MMA Fighting - BTL | Can Adesanya Snap Skid? Plus, Nurmagomedov vs. Hughes, GFL Draft Reaction

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

Israel Adesanya finds himself in unfamiliar territory as he enters the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia on a two-fight losing streak. Can the former UFC middleweight champ avoid a third straight loss against Nassourdine Imavov? On a special fan Q&A edition of Between the Links, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew answer your questions about the Adesanya vs. Imavov matchup at UFC Saudi Arabia, along with Shara Magomedov vs. Michael Page and the rest of Saturday’s card. Additionally, they’ll answer questions about topics such as the PFL’s latest event that saw Usman Nurmagomedov hang on to his title against a game Paul Hughes, the GFL draft and what we learned, BKFC’s KnuckleMania 5 event, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I am back on this Thursday as we get you ready for UFC Saudi Arabia. Apparently I missed some things that were kind of cool and some things that maybe seemed cool on paper but weren't that cool in execution. And we'll talk about that and more. basically whatever the hell you guys want to talk about because we're doing a Q&A here. There is no Casey on the ones and twos. So I'm going to play a host and producer at the same time. But luckily I'm not doing this show alone because joining me is Mr. No Gray area, the hot take in himself, the big booper,

and the greatest climber the world has ever seen. His name is Jed Michoud from M.AFighting.com. There he is. Hello, Jed. How are you? Terrible. Let's just be really honest, honest about that. But I'm very excited to have you back in our lives.

I did do BTL last week without you. It was very stressful. You know, you are the engine that drives our rag tag band of MMA fighting. And I'm happy that you, you know, took a well-deserved vacation. But I'm glad that you're back. And then I didn't have to do this this week, especially with everything that's gone on this morning. Because I've got to tell you, Mike, hadn't been the best day so far. Yes.

What are we talking about? Are we talking about the haircut or? I don't love the haircut either, but I'm more accustomed to the haircut at this point. You know, I got there. It's not what we agreed on, but we got there. MMA fighters are firing out flurs at me on the internet right now. It's just a great time to be alive. So I'm happy to be here to talk with you about hopefully happier things.

And I don't know if you like, I know that you know you miss some stuff, but I'll be happy to fill you in on whatever you, you know, were blissfully unaware of because you were out there sunning yourself and drinking dairies on the beach in the DR. Yes, I got a great base. I had very little clothing on for four days. It was the best. The sun was shining. The birds were singing.

It rained a little bit, but I didn't even care. The water was like a picture perfect temperature. I mean, everything about it was fantastic. I danced my ass off. It was a terrific time. Congratulations to my friends, Karen, Andy. who tied the knot. So it was a good time.

Right on the beach, it was a great place. If you guys haven't been to Pudacana, it rocks. And that was the first stamp on the passport, too, Jed, which is crazy. That's your first stamp on the passport? Wow.

Yeah. Were you like a counselor Budnick, like full sunscreen on the nose and the dome? Like, how do you get your bronze on? Ugly? You're talking about ugly from a sleigh of shorts. Oh, that's right. Oh, sorry.

Yeah. No, I didn't do that. I went the first day, no sunscreen. I wanted to just get after it right away, just set the foundation. And then we tagged a little bit on after that, but it was a good idea. I couldn't go multiple days without it. So, all right, let's go to the questions. You guys are the best at doing this.

You make our lives easy, please. Mike, let me just say, also brilliantly timed because snow came to your part of the world for the first time and, like, forever while you were gone. Couldn't have time this vacation better to escape the bitter cold that came through. So basically we drove from our house to my parents' house in Florida. We left the day. We left the day it snowed. Like it snowed overnight. We left that day to go to Florida.

Thank God we made that choice because we weren't getting to Florida at that point. And then we just flew from Orlando over there where it was like 32 degrees. It was crazy. I could not believe how cold it was there. But it is nice here in the little country now. We're right around 70 degrees. I got to play a little golf with the little man yesterday. So now we're getting back into it.

Fully back tomorrow, but I wanted to jump on and answer some questions. So let's go. Let's get right to this. Joseph says, recently, MVP said this is a one-off at middleweight for his fight with Sharra Bullet. Do we believe it? So I spoke with MVP. The interview just dropped a couple of hours ago, I believe, on the MMA-finding YouTube channel. Just good stuff.

from MVP. He told me, told others as well, he loves this middleweight move, didn't have to worry about a weight cut, but ultimately his goal is to win fights, and if you were to win a world championship in the UFC, he could see himself doing it 170. So do you think this

will be his only fight at middleweight, or do you think this is going to sort of depend on the result, sort of a Chris Curtis way of thinking, if you will? I think if he wins, he should stick around middleweight, because I know that he believes that he will win a belt at one I don't share that belief with him, frankly, but he's not remotely close to that at this point.

Coming off the lost, DiMachado Gary, Gary coming off the loss to Shabkat himself, but is certainly kind of in that top tier of possible contenders. Welterway just sort of has a number of those. Jack Della Leona Edwards is going down, the winner of that. Certainly if it's Jack Della Madalena, it's going to be right in there. There's a whole crop of people. So he is like absolute best case scenario two fights away probably three to four fights away from challenging for a title. So like that's just not really feasible. Whereas Sharple, I don't believe is ranked though.

Actually, let me pull up the UFC rankings and see if they currently have him in their middle. I think he is. I think he's like 15th. He is 14. 14th. So I stand correct. He's 14. Michelle Paheta is 15.

So he will immediately. for reference, Michael Page is 15 in the welterweight rankings. So by beating Shah a bullet this weekend, he will be higher ranked at middleweight than he is at welterweight and he won't be coming off that loss. Middleweight, there's currently a backlog of contenders, but that's getting sorted out pretty quickly at the moment with obviously next week and we've got the title fight. Hamzaa Chimaev is ostensibly facing the winner of the DDP, Stron's Strickland 2 matchup. and then like if nassardine imov beats izzie this weekend certainly he now is is firmly in the mix if not getting the next fight after hamzat

it's just more of an open road at middleweight though particularly because it might be a little easier to bounce your way up there like if he could just get some good matchmaking has a name gets a impressive win this weekend i think if i would be surprised if he does win this weekend if he doesn't return to 185 because it would be a much better career decision to do so. Yeah, the way he sort of described it to me is it'd be like a Kevin Holland type situation where, because he told me before he grappled with Carlos Condon, he wanted to fight like five or six times this year. He wanted to be as active as he's ever been. So if that means he gets, he takes the occasional fight in middleweight or bounces back, it just so he can be as active as possible.

I could see that, but he'll probably be ranked in two divisions. I know Roman DeLizze isn't ranked in two divisions after beating Anthony Smith, but. Michael Page will probably be ranked at middleweight as well as Walterweight with the win here. So it'll be interesting to see how he navigates this. But I think ultimately he probably prefers 170. I think he has some more physical advantages. And he's very awkward and tough to fight. But the higher he goes up in those rankings, the bigger and stronger and beastier, I guess, is the word I'm looking for that these middleweights get.

And Shar is a big dude. But Page has some tricks. He has some range. some length and some movement to him that can throw Shara off, but the higher he goes up when you start talking about the, the Brennan Allens and the Fluffy Hernandez's who are just big, huge dudes, Marvin Vittori, et cetera. Like, that's a tough hill to climb

when you start to have physical battles with these guys. So it's an interesting fight, man. Do you have a bet on that one? Let me look. Let me pull up my sheet and see if I have a bet on anything. I think not. I'm trying to No, I do not have any action on this one

I have the over Over one and a half as an alternate option But that's in a parley Nothing major It's an interesting fight And so to your previous To your point about that And kind of to his future at middleweight

I agree fundamentally Like the higher up he goes I don't think it would work out for him He is undersized Even though he's very long he is not a he is not a thick dude and you know you put him in there with somebody like fluffy rnandez that's just going to go really really poorly for him whereas at welterweight he is so much longer and taller than almost everyone he is fighting that that kind of can make up for

maybe some of his disadvantages in the grappling realms but you know theoretically charr bullet can wrestle i don't suspect he will he's never really shown a desire to do too much of that and so this should be a matchup that MVP can have success in. I was honestly tempted to bet MVP at some point in time. I ultimately decided not to because I think he is not at his best anymore. Like I think he's on the decline and bumping up a weight class. It's going to be tough. But realistically, we just haven't seen MVP lose striking matchups.

The Diego Lima won obvious, or sorry, Douglas Lima, not Diego, the better Lima. he was winning the fight until he lost the fight. But other than that, like I-Michato Gary was competitive at points on the feet, but he won that bite by taking him down the third round and getting the back and holding it. That is how you beat him historically. And so because he is so weird and quick

and he's got such a different unique style, it is tough for dudes to fight. So I am genuinely super interested in this matchup. Even if I think it is a little odd and like what does this mean for either fighter, not every fight has to have stakes sometimes they can just be quirky and fun and i think that's what this one is it's just so funny how it came together like i i was interviewing him talking about a grappling match with carls con and then he just fires out a call out of sharp bullet i was like

what that seems so out of the blue and then mike told me that hunter campbell or i think it was hunter that called him a couple days after that was like you're really serious about this he was like yeah he goes all right i'll call you back and then they put the fight together like super weird and I'm here for it. I think it's a really interesting fight. I think the feedback on the callout was almost unanimously positive, which doesn't happen all that often. And close amounts don't get fed in this business.

So good on MVP and good for Sharra Bullet. I know they're both very excited for this fight. Also, Mike, I lied. I have a bet on Sharra Bullet that I forgot I made. Oh, okay. So. All right. That's where we're at.

All right. More soddy talk. Mike and Jedda, if Perez-Ziam gets a good win, he's on quite a role lately. Who would you give him as a significant can fight next because he needs that name to really step up really, I think. That's a great fight, by the way. I know we lost something and we bumped that.

I think that's the first fight on the main card, Zayem versus Mike Davis. Mike Davis is incredibly good. His two losses are- Muhammad Naimov is the first card of the main card. Oh, this one's on the main card though now, right? This is on the main card, but Muhammad Nymov is the first card in the first card. Okay, okay. So they moved some things around over the last couple days.

but Mike Davis is just so good. He just doesn't fight. And it's been real tough to see the things he's gone through over. And I talk about this all the time. There's one interview that I've done with M.A. fighting that never saw the light of day. It was like a 50 minute interview with Mike Davis after the Mason Jones fight, which was an absolute bangor,

is one of the best fights of the year in front of nobody in Abu Dhabi. And just the laundry list of things that this guy had gone. through just to get to that fight and he was so injured fighting Mason Jones too but he had no money so he had to fight he could not get out of it and it just never saw the light of day it was too bad but he's so good his two losses are to Sadiq Yusef in the greatest fight in contender series history it is an absolute banger I say this all the time if you've never seen Mike Davis versus Soteik Yusuf on the contender series you need to do yourself a favor and go watch it it's an absolute banger and then he lost to Gilbert Burns on a fight he took on super short notice in his UFC debut those are his

losses. That's it. He is super good. It just the activity is not there. And for as I am, I am just quietly amassing a nice little win streak here. So I'll frame this a little differently, Jed. Where would the winner go in your eyes? What kind of matches would you be looking at for either Fores or Mike Davis? It is tough because I think based on like normal concepts of merit, like they're both on good streaks at this moment in time. I think if four fight win streaks are both of them, not mistaken, which I could be, don't quote me on that. Like, against progressively better opposition, I, I think both dudes are in that sort of top 30-ish at lightweight pile of just everybody who's not in the top 15, but is incredibly good.

Like, I'm trying to think like Ludovic Klein, like those sorts of dudes, right? Like, just awesome fighters who can't quite get to the number because lightweight is hard to get to the number. the winner of this probably deserves a chance to get to the number. I don't like to get a shot at a number. I just don't know if that will happen. Just kind of looking at the UFC lightweight rankings right now. The dudes at the back end of that almost certainly wouldn't want to take the fight.

And I'm not entirely sure the UFC would want to. So I'm going to give you two options here of who the winner would get. The best case scenario, if I am in the corner of either of these dudes and they win, The best case scenario I would say is you need to call out Jalen Turner or maybe Ben Woss on to knee. Because both dudes are in the, they're both at the bottom of the top 15 and they're coming off losses. They need to defend their position in the top 15. BSD probably more so than Jalen Turner because he is off back to back loss at this point. So call out one of those two dudes and try and get that fight because I think that is achievable,

even if maybe it's not the most likely. And hell, the UC's going back to Paris at some point this year because they seem like they go there probably once a year now. For us, Ziam versus Benoit Sandini and all French, you know, co-main or main event, that feels like that can do business. So that would be like the kind of upper echelon of what I'd be hoping for. Lower down, you still want to name because even if you can't get to the rankings, get to somebody with the name. And so I think Bobby Green is fighting Marisa O'Huffie. Otherwise, Bobby Green would have been a really good choice. So then it's tough for me to know who.

Maybe the winner of that. Like maybe you just go for the winner of that. But it's lightweight just so tough because every fight is good, but it's really hard to climb. Yeah, it's, I'm kind of, I like the Jalen Turner one. I think that makes a lot of sense. I like the BSD one too. both of those dudes just are the guys in the top 15 who need to fight backwards and defend their positions.

So either of those could happen. Gamron, I think would be interesting. I think they would have a shot at that one. It's a little high, but I think they would have a shot at that one. Just try to get a win there. Yeah. It's, dude, when we talk about lightweight being so good, it's because of fights like this. Like, these two guys are so outside of the top 15 right now, especially Mike Davis.

who just fights once a year if we're lucky to see it and he's what he's probably like in my rankings just because the activity he's like the 34th best lightweight in the world and if he was fighting two three times a year he's probably a top 15 guy or very close to it so

it just shows you the depth of this freaking division yeah it's I mean this is a great fight that will fly under the radar because neither because also the other thing neither of them have big names on their resume either it's like the arm's got

the win over Matt Favola. Is that like the biggest win either of them have? Let me take a look and make sure I'm not forgetting it. And Matt Favola is a dude who like at one point was back into the top 15 or whatever. Like these are good

dudes who have good quality wins, but it's just there is a have and have nots. And even if you have not, you may be an incredible fighter. You just haven't gotten there. Yeah, the Jones fight was so good. The beating. he put on Thomas Gifford, Mike Davis, that is.

Which just, that was one of the most vicious, one-sided ass weapons I've ever seen watching this one. Oh, no. I'm just looking at the rankings. I'm realizing my guy, Joel Alvarez is no longer ranked. They bumped him to replace him with Grant Dawson. Oh, man. Because he was about, he was like, Joel Alvarez is on like a seven, he's like lost one in his last 20 fights or something insane. And he just got ranked.

and now he's not even ranked anymore. I actually, he finishes every person he fights and he's not even ranked. If Mike Davis wins and he called out Joel Alvarez, that would be an awesome callout. Like that would just be a bogeyman callout. Yeah. It would be a great callout for Mike Davis or for Ziam.

Joel Alvarez should be livid that they bumped him from the rankings. Joel Alvarez should be the guy who gets game rot. Yeah. Ontario, the weight is over. The gold standard of online casinos. has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live, bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive

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Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. All right. Let's get to this, Jed, because, you know, as you said, you may need to fill in the blanks a little bit. I am aware of things that have happened with this, but I did not watch it live.

I was so removed from it. But I did talk to Darit-Oen a few days prior on the town hall. So I learned more about the GFL in that town hall than I learned more in those 45 minutes to an hour than I ever knew going into it. But then this happened on Friday. And I want you to give me the notes, your review on this. Knox too tall is just saying, please roast the GFL early and then get to the real meat and potatoes.

And he also says that a roast like this deserves a little mickech. Now, I love to sit there and roast this. Now, I've heard some things and seen some clips. And I'll piggyback probably off some things that you said. But they had a draft on Friday. And I still don't,

I get the concept of it. They didn't have a draft on Friday, Mike. They lied. So they, they they just it was a result show so to speak being yeah so what happened as a draft um is about as angry as I've been in like a year watching that because everyone knows that I love drafts like drafts are are the most fun thing that you can do like we should be drafting more things constantly all the time because it is exciting it is fun and is interesting and this

could have been uh interesting in a very different way if they were going to genuinely do a draft. They didn't draft. And this isn't a, they drafted and then because they wanted to keep this into a three-hour time window for their show, then they just revealed the draft. Very obviously they did not draft

from the opening portion of this. The first fighter selected was Tyrone Woodley. A lot of respect for what Tyrone Woodley accomplished in his MMA career. Should be a UFC Hall of Fame or one day. He is 42 years old. He is on a six-fight losing streak across combat sports. There is not a person who is actively trying to win a competition who would select him with the first overall pick.

Sage Northcutt was the second pick for whatever team like L.A. or whoever that I don't remember which teams drafted who. That wasn't this, from the immediate outset, it was clear that they didn't draft. Also, the production was so bad that at one point very early on, they just showed who all. the teams were. They accidentally flashed up a graphic. Somebody screen grabbed it and then you knew where the draft picks were going with one or two minor changes happening in there. And if you just look at the team construction, you couldn't believe that they drafted

and also be like a literal infant or you can recognize, oh, really interesting that like all the fighters for the Saudi team, they all, all of them are from the area. They all have some connection to the area. All the Miami fighters have some connection to it. No other team wanted to draft any of the Miami-based fighters. That's odd. Like very clearly, they just made teams based on like geographic location. And that, like, I don't have an issue with that.

That's probably correct because theoretically, if you are doing this, you want there to be that sort of drive and pull to to localize, you know, teams or whatever to build that up. why are you lying about drafting them? Like you could just say here's the team announcement thing. And that is the tip of the iceberg, Mike, to legitimately, I know that I am sometimes prone to hyperbole. I don't think I am being hyperbolic when I say,

this is the worst product launch I've ever seen, like that I have ever seen. Every piece of it was bad. The obviously, like the obvious, construction of this being a total fabrication and being spoon fed tusses it was real. I don't even care if this is disrespectful. I know that it is. Whoever came to the conclusion that here's what we got to do for our announced show. We got to get Brendan Schaub, Mike Goldberg and Robin Black together on a panel.

This is not 2006. Why in God's name? Goldberg is up there just like only talking. talking about being in the UFC once upon a time. Like as the spurned girlfriend of I got left at the, I got left by my husband 20 years ago and I can't let it go or left by my wife or whatever. Just like, oh,

I remember this guy from back in the day and, ah, the fans may hate me, but I still love you. Shob is out here unironically calling people like freaking sage Northcutt and Kevin Lee prospects. Like, it was off when Robin Black is the best part.

of your broadcast, it's really bad. It was so, so terrible. The production was awful. It was all, honestly, my, one of my legitimate thoughts was, nobody made a decision. They literally just plugged into AI and were like, hey, chat GPT, who should I get to do this show? And chat GPT kicked out these names from a lifetime ago of relevance.

It was so terrible. at two different points, but the thing that really was the ultimate kicker for me. After, one, they stopped drafting after four rounds, Mike. So we're clear. They drafted through four rounds. And then they were just like, all right, now we're going to show you the teams. Like, okay, you just gave up the idea that you were drafting.

But before that, after the first two rounds, then they started announcing three picks at a time, instead of being like, Miami takes blah, and then talking about it. and then Los Angeles takes blah, and then talking about it's like, Owen goes up there and he announces three picks at a time for the next three. And they're like,

okay, this will speed things along. Except for one of the times he does it, he leaves out pick 17, I think it is, and just gives pick, or leaves out pick 16 and just gives pick 17 and 18 out. And then they go back to the desk and Mike Goldberg's like,

and also it should be noted that with pick 16, Yoel Romero gets drafted by the Miami team. And you're like, that was really weird. I don't know what the hell is going on. Five minutes later, Mike. They're like, and we've got a clip to show you. And it's John Jones announcing that Yoll Romero got drafted by Miami. After this had already happened, it was announced.

The production was dog shit. I could have done better with an iPhone if I was half in the bag. It was so bad, man. It was so good. Like, I, I, I, wanted to be positive. I understand the team of MMA probably doesn't work as a concept. I at least like trying something different because it gives me something different.

I like the idea of a draft. You know, this would just be a different flavor for me as someone who lives in the sport. And it will certainly fail, but okay, this, this thing was lit on fire before it got off the ground. This isn't the Hindenburg because it's never leaving. It was so unimpeachably terrible. from pillar to post. It immediately made me think all the worst thoughts I have.

And I don't want to say those thoughts because I don't want us to get in trouble, but none of them are kind. Let me say that. I just, I don't know how this works. Like, I need to know, I need to know, what this TV deal is going to look like.

I absolutely, without question, need to know what this is. I know he went on, went on with Ariel earlier this week and said that as of now he thinks it's going to be a paper remodel, which what the, how are you going to get away with that? You got to make it reasonably priced, obviously, 10 bucks. Dude, if they're not paying me money, it's not reasonably priced at this point in time. Yeah, I don't know how this is going to work. Like, I really don't. Like, I don't know. Well, so my thoughts are it's not. I genuinely do not believe they have a hold an event at this point in time.

believed that they would have done that prior to the draft show. I do not believe that they will hold an event. Somebody pulled this and I do not have that at hand so I'm sorry about that. I'm not giving due credit. Somebody like did the work. The average age of fighters is 36.

Like multiple people have not fought in years in MMA. Like multiple fighters are coming out of retirement. Chris Wyden retired and then suddenly was in the GFL. Uriah Fabor is 50 year old ass is is doing it and then they your eye favor is coming back to coming back to do this get out and he's going to happen and they spent like a solid 15 minute segment talking to him where he's

like I have the blood work of a 27 year old so totally okay that I do this and just like what's going on like when you are justified when you are justifying his inclusion in this that's when you've fucked up. Like you have gone to a bad place. You don't need to do this. There's not a shortage of human beings that you could put in a cage right. But you were justifying the inclusion of this 50 year old man. Like it was,

it was a train wreck that I was forced to watch. And I was excited about watching it because I didn't, I thought it could be fun and dynamic and interesting. In the way that Mike, as you have often pointed out, the Bellator selection show was like one of the coolest things they ever did. It's like, this could be kind of cool. And I don't think the promotional work, but this could be a cool thing.

And instead, it was the worst execution of that possible and horribly produced from like top to bottom. It was a categorical failure. There's just no redeeming quality. It didn't even really get so bad that it was funny. It was just bad bad. That's not good. that's not good bad but not funny is a terrible combination it was terrible combination we'll see what they do man I mean

I'm glad Vandaleigh is one of those you know one of the veterans Kevin Lee saves Northca those guys are more like prospects like dude what are you talking about Kevin Lee fought for a UFC interim belt like seven years ago what are you talking about? It's such a big deal out of all the rematches they could book like you remember two decades ago when you watched Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee fight. Yeah. Like we could do that again. It's like, Rui Fabor is actively calling for a fight with Hindenborough. I'm like, what is happening? Why are we doing this? So bad. Darren Owen telling me on the town hall that, hey, if there are

certain fights that fans want to see, we'll just make trades so that these guys can fight each other. It's like, what? Okay. That's sure. I don't. That. The team thing is, at least he said he's like he's open to change because I think they're going to need to change. But this idea that there are pro football owners that are looking to invest in a team in their city might be a little far-fetched. Let's just say. I don't think Robert Kraft is thinking about putting a New England MMA team together anywhere near Foxborough. you know what I'm saying? I just don't don't see it.

Dude, like, it's so, if you're just, there are gyms in every major city, just go to the gyms and be like, hey, would you like to be a part of this? And you can do whatever the local,

like one of the big local gyms. A American top team can have a gym. And maybe they can contribute, you know, there can be the Florida Falcons or whatever their name's going to be. And they can, maybe like, maybe.

some older ATT dudes who still want to fight, like maybe those come in just to be figureheads, but you can also just get experience for young talent in your gym that like maybe otherwise won't have a thing. Like it is so, if they were actively trying to do this, they're going about it terribly. I genuinely just do not believe. I more likely than not to me, this is something other than a fight promotion. I don't know what it is, but it's something else. I don't know if they're just trying to sell me a Bitcoin or an NFT of something.

But like I cannot believe that they were like, we should hire Tony Ferguson and let him fist fight people. That is what the masses want to see right now. I don't, when I was talking to Darren about like how they'll put the matchups together. Because like you and I talked about this as soon as they started. revealing the rosters. Like, we both are in agreement that if Frank Mear is going to fight, like,

he should be fighting someone of his of his age. Unfortunately, that's all the heavyweights. That's all they have. That's all the drafts. Like, even, like, Brian Keller her not getting drafted is crazy. Yeah, because he's fake. What's the draft?

There's a freaking New York team and he's not on it. He's like from there. It's just so weird. The whole thing is bizarre. So now I guess they're all free agents and who the who the hell knows man. Oh man. I also forgot. I forgot to mention the whole like people were drafted that were like no, we aren't.

Oh, yes. I saw that. Rashad Evans. Like, Rashad Evans was like I didn't get drafted. Like, well, like I'm not fighting for them. I'm fighting rampage or whatever. Like I'm not doing this dumb shit, which is both incredible just for that to happen. And then GFL puts out like a promotional photo of like,

here's whatever team Rashad was on, Miami or whatever. And they just removed him from it. So it's just like they had Daunong or whatever, I think was the other person. And just like TBD from the other like, what are you? Just don't even tweet it. Don't tweet the graphic. What is happening?

That's the best. This is going to be a fun story to watch. That's for sure. We do have a couple of a couple of super chats. Maybe we'll get to the She probably gets the most important thing That's going on this week BKFC coming off of knucklemania

And that's not even the big story for BKFC Parker Porter is making his BKFC debut On Saturday against Chase Gormley Predition Just absolute annihilation From the in shape Six-pack wearing Parker Porter Looks like a different person

He looks like a different human being right now Not the same Parker Porter He did the preview show before John Jones versus Steepa and he like lifted his shirt up he had abs I was stunned but we'll see what happened why don't the policies fight in MMA instead

please I'm just like I think Tanner Bozer might be the best heavyweight yeah like Felipe Lins is probably the best light heavyweight like this is so it's

I genuinely hope they put an event on because maybe the event would be so bad it's funny but this is a catastrophe thus far i wonder where it's happening how it's happening i just i don't know i don't know everything every time darren speaks it's something different it's something different he's just making up i was like and nobody else will care about this how do you like you're doing a team concept and you just name them team Dubai, team Los Angeles. Like they're not like the Dubai destroyers or the LA Chargers or whatever. Like they're just team Dubai.

Like that would have been the easiest win ever. Like, ah, we'll give them all mascots. And here's Tyrone Woodley holding up a Dubai jersey or like they just, this is so bad. Every part. Especially that's how that's how they're presenting it as the. the next team sport. Like, they want to present as like, you know, if you're a Boston fan,

you get the Red Sox, the Celtics, the Patriots, the Bruins, and now you can have the Boston bandit mixed martial arts units. Team Boston. Team Boston. Team Boston. All right. The fuck is going on. It's crazy.

So dumb, man. Let's go to Ryan's Super Chat. Why don't the Pauls just fight in MMA instead? So if you missed it, Max put out this. sort of graphic of Jake and Logan Paul going face to face. I think this is from MVP. And people assumed that this was leading to a fight on Max. Now, we don't know what exactly this is. There have been reports that that have come out saying it's going to be a reality show and all

that. I don't know what this is, honestly. I've obviously talked to people about it. And I was basically told, listen, here's the deal. You'll find out more at 4 p.m. Eastern, which is actually today. So apparently there's going to be some sort of live stream on a social media page announcing this. But from what I am told and from what others have been told that have reported it, I can confirm, at least as of this moment, unless something totally changed, this is not a fight announcement.

So we'll see what it all is. But thoughts on the pause going to MMA. I don't think Logan's going to fight an MMA. Don Davis said he thinks Jake could fight by the fall of this year. I don't know if that's true. That's blatantly untrue. Jake is never fighting an M.A. They're never going to fight an M.A.

Why would they? Quibono, who benefits? How do they benefit by competing M.A? Jake makes far more money doing the boxing thing. He's better at it than he would be at MMA probably, just because he's been working at this specific part of it longer. uh, Logan, you know better than I, but is apparently actually pretty good at the pro wrestling thing. So why, why do that when instead you can just talk about it and sort of keep it as an option and tease it?

And maybe one day, $50 million will come calling for you to compete there, but it's not going to happen. Um, also like Jake, Jake just blatantly was like, MMA sucks in his most recent interview. I'm not saying he is beholden to that take. certainly he will change his mind for any amount of dollars. But, like, his entire stance was MMA is bad boxing, and I want to do the boxing thing. Like, they're just not going to fight in MMA. And that's why do we need them to? Like, who?

I don't understand the fascination with the Pauls in general. We cover them because people want them to be covered. I don't get it. Nothing about them appeals to me as individuals, as personnel. They are, I cannot speak to Logan Paul's wrestling ability. Apparently he is good. That's not my bag. So whatever.

Jake Paul is a mediocre boxer, but sometimes his boxing matches can be fun. So I at least credit him there in that. But like, I don't need to see him fighting MMA. Just there's nothing for him here. He would not be the 50th best middleweight or whatever weight class he ended up competing at. So I'm good. Don't need him. Yeah.

I mean, if he does one fight, like, Don, Don was like, the opponent definitely matters. Because when I, when I did the little roundtable with Nikisa, Jake, and Amanda Serrano during the Tampa fight week, they were just, it sounded to me like they will fight Nate Diaz and MMA or they won't fight anybody. That's, that was like my read from it. Don didn't think that way, but he also thinks the opponent actually matters in this situation. Like Connor. probably but like does the opponent actually matter here isn't the goal like to just get him in the cage

get people to watch and probably get him a victory like isn't that because i don't think he's beating naten in an mbama fight so i think that the i don't think he wants to do m ms is the thing so that's why the opponent matters if going to m m a most lucrative option he will do it but that will only be the case if if there is a massive opponent nobody is going to because nobody watched him do the box whoever those cans were thing. Andre August, baby. Like nobody gave a shit about that.

Nobody cares to see him do that. And I think he probably correctly recognizes that there is a much, much greater likelihood of a random upset occurring in MMA than in handpick boxing matches. And it's a whole different thing to train for and do. And so why bring on that risk when a number of other things can happen to you

as opposed to in a boxing match where basically as long as you know, you're not fighting somebody who hits really hard, you're probably going to win if you're Jake Paul at this point. So it would have to, the juice has to be worth to squeeze. And that is only the case if the name opposite him is big. And so that's why I don't think it will happen. It's just, there's just nothing to make it happen.

PFL just needs to put good fights on. Like what they did the other day, I finally got to watch Usernamaga Madov versus Paul. You're a fight was fucking awesome. It was so good. I did a post show with Casey that we had not planned to do. But I was like, we have to do this. And so Casey who was off generously, it was like, yep, we can do it right now.

We went live, went for 45 minutes or whatever and just talked about it. It was, it is the best fight in PFL history. I said it on the post show. I stand by that. Also, you weren't here for this. I said it on the post show. I'm sure you've been vacationing. treat and watch.

Um, or listen, it did big numbers for us, Mike. Like, PFL has never been a traffic driver. People were interested. And,

you know, I won't go so far as to say, this is their ultimate fighter one moment. But this is something for PFL to have. And they, they really need to just focus on this. Making good fights and finding ways to get people to care about them. Because they cared about this.

And then they, that that that intentionality that effort from fans to tune in to watch was repaid with an absolute bangor of a fight yeah it was a great it was an unbelievable fight unbelievable uh our friend lazy bed venetius olivarian say and armagamata playing ping pong together do you prefer heat or sportsmanship between opponents what a what a great wholesome moment between those two uh competitors they're competing before competing ping pong things can get pretty hot and heavy playing ping pong jett i don't know what your ping pong playing skills and sportsmanship qualities are like with the old paddles and the ping pong balls but things can get a little heated there so what do you think you like

this i am a great sport always obviously i don't get competitive at ping pong because i suck at ping pong so um i just get run over and i'm comfortable getting run over at something i'm very bad at i i want a mix right like i don't what i want the thing i want as a fan I would like you to not lie to me. That's not as a fan. That's really just the way I would like to live my life. I don't want you to tell me that you're drafting when you're not drafting. I don't want you to pretend to hate somebody and then hug them after the fight.

If you genuinely have some beef with them and then through the process of fighting somebody for 25 minutes, you garner respect for them and can settle, like set that aside, I respect that. I understand that feeling. I've experienced that feeling. So that's fine. But when you come out and say, yeah, it was all for promotion. It's like, get the fuck out of here, man. Like, I want you to just be honest and let us enjoy you on the terms of truth and your existence in the world.

And so there's no beef. Like, this is a heartwarming, fun moment. Like, these are two dudes who are going to get into a fist fight because not every fist fight has to be about something personal. Sometimes it can just be because fighting is fun. Fist fighting is fun. Fist fighting is a. fun activity to do. And sometimes you can have

legitimate beef with the other person for whatever reason, but you can feel affronted. There can be something and this is how you are settling it the old fashioned way or whatever. Like, I want, I would not like the sport to be all of one way or all of the other.

Mostly I just want you to speak your truth, whatever it is. Unless your truth is Bryce Mitchell, then shut the fuck up. I actually don't even know. I haven't looked in a minute, but who has the most to gain from UFC Saudi in the MMA fighting fantasy draft? Terrific question. It's you, right?

It's you, right? I am certainly front-loaded with action. No, it can't be me. Oh, I have I have Izzy and Sergey competing, so two fighters with a lot of points on the line looking down. I got just Jasmine, right? AK has nobody competing this weekend. Um, Ghee has Emovov competing.

Oh, that's it. Uh, oh, good. Casey drafted Bryce Mitchell. Sick. Um, I think we may allow him to, to change that choice. Uh,

who does Casey has nobody going this weekend. Uh, Damon has Shara. And so, yes, I am in fact the most of game because you have Jasmine. That's it. I have two fighters competing.

One of them is in the main event, so get some points there just regard to this. And Pavlovich is fighting a ranked dude. I definitely have the most a game this weekend. That's what I thought. Thank you for the question. You nailed it. Joseph, I know 312 is next week,

but it came out that Dana and the UFC aren't having any backups for the two title fights. How crazy is that after 311? Yeah, they're going without the net there, Jed. They're tightroping without the net. I believe that was our social post on this. thoughts on this one great social post credit to to that so it's it's not great great but it's not as bad as i think maybe some people want uh strong strickland and drigus du plus see you should have no doubt that

they are going to do it um they they have given you no reason to believe they won't show up those are two dudes who whatever you feel about them personally their politics the things they say the way they say them they sign a contract they show up and fight um And so you feel a lot of confidence that that main event is going off. Buddy, I can't feel the same confidence about the co-main. And if you can, credit to you. But Tatiana Suarez is just, knock on wood, I don't want anything to happen to her. I have drafted her.

I super don't want anything to force her out of this bout. It's a lot of trust and confidence in a woman who has a dominant cruise resume of just having injury, the worst injury luck you've ever heard of. So not having a backup for that seems misplaced. And the reason it is super misplaced is, yes, it's the co-main event. If that fight falls apart, you still have the main event. This card is the poopiest soup you have ever seen. It is so bad outside of the top two fights that losing one of them dramatically hurts this card as far as interest level goes.

So I think it would be weird to be like, yeah, we're just going to do a backup for the co-main. but like honestly maybe wouldn't have been the worst choice because I hope nothing goes wrong and that this gamble pays off but if next week we're talking about Tatiana Suarez rolled her ankle man 312 is going to be a hard watch party for us Mike I mean it's all about the last two fights plus Jake Matthews Jed maybe Jake this is the turnaround I remember those days where Jake Matthews was like a top 10 welterweight I don't I don't recall

I have no recollection of which you speak. I plead the fifth. Oh, terrific. What a time. Mike and Jed Matted, I'm interested to know your thoughts on fighters retiring and then not. The Weidman thing you mentioned reminded me as he just retired and had a pretty big deal made of it.

So, yeah, the Wydenman one was a little funky. I mean, there was a big to do. The UFC production team during the Way and show, like, interviewed his teammates. and it was just this big thing. Tears are flowing. It was very emotional. And then freaking three days later, he's drafted for the GFL.

Like, what is going on here? What are people retiring? And then they just sign with the GFL like three days later. How is this possible? How was the UFC allowing this to happen? What do they care? Oh. Yeah.

I mean, that's true. This is, again, this is never getting off the ground. So like, super, what do they care? But the widened one is really bad. obviously is he just retired and looked so bad he's not the worst your i favor tony tony ferguson is a fight losing streak luke rock hold i don't know how many things he's failed out in a row but it's it's quite a number of them i'm just looking at like the lists of fighters now uh andrea olivsky and frank meir are oh they're teammates sorry they can't compete against each other again

because they're teammates for team los angeles uh uh uriah harold terrific. Chad Mendez. Way to see Chad Mendez back. Like all of these people were retired from MMA. This is the, I mean, GFL has led to a number of fun an acronym

names for them. Glue Factory League is the one that has stuck to me the most, but I'm pun intended there. And yeah, that's just what this is, man. Like these, this is bad. It's just bad. It's just bad.

all the way around. This is not a lot of interest there. We'll see. Vincent Henderson retired too. Pretty sure Benno retired. So many of them did. And he's here, just scrolling through the list. Gustafsson's retired like twice.

Shogun retired. John's had retired. Dual listed. Yeah, but Shogun's not competing. He's a team manager, I think. Is he? Unless I'm... No, no, he's competing.

You're correct. I'm wrong. So Vanderley-Salem, Silva is a team manager. He's not competing. In my head, I was thinking Shoggan. have the same thing going. Also, I was a, it absolutely tickled me that rebellus to Spain got drafted literally moments before he stepped into the karate combat pit. Like, he got drafted for team Miami and then he was knocking some dude out in four seconds in the karate combat bit. Yeah. It's Jeremy Stevens,

who just had a big BKFC win was drafted. Like, come on. Like, what is? This is all nonsense. It's all nonsense and a half. Junior dos Santos, who should have retired. if he hadn't retired. Mullen Marais was retired. He's back. Hennon Burrell, I haven't heard that name

in a long time. Oh, God. It was a terrible. There were so many, like, there were so many, like, better fighters

that were signed, I guess, and eligible for the draft that didn't get drafted. Dude, I could legitimately build the team Atlanta that would trounce

any of these teams in the team. If you get, gave me like 20 grand. I think I could put that team together. Who's, who's, uh, who's going to be in the basement and this in GFL? Who's the, who's the worst team? Oh, team New York.

So I actually did a, uh, draft grades column afterwards because legit and this is absolutely seriously. When they were doing this is like, this will be a fun thing to do. And I was already pot committed to doing it. Otherwise I would not have done it after the draft came out. But we had already planned it. And I was like, okay. And then as it was happening, I was like, I don't want to do this.

But here we go. So I gave draft grades out. Team New York got an F and would have gotten worse if there was a lower letter grade that existed in the American curriculum. Just a quick note on who the team New York is. Alexio Lannick and Alan Belcher are the heavyweights. Oven St. Prue and Devin Clark, your light heavyweights. Phil Halls, Chris Wydenman, the middleweights. Obviously, you had to get Dylan Dennis in there as a welterweight,

such a esteemed competitor with Neiman Gracie, Kevin Lee, Sydney Outlaw, your lightweights, Kai Kamaka, Lance Palmer, your feathers, Zrad Lajafili, Jimmy Rivera, Jimmy Rivera, your bantam weights. Holly Holm, women's bantamweight, it's bad. Everything about it.

B-Win, who I believe, B-Win is a 6-7 fighter. It's like one of the Adam. New York is terrible. Shout out New York. Shout out to New York. Alan Belcher is probably the best fighter on the New York team, which says a lot.

I actually think Sydney outlaw is like not. He actually, considering like who he probably will have to fight, he might do pretty well. This might be Phil Haas's shining moment, Jed. This could be the breakout time for Phil Haas. The only good thing that happened in this whole draft, and it's like a draft quotation marks,

I don't remember who it was, because I think, because you were off, so it couldn't have been you, right? Like, we were talking about, I guess it was me and AK,

we're like, who should go? Somebody asked us a question, who should get drafted first overall? And looking through the extensive list of fighters, uh, I said it and I was like, I think Demiris Magulov and Tafi

are pretty clearly the best two fighters in this pile of people. They both are on Dubai. They are both of the lightweights for Dubai. It was just like, what is going on? Unbelievable. And they got drafted in like the eighth and twelfth rounds respectively or something. Those are steals. Value picks right there.

Steals of the draft. Absolutely. Lazy Bed with Mike having returned for vacation, what are your ultimate vacation destinations you've yet to visit and why? What are? I would see. I mean, there's some good ones. Um, like, I want to go to Aruba, that's for sure.

That's the one thing like the trip did was like made us think we got to travel more. Like we had to do more of this stuff. So that, like, lit a fire to do a ruba and do like places like that. And so that was, that was kind of cool. And then I think you and I are kind of both in agreement like New Year's Eve, Japan for a rise and like do a trip there. KSW, like do a trip there and just take in like a KSW stadium show. Like that would be sick.

But yeah, I've been Ireland is a place I'd want. I definitely want to go at some point. See like generations of family that I've never met before. That would be pretty fun. But what do you, what's if a magic genie just dropped on your shoulder right now and said, Jed, I'll let you go anywhere you want to go for a week. Where are you going? So I've actually traveled fairly extensively.

Not like nearly as much as some people, but I got to travel a lot during college and law school. And I've just sort of been, I've been through a lot of Europe. I spent a summer in Thailand, which was incredible. The top of my list, so work-wise, like even like marginally related to work, as you point out, at some point I will do a New Year's Eve show in Japan. I've been to Japan. I've never done that. That would be incredible. And going to a KSW event, God willing, they do Puds versus Eddie Hall. I'll be breaking the piggy banks open to go to that one in Poland. The top of my lists are, I've never been to Australia.

I'd very much like to do Gold Coast and all of that in Australia. I am very interested in going to see China, which you couldn't really do in a week. China's enormous and there's a ton of it. But if I was just getting a week, the one real place left in Europe that I very much would like to go and just have never done is Greece. I like all of, I was big into the mythology and the whole ancient Greece thing as a kid growing up, the Odyssey, the Iliad, all of that stuff. I have been to Rome. I've been through a lot of Italy, but I've never done Greece. And so if I had a week, I would go chill around Greece and see all of that because it's,

It seems like it'd be really, really cool. Yeah, I definitely want to travel more. Will Rampage versus Rashad Evans boxing be awesome? I feel like it will be. Am I crazy? Is A Z-Ray videos crazy for thinking Rampage Evans 2 in the sweet science, as it were, will be awesome? Yes. Let me look something up here really fast.

Okay. So it might be fun. There's a world where it's fun. And certainly if you have fun, I never really want to yuck anybody's yum. If it ends up being something you are interested in, cool, because I like a lot of silly things. I've said many times.

Kimbo Dada is one of my five favorite fights of all time. This probably doesn't have the ability to be that level of bad fun. But we were talking about two men who are over 45 years old boxing each other. Like the buildup is most likely to be the most fun part of this. And the actual fight. will verge on bad to tragic, depending, or seems unlikely it will be fun.

But I hope it is, like, it would obviously be better if it was fun. I just, 45-year-old's boxing is, unless you're B-Hop, if you are not Bernard Hopkins, you probably shouldn't be boxing at the age of 45. Yeah, I don't know what to think of it.

It might be funny. I don't know if it'll be fun. I best. Yeah. I don't know. Rampage can build some stuff up. In the France several times. One of my best friend lives in Paris.

There you go. I see a lot of people, I see a lot of people throwing up the Bryce Mitchell thing. I might even give that fucking thing time. Like, you know, unless you want to. I don't want to give what he said time

because it genuinely does not merit it. I will say this. Because I would like to address it at some point. We have reached out to official with the UFC, official with TKO to get a statement. I understand that this sport has unbelievably lacks enforcement limitations around restricting fighters from doing truly anything. Like the days where fighters might get released for making a comment or they're outside of the cage behavior just have not been around for some time. The idea of the whatever fighter acts or I don't remember what the hell they call.

that the fighter performance thing just isn't real. All of that being said, I will be pretty shocked if Bryce Mitchell is still employed after this. And I'll be incredibly disappointed. Like there's, there is no room for what he said to exist in polite society. And as any level of business, you should not be associated with it. you just should not want this human being connected to you. And, you know,

if they don't fire them, if they make him like try and learn something, maybe that's better. But throw the baby out at the bathroom at this point. Like, I think that this will be the first time in years. We will see a line drawn between what is considered acceptable behavior. Because it is so grossly over the line that,

it is an indefensible thing. And so, yeah, that's all I need to say on it. I hope that the UFC does do something. I believe they will. It seems that most people do not. We'll see. I mean, it is a very important year for the UFC from a PR standpoint.

This is a contract year. This is a TV deal type of year. Dana White has publicly said he's hoping for a billion dollars a year, which he could absolutely the UFC could absolutely get a billion dollars a year with the TV rights deal or at least very very close to it but you got to keep the PR in at least a decent spot and I know

with certain stuff like Dana says we have 700 lunatics they're going to say stuff but I wonder if you're right I wonder if they I don't think anything's going to happen I don't even think you're going to get a statement nothing but I could be wrong there's a man outside my door like terrific

super super pumped about that. I think we will get a statement because it is so it is so beyond the pale. I, it is genuinely unfathomable to me that they would keep them around after this because there's,

there's no gain. And somebody made a comment to me on Twitter about this of like, you know, like this isn't a Fortune 500 company where somebody would get fired for this. Like, no, This is a multi-billion-dollar industry. This is not some fintech where, like, a dev in the back room is on 4chan saying some shit.

Bryce Mitchell is a public figure of a multi-billion dollar company who at various points in time will have a live microphone put in front of him to be broadcast on the Disney channel to say things. And previously, we already felt uncomfortable sometimes with what could come out of his mouth in these instances. Before he outright said, like outright said, Hitler is a good guy or was a good guy. He was just defending his country. Like, you cannot give this man a platform. There's, it is just not a thing that you can do. I maybe, again, I may just be grasping his straws and wanting to see some good in a world that has been completely bereft of it.

But it will truly surprise me if he stays in. employed after this. This is so bad. This is a terrible They don't need them. People saying shit and this honestly may be the worst like outright thing an active fighter has said and then doubled and tripled down on it.

This wasn't oh like this was not him minimizing. This was outright Holocaust denial and then outright saying well he was all he what he was doing was good. that is indefensible shit and if you are on board with that get the fuck out of my face what a time Jesus Christ

Joseph can we get their thoughts on March 27th on Max supposedly it'll be brother versus brother Logan versus Jake would you mind you three weeks out from WrestleMania for Logan it's not a fight that's all I can say

guys they're never going to fight each other they've said on multiple they'll make a billion dollars they'll make a shit a little money fighting other people yeah and Logan's not a very good boxer. He's not.

Jake would make a billion dollars fighting KSI. He's still not doing that. Like, they may come a time when these two will fight each other. That will be when they are, the Paul versus Paul fight will be when they need something to grasp that, when they are out of options. And this is the last desperate act to get them back in the headlines. It will not be before then because they have near unlimited number of options outside of that. Yeah. Apparently 4 p.m. Eastern, they're going to do some sort of stream on some social media platform announcing what this is. There have been reports from boxing writers who say it's going to be a reality show of some kind. It very well could be. I don't fucking know. I probably will not be watching it, but I'm sure a lot of people will. Unless I'm made to watch it for work. I will not be watching it. Yes. But if you want you, sure, man.

Yes. The polls are relatively homeless. I got no issue. If you like them, they're just not my cup of tea. Someone asked earlier if we're going to do a watch-along for the Royal Rumble. I'm told we are not. WrestleMania might be a different story. So stay tuned for that potentially.

I am pondering just doing one on my own, like on my YouTube, like my personal YouTube channel, which I haven't touched in forever. Just because I think it would be fun. And I just want to test out the theory. that a Royal Rumble watch party would be fun as hell. We talked about this earlier.

I'm slightly disappointed because this is the one wrestling event that I actually think is kind of fun. I like the concept of the Royal Rumble. It was just King of the Hill is like a fun thing. That's awesome. Because transparently, wrestling not my thing. If y'all like it, I don't care. I am not one of those people who is adamantly against it.

But like, I just, it doesn't connect with me in that way. In part because like, oh, he kicked out or he didn't kick out, whatever the dog he just flies over the ropes is like a very easy thing and it happens and a bunch of stuff happens and it's dynamic and a new dude comes every three minutes and maybe i i don't know most of them honestly usually but it's still an interesting thing and so we talked about it and then i did not realize that that was this weekend until i found out that i'm working saturday night for the boxing match which is obviously very good one um for for benavides coming back but i've also like loosely tagged in to keep an eye

on this. So I will, I guess, watch it as a result of if something notable for our industry occurs, but it would have, this is the one that would have been fun to do a watch party for. I will do a watch party for WrestleMania if you want to, but isn't that two nights

now? Do we, do we double watch party it? And double you have to explain so many things to me for that one. Oh, no. I won't even have to. It's just, that's just going to make it so great. Is we're just going to like, I'm supporting John Cina.

Is he in the Royal Rumble? John Sina. Yes. He's my guy. John Sina will be in the Royal Rumble. C.M. Punk will be in the Royal Rumble. Logan Paul will be in the Royal Rumble. Lots of people.

There's always some surprises that you don't see coming. Being part of the Royal Rumble. So I love the Rumble, man. Who's going to win the Rumble? What are the odds on who's going to win the Rumble? That's a great question. Oh, Roman Rains is in the Rumble. I'm saying,

John Cena's going to win that. That'd be fucking wild. This is his retirement year. Let him go out on top. But they don't do that in wrestling. And that's the thing. They like, you have to go out on your back.

That's the phrase. Roll Rumble odds. Who is it? I'm actually very curious. He is a favorite. He is? Probably like a ton. And then CM Punk appears to be second.

And then Roman. Raines third, Seth Rallens, fourth, Randy Orton, fifth is what I'm looking at. Okay. They want him to win on his way out. What do you win if you win the World Rumble? Do you win the belts? No, you get to challenge. There's two world titles.

So the winner gets to challenge for one world title, but it's in the main event of WrestleMania, like the key spot. So it's not just a title fight. Does Cody Rhodes still have the title? Is he still the champion? Cody Rhodes is one of the belts? Yep. Cody is defending

Gunther has the other world title I have no idea Gunther's fun is he a German fellow He is portrayed as such Yes Well Gunther is about his German of the name As you can have Cody will be putting his belt on the line

In a ladder match Against Kevin Owen So at the Rumble So I think I'm going to have to do something I think we're going to have to do a little something Even if it's not on the M.A fighting chain I think we're just going to have to do it And just watch the Rumble with the Peps.

So you, this is not like money in the bank where you can cash in your title fight at any point. This is you fight in the main event at WrestleMania. It's basically like if you win this, you get to play in the Super Bowl. Which main event? Do you get to pick the Saturday or Friday? It'll probably like the last,

it'll be like the last match of all of it. Like Cody, yeah, Cody won, Cody won the rumble and then he challenged Roman for the title. So that was the very last one. Okay. It's going to be tremendous. Can't see me. Let's go, John Sina.

John Siena. I, the reason I am a supporter of John Sina is years ago, all my wrestling friends hated him. I was like, I don't know. The only thing I know about him is he's done like 18,000 make-a-wish things, which makes him a cool person. and the you can't see me memes are incredible on the internet and he's a deeply funny actor like he is he's a bit like he's a much better actor than the rock and so I support him because he figured out that like the rock is doing bad Schwarzenegger basically whereas John like Batista became like a serious actor and credit to him he like worked in a decent actor

John Cena was like I'm funny and it's even more funny for someone who is as physically large of a person as me to do things like this and like the Rock never figured out how to be funny he can be quippy he's not funny and so John Cina rules he's funny and uh well get short there's the get shorty Rock was I don't even know he's in get shorty I think maybe the sequel Oh, I don't remember what that was called. Maybe I don't remember.

I haven't seen. He's pretty funny in that. He has moments where he can be funny, but he's just not a comedic actor. He is bad Schwarzenegger. Yeah. Get smart. John Cena is, oh, get smart.

He wasn't get smart. And that's not get shorty. It was very different. No, he's in one of the get shorty ones too. Is he? Yeah. But, yeah, like, John Cena is funny.

And so I support him as an actor because he makes me laugh. He's in B-Clockers was the great. The sequel was the sequel to Get Shorty. That's right. Yeah, he rocks in that. He's very funny in that. But yeah, Cockblockers is a really funny movie. I enjoy John Cena in that.

And so I support John Cena because good for him. Make a Wish Kids. Yay. Yes. John Cena getting booed by his own hometown fans in Boston like every time. It was incredible. Not anymore. He's so over now.

But, yeah, it was crazy. He hated him so much. And then it would be really funny for me as someone who doesn't know wrestling to use the goon arguments on it and be like, how can you hate him? He's, he's won the belt 15 times or whatever. He's obviously the greatest wrestler of all time. He has more champions. And they would just lose their minds and be like, Rick Flare. Like, I don't know.

He has the belt more than Rick Flair. It feels like he's better than him. Let me tell you the most underrated John Cena. movie of all time. It was a starring role. You want to laugh at like something terribly bad. The Marine. Watch the Marine. It is. Dude, I'm telling you, you will have a terrific time watching it. Robert Patrick is in it from Terminator 2 fame. He steals the fucking movie. He's so funny, dude. He just drops. He's like, there's just such random shit that happens in this film that just is beyond what it is.

Like, I remember I visited family down in Dallas and we went and saw it at the dollar movies because when movies come out of the main theaters, there's this other theater that will, you can go for a buck and watch the ones that are about to go to DVD. We went and saw that movie twice in three days because we thought it was that hilarious. It's so bad, but it's so funny. You would enjoy it. I'm telling you would enjoy it. I have too many other things to watch to do that, but I take your word. But Peacemaker was great. He's just good actors, so I support him.

There you go. Do we have anything else? That's my knowledge of pro wrestling. Is pro wrestlers that fought MMA or became actors? I know a lot more of them. It's like, oh, yeah. That's it. Yeah.

So we'll figure out. We'll figure out if we're going to do something for the Rumble, but I might just do it like on my own thing and just maybe go. That route. Robert Patrick was in Peacemaker. And it's terrific. Robert Patrick's the man. He's great.

Do you watch Peacemaker? You should watch Peacemaker. It's great. I don't think I've seen it, but I probably will. He is the dad. He is John Cena's father in Peacemaker. Oh, okay. It's good.

It's good. These two guys continue their camaraderie and their relationship over the years. so Mike what was that Hulk Hogan cartoon with Tito Santana and Iron Sheik oh Jesus Christ I don't know it was I couldn't I'm gonna cheat I know Iron Sheik It's rocking I was gonna say I think it's rock and wrestling that's what it is it's Hulk Hogan's rock and wrestling I couldn't pick Tito Santana out of a crowd of two I could I could show like if you gave me the Iron Sheeks photo in a lineup I could pick him because I've seen them enough on the internet have no concept at all

who did a sit tennis. Yeah. I know that he, like I know the name and I know that he was a famous wrestler from a million years ago. No nothing beyond that. Infamously, and I believe there were family members who were there in attendance,

they went, my bunch of family members went to a house show, which is a non-televised event that basically like the television would prepare you for. And they, They were at the Boston Guard, the old Boston Garden, and Tito Santana was at the Intercontinental Champion, and he lost the belt at a house show to macho man Randy Savage. Dude. If you go to a house show and there's a title change, it's fucking wild.

I'm looking up Tito Santana. Bring back dudes who look like this. Like, this guy doesn't have abs, but he's obviously a large physical human being. Don't, I don't need to see it 18 pack. Just like, just look like a dude who goes on the farm and lifts. bales of hay. Then he'd be, so he was Tito Santana, just like a very fun wrestler. And then they gave him a Matador gimmick towards the tail end of his career.

And he like would come out in the madder costume. He would do the, the red thing. With the cape. Ole. Yep. Did all that. He did it. Historic first this week for the UFC.

The first female to commentate a combat sports event in Saudi Arabia and the first women's MMA bout put on by the UFC. in Saudi. So Lor Sanko, shout out to her. Just breaking down walls, breaking down barriers. Respect to her. I think she's incredible at what she does. And Jasmine, Jazz DeVizius versus Myra Buena Silva. Pretty. I need this one. I don't know if it's a good fight, but it is a, it's an interesting fight. So yeah, shout out. Yeah, to me a good card. All right. I think we're, I think we're going to Oh, boy.

That's the 312 is tough, man. 313 coming together nicely. Usually they will load up the Miami cards. Somebody told me to look up Rick Martel. The model? Yes. So Rick Martel, oddly enough, Rick Martel and Tito Santana were teammates. They were a tag team called Strike Force.

And then Martel turned on Tito. Strike Force, like the wonderful MMA organization based out of California. Correct. Where do you think they got it from? Jed. I don't think they got it directly from that, but I see a photo of a man in a purple, uh, trunks, trunks, trunks, a loose word. A, this is an incredible outfit, by the way, a tux jacket, a purple, purple bow tie, a purple cumber bun. That's the only clothes. There's no shirt. That's it. And he's holding holding a pin that says, yes, I am a bottle. That is an incredible

what a hero that guy is. The model, Rick Martel. And then he just like vanished from the wrestling scene and became like a very successful real estate agent in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Good for him. Yeah. What an incredible photo. Is that fun?

This is the best photo I've ever seen. You missed out on so much. You missed on on all the, the whole gimmick thing. There are so many terrible gimmicks. They had a plumber gimmick. His name was T.L. Hopper. They had a hockey fighter gimmick called the goon. They had a thief called the repo man.

That hockey fight gimmick is a good gimmick. Oh, yeah. I mean, based on the knowledge of it, that seems like a good one. They had a baseball player named Abe Knuckleball Schwartz. I mean, dude, they had Duke the Dumpster Drosie, who was a garbage man. Okay. I mean, they had it all, man. All the.

Oh, yeah, all of them, all of them were covered. The best gimmick remains, and still my favorite wrestler of all time, because he is, uh, fuck, whatever the dude's name is. The dude who was being Scarface and throwing toothpicks at children. Raiser a mom, maybe. It's the funny it should have ever seen. That guy should have been the champion for 18 years. Just a clearly not Hispanic dude pretending to be Scarface and saying Chico and throw in toothpicks to kids.

I've seen TikToks of that a billion times because every time I see it, I then go down a rabbit hole and my algorithm is just giving me Razor mode content. Oh, yeah. What an intro. WV built him up beautifully.

So, all right, we're, I think, I think we've done enough here today. Fully back tomorrow, very excited. Jed and I will be taking part in the UFC Saudi Arabia preview show tomorrow at noon Eastern. We'll get you ready for a pretty damn good card. And Saturday morning, 8.30 a.m. Eastern, myself and AK will have the People's Pre-Fight show.

It's going to be fun because we have 9 a.m. prelims Eastern time, then noon Eastern main card, capped up by Israel Adasania versus Nasdaen Imovov. And then the great Jose Youngs will join me on the post-fight show after that. Jed will have boxing and Royal Rumble coverage. And AK and I will do some matchmaking on... Can Razor Ramon win the Royal Rumble? Is that a thing? No. Oh, damn it. Is he alive? No.

Oh, fuck. That's why. Well, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to grow my hair out again. And when I finally get it long enough, I'm going to just put as much product as possible. And then I'm going to come to a watch party as Razor Ramone to just throw toothpicks because that guy is the best. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 63. That's a shame.

Yeah. That's a shame. Seriously, watching him throw tooth. toothpicks into people like somebody I don't know why binson henderson didn't adopt that as his gimmick because it's both the most disrespectful thing i've ever seen and the funniest thing i've ever seen during the face off like he's just standing there ref gives final instructions touch hands if you're ready just takes the tooth pick out and throws him the dude's face it's the most disrespectful shit i've ever seen and then like he did there's a clip of him doing it to a kid like he leans over the

ropes there's a kid in the audience and he just throws it at a child like this is the best heel I've ever seen in my life. Well, the hits just keep on coming with pro wrestling and right here in MAAfighting.com. So stick with us for Jedmishu. I am Mike Heck. Back next week to recap UFC Saudi Arabia and get you ready for, I was going to say a stacked UFC 312, but a card that is happening in Australia. The UFC 312.

Thank you all very much. Back next week. See you later. Love y'all. production. Very good.