MMA Fighting - BTL | Canelo vs. Crawford, UFC Paris Fallout, Brian Ortega Speaks, Noche UFC | MMA Fighting

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

It's a massive weekend ahead in the combat sports world with the boxing world taking the top billing as Canelo Alvare returns to the squared circle to face Terence Crawford in Las Vegas this Saturday. While the bout has significant stakes, and is a huge fight, does it feel as big as it should just days away from the first boxing event promoted by Dana White? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the matchup, the burning questions, and how well it may do on Netflix compared to this past November's Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul event. Additionally, they talk the fallout from UFC Paris, Nassourdine Imavov's big win and where he fits in the Khamzat Chimaev sweepstakes, Brian Ortega breaking his silence about the UFC Shanghai weigh cut chaos and performance against Aljamain Sterling, Noche UFC headlined by Jean Silva vs. Diego Lopes, how the card stacks up overall, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and José Youngs. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jose Youngs: ⁠⁠⁠@JoseYoungs 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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welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. A lot going on in the combat sports base. We got Pinello Crawford on Saturday. We'll get into that. Nocha UFC coming up on Saturday. We will get into that. UFC Paris was this past weekend. A lot came from that.

We'll get into that as well. And much more on today's show. First, I just want to say it has been a chaotic 24 hours. A lot of division in the U.S. and around the world. It's also not a great day. It's the anniversary of 9-11. So less you forget all the folks who lost their lives on that day. And I know people's hearts are very heavy.

Today. With all that going on, perhaps we can provide a little bit of an escape from the hostility from all the negativity. But as always, we appreciate all of you for joining us. And we have ourselves a matchup. We have ourselves a mono e mono in the BTL cage. Let us introduce the panel as we have some family infighting. First, let's welcome back Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid himself, the climber of all climbers from M.AFighting.com. The man behind No Betts bar. the one at only, you had to shoot. Hello, sir. Yeah.

Oh, come on. It's not mono e mono. It's mono. E auto, yeah. Absolutely ridiculous. Bye, guys. Things are good rough out there. I'm ready to play.

Otto is ready. Look at it. Look at him. Look at the pupils of that dog. Jesus Christ. Look at him. You mug it. Look at this.

Look at this little guy. How can anybody be having a bad day when Otto's here? That's very true. You can't have a bad day with Jed's opponent being here as well. He is our road warrior, but his boots are will be on the ground at home this week. How about that is the best damn social media guy and all of MMA, also from MNayFighting.com. The one and only Jose Young's, my fellow Boston Red Sox fan. How are you here?

I'm great. The last time Otto and I were on a show together. I put him in a blender and went home with the W, just like the Red Sox did the last few games. So it's all starts of pointing up for another victory for Jose. Yes. Well, Otto wanted another crack at him. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't want a rematch and a rematch auto shell. But before we get into this weekend and some news and notes, let's put a bow on UFC Paris. And I want to start here, Jed, because this is one thing we did not mention on the post fight. show and obviously we'll get into the main event and everything in a moment now that we've had some extra time to digest it but when you look at ufc paris jedd 11 of 13 fights finished an electric crowd some things to talk about in the aftermath some great performances we had a few fights

with stakes which is a super rare thing in today's ufc which we'll talk about more when nocha ufc talk rules around. I'm curious that is this, was this the best UFC event of the year? Non-paper view, it's definitely up there, right? Like, there's just, I mean, you know, we love an early day MMA, certainly for the East Coasters. It was nice to be done at a semi-reasonable hour to get to have off Saturday night and do other stuff was lovely.

The main event, and frankly, the co-main event, like we got some storylines, as you said. we got a billion finishes and the crowd was electric there were some down points but that's just sort of going to happen for any fight card that has 15 fights or whatever uh fight night maybe i'm trying to think back on like what the other fight nights that were like super gassy that were awesome but yeah like this i mean certainly one of the top five events of the year and just a damn good time and like that's this is with the ufc is making an effort, they are still very, very good at this thing.

And that's sort of why we are always so critical when they're not making an effort because they could go to lots of locations and have active live crowds. And instead, we go to the apex 18, 20 times a year. And so, yeah, great event. I was really enjoyed last weekend. Where does this one sit in terms of like best events

that the UFC has put on this year, Jose? Because it's got to be up there, right? if we were doing an event of the year category for like end of year voting and such, this would be in the top five at worst, right? Yeah, you would have to imagine at least top five, top three. There's been some big pay-per-views, like International Fight Week was pretty big, you know, with Ilya, the Josh Van Brannroy Vol fight being like the one, two, three at the top. I mean, even the Benil-Moyekano fight with a fun little scrap, pantal of doing the thing.

And then there were all kinds of finishes on that prelims. And even in Chicago, I know the main event was divisive in whether it was boring or impressive. But back-to-back spinning KOs, MVP doing the damn thing, Tim Elliott, submitting, Kiosker, and then a ton of finishes on the ESPN prelims. So it's been a good couple of months for the U.S. in terms of excitement. Even Montreal was kind of a lot of fun too. Newark.

Miami was, Miami was electric as well. So there's the pay-per-views I feel like have delivered. I don't think there's been a dud that off the top of my head. 312. Which one was 312? Was that in Sydney? Yeah, Strickledee. Yeah.

That one is a little. Her uncle I have wasn't great either. It was okay. But one great. See, those two were strange to me because I was there and doing the social media and the videos for those, those generated some of the most conversation. So while the events themselves, or the fights might have been a bit of a dud, they definitely generated a lot of discourse online.

Either, A, because Ankylaev won and people were complaining. And then there was a lot of back and forth between Ancolaev and Pereira and Yeri post-fight. And then the Sydney card, Strickland and Dreek has generated all kinds of things. Wayley did the damn thing against the woman that everyone thought she was going to beat. That was going to rain over this division for a very long time, who I'm sure we'll talk about later on this program. So, yes, those were a dozen terms of fights. definitely created discords but the Paris had everything it reminded me of like

that that backlash that was in Puerto Rico for WWE where it was already like the event was like an 8 out of 10 7 out of 10 and then the crowd is what was the deciding factor that was like Paris is already one of the best crowds you'll ever see

it's rare when an event you can the crowd kind of translates through the screen I obviously wasn't there but watching it I just remember just remember being like, holy shit. Like there's nowhere in America, nowhere in America that like hits this hard through the crowd. Like the TV speakers were shaking. So I think the crowd itself brought this into the top three, maybe top two events of the year.

Who is the star of this event, Jose? Because I know Nasor D. Niemavov, like, closed the show and got a win and it was a memorable one. But like who is the star? Like who will the Paris fan base Bayecore arena remember most from this? event. I mean, it has to be Benoit Santany, right? I mean, he kind of had the storyline. Like, we talked about it. Um, needed the need, had the most to lose, um, because he lost those two. He lost to, um, Moikano and Porre. And I know he came back and won in Montreal, but was on a short notice of Poma. He didn't look that great. So fighting a guy that had all the hype in the world,

um, from a team that had all the hype in the world, the last time he fought. He didn't, was probably the worst outing of his life in front of his hometown crowd. So, I mean, it has to be been Juan. Imavov is the biggest winner in terms of he might get a title shot next, but in terms of what we'll be talking about, the excitement around his next fight and just the sheer superstardom that we witnessed, it has to be Benoit. He kind of, he had a perfect fight in front of a hometown crowd

and came off as a superhero. I mean, it seems like a very fair answer, Jed. there are certainly some other names that compete on this card that stole some hearts from the MMA fan base. So in your opinion, who stole the show? Who was the big star of UFC Paris? I mean, if you base it on the social media interactions that I'm getting on the tagged IG post that you put out post on the post show, talking about who gets the next title fight,

it's apparently Nasir Dene Mavov and where the worst people arrive Mike I don't understand what people don't grasp about our comments on the post show and I gotta tell you I hate that Instagram

won't like let me mute posts or whatever because I'm just a collaborator on this post and every day it's some new dude being like you guys fucking insane the winner of Fluffy RDR has no chance to get Hamzot. It's absolutely

Nasradiqvvv. He deserves it. This is a sport. And I'm just like, okay, you must be new here, bro. Or it's just like Hamzot stands being like, Hamzat's going to kill him all. It doesn't matter. As if that was the topic at hand. So I'll go Nasir de Niemavov because the internet is letting me know that I'm a bad person for pointing out

that that that fight is not historically the kind of fight that Dana White and company love to reward with an immediate title shot, especially in the context that I think we all assume Fluffy versus RDR is going to be chaotic good, and that is much more the fight that they would normally be like, yeah, that's the dude. The winner of that is going to get it.

But I don't know, the fans stand up for Nasor D. Nemovov in a way I've never seen before, so I'll go him. Yeah, I mean, I found that incredibly shocking, honestly, that more people... Of all the stuff for people, to get mad about that was not the one i saw coming yeah i mean the aran pico stuff from earlier i

thought you know that was one thing and then this led to like a whole other thing but i mean you could just tell who's been watching the sport for the last 10 years and you now you're you're seeing like who were fans of other sports who have just come over to m mma and think this is a real sport uh because it's not it's not this is like i said in that real rant This is entertainment first and meritocracy second. And I think most people who have seen RDR and Fluffy Fight, that is going to be the more entertaining fight than what we saw on Saturday. It just is.

Like it was a good win for Emovoff. He absolutely deserves to fight for the belts. But there are many names and many divisions of guys who deserve to fight for belts and are not fighting for belts right now. Middleweight is just another example of this. So now I ask you, Jed, with five days removed from all of this, and our apparently hot takey comments about the middleweight division and where Nasradiqi Mavov sits.

We've had some time to digest. You've heard from a lot of the fan base, who are experts in this field, apparently. Where does Nassardine Imovov sit on this Thursday, five days after UFC Paris? He's third in line to fight for the middleweight title. Because the winner of RDR Fluffy is number one. And based on the comments,

no one will fight Hamzaa Chmaiyev because no one should. He's so much better than everybody that there's no point in having the fights. Let's just add wins to his resume in lieu of them because that's where we stand amongst the Finn base.

Look, bro, I don't take back anything. These people are insane. That was a great dominant performance. And in Ameritocratic world, he absolutely is fighting next. But in Ameritocratic world, he would already fought for the belt because he deserved it more than Hamzaa Chamaev did.

And that's just not. the world we live in. Dana White came out and you know, you always take what Dana says with the grain of salt. But that you take what Dana says with the grain of salt like when he says certain things, not other things. When he comes out and is like, hey, these four dudes are going to fight, whoever's the best, they are going to fight for the belt. That's pretty accurate.

Now, there's also the, you know, somebody gets hurt in the other fight. Somebody just asks for more money. But like whoever's going to be more interesting of those, of the four combatants is going I get it. And Nasr Dinaima Vov is great and quite possibly the best middleweight on earth. Like that is a real thing he could be. He should he is not in front of the winner of Fluffy RDR. Like in the dark, in the dark. He is the leader in the clubhouse right now.

But Fluffy and RDR are six shots ahead of him and on whole 16. Sure. They could shank it into the woods or put three into the water and suddenly card, you know, like a plus 80 or whatever, but he's leader in the clubhouse. They've still got a few holes to go and they are well ahead of him on the scorecard. It could always happen, but absolutely the winner of Fluffy RDR is, you know, prime position right now. Do you agree with that, Jose, or is this one of those things where, you know, does Yovov need Fluffy and RDR to be like Uri and Glover, where they just beat the holy shit out of each other to a where none of those guys can fight for like nine or ten months.

I mean, that would certainly help. I say this a lot. I truly think it's also going to fully depend on where the UFC is holding events. Because I'm sure we've all seen the story that either leaked or is coming out of WrestleMania going to Saudi Arabia, I think in 2027, which is nonsense to begin with. if the UFC and TKO are going to hold events in Saudi Arabia, and I would bet Imavav fights in the main event, especially if it's Hamzat.

Now, I also think it's going to fully depend on what Hamzat wants. If RDR and Fluffy go out there and have a crazy fight, and Hamzad doesn't tweet a whole lot, but he tweets at RDR right after his win. He also tweeted at Imavov. I think it's going to come down to a combination of who has the best win, who's going to have, who's going to be the healthiest, and more importantly, who Hamzot wants to fight.

If Fluffy wins, I honestly think Fluffy is first in line. He's had the longest win streak, and he's looked impressive. Imov, I think, has had the best wins in terms of name value and impressiveness and rankings. RDR probably generates the most conversation because beating Bo Nicol as early as a green of a fighter as Bo Nicol is, he's probably the most discussed middle. weight in the world outside of Hamzaa Shemayov. And then beating Robert Whitaker, and I use beating in quotes because that is a big debate on the internet as well.

Beating Robert Whitaker, we've seen that done a bunch of times lately, including the current champions. So I also, under the camp, don't really care who fights with the middleweight title. I'm pretty sure they're all going to fight for the title eventually anyway. Don't really care who's next. Imovov should be next, but Fluffy. If Fluffy wins, I think it's going to be him. If RDR wins, I think we're going to have to have a conversation between Ymavavov and

RDR. But Fluffy should is like just a head just based on win streak alone. I just want to very quickly add in that a lot of people have been beating RDR. Everyone who are not RDR Robert Whitaker, everybody who beat Robert Whitaker has become the champion. Yeah. If you beat Robert Whitaker, you fight for the belt and then win it. Like that is now historically what's happened. So by this logic, RDR for the belt, dubs.

Let's go, baby. maybe. Yeah, even Calvin Gassel. We also, like RDR is the biggest threat. We also kind of have this thing like Jed has been big on the RDR train for quite a long time. And then Mike interviews Fluffy a lot. So I assume he's like the Fluffy train. And Damon, I think, is kind of an enigma. And I have no idea who Damon wants to fight for the middleweight championship of the world.

And I am on the category of don't really give shit. Casey, you all have your laying on Aemavov. And Casey's, there you go. We are represented well across the middleweight division. Yeah. You guys are like the who gets the squirtle, charmander, Balbosaur. And I'm Ash who just comes in and goes, I'm going to take Pikachu because he's the only one left, I guess. That's me.

There's no, there's no doubt who David wants. David wants Michael Venom page to fight for the belt. That's Damon's, like, second favorite fighter on the roster, only behind you. Juliana Pena. No, only behind every single female fighter on the roster. But hey, listen. He loves women's MMA. UFC Paris gave us a lot to talk about.

UFC Shanghai also gave us lots to talk about. In fact, we're still talking about it. That's where we're going next. The point for round one goes to. I love the backlash shout from Jose. Well done. One to nothing. Good comparison.

Very well done. I still sometimes. I will still sometimes watch Damien Priest versus Bad Bunny, like now in 2025. That event, that's like one of my five favorite wrestling matches of all time. It's very, it was full of electricity, no doubt about that. Speaking of a man that is full of electricity, how about Brian Ortega? I mean, good Lord, Jose Young's. The man has spoken.

We've been waiting since UFC Shanghai. We've been waiting since the chaos on the scales. And we're trying to figure out what the F happened with Brian Ortega and why did this fight actually happen if some of the things we're hearing were actually true? And it turns out some of the things we're hearing were actually true because he goes on social media. He goes on threads and talks about this disaster on the weight cut and this performance against Al Jemate and Sterling at UFC Shanghai. And he confirms he goes on he went unconscious for 30 minutes while trying to cut weight. He didn't even know how he made it there, but woke up in

the emergency room felt the entire time that he should not have fought, but yet did it anyways to basically appease Al Jaljeman Sterling and his friends and his family. And there's just so much to this, Jose, I don't want to read every single quotes to be here for half an hour, but what was your reaction to this? Like what this is crazy. This is absolutely insane. That's, it's the, it's so dumb. If you are unconscious for 30 minutes, you don't go to work. You don't go to work for a week. If you work in an office job and you are unconscious for 30 minutes, you don't, you call out of school. You tell your professor you're missing the test.

You don't go get into a fist fight on the other side of the world, especially when you're dehydrating your body. That it's, I know Brian Ortega is literally one of the toughest human beings on the roster. That dude, like he's been knocked out in fights and still won fights. He shaved his head to make weight. I this was alarming this was concerning this was a terrifying for a human beings health and I feel gross knowing that he was allowed to fight someone either on his team or the UFC staff or someone should have pulled the plug on that we've seen fighters pull the plug coaches pull the plug on their fighters fighting for less like we've seen fighters pull the plug on hurt back or anthony petters broke his hand in a fight and duke roos a Immediately, like no questions asked, fights over. We've seen fighters say, oh, I'm seeing four of them out there. Or I can't see.

You get poked in the eye. You tell the doctor you can't see, the fights off. You go to sleep for 30 minutes cutting weight. Fight should be off. You go home. I know he wanted to get his paycheck. I know he wanted to put on an exciting fight. I know he wanted to Pete Eisenman Strong.

But, dude, come on. That is one of the – and he has kids. Like, we don't want – like – I think Brian Ortega, I've been on the Brian Ortega train for a very long time. A lot of reporters and fans, including people on the staff, haven't been that high on Brian. I've always thought Brian was one of the better fighters on the entire roster. He's only lost to the best of the best, and he's beaten some of the best of the best.

I want to see Brian Ortega compete. I'm going to feel weird next time he fights, especially if it's a featherway. He should never go to 145 pounds ever again. That's the first step, if he ever fights. if he wants to keep fighting, it has to be a lightweight. Like, if his coaches or the UFC off from a featherway fight, get new coaches because that is horrifying. And I've, this is not the first time we've heard this from Brian.

The first time I've heard it from going, like, like, being unconscious for 30 minutes. But we've seen this enough times that Brian has had these struggles to wake up. He was, he, what, Dan Iega got famous fighting Diego Lopez on like two hours notice because this happened to Brian Ortega back then. he had to cut his hair to make 1.45 and fight islands. He's been talking about going to lightweight for a very long time. Just do it.

If you're going to fight again, go to light weight. Never want to see your featherweight ever again. Yeah. One of the weirdest themes of that entire fight was both guys are managed by the same guy. I know. Sterling and were saying I have the same manager. So like Sterling, when asked about why the fight was five rounds, is like, I don't know, we have the same manager.

I was trying to get a raise at a pay bump and her. nothing back. And now this whole situation where I don't know if the manager is how I don't know where he sits and I know who their manager is, but like I don't know what he's thinking right now. Is it like, well, if I, if this fight doesn't happen, I lose 10% of both guys. You know what I mean? Like it's it's a weird situation to be in. But I think we have learned enough at this point here, Jed, that Brian Ortega should not

have been fighting at UFC Shanghai, right? Like, what are we doing here? Yeah, it just made me sad. Um, because in like a normal world, a normal sport, it would be an enormous controversy. People would lose their jobs. People should lose their jobs. Like a lot of people should lose their jobs. Uh, because like this is how people die.

Not to like I don't, I'm not trying to be morbid or like this is just how people die. This is how grievous irrevocable injuries happen. And this is why like literally this is one of the. key reasons why there are athletic commissions. Yeah. And, you know, I would like to hope that if this happened, you know, in Nevada, that they would have been like, hey, man, we're not, we're not going to do this. Like, let's call it.

I don't know that that's even true given just sort of the state of athletic commissions and their subservience to, you know, the UFC at this state. But like, it's every part of it is awful. It's all terrible because the rumors were that, yeah, Brian Ortega was in the hospital. And as soon as that happened, it was like, oh, if he's in the hospital, he's not fighting. And then because he was fighting, it was like, I guess the hospital thing wasn't really true. And now it's actually true and worse than we thought it was. And he still went out and fought.

And like, trust me when I tell you, you don't want to see someone die in the octagon. You just can don't want to see somebody die there. And the fact that this fight happened that there was not one adult in the room at any point in this process. He was like, hey man, nope, just just no. Not worth it. Juice not worth the squeeze is incredibly disheartening

that Ortega himself couldn't do that. That Ortega's friends and teammates and coaches couldn't be like, hey man, you were passed out unconscious, go get into a fist fight. To Jose's point, like I don't know that I'd be. BTL, if I was passed out earlier today, much less getting to a fist fight, you know? And then none of his teammates would say, like, nobody there with him would say that. Nobody in his management wouldn't say that.

Nobody in the UFC would be like, guys, maybe this isn't the best idea because we need a coat. Like, it is so disheartening. And in a rational world, a better world, a lot of people would be fired. Like they would lose their jobs because they should not have them. They do not deserve to have them. And they are going to get somebody dead. And that's going to, like, it is an inevitability in combat sports. I understand that.

But we are toggling the dials in the worst fucking ways with shit like this. And it's, like, it's so disappointing that this happened. And yeah, like, I'll just end it, but like, if the UFC ever allows them to fight at 145 again, like just kick rocks man like there's just don't there's no reason to ever do it because you're not going to look out for his safety and cutting to 145 again that's pretty apparent because you just fucking didn't so you can't be trusted to to look out for him the commissions can't be trusted just say screw it you're fighting in 155 you're not fighting and yeah the whole thing sucked it was terrible yeah the way and the other weird thing that that he said was he talked to aljamaid

Sterling and Aljo was like, yeah, man, like it happens. Don't worry about the UFC already fund a backup opponent. And it's just like, no, I don't want to waste your time. I'll still fight. I'm like, what? What are you talking about? They had a backup opponent, but they still allowed Brian Ortega to fight. Like, how is that wasting Algebra and Sterling's time if he's still going to fight?

Like, he wasn't going to get a title shot unless he absolutely annihilated this man. And Brian Ortega is like impossible to annihilate. So like the, it was already against him to that degree to, Leap frog, Lorone Murphy, anyways, but he still would have fought and still got paid. Like, I don't understand the thought process here if what Brian Ortega is saying is true. I don't get it.

And there's so weird. There's like one fighter at one, well, there's probably a bunch, but like the most outspoken one that has been very vocal about how much weight cuts suck is algebra in Sterling. He's like the fighter that would get it the most because his cuts to one, I bet his cuts to 13. were absolutely halacious,

and he's either gone unconscious or come close to unconsciousness a few times because he is a big dude to go to 135. So there's one guy that you would have been matched up with that would have been understanding. It is Algeman Sterling. So it's just a bummering. It seemed like he was. It seemed like it was.

And now this hurts Algeus win like even more in the aftermath, right? Because now it just makes seem like you fought, he basically without saying it was like he fought the literally, literal worst version of me completely depleted who I should not have fought but I did anyways but hats off I'll show you what yeah I mean it's it's we all felt that way at watching it because it was evident that that was not like a good Brian Ortega but now yeah it's just like there's no winner here and it's just like I I can't get it like I cannot stress this enough this is how someone dies for all the fervor there is for steroids and the dangers it poses

steroids are not going to be why somebody dies. Like the first death in the octagon is not going to be because some random dude was on the gas and he had the powers of Superman and broke a man's neck with one punch. It will be because somebody cut a bunch of weight should not have been fighting and then fought. Like this is this is the actual danger to fighters And the just like brazen cavalierness with which it was handled is, like, it's awful.

It is so bad. I don't know who in the UFC knew about this. I assume some people did because you don't just have a dude go to the ER in China and, you know, not know about it from the fighter hotel. But it's just stone cold shameful that this occurred. Yeah, absolutely ridiculous. and I love to say, I hope things change, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

So let's move to this Saturday. We'll stick with MMA and then we'll get to the boxing ring. But the point for round two goes to, it goes to Jed. We're happy even after going unconscious, he joined us for BTL today. So thank you so much for doing that, battling through. You know, I... And be in here. I've never had that happen, but I'd try and tough it out because I'm a soldier, you know,

but I'm also not taking brain damage in doing this. Famously has the dog in him, as the kids say these days. I do famously have the dog with me. Yes. Otto, come back. I was hoping he was right. I was hoping he was right there. I was trying to get him.

Otto, come on. Otto is just laying down in the floor next to me. He's not. Yes. We've got that dog. We've got that dog. And there's the victory music. Well played.

Jed Otto, I'll ask you this because, look, we got Noce UFC this Saturday, Jed. John Silva versus Diego Lopez is in the main event. It's a big fight. Rest of the card, certainly some stakes in some, fights, but if we're comparing this to the past two Noche events, Jed, do you know how many ranked fighters are competing on this card? So I am not looking at it right now, but let me go off the top of my head. Both in the main event, Rob Font, that's three, Lemotion Tatiana Suarez is five.

Galvin Gasolm's no longer ranked. So that's got to be at five, right? That's it. Just five ranked fighters competing at Noce UFC, which is pretty wild. So Jed, you like to... That's why we have four fights above replacement right here on the board. So there's the grade. Explain your score.

Are you excited for No-J UFC? I mean, I feel like the last two we've been very excited. Obviously, last one was the sphere card, and that kind of took all the intrigue, so to speak. But I feel like there's a whole bunch of nothing here outside of the main event and a couple of other things. I'm not excited for Noche specifically. I am excited for this weekend in total, right?

And I am, because of the way it's set up, I'm largely viewing Noce as the undercard to Canelo Crawford. Because that's functionally how it's set up, right? Like, there will be overlap, but it'll be all prelimboxing matches that I straight up don't care about. And once we're done with John Silva Diego Lopez, then we'll be into the main card of Canelo Crawford. And so looking at it as one mega event,

I'm pretty pumped about it, right? Like, it's a lot of fights, and that's part of the Noche issue. I think there are 14 fights on this card. That's just an enormous amount and not all of them matter. But some level of interest in most of them for, you know, there's a 19-year-old debuting, even early and stuff like that. A couple of really big important fights. And I am personally just super stoked on the main event of Noce.

I think that fight is going to be a ripper. And so, you know, I'm not as excited about this. If I'm just looking at the Noche card, I'm not as excited as I was about Paris. I think objectively, this is a fairly weak fight night card and the worst of the Noce cards thus far. But as the Amoos Bouch to Canello Crawford, I'm pretty pumped about the weekend in total because there are a lot of things that I'm pretty interested in seeing. Even if I don't think some of like, I don't think Crawford Connell is going to be that fun to watch, the spectacle is big.

Like, I'm interested in a lot that's happening this weekend. And so in total, I think I'm more up on it than most, but objectively, this is not a great card. Jose, your thoughts. Noce, UFC, the third edition. Certainly does not hold a candle to the other two. No, and I was actually at the other two. So that should tell you something. This could have been big if the fights were still happening at Guadalajara, like originally planned.

You would have to imagine there would have been a title shot. a title fight and a whole bunch of very exciting fights. But the second, it moved from Guadalajara because the arena wasn't done. And they announced Canelo Crawford. You just kind of knew this would, especially because Dana and the UFC are basically promoting Canelo Crawford. I know it's a ring and TKO type thing, but it feels very much like a UFC fight week over there in Vegas.

I know Casey's there. And even Media Day, just felt like a UFC Media Day. The second all that happens, you kind of just assume. Noce UFC, Part 3 would just kind of be an afterthought, which is a bit of a bummer because I thought the last two Noche's were very fun to cover, and it brought a lot of media

that would not normally be at a UFC event. Obviously, a lot of Hispanic-speaking media, a lot of media from Mexico came up. The last two being in Vegas, Mexican Independence Day Week, is a big deal in Vegas regardless of whether you're going to fights or not, pretty much every famous Mexican musician that has any sort of crossover appeal between the

States and Mexico performs in Las Vegas or Texas or LA, but a lot of them have, like, specifically in Las Vegas. So the last two times I was there was quite a bit of fun. There's also not a lot of Mexicans on this card. There's a lot of Brazilians, a lot of Mexican Americans, but there's not just, you know, born and raised Mexicans fighting on this card. I know the main event didn't have one in the main event, but the rest of the card itself was pretty well represented by a lot of Spanish-speaking countries.

And then the first one was outside of the strange comment event between Kevin Holland and Jack Delamadalina being on Noce UFC. It was just that fight, this being the inaugural one, was also quite a bit of fun. And it was a fight night in the T-Mobile arena. So that was kind of unique in its own. Still excited for the fight, but I think Jed kind of nailed it on the head. If you view this as the undercard for Canelo Crawford, and I'll even throw like the Gable

Steven fight in there too. It'll be a fun little, it will be a fun weekend of fights. You'll just have to spread your attention across multiple sports and multiple promotions. Is there a BKFC this week too? Am I crazy? Yeah. You all Romero's debuting on Friday. That's right.

I mean, start Friday and just buckle up because it's going to be a lot of Spanish speaking violence all weekend. Yes. Well, let's talk about this main event, Jose. We got John Silva, who's the rising star of this division. He's an absolute maniac. He's facing Diego Lopez. And an earring thief.

Earing thief himself, Lord John Silva. Diego Lopez fought for the belt earlier this year against Volcanovsky. You know, it wasn't a terrible fight. He lost pretty clearly. There's not a human being on planet Earth who felt Diego Lopez won that fight. but I'm curious who needs this one more. Is it, is it Silva to probably get a title fight?

Like, I don't know if he leapfrogs the Rome, but you would imagine if he wins, he'll win big. And he will probably fight the winner of Vulcan Lorone Murphy. Plus, he gets his team, the fighting nerds, back on track after maybe some tough PR. Or is it Diego Lopez who is already kind of in a tough spot with Volcanowski holding the belt and needs some things to fall into place to get back to a title fight? Like, who do you think needs this one more right now? This is not a cop out of an answer, I promise you,

but both fighters need this for very different reasons. Competitively, it has to be Diego Lopez. I know he lost to Movzar, and then he went on that long tear and then got the title fight, which a lot of people thought probably should have gone to a Movzar to begin with. Had the fun fight against Vault but didn't win. So losing two in a row at 1.45 against two guys in like the top five, like the current champion is someone that's been on the rise is nothing

to hold your head out. I head down about because he's already one of the most popular fighters at 145 pounds. He might be one of the three most popular fighters at below 155. Everywhere he goes, he seems to be a superstar. So competition wise, athletic wise, it has to be Diego. John Silva has done a lot of shit talking. He says he doesn't like Diego Lopez. He's the only one in the world apparently that and Iyer that don't like Diego Lopez.

He says he needs to kill him, needs to beat him up. Apparently, he's saying they have to be separated a bunch of the hotel, has said a whole bunch of stuff to me about him being Brazil, about Jean-Sylvis saying Diego Lopez is Brazilian, pretending to be Mexican and he doesn't know who he really is. He's talking a big game. If he goes out there and lays an egg and gets cooked by Diego Lopez, that's not going to look great.

It's going to be three loss, three big-time losses and three marquee spots for the fighting nerds. He's the one doing all the shit talking, and he's going to go out there with an L. Eyeball-wise, he has the most to lose. Athletic-wise, Diego has the most to lose. But I think this could be one of those rare occasions where if this fight, it's actually, I take that back.

It's not a rare occasion with these two. This fight could be so good that we could both, we're talking about both of these guys being big winners this fight week. This is, as I like to say, high-level martial arts at his finest against two of the most violent men at 145 pounds. Diego Lopez has never been in a boring fight in his entire life. John Sewell has never been in a boring fight in his entire life. Diego Lopez has proven can't finish him.

If John Silva goes out there and knocks him out or submits one of the most durable and best grapplers in the division, I'm not saying he's getting a title shot, but we're going to have to have that conversation. If Diego Lopez goes out there and cooks the guy that everyone has been talking about and has talked to big game, he's right back in maybe another win-a-win-war. from getting another title shot. So that sounds like a cop-out answer. It's not, I promise,

because both of these guys are fighting for very different things at this point. Yeah, John Silva with the trash talk. I remember interviewing him not that long ago. And I just introduced him. He's fighting Diego Lopez at Nocha UFC in the main event. He's like, it's great to be here, but let me just clarify, this is not a fight.

I have already won. I'm killing this man. So let's not close. Call it a fight. The fight is over. It's already a win for me. 30 seconds into the interview. So that just shows you this, the kind of cat, John Silva. Jed, John Silva's, one of your guys, you told the world about him. I think you probably like kind of the first one on him in a lot of respects.

I mean, there are others who probably saw him and followed his career pre-UFC. But once he was on Contender Series started, he was one of your guys, all violence, dude, just the kind of guy you're looking for. So who needs this one more? Is it your guy, John Silva, or is it Diego Lopez considering what happened in his last fight? Diego Lopez needs it more just because two losses is bad at this stage of his career, right? Like even if they are, you know, to the current champion and maybe the future champion, I mean, that almost makes it worse, right? Because if he loses this and John Silva goes and wins the belt, then it's like, whoopsie daisies, you just aren't in line together.

get this belt whatsoever. And just two losses is when you're at the top of the sport, if you're not like a super entrenched guy, you're not Dustin Poirier. It's hard to come back. You have to win multiple fights to battle back in there. And this is how you become Dustin Poirier, is to not suffer two in a row. Like that's sort of how you build that kind of resume.

And so, look, if John Silver loses this, he's on a heater right now. he's 5 and 0 in the UFC and sort of burst onto the scene a year and a half ago, right? And so this is, if he wins, this is, okay, fighting nerds are back. You know, they took a step back, but this is the best of the fighting nerds guys anyway. He's fighting for the belt in his next fight if he wins this. Like, he has so much to gain. He has much more to gain than Diego Lopez has to gain on Saturday. But Diego Lopez has more to lose because if John Silva loses, maybe if he loses really badly,

then it's like, oh, fighting nerds in free fall, whatever. But he's still a young dude. You're allowed one loss in the sport. You know, it'll be a setback, but you can overcome that. Diego Lopez is suffering much bigger setback, has much more to lose on Saturday against John Silva. And this shouldn't matter, but I honest to God think it will matter in situations like these. When they're in the cage, Diego Lopez is going to look enormous,

because he is a huge featherweight and John Sova is not a particularly large featherweight. And the optics of losing to a dude way smaller than you, it comes into play a little bit. It's not like the most important part of this. But I honestly, to God, think that people will look at Diego Lopez differently if he gets dusted up by a dude who is going to look a way class smaller than him come Saturday night. We'll talk more about this card tomorrow on the preview show. But Jed, outside of the main event, is there a fighter, a fight that you are? are supremely interested in. I know probably people point to Tatiana Suarez versus Amanda Lamos

because it's the other fight featuring two ranked fighters. But Tatiana Suarez, most people feel like she's just going to go in there and cook Amanda Lamo. She's, I think, the biggest favorite on the card. If not one of the top three, she's almost minus 500. So most people would be utterly shot. Oh, so there you go. You would not be surprised if Tatiana Swaris wins that fight. You're fairly confident she will.

So is that the other fight you have your eye on just because of the climb or from a fan perspective, what else stands out to you that you are supremely intrigued by here? I do think the Suarez-Limosh fight is objectively the second best fight on this card as far as top-level fighters competing against each other. I really like the co-main, but that's a cop-out to pick the co-main event as the other fight to pay attention to. But Rob Vaughn is great. And, you know, I thought Rob Font lost to Jean Matamato, but that fight was incredibly close. No issues with him getting the win.

He's now fighting another dude coming off Contender Series who was very high on in David Martinez. Can he do it again? We'll see. But, you know, the spirit of this, low-key-banger-ish. And I don't know that it's low-key because, like, these are well-known names. But it's just, like, I think it's the fight

I'm the most interested in outside of the main event. just to see what happens. It's Alexander Hernandez CDF, called his Diga Faheda, because Alexander Hernandez is, I think, on the best run of his UFC career, he's three fights in a row right now

coming off the Chase Hooper knockout and, like, super talented guy who seemed to be destined to be a top 25 lightweight. And still, that still may be his destiny because he's now getting another top, you know, CDF, I think at various points has been really close

or has gotten a ranking for a moment, moment, but is that sort of 15 to 25 kind of lightweight, not top 10 sort of character, but has been that way for a decade. And so like in general, just pick the lightweight bouts on fight cards. They're going to be the best ones. This one I'm intrigued because CDF, he's coming off the loss to Grant Dawson, but still has some juice despite being 40 years old. And just like this is just a should be a really fun fight, however it shakes out.

And I honestly don't know. Is CDF too old? Has Alexander Hernandez found something and is putting together a real run at this stage of his career? It's the, I think it will be the most entertaining and it's the one I have the most questions about. So give me the lightweights. Yeah, the betting community, two, it's one of two like absolute coin flips right now, according to the betting community. Jose, what say you? Is there a fight, one particular fighter?

I mean, we do have the youngest fighter on the roster making her debut on this card. so a lot of eyes will be on her. What do you think? I mean, the Hernandez-Dagafah-Hadda-Fight rules because they're, I don't know if you guys have read or seen Guillermo's interview. I don't think it's come out yet with Degovah maybe one of you guys edited it,

but he's selling this fight as the battle for the King of Texas at Lightweight because he is, you know, I think lives in trains in Texas, obviously from Brazil and Alex Hernandez is from San Antonio and trains in Denver. So he is billing this as whoever wins is the official king of Texas at 155 pounds. And I love like I love nonsense like that. Anything to build a fight that's silly like that, I'm all in favor of. So that should be the answer.

This is, but outside of that, I think this is a real, and I've probably said this a few times about his career. This is a real crossroads for Kelvin Gasselham right now. because I know he's lost three in a row before, but losing, being submitted by Sean Brady, flying to Saudi Arabia and having the weight issues against D-Rod, and then losing to Joe Pfeiffer. And even before that, I know he fought Chris Curtis in a very exciting fight,

but that had the weird head clash, I think, in Miami. I think it was the Miami card. And then outside of that is what, losing to Jericho, losing to Whitaker. So hasn't been the most active and has been on a bit of a bit of, a skid in terms of performances that we're used to seeing Kelvin Gasolm. If he goes out there and loses

to who's he fighting, Dustin Stolstis, I think his name is. Yeah, he's, I mean, he's a good fighter. But if you lose to him, you lose, if you drop one to him, I don't know how, I'm not saying they're going to cut Kelvin, just went into the UFC Hall of Fame for his fight against Israel Adisania.

I would hazard a guess to say that this is probably the end of the line for seeing Kelvin fight elite. middleweights that we've been accustomed to seeing him fight for the better part of a decade. So he's lost a bunch in a row. This stretch feels a little different. This is a true, I think, crossroads for, this will determine how much longer we see Kelvin fight the elite of the elite, I think.

Technically Kelvin has lost a bunch in a row this time because he did beat D-Rod, even though that fight sucked and was weird. Yeah. So he's technically only on a one-fight losing streak. I do agree with Jose. He missed weight, though, right? Or he came in too heavy and they had to make it a middle weight. Also, technically, no, because they just moved the weight.

They moved the fight. So I don't think he even actually technically missed weight. They were just like, oh, this is supposed to be X. Now it's Y. Yeah. I do agree with Jose. I think Kelvin, like, you could argue that Jose, Danielle Medina and Dusko Todorovich have the most to lose because that's a straight up pink slip derby.

They're both on three-fight losing streak. the losers the losers getting walking papers on that one we're contender series season so they got they got replacements for those Kelvin probably does have the most to lose like this is the ian heinish fight all over again of like okay if you can't beat ian heinish like you're you're done here like this if he loses i disrespect not like intended but it's just de facto disrespect to Justin Stolfitz, he will be the worst fighter that Kelvin Gaslam has lost to by a good margin if he loses to him. And so this is just Ian Hinesh all over again.

He has to win this to stay involved. And if he doesn't, he's pretty close to walking papers himself because Kelvin ain't cheap. And it's contender series season. Yeah. I actually think this is a little different than the Ian fight because like Ian was at least a guy. I mean, he lost, he beat shoe phase, he'd be Ferreira. and then his loss were to Derek Brunson at the time, which was like, okay, Derek's a good fighter in 2019.

Omari McMadoff was like an up-and-comer. And then he just bolts Gerald Mearschart on a pay-per-view. And it's like, all right, this guy might be a top 15 middleweight. So it was kind of like a litmus test-ish more of a fight than this is. I mean, just look at, when I talked to Kelvin, I ran off, I was like, these are your opponents the last 10 years. And one of these things is not like the other. when Dustin Stoltzvus enters the conversation.

He is a Edson Barbosa-esque-looking resume over the last decade, and then there's Dustin Stoltzvus. So, like, this is big. He knows that his job might be on the line. He knows this could be, he thinks this could be a pink slip derby, that whoever loses is out of the UFC. And I try to press him on a little bit more.

He wouldn't really go past that point. But, yeah, it's an interesting fight. This is probably the most winnable fight of Kelvin's last day. decade, maybe outside of the Michael Bisbing fight after Bisbing was got thumped up by GSP and then came back two weeks later and tried to fight somebody.

I don't talk about bad ideas. Very bad idea. But yeah, that is Doche UFC. Let's go to Las Vegas. Let's talk about the big one. Point for round three. Goes to. Is it to the New York City cab?

No, it goes to Jeddb. The cab, I mean, just made it worse. But yes. Good job, buddy. All right. Let's continue on here. Canelo Crawford, ladies and gentlemen, Allegiance Stadium in Las Vegas.

There'll be a lot of people in attendance. The vibes will be high. Dana White has already done a bunch of interviews saying that it's already the third biggest gate in boxing history behind Mayweather Pacchio and Mayweather McGregor. It's got to be on Netflix. And look, at the end of the day,

no matter who is promoting it or what network it airs on, this is going to be a fight that resonates with combat sports fans. I mean, anytime you have two of the best in the world fighting, it is a very big deal. I just hear how excited New York is about it.

New York is fired out. You'll not be more excited about it. That's unbelievable. Jose, we were kind of, we were briefly talking about this before. There's a bus now. This, this feels super UFC-ish.

Like Dana White's out here doing some media And Dane is doing some of the big shows That won't have fan Like he's doing shows that fans are tuning into That will not be rushing to the television screen To watch this event Like Colin Cowherd fans are not boxing fans They are NFL fans

They're NBA fans They're college football fans And Turkey Turkey is in the news For not the right reasons For kind of controlling the event And controlling the media and other things.

All that said, this to me, and you're more of the boxing guy for us, this does not feel nearly as big as it should. Does it feel that way to you that this is, yeah, it's going to do okay because of the names involved, but it just, it feels very UFC lightish in terms of promotion that it's not, it's just not feeling as big as it should be feeling.

To me, yes, it does feel a little bit UFC-ish. just because Dana is so heavily involved, it just feels a little light on excitement because if anyone has followed, Kennell Alvers over the last half a decade or so, he's been asked about Terrence Crawford quite a bit, and he has been very dismissive of that fight. He was always dismissive of taking the Crawford fight,

whether Crawford deserves it, or what do I have to gain of him going up two weight classes and fighting me? And he wasn't selling a... It didn't sound like he was selling a fight that he was interested in. And then he got a bunch of money thrown at him basically to not fight Jake Paul. And then he took the Crawford fight. So to me, it feels like a rich guy throwing a bunch of money and buying two action figures and making them fight.

It doesn't feel like when Canello fought Mayweather, that was very much a, they were both undefeated. Canello was the, I think that he had firmly established himself as the face of Mexico. Mexican boxing, and he had just been knocking fools out, left and right. When he fought Triple G, it was really, you know, those guys were in the same way class. They were both champions. It felt like that fight made sense, and it had the hype. So that checked all the boxes of why those, the first two, the third one, I don't really count, were so exciting. And then they were both in their physical primes when they fought.

This just, it's just, you can't, to me, like Canello will sell anyway, especially on Mexican Independence Day. The second you make this fight free, it's less incentive to sell the fight to begin with. And then Crawford hasn't been that active at all, period. I mean, the fact that Canello has been very like, I fight in September, I fight in May, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and pee. And I know a lot of the, he should have fought Benavitas. He should have fought another few guys. But if he can't make that fight happen, he takes the next guy up. He has not been one to shy away from tough fights.

He is, I don't quite understand the hate around Canelo. I know that might sound like me defending a Mexican boxer. But he has, you know, taken all challenges and multiple weight classes. And he has been very dismissive of Crawford. Even when they announced this fight, he did the media tour. And he's like, who have you fought? Who have you fought that's good? And the fact that Terence Crawford didn't say Errol Spence is crazy to me.

But I don't think Errol has even fought since the Crawford fight. And Crawford hasn't been that active either. So we don't have a lot of recent highlights. You can't play the Terrence Crawford highlight reel package over the last since Crawford beat, since Canello fought X amount of years ago. Canello Crawford, I don't know. This feels like it should be bigger,

but Crawford wasn't a pay-per-view draw to begin with. This is, he's very clearly one of the three-pound-for-pound best boxers in the world. It's pretty much Ussick-in-way Crawford. No wrong order. It really depends on flavor of style of boxing that you like. Canello is not one of the five. pound for pound boxers in the world, but he is easily one of the three

pay-per-view, biggest pay-per-view draws in the entire sport. It doesn't matter if there's no pay-per-view, why sell the fight? So the big pay-per-view draw, not selling the fight, not selling the free fight against the guy that historically has not been a big pay-per-view draw,

probably not going to feel like a big fight overall. What do you think, Jed? I mean, obviously we're going to be watching. In fact, we'll break some news here. You and I won't be exactly the same. But we're going to have a little watch party on Saturday night for the last few fights of this event. So join us. So you can watch it with us.

And it'll be a lot of fun. But why does this not feel big? I don't know. Am I just, are you feeling the sort of just UFCishness of all this? I think there are a couple of reasons. I think that it feels a little, we were talking about this off air beforehand. It feels a little bigger to me because I am getting some mom to have stuff about this, primarily because it's on. Netflix and Netflix is promoting it.

If you log into Netflix, there's Canello Crawford stuff. And everyone I know knows who Canello is. Most don't actually know who Bud Crawford is. And so this is a, I think that's part of it, right? Terrence Crawford is massively respected as one of the best fighters of his generation, you know, and is attempting to do something nobody has ever done before on Saturday and becoming the first male undisputed three division. champion in the four belt era.

But like the knock on bud has always been that he is not a popular fighter, right? Like he's popular regionally, but he is not, you know, and he's famous-ish, but he is not broadly, you know, casual fan famous. Certainly not in the way Canelo is, who's just been around forever. He got the Floyd, you know, rub early in his career. People know Canelo Alvarez, and so they do know about this. That being said, I mean, I think some of this is because it's Terrence Crawford. And I think some of the just like general malaise towards this, even amongst people who kind of know, is that like, yes, this fight's been talked about for a while.

Nobody wanted it, right? Like this is not, this is a fight that was pitched because of kind of it's feasible. and they are two of the top 10 pound. Like, I agree. Terrence Crawford is undeniably one of the three best pound for poundfires in the world. I have number one in boxing, but like he's, it's one of those three. And Canello is undeniably a top 10 pound for pound fighter. This is like a manageable thing to do.

But there's a big weight gap here. That's why people weren't like banging the drum for this. This always, even in the earliest stages of it, felt, a bit contrived, a bit of a financial, you know, workaround to make something, to make a big fight because, like, Terrence Crawford is giving up a sizable amount of weight. Technically, he's going up two weight classes. In reality, he's going up three. Most of his career has been at welterweight at 147 pounds.

He is now moving up to 168 to fight Canelo. Like, would fans be that stoked if Volcanovsky was fighting Jack. della Madelena. Like, they'd be interested, kind of, because it'd be weird. But no, like it is, that is a huge piece to this whole puzzle that they have tried to sort of gloss over, but it's, it's hard to, especially the one thing I will kind of majorly disagree with Jose on what he just said is like, yeah, for most of his career, Canelo fought all commerce, took on all challenges.

Like, that's how you get to this stage. And I don't begrudge him this. But he is currently very clearly. in the career management stage of his career, where, you know, it is the John Jones, I am prize fighting. I am taking on the, it is absolutely the mental calculus of,

I'm only taking fights I'm going to win and get paid a lot of money for. Floyd Mayweather did the same thing at the end of his career, right? Like for the last several years, like when you are the A side of A side, you get to pick and choose who you fight, There is no impetus, no compulsion to take a fight where there is risk. And so, like, I'm not that interested in the actual nuts and bolts matchup here because my default position is, if Canello accepted the fight, he's going to win because he would not accept a fight where there's a reasonable chance that he will lose.

And I think that that will hold true here. Because, like, if he was trying to maximize not just his purse, but his legacy, his legacy is already a Hall of Famer. he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. If he was trying to do that, though, he'd fight David Benavides. Like, that's the fight everybody does want and has pushed for in boxing circles. And so I think that's why this is down, because there is a fight that we do want, and this is not exactly it. It's a good one, and it's a historically significant one.

And I think as things get a little closer, it'll people be more excited. But this is a fight that would need, like, a much bigger promotional effort from the two combatants. involved to get people over that line. And Terrence Crawford has just never been that interesting. And Canello clearly does not care to promote this because he does not have to. And so we're sort of left in this kind of middle ground. Yeah. I mean, just looking at the build to this fight compared to like even the Mike Tyson, Jake Paul

fight, that thing did 108 million viewers for their fight in November. 108 million viewers. It's a lot of viewers. There's no effing way. this is coming anywhere near that number, right? Like, does this even get halfway there? And that would be like a monument, in my eyes, that would be a monumental success.

Like, that would over exceed my expectations to it, to an umph degree. But I don't think this is getting a 54 million, do you? No, I wanted to pull something up real fast for this weekend, aka, let me see what the college football slate is on Saturday. Saturday evening, actually there's not a lot of like, well, Texas Notre Dame is actually probably going to pull some eyeballs from this. So that will, because like people don't like to hear this or whatever, but college football rules America. And this is primarily an event for America, not exclusively.

Obviously, Canelo Alvarez is involved. But, you know, the 18 to 34 demographic of male viewers are probably not going to be on Netflix casually on Saturday night in the same way that, like, they might otherwise. And so this isn't getting to nine figures at all. There's just no chance of that. I don't think half of that would probably be a win, right? Like it's still big, but I also don't, I don't have any real concept what Netflix considers successful in general and certainly not as they make this kind of broader push

into live sports. But I guess we'll find out. I would be shocked of this thing cleared 50 million live viewers. I'd be shocked. So Taylor Serrano 3 did 6 million. Yeah. I think Conno is substantially more famous. Yeah, I think considering that event, like that is, that's a huge success.

6 million for that card and all women's event at MSG, like, that's a big win. I think 6 million for this fight, Jose would be a disaster. I think it would be a monumental disaster. They're not getting 108, that's for sure. I don't think they're getting 50. I think anything under 25 is a loss, would say you. It's going to be hard to compare it to Tyson, Jake Paul, because that fight happened on a Friday in November where people historically stay.

Netflix also don't a real small amount of a billion dollars into growing their market in Mexico this year. So I think we're, I think, and if you have a Netflix account, you can use that anywhere in the world. So I think this fight could do a lot bigger than people think. I think it's certainly going to do less than Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Because Mexico, college football rules America. Canello is the biggest superstar in all of Mexico right now. Mexican Independence Day. It is Mexican Independence Day.

I know historically, MMA fans don't like to, especially in America, don't like to admit countries exist outside of America. But Mexico is, you know, has a lot, famously a lot of people in Mexico City. I think this is not going to touch Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, but I think it is going to do a lot better than what my American counterparts and colleagues think just because the Netflix has dumped so many resources into Mexico. And pay-per-view sales aren't really a thing outside. Like, that is very very. very much an American market, right? Like when you talk to our friends in the UK, it's, yeah, the pay-for-you-thing just isn't a thing

over there. Canelo is a superstar worldwide. Mexico, he walks on water. He is probably, not probably, he's the second most famous Mexican boxer in the world ever after Julio Cesar Chavez, Sr. Even Canelo will admit that. So again, I'm going to sound like a dead, I'm going to sound like a squeaky wheel, but not going to touch Tyson Paul,

but it's going to do a lot better than what a lot of people think just because Canello draws so much attention of Mexican Independence Day and being able to watch it in Mexico for free on Netflix, I can't, I cannot,

I don't even know the phrasing like, it is not an exaggeration about how big of a deal that is for the Mexican audience. I mean, you can give Jose the point because Jose has convinced me. I also decided to actually look at like numbers instead of just kind of vibe in my way through this question. Currently, maybe not all the way up to date, 14 million Netflix subscribers in Mexico, 55 million, or I'm sorry, 53 million Netflix subscribers in the Latin American market.

It includes Mexico, but all of Latin America. I think you can assume that a, a, a, a, heavy chunk of that number. And that $53 million was as of June. So you can assume that a pretty healthy chunk of that will be tuning in. And I would also venture to guess, I mean, you know, watch parties sharing stuff. Also, there's probably like a decently high likelihood that just a bunch of people get Netflix in, you know, Mexico and or Latin American countries for this event because it's one month of, I don't know, what's Netflix cost $20 now or whatever. So I'll actually say they're going to be closer to 50 mil globally. Oh, okay.

Jose has made a compelling point. And then when I just looked at how many actual subscribers there are in Mexico, and that was in December of last year was the 14 million number. I assume that number has risen and will rise for this event. I'll say they clear, I'll say they clear 40, maybe not 50. I'll say they clear 40 million. I think it'll be interesting because boxing, like we all like boxing because we cover combat sports. Boxing is like 1A, 1A, 1B most popular sports in all of Mexico.

It's like that and baseball, soccer, boxing. It's like right there. Well, just give Jose the point. I mean, when you just give it to him, that's okay. He was going to get it anyways, but that just takes the pomp and circumstance out of it. Jose gets the point When he said that Mexico The Netflix had poured a billion dollars into Mexico

Which I didn't know because I don't keep up with that I was like they probably did that for a reason Let me look oh yeah here's some numbers Yeah Jose is probably right Things are going to do a lot better than I was thinking Some of the best movies on Netflix Are Mexican horror stories right now But it's not even just horror stories like based in Mexico

It's like they were filmed And it's like Spanish language Mexican horror stores. So they have been really pushing the Mexican audience. I don't use Netflix a lot. I did just get turned on to watching the show Vikings and that show freaking bags. You're just watching Vikings like now in 2025?

Yeah, I never watched it. I never watched it. I remember them being, and I'm not saying you'll become this, but they were the most insufferable fan base. I mean, I can't be that insufferable. because it's an old show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It bangs.

It's just, it was a crazy, crazy Norseman. It was like right on the cusp of like, I can't remember what it started, but like when Reddit started to really take off is when Vikings started to really take off. So it's like the first show I remember seeing

having such an online presence. I mean, it's kind of like Game of Thrones. Yeah, exactly. It was good for a long time before it sucked. Some breaking news. PFL, the champion series event, headline by Usur Nomagamata v. Paul Hughes 2,

will air on the brand new ESPN Unlimited. So it will cost you, it will cost you $30 to watch that event. So that's how much you get ESPN. Yay. Yay. So there you have it. There's some news. I'm excited because do you guys, do you guys think ESPN Unlimited will be great and have no streaming issues?

Is that? Oh, I have more streaming issues. I bought it because I thought for, I've always thought this is what ESPN should have done. ESPN Plus should have been to begin with. Just pay X amount of money, get all of ESPN. I watched it for 20 minutes and it took me 10 minutes to get through one segment of NFL live because it would kept freezing. Oh, that's awesome. So make sure you just buy that $30 and don't miss a second of the action.

So let's go to the knockout around question. One question will decide at all. I wasn't really sure where to go. And then I got a DM on Instagram. And I was like, you know, it's a pretty damn good question. We'll go with that. So Jed, do you want to go first? Do you want to pass it on over to Jose?

Sure. I'll go first. I've no idea what this is going to be about. Okay. It's okay, Jed. It's something you are quite familiar with. You were, in fact, the guru for this particular subject for MAAfighting.com's great website. The Almighty.

The Almighty shoots in a message and says, I have a question, maybe for question of the day. But we're going to do it here, Jed. While Dana White's contender series is fun and it gives us something to do on a Tuesday night, will it ultimately go down as one of the worst ideas in UFC history in regards to the fan base, i.e. a watered-down product filling up the roster with low-level price talent. While there's some UFC star potential,

most of the fighters are clearly not UFC ready. So all in all, when we look back on the history of Dana White's Contender Series 20 years from now, will it ultimately be a good decision or a bad decision by Dana and the UFC to introduce this concept to the MMA fan base? 60 seconds on the clock, Jed. You are our contender series guy.

We have to go a little deep here. Your thoughts, go. Dude, I need two hours to unpack this question. No, like it's a great idea for the UFC. It's a, it's not even, it doesn't even have to be a bad idea for the fans. It is just going to work out that way. But that's capitalism and monopoly. That's the issue.

Because as he points out, the issue with Contender Series is instead of it being an actual, like, job interview tryout to get the best of the best, it has become, here's how we're going to sign 50 people a season at, you know, bottom basement wage prices, scab prices functionally, and replace our mid-level talent with them. So we are only dirt cheap fighters and the top-end fighters and there's no middle class. We're eroding that. So functionally, it's going to be terrible. For the UFC, it's a great idea. This is how they've maximized profits, which is obviously their intent and goal, but this is not as bad as far as the decision as like the probably the ESPN deal or this paramount deal long term will be but it's pretty terrible all right Jose we we go to you of course we all remember

when the ultimate fighter came about we got through like 10 12 seasons we're like this is great this is amazing and now that we're at like season 33 we are like why are we still doing this will we have that same feeling about contender series Jose well ultimately when we look back on the history of Dana White's Contender Series a couple decades from now. As a fan will you look through it more through a positive lens or

a negative lens? Obviously it's going to be super positive for the UFC. 60 seconds on the clock. Go. Again, this is going to sound like a non-answer, but if I'm just a casual MMA fan, I don't view the Contention Series as pretty much anything because I only tune into a handful of fights

a year because there's just so much MMA happening all the time that I'm not a sicko and I'm not going to watch every single one. This is me speaking as if I was a casual fan. I'll catch the highlights on SportsCenter Top 10. I think there were two of them from this past contender series. So if I see, if I'm watching a fight night and I just see Joe Schmo fighting Joe Schmo and they say these two guys film the Contender Series, that doesn't really mean anything to me

because it's not on cable networks, so I'm not getting it shoved into my face and I don't watch ESPN plus religiously. So I think in 20 years from now, MMA is going to be much bigger than it has been because it grows, every year. The UFC is going to be more of a monopoly. The UFC is going to be, you know, holding 20 events a year in Saudi Arabia and possibly on the moon. And I think the contender spheres is just going to be looked at as it's there. It's always been there. I can't remember when it wasn't there. That's really just how I think they were going to do it. All right. Well done. Time to vote people. Get your votes in. Does Jed and Otto win or does Jose win? I think the tough things about these types of questions are people that tune in to BTL really like MMA.

They really like MMA. My dad is not going to watch between the links if I'm not on. And he doesn't even know what the contender series is. I'm like, dad, there's so many contenders series. He's like, isn't that good? I'm like, and I'm explaining it to him. And he's like, oh, so bad. Like, it's just incomprehensible to him.

Like it doesn't. Oh, so bad. To him. Yeah. Like, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter to him. I think that's how the majority of people view it. Like with my, I'm going to sound like I'm doing an ad.

It's going to be a bit of a bummer. With my ESPN unlimited account, I got to watch SportsCenter at home for the first time in two years because I don't have cable. So I go, I'm going to watch SportsCenter's top ten plays. And lo and behold, they were two knockouts from the contender series. And they talked about all. a whole lot of toe sucking that whole episode of SportsC Center. Oh, God. Yeah, the CFSC fade is a lot.

Good for SportsC Center to have. Yeah, Otto is here. Contender Series is in, but five contracts. And then one guy missed weight and didn't get a contract, but like the previous, like two weeks ago, a guy missed weight and got a contract who also took the fight on short notice. I don't understand. Yeah, but well, that guy missed weight. by a half pound.

And so, but and also the guy who missed weight this week, Dana was like, buddy, you missed weight, but we'll, we'll let you come fight. You know, he, he was the third, I think he was the third fighter to get the fight. Like, he took it on real short notice. Had a good story. Like, he's like, I'm a school teacher and I took this fight on three days notice and had to cut 40 pounds and didn't make it. And so Dana was like, you can fight on the final, you can fight on the last episode

of the season, like with an actual plan, make weight and get your opportunity. I actually think Dana handled that correctly. I'm not sure he should have given the other dude one, but the guy did miss weight by half pounds. Yeah. Yeah. I would have done the same thing with the other guy. Yeah.

It's a precedent. Now you can miss weight and get a contract. I'm just throwing that out. Jake Hadley was the first one after he beat Mitch Raposo, missed weight by like three pounds. And one of the losers this week got a contract. Yeah. Because that was a good fight, though, right? It was. I mean, she clearly lost and both of them were, it was one of the situation. Both of them should have just been signed out right.

Like they didn't need to do the contender series thing. So I absolutely agreed with it, but it's only like the third or fourth time a loser has gotten an outright contract on continued series. Yeah. All right. She's a big anime, big anime fan. Big anime fan. Seems to be a popular trend. Casey is here. She was arguing with a whole lot of people in my Instagram comments with the MVP clip where he talks about anime because people were talking shit about One Piece and she was the only one defending One Piece. So all the respect. How were people talking? I don't even watch anime, but I know that one piece is popular.

Because it's so fucking long. Because it's so long, bro. It's over a thousand episodes and when there's still 10 years to go. Holy shit. Really? So that's the literal reason why, like, if there's one reason to talk shit about One Piece, it's get on with it. When your argument is it falls off a cliff after the 400th episode, but turns around in episode 900, there's a problem. That is a problem.

That's the thing. Like, I could never, I just picked up Vikings, had nothing to do. I was like, oh, watch this. And I was like, oh, this rips. I could never do that for one piece because I'd be like, oh, there are a thousand. episode? Nope. I was eight years old when One Piece started

Aaron. There is a realistic chance I could you know, get married and have a child before the next one piece ends. Jesus Christ. Damn. Casey is here. Live from last day. That's a lot of episodes.

It's a lot of episodes. Speaking of a lot of episodes, I think we've had a thousand BtLs or at least we're getting close to it. Casey, who won this week's episode of BTL? Oh, you know what? I was about to announce a winner, but banter for a couple more minutes because the votes got very close. I want to give it a cup. I'm going to give it one more minutes.

I won't get those last second votes in because I thought we had a winner. Mike, did you watch Contender Series this week at all? I did not. I've been sick as shit for the last week and a half. It's true. Tuesday I was starting to like come around a little bit and I was like if I stay up and watch contender series that I'm just going to be that's that's two hours of sleep that I should be getting right now and yeah I chose to just kind of nuke myself with some NyQuil and it's sleep the night away tell me crazy but the two the two gents in the main event are straight from 2004 MMA are they not oh oh 100 percent um Bad tattoos, sloppy fighting,

and just like nonsense trash talk. It was just, it was heavyweight D-Rod versus heavyweight Mike Perry if both of them were way worse. And it rocked. It was so stupid. And like, against my better judgment,

Steve Aspland, the guy who won, he's going to be one of my guys. I don't actually think he's good because he's not. But God, he was funny. Like, the toe-sucking thing

was super weird, but the rest of it was just like, he is a man with a lot of feelings. Yeah. And they just, he just expresses them in a stream of consciousness manner. Because like, he knocked this dude out in 16 seconds or whatever. It's like the third fast is knockout in contingency's history. And in the pre-fight, he's like kind of respectful and chill about it. He's like, he had a great line about this is trailer park versus trailer trash. and all the people watching were like who's who like we don't know who this who is who in this

situation and he knocks his dude out and right after he knocks him out he goes over to his corner and he's like it's all love great you know we we did it cool and then he in the back is just like eff that guy you thought i was an easy fight screw like he is he's going through all the emotions at one point in time and it's just it's the best he used to be 500 pounds of apparently Mike. And so he looks like Josh Haynes. Like you remember Josh Haynes, the ultimate fighter dude?

Oh, yeah. I know, like a billion pounds. Yeah. Yeah. And he just kept being like, yeah. And his dad was a Bellator vet.

And he's like, I achieved the dream. He's like, I achieved the dream that my dad could never makes. And I'm like, I don't know if I like this guy because he says a really great thing. And then he says a really awful thing.

But then he beat the guy that also said awful things. I'm like, this, I don't know how to feel about anything right now, but I'm here for it. A hundred percent. Because like, there's, it's almost a certainty that he is going to say something that's just like the worst thing you've heard in a week. But he also is just like his story's pretty good. Like his name is concrete. His dad was concrete. And it's just like he's trying to spite him.

despite himself. The guy he beat was like, because I was watching the video packs, he's like, I don't even know why I'm on the container series. They should just book me in the top 10 right now. I'm that good. I'm like, does he have like a thousand fights? So I like, look, he's like three and oh. And I'm like, he's three and oh in the last 11 months.

And I'm like, why is, I'm like, also this guy's just saying what he thinks he should say. And he's talking, he's talking so much shit. And he goes out there and it's melted in 60 seconds. I was like, this is just, I feel like we're on the ultimate final right now. It was incredible. Aspline, like, again, after being like all respect and love to the team in the back, he's like, Daywalker my ass, how he's asleep. I was just like, what, buddy, how do you keep one energy?

You're so confused. He's the best. He's going to be my boy because he's very silly. He's a very silly goose. He became a pro wrestling fan. Oh, sorry. because, like, if Appleog James, like, starting to really love the pro-wrestling aspect of the M.A. Way more than, way more than the fighting part.

No, I like- I like silly people. I like very silly people because they're silly, and it makes me laugh in this very stupid sport. He was, when Laura was interviewing him, he's like, Dana, please give me the contract. I will suck your toes if that's what it takes. And I was like, what did it? Which is outside of being just like a. outside of being like a wildly out of pocket thing to say he just got the third fastest knockout like there's no question that you're getting the contract so he just wanted to say that

and then it's like he wanted that out there he kept he has and then i look up and he has all this loose skin on his chest and he takes a handful of his loose skin and just holds it out like batwings i'm like what is going on with this individual he's a very he's a very silly man you know what i saw that little video and I was like I couldn't tell what was going on. I was like you know what maybe this is too low res. I don't want to zoom in on this. So that's what he was doing. Okay.

Oh, you could tell you can tell what's going on. Yeah. All right, we have a winner with. I can't wait to see him fight. 58% of the vote. Your winner today is Jeddinato. Otto, we did it. Vingage is yours, Otto.

Silly goose gang. Silly goose gang. Silly goose gang, Otto. Congratulations. What would you like to say? Look at Otto. You're so happy. And Otto, you could give me a few choice words as well. Otto's like, thanks, guys.

Because we won, Jed's going to give me a lot of treats now. Whereas if we had lost, I was going to go in the metaphorical doghouse. And so now I don't. Yay. That's not true. I would have given all our treats anyway. Because just look at him. Yes.

What a dog. Jose, thoughts on the decision here. Well, it was a little weird last time I won because it seems like every time I face Jed, the winner has been decided before this matchup even takes place. So I feel like the timeline is back to normal. there was a little blip. It's weird that the blip happened on a regular day,

and then I can't get a win on Mexican Independence Day week. But we persevere. That's all I have to say. Oh, man. I didn't even think about that. It happens. Packers, Packers, commanders, Packers, commanders tonight.

But you don't, who, what even matters? The Packers are winning the Super Bowl. You're good. That's right. Correct. We can't lose to J& Daniels. As a former Sun Devil, the only thing worse than losing to the Bears is losing to Jay and Annis. I don't think you're going to have to worry about losing to the Bears for a while.

No, I don't think anybody will worry about that. Casey, hit the music. We are done. We are out of here. Lots going on over the next 48 hours. We'll have, we got LFA, 217, big one tomorrow night. Gable Stevenson making his debut. some fun prospects on that card as well.

Yol Romero making his BKFC debut tomorrow night. So that should be fun. And then Saturday we got Nochi UFC. We got Canelo Crawford. We have you covered on all that stuff. M.A Fighting.com is a great website for Chad, for Jose. For Casey, we are out of here. Back next week to unpack it all right here up between the links.

Good night, everybody. Love you all. This has been Between the Links, an MMI fighting production on the Vox, Media Network.