MMA Fighting - BTL | Fedor's Last Ride, Pereira vs. Adesanya & Burns vs. Masivdal At UFC 287, UFC Vegas 68

Episode Date: February 2, 2023

For the final time in an over two-decade legendary career, Fedor Emelianenko will make the walk to compete in an MMA fight. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel will discuss the swan song for "The Last Emperor" when he faces Ryan Bader for the heavyweight title in the main event of Bellator 290, and the fight card as a whole which will serve as the Bellator debut on CBS. Additionally, topics include Dana White's big announcement this past Friday regarding UFC 287, including Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya 2 in the headliner, along with Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal at the April 8 event, Max Holloway's return to the octagon against Arnold Allen at the UFC's April 15 event, this Saturday's UFC Vegas6 8 card headlined by Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac, and more. Host Mike Heck will be joined by MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Eric "New York Ric" Jackman. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow New York Ric: @NewYorkRic Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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MMA Fighting Studios this is between the links And now your host The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links and shout out to the great Esther Lynn for getting your Twitter account back because social media is just a much better place with all elbows in the mix. But thank you for joining us once again this week on BTL. A very busy week in the world of mixed martial arts. Lots of fight announcements. We have a double header of events this Saturday with UFC Vegas 68 and Bellator 290. We had the last hurrah. of a legend, legends, legends of the sport, getting the spotlight, a lot of topics on the table this week, and we're going to have some MAAfighting.com in fighting,

a matchup between two of the very best and what they do. So let us introduce them. First, Mr. No Gray area himself, a man who got a lot of praise for his showing last week in a losing effort to Brian Campbell. He's the exhibition king, the co-host of No Bet Spard. He's the man behind, Dan, they were good. Mr. Jedmishu,

How are you, buddy? Yeah, you can't beat BC. I mean, I have and I should have, but the MK donks, their army is strong. It's the same. I never lose a real, a real fight on this program. I lose to nonsense and I lose to fan boys. And that's okay.

That's my cross and I'm willing to bear it. Well, maybe you'll have better luck against the other half of that tandem. News to come in a couple of weeks. But back on the show, Facing Jed is the social media guru for MMAFiting.com. He's bringing his own mix of spicy takes to the internet. You also may know him from the MMA hour, the one the only, the ally at Quinter,

realtor enthusiast himself, New York Rick, back on the program. How are you, my friend? I'm doing well. Sorry, that's not the right one. I'm doing really, really well. It's an honor to be here, as always. We're blessed to be together celebrating this joyous.

occasion. You know, I'm confident that Jed and I will agree on everything. Ultimately, people will come in with their formed opinions. They've already established that. They will base nothing on the argument. Vote however they're going to vote. And none of us will be losers because we'll be together. That's how this is going to go. I mean, baby face BTL New York Rick is amazing. Jed, your thoughts on this because normally we don't start the show so kind. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. Also, Rick and I agree on a lot, so maybe this isn't great matchmaking. We'll

find out. Maybe Rick's got some hotter takes, but he's one of the saner people in MMA media, because he agrees with everything I say. All right. Well, let's get into it and let us begin with the fine folks at Bellator MMMA, because on Saturday

they head to CBS Network television here in the United States for the main card of Bellator 290, which takes place in the always up to no good city of inglewood, California. We have two title fights, a main card opener that will be an absolute firefight. We get some solid prelims. And normally at this moment, in Juncture, we would play The Witch Card is Better Game between Bellator and the UFC when they have events on the same weekend, but there really is no debate at all here.

Bellator is going to win this one running away, at least on paper. But it's also going to feature the final fight of Fador Emilienenko's career. He's challenging. for the heavyweight title. And Jed, I want to start with you because a couple days ago, you released the latest edition of Dan They Were Good on Fador. It's the final walk of this man's career. The man has done it all in the sport outside of fighting for the UFC, and he's going to get one last moment on Saturday.

Your thoughts on preparing to watch The Last Emperor do the damn thing one last time. I have a mixed bag of emotions right now. Like I have been out on Fador for several years just because it hasn't he hasn't been the Fabio Maldonado fight really made me be like oh this is really sad and I hope this ends. And then when he signed with Bellator it's like, okay, well, this isn't going to go great. And it hasn't in large part. But it's gone better than I would have expected. And it's if he can do this, if he can pull this went off, it is it's triumphant and. in a way this sport doesn't get.

Like we do not get happy endings. We've talked about this on this program before. We've talked about it a lot kind of behind the scenes. It's the best retirements in MMA. The list is incredibly short. And it includes things like Glover to share retiring after a spirited performance in his demolition loss to Jamal Hill is probably in the top five retirement to this sport. GSP is the one unequivocal good one.

And there's something taken off that because of the situation that he wanted to come back later, that the UFC functionally wouldn't let him do the things that he wanted to do, that we didn't know it was a retirement at the time. And then it's like Habib, and it's hard to call Habib's retirement good given the circumstances that precipitated it. You know, like it's, there just aren't good exits in this sport almost ever. If Fedor can pull this off, which is doable,

I don't think that it is likely, but it is doable. Then one of the greatest fighters of all time, in my opinion, a Mount Rushmore fighter for this sport. If you're talking about if we built one, he should be in the four. He can also somehow end with one of the best, if not the best endings ever. And so I am hopeful. I don't have my hopes up because I don't want them to come crashing down, particularly not the hands of Ryan Bader. I, this is better than I thought I would feel heading into this because I do think he has a real chance to win this, even if it maybe isn't likely. And so I am now compelled on multiple levels in a way that a couple of years ago, I simply wouldn't have been.

New York, Rick, I feel, and we talked about this with Shogun before the most recent UFC pay-per-view. I feel like this newer fan base, because we had the Connor era. And then, you know, the pandemic era fans who jumped on board, they don't full, they just don't really understand what this man has meant to the sport over the last two plus decades. And like Jed said, this isn't your usual retirement. This is not a maybe I'll come back. The man has made it clear. He wants to make this walk.

He wants to fight and he wants to turn the page. He has been very clear about this, especially yesterday. But where are you at with this being the eve of the. Eve of his last and final fight against Ryan Bader and for the heavyweight title. Yeah, I feel like a lot of the individual specific retirement matchups tend to be academic. And to be honest, like most of the last couple of fights of most of these fighters' careers, careers feel academic, not much on the line in terms of advancement and lower stakes, just something to give the fans to go out on.

But Fador has a legacy that was built many, many years ago and can't be touched. I will admit, as I get older, as he gets older, my memories of it start to fade. But I like to think of Fador to steal a line from Britain heart or knee heart, Britain Beltran. Fadour wasn't a person or a fighter. He was a feeling. And that aura and that moment that he had in his heyday in prime is something that I'll never forget, even as the individual moments tend to fade. His legacy is in having been that solid foundation, that rock, that goat that everybody looked

at the time when MMA was establishing itself more and more in the mainstream, not quite mainstream yet. And he was the guy that everybody looked to to kind of set the standard. And, you know, to Jed's point, I expected the late run to go a little bit worse. I'm looking at the record now. I expected it to go a little bit worse, and it really hasn't looked that bad. So I'm hoping he can escape here, relatively unscathed. But the individual matchup, I have to be honest, just doesn't compel me that much.

Like, I don't think a win over Ryan Bader does anything for his legacy. I don't think that this is necessarily something that will enhance or detract from my feelings of Fadour. All that work, all that groundwork that he did was established a long, long time ago. And if you are not familiar with the man, he's somebody that is worth going back and checking out. He's somebody who did things that at the time were unheralded. So another piece of this puzzle that got revealed yesterday on the MAA hour, Scott Coker jumped on with Ariel and announced that he has invited a host of legends to the event and when this fight is over, they will all enter the cage and they will all pay tribute to Fador as he waves goodbye for the final time, which I love. I also probably more

so loved Ariel's idea of having them all come out together to start the CBS broadcast because I think that's just an incredible way to kick things off. But this is A plus great stuff from Coker and Bellator New York, Rick. Is it not? Yeah, it's brilliant. We don't. And Ariel has been beating this drum for a long time. We don't celebrate the legends of the sport nearly enough. Oh, man, this has, because of the timing, it has the recipe for something significantly more uncomfortable than if they just decided to do this in the beginning. Just bring everybody out, give them their moment, make it about Fador, have them talk about him, celebrate him, and then let the fight be the fight. Waiting for the result feels like a misstep for me.

I'm hoping that maybe they can adjust this on the fly or, you know, we get Fador turning back the clock and it becomes insignificant and my fear becomes irrelevant. But yeah, I love, I love the idea of this. I think they need to adjust it if they want this to be foolproof. Jed, what did you think when Scott Cooker announced this? I don't know. I think it's going to be one of those things where I won't have a confident opinion until I see it play out. The general idea is good. I like celebrating. Legend is a word that I think, frankly, is probably used too much for some fighters in this sport.

Fador is it. Like, that is, there is no question. And so I like commemorating and celebrating him in some manner. Like Rick said, there's a real chance that doing it after the fight is, tough scenes. And so in the dark, I would prefer it to be done before

at the beginning of the ceremony. You know, at the beginning of the CBS portion, here's a thing, however it is. But we'll see how it plays out. It's a really fine line to walk. Again, I like the core concept. The idea is solid. The execution is going to determine how good it is

because you also don't want it to be some super long thing or some super like saccharine and weird shit like it it is a it is a narrow target to hit and i we since i don't know what it's going to be beyond here a bunch of people if you just told me they just got a bunch of dudes who you know a collection of who who's who in the mma's history and they're all cage side and they stand and give this man a standing ovation as he walks to the cage like hell yeah that rules that's like that gets the point of cross for me, et cetera, et cetera. But I really don't know what it is going to be.

And that makes me, because they can get heavy-handed and weird about some shit, man. And if they do, then this is going to turn awkward instead of fun, especially if it's with fad or half-concussed or whatever. So I'm reserving judgment until it happens. And we can see how tasteful, how well-executed it is and kind of what it looks like. Yeah, I kind of would like to see them. like walk him to the ring in some way. Like even if you march them all out and they each align like one side of the ramp,

Fadar just walks in between him. That's cool too. I want them to carry him in a litter like Cleopatra, just Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson and hoist Gracie and all those old farts just carrying this man down as an emperor should be for his final go in the cage. I guess the cage, yeah. It's still weird that it's the cage, by the way. This fight, this fight only should happen in the case.

the ring because it's Fador. But I don't hate that. Can I just add, we are getting a bit in the weeds and talking about the minutia of it. The general idea that this collection of legends of MMA and Fadour himself, a legend of MMA, are going to be in that arena and be together and we potentially will get the interactions between them and the videos and the photos and all those things is a wind no matter what. I know there's potential for this to go wrong, hopefully not. But just the idea of it, the concept, the good intention behind it, I think should be celebrated and I think is something that will reap rewards for the future.

I think people will look to this and say, okay, this can be done and here's how to do it. Much like the gathering at the UFC Hall of Fame, those tend to feel significant. This is even taken to a next level. So Bellator deserves kudos for this. Completely agree. What have you made of Fador's demeanor, Jed? because like I mentioned earlier, Ariel asked him what his emotions were like heading into the fight

and he was just like, eh, he just wanted to be over with and done. He just wants to walk and be done. He didn't want to be, you could tell he didn't want to be at the press conference yesterday. And you can tell there's a part of him, even though Ariel got him to smile like five or six times.

He didn't really want to be doing that interview yesterday because he just wants this part of his life to be done. So does that attitude change anything here? Does it make you excited, concerned? Like, do you feel any differently about the fight now than you did when it was announced? Because when it was first announced, you weren't a huge fan of it per se because of, you know, he's fighting Bader. It doesn't do a ton for him. They fought already.

Usually use these moments to put somebody else over in a sense. But has Fador's demeanor changed anything about how you feel about this fight? No. This is the same demeanor he's had for 24 years. He does. When is he ever given a good? interview. That is not what this man has done. This man is the, frankly, the only fighter in the history of this sport who became a superstar while actively trying not to be. And he has,

he has made those comments this week of, you know, I think he said at the pre-fight press conference of, you know, I just want to be remembered as somebody who rose to stardom and, and achieve my level of success by doing things the right way, not by by virtue of my actions, not by my talk or anything. And that's a thousand percent true. This man has never given a good interview.

There isn't a good sound bite from Fador. The one thing from him that is like a bit of personality is the photo of him eating the ice cream in the sweater. Like that's all we've got from this man. And that's his whole appeal. That was part of it.

It was part and parcel of what he is. So this week, I know that you have to do it because this is the thing. But it was absolutely amusing to me to see the various media interviews that he has set up. Because it's just like, guys, I can do it for you. I can give you Fajor's answers coming into this. You are not. You can try as hard as you can. And over the years, people have.

They have talked to him about Russian literature and art and any number of things. And he ain't going to give you shit. because he is here about the business, baby. He is here about throwing them hands, getting that check, and leaving. That is all he is here to do. And so if he was any different, it would maybe make me be like, I don't know what to do with this, but this is the same he has ever been. And I expect we're going to get the same fate or we have gotten such that he is

physically capable of providing it come Saturday. What do you think, New York, Rick? I mean, he's low key as hell. but I just felt it was kind of interesting. He was just like, eh, don't care. I just wanted to be done. Like, I just want the fight to be done. Yeah, I agree with Jed.

And when I think of Fador, I think of one of the early, like, people who treated MMA as a business, and that wasn't always the case. And I think that kind of comes through. I think that's one of the things that for Fador, this was athletics. This was competition. This was trying to achieve something in the arena

and make the most money doing it. It wasn't necessarily. this highly emotional thing for him. I don't think he's going to be super emotional and I think he's ready to move on with his career. I agree with 99.9% of what Jed said, but I won't sit here and let him disrespect Steepei Miotich, who also actively tries to say nothing interesting,

became the UFC heavyweight champion and a rich man on the back of it. So I will not stand here and let that disrespect happen. Look, you know that I try to disrespect Steepay. Hand up. Hand up on that one. I forgot that he actively has. tried to be as disinteresting as possible.

So, fair point. Rick, what if, what if Fader wins? Like, what if he ends the night and his career as champion? Because if this happened in the UFC, it would create a massive mess.

You can make a case that every division is kind of a mess right now, which is why the UFC typically doesn't do these kinds of things unless, you know, the share of things different. They may not even have known he was going to walk away.

But what if Fador does this on Saturday? Is this a good thing for Bellator? I will point out that it kind of did happen and Francis did it. Francis won the belt and then didn't fight again and walked away. Different circumstances. I'm not about to make those equivalent. Different circumstances. But it did happen, funny enough.

I think, look, I think this is a championship fight solely for the reason that Ryan Bader is holding the belt. I don't think there's any, I don't think there was any intention that Fader had to be in a championship fight. I think they found Bader to be the best matchup. It was a matchup that Fador wanted, and that was it. I don't think that there's any implication for this title. I think Fador is very, very ready to walk away. He has made no secret about it. This is the one.

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. Now, in a few years, could he come back? I could see it, but I also believe him at this moment. I think it's much more likely we'd see him compete in something else. Maybe he goes into boxing. Maybe he goes into Jutu, figures out something else that kind of sparks his passion again. but I would assume that this is it, win or lose. And for Bellator, I think it's okay if the title becomes vacant

and now they have a new opportunity to do a tournament and capture a vacant title. So I don't think this impacts Bellator in a major way. I don't think it hurts them. It'd be nice for Fader to have a belt in his final fight. I think that's a cool little wrinkle. But I think it's mostly academic. Jed, fill in the blank.

If Fader wins the belt on Saturday, it would be blank. like, fucking awesome. I don't know. It would be the best thing that's happened in this sport in years. And like, let's be very clear. A couple of things are going to happen if this happens. One, I may actually pee my pants. Two, I'm going to immediately go into the MMA fighting global rankings

and Fador will be my number one heavy weight in the world. And none of you can stop me. Three, I will absolutely know that that's not true. and that he probably is not realistically a top 15 heavyweight in the world, but heavyweight is mostly a trash-ass division, and this would be a really fun, heartwarming, cool thing. And then he will retire. They can do whatever their ceremony is.

Hopefully that'll be good. And then, yeah, I don't know. Heavyweight is awful, and Bellator's heavyweight division is not great, which is why Marcello Gollam and Daniel James are headlining an event because they're two top ten heavyweights. every like it's it's tough scenes but by that same virtue it doesn't matter if they don't have a champion like if fader retires with the belt it is way better for fador to win this fight than bader

because you know mike you mentioned earlier i wasn't a superfood fan of this fight that's true and that's not true the fight itself is i was pretty whatever on i was not a fan of this being the the event you're bringing to cbS because it doesn't get you anywhere because if bader wins he's a 39-year-old heavyweight champion who is not fun and it gets nothing. And then if Fador wins, that's the best case scenario and he's still going to leave. I have changed my opinion a little bit and that it's kind of totally okay because who gives a shit? Who cares about Beltaire's heavyweight division? It's fine.

They can maybe do a Grand Prix. They can try. Frankly, I didn't realize until this week how bad they needed Francis Ngano under contract. Like, sure, he's a big boost for anything. anyone, but we are talking about a tough heavyweight division for them. So that's fine. They should be pulling out all the stops for Francis anyway. So Fador wins.

He drops the belt and Koker comes out and is like, we wrote a blank check to Francis and Ganoo. He is going to fight here. He is going to fight for the championship against Bader or Moldovsky or whoever they sacrifice at the altar of Francis. And then nothing is lost by Fador winning. and everything is gained for the story, for the moment, for us as fans.

It's just fucking rules, man. Like, it's the best thing that could possibly happen. It would be scenes. It would be scenes, as the youngsters say. But let us move on. There's a lot more of this event we want to talk about. And we'll talk about UFC Vegas 68 and some other cool stuff,

fight announcements, et cetera. Point for round one goes to, I mean, if you admit into a live microphone that something could make you pee your pants, you're usually going to get the point, and that is the case here. So I stand by it. Take that point and I don't know.

Maybe buy a fresh pair of drawers. Buy a fresh pair of drawers in case something crazy happens on Saturday. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. It's hockey season, and you can come. get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver

those. Gold tenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. But the rest of this main card for Bellator, we have Johnny Eblen, who is at worst in my top five of fighters that I can't wait to watch this year and see how he's going to start and how he's going to end. Just a really low-key under-the-radar middleweight title fight against Anatoly Tokoff. We got Sabahamasi versus Brennan Ward to be the first Bellator fight to air live on CBS Network TV. A lot of prelims I dig on here as well.

But Rick, let's pull out. we're not going to do the AK lead gymnastics scale, but we'll just pull out the the regular grade here. On paper, what are you grading this Bellator card, first one of the year for them? Yeah, it's hard because in a vacuum, this is a seven, eight out of ten. I like it. But man, it feels like it's short on people who are going to make their stamp on this

and turn this opportunity on CBS into something. And it starts with the main event, being a fight between what Jed alluded to, two aging stars closer to the end of their careers, Fador definitively at the end of his career, than the beginning. Hopefully, you hope that somebody like Eblen or Tokov can establish themselves and make a name. But I think this needed a little more on CBS, if I'm being honest, it needed somebody to sell it more than Fadour has. So I have to ding it. In a vacuum, it's a seven, it's a six, seven, eight somewhere in that range. Maybe five, maybe five because of the, because of the platform and the stakes. And I feel like a little bit of a wasted opportunity, if I'm being completely honest.

I love, I love, I love, love, Saba Homasi versus Brennan Ward. I love it. I think it's amazing. But you could put that on any of these Bellator cards. This is not quite it for me. So I'm going to say five respectfully in a vacuum. if this was just another run of the mill Belator night, you could creep up to 7-8 territory.

Interesting. Yeah, we started 7-8. Yeah, we started 7-8 and then ended up at a 5. Jed, where are you at? I'm about to make some friends. Mike, you may not know this. Bellator is aware of my thoughts on them and have made comments to me about many of the things I have said

on this very program about that promotion. and shockingly, they don't agree with my take. They're going to agree with this one because this is good. Like, this is objectively good. It is not perfect. You know, if I'm giving it a one out of ten, I'm going to go between eight and a half and nine here. And here's my explanation.

I agree with Rick on a big piece of this, which is I wanted more. And that was my big thing. We talked about it when this first happened was like, I can at least pallet. the Fador-Fa-Bader fight as the hook that you then sell something else with. And I know that they tried to do Vadim Nimkov, Yowell-Ramero, and that would have been better. I'm still not sure that's the thing I wanted for them because they have younger, lighter-weight talent,

and that's probably where you needed to go here. But there's that. They're making lemonade out of limine tier with Johnny Ebblin, who is young and talented. Well, young, he's 30-ish. but he has just descended and has a good chance to hold the middleweight belt for a stretch here. There's one big problem with that. This fight is maybe the best fight of the whole weekend. The Tokov-Ebblin fight is awesome.

Eblond is a good fighter. Eblin is not a fighter who is going to be appreciated by the broad-scale audience you are trying to reach on CBS. The Fador-Bator fight is very likely to end in the first round because Fador is going to chuck them. until he falls over or Bader does and Bader probably like that fight has a really good chance to last less than a minute this one is gonna go 25

and that is gonna be a huge downer on this card like that is the thing that makes this not an A like a full blown A more an A minus B plus is kind of card on paper because even if Eblend is all we think he can be and he comes out and he puts on a great performance he's not gonna finish Tocop Tocop is really really tough

and a really good fighter, and it's probably not going to be this kind of back and forth war. Now, the main card opener, we're almost guaranteed to get that, and I think that's good booking. The Hamasi Ward fight, that's going to deliver.

It is just that co-main event is, it's a good fight. It is objectively good. It's not a fight that you want on CBS, and that really knocks it. But the rest of this card, I think is great. Again, they're not on CBS,

So they don't really get to be a big bump or whatever. And I'm not sure how those negotiations played out. But I mean, you've got a lot of talent on this card. Young developing talent, new talent, Belator, Ali Asai of an Olympian undefeated on this card, like good-ass fighter, good heavyweight, like one of the few good heavyway prospects coming up. Lorenz Larkin hasn't lost in like forever.

I know he's not everybody's cup of tea, but running it back with Magamatov. Good fight. Neiman Gracie is, whatever. I'm just looking through here right now. Darien Caldwell, Nikitam Kailov is a solid fight. There's a bunch of things in here that are good developmental fights. They won't be on CBS, so there's no benefit. And that's the big problem here. This is the best thing Bellator's offered in some time, I think top to bottom. I am with Rick on the CBS part of it, but I still

think it's, since this is good, and I like the ideas, I'm willing to give them an eight and a half fear. All right. Well, let's let's spitball this New York, Rick. What would you have done differently? What would you have done differently? I was going to propose a counter. What if what if instead of putting AJ McKee and Pitbull on a December card that you're sharing promotion, use that cash a for your own CBS card. Would that have been if this is an if this is an 8.5 in your mind objectively, what would that be? 10, 11, 12? Like these are the. these are the guys that need to be featured on this program. So that's what I would have done. I love, look, I loved the Bellator versus Rising thing.

I think that it was awesome. And I think the cross-promotion thing is great. But if you know that you have a CBS card coming up, those are the guys that need to be on it. I'm sorry. Those are the guys that need to be on it. What are you sorry about, Rick? Because Rick, I told you we were going to agree on things. And guess what?

On this program, when this was announced, it was like, I don't know what the hell you're doing. AJ McKee is clearly the future of your organization. He should be on CBS. I don't really care who you put him against, but he should be on CBS. I'm totally cool with him doing the rise and stuff because I thought that was great. And that's just an objective win. I also think you could have just offered AJ McKee money and been like, hey, dude, instead

of maybe you won't fight pit bull on a month's turnaround or whatever. But like, hey, you're coming off that clean. Like you didn't really suffer any injuries in a fun fight. we are going to give you a can to thump and it will be dope. And like, but I'm a thousand percent with you. A.J. McKee is the answer. Like, just any, whoever the future of the division is, Aaron Pico, put that dude on here. Like, a young guy who you have invested heavily in and are very aware is going to be the standard bear for a long time.

And that's why I get what they're doing with Eblen, because that is true. But he is the, all the wrong sorts of that. He is a damn good fighter. And I will be excited to watch maybe the best fight this weekend, but you are going to get casual viewers turning that thing off waiting for Fador. That is just going to happen. Yeah, I mean, you're going to get Aaron Pico on this card anyways, just because of the injury and what happened in the Jeremy Kennedy fight. But and listen, I actually agree. Like, if you could throw McKee in there with a can, if you will, to just let him dump truck somebody.

I said this about Shafcott Rockbano when Jeff Neal pulled out of the fight in January. just let him go in there and just crush somebody and then he can go fight Jeff Biel in March. But again, Bickey traveled. He wanted to snowboard and all that stuff and power to him. He's getting ready to fight Pitbull in this light heavyweight in this lightweight Grand Prix. So yeah, there's a trickie pit bull, that is. So there's a lot going on. You needed to have Nirmagamatov in it.

You needed to have Usman. And I know that that's a relatively quick thing. But like you just, they did the best with what they could do. I think they could have used a little more foresight to be like, okay, well, here, they were looking to the end of the year plans or to three month plans and not six month plans with their booking is what it feels like. Yeah. Did the Romero fight would have probably done something just because you all is just,

I mean, dude is a freak. That fight would have made this an A. That fight would have made this card of full blown A. Yeah. I love this abloak, Tocoff fight though. Like you, and I agree with you. I think that is the best fight of the entire weekend. So we'll see how it plays out.

We'll see how the viewership plays out. There's a lot more to talk about. I mean, if we're calling this Belatar card, Rick, a 5,67, I can't wait to get your thoughts on UFC negative 68. So that's where we're going next. The point for round two goes to Mr. Thursday afternoon, New York, Rick. It's one to one. And you have to remember, just because I agree with Jed,

does not mean that he gets the point. It's how you present your argument, and New York Rick brought an argument, and he defended it, so he gets the point. Not that the points really matter. You already know where this is going. So, UFC Vegas 68. Yes, this is what everybody came for.

It is going down Saturday. 10 p.m. Eastern prelims, 1 a.m. Eastern main card start. The main event, Derek Lewis, who, by the way, looks like a different human being right now. He looks incredible physically, taking on Sergey Speedback. Jed, we have the rebooking of this heavyway fight. We have the return of Duho Choi for the first time since 2019.

That's good stuff. We get some up-and-coming prospects. We have the road to the UFC final fights. It's the go-home show for UFC 284, so they'll be pumping up that card throughout, I'm sure. But, boy, if we're talking fight cards in a vacuum, This is, as AK would say, it's a card, isn't it? A card? I don't even know if that's accurate.

It's happening. It is happening. But if a fight card happens at 3 in the morning and the one true time zone, does it happen at all? We're going to get the answer to that question and none others. Because no other questions no other answers to any questions anyone has ever had. or cared about are being offered by this UFC event. I feel like a broken record. This feels, and some people, maybe in the comments, are saying, you guys are too negative.

You guys are assholes. And maybe that's true, sure. This happens once a month now, where it's like, holy shit, this card is bad. And on No Bet's Bar this week with Connor Birxman co-hosts, we talked about it. And this is an interesting dynamic of showing how different this would have been if original plans worked. If this fight card was happening in South Korea, it would still be bad.

I do not want to make any, this was a, if happening in Seoul, this fight card would still be bad because it has all the same fights. But it would at least be something more palatable. There would be more interest and more intrigue because, hey, this is a road show. And here, the crowd's going to be involved. and this is we're going to get these road to the UFC finalists and we've got, you know, 10 or 12 Korean fighters on this card happening here. That is thing. But to do this in the apex is nonsensical

and it just no one is going to give a single shit about this, nor should they. There are, by my count, one and a half relevant things happening on this card. The main event is the half because if Derek Lewis isn't washed, that's cool. if Sergei Spivak just, you know, tackles him and submits him, then that's fine. Sergei Spubeck is probably never fighting for a title, so it's not really that relevant,

even if he will be a top 10-inch heavyweight. Tatirah is fighting, and he's a really, really good flyweight. And that's it. Like, those are the things that matter on this card. I'm sure all these fights matter individually to the fighters because that's how they get paid, etc., etc. That's it.

Those are all the things that matter to the broader MMA landscape and proper fandom or whatever. So this fight car is terrible. And I like you. I'm very excited to see what Rick gives it. Because if I gave Bellator an eight and a half, I am giving this a two. And a two feels generous,

but Tatsura Taira is friggin sick. And I'm also, I guess maybe it's a 1.75 things of interest because Rinyanakamura is also competing. And he has the bones of a very, very good point. prospect. So that's true retire is sick and that gets you one full point. And then the other collection of things happening get you up to a half a point in my scale. One point five is the rating on this card.

Well, if, and I'm not going to do the full fractional math here, Rick, but if we're going by history sake, if Jed's giving it a 1.5, then you're giving this card like a negative 3.5. Like, where are we at right now? Before, before I do the math, Before I divulge my math on this, let me also add a few other attractions, right? There's also the return of the Korean Superboy. That's something I'm interested in. And the color commentary debut of Laura Sanko.

So there's a little bit here that's just on top of what Jed has added to ultimately, I started with the Bellator card in a vacuum. In a vacuum, this is maybe three, four for me. That's where that's at. I dinged Bellator for context or for the circumstances surrounding it. I will also ding the U.S. Rick, don't you give me this three for a bullshit. Name five fighters on the undercard without looking at this shit right now.

So starting at the three. Name two. Name two that aren't Tatzu Retire and Rinyanakamura, who I just named. Starting at the three. Because it's not happening in South Korea, because it's happening in the middle of the night when nobody's watching. it drops significantly. We're talking a zero.

This fight card is an absolute zero for me. So the point that if they took it off the schedule would anybody but the fighters who are on it, who by the way are being disrespectful because nobody's going to watch this fight card at no fault of their own, but nobody's going to watch this fight card because of the time that it's happening

and because of the lack of attractions, if it was taken off the schedule completely, would anything change in the MMA universe? Would the world be shaped? at all. So I would argue that it's insignificant. I'm giving it a zero and I can't really move off that based on the context. We have two heavy we have two heavyweight fights on this fight any fight card that has two heavyweights. It's a bad fight card. It's just a bad one. So it goes. Well, um, I do want to talk about some of the storylines. Uh, Rick mentioned one and we'll get to

that in a second because I think it deserves more than a mention. But, um, um, I do want to talk about some of the storylines. Uh, Let's talk about Derek Lewis because what was interesting about the build to this fight is he's feeling like he's not getting a lot of buzz here, which for Derek Lewis to say that is fascinating because he's typically a guy just goes and travels to fight week and he fights and he cuts fun promos. And then he just turns off MMA altogether, except when he goes to the gym and trains, doesn't watch the UFC. This is what he said a million times. he's fighting Sergei Spivak, who's on a nice run right now. So New York, Rick, when we look at it from, like, what does this do for Derek Lewis? Like, what are the stakes here? Like, what is that stake for Derek Lewis?

Is there anything at stake for him? Nothing. Zero. There's nothing at stake in this fight. Derek Lewis loss is something he can bounce back from with another knockout. A Derek Lewis win is something that doesn't propel him much further along in his career, and especially to the heights he's already been. The fighters, in particular, the main.

event, but pretty much all of them have been put in a position that it's not a, it's a no-win situation, right? Whatever this performance ends up looking like for a lot of them, it's going to be seen by few people. And the sentiment around the card is already so low, is already so negative that it really doesn't have a ton of upside. Now, for some, there's also the counter to that. There's the other side of the coin there, which is that it's a no lose position as well, right? You don't really hurt your stock. You don't really hurt your momentum if nobody knows what's going on. So there's a potential that releasing some of that pressure, taking some of that pressure off yourself, hey, it wasn't really motivated. This was one that didn't care about can allow you some relief if you're that type of athlete, if you're that type of fighter.

So ultimately, I think because of the situation, it's a no win and it's a no lose situation for Derek Lewis and pretty much for everybody on this card. So don't see much at stake. Don't really think that this will hurt his stock or help his stock tremendously in either direction. What do you think, Jed? Is this must win territory? Yeah, I was just going to say, is this must win territory for Derek Lewis? Yeah, Ricky just straight up wrong on this one. It says it must win.

This will not totally crater Derek Lewis if he loses. But if he loses, it's four in a row. If you lose, this is easily to the worst of the fighters he's lost to in that group. A style matchup that, you know, a couple of years ago, he would have been heavily favored in and we would have felt pretty confident. and his ability to defeat Sergei Spivak or a guy like that. And more importantly, you know, what what Ricky was saying about, you know, I'm not that motivated.

That's pretty not clear because the dude, we said it. The dude is fit. The dude is to some extent motivated here. He is, he, whether he is internalizing it that much, but he is saying, you know, feel a little, not feeling the buzz, being a little bit disrespect. You heard about the pre-fight press conference. I only lost to great guys. y'all are acting like I'm bum.

Like he feels as motivated as Derek Lewis is going to get. And maybe that's just me looking at new, you know, slimmed down, trimmed up Derek Lewis. But if he goes to all that work, gets himself in shape and then loses to Sergey friggin Spivak, he's done, man. He is cooked. And he might be cooked. It's hard to say because of the people who lost to and the ways he lost to them, Sergey Spivak is not offering the same kind of artillery that tied to Ivasa and serious.

gone and you know uh sergey pavlovitch you're doing it's not the same thing but and it won't crater him because he's people still love him and he can chuck him but four in a row is really bad for anybody the only fighter realistically who has ever come back from four and row losses is andrerovsky and that's pretty rare you know so it's you can run him out one or two more times when you get to four then if he loses a fifth one in a row against whoever you put him in a against because at that point, it's, I don't even know who you give him to. Do you just do Jailton Almeida? Well, then that's five in a row for Derek Lewis. And then he's on six. Like, this isn't must, must win, but we are nearing that. And it is a, it matters for him to win this

fight pretty substantially, I think. New York Rick mentioned the best thing about this card. And that is the news that Laura Sanko will make her color commentary debut now. She's done the contender series, done a great job. She's done the road. She's done the road. to the UFC cards with John Gooden, did a great job there. She's done Victa, done a great job there. And now she gets the headset for a UFC event, which is incredible.

Jed, my initial reaction to this was about friggin' time. What was yours? Sorry, I was muted. Yeah, totally the same thing. This is well-deserved. Like, there's, this is, it's probably very important. I mean, it's not probably, it is important.

Like, this is a milestone moment. moment for a developing sports, you know, sport like MMA is. And for a sport that against all odds in some respects has really been on like the cutting edge of women's athletics in a way that, you know, 15 years ago when Dana White is screaming, women will never fight in the UFC and calling Chris Cyborg a man, you know, like that this did not feel like MMA would somehow become one of, if not the most prominent women's professional sports in the world. And Laura Sanko is extremely good at her job.

If you have ever listened to her talk or do any of this, it is very clear she knows what the hell she's doing. Frankly, she knows what the hell she's doing and is more engaged than many of the people that the UFC currently employs in similar roles. And that is just, that is a fact if you are listening and doing so critically. So she is going to make this broadcast better. because every broadcast she's ever been on or a part of, she has improved. And that is just going to be the case for this.

So this is long past due, frankly. I'm glad she is getting her opportunity. And I'm fully expecting her to make most of it. New York, Rick, your reaction to this once you found out the news. I mean, this is obviously awesome. But when you got to see the graphic and everything was official and the press release and all that, how did you react to this? Yeah, not a ton more to add very similar.

thoughts. About time, one of the best, male, female, doesn't really matter. But my thoughts instantly went to the significance of the moment, the history, the fact that there will be now a female voice in this sport, which is something that allows people, and I'm talking specifically on commentary, because it wouldn't be fair to say that this is the first female voice. It's not. There's lots of host reporters. There's a lot of women working in the sport. But on a UFC broadcast, the first female voice in the modern era. Shout out to Kathy Long. And the fact that this is an example for others, other women, other men, other people,

just in general. And Laura worked hard to get there. Know her a little bit because we traveled the road together with Invicta. And she had it then and she has it now. So not a ton more to add to what Jed said about time, well deserved. And hopefully this can be an example for others moving forward. completely agree congratulations to her well deserved and hopefully this is not just a drop in the bucket and a one-time thing hopefully this is she is officially in the roto and

we can churn her out as much as possible and I'd love to see her on a pay-per-view this year if we can make it happen so we'll see congratulations Laura and the biggest bright spot about this card is that her voice will be on commentary for it so we will move on the point for Round three goes to Jedmishu. Two to one. Well said. I love it. This episode is brought to you by Peloton.

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But for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. So let's talk fight announcements, shall we? Because on Friday, we got news that Dana White, well, UFC tweets out and Dana tweets out.

Essentially, in about 15 minutes, we're going to go live on all of our social channels. We're going to make a very special announcement. and we all began to speculate what this could be. We thought it might be Connor McGregor related, whether they're going to announce tough, whether they announce them as the coach. Who the hell knows? Turns out Dana White just announced a bunch of fights.

A lot of them we already knew about. Some we had confirmed. Some we reported first. But the big ones that stood out, April 8th, UFC 287, we found out that Alex Pereira versus Israel Adasanya 2 will headline that event for the middle

way title. There's another big fight announced on that card as well. We will do that separately. So New York, Rick, we get it again. Alex Pereira versus Israel-A-Sania 2. Main event, April 8th, location still TBD, for Christ's sake. Your thoughts? Is this the fight to, we knew

this is the fight to make, but are you surprised it's happening in April and not a few months later? No surprise at all. Israel, Alex, two of the most game guys on the roster. Willing to fight anybody, anytime, anywhere. That is just who they are. come from the kickboxing world where you stay active, come from high levels of activity

in their past careers and now meeting again in the MMA cage. And I continue to say it. And Mike, you know where I fall on this. If these are the two best guys, I'm willing to watch them forever. I feel like these are the two best guys in the division with maybe a tiny asterisk for the idea that if Hamzaa Shamaa wanted to fight at middleweight, we could slide him in there and I wouldn't have a problem with it. All due respect to Robert Whitaker, who I also think belongs in.

in the conversation. I do believe that these are the two best guys. And I would like to see it again. I'm excited to see it again. I think of this as number two. I do not think of this as number four. I think the kickboxing fights are not the same. And I think anybody who thinks that those contribute more than the last MMA fight,

I think they will have learned a lot more about each other in that fight carrying into the next one than they did in any either of the two kickboxing bouts. Granted, it gives Alex Pereira, a huge edge mentally. but I do think that the first MMA fight between them mattered a lot more and they will carry more into it. I'm excited to see how Israel, Asana bounces back from defeat. I'm excited to see how Alex now being the hunted instead of the hunter reacts. And I just love this fight from a technical basis. I just think that these guys are so incredible at what they do. I couldn't be more excited.

I love this fight and I would watch it as many times as they want to run it. Jed, what's the biggest question you have about this fight? more to talk about more to break down over the next couple of months. I thought maybe we'd get this in June, July. Is he fought three times last year, defended his title three times or twice and then lost the belt and got finished. Call it early stoppage. Call what you will.

That was a hard-ass fought fight for almost five rounds. And we're going spring. A little springtime per Arasani action. What's the biggest question you have? Well, first I'd like to say a bold take from Rick, really going on on a limb saying that the most recent fight between them is the one where they are going to have learned the most about each other, particularly when that fight lasted longer than their two combined fights did beforehand.

So I got to say with hot takes like that coming out of Ricky, I don't know how to match up. I agree. I agree with that take, though. I think that they learn more about each other in MMA in the MMA fight that they had. The problem is my question, I have one question because I am a bit on the finish. with the other thing Rick said about not treating the treating this is two rather than four. I understand it and I think that that's probably the appropriate like official stance to have. I, the way they compete in MMA is so, so largely, maybe not defined but informed by the way they

competed in kickboxing that it's, it feels more than the rematch. Maybe it's not the fourth fight, but there is somewhere in between. maybe this is just three, the net third fight between them. And I've seen them fight now for what 20 some odd minutes and then I don't know close to 45 minutes. That's the same dynamic has existed for all of it. And I feel like I am, maybe I'm an asshole and that's always possible. It seems so clear to me what the problem is and Izzy seems entirely incomplete.

capable of addressing it. And I don't know if I am wrong or he's wrong. I would venture to say that him, the professional fighter in all time grade is correct and I'm wrong. But my eyes can only tell me what they tell me. And they tell me that Izzy is the better fighter, Perjera is the more dangerous fighter. And Izzy is so afraid of losing the fight in a moment, in an instant, in one bit of violence that he recedes into himself and fights entirely defensively. And the long-term implications means that he stands across one of, if not the most dangerous kickboxer in the goddamn world for 25 minutes. In this most recent fight, he had a done.

That man was cooked at the end of the first round. Ten more seconds and he gets it. And how does he start round two a minute later? The same shit. He just walks around and is like, I'm not going to push. the issue. He did not take advantage in it. Bid him in the ass in the fifth because you know what happened in the fifth round. Rewatch the fight if you don't remember. In the fifth round, Beheader's corner told him, hey man, you're losing. You need to do better. And he did. He was

like, all right, well, F it. Get her get got, baby. I'm going to walk through fire to deliver what I wanted. And because it's the fifth round of that fight, Izzy's lightning quick reflexes, they're slow a little bit and he can get caught a little bit more. And it just keeps happening. And the, the definition of insanity is doing the same shit over and over and expecting different results and is he keeps doing it keeps doing it with the same dude and i have to they are a smart team and he is a smart fighter and if i can see this i have to believe that he can recognize but it i he hasn't done it yet and i don't know what it will take if a fifth and sixth knockout happen maybe you're like shit i just need to chuck him and see what happens but that's my question is will he learn a

lesson ever. Will he ever learn the lesson and fight this man in a way that is maybe feels more risky, but in the end will lead him to better results than just trying to outpoint the most dangerous dude on the planet. Fire starts of this round. I have an answer to that question. I have an answer to that question. The answer is unequivocally yes. The answer is unequivocally yes. And I would, I would, I will plant the flag here. Israel-A-Shania will be the middle-way, champion at the end of the conclusion of that fight i'm planting the flag now israel a lot of sanya will make those adjustments uh let me backtrack for a second just so i can wipe some of the egg off off my face here uh that gets smashed all over um the point i was trying to illustrate is to wait

the kickboxing fights less uh i could have said it more eloquently uh but yes the kick i'm i'm not completely discounting them but i'm but i'm really putting a lot more heavy weight into the m m mhm a And to be honest, I saw some, I saw some minor improvements. I saw enough there that I think with another camp. And what I believe ultimately is actually more important, the pressure of being an undefeated MMA fighter, the pressure of being the champion, the pressure of being the main attraction, right? Alex has the benefit or had the benefit of being the hunter of coming in and calling out Israel and looking for him. He didn't have the pressure.

The promotion wasn't hinging on him. I think a lot of that has now been relieved from Israel, Adasanya, he's lost now, he suffered defeat. I don't think he has to worry about that as much. And I think that is something with a fighter who's so self-reflective and intelligent as Israel that can weigh on them. And I think it did. I think he will be different.

I think he will be willing to take more risk. I think he will be willing to implement a different game plan. And I'm expecting different results if I'm thinking about it this far out. Now, granted, we need to see how they live. look and we need to see what they're saying. But I do think this will be a shift in attitude for Israel-Aa-Sahna. And I do think he will come in with a different mentality. And I think it will benefit him greatly. So yes, they have fought four times. But I do think there's there's a bit of a refresh that's going to happen. And it will look significantly different than the first two,

than the one in MMA. And we will see a different outcome. That's my, that's my early read. That's my early prediction. So to answer your question, yes, we will see something different from Israel, Sanya. I believe it in my bones. I truly do. If he does, he's going to win this fight.

He's a better fighter. He's, I feel like he's proven that pretty effectively in there, however many minutes of fight time, that he has more skills and is in general better, but like he just keeps fucking up in the same way. And so if he, if he just so win,

because he's better. But I don't, I don't know, man, it is, I'm going to pick Pereira because it seems, on one,

hand, it does seem very difficult to beat Izzy four times. Like, that is absolutely tough. On the other hand, he's already done three of them. It seems stupid to pick against the guy who won the first three fights. So I'm going to keep going. But if he does something different, and maybe he's got the face tattoos now, maybe he's on a whole new vibe. Who can say? I just, that my question is that. It is entirely, will, will Izzy do the same thing that has failed him? Or will he finally change? Will he listen to the haters and the people who are talking shit about, oh, I'm fighting too defensively enough? Look, a lot of that negative backlash is probably like totally fair for you to wave off. And hell, you're the champion of the world.

You wave off any of the online chatter. Who gives a shit? You're the man. But there's also truth in it. Like you were boring as shit against Jared Canineer. And that was a choice that you made because you thought it was safe. And that worked against Jared Canaaner. It didn't work against Perrera.

So, you know, live your life. You're the one who has to live it. That's my question. And I am, to answer the question you never offered to me, Mike, but that you did sort of, I'm pumped about this fight. I would have liked to see something different, but I'm with Rick. It's one and two. Like these are the best guys in the world with Robert Whitaker mixed in there. Pereira makes everything a little weird.

You can't get better than this. So it's going to be great. And we'll see if Izzy does do all those things. will they just run it right back and do number three? If it's New York Rick's book, that's probably what's going to happen. But we'll see. I feel like that fight's going to be a bit divisive amongst the MMA community and the closer get to April 8th.

And it was even upon the announcement. But one fight that has not been divisive at all since the announcement is Gilbert Burns versus Jorge Mazadol because not only have like the MMA pundits reacted to this, but I see fans on Twitter, the betting community. I mean, just look at the betting lines right now. Gilbert Burns a minus 435 favorite, the comeback on Jorge Mazadol is plus 350.

But I have just been seeing all over social media that Mazadol got no chance in this fight, that Burns is going to truck him, run him over, and beat him any way he wants. And I got to tell you, and maybe I'm crazy, Jed. I think this fight is much closer than the betting line suggests. and I think this fight is much closer than most people suggest. Would I favor Gilbert to win?

Would he be my pick right the second if I had to choose? Yes, but if I found $20 on the ground and I had a bet on one of these guys, I'm taking the plus shot on Jorge Mazadol because I feel like some of the things that people are looking at Gilbert Burns that he's going to be able to do to Jorge Mazadol, especially with the offensive wrestling. I don't think Gilbert Burns is Colby.

I don't think he's some of those guys. and I think from a defensive jiu-jitsu perspective, I think Mazadol is better than people are giving him credit for. I think this fight is closer. What do you think? I think the odds are pretty close to right. I can see it. You can pitch me the story and sell it to me because I agree.

Gilbert is not as good a wrestler as Colby Covington and Kamar Usman. I'm going out on that same very frail, fragile branch that Rick was by saying it, but Gilbert Burns is not as good a wrestler as Colby Covington and Kamar Usman. Usman. He is a better top position grappler though. Like that's when he has the position he's going to hold it and yeah Game Bread is game bread dude dude can grapple his ass off.

He can't grapple with Gilbert Burns because there are a handful of people in the world who can grapple with Gilbert Burns. It's just he's he is a world champion. World class is far overused in the sport absolutely appropriate for Gilbert Burns and

I don't think he can win any way he wants because I think if this does stay standing, I think Burns can acquit himself very well there, but Mossadol has more tricks. He's got a deeper bag to pull on and lay traps and work off of. I think this fight will be competitive to some extent, but I do think that ultimately Burns is going to get the takedowns and then he's not going to finish Mossvedal, but this is going to be, he needs two takedowns to win this fight. And I think he's got a pretty good chance of getting them.

And it's just going to be that. It's going to be a solid win for Burrador. you know, it'll look maybe somewhat like Wonderboy, maybe a little more competitive. It would be that. And Mossadol will again get tackled into the earth and he won't get to baptize anybody because that's, I don't think that's what's going to happen. I do, though, the thing I want most important to say about this, credit to Horace all.

Like, he didn't have to take this fight. He could have waited. He could have tried to find something else. This fight is tough. It is a tough hang for him. and the man has always been game bred. He is, duct is not the right word. He has avoided some fights based on timing.

He could have fought Leon Edwards, but it didn't make sense because he was trying to do other things. There were business reasons. It wasn't because that man has been afraid. Man's not afraid of a goddamn soul. And so full credit to him, he is probably going to get his ass whooped. But he didn't have to do it, and he is choosing to do this. And that's pretty damn, that's respectable at the very least. What do you think of this matchup, Rick?

Because I thought, to me, when Gilbert Burns got on the mic and he called out Colby, I was like, oh, not great. Wasn't a fan of it. Like, I get it. Like, if this is Bellator, Belator put that fight together in five seconds. But this is, UFC handles things differently. And I just don't feel like Colby's going to come back to fight Gilbert. It makes no sense.

Just like the call from Balmohama Muhammad of Colby doesn't make a lot of sense. Because I don't think that's going to get Colby off the couch to go crazy and come back and fight. Shemayev maybe, because he's a prize fighter and that's the biggest fight he can get by far. But Burns not saying Mazadol's name and not saying Blal's name, I thought was a misstep, but it turns out he gets Mazadol anyway.

So your reaction to this fight being put together. Yeah, I once again have to agree with Jed. I think the odds are about right here. Like I don't think Jorge is completely out of this fight, but if things go the way that they have been going lately for Gilbert, it burns, it's probably going to be a little bit of one-way traffic. He's probably going to be able to stifle what Jorge is able to do and be able to get off his offense enough to either, you know, win a pretty one-sided decision or maybe even potentially finish something on the

ground to another one of Jed's points. He is, he is world-class there. But I don't think Masvidal's completely out of this fight. I think he's, I think he's a live dog for sure because of just his his defensive grappling was kind of, I think, misrated because of the two guys that he just faced most recently in Kamara Usman and Kobe Covington. He is still a very good defensive grappler. He is still a very good striker. I think he has some tools that could potentially give Gilbert Burns trouble if Gilbert Burns is having an off night and Jorge is having a great night.

But ultimately, I think the odds are kind of right where they need to be and Gilbert's going to be in position. And I think more importantly is what happens next after this fight. Like, is this the fight that gets Gilbert Burns back into title contention? Is this the fight that propels Jorge Mazvedal into a fight with Leon Edwards? Because for me, if he can win this fight, I have no issue. And now we need Leon to get his side of the equation done as well. If Jorge Mazvidal can win this fight, I'm perfectly fine with him getting a title shot.

It would be three losses in a row and then one win. perfectly fine if they can sell me the story of Leon Edwards versus Oriamazidol. So I think there's a lot of stake here for both guys. I think it's a really important fight for both of them. But I'm more excited about what's the next step, to be honest, than I am for the fight itself. I think on paper it should be interesting. But what's next is the thing that's going to really get me excited. I was going to ask, I just saw something on social media that Ali Abdulaziz, who manages

Balaah Muhammad told the Schmoe that they're working on a fight between Balaal and Colby, and they're also working on them coaching tough. And I don't see it. I just don't see it. I'd be stunned. I'd be shocked if this happened. Because my question is, and I'll start with you, Jed, like, where does this fight put Balaah Mohamed right now?

Because to me, I'm not worried about a Colby Covington fight right now. I'm not worried about that shit at all. What I'm worried about is get me on that airplane. to London, let me be the backup, let me make wait. And if Camaro Oussman beats Leon Edwards and wins the belt back, I feel like this is the best shot ball has of getting a title shot. Because if Leon Edwards wins, beats Usman again, I feel like he's going to be waiting a long, long time before he gets a title shot.

Like, where does he go? Like, realistically, if Leon Edwards wins the fight. Like, if Leon beats Usman again, if Mazadol wins they're giving him a title shot Jed there's no doubt about it that's how the UFC does things and if Burns meets Mazadal he's gonna get that rub and he might get into a title shot so what does this fight do for Belal Muhammad? So what does this fight do for Belal Muhammad? So what does he need is he the biggest Usman fan on the planet right now? Wait are you talking about what does the Burns Mosvidal fight do for for Belal Muhammad or the Kobe Covington rumor? the Burns Mazadol fight because I don't I mean look I could be wrong and maybe they are working on that I would be I'd be completely shocked if Covington takes that fight really I think that's a great fight for him right I just don't I think he can win that fight and he will lose to Hamzaa which is the other one that they have repeatedly tried to make and you no one should fight Hamz out if you can avoid it and if he beats ball all that's a top five win but neither here nor there to answer your question uh I think that you are not seeing the true outcomes here, which is this. This, the Burns-Mosfidal fight is booked.

It hasn't happened. And it happens to be booked after Leon Edwards is fighting, Kamau Usman. And I am willing to bet that should Leon pull off the win again, be the champion, the fight he wants is Jorge Mosvidal. And if I'm, I know Hori Mastrol is separated from his management, but if I'm a concerned friend of Hori Mastral and Leone goes out here and beats Ustman, one, I would just go to England for that fight, just be there, make sure opportunities happen. And two, I would have a foot cramp that keeps me out of fighting Gilbert Burns because there's a real way that I could talk my way into a title fight against Leon Edwards if he wins this fight. certainly I would stay ready because if something happens to Usman and he can't compete for whatever reason Maserall is a wonderful short notice opponent for Leon Edwards in that so I'm not entirely convinced this

will happen based on how that shakes out but if none of that happens then this fight probably does put Balal back which is why I think the fight makes sense for him I love the optimistic view of this is the best chance he's got to fight Usman. But like, if Usman beats Edwards, does, does he want to fight Balal? Does anyone want to see him fight Balal other than Balal and his immediate family? It's not like Balal. God bless him. Man is trying. He is, he is doing everything that can be asked, but he's just not generating the interest. He, I think if Usman wins, there's no way Chamae of isn't going to be the guy. They're just going to make that happen by hook or by crook. And if, if Edward, wins, then he's going to desperately try and fight Hori Mastrow.

I think Covington win, regardless of this Burns-Mosserall fight, kind of. He just has to find Malala has to find a way to get over the hump. I think Covington's not a bad way to do it. What do you think, Derek, Rick? Where does this put Blah Muhammad? It puts him in a unique position because I think he's very much of the same school of Leon Edwards, where the UFC does not look at him as a property that they must force to the top. and are kind of going to make him earn it with a lot of wins in a row.

They're going to make him earn it with a lot of definitive wins. There's one shortcut to that, and I think this is the opportunity. It's if he can make the Hamzaat fight happen. I don't think he should be looking at Colby Covington. I think we're looking at Colby Covington and Hamzot, and for one reason or another, that fight is not coming together. Kick Colby Covington out of the picture and say, I'm the guy who's going to take out Hamzot,

Much like Gilbert Burns did. Why did I say it like that? Much like Gilbert Burns did when he attempted it. He was like, I'm going to be the guy that removes this man from the picture. So you guys are never going to talk about him again. It was a great fight. He didn't successfully do that. But I think the UFC respected what he did there.

I think a lot of fans respected what he did there. And it rebuilt him after that title lost to Kamar Usman. Balal needs to take the same playbook. He needs to be calling for that fight and no other fight. He needs to be the one who's calling for Hamzaa Shamaev. Now, Hamza may not be super interested in that fight. He strikes me more as the guy that's like put anybody in front of me and I'll take it. Maybe the UFC doesn't want to do it.

That's a headliner somewhere. And if I was Belal Muhammad, that's the only name that would be leaving my lips. I don't care about Colby Covington. He's not, he's probably not interested. Go after Hamza at Shamaev, shortcut it. Beat him. And I promise there will be fortunes that there's a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. So that's what I would do if I was Bilal Muhammad.

And I think it's a fight that could be interesting. I'm interested in that fight. Here's where Rick's wrong again. No one should try to fight Hamzad ever. Never. Everything he says makes total sense if you forget the fact that the base premise is trying to fight Hamzaa Chamaev, which is a bad idea. Have you seen the people who have tried to fight him? Did it work out for any of them?

save maybe Gilbert Burns. And that's even questionable? Maybe. I don't think his long-term health benefited from that fight in anyway. I said it earlier. I think it put him back in a position where people said, wow, like it wasn't good for him after the Kamarv fight. And I think it put him back in a position where people said,

you know what, maybe we gave up too soon on Gilbert Burns as a title contender. And now he's back in that conversation. I think that's the path for Balah, Muhammad. I do not disagree at all with Jed Mishu. I've got Hamzat Shemai have predicted as my welterweight and middleweight champions by the end of 2023. So I'm the biggest movie that you're going to find. Why aren't we the same?

On the M.M.A. fighting prediction show, I picked him to win both belts. I've got it. I've got it locked in. But that's the path. That's the path for Balaal, because he seems to be out of the picture. Like this booking tells me, Balaal Muhammad is not in the picture right now. They are looking for Leon Edward versus Jorge Masvital. They're looking for Kamaru Usman versus the next contender. Hamzat's in that mix. Kobe Covington's in that mix.

Bilal's not just, he's not there just yet. And Hamzat would be the only way he jumps ahead of anybody. We'll see what happens. And by the way, Bilal is like one of my fighters to watch this year too. I'm very interested to see where he ends up because I really think he's turned the corner and he's delivering incredible performances. You're the first person ever say you were very interested to see Bilal Mohammed fight. I am.

I am. The Sean Brady win was incredible. That was an incredible performance against a really good guy. A guy who was very, very high on. So I am interested to see what he does next. I just don't know if he fights Colby. Who the hell knows?

If he does, good for him. One more fight I wanted to get a reaction from. I talked about this extensively on heck of a morning, which Newark Creek is aware of. So I want to start with you, Jed. April 15th, the main event for that card is going to be the return to Max Holloway. fighting at featherweight against the surging

Arnold Allen, a guy you are very, very high on. And I have given my take on this fight where if we're using the vacuum term, in a vacuum, this fight rules. It's incredible. The styles, the stand-up, everything these guys are going to do for each other in terms of styles is going to be fantastic.

It's a great fight. But to me, Jed, and tell me if I'm crazy, right now, I don't love it. I don't love it because of where this division has been in the last couple of years. You have another guy in Arnold Allen that is just shooting up the ranks.

I wanted Arnold Allen, Ilya, because sure, you're putting two up-and-coming heaters against each other. One has to suffer, but at least one will move forward. It's a guarantee one of these guys are going to move forward. This fight, you don't get that guarantee.

And if Max Hollowe beats Arnold Allen, now what? You just have to hope that Volkovsky wins the lightweight title and just doesn't come back. Like, I don't love it for the division if that's like right where it's at right now. But I love the fight just right now for this division. I don't love it. Your thoughts. I understand where you're coming from.

I think this is good. I'm okay with this for a couple of reasons. One, the fight is awesome, just gangbusters. Two, there is a major flaw with this fight. but it's not if Max wins. If Max wins, that's actually a better outcome for the UFC because they have an interim title fight happening. So Volcanovsky comes back to 145, he fights the winner of the interim.

The problem is if Arnold wins. Because if Arnold beats Max, I don't give a shit about an interim belt. He is the guy who should be facing Alexander Volkinovsky for the featherweight title. I don't believe any rational person would disagree other than the winner of Josh Iman and Yahy Rodriguez. Like that is a, this fight, the only problem with this fight is that there is a fake belt on the line for number one contender. And Arnold should have been in that.

And I think most people are on that same page. But this fight on the merits, this fight was the one that always looked like we're going to get. And I'm okay with it. And I am largely okay with it because I think Arnold Allen's going to win this fight. I'm saying it now I'm putting my flag in the dirt. I think Garland is going to do it. I have been very high on this guy and I think

we are starting to see Max decline. Max has been fighting since he was like 17 and I have thought he was declining before and he's bounced back but there are only so many miles you can get out of your body and he has ridden them all. Dustin Porre was a war.

He got tuned up by Volk this last time out. He had a war with the Ayr. Like they're just, you just, You just can't do this forever. Think he's slowed down enough and Arnold Allen is ascending that this is going to be his breakout coming out party. And so I'm for it because then I can I can credibly rank Arnold Allen as the number two featherweight in the world or maybe number one if I'm feeling froggy. And it will be really, really stupid for Arnold Allen to be the guy sitting cage side while while Yeya Rodriguez or Josh Emmett get hustled out of the frigging cage by Volcanovsky when he could. clearly is the guy you should be facing him, but that'll be fine.

Because at the end of the day, we're going to get a dope fight. We will get a deserving contender out of this. And you never know. Maybe we get some shenanigans and Emmett Rodriguez ends up in a draw. And so then, you know, something happens and it all breaks out weird. Who can say what's going to happen? This fight is awesome on its own. And so that's good enough for me.

I'm okay with what's going on here. I agree. The fight on its own is great. Great. I feel like Volk's taking this fight at 155 because Holloway's just been the number one contender for three years. No, he's taking this fight at 155. He's an asshole. I've been very clear. There are dudes he could have fought at 145. He didn't want to. And I don't begrudge him for trying to get the money and the thing because Connor broke this sport and everyone wants to do it. But you're just, you are parenting the lie that I didn't have anybody else to fight. Like, no, you could have fought Yair or it. or on it, Alan, you chose not to. And so I will not allow that lie to stand here. He is choosing not to defend his featherweight belt, and that is okay.

But it is not, I didn't have anyone else to fight. There are tons of dudes in this weight class who you have not beat up. You could have picked any of them. Rick. I'm just going to push back a little bit on the idea that he had all these guys to fight two sentences previous. you talked about how he's going to usher them out of the octagon expeditiously and they're not going to have anything for him.

I don't necessarily need to see those fights. I don't necessarily care about those if that's going to be the expected outcome. That's being a long reigning champion. Every long reigning champion, you go in and you put on the hard hat and you go to work and you fucking deliver. Show me you can do it. You beat Max Holloway three times. You call your shot.

I'm cool with whatever Volk wants to do and I'm okay with him. at the time that this was happening, those guys weren't contenders. And I'd argue one dubious win over Brian Ortega after losing to Max Holloway isn't necessarily the greatest resume to push you into a time of their numbers, Rodriguez. So I'm going to say, I'm going to say, nah, I don't buy that. And good for Volk for chasing some history. As far as the Max Holloway and Arnold Allen fight, everybody seems to ignore the fact that this is

Max Holloway, although I'll say Jed kind of was a lot more open to it than most have been. Everybody seems to ignore the fact that Max Holloway is saying, I'm still a 145er. Everybody wants to push him to 155 and he's just not going. He doesn't, he clearly isn't on that path right now. He wants to remain at 145. And by accepting a fight against a very dangerous guy like Arnold Allen and a top contender against a top contender like Arnold Allen, he's saying that 145 is the place that he wants to see if he can still compete. I have no issues with it. I think you obviously have the difficulty of booking Max Holloway against other top contenders

if Volcanovsky is still the 145-pound champion. But I'm okay with the idea of Max Holloway being that measuring stick, that guy that they have to face to get over the hump. He's paid well, and I'm sure he loves collecting those checks and doesn't have an issue with that. I'd like to see where Max Holloway is at. And I think Arnold Allen is a measuring stick right back in the other direction to Jed's point. He has a lot of miles on those tires.

Let's see if he's still that number two guy. This fight makes sense to me as long as Max Holloway doesn't want to be at 155, which it seems like he doesn't. I'm perfectly fine with it, no issues, and let the Alexander Volcanowski as champion versus Max Holloway thing sort itself out. There's going to be another belt in play momentarily. Maybe that's something that Max Holloway can get. And then they have to figure out what they do in the unification.

Maybe Volkanowski wins and goes up to 55. There's still a lot more to play out before we understand what the implications of the entire featherweight landscape are. Arnold Allen versus Max Holloway is a great fight. Let's just run it. And then we can worry about the future. It is a great fight.

A lot of what ifs. A lot of we need this, we need this. But listen, the fight rules. And it's going to be really fun to watch. It'll be really interesting. Even we mentioned the damage Holloway's taken. I know Holloway is under the spotlight for having. John Anick still to this day says his performance against Calvin Cater was the greatest

performance he's ever seen sitting Octagon side, but he took a beating in that fight too. Like he landed a lot more, but he took a lot of punches and a lot of shots from Calvin Cater in that fight too. And so yeah, maybe it is added up. Maybe it's to set up Arnold. Who the hell knows? I love the fight. Again, Holloway's burnt this division many times in a good way because he has been that

measuring stick for a while. and everyone has tried to knock him off and he keeps winning and we've been in the same situation for a long time so that's my only issue with this fight. The fight by itself rules, but I would have rather have seen Alan versus Deporia winner gets that coveted on deck spot.

But if Holloway wins, then we'll see, maybe Toporia versus Holloway because that's probably where we'd end up going. So all right, we'll move on. The point for round four goes to New York Rick. It's two to two to two. What a battle. I didn't have a final question prepared.

I probably, because I've been doing the show so differently throughout 2023, but we do have a knock-around question. I just thought of it through things that we have said over the last few minutes. But one question for each of these gentlemen, they'll each have one minute to give their answer, explain why that is their answer, and then we will take it to the peeps who will vote, whether or not Jen Michoud wins or New York Rick wins. But in New York, Rick's eyes, all of us. are winners because these guys got together and talked mixed martial arts. So Jed, what are we doing here?

I think I went first last time. I think I took the first and then because then BC rambled on for three minutes after the bus. He sure did. So I'll give it to Rick. All right. So a couple of different times I used the word, we used the phrase fighter to watch in 2023. So I want to know who your fighter to watch is in 2020, Rick.

And you could take this in whatever context you want. It could be storyline wise, someone who's been out for a while that's coming back, kind of under the radar guys that you feel are going to make the move up the ladder. Who is the one fighter that you're most intrigued about in 2023? One minute on the clock, go. Yeah, I'm going to pick an under the radar guy. I just feel like it'd be disingenuous to pick somebody who's near. the top. I'm going to pick Hamza Chamaev. He's this guy out of Sweden, who's pretty gnarly.

I am predicting a very, very successful year for Hamzaa Chamaev, as mentioned previously. I think there's an opportunity to fight for one, if not both of the belts. It just seems like he just needs the one more to get over the hump before the UFC is willing to put him in there. No matter which division he ends up in, no matter who the opponent is, I'm favoring the man in the matchup. I think this is going to be a huge year for Hamza at Chamaev. I'm going to cheat a little bit and put a little one B answer for Connor McGregor. I really want to know where he's at. We haven't seen him in a fight that's been a good barometer for where he's at in a very long time. I'm curious. I admit, I am curious to see where Connor McGregor is at. But Hamzaa Chamaev, you may not have

heard of him, but look out for him this year. Look out for him this year. Wow. I mean, Jed, I mean, New York Rick really reached deep into the bag of prospects to pull out those two names. I don't know how you're going to recover from that. But maybe there's a part of you that was like, damn it, New York, Rick, I should have went first because that up-and-coming Hamza-Chamai of would have been a great answer. But same question for you, my friend. One minute on the clock. Go.

I still don't know who I want to pick because there are so many good choices. I thought Rick was going to take him, so I'll take them instead. because I don't agree Hamza. I would love Hamzot to be the guy. I predicted him to be a double champion. I still don't really know what the hell he's doing other than training with Kadirov, which is stains.

So I'm not going to support this man in that regard. A.K. Lee, this is for you. I'm going to go Jailton Almeida. I don't know if you've heard of Jailton Almeida. But he's going to be the next big thing. If you haven't heard, like Rick said, is he a heavyweight? Is he a light heavyweight?

Is he both? Will he hold all the belts? Who can say? What I can tell you about this man is he looks great getting off the bus. He has unbelievable jiu-jitsu and the horsepower to match it. And he has thus far looked every bit as dominant as Hamzot did only at heavyweight. And heavyweight is the division in the sport always in forever. And Jailton Almeida, he's the guy who I'm the most excited to see what he does.

does this year. All right. Two great answers. I mean, I hope you guys have heard of these fighters that they both mentioned, but I almost went to more number of met off, but then I was like, I thought you're going to. Everybody knows his last name, so it doesn't count. I'm embarrassed. I always answer John Jones for all of these questions every single time and I did it this time. So I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for myself. Oh, man. So we will let the votes tabulate. At least this week, we can promote things that are happening. Like in about an hour and a half, we're going to have our Bellator 290

UFC Vegas 68 preview show. We're going to go a day early. So we're going to go live at 3.30 p.m. Eastern, join us for that. We will do a... What? I just want to correct the record on two things, real quick, and I don't want to do it on the back end.

Derek Lewis has only lost two in a row. This would only be three in a row, not four in a row. He snuck a win. That's only if you treat Chris Dawkes as a real end. real finder. That's a win. And the other thing, I want to shout out Julie Kedzi, long time color analyst for Invicta, who just like is awesome and deserves some shine and it doesn't really, you know, become a part of this conversation. But like has just been doing awesome work on that scene for a long time. And another female that you, that you could look to for

inspiration. Nice. Well said. More, more, more inspiration on the preview show, 3.30 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss that. And of course, Saturday we'll have all sorts of craziness. Our man E. Casey Liden, the birthday boy yesterday, celebrating. What are you, Casey, the big three, two? A little more, 45. Forty-five. Good for you, my man.

Mr. 10-8, the big four-five. So happy birthday to EKC. He will be at the Kia Forum for Bellator 290. So we'll have lots of coverage there. We'll have a Q&A. We'll do a post-fight show, probably after the Bellator, card. So we don't have to stay up till 6 a.m.

to do the UFC one. I mean, give us a friggin' break for God's sake. AK and I will do it on to the next one on Sunday, but a little bit later in the day. So there you go. That's where we're at right now. Sounds like you should just do a post-UFC show slash onto the next one. Just roll in two birds, one stone. We could do that.

We could do that. Oh, by the way, check out Casey and Shaheen Al-Shaddi's wonderful Fador video. on our YouTube channel. Check that out. It'll give you goosebumps. It'll definitely give you goosebumps. So Casey, who wins this battle? Well, we have a winner.

Your winner today with 58% of the votes is New York Rick. Whoa, he's done it. He's done it. Revenge. It is on the plate of New York Rick. You're a correct. Congratulations, my friend. Win number two. Let's change that scoreboard a little bit. How are we feeling?

Yeah, thanks, Mike. As always, just a pleasure to be here. I think they got it wrong, if I'm being honest. I thought Jed won. But, you know, as I said, they made their decision as soon as this stream started and then just went with that. I'm glad they like me, you know, but, you know, to be honest, it doesn't really change my day any.

I'm just so happy and so blessed to be with all of you. Casey, Mike, the host with the most, Jed, a worthy adversary. I'd argue the winner today. I'm just a lucky man. And I can't say anything other than positive things about my experience. I hope they never vote for me again because I didn't win. It wasn't rightful. But if they do, you know what?

I'm going to be just as happy and just as positive about it. Thank you so much for even just having me here, for considering me to be a part of this show. Unbelievable. What? I mean, this is pure white meat. Baby face right here. Chad, your thoughts on the people. Are you feeling just as positive about the situation

as New York Rick would have been in defeat? Yeah, because a vote for Rick is a vote for me because we had the same takes. We said the same things, but that one time Rick was like, I boldly proclaimed that Israel dissonia and Alex Peda learned the most from their most recent fight. We agreed on everything. Like, we didn't have, I would have picked Hamzaa

if he didn't pick Hamzaa. And if I'd gone first, I'd have taken Hampton, he'd taken Jailton. We were the same. So it's okay. We all win. We're all winners today. Yes, we are. A lot of people were wondering and have asked,

what's going on, Luke Thomas? What's happening with Luke Thomas? Apparently, the fine folks in Morning Combat, BC, went on Morning Combat and laid down the gauntlet live on the show to Luke for you, Jed. And Luke said he was in, and I'm happy to announce. He will not be on the show next week. week, but the Thursday after UFC 284, Luke Thomas returns to the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel,

and we'll take on Jed Michoud right here on BTL. How are you feeling about this, Jed? I would traditionally be very excited. I still am. You realize that you've set up a scenario where for the last year and a half, I have done nothing but exclusively talk shit in favor of Islamakachev. And you have now made it the weekend after, if he does lose, I don't think you will, but if Volkovsky pulls it off, that will be the worst week of my professional life.

And then I'll have to, I'll have to chuck Mitz with Luke Thomas. That's going to be a tough one. I'm excited, but good God, I hope Islam wins. Well, no matter what happens, Jed, I'm here for you. I'm always here for you. I will be here for you for everybody. I appreciate that because I guarantee you the vote will not be here for me. well we'll all be winners according to new york rick so that'll be two weeks from right now we will have a show next week and we'll let you know who that's who the lineup's gonna be so hit the music casey we are done uh got some things to attend a meeting with you new york rick and very excited about so uh thank you very much for watching enjoy the fights this weekend for new york rick for jed the birthday boy casey line on the ones and twos i am mike heck we'll see you back here next week on between the links the iconic voice of esther lynn perhaps

takes you home. Good night, everybody. This is Esther Lynn. Thank you for watching Between the Links and Vox Media Production. Happy birthday, AK. And happy birthday, EKC. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.