MMA Fighting - BTL | Du Plessis Stops Adesanya, Pereira vs. Rountree, Dana White Takes Blame For Ngannou Scrub

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

UFC 305 is officially in the books, and Dricus du Plessis is still the UFC middleweight champion after submitting former two-time champ Israel Adesanya in the fourth round. While du Plessis continues to surge, Adesanya has now dropped three of four. What does the future look like for both fighters following their battle in Perth? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout of du Plessis' big win, how long his reign might last, and where Adesanya goes from here. Additionally, topics include the rest of the UFC 305 storylines, Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree headlining UFC 307, Dana White saying he should get the blame for the Francis Ngannou scrub from the UFC 305 Countdown show, White saying he adamantly believes Jon Jones will fight Tom Aspinall if he beats Stipe Miocic, and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between #MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Eric Jackman. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Eric Jackman: @NewYorkRic 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From MMA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. It is great to be here with all of you on another Thursday. A very fun, at least in my opinion, UFC 305 is in the book. Strictus duplice is still the UFC middleweight champion after submitting Israel out of Doni in the main event.

It was a compelling fight for sure, but the aftermath seems to be a very interesting discussion right now. So that is also something we'll be having a discussion about on today's program. That and so much more coming up. But first, let us introduce the combatants on this very special edition of the show. First, Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid, the Barrett of Boop, and the man who has the same confidence as Dana White that John Jones versus Tom Aspinall for the unified UFC heavyweight title will happen, he's Jed Mishu.

Hello, sir. Hey, guys. I do have the same confidence because Dana knows it's not happening, but he's just saying stuff. So, you know, we're both on the same page. Never going to happen, and that's okay. We don't need to focus on the fight that won't be anymore.

We can move on to greener pastures. Jed, can I just say, you're looking quite dapper today. You get the collar on, the hair's done right? Look at you. Oh, I just showered, like, not that long ago because we hit the gym this morning. And the collar's only on because I'm a piece of shit and I haven't done laundry in a while. So all of my T-shirts are not wearable right now. So I got to do that.

And I had to go into the hanging clothes for something to wear today. So do not expect that answer. But there you have it. That is Jed Mishu. And I have to admit, it's a bit of an emotional episode. of the program, my friends, some big news happening in the MMA media space this week, spearheaded by our old pal, Ariel Hawani. And this news obviously has a big impact on the industry and to this man who joins us. And it will be for the final time as a member of the MMA

fighting squad, the man with the best theme song in MMA history, the social media guru, and a man who also knows how to fire off for Take or Two. He is the great New York Rick. Where is he? There he is. Wow. Great to see you, my friend. Likewise, Mike, I come to you with hat in hand and just say, please be nice to me. I love you all so dearly. But I am happy to be here. And unfortunately, it is for the final time. But this is a tremendous opportunity.

And thank you for having me. Absolutely. So, boys, let's get into this because UFC 305 is still on people's minds. Drick's Supelope gets the job done against his Radis-Sania. I enjoyed the fight. I thought both guys brought it. But DDP. Man, this guy is just a damn menace in there.

And he just outwilled, outmuscled. And as Jed likes to say, out-host Israel-A-Sanya in round four to get the finish. And he still got the belt around his waist. So New York, Rick, I want to begin with you. Was your big takeaway from this fight on the DDP side, the Izzy side, or just the fight in general? What was your biggest takeaway from it? It was, yeah, it was probably on both. honestly, I learned a tremendous amount.

I think it was on both sides, if I'm being honest. I definitely learned that I think Israel-Ata-Sanya on his best night, because I thought he looked relatively good. Like there were some real moments in that fight where I thought, okay, he's kind of figured out the range here. And if he turns up the gas a little bit, he's going to be able to hurt DDP and give him some problems. I think what I learned on the Israel-A-Sania side is like,

even on a good night for him, even on his best night, he may not be that dominant champion guy that we have been used to seeing. And that's okay, right? Like, I think there's plenty of like still exciting fights for him out there. But I think that era, that reign of terror that he had is over. And on the DDP side, I learned like, this dude is not going to just like give away fights. Like he is a hoss and he is going to be in every fight and pushing that pedal

to the absolute floor, even when he's gas to shit, like he's just going to be coming forward and trying to finish fights. And that's a scary proposition if I'm every other middleweight. And even against the guy as good and technical and crafty as Israel is, and I thought the takedown defense looked pretty damn good, especially in the early rounds. He's a load, man. He's a load and he's going to be a problem for a lot of these middleweight.

And the problem of figuring out his tricky style is one that I'm interested to see who's able to kind of solve first. But I learned things about both, and it seems like it's trick as time right now, and Izzy's going to kind of fade to the side, and we'll figure out what some exciting matchups for him are. Obviously, I think Sean Strickland makes a lot of sense. But I learned a bit about both, and I'm excited about this DDP era, if I'm being real with myself.

Jed, we've had some time to let this think. We had a lot of time to actually get to this fight. They were sort of mortal enemies. they were bitter rivals, and then the fight plays out, and then it became enemies become, well, not friends, but friendlier, I guess, in the fallout. But I thought this is a very good fight. I thought both guys showed a lot.

But in the end, your guy, DDP, just continues to just hoss people around. Where does your biggest takeaway lie five days later? Yeah, DDP is a truth, man. Like, I wrote about this this week for the site. And I know he is. He has very quickly become one of, if not my favorite active fighters, because he just breaks everybody's brain. Because if you know nothing about fighting,

you can watch that man fight and be like, that can't be the best dude in the world. And yet he is. Like, he is definitively that he has not just beaten, but finished the last two, like, real defending middleweight champions, the two best dudes of, I would say like the era is at the end of it, but of this era, he has definitively stopped them. And sure, it is not always the prettiest thing you've ever seen.

It can be ugly at times. But like I, it is wonderfully fun to watch just everyone not understand or not even be willing to acknowledge it. That he is great, even if it's ugly. Like it, because ultimately it doesn't matter what it looks like. Like the proof of the pudding is in the eating. What matters is the result. And there are some people working this program right now who refuse to give the man credit despite being 8 and 0 in the UFC's middleweight division.

Most of those wins are good wins. Six of them are finishes and three of them are over former middleweight champions. And this dude is still not even in like the top. 10 of some people's pound for pound rankings because they cannot square the fact that he looks woefully uncoordinated and terrible at times, but is the same dude who can just kind of will his way to beating one of the greatest fighters of all time in Israel, this, and you know, because that's what happened. Look, we could get into a ton of X's and O's here. I think that that Izzy was the best Izzy I could have ever hoped to see on Saturday. I do not believe it's the best

Izzy that's ever been. I think Izzy is pretty clearly on the downslope that the mileage has caught up with him. I think he was very easy to dissuade in that fight in ways that maybe he previously wouldn't have been. But this is still a guy who's near prime. Like he's post prime, but not that far off and looked rejuvenated and ready to combat DDP and then just just got folded. And it happened so suddenly because DDP, like, Sure, he's ugly. He does a couple of things really well. He's a hoss. Like, that's unbelievably. But the two like best things about him, he is way smarter than anyone is willing to give him credit for or can recognize. And like you heard him talk about it in the post fight. It's like, yeah, the game plan was I knew Izzy would come out and be more aggressive. He was so passive against Sean Strickland that I knew that he would want to react to that and be more aggressive. But the thing is, that's not the style he's adopted. So that is a more tiring thing for him. him to do. So the plan was every round, we know he's going to come out, try and hold the center, try and stop me from doing what I want to do. But every round, I was just, he was having less and

less success. So the first round, he held the center for half of it. Then the second round, a little bit less that he's getting to do the things he wants. And that tires him out. And when he gets tired, his footwork gets bad. That's exactly what happened. Like, they had the mark the whole way through and he had a game plan. And the other part is, you can have a game plan, but, you can have a game plan, But there are just not a lot of dudes built like him who, despite getting just tuned up, is like, whatever, I'm just going to keep going. Because make no mistake, there were points in this fire where Izzy was whipping his ass, like dig into the body.

And you never saw DDP get flustered, get offset. He would maybe take a second to reset and right back to work. Whereas when Izzy started to realize that he can't break this dude, this dude's will is more than is he started giving ground more. Like the dude has a lot of very, like he has it where it counts in the things that are the most important. He has it through and through. And he's just going to keep being here and being ugly and being the best bad fighter who's ever lived. And it's awesome.

And I love him. So that leads me to the next question, just following up on everything you guys just said, where can this all go Jed with DDP? because as you both have mentioned, the man is obviously incredibly fun to watch. And even Dana White is confused by DDP, saying his fighting style is like white people dancing or something like that. And obviously, Big Boss has never seen me dance at a wedding

because of a great time out on that dance floor. But in all seriousness, DDP is not your typical fighter, obviously. He's very, he reminds you of like Kevin Eucalus who played for the Red Sox where everything he does seems to be against the green with a highly successful, like, championship athlete does, but it works for him, and it's very successful at doing that. So when you see

this current reign in the future playing out after this first defense, are you looking at a fighter who could have an Israel-Atasagna style, maybe even an Anderson-Silva style run where just multiple title defenses, five, six, seven, or are you seeing a guy who is fun as hell, might have another defense or two, but ultimately he's not going to have that historic. reign that will put him in some unique conversations. You should always bet against historic rains because they don't happen hardly ever. DDP is older. He's like 30, 31 or whatever.

And like the truth is that there are ways, pretty clear ways to attack his style. But you're going to have to be able to execute that plan. You're going to have to be able to conceive of the plan, like have the physicality to execute it while holding up to the offense that DDP brings to bear. and like the will to kind of fight through some tough spots because needy people will make things ugly. Things will get grimy in there if he needs it to be. You're going to, like, it's a very unique person who is going to win it.

Sean Strickland has a very good chance to up in this. Like many people believe Sean Strickland won the first fight. I did not at the time rewatching it. No one won the fight. It is whoever you want won it. It does it. Like it was an incredibly close fight. Nothing to say Sean Strickland can't do exactly the same.

this time get the judge's decision. But beyond that, I don't know. Like, he's one of those fighters where he's never going to be like a massive favorite over anybody, but he should be a favorite over everybody. Like, there's not a middleweight I would pick to beat over him, even if I wouldn't necessarily be like, bet the house on DDPs for sure going to get this done because he does have flaws. But the, like, flaws aren't flaws if people can't punish you for them. Like that, and that's just it, right?

to the Kevin Eucliss thing, like this is money ball. I don't give a shit how he does it. He gets on base. It does not matter if it's a walk or like a jack to the stands. He wins. He wins fights. And like I believe he will continue to do so. Eventually someone's going to figure him out or he will have an off night because that's

just how the game goes. But I will pick him to beat anybody he faces at 185 for the foresee. future. How long can this last, do you, Rick? Like, how long can this

last? Because we don't, we don't see guys like this all that often. And now he's the champion. He's got a successful title. I'm sorry. Some dude in the chat just said

Sean finishes Drickis in my opinion. Have you ever seen Sean Strickland fight? Come on, man. I don't know if I've ever seen Jed laugh harder than that. Like, he is tickled by this one. Dude,

like, Everything a drink is the dude's unbelievably durable. And Sean Strickland's freaking Sean Strickland. Come on. That's a ridiculous statement. Rick, how long can this, can this rain last with the way this man fights? Which is fun as hell to watch. But how sustainable is this, especially as the champion?

I think Jed summed it up perfectly, right? He is not going to be a big favorite over anybody. It's always going to be a near coin flip. and the thing that has been happening is he's winning a lot of these coin flips just on sheer will, right? And so, Sean Strickland fought him to a draw. Like, I have the same take as Jed

in terms of the analysis of that fight. I scored it for Drickus, but like upon a rewatch, like, that's as close to an even fight as you can possibly get. So to sit here and be like, yeah, Drickus is going to rain forever when Sean Strickland fought you to basically what amounts to an even fight

would be impossible, right? I can't say that confidently, but he will be in lots of fights like that. And to this point, he has won lots of fights like that. And so do I think he starches Robert Whitaker again? Probably not. Maybe that fights a little bit closer. Maybe Rob even wins that fight. Do I think somebody like a Hamzat coming into the division would be interesting to face him, certainly?

But I'm not ready to pick anybody against him at the moment. But I'm also not ready to stake my reputation. on saying like, yes, he's going to be a long-reigning champion. I don't think we're seeing the things that we need to see from him to make that proclamation. But who cares? Like, he's a fun champion. He is a champion who you want, you want somebody like him to hold the belt. Because not only is his style exciting, but his demeanor and his attitude and his willingness

to take fights like this is what you want from a champion. He is a fighting champion for, you know, to just use the most obvious term. He is somebody who says, I'm here now. I'm staking my claim. Who's next up? And you want that from a guy. You don't want the guy who's saying like, yeah, I'm going to take a little bit of time off and do this. And now it's time for vacation.

Like, dude wants to fight. He's fun to watch fight. Let's just enjoy the run for however long it does go. He's a terrific trash talker, too. I mean, God, he knows how it. push them buttons. He's improved a lot in my estimation in that regard. Like he was the better half of the trash talking side against Israel and all these press

conferences. Like he was better. And not that Israel was like the Connor McGregor, right? Not that he was like the number one all time. But he was somebody who could frustrate. I mean, we famously like Marvin Vittori looked like his head was about to explode by the end of that press conference. But Drickus was better.

And I like the subtlety of what he brings to the. table with the trash dog. As soon as we move away from the like, who's the real African stuff, Drickus is hilarious. Like I love Drickus and have no interest in that part of it. And every other part of it, like I love everything he brings. So it's great. I think we can move on from that saga, that era. And I love, I love the subtle shade that he's able to give.

Like the golf stuff with Izzy, the like he's taking up a retirement sport was like a plus plus plus plus. And so I love it. I'm happy that they're kind of cordial now. It's better that way. And I'm in for the DDP era. He's got that dominant cruise trash talk where it's just like, it's very matter of fact. It's like, yeah, it's awesome. He's dope.

That's a great client. Oh, yeah. You know how to verbally like twist that knife just a little bit deeper to make you feel it. And the reactions he's been getting from everybody is pretty outstanding. Now, New York, you mentioned Israel outside. because this to me was maybe the most interesting result of what could happen with this fight. Like, Izzy was competitive, had a great showing for himself, but still comes up short. And that puts him in such an interesting spot because he's a two-time champion in many eyes,

second greatest middleweight of all time. He was competitive. He looked good. But now he's lost two straight and three of four. And he's obviously a very famous name. But he should not currently be in any title discussion right now, even though in the UFC, sees eyes, he still might be. So what's next for Izzy? Because it looks like he might retire, but then he dropped the Jordan Belfort. I'm not leaving. He's not leaving. So what should he do next?

What do you what do you see next for him? Sean Strickland's right there. Like it's Sean Strickland versus Israel-Azano is the fight to make. Like I want to know if that Sean Strickland is the guy we're going to get. Actually, that's not true. I know that's the Sean Strickland where I was going to get. he fights exactly the same way every time. And to Jed's point, like, he's not exactly going to go out there and finish DDP. Like, he fights the way he fights. But I want to see if the matchup between Sean Strickland and Israel-Asaunia goes that way again. That is what I want to see.

I want to see if that was Izzy's worst night. Or I want to see if the version of Israel-A-Sanya that we saw against DDP has some things to fire back against Sean Strickland and poses some challenges that make it not so easy. for Sean Tricklin to just basically be getting off everything he wants in one-way traffic. I would like to see that match up again. Admittedly, more so for the Israel-A-Sanya side of it. Admittedly more to see what version of Izzy comes to that fight than necessarily Sean Strickland.

But I think that makes a lot of sense. And if Sean Strickland beats Israel-Azania again, Trick is Duplice title shot, no problem. Robert Whitaker is obviously in the mix. So I think Izzy versus DDP, Izzy versus Sean Strickland makes sense to me. I would like to see that one run back. Jed, what do you think? I mean, we talked about this on onto the next one a little bit,

but again, a few days have gone by. What's next for Izzy? There are two right answers here, and Rick did not find either of them. On onto the next one, you gave a great answer. I really did like your idea of Kevin Holland. It's not one of the two right answers, though. The answers are very, very clear to me.

because DDP said he's not going up to 205, which I thought would honestly make a ton of sense. It's not going to do that. Fortunately, there's a guy who's currently at 205, who his coach has kind of said, maybe we make a drop to 185, and I'm talking about Yuri Prahashka. Because folks, the internet has picked up on this idea

that I pitched almost immediately. We need to work the system to get Yiri Prahashka versus Jikas 2 plus C. They are spiritual twins, and it would be, be the silliest most fun fight of all time. Like it is immediately in the three fights I want more than anything in this world to happen, is that fight. And so if Yeri's serious and can come down to 185, he fights Izzy.

Former champ versus former champ. If Yeri wins, terrific. Like, he's just immediately slotted in. If he loses, it doesn't matter. Like, Izzy's out of the title picture. This doesn't hold anybody else up. It just, this is all upside. I'm not 100% confident here he can make 185.

And his team seems to believe that that's an option. I am skeptical. If it is, we can do that. If not, here's the answer. And it's out of left field, but it is the actual one true answer. And you got to be creative to get there, Mike. But I gave it out on onto the next one, and I'm standing by it. It's bow nickel.

You give him bow nickel because it doesn't really affect anybody else. like if Bo Nickel loses to Izzy, okay, lost the second greatest middleweight of all time. He was getting rushed up the title fight anyway. This is still just kind of cool. And if he wins, Bob's your uncle, Bo Nichols, right there in title contention.

It is akin to when we had Sean O'Malley fight Piotr Yan for just because they wanted to do it. Like, not because Sean had really earned that ticket. They just said, screw it. The upside here is great and the downside's minimal. It's the exact same situation with Beau. and Izzy, I think Izzy would take the fight because Bo is one of the big names in the weight class, even if he's not, you know, he's bigger than Nasardine Imov or whatever the hell.

So like, those are your two options. I personally would prefer the Erie fight just because I really, really, really, really want Yeri to fight Drickis, but I will settle for the Boehnickle fight. Yeah, Greg, that has to put a smile on your face. One of the takes that was maybe the most controversial in the history of this program was when Who's Israel going to fight in September before it was Sean Strickland and you pitched Bo Nickel and now full circle?

What do you think of Jed's idea? We do Izzy versus Bo Nickel right now. I'm good on Izzy Bo Nicol. If I'm Israel, I don't know if that's how I want my last couple of fights to go. Like, I don't know if Bo Neckle is the name that I'm clamoring for, right? I think I'd rather have a Sean Strickland fight back

than I would rather face young potential future champion superstar Bo Nicol. To Jen's point, I think he might take it, right? Because it would be a big fight. The UFC would put it in a big position. And so I don't think it's off the table.

I like the fight, but I don't know if that's what I want if I'm Israel. And Yuri, like, sure, if that's on the table, like, great. No problem there. Like, fantastic. Yuri versus anybody is great. I'll take Yuri versus any single person in the world

I will watch Yuri Prohashka fight. So I'm definitely in on that one. I still think the fight to make you Sean Strickland. I think it makes sense from a stakes perspective and like realistically what if Israel Adasanya is thinking about the last couple of fights that he's going to have, that's the direction I'd want to go. I see people in the comments who are hating this

and I just got to tell you, you guys just don't have vision. Going from Cody Brundage to Izzy, do you know who Sean O'Malley be before he got Piote Rion? Rale and Pavia and then he went to a no contest with Pedro Munoz in a fight he had what lost the first round did and then they gave him pure young it doesn't matter we're not doing this because it's meritocratic we're doing it because it's vibes and it would be dope and if they announced that fight for UFC 310 tomorrow everyone would be like okay that's kind of weird but yeah like I'm in this pretty cool if you're bonnickle you should want that fight and you should be calling for it immediately like yeah You should be campaigning for that. If you're Israel, I don't think that's the best fight. But, yeah, I don't have an issue with it. If ultimately Bo campaigns for it and they go, yeah, let's see, I'm totally good with that.

I think a fight that makes more sense is going to be Strickland versus Adasanya. Yeah, I think it's going to give Strickland the title fight though. They could. They're very well to do it. Well, last thing real quick. And, you know, who knows? If Shirkin gets the title shot and wins the bell, maybe Sean wants this fight back.

So I'll start with you, New York, Rick. Shotgun in this one, true or false, Israel out of Sinai, will fight for a UFC title again. Oh, false, no. Oh, man, there's always that, like, there's always that throw him in there against Alex. Jesus Christ. What the hell?

What a, what a question. Nah, man. I think it's, I think that's it. And I think rightfully so. So, look, the guy was an absolutely incredible champion, really, like, buoyed a division and at a time when the UFC was kind of, like, looking for people to carry the flag and carry the mantle. And just an incredible reign, one of the best fighters ever, like, true legend of the game

and did some amazing things. It just seems like the middleweight division has kind of caught up to a degree. It seems like the meta is different, right? the meta around the middleweight division has changed a bit and he's on the outs there and then at light heavyweight like they could throw him in there against Alex Pereira I don't think there's a ton like as Israel has now lost another fight I don't think there's a ton of interest in just being like hey how about that is he Alex thing like Alex is on the trajectory here and Israel's here or here and so I don't I don't think they're going to go back to that well at least any time soon like

maybe if, look, if Israel did fight Bo Nicol and he just smokes them and then they're just like, F it, let's keep the dice roll going with an Alex Pereira fight, I could see it. It wouldn't be crazy. But I think, I think that was the last one. Jed, would say you, true or false. That was the final time Israel had a sign of fights for UFC title. True. He's not fighting again.

I don't even think the Pereira thing's going to happen. I thought if Izzy had come out and said, I'm going to make a push up to 205 and pursue, then he'd have a chance, but he was very clear that he feels comfortable at 185. Again, he looked good, right? Like, he looked perfectly fine. So he's just going to stick around and kind of, he'll probably pick his spots a little more, you know, find fun fights, fights that he wants that feel right to him. But I, you know, he's lost to the two dudes ahead of the division.

I guess there's some world where Hamzot actually gets into cages and fights like regularly and wins about and they might want to drag that back up, but I think it's just deeply unlikely. And I don't think he is, the peripheral fight probably only happens if he really starts to push for that. And I think he's gotten his closure and doesn't feel compelled to do that based on everything he said. So yeah, no, I think that was his last time stepping in with the gold gloves.

Well, there you have it. Obviously, more happened to UFC 305. We'll talk about that real quick here in round two. But the point for round one goes to. The dapperly dressed Jed Bishu. Nicely done. One to nothing. Pop the car.

Very nice. Pop that up. Pop that up. So let's talk about the rest of the card real quick. Big wins for Kaikar, France. Dan Hooker with the big upset win over Matush Gamrott, Jarzini Rosenstrike, beat Tai Tuivasa in a fight that certainly happened officially. And Carlos Prattis continues to be a problem after knocking out Li Jing Liang.

Other moments on the prelim. so Jedd will begin with you. Low-key MVP of UFC 305, so we're not including the main event here. Who will you remember most outside of the title fight? Outside of the title fight, there's one very clear answer, and I'm going to take it. I'm not going to be like, oh, let's get hipster and go with somebody cool. The answer is Dan Hooker because Dan Hooker, like, stole the show on Saturday. Not just with winning the fight, which was great.

like Underdog Bet, Cash, who? He stole the show with his like antics between the round where his face is bloodied and busted open and he's just like looking at the CKB team is like, I love this shit, yeah, let's have fun. Like he's just vibing the whole time. And then his post-fight speech, you know, calls out Connor does whatever. But he is so like his joy was infect, like infectious.

His enthusiasm was through. the roof at like where he has been the journey his career has taken like two years ago he was making a desperate cut to 1.45 and getting iced by honored allen allen allen instantly and now he's a top five lightweight like one fight away from fighting for the belt it is a been an incredible sort of turnaround from him on a very short notice and the manner in which it's happened like all the fights are bangers dan hooker's always been an exciting fighter but he has really cemented himself as like a top tier excitement dude like an all-action fighter he is right there with you know he's like a tier below the gauchies and poories but he's still like

right there and he just stole the show man like gets the win it doesn't matter how you scored the fight uh like if you i think i officially scored it for gamrott but i also like it just doesn't matter whoever that's one of those fights there's no wrong wrong answer there and his whole essence that all fight week, frankly, and certainly fight night, he was like the dominant personality, even given what happened in the main event. New York, Rick, what say you? Who is your low-key MVP of UFC 3.5? I would have been inclined to go Dan Hooker, but I'll go Kai Kaira, France.

Just like needed that one and what an impressive performance. And now has a real opportunity and advantage. division that is like dying for somebody to come challenge a la chandre pantosia so did exactly what you needed to do in front of the crowd that you need to do it in front of um to get an opportunity like that like and i think steve urseg is somebody who's like stock was was way high heading into this and people were high on after the performance so um yeah i'll go kai kara friends i'll feel like i'll say he did exactly what he needed to do to kind of stamp himself and now look you know on the heels of being out for a bit is now looking at,

hey, I could be the next guy in this division. So I like it. Kai Kara Friends. No love for Howie Booth? Come on now. I mean, what a scorecard that guy put together in that heavy way of fight. I mean, the MVP is probably the UFC representative that removed his ass from judging fights the rest of the night.

That's probably the correct answer. Oh, man. Also, come on. Shouts to call those protests, that man. Yeah. Man, just burning, burningly jangling down and then burn down a couple of darts. I love him a lot. Well, not burning down a couple of darts.

He was out, unfortunately. We need to get him some. We need to, like, immediately get him some. Dude, I know that we don't do, I can't speak to what Brazil does. We don't really do cigarette advertising. But this man needs, like, a Marlboro or a Campbell sponsorship immediately. Like, it's just the coolest. thing in the world.

He should just release his own line of cigarettes. Roll them up, package them and just make them yours. I think that'd be a seller. I'm in. I'll buy him. If they're available in America, I'll get in. He's a bad, bad dude. Very impressed by him.

So I thought this is a pretty good pay-per-view, New York, Rick. You know, some of the prelim action wasn't spectacular, but there's some stories. And I see Casey O'Neill get back in the wind column. She really needed that. I thought the main card outside of the Rosenstrike tie fight was pretty damn good. I thought every fight had something meaningful come out of it. A lot of storylines, a lot of conversation about it.

How did you grade this card as a whole? I mean, it's not 300. It's probably not $2.99. But I think it's in the conversation of being the third best pay-per-view of the year so far. For the first time in at least half a decade, I watched a UFC pay-per-view and was not working and was not thinking about, oh, what is the social media play here? How do I capitalize on this? What am I doing?

I literally got to sit back and watch UFC 305 from an armless chair on a cruise heading back from the Bahamas and really, really enjoyed it. Like, it was awesome. And, you know, I'm going to defeat my own pick for Loki Bangor. Like, Dan Hooker was like, man. Like, that was the fight that stood out to me. and his moment. And watching that, like, got me out of my seat. It was incredible.

Get the Kai Kar-France fight. Get the main event. It was good, man. Like, I don't know. Like, an A-plus is probably like a UFC 300 level. So I don't know, an A-minus, like an A? Like, it was damn good. The heavyweight fight brought it down.

There's no doubt. Like, that hurt it and could have been an opportunity to really get something exciting going with a knockout by either of those. gentlemen. A minus, I'll say. It was a good card, very good card, enjoyable, and got to actually enjoy it. That's good. Jed, are you on the A minus train as well? Probably B plus. Just because it, I mean, it lacked a co-main event of big critical significance. Kakara-Francis, like, that was a great performance, but, and I guess maybe he might honestly get a title fight off of that, But when your co-main event is a guy coming off a loss versus a guy coming off two losses, it's just that needed a little more juice to kind of get into the A range for me.

But probably is the third best pay-per-view of the year. I mean, your mileage may vary. 304 was pretty good. It's just that the main event was not the most exciting. And so, like, ending on a less than exciting note is kind of tough. But the rest of that card was still very good. There are some other moments here that have been good, but it's probably like top to bottom. Because the only part of the main card was the Rosenstrike Tuivasa.

And that fight was at least like kind of fun in spots because Tuvasa just kept getting teed off on but not dying. So probably the third best of the year. But I'm thinking B plus, not A minus. That's pretty good right there. Well, there's a paper view coming up in October. In fact, there's two coming up in October for the UFC. but one has a main event that is officially announced. We're going to go to that right now next on the program,

but the point for round two goes to the cruise man himself, New York, Rick. One to one, nicely done, from a cruise ship to the driver's seat hitting into round three. And that leads me to a fight that both of you, I expect will give a lot of positive praise to and excitement levels will be through the roof on Friday. UFC CEO Dana White gets on Instagram and makes an announcement. The main event for UFC 307, the promotions return to Salt Lake City, Utah,

will be for the light heavyweight championship of the world. It'll be Alex Pereira defending, not against Machabed Ancolaev, not against Jan Belhovic, not against Jamal Hill, but Khalil Roundtree. Rick, I could just see it on the look in your face right now. I assume you love this main event since I field this website, and both of you specifically, I feel like you two championed this fight into existence several months ago.

Yes, I will admit, the conductor of the bandwagon is Ariel Hawani, right? Like, he is the conductor of the Khalil Roundtree title shot bandwagon. But we're on board. We're certainly on board. Look, and I think, shout out to you, Mike, at Fanatics Fest getting some time with Kalilio Roundtree. He said it best.

I don't make this decision, man. They call me. I answer the phone. And if they say, we're fighting for the title, we're writing for the title. Like, whoever has a problem with this, like, I don't know what to tell you, take it up with somebody else. And the UFC would be, I guess, the best, you know, place to voice that displeasure. But, like, how could you be mad about the idea of two guys who absolutely throw heavy leather stepping in there? And let's, you know, say what it is.

like Alex Pereira is somebody who you want to see those types of fights. Like Alex Pereira is not the guy that we're carefully curating this like title reign. We want to see Alex Pereira go in there and stand with people who will also stand with him. That is why the Yuri Prohaska series was so exciting because we knew without a shadow of a doubt that dude would stand toe to toe to toe with them and throw. You know that Khalil Roundtree is going to stand toe to toe with them and throw. This is what we want. I know Jed has been long wanting to see the Magamana and Kalai. of fight. I have no interest in it. It seems like nobody on the UFC side has any interest in it.

It seems like no fans have any interest in it. We are getting the best possible outcome here. I love Kalilio Rontree versus Alex Pereira. And I thank the UFC for making it. Why? Why? Why the face in the hand there, Jen? Because he's got me in a box right now. Because it's obviously like an absurd statement to be like, I have no interest in seeing Magman and Goliath very possibly the best light heavyweight fight the best light heavyweight. Like that's a ludicrous statement. But, you know, for all the aerial has joined the bandwagon, I've been calling for

Cleo Roundtree to fight this, to fight Alex Pereira since he beat Dustin Jacoby. I'm like not even kidding. I honestly believe I am the dude who started. The Cleo Roundtree is the glory killer thing. Like, I've been wanting this fight for two, three years at this point. I was so on board. As soon as he beat Andy Smith. I was like, yeah, let's do 301.

Like Pereira says he wants to turn around after 300. Cool. He doesn't need eight, like eight weeks to train for Kalerararangor. Just run it in Brazil. That's fine. I am so on board with this title fight. It's very silly and it's like deeply disrespectful to Magabana and Kaliav. But I can't even care because of it.

I like the fight so much because it is so silly and I'm so appreciative of the UFC having fun because they very rarely do things that are fun. The only thing that is bad about this fight, the only thing that I will say is bad about this fight is Dana White spinning some yarns about it when someone asked him, hey, like, why is Cleo getting this, Magmon and Kaliav?

Whoa, Magamette's booked. Magamette's booked a month later. You could have just been like, hey, homie, no. O'leel's going to fight racket Chenebubu Dhabi You're coming to Salt Lake Like you could have just done that But like no

It's just it's the only part about it that's nonsense Is that like nobody even followed up on With that question But other than this I can't I can't be upset I've wanted this fight for two years man Like it's gonna be very very fun And very silly and I'm here for it

Shout out I don't know if this is like an otno point for AK But AK was like the first person, I think, who actually put this fight out into the universe. It was right after 287 when Izzy destroyed Pereira. We knocked him out. A.K. went on onto the next one live that next morning and said, Pereira's going up 205. He should fight Cleo Rowndree. Like, that's the fight. He knew it from day one, and now it comes full circle. And here we are getting at UFC 307. But it came out of nowhere, Jed. Like, you know, like New York said, I talked to Roundtree in New York on Sunday. The loudest room I've ever been in for an interview during Fanatics Fest.

I mean, I'm yelling and screaming. It doesn't seem like it's loud. It was the fucking loudest room I've ever been in. But he said he was having a bad day. Hunter Campbell called him. He offers him the fight. Immediately he turns his day around. And it was just something like, what's he supposed to do?

Just say no. And then you mentioned what Dana said at the contender series press or Jed. Anke lives booked already. And Roundtree's response to everybody is like, hey, if you have an issue, talk to the UFC. I'm not going to not fight for a world title when it's offered to me. And then the other side of the equation from the reactions that I've seen, some are just like, you know what, Khal is right? Like, what's he supposed to do?

Say no. It's the UFC's fault if you don't like this. But the other thing is people seem to be upset about this failed drug test when in reality, if you actually read up on it, it's a tainted supplement. He only got a two month suspension, all of that. So people are up in arms about that, calling him a cheat or whatnot. What have you made, Jed, of just like the, overall reaction to this fight outside of the MMA fighting bubble.

I mean, the reaction is what I would anticipate. Look, like, brass tax is a stupid fight. Like, if we're taking fun out of the equation, this is an indefensible thing. Kaleel's 100% right. Like, if you offer me a promotion, I'm going to accept it. Like, that would just be dumb for him to turn this down. And it's not really Alex's fault. Like, Alex, you would hope Alex would want to fight someone like a little more deserving,

but it's not like he's just going to fight whoever they did this is the ufc and clearly what happened here is either they don't feel confident ankylaev can get a visa to get in the u.s or they don't want that but like very clearly they looked at 307 and said ah poop we can't have rochelle pinnington versus juliana paine you headline a card and there's nothing else for us because we've talked about that on this show before like what the hell is going to fit there when they once they put Max and Ilya at 308. So what are we going to do? Well, we let's just call our

break class in case of emergency dude Alex Pereira. And who's a guy he can fight? This dude's on a winning streak and this will be a fun fight. And frankly Alex should win this fight. Like it is stylistically clearly advantageous for him. So we can still do the other things with Alex we have planned. But this is this.

But obviously it's dumb. Like it is absurd that the number eight or whatever the hell Khalil is dude in the division who is coming off a drug suspension just gets a title fight because and because he beat Anthony Smith who's Anthony Smith at this point like a lot of people beating Anthony Smith these days but he's the one who gets a title fight on it it's it's obviously insane but that's if you're looking at this like a sport and a meritocracy and it's not so like yeah all of the criticism and backlash I think is totally fair I think it is fair to look at this and say very cynically, the UFC is absolutely trying to protect Alex Pereira

because he is the golden goose right now. And while he has a very good chance to beat Magerman and Kalayev, we don't want to risk that until it becomes absolutely necessary. But it doesn't matter. Khalil's going to fight. Pereira's going to fight. We're all going to tune in. And we're all going to be excited about it. Come fight week, we will be excited about it because it will be fun, even if it doesn't deserve to be happening. Is this the right main event for the card, New York, Rick? Or should they've gone to the parley pal, instead?

No, I think this is the right main event. So, look, you could, you could do a lot worse. I think Giuliana Pena's, I am in the camp of, I like to hear Giuliana Pena on the mic, and I like to watch Giuliana Pena fight. I know that there are some who are not in that camp. I am in that camp. Well, it's been a tough three years for you then,

because she hasn't really done a lot of that fighting part. Yeah, well, I mean, now she's booked. and in a title fight. So I would like Jed and others to just like stop putting the asterisks and caveats and talking about what could have been and Magamette and Kalai of this. And it's a silly fight. Let's just enjoy. Let us just enjoy.

We don't need to caveat this. No, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're put that. I said they guess if we're being honest, but I don't give a shit. No, so I don't want to be honest. Let's stop. Let's stop being honest. Let's not get down to brass tacks. Let's just enjoy what.

They have presented to us. They have offered us a huge cake that looks delicious and I'm just going to eat it. I don't care about the calories. I don't care about what the repercussions are. I don't care about what's going to happen on the other end of it. I'm going to enjoy this cake and I thank them for serving it. It's tremendous. Great main event.

I love Khalil Roundtree versus Alex Pereira. The one thing I'll say, you did say, like, maybe there's a potential here for somebody to view this as like protecting Alex Pereira's title, rain, right? Like, there could be an argument to be said, like, hey, we think Magamed might be somebody who could beat him, whereas Khalil couldn't or, or is a potentially better stylistic matchup. I think, I think it's more on the side of we just think this is going to be more fun than necessarily like a careful curation of like, let's protect Alex. That's just my two sense on it. Like, I think if you're looking at Utah and going, hey, we need to deliver them something that's

going to be fun and exciting to top this card, which by the way, the rest of the card is, is, is, absolutely tremendous. It was really just missing a little bit of that, a punch at the top. This one feels like you're, it's, you know, it's one of those like, oh, it's going to guarantee be a banger and then I say this and then it's going to be a five round decision. But either way, like, it

feels like it just needed a little bit of that excitement level. They're getting cake. We're getting cake. Let's just eat cake. I'm cool with it. When Cleo Roundtree Jr. pulls this off is going to be the funniest thing in the world. It's going to be so goddamn funny.

Like on the Mount Rushmore of funny things that can happen this year, number one with a bullet, a million miles above everything is if Steepa knocks out John Jones, I will never stop laughing if that happens. But number two, way down here somewhere is Khalil freaking Roundtree being the light heavyweight champion of the world in 2024 because he just because he can't lose to glory kickboxers it will be the best and

I so hope it happens I don't know what it is about the start of the fall season but we got Sean Strickland winning the belt last year in September right around that time maybe it's maybe it's silly season two years in a row last thing on this please I'll just say you could do worse

than a champion like Khalil Roundtree who's like a very thoughtful dude is like a super excited fighter like the guy who eventually does like kind of ice Alex um is going to have such star power like there's worse guys to strap a rocket ship to than uh calil roundtree as an example magamette and calliiv that's not a great option to strap a rocket ship too we could be looking at a world where a legitimate ufc light heavyweight title fight is calil roundtree versus like nikita krillov and if if you told somebody that like three years ago they would be like

What happened? What are you talking about? More cake, please. More cake. It would be the best. I am pro keeping Magamad from the title if we're going to do the silliest thing possible every time. If we're going to do something reasonable, no, thank you. But if it's going to be the silliest answer every time, I'm actually on board with that.

There's no way Yuri Perashka goes to 185 if Cleo Rontree wins the bill, right? Oh, my God. There's no way. No. Maybe he goes before. Maybe he's just already committed. Who can say what year he's going to do? He lives in the woods.

He's very strange. I can't predict his movements. That's true. So here's the card, New York, Rick. Pereira Roundtree, Pennington Pena, Evoje of Sterling, Aldo Batista,

Harrison Vieira, Rina Rodriguez, Yasmin Lucindo, Ihor Potieri versus Cesar Alameda, Carla Sparza, her final fight against Tisha Pennington, Roman DeLise versus Kevin Holland Steven Thompson versus Joaquin Buckley

It's pretty damn good Rick Isn't that a good card That's a great card I love the card from top to bottom I'll be honest I would have been okay with the card Even without like this main event I think this don't like Please don't mistake what I'm saying

I think this elevates it to a different level In terms of the fun and excitement that it's going to bring But this is a solid solid solid card For that site fee whatever Utah has been paying them The last couple of years They got a good one here They got a really good one. The fans there are going to be excited about it.

So, yeah, this is one of the ones that I'm anticipating a great deal. I look at the sphere, right? And I say, great main event, but like it's lacking a little bit underneath. It's one of those that I think the spectacle of it is going to be more. For this one, I'm locked in on this fight card. I love it, top to bottom. The main event's great. I'm in.

I'm all in on Utah. Is the depth of this card better than Abu Dhabi so far, Jen? Let me pull up Abu Dhabi right now and see. So it was just looking at that. Because looking at this, I reflexively think there are too many good fights on this card. Why? Like you should probably pull one or two off and put them somewhere else. Like frankly, you just use one of them as an apex main event.

So some of those are better. But looking at 308, this is probably a little bit better. But I don't know. Very comparable. Like 308 is also Ilya Max Gon Volkov Whitaker Chimayev

assuming that fight happens Aglyev Rockich Murphy Ege Neal RDA like that's a pretty solid six right there I would say this is a little bit better but the other part of this

being a little bit better and kind of a reflexive thing is it's also friggin Salt Lake City I don't know these cards can get real weird because you know elevation and all that sort of stuff

I have a bit of terror bringing Josaldo back here to the place where he was robbed. But, you know, still a very good card and just a lot of really good storylines. I know we talked about it two questions ago or whatever. On paper, 307 and 308 are substantially better fight cards than any of the paper views other than $299 and $300 this year. So this should be a like a rock solid A, if not better, if the fight's delivering. They mostly should. See, for all you people out there who view our programs and say, all they do is shit on the UFC

and they don't like any of the cards, they tell us not to watch, when it's good, it's damn good, and we will tell you that. Speaking of which, this matchup is great. And where it's going to continue on to round four, what stuff Dana White said, point for round three goes to, I got a craving for cake. New York Rick, two to one. Shovel it up. Give me more cake.

So now, let's talk about things Dana White has said over the past few days because UFC 305 created a lot of storylines in the fallout with everything that happened in the Octagon, but also when it comes to the promotional material heading in, there was a lot of story too because it became very apparent that during the buildup to this card, once the countdown show came out, the former heavyweight champion,

the now PFL fighter who's about to step on a press conference with Henan Faheda in Washington, D.C. France and Ghanu scrubbed from some comments that Israelada Sanya made at the on-sale press conference about the Three Kings, which is himself, Francis Ngano, Kamara Usman. And Francis just left out. The Three Kings just left out of the comments altogether.

And this led to, is he going to meet? day and responding to it, calling it essentially a whitewash from the UFC, sort of ignoring history of what Francis and Gano had done. And this became a huge story during fight week. Now it's fast forward to this past Tuesday. Dana

White has asked about this at the contender series post-fight press conference by Kevin Ioli. Dana said, first I've seen of this, essentially, I'm not aware of it. I'm going to look into it. And guys, it appears Dana looked into it. He issued

a response to his good friend Kevin Ioli later that night. And basically what he said was, yo, this is on me. This is my fault. And, you know, sometimes the production team will just say, hey, this is what Dana would want. So let's take Francis out of here because of some of the crazy shit that I've said.

They did that. And Dana was apparently not aware of that. And he says, all me, bro. All me. So Jed, what did you think of this response from Dana White? because whether or not you believe it, it doesn't happen all that often. First, I was absolutely flabbergasted

that I only asked that question at the thing. And second, it infuriates me. Not because this is just how business is done. And the fact that the UFC could do this, like that they don't have to have such an antagonistic relationship with media, that they could just treat this like adults and be like, hey, we are a multi-billion dollar sports entity.

And that does come with scrutiny. And that scrutiny is reasonable. And it's not, it is not that they are trying to tear us down root and stem. It is just part of what comes with being a massively successful media entity. Because this is how it's handled. Like everything here is by the book and normal. And this is how you don't make. a story out of something because, hey, it is a story when you whitewash a dude out. And that's

why that becomes. And then you come and just handle it like an adult and say, hey, hand up. I didn't actually do this. Somebody on my team thought that this would be the move. And I believe him because like, I don't know, I've been around corporate America a lot. Given the sort of vibe that they cultivate, I would say that you could question whether that's good. But neither here than there. I believe that Dana White didn't come and specifically say, don't mention, for instance, and Ghanu. Somebody just took it on to be like, we're going to clip this and clip around it. But ultimately, he says, that's still on me because that's how you're supposed to lead. Like, yeah, at the end of the day, the buck stops here, it is my fault that happened.

I called Izzy, I apologize. Like, we don't need to drag him over the coals for this because that's just how all of these issues should be handled. And the fact that the UFC knows and can do it, but oftentimes won't or then just, comes and is like live it and even at the freaking post contender series thing dana hinted that he's got something for all the media who think john jones isn't the goat like he's going to drop another hit piece video on people might be my first one guys i'm pretty excited because there's a lot of clips you're gonna be the star you're gonna be the star that one very very possible i'm on this one

which is great i've somehow missed all the others but like it just doesn't have to be this we can all be adults about stuff, and be like, hey, your cards are very good, like most of them anymore. And he can be like, that's totally cool if you think that way. You don't have to watch them.

And like you, they know that this is the thing that can be done. And so I was heartened that they actually like, took ownership of a real problem, addressed it and tried to move forward appropriately. I have no belief that this will be like, the way we do business moving forward, which is infuriating because this isn't that hard

to do this. And the fact that they were able to do it should prove that they can do it moving forward if they chose. Rick, what did you think of this? Just real quick, just for context, this is what Dana said. Whoever was editing it,

they thought that was the right decision. They did what they thought I wanted. That's not what I wanted. Had I known that, I would not have authorized that, but that's on me, totally on me. I already called Israel and Sani and apologized for it.

Like a total grown-up! That was good. I was very impressed when I saw this New York, Rick. I thought this is really good stuff. I don't want to be unfair, right? I guess there's an accountability taken here. But I do feel like, and you guys, you'll push back if needed,

I do feel like we're too focused on the minutiae, on the semantics, on the idea of like, look at Dana White's reaction to it, as opposed to the core of the matter, which is like, why would we be in this position in the first place? Why would it be assumed that the president of the company where Francis Inganu used to fight would think, oh, I hope we don't include Francis and God. Like the actual way that we got to this point, the idea that this would even be something that's in consideration is more of the concern for me and not the minutia necessarily of like, well, Dana White got called out on it. And Dana White then said, it's on me and then had this whole explanation of all the nonsense of like, oh, it was.

actually like somebody assuming that I might feel that way, but it wasn't actually me telling them. Truth be told, maybe he at some point was like, hey, I don't want to see that guy ever in any materials again and then somebody ran with that. Like I really don't care necessarily about like the steps here. And I really don't care about the actual apology itself. And just more focused on the idea of like, can't we just be all adults? Like does Francis and Ganu need to be scrub from USC history. Like, isn't it enough to say, like, Francis Inganu was very impactful to UFC history and no longer fights here and that's fine.

Like, I really just am like the beefs, the rivalries, the Francis is gone. So, like, I just, I can't bring myself to, like, be concerned about it. Like, Dana White's trivial kind of feelings about Francis and Ganu. And even in the, like, hey, I have no problem with Francis and Ganu. But by the way, he really didn't want to fight John Jones. Like, it's just such, like, I'm so, it's, it's kind of to the point of sickening to me. Like, enough already. Like, I'm over all that.

And so this idea that like, hey, he finally took accountability. Like, I don't know. I don't really want to give him a cookie for it. If, if, and maybe that's just me, but I don't really want to give him a cookie for it. Like, it's just, it's just nonsense. That said, but you have to, Rick, you have to give him a cookie. You have to reinforce positive behavior. Man, you're right.

And that's the part where I'm like, I don't want to be unfair. As a parent, you should know this. Yes, you're right. You're right. And that's the part where I'm saying, like, I don't want to be unfair. I don't want to be unfair. There is something here. But it's not enough of something that I really care.

Like, we're too focused on the details. And Francis and Ghanu is such a part of UFC history and such an important part of like this narrative. The scrubbing of him is like, like, how could we get to this point? We should never be in this position. Just tell the stories. And this conversation comes up when we talk about UFC Hall of Fame, obviously, right? And this conversation comes up. The UFC is so powerful.

They are the holders of the history of MMA just because there has not been a better alternative and because there is nobody to kind of like challenge their history. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to use this opportunity to say, shout out to Israel at Asanya for using his platform to try to say that that needs to be corrected. That's the direction I'm going to take this. Shout out to you, Israel. So good job, good job by you.

And Kevin Ioli by asking the question, it then gets done. So shout out to those guys. That's where I'm going to end this. New York, Rick, Dana White said other things at this press conference. He seems very, very confident that the fight most people don't think will happen, will happen, really hammering it down that if John Jones beat Steve A. Mietchich, the Tom Aspinall fight will happen. If you missed it, here's what Dana said. dislike him whatever your beef is with john jones knock yourself out there's no way in hell that john jones doesn't want to fight aspinall that i guarantee you john jones is doing john jones right now

that's what he does there's nobody that we've ever dealt with when i tell you is not afraid to fight anybody it's john jones i believe john jones aspinall happens if he beats steepa we'll do everything we can to make that fight happen what fights don't we make other than the francis thing what fights don't we make? You can't make people fight and we couldn't make Francis fight. There you go, New York, Greg. But every other fight we've made,

we've dealt with guys like Brock Lesnar. Thinking the biggest stars we've ever had in the sport, we've always made the fights. New York, Rick, your reaction to this. He is adamant about this. Jed brought out the, I got something for the media members who thinks John's up the greatest

or he's scared. Is there something to this? Do you think this gives you any more confidence this fight happens? So before I answer that, let me just say I spend a little bit of time being critical of Dana White there. Good for Dana White. He should come out with that video destroying everybody who doesn't dig John Jones is the goat because you're going to be in that one.

That is absolute fact. No, I can't. There's no way. There's no way. There's no way. You were not critical of 300, but they clipped like appropriate ones. That's right. You're going to be in it.

Just you wait. That would hurt if they do that. If they do that to me, that would hurt my soul because nobody. nobody believes that there should be a video saying that John Jones is the goat and everybody else who believes otherwise should eat it than me. So I support Dana White's endeavor here. Like that video should come out and everybody should bow down before the goat John Jones. Okay. Now moving on to the other part of it.

I agree with him, right? Like for the most part, like we have to give the UFC credit here. For the most part, they make the fights that people want to see. That is absolute fact. Like they are making fights that people want to see and we don't kind of have a lot of those that we go, man, we really missed out on that one. The list is short. The list is short when you look back at the history of the UFC. Like when there's a fight that's a big opportunity, they mostly make those fights.

And he's correct on that front. The Francis thing in particular, like he continues to harp on it. He's he's misconstruing the facts here. Right. The reason the Francis and Gunnu fight did not happen is not because they did not give a good effort to trying to make Francis and Gano versus J. John Jones. But ultimately, they were not able to retain Francis and Gano services, and therefore, they were not able to put that fight together at a time when they were seemingly like willing to pony up the required amount of money, but they could not come to an agreement with Francis and Gano.

John Jones versus Tom Aspinall, I have long said this. The record is clear on what I have said about this fight. It is not Tom holding up the fight. It is not John holding up to fight. It is the UFC holding up the fight in regard to the fact that they do not they have not come to the table with enough money for both sides of that fight to be made yet at the at the moment they do the day they do that they say john we will pay you what it costs for you to take the risk to fight tom aspinall and tom i don't think it's going to cost it's going to cost them much money to get tom on board with that that fight will happen i am very confident of that i think it will ultimately happen i think they will come to a conclusion at a certain point where they feel like the only thing

left for Tom Aspinall to do is to fight and potentially beat John Jones, and they will pony up enough money for it. If there's a world where Tom is kind of established on his own and they don't necessarily need John Jones to elevate Tom, maybe they pass on it. But it is purely a money thing. This is only a money thing. And that is why I was, forgive me for not remembering who the person to ask the follow question was. But the person asked Dana White point blank, are you going to pay John Jones enough to fight Tom Aspinall? And then he went on a totally separate direction without answering that question directly. I think they will.

I think they will ultimately pay John Jones enough money to fight Tom Aspinall. I don't know when that happens, though. I don't know if that will necessarily be next. I don't know if they will even need to do it because Tom may already be firmly established as a champion and they kind of won't need to do it. I do think at this current moment, they probably will do it. So he's telling a sort of true. but he's also kind of running away from the idea of like money is the only inhibitor to that fight if you paid john jones enough he would fight tom aspinall tomorrow you sweet summer child

you laughed you laughed explain i had a lot of things to laugh at the first thing i want to laugh at i was taking notes because i had so many responses to things eric was saying there first thing i want to laugh at is that oh they just couldn't they couldn't retain francis's services what about the two years prior when john just wasn't fighting and Francis they could have booked that at any point and they they didn't seem interested both fighters were interested they based on our reporting they didn't want to pony up some money they had plenty of opportunities to make this fight outside of when they had already broken the relationship of Francis and they didn't the thing that I laughed at though Rick was was you

acknowledging that Dana was asked about money and then did not answer and you were like I think they're going to pay them because here's the quote here's the quote rick because let us be extraordinarily clear about what has happened in the last 48 hours john jones is tweeting up a storm tuesday i think tuesday whatever day it was tweeting up a storm because tom aspinall posted something and john is chronically online even right now as we speak within the last hour he tweet he put a video out on his Instagram reels of him throwing his phone into his pool because, and I quote, as much as I love you, you're not important as my goals are to me right now. This dude couldn't care more about what the internet thinks of him. And he got so into his fields and was like, I'm fighting Steepa, guys,

I'm doing it. And when people very rationally were like, hey man, Steepen hasn't fought in three years. He's old as dirt and not very good anymore, probably, because the last time he had fought, out ice, John's like, no, no, no, steepest greatest of all time. How ridiculous that in a mere three years, this 48, 42 year old man could go from being the goat to being an afterthought and washed. Because that's how time works, John. I'm sorry that that's how time works. But in this tweet storm, John popped out the truth of the matter, which you've been saying and is very true. I don't believe John Jones is scared of Tom Aspon. It's a professional I've been on the record many times. Professional fighters, by and large, are not afraid to fight

other professional fighters. They do make business decisions, however, in the same way that a football player who's about to have to tackle Derek Henry in the A gap might be like, I'm not really afraid of Derek Henry, but my career is probably better if I just let him, let him scoot on through because I'm a cornerback and I weigh a buck 80 and Derek Henry's going to put me on a poster and probably break my clavicle. John's doing the same because he comes out with one of these tweets and it's like, maybe, maybe the UFC will give me a deal that I can't possibly refuse, which, John, that's just giving up the game. Your previous tweets being like, I'm focused on beating steeping the hell out of this sport to go be retired in a goat, but if the UFC wants

to offer me an absurd amount of money, I might do it. And that was what Dana was asked about. And I quote Dana's response, John Jones is doing John Jones right now. That's what he does. There's nobody that we've ever dealt with when I tell you he's not afraid to fight anybody. It's John Jones. I believe Jones Aspinall happens if he beats Depe. You'll notice he didn't even approach talking about paying this man more money because he's not going to. He is just not going to do it.

They wouldn't pay Francis the right amount of money to fight John when he had him under contract. Why the hell are they going to pony up now? This fight's never going to happen. And that's okay, guys. We can all move on. Tom Asperol dropped a very fun Instagram video, making fun of this whole situation, which I thought was incredibly clever. And he seems to be okay with it.

Like if John fights him great, if John wants to do this vanity project and get out, that's okay too, man. Like it is fine for that to be the case. We can all be okay with that. I acknowledge that the real heavyweight champ is Tom Aspinall. And John's doing a side quest. And that's fine, but he already beat the game. He's in side quest mode.

He's finishing the 100% and then he'll go off to do something else afterward. that's where we're at everybody and that's just the truth of the matter man can i by the way i think i think i think it should be stated like we mostly agree right everything jett said we were we were mostly in agreement um there's a few things i also took the part where you think dana's gonna pay there's a few things though jad i i also did take some notes um you mentioned that tom is the real champion and and john is doing side quest actually um tom's title says interim champion john's uh says you know uh world world heavy wood champion So just for the record, John Jones, the champion, Tom, the interim champion, just need that to be known. For the record, if we're going by the record, John Jones is defeated then.

I'm willing to acknowledge he's the true everyweight champion. If you acknowledge, he has a legitimate loss on his record. I would never acknowledge that. And I can't wait for data on the difference. It just proves all that false and fake news that you're trying to spew right now. The other thing, my only little bit of confidence, which you made. You laid up this argument perfectly. Dana is not addressing the issue, the elephant in the room,

which is the money part of it. And so why would I have any confidence that he will ultimately pay him? The slightest bit of confidence for me, and the reason why I ultimately do think the fight will happen, is that we are just closer to the end of the line for John Jones than we were when the Francis and Gano discussion was happening. I think they are really a lot closer to the idea of saying, okay, we can't really squeeze that much more out of John Jones here, right?

The number of fights that he has left are finite. He is going to be our goat. Dana White is very willing to talk about that part of the conversation. And if there is an opportunity to utilize that chip and put it into Tom Aspinall's pot, right? If we're pushing all in and now Tom scoops the pot and he gets the cachet of beating John Jones as the last thing that John Jones does, and then Tom Aspinall gets elevated by that, they strap the rocket to him based on that. I think we're closer to that outcome. I think we're closer to that potential reality.

I don't think it's guaranteed. I'm not like supremely confident, but I do think as opposed to where we were with the Francis and Ghanu side of it, we're slightly closer here. And I feel like they can kind of see the inner workings of that and see the potential business benefit from it. Look, if you ask me, like if Dana White said, we will pay whatever it takes to make that fight happen,

then I'm really confident. All right. Now, now I'm starting to say, okay, this fight's going to happen. But I do think ultimately they will arrive at that conclusion in one way or another. That's the way I lean at the moment. It's not guaranteed. It's not assured. But that's where I'm at.

But as we both said, it's going to be money. And he's been asked and he skirted the issue. So it doesn't give me the supreme confidence that I would need to say I guarantee it. But I think they will ultimately go on the back end of this steep thing. The only thing left for us with John Jones is to give him to Tom Aspinall and hopefully Tom beats him and mix that into a thing. And then if John wins that, then maybe you go, shit, let's get five more out of this guy. Let's just ride this to the wheels come off.

So I think that'll happen. I think it will happen. I'm not supremely confident. Dana White's answer did not inspire confidence. And John Jones is the goat. I hope you're right, man. I hope they just come off the checkbook and make it happen. Actually, mostly I hope Steve knocks out, John.

thing in the whole world. But if he doesn't, if John obliterates the older tired firefighter, which you should, then, like, I hope so. And maybe this will be the one time that that happens. I just, he didn't even address it is the thing that gives me no confidence. He wasn't even like, look, you know, John's doing John. We'll, we'll cross that bridge when we get there, everybody has a price. He just plowed right past it.

It's like, nope, we pay people all. pay him, man. No, he does. He did the thing that he always does, where he turns the question into questions. And then he mentioned Brock Lesnar. The Brock Lesnar name drop was actually like, okay.

I actually did feel a little bit better about that because he's actually showing his work slightly. You think Brock was easy to work with? I remember he brought Brock in the fight Daniel Kormier. That fight didn't happen. I remember Brock versus Fador was the biggest fight in MMA for a while. That didn't happen.

But we couldn't it Tony and Habib. Come on. Well, I mean, come on. Some of those circumstances are outside of the control. But the Brock thing, I think to Mike's point is like, as you said, showing the work, right? We are going, John Jones is now an attraction. John Jones is like, you pay for an attraction. They are not putting him in the category that they are putting Tom in terms of like he's our guy, title defenses, this and that. They know. They know it's finite. And that is what is making me think that maybe it happens. Also, shout out to Tom, that video that he made of him like looking for John Jones was absolutely incredible.

I'm loving the calling Steep A Biden stuff that he's also doing. Like he's hitting the right notes here. Like I'm liking, I'm liking what Tom is bringing to the table of trying to discredit the steep A versus John fight as a whole. He's played it very well because he started very respectful. And now he's like, all right, guys,

this is getting a bit ridiculous. Like, come on. I fully agree, Dana. Let's just go find John. I would like to be in a room with him. That's great. It was great. He slides underneath.

Oh, so funny. It's great. Well done. John just sounds like you're tweeting like a dork. God. The cell phone video, if John just threw the actual cell phone he was like recording himself within the pool, then I think it would have had more impact. He does a happy dance like, oh, you can't see the tears.

And then throws his iPhone two and a half in the pool. So funny. Like this man could. This man is so. deeply invested in what the internet has to say about him. Crazy. When you're the goal, you know, they talk about you. That's just how that goes.

Yeah, but you don't have to care. One last thing Dana White said that I wanted to get a quick reaction to. New York, I'll start with you. Marab de Wallace really posted a photo of him getting cut, inspiring ahead of his fight with Sean O'Malley for the Bannon White title, which is not that far away. Here's what Dana said about the cut. The whole world knows about Marab's cut.

He posted it. our guys are so dumb it's next level unbelievable all the stuff i talk about boxing what i will give boxing credit for when something happens in a camp let me tell you it does not leak our guys can't fucking wait to throw it up on social media it's a small cut it's no big deal but obviously needed to be posted and why the fuck would you want o'malley to know that it is next level stupid some of these guys are so stupid it's mind-boggling it's unbelievable wow that that's quote just it just cannonballed down the more I read it. But where's your reaction to this?

Was this like, did you expect this kind of reaction from Dana when it comes to that? Because it's been interesting to see the reaction. Some people are just like, yeah, who gives a shit? And other people are like, yeah, dude, why would you post that cut? So I find myself agreeing with Dana White with the broadstrokes, which is like, why did you need to post? Like, what was the point of posting this? It really does not make a lot of sense to me.

It's quite baffling from that perspective. of like, again, like, it's not a cut that's probably going to take him out of the fight. And I think everybody could kind of recognize that, especially by the placement of it, that it was not in a particular precarious position. But why? Why give your opponent that intel that, like, you have a cut?

Like, it's just dumb. I agree with Dana White that, like, this was just dumb. Now, the more interesting part to me is how flagrantly disrespectful he was to Marab about it. Like, like his level of not giving. a shit about what he was saying and lack of care and lack of delicacy around how he thinks about Marab de Valishvili potentially. Because if that was Sean O'Malley, I'm not sure he would have said the same thing, right?

And that was kind of what was most fascinating and interesting to me. Like he took the filter off. Like he took the silencer off. There was no muzzle there. He was just firing those shots straight at Marab and open season and everybody else was able to jump onto it. That was fascinating and a little bit of intel and something that I took away from it. But ultimately, at the heart of what he said, I agree with him.

Like, what was the point of that? That was a really baffling decision and dumb. No harm, no foul. Like, I don't think it's going to affect the fight in a major way, but also like, why? Why did you need to do that? Jed, what did you think of this whole situation and Dana's response? It was kind of, he was on just sort of that kind of mode, right? It was like, look, let me say, let me, let me, let me.

me lead with something praising. Like, oh, you know that I don't like boxing, but they got it right here. And then he comes into this. I kind of agree that it is a very silly thing to post if you are Marab, especially like, I think fighters take this too far often. Like, I'm not giving away any of my secrets in the camp or whatever because I ultimately don't think that that is a massive game changer. But, you know, it's about mentality and how you feel and your level of comfort.

you know, 23 days or whatever it is out to post that you got to cut in a very sensitive area that like should heal, but maybe doesn't heal like gangbusters in this amount of time and absolutely gives away a potential, hey, just try and stick a jab in his eye and see if you can bust that open, like as a legitimate path for, for Amali here. I agree with Dana. That's kind of silly to do and that you're doing it for social media clout is just not. worth it. But ultimately, this is a non-story. Like, it's going to be better. Dana being, like, upset by it is more read to me as, I'm just upset that, you know, I for a brief moment thought, oh, shit, this fight might fall apart because that's, like, that, that is the part of it that is

thing. In, in, when he has asked about the event, somebody followed up and said, hey, I, uh, do you have a backup fighter plan? And Dana was like, nope. we are boned if this main event falls through the cost to our production will be massive if something happens here. So he was just kind of testy about that, which is fine. Like we all get testy for different reasons. But ultimately, it's fine. This fight's going to happen. This was one of those stories that's not really a story, but the cycle has to churn.

Yeah. It sounded quite familiar. Did it not? Didn't we? Maybe Dana got flashbacks of Al Jermain Sterling's title run and Marab, winning fights but not fighting Al Jermaine Sterling seemed very familiar did it not a little bit sorry I was I was muting there I didn't know if you were talking to me a Rick because I have I have a gentleman yeah right to the world I will also add to to kind of what Jed said like um he's he's worried

right there was a certain even though I think he's not worried now there's a certain level of the fear right not only are you showing Shona Malley this but you're showing a commission this right and we don't expect that this would affect that like as i said the placement of it it is not above the eye it is not in a particularly bad spot that you're you're concerned about that damage but it's close enough to the eye and you don't want a commission to know about this either and if you're dana white you're going just why but but it comes from that place of fear it comes from like we don't have another option and like why give anybody any opportunity to question what we've got going on here this is a very expensive car let's just move forward so like i'm with them

on that. But man, I don't know if he would have fired off that aggressively if we're talking like Sean O'Malley or somebody else that maybe is in a little bit better standing. I think there's some hard up feelings about Marab, to your point, like around all that Al Jemaine Sterling stuff

and maybe Marab's not like super favored right now, which is going to be a little bit weird when he eventually becomes champion. But we are where we are. I cannot wait for that fight. It's going to be a doozy. Jed, any closing thoughts on this? it'll be really funny if O'Malley opens that cut up and wins by cut. It'll be really funny.

If O'Malley just pumped out and is immediately like jab, jab, jab, jab. And the cut, like, even if it's not that cut because the cut gets healed. Like, if a cut is opened on Marab's eye, it, this will suddenly be a story again. And it would be very, very funny if that happens. I am rooting. If you can't tell. I'm rooting for all chaos for the remainder this year. It could be the other eye and people would just say,

oh, because he was focusing so much on trying to jab and open the eyes, that is what caused this and everybody's an idiot in the scenario. That's hilarious. That's great. So funny if that happens, man. Like, there are a lot of very,

very funny outcomes in play for the remainder this year. And I'm rooting for every single one of them. Wow. silly season let's go let's award the point for round four it goes to I mean Jedd stole it at the end no doubt about it I mean it was it was so tightly contested but then

God if can you imagine like O'Malley just lands like three punches in the first round it's a super competitive fight of the year contender through round one but then the cut over Marab's eyes is so bad it's the same cut that gets opened up and it stops Mara might get cut from the UFC if that happens doesn't have to be punches.

What if Marab gets the takedown and O'Malley just heads the guard and just lands like it just starts doing these little elbows like right around the eye? You just get a little one grinding in there try and rip it open. It was best.

Oh my God. What a post-fite show that. You know O'Malley would come immediately on the mic and be like, hey Marab, thanks for telling me about that cut, bro. I will say equally funny

and also possible is Marab leaning even further into this now that Dana White has gone off showing up with like a full face bandage and just like making skits and stuff I think that could be pretty funny You're 100% right he would do that Yeah so that could be actually pretty funny too

Is leaning further in like Dana White is irate And Marab is just like oh now I got my whole head bandaged Like I am I am just leaning all the way into this anyway Rob shows up to the pre-fight presser with like a prosthetic like stitching Elite, be elite. I can't wait for fight week now. This is great. God, I can't wait for fight week.

All right. So let's go to the doctor. You're not thinking about the sphere, guys. We can get a close up of the cut inside the sphere. Like just from, oh, God. It's going to be a great. It's the cut and Dana White just being like, just fuming, man. Turn it all red.

Oh, man. That would be pretty wild. So yeah, we're going to the knock around one minute apiece for each of these gentlemen to answer this question. So, Jed, you're the champ. What are we doing here? I'll go first. I'll let Rick get the last say. All right.

This is the last time, you know, I'll be generous. The UFC is in Las Vegas this week, Jed. They're back at the world's most famous apex. UFC Vegas 96 main event, middle weights, Jared Kandineer versus Kio Bahalio. the fight nerds team just absolutely smoking it right now they're on fire so Jed

we got tough finale fights too sell us we're going back to this sell us on UFC Vegas 96 and would you prefer to watch this over I don't know weird fighting like Floyd Mayweather

John Gotti the third part two go oh gross when you said would you rather watch this of a weird fighting I immediately it was like weird fighting Give me Wild Dog Fight 3 or whatever the promotion is that put Eddie Hall against two DJs. Like give me some fight circus shit all day over this card 100%.

And Mike, I'm just not going to address your prompt at all. I'm not going to sell people to watch this. If you have nothing to do on Saturday, go for it, man. If you really, really love fighting and it doesn't matter how it comes, go for it. You know you're getting a baseline of competence from production. A couple of decent fights here, legitimately fights that I have some interest in. I'm very, I love watching Kyle Barrio fight. I think the main event is very good.

Angel Hill is usually a scrapper and so that's worthwhile. Neil Magny Michael Morales, I don't, maybe, maybe Neil Magny, you know, fraud checks another contender. I don't know. This is a perfectly reasonable main card, undercards poop. If you got nothing else to do or you just want to, go ahead and watch it. If you have anything else to do where you're not feeling it, MMAfighting.com, we got coverage all weekend. you're going to be golden. All right.

New York, Rick, maybe you could do a better job. I mean, this might be your last chance to sell us on an apex card. Although some breaking news, New Yorker can join us on the preview show and post-fight show this weekend. So very excited to have that. But let's give a little preview of the preview, New York, Rick. What are we thinking? UFC Vegas 96, why should people watch? Go.

This is how you send me out of BTL, by the way. Like, making me stump for UFC Vegas, 97. when my entire time that I've ever talked about the apex, my thing has been like, look, if they're not good cards, like don't tune in because that's the way that they continue to put these on. But okay, I'm going to acknowledge that up front and just say, thank you for putting me in this position. And I will counter with like Michael Morales is fun and like a guy you should probably be watching. And that's the thing that I care about on this card.

Also, like, Kyle Barrio, like, the fight nerd stuff, they've got some really, like, good shit going on. I like the gimmick a lot there, and he's like the most prominent, the lead of that. And so when he's fighting, I'm paying attention just because, like, I like what they're doing there. I like that camp and everybody in it. I know Jed is fun, many fighters in that camp. And so, yeah, look, it's not the best card, but there's stuff on it. I'm watching Angela Hill's great. Jari Kahnoneer is a good fighter.

I like it. I don't love it, but I like it. I actually, uh, man, I noticed a lot of talk about that main card. Not, not seeing a lot of salesmanship on the old undercard.

There's a fighter name Wang Kong on it, who I've never heard of before. And, you know, she's, uh, I think she was in a road to UFC and she is like a San Chow or a, whatever,

that makes sense. Whatever their kickboxing thing. It's like a, world champion in the St. Sure. I think it's Sancha. Yeah. Yeah, it's Sancha. She's going to kill Victoria Leonardo, I think. Which is why that matchup was made. Let's

be honest. Josiani Nunes is back. Slava Claus versus James Lontop is going to be a war? It's going to be very silly fun. See, we're selling it. This is great. I love this car. I was into, I was into Danny Silva because I love Danny Silva,

but then he's out and I don't care about Francis Bazooka versus Francis Marshall. whatever. Just fight. New York's Scarriese is fighting. Jose Medina,

Zach Reese is going to end in like 80 seconds, which is going to be great. Shabazi and Gerald Mirashart is the people's made event. Love that fight so much. But we care most about Michael Morales, right?

Like, let's all just say what it is. Oh, yeah. No, Boralia. I care most about Borrell. And then Michael. Then Morales, yes. Guys, give me some love.

Like, I feel like I have to go out on a win, but I don't know. You fans decide that. You fans decide that. I'm not going to say, you know, I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say that that's the right thing to do. But I am going to say like, hey, it'd be nice. Like, I'd appreciate it.

You know, it'd be nice. Can we also just shout out to Achilles who's going to have so much more money now that you're leaving? Like, Achilles, you can buy things for your family now. Like, your kids can eat now instead of just giving money to berate Rick. it's someone someone me and said um ask me how he feels that achilles junior won wow that's an interesting one i feel like look let's let's whoever asked that is very smart i'm going to be on some shows coming up for the rest of this week so like i feel like there's there's still story to be told here you know it's not over yet we're going to see how the how akila shows up maybe he's not saving money maybe he's

dumping like 600 bucks into like sending me off with some real flames, you know? So let's see what happens here. I mean, Achilles kind of can win. All they has to do is your last show pop in like five or and be like, hey, Rick, if I win, leave MMA fighting. And then you're kind of in a box there, aren't you? And then somebody starts to like, you know, New York Rick didn't want to face Achilles Jr.

You know, we tried to make that. We tried to make the Achilles Jr. versus New York, but New York. But New York Rick didn't want it. New York Rick did not want that smoke. Rick was actually champing at the bit for that. Like he was so convinced he was going to win just like he beat Jed that he was, he was begging us and we couldn't make it happen. I look forward to Achilles Jr.'s, Achilles Jr.'s Instagram video that he's going to post trying to chase New York Rick down, a la Tom Aspinall in a minute. But let's turn it over to Casey, who's in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which is,

is, uh, mean something's happening. Casey, what's up? You throw up super chats because I saw a few. Oh, maybe. Hold on.

Um, we got our votes in. It's a close vote. It was close. But we do have a winner. Today's winner with 100% of the votes. New York, Rick. Yeah. Wow, that's very close.

This is a very competitive one. Wow. 100%. First time ever. Congratulations. I heard there were, heard there were 187,000 votes the most you've ever had on BTL, not one vote for Jed. How do you feel about that New York?

100% of the vote. I typically have done gimmicks on this show, you know, breaking K-Fape here, but I'm going to be genuine for a moment. This is a really good show. And shout out to Mike and Jed, who's obviously like a mainstay of this. The record speaks for itself and Casey, a huge part of it. Like this is a really important thing in the sport and a really good thing. And I was happy to be a part of it. And I'm glad that you fans feel the same way and appreciate this show for what it is.

Thanks to you guys for tuning in. And thank you to everybody who allowed me to be a part of this. It really means a lot. And yeah, that's it. I love you guys, you fans, you guys who are here on this show. And thank you for everything. Well, I'm sure the fans appreciate what you said And it looks like the fans want to reciprocate

Achilles Jr., Yahoo Sports, Rick, it's been real men, good luck in all your future endeavors Going to do some BingRips for you Great takes today 10 out of 10! Wow! Where is that second one? Where is the second one? The last ride from Lazy Bed

Keep him coming. Got to miss roasting Rick, no cap. Still not, still kind of nice. So we're here, you can still roast Rick. Yeah, we got a little bit more. We got a little bit more. Oh, I just meant when he's gone, like, if you just want to chop in and be like, man, F, Rick. Hell yeah.

I saw someone post it. Somebody out here with, uh, I hope, I hope, uh, MMA fighting and uncrowned stay friends. No. No, this man is my enemy. Whatever day he's officially done enemy. So hop in and roast him. I'll be like, yeah, screw that dude. Screw all of them.

I don't like any. That's a good one. The like lineal, the lineal BTL belt. I just leave with the lineal VTL though. I don't think the BTL title has been defended in like four years. Phoenix Carnivali has yet to return to the program. Look, she's our John Jones. We'll never strip her.

She's good to go. This is what you do with goats. That is proper respect. That's what I like to hear. Brandon supports the movie. We don't like you either. Get out of it, Brandon. We don't like you.

Oh, incredible. I want any of this Yahoo nonsense out of it. No, it's all cool. I don't even want you. This is not nice. This is not nice anymore. But yes, a kill is heartbroken.

This is something else. This is what's special, right? Like, the fans are a part of this. The fans are part of this. It is the end of an era. A bad era. Like, we're moving on to happier spaces without it.

A terrible era. We should all celebrate it. I love you all. I love you all. Even you, Achilles, you're great. And I love all you fans to do for this fight every week. For this fight? The Achilles Rick rivalry.

The Achilles Rick rivalry is one of my favorites of the year. No doubt about it. Shout out to all of you in the comments. Those great stuff. Shout out to you, New York, Rick. Casey's back. I'm sad. I'm sad.

No, we still got, we still got shows, baby. We're not even out of here yet. I'm sad that we still have shows. Get out of. Go on get. Hit the music unless there's anything else. No, I won't. No, he wants to be once this song to play forever.

And as someone who occasionally FL presser happening over here. Yeah, you said that with genuine enthusiasm. What a profession. We got a PFL presser. Sure will we do. The lineal heavyweight. The man is here.

I mean, I care. Yeah. Mike is there a heck of the morning tomorrow. Somebody is asking. No, we'll be back. We'll be back next week once AK returns. Then we'll open it back up. But next week, but join us for preview show tomorrow.

For Jed, Casey, New York, Rick. I'm Mike Heck. We're out of here. Good night, everybody. Love y'all, except New York, Rick. This has been Between the Links and M.M.A. Fighting Production on the Vox Media Network. work.