MMA Fighting - BTL | Dustin Poirier, Jan Blachowicz Title Hopes, UFC Vegas 55 and Eagle FC 47, MVP Robbed?

Episode Date: May 19, 2022

Dustin Poirier has made it perfectly clear that he wants to fight at UFC 277 on July 30 in Dallas, but he can’t seem to get a matchup booked. If “The Diamond” does get his wish, who would be the likely opponent? This week on Between the Links, the panel will discuss the options to fill that spot and who might be the favorite to land that fight. In addition, the panel reacts to Jan Blachowicz’s win over Aleksandar Rakic this past Saturday at UFC Vegas 55 and if it was enough to put him in a title fight next, the Bellator 281 main event between Logan Storley and Michael Page and if Page was robbed by the judges, UFC Vegas 55 headlined by Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira this Saturday, Eagle FC 47 this Friday with a Junior dos Santos vs. Yorgan De Castro main event, and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Mehsew and UFC featherweight Billy Quarantillo. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Terrance McKinney: @twrecks155 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. The Mac 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 Between the Links. The iconic voice is back. We didn't have her last week, just in podcast form. It's always good to hear her voice. Thank you for checking out the program live or after the fact here on YouTube

or on the podcast network on this Thursday. some fun topics to discuss, some fun panelists to discuss those topics with. So let's introduce them first. He's BTL's Woody Page. He's Mr. No Gray area, the co-host of No Bet's Bard. And he's also the man behind the new podcast on the MA Fighting Podcasting Network. Damn, they were good. It just launched discussing the incredible career of one Carlos Condit.

Let's say hello once again to Mr. Jed Michoud. Jed, how are you, sir? Mike, I told you. I told you when I was going to be full-time. I'm coming for your job. Nobody else is. I'm going to be king of these airwaves. I got two pods down. Maybe I'll have more. Maybe I'll get five, six. Maybe I'll take this one from you. I'm coming for you, Mike. Terrence McKinney's just in the way right now. Well, I think Terrence McKinney might have the first shutout in the history of the program. Now, Jed kind of dropped the name here because originally if you listened to a heck of a morning this morning, it was revealed that Jed. was going to face Billy Corantillo today. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. He had to cancel, luckily, and shut out to the PR King himself, Ed Cap.

He made some moves, made some calls. We got ourselves a tremendous short-notice replacement. He's a UFC fighter. One of the bright prospects of the lightweight division. One of a run he has had in the UFC, a seven-second knockout, first-round submission earlier this year, and then he is in the running for sure

for the round of the year in a short-notice fight with Drew Dover. He returns to action. August 6th to face Eric Gonzalez, Let us welcome Mr. Short Notice himself, Mr. T. Rex, Terrence McKinney to the program. Terrence, how are you? And are you ready to give your guy Michael Kiesa run for his money from the analyst side of things? All right, let's do it.

That's what we like to hear. It's great to have you both here, even you, Jed. But let's begin with this past weekend and start with the UFC Vegas 54 because Jan Belhovic, the former champion, gets back in the wind column, Jed Michoud. It wasn't ideal how the fight ended. but like I tell teammates in softball when they hit a little blooper or they full swing bunts down the third baseline.

It's going in the box scores. It's going in the newspaper as a screaming line drive over the second baseman's head. Not a little number that went 16 feet. So in the history books, Jedbushu, it's a third round TKio win for Jan Bilhovic. It was a solid start to the fight for the man you like to call Yanni Blocko.

Second round got a little dicey, but in the end, Jan got his hand raised. So what did you think? take of Jan's performance, his first since losing the belts to Glover-Teshirea. Look, Mike, you're right, you know. In the history books, there are no pictures. You know, they don't ask how, they ask how many. And for all intents and purposes, Yanni Blocko got the dub.

He apparently set himself up for potentially a light, heavyweight title shot, which I, you know, that's a possibility. I thought coming into that fight if he wins, and I'm going to say something you're going to hey, Mike, if Yeri wins, you know, I could see them doing Yon Yeri, but I did not think that if Glover beats Yeri, which you have been espousing so aggressively, that they would run that back. But apparently both dudes are interested in it. So maybe that kind of, I'm going to call it a lackluster win because it's, you know, he won the fight. It counts. It's a double on the record. He got the two paychecks did everything you need to do. At the same time, he wasn't really the author of his fate

in that thing. You know, just sometimes these things happen. And so at the end of the day, he did the important thing. You know, he got the win. He's moving on. He might fight for a title. It was a great Saturday night for Yanni Blocko. I also thought he looked good.

You know, I thought that first round was a competitive round, but that he won. I think it was very clear to me watching that fight that the style matchup was just so different with Glover because he was throwing a lot of kicks. He barely threw kicks at Glover. obviously he was concerned about the takedown. As we kind of saw, there's reason for him to have that concern. But I thought he looked good. You know, I had a bet on Alexander Rackage.

I still felt pretty confident with my bet going into that third round. But, you know, this is the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. So still a solid night for Jan Blovich. And I'm not opposed to seeing him fight for a title again if that's what happens. Terrence, your thoughts on Blahovitch's performance on Saturday. He closed the show. It wasn't ideal, but in the end, he got his hand raised. Yeah, he was active.

Like you said, it was very close fight. He was competitive on both sides. I would have liked to see it play out two or the five rounds, but I don't think it's going to give him a title shot because it was very, it was like, it could have been a previous injury and he just came to fight, you know. So, like, there's so many questions, like, about, like, how his knee was. So there's no way to give him a title fight when it, when it, like, it's basically his body just shut down on him.

It wasn't, like, something he could control. Now, Terrence, you say no way he gets a title fight. Go over to Chera tweets out Saturday before the event, something to the effect of, and Jed alluded to this. Hey, Jan, if you win, and I win on June 11th, which, by the way, he's going to against Yuri Perashka, let's run it back. And Jan does his part. Officially, it's a win.

you don't think it's enough to get him a title shot. What else does he need to do? So if Glover wins, it's not him. Are we waiting to see what happens with Ankleif and Anthony Smith before we make that decision? Or what do you think happens here? What else does John need to do? Well, if Glover wins, well, I don't think he is,

but I think he's a great dude. But I think Jerry's just a killer, man. He's like the scariest dude ever. So I got him winning by K.O. And then I think they would have to run it back either way. If Glover wins, they'll run it back. And if he loses, I think they'll still have to run it back. And then the winner gets a title shot.

Jed, how would you do it? How would you lay this out? You said maybe he might have earned a title shot, but if you had the Mighty Pencil, how are we booking this light heavyweight division? Of course, we need to see what happens June 11th. That's the next step. But where does Belhovic fit into this situation for you?

I think he needs another win. I thought he needed another win coming into that fight because to me, I think the obvious choice for who gets the next side of fight should be the winner of Anthony Smith versus Magmaud Ancolaev. I have been on the record. I think Ancolaev is probably the actual best light heavyweight in the world if it's not eerie. And, you know, I'd like to see him get his opportunity. Arguably he should deserve it anyway having beaten Tiago Santos. but that fight was just so bad that nobody is mad that he didn't get a title fight off of it. I assume Anthony Smith will be a more compelling, more interesting match.

And if Anthony Smith wins, I think that's a markable fight, you can just kind of run that one right back. And if Ankylaev wins, that to me, he's the clear-cut number one contender in the division. last thing jed and we've seen during these fight night cards that when when the main event ends the guy who wins is typically the the guy we're talking about the MVP of the event and yeah we're talking about yombovich but not in the context that he would like to be talked about he'd want to be talked about as hey knocked out alexander rackett in the first round let's give this man a title shop but he's not the MVP of this card so who was the MVP of this card for you who Whose performance shown the brightest for you this past Saturday and why?

I mean, I think it's got to be Davy Grant, right? You know, a bunch of other people had really good performances. But frankly, I think Davey Grant and Louis Mowgo got robbed of the night. No disrespect to Caitlin Chukagian and Amanda Heboss. Amanda Heboss is actually probably the correct answer because she found a way to make Caitlin Chukagian fun to watch, which I would have said was impossible. I would have just said, yeah, that will never be. fight of the night ever it's not possible for that to do and yet yet somehow they pulled that off so

that's probably the true answer but for me david grant gave you the most bang for your buck on saturday for sure i mean he got the performance bonus for the chaos of lewis mocha tremendous chaos and before that it was just a hell of a scrap you know um which you all credit to you mike you predict correctly predicted that it would be a double bonus night form i mean you were incorrect but you should have been correct and that's what counts I agree. Terrence, you're a man who creates violence. You enjoy watching violence, I'm sure. Is Davy Grant your guy, or did somebody else stand out to you?

For me, I was very happy for Michael Johnson, just for him to come back, bounce back like that and get the COAO. I think that was huge. I loved it. I think a Terrence McKinney-Michael Johnson fight would be a lot of fun to watch someday. What's say you? That would be a vanger for sure. Absolutely.

Well, the UFC is back again this Saturday, and that's how we're going to end regulation this week. But there's another event this past weekend and another tough watch for a championship main event for that event. And that's where we're going next. The point for round one goes to a much more respectful Terrence McKinney is one to nothing. He's not trying to take my job. Like Jedmishu is. I think it's respectful to let you know. Hey, Mike, this is a thing that's happening.

be aware instead of me just kind of hamstring you without you knowing. Well, I mean, you can't take my job when you get shut out on this program. No one's ever been that before, and that's a record you don't want. But by the way, if you're new to the program, these points are just fun transitional periods in the show. You, the listeners, the live studio audience, you will be the decision makers. There will be a poll coming up where you can vote for either Jedbyshu or Terrence McKinney. But let's move on to round two. and Terrence, we're going to begin with you.

We'll start with you because Bellator 281 took place in London. We had a pretty solid event overall, some great moments, but the show closes with a bit of a snoozer. Let's be honest. Logan Storley defeats Michael Venom page. It was a split decision. The Twitter scorecards were all over the place. Very rarely do you see Twitter just get so steamed and fired up,

and then like 15 minutes later, it just fizzles out and nobody mentions it again. But some believed, Terrence, if the result was correct, that Storley deserved to win. Most people feel that Michael Venom page actually won the fight because he inflicted some damage and tried to do anything, really. So I know robbery is an overused term by fans of the sport T-Rex, but was MVP robbed on Friday? Was he robbed?

I don't think he was robbed. It was super boring, though. Logan did what he needed to do. so but yeah he did what he had to wrestle him obviously to do the season striker so it was a no-brainer just to keep taking him down so congrats to him did you score it for story did you score it for page I honestly didn't watch it all the way through I watched it like the first three rounds or so you figured it you figured it out after the third round okay this is what we're getting for 10 minutes.

I already know what's about to heck in the next 10 minutes. Jed, what say you? I know, I kind of know where you're going at this, but I love to hear your thoughts on this stuff anyway. MVP robbed in your eyes on Friday. Did he deserve to win that fight?

I mean, sure. Technically, yes, because he probably should have won, and that would matter a lot to his, because he lost a lot by losing. you know, he's not the champion. He doesn't get whatever Benny's that Bellator gives to their champions.

He, you know, probably was robbed and probably lost. But also it's not. Like if all things are on a spectrum, right? And this is from the man of no gray area, but everything exists on a spectrum. And so for the spectrum of, you know, who did Chase Beebe get like stupidly robbed against? I'll think of that in a little bit. But we're going, you know, one to ten. This is very low on the spectrum because, as Terrence correctly identified, this fight blew and no one cares because it happened in an organization that's impossible to watch because it doesn't show up on a real programming network.

And again, if I didn't say it before, this fight was terrible. And also, while I agree, and I know that Casey is firmly in the corner of MVP won the fight, he didn't do a lot either. Like, I'm not saying Logan Storley did anything because he's. he did not. And his quote about why didn't you stop me is hilariously like not understanding the things. Why didn't you stop what I was doing on top? Holding?

It's very difficult to stop a man holding you. So it was just not a good fight but it takes two to have a crappy fight. Like we said this when Carlos Bars and Rosenama Hunas fought. Like it takes two to do that. It took Logan Storley holding on

for dear life and it took Michael Vennam-Page who has been a professional fist fighter in cages for well over a decade and still does not know how to separate a grip and clear. Like it's just, he just can't do it. It's not part of him. So it's everyone's fault. Nobody succeeded here. And I didn't feel the least bit bad for Michael Vindam-Page because, like, you could have done more.

You could have done things against the guy who was literally doing nothing. So sure, it's a robbery in that he still probably deserved to win. but it's also not a robbery because no one cares. And, you know, that's okay. Sometimes it can just be a bad fight and we can just move on from it. And everybody in MMA has done well here. We've all said that was bad. Moving on to the next thing because we don't care, actually.

And that's the correct response to this. Bad decision. Oh, well, moving on. Is the bigger story here, Jed, the decision of the judges? or the decision of Bellator and its matchmakers to actually book this fight. Because Page fighting Yaroslav Amoslav, let's be honest, was probably going to look a lot worse

than what we saw on Friday. Amosov was out. You could have got a number of ways with this one. You could have done Page against literally anybody else here in London, and it would have gone over better. He probably would have won. He probably would have got a finish.

He would have got a huge ovation. And the taste in everybody's mouths after this event would have been much sweeter, had Bellator gone. this direction. So is the judging here the real story or the actual booking of this fight the the real story? There are no real stories because this is awful and no one cares, but insofar as we're going to pretend there are, I would love if I'm sure this won't happen, but there's a clip in our archive of me saying this exact thing to you when you broke the news to me that this

was a thing that was happening. I think it was on this program and you're like, Jed, I'm going to blow your mind. Guess what Bellator is doing? And I had a minor mental breakdown because because it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And lo and behold, I was dead correct. Now, that is not some bit of tremendous prescience. Anyone with the pulse and relative knowledge of the sport where I've been like, yeah, that's the most likely outcome, is that that fight sucks since Logan Storley holding him for a while.

But still, this was incredibly dumb. And the only story to me coming out of belt or whatever it was, frankly, do not remember the number, is Scott Coker being mad about it, because I think that that is incredibly funny. That Scott Coker, who does not normally throw fighters under the bus, he is not Dana White where he will just excoriate whoever because he feels like it or whatever. He will normally be like, well, you know, Logan Storley, All-American Wrestler. It was a tough fight to call.

But, you know, we're going to move on and we get to do the rematch, Storley Amosov. That was a fight that happened. I promised you people watching this. You didn't watch it because it sucked, but that was a fist fight that did occur. Um, this is a long, long loss on Logan Stolley's record. And normally, Scott Coker would be like, we can build this, right? Like, this is the lone loss on this, this prospect's record against our current champion. They both have titles, unification.

There's a story to tell here. There's a narrative at play. But instead, Scott was like, that fight sucked. And the decision was wrong because mostly he was just mad at the judges that they did not prove him any smarter than we thought. Because if he had been right and MVP had won and styled on him, then, Scott Cove, just big brain to saw, and that's tremendous. But instead, it was what the world thought would happen, what he put into play, and he's now trying to pass the buck on somebody else and it's bad.

No, this is on you, my guy. You did a bad job of promotion, and you get to reap the benefits. So don't throw your new champion under the bus because you made a very, very obviously poor decision, and it didn't work out for you. Terrence, I'm not going to ask you to, like, crap on Bellator or anything because you're a UFC fighter. You watched three rounds of this, and then you were like, okay, I get it. You obviously tuned into it, though. Were you, like, at least fascinated?

Were you intrigued by the fight? Or you just, like, I just have nothing to do on a Friday, and I'm going to watch it? Yeah, I just like to watch Friday. So I know I ain't doing nothing if I'm bored or something. I was hoping he'll do something flashy, like a flying knee or something. But MVP, when he's on bottom, he just hold their wrist and do nothing, too. So like, like you said, man, it was awful. Should he come see you and you can help him with that?

Yeah, he should have already been training. Like, you know what your ass is. So go wrestle. Good. Last thing, I do want to give some, I do want to give some shine to a good moment on this card, Terrence. I'll start with you. Paul Daly and his career with a thunderous knockout after it looked like more bad matchmaking was done. in Paul Daly's final fight,

we want Paul Daly to go out with the bang. They throw him in there at the grappler, kept taking him down, but luckily Semtex just said, to hell with this, I'm done with this, I'm just going to knock this dude out, and that's exactly what he did. He puts a bow on a legendary run

in ferocious fashion. So any thoughts on Paul Daly in the sport as a fan that you may want to share? Any Paul Daly moments stick out? Yes, man. This dude was a nasty knockout artist. And like you said, he'd done it all fighting UFC Bellatory, and he showed that he can compete with the best in the world and put him out.

Jed, seems like Paul Daly could be a fun journey to go on for this new podcast. What are you not? What did you think of his final fight or potentially his final fight? Yeah, that's the big key here is I have no confidence that this is his final fight. I mean, at some point, we will talk about him on damn they were good, but we're going to let that one. that would marinate for a little bit because I think there's very much a world

where he comes back. I do want to address something you said earlier though, which was that this looked like it was bad matchmaking. Incorrect. This was bad matchmaking. It just didn't bite him in the ass like it did with the main event. You, it's Paul Daly. We know what we're doing here. Like, Bellator, you

don't have to pretend to be a real organization because you're not and nobody thinks you are and that's fine. You used to steer into the skid and you would do dumb Kimbo versus Ken Shamrock fights that were horrible but awesome and so it ruled and like that was fine just do that dig up jonathan goulay and have him fight paul dairy first like i don't care give me the thing i want satisfy my nostalgia button by giving me a savage chaos we got one but it really looked like we weren't going to get one

and that would have just been the capper on what has been a tremendously underwhelming year for bellator thus far. So like, yeah, I just, this wasn't good matchmaking. It was bad matchmaking that worked out. But you're right, this was the best moment of the card. Frankly, part of the reason I was so like, I don't really know why you're doing this with MVP is like, this could have just been an awesome main event for London. Everyone would have been stoked.

It would have been fine. Like, if you ended the night on that, I think it would have been a great evening and nobody would have left unsatisfied. And instead, we got a couple more. fights and so it was just kind of weird but you know at least they did have one high water mark we had a buggy choke too that was pretty cool that what who did that see that's a problem i don't remember it was it was all of our on comp yeah that's what it was that's it was yep that's it was yeah that's great moment that was very cool very cool so okay let's put a bow in bellator 281 they're back

June 24th, Gagar Busasi versus Johnny Eblins. So hopefully we get ourselves a better title fight than the last two we've had. The point for round two goes to Jedmishu. It's one to one. I thought I was getting blanked, Mike. What happened? Yeah, I got to be fair. I'm ready for the fifth round comeback.

I'm not afraid. It hurt my feelings. But let's head to a man that Terrence McKinney will hope to share the Octagon with someday before it's all said and done. Let's talk about Dustin Porni. Ed Ched Bichu because Dustin Porier is a man who asks for very little, right? He shows up. He fights.

He does this thing and he goes home to his family. And now he's not asking for title shots. He's not asking to make $30 billion. He's just asking to fight somebody on July 30th at UFC 277. It could be Nate, could be Colby. It could be anyone at 155 that makes sense. It could be somebody at 170 that would just be a fun fight. The man just wants to fight Jedmishu.

So in your opinion, we'll talk about potential opponents. Now, you know what? Screw it. We'll do it right now. Will he get what he wants? Will he fight July 30th? And if so, you're putting on your UFC hat now. Who would the UFC offer him in this situation if they were, I'd put him on this card?

What are we May 19th? I'm going to say that he'll get to fight July 30th. So I think that's quickly becoming questionable. Um, he's not going to get what he wants, though, because what he wants is Nate Diaz. And for the life of me, it appears that the UFC is willing to die on the hill of boning Nate Diaz because they refuse to just let him leave. Um, so, you know, that's great. But, uh, which is dumb because for a Nate Diaz makes sense as a fight in some regard, certainly. Um, I, it's not going to be Colby Covington just because Kobe Covington allegedly has brain injury from allegedly getting punched by

Jorge Mosferol, which is allegedly ridiculous. Sorry, that's just actually ridiculous. Didn't he allegedly that time. So Colby's not going to be fighting because he's really good at shooting himself in the foot, it would appear. So yeah, there's not like the fight that I hate, but that makes the most sense is Michael Chandler. And I know Michael Chandler has said that he forgot about Dustin Poirier and he was mean to me when he came to the UFC. and so I don't want to fight him because I'm all up in my feelings and let me go lick Dana's boots real fast. He's full of garbage and would absolutely take that fight off offered because if he beats Dustin Poir,

especially coming off the win over Tony Ferguson, that locks him into a title shot. I think that that probably gets him into a title shot next. So also, if you couldn't tell, I'm back on the Michael Chandler sucks wagon. I should have never left. I was driving that train forever. You talked me out of it. I'm back on, baby. So yeah.

That's, did you see the quotes from him this week about the UFC? You know I did, but maybe the people watching didn't, so go ahead. I don't have the quotes in front of me, but to paraphrase it, Michael Chandler's tongue is actually the bottom of Dana White shoes. Those two things have a symbiotic relationship. It is an unbelievable quote about how fighters don't deserve more money because, A. N. A. Slept had sleepless nights or something insane, despite the fact the UFC fighters get paid a pittance of what they deserve and don't make nearly the amount of the revenue that the UFC generates, which is, we've talked about it a billion times. Just a huge shame. So all the way back on board my, I don't like Michael Chandler train and chew, chew, let's keep going. But for me, that still, I hate that fight outside of my feelings just because that's just turning over the same. five dudes at the top of the division like division should be staircases right you should have people going up and down and there should be movement it shouldn't just be like well we're in this top tier so

the five of us are going to fight and no one can break into it except for with a 10 fight win streak like is a machochev you know like i would like to see dustin boy or michael chandler fight somebody down you know at the back into the top 10 give i know uh physiv is fighting dos angios right like so but something like that give arm and seruky and a shot at some of the bigger and names do something like that, even though I know if Surukin's fighting Gamrot. But instead, they're probably just going to do that, which then, like I said, probably reruns the winner of that fight right back in towards a title fight, which is lame. Like, 155 is one of, I say it's the deepest best division in the sport.

I'd like to see more new things happen at the top of it instead of the same seven dudes fight in a circle and nobody else gets to play. There you go. There you go. Terrence, you're a fan. going to be watching maybe who knows maybe you'll find a way on that card you can fight back to back weeks or something like that so will we watch dust and porre fight somebody july 30th and if so who do you think the ufc will offer him we you think you're muted jad while we while we wait for

terence let me ask you this because someone brought this up on heck of a morning on tuesday and it was something i didn't really think about because dust and pori went on a real show and he said just give me anybody 155. It has to make sense. We have this crazy cluster going on at the top of the division at 155 with Charles Olivera, with who's going to fight Charles Olivera, is it going to be Machachev? Do they do Machachev versus

Darius? And someone suggested if Dustin's looking for a fight and the knock on Mockachev is he doesn't have a top five win, why doesn't Mockachev just raise his hand and fight Dustin Porre? Because yeah, it's a little sooner than he would have hoped, but you would think that

he would be heavily favored in a fight with Dustin Poirier and that checks off all the boxes and it eliminates everybody else from the conversation. So is this something that would make sense in your eyes? Like Islam just says, you know what, Dustin, you want to fight July 30th? Screw it. I'll fight you. It would make sense. I think my read on that is that Habib and company believe that they are going to get the title

shot. So they are, I mean, he just spoke with ESPN. I just wrote that up for the site like 30 minutes ago. and Habib makes a compelling case for the fight that I think makes the most sense, frankly, for the lightweight title. And I think they think that they can get it. And so they are not going to risk losing it or risk all the other things that can happen with taking a fight with Dustin Porre. Because sure, super advantage. Like I would say he's wildly advantaged and probably wins that fight pretty handily.

But Dustin Porre is Dustin Frickin Porier. and he can lose. He can get hurt. He can just get injured, like doing anything, you know, in the fight, in the build-up to the fight, and that can derail him, you know, potentially another year plus to getting towards the title that I think he should have. So my sense is that they don't believe the U.S. he's going to stick to having him fight Benile Dere Ush in October, just because there isn't a clear-cut guy for Olaver to fight for the vacant title. and if they were waiting for that fight to deliver one,

it's just not great. So I agree, it wouldn't be a bad choice. And I think that that is probably their best thing, but I think they are just going to go all in on, hey, man, just give us the freaking title fight. We did this with Habib. It was stupid. Just let me fight for the freaking title.

Terrence, I believe you're back. Yes, sir. Can you hear me that? There he is, the melodious tone of Terrence McKinney. So back to the question I asked you before, will Dustin fight July 30th? And if so, if you were the matchmaker here, who would you book him against? Decide yourself, of course. That'd be dope to see him fight Michael Chandler.

I would love that fight. And if Islam wouldn't take that fight, I don't think. Not a short notice. He's not the kind of guy to take a short notice fight. They're very strategic and calculated with their kicks. I mean, he just fought Bobby Green on less than a week's notice. I mean, he was already training, but still. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

He was already in, like, camp, so it was a little bit different. Fair enough. Last thing on this, Jed, I'll go back to you, and then I'll go back to Terrence, because Poiria mentioned a name. We've alluded to it. He did mention on the MMAR Colby Covington, and you mentioned reasons why this fight probably wouldn't happen, but if none of these things were going on in the courtroom

him with Mazadol and all that stuff, it would make perfect sense because Colby called for him. Porier said, nah, we're not doing that. You're not making any money off of my name. And he's just like, nah, I want to fight anybody. I'll even fight Colby. How did you react to that callout? Especially with everything going out with Mazadol. I'm sure he's privy to all of this.

Were you surprised by this? I was. To me, that was the interesting part of the callout. Not that he was willing to fight Covington. But to me, that shows kind of just how frustrated he is. and really like I don't know what the hell the UFC's doing it's Dustin Poirier put him in against somebody it's not that hard like that dude's bangers every time like he's he is hot shit every time out

and he's the number two dude in the world like just give him a freaking fight I know he wants Nate and you guys aren't going to do that because you're assholes that's fine just give him somebody and the fact that you are just like not being like hey here's a list of dudes let's make this happen to the point where he feels compelled to say, I'll even fight this dude that I do. He says he doesn't hate him, but that's because he doesn't understand what the word hate means that I hate. Like, that's that that feels it's one of those things like if you're in an office and your coworker starts feeling that way, that is an indictment of management and leadership. Like somebody shouldn't feel compelled to do a thing they don't like when as a result of not being allowed to do their job basically.

Like, that's insane. Like, he wants to fight. He is a fighter. He's one of the biggest stars in the promotion. He hasn't fought since December. Look to do to fight. Just give him somebody. It doesn't have to be Nate.

You don't have to hold on for Dustin Connor 4 or whatever weird asinine plans you have. Just put him in against a human being who fist fights other people because I will tune in to watch. And so will 500,000 other people. Terrence, are you surprised Dustin mentioned Colby Coveington's name with the history of those two guys have? Yeah, that was very surprising, but I was kind of happy he did because I honestly want to see that fight. And I think it's going to be a lot closer than people think. How so? What do you think? Why do you think he'll be so close? Because Dustin's nice with the hands and he got some pretty underrated jiu-jitsu.

So I can see him cracking him a few times and he just knows how to put it together. Like, honestly, I can even see him winning. Oh, damn. Yeah. Maybe you could have Terrence on no-bets barred, Jed, and get a fighter's perspective if they ever put that fight together. I mean, listen, we'll see what happens. Hopefully we get Porre back in there in Dallas at UFC 277.

They should just do the Nate fight, but I don't know. What do I know? All I know is that there's more MMA to watch over the next couple of days. The point for round three goes to the surging Jed Mishu. It's two to one. I was cut out. I didn't get to do the whole round. That's right.

I mean, that's the problem. That's the problem. You probably had more sizzled to the stake, but unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties. But again, speaking of technical stuff, look for the poll to eventually come. I don't know if it's there yet. To cash your vote at the end of this thing so we can figure out who wins, whether it's Jed or Terrence McKinney. Now, this weekend, Saturday, the UFC is back. UFC Vegas 55.

We got Holly Holm. in the main event. First fight in quite some time. She faces Ketland Vieira. We have Santiago Ponziadio versus Michelle Paheda and nine more fights on the docket. So Terrence, you are a big fan. You'll be watching. Your tweets will probably be on the broadcast more than 10 times. So we'll begin with you. Your excitement levels for Saturday's card. What stands out to you? I'm just excited for Holly Holmes to be out there. I'm actually a huge fan. I just love her work that dick

and she just knows how to just be a war, you know? And I always see her like progression. Like last fight she was wrestling, like she's always getting better. So I'm excited to see what she shows the fans. Jed, what do you think of Saturday's offering as a whole? We'll dive in a little bit deeper into storylines for the main event in the moment. But top to bottom, everything going on Saturday. What do you think of the entire slate here?

I mean, this is a plus throwaway weekend. And we can. This is exactly where you wanted to. We had a tight 11 fights, very simple. Start times at four, I think. So we're going to be out of here by 10 Eastern at the latest. You've got a main event that matters. You've got a number of kind of ranked or in that neighborhood of ranked fighters.

Almost all the matchups are competitive. Most people have Wikipedia pages, though, you know, several don't but most of them do this is this is a solid B to B plus card like these these are the meat and potato cards that you're supposed to have just like last week would have been if it didn't start at midnight or whatever ungodly hour they kicked that card off at I go to the pharmacy um off of your dad like you're now Mike you are now the muted one yeah oh no I was testing you guys I was testing you guys I was about to take it out from you.

There's some background noise, and I wanted to make sure nobody heard it. But what I was saying, and you probably read my lips there, every time Holly Home flights, there seems to be some hope that a win will get her a title shot. She could be on a five-fight losing streak, but she could find her way into a title fight every time she competes, no matter where she is in her career. Now, with this division being what it is right now,

with Giuliana Pena and Amanda Nunes, about to do it again at some point this year, maybe the summer. Could this fight on Saturday, Jed, be a title eliminator? Is there a chance the winner of this fight gets a title shot next, especially if Giuliana Pena wins again? If Julianna Pena wins again, I would say almost for sure the winner is going to get a title. Well, actually, let me take that back.

If Pena wins and home wins, I think that's about as close to a lock as you'll get in these circumstances. they haven't fought unless I'm about to pull this up to make sure because I don't think they fought right. Yeah, Palm and Pena haven't fought. She's, Palm is the number two or three, something like, just one of the top three people in that division, according to the UFC. She's a huge name, like all the litany of reasons that that fight will happen. If Pena wins and Vieira wins, I'm going to say Vieer doesn't get a title fight

because I think if that happens, it's Chevy truck time. We're going to just move Valentina right on up to get that second belt while she makes her, carves the path up to the third belt. She can be the first ever triple tramp. Come at me, Henry Suhudo. You ain't the goat of combat sports. It's the Chevy truck. It's the bullet train.

Valentina Chavchenko is about to take over the world this year. So that is my pick for if Vieira upsets home this weekend. Interesting point about Shevchenko. What say you, Terence? Let's just say Giuliana Pena beats Nunes the second time. Does the winner of this fight,

whether it be home of Viera, do they get the next title shot, or maybe Shafchenko scooets past both of them if she beats Tilos Santos on June 11th? I think no matter what, if Giuliano Pia wins, I bet she fights Valentina,

because they fall already and I'm pretty sure what does she get? She got armbard, right? She did. Yeah, so I know she wants that one back, but if Holly Holmes win, like, that matchup, I think will put her in a title shot. And I wouldn't mind seeing a fight.

They haven't fought yet, so it just makes a whole lot of sense if either of those people win in the finals. Last thing, we also have the return of Eagle FC tomorrow. And for those who are wondering, there is good news, okay? Because the commentary team will be Cyrus Fies, Chale P. Sunnin, and Henry Suhudo will be back behind the microphone, which means this is going to be a fun time. It is going to be a great time.

We might have to go on Twitter spaces for this just to have some fun like we normally do. But Eagle FC is back tomorrow. Eagle FC 47. Terrence, we have Junior Dos Santos versus Jorgon de Castro in the main event. Hector Lombard versus Tiago Cesar. Silva is an actual MMA fight in 2022 we are going to see in a little over 24 hours from right now. We will see Maki Pitolo, Andrew Sanchez, Sean Soriano, Bellatorz, Isla Mabadev, and other notable names in this card.

So you are a fan. You like to watch fights, Terrence. Will you be experiencing Eagle FC 47 live tomorrow? I'm definitely going to watch it live. And I think what could be doing for the fighters and giving them a chance to actually. make the money they deserve is just huge for the fight community. So I'm excited and I'm going to support Eagle FC 110%. There you go. What do you think of Henry Sehudo's commentary, Terrence?

Are you a fan of it? Does it enhance the broadcast experience for you? It's like 50-50 for me. Jed, your excitement levels for this card. How are you feeling about Eagle FC 47 tomorrow? If you have the night off or you're going to stay home and watch this event? My excitement levels, I'll probably end up watching it just because I don't know. What else am I going to do on a Friday night?

I'm old. I don't do stuff anymore. And there are worse ways to spend your time. But my feelings are exactly like the last time we talked about it. The two main fights don't make any sense. Like, why are we doing these? These are obvious placeholders to the fights that should be. be happening.

So it's just dumb. Like, Junior DeSanto doesn't need to fight York and Castro. Just put him in against Rizvan, Rizan, Rizvan. Cooney had the, the dude,

the Russian heavyweight champion, put him in, the dude who has like one loss his whole career. Just make that fight. Like, that's the fight you're supposed to make. You don't need to build this up.

Hector Lombard should be fighting Tyron Woodley. I don't know why. I don't know why he's fighting Tiago Silva. I frankly didn't know Tiago Silva was still competing. I don't know that I feel good that Tiago Silva is still competing. Also, Hector Lombard was a welterweight. Tiago Silva has been a career light heavyweight. So I don't know,

a lot of things to play here when instead he could just be fighting Tyron Woodley because they almost got into a fist fight before. So like, I don't, it's fine. Like, these aren't awful fights. It is, I'm sure it will be entertaining. I am confident that I won't enjoy Henry Suhudo's commentary. I'm not a huge CHALP guy either. So, look on the production side of things, but, you know, it's a Friday night. Worst things can happen to you. There you go. By the way, for those wondering, Tiago Silva's last fight three years ago today, you know,

three years ago yesterday against Martin Zawada at KSW 49, lost you unanimous decision. So it's been three years since he's fought. You're telling me, Habib can get Tiago Silva out of three years, but Scotty freaking coax can't pull Jonathan Goulet out of whatever. the hell he's doing to just go get marked by Paul Daly this shit are we doing here people this is not hard well there you go so that is regulation the point for round four goes to i'm in a positive mood so i'm going to go to the positivity train and we're going to take a ride with terence mckinney yes it's two to two all right so the poll is probably up by now i'm not paying attention but it's probably

up by now so get ready to cast your vote this is time for the knocker round. Each individual here is going to get one question. They don't know what it is, but we're going to play a fun game with this question. They will each have 60 seconds to present their argument. And in the end, we will let the votes compile, and we will go ahead and announce the winner right after that. So Jed, you are the man. You have the prerogative here. What would you like to do before I explain what this game is? I'll go first. Screw it. Why not? Let's be adventurous. All right. Jed's going to go first. We're going to play a new game call. Or let's give him an advantage.

There we go. A lot of the game. There you go. I love the teamwork here, the camaraderie. The new game is called, is he right? Is he right? The person in question is Habib Narbagham Adov. And we have three choices.

You could choose one, two, or three to reveal something that Habib has said in the last few days. And you have 60 seconds to respond as to whether or not he is right. Or he believes in what he is actually saying and explain why you believe he is right or why he is wrong. So option one, option two, option three. They're all on the table for you, Jed. What would you like to go? Hmm.

Number three, my lord. Number three. All right. Option three. Habib Naragamatov said this week that if Junior Dos Santos defeats Jorg and DiCastro tomorrow night and the main event of Eagle FC 47, he wants

to be a part of putting together a legend's fight in the heavyweight division. between Junior Dos Santos and Fador Milianenko, saying, quote, if Dos Santos versus Fador, he has to focus on Jorgon next because Friday has a tough opponent. He has to stay focused, but I want to talk to my friend Scott Coker because Fador is under Bellator contract. I don't know what they're going to do next with him,

but definitely we can talk. We can create some good stories. So is he right, Jed, is the fight to make JDS versus Fador for Fador's final fight if JDS defeats Jorgand de Castro tomorrow. One minute on the clock, your time starts now.

By and large, he's correct. Layers here, but one, he's incorrect in saying that JDS needs to focus on Jorgand de Castro as a tough opponent.

He does not. He does not have a tough opponent, does not need to focus on him. He's going to win that fight. He is right that that fight is great. I thought when JDS was a free agent, he was going to end up with Bellator, because that just made all the sense in the world.

But as we've seen in the last few months, Scottie Cox, deciding he's going to be bad at promoting and have short, you know, alligator arms with the purse because he didn't get Caleb Harrison. He didn't get JADS.

He's not getting the fighters to make the fights that would matter for him. But if he cannot pay that man and get co-promotion going, I've long said co-promotion makes sense because really no other organization has a totality of fighters that can build infinite captivating fights like this, do it.

This is a great one. I do have some concerns that what we talked about earlier, that I just want to see Fido do the damn thing, and he might not against JDS, so maybe that's not the best retirement fight. Maybe just get the corpse of somebody out there for him to bolt. But if this is a way to go out, it's a really strong ending. Okay, there's Jedmishu's answer.

Terrence, you have two choices. You could choose door number one or door number two. And I will explain to you the quote and what he said, and you will give your response saying if he's right or not. Do you want number one or number two? Let's go with door number one. Go with door number one. By the way, door number two was the potential of Tony Ferguson and Habib is critical of the ultimate fighter.

Option one, however, Terence, and this has to do with your division, so this might actually work out for you. Talking to ESPN, Habib Naragam-Madav said this. People cannot talk about comparing me versus Charles Olivera. If you want to deserve the name greatest lightweight, he has to beat Islam Makachev, Benil Daryush, a couple more guys, and then we can talk. So the question is, Terence, is he right? Is it unfair or premature to even have a conversation comparing Olivera's current run with what Habib Narmaga Madoff did as the champion at 155 pounds?

One minute on the clock. Your time starts now. I think he's wrong. I think Charles is better, in my opinion. He throws hands. He's been finishing everyone. Like, not just being on the fight win streak, like, he's fencing people. Lotta Cabeas fights for decisions.

He didn't really start finishing people until the end, you know? So I don't, I think he was, he did great. Like, he was undefeated, but Charles, to me, is looking like he's about to be the go of our weight class, in my opinion. because he can strike, he can grapple, and he's just really shown him what a champion is. Like, all his fights has been entertaining. I haven't seen one burn fight for him. And I can name a couple of bourne fights as I've seen of Khabib.

So he kind of is right, I lie, because they're not in the same playing field. So you think Alvarez is better? Yes, sir. So if they fought right now, who would you favor? Charles. Damn. All right. Terrence McKinney bringing the heat.

Bring in the hot take, no gray area. Jed, you might be replaced. T-Rex might be have a new nickname. So you heard the arguments. Jed, what is your response to this? I know you want to say something, so I'm going to let you as we tabulate the votes. This is a perfect time to waste time before we get the votes.

I disagree with just about everything Terrence just said. I got, right? If it ever happened. it'll be easy to prove because at some point, Chagli Al's going to have to fight Islam. Islam's going to run through him. So it will, and Islam's 80% of Habib.

So that'll be pretty clear that, yeah, actually, Habib was just the best. I think Habib was probably the best fighter I've ever seen in terms of level of maybe Valentina Shavchenko, if you're just talking about ability versus Pierce. Like, he is certainly in the conversation. What a great debate here. Go ahead, Terrence.

We got to do a friendly thing that. I stand up. Charles is the dog. I mean, let's do it. I'm happy to because I have infinite confidence that is a Markschev is just going to dust him up. Something fierce. Yeah, yeah. I don't think so.

We have to discuss terms. Maybe we can have the listeners discuss terms here. We've got a time because it might take like a year and a half. Or whatever. No one wants to fight is up. No one wants to fight that dude. Like he's, I don't want to fight him either.

You agree with you're saying. Then then he needs to start getting new faces in the ranking. Yeah. Tony Ferguson is still in the top ten. Tony Ferguson's not going to fight in like four years. All right. A lot to unpack here. We're getting the votes tabulated.

Just some programming stuff real quick. tomorrow 8 a.m. Eastern, back with another edition of heck of a morning. 3 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, the UFC Vegas 55 preview show. So stay tuned for that. We'll break down the fights, take questions, all that. 3.30 Eastern, which is much better than 7 p.m. Eastern. We'll have the people's pre-fight show, answering your questions the entire half an hour before the first fight takes place.

Post-fight show right after. I don't know if Jose is going to be there. I'm not really sure. But we'll figure it out and we'll let you know. And then AK and I will break things down from a matchmaking perspective Sunday on onto the next one. As you can see, the undefeated E. Casey Liden on the bottom right hand. He is back on the program. Casey, did you enjoy your vacation, my friend?

It was a wonderful vacation. I got to visit beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico. I visited the Jackson Wink Gym, you know, got a little sweaty in there. It was fun. It was good times, good times. But I'm back. I'm here for this. This is, I'm here.

This is the real competition right here. That's right. Are you sharpening the tools, Casey? Are you about to fight Terrence? Is that what's happening? No, no. Breaking news? I mean, I mean.

We can do a cat's weight, you know? Casey, walk before you run. I'm getting really bad reception here. I'm in a tunnel. I can't hear anything. Oh, I lost it. Oh, I'm out. I'm sorry.

Oh, man. Well, Casey, you are here to do a job, and your job is to, let the people know how the peeps ruled. So who got this thing done? Is it Jedbushu building the win total or is it Terrence McKinney coming in on short notice doing the damn thing once again?

We have our results and we do have a winner. You're a winner. John wrote. There it is. We know who won, of course. Mr. Short notice, Terrence McKinney. Hey. That right.

Not kidding. What was the numbers? Oh, it was a blowout. It was a 10-7. It was very much like how I fight. It was just total dominance. Total dominance. Congratulations.

Short notice. That's how you do it. Short notice. Just come in there, boom, you do it. That because everyone knows, Charles is the goat, man. They don't like gasoline. There you go. Remember the name.

You got to stop Dalton Charles. So now we have So Terrence The winner of the show So you don't give me money here unfortunately But you do get 30 seconds To talk about whatever needs you want to talk about You want to talk about MMA

You want to talk about something else You want to send a positive message to the people We could do that And also I'm going to incorporate a new rule That when this fight is booked between Islam Malkachev and Charles Oliver You get to make the stakes How about that?

I just want to say Shout out to God. and shout out to anyone balance and mental health problems and know that I'm here for you guys and you're not alone. And it's most importantly, shout out to God for just keep me alive every day and keep me motivated to fans and shout out to Warrior Camp. And shout out to the viewers here today.

Thank you guys for the time. And shout out to you, Terrence, for doing this. And shout out to Ed Kat for making this thing happen. Jed, shout out to you. Again, we're the opponent. did not come away with the people's vote here. What is your reaction to how this all played out? You know, people, a bunch of haters come spitting fast.

I'm sorry. Like, I know you don't like that Habib's the best, but he's the best, but that's just what's up. I'm so sorry, you know, I'm just in people's chant, man. Maybe next time. That's okay. Mishu McKinney, too, coming to a YouTube channel near you, so get ready.

I'm not confident looking at the stats that I deserve a rematch. Much like, you know, Michael Chandler doesn't deserve a rematch Charles over there. I was trying to do that. It's not necessary. Well, there you have it, everybody. We appreciate all of you watching. Go ahead, Terrence. I'm sorry.

I said, I've got to Dustin get the rematch. I think he competed the best against Charles compared to anyone else. Maybe. Maybe he fights July 30th and earns that shot. But you could hit the music, Casey. There it is. There it is, everybody. That means we are out of here.

I will see you guys tomorrow. morning 8 a.m. Eastern. Thank you to Casey on the production side for Jed for Terrence McKittie. I am Mike Keck. We'll see you back here next week right here on Between the Links. Good night, everybody. Yes, sir. Stay blessed, boy. This has been Between the Links. I'm Estherland. Congratulations, Mr. McGinney. You rule. General Schu. You suck. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.