MMA Fighting - BTL | Belal Muhammad stuns Leon Edwards, Tom Aspinall is HIM, UFC 304 fallout, and UFC Abu Dhabi

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

At UFC 304, Belal Muhammad made the MMA world eat crow, upsetting Leon Edwards to claim the welterweight title in the main event. in the co-main event, Tom Aspinall continued to stake his claim as the true best heavyweight on Earth with another 60-second demolition, this time of former foe Curtis Blaydes. Plus the rest of UFC 304 had some wild stuff happen as well. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discuss Muhammad’s big win, where Edwards goes from here, and whether Tom Aspinall or Jon Jones is the true No. 1 heavyweight in the world. Additionally, topics include Paddy Pimblett getting ranked, Muhammad Mokaev getting let go, and this weekend’s UFC Abu Dhabi card, plus more. Host Mike Heck is out this week so the most decorated combatant in BTL history, Jed Meshew, steps in to moderate the matchup between two of MMA Fighting’s own, Alexander K. Lee and New York Ric. Show goes LIVE Thursday at a special start time of 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT. Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow Eric Jackman: @NewYorkRic Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the Nissan Black Friday event where you can... Wait, wait. Isn't it like a month long now? Nissan Black Friday Month? Does that work? It's the Nissan Black Friday Month event. On remaining 2025 Rogan Centra, get 0% financing. Plus, get $1,000 Nissan bonus on kicks models.

This Black Friday, you've got a whole month to catch all the exclusive offers waiting for you. See your local Nissan dealer or nisson.ca for details. Conditions apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... Everybody, it's not Mike Heck. Oh, as I just launched my camera across the room, I'm so excited.

I'm Jedmishu, guys, and it's between the links. That's right. Mike Heck is on vacation, well-earned vacation, doing stuff with the family. I talked to him last week. He was like, hey, I'm going to be out. You want the reins. Of course,

as the most winningest competitor in BTL history felt right for me to take over because we got a lot to talk about guys. UFC 304 is in the books. There's a new champion. You are forced to remember his name. And we'll talk about Bilal Muhammad.

We'll talk about Tommy Aspinall. We'll talk about the week ahead because we got a lot of action in combat sports this weekend. But first, let me introduce this week's competitor because as I am no longer in the combat booth, I brought in two of my favorite is just people.

And the first one, of course, is Mike Heck's very own best friend, Alexander Cayley, AKA, how you doing? Oh, it's me. It's me. Hey, guys. I am the losingest competitor in between the links history. So it's very appropriate that I'm here as Jed hosts. I'm glad I'm not going up against Jed today.

I'm looking at your list of accolades and your background. Very intimidating. Would it taken me out of the game before it even started. But I am right or wrong. Well, that is just wonderful to hear you say. And standing opposite you, a man who apparently is feeling real frisky today in the green room pre-fight. Let's call it pre-fight for the show. Getting some jabs in early, a man who has been quite busy this week, generous with his time to join us,

because he's also been a lead chair on the MMA hour. We're just everybody swapping roles this weekend in May fighting. I'm talking about New York Rick Eric Jackman. How you doing, Ricky? Yeah, thanks for having me, Jed. I have to admit, like, I feel like AK started the psychological warfare, and it wasn't me who is feeling frisky. Like, I feel like he's trying to do something here that I'm not a fan of.

And so I'd also kind of question, he said he's glad he's not facing you because you're, you know, you're so great at this and all that. Does that imply that I'm not and that he's happy to face me and feels like I'm easier opposition? The whole thing is off and I'm just not liking the vibes from A.K., who I have a lot of respect for, or you know what, had a lot of respect for? So we'll see how this goes. How's that past tense hit you, Kay? I just want to say, I apologize if New York Rick thought I was making sort of implicit message

that he wasn't a worthy opponent because it was meant to be explicit. I was trying to say very clearly that he is not a worthy opponent. So I didn't send the message strong enough. I apologize. I apologize. Apology, not accepted. Shove it. I really apologize.

Oh, I love this is entirely new Ricky energy. He's got a lot of frustration from dealing with the big seat, you know. The MMA hour chair, it's the biggest chair we got. He's, he managed it well, but you can see it's getting to him. A.K., I mean, before we get into things, are you playing hurt or are you playing injured? I've heard tell that you're here with some issues. I don't want to make excuses ever But I'm making an excuse right now guys

I got my left ear Something is up with my left ear I don't know what's going on I've been using the pool And my building a lot Some water got in there I probably was poking around With my finger like a child

Trying like oh that'll unclog it And I'd probably like Destroyed my ear drum or something So if I seem a little off Like my balance My equilibrium isn't where it could be If I'm doing a lot of Dana White Like oh what was that

I didn't understand like, then that is why. I'm just letting you know ahead of time. Nothing's going to happen. I'm fine. I'm at 95% capability right now, which is better than most 110%. So I'll be fine.

Built in excuses. Very cool. I've been swimming all summer and have no such injuries. Sounds like you're soft and trying to feather the nest. But okay, we'll keep on any tips. Do you have any advice from me on how to fix my eardrum? Man up.

Oh. Q tips don't go in the ears, AK. I know it looks like they do, but they're very clear to not do that thing. AK trying out a bold strategy of letting his opponents know when he's injured. And let's see how it works out for him, because we got a lot

to talk about this week. Obviously very U.S. 3.04 centric because we are coming off a big old pay-per-view over in Manchester, England. And we're going to start right here, fellas. And new. Belal Muhammad eats a rash of crap from everybody.

many people on this show included and then he does the damn thing. I'm not willing to say hands like Canelo, but I am willing to say this man backed up everything he was saying heading in as he pretty cleanly dominates Leon Edwards. And so, AK, because you're injured, we'll let you lead off the charge here.

What's your biggest takeaway from Bala Muhammad's upset title win and sort of where that puts the Walterweight Division? The first thing that has comes to mind, man. Bilal's just so much better than people gave him credit for. And I know, I know there's a lot of fans out there who are going to say, oh, we never thought Bilal was bad. We just didn't find him exciting. And I think that's, there's certainly a minority view there.

But I think the majority was not only is Bilal, like, not really fun to watch. There was people who were questioning, should, why is he even getting this title shot? Like, meritocracy, people value it for sure. But there was also like, it almost felt like we just had to get this one out of the way. I think there was a lot of sentiment of, okay, Bilal's won, whatever, nine, ten straight fights. He's been talking a lot. He could have gotten the title shot last year instead of Colby, but whatever.

He hasn't stopped. Leon needs someone to face in England. This is really Leon's show. Balal's just the B-side. This is a homecoming for Leon. Send the crowd home happy. People were very dismissive of Balal Muhammad's chances. And I didn't expect him to dominate the fight the way he did.

I thought my one prediction was the fight would be better than people expected as far as competitive-wise. I was kind of right, kind of wrong. It wasn't like the most entertaining fight. Like, I'll admit that. But from a drama standpoint, I thought there was plenty. Maybe the crowd in the arena wasn't quite coming off. I know they said people were leaving.

I think that has much to do with the fight happening at like five in the morning local time. Some people just probably had had it at that point. So I'm glad. I'm really glad that Bala proved a lot of people wrong. Whether you're a fan of his or not. I don't know. I'm not the biggest Bala-Mohman fan either. I'm not going to go and tell you I'm some Muhammad hipster.

who was like, oh, you never appreciated his fight with Diego Lima. That's a hidden classic. Like, I'm not going to do that. That's not true. There's plenty of Bala Muhammad fights that I certainly don't recall, other than that he had his hand raised at the end. But this goes to show, like, when you give someone who deserves a title shot, a title shot, yeah, there's a chance they might deliver.

There's a chance that they're going to create drama. There's a chance they're going to upset the apple cart and do what they've been signed to do, which is potentially win the titles. So for me, this is a big Balaamu. Muhammad redemption story. I still see people slagging on the performance. I know he grappled his way to a win. This is how a lot of people thought he was going to do it.

I don't know what people want. Did they think he was going to knock out Leo, like first round, K-O-Leon? Did they think he was just going to do a flying triangle, take out Leon in the first three rounds? Like, we all knew that wasn't going to happen. So if you knew there was a possibility of Muhammad win, this is the way it was going to go.

And it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy. I hope people aren't looking at this fight and just saying, well, Leon's takedown defense wasn't great, and his grappling defense wasn't great. And that's, that was like how Balal just, and so Balal had an easy route to victory. You watched that fight. Belaw had to work

hard for those takedowns. You had to work hard for those, to hold position. It wasn't the most like high, the riveting offense. I understand. But I think this is such a worthy win. And if people want to see, we put Balal at number five,

I think, on our pound for pound rankings. And yes, the pound for our rankings are totally effed up. If you have Balal outside the top 10, I wouldn't blame you either. But the fact that he's even in the conversation because he beat the guy who beat Kamar Usman. It just says so much. So, Balaam Muhammad, his redemption is a big takeaway. And who knows how his legacy will look if he can string together some title defenses.

But that's definitely a different conversation. Eric, A.K., sort of alluded to it a little bit in there. And kind of one of the dominant stories I've seen coming from the public off of this is, you know, just a steadfast commitment to not giving Balaal his shine. and there being a real idea that Leon lost this more than Belal won it. Do you think that's true? Is this more a man, Leon just, he was tired late in the evening, whatever, or was this Belal Mohammed, you know, having the best performance of his life and the biggest moment of his life?

Yeah, we could flatly litigate any single fight with that person won in more than that person lost it. This person came in more injured than this person came in or more hurt rather than this person came in. Like, I'm not interested in that conversation because ultimately they were subject to the same fighting at the same time, preparing for the same amount of time. And when they fought on the night, Balal Mohammed won. So I'm not one who's quick to kind of like make excuses or do the whole this guy won or girl won more than the other opponent lost or vice versa. And so no, I don't put any stock or credence into that. Balal Muhammad is a rifle champion and won on the night under. thing for Leon there. So how impressed were you with Ballal's performance in Eric? I mean, just

outside of everything you said, like just how how impressive was this for him to kind of do this despite being widely dismissed? Yeah, extremely impressed. Belal put on a performance that he needed to turn the tide of that, to now have the people that were previously detractors at least have to give him that credit, that minimum amount of credit that he is the UFC champion and he was worthy to be in that spot. And the first Leon Edwards fight where he got eye poked was not a foregone conclusion even though it was one round. He forced their hand. And he also during the fight week ratcheted up the stakes in order to capitalize on that. And I was very impressed with Bala Muhammad. that whether he's going to be a long-reigning champion, I think, remains to be seen.

And I'm not extremely confident that all of a sudden he's going to be the writing force in the Walterweight Division. But on the night and for the moment, like, rightful champion, shut up the haters and did what he needed to do to get revenge against Leon Edwards. We have to remember his name now. But you did bring me to sort of where I wanted to go next with this, which is how long does he get a rain, A.K., Like, B'all, where do we go from here? I think the broad expectation was Leon wins this, and then it's Shavkat season. Ballal winning has opened the doors. There has been some talk of Kamar Usman sliding in there.

Where does the welterweight title go next and kind of give me the path here? This so neatly fits for Shavcott to get his chance and just climb to the throne that we all assume he's waiting to claim. We're all big Shavcott guys. Jed, I think you have Shavkat as your number one welterweight after. I think you had him before UFC 304. He was your number one welterweight, if I'm not mistaken, and you kept him there. Yeah. It's hard to say, like, that if Shavkat gets the next shot, as he should,

that this is the end for Bala Muhammad's reign. So I remember I ran a poll right after, right after on our live onto the next one show, asking how many title defenses will Bilal have? And overwhelmingly, it was zero. It was, I think, 50 out of four options, zero was one of them. I think 50 something, 52% said zero title defenses. So I hate to say it because I've just been, I just did a whole screed about how Balam-Mohamed hasn't gotten the respect he deserves and how his performance should be appreciated

and what a great fighter he is and how he could build his legacy. But I think he runs into Shafkat. I think that's it. Now, to answer the question more specifically, Is this the end of, well, like, will his reign end his next fight? We don't know if the shopcott fight, like he's been sitting on the shelf. I don't know if the UFC will feel like Shavkat needs to get another fight, which is silly. But it's certainly possible that they'll just decide like, oh, Balal's not ready to fight for however, however long.

I don't know what a long break Bala wants to take. And shopcott can't just sit around. Shafkka has to fight someone. And then the UFC has screwed around a lot with their divisions. Welchewate has a history of like being in this weird spot where there's all these great fighters and all these good contenders. And then sometimes we're like, wait, why did these, why did the certain title fights happen? Why isn't this person getting a shot? We all hope that doesn't happen for Shopcott, but we've seen some chicanery in the past.

So I think Shopcott beats them. I think the only way Balal logs a title defense is if he ends up fighting someone besides shotgun for whatever reason. Shafcott's injured. Shafcott's not ready. The timing doesn't work out. And to Balaal's credit, he has said, hey, I want to fight the Jack Delamattel Madelan's. I want to fight the Ian Machado Garys.

I want to fight all these up-and-coming guys. And that's great. And I think some of these, it's a great callout because I think some of these guys are guys he could beat right now. Like maybe a year from now, he couldn't. So again, if he got like a JDM, who I think has a fight booked, if he got Ian Machado, Gary, I do think these are guys who can beat right now. That's very smart. And if you can sort of convince the matchmakers these guys should be next from a popularity standpoint,

then maybe it'll work out that way. But I am leaning towards zero title defenses for Ballal because I do think Shavka will get the title fight. Rick, what about this Kamar Usman talk? Because something I had not considered at all. And then apparently the 304 post show, the UFC's own show, was very heavily pushing the Kamauustman narrative and picked up a little bit of steam, certainly with a way more casual fan base. Where does Kamaru fit into this? How do you think this plays out? I think Shavkat will be next.

I don't know if Kamaru plays into the picture yet, but I'd be interested in a Balal versus Kamaru fight if that was what direction they wanted to go. But I much prefer Shavkat. And if Shavkat is next, then Bilal Mohammed's title reign ends there with zero title defenses definitively. Like I have no doubts in my mind that Shavkat will beat him. I have no doubts in my mind that Shavkat will beat anybody

who's currently at the top of the Walterweight Division. So rain will be over if it's Chavkat. If it's Kamaru Usman, which I don't hate or don't oppose potentially, I think that's a more intriguing fight. I think that's a closer fight for Bala, one where he might have some success. And so I'd be interested to see it. But I hope that Chavkaa gets the shot next because I think it's his time. And I imagine that he will be somebody who can rain for quite a bit.

A good opening round, fellas, very competitive. But Casey, can we have the drum roll? Because we have a winner. Because we got a lot more to talk about. UFC 304 is just beginning for us. The first round goes to Alexander K. Lee. Pretty clearly, Kamal Usman hasn't won a fight since Stipe's won a fight, basically. This man shouldn't be fighting for the belt.

I don't care. A.K. coming out swinging. He's hurt. He's not injured. He's ready to go. And we're ready to go. We got a zip through it. We got a lot to talk about.

And the next big thing, Ricky, you're going to love this topic, baby. Still UFC 304, the co-made event, arguably the main event for many people, certainly with the fans filtering out as Leon Edwards was on his way to take in that L. Tommy Aspinall, Aspinall, Tommy Aspinall, 60 seconds is all it takes for him to get his revenge on Curtis Blades, avenging the loss that, you know, came from a freak injury. and reestablishing himself as one of the very, very, very best heavyweights in the world, the UFC interim heavyweight champion.

Rick, we are going to start with you. And the question is this. It's your favorite question. We've talked about it a lot. Is Tom Aspinall the best heavyweight in the UFC and or is Tom Aspinall the best heavyweight in the world? Probably. I'm willing to go with you that Tom Aspinall is probably the best heavyweight in the world. probably the best heavyweight in the UFC by default, right?

If he's the best in the world, he would also be the best in the UFC. But I'm not 100% sure because I do think somebody as accomplished as John Jones, the goat of our sport and the rightful UFC champion, the reigning UFC champion, would potentially be a fight that needs to be settled. That's a fight that we need to see and have John versus Tom. So until I see evidence to the contrary, I am willing to go along with Tom is the best heavyweight in the world and the best heavyweight in the UFC. But I do think there are people who could potentially pose problems for him, among them John Jones, Francis Inganu. Is there a lot more after that?

Not much. I was very excited to hear where you went after those. Yeah, those are the two names that I'd be interested in seeing. I think Francis with the power is always a concern for. anybody and I think John just being as well-rounded as he is and the goat is a fight worth having but John, I will be honest with my assessment. John has not done anything outside of the Cyril Gaon fight and so what in the time since then Tom has done quite a bit. It would be hard for me to sit on the one fight against somebody who I've never rated that highly in Cyril Gaon

and say, okay, this was it and now he's the best heavyweight for ever and ever and ever. So, no, Tom, I'm willing to say probably he's the best, but I think unless he fights Francis or John, we won't know definitively. AK, what about you? Was this enough to put Tom Aspinall over the edge as the clear top heavyweight in the sport right now? Of course, of course he is.

But, but, Francis and Gano is out there, guys, people who keep, keep an eye on the MA fighting global rankings, we'll notice Francis is not in there. We have an 18 month in activity rule, 18 months having to have competed in an MMA bout, of course, where Francis has not done since leaving the UFC. We have rumors, we have talk that he is going to fight Henan Feida, the PFL 24 season champion.

Supposedly sometime this year. That is the goal. Don Davis has been very strong about this, saying this fight will happen. Francis is under PFL contract. They have, of course, allowed him to dabble in several high-profile boxing bouts with a varying degree, wildly different degrees of success between the Tyson Fury and the Anthony Joshua fight. But supposedly, he is a PFL fighter. I don't know.

Like, if we didn't have the inactivity rule, I don't know if I would move Francis from number one. He's just, he's so good. He's so good. It's so easy to picture him beating anyone in heavyweight. Yeah, he's got a couple of losses on his record, you know. he doesn't have an unblemish record and it has been a while since we've seen him fight

but man this is the nature of the business right it's what have you done for us lately and Tommy has looked fantastic again you could easily picture him taking out Francis too maybe he uses grappling maybe he just beats him on the feet

I mean Tom Ashnell's hands have looked like absolute thunder for a guy who again entered the UFC with a pretty good reputation as a grappler he has just been smacking folks up with those myths so I would love to see him fight Francis

when Francis comes back in October, I raised this question among our staff. Is he number one if he wins? If he beats Henan Veneta, is he number one? Even though Hanan is probably nowhere near the level of prestige of a Sergei Pavlovich, of a Curtis Blades. Francis was number one when he left the rankings.

Does he deserve to have a spot back? So I do say again, right now, Aspinel number one for sure with an asterisk. But Francis is coming back. He will fight an MMA again. And I think there's a very strong case to say, that were it not for an activity, it's Francis, who was actually the number one heavyweight in M.A. Well, unfortunately, we'll never get those two to fight. That just seems deeply unlikely.

But, A.K., I want to go back to you because things happened after Tom Aspinall won. I think we all suspected that if Curtis Blades pulls off the upset, John would get them Twitter fingers that he likes to get. instead Tom has another unbelievable performance just barely breaking a sweat and John Jones tweets I don't actually have it pulled it up but he tweets a very cryptic message about the market determining things so I ask you AK does this fight get us closer is is there a real chance that John is standing up and taking notice of Tom Aspinall now and that this fight may end up being possible being something that we get down the line. There has to be.

There has to be. It has to be closer. And I say this, we have given John so much crap. And we'll continue to give John crap for sticking with this Stepey fight. But in fairness to him, Steepay wants it. Dana White, for whatever insane reason, wants it. And we have to assume other people at the UFC who are calling the shots won it. I guess this is a fight they put a lot of promotional effort into.

They like the legacy aspect of Sipay. They do feel like Stepe is a bigger name than Tom Aswanol. Although, I'll be honest, among the casual set, it's probably apples and apples. Like, I don't think either guy is that much more well-known to your average mom-and-pop sports fan. But I guess among UFC fans, sure, maybe Steve-Bes does a bigger name. But like I said earlier, this is what have you done for us lately business? And I imagine there's a ton of ton of Aston-A ethanol fans that have come out since Steve-Bay's last fight, which was like, what, 50 years ago. But I do think we're closer.

I do think we're closer. I actually, I genuinely believe if for some reason Steve A was just like, you know what, I actually can't make the fight. I've gone through a full training camp. My body just can't take it. I'm retiring. I think John would fight Tommy Ospinol. I think he would.

I just think he's been downplaying it so much because it is not the next fight for him. I hate some of the stuff John has said about why the fight doesn't make sense. A lot of it's illogical. The stats he's tried to bring up and cherry picks are like, oh, this is why I got to fight Steve A. And Tommy's not there yet. I think that stuff is so silly. But I think of the UC, again, rolled out whatever, how much they usually pay him, plus a little extra and said, Yeah, Tom's your next title fight.

Let's cement your legacy this way. Semit your legacy by beating the guy most people believe is the best heavyweight in the world right now and could be with a few more fights one of the best heavyweights ever if he's not already. How about that for your legacy, John? How about you do that? So we make fun of John a lot for being scared. I don't not think he's scared of Tom Aspinall. I just think he has a steep fight in his pocket.

Why was he bother binging up another challenger when he's focused on, with respect, this old, old, old man who was done so much, who was done so much. Not so much for the UFC for MMA for the heavyweight division. But again, why would he suddenly pivot to Tom? So I think we are closer. There's just still the question of we have no idea what's going to happen after Steve and John fight. Do we get a double retirement?

Do we get just, do we just get one of them retiring? Will John look at Alex Panetta instead? So we're closer. We're closer. Are we any, is it anywhere near guaranteed? Hell no. Hell no. There's still a very good chance we live in a world where Tom Aspinall and John

Jones never be in the cage. Ricky, I can't remember if this was the post show or pre-show stuff we were talking last week about the possibility or the probability of a Jones-aspol fight happening. And you came out and said 60%, which I was stunned by because that is vastly higher than I personally think. Like I said, I can't remember when you said that. But in light of John Jones tweeting, and I pulled up the tweet and it was supply and demand at its finest.

you know, very cryptic, very open-ended. We're very confident that John Jones knows what supply and demand is, right? Like, we know that he knew what he was saying there and that it was spot on and actually relevant to the situation 100%. That is my feeling. I am very confident that he was talking about this situation. I am not confident that he has a basic economics degree. But that's neither you there, Rick. The question for you, similar to AK, with this new information, having some data,

to rest on it. Do you still say 60%? Where are you at in thinking that this fight can be something we get after the elder abuse that will take place in November? All due respect to the question. I love you. I appreciate you for hosting this. I'm so bored of reading Tom's responses and John's responses and everybody coming to

some kind of conclusion of, okay, now we're more likely to get the fight. When in actuality, none of that is relevant at all. Tom will fight John and John will fight Tom. And the only one who has the keys to this fight is the UFC. If they pay John Jones appropriately, he will fight Tom Aspinall. It is the same scenario that we had with Francis and Ghanu. It is not a Francis thing. It is not a John thing.

And the people who continue to kind of make this a John scared of Tom or Tom's on a different path than John. And when the time is right, it's bullshit. it. The UFC, if they wanted to make Tom fight John, they could have, but instead they chose Steepi Miochich. And what that is broadcasting to John Jones is, we're not interested in this fight. And what that really means, if John is intelligent and I believe him to be, is we're not willing to pay you and Tom Aspen all the amount of money it takes to make this fight. So if you're John Jones, why would you start making all these proclamations? I want to fight Tom, blah, blah, blah. They're not going to pay for it. And they have told you as much by booking you against Depe Miochich.

There isn't a scenario where this happens where if Tom and John just wanted enough, because Tom and John and Francis wanted enough and the UFC was not willing to pay for it. That's it. The buck begins and stops with the UFC. If the UFC opens their pocketbook and wants to pay for this fight, it will happen. Until that day, it's useless to continue to go round and around and around talking about, well, John said this. And Tom said this.

It's meaningless. It's meaningless. The day the UFC decides that this fight is big. enough and they want to pay for it, it will happen. It will be booked and John Jones will fight Tom Aspinall. That's it. And until then, I'm out on the nonsense. I just don't want to talk about it anymore.

Eric, I regret to inform you that speculation and nonsense is pretty much exclusively what we do here at this show. But that's okay. You have your feelings and you have them in your chest. I have feelings and I'm not going to share them. But I do really want to find out your feelings, AK, on a. another side of this because obviously Tom John, that's the big story out of this fight. We got to talk for a second about my guy, Curtis Blades.

I was, you know, been holding a Curtis Blades as the future heavyweight champion ticket for like six years. Comes out, gets iced in 60 seconds, doesn't even shoot a takedown, much less complete one, which I obviously wagered on, AK, is Curtis Blades ever going to figure this thing out? I'm looking at his age now. Curtis 33. That's young. It's super young for heavyweight. He's got some of years on him, 10 years.

But again, like you said, for heavyweight, 10 years could just be the start of your career as a heavyweight. That's 10 good. That's just 10 years of seasoning. But it's, you know, he's had to do some wrestling before. There's a lot of wear and turn this big man's body. And more than that, we just frankly have seen his results in high-profile fights. it's not just Tom Aspinall. It's not just Francine Ghanu.

You got clocked by Sergey Pavlovich. He got clocked by Derek Lewis, right? There's flaws to his stand-up game, as much as it has improved. There's probably flaws to his wrestling game, too. Like at this level, maybe he just cannot wrestle his way to a title, to an interim title, even. It's a shame to say because this isn't how he should be remembered. I don't want him just being this guy. I was like, oh, Curtis never won the big one.

Because Curtis has won a lot of big fights. He just has never won the biggest possible fights you can to have gold around your waist and really have that substantial title of, oh, I'm the number one heavyweight. He's not even the number two heavyweight. But he has been one of the best heavyweights of his generation. And that's worth something. And he's not done. He's not done.

I feel, again, we shouldn't be eulogizing him because he's going to have more fights after this. Like we said, 33, pretty young. He's had a few knocks, that's for sure. It's not a guy I would want to see fighting past 35. But at heavyweight, you certainly can, whether it's in the UFC or not. there's other promotions that would love a big talented guy like him. A guy who's a good personality too, seems like always has been very professional. But unfortunately, all of that does not add up to being a UFC champion.

And that is his goal. That is the goal for so many fighters. So, yes, we have pretty much seen what we're going to get with Curtis Blades, a guy who's going to win more fights than he loses. But those losses are the ones that are going to stick for a long time, unfortunately. Your business doesn't move in a straight line. Make sure your team is taken care of through every twist and turn with Canada Life savings, retirement, and benefits plans. Whether you want to grow your team, support your employees at every stage, or build a workplace people want to be a part of.

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See golden nuggetcasino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Eric, I've got Curtis Blades' statement after the fight here. I want to read this to you. I'm sure you've seen it, but just in case you have it. Or is a refresher for those with us. Sorry, guys, I got greedy when I touched him early and I threw out the amazing game plan my coaches came up with.

That would have worked, I'm sure of it. No excuses. Tom was on point tonight. I know this isn't the end of my journey, but damn it, I know I'm better than tonight's performance. How are we feeling about Curtis Blades, you know, being very frank, saying the plan was not to come out and throw hands with this dude who is faster and hits harder than I am? Where are we out with Curtis Blades and what he can be at heavyweight? He is what he can be.

He is the guy who is the second to everybody who has insane power in the heavyweight division, right? He's the guy who probably can out wrestle most people, but when he decides to throw hands, he doesn't. decides to throw hands against guys who have nuclear power. And he pays the consequences for that in Derek Lewis, Francis Inganu, who else? Who else is Keotum? Tom Aspinall. Sergei Pavlovich. It is his calling card. It is, I'm going to stand entirely too long with guys who have nuclear power and get knocked out.

If he decides one day to change that, I actually believe he could ultimately like get back to the top somehow, get back to a position where. he might be knocking on the door of a title opportunity again. But that is what he is. And I think there's a, you know, maybe psychologically there's a fear that he feels like he's not well-rounded enough and the wrestling part of it. If that fails, I need to have the hands, right? But ultimately, he's putting himself in position to fail by testing the hands when he could be doing the wrestling. And so, yeah, I'm not hopeful that he's going to be a champion, but I think he's as talented enough to be a champion.

I think he has the skills to be a champion, but he is making critical mistakes at a time when you cannot. Against guys in the heavyweight division who everybody has power, but particularly the guys that he's facing and deciding to throw hands with. So not hopeful that he would be a champion, but every bit of me believes that he had the talent to be a champion. Curtis Blades has officially shot one takedown in his last five belts. Not great, Bob.

This is not what you want from this young man But he's 33 Maybe he'll put it together Hopefully you will But we still have other things to talk about UFC 304 So it's time to give another point away The point for round two goes to Alexander K Lee

It's a 2O lead Because AK didn't disrespect The entire purpose of this program By saying we're all just talking and it's useless. Can I just say, can I just say open scoring is so great. New York,

you know, I love open scoring, huge advocate for it. Yeah, it's the best. And I just know the great thing is I just know I can cruise now. I'm just going to cruise. Like I'm up to him. Like, I don't even have to,

all I need is one of the last, this is great, open scoring. Love it. It's a great point. It's a great point. This is an Oscar Day, La Jolla situation for our boy here. Still a couple of other things I want to get to sort of the odds and ends of 304 before we move on to another topic.

And so the biggest thing, we're going to kind of bounce around a bit. But Patty Pimlet, you know, comes in, talks a lot of trash, dominates King Green, first round submission, beautiful transitions all the way through. And now is ranked in the UFC. I didn't actually look at our rankings update after I put my scores in AK. Did Mr. Pimlet get himself a ranking? He didn't make it. leading fighter also receiving votes, leading Farr, I believe he appeared on half, four out of seven ballots. So he's like, he's close. He's real close to being ranked. And I am, I can promise all of you,

he was not on any ballots prior to this. So, uh, a sensational performance from Patty Pimble. And Eric, let's start with you, because I think we started with AK last round. Uh, what did this do for you? Yeah, you would have started with AK last round. You're biased against the man. Yeah. We're, look, we're going to put that bias down because we're going to talk about. about Patty Pimblit and what he can be at lightweight. Still a young man, obviously very popular. Ricky, what did this win do for you in sort of assessing who Patty Pimbley is as a fighter? It didn't do, you know, anything monumental because ultimately, like, Bobby Green put himself

in a bad position, right? And Patti Pimbley capitalized on that. So it wasn't a situation where if you told me that Bobby Green did this, I would not have been shocked, right? If you told me that Bobby Green, rather, I would not have been shocked with the result. If you told me that Bobby Green, instead of staying on the outside and throwing hands with Patty, shot in for a takedown, I would tell you that, yeah, I think Paddy's going to have a real good chance there and be successful. So it wasn't like a shocking result where I all of a sudden raised Patty Pimbleau.

But what I continue to feel about Patty Pimbleau is like there's a real skill limit, right? I don't ultimately think he's a championship fighter. But what he is is somebody who in the brightest moments and the biggest moments is not. going to be overwhelmed by the occasion. He is, he is a star for lack of a better word. And somebody who when the stakes and the attention and everything is ratcheted up, he is always going to perform. And so that's valuable, right? Because the stakes are only going to continue to get ratcheted up from here. And you can't say that. There are guys who are going to be more skilled that may not be ready for the stage that they're at. And Patty is going to be ready. And he might

find them at the right time and be able to succeed against them because of that. So it raises my ceiling, but ever so slightly, because ultimately I do feel like there is a skill gap between the top of the division that he is not going to be able to overcome. But there will be times where opponents will be overwhelmed by the moment and make mistakes, and he will be ready for that. And I think he can have success there. So it didn't make me think all of a sudden Patty is a championship fighter. But man, it does make me believe that in any of these fights, Patty's going to be live because he's ready for the moment in a way that very few are holistically. Like he is ready in a way that he has been groomed for this.

He has he has risen the ranks always being somebody who draws the most attention. And so not everybody can say that when they're put into that position. So slightly raised the ceiling. Don't believe that he's going to be a champion, but do believe that on any given night he's going to be prepared in a way that others might not be. AK, you have been less negative on Pimlet than a lot of people at the site have been. Not that you've been like Patti Pimlet's a future champion, but you just haven't. Some of us have been like, this guy's not very good.

Obviously, he's pretty decent, right? Like, he's done it. So what does what did this fight do for you? Kind of where do you see his ceiling at lightweight being after demolishing King Green in this fashion? Firstly, I'm not surprised that New Yorkerick's praise of Pimbleau was somewhat muted, given that Pimbleau isn't noted enemy of the MMA Hour. I just want people to know as a clear bias here. Patty Pimbley has made some dumbass comments about the show. But, you know, listen, M.A. Hour, Aira Halwani, they've never given Pimlet any love or respect, as we know.

Or money. Never put up. Yeah. Or money, apparently. Pay the man for his interviews. For God's sake. is a business. We're all trying to make money here. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. So you say the comments or dumbass comments, but yet I'm biased for my feelings on the comments.

And then secondarily, for upholding our morals and our journalistic integrity and responsibility to not pay for interviews, you are now saying that you are up for sale and compromising yourself. Is that what's happening here? Correct. That is, yes. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. That's exactly what I said. Yes. This is a shocking development. This isn't about me. We're evaluating Patty Pipp. I just want people to know that I feel like you're not giving the young man his fair shake because Patty Pimlet, all of people thought he wasn't going to have a number next to his name. He meant not in our rankings, but in the UFC rankings, which matters to him and a lot of the fans, number 15, I think, right?

Let me take a quick look here. He is number 15 in the U.S. Number 15. King Green was number 15. Paddy Pimlet, boom, gets right at it. Finish him, gets right in there, takes his spot. I'm done putting a ceiling on this guy. I'm done putting a ceiling on this guy.

yes, his level of fame, his ability to promote, his ability to go viral is certainly higher than the level of performance we've seen. No questions about that. It's not fair to compare him to Connor, because I think even with Connor, who you could say the same thing where his level of hype might have been bigger than his performances when he was coming up. His performance were still incredibly impressive. Sure, okay, whatever matchmaking was, you can say they picked out certain opponents from it. It doesn't matter. I would say he looked better in his first, whatever, four UFC fights. then Patty Pimbley has looked.

So I'm fine. I'm not comparing him to Connor. I'm not saying on that level. But I do think, even though lightweight is one of the best divisions, historically the best division in all of MMA, there's a path for this guy to get into the top five and heaven help us an actual title shot. I will draw the line certainly at saying someone's going to win,

that he's going to win the title. But we just saw a case. We just saw a case with Bala Muhammad, where I think people put a pretty firm ceiling on him and said, Balal's is like, you know, he deserves a tell shot number contender. He's not going to beat Leon.

He's not better. You know, when Balal was coming up, I don't think anyone would have said he's going to beat Kamar Usman. People probably weren't picking it in a beat like Colby Covington. We put a ceiling in Balal too. We put a ceiling on a lot of people in this business. And you can certainly like objectively

see the limitations with Paddy Pimblins game. Like I'm not, I don't mean to get all crazy here, right, and say like, Oh, well, objectively, you should say he has the tools. He needs to get better. He needs to get better. But he's gotten better in front of our eyes.

So I'm done putting a ceiling on him. So, no, Jay, I don't think we've seen the best of this young man. And him fighting for a UFC title in 2025 or early 2020, something like that, a lot of people might be surprised. Not this guy. This guy will be like, I'll be having my I told you so is ready. Well, AK, let me see if I can surprise you because some other things happened. arguably the biggest non-title thing that occurred this weekend. Mohamed Mikhail is no longer with the UFC after winning a tepid decision over Mano Kopp in a pre-limb fight.

This fight had all the headlines heading in. There was the infamous hotel brawl. They come in. They almost get in a brawl before the fight even starts. They almost get in a brawl. It weigh ends. These two dudes cannot stand each other until the moment everybody else leaves. the cage and it's just the two of them and referee whoever was Dan Movedi maybe I don't

remember who was oh oh no it was Beltram wasn't it um is in there with them and then they stared at each other for a long long time it's not a terrific fight afterwards that is the final fight of Mohama Makaya's contract at the post fight presser uccio dana white says I believe the pfl is going to get a great undefeated fighter intimating that they are not going to resign him and then it turns out that's true he is bump from the rankings he is not currently on roster with the oc so rick because a k just talked for a while let's go back to you uh what the hell happened with this what what's going on how do we feel about it yeah i've had a lot of opportunities to talk and think about this um since it happened and i'm

still baffled to a certain extent at how we arrived at this spot because for all the reasons everybody's kind of baffled by it he is a young prospect who had the look and makings of somebody who could have been a champion in the UFC. And the direction was heading there, right? Like, if, if I'm, I'm confident in saying that if he had re-signed a deal before Saturday night, which the USC typically does, the USC tries to sign you before you're on the last fight of your deal, or when you're on the last fight of your deal, they try to re-up you before you fight it out to go into free agency.

As you would want to, as a promotion, you don't want your fighters to hit free agency because they can drive the value. of themselves up and hold it against you and negotiate against you. And so them not having done that to me is a sign that like maybe they were not intending to sign him no matter what happened on Saturday night. But even having said that, I'm confident that if he had re-signed, let's say after his last fight he resigned, he'd probably be fighting Pantosia for the title. He'd probably be in a title opportunity just on the basis of Kopp and Makayev seeming like

a number one contender fight and he would be fighting for a title. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly confident, right? The other options are Tyra and Asakura, and it seems like he's a better option just because he's been in the UFC longer and is somebody with a little bit of a name. So to go from the swing of potentially fighting for a title to now not in the UFC, it's very bizarre. But when you look at the circumstances surrounding it, when you look at the fact that he's sucker punching Manel cop by his own admission during fight week, when you look at the fact that

they got into a scrap at the PI. When you look into the fact that Dana White, now this is only one side saying this, Dana White saying that the matchmakers didn't like him, which to me says like he's difficult to work with or believes he's better than he is, whatever that kind of results in, whatever that amounts to,

it adds up to somebody that the juice was not worth the squeeze, right? He is somebody who could be fighting for a title, but not a headliner, right? The flyweight title fights very rarely headline cards. and so somebody who's not going to be a huge massive pay-per-view draw for you and somebody that ultimately probably could use some seasoning outside the UFC and come back a mature person and mature fighter. So at first on its surface,

it's truly baffling because of how talented he is and because of what we have thought of him previously. But when you unpack all the things that are adding up, it made sense and it was just a timing issue. The fact that he was a free agent at that moment allowed the UFSA. to be like, we're going to wash our hands of this. And so it makes sense from that perspective. I don't like it because ultimately I think that UFC should have the ambition of keeping

the best talent in-house. And I would have liked to see him compete in the flyweight division. But maybe it will be good for him long term. Maybe he will go outside the UFC, take this as a lesson and learn and gain some maturity. And then maybe he finds himself back at the UFC because UFC like WWE is some place that you can always come back to no matter how bad the circumstances were when you left because ultimately at the end of the day it's all about the business and so yeah it's it's it's bizarre it's one of the more bizarre stories I can recall in quite a while um but when you when you look at the evidence it kind of

makes a little bit of sense Rick is right AK obviously you know Mackay have just turned 24 earlier this week in fact and you can always come home we've seen people in worse situations come back Though perhaps not this one. Mekiah did say in his post-fight interview or his post-fight press conference, the UFC told me to fight more exciting. Dana White rejected that, but, you know, they seem to be pretty far apart in where they're at. So going off kind of where Eric was, how do you feel about this decision? And do you think, Mekkaev obviously won't come back immediately?

You think there's got to be something else done there, but do you think we see him back at some point in the future? Oh, I hate the decision. I hated the decision. I hated the fight. I hate the fight. I hate Mikhail's antics. That's fine.

But I was trying to think of a precedent for a prospect of this age, of this talent level, who has had this much of a proven record of success inside the Octagon already, just being cut. I hate it. We know how the UFC works. It's not as if Mikhail is a household name. It's not as if he's some paper view headliner. He's popular. But again, again, when I tell him.

He's got a million Instagram followers. But again, I don't know. I mean, that next level of fame that the UFC is like, oh, we put this guy on a card and he's going to, he could, he could put him on a pay-per-view, not just in the main event, but like we put him on the main card of pay-per-view and he's going to pump the sales up. Like, I don't know, maybe that is the case with, well, I was to say he wasn't on the main card of 304. So there you go there. But we don't know. We don't have any hard numbers of like, oh, does he draw massive ratings for them? Does he draw, you know, just does he make money for them?

We can make an educated guest, like you said, based on social media following, based on his general popularity. But we don't know. We don't know. And the UFC clearly crunched the numbers, weighted against the cons, the many cons that seemed to have come out for the public. And they said, no, the math isn't working on this favor. He's gone. So I do hate that, but we all kind of understand why this happened now.

We've got some idea of it. Even without Mikhail's side of the story, which I'm sure we'll get. He's spoken a little bit about it, but not really gotten to the nitty-gritty. If anything, he's probably said too much. You said that the message of comments he made post-fighting. Will he be back in the UFC? this is a trick this is a trickier question I think people think I know we're all assuming he's young he goes out there he does his thing and he just comes back he'll come back with open arms more mature and hopefully for himself getting more money but he said he's so in love with the UFC that I feel like once they come calling he'll just come back for whatever they offer which is depressing but it's not a short thing guys we have seen young prospects who I think a lot of us have thought oh well they'll eventually make their way back again nowhere near his talent level of course I'm referring to people like you know a sage north cut Paige Van Zand, people like that.

Not as good as Makayev, not on paper, not in practice, but certainly more famous, and I would say much more heavily pushed by the UFC at the time. I don't think we see stage Northcut back. I think we will realize that ship has sailed. I don't think we see Paige Van Zand back. I think we realized that ship has sailed, and she's gone on to other things. Probably wouldn't want to come back anyway.

So just being young and just being talented and just having some support from the make community does not mean there's a road back. The UFC signed so many fighters now. Phil's talent so quickly that if you aren't a proven draw, nothing is guaranteed, even if you are a proven draw, nothing's guaranteed for you. So yeah, I'm going to take the pessimistic standpoint here and say, you might see Makayev just enter the wilderness of MMA.

You might see him featuring on Miss Fis a lot. I don't know what's going to go on with him. There's just a very good chance that that was it. That fight with Min al-Kat might be your last memory, your last memory of seeing Mohamed Okive fight in the UFC. I wouldn't put money on it, But I think anyone who thinks it's a guarantee that he's coming back, I think you are sorely mistaken.

There's absolutely a world where they never bring Mekiah back. As you were talking, the only fighter I could think who really fits the bill here is Kyoji. Kioji-Horoguchi left kind of an established resume of being one of the best fighters and has been doing very well for himself outside of the UFC. And he's not back. And he's not back. And he is still not back.

He's not back. Last thing on 304 before we move on to new. Just to be fair. He has broadcast that he wants to be back, but they are not interested in having him back, is the sentiment that has been out there, just, you know, to say. Sure. Same with Makayev, though, right? Makkaev is basically begging to come back at the post by person. It's a little too early for, for, hey, I just left.

Why don't you, why don't you welcome him back? Mikeyev was really getting after it on the, please don't fire me. Love that for him. Last thing on 304, though, before we move on. to new business, put this on the rearview. I gave both of you some homework for the next question, but I wanted a little pop quiz hot shot. Ricky, low-key standout.

Of all the fights we haven't talked about, who's the low-key standout from U.S.C. 304 for you? Who is the low-key standout? As it's clear, I didn't do my homework. The homework's for the next question. This is a pop quiz. You didn't see this one coming. Who is the low-key standout of U.S.

304. I don't know. I don't have a great answer. Oh, boy, I'm on the spot here. It is, it is, okay, I've got it. It is the cameraman who was in the elevator with Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards as they crossed paths because that piece of content sustained every MMA website for the entire week and kept us employed. And so that is the answer. That is the answer. The embedded cameraman that has, happened to be there that captured that moment. We all thank you. We all thank you for the content for that week and what carried us through Fight Week. Man, I thought for a second you were going Mike Beltran to just really go for it. A.K., who's the low-key standout of the people we haven't discussed for UC304? When he said, when he said cameraman, I thought he was to say the cameraman who accidentally smacked Sean Abandon's cornerman in the face patio.

I'm sorry, Patty, not Patty Pumlin, Patty Huland, yeah. Smacked him right in the face. I thought that was hilarious, and I felt so bad for Patty in the moment. I've just never seen that before. No, I'll go, I'm going with the obvious answer. I think Rick's answer is so creative and pretty accurate. Gregory Rodriguez, I feel like the UFC doesn't appreciate what they have with this guy. I joke a lot.

Well, we joke a lot about one that he looks like he's 42, not 32. And we joke a lot about him not mixing the martial arts as much as he should, because he's a great jiu-jitsu guy, but he's kind of, ever since he's come to the UFC, he's been involved in a lot of just, like, stand-up firefights. He loves his hands. But this is, to me, is that kind of the perfect mix for a mid-tier UFC guy that they can put on main cards, like, every time

and guarantee something good happening. Him and Christian Ler Duncan should have won fight of the night. Them giving an extra $100 grand to Paddy Pimel was pretty gratuitous. I would have loved seeing both these guys get, like, $100,000 check. Because now that I think about it, they should have given away $400,000 bonuses, they gave. Oh, they did.

Sorry, $200,000 to Patty and then $100,000 to Tom and Mick Parkham. But I think Gregory Rodriguez and Christian Lever Duncan got shafted there. Robocop is just so consistently exciting. He may just someday accidentally get a title shot and that's fine. But that is not why you have guys like this in the roster. You have them because they're so reliable, such reliable action fighters. I think he has a distinct look personality. I think he's marketable.

Again, not saying title fighter, not saying a main event guy. But when we talk about guys who are low-key, important to keep making cards what they are, but like making UFC cards look so deep and so exciting, that's what guys like Gregory Rodriguez do. Shout out to Christian Lerunc as well. But Rodriguez has really got a track record now. You just look at this history of UFC fights. And you're like, yeah, I remember most of these. Like, this is a real entertaining guys.

So shout out to Robocop. Shout out to Robocop. Terrific answer. Shout out to whoever used to work in ESPN's production booth and clearly got fired after they didn't broadcast. like a full minute of a round and we got some Ben Rothlisberger graphics, which I honestly. Still waiting on those miscues. I went with the miscues, the third quarter miscues. I'm still waiting. Ben Rothlisberger can't even imagine how that happened. I only didn't pick him because he was the high or her because they were the high key standout.

Oh, sure. That's why I didn't go that direction. Very high. You were the high key stand up. I would love a 30 for 30 on how Ben Rothesberger graphic gets involved in a UFC product. in the year 2024, but we'll probably never know the answer to that mystery. Good competitive round fellas. Eric, I thought you were going to throw it away at the end. But you battled back. And Casey hit me with the drums.

New York, Rick, is on the board. Strong start kind of lost it in the middle there when he didn't have an answer. But he came up and we always support creativity. We're big supporters of creativity. Keep that in mind as we move forward. to the last round of regulation. If we need a fifth round, we'll go. But, A.K., you have an opportunity to close it down.

And we're going to go to you because we're going to talk about this weekend. We have a big combat sports weekend ahead of us, boys. 304 is in the books. But U.S.A. Abu Dhabi is on tap for Saturday. Terrence Bud Crawford, getting after it on Saturday as well. And on Friday, we've got the start of the PFL playoffs. So a lot of combat sports happening this weekend, AK, let's start with the UFC, Corey Sandoagan taking on Umar and Muramegamatov in the main event,

Bantamweight title implications on the line. Let's just go here. How pumped are you for this fight? I love it, man. This is perfect matchmaking. I think people I know in the Prince of Positivity, I hope they don't think I've been overly positive this year. But generally, when we talk about matchmaking, the UFC has just nailed so many.

We can crap all we want about like, okay, maybe the cards are filled up with too many people who were just like, you know, like, you know, a borderline contenders series prospects, ultimate fighter rejects. Like, I get it. I get it. If you're watching a car from top to bottom, you're maybe not as satisfied as you were once upon time when there was less cars and it felt like there was a little more meat to these. But overall, when it comes to booking contenders, when it comes to booking notable fights,

the UFC's done a really good job. I mean, some of these fights have fallen through. That's not the UFC's fault. I think a lot of us were crossing our fingers when San Hagan and Umar was booked. I think a lot of, because this was booked a while ago. This is one of those fights that they've been pointing well in advance, as which you'd like to see, but also you're filled with dread all the time.

We're still a couple of days away, so I don't need to be acting like a super jinx here, but it is as scheduled. This is just such an awesome fight. And for me, I think there is no bad outcome for the UFC. Corey San Hagan, very popular guy, exciting fighter. If he had gotten that decision against T.J. Dillishaw all those years ago, would have an undisputed title,

fight on his resume as well as an interim title fight. So, like, this guy's been waiting a long time. You cannot feel bad if he loses to Umar. And if Umar loses, it's not like, it's not like it ruins Umar as a contender in the future. He can take a loss. Like he's just, we know how skilled he is, but we also know how good Corey San Hagan is. And if Umar loses to him, this is not exposed. This is not the derailing of a hype train.

Course San Hanging is that damn good. And on the other side of it, of course, if that Umar hype train keeps rolling, how exciting is that? This guy's so fun to watch. He's clearly, I think, one of the best fighters in the world. A lot of us say he is pretty much the best guy at 135 pounds, even if we haven't quite made the jump to ranking him number one. But it's very tempting.

It's very tempting just based on the tape, based on what you see when you watch Umar fight. So I'm a 10 out of 10, 11 out of 10 for this main event. I don't have any rooting interest either way. Like I said, we love storylines in the media. And for me, there's a bunch of storylines that can go no matter who, wins. I think the hype of an undefeated challenger is always great, but I also think a veteran finally climbed the mountain holding off a top prospect and getting his undisputed shot is also

exciting as well. 11 out of 10, mathematically insane, but I stand by it. Eric, we've just been given an 11 out of 10. I certainly want your assessment of this fight and its quality. But I also want to ask, because AK didn't touch on it too much, is this no doubt about it, title Eliminator. Is the winner of this Saturday's fight going to fight the winner of Sean O'Malley versus Mara Bollesvili next? I don't think it's a guarantee. I think they're in the, I think they're in pole position, really.

I think they're in the driver's seat and I think that there's like, it would be hard to unseat them. But I proposed to you a world where the fight is just kind of uneventful. And Davison Figurato goes out there and absolutely starches Marlon Vera. and the momentum behind Davis and Figuero fighting for the title becomes too big to ignore or the timing of it just works out where it's a better fit for Davison

or somebody, the winner of the fight in San Dagan and Umar gets injured and isn't able to go. I don't think it's a guarantee, but I definitely think they would be the prime candidate. I think they would be the one that everybody would be looking toward and deservedly so, right? Like these two have done enough. at this point. And if whoever wins this fight, I think is deserving of a title shot.

But as we know, this sport just doesn't move that way. And availability is the best ability. And if somebody's not set up to step into a spot, I could see a world where somebody else does. And I think Figuerreto is a good candidate for it, right? No matter who comes out of O'Malley and Marab, I think Figurato is somebody who's since moving to Bantinweight been really exciting and a real like injection into the arm of that division. but also somebody who like kind of knows how to talk some shit and could probably rile up some interest. So I don't think it's a guarantee, but they're certainly the front runner. We're going to circle back to the old figgy starching Cheeto Vera because I don't think anyone's physically capable of starching Cheetos there. I'd love to see that. If Figgie Colts Cheeto Vera,

just give him the belt. I don't care at that point. He's done an impossible task. That's a John Wick impossible task right there. But Rick, I do want to come back to you because how do you feel about this main event? We're not going to get your sort of breakdown. AK is on the preview show with me tomorrow. Had tip to that. You guys make sure to tune in. What do you see as being like, is this too soon for Umar?

Because that's kind of the big. Nobody is saying that because we all are very high on him. But like realistically, there is, I don't know in whether I'd use miles or light years to judge the chasm between Beskat Almecon and Corey Sandhagen, but this is a pretty big leap in competition

here. Yeah, it's a huge leap in competition, but what a lot of the fighters from Habib and Abdulmanap Nirmagamatov's kind of camp have always been is the style is more important than the level of

competition they've faced, right? The assumption that we place upon fighters from that part of the world and specifically from that camp is that the style is what the style is and as they continue to climb the ranks, the style will still be effective and they will still be able to execute what they what they intend to, what they want to do. Their will will be the one that gets imposed and we have seen it with Habib and we've seen it with Islam and we've seen it to a lesser extent even with other fighters from that camp. And so the assumption is that even though the stakes are being ratcheted up and there is that huge chasm in the

the level of competition between the two, that the style will be the thing that prevails. And ultimately, if Corey Sandhagen is not capable of rebuffing that specific skill set, rebuffing that specific style, it won't matter if he was somebody who had 10 UFC wins or somebody who had no UFC wins. Ultimately, the style makes the fight.

And because these guys are so good at implementing it, it won't matter. I think that's the one camp of it, right? That's the one assumption. Then there's the other camp that goes, nah, it isn't like that. And Corey Sanhagen is so well-rounded and so skilled and somebody who's been in the UFC so long facing high-level competition, that maybe that style isn't enough, right?

That maybe the lack of experience is something that's going to play into the fight, and Corey is going to be able to turn him back. And I think that's what makes this fight so intriguing. I am not in the camp of A.K. Lee that says 11 out of 10. I don't know which side, whether it was Sandhagen or Nirmagamadev paid him to have that opinion. As he said, he's up for sale and made that very clear earlier. I don't know which side did pay him to have an 11, but I'm relatively excited. Maybe an 8 on a scale of everything up to the best possible MMA in a pay-per-view, 7, 8, that range.

Because I am very intrigued by the matchup. And I think we will find out a lot about both fighters there. We'll find out if Corey Sanhagan is ready to make that leap that he's been on the precipice of, but not able to jump into. We'll find out about that. And we'll also find out if Umar is just the next guy, right? If he's the next Habib, if he's the next Islam, then we, Corey Sandhagan would be a great measuring stick to find that out. So I'm very intrigued by the fight. AK, speaking of Habib and the next.

Oh, by the way, it was, it was Umar's side. Just want to be clear. It was umar side. Yeah. I asked to San Hagan's side. And you know what? We're still negotiations. There's still time.

It's still time between now and Saturday to grease the wheels a little bit. Can he be afford that? He's got got some money troubles from from I may have made a mistake. I may have made a mistake. Yeah. I hope that's an escrow for you, pal. The checks in the mail, AK. The check is in the mail.

The check is in the most tough scenes. Suddenly questioning. Speaking of Habib, though, as, as, you know, I'm sorry, speaking of your benefactor, A.K., he's going to be in the corner. Habib, you know, took some time where he was explicitly not, like, not being in the corner for his amachachshed and stuff. That's changed a bit this year. He was in the corner for Machachov's title defense against Dustin Porier, and now has been reported

he will be in the corner for Umar this weekend. Does that change anything? I mean, famously Belal credits Habib with kind of. making him turn a corner and sort of ascending in his career. Habib, the coach, is exceptional, apparently. Is that the added edge that team Habib needs? Sorry, team Norma Gimedov needs to get him past Gordaughan. I mean, I don't know if it adds anything.

Umar is pretty heavily favored. Draf Kings minus 325 favorite, which is quite a ludicrous number for some of the reasons you guys outlined, especially that like the level of competition that Umar is jumping from from his previous competition because Umar is what? His biggest wins are and with respect to Beck's at Alma Khan, great fighter, but his biggest wins are maybe Howany Barcellos and Sergei Morazza,

Sergey Morazov, who I'm much higher on than most people are. So yeah, and it's a little crazy so that he was already a huge favorite. I don't know how much the Khabib Factor makes a difference. It's not going to hurt him. I mean, I can't imagine having one of the

six or seven greatest fighters in human history in your corner, not giving you a little bit of an extra boost. But I think so much of the work has been done that I don't want to call it window dressing. I don't think that's fair to Habib and the contributions that he can make as a coach and as a cornerman. Because again, I'm sure, as we're talking about at this level, where the matchup is so close, it might be that extra, let's say, let's say Habib makes Umar two percent better than he could have been without him. That 2% in a fight like this, five-rounder, it really

could make the difference, especially a fight that goes to the distance. This could be this between 48-47 Sanhagen and 48-47 Nomega-Metov. So, while I do think the fight will end inside the distance, there is a chance that it doesn't, and in that case, having Alec Habib is invaluable. So it moves the needle

a little bit for me. I can't lie. I can't lie. I am dazzled by seeing the lightweight goat in in Umar's corner. I mean, I'm always just excited to see the lightweight goat, even if, you know, whatever's happening. And a lot of other stuff's happening this weekend as well, fellas. The last thing we're going to talk to, this is where I gave you the homework and we're going to turn to it. As I mentioned at the top of this category, PFL 7, the beginnings of their playoffs.

Apparently, Liz Karmu just missed weight. So that's going to be a whole fiasco for the women's flyweight tournament. However, that gets settled. She's fighting Tyler Santos. uh, Terrence Bud Crawford defending, I don't remember if it's all his belts or just the WBO belt, uh,

against, uh, Israel Madrimov. It's going to be a, a very, very good fight. Also a really good boxing card, some, some well-known names,

some good little scraps in the undercard there. And of course, the UFC event. So, Rick, we'll start with you. You got three fights outside of the UFC main event. We're going to set that one aside because,

you know, we already talked about it. I don't want to double dip here. What are your three most anticipated fights for this weekend other than the main event of UC Abu Dhabi? Yeah. So one of them, actually two of them you just touched on. One is Terence Crawford, right?

I think Madrimov is a good opponent, but certainly to me, any time you can watch who I think is the best boxer on the planet compete, like that's an opportunity, right? That is a treat. That is a pleasure. And I have in pound for pound number one. I have for a bit. There's been some people trying to knock on the door of that. But I have Crawford.

And not only is he an all-time great, which I think is something worth noting, right? Whenever you can see an all-time great compete, that's one thing. But what takes him to a next level for me is also the actual boxing inside the ring, right? Let's use as an example, right? Floyd Mayweather, all-time great. There are many people who did not love his style, right? very defensive, not necessarily a K.O. artist. What you've got in Bud Crawford and also other Pound for Bound Grates in Inouye and Canello,

how blessed are we to have this kind of era? And even Ussick is somebody who is aggressive and mean and really wants to hurt people and put on a display that shows his dominance. I love that about Crawford. I think he's the meanest of the bunch. And I just love his style where he's walking people down and truly trying to do real physical harm to them. as the best fighter on the planet, which sometimes does not align with those things.

So I love any time I get a chance to watch Crawford. He's number one for me. Probably the fight I'm most interested of the weekend, not because the matchup is necessarily as compelling to me as possible, but because I get an opportunity to watch Blood Crawford Box. Then you touched on it when you mentioned that Liz Karmouche apparently had just missed weight. Man, Tyler Santos and Liz Karmouche is a number of, according to MMA fighting's rankings, the number five and number six flyweights,

like this is the fight of that card, no doubt. I'm looking up and down that card. And there's some compelling playoff matchups and there's some interesting fights underneath that. But the best fight, the fight between the two best fighters is that one. And so hopefully, you know, whatever happens with Karmucia situation sorted out and she is able to compete, I would hate for that to fall apart on the result of the weight miss. I believe that PFL has penalties involved in that. So we'll see how that shakes out.

But man, that that fight is one of the ones that I'm more compelled by. Liz Karmouche's late career run is just absolutely incredible. It sucks that she missed to wait. I think this is a real opportunity that unfortunately is now hampered by that. But her late career run has been incredible. And Tyler Santos has been solid since leaving UFC. So I'm very compelled by that matchup just on the basis alone of like, these are two of the best women's fly weights in the world.

And then maybe give me Marlon Vera and Davis and Figuero. I was tempted to go Tony Ferguson and Michael Kiesa, but I almost feel like let's just pretend that one's not happening. And then if Tony wins, everybody can celebrate and everybody can be like, yeah, he did it, yay. And not think about it until then, because thinking about it would only be depressing. So I'm going to take Figuero and Marlon Vera.

As you said, it is nearly impossible to kill Marlon Vera. Davidson, Figuero has flashed a power at Bantamweight. So I'm interested to see if the chin will hold up. I expect that it will because Marla Vera is so tough. And also, it's only three rounds, right? So there's not as many opportunities. But I just like the fight. And I've seen a lot of people picking Vera where it seems like he's kind of on a lull right now.

And people are still confident in his ability to get back up and feel like Figueroero could be that matchup for him. I'm intrigued by that fight. I think all the Bantamweight action had, in Abu Dhabi is extremely compelling and fantastic. It's a terrific answer. Rick, AK, who you got? You got three. Rick's taken, I would be friends.

The three I would have chosen. So if I were a competitor, I would have chosen Rick's three. What do you have as a rebuttal kid? Well, you're both mistaken. First, sleeper, I'll throw out McKenzie Dern and Lipi Godinez. how ever people feel about McKenzie's you know chances of becoming a champion I know we've done the song and dance

at least three or four times if she wins a few fights we say oh here she comes McKinsey Dern then she loses a fight in like the same way she loses all her fights and then we kind of go back and like maybe McKenzie Dern's not going to make it I don't care about that stuff anymore because the one thing of McKenzie Dern is when she fights it's almost always exciting

I mean she has I don't know if she has necessarily a long list of like official fight of the Knights Yes, she does. She has quite a few, at least three. So she has plenty of fight of the nights. You can make a case she's, I don't want to say the most, but top three among the most exciting fighters at 11th, a division that I have often touted as like being very reliably entertaining.

People don't seem to believe me. I don't know why, but strawberry fights just always seem to deliver. And especially once in McKenzie Dernan them. And Lupy is insanely fun. So this is just a brilliant fight. Like I love the matchmaking. Again, don't care about contender implications. Don't care.

I don't need to be talking about, oh, if Loopy wins, a Shia title contender, or McKenzie Dern wins, I just do not care. This is a very, very entertaining main card fight. Love it. I hope people are not sleeping on this fight. Stylistically, it's a great matchup, everything about it. It's just awesome. I'll go to the prelims of that card for my next pick.

I'm going hardcore here. I'm going Guram and Jordan Vucinich. Vuchinich is stepping in on short notice, but he's a cage warrior's guy who, like, he's probably been ready for the UFC. Like, he probably deserves to be there. deserve to be there a few fights ago. Now he's coming on ashore notice that's flying

as whatever the circumstances are. And it's a really nice matchup with him and Guram. It's kind of, I think it's like you could view it as a striker grappler, like traditional kind of thing. But I think Guram's got some grappling too. And Jordan, maybe not for striking, but either way, I like that matchup a lot. So look for that.

That for me is the definition of a sleeper because I feel like no one's talk about. I probably know that fight is happening. And then I'll go to the PFL. Yes, I would have gone with the Santos Carmoo's thing and the weight miss adds like a weird bit of intrigue to it because it is an automatic point deduction. But in a way, it also kind of makes it less appealing to me.

I'm very scared that fight's going to end in a draw somehow now. So I'll go instead to the Comaine, the Golden Girl of PFL right now, Dakota DeShava, they're pushing her super hard. You could say that they're sort of fudging the bracket for her because she's facing Jenna Bishop instead of facing either Tyler or Liz Carmush. But that's okay. I approve of Cardi matchmaking, and if that's what this is, to try and get a potentially star fighter into the finals,

then PFL you have done your job great work. Jenna Bishop is also a very good fighter so don't sleep on her either it's not as if this is a while I know people are going to say this is probably a walkover for Dakota I am going to take a glance at the odds here

Dakota is about a 10 to one favorite substantive I don't know if I would go there again I do think Jenna Bishop is better than people think but I understand based on Jenna losing her last fight close one with Tyler and Dakota just being a wrecking ball in the flyweight division so far but that's what makes this fight so intrigued to me

I think it'll be tough for the people to think, and I think there'll be a lot of drama. If Dakota doesn't put Jenna away early, there's going to be people, you're going to want to tune into this fight and be like, wait a minute, like, are we about to see a major wrench thrown to the PFL's plans here?

So I'm not like wishing ill of Dakota Chiva. I just think like we love chaos. We love weirdness happening. And Dakota not making the finals, which I think is the PFL's really, really, really banking on, would be certainly intriguing and worth talking about. So I'm going to have my eyes glued to that fight. Other standout fights for me.

Joel Alvarez, Elves Brenner, just going to be a banger. That fight is going to rock. Honestly, the Abu Dhabi main card is exceptional. Prelims, there's the one fight. AK did correctly note. Guram, that fight's quite fun. Not surprised, slightly disappointed. No love for Andy Ruiz, Jerell Miller.

Give me the big boys doing big boy things over there in the boxing ring. it'll be big fun. But yeah, it's a stacked weekend of combat sports. Make sure you're here. MMAFlefin.com. We'll have it all covered for you. But we got to make our way on, potentially to the final round of the evening,

the point for this round goes to. New York Rick has clawed his way back. Is A.K.'s gas tank folding? Does he not have it in him to go five hard rounds? Who can see? A.K., the question wasn't low-key, bangers, it wasn't the hidden gyms of the weekend. It was the most must see. And while I like all the fights you said, as somebody astutely pointed out in the comments, you chose a McKinsey

Dern fight over Terrence Crawford. And we just can't support that. And this is me. I blame, this is me talking about McKinsey that way. I blame the open scoring. I blamed the open scoring. It made me, I didn't want to know. I didn't want to know. It put off the gas. It made me lackadaisical. Yeah, this is, this is the fault of the. system all right all of it's corin it doesn't work it doesn't work well you still have the the championship round here to pull it off or rick will author just a remarkable comeback we're just showing real real championship grit and perseverance and guys i struggled with how we go for the fifth round i had a number of options i thought about doing the old mike heck uh choose a door i'm gonna

make you uh act out somebody and i think that that would have been fun but i ultimately with my heart because while combat sports is happening this weekend, all sports have been happening for the past week and will be for the foreseeable future. I am talking, of course, about the Olympic Games. And so this will be an Olympic themed final question. And I have decided to offer Rick the choice. Would you like to go first or second, Rick? I'd like to go first. I'm a first place guy. I only deal with first. So I'd like to go first. It's a great racing mentality. You want to be the number one. You want to be out front. And you're getting the same question. So, A.K., you're going to have some time to consider here. Rick, I don't know how much of

the Olympic games you've been watching. I hope the answer is a lot, but you're also social media guy. So you've seen a lot of the big stars, there's a lot of big fun ones. We decided to have some fun here. And our question, 60 seconds on the clock for you, Rick, is this. You are Dana White. And you got to make the case to convince one athlete competing in the U.S. Olympic Games this year to fight MMA. Can be anyone you want, but make the case, tell me who you want from all of the athletes competing and how you'd sell them to come. Can I just clarify my question?

Yes. You said the U.S. athletes, can I only pick U.S. Oh, no, no. Sorry, you can pick any athlete. Does not have to be a U.S. athlete. Yeah, I'm ready. 60 seconds on the clock, Casey. Let's go.

Yeah, so before I answer the question, because this is only going to take me three seconds, I'd like to say that I'm acknowledging the crooked judging that's about to happen, and I'm not even going to demand that this voting be recounted, because frankly, I don't care about it ultimately. But I do want to acknowledge and point out that this whole thing has been a sham and been biased and rigged against me from the start, and whatever the voting results are will be fraudulent and crooked. The answer is the South Korean Marx, Mark's,

Mark's woman, the shooter. I don't care if she can fight or not because she's got the most aura to steal a line from the youth that anybody's ever had, ever. And she's a legend. And if you just put her in any way involved in the UFC, I don't care if she fights or not.

Maybe she can just hype a fight and then pull out every single time. I'm tuning in. The looks, the swag, everything about her. That lady's got it. So yeah, give me that chick who went viral with the pistol because she's badass. I believe I will butcher this name, but Kim Yeji, I sincerely apologize if I screwed that up.

Not a bad choice though, Rick. This is a very open-ended question, A.K., there's a lot of opportunity here. You could go boring, you could go creative. I want to see where you go. AK, finish the drill, buddy. You got 60 seconds. Could you repeat the question? Sure can, A.K.

Just use my time. It's fine. You are Danae in the UFC. Pick one athlete competing in this year's Olympics. Okay. That's right. Sorry. To bring over to M.M.A. and make the case.

Yeah. I get distracted by some work thing. That's okay. The choice is easy. I hate to hop on a trend. I hate to be a bandwagon guy. But I fell in love with the Pommel Horace guy, guys. Steven Niedero-chik.

My goodness. The man is just like he's on camera. He's with the USA men's gymnastics team the whole time. He's kind of like dozing off. Not dozing off, but he's just chilling the whole time. But it's made very clear that they need him to nail his routine at the end. Of course he does. He crushes the pommel horse in a classic case of USA dominance.

USA wins a team gold medal. This guy has gone so viral. Obviously, he's insanely fit. We talk about plus athleticism. This guy would immediately be the most athletic guy in whatever weight division he competes in. And he's easily sellable. He's an American hero. So give me the pommel horse guy.

I love it. I kind of anticipated that both of those could be high choices, but there were just so many options for this one. I mean, yes, I don't know if you guys have seen the turkey shooter, but I am in love with that man. That man, like, I get it. The South Korean shooter has infinite aura. That dude has all the aura in the world,

just hand in his pocket, just assassin. What a kick-ass dude. you could have gone Simone Biles. Just why not have her run out there as a straw way and do backflips over people? That'd be dope as hell. I'm very glad none of you went like combat sports. That would have been a tedious way to answer this.

Sure, we'd all like to see Kyle Dake, etc. in there, Kyle Snyder, but no, no, no. This is where we want to have fun. I've been enjoying the hell out of the Olympics this year. And I wanted to involve them. And this seemed like the most fun way to do it. So thanks for playing along, fellas. With all due respect to the Turkish shooter who is a gangster and I love.

You see it. I believe I could have to stay there you go. I wasn't even going to attempt these names because I was going to butcher them. So thank you for saving me there. I feel like it's a little bit understated, right? Obviously by nature. That's the thing. And so I don't know if it would have translated, right?

We need somebody who's a little who's got a little more presence. Yeah, she's got it. It's true. He's very just too cool to be there. He's too cool. He's Nate Diaz, right? Right? He's going to pack up and leave maybe, you know? But I want my Connor.

I want my I'llia. I want the one with 10,000 aura, you know? Wait, I did not think that I was going to watch this Olympics and be like shooting. This is the sport I need to be involved in. Casey, what did you have? How did no one pick at Lona Amar? Again, another, like there are so many good choices. Easily, like, oh my God, if she came to MMA,

No, but the issue is there's no weight class for her to compete in. We got rid of women's featherweight, you know? No, no. She will bring it back. But also, Alona Marrott. She will bring it back. She would just run through. Look, I mean, Kayla Harrison would probably welcome bringing back a 45, you know.

I don't think Alonamar can cut down to 145, guys. I am going to go on a living here. I truly do not believe she can. It would be tough. We're going to find. We're going to do open weight, and it's going to be awesome. You guys are. encourage.

Well, open weight I support, but Lona Mard's like close to two bills. So I don't think she's making one four powerful. What is Simone Biles way? What is Simone Balsway actually? I like 70. Like 105. I think she's like an atom weight. See, there we go.

We can't, you can't do that either because U.S. doesn't believe in atom weight. So you're saying, straw weight's terrible. She could fight in straw weight. You want to see Simone Biles. Oh, now the strawwings are terrible. Everyone sucks.

All these women train their entire lives. All they all suck. Simone Biles versus Alon Marr. what you're trying to build towards. Yes. We're ready for it. Fight circus. Give them a call.

Off from first cast tickets. On the balance beam right now. All right. Look, there's no wrong answer here, Casey. There are so, I almost tried to word in a way, like pick six athletes because you'd have so many of them, but that seemed like too much. The Olympics this year have been dope. Oh.

Is it three weeks of Olympics? What are we? It was just like week one? This is week one and it is three weeks. That's nice. Yeah, it's We haven't even got to the track and field Which is the super fun stuff

Like it's gonna be banging Alright Do we have a winner Casey? I forgot to Yeah, we have winners It's not It's not even competitive Oh, well

You didn't have to phrase it like that Oh, but I want to make a case For open scoring here Because Oh God Rick knew the score And because he might have thought up he might have thought he won first the first round but he knew he was down too so we had he had to go for it

you know he couldn't he couldn't cruise either so it works it goes by the same token it goes okay okay okay could have could have stayed pedal down yeah he didn't have it in him he never did wow your winner today with 66% of the votes is of course new york rick oh wow Congratulations. New York, Rick, pulling off just one of the greatest comebacks you'll ever see in sports. Down at the start and battles his way back. Championship medal, Rick, you know the prize here is outside of our undying love and affection and that number next to the W going up by one.

It's 30 seconds of screen time to talk about anything you'd like. Yeah, I just want to thank, I just want to thank the people. who voted the good people, the righteous people, the just people who did this and put me in this position to succeed. Whatever I said before, a tactic, a ploy that worked, and I appreciate you for seeing that and seeing through that, thank you to the good people who voted. We deserve this and we won and we did it together. And so I hope that I can count on your vote in future elections. Thank you so much for putting me in this position and I will not let you down. you are always a battler.

You got anything to say to the people? Hold on. There it is. There we go. It's fun of stuff. I don't know. Just. Just chasing you.

Ah. Well, listen. You have to get into the cage 23 times to lose 23 times. So congratulations to New York, Rick. He fought a great match. Some of those answers just so spot on. He's an amazing VTL contestant.

He's an amazing M.A. Hour. co-host. There's nothing the man can't do. So, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm to respect to everybody who has the bravery to step in between the links, you know, it takes a special breed here. And, uh, that's it. Episode in the books. Myke will be back next week, I believe. If not, I guess we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll find some other, uh, wonderful people to join. But thank you, guys. guys for coming with us on this journey. Thanks for letting me host,

host Mike's show for you the fans. Thanks to your votes. Thanks for America. Thanks for the Olympics and peacock. And that's it. Coverage all weekend of all the stuff going on. Make sure you tune in. Tacey on the On the Ons,

appreciate you. Eric, AK. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. This has been Between the Links, an MM-Fighting production, on the Vox Media Network.