MMA Fighting - BTL | Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz, UFC Nashville Fallout, Logan Paul vs. Dillon Danis, More

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

Jake Paul added to his undefeated boxing record against UFC veterans when he earned a unanimous decision victory over Nate Diaz this past Saturday in Dallas. While the outcome matched what the betting odds suggested, was the event — and the fight itself — a win overall? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the Paul vs. Diaz aftermath, who emerged the winner of the night, and if a rematch in MMA will happen. Additionally, topics include Cory Sandhagen's UFC Nashville main event win over Rob Font and the reaction to it, Tatiana Suarez stopping Jessica Andrade in the co-main event, where both fighters go from here, Logan Paul scheduled to box Dillon Danis in October, UFC Vegas 78 headlined by Rafael dos Anjos vs. Vicente Luque, Bellator 298, and more. This week, host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and The Sporting News' Andreas Hale. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Andreas Hale: @AndreasHale 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded.

It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From MMA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a...

brand new edition of Between the Links here on MMAfighting.com. Thank you for joining us. It is great to be back on this show live on the MAA Fighting YouTube channel after just an insane week in Dallas. But we are back to discuss the fallout of that event in the Lone Star State, capped up by Jake Paul's decision win over a very game Nathan Diaz, the aftermath of UFC Nashville and the big winners from that card. A couple of fight announcements, one expected, one totally unexpected.

plus the weekend ahead in the world of MMA and much more on this week's program. But before we get to the banter, we have to introduce the banterers, the bantees, if you will. I don't know. But first let's say hello to Mr. No Gray area. Mr. Hot take, the co-host of No Betts Bard. He is MMA Fighting Zone. Jed K. Mishu. Hello, Jen.

You're struggling with the intro today. Like, hey, everybody. Look forward to this. We have a lot of stuff to talk about. most of it very dumb. So let's have fun. Keep Jed on the screen. Well,

give me a me and Jed's splitting here. Let me just say, Jed, apologies to the NBB nation. Myself in New York, Rick, we cost G.C. some money with our just plain and simple wrong prediction in Amanda Serato, Heather Hardy fight,

Rick and I are feeling real good about that pick, like three rounds in, and then it got real sweaty, and then I just felt like an absolute moron. So I publicly apologize. to G.C. I'll see him next weekend face to face, but I apologize to no bets barred nation,

Jen. So if you want to pass it along to G.C. I will. G.C. was not the happiest person with some of the things that happened as a result of last week. But, you know, it's why it's why you just got to be your own man. You got to stick to your own beliefs, regardless of what anyone's telling you. It's a true story. But speaking of Dallas,

let's introduce Jed's opponent. I got to spend some time with this gentleman throughout fight week. In fact, I sat next to him. during the Paul versus Diaz event at the American Airlines Center. You can see him over on the sporting news, Sirius XM, and many other things. Happy to welcome Andreas Hale to BTL for the very first time. Andreas, how are you, sir?

I am well, sir. I'm ready for war? Sure. I don't think it's going to be that. It should be a good hang today. Yeah, this is got to be a fun hang. There's just a bunch of weird things to talk about. out. And that just segues in perfect. So let's talk about this because Andreas and I were both on

the ground in Dallas for Jake Paul versus Nate Diaz and Jed. I want to start with you because we recorded an audio version of the show on Wednesday after the open workouts and it felt to you and you weren't alone on this. Like Nate didn't really seem to care about any of this that Jake was trying to make him care and Nate wasn't really biting. And then Thursday's press conference rolls around. Nate was starting to get a little bit pissed off at all of it, really upset about the little dude from better being all sorts of disrespectful and things started to heat up with the face off, continued on into Friday. And by the time Saturday rolled around and by the time this fight was about to happen, Jed, and Andreas can attest to this, the crowd was effing here for it.

They were ready. They were fired up. And then the fight happened. And to me, it went exactly the way I think. Oh, no. I would say, did I DC or? Or did Mike like DC? I wasn't sure I was near him. He's frozen. He went to hear some man. Oh, Mike's power just went out.

That's a problem. Well, I don't know how he's going to solve that particular issue, Casey. So while he works on that, I'm just going to answer the question that I think he was teeing up, which is, Jed, what's your reaction to the Jake Paul Diaz fight?

Did it live up to your expectations? etc. Way to go. Way to step in, Casey. You talk. No, I know you. Go. So heading into that fight, I, like, I was pretty open.

I was like, I'm not really that interested. I didn't hate it. It just hadn't captivated me in any way. And I freely admit that it's certainly on the ground. And Andreas, I'm sure, can speak more to this. It seemed like the people in Dallas were here for it, as Mike said, right? and that that energy amped up and watching at home,

you could feel the energy. Like in the arena, you could feel that people were here for it. And I still right up until the fight started, didn't really care much about it. Like, it's fine. It was a thing to notice or care about, but just didn't tickle me that way.

But watching the fight, it exceeded my expectations. It was a far more fun fist fight than I. Oh, hello. everything I'm so sorry like dude my power like the power in my just in this room all went out and they came back on and then it went out again and then it came back on and it went out again I don't know what the hell just happened but we're good now you have a ghost it would appear that you have a ghost I was Mike yeah Mike I was just saying yeah like I was just saying like for fight exceeded my expectations it played out pretty much like I thought it was wouldn't like we talked about, but it was more entertaining than I thought it would be in that regard, right? Like, Nate was, whether Nate cared about that fight beforehand, I'm still not sure, but when the

bullets started flying, he's Nate Diaz, he is going to try and fist to fight you. And he did, and he gave a decent accounting of himself. I thought, I thought Jake Paul is probably the best we've ever seen him look from a boxing standpoint, which isn't saying a ton, but still. But the fight was fun. Like, the fight delivered in a way that I don't think anyone on the ground, could have been upset with, you know, spending their money on that. And, you know, buying the pay-per-view at home, I wasn't, I was not upset that I chalked my money up for that. So exceeded expectations, which is really the best thing you can sort of ever say about an event

like that. And I'm happy enough leaving it. So I don't know, obviously, I missed the first half of what you just said. But what, what was your grade? What was your grade for the fight itself? Oh, I don't know. It's, it be, like a solid B, like a solid B. it's not a great fight. The event was okay. Some things happened, but like,

influencer boxing is just kind of fun, but it's not like meaningful. And that's largely what we got up and down, up and down the card. Even Amanda Serrano, like, we all knew what that fight was. It's just a payday for Hardy, essentially, which is fine. Like, I don't have any issues with it. So again, I don't feel like I got my money's worth from that pay-per-view. And so it's a B, but it's not like I'm going to tell my grand. kids about the time I watched Jake Paul Box Nate Diaz. Andreas, what a stretch of time life was for you. You go from Spence Crawford one weekend to Paul Diaz the next weekend, and we were in the

building in Dallas. And as Jed sort of alluded to, the event was kind of a slow burn, a lot of fights, six main card fights, H2 O.Sil gave the fans the only finish on the card and the featured belt. But, you know, from an in arena standpoint as a viewer, and it's impossible to compare this. to Spence Crawford, what did you grade the actual fight between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz? I mean, the event was a B. The fight might have been like a C-minus, right? It wasn't like a great boxing match. But in terms of the event and the atmosphere, it was incredible. You know, Spence Crawford was electric. It's going to be very difficult for another fight to live to that

and Ryan Garcia versus Tank Davis. But this was special for a number of reasons. One, people showed up when the pay-per-view started. That arena was about 75% full. In boxing, nobody showed up until like damn near the main event, which is, you know, people are used to in boxing. So it was like this mix of like an MMA crowd, a boxing crowd, Nate Diaz fans, Jake Paul fans, people just wanted to see people throw hands. I thought as an event it was fantastic.

I know a lot of people don't like influence of boxing. They think it's a mockery of the sport. I don't care. I love pro wrestling. So this is right in my wheelhouse, and I'll take it every day of the week, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, twice on Wednesday. I don't care. I think it's fun. The more people get eyeballs on the sport, the more interesting it is.

I liked it. As far as pure boxing goes, Andreas, and Jed said he thought this is the best that Jake Paul had looked in boxing. And we kind of knew we were going to get from Nate. But we weren't sure about Jake. Going 10 rounds seemed at times that, you know, in the first round, maybe after the knockdown in the fifth, maybe he blew the gas tank. This is when Nate was really going to turn it on. Jake really didn't blow the gas tank after.

I looked pretty fresh when it was over. How would you grade Jake's performance in this fight? Did you feel like this is the best Jake Paul we have seen from a boxing sense? I feel like he's improved. I think he's shown some drastic improvement. Like he started throwing an uppercut. He throws a long jab to the body now.

Like it's just not jab, jab, jab right hand like it was his first few fight. So he showed marked improvement. He still has a hard time fighting on the inside. And ADS took some advantages of that late in the fight, just kind of clubbing him on the inside. When Jake doesn't have space, he has a hard time operating.

But in improvements, I think it was a B-level performance for him because he's looking a lot better than he did from his first fight. So I appreciate the improvements. It wasn't like a world-beater performance. But I'm looking at a guy who's taking this sport very seriously

as a fighter who doesn't want to lose and wants to add more tools to the game. Obviously, now it's Shane Mosley in this corner. He's got Jelian Love still there. So he's going to add wrinkles to his game. So as a boxer, he's getting better. So for him, for Jake Paul, not in boxing, because in

boxing, he'd be like a D. But for Jake Paul, that's like a B performance. Jed, why did you feel this was Jake's best outing? I don't know. I thought he just looked sort of the best against live opposition that we've seen. I mean, if you wanted to say the Tyron Woodley

rematch, sure. That's just he iced Tyron Woodley, which isn't nothing. But I think him bouncing back from losing to Tommy Fury, I give some stock to that, right? Just because in combat sports in general, it's trite to say, but you learn more from losses than wins,

and it's always interesting to sort of see how a fighter reacts to that first loss, particularly a fighter like Jake Paul, who I don't know how much of what he is saying he believes or not, but he's saying a lot of things, and it's entirely possible, given the life he's led,

that he just sort of believes it all, because that's just how, how he's gotten from A to B here. So that, you know, talked a bunch of trash about Tommy Fury ends up losing. And yes, there are baked in excuses. But still, at some point you have to reckon with like, oh, I, everything doesn't just magically work out for me all the time. And it came through 10 rounds, like fought a pretty hard 10 rounds at the end.

He appeared to be struggling gas-wise. But it was a discipline performance, which I think was sort of the most impressive part to me because there was, as you sort of alluded, to the first round he had i don't know how hurt nate was but he definitely hit nate hard and a less disciplined fighter a previous version of him would have just gone on wailing and punched himself out and then nate would have cooked him in the later later rounds but he just he fought a smart fight he showed some flashes and continues to show improvement at the sport which is what you expect he's young he is physically capable of competing at this and like andrea said he gives

a shit. Like he cares about improving and he has the best resources in the world to improve. So you should continue to see this improvement, but it was just a nice thing to see. Now we get to the aftermath of this, right? Because Jake wants to run it back in MMA with Nate, wants to do it in the PFL. Nate wants a rematch in boxing, wants it in an MMA. And Nate's talked a lot about a possible return to the UFC. And I think that idea actually kind of grew a little bit more after going through this fight week and feeling like Nate was kind of disrespected in a lot of respects from the betters and or Derek from better and some of the other people. But Jed, what are the chances that we get a rematch in MMA next? What are the chances that happens in the PFL, if at all?

Where do these guys go from here? 30%. I don't know. I think when push comes to shove, there are arguments for Jake Paul doing that. but I'm not sure that it's the best avenue forward for him. I think some of this is straight up just going to depend on Tommy Fury KSI when that fight happens. Because if Tommy Fury wins, I suspect Jake Paul will just want to run that fight back to feel that he can get that one back in his boxing career.

I do think there are some arguments for Jake Paul to make a move to MMA, but this feels more to me like just a thing to say because he is an investor in the PFL. he gets to say, let's do it in the PFL, create some buzz, some interest. He knows his way around promotion. But he would not win an MMA fight. So it doesn't make a ton of sense to do it unless he has truly run out of boxing options. And I don't think that's the case for Jake Paul at this point. So maybe one day, possibly, I'm pretty skeptical that it happens next.

Andreas, what do you think? Do you think Jake's next fight is a rematch with Nate Diaz in MMA? Do you think this happens? Any chance? No, not in MMA. Here's why. Jake Paul said, I'll give you $10 million a fight. Nate Diaz has made $10 million before.

And if Dana White catches win to that, he's going to offer him $20 million to come back to the UFC. And I know Nate doesn't care about money like that, but he'll find something for Nate to care about to take him away from Jake Paul. Dana has been awfully silent about Jake Paul lately because I think he's learned. his lesson. However, to see Nate do this again, and I'm sure Dana watched on some yacht somewhere and took a look and saw this electric crowd that was there for Nate Diaz, there's still a lot of selling power in Nate Diaz. He doesn't want that man to go to the PFL. That would be the worst possible thing to happen. So he would be the biggest cock blocker in the world by throwing all kinds of money at Nate Diaz to prevent that fight from happening. And for Jake Paul, why do it? I don't even

understand. Like, I get it like you're an investor in the PFL, but I think you've got plenty of options as a boxer. Like I said, listen, you got Logan Paul fighting Dylan Danis, you have KSI fighting Tommy Fury. You want to get in that mix or find somebody else or a rematch with Nathan boxing also kind of makes sense. MMA though, bruh, no thank you. Yeah, I just don't see it happen in the PFL. I don't know if PFL is savvy enough to be like, yeah, we'll co-promote because the way that the PFL sort of operates, they're like, we're number two with the bullet and we don't need any co-promotion. And I hope that's the case if they want to do this like you have to get Nate in real fight involved if you think so yeah I think they would I think if it were if it started moving that way I think PFL wouldn't

PFL is not going to be the blocker here in my opinion uh I just think all the other things don't really line up because PFL is I'm one rocking a PFL shirt right now uh I feel and this is not based on any insider knowledge. This is just my reading of. PFL is just trying to garner as much market share as they possibly can to then sell this to some patsy in the tech world and be like, look at all this money you can make if you buy us out. And the best way to do that is just to continue to make big splashy headlines. Francis Nganyahu, Nate Diaz, go through another route of VC funding and do it all over again until you can cash out ultimately. Nate Diaz is a perfect opportunity.

But like Andreas and I sort of said, it just doesn't seem like it's the most obvious next path forward for all parties involved. Yeah, I would be pretty stunned if that's what happens. But let's move on. Plus we've got a new guy. We've got a new guy for Jake Paul to fight now. Fador, baby. Fador's coming to boxing, Mike.

Jake Paul versus Fador in the boxing ring, 2024, book it. Oh, boy. You might have just lost the round with that. But the point for round one goes two. I mean, it's Andreas. 10-9 Andreas. Thank you, Jed, for making that very easy on me. That feels garbage.

Half of my round was derailed by your tech difficulties. And you're just going to give the point to Andreas? What? What is this nonsense? You lose the round, Mike. I mean, look, I mean, these points mean nothing at the end of the day. It all matters what happens at the end. If we get that far, not starting out too good for you, Jed.

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Paul versus Diaz is not the only thing happening on Saturday night. Yes, there was SummerSlam going on,

but we also had UFC Nashville, the main events Corey Sanhagen defeat Rob Font, pretty one-sided fight, one that

didn't seem to resonate very well with the fans in attendance or watching at home on television, and that's probably

putting it lightly because the boo birds were out in full force. However, we found out that San Hagan

was injured, torn tricep in the first round went to his wrestling a lot and this is a dominant win for corey san hagen so andreas your reaction to san haggins win the reaction from the fans and how it has been viewed by the mama community um yeah it wasn't fun to watch the whole card wasn't fun to watch it was kind of disappointing as a whole and it felt like a car that was put together like here's something to do when everybody else is watching boxing and somerslam and some other things san hagan's performance i didn't know he was

injured and i went back and watched by and found out he was injured it looked like a a performance that said, hey, I know what Rob Fond does well. I'm not doing that. I'm going to take this to the ground and grind it out and get a W because all that matters is wins. It wasn't impressive in the sense that I enjoyed it. It was a grind watching that card and it was grind getting to that main event. But Corey Sannigan's things is the wind column and that's what really matters. We'll forget about this in a few weeks and we'll move on to find out who Corey's fighting next.

But this performance is just a blip on the radar. I don't think, I mean, people are going to boo. M.M.A fans suck. It is what it is. They don't like anything that's relatively. I'm not surprised by the reaction by this, but I think Corey's next fight, we've seen him in some fantastic fights. I think he'll be fine once he heals from this injury. But this is a blip on the radar.

Jed, your thoughts on San Hagan's performance? I'll largely agree with Andreas here. I mean, Corey has given us enough good performances that we can't really hold this one together, hold this one against him. You know, he's, he got the win. Like Andrea said, the most important thing is that. sort of it's not going to matter in 10 years when you're just looking back on the resume you'll look back and say rob font is a very good win uh and if he comes out and he continues to deliver fun exciting performances moving forward then yeah this is exactly what it is i have also add in the

injury thing and that certainly is an explanation for what happened right i'm a little concerned um just not like a ton not we need to be really losing our minds here but there's a world where Corey Santagin starts being more boring, and that would suck. That would just not be cool because that's what that was. And some people have tried to be like, oh, it's technically, like there is an overlap between technical brilliance and boring. It can't happen. And if this becomes the new Corey Sandhagen where it's just, oh, this dude can't wrestle,

I'm going to take him down a bunch, that will be understandable. But again, we're talking about one of the dudes. who has been full on gangbusters action every time in or out. And so to lose him to the primacy of getting Ws would be unfortunate. If he's going to go this path, I would absolutely love to see him try to hurt people on top more because that was part of why it was boring. Getting takedowns isn't inherently boring.

Holding the position and not doing anything with it is tough. So I'm willing to write this one off, you know, but just want to check back in with his next couple of fights and see if this becomes a thing because sometimes fighters change styles. They find things that work for them and that are objectively smart ways to approach the game, but might make them less fun to watch moving forward.

I hope that that's not Corey Sandhagen. I don't think we need to say that it definitively is, but I'm on guard now. So it's reported that Dana just left the fight in the fourth round and Corey San Hagan talked about a little bit on the MMA hour, just kind of chalked up to him being a busy guy, and we saw videos from Dana getting some guns from Kid Rock and some presents from celebrities.

So who knows? Maybe he just went back and opened the presents. I don't know. But a win is a win, obviously, Jedd. And that's very important, especially in a weird, but very fun division like Bannamway, one that could get flipped totally upside down next Saturday if Sean O'Malley beats Al Jermaine Sterling.

but this was a fight heading in, and we talked a lot about it on the show last week. A lot of stakes attached to it. Did this win solidify a title shot for San Hagan? Should Al Jermaine Sterling win at UFC 292? Did he just sort of stay in the same spot? Or do you feel like this is going to go the way I think it's going to go that San Hagan was supposed to fight Umar and Amagamatov,

got Rob fought instead, and now he's going to go ahead and fight Umar and Amagamatov again? Yep. Then that's the issue. with the fight, right? Like that was one of my biggest takeaways coming to this is like, man, he's, he didn't lose, but he didn't really win. Like, he got a win on the resume, but that is not going to advance him at all because barring some sort of unforeseen circumstances or injury, Corey Sandhagen is not fighting for the title in his next bout. I know he called for it and feels he deserves it. And in a purely meritocratic world, that could be true. But it's just not going to

happen for him. He's going to fight Umar whenever Umar's healed and whenever he's healed now. Because is if, I mean, O'Malley said earlier this week, like, if O'Malley wins, he's not fighting Corey. He's not interested in that fight realistically. If O'Malley wins, he's probably fighting Marab. And if Aljo wins, he is almost certainly moving up to 145. And then O'Malley's probably fighting Marob for the vacant belt. Like, Corey is just the odd man out now.

And it may not be fair, but sometimes you need to make a statement and getting a good win over a very quality opponent in that fashion is not the statement that you need to sort of demand a title shot. And that's the key. He is not a star in a way that demands a title shot and his most recent performance does not demand one. And so he's not going to get one.

So I don't think they'll go Marab O'Malley. If O'Malley wins, I think if Marlon Vero beats Pedro Munoz, they're just going to go right to that. Well, run that back for the bell. if that happens, that just felt like too many, if X and Y, then Z, but, you know, where it's just easier to say. But yeah, I would agree. Andreas, where does Sanhagen go from this win?

And I made this case a little bit on Saturday while we were watching Paul Diaz. While Sanhagen may have got the win in a main event spot, it kind of feels to me like Henry Sehuto is like the big winner on Saturday. Because now if Al Jermaine and Sterling wins, it seems like he might just find himself in this vacant title fight with Marab. What say you? Yeah, I think this was a, this is a flotation device where Corey Sanger just stays afloat. Like he won. He didn't look spectacular. He didn't win over any new fans. Nobody's calling their friends and saying, yo, you got to watch Corey Sanehaget. He deserves a title shot. None of that shit happened in this fight.

So what we saw was a man who just kind of stayed exactly where he was at, which isn't great, but at least it wasn't a loss. And he didn't look bad either. So if you need to have a fight, it's Corey Sannaghanaghanaghan. Umar and then make a bet off. You don't see Corey go up or down. He's just there. It's like this fight didn't even happen and the Umar fight is just waiting. So if you told me that Corey didn't fight this weekend, he's fighting Umar in like September, October, November, I'd be like, when was his last fight? And you would tell me it was this fight? I was like, no, wasn't? Because I didn't believe you. Because nothing happened. Nothing happened in this fight. There's no movement. It's a nothing fight. It didn't make anything better for Corey Sannigan. But he didn't lose. That's

all it matters. The other big storyline coming out of this, Andreas, Tatiana Suarez, after a long layoff, she's now 2-0, two finishes in her return, finishes Jessica Androge in her return to straw weight. Second round submission a unanimous results amongst

the MMA fighting fight picks crew heading into Saturday. But man, she's out here making statements, she's making claims. We do have a title fight in this division next Saturday at UFC 292 between Zhang Wei and Amanda Lamosh. Tatiana Suarez feels she deserves a title shot after this win? Not a lot of people arguing with her. So has she done enough in

your eyes to earn a title shot? And maybe the more important question, will she get it? Yes and yes. The only asked whooping that was worse than this one was the Alabama Riverboat brawl that happened this weekend. Aside from that, Tatiana Suarez actually mowed down just Gonduras. We all kind of expected it, but the way that she did it was in true Tatiana Swara's fashion where she's just a bully in there. She's an absolutely. There is no reason. I mean, this is something that we predicted a while ago. Before she got injured, she would be in the title picture.

Now she's just getting there. I don't think there's any reason to pass her by. She is the one. She is a problem. She's a scary woman. And again, if it wasn't for the Alabama River, bro, this was the biggest-ass woman of the weekend. Dude with the chair is my hero.

The dude with the chair is just a monster. There were a lot of interesting cats in that one. The hat throw up in the air guy. The swimmer? I mean, the freaking swimmer? Yes. I mean,

the Schmoney hat toss to kick it all off was unbelievable. I loved everything about it. It was great. Now, with Tata Anasaurus, Jed, you can make a case

she gets the next title shot, but will she get it? Is she going to have to fight again before she gets it? Does it all depend on what happens next Saturday? She is not going to get the next title shot. She,

you can make the case that she deserves it, and I'm willing to hear that. That case is, largely though built on she's the best women's straw weight in the world which I believe and not so much

what she has in fact accomplished beating Jessica and Drogh is obviously a very good win and she has some other very solid wins from like six years ago but that's just sort of the problem when you take four years off because of you not take off

when you are forced out of action for four years you're just coming back and what you previously did doesn't really carry over in exactly the same way. So, like, yeah, she beat Jessica and Drogh. Janjohn, I arguably beat Jessica and Drogh worse and did it before, so that always is just a better win. I think Jan Jahn has done enough to deserve a title shot. I assume Wei Li Zhang is going to beat the breaks off Limoshe, and then we will just do China versus China for a title fight,

which is very deserved and real. And you could just say Tatyano Suarez, wait, but that would be a long time to sit, particularly for someone who has spent a lot of time on the shelf. And so instead, I think she's going to be getting McKinsey Dern or Vina Gendiroba. She was originally going to fight Verna this weekend, I think, and then Androge stepped in. I don't know what the timeline is for Verna to heal up, but I think we're probably looking at, hey, McKinsey Dern, you and Tatiana Suarez, grappling versus wrestling for the next title shot against maybe as the co-main event or on the undercard of the inevitable Zhang Yan fight card.

There you have it. Two big winners from UFC Nashville. There are obviously other winners, but we get too much to talk about. So we will move on. The point for round two goes to, it goes to Jed Mishu. It is one to one. No power outages this time, Jed. And I totally agree the fight to make, because I do think Jean-Weili is going to win

next Saturday. It's Tatianosaurus versus McKenzie Dern. That is, you can do. that the apex in a main event you could do it somewhere but that is the fight to make i think and it's a win-win for the ufc't sata only gets a title shot or mackenzie durn finally gets to hers and there you go so now we're at the round where we get some weirdness not that we didn't already have weirdness but andreas i have to start with you right away because again what a what a time to be alive right spence crawford the fight of fights one week then you go to dallas and it's paul dyes

the next week and we get just this big change of pace. And now we have to travel on a whole other avenue because it was announced this week that Logan Paul has an opponent for the Misfits Boxing Prime Card. He will be in the co-made event to the KSI versus Tommy Fury headliner October 14th. It is announced that Logan Paul is returning to boxing to face Dylan Freakin' Danis.

I did not see this one coming. I shouldn't be. as surprised as I was in the year of our Lord 2023, but Andreas, I am fascinated to hear your reaction to this book. Yeah. Listen, I think in terms of like

the card, the fight card is shaping up to be, to hit on all notes, KSI Tommy Fury. You get Dennis out here at Logan Paul, which is the state side audience. As long as Dennis shows up because the man pulls out more than an adult porn actor, but you know it is what it is. But if these two end up fighting,

I think we have a very interesting build. I don't know about the fight itself. I think Dylan Dennis sucks. But Logan Paul might beat the breaks off of him, and I think that's like the best case scenario for everyone except Dylan Dennis. I think the build will be cringeworthy at points.

But again, man, I like pro wrestling, so I'm kind of here for the nonsense and the BS. Because KSI and Tommy Fury, they'll carry this promotion as well, but there'll be some pushing and shove each other, and there'll be some nonsense. They might be a brawl on stage at some point. Yeah, I'm here for a few.

giving me from one to ten my interest level is about a seven for this card i'm i'm interested i'm going to watch oh a seven jed what say you i mean the build has already gotten a little weird dylan is doing dylan things he's posting photos of logan paul's girlfriend or fiance or wife all over social media some have gotten a lot more attention than others but were you out with this this gets announced what's your reaction a couple days later yeah i don't really care Dylan Dennis isn't going to fight this dude because I fool me once, shame on on me, or shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a thousand times.

I'm an idiot is I believe that's exactly how that phrase goes. Like, I don't care what the financial penalties or whatever is, is a tad. He's not going to fight. He's just not going to fight. That's who he is. And honestly, I respect the bit. It is, it was a trash bit for a while. it's now gone so far into being trash that it's kind of funny that he just keeps somehow getting fights

and then never showing up to them if he can continue to do this for like five more years it'll it'll just be remarkable but i won't believe he's fighting until they are fighting if by some miracle it happens that fight will probably suck uh and it just that means nothing to me the ksitami fury fight i at least have some passing interest in because somehow this is what my life has turned into. This is my career now revolves a lot around these sorts of things. And so I'm somewhat invested in it. I've been following KSI's career as a boxer for whatever five years now. And Tommy Fury popped up into my world.

And now that's a matchup between meaningful stars in this very specific influencer boxing game. And, you know, look, If KSI goes out there and beats Tommy Fury, I think that's unlikely. I've watched KSI box. He's not very good at it. Not that Tommy's great, mind you. But if he does go out there and beat Tommy Fury, the inevitable KSI Jake Paul matchup will be, aside from big business, something I'm genuinely interested in because that would add a layer

that I'm like, ooh, I don't really know what to expect here, how this will go down. So six out of 10, like I'm above mid on it, but the undercar. hard fight has no bearing on my attention span for this particular event. You can do Jake KSI, no matter what happens in that fight. If Tommy wins a decision, you can still do that fight and it's still big business. No, the thing is you can, I'm just, it's going to be big business. I'm just not going to care nearly as much if KSI goes out and loses Tommy. If he beats Tommy, I'm much more interested in the Jake fight.

So if, like most people feel like Dylan's not fighting Jed, why even tease it? at this point. Like, again, he was supposed to fight KSI already for the same promotion, did not fight, and now they already have a backup in place. I've seen Rockman Jr.

is apparently going to be the backup fighter. Why even put this up there? Also a bastion of reliability. Just a rock. That man is committed to, like, what are we doing? Honestly,

the Rockman Jr. As the backup makes me think that they know what's up and that this is just full-blown promotion. And that there is no expectation that a fight actually happens on this card for them. It's like, yeah, we just get Logan to promote this. And this is a thing that people will pick up and talk about. And if it doesn't happen, that's fine.

No one's going to be that upset. We still have the main event. But if it, and if it does happen, I guess we spiked one good for us. Andreas, is this fight going to happen? Are we going to see Logan Paul actually box Dylan Dennis in October? Damn. Probably not. I like to think that we would.

I mean, look, man, I mean, again, Dill Dandis showing up. I mean, that's more than half the battle. What's fascinating, though, is having Hacin Rottman Jr. as the backup, it's kind of interesting because he's not a horrible fighter, and he might beat Logan Paul. Dillon Dennis has no chance of beating anybody. And I think that's why I think it's, I would like to see Dillon Dennis get his ass kicked.

I think everybody wants to see that. But I think Dillon Dennis knows that too. So I fully expect him to get to fight week and get a tummy ache or some shit and pull out of the fight. The chances of him showing up in like 20% dude, but again,

I'm here for the bill. I'm here for the bill. I think the bill will be fine. Again, a little bit cringy. But that, that dude, he's probably not showing up,

man. I'm sorry. He's not showing up. I mean, I may eat my words. I kind of feel like it's going to happen. I don't know why. I kind of feel like it's going to happen.

If this is just a bit dead up with you. No, no, no, no, no. No one thought he was going to box. KSI. Nobody. The exact same arguments where he can't keep doing this. At some point he's got to do it or people will stop carrying.

He keeps doing it. I don't get it. I don't get why we're doing it. Why even try? Why even just box somebody else? I don't get why he's seen Robin Jr. Who has pulled out of at least two fights that I know of is your backup fighter. I don't know what the hell we're doing here, guys. Didn't he box Greg Hardy?

Yes. Yes. Yeah. And he got hurt. Hardy. he was supposed to fight Alan Belcher and then bounced on that because he got hurt or whatever and that's why Belcher fought Chase DeMore. But he bounced on that one and he bounced on a fight with Paul.

Well, we got that announcement. Then we got a couple of other announcements. We found out Ian Machado, Gary is now getting his wish. He's going to fight Neil Magnate, UFC 292. Jeff Neal out with an undisclosed health issue, we're told. But also, Andreas, we found out Dana White made it official. UFC 293, much like AEW at Wembley. They sold out the damn building before they even announced the main event, but it is official

now. The return to Sydney, Israel Adasania versus Sean Strickland for the middleweight title. And the road to this has been interesting. They wanted obviously Drickus DuPcci too soon. They were talking about maybe doing the vacant light heavyweight title fight too soon. And then we went back to this one, which seemed like the obvious choice from Jump Street. your reaction now that it's official Israel Adasania versus Sean Strickland

main eventing in the year of our Lord 20203 All right Mike you used to watch pro wrestling back in the day when we used to wake up on Saturday mornings again nothing but squash matches right Like this is what this is like Sean Strickland's going to eat shit in Sydney And I'm going to enjoy every single minute of it

It's not competitive It isn't meant to be they sold out the building They could have thrown me in there against Adasania The Wounded to matter But at least it's Sean Strickland who's just a complete douchebag. He's going to get shit pushed back by Israel to Sanya. And I'm here for it.

I am here for that. Am I excited about the fight itself? No, I think Izzy's going to play with him, but I'm excited about the finish. How many memes are we going to make a fun? Sean Strickland laying face down, face up, eyes in the sky, eyes rolled in the back of his head. He's going to get murdered, murdered,

and he's going to get paid for it, which I don't like. I wish he did it for free and got his ass cake for free. But, alas, here we are. Izzy's got a fight. He likes to stay busy. Sean Strickland, I guess, is the best option out there. Sure, why not? Let's do it.

Jed, we kind of figured this is going to happen. We kind of figured this is going to happen. The second Sean Strickland finished Abusmaga made off. We're like, he's just going to end up fighting Izzy because there's no way Whitaker or DDP are going to be able to turn around for this card in September. But now that it's been made official by the big boss, where are we out with this one?

Izzy versus Strickland. You give me another month and I'm going to talk myself into the Sean Strickland winning because it would be. be the funniest thing. Not that he should by like any, any technical definitions or moral ones realistically, but it would

just be, it would be really MMA and I think we discount that in our analysis enough of just like, this is a very silly sport. We're extremely silly things happen all of the time. And wouldn't it just be the most MMA thing ever for the UFC

to have spent like a while with Izzy as the champion and been like, He's kind of boring, and we need to get somebody who will make him interesting. And then they skyrocket Alex Beheadhead. And he wins, Pereira wins the fight. And you're like, oh, here's a dope thing. And we have this, like, natural rivalry that's really good. And Pereira's just like, I'm done.

I'm going to go up to 205 and do this thing. And they're like, well, now we're back to Izzy lording over a division that he's already beaten everybody in. And somehow, DDP comes along, and there is a natural animosity there. These two dudes have talked a whole mess-ish. each other. There is a true bad blood storyline, which is really the only thing the UFC knows how to promote at all. And he somehow beats Robert Whitaker and not like edges one out. He thumps Bobby Knuckles up in like to the same degree that Izzy did, basically. This is the number one

contender with a bullet in a matchup that makes so much sense. But the machine rolls on. And we got to do this Aussie card and we didn't plan well enough. So Yolo, we're just going to slide a placehold in and we'll get to Izzy DDP next year sometime in a big event and then Strickland comes in wins. It'd be the most MMA thing ever for Sean Strickland to just upset all

the best laid plans of everybody and now we have this doofus as the middleweight champion of the world and you got to put hot mics in front of them which is always risk so you give me like another month and I'm going to say that the MMA gods make a miracle happen in the stupidest

way possible but otherwise, it's like you said, we all saw this coming. This isn't a surprise. This was the inevitable end point with the way the UFC had set everything up this summer functionally. So it's fine. Not my favorite thing.

I would have preferred they just wait for DDP and be a real promotion, but it's not what they're ever going to do. So here we are. Yep, here we are indeed. And then September 9th, September 10th, whatever this one happens, we'll see how it goes down.

But let's move on. The point for round three goes to, it goes to Andreas for the old school wrestling references. Superstars, wrestling challenge, mania, live wire. I mean, there's so many places we could have gone with this. But let's move on. Let's move. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

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IKEA, bring home to life. To the mixing of the martial arts, this weekend, we got a Bellator card on Friday, Bellator 298, headlined by Logan Storley versus Brennan Ward. UFC Back of the Apex, UFC Vegas 78, card headline by Havio da Sanjos versus Vicente Lucke. Jed, let's be honest, neither of these cards are blockbusters,

and that's putting it very lightly. But if you could only watch or come cover one of these cards and you couldn't even follow the other for 72 hours, which one are you picking? Because the Bellator card, although the names aren't as big and is known, if you will, there's more to fight for in this card. There are more stakes in this Bellator card than the UFC card, you know? There are. We were talking about a No Bet's part this week, which I'm sure you heard, given what you said earlier in the show. I made the bold assertion that this year, you're UFC card is the worst fight card of the year, which co-host Connor Brooks is like, that's nonsense.

And we bickered about it for a little while. And then we got into talking about the UFC card. And by the end of the episode, he's like, you know what, you may actually have sold me that this is the worst fight card of the year. Because it's a pretty bad one. No fight means anything on that card other than to the fighters and, you know, their paychecks. but as far as like divisional stakes there's nothing significant happening in that fight card uh the main event is fun like it's it's a fun fight but it doesn't mean anything uh and at least in bell ator some of these fights matter like some of these fights are dope steve maury beats beats valentine rhodovsky he's probably going to be ranked in the mma fighting global heavyweight rankings the only rank is truly matter because he's an undefeated dude who finally like has like a notable win in the division um logan

Dorley, Brendan Ward is, we've talked about it for months now, awful matchmaking, but like, substantive for for Bellator's welterweight division and kind of down the line there are honestly, like, decently made match fights too. Like, the fights are probably just better. The big failing for Bellator is that there are 17 of them and some of them are questionable. For instance, the opener, Michael Blockus, a NCAA All-American wrestler, making his pro debut, taking on an 0-4 fighter. That's probably just not a fight that needs to happen inside the Bellator cage, but here we are. But yeah, if I had to pick one, even with 17 fights, I just think Bellator's fights are more

meaningful this week, so I'll take that. Andreas, are you on Team Bellator with Jed here? Are you choosing the UFC? No, 17 fights? Are you kidding me? Absolutely not. No thank you. I cannot.

17 fights? Are you nuts? Listen. UFC has 13. UFC has 13, so it's not like they're doing great. I know. I know. But here's the deal breaker for me, right?

The reason why I'm picking UFC over Beltaire. Both of these cards are garbage, right? Like absolute ducky. I'll pass on both. I'm watching the Oscar Valdez-Irata fight this weekend. That's what I'm looking forward to. But I'm picking the UFC because here's my rationale. The Belter card, if I watched it and didn't get to watch the UFC,

I can't talk to anybody about the Belator car because nobody watches Belator. Nobody's going to watch this card. I can't share my feelings with this. People say, I'll say, Logan, story, and people say, who? If I at least watch the UFC card with Luca and those RDA, I at least I can share this with somebody and have a conversation.

It's a fun fight. Both these cards suck. Let's be clear. Clear Roundtree is fighting Chris Dawkins, and Dawkins has lost his last three and is moving down like everywhere. He's probably against slaughtered. Cups wants it against Wadu. Whatever.

I guess this is what we've reduced. Use ourselves too, but I would, I can't, 17 fights, bro. I can't, I can't, I can't. It's giving me a headache just thinking about 17 decisions. Imagine that, 17 decisions. I'd kill myself. I'd die before that card would end. So I'm going to have to watch the UFC card because at least I could talk to somebody about it.

Bellatory, nobody's going to be able to share anything with me because I don't have friends that watch Bellatory like that. Counterpoint. I don't want friends who would talk to me about this UFC fight card. If I had a friend tried to talk to me on this card, I would cut that person out of my life. She's like, don't need you. What is our life?

Listen to us. Listen to us just trashing our jobs. This is what we do for a living. I love my job last week. My job last week was great. Not every weekend could be a winner. Next week is going to be dope. 2.92 is amazing.

That's a three-star machine card right there. This is a hit. She just ain't it. Jen, I just have better things to do. Because at least 13-fights versus 17-fights. 17-fights, my day is done. 13 fights, at least I can do something afterward. You also haven't factored in.

For me, I didn't mention this, but actually a real good argument. Bellator's on Friday, and I'm so used to not having Saturdays off that getting a Saturday off is a treat. It's like, oh, this is exciting. I get to do something on a Saturday evening. It's worth it for the novelty, if nothing else. Yeah, you cheated. That's very true.

I'm still sticking with you. Both of these cars, man, both these cars suck, man. You didn't use your best argument, Andreas, which is, if you watch Bellator, you're going to get 25 minutes of Logan Storley, which is pretty tough. It's pretty tough. Yeah. Also rough. It's just, man, why can't we just call them all again and just not watch either of them and not have to talk about them ever again? Can we do that, Mike? I mean, it's not my choice.

What should they do, Jed? What should people do? Oh, well, you know my answer. you should just go to mhmapyter.com it's a terrific website I will be covering bellator in fact so this worked out well for me in that regard so you can read my recaps

any cool highlights that may happen to occur we'll have you covered for all of that and you can spend this lovely you know a Saturday, a Friday evening in August with your family doing other things with your time reading a book whatever it is that you would like

to go to a brewery However you want to spend your time, and you just come back to Mifern.com, great website, and we got you covered. That's the sadness on Andreas's face. Oh, man. Spot the lie, Mike. Spot the lie.

I mean, what else can we say here? Let's move on. Perhaps. I don't know how this is going to be scored, but the point for round four goes to... You don't. You're the only one who does. It's going to Jen Mishu,

because he actually turned on Dreis a little bit. Yeah. And he's like, ah, he kind of turned me. But you know what that means? That is a lot of fights. We'll acknowledge that part of it.

Dude, that should be a crime, punishable by law. Who the hell books a 17-fight card? Who is the fool that shows up early to watch all 17 fights in person? At least when I'm home, I have another screen to my left.

I'll play video games or something while I happen to screen on. Imagine sitting through 17 fights in the building with no distractions. But to respect it. It's in Sue Falls. What else are they doing? That's true.

And there are, as Jed alluded to, a lot of, as you like, squash matches. There's a ton of squash matches on this card. And the prelims, they don't, they don't mess around. They go to the desk, but they only go to the desk for enough time to let the next two fighters walk. Because they're already. They are really good about that. Yeah. They just go right to the next fight.

They're not the PS. How about? Belator knows pacing. Can you imagine a 17-fight PFL card? We'd be here for four days. Yeah. When the PFO inevitably buys Belator, I want them to buy the people who know, understand pacing. That would be a great addition to their roster.

Yes. Well, speaking of pacing, let's go to the knockout round. We will have one question. Neither of these gentlemen know what it is. Each will have 60 seconds to state their argument. Jed probably knows what it is. You know what, Andreas, I'm going to, you're, you're, You're the newcomer. We had such a nice time in Dallas. I'm going to let you decide. This is

Price's right rules. You can choose whether or not to go first or you can pass this over to Jed and he can go first. What say you? Jed can go first. Jed works out. I wanted to go first. I feel confident I know what you're bringing to the table here, Mike. And if I'm wrong and I was like an idiot. Well, I wasn't sure we were going to bring to the table here. But I had something in mind, but something we confirmed a little bit earlier today. I felt like this is the right time to do it

because we talked about this last week on the program. We confirmed earlier today that Derek Lewis may have had the shortest free agency for a bigger money draw, maybe in the history of this sport. It lasted less than two weeks. He has re-signed with the UFC. Dana White and Hunter Campbell said it was a new eight-fight deal.

We confirmed this morning. That is, in fact, the case. He is sticking around the UFC, for the rest of his career at this point. So, Jed, was this the right decision? Are you surprised this happened so quickly? Your thoughts on Derek Lewis sticking with the UFC less than two weeks after announcing his free agency.

One minute on the clock, go. This is objectively not the correct decision. I will lead by saying, if Derek Lewis is happy, that's ultimately what matters, do the things that make you happy. But by just about any other metric beyond that. this is a failing. Not that he resigned with the UFC. Maybe ultimately he should have resigned with the UFC.

But this happened so fast that this is hard for me to believe he tested the market at all. That he even sort of went out and was like, hey, what could I get? Because everybody was tweeting about like, hey, you can just get $2 million. He could have gone and gotten $2 million. I'm frankly a lot more from the PFL to do that. And then come back to the UFC after. if he had wanted to do that. He could have at least seen what the options were.

And maybe he did, but it doesn't seem like that. Add in that he signed an eight fight deal, no fighter should ever sign an eight fight deal. There's no benefit to doing that. Just do three, baby. A fumbling of the bag of the highest order as far as I'm concerned. And pretty disappointing. All right, Andreas, we go to you.

Do I have to argue against this? Do I have to argue against this? Is that the rules here? I mean, you can do it every want. You just give your thoughts. I mean, you're not here to impress me anymore. You're here to impress people watching right now. One minute on the clock, less than two weeks.

Less than two weeks. Derek Lewis, no longer a free agent. Go. Hey, man, this guy just signed. You know how people go to jail for life and they give him like seven life terms? That's what he did sign an eight-fight deal with the UFC. I don't understand this because I feel like what Derek Lewis could have done is, yes, you could have tested the market. But there is a Francis and Ghana fight out there that would pay you a shit ton of money

and you wouldn't have to fight eight damn fights to do it. I don't understand why Derek Lewis has sat here and played the market for two weeks, which means he didn't play the market. Whatever Dana threw at him, he felt like it was the best deal on the table, but it wasn't, I guess his balls was hot and he needed to move on and wants to get back in the octagon. The only case I could possibly make for Derek Lewis is this. John Jones will be gone soon, and he's got a six-pack now,

so he might get another title opportunity. Getting still, the bag was fumbled. He should have played the market, and he could have fought Francis and Gano for whatever those eight fights cost, he probably would have got that in one fell swoop with the PFL. Derek Lewis, I love you, bro, but you blew it. Man, not a, there are people who are very excited about this. I am still.

The comments section does not agree with us and Trance. I don't care. I do not care. A fight deal, you want to go to jail? A fight deal at 38 years old? What are we doing? It is heavyweight. so that's, you know,

he could still be fighting at 50. I'm not, I'm not surprised he resigned. I'm not surprised he resigned. I am surprised that he did it so fast that he didn't at least have a conversation and at least a dollar amount to bring back to the UFC.

Be like, yo, they want me, they're going to pay me $3 million to fight Francis. You guys want to match this? And at least like give them the chance to at least give them something close. You know what I mean? Like, but I don't know. Like, we don't know what happened.

Maybe they did talk to PFL. maybe PFL is like, we'll give you two and no more. And he was just like, all right, well, it ain't worth it. I'm worth more than two. Maybe the UFC gave me a nice little offer. I don't know. We don't know, but it just seemed very, very quick to me. And like you said, Jed, I think you said the most important thing.

If Derek Lewis is happy, who are we to say anything? But I am shocked that this only took 10 days to lock and load here. Stunned. There you go. So the voting should be real interesting if the peeps are against both of you guys. So cast your votes now. Who do you disagree with less, Jed or Andreas? Cast your votes.

Put him in. We'll let him run for a little bit. Jed? I just wanted to note to some of the commenters who were out there saying that he secured eight fights. Why is that a bad decision? Because he didn't. He is locked into the UFC for up to eight fights. They can fire his ass whenever they so choose.

if he was guaranteed his eight on that end, maybe there's an argument for that, but that's not how the contracts work. He can't fight anywhere else for at least eight fights unless the UFC fires him, but they can do that sort of at will. So there you go. Was this them just...

Do you think the UFC gave him like... Do you think the UFC gave him like a really high number just to avoid Francis? You think this was like, I don't care, cost you just tell me what you want we'll make it happen so you don't fight francis my guess is that the eight fight deal and i know that they like to structure some deals for longer my guess is that the eight fight deal is hey here's eight fights here's your total amount of money over those eight fights is over two two million dollars right um and so if you stick with us even though you'll have to fight

eight of eight times to make three million or whatever it is that's more than the one-off two million you will make it PFL, which still doesn't really work out from a business standpoint, but you can sell yourself on that idea to sign the contract. That's a total guess. I have no idea. I just don't understand how you don't play the market. I just don't get it. How do you lock yourself in?

It's like they just threw a bag of money at you, whatever it was. It was the Don King. That's what they did. They did the Don King. They was like reaching the bag, get how much money you can get out. And now you're with us. There could have been a better deal on the table. As to Judge's point, it's not.

guarantee he's going to fight eight times. I don't know if he wants to fight eight more times. I just want to see him get the best deal possible and you can't do that if you don't play the market. You have to play the market against the cell. Well, hopefully we get the Jarzino fight right off the bat and keep him away from the Sergei Spivax and Alexander Romano. That's the other thing. You do Jarzino and what are we doing with him? I don't even want him in the U.C. not like from a moral, but it's just like boring. Jarsino is the only kind of interesting fight. Arlowski.

I love Anderilovsky more than just about anyone. I don't even ask him that. Like, it's just, what are he doing? Well, what should have happened is he fights Francis and then he goes to BKFC. And then that's good MMA. That's good fight world. And now we're in this timeline where he's going to like every three fights just get taken down and murdered by some somebody else. You know, some Romanov or whatever coming through.

Agaporta, Chris Barnett. I mean, there's some fun ones. I mean, I would always watch him fight a Huggie Bear. Yeah, see? We'll watch. There's the first three or four fights right there. Casey is here, which means we might have a winner. By the way, heck of a morning tomorrow, 10 a.m. Eastern.

I am off the rest of the day. We will have a preview show. Breaking news, A.K. Lee will be hosting the preview show. Yeah. Jed, do you want to do the preview show tomorrow? Probably not, but maybe we can talk about it all fair. Okay, fair enough. I have to look at the schedules.

I don't really know. Putting you on the spot, hoping to just lock up a deal. Didn't happen. He's playing the market, and I respect that. I'm not Derek Lewis. I'm not going to just say yes. Casey, by the way, but before we started, Casey just playing banger after banger in his house, some Billy Ocean, little Caribbean queen, just a whole bunch of bangers.

Some air supply. Air supply. Alan Parsons project. Good stuff, good stuff. The best part of the show is the 10 minutes before. What do we got, Casey? Who wins? We have a winner.

All right. Today's winner with 66% of the votes is... And still, Jed Mishou. Jed gets the win. I don't think of anything, but okay. You're still here, Dad. Just take it.

Take it. Still here. Take the win. Take the win. Thank you. I mean, yes. What do you have to say to the fine folks who hated what you had to say about Derek Lewis, but still voted free anyways? Thanks.

My post-fight speech was going to be about Derek who was fumbling the bag. And then I realized that's probably just going to be our fifth topic. So I'm just going to state my ground right now. And then Andreas can react to it. I've talked myself into it. I'm going to pick Sean Amalley to beat Alain Stirling next week. I'm on the corner. I'm going to beat Alain Stirling.

there. It doesn't make any sense. Algebra and Sterling is a much better fighter, what's going to happen, and join the team. Join the bandwagon. Hop on now, all aboard the train, baby. Let's go. Andreas, what are your thoughts on this? He's picking Sean O'Malley over Algeman and Sterling. I see the look on your face. I don't know if that's a look of agreement or just flat out disagreement. Nah, I disagree. Listen, I don't know. I don't know what the hell's going to happen this pipe. Shona-Malley's here, so anything can happen. I'm going to pick Aljo because I just think the grappling will be too much i think it'll be it could be interesting though because shan oh mali could dust them off and around it's very possible uh so jad i'm not mad at you i'm not

at you for this pick and there's there's no real winners here i'm mad at myself i don't want it to happen i don't want it to happen because i i kind of like i don't like i'll like i'll jo for a lot of because of some of his personality stuff but i like him as a fighter and as a champion i think he's the most underrated champion in the ufc right now when he's gonna get got by this dude who might not be good i'm not sure Sean Mallet's good at fighting. Imagine a world where San O'Malley and Stan Strickland are both champions.

Oh, man. The world of Sean. It would be the funniest world. Wow. It would be the funniest outcome. Unbelievable. I mean, Jed might have just bought himself a spot on the main event for the watch party next Saturday.

Because I might just have to see how this all plays out. If he sticks to this to his guns here, we'll find out next week. I've been working on it for a month. I've been trying to get myself there for a month and I got there. All right. Hit the music, Casey. This is a massive bit of news. And we'll see if this prediction, it has to carry over now. When Jed gets over the line, he stays there and they give him a lot of herself.

Stay on my hell. Yes. And if O'Malley wins, as Andreas pointed out, I'm definitely getting myself there on Strickland. We're going to go for the double Sean champions. Wow. What a freaking world we could be living in. So thank you. Well, we'll be in Boston next week.

So we'll figure out how to do a show. but for Andreas, for Jed, Casey on the ones Tuesday, the iconic voice special and takes you home. I am Mike Eck, back next week between the links. Good night, everybody. This has been Between the Links, an MMA fighting production on the Vox Media Network.