MMA Fighting - BTL | Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria, UFC 298, Still Waiting On UFC 300 Main Event

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

The amount of questions surrounding the UFC featherweight championship main event of UFC 298 between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria are astounding — not just heading into the fight, but the roads both fighters will take based on the result. Can Volkanovski continue his 145-pound dominance, or will the incredibly confident Topuria be put on the rocket ship to superstardom? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel will preview Saturday's main event, the stakes involved for both Volkanovski and Topuria, and where the champion goes, win or lose. Additionally, topics include the rest of the UFC 298 storylines, UFC 300 still not having a main event and potentially will be announced at the post-fight press conference on Saturday, along with a special fan Q&A final round.  Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Eric "New York Ric" Jackman. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Eric Jackman: @NewYorkRic 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

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welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Yes, it's Thursday, and that means some banter about this crazy sport of mixed martial arts is coming your way, and we're back with the usual format for the most part. And I'll explain that all in a moment, but before we do that, let us introduce the combatants this week. First, Mr. No Gray Area, Mr. Hot Take, the Cannibal Kid. He's your favorite

Valentine and the gimmick in your parlay of life from MMAfighting.com, Mr. Jedmishu. Hello, Jed. Happy Thursday. Hey, Mike. Happy Thursday. Sad Thursday. Not to bring the show down right at the start, but my sister lives in Kansas City and it was pretty shitty yesterday. So hearts with everyone there. Hope you haven't been affected by it. if you're watching this and let's have a good show. Yeah. Unbelievable shit. And I agree with that sentiment.

Tough to transition, but back on the program, he is the man with the greatest theme song in MMA history. You may know him from The MMA Hour, but he's also our social media guru here at MAAFiting.com, Mr. New York, Rick, Eric, Eric Jackman. How are we doing, my man? Happy Thursday. Yeah, I'm doing great as the interim prince of positivity

hopefully we can send some good vibes to those folks out there in Kansas City and beyond thinking of them. And yeah, let's have a good show. Yes. Well, what we're going to do is for the first three rounds, we'll do what we always do. We'll go through the big talking points. Of course, we're going to talk about UFC 298. Of course, we have to talk about UFC 300. And then in round four, we're actually going to turn it over to you guys and gals.

We'll do a Q&A for a little news and notesy. A few topics here with the super chatters. We'll choose one of you even to deliver us the knockout round question. The best knockout round question suggestion, should it go that far? I know that doesn't happen a lot in this game of ours. We will have you guys decide that. So stay tuned for that. Also, if you want to be a part of the show,

if you have a follow-up question or a comment on something we're talking about, if you agree or disagree with one of the combatants, Super chatters get put up on the screen. We may even add your question or comment to the banter about said topic. So with that said, let's get into it. Let's begin with Saturday's UFC 298 fight card in Anaheim, California, IA, but more specifically, the main event between Alexander Volcanowski versus Iliad Teporia. Now, gentlemen, this card deserves better.

This fight deserves better. But it is flying under the radar a bit because of the game. of 299 and this whole thing about the UFC 300 main event and the mystery that we're all a part of. But New York, Rick, I'll begin with you. In terms of individual fights that are on the books right now for the UFC or even MMA as a whole, where does Volcanowski versus Tuporia rank for you in terms of intrigue and excitement? Yeah, it's up there. Maybe number two.

I'm definitely interested in this fight. I think there's a lot on the line for both competitors, right? It seems like Ilya is setting himself up for this trajectory where he's alluding to Connor McGregor, trying to take the path. Connor McGregor has taken talking about Red Panty Night and trying to be that kind of breakout star. And it seems like if all goes according to plan, could potentially be that. Whereas Volcanowski is kind of the old guard, the pound for pound great who's trying to

hang on and reestablish himself after a rough knockout against Islam. Makachev, but answer those questions and then say, I'm still here. I'm still the Featherweight King, and we see what happens from there. So as far as stakes go, A plus stakes here, as far as the fight itself goes in terms of what I think of these two fighters from a technical standpoint and skill standpoint, another A plus. So it's up there. It's probably only behind Max and Justin for me in terms of interest, which I don't think has nearly as much stakes. Certainly, you know, a shot at Islam Makachev could be on the line for both or either there, but this is already a title fight.

And I certainly think that takes precedent or rather takes preference. And so it's one or two. And it's hard because it's a toss up between those. But it has me. This is a fight I've been looking forward to and it is finally here and I'm very excited about it. Jed, what say you? Is it New Yorkerick saying one or two? Is it that high for you?

So it's not. I think you probably knew that because you probably listened to No Betts Bar. but I will say have come even higher than I was. So when Connor and I were talking to No Betts Bard this week, he said this is like maybe my most anticipated fight, certainly top three. And I didn't have any issues with that. If this is your most anticipated,

or top, you know, three, top five. And certainly in my top five, absolutely okay with it. Previously, though, like it would have been, right? Like when this fight was sort of first being announced, but we've just had a bunch of other cool stuff happened since then, whereas I'm like, we're going to get trickus stupid. plus C versus Israel,

Dissuio, which is a fight I've wanted for over a year at this point. So, like, that's probably my number one. I don't know if you guys know this, but Dustin Poyer is about to wage war with Binwa Sondini. And that fight may not have the stakes that this weekend does. It certainly doesn't. But that fight is just going to be categorically insane. So, like, how could I put this over?

And then, of course, Max Gachie, I think that is the crown jewel in all of our eyes, right? Of the fights that are to come. So, but I just finished. my write-up on this fight should come out later today on the site. And as I watched more tape and got even more into it, I was like, yeah, I got no issues with this being number one. I am very, very pumped to see this fight. I think it is arguably more fascinating than any of the other fights just because of the other parts at play here. Is Volcanovsky too old? Is Teporia too young,

too green? Like, how does that age factum? How does the knockout coming off that? Where are we? Does Teporea know something we don't? Because the man is. talking as if he is already the champion. Not in a way that a lot of people do either. Like it's subtle, but it's noticeable. You know, most fighters think they're the best in the world. He knows it. And whether he is right or wrong, we're going to find out on Saturday.

But it is, you know, Rick kind of said it, said it pretty appropriately and kind of the, the parallels I've been drawing this week and last week and as this built up is he's the next Connor McGregor. Now, can he get there? I don't know. He's got to win this fight. get there but i truly think that if he comes in here and has a if he high rolls like connor did on the biggest moments if he 13 seconds fokanovsky one my little heart will sing and two then sky's limit like sky is the absolute limit if he 13 seconds alexander vokovsky on saturday and and that's what's so interesting about this fight because you have people on one side who

are like i am so into storylines and like potential questions and then there's you're other people that are in it for like the love of the game where it's just I want to see the high level fighters fight the other high level fighters and I feel like this fight checks off the boxes for absolutely everybody but for the questions Jed and Rick you brought this up too but I'll start with you Jed there's so many of them like not just heading in but what the future looks like for both guys as well as you guys have both laid up because Toporia has been talking the damn talk he's incredibly confident he already has the IG bio is 15 and 0 He's already taking photos with the belts.

He already says he's the champion. He feels like Volk is not just going to be a chapter in his book, but it's going to be an easy fight for him. And if he wins, like you said, he's off to the races. And if he loses, yeah, it might be a tough time for him in the short term. But it's a guy that we are very confident that we'll see back. But on the Volkanowski side, man, it's about the Makachia fight in October. Should he have taken that fight?

Should he have taken this fight so soon after the Naka? Will he stay at 45 or move up to 55 if he wins? What happens if he loses? There's just so many questions here, Jed. I can't remember a singular fight having so many potential storylines all wrapped up into one like this. So what's the biggest question you have heading into this fight and why? Is it something heading in or questions you have about the future of this division, the future of both guys depending on the result?

it's really what what does deporia look like because i am not to spoil the lead here i'm picking alexander volkovsky to retain his title this saturday i can't get around it as i dove into it i think this is a really good fight for him honestly unless all of the other stuff that people are focused on is true if he is too old if he's too slow now if he's like getting a little slower depurri is a hammer but kind of just looking at the exes and o's i do think that some of this has been overblown it's not like Volk has looked. He has looked older and he is not getting better. Like he has he has already been the best fighter he will ever be. Everything from here on out is a worst version of Peak Volcanovsky. But I mean, he's still one of the three best fighters in the whole damn world. So like that's

fine. That's just how age works. My questions are all centered around Tuporia because I know what we're getting from Alexander Volcanovsky, I think. I don't think the knockouts is big an issue as some people are making it. If Taboria knocks him out, then that's certainly going to be a storyline, but I just think that's sort of a false story, right? Like, he didn't get slept by Islam. It is, it's not like, it would be a little bit better if he took more time off for the sake of it.

But he's had a good amount of gap here. He was immediately coherent after the Islam fight. It wasn't like, hey, he needs to take a big long time off. I think if he gets knocked out by Tupori, it's not that he got knocked out by Islam and he was faded. It's that Topori hits really hard. And Volcanovsky has never been the most durable fighter. Like he has been Chad Mendes dropped him.

Max Holloway put him to a knee. Like he's, he is a durable dude, but it's not like he's Max Holloway and his chin is cracked. He got hit by a bad ass dude who kicked him in the face. Like that's just going to happen sometimes in this sport. So my issues, my questions are all around Toporio. What does he look like? Because the gap between the Iliot Topporio we saw against Bryce Mitchell and the like to the one we saw with Josh Emmett is a norm.

It is the Grand Canyon. He looks so different, so much better in the Emmett fight, so much more tactical reserve smart that if this is a sign and he is just going to be taking these giant strides fight to fight, then Volk would be in some real trouble, man. Or if that was just a one-time thing or if, you know, he always has that in him, but it's still not enough. It is, what does this dude look like coming in here? And more importantly, what does he look like when he is not the hammer?

because in every fight we've ever seen, he is mostly controlling the action. I don't think he's going to have one-way traffic against Volcanovsky. He's going to have to make adjustments, figure out how to work through the middle section of this fight and get the win. Can he do that? And if he can, then boys and girls, we've got a new featherweight goat. Like we've got a new guy who's taking charge of the division for the foreseeable. But if not, well, that doesn't mean he's out of it, but that does make us re-contextualize kind of where he's at what his ceiling is, what his future is. So my questions are all around Tuporia because I think I know what we're getting from Volk, but mostly I just want to see it.

I don't have questions so much as I just have the desire to watch these two men do battle. Yeah, Greg, where do your biggest questions lie? Are they on the Tuporia side or are they on the Volcanovsky side right now? Yeah, I think Jed laid it out very nicely. I'm more enamored by the mystery than I am by what I know. What I know is Alexander Volcanowski is capable of turning back Ilya to Poria, right? The version that we have seen, I know, is capable of winning this fight. Currently, I lean toward Alexander Volcanovsky.

And I know that, right? I'm aware. I've seen this before. And I know that it's possible that he was just facing an Islam Makachev, who's bigger than him, who he was not going to be able to compete against, and he's not a lightweight. I know that that's a possibility. I also know, if you look at the last five years for Alexander Volcanowski, it goes Joseo Alto, Max Holloway, Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Korean Zombie, Max Holloway, Islam

Makachev, Yayaa Rodriguez, Islam Makachev, and now Ilya Toulia Tuporia. Outside of Korean zombie, I know that every single one of those is a tough out for everybody on the planet, and he strung those all together back to back to back to back to back to back, to back, to back, to back. And I also know that that can take a toll on you. And I wouldn't be shocked if all of a sudden he fell off a cliff. I wouldn't be shocked if those miles started to add up. I wouldn't be shocked if beating Max Holloway three times, take something out of you

and losing to Islam Makachov twice. take something out of you. So either of those two outcomes on the Volk side wouldn't shock me. Reestablishing order? No, not shocking. Being a diminished product, not shocking. But Iliyatopori is a mystery to me. Like, I believe in his potential.

I've seen what everybody else has seen, what he needs to be able to do it. He needs to be able to execute it against who I believe is, to Jed's point, one of the top three, top five fighters on the planet currently still, regardless of the loss of Islam Makachev. And if he's able to do that, the ceiling comes off. What he is capable of as a draw for the UFC, as a superstar, as somebody who can carry forward from here, from this point,

the ceiling is removed. And so I'm much more enamored by the mystery of that than the things I know about Volcanovsky win or lose. So yeah, similar thoughts to Jed. I'm much more interested in kind of unpacking Ilya in the aftermath of this fight. Another question I keep getting, and I might as well bring it up to both of you guys, is, and we seem to get these for situations like this. We have like the long-reigning champion.

We have the up-and-coming stud. We talked about this with the Sean O'Malley-Aljambay-Germain Sterling fight to some degree. Like, is the UFC hoping for one thing or another? Even Craig Jones was asked by Ariel on Monday, do you feel like the UFC is hoping for one result of the other? And he's like, well, I think there's probably like a part of them that thinks Ilya winning is great because he could be a potential superstar that could tap into a, a different market. I don't know if I agree with that, New York, Rick. I kind of feel like this is sort of a win-win for the UFC because if Volk wins,

like the legend grows, he does become more popular because everyone loves the guy who shuts up the big mouth. But if Toporia wins, yes, we get to strap the rockets to him. Do you feel like this is sort of a win-win for the UFC? Or do you feel like there is a part of them that is like, let's strap the rockets to Deporia, maybe we have something here. Yeah, I do not think this is a win-win. I think Ilya, winning this fight would be a best-case scenario for the UFC.

Volcanovsky's done everything he can do at featherweight to the point where we're kind of running out of options if he's able to knock off Deporia. And then we saw how we looked going up to lightweight. Now, I will caveat that with against the best lightweight on the planet. So certainly you have to take that with a certain grain of salt when you're doing that analysis. But quite frankly, I just don't think he's big and has many advantages at lightweight. And I'm not particularly interested in that. I'm more interested in Max Holloway and even him, I'm kind of like, yeah, I kind of prefer my featherweight.

So we're going to be in a in a sticky spot with Volcanovsky if he wins this. There's not a lot of great options for him. There's going to be some contenders that maybe crop up. But I think the unlimited potential if Iliate Soporri is able to get this done is something that will be very appealing for the UFC. In addition to, I just think the ceiling is higher, right? Volcanowski became a really popular fighter, but there's a limit to that, right? He's not the most popular fighter. And the resume, if you look at the resume, it would say he probably should be.

But he's not. There's something that doesn't connect with fans in a way that you need to be to cross into that next level of superstardom. Ilya, whatever it is, Ilya Tuporia has it. If he's able to put the resume together in the way that we've compared him to Connor McGregor, Connor McGregor did that. If he's able to put those fights together, I think he has it. I think he has the potential to cross over and be an even bigger star. I think the ceiling is higher for Ilya.

because we've already pretty much seen the ceiling of Alexander Volcanowski. So I think they want, and I think they should be wanting an Iliate Toporio win here because of what it opens up. Do you agree with that, Jed? I mean, Volk has been a company guy. He's never given them problems. He's the longest reigning champion. He's willing to take fights on short notice for them. He's even saying he's willing to turn around and save UFC 300 if he's needed.

Like he has never, he's not a guy that's going to hold the UFC up for more money. And he is getting more and more popular with each fight that he has. depending, I mean, obviously he lost to Machachep, but still, if he goes out there and waxes up to Poria, like he's only going to get more popular. And if he decides to move up to 55 and he vacates the belt, you could still put Toporia back at a title fight and just throw them in there with Mobsar,

so you could still have both. So is this a win-win for the UFC? Or are they just deep down in their hearts? Are they hoping that Iliate Teporia comes in there and backs up everything he's been saying? It's not a win-win, but it's a no-lose, right? I largely agree with Eric. There is clearly a better outcome for business, and it's Ilya Tabori winning.

It's fine if Volcanovsky wins. Taboria is still young. Volkinovsky wins. If Volknovsky wins, honestly, I think there's a really good chance that he just faked about it. It's like, all right, that's it. I beat the last dude. I'm not going to fight this.

I beat a guy in the next generation. I'm not going to stay here and wait to get picked off. I'm going to go up and, you know, pursue the good fights of lightweight because who wouldn't be interested in watching him fight Dustin Poirier and sort of do all those kind of things. So that's a fine outcome if he wins, right? Like he does that. Maybe they convince him to fight Mobsar, one more time, et cetera. But so it's a totally acceptable outcome because then Ilya gets put back in.

The obvious better outcome is Ilya Tuporia winning because to Rick's point, we know who Volk is. And Volk is a popular fighter. Like Volk has gotten over, certainly the last kind of two years has really elevated him. and certainly like our fan base his eyes, the number of people who hate me because of my Alexander Volcanovsky takes has been apparent. He's over, but he's never going to be Connor McGregor.

It's where it can be. And it's that simple. Would you rather have a champion who is 35, pushing 36, at best has two more years, like really elevated in this sport, probably doesn't even have that. Might hang around for a bit, but like his short time and we already he's already we know where his cap is as far as popularity

or do you want the 27 year old dude who could be the next Connor? I'll take option B please because also option B by the way it comes with a whole new country to break into and to elevate in these regards. So like it's pretty clearly better for business if Deporia wins. But I don't think the UFC cares too much. I don't this is not like a hey, It's a little bit like Connor versus Jose, but it's not quite that much.

Or is it like, all right, it would be fine. Like, the UFC was clearly deeply incentivized for Connor to win that fight. Here, they are incentivized, but it's, they can live with the other outcome as well. Yeah, it's, it's more Connor Josie than Sterling, Sean O'Malley. Like, it's pretty clear. Yes. He was hoping for in that fight. In both, in both of those scenarios, they're pretty,

clearly hoping for an outcome. In one of them, it's much more acceptable for the other outcome. And that's what this is, which is a sign of good bookmaking from them, frankly, like, hey, they can't lose on Saturday. They can win big, but they can't lose. Can I just say the being a company man thing isn't necessarily a good thing from the perspective that like there's a, there's such a thing as too much Alexander Volcanowski. Like when you are the guy who is, is that, you devalue yourself to a certain extent. When they know they can call you and put you on, people need to miss you. People need to have some mystery around you.

The idea that you can say, hey, maybe let me just headline UFC 300 and they consider it means you're probably not leveraging everything you can to get the most money out of your career and probably put yourself in the best position to be a star. There's such a thing as being overly eager and overly active. And I think Volcanowski has actually kind of fallen prey to that, to be honest. Like there's a there's a there's a like connor McGregor being missed now certainly don't get me wrong this is too missed this is uh maybe he needs to come back and and the thing's not working properly um but you need to be missed and i think Alexander Volcanowski's not been missed enough to be honest. He's been too active and when the UFC is so willing to just say yeah we'll take it you're probably not doing it right if i'm being honest you probably need to be missed a little bit more. I deeply disagree on this one. Yeah, I was just going to say Jed you said nothing but your face said you wrote your face wrote your face

a book. What do you, how do you want to retort? To the extent that Rick is talking about Volcanozsche hemorrhaging his own leverage, I fully agree. Like, except for in the 300 instance, because 300,

he would headline the biggest pay-per-view of the year. And, like, it'll be the most money you'll ever make. But in the idea of, like, if you're the company, dude,

you're not getting paid well, or as well as maybe you could be. I think that's absolutely true. Like, Ronda Rousey famously, the UFC loved her because she was super easy to work with. And as we learn more about it's like, actually, Rhonda was just deeply underpaid.

She made more than everybody else. It was like Rhonda probably could have played a little bit more hardball and gotten way better paychecks than she did. So to that extent, I agree. But I think that what Rick is saying works for some people. Mike, you have often said, kind of you got to give us time to miss you. And I think that that's actually true holistically for the UFC in total. We should take some more weekends off because it does make like at the start of this year,

we got bad apex cards and was like, hell yeah, we've been off for a month. this is fun. I think that works for a very specific brand of fighter. Nate Diaz can pull that off. Someone with that sort of gravitas for 99% of the MMA world, I think that the way you become a star, the way people get to know you, particularly with a fan base is so transitory like ours is, people have three-year terms. It's just being super active. Hamzaa Chimayev became popular because he fought three times in a month. Like that was it. And he beat the hell out of people. And we're like, oh, I saw that dude every weekend beating the shit out of somebody. He's awesome.

And now look at him. He has not been active. And he still has a bit of that gravitas, but it still feels weird that he, we have missed him too much in this regard. For Volcanovsky, maybe he doesn't need to fight like four times a year. But I don't think that I do not believe his issue has been being too competitive. At this point, time, I think if he turns around at 300, that will be, that would be huge for him outside of monetarily.

That's the sort of stuff that to Rick's point about Connor, Connor in part became so popular because he was always, I'll fight on two weeks notes. I'll fight anybody. I'll fight right now. And then he backed it up. So I firmly disagree that what Volk needs is a little more time off. I think he's kind of been playing that aspect of it really, really well.

I'm not going to, you know, drag this on too long. But the examples you used Connor, they did that early. Hamzat, they did that early. Then they became the guys who did not do that. that and that is the strategy. I think the horse is out of the barn here. Volk has already messed this up. I'm not suggesting all of a sudden he, he go decreases activity.

I think he messed this up. It does not feel like a special attraction when Volk fights, and that's the problem. That's the reason why Humzat would get a call to headline 300 before Volk would. That's why Volk is headlining this card and wouldn't be the choice A for UFC 300. It does not feel like a special attraction when he fights. And that's why this would fly under the radar as opposed to USC 300 or even 299, where Sean O'Malley seems to have a little bit more of that juice.

And it's too late. I'm not suggesting that all of a sudden he's a hey, you know what? I'm really only wanting to fight once a year. It's already too late on that front. But I think the damage has been done where it's not great to be a company guy. You need to pull back a little bit and not be so game and not be so willing so that it does feel special when you fight. But there's a balancing there.

There's a balancing there. You don't want to disappear forever. I would just argue, and this can be the end on it. I would just argue that him being the company. company guy in the last year and a half, two years is what has gotten him is over. And that he, the reason Connor and stuff can do that is they aren't, Volk's just never going to have that gravitas that pulls him in in this way. And the way he got over was by being more of the company dude.

And then on a totally different, but entirely related note, he can't take time off because he's 35. He needs to fight as many times as possible because, and I've said that when this started, like two years ago when he was like, I just want to be super active, just give me dudes to fight. I was like, yeah, Volk's really smart. And the reason he is saying that is because he sees the cliff coming. And he needs to get as many in as he can because time is coming. He is right behind him.

And so he's got to get in as many fights as he can before father time surpassed him. So he's super can't do it now for a number of reasons. Can't do it now. I would say he got over, but I think he could have gotten over bigger if it felt like a special attraction when the number one pound for pound guy was fighting. And Islam Makachev has that and John Jones has that. And he just never had that. And I think that that was a product of how active he was. Well, we branched off into a very fun and fascinating debate. But there's a lot more to talk about with this card because we have mentioned that it's flying under the radar and more proof that it is

flying under the radar coming up next. But the point for round one goes to Jedmishu, one to nothing, good rounds, Good solid round. We should just talk about this fight more. This fight rocks. The rest of this card is good. Don't get me wrong, but this fight rocks. It's very, very, very good. Very, very good.

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That means access to pre-sales, preferred seating, and more savings. For more information about how to step into a world of more with Chase Experiences, visit chase.com slash experiences. Benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders, deposit and credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply. But talking about all the sort of under the radar stuff here, I mean, just look at the three fights that are going to proceed.

the main event. We have Robert Whitaker coming off of a bad stoppage loss in his last fight to the now champion Drickus Duplice fighting Paulo Costa, who hasn't fought in over a year and a half, but he's more popular than ever. So those are two huge names of 185. We have Ian Machado Gary looking to kind of answer some of the same questions Ilya Tupori is going to answer. Toughest test to date against a guy like Jeff Neal. And we have Henry Suhudo putting his career on the line. At least this is what he says. To what extent I believe Henry Suhudo at this point? I don't know.

But he's putting his career on the line against Marab de Walsh, Willie. Not to mention the Anthony Hernandez Roman Coppulov fight, which should be a banger to kick off the main card. Prelims are solid. We have Lamos v. Dern and a whole bunch of other things. So, Jed, I'll begin with you. Mishuling Grade for UFC 298, especially since

the promotional push has been for 299 and 300. It's still a two-star card, man. Like, I wouldn't fly across country to go see this. I wouldn't, you know, take a big trip. But if I'm in California and within five, six hours, I'm for sure going to this card. It is, I mean, the main card is you can have some quibbles if you want, but that's really pick and nits. It's awesome.

This card rocks. Even the prelims are largely good or they're relevant. I got to say, yesterday is Zim and May hour. One of the fights I gave the least of a shit about on this whole card was the Oban Elliott versus Val Woodbury. because Val Woodburn got clobbered to death in his UFC debut and that was useless. And Oben Elliott is like, not good. I don't know how else to say. It's off the contender series.

Of the three dudes off the contender series on this prelim, he's the worst of them. But then he did that interview with Ariel and just like, actually, I would now die for Oben Elliott. I would charge into battle and be carried into Valhalla because I want this dude to win because his story was compelling. And like, yeah, like him talking about Chal Sondon and how he connected with them because they both lost their fathers and he made this promise. And he's living out his dreams. Like, hell yeah. So now I'm suddenly in on that. And I'm going to be emotionally affected watching Oben Elliott get a W and then go and shake Chale Sonnen's hand for the first time.

It's like, this card rocks. And if you're anywhere near Anaheim, I would encourage you to go to it. Rick, what are you grade in 298, even though it's not getting like a lot of the headlines. like the next two cards are getting. Yeah, it's an A, A minus, you know, maybe A minus. It's maybe missing just, you know, that star power that we've kind of, you know, talked about to this point. But other than that, it's it's very, very solid. I'd almost say like with no disrespect intended to anybody who fought before this,

but this is like where the UFC season really kicks off. Like that was the season that we were watching. And this is now the season. Now we're getting into the meat of the schedule. and hitting the ground running from here on out. So it's high for me, man. I mean, I'd almost like definitely 299 and 300 have some really, really exciting fights that I'm looking forward to. But it starts here.

It starts with this one. And this is the one that's going to get the engine revved. So I am very excited. A minus at worst for me. Just so we're clear, hitting the ground running. In two weeks, we do have Yaira Rosenstrike versus Shemil Ghazyev and Amano. event. Detour. Detour. Maybe quick detour that we get back on the road. So we got two really good weeks and then we're doing some good stuff. But in the middle,

there's the worst fight I've ever seen. So there's still time. There's still time to avoid that. Maybe they scrap that. Well, before we take that. Remember when that was going to be the Saudi card and now it's fucking Rosenstrike Garcia. That's why we'll put an asterisk and we'll allow it. You like, you know what? They blew the Saudi card. wait for that one. That's going to be fun. What is also going to be fun is this Saturday. And I'll go back to you. Of these fights, I just mentioned on this main card. We're not talking about the main event here because that's the obvious answer. What's the most intriguing one for you? What has the most sizzle, the most interest, the most questions needing to be answered for you

of these other main card fights? I don't know if any of them really have some like question, like burning questions for me. Like I don't think any of us. I don't think any of us. have near as much intrigue from that perspective as the main event, but probably Marab and Henry Suhudo, just because as we've laid out, Henry Sehudo is forecasting his retirement here and then kind of laying his cards on the table if he's not successful. And Marab has kind of been the Bantamweight champion in waiting. And if he gets past Henry, I would hope that he gets the next shot, but I don't think there's any guarantee there. I could definitely see a world where all of a sudden somebody jumps the line or he has to fight even like a Corey Sandhagan to get it.

it. I would not be shocked by any of those outcomes. He seems to be somebody who they're not itching to put into a title shot. But here they've granted him an opportunity on a big pay-per-view card to say, hey, I'm here and I'm the guy. And I think he will take advantage of that opportunity. So that's probably the one, even though that's an obvious answer, that's probably the one to me that I have the most interest in from a what's next perspective. But none of them really have huge stakes in the way that I think the main event does. What do you think, Jed? stand out to you from that perspective? If you could only watch one other five sides

the main event, which one are you watching? So when you phrase it like that, my answer changes. If I'm like, what's interested from like what comes next to all that, then I think, I mean, Rex on it, right? It's Marab versus Suhuda. This weekend, we are all Marab Válezhili fans because Henry Suhuter said he will retire. So we can all support Marab in his journey,

go to the nation of Georgia, because I think we'd all be better off of Henry Suhudo actually hung up his gloves, but did it for real this time instead of hanging up his gloves reluctantly for reasons that are still dumb and then just never actually retiring, just pretending the whole time that he was still fighting.

But that fight probably isn't going to be that fun. I've watched both of those men fight. I'm pretty confident that however the fight goes down, it will be a lot of them holding each other. So if I'm just watching one, then I want the mix of things that I think are relevant and entertainment. And it's going to be Jeff Neal, I'm Machado Gary. I've been on the record. I know a lot of people don't like Emichato Gary.

To some extent understand it, I also think a lot of the hate for him is very, very silly. But mostly I just think that that dude is legitimately the truth that he is of the next breed. And like, I think all of us here believe that Shavkarakhanov is the future welterweight champion. I personally believe that Ian Machado Gary is going to fight him for that belt one day and that that fight is going to kick all the ass. And you've got a lot of stakes coming in here. We said it's sort of the beginning of the year, at least I did. There was a lane for Ian Gary to kind of put himself in title contention before all of the shenanigans happened

because the welterweight title picture seemed a little open. Instead, all that stuff happened. Now we're here. But he goes out here. He beats Jeff Neal, who's got a lot of heat with him. there's all that backstory going and puts on a statement performance against the top 10 dude he's one went away and not only that he's one went away in like a pretty marquee spot so i think the fight has a ton of stakes in that regard and this fight's obviously going to be far more entertaining to watch than marab versus so hoodo so that would be mo one yeah quick just just so it's fair and you have the opportunity to answer this as well if you could only watch one other fight besides the main event is it still marab sehudo or are you picking something that's Owls. No, it'd be the same. It'd be the same. I'd say Gary and Neal is probably going to be the

most exciting kind of competitive fight. But I wouldn't sleep on Costa and Whitaker too. I'm excited about that one. I'm intrigued. I mean, if for nothing else, then I feel like we didn't get the best of either, right? Like, Paulo Costa obviously falling off the fight with Hamzaa Chamaev that was highly anticipated and we were really looking forward to. And Whitaker kind of in hindsight saying he was injured and not at his best in the fight against Drickus 2 plus C and underestimated him. ready to bounce back. I'm interested to see how Whitaker looks and how Costa looks. So that one would be a close second from a, hey, I just want to see this in a vacuum

perspective. I'm interested in how those styles kind of clash with each other. But it's going to be Gary and Neil for me as well. Jed, who has, and look, if you want to go with the low-hanging fruit with the main event, have fun, but, you know, we like to dive a little deeper here. Who has the most to lose on Saturday? So, I mean, the main event is probably the answer, but let's not do that. Rick can take that if he wants to.

We just talked a lot about the main event. Most to lose is, oh, that's outside of the main event. All right, we'll go off the board. McKinsey Dern has the most to lose outside of it. Because, like, I don't think the co-main event's really for anything. I'm of the opinion that Whitaker and Co-Star both passed. primes and probably not likely to get a title shot. Mew Whitaker with a loss certainly won't get one Costa with a win could maybe put himself

in there, but middleweight's sort of moving past them. And then the rest of this, like, Sohudo has his whole career to lose, but he's all a famer. It's fine. Whereas McKinsey Dern, like, I'm standing on this corner. No one else is on the island with me. I'm still here alone at this point in time because it's pretty clear what McKinsey Dern's ceiling is, but I can't shake it.

just be like, hey, she's really good at the grappling part of this game. And if she could ever figure out literally any other piece of it, then this division's weak enough that she has a trump card to win the title. And she can't, she can't put the rest of it together. It is impossible. But if she lose to a mandolimo, which like we talked about it, no bets barred. I have a bet on McKinsey darn. She's going to win the first round with a takedown and back control for four minutes.

And then she's going to lose the next two and lose the decision. It's going to be heartbreaking. But if she loses to Amanda Limous, even I, the last supporter of the McKinsey-Durne potential champion or at least title challenger, I will have to get off the island as well. And so if you're losing my support, then really you're losing the most. Cole is saying you should trademark your exhale breath laugh. It's never change, never change. Newark, I'm taking the main event off the table here. So I'm not allowing you to take that option.

Do you agree it's McKenzie Dern? He mentioned Henry Sehudo, he's putting his career on the line. but I kind of think it's somebody else. I respect the effort from Jed there. It's obviously Marab de Valshvili. He's sitting at a poker table. He's been in this tournament forever. He's stacking chips.

And then the guy on the free roll who didn't even pay to enter is going to come in and potentially derail his title opportunity that he's been denied and probably was in line for because of his friendship and then because the UFC seems to not be too keen on giving it to him. If he drops this fight to Henry Suhudo, it would be devastating for Marab. Like, that would be a setback that I'm not sure all of a sudden he bounces back from. This is it.

This is his time. If he can get another one in here, it seems like everything's lined up for him to get that title opportunity. If he botches it here, that would not be good. And so Marab has a lot to gain and a lot to lose at UFC 298. Counterpoint. I've just been reached out to by our associate editor, Sheen Alshadhi, who has informed me that he is also on the McKinsey, Dern Island, but if she loses, we'll be vacating as well. So not only would she lose my support, she'd lose Shaheen's support.

That's a lot of loss for McKinsey. I mean, at this point, it's MMA fighting support. It seems like, Mike, are you going to reveal yourself to be a hidden McKenzie Dern Stan living on the island? I mean, I don't. It's a sparse island, not a lot of us. I also don't think, I also don't think she's ever out of the title picture at 115, unless she just gets thumped.

She should be. That's how my head works, Mike, and that's why this is a problem. And I'm like, hey, she should have beat Janjan. If she knew how to punch somebody from the mount or whatever, do it, she would have clearly beaten Janjanon. It's about to fight for this belt. But she didn't. And so she lost that decision.

And then Jessica and John just cleaned her house. So you can't, you can't, I can't quit her. But if she loses this weekend, I will. That's why she has the most of lose. I mean, there's a lot to, I mean, a lot to really digest there. What's a possible title fight? poker table in comparison to my love. Losing two of the NBA fighting folk.

There's a lot going on here. And by the way, if McKenzie Dern wins, I don't think she's going to really like what's on the other side of a win, which is probably going to be Tatiana Suarez. And, well, I mean, maybe, maybe. You'd have made a lot of money betting on Tatiana Suarez not to make it to fights over the last several years. So maybe.

Well, I say that sadly, because I think. I think Tatia Zora's the best fighter in that weight class, but still, it's true. She was supposed to be on this card, but now we get McKenzie Dern, and we'll see if she can come through in a big way and stay in the title hunt. But let us move on to the biggest topic in MMA for the last several months. The point for round two goes to the interim prince of positivity, New York, Rick. It is one-to-one. Because he's absolutely right. Rob DeLis really is the correct dancer.

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so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season. and find gifts and inspiration to suit your holiday style at Sacks Fifth Avenue. Well, it's another week of BTL, gentlemen. It's another Thursday. And it's another day, another week where we do not have a main event for UFC 300. And it's another day and another week where everyone is losing their freaking minds right now. So I'm just going to make this as simple as possible, New York, Rick.

What the hell are we doing here? Why is this taking so long? What is happening? is it really this hard? Like I will say this. I understand they're trying to do something 300y, because we've turned that into like its own thing now. Like what's 300 and what isn't 300y?

They're trying to do something. But are they overthinking here? Like, why is this taking so long? We're two, we're less than two months. We're actually, I think right at two months away or just less than two months away from this card happening. And we still don't have a main event. What the frig?

No, they are not overthinking it. The expectations around this card have been built to a level that has not been seen before. And in my estimation, an unreasonable level. So they are trying to respond to that. And as Ariel laid out, there are some options there that I think would satisfy people, right? I think Hamzaa being involved at all would satisfy people. I think DDP versus Hamzad or DDP versus Israel-Azanya or Hamzaa versus Leon would satisfy all of that.

And what would not satisfy everybody is Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad. because they could have announced that a month and a half ago. And that fight was sitting there. There's no, the one that everybody already thought could have been on the card is not going to be the one that blows everybody's socks off. And for 300 main event, they're looking to have their socks blown off. So, yeah, it's a situation that they put themselves in, make no mistake about it. But I understand the effort that is being put into it because to this point, they've built

expectations too high and fans are going to be disappointed should it be the safety option of Leon Edwards versus Belal Muhammad. Now, it could be an option outside of those options that Ariel laid out, certainly. I think there's a lot in play here and they could be reaching to different areas than we're even aware of at this moment. But I don't think the safe that the safe option that could have been booked a month and a half ago and everybody already kind of knew about is going to be enough to satisfy those people. Now, once it is done, once we can finally move beyond this hysteria and this mania and this stupid nonsense and the fight card is already built and everybody's on the road now to UFC 300, everything will be fine because that card's already so good that it doesn't really

matter what the main event is. Of all those options, they're all great. Although I know Jed would push back and say Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad is not great. So I will grant you that. But once we can move beyond the idea of what's going to be the UFC 300 main event, we'll step back, we'll take a breath, we'll touch some grass, and we'll realize that UFC 300 is absolutely loaded and worthy of our time and the attention that it got to this point, and then move on with our lives. I'm less concerned about what the main event of U.S.C. 300 is and more concerned about moving on from this hysteria because it's grating and annoying and get over it.

I'm with you. I cannot wait for this fight to be announced, but Jed, why hasn't it been announced? Like, what the hell is going on here? they screwed the pooch actually that's not true i i feel like i know what's happening here one let me just say uh you rick is both correct and fundamentally incorrect he is correct in that this fight card is a three-star no doubt about a hall of fame fight card it doesn't matter what they add to it they could add me fighting rick on the prelims and it would not bring this card down and outs does not really matter in that regard for the fight card.

At the same time, can't do it. I would bet anything. You cannot come out with Bilal Leon as the main event. It is simply anathema to logic and reason at this point. If they had led with it, people still would have been upset. Rightfully so. It's the leafy greens of fist fights. It's two really good fighters who are going to have a highly

competitive fight that is going to have five strikes per minute from each dude and just not you don't end your meal with with kale salad that's that we're not in europe you don't end with a salad you know like you you end with dessert and they're not going to put the bmf title as the main event that would be fine if they chose to do that i i can get behind that of bmf titles the main event leon ballas the co-main event uh strawway title fights the next one that's just not how they're going to rock the amount of buildup they have put into this, they can't do it. At this point, the amount of buildup they put into it, the only answer that's going to work is like Dana fights Tito after all these years.

That seems unlike that's what's going to happen. I do think that we're going to end up getting the reason it hasn't happened yet is because they are still negotiating because unfortunately for them, one of these two gentlemen is extremely smart about business. And that gentleman's name is Jigas duplissy. He's come out and said like, I can't really do it. He hasn't really outright said, I am not going to do it. do it. This to me feels like, hey, I would love to fight Izzy at 300. I can fight Izzy at 300.

I'm going to need you guys to pay me to fight Izzy on this quick a turnaround at 300. And the UFC pinching their nose and trying to try all their other options to see, can we get Hamzot Leon? You can't. Homzot's never going to get Visa here. Can we get any, nope, can't do it. All right, we're going to have to bite the bullet, bite the bullet, open up the checkbook. I still think that's the most likely scenario because otherwise I don't, I just don't, I just don't know what else they have. It has to be something because they've built it up at this point. They have said, we're going to have an announcement's going to blow your socks off. And I got to tell you, my socks, my shoes, my over the shoes, booties and every other article of clothing is staying

firmly on if Leon versus Ballal 2 announces the main event. You can't do it. I think he's putting on extra socks if they do that. He's going to he's going to bundle it up. He's putting on snow shoes. Like, it's just. You can't do it with them, with Dana being like, it's going to, it's going to blow you away. Like, okay, you can't. It's honestly might be the worst possible fight to announce as the fight that would blow you away.

I have been making this point on the MMA hour. I'll make it again here. The problem is expectation management. And they blew it. When they had Max and Gaichi announced, that was the time to say, you know what, the main event is Leon and Bilal. And this card's awesome. and you guys are going to enjoy it. Sentiment was in an all-time high.

But instead of taking that opportunity, Dana White continued to double down on, it's going to be the greatest ever. You're not even going to believe it. Hell, we're throwing Cody Garbrand and Davis and Figurato as the first fight of the night. You guys are, you're not even going to be able to stand. You're going to fall over when you hear what we've got in store.

And he doubled and tripled and quadrupled down. And they blew that because now they're left with very few options. And Drickus Duplice and Israel is Sonia are a good one. But it's going to cost them to make that fight. they missed the opportunity to take what was a really, really positive sentiment around Max and Gece and say, here's 300, look at this beautiful card and enjoy it.

But instead, they pivoted from that and kept saying, kept promising things that they're not going to potentially be able to deliver. I hope they deliver it because I think there's a lot of fans out there who have built up their expectations to meet the kind of rhetoric that Dana White has said. And if he's able to pull off what he can, then great, all for it.

I think 300 has a lot of, opportunity to get better with those fights. But they could have taken an easier route if they had just done that at the time. Can I make a plea to the UFC? Because we know that they watch this program, obviously, Mike. And my plea would just be this. You goofed. You already goofed and there's no way to solve it.

At this point, any fighter you approach about main eventing recognizes they have you over a barrel. You have two options. It is to come out with Belal Leon, bite that bullet and say, Yep. This is it. Look at how stacked the card is and sell the lie that no one will believe, which is a fine option. Again, three-star card. Like, in the scheme of things, it'll be okay. Or the much more likely option is, whoever it is, you're just going to have to pay them. So just pay them and announce it so we can be done with this and move on to building that event. Like, whoever it is at this point has to know, oh, John Jones is going to fight Tom Asperon and Steve Meachich.

All right, add an extra zero to the paycheck. because I can read the news. Like whoever it is, you're going to have to pay him. Just get off your ass. Can pay him, man. Hamz out to Pipe Dream. He's never getting Visaed. So pay the people and make this happen so we can have it and be ready to move on because

we're all ready for this. Like you're playing out the string too long here. Well, except if it's Mr. Company Man, Alexander Volcanowski, then maybe you don't have to pay that much. Then you just say, yeah, let's just keep doing this forever. Roll them out for every main event. I think even Volk at this point is smart enough to recognize that he can have to Hopefully so.

Hopefully so. They have so transparently put themselves in a box here. Like, this was a fuck up for months and months ago. We talked about at the beginning of the year. Yeah, instead of building $2.99 and all this, the entire idea should have been building to $300 as a centerpiece card, but then they fire all these other good fights not on it. And that was a waste of time.

Like, Olmeali Vera should be the 300 main event. That's just in Miami for reasons that still only God knows. But you screwed up somewhere along the line. You just take your medicine and pay the people you need to to make the whatever it is, whichever one of it is that you choose. But let's get this done. It's carrying on too long at this point. Yeah, the nail in the coffin was John Jones coming out and saying they offered me this fight.

Because if you're that low on the list, if you're all the way down to injured John Jones who just had surgery, not looking good for you. Just offer extra zero to John Jones. owns to fight Stepe. He doesn't need to be fine. If John came in with one working arm, I'd still pick him to beat Stepe, just offer him more money.

There is a price you can pay to get him in the cage. There just is. Just pay the price, get him in, and let's be done with this. Or admit that you don't care, and that's fine too, but just stop this, it's going to be great and then keep not doing it.

There's still a chance they can deliver on that. I think we have to acknowledge that, at least. There is still a chance, right? If it ends up, if it ends up being easy DDP, people will be happy, is my, is my sense. Yeah. And that's fine. Just deliver that though. Do it. There also seems to be a cap on it, right? They're not going to, they're not going to pay Connor. They're not going to hand out those paper viewpoints that come with the champions also fighting on that card alongside Connor as well. So there is a, there is a number that they're not willing to go to at the moment.

They make a billion year and they won't pony up. up an extra because we're not talking $100 million. They would have to pay someone an extra $5 million. Just say a billion a year revenue generating company and they won't come off for the biggest event in a decade. They won't pay an extra

five mil to get two dudes to fist fight. It is unbelievable the level of greed that play. Let me ask you guys this and I'll start with the New York Rick. Do you think right now 123 p.m. Eastern on Thursday afternoon

a day and almost two days away from UFC 298. Do you think they have this main event locked down yet? No, absolutely not. There's a reason Dana White punted to, I will announce it after the event, according to a conversation with Kevin Ioli saying, I will announce this after UFC 298. So yeah, they're just pushing,

they're pushing the timeline as far as they possibly can to lock down one of these things that they are trying desperately to get locked down. And they're going to use every minute of that opportunity until they're able to get what they need or be backed into a position where they have no alternative and no other choice. If the parties involved, stay firm and say, you can move on, we're not going to do it. And then they say, ah, you know what, we found that extra 10 million that you were looking for. We found it on our couch cushions and here it is.

It's going to take until the buzzer for whoever, for whichever side is unmoved to get this done. So no, I do not think they have it at this moment. Do I think they're probably moving toward it? I think they are. I think by this weekend we will know. But it will probably be a situation where they had their backs against the wall. Data has really given money to podcasters from his own bank account. Like he could just do that for a fight. Be like, hey, DDP, I will pay you a million dollars of my own money to just fight this dude.

And like, is he going to say no? No. Like, we're not talking about all the money in the world here in the scheme of this. this promotion. It's just making me increasingly upset at the USC is all that this is doing. Is there a chance that somebody who's fighting on Saturday could factor into this? Like, let's just say Paula Costa dust up Robert Whitaker in like three minutes. And Izzy isn't locked down.

Could they throw Paul Costa in there? Because Paul will look like a freaking superstar if he dusts up Whitaker. And DDP versus Costa, like people wouldn't hate that. They would like that far better than Leon versus Ball. I want to be real clear DDP versus Polo Costa is a fight that must happen and I will love it

It will be the stupidest dumbest fight That will just I don't care if it happens for the belt I don't care if it happens In a year from now when DDP has dropped the belt to somebody Because it's unlikely He's going to hold on to it for a long time

But that fight is awesome No because I don't think It feels like Izzy would not be the guy Who's blocking 300 It feels like DDP would be blocking it for money. And so DDP would just rather fight easy than Paula Costa. But maybe my guess is that no one fighting this weekend. I did not even consider Volcanovsky until he threw his name out there.

But even so, who would he fight is the issue? Like, you're going to tell me that we're pumped about Volk versus Mov's the main event of that card? No, obviously not. It's ridiculous. So there's just not like, Volk would be a good option. to serve as like a co-main on short notice like yeah volks just going to go do he's going to fight a lightweight against i don't know but who's gamrott or obviously gamrott's books but some you know

do something like that but not for the main event i don't think anyone here at play is sort of live for that there's there's a lot of things that play here right tickets tickets ticket prices ufc's own timeline if i'm a gambler and i am my move would be If Ilya Tuporia wins on Saturday, I would wait. I would wait one month. No, I would wait one month and see if Sean O'Malley can get it done against Chito. And I would pay him whatever it takes to do Sean O'Malley versus Iliotiporia as the headline of 300.

I hate you so much. You're waiting a really long time. You're waiting a really long time to take this gamble. But I promise you it's better than whatever options you're trying to scrape together. at the last minute here. That's what I would do as a gambling man. I would hope that UFC 300 sells enough or can wait for the main event

and answer those stupid questions about what's going to be the headline for USC 300 long enough to just see if Sean O'Malley gets the win and affiliate Teporia gets the win and then do that at USC 300. But that's me. That's me. I'm willing to risk it.

Just the worst idea. Jed loves when Chip who have one title defense move up and fight. And it's over like the number 12. And somebody who has no title defenses. That's Jedd's favorite thing in the sport. I'm going to say something that I never thought I would say on this show or any other show that I'm a part of.

I legitimately feel bad for Belal Muhammad right now. Like I really do. Because one, he has to listen to all these reports from the most on point journalist in the sport saying that the UFC is looking at Leon Editors versus Hamza Atchamaya. He must feel like he's getting kicked in the ass. And I don't know if anybody, very few people in the media have been harder on Bilal Muhammad's path to a belt that I had been because he has made so many mistakes, especially when he had a microphone in front of his face.

But if they go Leon Humzat, that's just rough for Bilal. If they go Leon Shafkat or Leon somebody else, that's just rough for Bilal. If they freaking announce Leon versus Bilal and everyone's like, wow, Balal finally gets a shot, I still, I feel worse for him. Because people are going to groan the most loud, loudest collective grown, maybe in MMA fight announcement history. Bilal Mohammed will fully get all of the brunt from this. And he automatically becomes the walk of shame fighter of the UFC.

He is what Kristen Wiggs character was in the movie Bridesmaids to John Ham's character. Belaw Baham becomes the fifth person on the list of phone calls for John Ham's character to spend the night with. Like that's what it becomes. It's so ridiculous. He's the last resort. This fight is going to get crapped on. And Bala Muhammad is the, hey, what you're doing at 3 a.m. text message guy. Like, that just sucks for him.

It sucks. If you eat that turd and don't get the title fight, yeah, that's rough. But if he gets the title fight, I don't think he cares. I don't think that he cares about that. If he gets that title fight, I don't think he gives one iota about what the fan's sentiment is around it. Let's be clear, right? Allah Muhammad knows what's going on, right? He understands the business of this.

He also understands people don't like the idea of him fighting for the title for one reason or another. But he has to take the stance to protect himself and his own ego of they're wrong. I'm going to be the next champion. And I don't care how it comes. you have to take that stance. That's a stance that Marab finds himself in as well. There's been a reason that he is not getting the opportunity. And in fact, Leon Edwards himself has been in this position before.

They were anti-Leon Edwards fighting for the title until they could not hold on any longer. And they finally made the wind streak into something. Belal does not care. Belal does not care. Now, if he does not get the title fight and he has to continue to hear this, yeah, you're right. Like, that's rough for the ego. That's going to be a lot to take. But if it all culminates in the title shot,

he doesn't care. He doesn't care. Does he have any power at all here? Like if the UFC calls him right now and said, hey, Blah, we need you for 300. Does he just immediately say yes?

They're not calling him. It's freaking, that's why I feel bad for him. He just has to take it and then go fight and hope he wins. Because if he doesn't, he's never fighting for the title again. I'm not even convinced he's fighting for the title now.

With all of them. I'm crazy. He's going to fight for the title now. Look, he's following a long line of welterweights in this position. This, for whatever reason, has been a division, like, where there's just been an exceeding number of people like this. Like Leon Edwards, obviously, most recently, I remember the time when John Fitch was being passed over at six wins in a row

for a title shot and had to get to an unheard of eight at that point in time. That's just, you know, part of it's his own fault. part of it was Leon's fault, but eventually you'll get there. And I do think he's going to get there. Though I will acknowledge it was deeply amusing this week to be like, Hamza Chimayev's involved? Huh? Where the hell did that come from?

Isn't Dana the one who said that he can't, they're not doing 170 with him anymore? Like Chimayev's going to middleweight because Shemayev, after blowing weight by eight pounds or whatever, was like, oh, no, I can still do it. It's fine. And Dana was like, no, you're just going to well, going to middleweight now. So that was pretty amusing. But yeah, it's, you know, be better, Blal. Well, hopefully we get this.

I just hope I hope we get this announced before the press conference. Maybe do it during the broadcast. I think that would be a great time to do it. Oh, the post-fight press conference. Okay, gotcha. Yeah. I mean, it's possible. I hope it doesn't happen at the press card.

I hope we get it before. Like on the broadcast, main card, first fight ends. Hernandez Coppulov beat six shades of shit out of each other and electrify us and get us all fired up for what's to come. And then you come out with the promo announcing this main event and get us like give us all something to talk about. But if we have like, hey guys. Remember the name. All right guys. 17,655 highest gate ever at the Honda Center.

Here are the bonuses. Main event for 300, Leon versus Ballal who get the first question. Like I do it. Just like just a news dump to hide it. just have Friday news dump. Just, ah, nobody's paying attention. By the way, below, Mahal and Leon, it was just, okay, don't worry about it. So, that Elliott-Tuporia guy, huh?

Yeah. Yeah, we need, like, Francis and Gano to have some big fight news. Like, I know he's got to fight with Joshua come, but we need, like, his next fight announced, and then Dana will come out and drop this nugget before 298. But let's move on to some fun. The Q&A round. The point for round three goes to...

Ooh. It's Jedbushu. Even Bilal is making a mion at this point. Just the mere mention of him for some reason. It's pretty tough for your fighting name to be remembered the name. Like that's, he started out badly. That was not a good choice. Yeah.

He might have to change the nickname to something else. It can't be remembered the name. It's like, please call, Bilal, please call my name Muhammad or something like that. Like, come on now. It's crazy. Just give this guy's freaking title shot. Golly. Just not a 300.

Let's announce the title and a date, but just not April 30. I'm fine doing it 300, but just put the BMF in the main. We can't end the night on that fight. It will ruin the whole of that. I'm fine with that as well. I would be fine with that as well. All right. We're going to turn it over the peeps.

We're going to do a little news and notes thing. We'll take a few questions. Super chatters get the full bore. And then we'll get after it. Maybe we'll just do a few of these and then we'll go to the poll at the end. I don't know. This is the first time we're trying this. since we started this whole super chat things.

So let's go. What do we got? Let's take some questions. Can you just be like random stuff? Could be stuff that you threw out there earlier in the show. I don't know. The world is your oyster. Or just thoughts or comments about something.

Ah, thanks, eyes are planets. Jed will begin with you. What changes would the UFC have to make to become a more exciting organization, realistic changes that Dana, et cetera, might actually make in the current, environments, what change would you make yourself, Jed? I would point to two things coming to this from different perspectives.

One, I would pair back their events. The issue with UFC events, as we kind of addressed earlier, or at least sort of touched on, is there just too many of them. 42 to 45 events a year is a lot. There's, and that's why we get a lot of apex cards. I don't have the same issue that many do with the venue, but it's not a great venue. My issue is largely that if you look at those apex cards, they are primarily composed of regional fights, just happening under the UFC banner. You want more exciting fights. You just need better fighters.

And instead of hiring volume, higher four quality. So that would be pairing down the roster going from whatever, it's between like six and 700 down to four or five, do three events a month. And your overall fight quality is going to raise pretty dramatically making more exciting product. My second thing from a very different perspective would be legalizing strikes to grounded fighters, needs to the head, the most obvious. I'm also extremely pro allowing soccer kicks just because they change the dynamic of fighting dramatically. They make it far more fun. People are like, oh, they're super violent.

I don't know, man. I watched pride. I've watched soccer kicks and stomps for most of my life at this point. I've seen far more violent stuff happen than that. Like those are usually just, oh, this fight's over, over now instead of there being a gray area of like, oh, how many of these 18 punches is enough? It's like, oh, no, no, no, no, the two kicks was good. We're done here. So I would legalize that immediately.

And that's like obviously a commission thing, but it's for the people who are like, oh, do you have season in charge that? Yeah, they are. Like, how do you think the commission rules came about? because the UFC had a lobbying plan for years on end to get this sport accepted in broadly commissions and to sort of effectuate those things. So the UFC wanted to, they could lobby for these to be included and start making that transition happen and make their product way more exciting. Rick, what change would you make and what changes could Dana make to make to make it a more quote unquote exciting organization? Yeah, I'm really trying to stick to the realism here because, you know, while I agree with Jed, lowering- either are happening, which I have advocated for forever will never happen. There's not a chance in hell.

It's a 0.00% chance. Two things I could think of off the top of the head, potentially walking back some of the restrictions on personality and character and figuring out a new way to work with a uniformed provider to make things more interesting. They're boring. And I think it's a holdover from when they were really trying to go super corporate and lean into like, we're a professional fight organization. Here, we're for sale. Come sponsor us. they're leaning way so far the other direction into like freedom of speech and these types of things

that I do think there's a world where maybe they can find some partners that are able to work with them and kind of loosen up some of that allow the fighters to have a little more personality figure out something to do there

yeah there's a really good idea right it just feels like it's going that direction anyway dude they should tear them right like well the whole uniform things is dumb as shit but if you're gonna do it

you should tear it So like, all right, because they do, they already do like champions get the black and gold champion thing, which I don't think is like honestly looks all that good and whatever. She'll be like, all right, when you're a champion, you can wear whatever the hell shorts you want. Like that's you are the champion. You get that grace. When you're a ranked fighter, here's our ranked apparel that looks cool. When you're in your first five fights in the organization, you get the shittiest shorts possible. Like you get, there's no options.

And then every time you're fighting, you're like, oh, this dude's about to hit his eight fighting. the UFC. Now he gets to move into the cooler ones in the same way they do you know, premium gaming or whatever. You just buy skins. It's way better. This is the best idea you've ever had, right? That's great. It just feels like it's going that way. Like we we circled back around to like the openness and and letting people show their personalities by not limiting what they're saying on the mic. I think we can apply that to some of the things and not necessarily turn into NASCAR as Dana White's fear at the time was. NASCAR rocks.

I don't know why that's a bad thing. Do you again, have you ever seen a NASCAR race? Does it look like those people are having a bad time? They feel. Oh, no, I can't enjoy the racing because of all the decals on the car. Not at all what happens.

The cage looks like that now, by the way. The cage is just a NASCAR car. Like the entire cage is slapped with logos and stickers. So I think that would be a condom depot on everybody's ass. Like that made sense to me when you're trying to get. on ESPN, you don't want that. There was worse.

There was a lot worse, but still. Like, yeah, it's just, this is a terrific answer. Rick wins this question for sure. Let them, let fighters have personality. It's way more fun. Yeah, love to. Hey. What else we got?

What else we got? It's a good question. Thanks, it was super chatting. I'm with the lessest more. Here we go. Oh, look who's back. back again, the two guys are the lame mistakes. He loves Fluffy Maverick and Lemoche all locks to win.

Jed, I mean, you're both, Jed, co-hosts a gambling show. And you're Kirk. You even said you like to bet. What do you think of his takes? Fluffy, Maverick, Lemoche, all locks to win. I have underdog bets on Roman Coppola and McKinsey Dern, though as established, the McKinsey Dern one is an idiot's bet that will lose. I mean, Fluffy could win, but also Koppelov has been a pretty good defensive wrestler, and he hits real hard.

So if Fluffy can't take him down, then that's full Ciala fight goes. I mean, Miranda Maverick's probably going to be Andre Lee, but I don't think anyone should consider Miranda Maverick a lockover any real opponent that she is facing at this point. It's just sort of where we're at with that division in general and those fighters specifically. So yeah, I mean, I think that they are likely to win, but that's also what the odds would tell you. So that's not really going on a big limb there. Yeah, they're not locks. But Achilles Jr., I would love to hear your explanation. If you could lay it out, super chat in, just let me know.

Just grifting this man. Why they're locks? Because I don't agree. I don't think that they're locks. I think, as you said, they might be likely to win, but I think we need to hear an explanation for this. So do me a favor, super chat in. And let me know why they're rocks. It's super chat with you, Keyless.

Macy's daughters are fighting first Saturday, who you got. What does that mean? I assume it's from Macy Barber. Oh, Lee and Maverick are. Oh, has been the Maverick and Lee. Okay, yeah, I was going to say. Macy Barber cannot have children, right? She is a child herself.

Yeah, I think Maverick wins. I think Maverick wins that fight. But I don't think, to Jed's point, like she can't be a lock over anybody at this point in her career. Like, yeah, she should win. Yeah. I mean, look, I'll tell you what. Andrew Lee extends this thing.

She lost Jasmine, Jazz de Vicious. It's like fun. Like, we all like Jazzavicious, but Jasmine Jazzavisius is not the best fighter in the world, you know. A lot of people thought Andrea Lee beat Macy Barber when they fought. So I think it's close. I think it's close fight. I think there's a value.

on KGB. She needs this one way more than Miranda Maverick does. She will get cut if she loses. There's a chance. There's definitely a good chance. Okay. J. Fish 5Hundo.

Describing Bilal being in the main event for 300 akin to the last bit of booty call. I mean, that's what it is. It's crazy. It's a pretty good analogy. I legit feel bad for him. I legit feel bad. The U-Up text of MMA.

Yeah. What are you doing? What are you doing? Oh, that's so much better than remember the game, which is corny as shit anyway. Ball you up? That's good. The answer is most of the time, no. He's not up.

Fair. Well, if he wants a title shot, he better be awake for that text. At least don't put it on vibrate. Certainly don't silence it. You turn that volume up on that ringer all the way to a hundred. Honda. An open quote. My question is, if Alex wins, does he go up to 55 for good, or does he give

Mobsar of Loy up the title shots? This is an interesting question. I'll start with you, Rick. If Volcanovsky goes out and does Volcanovsky things and beats Ilya, he has this fantastic performance. Is this his last fight at 145, in your opinion? No, probably not. I think there's at least enough names that he could do a few more.

and I think it would probably be, it will behoove him to do that, reestablish 145 before deciding, okay, now I'm finally done and going up to 55. Would I be shocked if he's tired of making this weight cut and tired of knocking off 45 contenders and just wants to go to 55? Not at all. But I wouldn't expect it. I think there's at least a few new names here that might be potentially intriguing. So I wouldn't expect it, no.

What do you think, Jen? I don't think he should. I think he probably will. I just, so not to rehash an old argument. This weekend is the beginning of the Alexander Volcanowski goat campaign for me. I've said this for years pretty easily, Jose Aldo is a featherweight goat. I don't think it is competitive. This weekend is the first step that Alexander Volcanowski has to actually chase that down.

right like because so be a six title defense aldo has nine um that's getting in striking distance right like it's still you know 150 percent or whatever however the math works like he still needs a lot to get there but more importantly this is his first time fighting the next generation of fighters like champions particularly long-reaning champions the top tops end up fighting three generations they fight the generation that came before them that they are the new guard they has taken the torch from them. They fight their contemporaries. And then if you're really, really good and can hold that belt for years on end, then you have to fight against the new generation and you have to hold off the new generation for as long as you can. And eventually, if you stay

competing, somebody's going to get you. It happens with Anderson Silva, with Fador, etc. But you stay at the top of the mountain for as long as you can. And that's the test of the greatness. Like to me, that has always been the test of the greatness. DeBri is the first one. He is the The first, I guess maybe you can argue, Yaya Rodriguez, though that feels a little more like same generation. Undeniably, Tupuria is of a different generation than Alexander Volkanowski. Mavsov Mavov is in that generation. To me, his all-time great legacy would do better to stay, hey, I'm going to defend against Tuporia, I'm going to defend against Fluv.

Maybe somebody else gets in there as the third. Then suddenly I have seven, eight, nine title defenses with. Josealdo, I've beaten Josealdo, even though I would say that was, you know, not peak Josaldo, but got the win over him. I have a comparable number of defenses, and I have also beaten several generations. I am the goat. It is mine. You cannot deny me. I think instead he will say, I beat this one dude. No one's going to be upset if I don't fight Evluev. I'm going to go chase bigger money, bigger accomplishments, quote unquote, at lightweight. So I expect him to leave the division if he wins. If that's the case, why come back to fight?

to pour you at all why not just go to 55 I I think you do it to because one this is sort of the biggest fight like the if if Eve would have had had the same sort of impetus you know momentum behind him I think Volk would stay and fight Evelove just that people don't even like hella of that much like despite the fact that he's extremely good etc Dana white shit on his last fight and it was a fine fight like there's just not that same siren call to have the have as theirs with Deporia. And I also think that this is a, in the same way that he went back and fought

a year after losing to Islam, like, hey, don't forget who I am. He just got knocked out. He needs to reestablish, hey, don't forget who I am. That's forever. And now I'll go hunt the bigger game at 155. I hope I'm wrong.

I legitimately hope I'm wrong. I would much rather see him try and hold down the fort against Evel and this, like whoever is next after that. But I think, he has made the decision in his head. The bigger money is a lightweight. I should chase that now.

That's the part that's hanging me up. I kind of get that. But then if he was, if that was the mindset, I think he would have just went to 55 already. Like there's really not a point to going back to 45. There's no, it's just a pit stop just to say,

hey, I'm at 45 and now I'm vacating. It just feels, it feels inefficient. It feels not useful. It would be weird to do that after getting knocked out by the champion. Right. Like if he had done it,

after beating yair but it just it feels like after you get knocked out by the lightweight champion if you're like hey i'm done with 45 i want to chase a third fight with this dude who has two wins over me it feels weird i think he comes back i don't think he's chasing i don't think he's chasing islam but he's not in that race anymore that's that's a race he's not going to be in for for quite a bit firm or great but i think he just comes back solidifies the legacy at 145 against the next guy i get it i think that's i think that's possible just logically that doesn't really if this was just a pit stop, it feels useless. Build yourself toward 55 and just go. Like, it feels not necessary. And we'll close out with this. Reminder to Jed that Aldo is not the

goat. He has lost to every undisputed featherweight champion. Jed loves this competition. You're just trying to get a rise out. Can I just ask, what is your, what is your rubric for goat? How do you define goat? So one, this is a terrific question, Rick, because that's the most important. Like, no, it is legitimately because yeah, nobody argues the same thing. That's why it's so dumb. Nobody says the same thing. So what is that? To me, there is a very, there's a very clear difference between

greatness and best. Like the term great, I believe that Alexander Volcanozky is a better fighter than Jose Aldo, even at their peaks. I get, to me, I think Alexander Volcanowski is a claim to being the best fighter I've ever seen fist fight. Greatness is

a measure, greatness is accomplishment. It is strictly a resume. A resume conversation. Yes, because like, Mike, this will ring home for you. I think it's fairly undeniable that Patrick Mahomes is a better quarterback than Tom Brady was. Tom Brady is undeniably a greater quarterback than Patrick Mahomes at this stage. Like Patrick Mahomes has accomplished an incredible amount. He hasn't done it for 20 some odd years and he doesn't have the, he doesn't have the boxes checked.

That is greatness is to me a measure of accomplishment and to to discount that because of the various factors we do is just sort of a social pressure or desire to like always be part of oh this is the greatest thing ever and I was here for and not the previous thing like no josialdo has nine title offenses he held the belt for seven years like that's that that means something I would also argue that josealdo's during his reign the gap between him and the next best dude was wider than the gap between bulk and the next best dudes and that is another factor that I think should kind of add into the greatness category because you can only fight your contemporaries. Time is is linear. You can't be like, oh, I am I am better than the future because things get better over time. Josie Aldo has simply

accomplished more than any other featherweight. And yes, he has losses. But guess what, boys, if Vogue loses to Jepuria, suddenly we run the risk of him being in that category too. You hang around too long. You're not Habib and don't get out at the right point. Everyone's career can be sort of recond and reconsidered after the fact. Until Volk has at least seven title defenses, I don't think that it's a conversation. If he gets to seven title defenses, then I'm open to it. I'm open to assessing like, hey, how does this merit? But at five versus nine, three and a half years or whatever Volk's at versus almost eight,

it's just it's not a con. Like those aren't the same thing in the same way Patrick Mahomes's resume. does not stack up to Tom Brady's legitimately. No. I think it's a completely fair way to analyze it. I would just ask the gap in competition level. You see that as a plus for Aldo

as opposed to a demerit? Wouldn't the idea that facing tougher competition raise the importance of each of those title defenses as an example, right? Eating Max Holloway three times matters to me more than beating Mark Harmonic? Right? So I think most people do view it that way, and I think that's a fundamentally bad way to view it, because that's viewing all timeframes as the same.

That is being like, hey, so all of us are operating on the same things. Whereas in my conception of this, it's like, hey, this dude, everyone can only fight the best dudes around them. This dude was so much better than everyone around him, that that is, again, for better, if we were talking about the terms of best, yes, that's why I think Volk is a better. fighter than Josealdo. Like he beat better quote unquote fighters. Josealdo also wasn't fighting in this time period. Like he fought at a different era. And to me,

that's how that factors in of he was so much better that that is meaningful in a way as opposed to, hey, he was like a little bit better than better fighters. But we don't get Alexander Volcanovsky without Joseo. Like it's that that's how that sort of all plays off at each other. I mostly agree with, lot of that, but I would say the chances of losing are a lot higher when you're facing better

competition as well, right? Maybe that title defense streak doesn't go as long when you're facing guys who are better. That's why I said I'm open to it at seven. He doesn't have to get to nine. I do agree that, like, yes, in the same way that Bill Russell's 11 championships don't make him to go to whatever. Like, when you up that, then certain considerations are made. So I think at seven, it becomes a real conversation between. there and and sound all fair to claim to me i've thought about this just an enormous amount of the last few years because like again he's the best i actually think he's the best fighter i've ever seen to address this part specifically head-to-head wins are not legacy defining things like certainly

you have to factor that it in but but that's not that's not how things are measured right you're getting people at different times in their careers and things like that like kana mcgris coming around when Jose Aldo is most vulnerable to that. I don't consider head to head wins or Volcanovsky is getting Jose Aldo when he's most vulnerable to that. I don't consider head to head wins as like the measuring stick for a lot of these conversations. Absolutely. And in the same like if DePure goes out here, knocks out Volk and then puts together four title

defenses, four title defenses maybe, but he goes out there and puts the other three and we start prematurely crowning him as the greatest featherweight. But like, that's bullshit. He's not, one, he's not at Aldo and two, he's not a Volk. Like just because he knocks his dude, to me those are completely separate things. And the same, like it is just, and it's so obvious to me.

Like, yeah, that he didn't get, he caught down, you know, back of his back nine career folk. It's like beating Tony Ferguson now is not as impressive, you know. Agreed. I'll take, I think we have one more. We'll get a final super chat and the most important one.

By the way. And by the way, Tom Brady has not only the resume, but he also has head to head wins over Patrick Mahomes in big spots. So he's got it all. I forgot that. Yeah. He's a chip game. Tom Brady is absolutely playing that middle linebacker spot.

I think that the goat argument's about as dumb as possible in football terms just because it's like they, Tom Brady never played Patrick Mahomes. He played the defense that was on the same team as Patrick Mahomes. The two of them never shared the field one time. As you increase the number of. players, as you increase the number of players on a roster, the, the conversation becomes as dumb as possible. Like basketball, you're at least still in the realm of how big an impact you can have. Football, dumb, stupid conversation. Whoever that special teams player who the ball hit his leg and the punt, I don't know the guy's name because he's a special teamer, like cost the 49ers of Super Bowl and Patrick Mahomes gets attacked on his jacket.

Teams, teams, dynasties, we can talk about that all day long. individual players in that team setting, stupid, stupid to me. Don't let's not talk about it. I shouldn't even miss that anything. That's one. Particularly because we all agreed. We were all like, yes, Brady's a dope. But I know, it's just, it's just something we had to bring up.

He's okay. He's okay. New England people love that argument. One of my best friends for New England and just loves it. It's a no doubt. It's the best. Yeah, baby. I'm not falling for that trick, Rick.

I've got that dumb. He pays double what he paid before to tell me that. Achilles, Achilles, you're a guy. He's the go, he's the go. He's the goat. He's a super chat go. Absolute hero. All right.

Casey, put up the poll. Let's have people vote. Who wins? Jed, New York. Oh, he's good at right now. Oh, okay, hold on. Yeah, pull up. Yeah, it's, I didn't realize we're going for.

We've got good comments coming in here. Look at these people being as smart. Max's resume props up. to an extent it does, but also Fador's resume for years was propped up by Nog. So, like, sometimes that happens. Our comments. Our connection has been up fire the last few weeks. Yeah, we're pretty much done.

We're going to vote. I can leave. We're good. We want to leave? Do you want to see you one? Jed one, what are we even doing this for? Can I do? I got to give him some time.

Hold on. What are we even doing this for? Jed one. He's already. It's brilliant. This is freaking brilliant. Oh, he's taking it. This is unbelievable.

What is this is Howie Mandel, podcast. Vote for Rick, everyone. Look, this is confusing as hell. We're going to do heck of the morning tomorrow. We'll have the way in show at noon Eastern tomorrow for two days. We'll have a preview show.

Maybe New York Rick's chair will be a part of the preview show on sometime tomorrow. I'm not sure what time. And then Saturday, that's when all the bells and whistles are going to come on. People's Pre-Fight show. We'll have the watch party. Casey will be on the scene, press conference, post-fight interviews, et cetera.

On to the next one on Sunday. Post-fight show, it's going to be a busy weekend. He's back. He's back. He's back. He couldn't stay away. He's folding laundry, perhaps? I don't know.

Okay. How's the pole looking? I hope everyone is flooding with records. I hope Rickwitz. 30 seconds of the chair. Wait, I don't even know it's, okay, the poll seems to be broken, actually. It's not worth more. The poll is broken right now.

It is not working. You pick, Casey. You pick. Casey, all-school style. Hold on, hold on. Okay, let me. All right. You're a winner today with one vote being me is.

Oh, it's tough. Eric Jackman. Yeah. What timing. He's back. Wow. Did you know you won, Eric, Rick? Oh, I won.

That's a walk-off win. A walk-off win. You know, nobody's more surprised than me. Like performance. Incredible. What do you like to say to the people? Um, yeah, thank you. Thank you, Casey and the people.

Um, once again, I mean, you know, Casey, you know, I love you, but an unforced error on your part. Jed definitely won today. But I'm thankful and appreciative of your vote of confidence. It's always a pleasure to win this. Shout out to all you guys, especially the people who are getting used to this new super chatting thing. You're the best. And yeah, like, let's enjoy UFC 298. I think we let's put away the pressure and anticipation of UFC 300, if not for just one night,

to really enjoy UFC 298, which I think is a spectacular card. And yeah, I'm super excited about the main event. And I think you all should be too. Thanks, Goose. I do this for you. I do this for you. Hit the music, Casey. We have gone online.

Jed, do you have anything you want to say? Before me about it. Casey, I had a sign saying that I loved you the whole time and you do me like this. It hurts. But I love you, Kansas City. You're great city. And stay strong. Kansas City strong, baby.

Kansas City's strong. You can hit the music. We are done. Yes, I think Jed summed that up perfectly. New York, also sums it up perfectly. Even the chair has left the building. which is just a savvy move by New York, Rick. Where did the chair go?

Let's enjoy UFC 298. This is high-level shit, and it's as good as it gets for an MMA fan, as far as I'm concerned. But we'll be back next week to recap at all to get you ready for Mexico City. And yes, PFL versus Bellator chance for dams. Lots to discuss next week in the programs.

For Chad, New York, Rick, Casey, I am Mike Keck. The iconic voice of Esther Linn takes you home. We're back next week. Good night. This has been Between the Links, an MMI fighting production on the Vox Media Network. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more.

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