MMA Fighting - BTL | Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka 2, UFC 303, Arman Tsarukyan Suspension, More

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Even though Conor McGregor's return has been delayed, UFC 303 has moved on quite nicely without him, and this Saturday, Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka will run it back for the UFC light heavyweight championship in a fight that continues to build in anticipation. Have MMA fans put the McGregor vs. Michael Chandler chaos behind them ahead of Saturday's pay-per-view event? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel previews UFC 303, the main event between Pereira and Prochazka, the build to the fight, and what Pereira may be risking. Additionally, they'll discuss the co-main event between Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega, other great fights on the card, Arman Tsarukyan getting a nine-month suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission, and much more. Host Mike Heck will be joined by MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew to answer those questions, and more from the viewers. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew 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 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 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. MMA Fighting Studios, 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, a lot going on. We are 48 or so hours away from UFC 303, International Fight Week going on. The Hall of Fame inductees will earn their place. Later on tonight, we got the press conference. We got power slapping tomorrow.

We got Wayans tomorrow. Whole bunch going on. Yes, if you weren't aware, we're going to tell you right now, there is a PFL event tomorrow as well. I didn't really even know about it. until i saw lorenz larkin step on the scale on social media i was like holy crap larenz larkin is fighting this week no clue but here we are lots going on and starting a little bit earlier today than we normally do normally go at 1230 today we're starting right at noon get you some lunchtime

m m ms chatter and joining me to do that and to answer your questions we're on a little bit of a time crunch this week mr no gray area the hot take hit himself the baron of boop jed mishu how we doing jenn a show. It's about to be boobin time, so we're doing great. You know, Thursday before 303, Alex Pereira has the, uh, the spirits of, of the shamans coursing through his body, despite Yuri Brehashers's gentlemanly protests against, it's going to be good time. This is the best, that's the best storyline has ever happened. I love it so much. I love it so much. It has sold this fight. It has honestly made me, outside of like just people talking about it,

it's honestly made me forget that Connor McGregor was even supposed to fight on this card. Like it's such a weird thing to say, but this whole gimmick and storyline has helped me forget that Connor was supposed to fight Michael Chandler on this main event. And young fighters out there take, take note. Because this is how you do a gimmick, right? You don't do a gimmick. You just believe in your core that this is a thing. And so it doesn't matter of what you.

you're saying is pretty insane. If you like say it earnestly, people are going to be like, this is incredible. This is great stuff because he's so straight face. It's like, yeah, I would request that Alex does not use what is happening? I'd like him to fight me man to man and not invoke the spirits and the ancestors. Like, dude, you're the guy who lives in a hut in the snow. It does weird. Like, it is insane is the best. These two mentioned, fight a hundred times i knew when they fought in november that this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful story that's going to be told for years to come i hope they fight 17 times because i just want to be a part of it all so good it's so like i'm not you know new york rick

comes on here and and says all the time give me the two best fighters in the world and they can fight a hundred times i am not of that ilk i don't ever need to see max fight bolkinovsky a fourth time right like i've seen that fight plenty set these two men at odds in perpetuity and that would be a okay with me. You're calling for a clean fight on Saturday is the best. It's just so good. It's just so good. I see a yes chef on the white. God damn it. So good. I see a yes chef on the whiteboard back there. Have you watched the new season of the

bear yet? I haven't watched all of it because they just did the thing where they drop it all, fired up a first couple of episodes. It's great. The bear is like, is this very weird television show for me where it's obviously unbelievably good and I very much appreciate it. And I can't watch more than one episode at a time.

Like even if I, like when I came to it late, I came to it after the second season already came out. I was like, all right, I'll check out what everyone's talking about. And I was like, all right, I'm not going to binge this because every episode gives me a mild panic attack. Because if you've ever worked, if you've ever worked in the like service industry, you've ever worked in restaurants, it, it gives you PTSD like every episode, just like, I can't.

So, you know, you do one and then you go away, get some breathing room, feel great. But I've seen the first few, and it's still terrific. It's best written show on television right now. Yeah. It's the most stressful show I've ever watched. I've never been that stressed in real life, much less watching a TV. It is so, so stressful to watch. Yes.

Have not watched any of the new season, but I will. No doubt about it. Let's bring in Casey Lydden. They're going for it. First episode is, it's a real heat check episode. Oh, okay. Very much excited. Casey is here.

That means it's a Q&A episode. So bring your questions in. Let's get after it. Let's talk 303. Let's talk spiritual gimmicks heading into a fight. Let's talk about whatever you want. Pagefans in power slapping, Rosamunez now fighting Tracy Cortez. Whole bunch going on.

Whole bunch going on. Can I say on the Tracy Cortez thing? I was a little slow this morning. So I woke up and I saw whoever it was reported. Tracy Cortez is now out. Miranda Maverick will face whoever. I didn't register that like Tracy Cortez had been pulled from her other fight to move here. And I was like,

Oh my God, within 24 hours, Rose has been swapped again. This is the best. And it was quite a fun little two minutes before I was like, oh, I'm an idiot. Yes, we're into Maverick fighting Diani Barbosa, as we first reported this morning. Tracy Cortez is not fighting Rose Namu. This is we first reported on Tuesday, maybe Monday. I don't know. So much going on.

All right. Well, we got Casey. All right. Jared, is dark magic allowed under the unified rules of the UFC and the Nevada State Athletic Commission? Can we get Jose Youngs to confirm this at the press conference today? That would be, Jose would be a friggin legend if he asked Data White this exact question. Yeah. I mean, you had where you saw it and then all of a sudden, all these dark magic shows up.

I'm just saying it's not a coincidence. I mean, they've been people. been using crystals for some time. So, uh, extra normal forces are apparently allowed in the cage. There you go. Oh, there you go. If Alex Pereira walked to the octagon, like I wanted to do all the same things he's been doing. I think like older folk who watched pro wrestling during the super gimmick era of WWF. If Alex Pereira walked out like Papa Shango, it would be. be incredible theater. Like I would love to see what Yuri looks like if he walked out like Papa Shango and he tries to like put the curse on him and stuff, it'd be incredible.

Your would lose his mind. His head might explode in the middle of the octagon. I like if someone like laid out the crystals like when Buffer calls her name, they lay out crystals and do some kind of like some sage. Go all out. We're going to do a gimmick. Yeah. Like sage is powerful. Oh, man. It would be kind of dope if Yeri walk to the cage with like, you know, the, uh, the Catholic incense swing chain. Just like clearing the path. So I'm good.

No, no spirits shall cost me. Oh my gosh. Go full WrestleMania with this. This is great. When, um, I might have told the story before, but when Fador fought Brett Rogers, I was at the hotel. And at that time, Fador was traveling with like three priests or something at that time. and we left me and S.

were walking down the hallway. Oh, no, we had to leave our room because the fire alarms were going off. Like, oh, crap, all right, let's leave. It was in the middle of afternoon. We walked down the hall, and we see all the security focused on one room, and we can constantly see this kind of light smoke coming out of the room.

And, like, oh, I guess it's in there. We walked by the room, and it's Fador, and it's pre-sitting the room like, like this, all, like ashamed because apparently they set the fire alarms off in the whole building. It just made her going like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. But he won. He won.

It worked. He sure did. I didn't see it in San Jose when he fought Verduem. Everything went downhill. All right. Oh. Josephosa, what are the thoughts on the suspension of Armand Seru Kian? Will it give fans the power to do what they want to,

fighters and fighters are fearful to give the side eye or retaliation? I think that's supposed to say. So, Jed, Arm and Sarukian, for those who may have missed this, nine months suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission stemming from a fan

sort of egging him on. Sarukian clearly throws a punch at this fan, does not connect with said punch and gets a nine month suspension, a $25,000 fine. However, if Armand Sarukian puts together a public service

announcement for anti-bullying, then the suspension will be reduced to six months, and he would still be eligible to fight Islamakov in Abu Dhabi in October. So your reaction to the suspension, the fine, all of it. I think the suspension is doing the exact opposite of what Joseph Bosa said here, because it's only nine months reduced to six. Like, that's not zero, but in fight terms, your most fighters fight at, particularly when you're at the level arm, is twice a year. So six month suspension doesn't even really set you back. It just, this is, hey, you're going to get

fine and you have to do a PSA, which really does not incentivize fighters to not do stuff like this moving forward. And I'm not surprised, and I don't want to, I don't care enough about this. But I think this is kind of a bullshit cop out for the circumstances, because like they, you just have to draw really clear lines between what happened. I truly don't give a shit what that fan said, Armand suggested when he was talking about it that maybe the fan through the first punch. I never saw that. So if that is the case, then it's a little different. But there's just a clear line between who you can do combat with when you're a professional athlete and a professional fighter has to fight professional fighters. You can't, you just can't hit fans. Like, they're just there's

security escorting you. You can't do it. And like, the malice at the palace did not get a slap on the wrist because the NBA was drawing a very clear line. And again, I'm not even saying I don't understand the impetus there. If someone throws a beer at me and they're saying, you know, racist remarks or whatever, like I can understand the idea behind it. I can understand how you go there. But it just has to be a zero tolerance. We can't do this. We can't play this game at all. And so I think they kind of copped out, honestly, with this because they didn't want to suspend him for a year. And hey, then he can't fight as a Makachev. And that's like, it's just sort of seem shitty to me to not treat this like the serious infraction that it actually was.

But no one's going to care enough and we'll forget about it soon. I'm fine with it. Him getting the same suspension as Igor, but getting a $23,000 more fine or something like that, well over $20,000 more fine, basically tells you everything you need to know about the number. about athletic commission. They withheld Armand's purse for a while. And I don't even know if the rest of the purse like got released, but they're keeping $25,000 of it.

And yeah, this is like a pitcher getting a five game suspension, or four game suspension, even though he's gonna pitch in the fifth day anyways. I gotta tell you one thing though, I have to see this PSA. It's gonna be incredible. This better be like the no hope would dope from Save By the Bell. Like I want to see this.

This needs to be. This needs to be on a YouTube channel. I have to see Armand Saruki in put together an anti-bullying campaign because it's In fact, let me ask you what's the anti-bullying thing. Sorry, what is who's the bully here? Who's the bully is Armand the bully or is the guy in the crowd the bully? I don't understand I mean, Armin would theoretically be the bully here as he is the professional fighter physically accosting someone who is not that I'm not sure that it is even a direct relation in the way that I just yeah, you're not going to be like Hi, I'm Armin Sarukin.

I'm the bully in this situation. He's probably just going to be like, hi, I'm Armin Sarukian, future UFC lightweight champion of the world. Bullying is bad. Don't do it. Be nice to each other. This has been Armin Sarukin, future lightweight champion. But it's good stuff.

A serious question, though, if this was just some contender series dude, like just a random no-nameer, do you think he's getting a year? Because to me, like, this is, the year's not even honest. that like it's not like a year is not bad it's not awful it doesn't ruin your career but it is legitimate punishment for an like an unobjectively incorrect action so like if this is just a contender series guy he think he's getting a year and a fine do you think armin's getting light because

of who he is and the fact that everyone wants to see him fight Islam in al-boudabbi because i think it is it's possible it's possible uh i think arman sirrucian has tremendous management. I think they, this took a long time to come together. You would have thought we would have known this in May, a month and a half ago when they had their meeting in May. Like we knew,

oh, we're going to come back and reconvene here. But the fact that they were able to get this down to six months is incredible. And I've been told by Daniel Rubinstein there, he's going to do the PSA, which obviously he should, because then he will fight for the belt later on this year. But yeah,

it's definitely possible. Again, the $25,000, fine to me is that's the thing that probably that's clearly the punishment six months is nothing for sure six months is a fake punishment it's nothing but arm and sirukian is also very lucky not only to have tremendous management behind him but he is so lucky he didn't land that punch because if he had hit that dude that's a whole different ball game on that point there's a guy in the comments really firing this he didn't hit him it's fine i this is not it's it's it's not it

exact comparison, but again, people do shit like this all the time. If I fire a gun at you and miss, that doesn't mean I did nothing wrong. And that's just the situation. Like he didn't hit him and it's not as severe as firing a gun. But because I missed the bad act does not mean I'm coming up roses here. You're the idea is to disincentivize fighters from hitting people. And whether or not he did the fact that he attempted to in any fashion is like, what is supposed to be legislated against here functionally.

In the end, no one's going to care. Like I said, we're everyone's going to get the fight we want. Everyone's going to move past it. I mean, shit, we all forgot about it until this happened pretty much. It's, this is just the sport, you know? The rules of normal society do not apply here. Any other professional sport, this would have been handled wildly differently. But Dana White beat his wife on camera and we didn't do shit about it.

Like this is, MMA exists outside the purview of normal sports. Yeah. I just think it was caught on camera. If it wasn't in camera, this would be a nothing burger. It would have been just. Yeah, but it would have been caught on camera anyways. It's just, there's a thousand angles of this. It's so weird because I've been to fights where I've seen interactions with like,

I don't think I've seen a throne punch, but definitely seeing it like a hard shove from fighters and fans and stuff. And like, that's how I took it. I was like, oh, I've seen this before. It's like, I was just surprised it became such a big deal. But, yeah, I get what you're saying. I get it. But yeah, can't be punching dudes.

Can't be throwing punches at fans. You can't. So I deserve it. I would love this to be a professional sport. This is my pet peeve of MMA. It'd be terrific if this was a professional sport. And we were held to standards that like basic human decency would provide. But we're not.

And it's, you know, the guy didn't die. Who cares, ultimately? I like that. All right. Thanks a lot. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action.

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Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Trevone, does the sphere moving mean Connor becomes 306? What? Spare moved? I think the sphere didn't move. They just rebranded it to get more. money. Yeah, and boy, did they. They're getting a whole bunch from first time ever that the UFC is doing a sponsorship deal where it's a, it's a title sponsor for the actual event,

which is frigging crazy. So it's not going to be 306. If you miss this, UFC 306 will not be called UFC 306 anymore. It's going to be called re-ad season, Noce UFC. That's what is going to be called. September 14th, made the official announcement yesterday. Lexa Grasso did a media scrum in Las Vegas, outside sort of overlooking the sphere. They did it all up and put all the graphics on there. Very interesting comments from Alexa Grasso, who is saying she may not be fighting Valentin to Schenka on that card. She might actually be fighting Manon Fioro on that card.

Still up in the air, but interesting comments from the champion. But yeah, anybody have. thoughts on this title sponsorship thingy and yeah all of it pretty gross but whatever everything is for sale in the ufc you can buy the named ufc if you want to i guess you pay enough money that's that was my take that's my takeaway everything it rub me a little wrong just that like the you're double stacking this like riyadh season presents ufc 305 or whatever like this is this is this is its own brand thing of Noce U.S. at the sphere. And then you're also

now, we all know all of us know the long ties that Saudi Arabia has with Mexico. Like it's just real, it's like some real cyberpunk capitalism bullshit. That's a little gross in that regard, but like, whatever.

Again, who cares? It's kind of not a whatever in a sense that when that comes up, we're going to have, like, us as journalists, we're going to have to save this all the time. We can't even say 306, right? Or, oh, no, what are you talking about? I'm not, no, I'm not going to call no JFC. Yeah.

We're calling no JFC. Okay. Well, I'm just, I don't call it. I don't call it. I don't call it. Is it a paper view? We refer to it as. Yes. It will be a paper view. That's what I mean. It's a paper view. And like, I'm just saying like, it's going to be in our articles. It's going to be, we're going to say it a lot.

We don't, we're not, we might not say it every single time. You're going to say it. couple of time you're going you know it's it's going to it's going to talk about for knockout chaos the you know and kind of thing it's like yeah this is the only time i mentioned is riyadh knockout chaos was that a sponsor that knockout chaos was the official name of the francis inganu anthony anthony and ghanthony and tuesday or whatever i was like yeah francesingano anthony and the joshua fighting each other in riyadh i'm i will not mention the riod season at all when i do this because there's no bearing on it the uc

just got a check from them cool but like it's not in saudi it's just at the sphere it's a real weird thing but get them checks i guess but in our articles we write is it going to say riazzi or is it going to say 306 there's a 0% chance i'm going to say no j usc it's gonna do no j uc all right so i want so do i guess the other part of the question is does this mean connor mcggregor's going to fight at no gfc because i say absolutely not Zero chance. Maybe not zero chance for like pretty low. They're just, we talked about it a lot.

They don't need it for that. They don't need him on that card. Yeah, they're going to build this thing to this 300-ish looking type event. They do not need on a lot. Where's two or seven happening? Uh, I mean, who knows? I mean, are they just going to skip Rio sticks now altogether? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, 2006 is September 14th, and then 308 is October 26th. So somewhere in that six weeks, is that my math, right? It's pretty, so it'll be, so obviously Salt Lake City is... In the September early, first week of October, is Salt Lake City set? Uh, pretty much. Pretty much. I mean, they have a deal, so it's going to happen. Uh, they probably won't do it in November with MSG. They probably won't do it in December. So, yeah, I would say, I mean, all the conversations I

had early October, but just hasn't been officially announced yet. But yeah, they're going to something. I mean, that's the open window for them. Or you just push them to December and do it in December and Vegas. Yeah, either or. Or they just add another event because they can and which arena on earth is going to be like, nah, we don't want Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler at our arena. You're going to do a $20 million gate?

Nah, we don't want it. You think Congress fighting Chandler? he's in conner's fighting yeah you think connor's fighting we're still talking about connor guys come on all right phoam if alx wins can smith overtake

can smith overtake angelaif and get the next shot god i hope not god i hope not like i think he probably could the question is can and the answer is absolutely he can dude if he gets a fucking title shot for beating Roman DeLie on short notice.

I just be a real sport. I don't need to see him get obliterated by Alex Pereira just because he's sort of famous. I don't get it. I do not understand the cult of Anthony Smith and how this is happening. It sure can't happen,

but God, I would like to see my client fight Alex Pereira. Or Iri Perashka, either one of them, except for if Yuri wins, there are 1,000% doing the trilogy fights. So, sir. This, again, again. I hope Yuri wins so we can get the trilogy.

It's important to also know, ladies and gentlemen, Anthony Smith has zero say in this matter. None. He will have no say. Even if he goes out there, knocks Roman to lead Zay out in seven seconds, he will have zero say at this. This only happens if Alex Pereira wants it to happen.

And if Alex Pereer wants it to happen, then Anthony Smith gets a title shot. But if Alex Pereer goes out and calls for John Joe, Anthony Smith screwed no matter what he does on Saturday so it's all up to Alex Pereira he needs Alex Pereira to want this and say the name and call for it that's his only chance of getting it but that's what happens he's probably gonna get it if he beats Roman to Leeds a so what would the UFC want with the UFC won't Alex uh Alex Smith Anthony Smith over ankle live

probably and a heartbeat that's what I think this is a strong possibility if Alex a hard fucking sell for me that he beats goddamn Rome like sure if he had stepped in on short notice and who he was it wasn't Carlos Holberg was it Carlos Holberg

was it was Alberg yep however this swapped then at least maybe you could sell me on it him beating a blown up Roman the lead say would be one of the most tragic title shots in like all time

which is truly one of the most undeserved absurdest title shots in the history of m m ms what light heavyweights beating middleweights unhurt yes john jones defended his belt against middle weights countless times but you got the title fight by you know beating a light heavy weight oh so it's totally different yeah you're totally different ankle i was just like anthony smith is anthony smith man like he's not good he's He's old and hasn't like come on. He got knocked out by Cleo Roundtree

seven months ago. Isn't Clear Runry awesome? Yeah. Yeah, but he got knocked out by him seven months ago. That was seven months ago. That's, that's a, that's, you can punch a fan and be back sooner before that. Casey, let me read you at least this recent run right now, because I had to pull it up to make sure it wasn't crazy.

lost to Maganagliave, lose the decision to Johnny Walker, wins a spitty over Ryan Span, gets knocked out by Cleo Roundtree, taps Vitor Petrino, and then he would beat Roman DeLidezay, and that's a like, come on,

just something that resembles meritocracy. I hope he gets to tell us so bad now. Just for this, just to hear this guy. Oh my God. I hate it so much. So, Jedder, are you a Roman DeLizze fan? Like, obviously, as a reporter in someone who covers the sport,

you're not, like, actively rooting for Roman DeLizze, but. I actively root. Roman wins. Is it a better? Is it a better? Is your world a better place to Roman meet? Diego Lopez this Saturday than this guy right here, because it makes me sad when good things happen from Brian Ortega.

So I'm a thousand percent rooting for Roman deletes in this week. Like I just, I don't, and I don't have anything against Anthony Smith. Like, honestly, I have a ton of respect for him because he is, I've said this a bunch. He's the most creative fighter that's ever existed. He doesn't like have anything that really stands out. His name, Anthony Smith is like an auto generated name. He even kind of looks like a random fighter if you just hit the shuffle button on UFC. see a generic bald dude with tattoos.

Like it's just that. And then he managed to have a career that was relatively meaningless, like in the grand scene of the sport and turned it around, like through hard work and good wins. And he's got a job on the desk. Like I got a ton of respect for his ability to take a career that, you know, 10 years in was not doing much and turn it into the career he'll have for the rest of his life. But I don't want him near a title fight.

because he shouldn't be near one right now. And there are just other people who deserve it. So yeah, 100%. I hope Roman Deleadze wins. Even though then that'll be weird, because then we have to rank Roman Deleadze at light heavyweight. I don't want to do that either. It's all bad.

And this fight should have just gone away. When Allbert pulled out, they should just be like, Anthony, we're done. We're going to move you to another card against someone else. And instead, here we are, and all the outcomes are tough for me. They're all bad for me. I'm looking at the comments, man. There's a lot of, there's a lot of push. There's a lot of support for Anthony Smith.

I'm just saying. Okay. Sure he does. Like done and subs Alex and round one brings the 205 belt back to the USA easier than taking candy from a baby. The belt is in USA, by the way. Like Alex prayer lives in Danbury, Connecticut. Like the most USA place possible. It's pretty USA.

It's pretty. It's pretty USA. But he reps to Brazil. He reps to Brazil. I got it. Right. On paper, Anthony Smith has the skills to beat Poetum. He actually doesn't is the thing.

He actually doesn't. Let's just have Jen react to all these comments. That's what I'm here for. It's just like, I get it. Like the narrative that Alex Pereira can't grapple is strong. I'm not saying he's a great grappler. But like, Glover's not handing out BJJ black belts for. nothing. The man understands functionally how to grapple and he's actually proven to be a pretty

good defensive wrestler. Since when is Anthony Smith D1 Anthony Smith? Like what are we talking about? Andy Smith, we get his front leg chewed up until he gets knocked the F out. Like it's just we don't need it. We don't need it. Statistically, Anthony Smith is a 26% takedown accuracy. He averages half a take down a fight. I got to tell you, that's not a guy I think's going to do real well against Alex Ferreira. He only needs one takedown, five rounds, one takedown. You got one.

How'd that work for him? Who have we seen take down Alex and beat him that way? You got a rematch because they know that they got a rematch. I'm saying who's taking down Alex and beating him that way. Yon took him down L. Yeri took him down L. Andreas McElatis took him down. L.

It's none. He took him down. Hell. Hell, that's right. He didn't win the fight. He got the takedown. I'm just telling you, man, like,

if you're not Habib with your, like, a focus, like Glover maybe has the skill set to do it. And it's just getting a knocked out, bro. You have Pereira would be a minus 750 favorite. And that might be low. What's wrong of that?

It's still a good title fight. It's fun. You're going to see some booping, right? I thought you like booping. Why are you getting the booping now? Because they're, Because there are, I would like to see Magerman Angolae have fight for the belt against the guy, because he's probably the best light heavyweight in the world.

At the very least, he's like top three. Who wants to see the best? You just want to see boops. Are you going to get boops if you get Ankelye even there? We could. It could happen. Alex Breer can boop anyone. I'm just saying an ass.

You're just trying to get me. Jay said keep Magamette as far away from the belt as possible. thing is that's what they're doing and I understand and respect it I just don't like it like they gave him one title fight they got lucky that he got a draw in a fight that I actually do think should have been a draw but even Yon was like I lost and they're like all right good we've given him one never again have it has any have any of you gone back and rewatch that fight uh not in like a long time I watched it a couple times after it happened just to make sure that it was what I thought it was.

And I distinctly remember thinking, yeah, this actually is a draw. A draw is the correct score. Yeah. It's not as bad as people thought it was. It's not a bad fight at all. No, it's not a bad fight. Dana just hated it for reasons I still don't understand.

Dude basically came back from the jaws of defeat on one leg to force a draw. Because John kicked that dude's a lot. So. Yeah. And that that I got to tell you that's kind of why I'm interested in the prayer fight because if yon can low kick you to death Alex prayer can super low kick you to death like there's that's a great fight it's great matchup. I know I'm the only person on planet earth who is like I want to see it, but I want to see it all right. Uh, one more super one more one more nine 99 super chat from our great friend chase Chase, Jedd's reaction after Brian gets a triangle choke after losing for nine minutes straight.

It's going to be a highlight of what's going to happen. Chase, the beautiful thing about your comment is we're going to be doing the watch party on Saturday. I don't really wish we did. From where Jed is at right now. So you will get to see, I mean, you might, he's, I mean, Jed's probably going to be like live blogging and working, but you are going to get some sort of reaction out of Jed Bishu's live. on Saturday to however this fight goes. So if that's not a reason to tune in on Saturday, then I don't know what is.

But we're going to be in a hot Lanna on Saturday from the Michoudmanchin, the Michoud Studios in beautiful Atlanta, Georgia for the watch party. So you will get to find out how Jed reacts to all of this on Saturday. It's going to be terrible. It's 100% exactly what's going to happen. Marjay is just going to get his head bounced around the cage for eight minutes and then pull it out. I, it still doesn't make sense to me that he didn't finish Alexander Volcanovsky

because that was like the textbook Brian Ortega fight. He had nothing, was deeply uncompetitive, almost has a miracle, but for the first time in his life didn't finish the miracle. I need him to lose. I need him to lose. I can't. Yeah, wait for that. We can't.

We can't do this thing when Brian Ortega gets killed by Ilya Taboria. Like it's just, this is. So if I'm so tired of it. If the, obviously I don't gamble a lot on fights and I don't bet a lot of money on fights. However, if the gambling gods are on my side on Saturday, it's going to be a disastrous night for Jed. I mean, you, everyone should bet an Ortega Smith parlay because that's probably guaranteed. I got, I got bets on both of them, so. I have bets on the other side of both of them on.

It's just not All right. All right. Jay Ray B. O2. It would be so funny if the Don pop up on a Saudi-sponsored Mexican Independence Day UFC to the course of Kid Rock

and USA Chance. Oh, okay. Trump. Don Trump. Oh, I was thinking Don Davis. I was confused. I thought that when I first read that, I thought that's where I was going.

That's the Don to me. I don't know about you guys. He is the Don. This is Don Davis. Davis. Here's my friend, Kid Rock. Dude, a Saudi-sponsored Mexican Independence Day U.S.C. card is a super weird sentence. It's a really weird sentence. And Trump shows up. Oh, my God.

Here is former president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on the Saudi sponsored. That's a sentence. That is a sentence that could really happen. That would encapsulate 2024 in like one sentence. where our sport is right now. It would just be wild. Might happen. Stay tuned. I will say the Noche sphere photos look sick.

At least that's dope. I'm very, very intrigued to see what this is all going to look like. They're not going to do anything cool. They're never going to do anything cool. Remember when we thought Fight Island would be something cool like the Kumite and then it was just the USC? They're not going to do anything cool, but that one thing they did was cool. So what did they just show it just put a graphic on the outside right we yeah but it looks sick but the

inside inside's like very similar where it's just like the whole outside of the walls are just lit up like that's not like a LED board so they got to do something I have no confidence that the UFC yeah I'm going to chat here but I have seen footage I think when the fish when fish was playing there and like when it's not like just crazy graphics it was just like multiple cameras on each person the band. So I'm really curious is this is just going to be different angles all over the walls in it or is it going to be just

swirly graphics? It looks like you're falling down stairs or space or something. I don't know. Well, I guess we'll see. We'll see. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is

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When is that? What's the date on that again? September 14th. 14th. 13th it's on bad night yeah actually all right what a time to be alive uh Trevone MVP versus Gary flying under the radar thoughts yes I think it has been flying under the radar um I also think this thing's going to ramp up quite a bit later on today at the press conference I suspect that they will be the dominant forces at the press conference today

yeah I think it's under the radar I think you just mean so many other incredible wild storylines coming into this card that this is just yeah the press conference so kind of set it off I think finally although there's an exceptionally strong chance this fight sucks so that's the fun part you know isn't that's a fun part of MMA every fight can kind of suck well except unless you're Gagee or something but yeah every fight can suck because fighters choose to suck uh justin Gachi you're you're actually on there too he's never chosen to suck He's chosen violence.

Max, chosen violence. You can make that choice. MVP and Gary. But even Max, even Max has had some fights. You go, okay, that was a fight, you know, but it's, but there are few.

He was like 20 years old. When was the last, like, man, Max fight? I think before he was champ, honestly. Yeah, like he was like a 22-year-old young man. The Connor fight was. fun. Right.

But he was he got injured that five. There were two injuries in that five. Yeah. And it's 23 or like since since he's become champ, man ain't been to nothing but bangers. But yeah, I think Michael Vennem Page is going to do Michael Vennem page things and Ian Gary's going to be like frustrated and then say something afterwards. Be like I should have won. I just said.

But I couldn't find him because he ran away. And he's going to do the leaping. Ah, punch punch. sleep away. I do have a bet at Ian Gary. I do think if he just fights smart, you and I are all the way opposed. Then I have a bet on the MVP.

No, I almost pulled the trigger on MVP. And then I was like, I'm going to wait for the point spread to drop. And it's like not great. It's not great odds. It's like minus 190 for a page. I was hoping it was a little bit better than that.

But oh, yeah. I don't. think this fight is going to be fun. That's going to be terrible. Which is why I'm picking Ian Gary. I think it won't be exactly the Jeff Neal fight because I do think MVP is a lot craftier than people are giving him credit for when it comes to like clinch exchanges, especially close up against the cage. Like MP's really good at that stuff. He's really good at getting out of those bad positions.

People think he's just a fish out of water. And if you just throw a, you know, you. you sit there and you wrap him up and you push him against the fence so you can just hold him there it's not really that simple with the guy let he got MVP but he and gary is actually supremely good in that spot so i think we're going to see a lot of this fight contested in that space i think that's the only way gary can win i i've never seen michael venom page lose a striking fight and i'm going to continue to just believe that he'll win those until you can logan storely him or you can be losing the fight and then knock him out like Douglas Lima did and then losing the rematch.

It's just he's weird. And it's the same thing like with Wonderboy. It's he just doesn't really lose these fights. So. Yeah. I'll say I'd be really impressed, honestly. Yep. This is outside of the main event.

This is the, I mean, not. This isn't even a conversation. This is the most high stakes fight on the card outside of the main event. Winners, whoever wins this fight is a win away from fighting for the title. At worst, the only event has more stakes because if Brian Ortega wins, I will hurt in my chest. And I won't care. Yeah, about talking about in your heart, I'm talking about it. My heart.

The co-made event. What's the most important fight in this card for Jed's heart? Yeah, it's actually easily the co-meat event. I can't, can't do it. Can I hear ruining my life. You know, so I'll be I'll be directing the watch party. So Jed, are you going to be on camera for? I haven't really figured that out.

We're going to have to solve it. Yeah, we're going to have to solve it. Yeah, we're going to have. We should have a Jed cam. Oh, yeah. I want one of those cameras where like, you know, when Ralph Wiggum, you see his heart get broken on camera. And then I'm going to have like a slow mo.

It's just like, you know, a Valentina loss, you know, that little slow mo of judge is going, Dude, that was A tough beat. That was a tough beat. I didn't care for that. See, but that was, that was your, your pocketbook.

This is, this one's gonna be just your heartbreak. That was just money. Yeah, that was money. That was fine. That wasn't. There's gonna be something different.

Yeah. And we're just gonna keep replaying, go back in slow mo, analyze it, watch frame by frame. It's pretty rough because like, actually, I've just realized this. Heading into 303, originally, I was like, this is a no-win situation.

If Connor wins, they're going to give him a title fight. It's going to be really stupid. I'm going to hate it. But if Michael Chandler wins, then that's bad. And I don't want that either. And now we still have that dynamic. It's just split amongst two fights between Anthony Smith and Brian Ortega. And it's just tough.

It's tough weekend for our hero. Thank you much. Trevone. Devone. All right, one more. Sager. Why does Brian Ortega seem like he is at a crossroads, both professionally and personally? All this talk of the purge, man camp, et cetera, seems a bit odd.

No. What's man camp? He talked. So basically, he's donating $100,000 to charity. That's because he took part in, honestly, I didn't watch the entire interview. um but if you watch i think there's the interview with mike bond where he really talked about he touched on things a little bit more during media day um i get to tell you guys i don't know if you guys watch brian or take at me a day he was all over the place but he also looked

like he looked rough he looked rough up there i know he's cutting weight short out his fight yeah he was lifting a bunch to trying to move to lightweight but yeah he was lifting a bunch to try to move to lightweight but yeah he looked tough man like i do have a brian or take a bet and normally i don't play armchair psychologist and like play medical examiner watching fighters as they speak to the media and try to answer questions but there were portions of that media to scrum where i was like ooh i don't think i made the right choice if he's looking bad on by wednesday afternoon i mean thursday afternoon yeah you can't expect every fighter to look kind of bad you know that's why i'm always kind of surprised they have the press conference so close to the way ends but uh yeah if he's

looking that bad wednesday and brian rtega you know has had bad weight cuts in the past yeah that's and short notice that what's the story that he wanted this fight 55 right or something what did it were we there no so he was getting fights at featherweight so he was going to move up to 55 it wasn't even that it was he basically was like yeah getting a title shot at 45 is going to take forever So let's just go up to 55 and like not kill myself with weight cuts when I don't have to. I'm not getting a title fight as soon. Like we should all want Diego Lopez to win in general because it's always better. And two, like I, it would be way cool at Brian Ortega lightweight.

Brian Ortega versus Justin would be the funniest fight of all time. I mean, would your opinion of Brian Ortega change if he moves to lightweight? No, no. I will still, he doesn't understand what defense is or that it has value. I can't ever support him. But it would be objectively funny to watch him fight Justin Gachie and get clobbered. But then if he is just actually invulnerable like Max was, find a submission because Gagchi can't really stop. It was like it would, there are a lot of fun fights of lightweight.

So it would be fine for him to move up. I do not need to see Ilyotipari kill this man because he probably wouldn't actually kill him in the cage, but he would probably take years off. his life just beating the soul out of him like imagine what max did to brian ortega but then just harder because that's what ilia would do and i don't we don't need that in our lives uh anything else about that purge or main camp whatever the purr go go to m fideg's youtube channel and watch brian's scrum because he's asked about the purge walkout that he did that was like i think it was for the the bulk fight and the walkout is crazy i remember it but he tells the story about how it came to be and i don't want to give it away because it's why like it's pretty disturbing honestly

it's concerning is what it is he talking about right now uh so yeah go watch it highly recommend it he's a little all the all over the place but boy does he get real dark talking about the purge and that walkout so is is he's he the bad guy in the purge? Is he the one just killing people in their homes? There are no bad people in the purge because, you know, it's everybody has the chance to be legal. Yeah. Still, it's still. All the bad people. Just because it's legal doesn't make it not bad. We're all the bad people in the purge, Casey. What? I don't know. I saw half of it. I saw

half of it. I get it. Really? I would assume that you have really been into the perch. First one's great. The others are. fine. As I watch half. I was like, all right, yeah. I wasn't into it.

Who's going to do the Shark Nato themed entrance? That's what I want to know. That we could have a whole different conversation. What a week that was. We were back for those times. All right. Super chat from Chase because he paid for this.

Let's answer it. Have UFC events always been Republican conventions? No, not always. always. I still maintain that they're not. I am in a minority here. That's fine.

I don't. I think it is normal to show a former president when he comes to an event. It's probably not normal to show him with the frequency that they do, but also like... Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. We're talking about legitimately one of the most famous people on the planet, being at the event. It's fairly standard. You know.

No, it's... Dude, they didn't show Taylor Swift that much in Super Bowl. They show Donald Trump more than they show Taylor, Taylor, Taylor. They showed Taylor Swift a fair amount at the Super Bowl. She didn't get her on a walkout. They didn't, they didn't come to the, she didn't come to the tunnel in the smoke machine. Dude, just wait. Wait till this year.

You never know. First game of the season, they might let Taylor come to do it. Super Bowl champion, Taylor Swift right now. Yeah, that's the whole thing about Trump. like it's funny like even on the last watch party we did because i had no idea trump was even going to be there like joking around gc was like we're going to get the trump entrance huh like just joking and then all of a sudden the screen pans to dana and trump walking out and it was hilarious but yeah they literally show him every time they show anybody it's crazy kisi we were both at 244

that was like the event where you saved my ass at one point uh with an extra tripod never forget you my friend but Trump was the sitting president at that event the sitting president of the United States like a huge moment for the UFC at MSG New York was like just crazy talent like every uniform police officer in New York was like in that area it was wild walking into that arena was insane it took forever I thought the dogs that were with the Secret Service were just gonna rip everybody to shreds maybe eat our equipment that's how ferocious these dogs were. And they didn't show Trump on camera more than like once or twice.

It's crazy. It's crazy. Like I don't mind it at all. I'm not saying it like going on my high horse. Like I actually like think the gimmick's kind of funny at this point. But it's a little much when you show him like every 30 seconds. That's my one issue with this. Seriously. I'm cool. It's fine. Whatever. I also just go just do a bell to do Connor reviews. Yeah. Do the Trump cam. Between every round, be like, let's see how Trump's. I would actually say that what Velter do with Connor is way worse. Like if they were to be like, here's to this and then they also give him an interview.

But like, as long as he's not, they're not doing interviews with them, then I think it's, I couldn't care less. But I also, I only watch the. They do documentaries on them. They don't do interviews. And they do same. You have these made documentaries on Trump. So, even, even more. So, all right.

Thank you, Chase, for the question. I don't thank you for that question because you have turned our comments into abomination right now yeah none of us like truly care what do you guys think of you're using alex's spirituality as a reason he lost the first fight also any credence to those chavon crimes it's the best gimmick there's so much fight building in the history of the it's so ridiculous I love it so much it's cheating with shamanic rituals and the spirits of his ancestors should be illegal. Honestly, you should be put in jail.

It's not a fair fight. You hear Devin Haney on the M.A. Hour. It's illegal and he should ban for life. It wasn't a fair fight. I still want to fight him. Wasn't a fair fight. That's where he's at right now.

Only instead of PEDs, it's spirits and it fucking kicks ass, man. Oh, man. The conviction with which you, Yuri asked, like looked into the camera and pleaded with Alex to not do that and come to UFC 303 and have a good, clean fight is the best. It's so good. It doesn't break face at all.

I am a huge fan. The prayers response is so good. I'm such a big fan of this as a long time opponent of drug testing and the reverse news avidly could not give a shit about PEDs. it's great because he's he is just making the PED argument. It's like, oh, it's an unfair fight, but everyone's like, this is outrageous. Obviously, this is out. Of course he didn't get any advantage.

Like, brother, that's what I'm saying every time we're doing the PED discussion. No, but if, like, to beat Devin Haney, I mean, if he wasn't getting an advantage, why wouldn't you do it? Same thing. Why is Alex having the shaman do the spirits if he's not getting advantage from it? Because, you know, unfair fight is the best gimmick. I fucking love it so much. It's so funny. Press conference is going to rule today.

Performance enhancing British. It's right. Love it. All right. We got like six minutes. Let's keep it going. Maybe Yuri knows something y'all don't while y'all are making jokes. I don't know.

What are you talking about? I have firmly agreed with the Yuri the whole time. The spirits are in unfair advantage. It has made this fight way more interesting. I said at the beginning of the show, this whole thing has made me forget that Connor, at points that Connor McGregor were supposed to fight on Saturday. I'm enjoying it.

Am I a bad fan to say I like this main event way more? It's so much better. It's undeniably better. It's a vastly superior event. Oh, the UFC's not going to make as much money. Whatever. Nobody cares. Okay, good.

I wonder how many people actually got refunds or tried to. Maybe people that were flying, maybe flying from Ireland, but outside of that, you know, whatever. I saw, I don't, I don't know who I saw this from, but someone posted a screenshot on Twitter where they, I think they tried to do a refund. But whoever they got their tickets from just basically was like, okay, we can give you this refund if you want. or we can give you like this amount of money back and you can go but just at a more discounted price than you initially paid. Which I actually think is kind of a brilliant idea.

Like if they just, you know, did that for anybody you want to refund, they just gave you the option, be like, yo, instead of spending $1,600 a ticket because you thought you were seeing Connor, we'll knock it down to like $6.50 a ticket.

Maybe people will be like, all right, it's a better card. I'll stay. I'll go. Cozy, can you please bring up Michael Sparks's most recent comment? It's the best thing I've read all day. Defensive lapses. Fair.

And firm agree, Jay. Firm agree. The spirits did not expose Deerry Prakiske's lead leg to getting sawn off in the first fight either. Already stoppage. Michael Sparks is most recent comment. It's the best thing I've ever read. Like he follows a samurai lifestyle. so I'm sure he has looked into other lifestyles

that maybe Alex is using magic. It's just an unbelievable. Yeah, so he's a samurai. He probably knows all about magic. Okay. This is the best. Michael Sparks, I love you forever for that one.

I remember that scene in the, in Shogun. It's just the same thing. It's just study magic guys. Maybe they're both just crazy badass guys. That's what I think. Of course. correct it's just that makes it fun answer yeah like here's the thing i can't wait for this

i had this conversation on twitter with somebody recently um i i i i ii perashka is my large adult son i love him with my whole chest i am very confident i would not want to have a beer with him like he is almost exactly the kind of person who if you were to like sit down in a regular social setting would you be like this guy's a nut case because he is but it's It's fine because he's a nutcase in a sport that allows for them and doing the thing that it's great. Him being a lunatic is adorable and enjoyable. But like, you know, he's just a crazy person. So that's what this all is.

I don't think actually Perreira is a crazy person. He seems like a very normal dude who's really good at violence. Watch his fight is awesome. Watch his media day scrum because anytime you ask him about fighting, like he is just, all about it. And then if you ask him about soccer or any other sport or literally any other thing besides fighting, he loses it.

Like he's just like, I don't know what to say. I don't know of the soccer. I don't even know that the Czech Republic is playing in the Copa, whatever the frigate is. Oh, good for them. Cool. I fight.

Like it's just, he has to talk about anything besides fight. Like if he went on Jose's podcast, his head might spin around 500 times he couldn't do it he could not do it he has to talk about fighting he's so into it and i respect that about him i totally respect that about him and i think that's what makes him who he is but it is just it's you don't see that that often where this like somebody is just so engulfed in fighting and combat just more than like there's just no other thing in life besides it and Yuri's that dude and we love the best.

He's ridiculous and he's the best. Dude, I've been in love of that man ever since I saw him in Japan. I was like, oh, my God. His rising run was incredible. Incredible, yeah. I was like, oh, my God, he was amazing. And then, yeah, COVID happened. They released everyone.

He came to the UFC. I'm like, oh. All right. Do we have anything else? All right, real quick. Did G.C. move to ATL for? good or will he be back um that's jesus yes yeah i don't know ask him he's in ato now so that's what we need to worry about for yeah at least for now another less of promise tomorrow

dizzles you know that's who can say he's about just showing love jeds my shaman bang riffs for life there you go a jenn mean i thank you thanks lazy i i've not as good a shaman as What's that man's name? Let me pull up geek. Because that dude's awesome. Alex's shaman is that guy. That guy rules. Who are the best shamans in the UFC?

I mean, that guy 100%. It was like, what was the touch button, the park guy who's like basically a shaman? He's didn't use a shaman. Oh, man. Eda, portals. Yeah, that guy is like basically doing the shaman gimmick, but like, appropriate. creating and bad um and sucked so he's like the worst one but uh best one that's guy this guy rocks chief tain uh uber ronin according to gierremy crews

gareme actually like spoke to him yeah um which you can find on m a funn't dope all right think we're good jett's got to go right yeah he's got to get he's got to get to step in. All right. Well, thank you. Appreciate you guys hopping in a little bit early back normal time next week. Lots happening. Preview show tomorrow. Preview show tomorrow. Not sure what time just yet, but it's going to happen because Wayans are going to be on West Coast time. PFL tomorrow. Page Van Zandt power slapping tomorrow. And then Saturdays against Susan. Okay. Susan. Again Susan. Very excited.

And then Saturday, people's free fight show. We got the watch party, Jose in Las Vegas. Got his camera gear back today, which we're very excited about. Congratulations to him. Busy weekend, everybody for Casey, for Jed. I am Mike Eck. Thank you for watching. Back next week.

Good night, everybody. Love y'all. This has been Between the Links, an MMAT fighting production on the Vox Media Network.