MMA Fighting - Between the Links: Jon Jones Arrest, Volkanovski's Pound-For-Pound Status, Nick Diaz, More

Episode Date: September 30, 2021

Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting’s Jose Youngs and Alexander K. Lee as they discuss the biggest stories of the week in the world of mixed martial arts. This week, the panel discusses the Jon Jones' latest run-in with the law, the police report that was made public, and how they predict the UFC will handle the situation, Alexander Volkanovski's incredible featherweight title defense against Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC 266 this past Saturday and where he should sit on the current pound-for-pound rankings, Nick Diaz's return to the octagon in a third-round stoppage loss to Robbie Lawler and where he could go from Saturday, Valentina Shevchenko's next move, the better main event between Bellator 267, Douglas Lima vs. Michael Page 2, or UFC Vegas 38, Thiago Santos vs. Johnny Walker, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee 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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Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my The iconic voice of Esther Lynn

welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. Hope you are all doing well this week. Yes, I know a lot of you were excited. We went live with video last week on the program. Not this week. We're going to try to do it again down the road, but this week it's all about the matchup. We're on the podcast network.

We have a lot to discuss this week. So no time to waste ahead of a little friendly colleague versus colleague bragging rights matchup on VTL this week. So let us introduce the combatants. We'll get right into the first question. First, introducing the man who was in Las Vegas during a crazy UFC 266 event last week from MMAFighting.com. One of the grizzled BTL veterans over the years, the man who could do it all, Mr. Jose Youngs. Hello, sir.

Welcome. How are you? Am I, was I on the original show, like the first episode? I think so. I think you've been, it's like you, Damon. Was this the matchup of the first episode? Was it? Oh, on M.A.

Like in this version? An M. Invading? I know I cooked Damon, because I remember that was, like, right when we started, like, Casey started to take produced, like, took over the producer role. And we were trying that new software, and it kept crashing Casey's computer. So it took, like, three and a half hours to record one episode. But I know, I believe it was either me or AK or me and Jed in episode one. Because I think I started off hot, like, 3 and O. And then cool off of it.

It was. Jose Youngs and Alex K. Lee. And oddly enough, we were just going to the first topic we discussed was the latest with John Jones. And that's what we're going to be talking about this week too. Full circle, ladies and gentlemen. Full circle. Time is a flat circle. It is. Sean Al-Shadi. I think Sean Al-Shadi coins that phrase, right? It came from nowhere else. It's a very shot al-Shattie thing to say. No doubt about that. And as you heard already, you've heard the voice of the Prince of Positivity, the co-host of on to the next one. from MMAfighting.com and it may or may not be his birthday once again. Mr. Alex Keeley, hello there, sir. No tuxedo needed, just your voice. How are you? It's me. I'm here. Yes. Spoiler. Sorry to jump in early. And our listeners now know that, yes, it will be a battle of the original colleagues, acquaintances, amicable members of the shared MMA community.

I think that's, you know, that's what you know, not best friends like you and I are, Mike. Not that I want to influence any of the judging that's going on today, but I just want to make everyone's relationships clear here. Always love having a little tete-a-tete with Jose Young's. So I'm looking forward to today's show. Yes, a Jed Mishulis BTL this week. In fact, I'm going to see Jed in person for the first time ever tomorrow morning. I'm going to play some golf with Mr. Mishu.

You're saying I've worked with Jed for almost three years and you're going to have met him in person more than me. Yes. I think so. It just turned out schedules worked out and we're going to play some golf and talk some smack. So let's get into this thing. Let's talk about the biggest story in the sport right now. It's not a very good story, but John Jones, his latest arrest. This time he's facing charges of domestic violence, tampering with the vehicle. The police report was made public from the Las Vegas Police Department earlier this week with some pretty horrifying details and allegations, some very scary. and heartbreaking accounts of that night in Las Vegas after the Hall of Fame.

And we, of course, reacted to the initial news of the arrest on Friday, but more has come out since then. Dana White has reacted to it on multiple occasions. John Jones is saying that this will now end up being the best thing that has ever happened to him and that he's no longer going to consume alcohol. It's just a lot to unpack over these last five or six days. So, Jose, let us begin with you. Your reaction to the police report, John breaking his silence. kind of on Instagram stories, lifting weights,

and just everything we've learned of these charges over this week. Well, I think I would have, I'm going to have a little bit of a different, it hit me a little differently than I think most of the MMA media landscape because I saw John Jones in person. But not only did I see John Jones, his fiance and kids were about four feet away for me that night at the UFC Hall.

of Fame red carpet. Like I was about two feet away from John Jones interviewing him and she was right behind me sitting with her kids like with USCPR. So we went, right after that, we like, obviously the next day we had official weigh-ins and me, our good friends, Oscar Willis and New York Rick went to go get breakfast after and during the drive over, all of our phones started to blow up. And less, like we had just seen all of those people less than 12 hours ago. So we were just like it hit us like how is this even possible uh because i'm i'm sure you guys watched the right carpet interview we did with them like john jones is very charismatic captivating individual and i i think i've i've talked to our colleague alix alice about this

too like i saw her in person a few days ago and like she interviewed john jones after one of his previous transgressions and he she said the same thing like he just does a good job of convincing you that this is all all of his troubles are in the past like he's done this before Like he's a very like, you know, I think his phrase is like, I'm going to do things more legally controversial. That's what he said on the red carpet. And then less than 12 hours later, he's getting arrested for domestic violence. So he just does a really good job. I don't know if it's his PR person, his publicist, whatever, but he does a really good job of getting you to believe what he says. I don't know how you can believe him anymore after this because there's one thing like

drunk driving is awful. He didn't run awful. Like everything he's done is terrible. But I don't know how you can look past domestic violence, especially from a sport that is combative. Like John Jones is also a heavyweight now. He's huge. He was like 250 pounds when I saw him. His fiance is a very small, blonde woman. And she was very nice, but it's just, I don't know how you can look past this. I don't know what to do with him next. Like they're not going to cut him. So before we go, what should we do with John Jones? I'm not even going to say cut him because that's not a possibility. They're not going to let John Jones go to Bellator or anywhere else like this. I was, I don't want to say horrified, but I wasn't surprised at John Jones's

Instagram story because he has this very much like, oh, woe is me. Like his phrase, this is the best thing that ever happened to me is like the worst thing you could like, it's like outside of like, I'm glad I did it. It's like the worst thing to say because he's not the victim. He, his fiance was bloodied. The bedroom was bloodied and his kids, his kid, his daughter is the one that said call the police. And you're saying this is the best thing that ever happened to me. that's stupid. That is the stupidest thing I could have, like you could have said. That is the worst thing you're at for your first statement because you're not the victim. It's not, oh, God is testing me. Oh, it's the alcohol's fault. It's your fault. And also, let's not forget,

he was in Las Vegas for the UFC Hall of Fame. They were celebrating John Jones, and then this happens. The fact that he, like, is this the first thing that John Jones is done in Las Vegas to get arrested outside of? Like, obviously he had like the Usada Pop, but everything else has been like New Mexico or other places. And then Dana White saying, we can't take him in Las Vegas because he gets in trouble. How many times do we know has he been in trouble in Las Vegas? One, this is the first time? What don't we know? What has happened that we don't know? So it's, it's, it was disgusting. I can't, I don't know what, I don't know what, like obviously let the legal system play out. Um, but it is absolutely horrendous. And it just, it was already

disgusting, but after reading the, reading the report and seeing that it was, his kid that find like because I'm sure we've all seen or known someone or seen even depicted in fictional like TV shows or books like in cases of like domestic violence like oftentimes one of them is afraid to speak out because they're afraid of the they're afraid of their significant other and that's kind of how it came off in the police report so the fact that a child is the one that finally stepped up and was like hey call the police horrifying absolutely horrifying all around. A.K., how do you feel about it now following our initial sort of response to the arrest, sort of the basics of it all?

Because we didn't know a lot. And we had to be very careful with our words. And still in a way, we still have to be sort of careful with our words. But now we've seen a police report. Like you could read it all. And everything has gone public, at least from what happened from the police perspective and the reports they've written and seeing some of these horrifying details. Like, where are you out with this thing as of right now? I think if anyone watches our reaction video that we made for, you know, when the news first broke, I know this is only audio, so you guys might get a better sense of like how I was at the time. This was last Friday. I was exasperated. You know, I was exasperated, frustrated that we're thrust into the John Jones news cycle like this again. Definitely try, you know, before trying to sort of contain my disgust with the situation. Again, because as you said, we hadn't had the details.

We have the details now. There's still sort of allegations. But, I mean, what we know, it paints a pretty grim picture. I feel like even in a best case scenario, depending on what you decide to believe, it's still just this horrible, horrible, horrible situation where his, you know, his fiance of 17 years is clearly in this abusive relationship that I just feel like she cannot get out of. You know, and before anyone judges her for, oh, why stay with this man? if she's in the situation. It's like they have three kids together. He's clearly, you know, he's the breadwinner.

And they've been in a relationship for 17 years. I don't think any of us can even begin to unravel the complexities of, you know, the connection that these two have. So, you know, she might love him. She might not. She might hate his guts. But there's, it's so, so complicated. And I don't think any of them, they're pretty private about, you know, we don't hear from her a lot. I think, I think judging that side of it is very difficult.

I've definitely moved on from exasperated to rage and further discussed with John Jones. Because as Jose pointed out, his reply is just the ultimate in avoiding accountability. It's the alcohol. It's a learning thing. It's a something I will, this incidence, I will turn to the best thing to ever happen in my life. This alleged domestic battery incident. I don't see how it could possibly become a positive thing. but this is what he is,

the statement that he has put out. What the devil means for bad, God means for good. So also, again, as he often does in these situations, leaning on his faith, leaning on religion.

And I'm not judging religion as a whole. I'm judging how John Jones uses his faith as a weapon, as a shield, as a way to protect himself and say, well, this is just another test that I will overcome. He's done this many times in the past. He's really similar statements,

so this is nothing new. So in that sense, it's terrific. So my big change, I will say, from this incident the incident of the past is I've always maintained John Jones is a sociopath

he has no empathy for other people and he doesn't recognize when his actions hurt other people I am starting to think now he might actually be a psychopath and completely detached from reality

that might be the only way to explain his reaction to the news that has just come out again allegations the details are still you know we just have what we have

in the police report but it doesn't look good and his reaction i think makes it all look even worse okay a lot has been made about how the ufc and dana white has responded to all this and friday was more why are you surprised by this this happens to john all the time vagus isn't for him just just kind of ripping john you know and at the same time dana's waiting for this all to play out legally before making any decisions on what to do with john jones and some people are calling for john's head on this like the UFC should just cut bait. Like, let's not wait for the legal system. Let's just cut them right now. And there's two sides to this in a lot of people's minds, right? There's the morality side.

There's the public relations side. Like, if this is all true, if he has found guilty, you've got to cut ties of this guy. There's no way you can be mentioned in the same sentence to this guy. But then on the other side, like Jose sort of alluded to, it's a business. Like, do you cut him and let him go to Bellator or Triller or BKFC, etc? and allow him to make money and make a living. outside of the UFC. And Chal Sondon, I mentioned this to you before he recorded. He put out this video the other day and said, like, the best punishment that UFC can give John Jones is to not cut him, to keep him under contract and just freeze them, just put him on the shelf and not do anything with him. And he basically said, like, not to turn the pistol on Dana White for not making a decision yet because it is a business and he's got all these things to weigh out. So

I know the hypothetical game is a tough one to play in situations like this, but if John goes to court, if he's found guilty, all of this stuff is proven to be true, what do you think will happen from a UFC perspective? I understand the, the suggestion for Mr. Chilston and that, you know, if they really want to stick it to him, if they really want to punish him and send him a message, it would just be to keep him around and keep him on their, on their payroll, not really getting paid and not allow him to, again, potentially sign with the competitor and make a living as a fighter and what have you. But for me, I think I'm looking past what message they should, they should, you know,

be trying to send to John Jones and just a message they should be trying to send out to the public. And so for me, I would like to believe if these allegations are substantiated, that they would just cut bait, that they would cut bait, maybe even, like, I don't understand why they can't cut him during the investigation, because you can always resign him. I mean, we've seen, I don't want to say this has happened in other leagues because I know the NFL's famously bungled several domestic violence cases. So I don't want to point to them as an example. But I do think that you can, you can, the UFC has such an operates with such autonomy that they could cut ties with him.

Hope. I'm sure I should say hope. Assume that no one else will touch him while this investigation is underway. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm overestimating, you know, again, sort of, I've made promotions. But that, yeah, he would be radioactive for however long this investigation is going on and then revisit whether you still want to be in business with this guy. because, look, they are associated with ESPN now. ESPN is associated with Disney. There's this whole, and again, the ties aren't direct, but I feel like the optics of the situation. I think the UFC would send a very, very strong message

and sort of reinforce what they've said in the past, but haven't always stuck to that zero tolerance for domestic violence. You know, let's use John as an, it's from, if you want to look at it from business to make a more cynical way. Use John as an example. Use John Jones to say, look, if we're willing to punish him, clearly we are serious about how we police our fighters and about their behavior

despite the fact that literally like a few days after the John Jones news broke out I think Greg Hardy reportedly has a fight now so that's a whole other thing but if they want to if they want to send a strong message again not John Jones I think I think that they're right that I think that if you want to punish him specifically you just keep him around and just keep twisting in the wind

but if it's for from a PR perspective I think the further this goes along I think at some point you really do just have to cut him I'm not saying they will. I just, I would like to see that happen. Yeah, I remember how the, remember the code of conduct? Remember the whole UFC code of conduct? I feel like we haven't heard anything about it since it's inception.

But Jose, let me frame it this way because you feel like the UFC is just going to let him fight or whatever. But let's just say John Jones either way, found guilty, found innocent, cuts a deal, whatever. John said in that interview that you talked about that he wants to return second quarter of 2022, fight for the heavyweight title. Now, one other thing on the business side, this. clearly diminishes John's value no matter what, since it's something that he's going to be attached to now. So maybe the UFC in a way is thinking, hey, look, this sucks. This is awful PR. We got 700 maniacs on the roster and shit happens. But now they see John, arguably the greatest

fighter of all time, is a guy that is in a position where his backs against the wall. He can play ball a little bit more, be more open to other fights, less money, all of that. So what does your gut tell you right now? You feel like the UFC's not going to cut him. him not let him go to a competitor, but do you feel that the timeline will still line up? Like if he doesn't go to jail or whatever, are you confident we'll see John Jones fight in 2022, I guess is what I'm asking you? I'm not. I have 0% confidence that will be second quarter 2022.

It'll probably be near the ends because obviously they want stuff to play out because it's like, like I said, it's one thing to get like obviously anything he does is bad. It's horrendous. but like, and I don't want to say one is worse than the other, but the optics of a professional fighter putting his hands, like a very large, the greatest of all time professional fighter putting his hands on a woman is just the optics are bad. I'm sure Dana White, I'm sure Disney, I'm sure Ari,

who Hunter, Campbell, whoever, is going to at least hit pause on John Jones fighting for the title. Not that they don't want him to, but I think it's just the, as you said, the business of it, the optics of it. They're not going to put him there. And this kind of reminds me of like, remember when John Jones fought over? in St. Peru, like he kind of did it as a favor

to the U.S.C. Like, he was supposed to fight Daniel Kormier and then Daniel fell out, and like the old John Jones would have just pulled out completely. Like he did, like he, remember he famously didn't want to fight Chale Sun, and then they canceled that whole card. But he stayed on and fought Ovin, St. Peru

because he kind of wanted to make it up. And then remember he took, he fought Anthony Smith, he fought Tiago Santos, he fought Dominic Gray. Like, these are all like favors to the UFC because he missed all of that time. I have a feeling if he does fight, maybe the the fourth quarter of 2022, it'll be something like that. Obviously, I would expect him, like, say he's cleared or whatever.

I can't imagine that's the case, but best case scenario for John Jones. He's like, he can fight. I'm pretty confident they're still going to give him the title shot right away. Because at the end of the day, like you said, this is a business. And I would say the second John Jones fights in the heavyweight division, he's won, if not the second biggest draw in that division. It's him and Francis. him and Francis is still the biggest fight that you could put on and and I hate to say it like

people started tweeting at me about it and I saw it on Twitter like what if they just made Derek Lewis and John Jones we all know Derek Lewis's hatred for fighters that even have been accused of putting their hands on women he famously he said he did he said all that stuff to Travis Brown when they fought and obviously I know Travis got cleared and all that stuff but at the time, Derek Lewis, that was his whole thing. That's what he built that fight on. He always has all this negative stuff to say about Greg Hardy. I don't expect them to go that route, but if they want to give John Jones a fight that while he's drum up some interest, I highly doubt they would make it the Derek Lewis fight now that I think about it because they don't want to build that fight.

Like, do you think they want to talk about that for two months? That would be real ugly. So now, I take it back. There's a 0% chance John Jones ever fights Derek now because they don't want that build for two months of that. So, but I, I don't know. I expect John Jones fight for the title first, but say that doesn't happen. John Jones is going to take like the next best thing just because I feel like he wants to smooth his image over like he's tried to do in the past. Yeah, this situation just, it sucks.

You shouldn't even be, no one should even be thinking about John Jones fighting. 100%. Yeah. The worst thing. The worst thing, because like a couple of our colleagues. on the site where like is this the worst thing that could happen the worst thing for john jones and obviously well the worst thing that he's ever done is has happened like if there is an image like a riana type image like remember that after the her incident with chris brown and the photo

came out with like her black and blue if that image comes out of his fiancee like bloody that's i don't think there's coming back from that that is just absolutely horrendous from just an optics point of view there shouldn't be no coming back from touching woman anyway way. But from like a business point, that's the worst thing that could happen for John doing. Yeah. If that image comes out, you cut his ass. Let him go to wherever he wants. If Triller wants to sign him and pay him a bunch

of money, you let him. You let them deal with that headache. But again, all allegations still needs to play out in court. Clearly John not doing himself any favors with the whole IG story thing. But I mean, maybe he has a PR team. If he does, he needs like a social media PR team to like, you do not

post anything and like, let's be clear because there's not a soul on this planet who would be like you know what John that's a great idea and I don't know her name but I think she sat next to John Jones I remember when he did that that press conference when he was like crying after the you saw a pop she was like right next to him and then when I interview John before USC 239 when he fought Tiago you could have seen her but she was right there I think that was like his public list less public what do you call it like she was there to make sure he didn't say anything stupid and I

So I don't know if she still works with them anymore, but I've seen her many a time right there. It's basically like the angel on John Jones ear telling him to like, don't say something dumb. Yeah, take his phone. Take his phone and yeah, don't even let him use his phone. Get him a driver. Take his phone.

Take his wallet. Take everything. Yeah. Give him a curfew. Yeah. Give him someone to watch over like a handler, something. Like this is again. And look, this is more, you know, more attention to him than he deserves.

Like I said, really right. You know, I'm sure people listening are like, well, we know we should, of course, be just concerned for his fiancee, for his children. That's a whole other thing. They also need protection. They also need to be looked after. They need taken care of. They need some way to, again, either get out of the situation or find some sort of resolution.

Again, I don't know all the details of relationship. So I can't even, I wouldn't even know where to begin. But that's the other side of the story that I, you know, we keep saying it. And we, we want people to keep that in mind. There's another human being here. and three other human beings, excuse me, and the children who are involved. And I don't know what they're going to do, but I hope that they, again, that they get some sort of assistance. Someone's looking after them because this is far from over.

It really feels like it's far from over. Agreed. And I know this is kind of a crappy way to start the show, but we're going to move on to in transition to more positive things. We're going to talk about a very exciting event this past weekend in Las Vegas, UFC 266, especially just an instant classic main event for the featherweight title. But we'll move on. The point for round one goes to, I give it to Jose Young's, but I mean, just, but I mean, it's not even a point that you really want. But it just is what it is. It's worth discussing.

Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation.

Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to Aero plan members on equip flights. Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See AirCanada.com. We move on to the aforementioned UFC 266 main event because that fight between Alexander Volcanowski and Brian Ortega was crazy.

Volcanowski looked amazing. And Ortega is just a dangerous, opportunistic cat and nearly got himself a submission win in one of the best rounds you will ever see. That third round, Volcanovsky guts it out. Ortega is super tough, probably too tough for his own good. Volkanowski wins Viannaecision 5045, 5044, 4946. The scores don't indicate how close and how exciting that fight actually was. Volcanovsky retains.

A.K., your reaction to this main event, and more specifically, if there was like one thing you took away from it more than anything else, what was it? Vindication. I hope that people, I hope people learn to love Alexander Volcanovsky. I understand this is what happens sometimes when you're dealing with, sorry, one second. I understand this is, sorry, this is what happens sometimes when you're dealing with a fighter who beats a fan favorite, you know, in Max Holloway, twice in time, very controversial, which made it worse. I think it was bad both times.

The first fight, it wasn't like a super exciting fight. I think a pretty clear cut win for Volkanowski, but not the kind of fight that had like Holloway fans going on like, oh man, our guy got, but it was more like, it was like, ah, whatever. He outpointed him, you know, Volkanowski's, Volkanowski's not the real best featherway. I'd love to see him run it back, which they did.

And in that second fight, the two biggest moments belong to Holloway. He had the knockdowns in the first couple of rounds. And then, but again, I think if you watch the fight, I think Volkanowski clearly won the last two, and the third is up for grab. It's a great fight. It's kind of an underrated great fight. It's a shame that it's more controversial than it is.

Like, people look back at it positively. It's like, that's a really good fight. So after that performance on Saturday, I don't know what more Fokonovsky could have done to bolster his reputation. He was, he showed how dominant he can be technically. He showed he can face adversity. This was not an easy win by any stretch. He was almost finished himself a couple of times.

Ortega just doesn't go away, even though maybe he should have been, someone should have made that decision for him, going into the championship rounds. But yeah, and he faces a guy who's very dangerous. Yes, someone who Holloway also pieced up, but I think a worthy, a worthy number one contender. I don't think anyone could dispute it outside of him running it back with Holloway over and over again. So for me, vindication is definitely the key.

I think Volcanowski does a great job with the media. I think he's got a good personality, so I hope he will enjoy his as well. It was great that he got to fight in Las Vegas in front of a crowd. So, yeah, that was the biggest takeaway with credit Tortega and. and, you know, all the other tough featherweights. Volcanovsky is the man and should be recognized as such. Jose, you were in Las Vegas. You watched it all.

When that fight ended, I don't know if you were in the arena or not, but what was your biggest takeaway? What was like your number one thought coming out of that fight? That I think what Brian Ortega said at Media Day that him, Falkinovsky, and Max Holloway are going to be like the three kings of that featherweight division. I don't, like, maybe you can throw in like a fourth person, around but right now those three are just operating on another level because

Volkanowski won but I said this like I think they said this in our preview show like it could be a fight where both men emerge as of as like yes technically one has an L on their loss on their professional record but I don't know anyone that's talking down about Brian Ortega outside of the stupid trolls that have like no Twitter avatar on in the Instagram comments or the bots or whatever but like that fight was unbelievable if you want to tell me that's the best fight of the year I don't I'm not going to argue with you. If you want to tell me that's the best featherway fight ever, you want to put that, like, I put that fight right next to, like, the second Aldo Mendez fight for, like, featherweight fights

of all time. It was absolutely spectacular. The arena was, like, the whole arena was, like, vibrating, like, during that third round. I have, I can't remember a louder T-Mobile arena than that third round. Obviously, there's, like, spent some knockouts and stuff like that, but in terms of, like, like you hear like I'm not talking about a pop I'm talking about like a continuous like everyone's screaming as loud as they can for about five minutes that is what the third round was that was that was an image where I bent I did almost all of the pandemic cards so I got used to the silence and there are obviously fights like oh I wish this was in front of crowds this wouldn't have crowds but like in back of my mind I'm like I don't It doesn't really, it's still a fight, it doesn't matter. That fight would not, like the Volcanowski Ortega fight was the first fight that I watched post-pandemic where I was like, God damn, I am so happy the fans are back, because this would be awful with no fans. That fight was unbelievable.

Both men emerged victorious. I don't want to, like, I wouldn't hate down the line if they ran it back because that fight was epic. Anytime you get a fight of the year, I'd want to see another fight because it was just so good. I want to see adjustments that Brian Ortega can make. So it's not going to happen. Obviously, he's not going to get the Hollywood treatment where he gets the immediate rematch. But say Brian Ortega strings together two more wins and Volcanowski still the champ. Would it hate it?

It also makes me more interested to see another fight with Brian and Max. But Brian needs to take a break. He's absorbed a lot of damage his last three fights and he's had time off between there. But that's because of injuries and various other things. So 10 out of 10 fight, fight of the year, round of the year. If you want to argue that it's the greatest round in UFC history, I won't argue that either. I feel like with everything that happened the previous day and what we talked about in round one, that fight was sort of the vindic-like, like, I said, vindication for why we love this sport so much.

Like, yeah, there's some hiccups and there's some bumps in the road. But once in a while, a fight like that comes along, a round like that comes along. And you're just like, damn, this sport is just awesome. Despite some of like the negative things that can happen, this is why we watch. This is why we spend our Saturday nights watching fights, things like that. And it's great to see a guy like Volcanovsky who kind of like flip the switch to a heel and talk trash, try to get in his opponent's head. And one thing people have been saying about Volkanowski, Jose, over the last year, 15 months or so is like, man, this guy is really good. He gets blamed for the Holloway decision, which makes no sense.

But a lot of people, like, in Jed says it all the time, like, he might be the best featherweight in the world. Hell, he might even be the best fighter overall in the world right now. They just don't know. and maybe he is. And it's just not being talked about enough in terms of where Volcanowski should be viewed in those conversations. But after Saturday night, Jose, are you willing to say, can you put a number on it, top five, top three? And I know it's super subjective with rankings, especially this kind of discussion. But is Alexander Volcanovsky a top three, top five pound for pound guy in the world right now?

I'd say top five, but it'd probably be around the five or four mark. I think his two wins, like again, his wins, he has. has like wins over two of the greatest, the two greatest featherates of all time. He has two over Max, one over Jose Aldo. Those are the greatest, those are one and two. I think we can all agree with that. I know Connor disagreed, but who cares? Those wins, though, as the Aldo fight was dominant and then the Holloway fights were competitive, but he didn't put him away. I'd still put him probably five. If you want to tell me six, that's fine too, but he's clearly top ten. He's clearly top seven. I have said forever, like I know a lot of people on our site disagree. I still

had Volcanowski number one in my personal rankings as a featherweight. I know a lot of people would still put Max number one and Volcanowski number two. Or like I think Casey Leiden had Volcanoz number four. That's as that's as expected. That's as expected. And then like a lot I still put in my mind, I still put Charles Oliver number one lightweight because in the end of the day, I think wins and losses matter in a sport. And if you are the champion, you are number one. Just do I think the 2007 seven Patriots were the best football team in the world at that year, 100%. But they lost. They are number two.

They came in second. You cannot rank them number one in the 2000. I know Mike would probably disagree, but you can't argue with wins and losses. So I had Volcanowski number one. And I think this cemented him. Max Holloway, just the second best feather in the world right now,

because he doesn't have 10 pounds of gold with or 15 pounds of gold in or whatever, however it weighs. So top six, top five. And when you say pound first, Are you including women in that list? It's Suggey. However you want to present it. I'd still put Camaro number one and then like Amanda and Valentina would have to be up there too.

But if you want to tell me Volcanovsky is, I think obviously with Habib and John Jones not being in that conversation right now, it would probably, you'd have to include Volcanowski and Israel Adasania, Charles Oliveri doesn't pour like all those guys. So yeah, I would probably put him five, five or six somewhere, but easily in my mind number one featherweight in the world right now. A.K. You, we've done many of show, BTL, or, you know, even like the, even like the year prediction that we did for on to the next one, like all these predictions we were going to do. And one of the things you said is like Alexander Okunovsky, in essence, is going to get the praise and the shine that he deserves. This is going to be like the year that people recognize who the hell that man is. So in terms of like the pound for pound conversation after a fight like that, and I know he only fought once this year because of the long layoff, but are we ready to throw him? into this discussion, the pound for pound grade, top three, top five. Where do you have him right now?

Yeah, well, first of all, apparently, you know, even a blind squirrel can find a nut. So I'm glad that I somewhat predicted that he'd be getting his flowers. I mean, look, we still need to see the aftermath. I was a little, I thought the reaction to the decision being read for him. I mean, people knew he won. It wasn't controversial. But like, I feel like he was still less popular than Brian Ortega. Maybe I'm reading, again, Jose, you probably had a better read on that. I still feel like Ortega is like the more popular guy for whatever reason. But so I don't know. I don't know if his reputation changed.

For me, I already had him fourth. I had him fourth behind Usman number one, Izzy number two, Ingana number three. That's probably not going to change because of this fight. So I'm probably the highest on Volcanowski out of anyone, I guess along with Jose. So yeah,

so it doesn't change that much for me. And I'm just looking at our consensus pound for pound rankings. We have him fifth. So behind the names I mentioned and Dustin Porre. So I don't know. I don't know how much going to, I always wonder, guys, I always wonder how much a close fight affects someone's pound for pounds, dominance, you know, reputation. Because I think, you know, the one reason, let's say Andrew Silva, a lot of people had him above, you know, GSP for a long time, depending who you ask, because he was so dominant in his fights. For me, the appeal of GSP was the vulnerability that he showed, the depth of his division, and the fact that he was sometimes in danger in his fights and was able to, you know, turn it around and still, you know,

you know, win in a definitive way, but always seemed vulnerable. So Volcanowski, I don't know if I, you know, necessarily compare him directly to GSP like that. But for me, a fight like this, like I said, where he gets to show a little bit of everything and overcome adversity, makes it more impressive and does make me view him in a better light as far as pound for pound goes. But for other people, I could see the opposite. I could see people saying, well, I mean, how close was he to being finished? He could have been submitted in the third round. So how great of a pound for pound fighter can he be?

How dominant is he really? So I don't know. I can't speak for everyone. For me, I already had him high for other people. I could see an argument why, again, depending on how you define pound for pound greatness, I could see an argument why you'd be like, no, he kind of stayed where he was. You know, maybe he leaped over, definitively leaped over Holloway. But even then, I'm sure that people who won't give him that designation.

So, yeah, I think I'm kind of hedging here because, again, me personally, yes, top five pound per pound guy. In general, I don't know if he's made an airtight case. he should be yeah and it's it's what threw me off like the whole week before that fight and all this because there is Dana white had already said like holloway's fighting Rodriguez November 13th and you know from all accounts for like six seven weeks that fight was not done um or even close to being done for a number of reasons and then with this fight on the doorstep literally the day before is when ESPN reported and we confirmed it that it was happening and I was just like why the timing of all this, the date it comes out, like, when it's happening. It makes so little sense to me

to even have this fight happen, especially when Volcanovsky's coming out and saying, like, I don't want to wait that long. I want to get right back in there. He's talking about maybe going up to 155 to stay active. And we have this fight we have to wait for November 13th between Holloway and Rodriguez. It just makes no sense. They should just pull this fight and just do the third fight between Volcanofsky and Holloway. Just put it in, put it on the books for February and March. That's a main event. That's a fight everybody wants to see. But kudos to Volcanovsky. Happy to see him finally get a little bit of a kick in the respect department. It's been deserved for a long time. I really want to see that third fight between Volcanovsky and

Holloway. In terms of high-level martial arts competition, quote-unquote, Jose Youngs, that is the fight I want to see. I'm so fascinated by it. And I want to see them fight every weekend. I want to see 12 fights from those guys and just see how different it would be in the adjustments that are made. Just unbelievable stuff. But more on UFC 266 coming up next. The point for round two goes to the Prince O positivity Alexander Kay Lee the man driving the Bolkanowski train since day one

Thank you Alexander Volcanosky that's a shared point with Alexander Bulkanoffin. See? The Alex has got to stick together. Yeah, I was going to say. Yeah. Alex Savage, you get a third of the point too. So, I know, look, she's a bully.

If she just wants, if she, like, message to me and said, just give me the point, I have to give it to her. She's a real bully. I don't know people about her. Like, she is cool. Like, I know we do call her cool Alex. And not just because we have to. She is cool, but she's a bully.

I'm just saying, well, I don't. On a real quick tangent of Cool Alex, one time we were in Las Vegas, this is in our fan side of day, and we had all our bags lined up to check in outside the Team Mobile Arena. And it's all, like, very expensive camera equipment and, like, various, like, bags and stuff. And this homeless guy, like, walked up and straight up bent over to try and steal someone's camera. And Ku Alex just, like, got his face. He's like, and she's just like, what? And the homeless guy was just like, huh.

And it's like, ran away. Like, she, like, scared him away. That guy was lucky. Yeah. So you should ask, you should ask Alex about that. That's, I'll never forget that how, like, five-foot-one Alex Savage, like, punks of this very tall homeless man from stealing a bunch of camera equipment. I hope that dude turned his life around after because he, you know what I mean?

I hope that, like, he realized how close he came to death on that day. And, like, and then said, okay, I'm going to, oh, my, I'm turning it all around. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Maybe Alex Savas needs to talk to other people in those types of situations. But I'm not going to mention it. John Jones, the life coach.

There you go. Let's get to the other big story coming out of UFC 266. That's right. Despite everything Jed Mishu has said over the last year, Nick Diaz made the walk to the Octagon once again. It actually happened. Took on Robbie Lawler. And the way I approached this fight was I'm going to be completely open-minded.

I have no opinion. I have zero expectations. It's just two guys fighting. And going in with that approach, it was a much better fight than I thought it was going to be. Like Lala looked real good, landed big shots on Diaz. Nick early stages, I was like, oh boy. But then Nick started returning, started peppering shots. He was active. It seemed like he was getting loose and more comfortable in there. It had been a long time since he had been in there. Laller drills him in the nose in the third. Nick goes down in a heap. And then he was just like, I'm just like, I'm just like, I'm just like, I'm just. done. Lawler Avenges the loss from 17 years ago. Nick didn't get badly hurt. No one got badly hurt. So I think all in all, this was about as good of a result as we could have had

for a fight like this. They had a nice moment at the end and there you go. So Jose, let me present this question in a way and I'll let you expound upon it. If you could describe Nick Diaz's performance in one word, what would it be and why? Confusing in the sense that I don't know how to feel about it, not that he confused me with his performance. Because in one aspect, when they announced this fight, I was obviously very hyped for. Anyone that follows me on Twitter knows I've been literally tweeting about this fight since like the inception of Twitter. But I've been asking for this fight for almost eight, like at least eight years.

I don't know. And then when I heard that he wanted to do 185 and then I saw that interview with Broa Okamoto, I saw him all week I was around his team a bit It just I felt like gross Wanted in this fight Didn't feel like Nick wanted this fight It didn't sound like Nick was in a good space

It didn't look like Nick was in a good space He kind of looked kind of soft obviously you all saw that video of Him like shadow boxing and like the in the fighter photos and everything Or the B-roll It just didn't look great and then I saw him walk out And it I don't know

me and our friend Oscar were like this is going to be one-way traffic through five rounds like you got to assume rob he's just going to piece him up and just like decapitate the man so i feel weird in the sense that nick clearly didn't want to be there and then you saw like jake shields his teammates say like oh he wasn't ready and this and that and you heard his comments after saying oh i don't know who made this fight i had this coming the whole time and like i i had this coming to me but then like i i had a lot of like the actual fight like the actual fight like the actual athletic portion of the fight. I had a blast watching that fight. The crowd went nuts. Outside of that third round between Volcanozky and Ortega, the crowd loved every second of Nick Diaz Robbie Lala. Like, it is exactly, like,

if you would have told me that that, like, a year ago that this fight was going to happen and both fighters were going to show up, like, ready to throw down, that's pretty much the fight I expected. Like, do you remember a moment Rob Lala took a step backwards? I don't. But did you remember, like, a moment Nick

Diaz got like seriously hurt outside of like the the fight ending sequence I didn't I was watching that fight with Oscar and one of the UCPR people like we've got sat next to each other on press row and we were both just like this the whole time like like people that can't see it like we were like kind of like moving and like like it was it was so fun to watch in terms of a fist fight and then the and I remember after the first one like there's no possible way that could keep that pace up for five rounds like they just there was never a lull. They just threw punches.

How long in the fight last? 12 minutes. Around there, yes. They threw punches for 12 minutes. They threw punches and kicks for 12 minutes straight. That's almost a three-round fight. So I had a blast watching that fight, and then Robbie Lolle won in a way that I didn't expect him to win,

but I did predict him to win. But Nick was really, I thought Nick was competitive in that fight after taking such a long layoff and not looking great. And it just reminded me of a comment that Gilbert Melinda said, like Nick is just a fighter. Like he doesn't need a camp. He can just go in there and survive. And I think that's why fans like Nick the Diaz brothers because like Volcanovsky and

Holloway and all these guys, like they are extremely high level martial artists, but they fight to win the win the fight. Like they are fighting to win a sport. And Nick and Nate Diaz, they fight to survive like in life. Like that's the only reason they're MMA fighters. And that's what I saw in there. Nick Diaz takes like that whole, everyone says like it wasn't a good showing of my Nick. I think that fight personifies Nick Diaz.

Take six years off, comes in, semi out of shape, didn't want to be there. And he's still competitive against Robbie freaking lollar. The dude is just a fighter. He doesn't need a camp. He can go in there and just fight to survive. Like he's been doing his literally his whole life. So that's why I'm saying confusing because part of me,

I'm like, ah, Nick didn't need to take this. He clearly doesn't want to be there. I don't want anyone to do. I don't want anything to do things that will, that in a violent things if they don't want to feel obligated to do. but then in the middle of it, I had so much fun watching that fight. So to answer your question, I would use confused, but only confused by how I feel about watching the fight, not by the performance Nick Diaz did. Well said.

A.K., what is your word and why? Enough. And not in a negative way. Not in a negative way. Not as in, oh, I've seen enough. I don't want to. I mean, as in I thought Nick Diaz's performance was good enough that I kind of still want to see him keep fighting. It wasn't, you know, look, again, he wasn't in the best of shape, you know, I know just looking at some of the stills from the fight, some of the photos that are out there, some of the some that we've used as like cover, you know, as a header images for, you know, our stories.

It looks bad, you know, he's, this is a guy who's known for being an incredible shape and for running, you know, doing triathlons. And he didn't want to, he didn't or couldn't make this week. You know, he was the 185, which I think was fine for both guys. I get it. you didn't get the best-looking Nick Diaz. He probably himself will admit, I'm sure, in subsequent interview, should he do them? He wasn't in the best or shape. But the skills were all there.

The toughness was there. For me, this was like the best case scenario of when we bring up the possibilities of, like, Legends League when we say, oh, we'd like to see a Legends League someday. This, for me, was a preview of what that could be like. It was two guys who, again, they both fought well. They both fought as they, you know, as we have seen them fight throughout their careers, even though Lawler was supposedly washed going to this fight, despite the fact that his losses are to very, very good,

high-paced welterweight. So people wondering, could Robbie pull the trigger anymore? Maybe not against guys like Neil Magny, maybe not against guys at Kobe Culmington, but against someone who's a little bit, again, closer to him in age, closer to him in fighting style, you're going to see the old Robbie Lauder. There was a lot, there was a sensible stoppage.

You know, I know when we think of, again, people just talk about, oh, we don't want to legendally because we don't want to see these guys get, like, really badly hurt. Well, the one, as soon as one guy got really badly hurt in this fight, it was over. He had the good sense to stay on his back, to tell the referee, I've had enough. The referee immediately, you know, made a decision, and that was it, and it was called. And that, that's good. Like, that's a good thing. I know people, I don't want to hear people use the word quit. It looked like he got his nose broken. I know this happens two or three times a fight card,

but I have no problem with a fighter if they get their nose broken saying, I'm done. I think I don't think I want to go through it to fight anymore. It just doesn't want to fighting Robbie Lawler and I'm going to get hit in the nose 50 more times. And there's a lot of respect. There's a lot of mutual respect after. I loved the embrace after. You could tell it was genuine. So this for me is like all the elements that you'd want to see should, again, a promotion actually implement some sort of Legends League.

So it wasn't peak Diaz. I'm actually glad. I know he's saying he wished he'd fought Kamarouzman. I think that would have been a terrible, terrible fight. That's not a fight that I want to see anytime soon unless he, you know, fights his way back in his shape, fights away back into contention. But facing another guy that he fought 17 years ago in a rematch, I thought it was, gosh, it's such a weird word to use for MMA.

I thought it was charming. I thought the way it played out was really enjoyable. So my word is enough as in, yes, that both guys did more than enough to make this, I think, a fight that was that they shouldn't regret that it was booked and that I want to see them both keep fighting. What do you think, Jose, are you, like, did you leave, and let me just throw a couple things out there. One, I've never spoken word one to Nick Diaz, but I have spoken to him. to a couple people close to him. It seems like he's not done.

Like he wants to keep going. And I know Ariel Hawani mentioned on the MAA hour yesterday, there's some things that went on behind the scenes that may come out in regards to Nick in this fight. So we'll wait and see on that. But it seems like AK is good about seeing Nick fight again. I know some people are like, nah, that was good enough.

But in Jose, we talk about this all the time. I know we can't make that decision. I'm not asking you to make that decision here at all. But yourself, the guy who supports high-level martial arts competition, the fan. Do you want to see Nick Diaz back in there? Does that idea excite you or were you left with, if this is how it ends, I'm cool with that.

Oh, if Nick Diaz never fights again, I would have no problem with it. Like it was a really entertaining fight. He went out on his shield. He went out, like, as AK said, like, when people were calling it like, oh, a coward, oh, he tipped, oh, he chickened out. Like, that's nonsense. And also, like, his knee might have given out underneath him.

Like, people keep pointing out that. too. So if Nick Diaz goes out like that, I have absolutely no problem if he never fights again. I don't know his monetary situation if he needs to fight to make money or this and that. I don't know. But as a fight fan and as someone who felt the atmosphere of Nick in that arena and how receptive he was for the fans by the fans, I would absolutely love to see Nick Dia's fight again. I don't know who he fights. I know a lot of people are saying like, oh, he should fight a cowboy he should fight Tony Ferguson like this and that like

if you want to take that route fine but Nick Diaz has also said he doesn't want to fight anyone that his brother has already fought so that takes Cowboy right out of the equation so it's not going to happen he's not going to fight Mazu doll he's not going to fight Leon any of those guys if you want to do the Tony fight fine but again like if Nick Diaz's knee went out

if there's stuff going on behind the scenes that hasn't come out I wouldn't expect Nick Diaz to fight again until maybe like international fight week July, 2022. So like in however many months that is, like eight months, seven months, whatever. So something like that. But as a fight fan, I do want to see Nick Diaz fight again. But only if he wants to.

I don't want to see any more interviews of like, I don't know why this fight's happening. I don't even want to be here. I hate everything about this. Like every time I try to leave, they pull me back in. Like the part where he's like, Nate is like all like, Nate's taking everything I works for because I want him to, but then now I'm back and I hate all this. I don't want to say any of that. If Nick Diaz wants to fight,

I want him to fight. If he doesn't want to fight, I have no interest in watching him to fight. That is my answer. You know what fight wouldn't make you sad, Jose? Wonderboy. I think that's the way to go. I think you mentioned. No, it's Wonderboy Robbie Lawler. That's the fight. I said that at the preview show. I've been asking for that fight. The only person that's been asking for that fight

fight longer than me is James Lynch. James Lynch has been asking for that fight since Robbie Lawler was the champion of the UFC. Well, it was booked. Was it I think it was booked twice. There's rumored. I don't think it was actually booked. But I think, I think that fight could happen and then win or lose, I think Stephen Thompson could fight Nick Diaz. Maybe.

Or if they give, I know Robbie was supposed to fight, Pasanibio at one point. I wouldn't hate that fight either. I do, we should also discuss what Valentina Shepchenko did on Saturday night because I feel like she's often overlooked in these post-paper-view reactions because she's just so, so good. and she just goes out in steamrolls people and it's expected and the odds are so highly in her favor. And what's interesting, I spoke with Lauren Murphy yesterday. You could watch that over on the NBA Fighting YouTube channel. It was super fascinating. And look, she talks about her head coach testing positive for COVID on Tuesday and some of the weird things they had to go through on Fight Week.

But it was incredibly fascinating to get an honest to God's account of what it is like to fight Valentina Shepchenko. And Lauren provided that and it was really interesting. and Lauren knew after the first exchange that her strategy of, I'm just going to be tough, was a terrible strategy because she got clipped with the right hand and she was like, I can't be tough through all this. But go watch that interview because she goes through like moments in that fight and what it was like to actually share the cage with her. But Jose, look, there's two options here.

We can keep feeding Shevchenko contenders at 125. I know Joanne Calderwood is fighting Alexa Grasso in November. A lot of people think maybe the winner of that fight. My opinion is if Calderwood wins, great. If Grasso wins, I'm not ready to throw her into a title fight just yet. Build upon that a little bit more. And then depending on what happens in December at UFC 269, if Amanda Nunes retains her title gets Juliana and Apena,

do we just go ahead and pull the trigger on the champion versus champion third fight between those two? So if you have the matchmaking hat on, I mean, you are wearing a hat? I don't know if it's a matchmaking hat, but where are you going with this? Like, do you just want to get right after the Nunez thing, especially after what we heard on the MA hour yesterday? or do you just want to keep letting Chefchenko just build this 125 pound resume more and more and more? I think you're muted. This is going to sound like a very Jose answer,

but I really want to see how Amanda looks against Giuliano Pena. Because again, I've said it for a long time. Like, Amanda Nunes does not really fall like an incredibly high-level wrestler yet. And maybe that is her kryptonite. Maybe that fight between Amanda and Valentina doesn't even happen because Amanda Nunes loses. to a high level wrestler. She's not really bent on her back. Like, who's the last, like, really good wrestles she fought?

Katzangano. And what happened? So I want to see, I want to see how she looks. Even if it's competitive, like I said before, if it's like a hyper-competitive fight, I want to just eff it, run it back. If Amanda Nunes looks any part of human, if, if Giuliano Pena is her chale-sunnet,

then F it. I'll watch that, I'll watch Amanda Nunes fight Giuliano Pena a second time. So right now, on September 30th, at 9.50 a.m. Pacific time, yeah, I want to see the third fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Soshenko. That could change in December.

I've been wanting to see Jojo fight Valentina for a long time. Just because they're two very high-level Maiti specialists, but Jojo kind of keeps fumbling at the goal line or taking fights that she shouldn't have to, even though the fight is booked. But that's, you know, she loses fair and square and she takes fights when she wants to fight, so I'm not blaming Jojo.

I think the UFC has tried to make that fight several times, and it just hasn't worked out. I really enjoy Alexa Grasso's fighting style. I think she's every, bit as durable as Lauren Murphy, but has incredibly fast hands. And I think she's been in a lot of fights that I think are overlooked on undercards

because of things that have happened later on in the fight. Like her fight against Carlos Spars in Mexico, ruled. Her fight against Karlieh Nikovakov in Chicago, ruled. Her fight against Macy Barber, ruled. In Vegas, like, all of those fights are awesome. But I agree with you, if she beats

Jojo, I think she's one fight away. Maybe you do Grasso-Andrade for like the number one tender spot if Alexa Grasso wins. I know Andrade wants to go down and challenge a flyaway, but she's looked great. She's the number one flyer in the world. So if she doesn't have to go down, then she doesn't have to. So I think it just really depends. But I agree with everything you said. I just, I also personally really like to see long dominant victories, like title reigns. Like I was like what, what did, uh, Demetrius Johnson said something that has stupled me for a long time

when everyone kept trying to get him to go up to 135. He's like, how many champs are there? Three. You know how many people have the most title defenses in UFC history? One. That can only be one. And I was like, that is a very good point. So ever since you said that, it's kind of made me rethink these long dominant rains.

And Jared Canaanaires also said, like, my goal is to win the belt and fill up all the rubies on each side. So I'm whatever Valentina wants at the end of the day, it's her prerogative. I hope she gets paid. But me personally, I want to see a long dominant rain. I want to see her double-lap the division because we haven't seen that really since Demetius Johnson-Anderson Silver runs. Yeah, I love asking the question, like, can it be done? Can it be done?

How can this person do it? And I feel like we try to find ways, but then Valentina just goes right into that fire and it changes the question right away. I believe after the, I don't think you guys heard it because it was like off-camera after the press conference. I believe she's the first fighter to fill up one side of the belt. of rubies because they don't retroactively give you rubies so like john don'ts doesn't have like x amount of rubies or man in ues doesn't have x amount of rubies so i believe valentina's the first

one to fill up one side okay otno fans and listeners know your thoughts on this already you're ready to pull the trigger but especially after hearing chavchenko on the m a hour yesterday being kind of unchevchenko like throwing a little shade in there let i'm not going to say it's a heel turn but She went after it. Did that enhance it even further? Did this change it from this is what we should do to this is a no-brainer? Nah. Nah, for me, it doesn't.

No, no, because I was already very high on that. And I don't, like, like I said, she's playing the game. She's playing the game. I don't know if she necessarily believes, you know, some of the things she's saying about, you know, Nunez kind of feel like she kind of got away with one in the second fight. I really, there's two things I really want to see happen besides the third fight happened. I'd love to see people go back and rewatch the second fight. I again, I could be wrong.

Maybe people are way more on the ball on this. One, that fight is just not good. It's such a, it's a dull fight. It's with respect to, you know, close technical battles. It's just a fight where a lot of stuff doesn't happen. And the other idea that it was somehow robbery is just absurd. I have no issue with people saying Valentina Strichenko won. That's fine.

But you know guys, no, I have a pretty tight definition of robbery. Like it has to be like, oh, clearly, watch that fight. So little happens in that fight. that if you're telling me either fighter ran away with it, you're just not making an objective statement. It's just not true.

So that's the other reason I want to see them fight again is just put those first two fights in the past. Look, the third fight could be just as dull, but at least it'll give people something new to talk about because I'm so tired of that second fight being brought up without any proper context. It's just bizarre to me. But look, I'm also fine

with her staying at flyweight and just continuing because this is like sneakily one of the better booked divisions in the UFC. I know people think it has no depth because there's such a dominant champion in the top. I disagree. I think it's actually a really pretty good division. And I think it's been getting better every year. And it's been booked to keep moving. Like it keeps moving, moving, moving.

They keep finding fights for the veterans. They keep signing promising prospects who, again, unfortunately, the timing's just a little off for them to ever, you know, maybe challenge Chichenko. I feel like a lot of them are a few fights and maybe a couple of years off. But otherwise, it's a really kind of intriguing division from top to bottom. I actually really like flyweight. The other tough part about it is there's two high-level gatekeepers in the top contender spots, Jessica Androchev and Caitlin Chukagian, like those two, I feel like beat everybody else.

We talked kind of about featherweight. I'm not saying Androge Chirkegan or on the Holloway or take a level, but I do feel like those two are a cut above every other name at 125. So that's what makes it so tricky. So for me, I want to see them just do the third Nunez fight of the timing works out if Nunez has a convincing way over Pena. And let 125 kind of keep shaking itself out and get sorted because I feel, again, when are losing as Nunez, she can always go back, make that fight happen. And she can keep continuing her quest to, you know, maybe surpass the most successful title defenses in UFC history. It's just so fun to watch Valentina fight too. It's just really amazing to see how effort.

It's effortless, but it's not. Like, it just looks that way. And she's just so damn good. And I don't, yeah, whatever she does, I still think that they're going to wait on that fight. Like, if Nune, I don't think Nunes has a lot left to give in the sport, nor should she have to give a lot more. So maybe like December, 2022, last fight in Nunes's career, we do it one more time. And then she moves on and Shepchenko can either be the champ champ or she goes back and keeps defending at the 125 pound title.

But 266, memorable card for sure, one of the best of the year. A lot of MMA to look forward to this weekend. That's where we're going for round four. The point for round three goes to Jose Young's. Jose Young's two to one. Great battle. Your business doesn't move in a straight line. Some days bring growth.

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Plus, get $1,000 Nissan bonus on kicks models. This Black Friday, you've got a whole month to catch all the exclusive offers waiting for you. See your local Nissan dealer or nisone.ca for details. Conditions apply. And let's quickly talk about this weekend because tomorrow, it's Thursdays we record. So on Friday, a little afternoon show for Bellator MMA, we actually get to. to see a live European Bellator show. No tape delay, no nothing.

Michael Venom Page versus Douglas Lima, the main event, the rematch from a few years back. And then on Saturday, UFC is back at the apex. UFC Vegas 38. That one is headlined by Tiago Santos versus Johnny Walker. So, AK, let's begin with you. The UFC has a much more interesting card top to bottom. No doubt about it. Top to bottom, this isn't even a conversation.

Who has the better main event, though? Is it Bellator with the Lima MVP rematch? Or is it Santos versus Johnny Walker over on the other channel? Oh, it's Belvoir. And I'm excited for the Tehrigal Santos, Johnny Walker fighting. I mean, that just seems like a striker's delight, right? I mean, that's either going to be a wicked five-round striking battle or highlight real KO. But I think this Lima MVP, I don't want to call the rematch overdue,

because I think both guys had reasons and had other logical opponents in between, you know, their first fight and now. So it's not, I will say, it's the perfect timing for it. I think if they waited any longer, it'd been kind of senseless. This is a fight. I think both guys are interested in. Obviously, MVP wants to get that loan loss back. And a lot of his fans feel he was doing well against Douglas Lima. I don't subscribe again.

I think a lot of people thought maybe he was, again, depending who you ask, you know, they'll still say, oh, he was really like, look, he was really like, before he got caught, you know, he was probably, you know, leading on the scorecards. I don't know if I'd go that far. but he was doing well. I think he did show that he is more than a quote unquote, Can Crusher that, you know, yes, even though he's had some favorable matchmaking,

that doesn't mean that he's not skilled enough to fight the Douglas Lemas of the world to fight the top Walter weights in Bell Tour. So I'm glad he's getting another shot to prove it. It's a winnable fight for him. Like I think Douglas Lima is great. I think we always talk about him as one of the most overlooked guys of 170

just because he doesn't fight in the UFC. but I also think that I think the skill cap between him and MVP is not as large as people think so I'm super intrigued by that main event again I'm glad it's finally being done is it only it's only a three rounder right

yeah so that's that does ding it a bit that does ding it a bit but I will give the edge to Bell tour here and I'll say it comfortably because I think the storyline makes sense I love that it's happening in London this is such a this is such a great, you know, marketing move for Beltor.

You need to have big Michael Page fights in London. So this had happened in like Uncas, in glamorous Uncysville, which we all love, it would have been fine. This, for me, takes it to another level. And that's, you know, probably the last thing that puts it over Saturday's UFC main event for me. So I'm going to give the tip to Beltor here. Yeah. I mean, what did, can you make an argument for Santos Johnny Walker, Jose, over this fight? I feel like this Liam MVP rematch is right up your alley.

Yeah, I mean, I'll play devil's advocate because I'm a huge MVP fan and a huge Lima fan. I was actually in attendance for their first fight. It was the first, but it might have been the last Bellator card I covered for MMAFighting.com. It was the same day as Rose Androd. So like everyone else went to Rio and I went to cold, like, rainy Chicago. But that card's ruled because like, let's not forget, Lima MVP was the co-made event. The main event was Chandler Pitbull. And also Adrian McKee, Pat Curran and Jake Hager and, my God, what's his name?

Tombstone Jones. What is his name? TJ Jones. T.J. Jones, yes. So that card ruled. So I've been asking for this fight for a long time in general. But I will play devil's advocate. And I, so take that for what it is.

I do agree with almost everything AK said. Three-round fight for MVP Lima is a huge ding for me. Their first fight was a five-round fight because, again, that's part of the Walssoy Grand Prix, where every fight was five rounds because Groy McDonald's the champion was in there. I want this to be five rounds. And an individual named Ross McAfrody, who I believe is a reporter over in the UK, or I don't know his exact job over there, but he's like from Scotland. He lives in London.

And he tweeted at me when I was talking about this. And this is the exact phrasing for this card taking place in London. doesn't seem like there will be much of a home crowd for MVP. It's a shame. This fight is not well marketed. It is the top heavy card. It is not very well priced at all. Even the worst seats in that house are $80.

You think they'd cut prices down and go for a packed crowd. Half-empty arena isn't going to be a good look. Now, this is someone that has his boots on the ground in London. He's saying it's not even going to be a home crowd fight for MVP because it's going to be an empty arena. Maybe they cut the prices down. you know how a lot of fighters that bellator does a lot of those things where like the local fighters are like the is like the amateur regional scene and they can sell tickets to fill out the arena but if that's the case and i tend to agree with someone who's living in london that this fight is not being well marketed then someone that's what on the on the west coast of the united states about as far away from london as you can get so uh those are the two knocks for this card uh apparently apparently according to someone there it's not being well marketed it will be a semi-empty arena. Let's also not forget, it's in the middle of a pandemic.

The UFC was supposed to go to London, and they pulled it because of travel restrictions. MVP said Lima. I don't know if you watch, obviously you guys watch the MVP interview with Havana and the MMA hour. He said Lima had asked for this to be possible catch weight. That's not happening. I know they made weight, but the fact that Lima is already hinting it, maybe struggles at making 170 makes me think that this might not be the best fight in the world.

I actually thought MVP did really well in the first round. Yes, if you watch that fight, Lima was a lot. on top of him for a lot of it, but MVP had like risk control for a huge chunk of that fight. And he was kind of, I don't want to say he was piecing him up, but MVP was clearly the more dangerous striker on the feet in that fight. And then he himself

said when he got knocked down, you know when you get knocked, like the first rule of when you get knocked down in the maze, you go backwards away from the strikes. But MVP said he had such success on the feet that he got overconfident and just stood up like he was tying his shoe and

leaned right into a right. hook from or a hook from hell that's a capitated man. So he knows the exact mistake he made and MVP seems like the type of guy that can make adjustments. I'm not going to give a prediction just yet, but I think those are the big knocks. Plus, Tiago Santos

is a monster and he has like anyone that has a Thor's hammer tattooed on his chest. And we talk about MVP's interview a lot, but did you watch Johnny Walker's interview? That was awesome. What he said, I want to go to hell because hell

is my home and I want to be comfortable in my home. I want to taste the blood in my mouth. So I'm like, my God. Well, if there's one man that is going to take you to hell, it's going to be Tiago Santos. So I'm all in favor of this fight. 10 out of 10 across the board. Soon to be new dad, Tiago Santos.

Let's not forget. Yonets Goon's Guy is pregnant. So I think if you're going to watch one fight, watch that fight because that fight could last 30 seconds or could not be five rounds of quote and cool hell. or I guess third option could be AK's lovely prediction of Johnny Walker and Nikita Krilov. That's not making three rounds. And then we saw what happened. One of the greatest moments in between the links history came from that fight.

Thanks to our friend Davidson Baker. Jose, real quick, before you move on here, low-key, bangers storyline. We're coming off 266, so the hangover is a little bit real heading into these fight night events. but there are some interesting fights, some interesting storylines heading into Saturday. And maybe the low-key banger and storylines coming from Bellator. I doubt it, but what say you?

What's the one that sticks out to you? I mean, for Bellator, if you're going to watch one fight outside of the main event, it's probably the co-main, Lee McCourt, I think is kind of the one to watch. I know that the female divisions aren't the most stacked. So anytime you kind of get any sort of rise, I think that's the fight you want to pay attention to. I also believe she's very good friends with Molly McCann,

so anyone that Molly likes. has to be a good person because Molly's like the nicest person in the world. If you're talking about the UFC, I mean there's like the whole main of the main card in general. Every fight has some sort of interest

in it like, Cowboy O'A Anika Price, bananas. I don't know if you watch Macy's Media Day interview, but she doesn't have a lot of positive things to say about Aspen Lad because they pulled out of her last fight and Aspen was apparently very classless. So,

So anytime there's a fight with some sort of heat, especially between the ladies, I'm very excited for. Alexander Hernandez is a psycho. Preelins, though, the retirement fight, Betchco had. I'm going to let A.K. Lee talk about that fight. Oh, pour one out. I'm going to let A.K. Lee bring that one up, Anthony N. Chischenko. So we're going to see Valentina back in her corner. I know, Mike, you've interviewed Casey O'Neill a few times.

I know she's, like, one of the people to watch at Flyweight. Antinich Svchenko has oddly enough become a gatekeeper for no reason outside of her last name. Like they give her these high-level prospects or people that they want to like use the Sushenko Nays to kind of bounce off off of, which is whatever. That's your role. She's still getting a high-level fighter. So pretty much every fight on this card has at least some sort of intrigue for me, even if it's just one fighter. As I think Jed Mishu has said a few times and I've said a few times, there's a lot of Wikipedia pages. A lot of Wikipedia pages on this card.

So the UFC card is fun. And I'm glad Tiago Santos versus Johnny Walker is a five-round fight. So if you're going to pick one card between the two to watch from the beginning on, the obvious answer is the UFC. Like that's just no brand here. A.K., you know how, especially on the matchmaking show, my relationship with Antonina Shepchenko is. It is like an emotional roller coaster.

It's up and down. I don't even like to bring her name up. Yeah, it's tough. And then, you know, I'm like, all right, she's finally going. got over that threshold. Here we go. Now she's going to go. And then she loses their next fight. And she gets submitted by Andrea Lee, which is, there's no shame in that. Andrew Lee is a very talented fighter. But now we're back to where she was before. And she's taking on Casey O'Neill, who's a hell of a fighter.

But that's a great fight under the radar. Not a lot of people are talking about it. But what's yours? What's the low-key-banger, loki storyline that's not getting enough love in your opinion? Oh, well, I am just so interested. Well, again, I am a little disappointed. This is not the main card, as Jose brought up. This is Bechkehahehaea versus Carrosa. I'm probably over-axcenting that. I'll say Carol Rosa is like the... This is Besko Hea's last fight. This is presumably her last Emmy fight.

She is announced it as her last enemy fight. Her fight with... I think this was supposed to happen in... Not her fight with Carl Rosa, but I think she was supposed to fight. Wu Yanan. And I think that was supposed to be her last fight. And then didn't she kind of get released,

but then the UFC agreed to give her one more fight? There's a lot of work that went into making this fight happen. And I would... Like, how can you bury this? It's not even the featured prelim. This is a legend. Okay, I know we exactly. Listen, she has become, you know, from her early days as being sort of this heel foil to Ronda Rousey, that's a long time ago.

Since then, she has become almost like an Artem Lobov type like cult figure as far as her toughness and her ability to somehow still keep getting high profile fights, even though she hasn't always had the most success inside the cage. Her dancing skills, which would make Bob Fossi blush. I mean, it is, there's so much, like, to appreciate about her. She's, she's carried herself pretty well. And like I said, ever since the rousy stuff, which is just everyone's flinging heat here and there all over the place. She's carried herself pretty well in interviews. I think she's been a good, pretty good ambassador for the sports. So I wish that this fight would be a bit higher.

So it shouldn't even be a deep cut. I would, I mean, you could put Alexander Hernandez and Mike Breeden on the prelims. I know they like Alexander Hernandez. I don't know. Otherwise, it is a pretty strong main card, as Jose mentioned. So some really, a couple of other weird to look out for Alejandro Perez and Johnny Eduardo have not been able to fight for a long time. Probably, you know, COVID-19 related travel slash visa issues and all that. This will be Johnny Eduardo's first fights in like over 1,200 days.

He's 43 years old. He's close to his entering his like 25th year as a professional MMA fighter. So Johnny Ardwarder is back, people. He's not retired and he's fighting another guy coming off a long layoff. Turbo Perez. So that's a fun one. And then I want to point out one more oddity on the Bellator card. I'm really interested in Elina Kalianidu, who is this. She's a 22-year-old fighter from Greece. She's had two, like several kicks of the can with Belator. They brought her in when she was like 19. She lost two fights. They released her logically. She went back,

won some fights, came back to Belator, has lost her next two fights. She's O and four in Belator so far. I think she's being set up with an opponent that she should be able to defeat. So this will be, this is deep on the, on the Beltor prelim. So that's one. I want to see this young lady, very talented young fighter, uh, get her first Belator win. If she doesn't, if this is 0 and 5 in Belator, then, uh, you know, maybe it's just, it's just not meant to happen for her right now. But, um, yeah, that's one fight to look up for Alina, Kalinidu and Petra Kaskolva. Ak, digging deep. Real deep. Digging deep. Super deep. You're like digging into, dig into another country right now, okay. And, uh, all the way to Greece.

All the way to Greece. And because of that, you have 10. You have tied things up. It is two to two. We head to the knock around. Such a shocking development here on BTL. One question, one minute for each competitor. They have no idea what this question is. They will discuss amongst, they will discuss their thoughts on this question. And then after that, I will award the winner. We're not going to call anybody in because we just don't have that kind of time. We don't have that kind of. We're not on video. It's not that big of a deal. So, Jose, we'll go with you. We're going to give you the champion sprague. I believe you're the last person to

between the two of you to have a victory on the program. So I'll allow you to dictate. You want to go first or pass it on over to AK? I can't. Oh, you got on mute. You're muted. So I'm going to pass it on to AK because I know if he was given the Champions product, if he would have wanted to go

first anyway. So since it is AK's birthday, happy birthday, okay. Oh, thank you. That is my reasoning. Not competitive advantage at all. I'm doing this for AK. What a gift. AK, I'm not going to, I know when it comes to these questions, you get a little nervous, you get a little anxious. You're like, is it going to be a door question?

Is it going to be put myself in the perspective of a different fighter? No, we're not doing any of that. We're going to keep things simple, okay? We are going to shine some more light on the greatness of UFC 266, okay? We are going to award the sixth player award winner for UFC 266. We're going to give this award to a fighter who competed on that card that delivered a tremendous performance, but is not being discussed enough that is not getting enough shine

coming out of Saturday's event. Whether it be the first fight, whether it be a main card fight, however you dictate this question, however you see it playing out in your mind, you go with that. We're going to put one minute on the clock. Who is the six player award winner from UFC 266? Your time starts

right now. Gosh, there's like two obvious choices, so I'm really glad I'm going first here. And let me just say overall, this was such a classy card, like the way the fighter behavior was. So I'm sure Jose will cover the other one that I'm thinking of. I'm going to go with Marabd de Valishvili. I mean, I had picked Marlon Rice to beat him.

I just think Malin is still, like, you know, at his best, it's like a top five bantamweight. I know, again, he's had some struggles. But early on, classic Marlin, you know, stings his opponent early. Looks like he's ready to get another first round finish. And Marab, this is exactly the test he needed. This is a guy who a lot of us have him pegged as a future bantamweight title challenger.

There's obviously things in his way. It's a deep division. There's a lot of contenders up top. And one of his best friends currently holds the undisputed title. We'll see how long that last. So for me, this is the performance Maraud needed. And it's the featured prelim, which is always nice. It was on ESPN news or something.

Okay, so I don't know how much exposure he got. But this is seven straight wins against, again, a former title contender, a guy who has just been top ranked forever. And almost like with Volkanowski, showed his resilience, showed his expertise, showed his finishing ability. just an awesome performance all around. Showed his personality after. So I think pretty easy pick for me.

The sixth man would be Marab de Walshawili. All right, AKA taking some liberties with the time. It's all okay. My sound went out for a second. It's okay. As far as I feel concerned, my sound went out. It's okay. It's the magic of digital audio.

All right, Jose, he went with Marab, aka with Marab de Walshwili. That's a great pick. Same question for you. Who is your six-player award winner? Maybe you can pick Marab and you have different reasons for that, but it's up to you. 60 seconds on the clock, your time starts now. It's a great pick, but it's an obvious pig, so I'm not going to go with the obvious

pig. Also, that was the sixth fight from the top, so just the, and everything lines up for the answer to be Maraub de Valle's really, but I'm not going to go with that. I'm going to go on that probably no one's talking about because he got overshadowed by the rest of the car because he was on the first fight of the night. Jonathan Pierce for Omar Morales. And if I have to ask you, how many times has who is the only man other than the only man than Jonathan Pierce to beat Omar Morales? That's right. You guess correctly.

Giga Chikaze, who is on an absolute tear? How many times has Omar Marales ever been finished in his entire life before Saturday night? Zero. He went to a decision with Giga Chikaze. Jonathan Pierce submits him in the, like what, the second round? And in a very exciting fight. He was a lot of fun scrambles, walks into the back. None of the microphones even work.

And no one seems to care. And he just goes, oh, you know what? Take your time. you guys are doing you got us you guys got a long that night ahead of you let's get all the bugs out so you know what jonathan pierce i appreciate you for understanding the plights of the media backstage also mike you were there people ask me what one way traffic is in an mama fight watch joe lozahn versus jonathan pierce joe lozont basically just big brothered him into a into a into a tkio victory and then joe lozun hasn't ever fought again so congratulations jonathan

pierce you have back-to-back wins over kai kamak to the third and omar mara mara mara And I didn't even think you were UFC talent after fighting Joe Lozano. So you are my sixth man because you proved me wrong. You're very respectful to the media backstage. And you stopped a man. He went three rounds with Ghi Kade Chikaze. Congratulations, Jonathan Pierce on a second UFC win. My pick was more attached to AK, but it's Ray Longo and Matt, Sarah.

They actually get to share this award because if you just need a pick-me-up, if you need a boost in life, I want you to go watch. the corner of Marab de Wallach Willie between rounds one and two in that Marl Mara's fight. And you will be, you will go run 10 miles. If you've never run 10 miles before, you will go run 10 miles. Because between Ray Longo and Matt Sarah, I was jacked up on Saturday night after listened to that corner. But we heard it.

We got Marab. We got JSP. Excellent arguments from both ends. But now I've got to pick a winner. And this is the worst part of the gig. But technically as you know, there really isn't a winner. We just play and debate. But the winner of colleague versus colleague BTL is the man with the backwards hat Jose Youngs.

He gets it done digging deep with JSP. No one else would have done that. Nobody else would have done that. A.K., it was a wonderful guest. They wouldn't think to. You know why they can think to? because now we have a podcast on M.AFighting.com called I Got Next, where they can meet the next wave of talent in the MMA.

If they want to see Marab talk, then go, they get two new munons and Wednesdays on the MMA out. What a lot. What a professional. This is why you're my colleague. This is why, when I think of colleague, Jose Young's one of the first faces that comes to my life. There you go.

That's right. All right, Jose, I know you got things to do and places to go, but before you leave, 30 seconds. My friend. Talk about whatever it is you want to talk about good, bad and different, MMA related. I'm not talking about anything

MMA related. I'm going to talk about, listen, Mike, this is a very important day for people in Boston. I swear to God, if the Seattle Mariners make the playoffs for the first time since 2001

and the Red Sox are on the outside looking in, I might burn down a house. Like, there's no reason why we should have 90 wins. Like, we're playing the Orioles. Hey, if we lose today to the Orioles, and we don't make them, because then we have to go face the nationals

who also aren't very good. Like, listen, the baseball gods are laying this up for us to make the playoffs and shut out the Mariners again. Did you know A.K.? Actually, no, of course A.K. knows this.

The Seattle Mariners have had the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports as of right now. They haven't made the playoffs since Eichiro's rookie year when they went 116 wins. And then they lost in the ALCS.

Yes. Yeah. They haven't won sense. They haven't made the playoffs since. Not for lack of trying. They have a good team. They're going to make the playoffs next year. It's just not this year. The Red Sox should make the playoffs and then they get swept in the first round

because that's what's going to happen. But I swear to God, if the Mariners break their streak on the Red Sox expense because they can't beat the Orioles and the Nationals, I'm going to light a house on fire. It's oddly enough, the 10-year anniversary of the day that the Red Sox and Terry Francona parted ways. After the Red Sox lost their season finale to the Baltimore Orioles and missed out on the playoffs.

Yeah, but the Orioles were really good. They were good down the stretch. They were the spoiler of all spoilers. They didn't make the playoffs. I still think they had the worst record in the A.L. East that year, but they won, like, 18 of 20. That was, like, right on the peak of when they were going to, like, they had young Machado, young Adam Jones,

like, young Chris Davis. Like, they were about to break out. So, yeah. Man, again, and that's the Mariners this year. So don't let it happen again, Red Sox. I know you have an awful, you can't field and forgot how to catch pop flies. You give up home runs like it's your job. You're both in a bunch.

Both in sucks a bet. A.K., your thoughts on MMA or the world of professional baseball? Oh, I just want to say, I was surprised neither of us picked Dan for that last question. I got to get a special challenge. Oh, yeah. And Nazat-Hak for us. But specifically to Dan, he won the fight. And also, he used his post-fight Mike Ty,

to like pray to he's just like oh don't worry about me it's like you know Nazraq went through so much as well the visa of course his mother recently passed so he used like the first like 30 seconds of his post by victory speech to praise his opponent and this is just kind of my example like I think and why I and some people enjoyed U.S. 266 is at the moment the fights were great and then the behavior around the fights I thought was also just wonderful that there was so much respect and people acknowledging just like how difficult it is to make these events happen you know during a pandemic and and to see Dan hooker like again go out of his way. When we know he's been through hell trying to, you know, get to Vegas over the last two weeks, for them to then say, well, it was nothing compared to what my, you know, when my opponent went through, I thought it was just awesome. So I was surprised that that Jose didn't go with that. And I thought I was a shoe in when he went for Jonathan Pierce. But I just felt too, too obvious.

He's a multiple-time BTL champion, and I am not. AKA you are a multiple-time champion. I mean, in the archives. You are. You are. I mean, technically I've won more than once, but I think, like, I've never. you know what, who cares? This is no movie.

Congratulations, Jose. That's true. And I hope all of our baseball teams make the playoffs. I'm going to a game, I'm going to a game Friday night, and fingers crossed, Jay's got to beat the Yankees to stay alive. So you can watch the second place winner for the American League MVP? Yes. I'm not going to argue with that.

I think the Otani stuff is crazy. I don't see. I don't see how we can't beat the MVP. The Blue Jay is terrifying me. I've been saying that for like three years. Vlad Jr., Bobichette, George Springer. Calvin BGio is going to have to get his act together, but Jay's got a bad bullpen too, though. So I'm suffering the same stress.

Yeah, bullpens are everything, man. Bullpins are everything, especially in September and October. But that'll do it, everybody. BTL is in the books. Thank you for listening. We appreciate it very much. Don't forget this weekend, fight coverage galore on MAAFighting.com. We've got the preview show coming up on Friday for UFC Vegas 38.

We get your Bellator results and all that coverage. We'll have a pre-fight Q&A, people's pre-fight show before UFC Vegas 38. post-fight show, all that good stuff. And of course, A.K. and I back on Sunday for another episode of On to the next one. But until then, we'll see you next week right here. On Between the Lakes. Good night, everybody.