MMA Fighting - BTL | Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, UFC 302 Fallout, Dana White's Pound-For-Pound Debate

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

With UFC 302 officially in the rear-view mirror, all eyes are on UFC 303, which is scheduled to mark the UFC return of Conor McGregor against Michael Chandler in the main event. With the event's press conference in Dublin getting postponed, along with rampant speculation as to why, are you concerned that the fight may also be postponed? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the latest on the McGregor vs. Chandler story, the reports that have come out, and predict whether or not the fight will happen as scheduled. Additionally, they'll discuss the fallout of UFC 302, Islam Makhachev's submission win over Dustin Poirier, the fighting future of Poirier, Sean Strickland's win over Paulo Costa and if it was enough to get him a title shot, Dana White sparking a pound-for-pound debate between Makahchev and Jon Jones, UFC Louisville this Saturday, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and an opponent to be named. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Anime Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links.

And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of... Westerlin welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. It's another Thursday, another week with a lot of crap to discuss. We're coming off of a UFC pay-per-view fight week. Not a great one, not even a good one, but the main event saved it from being one of the worst in a very, very long time. Plus, there's a lot of speculation, a lot of emotional reactions surrounding the UFC's next pay-per-view event, the return of the biggest star in the history of the sport.

much more. So let's get right into this. Let's introduce the panelists. First, he's Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid himself, the Barrettaboot here at M-Afighting.com. Mr. Jed Bishu. Hello, Jed, Jeff. Happy Thursday. I was waiting. I was waiting for the swerve because the last time we did something like this, I got swerved, Mike, and I didn't see it coming. And maybe I'm still getting, like maybe this is the long con, but I'm on guard now for at any point in time when me, and this fellow are matched up, I gotta have my guard up. I'm ready.

Yes, that's very, very smart, but there will be no Bizarro BTL today because back on the show, regularly scheduled programming, boots on the ground during UFC 302 fight week. He's our travel mile champion here at M.AFighting.com, the social media and graphics guru himself.

And what a host he was during Bizarro BTL. Mr. Jose Young's live from New York. Hello, sir. It's game one is tonight. That's the only important thing that's happening. It's the beginning. You know, like a week from now, we'll be hoisting, what is it, banner 18? And then we can have a, it's 18, right?

I think the Lakers are at 16, we're at 17. So the further, the bigger the gap we are between the Lakers and us, the better I sleep, because I can't live in a world where the Lakers have more or the same banners as us. Just that is a blood-soaked, nightmarish health scape that I don't want to live in. So I guess Beat Tail happens to be on the same day as game one because that's the most important thing happening today. Yes. Was the big three Celtics the last one? Yeah.

We've lost two since then. I know you've been back. We should have beat the Lakers in 2010, but Kendrick Perkinson's blew his ACL out or whatever in game seven. And that was the beginning of the end. And then, what was it two years ago we went? and we were just way too young. Tatum and Brown ran into the Warriors. Just too young, too inexperienced.

That was Warriors four, right? Yeah, that was their fourth. That was their fourth win. And it was a competitive series. We were just too young and not ready. Yeah, but we ready for Kyrie. Bring that noise. Bring it.

Bring it. I dare you to stop on Lucky again. I mean, to be fair, the two best players in this championship, in this NBA finals are both on the Mavericks. Like, Kyrie and Luca are both better than Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, but we have the better team. The better team is in green, the better players.

The two best players are in white and blue. I'll give you Luca. Kyrie is better than both of them. Jaylorie. I don't even think it's. No, Jason Tatum is a better player on this Celtics team. But if you're trying, if a bigger and a better basketball player, there is not than Kyrie Irving and Luca Donchick right now.

I don't like where your attitude is going, Jose. I do like the fact that Drake put a hefty bed on the house. That makes me feel so much better. Celtics and six. Celtics and six. That's what I'm saying. I got it in five. But look, that's later on tonight.

Game one, UFC 302 happened this past weekend. The main event was great, provided a lot of storylines, and we'll certainly talk about that. But UFC 303 has taken over the new cycle this week because as we found out this past Sunday night, very late, the UFC announces that the scheduled press conference that was set to go down on Monday of this week in Dublin with Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler to set up their big fight, their big fight, was quote postponed. And boy, oh boy, the old floodgates open since the UFC didn't provide any reason as to why it was scratched. Conner McGregor made a pretty vague, very PR tweet about it. Michael Chandler has been kind of cryptic about it. He's got to. making and mixing margarita beverages on a social media at this point

and then speculation begins to run rampant and I know we reported what we knew on an NBA fighting Ariel Helani on the MA reported what he knows and as of this moment seems like we're still a go for UFC 303 but again we're not getting anything outside of just having some conversations most of them off the record so Jose

we have not heard from you on this topic on Sunday because you were probably awake you probably made the old graphic for what transpired with this announcement. Your initial reaction to the news, yeah, that the presser got scratched. Yes. What was your reaction to this? The news dropped Sunday, postponement, it's scratched. How are you feeling about things now?

And how do you feel like it's been handled since Sunday night? My first reaction was, thank God, M.A. find didn't send me to Dublin for 24 hours for that press conference, because I would have been finding out as I landed. Um, but yeah, it's, I'm not surprised they rescheduled it or canceled it or postponed or whatever you want to say because it's Con McGregor. And there is no human alive that exemplifies that I don't believe he's fighting until he's in the octagon then Connor McGregor.

I was surprised it was postponed so close to the date, if that makes sense. Uh, because Dana White literally like that Saturday or Sunday morning at like two, three in the morning local times. I have to go get on a plane after this. So up until about that point, we thought the press conference is happening. He told that to our faces. Take that for what you will with Dana White, but Dana White usually doesn't mess around when it comes to press conference's promotion

and being on time and this and that. So I wasn't surprised he was postponed because Connor, you know, has played a hard ball. Like he was famously supposed to fight Nadee as a USC 200 and didn't show up to a press conference. He was scheduled at. There was that empty chair. And he live tweeted the press. commerce while the press conference was going on uh so connor not showing up not a surprise dana announced or not even dana i guess all right i'm surprised it was so close to the event i'm surprised it's

been pretty radio silent outside of conrigger's tweet uh and his very vague post of him what appeared to be in a like a physical therapy or hospital or doctor's office whatever with a big cheesy smile on his face i feel like we're getting all of our information from uh reporters and journalist, which is obviously a good thing because they're doing their jobs. I don't like hearsay. I don't like the follow the breadcrumb things where it's like, oh, they made all these videos private. Oh, ESPN Plus is doing this because now you're just getting the hypotheticals and hearsay and

conspiracy theories and I don't subscribe to any of those notions. I just want the facts. So the fact that our colleague Ariel is putting some stuff out, we've heard some stuff from online for various other people that seem to be in the know. I'm listening to that. I'm not following the breadcrumbs as of yesterday, obviously at the MMA hour because this is live if you watch it after. On Thursday, so Wednesday Ariel said it seems to be optimistic. Ariel's not one to lie at all when it comes to like journalistic integrity stuff.

So I believe him. So yeah, all signs points are good. As of right now, that could change in 72 hours because Conner was supposed to be on a press conference on a Monday, on a Sunday that was still happening. and all of a sudden it was canceled. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question, but it's Conrad Greger. So you're kind of like grasping for air at this point trying to find answers. Yeah, and the important thing is what you kind of note at the end. It could change in 72 hours.

It could change in 72 seconds right now. We could be in the middle of the show and something can change. And if it does, we'll certainly talk about it. But, Jed, as you know, the UFC does things their way. They always have. They keep things tight to the vest. When a problem arises, they deny, deny, deny. don't listen to the media, yada, yada, yada.

If you don't hear it from us, it's bullshit. Doesn't take a rocket science to figure out something went awry with this whole thing. But it seems like, at least as Jose sort of reference, as of this moment, we are on track for UFC 303. So how would you grade the handling of this thus far? Because this has become the biggest story of the week. And we know very little. if you subscribe to the Joaquin Buckley School of as long as you're in the news, it's good, then this has been handled perfectly.

We're talking about this event three weeks out. I am getting texts from people, like who have no interest in it may. Or like, is kind of pulling out like what the hell's going on? So, you know, if that's your benchmark, then I guess they're handling it well. If you're talking about how a media entity manages problems, I would say that this has been handled exceedingly poorly because when you create or when you reveal that there is an issue and canceling the press conference definitionally says something's amiss here, boys. And then that's it. You just say problem is out. That leads to wild speculation about what.

could or could not be. That is why I think on the MMA hour yesterday, they like looked at ticket prices and the ticket prices resale had dropped because like there was a vibe that maybe this event won't happen or it won't happen with Connor. Like you create an opportunity for chaos by not coming out and saying, hey, this event, sorry, like last minute, this has been canceled. There has been an issue. You can lie with that issue, by the way.

you like the UFC is under no onus to tell us the truth they like Dana white lies all the time about stuff he goes on every podcast possible to tell you blatantly false things about power slap he could have come on and like hey we had to cancel the venue in Dublin because uh we we screwed up our our flight times and we actually just won't get there in time and it's not going to work it could be any lie and that would at least be something as opposed to yeah we're not doing it this anymore now spend the next 72 hours making up whatever you want and the fact that the radio silence has been so comprehensive from all sides like genuinely i have been very firmly on the corner of connor is not going to pull out of a fight because he never has and as this week has gone i've been like it must be critically bad and the ufc is scrambling to find a replacement and they don't want to say anything until they have the hey this happened but here you go they don't just want to come out and be like, hey, Conner's out, we're working on a fix and they want to present the response as well. Now, you know, according to Ariel who like Jose said, I trust, it seems

that that's not what's happened, but it just leads me to be like, what the f did happen? Like, what could possibly cause them to cancel the press conference and be real weird and not just come out and say, hey, there's been a setback, something, anything. So it's just really, really poorly handled to leave anything up to so much speculation in a negative capacity. So, Jed, as you laid out, Connor, if Penn goes to paper, does not pull out of fights. Right now, June 6th, year of our Lord, 24, this fight is scheduled to happen in 23 days in Las Vegas. Already a 20-plus million dollar gate, according to the UFC. Even money. odds. Is this fight happening? Yes or no? And why? I'm saying yes. And I said when we did a

ranking show, we talked about this topic. I said that I was 60-40. Yes. As the kind of week they went on, I got closer to 50-50 and maybe even swapping to less likely than not. Just because it has been so weirdly quiet. Like usually, can you guys think of the last time something like this just was had nothing. Like there was nobody. There's not even us talking like in the back Slack channels of, hey, I hear that it's actually this, but we can't go like there ain't nothing out there.

And with that, it was just I started to get to, okay, they're trying to figure out how to save this and they don't want to talk about it until. But like I said, I trust what Ariel says. If Ariel says that they are optimistic, you know, Connor posts the Instagram thing this morning, it seems like it's going to happen.

So I'm still banking on that and I'll say yes. It's going to happen. Jose, are you as confident? Are you saying yes right now? Even money odds. Are you betting this fight happens as June 29th? Unrelated. Jed using the frayed comprehensively quiet is an astounding combination of words.

Consider those are completely different things. But am I confident that will happen? Yeah, probably. just because, you know, Arrow doesn't tend to lie. But when I say I'm confident, I'm confident right now. You know, in 24 hours, if, you know, the closer we get to the fight with, and it's still radio silence, like a week before I'm supposed to go to Vegas, ask me again, right now I'm pretty confident.

You know, Connor posts that weird, cheesy smile. That photo could have been taken a month ago. That photo could have been taken a year ago, for all we know. Connor could be, you know, about to go into surgery and we wouldn't know. Connor could be in PT right now. We wouldn't know. So the comprehensive quietness of all of this is alarming, but right now I'm confident. I'm confident.

Connor doesn't tend to pull out. There's a lot of money being put into this. I also know there's that the deal with the T-Mobile Arena is fairly close to being done. I think that's why they're trying to do this. They're trying to get one of those dates in so then they can go do. do the sphere card and then re-up with the T-Mobile. That's also like another aspect of this. There's the Hall of Fame.

There's the UFC Fan Expo. Biggest gate in the history of the whatever. If Connor's not fighting, they're going to get a real big last-minute main event to headline IFW. They make everything worth it. I mean, what a professional you are, Jose. I'm telling you,

because you segwayed right into the big question here. Because we just don't know. We have no clue what's happening. We don't know if it's an injury or COVID or anything. Like we truly don't know. There's nothing like on the record that tells us anything. So if it doesn't happen, Jose, if this fight can't happen, if Dana comes out, jumps on Instagram, leads it off with,

hey guys, we're pushing this one back. Connor did this and this. He can't fight for a few months. What in the blue hell can the UFC do to save this card? That is realistically an option because if you run down the list of champions, they're either booked or had just fought or the bigger names have fought recently and are banged up. What do we do here? What is the option?

What does Dana say that is actually a realistic thing that we could put on the table? I think what they, and I'm answering this realistically, not what I want to see because they're obviously like, who wouldn't want to see like Max Holloway versus I at UFC 303? that's not happening because that's probably going to headline the sphere card realistically just based on who is available and who could draw interest you could do Alex preverse Anthony Smith because Alex is always down to clown he wants to fight early because Anthony Smith and Anthony Smith just fought in May

and he doesn't outside of that mishap in when he waited as the backup he seems you know he takes these short notice fights he took that one against Cleo roundtry made way it didn't go well for him but I I think that Alex is a big deal in the UFC fight fans. You know, he headlined UFC 300. It's the only fighter to headline three Madison score garden cards. Every time he shows up, he's a big deal. I think him versus Anthony Smith, obviously Ancolaev would be the more, or Yeri would be the more logical one because they're close higher up the rings.

But they're overseas. Yeri wants, I don't know if Yeri can make or either those are ready to go right there. Anthony Smith seems down to clown whenever he wants. He's close to Las Vegas. You could do Charles Olivera versus Chandler 2 at Welterweight. You could do Charles Oliver versus Colby Covington too at Welterweight. But no, Colby Covington says he's kind of beat up still. That's why he's not fighting Ian Gary.

I mean, Alex is really the big one that could headline this, right? The one that is a big enough star, that is a champion, that could headline an international fight week. But I would love to live in a world where, say, obviously we all want Carnar to fight because he generates interest the fans love it. But if we live in a world where Alex Perea headlines three Maddest Square Garden cards, UFC 300, and International Fight Week,

that man is already a super star. He just catapults himself even higher into a megastar realm. So I guess those, and I'm answering this realistically, like in a perfect world we could get like, you know, Ilya versus Max or Max versus Chandler or whatever, like some exciting fight like that. But realistically Alex Pereira versus feeling the blank scene. to be the most realistic answer.

That could possibly happen and be worth the ticket price for UFC 303. Jed, where are you at now? I know we talked about this on the ranking show a little bit, but with what is realistic on the table, Ariel talked about it on the nose yesterday about the Max Holloway rumors, and he basically said, it's not a thing. Was it discussed? Was it, were seeds planted at some point?

Yes, but he ended with it's not a thing. heard similar. So what realistically can they do here? If this fight doesn't happen, what the hell happens now? Nothing. They can do nothing. There are no good outcomes if Connor turns, if can't fight from whatever reason. Like, Alex is, I guess, the best. I don't know if Alex can fight. Like, you know, he broke his foot not that long ago. And like, Megan 205 is not the easiest thing for him. And is Alex Pereer at a catchweight or a heavyweight fight? Like, is that what you want to headline international fight week? Sure, against Anthony Smith, like, maybe that's not the worst thing that's ever happened.

But the gap between Connor McGregor's return and Alex Pereira versus Anthony Smith is massive. Like, that is an enormous delta between those two things. And so, like, that's not a good result. That's not a best of a bad situation. That's a we got nothing. here. I maintain, and I know what you just said and know what Aero said, and I'm certain that y'all are not lying. I am certain that that is what has been said and reported and told to you. The only viable outcome, if Connor can't go, in my opinion, is you pay Max whatever the cost is

to get him to fight Michael Chandler. Because there is a number. Max may want to fight Ilya. there is a number that he will not say no to. And you meet that number and he fights Chandler because he would beat Chandler. And then he can still fight Tupuri later. He's just done this thing for you and made a lot of money. But outside of that, I don't, there's not a good outcome. And so maybe the answer is you just pay Connor whatever he asks to get, if he blew out his knee or if his leg is infected,

or whatever it is because we still have no idea, you just keep throwing money and deal at him until whatever he is asking for, until he says, I'll do it. It's fine because there are no good outcomes that don't involve Connor McGregor, and the next best outcome is still prohibitively expensive for you. So you're going to have to spend money,

I guess spend it and just make Connor happen. This is like freaking wild. And Ariel said something yesterday that anything you even said it Monday too like if they didn't schedule this press conference wouldn't even be talking about this right now like we would have no idea what was happening it's crazy to think about it blows my mind though

like I just don't know what could have intervened like we can't do this press conference but this fight is still a go like it's yeah or just say like look there were we tried audio teching everything and the speakers didn't work or whatever happened there were some sort some sort of issue inside the venue where we couldn't do it.

And so we had to call it like something and leave it less vague. But this is what the UFC does. And they create a lot of conversation. And that's why we just spent 25 minutes on this topic and still really don't know much outside of things are optimistic and in a much better place now than they were Sunday, Monday, maybe even Tuesday. So we will keep you posted on M.Afighting.com with the latest on this story. but let us go backwards a little bit. Let's go back five days and discuss UFC 302. Point for round one goes to Jose Young's, one to nothing.

Nicely done. Go sees as a homer pick more than anything, but it's okay. Southwark's going to go up one-nothing. Jose has also gone up one-nothing. So boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo, great idea.

Feel the fun with all the latest, Lots and live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Sporting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1866-31300 or visit Comexonterio.ca. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too.

That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Let's talk about UFC 302. It goes down in Brick City, Newark, New Jersey, and I have to say the media, I think I've been A fighting in particular. I think we sold this card better than the UFC did. I think we sold them in a big way.

We said it would be a fun watch. Don't miss it. Spend your 80 bucks. The main event sells itself, Dustin Poy, trying to finish the story. And in the end, the main event does deliver. and yes, we had Basil Hafez versus Mickey Gall beaten the hell out of each other.

We had Jailton-Almeid and Kevin Holland picking up quick submissions. There wasn't a single knockout on this card and it was a tough, sloggy watch through most of it with all due respect to the athletes. That's just what the viewing experience was. Jed, will we be doing a damn they were good

on UFC 302 anytime soon? No, God, no. This is a pretty tough card. This is arguably the worst pay-per-view the year to watch. And that's no fault of the main event. Like, the main event is one of the three best fights of the year thus far. If you dropped 80 bucks on the portion you paid $80 for, you probably don't feel like amazing about it, but you at least got to end the night with a very, very fun, very good fight.

So it could be worse. Like, if you swap the co-main in the main event in about order, you would be livid. you dropped 80 bucks on this. But the way it played out, it's not that bad. I wouldn't honestly be that surprised if fewer people bought the main card just because the build to it was so bad. Yeah, just look, sometimes it doesn't work out. While I think Dana saying it's the cards that you don't think about that are actually

the best is like one of the stupidest things of all time, I am willing to play the opposite of that and say, hey, they put together on paper was a pretty solid card. And it didn't play out. Sometimes you're not going to bat a thousand, and that's just what happened. There's nothing wrong with the matchmaking here from a competitive standpoint. Now, if you want to say that there's an issue with the matchmaking from a star power standpoint, I'd agree. This card was very, very thin on both of the, on that as well.

So wasn't a great event, but the main event was awesome. Kevin Holland broke a dude's arm or maybe broke a dude's arm. A lot of, like some other cool stuff. happened. So it wasn't the worst time ever. Jose, you were there. You were a very busy man, of course, but just didn't seem like there was a lot of electricity in the Prudential Center outside of the main event and good old 45 Donald Trump. So yeah, what was it like in there? Was there electricity? Was there vibes outside of the main event in Trump? I was backstage in the media room doing press conference.

conversations and interviews for the entire fight card. So I never got to go out to the actual arena. So you'd have to ask New York, Rick, who was out by the Octagon shooting social clips for us. But in terms of this actual card, Newark fans should just be used to this because do you all remember UFC 169? Probably not because at the time it had the most decisions ever. And at the time was the longest card in terms of time. It was almost three hours long. on the history of the UFC.

There were two finishes, the main event, which is controversial, because that was Henan Burrow, Uri Fabor, two, and then they had Jamie Varner v. Abelter Hero, which is an incredibly underrated, like, one-and-a-half-round banger. So no one's ever talked about that card ever since outside of, you know, the controversial main event because Al Strowfring decided to turn into a D-1 wrestler and just grapple Frank Mere for three rounds.

Couldn't even tell you who else was on that card. In fact, I... Islam Moxiv might have been on the prelimbs. It could have been another one of the dog of Sandy wrestlers. No one's ever talked with that card ever again. I think, you know, this is like a recency biased thing where everyone's kind of clowning on UFC 302. Main event ruled, but that's kind of what it was built around.

I didn't see a lot of people pre-fight, hyper-excited for the prelims. They seemed more upset that Jailton-O-Manna got dropped to the prelims than the main card. That fight was still awesome. Jail-Tan-A-Meta is the man. Alexander Romanoff continues to prove that MMA fighting staff cannot pick good prospects. But Jailton Almeida did the thing on the prelims.

No one else was talking about the prelims. The prelims there is what it is. The main card, it is what it is. Everyone talks about the main event, and that's what we're talking about after. I can't imagine we're going to do a damned whatever on 302, but I can't imagine any pay-per-view card this year outside of UFC 300 will get a damned. They were good. Because you know what else? You know what has the right for most decisions now?

in the history of the UFC for a fight card? Bring everyone up, Casey. I want to see, I want to hear everyone's guesses. You know what? Fight card has the record for most decisions ever. I don't remember. It's mandatory Israel out of Sanya 2. Has like 12 or 13 decisions or whatever.

And we're not looking back being like, wow, that card sucked because we just moved on. And then the rest of that year was not that bad. So we're going to be talking about the main event. We're probably not going to be talking about the whole card. But I doubt we're going to be talking about many cards this year. as an entire event outside of UFC 300 and maybe MSG. I will say.

And of course the sphere because, but that's just the sphere, not the actual fights. In slight defense of the UFC, though, I pulled up 263. I mean, they were just asking for decisions. You've got Leon Edwards and Belaw Muhammad on this fight card, not fighting each other. Like, come on, Mavs are this fight card. Like, this is a Lauren Murphy. This is a litany of decision merchant. and then Terrence McKinney

so yeah it kind of makes sense but like there were like Brad Riddell and Drew Dover was a banger Jamal Hill snapped his arm in half I think that was Damien Maya's last fight ever in the UFC and then Nate Diazley and O'Don had that singular moment

Terence McKinney had that what five six second knockout and blew his ACL or whatever I know Chase Hooper lost on that card Stephen Peterson fight was terrible that was tough yeah he missed weight that card too When we opened the evening with Carlos Sulep, Jake Collier, because... But I think the difference between that one and this card is there were like... Like when Lauren Murphy won a decision, which you all knew was going to happen,

that she became the No More Contender to go get pieced up by Valentina in her next fight. Like, Ballal retired, Damien Myel, Leon Edwards, Nate Diaz, I don't care if it's a decision or a cut over the eye. People are going to be talking about it. And then Israel Marvin was just Israel Marvin. And it was also on Pacific time or whatever time, Arizona was at that time, so it also didn't end at like three in the morning local. And they had three, five rounders, even though the co-main, because they did the thing,

but the Comain finished early enough. But yeah. Yeah. It's also a way the F out in Glendale, which was a nightmare. Yeah, they were in Newark last year for 288. That was the one main card kicked up by Crone Gracie versus Charles Jordane. Yeah. That was also talking about that fight.

Yeah, if Diego Lopez is fun. If I have Diego Lopez is fun. Janjonon gets the only finish on the main card. Bala Muhammad Gilbert Burns for five rounds and then Al Jemaine Sterling, Henry Suhudo for five rounds. And we haven't talked about that card since, just like everything else that happens in Newark. That is true.

We're going to talk about Islam Makachev in round three, but I want to focus on Dustin Porier, who performed admirably Jose Youngs when at least one of the first four rounds in all three judges' scorecards. One judge had a 2-2 heading into the fifth. I jokingly had it that way on the watch. party and then Poria gets caught in a dars in the fifth round after just a freaking beautiful

work of art sequence from Islam Makachev. But man, Dustin showed up, didn't retire officially. He certainly banged up. He discussed his injuries, broken nose, broken rib, partial ACL tear. And as you know, Jose, the big storyline setting into 302 were, will Dustin Poirier finish the story and will it be his final fight? So after that kind of performance, Jose, won that Porre could, if he wanted to, certainly go out with his head held high, knowing he competed with the best fighter on the planet, depending on who you ask. Do you think you were in attendance for his final fight? I know you're in the back, but were you in the same building as Dustin Porre's final fight, in your opinion, five days later? No, because I thought we did in Utah when he got headkicks

by Justin Gachie, because he was pretty adamant. He didn't want to fight. He said he didn't want to fight these young up-and-coming guys to let them possibly build a career off of them. Someone point-blank asked him, do you want to fight these young prospects? And he said, no, not really. And then his next fight, he fights Ben Wastontani. So I take what he says

with the grand, any fighter that kind of has these thoughts immediately after, especially a tough fight like that, especially someone who's been through everything, doesn't poor he has. It's an emotional scene. Emotions are high. Journalism, still high. He also wasn't as definitive this time, like he was

last time he's like when he's just like I don't really want to fight these young guys coming off the gate you lost so I'm going to say no just based on you know uh previous knowledge and previous history of what we've seen dust and poir to say I think he's obviously going to take a lot of time off he has to because of all these injuries he had he could come back for maybe one more maybe one big money fight I don't think he's ever going to fight for the title again but if they you know they dangle some what seven figure fight eight figures your fight in front of him to go fist fight Conrad Greger a fourth time, then so be it.

If Nate Diaz resigns, you think he's going to, if Nate Diaz ever comes back to the UFC, which we talked about trying to figure out what Conrad Greggar's up to, Nate Diaz is a whole nother can of warrants. I'm trying to figure out what his future holds after he boxes Jorge Manzaa. But to say Nate Diaz does come back to the UFC, which is a possibility.

How is Pori not going to say yes to the Nate Diaz fight? He's been calling for forever, and then he can fight Nate. And then he can finally retire because he's gotten everything he wanted outside of the title. So I'm going to say no. I also selfishly would love to see him fight one more time, possibly get that big Nate fight or whoever else. But if this is it, what a way to go out. One of the best fights you'll ever see.

Jed, we've had some time to digest this. I think you were like 7% that Dustin Porey retires, win or lose heading into the fight. And now we've seen the performance. We've seen how he improved dramatically on some of the things we were concerned about. And now the injury is coming out of it, being very emotional after the fact, seeing his family, seeing his daughter, watch him compete for the first time in her reaction to Dustin's post-fight interview. Do you think this is his final fight? Now looking at it five days later after some time to digest. And let me flip this to you because I would guess you're going to say, no, how would you advise him if he called you right now and said, hey,

What do you think I should do knowing full well? He's still going to make his own decision. Again, I'd be really, really surprised if this was the last time we saw him, just because if you bet on a fighter to retire, that is a sucker bet. Nobody retires in this sport. They might be gone for a while. They might sit out three, four, five, twelve years if you're Chuck Lowe, but they're always going to come back for one more run.

And it's not because, you know, sometimes it is because they need. the money. But usually that's not really the primary driver. It is because this is what they know and who they are. And it's a thing that they love to do and the opportunity to get in front of the bright lights and do it one more time for any number of reasons is so intoxicating. So I will always assume that a fighter is not retiring until they are retired, like until they are in their late 40s. And even then I wouldn't be like stunned if they came back because Mike Tyson is pushing 60 and trying to fight Jake Paul. Like people don't leave combat sports.

It has to get beaten out of them. And as we saw on Saturday, Dustin Porre has not had it beaten out of them. Like he still can compete at a very high level. He still very good at this. And so, yes, he is now in a position. Honestly, not unlike where he was against Justin Gagey, not that long ago.

I am so excited. Can you guys hear the man who has brought a fucking leaf blower right to my window? brilliant timing and so here we are but yeah like he he can still compete and a year ago we thought the same thing like okay he just got knocked out the road back there and look what happened look how fast it turned around we none of us expected him to take the fight with bSD because he had said i don't really want to fight the up-and-comers like i i don't i'm not interested in that but then he changed his mind said you know what this fight gets me excited i'm a little bit scared about it hold on while this leafblower goes because I can't hear myself talk.

This is nightmareish that he's still doing this shit. Like looking me, he is looking me right in the eyes right now and doing this. Like we are, yeah, we're just going. And he's just living his truth, buddy.

Respect. Like I got to respect the brazenness of staring me down while it's happening. But okay. That's John Jones's biggest fan. honestly maybe it is could totally that would make sense but yeah the answer is that he's not going to give up i think he's going to take time off like he is very beaten up from this fight and there's not a clear path back but if the ufc calls him you know in six months and there is some sort of a path back the same way it happened with bSD said hey no you're not retired but like hafiel fazeveh has

some dude falling out you know and he's finally ready to come back would you maybe be interested I don't know how, like, who it would look like. But the Nate fight 100%, if that's on the table, a thousand percent he will take Nate. That's always the thing. But I think that there's also some percentage chance of, hey, you know, Charles Olivero wants to run things back. And what are, you know, Charles is still number two.

You beat him. Actually, maybe Islam's left the division. Maybe Armin beats Islam. And so instead of you just need a win to kind of be back in title contention, a good win because you are famous. I think there's a lot of wiggle room to get him back, and he's still young and good and competitive. So I think there's very, very little chance at the last time we've seen him. And I would advise him to just wait.

You can hold your cards for a while right now. You have a lot of them. Wait to play him until the timing is right until something jumps out that makes you say yes. And I think eventually something like that will show. And so take a year. Maybe take two. Maybe that's where it is. don't put any burden on yourself to choose.

Let the world come to you because I think it will. I tell you what, if Armin loses, Dustin might want to fight Armin based off of what Armin said on the MMA hour and what Dustin's coach said about Armin's comments. Basically, obviously, for those of you didn't watch, Armand said that he thought Dust Poiray quit in this and that. They both train at the same gym at ATT and then Dustin Poirier's boxing coach took real offense to that, saying so I'm like, oh, you're nice, our face, but then you go on the MMA hour and say all this greasiness, so could be playing the seeds.

I didn't really interpret Armand's words like that, so that's interesting. So if basically like if, oh, if that Islam showed up, it would be easy for me, this and that and, you know, Dustin, I don't know, I can't remember his exact words, but I saw Dustin's boxing coach

took some issue with the words that Armin said. So if Armin wins or loses, there's that storyline. that's interesting yeah i think that dustin's coach maybe has that one read wrong but whatever well yeah we shall see we shall see before we move on

i do want to talk about shan strickland jett because this was the most disappointing fight on the card by a wide margin and much like i'll take almost a similar stance that i took when israel out of sonya fought jared canonineer I didn't blame Israel Adesania for that. I blamed Jared Candonair fully for that. And in this one, Strickland went out there, did Sean Strickland things. Paul Costa had nothing for him at all and just allowed Sean Strickland to do Sean Strickland things.

I thought Strickland won all five rounds. One judge egregiously scored at 4946 Costa. And Jed, you made me think. You made me think. You were like, maybe that's an acceptable scorecard. So I went back and rewatch that fight. that actually might be the worst card of the night. That actually might be worse than Lima Raposo.

That might be worse than giving Almeida a round. 4946 is redonculus, but be that as it may. Strickland comes out. Giving Al-A two rounds was the issue, not giving Al-Meda one round. Yeah, regardless. Or you'm giving him a decision. Regardless. But Strickland says, give me the title shot.

I will wait a round for it essentially for as long as it takes. Is this the right move, Jed? was this performance, even though he didn't get a truly willing dance partner and it wasn't very fun, does he have a case to get the winner of what we assume the next title fight, 185 pounds will be between Drickish duplice and Israel, Adasagna? No, he has no case. I think this is the correct move for him, though. I think we are all under the assumption that Hamzaa Shemayev, should he beat Robert Whitaker,

will be getting a middleweight title shot against the winner of the inevitable. DDP is a real dis in your fight. That seems carved in stone. But if he loses and Izzy wins, is there a massive appetite for Izzy Whitaker three? No, I don't think there is. And so if that happens, then I would say Sean Strickland does actually jump to the front line.

If DDP wins, then there's not really much. And Whitaker wins, then there's not much of an appetite I wouldn't think for DDP Whitaker 2. So then you can run Strickland back. They had a very competitive fight. Like either if Rob wins, Strickland is actually in probably pole position over the rest of the weight class. If Hamzot wins, Strickland is immediately a secondary option. And so I think saying I'm just going to sit in wait is absolutely the correct move for him because you can say one thing and do another.

Like that's a totally fine thing. And so you can say, hey, you'll see, this is what I want. And if that's what you end up getting because Rob wins jump the lot, like you jump in front of him. terrific like everything worked out and if not if hamzat wins you can say i'm going to sit and wait and i get to be the backup fighter for the eventual hamzat title fight or you can just use that as a leverage point hey i'm here where i am so if you guys want me to fight somebody if you want me to step in and save 303 on short notice you better back up the money truck like you it's a good leverage good negotiation point for him and i mean he is in the uc's rankings number one i think

he might be number, he's got to be number one. Still number one. So he has the number there. He has just got to win over a top 10, you know, guy. I think this is the right move for him. I don't think he deserves anything. But I don't think it will be wrong if he gets a title fight coming off of this. And I think he has at least some level of a chance to do that.

So this should be the way he plays this. Mike, before you ask me a question, I want to clear up. So not clear up, but give. the full context of what I said in the previous round, or the previous question. So does employee his head coach or head coach, Daya Davis, who is boxing coach responded to something on Instagram saying, this guy, fake love and respect in the gym,

but the moment he has an opportunity to take a shot, he goes for it, bitch move, he's a clown, and then left a clown emoji. So that is very aggressive, but in an even more, an even more aggressive and to the point, there was a video of Armin I don't know who it was for because it's been like aggregated by a million Twitter account so I don't know

what the original video is from or interview it seems like a TMZ style like Armand's talking and walking I said basically he felt Dustin gave up mentally it was broken late in the fight against Islam and then very succinct into the point Mataj Gamrott responds

Armin is a bitch exclamation point so take that for what you were that's fun. Armin did not have the same energy with Ariel. So it is a walk-and-talk like interview. I don't know who it's from. Oh, it's outside MMA. That's who it's from.

I want to give credit because it's been aggravated by a million times. But yeah, Mattouch Gamrot coming to his teammates' defense with just a very quick four-word tweet. Armin is a bitch, exclamation. Armin might be moving to Kilcliffe is what I'm here. That's what I'm saying. So take that for what you will. Armand Gamrot to anyone? Oh, that's a bangor for the title.

I mean, sign me up for that. I mean, Armand already beat him once. Sure didn't. Yeah. Anyway, that is what I was referring to. Don't give you started. I appreciate that. But Jose, are you surprised Sean Strickland is who typically is just like, yeah, give me a name.

I don't care where it is. I'll fight. Blood will fly everywhere. We're going to kill each other out there. Are you surprised he's saying? I'm taking nothing else but a title fight. I will wait forever for it. And do you think his next fight will be for the title?

Here's why that sentence is weird, because literally the sentence after he's talking about fighters taking time off. And he's like, I don't understand why fighters are taking all this time off. Just go in there and fight. Oh, by the way, I'm only going to accept a title fight next, so I'll wait for the title.

I'm like, pick a way. Pick a door. Like, I don't care what hill you want to dine. If you want to wait for the belt, that is you're right. I'm sure you'll take another fight if the month. and he's right, but then don't say, don't question fighters waiting and then immediately say you're going to wait.

That is very strange because when he said it, it was such an odd combination of sentences back to back that I questioned myself whether I had heard the previous sentence correctly because I'm like, no one's going to criticize someone and then immediately do the thing they're criticizing. So the point where we even looked at our colleague Oscar Willis who was sitting next to me, I'm like, did he just say this and that? And Oscar's like, I think so. like a weird thing to say and then I went back and listened I'm like ah it's just Sean Strickland

being Sean Strickland saying one thing and then doing the other so weird combination like flex on someone a bunch of people for saying like oh you're not fighting and then immediately say you're going to wait for the title shot don't care which lane you pick just pick a lane if you say you want to die on like I don't it was it was weird it was very weird so I'm not surprised that Sean Strickland would wait because it seems like a dude that's down a clown Remember he famously fought a boost, and everyone was like, why are you fighting this guy? He's not even ranked. And Sean Strickland was like, I said I wanted a fight on this month.

And this was the name they presented to me. I didn't want to wait for another name. I wanted to fight right now. Obviously, the second you start getting a lot of money for these fights, that changes because then you don't need to fight as much because you make a lot more for individual fights. Sean Strickland obviously took this Polo Costa fight because of his new contract. Obviously, we all saw what Sean Zerickland said to Daniel Cormier. He's probably not 100% happy.

but he's happier than he was previously probably even more happy with his pay than when he was champion. So it's Sean Strickland. I'm not going to try to get into that man's head because that seems like a very dark, complicated place that I just have no interest in waiting those waters whatsoever. So yes, surprised based solely on what he told me to my face. And then I remember with Sean Strickland and I'm not trying to get into that man's head. Do not yell at me in press conference anymore. It solves nothing. Well, speaking of Jose setting up somebody to die on a certain hill, we're going to head to round three.

The point for round two goes to Jedbyshoe. Jose almost stole that one. Some good stuff. I'm just out here powering through adversity. You know, I'm daring to be great, working through all the things. And I don't know why y'all hate on me, you know. I got 20 bannies for you. Say that.

I sense. I have a feeling that I'll come up later. After the Bizarro Links episode and Jed famously like decided not to answer the last question that I very fairly asked him, a bunch of people have been like, you should have made, you should have made the loser have to do something so they would not, they would want to win. And I was like, that is an excellent idea for a future Bizarro Licks. Bizar Licks. the anniversary.

Don't miss it coming up in May of 2025. But Jose, let's go back to you. Let's bring Jose up on the screen here because Jose is responsible for the most discussed moment of the UFC 302 press conference by simply asking Dana White this question,

where does Islam Makachev rank in the pantheon of lightweights? Dana White turned that question about where Islam ranks at last. lightweight into the John Jones is the best fighter in the world. And if you disagree, you shouldn't even be allowed to do rankings. And what's funny and coincidental and very ironic about all of this is I was actually talking

to a friend of mine last week about MMA and covering the sport. And while Dana White still seems like he's sort of going through the motions when it comes to the UFC compared to power slap and, you know, his bull and all his other ventures, I was telling my friend, man, Dana really hasn't said anything totally wacko this year. Outside of maybe the Mobbzar of Loyoff, Arnold Allen fight being one of the worst fights he's ever seen. I don't know if you watch that part. This, this, I agree. But this Jose, based on just the question about Islam being a lightweight and how good he is at lightweight, this Islam is good, but he ain't no John Jones thing from Dana went on Saturday night that derived from this question that literally had nothing to do with John.

Jones. How did you react to that? Like, I'm sure nothing Dana says surprises you, but flipping that question into the whole John Jones pound for pound debate was pretty, pretty crazy. It wasn't because he does this all of the time. Like, if I asked Dana White anything, I don't know what his answer is going to be because he might, like, here's the thing. At UFC, I believe it was UFC 274. I believe that was Charles Olivera, Justin Gage. That was also when Shogun lost to Ovenson Proof for the what was that the second time or whatever the rematch

it was Shogun second and last fight and I asked Dana White like what do you want to do what do you want Shogun to go from here what do you want for the rest of his career and then he goes thank you for asking me that question Anderson Silva what did I do to you and then he just started a rant about Anderson Silva's comments in the meet in like

what he Anderson Silva is talking about like fight or pay or whatever at that time And I was like, okay, but like, what do you want to happen to Shogun? Like, what do we do here, guy? So after that, and then I asked him about, what was it? I asked him about the flags in, because when there was the flag ban where you couldn't carry your country's flag out for a while. And in the UK, I go, a bunch of fighters said they weren't allowed to bring the flags out. Can you tell me why?

and he goes, you know why. And I go, nope, truly don't. And then like a year and a half later, he's just like, yeah, everyone said like we banned flags and this and that. And like, I got pressure. And I'm like, you still didn't tell me why. Like I'm waiting for that answer. Like you told me I knew.

I racked my brain. There are myriad of answers. All of them very viable and very, I want to preface this, understandable reasons why you banned flag carrying for that week. If it was that week only, I get it because let's not forget. Volkov was fighting Tom Aspinall in the main event. There were a couple other fighters on that. Avoid the drama.

I get it. You could have said that. You didn't. You told me I knew why. And then you put it on me. And then like I said, like a year later, you kind of backtracked it a bit. I'm like, whatever. So after that point, I could ask Dana, I'd be like, Dana, what is, what do you think about,

what do you think should happen with Tony Ferguson next? and then he could be like, BJ Penn, why are you running for governor? I'm just like, great. Tell me about Tony Ferguson. Like, let's stay on track, my guy, but like, no. So if you were to ask me, if the question was, because I forgot the question,

were you surprised at Dana's response that you asked him about Islam and then he answered about John Jones? Absolutely not. No part of me was surprised about that because he does this all of the time. Jed, this was quite the stand to take, especially after that question. And boy, was that great timing, huh?

Sure was. It was wildly interesting. I mean, not really. It's just Dana is just a man controlled by his aid. And I've thought about trying to figure out why we went here and like, what was the plan? There was no plan. Like, I'm pretty sure that Dana either misheard what Jose said. And then that set him off on this topic that he's clearly up in like.

probably harboring and he just was like pantheon is pound for pound and he conflated the two in his head and was like go or he just like was scrolling twitter and saw somebody say something about it before he walked back and then that was fresh in his mind and it's like the first Islam trigger was just going to get him and i don't i honestly don't know why he loves john jones so much um i also like pretty objectively almost everything dana said there was in correct. But it's fine. It's fine for you to think John Jones is a pound for pound number one fighter. There's not an issue with that. Like, you're pretty close to objectively wrong, but you're not all the way there. So that's like not an unreasonable position to have. It is a very unreasonable thing to say,

my opinion is fact. And if you don't agree, you're an idiot, especially when what you are saying is incorrect and makes you stupid. Your company has actively promoted. They have consistently promoted this man as the top pound for pound fighter in the world. We did the whole Islam versus Volk, pound for pound number one on the line. So like you are part and parcel of this

and to then be like, anyone who says that is the stupidest human who's ever drawn breath is just like wildly insane. But it's also just who Dana white is at this point in his life. And so can't be surprised that it happens, but it is always weird when something takes a turn like this and the evening wasn't at any point about, hey, look how great Islam Makachchev. Islamakov is at best, like, the greatness of Islamakchev is at best the third biggest story coming out of 302. Because number one is Dustin. Number two is Dana talking about

John Jones and maybe Islam three or maybe it's Sean Strickland. Like, that's not. not where you want to be as promoter for the number one pound for a guy in the world. So it was dumb and weird, but can't be unexpected. Machchiff's performance is amazing, Jed. The closing sequence, the striking, his takedowns. And we talked about this on the post-fight show. We talked about it all week.

He probably got the best version of Dustin Porre we've seen inside the octagon, all things considered. If you're viewing this through the Armin-Saurukian lens, who we assume should be next, although islam Machchev calling for the welterweight title. From what I'm seeing on Twitter, he returned home, did some local media and said he'd prefer toify Connor McGregor over Armand Sarukian, which of course, I think anybody would say that at this point for the Dalla Dala Dahl's Jal. But are you more concerned or less concerned through the Armin Serukian lens after that performance from the champion? Because we kind of laid out how Armin feels about it, that Machchep looks slow and tired and feels like it's going to be an easy fight for him.

if i'm in armen's camp i am more concerned um because i don't know if you know this armans camp is the camp that just got worked on like is the same people who just lost to him and so like yes there are some things if you're armin surukin and the american top team guys that you can take away i do think that islamakchev is showing like pretty consistent signs of having cardio issues not cardio issues but that he does slow down as the fight goes on and arman sarucan probably does have a pretty decided advantage in gas tank over a 25-minute fight. But I don't, like, did he look slow? Like, Islam's never looked fast.

He is not a fast fighter. Like, the thing I have said about him since almost day one is this dude is 85% of Habib. And the 15% he's not is that Habib was probably one of the best athletes who's ever competed in this sport. And Islam is a plus athlete. Like, if that, he might just be, like, actually. standard issue lightweight athlete. He has never been fast. He has never been explosive, but his game is not built to be those things.

And so, like, what I saw on Saturday is, hey, he didn't get to play his fastball. Dustin and the ATT boys had prepared very, very effectively at stopping Islam's kind of go-to maneuvers. And so he was having to work on his change-up. He's having to throw his off-speed pitches. And he still took Dustin down every round of the fight, controlled the fight, arguably. won all four rounds before securing a finish in the fifth. And then, like I've talked about in other shows, the championship mindset to go into that fifth round and not go, I'm probably ahead, I just need to win this round however I do it.

But to do it and be like, hey, I'm going to finish this dude and then finish the dude and do it in a sick-ass way. That leg whip was cool as hell. Like, I don't take a lot of technical things away from this that are positives for Armin. It's not like, you know, he believes in himself and, you know, he, I'm sure he believes he can win, but like, I don't look at that going, man, Islam couldn't like had a hard time taking Dustin down. Like, and then he still just won all the striking exchange. It's like, that's not a good thing that he could outstrike a superior boxer to you. I agree. Islam is not going to have an easy time

taking Armin down the fight. But he didn't the first time. He still pulled it off because he's got a lot of tricks, got a lot of skill. This dude is just. justifiably the top pound-found fighter in the world. And so while it's not all bad news, like that felt a lot more of bravado from Armin to be like, ah, he would be an easy fight for me. He was like, no, like that dude is going to be hell on wheels for any man on two feet. Jose, what do you think about this Islam versus Armin matchup now? Because there's no other fight in the UFC that I want to see more from a high level martial arts

standpoint. Obviously, it's not, you know, the biggest drawing fight of all time. But in terms of a lightweight title fight, boy, oh boy, I'm very excited for it. Do you give Armin, because you know how the MMA fans are, oh, Islam was exposed and all this BS, which is just absolutely ridiculous. But does this make, does this fight with Porier make the Armin fight more interesting to you? Does it feel like Islam might have more success than you may have thought heading in against an Armin Sarukin? What are your thoughts coming out of it? Well, I always thought Arm was going to be, him and Gamrod would be just difficult matchups for Islam in general because they're both very good grapplers and very good wrestlers. And like Dustin Porta is not a wrestler first.

He was like, he is obviously, he declared himself the best boxer in the UFC and just I'm not going to get into that debate. But anytime you can get a guy that can nullify a person's like one of their greatest strengths. And then it just has like when two high level grapplers fight, it usually turns into a sloppy king. kickboxing matches I'm all about. Armin and Islam are not going to have a sloppy kickboxing match. I would love to see an MMA fight between those two where they seem to their strengths align very well. So in terms of a high level martial arts competition, I've been wanting to see this rematch forever,

same as a Gamrod Islam fight. Hell, like I said, like Gamrod, Armine two would also be a lot of fun. I also think there's something where like, remember when Dominic Cruz is just beaten up on all of the team alpha male fighters for so long. And then eventually Cody Garbrandt, they figured it out. And I believe it was Justin Buckles, was his head coach at the time.

You know, they had done so many camps preparing for dominant crews that eventually they just figured it out. Stuff that didn't work in the other fights, they perfected and they saw and they knew what was going to happen. Am I saying that this is going to happen with Armin and Islam? I don't know. But if ATT keeps throwing fighters at Islam and Habib,

eventually they might figure it out. Now, Habib and Islam have shown to have almost no weaknesses outside of this cardio issue that Islam seems to have, which I don't really subscribe to that notion because he also confirms that he had a pretty bad case of staff when he got into the United States. If you fight Dustin Porre for five rounds while recovering from staff infection, you're going to get tired.

So I would love, if Islam comes in 100%, no staff infection, whatever, I don't think Cardo is going to be a major issue against Armand. This might also be the case where, like, if this fight is in Madison Square Garden, which I'm not saying it is, but I think that that fight could headline MSG if John Jones-Stepey doesn't because Armine is doing a real good job at becoming one of the most disliked lightweights among fans outside of, you know, the Armenian crowd and fans because he is very much beloved. But if you watch any of those fan Q&As with Armin before he's fighting against Charles,

He couldn't even get a word in without getting just booed mercilessly solely because he said he was going to beat Charles Oliver, who was one of the most beloved fighters. Now that he's saying all this stuff about Dustin, who is probably the most, him and Max are like tied for the most beloved fighters in the UFC right now, he's not doing himself any favors. That could obviously work in his favor in terms of like drawing interest to this fight

because people will want to see him lose. Islam has been gaining more and more fans in the United States. I can't imagine he didn't gain a, I would imagine he gained a ton of fans off the Porre performance. Will this be an easy fight for either? Absolutely not. I think it's going to be a five-round banger. I definitely don't think this is going to be a stoppage

because I think both are too good and too much in their primes of their career to be finished by the other one. But I want to see, I don't care, there's a title on line. I just want to see these two guys fight five rounds so badly. Yep. Fight's going to rule. We'll see when it happens,

whether it happens at MSG, probably will happen in Abu Dhabi, but golly, cannot wait for that one. Just like I can't wait for this Saturday, the UFC back in Louisville, Kentucky. We're going to breeze through this real quick. Point for round three goes to Jedmishu. Two to one.

Nicely done. Good battle. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber. Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your

favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go.

Explore the new Peloton Cross-Draining Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. So I'm looking at Jed's whiteboard right now, and I'm glad we get to reveal some mysteries here because, yes, let me pull this up. UFC back in Louisville, Kentucky, UFC, Louisville at the world's famous KFC Yom Center, the main event. Jed's favorite middleweight, Jared Cannonier. We have to name him now. He will take on Nasredeen Imovov, Dominic Reyes,

back against Dustin Jacoby, Raul Roche Jr. against Ricky Terseos, and 11 other battles on the slate. So Jed Michoud, I'm curious, top of the dome. What's the old fart scale reading for this one? It's pretty bad. It's a pretty bad fart scale, Mike. I don't even want to give the top fight a fart. I mean, objectively it is one, but like, come on, man.

This fight is tough. Dominic Gray is famous and hasn't won a fight since he beat John Jones. While Roses Jr. is taking on a dude who is allergic to stopping takedown. So that fight's going to go about exactly the expect. is a weird fight card because a lot of these fights are actually like very competitive almost none of them have meaningful stakes and even fewer of them really have like hey I know that dude and want to watch like this is this this this would be my standard for a solid acceptable apex event instead it's a road show and so a little tougher here um but you know

we persevere, we power through. Louisville deserves better, but this is what they're getting. They're getting Jared Kennedy at 40 years old. I assume we'll lose this fight because he is 40 years old. And if he wins, then it's just like he'll have the weirdest, like should be in title contention,

but is in no way entitled contention run of anyone I can remember lately. Dominic Gray has it'll be real sad. Like just ballpark. I haven't done crunched the numbers. I'll do that before the preview show tomorrow. I mean, this is looking like three, four, four feels generous. Three farts, there's a three fart card. It's tough hang.

Tough, tough going out there. Jose, your face, as Jed was explaining his score, was pretty tremendous. Like, if you live in Louisville, do you care about going to this event? Yeah, because you live in Louisville. And anything that happens in Louisville to get you out of the house is something worth it. Okay, but if I'm correct, Mike, this is your purview, not me. I believe there's a WWE event on Friday. Would you rather drop tickets to go to that or to this?

W.W.B. in Louisville? That's what I thought. I thought they're doing a Friday. Oh, Friday. Whatever. I mean, I don't really. I have no idea. They're both on different days.

I mean, which one would you go to? If you could only go to one. That's an interesting question. Not everyone has all the money. You know, we're not all rolling in the travel dollars that you've earned. I would say I would go to Smackdown because I have to work U.S. Louisville. Okay. So I'm going to be sitting watching anyway.

If I'm in Louisville for USC Louisville, I'm probably working it. After I go to the Muhammad Ali Museum, which is also another thing to do in Louisville. Fair. your thoughts on the slate of fights all 14 I don't hate it I'm not as I don't hate it the main event is what it is Jared Canada is 40 a lot of great wins a lot of big losses imov is you know kind of floating around that 8 to 12 ranking so I get it dominic Reyes is Dustin Jacoby I would imagine is going to have some sort of violent finish from either man Dustin Jacoby's strengths tend to play into Dominic Gray his weakness of leaving his chin out

in the open. Royal Roses generates a whole ton of traffic for social. So excited to see that. Ricky Tirsios is a fellow weeb. Loves Dragon Ball Z. Excited for that. Julian Marquez is a name. And if he wins,

whatever way, he's probably going to have some sort of, you know, because M.M.A. fighting, especially this panel outside of myself, loves post-fight interviews. He'll have something to talk about.

Very excited to see the return of Miguel Baezza. Because at one point in time, he was supposed to be the man at Walter Waite. And then he just kind of, kind of ran into a wall and to the point where he was winning all these fights before he just got knocked dead. So he's a get-or-get-got type of guy. I thought he was going to be the next big thing at Weltaway. So I'm excited to see him fight Pune Sorriano, who's also a guy who gets put to sleep or puts people to sleep.

Tiago Moisei's Lodovic Klein, I think is a very underappreciated banger. Tiago Moise says, high-level grappler keeps teasing. And like I said, everyone at M.A. fighting outside of myself loves a post-fight interview. Tagamo says is already teasing his post-fight interview, which you get all of your guys' blood exciting. Bracketona, tough guy, interesting interview. Was in a good fight to win tough in Boston. I know Mike wasn't there for the actual fight night,

but that was a fun little scrap. Cody Stamondon, Della Rose, Andrew Lee, are names that people remember. So there are obviously gaps in these fights, and they're all competitive. none of them have stakes in terms of title implications. No one on this card is going to be fighting for the title next. But I think this is going to be a card that lends itself to a lot of exciting finishes

based on matchups. Like a lot of people that get knocked out are fighting guys that like to knock people out. So I think this might be the, and I'll say it, this is probably going to be the opposite of 303. A bunch of really fun, or 302, a bunch of really fun prelims and undercard fights, and then a five-round 25-minute main event. That's my prediction. There you have it. We'll talk more about UFC Louisville tomorrow.

I think we've done our part on this Thursday. Let's move on. Point for round four goes to Jose Young's. Mr. Positivity, two to two. Loves a good post-fight interview, just like the rest of us. Yeah, definitely. He's a fan of the realistic, yes. He's a fan of the realistic yet attainable callouts.

And I'm very curious to see what Tiago Moises has in mind. If he calls out Dustin Porier or is a Makaachev, then we will have a problem. But I don't think Tiago Moises would do such a thing. Tiago already lost his long, you know, main event that I'm sure. A rematch, though. That's true. A rematch. He could do it again.

Give me a full camera. He lost his own, too. That's true. Yeah, Dave, dang. And then Claude is way back. Everyone loves a comeback story, am I right? That's true. Tiago's fight against Benoit San Denei in Paris

who is another underrated. That was a fun little scrap for as long as it lasted. Tiago's in front, like, when he loses, he loses big. It's really clear. The farts, one of the farts was Moises Klein because that's a good fight. Yeah, it's a very good fight. And then that's it.

Like, there was a time when I liked Miguel is a two, but then he lost to your favorite fighter, Andre Fialho, Jose. So he's kind of no longer a dude we can care about. Yeah. But again, he got slept, right? Yes. He's a guy like he might go to bed or he might send you to bed.

I'm all for it. Yeah, that's going to be a fun one. We'll see you via Bayez's return. Puna dropping down to welterweight. Tiago Moises has had his USC debut, if I remember correctly, he like won the contender series and then I've thrown into a fight against B'Neil on like short notice in Denver with altitude, something crazy like that. And then I know he lost to Demirius, Mugulov, Islam.

and Benoit Sondinia. And those guys are all monsters. And Joel Alvarez, who is... Yeah, he's a middleweight. And Alvarez's blue weight. Yeah, Joel Alvarez is huge. Yeah, he's a freaking middleweight. Tehran Boyce is exactly what I'd say when I say lightweight's the best,

because this man is just lost to killers and is unbelievable. I mean, who's Joel Alvarez lost to? Armand Saru Kyi and Damir? I can't think of anyone else. Like, again, like, he's beating fools up. I know he beat Joe Duffy. I know he beat Mark D.C. Like, he might never be ranked in the top 15,

but he's going to be a guy that you're going to have to beat to get into the top 15. Yeah, Armand clubbed that dude around. Yeah. That was one of his best performances, for sure. All right, time for the knock out round. There are many, many options we could have chosen here, but luckily somebody came through,

yesterday and just gave us the perfect question. So Jed, you get to choose. Do you want to go first? Do you want to pass it on over to Jose? Fairly certain I know we're going here, so I'll take the lead, sir. All right.

I mean, initially, it was going to be, because before we, I mean, it was like after we wrapped, I think it was like this past Friday, we found out that Jake Paul Mike Tice was being postponed and apparently we're going to get a new date tomorrow. So we will save the reaction for that for another time. but the former UFC light heavyweight champion of the world, Jamal Hill,

has come through with the perfect knockout round question. Two months, two months after getting knocked out by Alex Pereira, Jamal Hill decided to go on Instagram and express feelings about Pereira celebrating his knockout, comparing his celebration to beating Glover Tashira in a pretty one-sided fashion to become the light heavyweight title showing respect.

all of that. Giving prayer a bunch of stuff for the celebration, giving prayer a bunch of stuff saying that him pushing Herb Dean out of the way, threw him off his game, set up the knockout much better so that he couldn't plan his feet, and then called out all the fans for reacting and finding it hilarious

that Jamal Hill got, as you like to say, booped at UFC 300. And then even went further and said that he will fight a fan who decides to roll up on the gym, and if the fan can have success and defeat him in a fight, he will award the fan $20,000 in cash olo. So Jed, Jamal Hill, getting ready to fight Carlos Olberg in 20-something days.

Your reaction, two months later, letting his full feelings out about the way UFC 300 came to an end go. Like, the men pretty clearly seriously just needs like a hug and someone to tell him that like, We love you. It's fine. But it is just so baffling to me. The timing to do this. Like, why are you up in your fields right now about this? And also, like, who gives you shit what anyone says on the internet? Like, I got to be honest, if you're living your life based around the people on the internet are saying,

you were doing things incorrectly. It was all just so a continuation of him really just being this dude and being like an eminently unlikable. individual in the sport. Like, maybe there is a kernel of truth somewhere and some of the stuff. And I do respect that he had respect for Lover after beating him. That's not why anyone was doing this. And it's not about the like, ah, like, it is objectively funny for you to be like, I'm going to show I am levels better than the glory kickbox and champion of the world

and get booped immediately. And now to come out and be like, the only reason you got me was because I was too concern about kicking you in the balls. Like, it's just insane, man. I got to say, even considering some of the things that have been said and some of the reactions of this year, even I was surprised by Jamal Hill Instagramming out his thoughts two months afterwards. Still going today.

Still going today. Not stopping. Jose, you, I mean, to open the, to knock down the fourth Wall on our Slack channel. You were the one that let us know that this happened. I jumped all over this. I was very, very excited to read his thoughts and continue on with them yesterday. But you're here. You got the live microphone in front of you. Two months later, Jamal Hill gives Alex Pereira a bunch of crap for how he celebrated, for how the knockout came to be, and then called out all the fans who questioned his reaction and question the skill set, I guess, in some respect. of Jamal Hill two months after UFC 300, one minute on the clock go.

I simply and I state this, emphatically, do not care at all what any fighter has to say about a fighter that just beat them on social media. Because the fight is over. If you wanted to beat him, you would have beat him. Jamal and like in this whole thing of like, oh, like I was concerned with like the low blow and everything. If you rewatch it, Jamal Hill threw a punch and then it was like a check hook that put him down. So like Alex Pereira was reacting to Jamal Hill's strike and then he got put on his ass and finished. It's also Jamal Hill, like we said, like he says a lot of things online. I also subscribe to the notion that if you mock your opponent and then get knocked out, you got to live with it. Jamal Hill brought that, like, necklace thing to the press conference, held it up in his face.

Alex Pereira literally said, we were cool until you did all of that. And then he knocked him out and did his famous thing. So you reap what you sow. But again, don't care. Jamal Hill can say whatever he wants. Still won't care. And that's not just about Jamal Hill. That's about any fighter.

Don't do not care about online trash talk. It does nothing for me. God, I wish this Instagram post came out the morning of the ranking show. Also not for nothing. I get outside of Jamal Hill's online persona, I don't hate watching Jamal Hill fight. Like the dude, it put, like, has very exciting finishes. And I wish that was his selling point.

Because whenever anyone talks about Jamal Hill, it's always like, that dude is really weird online. And then I wish he could just lead into like, you know, I can beat the soul out of people and turn them off. That is infinitely more interesting to me. Jamal Hill is just John Jones online, but he has lost. Like, if John lost, this is how John. would be online.

Probably. Like 100%. They would just like, this is how John would react if he had ever like lost clean. Can you imagine the tweets who would have got if Dominic Reyes had won that decision that he should have won? We could have powered the sun on the fury of that man's tweets. It's just like they're just that.

They are that dude. Jamal Hill just isn't as good as John. And so he says insane. This is the most insane thing of all time. Yeah. You only knocked me out because it was weird. What? This is why everyone loves like, you know.

Imagine like, like Shogun, who has never said anything like this? Dustin Poirier just tweets, hey, stay hydrated, everyone. Like, tell your homies you love them. I'm like, you know what, Dustin Poirier? Exactly. Give me all that. Somebody tweeted that. Somebody tweeted that not that like during the show because it was like he's,

Jamal Hill still go and he's like, yeah, nobody got mad at Dustin when he said he was going to knock out Islam and then got choke. What's the difference? I was like, I don't know, Dustin hasn't been real weird online about a lot of shit. Yeah. Dustin didn't also say that this is going to be the easiest fight of his life. That he was going to stand up and this is going to be easy work. He was excited. And Dustin Poria didn't come on and say he was excited that Islam Makachev beat Alexander Volcanovsky because he knew this is going to be an easy fight.

That's what Jamal Hill did. Also, like, not for nothing. Like, what you say after fights is obviously very important in terms. I'm not talking about, like, post-fight interviews and stuff, but, like, Iliate Topoya, for as much as goodwill as he got for beating Volcanowski, for just, like, saying what he was going to do and then did what he said he was going to do, and then immediately says, I'm not fighting any of these contenders. Rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

Tyron Woodley knocked Robbie Lawler dead, and then immediately called out Nick Diaz, who was suspended and George St. Pierre, who was retired. I understand, like, ask for it if you want, but there are contenders to fight. It just, like, what you say immediately after. Also, I know I keep saying also, but like Alex Pereira is one of the most popular fighters in all of combat sports right now. Is there's no, him and Yuri are like the only two fighters at light heavyweight where they are both massive fan favorites. Anyone that fights Yuri is going to get booed. Anyone that fights Alex is going to get booed.

And then if you continue, like, arguing with fans after, it's not going to be, the outcome is not going to be great for you in terms of optically in terms of the fans. Because they already dislike you, not because they dislike you. They just really like Alex. Yeah. In the history of the internet, who has argued with fans on it and come off looking cooler and smart and wonderful? Paul Felder. Paul Felder. The one interaction I can think of, but that's.

He's had a few. He's had a few. He's had a few good ones. But he picks a spot. I can't remember them because dunking on nameless fans does not accomplish. Are we talking about fighters or just people in general? Like fighters. Like who of the fighting crew like every time Aljo tweets it's just worse for him.

Like every time someone is doing the Twitter thing, they just come off looking worse. Like just do it. Stay hydrated. When Felder does it, the fan that he always interacts with is always like, yeah. a good point. You win. Like he somehow just states his case perfectly. Or when someone's like, hey, when he's teasing comeback, he's like, who should I fight?

And they're like, fight Schaafkan. And he's like, fuck, no, I'm not fighting Shatka. Like, love that. He picks his spots perfectly. And let me just say about the whole Jamal Hill thing once more. Jamal Hill and the way he acted, like the way he presented himself in the build to that fight is the reason why I was so intrigued by it. So I'm not taking anything away from how he built the fight up.

He was the MVP of Fight Week, in my opinion. He made that fight way more interesting by saying what he said and getting Alex in sort of the headspace he was in. But as Jed said so many times heading into that fight, cool, man, talk your shit. But in the end, you have to live with the result, no matter what it is. And Jed jumped on BTL the following week and was like, you can't come on and be like, I overcame adversity and did that.

No, you said what you said. you have to accept it and then move on. But he's certainly not. Hey, that's what he wants to do. That's what he wants to do. And he's got a fight that he might lose. Like, instead of fighting people about a fight that already happened, you might want to focus on Carlos Olberg, dude.

Yeah, he needs to focus on Carlos Holberg. If ladies night knocks you out, you're in a bad way. Yeah. Even at light, heavy weight, he's in a tough spot if he loses this fight. no doubt about it. But we'll see. Maybe this is just the venom he needs to have this incredible performance and get his way back to a title play.

We'll see on July 2nd. Or I could also accept if he comes out afterwards. I was just trying to see if maybe I could slot in with a Pereira rematch to save 303. That was my first thought because I said that on the ranking code too. I was like, maybe Charles Hill will come out. Okay. I accept this.

Yeah. Yeah. That is more than reasonable. Just say it. Yeah. Yeah. But you should also just say that. I also think you should say those things after the fight happens. Like nothing drives me crazier.

Well, actually a lot of things drive me crazy. But one of the things that grinds my gears is like when we interviewed Army and Media Day and he's like, oh, I'm just saying all this stuff to sell the fight. I'm like, no, that's super lame. Stick to buy your guns. And then after the fight, you can say that. If you say you're going to drink Charles Oliver's blood, keep that energy. Don't say, ah, I'm just selling the fight.

Nah, dude. You want to you want to decapitate that fool until the fight's over. Alex Pereer responded to Jamaha. It was like, you reap with your sew. And I was like, and I want to clarify, hold on, this is the last thing I'll say on this. I want to clarify something because I keep seeing that Photoshopped graphic going around. And Alex Prayer did not himself do any, didn't do himself any favors by sharing the photoshopped graphic where someone threw in a racially racial word in there that Alex Pere did not say in the original comment,

someone just photoshopped it and then Alex Pera shared that Photoshop. I don't even think Alex Pairer knew what it said. I think he just saw the graphic and shared it. I hope Alfaira didn't share it knowing what that means because that would be a super bummer. It's like when Sergey Pallivit shared this meme that said all kinds of just awful things. And then he took it down and said, I don't speak English. I just recognized a few words, shared it and then someone let me know. I apologize.

That's fine. If Alex Pair knew what that word meant, that sucks. That sucks so much that if you shared it and still new. This sports a wild place. All right, Casey, come on in. As you can see, we've been telling you to vote. I didn't tell you once, but thank God for Casey.

We just sound like a fifth round. It wasn't a sudden death round. There's just a great fifth round. Casey's here. Bad a stash in the game. Do we have a winner? We do have a winner. We have a winner.

Is it the fans? No, fans took a big L today. They took a big L at 302 as well. Yeah. You know what time? I got home at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning because I had to take that train home. Well, because trains at 4 in the morning don't run as frequently. So if you miss a train, you got to wait 45 minutes.

Yeah, it's horrible. And nothing is worse than. See, I know Casey loves Albuquerque. I know Casey loves Albuquerque. I'm not a big fan of Albuquerque. The only city I dislike more is Newark, New Jersey. And that train stop is not ideal at 4 in the morning. Yeah, I can believe that.

Yeah. You don't have to sell me on that one. I buy it. You don't want to go hang out in the streets of Newark, New Jersey, Brick City. People don't even, it's called Brick City, because all the brick housing developments there. It's not a great place to be in.

I'm going to be in a better place to be in, Casey, with a victory under their belts. That's right. Your winner today with 56% of the votes is Jed Mishou. Shock. Hey. Hey, 56. We're getting better, Jose.

We're getting better. We're getting closer. Jose deserve to win. He was more locked in than I was. That's right. That's right. But I'll be better next time. You know, I'll be better.

And then in like two months, I'll come on here and think. Actually, it was bullshit. It was trickery and nonsense. So, just wait till the rematch. But I didn't deserve this one. And that's okay. I'm like Dustin Poirier. You know, golf clap.

Well done. Islam. That was, I went to sleep, you know? Choked me out, even though I tapped out. Same thing. So. That's what we're at. Battle through adversity of the league flows.

50 wins. 50 wins, Jen. Wow, 50 is a big number. I wish I wish I deserved this one. I do. I deserve like a lot of the losses should be wins as well. I can take some solace and like maybe it's evening out.

But I do wish that I got to 50 with like some real, some real huts. But you know. It happens. The people have been comprehensively quiet. 13 and 13. I mean, five hundred is great. I don't know. that's Red Sox

baseball hall of fame. I'm sorry, if you're in the NBA, 13 and 14. That's even more Red Sox record right there. If you're in the NBA's Eastern Conference, you might get the eight seed with that record. So you're still in play,

Jose. You're still in play. If you're in the NL Central, you'll win the division with a below five-finger guy. That's true. That's very, very true. Yes. Casey, hit the music.

We are done. We'll be back next week to boy talk the fallout of ufc louisville look ahead to ufc Vegas 90 worst card put re on paper ish maybe 94 i don't really know for third i versus alex prez maybe will find out when jake paul mike tyson is happening i don't know maybe we'll find out what's happening with connor mcgregor versus michael chanler all things are on the table for next thursday so join us then for jette for hosey for kacey on the ones and twos i am mike heck The iconic voice of Esther Lynn takes you home back next week.

Good night, everybody. Love y'all. This has been Between the Links, an MMI fighting production on the Vox Media Network. With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? Easy.

Want honey-crisp apples that are firm green and definitely not Macintosh like last year. when you lost the fall bake-off to perfect Penelope Johnson? Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions and terms apply.