MMA Fighting - BTL | Gaethje Batters Pimblett, UFC 324 Fallout, Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Justin Gaethje captured the interim lightweight title in a wild UFC 324 main event matchup with Paddy Pimblett to kick off the UFC's new deal with Paramount. What was the No. 1 takeaway from the Gaethje vs. Pimblett main event, and the UFC 324 broadcast? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses how UFC 324 came off on Paramount+, Gaethje's dominant win over Pimblett, if Ilia Topuria should be next, and where Pimblett goes from his first UFC loss. Additionally, topics may include Saturday's UFC 325 event, the quality of the card as a whole, Alexander Volkanovski facing Diego Lopes again in a featherweight championship main event, Tyson Fury's comeback fight on Netflix, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions all show long. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. The iconic studios, this is between the links. And now your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. We are coming off of the return of the UFC and the UFC's debut on Paramount Plus with UFC 324. A lot to discuss in regards to the fallout of...

that event. They're going back to back with these numbered events. UFC 325 this Saturday headline by Alexander Volkovsky versus Diego Lopez 2 for the UFC featherweight title. We get Dan Hooker, Benoit Santanyi, Rafael Fazev versus Mauritio Rufi, the return of Tai Tui Vasa, and much more. Plus, we got some interesting news last night about a former Bellator champion and no longer on the UFC roster. So we'll talk about all that stuff and more, basically whatever you guys want to talk about on this special Q&A edition of the program.

And joining me to answer your questions and much more. He is Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid from M.AFighting.com, currently trailing at our watch party draft pick league. Don't like it. Six to three for your boy, Mike Heck. The man looking to climb out of the cellar, Mr. Jed Bishu.

Jed, how are we doing? It's a bad start, you know, like, I picked first last week, right? Which I do think was the worst position to be in because it felt like there were three very obvious choices and so you got two of them and then, you know, I got, and my first overall was Umar and he he cashed. And then things didn't go so hot.

So like, you know, if you're gaming it out, I got five first, I got five picks, five choices last week. only three of those one. That is a huge, huge point score for you. So we'll try and dig out of it this week. We'll see what going on. I'm trying to look,

because I wrote this the other day, and now I can't figure out where the guy wrote it. Do you know the last time we went back to back paper or numbered events, I guess not technically paper views, but paper views for the UFC? I don't know. I want to say,

Let me confirm that because I was trying to figure out where I wrote this. I am fairly certain though. The answer is 2021. But I'll try and confirm that I can't. I remember writing it down like looking it up yesterday and writing it. And I simply don't know where I put that. So. But I mean, honestly, I would have thought it was longer.

Like this is not a normal thing for us to get pay-per-view into pay-per-view. you know, we can talk about the card. We can talk about whatever the peeps want to talk about, really. But there's some good things happening this weekend, if nothing else. Yeah. Dirty boxing is back on Friday. So you have things to watch on Friday. Don't think I knew that, but okay.

Yeah. Not their best lineup, if we're being honest, but not horrible. Much like UFC 325. That's very true. No Gable Steven competing at dirty boxing this week. But let's get into it. Of course, the super chatters get to the top of the line. Someone asking, we're ever going to see the original show format again?

I mean, we talk about this literally every week. Once we backfill Casey's spot and we have an actual, like, show producer. We will go back to the original format. But until that day comes, we will stick to this format. We tried doing it once before, right, to edit. And of course, I had a Wi-Fi. I had a Wi-Fi issue when Shaheen Al-Shadi made his return. And it kind of ruined everything.

So I would prefer to not be the power of producer when we do that format in case we do have Wi-Fi issues. So that's the answer to that question. So there you go. The main card is insane. Nothing but violence. I'm predicting three to four finishes. How many finishes you predicting on this main card, Jed? Let's take a look.

Also, I did confirm as 2021. It was UFC 267 and U.S. 268, Blahovic Tashara, and U.S.man Covington, 2. were back to back the end of October first week of November events so been a few years since I honestly I thought when I was originally looking

that up there was going to be like UFC 50 or something so not quite the same let's pull up the card real fast and Mike let's take a look how many finishes on the main card or the card at all main card main card uh

uh uno dose trace uh four I think I think if I were sitting a line, I'd go three and a half, and you could take the over under, but I think I'd skew towards the over there. Yeah, I think we could get, I were getting at least three. The thing, I think we were getting three.

The question to me is the main event and the Fizziv-Ruffy fights. Yes. I could see either of those going finish or to the cards. Yeah, the first two fights are not going to the cards. I think Hooker B.S. Deeply unlikely. I don't think the co-made events going to the cards. I also think that's unlikely.

Yeah, but it's the last two fights that I'm with you on that one. So, Jed and I, of course, will have our draft at the end of the show. We will be going live on the watch party at 8.30 p.m. Eastern this week, because let's be honest, the lineup as a whole, not as strong as UFC 324 as much. And I fought, by the way, I fought hard to have us go earlier so we could watch tourists. Finney versus Jacob Malcoun because that I would be fine to do that the problem is then we still have to watch cam Rauston and Cody Brundage and that's like me that's that's a fight that'll happen there's a fight that will occur yep uh shut out here to hosada mike you had the the now

infamous town hall with don davis looking back did you know then this is how things would end up with him um that's an interesting question not really I didn't think he'd basically get ousted because that's, I mean, that's what it kind of seems like that they brought in this board and they were like, we're just changing everything up. So I don't think I expected him to just get kind of pushed out the door because that's what it seems like. I thought he'd sort of sink with the ship, honestly, but that didn't happen here. So I guess I'm surprised at some things. and there are certain things with how like and where pfl is currently positioned right now that i'm not surprised by so i guess like some column a some column b but did i expect to be

talking about a world where don davis is not in a prominent position with pfl in early 2026 no i did not let's say you jed um i think you're not you're not responsible but i i genuinely and truly believe that you actually do play a role in this. Because it all went downhill for Don when you tried to give him a softball. You tried to say, hey, man, what's your favorite fight of all time? And he, you know, I was like, I don't have one. And then you tried again, like, just throw one out. and he was like, I don't watch the sport.

And I truly believe that that was the beginning of the end for Don Davis and the PFL. Because like he's not the majority shareholder. And so if you have a board that is running things, why would you put a guy who doesn't care about your sport in charge of it? Right? Like that's, he needs to bring, bring something to the table. And Don brought some things to the table.

table more behind the scenes, but he was such a forward facing part of the company. And I do, you know, I always wanted to give him the respect for doing that. He certainly didn't have to agree to do stuff like the town hall and take field questions. But he didn't always have good answers. And so, like, I truly do believe that his appearance on the town hall and his inability to answer literally the easiest question that will ever be asked of a person. was the was the it kick started where we got to now well the good news is i could sleep well a night because i did not pull up that question uh that was a casey pull up at the time uh but boy

also you could sleep well because that's not a gotcha it's not a gotcha like that is dude like because legitimately like if you win the day it happened the day don resigned and we wish i wish them the best i've no no animosity towards don davis whatsoever But the day it happened, the thing I saw the most from other people were clips of him being like, I don't have a favorite fight. I don't watch the sport or whatever. It's like, but you just can't, you can't give that sound bite. And I remember being there and us immediately talking about it afterwards and being flabbergasted. Like how did this?

How? How did this happen? And that just feels like that was it. That just feels like that started at all. He could have just said Chris Cyborg, Larissa Pacheco. It happened like a month ago. It was less than that. Yeah.

It was like a week, maybe a week or a couple of days after. It's just like, like I understand that not everybody talks for a living. And so like, yeah, you and I maybe are just better at sort of freewheeling like that. But Don kind of does talk for a living. And so like, you know, this wasn't some man on the street. Oh, I'm shocked. You just stuck stuck a microphone in my face and you're asking me to name three countries that start with the letter Z. Like, I get it. Like, people, that's this like, he knew he was going to do this.

And he couldn't even like make one up. Just say a fight and then defend the position. But certainly just be like, you know what? People are going to call me a Homer and that's okay. I absolutely love the Chris Cyborg, uh, uh, Lewis of Pacheco fight. I think that's the best that sort of is the emblem, emblematic of how great we as a promotion can be. Everyone be. Everyone Like, yeah, it's kind of cheesy, but it's fine. And he couldn't do it. And that's why he didn't have a job. Like, I'm, you'll never convince me that that's, that did not play a part in this.

Happy trails to Don Davis. I hope whatever you're doing, man, because you are, by all accounts, all my interactions with you, been a good dude. No, no issues with you. So good luck into what's, whatever's to come. All right. Cosmo, condolences to Apache mixes UFC career. So we found out yesterday, uh,

patchy mix was at a rise in press conference because he is signed with the promotion nowhere which means he's no longer with the UFC Jed so your reaction to this because I have thoughts on this I feel a little bit vindicated but not fully because I have there are some things about this that really surprised me but I want to get your thoughts first honestly good for patchy right like he he he wasn't gonna work out in the UFC he had two fights they were levels of awful um he seems to have regressed in general maybe wasn't as good as you know we wanted him to be though i don't i do think at his height he was still very good but uh he

he had been regressing before he came over frankly i thought he lost his final pfl fight against magamatov whatever um multi multi magamatov however you want to have whatever his name is um but like good for him i'm sure rising will take care of him pay him fairly well. He can not just sort of suffer the ignominy of losing to mid to poor level UFC guys.

But I was genuinely shocked by this just because it happened seemingly out of nowhere. It was only two fights in. And my first reaction was genuinely like, is that the worst UFC signing ever? You know, like,

because Patchy had expectations. And as far as like, entering the sport, entering the promotion with hype compared to what they accomplished. It's like him or Will Brooks. Like those are the two. And I don't know if he's worse than will like if his UFC run is worse than Will Brooks. But those are the two guys to be like, yeah, that's the worst signing that's ever happened in the company. Wow.

Okay. Uh, I mean, it's something to, to think about. So here's who. Who else would it be? it's one of the two of them. Yeah, I don't know. And a shout out to Will Brooks, who I think has been trying for years

and deserves another crack in the UFC, but he went like one and two and then got cut, like got cut, maybe one and three. Patty went one in one and one. You know, it's pretty bad, man. And if you look at Will Brooks's run,

because I just pulled it up, right? Like he beat Ross Pearson, who at the time, time was at least like a competent fighter right like I'm not saying he's a top 15 dude or whatever but ross parson at the time was probably a top 25ish lightweight or whatever patchy mix you know lost a splitie to i i just looked this up i realized he lost to jacobico blacks i thought he beat him in my head it's like um i forgot he lost jacobitigua so that's even worse actually than in my head but like he lost to alex olivera basically at peak alex oliver will

And then lost the Nick Lince, who again, like a top 25-ish dude. So yeah, man, I get. Oh, and Charles Olivaura. No shame in that. So I think Padgy Mix might have been the worst J.OVC signing ever. Here's honestly, my biggest takeaway was his run was brutal. Like, it was so, so bad. And like, look, if he loses to Mario Batista, the thing about the patchy run was he came in,

yes, he took the fight on short notice, but he was just like, Mario Batista's journeyman. I could basically take this fight on six hours notice and beat this dude. And then he goes on and loses and like, yeah, it's a big weight. Never put down your opponents before you fight him. Yep, you don't do that. And then we're like, okay. Unless you know you're going to win.

They're putting him against a former KSW guy, Jacob Wicklacks, who's fun. But Patchy, like, should win. Like if he is anything that we saw during the Bellator Bannemweight Grand Prix, he should win. I believe, and I know I picked him to lose that fight, and he did. It was closer. and you know him going on to is tough it's tough but the biggest thought i had about this is like man the ufc didn't even think his name was worth anything rather than just say like what's let's milk whatever apache's name he has left to maybe put over a patent talbot or an up-and-coming

talent in this division they didn't even see value in that they just said f this we're done that to me is like that is worse than going oh and two. It's just like the UFC didn't even think like his resume from the past and being a former Bellator champion and like things he brought to the table was good enough to stick around and even be presented as some kind of litmus test or I'm not going to say enhancement talent, but maybe in some degrees they would want to position him that way and at least milk ring out whatever water is left in that patchy mix name for the UFC. And they were just like, nope, we don't even care about that. We're just going to be. done with it and he's just gone now i will say this is better for him because he's probably getting

a little bit more money to go with risin he gets to fight in a different kind of rule set and on top of they he doesn't have to cut to 135 anymore so hopefully like he has a healthy career and he can go on and have some success but like to me when i look at his legacy and what i will remember most about patchy mix is yes i'll remember the the incredible run he had in the grand prix but at the top of this list no matter how much he has how much success he has with Verizon, it is all going to come down to this UFC run that this whole talk that he was, because I never thought he was the best band of weight in the world. I was very public with that. A lot of people thought he was. I was like, no. Like if he fought Sean O'Malley right now, even at the peak of his powers, I think

Sean O'Malley would have beat the hell out of him. That's just how I viewed it. Sheen-Elshadie and I talked about that all the time. I thought he lost Amagam and Maga Mada Mada Madaf. I thought he'd beat Mario Batista, but I still didn't think he'd like fight for a belt or anything like that. So, but yeah, the fact that the UFC was just like, nope, we're cut in bait immediately. We don't even think his name matters at all to like use him as, as a talent to put over to, to face other talent, uh, was shocking to me. That was very eye opening to me. They didn't give him at least one more chance to fight somebody on the come up. But yeah. I mean, the reality is, why would you? Uh, neither of those fights were interesting. And I assume he made a lot of money, right? Like I,

I assume he made a fairly good amount of, of dollars. And he was into not great fights. And he lost them both. So do you think he was making like six figures to fight? Like six figures to show? I assume he was making six figures to show. Yeah. I mean, maybe they did that.

That's not a really high bar to clear when you're a champion from another organization coming over. Yeah. I, I don't think he was making high six figures, but I, I, I, if he, wasn't making six figures, I don't know why he would have signed in the UFC. That would just be bad because he could make six figures somewhere else. Yeah. I thought you maybe, do you think he's making more money with PFL? Almost certainly. I assume everybody who stays with PFL for an additional contract is making more money because they're, they're running a huge negative to, to cover things. So, yeah. All right. Well, there goes Patchy. And we wish him best, his wish him the best on his future

endeavors and hopefully it all works out for him. Ladies of me as, as DBX failed to publicly address the fact that their heavyweight champion was arrested slash may still be incarcerated for biting his significant other. Allegedly, let's put that out there. Allegedly is an important word to say. By the way, there is an interview with Mike Perry that I did earlier this week. I think it's going to drop tomorrow.

I did ask him about that. He gave a response to it. And I will leave it at that. You guys can check that out tomorrow. So I did address it with my. I'm stoked to see Mike Perry's nuanced legal opinions. Yeah. So, yeah, that's a thing.

Let's see. Honestly. Kardischi. I haven't really considered that. That's a really good idea. You know, it would be cool to see an R.F. Gregor Gillespie, maybe a Chandler rematch. I'd never thought of that.

I don't spend that much time thinking about RIF, but that's a tremendous idea. And maybe that'll happen. Man, what a, what of what could have been? Gregor Gillespie was, huh? I know. If they just gave him the Tony Ferguson fight when he wanted it. Yeah, what a. Very strange.

I assume he's retired. Did he ever officially retire? Or is he just fishing? I think he's just fishing. I don't think he actually like officially retired. I mean, I could be wrong. But that's like a name I don't think about all that much. Like once in a while, it'll come up.

I'm like, oh, yeah, remember that guy? He was really good. I'm surprised he's not fighting anymore. but yeah that'd be fine if they want to do that sure uh thank you preston appreciate i mean it's basically raf is like basically built for a guy like gartor o'sb four-time it all-american the only reason he got into fighting was because he couldn't read like he couldn't beat jordan burrows it's like okay you can't beat jrumb burrow is probably the greatest american wrestler of his generation so he started fighting he's very good at fighting and

sort of didn't finish it out. So yeah, that's a great idea. And Michael Chandler makes sense. He beat Chandler in college at least once, maybe twice. I'd watch that. RAF6 just announced Arm and Sarukin's going to be on the card against the Take Me Down win a $1,000 guy, which I think is a brilliant idea. Honestly, that is going to be like the most hyped match of the event, even more so than

Syrio and your eye favor. And Norman Surukin's going to make $1,000. So that's nice. Joshua, can Tai Tuivasa make a comeback or is he done? Of course, he is returning to action against Talasin Tashira at UFC 325. Taitoivasa on the Schneid, as they say. He has been finished in four of his last five, finished by Gahn, Pavlovich, Volkov, and Tibera, and then lost a split decision to Jarazenia Rosenstrike in a fight that certainly happened, Jed, at UFC 305.

is he is he cooked what are we thinking here how are we how are we gauging taito yvasa after a year and a halfish layoff i mean i think he's cooked um but this is this is where we'll find out for sure basically because derrick lewis is cooked probably and derrick lewis knocked out tawson to sherra in 26 seconds or whatever the hell it was so um titu vasa has lost five fights in a row he has looked awful increasingly in that losing streak. And then he just took 18 months off to get his head right. It felt like he was retiring, but he never really said it. Now he's back.

It's not really retirement, but just like, I'm going to take some time. And, you know, maybe that time did him good. We're going to find out in a couple of days because my belief is that he's just washed. But you never know. maybe he just like had a crisis of confidence and taking some time off allowed him to be at peace with whatever he can do and no longer feel like the tension and the necessity of getting like that it's important to get victories and he can just go have fun because he can still punch dudes or hardened head and talus and just shared just got punched or hardened the head by derrick goes and lost so like can happen again um but my belief is that tied Tuivasa is probably washed. This is probably six in a row. And I don't know if the UFC cuts him at six in a row because he's popular and it's heavyweight

who cares really. But like at some point you want you want it to stop. Go go do follow Tony Ferguson's past. He lost a million fights in a row. And now he's the misfits champion of the world. Go do that. What are the betting lines on that? fight.

Uh, I've a plus two, put around a plus 250 dog. Let me, yeah, I'll tell you what I'm curious to what Talishin's game plan is going to be. I mean, if I'm him and I'm just like, I'm going for a win and a finish,

like I'm just tackling him immediately. Like, I'm not even going to take any risk. I'm just going to march across that octagon and tackle him. And put him away. If he gets into like a standing brawl with Ty, tie has a chance because he hits like a ton of bricks. So.

But that fight could get real bad and real ugly if we get out around one. So we shall see. It'd be cool to see a nice moment for Ty Tzuivasa, but Talison's a big, big man, and he's coming off of a loss, and see if he can come back. Let's see.

From the Twitchsters, Yasmin Lucindo, nine-month suspension, failing a drug test. Any thoughts on that? I saw she failed what she popped for. What did she pop for? Let's see. Can't be much if it's nine months. Let's see what she popped.

She popped for Lucinda tested positive for the presence of Mester alone, a prohibited at all time substance in the class of anabolic agents on the UFC prohibited list. She popped for anabolic and they gave her nine months.

From an out of competition sample. Who did she snitch on? Upon notification of this adverse analytical finding from the lab, the UFC immediately removed Lucindo from her schedule about on December 13, 2025. Throughout the investigation, the evidence collected indicated that Lucinda did not intentionally use Mester alone to gain a performance advantage.

She cooperated fully with CSAD's investigation, including submitting to a detailed interview and providing official government documentation from a Brazilian pharmacy where she obtained compounded supplements prior to the adverse finding. The documentation indicated that the pharmacy regularly compounded products containing Messer alone and could not rule out the possibility that legal dietary supplements provided. Liditilisendo may have been inadvertently contaminated with Mr. alone. Drug testing is incredibly stupid. I can't. It's just so dumb, man. It's so dumb that this is a thing that matters in the sport. And the older I get and the more it happens,

the more convinced I am that my position on this is right. Because like, okay, what's the point? Like, I don't get it. She took an anabolic. Is that bad or not? If it's bad, we sussier. If it's not, then we don't sussier. Okay?

She didn't knowingly take it, so it's only nine months. So she's not functionally, she's missing one fight. Like, she still took the, like, she still took the thing. And I'm sorry, but, like, outside of T.J. Dillershaw being the dumbest person in the history of this sport and just mainlining EPO, there's no, like, there's no drug test failure where the dude can't be like, here is a contaminated supplement. Please take it down to a year. It's so dumb that we do. It's so dumb that this is a thing.

I just, I do not care. It's so stupid. It's crazy. Bro, remember when Tuavasa was okay, that Long Kea winning street got ranked super high. So you don't mean in fun heavyweights,

Jed. When fun heavy weights go on a run, when Ty Toovasa be Derek Lewis, I was like, dude, just give them a title fight. Like, because we were in the,

midst of the Francis and Ganu situation. Like Francis had just beat Cyril Gan. They really should have given him a title fight. Like they should have done an interim title fight with Tai Tuvaa in it. Like the Cyril Gan fight should have been an interim title fight. That would have been awesome. And he probably would have lost it. But like at that time, like he was so popular after he beat Derek Lewis.

Like he was so over with the fan base. He'd won five in a row. I was just like, why not? Like what a story would have been a freaking tie Tuivasa? What a UFC belt? And then they threw him in there with Cyril gone in a non-title fight, had fight of the night. And then that was sort of the beginning of the end. But missed opportunity, in my opinion.

Yeah. I mean, that's the story of like a lot of things. Like you get on a good run and you, the windows are very small. If you're not like an all-time great fighter, the windows are small. That's it. Like you got to get a little lucky. Ty got little lucky. Not enough lucky.

And like he was moments away from beating Cyril gone. He's very, very close. close to beating Cyril Ghan. And then he didn't. And that you can literally go and see on video the moment that Tai Tui Vasa's career turned because it's it's there. And he has not won a fight since he almost beat Cyril Ghan. And like I said,

I don't think he's going to win this one either. Not looking good. He could. This one, he at least could win it. Well, like, I'll be a little surprised based on the fact that he's lost five in a row. And basically,

once you start, Once you lose five fights in a row, nobody gets on a winning streak ever again. Like the one fighter in history that I know who lost five fights in a row and has done that. His name is Androlovsky and that's why he's the goat. And also the winning streak you got on actually one of the winning streaks was pretty decent. But the rest of like the other two times were like, so I just don't think it's in the cards for Ty. Lazy bet. Thoughts on John Gooden and the lead commentary role for the row to UFC fights opening 320.

before we transition to Anik for the rest of the event. Makes sense to me and is a cool shakeup. Yeah. Sure. Give John a little breather. I mean, I think it's actually, so I did know bets barred with my friend Billy Ward.

And he actually has like been following Road to UFC. And made the good point, which I had not considered because mainly I was just like, it's very stupid that these road U.S. fights aren't U.S. fights, which I still contend that that is pretty stupid. but I do like that they're not

if as part of this right letting the people who have sort of been involved with this stay involved with it because like I don't I don't need to see John Anick and Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping and John Anick is a professional

so he'd do the research I don't need to see Daniel Cormia and Michael Bisp being like bullshitting during these fights and clearly not knowing a single thing about these dudes right like that's fine to swap this over and be like, oh, let's let's let's like guys who are paying attention, as Mike has put the camera on himself. I don't know.

I ended up in these. I don't know. You did it. It was great. But yeah, I think John Gooden is very good at his job anyway. And so, you know, having a separate booth do that, totally cool with it. Yeah.

I think it's fun. And why the hell not? And sure, we talk about it all the time, man. It would be kind of a good idea to have an alternating booth just to give these guys a breather. Yeah. Eight straight hours of calling fights. It's tough work.

Good, Gidner fits in for the early prelims, and then we bump panic up. Like, I'm fine with that. Todd, phenomenal show is always, you guys. I know my man Mike Keck is happy the Patriots in the Super Bowl. How awesome is that? It is very awesome. I know the rest of football nation hates it.

But that's okay. I'm very ambivalent towards it. Because like one of my, one of my best friends is a Pat's fan. And on our group chat, some people are very up. upset about it. And I was like, I'm, and like, broadly speaking, I don't, I, I, I did want Stafford to win another Super Bowl, um, because like I just so, but when they lost and they lost Fair and Square or whatever, I was like, I don't care at all about the Seahawks. I'm pretty ambivalent to the Super Bowl. I'm happy for, and my big contention, the thing that I have sort of kept saying is, I don't have to

hate this Pats team because none of the people in it are people that I need to hate. Tom Brady is a fucking weirdo man. Like he is an off-putting weird person. And I know that you as a Patriots fan can't literally can't acknowledge that that is a true fact. But like the rest of the world thinks he is weird. And so I did not like him continuing to win while like making me uncomfortable with his odd oddness. But that's not like Drake May's fine. Mike Vrabel actually seems like a pretty cool dude.

The literal only negative about the Patriots being in the Super Bowl is the fan base. because y'all are awful. And that's, but like, you know, at least now you get to be awful for a reason and not being awful because you're living in the glory days of being the greatest dynasty ever, like in football. Like now you're like, you did it. You got here.

You should wear that proudly. That's fine. And we do. And we're dogs and everyone's expecting us to get run out of the building on Super Bowl Sunday. I don't think people are expecting to get run out of it. Again, that's the Patriots thing. You're like four and a half point dogs.

It's not like you're going to get run out of the building. I'm just talking about what I've seen on all the programming. Yeah. Even if the Patriots play their best game, I don't think they could score enough points to compete. That's what that has been the, the big narrative. This is why people feel that's way about the Patriots.

I'm not saying that. Because, because the whole nation gathers and it's like, they don't believe in us. That's right. It's like, on Monday morning, everyone's going to be like, okay, we all thought that could happen.

Because Drake May is very good and Sam Donald famously saw ghosts against your team. And now I do think that is legitimately, I think the coolest part of all of this is like if the Seahawks do win and Sam Donald like has a monster game, that is like a genuine sport story of like literally and metaphorically exercising the ghosts of his past against. against the team that gave them to him. So that would be cool. But I'm broadly, like, I don't care at all about either of the team. So whoever wants to win is fine for me.

I was explaining this to my son, who was basically like, I'm going to be so mad if the Patriots lose the Super Bowl because he's like getting into it because we were watching the playoffs together. I'm like, why? Like,

I'll be bummed if they lose. But like, at the end of the day, like, they have, they have overachieved to the umth degree. And I mean, we've gotten this far.

Obviously, I'm invested now. Like, I'm pot committed to this, but like, will I react to the way I did when David Tyree caught the luckiest pass that should have been a sack in the history of the NFL? No. That was one of the worst days ever. Like, truly one of the worst days was watching that game. It was awful. The thing, here's the other thing about, I've spent, I just have so many Pat's fans in my life.

The other thing about it is like, you all talk about that as much as. the fact that you won six Super Bowls. I know. Like that you are more in my life's honest to God, Patriots fans are more likely to talk about how lucky the giants were in the two of three losses they are two losses that they had. As opposed to just like celebrating the 28 to three or whatever like they still do that. But like you are more driven by the injustices of losing a football game. That game, though.

It would have been the greatest team in sports history if they won that game. Yes, but they didn't. And that's okay. It's like the second one didn't bother me. The idea, you know, people mostly don't care about. Like, it is just like fan bases who like that should be the dying cry of the Bills fan base, right? Like they should spend the remainder of their lives being upset about the 13 seconds game until they win a champion. Your focus on the David Tyree catch as much as six Super Bowls.

Six. That's so many Super Bowls. Seven sounds better. And that one would have been historic, but it's all right. I digress. Preston, after this weekend, there seems to be zero real title fight scheduled non-BMF. Do you think this is a problem? No.

BMF is banging, so who cares? Also, there will be one scheduled for, what's the schedule now? Let me pull up the schedule. because now that we're back in the thick of it, I'm seeing like one week in advance. So the March pay-per-views, 326. Oh, well, I mean, we'll get 327. I'll have title fights on it.

We just don't know what they are yet. Yeah, we don't know. Could we see Pereira on that card? Could we see a vacant light heavyweight title fight? I don't know what they're going to do. Honestly, I have no clue. I assume we'll see Valentina Shavchenko compete on one of these next couple of cards, before the White House?

Very possibly Chevys on the Miami card, right? But like what do we get? Seems like, seems like Peter Yan's not going to be eligible, what was some surgery recently. I got to tell you, you know, I know that maybe this isn't right.

But, you know, yesterday that whole kickoff between van and cop, maybe they just do that as part of the package for Miami. Do a lot worse than that. And, you know, pants is a little bit, left out in the cold there, but he gets a title fight whenever he comes back. Yeah, they can just, they can call him like, hey, man, take a little time.

Like, I know you're back in the gym. Take a little bit of time you can fight for it in the summer. Yeah. I mean, Tetsura, Tyra finally, like, tweeted something, but he was, he's just so left out of this right now. Oh, he's just not involved. And that's okay. Unless they go, unless they go to Japan, like there, he's, he's not getting a title. He's waiting for, for Kioji next week.

If Kioji wins, Tyra and Kioji fight for the king of the king of. of Japan title. Love that. And a title fight. Like that's, he's just, boring injury, he's not involved. Dark, Dark Yusuke,

what would new fighter have to do to eclipse the goats and be the Jordan of MMA? That's a good question. I mean, they'd have to win a lot, right? Like, like, think about, like, I think a better way to do it

as opposed to like, just vaguely speaking, like who are the active fighters right now who I would say is are unlikely to accomplish this goal but like could do it right like are you know if they had a perfect career from here and out could be the greatest fighter of all time islamakishev ilita pura both of those guys I think are very like if if islamakachev defends the welterweight belt like four or five times which I don't think will happen. I'm not,

but like, let's play in the world of, of free thinking and dreaming. If he, like, if Islam goes and defends against, uh, Shavcott and Morales,

and Usman, whatever, we don't, we don't want that, but if he's defending it a bunch, we can throw him in there. And he and Machado Gary. Like,

I, and protest, like, if he defends it four times, I'm not willing to say definitively that that's the best career of all time, but like, he's got a, he's got a case. Like, he has got a case for it. Does a fighter have to defend a UFC belts, whether it's in one way class or multiple

way classes, 13 times for them to be considered the goat? What if it needs to be 13, but you need to be close to double digits. I think you are probably not legitimately, I think that any fighter who is not at least in a double digit title conversation. is just not involved. Because that's, I think that that's a fair thing. There are four, five, four, five fighters in UFC history with double-digit title defenses.

Anderson, John, Demetrius, I think Val's there now. Jose? Because George had nine. But, I mean, if you're just counting championship wins, George is over there. So like, yeah, I mean, you got to be double digits of title, of title, of championship wins. Like that is the baseline to enter the conversation for goat, go, go. And so like, John Jones is eight.

Yeah, but if you, GSP has nine, but if you add the middleweight belt, then you gets to 10 championship fights, right? Yeah. So, yeah, it's like that, that just has to be the starter. because if you have less than that, then why would I put you over George St. Pierre or Demetri Johnson or somebody like that? But I do, like, the one thing that would be interesting, right? Is if Islam defends four times

and he's got four defenses and four defenses, nobody's done that. Nobody has defended about more than once in multiple weight classes. So that would be something interesting. I would not put a fighter there, but the first fighter to win three titles, people will reflexively be like, that's the greatest fighter of all time.

I'll disagree, but that is certainly a major accomplishment, so something like that could at least get you in the mix. But of current active fighters, it's really Islam and Dupuria, maybe Alex, if you really want to wait, him winning a heavyweight belt

is like massively significant. And like, I guess Tom Aspinall, like theoretically could string together 10 title defenses that seems unlikely though right what if what if volkadovsky beats lopez bids boz czar beats lorone he's not the greatest fight he's not the greatest fighter of all time he might be the greatest featherweight of all time what would get him there like five more defenses greatest fighter of all time i i don't know man yeah maybe five feels like he's he's certainly in the conversation if he gets five it does raise like I still I still don't have I've spent all week trying to think how to how to value this title defense from Volk and I have no idea honestly got no no clue how to wait this in the scheme of title like how much does this matter because it's not nothing I agree it's definitely not nothing but like he's not fighting the best featherweight in the world so I don't it's it's weird um but like I mean he's you know he's

right there on the cusp, but also like, I mean, I guess, I guess that's pre-bearing him. Do you think he's even fighting five more times by just getting that many title defenses? Like, I don't know, man. If he goes on a run, he's that he's, he goes to a run. Yeah. I, I think that's not that feasible. But if he goes to run, he's in, he can be in the mix. Theoretically, Hamzot, like he has a lot to do to go on that run, but he's there.

If Josh Van rains at flyweight for 10 years, okay. I don't think that's going to happen, but like you, to be the goat of goats, you are going to need 10 plus title win, like championship wins. And some extra extra juice, extra chutzpah,

something that gets you over in a way outside of, or just incredible raw numbers that are inarguable. Yeah, I think what I've landed on with the Diego fight is, you know, like when you go to a, carnival or you go to an amusement park and you play that game where the horses like you roll a ball and if it lands in five the horse jumps up five spots this is like volk landing it in one and it just jumps up one notch the performance is going to mean everything if he just goes if it's the same fight i could buy that the same kind of thing then he gets the one spot if he goes out there and max holloway threes diego lopez that is a different story then it jumps it jumps a couple of spots i still think like if we if i really like like Like just off the top of my head.

I mean, if I really went back and analyzed it, maybe the list looks different. But if I had to say, like, what are the five to ten most impressive title defenses you've ever seen? I think Volk has two of them between what he did to zombie. And I know zombie wasn't like the dude at the time. That one I don't rate. Him versus Max maybe number one. Yeah, to me, that's number one. Him Max three is like very up near the top of the most impressive performances of ever seen in this fight.

And I know zombie wasn't the dude. The zombie one I don't rate. Yeah, because it was supposed to be max. Zombie jumped in. But he. And it was zombie at that stage of his career. So that one doesn't rate for me, but the max one was just so good, man. Valentina Schochenko, Jessica Andrage is up there because she just beat six shades of shit out of her.

That was about as perfect of a performance as you will ever see in a championship fight. Because there are people, there are people saying like, maybe Androge can do it. And boy, that fight was not competitive for second one, man. It's a good list that have to think about. Yeah. That maybe one of these days. I'll sit down and do that. But like, I get, you're right.

Volt could get there. I think it is unlikely because the problem is like when you go back to the phone, like the core question is how do they be the goat? People have different choices for goat. But the broad consensus is it's either John or George. Like that is a very bait. Like if you pulled a thousand MMA fans by, I think the two by far, leading vote getters are going to be John and George. And so how do you stand out not just like you either have to

surpass them so significantly numerically, which for Volk I think is just not not possible. Like he would need to fight another like six years to get the numbers to be like undeniably better than than John or George from a pure number standpoint. Or you are going to have to have comparable or similar numbers. like a way better strength of schedule and something extra to get you over the top because the thing people always say about John and I will nitpick this to death because I in my heart believe it is true

the thing John has over everyone when he is making his case is I beat all these Hall of Famers like the certainly the run at the start of his light heavyweight thing was just legend legend legend legend legend legend legend legend legend And that's like, George doesn't have that, right? He beat some great fighters.

And I would say George actually faced a stronger strength of schedule than John did for their championship runs. But, you know, he didn't beat former pride champion, former thing because that wasn't on offer for him. And so if you're going to be, like if Volk is going to get over those two, he needs something that, something extra to his resume. Be that a second title at lightweight. but something else that just juices him up because like he's not going to get 15 title defenses and like well he's the best yeah he is one of the more talented guys there's no doubt about that uh my longstanding belief like i've said this many times because people think i'm a volkater and to some extent i am a volkator um but like i believe he is the may i may have changed my

opinion on this very slightly but a couple of years ago it's pretty open I think he's the best fighter I've ever seen. At his peak, I think he is the best fighter as far as like, who can do everything incredibly well. Like him versus Max 3 is about as good of a, like as good of a fighter as I've ever seen. But the question is not about best. It's about greatness. And greatness is a measure of accomplishment. And like, I will confidently tell you, Mike Eck right now.

And you will, you will reject this. I know you will reject this. I think honest people would agree. Patrick Mahomes is a better quarterback than Tom Brady. He is not remotely a greater quarterback than Tom Brady. Like that's the difference in the arguments for me. I mean, I don't agree with you, but it's okay. No Patriots fan will ever acknowledge that that, which is an insanity thing, but like you can't.

You're hardwired not to do it, and I understand it. Right. But look, I mean, you throw Patrick Mahomes with some of the teams, the Patriots won Super Bowls with and Tom Brady won Super Bowls with. He ain't winning him. He's just not. He's just not. He's not winning a Super Bowl with Troy Brown as a wide receiver.

He's not doing it. Or David Branch. Buddy, have you seen the wide receivers he's had that he won the last two Super Bowls with? They weren't very good. Still had the best titan in football at the time. Yes. And oh, that's right. The Patriots have never had a good title.

Oh, they won one with Jermaine Wiggins. All right. Damn it. They won't what your main friggin' wiggins. Again, I understand. I understand that Pat's fan simply can't acknowledge this, but I think most people would agree if I had one football game to battle the aliens with,

I'm picking Prime Patrick Mahomes over Prime Tom Brady, and I'm feeling good about that choice. Doesn't mean he's greater. He's undeniably, unequivocally not. Okay. Mr. Senor, Pepe, I'm supposed to hate Jed, not you, Mike. Sorry, I don't have to tell you. What else we got?

What else we got? Uh, RS 40. What's next for Benoit Santini with a dominant win? I know what you want, but realistically, Jeff. Oh, it's never going to happen, but man, wouldn't it just be the best if BSD found his way into a title fight with Justin Gagie for the interim strap? Um, I've given up on this. That's my dream fight that I've decided is never going to happen. And I'm, I'm not okay with it, but I've, I've come to terms with it. I'm not happy about it.

But if BSDB took her, looking at the UFC rankings right now, he will move to number six in the UFC lightweight rankings. And I don't think they'll do it because I think there's just other things at play. But I would like him to fight the winner of Max and Charles for the BMF belt. I don't think he deserves a BMF fight in like, I know that there are no rules around the BMF. belt but like there's a there are guidelines we have vibes about who should fight and bsd hasn't done but like i just want to see him fight one of those two dudes frankly so maybe the answer is he

fights the loser of the bmf title fight right um i think if charles i think if max beats charles he fights charles yeah and that's fine um which is fine fight but like because otherwise i don't think you put him in as patty because you don't want patty to lose he's not going to fight gache he could fight arman Like that's the thing If they're gonna make Armand fight That seems like the fight to do But I don't like that because like Armand probably beats him And then BSD's like back back out of the title picture

Which feels like a bad choice to me right now So I'll say loser of the BMF title fight Even though my heart would actually prefer he fight the winner Yeah, I'm with you on that Cartischi What UFC Way Class has the best number 15 ranked fighter I've got the rankings right in front of me. Let me tell you what they are, Mike, in case you don't have them.

I have them in front of me as well. Well, for the, for the listeners at home and or the viewers, flyweight, Lonnie Kavanaugh, Bantamweight, Montel Jackson, featherweight, David Onama. He's probably the best of those three at this point in time. Lightweight for us Ziam. Good for for us. He got ranked. Walterweight, Daniel Rodriguez, middleweight Bruno Faheta. Light heavyweight, Alonzo Minifield. Heavyweight, Talosin Tashara. It's not going to be either of those two. Straw weight, Alexia Thainara, flyweight, Gabriella Fernandez, and bantamweight Luana Santos.

Who's jumping out at you from that list is the best of the bunch? I think the men's divisions, I think if we're picking one male, one female, I think it's so easy. I think Ferez is the male one, and I think Alexia Tainara is the female one. I 100% agree on Tynara. I think Ferez is the right answer. I know where you're going now. The David O'Nama one is a little interesting.

He did just get, well, he got wrecked by Steve Garcia, though. Like, if Ferez fights Benoit Sandini, he's probably getting wrecked by BSD. Actually, they wouldn't fight. But you get my point. I think Fores is the right choice. If you're telling me who is going to end up the highest ranked of these 15s, I'm picking Lonnie Kavanaugh for sure. That's what I was going to go back.

But as far as what they've accomplished, I think for Azam is very clearly accomplished more than Lonnie has right now. But like, let's kind of look at Onama's a run. And I like David. I think he's a good fighter. He lost the Mason Jones in his debut, fun fight, but he was up a weight class, took it on short notice. Beats Gabriel Benitez, beats Garrett Armfield, loses to Nate Landware, beats Gabriel Santos, beats Jonathan Pierce, beats Roberta Romero, beats Giga Chikaze in a pretty competitive fight. But he did win.

and then gets iced by Steve Garcia in relative short order. Like, would I be confident? Honestly, that's not that different than Fresiom's run. Let me give you Fressian's run. Lost to Dan Manchin's debut, beats Jamie Mularky, who is being a sacrificial lamb this weekend, beats Luigi Vindramini, who was previously a sack. Also, majority decision, Louis GVindramini,

who was previously a sacrificial lamb to Patty Pimplett, lost to Terrence McKinney, because it's Terrence McKinney, beat something called the Michael Figlack beat Jai Herbert beat Claudio Plias Matt Favola Mike Davis Nazim Sadikov

all like the 5-5 war ship fight win streak is good but it's not like stop and take notice they're actually kind of frankly play as a ranked lightweight Frivola was a ranked lightweight

yeah not at the time but I get the head like the slight edge but they're not that far off man my Davis is super good. Yeah.

And Sannikov's a real. It was a good win too. So yeah, I mean, I get, I get where you're coming from. These runs feel like they're in the same tier, right? Like Ziam's ahead, but it's not like he's so far ahead. He's in a different tier of fighters like, yeah, you're about the same. Yeah. But yeah, I think Ziam is is the choice on dudes, um, with the caveat that I do think Lani Kavanaugh

will end up much higher rank than 15. And Tynara, I think, I think Tyna is really, really good. I think she's like one of the fighters to watch in the entire company right now. She's really good. Yeah. AK certainly does. Let's see. That was a fun game.

Whoever put that in. That was really good. Like something I'd never considered. So good question. Really respect that one. What else we got? BSD versus John or Diego up a weight class for the BMF at some point. They're all still young.

I mean, I can see a world where. Diego Lopez is eventually going to have to move up? Because he's a big man. He's a large featherweight. I believe that the UFC should do stuff like that more. Because like if you told me after this weekend, hey, it's not going to be for anything, really, just because we want to do it.

Diego Lopez and Benoit Sandini are going to fight it. I'd be like, yes. Yes, I would like to see that, please. That would be awesome. So you're not going to think PSD might be too big for Jean Silva. But I would still watch the hell of those two dudes fight. Absolutely. Dude, that's the thing when you have, when you are an action fighter,

there's no wrong way to book you. And like that's all three of those dudes. There's no wrong way to book them. I drafted Diego Lopez this weekend, uh, or ahead of this weekend on my fantasy team because I actually do think he's got a chance to win. I'm basically guaranteed a floor of championship fight, main event,

and probably fight of the night, right? So like, I'm probably going to get 100 points, win or lose. If he wins, it's obviously huge. And if he loses, Diego Lopez,

he's going to fight again before the White House card and probably get another fight of the night. So, like, when you are fun, your career goes better. Be fun. Yeah.

I mean, that was one of the biggest reasons why I kept the wall, though. Waldo had a great year, great season for me last time. But even if he lost to Derek Lewis, like, he's fighting again. And when he fights, it tends to be fairly fun. Like, that's it. Just be fun.

Cole, it's, by the way, it's Cole's fault. I asked Don the infamous question, haven't slept. Buddy, it's not your fault, Cole. This is the line. This is the Goodwill hunting. It's not your fault. It's not your fault, Cole. Because he is a grown man who could have come up with anything.

better than what he said. But Mike and Jed, did you ever play the OG worms games back in the day? We've discovered a common love in the chat. We never knew existed. I have no idea what this is. I'm going to gogling worms games and seeing what happens. I might be too. That might be actually dating me.

It might be a little too old for this. An artillery tactical video game developed by British company Team 17. Small platoons of anthropomorphic worms battle each other. a destructible landscape with the objective being to become the sole surviving team. This does seem vaguely familiar. I definitely never played this game. Yeah, me neither. Looking at some screenshots, I've absolutely never played this game.

But that does sort of seem like something I remember. But also, yeah, looking at the dates on this, I'm pretty sure this was a little after my prime video gaming. Um, lamellis, do you know why MVP is taken out of the rankings, but Jared is still in after his win against him? From what I understand, MVP has let the UFC know. And I think the UFC is officially on board that they're going to give MVP what he wants. He wants to fight at welterweight. He's not fighting at middleweight anymore. So I remember, I think John Morgan released something after 324 about the upcoming ranking cycle that just came out.

And it was saying, like, don't rank MVP at middleweight. anymore. He's not a middleweight anymore. He's going back to welterweight full time. So he went in for a couple of fights and won both of them and wants to go back to Walterweight for reasons. I don't understand why he's doing this, Jed. I don't get it. He's like, maybe he just wants to have like, just wants to fight and like titles don't

mean anything to him. But like he's, you can make a strong case. He's like a winner two away from getting a middleweight title shot. And instead he's going to go back to welterweight. And he's going to have to win like eight fights to get a title shot at Welterweight. But hey, do you and enjoy what's end of your career, I guess. I think he has surrendered the idea that he's fighting for a belt. Okay.

That makes sense. Because he's not. And that's, look, it's hard for fighters to be that sort of cognizant. But he's not really going to fight for a belt. It's not zero percent, but it's like less than one. And so it's just like, yeah, just give me fights. I want to fight where I'm comfortable. I want to fight some fun fights.

If they come to him with a really good offer, like a fight that he's very excited about a middleweight. Yeah. Like he's just, I think he's just going to vibe it out for the remainder of his career, which I is a strong idea in my opinion. Like sometimes just know where you're at in your career. And I think he's got a good, good beat on it.

Apparently I'm not too old for worms, but I honestly never, up until now, I've never heard of it. Never even heard. Yeah. I have never. played that game for sure.

But yeah. Let's see. Duke Bad Duck has a million what's next questions. So do we want an Armin question or a Tom Aspinall question? You pick. I don't have anything new

or interesting to say about Tom Aspinall. So I don't know that I have anything new or interesting about Armin, but what could the Tom question be? They're not going to strip him. He's going to come back whenever his eye surgery's done. I guess we could say that maybe it's the Dana stuff. I feel like this is.

I know there are a lot of people that are like up in arms about this. I didn't get the same vibe. I think Dana was just like effing around a little bit. Just being, you know, there's one thing he said. I'd love to pull up the quote. There was one thing he said where I was just like, all right, now you're being a little petty. but the whole like oh god forbid i say anything about him like i kind of thought was funny just because anytime he says something it turns into a thing um but he did say something oh no it was um

he was like he was like he had second surgery goes no injections or something like that like he was it almost sounded like he was downplaying it a little bit yeah i mean he was yeah um so it could be true i don't honestly know i don't know either i don't know what tom hasbo had done to his eyes that that one that that comment like stuck out to me but the whole like oh jesus like god forbid i say something about him like i didn't really take a whole lot from that maybe i'm just naive but that was just you know dana just kind of effing around and look he's he you have to take these dana oppressors with a grain of salt he doesn't want to be there he does not want to be there talking to the mixed martial arts media he wants to would rather go on with his friends and

know what the questions are ahead of time than be in that spot. Like that's, that's what he would prefer to do. Uh, that's why you see him in a much better mood, uh, doing those interviews than being in there and getting a bunch of non answers from him. Um, but yeah. Yeah.

Uh, I don't, this is not like a shot across the bow, in my opinion to Tom Aspinall so much as it was. Example number 6,000 of Dana being, words I can't say on this broadcast. Like, because it's, it's not that hard to have grace.

It's not that hard to, to, you know, just be like, you know, Tom's, Tom's has ongoing eye issues. We wish him the best.

You know, I know he's getting some surgeries or something. We don't have a timeline. I don't remember the question that was prompted to ask him about or whatever. But it's not that hard to have a graceful response. It is, in fact, the overwhelmingly likely outcome for that sort of question in any line of business across the world, especially sports.

Like every sports interview, you get some, because that was not like a combative question. It was, and he turned it a little combative because for whatever reason, but Dana White has never had grace. He has never been a graceful man. And he made it something more than it is because he could. He couldn't just swallow his pride for half a second and be like, you know, we don't have any update on him. He's got eye problems. We hope the best form we'll see where it comes.

But he doesn't, he does not have the ability to do that. And so we got, again, I won't describe, I won't give you my personal opinion on how to describe it because those are not words meant for children. But it's, it's just not that hard to not do that. And I think about this a lot broadly, but certainly in the sport. Like it would just be nice for there to be like just a modicum of empathy and sincerity and kindness amongst the high level players of the sport at times. But those aren't things that happen. So I didn't spend any time thinking about it. I was like, that sounds about right.

Moving on. Who's the new middleweighty middleweight champion? Uh, buddy, I think we've got a contender this weekend. Oh. Oh, yes. I think that Jacob Malkoon Torres Finney fight. Are they fighting for the middleweight? That's lining up.

I mean, if they're not fighting for the belt, I think they're making a strong statement about their intentions to claim that belt very soon. I think that fight might have zero strikes thrown. Like, there's a not, like, there's a potential for that fight to just be a straight up grappling match. Yep.

John Perry out here, Hayton on the Patriot success. Must be a Dolphins or a Jets fan. Probably a Bill's fan. I get it. I say, I got to tell you, if somebody's, again, you and I would disagree on what hating the Patriots constitutes. But if somebody is hating, it's almost certainly a Bills fan because the dolphins can't feel anything. And the Jets don't truly do not care anymore.

What are how many, like this is a hating comment. Oh, okay. That is, I will agree. That is in fact actually a hating comment. Yeah, it is. Jealousy is a bad color on you, John Perry. It just is. It just is.

Definitely a Bill's fan because the judge Spy Gates simply don't care. Spy Gates ridiculous. Like every great head coach in NFL history has already gone on Twitter after the whole Bellichick, not in the Hall of Fame thing. It was like, yeah,

we all fucking did that. Every single one of us did it. It was a thing. There you go. It was like it was like it is not right, but also everyone. Everyone did it. And deflake game players in college.

Like, yeah, you're not supposed to do that. And the deflate gate was just, uh, it was a witch hunt. and I think anyone who like followed along with that in reality, I would agree with that.

But it's all right, John. It's all right. Someday as a Bill's fan, you will get your day in the sun. I believe it. I don't believe that. My biggest thing about deflategate is like, who cares? Yes. Like, I'm willing to believe that something incorrect happened here.

I also can't imagine I care that he has the ball to a PSI that he'd prefer. That just sort of seems fine to me, but whatever. Yeah, that was all a bunch to do about this was again, I'm a lifelong Colts fan. So when that was happening, I was like, man, it would be cooler if we stopped doing this. Yeah. Does Kill and Salkild have star potential? Yeah, man, for sure. Killers all killed is, he's making a case to be my worst evaluated fighter since I started doing evals off of Contender series.

It's still very early. He's at three fights in the O.C. but I was just not deeply impressed by him off contingency. I was like, yeah, good solid dude. But I still don't think he's like massively athletic, which is a bit of a cap on where I think you can be. But he's had a very good run here. Still quite young.

I think he's 26. Maybe he's a little older than that. And he is, again, he was supposed to fight. Who is he supposed to? fight wrong zoo maybe this weekend. I think so, yeah. Which still was like a weird fight because coming off the arguable chaos of the year over Nazarach Pras, that felt like a lateral move.

This is certainly a step back in competition with Jamie Mularky, but it's a step back that's setting him up to deliver another highlight. And my guess is his next opponent is like a Hanato Moikano, somebody in that bottom five of the top 15. Grand Dawkins. Yeah, somebody like that, give him a chance to start making a real, climb and he said some things personally that I'm not a fan of but most I don't think most fans will care and you know he's Australian they want to get behind somebody like that and thus

far he's had very exciting fight so yeah seahawks fan here if we get this one back we have to have a rubber match sure I'm fine with that I felt that was one game I didn't think we were a winning especially down the stretch before the Malcolm Butler interception I was like oh this is a tough one to lose it's a tough one to lose um a terrific throw-in catch uh by russell wilson downfield and then i was like wow we just we just lost and then uh p carroll p carroll all over that game and i still can't believe to this day we won that game but it is i don't want to i don't need a trilogy i'm good unless to see unless the seahawks get more interesting they're incredible defense their offense is pretty good but like just i don't know um

But I assume if the pads get back to the Super Bowl, it means you will have built a better offense, and I'd be interested in that. Because Jake May is quite good. Who has the best mustache in the UFC? Side note, we still miss Casey. Who? No, JK. J.K. I texted him the other day. Not the other day, like a few weeks back.

Best mustache in the UFC, Mike. Who do you think? I'm trying to think who. Diego Lopez is pretty good right now. Yeah, rocking the cowboy has like a really good mustache in the UFC these days. Is Cubby still rocking just the straight 70 stash? Maybe. He got a fine announced yesterday.

What picture did we use for that? Or day before yesterday, whenever he got that announced. Try to remember what the stash looked like at UFC Tampa. I think he had it. I mean, yes. That's a terrific mustache. Assuming it's assuming it's still this mustache. it's cubs swanson because his stash is still banging that's that's still stowed gold rocks

uh thoughts in the i mean i mean mccall is historically shout out to curator apprentice i recall historically had one of the greatest ones but i hope he honestly i hope he is doing okay i've no idea what he macaw's doing seems like he is uh i get like press releases that he's uh he's on a spiritual journey of some kind uh to improve his like his mental health and like his physical health from his fighting days. So he seems like he's doing pretty well. If there's ever a fighter, ever a fighter who should write a biography. I would pay. I just finished rereading the Matt Hughes biography because going through some books. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to buy Matt Hughes's biography.

It's insane. It's kind of awesome because he wrote it. I'm trying to think when he wrote this. It was after he lost the belt to GSP or whatever. But like not, you know, pretty still, he still was fighting. It's an insane book because it would, nobody would ever write this book anymore. Like biographies now are largely, or autobiographies are largely pinned like with a good POV to try and, or like, the negative parts of my life explain how I got to hear and why I'm, and how I've grown. from this. And Mac Hughes's book starts out and in like the first chapter he's like, I tried

to kill my brother with a hammer once and then me and my dad beat the shit out of my our father together one time. And it's just like okay, I don't think you could waterboard this sort of information out of me. But like Ian McCall has stories.

He has lived a very hard, hard life and I would be fascinated to read a biography and autobiography from him. It's a good shout. Thoughts on Josh Hokka, Jed. Look, I don't care for him personally. He's a pretty decent fighter. I think he is largely derivative and cringy,

but the reality is in this sport, that's still better than nothing. So, like, he's, he is breaking through in some sort of a way. way that I would choose to do. But it is better than him just being like, I'll fight whoever's next and see you guys out there. So if he's comfortable with it, he's living his life. That's what matters.

However, as long as he's cool with what he's doing, what can I say other than not for me. Yep. I think that's kind of the overall sentiment. All right. Well, appreciate the questions. Jed, it is now time for draft number two for the watch. party coming up to Saturday.

We will be watching the final six fights with all of the folks, which will begin with the light heavyweight matchup between Junior Tafa and Billy Alicana. And we'll end with Alexander Volcanovsky versus Diego Lopez. As everybody knows, I'm off to a commanding six to three lead after UFC 324. We got a lot of real estate. That is the first of 13 holes. Yes. Yes.

birdied, I double bogeed. That's fine. We got a lot of holes left to play here. All right. I feel I should get the first pick here after being victorious, but you said we'll do it fairly and justly. Yeah. So I actually think that the loser of the last one should get the first pick, but instead we're just going to let, we are going to let the gods decide. And so, Mike, uh, I was going to show you this, but I realized it would ruin the game. So I can't. I have in my hands and I'm holding between my two fingers right here. I want to just show you so you can't see. You just see at the bottom of the screen, this is an hourglass, Mike Heck. There's an hourglass that I was idling with through the period of this show and it has much more sand on one side than on the other.

So you're going to decide which side has more sand. Is it this side or is it this side? My left, my right. If you get it correct, you can have the choice of whether you want the first pick. If you get it incorrect, I get to choose whether I want the first pick. I'll say you're right. You are correct. My right does have more sand than my left. Can I be honest, though? Did you cheat? You showed it to me.

Oh, well, I was trying. I was trying not to show it to you, but there you go. Either way, you've won the game. We'll put an asterisk next to that, much like, uh, All of the Patriots Super Bowls. Shut your. Shears. Face.

You have the first selection. We are going up to the Tafa Alucana fight, correct? Correct. Let me just pull things up. I already think I'm pretty sure I'm going here. I will begin things by drafting the Great Kill and Salkild. That's my first. I would have questioned you if that had not been your decision.

Oh, that leaves me with the wheel. You get the wheel. Which we then have to figure out what's that going to mean for what you can then draft on the, like, what's the stick is basically what is the stick fight that I'll get left with? So I'm going to certainly take Benoit Sandini. I have a high level of confidence that he is going to beat Hooker. hate having Dan Hooker here. Ben-on-knees going to be my climb, so I feel like I have to take him. And then how much, the real question is, to what extent do I believe Billy Aliccana is

going to be Jr. Tafah. Because all he has to do is take him down, but it's like, Billy O'Connor is not the best part or alive. I'm going to take Taliesin to share up because I have both of those dudes on my fantasy team, so I might as well take them. All right. So I get two here. You do get two, and then I will have the last.

You functionally make the remaining picks of this draft. I will go with Billy Alicana here. I'm so glad you let that fall to me. I think I'm pretty comfortable with Talasin and BSD as my choices. I mean, it's taffa. So, like, that's the thing. There are four very clear favorites here and two questionable fights. Okay.

So I can pick either the main event or Fizib Ruffy, right? Right? Correct. Man. Because I'm going to make a pretty decent wager on this guy as an underdog, I'm taking Raphael Fiziv here.

I think he's going to win. And I think this is a smart play. I actually agree. I just a smart play. I kind of thought you're going to do this, which leaves me the main event and picking my side. And I know where you're picking, so. I don't know.

you're switching up listen you are the man who is very confident that Diego Lopez is going to nuke out I was not very confident I was just like I kind of think it's going to happen let's do it but they fought 10 months ago

and this fight that fight was not especially competitive I think people kind of like downgrade Lopez's moments in that fight I mean he lost four rounds it was competitive but not close I guess is a better way to put that. I just don't.

I'm going to take vote. Ah, all right. This is actually a really good defensive move by you because I thought I was going to get it was way more. I just really didn't want you to get all people that are that I like. It's like, I'll force you to have Lopez. And if I lose,

this, this will be comic punishment because I wrote with Justin Gagie. It paid off last week. I'm going to, I'm going to do the exact opposite and try and get this coin flip right. Okay. So, um, I like Fiziv.

I do think Fiziv is going to be roughy, but, um, that's a, I at least feel like I'm competitive in the bottom two and I feel like you and I are going to split our top four, right? Yeah. I'm going to win two. You're going to win to the Huffy Volk, uh, Fizier of Lopez. That's where it's going to be the points are going to edge there. Yeah. I actually don't hate having Dan Hooker in the spot.

Like, I feel. like there's a world he can win but i don't know i i'd be i would have drafted b sd in that spot too but yeah i don't mind having dan on my he he he'll fight for his for my money he's gonna fight for your draft pick that is gonna fight for my draft pick that's for sure that's a hundred percent true so um when i go clean six oh sweep it's gonna be pretty nice well that's not gonna happen whole i feel like hole in one jed coming here and you're gonna boge you this whole i feel like I think I'm going to be up three, two, heading into the main event. And it's all going to come down to that.

Like, I don't think I can, I don't think I'm going to lose is what I'm going to say. I think at worst, I'm going to tie. This is, I, I'm going to go four and two. I'm going four and two. And then you'll still be ahead, but it'll be eight, it'll be eight and seven. That'll be a lot closer. Yeah. Close that gap down.

I think at worst, this is just going to be a wash for me. It's just, it's going to, it's got a, either I'm going to win four, two, five one or three, or it's going to be a three three tie i don't think there's a world right where i lose this one i think also if we had done more i like i don't even know i mean i cam ralston actually i probably would have picked much earlier if we had gone like the full mid prelimbs should we should we should we should we pick one more just to like audit no no we're these are only the ones that we're going to be on camera all right that's all we're doing so all right but if we had done the full mid prelimbs i think i think I would have gone BSD Cam Raustin, actually, over Talasin Tashara.

And then you would have gotten Talison as a result. And it would have slid down a little bit. So that would have been interesting. But tune into the watch party on Saturday, y'all. Yeah, we'll see how it all plays out. We still don't know what the punishment's going to be for the loser yet. Some compelling ideas. We got plenty of time.

When are we going to figure this out? I don't know. We're not doing this all year long. I would say by UFC 326, we should put. probably have this ironed out. No. Because what if good ideas come in at the latest the White House card, but I just want to I'm going to be up by like 50 fights by then.

There's not a chance. It's not a chance that's happening. But we'll figure it out because there are just many good options. And we should we got to figure out how we're going to do it. Let's workshop it this weekend and on the watch party. Make sure you're tuning into the watch party with all your ideas guys. Yeah. The watch party is going to be kind of, I don't know, it's, it's a little up in the air for some ways because the weather's supposed to be really shitty on Saturday up here. That's not ideal.

So we might have to like kind of figure out a remote thing. But either way, there is a space heater here in Command Center 5.0 now. So we'll probably do it here. But either way, whether it's me being in here or both of us being in here, this will be the last one in command center. 4.0, command center 5.0 is pretty much open for business, but we'll wait for the BMF title fight to debut command center 5.0, which is, which is looking good right now, which is looking good. We might have to mix in some other different locale for these watch parties. There's a lot happening at the new house, a lot happening right now, including turning the garage into like a game room, which could be real fun for those ad breaks, Jed. That could be very fun. We love fun.

We love fun. Yes, we love fun. But the fun of this show has come to an end. We're done. I'm seeing some dude in the chats is now throwing out moral combat quotes. So I don't really know what's going on in there. But I love you for it, Azriel. Yes.

And we would love you to watch the watch party on Saturday, beginning at 8.30 p.m. Eastern. We'd love for you to join us on the preview show tomorrow as well. Not sure what time, but we'll let you know. Who's doing that? Am I doing that? Maybe. I don't know who's doing it. It rolled pretty good with you and AK and me as the producer.

It honestly worked great. Yeah. I'm a terrific host, Mike. You are. Back next week. We'll see you then. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.