MMA Fighting - BTL | Alex Pereira & Tom Aspinall Crowned At UFC 295, Jon Jones, Bellator's Last Dance?

Episode Date: November 16, 2023

UFC 295 delivered an exciting event at Madison Square Garden, and when the dust settled in the World’s Most Famous Arena, Alex Pereira entered the two-division champion club, while Tom Aspinall stated his case to be MMA’s best heavyweight when he ran over Sergei Pavlovich in just over a minute. Where does Pereira go from here? And could we get a fight between Aspinall and Jon Jones? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel recaps UFC 295, discusses what could be next for Pereira in his first title defense at 205, if the Israel Adesanya trilogy fight could happen, and Jamahal Hill feeling disrespected ahead of a potential matchup between the former champ and Pereira. Additionally, topics include Aspinall’s interim title win, if he could have enough juice to change the UFC’s plans away from a fight between Jones and Stipe Miocic, other standouts from UFC 295, Saturday’s UFC Vegas 82 headlined by Brendan Allen vs. Paul Craig, Bellator 301 being a great card on paper — but possibly the final one for the promotion — and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and recent Gamebred Bareknuckle winner Randy Costa. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Randy Costa: @RandyCosta135 Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is Between the Links, your host, my...

The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL, back on another Thursday, as we always are each and every week. There's a lot to discuss. We have the UFC taking MSG by storm, two new champions crowned, Bellator bringing a banger of a fight card that not even Bellator seems to care about, since it might be their final one and a whole lot more. But joining me to discuss all these things, the panelists, the combatants, if you will. First, let us say hello to Mr. Hot Take, Mr. No Gray area,

one of the betting gurus over at M.AFighting.com and the man who is victorious in one of the all-time biggest robberies in the history of MMA debates on the ranking show earlier this week. He is Mr. Jed Mishu. Hello, Jed. You don't even believe that, Mike.

That's the thing. You know I'm right. Everyone knows I'm right. It's not even a matter of debate. It's just facts. Let's get right. Let's get my opponent's opinion on this particular matter

before we kick this off, Mike. We're going to. Okay, good. We're going to. Good, good to know. We're going to discuss this. Don't worry. And the aforementioned opponent, one of the most exciting fighters, you will see compete,

whether he's gloved or ungloved, the man who maybe had the most vicious finish of the weekend in combat sports, the man that you'll probably have to vote for at the end, because if you don't, he may just come find you and knock your damn teeth out. I kid, but let us welcome back the man who finished Jason Knight in the exciting co-made event of Gamebred Bear Knuckle, just 16. days ago. Fellow New Englanda, Mr. Randy Costa. Randy, you insane SOB. How are you? Dude, I'm good, man. I appreciate you guys having me on.

This weekend was crazy, dude. This weekend was crazy. Yes, and I want to talk about this before we get into all of this because obviously, congratulations on the win. All week through social media, Randy, in the press conferences and interviews, etc. There is this sort of aura to you in the build to this

fight. Now, I'm not a psychologist, nor do I pretend to be. But it seemed like your mentality was, well, this is going to be nuts, I'm ready to do this, but also it seemed like a part of you is like, what the hell am I doing here? And there's no turning back.

But then you went out there and performed the way that you did. And immediately in the aftermath of the fight, I was like, you know what? Mike Perry is probably the face of bare knuckle boxing. But Randy Costa might just end up being the face of bare knuckle M.A. It just seemed like you loved this so much

and you want to do it more. Is that in the ballpark somewhere? Like you came in just, thinking like, oh my God, and then you ended it like, I want to do this a million more times. Yeah, so I'll, I'll address the first thing in and the most important thing, which I, Platinum Mike Perry actually said that I have performance of the night. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm welcomed into the cool kids' bare-knuckle community at this point. I've been blessed in.

But, dude, that was that was crazy man. Yeah, dude, this, the whole, the whole past year has really sucked. and Friday was was really good. Friday looked fantastic. Nothing could have been better. It was like it was perfect, man. I went in. I did like big time damage.

I did a big time showcase over somebody that I probably shouldn't have done that over. And I came out with zero injuries at all whatsoever. I'm not sure what I did right, but I beat the game and I'm excited for whatever's next. For sure, for sure. And speaking of them not having like a face of bare knuckle, I mean, what the fuck, man?

I'm here. I mean, I'm exciting to watch, right? Like, what the fuck? Why not me? I mean, who knows what's going to happen, dude? It's a very, very weird, interesting time that I never, ever in a million years. I mean, dude, in what fucking alternate universe am I doing bare and uncle? I'm a man succeeding in it.

It's like, it just asinine. It doesn't make sense. But I'm here for it, dude, I'm excited for what's the next. If I told you, like, there you go. If I told you like nine months ago, because you mentioned how tough of a year this has been for you, because you had a bunch of fights, booked and it seemed like they all fell apart, some even like the day of the fight. So you have to make a lot of changes because of that because you have to make money

and you have to fight in order to make money. If I asked you nine months to go, hey, all this is going to come out in your favor, but you're going to do bare-knuckle MMA and not fight for CES or any local MMA promotion. Would you believe me if I said, hey, your path back is bare-nuckle M-M-A? Nothing was really out was really like out of the question. I mean, Barrona Macomba, like, fuck, no. Like, that was out of the question. I wasn't doing Barron Uncle.

But, dude, I just, like, this last year, Mike, it, like, really actually fucking sucked. Like, I'm super vocal and super, like, you know, positive on social media, this, that, the other thing, dude. But, like, everything behind the scenes from, like, my personal life, my family, dude, like, everything was fucking shit, man. Everything was shit.

So, like, I definitely, I held on to a belief, and I held on to some positivity that this, that this shit can't last forever, dude. Like, I'm not, like, everything's not going to suck forever. Like, there's going to be,

there's going to be an end point. Um, and I think I found that end point, dude, because things seem to be going pretty up at this point. And I'm, I'm super grateful and super grounded to be in a situation that I'm in, man.

I feel very lucky and I'm excited for whatever's next. Can you talk about some of the turmoil you went through over this past year? Like, I don't want to get too personal with you, but is there anything you to talk about? I mean, I'll dump a little bit, man. I mean, I was in, I went to Mexico right after, so right after that, that fight in the UFC was October 1st or something.

I went through like a pretty, pretty, like pretty bad breakup. I lost my UFC contract, lost my fight. This was all in the same week. I bounced up to Mexico, dude, I had no intention to coming back, bro. I sold everything, bro, everything, my car, everything, bro. I had like, I have four duffel bags to my name in a suitcase, bro. Like, I have shit. I'm back on my car.

parents house now and then like I'd had zero plans dude I went like you know I was just I was just in diving I was just doing a ton of stuff with scuba diving bro I had plans to like work in the dive industry and I was I was meeting a lot of people and and traveling a lot I was backpacking around Mexico dude and then I got a call from from my family that there was a pretty significant illness in the family and I had to fucking come home for it man and I came home I didn't I wasn't like I wasn't planning this I wasn't I wasn't I wasn't planning to fight, but I got news of some pretty shitty stuff at home. I got a fight offer and I found Tulum Muay and this was like all back to back to back.

I found love for training again, dude. I planned to come back here in June. If I lost that fight bro, I was going back to Mexico and that was the end of that. There was no more fighting. I only took that fight so I could come back here and be with my family during that shitty time. And then I was like, fuck it. We'll see what we can do, man. And then it turned into one in July 29th.

The kid pulled out like, you know, a week before the fight or something. So I'm like, well, I'm here. It's the fucking summertime. Like, the weather's warm. I guess I don't really have an excuse right now. So I got booked for September 15th. Fucking kid pulls out two weeks before the fight. Back on the hunt, we take an even tougher fight.

We take the fight against... I mean, I'm not even going to mention his name. He pulled out the day of the fight. I took that fight. That was like a bigger New England fight, bigger local fight. He pulled out the day of the fight. And then I got an opportunity to take this kind of fight. And then it was like, dude, I made up my mind, dude.

If I had lost that fight, that was it. So I got off for the craziest opportunity. And I said, fuck it, dude, we're just going to send it, bro. We're going to send it. If it lands, it lands. We're going to roll the dice. We're going to see what happens. And honestly, man, it couldn't have played out better.

And life is good right now. And somehow I found myself living back in Massachusetts. So if you had lost that fight, you were done. That was it? Dude, I was out, bro. If I lost that fight in June, I was out, bro. If I lost that fight against Jason, I was out. I was going back to fucking to Latin America, bro.

I was going back into scuba diving, bro. Like, I had no plans. But now it's just like, dude, fuck it, man. I'm here. I showed I showed everything that I believed in and that my coaches believed in right I feel like I feel like this was for lack of a better term like a common out party for me dude like I feel like this was like a real actual showcase of the potential that I have I always knew I had a high ceiling right I had like even even my UFC run was wasn't necessarily good but I showed a lot of potential a lot in a high ceiling I mean I got the UFC really early dude I had four fights before I got in the UFC I'd never even been punched in the face until I got in the UFC and fought my debut like I learn to fight in the UFC. So I feel like at this point, like there's, there's a lot of maturity that I've developed and a lot of lessons learned. And I feel like we've turned in a corner and I might be on to something, man. And I'm only 29 years old, dude. Like, I still have a lot of time in the

sport and a lot of damage to be done in the sport. Like, I can put, I can put a dent and really stir shit up and how, and how it's going. And I think now with where I am in my life, like, professionally and mentally and spiritually, I feel like everything's just coming together and we're going to do something pretty cool. And I think Friday was a big step in that direction. I assume the bosses talk to you and I know you called for a fight in January. I assume that's going to be a very big card and I assume you're going to be on this card, right? I'm sure you don't have anything like set in stone yet, but I assume they have plans for you to compete on the next card in January. You're talking about the game bread card I'm assuming,

right? Yes, yep. Yeah. I mean, George and all those guys have expressed interest in having me on that card. And dude, I mean, I'm about it. I just, dude i faced a big fear going to fight that fight man like the the kryptonite you watch my fights man the kryptonite style to my style is jason knight's style like a fucking a dude that has nascent jitza jitzu can take a lot of damage is going to walk forward and try to walk me down and i passed that test with flying colors i did i made him i made him and i have i have all the respect in the world for jason jason's like he's the man i admire him as a competitor as a fighter he's fucking really good. But I made, I made him look like he belonged. Like, I, I was fighting him on, like,

the local scene. Like, that was, like, a, there was, there was a clear skill discrepancy there that I finally was able to fucking show and show people that I, I, I believe that I'm actually that good. Like, I'm that guy. And it's nice that I had that performance over him in his backyard, in his sport. Like, he was, like, the guy for bare-knuckle Eminemang. And, dude, let's be real, bro, I wasn't flown into that into that fight to go win that fight, bro. I was in there to get, for Jason to run a showcase on me and get signed

back in the UFC. Because, dude, quite frankly, he should have been in the UFC after the Ultimate Fighter. He won that fight on the Ultimate Fighter in like a minute or something like that and the kid that he submitted all loved to Landon got signed to the UFC already and Jason hasn't. And then he, and then there's only lost on that show was that crazy

fucking fight against Kurt Holobo who won the show. Right? So I go in there. I'm the B-side fighter. I'm a fucking 35er. in a sport that I've never competed in. And I go in and I do that kind of thing. It's like, hey, man, like, I might be on to something here. I think we may have turned a corner. And I'm super thankful for my coaches, Lowe's on and Rebello in particular,

for never giving up on me and forever believing in me, believing in me because here we are now. That's sassy Greg Rebello. Shout out to Greg Rebello. But congratulations again. If we have some time at the end, we'll have the peeps fire a few questions your way. Because I'm sure there's a lot of fascination with Baron Obello. Jed shaking his head like,

Jed, what is going to? This is bullshit. This is bullshit. How do I win now? I'm already fighting an uphill batter going against the fighter. And now I got that to compete with? It's fucking over. We can just do the vote and call it.

I've already lost. It's bullshit. Just Excel right now, bro. Listen, I was on that ranking show. This is my revenge. So welcome to Revenge BTF, Jedmishu, and I hope you stay for the whole time. But let's get into this.

Let's talk UFC 295, gentlemen, because while Randy Costa has broken bare-knuckle M-MA, Alex Pereer continues to break actual M-M-A. He's broken the sports and the rankings as we know it. 11 pro-M-MA fights, just seven UFC fights, and he's a two-division champion after stopping Uri Perashka in the second round. Randy Costa, as a man who has broken bare-knuckle M-M-A,

Alex Pereer is a two-division glory champ. Now he's a two-division UFC champion in a very short span of actual fights in mixed martial arts. What do you make of this accomplishment because it just doesn't make any sense to me what this man has done in such a short amount of time? Dude, it's honestly insane, man, because every single one of his performances are a spectacle.

He has such little fights. He's going to, he's flirting with two divisions. It has like a crazy rivalry with the 185 guy, right? And meanwhile, he's doing all this, has all this fanfare, all this stuff. And like, Pahed is the man, dude, but he's a stone face and lacks any kind of, like, charisma. But everybody loves him, dude. You can sign me up any time he's fighting, bro.

He doesn't even have to talk. He doesn't have to do anything, man. If he just does that bow and arrow thing when he walks out, man, I'm all for it. And you can sign me up for any kind of fight that he has always. Jed, it's been five days since Alex did this damn thing. And we've talked about it on the ranking show. we talked about on the post fight show five days later does this make any sense to you this is just so crazy and incredible and i just don't know if this will ever happen again something like this

i mean it makes sense in the like he's he's good at fighting i said on the ranking show he's he's obviously good at fighting but i'm not sure that he's good at fighting he keeps beating good dude so we know he is good at fighting but like we just don't know where he is and it makes sense with how this is all developed, right? Like, we know that his skill set is among the best in the world at what he does. The questions we have are about the rest of it, right? I don't, how good of a grappler is he? And it just hasn't mattered.

Like, for, for one, he's just knocked a bunch of people out to a point where that hasn't been at play. And two, we can be honest. He has gotten some favorable matchmaking in that regard. So is Alex Prayer with the best light heavyweight in the world? I don't know. Like, well, I guess we'll find out. He's going to keep fighting dudes.

And if he holds this belt for even two or three title offenses, then it's pretty undeniable at that point. But I think he is deserving of having this belt because he is one of the best guys in the world undeniably. So it's weird. It's a very unique situation. This doesn't happen all that often. It's probably not going to happen all that often moving forward. But every once in a while,

there are people who have that little bit of fairy dust around him who get to, they walk in the line. light and Alex Pereira seems to be that dude and he's making the most of his opportunities and it's it's awesome like it's it's super weird but it's it is incredibly captivating yeah and when I say it doesn't make sense it's not that it's not a realistic thing and that it shouldn't have happened it's just bizarre and it just doesn't happen this quickly because we know when he got into the UFC and he went to 185 like the reason they signed him was to eventually book this fight with izzie and then he goes and beats izzie in the fifth round after losing most of that

fight and then he gets knocked out by Adasanya earlier this year probably the wrong end of the knockout of the year and then he's just like nah I'm not going to do the trilogy I'm just going to move up to 205 beat john bohovic and then in his next fight beats yuri perashka and becomes a two division champion it's just insane and jed i think we both can agree that Alex Pereira versus jamal hill this fight is fantastic and it's going to answer a lot of questions and it will at least perhaps lay the groundwork towards this division being somewhat normal since it's been snake bitten

since John Jones left it. But Hill is hurt. Killie's injury. Takes a long time to recover from that. May not be back until the summer, maybe longer. Who knows, as great as this fight is, Jed, there's no way that the UFC

can wait for Jamal Hill before Pereira fights again. Can they? There's just way too much momentum. What do you think happens here? No, absolutely can't do it. Because like, here's the thing, Mike. it doesn't answer all the questions.

It might answer some of the questions, but like we also have a lot of pretty good questions about Jamal Hill. The way he won the belt is no doubt about it, undeniably great performance in it's Culver-Teshara. He was like the number nine dude in the world who just kind of fell into that, that opportunity. And like Prairie made the most of it, but we still don't know who either of these two dudes really are

as like fully fleshed out forms in this weight class. You can't wait for that. because it's still, there's too much happening. This light heavy weight is a fun division now, which hasn't always been over the past few years. It's weird. I don't know what you do do with him because there's not like a clear-cut contender here.

I think it just got announced today that they are running back on Goliath versus Johnny Walker in January. If the winner of that wants to make a quick turnaround, that makes like the most sense. I know Pereira called out Izzy for 205. I don't like the idea, but there are worse things that have happened in the sport. I don't know where you go, but the answer is undeniably not. Let's leave Alex Perr on the shelf for the next eight months until we have this fight.

No, like this guy is, this guy's dynamite television. You want to tune in to watch him. He's getting a little bit of stardom to him, you know, like Randy said, doesn't have like the outward charisma of someone like Connor Greger or Brock Lesnar. but he has that demeanor that is that gravitate you towards him put him back in there i don't care who against like i i would have said honestly just put johnny walker in it who cares about him running it back with incolive not going to do it like dude fired him with yombovitch who's been calling for a rematch fine with that i don't care if you pick niquita krillov who's on a good

win streak it'll be fun who gives this shit just make make him fight let's get a little bit more motion at the top of this weight class and let's have fun with one of the more fun guys on the sport right now. Randy, after Alex wins, he calls for the trilogy with Adasania 205, which, you know, I don't know if I want to see that in particular, like particularly want to see that right now, but I think the call it is brilliant because of Hill's injury. And this is probably the biggest fight he can get right now while we wait for Jamal Hill. And it's probably a bigger fight than Jamal Hill.

We do have, as Jed said, Johnny Walker, Magamette, Angolaev. They're going to run it back January 13th. Maybe you go with the winner there. We do have Polhovic fighting rackets January 20th. maybe if rackage wins, they go that route, it's a fresh matchup. Or maybe they just wait for Jamal Hill. So with this momentum, Pereira has, if you had the matchmaking pencil, what would you pick? Yeah, so a couple of points that I want to make in terms of him going up to 205,

I think that move is perfect, right? Because you have someone like Paheda, and there aren't any savage wrestlers in that 205 weight class at the moment that could, that you could argue. would just steamroll somebody like Paheda. Like for example, like, like, like, like, Comzat or something. I think Comzad has a really hard style for a guy like Paheda to deal with. But Comzah's not a 205, right? Comzat's an 85 or 8570. So I think this is a perfect weight class for him.

And I might be in the minority. I do think the, uh, excuse me, I think the, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, easy fight, I think that makes a lot of sense, man. Like you said, there's no clear-cut contender, right? Izzy got Paheda that title shot like pretty much right away. He had what, like three or four fights before he got a title shot? That doesn't really happen. And they were like, they were

matchups catered to his fighting style. So why not pay it back in some way? And Pageta's been extremely vocal saying that like that interview with Izzy that Izzy did a while ago saying that Alex would be on the pub somewhere watching the fight, watching Izzy the fights la-da-da-da-da. And now Paheda comes back and butto say hey i'm just trying to help you out and get you off the coach we're trying to get you back into it why not dude there's no clear cut there's no clear cut next contender right now there's a badass

storyline with that this would be this would be what the fourth fight or the fifth fight between them and now we're going to a different weight class this is up a weight class for izzie why the fuck not you know it's going to sell and especially i mean i don't think there's a ufc australia or anything like that booked right now i mean fuck it put it in the next ufc brazil card this fight i think makes a ton of and I get that I might be in the minority, but why not? Yeah, I mean, look, if they don't do Connor and Chandler at UFC 300, like that could headline UFC 300 easily, the trilogy fight between those two guys.

The only thing is Izzy doesn't seem all that interested in it, and he's talked about taking time off. But I honestly believe, like, unless Izzy leaves middleweight and goes up to 205 and just bulks up and becomes a light heavyweight full time, I don't think he's going to get another shot at the belt if he's still going to stay at middleweight. If he wants to be a two-division champion, I think this might be his last chance.

So we'll see if that rivalry continues. But one last thing about this, and I'll go back to you, Jed, because one thing I left the Pereira-Prahashka fight thinking is, look, maybe the stoppage is a little bit early. I don't have an issue with it. But I do feel, especially with the face-off and them just staring each other,

daggers through each other, that this is not the only time these guys are going to fight. Like, I feel like once the Izzy rivalry is officially over where they fight, or third time or not. I do feel like Pereira's next potential rival before he calls it a career is going to be Yuri Perashka. Like these guys are going to fight multiple more times.

Do you feel like these two guys are kind of made for each other in some way that this could be sort of Pereira's next rival for the division and for the UFC before he rides off into the sunset? I don't know about next rival, but if you had me pick who I think Pereira is going to fight next, my answer is actually year. Now, I'm, you know, I have a long, long standing stance against this. I hate immediate rematches in literally any circumstance, except for like egregious robbery. This was not that.

But I think that to me, the most likely scenario is we get a rematch of this in March, maybe at UFC 300, something like that, because there isn't somebody else who jumps out. Like, unless the winner of that Ancolaev Walker fight is like super unscathed or whatever, then maybe. but I think February, March, they just say, hey, little bit of controversy in the end. Not really. He says it's okay. It's fine. But, you know, fun matchup. There's nothing else to do.

We've seen them kind of pull this before in situations like this. And without a clear cut next contender, I think he's probably got the inside track. If year he starts making noise for it and prayer will do it because why not? So I think they're definitely going to fight at least once more. I'm not sure if it'll end up being a rivalry because. I picked Pereira to win this fight. I think he wins the rematch too. Like I think Yeri is the way he fights lines up fairly well against Pereira.

So I'm not sure it'll be a rivalry in the same sense that it ended up being with Izzy. But they're definitely going to fight again. I think that's for certain. Randy, do you feel like these two guys are going to fight again in the future? I agree with pretty much everything that Jed said. I don't think that it's ever going to, I mean, not ever, right? But I don't think that it's going to be like this crazy competitive. competitive rivalry that everybody thinks it is.

I think everybody's more so like, like gushing at the fact, like these are two fucking stone cold samurai that are fighting each other more than they are like the actual technique behind their styles, right? Because, because, uh, Paheda, he's a fucking, he's a surgeon with the way that he's picking his shots, right? Prats, Yuri is like super wide and super wild. And like that, that is the perfect style for somebody like,

but you're not, you're not going to be Pahedo with craziness. You're going to be Pahed with mixing shit up. up and Yuri's throwing like these loopy shots and like Paheda has a nice defensive guard. He's seen all this shit. I agree with Jed. I mean, they're going to fight again, right? And it's going to be a great buildup. But I don't think it's ever going to be like this crazy competitive rivalry that maybe you're implying that it's going to be.

We will see how it plays out. That was one of the big stories from UFC 295. We'll go to the other big story. Tommy Aspinall. Is he the best heavyweight in the world? Will he fight John Jones? We will find out next. The point for out one goes to

Randy Costa, one to nothing, nicely done. I mean, he got, Jed, to be fair, he did get like a full interview before the first round, so you kind of knew you're in trouble there, so. I was cooked since this thing started. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what?

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but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Well, we mentioned Tommy Aspinall, Jed. We'll begin with you. Look, man, fought Sergei Pavovich. Only needed 69 seconds. Lands the big shot.

Lands the hammer fist. Gets Pavlovich out of there. And now Tommy Aspinall is the new interim UFC heavyweight champion of the world. Now, we'll get into what this all means, Jed. And you can get on your soapbox and talk about how great Tom Aspinall is right now. But man, 69 seconds, 12 days notice, back injury. Can't beat that, can you, Jed? Nice short night at the office for Tommy Aspinall.

No, it's insane. It's an insane thing. I'm not even going to talk about the back injury because, one, I just sort of feel like if you accept, like if you take the fight, then anything you say after the fact, just I'm not going to count it towards you because it just shouldn't. Like, you took the fight, you knew where you're getting into it is what it is there. And it doesn't, he doesn't need.

that back injury to make what he did any more impressive. Like it was just unbelievable on 12 days notice just getting up off the couch and be like, yeah, I'll go fight the scariest dude in the world maybe. And just dummy him. And like coming

into it, I said no outcome would really surprise me other than this fight going to decision. Like I knew that Tom Aspinall could knock him out, but I think the general consensus was the one time we'd seen Sergey Pavvich looked bad. I think it was Alistair over him taking him down and working him over on the floor and we know tom aspinall has that that skill set

that capability of doing it and instead he ate a couple of clean shots from pavlovich he didn't wilt or kind of crumble like we've seen other people do when pavitch touches him and then just fired back at him and put him it down in 69 seconds like i don't i don't know what to make of that other than to be incredibly impressed by just how damn good tom aspinall is he's so athletic he's as such a diverse set of skills defensively responsible like this dude is is going to carry the standard for this weight class moving forward and saturday night was was the start of the tom aspinall era brandy what a run for for tommy aspinall he's got the uk behind him the fans love to sing his name and sing his song and he's got a personality he's got you know a lot of charisma this guy kind of has

the whole package been pretty fun to watch him do the thing and now become interim heavyweight champion has it not? Yeah, man, for sure. 100%. I mean, I agree with everything Jed says. I think that that Aspenol is going to be like the next standard for like the heavyweights. I mean, the dude moves like a lightweight. He's super effective.

Nasda Jitsu is strong as fuck and has a whole nation behind him. The only thing that's fucking killing him right now is that John Jones exists. That fight, dude, and I mean this with the utmost, utmost respect to Askenal and everybody involved, him versus John Jones is not going to fucking happen. And it's a shame that Aspinall is not going to be the champ until John Jones retires. That fight's just not going to happen. And it's super unfair. And it's it's not right.

It's it sucks for Asphenol. Like it really sucks for Aspenol because obviously he he earned it. He deserves it. He deserves like a shot at the actual undisputed belt. But I mean, let's be real here. That's just not going to happen. I don't think Tom Aspernel has that name value yet. And I don't think John Jones willing to take a risk like that.

I mean, he's at the end of his career. He's been super vocal about that MS. she fight versus Depe wanting to be his last fight why would he even consider

the fact going from like fighting the goat for his last fight ever to go into fight like this this this prospect

phenom from the UK that's like not super well known like it just doesn't make sense and like I really sucks and I feel bad

for Aspinol because Aspinall is that dude Aspinall is going to be the champ but it's not going to be until John Jones is gone because that fight is just

not going to happen well let me ask you this and then we'll get to the to the big topic, because Jed's got that look on his face, and I know he has things he wants to say. Randy's not wrong. He's not, but

heading into this fight, Randy, and I want to get to the John Jones thing, because most people felt like, because obviously John was supposed to fight Steepa, and this is the whole build, but most people felt like John probably won't fight either of these guys. And if Sergey Pavlovich somehow won this fight, there's no chance that fight happens,

but maybe in the future, Aspidol could, you know, win the interim title, maybe defended a time or two. maybe they do it in London or the UK or Manchester and he gets like a big star reaction and maybe John will eventually see dollar signs in him and now at this point even Dana White said at the press conference

now he's going to fight Stepe and yes it'll be a big fight and there you go but since Saturday and I don't know if you've seen this at all outside of like maybe a small bit of casual appeal I think the bloom is completely off the rows for John Jones versus Stepe Meachich I don't think anybody really wants to see that fight and the M.A world wants to see this Jones versus Aspedal fight, and not a lot of people felt like this could be a possibility coming out of Saturday, but now everybody seems to want it.

So as a fight fan yourself, Randy, where are you out of this? Do you have any interest in John Jones versus Steepa right now? I mean, only because, like, there's so much, I mean, but like, there's so much behind it, but I'm not, I'm not like, I'm not going to be upset if it doesn't happen, right? I mean, it's not a huge deal. Another thing about the Tom Aspinall versus John Jones thing, right? So this dude, look at the conversations of fights

that John Jones is going to have for the last two years or whatever. Francis Ngano, Stipe, and all respect to Aspinall, but he's not on, like, there's just no... Jones was very vocal about legacy fight and wanting to do this because, finishing his career at home

and doing this, that, the other thing. Tom Aspinall doesn't really fit in that bit. I think that there might be a possibility if somehow like UFC MSG comes again and nobody else is available. And John Jones is adamant about that date and time and location. And Tom Aspernel steps up and says, fuck it, I'll fight the guy on MSG. But aside from that, dude, it's just not going to happen. It's just that the fight doesn't make sense. In my opinion, Jones v. Aspenol doesn't make sense, especially in terms of business.

and especially in terms of Jones's legacy and whatever his personal goals for himself that he has. Chad, if they book John versus Steba in June in Brooklyn, New York, just throwing it out of a random place. Would it even get a Michoulin star for you? No, I don't give a shit about that fight. I didn't give a shit about this fight this last time. I have been calling that fight exactly what it is.

It is a vanity project. And that's okay. Like, I understand you get to a last night. level in your career, you can kind of pick your spots. And I am not blaming John Jones for taking that fight. I get why he is doing it. That fight is meaningless. Stephen Meitchitch hasn't fought in two years and hasn't won in like three.

And he has no wins over currently like current UFC fighters except in Andre Arlowski, who's also a thousand. Like it's he's he is not relevant to the day to day goings on at heavyweight. And John fighting him is meaningless. It will not improve his legacy. It could hurt his legacy. If Steve A beats him, I think that will maybe have people look back on his career a little differently. But it just doesn't mean anything to this weight class.

It didn't mean any. And I want to be clear, that's how I felt in November. I feel that exponentially, if that happens in June when Steve A's 42, and this simply is not a thing that matters. What matters are the people who are currently competing in this weight class, putting in the work month in month out to fight the other best dudes in the weight class. That's why Tom Aspen is my number one heavyweight in the world. He is actively beating other heavy weights and has the intention of doing that moving forward and John does not. And again, I can't blame John for this.

Like do do the business thing. You got to do what's right for you. But that fight is that fight means nothing to me. And to your point, Mike, I'm not sure who it's for other than the two fighters in it. I'm not sure it even does great business now. It probably does okay because John will always kind of do okay. But I'm not seeing a ton of clamor for that fight to happen even beforehand and much less now after more months of it being on the shelf. So no, what should happen is he should fight Tom Aspinon.

You should fight the interim champion if he wants to be a heavyweight and not this vanity thing. But no, the entire move to heavy was a strict vanity play and he's getting what he wants out of it. And so he's never going to fight Tom Aspinall because Mike, as you know, he's scared of Tom Aspinall. He's very, very scared of Tom Aspinall. His legacy needs it.

And John, I'm talking to you. Don't be scared, homie. Fight Tommy Aspinall. Oh, my God. Randy, if you don't know this on our post-fight show, Jed started a basically a whole thing where... It's a movement, Randy, a movement. He started a movement where he wants everybody in the MMA community, fighters, media members, and fans to all pretty much at John and tell him he's scared of Tom.

And then maybe his ego will come out and be like, fine. You think I'm scared? I'm going to fight this dude. This is Jed's playing, which I think is brilliant, by the way. We're going to go to him into taking this fight. I mean, I admire the optimism. So let me ask you this, Randy, because this has been a big debate amongst the NBA fighting crew. In fact, if you guys haven't listened to our ranking show, I highly recommend you do because Boston Mike can.

made a whole bunch. And it proves why I host these shows and should not be a panelist on any of these shows because I am way too stubborn, whether I'm right, wrong, or indifferent, I will fight for my beliefs till the end, whether I actually truly believe them or not. But Randy, we have, we're living in a world right now where Francis and Ghanu still exists, right? He's planning on fighting for PFL at some point. John Jones, who is planning to fight Stipe or somebody else. And then we of Tom Aspinall, the interim heavyweight champion of the world, is Tom Aspinall the best heavyweight on the planet right now after this win? He is not.

He is not the best heavyweight in the planet right now. I don't think. And I don't think that because John Jones and Francis both still exist and they both labeled as heavyweights. Do I think he's the best heavyweight in the UFC, like, active? Do I think he should be the champ? Do I think he's the heavyweight guy in the UFC for the label? the baddest, but da-da-da-da? Yes, but do I think he's the best heavyweight in the world at this

moment? No. And I don't even know how you could say that after watching Francis just do that to Gypsy King on, you know, in boxing. Like, I just don't, I don't think that's a thing. And I think there's a lot of recency bias here when you, when you use them like, like, bold statements like that. I mean, it's easy to say that, like, Tom Aspinall is the best guy in the whole world after he has a performance like that just last week, right? But Joe, let's not forget about all the great things that Jones have done. He made. made surreal gone look like a child when he fought him that time. And surreal gone was the guy when he fought him.

Like, I think it's really hard, man. And I feel bad for the situation that Aspinall's in because I don't think that he's going to get the credit he deserves until either A. He fights and beats John Jones, which isn't going to happen or John Jones bounces. I don't think I don't think Aspinall, unfortunately, is going to get any kind of respect he deserves into one of those things. Two things happen. Randy, let me just say, that was a well-thought-out. Excellent answer right there. Jed, you're retort.

Dead wrong. Like, Randy, got a lot of respect for you. I'm sorry that you're with Mike being real wrong about this one. You're right. John has accomplished so much, like, arguably more than anyone else at a totally different weight class than heavyweight. John's one heavyweight fight is a win over serial gone. Great win.

not here to take anything. I mean, absolutely demolished Cyril Gahn. The guy at the time, you know, right there at the top, like rank number one or number two in the world

at the time outside of Francis Ghanu. John demolished him. Guess what Tom Aspinall just did? He demolished the guy, ranked number one and number two in the world, this terrifying dude that no one wanted to fight, just demolished him. And then on top of that,

he also has beaten several other relevant UFC heavyweights. Like this, just is it, John is only, he's a heavyweight on paper. Like, that's it. He has one fight in the weight class. So it's not, it's just not the same. Like, and I could be more open to that argument. Again, if John said, I'm going to fight Tom Aspinall, I'm going to fight, you know, I'm going to defend this belt against a real person that matters subsequently in this weight class. It's not what he said at all. I'm going to fight Stepe, who's a billion years old, like walking like a Jerry Patriotric Fireman at 295.

You see him getting around with like a hitch in his giddyup? What are we doing? He's not going to pretend to defend the real belt. So Tom Aspinall has it. I am absolutely here for the argument that Francis Ngano is the best heavy win in the world. I believe that that is true. We are just not legally allowed to rank him because of the rules we put on ourselves. But I'm absolutely with you if you want to say Francis Inganu, I think that is totally fair.

But what Tom Aspinall said is correct. He is the best active heavyweight mixed martial artists competing today. And that's just facts, baby. I think the word active is super important here. It is a very important word to use. And it was a brilliant word. Tom Aspenal's just been full of brilliance. He really has.

Every movie has been a brilliant one. I can't wait to him. Dude, we all agree that Asper, we're all agreeing that Aspinol is the men. You're just not going to beat the machine. The machines, the UFC, the machine's going to control. the whole thing. Jones is a part of the machine. It's not going to happen. The fight's not going to happen. It is

if we go to him, Randy. Get on board. Get on board. If we all rise up as one and say, John, you scurred, bet you won't swing. Maybe he will. I'm not saying you're right or wrong. I'm just telling you

it's a fucking machine. Well, let's see if the movement works. Are you with team Jed here. Do you want this movement to pay off? Could we see John Jones versus Tom Aspinall? I'm starting to think, I mean, I'm not here to say that it's going to happen, but I went from like 0.01% that it happens. I'm like at like 12% it happens now. I do feel like there's a little bit of momentum here. You should hope it doesn't because if this, if that fight ever gets booked, I am for sure taking credit for it. All right. Well, you should. And it'll be a great, another moral victory for Jedman.

issue. But let us move on. A lot of momentum coming out of UFC 295. Maybe not over for good old Bellator. We'll talk about Bellator 3.01 in a second, but the point for round two goes to Mr. moving himself, the David Koresh of M.M.A. Jedbushu. It's one to one. Nicely done. All right. We got M.A this week. I'm not sure I want to be David Koresh, by the way. Jesus. Hey, listen, you know, he's a, I just don't. HR? Don't get too power hungry. Just don't get too power hungry, right?

Just keep it level. Keep it level. And I think you'll be all right. We got Bellator 301 tomorrow, gentlemen. We have a really good card here. Yaroslav Amasov versus Jason Jackson, the main event for the Walterweight title. We get Sergio Pettis versus patchy mix

for the undisputed Bannamweight title. We got Rafion Stotz versus Danny Sabatello 2 at 135. A.J. McKee versus Sydney Outlaw in a lightweight bout. and then we have a lightweight ground pre-bout between Patricky Pitbull and Alexander Shobbly. So Jed, that's your main card. There's some fun little prethums as well, some good names.

Rape Bellator 301 on paper, which could potentially be the final card for them. Man, I was really hoping you go to Randy to start because the landscapers have decided, you know, Mike, you understand landscaper time, how it's always when we're recording. We've managed that, so sorry if you hear that in the back.

background. Three one's a great card. It's a super weird thing that Bellator this year has been quite good, honestly. I've had a couple of cards because they just simply don't have the full roster to like always have a great main event. But they have largely put out the product they have put out this year has mostly been very good. And it's super weird that that's the case on the year they are.

It seems at this point a certainty that they are done promotionally. Maybe not. maybe something, you know, comes in at the 11th hour, but from everything we are hearing, it seems exceedingly possible, if not probable, the 301 is the final card in the history of the Bellator promotion. And if so, they're going out. Great. Like, Patchy makes Sergio Pettis is like two top seven bannam weights globally going at it.

And like pretty realistically, the winner of that has a claim to being one of, if not the best band of weight in the world. Yarslav Amasov, nobody's going to talk about it. But, I mean, he has one of the best welter weights in the world. If he wins this, 28 and 0, I haven't done an official dive onto this. But to the best of my knowledge, Habib's 29 and O is the best record in MMA history, like the most undefeated run of anyone ever. And Yarslav Amosov is assuming he beats Jason Daxman, which I think he will. He's bumping right up against that.

Stott Sabatella, too, I don't really care about. But it's promotionally valid. And then look, Alexander Shobli, also. A.J. McKee? Awesome. This is a really, really good way to go out. But somebody said this. Maybe you just said it. And I, it feels like Bellator is going out with a whimper, not promotionally, but or not with what they are delivering as far as fights, but promotionally, does anyone know this is happening? Like, is, is anyone aware that this fight is this fight card is about to occur? Because straight up, multiple people who work at our website. and I won't name names the best website in the world to cover this sport. We're like, oh, there's a Bellator Friday? Shit, multiple people.

Like, this is going on with the real whimper. And it's a shame because I wish Bellator was sticking around. We'll talk more about that in a second. But Randy, I mean, it's a pretty damn good lineup right here, right? This is, I mean, promotionally, they don't really care all that much. So why should the M&A community in a lot of respects? but I mean, for those who are going to be watching this card, it's a pretty damn good one, right?

If this is the last one, they're going out with a bang here. Yeah, I mean, I'm one of those guys that Jed's talking about, dude. I didn't even know this card was happening until last week. I'm friendly with Danny Sabatelo, and he DM me, and then I saw that he was promoting his own fight. I was like, oh, fuck, like this card is actually pretty nasty. And it's just next week. I don't know why they just gave up on the whole marketing thing,

but dude this this card is like this is a really good card man umasaw versus jackson is crazy dude patchy mix versus uh first pettis bro that's that's a really high level fight and if you're talking about a promotion that's that's going that's shutting down after after this card that's a very meaningful fight for both of those guys patchy mix hasn't fought in the ufc yet obviously but pettis has a bunch of ufc fights what do you think their next move is i mean it could be it could be the ufl it could be something different like the market It's a little bigger now. But this is a big card, man.

You figure that this is like, for lack of a better term, this is almost like a job interview, right? You don't know what the next, I mean, they might know what the next movie is, but we don't know what the next move is. And one crazy performance could change the whole trajectory of any of these guys' career with this promotion that they're signed to going under.

I like this card, man. I'm fired up for this card. Definitely wish they just promoted it more, though. The problem is they can't promote it because they don't have any backing anymore because Showtime has already already left the game. So it just put them in this weird box.

Yeah. And it's crazy because these are like, these are really good fights. Like that main card is like a really, it's a really good card. It's a lot of high level fighters on that card. McKee and Sydney Outlaw, that's a fucking scrappy fight.

That's like sneaky good. There's no promotion at all. I don't even know they'll fight until last night, dude. See? It's just one of those things. And that's kind of been what's handcuffed Bellator a lot over the last few years is that they put these good cards together and they just kind of assume everybody knows about them when that's just not the case. But I'm curious to get your take on this, Randy, because, you know, seeing this could be the final Bellator event. Now, who knows what's going to happen with this PFL thing?

If they are absorbed by the PFL and they decided to run them as separate entities, I'm not really sure how that's really going to work. And who knows what will come of it once this deal actually comes through if it does. but as a fighter yourself, you know, you talked about your last year looking for opportunities. You know, CES, maybe it was your last fight, but who knows? Like at some point, there was a Bellator who could call you up if they're going to Mohegan and say, hey, Randy, you're a New England guy. You could sell us some tickets. You want to fight on this card.

But as a fighter right now, kind of looking for opportunities, how do you react to this, possibly having one less place to bring your talents? I mean, I don't think that it's, I mean, from my perspective, Bellator going under doesn't, like, at all impact me in the slightest, right? And I think that a lot of fighters who are, like, bigger or, like, really take the steps with promotion and things like that aren't really looking for that Belator opportunity because Belator doesn't really push their fighters. Belator has, like, three or four fighters that they push. Everybody else is in charge for themselves. And that's what I think the UFC does really well.

I think the UFC, obviously, is the gold standard, right? I don't think they necessarily have the best fighters in the world, but they have the best marketing in the world. This ultimate marketing championship. They're fucking, they're crushing with all the marketing stuff. But I think now, more than any other time in MMA, I think it's just a wide open landscape of fucking opportunities. You have, obviously, the game bread stuff, you have barrenuckle, you have the PFL, which is paying crazy money. You have karate combat now, which is bought out by, uh, President Awesome, Dana Brown in Miami.

I can't think of his name. But he's putting on crazy shows. He has Petison, Benson Henderson fighting on it. And that whole dynamic is brand new too. The Bear Nucke, MMA dynamic is brand new too. Everything's taken off. So I don't think anybody over there is like shaking in their pants or anything. Everybody's obviously under great management.

And they know that whatever they're going to go, especially coming off a big performance, somebody's going to pay them. Like more promotions now than ever have. have really deep pockets and they're willing to invest in these fighters. And it's just one big ass performance away on this card that's going to have people calling. They're going to be free agents. So like I said, man, I think it's like a job interview.

I think there's a big card for all the fighters on them. Jed, if this is the final Bellator event, like it is certainly going to be the final Bellator event under this regime, if you will. Like, how does that make you feel? Because you and I, we have been historically tough on Bellator because we know that they have the talent and the fighters to be a really good promotion. There's a lot of a lot of productional things that, you know, kind of sours the product.

We talk about the promotion and the marketing. And I know, you know, we talk to people who work for Bellator a lot. We've had our airing of grievance in episodes and grading the promotion last year. And they weren't really happy with the grade that we gave them. But it just for some reason, it just hasn't worked over the last few years. But now, like, that this is probably the end, at least for this regime. And who knows? maybe PFL rebrands them or whatever.

What are the feelings like right now heading into this final card? It'll be sad when they're gone. I'm not going to cry about it or anything, but it will be disappointing because Bellator has been a viable number two to the UFC. I mean, it's very far down. Like obviously the UFC's here.

And we're talking number two. It's very, very low. But it was still a place where there was an accumulatory, of great talent. And I don't think any other organization can say that, right? Like there are good fighters in one and in PFL. And I mean, frankly, just other organizations. You see everyone popping up can get access to good fighters.

But Bellator had by far the most collection of them. And in part, that was because they had a broader drive to create those fighters. They invested very heavily in talent developed. There's a reason they had a streamline of collegiate wrestlers coming in, hey, you're done competing at wrestling, you're not going to make a dent in the seniors here, move into MMA, and that doesn't always turn out great.

They missed as much as they hit, but you still end up getting a bunch of young talent. They just invested really well in developing that. I think there's a huge place for that in the sport as opposed to just having everyone kind of feel it out themselves on the regional circuit. I think it was great to have a spot like Bellator for that. I think Bellator's product was oftentimes hard to watch, but in the end, it also, you know

that some of the stuff you were getting was great. Them doing Grand Prix was awesome. Having a major promotion doing a Grand Prix structure like that takes it back to the days when I fell in love with this sport, you know? And broadly speaking, like, it's one less organization to be competitive. It's one less organization to offer up money, to offer up an alternative. vision of MMA than what the UFC is getting is putting out there. And maybe everyone just folds into PFL and PFL now gets to rise to the level of a number

two and maybe a closer number two to the UFC than it was. But I'll believe that when I see it. And for now, it's just we're losing what was a valuable part of the MAA ecosystem. And I'm very unsure what we're replacing it with. And if in the end, some of these great fighters go to the UFC, that's awesome. I'd love to see AJ McKee fight, you know, featherweights and lightweights in the UFC. I would love to see Patchy Mix and Sergio Pettis against the Sean O'Malley's and the Marabh Valsh Phillies of the world. I would love to see Johnny Eblen be the best middleweight in the world.

Like those are things that are awesome. But we'll see if that happens because there's also maybe they don't. Maybe they go to Risen or elsewhere. And then it's just not this. It then becomes even harder for there to be a, I'm going to watch this and know that I'm getting elite level mixed. martial arts on both sides of the ball, as it were. God, if PFL absorbs them and keeps them viable. That's the dumbest fucking room I've ever heard in my life.

So you don't think they should do that? No. The only reason to absorb Bellator is for the fighters. There's not, like, you don't give a shit about their promotion. Their name is the worst name in the history of honestly professional sports. What if they rename it? Then, then why are you even keep, why do you even have it as Bellator? Or like, what's the point?

Just take the PFL's great. And I mean, they have other failings, but the biggest failing of the PFL is their fighters. Like they have some good fighters and they have many other just replacement dudes. Like just another guys in there make up a lot of their roster. They can overnight have the second best roster in the sport by folding it all in. You should absolutely just do that. So last thing on this.

I mean, he brought up a pretty interesting point about this being like a, you know, big fights, big card, but also a potential job interview. So, Jed, you are hired as UFC director of talent. And you are being tasked to watch this event. And you are tasked with picking three guys from Bellator to bring over to the UFC. You can only pick three. Who are you bringing? Oh, that's the easiest question in the world. I mean, like, there are many people who deserve it.

But you also have Amosov is my number one. Dude might be the best world to wait in the planet. He's 20, about to be 28 and 0. Like, that's, that's just it. You just, you pick that dude nine times out of 10. I mean, you also just have to go AJ McKee from a star building prospect. Like, I'm not sure that he's the second best fighter on this card holistically, but he is one of the very best fighters in the world at his weight class, also competing at lightweight, very, very talented. and Young, like, he's everything you want as a guy to build up and build around.

So those two are unequivocal. And you could make other choices here, but to me, the answer is I'm assuming Patchy Mix makes wins. And if Patchy Mix does win on Friday, then he's absolutely it because, again, you're talking about maybe the best band of weight in the world, a guy who maybe isn't, he's certainly not as marketable as like a Sean O'Malley. But talking about a guy who's going to come in day one, be a contributor at the highest level of the. this weight class, maybe fight for the belt, maybe win the fucking thing. So those three for me and it's, it's very, very easy. What do you think, Randy? I mean, you've been in the UFC.

You kind of know what they want and you know, kind of know who can succeed there. It's not always just the best fighter in the weight class. It's can be also, it's someone who's got all the tools, right? Someone who's got charisma, someone they can build into a star? If you're the guy tasked with bringing in three Bellator fighters, who are you bringing on? I'm going MVP 100% just because when he fights, it's going to be a spectacle, right? I don't think that they'd sign him necessarily with the intent that we've got to build this guy to be the champ, but we're going to sign this guy and we're going to guarantee sick fights.

Imagine a fight with like him versus Wonderboy or something like that. Like that's a sick fucking fight. Number one, number two, I think it's pretty clear cut and I think it's Patchy Mix. I think Patchy Mix is the best, if not. top three best Bannon Wights in the world. That dude's legit. He's killing everybody. And then, I'm gonna butcher his name.

Yamasov? Amasov. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think those three. I think him, Patsy Mix, an MVP, and I think it's pretty clear. I think that I think they have something to work with with all three of those guys that you have one like a guy

that you can build for exciting fights. You can have one that's an undefeated guy, you know, assuming that this weekend goes well. And you have Patchy Mix who is arguably the best 35 are right now. Those are my three clear-cut contenders. I'm sure there are more than I'm not thinking of right now. Yeah, it's got to be super interesting when this all comes to be and how this all works.

Like who's a free agent who has to go, who doesn't have to go. It's going to be a fascinating story. But let's move on while Bellator is a card. UFC is following up UFC 295 with a trip back to the Halliday Pax. And boy, oh boy, are they stacking the deck? The point for round three goes to Mr. Bear Nuckle MMA. Randy Cox.

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The Crossing Guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering, start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. We got UFC Vegas 82 on Saturday. And look, I'm going to run down this main card. Why? Probably not going to love it.

But I will say, with the caveat, we get a 2 p.m. Eastern start time on this bad boy, which to me is, I mean, get you at automatic points just for that. But here's what we got, gentlemen. Brandon Allen versus Paul Craig, the main event. We'll talk about that more in a second. Jed's former number 10 ranked welterweight in the entire world, Jake Matthews versus Michael Morales. Jordan Levin.

I got a little ahead of myself. You did. Jordan Levin versus Chase Hooper. Peyton Talbot versus Nick Aguirre. Amanda Hebas Luana Pinero, Yeros Schmedich versus McIbeck, Oralby. So that's not how you pronounce that man's name, but I don't remember how to do it. I don't remember how to do it. But it doesn't like, so Oral by is correct.

The first name is like something way different. Because Connor, Connor did it on No Bet's bar. He like went and looked it up. I was like, I would have never pulled that out of the hat. I'm excited for the way ins tomorrow so that Brennan Fitzgerald could pronounce it perfectly. But Jedd, yowser, what do we rate in this card? This is a zero. It's an obvious zero.

There are no Mushul and Stars handed out for this fight card. Credit, the 2 PM's great. I mean, it's 14 fights, so even at 2 p.m., you're still going to be going to be trudging along there. But look, the main event is going to be fun. I'm not, that's the thing is this isn't, individually, most of the fights aren't bad, but they are, the sum of the parts,

is somehow like way, way worse than the individual fights because it all just doesn't, like, what's the hook? What gets a casual fade into the door here to watch this at 2 p.m. on a Saturday where the college football slate is pretty good, you know? So it's just like Brendan Allen and Paul Craig is going to be real weird and real fun because both of those, Paul Craig is always in fun, weird fights. It's just who he is a fighter. and Brendan Allen has might actually just be like a very very good middleweight he's

certainly a fun middleweight if not very very good Jake Matthews Michael Morales is like once upon a time I might have had higher hopes for this Michael Miles is probably going to run over him chase hooper Jordan Levitt is that's a that's a fight it's a fight that's happening I'm I'm super high on Peyton Talbot I think he has got a very bright future at Bannamweight really big for the division very young guy but he's also So, like, this is probably too early for him to be in the UFC, six and no and probably still needs a little more seasoning before he gets here. And the rest of it's like, Earl's Medich is almost never in a boring fight. So, like, it's probably going to be fun.

But where's the hook, Mike? Why am I supposed to care about this? But frankly, any of the fights happening this Saturday other than the fact that they are fights that are happening. Like, where is the meaning to any of this outside of for each of these people? people individually. This is the, this is the, hey, we got Thanksgiving next week card. That's what it is. And what's crazy is.

It really is. What's crazy is probably the second best fight on this entire card is buried on the prelims. It's Jonathan Pierce versus Joanna Sermrido. Why this is not on the main card is not me. But Randy, let's, you know, look Randy, you're a young man. You're coming off of a huge win. You want to go out and paint the town red a little bit on a Saturday. You want to enjoy your time.

You want to enjoy your weekend, fresh back from Biloxi, Mississippi, where I'm sure you learned a lot of things about how to party and enjoy yourself. So are you going to tell your friends that want to celebrate your win, you know what? I can't come because I have to watch UFC fight, UFC Vegas 82, or what are you going to do? Or are you telling your friends, let's meet here and do a whole bunch of other things? So I might have like a different viewpoint than everybody or that both you guys, right?

one thing that's true this card's fucking trash like we know this right this card sucks but the thing that i do like and in like the apex gets a lot of heat right because the apex sucks and nobody wants to fight at the apex and whatever but what's really good about the apex is that they can put these fights these cards together and everybody can still get paid right so that's really fucking cool because like i i don't think that the i don't think that the promotion is putting this on for the benefit of the promotion, right? Because this card fucking sucks, right? But they're definitely putting it on for the benefit of the promotion. What's that?

They are definitely putting this on for the benefit of the promotion. I think they're putting these fighters on this card for the benefit of the promotion because I don't think any of them, or not any of them, but I think generally speaking, like none of these fights could be on like a big card. But these fighters are all getting an opportunity to make a lot of money. There's not going to be, like, there might be a crazy, a crazy bit of excitement on it, but this is going to be a wide open platform. form, right? There's nothing, they need a star to come to, for this card to liven up, right?

So something crazy is going to happen and someone's going to benefit tenfold. I fucking, I hate the card. I hate the apex. I hate all those things. But I love that the fighters are getting paid and I love that all these fighters get the opportunity to fight, especially going into the holiday season. The freaking voice of reason. I know he had you here for a reason. Now you're making me like that things that I say. And of course, listen. And this card sucks, but everybody's getting paid. Hey, this is coming from a man who may have the most exciting round in the history of the apex with Adrian Yanya.

That first round you guys had was absolutely incredible. So real quick, Jed, I want to go back to you about this made event. We have Brandon Aoun who's on a nice little run right now. Ever since the Chris Curtis lost and the whole thing with him and Sean Strickland kind of had a little thing with Extreme Couture and those two middleweights. But since then, getting wins, maybe the M.M.A. fighting middleweighty, middleweight champ after finishing Christop John. He finished Andre Munez.

Got a nice finish in his last fight against Bruno Silva. Now he gets a ranked dude in Paul Craig, who moved down to 185 and also finished Andre Munez. So this is going to be a weird and exciting fight, but like, what are these guys fighting for? Like, who can gain more from a win here between these two guys? Because I think Paul is kind of over a little bit more, but Brendan's really good. He's a little bit younger.

He's probably got a higher ceiling, but maybe not like that well known. I guess I would say, but like, I guess who do you think can benefit more from a victory here? I mean, they both benefit pretty heavily from a victory here. I think the winner of this is actually going to get a pretty clear step up at middleweight because, I mean, Paul Kracks, you know, he's a guy that people like. He was a top 10 dude or whatever at light heavyweight, inexplicably has a win over Jamal Hill at that weight class. So Amagamette and Goliath, for like two of the top five dudes in the way class. So like he's and you know,

face paints, Scottish gut personality, they'll like him. So if he gets a win here, he's the top 10 win. I'm looking at the UFC rankings right now. Brennan Allen's number 10. I think they'll give him a real step up in competition.

He'll get, you know, Robert Whitaker probably won't take a fight with him. But, you know, he'll get, Norman Delead's there, something of that he'll kind of put him into real contention. And the same goes for Brennan Allen,

who's still very young on a terrific. win streak is like one six in a row or something like that and has been really impressive and middleweight is sort of in a transition moment right now we've got a little bit of an older guard showing their age some some new talent kind of emerging and brend Allen can kind of be at the forefront of that with the win here so they're not fighting for a title shot they probably probably not even fighting for title eliminator though that's maybe a little closer to the to the truth of the matter the winner of this is fighting to elevate themselves into real contention, not just I have a number next to my name.

The winner of this is going to get a fight that will be for a title Eliminator fight. So they're won away from being won away, essentially, so with the win here. Randy, who needs this win more? Brennan Allen or Paul Craig? I think Brennan Allen's in the driver's seat here. I think obviously the big bonus of them both fighting each other, is that they're going to get a $25,000, I think $25,000 main event bonus.

But what Jed was saying about them, like elevating their careers, I agree. But I think this does a ton for Brendan Allen because I think Brendan Allen has all the skill sets to be like a real big time player in 85. But I think the thing that he lacks is the marketability. I don't think he's the most charismatic guy. I don't think he's the most, like, interesting guy to, like, listen, talk to or, like,

funny is, or I don't think he's any of those things, but he's a fantastic fighter. and I think that everybody above him in the rankings, I think that they'll be able to, like, negate the lack of charisma that he brings and kind of carry that through. Because if you look at everybody that's ranked ahead of them, you're dealing with, like, Marvin Vittori and, like, Drickis and all those kind of guys who, like, people know who they are.

I don't think anybody knows who Brendan Allen is, but I think Brendan Allen can compete with the best of them. And I think that a win over Paul Craig this weekend does huge things for his career. Yeah, I'm with you there. I think Brennan needs this one more. He is young, but I think the best thing for him, you know, even without kind of gaining charisma, he's just got to keep winning. Just got to keep winning.

And I think it is, this is a crucial fight for Brennan Allen because if Paul Craig loses like, so what? People love Paul Craig and they'll watch him fight anybody and he's still going to do fine. Brendan, who I think does have title potential, he can't really lose right now. Like this is not the time for him to lose, especially with this division being what it is right now, being as interesting with it as it is. Izzy and Sean Strickland and Drickis and Hamzod and some of these other guys coming up, some fresh matchups potentially.

I think Brennan needs this one a lot more. And not only does he need a great performance in the Octagon, I think he needs a great performance on the mic as well. He needs to be very smart and realistic with his callouts. If he goes out there and smushes Paul Craig and then calls for a title shot, I'm going to rip whatever hair on my head is left. just out. It's going to be gone. So just be realistic. Call for like a Marvin Vittori.

And then you get an A plus from me, Brennan Allen. That's what I think. Do you though? Who cares about part of Votori? Like it's not a bad. Like just don't call for a title shot and don't call for Hansa. I don't think we get Paula Costa. I'm trying to think who we would get and I don't know. Vittori's a good pick. Why isn't that it would be Vittori?

I mean, yeah, that's like that's a reasonable one to get. But I'm just I'm never going to be excited about the prospect. of Marvin Vittori fighting because I've watched Marvin Votori fights. It's like, that doesn't get me going. I thought you were a big Vittori guy. I appreciate what Marvin Vittori is able to accomplish. It is not a pretty sight to watch him fight.

I think, I think Brennan Allen smokes Marvin Vittori, if I'm being honest with you. It might. At this point, Marvin's definitely falling off. I think Brennan beats a lot of guys in the division. But like I said, I don't think he has like, it's the ultimate marketing championship and I think that's the part that he's missing

what's Roman Deleizzee do in these days Mike you know these things he says he signed a contract for a fight so I don't know who that is and I think he's only ranked one above Brennan Allen too I don't think that fight's even like a thing he's a couple of spots above him in the UFC fight in the UFC rankings

yeah but that like that just be way cooler because Roman Deleetze is quite fun to watch compete you're gonna get on the same kind of situation where you're going to put these guys to headline another apex car or something, though. I think Brandon needs and deserves with a win over Paul Craig

to kind of get a bump and fight somebody that kind of brings, brings a little like pizzazz with him. I agree that he deserves. I don't think Marvin Vittoy brings pizzazz. Marvon Trey does bring a better number. That's, yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, this is just the other part of the problem.

Middleweight might, Mike, become a squatters division, which I'm looking at it now, and I'm not very pleased with that, but like, Jared Canaaner's out for a while with the injury. It's top heavy. Yeah. Robert Whitaker's not going to fight Brandon Allen.

Why would he do that? Maybe he's sitting out for a while. Cannon ears hurt though, didn't he? Didn't he blow out his knee? Did he blow at his knee or was it just like, I don't think it was like a full knee blowout. In my head, it's, he blew out an MCL, but that is. MCL, maybe. That is not a thing that I am confident in saying.

That's just what is in my head. So well, we'll see what happens. We'll move on. Point for round four goes to... Call it Hamza. I don't love that. I need the point for that fucking statement. Everyone should call it Hamzot.

It's Jed. It's two to two. It's two to two. Yeah. Nicely done. But Randy was the voice of reason. I respect that. I really do respect that. So that means we're going to the knockout round.

Each of these wonderful competitors will have one minute to answer. A very simple question. I think it's going to be a lot of fun here. So Jed, what are we doing here? Do you want to go first? Do you need the magic eight ball to make your decision for you? What do you think of it? I didn't think about that.

Let's ask the magic eight ball. Magic eight ball, should I go first? Come on. My reply is no. I should not go first. So magic ball can't leave me astray. All right, Randy, we're embarking on your territory right now. You are the face of bare-knuckle MMA, at least in my opinion.

So here's the question. We didn't really get to talk a lot about the card, but it was a pretty fun watson. The main event was a little weird. The decision may not have been the right one, but it was a pretty violent card. We had the Hector Lombard craziness of he won, he lost, he won again, your fight, et cetera.

But I think people realize like there's something here. So, Randy, very simple question. If you could book one fight for bare-knuckle MMA under the Gamebred banner, it could be anybody. Anybody you want. Who would it be? Who would it be? You could pick yourself if you want.

I don't care. One minute on the clock. One minute on the clock to choose the bare-knuckle fight that I would like to see. Dude, you know what will be a crazy fight and it's not out of the realm. I mean, it's kind of out of the realm of possibility. It's two different weight classes, but I feel like there might be in the middle. Is Mike Perry versus Jeremy Stevens. I think that will be fucking crazy.

Maybe not even in MMA, maybe in bare-nuckle boxing. But bare-knuckle something, I think Mike Perry versus Jeremy Stevens is a lot of fun. I think Jeremy Stevens is fighting at. like 155 or 165 so i i get that it might not even make sense but if somehow that they could meet at like 70 or something i think that would be a really fun fight especially in barrenle boxing there you go look at this the anti brian campbell brian campbell would still be talking for another three minutes and randes just like boom i mean get in get out and move this thing along which i appreciate uh that'd be fun jeremy stevens actually getting ready to fight in the wonderful

world of bare knuckle boxing is going to fight uh fellow former ufc fighter jimmy revera december second on that salt lake city card so who knows maybe they're fighting to possibly fight mike perry in some sort of open weight clash which i would be down for so jed um bear knuckle m m m mabre you like crazy events you get to book the craziest fight for the craziest event what are we doing go so uh clarifying question and i won't take this much to answer am i allowed to you fighters currently under contract in the UFC? Yes, you could use any fighters. Oh, what the.

Come on. I said anybody. I said anybody. That's what I thought. I wanted to clarify. So I think with that situation, there obviously a ton, but I do want to kind of stay true to the roots here. One, uh, I love John Dodson as a bare knuckle, uh, boxer and having him do

bare knuckle and they would be much the same. So I got to have John Dotson because I think that he is just ideal in this sort of world. Uh, and then if I can pick anybody. I think just make John Dotson and Cheeto Vera just run into each other in bare knuckle. That just seems sick. Cheeto Vera is a dude who I am real confident would not mind getting down bare knuckle. And so I think that that fight would just kick all the ass. So if I can do that, I'll do that.

And if not, I'll do Dotson, Keoggi Horaguchi and Bear Nuckel if we don't want to allow me to use U.S. Fighters. Hey, listen, I'm watching all of that. someone asked me and AK on our onto next one asking anything show if you get Book a Rise on New Year's Eve card just a random one who would you pick it I picked John Dotson versus Minnell cop as a fight on that card so those two bare knuckle bucks would be donk killers that's a good fight

Randy since you were upset I heard the what the fuck from you what would be your choice including UFC fighters dude I I Tito would that's a sneaky good good idea that's a sneaky good idea but I'd like to retract. I think in bare knuckle MMA, I think Jeremy Stevens versus Chad Mendez, and I think that makes a lot of sense. Chad Mendez has a bare knuckle

boxing, and Jeremy Stevens is doing a bare knuckle boxing. Shit, sign me up for bare knuckle boxing or bare knuckle MMA, and that's a very realistic thing. Hopefully, whatever promotion puts that together gives me 10%. Oh, I like it, see? You're trying to earn some trying to earn that matchmaking cut

right there. I'm trying to help you out here. So go ahead and vote. Go ahead and vote. Is it Randy Costa, a big winner from this past weekend. Give me Gaichi Benoit Sandini. Oh my God. Get off of me. Dude, that is, that, that's so ridiculous.

That is so ridiculous. Benoit San Deney is an animal. That dude is a freaking monster, man. You know what another good one would be? Dude, Max Hollow versus Nate Diaz in Bernuncle. That would be a really good one. Holloway Porier would be good in Bear Nuckle. I mean, there's just so many.

Just match up all the fun news. Oh my God. Gichi has to be involved somewhat. Gachi versus name any fighter. And I think we have something. So go ahead and cast your votes. We will have a preview show. Probably be about 18 minutes long for UFC Vegas 83 tomorrow.

So stay tuned for that. We are going to record a very, a brand new edition of Damn, they were good. I'm not going to tell you unless Jed wants to tell you who it's on. But we are recording it to be released. I believe Thanksgiving-ish time sometime next week. I'm looking forward to this. I am looking forward to this one. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Steepa fucked it all up, Mike. It was supposed to be Steepa because he was supposed to fight and then retire, but it didn't happen. So we had to audible, but I think it's going to be a good one. This is way better.

This is a way better one. I think it's going to be a good one. If we're being honest. But Casey's here. So that means we probably have a winner. We do. We do. Oh, because no one asked,

the fight I would book in Barrono, M.A. would be Tommy Aspenov versus John Jones. Yeah. That's just cheating. If we're doing that, I'm going to book Francis Ngano versus John Jones. Yeah. Well, Francis is the guest rough, you know. Oh, man.

Are they going to say Parker Porter versus John Jones, too? And then we're cooking like gas. We need clarity. We got to build that up. We can't just throw that out there. You got to build the anticipation of that. I completely agree. I'm completely agree.

All right, Casey. Who wins? besides all the all the viewers. Oh. Your winner today with 55% of the winning votes is Jed Mishu. Wow. What? I'm stunned.

I can't be held down, Mike. You know what? You're not saying. Randy doesn't go to decisions. He only finishes fights since unchartered territory. That's true. It's true. Unchartered territory for him.

Dad, how are we feeling? here, buddy. This is a... I am fucking stunned. I thought I was cooked from literally the moment that it started. And Randy was telling us, it's like very heartfelt about, you know, overcoming the adversity and how tough things have been. And then this year, be able to bounce back. I was like, oh, good. I have no fucking shot. And then this happened. And Mike, I'm going to just bleed right into my 30 seconds here. Because I know why this happened. And why this happened is because I'm a man of vision. I'm a man of foresight. And I'm the only man with the Cajonis to say the truth that we all know in our hearts.

John Jones, you scared of Tommy Aspinall. Not just that, John, you need to fight Tom Aspinall for your legacy. Because when you retire, when the goat conversation is being had, John, I know this. My goat, I could never have a goat that would be scared. I can't say he's the goat and then also be like, buddy, he was scared. No. So if you're too scared to fight him, you are no longer the goat. You are removed from that.

conversation entirely, John. Don't be scared, homie. Fight Tom Aspinall. Prove me wrong. I mean, that 30 seconds is why Casey Leiden is the best producer in the game. The slow zoom on Jed as he's making his case to John was incredible. Randy, you're the man. You won in the hearts of everybody else, but what do you want to say? You can say whatever you want here. Talk about whatever you want to talk about. Floor is yours. No, man. I mean, I appreciate you guys having on this journey is excited for whatever's next and yeah man

stay tuned man working on it hopefully have something ironed out like sometime next week hopefully an exciting 2024 ahead so we like to hear Casey you could hit the music we are done

I was not scared of Tom Aspinall Randy Randy'd fight him Randy's feather way I'm a phantom weight I'm a phantom wake He went up a wake class because he's a i say wasn't the jason night fight at featherweight am i mistaken no this was that that one was featherweight but yeah oh yeah yeah and he fight tom aspinall

fuck it dude let's go well maybe we'll be back next week to talk about randy costa versus tommy assman all for the interim heavyweight title but who knows what we're going to talk about on next week show it will not be a live show obviously we're not going to do a show on thanksgiving but jett and i will do a little something something thank you for watching for randy for jade kate's on the ones and twos. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn takes you home. I am Mike Kapp back next week. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. This has been

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