MMA Fighting - BTL | Dricus Du Plessis Crowned At UFC 297, Next For Sean Strickland, Harrison Signs With UFC

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

Dricus du Plessis is the brand new UFC middleweight champion after defeating Sean Strickland via split decision in a fascinating 25-minute battle in the main event of UFC 297. The bout has led to a lot of questions about the future of the division, if du Plessis will share the octagon with rival Israel Adesanya next, and where Strickland goes after his title reign came to an end. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout of Saturday's pay-per-view headliner, if we should expect du Plessis vs. Adesanya at UFC 300, and what could be next for Strickland with his star power continuously rising. Additionally, they'll discuss Raquel Pennington's title win in the co-main event, the overall grade for UFC 297, Kayla Harrison signing with the UFC to face Holly Holm at UFC 300, where the excitement levels are now that more fights have been announced for the April event, and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and José Youngs.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Josè Youngs: @JoseYoungs 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?

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Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm a fighting studios. This is between the links. and now your host, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL back on another Thursday. No UFC event this weekend,

but a whole bunch to talk about. So let's get right into it following UFC 297 and some big news announced this week. First, let us say hello to Mr. No Gray area, the hot take king, the cannonball kid, and a man who is here to a few, officially set the record straight that the women's Bannamweight division in his eyes is the best the sport has to offer from mrs.com, Mr. Jenmishu. How are we doing, buddy? Why are we lying?

This is entirely unnecessary to lie about that. That's ridiculous. This is the worst division of all time. I can't imagine Kayla Harrison is going to save it, but we'll get into all that. Happy to be here, Mike, lovely Thursday. It's actually not. It's trash-ass Thursday, but it's no longer cold in Atlanta, So that's nice. Yes. What is written on the whiteboard behind you? You are, I have referred to you as our Woody page many times. And you've taken that moniker and ran with it.

What does that say? It says Sean Strickland was robbed, parentheses, I am a simpleton. Because I am not a simpleton. And I recognize that that was not a robbery. Only a moron would think it was. Oh, yes. I'm sure you're going to make a lot of people happy with that. But back on the show, he is the road.

Warrior of MMAfighting.com, a man who does it all, whether it's 150 degrees outside, or if it's 20 below zero, fresh off of having boots in the ground in Toronto, Mr. Jose Young's. What's up, buddy? Welcome back to, I guess, normal weather this time of year and where you're at. How's things going? I am having a very good hair day. Let's talk about that instead. No one cares about the weather. This is how I woke up, by the way. Mike, you can relate. Jed, I don't know. Anyway, I'm here. It was. cold in Toronto. It's like 70 here. I'm about to move to the East Coast again. It's going to be

cold, but we persevere. Where are you moving? I'm moving to the evil empire that is New York City. Yeah, that's going to be way different. Yeah. I'm moving in February too, which is going to be even worse because my hands are going to be frozen. As you can see, the books are gone. There are currently 60. I'm 60. 37 boxes of graphic novels in the other room. So that's going to be a lot of fun to pack and unpack and repack. It's a nightmare. You have obviously substantially more collection, but we've talked about it.

I mean, I have a lot of graphic novels, and they are impossible to move because it's just bricks. The last two times I moved, I used one of those rubber made bins. So I bought five. And I was like, I'll just consolidate. And then I realized that when I put all the books in a rubber made bin, one rubber made bin was 212 pounds So I said I'm not doing this ever again

So then I bought I bought cardboard boxes And then the last time I moved I had 26 And now I have like 37 Because I'm not gonna not buy graphic novels I bought one in Toronto And I'm not even like I literally said Like I'm done buying graphic dollars

To move and that was a lie I bought someone I was up north So it happens Well listen And if you have, if you need tips on how to move boxes full of graphic novels, you know where to go. But let's, uh, let's get into the MMA chatter. The first pay-per-view is in the books for the UFC, UFC, UFC 297. And we'll get into the main event and the fallout from the main event at a moment.

But Jed, you are Mr. No Gray area, so I'll begin with you. We have had a few days to let UFC 297 linger around in our brains, the fallout of it all, everything about it. So let me ask you, what is your overall grade for UFC 297? Oh, she's, dude, that is bad. This is great. Look, we talked about this heading in. I gave it zero musuelan stars. I did not think that this was going to be a very good fight card.

And it lived up to those very low expectations. It wasn't good. I don't. We talked about it on the post show. we've sort of talked about it offline since. It just, it was just tough. The undercard did not have anything that really drew your attention. All the Canadian fighters, or at least all the male Canadian fighters lost.

So like wasn't even a super great vibes for Toronto. The main event was, I think, a fun fight. Like, I enjoyed that fight. It was never pretty because it's not what Jrikas 2 plus he does. But it was good back and forth action. and sort of kind of ebbs and flows there. It's a sort of fight that I really enjoy, but the co-main event was not great.

You know, like what's there to hang your hat on from this card? Like, this is, I guess it passes, but D, it is really tough. And then, you know, to the point of the sign, the discussion afterwards has been really, really awful, which knocks it down even more. Like, it's just not the strongest. start to the year for us, Mike. That's what I'll say. Jose, you might have a little bit of a different

context for this because you were there. You were in the building. You were amongst the people, the wild crowd, the ups and the downs, the ups and the flows. Maybe your grades a little different. What do you grade it? It's very difficult to say. Because as you know, when you're backstage doing the interviews, you don't really get to watch the fights, which is why like all slack people during the fights on a the MMA fighting staff literally like I'll literally right like how's this fight haven't watched

a second of it because you know it's just a car watch back there like one fighter's in one fighters out one fighters in one fighters out it is extremely rare for anyone backstage to just get to sit down and watch an entire fight but i can say from what little i did get to watch live or i watched out the side of my like from my peripherals when we were interviewing fighters wasn't the best certainly wasn't the worst wasn't the best day for Canadian fighters, but I've been to worst pay-per-views. I've been to UFC. I think it was 169, I want to say. I think that was the newer card.

I think that had two stoppages in the entire card. One of them, to be fair, was Jamie Varnervis Abel Trujillo, and that fight slapped. And then the only other stoppage was Hannan Borough, Uriah Favit 2, which shouldn't have been a stoppage. That was the herb dean stopped the fight when Uriah was giving the thumbs up. And after that, outside of that, it was just decision city and not even remotely close to exciting decision wins. So not the best, certainly not the worst on a scale of 1 to 10. I'd give it like a 6.5, which is passing, but as low as you can get.

Yeah, it was a card. Longest watch party you've ever done. And that includes the Francis and Gano Tyson Fury one that Jose and I did, which seemed like forever. This was actually more than that. But Jose, as it says here, welcome to the. the DDP era. Drickus Duplice is the middleweight champion. Defeat Sean Strickland via split decision.

Super, super close fight. Even on the rewatch, one of the closest fights I've seen in a long time. It reminded me of the Volcanovsky Holloway rematch on Fight Island, just incredibly close fight. The reaction from the people, very similar as well. I thought Volkinovsky won, but there is a mass of people who thought we were the worst people on the planet if you had. that opinion because Max Holloway clearly won that fight.

So this is very similar to that. But your reaction to the beginning of the DDP era and the end to the Sean Strickland championship reign. Well, the reaction is not surprising because we were talking about a four we win live. It's also similar to the Islam, uh, Volcanowski one fight where it was just a close fight. And the similarities between, you know, people thought Volcanozsche beat Islam the first time. I didn't. People thought Max Holloway be Volcanozsche the, the second time.

I didn't. people thought Sean Strickland won over DDP. I didn't. The similarity is the fan favorite in each of those fights ended up on the wrong end of a close fight. So people are just grasping at straws, I feel like. Like when your favorite fighters lose close fights, your knee-jerk reaction is always robbery, close fight.

He should have won the score. And that's all true. They were just close fights. I will listen to your argument that Sean Strickland won. I will disagree, but I don't think it's a robbery. It's just when your favorite fighter loses, people just, you know, think the EDP is the worst fighter ever, Volcanovsky worst fighter ever, Islam, worst fighter ever. And then usually they go out in the case of Volcanovsky and Holloway 3 and Islam, Volcanowski 2 nail in the coffin, there was no argument about it. It's similar to like Frank Edgar just got not, is getting inductant to the UFC Hall of Fame in New York, Rick was on Ariel's show, the MMA hour.

And we were all working in and they were talking about it. And he goes, you know, I used to hate Frankie Edgar because I thought he beat, I thought BJ Penn won the first fight. Watch that fight. That's a much more, that has a much bigger case of a robbery than any of the three fights that I mentioned before. So sometimes your favorite fighter loses and you have to accept it. They, I am very confident they will rematch, given the popularity of Sean Strickland and the fan base and how vocal they are. I just, I thought DDP won. I sent as soon as the fight, I think it was round four.

I was like, oh, DDP's kind of got this in the bag, unless Sean Strickland pulls out of Hail Mary. Someone next to me said, it just felt like Sean Strickland was keeping the seat warm for a fighter-like DDP or Israel-Azania rematch or Robert Whitaker. I don't know if that's fair because Sean Strickland beat Israel-A-Sanya

fair and swear over five rounds. But yeah, the DDPR is here. Middleweight division looks like it could be hot potato for a bit, similarly to light heavyweight. The difference is there's a lot of exciting fights down the road. It's just a question of who's next if Israel is ready If Hamzat's going to fight Paolo Koss is fighting Robert Whitaker

The the matchups are endless And I very I really really hope DDP doesn't just you know Make a jump to light heavyweight right away I'd really like to see someone Try to fill up all those rubies on the UFC belt And just rack up title defenses And go for the wreck for most consecutive title defenses

And the middleweight division UFC history whatever And also there's just a lot of fun fights for DDP I know he said, like, he was making some weird claims. I was like, oh, I've already cleaned out to division if I beat Israelized time. Like, that's not true. You haven't fought the Jared Khan. If you haven't fought the Hamzot, you haven't fought the Palo Kostas.

You could rematch Sean Strickland. If Israel wins, and there's going to be an appetite for a rematch there, the military division is very fun. It is very, very fun. And DDP just happens to be at the top of the division right now. Jed, what's been your biggest takeaway since Saturday from the win from DDP, the reaction? DDP being this sort of new head of the table, if you will,

185 and from the short but quite memorable run as champion for Sean Strickland. So we've talked about it on a couple of shows at this point. I think the thing that I keep coming back to as I've sort of gone back and have rewatch the fight. Rewatch the fight. I still think DDP won. If you think Strickland won, totally fine. That's a justifiable scorecard.

No man got robbed, however, the outcome of that fight would have gone unless like there was some shenanigans with what rounds were given to who. Nope, like pretty clear. I think this is just a close fight. And as I rewatched it and as I was watching in real time, I keep coming back to this idea that I still don't quite know what to make of DDP, but I know that he's a problem. And I've said this on a couple of other programs in this way.

I would pick him as a favorite over anyone in the middleweight division. I would not have him as a big favorite over anyone in the middleweight division. He presents and presented to Sean Strickland, bunch of problems. I loved hearing Robert Whitaker on the M. May hour yesterday to talk about it. So he was like, yeah, like, I've fought him. He's really weird. It's really tough to fight. He's super awkward. He's, he like, you know, chains overhand lefts into overhand rights. And at one point, if you watch that fight, he, he headbutts Strickland in the ass because the two of them are just kind of rock them sock him, sock him roboting it in the weirdest way possible.

And when you think of Sean Strickland, you think of a super disciplined guy. He is going to fight the same way every time he's going to do the same things. And DDP's sort of at points in that fight drew him into these anarchic swing fest where he could thrive. And Shickland did not. And as I kind of watched it, I just think, is he the prettiest fighter? No. And that's why people, I think, feel a certain way about him. And I think that's why there is always an opportunity that any middleweight is going to have a shot against him.

Because all of them basically are more mechanically sound than what Trickland is. is offering. But he is pretty athletic. He's not like the best athlete in history, but he's athletic. He's gigantic. The man's back goes on for days, like a country acre. He is quick. He is powerful and strong. And he is very good tactically, both at evaluating fights beforehand and kind of knowing what he needs to do. They had a pretty good read on how to attack Sean Strickland in this fight. And his ability to make adjustments mid-fight and say, okay, these are, are the things that aren't working. Some of this is still going to be, like, at points he's still going to be wild and reckless

and DDP-ish, but he mixes it enough of the good parts that when you back it with the power and athleticism, it makes a really tough cocktail to sort of solve. He is, I've likened him repeatedly to sort of a new generation, Yol Romero. He's not as athletic as Romero, but he's bringing a lot of the same qualities that you're all brought to the table, except for unlike Yoel, he'll. who will not fight, like he will just barely throw anything. DDP understands the current metagame of MMA. He's going to put volume on you.

And we saw that he could do it for 25. So again, I think that that makes him really tough out for anybody in the weight class. And a lot of people could beat him. I'm just not going to pick anyone to beat him until I see it physically happen at this point. As Jose said, Jed, the options are endless. But it seems like most of us are. an agreement that DDP versus Israel-Aad of Sanya is the fight to make, maybe as soon as UFC 300. That would be quite the main event for UFC 300.

I think it checks off all the boxes and by all accounts. This is what the UFC is going to try and put together. But let me ask you this, Jed. Let's just say hypothetically, Izzy reflects and says, look, I understand this opportunity, but I said I was going to take some time off mentally, physically. I need a little bit more time. But then DDP tells the UFC, look, all good. I still want to fight at 300.

or as soon as possible. If you had the pencil, would you keep the idea of having DDP fight at 300 at the top of your to-do list? Would you go a different route, different opponent, or would you just wait for Izzy whenever he's ready to come back? I would wait for Izzy. I think, obviously, I've been saying for weeks

and in a perfect world, Izzy versus DDP is the main event of 300, makes all the sense in the world. But, you know, if the timelines don't work out, bump that back to international fight, week like that's that that also makes ton of sense and it is okay or or just i guess another pay-per-view depending on how those roll out i just i think the only reason to make ddp make a quick turnaround would be izzie and i you know my status i hate immediate rematches i thought that was a very

close fight won't be the worst thing in the world that they run it right back but sean strickland just needs to fight some dude i'm sort of with ddp in his statement that Hamzat doesn't really deserve a title shot. Deserved on that much to do it these days, obviously. And I super don't want DDP to fight Alex Pereira at light heavyweight. So just shelve them. We've been waiting on DDP Izzy for a long time. Let's make that happen and then go from there.

And if it can't happen at 300, then we wait until it can't happen a few months later. I don't know what you do at that point for the 300 main event. I may be something with Alex Pereira but yeah I just don't we've been waiting on an Izzy DDP let's do that fight it is the fight to make right now that's all that's all we need to focus on at this point in time Jose what do you think because even Danny I heard I saw a clip on Twitter before we went live Daniel Danny Rubinstein was on Anakin Florian and he was asked about this exact thing and Danny said that he reached out to Israel's manager, even before the fight and said, look, if we win, we're going to call

it Israel. But if he's not ready for UFC 300, then we're not going to waste the callout. We'll call out Alex Pereira. We'll call out somebody else. And Danny said that he was told, yeah, Izzy will be ready to go. So that's why the callout went the way that it did. But let's just say, this can't happen. Izzy is like, yeah, I need a little more time.

Do you just wait for DDP, Izzy? Or do you kind of strike while the iron's hot? DDP got the big fan reaction going back home. Do you try to get him over a little bit more, try to establish him as the king of this division, or at least try to? Or do we just kind of let this marinate and we can't waste DDP Izzy a second time here? I don't think we can waste DDP Izzy. I'd also like both of those gentlemen to be 100% healthy when they fight because Israel Adisania until very recently hadn't posted much, you know, training, sparring footage. He's posted a lot of stuff in Mexico.

I'm assuming he got stem cells or something in his shoulder because that seems to be what was causing the problem. We haven't seen a whole lot of training camp or, you know, sparring or any sort of, you know, workout footage until within the last week or so. DDP's eye was pretty much completely closed after that fight. He fought Sean Strickland for 25 minutes. If they are even 90 percent, I would just wait. I'd rather see Drickis Duplessi and Israel Adesnia fight when they're both 100 percent. If that's international fight week, so be it. If that's the rumored international card somewhere this summer, then so be it. but I'm always for both men or women being 100% because I don't want there to be any excuses after Israelisiana signer seems pretty confident. He can beat Dregas duplice.

Seems pretty confident he was going to be Sean Strickland too. I don't think he was 100% going into that fight. Sean Strickland won fair and square. He put together a perfect game plan threw off Israel's approach. I still don't think Israel was healthy. So I don't want to see that mistake happen again because if Izzy all of a sudden goes, in his last two fights and they're both title shots,

what reason will we have to ever see him fight for the title anytime soon at middleweight ever again, outside of like Robert Whitaker, Jared Canaan. They're winning the title because Israel has wins over them. He could go up to light heavyweight, obviously for Alex Pereira. But if he's 0 and two of middleweight and he bumps up to light heavy weight, why give him a immediate title shot right away anyway? So I want Israel to wait if he's not 100%. I want Drix to wait if he's not 100%.

Drickus obviously has proven he's more than willing to wait for a title shot. not 100%. He was supposed to fight Israel on that September card. His ankle wasn't ready. They waited out. He's the champion now. I'm pretty confident. They're not just going to shove him into UFC 300 if he's not 100%. If Danny thinks he's 100%, Israel's 100%, Dricks is 100%, sign me up for UFC 300. I just want both men to be 100% no matter when it happens. And on the other side, Jose, Sean Strickland, the man may have lost the title, may have lost the fight on two the cards. But that's really all he lost if he lost anything, because

his stock is at an all-time high. He's sort of Nate Diaz's this situation to some degree to win in the court of public opinion even if the color on this fight on his wiki is red. The man is just on fire right now. So what do we do with Sean Strickland? What would you like

to see next for him? Maybe the winner of Robert Whitaker and Paulo Costa, especially like if Robert Whitaker wins, I don't think either one of those two is going to get a title shot right away to begin with. If Paolo Costa wins, I would imagine they try to rebook the Hamzaat fight, especially if Ham's not fighting for the title next, especially if they, you know, if they want to go to Saudi Arabia

and they need a main event, Paulo Costa versus Hamzaat Shemaya, seems like a pretty good main event for a fight night down there, or at least a co-main event. If Robert Whitaker wins, I've always wanted to see Robert Whitaker fight. Sean Strickland and Robert Whitaker himself said, you know, a couple more wins I could get another title shot, especially if it's, you know, Drikas, he's not going to get the next one because you've got lost pretty convincingly.

So I would like to see Sean fight the winner of that. Or just fight Robert Whitaker next regardless of what happens, especially if Pil was going to be tied up with Hamzot. He could wait for Jared Canaanier to come back because, you know, we're talking about close fights. It's not the first time Sean Strickland's been in a really close fight that he thought he won, that Jared Canaaner was razor-thin. I also scored that for Jared Canineer.

It wasn't a robbery. Anyone in the top five that's not matched up, Sean Strickland deserves a crowd at. at least. I don't want to see him stuck at the apex again. Seems like one of those guys that you can make, you know, those five round co-main events that they seem to be doing a lot. Stick them on the ESPN card maybe, but Sean Strickland deserves to be in the big octagon in an arena with fans, not stuck in an apex with like 500 people watching.

Chad, what's next for Sean Strickland? Hamzaa Chimayev seems real easy to me. Chimaev, I'm still a bit surprised we're just not doing Chimai of Costa. That was obvious, but we're not because they're doing that. And that's fine. I do think Chimaiov should, like he doesn't need one. It's Jemayev. It'll be fine.

Like, people will be excited about it. He should at least have to try and beat like a legitimate top tier middleweight to earn a title shot. Sean Strickland is obviously that. I also think that Sean Shreklin posed a really interesting test to Hamzaa Jamev. So to me, we've talked about this. I would just do Izzy DDP and on that exact card, Sean Shiklin versus Hamzaa Chamaev is the co-main event. You got yourself a little four-man Grand Prix at middleweight and it's awesome.

And Paulo Costa Robert Whitaker, the winner of that can kind of just wait around and fight the winner of that little four-man tourney we're holding. So it seems really easy. That's exactly what I'd be lining up. Yeah. as you like to say, Jed, with middle weight and where it stands right now, there's no wrong way to eat this Reese's. But we'll see how this all plays out over the next couple of weeks, maybe leading into UFC 300.

But let's move on to the rest of UFC 297. I have a feeling this round will not last as long as this one. Point for round one goes to Jose Young. There he goes. How about that? Trading in those miles for BTL points. and investing well is an art and a science. It requires high-level math, an intimate knowledge of economic history and theory, and a healthy dose of psychology. People have spent their whole careers

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Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Roscoe Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix Colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum. 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-by 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. So let's talk about the rest of the card. So yes, Raquel Pennington is a new women's band-in-way champion after defeating Myra Bueno Silva. Neil Magni got the only finish on the main card, which I don't think a lot of people would have predicted. A late comeback TKO win over Mike Blocke.

Chris Curtis gets a splitting nod in a pretty middle-weighty, middle-weight affair. And Mazzaar of Lov gets a big win over Arnold Allen and the main. card opener. Prelims didn't have a lot on paper that got you fired up, but had some pretty wild moments. So, Jose, I'll begin with you. Outside of the main event, and I know you're not watching the card, you know, full on because you're doing a bunch of things, but, you know, maybe it was like a backstage interview with the fighter. I don't know. What will you remember most about UFC 2.97 outside of the main event? Hmm. Outside of the main event, I would have to say a lot of very odd interviews backstage, I would say.

Not odd as in like they were, like things I was not expecting to come out of people's mouths were said. And none of them salacious whatsoever. Like Jimmy Flicks declaring that if Damian Maya and Habib Nirmick Amadov had a baby together, that it would be Jimmy Flick. That caught me off guard for a bit. It's not always, we don't always post the interviews of the first fight of the night,

but we're not passing a headline that says, if Habib Nurma Gamaama Madov and Damien Maya had a baby, his name would be Jimmy Flick. Jasmine Jazz Divisius started off for Medi Scrum by saying these pretzels are making me thirsty, which also caught me off guard because I don't know how old Jasmine Jazz Divigius is, but I'm pretty sure Seinfeld ended in like 97, 98. That's a long time. On Netflix, baby? I'm very surprised that we're still getting Seinfeld references,

especially from prelimb fighters from Canada on a UFC pay-per-view. Um, I would say, who else? Uh, Sean Woodson's interview, you know, he said he had accepted the loss and then basically Sean Woodson was a loser for three seconds and then realized he won. And then he was like, cool, hopefully I get a title shot next. And then Mazar Evloyev, uh, revealing that he, his favorite TV shows are Breaking Bad and Vampire Diaries was also caught me off guard quite a bit. Uh, he talked about Breaking Bad at Media Day.

He's like, this is how I learned English. I'm like, that's insane that you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, using Breaking Bad to learn English. And then our own A.K. Lee was like, what other shows do you watch? He's like, I really like vampire diaries. I'm like, that was not on my bingo card whatsoever of all the possibilities you could have said. And then always, Chris Curse is always just a blast.

His media was a lot of fun. But yeah, just a lot of real strange answers to, and a lot of strange references I was not expecting from a lot of these fires back today. So all in all, not the biggest names, but very much so the most random amount of interviews I've ever done back there in a long time. Yeah, Jasmine's, I mean, she's kind of in the wheelhouse.

She's going to be 35 in March, so I think she kind of hits the time frame pretty well. Seinfeld is timeless. It's fine. Everyone likes Seinfeld. 100%. Jed, you know, when you're Papa Jed and, you know, it's 25, 30 years from now and the grandkids come on over and they say, Papa Jedd, tell me about UFC 297. I already know about Sean Strickland versus Drickles Dupac C, but outside of that, what will you remember most about UFC 27?

and tell me about it. Well, well, young child, do you remember the great Habib to Rikramma Jemadov and Damien Maya? Apparently their child sucks. Like, I can't. It's not my real answer, but I do just want to address Jimmy Flicks clearly a crazy person because, like, one, he doesn't fight anything like either of those two gentlemen. Two, he's already been knocked out like three times as many times as the two of them were combined. Like, it's, you think that your children are better versions of you, not like,

dramatically worse versions of you. This is a ridiculous statement. I could not believe that Jimmy Flick said that. So props to him for being completely delusional. The answer is the co-main event, because this is the evening that I became fully convinced all the way convicted that we should just get rid of Women's 135. I have led the charge internally that we should stop ranking this weight class because it's bad. And when I mean bad, I mean bad.

We did a show this week where we made a pretty compelling case that it is the worst weight class in modern UFC history, excluding Women's 145, which was never a real weight class. And the signing of Kayla Harrison does not change that. This weight class is in dire, dire straits. And there are no reinforcements coming. There are no young bantam weights on arrival. There is no prospect to get excited about. There is one woman ranked at 135 that is younger than 30.

Your new champion is Rockell Pennington. And I have a lot of respect for what Rocky Pennington has been able to accomplish in her career. This is going to be exceedingly disrespectful, but it's the nature of the beast. I think she is probably the worst champion to ever exist in modern UFC history, again, excluding Nicomantano, who was a fraudulent champion. Like she's a quality fighter, but she is neomagny at Bannamweight. Only women's Bannam weight is just so much worse than Welterweight that she hung around long enough and she got a title attached to her. It's just it's not the Halcyon days anymore. And there had been some hope that if Myr Buena Sova could get the win.

she at least has been exciting lately so maybe there is some thing but instead we're looking at a rock el pennington title run which if she beats juliana pania she will have fought like the top seven people in the ufcs ban and way rankings you you might find that hard to believe because you don't remember the fights because they were all awful and so we're now looking at rematches of those awful fights like god help us Kayla harrison is the only thing that could maybe make this at least some some kind of interesting but a lot of questions there we'll get into that let's i've been pushing it mike let's get rid of women's 135 you do women's 115 you do women's 125 you should bring in an atom weight 105 division and then open weight i'm super in on just anything above 125 is open weight you can weigh in whatever the

hell you want and we have an open weight belt like they do at 80 cc and stuff like that but we got to be done with 135 this way class is trash. Jose, let's try to get some positives here, okay? A little superlative, if you will. Who's the low-key MVP of 297? I mean, was anything a high-key? Is that the opposite of low-key? Was there anything on this card?

Like, the entire card was low-key. It was the first pay-per-view of the year. like Neil Magny got the only stoppage. I don't think I personally do not think we should get rid of the women's Bantamweight Division nor do I believe anyone at MAA fighting will lose sleep if they

don't get rid of the MMA, if they don't get rid of the women's bantamweight division because people like to say things and you know, the internet doesn't forget. In terms of low key, I mean this entire card is low key. Honestly, like we're going to look back at this card

and be like that fight card happened. I don't, I, this is how difficult this is to answer. This entire, I guess Jillian Robertson, like, she just continued, like, she's, like, talking about, like, people in the record, like, we talked a lot about Neil Magny being in, like, the UFC record books. We've talked a lot about Jim Miller being in USC record books. If you look at, like, the women's record, which I'm sure Jed just pours over, given his affinity for women's MMA.

Julian Robertson is on a lot of those lists in the top. five like most finish. I'm pretty sure she has most finishes in flyweight division. I know she has the most submission wins in the history of the women's, all the women's divisions in the UFC, which means she has the most submission wins in flyaway history. I'm pretty sure she's tied for the most bouts of flyweight's. I think she has the most second most finishes. I don't know. There's a, Jillian Robertson is in a lot, is like the antithesis of Neo Magnet to this women's division in the women's divisions because she's on all these lists and she's not, she has never fought for the title. And I don't know if she's,

ever will fight for the title, but when it's all said and done, Julian Robertson's name is going to be in the top five of a lot of these UFC lists, and most of them are stoppage wins. They're not decision wins, or at least, you know, submission attempts. And yeah, she's lost to like some really talented fighters and some not so talented fighters, and she's been stopped by some not so talented fighters. But Julian Robertson is always game. Her coach is a crazy man. I've interviewed him once. He's the president of karate combat. I can't remember. remember his name off the top of my head, but he's the head coach over at Goat Shed. And he refers to himself as Dana Brown on Instagram. And he is just an absolute lunatic. He is, he's like,

he, if anyone, I don't, again, I wish I could tell you what his Instagram was so you could go see this video. But if you go watch his, if you find his Instagram, he's, he's like doing a selfie video during Gillian Robertson's Stoppage Win. And he's just like, pointing his finger up and talking to the camera and behind him, his fighter is finishing Pollyanna, Viana. I'm like, I mean, it's getting people talking. He's clearly a maniac, and his eyeballs are like the size of saucer plates the entire time. So, yeah, I guess Julian Robertson, because no one's really talking about her,

and she just continues to rack up stoppage wins, and her coach, again, I can't stress this enough, is an absolute maniac. Isn't it like Mr. Awesome or, like, President Awesome? Probably. Probably. He is, he is big, I, I wish I could take whatever was generating his energy and just like create a car out of him because that thing will run nonstop. Again, I interviewed him after karate combat, like that incredibly long karate combat card that everyone watched in. The man is a very excited individual and he wants to make a lot of fights that seem fun on paper in karate combat. Whether he can pull him off or not would be very interesting. but yeah, that man is a crazy man.

And I'm not in a bad way. Like he's just a very energetic man and wears very loud shirts. Jose, he made fights happen on the moon. I think he can do whatever he wants to accomplish. Here's the thing. I was there. So I didn't get to see me. I was on the moon.

And I can tell you that you've experienced some weird cards. Well, you've, you live in the South. So I'm assuming every sporting event, you go to is just chaos and no one follows the rules. Karate Combat was just like, you have a ticket, come on in. Where do I sit? I don't know. Just stand wherever you want.

At one point in time that people were like climbing over the ledge to like get into the pit. I'm like, this is just COVID all over it. Like people were like shoulder to shoulder like this. I'm just like, godly, this is like the worst thing I've ever experienced. And then the fights happens and I was really exhausted at 2 a.m. And then I interviewed the president of karate combat. And I was like, I could just run through a wall right now.

That man is just pure energy. Jedd Jose had a hard time getting a low-key MVP eventually landed on Julian Robertson's pretty solid choice do you have one do you need to work as hard he's half right

the answer is non-bantam weight women I'm not counting Jasmine Jazz DeViscius as a bantam weight because she did not need to fight at this weight Priscilla Casuera just could make weight and obviously Priscilla Cashuera

not a hero. Jasmine, Jazz DeVisius, and Jellian Robertson are the only two bright spots on this card. Neil Magny

credit him for pulling that out, but that's more of a holy shit did Mike Malott really trashed this one, right? Mike Malott just had to not

die. I've never seen a man fall off a cliff that hard that quickly as Malat did in a fight. He was so clearly winning. So Robertson and Jazz DeVisius because they were good.

like they were awesome they came out and delivered beatdowns and you know uh credit to jazz de vicious who ends up getting the finish despite not i think that was her first one in the ufc which you know kind of kind of turfed my bet on her by decision which i thought was just a lock but uh good for her you know like that's that's how you do you come make a statement in the fight where your opponent didn't technically miss weight but miss weight by like a lot and uh you move forward so those those two women are the the low key helpers of this card, but Jose is also correct. There's not a high key. It's like this, this card is bad.

It's what I've been saying the whole time. It was a bad card. Hopefully 298 will be better. Well, let's move on from UFC 297 and talk about the future. A little bit of UFC 300 news. A new signing. Maybe some hope for this women's band-and-weight division. We'll talk about that and more, but the point for round two goes to

Mr. Positivity, Jedmishu, one to one. Good job. All right. So, let's move on to the big news of the week. Tuesday night, late. Dana White goes to social media. Breaking news is the tag. We're expecting, if you just look at the breaking news,

we're going to get the UFC 300 main event. No, Dana White drops a bit of a bombshell. Holly Holmes fighting a UFC 300. Her opponent, the newly signed former two-tenth, time PFL million dollar champ, Kayla Harrison, who we thought she maybe had one more fight with the professional fighters league. That's what Don Davis said on the M. May hour. He promised the fans we're going to get Kayla Harrison versus Chris Cyborg this summer. Not the case. Kayla Harrison, UFC bound and she will fight Holly Holm at UFC 300. Jose, we didn't get your reaction.

We did a quick emergency podcast reacting to this news yesterday, but Kayla Harrison signs with the UFC, she's fighting at UFC 300 against former Bannamweight champ Holly Holm, your reaction to this big news. I actually tweeted out my reaction. Verbatim one went through my head. My reaction was, Kayla Harrison is very good at MMA. Holly Holm is also

very good at MMA. Kala Harrison and a Bannamweight will be very interesting. Those are my thoughts. I didn't really have, I don't really have reactions to these breaking news anymore because regardless of who these two women fight, I'm going to watch them. This is going to be, keep in mind, this is going to be a very boring

answer because I this is going to be a boring answer you can just give the point to Jed now I didn't care I just didn't like all like it's I don't care like I'm excited to that Kayla Harrison is fighting again and I'm excited that Holly Holm is fighting again I don't hate the women's Bantamweight Division Holly Holm is about as big a name as you can get for a UFC debut that's not the champion in fact I would argue I don't even think it's an argument that in the Bantamway Division she's the biggest name there, over the champion, over Giuliana Paine. People know who Holly Holm is. I think it's a good test for Kayla Harrison's cut to 135.

Obviously, if Kayla does it right and is healthy, she should be an absolutely monstrous favor. I think she's like minus 500. I'm not a betting man. I don't even know what minus 500 means. Seems like a lot. I'll let Jed talk about that. He has a podcast called No Bet's Bards on the MA Fighting Network.

You know, consume the product, guys. Didn't care. Truly didn't care. These fight announcements don't really do anything for me because Kayla Harrison was going to fight no matter what. Probably Holmes going to fight no matter what. I'm excited they're fighting against each other. But what drives me nuts? You can put all three of you on because I would like to see your reactions to this.

I don't understand. This is actually a journalist thing that drives me crazy. The amount of people that just take Dana's tweet and then just repeat it as their own tweet, is so odd to me. It's so strange. Like, Hollyholm was fighting Kayla Harrison at USC 300, and then I refreshed, and there's like 70 journalists just posting the same thing. Just, you know, quote tweet, retweet the video. It gets the, like, you're going to get the engagement no matter what. It's not your breaking news.

Also, don't tag the fighters. That's very strange, too. That is very, very odd. Yeah, or if you work for a publication, wait for the article to go live. And then you can retweet the product and we could get clicks and engagement out of it. It doesn't all have, I don't know. It's very odd to me when people take Dana's videos and then just repeat them as their own static things. Like they broke the news.

It's very strange to me. But you can give the point to Jed. That was a very boring answer because my answer is, don't really care. I'm just excited to watch the fight. Casey, I wish you had the old NBC, the more you know graphic that you could just put up over the screen right there after that. But, yeah, very nice. More you know. Dung, dung, d'ad, I mean, look, we did the emergency reaction.

So I think people got your initial thoughts to this. But sometimes when we do these emergency reactions, we reflect a little bit more on what we said. And then nothing of like a full change of heart, but maybe you look at things a little bit differently. So you're exact. I believe the first two words you said when I asked you about this was, this sucks. has this stance changed and explain why it sucks and why it hasn't changed. Mike, I've never once reflected on the thing I've done. I'm just, I'm out here living, baby.

Just the past is for cowards. We're just, we're vibing in the future. One, I would in principle agree with Jose about the retweeting Dana and then saying the same stuff, except for I need at least one of those people to exist because Dana has blocked me on Twitter. So I never get to see his announcements. I only get to see the announcement when like Aaron Bronsetter retweets it and says the thing. So I need those.

So everyone can't do it, but most of you should quit with that. So I do agree with Jose. This blows ass. I feel exactly the same as a divitur action show. For years, the fight we have all wanted is Kayla Harrison versus Chris Cyborg. They are finally under the same roof. Chris Cyborg has been pretty explicit. She has one fight left in M.MA before she was.

will hang it up. We were all of the opinion that it was going to be Kayla Harrison. Don Davis is out here promising at the start of the year. We're going to get that in the summer. Finally, it looked like we are going to get that fight. And then this happens. I do not know why I just hate it. Kayla could have come to the UFC at any point in time. I am sure she's going to make a good amount of money. I doubt it is the same amount of money PFL would have offered her to stay and put together the cyborg fight. I truly do not know why she would accept this offer now when she could have done it in December.

She could have fought Chris Cyborg in the summer and then done this. Because what are we looking for for her at the UFC? Like that has been my big thing. She's made some test cuts theoretically. Dana has said so. Dana says a lot of stuff. You should just never accept what he says at face value. You'll probably be right more than.

you'll be wrong if you do that. If she can make 135, this isn't as bad as it could be. But again, this is a trash-ass weight class that's going nowhere. What are the fights? She's going to come fight Holly Home. Okay, that's a fight that will happen, I guess. If she wins that, I guess she can fight for the belt and she can have that. There is the allure that maybe Amanda Nunes will come out of retirement to fight her.

That's the it. But those are the only fights. At least in PFL, there's Cyborg. It's the fight we've wanted for years. And then I would also like to watch her rematch Luce Pacheco, after Pacheco handed her defeat and appears to be cresting as a fighter. Instead, we're not getting that. I'm not saying she should stay in PFL forever.

Like, moving to the UFC eventually is fine. Doing it at this point in time is so odd to me when it was so clear that the fight she has been chasing after since almost day one was at her fingertips. It was right there. And maybe it couldn't happen on like, the fastest timeline that she wanted, but it was right there for that fight to happen.

And now it will never happen. She will never fight Chris Cyborg in MMA. And that sucks ass, man. We have, we have, I said on the preview on the, on the reaction pod, we have swapped out a potential

Kayla Harrison versus Chris Cyborg fight for Kayla Harrison versus 42 year old Holly home. It's the worst trade in history. We got fleeced by this. Like, someone should step in and stop this because it sucks real bad. And it's not even helping UFC 300.

Like, it's a fine fight. But does this make a single person more interested in UFC 300 than they were on Tuesday before we knew this? No, like it is. Fight Cyborg, man. It's all we want. It's all anyone asked for was fight Cyborg. And instead we're getting Holly home.

What the hell? So I don't want to put words you about, Jed. So is this clear that when you look at this promotion, that this is more, this is really bad for the PFL more than it's, oh, this is really good for the UFC. Oh, for sure. I mean, there's a really good argument that Kayla Harrison is the only star in PFL. Francis Ngano, obviously is a star, but I don't know if you guys have checked, checked the newspapers lately. He has yet to fight in PFL and it's starting to seem like that he may not.

If he, if he goes out here and beats a former heavyweight champion, which I I don't think is likely. But if he beats Joshua, he's never fighting in her big. So, Kayla Harrison is the biggest star they have that actually competes in the promotion. And they just lost her to the UFC. And they just lost the biggest fight they had because what happened when they announced their big PFL Bellator card? Like, we hopped on a reaction pot.

And Shaheen got there and was like, this is missing something. These are four fights that we don't like, where's the thing? And the thing it was missing. The thing we all said was Cyborg versus Kayla. And now, like, that's the one fight they had in the bag, and now that's gone. Like, the UFC gets, if she can make 135, they get a star who can maybe lift this division back up and carry it for a little while as they try to build it. But that's not a major gain for them. It is a monstrous loss for PFL.

What do you think about this from a PFL perspective, Jose, especially with this year, the Bellator merger, everything they're going on. we're striving to be the co-leader in MMA. This is the word that always is going to come back when discussing the PFL, whether you take it seriously or you're just using it kind of in a joking manner. But how big of a blow is this to the PFL losing Kayla Harrison? I do agree with you that Cyborg versus Kayla Harrison would have been the big one for that PFL versus Belator thing. I don't know. Like, how many pay-per-views has PFL done? Like, we all watch PFL because we get paid to, and there's like this very niche group of fans that tune in to watch the PFL just because they love mixed martial arts.

And, like, you know, it's on ESPN. But I don't know that many people that are paying to watch Kayla Harrison in the PFL. Also, I just don't know what PFL's new business model is going to be. Like, they're doing this big event in Saudi. Saudi very clearly doesn't care about ticket sales or pay-per-views, whatever. They just want to put on spectacles. So I don't know if it's a major loss because, like, what was the big gain to having Kayla Harrison there?

Just a talking point for this niche group to like to talk about because every time Kayla Harrison fought, the only conversations we really had were like, oh, when are you going to go to the UFC? Would you fight Chris Seibork? Not, hey, you're fighting Luspercheco for the fourth time, this and that. It was never about her fights. it was always about stuff outside of the PFL. Now those conversations are over because he's not in the PFL.

So I, for one, because I don't like hypothetical talk whatsoever. Like if you interview patchy mix and you're like, how would you do against Sean O'Malley? It's just not going to happen. It's like saying like what happens if the son was made of yogurt? Like it's just not reality. It's not reality. I don't like dealing with that in non. And I like talking about what is realistic.

So Kail Harrison could have gone to any MMA organization in the world and the conversations would have been like, oh, what about if you went? to the UFC. Now she's in the UFC. I'm excited that that conversation is over. I'm excited to see her fight because regardless of what you think about the women's Bantamweight Division in any avenue of mixed martial arts, the best band and weight fighters in MMA are in the UFC. I would like to see her fight the best. If that's in the UFC, go to the UFC. If that was in the PFL, go to PFL. She wants to test herself amongst the best. She's a high level athlete. So be it. Come to the UFC. So I don't think it's a loss for the PFL. I don't think it's a massive gain for the UFC.

I'm just glad that Kayla Harrison gets to fight high-level competition for really some of the first time of her life because until she lost her, the Larissa Projecto, she was just mopping the floor with everyone in front of her. And it just seems like she was bored. I like seeing fighters take new challenges. I don't think it's a big loss. I don't think it's a big gain. I'm personally, I'm just excited she gets to fight high-level competition. Well, since you love dabbling in predictions and hypotheticals, Jose, over under a year from now,

Amanda Nunes has announced her bid to return to the UFC. She's going to go. We're setting up Amanda versus Kayla, which we would assume that Amanda at least had some idea that Kayla was coming back, right? Why even tease that you may or that you haven't shut and slammed the door completely on this? So over under a year from right now, Amanda Nunes is like, all right, I'm coming back. Zero percent. I think Amanda Nunes had the perfect retirement. I don't think she's going to come back.

I saw her in Toronto. She had her daughter there. She just looked like she was having an absolute blast being a mom. Obviously, when there are retired fighters around these big events, I bet their blood gets flown again and she's going to want to get back in there. Nina's not training anymore. She's retired. Amanda's retired.

I know, like, there are other fighters that have been training with them. Maybe, you know, we could see her in some sort of coaching aspect, but I don't think Amanda comes back, especially for Kayla Harrison's that to see like for a bowl load of money maybe I'll say one percent then because money talks if Kayla Harrison just steamrolls the division and you know gets on the mic and blah blah blah come out of retirement menus and fight me maybe we get the GSP thing where she comes about retirement like years later and fights the big fight I just don't see it happening especially after seeing her in Toronto you know being a mom with Nina it just looks like she was having a blast

not fighting 1% Jed Jose is giving it a manned in his comeback. Are you around the same? Are you at the zero or are you higher than that? I think it's almost a certainty. It happens before the end of this year. I think assuming that Caleb beats Holly Holie home, if Hollyholm beats her, then all bets are off, I guess at that point. But if Caleb beats Holly Home, which I believe she will, Kayla is probably just fighting the winner of the, you know, to be announced Bannonweight battle between Rockout Pennington. and Julianna Pena. And once she has the belt, then Amanda Nunes there.

I think there is, you know, I think there is smoke to fire, right? And so when Amanda Nunes teases coming back, let's be real freaking clear. Amanda Nunes isn't teasing coming back to Bannonweight because she saw Rocky Pennington win the belt. Like that's, she didn't think that's not getting her blood up or whatever. She's doing it because they both, she and Kayla both trained in American top team. This was a fight that was kind of rumored. It was going to happen. and then Amanda ends up losing to Pena and sort of derails the whole thing,

but they run in the same circles. They know what's going on. Hey, kind of here. I'm hearing that Kayla's coming over, and maybe I might be interested in coming back. I think if Kayla beats Holly Holm, she will, I think she will beat Holly Home. I am extraordinarily confident she would beat either Raquel Pennington or Juliana Pena, assuming she can make the weight.

And if both of those things happen, She's got the belt. Amanda Nunes and has the belt by the end of the year. Side note, we all sucked. None of us picked Kayla Harrison to be the Bannonweight champion by the end of the year. Miss on our parts. But if that happens, then I would say it is almost a certainty. Amanda Nunes gets a big bag of money and they do Nunes Harrison for the title sometime in early 2025. Well, for fans of the Bandaweight Division, maybe you get something to be excited for, even if you're not a fan of this. division.

Kayla Harrison versus mandonunas, perhaps. Let's move on. We're going to go back to a little drill. We did a few weeks back, and we'll take a look at it. A little bit of an update. The point for round three goes to, I know Jose tried to give this the way. I mean, he did. Jed gets the point, but you could play the music.

I mean, he did. Yeah. But the way Jose is able to put words in order from the, the son. tasting like yogurt or whoever he said it, almost snuck him back in there, which is like a grando uppercut, uh, Korean zombie-like.

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a little while back. Brian Campbell is on the show. And we were talking about UFC 300. Like, what's this looking like? Brian Campbell was very negative about how the card looked. I was trying to preach patience. Jed gave his thoughts. But since that activity we did a few weeks back,

here's what UFC 300 currently looks like. Justin Gagee versus Max Holloway for the BMF title, Zhang Wei-Lee versus Janjohn-Juan for the women's strawweight title. Yuri Perashka versus Alexander Rackich, Charles Oliverer versus Armand-Sarukian, Calvin Cater, Al Jermaine Sterling, Bo-Nickel, Cody Brundage, Davis and Figurato versus Cody Garbrandt, Bobby Green versus Jim Miller,

Holly Holm versus Kayla Harrison. And we just found out yesterday that rising star, Diego Lopez will be fighting at UFC 300, taking on Super Sodyk Yousef. Jed, how are we grading UFC 300 as it looks right now? This is the issue with this show, Mike, is I shoved BC in a lot. the last time we talked about 300

and his all chicken little, oh, this card's trashed. Like, his card's going to be fine. Don't worry about it. And I somehow lost, which was nonsense because I said the card's going to be fine. Said the card's already got good bones

and we know the fights that are coming for it and it's going to be fine. And now look at this motherfucker. It's good. It's a good card. It's missing a main event. I mean, it would be totally fine to do Justin Gachie Max Holloway

is the main event here. But again, think we all are of the understanding that the main event is going to be Driggis 2 plus C versus Israel. You tack that on top of this. And this card is the best fight card on paper in literal years. It is so damn good. And it was always going to be. I do not take Dana White at face value with anything, he says.

But when he says something like, hey, you know, we're going to stack this card beyond belief, for something like 300, you can probably believe that. there is at least some truth to it. Now, do I think it's perfect? No, I do think that they probably still made a few missteps in how this card should be constructed, but it doesn't matter what they are still going to end up with is the best card that they have put together on paper in several years. This card kicks ass, it's three Michoulin stars, assuming we get the ISE DDDP. Hell, even without it, it's three Michoulin stars. This card is going to be the event of the year because that's what the UFC wants to do for things like this.

Even though it's just a number and it's not really the 300th paper view, you know, all of those things, doesn't matter. This card's going to be stick. We're all going to enjoy the hell out of it. What do you think, Jose? Look at it's 300 as it stands. What do you think? I mean, let's look at the, this is the issue with, like, it's just the, it's the three numbers,

three zero zero that's throwing everyone off. because if this fight card was UFC 301 or UFC 299, this is a 10 out of 10 fight card. Like imagine a world, if you would. Imagine a world. I know I just went on this rant about not dealing in hypotheticals, but imagine a world, imagine a world if you would or Justin Gagie is about to fight Max Holloway and people are complaining that it's not a good enough card. that is insane to me. Like the fact that the first fight of the night could be Bobby Green versus Jim Miller is just,

and people are complaining is insane. Like people will complain whether you, no matter what, no matter what, fight fans will complain no matter what. And I love your fight fans. I'm not one of these journalists that, you know, just hate everyone blindly. But you all expect a lot for UFC 300. And I get it. It's USC 300.

UFC 200 before all the tomfoolery happened was going to be. bananas. U.S. 100 was bananas. But the problem is the U.S. the problem is the original main event, you know, was going to be Conn McGregor and Nate Diaz for UFC 2 for UFC 200. Conn McGregor is bigger than the UFC and that, you know, backfired on them. UFC had Brock Lesnar in the main event and Brock Lesnar is bigger than the UFC and the UFC doesn't want that anymore. They don't want fighters to, you know, be bigger than those three letters, UFC. There's no one on the roster like that. right now. Like, yeah, people think Sean O'Malley is really popular. He's very popular with a certain demographic of people that live on social media. Doesn't always translate to pay-per-view buys.

Israel or Destin, you know, is probably the biggest star right now that's semi-healthy, I should say, that has a potential to headline UFC 300. DDP versus Israel, awesome, love it. But like I said, I want them to be healthy. If John Jones, if there was, again, in this fictional world where I'm talking about where a card with Max Holloway and Justin Gaci is a bad card. In this fictional world, Steve Amiotic beats John Jones, and then the rematch is the headliner of UFC 300 because we're living in a fairy tale world. So 300, and there's one thing in the world I hate more than people complaining, and that is agreeing with Jed Mishu.

And I do agree with Jed Mishu is a three out of three card. It's a 10 out of 10. It's 100 out of 100, whatever, A plus, three Mishuun stars, whatever you want. This fight card as it stands, if this was 300, awesome. Charles Oliver is fighting Armand Sarukian. I mean, freaking Calvin Cater is welcoming Al Jarmine Sling to Featherway. Your Phraska is returning. Like, this fight card is so good.

It's just those three numbers that are getting, that people just want something else. And like there's not a lot out there. But as it stands right now, awesome card. Like, probably the most stacked card in years. All right. We're going to keep hypothetical Jose around for a second. But I'm going to go to hypothetical Jed first, if you will. Let's play a little game here.

Let's just say we're living in a hypothetical world. I think we're all sort of an agreement. We believe that within the next seven to ten days, Dana White's going to go on social media and say DDP versus Izzy is going to headline this card. So let's just say that announcement's already been made. We have the three title fights, including the BMF, and the other loaded fights that we've already talked about.

How do you construct the main card if DDP is E is the main event? Oh, this one's really easy. So you have three title fights. You do DDP as is your main event. Your co-main is Gai-T Max Holloway. I am open to the idea that they might decide to do the thing they've done like once or twice before where you do Zhang Yan and put that as like the second fight of the main card. So you get an intro fight, then you get a title fight, then you get a break fight, and then you're into the co-main and the main. my guess is that they will just run that as the featured fight three title fights the top three on the card

there is i think no universe in which charles olivera armand sarukian does not exist on this main card and damn well it deserves to and then if this is what i'm doing i might go different they will almost certainly do holly home kela harrison as the main as a main card opener or the second fight just because of the names involved, I would not. If this is me, I have the power of the pin, I'm not doing that because, one, there's a high likelihood that that fight is boring. It's going to bring down your energy. You don't want that.

And instead, Mike, you started laughing before I even said it. You know exactly what the hell I'm going to do. There's only one fight on this card that features former champion versus former champion that is guaranteed to deliver a highlight reel. And it's Davis Vigrated versus Cody Garbrandt. If I'm in charge of shit, that's your main card opener. We're all going to sit there, gather around the fireplace and the television and watch Cody Garbrant get sent to the land of wind and ghosts.

It's going to be sick. So obviously that is the fifth fight on the main card. All of them I don't think you can change. I would choose that as my fifth. Would you lay it out the same, Jose? How would you lay it out? And we talked about this on Slack. and we talked about this on heck of a morning as well.

And I don't actually hate this idea, but it would need like another big fight to be added. Like if they add Sean Strickland versus Hamza Tchamayev, maybe you ponder this idea to, you know, add some buzz, make it a special card in a different way. How would you construct it? And if they do add like a big fight like Strickland Shemayev, what are your thoughts about possibly putting

Zhang Wei Yan Jhanjohnan as the featured prelim on ESPN, generate some extra eyeballs, generate a few extra pay rebis. Taylor, so to speak, a little bit towards that crowd, since it's a little bit earlier. I don't know if the time frames match up, but thoughts about that, and how would you construct this card?

I don't like, I believe that undisputed champions deserve to be near the top of the card. I get the argument for putting, you know, Janjanon versus Zhang Wei as the featured prelim. I understand that argument. You know, you want to put a high-level mixed martial arts fight with not a lot of heat to get people to buy the pay-per-view. I just think, you know, if you're a champion and you're a title contender,

you've put in the work, you deserve to get that pay-per-view spot, especially if you're getting pay-per-view points. You want to be on the pay-per-view card. Justin Gaitie versus Max Hall. As this stands right now, like, I'm not going to, like, create this goofy card. If it ends right now, and I'm not saying that Zhang Wei v. Janjan deserves to headline U.S. 3-100 because I just, you know, there should probably.

probably be a massive card at the top, especially for 300. Zhang Wei-le-levers, if this ends now in my world where meritocracy matters and champion's headline cards, I would put the undisputed title at the top. I would put the BMF title second because I don't think we can live in a world with the BMF title outshines an undisputed champion. But similar to what Jed said, like Shang Wei, Janjan, if this is, if it ends now, that should be the main event because it is an undisputed championship fight. know the comments are going to hate it. I know fans would hate it. You know, remember when they booked

Valentina Shipschenko versus Sejarra Eubanks just to headline the MSG card? And people were like, that fight cards, that fight sucks. This doesn't deserve to be MSG. So then they just had DC, they just gave DC a boatload of money to fight Derek Lewis. They're probably going to give someone a boatload of money to headline this card. And then at that point, January Lee versus Janjohn-on-on should be the Komen, just a gate to Vrix Malzhollows should be the third fight. the main card opener i don't probably probably i don't armisorouccian versus charles oliver it seems like a good main card opener i do agree that cody garbrand versus or cody garbant versus davis grader should be the featured prelent because someone's gonna someone's gonna die in that fight and people are gonna be

like i want to see more people die here's eighty dollars all by a pay per view so i think that seems like a really good featured prelim former champion versus former champion two guys that you know they generate a lot of interest on social media. Bo Nickel can be where, like, again, this fight card is so you can line this up. After the main card, you can line this up as ever you want because I'm, especially if they're all on ESPN, I've said this a few times. Like if all the fight cards are on ESPN, I don't really view main card prelim, early prelims as a thing. You're not changing the channel.

You're just, you know, there's just a little bit of a break between the third fight and the fourth fight. So line this up wherever you want because I just want to see them fight. I don't care if Arm and Sarucan versus Charles Laverer is the first fight of the night because you know what? We get to watch Charles Oliver fight Arm and Sarukian. Don't care when or where it happens. Just want to watch that fight. I'm happy it's in front of a crowd.

But I think an undisputed championship should headline pay-per-views. I've got a better question for Mike, for you and for Jose, frankly. Who's jerking the curtain on this thing? Like maybe they add, if they do add the main event we've talked about, They also might add one more fight because I think there are 10 official fights for this card right now. Who would be the opener fight of the like half-filled T-Mobile arena? Probably Bobby Green and Jim Miller. Oh, that hurts.

You can't have Jim Miller jerking curtains. Why not? I think that ends up on ESPN. I think. Why not? Legitimately, I would say Kayla Harrison, Holly Hope should jerk the curtain. I mean. Because that fight is probably going to suck, and let's start the night out boring and then build off of it.

But there's no chance in the hell they do that. You know what opens the card of UFC 200? I have no idea. Jim Miller versus Takenori Gomi. Have Jim Miller open 300, too. There you go. Takenori Gomi is a much bigger legend than Bobby Green. And those two are open in the card.

And then, you know, you know who fought after them? Sage Northcutt versus I'm not even going to tell you we fought because I bet you two can't even remember. So, yeah. There's zero chance. I can remember. Put Jim Miller is the Enrique Merrin, something like that?

Correct. It doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, I bet. But yeah, put Jim Miller at the opener of the card. Man, you know, there's, as a seasoned veteran and a man who probably has a lot of gray hairs, probably has an early bedtime.

Jim Miller can open the card. I don't hate Diego Lopez Sudik Yusuf opening in the card. I'd rather that open the word. You're going to come out in droves to watch Diego Lopez fight. It wouldn't be a bad idea because Mexicans travel and they also

traveled to Las Vegas. So if you want a filled T-Mobile arena, you put Diego Lopes at the beginning. And I mean, it's obviously not going to sell out, but they'll probably be more than, more than if Jim Miller opened up. But my answer is still Jim Miller versus Bobby Green. Hey, Kate could go wrong either way. Well, let's move on. The point for round number four goes to, I mean, the passion from hypothetical Jose is just so good. Two to two. Two to two. Who could have seen is coming? And now we go to the knockout round because there was an earlier question that happened, where both Jed and Jose were wrong. Both of you were wrong. And we're going to rectify that and we're going to correct that right now.

And we're going to do this the right way. So we'll have one question, 60 seconds for each competitor to give their thoughts and their takes. And then we'll turn it over to, I don't know, Casey, you could decide. You could either pick it or we can go to the peeps, however you want to do it. If we're going to go to the peepst, just let us know. But Jed, what do you want to do? Price is right rules. Do you want this first showcase?

Do you want to pass it on over to Jose? I'm ready to be done with this. Let's go first. Oh, I don't know how I feel about that. But the correct answer for the low-key MVP of UFC 297 is the only fighter during the UFC 297 watch party that got GC and I to stand out of our chairs and not only stand out of our chairs,

but applaud the first standing ovation in the history of the watch party. And it's from a guy who did not compete at UFC 297. In fact, he is not an active fighter at all. The low-key MVP for me was one Frankie Edgar, who has just been announced as the first member of the 2024 UFC Hall of Fame, well-deserved, former champion, Benin Wars, a guy that outkicked his coverage his entire career. So Jed, 60 seconds.

I know that it may not be enough time, but 60 second, you know, welcome to the Hall of Fame speech about one Frankie Edgar. This is a great move. Talk about Frankie Edgar. You're introducing him to the crowd in only 60 seconds. Go right ahead. Start now. I hate Frankie Edgar.

I've hated him for a long time. I think Jose previously mentioned that our colleague New York, Rick, said that he used to hate Frankie until he loved him. I hate forever. because I just have that in me. For the same reasons, Frankie robbed BJ in that first fight. BJ never should have lost his belt to Frankie.

Frankie obviously then clearly won the next two, but that's a separate issue. And I never forgave him. I took great joy in watching Josealdo beat him up. And everything that came after that. All that being said, a great amount of respect for Frank Yeager. And at various points of time,

I've argued that there is a case to be made that he is the best fighter in history. because the man was a career Bannamweight who won the UFC lightweight title. Fighting 20 pounds above his weight, he won the UFC Lightway Belt, held it for a long time, and kind of established himself as a legend in two weight classes over the course of his career. Incredibly deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. And I'm glad the UFC got this one right and didn't make him weight like they have with some others. So congratulations, Frank Yeager. I still hate the shit out of you. Wow. All right, Jose, save question. One minute on the clock.

Franky Edgar, Hall of Famer, waxed politically about one Frankie Edgar. Go. Well, have either of you two been to Tom's River, New Jersey? I'm willing to bet you haven't because that place sucks. If you like to do drugs, go to Tom's River, New Jersey. So the fact that Frankie Edgar has made Tom's... I am willing to bet if Frankie Edgar didn't fight, 99% of the MMA fandom would not even know Tom's River, Jersey existed. So the fact that Frankie Edgar is putting this very lame town on a map speaks volumes.

As Jed said, the man is a career of Bannamweight, won the title at lightweight. I scored the second Benson-Henderson fight for Frank Edgar. I thought he lost Feren Square in the first fight. Drop down to featherweight, pushed Josealdo to his absolute limit. Drop down to Bantamweight, almost fought for the title there. We have a rankings panel at M8Fighting.com. I am not on it because I just don't want to argue about what pound for pound means. Frank Edgar did the pound for pound thing. He fought the best of the best at three weight classes. He is pound for pounds, one of the best fighters that has ever lived.

I don't know if I have enough time, but Tom's River in Jersey sucks. Frank Edgar is awesome. Well, if you want to take a trip to majestic time, don't do that. Don't do that. Call your local travel agents and make that happen because Jose has sold the goods. for good old TRNJ. I probably did honestly, and that's a little alarming. Also, isn't it super weird that the UFC announced this in Canada

when they're going to Jersey in like a month? This just seems dumb as shit to me, right? It was like one of the more memorable moments of the pay-per-view, though. I mean, it helped. Sir, this is the, this is the UFC we're talking about. Islam Mahathev literally said, I want to fight Justin Gachie in June. So the UFC booked Justin Gagee to fight Max Holloway in April.

Like, let's not look past the point of the UFC doing odd things. It's true. But this one, like, they had to buy him a ticket to Canada. They just been like, hey, man, get off your couch and come up the 405 or whatever. I just don't understand it. Like, I don't. Great, should be inducted. Why are we doing this in Canada?

Yeah, I thought that was kind of, the evasion he would have got in Atlantic City would have been pretty cool. But the last time he fought, the last time he was in Canada, he was losing to Macs. Yeah, I was there for both of those. It's not like he even had like the biggest win of his career was in Toronto. No. It's just a moment, a moment for a moment's sake. Casey, are you picking the winner? Are we going to the peeps?

How are we doing this? We're going to the peeps. All right. We are a democracy here at MMA fighting.com. Well, that was before last week, we were not. Do you remember, say, see, here's the thing, Jed. Remember how you said that you should have beaten, B. I assume it was B.C. you said you should have beaten, correct?

Yeah. The last time I faced B.C., his answer to the knockout round was he couldn't think of an answer. I remember. He literally used all 60 seconds. He used 59 seconds to think and it said, I don't know. And then the fans voted he won. You were the host of that one, Jed. What a moment.

Were you? What an alarming time that was. Yeah, when Jed hosts, things go off the rails. A guy wins without answering the last question. And the only time in the history of the show that we didn't go to the last question was when Jed hosted as well. So what a time. Casey, how are we doing on the votes? I would love to plug all the weekend content, but, yeah, I think, I think we ever win.

B&E, this is no UFC event. Royal Rumble on Saturday. I am looking forward to watching the Rumble. Where is the Rumble this year? Tampa, Florida. Ooh. Would you rather go to Tampa or Tom's River, Jose? say.

That has to be Tampa. It can't even be close. Can I say? Can I say? Someone who's been in the You would rather go to Tom's River. No, I don't know. If I want to do drugs, I can just do them somewhere else and not one of those two because that's the only reason to go to either city.

Yeah, but Tampa's also like right next to some good spots, clear water and stuff. Those are all like fine, beachy spaces. much better than Tom's River. Sir, I don't use the term good spots when referring to anything in Florida. This is true. Shout out Florida. Shout out to the Sunshine State.

As someone that's from Central Florida, I have no issue saying all the crap about Florida. Yeah. Better than Jersey. Let's not for me. I've been to Tom's River. I was in Tom's River when that big, a couple weeks after that,

big hurricane came and I helped I helped do a Sandy came and I did some charity videos with Frankie Edgar in Tom's River on the boardwalk the boardwalk which had the freaking roller coaster in the ocean which is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in real life a roller coaster in the ocean so I love Tom's River by the way because it was most ridiculous thing I've ever heard it's most ridiculous thing I've ever heard oh it was it was unbelievably awesome The only reason I would ever. The only reason I would ever go to Central Florida realistically is to watch the Red Sox spring training.

But even now, I have no desire to watch that team do anything. So, yeah, there's no reason to go to Central Florida. Might be cheaper than ever to go to Four Myers this year to watch the Red Sox. So I would not, you couldn't even pay me to go to Four Myers if even if the Red Sox weren't playing. I also don't, I also don't like golf. And I'm not an idiot. it so I don't like going to Florida. Okay, we have to move on.

Casey, please have me, Jed one. Yeah. Your winner today with 62% of the fan votes is... Oops, good number. And still, Jet Bishu. Yeah. There you go. So Jed gets to go to beautiful Tampa, Florida.

Jose, Consolation Prize. You're off to Tom's River for a one. week. All expenses paid. Jed, congratulations. Final thoughts. I go to Tampa a lot. My best friend lives there. It's not great, but Florida's better than Jersey. This seems the weather's always nice. I don't. It seems like this much. It's the most ridiculous ending to the show of her that

we're banking on Jersey versus Florida. Florida got problems, but it's 80 and sunny. I'll take that every time. Yes. I love you. Jose, enjoy Tom's River. Any final thoughts? Mm-hmm. No.

I don't know. Picking between Jersey and Florida is like picking which kneecap you want to get shot in. The left, obviously. Having said that, we love you all. If you're in New Jersey or Florida or Massachusetts or Wisconsin or South Carolina, wherever you may be watching right now in the United States or around the world, we appreciate that case you can hit the music. Let's get the hell out of here.

We have exhausted everybody's time and ending with the most heated debate of all. It wasn't should DDP is he headline UFC 300 or not. It's should you go to TANF? What a memorable show. Thank you all. Back next week. We'll get you ready for UFC Vegas 84.

85. You could just make up a number and I would believe you. Roman Belize A. We'll be back at action. We'll get excited. Middle weight, everybody. Middleweight. Until then, thank you very much.

Back next week. Good night, everybody. Love, yeah. This has been Between the Links, an MMI fighting production on the Vox Media Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Carroll, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome. And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like Glass Animals.

I guess that was the idea, was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album about joy. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus.