MMA Fighting - BTL | Belal Muhammad OUT Of UFC 310, Topuria & Chimaev Shine At UFC 308, Dana White vs. Ngannou

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Breaking news on this Thursday as Belal Muhammad is out of his UFC 310 main event with Shavkat Rakhmonov due to a bone infection.  On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel gives their first reactions to the news, the latest information, and talk what the UFC can do to save the card. Additionally, they answer fan questions about Ilia Topuria's big win at UFC 308, what's next for the current featherweight king after knocking out Max Holloway, and if Alexander Volkanovski or Diego Lopes should be next for the belt. Additionally, topics may include Khamzat Chimaev's absolute destruction of former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the co-main event, other standout moments from the card, Dana White vs. Francis Ngannou, Donn Davis, and the PFL, UFC Edmonton headlined by Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi, and much more. Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew to answer your questions all show long.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Back on another Thursday. Happy Thursday to us all. And holy crap, do we have a lot to talk about on today's program? And joining me to do that. and also answer your questions, special Q&A edition of the program, Mr. No Gray Area. He is the hot take kid, a million other nicknames. He is going to buzz his way through this program on this Halloween. He is the one and only Jedbys shoe again.

I thought you were going to go with, he's generating a lot of buzz lately. Hey guys, happy Halloween. I'm a bee. And I see you wrote buzz on the way. board. That's right. Oh, man. So I thought about this

dressing up for Halloween concept myself throughout the day. And then all this news happened, Jed, and all these different things were coming out. So I dropped the ball. I forgot about it. And I am also the reason we're a couple minutes late starting the program today.

So apologies for that. We will be answering your questions throughout the program. But let's discuss a few things yesterday. We know you've been busy as a be lately. If you can't tell I'm having the most fun right now.

You sure are. You sure are. You look fucking absolutely incredible. But let's talk about the news that has been a buzz on social media and throughout the MMA community. UFC 310 needs a new main event, Jen Mashu. Al-Mahmahmah is out. He shared an update on his social media

a something happened with a, I don't know if it was a bone thing or whatever it was. It's nasty though. That middle toe is all banged up and I think it's a bone infection is what he said. And Balmohamed will not defend his title December 7th against Shafkat Rahmanoff. In fact, we don't know what the hell is going to happen with all of that. So I ask you, Jen Mishu, your reaction to this news, I'm sure you saw the photos. You probably saw them and said to yourself, there's no way this man should be fighting. anybody. You should be just staying in the hospital fighting this infection and doing his best

to take care of that. But tough news. We were looking forward to this card. We liked this fight. And now, at least as of now, it is not happening December 7th. Yeah, very unfortunate. Like you guys, I've learned this all this morning. I had a couple of immediate thoughts, Mike. The first one was, that's disgusting. Because if you go look at the photo of his toe. It is disgusting. I broke that exact toe last week, and it looked bad, but it didn't look remotely near that bone infection garbage. You know, like that is totally get not fighting with that.

Nobody should or could reasonably blame them. Second thing I thought, is at least a little bit ironic or funny that Boul gave Connor a ton of shit for pulling out of UFC 303 with the toe injury. and then this happens to him, and I, like, immediately thought of that. And then the third thing, and kind of the prevailing thought I've had since sort of reckoning with what happened is,

okay, this actually isn't that bad. You know, like, sure, we wanted this fight. We wanted an undisputed title fight. But Shafcott seems like, I mean, by seems, he has point blank tweeted, I will fight anyone for the interim belt. I'm ready to go. And there are a number of options

that I think would make sense and probably there's, enough time. It's not, don't get me wrong, this is not, you know, a full camp, but there's enough time between now and 310 that we can probably find a viable replacement and it won't be that diminished. And it'll still be great because let's all be honest with ourselves. We wanted to see that fight. Were people tuning in for Bilal? Are people excited to watch Bilal fight? They're excited to watch Shavkat fight. At least I certainly am. And I think there are a number of options that can still mostly get us there.

even if it's not quite as good as it would have been. So I'm told Shafkat's team found out about this Sunday or Monday. It was definitely a few days ago that they were made aware of this. The UFC is trying to find a replacement as he tweeted out. They're doing what they typically do in these situations, trying to find a new main event. So everyone wants to see this fight yet. Shafkot challenging B'Aul Muhammad. Once Bala won the belt, that was the immediate thought.

That was the immediate go-to. let's see if Balal can beat Shofcott and if he can, he's the dude or is he just a placeholder for Shafkot to be the champion? If you're the UFC right now and Balala can't train for six weeks, no contact, so let's just say he could fight in February or March

somewhere in that neck of the woods, would you wait? Would you just wait two months to have this fight or would you book Shafkot in an interim title fight right now and then we don't see the Ballal fight until maybe June, July, August. It's not like Schofcott's the most active fighter

in the world. I would wait. No, I wouldn't. I would just book it. Because like the best late plans of mice and men, if we could feel confident Belal would come back in February, maybe. But also February is the Australia card.

What's it? Like, where would this go? because the longer Balaal is forced out. And again, I'm not blaming him for this at all. But then there does kind of like Ramadan starts to come and play. And so there's a world where a wait here ends up, I'm just going to wait for my title fight with Bala, ends up being waiting for a year plus.

And Chavcott doesn't seem to want to do that. And I don't think he needs to, you know. Go out there and fight. It would be better, obviously, to fight for the undisputed. But you get an interim fight. And then there's no, there's no rush. to get Bilal back, he can come back sort of as his health and, you know, the holidays permit him to. So I would just go ahead for it. If you could guarantee me this fight is going to happen in February.

Okay, I'll wait two months. But that's, I don't know. I'm not a bone doctor. But Ballal's post says, you know, six weeks that he is out of activity for this. It does not seem like a timeline that's going to get him back before the summer, frankly. So get in there, get paid, get yourself an interim belt and settle up. And, you know, if you have the interim belt, you know, get some paper viewpoints as well for when you finally do. So, yeah, I would say just go ahead if you can find a reasonable opponent for an interim belt. And like I said, I think there are plenty of options for that. So, yeah, just fight at 310.

So let's lay out these options. And then we'll talk about what else could come from this. I'm absolutely stunned. Kamara Usman is not tweeting up a storm right now. This man should be doing everything in his power to get this fight, especially since he has had UFC broadcasters pushing for him to fight Bilal Muhammad. You need a win before that can happen. And if you can go in there and beat Shafkat and win an interim belt,

you have to fight Bilal next. There's no ifs, or buts. I am shocked he is silent through all this, at least to this moment. there is Jack Della Madelana who has been dealing with some injuries since the Gipper Burns fight we don't know how long he's going to be out for we don't know if he's available

Ian Machado Gary is another very interesting option he tweeted out video earlier of him saying from a post fight press conference I want to be the guy who hands Schofcott his first loss so seems like he's throwing his name in the hat one way or another

and there's obviously other names Jed but you're the matchmaker it right now. Let's just say all these guys are available. Shafka Aramana versus fill in the blank for the UFC interim welterweight title December 7th in Las Vegas. It's Kamala Usman. And that's not me saying I want that to happen. You know my stance on these sorts of things.

I would prefer Kamar Usman fight somebody else for getting a title fight. But there was talk. Certainly Balal was trying to force the issue of getting Kamaro as his first defense and like which of these two dudes will get it. we can kind of solve that problem with this right now. I assume Kamar would be down, and even with the relatively short time frame for this, be able to make weight and do that,

he is bringing the biggest name to these sort of festivities. And again, you got to remember, this is a pay-per-view event. And as much as we like Shavkat and the hardcore fan base like Shafkat, it's not really over broadly speaking with the pay-per-view purchasing public.

So you get Kamar Usman in there. If Shavkaat wins, that's an unbelievable win. Great. If Usman wins, well, you know, then Usman is a former champion, now a two-time champion, you know, interim champion or whatever. And then the ball fight is justifiable. I wouldn't have any issues if they chose Ian Gary. I would not have any issues that they chose Jack Della. I just simply do not think those are fit the bill of what the UFC is looking for in these situations unless Usman passes, at which point I would assume Gary is kind of the next guy up.

you know probably more deserving than Usman and so I wouldn't have any issues with it and that's also a good fight but my leader in the clubhouse right now I believe Kumar Usman will be the guy who steps in and fights Shafkat because on the other side of it too there are no fights for Usman that makes sense realistically for him to be like here now I'm going to come back and fight somebody what are you going to do just this fight makes a lot of sense for him from a career management standpoint. And I think it makes sense on outside of meritocracy. And merit does not exist in the sport. It is the fight to make.

And so I believe it is the fight that will get made. Yeah, again, I'm stunned that he's not, he's not saying anything. As of right now, nothing is texting people. He better be. My guess is that he may not be outward, but is internally making some calls. because if not you are right, that that would sting. I'm going to try and work as many of these in as I can. I love it.

I absolutely love it. But yeah, if he wants to fight for the belt again, he's got to take this, in my opinion. He has to do it. If they offer it to him and he says no, not good. The UFC isn't, they don't play games like that. If you turn them down when they give you an opportunity, and it's not like you could. necessarily blame him in a normal sporting type world.

Six weeks notice to fight Shafcott Rockmanoff. That is not an easy thing. Plus you have to cut to 170, all of that. Not easy to do. But you've lost three in a row. I don't care the circumstances of how you've lost three in a row. And you haven't want to fight in years. And this division is common.

You got guys coming. Sean Brady, Joaquin Buckley, Gary, J.D.M. the list goes on and on. They're coming and they're not stopping. Michael Morales, they're coming. You've got to do this if you're Usman.

This would be crazy if he doesn't. I mean, yeah. And that's what I said. I think that is going to be what happens. Unless there is some sort of an injury that I'm unaware of, I will be pretty surprised if Usman is not the guy who both gets the first offer and would obviously accept that offer. Because like you said, this is his real opportunity to get

back there and get it. And it would just shock me if the UFC thought, let's go Ian Machado Gary here instead of Kamar Oussman for all the ways their business works. Can Shafcott carry a year-end pay-per-view regardless of who his opponent is? Or do you think the UFC is looking, are they on the Horn of Poetan right now? Are they trying to get Pereira to save the day again? I was about to say there is a world where the UFC's plan goes like, a little something like this. Hey Alex, 310. Who are you going to fight?

You may not fight there. We want you to hold that Saturday open and start training. And after 309, if John and Steepay retire as we anticipate, Tom's ready for 309. We're going to call him, if they both retire, we bump y'all down to 310 and y'all main event 310 for the heavyweight. undisputed heavyweight belt. That is also very possibly a conversation that's being had right now. And, Mike, let me just say this. Let me go on, I'll go on record. I'll be the bold man to go on record

and make this claim. If Alex Pereira knocks out Tom Aspinall to win the heavyweight title on, you know, short notice at U.C. 310, he will reclaim Fighter of the Year from Ilya to Poria. Nobody else will tell you that, Mike, but I will say those words to you right now. Yeah. If he fights. on that card and wins, he's the, he probably steals it. Just you kind of have to give it to it at that point.

There are reports coming out. UFC approached Alex Pereer and offered him to fight Magamanaik Goliath to replace Bilal Shafcott. Our own Guillermo, Kruz saying that is not happening. I do have some breaking news for you guys. Some breaking news per myself and Garamee Cruz. Because a lot of people have been asking because they like Bannamweight and they like

young up and coming stars at Bannamweight. There's one in particular. His name is Peyton Talbot. They're wondering, what is next for him? What's he going to do? Well, 310. He's going to fight. No.

Yes, he's going to fight Shafcott Rockmanoff for the interim. Yeah, UFC Weather or not. No, I'm just joking. January 18th, I believe this is UFC 311. It is Peyton Talbot. Hione Barcellos, January, which means Peyton Talbot is ineligible for fantasy points. But that fight is targeted.

Both sides are in. Contracts expected to be signed sooner rather than later, but both sides are in. That is, as the kids say, in the works, it is targeted for January 18th. Both sides have agreed to it. Peyton Talbot, Hione Barcellos, Jed. You like this. Or should he get a ranked guy with what he's been able to do thus far in his young career? Good matchmaking?

I just don't need to rush into a rank guy. Let him continue to kind of develop, find himself, figure himself out. You should love this as this gives you a better chance to come back on AK, who is currently in the lead in the fantasy points. I'm out. I'm going to finish dead ass last in fantasy, so it doesn't matter to me. Get Zhang Wei in there. Zhang Wei versus Valentina Shipschenko at UFC 310.

then I can get Zhang Wei Lee off the bench which can get some points for me. I mean, I don't know why Zhang Wei Lee would not be fighting Vienna Genjiroba at UFC 310 particularly with Tatiana Soras being Tatianosaurus and being out. That feels like that would make a ton of sense

for that to happen. But, you know, we'll see if it gets there. They need a main event. I don't know if that's a main event, but it could be. let's talk about something else that is being reported and was able to get some insight on it was reported that a fight between alexander volkenovsky and Diego lopez is in the works for ufc 312 in sydney in february and of course we see these types of information and we reach out and try to talk about it and this would obviously be a fight that would make a lot of sense it's in sydney all of that uh I am told from a member of Volkovsky's team who would absolutely know the answer to this.

Zero true to this as of right now. Because here's the thing. When you say in the works, Talbot Barcellos, in the works. In the works means both sides are in. They have been offered the fight. They have agreed to the fight. And they are just waiting on contracts. That is in the works slash targeted.

Okay. in the works is not just, hey, the UFC had said, maybe we'll do this on this date. Stay tuned. We might come back with an offer. That's not in the works. From what I'm told from Volkadovsky side, Diego Lopez's name has not been mentioned to them one time,

not a single time. The only name that has been mentioned to them is Ilya toporea. And as of right now, we don't know when Ilya is going to be able to fight. Also spoke to a member of Diego Lopez's team. When they saw the report, they were shocked in surprise. seeing this report based on conversations or should I say sort of lack thereof in regards to this fight. And so there's nothing to that as of right now. Am I saying that this fight is one million percent not going to happen in February? No, because if you really look at how

things are looking right now, Jed, right now we've lost Bilal Muhammad. We don't know when he's fighting. Shafkat may or may not fight at 310. And if Bilal's injury is not that bad, maybe they push this fight back to February. Maybe they do it there, although it doesn't really make a lot of sense on that card. You have fly weights fighting at UFC 310 already. UFC 311. We don't know what the hell is going on yet.

Are we going to get DDP Strickland? Or are we going to get DDP Hamzad? We don't know. That fight probably isn't going to happen in Sydney. DDP Strickland. Don't think it happens there. So what do we do here, Jed? Because Ilya is probably not going to fight there.

Lightweight, Armands, well, that's January as well. Arm and Sarukian challenging Islamachachev, that's probably going to be January. So there's lightweight off the table. Bantam weight is Marab, and he's, who the hell knows what's going on with that. That could be March, could be Umar. Doesn't really make sense for Siddi. And then you have 85. Again, we talked about Pereira.

Big star, him or Stank a life in Sydney or whatever. doesn't make a ton of sense. And we don't know what's going on at heavyweight right now. So in a in a real world, Jed, the UFC, it would not be out of the realm of possibility to do Volcanovsky Diego Lopez on that card. And here's the other important caveat from talking to Volcanovsky's team. Volcanovsky will not fight anybody unless there is a title attached to it. So from what I'm told, they're not ruling out a fight with Diego Lopez.

They ain't saying it's not. It can't happen. But if they don't do it for an interim title, that fight will probably not take place. So having heard that, do you feel like we could see Lopez Volcanovokinovsky in February, in Sydney? Do you think the UFC would pull the trigger on an interim title?

Especially if Tepore is just got to go to Spain and we're just going to wait, maybe he gets the winner of that fight? Is there a world this happens? Yes. This is the world I want to happen. You should. and this is the world I suggested would happen.

This is the world that should happen. I don't understand what anyone possibly has against any part of this. Alexander Volkanovsky has lost two fights brutally in a row and has been out for a year. I think it's reasonable for him to not need a win, but get a win as opposed to continue to sit on the sidelines. Because the most important thing you said in all of this, Mike, was at the very end. Elia Tuporia's next fight must be in Spain. There's just no world around that. That is the guiding principle of all of this,

is that Tuporia's next title defense has to be in Spain. And that is not going to happen in the first quarter. Probably not going to happen in the first two quarters of 2025, which means you're talking late summer for his next title defense is like realistically when this could happen. for him. Why would anyone be like Volkinovsky should sit out? Volkanovsky should sit out 20 months coming off two knockouts and get this title fight. When Diego Lopez is out here getting wins, both of these guys are open to this fight.

You know, it wouldn't be their first choice, but their first choice isn't reasonable at this point. Make this fight happen. Australia needs a main event. That's it. And I got to tell you, Mike, a lot of pushback lately. I do not know. why people give a shit about an interim title being a problem. Who cares? Genuinely, why are you upset that they put an interim belt on this? The time to be upset about interim belts is when Tom Aspinall is the real heavyweight champion and they won't just give him the real belt.

But who gives a shit that people are getting interim titles, you know, quickly or whatever? It's a five-round fight. The belt, for all intensive purposes, is a number one. contender belt. You just rebranded that if that makes you feel better. There's so much pushback of like, well, the featherweight champ just to finish don't need an interim. Who cares? Truly, why do you care about that? What? How is that negatively impacting your viewing experience for them to give an interim belt in a situation where both guys fighting won it? Like, it's very silly to me. There was already pushback on this for Shavcock getting an interim title fight. And I, I just, I don't

could not possibly care less about that. Like, fine. Who gives a shit? Let him have the trinket. Yeah, especially if we know that the winner is absolutely one million percent going to fight the actual champion. And Tupori is going to fight the winner of that fight, probably in Spain and just an absolutely gigantic scene and fight and event. Everything about that will be absolutely massive. So, yeah, I have no issue with it.

I got to ask, because people are already. the comments. I understand all of the arguments. Well, you can have a five-round fight without it. It's fictional. I am not denying those statements. I am simply asking, and this is a Q&A, so you guys get to put this in here. Why do you care? How is it negatively impacting you and your experience for there to be an interim belt? Who is negatively impacted by an interim title for U.S. 310 and Chavcott versus whoever? or Volcanovsky versus Diego Lopez. Explain to me the negative part

because I do not get the pushback on this in any capacity. Let's think what's the negative? Fighters make money. Fighters get pay-per-view points of their champions as interest? They get-paper view points. They get... Fighters can, they get to stand with the belt and promotional material? Yeah, that's, that's, yeah.

The fighters themselves, why? Wanted? Like, here, genuinely, if you are upset by the interim belt, I hope that you are livid by the BMF title. Because that is also a belt that has no meaning, is as fictional as whatever your fictional character of choice is, you can have five round fights without the BMF title. Are any of you livid about its existence?

But people are upset about the idea that an interim belt would exist, like under specious terms. I just, who cares? The fighters want it. It gets us to the end of the road where we want to be, do it. That's kind of whatever. Yeah, we don't know what's going to happen at this point. But if they do Shafka v. Usman for the interim title, no one's going to be like,

oh, this is stupid. I'm not watching it. No one's going to say that. No one's going to say it. With that being said, we cleared the two big news items of the day. And now we'll turn it on over. And we broke some news on the program. So what a time.

What a time. Let's bring in Casey The belts fake I gotta tell you guys All belts are made up Do you know that the undisputed Heavyweight champion of the UFC Is a fake belt

They're all made up man Let them make up more I have been on this program for years Saying make up more belts Just make all sorts of belts Because they're fun And if the fighters want them Then why would we be like no

I do not get it All right Casey come on in Sleeves optional There he's He's chosen the no sleeve option today Which No sleeves is why the people are here

That's why the people are here I am I'm agreeing of Jetta a lot lately This is kind of weirding me out Yeah I'm very pro interim belt Because belts are fake They don't mean anything There's no rules to the belt So

have another one. It's cool. More money for the fighters. Whatever. The thing that really gets me is like, if you don't like the interim belt, you know what you can do, not care about it.

That's it. You don't have to treat it with any more credibility than you treat anything else. In the same, like, you're like, oh, that's not for me. Cool. Still want to see the fight. Whatever about the belt.

Not like, don't do it. It's disrespectful. Okay. And it's kind of why in our own rankings, We don't by default, but the champ has number one because belts aren't real. Most of the time the champ is the best fighter, but it doesn't mean it's just it's just it's Employee the month. Promotional tool.

Promotional tool. If there was actually like there's zero rules for when they can strip a belt. It's just whatever or they just, yeah, that's not what's rules for anything for anything. just look at just just look at the fc rankings right now they pulled loren murphy out of the women's flyway rankings after not fighting for like nine months called it inactivity stepe hasn't fought in like four years he's still ranked at heavyweight that's insane if there are no rules for anything so don't worry about it don't take it too seriously as jed said if the thought of interim titles makes you sick to your stomach just pretend they're is no title. It's five rounds. Number one, it's essentially number one contender fight. Who

cares? Turn, turn the broadcast off right after the winner is announced before your eyes, your delicate eyes are forced to see a fake belt being wrapped around Shobcot's waist. Just hit the clicker and go, no, no, I will save my eyes, this terrible, terrible sight. And then you're good. Yeah, just mute it and cover your eyes after Bruce Buffer says the winner by whatever it is, and mute. 10 Mississippi, and then Joe Rogan interviews the winner. There you go.

Just see who's raising their arm. That's all you need. Yeah. And don't look at the fighter's waist. You're fine. Although you did say it's a, basically it's a number one contenders fight, which we now know that interim belts

don't actually give you title shots next. No, they do for every weight class that isn't John Jones involved. Oh. New rule. John, well, because if John was in any room with anybody, he gets to leave. Or GSP. He has.

Well. Yeah. You know, we'll forget that one. We all knew what we were doing there. We sure were. All right. Let's hear from the peeps. It's been quite a day.

Just because I need to throw it out there because we know the answer, but it needs to be put out there. Can Pans versus Kaius occur a sell if that is the new main event for 310? No. Does it matter if it sells? Is the UFC just like, whatever? It's still pay-per-view? Still a title fight? Should it?

Yeah, it kind of does. But it kind of matters. At this time, it does. Because they're about to negotiate a new TV deal. They got to do the best they can. It can't be pants. Pants can't headline two pay reviews in a year. No disrespect to them.

But we tried this. It did not go well when they did Pants versus Vinnie Siggs. And most of the UFC fateful, especially the newer fans, have no clue who Kaias's career is. Absolutely no idea. We do, but they don't. Has fans who don't care about the UFC's business, should we be like, no, there needs to be some kind of late replacement? Usman on two days notice type of bite. I know we talk about the business to business, but as fans, why do I care about the UFC's

business? We know they're not going out of business. It's just them making, you know, they're going to make lots of money or lots of lots of money to me. So, I mean, we should care that they give us a product that's worth $80. That's why I guess that's what I'm asking. Is the pay-per-view worth it if it doesn't have some sort of title fight above this title fight? It doesn't necessarily need to have it above it.

but the rest of the card needs to be good. Let me look at it. I don't know what else is on this off the top of my head. But like if they just said, hey, we're not doing it, but we're going to, why Lee is going to fight, Genji Robo, we're going to do a double title fight. Okay. I'm fine with that.

It's worth 80 bucks. Cyril, Gon, Volkov, Luque Diaz, which is actually a negative. I would pay money to not watch that fight. Evluv Sterling. I mean, it needs a, fight it needs a fight whatever that fight is as long as it's a good one but right now those four and then randy brown brian battle that ain't worth i mean i guess at this point they'd actually bump dominicra as anthony smith to main card uh that's not really worth 80 bucks yeah i guess that's what i'm

saying like i don't believe the card needs a new main event but it does definitely need a new fight need something it needs something yeah and the ufc will want it to to be a new main event just for business purposes. But you're right. It's not necessary for us to care about. Yeah, that's all I'm saying. But look, if these just bring Y Lee versus Janjuroba, I ain't got no issue with this fight.

Call it a good paper if you all watch it. One, oh, any chance that would make a BMF, BMF belt to throw one there? Because I guess Holloway doesn't have it now. I mean, I know. No, Hollywood does have it. Dana said. specifically that he still has it. All right.

I'm not going to talk about that stupidness. All right. Thank you much, Joseph Boza. Super chats. Curbball. UFC isn't a fan of Ball. They strip him in Shafcott and Gary slash Uspan headline or co-headlines. 100% see Poetan coming back.

Strip him. They're not going to strip them. They're not going to strip them. They can't. Now, Morales. they might, but B'allall, they ain't stripping. Yeah, the Marab one is, I don't think they'll strip him yet, but like, no. Just prior to there being a image of what happened, you could have convinced me of this.

And then like, okay, Ballal has managed the optics here poorly. And now he's pulling out with a broken toe, people are going to be livid. And then you show him like, nope, we're good. There's not a rational human being alive who can look at his, foot and be like, that guy should fight in five weeks. Yep. Right. Why would they ship Mara what's going on?

Is this? No, just, it's more of a joke than anything. Oh, okay. Maraba's had the worst first month as a champion that I have maybe ever seen in the UFC. It's genuinely impressive. Yeah, it is really truly the worst month as first month as champion. I have to think something worse that I've ever seen. it's hard to think of something worse

I would rather not fight the undefeated guy that everyone wants to see me fight and I would like to rematch the guy I just beat thank you very much like sick I love everything the optics there are great I love it that is prize fighting

what's honestly what's not prize fighting though what sells more there O'Malley I think Omar I think Omar I don't think it's that big of a difference I really don't Here's the big difference, though, Casey. What sells more?

I would like to sell you this unicorn that does not exist and you cannot have or a sandwich. I will sell you the sandwich because it is real and tangible. Rematching O'Malley is never going to happen. So all you are doing is looking like an idiot and giving people a reason to dislike you. It is horrible career management. If the UFC came to him and said, we want to do this, billion percent say yes. It will never happen and it turns fans off in a way that is not good for your brand. Why would it never happen?

Why would the Amali rematch, direct rematch, never happen when the UFC loves direct rematches? They love direct rematches. They love direct rematches for long-reigning champions. And they shouldn't, but they still like that. it just won't also because specifically the ufc cut to umar after the fight and dana has repeatedly said umar is next it's just not happening like to believe that it could is to live in a fantasy land and we don't have to pretend for for i don't know the purpose to even pretending like because we want marab to get more money like i don't care i want marab to fight the best people oh no no absolutely think it sucks but i'm just

I just don't believe in the, I have no faith in the UFC. And I have, they, I just believe O'Malley and rematch just sells way better. And that's what the U.S. I don't know if it does. I, we also have a fair amount of anecdotal evidence that O'Malley actually is not a massive draw on paper view. I think he's a big of draw than Humar. Yeah, maybe, yeah, right this second, but I don't think it's by a lot. But I can't, I mean, this is like debating the existence of God.

I can't prove you. wrong, Casey. But I am so unbelievably certain that you could not be more wrong, that it just will never, ever happen. Yeah. And plus, let's be honest, O'Malley Barab won. Not a fight anyone's going back to the fight. Blue.

It was not good. It was not a good fight. So, yeah, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. Tough sell. Now, if Umar, the biggest fight, the biggest fight you can make of entire triangle is Umar versus Omali. That is the biggest

fight you can make of those three options. Umar beating Marab would be massive for that. The three fighters, the champ is actually the lowest on the price fighting scale. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. And like, if O'Marr is very, very famous, Umar is very famous. He's got like a billion

Instagram followers or something. If O'Malley gets a win, okay, we could read, we could discuss this again. but also O'Malley's going to be out until like June or whatever because he had surgery on his hip. Oh, well, there's just not a, there's not a universe where that fight happens next. And so the like, I will fight him. And also specifically like, there's a way to view this okay. But Marab specifically being like, I'll fight O'Malley. I'll rematch O'Malley in November.

But I ain't fight Newmore until next year is just horrific. And I get that there is an explanation to it and not even saying that explanation is wrong, but objectively to say something like that is horrible messaging. It's just the optics of it all is so bad. It's just so bad. By the way, I absolutely want to see Mara versus Umar. I'm just kind of more like talking about bank accounts, but that's on. Yeah, I don't know if it's that much of a difference though.

I really don't. Umar is a lot more If it was if it was like I love I love Rob Fawn Big fan of his Known Rob for a long time But if it was like Marob versus Rob Fon

To Marob versus Sean O'Malley Yeah it's clear as day Sean O'Malley would sell more than Rob Fon But this one O'Malley and Umar Nirmaga made off I don't think it's that much of a difference I think maybe 10,000 pay-per-views Maybe 20

It's not a huge number It is a difference, Casey, to your point, in that he will beat O'Malley and he will not beat Omar. So, again, I understand wanting to do that. You just can't publicly say that because the fans are just going to rake you over the coals, man. Yeah. All right. Thank you much. Hopefully we hear from Dana White today.

And he gives us an update on this card. All right. is some more super chats. Jay W. You can get 310 tickets right now for around 180 U.S.D. How much do you think they would go up if Pereira ends up headlining?

It's a good question. That's a fun question. What were tickets for EOC 303 after Connor bailed? They dropped a little bit. Or what were... 306.

That was... What was the Utah one? No, that was 307. This 307 was 307 was Utah I mean this is They'll go up to like five They'll go up to like four or five hundred I think

They'll do more than double The Pereira gets on I'll say they'll double I don't know that they'll go up to five Like for the for the bleeders But yeah All right Thanks George

It would be pretty sick if Pereira does do it again Like I would rather Pereira and Magamina and Goliath have more than six weeks to prep for that fight, but it would undeniably be very cool. What if it's not Angolaev? One of Ankylive can't do it. I don't know.

He's never, and he's never getting a title shot. It's unfortunate to say that. I mean, he could be broken foot. I don't know. People get injured. I mean, just.

Yeah. But if he just. Yeah. Who did we? We all agree with that. Yeah. But the UFC seems to be doing everything they can to not give him a title fight.

And if they, could use the, hey, when we call, we offer you an opportunity and you say no, you know how we feel about that. Like this could be a perfect excuse to do that. Can you imagine if Jamal Hill gets a rematch? They just go to Jamal. No chance. What do you mean no chance?

So many no chances of this guy in the B outfit. I don't know. I honestly think there's no such thing as no chance with UFC. You're going to rematch. You're going to rematch a fight where Hill got knocked out in. three minutes. There was controversy? There was controversy?

There was no controversy. Unless you are a blood relative of Jamal Hill, there is no controversy. I sure know what else they do. I am of the opinion. Maybe Ankleyev. I mostly think that if it's going to be Pereira, it would be Tom Aspinall. And that I think the UFC is coming around. both to the idea that Pereira can beat Ankylaev and just to the Ankylaev fight being the fight that is meaningful and significant for his title reign and something they should do and build and promote.

So if it's going to be Pereira, I think it would be Pereira Aspinall, which would obviously be kind of dumb, but really, really cool. Pereira Aspinall for the interim heavyweight belt? For the real heavyweight belt. John will have retired at this point. No, John won't officially retire for a while. But we'll see, we'll see. Steve may retire with the belt. Steve may retire at the belt.

I'll say it. Or John versus Alex Pereira at 310. Wow. Sorry, Stepe. You know, you know he has to fight someone. For Stepe with Aspedal and have Jones Street. He does not. What else we got?

Do you think they're not going to announce anything until? No, they have to. Yeah, yeah, I was saying, sorry, sorry. I was like, maybe. Yeah, New York's. Two weeks from Saturday. It's in 16 days. So they're going to have to do it before that.

Especially they're going to sell tickets. I think they'll have it denounced by the end of this week because I think even money, it's Kamar Usman versus Shafkot for an interim belt. Real quick, back to the Usman thing. Usman and Belaw, they're both managed by Ali, right? Yes. Okay.

So because we're kind of wondering why Uzma isn't chiping, chirping online. Well, obviously, Usman probably knew this even before Shafat knew this. so I'm sure he's already... Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I mean, obviously be the best case scenario for Ali if Usman gets to step in. Yeah.

Either his fighter wins and then he has fighter versus fighter title fight or he gets one more, you know, one more bit of gap before Shavkat takes the title. Yeah. Shav has to kill B'u'll. Lazybad, replaced Belal Shafka with an interim BNF fight. They could do that. They could absolutely do that. A fake fake belt.

That's awesome. A fake interim fake belt. Who would it be? That's why I suggested. I don't know, go. Let's bump Chandler Olivaura back to December off of 309. Oh, that is a great call. That's a great call.

Unless Connor suddenly wants to fight in December and then you do that. But I don't think that's happening. For the interim. For the interim. B.MF title. Oh, my God. Man. Make the BMF title like gold-plated instead of the silver. Plus, when Oliver beats him again, then we can do Oliver Max next summer. Oh, you're speaking of my language. Unify the BMF belts. For the undisputed BMS championship. Somebody called you and tell them this right now. Bump Chandler-Olivera back. It did 309 is the steepe John Farse. We don't need.

to have other fights with that nonsense. That's so funny. That's actually, that's a great call. I could see that. I could, I could, I could,

that's, I make that the co-main event. But MSG is not, MSG is not good. Kind of need that fight. It's got the main event. You got John Jones. He's going to,

John's going to sell 600,000, 700,000 pay-per-views. It's fine. Okay. Yeah. I know we don't care for it because it's a fake fight. but it will have broad casual appeal of that, I'm certain. Yep.

Okay. What else we got? A lot of options. I will say that's a good thing for the O.C. right now. They do have a ton of viable options for 310, whereas several other times this year, it's been like, I don't know what they're going to do to solve this. And the answer was just hit the big Alex Pereira button. Now they at least have other options to solve this.

Heidi, Blal's out so more pay-per-view buys. Any interim title fight is a better fight anyways. What is that? Really? That's a take. I mean, I don't know what to say. That is a spicy take. Blashov got to me was like one of the top four fights of the year that I wanted to see.

I agree. Genuine question. If they sub-Uzman-in, does this do better on pay-per-view than it would have? have been with below. That is a good question. I am truly not sure. I'll say, nah,

man, that's tough. I'll say slightly, slightly less. Not by much. It would be very, very close. Who's been this in

forever, man? You could be right. I honestly do not. There's a, yeah, there's a big chunk of the current UFC

fan base that probably has never seen Kamar Rusman fight or win certainly what i would say there's a giant so there's a big generational core of the fan base who have never seen him win but the same time but we say that but also i figure i think there's even a bigger chunk that haven't seen stepe ever win a fight and of course that's definitely true i mean that's just it's just a weird situation we're continually back in, it seems like we just, yeah, like, look at the way, look at the way the UFC is promoting that fight. They have to reteach who steepe is to the fan base. All these promotional packages are just listing accolades of things he accomplished. You don't see that for like any other promotion. They have to do it this way. We're seeing highlight rules with the pre-rebok

outfits. You know, that's it. We're going back. I am actually going to say Usman sells better than Belaw because, Casey, one, highlight reels. Usman has a highlight reel that you can put on a promotional package, whereas Ballal is much more limited in that respect. Usman was championed for a long time so you can get some of that kind of older, not as engaged, who maybe don't even know he's not champion right now, frankly. And kind of most importantly, you can just sell that fight be like in the same way like, hey, gosh, Shavkarakmanov, 18 and 18 finishes. Kamar Usman, one of the greatest fighters of all time, the longest unbeaten streak in UFC history

and just kind of hit those promotional bins in a way that Ballal is just not bringing to the table. I would guess. I'm not certain in any way. Usman sells more. Is there any discussion of Leon Edwards out there? Didn't even think of it, honestly. Leon Edwards, Shafcott? It's a good call.

actually. Yeah, I did not remotely cross my mind, but not a bad idea. Nope. Not a bad idea at all. All right. Only negative to that is if Leon wins, then you have to do Leon Ballal again. And that is not my happy place. So, but it could happen.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to do that. Okay. You can imagine Leon beat Chopcott on short notes, like super short notes? Oh, man. I mean, I don't know. All right. Thank you. Thank you much.

One more super chat. All right. Tanvir. Colby has gotten title shots from Wins off Woodley and Mazadol, who are much older and on a downside. Anyway, he weasels his way to a title shot off a loss due to his and Dana's MAGA connection. I think I'd say yes. No way. It took this way too long.

No way. It took us way too long. I had to think hard, but I just, I can't do it. Can't say that it would happen. I think it took a too long to say no way. It's a firm. It's a firm no. It's a firm now.

Why the hesitation? Why the hesitation? Because Dan has a curious love of Colby Covington. So why is it a firm no if his curious love? because there's just eight other people that seem more fit. Yeah. If they announce, if they announce Kamara Usman right now,

people would be like, okay, I don't love it, but it's, I like it. It's good enough. Usen's a former champion. He step it up.

Just like you did the Hamzaat thing. Like, this is, this is cool. Fine. If it's Leon, all right. Dude,

just, had a couple title defenses and now he's back in it. If it's Gary, dude's on a good run. If it's JDM, yeah, dude's on a good run.

If it's Colby, there will be backlash to no end. And the UFC knows it. That fight with Leon was real bad. It was real, real bad. And I know he was hurt. I know he got dinged up in that fight.

But it was bad. It was just a really bad fight. And I think people are kind of, I'm not done with him, but they are, they've, they've moved on from Colby, which is kind of weird to say. They've completely moved on from him. Here's why it's a no, Casey. Okay. It's too far out.

There's too much time. The answer is possible if this was a couple of weeks and Colby just said, yes, I'll make way I'll be there. Sure. There were five, six weeks out from 310. there's enough time to get people who will say yes over him. And for as much as a lot of this is true, Colby has never fought for a belt awful loss. They were not, they were uninspiring wins at times and a big long layoff, but this would be a big long layoff and a awful loss.

And oh, by the way, Colby has one win over a currently employed UFC fighter, and I use currently employed loosely because I don't really know if Raphael de Zandros is ever going to fight again. So like I just if this were closer, you could tell me anything could happen because at that point it's who can make weight, who will show up, who can maybe juice us down the stretch in the last week or two of this. This far out, I think it's not possible. Yeah, fair. But I think this is worthy to ask though. Yeah, it's a reasonable question.

It's reasonable. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you. All right. We just got a super chat in. Let me make sure.

All right, here we go. Super chat from chat. Jones versus Alex is a lose, lose, in my opinion. Alex wins and Joan loses his O. He's already lost his O, by the way. Jones wins and Alex doesn't look so terrifying. Yes, Izzy beat him, but he was killing himself to get to 185. John Jones has a loss, guys.

It's in the books as a loss. It's a DQ, but it is a loss. You might not know that from half of the commercial that says undefeated before then showing his record as with a loss. This is one of my favorite things that's happened this year. Undefeated John Jones, 27 and 1.

I don't think you know what that word means. It's not a lose, lose, though. It's not. Jones is pretty much out the door anyways. If he stays around, he's to fight Alex. Alex has so much aura right now that losing to John won't.

It would be fine. Like, he lost, he lost Izzy. And like you say, yes, Izzy beat him, but he was killing himself to get to 185. Yeah, John beat him, but he's the greatest fighter of all time, and it was a heavyweight.

Like, it will not, uh, I, again, I think there's clear downside for Jones. If you lose to Alex, it's funny as hell. But,

uh, clear upside on both. I think it's, the lose, lose of this is that this fight shouldn't happen because Tom Aspinall is the true heavyweight champion of the world. But that's a, nobody cares about that. So that's fine.

It was interesting. You mentioned that Alex, if he loses, it doesn't hurt his aura or whatever. I just, just real quick, has anyone ever come back as well as Alex Pereira in terms of being on the wrong end of a knockout of the year? I can't think of anyone. Knock out of the year. and have come back to be. By the end of the year, he was the champion of a different weight class. I was thinking, oh, one of John's just smokes at Pereira, but I'm like, oh, he's fine.

He'll probably be by end of 2025, he'll be like four division champ. I don't know. He was, he was very nearly the fighter of the year in a year in which he was the recipient of the knockout of the year. I don't know that that will ever happen to ever happen. ever it is wild yeah he's he's a he's a he's a unicorn man yeah uh thank you uh chat all right jake see just make shopcott versus gary i don't think gary is ready but throw him into the deep and see what happens ready how like ready wait wise or for a guy like shop as a yeah i assume that that's how he means as a yeah i assume that that's how he means this

When are you ready for Shafkat? I don't think anyone who weighs 170 pounds or less is ready for Shavcott. So Gary is in fine company with the rest of the planet. Is the law ready for Shafkat? I don't know. Yeah. I do think that Shavkot would absolutely annihilate he and Gary, though. Interesting.

Who don't you think Shafat would annihilate? I don't think he will annihilate Kamar Usman. I think he will win, but I think Uzman presents a very difficult fight for him. him. More difficult than wrong. I kind of think, yes. Oh, interesting. Ballal does not bring enough offense to bear in a way that I think will match up against

Shavkat. He's just not, like, Ousman can at least do that. Like he's, like I said, I think he'll lose. I don't think he will get run over in the same way. I think Shavka. I think Shavka is a uniquely bad matchup for Ballah. Could be wrong, obviously. But who, like, of the current.

Walter weights right now. Sean Brady would actually be a pretty interesting fight for Shavcott. I would still pick Shovcott comfortably. Yeah. I don't really like anybody's chances at 170 right now against him. Yeah, there are all really bad fights for those people fighting this man. All right.

Thank you, Jigsie. But you could convince me Gilbert Burns could be scrappy. But a previous. Burns is too old and washed. Yeah, he got, yeah, he got clobbered by JDM and then got, yeah, just kind of dusted up by Sean Brady over 25 minutes. But they did announce, if, if they did announce Shafcott, Gary interim title. But that's, I think it's.

I got no issues with that at all. Yeah, that'd be a good fight. Yeah, I think it's more, more. There's a story there. Yeah. And Ian Gary deserves it. And that's the thing, like, I think that he will lose, but he deserves his day in court. or whatever, the chance to prove me wrong,

I'm wrong all the time. So, like, I just think it will go poorly for him. But that's, yeah, but that's, that's, yeah, exactly, but that goes, the fight goes poorly for half the fighters on every card. That's all. I mean, so, you know, so, yeah, I want to, that'll be cool. That'll be cool. That's all.

All right. Thank you much. Yeah, I think the time, the time frame probably works out great, because if I were the UFC and if I was Ian Carey, I would be trying to headline the Tampa card. That's what I would be trying to. to do, whether it be against Usman, which I actually would have

love that. Do Gary versus Usman is the main event of Tampa or JDM if he's available or whoever. Sean Brady, that's not a bad one to headline that card. Like Buckley. That would actually be a very good fight.

Yeah. So, I mean, if it's, what's that, a week after? Push him back. We'll see. I think it's one week after, yes. But I would be totally fine with that. fight. Do you guys think Shemayev can make 170 again and we can

do Hamzot versus Shavkat? Do it for the interim middleweight title. Can we create a 180 pound weight class for the two of them? Yes, of course we can. That could be for the interim BMF title. That fight would be disgusting.

That's a player. 180 Shafcott Shemot versus Shemite. It's time yet. Sign me yet. John Shin, any updates on the UFC Tampa main event? No idea. I know the reports are out that it was going to be Song versus Umar,

but as we tell you, all the time, friends, the golden rule, if it ain't on MAAfighting.com, it's not real. It's not a thing. And that is not a thing. That fight might, that fight may happen. But it doesn't seem like it's right this. So from what I was told And when this report initially came out

Is that being discussed And then I was told by I mean it's already out there in another interview Uri Fabor told me that if the fight happens It's happening January in L.A. Wasn't happening in Tampa And then Uriah told Helen Yeh That like a week later or something doing an interview with her

The fight just doesn't make any sense And if Marab can fight in like March didn't just hold him until March. Like, what are we doing? Omar won't fight in March. I'm almost certain of that. It's Ramadan.

Oh, yeah. Or whenever. April day. That's the issue with the Ballal thing, too. Like, I know Bulla has fought and trained during Ramadan, but I got to imagine you don't want to do that with a title. He's trained in Ramadan. He hasn't fought.

Yeah. It's not fought. Yeah. And like, I just don't think you want to do that when you were the champion either. So it's because Ramadan's like end of February through March this year. It's basically like the full month of March. for next year. They got to figure that out.

They got to figure that out pretty quick. I mean, that card is, that card is less than two months away. Seven weeks away or whatever. Seven weeks away, we don't have a main event. Is there, let me see what we got currently.

I was just looking at it. You could put some of that stuff up there and it wouldn't be awful. Yeah. Like Amanda Hebas, Mackenzie Dern. I mean, that's probably the main event, if you're taking one of those fights.

right. Jacoby Vitor Petrino. That's an Apex main event, not really a Tampa main event. It's the best. It's probably the fight with the two most recognizable names on the card. Tracy Cortez, Brandon Maverick, Medalcott, Bruno Silva's Fun, but it's not a main event. Cubs Swanson, Billy Q, Michael Johnson, Almanazitart,

Daniel Marcos, Adrian Yannis, Pierre Rodriguez, Josephine Knudsen, Navajo Sterling, Tuko Tokos, Davao Tavariz, Jackar Close, Joel Alvarez, Sean Woodson, Fernando Padilla. Mike, we need to go to Tampa and do a swing rounds in Tampa. We need to do a swing rounds, a live BTL, all the things. Let's do it. Let's put it on the books. All the things.

Yeah, they have 12 fights in no main event. So hopefully we get that announcement soon. Alex Perey could fight at 310 and then turn around to fight in Tampa. Yeah, just haven't fight them fight. like two fly weights. That'd be awesome. Thank you. It would be my first UFC event attended. Awesome.

Enjoy. Yeah. Going to live UFC events are fun. It's a good experience. I think you need to go once. You're far too jaded at this point in time, Casey. No, but I'm like most sporting events, I'm like, you get a better view at home. I mean, just being on it.

It's definitely cool to go for one time. Absolutely is good to go to one time. Yeah. Yeah. I would not travel. travel around and go to every UFC event but for like work and stuff but going to them is fun you will have a good time yeah yeah for as much shit as i give the USC about many things that they deserve it uh production wise they they got it down man their live production is pretty close to seamless uh yeah for yeah in in the states

for sure yeah i said well i've never been to a uc event abroad so i cannot speak to that well i i'm Just other promotions. Oh, well, yeah. Any, I mean, basically every other promotion I've been to is varying levels of okay. Yeah. The UFC is always rock solid. Yeah. As far as like American promotions, they are by far the best live event experience in terms of cage fighting.

There's a reason they've had success. Yes, yes. All right. This is a good one. As pants putting together a most underappreciated title reign, His fights are usually wars reasonably entertaining and he's down to clown with anyone. Really, Jed, as an allegation supporter?

Sure is. I made this case on the rankings. Well, maybe not this exact case, but a similar case on the rankings program of just like people underestimate him. Like, he's not really in the pound-for-pound debate. And there are credible reasons for that, but, like, he has more wins over currently ranked fighter

than any other champion does. He's got like 10 of them. All of his performances are fun. Some of them are like outright wars. I believe he's won a performance bonus in like his last four fights or something. Or maybe that was prior to Steve Ursaig because I don't think that fight got anything. It was a fun, very fun fight. It was a fun fight.

But, you know, just not there. But like he is very quietly a guaranteed good time. Like I have never been like Brandon Royval or not Breyer. Brandon Revol. Alhantra Pantosha is fighting Brandon Reval or Alander Pantosia is fighting Steve Erseg and whatever. It's like, I am going to get my money's worth for 25 minutes or less when he steps in and he's doing it as a champion. Pants deserves all the love in the world. Quincidentally enough, I'll be speaking to Mr. Pants in about an hour and 45 minutes. So, stay tuned to that. El Pantelones. Yeah. More people should really like Pantosia.

because he's the second greatest flyweight ever. He's up there for sure. And I haven't. No one's ever chasing down the greatest flyweight ever. So like when you're number two, that's pretty good. That's very good. Like, nobody's ever getting to Demetrius. So you're playing for two and he got there.

All right. We've gone for hour five. How long? What do we got? You want to get it some more? I think it's like one or two more, I think. We got him. Let me check.

You can go on or two more. I'm just a work. The UFC adminsent. I'll do whatever you guys say. It's all right. That's an interesting question. Actually, Mike, Moustache and Banana. How many UFC events have you been to?

Casey's been to a billion of them. I've been a billion. Yeah. Too many to count. I would tell you, though. 20? Yeah. Best live experience, though, was UFC Dublin.

best live experience that would have been fun as hell yeah for you let's see yeah uh and to I went to the first UFC pay review

in Boston that was Frankie Edgar BJ Penn 2 that was also the infamous Randy Coutor James Tony fight

uh what a fight what a fight it was I went to all of the fight nights in Boston as a fan Connor McGregor versus Dennis Seaver

Chale Sunnan versus Shogun and Dominic Cruz versus T.J. Dillishaw went to all three of those as fans. Covered the other Boston cards 220,

2902, the weird Friday October card headlined by Chris Wydman and Dominic Reyes. That was my NBA fighting debut.

was that card actually. Did Preview and Post Show with Jose that week. That was fun. And then I'd say like 14 or 15 UFC events I've been to live, whether covering them or attending them. I've been to like a lot of the weirder shit more than the UFC cards. Like when I started at Mayfiting, I was doing like the weird triller boxing cards, the Jake Paul cards.

Hell yeah. The weird Bellator cards. Like those Paul Ben Ascram, baby, I was there. Me and 10 people. Yeah, BKFC 19 is still the best event I've ever covered. I mean, it's like not even close. That was a good time.

That was the Paige Van Zant, Rachel Ostovich, BKFC card in Tampa. What a fucking time that was. Great, great week. Great week. I've only been to one as a fan. It was UFC 143. It's Condit Nick Diaz, intern,

belt because I was living in Vegas at the time had to go love to support my boy Carlos I went to a WEC as a fan which was fun as hell and I've been to a bunch to cover them those are all credentials for me covering stuff probably 20 something in that age go to like a lot of the fight in the southeast I would drive only enough too I went to UFC 103 and Dallas because I guess a family in Dallas and there were rumors that Brock Lesnar was going to fight Fadour at that event.

There are like true rumblings that that was going to happen and that didn't happen. We got the UFC debut for Rich Franklin. And I believe that was the UFC was the UFC. Was that the UFC debut of Mirker Crowcop?

No. He fought. He fought a job. He fought JDS. It was not his debut. His debut was like 70 something. It was Irish Jake O'Brien. That's right.

That's right. You know, you know, my first major MMA event I ever went to? K1 Dynamite in Los Angeles, Broccoli versus the guy that replaced Hungman Choi. I mean, that's pretty fun, though. Dude.

That is fun. That was, you had to be there. It was unreal. It was unreal. And it was a great card. And I had no idea what I was watching because at that point, it was literally just, it was, MMA was just a job. And I was hired to do the promo and kind of countdown shows for that.

So I did a lot of. I edited the Brock Lesnar kind of countdown show and things like that. So we got tickets to the event. So I just went and amazing. That's how you became a lifelong Brock Lesnar fan. I've always said that about you, Casey. You're the biggest Brock Leszner guy I know. I had no, at the time, I had no idea who he was.

I was like, oh, people tell me he's a wrestler. That's all I knew when I went to that event. I thought you liked pro wrestling. Did you like come to round to per wrestling afterwards? I missed that whole. I kind of got out of it from like around 20 to age 20 to 35. just doing life. That's a good time to get out of it.

Yeah. So I missed the whole attitude era and the NWO and all that stuff when it kind of, that's why I really enjoyed actually watching the Mr. McMahon documentary. I was like, oh, this is a big chunk of WWE. I don't have a wonderful time watching that thing. Yeah. Good, good documentary. Oh, I'm going to go and recommend this right now because it's on Netflix,

Queen of the Villains. It's a Japanese show about BMO pro wrestling. It's the drama or dromedy is excellent. It's very authentic. You want to learn a lot about Japanese pro wrestling, especially female pro wrestling. Queen of the villains on Netflix. It's amazing.

Okay. Anything else? Oh, we got a couple of four, Jed. Good. Okay, yeah. Go. Jed, are you queen bee or just a worker bee? Just a worker bee.

You know, just out here droning on doing my tasks, pollinating things, whatever else it is that bees do. Save the bees, though, guys. Jed, don't bumble your words. You're sweating. That hoodie looks warm. It is warm. It's not a hoodie.

It's actually like, you know, I guess it's functionally worked as a hoodie. But yeah, it's hot in here. I'm not going to pretend. As soon as we are off air, this will be removed from my body. And then I'm going like, I got to, you know, do trick-or-treaters tonight. So I'll put it back on whenever kids are coming around. Yes, Jed, I've been wondering, if you were a flower, what kind of flower would you be? I mean, exceptional work lazy bed, I'm here for all of this.

What kind of a flower would I be? I don't know that many flowers, honestly. I'm not up on my flower game. I like a lily, so I'll just choose that an orchid. Who doesn't love a nice orchid? Magnolias. All right. Would it be easier down?

Like daffodils? Genuinely have no clue. This is my first day as a bee. I haven't gotten all the literature on what I'm supposed to do. I got to say our flower game is not very good. My flower game is demonstrably weak. Yeah. But that's what I'm going to learn more now that that's my job.

Jed YU Yellow from Achilles Jr. I learned from John Jones. He's my hero. And so I, I just, I learned it from him. Right. And I thought this out at all,

I would have gotten a chicken outfit instead. And that would have obviously made a lot more sense for my brand. But, uh, this was fun and cost $10. Maybe for the preview show for, for a time. Three,

10. Yeah. Ooh. Okay. Are we done? I think we're done. Okay. Hit the music.

Don't forget, we will have a UFC Edmonton preview show tomorrow. Speaking of a card that's flying under the radar, that one is certainly flying under the radar. Brandon Moreno. Ah! Brandon Moreno versus Amir Al-Basi, Rose W. Utis versus Aaron Blanchfield, Derek Lewis versus Janata Denise,

and all sorts of fun stuff. So we'll preview show tomorrow, getting you ready for that. then that will happen this weekend. It's the roads of Vegas. UFC Apex, UFC Vegas 100, and then the road to MSG and Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. So for Casey, for Jed, I have Mike back next week. Good night, everybody.

Love you all. This has been Between the Links, an MMAT fighting production on the Vox Media Network.