MMA Fighting - BTL | BKFC Steals Headlines, Sterling vs. Cejudo, UFC 288, Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones, More

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

With BKFC stealing headlines this past weekend with BKFC 41, all eyes are now on a busy weekend in the MMA world — which included the UFC's next pay-per-view offering. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel will discuss the fallout of BKFC 41, Mike Perry's big win over Luke Rockhold, and the future of the promotion. Additionally, topics include the UFC 288 fight card, the main event for the bantamweight title between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo, the stakes in the Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad co-main event, Francis Ngannou's fighting future and current free agency status, Jon Jones saying he'll stick around for a fight with Ngannou after he faces Stipe Miocic, ONE Championship's U.S. debut on Friday, and more. This week, host Mike Heck returns to moderate the matchup between MMA Fighting's Shaheen Al-Shatti and Jed Meshew. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @ShaunAlShatti Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible.

We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.A. Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn. you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. Yes, it is great to be back in the seat with this microphone in front of my face, knocking the rust off. I am energetic as hell. I am ready to go. There's a lot going on in the world of MMA in combat sports. We have UFC 288 coming up on Saturday, one championship making their U.S. debut tomorrow night. BKFC had a massive weekend this past

weekend. So much to get to. So let us introduce the panel. First, he is Mr. No Gray area. He filled in like an absolute champion last week while I was on vacation. He's the co-host of No Bets Bard and the man behind the soon-to-be iconic chat GPT bets, Mr. Jed Michoud. Jed, thank you for running things last week, my dude. How are you? I don't hear him. Oh, no. Name. You can hear me now. Sorry. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Sorry, my setup reset itself. What I was saying, Mike, is you make it look easy, but as you can tell, it's not.

So glad to have you back because it was a lot. A lot went into last week. So glad to give it back to you for all of this. And I'm glad you're back in the seat you're in because we have a hell of a matchup, and folks, his opponent, I'm so happy about this because it has been a while since he has been on the program.

And for months and months, I have been bugging this man to come back on the show. And schedules just didn't line up. Until today, ladies and gentlemen, he is full of energy too. The deputy editor of M.M.A. fighting, the wise wordsmith. Some might say the best writer in the whole damn world. Mr. Shaheen, al-Shadi. Shaheen, welcome back, man.

How are you? I'm doing well, man. I'm doing well. It's always fun to be here with you guys. Full energy. I don't know about that. I'm on like virtually no sleep with my eight-month-old at this point. I don't remember sleep.

I'm barely a human being, but I'm very excited to be here. It's been a bit, as you said. And welcome back, Mike Tech. Good to have you back. Thank you. And maybe bantering back and forth with Jed will be just the energy boost that you need. So let's start with something. I think it's something in Arizona.

I mean, if you watch the Sun series thus far, Wow. I just piece something in Arizona. They are not looking, don't have all that much F in their step. 87. 87 points, Gene. Come on. Like, I'm not here.

I don't want to hear any of the postseason stuff. I'm just a very sad person right now. I got nothing. I'm going to live and die without seeing this stupid franchise do anything. That's worth anything. So, you know, I got nothing. I'm a beaten man. You're kicking a beaten dog right now.

Good job. I thought that that would inspire you. And instead, it really just kind of shoved you down even further. I'm sorry. That wasn't my intent, but I would think if anybody would understand my plight, it's an Atlanta sports fan, but like, not. y'all just got to pile on okay that's fine oh look Atlanta has terrible sports teams but I'm a back-to-back

national champion I'm I'm living my best life right now that's what I'm saying you you've risen you have risen you have elevated you should be yeah the Hawks will never you should feel pity for me you should the Hawks will never elevate you know where I'm at you know the sadness I'm living right now you of anybody should not be piling on I don't I don't no, man. Adding Kevin Durant and still getting swept out of the semis is, it's going to be a

tough look. It's going to be a tough, tough look. Look, Shaheen is also a New England Patriots fan, so you can always drop the 28 to 3rd, and that's all you need. And at least you're not a Bruins fan. Up 3-1, feeling good about life, and then you just get your ass whipped for three straight games by the freaking Florida

Panthers. Unbelievable. So, speaking of risen. That was a collapse from the Bruins. I was really pissed off. That was the one thing about vacation. I watched a lot of sports and I was pissed. But the Bruins did not rise.

The Panthers did. And so did BKFC this past weekend. So let's put a bow on that because unequivocally unquestionably, gentlemen. He makes it look so easy, doesn't he? It's so good. It's so good. Stop it. It was

a BKFC weekend last weekend, guys. I know there's a UFC card, but it was a BKFC weekend all the way. BKFC 41 went down in Denver. Mike Perry stops Luke Rockhold, busted up some teeth in the main event. Eddie Alvarez and Chad Mendez had a freaking war in the co-main event. Alvarez wins. Mendez retires. Big Ben Rothwell did big Ben Rothwell things and so much more. So, Shaheen, let's begin with you. This sport, this promotion, it's not for everyone. But man, did they have the combat sports world talking this past weekend? And throughout the this week too. I'm still getting questions on hack of a morning about this BKFC card.

How big was this event for BKFC? It's the biggest weekend they've ever had, right? Like that was the biggest W, that sport, that entity, that promotion has ever taken. And it came at a what seemed to be a very, I'd say, pivotal time for him, right? We saw David Feldman on the MMA hour afterwards saying, you know, I took out a second mortgage on my house for this. Like, they were all in. David Feldman in particular was all in on this weekend. This was kind of a make or break weekend for them. And they crushed it, man. They absolutely crushed it. I mean, we on the website, Mike, you were, you were enjoying a vacation, so maybe you weren't paying super close to touch,

but it was basically BKFC week all week for the website, because that was what people were interested in. That was what the MMA world was talking about, was this bare-knuckle boxing. And they hit it out of the park, man. This was the biggest week they have had. And I think at this point, it's bizarre that we have reached a place where, bare-knuckle boxing is almost the darling of the MMA world, right? Like, they feel like they have so much goodwill within this space that is just so hard to find, right? Like, Bellator definitely doesn't have it. PFL doesn't have it.

One championship very much doesn't have it. Like, they almost have that, I heard somebody this week, maybe our good friend Ariel O'Wati said something like this. Like, they have that strike force vibe around them where people wanted strike force to succeed because of sort of the ethos around Strike Force and how fun it was, et cetera, et cetera, that's where it feels like BKFC has reached, is people want them to succeed because we're seeing all these guys come out here

and talk about how well the promotion treats them, how much money they're making in the promotion. Again, money that it seemed like, I don't know where they're finding, but it's all these mortgages that David Feldman is taking on this house, and it's just, it's a really remarkable success story, because I mean,

I think we can all remember when this first started that it, A, felt like a flash in the pan, B felt like very much just sort of this circusy thing that was just happening on the side. But also, see, I think a lot of us, if you would have asked us four or five years ago when this started, a lot of people would have predicted that this is going to fail and that there's a pretty short shelf life on this and that once the novelty of, oh, bare-knuckle boxing, these dudes are fighting with no gloves, once that wore off, that people would move on. But they have consistently been able to raise the bar for themselves and sort of hit these benchmarks along the way, whether it's our

versus Polly, whether it's signing like Paige Van Zayet, it's getting somebody right at sort of the peak of when that would matter for that promotion, using them up and then moving on. Like, they have really played this well. And this was the Rana Weekend. This was their Super Bowl. And it was everything that we wanted from it, right? It was everything they could have wanted from it.

Chad Mendes Eddie Alvarez crushed it, one of the best fights of the year. And then Mike Perry is their Connor McGregor. And then to be able to pull in Connor McGregor at the end of that, like that was a 10 out of 10, stars, no notes type of weekend for them. And again, it seems like everyone is very happy for them. Jed, in the world famous MMA fighting yearly draft, second year we did it, you run BKFC. So something tells me you were pleased with the results of Saturday's card. Were you not? Look, we're doing great. You know, I'm proud of Dave Feldman. I hired him to, you know, step in, run the day-to-day ops while I'm, I'm the strategy guy.

You know, anybody who's worked for a startup, you know, I'm the, I'm the big picture guy. Day to day, Dave's doing great. I mean, just look at, look at the engagement. Look at, look at just the joy that the BKFC 41 gave everybody this weekend. I mean, Shaheen summed it up really well. I mean, a little long-winded, but, you know, it's his first time back in a while. I wants to knock the dust off. It was, it was a spectacular weekend.

All of the fights delivered, they all did exactly what they needed to. And this was a big moment for us. KFC. You know, we put a lot of eggs in this basket. Not all of them, but a lot of them. And the basket, safe, just sturdy hands, soft palms like Lynn Swan, baby. Nothing, nothing

cracking out of there. And I think it's paid big dividends. I think we're coming out of this event with a whole different level of momentum. Connor McGregor getting involved, you know, big upping us, too. Not just being there to watch the fights of his own volition. We certainly didn't pay

him anything to go there. He just, just a fan of the product, guys. Getting in there, doing the face-off, helped us saying afterwards, hey, I could see myself doing something, which, if you want to go back to the written or listen to the podcast of the draft, almost word for word why I said we were taking Connor McGregor. Yes, he's the biggest star in the sport, but also BKFC requires a different kind of person. And Connemer McGregor is a dude who I think will fare very well inside our ring whenever. he does decide to make the transition.

So huge weekend for us, really excited about where we're going and what's next for us, because it's going to be equally as good coming down the line, I can assure you of that. Well, to paraphrase the great Rick Petino, as of right the second, Connor McGregor is not walking through that door, Jedmishu. But Mike Perry

has walked through that door. He has become a star. He's the face of the promotion right now, especially now that Page Van Zana has been out for so long. This sport was just made. for this guy, 100%. And Mike has been on the wrong side of headlines over the years. He's had some attitude problems in the past. But over the last couple of years, Jedmishu, this man seems happy, seems to be at peace. Kind of seems that this, you know, barbaric sport has changed him for

the better while making a lot of money and being a dad and being a family man. Like, I've interviewed this guy while he was in the UFC, told me to go F myself. And then I would interview him since he's time with BKFC and it's like a whole different person. So I guess the question is, what do you make of this version of Mike Perry, Jed, this, this resurgence or I guess emergence in this combat sports space? This is custom built for him. This is his sport, you know. We say this more about athletes and other sports, right?

Of like, oh, well, he really has found his calling. Oh, that you see a lot particularly in football. We're like, oh, a team is finally using. He's not a three technique. He needs to be shooting the gaps. That's Mike Perry here. Sure, he could do MMA and he was fairly successful at that, certainly more than most.

But it is not the thing that resonates in his soul in the way that BKFC. And he just a match made in heaven. He's got a lot of skill, but he's got even more heart. And honestly, bare knuckle, a lot of it is that as well outside of just, you know, talent. you've got to be willing to do it. And there are few men more willing to do this than Mike Perry. So he is the perfect face of our promotion. Certainly we hope to continue bringing in big names like Luke Rockhold, like Eddie Alvarez.

Eddie Alvarez took to it very well. I think we're going to have another run with him. And maybe we get Mike Perry and Eddie Alvarez down the line. Maybe we get Eddie Alvarez Luis Palomino, our champion. I think both of these guys can. can do very well. And we've got our eyes on a couple of other emerging talents as well because I think there are a certain subset of fighters who,

yes, they can do well in MMA, excel even, depending on their division and how weak it is. But there are some people who seem really more well suited to what we're offering. And Mike Perry is just the first of many. Shaheen, your thoughts on the last couple of years of Mike Perry's fighting career. I mean, who else can pick his nose and wipe a bugger on a big custom-made jacket and actually get it over?

Mike Perry has done that. Everything he does sort of turns to gold for them. And that wasn't necessarily the case with the UFC. He's a change man. He's a star now. What have you made of this last couple of years for this guy? The bugger man. The bugger man, Mike.

I mean, come on. It's a master class. Jed is right. Mike Perry was born for this. And to me, that's been one of the most fun parts about sort of this slow evolution of BKFC, but also just the slow bleeding of BKFC into our world and how the fan base has accepted it and now is sort of really like, I would say, looking forward to it in some respects, it's seeing the familiar and unfamiliar, right? Because obviously BKFC is very, very different from MMA, but it seems

like the crossover of the fan bases is almost a perfect circle type of Venn diagram. Like, at MMA is the BKFC fan base because we are seeing our talents that we know that we've grown up, with that we love, guys like Eddie Alvarez, guys like, you know, Artem Loboff, if you want to go back, like all these different people. We're seeing them take what we know about them and go into such a completely different and unfamiliar space that seems vaguely familiar, right? It has a little tinge of what we know and love about them, but it's just throwing them into such a vastly different world on so many different levels. And we've seen this consistently with the debuts, people like a Luke Rockhold who go in there thinking that they know what this is going to be about.

And then very quickly realizing, like, oh, this is not at all what I thought this was going to be. And maybe this is a little tougher than what I thought it was going to be. And Eddie Alvarez said it perfectly earlier this week when he was talking to MMA fighting on the MMA hour when he said, this is not the sport for the athletes, right? Like, this is sport for the dogs. This is what that is exactly what this is. And it's so fun to see who translates over to that. Because, I mean, there's all sorts of fantasy matchmaking you could do with this of like,

who would succeed in this type of sport, whether it would be, like Dustin Porreier feels like he would be someone who would crush it in BKFC, that type of thing. And then there is the athletes, too, the guys who you go like a Luke Rockhold, everyone was seemingly dubious whether this would work out for him. It's just very fun to see, as I said, the familiar and an unfamiliar. And I think that's been so what's been so cool about Mike Perry, because you could have just said Mike Perry, bare-knuckle boxing,

and I think everyone who knows anything about Mike Perry would be like, yeah, that's home run. That's going to work out. Who's your number one guy? Who is your number one guy you want us to see bringover? Because I obviously have a list of people. You nailed it. I mean, there's a reason I didn't draft Umar and Mergamitov.

You know, Gray Fighter just doesn't fit with what we're trying to pull. Who is your number one guy? So I got two obvious ones and then one who's my actual number one guy. Dustin and Justin are the two obvious ones because, I mean, come on. We drafted both of them. So, great, great work. Yeah. The number one, Nate Landware.

That man was born for this. That is the mic- He's gonna have a great BKFC career in like five years. Whatever, yeah. Whenever his UFC career is over, I am so much looking forward to his BKFC career because he's gonna just crush it over there. He's gonna do great.

Incorrect answer, though. We're already sending messages where, you know, it might be a little early, but we're going to get him sooner rather than later. The day Derek Lewis comes on over to BKFC, it's going to be a good day. Boys, it's going to be a good day when Derek Lewis comes. Woo!

Him versus Ben Rothwell? By the way, you got a feel for Alan Belcher out there. Who really made like a thing for himself, like sort of reinventing himself as this heavyweight champion for them, all 220 pounds of them. And all of a sudden it's just 290 Ben Rothwell. well, fully haired up, just real furry, big giant behemothoomouth coming at you. And it's like, I don't blame Alan Belcher.

I wouldn't want to fight Ben Rothwell either. There's like a 70-pound weight difference here. It's different. I mean, it's going to be tough for Alan. Alan's going to have a tough one. Shaheen, I want to go back to something you touched on earlier because here's the thing about BKFC. When they have all these big cards, we always ask like how the hell can you top that?

Like, have they peaked? And you mentioned the Artem Lobov Polym Al-Anjee card where I, along with many others, said, this is it. Like, it'll never get bigger than this. And then over the last three or so years, big cards, big names, great events. And it seems like they're catching on more and more. And you mentioned the timing and getting some of these fighters over when they're getting them and just putting on these big events. And using some of these names to catapult, other names, like, look at what Britton Hart became after she beat Paige Van Zan.

And she's still a pretty big star for them. And now there's potential TV deals. I don't know how many mortgages David Feldman can take out at this point, but like, how bright is the future for this promotion moving forward? Like, can they sustain this buzz over a long period of time? Like, are we having this conversation on BTL five years from now about BKFC having a massive successful event? I mean, it definitely feels like they're on the precipice of something genuine and legitimate, right? Because that's sort of the thing, right? When this first came out, it felt like a novelty for so long.

Like even through the Page Vanzan stuff, the art of Polly, all of that felt like a novelty. This, to me, felt like the first real weekend where, oh, no, this is a real thing that MMA fans are enjoying. This is a real thing that is a real thing that actually could become a genuine player in this space in the form that, like, if there's a big B, KFC card next time around and say there's whatever you would consider a big PFL or a big Bellator event, I think there's a very good chance a lot of people would shy towards the BKFC card and what they saw. And just being able to elevate yourself into that conversation where you're obviously not

ever going to be the UFC. But if you can sort of be talked about with the Bellator's, with the PFLs, with the one championships, that is a massive, massive win. And that it does, for me, for the first time, feel like there is legitimate staying power here with BKFC because there is just so much goodwill. And at this point, they have, they have, I would say, passed so many tests right for the MMA fan base just when it comes to longevity. Like we've now seen them crush it consistently with these big events. Next time there's a big event, a lot of people are going to be tuning in, especially if they can get a TV deal.

I don't know if this trailer money is coming in at any point. If that does exist, it seems like this trailer deal is in a very weird spot for them. You know, maybe hopefully that can come in for them at some point. So David Feldman doesn't have to take a third mortgage out on his house. But it does feel like there is something sustainable here. And again, their eye for talent. picking veterans at the right spot with well-known names and sort of putting them in the fun matchups that we would want to see. It is proven time and time again now. And at this point,

it feels like they are here to stay. And they are very much in that conversation for number two. I wouldn't put them there at number two at that moment. But on any given weekend, they can dominate that weekend. And that is massive. Am muted. Can you hear me? Here we go. My thing just disconnected for some reason. But I'm back. Jed, how can you continue to sustain this success? I'm not saying you can't do it, but I mean, you're making some big moves. And now your home state of Georgia, Jed, legalized in Georgia? That's a very big deal.

I'm so excited. I'm so excited for the day we bring BKFC to Atlanta. It's going to be a great day. Look, we can continue to succeed. The same thing we've been to do it. We're not getting too far out over our skis. Yes, Dave, Dave, Dave. mortgage his house.

People do that all the time. It's fine. For an event like this, things like that are okay. But, you know, we were honest, hey, we don't have enough money to bring in Francis and Ghana. Francis Ngano would be a huge coup for us, but he's more expensive than we can really, you know, merit at this point in time. We're going to keep doing the same thing. We're going to continue to build with names that you know, develop our own talent in-house.

I would like us to parry back our event schedule a little bit more. because we are running about 20 events a year, and that's still on the higher end kind of given where we're at, but we're just going to keep putting out. And the thing about BKFC is not every event is set up to be this monster for us, right? This was obviously a very specific weekend. Do either of you know our event that's happening in two weeks from now? Of course you don't.

BKFC 42 is headlined by guys you've never heard of. Don't need to wait for you to be like, sure don't. And that's okay because as long as we have the flagship of knucklemania every year, that gives us a baseline to work with. And then two or three more times a year aside from knucklemania, we can do big attraction fights like this. That's how we can have a sustainably growing product that's still here for years and years on end. There are other people doing bare knuckle fights, but we are the home of it. And we believe that this sport has a long, long way to go and continue advancing. I will say just to add to that, though, because it's part of this conversation that it does feel like we are in a very major inflection point with BKFC coming up here because we consistently keep saying Mike Perry is the face of the sport.

And I think it's objectively true at this point that he is the face of bare knuckle boxing. Mike Perry is also a free agent. Mike Perry kind of has BKFC over a barrel right now. Yeah, sure. I'm just saying he has BKFC over a barrel right now. He's about to get the bag from BKFC if they're going to retain his services because he can be, he can be KFC. point to every metric and everything that we are saying right now, that he is the face of the sport. And it would be a devastating blow for BKFC where they are right now within the space

if they lost Mike Perry. So that is the one caveat I will throw to this, that, you know, I feel like this is a very sustainable product moving forward. But it is so important for them to, to maintain Mike Perry's services. And it's insane that that is a sentence that just came out of my mouth. I would not have thought of that two, two, three years ago that that would be something I would be saying, but it is so deeply important to be KFC right now in this very moment that we are at that they cannot lose Mike Perry. That is that is very, very important. Of no concerns about us retaining Mike Perry. I mean, look, we pay great. Ask any of the fighters you've ever talked to. What's the first thing they say is, man, you guys are doing so much better

than my time with the UFC or XYZ. We're going to get Mike back. Don't, don't you worry about it. We're going to continue building. It's going to be a very, very, very, very good time for all. Hey, if you're Mazadol, you're giving Mike Perry a call right now. Get them on bare knuckle, get them on the boxing cards. The payouts are public and they're just redonculus for former UFC fighters. We will take that. Bring it in.

Because that's one of the founding principles of our company is the reason we have this goodwill is because we're here for the fighters. We understand what the fighters want and need. We support them as much as we can. But if ultimately we can't come to an agreement, Mike that will be worse for us but I'll just be honest do we think do we think mothsidol's hanging around for a long time because I don't know look at look at the seats they're selling for his events baby they ain't doing it like we're doing it so

if Mike needs to get a quick bag over there that's fine we will still be here because we are built for the long haul and Mike is welcome as long as he wants to fair enough well let's move on shout out to Sang Yudong for his big win but we don't have time to talk that. So the point for round one goes to hopefully this wakes him up a little bit more. Shaheen Al Shadi, one to nothing. Guys, did you know that Houston and Alexander is fighting for us in two weeks or three weeks?

Is that true? He's undefeated. He's undefeated. He's undefeated. 51-year-old Houston Alexander is for real when it comes to bare-fisted combat. I do enjoy that you referred to BKFC as we, that entire segment. Did not break character one.

True pro. True pro. True. Character. It's our company. Me and Dave, we're doing great. Well, I couldn't give Jed the point. It would be a conflict of interest.

He obviously has the knowledge in the bookkeeping in front of him, so I can't do that. So boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo. Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep.

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That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Let's head to UFC 288 this Saturday. The main event is Al Jemaine Sterling defending his Banimoy title versus the returning Henry Suhudo. And Jed, I'll begin with you because both of you know this. And I think anybody watching this knows this. I hated this idea. You can go back to the UFC 280 post-fight show in October.

I got red in the face angry about this idea. You can see how much I hated it. But since then, this seed that was just ugly. and yucky and disgusting, and I wanted to pick it up and throw it in the trash, and it didn't make sense. Has over time just been watered and bloomed into this weird flower where I take it to floral shops in the area

and even the most experienced florist expert is like, what the hell is this thing? It doesn't make sense, but it is bloomed into something that just fascinates me. It is now fascinated me. That's what this fight is done over time, Jed. So where are your excitement levels for this fight right now? days away from it.

That's an insane metaphor. What a set of. This is incredible. I got to tell you, my enthusiasm is nowhere near your enthusiasm for this fight or apparently for horticulture in general. So I feel like I'm missing out. I feel we talked about it at the time. We said, you know, this terrible fight.

Stupid doesn't make sense. Who benefits? What's the point? Blah, blah, blah. I largely feel the same. It's here. And I am intrigued, certainly. I will say that I'm the closest this fight's gotten, the more just I have no real idea what the hell is about to happen on Saturday.

And so that always will make me at least interested. If I am genuinely just don't know what's about to occur, all right, you've piqued my interest. I still think this is a dumb fight, still think it's a stupid fight, still think of Henry Suhudo wins this fight. he is at most going to fight Sean O'Malley and then he is going to hold out to fight at Featherweight. So you are running a very real risk of just jeopardizing your Bannumweight title for a considerable amount of time, which for, in my mind, little payoff. I don't know what this is going to do numbers wise. Henry Suhudo has never been like a real big draw historically and neither has Al Jermaine Sterling. And I don't think when you add two guys who historically haven't been big draws that somehow too wrong.

make right here. So I suspect that this isn't going to do gangbusters. And so I still don't understand the promotional benefit because this is the kind of move to me. This is like, you guys remember when Matt Hughes fought hoist Gracie and it was insane and everyone was like, this is really dumb. I don't know why we're doing this, but like, okay, it's also kind of interesting, because never thought about it. And there's nobody else for Matt to fight right now. That's when you do this fight when there's nobody else. Banim weight has no dearth of contenders. There is in fact a number one contender who's been jumped over for this in

Chirona Malley. There's a whole host of other dudes coming up. Rob Valy is probably the best Bannamweight on Earth, and he's not going to hold the belt for at least 18 months, like because we're doing side quests at this point. So I still think the fight's dumb, but I am genuinely interested because there are some very curious X-factors. coming into this fight, and I don't have any idea how it's going to play out.

Yeah, I don't think this is the fight that should be made, but as it's grown, I am more, I am interested because I have no idea what that was going to happen. But, Shaheen, where are you at with this fight? I think I'm on the same level as you, Mike. My plan maybe is not as bloomed quite as bit as you, but also I came from maybe a better starting point than you. You hated this a little more than I did. But ultimately, this felt like the wrong fight in the moment.

We asked, I remember very, very clearly that post- fight show of telling the UFC just do the thing. Like, why are you not doing the thing? Put Sean O'Malley in this. You've been waiting for this opportunity to put Sean O'Malley in a fight like this. It's strange that you're not right now in favor of Henry Suhudo. But as we draw closer, I mean, it is one of those things where you come around to it, right? Because Jed put it perfectly. Any fight where I, any fight of this magnitude featuring talents of this magnitude,

where I actually don't have any real sense of what this is going to be, what this is going to look like, how this is going to play out, that is inherently interesting. And that is sort of where this is reached. This fight is inherently interesting because there are so many questions revolving around Henry Sohudo in particular, but also just this matchup and what this matchup could look like. And really who Senator Henry Sehudo is at this point, right? Because I think we all can agree that Henry Suhudo made a giant mistake three years ago when he retired as a ploy to try to suck more money out of the UFC and the UFC said,

hey, thanks, Henry, we're good. And by like two days after that had already moved on and figured out, new plans. That was maybe a giant misstep for Henry Suhudo overvaluing his worth. But I will say to give credit to Henry Suhudo. Over the time he has been gone, over these three past years, I feel like he has maintained a steady presence within the sport just through coaching, through content creation. This man has stayed relevant to a degree that he was able to parlay that into this fight now. And now we reach a very interesting, I hate to use this word again, but inflection point for Al Jemaine Sterling, right? Because this is someone who has never been

embraced by the UFC public, by the MMA fan base, despite the fact that he is objectively one of the best bantam weights we have seen. I'm not going to do the goat conversation because that is stupid and tired and no one wants to hear it. And also, I'm just sick of talking about that every single time somebody has a title defense or two. But he is one of the better bantam weights we have ever seen. And now coming into a fight against Henry with this sort of consecutive title defense streak looming, right? like he would tie or be the first person to have three consecutive title defenses within this division. Dominic Cruz and T.J. have done it, but they were over two different reigns. That is interesting in and of itself.

But also you throw out the age thing with Henry Suhudo and who Henry Suhudo is as an athlete, right? He is one of the best combat sports athletes we have seen just generally if you put just accomplishments out there. But he is 36 years old. He's 36 years old coming off a three-year layoff. and it's the same thing we talked about, ironically, for the last Al J. Tijuana State Tijuana defense against T.J. Dillishal, where if San Luis Suhuto wins on Saturday, he's making history in a lot of different ways, but mainly in the fact that he will be by far, by far, the oldest champion under at 155 or below in the history of this, in the history of the UFC. Like, not even close. Right now, it's 34. It's Alexander Volcanowski.

And I think Davidson Figurato as well was 34 when he was in his. title run. So if Henry Sehudo is doing it, he is by leaps and bounds the oldest champion we have seen in the lower weight division, that's interesting to me because Henry Sehudo was very, very good when he left for as cringe as his personality may be and as easy as it may be to have a distaste for the way he approaches certain things. He is a very, very good fighter, and I'm curious to see whether he is still a very, very good fighter three years later. Now, the winner of this fight, and we'll talk more about legacies and what a win for either guy means tomorrow on the preview show, but the winner, we already mentioned his aim,

likely unless you just fumble the bag like never before, you're fighting shot on Malley next. So the stakes for the winner includes leave with the belts, get a big fight with the biggest star in the division, won that Sterling and probably Suhudo would likely be pretty favored in. But the man who doesn't win Shaheen, someone brought this up on a heck of a morning this morning, the man who does not get his hand raised, where does that person go? Like, where does Aljo go? And maybe the more interesting question, where would Henry Sohudo go if he loses on Saturday? That is, I mean, that to me is the biggest question of all of this, right? Because it's very clear what Henry's goal is.

He's been very open with it. It's Sean O'Malley, then it's Alexander Volcanowski. And as Jed mentioned, you know, I think a lot of us are loath of the idea of Henry Suhudo just stalling out this division that very much does not need to be stalled out right now with how much talent is behind them and how many contenders are coming up through the ranks, especially younger contenders. If Henry's Huzzo loses, though, that's a great question, man.

Is he in this for the long haul? Because I don't know that he is. He is in this, obviously, to try to become a featherweight champion. That is his ultimate goal. And if there is a hurdle that is put in place in front of him, if he loses this fight, and it's like, okay, you just got to work your way back up now.

I don't know. Because Al Jemaine Sterling has talked to our own Damon Martin earlier, I think last week, but it came out this week saying, I have two fights left very likely at Bantamway. It would be Henry, Sean, and then move up and clear the way for Murab. So for Henry, at that point, it's, hey, I'm going to wait around for Aljo to leave, and maybe I can position myself to fight Marab for that title when Aljo does leave after the Sean O'Malley situation.

But again, that's a lot of ifs and butts and candy and nuts, and I don't know if Henry Sehudo is here for it. It doesn't seem like he would be if that ultimate goal is taken away from him. So I don't know. Only Henry can answer that, but I would be surprised. if at age 36 he is Suhudo is willing to stick around and build himself back up to another title shot. Jed, do you agree with that? What happens if Henry loses this fight?

Three years, the layoff, he's coming back. He looks good, man. Like, I saw some of the photos, and I saw Eddie Cha's Instagram story yesterday, with Sehudo taking the photos with the fight shorts on. Dude is in shape. He looks ready to go. But what if there's a real world out there where Al Jemaine Sterling just beats him? and beats him emphatically.

Like, it could happen. Where does he go if that does happen? The first thing that happens is I'll laugh. I will laugh long and I will laugh loud. I may never stop laughing because, God, it will be funny. The second thing that will happen is there's two outcomes. One, if the fight is very close, then he'll probably try and get back to a title shot. He'll probably, like, if he loses, if it's controversial, he'll just lobby for a

rematch, which just shoot me now at that point. But if he loses a contested fight and he knows that, all right, Aljo's moving up, he may try and fight Peoria and get himself back there. I think the more likely outcome is if he loses, what I would advise him to do is to just go to featherweight. What he clearly, he does not care about a Bannonweight title fight. This very obviously doesn't mean anything to him. is a means to fight Alexander Volcanovsky because he recognized he wasn't going to get to do it.

So this is how he can make that thing happen. So if this is no longer an avenue towards that, his next best option is to say, okay, I will, you guys need to find someone to fight Max Holloway because God knows he's just staying around and is a problem. I will fight Max Holloway. And if he can beat Max Holloway, then boom, he is a ready-made featherway contender. So I think that the overwhelmingly likely thing here is that if he loses, he just says yolo, going up to featherweight, going to try and fight Max. We'll see if that can happen. With a very small possibility that he sticks around one more fight, maybe two more fights at Bannamway, if he can finangle it, or he just retires.

So I think that that's the likely outcome. And similarly, if Sterling loses, I think he just bumps up to featherweight immediately. All right. Well, same question for the Coal Main Event, Jed, because we know where the winner of that fight likely goes between Gilbert Burns and Blah Bahamah. They'll either get a title shot in their next fight, whether they jump Colby or wait for the winner of Leon versus Colby. But you feel like the man who wins that fight is going to get a title shot next, maybe the backup fighter.

Bilal said he refuses. He wants to be a front-up fighter. Love that quote. But the man who loses this fight, do you feel like they take a big step back in the title conversation? or do you feel as if, you know, hey, these guys are doing us a favor from a UFC perspective, maybe we'll be a little more lenient in that respect. When does the UFC really do favors for people other than for some reason,

Colby Covington, which I still honestly don't understand. No, whoever loses this fight is never fighting for a title again. So that's just the facts, man. Like, Gilbert Burns is 36, and if he loses, he's done. great career just never going to fight got a shot at the belt almost did something didn't he's done at bala muhammad loses he's going to need 13 fights to get a title fight because i am extremely unconvinced that if bala muhammad wins this weekend in a classic belal mahomet fashion that he is getting a title fight from this i am exceedingly unconvinced of that so the loser of this is a total

catastrophe for their title hopes the winner hopeful hopefully they will get one. They will have earned it. I am not at all confident that they will get one, given the lay of the land at 170 right now. Shaheen, do you think it's that dire for the fighter lose? Let's just say, let's just say Gilbert Burns wins, right? And Alal has to go fight Shafkarakhanov. The plan that UFC had right off the game. Then he ain't getting a title fight if he has to fight Shafka Rarmadov. I'm just painting a damn picture here, Jedmishu. What if Alal just has a great night and beat Shafcott. That's got to get you back up a pretty big notch to title contention, does it not? So do you feel like the loser of this fight is just out of the picture altogether? Or do you feel like the short-noticed nature of the fight, kind of adding a five-round

co-main event to a card that desperately needed one after losing the Charles Olivera-Binil-Daryush fight? Do you think the UFC takes that into account? This division is in such a stupid place right now, man. I hate. I hate where this division has reached. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be in a great place. It was, it is so, it is such an unforced air. It is so ridiculous where we've reached to where we're talking about this week, the idea, like the stakes in this fight, which again, both guys really like pushing all the chips in.

Like both guys are really putting all this momentum that they've built into this fight and just saying, you know, screw it, we're going to ride or die with this. the stakes are what? Like the winner gets to sit around for a year and maybe at some point in first quarter, second quarter, 2024 challenge for the title when we've completely forgotten about this fight entirely.

Like maybe challenge for the title. Colby Covington and Leon Edwards aren't even going to fight until October or November-ish range. And then you have to give, you know, whoever wins that time, time to recover, time to rest, time to enjoy themselves. Maybe it's a close fight. Maybe the UFC just decides,

hey, it's close enough. Colby lost kind of close, we can throw Colby into a rematch. Like, the stakes in this fight are so fake at this point and so non-interesting and non-exciting that it's a real shame. Because especially Belaw, like I, like I, Gilbert is one thing, right? Because Gilbert is out here. He isn't on some crazy long streak. He's coming off a really nice win just in the last pay-per-view.

So like he is doing the damn thing by really trying to high roll twice in a row. But for someone like Belaw, where this is like four or five years worth of work for this man. This is basically his entire career this weekend right now is coming to this point. And if he loses, it's over. She's right. Like, Balaamah's going to have to win 20 fights in a row to get a title shot if he loses this weekend. This is the UFC's best chance. And it's, it has seemed like the UFC has been trying everything in their power to get Bala out of this conversation with the way they have booked him and the way they consistently continue to book him. This feels like their best chance to sort of forever get rid of Bala in this conversation, which is a real shame because

this man has done nothing but take hard fights, take what the UFC's given him, not lose in 10 straight fights, which is almost unheard of in the Welterweight ranks. And yet if he loses against Bilal, or I'm sorry, against Gilbert on two weeks notice, having not been training for a fight at all. And I think that's very much it. That is the end of the conversation for him. And it's so, it's so stupid that this is what we've done with Walter Waite, that this is the place we've reached.

But that's the reality. and I wouldn't say the loser is forever out of it, but if the loser's below, oh, he's forever out. I think there's maybe some way that Gilbert Burns can work his way back into some sort of equation, but I think there's a pretty good chance that, regardless, the loser on Saturday,

it's kind of the end of the rope for their title conversation. It kind of sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It's the thing. It's what she said. The stakes,

the stakes aren't fake. The stakes are real, but they are not fighting for something. they are fighting not to be thrown in the pit of despair because I genuinely don't think the winner of this getting title fight. Hot take. There's the title is going to be contested in October. Sometime between now and then,

Kamar Ushman is going to fight like Shavkat Rakmanov. And I guarantee you, Shafkat Rakhanov beats Kamar Usman. I don't give a shit what Belaw Mohammed does in this fight. He could hit a buggy choke and it's just not going to make a difference. That's the thing. over that. That's the thing.

The timeline. The timeline of this is so stretched out to where, regardless, whoever wins this on Saturday could have the most impressive performance of their life, our memories, and in particular the UFC's memories are so short term that by the time October, November rolls around, this will be such a distant memory.

It will be, we will have completely forgotten about this, and it will be onto the new hotness, onto whatever the most, the latest 170 guy to do something really interesting will be. Like, this is, it's really just doing a disservice. The two guys who are company men who are doing the UFC a real favor here, like especially below, it's just a bummer, to be honest.

Their best hope is that Colby Covington comes up injured because winning this will move them sort of into backup range, but backup range ain't going to hold for a year. And that's the time long they're looking at, like they are. I was thinking about this while you were talking to Jean and Mike, love your, love your thoughts here as well. Well, Mike, we've shared some words about Bilal Muhammad and his inability to do the thing when he has a mic in front of him after a victory. I believe he's going to beat Gilbert Burns this weekend.

I don't even know what he could say on the mic, though. Who can he call out in his post-fight speech? What can he do to advance himself? Because I have no clue. It's not a call-out. It's listing every possible thing that he has done over the last four years in creating such a compelling case.

with such energy and fervor that it endears the audience to him and just create some sort of memorable moment that he can consistently point back on, which, you know, what are the chances he's going to be able to pull that off? I don't know. That's a hard thing to do for anybody. Just don't call out GSP and don't call out Israel out of Sanya, and I think he'll be okay.

And it wouldn't shock me if he called out either of those names the way he's been doing the call-out thing. But I, like, listening to you guys talk, and I said this earlier this morning, really wish they just did the stupid Jan Beholovich, Paul Acosta fight in this spot. Because why are we rushing this? Why is this happening right now?

Yeah. Why is it? I don't get it. It happened with full camps. Yes. This is the fight. This should be like an August fight or something. Like this is just, again, it's doing its service

to both guys, especially below. Yeah. It could have been the co-main event to whenever Leon and Colby fights. You can do five rounds there. Like, I just kudos to both guys for stepping. in saying yes, like good on them. And they deserve tons of praise for for stepping up like this.

But it didn't have to happen here. It did not have to have it. I would not have advised them to do this. I don't know who's advising. Gilbert, I think Gilbert maybe has a little more because he's not riding a huge win streak. I would have told Ballard to fake an injury. I was like, yeah, I can't make that.

I don't, that is not a viable for my timeline. I'll do this fight in July, but I, because you're not going to, to get you're not they aren't they aren't your friends man your bosses are not your friends they are not here to do the to do you a solid and they are the the ufc history is littered with people who have done them favors and outside of giving you another fight they'll give you another fight if you step in in a short notice they and you lose they'll keep you employed but they ain't doing you a big one here i ain't keep belal shana taking this fight even though i think he's going to win

Yeah, like Gilbert's playing with house money here because, again, this is such a quick turnaround for me, just got a big win. All this feels very, very reactionary to the Colby thing. Okay, this is what the direction they're going. I just need to do something quick so people continue to talk about me and make my case, which that just doesn't last until October. That doesn't last until next March or next April, whenever we're talking about what this opportunity would be. It's just, it's not how those sport works. Well, tough. We will have more UFC 288 conversation on the preview show tomorrow.

So just a little, we're wetting the whistle, so to speak. Let us move on. There's still so much more to talk about. Point for round two goes to out of despair, Jedmishu. He's out of the pit of despair, the sea of despair. Well, you're crawled and clawed. I do my best work. I'm out here.

You're swimming with the streaky neels. That's what I'm doing. Now, let's move on to the two best. heavyweights in the world right now because they have both made headlines this week the fight that got away francis and ganu and john jones and we'll start with france and gano chaheen because we have the man behind one championship chattry sit your tongue coming out and getting ahead of things with francis and his free agency saying i thought the man behind one championship was right there well yes he's so you would have incredible insight to the shaheen and screw you for drafting john annick but that's

beside the point but uh your guy says you You know what? We're not even going to make the man an offer since we're essentially not on the same page. And he threw out a whole bunch of crazy facts and numbers that seemed to be argued by many in the know. And Francis at this point, still no deal publicly in place for a boxing match or for an MMA promotion. And people have had their opinions on social media, Sheehan, haven't they? The media, you guys destroyed this man's career. Francis destroyed himself by turning down $8 million a fight from the UFC. Francis has failed free agency.

And on and on it goes. Shaheen, what has been your reaction to all of this? Not surprised. I mean, this is typical, right? Like, we called this sort of in the moment when all this happened initially with Francis that, like, hey, guys, this is sort of the game plan that's going to follow from here. Like, this is what's going to happen if something doesn't change. Like, if he doesn't sign something very quick, this is the way that this is going to play out,

in particular if John Jones wins over Cyril Gone. Because, you know, anybody who's been in this industry long enough, knows and has seen it that this is an MMA industry overall, but for the most part, the fan base is a UFC-centric fan base. And the fan base rides or dies with the UFC and goes too bad for the UFC over and over and over and over again.

And Dana White's talking points become law at certain point. And that's just the way that this all works. So this was very predictable. But the way that everyone has sort of turned on Francis, you know, it's, I can't think of the, I don't know that I have the right word at the moment, but it's just so typical and it's so silly. Silly is maybe the best word because it's only been what, like two or three months?

It hasn't been very long. People just expect things to happen very quickly and maybe, you know, this guy's taking his time a little bit more. But also it's the thing that like that it's what we talked about almost with the David Feldman thing with Birken Knuckle and now one championship. It's all these promotions sort of framing it as if we turn Francis down. Like we decided that we didn't want to work with. with Francis when in reality that's not actually the case and that's just a little bit of

PR spin and that's just the way that they're sort of saving faces within themselves um the francis is doing fine man like Francis we're hearing it you know there's going to be a deal announced pretty shortly it seems like it seems like he's pretty close to announcing something on the mma side if he goes and lands one big boxing fight with any of these top heavyweights like it will have just been worth it for him the way people are quoting this dana white figure of oh he turned down eight million a fight that's not entirely true like that is a very cherry-picked way to frame that. And we even saw Coach Eric Nixick talk about this publicly over this past week of like, that's not exactly what the deal was. Like the deal was if Francis

lost at any point, his salary would drop dramatically. And that's just not how, for a top heavy way in the world, like that was a sticking point for them. In the whole, again, the way on yourself, Shaheed. Yeah. And on yourself. The way all of this has been framed is just so unsurprising, but also like, you know, man, whatever. It's all in the noise at the end of the day. Francis is going to sign what's probably going to be a very, very healthy lucrative deal for himself in MMA. And whatever he ends up doing in boxing will probably make him quite a bit of money. And if he's happy, ultimately, it feels like that's the biggest thing. Like, he's just doing what he wants to do. And if that's fine for him, that should

be fine for us. The outrage and everyone rushing to call scoreboard on this is just very bizarre to me for someone like Francis isn't a bad guy. Like Francis, has turned into a villain for standing up for himself and maybe standing up for the UFC for all of the reasons and talking points and et cetera, et cetera, that all of us in the fan base and etc. The media, everybody has been saying for decades at this point about the unfair practices in the UFC, the one-sided contracts, all of that. And then finally one guy, the heavyweight champion of the world, the best heavyweight out there, stands up for himself and he has been villainized for it. I think it just speaks to, again, the fealty to the UFC that,

has been built into this sport and the fan base and the way that people consume it and follow it. But again, it's just not surprising to me, right? Like, we expect things to happen quickly and when things don't happen quickly, we call it a failure. Jed, what do you think? Because honestly, what Chachry did, it's no different. I mean, it's a little different, but it's kind of no different than what the UFC did, right? Because as soon as they cut ties with Francis and they announced the John Jones versus Cyril-Gon fight, they went out first and say what they had to say

and they painted the picture and everybody bought it and then Francis got to retort a little while later on the MMA hour and in subsequent interviews but this is kind of the same thing. Is it not? Like what was your reaction to all of this? Like the statement and then just the overall reaction from the fans and everybody on social media that Francis has failed at free agency

and he screwed the pooch by not resigning with the UFC. everyone who believes that is dumb and that's okay like it's it's not a crime to be dumb a lot of people are dumb in this country and around the world every single day I would just encourage you

to be aware if you are one of the dumbs just know it know your role and try and do better that's really the thought here because look promoters are awful people just as a rule almost exclusively an industry catered to terrible human beings who themselves cater in at best half-truths.

And that's not an indictment of the current landscape of promoters. It is a true reading of the profession over the history of it since time immemorial. There are at most like a handful of people whose job, like on their business card said promoter that wasn't a dirtbag. Now, everything's a scale. You can be more dirtbag. You can be less dirtbag. You can be Don King. You can be Dave Feldman.

There's a range in there. But anytime somebody is tripping over themselves to throw somebody else under the bus, you should ask yourselves why. Who is benefiting from this man who ostensibly has billions and billions of viewers? That's the part, really, Mike, that got me. And the wonderful Aero Hawani talked about this on the May hour yesterday. The part that gets me is the same people who are part of the joke. We all make the joke. I love the joke about 1-1FC and the ludicrous statements that Chhatri makes regularly.

And those same people who are in on that are like, oh, this one, Ironclad, that means rock, solid, never told a lie. Abe Lincoln over there, never told a lie in his life. Obviously, this is unreasonable. And it's for all the reason Shaheen said. I mean, it's predictable or what's come about. I would also just say that you guys are idiots outside of just on its face. Like, he's going to sign with the PFL probably for a good chunk of change and with the options that he wants.

And the most important thing of all of this, because I think this is really where the disconnect is maybe the biggest, is that there are an awful lot of people out there who just look at numbers and say $8 million is an absurd amount of money. And it is. That is so much money. Dana White made like $600 million, so, you know, whatever. But that's not neither here nor there. $8 million per fight as long as he's a champion is more money than I'll ever make in my

lifetime. And it's hard to walk away from that. The question is not one, is that a lot of money? It's is that his value. And you also need to factor in. And this is for anybody. Whether you are making, you know, 10 bucks an hour at a local store business, whether you are a prize fighter, the champion of the world, the price for your participation is not just, is the price you will accept and there are a lot of people out there. Francis and Ghana is clearly one of them who maybe the bottom line isn't the most important thing. Maybe taking a pay cut to go somewhere else where you have a happier workplace, a healthier business relationship, just people who believe in you and aren't terrible surrounding you, that might be more than $8 million per fight or

20 million, whatever the fake offer was. Those are important factors, and that clearly is a factor for Francis Zengano. I still believe Francis Nganu is going to get all the money that he possibly can. We'll be doing very well for himself financially, and we'll be doing it in a way that all of the other constituent parts matter to him. And here's the last thing I'll say on this, because Ariel brought it up yesterday. He, I guess, reported this, and I think that it hasn't gotten enough play. what Shaheen said is right. Francis Ngano is a good dude.

This is not a sport with a lot of good people in it. Most of my favorite fighters, I have to just kind of turn the other way for one thing or another. It is part and parcel of being a fan of this sport. Francis Ngano is not. He is a good dude with a phenomenal story, and part of the things he is negotiating for

as a credit and a testament to him and his character is that he wants minimum salary agreements for his opponents because he doesn't want to, hey, you're going to rob Peter to pay me? No. I get X dollars because that is my worth, but you have to give Ante Delajia a minimum basic salary because a lot of people will fight me for free because beating me means so much to their overall career. That's not what Francis is in it for. He is in it for bigger reasons, bigger motives than just himself. I think that that is to be commended, and I still believe he's going to get paid when all this comes down. Well said. Well said. Speaking of pillars, John Jones did an interview with Fox Sports Australia earlier this week, sort of doubling down that the upcoming targeted fight with Stebe Miyich should he beat Stebe. That's sort of all he needs to be fulfilled. Jed, you're laughing.

Literally just this moment, Francis Ngano tweeted, don't panic, God. guys, everything is under control. Hashtag, have faith. There's a shout out to Franz. He was watching. You're welcome, Fran. You're welcome, big Franny. I got you, baby.

We got Sadiq Yusuf one week asking questions and commenting. Now you've got the heavyweight champion of the world, the real heavyweight champion of the world. But John Jones, who actually is the UFC champion at the moment, apparently this is going to be it, Jedmishu. This is going to be it. He's going to fight Steepi. He wins.

He's done. unless two things happen. One, they give him like 10 bags extra to fight Sergey Pavlovich, which is unlikely at best. Or if Francis and Gano comes back to the UFC, which as of right now still might seem less likely than that. So do you believe him, Jed? It's a hard guy to, you know, walk around in his head

and try to make sense of it all. But what did you think when you saw John Jones kind of doubling down, Steepa's it, unless Francis comes back, or I get a floppy trillion dollars. I don't buy it just because I think it's a good thing to say, and it would make sense. His career, if he fought, you know, he beats Zero Gond, gets the title, and then beats Depe the goat, that's a very clear story arc, right?

Like he's done, that's 28 and 0 or 28, 1 and 1 or whatever. It's 30 total fight. never been beaten. It's a very, very clean arc. I think that there are a couple of things that make me think this that won't happen. One, he can't really be like wait for Francis, right? Unless Francis gets re-signed immediately,

he's going to come up here. He's going to beat Stepe and then, is he just going to hold the belt? At some point, Sergey Pavlovich gets to fight for the title. So if he's then relinquishing the belt, then him fighting Francis is, not for the title, should that come to come to pass in the future.

So I sort of just don't really buy that shaking out. And I've said it for a while. I think there are a couple of very appealing reasons for John to stick around. The first is I think he thinks he can beat Sergey Pavlovich because I sure think he can beat Sergey Pavlovich because the one time a human being has taken Sergey Pavlovich down.

They beat the hell out of him. It was Alistair Overim, who at the time was already washed. don't know what Curtis Blades was doing. No idea who told him that he was going about business the right way. But I don't think John's stupid enough to try and swing shots with Sergei Pavlovich. So I think he can look at the lay of the land. He can beat Stepe. He can say, I can beat that dude.

And how much does that add to the legacy? The name, not enormous, but there's a young murderer that everyone thinks is the next coming. Okay, I beat that guy. And then he looks at it and he's like, all right, I am now officially 29 and 0 that with two heavyweight title defenses you guys are 29 I guess one in one or whatever I won more win and I beat Habib I have more victories in my career than Habib does who clearly upsets him that people believe Habib has any claim to being the goat and two I get one more title defense and I've tied the heavyweight title defense record I can beat a jailton

al-Meda I could cook him I can cook anyone else in this damn division. Tommy Aspinall in London, I think the allure of what he can do for his legacy is too much. I think he comes back even after beating Sipe. We have some breaking news, everybody. Our friends from Bellator have made a move.

It's not Francine Ghanu, but they have re-signed Chris Cyborg. She's back with the promotion. Multifiteito. Yep. We don't, that doesn't make the class. There we go. We got Sarah MacBahn. We got Katzen Gano, we got, we got mega fun.

I'm stoked for the Arlene Blin Cow trilogy. Let's go. Maybe we'll finally get the Katzangano fight that we've been asking for for like two years. Yes, we get Sarah McMahon out there as well. So there's two right there. Honestly, Sarah McMahon, I'm more interested in the Katzegano. Not that I'm interested in either, frankly, but sure. Congratulations to her.

She probably got a very nice deal and good on her. Shaheen, what about John Jones? Do you believe him when he says, steep A, and I'm done, unless X, Y, and Z? I half believe him, right? Because John Jones is a smart guy. The way he has played all this out, he is on top of it. He has hit every checkmark that he could have hit in terms of just playing this out the smartest way possible for him to come in here, take the time off and then win the

heavyweight championship, and now we all consider him in a different vein than we did, you know, several months ago. That being said, I think there is an element of this being leverage, obviously, if you're John. I mean, we've seen John over the last few years. What was the reason he held out? It was ostensibly to gain weight, to be a heavyweight. But realistically, it was because he wanted a bigger payday. He wanted to make, if you remember, Deonté Wilder money from Daniel White, which was scoffed at at the time of like, why would John Jones make Deonté Wilder money?

Why would one of the greatest M.M.A. fighters of all time, if not the best, make the same money as maybe like the third best heavyweight boxer. But, you know, that's, but like John, John knows how to play this game. Now he actually has the leverage, right? He is the heavyweight champion. He did the UFC a real solid by coming in here and completely changing the narrative when it came to Francis and Ganoe. Because you can bet your ass if John would have lost to Cyril gone a couple months ago. The way people are framing this Francis thing would have been a lot different, obviously,

because Francis beat Cyril on a torn ACL. Like that would just be a completely different conversation. But now John comes in and the UFC can sort of reset it. the whole time and just say, hey, we have the best heavy weight anyway. It doesn't matter. That being said, I do think that I believe John to a certain extent, because there is an element of John that has followed him throughout his career that has sort of been one of the prevailing factors for his late career, right? Or especially maybe the second half of his career, maybe not the first half, but the second half of his career in particular. And that's risk

management, right? Like, this is the guy who all the way back when wouldn't fight Shail Sondon on a week's notice because it was too much of a risk, right? Like even though he would have just demolished John. God damn, he ended up. Yeah, and then he just did end up demolishing jail. But it was too much of a risk in that particular moment to leverage everything that he had built and put it all the chips in and say,

hey, I'm all in on this short notice fight. John Jones is a master at risk management. That is why his later title run at 1,2005, I'm sorry, sort of became just so lacklustre because he was fighting not to lose against a lot of those overmatched guys rather than fighting to win in spectacular fashion. He was just trying to extend this out as long as he could. Risk management for John Jones in this particular situation, I think he sees a fight against

Steppe Meogic, who is a 41-year-old man by a time this fight happens and says, hey, you know, Steve Age brings with him a lot of prestige, a lot of history within this heavyweight division. People call him the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time. I am catching him at the perfect moment where he is basically retired. He is, he's already one and a half feet out the door. If this fight didn't happen, I think Steepa would have just retired already. So John sees a way to capture everything that Stepe has already taken and just claim it for himself and say, hey, okay, look at that.

Greatest 205 or and I beat your greatest heavyweight. Where am I now? I'm the undisputed goat because that's always ultimately been the goal for John. He wants to be the undisputed goat. He wants to make that conversation a non-entity where if, you know, maybe you have GSP, maybe you have whoever else. but John wants to leave it to where by the time he leaves, you only have to say John Jones,

and you can maybe add an addendum of, hey, you know, steroids and cheating, et cetera, et cetera. But anyway, he has all these accolades and you can't deny him. That's where he wants this to leave off. And if he beats Sipe, whether we like it or not, I think there's a good chance he'll probably get there in that conversation. I think at that point he has as good acclaim as anybody, and at that point it's just sort of like you have to have John Jones in that conversation.

if you're having John Jones. Does adding to Sergey Pavlovich to that resume, does that bolster it? Maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit with what Jed said in terms of sort of being one of those guys then with the most consecutive heavyweight title defenses. But I don't know that the risk is worth the reward if you're John in that case. And also I would say too, Jed mentioned like the timeline of this,

the Francis versus John fight. I think if John Jones leaves and vacates the title and then the Francis fight happens a year or two from now, that's a major fight regardless. Like, if these two guys keep consistently winning, that will consistently stay a big fight for as long as it could possibly go. Like, if that happens two years from now, the UFC could headline a show with that fight. And it will mean as much as it would have, you know, if it happens this year. So I will say that.

But I believe, John, man. I think there is a very, very real world where he just beats and the oldest, worst version of Steepay possible and then rides off into the sunset, calling himself to go until the end of time. And at that point, he has quite a resume. And it's well within his rights to do that. So I think there is that element of John, that side of John sees that road, sees that path out to be that undisputed goat type of figure. And I would be surprised if he doesn't take it. There's another word for risk management in fighting. It's called prize fighting. That's what John is. John is a prize fighter. I thought it was scurred. Don't be scared,

Homie? True. He just doesn't care. He doesn't care. Don't be scared, homie is probably the most significant MMA quote of my life because I never once used

the word homie in like real life and then I started using it ironically and now it's just one of my everyday phrases. Don't be scared homie lives forever in me. No two people in the history of this board have contributed more to the lexicon than the Dia's brothers. No.

They have shaped the way we talk about this fight sports in a way that no one else has over the past 30 years. John, don't be scared, homie. Fight Sergei, let's go. Well, let us move on. We'll see what happens with John Jones. The point for round three goes to, I'm giving it to Jed Mishu mostly because I had to mute myself

and I almost spit water on my news when you said, if you are one of the dums, I lost it. I lost it. It's okay. It's like the youths or the olds. You're one of the dugs. So... It's hockey season,

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Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans,

real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. press. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. Speaking of one championship, they are making their U.S. debut tomorrow

night, gentlemen, and there is definitely interest. Chhatri continues to say things about the success of this promotion that reports, say, otherwise and all that. But now heading to the U.S., this is something they've been talking about and envisioning for a very long time. And it's finally happening. So Jed will begin with you. We get Demetrius Johnson versus Adriano Mariahs three. There's a lot of other big names on this car. Get the return of Sage Northcott, Roberta Soldeach, so forth and so on. We talked about how BKFC 41 needed to be mega, especially with everything they had on the line. One, probably not that dire financially, but how important is it for one championship that this card delivers? Yeah, they have the prime deal. I get that. And that's

obviously big, but how important is it that this card gets some headlines coming out of it and that people are interested in it and that it delivers to the scale of which they hope? I don't know. Does it matter? I've been, I feel a little bit off on this one, right? Because that's been a narrative. Hey, this is the US debut. It's got to be big. I mean, you would want all of your events to be successful. To me, they're, look, I'm, I am not. a man to take Shatri at face value at all because of not one of the dumps. But I do think that when him talking about signing with Amazon and how that was going to revolutionize their company into some extent the industry, I actually agree. I was like, oh, that's the biggest thing that

you have accomplished by a country mile. And so, look, they want to do well. But if the Broomfield, Colorado Arena or whatever isn't sold out. I don't think that that will be like a huge negative for them because their businesses is largely comprised of doing shows on Amazon. And so yes, they have made it part of the narrative, but I am not sure it matters that much in general because they have been largely putting on events that are visiting. They're not like sticking to Southeast Asian time zone market in that regard. So I think that they want it to do well.

I don't think this is make or break for them at all because I think that they are in a very good place having one of the biggest streaming services on the planet already has their benefactor, I guess, would be a way to phrase it. So, and I think that they're telling us that as well because this is a card that is a little bit, they've put a little bit extra into it, but this is not BKFC 41. BKFC 41, the actions of Dave Feldman and our board of trustees told you this matters because we've got every, we've assembled this like a knucklemania, basically. This is big. This is, look, DJ Adjano Mori's great fight. You've got Rod Tang coming on. You've got Stamp Fairtex, Roberto Soldeach fighting a guy he's going to obliterate, Sage Northcut. You've got names, but this is not a fully strapped up the best one can possibly offer.

And I think that they know it. Yeah, we want this to be good. We're going to put a little bit of extra love and care into this one, but it's not make a break for them. This is just the next step forward on it, the inexorable path to being the 1B of MMA promotions. Shaheen, do you agree with that? Because it seems like Chachry is like, you know, they're not like hop-skipping and jumping into the U.S. Chachry's been very vocal.

Like, we're taking over here. Like, we're coming in and we're planting our flag here in the United States and no one's going to be able to stop us or the billions. They need a better flag than this one then. And billions of one championship fans. So do you agree with Jed that this is, in essence, like a house money card? This is just an introduction, if you will. You're telling me, Chhatri was making wild hyperbolic statements that can't possibly actually be true?

That seems crazy to me. I don't know who you're talking about. That doesn't seem like him at all. Think about how fun life would be if you were just fully credulous to everything MMA promoters said. Like, how nice would your existence be if you never, like, question them? Like, oh, yeah, take that at face value. Sure. Got it.

It's so great. What a great way to go. I want to live in that world. I want to live in that world. No, I mean, this certainly isn't Chatri put a double mortgage on his, took out another mortgage on his house type of situation, you know, like this, or refinance or whatever he did. That's certainly not what this is. I mean, DJ Marias, I think there's a way you could look at that fight and say that's the best fight of the week, realistically, right? I mean, DJ is DJ.

He's the flyway goat. He's one of the greatest fighters of all time. I think you could very clearly just say, hey, that's the best fight of this whole lineup, 282,8. included. The rest of the card is what it is. I mean, this is who one championship is, right? You got a Muay Thai fight in there. You got some Michigan grappling in there. You got a little taste for everybody. I do like the Wikipedia vandals have made it so that Rod Tang is fighting Mikey Musa Meni for his Muay championship, which that is very much not actually the fight, but that would be hilarious fight to watch because Mikey is not that guy. But either way,

I don't think this is some make or break for them. This feels like a big moment for them, Certainly, this is going to be one of their bigger events of the year, if not the biggest. But I don't think it's some seminal, like, this needs to succeed in a real, very real way. Otherwise, we're bankrupt. Otherwise, we're selling off parts here. One championship is who they are. They're successful for what they do on their part of the world, and they have a fan base, regardless of whether we like it or not.

I mean, our own, just anecdotally, like our own Stephen Morocco just recently took a trip to Vietnam for vacation. And he said he didn't really see much UFC regalia over there, but he did see a lot of one championship regalia. So what they've done has clearly been successful for their market. I don't think there's ever a world in which three years from now, five years from now, one championship is rivaling the UFC in regards to North American popularity or anything like that. But maybe they can carve out some niche where they are sort of seen as a lower, very viable tier to be running events here in Florida or Vegas. or wherever. I mean, it seems like the Colorado show sold out for the most part from what we've heard fairly early. So it seems like there's certainly some excitement for it. But ultimately, whatever happens on Friday, regardless of whether it's a good event, bad event, regardless

whether it's the most exciting event we've ever seen or just something that comes and goes, people will have forgotten it by Saturday because UFC 282 will be on Saturday. And most of the conversation coming out of this week will be about UFC 282 because that's just what this is. I mean, we're a North American company, and the UFC is the biggest, is the titan of the industry. So they picked a bad week, certainly, to be running their first North American show. But it's a great card. I mean, I'm going to watch. I'm going to be entertained.

My Phoenix Suns are probably going to be in the middle of losing their third game in a row to the Denver Nuggets at that exact moment. So I'll probably pivot over to watch one championship to try to make myself feel good. But for the most part, I mean, I think this is a car that will deliver, and I'm always, always excited to see DJ that, that, that trilogy fight is very intriguing to me. The DJ knockout in the sequel was one of the knockouts of the year in my eyes and just another testament to the incredible legend that that man is. He consistently continues to just be so underappreciated. And just also there is like a really nice poetry to the way the schedule has played out where

we have DJ on Friday and then Henry Suhudo on Saturday. And both of these guys have kind of created a really interesting, cool and just, I don't know, But you like to see it type of relationship, friend of me, almost relationship over the last few years between themselves. Obviously, there's a lot of history there. So, you know, I think this is a big event for them, but I certainly don't think it's some sort of massive this needs to succeed or we're all going home type of thing. Oh, yeah. I mean, that wasn't, if I presented it that way, it's not what I meant. It's not, listen, they get so much in floppy-dillion dollars, billions and millions of fans, this is just a dent.

You know what I mean? Put that Amazon money, baby. Exactly. They're fine in that sense. Amazon spent like half a billion on that dog shit Lord of the Rings show. They can chuck up the roster for one in their sleep. Yeah. I mean, this is like WWAAW right now.

Like AEW doesn't really grow. It's just like the same people watch every week. So it would be like kind of that comparison more than BKFC, whose founder is taking out and refinancing and taking out extra mortgages on their house, going legitimately all in. Obviously, one is not in that type of situation. but still, I think it's important for them to have a good card just to try to grow their audience a little bit more because people are going to be watching. They made a big deal out of this.

So all right, let us move on. We are running out of time. Maybe move on. Maybe we're done. Point for round four goes to. The suspense is killing me. Shaheen Alshaddy. They need a win in Arizona.

So let's give them round four. They do. I'll take a pity win. I will take any sort of win I can get at this point. A pity win works for. from me. Arizona needs. I mean, you're just saying, I'll probably, you know, I'll be watching and my sons will probably

losing their third straight game. And then you wiped the single tier away. And I just couldn't deny you the point there. That means, uh, in a shocking turn of events, we're going to the knock around. One question will decide at all. And something Shaheen said, uh, a couple minutes ago has inspired the question that I've just come up with. I had some ideas, but I'm changing everything.

Changing everything between what sheen just said and what I heard on BTL last week with Jed's question stumping Mr. Brian Campbell, which I never thought would be possible. That was so shocking. That was stunning. The man who takes five minutes to answer a one-minute question. Didn't see it coming at all. And nothing really to say. So I feel like this one might actually be a good one. So, Jed, you are the, I mean, you're the guy who was last appeared on the show. So what are we doing here? Do you want to go first? Do you want to pass it over to Shaheen? I want to give Shaheen the choice. I'm going to defer the choice to Shaheen.

I want, because if he wants to win, I want to let him figure out the best way that Arizona can finally put a W up there. I like it. What do you think, Sheik, just pass it over. I'm going to pull a jet. I'm going to defer it to you, Mike, because Arizona clearly makes terrible decisions consistently. So I'm just going to pass the buck off to you. All right. Pass it to Casey.

Pass it. Pass it. I'm going to give it to my dog. Shiloh, no. Jed, I'm going to go with you. Jed, I'm going to go with you. Because I feel like you get set the table really well here. Like, I really think you could set the table really well. So, here's sort of the question I came up with. Because we have one. We have the game bread bear knuckle car. We obviously got the UFC. We have other promotions that are in play that could potentially drop some news or do some things that would get reactions out of people. So, What I would like you to do over the next 60 seconds is I want you to make the case for what will or could be the best headline on MMAfighting.com this weekend. Could be anything. Could even be a boat, Jed. It's up to you. It could even be a boat. One minute on the clock.

It could be hilarious. It could be great. It could be whatever you want it to be. The floor is yours. Go. I'm just going to take the one that immediately jumped to mind. And it's a topic we already discussed. The headline is going to be Francis Nganoo signs with the PFL.

I do believe that that is very close to being solidified. And when it comes, all of this, Francis screwed up. Francis fumbled the bag. All that's going to go out the window almost immediately because he's going to have a good base salary with it. It might not be the $8 million per fight or whatever those numbers are. It's going to be a good amount of money. It is going to be tied to pay-per-view, which maybe won't yield a ton with PFL, but more importantly, it's going to be tied to Jake Paul. Wouldn't shock me if the old most valuable promotions got into the Francis Nganoo boxing game and helped create those kind of boxing superfights that we thought Francis could maybe get one of.

I don't think many even get one of. So Francis Ngano signs a non-exclusive deal with the PFL for his MMA services. that's the headline. Okay. I like it. And it would be just hilarious if that got announced that they pulled an A-Rod during the Red Sox about to win the World Series, that they just announced Francis signs of the PFL like right before the UFC main event starts. Just be incredible theater.

They announced it with another disc track from Jake Paul, but Francis is in this one. It's going to be great. That would be incredible. See, see what we've done with this headline conversation? We could have gotten so much further with us. You've had time to sort of digest this question and you can go whatever way you want. So one minute on the clock, go. First of all, I will say I'm stunned that on this very Suhudo heavy hating show between two people who really hate the Henry Suhudo thing,

that the headline wasn't that Henry Suhudo gets his comeuppance and sort of we all laugh at it. Also, I don't know that Francis Inganu signing with the place that feels like everyone expects him to sign with imminently would be that big of a head. at this point, I think it'd be a surprise if that wasn't sort of how this all played out. Kind of bizarre pick there for you, Jed. Personally, the best headline out of the weekend for me would be Phoenix Suns miraculously pull it 2-2, Kevin Duran and Devin Booker co-off for 100 points each, and somehow this is a series again, but I don't think that's going to happen. So for me, headline of the weekend, Demetrius Johnson seals the deal, pulls off knockout

of the century, retires as one of the greatest we've ever seen under. a shower of confetti and he gets a big, you know, one championship trophy and it's just a big celebration of DJ. That to me feels like a really fitting way for this weekend to work itself out. There you go. Opposite sides of the spectrum from a heavyweight going to PFL to a flyweight slash bantam weight depending on how you rank them over in one championship. Jed? Sheen, I'm not looking at the poll. You may win. That's just. It's a bold strategy to go with a man who couldn't get headlines when he was the best flyweight in the world.

I will ride or die for DJ always. I do not care. Love him. Love him. Great dude. Just bold, bold statement. Tying your hopes to that. Interesting choice.

I respect the Michael Scott-esque headline. You got to live your truth, Jed. People are going to do what the people are going to do. It's true. I also like how you filibuster. the first 40 seconds why you thought of your answer. It's like, that's what you got to do sometimes.

He spent 20 seconds crapping on your pick. Another 20 seconds. I want the sons to win. And then the other 20 coming up with the correct answer. So you can vote now. That's just debate strategy, baby. I got to make you look bad before I look good. I'm saying, I saw you.

I saw what was happening there. Shaheen with the Michael Scott, Dunder-Mifflin, PR headline that just never ends. just icing cherry on top of the Sunday. I'm here for the pity vote. I'm here for the pity vote. Arizona's taking L's left and right. I got this losing record up here in the BTL box.

Like, I need the pity vote if I can get it. The man hasn't slept in months. I mean, come on. Oh, Jesus. You're not even kidding. Yes. So vote now for Jed who sleeps great at night or Shaheen who doesn't get enough sleep. At this point, I'm sleeping in the Playpen prison,

which any parent probably knows that the Playpen prison. is where you have to be in the playpen. Otherwise, the eight-month-old gets very upset if you're not in the playpen with him. So I'm literally sleeping in the playpen prison right now. That just sounds fun. Sounds like a good time. Super nine. A lot of toys around.

You can have a good hang. As the votes tabulate, quick little programming notes. We'll have a heck of a morning tomorrow. I don't know what time because we have the way-ins tomorrow for UFC 288. So I don't know what's going on there, but we'll let you know. We'll preview show tomorrow as well to get you ready for UFC 288. Saturday, People's Pre-Fight Show, then the watch party. I'm excited to get back after it in New York with the man, G.C.

You can watch UFC 288 with us. So if you want to spend the $80 and watch the card, you can just join us for the little side commentary. Or if you don't want to spend $80, we'll just do our best to tell you what the hell is going on. Jed will actually be on for the co-main event. And Rob Fond is going to join us. Yes. And Rob Fon is going to join us for the main event.

I'm sure he will have his sight set on what happens between Al Jemaine Sterling and Henry Suhuda. We'll post-fight show, AK and I'll be back on Sunday for on to the next one. And we'll have boots on the ground in Newark, giving you all the post-fight interviews and all that good stuff. So I think we have talked enough. Casey, show your face on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. There you are. Looking, that mustache looks incredible, as always. Casey, do we have a winner?

Or is this so close that we need to waste some more seconds? Let's waste a little bit more. A little bit more. Let's get some, let's get some filler bustering from Shaheen. Oh, it's so close. I just, Casey, I loved, by the way,

is your poll, is the poll that you put on similar to last? No, no, I didn't go back to back. Casey got more votes than like anybody. It was great. Casey had like 14% of the vote. Yeah. I did.

Who'd I be? I think I'd be Jed. Who'd I be? I think you'd be both. Brian might have had like 40. Yeah, yeah. I'd be Jose. I did be Jose.

And yeah. You know those morning combat dudes. They roll deep in the pole games. They do. They do. I think Drake's got more votes than Jose, too. Yeah, Drake travels. Drake travels with peeps.

No doubt about it. It's good fan base. Yeah. The loyal. They're very loyal. All right. We have a winner. Your winner today with 52% of the votes is... I feel like I know where this is going by.

How depressed Casey is. Yeah, I couldn't hide it. Jedvishu. I wanted it for you, Shea. I tried, I tried. We did everything. I was singing the same thing, Sheen, too, but I've previously thought that and been wrong.

Just like, maybe not. Maybe Casey's pump faking us. Well, I'm sorry. Congratulations, Jed, the hosting chair to the winner's circle. What would you like to stay? I actually have something that I prepared this time, so I'm excited about it. Because I'd like to take this opportunity to reach out directly to Al Jermaine Sterling. Aljo, look, I'm not your biggest fan, but I'm not your biggest detractor.

I was one of the few men at this website who maintained you as the number one Banimate in the world. the entirety of your reign. So take that and understand what I'm about to say is with love. Be a better friend. Aljo, be a better friend. I believe you're going to beat Henry Suhudo and you have spoken openly.

Then you're going to fight Sugar-Shaw-O-Malley and then you're going up to 145. Your buddy's waiting. Might be the best band of weight in the world. He's probably, if not the best, the second best. And he's not getting any younger. It is tough to succeed in this weight class

and the longer you make Marab Valles-Feeley wait, the less of an opportunity he has to be a champion to get those championship checks that you've already been getting. So after you beat Suhudo, bring Marab into the cage with you, hand him the belt, and walk out. Say, guys, I'm going to 1.45. I'm going to be caged side for Volcanowski versus Jayae Rodriguez, and I want the winner because it is my right and it's Marab's time. Be a good friend, Aljo. The sport is depending on you. I mean, I think we could all take something away from that lesson that Jed Mishu just gave us. Shaheen, I know you're disappointed, but any final thoughts? I mean, is there really any more disappointment that could enter my body at this point?

I just expect pain, sadness. I've had, you know, 34 years of nothing but that. So it's just part for the course. I mean, you could lose to AK. That would be worse. I have. Oh, I have. Don't worry.

Oh, that's right. Never mind. Think of the good time. Hit the music, Casey. Think of the days when you signed Kevin Durant. When you get the trade and you're like, yes, this is it. We have ascended. Think of those times, the happy times.

We had Slack messages. Lots of them when that signing happened. Oh, we wish you luck, Shaheen. All the best of the Phoenix Suns, all the best of the Boston Selvix. We don't need to send our best to the Atlanta teams because none of them make the postseason anyways. Go dogs, baby. And go Eagles now. Let's go Eagles.

There you go. Yes, the draft. The Eagles have like the entire Georgia roster from the last two seasons. Phenomenal. Thank you very much. Back next week to react to UFC 288 in the weekend that was for Shaheen, for Jed, Casey, I am Mikeak. Thank you for watching. Good night, everybody.

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