MMA Fighting - BTL | Dana White's Title Fight Announcements, Merab's Attempt At History, RDR vs. Allen

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Earlier this week, UFC CEO Dana White made some big announcements as it relates to December's UFC 323 event — the final pay-per-view card under the ESPN banner before the shift to Paramount — and ...revealed that Merab Dvalishvili will attempt to defend his bantamweight title for the fourth time. If he's successful against Petr Yan, is Dvalishvili's 2025 the best year for a fighter in UFC history? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to White announcing Dvalishvili vs. Yan 2, and Alexandre Pantoja vs. Josh Van for the flyweight title. Additionally, topics may include Charles Oliveira's big win over Mateusz Gamrot at UFC Rio and callout of Max Holloway for the BMF title, the revised Ali Act getting support from CSAC, Saturday's UFC Vancouver event headlined by Reinier de Ridder vs. Brendan Allen, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions about all things mixed martial arts and combat sports. 🔵 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4f1JueVgo5t9HSmobCRPug/join 🔵 Subscribe to MMA Fighting on YouTube: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH 🔵 Subscribe to MMA Fighting feed on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mma-fighting/id320642139 🔴 Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi 🔴 Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM 🔗 Like on Facebook: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/jXx747 🔗 Follow on X: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/oHZAG3 🔗 Follow on Instagram: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/eZP5ff 🔗 Follow on TikTok: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/DZzQ3W 🔗 Follow on Threads: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/pJJ2xj 🔗 Follow on Bluesky: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/GIxe-N 🔗 Subscribe on Twitch: https://mma-fighting.visitlink.me/nSjCJV Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com MMA Fighting is your home for exclusive interviews, live shows, and more for one of the world's fastest-growing sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:52 Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. Thank you for joining us once again live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel, or if you're listening after the fact,
Starting point is 00:01:38 we appreciate you. As Esther said, I am Mike Heck. And back another Q&A edition again, where I'm trying to fine-tune my editing skills to be able to do the actual match. Again, I would say probably after UFC 321 right around that range. It'll definitely happen before UFC 322. We'll be back with matchups and the points and the rounds and all that fun stuff.
Starting point is 00:02:01 But there's a lot to talk about. A lot has happened this week as we get ready for UFC Vancouver. There was some news that just dropped not that long ago that we're going to get into immediately. And joining me to get into that news and much more is Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid. he is the climber of all climbers and the golfer of all golfers as well the one and only Jed Bishu from M.AFighting.com.
Starting point is 00:02:26 Hello, Jedd. How are we doing on this Thursday? Worse, now that I have the news. You broke that news to me just moments ago about Anderson's of Chris Wydenman 3. I guess that's a thing that's happening in the year of our Lord 2025.
Starting point is 00:02:48 it is. And I think we should probably just go ahead and start there because truth be told, I have like a decent relationship with MVP and they had teased this announcement that was going to drop around noontime. It obviously went a little bit earlier. So typically I reach out and they give me a little bit of a heads up of what the announcement is going to be. And then I'll pre-write it and then we wait for them to announce and then we put it out there. And usually the announcements are, you know, some are interesting. One was like a Chris Avila fight and I like Chris Avila. And I was thinking, you know, with this announcement, if it's a Chris Avila fight, I'm going to be very disappointed. No disrespect to Chris. But when I got the release a couple of
Starting point is 00:03:35 hours ago, I was like, what? This I did not see coming from a mile away. So yes, November 14th, Miami, Florida, the main card opener for the Jake Paul versus Tank Davis event at Kasea Center, the opening bout will be a heavyweight boxing match, which is contested. Both fighters cannot weigh any more than 205 pounds. The third meeting between Anderson Silva and Chris Wyman. Anderson Silva, 50 years of age now, Chris Widman, 41, retired from MMA in December of this past year. after a loss to Eric Anders. This is a thing, Jed.
Starting point is 00:04:17 Like, I know you sort of touched on, yeah, I was doing a little worse now that you got the news. But now that you see it, you understand what this is, six rounds. Your thoughts on it, your reaction now that this is a thing that is happening and is going to be the thing that what's the whistle, so to speak, for the Netflix subscribers preparing to watch Jake Paul versus Tank Davis. Hmm. This isn't good. It might not be bad. So I guess there's that. I,
Starting point is 00:04:53 you said something off air. And now I'm going to go look into this. Because just, are you aware? Are the fans of the viewers? Is MVP aware that Anderson Silva is 50 years old? And that Chris Wideman is 40, 41, something like that? old men aren't supposed to box
Starting point is 00:05:16 I guess it's better that if they're going to box they box each other and not somebody who's going to do real harm to them this isn't I don't really know who this is for this is the gross part of combat sports like in full display full plumage of the grossness of combat sports
Starting point is 00:05:36 the inability of aging stars to let go and walk away the sort of crack ass, consumerism of, did my camera just drop? That's incredible. It was very funny. Boom. Well, that's because apparently I was on my FaceTime cam and not my webcam.
Starting point is 00:05:57 But this is all the bad parts of MMA, right? Old guys who should walk away but won't or can't. You know, promotions, putting on fights well past when they probably should be acceptable. people taking unnecessary damage for certainly not enough money. I'm sure they'll get paid well, but well enough to cut off the years of their lives that they're going to lose in this. I just hope everybody leaves okay.
Starting point is 00:06:27 And like the best case scenario is this is Anderson Tito in the box. Like just something silly that's done and nobody gets seriously injured. But it's, I am not looking forward to this. undercard fight. This is one of the rare occasions where I will be looking at a Jake Paul fight because I am more interested in the main event than I am in the stuff that comes before it. I don't know how I, just to sort of like put it in the context, Anderson Silva boxed Jake Paul at the age of 47. Jake Paul boxed Mike Tyson. None of these were good.
Starting point is 00:07:10 The age of 58. I didn't hate the Silva one because that was actually like a pretty competitive. had a fight. And a lot of people thought Anderson was going to win, even though he was 47 at the time. So it's not like Anderson's taking like a ton of damage over the past five years or so. The last time he fought was basically a sparring match with Chale Sunnan in Brazil. And Wyden isn't going to hurt him. And, you know, there is a world where Anderson can crack Chris. But I don't know if like anyone's going down for the counter or anything like that. So I get it. I'm I was stunned by it. I did not see this coming from a mile away. I really didn't. So I will be there in Miami for that fight. I'm going to say, I'm going to say that we're going to feel a little bit nostalgic about it. Maybe, maybe sad.
Starting point is 00:08:04 I don't know. But I don't know if I've actually, like, digested this just yet because I'm still stunned by finding out it was actually a thing. I definitely haven't digested it. but here's the thing. What's the good outcome? Like what is the best outcome? Because like one in a hundred is even semi-positive.
Starting point is 00:08:25 And I don't even know like what is a good outcome. There's not a world where we're going to get like a fight of the year. And even if we somehow did, that's probably bad. It would likely be bad if they went to war for if the 50-year-old and the 41-year-old went to war for, however many rounds is going to be six rounds or whatever so like the fight is likely not to be competitive one way or the other i would guess and so then it's it's not compelling as a fight almost assuredly there's very limited ways that it is a compelling fight especially when the whole time i'll just be like really hope nobody dies in there be great if nobody died in there
Starting point is 00:09:09 so there's all downside and no upside other than we get to talk about it and these are very famous people who have a storied rivalry. But like, I said this at the Tyson and Jake Paul thing and it, this is not as bad as that. I want to be really clear about this. So it's certainly not as bad as Tyson, Jake Paul. That fight should never have occurred. But in the lead up and in the aftermath and in the current of it, I said this and I mean it very seriously, you're rolling bad dice here.
Starting point is 00:09:41 This is how people get hurt when you. put a 50 year old into a boxing match. Like, it's just, I don't know who this is for. And I, it's certainly not for me. And I am not happy that it is happening. Understandable response to this. So what's the best outcome? They just go in there and move around for six rounds.
Starting point is 00:10:08 But that's the thing. The best outcome is that they have the Chale Sun and sparring match. That's not fun to watch. It's just like, that is, like, that is. is you are that is really just trying to like scratch the basis nostalgia itch of like i just want to see some guys i like in a ring and which i guess you know whatever floats your boat man let's what if we just didn't do this i mean i was there for uh silver knocking out tito so maybe my presence in the building will make sure that this isn't that or i don't know
Starting point is 00:10:46 I don't know. That whole week was crazy because Tito was supposed to make like 195 or something. And there was zero chance that was happening. So yeah, we'll see. But that is the thing that is happening, November 14th. What a weekend that's going to be. Holy shit. I guess the one, and this isn't a saving grace to it.
Starting point is 00:11:05 The thing that also is weird is like, I am less concerned about grievous injury in this fight. Just because, like, Chris Wyman's not that old. and he has looked so much worse than Anderson in recent combat efforts that like at least the numbers are correct in that regard. Like it is unlikely that somebody gets seriously hurt, not impossible. It's combat sports. And one of these dudes is pushing senior citizenship.
Starting point is 00:11:33 So it's not that bad in that regard. But it's just a base line of like, I don't know how this ends up good. It can just end up not awful. So, oh, there's not a lot of, there is a low ceiling and a low floor, just the lowest floor imaginable with not much ceiling. And that's not in my mind how you should book things. I'm looking at the release right now. I don't think this is an exhibition.
Starting point is 00:12:04 Like, I think it's a legit fight. Sure. Yeah. So now I've decided that the best case scenario, at least for me, is that it's not Silva. shale boxing. No one gets hurt. It's somewhat fun. And Anderson Silva wins and then doesn't fight again.
Starting point is 00:12:25 He extracts. I don't know how he'll not fight again. Even at the time of his like UFC retirement, when it was very clear that he was not retiring, but the UFC was making him and he was like, I'm not done. Anderson does not seem to be capable of walking away. and he's a grown man and he can do that.
Starting point is 00:12:48 This is his life and he gets to live with those choices. But Anderson seems perhaps the most likely to be forced out of combat sports of any fighter I've ever seen. Because he just, he's, I mean, he's 50 and he's still going, you know. If Chris Widman wins, could that potentially set up James Paul versus Chris Wideman? I mean, it could. probably wouldn't, but it would be undeniably funny because this is a matchup made for Anderson
Starting point is 00:13:20 to get revenge. It's the, you know, when Tito fought Chuck the third time, and it was like, Tito is going to be Chuck because Chuck is a shell of himself. And I don't think Anderson will have the same sort of like,
Starting point is 00:13:36 Tito was real weird about that. Like, Tito treated that as if it was meaningful, as if it mattered and was real. and I do not believe Anderson will like cry afterwards because he's finally slayed the Chris Weidman dragon. But like it's the same sort of setup that's at play here. This is a fight for Anderson that they think they could sell. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:01 The two big examples of things like that is one, Tito, Chuck and the fight nobody cared about. And the other one was when Vitor Belford fought Avander Holyfield. And he celebrated like he just won an Olympic gold medal. And then we see where his career went from there. Pretty much nowhere. So pretty crazy stuff. But yes, November 14th, the day before UFC 322. So that was going to be a very busy weekend in the world.
Starting point is 00:14:29 That's UGA Texas weekend too, baby. And it's UGA, Texas. I was going to go to that. And then I was told I could not. You can't go to UGA, Texas. Yeah. That's a good weekend. That's a tough weekend.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Yeah. I would like to, I was like, man, I'm trying to, like, if they've got tickets, you know, and I was told to know in certain terms, like, yeah, you can't do that. Like, okay, fine. Fine.
Starting point is 00:14:53 We're doing a watch party. Yay. Well, we're only doing one this time. We won't be able to do two back to back like we did last year. Yeah. If that game's a night game, we, the watch party is going to have some overlap with my phone and the Texas
Starting point is 00:15:07 Georgia game. Oh, it's going to be tremendous. People's great for that. Gotta be tremendous. All right. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first...
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Starting point is 00:16:05 Let's get after it. There's lots of things to talk about. So we'll start here. Jed, you are off gallivanting on the golf course when this news broke. What do you think of Marab trying to go for your fourth title defense in the calendar year? I like Marab, but I think it's a gamble. Yes, Marab will be defending his Bannaway title in the main event of UFC 323, December 6th in Las Vegas, and a rematch against Pejotry.
Starting point is 00:16:38 your thoughts on this and is this a risk? So I do think it's a risk. I think it's a calculated risk and I think it's a really good decision by Marab. As I thought about it, because my initial reaction was like, well, he's probably going to win anyway. You know, we saw the first Peoria fight. I know that there's a delta between those two. Things can change. But of the two, I would say Marab has improved more since their first matchup and that fight was not competitive.
Starting point is 00:17:05 And so, like, sure. And this is also a thing he'd been calling for. He had been planning for. He is, you know, I don't think he blew up immediately after he clearly is, this was all intentional. And so I think that he's pretty mitigated for a lot of the risk here. There is always risk. When you fight this frequently, you're going to have a bad day more often than not. It's harder to, I mean, fighters talk all the time about scheduling their peaks.
Starting point is 00:17:34 it's harder to do that when you are fighting this frequently. I mean, Alex Pereira, the most recent, obvious example of that, right? But throughout history, you've seen this. Like, that was kind of the knock on Donald Seroni. It was like, buddy, you fight too often to be a champion because you can't, you can't peak five times a year. It's very, very difficult to get your body in that spot. Rob, obviously, is soon to be an all-time great.
Starting point is 00:18:02 I think this is smart. for a number of reasons. Yes, there's the risk. I would say he is more likely to lose to Peotrion under these circumstances than if he waited and they fought in February with the full camp, et cetera, et cetera. But he still, I still don't think he's going to lose. More to the point, though, if he does lose, there is now this baked an excuse, right? He's losing to a guy he already dominantly beat.
Starting point is 00:18:26 So immediate trilogy is happening, right? So, like, even a loss here isn't cataclysmic. he loses his next fight is just another title fight again people will write it off more than they would if he had a full camp like if they fought in february and peyoteon beats him people would be like wow peyoteon made great adjustments blah blah blah they fight now morab has the baked in okay probably there's a reason nobody's ever defended about four times in one year probably shouldn't do that so he's got some cushion for the bad outcome here
Starting point is 00:19:01 and I do think the good outcome is more likely anyway. And for him, I mean, we have, Marab is doing the thing. Not insofar as he's still not an exciting fighter. And I'll just, he's not. And we can debate that. And you can like him. I'm not saying don't be a fan of Marab.
Starting point is 00:19:19 He is not an exciting fighter eight times out of ten, right? He's never going to be. That's just sort of part and parcel to the skill set. but he's doing the other parts to building stardom can you hear that outside my house right now oh absolutely i thought a friggin i thought leather face was about to chuck i mean i obviously see him he sees me but buddy he won't be deterred he's just going to power on through he should be done at least immediately next to me in just a moment so that's helpful um but as i was saying maraub you know he's not exciting so he doesn't have that part of stardom down but the other thing that i talk
Starting point is 00:20:00 about a lot with start-up and this is a thing that I'd said once and kind of believed and over the years I just like I think that it's just the most true thing the way to be a star is to fight a lot to be on screen a lot so people know who you are because Marab has now will have fought four times this year for title defenses doing a thing nobody's ever done before and that just makes you more known if every other weekend, every other month, there's a pay-per-view with your name on it. That's super helpful to getting over. He has gotten over with Dana White. Dana White at Contender Series was like, I used to not really like Mara, but I've warmed up to him a lot because he's just fought four times this year, you know?
Starting point is 00:20:45 So I think it's riskier than if he had waited. I think it's a calculated risk. I think it's ultimately really good decision on his part for his career. Because the also, one more thing. The other thing that I mention at various times is like, when you're in the sweet spot, you need to hammer down. Because it's much harder to defend a title six times over, you know, four, five years, right? Than it is to defend a title six times in two years. Because like longevity is not just fights, but also time.
Starting point is 00:21:20 There's more time for fighters to adjust to you to develop around your skill set as champion. And so if you can be an out prayer and come in and just knock them out, suddenly you can have a good, good title reign. And unlike, you know, Josie Aldo was champion for a decade and he got nine title defense and said that that's pretty hard to do much easier to be like, oh, I can knock out four while I'm at my peak. Now if I just taper back, I can still get to five, six, seven over the next three or four years. I think all, I think this is a really smart decision.
Starting point is 00:21:55 on his part. If he wins, and I expect him to win, I know Jan wasn't, I believe Yan what he says that he wasn't, I don't know, usually when a fighter says I was 30% or 50%, you're probably like closer to 70. That's just sort of the law of averages. And I believe that Jan was not 100% or even relatively close to it. But I still believe that Marab will win this fight and probably somewhat convincingly. If Marab does win, is this the greatest year in UFC history for a single fighter? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:33 If Marab wins, this is right up there with John Jones and Shogun, who has the best single year in the history of the sport. Is it, is it number one, though? I don't know if it, I mean, it's number one in, I think it is number one in UFC. I don't, it's, I mean, probably is just number one. The Shogun year, I understand. There's no wrong way to view it. If you want to say it's number one, I think that's fine because you can critique some of the Marab stuff, the same way you can critique or nitpick any of these, right?
Starting point is 00:23:07 The fact that Marab never was close to losing, but I don't think he's finishing Peoria, so he'll have one finish in that year. It's like, okay, that, you know, that's a nitpick. It's sort of, it's your choice, your flavor of, of great. greatness dominance. But it is one of the three or four greatest years in the history of the sport. It is a remarkable achievement that I honestly don't think will ever be beaten. That's the other thing.
Starting point is 00:23:38 Marab has a chance to make history and to make history in a way that I do not believe is possible to beat. I think maybe like four is the max. It is the maximum number. There have only been like six fighters who've ever fought five times in the year in the UFC. nobody's done it as a champion and there's a reason like that is so four titled fights in a year four title defenses
Starting point is 00:24:02 would set the record and only in perfect circumstances could somebody tie him because this has also been perfect circumstances from Robb he fought in January if you're going to do something like this you have to fight in January you have to fight in December and you got a slot two more in the middle of the year
Starting point is 00:24:19 he managed it and credit to him right like that's full on for him but then you Well, even outside of the getting four title fights in one year, you got to win them all. So, like, I don't know that anybody would ever tie it. I'm, I would bet almost anything you want, nobody would ever surpass that and get five. And so he will have a historical record that will live forever. And so it's, it's an incredible accomplishment if he does it.
Starting point is 00:24:48 If he does it, there is zero debate about fight of the year. Quite frankly, I think he has won it all. ready. You know, credit to Jack Delamadalina if he beats Islam or Islam Makachev if he beats Jack Delamadalina. You could make the argument if Marab loses and for either those men. Did DePri fight twice this year? Just the once.
Starting point is 00:25:13 Just the once. Then, yeah, he's out. He's not eligible for it. So, yeah, like, it's basically a two-horse race, which, and I think Marab is well ahead at this point in time. If the winner of Islam versus Jack has a case, but they don't have a case. If Rob wins in December, it's over. We don't need to debate this. It should be unanimous. If Marab loses. And I mean, J.D.M or Islam is probably a case for both, but I think it's probably a somewhat better case for JDM since he won the belt and then he beat the pound for
Starting point is 00:25:51 pound best fighter in the world. Interesting. Where would Sean Wei Lee be if she'd be Valentina? She would have to be on that list, right? Beat Tata Suarez and then goes up and wins a second belt against Valentina. Interesting. So I actually view it the other way. I think Jack, I think if Jack winning, he would not pass him.
Starting point is 00:26:14 Great year. Even if Murdoz loses in December? Yeah. Even if Mara Bluze in December, I'm not sure he passed it. It's open. open to the conversation. But like the problem is realistically Jack won the belt and defended it.
Starting point is 00:26:27 And sure it was against the best pound fighter in the world, that guy's also small than him. If Islam wins, then Islam defended it set the lightweight title defense record. And then, you know, won a belt in a second division asserted himself as the best fighter in the world,
Starting point is 00:26:44 one of the 14 best fighters of all time. Like if Islam wins, I think he has a much better case to, to pass him. I had not considered John Wili because I just forget about women's M. M.A. because it doesn't happen much anymore. 100%.
Starting point is 00:26:58 She is basically in the exact same boat as the Zamachachev. Like beating Tatiana Suarez, solidified her as the best straw weight of all time. And if she beats Valentina Shepchenko, I actually, that's such a good argument that if she beats Val, she's in fact the fighter of the year regardless
Starting point is 00:27:17 because while Islam is beating Jack, who's a valid and true Walterway champion, Zhang is beating arguably the greatest woman's fighter of all time to establish herself as arguably the greatest woman's fighter of all time as a better year.
Starting point is 00:27:33 If Zhang wins, I'll have to really debate that. Probably Marab's four fights if he wins them all are enough to edge him out there, but that's a very competitive argument. Yeah, I think if Marab loses and Zhang wins, like...
Starting point is 00:27:49 If Marab loses, he wins... If Marab loses, he wins... If Maraub, loses and Zhang wins. Zhang's definitely ahead of him. Yeah, I would agree with that. Our friend main card minute, Luke, what's up, buddy? Which of these dogs do you think is the best chance to win on Saturday?
Starting point is 00:28:02 Kevin Holland or Marlon Cheeto Vera. Let me pull up the odds currently, according to our friends at Fandual. I mean, Kevin Hollins took up minus money on him. It depends on your book. You could find him. I found him at plus money earlier in the week. Tim Chito is a... It fights basically even money on Kavan minus one-20th thing.
Starting point is 00:28:24 Plus 106. Okay. Depends on the book. He's around even money with, you know, Mike getting minus 120-ish or so. Where's the best chance? I would like to say Kevin Holland because he's on my fantasy team. And while he could always fight a third time this year, wouldn't put it past him. He did not get me a lot of points last time, and I would like some more points.
Starting point is 00:28:46 I have bet on Kevin this week. I don't like the bet. I did it because you got to support your people. If you don't stand by your people, you're nothing yourself. And Kevin Holland is on a fantasy team, so I will stand by him. I think Mike Milagos is going to win that fight. We'll talk about it more than a preview show in general. But a thing that concerned me as I looked into it, aside from the fact that Kevin Holland's
Starting point is 00:29:14 performance against Danny Rodriguez was pretty. pretty bad. Mike, do you know the last time Kevin Holland beat a fighter in their prime at Welterweight? Because, I mean, Mikhail Olegsacek is in his prime, but he's McKillelah Lickick and it's at Melterweight? At Welterweight.
Starting point is 00:29:34 Jeff Neal on the regional scene before he's in the UFC? I mean, that is, well, Jeff Neal wasn't even in his prime than he was pre-prime. So no. He means was that. the last time. Tim Means was on a pretty decent little run. When was that fight?
Starting point is 00:29:51 201 or 22. Ah, he was way past his prime. Nah, he was on a pretty good run at that time. So, like, he wasn't, and then that precipit, that, he then started losing a bunch. But like, that's like, like, he beat Vicente Lucke and shit. And you're like, okay, but Luke's cooked. So he hasn't beaten a good welterweight in a while. And Mike wants a solid, like a solid welterweight.
Starting point is 00:30:15 I know we had the setback against Neil Magni. I do think it's deeply funny that Kevin Holland thought Mike Mallott was Jake Matthews, because in many respects, Mike Malott is the Canadian Jake Matthews. But I don't know, watching Media Day yesterday, Mike Malott, a ton of confidence but not arrogance feels like he learned from the Magny loss. He's going to come out here. And unless Kevin Holland has his age, game and I don't know the last time I really felt that he was cooking.
Starting point is 00:30:50 I think my boss probably going to win that fight. So I'm betting it, but I don't believe it. I think Cheeto has a pretty decent shot against Amosahabia. I have a bet on Cheetah as well. Part of this is almost certainly because I have never respected Amosahabia as a fighter. And I just like that, I'm just being honest.
Starting point is 00:31:11 I have never believed in him. And credit to him, he has done nothing but make me look stupid, right? Like he has just won a bunch of fights and proven to be a good fighter. While I'm just like, I don't know, what do you do that's good? He is like the worst part of TriStar to me. It's like he's pretty good at everything, but he doesn't have anything that stands out. And so like he is, he's the negative of the phrase, Jack of All Trades, Master of None.
Starting point is 00:31:40 And so just like, I've never been like, oh, he's got to, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, a good fighter, but he keeps winning. He is a good fighter. I have always thought Cheeto is limited and has huge flaws. I'm not entirely sure as a hobby is the guy to take advantage of those flaws. The biggest flaw with Cheeto is that he will simply not do anything for minutes, hours at a time, if you'll let him. But it's not like Zahavi is like the highest work rate fighter either.
Starting point is 00:32:08 And so if we're in a bit of a staring match, which I think this fight could be, Cheeto is the more dynamic guy. And so I don't hate his chances to just do a little bit more against a guy who is not going to pointedly attack the clear and obvious weakness that Cheeto brings to the cage. So here's Tim Means's run before the Kevin Holland fight. Lariano Starapoli, the title challenger, right? The ghost of Mike Perry, who's like ready to be out of the UFC. Nicholas Dalby's a good win And then he was out free
Starting point is 00:32:45 It's a good win It's a good win I'll get that's a good win That's what I was like I went and looked I was like Oh Nicholas Dalby was a good win Tim Mien still had some juice at that point in time He was also he was also 38 in coming off of a year layoff
Starting point is 00:33:00 Yeah I'm not I'm not here to tell you He was the best ever Or the best even the best version In his crime he was way past He was in much better reasonable shape than Vicente Lucan was when Kevin Holland rolled his ass up
Starting point is 00:33:17 because Vicente Luque is washed. Okay. Or Gunner Nelson, who's washed? Or Michael Keesa, who was washed? Or Ponziabio, who was watched? The Gunter Nelson fight was fun
Starting point is 00:33:33 as hell. Like his wins being Lucke, Nelson, Kiyasa, Ponzi, means Olivera. He is just putting old dogs out to pasture. And Mike Mollat ain't an old dog. That's deeply concerning. I'm going to say,
Starting point is 00:33:50 I mean, Cheeto could definitely win. I know you say this about Cheeto all the time, and I completely agree. If Cheeto, like, does stuff, he'll win. Dude, if he does stuff, he'd be so good. Cheeto would be such a good fighter if he did stuff. He just waits till the final two and a half minutes to actually do stuff. Unless he was fighting Rob Fon,
Starting point is 00:34:10 then that's a different story. you knocked, rob down a whole bunch in that fight. And that was where we all got confused. Oh, maybe Cheetah's going to do it. It's so weird because Cheeto reminds me so much of Yoel, not in like concept,
Starting point is 00:34:22 but in tactics where it's just like, okay, but Yoel was clearly not doing things because he was conserving energy, because he has all the muscles in the world and they require energy. And so he would just not do a lot for two rounds. And then the third round, he'd like, okay,
Starting point is 00:34:39 I guess I've made my read. now I will pounce. Cheeto is just like not doing anything. It's not like his cardio is a problem. Like he just doesn't do anything. And I do don't get it. And hearing his corner plead with him consistent of like, Cheeto, please,
Starting point is 00:34:56 please throw something. Please try, like, please just attack him. Anything you want to attack him with is fine. But make an aggressive motion with some body part in front of you. Like that's, It is wild to like, it must be the most frustrating experience in the world, the corner, Cheevera. Yeah, but I don't think he's going to do stuff until it's too late,
Starting point is 00:35:21 like he typically does. So I think Eamon's going to win. So my answer will be Kevin Holland. For actually some of the reasons he said that, look, you know, Mike's, he said Mike's a good fighter, fun guy to watch now that he realized that he's not Jake Matthews. Not that Jake Matthews isn't fun to watch. but Mike hasn't beaten good dude like really good dudes and the guys Kevin has lost to are probably a couple levels above Mike or at least one.
Starting point is 00:35:52 So I guess I look at this because and I know the Daniel Rodriguez fight was like real weird and maybe we just don't understand Daniel Rodriguez is the guy who gets better with age. Maybe that's just what we're looking at right now at Daniel Rodriguez. I don't know. And he couldn't kill him. You can't kill a guy. It's really tough to beat him. Looking at Holland's current resume right now.
Starting point is 00:36:16 If he loses to Mike Malat, is this, is this the worst loss of his career? I'm going to pull it back up again because I went to look at Mike Mallat, who has not beaten anybody good, which is tough. He's beating nobody good. He was beating the soul out of Neil Magny for 14 minutes. And then I've truly never seen a fighter,
Starting point is 00:36:39 collapse that bad. Uh, an astonishing cliff that he dove down. Crazy. So here, Kevin Holland's, I've pulled it up. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:48 Santos Allen. Uh, Brunson Vittori, Hamzot, Wonderboy, JDM, MVP, uh,
Starting point is 00:36:58 Roman injury, RDR, Daniel Rodriguez. Yeah. Uh, there's probably, I mean, it's got,
Starting point is 00:37:05 he's got to be the worst guy he'd definitely have lost to. Roman maybe Roman's not a bad fighter Roman's also middleweight Much bigger than him I mean the current worst losses are either Daniel Rodriguez who I like But is a top 25ish guy
Starting point is 00:37:23 And Roman Deleadze who's a top 15 middleweight So I guess it's Danny Rodriguez is the worst loss of his career DRAD three wins in a row Look at this guy Um Yeah Because the rest of these are just It's like, okay.
Starting point is 00:37:40 Losing to Brendan Allen at the time he lost to Brendan Allen, wasn't a very good loss. I'll say that. Yeah, that was early. I was at that fight. That was Brendan Allen's UFC debut. Brennan was much worse than he is now. Still was decent fighter.
Starting point is 00:37:52 He's never been a bad fighter, but like that was much worse. Yeah. Kevin had like no ground game at all. No, no whatsoever. Like zero. I would say that Mike Ballot would be the worst loss of his career. Uh, interesting question, Jed.
Starting point is 00:38:07 Mike and Jeff without looking Guess which regional promotion Had the most fighters signed During this year of Dana White's contenders series So I watched And as I watch I make a bunch of notes about fighters For the piece I'm writing
Starting point is 00:38:20 Comes out tomorrow My prospect breakdown Um So I don't have that offhand But anecdotally There were a lot of octagon guys got signed Not the not octagon with a K But octagon with a C
Starting point is 00:38:35 Um Um, there weren't many like combate or, I mean, LFA is historically a strong feeder league. I think it's probably LFA or CFFC. That's my guess. One of those two. Uh, I'm trying to think there were a couple LFA people off top of my head that were there. Um, I'm going to stick with Octagon because that felt that felt like I was writing Octagon a lot. But let us know, lazy.
Starting point is 00:39:05 Yes, you will. We know you will. I don't remember that many CFFC people. It could have been, but I don't remember that many. There was one card. I only said that because I think it was like all the squash matches seem to be the CFFC guys. It seemed like we got like three in a row on one card. It is LFA.
Starting point is 00:39:24 I don't know those are 12 signies. Geez. LFA would be my guess every single year. I mean, if I didn't watch a single fight, I would guess. It's the primary feeder league. And they have a great relationship with the UFC. So. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:39:38 Joseph asks, can Jasmine Jazz DeViz just get a title shot with a win over Man in Fioro if it's a decision win or it'd have to be a good decision. If Jasmine wins, does she get the winner of Valentina versus Jean? Um, hold on. One moment, please. Is Aaron Blanchfield booked? You know things. Yes. Who she's putting Tracy Cortez, a UFC 322.
Starting point is 00:40:03 Oh, that's right. Is Natalia Silva booked? No. And Natalia has a win over Jasmine, which is why I say the answer is now. And that fight was not really competitive. She kind of kicked her a whole bunch and. Yeah, I don't know what they're going to do because Natalia Silva makes the most sense as the next title challenger. I haven't heard anything about her weighing in as a backup or sitting cage side.
Starting point is 00:40:29 So it might be a thing where they're like run it back with the Natalia Silva versus the winner of Jazz Furrow run it back. I don't know, but I'll say no. I don't think she's she's not getting one barring injury or something immediately. She got to fight one more. I'll tell you what, her best chance is to do a Lorone Murphy, spitting back elbow, unconscious knockout. That'll get you. If she gets something mega, yeah, but a decision, even a dominant decision, no. Although.
Starting point is 00:41:01 It needs to be a finish. I would be incredibly surprised if she got a dominant decision or honestly even won this. fight going back to the fighter of the year conversation what if josh van beats pants now now for no title win he's in the list everybody we've previously talked about loses okay he is he's five oh he'll you know he'll be in the conversation might be in the top five but like he's just a great year i'm not here to disrespect his year it's a sick year but like it's not marab's year it's not Zhang's year. It's not either Islam or Jack's year.
Starting point is 00:41:40 Like he's, he is a functional zero percenter because either Jack or Islam will be ahead of them. Either one of them wins is ahead of what band is accomplished I think. That's fair. But, I mean, top five, one of the best years
Starting point is 00:41:55 is terrific. That's an awesome thing. And Josh Van, you know, real good shot at making the all violence team. Certainly if he wins. Hard fight. I'm still picking pants in that one, but it's fun. I like it. It's very, very fun.
Starting point is 00:42:11 I'm going pants as well because I'm currently at the point with pants that I'm not picking anybody to beat them. Yeah. I see somebody actually beat them. Yep. So we'll throw this in there. Fun question. Very important, very debatable in the bigger picture, which is better, Sonic or Super Mario? It's not remotely debatable.
Starting point is 00:42:31 What in God's name are you talking about? That is one of the more ludicrous questions. ever heard. It's very obviously Super Mario. Thank you. By any, almost any metric you want to go on. He is far more iconic.
Starting point is 00:42:50 I believe Nintendo bought out Sega. And so Sonic is like in Mario shit now, like Mario Party and stuff. I could be wrong about that. Don't quote me on that. I'm not a huge game person. It's Mario, a long shot.
Starting point is 00:43:05 The Mario games are better than the Sonic games in general. the Sonic games were fun, but the Mario games are better. The Mario games have continued to be better because they keep making them. And then, you know, Sonic doesn't have Smash Brothers. Sonic doesn't have Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis. This is, it's, it is, you just asked like, hey, was Luke Rockholder, Anderson Silva a better middleweight? That was the question you used to ask. Like, oh, yeah, one dude was good.
Starting point is 00:43:38 and was a champion. The other dude's one of the greatest fires of all time at 12 title defenses. What are we talking about here? I like it. All right. LazyVet is all over Contender Series. Which country saw the most sign-ease during this season? Oh, shit, dude.
Starting point is 00:43:58 I mean, I will default to America. I actually have a list. So I have my notes of I'm trying to order these dudes. a lot of really good prospects. I have somewhere between 10 and 13 top graded prospects that I think are very good. And then another like 10 that I think are probably going to be around for quite some time. And the others are just like maybe they get be okay. You know, maybe they'll be around for a while.
Starting point is 00:44:32 They need some work or they're just card filler. But you know, 46 signies and about half of them. are actually worthwhile. It was a good season. As I'm looking just off names at this list, I'm still going to default to the United States, but there's a lot of diversity going on here. Yeah, US is just kind of the safe play.
Starting point is 00:45:00 It's like the minus 200 and everybody else is probably plus money. I would say US or Brazil? I mean, Brazil is the obvious number two choice. I'm looking at it. I don't. I mean, there were certainly some Brazilian fighters signed. I don't know how many were signed, though. It seemed like there are a lot of Russians.
Starting point is 00:45:18 In first place is Brazil with 12. The U.S. has 10, says lady. Also, the thing is, there weren't a lot of Russians. They were a couple of Russians. But there, I mean, there were a bunch of eastern block, but they were all like, there was a Pakistani and a thing. And so there's a lot of like Edav name, but not that many Russians.
Starting point is 00:45:38 I don't believe. Yeah. Uh, good for Brazil. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet.
Starting point is 00:45:54 Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to AeroPy members on equipped flight. Sponsored by Bell. Conditions Apply.
Starting point is 00:46:12 See Air Canada.com. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things. Exactly. The new iPhone 17 Pro on TELUS' five-year rate plan price lock. Yep, it's the most powerful iPhone ever, plus more peace of mind with your bill over five years. This is big.
Starting point is 00:46:30 Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at tellus.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. Joseph really wants to know your thoughts on the Connor McGregor 18-month suspension. I don't know what. It's so obvious what it is. And it's, I feel like that. Buddy, my thoughts about that suspension are the exact same as my thoughts of the CSEC vote.
Starting point is 00:47:02 See, that's what I thought we'd get more questions about today. It's just like, yeah, it's a unanimous. I mean, there's clear and enormous public pushback against this, but that's not what drives this. And this is a business. And it is where it is. I said at the time when they, the U.S. I don't believe in drug testing.
Starting point is 00:47:26 I've made that very clear. And I will never. And so I don't say this is somebody who cares about drug testing being in this whatsoever. I do not. Moving away from a private independent operator to an in-house drug testing thing is prima facie nonsense, right? Like you, it's like, oh, yeah, Jeff Novitsky's doing it and we don't touch it. Okay, I can't ever believe that because you signed the paychecks.
Starting point is 00:48:00 So strange. and even if nothing is untoward, right? Like even if this is all above board and totally legit and fine, which it could be, um, the, it looks bad. The optics are bad,
Starting point is 00:48:14 but optics don't matter in 2025. It simply, that is the thing that is no longer important in the broader world and certainly in the sport of in May. Uh, what matters is the wielding of leverage and power and they have it. And so Connor McGregor is eligible to fight at the White House. if they can come to terms.
Starting point is 00:48:34 Yeah. Thoughts on the C-SAC thing? I mean, it's just so ridiculous. Like, no one's surprised, but again, honestly God,
Starting point is 00:48:42 I was a little surprised. Really? Not that they would vote for it, but that it was so transparently nonsense. Yeah. Once they just like randomly, like, you know what?
Starting point is 00:48:53 We're not waiting until December. Let's do the meeting today. And we already had like backdoor meetings, which I think John Nash post, or Mary Eric McCracken, like, I think it. I mean, we knew immediately once they announced a meeting for today, uh, or for yesterday that that was going to happen. And yeah, just reading the slacks of
Starting point is 00:49:15 Damon being like, Matt Brown just jumped on here and ripped them a new asshole and like so many different people came on and like shit all over it. And you saw like for every one positive thing, there was like 15 negative one saying, don't do this. Don't do this. Nobody wants this. And they're like it's unanimous gavel slam crazy um i was surprised at how transparently corrupt it is oh yeah um i don't have a lot of high hopes for anything anymore realistically but like you could at least put on the dog and pony show and pretend um and there there's none of that like it is yeah we met in some back rooms and um a lot of people with a lot of money got the outcome they wanted that is on its face negative for fighters and it's just like the purpose of athletic
Starting point is 00:50:06 commissions are to serve as the last wall of defense between fighters and promoters and very clearly the that is not what has happened here and so my honest to god like major takeaway is like oh well this will just now we're in this room and this is where will live forever, but like, you can't reform this. There's no, you can't get new people in the do. You're just like, okay, we have to tear this all down to the studs and start over the next time, whenever that is, it's being in a hundred years when we decide that, you know, there should be worker protections for combat sports athletes.
Starting point is 00:50:44 Yeah, it was really sad and it sucks. I still hold some hope out that the UFC and Turkey will not. UFC up boxing because I think boxing doesn't shouldn't have that happen but uh it certainly looks like the gears are turning in that direction and there is not a cogent enough counterstance against it to stand up to him why do you think I mean this has been this whole thing has been a plan for I mean years now like over a year since Trump made the announcement that he was he was rerunning like this is all in motion like okay if he gets in this is what we're going to do
Starting point is 00:51:30 and you know some of that speculation but it seems very obvious right now just look at all the players involved and their relationships to Donald Trump Nick Conn is Donald Trump's agent or Ari Manuel I think one of them is Arizsche is Donald Trump's manager agent or something like that
Starting point is 00:51:46 like there's no way this wasn't going to happen it's just it's just so blatantly obvious what this was and no one's going to stop him no matter what the blowback is they don't give a shit. And maybe that's what at the end of the day has made them a successful business to begin with. They just don't give a fuck at all. They don't care what the blowback is.
Starting point is 00:52:07 They're just going to do what they want to do. And it's going to be successful. So yeah, it's, it's shitty. But again, there's no PR. There's no optics. It is the world at large. And perhaps it always has been. And, you know, but it is pure exorc, the power you can wield.
Starting point is 00:52:26 and how you can wield it. And Dana White does not, has never had an issue wielding everything like a cudgel. And that has worked enormously well for him. And we'll continue to do so because that's, especially not that that's the type of tactic that works better, the more power you have acquired. And he continues to accrue more power.
Starting point is 00:52:49 So this will just continue to work. Yeah. It's, it's insane. and yeah, I mean, just going to be boxing is going to be the UFC. I don't think so because you're fighting entrenchment. I do think a lot of the reason the UFC was able to have the success it did, for many reasons we've covered it a billion times over.
Starting point is 00:53:14 But because it was a nascent sport, because there wasn't stuff there, they could just fill the vacuum with whatever they wanted. Boxing has 200 years of history. and 100 plus years of sort of entrenched infrastructure, that it, that's, that is a hard machinery to move. This is certainly a big step in the process. But it, it's still a slog to work through.
Starting point is 00:53:39 And so I am unsure that it will work still. Remember like three to five years ago? We were like, California is the standard. Like they are, they're fair. they're what every commission should vie to be and then this all happened like we felt if there's like one commission that would stand in the way
Starting point is 00:54:05 it was it was California because Andy Foster always had like a great reputation and then what happened was they approved power slap and then you're just like up that's it we're done now we know what really is I am looking forward to the news in like a year
Starting point is 00:54:26 year and a half Andy Foster is coming on board as the head of something or other at WME at Endeavor or whatever because that's what these things are man like it's cynical and bad but like yeah
Starting point is 00:54:45 you know I I'm doing the right thing until the price tag comes in you know, she's like, everybody's got a price. That price gets met and you're going to be like,
Starting point is 00:54:59 all right, cool. Yeah, maybe this isn't great, but what am I going to stand on principals when I can send my kids to college?
Starting point is 00:55:07 So I don't know that that's happened. That is pure speculation, but would not shock me if Andy Foster got a job at endeavor in the coming years. Yeah. So there you go. At the it.
Starting point is 00:55:22 And the thing to kind of remember with all this, too, is that they know how to spin shit so great. We're not changing a word to the Ali Act. We're not changing anything. We're just making it better. And that's like one thing to say, but like, it's just, it's for donk. But I mean, look, this doesn't mean like, this is just one commission saying, like, cool, this, we're okay with this. we support this this movement so to speak so it's not like because this is what some people gathered from this well the ali act the ali act is set it's now redone no this is just a very
Starting point is 00:56:02 big hurdle to get through for this to pass eventually and that's kind of where it's at right now so yep there you have it uh this can be a real question do you know who Andy Foster's final MMA opponent was it's a really fun bit of trivia Tim Boch no
Starting point is 00:56:24 not the most random name that popped into my mind no it's like one of the worst people who's ever set foot in the sport Amar Suluwev the Russian dude who killed a bunch of people in jail I think he's dead now
Starting point is 00:56:38 because I think he got cancer or something wild thing that was the last dude Andy Foster fought. It was a strange sport. Do you guys think by Tim Sylvia B.
Starting point is 00:56:49 Tesville? I think that question came after the Mario versus Sonic question, which is like, yeah, reasonable. Which makes it sound even better now that I see it. No. I do not believe
Starting point is 00:57:03 Tim Sylvia beats Tomasville. Can you imagine what that fight would actually look like? It'd be over in 30 seconds. I mean, yeah, I get a bad. it would look like, well, one, it probably looked a lot like the Fador, Sylvia fight, but also just like every Aspinall fight. Oh, he hit him. It's over. Yep. Tommy A. getting ready to come back next week. So I was actually just talking to
Starting point is 00:57:31 Annick, John Anick, right before we came on here, and we were talking about 321 and some of the storylines. Because, like, if you compare this event to, like, the past couple of Abu Dhabi cards, It's like, it's fine. But the cachet isn't there. Like the star power isn't there. And I know Tom is getting more popular by the day, but he just hasn't fought in so effing long that it's almost like. I really like 321.
Starting point is 00:57:56 It's a really good card. The pay-per-view section is. Yeah, the main card is the top three fights are all great. And obviously the all made of Volka fight will tell the story of the main. I think all five fights are really good fights. Yeah. What is gained from the light heavyweight fight? I'm not really sure at the moment.
Starting point is 00:58:15 Merzacano. Merzikano gets the dub. He's won away. This is Mersikano's chance to move up. Maybe. Rackich is the Arnold Allen of light heavyweight. He fights once every two years. Pretty good.
Starting point is 00:58:29 A couple. Shine in because Rackage is knows how to get got real good these days. Klineer Becky's going to be fucking banging. That's, oh yeah. A fight's going to be banging. Yeah. I mean,
Starting point is 00:58:41 we saw the turtle is back. Abu Dhabi. Ravetski and Borlbi beat the bag out of each other. Plus, Hamdi Abd al-Wab and Chris Barnett is probably the funniest fight they booked this year. That was incredible that they booked that fight. That fight is them saying this one, this one's for Jed right here.
Starting point is 00:59:02 I thought RDR versus DDP would be for Jed. They're never going to book that one. It's too good. You can't hold. Mike, the thing about dreams is you can't hold them too firmly because they're brittle and they'll shatter. You have to let your dreams go and then if they love you, they'll come back to you. Where do you rank the pressure on Tom Aspinall heading into next Saturday in terms of like half to win both short term and long term? Now, the good news is heavyweight's bad. So even if Tom
Starting point is 00:59:39 loses, even if he has to go win a fight, his next, it'll be one fight, then he's right back in there, and he'll probably win. But considering the road and the John Jones circus and all that, how much pressure is on Tom Aspinall to win next Saturday? I mean, there's a, I don't think there's any more pressure than any champion has to defend a belt. And I don't know that Tom even feels that much pressure. This is, because there's, if, he lose it it doesn't matter it just it does not matter right like i mean it all matters in the sense but like he's never fighting john john's never fighting him and so if he loses the pressure is on me like it's not on tom as well the pressure's on me because i have to watch that fight and not particularly
Starting point is 01:00:31 care about tom as well i'm not like a fan of his whatever like i like him fine no issues with him um but i need him to win so John won't tweet. Like that's it. I need John to just shut the fuck up and not tweet. And the only way that happens is if Tom wins, but I don't think Tom cares if John tweets. And so as the, the pressure is entirely for me and my personal well-being to not have to deal with the grading, self-aggrandizing tweets that will come if Tom loses. But I cannot imagine Tom cares about that because he knows John won't fight him one way or the other. And it's like, Like you said, if you lose the serial gum, that's tough. He'll be fighting again for the belt in two minutes.
Starting point is 01:01:14 So it's fine. So you don't feel the pressure is that bad. The pressure is entirely on me, not on him. I think it's a high pressure spot. But again, just... I think the pressure is higher on gone, frankly. Because like... I think you could seriously make a case.
Starting point is 01:01:35 This has to be his last chance to fight for a belt. But the thing, he really needs this to fight for the belt. And it was such a bad... His last two performances were... been bad. I was yelling for Derek Lewis to get a title shot over. Yeah. So I straight up do think Don has more pressure on him than aspirin.
Starting point is 01:01:52 Yeah. That's, I mean, that's definitely interesting. By the way, and maybe, maybe I'll eat crow. I think Tom is just going to smoke him.
Starting point is 01:02:00 I don't, I'm going to tackle him and finish him, much like John did. Over under five minutes. I will certainly pick a first round finish. I think this fight will not go more than two minutes. I think, I think Tom on paper looks to be
Starting point is 01:02:17 about the worst matchup possible for Gone. For sure. Where, we're like, the thing that makes Gons game tick is he's just way more athletic than dudes. And that was, he was so terrified of John that it didn't matter.
Starting point is 01:02:32 He didn't move. He just walked backwards, tripped and died functionally. But like he can bounce around and like thing. Tom is as, as athletic, if not more. And so as long as Tom doesn't, isn't like,
Starting point is 01:02:46 I intend to knock him out with punches, he can bounce in, tackle his ass, and this fight is over. It's a big skill to have at your disposal. Mm-hmm. And Tom is a very smart person. He's not,
Starting point is 01:03:02 I do not think Tom has the ego to be like, I need to knock this guy out in 60 seconds. I think he'll just be like, I could just tackle him and tap him and that'll be fine. I'm trying to, to on air confirm some
Starting point is 01:03:15 stuff for you personally, Jed. For your fantasy, RDR. No, no, no, no, no. It's not that. See, you can't hold that dream too tightly. It'll, it'll shatter. Well, look.
Starting point is 01:03:27 A Follergerge egg. You must gently but firmly grasp. Well, I mean, your guy, Malcolm Wellmaker has been waiting to fight. He booked an opponent for MSG. His opponent days after we confirmed that fight was happening out of the fight.
Starting point is 01:03:44 So now they're reports. They'll rebook him. He is rebooked. And just confirmed this via via multiple sources. First reported by Nolan King, my good buddy.
Starting point is 01:03:58 Shout on Nolan. A Bostonian. Cody Haddon is the new. Oh, that's a shame. I like Cody Haddon, but Cody Haddon's about to die. I do like Cody Haddon. Cody Haddon's a kid I thought was a pretty decent prospect, but, uh, if he dies, he dies. Let's go, Malcolm.
Starting point is 01:04:18 I am holding on to a strong, robust 50, 150 point lead over you in the fantasy league right now. And, uh, Wallmaker could, could juice those numbers up pretty high. Who's not asked. Marab. Did anybody draft him? Damon has, Damon has Marob. That's good pick. That's, I mean, real chance.
Starting point is 01:04:43 This team is not very good. He already got a buck 75 off him. And now he's, he can get like, whatever, 300's the max score, which he get theoretically get? That's in play.
Starting point is 01:04:55 Is Tom Ashton, the only champion who can match Marab's four defenses in a year or even beat it? Nope. No one can beat it. I do not believe it is beatable. And Tom can't, I mean, Tom could in principle.
Starting point is 01:05:09 Tom faces a much bigger issue, which is there simply are not the, bodies to throw at him four times in one year. Heavyweight, especially heavyweight because he's already beaten a lot of dudes. So, like, you'd just be running them over and over again. And on paper, he could tie it. It's extremely unlikely that it happens just because I don't think they're going to be in a rush to be like running a Cior-Gone rematch or a, well, like all the rematches that that would
Starting point is 01:05:41 necessitate. So I'll say he doesn't, but he could. I actually think just kind of looking at who, like, who could possibly do it. If Josh Van beats Pantosia, I think there's a world he could do it. But flyweight is, the issue at heavyweight is any dude can randomly knock you out. The issue of flyweight is they're all just really good, so it's hard to beat four dudes in one year at flyweight. Yeah. I think Volcanovsky is a non-starter. He is old and cannot do it.
Starting point is 01:06:18 Tupuria simply will never fight four times in a year ever, so he can't do it. He will never fight three times in a year, probably. Teporea is going to be on that one to two a year sketch. J. Walterway, it's too hard to think Jack could do it. And Islam won't fight, won't even fight four times more. in his whole career, I don't suspect. Hamzot's interesting. I'll say Hamzot is interesting.
Starting point is 01:06:47 He appears to have gotten his medical issues behind him, his visa issues behind him. We know that he started out by fighting super a lot. That's how he got over. Hamzot would be my pick of the current champions to do it. I don't know, man. I still think it would be hard. I would not pick him to do it.
Starting point is 01:07:08 But if I have to pick one, Hamzot's the choice. Seems like Hamzot. There's also a lot of middleweight contenders that are lined up right now. Yeah. So it would be like, okay, I'll just run through him. Like if Hamzat fights and I know, I don't know he's not, he's not fighting in January, but if he did fight, if he fought in February and defended against Imavov and then RDR wants to fight all the time, they turn him around.
Starting point is 01:07:31 He fights RDR in April. And then, like, I could see it happening. I don't think it will, but it's not beyond possible. Yeah. Lazy-Bibet was talking about the fighters who were signed off contender series. Only two heavyweights made the roster. So I think he asked earlier if heavyweight is dead. It's heavy weights been dead for...
Starting point is 01:07:52 They didn't actually have that many heavyweights on the show, which is really nice. Heavyweight has been dead forever, though, to my point. It's a terrible division. I don't... None of the good prospects were heavyweights. There's one... There's like one or two dudes who were light heavyweights who were like maybe a little interesting. The heavyway fights were all ass.
Starting point is 01:08:13 What question meet did we miss? Yeah, I don't know. Questions come in hot? Danny Rubenstein confirmed today that Sadacoff had been slated to face Gamron in November 8th main event is getting a ranked for as I am a comparable rebooking for him.
Starting point is 01:08:32 Is he ranked? Is he ranked? He's in 35. I think this fight makes more sense than the Gamrod fight did. I think the fight makes more sense. It's not a remotely comparable thing because the camera is like ranked number eight. So he got a chance to be a top 10 fighter.
Starting point is 01:08:52 Now he just not. Yeah. Dude, yeah, that that, that's, that's gonna be sick. That is gonna be very,
Starting point is 01:09:01 very fun fight. Lightway bangs, man. Lightway bangs. It's the best. Dude, for us to him is so like quality and just doesn't matter because lightweight's lightweight.
Starting point is 01:09:11 Brody wants to tell you that he can't stand Michael Chandler Yeah I concur See you at the top Walk on Multiple catchphrases Chandler's without golfing What does he the rock
Starting point is 01:09:29 Multiple catchphrases What else you got? I am Chandler has I honest The thing that I'm supposed to like Michael Chandler you are his fighting style is perfect for you every part of him is just like a thing i'm supposed to like and it cannot i can't i cannot do it and it's so wild because like even when he's doing video
Starting point is 01:09:55 like he does like golf at him like if literally any other human was doing this i would support it but you're doing it so i'm not in i think it's deeply funny that he golfs in like three-inch in seam shorts like like old plum smugglers like he's like in a 1950s ABA basketball game. That's what he's out golfing in. It's incredible. And I hate him.
Starting point is 01:10:16 So it doesn't matter. Chandler wants to do swing rounds so badly. And we're going to try to make it happen at some point. And you're going to have to come along for the road. I will bag him up on the course right now. I don't know what his handicap is. My game is incredible. We need to get him.
Starting point is 01:10:32 It should be being you versus Chandler and a teammate or another fighter. I didn't. That's the matchup. I haven't been on air to say this. I played the ocean course on Monday, Kiowa, and I shot a 39 on the front, and it should have been a 38. My caddy took the blame for one of them because I stuck an approach shot to four feet and put it, it, put it at exactly where he told me to. And it just stayed on the lip. And he was like, yeah, that's my fault.
Starting point is 01:11:02 It didn't break. Sorry. I was like, cool. I got a shot 38 on the front of Kiowa. my game is incredible right now. Yeah, I'm feeling good. I went out and shot a 77. 77.
Starting point is 01:11:16 Pretty good one. Ideal. Pretty good score. Yep. It was a good day. It was a good day. Shot at 37 on the front. 40 on the back.
Starting point is 01:11:26 But the back felt worse than a 40. I understand that feeling. Yeah, I was making puts. And that's really all that mattered. Have you noticed that Mighty Mouse has recently been speaking bad about John, it's been multiple times, and he just comes across as salty that he didn't get as much attention. I haven't really noticed it. I haven't.
Starting point is 01:11:47 But I actually noticed something about Mighty Mouse last night. And so this is a perfect forum. Do you know how many YouTube subscribers he has? Who? How many? Take a guess. 175,000. 1.5 million.
Starting point is 01:12:12 What? subscribers. Oh, DJ? Yeah, he's up there. He's got, he knows, I will say this about DJ. Not for me. There's some things that, uh, there's some interviews that he does that I like, will go and watch a little bit of.
Starting point is 01:12:28 No, I think he's bad at it. I get it. Well, we don't learn anything new from a DJ interview. That's, that's kind of the tough part about it is we just, it's the same. It's just the same stuff just in longer form. Now, I was a little concerned that's what we're going to get with. Daniel Cormier, but that's really not. Daniel Cormier has done a great job.
Starting point is 01:12:46 I actually love the audience. His, his, uh, he's done three of them now, whatever. They are not bad. They're too long. I don't think interview should be an hour long ever, basically. Um, but it's not bad or like just break it up into segments and release separately. But yes, I'd call me much better. I didn't realize DJ had 1.5 million YouTube subscribers.
Starting point is 01:13:07 And the, when I saw that, I was just like, one of, object. effectively the most successful MMA fighter turned content creator by a lot. Two, when people tell me that the UFC is a good promotion, I'm just going to point to that.
Starting point is 01:13:26 I'm just going to be like, Dana White, four years on end, told me that he couldn't market this fucking guy. He's that he can't market him. He's too small. I can't market him. Motherfucker has more YouTube subscribers
Starting point is 01:13:37 than the UFC's YouTube channel. Like, it is, how could you not because you couldn't market him doesn't mean he can't be marketed. It means you have one way to do things and has a very limited scope. Demetri's Johnson should have been the biggest star
Starting point is 01:13:53 in the goddamn world. And they couldn't because they could only do one box. They have a hammer. And if you have a hammer, all problems are nails. And they couldn't, they couldn't find a screwdriver
Starting point is 01:14:05 to get that dude over in the way that he could have been over. Travesty of promotion. There's one question I wanted to pull up earlier. Where is it? I wanted to pull up. Oh, there it is. Scott McCraight.
Starting point is 01:14:22 Jed? Got a. Oh, God. Is Fight Circus back this weekend? Two-day event in Vegas. Fight Circus is back this weekend? I don't believe you could watch it this weekend unless you're in Vegas. Our friend Oscar Willis is fighting on that card.
Starting point is 01:14:36 He's commentating and fighting on that card. Did you know that? I didn't know who's commenting on it. I believe he and Bay. or in the booth doing some commentary. And then it's like a beer fight where Oscar has to fight while holding a beer. You know, basically like how you play, it's a stupid toss beanbags game. And good thing.
Starting point is 01:14:57 I'm blanking on that for some reason. You got to hold your beard, do it. He's doing the fight. I believe is the terms of that. Dude. But I don't think you can watch it live because they haven't really done that. You're promoting it on fight circus.tv, so perhaps you can watch it. My guess is not, but there's a whole bunch of stuff going.
Starting point is 01:15:20 They're doing the tire boxing thing again, which I think is awesome. It's a really good idea. They're doing a thing called a human pinata. I don't know what that is other than it's explained as a three-on-one, My Little Pony fight. So my guess is it's three people and one person in a unicorn outfit, which is, frankly, incredible. This is an incredible concept. They are innovators.
Starting point is 01:15:45 Human cockfighting, the kick only with Alex Kassaris and Marcus McGee competing in the kicking only thing, which is great. The one that I think most people know about or have heard about is the dick kicking contest with the two jackass subsidiary guys, whatever. the big fat guy from Jackass and Poopies from the most recent Jackass the bringing back the wheel you know we love a wheel but did you see Charles Bennett's part of the wheel
Starting point is 01:16:22 I did not realize Charles Bennett's part of the wheel but okay boom love that and Oscar is doing Siamese beer boxing which again I believe is he is holding a beer in one hand and boxing when the other Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:40 So there's that. My, uh, I briefly looked at trying to attend. I have some personal stuff going on. Can't manage that at the moment, uh, which is a huge shame.
Starting point is 01:16:53 I do love that like, fight circus has gotten probably worse and that you can't watch it live anymore, whatever, but more people seem to have gravitated to the silliness of it. Like real folks because like they started, you know, Mark Coleman went and. did stuff and Matt Brown and like it's deeply funny to me that this thing that me and like six
Starting point is 01:17:14 other people were like hell yeah hell yeah has grown to like real real like reasonable people not rational idiots like myself are like I'm kind of and let's see what happens it's I find it delightful and charming we'll close here at the super chat in honor of the ESPN era ending can you all name the eight champions that held both the old and new UFC legacy belts John Valentina certainly Amanda Nunes
Starting point is 01:17:45 Amanda Zhang I think her first title reign would have been under the old right yep Shang's got to be correct so I'm just going to start listing like who are the greatest fighters who've ever lived
Starting point is 01:18:00 because that's the list we're currently compiling right now I'm going to guess hmm Brandon Moreno? Steepay? Oh, it could be Stepe. Cormier, right? I don't.
Starting point is 01:18:20 When did Cormier retire? I mean, Cormier, almost certainly. Yeah, just because of the old light heavyweight. So, yeah, Cormier. Volk? I don't think Volk, because 2018, when did Volt become champion? I think Volk became champion, like, after that. So I don't think Volk's the answer.
Starting point is 01:18:43 Oh, it's 2018, they switched him? When did they switch them? That's actually, I don't remember. Let me Google UFC. 2019. It was pretty close. Okay. Okay, so Zamarano.
Starting point is 01:18:58 So it's 2019. I don't think that's Volk. Maybe it's full. Will Volk? Do you have the answer? When I don't, this is, you were on. I'm really bad at Prop Quiz. It's not my strength.
Starting point is 01:19:12 He wanted December of, 2019. So who don't Sehudo. Sohudo has got to be won. Sohudo probably. Yeah, that seems about right. Okay. Um, I don't know. I'm sure the chat is
Starting point is 01:19:29 chucking out ideas here. Ooh, is he's an interesting one. No, because so looking at the, the legacy championship belt says it was January of 2019 when they brought in the new belt. So Volk wouldn't be it because he was December of 2019 when he won it. So, Habib?
Starting point is 01:19:47 Um, this is a really good question. Chazette, do you have the answers? Yeah, give us the answer. It's just that. Um,
Starting point is 01:19:54 it's a great question. I love, love the core concept there, frankly, but I just don't know the answer. Um, potentially Rose. All right,
Starting point is 01:20:07 there we go. So, Hudo, Nunes, Val, Holloway, Habib, Steve,
Starting point is 01:20:10 James, and Carla, Rose, was one I had just pulled. It's like Carla, obviously. You said eight, right? That's nine.
Starting point is 01:20:21 That is nine. Looking at Rose, Rose shouldn't realistically count. Oh, no, she should. She wanted their second title. I'm pulled up a map now. Val, Amanda for sure. So, hoodo.
Starting point is 01:20:43 I think we get everybody except for Carl and Rose. I don't know if he mentioned Max either. Oh, definitely didn't mention Max. Yeah, that's a fun little fact. That's a good question. It's a great way to end it. It is. Cormier didn't hold that.
Starting point is 01:21:06 No, well, Cormier definitely should have. So yes and no, because he would have been champion. But he lost, he won the belt before, right? And then lost it. He won the belt in 2018,
Starting point is 01:21:18 but then he lost it in 2019. So technically, maybe they did give him the new belt to walk out with. I don't know. I don't remember. Yeah, I don't know. So there's a world where Cormier has a new belt. Old belt looks way better, and I'll never change my mind on that. I'm so with you on that.
Starting point is 01:21:40 I like the concept of the Ruby thing. I think that is a fun way to differentiate. Like, oh, multiple title defenses. but the placard like that bitch just looks bad so yeah i've never i've never liked the new bell i think the old belt looks much much better well i think we have done enough here and you know frankly this is jett and i's both of us are actually off today but yeah we wanted to come on here and do the show which i didn't even realize till yesterday i was like oh shit needed it i dude we're both off but i just assumed i was working because i just did a golf trip that sucked yeah
Starting point is 01:22:17 Well, we're done this week. Go Colts. I don't have my Patriots mug anywhere. The first place. The Colts versus Patriots. The first place. The first place. The game.
Starting point is 01:22:30 New England Patriots. We're bringing it back to the early 2000s Colts, Pat's, AFC championship game incoming. That's just a better world to live in. It was a happier time. Yeah. It was a happier time. I watched the Bills game on Monday with a,
Starting point is 01:22:47 Um, my buddy Graham, who you've met, who's a diehard Pats fan, our, our buddy, uh, we have another buddy who is a diehard bills fan named Steve. We were all at this golf thing. So it's me, him there. I'm on, I'm uninvested. Graham hates Steve, but not hate Steve, but hates the bills in concept. Steve is dying watching this game. And my personal investment is I need James Cook to not score 9.8 fantasy points.
Starting point is 01:23:15 And so the three of us are watching this. all with different interests. And it was remarkably fun to watch Steve lose his mind as the bills are losing. And I'm like, James Cook, get injured. Stop running. James Cook came five yards away from doing what I needed him to not do. And then Steve's like, it's fine. We're losing.
Starting point is 01:23:35 He's not going to be in the field. I was, it was a great experience. As one Bill's fan was sad and the Patriots fan was happy. And I was like, hell yeah, Graham. Drake May versus Daniel Jones. Indiana Jones, baby, let's go. It's just a great time to be a football fan right now.
Starting point is 01:23:52 When Bill's Nation was so cocky heading into the season, and then the Patriots just slapped them right across the face so hard that they couldn't even beat the Atlanta Falcons. It was just a great time. Like the Falcons. Bejohn Robinson, I wish I liked the Falcons because they seem like they'd be a fun team to root for this year because Bejohn Robinson seems awesome. He's fun, dude.
Starting point is 01:24:14 It's an electric. That dude's really electric. And, you know, it just seems like a good time to be a Falcons fan right now. The Falcons got good or at least acceptable. Well, Patriots Falcon Super Bowl rematch? They ain't that good. Fair enough. Well, that's it, everybody.
Starting point is 01:24:37 Thank you for joining us. The music's on the background. I think you can hear me. So we're trying to fix that part of it. But back tomorrow, preview show. Honestly, it's terrific. You've done great. UFC Vancouver, we'll get you ready, we'll react.
Starting point is 01:24:49 Busy weekend for us. Until then, have a good day, everybody. You guys are wonderful. And yeah, that's all. Love y'all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrance Suts.
Starting point is 01:25:16 Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.

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