MMA Fighting - BTL | Epic UFC 300 Reaction, Pereira Does It Again, Holloway's Viral KO, McGregor Return Official

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

UFC 300 over exceeded the lofty expectations, and when the dust settled on the epic UFC pay-per-view event, Alex Pereira knocked out Jamahal Hill in quick fashion to retain his light heavyweight title, before calling for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301 in less than three weeks. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses Pereira's sensational finish, if he should fight at heavyweight in Brazil next, who should be next for the title shot at 205, and where Hill goes from the loss. Additionally, they'll recap Max Holloway's history-shifting knockout of Justin Gaethje to win the BMF title, discuss the plethora of options in front of him, what's next for Gaethje, Zhang Weili's dominant win over Yan Xiaonan, other superlatives and storylines coming from Saturday's blockbuster card, Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler announced for UFC 303, Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier and Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa set for UFC 302, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Eric "New York Ric" Jackman. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Eric Jackman: @NewYorkRic Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Yes, it is another Tuesday edition of the program. Back to the usual time and day next week, but this week, we couldn't wait another two days to do this show and discuss the absolutely epic UFC 300 event that took place in Las Vegas this past weekend. Plus, some huge fights were announced. that have been somehow buried with everything that happened at UFC 300,

especially considering the names involved in these big fights. We're going to talk about that and much more. Let us get into this thing. Let us introduce the incredible panelists today. First, he's Mr. Hot Take, Mr. No Gray Area, the Cannibal Kid. And I'm adding a new nickname. He is the Baron of Boop from MMAFighting.com, Jedbushu. How we doing, buddy?

I love that one. Boop! He booped him, Mike. Three days later, and he still. booped him. This is best. I'm excited to be here because, you know, we had some time to digest. I don't feel any differently than I did Saturday. And it's awesome. It's just great that we get to talk. We get to keep talking about how fun this card was. I was waiting for one more boop to come out, but I'm sure you'll be saying it multiple times throughout this program. His opponent, the social

media guru himself, the future World Series of Poker Bracelet winner, and the man with the greatest themes of song and all of MMA, also from MMAFighting.com, the legendary New York Rick, back on the program. What is up, New York, Rick? I got to see it for a little while while we're out in Las Vegas. How are we doing, my man? Yeah, that was a nice little treat to get to see you out there. Fun and busy time and excited to be here to talk about UFC 300 and beyond. So yeah, glad to join you guys. It's a beautiful day here in New York City, but it's always a beautiful day when I'm hanging out with you guys. I love when New York Rick's on the show.

The positive vibes are just a plenty. Not that we really needed them because UFC through Henda was unbelievable. So let's get into it because Saturday delivered in a big way. The ultimate one of us cards, in my opinion, this is the best fight card top to bottom on paper in UFC history. It may have delivered honestly the best fight card top to bottom in execution in UFC history as well. But New York, I want to start with you because, as you know, We can be prisoners of the moment. We can suffer from recency bias.

It happens all the time in this crazy sport of ours. But we're three days removed from UFC 300. And we'll talk about some of the big moments specifically that happened throughout the show. How do you contextualize what this UFC 300 event was in the aftermath? Like when you're asked about UFC 300 a year from now, two years from now, hell, 10 years from now, how will you describe it? One of the most memorable nights in UFC history and just an example of, what the UFC can do if they are putting their full force into promoting something, if they are putting their full force into delivering something for the fans,

that nobody else in combat sports can, that nobody else in combat sports is capable of doing because of the resources that they have, because of the talent that they have, because of the momentum and marketing ability that they have, because of the presence that they have, because of the broadcast partners that they have, something that nobody else is capable of on their best night, the UFC can deliver stuff like this.

So that is how I will remember it and talk to people about it if asked down the line is this is the UFC at their best, at their absolute best at what is seemingly the peak of their powers. But who knows where we go from even here? And if their stock continues to rise. But this is what the UFC can do when they've got their chips all in in the middle of the table. Jed, how will you describe this one to, you know, when the grandkids come up to you and they say, Grandpa, Jed, tell me about UFC 300. What are you going to say to them? This is why we're fans.

This is why I devoted so much of my life, stuff like that, right? Because what Eric says, right, when the UFC is at their best when they are batting a thousand, it's as good as anybody's ever been. And this is the reason that you've become a fan and stay a fan. This is the reason that I'm still doing this despite 40, I guess not 40, 35 weeks of my year being bad apex cards that we cover, you know? It is for the moments like this, I've thought a lot about this event since Saturday, right?

And how much fun we had and the post show and how electric that was. And the fact of like, I think we would all agree easily the most work we've done all year. Like this fight, like last week was easily the hardest work of, a week of work this year from just an effort and output standpoint. And no one was upset about it at all because it was so fun. great. And I just got to thinking like, what if that's your first? What if that is your exposure to the UFC? Because there certainly were people who had maybe never checked out a UFC event before. What better way to come in? Like, how are you not hooked on this sport after what you got on Saturday

night? The UFC didn't put all its promotional heft into the marketing of this card. And that's probably a miss because anybody who was on the fence or was maybe coming back, they were previously fans, but they've been gone for a hot minute, but oh, it's just 300. It's a big event. Let me check in. It just had to have drawn you right back in. Too much awesome stuff happened on Saturday. And I hope that the UFC takes the lesson from that. And it's like, hey, we can do this little more. We don't have to blow it out this big all the time. But what if we do this every year? What if we have one tent pole of it every year that is is the marquee that is the WrestleMania moment that is the moment that gives fans something to talk

about not just for the week of fight and then it's on to the next one but for the months leading up to it and and frankly we're going to be talking about this for the next few weeks after this as well give us something year over year like this and we will love you forever so that's that's what I'm thinking that's the big takeaway I feel like especially with the next what four cards coming up three of them this this hangover from this event is going to be maybe the longest hangover we've ever had as a ufc fan because we're going to go into the apex next saturday at least we have a week off to like let this breathe a little bit and then it's

301 which you know on paper isn't spectacular but it'll still be kind of fun and then it's st louis and then it's back to the apex it appears and those cards aren't great and then once we get to june Things are going to start ramping up again. We'll talk about that a little bit later, but let's talk about the main event. Alex Pereira destroys Jamal Hill in the main event, Jed. One might say he booed him. He hit the leg kicks.

He'll show, he was. There it is. Boop. He showed the challenger, that is. He wasn't going to have his leg snapped in half after a leg kick. So we passed some tests. But then the moment with Herb Dean after the accidental kick to the ding ding. And then the fight was over pretty much right after that with the first.

clean punch Pereira landed in the fight. Saw some people say it was an early stoppage, which might be one of the worst takes I've ever seen. But regardless, Alex Pereira just continues to break the rankings. He continues to break the sport. And he does it again. How do we process all of this? 72 hours later, Alex Pereira is an anomaly,

the meme drop, everything about it. I didn't see anyone call it an early stoppage. I love those people. That's probably cross out there with this bad take city. because like all the only rebuttal you need is the photo the iconic photo of Pereira doing the and just look at look at Jamal Hill's eyes in that photo it is easy to find uh ain't no early stoppage bro and the way to process this is to not we don't need to some things in life are too pure for us to dissect them and and try and get to the scientific makeup we don't need it you

know if aliens came down we shouldn't lock them away in area of 51 to study their biology. Let's just look at how cool they are. And be like, man, this is awesome. What's marvel and its grandeur. That's what we need to do with Alex Breyer. I'm not here to tell you how to feel about it. I'm here just to share the experience with you because it is such a fascinating individual

in this sport. What he has done, the way he moves through it seemingly at a different pace than everyone else who has ever come before him is fascinating. And like he's not going to be the greatest fighter of all time. He's probably not going to defend the belt 30 times or whatever. And sadly, he's probably going to be gone way sooner than any of us would wish he would just because he is already older. But it's okay. It's all things are possible through Alex Paheta.

All things are possible through Poetan. And that's all that we need right now. It's just to watch him and believe. What do you think, New York, Rick? Alex Pereira. The man just doesn't make sense, but he continues to deliver. And he's just becoming a bigger star. more and more every time we see him.

The guy just knows how to do it and barely speaks English and he's just the most terrifying man in the world. Like he's just so terrifying. And he goes out and knocks out Jamal Hill literally at the first clean punch he lands and then everything, the pomp and circumstance behind it. What do you make of this?

72 hours later, the man goes in and just does the damn thing. Yeah, the term aura has been used a lot around Charles Alivera. I think it also applies to Alex Pereira. Like he just has the aura. He has it. it is, people are attracted to what Alex Pereira brings to the table. He doesn't say much, right? His, even his icon, his, his caricature is the Stonehenge, like, stone face. He's just, he's just a machine. He is somebody who came into the sport and knew he had to sprint,

right? He had a full career in kickboxing and realized that he needs to sprint. He needs to get to the Israel-Astanya fight, and the UFC was willing to help him get to that fight. And then from there, He's just looking to knock off accomplishment after accomplishment after accomplishment. He's already talking about heavyweight. I would not be surprised if he's fighting for a heavyweight title at some point relatively soon. Maybe it's not the next fight for Tom Aspinall or John Jones, but maybe it's two fights or three fights away. He is trying to accomplish every single thing that can be accomplished in MMA in the shortest possible time it can be done. Moment to moment pound for pound, fight for fight.

The dude's one of the most exciting and accomplished fighters we've ever seen. And I'm enjoying the ride. And not only that, like, you know, sometimes it can be, let's say Habib Nurmaghameda, right? Some fights were amazing. Some fights were technical dominance. You know with Alex Pereira, not only are you getting somebody who's going to compete in high-level title fights, but you know that every single time he's going to be planting his feet and trying to take somebody's head off. And most of the time, he does take somebody's head off, which is quite an incredible thing to be doing

at the highest possible levels. I'm a fan. I can't deny that I am a fan of Alex Pereira. I picked him for my fighter of the year last year. I thought his accomplishment to be able to come back from the Israel-A-Sanja Loss and then capture a belt in a second-weight class was incredible. I am ready to crown him again in 2024,

make it 2020-2020 and 2024. If you can keep this going, hell, maybe he adds the heavyweight title by the end of this. He's just special. And I think we need to enjoy this ride while happening because I don't think it's going to be a particularly long one, as Jed said. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose him relatively quickly. But I think in that time that we have him, he's going to accomplish a hell of a lot and

already has. After the win, New York, Rick, Alex Pereer calls to return a UFC 301 in Brazil, which is less than three weeks away now. Of course he does. Of course he does. At heavyweight, not a title defense. He wants to go up to heavyweight and do like the Anderson Silva James Urban thing where he just goes and fights a heavyweight.

And I don't know if he was calling out Tommy Aspinall, who seemed to like death stare him in one of the great photos taken throughout the night. But look, 301, we got Pantosia versus Erseg, which I actually think he's a fine fight, but it's not going to draw on any casual audience at all. We do have Josie Aldo coming back. And I think 301 in execution with the fights that we have, like, I think it'll be an enjoyable watch. But I don't think it's going to do great on pay-per-view or anything. And Pereira being on this card in any way, certainly will give it a boost because he is a star. and if you just throw them in there with any warm heavyweight body, it would be interesting to watch.

However, it doesn't appear that it's going to happen. He posted a video on a social media of him breaking his toe in preparation of the fight. Ariel Hawani just reported that it is highly unlikely, essentially, that Pereira fights on this card. So the question was initially going to be about do you just throw him on 301 against any random heavyweight? But since that's unlikely now, what is next for Alex Pereira? Do we give him Magameneke Goliath, who seems to be,

from a merit perspective, the number one contender? Do we go with Jed's large child in Yuri Parashka? What do we do here with Alex Pereira? Large adult son, Mike. Adults son, that's my medium adult son. I think you let Alex Pereira call a shot. I think at this point, like, he's earned the right for that because of how game he's been, because of him stepping in

with a broken toe to headline UFC 300 and deliver the main event that I think, you know, fans kind of hoped we would get, right? This didn't have the fanfare and kind of disappointed some people, but what was promised was a knockout and we got that. I think you'll let him call it. If he wants to, in some way, pursue heavyweight and really give it a go, I think you have to let him. If he wants to defend the light heavyweight title while he waits for kind of the heavyweight

picture to resolve itself, if it seems like it's going to be Tom Aspinall fighting somebody in Manchester and then Aspinall versus the winner of Jones and Steepay, and it takes a little bit. I think you let Alex defend that belt. If you want to let him side quest and fight Israel to Sanya again, you let him do that. I think it's Alex Pereira's world and you kind of have to let him call his shot. But make no mistake,

every fight that Alex Pereira is going to be in, all the options that are available to him are massive fights, are just massive, massive opportunities and fights that you know are going to sell well for the UFC. So you're not looking at any bad options. I ultimately think if I have to call it right now, he'll probably end up with a light heavyweight title defense. But I would not be shocked.

to see him fighting Israel to Sanan, nor would I be shocked to see him fighting at heavyweight. So it's Alex Pereira's world right now and we're just living in it. But if I'm wagering right now, if I'm putting the chips down, I think light heavyweight title defense. Jed, what is next? And let me ask you this. Is a man who is not a fan of guys jumping up and down fighting for titles, you like, let's just build title defenses? Is Alex Pereira sort of a unicorn in this conversation? if he said, hey, Tom Aspinall,

if you defend your title against Curtis Blades or wherever in Manchester and you come out of there, still with the belt. If he called for Tom Aspinall, would this upset you? Because we don't know how much time we have with Alex Pereira. He is just this anomaly. We have to enjoy him while we have him. You can do all the cool things he wants.

Does this change that conversation for you with a guy like Alex Pereira or do you just say, stay at 205 and don't do anything else? yeah no i don't want him to fight tom aspinall i'm just super not into that um if it happens that will be something cool and unique but the whole thing about the doing 301 is it doesn't eff anything else up because it's not like he's going to defend the light heavyweight title on three weeks notice because that's the thing he's not he's not calling for at least my interpretation because he was not specific in calling for tom aspirin it's not i want to fight a heavyweight because i want to fight heavyweight. It's, I want to fight at Rio and I don't want to do a weight cut in three weeks,

because I probably physically can't do that. So let me just take functionally an open weight fight in three weeks because I want to fight in Rio because I should be fighting in Rio. And so at that point, it could just be a light heavyweight who also doesn't have to cut at a heavyweight limit. Like that would also be fine. If I had my druthers, that would still be plan A, right? Like just just pick a dude and fight there. And that's okay because we get to have him on the hard and it's fun. And like we talked about the post show, it doesn't matter. I don't care who he fights. He just has to go boop people

man. Just whoever he can boop is fine. But if we're not doing that, if we're beyond the, here's the timeline for Rio, it's so fast and a quick turnaround, then no, you have a job to do. It's being a heavyweight champion. Do your job. Like, you haven't cleaned out the division. I've seen a lot of

and this is not just germane to Alex Pereira. People just really like to get caught up in the moment. And that's how we end up with champ champ fights that ruin everything. It's like, oh, it's a very exciting thing that happened immediately, and I don't have the ability to look more than four feet in front of me. Super don't want Alex Breyer to go fight Tom Aspinall for an interim belt because there are dudes he should fight at light heavyweight.

No one's going to be that sad if Magumann Ankleyev doesn't get the shot, but he deserves a shot, man. Like, let's do that. That's the fight that needs to happen at some point in time because he is the dude who deserves his day in court. against the guy holding the belt. Like it just is fair is fair. And I know that this, you know, we've gotten off track.

But remember at the beginning of the year, Mike, I said that 2024 was going to be the year where all the good, righteous things occur in the sport to make up for the nonsense that was 2023. If prayer is not going to get three weeks to do something cool, then his next fight just needs to be defending the belt. I would say Magerman Anglicave makes the most sense. But, you know, if you want to throw,

and Cleo Roundtree Jr. I'm not going to be upset. I'm not going to be upset by the Glory Killer getting his shot at the Glory N-Boss. So, you know, whichever way we want to go, but it's not heavyweight unless it's in three weeks. Like that's the only time we're doing heavyweight. Other than that, you got a job, defend your belt, and you put a couple defenses under and we can come back and talk about heavyweight. Before we move on to why everybody is here, I do want to talk about Jamal Hill real quick, Jed, because he did a great job during fight week, building interest and anticipation for this main event. That was a great fight by itself, but he was incredibly confident, even cocky, because

he essentially no-sold Alex Pereira, calling him an easy fight, saying that Alex Pereira beating Yuri Perhashka at MSG was the best thing that could have happened to him, etc. But as you know, and as we reacted to, people didn't immediately put this over as a UFC 300 quality main event. I thought Jamal Hill did a great job throughout the week. I thought he's one of the MVP's of Fight Week in order of, you know, in regards to building anticipation of this fight. And then the bell rings.

And Hill's game plan seemed quite strange, having a range kickboxing match with one of the best in the world at doing just that. I thought he was going to get shot out of a cannon, just go, just go for it, get or get got. That's not we saw here here. I don't know why the Boston just came out there. But he's made some comments after the fight reacting to the loss. And then he even called out your large adult son, Yuri Phrashka, for his next fight. Do you like this, Jed?

Where does Jamal Hill go from this knockout loss? How far away is he from getting back into this conversation for fighting for a world title? I just don't want us to lose sight of all the before, right? Because there's a lot of greasiness talked. And then, Mike, Boop That's what happened Jamal Hill is out here saying

I'm going to stand up and strike with this man and people are saying that that's crazy and stupid idea but y'all just don't know how good I am I'm not just better than him on the feet I am levels better than him on the feet boom boop boop boop I'm going to be posturing

and doing all this this nonsense I'm going to stand outside the cage and wait for him during his walkout because I am not afraid of this man and he's about to get what's coming to him. Just I'm disappointed. I can't say, maybe I'm not disappointed because I expected it.

But we talked on this program last week about Jamal Hill. And my whole thing was, dude, talk your shit, baby. I love that. I love that energy. Keep that energy all the way through. That energy has to stay the same after you get booked. It cannot be different. or else what are we doing here?

And to go from that to the callout. And the call out is a separate issue, but being like, you know, I dared to be great. And just dare to be, can we retire the phrase dare to be great? Who's daring to be mid? Who in the fight? Who in athletics is like, I'm daring to be mid out here, yo? No one is.

You're all daring to be great. You ate the L. wear it. Wear it, my brother. You do not need to come and be like, you know, I stepped up on short. noticed and fought through adversity and I dared to be great. What you did is lost. You talked a whole bunch of shit and you lost and you got to eat that whole can, man.

You just got to take it. And so I am not, I am not encouraged to give you a fight with my large adult son when you can't wear the loss like this. When you have a photo looking like you saw the demon himself standing over you after you got booed. No. If you would, if you just on him and like, hey, I talked a lot of shit and I got to wear this man like I I didn't back it up apparently strike it with him was not the best idea I've ever had and so so no instead I don't want to give you Yuri that fight makes sense for like the way a lot of people want to match make I don't both personally and I just hate matching up dudes coming off wins against guys who just like in this range because if if he'll does win where do we go hill still two fights away from a title fight against Pereira because is anyone clamoring for them to run that back

anytime soon. And if Yeri wins, I guess that just sets him back up, but that you can't have fights with one good outcome. That's just bad matchmaking, my opinion. So the callout makes sense. The way he went about the callout was infuriating, even if I knew it was coming. I don't know. Fight anyone, dude.

It's 205. Who cares? Just get in there and compete against some dude. You'll be back in the title pictures. They're like six good guys in his weight class. Derek, Rick, your thoughts on. Jamal Hill in the aftermath and his call-out of Yuri Perashko. Yeah, I'm willing to grant a little more grace than Jed in terms of the, you know,

shit talk before the fight and then, you know, making the excuses and things after. Like, that's just kind of the game. Like, everybody does it to the point that said is. I'm fine with the shit talk before the fight. I'm pro the shit talk before the fight. It's the excuses afterwards. It can go to hell. I'm fine with it.

That's okay. Make your excuses. this is the mentality, this is the ego, this is the fighter, what they do. They cannot accept that they were not, that they were not the better fighter, but just not better on that night. They always think they're going to have just not been better on that night. But if in reality, if we look at this objectively, the likelihood that if they ran that a bunch of times, Alex Pereira would knock them out seems relatively high based on that

performance. But yeah, I'm cool with it. I think Jamal Hill, I'll say this, I think Jamal Hill is handling it better publicly than I thought he might. I thought the excuses might have been a little bit different. So yeah, I'm fine with it. I think Jamal Hill will be right to Jed's point. This division's relatively weak and shallow.

If he is able to get matched up with a contender, it doesn't necessarily have to be Uri, although I'd be fine with that fight as well. If he's matched up with another contender, he'll likely be able to get back, to climb his way back to a title shot relatively quickly if he continues to stack up wins. So, yeah, I think this is just, you know,

kind of a thing where Jamal Hill came back against the guy that I think is a bad style matchup for him. And he'll be right back in the mix if he can pick up a win against his next opponent, which I'm fine with being Uri. But I think there's a lot of other options out there as well. He's been on the shelf for a bit. So there's time for him to find a good matchup. Eric, can I ask you one question? Sure. Hit me.

How can Jamal Hill or I'm sorry, how can Alex Breyer be a bad style matchup for Jamal Hill when Jamal Hill is level? better than him. Levels better. Can't be a bad style matchup. I'm going to call that. I'm going to call that initial statement into question is how I will respond to that. I'm going to call the levels above statement into question. And I think it needs a little bit of interrogation. And actually, I think the evidence is in. Saturday night, I think the evidence came in. And unfortunately, that was not true. I think I actually have the answer, guys. We need more evidence. So we need to run this back. media rematch for Jamal Hill. And let's see. Let us see if choosing to have a range kickboxing session where you back up and look super tentative the whole time against the great booper himself. Let's see if that works out.

You know, one time could be an anomaly. You know, we might need some more evidence in this situation. I think the dog agrees with you. The dog agrees with you. All right. Let's move on. Let's move on to what everybody wants. wants to talk about. That is, of course, Al Jermaine Sterling's big win over Calvin Cater.

Just joking. Point for round number one goes to the big booper, Jed Mishu. One to nothing. I mean, just brilliant use of the whiteboard and the word boop. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable stuff. Race the runners. Raise the sails. Raise the sales. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution? Reach sales performance. professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today.

Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new. new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting

all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. Look, I know why you're all here. You want to talk about this incredible moment that happened on Saturday night. No, it didn't happen in the main event or the co-main event. It happened in the feature bout for the BMF title.

Max Holloway becomes the BMF champion, defeats Justin Gaichie. This is a Max Holloway fight. He dominated pretty much most of it. Yes, Gachi was competitive. He had his moments. But at the end of the first round, spin kick lands. Justin Gaichie's nose is an absolute mess. He's bleeding all over the place.

Gachi has a nice fourth round. Round five Holloway cruising. Final 10 seconds. He waves Justin Gachi to the center of the cage. He points to the mat like he did at UFC 199 against Ricardo Lamas. They are swinging for the fences. Max Holloway lands the big right hand. Justin Gachie goes unconscious, face first onto the mat.

Max Holloway becomes the BMF champion in one of the most epic ways one can become, said BMF champion. So, Jed, I want to begin with you. How many times have you watched the last 10 seconds of that fight? And where does this rank all time moments off the top of your head? I don't think it's like the greatest knockout of all time, but in terms of like moments and what it meant and the reaction and where it will sit in the annals of history, where does this rank for you?

All right. Buckle up, kids. We're about to go on a Hanato and Morkano-like post-fight journey. And in that fashion, I'll just say, Rick, congratulations. You're going to win the round with some of the things I'm about to say here. I can't get a bonus. You're going to win the round.

First, I would just like to note, hey, Justin Gachey, his response. Up on Eminemfinning.com, great website. His statement, I'm a great experience with my family. Thanks for all the love. What a sport. Bless you a dog. Congrats. Well-deserved double bonus.

That's how you send a losing statement. Not I dared to be great. I'm the bestest. And I just all this adversity got. me and it wasn't the adversity of me choosing to get punched in the head. So take a lesson if you're a pro fighter out there. Here's how you eat an L because I got to tell you, he's got a better excuse. Like if Gathey wants to come out and be like, yeah, I ducked into the note like the kick

and then my whole game just kind of went up and smoke because my nose was shattered from the opening, you know, part of this fight. And maybe if that didn't happen, things would go different. Didn't. was just like, you know what, I lost. It was fun. I lost. I tried.

There we go. Two, I actually haven't watched this that much because I'm about to come on to the hottest corner I've ever cornered on. Oh my gosh. Here we go. I liked this way less than everyone else did. I mean, in the time, it is awesome. And to your point, I think this is one of the most iconic moments in UFC history already.

Like, this is a thing that will live forever. it won't be first on Max Holloway's obituary line just because he was a UFC champion and that will you know UFC Hall of Fame or UFC champion will be first but like this is probably the thing we will talk the most about when Max Holloway inevitably gets his damn you know but I this one feels a little to me like we are way to win the moment on it of like the amount of people like this is the greatest knockout in the history of the sport and this is the greatest thing I've ever seen. This was awesome.

And it came in a moment, but like, I don't know. Maybe it's just because I thought Max was going to win. So maybe that's why it's not connecting with me as much. The people who were like, Max has no chance and then pulls out that master class punctuated by this really, really cool end point. I was like, I just thought Max would win. And so I'm just like, oh, that was really dope and really, really awesome. But like, I'm already contemplating thinking Ilya's win over Alexander Volcanowski will get my vote for the best knockout of the year.

And I had arguments this week about this. People at our site was like, this is the greatest knockout of all time. And I'm just like, I don't think that it is that. And so, Rick, congratulations, you've won the round because I have said a thing that is going to infuriate a whole host of people watching and probably Mike himself. But this was an awesome chaos. Absolutely deserved the double bonus. I think this is the fight of the year. I think that moment we kind of maybe could have expected it because of who Max and who Justin are.

We wouldn't have expected it to end like that because we've never seen it before. But this is a thing I will remember for a long time. But it's just not to the it's not to this like hallowed levels that everyone is just immediately shot it to for me. This is the greatest thing I've ever seen. It's like that was dope. Whereas when I watch like say Yerry versus Glover immediate after I was like that's one of the best things I've ever witnessed in my life.

This was just a great punctuation to an awesome event. Yeah, I know. I know. Hold on. New York Creek, I got to say I'm a bit stunned. Because Jed is right. Like when we look back at the greatest knockouts of all time, this isn't that,

but just contextualizing the actual moment itself, it's just an awesome moment. It really is. Like if we break down every cool knockout that's ever happened and the stakes attached to them, there are others that are better than this. They just are.

But this was freaking cool as hell. And the way that this fight ended, Max is putting it all on the line, even though he was cruising to a win. He could have just danced around the cage and got the victory. But he gave Justin Gagee one last chance to come in there and swing for the fences.

And if Justin had done the same for Max, Max would have done it. And we would have had a same. similar kind of a moment, maybe not the iconic knockout that we got. But where does this? I mean, it's just so freaking cool New York, Rick. Like it was just a super cool moment. All the reactions around the world.

Watch party reaction was incredible. But I basically, what is your reaction to what Jed just had to say? That yeah, it's cool, but you guys are, it's being overblown by the MMA masses. My reaction is I respect Jed greatly. He's a worthy adversary when we do these things. He's daring to be great. right now. He's just daring to be great right now. He is taking that opportunity and daring to be great. But unfortunately, he's, he's come up short in this conversation. I'd actually like to start with

something you said, Mike, which is like, oh, if we look at this, it's not, it's not, you know, objectively one of the, one of the best knockouts ever. I'd actually disagree there. I think. Hold on, hold on. I didn't say it wasn't one of the best. I said it's not the best. Okay, fair enough. I think you actually did say that. But because. you kind of remove the stakes, right? Or you add in the stakes after the fact. I would say that the stakes are kind of essential, right? When I think about best knockouts of all time,

I think there's maybe like three key pillars. This is how I break them down. Stakes, right? Where is this on the card? Is this important? Is this the main event? Is the pressure ratcheted up to its highest level? Style, which is maybe probably better as a T,

but I'm maintaining this to keep them three S's. But like technicality, right? or even the lack of technicality. Like how crazy was this knockout versus how clean was this knockout? That's in that kind of style S. And then the final S is story. What's the story of this fight? You know, and we look at some of the top ones.

My top three at the moment, and I thought about this not very long, but just off the top of the dome after it happened, number one, Connor McGregor versus Jose Aldo had everything, right? If we're talking about the stakes, the highest possible stakes, If we're talking about the story of the fight, 13 seconds in icing a guy that everybody thought was unbeatable. And Connor McGregor, the kind of nobody really believed, hey, he's a manufactured product and go back at the time, that was the story. And then for the style, you know, somewhere in the 8 to 10 range, but for the stakes in the story, tens across the board. Then for this one, I have Max Holloway versus Justin Gachie.

The story of it, Max Holloway up in the fight, choosing to throw all that away and get into a slugfest with the the Homer Simpson of MMA in the final 10 seconds and actually icing him at the buzzer. Incredible story. Stakes, I gave it a 9, not quite a 10, BMF title fight, but what ostensibly was the main event of UFC 300 in the fight that most fans were looking most forward to and delivered and was going to be impossible to deliver and then delivered. So 9 for that. And then style maybe an 8 in the same range, just a clean punch or, or, you know, an overhand,

but not necessarily. The style is 10. I see, so here's where I'll show you what a 10 for style is in my book. Yaira versus, Yair versus Korean zombie. That's where I go 10 on style. Because of the uniqueness,

because of the uniqueness of the blow, story certainly also a 10, right? Last second, down in the fight, needed it. That's also a 10. But for stakes, that one takes a hit, right? It's just a regular fight night headliner. Neither guy was next in line for a title

or the most important fighter in that moment. So that's where that one takes a hit. But those are my three. And I think that the stakes in the story are so essential to that. So that's out of the way. I think it is one of the best knockouts

of all time. Currently, I've got a number two. Now, what I think is more important about what Max Holloway did is this was the culmination of what the BMF title was supposed to be. This is it. Max Holloway was actually probably

the BMF champion in waiting, probably the one who was holding the belt and just nobody knew that it was his belt already. The guy who stepped up on a week's notice and said, yeah, I'll fight Habib, I don't care. Now, at the time, Habib kind of chastised him or booked at him and said it was all for the money. I think now we have enough track record and enough history to realize that no, Max Holloway is just the most badass fighter we've ever had and the most game and the guy that you can always count on and rely on to absolutely just deliver insane fights and go out there and put volume on people that nobody has ever seen before.

And I think ultimately it is only down here for the BMF title and it should be retired and Max Holloway should be the final and only BMF champion that's ever mattered. And we just put that belt off and off to the side and into the sunset and just let him carry it around permanently. Because nothing will top that. Nothing will top that moment as far as BMF titles ever go. And it would be hard for me to imagine another moment this year potentially topping that. So yeah, I'm all in the it delivered the I was backstage in the media tend at T-Mobile arena. And you're not supposed to cheer in the press box. But and I will not say that people were cheering, but people lost their minds.

That's for damn sure. The reactions that that were generated from that moment by Max Holloway were ones that I have not seen in quite a bit. Maybe last time being when Alex Pereira got iced by Izzy, something quite that impactful and monumental. But yeah, tens across the board, Max Holloway's demand, the true BMF, the only BMF, the only I will recognize and it's up there. It's up there as far as moments of the year and moments of all time in UFC and MMA history. Yeah, I think it's a top. I think it's a top 10 knockout.

Go ahead, Jen. I think it's probably a top 10 knockout. Like I haven't done a list or whatever. But I think Eric subconsciously or like got to sort of my take on this because I, like, I'm not here to say it's a bad K.O. Not at all. I am suggesting. It is obviously awesome. But like, I do.

I do think Eric and I certainly have some differences in how we would approach this. Because to me, like the stakes of this fight, I guess I would just differentiate them a little bit. Because I don't know. Like at the point when he did it, I was like, oh, it's cool. It's dope the max is doing the point at the ground thing. I don't know if people have just decided to retcon their view of it or people legitimately were like concerned that this was risky. I was like, oh, yeah, that's cool. In the same way, we did it to Ricardo Lamas.

and it's like, yeah, nothing bad is going to happen. Gachi had just been getting the shit kicked out of him for 24 minutes. His nose was on the other side of his face and he was kind of stumbling around because he had gotten jawed earlier in that round. There was no threat to me. And I'm not saying Max only point at the ground because he knew there was no threat. Like Max would do it anyway. But I was like that that part, that angle of the story of like Max wrist at all. No, I don't think Max really risked anything because Gatji was.

dead on his feet. Max just did Max cool shit and that's cool, but there's no risk to it. And by a similar token, if Max doesn't pull that CO out, it doesn't really matter. He still wins the fight. Like he very clearly wins the fight,

even if he doesn't slant him. It is just awesome style points for finishing it in, in that way. And to me, kind of, I don't, like Rick didn't say this, but it sort of felt this energy from him

when he's saying, retire the BMF belt. Max Hollow is the only BMF that has ever existed that I will ever recognize. This is just people finding a way to categorize their love for Max Holloway. And that's not a problem. Max Holloway is one of the very few fighters that should be universally loved, who is awesome and has done nothing bad basically ever. But it feels like a lot of people just took this to be like,

we need to fete Max Holloway to an extent that feels appropriate. for him because he hasn't been a champion. He is not going to be one of the greatest fighters of all time in title defenses, etc. Because Volcanovsky took that from him because these things. And so he is the greatest BMF and this is the greatest knockout. And it's just the best because they love him so much and they want this to be associated with someone that they are so connected to.

And I just think when cooler heads prevail in a few months, a few years, we'll look back and say, yeah, it's an unbelievable chaos. greatest chaos have ever seen. It's not the greatest chaos. It's not, we were maybe a little too high on it because of the moment and our love for this individual. But, you know, in the cooler light of day, uh, Yair Rodriguez hit a backwards up elbow on a dude who had beat the shit out of him for 24 minutes and 54 seconds to pull a victory,

the most improbable chaos of all time out of his ass. Leon Edwards headkick Kamar Usman and has the sickest edit of all time. Like there are just things that it rate more highly in the grand tapestry of this sport. And this is now among those things. But we don't have to be so quick to be like, I never, this is the end of all things. Retire the BMF belt. He is the only one who matters. No, we do. We do have to say that. And we will retire this belt. And that is the only one that matters. And you actually kind of like defeated your own point a little bit. Before we get to that, before we get to that, let me just say one thing. You mentioned this kind of like rec conning of the idea that Max was taking no risk and he's

just waiting in there and he's going to be fine ultimately and then cited two knockouts where Leon Edwards was getting his ass beat by Kamar Usman and pulled off the knockout and Yairo Rodriguez getting his ass beat. And right, but the point is that- In the MMA history, if you legitimately gave me a piece to rebar, I couldn't knock that dude out. I don't think half-cons is Justin Gage. She's doing it either. Yeah, you wouldn't think that. But ultimately, you also wouldn't think Yaya Rodriguez's. is going to land the up elbow, nor would you think that Leon Edwards, after getting dominated, is going to land a headkick on Kamara Usman.

But those things happen. And thus, Max Holloway deciding against Arnold Allen and against Ricardo Lamas and against Justin Gaichi, to take that risk is a risk. Whether you're acknowledging like, you've just said he's 100% in success. So it's not a risk if your success rate is 100%. It is, it is until it's not, right? The hindsight is benefiting you greatly. If Justin Gaichi colded him, then we're going, oh, well, that was stupid.

and you're you're you're utilizing that but I don't but you're glorifying two knockouts you're saying two knockouts where somebody did that you're glorifying them when I'm saying the guy who's taking the risk while up deserves some measure of credit and I think that that's where we I'll be real clear I'm not taking credit away that is a dope thing to do it is just I feel like

that is the bullet point everyone is leading the charge with is oh my God how balls of him to risk it all where I was like, oh my God, that's just cool. I don't think he's risk. It's cool. It's cool and it's risky and it's ballsy and he did it. And yeah, so Max Holloway is the BMF. But yes, I'm open to your question.

Why do you want to get rid of it? Because to me, I'm open to the idea that like, Tori Mossfaw was never the real BMF, whatever that means anyway. I'm at least open to the idea that Max Holloway sort of bout that life. I also think Justin Gachie is pretty clearly also deserving of holding that belt in a way. But like this feels like the impetus to not keep it, but to go in on it. Not to be like, hey, we'll never do this again. It's like, oh, here's momentum.

Here's a real thing. And a dude who legitimizes this in a significant way. Instead of saying he legitimizes it to such an extent that we should just discontinue it. It's like, no, this should be the guy who carries this and helps make this a thing beyond a like just a transparent promotional boost because we need more than 11 champions. The answer to that is you kind of talked it out in real time is what you said in the beginning,

which is like it would a trinket. And then at the end, which is that it's a trinket, it will continue to be a trinket. It will go back to being a trinket after this. And ultimately he legitimized it, but only for one night. Because who's going to be in the next BMF title fight

and what will happen in that title fight that will ultimately give it, additional shine, right? I don't understand. The passing of championship belts, right? There's opportunities for people to create greatness, to sometimes the belt is with somebody who doesn't do that, right? Sometimes, but then the next opportunity, they do.

This will not be topped. There will be no. There will be no additional moments better than this. This is the moment. This is the one where you say, we did it, folks. We handed it to the right guy in the right moment, against the right opponent, in the biggest card that we've had.

We did it. Good job. And now we look for something else. Hell, now take it over to the women and not do it anywhere near the men ever again. Take it over to the women and do what everybody's kind of been talking about and bandying about and asking about and just let them have it. It's theirs now. Take it. All of that's insane, Rick. Like you just sat here and told us that Max Holloway is awesome because he is because we all agree. So his next fight won't, it won't be a trinket because he has it. It is his. And if someone take it, it from him, then they won't, it won't be a trinket because they took it. They earned it from him. If they did a BMF, Max Holloway versus Charles Olivera, and Olivera hits a Peruvian necktide, a tap freaking Max Holloway for the first time ever, that it's not. And then you're also going to be here and be like, if, if Justin Gates you knocked him out, I can live in this world of this there, but there are no ifs where something cooler than what Max did could ever happen. So we don't take that possibility out. That's,

That is a ridiculous statement to me. I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll keep it. Something cool will happen. I'll place the wager. We can, we can run it long term gambling.

Oh, will it mean you. It won't happen. Literally nothing cooler in the sport of MMA will happen than Max Holloway's K-O on Saturday. Not at the time that they go, this title is on the line. No,

it won't. It won't. Randomly, sure. You're, but no. You will be 100% right if they discontinue it and never put the title on the line again. but just law of large numbers man you get a bunch of the most exciting people ever to fight over something

cool shit's going to happen and it doesn't even matter if it tops it when when the apex of sports happens we don't go that's it we're done the patriots overcame 28 to 3 football is over now because no comeback will ever succeed you just go cool that's a high watermark and now other dope shit can also join the conversation afterwards. Like, I am, I absolutely understand that I'm on an island with my position on this K.O. and where it stands historically, et cetera. I think your take that we should discontinue this belt at the height of its awesomeness is equally as insane as my take.

Yeah. The difference between the scenario that you're suggesting are that there are additional stakes, right? Like, those are actual games part of a season. this is a one-off thing that has been created that was a trinket and now will be a trinket again. There is no additional energy that needs to be invested into it. The NFL is not going to, the reason that there's a championship is because the NFL is producing their season and ultimately there's a winner at the end. The BMF title is arbitrarily selected and to this point has not reached these heights and

will not reach these heights again. And you're saying there's a chance that there will. That's great. I don't believe it, but that's great. I mean, I'm open to the idea. And ultimately, I think they will keep that title around. Does it need to reach these heights? Can it not be worth it to even just be cool?

Like a thing that is also cool? No, because what we're running into now is the number of times that it's ultimately not going to be a cool result, where it's just going to be, okay, like the first BMF title fight, where stopping Nate Diaz via cut was okay, fine. It's, it is falling short of the high mark that Max Holloway has set with this moment. and Justin Gachy to his credit. And yeah, I don't think we need it anymore. We had it.

It reached its perfect conclusion. And now we no longer need it. And next, when we get a BMF title fight, and Islam Makachev takes down Max Holloway four times, it's going to fall short. You said yourself, you said yourself that it's arbitrary. Islam doesn't get it. This is our bell, Rick.

We get to own what we want to do. Islam doesn't get it in the same way that Kamar Usman never got it, even though we probably could have given it to him for a blizzard. alliterating Jorge in the rematch. Yeah. Like, no. But, like, I'm, I know that this fight won't happen. It is actually the fight I would book if I had the power of options.

Like, Charles Oliver versus Max Holloway. You're telling me that for the BMF belt wouldn't be insane and also have something. It'd be great. It'd be great. If the ending ends up falling short, I would have been okay if that belt didn't exist. I would be okay with it, with it going out of business at its absolute apex. Not unnecessary belt. It wasn't necessarily

Jed. I just say this is ridiculous things. So the question for Max Holloway is if you had the pencil, you would do Max Holloway versus Charles Olivera for the BMF belt. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, that was absolutely what I do. And I also would just say that if we got rid of everything

when it's at its apex, we don't get Robbie Lawler's retirement moment. Like we don't get things like that because they all just quit at the peak as opposed to just letting things be and seeing what happens because we don't know the future and cool shit can happen at any point in time. But yes, to your question, Mike, that is the fight I would book. I do not believe that it is the fight that will happen. It's the fight I would absolutely go with.

Sounds like a great fight. Love it. Don't need a BMF title attached to it. Awesome fight. Love that fight. Book it. BMF title retired. So, Rick.

How would you? How would you book back to the fighters? Rick, is Rick anti-fighters? Can we ask the question? the champion doesn't mean Charles Olivera he's a champion in my heart in my heart he doesn't want max to get the championship bump okay no manx got the 600 he's good he'll be all right yeah i think max can be okay for a for a hot minute after what he did on saturday but uh nevertheless rick how would you book max holloway here because you know there's another option Charles olivera we

get toporia we got islam and or dustin we got Connor which you know he just did an interview with a local media outlet in Hawaii getting off the airplane saying that Connor would be my first choice, but I think I'm going to get Ilya. If you were booking this in any scenario is possible, how would you do it? Shout out to my guy, Robbed Mello

out at K-H-O-N in Hawaii. He's the one who got that interview. He's the man. Love that dude. Ilya versus Max Holloway. The fight I always wanted to see, the fight I wanted to see booked before even the Volcanovsky fight.

It's just the fight. I love that fight with all my being. I think it's the perfect fight. The only concern I would have is Max look damn good at 55. His body looks transformed and now he's going to have to go back down. But ultimately, unless it's a fight, Charles Alvara is a good one, but I don't ultimately think that that's Max Holloway's ambition. I think he'd be looking more for Connor McGregor or a title opportunity. If those options are not available, it's got to be Ilya. And if Max is committed to going to 145 and maybe 55 was just a departure like it was last time.

Ilya versus Max Holloway is the best that we've got in MMA. So absolutely, that's the fight. Ilya, Max Holloway, wherever, Spain, hell, I know Dana White shot down the Hawaii idea, figure it out. There's a place that this can happen, that it can be the biggest thing in MMA. So, Ilya versus Max Holloway, book it. All right. Now, before we move on, Rick, Justin Gaichi, had his moments in the fight, competitive in

stages. Toughest shit as always. But this is a pretty one-sided loss for Justin Gagee. And the knock-o is absolutely brutal. Where does he go from here? Because he put a lot on the line in this fight and you have to think with all the names vying for the top of the 155 pound division, the toughest division in sports

and all the names now who are in front of him, he's got some work to do to get back in the title hunt. So what now, New York, Rick, outside of, take some time off and get better? Yeah, certainly rest. a fight like that is one that you just need time, right?

You need time and opportunity to recover from. I certainly feel for Justin Gachie because it seemed like he had the title shot secured. It seemed like it was all in front of them. And then he took this fight and took a risk. And Max Holloway kind of put him back further in the line. And to the point that Armin Sarukian is getting offered the title shot and then Dustin Porre,

after Sarukian turns it down, is getting offered the title shot. It will take something for Justin Gaci to get back here. but I do think there's probably some cachet. There's probably some goodwill that he earned by taking this opportunity and delivering in this fight that everybody got excited about. If you go back in time, the sentiment around UFC 300 was that it was desperately lacking at that time. And it looked like we were in for Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad. And the tide completely turned as soon as we got Justin Gichi versus Max Holloway.

And I think both of those guys earned a lot of goodwill and good sentiment with the UFC. So I wouldn't be surprised if Justin Gachi is in a nice number, one contender or at least, you know, maybe two away at most and able to climb back to a potential title opportunity. The question for me is, does Justin Gates you want to do that, right? The path has been hard and it seemed like it was in front of him just now and then he lost that opportunity. Is he going to be willing to climb back? Is a question that I would ask him and the question that is most burning on my mind? If he is, I don't think he's super far away. I don't think it knocks him too far down. UFC's rankings came out. Our rankings come out.

came out, Justin Gitchie is still a top contender. So there's an opportunity where you can put him in a fight or two, and he's right back in that title picture. And who knows who the champion is going to be at that time. Could be somebody like Dustin Porre. It's going to be in the podcast. I would certainly agree with you, but if Dustin can pull up a major upset

and the betting odds are not in his favor at the moment, if Dustin can pull off a major upset, Justin Gachie has the most recent win over him. So there's an interesting kind of dynamic there. So yeah, Justin, Justin Gagey stock does not take a hit, certainly in terms of being a BMF as well. I think Jed was right there that he was a worthy holder of that title, which should now be retired with Max Holloway.

And Justin Gachie is back on that track. But does Justin Gachie, after all these wars and somebody who has for many, many years, not just recently, but many, many years, telegraphed that he is not in this sport for a long time and not looking to get himself hurt over the long run, does he want to climb this mountain again? I think that's a legitimate question. and will only know when he speaks in detail after it. But if he is, if he is willing to take that climb back,

I don't think he's very far away at all. Jed, what say you? I also just want to say, I agree that Ilya versus Max is super fun. The reason I'm not booking is I don't think it's going to happen. I think folks just going to get that shot. And two, I actually kind of don't know if I want to see Max go to 145 again. He looks so good at lightweight.

Like you just beat one of the three. top five dudes, top three dude or whatever, like that fight would be great, but I just want to see him do cool things lightweight now. As for Gaichi, he has two options as I see it. One, he can accept the overwhelming reality that he is likely never going to fight for a belt again and be okay with that and then pursue things that are enjoyable and fun. Or he can do the opposite and think maybe if I get lucky I can get back there. I do think that's It's really unlikely. But if the ladders is playing, you just got to try and fight Benile Daryush or somebody.

Like somebody who's a top guy, you have to get a win over a dude who's top 10 and then hope that somebody can't make a date or whatever and you can slide into a title shot. Because I don't think you're winning enough to get back there. It's just not really going to happen in the way this shakes out for you. I suspect he will probably split the middle and try to fight Charles Oliver. I know he wants that rematch. No one will be upset about watching that fight. But if he loses, that puts him in jail. And so he's got to win it.

But my guess is long layoff. And then he and Charles Oliveira run it back. I think that's probably where we're going to end up being with those two dudes. Which then also kind of sucks because, like, they're cool young lightweights. I'd like them to get an opportunity to rise up. But that's not going to happen if the old dudes just keep fighting each other. and then I didn't even factor in the like the Connor McGregor fight is still out there

it's still a possibility for Gae and that would make me very happy if nothing else. Jedd you don't feel like with a win over Charles he's close to that title shot if you know obviously you know it doesn't sound like it would secure it but you don't think he's close after that no just because there's so many other dudes in front of him at the moment

like close is relative right I guess like if he gets beat Solavera but then who does he fight after he beats Oliver? The only thing I would present as evidence, the only thing I would present as a potential counter, and it's not rock solid by any means as like, yes, this is why. But it seemed like that was the case for Justin Gachy, right? He was the guy.

And then circ- No, Justin Gachy. Justin Gachy was the frontrunner for this title opportunity, and then circumstances happen, right? And all of a sudden, now he's actually at the back of the line. It just moves so quick. I feel like if his last victory can be, sorry, if his last victory can be a win,

over Charles Olivera, there's some scenario where maybe he gets into that opportunity, especially maybe if Dustin wins against Islam. I know we're both not counting on that happening. But I don't know. I feel like he can get a title shot. I don't, I'm not sure. I don't think it's any guarantee by any means. But I think he's in that mix enough that like it could happen.

Well, that's where I said, like you got to get a win over a top guy and hope because the only path is to beat Oliver and then hope that something like would happen before you. happens and that's hope isn't a game plan. That's just not it's not a path to replicable success. But it because if he beats him, then he's still going to have to fight somebody else. And then maybe, but he's also 35.

And coming off, by the way, we didn't really mention this, just getting slept like real hard after getting the shit kicked out of him for a long time. So like what does he even look like after this? It's hard to kind of forecast what his future would be.

I think it's just going to be Olivera, and then after Olavera, see where it's at. Like, see if, okay, if I win, now let's see where the lay of the land is and move forward from there. If I lose, it might be retirement time, which sucks, because we should hope for 30 more Gaichi fights before he leaves.

Well, we can kind of just do the bracket. So, like, certainly, Dustin Porier beats us on Mockachev. Connor McGregor beats Michael Chandler, Connor McGregor versus Dustin Poree for the title. And then Justin Gator wins. He's fighting for a belt. Maybe it's Walter Wade. It's lightweight.

Connor Beets Chandler, he's fighting for a belt. Whoever has it. Lightweight still, I mean, I know there's those bantamweight guys out there. It's always lightweight and it always has been light. Always. It's always lightweight. It's always a conversation. This is not a conversation because a lot of people at this site.

People have wrong to have that conversation. And they're so wrong. They could not be more wrong. But we will move on. I do want to shout out Zhang Wei Li. and Jan Jaunan. That fight was really good. I actually rewatched it Sunday morning.

I know. I rewatched Sunday morning. Everyone just forgot about them. They had a great fight. Everyone just forgets about them. Tough scenes. Yeah. Just put it on by itself in Denver during my layover back home and just watched it not after

one of the most insane moments in the history of the sport. And it was really good fight. So shout out to both of those. Shout out to John Weiley for the defense. But we're just. not going to have time to give it the shine that it so deserves. But we'll move on. Point for round two goes to...

My widely bet inside the distance was robbed from me, and I'm never going to be over that. It's true. I'm sorry, Jeff. She was out. She was unconscious. That's a submission. That's a submission.

Absolutely absurd. The point goes to. Give it to Rick. I already, I forfeited the round at the very beginning. I know. Yeah, it's New York, Rick. If he didn't forfeit, he still wins. No one.

I appreciate I know what I was doing. Yes, you sure did. So a whole host of other things happen on this card. It was just so damn good. We're going to play a little fun game of high school yearbook superlatives

on today's program. I gave these two gentlemen some homework to create some superlative awards for fighters who competed on UFC 300 outside of the top three fights. One did it like you're supposed to. One is going to do it on the fly. You can try to figure out who is who.

Okay. But we'll try to get a couple of these. New York, Rick, we'll start with you. Lots of options here. What is your first, I guess, low-key UFC 300 superlative you would like to award and why? I don't know if it's low-key, but most likely to be a samurai, goes to Yuri Prohaska.

He's not a samurai. He read a book. He read a book, according to Alexander Rackich. most likely to be a samurai. Like, I know he's not going to say he's a samurai, but he's a samurai. Like, he's done everything to deflect away from being a samurai and saying, like, well, I'm not actually a samurai.

What I do is I follow the tenants of being a samurai, which I guess would just make you a samurai. So most likely to be a samurai, I'm not going to weigh in on whether he is, he isn't, but if we're giving out the yearbook superlatives, most likely to be a samurai, Yuri Prohask. I think that one kind of speaks for itself. It's a good one.

Good start. Jed, what is your first superlative? This actually works out well because my superlative was actually most samurai spirit, you know, because for all the exact same reasons. Even though I actually don't, I think Alexander Rockich was right. Yiddharajka isn't a samurai. He's a barbarian. He's a Viking.

I know that that's not the sort of ethos he espouses. But when I think of samurai, I do not think of what I saw on Saturday. I do not think of a man dismissing another human being's offense for five minutes and then just going psycho mode on him in the second round. Because we talked about in the post show and it was like, Alexander Rackich is just like a poor simple fool who's out here thinking that the way to win fights is by being a technically proficient, well-rounded fighter who makes good choices in the cage. And that's not the way you win fights.

You win fights, but being a crazy person. If you can't be a hoss, be a psycho. Those are the two strongest styles in MMA. And guess what? Yeri is a samurai in psycho. He is unbelievably good at it. And Rackich was tuning him up for five minutes, just beating him Pillarder Post.

And Yerre just didn't care. He didn't care at all. And the second round comes out, and he's like, I'm going to care even less. And Rackich simply couldn't handle a crazy man swinging axes at him as a hard as he can. And he crumbled under it. And so he's wrong because, you know, fundamentally,

Alexander Rockich is wrong and we all want to support Yiri the samurai. But he's also right because I really do think he's more of a Viking than a samurai in the way he gets down, you know, with his business. Maybe not on the rest of his approach to life, but in the way that he actually combats human beings, much more vikinger. I love it. Chad, you lead us off around number two, award number two, who you got and why? So I opted to try and stick as close to actual superlatives as I could, and we're giving the Class Clown Award.

I guess technically this award's going to go to Holly Home, but mostly it's going to go to all of you idiots who thought Holly Home was going to stick and move and jab. And you played yourself. The joke is on you. If you thought Holly Home was not. going to clinch with a two-time Olympic jodoka, you don't know a goddamn thing. Because why not? Like Jamal Hill in the main event, if you have the opportunity to strike with a world-class striker, you should do it.

And if you have the opportunity to clinch Kayla Harrison, you should definitely go for it. So a hilarious bit of fighting to watch Hollyholm immediately clinch Kayla Harrison and the outcomes that you would have expected with her making that tactical decision. New York, what is your second superlative? I'll do a similarly by the textbook kind of yearbook superlative best dressed Charles Olivera every single time. The man is just next level. When it goes all set and done, when it all goes down at the end,

Charles Olivera is going to be the best dressed guy in UFC history, MMA history, maybe human history, the aura is off the charts the swag is off the charts he's just God mode with the outfits that he's choosing and just brings it every single week best dressed every single time

nobody else is even in the conversation at this point he's in a class of his own best dressed Charles Oliver Are we just talking UFC fighters because Francis and Ghanu man has some good fits Yeah he's got some fits but it ain't Charles unfortunately

I mean like their second place fantastic, maybe Connor McGregor somewhere else in there. Number one, Charles Alibera. The best dressed has a name. His name is Charles Alvara. Connor's not all dressed. There's some suits that he pulls off with a plumb. In his early career he had some, but now it's all like way ostentatious nonsense.

Yeah, I was thinking more retro. But yeah, best dress. It's a good one. Anybody else come up with the third? I've got a few. I have best dressed as well. but I didn't go Charles Oliver because in my head I didn't do main card. I think I misread the prompts.

And I was just doing Aljo because his fit at the post fight was like the only interesting postpresser fit. Like everyone else just came shirtless. Whereas he's another well-dressed man. But Aljo had like at least a fun jacket. Yeah, Aljo is another well-dressed. My last one here for you, you know I had to do it. It's the best swerve. And who the hell saw Davidson Figueroz submitting Cody Garbrand?

Who had that on their bingo card for 2024? Because not me. For four years, I've been asking for them to throw hooks at each other. And I didn't even get the thing I wanted, Mike. UC300 was disappointment right from the very beginning because the thing I wanted the most didn't happen. And sure, Figurato still won, and that's all good and stuff for him, I guess. But he didn't win in the fashion that we were all anticipating.

and hoping for. And so he swerved me. They swerved me and I wasn't ready for it. And it got me off kilter to start the evening. And then that's all I got. It's the best swerve of 2024 as far as I'm concerned. You're correct. Give me your best one that you have left.

I'll rattle them off rapid fire. No, uh, no explanation. I love it. Least likely to stand for disrespect, Arm and Sarukian. Least likely to ever get the respect they deserve. of Al Jemaine Sterling. Most likely to be a UFC champion this summer, Kayla Harrison.

Most likely to start a crypto conversation in the Uber, Hanato Moikano. And then this one specifically for Jed, most likely to fight Mavsar Evloev, Diego Lopez. Are we doing it? This is time to, can we just do this here?

I don't get it, guys. I don't, I got to, I need someone to explain to me what's going on with Diego Lopez and where I'm missing it. because they've had multiple conversations with people at our site. Rick being one of them.

It's like Diego Lopez, because when Diego Lopez called out Mavisovov was like, that was an awful, awful post fight. This is a really bad call out. You're never going to get that. And everyone's like, why? I think that that fight will happen. Why?

Someone explained to me why Mavovov would ever accept that fight. He already beat him. Granted, the circumstances were different, but he's like, I don't know, in the title conversation, at least. why would he fight backwards? Let me pull up the UFC rankings right now. See where Diego Lopez is ranked.

While you do that, I'll answer. Yeah, let me answer the question for you. I have the answer for you. There's two things that are important to consider here. Number one, Diego Lopez is the favorite son right now. Like Dana White loves him. The fans love him. He's just got something right now.

There's a momentum behind him. Given every opportunity, he's kind of stepped up and looked fantastic, including against Mobsar, who on short notice, gave him a real tough fight who I think most people think mobstar is pretty damn good. So that's one. And number two is after Movstar's next fight, Dana White pretty much just buried him and destroyed him and eliminated any leverage he'd possibly have toward choosing his own destiny and guiding who he's going to fight next. The UFC is going to present him an option. And it may be Diego Lopez. I hope it is because I want to see that fight and that would be fun.

And he's going to have to either take it or wait for them to give him a similar not exciting option because he is not getting somebody at the top of that weight class and then moving into title contention anytime soon based on that last performance. A solid win, but Dana White made it very clear what they think about him as a viable title contender. Yeah, I don't, I don't think Dana even knew who Mobsar of Leav was. I think he confused that fight with something else. I will say that. And what's crazy about that as well, what's crazy about about that as well is if Alexander Volkanowski had beaten Ilya Mavsar Volev would be fighting for the title like

100% he would be fighting Alexander Volkanowski for the featherway title because there's nobody else there he already beat everybody else he thumped up everybody else there's nobody else for him to fight after the BMF they might have run max back for a fourth row like they might have yeah I don't think that's a guarantee maybe uh maybe um yeah please on the Eveolev Lopez stuff because it's like It was like, I love that fight. It's like, I don't, one, if you ever watch

him off star, I've loved a fight, why? Like, why does anyone want to see that fight? It'll probably honestly go not that dissimilar to the first one. But more importantly, it's just like, this is so clear cut. Brian Ortega just got a big win. He's actually not in the title picture just because of what's going on at Featherweight.

Ortega and Evela fight for a title eliminator and Lopez fights, Ye'Ir Rodriguez in the sphere or Honored Alon Allen and Manchester. Either of those elevate him, like, get him a big shot up and then maybe have Luev's after that but it's just like I don't other than Lopez wanting it for ego I don't understand why anyone wants that fight to occur when there are just way cooler other things to do and extrapolating that point I don't know why the UFC would want to book that fight I don't know what that gets them other than to throw a bone to their favorite son but also

there have a whole other array of bones to throw and you could do any number of other things with Mobs or Evelwev. Like, Al Jarmine Starling. Like, there's just, I don't. There's just. Sterling versus Ortega, Evela versus Lopez. Sterling versus Ortega, Avloa versus Lopez.

That is, you just made, instead of making one bad fight, you made two. Good work. Like, those are two awful fights to watch instead of just one. Like, where we do? Like, I just, I don't, I, again, this feels like people are just, deeply high on Diego Lopez and they won't give him everything he ever wanted for.

If he was asking for a pony, they'd be like, here, take all the ponies. You can have them. It's like, no, you don't get to you're into pony. No, why? He deserves it? Yes, he beats Seneke Yusuf. Absolutely, 100%. Who are the other two dudes he beat in the UFC?

It's not like he's been helping guys and demands of top of all. He deserves the pony. He deserves the pony. He deserves a pony. Oh, deserves a pony. Well, that's fair. I accept that. He has earned a pony.

He deserves a shot at Mofsoref, love. like we can all agree no one likes Mavsar but like he's been doing the day Mavsar deserves to not have to fight 10 spots back no he's gonna fight Al Javier Lopes is gonna fight Jazeel Lopaz

is gonna fight Josh Emmett and that fight rules that's a great fight that's a fun fight that's a fun fight we don't need to we don't need to split up Mavsor I've lived in Al Jemaine Sterling

if we can help it because we gotta minimize bad fights and if you split them up than there are more bad fights in the ecosystem. Well, look, the ecosystem has some big fights coming up. Al Jemaine Sterling is not as bad as people are trying to make it out to be. I don't mind.

Aljo's gotten a little annoying lately, but I was never a hater of his title run. That fight was bad. I don't think we need to dwell on it. But it probably was miserable. No, this most recent fight was not super exciting. I would, the only thing I would say, just to add to that is like Calvin Cater really wasn't doing much.

Like some of that's on Aljo and some of that's on Calvin Cater who just had nothing, zero. But yeah, come on. No, Aljo and Ortega, I think has potential. That could be fun. I think you're pre, I think you're presupposing that one's a dud. I think that will be fun. When it happens. When you're talking about one of my least favorite fighters fighting a guy who has not been

particularly fun to watch for some time. And Lopez versus. Maasar is going to be great. It's going to be perfect. At the ape. I mean at the sphere, Maasar versus at the apex. It could be an apex headliner.

Why not? It's time. Diego Lopez is time. All right. Well, let's move on. There are some big fights that are in the ecosystem, and we're going to discuss them. Point for round three goes to.

Well, I disagree with a lot of what New Yorker had to say. He did his homework perfectly. So he gets the point. It's two to one. He did do it. He did do it. He almost lost it with the booking of the featherweight division, but I would digress.

Let's move on to some fights that are officially official guys at the press conference on Saturday. This is fun. Don't book him against people who aren't fun. That seems bad. Mavzar is going to get his chance. He's going to be a featherweight champion. You mark my words. But that's another conversation for another time.

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is customized to your personal style, so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season and find gifts and inspiration to suit your holiday style at Sacks Fifth Avenue. We have some fights booked for June, everybody. Look, we have to get through May. It is going to be a slog to get through May, especially after falling UFC 300. But June is going to kick off at a big way. June 1st, UFC 302. We have a main event.

It's Zizl-Machachef defending the lightweight title against Dustin Porier. We also find out the co-main event for that card. five rounds at 185 pounds between Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa. And then in just a mere mention on a piece of paper that was handed to Dana White during the press conference, June 29th, it is official for UFC 303, Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler, the longest build in tough coach fight history will take place June 29th. Jed, I'll begin with you here. Of those three fights, obviously Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler is going to be the biggest

fight of all of them. But of those announcements, which one sticks out the most to you personally? Oddly, none of them really stuck out that much because they were just all things we thought were happening. It was just here it is. And so I guess by those parameters, the answer is going to be McGregor Chandler because we'd all heard the rumors. I think we might have even pre-written that story because we sort of knew this was coming. We just had trouble nailing down the specifics on it. and like when it would come together and then it all kind of finally did. But that's got to be the thing

that jumps out the most because everyone knew 300 was a determiner for Mokachev. All right, is somebody going to get a really quick win and just be able to turn around and fight is a Mokachev at a UFC 302? Like is that going to be an option? And then obviously you watch the fights and nope,

none of the dudes, none of the dudes in the weight range you fought on that night. really viable for that sort of a turnaround against the best fighter on planet Earth right now. And so we all kind of knew, all, they're probably going to get announced as soon as the event's over. They're probably already told Dustin, hey, it's likely years. We're just doting all the eyes crossed on the T's or whatever. The Connor one is the one that, yeah, we all wanted it to be. We all kind of thought, okay, here the momentum is going.

But the momentum was also going for Connor at 300. The momentum was going for Connor in December, in January, in last. fall. We have just had so many false starts, so many pump fakes on McGregor Chandler that even though this fight, I don't know to whom, like, if people are really attached to it so much as they're just attached to Connor, it is still, it's going to be the biggest fight of the year. And so that is the thing that demands the attention because like him or hate him, when Connor fights, people notice, people are going to stand up. And we have been without Connor in our sport for two years. And so there is nothing quite like a Connor McGregor fight week.

The mom test is never going off as hard as it is when Connor is fighting. And guess what? Like I said, I didn't get a lot of pre-fight questions about UFC 300 from like my random friends. I did get some afterwards. The max highlight obviously made the rounds. The Pereira highlight made the rounds. I got some people talking. But the thing on Sunday that my non-fighting friends were hitting me up about was,

hey, Connor's back? Yep. It is going to dominate the summer. It's going to be the biggest story of the summer. It's not the best fight, not the best fighters. It doesn't matter. It has a gravity that demands our attention in this sport. And honestly, I'm pretty excited about it. The fight will be fun. They are two fun fighters, even if I hate either outcome is really bad for me personally, because either Connor wins and fights for a title, and I'll hate that, or Michael Chandler wins and all the sadness will fill me. But it is going to be a fun fight. And most I'm just excited to have a Connor fight week and have the level of attention and interest that that brings to the sport and into our lives, frankly.

So that's got to be it. New York, Rick, it's crazy that I mentioned all three of these fights with the names attached to them. And somehow with 300, they just kind of got buried. They were like an afterthought almost, which is kind of wild to think about, especially with Connor McGregor. Even though we kind of knew these things were happening with how good 300 was and the moments it produced, they just kind of were like, okay. What? One second, Mike. I'm just being handed a note here.

Hold on. Oh, okay. Oh, fair. Oh. It actually says, it says boop. Sorry. Wow. Carry on.

Wow. It does say boop. Gimic infringement? It says boop. Respect. Yeah, Mike, let me just get to the point here. That was an embarrassing way to announce these fights. I don't think it had much to do with USC.

300 and a lack of creative energy. Like the return of Connor McGregor being announced with a fake note is like corny as all hell and quite frankly like kind of embarrassing. It deserved better. The answer to the question of which I'm most interest or kind of like which one stood out the most to me is probably Dustin and Islam because it was the one that we didn't know for sure, right? Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler like enough has enough hay was in the bar in there that

were like, yeah, that's happening. It's just a matter of when, and when is the UFC going to finally decide to pull the trigger on that? With Dustin and Islam, you know, obviously we didn't know, and neither did day. Armand Saruki and was offered that fight backstage after the Charles Olivera fight, and just because of the amount of notice and wanting to, you know, have a full training camp, which I completely understand and respect. And I think Arman deserves that and should still be number one contender when business is resolved. Connor McGregor could throw a wrench into that.

But that is the one that I think had the most mystery around it, right? like who is Islam Makachov going to fight? When is it going to happen? It seemed like it was swirling around June 1st and Dustin Poria was getting ready, but it was not his opportunity to pass on. It was Armands. So that was the one that got me to perk my ears up the most

and go, okay, now we kind of finally have resolution to it. The biggest, the most impactful, the most significant is Connor McGregor, you know, nothing needs to be said about that other than it's Connor McGregor's return. And that will be the one that will get the most headlines and the most attention and the text and all that. But you know, you're right to the extent that I was getting texts about Max Holloway

and not Connor McGregor, and that's a rare kind of occasion when a Connor McGregor fight is announced. But I do think it is mostly a product of just piss poor promotion. Like that was a really bad way to announce the return of Connor McGregor. Agreed. But that fight's going to happen June 29th. I agree. I agree with Rick that is a bad way to announce it.

But I'm not sure it's that much worse than Dana screaming into his Instagram. live. That's the only other way we were getting now. I agree. It's bad. But like the only other way we're going to get it has been a random Tuesday and would have gone on IG Live and just been red-faced and yelling about the return of Connor.

And I don't I don't think I care that much to the difference between those two. Remember the days when like the UFC got upset because there was a promotional video planned and then somebody, you know, reported on it and they were all upset. And it was like, wow, you ruined our plans. You ruined the surprise. And now we've gone from that to. getting a fake note. Like, it's just, it's sad. It's, it's, it's embarrassing. Like, it is dumb. So I don't think the note was fake, right? Like, I, because I think the,

maybe the Connor part of the note was Dana White, Dana White was, uh, the last to know, last to know about Connor McGregor signing his contract. I'm sure. I'm so sure of I'm sure the, I'm sure the Connor part was true, but to my understanding, it's like they offered dude in the back, they offered armor and so like that, hey, this is just a Sean Shelby being like, done on that answer. That one I'm not calling into question. That one I'm not calling into question. Connor McGregor signing a deal to fight

was not something that Dana was out on the loop of. I agree with that. Mostly it's just bad timing. My thing is like they're, like did you say, Mike? Somebody said at some point during this various week of stuff we've already done. It feels like a lifetime since 300.

There's been so much going on. Like this is just isn't the biggest story. Conne McGregor's return is not the biggest story in the industry, which is insane because it happened like they were bearing news just on the time cycle. They have an open week. There is nothing happening this week. There's a like at the minimum, they could have just done it on Friday to counterprogram the PFL. Just draw like, then Dana can yell on his Instagram on Friday and be like, hey, while you're on our partner at ESPN watching a substantially worse product than ours, guess what? This June, this June the King returns, buckle up on the ESPN pay-per-view.

The timing was bad, but the execution, we can't expect anything at this point. They already executed, like, cool things at 300. It's asking too much for them to do that and promote a future fight well, for them to pull off the Gladiator Man and the retro UFC One images and the Mark Coleman special moment. To ask for all of that and good promotion, we're reaching. We're looking for too much, you know.

All right. Well, there you go. Let's move on. Point for round four goes to. Rick had a tremendous round. Almost did the thing, but gimmick infringement will not be tolerated on this program. Jedmishu gets the point.

Two to two. It was very good. There's so much booping on the screen right now. All right, we'll go to the knockout round. We'll fly through this. One question, we're going to talk about the biggest story of the day and get these gentlemen's reaction to it, one minute apiece to give their reaction to this news,

and we'll go from there. So, Jed, what do you want to do? You want to go first? You want to hand it over to Rick. Going first has helped you. I don't have any idea what the biggest story of the day is, so I'll go first. Let's fire from the seat of our pants.

All right. Well, as you probably saw, M.A.fighting.com, terrific website, July 20th, Arlington, Texas, AT&T Stadium. That will be the stadium that hosts the live Netflix fight card, which will be headlined by Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. We have a co-main event, undisputed gold on the line. The rematch Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano is going down as the co-main event. People are very, very excited about this.

Jed, one minute on the clock. How excited are you for this? What is the impact that this fight has on this card, which is going to be on Netflix, maybe the most watch fight card of all time? What was your reaction to the stews in general? Go. I mean, I think that I thought that this is where we would end up, right? Because this has clearly sort of been the idea, at least in part, since the first fight.

My ultimate reaction is that this is great. This is great for combat sports, for women's boxing. The first fight, you know, was billed us for history because it was so significant. And then it ended up being, I don't actually remember for one fight of the year in the boxing awards, but I remember thinking like, oh, like UFC 300, we had expectations and this lived up to those expectations. And then with what has happened to both of them since that moment, right? Since, you know, Katie Taylor has the champion and kind of her struggles and then overcoming the Chantelle Cameron stuff, like losing and then coming and getting a.

back and now Serrano's obviously been doing this. This fight makes sense from a timing standpoint, from everything standpoint. They had room to breathe from the first one. And being on Netflix, this is going to be the biggest moment in the history of the sport. So that's dope. All right. New York, Rick, we'll throw it to you. There are very few moments in the sport where I had FOMO.

One was Brandon Moreno winning the flyway title, that reaction. And the other was not being there for Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, one, which I know. know a lot of people within the organization were there and got to take it all in. So now we get the rematch. There'll be 80,000 plus people at AT&T Stadium to watch it. Millions watching on Netflix. Your reaction to Taylor Serrano 2 being announced today for that July 20th card. Go.

I was one of the people in that building that night. And it was one of the best boxing matches I've ever seen. It was completely magical. It was the perfect fight for both of them at the time. And it's once again the perfect fight for them. I'd argue like this could have happened a while ago and would have liked to see but I did enjoy Katie Taylor's business with Chantelle Cameron. So either way, this is an amazing fight that people are getting to be witnessed to.

It's going to be on Netflix. And most importantly, this is my takeaway from this. All the concern trolls and whiners and babies who came out upon the initial announcement of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. And oh, think of Mike. Oh, my God. What are we going to do? We can now purchase a ticket to that event, enjoy one of the best fights in boxing has to offer in Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano.

And guess what? You leave. After that fight's over, get out of there. You can come support an amazing fight, and then you don't have to suffer through Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul, so you can stop your whining and complaining about this event and enjoy it. So there you go. Buy the ticket, go see that fight, and then leave after,

so I don't have to hear your crying. Oh, shit. Fiery promo. I like it. That was good. Good stuff. What an episode this has been. This has been the UFC 300 of BTLs.

And I think that's a good thing. Should we just retire BTL New York, Rick, after what just happened here? I mean, because it can't get any better than this, right? Let's see how the voting goes. Let's see how the voting goes. And then we'll determine that. All right. Cast your votes now.

This is a loaded show. We could have done four more freaking hours of this with everything that's going on. But we just do not have that kind of time. So, yeah, get your votes in. We will let you know who the winner is next week. back on Thursday to get you ready for. I mean, nothing can follow UFC 300, quite like UFC Vegas, 90, was this 91?

Is this 91 coming up? Yeah, yeah, it's Nicolao and Alex Perez in the main event. And then it's off to Rio and then it's off to St. Louis for Derek Lewis or Rodrigo daisabeto and that I believe we're back of the world's most famous apex. And then we get to, I think we're going to get a week to breathe before three. too. So we'll be back next week to discuss all of that and much more. So get excited. Rio might be a farts card, not a Mashulin star card. It needs Alex. It needs Alex on this card. No, no Alex. How we do on the vote. We'll find out. Yeah, let's get the voting in there.

And then I'm actually going to be once I log out here and get the pot up, I'm off for the rest of the week. So I just want to make sure I was on here so we could do the show, which is another reason we're doing it on Tuesday. And a shout to my 10-year-old son, who tomorrow will be 11. I cannot believe that I'm saying this into a live microphone. So happy birthday to the gray man a little bit early. He'll be the big one-one. Casey is here, which means we have a winner.

If he's in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, he is. All right. Great, great performance, gentlemen. Great, great performance. But we do have a winner that voting. they've made a decision. And with 56% of the vote,

your winner today is New York Rick. Hey, New York Rick. I mean, just tug it at the heartstrings. Jed applauding. Thank you. You know, I dared to be great. I came on with herky.

I accepted this fight on short notice, you know. And dare to be great. And it doesn't matter what type of shit I talked beforehand. I'm going to walk all that back because, you know, this is all about me. It's not about the guy who beat me. This is about me, guys. So, yeah, that's all I have to say. Congratulations, Rick.

It only happened because of all of the other things that occurred and not me just getting beat tonight, you know. Eric, Rick, you got it done. You faced a lot of adversity. And you did it. How does it all feel? It feels fantastic, Mike. But I think once again, the viewers have made a mistake. And that was Jed's fight to win.

And you should respect him for daring to be great and should have rewarded that. Unfortunately, you guys fell a little bit short this time. That's okay. You'll get another opportunity last time. I would dare argue that you guys dared to be great and fell a little bit short. But next time, we'll get this voting dialed in and we'll crown a rightful winner. But in the meantime, it was just an honor and a pleasure to be here with you guys. I always love it so much.

Thank you for having me. Truly blessed. What a wonderful day. I'm going to go out and spend some time with my kids outside. Thank you. Thank you for everybody who watched. Thank you for any chats and super chats and fans who tune into this program all the time. We love you guys.

Yes. Thank you all so much. I got boops. Hit the music. Back next Thursday to get you ready for UFC Vegas 91. And a whole host of other news, I'm sure, will have dropped between now and then. So thank you all very much for New York, Rick, our champion, Jed Mishu, our worthy adversary, Casey Lyon on the ones and two. Shout out to him for messing up, you know, getting some time into his schedule with all the curb balls here.

And the iconic voice of Esterlund is going to take you home. I am Mike Eck back next week. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. This has been Between the Links, an MMA fighting production on the Vox Media Network. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor.

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