MMA Fighting - BTL | Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry, UFC 330 Buzz, More

Episode Date: August 13, 2026

This Saturday in Philadelphia, the #UFC returns with a numbered event in UFC 330. In the main event, top pound-for-pound fighter Islam Makhachev defends the welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry, while Mackenzie Dern faces Gillian Robertson in a strawweight title matchup. Despite the card having two title fights, does there seem to me very little buzz for it? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses UFC 330, the Makhachev vs. Machado Garry matchup and how the latter can truly shake things up, Dern vs. Robertson, and the card as a whole after Wednesday's media day. Additionally, topics may include Dana White weighing in on the GOAT conversation with Makhachev, DWCS returning earlier this week, the Patchy Mix fall from grace continuing, 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. From M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday. It is good to be back on the program, and we have a numbered event coming up on Saturday. How good is this numbered event? I guess,

opinions vary across the board. I've seen it all. I've heard it all. We do have the best pound for pound fighter on planet Earth competing in the main event against a fighter that the fan base doesn't really like too much, but a fighter I feel might just go out and do it on Saturday. And what a funny result that would be. Plus, we got McKenzie Dern defending against Julian Robertson, lots to talk about with all of you. And joining me to do exactly that. answer your questions is Mr. No Greer himself and shout out to him for

holding down the fort last week, the one and only Jed Mishu from No Bet's Bard fame and I see one star on the board. That is right. One star on the board. Mike, before we get into talking about what I assume we're just going to be talking about this card mostly for today unless

you wonderful viewers have other questions. Like, I did a thing this morning. Something I've never done in my life. I don't know if this is a thing you even have access to in South Carolina. I don't know how prevalent they are. I rode in my first Waymo this morning, Mike. Oh, wow.

Autonomous passenger ride. It was weird. It was very weird event, Mike. Don't know how I feel about it. Where did you go? And how long was the ride? I had to take my car to the shop because, hey, spoiler alert, Mike.

There's a watch party on Saturday. So I'm heading back down to. the wonderful Savannah and my air conditioning does not work. It hasn't actually worked for a couple of months. Oh boy. I have been, I don't drive that much and I have been too lazy to get it. But I've got a couple of road trips coming up and I was like, I got to get this taken care of. So I dropped it off, caught an Uber home and that Uber ended up being a Waymo. And it was weird. It was like being driven around by a ghost. Like if I just looked out the window, didn't feel any different. But if I looked at the steering wheel moves. So it is like there's a ghost.

driving the car it's very strange yeah I saw them when I covered the RF card in Phoenix and they were everywhere it's literally like half of Phoenix is just Tesla's cyber trucks and way moves because I guess like that's where they developed them so all the like most of the testing was done out there so you see them literally everywhere and I'm just like there are a ton of them are old way I've just never I don't ever Uber almost anywhere and this was the first time it happened so it was crazy yeah it was like It was very weird. Like, it was very efficient.

It worked. No issues. But it was like, it was creepy to watch the steering wheel move itself. Like a ghost was driving it. Yeah. So I have a question about UFC 330. And it's right there up the top. Dude, dude, how many?

We're not going to get that many questions about it. It's one star as you see, Michael. Yeah. Is, like, I, we were talking a little bit off air. There is no buzz to this car. at all. Normally, like, if I go to the gym, like the gentleman Martin who owns the gym will ask me a bunch of questions about like, oh, this guy's fighting, this guy's fighting. I walk in today and he goes, are there fights this weekend? I said, yeah, Islam Makochev's fighting. He goes, who's that? And I go,

oh, this, that's tough. I'm like, he's the best fighter in the world. He goes, oh, really? Yeah. He's more of a casual viewer, but obviously he's kind of up to date on stuff. But That to me was just like, oh boy, this is not passing the mom test, at least from where I sit. But I can't remember like a card and maybe the press conference today will be different. I doubt it just based on the personalities up there. Since 325, I don't remember a card like just having this little buzz. And I don't think it's going to be like a bad watch. I mean, you look at the card from top to bottom and yeah, we get the two title fights.

There's a couple of fights in there with some stakes to it, but I don't think this is going to be like a horrific watch. I think there'll be a bunch of finishes. There's some squash matches in there. So I think like the main card will flow pretty quickly, just depending on the pacing of the actual event. But there's just no excitement for this. Like I just from the outside looking in,

I've heard very little about this. What's your vibe on 3.30 right now? Let's get the, the Michoud vibes check here. Mostly that. I mean, this doesn't really pass the mom test, though. Curiously, and this feels a little bit more like timing than it is relative specific to this card. But a local Atlanta celebrity reached out to me this week about this card. And so that was like, it weird.

Because early on I was like, oh, maybe there's going to be some juice. But broadly, there just hasn't been any casual interest to this. and that makes sense to me honestly if you look at it like we talked about this a little bit last week and i i think it was uh sean shehan was the first person i saw post something about this uh and i talked about it a little bit yesterday on him on morning combat with uh luke thomas and chuck men and all this is a boxing card it really is this this feels very much like a boxing card in that the main event is great. Nobody, people in the bubble all respect and love this.

It's not a broad appeal boxing card like a Floyd Mayweather, you know, Jake Paul Mike Tyson sort of thing, but people who are fans of the sport can appreciate this main event for being as spectacular as it is. The co-main event, there's a title on the line, but it's, you know, it's like on a boxing card when you get, here is Tyson Fury versus Alexander Usik. and the co-main event is the British cruiserweight WBC belt. It feels like that, right? The co-main event is for a belt.

It's not a bad fight by any means. It's a meaningful fight because a title is on the line, but nobody really seems to care that much about it at all. And that title feels, even though it is the undisputed belt, it feels a little icky because Zhang Wei Lee's sort of ghost looms around here. And then the rest of this card is mostly squash matches, right? Like big, big odds for a lot of these other fights. Some fun ones, right?

Like, I think we're going to have a great time with a few of these fights. I'm looking forward to Chidian Jokawani versus Joel Alvarez. You know, Joel is my boy. Jalen Turner, my boy. Like, there are things to be excited about. But this is 2026 in Edson Barbosa's on a main card pay-per-view fight, you know, going to get murdered. Like, it is, Mansour Abdul-Malik is supposed.

to just run over Dustin Stolfitz. We'll see if he does it. Like this is, it's a real boxing card of here, prospects to develop with KOs. Here's a big headliner that people in the know will care about and one other title fight just for, for gigs,

you know? Yeah. It's a weird one. But we will have a watch party and we'll have a good time watching it, regardless of what happens. So hope you guys will join us. It'll be a good time. Excuse me.

I need to respond to a comment. It is the pay-per-view era, bruh. I don't know if you know this but because you don't pay for pay-per-view doesn't mean other people in the world don't have to pay for this shit. So I'm sticking with the term pay-per-view because I'm not calling it numbered event or

premier event. It's pay-per-view. You know what I mean. The purpose of language is for you to know what I'm trying to impart to you. So suck it. And there are people still paying for pay-per-view. Alexander Kaylee A.K. will have to pay

to watch this card on Saturday. You will have to pay pay pay-per-view prices, as will many others. Now that, so technically, in some parts of the world, it is still the pay-per-view era. So you are not incorrect with there. So we do have a couple of super chats. We'll get there. Lazar Nikolowski. What do you make of Ian asking the media to keep it professional?

So loser shit. Yeah, we had a media day yesterday. This was, I mean, I'm not a media day fan to begin with. this was probably the worst meaty day in UFC history. It was just so brutal. Luckily, it went relatively fast, but there was like nothing of note to come out of really any of this.

Shout out to Garemay Cruz for pulling some clips from this thing because they were hard to find. That is for sure. But if you missed it, Ian Gary walks in for his scrum and sits down and says, I just want to make something abundantly clear, and I'm paraphrasing some of this, I'm focused, I'm hyper-focused on this fight,

on Islam Makachev. Let's keep it professional. Let's stick to fighting. Let's talk about the fight. Let's talk about the event. Let's talk about Islam, et cetera. And he said, thank you. And then the questions began.

So, uh, loser shit, you said, Jen, not a fan of this. I didn't like this either. This is a shit, man. Like, you can, I don't begrudge him for feeling that way, right? Like, it's fine to want this to be a professional event. But like, you are a public figure. The shit you say is relevant to the conversation around. your fight career.

Like that is just a reality. You know, like, and more and more people want to do this. This is a media day. This is not, hey, I'm not going to, I'm doing a private interview here. The topics off the record I'm not going to speak about, right? This media day. You are well within your rights to, I mean, you're within your rights to say this, but it's still loser shit to say it.

But you could just go to there. And if somebody asks you a question you don't care for, you don't want to speak about or answer, you just be like, I'm not going to talk about that moving on. Right. Like this is, and that is pro forma. That is standard operating procedure in real sports. In any other sport, like, nobody comes into a presser as like, don't talk to me about this stuff.

Or when they do, it's like, man, that guy is a loser. You can just be like, hey, man, I don't really want to speak about that. Ask another question. You don't have to take everything personally and be a weirdo. It is, it's not the same. but like honestly I saw this happen this morning and the exact same thing the exact same like that's just losership popped in my head

do you see jaden Daniels is suing LSU? Yes. Like that's just losers shit man It's just losers shit. Like who who is on you? Like Eddie Hearn works with you. I know for a fact you did not tell like you didn't tell Eddie Hearn you were going to do that because he would have been like,

no, that's losership man. Don't do that. If they ask you a question, you don't like just be like, oh, no, thank you. Like, that's, but it's like, don't, you got to have better people around you to, and I'm not saying about the interviews. I don't really care about his interviews. I think those are fine to do that. But this sort of thing is just like, it appeals to nobody.

And it's not even good heal behavior. It's just losership. So as it was happening, I'm like, what are you doing? This is dumb. And then I've gone back and looked at it. And I was just like, there's, before. the first question is asked, he winks. Like, he does this little wink thing, and I'm just like, oh, I see what you're doing.

Like, this is not, this is just trying to play into this. And this is not, I don't think this is like a brilliant strategic move on his part. He's just playing into all of this. I think this was fucking try hard. Yeah, this was a, this is a planned move. Yeah. On his part. It's like, you don't, I don't think fighters need to be beloved.

I'm not saying that. Just try less hard. Like it's just he this is why like I hate him. I want him to lose not for any of the reasons that other people hate him. But like I can't even I can't even ironically root for him like I have previously done because it would be funny to see the mouth breathers get mad. Like I'm just like, no, I don't. I'm a complete opposite. I want to.

I get on you. But the less he is involved in my life, the happier I am. Like I. Yeah. He is so grading of a person. I'm like, God, like, you were just, he is not somebody who was cool in high school. And I'm not saying I was cool in high school, mind you.

But like, he was the kid who you were like, that kid's weird. Please just don't sit at the table with this man. And like, he's so much of that energy. It is, he is such a, uh, he, there are very few fighters who I have more of an ick about than him. Yeah, there's, he's got something. And the weird thing about it is once you got past that and, no, we didn't get like a lot of the questions.

Because honestly, if you were sitting in the room, you still could have asked questions. Yeah, he still could have done it. He's not the king of the world. He would have whatever you want. And what's the worst thing that's going to happen? He just leaves. Like, so what? Who cares?

Um, his answers when it comes to like, MMA stuff in the fight are, like, like really thoughtful. Like they're not cringy. They're very thought, a little long winded at times, but they're really thoughtful answers and the respect he has for Islam and all that stuff and the way he breaks the fight down

and the Connor comparisons and all that stuff. Like just really thoughtful stuff. And then some of the stuff happens and it's just like, man, I don't know. It's a weird one. Which leads you to this, Jed. Caleb, think Ian has a chance to make it like the worst fight ever

and win a tight decision. Yes. Yeah. I have watched, so I've thought Ian was somewhat of a live dog. I've even written in articles that dropped this week. I was like, really thinking about Islam's resume,

I'm like, would this be his best win? Like if he just goes out there and like 49, you don't think so? No. Why? Volk's his best one. This would be better than,

this would be worse than the Volk win? Yes, 100%. I think. Interesting. The top pound for a pound fight in the sport. I know he's bigger, sure, but he's still the best pound front fight in the sport. Ian Gary's not. I don't even know if we have Ian Gary in our top 20.

Maybe we do. But like Ian Gary, this is a good win, and it's probably one of his three or four best wins. Like, I'm very open to that. But Volk is, Charles Olivaire or Volk are his best wins. I don't, and those are definitely better than this to me. Not the second bulk one, because Volk was fat, came in. two days notice, whatever. But the first Hulk and the Charles Oliver title win are definitely better than this.

So I'll push back a little on the Oliver one. I mean, obviously, like, where he was. No, I understand that. I understand. I'm not basing this more. I'm basing this more on like the stylistic matchup and the challenges presented to him. I didn't, outside of like Charles just being weird, I didn't think Charles had any chance of being his amokachev.

Outside of like just a freak, I survived the storm and, did something crazy. I thought Islam was just going to run him over. And I didn't like the rematch because I just felt like it would have been worse. The second time around was just a really great stylistic matchup for Islam Makachev. For reference, I'm not, this is, this is, you know, part of this is certainly personal opinion for you. And so it's okay. For reference, he was a minus 190 favorite against Olivera.

Many people thought Oliver was going to give, like, give him a good crack. and like certainly a historically better fighter I think at that point in their career is a better fighter The Olavera fight like His recipe is better than Gary's I'll give you that Yeah I mean at the time if you go at time versus time I think Olavera is better fighter Like it's the Olavera win is probably his

It's that or Volk for me very clearly This would I think be his third best win though Right like Um Because I You can make an argument that Jack's better Like I think you really can Jack, I know people thought he was going to win.

He was a huge favorite. And Jack is a little bit, you know, you can quibble about stuff. He's a bit limited. Yeah, Jack was the welterweight. We also found out he was limited much more so after that fight. Because Jack was the welterweight champion in the world, had just stuffed a bunch of Belal Muhammad takedowns, was undefeated.

Ian Gary has been defeated, right? Like I know that, and I support that he is a very challenging fight for Islamak, I think, coming into this. but I do think we are sort of retconning where Jack was at the time just because it was so evident that he was going to lose that fight. Like Jack was an undefeated welterweight champion of the world who had just beaten a guy who broad strokes was similarly stylistic to Islamachachev. Like we shouldn't discount that in the way.

I don't think anybody's discounting that. I think people really talk about that as if it's because like I've heard this like Ian Gary's his third best one. I was like, I don't know, man. maybe it could be better than Jack. I'm not certain it is. From a chess match perspective, I think this is better than Jack.

Because just look at the dialogue heading into this fight. Where are your bets this week? Did you bet on Jack Delamadena at all? I don't remember. Yeah. I mean... I generally don't remember. But like, here's the thing.

We're having this conversation right now. If he 50-45s Ian the same way he did Jack, we're going to be like, never mind. I will be thoroughly impressed with this. Yeah. So we're all. And we'll all just be like, never mind because he was a huge favor and then he did it. Like it's easier to talk about how good a win might be in the future.

That's true. In respect to a dominant performance we've already seen. And I just, Jack Delamadelaide, he wasn't undefeated because he lost his first two. But Jack was on an 18 fight win streak and the Welterweight champion in the world. Ian Gary's on a three-fight win streak or is it two since the Shafcott? I don't remember. and not a well-to-a-weight champion. I'm open to the idea it will be a better win than Jack.

I am not certain it's a better win. It's kind of my point. I will... That is fair. I'll give you that. Full-time killer. Watching UFC 330 at Cosm in Atlanta. It's like T-Moo-Sphere. Does Jed know anyone who has seen a show there?

I put this up in the same thing because... No, but I do know what this is. It is basically a T-Moo-Sphere, Mike. I don't know if you know this. like a, it's a much smaller venue. It's not like a self-contained thing that is sort of an immersive watch experience. And I've wanted to go to shows there. I did not know they were doing a UFC event there.

That's kind of fun. Obviously, we're watch partying, so I won't be going. But let me hit us up next week. Let us know how that is because I'm genuinely interested to see. You get ads and I see show. It's actually pretty close to where I live about doing. like music shows or different kind of shows there, but I've never been. So I'd be really interested.

R.S. 40, if his is on Wednesday, a top three fighter all time? No, but he's interesting. I don't quite know where he'll rank. I'll have to really sit down and think about it. It's really impressive if he does. I think, look, 17 wins in a row is epic, and I don't really care who they come against. very, very difficult to do that, especially in the UFC.

It will be unprecedented. That being said, I wrote about this in my mailbag column last week. It's not the same as Anderson Silva's 17 or 16 in a row. Or like if you put their two 16 in a row, like 10 of Islam's were against fine, but whatever competition, almost all of Anderson's were title fights, right? Like it was title fights or him going up to light heavyweight to fight for us Griffin who had just was the most recent light heavyweight champion or whatever. So I don't think the, I think the 17 wins in a row is impressive, but that's not what stands out to me.

And I've said this on a couple of shows. Mike, I think I pitched this last week to you on a show. He'll be the first double champion in history, like the first real one in the history. Because of there have been 11 two division champions in UFC history. Only four of them have ever defended. belt in multiple in both weight classes. And the those all to me carry asteris right. Amanda Nunes is the closest to real.

And I, but like women, because she did, you know, defend against Megan Anderson. But women's featherweight is, it's a really bad weight class. Like I don't know what else to tell you. So like how good do you feel about that when at any given time the best band of weight women in the world is also just the best woman's featherweight in the world? but other than that it's John Jones's one heavyweight title defense came against Stepe Meachich who hadn't won a fight in five years or whatever like that's a nonsense that's a vanity title defense it's not a real one against top competition

Henry Sohudos came against dominant Cruz who I think was coming in off like a two and a half year layoff you know that's a vanity title defense it's it's not a real one Daniel Cormier's heavyweight title defense was sort of real but like it's Derek Lewis short notice. Also, there's like a fairly large light heavyweight caveat to his whole title as well. Like it is, it doesn't get done

that a person actually not only wins a belt in multiple weight classes, but genuinely establish himself as the best welterweight. Now, he won't quite do that because there are other welter weights that I could have a claim, but we're on the verge of

really unprecedented behavior here if he beats like a top, top, top contender in ian machado gary here in a in a deep good weight class and if he goes on like that enough probably puts him in the maybe we have to talk if he's in the pantheon of of all times if he goes on if he becomes the first person ever defend a belt uh multiple belts multiple times or like if he if he fights michael morales or colors process and defends the belt next we got to start thinking about it. Got to start thinking about it. Yeah. If he beats, I assume

Pratchez will probably get the winner of this fight one way or the other. I think they're going to do a title eliminated between Pratchez and Morales. God, I hope that happens. Islam's just not going to fight again until like next spring probably. And so Pratiss Miles out for that long. I bet they make them crack up and then the winner gets, gets a shot. Yeah.

I wouldn't mind that. And that's awesome. Everyone's happy if that happens. Sure. let's see where would you put him if he wins this like how how high would you he's I think he's the best fighter of this generation I'm I'm not confident like you could make an argument for a couple of other people he's the best fighter of this generation to me and he's he's not in the pantheon of six but he's in that sort of peripheral of like if he keeps going a couple more he's really we got to talk about it his run is just so weird it's just so different and again like and I'm like and I

I feel like I have to continue to say this. It's not his fault that it's so weird, because this is a guy who has agreed to fight everybody, Armin, Daryush at the time, which was like a massive fight, which was that was the one. Everyone was like, Islam should just fight for the belt.

I'm like, no. Darius won like seven fights in a row. Like, you should fight Daryush. And if he beats Darius, then it's a no-brainer. And if Darius beats him, then it's a no-brainer. And then they booked that fight,

and Darius got injured and didn't make it. So he beat the shit of Bobby Green instead, and then got a title. fight. Like, it is not his fault that the guys he's supposed to fight don't make it to the fight because he stays on the card and just fights whoever the UFC gives him. Even if it's a day's notice, he'll do it. Like, you've got to give him props for that. It's such a strange career though, man. It is, it is. That's why, like, it's so hard. I truly have to sit down for a long time and write this all out. But I would say, if he goes out in 50, 45 Z and Gary, because I do think

this is going to be a much more difficult fight than a lot of people think it's going to be. If he does to Ian Gary, what he did to Jack Del and Adelanah, he's top 10 for sure in my eyes. And then if he beats Proches and Morales, then we're really having a conversation. If he does both of that, then we're really having a conversation about all the time. He's at the table. I think if he beats Ian, he's probably in the top 10. Like, I'd have to really, I'd have to narrow it down. I'd have to look at it.

And it's top 10 male fighters because if you open the door up to both genders, the top 10 gets very full incredibly quickly. And then there's basically one open spot. It is, it's super strange, man. He's had a really strange career. But he just, if he keeps going, it's undeniable. And that's always been my thing in general, Mike. Like, what if we just wait and see? Because it gets easier.

The more he wins, it gets easier. because I am old enough to remember, Michael. I am old enough to remember when we were here talking about how great is Marab de Valleish Philly? Is he the greatest fight who's ever lived? He's probably never going to lose the belt. Oh, fuck.

Peter Young got him. Not talking about that anymore, are we? Like, it's these things, everything doesn't happen forever. Eventually he will fall, and then the conversation gets a little more dynamic. And it might even be this weekend. I genuinely think Ian Gary has a real chance to sneak one out of here.

Yeah. Remember all the conversations. Kamara, who's since how close is he to being the greatest welterweight in the world? How close is Israel-A-Sanya to being the greatest middleweight in the world? Like, we had all these conversations. Lisa Marab is like, Rob is a little more competitive just because there just wasn't enough of a sample size

in terms of like title defenses and such. Chad is feisty today. All right. If you know this, Islamakov, great fighter. I'm a huge fan. I've been a supportive of Islamakchikov for a long time. Everybody's been like he's already top two. Islemaqchiev has...

Up two? Islemaqadhev has six championship wins. Six of them. That's not even in like the top 15. It's just... It's good. Like, he won the belt. He defended it four times.

He won a second belt. Those are great accomplishments. I'm not here to denigrate that. This has been a sports, been around for 30. years. A lot of people have accomplished more than that. Yeah, a lot of people, Anderson, John, Demetrius, GSP, all of them have. All them have. He's right there. Even Dana said it. The thing I, because Dana's not raw. When he was asked about this, he was like, yeah, man, if we keep lining him up and he keeps knocking him down, then we can really start having the

conversation. He wouldn't commit one way or the other. The funniest thing to me is like, well, I don't like to do this before fights. Yet before UFC White House, Alex Pereer is the goat if he beat Cyril God. Like, emphatically, unequivocally, he is the greatest of all time. But we're not really... I at least understand that.

It's stupid, but I do under, like, the logic follows to me. It's like, he won three belts. I don't have the ability to think. But don't say you don't do this when you just did it. You literally just did it like a month and a half ago. You just had this conversation. Very funny.

But I do agree with him. Chase, and then we'll get to the heaters. I'm not saying this isn't. This card sucks. So I'll ask Jed, a random question. What are your top three wing spots in Atlanta? Mine are Hungry AF, Magic City, and American Deli. I've never done Hungry AF, so I can't speak to that.

Everyone has to do Magic City at one point. It's just part of it. Majority City does have very good wings, honestly. It's a bit of a meat. Mike, do you know what Magic City is? No. It's a gentleman's club, but it is a world-famous gentlemen's club. I think we've had this conversation before.

Yeah. Numerous sports ball players have found their way there. It does legitimately have really good wings. Like it's a meme. It's a joke, but like they do, their wings are actually quite good. Can you Uber reads them? I've never tried. Probably.

That seems like a thing you could do, but I've never done that. It's great wings. American Deli is not like an Atlanta specific thing. Those are all over the south. I've never had the wings there. Maybe they're good. J.R. Crickets is a staple, Atlanta one. I'm trying to think, like,

honestly, I usually go to, like, wing stuff if I'm... This is also lame, but right by me, there's a place called Hoots, which is a subsidiary of Hooters. That's just, like, a little small pop-up that does wing. and they've got pretty good ones. I'm not like a huge wing guy though, Mike. I enjoy them, but it's not, I probably have,

I have wings like four or five times a year, usually in celebration of big sporting events. Yeah, it's one of those things where like if I'm covering an event in the area and someone's like familiar with the area and they tell me like, dude, you got to get the wings here through the best I've ever had, then I'll try them. I will absolutely try them. But outside of that, it's not like the go-to for me.

I will very occasionally be like, man, I haven't had wings in a while, but it is almost always like Saturday college football with the boys. Let's order a bunch of wings. You know, Super Bowl every year. We always get a platter of wings with it. Yeah. It's that sort of. But you know where you're getting them too.

Like you know it's if you've never had a place before and you order wings and they're bad, there's no coming back on that. It's so trash when that. Yeah. We've done that. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, like, honestly, Magic City probably has the best wings I've ever had.

Wow. All right. Her Crickets is good, though. Like, I like J.R. Crickets. Let's talk about something else for a moment. Perry versus Dennis on Paperview, as we reported not too long ago, $29.99 for the August 29th event. Will they break 100 units purchased?

I actually think the one. 100 units? Yes. They'll break on. If 100,000 is the mark, no. No, they're not going to do 100,000. Yeah. I think there's,

it's such a weird card and yeah you're getting danis and perry for like the mMA people but the rest of the card i mean you got man o'an rachar colter and like phil row and stuff but it's just like there's a bunch of just like influencer fights and like podcast hosts fighting former wwe wrestlers with bad rap sheets and things of that nature like it's just super weird and i'm awful on it Yeah, there's one fight in particular that's the kickboxing match, which is pretty crazy. I got to tell you, as someone who will be there covering that card, I'm intrigued. I don't know what the hell we're going to see. I truly have no idea. So this could be the only time an event like this takes place. This could be the first of many. I don't know.

I don't know what's going to happen. Will it be 18,000 fights at the press conference? I don't know. Lots of weirdness. I think $29.99 is a little crazy. Yeah. But this probably could have been like a $9.99er. I don't know.

I don't understand anything that's going on with this. You know I'll watch a lot of stuff. Unless I have to for work, I'm going to pass on this one. If they make me, I'll watch it. but there's not a bra there's not a lot of appeal here to me even in like a bozo fashion it's just like this makes me feel kind of icky yeah and the main event does it which was like but then they filled it out with a bunch of what are we doing guys yeah there's there's weird and there's the moment you put an actual nazi versus an israeli dude and like that's that is not just

like oops this happened like that's the selling point of the fight. I'm just like, this is probably a little crass for me. Tough scenes, man. Tough scenes. Lazy. Mike Ajad, what do you think of the rapid turnaround of Balala Hassan taking on Inka MMA's Nilsson Rojas?

Is that happening? Yangai, any battle of undefeated fighters. Yes. Bilal Sadden. Even the squash matchmaking takes place on Contender Series. We're going to see a few of these throughout the course of the year. this is one of them I believe Bulla Hassan closes a minus 5,000 favorite in some books

he just obliterated the dude that he fought and gets a contract and for a moment there when I heard Charles Johnson needed a new opponent for Philly I was like dude You're not the only person I saw a couple of people throw that out I was like just fucking turn his ass around man

Like he's the former CFFC champion Like he's fought in Philly a billion times probably Like just check him back out there Like if he loses who gives a shit like what just the cool factor of him fighting twice in five days he didn't take any damage instead he's getting another week or whatever for yeah he's getting yeah or two weeks or whatever is that the end of the month you're right you're right yeah so he gets an extra two weeks so it's probably better for him uh and he's gonna go out there and win but yeah man this is this is what

you do um dain even said like anthony went who was the heavyweight who closed the show in another big squasher. They said they might throw him on the Sacramento car next week. So we'll probably have news on him as well. So yeah. I've yet to see this week's Continued series. I had my Jose Young's on where my flight got delayed a bunch to New York. And so I didn't watch it.

I'll catch up sometime this week, maybe today. Because catching up on Continuous series is very fast because most of them are squash match knockouts. And he was like, boom, boom, boom. Um, but I knew who Bilal Hassan was. He's one of the few fighters I'd heard of prior. Because I usually try and go in and can see he's blind. Um, well, like, he'd been CFC champion for a while. People talked about this kid.

His name is sick. Um, the Indo Ninja is a freaking great nickname. Yeah. Love that. Uh, and so like, he's one of those guys are like, shouldn't have gone on contender series. There's genuinely no reason for him to go on. Um, somebody was talking about this recently.

I think it's I think it was jack slack on one of his recent podcasts was like they used to just sign these dudes and one of the best parts of watching like the prelims or the middle section of a random card is hey we're going to get the CFFC champion versus the Ares champion and like that used to happen and it was like oh that's kind of cool and so even if you don't really know about them you're like oh that's a regional MM champ coming over that's sick. And now they just put all those fuckers on contender series to blow up some bozo from the regional. And then it starts guys coming off contender series. And that's just way less interesting. So I completely agree. Remember like the excitement when Muhammad Mahama Wahia made his UFC debut? He was the first fight. He was the first fight. He fought Cody Durd and they had a bunch of heat. And he just, and he was the most fun Muhammad McIntyre ever was in the UFC like flying need him and finished him in like a minute. It's awesome. People were like, oh yeah.

Because like the build to seeing him actually fight in a UFC octagon, it was like one of the big talking points of the whole entire event was him fighting. And then he just obliterated the guy. And we went on all the shows like, this dude is sick. Like Cody Durdens like a pretty tough out and he just ran his ass over. Like it was nothing. So, and now look at him. Now he's never fighting the UFC again.

And it's tough. It's tough. They should do that more. Bellamere like doesn't need a fight on Contender series. just, you know. Honestly, probably not, but like she's at least a little more because she is really unproven in MMA.

So I'm a little more okay with that. Just do the developmental thing. Just don't make any regional champion go to Kindenis. Just sign their asses. Like for real regional promotions, not explode fight series or whatever. CFFC is a real promotion. We know that.

It's a real thing. Aries is real. Yeah. X is real. Like, just sign those dudes. The first fight. of Contender Series for 2026 was the LFA champion against the APFC champion, John Kudeman.

That fight was not spectacular, but the arm bar at the end was sick, broke that dude's arm in half, pretty nasty stuff. And then shout out to Tommy Pags, Tom Pag of the Rulo, with a gritty finish in round three. He gets a contract.

I understood the co-main event not getting a contract, well, just wrecks a dude and Anthony Wint, wrecked dude. So, uh, good for Tommy Pags, man. That was, that fight was crazy. That third round was wild. Uh, Joseph, speaking of Contender Series, John Morgan wasn't a happy camper. He wasn't. That tickets to Contender Series cost 25 bucks and got Dana to rant about it. What are their thoughts on it? Why wasn't he? That seems fine. Why was he? Can you elaborate on why he wasn't a happy camper about this? Because that seems like a great idea. What's the issue? Yeah, he asked

Dana up on it. Yeah, I vaguely saw a clip about somebody being like, that's really cheap or whatever. And I was like, yeah, that's good.

You should. It's great. Things should be cheap. Like, let real fans come or like, honestly, even outside of real fans, it's just like,

I'll pay 20 bucks to do almost anything, right? Like, I did, just $20. That's a fictional amount of money. And then maybe you make a new fan. You're like,

hey, you want to come drink some beers and watch something for $25. All right. And then maybe if I'm not really an MMA fan, Or like, I've seen some. I know who Conno McGregor is, but I'm never, I'm not plugged in. But I happen to go to this thing.

Maybe suddenly I am a fan. Like, yeah. You should do this. Apex. It should be 25 bucks too. I can't imagine what the issue is for that ticket price. Yeah. I mean, come on.

It's crazy. Like if you're Dana, okay, you can be mad about why aren't we making the most money possible. Like you're in charge of a company or whatever. but why the hell would anyone else care? I'll throw another one from Joseph. Earlier this week you found out UFC 332 would be in Salt Lake City. What is their guess of a main event?

If it's not Kayla versus Amanda, could it be Valentina versus Daddy Ice. I could assure you that will not be the main event. Correct. If Utah's, no disrespect, but if Salt Lake City is paying the UFC millions of dollars to come to their city, that's not the main event they're getting.

I don't know. I really don't know. I see the, like, I'm hearing rumblings of Diego Lopez versus Charles Olivera being worked on. I don't know how far it is. But, like, that would, we could do that as like a BMF title fight. That's not like the worst idea in the world. I thought we all agreed to just get rid of the BMF belt.

Damn, but we all agreed that Charles killed it. Yeah, but, you know, break the glass. Case of emergency. You might need it here. I see some people saying Yuri versus Paul Acosta for an interim light heavyweight title could be the main event which I haven't heard anything about that.

If you're doing it honestly, as much as I disliked his performance, if you are doing an interim title fight without Magamette Anc Goliath in it, then it's very silly. It's a pointless belt and it's literally meaningless. Truly and utterly meaningless. Like it's not even,

Yuri, Yuri got knocked out by a dude with one knee. And he's had multiple title fights, and he's been brutally chaot in all of them, outside of the Glover to share a fight. Can we let Magamed get an opportunity here? You can do Magamed versus Paul O'Costa for an interim title if Oldberg's not fighting until May. Like, isn't this just going to be, we're talking 332, right? Isn't this just going to be Volk Moussar?

I don't think so. I think they're probably from at least the conversations I've had were probably we're probably waiting a few weeks for that fight. Go to Abu Dhabi for that one. I mean, I guess that kind of makes sense from Robsar, but like... Marab Yon probably will be on that same card.

Yeah, I mean, Marab Yon, Volk Mavsar as like Kayla Amanda for some rumblings that that could be starting to be possible in the soonish. But if it's not Kayla Manna, do you just pull Marab and Jan?

Honestly, but Yon's a champ. But Jan's a champ. He's probably excited to fight Nabobie. I mean, I'd rather do Vulcan Mavsar and Salt Lake. Because if I'm Jan and I'm like, no, I don't want to fight Marab at altitude. That sounds shitty. Like, that sounds really bad.

No, thank you. I'd rather fight Abu Dhabi than in Salt Lake City. I mean, there's, I'd probably not. because I feel like I would have heard some rumors at this point. But like, Sean Strickland is always pretty happy to fight on a quick turnaround. And so, you know,

Sean Strickland versus whoever gets, you know, they just call Nostradine and like, it's now and everybody say yes, or they figure out how to do it. So they've got, they've got the sort of balls in the air. They just got to pluck one and drop it.

Yeah, we'll see what happens. What's Tom As well? Spanol doing? He said he's back to training already. Yeah, he's probably fighting a month after that. Yeah, that seems in a really famous arena. We've been alluding to this for quite some time. But, yeah, nothing is like over the goal line.

But yeah, it's probably going to be an MSG that if and when that fight is announced. Yeah. Here's what, Mike, here's how we do it. Because 331 is Van Pantosia, right? So 332, that's Jan Marab. 333, that's Volk Mavsar. And we're just, we scale up. We go flyweight to Bannamweight to featherweight.

And then Justin Gage at MSG for 334. Boom. And then Islam in December? Sure. I mean, I do it. That'd be awesome. I'd love that. I just don't think he's going to, but I'd love that.

I'll throw this out there. Would you rank Volk higher than Islam because he has title, the title. Yes. Even though they fought twice and Islam beat him. in place. Yes. They sure did. But greatness, I say this constantly.

I think people just don't understand it. Greatness is a measure of accomplishment. And Alexander Volkanowski, well, I do not believe he has surpassed Josialdo in terms of greatness, is, in my estimation, certainly one of the ten greatest fighters of all time and has, as of this moment. Again, they're both still going. We never know. As of this moment, has accomplished more than is Lamakachev has.

That's just, that's how I see it. It's okay. RS40, Neil Magny looking for win number 25 in the UFC. Is he a Hall of Famer? I'm sorry, run that question back again, sorry? Neil Magny looking for his 25th UFC win, is he a Hall of Famer? No, but it kind of feels like he should be in some respects. this is the answer is no and he's never going to get in

and I'm not even sure he should get in realistically but they have this conversation I'm like you know this you watch other sports like this is a conversation that exists in other sports of like to what is a hall of fame what is it really supposed to embrace and celebrate what aspects of the sport

do we consider the most valuable because everybody knows the easy ones Everybody knows that Tom Brady is an NFL Hall of Famer. Like nobody alive doesn't think that. Everyone knows that John Jones is an NFL. Like these are very easy ones. When you get further down, it's like Frank Gore, he's like fifth all time in rushing yards, maybe even higher than that. And I think he was like an all star twice, you know, like he was a pro bowler like twice or whatever.

Is that, do we put a guy like that in the Hall of Fame? And that's sort of Neil Magny. It's like he was never, he was a top 10 guy for stretch. He was never a top five guy. He was never really threatening to fight for a title. But he's been a big part of this organization and this weight class for a very long time. He has meaningful wins. He has memorable fights and performances.

He's probably not a Hall of Famer. He's a Hall of Very Good. You know, damn they were good participant. But there is a soft spot in my heart for guys like that who just are good for fighters. Like, you know, Neil Magny has been a good fighter for a very long time. Probably not a Hall of Famer, though. I think he's got a shot.

Thank you, Max Rapkin. Gore is third all time in yards with five Pro Bowls. And most, and this is Maine who retired not that long ago, and most people I would not have an idea who Frank Gore is. It's like, is he a Hall of Famer? I don't know. Yeah. Craig Bidgio's in the Hall of Fame. Just run-of-the-mill, hardworking guy.

that put up some numbers and all-star a few times it's never really the best in his position in the league probably not even top three most of the time but just showed up and played every day much like Neil Maggie

it's in team sports it's a little more it's a little easier because you can be so like a team ring of honor participant or whatever you know you can be like a beloved

character actor of this franchise guys. Like, I, Mike, I'm, there have to be a number of Patriots who, you know, aren't West, I'm maybe, as West Walker, probably not going to end up being a Hall of Famer, um, but not Grancowski or thing, but who are still like, yeah, man, that guy would play for the Patriots for 10 years and we loved him and he's. Yeah, Troy, like Thai law. Sure.

There. Troy Brown. Uh, Troy Brown's a perfect example. Like, yeah, would never, like, wouldn't have, David Branch. Like guys like that who would never do it, who they tried to put him on other teams and he did nothing for them, but he just fit in perfectly with what they were trying to do.

Dallas Clark on the Colts was like, I love to watch Dallas Clark play. Great tight end. He was like a central part to a lot of the success of that team and the Super Bowl run. He's never going on the Hall of Fame. He shouldn't. But like he can still be celebrated in a way

that it's harder for MMA to do because there's not team sort of things. Just like, where were you? Neil Magnet is Martin Campman, and I love Martin Camden. I think Martin Camden was a terrific fighter, and no one will remember Martin Camden in 10 years. Dude, his resume is crazy. Magnet four hitters.

Yeah, since 2015, lost of Damien Maya. Not quite Barraza, but it's really good. Loss of Damian Maya, lost to Lorenz Larkin, who that was his free agent, Lorenz's free agent fight before signing that big deal with Bellator. RDA, this is 2017 RDA, not 2026 RDA. Ponzi in a main event

in November of 2018 Kiesa, when Kiesa was just on that long, long winning streak, that he beats Jeff Neal, he beats Max Griffin, and then his losses are

to Shafcott, Gilbert Burns, Ian Machado, Gary, Michael Morales, Carlos Prakis, and Yarosloth Amasoff, and he's beat everybody else

he fought. To hell, that's that he was so important for that division, though, and like, the establishment of,

of, creating contenders. He's so important. He, the guys like him are the actual, like, fabric that make this sport work. And it's awesome. Since we're doing resumes, I did this yesterday at MK, but Mike, I know that you know this because we've broadly talked about this. I just want to run this 12 fight streak down for you because it, honest to goodness, might be the most difficult 12 fights in the history of a fighting career. Maybe not, you know, like several championship runs are filled with hitters.

But Edson Barbosa, after beating Evan Dunham, he's not part of this. Bobby Green, Michael Johnson, Paul Felder, Tony Ferguson, Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Benil Daryush, Habibnerner, Mettov, Kevin Lee, Dan Hooker, Justin Gachie, Paul Felder, a second time. The worst fighter. The worst fighter in that list is... It's Kevin. Paul Felder? Kevin Lee. I mean, they're right there.

Like, that is just incredible run. Barboe, like, that is a 12-fight streak of just murderers that Barbos just knuckled up with. Insane run. Yeah. Oh, we should definitely talk about this. RS 40. I've never seen fall off a cliff.

It's hard as patchy mixes fallen. And it's not even funny. Mike, I don't believe. in things like spiritual possession or voodoo or demons. But Pachy makes me think that perhaps somebody did just curse him because I have never, I agree, I've never seen the total collapse of his ability to do anything. Like Will Brooks fell off, you know.

Like he had success in Bell-Dorre. He beat Michael Chandler. came over and couldn't replicate it. But then he went back to the regionals and he should have made his way back to the UFC. I still don't know why it never happened. He put together wins. He lobbied.

He was willing to do anything and they just wouldn't take him. But he went back and got his head on his shoulders after a disappointing UFC stand. That can happen. I can understand that. Even if, and I know, Mike, you can chime in, like Patchy Mix was never the best Ben and wait,

that's fine. Nobody would deny that he was good. he was a good fighter and it just went like it crumbled to dust it is astonishing how bad this happened and how quickly

I was talking about this the other day it's extreme course correction that's what this is this is extreme course correction but like unfair because Patchy at least to me and I've said this forever overachie had an incredible

an incredible run in that Grand Prix that put him in this position. He had big finishes. He was very fun. I thought he lost the Magamemad Maghameda fight, and that started the course correction where the M.A gods were like, yeah, man, we gave the world Nate Diaz

versus Tony Ferguson instead of sacrificing him to Hamzaa Tchamai, we're going to use Patchy Mixes the course correction to bring things back. And it's sad, man. Like, it's not even like, we snickered a little bit when we saw it just because like it's just mind blowing how bad it's funny and now it's just sad yeah and the topology thing is just ridiculous too which you know we

don't really need to get into that hot take i actually kind of support topology in this one why though like at least be consistent across the board yeah the consistency thing is and other people have made other issues with technology recently and a lack of consistency. I'm totally on board being that. But the core concept of he didn't, like, you know, he lost because of a point deduction for

blowing weight. That's not real. Like, that's not real. Like, yeah, that's not real. Like, it's, I actually sort of buy that. It's like, that's. Yeah. But then you can't, you can't, when people are like, well, why don't you do this with jungle fights? They're like, well, it's too much work.

Like, what are you talking about? Yeah. That is, that's bad. You can't separate the two. It's exactly the same thing, but one is weighs more than the other. It's insane. That's what I want to be clear about. I support the rule that they are applying to patchy mix. I don't support them not doing it for others.

That's garbage. You have to be unilateral with it. But like it's, I do think it's like, yeah, I know that this promotion says he lost, but like he didn't lose the fight by normal means. Like, yeah. In the same way, I was talking with Drake, yesterday on Twitter about this,

because there was another topology thing about, I forget who was one of the girls who fought in Smack Girl. And Smack Girl used to have, like, specialty rule set where if you were on the ground for 30 seconds or whatever, they would send you up. It's basically like old school pancreas in a lot of ways. And it's probably weird how MMA, like, records and resumes are judged anyway. Because old school pancreases, like, exist on Boss Rutan's records.

Like, those weren't real fights. I mean, they were real fights, but they weren't real fights in the way that we think of anything else. and even early UFC bouts are treated in the resume and record in the same way as current unified rules bouts and it's like, no, Dan Severin and Ken Shamrock fought one 30 minute round where they couldn't punch each other in the head.

You know, like these aren't, that's not a real fight by the terms of thing. So they probably should be a better way to do it, but the important thing is consistency across all platforms or like all, however you're going to do it, you need to meet that out appropriate. really, topology screwing that up is incorrect.

I'm firmly on board with that part of it. Yeah. And they're just, and they're tripling down on it. It's, I don't know. It just looks, it's just such a bad look for them,

especially with patchy, because this isn't the first time. I don't think that they've had some inconsistencies with patchy and, and stuff like that. So it's creating sort of this, you know, these different contexts on Twitter as it relates to why are they doing this? And then,

you know, when they're called up for other, stuff. Yeah, it's just, I don't know, it's just silly. But again, like, if the rule is, you lose points, like, that's a loss, man. Like, if that's the rules, that's the rules, you know? Can't just rewrite history. Yes, because you agreed to it. But that's, then we're just not getting to the purpose of what we are looking for with fights, which is, that's sort of my whole thing. I, it, everybody gets to do everything how they want and it makes things tricky, because there are no unilateral rules that everybody has to abide by.

There are different rules for everything. It makes it all weird. I think deducting a point for missing weight is incredibly stupid, and I don't give that any validity because I don't care about the weight. The fight happened or didn't happen. If you want to penalize someone for a fight not happening or for blowing weight, they don't get to fight. That's it.

To me, it just should be super clear. If you miss weight, you don't get to fight. That's it. The fight's over. It's not a loss. You didn't do your job. It's not. Well, we're going to let you fight, but actually you have to do X, Y, and Z.

Because then what the fuck is the point? If Patsy Mix goes out there with a six pound weight advantage and taps this dude out, that's, oh, somehow we've decided that's okay. Because he finished him, it's fine. Because they went knuckle and tall. No, it's a fight or it's not. If they fight, they fight on neutral ground. And if you're saying that they can't fight on neutral ground because he blew weight

they don't have the fight. Like that's my feelings on it. Well, people don't want to cancel fights. Like, promoters hate to cancel fights and I think that's dumb. Lazy, Neil Magny is the UFC's version of AC Green. Okay. Who's AC Green? It's a basketball player.

Oh, not my sport. Good supporting cast member. Played for the Lakers, played for the Miami Heat. I believe he had a run with the Phoenix Sons during the I think when Barclay

and Marley and all those guys are there. Honestly, he's living his best life. You're telling me his job was L.A. to Phoenix to Miami. That was pretty good locations to bounce around, man. Yeah, and there's one of maybe Dallas he played for too.

Again, another major metropolitan city. I ain't going above the Mason Dixon. I'm not going to be cold ever. I love that for him. Living. It's the patchy story, just in general. It's just wild.

Like, how? Patchy story is nuts. It is pretty freaking crazy. What else do we have here? A lot of people. Nobody cares about this co-main event, which I think is deeply funny. Oh, they bump Turner, Kowie Fernandez up. I thought that's what they would end up doing.

And that's a good call. That is a good call. To, again, it's probably the best choice. of what they have available. They didn't have a lot of choices, though. I mean, would you have pushed up, would you move the top two fights up or the bottom two fights up a spot?

And then did Oralby versus Jeremiah Wells is the main card opener. That's the only other choice you could have here. Jeremiah Wells is like legitimately the only Philadelphia-ish representation you have on this card. I know Dustin Stoltz has like Pennsylvania ties, but even Stoltz is at,

at the media day was like yeah I'm not a Philly guy my family's from Lancaster so like so he has like Pennsylvania ties but not really ties that's not quite it then

so now you're instead of instead of that also isn't Lancaster Amish country I believe so and then you're going to trot Jeremiah Wells out on the first fight of the card that would be the best if we got an Amish a MMA fighter and then you're trotting him out

the first fight of the card of the card. In a match he's going to get obliterated in. Oh, he's got to get tackled five billion times. I hate that fight the most because it makes zero sense why it's happening. Like on both sides of it, it's bad, right? It's like, well, we do need some Philly representation, so he hears it, but he's going to get smoked. He can get smoked by a guy who's fighting 30 steps back of where he should be and

take it to Jeremiah Wells. Like, I don't know what the hell we're doing. So, yeah, I think that that's the other choice, but it's fine to put it. Because Turner Fernandez on a good run right now. That's a big fight. Yeah, it's a good fight. You know, I love Jalen Turner. Fernandez on good run.

This card is weak. That's it. There's a main event and a co-main event. And the rest of this card is pretty much funs with a couple of things. Joel Alvers, Chitty and Joe Kwani. I'm going to have a wonderful time watching. Turner Fernandez is probably the second most fun fight on the card, honestly. Yeah.

So, Dan, is Jed, you weren't on the post show. What is Quillen Salkild's ceiling? Yes, you got to miss the return to the world's most famous meta apex, Jed, and I'm sure you regret it. I have since seen this fight. So it did catch up on this. Killen's ceiling is making me look like a big, dumb asshole, apparently. I did not rate him very highly coming off Contender Series. He and Caller's protests are my two biggest misses.

But my protest one came with a pretty major caveat of, I think he's, going to be fun and good, but he's very old. So he'd have to immediately like make a run if he was going to make like a real run. Because he came up contingency. He was like 30. He didn't have any time to build up. And then he just immediately came off and won his first four fights in one year. And was suddenly the top of the weight class like, oh, I look stupid.

But at least there was a caveat. Salkild was just like, I don't know. He seems fine, but not that good. And he's just real good. This is real good. His ceiling is winning the belt. I don't know if he ever will because it's very hard to win the lightweight

championship of the world. He went this, this performance, and this is the one I was the most excited for. We talked about it last week, Mike. I want to watch this fight because this is the first learning experience I'll have with him.

I don't learn anything. Not as far across the good win, don't get me wrong. But like, Jamie Malarkey, okay, whatever. B'Neil Dary, at that stage of his career, whatever. This was, all right, now I get to see,

are you actually good? Like, are you really good? Because nobody dummies, Matush Gamar. You might beat him, but he's going to take his pound of flesh and probably make you look a little worse than you want to. And instead, Killen wrecked him. So he went from overnight for me, been like, okay, he's definitely a fun guy, going to be in the top 15 for a good stretch, maybe makes the title one if he keeps adding

tools to. He's definitely going to fight for the belt one day. Like, I'm pretty confident. and he's going to challenge for the title. Whether he wins it, that's a different question, but this was an absolute leveling up of my expectation for him. Time to call it somebody who says he watches stuff, but actually doesn't watch stuff.

At one time, these two clowns stop at you is the best band way in the world. You can't be talking about me because I never said that. I think I put him at one because he had a good run, and I support activity of what you're currently doing. Also, I'm sorry, Racer, if it's hard to watch, you do not have to. Yeah. yet you're here. Here you are.

And yeah, I was the guy who said patchy's good, but not great, from day one, which is fine. You could be, you could still be good and do things at 135. It's a very deep division. But to say he was the best band-in-way in the world at that time, especially after my opinion, losing to Magamette, Magamada, tough seats.

Who was the UFC champ then? Is that what we were doing, Sean O'Malley? Because it might have been, because I've never been a Sean-O-Malley. So I don't think, so, oh, maybe he was. Let me go back. So this was, I've just always, May of 2024. I think I did.

Like, I think I put ranked him number one. I have a level of confidence. I did that because he won a good tournament in good fashion. And I want to say it was Sean O'Malley. And I was like, I don't like, I don't think Sean, is that good? UFC 292 is August of 2023. The Magamad, Magamadah, Fai was May of 2024. So when he won the Grand Prix, Sean O'Malley was two months removed of knocking out Al Jemaine Sterling in Boston.

Yeah. Then 100%. I was like, well, I think Patchy would beat Sean O'Malley. And I, and that's it. And I would have been wrong. Like, obviously, Sean would have beat him. I'm happy to. Sean would have to be able to.

Yeah. Like, I'm happy to acknowledge what I'm wrong. But, like, the thing I always say, and people can take humbridge with me saying this because sometimes I'm a dick. I'm a dick because it's my job to be a dick on the internet in some ways, right? Like I'm doing a show where I give opinions. You don't have to be an ass in the comments. You can be like, hey, remember when you said that? And I'm like, yep, I was wrong.

That sucks. Yeah. Sometimes it happens. But fair. Like, I'm happy to take my lumps. I'm less happy to take my lumps if you're going to be kind of a prick about it. Yeah. The accountability hands go up on these shows more than anywhere else.

everyone will deny them or have excuses we will come on here and be wrong I was the guy I was incorrect about patchy makes being better than Sean O'Malley yeah that was not my best take probably still a better take than saying kill and Saul killed is just like

man because that's looking way worse yeah you know hand up that's looking way John Way Lee did not beat or even did not obliterate Valentin to ship change that was I ate that one

And it is what it is. Like this is what you do. Sometimes if you go on a limb, sometimes that limb breaks. I need to look at, I think, 20, we're 20, this is 2026. Next year will be the fifth one, two, three. Next year will be the five year anniversary of my first continue series right up. And I have to go back and look at how bad I was or how good I was. That's good.

We'll do one more super chat and then we have to take care of some business, Jed, because there's some questions I have that I don't have the answer to, just said two super chats though because another one just came in oh okay uh if i and gary wins on saturday night he's become the best irishman in ufc history who will have the most wins as an irishman and beating the top pound for pound one is huge no i mean this would be huge absolutely but again i just i want to stress context over everything it will this there will be no way for this to be a bad win for you machado gary even in history but if he wins and then Islam stays at welterweight and then loses to three more welterweight

you're like actually he was just a blown up lightweight and that's not that good of win you know like time will out it is possible but if he won him retired right after he would not be a better fighter by almost any measure than connor mcgregor this will be a better win than connor mcgregor ever had conne mcgrig never beat the best pound for i mean actually with josialdo i guess he did so yeah no just in there's There's no category in which that this will be a better win than Connor. Like, it won't be a better win. It won't be a better career.

Certainly won't be a bigger star. No. But like he gets to keep fighting and make his case to being the greatest Irishman of all time. Because Connor's not going to add anything to his legacy at this stage of things. Yeah. Dan, is, would you all pick Islam over Strickland and Middleway right now? No. No, I can't. I can't do it. I won't. I'd bet him because I bet Strickland would be the favorite.

And the thing about Sean Strickland, and I respect Sean Strickland's what he's accomplished in the sport, that man does not win big. Fluffy Hernandez is about the only one. It is tight. I still don't think he beat Hamzat. He officially did, so he won. but, you know, he went to, was that, that was a sputty or a majority with Hamza? I can't recall. I think it was a sputty.

Yeah, he went to a spitty with Hamza. He went to a split with Paula Costa. He goes to Spitties with, and he, he sure. The cost one. He should not have, but, but that's the point I'm making. I agree he shouldn't have, but the way he fights, judges have a hard time being like he's definitely winning rounds. Some do, some don't.

And so it can get really nip-tuck and very on the margin. and that is that that gives anybody a chance to beat you honestly and so I would pick Sean Strickland I'd probably bet Islam I think Strickland but again you're right well Izzy too he beat the shit out of Izzy didn't finish him but he almost did

and then he just 50-45 to his ass it's pretty damn good yeah I mean the easy one he also cooked him yeah and Abuse can't forget about it abyss Abuse is bad, so Yeah. I just

I don't I don't think there would be huge amounts of offense either way it would be a little bit like the fight I expect on Saturday Only Sean Strickland is even bigger than the Imichita Gary is And so it just I think he'd win It might end up getting

Getting a little wonky there for him Yeah Well, it's time, Jen How big are we going? Are we just drafting the two? I guess we have to draft all that. We have to draft for all the fights are watching on the watch party.

Yes, yeah. What are we watching? Where are we starting? We're watching Joel Alvarez. Okay. That's the featured prelim all the way up to Mockachev. So after, so heading into UFC 328, you had an 18 to 10 lead.

And you annihilated me. You had Strickland, Van, Volkov, Brady. I had King Green, you had Goteet, and I'd Amosoff. So that puts me to 12. You at 23. Big lead. So it was 23 to 12. And we made picks for 329.

Oh, I forgot. We made picks. How'd that go? I don't know. I got to remember what they were. You wrote them all down. So I have to go to you. Hold on.

Now I have to find them. What date was 329? July. 11th. That sounds about right. Oh man. I totally forgot we made picks on that. Okay. Mike, solo screens. I'm going to step off and go find my notebook. Okay. We'll figure this out. All right, we'll ask a couple more questions. We'll answer a couple more questions. $500 for 330 nosebleeds. Damn. That's pretty good. crazy. That is crazy.

Mike doesn't take Gary. He's a coward. So I will say this. I if I have to like make a pick and my life depends on it, I'm picking Islam. But come Saturday

when we are sitting in these seats behind us, my money is on Ian Macheteer Gary. I've already placed two wagers on Ian Macheteer Gary. I have a wager on Ian as well. I do think Islam's going to win, but I have a wage on Ian. I have the spread bet or just the regular money line plus 270 is where I got them on

Fanduil. And then I have the point spread bet. I am getting plus nine and a half points on Ian Machado, Gary, a minus 120. And I took that. And I went a little heavy on that as well. Because I think Islam is going to win. but I think it's a very close fight. It's, I just don't, and again, as I said, like, the value is just unbelievable.

Like, this line should be closer. And to me, and I don't know, I assume you agree with this, Jed. Plus 270 is ridiculous. This is, this to me is, I hate Ian Gary. I guess I'll bet on Islamakachev. three, four, it's just Islam. I think there's a little bit about it. Minus 270, I think it's like the right number.

But if you're going to give me Ian Gary plus 270, I'm going to take a stab at it. I think there's a little bit about that. I think there's also a little bit about this being the first time people really want to support Islam Makachev in his career in a lot of ways. Because all of his other fights are being in people that fans liked more than Islam,

just honestly. Um, and so there's some pieces to it. Mike, I found it. I found where we, where we were at. Okay. Um, it's not the worst news for you, but it's not good news for you either. What do we split it? Four three in favor of me. So you, you drafted Gable Steven. He, he was victorious. I then drafted Adrian Yanez and Max Holloway, who were both. Oh, you got Max? I thought I had Max. Damn. Nope. Because you went first and took Gable. I got Adrian and Max. Uh, you then drafted Lonnie Kavanaugh.

Oh, that hurt you. And Corey Sandhagan. And that hurt you. I then drafted BSD, which then hurt me. I can't believe I drafted Robert Whitaker. I drafted Robert Whitaker. Oh, you did. Wow.

And then you drafted King Green. Okay. So that was a good pick. That was a great time. Yeah. And so you, yeah, we both weren't on our piece and cues. We both gave some, but it went four three for me.

Jesus Christ. I'm down by two touchdowns right now. That's a lot. I'm down by 12. Two touchdowns and going and missing a couple of two pointers. The saddest part of it is I distinctly remember, I think the one where I went like eight and one or whatever, I thought your team was better. I was just like.

That was three, I would have taken all those guys. And then none of them won. I was like, oh, well, whoops, it is this? Golly, man. So I should probably just, like, by proxy, just be able to draft first, right? I mean, I'm happy for you. I think I've been giving you the option.

You can either draft first or second, depending on what you, if you think there are three good picks, then you'd want to go second to get two of the three. But you can draft first or second, your call. I'll go first, just because I have to find wins where I can get them. Oh. And we're going down, we're going to six. so Chidi, Joel. Actually, you go first.

Okay. That is tricky. And by tricky, I mean, very easy. I'm going to take Esteban Riebevich. Okay. I figured. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. There's three must takes, and I'll let you have one, and I'll get that. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. So I will go with Mansour Abdul Malik. Yes, and Joel Alvarez. Okay, Abdul and Joel Alvarez.

Man, that's a shame because you know I love me some Joel Alvarez. Yeah, and he's going to, he's going to dummy Chitty and Joe Kowani. Yeah, I think going second was the right call. Mike, that's a good call. Good call. Good call. So my options are the two title, We went none of the big fights

So the, the top three fights are all available Oh, maybe You gotta go with your boy? I'm gonna take his Lamakov Yeah I don't feel bad about having you and Gary though Yeah, I don't, that's the thing I feel like any of these are fine to have

I'm going to yeah I'm going to take Islam and then I'm going to take durn I'll go and still for both of them and I'll let you choose between Turner Fernandez God I wanted durens I thought I was going to put Dern. She's a member of the family we have to keep the members of the family well then I guess I'll just have to take the other member of your family no we we actually communicated him remember when he retired we we love him still. We wish the best for him. But his retirement was like, okay, well,

you've gone on your own. You're out of the house. Well, come visit, Jalen. We got a guest room. It's very nice. There's a TV in there. You can watch all your favorite shows. Get nice and comfy. There you go. I thought there was a chance you might just give him to me anyway. I was like, okay, I guess I'll gamble for it.

Yeah. This is actually a great, This is actually a really good point. If Dern wins again and has a title defense, you might have to get Shaheen on. Hell yeah. Next week. And you guys can just the best.

It's so good that she's a champion. And you never like she might not be the fifth best straw on the planet. It's so fun. This fight I'm super looking for. I know nobody else cares. I love the comit of it. I'm going to have the most fun watching that because it could be anything. Anything could happen in that fight on the table.

So, like, this was, like, this to me feels like one-way traffic all the way. But I, like, the amount of people who are just like, oh, Jillian's going to win, like, has me doubting my feelings on this. I feel like Dird's just got to, I think Dern's going to obliterate her. That's my, was sort of my thought, but it's McKinsey Derns. you can never have confidence in that thought. It is like she might, she's, I'm guessing you didn't watch yesterday.

I was on MK with Luke. I teed him up, I teed up Luke Thomas and was like, hey, can you just look, look at the statistics on McKinsey Dern, the wrestler. And he'd never really like paid attention.

He was like, oh my God. Yeah, it's like 18% success rate on takedowns and her takedown defense rate is like, two or something insane. There's the worst wrestler in the history of MMA. It's so funny to me.

Yeah. I mean, maybe Jillian marabs her and takes her down like 40 times. I think if she's going to win, that's what she has to do. She just takes her out and doesn't get tapped. And you're just like,

I'm going to trust that you won't sweep or tap me. I'm going to take you down a bunch. I'm not confident that she won't get swept is the thing. Yeah. Because on the feet, I don't think she can beat McKinsey. I don't either. not that McKinsey's good, but McKinsey is, we'll throw, and she'll throw hard.

And that's like enough in this matchup. It's, Fatima Klein would, I think, just kick the tar out of both of these women. We got to get her into a title fight sooner rather than later. If Zhang's not coming back, just give Fatima the keys to the kingdom, man. Let her fight, let her fight Tatiana Suarez. And if she wins that fight, which I think she will. then she fights with the belt. 18% take down accuracy from McKinsey Dern,

37% take down DECD, which is only one percentage point lower, one integer lower, the Jillian Robertson's 38% takedown defense. Oh my gosh. Over under three and a half takedowns landed in that fight. Dude, it's got to be over, because if you just collide into the other person, they'll fall over.

They can't, they don't know how to say, stand up. It is. I am so excited. Nobody cares about that fight and I understand why. I'm so pumped because I think the main event's going to suck to watch. It's going to be really high level, small margins, interesting, like, rewatch and break down.

The co-main event is going to be bozo shit and I'm super here for it. You might have sold some people on this one, Jed. I've been trying to preach the benefits to this title fight all week. Well, we'll all be able to watch. together on Saturday, watch party kicking up at 8.30 p.m. Eastern time. It's going to be a great time. I'm excited.

Get to meet the new puppy? You get to meet the new pub. It's why it's so quiet in here. He's at daycare right now. Press conference tonight. Wayans preview show tomorrow. All fun stuff on Saturday. Live Otno on Sunday. We're out of here.

Love you. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.