MMA Fighting - BTL | Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2, UFC 312, Israel Adesanya's Future, More

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

The UFC returns to pay-per-view this Saturday with UFC 312, headlined by a middleweight title rematch between Dricus du Plessis and former champ Sean Strickland. Although there's two world title fights, the card is certainly nowhere near as interesting top-to-bottom as UFC 311. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses all things UFC 312, including the DDP vs. Strickland main event, the co-main event for the strawweight title between Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez, the fallout of UFC Saudi Arabia, which was capped off by Nassourdine Imavov's stunning knockout of Israel Adesanya, where Adesanya goes from here, Dana White's reaction to Bryce Mitchell's controversial comments, Mitchell's apology, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Jed Meshew, and special guests as they discuss the biggest topics in the sport. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI 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. Happy Thursday to us all. So much going on in this crazy combat sports world of bars. Of course, we're at UFC 312 coming up on Saturday. We're on the heels of UFC Saudi Arabia.

We had some boxing. We had some bare knuckle boxing. We had so much going on this past weekend. And the new cycle just continues to go on and on and on. And that's how we're going to turn the programming over to you guys this week. We're going to do things a little bit differently. And let us introduce the panel to answer your questions. First, he is a hot take kid.

He is Mr. No Gray area and the Barrett of Boop and the greatest climber in all of MMA from MMAfighting.com. Jedbushu. Where is he? That's me. That's not Jed. Oh, there he is. There we go.

Hey, pal. Hey, nobody's here for me. Let's go to our guests because everyone's here for him. Yes. And snowed in Connecticut. Of course, the Northeast, just getting absolutely hammered with snow. That is why I moved down here to South Carolina, where it is sunny and 80 degrees outside, but it is not there. But it was hot and spicy inside Mohegan Sun arena.

and scenic Uncassville, Connecticut this past Saturday for BKFC. And this man made quick work of fellow UFC veteran Chase Gormley. Let us say hello to the goat himself. Newest BKFC star, HakaPorta. Where is he? Yeah. What's up guys? How's it going?

That's a different New England fighter. You look different, Randy. Randy. Randy, what happened to your beautiful hair? How's it going, man? So talk about it, Parker. BKFC, you make the debut and you shined very bright. And what was the experience like for you?

I know you've had many fights, UFC, and been doing this for quite some time. But how did BKFC and doing the bare-knuckle thing compared to those other fights? I mean, it was so far the best experience yet, you know? And not only is fighting bare knuckle compared to MMA a lot more fun for me in particular, but I got to do it in front of a hometown crowd at Mohegan's son. You know, that arena was packed. You know, I came out, they announced my name, and the entire stadium erupted. So that was on a whole new level of awesome for me.

So safe to say this will not be your only rodeo with PKFC. you go. Oh, definitely. I like it here and I want to stay for a while. I think I got some climb. And, you know, I've got my sight set on a strap eventually. All right. I mean, Parker Porter versus Ben Rothwell. That sounds great to me. I'm sure that sounds pretty good to you at some point this year. All right. Well, I'm excited to have you here, Parker. And I'm sure the folks have some other questions for you as well. But we can talk about everything here. So Casey, let's bring up the questions. Let's discuss. could talk Saudi Arabia. We could talk Jake Paul Canello.

Can't believe that's even a sentence that's being talked about right now. UFC 312. I mean, let's do this. Joseph, did Nasradi and Imovov jump over Hamzat in the title scene at middleweight after his win on Saturday? So, Parker, I know you were focused on your fight, but I'm sure you saw Nasredeanimov knocks out Israel

out of Sanya in the second round. Just a terrific win streak right now. I was actually watching that fight. that morning before my fight. And that surprised me. You know, it was a really impressive win, really just clean, man. He came out, you know, I'm hoping that we get to see Izzy back. I've always been a fan of his style.

You know, he's very Anderson Silva, who I was always a fan of with his striking. He's so dynamic and well-rounded. But, you know, like he seems to be, you know, struggling a little bit to get back on his horse and find his groove again. And I hope that this is just a temporary speed bump on his path back to a title contention. You've obviously been in the UFC, and you understand that it's not always the meritocratic choice when it comes to title fights and main events and things of that nature. And Hamzaa Chamaev is obviously a very big name.

The UFC looks at him as a star. But if you were in the decision-making position, Parker, if you were the matchmaker of the UFC, middleweight division. Did this win for Naserini move off knocking out a guy like Israel to Sanya? Would you give him the title shot over Hamzaat Shamaif against the winner of Drickus Duplacy versus Sean Strickland this Saturday? I don't know that I would, you know, especially if I was a matchmaker for the UFC, I would probably still be leaning towards Comzaa because, you know, like he's a huge fan favorite. He's proven his worth over and over and over. He's capable, you know, and he's hungry. You know, he definitely deserves that title

shot. He's been working towards climbing those ranks. Nestrudeen has great performance. I would say he's the next in line after Comza. But I wouldn't personally say that that jumped him over comes up. Jed, what say you? I mean, we got a very active fighter in Nasda DiMov. He's 4 and 0, all ranked wins, two top 10 wins, two top five wins, a couple of finishes mixed in there. You know, he's not going to get the title shot unless something crazy happens. But I don't know, is he, is there a way because of the, I guess, unreliability of Hamzat in a lot of respects? There is a way, Mike. And I slacked, you, you just took all the words I was going to say, basically, because I slacked you an AK this week. I was listening to Dawn to the next one.

You guys were like, what are we going to do national Nevovob? We'll let him fight Kyle Barrio. and like, sure, that's not a terrible idea or whatever. But no, what he does is he's the backup fighter for Hamzot versus the winner of the main event on Saturday. Because you need a backup fighter for a Hamzat Shamiyaa of title fight. You must have one. And so he doesn't need to fight anybody else. He just sits and waits. He has earned a title shot with his wins at this point in time.

There is an argument that he is more deserving than Hamzat. If you're just looking at who he has beaten, that doesn't matter. to star power or to think. Certainly if Sean Strickland wins Saturday, they are functionally setting that fight up right now if that goes down. But this Hamzaa Chamaif, you just can't trust him to show up.

There is absolutely no proof of concept that he will show up if you give him a title fight. Any number of things can happen. Nasr Deneimov is the obvious clear-cut choice to serve as a backup fighter for that. And so then if Hamzat does pull out, then he does get the title fight. And if not,

It's not 100%, but we know Dana White does like to at least say all the time. If you weigh in as the backup fighter, you get the next title shot. So maybe he would still have to fight somebody else. He's not jumping Hamzat, but he can replace Hamzot if Hamzot doesn't make it to the cage, as has been a bit of a theme with him over the past few years. I can agree with that wholeheartedly. Yeah. All right.

Next question. Knox too tall. congratulations on the wind parker watch bkfc just to see your fight who's next before ben what would you like to get back in there is there anybody that stands out to you nobody stands out you know like you know me man i'm not wanting to call people out or or target anybody obviously i want to make a run for that belt so whoever they want to put in front of me is whoever's next you know that's and that's what we're going to prepare for but thank you for tuning in and i appreciate the support any uh any time frame you're thinking about when you want to get back

As soon as possible, man, I came out unscathed. I don't, my hands aren't banged up. My face, as you can see, is still whole and got all my teeth still. So I was right back in the gym. I would have been back in in the gym on Tuesday, but we had a snow day that kind of messed everything up for me. So, I mean, on Monday, but pushed it back to Tuesday. So I'm already right back in there training, getting ready, staying sharp. All right.

Next question. Was our buddy Map is up there, by the way? I believe he was there in attendance. Yeah, he sent me a message that he was there. Shout out to the Mangler, one of my favorite to interview over the years. Master of the Universe Classic mustache, Mike, Jedd, and Porter, do you think the pressure on Jimmy Crout on his hometown needing this win after being out so long before?

Is this a different pressure in your opinion? I don't know what the home time means, but I'll throw it to you, Jed, Real quick. I'm assuming. Jimi. Home town. Home town. Okay.

Jimmy Crude hasn't fought it a long time. He's been out for what, since July of 2023. He hasn't won a fight since 2020. And now he's coming back against a guy. Let's be honest, during this run, this is probably, this is definitely by far, the lowest ranked opponent that Jimmy Crude has fought in a very, very long time. Do you think there is a different kind of pressure here? when it comes to, like if he loses to Bedolfo Bellato,

what happens then? You know, I know all about that kind of pressure, and yeah, 100%. It's a totally different kind of pressure. You're not just fighting to get back in the wind column now. You're fighting to stay on the roster. You're fighting to stay active. You're fighting to stay relevant.

You know, it could literally be the last fight that he has with the UFC. And if he's not taking that mentality and that approach to his training and preparation, you know, he's definitely, shooting himself in the foot. Yeah, this is a walking papers fight. If he lose this one, he's gone. Yeah.

And I don't actually think there's anyone else competing this weekend that that can be said of. Pretty sure everybody else fighting if they, and you can't be confident because, hell, we just saw Giarsini Rosenstrike get either not re-signed or cut. I don't actually know which one of those two. And he has a top, you know, he was ranked in the top 10 in the U.C's rankings. That can kind of always happen out of nowhere, depending on contract situations, et cetera. But Jimmy Crude hasn't won a fight in half a decade. Like if he does not win this fight, I do not believe he will still be employed by the UFC.

So he arguably has the most to lose of anyone on this entire card. Yeah, that's a pretty good show because it says he retired. He never actually officially retired. He just said, I'm taking a long break. from fighting. And now I guess he's ready to come back. So yeah, I would say this is at least, and not even just for walking papers, this got to be at least in Jimmy's eyes. Like, all right, I'm testing this to see if I still got it. And you have to think after, you know, losses to guys like Jamal Hill and Anthony Smith, and this is not 2025 Anthony Smith. This is

2021 Anthony Smith in Alonzo Meadowfield when he was rolling. Like, those are different than losing to Hedolfo Bellato. No disrespect. It's just the level. level of competition is way different than when Jimmy's been accustomed to fighting. So if this is not competitive, he gets the doors blown off of him. That might just answer his question right there personally. So it's a big one for him. That's big, real big, lots of pressure. The only other fighter who might get walking papers is wrong zoo, who is, I believe,

one and three in the UFC, except for that's spaced out because he went away and then came back from off the road to UFC thing. So, like, I still don't even think wrong Zougat's papers if he loses the Cody Steel. It's also losing the Cody Steel. Like, he is the only person fighting for his job on Saturday. Yeah. Shout out to Lopsided. Mr. Porter, what performance are you most proud of in your career?

Oh, I mean, past Saturday is definitely up there. That was a sharp, quick finish. Now, first time I've ever actually really, like, completely, like, kind of flatlined somebody. with just landing those punches. So I think this definitely ranks up there. It's probably a tie between this one and probably this one in my performance against Braxton Smith in the New Jersey fight card in the UFC. So those are the two kind of like tied together right now for my most favorite of my personal performances.

All right. Two memorable ones. That's for sure. Yeah. Let's go to the next question. Rothwell and Porter would be huge. Dakota is just throwing you right into a title fight, Parker. You got to love that. I can't disagree with that, you know.

I wouldn't mind getting at least one or two more fights in there before making a title run. I think I need to prove myself in that sense. There's guys that are doing more experience in there as well. But just for my own personal self, too, you know, I'm not. disappointed with my performance on Saturday, but I didn't get a ton of time to experience more of a bare-knuckle boxing match. So I would like to have a little bit more of that before an actual title match. But, yeah, I would love to see that sooner than later.

It's dude, Josh Copeland. Oh. I think that's the move. Yeah. Parker versus Josh Copeland. That's a good one. He lost, you know, he lost to Ben Rothwell, but a couple of Wage and BFC. the fifth right now for the BKFC.

We get Todd Duffy back in there. We do a little Parker Pore versus Todd Duffy action. Good one. Lazywood, Parker, what was the difference in feeling as you've prepared to make the walk for BKFC as opposed to the UFC? The feeling, the difference between the two is that I had already done the walk with the UFC.

So having that, you know, kind of be on the level that that is, you know, UFC's production value and their reach, they're so well known. They'll get UFC fighters that are household names now and only a handful of guys that are in the BKFC that are household names. You know, the sport is still very much in the infant stages of growth, but it's on a very huge, huge upward path. I think the biggest difference was, you know, like I said, the production value. And it just, it was just different, man. You're going out for an MMA fight.

It was just different nerves. I felt so much more confident going out for my boxing. And I don't think that I had quite the same level of like, oh, shit, walking out for the BKFC because of the fact I got to make my debut at my home hometown at Mohegan's Hunt. All right. Thank you, lazy bed. What's next? Cross-sport question.

What is a trade? could happen in MMA that would be comparable to the Luca Dunding versus Anthony Davis trade. Wow. I think we've talked about this like internally on our Slack channel. Yeah. What like what MMA trade would would this be comparable to? I don't know who wants to happen. Dude, there's like because we did talk about this internally.

And I'm not like a big basketball dude anymore. And I was still like when this happened, I was blown away. I cannot think of one because my original was like if the PFL got rid of Dakota Dichiva for like somebody good but who they can't really build a brand around and you don't have that long left I don't even think that's right I think you have to go of like the UFC decided to get rid of Ilya for I don't know who PFL could offer let that is comparable for for Francis and Ghanu, except Francis, you could still do the John Jones fight. So that's not really quite the same.

It's getting, it's usually getting rid of Tupuria is like what I settled on as being, yeah, that's the right one. But I don't know who they're trading for. To Pippuria for Pitbull. Yeah. Honestly, yeah, that's probably, that's not awful. Olivia Ob and Mercier. I think Anthony Davis is better than Pitbull.

like sport relative, but like it's, it's not terrible. Yeah, that's crazy. I can't, I can't. It's almost impossible, especially with MMA with like different leagues and different brands and what it all means. But Tupori is a good shelf to compare it to. You're giving up a young star who literally dragged a team to the finals by himself, who's like 24. Actually, I think he's 25. Like that's just as unprecedentedly.

stupid of the mavericks. Being like the bad, they didn't get any picks. They got one first rounder. Like, if you're going to do it, do it for like five picks, it was, it's a hard to compare. Nothing remotely like this has ever, could ever happen at MMA. That's crazy.

The Orlando Magic got like six first round picks and Penny Hardaway for Chris, uh, Chris Weber during that draft. Like, it's crazy. to see like what trades are worth now compared to it was then. What Jimmy Butler go for just now? Oh, did he get dealt? I missed that.

Butler got dealt to Golden State for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroeder, Kyle Anderson, and the first rounder. Wow. This is freaking Jimmy Butler. It was good, but Jimmy Butler's a goddamn Luca. Somebody dropped the ball over at the Maverick. Yeah. Yeah.

Golly. It's been, this has been the most I've cared about basketball and forever, because it's deeply fun to just be like, yeah, he's fat. We got rid of him because he's fat and we don't like him. Which is like, who gives a shit? What are you talking about? Yeah. I mean, there's got to be more to that, you know, like,

to me, he rubs somebody on the staff the wrong way or, you know, something personal and down to, like, for that little of a tradeoff. You know, like It's insane. It makes sense, man. Yeah, that's a, we got to get rid of this guy. It's a we got to get rid of this guy trade and at least get something back of some value. So, still a head scratcher.

I will say, Luca is the player who made me quit watching the NBA because I was an NBA fan. I live in Atlanta. And I was like nominally into the Hawks. and when they drafted Luca and then traded him for Trey Young, I was when I was done. I was like, I'm out. This stupid-ass franchise got rid of a guy who's good for a player who can't guard me. And somehow Trey Young did last longer in Atlanta than Luca lasted in Dallas.

So shame on me, I guess. I mean, it was, I can't lie. It was very fun watching the Celtics just knock his ass around and make him huff and puff and puff for six. games. It was great. I enjoyed that thoroughly last year. Yeah, he was the best player on the court and the next eight best players in the court

were for Boston. All right, great question. It's an incomplete answer, I guess, fully. William, Asu is now in versus cop, who you got, Love You Parker. So Minel Cop's supposed to fight Brandon Royval

main event. Was this? Which card is this? February or March. Like three weeks, I think. Okay. Hold on. I'll confirm. I believe it's the end of February, but I'll confirm.

Okay. So Brennan Royval announced yesterday. He's out and. Technically March 1st. Technically March 1st. So Asu Amabayev steps in and wouldn't you know it? This is, I believe this is A.K.'s pick to be the flyway champion by the end of 2025. So this is, his picks looking pretty interesting right now because of Asaul Mbayi

goes in there and thumbs up Minnell Cop in a main event. He is on his way. He puts himself in a very interesting position. So thoughts on this matchup, Jed Michoud. And then we'll get Parker's take on this as well. Asu Al-Mabai versus Minal Cop, who looked incredible in his last fight. This really sucks for Minow Cop and for the Manel Cop supporters out there, Casey. And frankly, you might.

I think this is, you know, Roy Val is great. I think Cop had a better shot against Royval than he does against Asu. I just really like Osu. I think he's a very, very good fighter. He's not the most compelling entity. But you know my longstanding belief, Mike, there's a dude who has a hard-pronounced name and he wears a fun hat. He's probably really good at fist fighting.

And that's Osama Bayev. So I think Benal Kopp is credit to him for taking this replacement fight against the dude. Because beating Royval gets you a title fight. I don't think the same can be. said of beating Asu should he pull it off though maybe just because of where Flyweight is in the title picture maybe they just say good enough get in their kid

but I don't think that's going to work out for him I think AK is looking prescient with his Osama Bay of prediction what do you think of this fight Parker Hassol Ambaev stepping in you know like cop basically fighting a lower guy that doesn't

do anything for his you know ability to propel himself up the ranks it doesn't you know if he beats him, it doesn't negate where he's at or drop him down any lower or anything. But I think it might be just essentially delaying the inevitable for him to get closer to a title shot. Whereas Asu comes through and puts away a cop, especially if he's even half the smoke and everything that AKA is trying to say he is, then this is going to fast track his road to a title shot. I think he's going to, the cop's going to have his hands full with Osu.

And I think it's going to be a tough situation for him all around. What's a, what's a more meaningful win right now? And I'll start with you, Parker. Because right now, like, we haven't fully confirmed this yet, but the UFC's going back to Mexico, March 29th, I believe. And the rumored main event is Brandon Moreno versus Steve Urseg. That is the main event right now. Steve Erseg, who just fought for the belt not that long ago,

but then got knocked out quickly in his fight right after. against Kai Kar Franz. What's a more meaningful win? Moreno beating Erseg or cop beating Almibayev? I'd probably say Moreno being Erziv. That would probably be a more meaningful win of the two. Yeah. What about you, Jed? You agree with that?

I'll go the other way. I think it is certainly the bigger win as far as name value and stuff. Ersig just fought for the title last year. More people know him than Almabayev, but Almebayev is on like a 20 fight on beaten streak or whatever. Like he is extremely good and talented. I do think that if Brandon Marino wins, probably more likely to, like, Brandon Marino's win is more likely to get him into the title picture, despite the fact that he has three losses

to the current champion than Cop beating Al-Babaev. But maybe just because Cop's new, it's tough. They're both, like, they're very different in what they mean and what, what, what, they may lead to. And so it's pretty close, honestly, between those two fights as far as like, which one will be more significant? Yeah. I think if cop goes out there and just smokes Amabayev, it's at the apex.

There's like 16 people there. But if Moreno smokes Ursaig and doesn't in Mexico, he is going to look like an absolute superstar. Like the people are going to go absolutely bananas for him. And the memory of Moreno icing Irseg is just going to mean more over. all, like which replay are we going to go back and watch first. We're going to watch Moreno just to hear the crowd absolutely lose it. So that probably factors into it as well.

People talk about, you know, like the impact of the arena and stuff. Like it's not just on the performance of the fighters, but it's on the value that people put on those fights. You know, like people, you know, when they can hear the crowd in the background or they see, you know, like they pan the camera over to the crowd and see everybody going nuts after a big win, you know, that has a substantial. more tremendous impact on the way everybody else views that fight afterwards than if you're like all right we're going to look around the apex at like 20 people and they're kind of like clapping their hands you know it's just like good job man yeah it's the same kind of energy it's just a different yeah all right uh we only got a couple more minutes with uh the soon to be upcoming bkFC heavyweight champion so let's get one more question in for parker uh

All right. Is this the worst pay-per-view? Shout out Super Semi-New. Is this the worst pay-per-view since the last one headline by these two, which is UFC 297? As a hardcore fan on European time, this is one of the few main cards. I will not be waking up for at 4 a.m. The top three fights will be enough.

So, Parker, I mean, look, the UFC could do no wrong right now. They can put any card at any building. It is going to sell out and break gate records, and people are going to talk about it. The top two fights, the two title fights are excellent. They are excellent fights. The rest of this card is pretty rough.

Like it is a rough hang compared to UFC 311 or even 310 and all these other cards. So is this the worst pay-per-view lineup top to bottom that the UFC has had since we had Strickland versus DuPless E1 a year ago, a little over a year ago? You know what? I'm going to go out and say that I don't even really know who's on the card. So at a loan On that card You know like that's that's that's that's not a good sign I mean I don't always have my finger

It's not great But it's pretty tough Like oh this guy's fighting on this Yeah it's you know like I don't know a single one besides the two title fights so Okay so this is this is the rest of UFC This is the rest of 297 Neil Magny Mike Malott

Chris Curtis Mark Andre Barrio Bob Zor of Loy of Arnold Allen That was the main card for 297 outside of the two title fights. So we're clear. 2.97 gives this card poorly. 297 shows this card in the locker and makes it its bitch. 297. The rest of this.

This one is Jimmy Crute versus Rodolfo Bellato. That is the featured bout. No, I'm sorry. That is not the feature about. Talasin Tashara versus Justin Taffa is the featured bout. Then Jimmy Crute, Rodolfo Belato. The main card opener is. Jake Matthews versus Francisco Prado.

That's the main card. Those are the three fights leading into the two title fights. Yeah. Talasin Deshaer is making his debut and he is in the feature of a pay-per-view. Not a good sign. Kudos to him if he's if he's all that hype and he's worth it. But it's, you know, is this a guy that has, you know, like you said, like Osu, or he's already got 20 fights and he's never been beaten or, you know, Or is he just like, oh, he's just a new prospect that they're just like, oh, we got to fill this in.

This is a, hey, the Colmain event might go 25 minutes. It might be kind of a chess match. We need a, they're banking for a quick knockout in that, that fight. Like, that's the way they're kind of putting this card together because there are many fights on the prelims that deserve that spot, probably a bit more. But this is kind of how the UFC wants to put it together. So, Parker, you are the man. Thank you for hopping in. I know you're going to get back to work.

Crazy weather up in New England. And thank you very much. Anything you want to tell the peeps before we let you go? No, I mean, I just love being on the show with you guys. I'm always happy to be back anytime. It's always a pleasure when you guys have me on. Appreciate everybody supporting me on this new piece of my journey. You know, I think this is essentially, you know,

Rothwell himself said it, said it best. This is essentially a new career for me. You know, I don't have to worry about this or that or everything that comes along the grappling and kicking side of things. And I think I'm going to be let my skills shine into BKFC. So stay tuned and keep watching.

Awesome, man. Thanks for hopping on. Congratulations on the big win and look forward to see you in the next one. There he is the legend. Park Reporter, my man. Great to have him on. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners,

I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece?

Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. It's tough to replace Parker Porter. It just truly is, but only one man I think can do it. And is the badestash in all of MMA, the best producer in the game. If you watch the UFC 312 timeline, then this is without doubt. It is he, Casey Leiden. Where is he?

Are there sleeves? Are there no sleeves? Oh, no sleeves? Or some sleeves. A little bit of her. Absolutely. Got my, yeah. Snoopy.

That shirt is terrific. Yeah. It's terrific. This is a bad fight card. Guys, I figured it. By the way, I figured out what this is, because this is not the worst cards. I mean, it is technically the worst card since 297, but 297 is much better than this card. This, do you know what this is the worst card since?

I found a card that's worse. And it happened not that long. ago, just a couple of years ago, in fact, the last time they came to Sydney, Australia, and the Kudos Bank Arena, 293, which was Sean Strickland versus Israel Dissania. Your co-mate of it was Alexander Volkov versus Tide to Ivasa, Manel Kopp, Felipe Dos Santos, Justin Taffa, Austin, Payne, Tyson Pedro, Anton Tercal. Tricali, however you pronounced that. That is worse than what we get this weekend because the two headliners are elite,

and the rest is trash. That has the short-noticed middle-weight fight that was in the funniest thing that's ever happened. So we remember it fondly because Sean Strickland beating as he was so damn funny. But the rest of that card is garbage. So pretty much they should stop in Australia. On paper.

Like $297 was actually worse than it was on paper. This card actually overachieved because it was actually a really fun to watch main card. People got knocked out and then it was the main event. And Minot Cop and Felipe de Santos is awesome. That was a great fight. Yeah. Like we can't judge this.

Like on paper though, which is all we can judge these by because we haven't seen like there's a world where 312 or whatever is super fun on Saturday. But on paper it's garbage. 293 was worse on paper. Yeah. Also, you've seen a lot of the same names, frankly. Sean Strickland.

a Tafa brother Who else is in here That is the same Because oh Kevin Jusset Like you're just running back The Jack Jenkins Just running back all the All the dudes

Yeah basically They book the card on What fighters are willing to take You know The biggest pay cap and the taxes That's all It's just It's all taxes

What are Aussie fighters They're not that many good Aussie fighters on roster right now Yeah So Yeah Yeah, unless the UFC wants to pay more, that's the cards we're going to get. And I'm assuming this is one of those events where the tourism board pays a lot of money for the UFC to come to town.

Almost certainly. I would assume so. Yeah. So you, UFC is good. Well, we have to make up for it. The fans. Oh, uncanny. Uncanny suit 97.

What an incredible comment because it's dead correct. Uh, the bat. Headlining. Yes It's almost like Strickland headlining a pay-review It's just a bad sign Yeah, pretty much Did you see the

That what the UFC tweeted out? Yes I don't want to give it credence It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen Yeah The newspaper thing, yeah Yeah, I was like See, all press is good press

I guess To the question This is not Yeah, it's just not Yeah, it's not It's not It's not It's not

All right. What we got here? Oh, I know. This would be fun to talk about. Why are there even rumors of Chandler fighting Armin? It makes no sense. Chandler should fight Patty. Yeah.

God. I got to tell you, this shit annoys me. The social media, let's just throw bullshit fights out there. And it's like I, it's so frustrating because it just, I,

there's nothing, there are very few things I hate. more than wasting my time. And I, there is, and I, it gets to the point now where I hate even texting a manager or someone on somebody's team about a fight rumor because like I deep down, no, it's not true. Like the Chandler-Seruky and fight, I'm not going to say it doesn't make sense. But for people to just throw this out there and then also say, and then other people are like, yeah it's happening it's just it's ridiculous like we say the golden rule thing and it's become

kind of like a bit for me but it's dead like it's dead true there are certain sites and there are certain people that cover this sport like you know that if they put something out there it's true like it's the real deal like if a fight ends up on m a fighting it's done it's a thing and if marcel dorf tweets it out it's done it's a thing like you know know this. But because of the sport and the growth and the evolution and all the new fans coming in, we are giving so much credence to these accounts that just fucking throw things out there that don't make any sense or they're not true. And it just annoys everybody. Like I've had like I've had like hour long conversations with managers over the last month about this. And they're just so frustrated

by it. And Danny Daniel Rubinstein, manager to the stars who I love Danny Rubinstein, tweet it out like you don't understand the significance when you do this because let's just say the UFC is like hmm maybe we will do this fight between arm and sir rukin and michael chandler and then somebody tweets out this fight's happening if it's not happening the UFC as they like to control the narrative is just going to be like well someone from their team are telling these guys that this fight's happening now we're not going to fucking do it it's just it affects this sport the news cycle and it affects the fighters too when these accounts do this so it is annoying, so I'm glad I can get that off by chess. Jed, I actually think Chandler fighting

Armand makes a lot of sense, not for my meritocratic perspective, but from how the UFC likes to handle business. First of all, if you're Armand Sarukian and what happened, you had a title fight in your grasp, couldn't make it to the fight, Dana's not going to give you a title fight. Michael Chandler has a name. It matters. He is a, people know who Michael Chandler is. Michael Chandler called out Arm and Sarukin publicly on Twitter. And I said, if Armand Sarukin, if I'm Armid Surukin, the very first thing I'm doing is I'm calling my manager and saying, do everything in your power to book this fight. Because Arm and Sarukian will destroy Michael Chandler. That fight is not competitive. It is not close. Armand Serukian wins that fight a hundred times out of a hundred times,

in my opinion. And it would mean something because Chandler is a pretty sizable name. Does that fight makes sense. If you had to choose, would you do Chandler versus Patty or would you do Chandler versus Sarugia? Yeah, this fight's good business. I was talking with Caposa about this online yesterday when this was the rumor was popping off, the unsubstantiated rumor. This is not a sport. It's like sort of a sport. There's no meritocracy here. There has never been. And once you set that aside, very obviously this fight is very good business for the reasons you outlined. For Armand, this is functionally a tune-up fight. Like, he has to fight again because of what happened at 3-11. This is sort of the best answer he could get. An extremely winnable

fight against a guy with a big name who is unlikely to cause him real problems. And so then he can just get right back to a title fight with the win. Low risk, high reward functionally. And for the UFC, they're fine with that. And on the other side, there is a lot of like Michael Chandler. They have given him a big promotional push. He has been a company dude carried water. We'll do kind of whatever they say. And he is certainly a dude who gets people talking and feeling some type of way, even if he's not like a megastar. He would be a decent foil for Islam Makachev. So if somehow he does pull off this upset, it's not, okay, Armin's fighting somebody and then if he loses now it's Islam fighting Olivera again like we're

not doing another rematch. Oh, if he loses, we get to throw Michael Chandler in for a title fight. That'll be fun. People, you know, will like that. It won't be great from a merit standpoint. It won't be great for Islam Akchev's, you know, resume overall that he keeps fighting dudes, you know, like that. But this is a win-win for the promotion.

This is good business. it is why this could be real. If you're trying to do what is best for the sport, Michael Chandler should fight Patty Pimbled. Frankly, should probably fight further back than Patty Pimbleau. But that's not what we're doing. We're doing what's best for business.

This would make a ton of sense if it ends up being true. Yep. I agree. 100%. All right. Thank you, Grant. Hold on a second. One second.

Ah, here we go. Left lane, can we hear Jed rant about GFL again? L.O.L. They released the team matchups that are apparently going to be happening. Salpola versus L.A., New York versus London, and Dubai versus Miami. Okay, let me pull up. So Sal Paolo is taking on L.A. L.A., I graded as an F for their draft team.

I gave Sal Apollo an A. This is all relative. I would not say that they're a great team, relative to other teams. So I think Sao Paulo is going to win. New York versus London. Let's see what we got. I graded London with a B. And I think New York I gave like X.

I gave New York an F, but only because that's the lowest letter grade in the American education system. So London's going to win. And then Dubai versus Miami, maybe that might be competitive. Miami was like a C and Dubai was like an A minus. So, you know, Dubai's got some fighters.

if that ends up happening. We still don't really know what this means, how the matchups work, if you just pick one of the two fighters you have in the weight class. Also, I just don't think this is going to happen. I am now officially on the record. I do not believe GFL will host an event, and prove me wrong.

I am not married to the take. I will believe they host an event when an event happens because half the fighters are, like, I'm not part of this. So I just can't trust that they're going to actually get an event going. GFL to me feels like when we were doing tough hang for the entire Connor Chandler season and every week, AK was so excited about Connor Chandler happening and from day one I was like, this fight ain't happening, this fight ain't happening.

And I feel like that way by GFL like, okay, cool. Like how does this work? Is this South Polo versus L.A.? Is this take place at the forum? Is this at the crypto.com? They'll try to book. Hey, how they'll try to take a Ram stadium or something. It's so 800 tickets.

Truly, they do it like Brazil, right? Like, that just feels like the place to do it. Why? Nobody cares like, because at least they are Brazil. Like, the South Paulo team is Brazilian fighters. Whereas the LA team is just like a collection of dudes. So, like, at least you can try and get up like, ah. Are we getting jerseys?

Are we, are South Paulo? Do you own, do you boo the other team team? team. I'm trying to look at what the matchups would be. So Sao Paulo versus L.A. Who? So we're talking Fabrice Over Doom and Bruno Capulosa versus Andro Alovsky and Frank Mere.

Eish. Wait, man. That's L LAT team. Those are the two heavyweights. I don't, however that will go. I'm okay with Arlowski versus Frank Mier, by the way. I'm okay with that. No, no.

Arlowski and Frank Mere on the same team. We have two heavyweights? Oh. Every team gets two. which way class, Casey. Yeah, I wish they're fired. All right, right. All right, so who is just the best L.A. fighter?

I'm going to pull out the best. Lorenz Larkin is definitely the best L.A. fighter. I don't think it is remotely close, frankly. Which means he will be fighting. He's from Riverside. He's from Riverside. Paulus Tazella or Alex Olivaira. Okay.

This is this. These are going to be. Shogun. Shogun would have to fight whoever is replaced Rashaad Evans or Da Woon Jung. These are going to be terrible.

I hate AI video, but shouldn't GFL just be completely AI fights at this point? Look, that's what I said when the whole stupid thing was happening. I am now of the belief that they are just going to do like AI, the fighters aren't doing it.

They're paying for likeness rights. Yeah, they're paying for likeness. Yeah, they're paying for likeness. Yeah. UFC. Back before there was EA UFC when EA made its own MMA game, this is that for some other thing who is making an NBA game. That would make so much more sense.

Oh my God, guys, we can get Henning Boral versus your eye of favor. Run it back, baby. And we will get Ray Borg versus Huffiel a Sunsel. Oh, that fight's not happening because Ray Borg's going to miss weight. Oh, no, there's no weight. There's no weight cutting.

they could do catch weights. That's right. And Team New York just doesn't have a good fighter on it. It's not a good fighter on Team New York. Do the teams have nicknames yet? No, I'm not even sure they're giving them nicknames. It should have been the easiest thing in the world. Team.

Go Team L.A. Go team L.A. Go team L. God. It's dumb. Every piece of this is dumb. Kai Kamaka is Kamaika the best fighter on the team on New York probably

yeah I think he is maybe Neiman Gracie because he's not a bad fighter but Sydney outlaw is not bad either he's pretty good all right I mean again we're talking about something that may never actually happen yeah this is just tough scenes yeah

it's never gonna happen And these are terrible. Thanks, Laflane. But hey, if you ever wants to me some Team L.A. Swag, I'm down. I don't want Team. I refuse. I'm not going to wear Team L.A.

If you give me an L.A. Whatever they're going to be. Like, I don't know what the team name would be for L.A. Because the first thing that jumped in my head, you definitely can't call them that. So, no. I got nothing. Like, I'm trying to think, like, what goes? Because, like, the, because the other thing about L.A.

is it's all, like, it's all transplants or whatever. Like, the Rams, I guess the Rams were originally L.A. And then they kicked out. Like, the Dodgers. Like, what, like, the Lakers. Like, they're all not originally from L.A. So it's like the L.A. stars. That's lame as shit.

You can't name a team that. And the name that would be great, you super can't do. So, I don't know what we would call L.A. All right. Thanks to that, Lane. I do maintain that Miami should be the speedboats, though. That is, the Miami speedboats are. It's a good one.

All right. Okay. What else are you got? Oh, GFL. What a story. Mike, Jedin, Mustess, Jubilee was very high before his debut. He fell short, so how important do you think this fight is for him this weekend? Probably not that much.

I mean, it is in general just because, like, he is the first or second Indian fighter. One of the two, I'm not sure. He's like one of the first Indian fighters in the UFC. And so, like, you're the standard verer for a country, you know, you want to do well. but his run has not been great, right? Like he's, he came him back in off the road to UFC, but he is one in one or whatever. So he has a bottom a hot minute.

Yeah, been out for a while. Yeah, like I don't remember this gentleman at all. He's the, yeah, remember the, remember the Mike Breeden bark? He was barking like a dog and then came back and knocked him out in the third round. It was that. That was last time, Angeal Jubilee spot. Was the Mike Breedon? Mike Breeden won by being crazy.

Yep. Oh, okay. I remember the guy that won. I forgot. The guy who was winning until the other guy just decided to go crazy and going crazy is an underrated MMA strategy. Yep. It worked for Mike Breeden. All right.

He's probably not going to win. Chase, any insight on John's announcement? I was waiting for this to come. Guarantee you it's not the thing you're hoping for. Oh, there's no way. it's on house at all there's no fucking way some coin or some betting thing i'm going to say he is going to become he's going to announce some sort of partnership with dirty boxing like he's going to be like the celebrity matchmaker uh or or something i don't know but yeah it will not be a fight announcement

i'll be stunned uh maybe there's a movie coming out about his life. It's not a fight in this movie. Then, yeah. Just that, here's the release date for the movie about my life. Like, it's no, it's not going to be a fight.

Honestly, the best you could hope for is it's a retirement. She's like, yeah, I've decided to hang it up because it's not going to be the fight. The fight would not be announced in this manner. Hell no.

It's not a random Thursday afternoon. hyper reality Welcome aboard Air Canada Rocky's vacation here we come Whoa is this economy Free beer, wine and snacks Sweet Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner

reservations before we land And with live TV I'm not missing the game It's kind of like I'm already on vacation Nice Air Canada Nice travels Wi-Fi available to Aeropin members on-equip flights. Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com.

Towards the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host rapid cozy cashmere throw from homesense for their spouse. Kids toys for $6.99 under the tree. And crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee. A baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue. And a nice $5.99 candle. Perfectly priced just for you. Happy holidays to all. And to all a good price. Hom Sense, endless presence, perfectly priced. Who would be a better matchup for Hamza, DDP or Strickland? It's a good question, actually. It depends on what you mean by better.

If you mean who will be more competitive, it's for sure DDP. If you, who would be more funny, it's also probably DDP. But watching Hamza just run the fuck over, Sean Strickland would be pretty amusing for me personally. It would be, the Strickland fight. is what I kind of want to see because he would just kill him if Hamza doesn't do that if he doesn't run him over in the first round he that's going to get real hairy that's going to get really and if this if the sun doesn't come up tomorrow we will all die but I believe the sun will come up tomorrow and I am fair certain like they train together and I don't get the feeling that Strickland's

anger is because their training was so competitive I'm pretty confident Hamzaat just slaughtered him and we, that's how he'll go. Always could be wrong. Really seems like that is just a bad fight for Sean Strickland. I don't know. We'll see. I think DDP is a far more competitive matchup. And I'm actually genuinely super interested in a DDP Homsop fight because you could

absolutely convince me the Hamzat just gets to his back. but Hamzat has not really met many people who can anti-hoss him in the way that DDP DDP, look, I'm working on a new strategy for predicting fights. I've been tinkering within my head

and the strategy is very simple. Who's got the bigger lat muscles? And DDP got some big old lats on him. He got the hoss to him. And so I think Hamzot would have a lot of struggle getting his game going and certainly the cardio advantage is massively in ddp's favor because people like oh ddp has bad cardio no he just gets tired but he doesn't stop his mouth just hangs a little open as

he continues to just will himself through fatigue so i think that that fight is endlessly fascinating and i hope we get to see it yeah actually i like both i like both fights i really do DDP would be way, DDP would be, yeah, just just a hoss stew, honestly. It's going to just be two walruses

just mashing each other on the beach. Tusks flying. Is DDP the best exhausted fighter in the UFC? Like if you start, if you start a fight and both fighters are at 10% on their energy scale, is DDP like the pound for pound best?

Yes. You know what I mean? Like, like, I always, I think Connor is like the best. I don't know about all the time, but you know. I think he's the best all time. Like Connor and. He's an unbelievable tired fighter.

Like in the first two minutes, Connor may be like or whatever 90 seconds. Connor may be like the most exciting, dangerous fighter in the first like 90 seconds of a fight type of guy. And DDP's like the other end. And I think that's, I don't know how I like that. He's the best.

I think he's the best I've ever seen it being so clearly exhausted and just not giving a shit about being tired. Just be like, yeah, it's fine. I can be tired later I'll take a nap later like I'll just keep going it's like the exact inverse of Maravdvalishvili

in a charming way of like Marab just physically doesn't understand what fatigue is DDP was born in fatigue like it is the Bain quote I was born in the fatigue I was molded by it

like he He just kind of keeps like a steady no impossible pace the entire fight. DDP is kind of like... Bob's never been tired. Yeah, he doesn't know what it is. Yeah, he just stays there.

Yeah, DDP definitely like, yeah. He's very good at it. Chris Levin was also very good at it before he got hit a lot. Yeah. And just couldn't take it anymore. Pantoja's just one of those guys too. Honestly, DDP is a lot. There's a through line from D.D. from Chris Levin to D.

DDP. There's some of Chris Levin and DDP for sure. 100%. Yeah, you're right. He just perfected it. He perfected it. Yeah. Chris Liebman walked to DDP, go run. I like it.

All right. Tired. He could run tired, Casey. Yeah. Yeah. He could sprint. All right. What are the chances of patchy mix have a run in the UFC?

He'll be in the UFC. Tatiana's corner this weekend, won't he? True or false, Jed. Patchy Mix will be, will have a UFC fight in 2025. Honestly, patchy mix is actually the right comp for the Luca trade.

If the UFC gave Ilya up for patchy mix, who's like young, like youngish enough, talented enough, could still like win a title, like could be a key piece to win a title or whatever. But

not that much left to it. It's not really a monster gain compared to what you're losing. Patchy Mix is actually the right answer. And I also think patchy mix is very likely to compete in the UFC by next year. I won't say this year, but by next year. Would he fight for PFL? We just sit for another year. I assume he's fighting for PFL, but his contract has to run up at some point.

So I assume he will fight once or twice this year. I don't know what his contract particulars are, but he can't be under that long term of one. With PFL. So, I mean, look, if we learned one thing from the Don Davis town hall is that if Patchy Mix doesn't want to be there, they will let him go. I just, patchy ain't making the money. He's just not going to make the money that PFL is paying him per fight. Like, not even close. And then the other thing I'm concerned with is

I don't know if like Patchy's a really good band-in-way And like I would love to see him in fights with a lot of these guys in this division I just don't think the UFC's going to look at him be like We have to have this guy He's not a star he doesn't have that you know what I mean Like sometimes like in my eyes like I don't care But in their eyes they might Like he's not Dakota Dichiba

Like Dakota is going to be a bigger and bigger star. You can see it. Every time she fights, she's going to be bigger and bigger. I don't see that with Patchy. And I don't think, know if the UFC necessarily does either.

So that would be my biggest concern. So I will say he does not fight in the UFC in 2025, which is crazy. It's not, I shouldn't have to say that, but I'm trying to put myself in like the UFC brasses shoes. I don't think they are, they look at patchy and they say,

you know what? Like, we have to do whatever we can. Now, I think they look at Aaron Pico and say, we got to get that guy. Like, I think they're going to try and get Aaron Pico. They're going to, his best is yet to come, and he's still incredibly good. I don't know if they feel the same. Like, I don't know if they're going to feel the same way about Apache as they deal with, like, an Aaron Pico. Oh, man.

I just want to see both those guys fight real competition. That's all. That's all. All right. Thank you, Masters of the Universe Classic. Classic When we close the card Saturday night and you guys are firing up the post show

what is the headline we are all disgusting Tatian Soros finally did it finally got the belt I think she can win I feel relatively confident in that she's going to win this weekend I just

I think the main event is going to be very close to exactly the same maybe a little better I think Driggis 2 plus he is going to make some changes whereas Sean Strickland is not a fighter who changes. He just he is who he is. I think Drickus, whatever your issues with him as a fighter,

Drickis undeniably is very smart about the game. His team is very educated. They are good at making game plans. The game plans may be ugly because Drick is his style is a bit ugly, but I think that they will have better tools for some of the stuff Sean Strickland did, the front kicks. I think they're going to work the body. a lot more. It'll probably just be a

more clear cut win, but still not particularly exciting. And thus, we will not talk much about it because we've seen it and it will be kind of boring. But Tatiana Swars is going to finally ascend. The princess who was promised forever ago finally gets the belt.

And so that will be the thing we're talking the most about. How does she win? I know you're going to. I think, I need to get a tapper, but tap her, but. Tap her again. Boy, it's going to be fun. watching that fly with you. Yeah, a friend.

Because my money is very much the opposite way. And one of my biggest bets ever is on Zhang Wei Lee. Wow. I just, yeah, I just, I don't know, man. Like, the layoff concerns me.

Yeah, the layoff concerns me. And Zhang has fought fighters as good as Tatiana. Tatiana has not fought anybody near as good as Zhang Wei is. is right now, in my opinion. So I think there's differences there.

If Tataana tapping her, could happen. But if it don't, and it don't happen early, I think she's in for a real long night. So I could be wrong, but I've thought John was going to win this fight from minute one. But now I'm getting here at dog odds. I got to add a leap. I wouldn't bet like a lot of money on it, but I've watched Rosemannum Unis,

classic D1 Rose Nam Yunus just repeatedly take Zhang down, I got to imagine Tatiana can do it. Yeah. Much more dangerous fighter if she gets it. I just think you prepare differently, but I agree.

I mean, it's an awesome fight. I love the fight to have it's a great fight. It's just a great fight. It's just a great fight. I also don't think the main event's going to be all that competitive. Really? I don't. I think D.

I think the EP wins. I think he wins it pretty hands. it pretty handily this time around. Like, I don't think it's that close of a fight. Because here's the thing. The only way this fight, the only way Sean Strickland makes this a close fight is if he listens to Eric Nixick and his team

and wrestles DDP. Like, he has to threaten it in some way. He has to. But I don't think he's going to. I think he's going to stand there and try to have a stand-up fight with DDP again. And DDP didn't have his best stuff that night and still won that fight.

I have to imagine the studying and everything he knows about Sean Strickland now, I don't think that fight goes very well for Sean Strickland. So, yeah, I don't, I could be wrong about all of this, but I kind of feel like DDP is going to win this one. Like, we're going to end. The fight will be over and it'll be like, wow, DDP just destroyed Sean Strickland or be like, all right, GDP just won 4946 and there's no ifs,

ifs, or butts about it. That would be the bet. Like, if he, I mean, that would be great. I think it's 48, 47 is my official prediction will be. Because this is how D.D. That's how these two dudes fight. DDP lets people look good against him until he wins. And Sean Strickland doesn't win fights definitively.

So, like, we'll see. I'm genuinely super interested in the main and co-main this weekend. could not care about almost anything else on the rest of this card. I got to tell you, I spoke with Alexander Tepore yesterday. That, I mean, what, what an interesting man that, that guy is. I asked him, like, we talked for so long that the UFC actually, like, yelled at me because it went so long. And it's not because I asked him a million questions. I asked him, like, five questions.

This dude is just laid back. as you can be heading into a fight of this magnitude he doesn't give a shit about any of the storylines about Volk and all that stuff like he does not care he just wants to go in there and the confidence he has and he's going to run this this man over is uh it's pretty wild man like it's pretty wild i wish i had like another 20 minutes

how is this not a main card fight like i just don't understand what they be there's no like i get it like okay it's two debutants Dude, Toshan Tashara is nobody cares. He's fighting Justin Tafu. Nobody cares about it. How is that your feature about of the evening? At least this has like the Tupuria Volcanovsky angle because they're both being the corners. And one dude's named Tuporia.

Just throw him in there. It seems very silly that this is a random prelim fight. You could have done Colby Teporia thickness as the main card opener. You could have done Tom Nolan Slava Clause as the second fight. And you could have done Jack Jenkins, Gabriel Santos as the feet. featured about like all those fights are going to be better than a lot of these other fight maybe jake matthews fit francisco prado ends up actually then the fight's going to be really fun doing i think that fight should be on the main card relatively fair enough in a vacuum

that should never be a main card pay-per-view fight ever relative to whatever else is going on here i think that's one of the five best fights i'll tell you what there's a very real world where Toporia becomes a very a much talked about item on the post white show if he if even like a quarter of what he is of his confidence comes through we're going to be talk about him a lot on the post show is he only i'm kind of catching up on this the rest of the card is toporia does this take away his brother aspect of it is this pretty much the one that we get resumes to come into the UFC in a very long time. He is only here because he is,

his brother is named Deporia. Okay. And you know what? He admits it, knows it, and embraces it. Okay, I can appreciate that.

I haven't seen you. I'm going to work here. I know we have an interview coming up. I seriously, I seriously only ask him like four questions. And it's like 17 minutes. But he talks all about that, man.

Like he's like, look, I know I'm here because Ilya is the champion and he's on his way to being the best fighter pound for pound in the world. Like, I know that. He talks about his layoff and why he hasn't been fighting. He talks about all of it. Like, he's, he's an interesting guy.

He gets it. That's cool. Yeah. I don't have any issues at all with him, you know, getting the nepotism bump, particularly if he understands it. But yes, Casey, like, if his name were Steve. His name was Alex thickness. He's not remotely getting here. He hasn't been.

I'm not sure he's beaten anyone with a winning record. And he's fought like twice this decade or something. A lot of two and O type records. He's defeated stuff like that. I mean, yeah, I won't give it. He talks about why he hasn't fought in that long, but it's, it makes sense. Yeah. And I like, I get it.

Like, I understand he hasn't done it, but it's still like, that's not how usually this works. And so he has one of the weakest resumes you will ever see for a UFC signing. Yeah. Sure. Thank you, ladies, Ben. A couple of super chat. Maybe not the weakest ever because didn't Bruce Leroy have a zero zero professional record. He just joined tough.

Yeah, I'm counting non-tuff, non-female feather weights. He's pretty bad. Yeah. I mean, Mickey Gall was 1 and 0. I like Biggie Gall a lot, but he just want to know as a pro. Yeah. I mean, we know why he had signed. C and Punk was O and O as a pro.

I'm not counting on kind of like celebrity signings, but yeah. All right, fair, fair, yeah. But just a straight up, which is signing, yeah, that type of thing. I don't know. There might be worse. They're honestly might be worse. I'm sure we could find something worse. Yeah, there's definitely worse.

But, yeah. Thank you. Super chat coming in from Tanvir. here. Hi, guys. Any opinions on the Bilal Strickland back and forth on X? Should this fight be made and who wins? Let me just throw this out there for the future.

I don't pay attention to any of this shit between these two guys. I do not care. I truly have no idea what this is. I can only imagine that it's terrible. Yeah. Based on Sean Strickland's comments at Media Day and Bilal Mohammed's, you know, being Palestinian. Like that's, I can only imagine. that that's probably the genesis of this.

If I'm wrong, sue me. I hope, you know, it'd be cooler if they're just, I beat you in a fist fight instead of talking geopolitics because I've got to tell you, I don't imagine that that's the smartest conversation I've ever heard in my life. The fight should never happen because Balaah Muhammad has welterweights to fight and Sean Strickland shouldn't win the title.

Still would need to fight at least, Hamzat and Nasr D. Nemov, so shouldn't happen at all soon. If it somehow did, I would probably favor Sean Strickland. I wouldn't feel like massively confident, but I'd probably favor him. At what way? I'm assuming the weight is 185. I do not believe Sean Strickland's making $170 ever again. He is a big fella now.

Yeah. And because of the size advantage, because he is pretty difficult to take down, but all can certainly put a pace on him but Strickland I think Strickland just keep a jab in his face and kind of win a awful to watch Sean Strickland decision would be my I'd favor that but I wouldn't be married to that idea it's an interesting fight to think about but I don't want to see it at all because they have much many more of the things to worry about

there's no there's no I mean there are probably people who were just like we follow the social media hype and all that stuff like sure let's let's let him fight but like there is no hardcore hankering for this fight like at all like no one is clamoring for this like islam machetev versus subbal Muhammad like i'd be more interested in way more interested in that fight than belal fighting sean strickland like without question like islam at least has title defenses there's no beef right they're those guys they're just no they're probably it'll be strictly it'll be strictly competition in business if they for sure okay yeah they train together i'm not following

I'm not following all the drama, so maybe I miss something. Was a PJXU, Sean Strickland is in a unanimous decision merchant. Like half of his decision wins are splities. I think he's nine splits. He's lost some of those, but yeah, definitely won many of those. It was going to time. The Holocaust split is ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

So yes and no. like fundamentally he won the fight. Dracus DuBlessy is absolutely correct when he points out to like, it's the old adage. If this keeps happening, it's probably a you thing. You're probably not the unluckiest dude in the world

who just always gets the judges who can't decide. It's probably that you are fighting in a way that lends itself to splities. DDP has become one of the most interesting people in the sport. The way he views it, just the coldness of the things he says without even trying is just unreal like i like dd a lot of people talk where he's just speaking mostly truth and it is biting and incisive

yeah you're just like wow this guy is something like i've gone i'll admit it i've gone down a ddp interview rabbit hold this week just to hear the interesting things he says and it's like not the same stuff. Just his Oh, I'm like, yeah man. I'll kill a dude in front of his family. Sure. But that's not,

but that's, but that's trick is still not. Everybody came around on him. It's the best. The man that sits in front of you, I wouldn't kill a person unless I had to. Like, it's just so funny.

He's brilliant. My favorite part of doing timelines, though, is us watching our, I go through our preview shows and our post shows and kind of who we, our expectations versus, you know, kind of what we think after the fight. And like our shifts or momentum's how we feel by DDP and Strickland throughout the years have been incredible.

It's been incredible. Especially Jed, like just watching him fall in love week after week closer with DDP. It's just the funniest fighter I've ever seen. Because at first you were like, okay, this guy's, he'll be fun to watch. And then all of a sudden he's. Because that's all he was supposed to be out of KS. It was just fun. It was just fun.

Then like, you just woke up on it. You're like, I love this man. This is my guy. He's just decided. Like, that's him. I love like his fans when we kind of make that jump. Like, okay, this is him. He's him.

I honestly think it was the Darren Till where I was just, I'm all in. Because he was dead. Like, he could not walk and then just willed himself like, I'm all in. This big, dumb idiot. I love him. The most ugliest takedowns I've ever seen in professional sports. He did him. He did him.

He was a big goon. There's so much, there's so much evolution. There's more evolution in this timeline than any other. Between like fighter where they were like, look at young, looking at young non-damaged face, Sean Strickland. It's a different person. Yeah, he looks like he's a totally different guy. Yeah. Like his ears weren't even like cauliflower back then to like where he's at now.

And then like DDP wearing like Hawaiian shirts. And now he's wearing three piece suits to Jed's different hair styles to like 18 different command centers background like my like literally just like every command center that like has been a part of my journey of them a fighting has been featured on this episode of timeline like it's

unbelievable uh thank you to uh tan beer I just I love that everyone is coming around in team DDP it's the best it's great team to be on you it's so silly you got me you got you you got me

well done but also Mike, to your point, when he's like, Sean Strickland, every fight, Sean Strickland says he's going to the death. And then he just jabs and teeps. Like, I will kill him all the fucker in there. I was just like, that is honestly true.

Like, that is deeply true. He's like, go watch our first fight. He goes, I did 20, like, I moved forward for 23 minutes in that fight. He goes, this is a stat. You can actually look it up. He goes, he moved forward for two minutes. He goes, he throws a jab in a team. You tell me who's actually fighting and who's defensive.

offending. It was like, okay. All right, DDP. It was best. Oh, he's just,

he says he clearly has a really good mind for this. Like he clearly is really smart about fighting. Yeah. But cannot be technically good. And I love that dichotomy so much. Yeah. And just his ability on the microphone has so good. He's so good.

He doesn't even try. And he just, he pierces you. with at least like one line every like six minutes of dialogue. It's unreal. I would love to watch him train because I bet he loses in the gym constantly. Like I bet he just loses to in his gym full of not UFC people. I bet he's losing all the time because it's,

that ain't practice. You know, practice ain't the game. Oh my gosh. I love those type of fighters too. Yeah. Yeah. The exact opposite of the gym. class hero.

Yeah. Like, like forever Josh Thompson was the greatest lightweight of all time in the gym. But when he forgot into real fights, like 50-50, I bet DDP is exactly the opposite. Yeah.

I've heard of a few fighters like that. Well-known UFC fighters, but then like in the gym, you're kind of like, that guy is like a top 15 fighter. Like, yeah. Like, all right. It's just, yeah. It's a different game in there.

Game speed ain't practice speed It is, it's true One more for on Tanvir Oh, where you go You go up Surprised of Dana's lack of response To Connor as opposed to Bryce Doesn't usage of the N-word

Spitting on fans Islamophobic comments deserve a response From the company as well I mean It does deserve it I think that there's a difference in that I guess I didn't watch

yesterday the presser so I guess he didn't speak or get asked about it. It felt like Dana was going to make a statement anyway, but the bright stuff came out. It actually came out a few days prior, but it blew up the day Dana was in front of media who asked him about it. So maybe that's a reason.

None of what was said by Connor is acceptable behavior. again, a big part of my, like, here's my issue with the Bryce Mitchell thing. It's just such a clear dividing line. Everybody can agree that Hitler is bad. The whole planet is unanimous in our belief. And so it is so easy to be like, we have our limits. You know, Conner's nominally not even a fighter.

So it's, and to the best of my own, knowledge, don't quote me on this, because I don't know everything Conard tweeted and since deleted. The N-word, obviously bad. It was tacit Islamophobia. It was not like outright Bryce Mitchell's quote of the greedy Jews, end quote. So a little bit of a difference there. I got nothing. But yes, it does deserve response.

I whatever you believe the sport deserves just lower that bar because you can't go low enough cannot go off you're definitely not going to get it from the UFC you're not going to get it from the UFC. All right. One more super chat. Maybe we've got an hour 15. All right. Yeah, we can do one more.

Zayemvini, both money as dogs, how you see their futures? This is from Saudi. For us, I'm in Loke Dog getting wins as underdogs. Oh, yeah. I think Logg's got a very bright future. I think Ziam. Both of them do, honestly. Yeah.

I think Loke Dog, I think Loke Dog's ceiling as far as, like, getting into the top, like, seven or eight is higher than Ziams. It's mostly because it's mostly because of what lightweight is. And for as I am to get into lightweight, to get to even get. into the rankings of this point. Like his next fight is going to be against Joel Alvarez, Jalen Turner, or like Grant Dawson. Like those, he's fighting one of those three guys. I think there's rumors Alvarez is fighting Ben Wasson Tini.

I'm told there's no truth to that right now. But like that's who he's fighting. And if he beats one of those guys, then he gets into the top 15. And then kind of, if he gets there and beats one of those guys, then you kind of look at him and say, all right, the road's a little easier now. Like, just a touch.

You're probably going to get a veteran name, a guy who's probably lost a couple of fights at a row from that point. But Loak Dogg, like, I love the Umar fight. He ain't going to get it. But I think he'd win that fight right now. I think he can win.

I wouldn't pick him, but it wouldn't shock me if he beat him because of his style. He doesn't stop. And we've seen, seen umar get a little tired in there and loch dog fights he might be another guy on the ddp all stars who fights really well tired and dealing with pain and adversity the dude was dinged up even fighting said and ramagadov so yeah i i like loch dog a lot i think he could be a big problem zayam i i'm convinced he's a very good lightweight but i would probably rank i bet

Loke Dog will be ranked higher at his highest peak at Bantamweight, then Zeyam will be ranked at lightweight. I go to the opposite. I think Loke Dog is fun. And because Loke Dog is fun, there is, he's just certainly a more appealing personality and, frankly, in cage fighter. And so there's a momentum to him. And I think he can climb faster, certainly, as a result of that. But, see, I'm still like 27. Like, he is still a young man.

And honestly, I was just hell impressed by the Mike Davis performance. No, Mike came out and said that the paint in the locker rooms had him feeling some type of way and wasn't his best performance. I just thought Ziam looked. Like, this was the performance that really made me a believer that Ziam is a top 15 dude is going to get there. And given how young he is and sort of the turnover that will be coming to the top of the lightweight division over the next couple of years, He is in prime position to really, really benefit from that. So if you'd ask me this prior to UFC Saudi Arabia, I would not have had this opinion. But after those performances, give me Ziam.

I also, Mike, I love you. I could not disagree more with you on the UMR thing. Maybe we will get to see it play out. I am also. But the idea that Umar gets tired because he was a little tired, against freaking Marab. It's just not the same universe as fighting Loagdog. So maybe we'll see it.

I honestly, I am with you on the, I think that's an incredible call out from him. Yeah, I think it's a great, I think it's a very interesting fight. No, he's not.

But it's a fight that like, you know, you set the seeds and maybe he gets it. I don't think that that will work out for him. Should it ever happen? And then we can, we can, you know,

circle back if the fight ever comes to fruition one day. Yeah, He's going to fight Kyler Phillips next and still a fine fight. It'll be fun. I just, I love a gimmick call out. I just beat this, Mark,

I'm going to meet another one. That's a great gimmick. Yeah. We're good. That it? I think so. All right. Well,

we got a still lots to come. We got the official way in show. I don't even know what time that starts at this point. But I think it's starting relatively soon, right? Oh, I don't know. When we start at 11 o'clock, your time. 11 o'clock tonight.

11 o'clock. I was just saying. Surely they can't be happening now, yeah. PM, PM. Yes. Preview show tomorrow, having decided on the time, probably be kind of early like we did last week. Because why the hell not?

And then, yeah, the festivities continue on. We get ceremonial weigh-ins. We'll have the People's Pre-Fight show on Saturday. Watched party. Or, I mean, it's going to be, yeah. So if you don't want to spend $85 after implacable taxes on UFC 312, don't you worry. We got you covered. We will have a good time.

The money gun will make its long-awaited return. Plurals. Plurals. A little teaser. By the way, I found about, I found about $1,200 in fake currency on like underneath the couches. I've found a bunch of money around my house. accident because like just from when I was originally got it and they they hide places they get into crannies and nooks and it's like oh here's like 400 bucks whatever yeah so yeah an extra

1600 bucks flying around and we'll have bets we'll have picks it's just going to be a great time this weekend so even though the card's not spectacular top to bottom the programming will be hit the music let's get on out of here hope you guys all of a a terrific rest of your Thursday as we get you ready for UFC paper. Fight week for Casey, for Jed, shout out to the goat himself. Park, Porter, for jumping on. Back next week, hopefully we'll have the usual format. And we'll recap UFC 312 and we'll get ready for the UFC's return to the world's most

famous apex and middleweight pain events inside of it. Good night, everybody. Appreciate it. Love you all. This has been between the links and the MMA fighting for. on the Vox Media Network.