MMA Fighting - BTL | Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya, UFC 305, Dana White's Update On Conor McGregor

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

The UFC returns to pay-per-view this Saturday in Perth, Western Australia, and brings a highly anticipated title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya to cap off UFC 305. What is at stake for both fighters overall, and why does it feel like the heated rivalry fight is flying under the radar?  On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses this weekend's card, the main event between du Plessis and Adesanya, and where both guys go with a title win. Additionally, topics include other storylines at UFC 305, the fallout of a lackluster UFC Vegas 95 card, Dana White's latest update on the return of Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler's response, the PFL returning this week, big fights confirmed, and much more.  Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew to answer your questions about those topics, and the biggest stories in the MMA world. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? Easy. Want honey-crisp apples that are firm green and definitely not Macintosh like last year

when you lost the fall bake-off to perfect Penelope Johnson? Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions and terms apply. 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. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at TELUS.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hi. Okay.

From MMA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... Only on BTL, can you get two themes for the price of one. That's right, everybody. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of the program. It's another Thursday. And ladies and gentlemen, it's another Q&A edition of the show because there's just so much going on.

We got UFC 305 coming up. We got a preview show coming up in just a couple of hours. So we figured, hey, let's just go live. Let's answer your questions about not just UFC 305, but all the big news going on, all the big fights announced, et cetera, et cetera. As Esther said, I am Mike Haken. Joining me as always, Mr. Nogreiraeer, the hot take kid, the cannonball kid, and the Baron of Boof from MNAMAFighting.com,

Mr. Jed Mishu. Hello, Jed, excited to be back at the Michoud Mansion in a little over 48 hours from now. It's going to be terrific. I love all the titles. I'm starting to sound like Denary's Targaryen. Just you're speaking about me for a full two minutes before you actually get to my name. I'll need to accrue some more, you know, and I'll keep working on it.

I'll innovate my game to make sure you have to add more things to call me moving forward. Yeah, there's six or seven things that I left out. So you've got a lot going on. And also joining us on, as he typically does on these Q&A editions, the baddestash in all of MMA, the chair swinging fool himself. Sleeves are optional with the one and only E Casey Leiden, who will be fielding your questions, commenting.

There he is. How are we doing, Casey? Doing wonderful. I was up very late last night, working on videos coming in live from Perth, but I've woken up and I'm here with you on two and a half hours of sleep, sleeveless, ready to talk mixed martial arts.

Let's go. All right. So bring them. Bring those questions. Throw them in the chat, of course, the super chatters. You are the VIPs, so to spend. I mean, you're all VIPs, but they just get to the front of the line. So let's go. Let's see what you got. You're not all these. You're not. Some of you mean more. If you want to mean more, if you want to mean more, if you want to matter, you know what to do. Yes. You can sit outside the club waiting to get in. or you can, you know, slide the bouncer or tenor, make your way on in. Choice is yours. Well played. Ice coffee. Ice coffee. All right.

Here we go. First question. Thank you to all the super chatters. Here we go. You are VIPs. Gee, shocking question. What's going on at the M.M.A. I know, God, I hope we don't lose like a ton of viewers after this question, but here's the thing.

Don't answer it. Make them wait, Mike. That's good broadcasting. We'll answer this at the end of the show. Stick around. I'm going to give you the answer right after this commercial break. Now, honestly, I don't, I don't know. That's honest. I wish I had more to tell you. I have no idea. That's it. That's really all I could say. We found out pretty much the same time you all found out that this is happening. And I know there, I know, there's a million questions about this. I jumped on an IG live for a little bit, and that was half the questions I got was what's going on, who's going to step in, what are we doing? And the answer is, I have no idea. So stay tuned. What it does mean, Jed, and I know you're excited about this, it frees us up to do more cool things. So for everybody who wants swing rounds to come back and other things like that, we now have more time. Damn, they were good.

We haven't had a damn in a hot minute, but now we have more time to do some of the things. So as we build towards what the answer to this question is, we'll be able to do a lot more video content. We'll do a lot more different things. So Jed, what would you like to say about the situation? Because Ariel's obviously great. He's always been great to me. We will miss him for sure. Tremendous teammate. Time for him to go after what he wants. And it seems like that's what he's doing. You know, happy for him. I'm pretty clear. in my stance and all of this. Do it makes you happy.

And I know that he liked working here, but we'll find out kind of what the announcement is. Seems stoked. I'm sure that it will be something cool because that's sort of how he goes. And I will say that I think now is the right time, Mike, to announce that I'll be taking over the MMA hour. We're going to rebrand it.

It's going to be the MMA six hours because it's a more appropriate title for the program. And it's just going to be this. It's just going to be us answer. questions for six hours a day. It's going to be great. Everyone's going to really enjoy it. No fighters will come and do interviews because I've bad mouthed many of them.

And so they're scared to compete, frankly. That's all I have to say. Fighters, if you don't come on my MMA hour, you're scared to compete and no one can take you seriously as a professional combatant. So it's going to be great fun. You know, I'm going to find my own New York Rick and Mysterious Frank. I got to replace all of them. We can't, I'm not running out with anybody else's sloppy seconds here.

I bring my own crew. It's going to be a good time. There you go. There's your answer, folks. There it is. All right. Thank you much. Super chat from Bobby Atkins.

Bob A. Mike Heck future host, the MAA hour. Seriously, though, I hope the watch parties continue. They will continue. You know, it's funny, we had a meeting yesterday. And one of my questions was, will the watch parties continue? And Jed just beautifully was like, yeah, I think it's going to be pretty easy for me to sit in if we if we need to. But we don't even know what's going on with that either.

If, you know, Connor ends up going with Ariel, then we're at the Michoud Manchin. Jed can just walk six steps over to the couch. They'll say it's a really easy commute for me if I'm called the service here. Unfortunately, Bobby, love the question. Mike won't be the host of the M.M.A. hour, as we've mentioned, I am taking over. So I'll bring him in. You know, we'll have him there. He can be, you know, because we're going to revamp the whole thing.

We're going to go much more of kind of a late night host vibe. I'm going to have the multiple couches, guests sitting in. We can have, Mike, what's your musical acumen? Can you be my quest love? Is that an option for us? Or can I get you like a piccolo, a clarinet? What can you play? I played the trumpet in the past when I was a young, young buck.

My kid plays piano better than I probably ever played the trumpet. But I could MC, I could DJ. I give you a good intro every week. I could probably produce your theme song pretty easily. I hear that you make the best theme songs in the business. I got a couple of doozies in the can. Well, look, we'll find a space for you in the Jedi. I don't know what it's going to be yet, but we'll get you in there.

Don't you worry about that. Love that. Thank you. My future is set. You're covered. But the watch fires will continue. GC is going to be there Saturday. Will he be there in September?

We'll see. Hopefully. If not, we'll continue on. All right. Thank you much. Super chat from our wonderful friend, Chase. This is the real chase or the fake chase?

I figured this is coming. Jed, how happy were you when Dana basically told Chandler he's never getting the Conner fight? Me personally, it put a huge smile on my face. Jed, the floor is yours, my friend. Look, I don't want to lie to anybody and pretend that I'm, I wasn't happy. Like, it did put a smile on my face. But at this point, I like, I want to be very clear.

I don't feel bad for the man at all. At this point, it's just so consistent. And so, like, it just happens so much that the novelty and joy is wearing off. Like, it is no longer the deeply funny thing every time something like this happens. It's just like, oh, it's still funny that we're doing this. But, you know, it wasn't like I didn't break out into peals of laughter. I was like, oh, good heavens. What are we doing here?

Because, again, also, other side of this, what, when Dana says something that does not make it true, there's just a long history of Dana saying things that aren't true. And so you shouldn't be like, oh, Connor's definitely not fighting this year. But like, I think a lot of us weren't sure that Connor was fighting ever again anyway. And so this does feel like confirmation of that. And then Connor comes out and says, no, I actually am fighting. But the funny thing about that is I don't know if you guys can remember 13, 15 months ago, but I can. and most of 2023 was Connor saying,

I'm coming back at this date. And Dana being like, that's not happening. No, no, now I'm going to come back in December. I'm going to fight before the end of year. And Dana be like, that's not happening. No, okay, I'm going to fight in January. That's not happening. I'm going to be the main event of you of C-300.

I don't know where he's getting this. None of this is happening. And so when it comes to Dana talking about Connor returning, that has proven to be fairly true. So I would say that it is unlikely Connor-Gueger fights in the year 2024, which is insane and really weird

kind of from Dana as well. But before I do want to circle back to that. But Mike, like, what did you think when you saw that before I dive into the second piece of this? I was torn. I was just like, eh, whatever happens happens at this point.

One thing I didn't expect to happen was for Michael Chandler to literally come out and say, what all of us who have been covering the sport for so long have always said. Here's what Michael Chandler had to say to TMZ earlier today. Quote, Dana, as much as we love him, he has also said some things that were just absolutely false in press conferences and whatnot, which that's his job.

Sometimes it's his job to give you the exact information. His job is sometimes to give you misinformation. So sometimes saying the fight isn't happening this year might mean that this fight is happening this year, just like he did when I already knew I was fighting June 29th. I think it was around the Super Bowl in February. He tells Pat McAfee that Connor and Chandler

aren't fighting until the end of the year probably. So you can read between the lines. But as far as I know, this fight is some very huge prospects to fight by the end of the year. Connor's ready. I'm ready. Let's sign on the dotted line. So hearing Chandler say it,

in still like a very friendly, somewhat political way, is like, this doesn't mean the fight's dead. So if you're just ready to dance on my grave And dance on the grave of this fight And this potential matchup You might want to pump the brakes a little bit But I actually popped a little bit When he was like, when he said,

Dane as much we love him, He has said some things that were just absolutely false. I thought that was fantastic. So he still has hope. He's ready to move on, But most of that TMZ interview was him saying, what are we doing here? Let's just fight in December.

So I think I'm still going to, if I had a bet, I think it does happen. I'm still going to bet no, but it's really weird. Because the other piece of this that kind of struck me yesterday is how odd this whole situation is from Dana's perspective. Because we've made a lot of light of Dana being the world's biggest John Jones fan kind of out of nowhere. And like he doubled down on it this past week again and was like,

if you don't have John Jones as the top pound fighter, you shouldn't be able to speak about anything. Like just some real ludicrous nonsense. it is very odd to me that he is so heavily invested in John in this way. I honestly can't figure it out beyond the baseline of he is so mad that Francis left and that Francis and John were once tied to each other that he now feels compelled to make John the best heavyweight in the world by big upping him to the exclusion of all else. It's the only thing that makes sense to me.

but kind of tied to that his total like his super super focus on promoting john jones and his genuine disinterest in promoting connor mcgregor is baffling to me because when like last year when connor was saying i'm going to fight whatever dana would be like that's not happening when he should have been like that's what connor said great i'll get him on the phone right now we want to get him back because we want him back because we want to put him in paper views because that is business for us. And Connor pulling out of this one saying, yeah, it's actually not that bad, should be able to fight in a few months.

And Dana is not moving heaven and earth to get Connor to fight again. And it is incredibly weird to me, especially given that their rights deal is coming up. And the way that their rights are structured now, the paper views work for the USC is they get a flat sum from ESPN. per pay-per-view, but that sum is functionally an aggregate of the previous year's totals or et cetera. However, they have some sort of a system to be like, okay, we're averaging out paper views over this time period, and that's kind of the flat rate we give you. Anything extra, ESPN keeps the difference, anything beneath that flat rate, ESPN just eats that

loss. Like, that's how that was structured. And so as they are redoing a deal, the last time they redid a deal or they have a TV rights or something that this is coming on, that's when you get the first. court press of here's all our best shit because we want to have the best forward when we're negotiating with Netflix, et cetera, et cetera. And so you would think, or at least I certainly would, yeah, I would like to have a Connor McGregor $1.4 million pay-per-view in hand to be like, hey, Netflix, if you want to get in this game, price of the brick going up. And he does not seem

interested in that at all. And it is shocking to, I genuinely can't figure out why. I just Do you have any idea? Because I have none that seem reasonable. I have no idea if I had to take a guess. John Jones, before he fought Cyril Gahn, let people know that he had an eight-fight contract that remained an eight-fight contract, but the percentages went up.

So after the Cyril-Gone fight, he saw seven fights left in his deal with the UFC. Now, will he fulfill even two of those fights? nobody knows at this point but connor has been very public that he has just two fights left on his deal is this a way is this a negotiation tactic is this is this an a ds situation all over again is that what this is where he's just saying hey we're just going to ice you we offered you that's the thing he has two fights he has two like i i would have zero questions about what is happening if connor's on the last fight of his deal it would be the most obvious apparent thing he has two

Two is more than one. When you get down to one, it doesn't magically be like, actually, now the contract's over. Because it's one or a few. Like, no, they still have two. Why are they not going? Full, like, why is he not being like Connor wants to fight? We're already booked for December. That's the opening.

We're doing it. December, Connor McGregor is back here. Like, I do not understand his total lack of interest in signing Connor. I cannot figure it out. It's very, very strange. And even Chandler's response on Twitter yesterday was interesting where you said like the sport will move on and thrive without you, which to some extent is true.

It just, it has. They haven't had them in three years and the UFC's business is better than it ever has without a Connor McGregor fight. But like you said, heading into a contract year, so to speak, with negotiation and TV rights, you got to get the biggest star in history out there. Even if it's just for one fight, just get them out there. just get them out there, do a $20 million gate

or whatever this gate was going to be for 303 and just sell a million pay-per-views. Like, we'll never know that number, but you've got to think that Conner's return after three and a half years is going to do a million, a million-five PPVs easy. Exactly. And that's the thing.

Like, we'll never know it, but Netflix will. Because it's, hey, in the year 2024, our gross pay-per-view sales were this many. That number is better if Connor fought than if he didn't. That is, it is probably a million and change better than a replacement pay-per-view thing. Because he's probably doing 1.2,

1.3 million just on name alone. So I genuinely do not get it. If this was last fighting his contract, totally. Okay, absolutely. Yeah, you're just going to wait forever and try and play that leverage game.

And that's super shitty, but like I at least would understand this. I even kind of got it when it was like, okay, three, we don't want to double up on him with 300. Totally makes sense. International fight week's coming. This is supposed to be a big event. We just want to put him at international fight week.

Okay. Well, I know we all think John Jones is fighting in New York City, and I guess that's the case. I just, what are you waiting for with him? Like, what next big event are you looking at to get him involved? I don't get it, man. I do not understand what's happening here. Is there a case that the UFSI?

doesn't need superstars anymore? No, they don't need it. They absolutely don't need it. Like, 100% they do not need it. But it, like, I don't need to eat steak, Casey. I still like to eat steak. Like, I wouldn't want to eat steak every night. That's a lot.

And I don't need it. But, like, it's there. I don't see the downside to Connor fighting. Like, I see zero downside to it at all. I just don't get it. The only reason I say is because because Connor is the only fighter that you could say maybe is bigger than the UFC. And that's not what the UFC wants. Nope.

They sure don't. I'm playing the other side here. I'm like, I don't know. You're absolutely right. Like you're absolutely right. They've been down this road with Connor before. They don't want to do this again. They want popular fighters that will help them sell pay-reviews but are also on-team.

UFC all the way. And sure, you'll get somebody like John speaking up against them. Occasionally you'll get a Sean O'Malley talking about contracts and new deals and all this stuff. But eventually, cooler heads end up prevailing. And the UFC is okay dealing with that. But when they were dealing with Connor in 2016, when they sold the company originally, and then even after that and then heading into the Floyd fight, like, you're right, he was bigger than the sport. And that's a headache. It's just a big headache. It's money for the UFC, but it's you got to deal with a lot of stuff that comes with that. that too. So the UFC wants those three letters to be the star. They want the marquee.

They want the sale to be UFC. That's why they could do record breaking gates in St. Louis with Derek Lewis versus Rodrigo Nassimento. They ain't buying tickets because Rodriguez Nassavento is fighting in a main event. They're buying tickets because it's the UFC. They're the brand right now. They're WrestleMania. That's who they are. Yeah, but Connor doesn't diminish the UFC brand. Connor is bigger than the UFC brand 100%. But particularly when, he's fighting under the brand, he rises the tide with him. And like there's, there is no, there is literally not a downside. Like, what is the downside? People will be more interested in the UFC product. Like, he still has one fight left on his deal. Again, if this was the last fight and

you're, you're spending him out to then go be free and, you know, do whatever he can. Okay. Again, I think that's really stupid and morally despicable. But there's a logic there. Like, hey, we're, we are in a contract here and trying to max our value, we have a dude who will increase our value. We are not trying hard to get him back here. If the other side, and there is a world where this is a Connor issue, right? Where the U.S. Connor is not actually saying, I really want to fight. He's just presenting that out publicly.

But privately, he's like, I'm not doing it. I'm going to Abitha for Christmas with my family and I'm not fighting in December. suck it. That is possible as well. The only reason I don't think that that is true, Dana has no fucking issue throwing people under the bus. He does that shit all the time. He would just come out and be like, Connor don't want to fight this year. So no, he's not fighting. The guy, I can't. He's done it this year where he's like, listen, Connor's the best business part we ever had. But when you got all that money and you're doing this, your motivation to fight just isn't there. And I think that's what we're dealing with with Connors, so to speak.

And yeah, it's just super weird. Let me ask you this. Is there a big difference in him fighting in December or fighting in January? You think they're looking maybe a January and that still would be like he's not fighting this year, which is technically still true, but you're just pushing him back a month? I mean, that would depend on how their rights deal goes forward. But if he fights after the rights deal is done, I would say that that is a fairly substantial difference. Whereas before, maybe it's not, maybe they can negotiate with the promise of Connor

McGregor. And maybe that is it. It's, well, if you take us, you get Connor because we only have two fights left, but you get both of them. Or like, I don't know, that's the only kind of thing. Otherwise, no, in general, their bottom lines don't, except for it probably affects somebody's bonus structure because people probably have bonus structure incentive tied to these things.

And so, you know, there's that. But it's not a major difference. but the issue I'm raising is it feels like a major difference as they're negotiating TV rights. Like that feels substantive to me. So I can't understand why he is just so disinterested in promoting Connor anymore. The deal's not up to the end of next year, right? End of 2025. Is it the end of 2025?

I'm pretty sure. Oh, I just make sure I'm 100% true. Yeah, it's not, I don't think. In my head, I thought the deal ended this year. No, I think they could start negotiating runs through 2025. Okay, then yeah, never mind. Everything I said is wrong. It doesn't matter then.

Yeah, it'll be 2020. The new deal would start in 2026. Everything I said is incorrect. We could just clip this out of the podcast. But still, no, but they could make a decision before then, right? No, they could. But I. Yeah.

So you're not. I assume they will let. I assume they'll let that go down to the wire unless someone Godfather offers them. Because the longer it goes, the more opportunity. they have to leverage. And just with all TV rights deals, TV rights deals are like quarterback contracts. You want to be the last guy to sign your contract because the next guy after you is getting more.

It's just TV rights deals are only skyrocketing. So long you wait, the more value you're going to procure from it. So my mistake, thought it was into this year. Yeah, totally get it now. Seems fine. They don't give a shit. As long as you fight. There will be a contract like nine months before.

the ends or whatever. I mean, it's not going to be like. Maybe. Yeah, the deal will be done well before the con. Well, like, they will announce a new deal well before the, this deal ends. You would assume. I would say it the earliest I would anticipate the summer. Yeah.

I mean, look at what WWE did. They announced the Netflix deal and they're still with, what is it? They're with like USA or whatever for raw until October, November. Universal, I think, actually. Yeah, I think it's universal. But yeah, either way, they announced it well before. So yeah, I think we're going to get that now. I think we'll probably know by International Fight Week 2025 what they're going to do.

They'll try. I mean, what they're going to do is go to Netflix and maybe do a split deal. Yeah, they'll be a surprise if they don't sign with Netflix. Yeah. Okay. Is that enough Conner talk for a guy that's never going to fight? It hasn't fought a million. I'm still just as confused about this whole thing.

More than enough kind of time. I have been all year. Yeah. Yeah. When are we over? Is there like, is there like? You've been over Connor McGregor for seven years. Okay.

All right. Yeah. I've been I've been over this. The anime community is not. No. I was going to say that because I saw we did another. I saw just I just scrimps going with our Instagram and another Chandler Connor post. which looked exactly like the same post that we probably put up nine months ago

and it still had like 10 zillion likes and comments though yeah engagement baby there's a lot of newer fans there's a lot of newer fans who know of the sort of aura that Connor brings but have not seen him fight so those people are like really intrigued by it but those of us who have been watching for 10 years plus and through this entire Connor run we're just ready for something Or Mike worse, they have seen him fight, but they saw him fight after 2016. Yeah, yeah, that's actually. If you saw him fight before 2016, he was also. If you've seen him fight in the last decade, he sucked shit.

Is there any equivalent to this if like a non-MMA fan? Like if you were a baseball fan, like I got into baseball, but I just missed this guy. I don't know. I'm trying. Is there any sort of equivalent you can kind of us growing up watching sports? is like, or is this a very unique thing? Like someone on this level, they're just kind of disappearing, but also being there, but just not. It's like, Jordan.

Mike Tyson is the, is the comp. Tyson after he went to prison and then came back, he was, he was never Tyson. I mean, after Buster functionally, but he was super not Tyson after, after prison and coming back and then the Lennox Lewis stuff and the ear bite, which is like, I don't know, Mike Tyson biting the ear is honestly. not that dissimilar to Connor McGregor, shattering his leg, and then screaming obscenities

at Dustin Porre's wife and making like legitimately abhorrent threats. It's just all kind of in an insane move. And so Tyson feels like a pretty decent comp. Yeah. Yeah, right. So many people say Tyson's their favorite fighter, but they were like not born or babies

when Tyson was in his heyday, you know, so yeah, I can see that. That's a good one. Yeah. And it's like, you know, Like, Tyson is like a cultural, relevant human that people are like, yeah, Mike Tyson rules.

And it's like, I don't know. He was dope. But like, he all there's like I, I didn't get to really watch the Mike Tyson prime as like, I watched boxing a lot with my dad growing up. Like he was into boxing. We did it. But I'm trying to, I'm pulling up Tyson to think like when the first. Because like we definitely watched the holy field fights. Like, we ordered those pay-per-views and watched them.

But, like, I- You bought Peter McNally. You bought Peter McNally. I didn't buy anything. My dad bought it. But, like, I wasn't-old enough to watch Baxter-Douglas. God, Peter McNeely. What a time in Massachusetts when he got the Tyson fight.

He talked to all sorts of greases. For those paper views, didn't you have to literally pick up a phone and call? Yeah. Yeah. You had to talk to people. You had to talk to someone. review blocks too. Yeah.

You have a special box. Yeah, they call them. To do it. And so like, but like Douglas was 90. I was not old enough to do Douglas. So I came into boxing, even when I was eight and still didn't know anything watching the Holyfield fights. Like, I came in to know that Mike Tyson is very scary man.

And you see the highlights of him knocking people out. And then your first experience is him fighting Vanderholyfield's ear because he's getting his ass beat so bad. he doesn't have any other answers. And it's just like, that's it. But like, I still, I'm the same as everyone else. Like, I went, when I got older, I went back in to watch Tyson do cool stuff. It's like, yeah, get it.

That guy was pretty cool when he was cooking. Yeah. All right. Chase, lots of super chats coming out. I think you got your 10, I think you got your 10 bucks worth. Yeah. That's a great question. That's how you do it.

Super chat from LazyBed. Actually, I don't know what this means, but maybe. I missed this in the sports news. This Pratch is single-handedly making SIG's great again. Pratchez likes to rip a couple butts. Rips a couple darts. A couple darts. A couple darts.

Carlos Prachis. Yeah. He's a dart smoker. All right. He might be. He went up and just talked to Izzy and was like, hey man, like we've met before back at like when you fought in China like a lifetime ago. And Izzy's like, oh, that's awesome. It was like, yeah.

It was just like, Carlos Proaches, you roll. You're too old to like be a good prospect, but you're fun as hell, man. I love a fighter who's just going to go out there and just fire heaters. Is this good for my cardio? Not a chance. Don't care at all. Life's too short. I'm trying to have a good time.

And then rip a couple darts after. Just going. Please rank these fights in order of most. likely to happen. Johns versus Aspinall, Connor versus Chandler, Connor versus Holloway 2, Harrison versus Dudes,

Aldo versus Cruz. Okay. Jones Aspinol is the very bottom. It's because it's 0.0001%. Never say never. Miracles do happen every day. That would be a certified miracle if that fight takes place.

That's bottom. Connor Holloway 2 is just like right above it. Like they are the same. There is a world where Connor would take that fight because he respects Max and certainly Max would take it. It'd be very big business, particularly if Max is the BMF champion and Connor feels like he can get something out of it. But if I am Connor's team, I am strongly suggesting he not get the shit kicked out of him by Max Holloway. Because we saw how that worked with Dustin.

He gave Dustin a rematch. And now no one talks about Connor killing Dustin the first time. they talk about Connor getting done up. So I would say that I would say that both of those fights are extremely unlikely to happen. Aldo Cruz, I'm still going to hold out some chance that that happens. I don't think it's very likely. It's the easiest one to make happen, but it won't. It's the easiest one to make happen, but they've already got Aldo, you know, fighting whoever, I don't even know who's from.

Mario Batista. Mario Batista, which is something weird to see. In altitude again. Jose Aldo. But at least Mara Batista, like, that's better than Marab at altitude. It's a really weird use of Jose Aldo. I don't believe Dominic Cruz will ever fight again. But if he were to fight, he would fight Josie.

Like, if that offer came across his board, he would accept. It's just a matter of Aldo wanting to do it. So I'll say that that has five to 10% chance of happening. I really don't think Connor's fighting again. again, but maybe he will. I would say that that's next. And then the most likely is Harrison Nunes, which I believe will happen. I would say that's over 50% of likelihood.

Harrison gets the belt. And honestly, by the time she gets the belt, there won't be anyone for her to fight because she's already about to kill Vieira and then she'll kill whoever is the woman who holds the belt, be it Peña or Pennington. And then they'll just bring Nunes out of retirement. and they'll do it and it'll be a big fight. And I don't know where we go after that, but I think that fight is more than 50%.

So that's my order. Connor, I'm just going to be Mr. Positive here. I'll say Connor Chandler. I'll say Aldo Cruz. I'll say Harrison Nunes. Because I think those are the three most likely fights. Like these three can all happen.

Yes. Like there is a realistic road for all of them. Correct. Jones Asiminal, there's probably some sort of like tiny, bumpy nail, fill road that you have to get through. So you need to get like the best tires possible to tread through that sludge and

awfulness to get there. Jones asked me. There is a road. Yeah, there's a road. It's just a dark. It's the odyssey. It's going to be the odysse. It's a lot.

No, no chance. Yeah. It's a road that is beset by mines and toxic waste. Like there ain't nothing. No. If you get through it. It's a borderlands road. Also just saw borderlands.

That movie is terrible. Yeah. It's the, it's the. It's the. see. And then I don't think Connor Holloway too happens. I mean, yeah, it's, I just don't see, I just don't see a world unless Connor resigns and has a bunch of fights. If Connor beats Chandler and then refuses to resign, that would make sense to me as a final fight because it's a big fight. It's like Connor will lose dramatically, but it's a fight that Connor can sell himself on the benefits to fighting it. So I could see that being the final fight of Connor's contract. I don't think it's love. likely that I can I can squint my eyes and pick it out. All right.

Thank you much, Kenny. Wait, you watch Borderlands? Why? Because I see almost everything that comes out. Oh, okay. All right. I'm an AMC Stubbs member, Casey. Oh, you're one of those guys.

Yeah, you see all the bad news. There's an AMC that's like a half mile from my place. So like pretty much every Tuesday and Thursday, I'll just go see whatever's in theaters. I got to be seen. Copy that, copy that. Man, I was watching an interview of Kate Blanchette. Kate Blanchette. And I didn't realize Borderlands has been kind of like in post-production so long.

She was shooting that Borderlands at the same time she was shooting Tar. Did you see Tar? I did see Tar. Which I freaking love. Carr is much better than Borderlands. Tar is amazing. Watch. Everyone at home, watch Tar tonight.

Yeah, just watch. it's a great film well it's a lot of a film but it is a good film borderlands is like Borderlands should be good like it has a lot of

people who are good at their jobs in it and it it is like there's not a bad actor in the movie like frankly and it just it just whiffs entirely

like it's a huge miss it's not the worst thing I've seen this year but like I kind of thought that it had a chance to be decent because of the people involved in it. I was like, nope. Is it Madam Webb level level? No, no, no. Madam Webb and Argyll are locked in a death battle for the worst film I've ever seen. Oh, okay.

Borderlands is several tiers above them, but like it, it's one of the five worst movies I've seen this year. It just has nothing. Like it's not, Madam Webb is bad. Like, you can see that and as not a filmmaker, I can be like, I could do parts of this better. This is bad. How did this happen? Like, Borderlands is a professionally made film that just has no thing that draws you into it at all. I could talk about Madam Web a long time, but we're going to move on and talk about mixed martial arts.

There's a really bad movie. Thank you much. All right. Super Chat from Cole. Scott McRate, I did have a movie pass. I was one of the very early adopters of movie pass. I was a huge movie pass dude when it came out because I was like, dude, this is $10.

And it works, it worked everywhere when it first came out. And so it was sick. And then obviously they had a million scandals and it was really terrible in the long run. But I was in on the ground floor with movie pass. Bonsa Dana comparing power slap to boxing. I've not heard this. Oh, you didn't?

No, is unbelievable. Like the clip takes me out. 10 seconds. You'll find it is all over the same yesterday. I'll be honest with the, I'll be honest with the world. I'm a man of conviction. I tell the truth. I muted power slap on Twitter so long ago that I don't see any of that shit. Unless the UFC like puts it out there and you can't ignore it, but any clips about power slap that Dana says does not hit my timeline, which is the best. Well, the thing that was weird is it, it was like the Nelk boys or the full send, like one of those like he was on that podcast and one of the dudes pushed back on him and was like dude dana power slap

blows dan is like what are you talking was like it's the same thing was that was that bob mennery i've buddy i don't have any idea who these people what these people's names are it was just a guy he he was just like dana it's like what do you mean it's like it's the same thing like i can tell you what happens in every power slap they stand up there one dude gets hit inside of the face and the fights over every once in a while that dude gets in the side of the face stands back up and then he hits the other dude and the fights over there's there's nothing novel or new which is watching the same thing over and over again and Dana is like well that's ridiculous what are you what do you what do you what do you think m a is it's the same thing it's like no there can be wrestling and boxing and kickboxing

and their submissions and a whole bunch of okay what about boxing boxing's been around 100 years it's the same thing and just like data boxing one has been around far longer than that 100 years and is like it was just the most like he was confronted with a very obvious truth and had no answer around it it's like yeah no because what just say the truth dana's like oh did we just have idiots hitting each other in the face and people apparently pay money and download apps to watch that that's you could also say the like you could say the truth and acknowledge what he's saying like you know what there's a lot of there's a lot of repetitive action there but i also watch the same movies and listen to the same music like people don't mind that if what is being

repeated is cool and it's pretty cool to watch a dude get floored and like maybe that's not for you but it's just like the classic dana thing of hey man i don't think this thing is very good well you're stupid and you should not have the ability to think i don't agree with the thought that you have in your head so you shouldn't have any thoughts you don't think john jones is best fighter ever you shouldn't be allowed to think about MMA. Oh, you don't care for power slap. The answer is never like, that's okay, man. Not everything's for everybody.

Maybe you don't have to support it. A lot of people do are the fastest growing sport in the world or whatever. No, it's, oh, you don't, fuck you, I hate you and everything that you exist in representation of. It's all so combative, so often. I've said this a lot. It honestly must be a really exhausting way to go through life. This reminds me of, for newer fans, if you weren't around, when Dana talks about John,

this is how he used to be in the combative way, how he used to be when the name Fado or whatever come up. Like it would just be instant argument, instant you're an idiot. It was just like this for like, I feel like three or four years. It was just like that. And I feel like we're kind of, this kind of this new era of it. But now it's about John. Also, Beast Man.

again, you're not a VIP. I haven't paid to make this comment. So you actually aren't a VIP are important. Boxing is not the same. Every boxing match is not the same. They're just, it's not. You're allowed to block the punch in boxing. You're absolutely allowed to not care for boxing.

You don't have to. I'm not telling you to like boxing or to not like PowerSlapp. I've been really clear. If you're into Power Slap, that's fine. It's not for me. I don't have the same. moral issues with it that many people in this space do. Very obviously, boxing has substantially more craft and difference to it than power slap

does. It's very, very obviously. Find me a power slap fight that compares to the Virgil Ortiz Boeachuk fight. Give me that. Find one. Find something that matches what those two dudes did on Saturday night. The answer is you can and you won't. Just being like rock paper scissors.

is basically the same as chess. Like, both end with the winner and loser. You make some moves and it's over. Like it's, nope, they're just not. And that's okay. It's just not. Look, power slap is, power slap ain't for me, and I'm tired of hearing about it. I wish if it was so big, it would promote itself.

But it doesn't. The UFC has to promote it, which tells you everything you need to know. However, it is a brilliant short-term business considering where we're at in 2024. for because that thing is a social media juggernaut. You can make a shitload of money on social media right now. And clips of that nature are going to do well. It's just going to. And you can make a ton of money posting those on social media.

You will never get a television deal. Like, this ain't going to be on ESPN. They tried with TBS. Seemed like a cash buy to me. Nobody watched it. And this is when AEW was pumping ratings. They were giving them a million people, a million people into their show. And their ratings, average viewers for that time slot was like 220,000.

They went from a million to 220,000 in that hour. This thing has no staying power on television. It's not going to do pay-per-view. No one's going to buy it. You want to throw it on Rumble? Perfect place for it. You want to throw on social media, those clips? Perfect place for it.

This thing is just not, I just don't see it lasting because of the similar nature of it. Like, how many times can you watch somebody slap somebody in this? face. It has no long-term appeal to it. It is uniquely perfect for the current age, though, of like. 100% light-sized social media consumption. I am extremely confident that it does do very well on TikTok because, like, I assume they call them fights. I've still never watched one. I assume they call them fights because that seems like the fights last 12 seconds. So it's perfect for like TikTok and reels and that sort of thing. And ride that pony as long as you can, man.

Like if you can continue to do something with this, that's a successful business. Cool. But like you just don't have to lie. That's always my thing. You just don't have to lie about like it being the same as boxing. Like, sorry. I'm not on a crusade in Power Slap.

It's fine. Whatever you want to do is cool. Don't lie to me about it being the same as boxing. It's not. I will say it is a quote unquote sport that looks better vertical than a portrait. Yeah. I mean, it's like absolutely perfect. It's made to sit in the toilet go, oh, whoa.

Like that's it. Yeah. And that's a, that's a billion dollar industry. Oh, shit. Next one. Oh, shit. Oh, now here's a movie clip. Now here's some dude talking about Paula.

I don't want to get like that. Like that's your TikTok experience. It's perfect for it. All right. Thank you. And getting Page involved was a brilliant move too. Brilliant. I mean, that's how Casey got involved.

It is. That sold Casey. I mean, and I've always said that. As long as you have, if he have people I know hitting each other in face, I may not know personally, but just I,

whatever I know I've heard of, then I'll kind of, I'll peek over. But yeah, but not watching it. Yeah. All right. Thank you much.

Oh, an actual MMA question. Here we go. What? Does this happen last night? Yes. They announced UFC Edmonton for November 2nd. I live here. It'll be my first show.

Will Jose and AK be on the scene? Love the show. It is extremely unlikely both will be on the scene. Very possible one one will be on the scene. Maybe AK. Maybe AK. Let me figure out. I'll say I don't actually know.

Aaron Blanchfield, Rosamai Yunis, Derek Lewis, Alexander Romanov. I am uncertain that we put anyone there, actually. I don't know. What's a... I hope we send someone.

We may. That's a nice fight night. It's a nice fight night. We may, but that's... I mean, it is a flight from Toronto. It's not even like a close flight, frankly, so... Yeah, it's like the equivalent of

it's like east coast going to the west coast in the u.s i think cooper's on the pstst so or edmonton excuse me yeah it's a hike it's a hike so uh very possible that one of them i certainly won't won't be both man i can i kind of miss uh pre-pandemic ufc canada because because of that i got to visit all the provinces i think i've in vancouver hig uh calgary hit winnipeg I hit Edmonton. That was the first time in a while since it's gone back to Edmonton. That's first time since 2019. Wait, wait, that was, I know it.

I know, I know, uh, DJ, right? No, no, DJ, he fell off the fight the very last second. It was noon, it was Nunes Shepchenko, right? No, what was it? Max Frankie. Max Frankie, I was there, too. Cyborg, Cyborg was the co-main. Fletia Spencer?

Mm-hmm. Boy, that was a funny. And your boy, Armand Sarukian beats OAM on Canadian soil. So, yeah, five years. So back in the Big E. All right. Thank you much. I love when they do like returning cities.

You can go back and see where the, like what happened on the older cards when they were there. Because they just announced them a cow card for November. And I was like, when was the last time they were there? It's been 10 years. And going back and looking at that card that was headlined by Michael Bisbig and Kung Lee, like Tyrone Woodley was in the co-main event, just absolutely ethered Dung-Young Kim. Even Colby Covington fought on the prelims of that card and got a first round TKO win on that card, which is crazy. He finished somebody?

First round. In the first round? Yep. This is the only time that ever happened. He was hungry back. that. Since I don't know if we have any questions about this and it is related, what do we feel about this? I assume that's the main event between Rose and my girl. How do we feel about this? I think, I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. I mean, I like the matchup. I love the fight. I like the matchup. Yeah. But if Aaron wins and Manal has the belt, do we run that? Like, that's a

the thing like if rose wins sure she's just getting into a title fight like that's just what we're doing but when aaron beats the hell out of her if manal is champion which super could happen like what i don't know flyer's just real weird like they because they have waited for a lifetime to do gros of chavchenko three is just super weird now for their timing of stuff i mean this maybe the UFC sees it is a fight that rose can win they could throw her in a title fight very possible If Rose does win, then Rose is next in line after Monon. Sure. And I guess if Aaron wins, they probably just will do that and hope Menon doesn't beat either

Shevchenko or Grasso, whoever it is. Or Chevchengo and Grasso will fight to another draw and they'll just face each other in perpetuity, just forever. Yeah. It's good fight. I like the matchup. Like I think it's a great fight because more so in the bottom fight. more so on the Blanchefield side

because I want to see what she learned and what she took away from the Man and Fioro fight because Rose is just not something I don't think Rose can test her in those ways because the lesson she could learn is Manor's a hoss

and I can't just hoss people around if she is also a hoss. Rose isn't even a hoss at straw weight she's really not a hoss at Flyway like I kind of think Menon's just going to be like once I hold you you you're dead I'm just going to throw you around the ring.

But I guess we'll see. That's why they fight the fights after all. Yeah, I like the matchup. I like the matchup. And if Blanchfield does what you and probably others believe Blanchfield can do in this fight, that's huge. All right. And who is Derek Lewis facing? Alexander Romanov.

Yes. The big fellow. What a. Not Charisino, not the. obvious fight to make. Now, let's just chuck him in there with another another dude that can suplex them around. You can't fight Jarzino yet. Jarzino's fighting this weekend, Mike. I know, but we still, I still don't understand why we haven't booked that fight. It's just insane. Well, because Jarzino is probably going to get

a big lunchbox in his face needs some time off. Like, Derek, like Derek Ler should be fighting rebellious to Spain. Like, that's who you were. Yes, a hundred percent. Yeah, Rebellis is fighting Austin Lane. Particularly since we booked Chris Barnett because we're cowards. and wouldn't do Huggie Bear versus Rebellis. But yeah, that's why would be awesome. Yeah, it sucks. All I wanted was- Why do they keep booking Waldo Cortez-A-Costa against these fighters?

I don't like it. I don't know. Book Derek Lewis versus WCA. I don't know. Salsa boy. All right. Next super chat. That's annoying.

What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah. Way better.

Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. Jayfish, all I know is Vox better pull up the Brinks truck from Mike and Jedd, of course, so we can upgrade the Michoud Mansion to Castle Mishu. Casey as well. Yay.

Chateau Mishu. We want to go Castle. We're not Pledbs. You know, add a little bit of a club. flats here, J. Fish. Yeah. Chateau Mechou. Got to walk before you run.

We'll have vineyards outside. Dana passed his primus promoter president. Dude, Dana's been past his promis as a promoter for almost a full decade. Oh, yeah. We saw glimpses of him

for the Mayweather-McGregor build, like, glimpses. Every once in a while he can break it out. But no, he's And reacting to PFL stuff is classic Dana. Yeah, I won't speak to him as a president because, I mean, one, I'm not like in the UFC day to day. And like pretty objectively as a business leader, he has done very, very well with the UFC.

I think based on all the reporting and everybody you talk to, pretty clearly the Fratita brothers kind of were more important to that aspect of it prior to the sale. And I don't know to what extent, you know, are. Emmanuel has kind of taken that role from Dana. It's unclear to me where those lines are drawn as far as a lot of the things they have worked on is. But nominally, he is, at least in name, he is the CEO of a company that is massively successful and continuing to grow year over year to functionally become like a major, major sports entity. Very clearly as a president of a company, at least on paper he does very well. I can't speak to anything beyond that.

As a promoter, objectively, he has not been good for a long time. And a lot of that is, I would argue that a lot of that is style. He is a very particular style of promoter. He doesn't have more than a fastball. And that doesn't work against everybody. But also pretty objectively, he doesn't care anymore. And it is much more, like if he wanted to try day in, day out, I'm not even sure he could, but he just very obviously does not care to try.

So no, he's terrible promoter. Oh, man, there's the energy that Dana used to use promoting events back in the day, back when I was traveling the UFC circuit, like the UFC 20s and stuff, when Dana would do an hour scrum after the press conference and then do 45 minutes to an hour of one-on-ones with not just, not just their media broadcast. partners, but just websites. Like me and Ariel for at least like, I would just call it 40, 50 to 50 paper views would be kind of promised time with Dana both before and after the event. That just seems ludicrous to suggest that would ever happen now. Not even talking about Ariel, but just Dana talking to just a website that's not a

broadcast partner or not some sort of, I guess, whatever non-sportsy podcast or whatever you know it's just someone's gonna just Dana you're cool you know tell us about power slap type of interview um yeah it's just it seems I I can't it kind of blows me away to think the type of type of access that sites used to have with the UFC and just how much Dana was out there and um it's it's a different world now it's just yeah so he is way past his prime as a promoter but he's making money so That's the game. Yeah.

And that's the thing, man. It is the spoils of war. Like, I'm not, it would obviously, I would like it better if he was better at promoting. But, you know, he got to this place. And if I got it, like, straight up if I was where he was at, I mean, I would have retired, frankly. But if they're going to pay me $100 million a year to run up this thing and I don't have to do shit, I'll, I will take that paycheck any day of the week. If anyone out there is offering, I will give you my phone.

number or we can discuss those details but yeah like if he wants to try he can still the uc can do stuff they don't particularly want to try and dana in particular doesn't and when he does because frankly here's how you know this is true look at how dana promotes power slap he is trying to promote that i would still say that that's not like he's passed where he when he was good at stuff but he is still actively working to promote power slap he doesn't do that with the uc i get it is is the cursory things. And that's just sort of how everything goes in just

life. You get older, you get less interested. Yeah. He's won. He's won the game. Yeah, and you won. And you know what? He has people in the organization that could do it for him. That's why I like talking to Annick so much before these cards.

Because dude just gets me fired up and I get him fired up and like, that's what you're supposed to do. Listen to Annick talk about these fight cards. You're right. That's what you're supposed to do. Yeah. You're right. And he'll answer the tough questions.

Like, I'll ask Annaick some questions that he probably isn't 100% comfortable answering. But he'll do it anyways, at least to the best of his ability. You won't call me an asshole and a piece of shit. You won't call me after and cuss me out. Like, he'll just answer it. He might go on his show and, like, once in a while, he, I think I asked him about the criticism of Joe Rogan. And he gave like a great answer.

And then he went on his podcast. It was like, yeah, as long as. no one asked me about Joe Rogan or something like that. And I was like, all right, you son of a bitch. But you know what I mean? Like that, but that's what Dana used to be. You used to have that enthusiasm and excitement. And there are times what he does, but it's only, again, he's won and I don't blame him for it.

But he's, he can be real stubborn. He can be real stubborn. And now it's like certain things he'll do just out of spite just to, like, prove the media wrong. Like Joan Steepay, that might be the one time we found out what actual pay-per-view numbers are because that thing does over a million they're going to broadcast that to the world and danes be like see i told you just like the ufc 300 hit piece see this is what the media thought of you guys before 300 delivered and was like one of the coolest cards ever but in the end of the day most of us said that this is like the best card of all time on paper just the main event announcement

didn't blow our socks off because well you told us it would and it just didn't and and he pulled so many of those clips out of context that were before fights were even now. So many. So that's not just. We came. We came. They were just. Yeah.

They were just. Yeah. There was just. Yeah. It was just bad. Like 85% of promotion is just enthusiasm. Like being enthusiastic and thus spreading enthusiasm to others. And he isn't, he didn't have that anymore.

Was it? So no. Yeah. There you go. All right. Thank you much. Uh, super chat for Matthew Grant. Garrett.

Sorry. Matthew Garrett. Cheers, lads. Is Drickus the next megastar in MMA? No, I don't think so. He got a surprisingly big reception in Australia. If you've watched the embedded and stuff like, people are here for him. I think he has, I mean, there's one really major impediment, but there's the other, there are two, I guess.

One is, I don't think he just has that it factor. I like Drickus way more than most people, I think, honestly. But he doesn't have that sort of, like he's charismatic in like a B-tier way, not in like a, oh, everyone is naturally drawn to him. He does not have the it or the wow or whatever, which kind of caps him, like just pretty clearly the way Drickis moves through life and the way, say, Ilya do, very, very different. Like there's an aura that is there.

but the other part is to be a megastar you got to win like a lot and in big moments high pressure and he has done a terrific job of winning fights that honestly many people did not think he's again I think more highly of him than I think most people in this space do he has some extremely bad flaws like that should be prohibitive to him being a champion frankly but aren't because the middleweight division is super weird and kind of in a flux state slash bad right now that he has gotten to be here. But I'd be astonished if he defended the belt four times. All right. Thank you much.

Yeah. I think he's popular. I think he gets popular as time goes by, especially if he wrecks Izzy on Saturday. But yeah, I don't know if Megastar is what I would call him. Would he be a bigger star than, could he be a bigger star than Izzy? So I don't think so, but I do think it can be. I think that there is a path. I think it is extremely unlikely.

If he goes out here and he beats Izzy after all talking that like the way people are stars is they get buoyed up by killing bigger stars than them. Like that's how every star is done. They have a natural gravitas and they kill the right people and suddenly they are the king of the mountain. If he kills Izzy, that's a big step. and then there is at least a world. Again, I would not predict this to happen.

Let me all the way clear. But if he kills Izzy and then defends his belt again against Strickland and maybe defends his belt again against random dude, bow nickel, whoever the hell it is. And then they say, hey, okay, go up and fight Alex Pereira. And then he beats Alex Pereira, really narrow path to walk. If he walks it, he'll be a pretty big damn star.

That's a lot. That's a lot. I mean, it's a lot. That's rolling sevens 12 times in a row. But legitimately, I've used this analogy for Connor all the time. Like, I think people underestimate how lucky Connor's career was. Like, it was just, it's the Wyatt Earp theory of like, if you play enough, one person will get there. Connor rolled sevens so many times in a row to get where he's at.

And if Driggis does it, then he'll get there. But like, you would never predict that to happen. Yeah. And now we just, now Connors, what's the opposite of seven snake eyes? What's the? What is it? 11. 11.

Yeah. Yeah. So like all those great roles he had now, it evens out. It evens out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah.

Yeah. Eventually everything settles in. But if you can just front load a bunch of really big wins and high leverage moments. Yeah. which already that's the thing DDP has already done that like that part of this has already been that so it's just it's really unlikely

to keep doing it but maybe he's one of God's favorite people and he's the chosen one and he does it all right let's hit the super chat because this is going to be a fun one buckle up any thoughts on why is he insists on making this

a race thing super cringy does he insist on making this a race thing that's my question has he said anything this week that feels racist i mean other than i don't know which i guess was actually racially racially coded but i was more just stuck on how cringe it was than like that being a racially coded thing um if you don't know the tweet i'm i'm certain it's still up you just go check his twitter it's uh the type of thing that i probably would have found amusing in seventh grade um i i I would need specific examples where he's like kind of leaned into this beyond the sort of clear undercurrent of this of the true African thing.

And the reality is that's part of the story. And him not shying away from that is fine with me. And as much as Drickis has tried to walk that back pretty unsuccessfully, frankly, Driggis said what he said And it is There just ain't no way around what he said Being being Racially coded and a little shitty

And so for that to stick in Izzy's crawl Like I can I can wear on that That seems reasonable to me I get it Yeah I also for me personally with this fight I am trying to avoid all of it Like media day the press conference, I'm sure it's going to get real weird.

I don't care about any of that stuff with this fight. Like I really, at this point, let's just do it. This has been built up for so long. I think that's a part of the reason why some of the steam has let out of this one is because this has been one of the longest buildups ever. And I just think the match of, it checks off all the boxes. It's storyline, its style, and it's stakes for not just the belt, but for the legacy of both of these guys, especially as a lot of Sanya.

So, like, I don't care about any of this stuff. I don't care about the media day and the quotes and the what they're going to say to each other at the press conference. I do not care. I just want to see them fight at this point. Oh, I care. I find this deeply fascinating. And at some points I'm using certainly a lot of points, like, tough. But I do think it's pretty fascinating undercurrent.

And, like, oh, man, I am not the kind of person who has to deal with stuff like this. I think I too would be pretty upset if somebody questioned my identity. Like, I was born and raised in the South and I am Southern and an American man. But if I, like, lived in Europe for some time and they're like, you're not American, be like, hey, fuck you. I got, I am. Like, to question somebody's identity that you don't even know, like, is, I can totally understand that being something that sticks with you. and he doesn't want to let go. And you don't have to, because there's the thing.

They get to fight. They get to in a couple of days. They get to sort out their feelings with fists. Yeah. Maybe I'm just, maybe I'm just still a little heartbroken from Mikhail F. cop and everything that happened there. There's just the peak of fight bills. Those objectively, those objectively stupid.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had a lot of ring. Oh, no. I suck a question. Don't put it out there that I didn't sucker punch him. I sucker punched the shit out of him. Okay, man, we were trying to help.

Yeah, yeah. I'm so pumped for this fight, though. Like, I really am super excited for it. Really excited. Yeah, I'm pumped for the fight. I'm deeply interested. I'm less excited than I would have been a year ago. And I wrote about this this week in a couple of for us and for SB Nation.

where it was like I wanted this fight before Rob like I was the only dude who was like do this fight and I was so pumped about it. I was with you on that. I was with you on that. I thought the Whitaker booking was redonek. But then after the Rob

I was like now now I just have to have it. Like there's nothing else. And then they did the Strickland and it took all the wind out of the sales because it's just like I am more interested in the like nuts and bolts of this fight and less interested in the like, this is the fight,

just because the last performance we saw from Izzy was a horrendous. So I'm very interested. I'm less excited than I used to be. Let's go. Oh, yeah. The comments are getting fun. So I'm going to just blow past a few of those comments. Super chat from our, oh, he's back, our good friend Chase.

Give John Wilder money. He'll fight Tom in a second. I mean, that's probably the answer. If they offered John Jones $25 million to fight Tom Aspinall, he would fight Tom Aspinall. There's no doubt about it. Here's the thing. I listened to the post show with you and are good for New York, Rick. And I like Rick a lot.

I respect Rick a lot. And Rick and I have very different opinions on this entire situation. And I found myself being a ghost and yelling at Rick talking about John. because and then being mad at myself because on the one hand, and Casey, I know that you particularly are staunch defender of this line of the UFC is to blame. And my reasonable, rational self says, yes, the UFC is the buck stops with the UFC. There is a price they could pay, as Rick says, to make this fight happen.

And that John is not scared of him because John isn't. John's a chicken, but he's not actually afraid. He's a professional fist fighter. Almost no professional fistfighter is afraid to get in a fist fight. the issue at hand is not if you pay John an exorbitant amount this fight will happen. That is accurate of literally any person on the planet. Everyone has a price that they will do just about anything for. So yes, we could find a number.

The question is, is that number exceedingly beyond the norm for his basic situations, which I believe is. believe John would fight Tom Aspinall. I don't believe John will fight Tom Aspinall for the same money he will get to fight Stepe, Mietich, or frankly, the same, like, a kick from that. I think to get him to fight Tom, it will be a wilder money. And terrific, but that is meaningless in the context of this conversation. Like, yes, everyone would do that. There is, if you, if you gave him the UFC, he would fight him. But him, you not doing that is not the same for what this conversation is, which is, are what you asking a reasonable increase from the standard that you normally operate under?

Now, I've been very clear. I don't think John has to fight, Tom. I've never once said that he should. I totally understand his reasons not. But the gymnastics of, well, this is actually not John's fault. No, John plays a part. John plays a part. If the UFC's trying to low-ball him, sure, but they're not. They would offer him the same rate. And part of the story is that John was unwilling to fight Tom Aspinall for anything less than a substantial improvement in his normal pay. Okay.

There you go. Josh, I don't believe either of those words that you used are slurs. Michael, after 305, what's your most anticipated fight to all? I think it has to be unanimous, right? Like, I think this is the unanimous Max Hollow Aliate Tuporia, right? Oh, after, I was, I've misread that. I was like as a main event, after UFC 305.

Let me just make sure, but I'm like fairly certain, that's correct. Yeah, he's as much spike in some of the book, yeah. Yeah. I mean, O'Malley Marab is interesting too, but. I really like that fight, but no, it's, Ilya Max is, Idiom Max because yeah That's tremendous A 10 shoulders above the rest of them

Yeah And you know why You know what gives it the extra bonus points You know when you take a spelling test in fifth grade And then you can have the dictation bonus So instead of getting 100 you can get 110 The fact that this card That fight is happening in Abu Dhabi

And we get to watch it at like 4 p.m. Eastern time That just that goes from an A plus to an A plus plus just for that Do we? Is it 4 p.m. Eastern? time. Main card starts at 2 p.m. Eastern. Yes, I did not realize that. Oh, I love daytime pay-per-boggi, baby.

Daytime M-M-A. Daytime M-M-A. That oil money, yes. Afternoon, pay-reviews. Oh, yeah. Thank you. It's the best. Man, it's terrific.

It's weird. There's no rhyme reason to why they do that, but great, terrific. Isn't the bags of money? He's not paying them all the money. This is bags of money that are our sheiks don't want to stay up and come at too late so I don't know they didn't do it with with like some of the other shits that happen and they get paid big bags of money but which I don't think I don't think Manchester's paying the last time they went to Abu Dhabi like a month ago for pay per view that

was an afternoon that was afternoon was afternoon was that afternoon was that was afternoon yeah yeah am I think of Saudi I'm like completing it was Saudi Saudi Saudi was also afternoon when did they not do this you're thinking 304 Yeah, but they also didn't pay Manchester either, so. Yeah, they didn't get all the money. Like Manchester would have paid them to be there. I don't know. No, I just seem dumb.

Just do all of this all the time. It's the bags of money. It's the bags of money. Yeah. All right. Thank you much. Oh, so yeah, Elia All the way. That's the answer.

Thank you. Yeah, for sure. All right, I'll do the rest of these because I got to get ready to pick my kid up soon. Big Hangman fan. Really respect his willingness to face tough stylistic matchups with guys like Islam and Matush on short notice. Love to see him fight Charlie Olives with the win thoughts. You know, honestly.

Yeah. Honestly, outside of the main event, Dan Hooker has the most to gain on this entire card. And I don't think it's like a hot take or anything. But it's 100% Dan Hooker has the most gain on this card. It becomes a top five lightweight. He's pretty popular. This would be a gigantic win for him.

Gigantic. All those fights are in play. if he wins. I mean, I'll, uh, Chuckie Olives, Gaichi or Porier rematch are all in play.

Sure. I would watch any of them. Yep. Yeah. A lot to gain here. I don't think he has a real chance to win, which is, talked about the Snowbet's barred this week.

I was so ready to fade him. And the Matush Camrod is like exactly the perfect style matchup to not make my concerns with Dan Hooker real. I, I believe. Dan Hooker is shot. Not like shot shot, but like the Jalen Turner fight, as I was watching it, I was like, this is like when Robbie and Carlos fought and they were never the same afterwards.

I'm pretty sure Dan Hooker is never the same after this fight, but he expertly gets a style matchup where the dude isn't going to punch him in the face. And so like that won't be a huge issue. Like won't be an issue for him against scam rot. So also you see Hooker's quirk. about Gamrot this week, which was super mean but deeply funny. He throws, he swings his arms. I wouldn't call what he does striking.

Yeah. Yep. That's great. Sick burn. Dan Hooker's been a lot of battles, man. I think was Felder and Porier were like four months apart, right? Him and Felder beat the breaks off each other. And then Porier was, I think, a June apex card.

And they beat the shit out of each other. again. Like, and then the terror fight was insane too. Dude's been... They were in fact just about four months apart. Yeah.

Then Michael Chandler killed him and... Well, him taking a... Hooker taking over a year off was very smart too. Yeah, it's really smart. I just, I think he's going to be done. The next time he fights somebody who hits him, which is why Oliver, but I would love to see him fight Oliver if he beats camera.

I'd also love to see him fight Gaichi. I'd watch him rematch Porier. He's a fun fighter. Yeah. You don't want to pick in Hooker? Straight up, I haven't decided. I do have a bet on Dan Hooker. I'm not sure I can pick him straight up, but I might do it just for funsies.

I think Gamrod's a really bad striker, and Hooker is a really good defensive wrestler. Yes, Islam took him down. Islam's also Islam. And Islam's much better at consolidating control on the floor than Gamrod is. So I really do think he has a good chance. I have a bet on him. I might pick him straight up, though. That is a lot to add.

That's a different question than the value of a bet. Yeah, I think if you're betting on this as like a single bet, I think you have to bet Dan Hooker. I have Gamrod as a parlay piece in one of my parlays. I just think he's going to be able to take. Dan is a good, like a really good defensive wrestler, but Matuch Gamrod is. He's going to shoot a hundred times.

He's going to shoot a hundred times. Yep, you sure is. Yeah, I think he's going to win a decision. and crap probably won't like it too much. And the thing that sucks the most for Gamrod is that's how this fight's probably going to happen. And he gets he's going to get absolutely nothing from it. Man deserves a title fight. Man deserves a title fight.

Let him fight for the belt. Yeah, even if he knocks out hooker in the first round, he's still not going to get anything from it. It's just the rankings and the way everything's lined up right now. If he knocks on the first round, he might. Like I'm not, I'm not trying to. to anger you Mike no he ain't jumping on he has a win over armin armin has the inside no he doesn't yes he does i know you disagree the scoreboard is the scoreboard man scoreboard is lying the scoreboard

that's what matters the ball don't lie and that's where it's at and so like i don't think he would jump him but if armin gets tweaked and can't do whatever the timeline is for his mom if he wins his fight, maybe he just gets to be the backup again or whatever, but like he. Why? So when the opponent falls out, they can bring in Max Holloway to fight for the Boundst. I don't know what you're talking about, Mike. That was the most embarrassing. You get to fight for the belt.

That's what Dana told us. When you weigh in as the backup, you're the next guy up. And so there is a outside chance that if he wins is fighting for the title next. I would not say it's likely. I would not say it's remotely likely. but 5, 10%, I would say that that's in play. I would be more okay with that than Michael Chandler getting a title shot. That's for sure.

What if instead of getting Connor, they make Michael Chandler fight Matush Camarat? In the main event? Hey, sorry you lost out on Connor. What if you fight Matush? Have fun. No, I think honestly, I think they would, if they can't get, Connor, I think they would offer Chandler Sarukian for the interim belt.

I think that's what they would do that. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense to me. Sure. Which is insane. I mean, not good, but it does make sense. Yeah. Damn, I'm talking about Connor again.

Yeah. All right. Do we have anything else? Yeah, we're going to, we have about five or six super chat, so we're going to hit them. We're going to hit them now. Rifle through him. Rifle through him.

The great Ryan Leaf. Better Moniker, Style Bender, or still Knox? I don't entirely know if I understand what Still Knox is. Yeah, he's DDP. I don't even, Yeah, I don't even- That his nickname?

Still Knox is his nickname. No, it's not. It's D-D-B. I don't acknowledge it. It's me, it's me, it's D-D-P. That's it. So, Stylebender by default. Yeah, stylebender, yeah.

It's like the Reaper. It's Bobby Knuckles. It's Bobby Knuckles. Izzy versus DDP rivalry reminds me of cop, macaw macayev letdown. So very possible. We are going to have a preview show later today where we will obviously talk a little more in depth. We didn't have that many questions about that, which is nice. There's not too much overlap.

But, uh, Fahim, I would say that I think there's an extremely high likelihood you are correct here. Tune into the preview show because I'm going to disagree with both of you. See at 4 p.m. Eastern. Is this is DDP going to try to pants Izzy in the cage? I mean, force the rules. Don't make me, don't make me do my job.

All right. Also, Mike, how can you say that you're not looking forward to the press conference? When after what, what is he tweeted, there's a real chance we get a Kimbo whip out of your nuts. I bet my nuts are bigger than yours. Like that,

that is in play. If these men know their history, they should do that. I mean, if that happens... If there's a clip... If there's a clip... You're a fool! Something that I see awesome,

but it will not enhance the anticipation for the fight any more or less, is what I'll say. If DDP goes to the presser and just starts by saying, you got baby nuts, Izzy, it's my favorite fighter of all time. It's not even...

It's not up for debate. I'm moving up the rankings already. He is immediately top three pound for pound. Win or lose, if he does that. You got baby notes. What do you do with Kevin Holland with Curtis out? I saw Chris Curtis is out. I don't matter.

It's Kevin Holland. He'll fight anybody. It'll be fine. You kept multiple weight classes to work. I would say Michael Lechzechuk, but we just saw this. It's also just, yeah, it is a little weird just because the dudes are like the back end of the middleweight rankings. I don't want Holland to fight them because I would like, like Kyle Boralio is, is booked.

Michelle Paheta deserves to get an upward momentum here. Same with Fluffy. He already fought Hamzot. So, like, you either have to move him up the rankings or he's got to fight back. What's Gregory Haudriga's up to?

I mean, I would also like Gregor Rodriguez, frankly, to get a rank shot. But that'd be fun. That's a fun fight. Do that, sure.

Yeah, let's do that. Or send Kevin, you know, back to middleweight and fight. I don't know. What's, do the Buckley fight.

it's a middleweight fight yeah but Kevin can still go to Walterway do the do the Buckley fight yeah I don't hate that either yeah buckling actually run that back yeah just yeah actually do Buckley Holland 85 they'll be down with that that makes sense

they already have been down for that to do it again yeah do it again yes I'm saying yeah I don't my Paul Craig I don't I would like that that'd be fun Shabasian Shabazzam I like that actually I like that a lot I think Paul Craig's a really good answer yeah whatever

there's a lot of good answers something's getting got Yeah. So it's a guy who's popular, but, you know, not going to hold up divisions. Like it. All time favorite Dana rant. Jesus Christ. There's like, there's a bunch.

Favorite, like all time is like, it's awesome or all time like, oh, man, here we are. Anderson Silva stuff was pretty good at the time after the Damia fight. That was pretty good. My favorite Dana trick was that when we used to do the hour long kind of scrums after press conferences and if something kind of hit there was kind of a quiet moment and you could feel Dana was just going to kind of bounce someone would just mention Dana Bob Aram and that's all you would say you would just yeah Aaron ones are great yeah and this is recent C's that I'd have to think more but the 302 or 301 whenever he went on the rant and was like John Jones the greatest

fighter of all time and the question was not remotely about yeah pound or or John Jones or anything. He just found a lane to veer over and be like, I would like to talk about this. You've asked me about whoever, Pantoja or whatever, is like, no, we're in this room now.

I find that deeply funny. I'm trying to think about there. That was, that was pretty funny, because that was our own Jose Youngs, who asked Dana White, where does Islam rank in the pantheon of the lightweight range of the lightweight division?

Yeah. And it turned into. Where does Islam rank as far as like all time light, lightweights. Let me tell you about John Jones. That was good. That was the good one. What happened? All right. Because like a lot of his previous rants were way worse, like way more. Like his rants about Cyborg before he came to the U.S.

You were just like, yeah, I didn't want to go to those ones. Those are just bad. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to remember when it's a couple of his quotes, but it's not. I remember years ago, it was the first time I heard. heard the word, but Dana for a while went on. He started talking about the quote-unquote, the pusification of America.

That was like his word. That term's falling out of favor. We haven't pretty long. I was like, oh, God. He's gone the other way and just said, if you're even remotely a savage, you're going to run everybody over. That's his new thing. Got to be a savage.

That I see all the time, even remotely. Which, like, I actually, to whoever said this at this time, this stuff. the episode. That's actually true. I would say that that's really bad. And like the other way to phrase that is if you don't value or consider other human beings, you will get your way. And like, that's 100% accurate. But that's also been 100% accurate for the entirety of human history. Now is not especially time. Which is like, if you just don't give a shit about anyone else, you're probably going to do okay. Sociopaths are littered throughout history of successful humans.

They do well. Yeah. Visible people. Anything else? They do well. Two more. Thoughts on Strickland, Tiki,

drama and relative media silence comparison, anything else Sean is involved with? I don't know. We haven't heard from Tiki side, so not much really to comment on. Yeah. So I've seen some people push back about this as like

MMA media is not covering it. And there's like a very clear reason. These are thus far unsubstantiated claims. And they're claims. claims with like, like real heft to them. This is not, you know, an MMA site publishing, Dana says Connor won't fight. And like, that's an unsubstantiated claim. But there's also like, no one's going to sue you for libel over that.

You know, whereas like as much as you can couch, this is what Sean Strickland is saying, you do want to be like a little clear about kind of how this is going. And, like, I would just say that Sean Strickland is, you know, not like the cleanest narrator, obviously, but combat sports in general and MMA are filled with horrible people. And it would not surprise me if any claims made about anyone in the space were true, frankly, because I don't know, that's just par for the course. So if we know something concrete, it will be reported at this juncture, to the best of my knowledge, we do not. And our very last super chat. Sorry for the charge question was just curious. PSJedFad Club UK chapter.

I don't know. What did Bishito ask? About the race stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not a charged question. It's a real question. And it's a story. And it is a charged issue.

the question was fine. I mean, and it should be a charged issue. I mean, it's a thing. My issue was your framing of the question, not the question in general. But it is like a real,

it's part of this. It's part of the story. It is a part they have tried very hard to steer away from for I think obvious reasons. But that's how this fight happened at first. Like, DDP came to prominence

in Izzy's radar as that dude. How different is this fight week? if this is in South Africa, man. It's so different. It's way. It's so good. This is in Africa. Yeah.

It's so good if this is in Africa. Man, but the two kings is Ian Camaro. Oh, God. Only two of them. Only the two kings. I love part of that clip. I do love that like other people and Francis came out and was like, this was why when it first happened,

like the the first Cameroonian thing resurfaced. Oh yeah. And it was like actually Francis is Cameroonian and actually So could you was Cameroonian

in the UFC like a decade ago. You guys are so intent on on a racing Francis from the UC record book that So could you's catching strays. She catches strays. So if you're just sitting at home, what'd I do? Are we good, Mr. Jack?

Oh, yeah, we're good. We're good. But don't you worry? We'll be back soon. Real 5 chatter coming up in less than two hours right now. Don't go anywhere. Grab yourself a bite to eat, walk your dog, whatever you got to do, and then come back at 4 p.m. Eastern, we'll talk to 305.

I think Jed's going to sit in the hosting chair this time. And we'll just banter about that way. What do you think? This is my trial run for when I take over the end of the hour. Yes, this is it. It's your trial. There's your big moment. It's your big moment.

So we'll discuss that. And so much more throughout the rest of the week. Back next week to recap it all for Casey, for Jeddye, Mike. I appreciate me. I think the country. Voice, Spencer Lynn, takes you home. Good night, everybody. Love you all.

This has been Between the Links, an MMAT fighting production on the Vox Media Network.