MMA Fighting - Between the Links: Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren, Poirier-McGregor Squabble, Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum

Episode Date: April 15, 2021

Jake Paul's boxing duel with Ben Askren, Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor's donation dispute, and Saturday's middleweight contender clash between Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum will be discussed on this edition of Between the Links as host Mike Heck is joined by BTL champion Jed Meshew and challenger Drake Riggs. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Drake Riggs: @DrakeRiggs_ Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my! Yes, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. We are live on the MMA Fighting YouTube channel and on the Twitter as well. And we thank you for joining us this week as you do every Thursday. It has been a busy time in the combat sports world. This week is no exception.

So much happening and we will discuss it all right here on the program. Of course, for those watching on YouTube, feel free to leave your thoughts on the topics who you think is winning these rounds. As we have a fun matchup on the show this week, so let us introduce competitors and get to our first question for the BTL title. First, let us say hello to the Challenger. This guy is all over the place. Does work for Miami-May News, the Body Lock, the Scrap, the South China Morning Post,

and many more. Mr. Drake Riggs, everybody. How are you, sir? Great. Happy to be here, Mike. We're going full circle, man. I feel like I've come home because, you know, BTL back in the day,

started here a little bit of, you know, make a wrestling comparison. I feel like this is the ECW original's taken on the new breed. Now I know that ECW, in this reincarnation, wasn't very good, but we're going to try here. I was going against four guys last time.

Just one-on-one. I'm ready for it. There you go. too. That did not take long. And introducing the reigning, defending, BTL champion, capture the title in, in my opinion, wire to wire, one of the best showings in the history of this show. He defeated Jose Young's introducing a staple on this program, the champ from M.AFighting.com,

Mr. Jedmishu. What is happening, Jed? I'm in great form. I have no idea what Drake's talking about. This show didn't start and put my first opinion. on it, and it's been doing gangbusters ever since. That's why I'm here all the time. I mean, that and my winning ways.

But beyond that, I don't know what he's talking about. This show started last year. So, Jed, Jose said that I should call you Grover Cleveland this entire episode. Like, I don't even know what that means. Do you know what that means? Isn't Grover Cleveland the president? Is that? The former president.

Yeah, that feels like a compliment. I'm okay with that. Okay. Also, Cleveland has mudshops? Is that where he's going? Because that feels like that's a stretch, even for Jose. Yes. We have to dig deep.

Lots of layers when it comes to Mr. Jose Youngs. But we're not here to talk about Jose. And that one is questionable. That one is questionable. Well, be that as is May. We have a new challenger this week. So let us start this crazy show with this weekend's festivities. The main events that we will see over the next couple of

of days. Belator 257 tomorrow night will continue the light heavyweight Grand Prix. Their main event is the rematch between Vadim Nemcoff and Phil Davis for the 205 pound title. UFC Vegas 24 goes on Saturday night at the apex. Main event for that one is a big one at 185 between Robert Whitaker and Calvin Gaslam. And how can we forget the big triller events, the big boxing match that everyone's talking about. Jake Paul versus Ben Ascran. Drake, we will begin with you. Jet is aware of this. deal in hypotheticals on the show as much as possible. But out of these three main events, if you could only watch one, and on top of that, you have to tune yourself out of the internet, social media, et cetera, for the next week.

So you could not find out what happened with any of the other fights. Which one are you watching? Nemcoff Davis, Whitaker Gasolam, or Paul versus Ascran, and why? So, listen, Mike, you know me pretty well. I am a purist through and through. So when it comes to Logan, not Logan, Paul versus Ben Ascran, fights just complete silliness. It's a circus. Ben is openly admitted that we can all see.

It is what it is. That one does nothing for me aside from just being, from what it is. It's all silliness, right? And then boxing doesn't do much for me. So that one, I can go without it. I love Ben Ascran, but not going to be tuning into that one. Whitaker and Gastilum, in terms of the people, of that too and the logic behind it. That one doesn't make sense either. Came together last

second. It did make sense at a time. But now it's still, I'm still interested in it, but it's not the same. It's not the same as it was initially. So for me, man, the title fight between two of the best light heavyweights in the world, I got to go with Vadim Nemcov and Phil Davis. And it's a rematch too, a rematch where the first fight was very, very close. And I thought that, you know, Davis kind of maybe should have got the win in that one. It was that close. And since then, but even MCOB has gone on to do very well and won the titles. It looked fantastic. Phil Davis always gradually improving, getting better and better as his career goes on.

And now they have two rounds extra to play with. And this is the start of the tournament, too, the light heavyweight tournament, the first round here. So that one for me, I just love everything about it. It is logic at its finest. And I am all here for that one above the others. I am not surprised to hear you say that, Drake. I will be surprised if Jed Mishu agrees. with you, but maybe he will. Jed, what is your, if you can only watch one of these

main events between Bellator 1 UFC or the boxing match, which one are you watching and why? Mike, first, I just want to say, it's a really great question to start us off with because I know Drake, we're running the same MMA circle. I don't know them that well, and so this was a really great opportunity for me to get a sense of the man right out of the gate. And this is just going to be an absolute obliteration. Like, he just said, and he wanted to watch Phil Davis fight. Like, come on, man. That's nobody wants to be wonderful.

Right. Even his own parents don't watch him fight. He said something else that's right, though. He said that Jake Paul been asking is a circus. It is a circus, baby, and we love circuses here. And in fact, I am actually living this question. I'm not going to get to watch the UFC on Saturday night because I am in Atlanta, Georgia. I will be ringside, almost said cage that.

I'll be ringside for that circus. And I'm popped. Like we talked months back about this when it was first announced and I was a little less enthused about it than I've kind of grown to be. But over the previous months, I mean, one, the buildup has been really good even if you don't have much affection for either guy. They're doing a pretty good job of selling it on the merits of what it is. Nobody's pretending this is high-level combat sports. But they are true when they say that this is going to be a clown show that's. awesome to watch and it is and I'm going to be five feet from a baby I am pumped so I'm glad you

mentioned a couple months ago Jed because it was here on this very program it was you and Stephen Morocco and we reacted to the news of the spikes I think it happened like 48 hours prior and I believe your exact words were I hate this there are no winners everyone's a loser nothing good will come from this it was something to that effect. But now it seems, you know, you're... Well, I'm clear. Everything I said at that point in time is true. Everything I just said is also true because, look, we can all be honest. We work in MMA media. We all hate ourselves because why else would we work here if we didn't? So we can thoroughly enjoy something that we absolutely

hate. Look, in the last, like, weak, horrible things or allegations have been made against Jake Paul that obviously make me not excited about potentially contributing money to him. Ben Ascgren is just a guy that I have very little like for. Ben, I hope you're watching this and I hope I get to interview you should you win this weekend, by the way. It's just not like nothing about what's going on here is good from like a moral standpoint or any kind of feeling good about it. But what is good is the in ring product is going to be.

fun. At the absolute minimum, anything that occurs this weekend is going to be memorable, and it's probably going to be ridiculous. Like, boxing tends to be a little more ridiculous anyway. The personalities here are just outlandish. Like, if Jake Paul wins, crazy, crazy stuff's going down. Jake Paul loses, crazier stuff's going down. Like, it's going to be, this is going to be the headline news, not just because it's the thing people are going to click on, but because the most outside of the box stuff is going to happen. And I'm, like I said, I've become really excited that I get to be part of it. Drake, Drake, you know sold this fight altogether. You're the purest.

And that's why I wasn't surprised that you went with the title fight tomorrow. But, I mean, do you have any interest in this fight? Like, do you even care who wins? Like, we even look and find out what happened? I mean, you're not going to be able to avoid it. But, I mean, do you care enough to seek out a result at least? Well, I mean, yeah, in that regard. Definitely, because like I said, I've been following Ben Ascran for, you know, really since I became an MMA fan in like 2009 when he was on top in Bellator.

And I was just so excited for him to finally make it to the UFC eventually. And, you know, he's been following the guy for a long time. And now he's taking on a YouTube and a Vine guy. That's where I first heard about him on Vine, Jake Paul, in a boxing match. So it is absolutely absurd. And in terms of supporting MMA, you absolutely want. Ben Asperin to pull through here. So I'm rooting for him and I'm interested in that regard that,

please, Ben, please don't look bad in any way. Even if you win, don't let this be competitive. So I just need you to go out there. And yeah, I'm interested in that regard. Get the win. Dude, Asper is going to get worked. It's going to be the best. Hold on.

Hold on, hold on. Hold on. Hold on a second. Hold on. Because, all right, Drake, let me ask you first. And I'm going to go to Jed because I can't wait. to hear what he has to say. But if you guys have looked at our YouTube channel,

we have asked so many MMA fighters about this fight in particular. And everyone is rooting for Ben Ascran. Most of them feel like he's not going to win, but nobody is like counting him completely out of the fight. And listen, if you watch the Open Workout, he looked pretty good. He looks a lot better than I thought he was going to look. And it is not our jobs to actively rue for fighters. But as you said, Drake, although, I mean,

as much as Ben isn't feeling the pressure or looking at this fight as like he's representing MMA, we are like, the MMA community is all aboard the Ascran train, hoping he shuts Jake Paul down. So let me ask you, Drake, if you could somehow draw up a perfect scenario for this fight in your eyes, like moments, the winner, how it ends, et cetera, like what would it look like to make you as as happy as can possibly be, considering this is a fight you're not all that interest in? I think it would have to be a quick startching, right? Like a 30 second, maybe even less up. something ridiculous for Ben Ascran to go out there and knock out Jake Paul, because that's the one thing we do not expect whatsoever, right? If there's going to be a quick knockout, everyone's expecting it to be from Jake Paul. If anybody, obviously, Ben Ascran is not known to be a great striker whatsoever. And for his boxing, the thing with me in the matchup is that, you know, he is actually a combat sports athlete. Yes, Jake Paul has been training boxing recently, but you look at who he has actually fought. He hasn't fought. you know, the real combat sports athletes like Ben Ascran,

despite not being a boxer, a great striker in particular. But he has that experience. He's gotten hit by very hard hitters, Robbie Lawler, you know, he fought Douglas Nemo. Then the list goes on and on. And he survived everything outside of a flying knee from Horamaspital, which Jake isn't going to be able to throw. So just in terms of what would be the best case scenario,

obviously it's Ben going out there and dispatching of this guy with the quickest and relative ease taking no damage because that's how it should go. That makes, you know, that's what should happen, you would think. But like I said, Ben isn't known for his boxing. So I don't know. Jed, what would the ideal fight look like in your eyes if you could like puppetly control it between Jake Paul and Ben Asking?

Like, what's the perfect, what's the perfect fight? Look, the obvious answer here is a double knockout. Like, that's the best. We don't want either of these guys to win. So clearly that's the case. But I want to go to the exact, opposite way. Assuming I don't get the double knockout, like, why on God's green earth, we want Ben Ascran to succeed in a boxing match? Ben Ascran is insufferable as it is.

If he goes out and actually wins a boxing match, then he's just going to be around in that sphere and be annoying. Unless he's going to Cinderella man it, we're like, oh, suddenly Ben Ascran learned to box. Now he's coming back to M.MA and he wins the title. I have no interest in Ben Ascran succeeding in boxing whatsoever. Jake Paul, win or lose, he's still going to be doing this. And frankly, it's way easier for me to tune Jake Paul out of my life because he is not directly an MMA person. Like right now, I have to kind of be involved for this job with him and know him.

I literally didn't know who this person was until we started talking about these fights here. So, you know, if he wins, great. Maybe he keeps trying to beef with Connor McGregor, and I'll have to stay involved there. But otherwise, he goes in boxes Floyd Mayweather or whatever. I don't have to care. That's great. That's a perfect outcome. But if he loses, he's still going to try and box Connor McGregor, so I'm still going to have to care in that regard.

Plus, now Ben Ascreen had something good to happen to him. Nobody wants anything good to happen to Ben Ascreen. So, no, 100%. The best answer is a double knockout. Beyond that, give me Jake Paul, because also, Mike, you want Jake Paul. Paul to win. We all want Jake Paul to win because if Jake Paul wins, he is going to get the Conner-Megger fight. That's going to happen. And that means clicks for all of us. You get a click, Drake, and I get a click. We all get clicks. We all want Jake Paul to win this one.

I just want to say, real quick, I disagree with the idea of Ben continuing to box if he does win, because I feel like he really understands the ridiculousness of this. He's not treating it like Jake Paul is an actual boxer. So if he goes out there and beats him, like, all right, I got my money. I'm done, man. No box Logan for another like 10 mil. You get paid way more for this.

We're just going to have to keep seeing him box people. Nobody wants to see him do well. I will admit that Drake's right, that Ben Ascgren is a combat sports athlete. And so like, I don't like, Jake Paul's not going to knock him out immediately. I'm not sure he's actually going to knock him out. him out. But boxing and MMA are just, like we say it all the time. I feel like nobody

ever acknowledges what that means. These are very different sports. And so, yeah, Ben Ascreen has been hit in the head before, so he's not going to get folded up like Nate Robinson was. But he also just can't box. So he's just going to, like, Jake Paul can't really box, but he can kind of box. We just go win. It's going to be awesome. I'm really excited. I've talked to myself all the way into this event if you can't tell.

It's amazing. Go back and watch that between the links episodes. That goes from January where we react to this fight to where Jed is now. It is unbelievable. It's like two different people. It's amazing. But listen, you could fall along with Jed's wonderful coverage. Saturday night, he will be in Atlanta in the dome for MMA fighting.

Jake Paul versus Ben Ascran. It is finally going down. But we'll move ahead to other matters in the mixed martial arts world, the point for round one goes to Drake Riggs gets the points. Drake Riggs gets the point. The people have spoken. We're giving it to Drake.

Jed, what do you care? What do you care? You know, it's all going to come down to the last five minutes of the show anyway. So listen, we're going to head to the UFC. Maybe not. Maybe this one's different. I don't think it will be.

If last week wasn't different, this week probably won't be different. But let's head to the UFC. Let's head to the middleweight division of the UFC specifically because there's been a lot of important matchups in this division recently. One of them took place this past Saturday, main event of UFC Vegas 23. Marvin Vittori picks up a one-sided unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland.

He gets it done. It was not the most exciting win of all time, but it was a win. And now he's got five of those in a row. And as expected, he gets on the mic, and he calls out Israel to Sanya for a rematch and a shot at the middleweight title. So Jed Mishu, in your opinion,

after that victory on Saturday over Kevin Holland, has won Marvin Vittori earned himself the rematch? Has he earned himself a title shot? Look, if you gave him a title shot right now, it would be even less deserved than the point you just gave Drake. Like, that's absolute nonsense. Like, one, Marvel Vatory jumped three spots in the rankings from that Kevin Holland win.

I know the rankings are a joke, and we often went bass in here. But like, come on. He kicked over. Like, it's fine to be in front of Darren Till. We know my thoughts on Darren Till and how he's not good at fighting. So I'm fine with him jumping in front of Darren Till. But jumping in front of Derek Brunson, who, like, did an actually better performance against Kevin Holland than Vittori did.

And Jared Cannonier, who at least has, like, really good wins. Like, that's just, it's cartoonish, man. That's them trying to set up this in case they need it. No. that was an awful performance like it's a good performance that he won the fight he did what he needed to do solid i'm never going to like totally bash a guy for getting the w because that means so much in this sport but like i tweeted on fight night i believe this to my very bones israel a sanya was not losing any sleep watching that one like marvel vittori did a bad

derrick brunson kevin holland and as a kevin holland who was a short-noticed opponent too like just it wasn't look marvatory is good and marmatory probably deserves a rematch with out of sanya at some point he gave him a really tough fight the first go-round or at least he got a little stronger as that fight went on but no like the the robert whittaker deserves a title fight before this weekend anyway assuming he does beat gasplum which is very like that's a big assumption obviously that any that fight could go either way if whittaker beats him you just got to run that back if gasplum wins then yeah Yeah, you're in a little bit of a pickle. And at that point, I guess maybe Vitori does skip happily on in there,

but that'll just be like nobody's going to be pumped about that fight. So pull for Bobby Knuckles because otherwise we're going to have a real lackluster middleweight title fight in their hands. Jake, what do you think? Martin Vittori, did he do enough to earn himself a title shot on Saturday? I do think that he has done enough. but man, the performance and, you know, kind of springboarding off what Jed said about comparing it to the Derek Brunson fight that he also had with Kevin Hall. And it's hard kind of not to compare those two. It just wasn't kind of that excitement builder of a performance to really get people clamoring for it, despite Marvin Vittory now being on a five-fight winning streak.

And I'm a strong, you know, supporter of winning streaks mattering. And, you know, he's got five now. So he's really rolling and put the momentum together, even though you could argue that Derek Brunson, his is still maybe equally as good, if not better, looking at opponents and kind of the performances he's put on. But I also want to argue that, you know, Vittori fought maybe a better Kevin Holland on that night than Derek Brunson did. Just, I mean, in terms of seriousness, for sure.

And he went out there and performed better. Yes, all the factors that come into with being short notice and what have you. But I think he has done enough, but will he get it? Probably not. It is, we shouldn't even be talking about this, right? Because Whitaker should be the guy who is getting. his rematch over everything, but here we are. He has to get through another guy in Kelvin. So Vittori has done enough, I think, but it is really messy at middleweight indeed.

So we're hoping for Whitaker to clean it up. That's kind of the thing, right? So we're clear. Vittori's done enough that is maybe going to be enough. He's beaten the number seven and number 12 dudes. That's like, and I'm not, I'm not bashing Drake because he might end up getting the title fight. I'm saying that's the state we're in where this guy.

Middleweight's not great. Middleweight is not great. 12. Like, okay, cool. It's funny. Remember Dana White did that Q&A with Laura Sanko and he was asked what the best division in the UFC was and he said the middleweight division was the best

division in the UFC. I'll never forget that because I was like, what are you talking about? Middleweight. Middleway was interesting at the beginning of the year. It is not having Kevin Holland really in the fold kind of makes things a little less interesting. But okay, as you both mentioned, we got Whitaker versus Gasolm coming up on Saturday. Gasolm stepping in for Paul Costa after he was forced to withdraw. And in most people's eyes, your eyes included, Whitaker has done enough to earn the rematch without a sign of already. But along the way, we've gotten the whole Dana White saying Robert Whitaker doesn't want to fight for the title thing. Adasania went up and fought for the 205 pound title, came up short. So

after Vittorries win on Saturday, Drake, like, is the pressure on Whitaker and Gasolm here? Like, do they see like this, there was like a small opening maybe because of all these middleweight title fight, middleweight, middleweight fights that were very important? But now after that performance, do you think the doors open wider and there's pressure on these guys? Is the decision enough? Like, if Robert Whitaker goes out there and wins a 48, 47 across the board, is that enough to give him a title shot? It's so hard to say because it feels like Whitaker's kind of in that spot where he really needs to go out there and be really flasier, do something that drops jaws a little bit. But it should be enough. And I think that we're probably at that point now, as we've just alluded to with everything else going on at middleweight where a win just in general will be enough to give him the title shot.

Unless, you know, like we mentioned last night, Mike, Darren Till is still, you know, once he heals up, who knows if he just gets thrown in there, because that's very, very possible, you know, would be as logical as maybe the Jorge Masvodal rematch coming up here. But that's sarcasm, by the way. Yeah, Robert Whitaker, I think, the pressure, if anything, is on Kelvin Gaston

because he's coming in here. If he wins this fight, he launches all the way back up to where he was before he lost to Adasania in the first place, in that interim title fight. I think he's got to be feeling it because if he loses, then he just kind of goes back to where he was. And he's won in, what, one in four in his last five now,

or maybe not that bad. But, you know, he hasn't won all that much recently. So if anybody's feeling the pressure, I think he is in, I don't know if he will get a title shot by beating Whitaker, but he'd be in a very good spot, especially if he could go out there and finish him. So I think he's probably feeling it. Whitaker seems to be just in a good spot,

doing his own thing these days. Jed, does Whitaker have to go out there and do something impressive to, like, get this shot, or he's just a win enough to get him over that hump and appease Dana and the matchmakers and everybody else? I think it's just a win. It's questionable because for whatever reason, Otisanya is, like, really not interested in that rematch. To some extent, I get it that he's not going to beat him any better than he did the first time. But, like, if Whitaker wins, he's got wins over, like, five guys. in the top 10. He's three top 10 ranked fighters in a row. All of those wins are better than

any of Vittori's wins. He should very clearly get the rematch. And I think sort of given the contours of the division, Dana, they'll pull the trigger on it, especially as the world is opening back up a little bit. I know, you know, in the Asia Pacific region, that's, you know, particularly in like New Zealand stuff, that's a little less true. But if they can make this another their big fight in Australia or New Zealand, you know, end of the year as things start, the world returns to normal. That's a big enough incentive for them. And it's just the objectively right thing to do.

If Robert Whitaker wins, he's meeting three top 10 ranked opponents. Like, so, yeah, I think it wins enough. I don't think he has to be flashy. I think really just the way the division is, the hands are tied elsewhere. And even if Adasani doesn't really want to fight him, does he really want to fight him? Does he really want to rematch Marvin Vittori who just laid on Kevin Holland for 25 minutes? Like, no, at that point, they're not any great options for Adasanya because all the people he wants to fight are not good and can't win, aka Derek Till. So, yeah, he's just going to have to beat Bobby Knuckles again.

And that would be cool because that first fight was really fun. So I'm down to watch it again. And I think that's what we'll get. Jed, despite, oh, go ahead, go ahead, Drake. I was going to say, I think that we kind of underrest. estimate a little bit the potential buildup to a Vittori in Adasanya rematch because obviously Marv Votori is a guy who can get pretty emotional and, you know, a little bit wild at times. And he's spoken openly about Adasania since their first fight and how he wants it back.

I think he believes he won. I know there were some people who do believe that he won. It was even a split decision maybe, right? I got his record up right here. Yes, it was. So, I mean, there are people out there who believe he won. He made it competitive enough with Adasani. before getting to the championship picture.

And I think in terms of a buildup and a back and forth right now outside of Till, who should not be in the picture despite being there because Adasani wants them to be, I think the buildup to this one could probably be a lot more fun than we're giving it credit for, just in terms of back and forth banter. Look at how interested people got in Costa versus Adasanya, which that one on paper we kind of should have expected. It's easy to say that in hindsight, but that always should have played out how it did. with these options, Chad.

Yeah, go ahead. I just don't know because, like, this could totally be a me thing. Obviously, I'm pretty well known to just not like some guys. And I just have a very little interest in Marvin Vittori. I think that he's, like, he's gotten way better. He's a really improved fighter. And he's a very good fighter. Like, clearly a top five middleweight.

I am never like, ooh, Marvin Votori's fighting. Yeah. Let's turn that on. That'll be a good time. So, like, I'm just, that might just be a me thing. Like, I'm willing to believe that other people might be more excited. And Votori will certainly say things. Whether those things are interesting is very questionable.

Whether they're true is probably unquestionably they won't be. But he'll say some stuff. So maybe that would give Adasanya something to play with. But really, the buildup for any Adasanya fight is going to be how clever he is. I think it'll have a lot less to do with his opponent. So, and like, to be fair, or to be honest, I think I talked about this program. I had no interest in the Costa buildup

because Paula Costa is the worst kind of trash talker, and I think Martin Matorre would be something similar to that. Despite not fighting, despite having to scratch from an ABC main event, Jed, and breaking his collarbone and having to miss some time, was Darren Till the biggest winner on Saturday? Yeah, Darren Till might get the next title shot, like just straight up. I don't it's it is entirely plausible that

out of snot like whatever like if whittaker wins or hell even if gasselin wins this weekend maybe out of sown you're just like I just want to fight that dude and you guys like him because nobody in the entire sport fails upward more than darren till I've talked about it several times in this program he has one like good win on his entire resume and that's Donald Cowboys Zerone.

Like everything else, he very, very questionably won those fights. So, and he just keeps getting bigger opportunities. Like, what happened? He fell out of a fight before this one,

or somebody fell out of a fight. He was supposed to fight, like, somebody in the top 10 or something, and then fell ass backwards into the Votori fight, despite a pull-out, like, so he's just going to keep doing that

and go, he's going to have a title shot. So, yeah, big-time winner, because he could tweet, I would have killed that guy. And the U.S. you were just like, yeah, he would have.

Title shot. Let's go. It was Jack Kermanson. He was supposed to fight it. Yeah, exactly. See, he went from Jack Robinson to Votori, big time upgrade. Now he's just going to do it again.

Unreal. What do you think, Drake? I mean, that's really just hard to disagree with. I mean, Durantil is just, it's so interesting that guy. I think he is one of the better examples of where a personality really can take you pretty far in MMA. And that's not to say he's not a talented MMA fighter because he definitely is. But yeah, his wins just in his activity in particular hasn't been a lot lately.

And, you know, that Donald Soroni fight, it's pretty easy to say that that is the most impressive performance of his career, which not even in the division that he's in right now. like it's it's really questionably the most impressive performance of this period there's no like that is in arguable yeah so it's it's very

very interesting to see how uh therein till does this and I mean it's impressive giving props you know good for him for getting title shots that way potentially I truly feel that if Darren Till can can come back and fight this year he will fight for the belt next

like no rhyme or reason it's just what's going to happen he just gets a top 10 win he's definitely fighting for the title i'm i'm i'm only half joking when i say he might get the next title shot like otasania really just wants to fight him and the ufc is invested in him financially already so like it's very plausible that there's like okay whatever he just did it with romero like romero's on a losing streak and yeah but you forget the old maro is the actual god the way in the world why would you possibly bring him up when I'm on this program.

I was just waiting for that. But listen, we will see what happens at 185. Hopefully we'll have some more clarity after Saturday night. But we're going to move ahead to another big story of the week. But the point for round two goes to Jedmishu, the champ on the board, one-to-one. There we go. Fight Circus for life. Let us now discuss the heat that has come to the rivalry between Dustin Porreier,

and Connor McGregor. Now, we found out that the fight is now official for UFC 264 on July 10th. Team Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, full capacity. Tickets are going to go on sale this week. They will likely sell it shortly thereafter. But earlier in the week, Connemer made it seem like the fight might have been in jeopardy who was going to offer the fight to somebody else.

Dustin Poirier decided to respond to a Conner-Megger prediction for this fight of a front-kick-CO by sharing to the world that Connor McGregor and his team have not come through with a large donation to the Good Fight Foundation that was discussed prior to their fight at UFC 257. They go back and forth. You guys have all seen the tweets. Porre said, McGregor's team hasn't responded to the foundation about the donation. They've been ghosted. Adi Attaire, Connor's manager got involved. McGregor attributed to doing his due diligence to make sure T's were crossed and eyes were dotted and then threats and insults and bringing up Porre's contract and on and the

on we go. But before we get into the fight itself, Drake Riggs, with this whole airing of grievances on Twitter, who was right? Who was wrong? Were they both wrong? Were they both right? What say you? I mean, for me, it feels pretty clear to say that McGregor's kind of been the wrong, just because first of all, knowing Dustin's character and, you know, he's not really a guy to bring stuff up like this, especially something that's so important to him, that is the Good Fight Foundation, and to air this all out in public, shows you that

maybe there is some funny business obviously, and that he's very serious about that and not happy with what is going on. And for Connors who say that he would donate as much money as he said that he would, not really a cool thing to do to go back on it, and yeah, he still has time to do it,

but having potentially ghosted in the workings to make that happen, That is not a good look, especially business-wise. And, you know, Connor is clearly a businessman. He's got his proper 12, all that stuff going on. And, you know, if we are assuming that he still has, you know, enough money around his spare,

and there's no reason not to go continue with his word on this. But, you know, I still believe that this whole thing is a strategy here for Connor to kind of get under Dustin's skin a little bit, get him back emotional to how he wasn't the first time they met at Featherway. because Dustin is openly admitted that that was a big part of that fight going in and how he was not fully capable of being his best on that night and it cost him. So things were a lot more respectful in the rematch. You know, Connor could there's an excuse right there.

You know, I know you touched on that too last night, Mike. So just when you look at Connor has done these charitable acts and stuff before, you know, he's built homes for people in Ireland, not connected to MMA. And so you look at this is a, a case where he's going into a trilogy fight with a guy who just knocked him out. First time he's been knocked out, a fight that he arguably needs to win

pretty badly, not for his star power necessarily, but for his position and people taking him seriously, right? And it's when he wants to go back to the old Connor ways and they're not as creative as they were on the buildup. And I think that's a bit of the situation where he hasn't

won a whole lot lately or been as active as he was. So it doesn't quite hit the same, and especially to a guy that just knocked you out and Connor's sharing the pictures from the first fight after being knocked out. It just doesn't really click the same way. So I just think the whole thing's a strategy, and especially when you look at the Habib rivalry, for example, he was willing to go to great lengths and what he said about Habib and his family, religion, all that kind of stuff.

And then we get to the fight. And in the fight, he says, it's just business, man. It's just business. to willing to go to those great lengths. This is probably arguably a bit greater when this much money is involved for such a good cause. But it would not surprise me if this is just a part of Conner's plan to

rile up Dustin and maybe make things a bit easier for the fight itself. Jed, or anybody who follows Jed on Twitter, you already kind of know where he stands in this argument, but now he gets the chance to kind of expound on this situation. So you've seen it. Who is right? Who is wrong with it?

both right, were they both wrong, and your thoughts on what Drake just said there? I don't know whether what Drake said was a compliment or a real big dig at Connor, because if this is a strategy, it's the stupidest strategy I've ever heard of in my entire life. Like, you could find other ways to hurt Connor or to hurt Dustin or get Dustin off his game or draw him into an argument, then not donating to charity. you said you were going to do like this let's table that for a second i guess we'll just answer because i'm really unsure how how this would be a good strategy to me super obvious i will throw a major caveat assuming all sides are telling the truth here to to what extent that truth is is real uh it's

pretty obvious that connor's in the wrong here um you know if maybe like there's just been a bold face lie thrown out which i by no means believe dust and boyy did that then yeah, that'd be fine. My takeaways here are largely, I said this a couple of weeks ago, it remains a borderline miracle that, like, John Jones doesn't have a PR dude who just does his tweeting for him because there's a really, like, this is a very easy solve. Oh, yeah, oh, my team hadn't gotten back to you, Dustin.

I don't know what that's about, man. Let me talk to them. We're going to square this away. this is a non-story great and we move forward because i i assume connor's good for his word here he will ultimately end up giving this money obviously the good fight foundation isn't going to squander it just to like embezzle for you to buy a car or something like that so this whole thing's really dumb if if it is a strategy it would be a really stupid one but i don't think it's a strategy because this is this is just who connor is not that connor is a guy who welches on his uh obligations or

or his word, but you can set your clock by, by Conner's reaction after losses. He is Mr. Humble at the post-fight press conference. Like in that three-hour span post-loss, he takes a loss better than almost anyone in the sport. Uh, not as good as Demetrius Johnson. Shout out Mighty Mouse.

That was a hell of a thing you get against Adrian of Maris. Uh, but he, he's really good and he only like vaguely hints at excuses. Ah, I misused my energy or, or ah, the leg kicks. I just, I wasn't ready for that technique. And then the further out he gets, the more time he gets to go home and drink his proper 12 and think about it and stew on it. And then

it's, it's everyone else's fault. I, you know, I broke my foot against Habe and I didn't tell you guys. Plus, I didn't really take the training seriously. Plus, all he did was help me anyway. Like, he just builds layers of excuses on top of each other because that's just how he handles things. And a couple of months later, he's popping off at the mouth again about, ah, next time I'm going to kill this guy. And this is just what he's done. Every time he's lost. Like, he did it and he got a rematch with Nate as a result. He did it. And then he kept going with Habib didn't get close to rematch for his own good, because Habib would have just burned right through him again. And he's just done it here with Dustin. Like he just, I think he's just reacting. He's mad about the situation. And he's

mad that you got called out because nobody likes getting their you know when they're wrong nobody's reaction or most people's reaction is not hand up man screwed up on that one my bad let me correct it it's they they dig in their heels they get mad and then they're like ah we need to vet your foundation come on man whatever so like obviously dustin fory is in the right here just because kind of people already hate me i will throw the one caveat it was a little weird uh the way dustin through that out there. Like it felt like a stretch. Obviously this was something that he would like wanted action on and took took this as the

opportunity to say it. But now like the connection between oh good prediction, BT. Dobs, you didn't give me the money you said like that was felt that just didn't feel all that natural. But dude, put that man's business out in the streets. If he's not paying 500 grand to charity, everybody gave him a ton of good press for it, which they should. If he actually follows through on that.

we should just give them the good press again. Like that's a good thing to do. But you shouldn't get to take all the benefit from that and then not do anything with it. Like that's busted. Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day, he will end up giving that money. I mean, it was just the whole thing was just kind of weird. Dustin came out and apologized. I thought that was really cool.

But let me ask you this, Jed. Has what happened in the last few days made you more interested in the fight itself? Like there's obviously some more sizzle on the stake. It doesn't seem like we're going to be seeing hugs and posing for photos this time around at the press conference and at the way insetter, et cetera, whether it's a work or a shoot or gainsmanship or whatnot, has this made you more interested in the fight itself? Not in the slightest. Like, it's just this is the worst beef of all beefs to like make me think, oh, these guys are going to hate each other. Because one, Dustin's not going to care at all. Like, Dustin is, you know, maybe like mildly upset that, hey, you said you were going to.

do this thing and you didn't. That's not cool. I really wanted to use that money for good. But he, Dustin Poirier is not the Poir of eight years ago. Like, he's not going to come to this with a hot head and just walk into Connor stuff. Like, he is a veteran. He is battle tested. He's going to be the same way coming into this fight. Maybe he'll talk a little bit more if Conner keeps taking shots at him. I don't even think that's true. So this is, this is Connor. If this is Connor doing a strategy, it's a bad one. And you're going to see him kind of pivot to more things and just try and find cracks like he did with a beep. It didn't work at all. It's not going to work this time. His look, the book's out on it. Everyone knows that game and most people are going to be prepared to to not let that get to him. So I just don't care at all about this. What do you think, Drake? Does it make more interesting? Because like for no, Drake has alluded to last night. Last night, Drake and I are both on like the same live chat with John Young Co or on the South China morning post.

just chop it up with people and we were talking about this and to me I feel like because Conner's doing this like I think everything's out on the table now like there's no excuses here like this is all you could call him old Connor you can call him motivated Connor like all the adjective Conners that we've been talking about that apparently didn't show up in January like apparently this guy's going to show up in July now that's what everyone's excited about does this what has happened the last few days the things that have been said, does it make you any more excited for this fight? Not really.

It makes me more excited for the buildup and like as we get closer to it and to see how they kind of interact together, especially in a more normal setting, presumably, how things will maybe go back to be and as Vegas will be open and this will be a full crowd event and all that stuff. But as for the fight, like,

I'm excited for it because it's an interesting fight and all that. But it's not, I don't think we needed this and this isn't one exactly that, you know, I would prefer to see Dustin and Connor fight other people now. You know, we just saw him got knocked out. It's pretty, it is what it is. So I don't think we need it, but I get why it's happening. Great business move makes all the sense in the world from that point of view. But yeah, something to this kind of level and what it's about, just, you know, stupid as I think most will agree with. But it doesn't add too much for the fight itself to me, but in terms of if the interactions will change going forward,

I'm interested to see how that plays out. But in terms of the fight, now this does nothing at all. Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with the fight. Dustin wants it probably as bad as Connor did. So pay him. I'm cool at that. But last thing on this, Jed, we've gotten a lot of this question over the last few days. Is this the proverbial must win for Connor, like in terms of his star power, his leverage, the drawing power?

Like, if he goes out there and gets calf kicked and taken down, stopped in the second round again. Like how detrimental is that for McGregor, you know, the superstar fighter, the pay-per-view draw, like, how bad is this if he goes out there and gets stopped by Dustin again? Close to not at all.

I mean, he wants to win. I think winning opens a few more doors for him than would otherwise, but losing barely closes any. Like, he's still the biggest draw in MMA by a wide margin and everyone will still want to fight him and people will still want to watch him fight.

Star Power does not fade that well in the sport. So from like a brass tack standpoint, no. The win though does a lot for him. This is one of the situations where like if he loses, I don't think it sets him that far back, but a win can propel him to better things. Like, right? I think if he wins,

if he wins, the title shot will be on the table if he wants that. I don't know that he actually will want that because that's just not a, that's not a great fight for him. Like from a lucrative standpoint, it does get him the belt again. but he really is beyond belts. Like a McGregor belt would be a fine purchase for the UFC to do here because he's beyond them.

He does not need them and I don't really think they matter to him. But a win probably does create an opportunity for the many Pachial boxing match. I know there's managed by the same people. It's still, that's still something both sides want. So a loss probably takes that off the table, but a win, I think a win maybe we see Connor back at a boxing crossover for a really big day, even with a loss, he still has plenty of MMA fights that will be lucrative. The Nate Diaz is a back pocket fight that can happen in any point in time or Jorge Mosvital, any number of fights that people would still absolutely take for him.

And then, of course, there's the big one, win or lose. McGregor has Jake Paul on the table. Like, that's never going away at all. And that's, honestly, that's, people laugh. That's probably the biggest fight he can be in. maybe Pachiao generates more revenue, but like if Jake Paul beats Ben Hesker in this weekend, there is not an event that's going to pay him more than boxing Jake Paul.

There just isn't. That is a very interesting take. Drake, last thing, are you surprised at the betting lines for this fight? Like right now, depending on where you look at, either Connor is a slight favorite. It's a pickum or,

yeah, that's where it's at right now. Like there's not a lot of sites that have Dustin is, the favor right now. It's either like super duper close, a pickum or Connor's like a slight favorite. Are you surprised by this? I'm not surprised, but I disagree with the line.

I think that, you know, Dustin should definitely be favored going and just considering the last fight, of course, and, you know, he should have been favored the first time around. But Connor is generally always favored in these kind of cases, or his odds are a lot better than they should be. Like, you know, you look at the Floyd fight

is the most extreme example you could possibly use, But he's got so many people supporting him and believing in his possibilities, no matter how badly he loses, like, you know, getting knocked out in the last fight against the same guy. So it does not at all shock me. You know, people are going to put their money down on him, believe. That's the power that he has of, you know, speaking and persuading people into believing, whether it's excuses or his own confidence, you know, all this stuff. He just has a way with people buying into him.

And he's earned it at this point because of the career he's crafted in the star power that he has. So it's not at all surprising. I mean, if it would have been like way out there, like plus 500 or something crazy, I mean, that just doesn't make sense, right? But that still probably wouldn't surprise me because that's how the fans are. We'll be obviously discussing this fight more and more in the coming months. But we will head to the final round of regulation. And the point for round three goes to.

two. Jedmishu. It is two to one heading into the final question of regulation. And this is a fun one because we began this show talking about the main events for this weekend.

A lot of eyeballs are upon, you know, Bellator and UFC, especially the trailer card. But there are a slew of other boats that MMA fans and combat sports fans can get excited about and look forward to over the next two nights. So Jed, we will begin with you.

whether it be from UFC Vegas 24, Bellator 257, or even if you want to go deep into the trailer boxing card that you will be a part of on Saturday, what is the low-key best fight of the weekend that nobody is talking

about? So it's not going to be on the trailer boxing card. There's just not a lot of meat unless you want to watch Frank Muir get knocked out in boxing, which is admittedly kind of a funny prospect, but it's really not like that's not a banger that we're trying to watch uh bell toor has a couple

couple options in there i will just quickly shout out uh the sol rogers mads bernel fight and the uh pedro corvalio j j wilson like both of those are really good honestly that's like a much higher level pre-lim fight than beltor cards usually get so both of those are like really good fights but the ufc card like actually has a lot of pretty solid belts on it it suffers from the fact that it's 12 fights when it should be like seven. But there's still like a lot going on here outside of the main event for the heads, for the deep heads. For me, you know, you know me.

You know that I want to pick a Gerald Mearsharthor fight as a low-key banger because Gerald Mearshaart's comical. And so why wouldn't I pick that? And let's be clear, in case anyone forgot, what was my low-key banger last week, Mike? What was it? The heavy-way fight. Was the heavy-way fight? I'm trying to remember.

No. It was it was Julian Marquez That's right yeah Exactly In fact The textbook definition Of a low-key banger

And so I would love to pick Gerald Mirschard Another same auspices But I am going with the heavyweight fight This weekend Beacon not Not Andrea Oloski Chase Sherman

Let's be super clear But Alexander Romanov And Juan Espino They are prospects by nature of being heavyweights, even though Juan Espino is like 50, he still kind of counts as a prospect because he hasn't been around that long and he has a gaudy record. And Alexander Romanov is 13 and O, and he has a forearm choke in his last win.

Espino has a scarf hole choke. Like, both of these are enormous human beings who aren't really good at fighting, but are good in, like, the funniest best way possible. They can kind of grapple in, like, weird, heavy man grappling. style. So this is going to be a travesty dude. Like this is, these guys are going to be sucking win four minutes in. And it's going to be the most enjoyable ground fest. We've been in quite some time just like two walruses just hitting each other.

It's going to be the best. And one of them will end up being like a top 10 anyway as a result of it. So easily my low key banner this weekend, nobody's talking about it. And this fight is going to be fantastic. Ah, there's the horns. Drake, what's yours? Well, first of all, that's just an absurd choice, man. I mean, the first thing, you called a 13-0.

Come on. Yes. Yes. Look who he's going against, though. And I love Juan Espino. I love Wannespino, I do. I think he's great. Alexander Romanov, though, you just called him not very good despite being 13-0.

Yes, he's a heavyweight. But this guy is very legit and as much. much as I would love for this fight to be awesome. I expect kind of some one-way traffic here. Romanov should just beat the poor breaks off of Wannisbino. I don't think it's going to be very good. And you should give some more love to King Kong there, man. Jeez, no respect.

But in terms of the low-key banger this weekend, not UFC, definitely not Triller boxing nonsense. It is all about Bellator this week for me. Going back, yes, Phil Davis is headlining event. It is on this card. There are so many good ones to choose from. and, you know, just look at the prelims alone, and then you get up to the main card.

There are so many different fights that didn't even kind of realize they were happening until Fight Week hit here. So, I mean, Carvalio versus Wilson, that is one. And, you know, Mike highlighted these again to go back to Mike's comments last night. Desiree Yanez versus Vita Artega, that's one I got to point out. I'm very, very excited for that one. The flyweight's opening up the show on the main card. Showtime, Desiree Yanez, very good prospect,

taken on former title challenger in Vita Artega. I think that the styles class there is going to be, Very good, very exciting. Desiree Yanez making her Bellator debut. Great spot to be in coming off of a Cambate America's fight with Super Melly, where she was definitely robbed in that one. And yes, that was 2019. So she's been itching to get back in there. I think it's going to be awesome.

But I don't know if that is going to be my pick for the one fight that we should hone in on here. I think that is probably got to be Paul Daly versus Sabahamasi, because, I mean, how can you go wrong with Paul Daly and Hamasi, who are just known highlight real machines in? Paul Daly's last fight, right? I mean, it's supposed to be. We'll see how MA retirements work out as they generally don't, but nobody's talking about this one whatsoever.

Like, I didn't realize this was this weekend, but I would be stunned if this is not a knockout in the first two rounds. But, I mean, how can you go wrong there? Paul Daly's got to go out big on his retirement fight. retirement. So I think that's probably the one to highlight, but you can't go wrong with a lot of these Belator fights happening. Just don't pick the Julia Budd won because that

shouldn't be happening. No disrespect to her, but that's a bad matchmaking. See, the cool problem is that if a fight happens on the undercard of a Phil Davis fight card, doesn't really happen. Because I don't think it does. Nobody's going to be paying attention

because Phil Davis is the guy who's supposed to be bringing you in. So we're not going to get admittedly, Daly Hamas. is a very fun fight. No love for the champ here, man. Is this all about Phil Davis? It's just Phil Davis is the anti-fund. So it doesn't matter how exciting you are.

You could put Carlos Condon in there with him. It's just not going to work out because that's not what Phil Davis does. Phil Davis doesn't make entertaining fights. He makes the exact inverse of them. And look, he's very effective at winning. But like, come on. Really? You really?

be honest. Well, that's not even the banger I chose, so it doesn't matter. But it's okay. We can be honest. You're telling me you really don't want to see Wastipino. Come on. Go on. Take it on.

Come on. We can be, it's okay. To embrace the circus of it all, because that's where the fun is. You're telling me, look, the thing I'm most interested this weekend, aside from Paul Asker, isn't even a fight. It's whether they're going to let Dakota Bush use his nickname. on the ESPN. I don't think they're going to let Harry Bush go out.

I don't. But if they do, it'll be great. These are the things that get me into this sport. God. I love how Casey plays the land of make-believes chime in the background after he's saying Harry Bush. But, Drake, let me ask you this. We'll take Triller out of the equation, right?

Because we know this is not going to be the answer. but what is the better card overall, top to bottom, UFC or Bellator? Like who's putting first fight to the last fight? What's the better card overall, in your opinion? I mean, I feel like I've made it pretty obvious at this point that I'm Team Bellator this weekend. Yeah, there's just so many compelling matchups for me in this one.

And I mean, there is a title fight. That is a big key selling point for me as much as you want to knock on it. I've all for this rematch, the tournament man, It's a part of a tournament. You can't go wrong. I mean, yeah, just look at all the matchups here. I know that we're just getting rolling with the Bellator ranking. So that's something that doesn't grab my attention a whole lot,

but I know that's fun for people, especially in the early going. But just in terms of the stylistic clash is, like, it's awesome. And I want to go back to that Pedro Carvalio and JJ Wilson won, like, that's what the third fight opening the prelims or something? Pedro Carvalio just got done fighting Pitbull, and now he's fighting JJ Wilson, who is a huge fight for him, you know, a fantastic, very legit prospect getting his biggest fight yet. So, you know, outside of everything except for,

and Steve Mowrie's back too, like look at all the names that are kind of on this that are not huge names necessarily yet, but very good people to hone in on and see where their careers go and for some where they have gone, like Pella Daly on the main card. Like, I don't know, there's just a lot to like about it, especially if you follow, you know, the ins and outs of the sport. So that's it for me. Jed, you made a passionate plea for the heavyweight,

low-key banger between Romanov and Espino. And that is an interesting fight, no doubt about it. But what's the better card overall? Like on paper when you look at it, like, I don't want to play if you can only watch one, because you'll probably watch both. But which one are you, like, more excited about, like, if you could watch one from the very first fight to the last fight,

which one are you picking the UFC or Bellator this weekend? Honestly, it's super close. I think on paper, especially to people who are like not that deep in the game, Bellator might be a little bit better just because it's one of the best top to bottom cards they've put together. Especially if, you know, just on paper you're looking at a light heavyweight title fight and you think, oh, that might be fun and you'd forget the Phil Davis is in it. But like, I actually genuinely think we're underselling the shit out of the UFC card. Like, just to be super clear, neither of us mentioned the co-main event.

Jeremy Stevens jerk our close is, that's an absolute banger of a fight. And neither of us talked about that as being an under-the-radar awesome fight. And nobody's talking about that fight either. I think there are really good fights on both cards. I think both cards are 12 or 13 fights, which is like five too many. if you cut away some of the chafe, like if you took Julia butt off the Belator card, the card gets better.

And if you did the same with some of the UFC fights, the cards get better. I think ultimately maybe I will say that Bellator has a better top-to-bottom card just because JJ Wilson, I'm really interested in watching fight. And even, like I said earlier, the Madsburnow saw Rogers fight.

Like, that's a really good curtain jerker. They have a quality show put together. And so I'll give tie to Bellator because they still very rarely win these. But the UFC is is low-key putting together a fun card. It's just not one anyone's going to really care about because they don't know the greatness that's going to be. Romanov Espino, guarantee. Jay and Sue guarantee the flight of the night right there.

Well, we shall see. Bellator, Belator's next card after this one, Belator's next card after this one is ridiculous. The May 7th card is wild. I'm so excited to talk about that card on the show for sure, because we just added MVP versus Derek Anderson to that card. So now we got that. We have Galaher Apache Mix. We got Yol Rameira versus Anthony Johnson.

And then we got the title 515 Archiletta and Pettis. This is crazy. That is a sick main card right there. But that is May 7th. Gentlemen, after four hard-fought rounds, drum roll, please. Drake has tied it up. head to the knockout round. It was a passionate plea.

I had tears in my eyes. Listen to you, sell Romanoff Espino. You didn't even have to sell me on that one. But Drake had the right answer. It was daily. By now, Mike, you know what's good. I've taught you enough for you to understand

what good fighting is. And so I don't have to sell these to you. It's how you understand. That's true. You're absolutely right. But speaking of fun fights, speaking of fun fights, we have the knockout round.

So one question is going to decide it all. Yes. We're going to go back to a new favorite from 2020, from 2021 for this final question. But each of these gentlemen are going to have one minute to give their final response. They have no idea how this final round is going to work. And after the minute, we'll turn it over to the honorable E. Casey Leiden, who with the help of the wonderful viewing audience will render the final decision. So Mr. Jedmishu, you have the option. the champion's prerogative, so to speak.

Would you like to go first, or would you like to pass this on over to Mr. Drake Griggs? You know, I'm going to pass. I'm going to take full advantage of the champion's prerogative. All right. Drake Riggs, welcome to the final round and welcome to what am I thinking? All right. We have four possible choices. Each choice will represent a fighter.

You will choose a number between one and four, and with your one minute, you will put yourself in the shoes of said fighter and you will tell the world what you are thinking or what could you could be thinking at this very moment you don't have to do accents you don't have to change your voice or anything like that i mean if you want to great james lynch perfect example doing the t j dillosh impression but uh pick a number between one and four sir three going with three ooh drake you are kevin holland we haven't had a chance to talk about you you talk about you in depth on the program today. You've, you had a tremendous 2020. You've had a rough start to 2021. You just lost your second consecutive main event. What are you thinking, Kevin Holland?

We got one minute on the clock and your time starts now. Well, you know, I just, I had a really rough stretch right there, you know, obviously with Derek Brunson, Marvin Mottori. But man, I'm still down to fight whoever. Give me a Whitaker Gastilum. I think that if anybody falls out right there, it's definitely possible. I'm going to jump on in. take it, get back on the winning path, and, you know, this COVID thing's not really a big deal. So if somebody has that going on, I'm down to jump in there, you know, it's whatever. I can get a win, jump in against Adasania. I'll still fight them right now.

If they want to give me the title shot, what's this Darren Till talk? Get out of here, man. Big mouth, ready to go whenever they need me. Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when. I know I've lost two in a row, but people get in title shots off of, you know, losses all the time these days. So it doesn't matter. I'll still bury him. Give me the fight.

I'll take it whenever. I'll give you an extra 10. Yes. Nicely done, Mr. Riggs. It was amazing. Like, you started off and then slowly we started to hear that big mouth come out of you a little bit as the time went on. So we heard from Kevin Hall. We now go to the champion, Jed Mushu.

You have three numbers to choose from one, two, and four. Make your selection. So two's on it. Jed? you have chosen the number representing the now former UFC Bantamweight champion Piotr Yan. A lot going on

in your life these days. What are you thinking right now? Your minute starts now. This sucks. I am such a idiot. I was winning that fight so handily. And there was no way that I was going to lose. And I stood over this man.

I stood over it for seven full seconds. And I kept punching him because he was down. And he stayed down and nothing changed. And then I decided, I'm a knee this dude. And it's bullshit. It is trash that the greatest fighter of all time gets meed in the face. And everyone celebrates how good that is. But I do it to a guy that nobody even really likes that I was clearly beating.

And now I'm the villain. I don't have a belt. He's getting surgery. He's going to be out for six, nine months. And he's trying real hard enough to fight me. I don't actually think that's true. But my ego doesn't let me believe that that's not. Not true.

So what fucks? Now I'm going to have to fight Sugar, Sean O'Malley. That kid is not that great. But if I lose to him, I'm going to look like a real ass. This man, I hate this. Why did I need him? I could have just punched him and won the fight. What the hell am I doing?

There you go. There's the minute right there. Number one was Tony Ferguson. And number four was Al Jermaine Sterling. So things could have got very interesting. I chose from 15 different names that were thrown into this Red Sox hat. right here. I thought I knew who you'd have.

I thought I knew who you'd have. And the guy I wanted was not in that group. So, okay. Who was the guy you wanted? Francis Ngano, obviously. Okay. Fair enough. He was one of the 15, by the way.

He was one of the 15 that made the list. But, all right, we have heard from the combatants. And now it's all off my shoulders. We turn it on over to the judge, the jury, the executive producer, E. Casey Lidon, we'll let the folks, you know, give their opinion on this. We'll just kind of weigh,

we'll lay out the programming for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, of course, a lot to discuss. We get the way-ins for Asker and Paul. We have the preview show for Ascram Paul and UFC Vegas 24. Then, obviously, on set, well, the Bellator coverage,

and of course on Saturday, we'll have coverage of both the UFC and the Triller event. Jed will be there for Triller. And then we'll have all the normal programming, the pre-fight Q&A, I will actually not be a part of the pre-fight Q&A. I have to DJ a wedding that I was supposed to DJ

before this pandemic started, and it turned out, they got re-booked for April 17th. After all that, it's the last wedding of my career, so I got to get it done, and I will be back for the post-fight show, hopefully. But we turn out over to Casey.

Casey Leiden, who wins this week, who leaves the virtual arena as the BTL champion? All right, I'm looking at the comments coming in. Got a lot of fans for a certain competitor. Oh, boy. Oh, they're still coming in. Oh, boy, oh, boy.

Okay. Hey, someone just, someone's just insulted me. Oh, my goodness. Okay, okay, here we go. God. You're a winner. Oh. And new.

Wow! I did not see that coming. You see... Wow, that was a... That was a... was a selling job right there. The fans, the fans. They, they...

Everyone hates them. You shouldn't read the comments. Yeah, I know, I know. I gotta give him something. I got to give him something. Nonsense. There we go. There we go.

My first VTL win. Wow. Long time coming. The way Casey presented it, it sounded like it like hurt his soul. to say the answer, so I thought for sure it was going to be Jed, and then he comes out with Drake. You've got to go with this fellow mustache, brother.

The best two mustaches in the media. But you could take solace in the fact, Jed, that, you know, come Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, he's going to be like, damn it, you know, maybe Jed did win. We just saw it before, and then you ran it back with Jose. This is where Jed went wrong. This is where Jed went wrong. He pointed out that Jan was thinking he was the bad guy.

No, look at all, look at what's happening to Sterling, man. Everyone's treating him as to that guy. He knows in his heart. He knows in his heart what he did. What I would wrong is I wronged Casey in a previous life because the only person I've ever lost to on this as well as Casey. I just, I like to know with everybody, but Casey gets to be the arbiter, so I lose because I have offended Casey at some point.

One of these times, Casey, who me, you're going to finally step in. Do better, man. Yeah. television that we have here and you'll get this work but until then keep hiding

keep giving me bad decisions because that's all this is last week I got fight surges taken away from me erroneously and why are you going

to take away my belts this is bold oh man well you know what you're well

Jed you're only one appearance away for being the first double-digit loser oh no you and A. Kay Lee you and A.K. Yeah

And all of those losses are to you. I'm the greatest champion this program's ever had. The winning is champion. The only other person in the neighborhood on 4 and O against. Like, well, come on, what do we do? It's not. All right. Drake, you are the winner.

You don't get any money. The belt is invisible, but you get 30 seconds to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about. Good, bad, and different in the sport of mixed martial arts. Plug your stuff, whatever you want to use your 30 seconds for. Go ahead. Yeah, I don't know. guys, this was really fun. It's been a while since you got to do something like this. And good to interact with Jed for the first time. A pleasure, honestly.

I don't know. I just think that in these crazy times where we start to finally get back to normal in life, it's just good to, you know, let's come together. Let's all be friendly as we possibly can. Respect history. Do your research. All that fun stuff. And, you know, just if you want to follow me for more, at Drake Riggs underscore on Twitter. And if I'm going to plug a specific piece, Please check out my big, long, in-depth story on Megumi Fuji, titled Becoming Mega Meghu, the Megumi Fuji story. That is my magnum opus, so, yes, I'll give you that for a shameless plug. There you go.

Jed, it's a good run, you know. But he'll be back. I did not have fun around here, but he is now on my enemies list. I have many of them, and he's not at the top because this is, such an undeserved victory that Casey is still at the top of that list. But it was nonsense. He wants you to watch Phil Davis and you like him. What is wrong with you, fans?

Make better choices in your lives. Well, no your crowd. I'm glad. Hey, I just judge round five. I'm not judging the whole fight. So it's the system. It's not me. Yeah, but you have judged the whole fight before.

Not in my favor. This is true. This is very true. He admits it. It's a personal vendetta. I need a new judge. I want to run it back. Get Herb Dean out of here because he's going to only do bad things, Mike.

Give me a new judge. Let's go. Well, maybe we'll have a new judge on the show next week. But until then, for Jedmishu, for Drake Riggs, Casey Liden on the Judging and Production, I am Mike Heck. Thank you for watching. We'll see you back here once again next week. Between the links. And there's the kid.

And there's the kid, the iconic voice. I'm Esther Lynn takes you home. God, I, everybody! Normally I say I love you, but not this week, fans, you're terrible. This is Esther, Anna. And you've been watching between the links. Thanks for subscribing. I'll see you next week.

I am Esther Lynn. I've been smoking a couple packs of cigarettes a day, huh? You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Thank you.