MMA Fighting - BTL | Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2, UFC 320, Conor McGregor, Dana White Announces Big Fights

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

The UFC returns this Saturday for their first pay-per-view card in over a month with UFC 320, which features two world title fights, including Magomed Ankalaev facing Alex Pereira in a rematch for the light heavyweight title, while Merab Dvalishvili defends the bantamweight championship against Cory Sandhagen. What results would be most surprising this weekend in Las Vegas? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the two big championship fights, the stakes attached, and the how the lineup stacks up overall. Additionally, topics may include the fallout of UFC Perth and Carlos Ulberg's big win over Dominick Reyes, Dana White announcing Arman Tsarukyan vs. Dan Hooker and Belal Muhammad vs. Ian Machado Garry for UFC Qatar, BKFC 82 this Saturday headlined by Mike Perry vs. Jeremy Stephens, Frankie Edgar getting scratched from the lineup, Conor McGregor's "six-month operation" to UFC return, and much more. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew answer viewer questions all show long ahead of a busy weekend in combat sports. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. The iconic voice, Sylvester Lynn, welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. Hope you're all having a wonderful week. there's just so much going on this week. We got UFC 320, BKFC 82 going down on Saturday. We got PFL's big event in Dubai tomorrow with the rematch between Usman Ramagamatov and Paul Hughes. There's just so much going on.

So we figured with all that, all the changes going on, figured we turned the programming over to you guys. We chat with the MMA fighting community on this episode of Between the Links. And joining me to do just that is Mr. No Gray area himself. the greatest climber in all the lands, the one and only. Jed Bishu. Hello, Jed. How are you?

I'm doing terrific, Mike. A lot going on. Busy fight week. UFC BJJ tonight. PFL tomorrow. Right? That's pretty fancy. And then I think there's a pay-per-view this week.

If I'm not mistaken, there's some sort of two title fights plus a banger of a feature fight. you know, and BKFC. So happy to talk about all of it. See what all the peeps have to say. I see one star behind you. It is one, it is a one Mushulen star card this week, Mike.

You know, if I did half stars, I think this would be a one and a half. But we don't because, you know, it's a zero sum game. It's one or none. It's one or two.

It's two or three. You know, and I don't quite think this is a two star card. You know, it's in Vegas. And sort of the general theme of that is like, if I was in Vegas, you know, I'm definitely going, right? But if I'm in L.A., am I going to do the four-hour drive over to Vegas for this card? I don't think so.

I think it's just, you know, if it had one more juicy fight on it, I think this card is not bad at all, certainly from a pay-per-view standpoint, like just watching. And the main card is mostly pretty good. but really you're looking at three marquee fights here and I think it just needs one more bit of business to get it to that two star hump because I like the main event has grown on me a great deal this fight week certainly

the co-main event is flying under the radar but a great fight and the feature fight Stone Cold Bangor like zero notes on the feature fight and the rest of it is solid some above replacement level stuff certainly but nothing that, nothing that blows your hair back.

Yeah, I actually, it was funny because I, throughout the build, I was just like, man, UFC 320 is an absolute banger, but maybe it's because Perth was so awful on paper that this,

anything compared to that just looks better. But the two title fights are great. Maraub and Corey Sanhagan, I cannot friggin wait for that fight. I really can't. It's a great fight. But it's not just the coming off Perth thing. Mike,

say this all the time and it feels I, you know, I recorded No Bet's Bard yesterday with my good friend Luke Nossita from Morning Combat and we were chatting about it and honest to God I genuinely think one of the big pieces of it is we've

had time to miss them. This is our first pay-per-view in five weeks. Let me actually look since mid-August, yeah. Yeah, the first paper view since 319 obviously which was August 16th. So six weeks without a paper review event. And you know, you say it all the time, Mike, you got to give us an opportunity to miss you.

And while the UFC never does that because there is an event every week functionally, this has given us an opportunity to miss a big event, right? You know, we had a no-cha. They were on the road a good amount, but it, this feels like the first pay-per-view in a really long time because it is. And so it's more interesting. Like I'm more excited about it. I wish they would, and we're never going to have this feeling again because we have three pay-per-views over the next six weeks functionally they are making up for that lost time but i do think that that's added a little juice here because it's just been so long since we've had a big fight completely agree uh so let's go to the peeps like we said this is your questions your thoughts all show long super chatters

gets to go to the top of the line uh well before we get to all the ufc 320 talk let's talk about Dana White's big announcement, teased it. We thought we were going to get a whole bunch of fights. I thought we're going to get some 322 fights added. One in particular that we have to wait until they announced. But Joseph Boza asks, because Dana's big announcement were the top two fights for UFC Qatar

on November 22nd, which is a week after UFC 322. So he says, is there a title shot on the line in the main event between Armand Serrukin and Dan Hooker? and is the title shot on the line in the co-main event between Bola Muhammad and Ian Machado Gary. So your thoughts on the title implications in these two fights? I would say certainly in the main event, I think that that is pretty likely a title eliminator, though it could get wonky, right? Like the lightweight title picture is a bit kerfuffled at the moment.

I just got done transcribing. Shout out to submission radio. They did a, Dennis did an interview with Dan Hooker, you know, announcing the fight and his response to it. Dan Hooker, you know,

says, hey, I think this is certainly going to be a title eliminator. Though he didn't say he was promised anything. But he mentioned something else as part of it, which I do think plays a role here, which is the lightweight title picture is weird right now.

We don't know what's going on, Ilya, not been booked. It's I thought and it seems to be the case that they are going to hold Tupuria for the Paramount shift. So he won't be fighting until 2026 so they can put some big star power behind some of their first paramount events. I maintain and have from day one that the most obvious way to lead off the Paramount numbered events is Tupuria versus Patty Pimbled. I think that's about the biggest fight they can make. and I don't think this guitar main event necessarily invalidates that, right?

The winner of this guitar main event should be fighting for the lightweight title next. I don't know whether they will be because of how the timelines are going to work, right? That would then be a quick turnaround for like a January event, which maybe is what Tupuri is going to be doing here. So I don't know if that's your terminology for next. I'm going to say probably not. Could be, but probably it's going to go to either. Gae or Pimblech to face Duporia for the lightweight belt. But the winner of that fight certainly should be next in line.

But what Hooker said, and it's a thing that I think people can forget about, but is true. There are two titles at play in this weight class right now. You know, there is the lightweight belt, but there's the BMF belt. And Max Holloway has that. And if Dan Hooker wins, I don't think if Armin wins, he's fighting for the BMF belt. But if Dan Hooker wins and Tepuria is, you know, busy with Gaichi or Pimblit would not surprise me at all if the outcome is Dan Hooker fights Max Holloway for the BMF title. So it is a title shot of sorts, but the lightweight

pictures a little bit, there's a lot going on, a lot of balls in the air to kind of keep juggling around. And that is probably just going to end up being a situation where it's like, whatever is easiest. However things break the simplest for us, timing, etc. For the co-meat event, It's a one-sided title eliminator. If Bilal wins, he's not fighting for the belt next. If I am Machado Gary wins, he is. Because if Bilal wins, they're not going to run back a JDM fight. And I don't think Bilal and, you know, Islam will fight each other in those circumstances.

So it's just not going to happen. And if I'ma-Machado-Garry wins, he'll fight either of them. And either of them makes sense. And I know that, you know, I don't think we can talk about another fight that, seems to be happening. But there are some other contenders of play and of, you know,

things are moving quickly at Welterway. And so I have no idea where Shavkat Rachmanov fits into this. I have no idea where Sean Brady fits into this. You know, Kamal Usman theoretically is, is in the mix as well. Amichato Gary, if he beats Ball, Muhammad, should and probably will be fighting for the belt next.

That is my guess. So I think you're exactly, right about the Dan Hooker situation. I think if he wins, he does not get Deporia, but he probably does get Max, which is pretty damn good. That's a main event, more than likely, and that's just a banger of a fight. My thoughts once Dana announced this, and I had heard that this was an option, and I know from talking to Surukian's team that they were holding out hope that they would get the title fight. My initial thought was, man, the UFC and Ilyat Duporia have potentially pulled off quite the coup here.

Because if Armand Sarukian wins, I will be stunned if Hunter Campbell does not immediately go backstage in Qatar and say, hey, you wanted your title shot. Now you got it in January. Take it or leave it. And it's going to be up to Sarukian to decide whether or not he's going to be next. He can say no. And then they'll just go to either Patty or Gaichi, who the UFC is probably, already told, hey, stay ready, prepare for this. You may just get it. And I think that's kind of

what we're looking at right here. Because if you are Iliate Tupori right now, if you're going to fight Armand Sarukin, get them coming off of the main event. And on pretty short notice on a quick turnaround, it's probably the best thing you can possibly do. So I do think if Armand wins, they're going to go to him first and say like, hey, you're the guy, but we're doing it in January. So you get seven weeks. Are you winning or are you out? And if Armin says, no, I need more time, they'll be like,

all right, Patty, you're up. You have to fight Justin Gachy now or fight somebody else. I think that's what they're thinking right now, honestly. And then, God,

the welterweight one is super interesting. It's not going to be below either way. I just don't know if it's Gary. If JDM wins, it will 100% be Gary. If Islam wins, he's going to fight Kamar Rusman. And it's going to anger me to no end

that that's the fight that's going to happen. But that is absolutely the fight that's going to happen. That's what Islam's going to call for and they're just going to give it to him. I don't have a lot of confidence in that. I think that's what's going to happen there. I think if Islam wins, there's a better chance that it's Shavkat than it is.

Really? Yeah. Because Islam is not in the money game. He's really just never been in the like. Yeah, and Oosman's not a money fight, but it's like the best like to see resume fight for him that's available, even though, because he's old. And like, I, Islam is just never carried it that way.

Neither did a beam. Like, I honest to God think that the answer, if Islam wins, is either he's going to walk, which he should do. If he wins, he should just walk, like straight up, put him down, leave. You can do nothing better unless the UFC will magically let you fight for the middleweight title, which he shouldn't, which he shouldn't do. He shouldn't be allowed to do and he would lose. But like, if they're going to let you do that, then okay, you take the crack at it.

But if they're not, he should. should walk, but I, based on just how Islam and Habib have carried their entire careers, like, when Islam won the belt, he's like, let me fight Alexander Volkovsky, dude's the best pound fighter in the world. Let me fight him. I kick his ass. I think it'll be the same thing. He'll be like, look, people forgot, Shafka Rakhmanov's never lost a fight. He beat him Machado, Gary, who just beat Bilal. He is the boogeyman of this weight class. I'm a beat his ass. You know, I got nothing but respect for him. That is the fight that no one, you know, to take or whatever.

I think that Shavkod's only chance to fight for the belt in his next fight is that. And even then, I'm still not sure it's likely. Walter Wade is so, so fuddled up right now. It's, throw a dartman. It could be anybody fighting for the belt next. And it could be two people because there's a really decent chance. Mokachap walks away if he beats Jack Della. Yeah.

And this is pretty much my question. Where is Kamar Usman? Usman Bilal was right there. Are we going to get Usen Brady? I don't think we're going to get Usman Brady. Usman Shafka would be really interesting. Because if Usp. Fight Shafkan beats him, I mean, give him the title fight.

Like, I'm totally okay with that. I think both of those men need to call for that fight because they don't get to, they probably don't get to fight for the belt by sitting out. Like, there's too many people active at Welterweight right now. And so, you know, it is unfair to Shavka Rakhmanov, who has earned his title fight, like he deserves it. He had it.

Ballal pulled out and instead of waiting, he did the thing for the company. He, you know, fought Ian Machado Gary on short notice and beat him. And then he got hurt. And so fortune has not favored him. It is so unlikely that anybody waiting is going to get a fight because of just there are too many dudes in play and other guys are fighting.

So if I'm an Usman's manager, if I'm Shavkot's manager, I fight each other because the winner of that fight is front of the line. It doesn't matter what anyone else is doing. The winner of that fight is absolutely next in line over anybody else. So if I'm them, that's what I'm trying to do. But Walter Wade is really hard to predict right now. Too many variables.

Yeah. It's it's gotten real interesting over the last year, year and a half, no doubt about it. Speaking of stakes in fights, but in a different way. UFC 320, a preliminary bout here. Where does Patchy go if he loses to Jacob Wicklacks? I got to tell you, Jed, outside of, outside of the two title fights, I don't think there is more pressure on a single fighter on this card than Patchy Mix. I think he is in such a must-win situation here.

And the way they match him up tells me everything I need to know about how the UFC views him right now. I think he is maybe the fifth most pressured fighter at UFC 320. I don't think that's true at all. I think he's number one or maybe number two. Oh, I love that. Marab ain't got no pressure, right? Like Marab is Maraub wants to win, certainly, and like, you know, he needs to win.

But, and he is expected to win. But, you know, if Marabh, Rob loses. He's not that far away from fighting for the belt again. You know, like it's fine. It's not great. It puts a dent in his goat case for the bantamweight weight class.

But it's fine. Corey Sandhagen has a lot of pressure because he's probably never getting here again. Right. And so like I'm open to the idea that Corey Sandhagen has more pressure on him than patchy makes this weekend because this is it. It's all or nothing. Right. Like this is one hit in the words of Eminem,

his one opportunity. He's got to take it. but magma and ankylaev and alex perera are both you know champions slash former champions and with perera not even long for light heavyweight do uncle is not far away from fighting for the belt again if he loses peri loos he just goes to heavyweight who cares there's just like i don't think anyone in the two title fights other than cori sandhagan has a really like immense amount of pressure and patchy makes his career is on the line it feels ridiculous to say that about a

dude in his second fight in the UFC, it is absolutely true. If Pagy Mixed laid an egg against Mario Batista, I'm sorry, Wario Batista, he only got one of his names back, he didn't get to him. He laid an egg against Warrior Batista, and that was really bad, but sometimes that does happen, right? Like we've seen fighters not have the best UFC debuts, even longtime veterans. He is now getting a tricky, I don't know if I'll call him difficult, but certainly a tricky opponent who is not well known but is talented you know he's ksw champion um but nobody knows

yeah he's super fun uh he is he's a tricky grappler and a fun fighter but nobody knows him he is a sizable favorite to win this fight and if he lays another egg it's curtains he is he ain't eddie alvarez he's well brooks and god love will brooks who i believe has deserved another opportunity at the UFC for years and seems just that it's just not in the cards for him and was a good fighter like in his own right nobody wants to be will brooks that is just you don't want to be that guy and patchy is right on the cusp of it outside of corey sandhagen i do not think there's a fighter this weekend who has more pressure on him to perform what if angelaif loses though you don't think there's a lot on the line for him because i don't think is he yeah but alex is going to leave

the weight class soon he'll fight for the belt within two years within two years that's a long time at two oh five i mean no at two oh five it's not the fucking two years yon is still in title contention at light heavyweight like nobody's out of the title thing like so it's just like it's not good losing isn't good for anybody and it's obviously worse for champions but like his career isn't over if patchy loses his career's done it's cartons for him and so like Corey is the only person who is in a similar boat, and Corey can still have a good career because Corey has a long,

probably a long career left in front of if he wants it, but his title aspirations are done if he loses to Robb, and that's unfortunate, but it is true. Patchy arguably has more to lose, but I'll defer to Corey's title aspirations dying, but one of those two are the two dudes with most pressure. The rest of it is a tear drop below, certainly. Yeah, and normally I don't like truly care about card placement,

but this fight being so low on the card. You know. It's pretty wild. What is this the feature? Is this the featured early prelim fight? No, well, no, because the feature is the Yana Santos. Okay. Is it before that?

This is the fight immediately before that. Oh, my God. That's crazy. The early prelims have like, way better fighters than the middle prelims as far as ranking goes. Wow, that's why. I knew it was a lot. Shout out to our former colleague E. Casey Leiden, because I'm sure he would have some thoughts

as we talk about card placement. And they've made some choices this week, certainly. Yeah. Atta goatea and the featured prelim Siligants newcomer Treston Vines. I still need to, they have yet to drop odds. I haven't looked in the last couple of hours, but I need. odds on that fight. I'm sure minus 1,500.

I honestly think it might be close to minus 2,000, which is insane because like, Ozzy Diaz is functionally the same dude and he was only minus a grand. But I need to know because I don't have a climb bet yet because like I'm waiting to see what the KO prop for a Taba is. Because if it's 500, if it's in the neighborhood of 500, I'm taking that as the con. And if it's not, then I guess we're going Marab because that's the one I feel the next best about. I know you have thoughts on that, but that's where I'd be. I do. I really do. Honestly, actually, the, the one I would feel the next best good about, but I'm not going to do is the over two and a half in the, uh, curtain jerker, Veronica Hardy, Brogan Walker. Because, but like, it's like minus 500 or like 550 or something. And both women basically exclusively go to decision. Brogan Walker's been to a decision like 10 of 11 fights or some shit like that. But, uh, I'm not going to do that. It's the first five of the night.

Also, Brogan Walker is coming off a 30-month layoff. You should not bet on fights involving people coming off that long a layoff. Yeah, I would agree with that. So, yeah, definitely some interesting storylines, but Patchy, Jesus Christ. Patchy is. He's got to do it. He's got to deliver the spot. Yeah, absolutely.

And the thing is, I think he can, right? I like Jacob Wicklitz. I think he deserves to be in the U.C. I think he's going to be a fun guy. This is a low-hanging fruit comp because they're Polish. Right. So it's just like, oh, you just pick the other polar fighter. But, and I actually think my, my memory serves, Marcyne Held was also a KSW champion.

But he is real Marcyne Held vibes of like tricky fun grappler, pretty limited striker, not a lot of defense. So like, I think Patchy can win the grappling if they go there and should win the striking as long as they are striking. So, like, he should win. But, man, it was such a bad performance against Batista, and there's so much pressure on him. He has got to show that he can do it. I feel just by looking at it and just going back and watching past fights, which I've done a lot of. It's been very fun watching some of these guys go some of their old fights. I feel like if patchy wins, it's going to be not fun.

But if Wicklax wins, it's going to be really fun, if that makes sense. Like Patch is workman-like. not quite what Tatiana Suarez did where she didn't throw like any punches at all. I think Patchy will do a little bit more. But I kind of feel like Patchy just needs to win here. And it doesn't matter what it looks like. I think it's going to be fun. I think Patchy should win at all cost.

I have a spoiler alert for those who haven't checked out, no bet's barb. I have a little slight play that I put on Patchy by K.O. at plus 850 because Wicklitz has really bad defense and you know that can be a ground and pound stoppage too

I my hope and this could be wish casting is that Patchy shows who he really is this fight at the first fight you know he took it on sort of short notice he wasn't really prepared as well uh

Mara Batista is a good fighter even if he is um you know my mortal enemy and so that was like it was a tough matchup on short notice, not optimal circumstances, much better situation. I think Patchy is going to deliver, but I am not confident in that. It's a big one. Looking forward to it. Back to Joseph, what are their thoughts on Frankie Edgar being pulled from BKFC 82? I got to tell you, Jed,

I was fucking livid last night when this came out. And it's not because we're not going to watch Frankie Edgar fight. It's the fact that this happened in the first place. We all knew that this is a bad idea that this is a mistake, even throwing him in there with Jimmy Rivera, who isn't like the biggest power puncher in the world. But at the same token, we had a feeling that him getting pulled might be something that happens, that the New Jersey Commission may not let this man fight. And to drag this fucking thing out until three days before the fight before we announced they're pulling him, already having an opponent in the back burner for Jimmy Rivera, this is just so frustrating. Like, this is the kind of shit. And I,

I like BKFC a lot, and I put them over a bunch. But this is the kind of stuff that just frustrates me about them. Because they, like, this is literally like every, no, what, not one person besides Frankie Edgar and maybe like some of his friends were like, yeah, this is a great idea. And then 72 hours before the card, he's pulled. Like, it's so annoying. Like, even to get this man's hopes up that he's going to fight, even though he shouldn't be fighting anyways.

It's so frustrating. I was mostly just happy, honestly. I get everything you're saying. I think that it's fair. I'm happy that the right outcome was achieved, even if maybe the process wasn't good, especially on the heels of what just happened to Vanderle, right? Like, Frank Yager doesn't need to be fighting,

and I know that he wants to keep fighting. Don't. Just don't. Like, I don't. I know that it is hard to let the sport go, and I don't know if this is a he needs to. money thing and that's why he's wanting to do that but like and based on his conversations his talk it seems like it was mostly uh they're coming to new jersey i'd like to try it sort of thing and

he can't quite let it go but you don't you don't need to do it and if they're going to do it jimmy rever is about as good an opponent as you could hope for he's not a guy who's known for head trauma but it's still head trauma and just don't like you got to you got to walk away right this isn't tennis where you can go and, you know, futz around at the local club and maybe the worst thing that's going to happen is a blown Achilles, right? Like you are trading in brain cells for not the most amount of money, frankly.

And so, particularly on the heels of Vandale's travesty, I'm just, I was mostly just happy that this got canceled because he shouldn't be fighting. And, you know, I would tell Frankie that and he could, you know,

look me in the eyes and tell me to fuck off. I can't tell him how to live his life. And that's true. But apparently the commission can, and I'm all right with that. Yeah. Apparently, lazy bit is hearing some other things, but we have not heard those things. So perhaps we need to look into it, that it's not a medical issue. It's a contractual dispute.

I don't know. Well, either way, he's not fighting. And Jimmy can fight. He can still fight in Jersey. He's a Jersey guy as well. so um or no he's a new york guy but either way tri-state area almost a hometown fight for him so yeah people are bald he better not say corey beats for i got a i don't know man i i'm not going to say cori's i'm betting on cori to win i do have a bet on cori plus three 10 i'm taking a shot here

uh i do that i do think this fight is more competitive than people think it is. So this might be the worst bet I've ever placed in the watch party. And that's totally fine. I will put the right hand up if I'm wrong. But, man, I think Corey's to be super competitive.

I think this could be a wicked tight fight. I really do. I've said this in a couple of locations now, and I'll say it again. I think this is the first time I've said it on our YouTube channel. I believe this is going to be the classic Corey Sandhagan fight, where he exceeds expectations. He's very competitive.

He proves he's one of the best in the world. And he proves he's not the best in the world by losing to one of the best in the world. This is like it is that feels like it is a dig at Corey Santagin, and I promise you it is not. I have a great amount of respect for him. This is the class, like we've had a lot of fighters lately having classic fights. Jake Matthews, classic loss to Neil Magny.

Neil Magny, classic win over Jake Matthews. Corey Sandhagen. This is about to be a classic Corey Sandhagan fight where it's like, okay, you fight the Rob Fonce of the world, curtains. Cheeto Verro, whoop him.

Oh, no, you fight Peoria. You look pretty solid in defeat. Song ya dong, got him. Figgy Smalls, Duzzo. Umarna Magamenev, you look pretty good in defeat.

Like, that's it. Like, that is the story of his life, right? The T.J. Dillishaw, so many people thought he won that fight at the time I did. And I think on rewatch, it could go either way. He just has a track record of beating the A level guys, like the A minus fighters and losing competitively to the A plus level fighters. He is the exact line of an A level fighter. He ain't A minus and he ain't A plus. He's just an A.

And Marab is obviously an A plus fighter. I think Corey will have moments. I think Coral will good. I think Corey will ultimately get Marabed. And we will leave that fight being like, man, that's a really good win for Marab. And hey, Corey Sandhagen, sort of destined to be one of those guys who people who win are in the know, they know. Right? Like they know that dude could compete.

But just he's not going to be remembered generations to come. because he's never going to get the big one. I am, uh, I'm quite, I'm quite intrigued by that fight. I'm very much looking forward to it. It's going to be some high level stuff. Corey's confidence is really fascinating to me. He's been great in the whole buildup to this fight. Yeah.

One of my favorite interviews, uh, of the, of this year was the 15 or so minutes I had with Corey. And he is just loose as a goose, just uber confident. And I like that. You don't hear confidence speaks to me a little bit, but then actually going back and watching fights and hearing what he does say. I'm like, yeah, you have some points. But Marab is just a different beast, man. Like, I know you haven't gotten tired in five round fights before, even the short notice ones.

But this is fucking Marab, man. This is a whole different ball game. But let's see if Corey could stay on his feet, man. Let's see if that happens. And if so, if this ends up being a striking battle, Marab goes out there and outstrike. Corey Sanhagan for five rounds. That would just be sick. Which is absolutely insane.

I mean, it would be cool. I just, I will believe someone will do that to Marab when I see someone do that to Marab and not a moment before. Because I, Um, Arna Magamato, I've had a much better opportunity to defeat Maraub than Corey did and he didn't pull it off. I, I'll tell you what, though. I love that Corey has completely come out of his shell in the past like 18 months. And just like, he's like,

Dom Cruz only funny whereas Dom Cruz was always like was funny in a mean way right because like he's his life has lived with a chip on his shoulder and so like he would have biting or scathing remarks Dom Cruz underrated great trash talker Cory Sandhagen is not mean but he is funny

and like yesterday at Media Day somebody was like asked him like hey who do you of all the fighters like who would you want to be roommate and he's just like, who would you least want to be roommates with? He's like probably Marab, but he just has too many women. And I was just like, that's,

it's fucking hysterical. It's such a good line. Especially after like Marab's pseudo like chauvinistic fucking podcast run that he's been on lately. Like, Corey's super funny. And I think Corey's a guy who like I said, it's never going to win the big one.

I hope I'm wrong. Like it would be terrific if he won. but I think that Corey is a guy who has a little bit of like Forrest Griffin dry humor to him and might be a really good coach one day if he doesn't because I don't think they'll ever give him an opportunity in like the analyst booth to the desk his personality is maybe a little too glib for that but he is probably going to be a really good coach one day and then he can hang around around the sport and be awesome.

God, he's so funny man. He is hilarious. Great fight. I'm very much looking forward to it. Where are you at on Rames-Brahimaj versus Mr. PVZ, aka Austin Bannerford, Jed and Mike.

I got to tell you, of all the fights I thought we might talk about, this was sure one of them. This is a fight that's happening. It sure is. I think the winner gets, I think this is for the Neil Magdie sweepstakes, Jed.

Wow. I mean, that's a nice step up for them. my guess is van derford wins via wrestling because brahimage is not a very good defensive wrestler but i i have minimal thought like this is honest to god probably the fight i care about the least on this whole card other than hardy walker wow okay i mean everything else has like a real hook to it or like some level of a hook to it right like Santos uh um juice on you is like i don't know i juice on you might

be good or he might have just fought jekiseregi i don't know i've no idea um because jacquesergi is like the worst dude on roster if he's still in roster um but he killed him in four seconds or whatever the hell that was so he might be dope and donno santo is pretty fun at least uh jason yano santo that fight's probably going to be a misery but it's top 10 phantom weights so like that matters uh puna veritenekov puna has looked incredible at welterweight um Like what I just of all the fights to care about, I absolutely baffled that this is one that's drawn interest. But good for you to like it. Hey, listen, our fan base, we, uh, different strokes for different folks.

And I'm not here to yuck on yours. This is just I would have never thought we'd be talking about that fight. This is one of my questions too. Why is PFL and ESPN unlimited? Truly have no idea. This should have been a plus. this should have been a plus card my guess is that's an ESPN decision not a PFF oh I'm sure it is I'm sure it is but maybe that just goes there's ESPN is just trying to push

some level I honest to God the actual answer is that ESPN has this new unlimited thing and they're trying to push content to it they can't push their real content to it because that won't have been in the like that won't be what is contractually negotiated for you know their Premier League offerings and their F1 stuff. Like that'll come at some point time. But like right now they're rolling out this new thing. What can we put in the stew?

What are the ingredients lying around in the fridge to make this sort of pot of stuff? And oh, we throw PFL. They don't care. We'll just put them in. So that's almost certainly why it is there. Yeah. It means it's 30 bucks to watch this card. A early day Friday card, which is like, look, Paul Hughes-Uspin, too, is a great fight.

I just don't know if anyone's going to watch it. I don't know. We'll see. What else we got? Yeah, I kind of agree. I am going to, in fact, miss most of this PFL card, which I'm kind of bummed about. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come.

Whoa. Is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice.

Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to AeroPen members on equip flights sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com. Why is that? I'm doing morning combat tomorrow. So the pregame preview is recording right when the card starts.

and then I'll be flying back to Atlanta so we can do our watch party. So I might be able to pull it on my phone for some of it. We'll see kind of how travel works. But I do think it's better to do this on Friday than it is to do it on Saturday and go head dead with 320. Shout out to Feldman, David Feldman, who I think this was on Ariel Show, whereas like, I didn't realize we were going to be going head to day. head with UFC 320. We booked this date before then and then 320 happened. I wish we weren't going to head to head with them. It is hard to do like he was very honest about competing against UFC even with

his product. PFL is rarely that honest about that ever. And so I do think it is better that they aren't going on Saturday, but Friday midday is just not optimal timing for anything. Again, one of the biggest blockers to PFL in my mind. And maybe they could show me some data that says I'm wrong. I would encourage it. Don Davis, that other dude who started tweeting recently, whose name I don't remember right now.

John Martin. John Martin, race FO. I know you guys watch. I know you basically listen to everything I say and then do it, which is great. You should put me on payroll. But I genuinely believe one of the single biggest blockers to your growth and success is,

I guess it's an either or situation. either you need to own a day. The UFC is Saturday. UFC events happen on Saturdays. That's when UFC fights happen. They happen on Saturdays. And they don't put events on Wednesdays or Thursdays or Fridays. They put events on Saturdays because that's when fights happen.

The PFL does not describe to that. And they do them on Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays. And I don't know, whenever the shit they can get them in. And it makes it hard to be a consistent follower of the product when there is not a oh, it's Friday night. Let me see what PFL is on, right? Like they need to own Fridays in the same way Saturdays are on. They can't own Saturdays.

That's over. Take Fridays over. It's the best bet you got. Or, good God, you've got to get a marketing department that does its job. I do not know what you pay those people. It is far too much because this is the best fight you can put on. Literally the best that their promotion can do is this Friday. And most people who watch our programming, who are deep, hardcore MMA fans, don't know what's happening.

because it's happening at Jack fuck time on a Friday and there has not been a good level of promotion to it you got to do one or the other at least you should probably do both but it's it is hard to be a PFL fan such that they exist because you have to be so proactive to be one of those

and that is not what any sports league industry etc. wants you do not want your fan base to have to be proactive. You want it to be reactive, right? Like the UFC is not asking fans to search it out and figure out about it. It is ubiquitous. And they are not doing things to set themselves up for that. And Friday is yet another example of it. It's a great, it's a really good fight card. I am genuinely interested. They're not going to catch any random MMAS-ish fans because they have just not built this for success. stuff people will be paying attention which you can on m a funny dot com it's a great website uh we

honestly great for us because frankly more people are probably going to come to us to find out what happened after the fact then they are going to watch it live for sure 100% uh by the way i know there are people hitting me up on on instagram about the watch party and stuff with casey gone please tell me there's going to be a round clock for the watch party um i'm happy to tell you there will be a watch a round clock so I've been playing around with with the other thing and playing around the

round clock. I did a little test stream yesterday and it's got to work. So round clock will be back better than ever on Saturday. So do not worry about that. Lazy bit Brian battles tour of the DBX Cantery continues October 30th, same card as Gable Steven. Does he ever find himself back

in the UFC? Well, he's with PFL too. So not anytime soon. but I don't think the UFC, again, and I say this about everybody. I say this about Conner-Gregor. I say it about John Jones. The UFC doesn't need anybody. They certainly don't need Brian Battle. So maybe, but probably not.

Because he's probably going to make more money with PFL and DBX and all these other companies and he was making with the UFC anyway. So make that money, son. Yeah. No notes. That's exactly right. But we'll go with this quote. Ramazan Temeroff suspended one year for testing positive for PDs.

So, my must have put a big fat zero on my flyweight spot on the fantasy roster, since he is out. Does Charles Johnson have a shot at having his loss overturned? I don't know when the test. Hold on. Let me go look that up. Was we have that?

Because he was booked. Was he not? That's why I picked him. Hold on. Let me, I'm pulling that up from us because, I don't know the answer to this. I saw that this happened.

I know that we wrote on it, but I did not read whatever was written on it. So let's take a look at what is going on here with Old Rom. Old Arammy Thames. I don't think that worked, but I was just trying, you know, just seeing what might stick. Thank you for Mass.

Thank you, Master Universe Classic. Yes, vote for us for the World MMA. What is this? In our own Damon Martin. I'm trying to find this now. Oh, that went out 10 minutes ago on our site. That's why I can't find it. Tested positive for Tremedazine, a drug used to treat heart failure and other cardiac conditions, class of hormone metabolic metabolic modulators.

Present in samples collected out of competition in June and July. So the short answer to this question is no. Nope. because that fight was in March, correct? Yes. So, yeah, he's not going to get that overturned. Timroff was looking at somebody else. This is why I drafted him.

Yeah. And I mean, in general, that's how you should anticipate those things happening because it'll either be in competition. And so then actually, I honestly think the only way it is get overturned or for in competitions. Because prior, unless it's like the super weird Brock Lesner situation, where the UFC, I can't say what they did, actually, because that could open us up to problems. But Brock failed tests before the fight and somehow fought anyway.

That mostly won't happen. So it'll either be in competition, in which case you then get sussied. And that sussie then creates no contest. or out of competitions aren't going to be associated with a fight and so then you won't be

this is out of competition he's fine. Yeah. But you did in fact get a big fat goose egg on your boy. Christ's sake. It's a shame.

I know. Real shame. It is real shame because my team is what's great doing this league is how many people get zeros because there ends up being a lot of them

because predicting six months is just impossible. Yeah. I probably officially lost Elliot Teporia. probably maybe Kayla I don't know really likely that Tuporia is not going to be putting or Evlev are going to be

he's going to be he's going to be for you so you do have big og fighting this weekend though yeah I do that's right and a Taba and a Taba might Tava is going to be the biggest point score of the entire season a Tava is going to keep carrying you through despite the fact you might have four people who don't fight

yes he might be one of my keepers for next season because they're just going to keep setting them up with nukes. Jed, you're a gambling guru. Is Josh Emmett really deserving of a plus 340 against Yusuf Salal? He is not. I think that price is quite large. I talked about it on No Bet's Bar this week.

I'm not betting Josh Emmett because Josh Emmett is 40. And that is an old man, especially at Bantamweight, despite the fact that he's only lost to the elite of the elite. and he still looked fairly good. It is just hard to bet on a 40-year-old, no matter the price, right? And so, but to me, it is absolutely a dogger-pass situation,

in part because I just don't believe he should be that big a dog. And I do think that there is some leftover. I don't know that I believe in Yusuf Zalal. Because the way Yusuf Zal, I know that he fought good competition when he got drummed out of the UFC the first time around,

but that still kind of sticks in my head. head a little bit. And then while his current run is impressive, I believe it's a seven fight win streak right now. You look at the names and it's like, well, how impressive is that, right? Like God love Billy Q on the back end of his career anyway and, you know, it was never like elite. Jack Shore, arguably the best win. And I say arguably because sure, he beat Calvin Cater. He was the fourth of Calvin Cater's current five loss streak, right?

So like how much stock do you put in a dude like his on paper best win is beating a guy who is in the midst of a five fight losing streak? And not at the beginning of that. He's he's at the end of it. And so it is hard to judge how good uses a law really is. That being said, I don't have it in front of me anymore. There is the stats of like younger fighters beating older fighters when the age gap is like. like five years is pretty significant. I can only imagine what the stat is of dudes who are 11 years younger than their competition.

It's got to be like 90% in favor of the young guy. So I think Yusuf Zal should be favored. I guess he's probably going to win. It does feel like a huge line here. But I'm not confident enough in Emmett to play it. I have stayed away. But if you want to, the total dogger pass fight for me. Youssev Zalal

says that if he goes out and finishes Josh Emmett, he is in discussion to fight for the belt next. Like he can jump the road. He's very incorrect. I like Yusuf too. I love the confidence with which he fired that takeout, but boy, howdy was that a take.

Yeah, absolutely insane. I mean, if he goes out... Josh Emmett is currently ranked number eight in the UFC's rankings. I don't believe he'll be next. Yeah. I don't know, man. Lerow Murphy might be next after knocking out an unranked guy.

He's at least number four, you know. Blaze now. Yeah. But Zalal is not kidding. Zalal might be getting Jean Silva, right? And that could put him in good position. That's very possible. But that's kind of the fight I think he should have called for.

But yeah, Emmett's, Emmett's okay. Emmett feels like disrespected by the fight. He's like, yeah, why am I fighting this guy? Wanted a bigger name.

He even said like, I was willing to go to 55 to fight somebody a little more thrilling. I like the idea of Josh Emmett doing that because I do kind of think that that's where his career should be is just doing fun fights. I do think it's quite weird that he thinks that he feels disrespected. It's like,

bro, you've lost three of your last four fights and the guy has one spot behind you in the rankings. This is just standard business. Like this is how the game is played. So like you're not being disrespected. You've lost a lot lately. And this guy's, you're not even being asked to fight way back.

The guy right behind you. But at some point, you do have to defend position. And this is what this is. Speaking of our fantasy league, who has the most to lose in regards to our fantasy league this weekend? I mean, you probably?

I haven't actually looked at it. So geese got yerie. And, uh, that's it. I have, nobody competing this weekend but I'm going to throw two goose eggs up

apparently I've already thrown a few up but I'm going to throw a couple more because I'm not sure half my dudes are fighting Damon has no oh Damon has Marab so that's that's pretty good for Damon you have big onk time

and uh and a taba as at the aforementioned so you've got two in play Casey RIP can we just pick his scraps He's out of here. No, no, no. We'll allow him to think. Also, half of Casey's.

Can I take his flyweight? Who's his flyweight? His flyweight is Minel Cop. Can I? He probably isn't fighting either. Honestly, most of Casey's team probably is not fighting. Is he booked? He's fighting Brandon Roybal.

Is he not? I didn't know if that was booked again for the 18th time. Maybe I just blocked it out of my mind. And then AK has Corey Sandhaking competing. So you have the most. to gain and by definition the most to lose as well. Yes, they will be the

final. Manal Cop and Brandon Royval, I believe will be the final fight of 2025 for the year. Sure. Yeah. I'll bet on that. I'll definitely hold my breath that those two dudes are going to make it to the cage together.

That's a safe bet that those two guys are going to fight each other. Nothing's ever gone wrong when they've been booked before. Well, I mean, with that... Modern day, Habib, Tony. With that meant I should just be able to have Which one's pulling out? Which one's pulling out?

That's the question. Well, I mean, if I'm getting a zero anyways, I think I should be able to get men all cop. You know? Not going to happen. No. Casey's still in play. All right. We love Casey.

Any updates on him win. Yeah, God. I don't think he's going to. So it's okay. Not this time. He does never rob fighting 18 times for him. Have they heard any updates on Jake Matthews's plan for filing an appeal? I saw the fight versus Neil Magny.

He has a good case to get it overturned. He super does not. I mean, he's not going to get the win. So, I mean, anyone who thinks that's going to happen is just wrong. He's just not going to get it overturned. Yeah. Best, I mean, I mean, absolute best case in area, he gets a no contest, but I don't even think that's going to happen. So, yeah, I, if I was in Jake's corner or his team, I understand it.

I would have encouraged him not to do this. It is a use of time and energy and resources that has a very extremely low chance of success. And truly to what end? Like getting that overturned is just a change on your resume. It won't really change your pay structure. It's not going to do anything. And I just, I think that there is a less than 1% chance that this gets overturned. If the circumstances were different, different, maybe it'd have a case, right?

But and by the letter of the law, it is not right. Not even sure it's wrong because the stoppage literally like the referee intervened at the 459 mark, right, of the thing. And he wasn't out. I think it's, I think they're just going to be like, hey, man. it's fine. You then went and won the second round. Like you were back in the fight fully committed. You shouldn't have deserved to win the fight.

A goof happened, but it wasn't substantive, right? Like an additional second was not putting Neo Magni out. You were winning the fight and you turfed it at the end. That's on you, bro. So maybe I'm wrong and he'll get it overturned. There is a technical case for it. I will be real surprised if they do, given the circumstances.

If it was in the middle of the round, sure. Like maybe there's a real, you know, thing there. Don't think it's happening. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think it's going to overturn. Are they really going to pass over Murphy for a Lopez rematch for bulk? Not a chance. God, I hope not. Not a chance.

Yeah. There's a zero percent chance. Like, Murphy won't, the only way it happens is if Murphy has hurt. And then that's not getting passed over. He's hurt. There's no chance. I think I'm, I think Jake Matthews is a better chance of getting that overturned than Diego

Lopez does a fight for the belt next. Diego Lopez can fight out Jameen Sterling. There's plenty of heat there between him. Or fight Jaga Rodriguez. Either of those make total sense or fuck it. Mavsar. Literally any other person besides Volk makes sense for Diego Lopez. Yeah.

I mean, really, in reality, Movesar should get the title shot. but it doesn't appear. You should. We'll see if it happens. I think there's a chance, but I wouldn't bet on it. Where is it?

Is the concept of Josh Emmett trading with T.J. Jalyshapecular to anyone else? I keep seeing these videos, and I'm just like, how did that happen? So it's, I don't know what peculiar is the right word. I'm just like, how?

Interesting. I don't, I don't think it's peculiar. honestly my impression when I look at that is like holy shit tj is huge because tj is substantially bigger than jimitt and all of the stuff when they're standing next to each other he i don't know god bless him i'll know if he's on the gear now that he's retired or not but that is a big fella like the fact that he ever contemplated and did make albeit via cheating um 125 is nuts because he and it's the thing is he was never like a huge bantam weight either like his whole

thing was that he wasn't that big and he is looks like a pile of cobblestone stacked on top of each other man he is enormous looks like erin pico in that bitch so that is the honest to god the thing the thought i had looking i was like wow you're big guy now you've you put on muscle mass yes lots of it uh eyes are planned at super chat who is the most exciting prospect no one talks about i don't know i feel like i talk about i'm excited about i mean i talk about her constantly so i don't know if other people talking about you might be the only one though but i i have been standing off business for carly judice for day one um and like the thing is most people are talking about exciting prospects so maybe

carly judice is a good one because of like because she's like functional in a 500 fighter and her UFC career started. And like the other exciting prospects are like everybody talks about Malcolm Walmaker because it's exciting. You know, like a tape of Goetia. It's exciting. People are talking about Daniel Pinas

for his name, but also watch out that kid. That kid bangs. You know, like that kid a lot. It was probably, honestly, it was probably Ramadan, but now they're talking about him because he failed a freaking drug test. I'll say sure that that Judeaise is a really is not a bad answer in that right

because like she is exciting and probably gets the least shine of people as I'm thinking about like who are real good prospects you know and Judeus is a good one so I like that answer but I'll talk about it forever because she is Dakota Ditchava light

she rocks yeah she's very very fun trade and Goliah for Dichiva tomorrow I don't care if he wins the belt or not. And let's do Ditchaba versus Judeyce in 2027. Hell yeah. That all thing's pretty funny.

Dean Thomas got takes and he stands by him, Jed. You got to love that. I did, uh, did submission radio with Dean Thomas this past Sunday. And he was like, just so we're clear, that take is two years old, but I still stand on it. I was like, that's how you take. That is how, as, as one take artist to another. there. That's how you do a take. Never walk it back. The mark over the A is the Jai. Jaime? I'm going to guess that's Jaime. Yeah.

Ankelye finish this Poetan this time. Mark my words. I agree. Oh, really? Maybe not, but I kind of agree. So I here's what I've talked myself into, Mike. I don't know who's going to win this. And I wrote my preview column for this. I think it's coming out today. maybe it's coming out tomorrow. I was not super into this fight. I have grown more interested in this fight as the fight week has gone on because there are a lot of variables. It's just interesting fight.

I still don't think the fight makes sense. I don't think they should have done it because I think Pereira should just go to heavyweight. But on the merits, I'm fascinated by this fight. And I truly don't know what to make of it because there's so many stories that came out of the first one. well was Alex Pereira over over trained was he fighting too much Alex said he was 30% he was injured right like all of that did he maybe look past Magma and Kalayaev Akhalaya was prepping for Ramadan you know like during the thing how did that affect his preparation all of these various aspects of like I don't know Alex looked so bad sure but he also looked bad against Khalil and so two of his last two fights he's looked bad maybe he's just old.

You know, maybe he's fallen off and we're seeing that happen now. With all of that, the fight was still very competitive. I've rewatched a bunch. I do think Magerman Akalai have won that fight. Without question to me, he clearly won three rounds. Alex won two. Fight was really competitive and there's so many things up in the air. How will that manifest?

Which of those are true? Which of those are real? Kind of want to see all of this. And as I'm thinking about it, I don't have a clue. how it's going to go. Genuinely, do not know whether Ancolaev wins or Pereira wins. Total coin flip. As a result, I bet on Pereira because you're getting good value in my mind there.

What I have come to believe, Mike, and maybe I'm crazy, tell me if you think I'm crazy. I think this fight is going to be the exact opposite of the first fight. Because Ancolaev, he's a high on the hog. He's brimming with confidence. He did win mostly a striking battle with Alex and the first. first fight. It wasn't entirely, obviously, but he landed the better punches in the fight. He won the fight that were zero takedowns were scored. He's feeling, he is feeling himself. And, you know, fighters get 20% better when they become champion. That's the old adage.

He's coming in with, with a lot of confidence. Alex is coming in both with confidence because he thinks that his last performance is really bad. And with the surety that he is not going to go out like that. He is not going to sit there and lose this or or even potentially lose this sort of tepid one for one range second gear kickboxing bout, which the first one was. So I think both men are going to press the issue much more aggressively. And that's going to result in pretty early on an actual, just a firefight like, okay, I'm not giving ground. You're not giving ground. Let's just toss him and see who falls. And I don't know who's going to fall.

That's my issue. I think we're getting a knockout. I think we're getting a knockout in the first three rounds. And it's a coin flip because Alex is obviously Alex. He has the boomstick. Uncle I have buzzed him in the first fight. Uncle Ayiv throws swings a big hammer himself. Uncle have has never been knocked out.

He's been dropped once, I believe, by Tiago Santos, never been knocked out. Alex obviously has been knocked out a little more, you know, shopworn than Uncle Yif. whoever lands can put the other dude down and I think we're getting a knockout in the first three rounds. Could be either. You know, ask the magic eight ball.

But I think it's, I think this fight's going to be sneaky fun. That's my take. So I think there's a chance that this fight gets finished too. But I think I'm actually, I actually think it happens later. Because I actually do believe that this could be a firefight early on.

And I think both guys, you know, are smart enough. And I think like with the stakes attached to this and what this fight means and Pereira wanting revenge and all. that the heat between them. I think both guys will be able to battle it out. So I do, I will, I will give away my bet. And if you think this fight could go late or get finished, uh, you should

probably tell me, because this is, this is the best bet I could find, because I'm with you. I don't know how this fight's going to go. I'm going to pick Ang Goliath because it's my guy, uh, for fantasy. But my bet is Hank Pereira to end in rounds four, five or decision at minus 150. Okay, we can find ourselves some common ground. I have two bets on this fight. I have a Pereira bet because he's plus 2.30. And again, the first fight was 3-2. And that was a really bad Pereira. And he might just be worse now, Uncle I was bad style.

Like, all that could be true. That fight was really close. And you're getting over 2 to 1 odds on Alex. I'm going to take that value. The one that I am happy with, that like, even if it's a loser and it could certainly be, under four and a half, I got it minus 110 yesterday. And I'm just like, I, I have talked myself into being certain that this is going to be different than the first time. And we're getting a finish.

And so under four and a half, if we get a fourth round knockout, we can both cash out and feel good. The money guns will be shooting in the air. It's always fun in the heck, I was sold after watch parties because three weeks later, you might just find out of a bill. Just stuck in some crevice in the couch or underneath some something. Money gets around, you know. It really does. It's pretty funny. This is an interesting question.

Mike and Jedd, I didn't take Marab saying he wants to fight again to December seriously because I thought the UFC wouldn't go for it, but John Wood says they would. How likely do you think this is? So Marab goes out in dust. Let's just say Marab goes out Marab's Corey. Just gets it done.

You know, maybe it's Corey's a little bit competitive, but Maraub clearly wins the fight. There is no main event for December yet. And we were kind of like internally running down which champions are available right now and like could realistically fight in December. And it seems like right now the only one is pants. So you could do Pantosia versus Van. Is that a main event though? I don't know.

Pantosia main evented two cards last year. What are you talking? Well, the May one was because the UFC 300. Still did it. And then what was the other? And then Balal and Shafcott was supposed to be the main event for December. And then Bilal got hurt. So Shafkat fought Gary in the co-main event.

And then Pants got bumped up to the main. So could Mara turned back around in December? Could they do that? Do you do Maraub Jan? I do not believe so. I don't think so either. I mean, it could happen. Like, it's possible, right?

But I do not believe that that is a likely outcome, you know? just why there's no need right like they don't it's the last pay-per-view they're ever doing or they're doing for this foreseeable future they don't really care they don't need it um it's fine to just run pantosia out there as as the main event um you know you could do uh i'm trying to think like what uh you could do something else that's juicy you could do a max holloway bmf title fight as the as the main event or whatever so uh I think that there's no reason. I don't think Rob's team should allow him to do it if he tries to.

That's how you fuck up your title reign. That's just it. That's how you fuck up your title reign. Ask Alex Pereira, right? Like, I know that every fighter is supremely confident. He wants to do whatever. If he wins this weekend,

he's locked up fighter of the year. It's over. It's done. He is the fighter of the year in 2025. He doesn't need to pursue that if that's a thing he would have been pursuing. And he can just fight again in January or, February, right? Like,

um, and get a little more time because the way you lose the belt is to over extend yourself and lose a fight you probably shouldn't lose. So, uh, I don't think his team would let him, because, you know,

there's the people running him are smart. They're not stupid. Um, but it's fine to say this, right? Like, there's no reason not to throw it out and talk about it, but it won't happen,

it's my guess. I just don't know if Peter Yan's going to take this fight on. seven weeks notice. Here's what... But it's probably his last chance to fight for the title. Yeah. I'll tell you what honest to God, what I think is more likely to happen.

And I don't think this is likely to happen, but just to give you the concept, is something happens to Josh Van and they do a Pants Marab super fight in December. That's more likely than Marab just fights Peoria in December. I love that. I'll take that one. That would rip.

Thank you to Slito. current COO of the year frontrunner and which upcoming 2025 fight is the most potential to overtake it. Love y'all. I mean, it's got to be Ilya, right? Ilya's got to be the front runner at this point, correct? I believe that's going to end up being our knockout of the year because it is super violent and it's super meaningful.

And that's usually the nexus point of chaos of the year is the aesthetics are great and it is significant, right? Like if there's not something that hits those marks, then it's just like, Like what's the coolest shit? There's, you know, the Barbosa Terry Edom famous. Like that wheel kick didn't mean shit, but it was like the first time that it ever happened. So it was really cool. There are a number of cool or arguably better ones like Ruffy.

I say Ruffy killed Bobby Green with a spinning heel kick. So, you know, that's pretty good. There is a regional one that is a straight up walking buckley ninja kick that happened on the regional circuit that is going to make top five because it's just awesome. It's just dope as hell. You know, um, but other than that, I, I don't see what passes, uh, or how really you pass what Ili is historic significance and violence. Um, but you know, there are a bunch of other good ones, you know, uh, shit.

LaRone Murphy is probably going to be in the top five. Yuri knocking out Jamal Hill was a memorable one. Trying to think of some like others. I'll tell you what. Here's one that could happen. And I don't think it's happening. But like if Corey flying knees Marab's face off, that probably actually passes Charles and Ilya.

I would like if if he straight up sends Marab down with a jump knee or some shit, that will be my care of the year. front runner almost certainly yeah i think it's gonna it's gonna have to come from that fight or man a perera a perera colds ankylaif really in any way shape or form i don't know if it beats ilia but it won't beat ilia but that'll be in the top five right you know because that at least is like an upset win and yeah and it's in the story he's getting his belt back it's not gonna beat ilia the only thing i can see uh not the only thing there are a couple on the horizon the corey one obviously if Zhang Wei Lee

blows the doors off Val okay that that's one similarly if Makachev just like blows up Jack Della unlikely but like if it happens if he head kicks Jack Della the same way he did Volk Bob's your uncle that's your number one

so like there are some that could pass it it's not insurmountable in the way the max 300 KO we could have written that award in April there was never a thing that could have ever happened that would beat it. Because it's probably the greatest chaos in the history of the sport, frankly. So it's not that, but it is going to be hard to beat it.

Yeah, because when you're doing these awards, like impact, just impact on the sport and on the promotion has to be a major factor. That's why I like Giuliana Pena, like, Giuliana like tapping Amanda Nunes was not like the best submission of the year. It was by far the most significant. But it was by far the most significant and the most impactful because of what it meant. So even though it was like a standard rear naked choke of a tired opponent, she beat a man to fucking Nunes.

So that's going to win you the award. Just pretty much automatic. And saying that if Jack Della blows up Islam, I don't think that will pass it. Because it depends. Maybe the aesthetics are really cool. You know, if it's a comeback chaos. There are ways that I guess it could. But ultimately the story at that.

point would be, Ilya moved up and killed an all-time great fighter, an all-time great champion in the weight class. Islam moved up and got killed. And Jack Della just, because of, because he's a smaller man, he won't get the same juice that Elya gets for the Charles fight. Even though Charles is older, et cetera, I actually don't think that would pass unless it's super unique. Yeah, it's got to get interesting. There's going to be a lot of awards that are going to be pretty interesting so uh buckley got KO the year that year you had to have right which year with the ninja kick oh yeah almost i i can't imagine he didn't i don't remember what year that is but there's again that is the the way to win the award is you do something incredibly significant

or you do something that has never been done that's it those are the two ways to do it um What year was that? Hold on. That was 2020. 2020. Um, yes, almost unanimous. Looking at the Wikipedia page, us, Bleacher Report, mania, cage side, shir dog, weekly, and bloody elbow all gave it. Knock out of the year 2020. Yep.

That was ours. Just it's one of those. You don't have to think about it. It's like I've, that's, I've never seen that before ever in my entire life. Give it to them. I love going back through these. This is my first year. Especially because like sometimes you're like, wow, you guys got it wrong.

Number two that year is Kevin Holland, jacqueray. Number three was Cody Garbrandt versus Huffiel Sunso. Oh, that was a mean one. That was a mean one. I don't remember the Holland jockey one that well. That was when Holland was like on his back. Oh, on his back like with the heel hooked behind his head. And then okay, that's also super weird.

And so, yeah, cool. I respect that, yeah. Number four was Sean O'Malley knocking out Eddie Wineland. Well, solid, solid CO. That was a nasty one, yeah. Yeah. And number five. Defendively below those three, I like that ranking.

Number five, MMA Fighting's 2020 breakout fighter of the year, the moment that changed that award forever. Hamzat Shemayev knocking out Gerald Beershardt. Yeah. Yeah, that tracks. in 16 seconds. So there you go. His third win of 2020. Let me see if we got anything else real quick.

And then we'll get on out of here because we get a million things going on. A little bit. Yeah. I think we're good. I think we're good. I think we've done enough. We will have a preview show tomorrow to get you ready for UFC 320. I'll be myself and AK.

We'll get after it. We will have a People's Pre-Fight show on Saturday. working on a guest to join me for that because there is a million things happening. BKFC will be going on at the same time. So, you know, kind of need some bodies all over the place, covering all sorts of different things. So I'm working on that. Hopefully, perhaps we get a fighter on to join me for the People's Pre Fight Show. And we get the watch party on Saturday.

We'll go live for Atibagodias, 275 point earning knockout, which will most certainly happen, unless something just absolutely bananas is in the air in Las Vegas on Saturday. Well, BKFC coverage, Jose is in Las Vegas, boots on the ground, all sorts of shit going on there. And then AK and I back on Sunday for a live edition of On to the next one. So just a very busy time in the world of Unmay Fighting. And thank you so much. Appreciate all these. all.

I am like that like your Thursday is it doesn't man I hope in the pod in the YouTube video this isn't

what happens because every time you fire up the music it then sounds like you're underwater so I don't know if that comes through the pod

or the probably will the vid but tough scenes also they still have drop freaking odds on a table I need those odds

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