Alex Wendling. Who wins the first round? I think your mic's muted. I think your mic's muted. Now, okay move right there. All right. I really am disappointed that no one brought up the fact that his hair was being used as a range finder,

which is exactly why he was able to land that spinning back elbow. But other than that miss, I guess I'm gonna have to go with Jose just because I really like how he doesn't want Dom to be matched up with anyone he needs to take a really long break. And I don't want him to see, I don't want to see Dom go against an uncle I of or anyone else that people might be fantasy matchmaking him with, but it was a close one, but I'm going to go with Jose.

All right, we got one for Jose. The Prince of Positivity, my best friend, Alex K. Lee. It's up to you, my friend. Listen, Mike, there's some two things people know about me. I love rules, hashtag rules, rule, and I love stats. I love, I love math, and I love numbers. Our man, Sean, brought us some stats, which made me made my ears tingle immediately. Our man, Jose, came out with a completely unnecessary shot at Sean's hair. That, to me, is a breaking rule. Lack of hair. Lack of hair. Lack of hair.

That's a bit of a low blow. That's a bit of a low blow, so I don't approve. So I think both men made compelling arguments. I think Sean was a little more to the point. So I'm going to go give my point to Sean. Oh, it's one to one. It's one to one. And now we turn it over to a man who is rival of both of these gentlemen,

So I have no idea who he's going to vote. The reigning champ, Jed Michoud. Jed, who you got? This is really tough, Mike. One, they were both really bad. Nobody mentioned any of the important facts, like how Dominic Reyes is not good at fighting, or how Ui Projillo should be matched up

against Michelle Bahia for his next fight. And so in the absence of that, it's really tough to make a choice. I'm going to go with the honest answer, which is a bad answer, because I would love to face Sean O'Shaughty so he could get this work that is long overdue. But, you know, I don't like giving the point to Jose

because everyone in the comments are like, wow, Jed just wants to beat a guy. He's already beaten dozens of times before, but it's going to be Jose Young's for me. All right. So Phoenix finds herself in a very interesting position because she could play it safe right now and just give it to Sean.

And then Casey would have to hold the long hold the weight of this final choice, but maybe Phoenix wants to play it right down the middle here. Phoenix, Jose or Sean, who got it done? Well, when you're listening to really good hip-hop, what do you do? You nod your head, correct? Yes. So when I'm agreeing with the person who I nodded my head the most to

like it was a dope beat, had to be Jose. This is rigged. This is rigged. No. a recount. Definitely because of the Dominic Reyes taking a break thing. Making them wait, even though, you know, I think he's a popular star and the UFC is probably going to want to get him in again. And, you know, they book weird stuff sometimes. It's a strong possibility. But I think that this is this is the guy this sports been waiting for. And I agree with a lot of

what Jose had to say. All right. So Jose, we'll move on to the next round. Sean Al-Shott. Bald men, us, we got to stick together, my friend. And you are welcome here anytime. And you're also welcome to stick around as a judge, if you'd like. Well, it was fun while it lasted. I can't believe I'm the first one out, but these things happen in MMA. All right. Well, truth be told, Sean's computer might, like, restart at any second here.

So, I mean, this wasn't fixed at all, but, I mean, it just worked out, like, the MMA gods are actually on our side that Sean went first and now he could reset his computer. So, Sean, you're the man. Thank you so much. Appreciate you guys. It's the Nissan Black Friday event where you can, wait, wait, wait. Isn't it like a month long now? Nissan Black Fry Month? Does that work?

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Congratulations to Jose Young's. And. Boo, Jose Youngs. I'm going to go back to the Red Sox hat of mystery and find out who will enter the gauntlets in round two to go one-on-one with Jose Youngs. On this beautiful Mohegan Sun stationery, Phoenix Carnivali, come on down.

You are the next contestants in the BTL-50 gauntlet. So Phoenix, welcome. Here we go. It's been a minute since you've had a chance of debate. And we're going to begin right where I am at right now. Lovely Mohegan sun because Bellator is back with the big one tomorrow night. The main event is for the bantamweight title. Great fight between Juan Archeletta and Sergio Pettis. We have the return of MVP against Derek Anderson. We get Patricky Pitbull versus Peter Quilly and the return to action and the Bellator debut of Anthony Rumble Johnson. but it's not against Yol Romero, as we heartbreakingly found out last week. It is against Jose Augusto. And along the way, we also lost James Gallowher to an injury.

So Patchy Mix now meets six-fight UFC vet Albert Morales in the prelims. It's an interesting card, Phoenix. We're going to begin with you. Losing Romero sucks. There's no way to mince words here. Losing Gallagher hurts, but how much do losing those two guys, how much does it sting? Is this one of the better? Do you still feel like this is one of the better offerings,

Bellator has put together in quite some time? Are you still excited to see this all go down tomorrow night, despite the hiccups? I really think that anybody who thinks that just the AJ fight was the reason to watch this card has not been paying attention to what Bellator has been doing. If you haven't been paying attention to Archeletta and Pettis, you're going to miss an extremely good Bantamweight Championship fight

because Archeletta is just like kind of a stick-and-move fighter, he's a cardio machine. Pettus, as he's gotten into his man strength, has been more and more impressive. He's only 26 or so years old. There's a lot within this matchup that makes it interesting for me that this actually is the fight that I wanted to see the most.

Yeah, listen, we love AJ, and there's a lot of questions. And in a way, this might be even good for him because he gets a tune-up fight. You know, he gets to get rid of some of that ring rust. He looks phenomenal. I think we're all curious. to see like how he's going to perform.

And then let's be honest, when you're up against, you know, somebody like Daniel Cormier and you're going through all that, you can get burned out. There was a big sting. He's refreshed now. Let's see how AJ comes back. He looks better than I've seen him look in a really, really long time. So it is a big deal.

I do love what Bellator is doing with the, you know, the brackets and things like that. I almost wish we kind of had that for the UFC because we wouldn't be having that eerie conversation. We kind of know what was going to happen with that. So I am excited, but I'd say let's look at that bantamweight fight because that's got me excited. MVP, you know, look, he's just always been so successful against opponents. You're figuring, okay, is this going to be a little bit more of the same patchy mix, another super exciting person? I mean, the archelette Apache mix fight was one of those things that made me say, I need to watch Bellator a little bit more. So I think, I I think it's a good, a good card overall, and I'm still going to watch it with it without,

without UL Romero. Disappointed, but I still think it's going to be good. What do you think, Jose? Because a couple weeks, we mentioned, like, the last two UFC offerings, and we're wondering, I think it was this past Saturday and then this coming Saturday. And we were like, is Belator 258 better than both of these cards? And it was pretty much unanimous that it was, but this is before we lost UL.L. Romero in that fight.

So the card's still pretty good. but how much does losing Romero and Galaher hurt this card, if at all? I mean, losing Romero hurts a lot more than James Gallower, unfortunately. Like, James Galeher is a very interesting, polarizing fighter, but he doesn't have, like, he, you all Romero, people, like, just looking at our YouTube, our YouTube analytics, his open workouts dwarf most videos we ever put out just because of how he looks. Like, he didn't even do a workout. He just did an interview, and it still did gang.

buster numbers. People are so fascinated by Yo-R-R-Marro, the specimen, the fighter, the human, whatever you want to call. He is so interesting. And you know, if Joel Romero is anywhere, Jorge Madsdahl is going to be following right there with him because they're like, they are, I've interviewed both of these guys and they say, if Yoel says, if I call Jorge, he's there in an hour to help me train. So you know, Belator wants Yoel. They want the Jorge Mazurabar rub. The fans want to see Y'L Romero. When there's a reason they made this fight right out of the gate. There's reason where we had Big E W.W. Superstar on the show

and he was so excited for this fight in Bellator. He's not talking about the UFC 261 pay-per-view. He's not talking about Juan Arceletta, Sergio Pettis, which is a fantastic high-level martial arts competition. He was talking about Anthony Rumble Johnson, who hasn't fought

in like three, four years, at Joel Romero, who's on a losing streak. That is what was drawing eyeball. So, unfortunately, losing Yuel is a big blow, but this fight card is a very, very top to bottom, solid card in terms of Bellator matchmaking. There's a lot of interesting matchups, but yes, losing UL does sting. I was speaking to Josh Thompson earlier this week, and you can now see that video by itself on our YouTube page.

And we discuss how much, how losing Romero certainly does suck, but the silver lining in all of it, Jose, is now more attention can be put on this main event between Archelette and Pettis. Because as far as title fights go, this is a really competitive fight, yet it's flying way under the radar. Like, no one was really talking about it. So it's awful to lose one fighter, but to put more shine on a fight like this, it's pretty cool. Do you agree with that? Like, do you feel like the Romero loss sucks? But at the same time, now we're giving a little more love to a fight that absolutely deserves it. Yeah, I mean, it's obvious.

I mean, once you lose Joel and Anthony Johnson, Anthony Johnson, of course, is still on the card. But the talking point is going to be the title fight now. Like Michael Venom Page, Anthony Johnson, Patchy Mix, like Eric, Perez, Henry Corrales. These are all names that people know, but they're not talking about the fight. They're talking about the individual. The main event, they are talking about two men entering the cage, not the octon, the circle cage for Bellator.

Juan Archeroletta is, of course, one of the more, was for a long time, one of the more unheralded fighters. His only loss, I believe, is to Petruso Pitbull and Bellator. Sergio Pettis is kind of finally out of the shadows of his older brother. His older brother lost his PFL debut of Sergio, as he said, can bring the title back to Milwaukee that will finally forge his own path as a man in a fighter. So yes, losing Yuel is a bummer, but the silver lining is now we are talking about Archelaida Pettus.

And I am seeing far less fans on Twitter and Instagram saying Bellator, 258 colon, Rumble versus Romero. I'm seeing Archeletta versus Pettus now. So yes, factually yes. All right. Halfway through this round, Phoenix, we'll go back to you. We mentioned Rumble Johnson. It's a big deal taking on Jose Augustus. Obviously a big opportunity for Gusto.

Rumble returns four years after losing to Daniel Cormier. It's the final opening round matchup of the Grand Prix. But I do want to talk about Michael Page, who had some things to say about his displeasure with Bellator. He wouldn't get into too many specifics, but he was asked point blank at the media day yesterday if he was happy with Bellator and he said no. And I asked Scott Coker about that earlier today. And Scott said he heard that. He called MVP immediately and they've already worked everything out.

and people have had this up and down relationship with MVP, Phoenix. Like at times he's so fun to watch. People are just like glowing about this guy. But then people have things to say about his level of competition, the performances in general, but the guy is winning fights. He's doing his job no matter what people say. So what do you need to see Phoenix from MVP tomorrow night against Derek Anderson who's going to be in his face looking to put him away?

Like is a win enough for MVP or does he need to go out there and do something super exciting tomorrow night? I don't think a win is enough because a lot of the times it's like he's expected to win. And it's more, but I can understand why he's saying what he's saying because he was unhappy with the promotion itself. Because he's a highlight machine, people know him and they don't know his opponents. And his point was, no matter who I fight, because of my style, I make them look like a can. So it looks like he's beating guys that don't really have names because they don't really. have names. And is that the promotions problem or is that his problem? So it's a combination of the two.

He's got to have those step up in competitions where you put a name against him that makes it say, oh, this guy can really be threatened. It's like when you watch some of the Marvel movies and the villains aren't intense enough so you never fear for the characters. You know what I mean? You know, besides that one knockout, which kind of made people go, oh, okay, he isn't invincible that made me a question made it get more excited. It put some questions behind his name. I think that's part of the problem. And I get his point in a lot of ways.

Like when you go to Bellator's website, you're fishing for more information. You want more stories. You want more clips of the fighters. You want to get to know them a little bit better. And I don't think it's there. Now, part of it is I think we as media members, we need to get to know them a little bit better

and search it out. But part of it is them. They do need to do a better job of promotion. And maybe with Showtime and with the Showtime money, backing that a little bit. Maybe that's in the mix and maybe that's working and maybe that's coming into play. And I think that's a big part of sort of the problem here. And that and that's why it is good that we are taking a look at the main event and that it isn't just the Yoel Romero and AJ show, you know?

What do you say, Jose? What do you need to see it for MVP tomorrow night? I need to see him finally get past the Derek Anderson chapter of his career because I feel like they've been matched up like a copious amount of times. Now, Derek Anderson is like, we all know Derek Anderson is a very high level fighter. I looked up his record before he went live. He has six knockouts, six emissions, five decisions. He's not just a striker.

He can beat you anywhere. So, but I need to see Michael Venom page get an emphatic win over a high level opponent. I mean, I was at his fight when he fought Lima. And he was finding a lot of success in that first round until he made one mistake. Because Lima is such a high level fighter, he took advantage of one second. We all know when a fighter gets knocked down, it's better to go backwards away from the strikes. Michael Venom Page is getting so much success in the first round that he just stood up like he was tying his shoes and walked right into a baseball bat la Lima's fist and got knocked dead.

So everyone will point to that without watching the first round and what led it up today, he threw a lazy punch, got his leg kicked out, did a lazy stand up and got his senses detached from him. So I need to see him make no mistakes. I need to see him make a high level performance against a high level competition. because I've made this comparison before. He was 8 in 0 when Corey Sanhagen made his debut. And what are we talking about Corey Sanhagen right now? Corey Sanhagen should be fighting for the UFC Bannamweight Championship of the world. And you, Mike, interviewed Cody Stamen,

who said that Corey Sanaghan is the scariest fighter. Why isn't Michael Venom Page getting the same treatment? Why isn't he getting fast-tracked like the Corey Sanhagans of the world, or fighters that had debuted after him who are fighting for, like, high-level fight? high level opponents for championships too. It is infuriating. I'm a big Michael Venom page fan as the media person, great interviews. He's a very nice individual when he's not promoting fights.

And he is a very exciting fighter. And hate him or love him, you tune in to watch him either win or get defeated. So I need to see something that we haven't seen from Michael Venom page. And that is a high win over a high level competition. All right. We got one minute left. So Phoenix Carnivali, we begin with you. What's the low key banger on this card?

What's the fight that sticks out to you that doesn't get enough love? I don't know. I mean, so I'm a big, big supporter of all my old LFA people. So I'm always excited to see Rafian Stats. I think that, you know, especially for that division, Rafion Stans is one of those really exciting fighters. He's got that great wrestling pedigree. He always goes out there to bang.

I, you know, constantly see improvements in him. So I want to take a look at what he shows us. and where his future is going with that division and with Bellator. Yeah, that's a great fight with Josh Hill. Jose, what's yours? Low-key-banger for tomorrow night. I mean, how can you not say Hafeel Carvalio and Lorenz Larkin? I mean, it's at middleweight, yes,

so Lorenz Larkin isn't fighting in the division that he's kind of been to captaining humans for Belator. But Carvalio is violence personified. Lorenz Larkin is an incredibly high-level striker. Obviously, being of Hispanic descent, I am very excited to watch El Guayito Perez kick off the entire card. He was one of the first big Mexican stars, not Mexican Americans, but Mexican stars in general. Henry Corrales, Arizona Native, making his Bannon Way debut.

But again, there's a lot of high level, there's a lot of fighters. But the fight itself are great, but I'm very much more interesting seeing how individuals perform in their fights. It's a fun card tomorrow night, no doubt about it. And we're going to have you covered here at M.AFighting.com. But this round has come to an end officially, and one of these players will be moving on to the next round. The other will move hopefully to the virtual judging table. But let's see who is who. Let's go to the judges.

We begin. We're going to go backwards this time. Sean is gone. Jed, we begin with you, the champ. Who takes it? Oh, I really didn't want you to begin with me because that was a nip-tuck round. Doug Phoenix came out strong early, kind of put the work to Jose, but he battled back. didn't love her second answer there.

Just not the same kind of enthusiasm that Jose was bringing. But she closed strong. And I love the Rufian's thoughts pick. It's, I really didn't want to have to make a choice here, Mike. This is not a thing. I'm going to give it to Phoenix, though. Just because Jose stumbled with a couple of his points kind of down the stretch there, so I'm giving the point to Phoenix.

AK, the middleman, the Prince of Positivity. Who did it? As Jed said, that was an incredible... First of all, can we just say how great it is to have the real champ back in the virtual building. She never lost the title, all right? The real champ is back. I love the LFA shadow.

I'm so down for that. I loved the commentary about, you know, what more can build or do to kind of promote their product. I agree. I think they do a good job. But it does feel like there's just like there's just missing that extra little spark to grab people's attention.

So I thought that was a great point. But I loved a lot of what Jose was saying as well, especially I think his MVP rant was super on point. I think the Corey Sandheng comparison really made me think. So my head hurt for a little bit, but like in a good way. And I really appreciate it. So I did enjoy that. So I am leaning towards amazing round.

I am leaning towards Jose for this round. Oh, one to one. And Alex Wendling back in the chaotic seat. She went first last time and now she's going to make the final choice here. Who's moving on? Could be potentially your next opponent, Alex. Oh, all right. This is a tough one. I think right out

the gate, the tone was set with Phoenix, just bringing light. Before you even got to the second round, she was talking about that phantom weight fight with, I think, a lot of passionate. I don't think she lost it in the second round either, so I'm going to go tiebreaker, Phoenix. Phoenix Carnivali.

Gets it done. moves on to the next round. Her streak continues without a loss. I don't think she's lost at all on the program, but maybe, I'm not sure. It's hard, man, because he's right about MVP in so many ways. So it's like, you know, I get it. I love how this became like American Idol.

Everyone was, you know, just rifling through stuff in their own way. Jed's like the Simon. I mean, it's just good stuff. Jose, do you want to stick around in Judge or do you want to see? I want to see the Muhammad, on, aka Jed Mishu, of Between the Links, lose, you know, when everyone ganged up on him because no one, he didn't have anyone his side yet. I definitely want to see that.

Yeah, Jose's never seen me lose before because he's just too busy getting the work. So I don't know anymore. All right. So Phoenix moves on. Jose has dropped. I'm pretty sure Jed wore that shirt last time, too. So maybe with his winnings, he can finally have his mom teach him how to do laundry. And he can wear a different shirt.

Why would I have anything other than fight circus shirts in my closet? Yeah, you are kind of the fight circus of human beings. That's fair. Perfect. Maybe like the above-ground pool of people, Jedmishu. You can have 30 seconds of great fun in the above-ground pool. All right, all right. So Phoenix moves on.

There's only three names in the Red Sox Magic Hat. Phoenix will now face the woman who. who gave her the victory. Alex Wendling, come on down. One of these. That's incredible. Moving on. And we will now discuss the UFC's next offering

because it has been a strange road to get to UFC Vegas 26 because in terms of non-paper view main events, you'd be hard pressed to find a better one than Corey Sanhagen versus T.J. Dillishaw. And we found out last week that Dillishaw suffers a big cut, he's out of the fight.

Then we found out not long after that news broke that the UFC was targeting Michelle Watterson versus Maria Rodriguez to become the new headliner. We also find out like a day or two after that about Diego Sanchez being released in the fight with Donald Seroni. That was off the table, which has since been filled by Alex Marano.

That's a new co-made event. We'll talk about the Diego situation later on. But here we are watching the card this past Saturday, waiting for the UFC to make the main event official. give us something about this card and nothing, not one mention of the card at all. So everyone started wondering like, what's going on? Like, is the main event going to happen? Is this event at all going to happen? Finally, the UFC announced the main event, announces all the fights officially and we're a go for this Saturday. So Alex Wendley, we're going to begin with you. Did all

of this chaos make you any more or less interested in this Saturday's event? Where do you gauge your excitement levels? I definitely think everything happens for a reason. So even going back to the Bellator stuff, when Yoel had to get, when YuL's not fighting anymore, I think that all happens for reason. I think AJ has to have a little stepping stone back into before he fights someone like Yoel. So when we're talking about TJ having to take some time off because that cut, it happened

for a reason. And now we're going to get a female headlining fight. and I love karate-hati. I think I want to see it be a banger. I know sometimes she comes out there and she's a little bit reserved. So I hope that she just goes out there and lets the hands fly.

And I was also stoked to see Angela Hill versus Hebus. So she trains out in Alliance in San Diego. She is such a light with all of her TikToks and the stuff that she posts. I literally just reposted her today. So I'm excited to see what she can do. I know that she feels she got the, short end of the stick when she lost by decision to karate-hadi.

So I'm glad to see that they're all going to be on the same card. And in terms of Hebas, I'm excited to see what she's going to do just because she got pretty, she got laid out in that last one. It was kind of a halt to the hype train. But the only thing we're not going to stop being hyped about is how awesome and happy she is all the time. And that's the kind of energy that all of us need to implement in our life on the daily. I would agree.

Manahibos is still an interview that I did a little while ago. People still talk about because they love her. They could care less about me, but they love her and I understand why. But what do you think, Phoenix? Like I understand the road was chaotic to get to where we're at,

but we have a card to look forward to on Saturday. Are you excited for it? See, I'm always the person who likes the up-and-comers. So I'm like, I don't see this as a bad card and I'm not disappointed because also having Diaz and Leon move over to the other card puts three top level, you know, main event, co-main event and like co-co main event makes that pretty awesome for that particular night. And there's good names on this card.

I mean, yes, having Marina Rodriguez and Michelle Waterson, that's karate versus Muay right now. You know what I mean? Those are my two of my favorite arts. So I'm pretty happy about that. It's good to see Angela Hill back against Hebas. They both need that win. Angela Hill has made so many improvements in her game. Jeff Neal is on this card.

Maurice Green is on this card. Gregor Gilepsky is on this card. So it's still a really good card. The thing I was upset about is, you know, I don't want the ball to slow down on Corey Sanhagen because, you know, and then it was like everybody wanted to see TJ get his ass kicked. So those things are absolute disappointments. The Diego Sanchez thing, I didn't want to see him fight again.

You know, that's a whole other story we'll get to. But I still think it's a good card because these are up-and-coming names. And, you know, coming from the LFA, it's fun to see everybody evolve on these cards and move on forward. You know, Maurice Green is coming off a loss as well. But he's an interesting fighter. These guys have personalities. They can still make this card a lot of fun. And I'm never against having a female main event, because I'm never against having a female main event,

because as you've seen, majority of the time, they do show out. Yeah, because people's reactions to the new main event, I guess you would describe it as indifferent. But like, let's not forget the last time Michelle Waterson got bumped into a made event spot, it was after Glover Toscherra tested positive for COVID because you were supposed to play Tiago Santos. And Waterson fought Angela Hill. And it was a damn good fight. It was a really good fight.

And now she takes on this hungry contender in Marina Rodriguez, who was coming off a massive win over Amanda. Hibahs. She's looking great. A lot of people look at her as a potential threat at 115 pounds right now. Phoenix, what sticks out to you from a stylistic perspective about this main event? Rodriguez has a really amazing Muay Thai style and she does use her range and she hits very hard. I mean, when you saw her hit Hibas at one of those points, like it, she, she had, she had the face that Daniel Kormier made when AJ hit him. Like, you know, when your eyes, like, goes super wide like a cartoon.

So that could be really interesting. Michelle Waterson, it can be hard to hit if you're that coming forward brawler. Like, you've got to worry about those obliqs. And Muay stylistically doesn't really have those a lot. In fact, my coach used to hate them because of the threat to somebody's knee. We were not, in Moytai, not allowed to throw those at all. But she's still got that sidekick that could be very hard for Thai fighters because they fight a little bit more square to deal with.

So it can be interesting stylistically. And, you know, Michelle just got a brown belt, too. So she can grapple. She can wrestle. And it'll see, just to see what Rodriguez brings to the table. What's scary to me is it is short notice. It is kind of a short notice weight cut. I don't know what that means for Rodriguez, you know, in terms of how she's going to perform.

But it's fun to see these female matchups, especially from someone like Michelle, who's in the game a long time and has fought the who's who. What do you think, Alex? And from what I understand, and I don't even know if the UFC announced this directly, but I think they're doing the fight at 125 because of the short notice nature, which is great. But way cut aside, Alex, what do you think of the main event? Like, what sticks out to you when you think about this fight? Also, yeah, just the fact that they're not having to cut to 115, but hell, 125, I'm a solid 140 right now.

So shout out to those girls for making it to 125. The quarantine 15 is real. over here. I think this is a tough matchup for karate-hadi just size-wise. I think she's lacking in reach by, I think, two inches. So I think she might come out a little bit reserved. And if she is going to want to land any punches and then use her jiu-jitsu, I think she's going to have to counter and kind of ease her in so that she can counter

and then maybe attack and try to get a takedown. But there was one point about how T.J. Everyone wants to watch T.J. Dillashaw get knocked out. I have to disagree with that point. I am in Mission Viejo right now in Orange County, and there is a big squad that fully supports T.J. Dillishaw. I love what they're doing at Classic Fight Team. They have the future of the Strawweight Division with Kay Hanson in there,

Tyler Wombles representing, and then they have a killer jujitsu coach who just got done training Ardy Goat for Bellator. So they got it going over there and they have a lot of up-and-comers. And I just think that T.J. has learned his lesson. He had to have surgery on both his shoulders.

So that was a good time for him to take time off. And I'm excited to see what he has to do in the future. Bum that it's not going to be on this card. But I love watching the females go at it. And I think it's even better for them that they're not going to have to cut that weight drastically because I haven't been 115 pounds since like the eighth grade. So shout up to it. If you get beyond the weirdness of getting to this card, and I think you both sort of touch on, this is a pretty good slate of fights. Like there's some really good matchups here.

So kind of going back to the same thing we talked about the Bellator card, Alex, we'll go back to you. outside of like the obvious the main and the co-main event what fight sticks out to you on Saturday that could just steal the entire show all the shine away from everybody else for the UFC or for Bellator.

For the UFC card. Just kind of just kind of the same question as the Bellator question. What's the low key banger of this card that isn't getting enough love but could steal the entire show? Um, I would have to say that

I would just have to go with the Angela Hill card. I mean, I think that one is getting a lot of the attention going in. But, um, so I guess one that is going to be a, that people aren't noticing. Honestly, I've been so focused on the Bellator stuff with all the prep. But, uh, I'm going to have to draw a blank on that one. No, but Hill and Hebas is an interesting answer too, because, you know, heba's had a lot of that buzz. She lost. And there are a lot of people that I spoke to that forgot this fight was even happening on this card. So it's not a bad answer whatsoever.

But Phoenix, let's go to you. What sort of sticks out is like the low-key show-stealer on this card Saturday. Man, Neil Magny, Jeff Neal. Neil Magne, Jeff Neal. I love them both. You know, Jeff Neal is super tough. He comes out of one of my favorite camps, like in the whole country. I like Safe Saud, Fortis MMA.

absolutely love Neil Magny. He's super tough. He's such a crafty veteran. It's so unfortunate that he lost that last fight because he was like on a roll after he beat Robbie Lawler. We were like, Neil Magny is the is. But that's how his career is. You know, he wins two. He loses one. He wins two. He loses. Like that's just the way he's been. And this is, this is really, it's a, it's a name for Jeff Neal. It puts him in a good position and he's been through a lot. So it's just It's a fun matchup. I hate to see either guy lose, but I'm looking forward to that fight.

All right. Now, I don't know why there's a timer up there now, but okay. We're going to head to the judges. The round has ended. And we're going to start with A.K. Lee. And A.K., I have a feeling I know where you're going with this. Okay.

Yeah, maybe. But let me first say that, New Alex, new, very cool Alex. Did a great job for first BTL. I think, I don't know if anyone else did a proper kind of rebuttal today. I know we had some back and forth. I don't know if anyone, but she threw in a, and I have to disagree.

She's in there with a champ. And she's threw it and I had to, and I was like, I was like, whoa, whoa, okay. Okay, we're directly refuting points now. I didn't know it was that kind of show. So I was very impressed by the gusto, very impressed by the positivity. Again, I'm the Prince's positivity.

When someone emphasizes, you know, like a manahivas and her personality of course i'm going to you know i'm going to tilt in that direction but it is it is tough to beat phoenix her analysis of uh you know of a of a muaytai and her you know her experience her own martial experience very very tough to beat and of course she showcased hashtag kneel on kneel and and as we all know that is the real main event this weekend uh from bell ator of uh of the ufc of pfl what's happening now kneel on kneel is finally happening so uh that is how you that is how you win my heart by mentioning that So I will go with this round, Phoenix. It's amazing once that fight was booked,

how many people tagged AK on social media and they're like, congratulated him for Neil on Neil. It was amazing. As we move ahead to Jed Michoud, the champ, who somehow has not yet to compete. He's a lucky bastard, but here we are, Jed. Who gets this one done? I'm just dodging bullets in here, man.

Look, I'm on level with you, Mike. I had every intention of coming in here and voting for it. and voting for Alex because I am terrified of Phoenix. She doesn't miss. Woman throws 110 every time out and is basically unbeatable. So I was going to do whatever I could in my power to get her out of here. And I'm still going to do it because, frankly, Alex came out strong. She came out of the gate throwing darts of her own.

I love the rebuttal. Phoenix honestly kind of lost it for me when she said everybody wants to see T.J. Dillishaw get knocked out. T.J. Dillishaw did nothing wrong. and I want to see him get the belt back. And then the fact that Alex made Phoenix laugh with her own answer. To be fair, Alex kind of finished a little weekly there. Phoenix tried to mount a comeback. But for me, I'm giving the point to the rookie.

Wow. And now puts the emphasis on Jose Youngs to make the final decision. What a position. You know, you lose a tough one to Phoenix. And now you have the chance to possibly knock her out of the game, Jose. This is like the challenge on MTV right now. What are you going to do? Love to hear you.

Let's let's be honest though. Like as much as Jed talks about how he mops the floor in me and he makes a lot of things up and he has a silly goose time on the air, I have never been in Phoenix. So I too am terrified of Phoenix who actually does own me in this game, unlike Jed, who again, just likes to have a silly goose time and say things that darn aren't really anything. But I do have to give much props to Alex for actually saying like I'm drawing a blank here because most people like Juan Jed Mishu will just kind of

come up with something on the fly. Maybe they don't believe it, but they just want to say it because they want to like ruffle some feathers. She stuck to her gun and said, drawing a blank, Amanda Hebas. That much respect to anyone that can do that on this show, but I am a massive fan of Neil on Neal.

I've been saying it for a long time too. I have to give the slight edge to Phoenix, the actual champion, and she can go on and face Jed and mop the floor with, again, Look at this man's hair. You need a mop. Just turn that man upside down. You got one perfect right there.

So Phoenix versus Jed can happen. All right. Alex, you did a great job. Would you like to stick around and be the judge? Yeah, I'll definitely stick around. And I just wanted to say it was such an honor to go against Phoenix. I've been following you for a while. So this was such a dream come true.

And thank you guys for having me on. It's so nice to meet you. Alex. I hope I actually get to meet you soon. Yeah, if you're on the West Coast, I'm here. I will be. I will be in two weeks. I'm working in L.A., so I'll hit you up. Sweet. Sounds good. All right, I'm ready for my, the judging hat to come on. See, Jed, how hard was that to make friends? It's not that hard to make friends, Jed. You two someday can have a friend in your life. You know, with friends like you, Jose, I don't need enemies. I'm covered.

Yeah, that's fair. Let's be honest, Mike, I've figured out why this is a bad format because it puts Jose in a position of power over me and he's just going to leverage that. Alex clearly deserve to win the round, but he just wants it. So Phoenix has to either face me next and beat me or face Alex, which, come on. Alex is not. You refer to me as your enemy and that means I have to put any sort of thought into you. So no, you are not my enemy.

It is amazing how this thing turned. We had a newfound friendship made, which is a beautiful thing. And then Jedd and Jose started bickering again. So the show is taking a turn. But we have two names in here. Two names left in the Magic Hat. This is something else because one person is getting a buy to the finals. Here we go on the very expensive Mohegan Sun Stationery.

You got to be kidding me. We got A.K. Lee stepping in, which means Jedmish is the champion. Oh, how convenient. It's going to the finals. You guys, you guys call it luck. We can call it a head start for someone. How convenient. Everyone needs a head start. Let's go, AK.

I am glad. I am glad. The principle of positivity, baby. The principal is I want to face off with Phoenix. I want to face off with the best. Let's go. All right. Welcome to the game, AK.

You've been a great judge. And our next topic goes back just a couple of days for our great competitors here. We found it a couple of days ago that the historic, I've round, non-title, co-made event, I think I said that, right, between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz, will no longer take place next weekend at UFC 262 because Diaz suffered a non-specified minor injury. but what is UFC 262's loss now becomes UFC 23's gain as the fight moves back a month in Glendale, Arizona. So the main event for next weekend's card AK is the bacon lightweight between Charles O'Levara and Michael Chandler. That is the steak, no doubt about it. But most of the sizzle, the seasoning, the flavor, with all due respect to those great athletes, for this event was the return of Nate Diaz and Leon Edwards taking on the big name that he needs.

to get to the next level. So, AK, how big of a hit did UFC 262 just take? Listen, Mike, we've said it out now. I'm a positive guy. So for one thing, first of all, I'm going to be super positive with this card. I think the card looks great. I'm going to be somewhat not positive

about losing the fight because I genuinely almost don't give a, we can't swear to the show. I almost generally don't give an F. I really don't. I don't know. Maybe it's me from the moment this Ed, Diaz fight was like announced, I was like, okay.

I actually kept forgetting, maybe I'm just terrible my job. I actually kept forgetting whether it was on 262 or 263 or if it was like a fight night, like co-main at five-round co-made event. I don't care. I don't care for this matchup. I think the card looks, to get back to positivity, I think the card looks excellent. I'm more jazzed up about Tony Ferguson and Vanille Darius. That's way more exciting to me than Nate Diaz and Leon Edwards.

I get, look, Mike, I get it. I get it. We're in the business. I get the attention that Nate Diaz draws. I love a good Nate Diaz article. I love a good Nate Diaz quote. I love a good Nate Diaz tweet. But as far as like how important this fight is, like it's more important for, I know it could

lead to a title shot, but I think Edwards is worthy, but already, I almost feel like it's a disservice to him to have to fight Nate. It's great. It's a high profile fight for him. More people might be watching this fight than any fight he's had in a while. So good for him. But for me, that doesn't matter to me as far as impact on the 262 card. The 262 card is strong.

You have two great lightweight fights on the top according to the current schedule. So how much does the loss of that fight affect the 22stitude card? For me, for this guy, like a big zero, a big zero. I don't care. All right, a big zero for AK in the effect that losing that fight had on 262. What do you think, Phoenix? Like, how big of it? Do you think this card took a massive hit losing this fight?

No. No. I think, you know, we've got Chandler and then we've got Ferguson and those matchups and the title. I don't think so. You know, so when the initial announcement was made and it was like Nick Diaz was coming back, it was more, oh, Nick Diaz is coming back than it was Nick Diaz against Leon Edwards, right? I think that that's kind of like how it went. But then And for other people, it was like, okay, Edwards gets to do something now because that I poke and Bilal Muhammad did not answer any questions about his, what, 16th, 17th month layoff. The guy has had no luck passed up, passed up, passed up, passed up, passed up. It's more about what it's going to do for Edwards and where it's going to put him and how it's

going to make an impression on the fans than it is about what it does to a particular card. So I think it's more impactful to the individuals than it was to the card itself. You know, I'm still going to watch the card. Like Michael Chandler, we're going to watch the card. You know what I mean? I don't know if it, I don't know if Nate Diaz coming back into the mix is fun for a bunch of different matchups. So we're like, yes, come back. There's a bunch of places we can put you.

Edward that's like, be busy. That isn't an disqualification and we'll see where you can go. So I think it's a combination of that, but I don't think it affects. the card drastically at all. Okay, so let's sort of flip it on a different end because all of us here on this panel right now, we're watching this card no matter what. Like, we're watching it no matter what. And we look at these matches from start to finish and we're like, all right, there's

some really good fights on this card. But the UFC already has us. They know they're going to get our 69.99. So losing Nate and Leon, how many pay-per-views do you think this cost the UFC? being exes well because Nate Diaz is such a character he carries fans so yeah you lost Nate Diaz fans you didn't necessarily just lose UFC fans so it probably is a hit by what percentage I'm not 100% sure you know because it wasn't like he's so active so active that you're always constantly following him it's like you got to know that he's back and that you want to be there

so yeah maybe it does take a huge hit but It's hard. I don't think I have enough casual friends. A.K., Jed and I have made certain points on this show about, like, we can gauge how big a fight card is going to be based on, like, Phoenix said, our casual fans who barely talk MMA reaching us to us and being like, oh, my God, so-and-so is fighting or Jake Paul's fighting Ben Ascran or, in this case, Nate Diaz is fighting Leon Edwards? I have to buy this thing now. And now those people stop texting me altogether because this fight is no longer happening. So how big of a hit from a business side did UFC 262 take losing this fight? First of all, you're suggesting that I have friends outside of MMA, which is a little hurtful,

or that I even have friends in MMA, to be honest. So I'll have to really speak about the question theoretically. I have no, I can't really relate to it in an actual way. But I get it. Look, I get it. But I do think the draw, the financial, like actual, like actual, tangible draw of Diaz has always been a little bit overstated. He is, he is the B side to bigger names typically. I will say this about the McGregor fight. I will say this about the Mosvidal fight, especially after, you know, what Mazadal had done up until that point. Mosidol had become the A side in that fight. So Diaz is a very strong B side. He has a very strong B side. He has a very, very, hardcore fan-based. And as you said, even that sort of ability to, I'll never forget when, after he won the first McGregor fight, when he was on, I don't know, he was, he was talking to Mario Lopez on like Entertainment Tonight or something. One of those, one of the entertainment shows, it was surreal. He was like walking the red carpet. So that was a moment while I'll say like, man,

is he actually a star? But because he's been so inactive since, I feel like it's really, really, really, really been difficult to gauge, again, just how much of a star he still was. Again, from an actual number standpoint. Plus, you know, we get inaccurate. We don't really get like super accurate reports of bi-race these days with the whole ESPN Plus Dealey. So that whole aspect is a little confusing. I will acknowledge the card will definitely take a hit. As you said, there are people who recognize the D.S name will always recognize the D.S name and are always going to, you know, they're going to perk up when they hear he's fighting.

But I don't know if that was going to bump up the buy rate of this card that much. So essentially I'm saying was the ceiling. I think the ceiling for this card was fairly low. And I don't think it got that much lower. So, okay. So last thing on this, how much better did 263 just get AK? Because you got the two title fights. You got Adasanii Vittori 2.

You got the flyweight title rematch between Figurato-Morino. By the way, I talked to Brandon Moreno last night. He got me all fired up for UFC 23. But now you have a five-round, you know, fight between Edwards and Diaz. You get Damien Maia Bala Muhammad. You got Paul Craig Jamal Hill. You got a potential 125-pound title limitator between Lauren Murphy and Joanne Calderwood, which probably could be buried on the prelims.

You got Hakeem Dawadu and Mobzar, Ebulove, and there's more. This is just off the top of my head. I don't know if this card tops 261 on paper. It's a high bar set execution-wise, for sure. But in terms of like top-to-bottom fights, name value, et cetera, is 263 a better card on paper than 261 or any other pay-per-view to this point this year? This is for me. This is for you.

No, no. What is this, what is this, I, I, I, I care. I'm just saying with the addition of this fight. Sure, two title fights, great. Diaz Edwards, it's a great main, I don't know if it's going to be the opener. I don't know where they're going to schedule on the card. It could, I don't know if they want to put it on just before the two challenges fights because you kind of want to maybe do a cooler thing.

When you have is one of the first two fights, then you put like one of the somewhat more lightly regarded in the middle. Or it could be, again, the, you know, penultimate, the, you know, two penultimates fight. I don't know. I don't know how they're going to go with it. But I don't think it puts it over the top of 261. I think 261, paper, again, was one of the strongest cards of the year.

Maybe, again, because of how it turned out and how memorable it was, that might be affecting, of course, my appraisal of it. But I don't think so. I think on paper you have two rematches, which are compelling in their own way. Figurato, Moreno 1 was frigging amazing. And then Adesania and Vittoria, of course, is that intrigue of their first fight going to a decision and Vittori being improved and Adesania coming off a loss of us. So there's certainly storylines there, but I think it's difficult to match.

the triple title fights of 261 and, and the other things, Chris Wyden was on that card as well. And there's some real star power there. So, yeah, and it's fortunate, Kruits fizzled out, but that in paper was a great matchup. So no,

this whole thing has seemed like an anti-Diaz rant, but I do feel like he's not being a big impact either way. 262, 263, 264, 65, I don't know. What do you think, Fiennes? How much, did putting Diaz Edwards on this card make it way better. Like we talked about 262 in your mind. It doesn't lose a lot of gusto

because the rest of the card is pretty good. But if you look at the 263 lineup, the addition of this fight, very interesting. How good is 263 now with the addition of Diaz Edwards? It's better, but I don't think it's like, in comparison to, you know, Waley, Rose. And I don't think it's as good.

Definitely not. Because like, it's very hard to go against what Alex said, because he just put up such a great point that that Diaz makes a good B-side. It's like who you match him up with that makes the fight as amazing as it is. So that just like, okay, yes, he's back, but it's not, it doesn't have the BMF intrigue, you know, in a way. And again, this is not me going down on Diaz either. It's a good card, but it's definitely not anywhere near, you know, the amazing one that we just had two or three fights ago, whatever it was. right? It just, I think it just makes it longer, right? Because now it's still five rounds,

isn't it? So now those last three are all five rounds. And, and trust me, the last two are amazing. Those are two rematches I definitely want to watch because we're coming, we're coming at it with storylines from, from individual places, right? So they're all a little bit different and they all have, they're all, you know, great fighters. So it's interesting either way. But I don't know. I don't have the same enthusiasm as I did, you know, just a couple weeks ago. And maybe that was because it was Lely and Rose, you know. All right. We will end it here. And we're going to go to the judges because that was a hell of a round right there. That was some good stuff. Was that taking notes? Are you taking notes? Yeah. Getting my scores down. Scoring the horse. He takes his job as judge

and champion very seriously. And you have to commend him for that. Okay. We go to the judges. And Jed, I appreciate your candor, but we're not even going to allow you to judge this round. I have a great judge, though. All right.

I want to hear what you have to say. You don't have to carry this one, but my thoughts boil down to some pretty simple things. One, super impressed by Alex. He's not very good at this game as statistics show, but he came out really strong. I loved his don't care point. I love that Diaz is a good number two point.

I think both of those are really solid. However, a couple of things go in Phoenix's favor. One, for whatever reason, I just noticed that she has a Wu-Tang tattoo on her arm. That's a point for me. I loved what she wrapped up with there that this just makes 263 longer. We know that I'm the guy who talks about

how long these damn cards are all the time. Great point. And for me, the tie break. Chris, I'm a guy who watches Survivor. And one of the key things that you do in Survivor is when you're at the end, you've got to stack the jury with people who are going to vote for you. And if I put Phoenix on the jury, and it's me versus A.K. Lee, she's probably going to vote for the nice guy, A.K. Lee.

Conversely, A.K. might vote for me because he has to work with me. Jose's never voting for me. And then the other Alex is a wild card. So I'm taking Phoenix because I think that's my only strategy to win. All right, but... Think about how this man's mind works. It's amazing. Chestnut checkers, boys.

That was an incredible journey right there. All right. Alex Wendling, your thoughts. Who moves on to the finals to face the champion? I am going to have to go with... I really enjoyed Alex's points and excitement for Benil Daryush. Also, it's a birthday shout-out, May 6th. He trains in OC as well.

So it's his birthday. Glad we're excited about that. I think I'm going to have to give it to Phoenix, though, just because she kind of wrapped it all around of not having casual friends that are getting excited for it. So I liked her final point on that. So I'll give it to Phoenix. Jose. Well, I do disagree with both of you that an idea is,

don't add a ton to this fight card because looking at our, because I shoot the videos when we're on the scene, Nate Diaz for Anthony Pedest, the U.C. 241, the heavyweight championship of the world was the main event. Joel Romero, who we all just praised as being this massive interesting individual, was on that card, fighting Paulo Costa, just the two big, beefy, mussely men just slapping each other. And who had the most page clicks? Who had the most YouTube views? Nathan Diaz. I also went to get a call for the other day in Arizona

where this fight card is going to take place. And guess what he asked me when he found out what I did? Oh, I heard Nate Diaz is going to be on that card. So, yes, Nate Diaz adds a ton of intrigue to this from personal experience. I'm also probably not the right one to ask because it's going to be in Arizona. And all of a sudden, my mentions have just blown up about this entire card. So I disagree that with both individuals that Nate won't add a ton. I agree with the Benile Darius praise.

But I just have to give it to Phoenix. And you all know why because she's going to be Jed. And that is the coin flip of this. When it's 50-50, because it was very 50-50 in my mind. Like both made points I agree with and both made points I disagree with. But Jed calls themselves. And as I say on the preview shows Mike and AK, you guys know, when it's a coin toss, how do I always determine who I pick?

The champion gets the slight edge when it's 50-50. So I have to go, I have to stick to my guns. This isn't anything to do with beating Jed. She's the champion. She gets a slight nod. All right. To just appreciate Jose saying, we all just talked about how great Y'all Romero is, and he's actually the only person who just talked about how interesting a person he is.

Yeah, I stand by what I said. We all did, the one that was asked the question. Well, A.K., a heroic effort. I thought you kicked ass. You did a great job. This might have been the best round of your career. You know when at the end of a fight, one of the fighters is like a little insecure

because he's not sure if he took it. That's how I felt going against D.K. right now because I felt that you, you know, I thought you might have had that. Oh, thank you. What a nice thing to say. Mike, can I make a couple of notes here? Yes, it would be an honor.

I meant to say it's the beginning. I think I was a dissenting judge on all the other, on all the other rounds. So I really Christopher leaded today. And then the second thing I want to say, oh, yeah, this doesn't go on my record, right? This is a free-for-all, those are only one-on-one things, right? That's staying right where it is, right?

I have no control over the records. Truck, truck, that eight's going to stay where it is, right? We're not going to, this is a free-for-all. This is a traditional one-on-one. You don't take an L. Alan. No, no, no, no, no. This is the truck chiming in and, um, no, um, Alex, you are now currently. No, that's a one-on-one record. No, that is a mistake up there. Hold on. Can we call, let me call it. I can't my hand. There we go. No, that's not, that makes no sense.

Right, hold on. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I can't. Oh. Gosh. All right, fine. Well, congratulations. Oh, congratulations, Phoenix. All right. Go get them. Go get them. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for the final question. And it's not a knock-around question because I realize I can't count when we're eliminating like an extra person. Because I thought we were going to have six questions, but we only need five because I'm terrible at math, apparently. And this is it. It's Phoenix Carnivide.

Ali versus Jedmishu. I feel like every fighter who has to face Valentina Shepchenko. Like I'm trying to talk myself into thinking I can be the one. And really, I just know I'm walking to a guillotine. Well, we will see. It's kind of a...

We've been very hopeful. We've very positive. We've had fun. Friendships have been made. But unfortunately, the final question is going to be a depressing topic. We mentioned it earlier, sort of in passing, but we found out last week

that the very first ultimate fighter in UFC history, Diego Sanchez, has been released by the UFC. He was scheduled to fight Donald Serroney on Saturday. He's out of the company, out of the fight, and he went out with his show and his promotional compliance money, along with being part of a story

that has just gotten so crazy and bizarre. Of course, most people, Jed are pointing the blame at Diego's coach and manager Joshua Fabia. And we've heard wild interviews. We got leaked recordings, emails the whole nine, Diego fearing for his life from the UFC. I mean, this whole situation, Jed, could be a 30 for 30 someday. But we'll begin with you. What is your reaction to all of this? Diego's release and everything that has come from it. My reaction is that for anyone Jose Youngs, who thinks this has been rigged to give me a head start, obviously didn't know what was coming. You're going to put the dude wearing a fight circus shirt to talk about like a very serious and pretty sad topic.

This is a devastating blow to my potential to win this one, Mike. You could have picked Galactic Combat. We could have talked about zero-g fighting and I'd be a 10 to one favorite. And instead we have to talk about honestly one of the saddest stories in MMA. of the last little stretch because there's just no nobody looks good here. Diego Sanchez has contributed a lot to the UFC. He is a Hall of Famer and deserves to be a Hall of Famer. And it's, I'm going to try and walk on a little bit of eggshells here,

but it seems pretty obvious to me and certainly to many people feel that the relationship he has with, we're just going to call him as coach. I don't feel like addressing that person by name. is not very healthy. And that is kind of one of the really dark parts of fight sport. You see that happen fairly, it's a fairly common occurrence. And so, you know, it's all just really sad, man. It's really a big bummer because I was kind of looking forward to the Sanchez-Soroni fight.

Like I thought that fight made sense for where they were in their careers. There was a pretty good backstory there about Diego kind of turning on cowboy after he had bounced from Jackson. they had some real animosity built up. I thought that was a good and interesting fight. Honestly, both men probably don't need to be fighting at this point, but if they were, I thought that was a good one. And then we lose it, and we don't just lose it because somebody got injured or fell out. We lose it for really awful reasons.

Honestly, the most, like, the saddest part to all of this is that it is just Diego, because he can't see what everybody else can. you kind of never can in situations like that, I don't think. He has some real grievances. Like his grievances with Dana White and not being able to get a meeting, you know, after 10 plus years in the company in 30-some-odd fights. Like that's a very real grievance. But the idea that his coach is this bastion of humility and really sticking by him

and defending him and that everybody else is lying or the narratives are twisted, that's really, really misguided and it's really unfortunate. Phoenix, your thoughts on this whole crazy situation since last week? I mean, there's a lot to unpack. There are several things about, you know, when how fighters are treated towards the tail end of their career. There are several things about, okay, head trauma and health and mental health and emotional health. There's just several things to unpack.

And Diego's never been a liar as far as we've known him. in his career. He has been emotional. He has been odd. He has been eccentric. And there are a lot of things behind the scenes that I'm sure went on that we don't actually know. And there are ways that somebody who's also being manipulated might be interpreting things as well. So when it comes to them asking him to sign something, was it because they noticed something in his behavior and they wanted to be sure. I mean, I don't, you know, what was it with the insurance stuff? Like, I, I don't understand any of what the point was with that. But I will tell you that the situation with his trainer has been a red flag since day one. Because we had him on UFC unfiltered,

and the way he was talking about the guy was like he was completely enamored by him. And not like the way, we all respect our coaches and we all think that what they do is amazing. But this just seemed, this just seemed a bit different. And Diego was like, yes, he walked into the room and he was floating and me and Matt looked at each other like, what, what, you know, and then just to kind of see the way the guy talks, it's like the classic syndrome of an absolute narcissist. You know, coaches definitely do deserve their respect for what they do for you, but they never really ask for it. It comes out in the gym. It's more something that happens privately. You get recognized because of the work that you do time and time again with multiple fighters.

That's why we talk about, you know, the Safe Sayyudes and the Greg Jackson's and the Phil nurses of the world because they put out a product over and over again and then their names come up. Not because they put themselves in the limelight and that they want their everything. Nobody should be your everything, not your nutritionist. And how are you everything? Well, how are you his manager, his nutritionists, his massage therapists, his coach, is, you know, And listen, Sistema is a great art, but it's not necessarily something that gets transferred over into the octagon. So there's a lot of things about that whole situation that really make me sad because I feel like Diego deserves better than that.

He deserved to take his gloves off in the middle of the cage and put them down. And hopefully if there was a crowd there for everybody to like, you know, clap their hands and like send him love and messages. And now we just feel like he's in this weird situation, you know. Yeah, Dana should talk to him. Yeah, there should be a personalized relationship. But it just seemed that if he was around somebody maybe normal, a lot of his grievances maybe could have been squared away in a normal meeting. But this person is just such a narcissist that nobody wants to deal with him.

So I don't know. It's very, very sad. And I'll try my best as, you know, somebody who's, you know, in this sport to look at things from all sides, but the guy gives me the creeps. You know, his coach did. Yeah. Yeah, it's, I mean, I can say this, that, I mean,

I watched the UFC and watched the occasional pay-per-view, but the first is the ultimate fighters who really made me a fan. And the guy who made me a fan from that show is Diego Sanchez. Like, he's the guy that really got me in the sport because he was such an interesting dude. And, you know, Felix, like, we know Diego's in the Hall of Fame already for that crazy fight with Clay Guida. And a lot was said by Dana White. Even more was said by Diego Sanchez, like you guys both mentioned, took Dana to task, feeling like speaking out could get him killed by the UFC. Like that interview he did with Anthony Smith and Sirius XM is outrageous. It is outrageous.

But at this point, Phoenix, like, it's probably unlikely we see Diego have his own plaque in the Hall of Fame, right? Like, is there any way this relationship can get resolved between Diego and the UFC? Do you see a world where that happens? I mean, if I'm being, you know, super positive, I may be if if, if I mean, it's like what does he want? What, what is what is the thing that he actually wanted clarification on? It was his medical records. Like there was so much. It was so hard to keep him on track that I'm not even really sure what he wanted and what where the grievances came from. Like they they were complaining about, you know, something that happened at the airport. I mean, that's a simple phone call.

Like, hey, can you guys fix it? Or, hey, you know, we're stranded here. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, transport, transpo or an admin will fix it. But it just seemed like a lot of things about how badly he was being disrespected has been planted in his head. So that when any little thing happened, it seemed like it was a part of a bigger problem. And I don't, you know, I just, maybe I've got to read more on where this all came from. But it just seems really sad.

What do you think, Jed? Do you think like five years from now we're seeing Diego Sanchez in the UFC Hall of Fame or is this relationship just tarnished forever? Certainly hope so. And I do think it can happen, right? Like Tito Ortiz is the kind of obvious touch point here. I don't know that any fighter has had a worse relationship with Dana White than Tito Ortiz. They literally were going to fight each other at one point, like in a cage or boxing ring,

whatever they were going to do it in. And Tito still, you know, obviously contributed a ton to the sport and they inducted him to the Hall of Fame in 2012. So I don't think that the relationship is like irreparably damaged, but it's certainly bad right now. And if things stay like this, maybe that is the case and maybe that can't come back. I have hope that at some point Diego will disassociate himself with this shitbox of a person. Because that's just, I don't know, maybe I'm being an optimist.

Maybe I'm stealing AK's Prince of Positivity. I feel like things like that, you know, hopefully don't last forever that this is perhaps a vulnerable point in Diego's life. He knows he's at the end of his career. And as we see with a lot of fighters, this may be kind of the only thing he knows how to do. And he feels that this man is helping him prolong his career and benefiting him. And at some point, that will have to go away. And we'll see if there is an underlying friendship there. Maybe he doesn't leave.

and then maybe Diego can't kind of mend these fences. But I'm hopeful that give it some time he will. I just really my main, I'll say concern is that in the interim, Diego doesn't end up doing something really, really unfortunate. Because honestly, I'm okay with you having a weird relationship with a weird coach who I don't like. Like that's your prerogative. That's your life to live with all that's your stuff to do. but when you start saying stuff that frankly sounds really, really scary, hey, I think the UFC is going to have me killed.

Honestly, like, not to be glib or flippin about this at all, the only way that comes across is is paranoia. And that genuinely concerns me about your mental well-being and what that can turn to in a couple of years. because thoughts like that are entirely irrational. And that's really concerning. And so the next few years are really troubling, honestly. Okay. So now Diego Sanchez is a free agent. If he wants, he can sign with another organization.

I will tell you right now, and I know he tagged a bunch of these organizations on Instagram after the release happened, the tour is out of the Diego Sanchez game. Scott Coker, I spoke. with him earlier today. I asked him about it. He didn't seem all that interested. And then we ended the interview and he was filled in on what was happening. And once Scott heard what was happening from his team, he said, on the record, it's a no. Like Diego will not be fighting for Bellator. There could be rising. Maybe he goes to Brave. Maybe he wants to go to BKFC, Jed. I know at this point, it's probably not even up to Diego. And I think we know why. But if it were up to you, man,

Like if you were the commissioner of combat sports and Diego Sanchez is like, dude, I don't care what you say, I'm fighting somewhere. What's his next move? Where would you have him fight? If I'm the commissioner of combat sports, he's not fighting. Like, that's, you just don't allow this man to potentially take more head trauma. Like, honestly, you could have had a very real conversation about is it healthy for Diego to still be fighting several years ago? And that was before really concerning things that he just said came out. Like, nobody should sanction him to fight straight up.

My big concern, like, not, I won't call it a concern because this is, this is a little more flippant. Like, when you take away all the really serious things, if you try and be a little more lighthearted about it, honestly, the thing that seems like may happen and will be really disappointing for a lot of less serious reasons is he's going to be the dude to box Jake Paul next. And that's, that's everybody's idea of an awful time. Phoenix, what do you think? Like, where does he go from here now? I just sincerely hope nowhere. I sincerely hope that he gets like the emotional help and support that he needs,

which might be hard with somebody who's like, you know, supposedly in his corner. There's a study being done by the PI and just came out. It was like 450 some odd pages about TBE and concussions and protocols that they want to put in play to be universal. for how to handle head trauma. And we're talking about this, but he's been clear that he doesn't have any head trauma because obviously he was going to fight. But obviously, you know, maybe it's not something that shows up.

Maybe it's just something on an emotional level. You know, when he met this person, he was at his most vulnerable. When you're at your most vulnerable, you're also at your most open to be manipulated. He had just gone through a divorce. He had just gone through all these things. So even if his brain chemistry says that he's okay,

his emotional health doesn't seem like it is. And I think any promoter that puts him in that position, seeing what's been happening as being irresponsible. I think that he just needs help and he needs support. And that's why I won't make fun of him or any of those situations because I don't know what's going on with him emotionally. And I just think it's irresponsible. Well, I mean, if I could, if I had hindsight with me,

I would have shuffled these questions around and not ended it with this question. Yeah, really ended up in honor, Mike. I'm supposed to be better than that. But yes, I mean, at the end of the day, I think we're all on the same page. We hope Diego Sanchez finds happiness. He gets well.

He's good to go. And that's that. I mean, we just, we're worried about him. I think we can all agree with that. So, but that's it. The debating is over. It is now up to the illustrious panel of judges to crown a champion.

This is the way everybody wanted it to be. The woman who never lost your title against the man who claims to be the king of the show. This is great. Now we go to the judges. We will begin with the Prince of Positivity. Alex K. Lee, who won this final round? Having worked with Jed for quite some time now,

I don't know if I've ever seen him more. pensive and reflective and mature. It was disturbing, if we're being honest. Not, again, not to make light of this very serious talk, but it was disturbing to see Jed this way, but also encouraging. It made me think there's a real soul there in this fight circus touting,

trailer-loving individual that we've all come to know and appreciate. But, I mean, look, Phoenix, you've spoken to the man, to the coach that we're trying not to mention too much. You've been in the belly of the beast with this guy. I can only imagine what it's like to have had a first-hand impression of whatever it is that this guy is putting out there.

I know we've had some people from our site, talked to him on the phone, but I guess, I don't know. I guess you probably didn't meet him. Did you meet him in studio? It wasn't in studio thing, I guess. Guy Paul. But you've spoken to him. And that's, I mean, that's scary.

And that's a real insight. You both provided great, great insights on this. It's just sort of how, unfortunately, the situation is. And I'm glad, like we said, we're all hoping the best for Diego. You know, that's the one thing to not be lost in this is how much all of us care about Diego as a fighter,

how much fans love Diego. And it's unfortunate that, again, these comments he's made that who knows how much they're motivated by his, you know, this relationship with Fabia as lent to this. But I'm going to, because this person did not mention Jake Paul and Diego Sanchez, then I have to go with the true, true champ.

Who, by the way, also, if we're just going body of work today, I mean, it has just knocked off contender after contenders. So the winner is Venus. All right. We head on over to another colleague of Jedmishu, Jose Young's. We're in the Yuri Perashka hairstyle. One can dream. Well, Dave, I think.

I will answer this seriously because it's a serious topic. And normally everyone's like, oh, you're just going to kind of shuffle. jet into the ether. But no, I'm going to answer this seriously. Both gave very good answers. Both were very poignant. And I agreed with almost everything they said. That being said, Phoenix has had firsthand interaction with the person in question. And as I've said on numerous shows, it's very easy to talk about it. It is much harder to actually experience things firsthand, whether it be fist fighting or just interviewing a fighter, because everyone in the comment section thinks it's very easy to do. So I do have to give the edge to the woman who has first-hand experience with this

cult leader because God, anyone who has to do that gets the point. Wow. Alex, I'll let you weigh in. We already have a winner, but love to get your time. Hold on a shotty. I won out shotty's boat. Hey, rookie. You're muted. Turn your mic on, rookie. again I'll just piggyback off of Alex's point of how El Campion changed from pompous to very sincere Wow wow that like was just a point right there and then he also brought up the Tito Ortiz which I completely forgot about so that was a really good point but since my vote doesn't really matter I'll just say that both did a really good job and that this was really fun.

Wow. Politician 101 right there. Did she just give that a 10-10? What? She gave it a 10-10. Unreal. She gave it a 10-10. But Jedmishu, the baby-faced turn was not enough.

Phoenix Carnivali comes through, runs the gauntlet, pretty much start to finish, and wins between the links. Unbelievable. She wins the 50th episode extravaganza. Congratulations. You took a break, you come back, and you did the damn thing, Phoenix. Congratulations.

Super impressive stuff. You know how it is. You don't get any belts or prizes. You might have to make you one at this point, but you do get 30 seconds to talk about whatever you do you want to talk about, good, bad, indifferent, MMA, whatever you want, for sure. I got to say, it was tough. I really felt that Tito Ortiz.

That was like a liver kick. That was a really good shot. And Alex got me with that whole B-sides thing. So, you know, and Jose with his MVP. So I had some tough composition. You know, Alex came back with the T.J. Dilleshaw thing. So you guys all definitely made this difficult for me today. So I want to thank you.

Everybody, all the MMA fans, you can find me out there everywhere. I'm doing some work currently with Everlast. I have a very big interview coming up very soon with someone we all love. And I'll talk about that soon. And then I've done a ton of martial arts-related fitness things for TRX and Everlast. So all that stuff's coming soon. Well done. Jed, again, you know, had such a great run on the show.

You took on the queen of BTL. And, you know, it was a hell of a performance, man. What do you have to say? She's just a buzzsaw. Like, she's nothing. You can't do it. Look, the cards were stacked against me anyway, because everyone's taught.

I made a baby face turn. How could I possibly do anything else to that question? Any other possible answer? gets me just probably muted and disconnected from the thing. Like there's no other way to go. But it wouldn't have mattered. You could have given me a layup. She's a frigging buzzsaw.

Nobody can touch her. This is what Daniel Cormier felt like when he got knocked out by John Jones in their rematch. Just I can't, it's not a rivalry if I can't beat her. It's just a sadness. There you go. That's what the champ looks like right there, ladies and gentlemen. What a battle it was. Six people entered and only one person ran the gauntlet.

Phoenix Carnivali, the BTL 50 Gauntlet champion. Congratulations to her. Casey, we didn't get to hear from you at all, man. You weren't needed in any way. Well, outside of the 10-10 round, what's up with that, rookie? Great performance by all the contestants. Phoenix, undefeated now. I'm counting every round as a win.

She is 7-0. 7-0. She is the Habibn and I'm going to make meadoff of Between the Links. How do you compete with that? How do you compete with that? Can't stop her. You only hope to contain her. That's it.

Thank you, Casey, for this production. I mean, the amount of time we have talked about this and run through different ideas and concepts and graphics and all the different stuff, Casey deserves a ton of credit. Did a great job. Esther Lynn even helped out on numerous occasions. So big shout out to her. Lots happened. And I don't know. I'm going to be able to speak tomorrow.

I have done a lot of talking today, and I don't want to talk anymore. So I'm getting the hell out of here. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my time here at beautiful scenic, Mohican Sun resort and casino here in Uncasville, Connecticut. I'll be doing your Bellator coverage tomorrow, our sorts of fun stuff. Head to our YouTube page, interviews with Scott Coker coming up, all the Wayans highlights. I even talked to Bert Watson today.

The great Bert Watson is the newest member of the Bellator MMA family. It was great to catch up with him. But head on over to YouTube for that. out of here for Jose, for A.K., for Jed, for Alex, for Phoenix, for Casey, for Esther, even Sean Al-Shadi who left us. We are out of here. See you

next week. Good night, everybody. This has been Between the Links and M.A. Fighting Production on the Vox Media Network. Hi, I'm Esther Lynn. Ha ha, ha. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.