MMA Fighting - BTL | 2025 Outlook For Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Alex Pereira, More

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

The UFC heads into a pivotal 2025 as they set up their new television distribution deal for 2026. While the promotion has become the biggest star in MMA, what could the new year look like for the UFC's big names such as Conor McGregor, along with champs Jon Jones, Alex Pereira, Ilia Topuria, and more? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and José Youngs answer questions about the 2025 outlooks for those names, and other intriguing names in and out of the UFC. Additionally, they'll discuss topics such as the PFL and GFL's 2025 campaigns, what some of the biggest stories to watch are, intriguing questions in the MMA world ahead, and much more on the site's first live show of the new year.  Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first... There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. 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 aeropline members on equipped flights sponsored by valve. Conditions apply. See air Canada.com. Podcast network. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. First BTL of 2025, the first live show of the new year. here on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel. And I'm very happy you could join us.

As Esther said, I am Mike Hack. And joining me this week, my fellow New Englander, not in the best of moods. So that could create some killer content when it comes to facts and opinions and hot takes when it comes to the crazy world of mixed martial arts, social media guru over at M.A.fighting.com.

One of the best people I know, Mr. Jose Young. Jose, happy New Year, my friend. Happy New Year. I'm still physically and emotionally real. from ASU's loss to Texas yesterday. But, but, you know, like, and I have been saying this, you know, silver lining. We were projected to finish dead last in the conference. We ended up winning the conference and making it to the double overtime,

the quarterfinals of the college football playoffs against one of the premier teams of all time. And I was like, you know, silver line this and that. And then our head coach was like, there is no silver lining. We lost. We should have won. I was like, you know what? I'll follow you anywhere, coach. You took us from the basement to the playoffs.

no silver lining. We come for everything next year. All right. So you're feeling optimistic about the 2025-2020s season. I want them to do it again. There's one thing to do it once, but now we can't catch people by surprise. Now, like, once you lose Scataboo,

our star running back, now's the time. Like, we're not going to catch people off guard anymore. Like, Dion Sanders and Colorado, like, they came out hot and then everyone kind of figured it out. And then, you know, they got better than, next year. That's what we need to be. Because our coach was supposed to go to Ohio State.

That was the projection. He signed an extension. He's, he's my age. He's 34. He's a head coach at Arizona State University. Do it again. I don't want to, I don't want them to talk about a magical 2024, 2025 year if we're going to lose. If we're going to lose the ringhara now. I want to make it to the semis next year. Do it again. Well, today, four o'clock, uh, Jed Mishu's Georgia Bulldogs takes on, I'm not going to say my Notre Dame fighting Irish because I did not go there. And just being from the Boston area, we weren't like big Boston college football fans. So we were a Notre Dame family. So now they get to play Georgia.

And down here in the low country, people are all fired up about this. And it would just be one of the funniest things in sports if Notre Dame goes in there and just punches Georgia right in the face and knocks them out for the playoff run. But look, this is your show, everybody. We're here to answer your questions to talk MMA. I know we don't have an event coming up this weekend. We will have one next weekend. Back to the world's most famous apex for McKenzie Dern versus Amanda Hebas 2. And then on the road to UFC 311, which Jose, that is shaping up to be one hell of a fight card.

Some big moments potentially right out the gate with the two title fights. Jamal Hill versus Yuri Perhashka continues to get bigger and bigger. What an excellent way to start. 2025 much better than the UFC's pay-per-view start to 2024s and not i mean january's always i felt like january's always been kind of a dud month for pay-per-views like Connor fought in january so that was a big that was like a big moment when you fought cowboy but the rest of that card wasn't that great um i remember they've canceled a pay-per-view in an in january once because they wanted to go to anaheim i think they wanted to call the entire in or bizbing and yoll are maro i think so like

January has always been a dud. There's obviously outliers. I remember they canceled the paper view because I think they debuted on ESPN in January. Instead of doing a pay-per-view, they did the ESPN card with T.G. Dillishaw and Henry Sehudo in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. So, and then obviously last year we had Strickland and Driequez Duplessi, which on paper there were some good matchups. didn't end up being the most exciting card in the world, especially in the middle of January, Toronto where it was just bone-chilling cold. This is one of the best pay-per-views.

Even if you just want to watch the main card, like say you don't, you're not a prelim person. The main card itself just absolutely slap. So yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. Very, very excited. I remember, what was it? Was it 2017? They canceled the January pay-per-view.

Yeah. And then they were almost in a position where they were going to have to cancel February too but then they just put together the holly home germane duranami women's featherweight title fight kind of last minute because you can't cancel two pay-per-views in a row so you just kind of like whip that together willy-nilly i think that's what happened that sounds about right because 207 was the ronda amanda nunez fight in December and that was new year's like that was a friday pay-per-view December 30th because new year's eve ended up being on December 31st and they didn't want to do the the normally like i think lesnar overine was also on friday because

because they net if the if the saturday is if new yorks he falls on a saturday is you usually do the papers on a friday if i remember correctly um and i think you're right two o's set two the two original two eight in anaheim i think they wanted to do yola ramiro and michael bisman or yoll and mrs bickr or maybe robert wittaker no because robert wittaker hadn't fought yoll and maryle and ms. i think he was supposed to be ramiro and bisman right that's what they wanted because bisman ended up fighting gspy at two 17 uh in msg uh in msg all almost a year later in November. So I think that's, I think you're right. And then 208, they just made the featherweight title just kind of last minute.

And then 209 was also kind of a dud. Ended up being a dud. It was supposed to be Habib, Tony Ferguson, and Wonderboy Woodley. And then obviously, I think that was when Habib ate Tara Missou and got sick.

And then that fight felt. Yeah. I don't even. That was 209 because I remember being in Brooklyn that weekend and Habib did like a big Q&A, in like the Russian part of Brooklyn and it was like one of the craziest things I'd ever seen just being a part of that

210 was was that Buffalo yes that was DC and rumble that was Rumble last UFC fight and Wydeman that was scale gate wasn't it scale gate 211 don't remember at all don't remember US 211 what was 211 I don't remember USC

honestly that's that whole stretch of time. Steppe, Steve A JDS. Oh, in Dallas. That was Dallas. That had Frankie and Iair and I think Yonah fought Jessica Andrade.

Yep. That was really good. Davey Mice at all. Yeah. That was the, was that Porre de Alvarez? Yeah. One.

Yeah, that was the one that had like a no contest or something. Yeah. Because 208 in Brooklyn, uh, Dustin fought Jim Miller. That was the only good fight. only good fight on the whole card.

Yeah, Dustin Jim Miller. That was like, and then from there, Dustin turned it on. Because after that, it was like the Eddie Alvarez fights, the Gaghi fights, the, that Eddie Alvers fight is kind of when Dustin Pori cement. I know it was like a, what was it, a no contest or a DQ or whatever. Yeah, that was kind of the start of Porre being just one of the best fighters in the world. Well, let's see, we could see Porre's final fight in 2025. What's 2.13?

Don't tell me. All right. I'm going to pull it. Okay. I got it. This is the stretch where I'm like, it was June. It was June. No.

July. It was July. Was that Romero and Whitaker? Sure was. And was that supposed to be Amanda Shafshanko. And then Amanda had the sinus infection. Yes. 212.

Was 212? Two total. Yeah. Was that for Doom over in three? Yep. Pettus Miller was on that card. Golly. 212 was, uh...

Don't tell me. Yeah, 212, I remembered. That was June? That was June 3rd. Where was it? It'll be a dead giveaway if I did it. Yep. Then you got it.

I don't. No? Oh, no, tell me. Tell me, tell me. Yeah, just tell me. Featherway title was on the line. Oh, that was Halloween. That was Halloween in Aldo.

Yeah. That's right, because I had just moved into my new apartment. I had no furniture, so I had to watch it on the floor. I had Claudia. Was Claudia Carolina on that card? Or is it? Yes. That was the co-main event, Vitor Belford versus Nate Marquart.

Powell Costa versus Oluwally, Ben-Bos. The bang boss. Yancy Mederos, Eric Silva, was the main card opener. Rafael Alcantzo and Marl Marius was on that card as well. That's right. Wow. Davis and Figurato was the first fight of the entire card against Marco Beltron. Too far.

That stretch of time was like, because like 2016 or like 2016, like starting with, well, was that 15? It might have been for whatever it was. The one from McGregor Aldo all the way to Ronda, Amanda. is like the greatest stretch in the history of the MMA. Like every 100%. And then after that it went for a while. Like every, there was a bunch of retirements.

There's a bunch of interim titles. There's a bunch of last minute fights. I remember Walt Harris fought for Doom on like 24 hours notice and, uh, Cheshchenko. And a member Dana White was like, Amanda will never headline in Vegas again. And then she did.

Yeah, the December pay-per-view against Ronna, a freaking rousey. Yeah. All right. Let's, Let's take some questions. I could do this all day.

So we can keep asking, MMA trivia questions and what was which? Who do you have? Jamal versus Yuri. I don't know, man. UFC 311. It's a great fight, though. Yuri certainly can't fight with his hands down like he did against.

Rackich. He can't do that. If that happens, it's going to be a bad day for Yuri Phraska. I think Jamal, I think we can both agree, Jamal is kind of an odd ball online, but he is very good at fist fighting.

Like he beat the shit out of Glover to share. Like that was a sad thing to watch. And then fighting Alex Perra on relatively short notice is a tough task for anyone, especially coming off of a ruptured Achilles. I think Jamal is a lot better than people think. I just don't know what Jamal we're going to get because he also got hurt. He's supposed to fight Khalil and they got hurt again, right? I do not know what Jamal we're going to see.

I have no idea. I have no. that of all the fights on that i have the most question marks could go out of the way because yri did not look great against rackage until he knocked him out he just kept getting punched a lot and just walking through the once he felt rackage power and just kept walking through the punches and then he ended up finishing him and he didn't look great at all against alice perera i don't know man that's of all the fights on that main card that's when i have the most And then like when when year he fought

Glover I thought for sure And you can listen to any programming after Glover won the belt And after like Yuri put himself in that position I was like Glover to Cher is going to beat him within two minutes It was the most confident I was in a pick As a Glover is just going to tackle him and and tap him in a round Like this fight is not competitive at all

And then it turned out to be one of the if not the best title fight in UFC history So I don't know you just kind of both these guys are such mysteries yuri we just accept him for what he is he's just an absolute lunatic in there and jemal hill might be the biggest mystery yeah that i've seen in all of m mma since i started watching i have no idea how good he is i don't know if he's i don't i just don't know because even after he beat glover and that was an incredible performance but you're also talking about a guy who was supposed to fight Yuri a month before, takes the fight on like 12 days notice because there was no champion,

does it in Brazil, and he basically had a foot out the door when he was fighting Jamal. And then I was like, all right, I had Jamal, I think like the sixth best late heavyweight in our rankings, even as champion. I was like, well, now he's going to fight Yuri. And if he beats Yuri, he's number one with the bullet. Because I still at that point thought Yuri was the best guy because he quote unquote vacated the belt before Jamal and the, of becoming champion. Then the same thing kind of happened with Jamal and we saw him just getting nuked by Pereira.

I just don't know. Who needs that one more, though? It's probably the question I have. Again, I don't, I think it's 50-50 because it's for two different, completely different reasons. Competitively, it's Yuri. You can't lose two in a row. You can't lose to the champion and then lose to the number one contender because then

you're set back a ton because then what would that be losses in like three of four, like losing the Alex twice and losing the Yeri the only one you beat is Rackage who's on a two three fight losing streak to begin with like that wind isn't aging as well as we thought it would be rackage didn't look overly great against Ancalaev and Abu Dhabi. Competitively is Yerre 100% for all of the like shit talking and like to back it up it's Jamal if Jamal goes out there and lays an egg after talking all this shit confronting Alex Pereira in the in the in the PI arguing with everyone online like going after lightweights and Michael Johnson like for that if for egg on your face it's Jamal

competitively it's Yuri this is the most interesting fight outside like I don't think it's the best fight on the card clearly like the main and co-main are like two of the best fights you'll ever see. But in terms of like storylines in like chaos, this is I think a clear number one. A clear number one. Because the loser is going to be

way down and the winner could be fighting for the title next. Maybe not Yerry. Maybe not Yeric, especially because we got to see what happens with Anka Lov and where he can fight and when he can fight. But man, it's again, 50-50. It's going to be terrible for the loser. It's a good fantastic for the winner.

Either way. Yeah. I mean, I think Yuri, like, Yuri doesn't need, Yuri is kind of in a weird position where he doesn't need the belt, but, like, it'd be good to have it, like,

especially after talking to him and seeing how much that, like, him winning the belt a second time would mean to him. He would actually appreciate it. But people just want to see him fight anybody. Jamal, I don't know if, like,

he's there. I think there was a time he was. And now they just, They just don't know who he, I don't know. It's such a weird fight. Like everything about it. And that just makes an incredible matchmaking. This is why I wanted to see this fight for, what, almost two years now.

It's an awesome fight. It's so good. All right. Great question. I honestly don't know. I have to like look at it a little bit more because with these two guys, it's almost like you can't predict it. So probably for the watch party, like whoever the underdog is,

I'm probably just going to put a splash on them. Yeah. And just see how it goes. Some super chats. Nick, happy to have you all back. Happy New Year's two. quick questions any ideas on the 313 headliner any idea of fight night slash pay per views in canada this year 313 is March that would be March I don't I honestly

have heard nothing nothing you would assume like there's a couple with like again like I mean what all made if but is against who shaft cat healthy because he got the he had that MCL thing where they want to wait out buckley dude throw buckley in there's there let's do this i'll be i'd be down for it i mean we saw i think uh brea okamoto vsban posted some he was in the p i like interviewing the dog of standing team and i think you saw ballal sitting there against the wall like like it looked like he had just rolled so he might be ready to go um i mean it should be alex and an akalov i don't think ankylov can fight in march because of ramadan prayers throwing out like those weird social posts too yeah and selfishly i'll see you in

february or whatever so well i think that's because he's he might just because he does a lot of seminars there seminar he does a lot of seminars there he also posted it won't be ankylyov which is very funny to me do you think they're so here i have a i have a i have a theory my theory is that the negotiations with john jones are like this you get we'll give you what you want but you got to give us what we want we'll give you your parera fight we'll do it in march we'll give you that and then if you go out there and do your business now then you get a turn on fight tom aspinall but the other the other theory i had would he be defending the title against alex sure just be a silly fight all right and then tom gets

and then tom gets the winner or the other option which i actually think is a better one It's Pereira versus Aspinol and the winner gets John, which I like that too. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I technically don't like either if Alex doesn't vacate his belt. But I kind of feel like to keep John around, I think you have to like money aside. I don't think they're going to give him what is going to take to fight Tom right the second. But if they give him the Pereira fight to make a bunch of money with like a very favorable matchup for him, maybe he does the UFC

a solid. I don't know, man. I don't want to see Aspinall would have been out for a while. He's ready to go now. It would be what, July? It was July, right?

Yeah, but he weighed in November. Like, Aspinall could have, Aspinall, if it wasn't steep, Aspinall could have fought in November. Sure could have. I don't want to see Tom on the sidelines, man. I want to see him fight.

And that's annoying that, like, a lot, that like, the other theory was like, oh, could Tom be, defending his interim title against the winner of Volkov and Cyril gone and then that fight had too much controversy

and then Cyril like broke his foot or broke his toe or something like that like it's just oh god that's such a mess dude heavyweight too it's a disaster Jelton has a big fight coming up oh dude Jalton and Tom man who's Jalton fighting

Spivak again speedback yeah if if Jailton beat Spivak fuck it fuck it dude Jilton and Tom for the interim. Fuck it. I've been pitching like just get Tom in there to fight.

Do Tom Aspinall versus Derek Lewis for the interim belt? Like who cares? Like just people like Derek. Let's just get him in there. You know it's going to be fun for as long as it lasts. And someone's going to sleep real fast. I just want to see Tom fight. He's super young.

He's in his prime. He doesn't take damage. There's one guy that can win and turn around quickly. It's Tom. Doesn't cut weight. Like, ah, dude, I just want to see it happen.

Yeah. You get over. in the sport by fighting. Yes. Being on camera and fist fighting. There are some people like, yes, you get the, but like, the most popular fighters in the world, like, in the MMA sphere are like Pereira, Charles Olivera, Diego Lopez, Max Holloway.

Like, these guys are Volcanowski. Like, these guys just fight all the time. And they fight exciting. And they're like, next man up. Let's fight. Let's do it. Max Holloway loses three times to, to hop. to Volk, he keeps fighting.

He keeps trying to climb that up. And everyone goes, yeah, but Connor, like, sold, like, doesn't fight or, and he was a big deal. But, like, we met, Connor fought, like, four times in a year. Like, he, he loses, he beats Aldo in March. He fights Nate in, or he beats Aldo in December. He fights Nate in March. He fights Nate in August. He fights Eddie in, uh, November.

November. And then he just fucks off and fights Mayweather in August. And then that, like, like, fight people like people that, fight they don't want like that's why like ilia i love you get it together fight somebody i feel bad from mara if you think hamzat shimai if he didn't fight twice in like a week no i i think he's just kevin holland right kevin oh look at kevin buckley for for god's sake look at what the year he said derrick lewis like derog lewis will like as derr jrick lewis so eloquently said he'll punch anybody for money like that's the what that's what you got to do man i know but i know

people they hold out for money fights but nah dude fight everybody like Max Holloway everyone talks about Marab had to win a bunch in a row and like Tony Ferguson had all like had all these ones and but like remember Max was just running through people yeah like he like he I remember he beat

I can't remember who he beat it might have been Ricardo Lamas maybe and then in the interview and then in his post-fight interview they're like do you want to fight Cubs Swanson in like eight weeks and he's like yeah let's do it and then they did it and then he won. And then he goes in. And then they made the Pettus fight was like last because they needed a headliner.

Next who call Max Holloway. Let's do it. Goes to Brazil. Rematches in Detroit. Like that's the way to do it, man. That is the way to do it. Got a fight. You got to fight.

Nothing on Canada that I know, but there's no doubt in my mind. They'll be back there. I bet they don't go to. I've heard a few things. I don't think they're going to go to Vancouver. And I don't think they're going to go to Toronto for their next big Canada event. You can read between the lines. Fair.

Going back to Edmonton, maybe? No. Calgary? Back to the Cal? No. I don't think they're speaking much English where they're gone. Fair enough. Fair enough.

To, uh... Yes. Yeah, I got you. Uh, what's the latest on a lightweight tourney? Are we talking about the BMF thing? I don't think that's going to happen. We could, like, create in our own minds. Yeah.

Like, the UFC doesn't do fun things like that. Like, I think it's worst kept secret that Hooker will probably fight Gaichi next. Gachis basically said he was fighting Gagher next. I assume in March. And then, obviously, there's, like, smoke to this. Like, you saw, like, the UFC had, like, a meeting in New Orleans. It was, like, on the docket at the Athletic Commission. So you'd assume Dustin Poy is going to fight on that, especially if it's a fight night main event,

like the winner of Hooker in Porte Gachie could fight. Poree, Holloway could fight Porey. I don't know, man. Porre versus anybody, man. Moichano has a fight coming up. Yeah. I agree. Those two spar every day.

Yeah, I agree Porey versus anyone, but like, I also think there, don't do Porey versus like, I don't know, Armin. I don't know, no, no, no. I want to see the hook. I want to see the Gator trilogy. selfishly. Or, like, I would do Fiziv. Sign me up for that.

No. Yeah. I mean, it'd be a good fight, but not for a Porre's last fight. He already did that with Benoit. Don't knock off a, because you knock off, like, an up-and-coming fighter, and then you're right off into the sunset. Like, that's just fucked over. But Fiziv's not going to try to tackle him. No, I know. I know.

I know. I know. Yeah. But it'll probably be like, I could see the winner in that fight game, Porier. But Holloway wouldn't be too bad either. Wouldn't mind seeing Charles Loverre either if he doesn't fight for the belt. I like that a lot. Tanvir, happy New Year guys.

Hello from your Muslim brother from BK. Any predictions on the UFC's new media deal? Netflix Prime Video. What do you think about this? This is obviously going to be a huge story this year. Do you feel like one entity is going to carry it all, or do you think they're going to go multiple places? I think one entity is going to get all the pay-per-views because the UFC's not going to want to get rid of the pay-per-view model. I think there's just, they like, you know, bragging about like, oh, high is selling this, high-selling that.

like most bought pay i know they don't really do that much with the espn deal i think i think espn will keep the pay-per-views and then either netflix or prime or some sort of amalgamation of that will get the fight nights because netflix doesn't have pay-per-view that's just not a thing they do and prime could do it um bezos was at the sphere and the tko deal with wb is obviously very interesting but I I would bet that one I I would if I was a betting man and again this is not I don't know anything about anything about this is just hypothetical I would I would bet ESPN gets the pay per views and then another entity gets the fight nights I so I'm kind of with you on that I think Netflix will get I don't know it's going to be interesting but I think I think I think I think ESPN

will still be involved in some way. Even if it's not, even if Netflix says, here's a floppy a trillion dollars, just put all the premium pay-view cards on here, and we'll just pay you for what you, you know, estimated what you would have generated pay-per-view was. Like, we'll just pay you all this extra money for production costs and all that to kind of even out the money,

which is huge business for both entities. Because if you could just watch it on Netflix for friggin' $699 a month with ads, like that's ridiculous. the amount of eyeballs that'll be on the product, like the sport will become bigger than it's ever been. And that's saying a lot. I do think for sure, if they do that,

I still think Dana, say what you will about Dana White. He is a loyal guy. And if you've been good to him, he will be good to you. And ESPN, despite some of the things that happen when they try to come back, they've kind of stood by the UFC.

And Dana respects that. And he says nothing but great things about ESPN. So even if that means the contender series remains on ESPN plus or ultimate fighter when they do that or you know the occasional apex card or something like that like I could see them still having some skin in the game. But I don't know. It's it's going to be real interesting because they're going to say they're going to get so much money thrown at them. It's not even funny. Yeah, Dana is loyal to people that stand by him when he fucks up. and they stand by him.

But money is money. And I think Dana's bosses, the owners of WME are like, hey, yeah, ESPN is great. But if you give us like, what's that, 10 figures, money talks, man. Money talks.

Yeah. They also got to be super interesting. Also, because things that you have, like, other parts, like the NBA's rights were up. Like they just, where they go NBC. right is they go to NBC so a lot of people might have some extra money lying around

or down the road do you want the NFL rights do you want UFC do you want MLB so it's not just the bucket is not infinite in these places I also wouldn't be surprised if Disney tries to offload ESPN as a whole and the ESPN and the UFC is part of it it's like I think they would be there

there's a world where Disney sells ESPN Apple not just like we'll give you the UFC, we'll give you all of ESPN. I think that is also a very realistic possibility that people aren't talking about. Damn, I didn't think about that. Like imagine like Apple or Amazon buying ESPN you pay 50 bucks a month.

You can stream SportsCenter, you can stream the NFL games on. Like I would do that. Like $50 a month to you just get all of ESPN on Apple. Love it. Interesting. I can't wait to see how this plays out. And we should probably know before, probably by summertime, where this is all going to go.

I don't know because, yes, last thing on this, Dana White never openly talks about negotiations. We always find out through a press release. You never know who's in the lead or anything like that. Anyway. Yeah. We have to wait for like the reports to start coming out. Yeah. We can start digging and we can see.

Feats of the fire. Does John versus Tom happen in 2025? Yeah, but it'll happen in like Q3, Q4. I'm with you, especially if my theory rings true, that Pereira fights either Aspinall or John first. And then we'll see how it all plays out. Towards the night before the gathering and all through the house, the host rapid cozy cashmere throw from homesense for their spouse, kids toys for $6.99 under the tree. And crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee, a baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue and a nice $599 candle perfectly priced just for you.

Happy holidays to all and to all a good price. Hom Sense. Endless presents perfectly priced. Terrence, Jose is on the line. Thoughts on all the Superman characters from the trailer. What movie both of y'all are looking forward to this year? I mean, I really liked the trailer because they didn't give away what the plot is. And more importantly, they did not give away who the villain is.

I know a lot of people have seen the Ultraman costumes from set. Ultraman, for those of you don't know, is like a Superman from like another, it's multiverse nonsense, guys. We see it in the Marvel world. It happens to the DC world. So like Ultraman is like the evil Superman from like another multiverse where Lex Luthor is the superhero and the Justice League or supervillains. There's this theory that Ultraman is just a failed clone of Superman that Lex Luthor did. And then that clone deteriorates into Bizarro. I hope that happens.

because I love Bizarro, and I love Ultraman, and I would like both of them on. Guy Gardner, great choice of Green Lantern because John Stewart and Kyle Raynor and Hal Joran deserve their own movie, good movie, not the Ryan Reynolds movie. Metamorpho, love it. Mr. Terrific looked fantastic. I think he's such an underappreciated character. Really happy Hawk Girls getting her shine after that trash, Black Adam movie with Hawkman. Luther looks great.

Superman looks great. crypto looks great. It looks fun. It looks like a really, really high quality Superman movie. I just would, I'm, and I'm glad we don't know

who the supervillain is yet. And more importantly, my mom is very excited. My mom is the biggest Superman fan you will ever meet. And the one of her and my uncle got me in a comic book. So you don't need my opinion on Superman.

You need my mom's opinion. Because if she likes it, then you get the stamp of approval. It was like a fun. It was like a fun week because I saw the trailer on Twitter and that's like cool and all. But when you see it on the big screen, because it took my son to see Sonic 3, like a couple days later. And they played the same trail in the big screen. It just, it hits a little different.

So I am looking forward to that. Any, any 2025 movies you're looking forward to? I don't really know what's coming out, honestly. Me neither. The Fantastic Four will be good. I really like those. I really like the Fantastic Four a lot as characters. I like Pedro Pascale.

I don't even don't know. Is there? I don't know. I don't really look too far ahead. I don't either. And then like Batman got pushed back. Spider-Man got pushed back.

I don't know. And I'm not, this is not a cop-out. I genuinely don't know. I don't either. I'm waiting for the Into the Spider-Verse sequel. It's going to take forever, man.

I know, dude. I was so into the, first one too the last one i was so into it i was pissed when they ended it i forgot like that there was going to be a two-parter i was so upset because it was so good but we shall wait and see i guess uh paddington in peru that's my answer there you go do have you seen paddington two no paddington two slaps i'm not a paddington bear person but i watched it because my dad is like you have to see this pattington two it's one of the best movies of like 20 23 or whatever, 2022.

And I was like, all right. And I watched it. And I was like, this movie is very good. All right. Very good. The young's parents, they got their finger on the pulse when it comes to films. How much weight do we put on Moycano's win over Benoit Santany when predicting his next fight? So Moikano is fighting Benile Darius.

311? That's coming up. That's a 311, right? Yeah, yeah. I think that's on the main card. How much weight do you put on? the beat down he gave to BSD when you look at the ins and outs of this fight with Darius. I mean, a win is a win.

Win in the main event is a main event win. And I mean, he beat the shit out of Benoit. He sure did. He beat the fuck out of him. And people aren't like, people aren't like dude. Benoit is very clearly top 15. For that, he beat Jalen Turner, correct, who was on a bit of a run and had that big moment against hooker that he lost, but still one of the best three-round fights you'll ever see. almost got finished, should have been finished

if Jalen didn't walk away. Yeah. And Moikano is a guy that people want to watch, mostly because of his post-fight interviews and his podcast that he does. So, yeah, I mean, beating Ben-Wassantanthine. He's impressive. Ben Wausaunner is very good at MMA.

Finish Jailan Turner, finished Ben Wausantanee. The two guys who everybody looked at in this division is like the next generation of guys. who's just going to run through everybody in this division on their way up to the top. You finished both of them, especially the Turner one, just out of nowhere, it did not start very well for him. And then he came back and got it done.

There was no doubt in the BSD fight. This was pillar to post just a bludgeoning from Hedat to Moikano. And I think that was the performance that opened up a lot of eyes. And I think this is a pretty darn good spot for Moikano to be in getting a guy like Benile Darius. But also, Benile's a guy he can't really sleep on. know he got run over by arm and sarucan but arm and sarucan is he's got a chance to become the lightweight champion in two weeks time and that's not a loss to really hold your head down about so we shall see that's a great fight lightweight just rocks it's the best division in the

sport it's the toughest division in the sport and if moikana can get it done over a guy like der a Could be a real interesting year. It could be a Mazadol-esque year for Hanata Moikano, just continuing to climb that ladder. What else we got? Joseph, I know next week is McKenzie Dern versus Amanda Hebas, too. Giving that at 312, it's Wayley versus Tatiana. Will they ask the winner to be on standby? Jose has taught me nothing is official till the cage door closes.

Especially with Tatiana, unfortunately. I bet, and I don't know. If they're going to call someone, they'd probably call Verna. Yeah, it's got to be. She's got to be in the next. I bet Verna Janoroba was supposed to fight Tatiana, and then they pulled her Tatiana from the fight, basically to fight Weyley.

There's an argument that Verna should have been the one that got pulled. She was the active one. She's the one winning. She's the one taking fights. I bet, and just no, again, unfortunately knowing Tatiana's history, I bet they have Verna on. I bet Verna, it's like a,

Verna's probably training right now, just in case. I don't know if she's going to weigh in, but I have a feeling she's going to be on standby. She better be getting ready. I assume the UFC's already been on the phone with her team saying, like, just be ready because if anything happens, you're in. Even if something happens with Wei Lee, Verna steps in and fights Tatiana,

even if they do like an interim title or something, which they would absolutely do. So, I mean, it's obviously a big fight for both women, Amanda or McKenzie. If McKenzie is ever going to get to a title fight, like she has to win this one. I mean, it's just, it's almost dire.

Do Duda, cross-fit goals for the year. Learn how to do double unders. I don't even know what those words mean. You just jump rope and then you have to spin it twice through each jump. I can't do it. I'm an idiot. So you have to spin the rope twice?

You have to spin the rope twice in one, jump and like do it repeatedly. I can do once. I didn't jump broke unbroken for a long ass time, but I cannot do it double under. I have completely abandoned all forms of cardio for 2024. This past that pat last year, I did zero cardio. Like my cardio was walking to the gym. So I've hit every single one of my PRs for weights at the, at the, what do you call it?

like at the expense of not being able to run a mile without getting tired. I abandoned all. I abandoned all because I used to run all the time and I used to live no weights. I just did the opposite. All I did was weights and no cardio. Waits are way more fun. It's just way more fun. Yeah.

But mostly it's consistency for me. Thoughts on Montel Jackson and do you think you could break into the top five in 2025? I'll let you talk about it. Everyone know, at this point, you all know how we just dropped a bold predict, like who's going to be the breakout fighter of 2025. And I put Montel Jackson. I was like, this is the year he gets healthy and he fights more than once. And I think if he does, he's going to be that dude that goes like three and no with three big knockouts.

And we're coming into 2026 feeling like this guy's one win away from fighting for the belt, or at least being in the conversation, but he just doesn't fight enough. So it's a tough one. So what do you think about Montel and what kind of year can he have? Let's just say he has no injuries and he can fight at least twice. What kind of year could he have? I don't think he's going to be top five. That's not because he can't be.

I just, again, I think the top five at Bannamweight might be one of the best top fives in any weight class. And this is including the championing at one. Like we're doing it the way we're doing it the way. We do it, like, MMA fighting does it. So, like, one would be Maraub, two would be O'Malley, three would be Umar, four would be like Yon. Five would be like Corey Sanhagen. That one through five is about as good as you get.

And they need to fight each other. Figurato might go, so back to flyaway. Hendon's gonna go back to flyweight. Cheeto is kind of a wild card. Song of Dong, I think, is so good. Song of Don can make a big run at the top five next year. if Mario Batista puts a couple wins together, he could also do it. I think he could end in like the 7-8 range somewhere in there.

I just, that top five is so good. Especially if Sean O'Malley might fight once, maybe twice next year. Corey said there's rumors of Corey fighting Jose Aldo. I know Corey wants Sean O'Malley. Montel Jackson is so good. I don't, because whose number, I would say like Rob Font would be like in the 9, 10, range. Montel Jackson can beat Rob Fon and that's not saying Rob Fon is bad.

That's just saying Montel Jackson is very good. He could be, I could see Montel Jackson could beat Fon. He could beat Mario. He could beat... Beat a lot of these guys. Striking with Josie Aldo is tough. Kyle, I think he could beat Kyler

Zahavi. Marcus McGee is also on the up. Song Yadong would be a real... That'd be. If he beat Song, if he beat Song Song Yadong, top five. I think. that he that's song and dong is like a is like an under 30 year old gatekeeper to the top five you beat song crazy you're top five i would they won't do this the fight i would make is montel jackson versus marlin vera because i want to see what happens when he hits a dude that doesn't go down

yeah that'd be interesting so uh hopefully this dude has a has a good year and can fight multiple times i see noel burton there talking shit he probably doesn't even know i'm on until jackson is that's okay uh thoughts on blades versus cuniev one of the weirdest piece called me by surprise but honestly props to curtis blades curse is down to clown against anyone sure is and it's because everyone no one knows who cooniev is um riz van cuniev who's making his ucdb uh won by first round needs of the body if I remember correctly. But it was like late first.

It might have even been 4.57 or something like that. But he technically beat Henan Ferreira. Then it was overturned, right? At PFL? Yes. Was it Stero? It was like steroids or something? So like Henan Ferre just fought France and Ghana.

And people were saying like, oh, if Hanan Ferrer wins, he's, could we be, could Henan Ferrer versus Tom Aspinall be like a super fight? Like couldn't you have beat Henan Ferreira? he would be a top 15 heavyweight in the world just that kind of stain on him with the steroids probably knocked him down a peg i said this is like a weird piece of booking and they were like why heavyweight needs guys but like is this guy is he like super marketable that's the thing no it's not that's not when you say like they need guys you need somebody you can make a star and i don't feel like he's that fighter no i don't know maybe i'm wrong

Maybe drop kicks Curtis trades out of the octagon. And there are some guys like, I'm not. I cannot remember his name. He just won a PFL title. On the one Dakota won. He was on that. Shoot. I'm not going to.

I can't remember his name. But he was a PFL. He won one of the titles. And when I was doing social media for it, he's from that part of the world. I don't think he's Russian. I can't remember. But I was like doing the social for it. And I was going through all there.

Instagrams. This dude has like a 1.2 million followers on Instagram and he's like a PFL champion and no one's heard of him in America. But in his country, I have maybe. That dude is a monster. That might be right. But I don't think so. I'll, I'll remember it by the end of the. Yeah, Kiz, so here are all the guys who won titles. Kizreev, uh, Yagshir Mrodov, Mousayev, uh, Yagshir, Muradov, Musayev, Rabadanov, Dennis Goldsoff. I don't remember. I don't remember at all.

Anyway, but as I was saying, like that guy, you don't know who he is. If we talked about, no one's going to ask questions about him, right? But if you go to the UFC, he comes in with like one point something million Instagram followers, already a superstar in some country. Then you match him up with Curtis Blaze and you look at him like, oh, this guy has a huge following. That makes sense. Kunev does not have that. So again, confusing.

Very confusing. All right. Carl's process has been very active. Will he get a title shot by the end of 2025? I shoot, man. You could get a title shot next. It's possible. What's the new rule?

Well, the Jose rule is it's never a thing until the cage door locks. Yeah. My thing is wins and losses are great. but availability is your best friend in this business right now it isn't about merit isn't about who the number one contender is none of that shit matters if the phone rings and you are there to answer before anybody else is that's your best friend right now and it could be carlos prachis they talked about it carlos pratchez was carlos prox one of the guys that was gonna fight chafcott he was offered it before he and gary was but he was dinged up from the magnify need to deal with

some injuries. So yeah, I could see a very big year for him, just a matter of how it's going to work. The guy I was talking about is from Turkey. I'm not going to be able to pronounce his last name. It's the really long last name that begins with a letter Y. Davelette, whatever his name is. Davlet, Yag Shimuradoff. Yeah, he'd be Impa by K.O. Yeah. Million Instagram followers. Really? One million Instagram followers. Wow. That guy is a superstar in Turkey. If he came to the UFC and he got like a big name, like a curse plays right out of the gate, I get it. He got the following. But like Dennis Goldstaff has 15,000 and he's also a champion.

It's so that that's what, that's what I mean. Cuniav doesn't have that. What do you think of Patty versus Chandler apparently in the works? Why not? Why not? Sure. Why not? Patty.

I don't hate it at all. I think it's totally fine. I wouldn't give Patty I wouldn't get Patty Hanato Moikano right now I can tell you that right now I wouldn't get Paddy Chandler or Moikano or Physiov because you lose to Michael Chandler

who has been fighting in the top three for pretty much the last several years and you lose to Michael Chandler like okay Patty's not top three he's but he has a good show on clearly top 10 he beats Michael Chandler he beats Michael Chandler

and they do like Connor Patty oh my God that Patty just sweep like leapfrogs him in the Connor sweepstakes be the biggest fight in Europe not that not that I see that ever happening but if you're gonna if your goal like if you're looking at if you're a matchmaker if you're the UFC if you're looking at if one of your goals is we got to put Patty in position to fight for a belt heading into 2026 you book him against Michael Chandler right now not saying he wins but of all the the bigish names and

that division that he has the best chance of beating, I think. It's probably him. It's probably Chandler. So I don't hate it. I don't know. I don't know if it's happening or not. I know Patty's kind of putting it out there. I know it's the McGregor thing.

And if Chandler just wants to fight if Connor's not fighting and we don't know what's going on with this Logan Paul thing. Like it's all weird shit. But if you're a guy like Chandler, you're not going to miss two more years of your fighting career waiting for this Connor fight. go fight patty man if your chandler this makes ton of sense too i don't think because michael chanler usually does very well against high level black belts charles is like another level and even then he had his moments especially in the first round he did really well against

charles that first round until he wasn't patty gets hit a lot yep i don't think michael chanler's going to be shooting a blast double leg like Bobby Green did. No. I think he's going to go out there and just, bam and try to knock Patty's head off and have a, you almost forgot moment. Yeah. I think that's,

that's the way you, you probably fight this situation. Patty's a frigging tank, too. He's a huge, that is a big boy. That means a fun fight. I think people clown on Patty, Patty is so good.

It's so good at MMA. He's getting bad. He's definitely improving. he's getting really good matchups. The amount of disrespect he was getting heading into the Bobby Green fight was was kind of puzzling to me. Yeah. Because I mean, I'm not, I have been, I don't see Patty being like a top five guy.

I don't think it's, it's not because I don't think he's good at fighting. It's because he's in the toughest division in M.MA right now with just so many killers who are just so good at this. But who knows? I mean, he's not in stride. Gachie might retire soon. Pori might retire soon. Chandler might retire soon. He might just become top five by default. Yeah. Daddy

Patty. I really like all the cards they're adding him to. Like when he fought Tony, when he fought Bobby, he's not the guy carrying the promotion. So we're not, we're not like for a while, like when Patty fought Jared Gordon in the main event was Ankaliv and Jan. And when they had the two London fights like Tom wasn't the superstar it was yet it was like Patty Patty Patty Patty Patty Patty Patty Patty Patty but then you put him against Tony Ferguson who is the main event of that that was a Vegas card

I can't even remember it doesn't matter but it wasn't the Patty show what was the main event of that one Is that Leon and Colby? Yeah Leon Colby so that obviously that carried the thing and then fighting in Manchester it was the Leon and Tom show like we're not getting overloaded with Patty Pimbleau

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was the infamous Colby and Tony were down each other's throats at the press conference and then became buddies like two minutes later after an argument. Super weird. Jeff, what do you think about Calvin Gasolm versus Joe Pfeer, Pfeiffer by Cardio and Finish? And thanks Casey for reminding me about negative approach, Detroit. Yes, Gaslum versus B. Joe Pfeer, Mexico City, March 29th. You don't like this fight. I just pick a weight class Kelvin Kelvin. Calvin is such an alterweight. Like Kelvin Gasling could be a very high level alterway if he was just a little more dedicated or his body wasn't like.

It will be very interesting because Kelvin's fought in Mexico before and he's lost in Mexico before. And he's won in Mexico before. So he knows what to do, especially he goes out there early and acclimatizes. I wish, because we've heard rumblings of what they thought the main event was going to be.

I think Joe Piper being the co-main event is the co-main event, right? They haven't announced a main event. They're a nice man. Like it could very well be the main event in a couple months in like a couple weeks if they can't lock down a main event. But shoot, man. Piper's teammate Sean Brady versus another well-to-wait in Mexico

would have made a lot of sense too, having Sean and Piper on the same card. But it seems Sean wants to go to London instead. Yeah. Yeah, if I assume you, like, if they did like Sean Brady versus Michael Morales, like, if I'm Sean Brady, I ain't touching that fight with a table pole. Like, it's just not worth it. You just go out there and you beat Gilbert Burns and dominant fashion, former title challenger.

Like, fighting Michael Morales, that's just, that's just tough, man. Not saying he couldn't win, but that's just a really tough. I would favor Sean in that fight. Yeah. That's, yeah, it'd be an interesting one. It's right around the time frame he'd want to fight too. I know. Because Brady's like top five.

And Morales is probably like in the 10 to 12 range. I mean, it makes sense. Yeah, maybe a little higher. What's going on with Fizh and Gamrott? Are they fighting each other? Doesn't look like it. So I saw the reports, obviously, and reached out to some folks. Gamrots calling it fake news.

He has told people this as well as saying it on social media. From what I understand, Fiziv's team and Fiziv himself agreed to the fight, like early December it was offered they said yes but there were no contracts or anything like that so as of now i would say with that because that was supposed to be for the saudi card that was the room i would say unlikely there was also rumors of benille and phizivan um Tampa yeah if you fall i mean if you follow certain accounts on on twitter patty pimblitz had seven different opponents in the last three days so uh it all depends but i know there was smoke to that fight yeah um but i mean if you're gamrott like i mean i don't know gamrott i mean he's coming off the

the lost a hooker it's not a there's also lightweight there's also lightweight fights coming up that like let's see how those fights play out because like if miccona loses or wins then you could do fizzivan or gamrott versus dare you sure the loser of that fight or patty doesn't have a fight benoit doesn't have a fight does jeline turn have a fight i don't think so he's not like There's guys that don't have fights. Michael Chandler doesn't even have a fight. So that's... Do you think Jaylen says it's a lightweight or he goes to Walter Reed?

Chandler? No, Jalen Turner. Did he miss Wade against Moikano? He missed Wade against Hooker. Yeah. I don't know. I don't remember. He's just so fucking big, man.

He was a big boy. He's just so big. He's big, but like, is he bigger than... He made way from Micano. Like, is he bigger than Buckley? I don't know. He made it for Bobby Green, too. And Bobby Green was incredibly last minute.

Yeah. I don't know. Do what you want, bro. The hooker one was like the only time he's missed, so. But he's just, he's such so big of that way. Joel Alvarez is still doing his thing. God. Dealin Turner versus Joel Alvarez would be.

Loser goes to all the way. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Love that. More likely to happen. Poria gets another title shot or Connor returns to 2025. Well, I think it's pretty obvious that Poria has said, one more. So I think his next fight

is it. I think Porre fights one more times and that's a wrap. Because Porre, I really respect Porre's like self-awareness. He's like, it would not be fair to just keep giving me title shots. And Connor, if he fights again, if he fights in 2025, it'll be like the December pay-per-view.

So I guess by default, Connor. I mean, shoot, apparently he's fighting Logan Paul in India. That's what we hear, right? make that money son jesus 250 million i believe this is the that the reported figures

crazy mike and hose top five prospects you think we'll have a good year this year we don't need to do five we got oban elli natalia silla carlos prattis jian sylva i guess come to mind but who comes to mind for you guys i mean obon's good

definitely go on yeah he's gonna be he's gonna be interesting see what happens with him i think he's up back of pfl you think so I mean, it just kind of, it's all about what you believe. Because I watched the interview, some of it. You can only watch so much of that.

And Ali said, you know, Aaron wants the money. Like, it's about money right now. It's not about legacy. And he's young enough. And UFC is not going to give him anywhere near what PFL is going to. So I think it's for PICO. And who knows, maybe a good old GFL comes knocking. No.

Because you don't think so? No. So this is just the old person organization? I think Aaron Pico likes money. He also likes being active and he's about to hit his prime years. And I think he's seeing a lot of, you know, former BF Bellator fighters not have a lot of fights. I think you have to take that into account. I think if people were being more active, it would be different.

But I just, I think I think I think Eric Pico wants to fight. So if you had a guess, you think he goes to you have, you think he's going to be in the UFC? Yeah, because I want Aaron Puehle to fight Jose Alzo so badly. I don't care what weight class it is. I don't care what way class is. It's just the body hooks alone. Oh, man. Plus, like, if it's fair to the way.

But like, again, if it's further away. And I know we talked about this, but like who would be the, the Kevin Holland, Den Hooker, Holly, Home of the featherweight division, like, you know, welcoming in. I, dude, I think it's, I think right now it's, it's. I know you just booked his fight, but like, Enpico versus Calificator is a great fight. It's a great fight. That fight rules. So like, give me that.

And I'm not, get paid. Get paid first. But like, and if Aaron wants to go back to the NFL, like, that's great. Because they're like, you could, there are a lot of fun fights for him to have there. But there are all the fights I want to see Aaron Pigo do are in the UFC. On Fort. Like, and that's on a knock on PFL.

But it's on, it's like that for everybody, though. Yeah. I agree. Like patchy, all the, yeah. The problem, one thing Ali did say, which really stood out, which is why I believe he ends up back in PFL, is that PFL can match any offer. Yeah. Like the Kayla Harrison thing. Yeah.

And they probably, and I'm sure they will. Yeah. And I'm sure it's, it's going to be a very reasonable number that they're like, okay, I'll match that because it's way less than we were going to pay. So, yeah. Pico. So those, those names, back to the prospect questions, all those names, I'm taking those out. Oban, Natalia, Prate's Gene, John Silva. Is Michael Morales still a prospect, I guess?

Age-wise, I'd say so. Rufi, Maricio Rufi from Brazil. That guy is very good. Felipe Lime is very good. Yep. Pay and tall of it, obviously. Yeah, that's, that's probably the top, the top one. Venetius Olivera.

That's, he's going to be. Loak dog, yeah. He's a problem. Matoush, Rebecca. Revechke. Revechke. Those guys. And I'll still put Oral by on that list, too.

Like, I know he just lost, but that was a war of war. Bo is obviously a good one. Clay and Carpenter. I have to say, Chris Arveter, because I trained with him a handful of times of power of me, and he beat the shit out of it. Like,

I've, yeah, it was good to see him back. I totally forgot about him. Clay and Carpenter. I hope, dude, if he becomes champion, I can say, like, that dude punched me in the stomach so hard.

it's one of those moments where like you physically hurt but like halfway through you're like I can't do anything so you're like sad like you're depressed because you're you can't stop him from hurting you and he was like 16 17 years old just beating the shit out of me

Shara Bullitt I guess is another guy Josh Van I'm really excited for yeah I like Josh too Josh could make Josh I actually think Josh Josh could have a really big year who's the Mountain Tiger from China. He just fought,

whenever he wins, he calls out Alex Pereira, he's like 2 and O in the UFC. Ming Yang, Zhang? Yeah, that guy. He's just, I don't think he's going to fight

for the title, but I'm not going to watch all his fights. Dude, someday Ming Yang Zhang's going to fight Yuri Perashka and is going to be the best. It's going to be so much fun when those two guys fight each other.

I like Oban Elliott on this list. I wish he would just like, oh, the Mazadol thing. He's just not getting that fight right now. Like, I know you want to shoot your shot and all that,

but you're just you're just not getting it and even if you do like don't know how much you gain from a fight like that at this point in both of your careers so i just to him like me in my as we already talked about this throughout the show you get over by not because you call out mazadol you get over by fighting and winning like fighting as much as possible his goal should be fighting three or four times this year and doing what he's been doing you all know how i feel about natty ice i think she's a win away from fighting for the belt depending on who the opponent is, proches rules, Gianzilver rules, and yeah, a lot of the other names you mentioned are right up there. So,

yeah, it's going to be a good year. It's always going to be fun. MVP or Shara, good fight. Yeah, good fight. Don't know who's going to win.

Chris, yeah, MVP's not a big, he's not a small welterweight, but it's also not a huge welterweight. Yeah. So I don't know. I'll say,

I don't know. I mean, I'm leaving Sharra bullet, but it's so, it's just so hard to, to look good against MVP. It's really, really tough. Let's see. Michael Law has a good 2025, maybe. She's healthy. If you tell, yeah, that's what it's all about. Risen had an event on the weekend. It was good. Casey was there. Casey and the iconic voice are both in the building. So if you look on our YouTube channel, we got a scrum from.

Sean O'Malley, Jose Shorty Torres gets a big win, which is a friend of the show. He's been on BTL before. Multiple time A-side guest as well. Three-division champion for Titan FC when that was really going strong. Yeah. Flyweight, Bannonweight, and featherweight. It was all three.

I always thought he was two and was going for three. I don't remember. I think you, yeah, I think he, well, man, maybe he wasn't. I think he got, maybe got signed to the UFC before he was about to fight for the I think he was, because he made his debut in Utica against Jared Brooks. I went to that card. It was, I think he had the flyway and Bannam weight and was getting ready to go for three. And then he got the last minute fight against Jared Brooks.

So he had to, he was bulking to featherweight and then had to immediately cut the flyweight. And he didn't look great. Like physically, like physically, he looked real unhealthy. So I like people ask like what was one of the like what are the weird weird days of your career? Trying to confirm that fight was one of the weirdest days. Yeah. I think I was working for I think you and I are both at fan sided at the time because I was there just parted ways. No, I was still I was there for fan sided.

Yeah. And it was. Uh, because I remember like Shorty getting like the reports are coming out and I was like, eh, the conversation I'm having are telling me like this, this fight's not happening. And I think it was like the Jared Brooks side. They were like, why would we take this fight on like a week's notice, like without getting properly compensated for it? And I think they finally figured it out and it got done. But yeah, I remember talking to to Shorty throughout the cut, but also Shorty's nutritionist, Lou Geordano, who worked with the likes of John Jones in the past, Derek Lewis and others.

But he's been Shorty's like right-hand guy when it comes to like the weight cuts and doing everything properly. Uh, shout out to Lou. I know he's dealing with some health issues right now, but yeah, I remember talking to Lou and he's just like, dude, this is miserable. Like, I don't know. And he got through it, but Jesus Christ, man. Tough, tough times. We went, we went to Utica, me and Hunter Armour, which is a real name, uh, went to Utica to do like an interview with him, sit down interview with Shorty and he canceled every single thing because the way cut was so bad. Yeah. What's going to do? And Horaguchi? Look good. Suzuki. That was an awesome fight. Zuki looked great. That was a good fight. Yeah, good card. It always is. How does Shemiel Musayev match up against the top UFC welterweights?

Very well, I think. Yeah. That dude is so, I would put, I would say he's one of the 10 best Walter weights in the world. You think so? Like, I think he could beat a lot of the guy. I could see, if he's in the UFC, I would put him. Yeah.

I'd put him right there. Because he's undefeated, right? Uh, I believe so. I don't know if he has like some some sneaky ass loss somewhere along the way, but I think he is undefeated. Just want to make sure. 20. Oh and one.

Yep. Yeah. 20. Wow, that's impressive. And he's only, he's only 30. Just. And I know he has. 31, like next week.

And I know he has a, a bunch of like amateur titles too. So like those 20 wins, he probably has like 40 total. fights and he's a KSW vet and KSW is a tough tough promotion to fight through like you become a I don't know if he was champ but anytime you like TDP was a

was he KSW champ right? Driekus. Yeah. Yeah like anytime you're you're you emerge as a KSW champ you're no joke. I think you have super chat just come in there it is. Happy New Year gentlemen right here right now

if you were a betting man with 50K USD on the line Jones versus Aspinall with 12 week camp who you got tough to call John Jones is so good at MMA so I have to so it would be a bet it would be I would again I would probably just underdog bet it yeah me too on whoever it is if John Jones is an underdog I'm probably betting on John John Jones is an underdog in anything I'm putting money on him yeah because that like there's a lot of people who feel like Tom just kills them and I don't think that's the case at all no

I just think it's a super interesting fight. So, yeah, whoever the underdog is by the time the fight happens, like, the day of, that's who I put it on. His in-fight IQ is unmatched, man. Like, I remember asking him a question about, like, the takedown he had against Steepen in the first round. He's like, we didn't even train that. I just saw it in the fight. I was like, golly. It's coming here and tripping Stepe Miocch two minutes in because you just can.

It's crazy. he's still very good say what you will after beating bond can rennott finally get a rank guy imagine colby versus rennott certainly not going to fight colby cumminton and there is a huge

did he did rennott win his last fight is like the question did he actually win that fight i don't know it's on i mean it's in the record books as a win i didn't think it was like that egregious of a decision on and to this day

i thought it was like I didn't think it was like spectacularly great. But watching the fight back especially, I was like, there's a couple rounds that are kind of close. Just going to say, so I don't know. A good fighter too.

Where is that fight? Is that an Apex card? Yeah, probably. So on the Canaaner Greg Cop fight card? Yes. Yeah. Yep, you're correct. Oh, man.

because like 15th renot should be he just he wins by decision too much unfortunately yeah he just hasn't he hasn't really because he i mean he just obliterated kevin lee kevin le's like return yeah that he heard his knee yeah but then like brian that's pretty pretty good brian battle is getting to fight randy brown and um like brian battle probably have a bigger name his next fight fight and renaud beat them up in like for a while yep and like like you remember who renat and alex para both debuted against andreas michelatus that was both of their ufcdivu fights and look at alice perrara and renaud's just like here's bonefeing another savage that's outside of the top 15 so many of them at 170 uh let's fire through a few more

of these before we get out of here uh how long until we see see Dana give up on power slap never absolutely never never and I don't really care either way yeah he will I think he leaves the UFC before he leaves power slap yeah playing symbol he will he will just he will just do it and he'll do it to the wheels fall off just to prove everybody wrong yeah like thinks it wouldn't work where are all these coming from buck versus usman sure if they made that uh still wouldn't mind seeing ean gary versus buckley considering that F-I was a reserve book too. Also would not hate that either.

Does Chandler even deserve his current ranking? What is his current ranking? Let's take a Gander. Chandler is number seven. Yeah. That's about right. He's above Gamrod, Darius, Moikano, Fiziv. Yeah.

Yeah, I think he's fine there. I think he's fine there. He is, but you're not going to tell me Michael Chandler's not a top 10 lightweight. Like, Michael Chandler is very clear. clearly a top 10 lightweight, but all the, the only difference is the people above him are winning and beating guys. He's lost, yeah, I mean, I understand like the losing streak and all, but, but he also needs, like, Porre and Gaichy took fights against Fiziv and Benoit, and we're like, drew the line

and said, beat me, make top five, and then they held the line. Chandler needs a moment like that. In two awesome fights, the Fiziv-Gaichi fight was awesome, and the Porreier, Benoit fight was awesome. Chandler needs like, Patty fight would be, that's why the Patty fight would be, is,

is that to him. Like a guy ranked 7 through 15 that needs a big win over a big name. And Chandler goes, here's the line, cross it if you can. Yeah, this is,

it's perfect matchmaking. It's perfect for both guys. Regs your BS, Gamera up, Barry Lose the hooker and drops three spots. Corey dominates, dominated by Umar, only drops one spot,

same with Ortega after losing to Lopez. UFC rankings are, they can even tell you. It's not good. I'm not even going to try to bother. All right, a couple more. Lots of hype behind Austin Bosch, making his debut on the next card. Do you think C-Rod could derail that? Sure.

He'd just done it before. I mean, yeah, you're not wrong. C-rod's the guy to do it. Bosh is very, very good. Bosh is very, very good. So is C-Rod. Yeah. And I think that's it.

Who were his losses to? Who? Crod in the UFC. Jonathan Pierce, I know. And Jonathan Pierce is very good. Oh, yeah. Pierce is on like a sick run for a while. He's just going to fight Bryce Mitchell, for God's sake, until he tore his ACL.

Julian Arosa and Jonathan Pierce. And Julianne Rosa can beat literally anyone in that way class or just get by anyone in that way class. Yeah. That was he caught a Rosa on like a night. He beat Raul. He beat Cameron Simon, Simon, like. He beat Isaac Dolgarian.

If there's a guy that is going to knock off. Those are three prospects that he like handed their first. Is that their first loss? All three of those was their first loss to C. Dolgarian, Simon, Raul Roses Jr. All three of them. There you go. Was their first loss.

If there's a guy that's going to hand you your first loss, it's getting Christian Rodriguez. Dude, that's crazy. He's a plus 180 underdog. Just throwing that out there. Julian was a spoiler. How old is Christian Rodriguez? he is 27 just turned 27 i would hazard a guess i might be crazy i would hazard a guess that julina rosa

has more not just fights but wins than christian an riggs has years on this earth let's see like julia rosa yeah you're right yeah he's 20 julya rosa's 29 wins 30 now 30 wins he has like 50 total fights in his life if you count like the ultimate fighter and kickboxing and like give him a like Juliana Rosa has like wins over hekin Dawadu and Ricardo Hamos and

C Rod. I know he'd be Charles Dordane. Sean Woodson Nate Landware like Julian Arosa has a lot of wins that have aged very well. A guy who got run out of the UFC real quick his first time around then his second time around

it looks great and then like came back. I remember I interviewed, I think this is pre-MMA fighting, interviewed Juliana Rosa right after he got released. And I think he fought right before COVID hit, like on some card in Seattle. And he was like, my manager told me, like, the UFC door wasn't shot. And I was just like, really? That is that true?

He goes, oh, no. And then he was back like three months later. And he's been there ever since. And he did. And he did. Again, he did the smart thing where, like, he gets run out of the, and I, run out. That's a mean way. That's a mean thing to say like, who do he lose? Who did he lose to? Grant Dossel was the last one at 45. Was it? Yeah. That's what he lost to and then he got

bounced from the UFC. Oh no, no, Julia R say head kick, coyed him. Really? That was the last one. Yep. It was one on the contender series. Got knocked out in 40. So he's had three runs in the UFC. this is its third Yeah so what was the first one he lost Ishihara killed him At an honor You shouldn't be in the rest of unfortunately And I love to as a 196

But then like there's like the Patty Pimblea fight Is very good on Cage Wars He won that fight 100% He definitely won that fight Gets the UFC Loses to Devante Smith in 46 seconds Then he gets 3026ed by Grant Dawson

And then he gets head kick knock, K-O'd by Julia And DeVante Smith at one point in time was like the prospect to watch. Yep. Devante Smith, man, like if he just, if he didn't fight Kamalworthy,

I really wonder what his career would have been like. Because that fight was such a weird booking because those two guys, like, had such a long history with each other. They were friends. They were training partners.

And like, comma didn't give a shit. He was just like, dude, I'm in the UFC. I don't care who I have to fight. I will just run you over. And you could tell Devante, like,

love fighting comma and comma hook some unconscious almost at UFC 241 and like Devante Smith's career is never the same he hasn't fought in like two years almost three I wonder where he is I don't even know if he's still in the roster or not I don't know if I don't know if he's fighting anymore that's it's why Cam Worthy is now doing this thing in karate combat right he's doing this thing everywhere that's true I think you retired from MMA. At least he tried. He was the death star, right?

Yes. He retired from MMA and then came back, fought twice. He retired in 2022, and then he came back and fought for, shout out to 247 FC. If you were a fan of Hunter Homestek, that's right.

He actually is like the, he's like a promoter for them right now. Yeah, yeah. So good on them. But he had two fights for them. And yes, he fought at karate combat. He believed he's on the receiving end of the highlight real like somersault kick from Rafael Alves. Alves.

I think so. God, Raphaelvis is just made. Last one, I think. If John gets passed, if John gets Tom past a seven minute mark, how much different of a fight is it? John has lived in championship rounds and Tom is yet to see them. Dude, I don't know because that's the thing with Tom. Tom Knox always wins in the first, second round. like I don't know and that's it's such a

because everyone keep like Tom has said this at his media days like Curtis plays like oh I can drag him into like airs he's never been like everyone keeps saying that and it doesn't happen and Tom's like do it I want to do it like bring me there and then he know who like how many times is Tom has Tom made to the second round in the UFC once Arlowski so Yep. And before, he has a couple losses on like the regional scene that I bet reached the second round. But like, do it.

For all we know, Tom, for all we know, Tom Aspinall is a heavyweight Justin Gagey. You know, he gets hurt and then just turns into the best fighter in the world. We don't know. We don't know because Tom is so good. Like, has dating back to the first Curtis Blaze lost that when his knee blew out, has he made it to the two-minute mark? Has he made it to the 90 second mark? Because Curtis was 60 seconds.

I know that. I know Pavlovich was like 70 seconds. And I don't remember Tabura, but that sure seems like it was like a minute 20 or something like that. Minute 13. So a minute, minute nine, minute 13 since the first blades fight.

Dude, get three minutes and 22 seconds. Five minute mark, let alone the seven minute mark. Like, let's get there. Tom can, because John John can take a punch

and John knows how to fight through adversity. All of his wins, like all of these wins have aged, like the Volkov win has aged very well. And he ran, he ran over Volkov. Beat Curtis.

Spivak one was a big one. Dude, so good. He just needs to fight. That's what I'm saying. I don't want the win. John fights Alex. The winner fights, Tom. Oh, Tom fights Alex and Tom. Yeah.

Yeah, do Tom and I'm fine with that too. But I feel like I feel like Alex's next fight will not be at 205. I think he's fighting one of those two guys. That's kind of how I feel. I don't like it, by the way. I want to see Alex fight ankle life. I actually want that fight. So many people don't want it.

I want it. So do I. Because that's it. I think Alex wins. Who else is there at Light Heavyweight for him after that? Like I know people are like, well, Jamal Hill maybe, but do we really? I don't want to see that again at least not like anytime soon

Carlos Olberg is knocking fools out. See that's interesting. If Olberg beats uh, who's he fighting? No, he just beat. He's fighting somebody. He's right back in there. He just against somebody, uh, he's fighting Janbovovich.

Do it. Do it. You beat Janbovich. Carlis Lovic, Carlos Oliver fights the title. I'm okay with that. Would anyone have? I would give him that over Jamal Hill if Jamal beats Yuri 100% it's it's it's all berg for Azamat still doing his thing out there yeah maybe you know maybe Mick Parkin gets in there if he beats marching Tybora who the hell knows light heavy weights just such a mess there's so many light heavyweight fights on that London card

I know Alonzo Menafield Umar C I don't know Kliall wants to look back at some point I think the loser of year in Jamal should fight roundtree Yeah, I could dig that. I wouldn't even hate the winner, getting Cleo. Jamal wins. He's probably fine for the title, just because of the hit, just because of the banter. Yeah, but it's not good banter.

No, but it's still banter. Like, Jamal, Alex offered to fight Jamal in the PI. Might as well fight in an arena. Also, I don't really, I wish. Now, to be fair, I will see Alex bearer fight anybody. Sure. That's, that's a great point. I want

Well it's up to me If I had a perfect world I'm going to go down I'm going to go down like for if if they're not books because like women's titles

like Whaley already has a title fight coming up Julianna Kayla Valentina Manon John Tom Pereira Ancolaov Drikis already has a fight Bilal Shavkat If Shafcott isn't healthy

I am fine with Bilal Bilal Usman would be a real fun fight I think that would be very upset if that's the fight that happens It might he just might be next man up It might just be next man up Islam has a fight To Poria I get I won't complain if he rematches Valk

But I want to see Elyan mobsar Quite a bit They were supposed to fight once already Someone's O's got to go type situation Marab has his fight Pantosia the winner of the winner of a cop maybe yeah the winner of that i think makes sense charles johnson is still out there how about pentos just being like who when i asked me about

charles johnson like damn disrespect jose johnson fought like five times last year he had a great year man yeah out of nowhere too people forget about how good of a year charles johnson had so shout out to energy let's see if you can keep that moving forward in 2025 but Let me throw this up there. Mahayev needs to be brought back. Oh, sure. I don't think, true or false, if you had to bet on this, Moham Makhoyev is back in the UFC in 2025.

I'm completely with you. 2026 maybe, but not 2025. I would, honestly, I would not, and I said this on no bets by it with Jed. I would not be surprised if he never fights in the UFC. Me neither. They don't need him. He's not a needle. movie's not a draw he doesn't make them a dime what's the point like he's a he's a good fighter

but they don't need him the bummer he will be like and i love shorty like when sure when they did the flyway exodus like back in whatever day when they were just cutting everyone uh shorthy was part of that and i think he put out this video about like oh the uxss kind of fly away it's here's everything the ufc did and said and once they started bringing back all the flyways he was not one of them Once the UFC, if you push back or you do something that bothers the UFC, you're done. That's a wrap. There's a reason Paul Daley never came back. It's the reason Jason Hyde never came back.

They will have no choice. What are you talking about? There's so many. We just mentioned a whole bunch of Josh Van, Charles Johnson, Asuamabayev, who's apparently supposed to fight. Who don't might come back? Ten reason. Guerrido, like maybe Figy goes down.

There's plenty of guys for him to fight. That's my answer is. Pantosia figurato, that's what I want because I was there for the first fight and that fight is an underrated banger. There's no shortage of good fly weights right now. Tegir Ulam Bekhov is doing his thing. Like the flywights, Kaias occurs in the UFC like Tatsuro Taira is a win a winner two way.

We still haven't seen Kai Kar, France. Amira Lbazi's still there. Tagir Ulan Bekhov is there. Like there's plenty of 25ers. Bruno Silva just, yeah, he lost a. He lost like the best man all cop we've seen. Ever. But he's still very good.

Like there's guys that there's unranked fly weights right now who are just who are super good. Lazy boys. Lazy boys. Exactly. There's there. That was, I was, it was on the tip of my tongue.

Lazy boy. I mean, there's just. And there's like some youngsters that are like incredibly talented. That just haven't like hit that stride yet. Like guys like Mitch Raposo. Yeah. like once he gets cooking he's gonna be tough like azat maxim is really fun almost knocked out freaking

umar like yeah i think that i think i tweeted it i think that umar fight is could be like a islam arm and fight down the road yeah temeroff another another really good guy like uh estabom another really good guy like there's so many they don't need him there is no oh well dan is going to have to bring him back because Pintoja is going to round of guys to fight. No. No, the word, I don't like, Jafel Filio is really good. I don't like, there's plenty. I don't like the, the, the, the using the word has to in any aspect. No one has to do anything. Yeah, Dana does. Dana, you think Dana has to do anything? No. He doesn't have to do shit. No. Doesn't have to do anything. Dana's not Vince. No. He just isn't. Like,

you, you cross him. If you, you, you rub him the wrong way. It's, it's, it's not like, what's best for business because what's best for business is the UFC just keeps doing what they're doing. What's best for if they cared about making money, they would have made Francis and Gano versus John Jones. But Dana White has it has it out for Francis. And it won't ever happen. Yeah, ever. The fight will never happen.

No. So there you go. We've learned some lessons today. And that's how we start off 2025. So thank you all very much. We'll be back next week. Regular show. we'll prepare for the first UFC card of 2025 back at the world's most famous

apex. I believe this is UFC Vegas 101. So the road to UFC Vegas 200 will be officially ongoing. And then it's 311 and that card absolutely rocks and it's going to be a good time. So thank you all very much. We appreciate you. Enjoy the first week and weekend of 2025. And we'll see you back next week when things kind of go back to normal. So for Jose, I am Mike Heck.

Have a great rest of your Thursday, everybody.