MMA Fighting - BTL | Alex Pereira & Merab Dvalishvili Shine At UFC 320, McGregor Suspended, UFC Rio

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Alex Pereira and Merab Dvalishvili left T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as UFC champions following a wild UFC 320 event this past Saturday night. While Dvalishvili has his eye on a rematch with Petr Yan, Pereira has a lot of options ahead of him, including a mega-fight against Jon Jones at heavyweight. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel puts a bow on the UFC 320 festivities, and discuss where Pereira and Dvalishvili go, along with other standout moments such as Jiri Prochazka's wild comeback knockout in the featured bout. Additionally, topics may include Conor McGregor getting popped with an 18-month suspension under the UFC anti-doping policy and the weirdness surrounding it, Saturday's UFC Rio event headlined by a lightweight matchup between Charles Oliveira and Mateusz Gamrot, and much more. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee turn the programming over to the viewers for a special Q&A edition of the program. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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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Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. I hope you're all doing fantastic. I am live here in the great state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for today's program. We're in the new apartment.

We're setting up a little mini command center for when I have to travel up here while the wife works. but we make do with what we have here in bedroom 2.0 as back for another Q&A edition of the program with everything going on. And there's no other man that I wanted to have on more than the celebration man himself, the man who is applauding the Toronto Blue Jays. In fact, I am also applauding the Toronto Blue Jays for just kicking the just absolute shit out of the New York Yankees and their three. $300 million payroll.

I'm talking about my best friend, the one and only, Alexander Kaley, aka congrats to you. Congrats to the Blue Jays. They couldn't have done it without you. Thank you. It's a long way to go. Thank you, my best friend.

Obviously, we're very excited up here in the GTA, the home of the American League Division Series champions. Is that even a thing? It's been a while, like, Mike, it's been a while since our team has won a playoff series. So it's been nine years since we won a playoff series. So I don't know if you call them division series. champions or whatever. But yeah, it's been a good time. I'm glad we can all sort of join together.

I know Big Pappy's loving it. I thought Pedro loving it. I think Pedro is Vladimir Guerrero's godfathers. He's just rolling in it. It's a good time all around, man. Yeah, like somewhat tense series for a minute, but it was, I was really impressed, given how poorly the Jay's, like, recent playoff experiences have gone with very much a lot of the same core. But there's different vibes this year. Our expectations, it's weird. I guess our expectations were so much lower going into the season and then somehow we surpassed those. When previous years, we were like, oh, this team has what it takes to go all the way and then they just fell in their face. So I don't know. Maybe they make it to the World Series. Maybe they don't. It's going to be Seattle or Detroit.

And it's be weird because I think they'll be favored against either of those teams. Very weird place to be. Very weird place to be for Toronto right now. Because again, heading to the season, it was like 500, expectations of 500, maybe, you know, build to next year. That's how baseball is, man. It's a weird game. It's a long season. You got a lot of luck. I think the Jay's led in like, comebacks this year or something,

which was not, again, it's so random. Like some years your team does great, in those some years they don't. I know people can go like, oh, teams clutch or whatever like that, but I think there's a lot of luck involved. So, man, when the luck goes your way, it feels good. So we'll see, man.

Nothing McRavy game won on Sunday. And I hope Red Sox fans or at least somewhat enjoying seeing the Yankees get their, get their butts, buts whip for a minute. I did because this feels like the whole thing felt exactly like the Knicks beating the Celtics, where the fans all talk shit,

they celebrated like they just won 18 championships in a row. Even the players, they were just like, yeah, we beat the Red Sox, the season's over. This is like our World Series. And then they went out and just got buried by the Blue Jays. And I loved every second of it. Loved every second of it. Yes, we've won a lot of championships.

But at the end of the day, it's, it actually feels good that the Red Sox sort of overachieved because after watching what Toronto did to the Yankees, I was just like, shit, man, like we were better than them. Like, even with their payroll, like we were the better team. And we just pissed it away because you couldn't, our bullpen was awful.

And we couldn't get the bats going at the right time. And it was just one of those things where I'm like, man, we could absolutely beat them. So it's a good feeling to feel that again. Like, I feel like the Red Sox are back that I could be a little bummed in October about how the team finished up.

So it's a great thing. It's a great thing. It's a good thing. Like I said, even if the Jays, again, let's say they bow out in the championship series, I'll still be like, oh, wow, freaking made it to the championship series for the first time since 2016. So we'll be disappointed. It'll be a lot disappointed around the city. But again, for me, it's all gravy. I do not speak for the city of Toronto. I think city of Toronto is super hyped up right now. And it's just eyeing like World Series or bust. But I'm a little more, trying to be a little more, more measured here. But I will celebrate along with everyone else if they make it that far. Damn. It'll be the first time since what, 93. 93, 93, 92. Damn. Yes, since the Joe Carter. They actually won. It gets crazy. This is a franchise that has two World Series on. It just feels it's a lifetime ago.

And honestly, a lot of the current fan base is probably even born when that happened. Yeah, I remember playing like Super Nintendo baseball games, like RBI baseball and like Hardball 94. And I would always use the Blue Jays because they were so stacked, dude. So fun. Like Sandy Alamar was hitting like, or I'm trying to think they had like Roberto Alamar hitting like eighth in their lineup. It was just the most ridiculous lineup in all of baseball. like John Olerud just buried out there. Like it was absolutely crazy.

So. Stacked. But let's talk some MMA. Okay. Fire some questions in. Let's get after it. And let's have a good time. Of course, UFC 320 in the books.

Alex Pereira just destroys Maga bin Ankle Life. I want to start there, okay, because a lot has come out since that fight. It has become the Maga Manicholife was injured. He shouldn't have fought. He had the rib injury, all of that. We hear it from his manager. we confirmed that he had a rib injury. His team sent us the videos that were sort of going across the internet.

And it sort of led to this thing where this did not help. Unfortunately, Maga Van Aga Life's case in the court of public opinion. All it does, all it did was just kind of pile upon the fan's celebration of Pereira beating him. And I don't really think that's fair at the end of the day. And even Daniel Cormier, I think laid out kind of good. where he talked about the imagery. He said he saw the injections happen at the PI and things of that nature. But he was like, even that, even if he was at 120%, I don't think he would have beat Alex Pereira in this fight,

because that that was just the mindset that Pereira was in. So I just want to get your thoughts, your reaction to what we have learned from the Maga Benangalive side of things since Saturday night. And does it change your opinion on anything? What do you think? I mean, how can it? You know, because if you're going to believe that, you know, Padero wasn't. 100% in the first fight, then, you know, and that doesn't take away from Anka Lives win at U.S.C. 313, then you should give Peretta the same credit, I feel.

Now, you could say the severity of whatever the pre-fight issues are, allegedly are, were different. With Pereira, it was, I think primarily, I know there was some minor injuries, but also that he got the neurovirus, right, which is pretty serious stuff to get during training camp. I mean, that's like vomiting, nausea, headaches. Imagine having all that, dealing with that for however long as he did ahead of a time. title fight ahead of his fourth title fight in a span of what like a little over a year or something like we had already i remember going to 313 we were like in addition to the challenges ankelaia presents

we were just like is piddah staying too busy like he did such a great job saving some ufc events that needed headliners you know and he benefited from a tube sir got some nice paychecks his star rating went amazingly high like you know stop i think becoming the biggest star in the ufc i think it's fair to say that's actually active um but it came at a cost it came at a cost so if you if you believe that, then I think you can believe Anka-Lyav as well. But again, I think it doesn't take away from either man's victory. I gave Ankelyev full credit for winning UFC 313. I give Palletta full credit for winning at UFC 320. If you're in there, you're in there. I don't believe, I would totally accept that Ankelyev wasn't at his best. That's how the game goes. You chose to

go in there. I'm sorry. It does not convince me that the UFC, like I think the main motivation would be that the UFC, the matchmakers or someone, or maybe fans or the media would push for like, oh, well, he was injured. Let's get that rematch going. And I just don't think that's what's going to happen. So I understand why they did it for that reason. If they're trying to get sympathy from the public, from the fans,

man, there's just not a lot for it. There's just not a lot for it. Because again, frankly, even Padetta fans, I don't think a lot of them cared about the whatever issues he was dealing with ahead of the first fight at UFC 13. I don't remember prayer fan. And maybe I'm just not, you know, plugged into that conversation.

I don't remember Panetta fans going like, ah, he got, he got screwed. He was, he wasn't healthy. He, you know, other than the normal fandom of like, ah, if they do rematch, he'll win. So it hasn't changed my perspective on it at all. And Goliath, honestly, probably should not have thought. I'll believe that.

If it's true, that it was a broken rib that he was dealing with. But he did, this is the reality we'll live in. And sadly, I think we can all just move on. I think we can always move on. Maybe Ankalyev, you know, like I said, probably fights his way to some sort of title fight again, Mike. you and I have laid up many scenarios where Alex Padet is not involved, and Ankelaev ends up fighting for the title again. And he should be happy with that. But I think the, I think the

Pettita story is over. And I'm not looking at the comments for now. I'll check after, but I can't imagine too many people complaining. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Prayer story is over. In fact, it could have been over after the first fight. No one cared. Like, no one cared. And like, we've sort of talked about it just like, okay, all this signified us was like, okay, Magameneck Alive's the best late heavyweight in the world. We kind of knew that. But still, even with the run Pereira Rizan, no one was like, oh, he has to fight Magamanaik alive to cement his legacy. It was just like, no, we like watching Pereira go in there and fight fun dudes and get knockouts. Like, when Coleo Roundtree got the fight at UFC 307, yeah, there were some purists who were like, oh, this makes no sense.

But most of us were like, this friggin rocks. These are the kinds of fights we want to see, despite Anc Goliath, like, going on the run that he went on. The UFC was in absolutely no rush. They made Ankeliath fight again two weeks later against Alexei-Rankage. They made him go so far back out into the rankings. It was insane. But, hey, look, now we move on. Yes, I guess there is a path back for Ankelyaf.

But again, I don't think they're going to be in any rush to get him back in there. I think you do Yerry versus Ulberg. I'm actually some breaking news. I'm actually talking to the great Yuri Prahasika tomorrow, which I'm very excited about this. It is a done deal. It is going down. And it'll be interesting to get his thoughts on the whole situation

because I kind of feel like Yuri wants to punch Angoliath in the face a couple of times. So perhaps that could be on the table if Yuri wins the belt. But yeah, man. Tough, tough scenes for Uncle If I have, honestly. It is. But I mean, like you and I said, if Pereira leaves the division, and Goliath, he's not going to get plugged in right away probably, but one or two wins, he can find herself fighting whoever it is that becomes champion at Palletta leaves.

So that's fine. But it's not a sexy storyline. It's not something the UFC is pushing for. I don't think it's anything fans are clamoring for. And that sucks. That sucks. Because if you look at Angolaev's run up to, up to, and including the first Palleta fight, pretty good.

Pretty damn good, Rod, like 14 unbeaten. I know the weird, I know there's no contest in there. No one cares about. I know, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, his way. It's fine. You know, we got a fun little draw that unfortunately may have ruined his career because Dana just crapped all over it. But it's weird. I think when people look back on it, I hate when people are too,

with any sport, Mike, you know, people do those like, oh, this dude was a problem. You know, it'd be like a mix tape of like, like Kenny Anderson in the Celtics jersey. Like Kenny Anderson's Celtics shirt. Yo, Kenny Anderson, what's a problem, bro?

It's like a highlight. I hate when people do that. But I do think like five years from now, people like put, you know, a screenshot of, of Ankylaif's shirt dog page or whatever. Like, wow, yo, this dude was like, wasn't this dude one of the best in the world?

Like, we didn't give him his crazy. And like, I think he has. It doesn't mean he's popular. It doesn't mean people have to like him. But I hope, I like to think people will look back on his run. And I don't think he's done. It's so weird. So we're talking about like he's almost guaranteed to lose and never get a title fight again.

Like that seems like such a weird thing to say for a guy who was, again, essentially undefeated for like, what, five years or something. So it's kind of weird. It's kind of weird that we're eulogizing him so much. But that's how definitive, like that's how definitive that result was at 320, right? It's just like, oh, he's done. He's just over. The Kenny, the Kenny Anderson Celtics thing is so funny. I was actually like talking, I was actually like talking to a buddy of mine and someone was asking

me about, and he was asked me about like Uncle Life and like who I would compare him to if it was like other sports. I didn't use Kenny Anderson as a Celtic, but I did use a former Celtics point guard. I was like, Magamain Uncle Live is like the Rajan Rondo of the UFC. Oh, that's good. He's going to have like three good years where he's like at the top. And then it's just like, oh, he's somewhere else. And we didn't realize it. We're like, oh, Raja Rondo's on Sports Center playing for the New Orleans Hornets or something. Just like out of nowhere. And then we remember the behind the back off the elbow passes down low to Paul

Pierce and Kevin Garnett. And, you know, he's just one of those guys. And I was just like, yeah, he's kind of like Rondo where he had like some good years and people talked about him. If you weren't on his team, you hated him. But if you weren't on his team, you liked him. It was just a perfect. I thought it was a great example.

So yeah, crazy, crazy scenes just seeing how. how wild this is. This is all going down. There's just like a specific topic everybody seems to want to get into. Yeah, I see a few good ones, yeah. Yeah. Let's start here. We do have UFC Rio coming up.

Dustin Porias praised Gamrod for his hands and said to watch out for them. Do you think this could be a problem for Charles considering he was just chaotic and many don't expect this from Gamrod? Are you concerned? I know obviously the Olivera fighting shortly after getting absolutely annihilated by Elia Tuporia. It's concerning. And when they announced the Vizib matchup,

the majority of people are like, why are we doing this? This is scary. I don't want this to happen. But the Gamrod one seems to have kind of curbed some of that. And now Porre is coming out, who is obviously very familiar with Gamrot from their days at ATT and training together and whatnot. But how are you feeling about this looking at it

through the lens of someone who doesn't want to see Charles Olivera get hurt? Does this make you feel better? Or is there still some concern there knowing that, I think Gamrod, and I'm sure you agree with this too, I think Gamrodrott striking is vastly underrated and doesn't get the credit it deserves. And he hits hard. Like Gamrod hits hard.

Like if you guys, I mean, questions the technique a bit, but when the dude lands, he's actually got quite a bit of power. And the thing with Charles, the thing with Charles is everyone's so concerned about him now. Obviously, he's a bit older. He's had the recent brutal knockouts.

He's just had a lot of combat sports mileage on him. He entered the UFC when he was like 20 years old. He was so young. Like he's grown up in front of us. And it's been great. But we've seen, him take a lot of damage. He never had an iron chin. There's no like era of Charles Oliver where it's like, oh man, he used to just kind of walk through people's punches. Like, no, if you guys remember,

like we always had the narrative of like when he got hurt, he got hurt and it was just he couldn't recover. And then he kind of bounced back from that, kind of destroy that narrative and at least learned to fight back from adversity and, you know, win a UFC championship. But he was still getting hurt during that run. Even his UFC title vice, he was getting hurt. So that is a scary thing. So if he's in there with anybody that's got a bit of athleticism, got a bit of a pop and if does a poor is be believed you know has some really really credible striking credentials yes you should be afraid of a olivara knockout um we know gamut primarily as a grappler i think it'd be a really fun fight uh if that main event does turn to like some fun scrambles

and then breaking out like some mission attempts on each other really testing each other's wrestling takedowns and it'd be awesome but i think your gam brood you are going in there thinking like i'm going to throw hands with him um not a safe proposition necessarily because charles oliver himself has shown he has plenty of finishing power, even on the feet. But yeah, if you are, I think there's a lot of Olivera fans who were temporarily kind of relieved when they saw it wasn't Fiziv. Of course, we know Fiziv primarily as a striker, throw some insane spinning stuff. Just the thought of him, like head kicking Charles and leaving a face plan on the mat,

pretty dreadful, pretty dreadful if you're a Dorebrog's follower. And again, you've seen him suffer some really bad, just knockdowns and knockouts in the last few years. But this isn't, there's nothing safe about this fight. It's not the same about this fight. It's a new opponent. It's, yes, hopefully someone will meet him in the grappling. But it is someone that, like, if this stays on the feet, there is at any time, I think Gamrock could land a shot that puts Charles down.

So great, great replacement main event, you know, no complaints there. But, yeah, not much of relief for anyone who doesn't want to see Oliver's head, maybe get knocked around again a little bit. I was obviously fascinated by the Fiziv fight just because the UFC really likes him. Like, they keep giving him huge. fights in this division. There aren't a lot of guys who were on the rise who are trying to make a move that are getting the types of fights that Fiziv was getting, getting Gaechee twice, and I know one was on short notice, and then getting a main event in Rio against Charles Olivera. That's

wild. That's freaking crazy. And now Gamrots getting this opportunity. And I kind of like this fight better because Fiziv is like a super fan favorite and a loss doesn't hurt him that bad. People are just like, oh, sick Fiziv's fighting. And I think even if Olivera loses, like it probably knocks him out of title contention, but at the same time, people just love him. He's not a superstar, but he's very popular. No matter where he goes, he is getting huge cheers and huge ovations and things of that nature. So a loss like doesn't hurt him too bad, especially with how long he's been in the sport. But man, Gammer has to win.

Like he needs this one so badly. And I know he's doing the UFC is solid here. But he's just not getting these fights. He goes and loses to Dan Hooker. and they give him Ludwig Klein. Like that's how they view him right now as the top 10 guy. So he steps into this opportunity. And if he loses, I don't know if he gets another one.

I think he just becomes like the dude that fights the Ludwig Klein's if he loses this fight. And not great if you're trying to capture that lightweight bell, which is already really tough to do anyways. I think Gamrod needs this one so bad, AK. I really do. No, he does. I'm just looking at our rankings, and I'm trying to think,

obviously, guys, if Gamrod wins, look for a, you know, ranking shake-up post, certainly next week, you know, we'll have to write that one. I'm just wondering

how much will he shake up the rankings. So looking at our rankings, which is, honestly, right now, I don't think is dissimilar from the UFC rankings.

Of course, we have, like, Usman or MacMado in there, who wouldn't be in the UFC rankings, but I'm pretty sure numerically, like, we're pretty similar.

Obviously, Tabori number one, it's a champion. And we still have Armand number two. I should break up the user ranking as well. You know, while I'm talking about this, I'm going to keep referring to them. Yeah. So they also, oh, they saw have Islam at lightweight, which is fair.

He has not moved to Walter Waite yet. So they still have Islam there. And then Armand's behind them. Then Max Holloway, then Charles Oliver at four. So we both have Charles Oliver at four. Mike does, does Gamrod just, I guess he just takes his spot, right? He is now the number four lightweight if he wins on Saturday. Like we mentioned the Hooker lost, which wasn't that long ago, a little over a year ago now.

But with Hooker's inactivity, I know he has a fightbook now, but with his inactivity up to this point, it does feel like maybe Gamrod should be allowed to leapfrog over for him. It was a close fight, like not controversial, I would say necessarily, but it was a close fight. It's not like he got destroyed by Dan Hooker. So yeah, do you just leapfrog him over Charles and give him that number four spot? Or we'd have to do some, like, shift around to MMA math and, like, move Charles down and move like just a gate key down and so they're all behind down i don't know what how are you going to do this it's good the mama math is not going to work out cleanly if gamrod wins it's going to be tough yeah is hook

is hooker five right now no hooker is seven hooker is seven again we have usman if we're just talking about ufcc so excluding usman we have olivera four gate chief five and then hooker next hooker essentially six yeah it's got take some time i'm i have to like go through it and carry some ones does does how he doesn't matter if we if like we talked about KOs Charles or submits Charles, which would be amazing, but it's not like Charles hasn't been submitted before. If he finishes Charles, finishes Charles in impressive fashion, does that immediately say,

yeah, she jumps over hooker, like, whatever. Forget August is a long time ago now, especially with how fast the game moves in August 2024. Yeah, I mean, probably. Probably, like the inactivity does hurt a little bit. And honestly, I kind of think like Armine's going to beat him any. So that will negate the problem in like a month. So, but I don't know, hooker's a dog, man.

He's tough. 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. With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots?

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So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over deliver. Service fees exclusions and terms apply. I don't know. Shout out to Wade. Can we get some more videos or lives with YouTube and Jed? feel like y'all's humor and takes mesh really well together appreciate all the content yeah

there'll be a lot of that don't you work oh yeah there's in the jeds in the comments right now guys hassle jett if you want jett jett is jett it's your day off i think i don't know why go do something the comments uh what a man of the people what a man of people jeb speaking of jett let's go to jett how are y'all feeling about my fantasy team with malcolm well maker allegedly getting booked uh he is booked He is fighting. Sir, He's to die at UFC 32. We confirm multiple sources. That is a done deal.

First reported by the great Big Marcel, my man, Marcel Dorf. Yeah. Malcolm Wellmaker, Madison Square Garden, AK, they like him. They gave him a matchup. It's a step up. This is the toughest fight of his UFC run so far, for sure. But it's one he should probably win. Are you concerned as someone who is playing in our MMA fighting fan?

Fantasy League. And Malcolm Wellmaker is coming off the bench here. I have not been, I admit, I was pretty good at updating our fantasy league. I think I went a little vacation and then I never got back down to it. I, I, who, Mike, do we know who's leading? It looks like Jed's doing pretty well. I'm just saying a cursory glance at the scoring here. It's like Jed's doing pretty well.

I'm in second, I believe. You're in second. Okay, I would imagine, it's Jed first? Jet is first, I guess. Yeah, because like most of his fighters fought in like the first two weeks. I see, I see. Yeah, I see. he's got oh Kevin Holland coming up again he got a loss for Kevin Holland

now Kevin Holland's playing next week like I said well maker Brandon Moreno Brandon Moreno It's not booked right he is not booked not booked okay and then uh carly judy is she fighting again is she fighting next week as well is he yet is she's not booked is she not booked anyway so this sorry guys I'm running down just judge fantasy team okay she's not booked but who knows she could okay interesting uh yeah I'm concerned I'm concerned he he's had a really good uh second half of 2025 draft. Wellmaker just smashing. Now, City is tough, though, right?

I think City is tough to finish. Am I making this up? I do feel like he's got a... Yeah, he's... This is the toughest fight. This is the toughest fight he's had. But I still think Wellmaker will win, but City has never been finished, never been finished.

So, yeah, that's a big test for a young guy who's used to just, like, smoking people. Interesting. Jed, if you're out there, I am not concerned. I think Surrey City, good old Canadian boy, will go the distance at the very least, and maybe even pull off an upset. We don't know. It's a wild card.

City's a bit of a wild card. But, I mean, I think well-makers will be a huge favorite. I just want to know who the D. Brown of M.M.A. is a true question. How do you even, like, so D. Brown, former Celtic and former Toronto Raptor, amazingly enough, dunk contest champion, if you remember, that was odd. He put Reebok pumps on the map. with the no look cover your face dunk and that was like the best I mean that was the best moment of D Brown's entire basketball career well I was to say a little bit ahead of his time a guy

who shot like a lot of three-pointers like one of those guys who have like if you transport to today's NBA I'm not saying he's an all star or anything but his skill set would be his one like great skill set would be even more like you know emphasized right because he was a really really good three-point shooter but this was back in the day where unless you were like real and unless you were someone like that you're not shooting more than three or four. If you shot like three threes a game, people would be like, oh my gosh, this is crazy.

He's chucking up threes. So yes, who's the, that's weird. Again, because I don't even know how to classify D. Brown as his role in NBA history, so much less finding an MMA equivalent. I'm trying to think. What is the equivalent of a dunk contest title? No, no, no.

I think BMF title. Chris Barnett? It's so random. I love it. Because like that moment against at MS. with the John. John Belante.

So was like the greatest thing ever. That was the pump. Everyone went crazy. That was the pump. The front flip onto his butt was the pump. It was the pump. I don't know. We have to think about that.

I think Chris Bardette's like pretty good. Yeah. It's pretty big. Oh, Jorge A says, Waukeen Buckley. Well, no. Honestly, that was the first name I thought of. But this welterweight run, it can't be.

No. It can't be. If you are ranked, if you reach like the tops, Depending on the division, depending on division. If you've got the top seven or eight of the welterweight rankings, I almost feel like that's like an all-star appearance. I almost feel like you made an all-star team or something, right?

I mean, I know, I think having to fight for a title is a little too high of a bar to set to consider a fighter like an all-star. Again, and it does depend on division, right? It's easier to be top five in like light heavyweight or heavyweight right now that is to, you know, welterweight, lightweight, et cetera, et cetera. So that's not bad. It's not bad, but I think it's a bit of a knock to Joaquin. I think Waukeen's a bit hard.

Yeah, that's a good one. I think Barnett's a really good pick. I think it's more Sergio Pettus than Wachian. Ooh, God. Boy, that Sergio Pettus knockout. That was this past Friday already, right? Got time moved so fast. Six days ago, yeah.

The knockout itself was sick, like the actual, you know, strike. And then, gosh, that follow-up shot. This is the one. I think we talked about onto the next one. I don't want to talk about me anymore. I hope Mago Med, Megamette. I was okay. That's all I keep saying, man.

Yeah. Bro. Jemeek, what's next for Figgie and Lucke if they both lose tomorrow? Oh, boy. Or on Saturday. Let's start with Vicente Lucke. I feel like nothing changes for Vicente Luque. He's just going to keep fighting these up-and-comers who hit really hard.

He's got a lot. There's no, I haven't heard anyway. There's no retirement talk, right? Not that I've heard, no. And I get it. He's only 33. You know, this is that thing. We would look at someone's, you know, their real life age.

We're like, he's only 33. And then you say, oh, but how long does this person have been fighting for? He's been fighting for 16 years, 16 years and over a decade at the UFC level. And, man, and getting in some battles, man. I mean, he's got some fast finishes in there, too. But he's been in some battles. No, so I guess, I wouldn't say Lucay's going to retire. I think you're right.

I don't think a lot changes for him. He must be a pretty big underdog to Joel Alvarez. Oh, yeah. I believe, I just want to make sure. I believe Alvarez is like a minus 500 favorite. Oh, and you can understand. Oh, minus 560, according to our friends, the Fanduel. That's, that's, I didn't see that one coming.

I knew Alvarez would be a big favor, but approaching minus 600, I didn't see that coming. That's, that's big. Listen, young, young man coming up to that spot, Lucay's durability, definitely probably not what it once was. Just, and how can it be? 35 pro fights, guys. 35 pro fights in 16 years. and then add in the training, the, you know, the travel, the way, all that stuff.

It can't be the same. And Alvarez is a big time finisher. So, yeah, I'm going to go with you. I want to believe that, too, that's, you know, yeah, it doesn't hurt Lucke's stock considerably. Like, obviously Alvarez will move up a little bit, but it's not like Lucke should plummet down the rankings. And, yeah, probably going to have to keep fighting this next generation of Welter race. Because there's a few good guys coming up, and they got to fight somebody in the top 20, top 15, top 25. And Luke may just be one of those names now.

They keep thrown out there. Or we can give him Neil Magny. They never fought each other. That's shocking. Right? That is shocking. I thought they fought like 18 times. Figgie's going to lose to Montel Jackson.

I'm just throwing that out there. Like the longest running take of my entire MMA career is that Montel Jackson's really good at fighting and he's going to fight for a belt. We're approaching 10 years on that initial take. So this is it. Like this is his chance for, If he doesn't beat Davis and Vigaredo, he ain't fighting for a belt. Like, this is, this is everything right now for that take, for Montel's title hopes,

all of that. He must win on Saturday. And I think he's got a really good chance to do it. And I think he's going to win. I don't know if he finishes Viggy, but he's very good at fist fighting. He hits really, really hard. He's a super athlete. Last time he got a big opportunity to big fight didn't go very well.

You know, the Brett John's one was like the big, let's boost. you up fight and he didn't show up so perhaps this is the one and if figgy loses there's fun fights for him bannamweight's a great division so figgy o'malley i mean there's there's a million ways we can go with this yeah do figgy just banamwait's great ban on wood's great yeah he'll be okay but i just don't think i think at that point a title shot has to be out of the question um our own gearma crews of course spoke to uh figgy and i believe that's our by the time i think right now guys think you can go to m a funny.com. Pretty sure that story is up there.

Yeah. And obviously he's saying what he should say ahead of a fight where he's on the main card. Like, yes, oh, if I beat Montel Jackson and then string together another win, I think I could fight Maraud Walsh. He's cleared out so many of the other challengers. And I think I have a game plan, you know, to beat the machine, which no one else has.

So, you know, Figgie's saying all the right things. But if he loses, three straight losses, I mean, no shame. He beat Piotr-Yon, Kornan, Cawar Sankham. But that's a hard thing to climb out of. And as he mentions in his interview with Gwee, he's 38. I say he's 38 in December, and this is not a young man's division.

I know he's moving up to, I know it's 135, so you could be, you know, maybe have a little bit, the speed loss isn't quite as bad, but it's still bad. I mean, 135,

up to 145. These are all speedy, athletic divisions. And even for a guy who's in as great as shape as figure eight ways, still fast, still strong,

still hits hard. 38's 38, man. I don't care what you're doing as an athlete. That's a, that's a tough way. that's a tough, tough place to reach.

And yeah, he might need to take a step back in competition. So I don't know. I don't know if we do like O'Malley stuff after. I think maybe we have to put him up against like outside the top 15. But again, then you face the problem of it being young, hungry guys, and you're just a gatekeeper. So it's murky. But yeah, both guys should continue to, you know, be competing after USC Rio.

And yeah, probably still have some name fights up ahead for them. Let's go to the real main event. If Walter Walker gets another heel hook, on Uspen should he go into the heel hook hall of fame maybe we get Mike the heck hooked to induct him i can't wait for that fight i wish it was the first i wish it was the curtain jerker i really do because we would watch that all together and it's going to be glorious boy uh heel hooking uh mo usban let me look at mo usman's submission history. He has to be one of those guys who's not been submitted, right?

I mean, let me, let me take a glance here, guys. He's either fought guys that he's a hundred million times better than on the regional scene. Oh, how did I forget this? What happened? He was submitted by Brandon Sales in, uh, I had of PFL, back in PFL in 2012. I interviewed, I interviewed, I interviewed Moe before that fight. I remember this now. I actually interviewed Moe before this fight. So how did I, how could I? I, I feel like I interviewed him. Brandon too, though? Maybe I interviewed Brandon later. Maybe I know I interviewed Brandon ahead of a different flight.

Maybe it wasn't at the Mo flight. Yes, right. Oh, but that's a long time ago, guys. That's one submission loss. I'll just say this nicely. It's, it's, you're in favorable position not to get finished when you don't do things. Is that, Mike, is that, is that a, he, he is a tactical fighter who is not going going to get you know he's going to work hard to not get to positions where he can be knocked out or

where he can be submitted that is the mo usman experience okay and it's fine it's led to some decent success in the ufc a winning record at the very least i mean you can you can say what you want about um how compelling the fights are four and two uh maybe buchacha was who he fought right who uh mo no no no no no buchacha was uh shit Who did he fight? The dude who was ranked He got released, he shouldn't have. Oh, man.

How do, oh my God, dude. Don't tell, I'm not looking at the chat. Don't tell. Mike, you and I are of the age where we need to remember things on the spot or it will be gone forever. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? We cannot give up on training our brains. Let's give us, let's give ourselves 10 seconds, guys.

You guys can count down. Let's give ourselves 10 seconds. I'm not looking at the comments because I know you guys know. Five. Marbu die. Fuck. I can't believe that took me that long. You got it?

Yeah, Martin Boudan. Okay. Good job. We got people in the comments I knew. Thank you guys. But I did not. Mike, I wasn't close.

Thank God. Your brain's still working. Mine is clearly fried. Yeah, that was embarrassing that took me that long. I figured that out, honestly.

It's too much I'm made these days, man. I was, I knew, I picked up Dana Barrows. I was thinking of Dana Barrows as lazy as he said to talk to you guys. I remember Boston College's own

Dana Barrows before I remember Martin's did it. Didn't Dana Barros. I'm either, Didn't he make an All-Star team somehow? Yeah, dude was a shooter. I watched him play at BC and at the garden. Did he also have a 50-point game?

No, he didn't have a 50-point game. He might have. I don't know if he had a 50. He did. Oh, he did have a 50-day- March 1990. I remember he's one of those random guys where if you told me he made, like, I only remember him because he's someone who I'm like,

wait, this got to be an all-star team and had a 50-point game once in a time. And it's like, yeah, yeah, he did. It was a weird time. That we that non this is the non I think 95 would have been I think no no Jordan Yeah non Jordan year they were weird go guys go back to 94 95 look at those all-star teams and like all NBA teams is weird so the let's Trell's free well made an all NBA first team once in one time it's very strange time you never know crazy uh yes this is the once a show

lazy bed question this is uh this is Joe'sobosa can't ask about macy chess on anymore so lazy bed is going to is taking it over with another one women's bandam weight. He's going out of being a mosquito, the lady go to BJJ, making her UFC debut on Saturday. The big knock is obviously her age at 34. What is her ceiling, AK, in this women's banditweight division, I feel like you're the man to ask. It's not that big of a knock because women's phantom weight is essentially heavy weight. That is the heavy weight. So 34 is actually like young, you know? And again, she has mileage outside of MMA, like a ton of combat sports experience outside of MMA, obviously. So it's

like she's a fresh 34. Like there's some, you know, there's some, there's some wear and tear in those joints. There's some, serious,

serious wear and tear on those joints. But M.A. is a different thing. So as far as, you know, getting punched in the face and kicked in the stomach and all this other stuff

that your leg chopped, chopped to pieces. Of that, she is relatively fresh. I think the ceiling is actually really high. Again, depending how long,

the division is such a weird place. Because we are all waiting for Amanda and Kayla, which we know is going to get books, we assume we're thinking, early 2026, I still think there's a weird chance that they try and push this to UFC White House. Again, just because of Kayla being an American champion, I think there would, there's also always a possibility that like whatever happens with the Kayla Amanda fight, Amanda, like even if Amanda wins, Amanda retires, then you know if Kayla fights someone for a once again vacant.

It's such a horrible scenario to play out. But yeah, Bayez is not far away because depending what happens, I don't think Amanda Nunes is sticking around long, win or lose in her fight with Kayla. Kayla will need fresh challenges at some point and legitimately, based on the hype, as long as Bay doesn't drop like a Buchetja-S think bomb in her UFC debut, if she gets a convincing win, if she gets, of course, ideally a submission or ground and pound finish, then yes, she's really like only two or three fights away. There is no bantamweight division. There's barely any contender line and the ones that are contenders like a Macy Chasson just keep falling on, slipping on banana peals. So there's a lot of inactivity

too. So yeah, upside's super high. If you're asking, can she compete for the O.C. title? I would almost like, if we're doing like true false, Mike, we'll be a mosquito someday challenge for the U.S. title at 135. I'm probably just taking true. I just think the field is so wide. Ask me on Sunday. Ask me Saturday night. If she wins on Saturday, my answer will be yes.

And I think she will win on Saturday. What is she, what is her, what are the betting odds for that fight? She's pretty. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. Minus 30. Oh, yeah. Mine is not fairty.

I would, that's a lot for a newcomer. I always say, do you, the UFC these days, someone that's a newcomer that only, that has less than like six pro fights, I would always say that's, I don't know. So, Alex Davis is what, plus 400, plus 300, plus 400? Some of that, I imagine. I don't think it's like in complete. Plus 360. Plus 360. Honestly, like, if I were a betting person, I would just put money on that.

Because there's just no way to, it's not as predictable as the Alice Pereira one. Like, that was messed up. Alice Pitter was also a big favorite boy. I think we all just kind of knew like, wow, that she definitely should not have that number next to her name. That was wild. But in this case, you know, we know Alex Cave a little more. And I guess we have a better feel for Miskita just based on her BJJ experience.

But that's a big number. I think she wins like two fights and fights for the belt. Who's going to stop her? Who's going to stop her? Seriously. Maybe three. She has to win two more after Saturday. And then she's there.

Such a bad division. It's awful. AK, do you know who the number 15 ranked women's van and weight is? By the UFC? By the UFC. Nora Cornole. No, she's number 12. Stop it.

I'll try to... I'm going to write it down for you. Okay, good, yeah. Pena, Pettington, Vieira, Dumont, Santos is number five. She would jump to five. Yon Santos just the number five women's ranked bandwomen. She's streaking. She's streaking.

Arrini Aldana, Macy Chesson, Eileen Perez, Carol Hosa, Meyer Boyna, Sylvan, number 10. Number 11, Jacqueline Cabalcanti, Norfolk Cordillies number 12. Number 13 is Misha Tate. Number 14 is Jocelyn Edwards. Who is number 15, AK? If you get this, I might give you a hundred. Josie and Nunes? No, it is Darya Zelin Yakova.

Okay. Okay. Who did she, do you remember who she beat? I remember she beat. Melissa Mullins once in a while a time or most of them ones beat her in aries eris eris was like is alexa also from aries i remember aries i've seen like they produced like three bantamways to the UFC sign i was like oh cool maybe the bantamweight division will start moving again and they just kind of like beat each other up and no who did uh who did darya zezzoznikova beat i have no

idea okay oh most of mullins she did up see what how do i do it in a bloody battle yeah okay That I knew. That I knew. She lost to, she beat Mullen. She beat, she lost to Eileen Perez and she beat Rendon. She's two and one. Someone just win three fights in a row. I say that, Yana Santos, I think, has won three or four fights in a row. So I'm telling you, maybe Yana's the one that's going to get a title shot.

And then Bia will be next in line. We guys, I just want to know what's happening with this Kayla, a Nunes fight. Let's get this announced before December, if that's, Okay. Speaking of betting odds, opening odds for UFC 320 at a barra-bittista's a plus 300 underdog to Umar Tamaga made up minus 430. Does this line feel too wide, too close or just right? That's a great question.

And I say this as like a huge Umar stand. You guys know me every show on. I keep saying, Umar is going to be the one. Give him another shot at Umar up. He'll beat Mara. I do think that is a wide line. I think Mario, I think we've seen Mario Batista drags people into difficult fights. that's he's he's really adaptable he's got he's a good athlete um he fights smart he fight smart

and i think he has skills too i think people like you know again we see him whatever you know maybe a little too um like myopic with his to his tactics sometimes we're all think with the josie all the fight of course is holding against the fans blah blah but like he can strike like he he can he's a very good striker he can wrestle he's very well round he's kind of just the classic modern mhm a fighter um but again with a bit of athleticism good good uh physical tools and um yeah and a good mind, a good mind for the game. So I certainly would favor Umar minus 300 is like a lot. It's pretty disrespectful for a guy who's, uh,

because Mario's on like a eight fight win streak right now or something. Um, and some good names in there. So it is surprising to me. Again, were I betting man? I don't think I'm going to touch this one. But war I, um, yeah, I would happily put, uh, put some, an underbuck bet on Mario Batista. And I like, and I think Umar is great.

I think Umar is, again, is going to be the best band to wait someday. He's not right now. That's Marad Wallace really. but again, a lot can happen in a fight like that. So, yeah, a little wide. I wouldn't say super wide, a little wide for me. A little disrespectful. Yeah, this is actually really good matchmaking.

This is, this is picture perfect. We're going to find out. We're going to find out everything we need to know about, about young Umar and Amanga made off in this fight. And we're going to find out if Mario Batista is going to fight for a UFC belt. Like, because if you lose, that's what, that's where the stakes are at. Like, I do think Umar can sort of bounce back. I do think his road gets a little longer.

Like multiple fights longer if he loses this fight. But if Mario loses, like, I don't know if he ever fights for the belt. Even though he's on like a good run, it's got this eight-fight win streak and he's got some good wins. This is it, man. Like, this is his shot. So we'll see if he can get it done. I'm super fascinated by this fight because I want to see what sort of game plan Mario is going to have. because I know he's been telling people

Marab wrote the blueprint on how to beat him how do you implement a Marab game plan if you're not Marab? That's what I want to know. Is he just going to like go bananas on him for 15 minutes and hope that he gets tired? I don't know. I don't know.

But I do know Umar can get Jod, man. He got Jod two fights before the Mara fight. Amar is good man. Like I think I think there's a ton of value there. Yeah, that's his best shot. You have to have some hands. Got to throw some hands.

Maybe this is one fight where Mario doesn't want to overthink it, because I think Umar's a pretty smart fighter as well. Maybe you put the pressure on him. Just put the pressure on really and start throwing some hands, take some risks. Which is a scary thing because, again, Umar is a really good striker as well. But, yeah, I would love to see if Mario embraces that underdog status and says, okay, you see the number, here's the numbers plus 400. Well, I'm going to fight plus 400 style and just go in and people expect them to lose anyway.

Let's see what happens. Slito, did you guys watch the data white's Contender Series co-main event or what do we call it? You know what? Retroactively, Mike, now this was a co-main event. That's a main event. Yeah, now it's like a super duper main event. Damn.

Credit to the UFC. They put up that fight as soon as they could. For free on their YouTube channel, that fight. Sorry, Luna Martinelli and, I'm sorry, what's the other gentleman's? Mark Vologden. Vlogden. They did, UFC, put it right up. And that's good because there was so much social media.

media buzz about it right away. All I saw on Tuesday night was feeling like, holy, like I hope you're watching contenders. I did not watch it live. I'm a poser guys. I watched the next day. But yeah, I did see the reaction. I was out and I'm always on Twitter and I saw the reaction. Like, wow, everyone's talking about this fight. And then I don't remember if they put the fight on that night or the next morning or something. But within, yeah, the next, within 12 hours. You no fight pass needed. No ESM plus subscription, none of that stuff. Go to YouTube, watch this fight. Such a great idea. Good for both guys. I know I believe they both got contracts, even though I've logged

and didn't come out with the decision. But that's second round especially. A great fight all over there. That's special. What are we doing? What are we doing? What's going on? Defense?

Vlog to defense, bro. Oh my God. Amazing. I mean, congrats to both guys. And they got 25K each of $25,000 each. Congrats. To me, this was the second best fight in Contender series history. It was the second best fight.

It was great. Jed says second round was round of the year. I think if we do like other rewards, that has to be in the top three, worst case it era, because like, I don't know, man,

like Kevin Holland D-Rod round three was like incredibly fun. And I think if we like really go back and check that out, this was, we just saw Yuri and Khalil round three was bananas. Yeah, it was awesome. I thought Kevin Vallejo's John Silva was the second best contender series fight until this one happened.

This one, leaf frog that one. Yeah, wow. I cannot jump this over Sudec Yusip versus Mike Davis though. I can't. I just can't. That was such a,

not only was that fight incredibly fun, but it was so high level too, because as fun as this fight was, there has to be a butt, a butt here. This was not a high level fight, right? This is not a,

no, let's be. These are not like high, like either one of these two dudes could be like ranked in their division kind of a fight. And that's okay. And we watched Steve and Mike Davis. We were like, okay, these two dudes are both going to have long runs in the UFC.

And that is okay because that's just the different. That's what the contender series is now. When Sunique Yusuf and Mike Davis happened, these were like, we're looking for the best dudes that are not in the UFC fighting each other. The contender series now is a business venture. And it's also run like a pro wrestling show where it is squash matches. And then they'll find like one big fight that's like going to be a business venture. a banger and then the main of it is going to be a guy to kind of hopefully showcase really fun skills because we want them or we have a good relationship with their management um

it's it was so good it was so fun i just cannot rank it above the davis us of fight i can't do it and speaking of squash matches what is going on with what was going on with the the percantino fight if you're like what i had never seen i don't know if i've ever seen so many uh i guess most of people in the media, I guess people don't know Pergantino is. I was not familiar with him before Contender Series. But a lot of people always see who make picks and prognosticates said like, pretty much every write-up I saw like for a preview for this week's Condender Series is like, why is this guy in the UFC?

He just is not ready. Like apparently like the tape, you know, you see whatever, a 5-0 record, but apparently the tape is just atrocious on this guy. Yeah. And she got lost 15 seconds. I guess the guy who's very highly touted in Luke Fernandez. So this was this was exactly this squash match you were talking Mike like where again if you're like me you're not familiar with both guys and you just look

the the record's like oh 5 and 0 5 and oh cool can't wait to see which guy gets it wins a contract you're like apparently it was like they accompli that Fernandez was going to win a contract and not just got a contract but but smoke this dude but not to go on an anti-UFC rank guys but I will just say like it it kills me a little bit that Fernandez is now signed I assume locked into a contender series contract we all know the details of those when apparently again I know there's been quite a bit of hype around him a guy like this I feel like should be able to negotiate, one, not have to go to Contender Series. And two, should be able to negotiate a little more money than a standard contract based on the hype, based on the hype I'm hearing.

But I get it. That's not how the industry works. It's not how the UFC works. He doesn't have a name. Your average mom and pop on the corner doesn't know who Luke Fernandez is. So he's only worth X amount of dollars via Contender Series. I get it. I get it.

I'm just like, you know, projecting a fantasy world here that he could, you know, negotiate as a proper free as you would. Yeah. great fight uh yeah this is what when i saw because i forgot that that fight was even happening on this card because i'm not as like locked into contender series as i used to be that was like for years as you know the okay that was my favorite show i enjoyed contender series like more than most ufc events just because of what it meant because i love talking to the regional fighters there's very tapped into the regional scene i knew who the best guys and the best gals were and now i know like the ufc isn't tackling those those fighters anymore it's a whole different

business post-COVID, where it's just like, if you live in Las Vegas and you can fight in five days, like you're in the UFC. Like, that's how you get in now, where it makes the contender series, like almost not invaluable, because then we get great fights like we had on Tuesday. We get to see some fun fighters who have big upside as well. And then you get this fight. Like, this to me, when I saw, like, that this fight was when I looked at M.A. fighting, and I was like, oh, this is the first fight. I was like, this is Brian Battle fighting. Derek defraita us in dirty boxing. Like that's what this fight would, like, to me was like, oh my God, this is the squashyest

of squash matches that I've ever seen on the Contender Series. So, yeah, I wish, I wish they were like way cooler fights than we once got. But I will say, I have had fun watching Contender Series this season. I really have, except for the first episode, which is pretty awful. Yeah. But the vibes overall is to me last season, was it last season or the season before? I felt like it hit a real low. Like as far as- Last season, I thought was really good.

It was fine. Okay. So it was a season before. I remember there was a point where it hit a low where it was like both the names that were being signed and also just the quality of- The Joe Piper season, I think was the really bad season. Well, that's how B-Joe Pfeiffer happened, right? He was so upset with everyone else in that card, right?

He was just like, listen, please, everyone just be like this guy. Yeah. But it looks like it's bouncing back a little bit. I think like you said, Mike, because I think the booking has gotten a little sharper. I think they're trying less to make like, what was it, Brendan Locke-Nane and like the L'O-Machos and maybe a little more of just like, yeah, let's showcase, Masters for you can showcase someone,

or like we got in that lovely co-made events where we know these guys are going to put on a brawl, and this is a great clip to put a great thing to go social, great thing we can, you know, if it goes well, put up on our YouTube and, you know, keep the contender series buzz going. Because next week, the season's over, right? This is the season 10. What a way to go out and say,

get people hyped up for next season. Get people, always leave them wanting more. George Costanza, right? They're going to George Costanza. And then by, even if, even if week 10 is a dud, they're going to remember week nine, the co-main and be like, can't wait, can't wait for more contendant series. and X amount of months.

So well done. Well done matchmakers, I guess. And I know Dana has said, like, I want to do more of these. Please don't. No. Please don't. Honestly, like, if you want to knock off two weeks and just do eight weeks, honestly, that's the way to go.

Like, this needs to be very special. This, we need to be, we need to anticipate contender series. Again, we can't just like expect it to happen. It can't be the regular UFC schedule where it's like, oh, here's all these events. And then we'll take three weeks off and then we're back with another season. No. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. We don't need that.

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.

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2004. You will never, Yankee fans will never, ever, ever get over on Red Sox fans because of 2004, ever. You could beat us in the next 20 playoff series and you are a historical dormant because you blew a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. You are the only team to do that. You were the first, the very first. And you did it to the team who went out there and stomped. the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. You will never be able to make me feel bad about the Yankees beating the Red Sox. I'm sorry, you'll never be able to do it. Much like, and I'll say this in the same vein, much like I catch shit on Giants fans as a Patriots fan. You guys ruin the undefeated season. We pissed it away.

I'll never take that away from you guys. Even if we beat you five trillion times, whatever happened at 07, don't matter. It doesn't matter. You guys, the Giants have one up. over the Patriots, that's for sure. Which fighter will be the most successful from this Contender Series season?

I'm the wrong first to ask on this, guys. I did not watch every episode. I look forward to Jed's yearly... It's got to be Jimmy Suss, right? The other great... Not John Pork? So good. I love that.

I mean, Jimmy Suss is already off... His UFC career has already kicked off in earnest. And he's fighting against MSG. They're going to push the shit out of it. I'm going to say Jimmy Suss. I think he's the guy. I believe me. Like I said, I'm the wrong guy to ask here.

I definitely have not kept up with every event and every prospect that's come out of it. But I hope that's the case. I hope that's, he's got a good gimmick going. Gosh, that UNC drama is wild. God, he is locked into like the cultiest relationship ever. Tough. Tough. I saw, I don't know.

I actually meant to look this up and I will do so later. I thought, I'm pretty sure. And this is from someone like that I trust in the sports report. sporting world or like that can find these things that unc's latest football game getty images put up like 45 images from that game and 23 of them featured bellichick's girlfriend and i want to look this up for sure but like i'm telling you i'm not surprised by this i wouldn't be surprised if this is written in bill bellichick's contract that getty images has to put at least 20 photos of his girlfriend up i'll believe anything now man every story i see coming out of this whole

drama. It's just like, what? Whoa, what? I'll believe literally. Any, any rumor, any report you put out about this Bill Belichick, UNC, saga, I will believe. It's just crazy. Ah, geez, dude. She is. That whole relationship is incredibly strange.

Mike and AK, interested to hear your thoughts on Ian Gary versus Belal, Master of the Universe Classic. How do you see that fight going? Belal dropped a response video the other day. And I guess Gary did too. I get to tell you, AK. I'll let you weigh in on this. but if there's one fight that I don't need any build for,

I don't want to hear one interview. I don't want a press conference. I don't want social media responses. I wish we could just fast forward and just throw these two dudes in a cage, have a fight, and then we can be done with it. It's this one. Because the trash talk is going to be atrocious.

Okay, thank you. I thought you were trying to say, like, I'm so hype for this fight. No, I just want them to fight and be done with all of this. It's both the quality of the fight, the great quality of the fight, And the poor quality of the trash talk we're going to see in the, yes, I, oh my gosh, the memes, the quotes, the little clip drops, like, oh my gosh, I don't want.

And I like the fight. Like, I want to see the fight. The fight makes so much sense. I mean, I wish we had gotten Balal and Kamar. Do we know why Belal and Kamara didn't happen? Just, it just nothing, right? We don't, no injury or anything, right? Just as far as we know, just didn't materialize, right?

First of all, if I'm Kamar Rusman, I am fighting Bilal right now. No? No. well, I would not take a fight with anybody until UFC 322 ends because I, I truly believe in my heart of hearts. And I know Jed didn't agree with me on this, but I truly believe this to be true. If Islam Makachev beats Jack Dalmatelana, he's going to fight Kamar Rusman in his final fight. He wants the legacy. He's going to say, oh, he's the greatest welterweight of all time.

He's better than George St. Pierre. And it's going to make me want to throw up because it's not true. But this is how Islam will say, cement the legacy, right? He'll, he'll beat the second or third greatest welterweight of all time, the best modern era post-COVID welterweight of all time in Kamara Usman. So I think that's what he does. I think that's the more sort of significant fight. And it's an easy fight to make because they're both managed by the same guy, as she loves the gloves just pointed out. So that's, that's what it comes down to for me. So that if I'm Usman, I'm waiting to see if Jack Dalmatel

Elena wins, Ustman's, Uson's in trouble. He's going to have to fight again. He's probably going to have to fight Shafka-Rak Mott off or somebody like that. Man, I felt nauseous with he laying out the scenario, because it's totally right. I mean, you're right, you're right. He had no reason to take the Balala fight with a potential

potential Islam fight in the tail. Oh, gosh. But yes, back to Balala and IM. I'm just trying to think. What was my pick? What was my initial thought when I saw this, who's going to win this fight? It's so easy to pick against Balal, but he's actually like, I mean, he's just so, he's so disrespected.

And really, I liked a lot of what he did in the JDM fight. I mean, yes, we would have liked to see him, I can't believe I'm saying this, maybe mix some martial arts a little bit more against the guy who I think still had it. Like, I think he still had the edge in striking. I mean, the decision certainly bore that out. But he looked good in the feet. It's not like Bola looked like crap on the thing. He looked good.

He just, he just got beat. So I do want to see him mixed up more. I wonder how much he'll mix it up against Ian Machado, Gary, or refine this striking strategy even further because, you know, Gary's, Gary is, Gary is also a good grappler. Like I know we know a lot for a striking. He's also a very good grappler. So maybe Bilal will trust his hands.

Maybe after that JDM fight, even though he lost, he's even more emboldened to show off what he can do in the feet. So I actually think this would be, and I also think the grappling just kind of neutralize each other. I just don't see either guy dominating in that regard. So I will lean Bilal. Guys, I'm going to lean Bilal. That's my preliminary pick.

I could obviously very likely will change before UFC Qatar. But I'll say Balala. I don't know where you're going with that. I'll probably lean Gary. but I don't know. I don't know. It's tough one to call. I think I'll lead Ian, though,

because I do think a lot of this. I do think Ian's grappling is vastly underrated. I do have concerns. I think it's being a three-round fight really benefits Ian Machado Gary, because we saw him, we saw him gas out bad while preparing for a five-round fight.

He was getting ready for a main event on a specific date that he knew about. And Carlos Pratchez steps in on like real short notice to take the fight. And Carlos seemed like the fresher dude after five rounds. So I'm a little concerned there that Blah can just sort of outpace him and wear him down a little bit. But I think skill for skill, Gary's probably a little sharper. But, you know, we've seen Gary getting some tough spots, man. but that's just sort of the adventure that is mixed special arts and trying to evolve and

get to your peak of your abilities so it's a huge fight for both guys massive for balla i mean i mean massive because i don't think it's title fight win or lose in this fight so yeah he's but he's never he's never touching it again if he loses oh 100% it's over it's never touching again i honestly i think the only way he gets a title fight is if uce wins the belt. I think that's the only way he gets another one anyways. I like that. I like that.

So that'd be a big one. That would be a big one. What else we got? A lot of contender series. Jed weighed in on, let me try to find this. Yeah, some good ones. Le Boignani was a good one, Samuel Sanchez.

There's another one. Dave McGowan is very good. He's the guy who lost to Sean O'Malley. teammate, which his name is escaping me right now. I got like mush brain today. It happens to us, guys. Tommy McBillan, Tommy McBillan. That's the same.

That's another guy that I think could do really well. I think the UFC is going to really push him because he's very O'Malley-ish in a lot of ways. They like that. I have a feeling that when Sean actually fights, he'll probably be on the card as well. Mike, can I read this? Okay, let's go ahead.

I'll read a question. Well, this is real quick. Michael Borales booked seems a bit quiet there. No, what's up? I do. Hmm. But it's not officially official, so I can't say anything. Okay, but, but, uh, no, he's not dealing with an injury or anything like that, right?

He's just, no, I'm, I think, I'm honestly, I'm surprised they haven't announced it. But maybe something happened along the way. I don't know. Uh, perhaps expect news soon, but the last I heard he was booked, but it's just a matter of when they announce and if it's out. happening. He's in a very tricky position right now. Because if anything like the scenario you laid out before happens, Mike, then he's not getting anywhere close to a title shot in 2026. It's just not, there's no, there's no room where he gets a title shot in 20s. If you're talking about the Islam,

Kamar Usman, who knows those who made, Balaf. Like said, Bilal fits in there somewhere, or whoever wins, sorry, at USC Qatar fits in there somewhere. And he's a boogeyman. He's also a scary thing where he's this boogeyman where it's great. He knocked off Gill at Burns, but should have opened the door for him to get all these like top six, top seven fights. But instead, he has made himself so dangerous now that if you're in the top six, top seven, top eight, you're just like, yeah, I'm good. I'm not going to, why would I fight McCormor's? I want no peace.

So it's weird. He needs like one or two more good wins. I just don't know how McCormarles is going to get those wins now, given who's left in the top eight of the Walterweight contender line. So he's going to have to stay busy. I have a feeling he's probably actually going to end up fighting back. I just, I don't see a scenario where he doesn't fight back. I think, I can't really say, no, I think we did have some good options for him.

But he's in a very dangerous position where he's, he's got fights coming up, We're probably, and I'm not sure which fight your talk about Mike, that, that, you know, TBD or TBA, I should say. But he really has a lot more to lose than he has to gain, I feel like, in a lot of these potential matchups. And I think Michael Morales is like a future champion. But I think like 2027 is when we're going to get to find out. Yeah. She loves the gloves. Mike and AK thoughts on Alex Tip, Toporia versus Bexat.

I wonder if Alex will stand with him for too long. Man, Beckett, Almacan. It's a good fight, man. They are not bringing Alexander Tupori along easily. And I don't think he wanted that. I think the whole idea was like, and they've talked about it before,

like that Alexander would probably be a little bit further along this career if they weren't so focused on, he wasn't such a key part of building up Ilya for his fights, right? Because I think he said, they both said, like, when Ilya has a fight prepared, they don't do like dual camps.

It's like it's all about Ilya. And obviously, Ilia has been so active at so many big fights. that if you're Alexander, then you have to, your focus, you focus on your brother. And that's great. That's awesome. But it has kind of held Alexander's career back. But I think that's why he's getting matches like this where he's being thrown right into the fire. So I think I like, I think I like to pour her to win.

But Alma Conno would not surprise me. That's a hell of a tough matchup. I love it. Yeah, really good, really good match. And look, I mean, hardcore fans know how good Bexat is. So this is one of those situations where, like, if Teporia loses, like, it's not the end of the world. Like, no one cares. But if he wins, then you could really play up, like, how good Beckzad actually is.

Like, this is the dude that almost dummied, he almost knocked out Umar in like the first minute of their fight on like super short notice. He's a tough out. I think it's going to be a tough fight for Tuporia, but we shall see. Maybe he's leveled up. Maybe he's ready for this. I don't know. But Beckside is really, really good. This is an issue question.

Name one prospect outside of the UFC that has never had a contender series shot who you feel should be given a chance. today. So I'm going to widen the net here, okay. I'm going to take the word prospect out and I'm going to put the word fighter in. Okay. Okay. Because prospect is to me, I, at least like to me, the definition of prospect is like a 25 year old who's like running through the regional scene. Like, you know, the Luis, the Luis Hernandez's of the world that are just like trying to get in. instead of fighting Sean Strickland's in a fight after a win when he charges the cage and punches you

like he's probably UFC ready like he's probably really close to being UFC ready but I think they'll straight sign him because of the viral moment with Sean but like who's a fighter that the UFC has sort of missed out on getting in or getting back in that should get a contender series shot I think there'd be nothing funnier than getting J. Ellis

Now, Jay is worth a lot more, for the record. Jay's, what, 100-something fights on his resume or something? He should not be fighting for like 12 and 12 or 16-16, whatever the Contender Series contract is. But I don't know. He's definitely a guy who's never actually getting signed to the UFC, unless, unless, unless. They randomly said, Jay, you know,

you're, you're, we know you're, we know you'd love to have UFC on your resume someday. Contender series impress us. Or, Mike, that you use. him in the squash role, unfortunately, in the jobber role, which is also entirely possible. I don't know. So I think Jay, Jay, uh, Jay Alice, God bless him would be so weird for him to be on there. Give him Luke Fernandez.

Just bring Luke back. I guess. Yeah. Some good ones here. Two fly weights for me, Pumi Nakata, Nakuta, and Bilal Hassan. I like both of those. Yeah. Pumi was not on Contender Series.

For some reason, they just don't give him the chance. I don't get it. it. I really don't get it. I think like Pumi is one of those guys. I just like, just sign him. Like he's a guy I don't even want him, but why does he have to go to a contender series? I just feel like, and I shouldn't ask this question, I guess, in the day and age the way the UFC

is, but Will 100% that is the correct answer. Thank you, Jed. Jed knew where I was going this immediately. That is 100% the correct answer. How he was not on that comeback season of the ultimate fighter is a

travesty. It is a travesty. It is a travesty of epic proportions. Will Brooks being on Contender Series as like a 38-year-old would be incredible. It'd be spectacular. Honestly, I loved the Kevin Lee idea of fighting on the Contender Series at that time. That was really smart. I love that idea. Up until his last fight, now I don't want to see Kevin Lee fight ever again,

but it would be great to throw him on Contender Series. Imagine like a guy on the regional scene trying to get into the UFC and they throw him in there with Kevin Lee as his like Contender Series trial fight, that'd be sick. That'd be incredible. Yeah, Pumi should be in the UFC, but I have a feeling that's probably going to a contender series him, because for some reason, he's not finishing a bunch of dudes,

and he's not getting the opportunity. Isaac Thompson is fighting on Friday for LFA. He's real good. Real good. He is a little young. He's a little green. Perfect. He's getting better and better.

Australian kid. really fun. I like him a lot. I think a win here probably gets him a good contender series opportunity next summer. I don't know if they just rush it right into the UFC. Yeah, Jared Brooks would be interesting. I don't hate that.

I feel like Jared never really got that, like, big opportunity. I was going to say, like, Joe Gianetti, but I think he actually just lost. The problem with Joe is like... Joe just lost to Dakota Bush. Yeah, he just hasn't been able to put together that, like, three, four, five, fight. win streak on the regionals for again because the UFC's had a look at him already he's uh he was

on the only only fighter he's uh i think he actually i forget did he actually log an official ufc fight he did right no he fought on the finale didn't he yeah but outside of that was that it he just no that's it oh yeah just had the finale fight um it's weird because i know he's like a ufc level guy it's just uh you got it you got to put together four or five straight wins or something to get back and he just it's always something like i like i say he just lost right he just or it's like a weight miss or you know I know, reputation and being reliable. Yeah.

Is, it's huge, man. Like, it's really big. Ryan Burgos, yeah. That's somebody to watch. I wonder what Shane, like, I'd love to see Shane back in the UFC as a lightweight for this, like, final run. He hasn't fought since 20, 23 again. Damn. We're approaching three years without Shane Burgos fight.

Is he caught up in the P. Did he get caught up in the PFL, Belator, just like Bortex? He's a free agent. I mean, at least like all the interviews, he's like currently a free agent right now. So, but right, his brother, his brother's kicking ass right now. So Belagio Ali maybe, oh, way too soon for that. I was thinking to say. Way too soon.

That Brian Battledew. Yeah, give that kid a chance. Give that kid a chance. Let's see what you see. Dirty boxing. PFL's own. Yes, Shane Burgos, the one time Data White has let his guard down and was like, yeah, we got that one wrong. Of all people.

Shane Burgos is the one guy that Dana Way was like, yeah, fuck that one up. You know, Shane is great. Mike, we had that question before from the, Brandon Glover was asking, if you had the shot to do your best introduction, like Bruce Buffer, which fighter would you want to belt out their name? Now, I went with obviously a funny nickname. I should tell people, guys, that Mike had Riley suggested that I would love to shout out, Brandon the raw dog Roy Val never

I shouldn't even even said it now and I really like Brandon Royval but the nickname is just come on what are we doing um I wish it was a guy who never came close to making the UFC Canada's own uh Rick Piper Mike I remember with Rick Piper No

I'm familiar with Michelle Piper very familiar Rick Piper was known as the ginger with intent to injure the ginger with the guys you can find that i'm sure you guys are seen on meme sites or something one of the best nicknames and if i was if i had to belt it out uh in front of a packed stadium i would love to shout out rick the ginger with intent to injure fiffer so wherever you are rick i hope you're

doing all right that is super funny so good so good um so i'm trying to think i'm trying to think uh i've i have i have done the ring announcing thing a few times. That's right. What was the most, what was the fun? Did you have something that cracked you up that you weren't prepared? Like, yeah. I mean, it wasn't, didn't like crack. I didn't get like Dakota Harry Bush or anything like that. Um, so I remember, I think it was, I don't know if it's like the first or second what I did. So first I did it for pro wrestling for for a thing. They did like a celebrity boxing match and I was on local radio at the time. So they brought me out to ring announce. And I like rented a tucks and everything to do it because I'm just that dude.

So I said this video to like this MMA promotion that was running out of Western Mass and Springfield called Ammo Fight League, which now like Ammo Fight League is sort of migrated into CES now. They're like the amateur. It's like all the amateur fights are booked by the Amow Fight League promoter now, which is kind of interesting. So I came out and obviously when you when you do these New England regional shows, there are two guys you see pretty much cornering. in every single fight. One is either Glover-Teshara or the other is Nick Newell, because it's like all their fighters competing on this card. And of course, from the ring announcing days and my wedding DJ days,

I am like the most organized dude on planet Earth when it comes to like having a mic in my hand. Like I'm going to every coach, going to every fighter. Hey, what was your weight? What's your height? Where do you fight out of? What's your team name? And I'm just filling out cards. And then I'm like, what's your nickname?

and they'll tell me with the nickname, oh, I don't give a shit about that or whatever. So Nick Newell has a fighter name Will Smith, literally Will Smith. And I was like, what is this nickname? I'm sure it's what I think it is. And it was just like, he wanted ill Will Smith. That's what he wanted.

And I didn't think this was funny or anything, but Nick Newell comes up, like, pulls me aside. And I've known Nick for years. And he was like, hey, when you announce Will Smith, announce him as Will Surrey. Racha Smith. And I'm like, why? He goes, just do it. Trust me on this. And I was like, okay. I was like, you're Nick Newell, you're his coach. If you think this is going to help him, like, this would have been due. So he was waiting for me. And I was like into these,

these announcements. And I'm introducing Will Smith. And he's getting ready for ill Will Smith. And he's like almost getting ready to mouth out ill Will Smith as I was saying it. And I was like, introducing Will Saratja Smith. And he was just like, and then he looks at Nick. And he was like, I'll kill you. It was like something like that. I don't know why they, I don't know why that threw him off so badly, but it was like wicked funny, man. And I, just because he didn't know it was coming.

So that was, that was, that was a fun moment for me. I realized by now, by the way, the real answer now is, uh, is brown penis, brown penis. It's right. It's not. Not to be confused with Damien Pinas, by the way, guys. Not, not, not, and I don't think they're related. I'm pretty sure not related. But for everyone who was laughing at Damien Pinas from, uh, contender series, there was

actually got out there, Brown penis. And if Bruce Buffer ever shouted that out, it would break the internet. Yeah. It would break the internet. Yeah. Nick Duel has been coaching in New England for a long time. Glover to Chera might be the best regional coach in the country. Because I've probably ring announced 30 of the fights that his team was competing in. And I think he's 30 and out as a head coach for his fighters. Like it's crazy how good they all are. And they just all win. So pretty wild to think about. What a legacy.

What a fucking legacy. I got to tell you. We'll take one more. Give us your best question. We're talking to Corey Anderson. I didn't honestly. All the things that are going to talk about today. I didn't think Corey Anderson was one of them.

Please. PFL. Sorry, I've got to clear my throat here, guys. I'm soloing you. get ready. No, I don't, PFL's in, I use this phrase a lot. I know I've said it was fighters today. It is, it is in a weird spot where it looks like they're, you know,

they just got a new CEO, you know, John Martin's coming. And obviously they're making some changes. They're streamlining some things, which is great. But it just, it's one of those things where when you're comparing a promotion like the size of the PFL to promotion, uh, the size of UFC. It's like, it sucks because of the, the mistakes are amplified so much. I used to make this comparison

when people were like, oh, WW and, like, AW or TNA. I think TNA was a better comparison because TNA was actually quite far, far less successful, was like,

well, well, you know, PFL makes these mistakes, but so does UFC. You see, makes these mistakes all the time. And like, that's fine.

Like, UFC can essentially, you know, throw a hundred darts. They have the size and the resources. They can throw out 100 darts. They only need 25 to hit. One out of four darts to hit,

and guess what? They can afford the misses. When you're a league like the PFL, you need is the opposite. You need like three out of every four darts to hit to make progress. And, you know, like weird stuff keeps happening. Like you said, the promotion was really poor for this Dubai card. And you had a great rematch with Usman and Morgameda and Paul Hughes.

And it turned out great. I would probably put the first fight over it, but this fight was really good. A little bit of controversy probably actually held it back. And a lot of people just didn't know that this card was going down. I think they vaguely knew the rematch was happening at some point soon. It was on ESPN Unlimited, which I still don't even know what that is. I live in Canada. We don't have ESPN Plus up here, much less ESPN Unlimited.

So I had no idea what that was. I think we watched on, I think, DeZone up here, which was fine. But again, people just didn't know. People don't know. And they didn't know Cory Anderson was fighting. Was that the only two title fights? What was the other? I feel like there's one more title.

Were there not three title fights? There's only two. There was two. Corey Anderson. Yeah. And they should be making a bigger deal about this. being like we are crowning these new champions we are cleaning the slate forget the tournament champions forget the super fight champions which we just crowned friggin like a whatever six months ago

we're going streamlined organization championship that you guys are familiar with this is how m a organization's work and it just wasn't communicated well so much stuff wasn't communicated well so yeah really really frustrating to see that people didn't know that a couple of big title fights were going down it was in the middle of the day too which uh convenient for some people not so convenient for other people because people got to work man people got to work over here so unfortunately you probably lost a lot of viewership that way too so um yeah it's just it's a really it's a tough spot for pfl right now i just don't know how how they're going to grow um but you know maybe we need to be looking at it more big picture than just this one event which is the event itself was fine

just to lead up to it was a little a little flat i think they're kind of screwed man i just don't i don't know how they can get over this hump i really truly do not know they get another tv deal coming up at the end of 2026, I think. I think there were the ESPN until then. I'm so curious to see how ESPN moves forward with this. Like, are they going to keep them around? Are they going to dump them? If they do dump them, how does PFL proceed?

This card being moved to the unlimited platform was absolute trash. No one was paying 30 bucks for that. I'm sorry. They just, I think they mean. well. I really do. I think they what they think they're doing is good. And I think that they're, I think that they have tried this year to do like good things. I think the Grand Prix was a great idea or the world tournaments as they call them. These are great ideas. These are spectacular ideas. This made the season format much more palatable. The Jed said something last week and I

completely agree with it. They need to have a day. And it's like their day. They should have cards on Thursdays and it should always be Thursdays or they should have a card on Sundays. It should always be Sundays. Like that's how that's how it needs to be. And they don't do that. So it's so confusing on where to watch them, what day to watch them, what time to watch them. They were dropping 11 p.m. fucking main cards the day before a UFC paper bill this year. Like these are terrible decisions. And I know it's not fully on them because these are the time slots that they're given by ESPN, but like think outside the box, do something else. Like I'd rather watch you at 3 p.m. than watch you at 11 p.m.

It's absolutely insane. And then they have this thing like they put on, they put on like a pretty fun card. Like the Dubai card was good. And then everything that could have gone wrong went raw. Sergio Pettis has a knockout of the year. We're doing the preview show. And I'm watching this knockout 500 times in a row. And I'm like, holy shit, that was sick.

And then we get to the Colmain event. And Corey Anderson's all over a guy he already beat. And a fight not a single person was interested in. No one was interested in this fight. And you and I tried to like, like we tried as hard as we could to be sarcastic and put this fight over. Like, oh, it's a rematch four years in the making. Now there's a crowd this time.

And we're just like, we know what's going to happen. Corey Anderson is going to Cory Anderson all over him. And that's exactly what happened. We're just like, oh, great. Now all your momentum is gone. And then we have the bullshit of what happened in the Usman Paul Hughes fight. And again, I have watched that fight a second and third time at this point. Usman and Abaghavadav won that fight, in my opinion.

The scorecards ruined it. And it just makes everything look bad. And I know it's not like fully PFL's fault that that happened. It's like a commission thing. But like it reflects poorly on the promotion. Like any time like a good thing happens to them, something negates it. It just cannot like streak together good fortune over and over again.

It's wild man. And that go back to my point about the dart throwing, right? It's like the UFC, this stuff happens to the UFC all the time. Referee controversies, you know, fouls being missed, poor judging. It happens to the UFC all the time. But the UFC does so many other things right, at least in the eyes of the fans, that when those mistakes happen, okay, you get mad, you get over it. PFL, it can survive these things, but it needs to be doing everything else right.

Right. Like you said, it needed to have, you know, maybe not that Cori Anderson fight on there, unfortunately and i like core honest but i got what you're saying like maybe the positioning could have been different i don't know um but but because that happened as well as what happened in the main event as well as the event not being advertised like the the one dart that hit the the the the Sergio um the sergey pettus k-o um even the quality of the fight the quality of the magaum hugh's fight we we forget those hits because three or four other darts missed and those unfortunately those the darts that we're looking at the end of the day the ones that didn't even hit the board and it sucks because again you could argue that the the card quality was

was fine, but it's just all the extra killer stuff, it's hard to ignore. And that's what happens when you're so far in second place is you cannot afford to miss so many darts. And that's just, that's how it goes. So it sucks. It's brutal, man.

It's absolutely brutal. And not all their fault. Like I said, not all their fault. But this is, this is the game, right? Let me pull up this card. The next, like,

big PFL event is the PFL line card. Let's see, we have a, Sabit's brother fighting on the card against Eve's Landu. Kaysan. Yes. Taylor Lappalus is fighting Liam Gittins. Dean Garnett versus Boris Adi Goozel in a tournament championship fight. Didn't even know this is a thing. Connor Hughes versus Alexander Chizoff.

And then we have two title fights to cap this thing off. We have Vadim Nemcoff versus Heiden Fehera. The last time we saw Heine Fahara, he was face down, getting pummeled by Francis and Ghanu in the least competitive championship fight of the last decade. What are we doing here? Where's Henry fighting for the belt? Where's Francis? Who really won that fight, Mike?

Listen, all I know is one guy stepped back into the cage. I don't want to make light of, I was going to say, Francis hasn't been seen since because unfortunately there was stuff that happened in this, that was very terrible story. So, but you know what? I, yeah, it's who they got. It's who they got. That's the problem. You can't tell it.

So just won the heavyweight. Olock, Pol. Who won the PFL heavyweight championship? and why is he not fighting. People in the comments. People in the comments. Who won the most recent, I guess the last. Whoever beat Alexander Rabonoff?

Whoever beat Robanov? I wanted to know if anyone in the comments could just pull this. I mean, I'll just, I have no proof that they're not Googling right now because I know. Oleg, Popov. Oleg, Popov. I was close. Close. Yeah.

The mania is running wild. Boy. Yes, thank you. So I don't know why he's not getting that, that fight. And then the coal main event, NAC. The co-made event is Chris Cyborg versus Sarah Collins. Sarah Collins, she earned her spot. A little bit of a, she beat, didn't she beat Leah McCourt?

Yes. That was the number one contender. She took her number one contender spot. Why is this fight happening? There's a little bit of an experience gap, I feel like. Sarah has what, is what seven and six and oh? Six and oh. Cyborg is what, 55 and one or something, 55 and two?

It's a bit 28 and 2 I'm a little I'm a little shock This fight is even being And then the commission Authorizes this I'll be honest

Like I know Like I Like I don't want to sound I just don't want this to sound like Like a Chris Cyborg Haterate thing Because it isn't Like she can only fight the fighters

That are like in front of her Yep It's supposed to be Liam McCourt Liam McCourt You know whatever Didn't make it Listen to this Just listen to this run

Post Amanda Nunes Loss Like, let's really, let's really bathe in this. Be nice, Mike. Let's run this down. Felicia Spencer. Julia Budd, which at the time was a good win. It was intriguing.

That was intriguing. Yeah, that was, at that time, was a good one. Arlene Blanco. Yeah. Great fight. The ghost of Leslie Smith. Okay. Chenade Kavanaugh.

Seven and four, Shade Kavanaugh. That was rough. And then, of course, after a dominant second round submission, win, three fights later, you know we had to run it back with our than Blanco. We absolutely had to do it. I enjoyed those fights. For the record, I enjoyed those fights.

But yes, I understand. The second one wasn't terrible because it was one of those like, wow, she's really tough. Yeah, yeah. She can hit a lot. And then we get the Katzengano fight, which now we understood like why Belator were so hesitant to put the Katzangano fight

because that was, that was an asswopin. Then we got, then we finally got something. we get Larissa Pacheco and that fight slapped. Really good fight. There we go. So good. No, it's a fight we won it for so long. Like there's a reason we wanted for so long. We wanted for so long and it delivered, right?

Like, yeah. Chris is back over because if you watch that Battle of the Giants card, that fight saved the day because that card was awful. It was really bad to that point. Like the H. McKee-Pahuey's fight was pretty fun. But like that fight got us back on track because I think we got the Johnny Ebelin fight right before that. Johnny Evelyn Fabian Edwards

holy shitballs was that fight terrible and then we get the Crickeh we get the Cyborg fight we're like yeah let's rock and roll like to lead right and she was that fight was the MVP of the car to buy it and then Francis had his moment and and all that why can't we just do it again

like we ran back Arlene Blanco like a year later after their first fight we can't do Larissa Pacheco again like do a best of five before Chris calls it a career she got like two fights left and we're going to waste one on Sarah Collins? Like, good for you, Sarah. Like, a big opportunity for you. But like, why? What are we doing here? She earned it, Mike. She, she, she, she, she, she beat for one time.

What is it? Look at the UFC. When did they use meritocracy, AK? They just had a $7.7 billion deal. They don't need meritocracy. Sarah Collins has passed three wins. All right. Pam Sorensen, who once fought for the Bell Tour, uh, bent a featherweight title, I think. uh sheneid kavanaugh who we just mentioned fought cyborg and lea mccourt she choked out leon mccourt in under half a round okay she took she took that title spot sarah collins is a worthy challenger to the great chris i war do you remember when chris iberg is like i have to fight leon mccourt this is like my legacy fight like what are you talking about what are you talking about how non-competitive is that fight just do the right thing pfl like i'm not going to take anything from sarah but like Give us the fights we desire. There are no other. Like, you can't get Amanda Nunes. You can't get her.

So bring her, bring us Larissa again. And then if that fight happens and Chris wins again, guess what? Do it again. Do it a third time. Maybe Larissa can finally get the win. That's a rematch I'm interested in. Do the thing. It's a fresh matchup.

It's a fresh matchup. How do we feel about Connor McGregor's suspension, by the way? How is this not mentioned at all? Absurd. Absurd. What? hilarious. I don't know, man.

Oh, because this is such a sneaky bullshit thing that we held on to for so long. Here we go. It's ridiculous, dude. The first one, the first test happened the day before he officially, quote, unquote, pulled out of the fight. This fucking crazy. But the official statement from the C-Sat or whatever was like, oh, it's okay. He wasn't preparing for a fight, so we're okay with him missing. That's what they said.

They said he wasn't preparing for a fight. So how could that be like, how could that be like, how can. suspended for over a year before we found out about this. They really got, Mike, I think he's learned his lesson. 18 months. 18 months. Taking 18 months away from the game that he loves, Mike. To go promote another fighting promotion.

You know, he's got to do something with his time, but he's suspended. You know, I think we should applaud that this, not to mention other things. Also being, let's not forget, being found liable for sexual assault. I think that was also a great way to be spending his time. So, yeah, man, just a mockery, just a mockery of this whole drug testing. procedure. What are we doing? He's going to headline in the White House.

It would have been, it would have been 24 months if he hadn't cooperated and, oh, conveniently you chop off that six months. So it's only, we still get a nice like 18 month number to say like, oh, we got him. But guess what? He'll be eligible well ahead of time, well ahead of time for U.S. White House. So, yeah, it's just. Now we know about the six month master plan. Now it all makes more sense.

I'm like, wow, six months. Well, now we get it. Everyone reacted appropriately on, like I saw on social media. Everyone just immediately, fans, media, everyone was just like, this is a sham. Like, this is so meaningless and such a weird gesture. I don't know why they'd bother to do it. Like, do they think we're stupid? Like, it was, it was just horrible.

But this is classic UFC. Yeah, I guess, I guess we'll see him at the White House. Yeah, we will see him at the White House. He will fight Michael Chandler. And, boy, what a time to be alive. What a time to be alive. Finally. Yeah, finally.

I'm playing the music. hopefully I'm underwater. We're done. Thank you very much. I didn't realize you're going for 90 minutes. Maybe it's just because I got red face talking about the Chris Cyborg booking over the last decade. But we will talk to UFC Rio tomorrow.

We'll have a preview show, all that fun stuff. We'll have the People's Pre-Fight show on Saturday onto the next one on Sunday. And then we'll fast forward to UFC Vancouver and then we'll get to UFC 321. And just what everybody's been waiting for, we're heading back to the world's most famous apex on November 1st.

So stick with us at MAAfighting.com. Thanks for watching. Watch it back next week. Good night, everybody. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion

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