MMA Fighting - BTL | Jamahal Hill vs. Alex Pereira, Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway, Countdown To UFC 300

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

It is officially UFC 300 fight week, and the countdown is on to one of the most stacked UFC fight cards in history. In the main event, Alex Pereira defends the light heavyweight title against former champ Jamahal Hill in a bout that has so many burning questions attached to it. On a special Tuesday edition of Between the Links, the panel will discuss the biggest questions surrounding Pereira vs. Hill, the challenger's incredible confidence, and what a win for either guy means in the overall MMA landscape. Additionally, they'll discuss the Zhang Weiii vs. Yan Xiaonan strawweight title fight and where the division goes after UFC 300, the BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway, what the best case scenario would be for the UFC at 155 following the event, the most under-the-radar fight on Saturday's card, and some news and notes.  Host Mike Heck will moderate the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and MMA Mania's Drake Riggs. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Drake Riggs: @DrakeRiggs_ Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 reprise 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. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just... Speaking into the void. But with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching. the right decision makers, a network of 130 million of them, in fact. You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills, and did I say job title? See how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads.

Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm a fighting studios. This is between the links. and now your host, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn

welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. And yes, I know, it's not Thursday. We're throwing a little bit of a curb ball here this week because it is finally here, everybody. It's UFC 300 fight week. We are four freaking days away from UFC 300. So much going on with this incredible card. And that is going to be pretty much the meat and potatoes

of this week show. I know a lot of you want to talk about 301 and the fallout of UFC Vegas 90. You may even want to go back to UFC Vegas 89, but we're just not going to have time today. I apologize to all of you. Let's get to the panelists, the competitors, and let's get right into the program. First, Mr. Hot Take, Mr. No Gray area, the cannonball kid and many more nicknames, the man who handed the baton of Morning Report over to his opponents from MMAFighting.com, the great Jedmishu. Hello, sir. How are we on? I almost said Thursday, but on this Tuesday, he's got the backwards hat on. He's ready.

So we're clear. I got which side is it? The backwards UGA championship hat, by the way. I was doing great until I realized that I was competing against the scoundrel. The ridiculous journalistic entity that is. What a sham this contest is, Mike, that you're making me compete against this man. But otherwise, three stars. If I could add a fourth, if it was.

legal data, fourth be a fourth. This is the only time in history. It's a 13 fight card. Mike, 300's here, baby. It's going to be a great one. I'm so excited. And back of the show, you know him from MMA man. And the legendary man currently behind the aforementioned

MMA fighting morning report, and he does a terrific job with that. I mean, absolutely tremendous. He is Mr. Drake Riggs back on the program. It's been a minute. What's up, Drake Riggs? Oh, what is up, boys? Yeah, it has been roughly almost two years. I don't know how close to the day or anything.

But it's been a long time. I thought that I did something to piss somebody off. When have I ever done that, Mike? But yes, great to be here, you guys. I mean, I don't know if I am still built for BTL because it has been so long. I don't know if I was built for it back then because I believe I'm the only one in history to not make it to the final elimination round. So I got that record. But we'll see.

We'll see how we go today. I'm still waiting on our tag team match, Mike. But let's go. I'm fired up today. Yeah, we got to get some tag team action going. Please, Jed. I wanted to be known. I would have never given morning report to Drake if I knew what a low-down scoundrel he was. If I knew the ethics that this man practices, never would have handed it off to him.

It doesn't practice. It's a sacred, sacred entity. And he has besmirched its good name. Me and Shaheen Al-Shadi and DSM before that, we're doing great things. and he has brought it to the muck, and I am ashamed and embarrassed. So, honestly, probably none of you know what we're talking about and for good reason. But let's get into this. Real quick.

It's a great intro for us. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a pretty hilarious day. Round four of today's BTL will be your questions. We're going to take the top three super chats, four questions, and that's a round four is going to be, okay? and they can still be 300 related. They could be about whatever the hell you want. But get those super chats in.

Casey's going to pick the best three, and that's a round four is going to be. So let's get right into it because, as Jed said, and rightfully so, with so much glee and excitement in his voice, it is UFC 300 week. We are four days away from the Crown Jewel. 13 fights, all of them rule, great main event, three title fights, even the BMF title fight.

So much to discuss here. And I want to start with this, Jed, because as you know, as a website, we kind of dove into some WrestleMania content this week. And you even got to watch and kind of take in the atmosphere of it all. And there was a lot of conversation even after WrestleMania. Like questions about whether this is the greatest WrestleMania on paper, if this is the best WrestleMania on paper. And then coming out, the questions were, was it the biggest WrestleMania?

And you and I have been on the same page. I'm sure Drake is well, Jed. On paper, this is the best card ever the UFC has put together. So best in terms of lineup and meaning and stakes and ranked fighters, all of the things that the UFC is trying to promote all there. Does this feel like the biggest event heading into it? And if not or if so, why? And if it does it, where does it rank for you in terms of like how big this one feels heading in?

So no, it's not the biggest. I do think this is the best. I've said it a bunch in the weeks leading up on paper. I think this is the best MMA card ever assembled. You could convince me. You can make arguments for some of the final conflicts and pride back in the day, sort of these outstanding cards for what we had. But I think this stands toe to toe with any card ever put together.

It's just better. It's so good. If you're out here quibbling with the main event is and when we want, like, sure, these aren't wrong to say, but you're missing the forest for the trees. Like, that's just ridiculous. This fight cards are amazing. I do have a question on how big it is. So today we released on MMAfighting.com terrific website.

There's a, there's an article up there on the homepage that is the five burning questions about UFC 300. And it's me, Sheen, Alshadia, and Alexander K. Lee are on it. And one of those questions is, is this going to clear a million paper you buys? And I said, no, I don't think it will. It won't shock me if it does. It is the UFC. This is a landmark.

event for them. But what I put this in context was a couple of weeks back, we talk about the mom tests all the time, Mike. I had friends being like, hey, Sean O'Malley's fighting tonight, like, or tomorrow. Like, what's up with that? Like, he's going to win, like how, asking me those kind of questions. The questions I'm getting this week are all about the Masters. UFC 300 is not on the docket for the super casual fight fan, at least as far as I am aware. Again, this is not a scientific method, but it is a thing we like to talk about, Mike. This one isn't clearing the mom test for me, at least at this point. Still early in five week. That could change later, I suppose. But given the magnitude of what this event means to us in like in the

throws of it and how great this is, I think it's dropped off because it doesn't have the A plus lister at the top. It's got the most B plus to A minus listers ever assembled in one evening of fights, but it doesn't have Brock Lesnar at the top of it. It doesn't have George St. Pierre. It doesn't have any of those big polls to it, John Jones. So I don't think this is going to be as big as, I mean, it's not going to be the biggest fight card this year. When Connor McGregor returns, ostensibly this summer kind of rumors and sort of speculation is that might even get reported this week, this weekend, Conner versus Michael Chandler

for Fight Week this summer, that's going to be bigger than this from a pay-per-view from a broader casual interest, just because Conner's at the top of it. But it does not get better than this. There is nothing in the history of the sport that has ever been better than this on paper. And I think even coming off Saturday, I think it can live up to that hype. It gets three stars, Mike. I don't hand out three stars willingly. They're not free.

You've got to earn them. And they earned all of those meshoulin stars here. If I could have four, there'd be four. It is so good. And I think it's going to deliver. So even if it isn't the biggest monetarily, it will be the card we remember for years to come. Drake, how big does it? does this one feel?

Like, I feel like Carter Habib, but that was just mostly around one fight and one build and everything it took to get there. But in terms of just like, does this feel like big amongst the sports world or is this just the tent pole one of us cards? You know what I mean? I think it is definitely kind of the ultimate one of us cards, right?

You look at this, It's a fans fan, hardcore delights. And beyond that, it's not specifically that, but it's like everything you could possibly ask for, right? This has all of these incredible fights, like you guys have been saying, I'm probably the best card on paper that we've ever seen. I really have not done too much deep diving to kind of counteract it because I feel like it's just so strong that I don't need to.

But in terms of that magnitude and size and kind of the reach that it gets in how just how much, of an audience that it gathers. I've been getting asked a lot about it by people I wouldn't have thought of like my barber and kind of random people like that, but they also have known me for a little bit. So I don't know how much stock I can put into it, but it's still funny. It's still funny to hear them kind of mention things like 300. You're going to be there, all that. I feel like in terms of what we compare it to, though, you mentioned Habib Conner. And I think even like 200 felt a whole lot bigger than this, at least from what I remember in kind of the experience there going

into that fight week. And I think it's because of the fact that you look at what both of those cards had, which were those tippy top A-listers and rivalries, right? That's a combination of Habib and Connor. And then with 200, we had Brock, you know, coming in and save the day a little bit. Originally had Jones DC, still ended up with DC and Silva, which was maybe, you know, the greatest fill-in, especially timing-wise of all time, all the factors considered there. That's drama. I mean, hopefully we don't have anything like that happened with 300, but I think that helped in a little bit of a way. I need to knock on wood now.

Sorry, guys. All of the woods. All of the woods. All of the woods. All the woods. But in terms of, yeah, that feel and the excitement and anticipation, I feel like with 300, it's just more of purely insanely wonderful matchups, top to bottom, without having that one person who we have kind of this really strong

desire to see win or lose maybe to that level of, let's say, a Connor or one of those rivalries that draws you in where you just need to see what happens because of kind of maybe what happens afterwards. Jamal Hill, he's doing his damnedest, right? He's really kind of putting things out there for the main event and saying his stuff, which is just how he is. He is a general, very confident guy, but you know, you're not going to get that out of Alex Perra in the converse. So I think UFC probably not the happiest of that with that, guard. Of course, they'll take what I can get at this point in how we got here is its own story. But yeah, man, it just feels like the ultimate kind of gift and present to, I think, every fan

who follows a sport more than a casual, even just beyond what if you would say you're beyond that casual fan limit. This is an incredible service to you. But even then, it still just doesn't feel like the biggest in terms of you know kind of the past ones even i would say like ufc 148 silver sun and two like again big stars and a rivalry that's the only thing that this card is missing yeah mike i'm not complaining about that we we got to take a time out from from the whole competition i never do this casey i need you to boot a commenter this man's name is cross and he said and a quote there are only four fights on this card that I care about. The two title fights, Yir Pahashka and the Charles Arman.

This man's out here being like, I don't give a shit about Justin Gathe Max Holloway. He's an idiot and he needs to get off my computer screen. I can't accept this. I don't know. He does not get to be here. Casey, I need you to solve this problem because if you're looking at 300 and being like, there are four fights I care about, just give up the sport, bro. Just quit the sport.

Like, this is not a sport for you. That's okay. It doesn't have to be. The Masters is this weekend, that's enjoyable. But if you can seriously look at this fight card and say, only four of them. Yeah, only four of them. How are you a fan? What are you supporting?

Did you look at the Apex card last week? Can you tell me there was a fight you gave a shit about? If this only gets four, what do you care about in the sport? I don't understand you, man. You've got to get the hell out. You're bringing the vibe down. Yeah. This card's not for him

This one's not for him He's not the one watching Vegas 88 Vegas 89 UFC AC UFC Vegas 90 He's not trudging through the muckety With the rest of us That's what he lives for

For this okay This is for us Not for him This is for us This is that lady being The UFC 300 UFC Vegas 90 Yeah

What are we talking about man? Come on So let's Let's talk about the main event here. We have Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill and Drake, I want to go back to you because, look, the timing of the announcements, especially like when two hours before you announced the UFC's going back to Rio for a pay-per-view, you sort of, and plus like the writing was sort of on the wall that we're going to get Alex Pereer versus Jamal Hill on that card. And then for just all these things to come up where it's like, we're going to blow your socks off with this made event announcement,

not to mention the expectations that just fans sort of unfairly. thrust upon this card. When it was announced that Alex Perevarez, Jamal Hill was the main event, it was just met with like cool fight, but not 300-e. So now that all of that is aside, and we could take the lofty expectations

for the 300 main event aside and the sort of broken promises that were just impossible to capture, thoughts about this main event. What do you grade it now, Drake? We take all the rigamoreau out of it, and we just focus on these two guys fighting and ending the show.

What are we great in this one in terms of your interest? Ooh, that's a really good question, Mike, and a tough one to give you. I will say, and I said this morning in the morning report, check it out a great recurring story on a great website, MAPFiting.com, that I have gotten much more interested in this fight and this matchup. Thanks specifically to Jamal Hill and his completely unflappable, unwavering, maybe most of the time diluted confidence, but everybody needs that. It's this fighting.

You know, you can't always be the very best. You're going to lose. It's going to happen unless you're Habib, unless your GSP who gets his win backs, that kind of stuff. Yeah, I initially it was very disappointing. I don't think, I think that we can all agree. It isn't the most 300-y matchup for the main event that could have been made.

But it's not a bad one. right like this is a logical light heavyweight title fight not necessarily the one i still would have i think that maga met uncle i of course he's not going to get this spot but that's the guy if we're going in terms of you know who deserves it in the merit yes jamael hill was a champion but the the whole title situation has just been a mess since uh john jones left it's weird so i guess you can't even really argue for what makes sense in this division so we'll go with this he got injured all that stuff um man i i i think think, are we doing numbers or letters, Mike?

How are you want? You could do Drake stars. You could do grades, numbers, however you want. I'll say it's a very, it's a very comfortable six and a half. It's not, it's better than average, but not the best on the card on Deniably. I mean, we already know what that is. But I think it will be intriguing for kind of as long as it lasts, one of those fights. I don't think it will be too different from Yuri versus Pahara.

And I just, again, it's a really weird thing with Jamal Hill because I think that he has kind of gotten to a point for the most part where he's proven that we should believe in him. Like I didn't think he would do it. He did the Glover. And yes, it was four-year-old Glover, all this stuff. But still the guy was a fresh recent champion, still hanging with the best of them.

Did far better than I ever thought he would. and even with a lot of his matchups to the title, he's just kind of been counted out. And it feels like rightfully so, but then he keeps on winning, but we still keep on doubting him. And even in this match, I'm doing the same thing,

but I still feel like I need to see more from him. I don't know what he needs to do or who he needs to beat and how he needs to beat them to kind of shake this label of underdog that he's been really stuck with. I don't know if it's because he's a contender series guy or whatever, but this is mostly a Jamal Hill problem for me. It's nothing personal with him or anything, but I just haven't been super interested in him,

which is weird because, like, he's not an boring fighter by any stretch of the imagination. And I guess that one thing obviously would be to knock out Alex Bahara, maybe in a fun fight for as long as it lasts. But I don't know. I just can't see that because I feel like his confidence is a little bit overconfidence, and it's going to cost them somewhat similarly to the Strickland fight with Rehara, maybe not identical to that one. But because of that expectation, I just feel like, you know, it'll be a nice highlight in the end for Alex Beherra. And I'm looking more forward to those really insane, you know, classic fights, wars all around madness, which Gachie Holloway, of course, is the one there. But stuff like that, you know, and it's not fair to really compare them because, you know, that's just a level set above.

So six and a half. Like it's a fine, understandable was always going to happen like heavyweight title fight. It was just a matter of where and when. So I was going to feel this ranking no matter where it was, Mike. Six and a half. Six and a half, Jed. What do you agree with that? Just for whoever is working on our socials, don't clip that and put it out there.

We don't need Jamal Hill in the mentions and more about how much we hate him. Don't nobody show what Drake just said to Jamal Hill. is he and he who shall not be named will team up and create the... That's our tag team match, Mike. That would be... I'd pay to watch it. I'd pay to watch that particular matchup. Six and a half feels light.

Look, I get... I'm not even disagree with a lot of what Drake said, right? I understand when this was announced, the backlash to it. This should happen at 301. There's no reason for it to happen here other than Dana promised something. big and then couldn't deliver on any of the like 12 options they wanted before this. We know this because it's, that's just out there. That is just like news that happened.

We know that they offered everyone who's not named Belaw Muhammad a chance to fight Leon Edwards in the main event and and none of a bit. It didn't work for any of them. We know that they tried for DDP versus Izzy and they couldn't make the timelines work. This was option Z that they ended up having to go with pulling this off of 301 and putting this here. When you take that part out of it, when you don't care about it, because that's not what matters to Saturday. Saturday is not about us watching and thinking about, well, this could happen three weeks from now in Rio and it would have been cooler. Saturday is about enjoying

the moment. And when we get it, it's a great title fight. Like Drake said, I agree. Magmaid and Goliath deserves a title fight. The only person they wanted to headline UFC 300 less than below Muhammad was Maghamed and Goliath. They're not putting that dude in a title fight in this position. He's the best life I have way in the wild. I've been saying for three years, they're not going to let him do that. They hate him. It's, it's just is where it is. And so what we're getting is a just reasonable title fight. It is absolutely fair to do this. There's the story, the background with Glover versus Jamal and obviously Alex's relationship to Glover. There is that. And most importantly of all, we're going to end the night on a kick-ass fight card, like on a kick-ass fight. Because the only way that

sort of an event like this can kind of be detracted from that you can lose steam on is if the main event doesn't deliver because main events dictate cards even the best cards up and down if the last taste you get at the end of a meal is shitty then your whole meal is impacted by it there's no chance for that to happen there is no world in which the main event this weekend is some boring nip-tuck decision it is it's not how these two dudes fight they're going to go out and one dude's going to fall over and i don't know what round it'll happen in but before 25 is up one of them is going to be separated from consciousness or their body will simply physically not be able to compete any longer. I tend to think that that's Alex Pereira is going to be the guy who separates Jamal Hill

from consciousness. But that's the other part of this. This fight is also interesting. This fight is compelling to me personally as a fan because I have no idea what to make a Jamal Hill. I have likened him to two different fighters. It could be that this is, I mean, look, he got beat by Paul Craig. That sets a pretty low floor, in my opinion.

But since then, he's looked unbelievable, and obviously the Glover fight's so good. He might come out and be like, oh, I've ascended. The Paul Craig was a setback. It happened. Paul Craig's sneaky. He's got some random wins in there that are good. But I have elevated my game and who you saw against Glover Tashara. That's who I am.

And who I am is the dude. Very possible. Also, he could be Cody Garbrand. That could have been the best performance of his life. and he never gets near that level again. We're not going to know until he fights, and the fact that after he had that performance, he blew out his Achilles and we haven't seen him in a year,

makes him still an open question about what he is. And so I'm excited to get some answers to that. Maybe not all of them, but at least some. And again, this is Alex Pereira, man. Like, this dude is doing what other men have failed to do in entire careers. He's doing in months. Like, he is the alpha, he is such so weird in, in who is he's fascinating in cage and out of cage's story is compelling this fight is deeply

compelling is it my most anticipated final card no they're like seven others which to my previous point cross your outside your goddamn mind that you think four of them are good this fight is amazing and a very good fight and worth you know eight nine 10 stars however you want to max it out it's still there it just doesn't rise to the same level that some of the others do because they are so great. They are the Everest while this is, you know, K2, still super tall, just not quite the tallest thing ever. What has made this fight more and more interesting to me is something that Drake

Drake mentioned earlier. Jamal Hill is going full Ilya to maybe even more so, where he's just telling everybody like, I just watched Alex Pereira's like recent fight. I watch him fight Bruno Silva. This dude ain't going to last five seconds. This is an easy fight. all of it. And Jamal Hill is this super interesting.

And Alex Pereira, like Jed said, if he beats Jamal Hill, like I'm trying to figure out what it actually does for Alex Pereira in terms of the conversation, because it's already done so much already that like every other win is just, it's just sprinkles on top of a gigantic cupcake that just looks so delicious to eat.

So let me ask you this, Jed, because this is a very, this is a very hot topic on Heck of a morning this morning. And I'll make it very simple. because of the confidence, because of everything that has happened, because of the Glover to share a win, having to vacate the title, the injury, all the confidence.

Does Jamal Hill have the most to lose on Saturday? No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, he certainly has a lot. He's in that conversation. I believe the co-mean event, Wiley Zhang has the most to lose on Saturday for a myriad number of reasons. I'm open to the argument that is Jamal Hill, right? just because he's a don't show

Jamal if you're watching turn it off this clip's not for you I'm not trying to I'm not trying to make this thing where you get real mad because you get real mad about some stuff I have opinions and my opinions are

closer to fact here his title's fraud like he is a fake champion that's not to discredit the win unbelievable win he didn't beat the champ to get it he beat the dude who just lost to the champ so his belt is

quite papery. And so losing Alex Prairie is going to really reinforce that thought in many people's minds and just make it even more true than it already is. He has a lot to gain by winning because he will be the just undeniable champion if he wins. No one can dispute it

absolutely full-blown given to it. He has a lot to lose, also a lot to gain. I think Wiley-Jang has much more to lose in part because she also has less to gain here. This is just a real downside fight for an huge amount to lose. But that's also the thing when you get so many damn good fights, a lot of people have a lot

to lose. And so opinions can vary on that. People can think Jamal has most lose. And I won't say that that's not true. I just don't fall that way. I think because of how light heavyweight shakes out, because of being a former champion, even if he loses, he can still get back to a title fight pretty quickly in this weight class, right?

And right the wrong, as it were, if he does end up losing. whereas I think other people's situations are going to be much worse on Saturday with the loss. What do you think, Drake? Because, yeah, I understand the Zhang Wei argument. But I also believe that if Jan Jonan beats Zhang Wei Li, it could set up just an incredibly huge rematch in China. So I feel like Zhang Wei Li would get a title shot immediately right back. I don't know if Jamal Hill gets one right back.

I think he's going to have to wait a long time. Plus, he's going to be a meme on social media for years to come. if he loses this fight. So do you feel that he has the most to lose on Saturday, or do you have an argument for somebody else? Yeah, I agree with you totally, Mike, there. I don't think he'll get a title shot right back or anything like that. He's definitely one of the bigger ones,

but I don't think he's the biggest either. And I wouldn't say it's way Lee either. Honestly, right, when I hear that, it goes to kind of four fights specifically, and two of those are they the four that cross likes or? I guess we'll find out about what he mentioned him. Didn't they? No, I don't think they are.

Yeah, I look at, of course, Bo Nicol and Cody Brunge is specifically because of the hype that Bo Nickle has. If he loses in pretty much any fashion, I don't think that's going to dictate the future that he can, it would still have type of thing. But because of the level of hype that he's been given, that would hurt a lot. of course. Kayla Harrison, of course, that's a big one time. Maybe her enemy, depending on the weight cuts, all of these things, getting beat by Holly.

Not the worst thing ever, but again, this is a new experiment, just a lot of still unknowns, even if she does win that fight. But then also, I kind of look at the lightweight fights that we are most looking forward to here, you guys. Olivera and Sarjuquen, I think you could argue maybe, I was going to say whoever loses that one but more so Charles Oliverer just because of the fact that he had his title shot got hurt has to get through an incredibly tough arm and future champion type of guy if he loses that one like I don't think he's going to be far away still from a title shot but like man kind of the

story and journey of olivera getting promised his title shot right no even with the cut and falling out of the fight and then having to get through this if he loses like it's just so MMA. It is just completely the M.A. God's being like, sorry, bro. This is just kind of, we don't really care. We love you, Charlie Olives, but you got to take a back seat to Dustin Poirier and, you know,

Gaecchi assuming he used to pull that one off. But then even Justin Gaetia, if he loses, it's kind of the same thing, minus, you know, the recent story there, but him getting passed over potentially, potentially for that Porier-Machach fight happening too. It's just like kind of stinging if that was to happen.

So, I if I was to pick one person out of those, I think it would probably be, in terms of stakes, Charles Olivera, but in terms of maybe longevity and worry, I might say Kayla. If we'll split it that way and which one is more important

or less or more damaging, it kind of depends how they lose, but I think I'll lean towards Kayla. Break it down. I just did like a mini bracket there in terms of who has the most to win or, gain or lose, excuse me. But I'm curious though, I want to ask you guys too because we're on this and flip it in

reverse though, because I think there's a very clear answer in terms of who has the least to lose. And can we all agree on the same person? I don't know. I feel like that has to be Max Holloway because the fact that if he loses, he still has a featherweight title show pretty much waiting for him. Or Diego Lopez. Because people are a lot of them anyways.

is. Yeah. There's a lot. I will say hand up. I was wrong. The actual person with the most to lose his, Bo Nickel. Because if he loses, he will forever be the dude

who lost to Cody Brundage. And no one wants that stain on their legacy. I mean, just, I don't follow you around like a bad smell, you know? You don't need that. So that's the actual answer.

Drake, to your point, Max is a good answer for who has delis to lose, except for that, you know, just a little piece there where it's friends else. It's a lot of. brain cells. He stands to lose a fair number of brain cells in that fight. Jim Miller is also.

And potentially a leg guy that doesn't have a lot to lose here. Jim Miller, good one. Yeah. People love him anyways. He will win even if he loses. Yeah, but if Jim Miller loses, he doesn't lose much, but then we lose everything. So I honestly, I'm, I'm a bit upset that you even spoke that as a possibility into the world. Shame on you, Mike Heck.

that's not the reality we're living in. Jim Miller is going to win, and we don't need to speak of ulterior outcomes, you know? You want to talk about middleweights we don't talk about very often? No, no, no. We can do that. That man does not get spoken of because we all agreed. We didn't even have to say anything to agree to.

We all just understood. I will say I've been paying attention in following this saga, and I am fully in agreement with it. I mean, oh my goodness, unreal. He just kind of disappeared. And the minute he left, no one has ever been like, hey, what's going on with that guy? Because we all accept. We're like, oh, he just left and that's cool.

He just, TJ granted it. Only we cared when T.J. Grant left, it was sad. Well, it's like, oh, it's fine. We're good. Just we've moved on. It's great for all of us. We're going to keep doing that. If you don't know, you're living a perfect world.

I know what we're talking about. Now you don't want to. You're doing it great. if you don't know what we're talking about. Speaking of moving on, that's what we're going to do right now. Let's move on to some other big storylines for UFC 300. The point for round one goes to, this is very close, but Jed going off on the commenter just puts them over the line.

That's not fair objection. Overruled, Drake, overruled. Overruled, Drake. I watched the trivia enthusiasm finale. I have a guzzle. Oh, well, that just works perfectly. Super good round. A three Michoulin star around, if I dare be so bold.

Race the runners. Raise the sails. Raise the sales. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution?

Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Support for this show comes from the

audible original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The earth only has a few days left. Roscoe 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 Fray. 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. But let's talk about the co-mate. event. We got Zhang Wei v. John John, on Drake Riggs, history making. We have the first all-China championship bout in the UFC. And this one, even though it's a title fight, even though it's the co-main event, this one flying completely under the radar right now. So I'm curious. Like, I know Zhang is a big

betting favorite and rightfully so. Do you have Grasso-Shevchenko won vibes here that especially not only is this fight being overlooked, But I feel like Janja and I is being completely overlooked here. Yeah. It's really kind of interesting, specifically, you know, for me. Because I'm a big fan of both of these ladies. And I was saying it yesterday on the live stream I did on my personal channel.

But like, I didn't, it didn't even really process or hit me or kick in that. Oh, yeah. This fight is this week and a part of UFC 300. Like, I love that. And I've been all for that. And I'm happy. It's a co-main event, all this stuff. But like, oh, yeah, it is happening this week.

It is a part of it. It does not feel like it whatsoever. It's been completely overshadowed by everything else, which is pretty fair, reasonable, justifiable, of course. In terms of those vibes, again, I've been a very big, you know, fan and supporter of the Janjan,an rise that she had through the UFC. It was very fun to watch and to get to this point. Still not perfect, of course, the Chinese Derby, the China Derby, as they call it.

should be in China, but, you know, we'll settle for it. I think, as we've said, though, or mentioned alluded to, potential for rematch would be even bigger. So there is that potential hope there. But I'm not sold on it either as big of a believer in Jan Jowon as I am in her. I'm not feeling the same way with Grasso and Shevchenko. I actually gave Alexa Grasso a lot better of a chance than I think most people did at that time for sure. and I'm sorry to even mention that fight around you, because I know that was a damaging one. I was DGY supportive of Alexa Grasso's chances.

I was talking about everybody. I was like, I think she's got this one, y'all. Right. So I'm not feeling the same way whatsoever. And I think, I don't know if a little bit of that is because of the fight that Balantina had right before. And then with Whaley, she's coming off like the complete two opposite versions of that. You know, her last two fights are nowhere. near a competitive split decision.

But just even stylistically matchup-wise, as Whaley continues to grow into fit into her championship role that she's already been in for a while, she's only getting more and more dangerous, absolutely everywhere specifically with her grappling, which was the area she, I guess, I feel like you don't want to say she needed to improve anything, but if there was a spot, she's really bolstered it to a point where,

okay, we've seen Janjan on improve, as well in her grappling, but nowhere near to the same level, got dominated by Carlos Sparza relatively recently, too recently to maybe feel confident in her being able to stifle that from someone who mixes things up to the degree and danger level that Weylee does. So I think that really Janjanon's best chance here is to kind of make it a little bit boring and avoid Weyley until like to try and get her to run into a shot like Androge did, which just I don't think is going to happen.

So I think she's going to need a little bit of a Hail Mary type of knockout. Not to say it can't. You know, she's a great striker in her own right. But it's just a lot harder for me to buy into then, let's say. I was going to say kind of like Alexa pulling off against Valentina. But again, that was pretty much a mistake in the first fight. So it's really weird to kind of compare those two, Mike, as you mentioned. But I still love the fight.

I'm really excited for it. Again, it took a while to process. and realize that it is happening this week, and I don't know if it's still fully kicked in, but I just hope that it's incredibly competitive and kind of what we've been hoping for out of eventually getting these two fighting. And especially right now,

I think the division desperately needs it. Because I know you guys have mentioned it too a little, but I think it post-fights shows and whatnot, but the Strawaway Division really quickly went from the clear best for the women in the sport to, all right, it's kind of just okay now. we, the contenders have kind of dissipated, separated. We know what we get out of them.

And there hasn't been too much of a change in freshness. Like, real fast that happened. So if Janjana can kind of help boost Whaley up to a point of like becoming a rival with Rose and Yohana the way that they did, that would be absolutely perfect for what this division needs. And that's what I'm hoping for. Will it happen? I'm not sold.

But I'm going to put that energy out there. Jed, when I think back on challengers entering title fights as significant underdogs and the support you've thrown on them based on your words and your wallet, you know, we mentioned Alexa Grasso and how you told everybody, bet on Alexa Grasso. We mentioned Carla Sparza against Rosamai Unis and you said, look, put it all on Carla Sparza. Put the mortgage, the house, the cars, everything up there because you will not be, you will not be sad about it. Do you put this? I didn't see the worst fight of all time happening. Does Jan? Hand up.

So we got Grasso, Carla, Janjohnan? Does she make this list, Jed? I don't think so, but this one is not with the same level of my whole chest. Maybe I'm getting older, getting wiser. I've been burnt too many times. But I said with my whole chest, Juliana Pena was going to pull off the upset and she did it. Never forget, Mike. Never forget the good ones either.

that's true i can see a world where janja non is great because she's coming off the best performance of her career and so honestly a little bit akin to jamal hill maybe that's just who she is maybe that wasn't her best performance maybe it was just her new normal she has been in the game a long time but all the pieces have fallen together to create something better than we have seen i tend not to think that's the case i mostly think that that's the worst jessica and drajeet that has ever fought she fought real stupid and got gotten for it, but I can't discount that it could be the other thing. We're going to find out Saturday.

But this should be a Wiley-Lijian fight, right? Like, I watched Carlos Baza, who I don't think is good, like, it's fine. I think she's a fine fighter. I don't think she's a good fighter. I watched her take down John John on and just beat the brakes out of her. Wiley-Jang is probably like a slightly less good technical wrestler than Carla Esposa. she's about an 8,000 times more physically imposing hoss of a human. And so if Carly can get her down and beat the brakes off of her,

I just got to imagine Wiley can do the same. But Wiley is getting a little older. So is Yon, so is that part of it. So I'm not like all the way confident just because there is a little bit of an unknown around Jan Jahn and kind of what her last performance tells us about who she is and where she's going. So I'm intrigued by that aspect. I think this fight could, if it's not one-way traffic for Wiley,

which I think is the most likely outcome, I'd still think I think this fight can be really, really compelling and competitive. And to Drake's point, I hope that that's the case. It would be so much better for this weight class if Janjanaan can pull off this upset because it's desperate. Like it is, it's really, really bad at one. It's just the same people. She's the same.

There's no new blood coming in. There are no reinforcements on the horizon. It's the same as Bannonweight. Like there's no help coming. The cavalry is not here. And we all forgot about it because Tatiana Suarez finally came back. We're like, oh, great. Tatiana Swarra is here.

She hasn't fought several of these people. That'll be good. She has two fights and gets injured again. And now we can't be confident Tatiana Suarez can be the person to do something. So we need a fresh matchup because as much as I would love it as much as me and jean o's shoddy will stay the last two men on the lonely island that is mackenzie durn she's never going to put it together we're going to be drowning just just desperately being like but that one time she got top position on yon jonan she she got her and buddy

if she could have ever punched her she would have finished her and we'll never give up the dream but the rest of you are smart and that's the only hope is that our dream is true but our dream is clearly not true and so there's nobody else coming right now so we need Janjan to win just to have a, in football, there's the bridge quarterback. He's not the franchise, right? He's not the guy who drafted an overall one. But sometimes you need to get Teddy Bridgewater for a third round pick so he can start for a season or two while you find a long-term QB answer.

There is no long-term answer at 115 right now. We need a bridge rivalry. We need Janjanan and Wiley-Jang to bridge us to just buy time to get more. more bodies in here to be something, something great for it, because there is, there's just no help right now. And it, it's starting to really flag. We'd hoped, loopie, like, we'd all hoped, yeah, Luby Godine is, maybe she can do something. It's not happening yet.

So I, I like Drake. I hope Jan Jan Janon gets to do it this weekend. I'm just pretty suspect that she's actually going to pull that off. We don't need to sell the BMF title fight. It's a dream fight. We've all. Apparently we do. You got crazy people I cross out here.

Like, that's bullshit. It's garbage fight. I don't care about it. To normal people, we don't need to sell this fight. This fight sells itself. This could have been the freaking, they could have announced this as the main event of UFC 300 and know what about it an eye about it.

But it's coming. It's the featured bout. So I'm going to start with you, Jed. You, like myself, have been a big proponent for the lightweight division being the best division in the sport. Lightweight is super interesting right now because we got a combination of the new blood and the old guard and the stars are all just,

kind of aligning and there's June and is al-Makachev as the champion. I want to fight on this date. He's wheeling a little bit of his power. And then we have just massive lightweight fights on this card. And we have this one in particular. So let me just ask you this. What's more interesting to you? A world where Justin Gaci wins on Saturday or a world where Max Holloway wins on Saturday?

If you're framing it like that, it's Max, right? Like, I want Justin Gagey to win. Like, it's just transparently. I hope he wins Saturday. I believe he deserves to fight for the lightweight title again. I don't think that's going to go well for him. But I do think he deserves to get to do that. He did, he did his job.

He fought Michael Chandler. He went back. He fought Hafeil Faziv. Like, he did the thing. He punched his ticket. He deserves it. I can't read it because I'm popping off right now. I'm sure Cross is doing some dumb shit.

It's really one of the most awful takes of the day. Cross, I legitimately, honestly, I respect it because I try, I start. strive my whole life to be the only person alive who believes something, because it's just so unique, right? Like, you're, they're just, there are eight billion people in the world. You're never going to be like, I believe the moon is made of guacamole. Someone will be like, yeah, man, you can't ever be like wholly unique. You're the only person alive who thinks that it's a four-fight card.

Like, truly, there's not a soul alive who agrees with you. And I got to respect that level of ingenuity. We're back to my previous point, which was about this fight being good. Max Holloway, if he wins, it's obviously more interesting because then the question is, a lot of people want to see him fight Elliot Tupuria. It's me. I'm a lot of people. If you're not a lot of people, you're stupid.

If he wins his fight, a lot of people are going to be interested in seeing him fight is Lamachev. And I got to say, I wrote about it. It's on the site right now. We did five burning questions about a head of UFC 300. And one of those is who fights for the lightweight title next? Dustin Boy is probably the answer. but if Max Holloway goes out there and he does Max Holloway things and he beats Justin Gachi, Max Holloway is the kind of guy who would say, hell yeah, I'll turn around and fight as Lamachev in a

couple of weeks. June, timeline works great for me. I don't have to cut as much weight at 155. Let's do it. And oh, by the way, you remember? Remember four years ago? I was supposed to fight Habib. I got the call when Tony Ferguson couldn't compete.

I was going to fight Habib. We were going to do this fight. and then because some shenanigans happened, Ally Quinti gets subbed in at the last minute because I can't safely make weight or whatever nonsense. Well, I can't fight a beep. I can fight Islam. I can do that in two.

I can do that in seven weeks or whatever the timeline is. Let's run it. If he wins, it's just objectively more interesting. If Justin wins, he waits and probably he fights the winner of Dustin versus Islam, you know, in November or whatever that timeline is. If Max wins, things get hectic. And so it's just objectively more interesting. I want Justin to win.

Max is more interesting. And honestly, I think Max is going to win this fight. I wouldn't bet my life on it. Oh. I am picking Max Holloway to win this fight on Saturday. I think Justin, Justin Gaichi has, I don't think he's losing that much. He is losing a title shot, which is objectively a lot. I think he has a zero percent chance to beat his Lamakachev.

So in the grander scheme, he's not losing a ton and he's getting this payday. But, yeah, that's just kind of where I fall. I love Max's chances on Saturday. It's, and it's going to be wild when it happens, man. It's going to be super, super wild. As I said, a heck of a morning.

I have a bet on Max Holloway. I took the point spread bet plus five and a half points. I don't think he wins, but I think it's super competitive. So got a plus 100. If Max does win. Feel free to fade. That would be so good.

I have the same bet. If Max does win, which again, I think he's going to, not married to, just a vibe. If he does win, the only downside to it,

legitimately the only like bad part is that somehow Islamyakov one of the best lightweights of all time will have exclusively title defenses against feather weights, which is a bit of a bummer. But on the other hand, John Jones apparently became the goat

by doing that at light heavyweight against a bunch of middle weights. So maybe it works out for Islam. That's right. I took shots of you, John Jones, because you scared of Tommy Aspinall. I don't know how we got there. because I was setting it up.

We got the Parker Porter Airhold. Coward John Jones. Goat star chickens can't be my goat. Drake, is there a way, and outside of availability, let's just say Islam and Dustin fight, and it is revealed, and we know that they're going to try to want to turn his,

if Islam wins, I want to turn him around for Abu Dhabi. I understand that. Let's just say, like, regardless, winner that, if Islam wins, he doesn't fight for another six months. And it's kind of a race to see who gets him. Is there a chance that the winner of Justin Gachi versus Max Holloway does not get that shot if there's that much time in between?

Now, obviously, Armand Sarukin and Charles Oliver could end more emphatically and faster. But if Justin Gagchi and Max Holloway put on the fight that most of us expect them to put on, place is got to go bananas. It's got to be tough. Like, that's what makes this whole situation in this card so interesting. There's just so many questions. But if you had to bet, if I gave you plus 200 on not just engage your Max Holloway, the winner of that fight, getting a title shot in their next fight, would you take it?

Oh, that is an excellent question, Mike. I mean, man, I feel like it would be kind of dumb not to drop a little bit of something. So I'm going to cheat and say I'd put a little bit down. But I don't think that because it's between. you know, both of these fights, right? I think that the winner of Holloway, Gachi, more so, of course, if it is Gachi, but either way, both ways,

I don't see how the UFC cannot, would not go with the winner of that fight for the title shot. With Gaichi, he's already been in line, arguably deserves it already, should be fighting for it now instead, all these things. BMF titles on the line, Holloway, big name, story of different division. you had the Habib tie in there, all that stuff.

On UFC 300, going to be an insane fight. If he beats a top contender, all of it just makes way too much sense, not just like from a merit standpoint, but then also business-wise, which is the big one here, because pretty much of that stupid BMF title, which is awesome in this case because it's for that fight. Let's use that as much as we can. It'll be a defending champion.

You can do champ versus champ, BNF for undisputed title, which I don't think they leaned into enough for Jorge versus Usman the first time they could do that. But for some reason, which I think it is also just to promote Olivera and Sarjukian more than anything, Dana has been saying, the winner of that fight will still be the one to get the title shot. I just think that's promoter being promoter. I can't imagine how you would possibly, unless one of them runs through the other guy and just like does something completely insane.

And then there's a stinker, but there's something unfathomable that isn't even possible to happen with Gaichi and Holloway. I can't see them being leapfrog because of all the elements surrounding that fight. Fresh matchups from either of them. We have already seen Olivera versus Zaryukin, Oliver and Sauruiken versus Malkajchev, albeit Sarukin one, is a fresher rematch if that is to eventually happen, which I do think it will at some point. But with the Olivero one, I'm still not going to complain if he has to win one more fight to get to it. but just because it still wasn't that long ago. We want to put Charlie Olives possibly in limbo

from losing his rematch with Islamangachev, which I think would also happen if we're going to get real fantasy bookie here and go that far. I just, I feel pretty comfortable with, of course, that timing is what I'm kind of reserved on there, Mike, the gap of time when taking that bet. But I just can't see a way that the UFC, specifically if Gatji wins, doesn't go with him.

But then if it's Holloway, how they won't at least try to make that one happen, right? And who knows? Maybe they could even try to do both, depending on how the Tupriot fight goes. And let's say in that timeline gap, he goes down to featherweight. Let's say he wins a title.

He's like, I also want to become double champ because UFC loves doing that still. No, no, no. Don't do it. There's that possibility. I'm just throwing it out there. It's a lot of time to play with.

I'm not saying that's what I want, but I can't see either. of those being leaned away from by the UFC. This is a business, boys. Jed, if looks could do damage, uh, it was just WrestleMania weekend. That's true.

That's very true. Were there double champs at WrestleMania? I wouldn't watch the WrestleMania. I don't know. We're not talking about this before. Technically, technically there was. I thought we got, we, we had all, the same agreement we made not to speak of,

uh, smearage, we all agreed to just stop talking about double champs. because it would be great, if they could just slowly fade into the ether, right? Like, it's, we don't, we don't need any of that. That's nonsense. Let's no, no, no, no, no. No, no.

Point is I'm taking, I'm not taking the bet. Fair. All right, let us move on. By the way, keep the super chats coming. Top three, those will be the questions for round number four. But we got to get through round number three. That's where we're going next point for round number two goes to, the fight's going to be so good.

Just like this matchup. Drake Griggs, one to one. Nicely done. Good whisper. That was very good. Yeah, an inspiration right there. Yeah, there's, I mean, look, despite what some people have to say, there's so many interesting fights on this card.

But one hurts and has to say. Shout out to him. What first I say? He will add him to the list of names who shall not be named on this, on this program, but I respect it. Okay. I mean, like you said, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. But Drake, I want to start with you here.

We have 13 fights. We mentioned the top three. I feel like you know how I like to do this. Like we could go with a low-hanging fruit, but still at UFC 300. So almost every piece of fruit is easy to grab. You don't even need to really go up in your tippy toes to grab one. But most interesting fight slash storyline on the prelims. to you

Don't you do it Don't you do it Drake Don't you fucking take mine I mean I've got to struggling to think of which one you might go with

because there are a couple here But I know where he's going Yeah I do have a backup one That I can go with But I hope he takes it so bad My backup one's good

So don't worry But I'll be Okay So most interesting low-key story line that's what we're looking for here um on the prelims yeah huh man okay well i'm just going to go what's kind of speaking to me most i think i've pinpointed which one uh which one you're thinking jett so i'll let you have that there but uh i mean oh you know what it's davis and figurato and cody garbrand isn't it's good of a bitch the clear fight

Obviously, the kickoff to UFC 300, baby, no love, piggy. I mean, what a better way. It's right about you? Terrible person. Shame. I set them up real nice for that one. So good. We got, yes, the former Banimate champ kicking off.

Kicking off the show here. as a former flyaway champ. Fight was supposed to happen before. Cody Nolove, as Jed knows, not the greatest fighter. You know, maybe got, it's been a tough time for him recently, gets knocked out every now and then

going to get bolted again, a lamped, as the boys say, right? And I mean, that's what we are here for. We need a fight to wet the whistle, kick off 300 properly, get the asses in the seats, Mike. And what better way than with the Cody Garbrand knockout?

Not him doing it, him getting knocked out by Davis and Figurato. That's the story. that's the way to kick off 300 Dana I'll give you props yes we're kicking off the fight with these former champs going at it I mean I don't know if I need to sell it much more than that oh my God incredible Jed I mean this is a new story not only did he pick not only did he do the thing he did the thing while imitating you all he needed was a white bull three stars behind him and he got you what's your backup I'm curious you went to Drake

first because you and him talked about it. You wanted to take this from me. I've been asking for this fight for four years. Mike, I feel it's a hard done by it. We became friends on this very show, Mike, by me talking about Cody Garbrand and Davis DeFiguero. And Cody Garbrant pitch it for fighting the worst stupidest fight fight possible and getting knocked out in the same way every time.

We talked about me loving to see the left hooks until Cody Garbran implodes. We did it right here. Forged in the fires of friendship and you took it from you, Mike. and Drake Griggs, the scoundrel, have taken it from me. And so I have to go with my backup plan. And I got to, all right, let's get him a whole chest into this. Rain it in. I got this, guys.

I've come to, I do believe this. I've talked myself into believing this. Everyone is wrong. All of you are wrong. Jed Mushu from a couple of months ago, wrong. Moron, just an absolute idiot. Disregard the things he said. because Saturday, something beautiful is going to happen, ladies and gentlemen.

Something majestic, something we have been begging for, Mike, for literal years. Women's Bannam Weight is about to be back, boys and girls. At one point in time, the marquee weight division in all of women's mixed martial arts. Ronda Rousey at the top of the order, Misha Tate, Holly Home comes in, just electric, stars everywhere, the weight class for women's combat sports. And it's just dog shit now. It's the lowest it's ever been. Mike, we got on a program and we questioned and argued and debated if women's ban on weight right now is the worst weight class in modern UFC history.

Not counting women's featherweight, which is a fraudulent weight class. We all agreed. Probably is. Like, it's worse than old heavy weight. It's just so bad. But what it needs, it needs a bright shining star to lift it out of the muck. And we've got one. Two time.

Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison taking on Holly Home. And yeah, some people on this very program, some people wearing a backwards Georgia hat maybe said that fight's going to be fucking miserable because Holly Home can't be in fun fights. And it's going to be an awful way to watch a fight card. And they shouldn't put it as the opening Friday evening because it would just be a snoozer. Some people may have said that. Some people were wrong, Mike.

Here's what's about to happen. Let me lay it out for you. Friday. She's making a statement. Kayla Harrison's coming in, weighing in one three five championship weight, sending a message to the haters, the losers out there who thinks she can't do this. She's going to let you know, I can make championship weight. Then she can go out there. She's going to beat the shit out of Holly home.

She's going to do what Ronda Rousey couldn't. I'm going to take her down. She's going to snatch up that arm and take it home with her. Then she's getting on the mic in Kayla Harrison, two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time PFL women's champion. He's going to get on that mic and say, I came here to be the best in the world. There's a woman out there claiming to be that. Her name's Rocky Pennington.

We got business. I'm a snatch your arm too. And then after I'm done with that, I'm going to prove, I'm not the best in the world. I'm the best ever. Amanda Nunes, we were supposed to do this, and you got got by Giuliana Pena. After I'm done with Rocky, you're next.

She's setting up the women's ban and wait for return to glory that we haven't seen in years, it is going to steal the show on Sunday. Sure, we're going to talk about the fight of the year between Justin Gagey Max Hollow, where we can't not. Sure, we're going to talk about Alex Breyer of being the defending champion. We'll probably talk about the co-main event, though everyone's kind of going to forget about it because that's just how that goes. Yeah, I'm on Tsukin, Charles Olivera, but we're going to be talking about Kayla Harrison,

making women's ban and weight great again, and me finally removing the message above our rankings that says, burn this God for saying. making division to the ground because we will have a star that makes us care again. That's the best storyline in the undercard. Done! It's really funny because we flip-flop. That was what I normally would have went with. But we also, you've swerved us from your boy, Jalen Turner, Jed.

Have you abandoned him as well? No, no, I love Jalen Turner forever. But there's not a world in which he's stealing the show on Saturday. I love him for all time. I'll never stop believing that he can be the lightweight champion in the same way that I believe in McKinsey Duren, even though he actually still probably could pull that off. But that fight's going to be fun. Really excited to watch that fight, but it's no chance that he's the biggest storyline on a card with 12 champions, one two-time Olympic champion. He is bottom of the barrel as far as fights in this regard.

Jedd, who has the most to lose on the prethums? Uh, looking at it right now. I mean, the answer has to be Cody Garbrand, right? Like, I mean, I guess you could make some other arguments, but I think all of them are fine, whereas Cody, Cody has been living on borrowed time, right? Like, he lost like five in a row or some, like five of six because Hafeeld, uh, Sunsau was in there. And then this is a smoke and mirrors run from him, right? Like the Trevin Jones fight was miserable and also really bad for him. And then God love Brian Kelloggler. Fun dude, Taylor made

matchup for Cody Garbrandt. He goes in there, he fights Viggy. He gets left hooked into oblivion again because that's just how he loses. It's over. Like the Cody Garbrant Renaissance, the Cody Garbrant's going to get it back together and make a title run. We all just have to abandon that entirely. So we could say that Kayla Harrison has the most to lose because she left the PFL and the millions of dollars she made there to fight Holly Home. And if she gets 29, 28ed by Holly Home, that's going to be pretty miserable. But that's not going to happen. So she doesn't have it to lose because Mike, I already saw the future. I looked into the future. Mike, I asked the magic apeal. It confirmed it all. So Kayla Harrison has nothing to lose because the future

is already written, whereas Cody Garbrandt has brain cells and the final vestiges of hope that his career can get back to where it once was. That's a lot to lose in one fight. Fair. Drake, do you agree? You went with Cody Garbrandt for the first question. Are you going with Cody for the second one? No, I kind of think that we've seen Cody Garbrant lose always got to lose at this point.

It's interesting, though, talking about Caleb because I think I've convinced my out of what I said earlier about her being one of the bigger ones to lose. Will it will be a big loss and a lot lost if she does lose. But this is the Bannamweight division. This is the division where she loses, she goes and beats, give her anybody. If you want to set up the Misha Tate fight, you can do that. She wins.

Give her a title shot off of that. There's not a long line here. All right. So if she loses, it's not the end of the world. Again, there is that timing issue and how many times she can make Banimate. That's kind of the question for her future in long. longevity in the division, but I don't think that it will actually be the worst thing for her on the planet here. And just looking down the list of people, I really think there's a lot of different ways to kind of look at everybody to an extent.

But I'm going to throw this one at you, Mike. I think the most to lose probably out of the prelims is Bobby Green. And I'm going to say Bobby Green because of the fact that Bobby Green, top 15 guy, had this little resurgence here. People were believing in him again for the first time in a long time, not like that he'll be a champ or anything, but that he can make a run. It was a little bit Mazvedal-esque, right? We were making these comparisons to this guy who's a total veteran

while getting back on a winning streak, getting some nice finishes and looking maybe better than he's looked in a long time, maybe best run of his career. I don't know if I want to say that for Bobby Green, but for Mazvidal, that was the case, right? Similar. If he goes out there and loses Jim Miller, who Jim Miller is just kind of an anomaly, right?

he's got all the records. He's Jim Maffin-Miller. That's him. That's the gimmick is that he is Jim Miller at this point, which I hope Bruce Buffer will just, you know, sack up, say it. Announce him that way, man. Come on, we're animated. He's for sure going to do it.

So if Bobby Green loses to Jim Miller, though, loses his ranking spot, even though Jim Miller, still a guy who is a quality fighter, and he's proven that over this lengthy career that he's had, even in the, is it the twilight? I don't want to know. I don't even, can we say it's the twilight? He could fight until 400, even though he's not talking about that yet.

But if he wanted to, I think he could do it. He could also beat Brock Lesnar, I've heard. So, I mean, if Bobby Green loses to this guy, I just feel like that will take away any of the belief left in Bobby Green, especially after getting just murdered by Jalen Turner. if let's say something similar happens against Jimler, which I think that's, I mean, that is possible. We've seen Jim Miller still knock people out pretty violently recently.

If that happens to Bobby and just if he loses in general, I think that will completely kill any beliefs in him being able to make even any type of run. He'll just go back to where he was before this recent run that he was on. And I'll be like, all right, Bobby Green can be a fun guy. Or maybe his chin is just completely gone now, as we've seen from Turner. and maybe whatever happens in the Miller fight, but if he loses that one, all hope is lost for Bobby Green.

I don't think there will be any more people being like, yeah, Bobby can take out the Dan Hookers and the, not even the top guys, because no one was saying that, but even hang with kind of those top 15 guys that are already in there. Interesting. I mean, great cases, gentlemen. I mean, both of you, great cases.

Mine goes to Al Jermaine Sterling against Calvin Cater. Because, I mean, if he loses to freaking Calvin Cater, I don't know where the hell he goes. So that's going to be super interesting. There's just so many, so many good storylines. So let's move on. I don't know. It's a good question.

I was looking at him, yeah. Sure is. Yeah. Well, let's move on to round four. We're going to turn it over to you guys. Hopefully you guys came through with some fire. Point for round three goes to. I mean, it's got to be Drake.

I mean, he got out and dropped Jed three times early. That was able to make it competitive, though. He was able to make it competitive. By theft, by chicanery? He wins by theft. Got it. Hey man. This is some Chris Ryan and I poke bullshit right here.

I'm the scoundrel, dad. Did you forget? Gourge? Yeah, gouged in the eyes. T.K.O. win? What's going on? It's nonsense. This has been my corner for four years and he took it.

It was just the way he got there. It was just so good. It was just so good how he got there. He took for a, he was there, was trying to think of it. It was on the tip of his tongue. And then you saw the moment where it hit him, or it hit him. I had it that whole time.

I also got to take a real brief time out to refer to the comments again. I'm not going to say you people by name because I don't respect you. I respect Cross, right? Cross is a bad take, but it's such a unique bad take that I respect it. I see some people out here being like, Jim Miller sucks. I don't enjoy watching him. Nobody cared about him until the thing. Look, you're just trying to get a response.

We know this. You're not, you're not saying it with your chest like Cross was. Cross believes his insanity. You just want to be edgy and cool. And no one likes the edgy cool guys. Guys, like it's everyone loves Jim Miller. It's okay. So all of you out there saying it, I see you.

Stop. Hush your nonsense. Tell me you started watching MMA during UFC 297 fight week. Right. How telling me you started watching an M.A. during UFC 297 fight week. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threats.

and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Sacks Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way, whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit. Sacks is where you can find everything.

From the perfect Chloe bag for your hard-to-shop for a sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner. And if you don't know where to start, sacks.com is customized to your personal style so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season and find gifts and inspiration to suit your holiday style. At Sacks Fifth Avenue.

All right, news notes and super chats. Casey, do we have some good super chats for these fours? Brown. All right. Let's bring up a couple. News and no. There's still like 30 flights on this card that are amazing that we haven't even talked about. I know. Good thing we have preview shows and all sorts of coverage

throughout the week. It's going to be incredible. You're making the trip, right? Mike, I've heard through the grapevine. I will be there Friday because we're doing the watch party in Vegas Saturday. We will watch the entire card. So

stay tuned. It's going to be a great time. We'll begin with Super Dave. Jed, you get to go first here. Will Cody Brundt shock the world? And what's next after he sleeps, Bo Nickel? Not the Cody I wanted to talk about. Not the Cody I want to talk about. Just not ideal.

That's Cody on the card? What if he does? No, if he does, that would be deeply funny. Like, I got to tell you, it would tickle me greatly. Because middleweight's doing fine right now. It doesn't need Bo Nicol. I think this won't even happen at all.

But it would just be quite funny to be like, hey, you're the guy. You're the only dude on this card that no one cares about. And Bo Nicol, you're the only dude on this card who's not like a deeply established veteran with a built-in fan base and storylines. This is clearly a spot to get you the bump. And then you Sage North cut it. And like, even if you just barely win, it would be pretty far. funny, but it would be super funny if Cody wins.

He's just not going to do that. He's not going to shock the world. Cody Brunges is a fine fistfighter and a very good one. If he's fighting you or me or Cross, I'm sure, would be a terrific opponent for him. But against Bo Nichol, he's not, because Bo Nichols is real, real good despite not really being much of a fist fighter at this point. This should just be Bo doing continuing the ascent up the line. ladder. This is the big fight on the big stage that gets him to, all right, now we can look at

main eventing Apex card against a top 15 middleweight and doing that portion of the run with him. This is the leapfrog step, the jumping off platform for it. And it should go very well. If Cody Brunage pulls it off, I genuinely don't know where they would go with him. Like, what do you do with Cody Brunge if he beats Sponecker? Because it's not like he's going to beat other top middleweights. It's more a reflection on where Bo Nickel is as a fighter and a prospect than it is on Cody Brundage as some up-and-comer. So no idea what happened if he does spark him. But fortunately, we don't have to live in that world because it's super not going to happen. If you guys, if you ever want to watch some fun fights, go watch Cody Brunage's lights out fights.

Those are freaking fun as hell. They're battles, like bloody all-out wars with like the Michigan regional legends who have just been getting after. Yeah, he really has. Like he's been super fun to watch. Not a bad fighter, fun guy. Fun guy, just the thing he ostensibly does best is wrestling. Let me know how that's going to go against Bo. I bet it's going to go terrific.

Drake, will Cody Brund to shock the world this weekend? Can you make a case for it? No, not really. I mean, his best case, I think, is very clearly to catch a submission against Bo. And the likelihood of that one happening is I feel like only by something weird, a guillotine or some kind of choke. But I just, just from going off of, you know, the level of performances. And again, you know, we're at a point with Bo Nicol where we're looking at level of competition and whatnot. but the way he's performing against the competition

is the thing that just has set him apart very clearly. Guys a natural athlete, guys, an incredible wrestler. I don't think this is the one where he gets got or put into a position of struggle. Really, I think we're working our way up to that. But I will say, I have the answer to what happens next after either of these guys win.

There is one gentleman waiting for the winner of this fight. what were you going to say? I was going to say what happened next. Dana walks him to the behind the T-Mobile and shoots him in the leg. Cody wins, yeah,

shoots him for sure. But no, you guys, I mean, this could not be perfect, more of a setup after what we saw a couple weeks ago with this guy who's breaking some records of his own. He's kind of the perfect gatekeeper.

He's done it before. This is GM3's fight, baby. Whoever wins this one, We're getting the big time GM3 match up there. He did it with Hamzaad, did the work, did his job. That's the test. He is correct. He's been listening to on to the next one.

If GM3 fights Cody Brundage. If GM3 fights Cody Brumdage, he's not beating Bo. I don't. But like, if that's what happened, just what are we even doing? Just fire him. Straight up, if Cody Brum just beats Bo, bow, fire him. Pull of Leslie Smith. He's got him.

He's got him. We didn't want that. We did not. Send a message. Next question. That's unbelievable. Ryan, Drake will begin with you. If Max or Gaghi were to go on to challenge for a title,

would their next fight be for both belts, or do we keep the BMF for more feature fights? Yeah, I think he kind of answers his own question there. They wouldn't do the both belts thing, I don't think, unless for some reason, the Max Gagy winner wanted to, But again, like I go back to Mazvedal versus Usman and like they promoted that Usman. What that excuse me, Mazvidal was the BMF champion.

But it was like not it wasn't super in your face about it. And there wasn't, you know, because why should it be really? You know, it doesn't technically mean anything aside from you being a guy who, you know, generally puts on fun fights and you. Disagree. Made a title for you. What is what does the welterweight belt mean? Doesn't technically mean anything. Doesn't mean you're the best world at that division.

No, it doesn't? There are a bunch of times where the best fighter of the world has not held the belt. Well, shit, for a long time, Jamal Hill was the light heavyweight champion. And he objectively was not the best light heavyweight in the world because they just took the title off the dude who was the true one. Like, it doesn't, it means that, here's what it means. It means you get a bunch of extra money. It means you get cut of the pay-per-view. True.

You get paid a lot more. And that holds true if you're a BMF or not. so firmly disagree. Fair point. But then going off of that, then there's no point for it to be for both. And I don't know why the person who is holding that BMF title would want that and potentially lose out on having this kind of, you know, key in their back pocket or whatever to staying wealthy, having these big fights and putting on more marquey events,

your five rounders and whatnot. And it would still make sense, considering what the BMF is, like it does not at all need to be involved with being on the line against the undisputed champion. So again, I don't know why they would want it to with these kind of back, you know, kind of backstage behind the door type of things that are involved with being a champion. So yeah, I think it would be kept separate. I feel like they'd promote it more just because of the fact that, well, I guess let's say if Gathe wins, then it'd be the defending BMF champion, which is a new fun thing to say,

potentially, but I know, I'd be pretty surprised if there's no point to do both on the line unless they really wanted that for whatever reason, the fighters. They just for sure aren't going to do it. We know this because we saw them do

this with Hoare Moussela and Omar Uisman. Similar situation, honestly. Usman was the top pound fight in the sport, just like is the Makachev, not a dude that you would generally associate with whatever the ideas we think of the BMF are. And so it wasn't there. I'm super pro

BMF titles. Like Mike, we talked about this a bunch on various programs. I think they should have more belts. I think you should make belts for all sorts of shit just because it'd be cool and fun and interesting and it'd be a way to make other fights be more compelling to more casual viewers. And just

to give fighters, honestly, more flowers. Like to have, not everyone gets to be the best fighter in the fucking world, you know, like it's really, really hard. But there are guys like Jim Miller who deserve to have worn a belt of. some kind, whatever that belt is. You can have different steps for it.

So they didn't, and I'd be super down from, like, if Gaichi wins, he gets stripped to the BMF belt because he is the wins this fight and then beats his, um, okay, he's just the lightweight champion. He's not the BMF champion anymore. The BMF belt is now up for grabs. Max can now fight Dustin Porier a third time for it or however you want to do it. But having more belts in play to honor more people, more fighters is a net positive. in my opinion.

So it's great, like, holistically, super, super supportive of it. But we know for a fact, they're just not going to have Gaichi versus Islamakchev B for the BMF belt. Because then at that point, what is, you've unified them and it doesn't mean anything anymore. Well, let's continue. Let's get the next one. And it's on the way, WWE has unified belts many times and then still somehow separated them many more times. So it can be done, Jed.

Oh, yes. I'm not saying it can't be done. But also, I watched WrestleMania. Well, not all of it. I won't lie to you guys. I did watch the main event on Saturday and the main event on Sunday because it was all over the timeline. I was like, I have Bacock. Why not?

Sure. And I was struck by something immediately, which was, holy shit, this is cool. I don't care about professional wrestling. It's not, it just doesn't hit me in the same way. It can be fun. Well, mostly I was just like, look at the fucking spectacle of what they are doing. This is the, this is WrestleMania. They do this every year.

and it is the marquee big event. And look at what they are doing for it. UFC 300 comes around once every five years or whatever the timeline is. And we're not going to have anything near what happened this past weekend for UFC 300. The UFC could do a lot of things, Mike. They now are in the building with the WWE. They could blow it out and have big firework display entrances for all their fighters on Saturday in this once in a lifetime, once in a generation.

event and they don't so i just don't think they're going to do they could unite the belts and then divide them but they don't do any of the cool shit w w e's doing so they took their predatory business practices but they didn't take any of the fun and excitement that wb has uh so i don't think that's going to happen fair enough uh lazy bed with the final question max versus justin despite the potential fireworks, does one of these two having to lose and the damage they'll take make this more bitter than sweet? Jed, you go first. No. No. I don't know. It's the, it's the fight's going to rock. Some dude loses in fights. They also don't. Draws are an option. Just saying that is a possibility, which should be deeply funny. But no, like, if you are emotionally attached to one or the other fighter,

or even if both, then sure, maybe you have some twinge of sadness. And like, like I said, way back, I want Justin Gae to win because I feel like he deserves a shot at his Lamachev, and if you lose, he's never going to get that. But I don't, it doesn't matter. It pales in comparison to the joy we will all experience as fight fans. This is going to be the fight of the year. I said, we recorded no best ball before this, and I said on it,

if you let, if you put out an odd somewhere, and I could in the dark bet on in fight of the year. I would bet this to be fight of the year without it even happening at minus 200. Like if you gave me like, yeah, I'll give you 200 bucks to win 100 bucks in January because it's just going. There's no way these two dudes combined to not deliver everything we've ever wanted in a fist fight. The fight I most want to see in all of MMA is Justin Gasey versus Connor McGregor. I've said that for years. I stand by that.

This is like right below. that in the pantheon of undeniable bangers. Because Max Holloway is incredibly tough. Justin Gage is incredibly tough. The way they fight, they both never take backward steps. It's just going to be anarchy, probably for 25 minutes, maybe for a little bit less, but certainly for at least 15,

like no one's going to get an early finish here. They're just going to rip chunks out of each other forever. And like, looking back on it, maybe I am, maybe there's some twinge of sadness that Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit were literally never the same after they fought each other. I can say that maybe that's true. I don't give a shit because I literally ascended to Nirvana watching those two men fist fight once upon a time to a point where I still look back and think on that fight because

of how good it was. That's what we're getting Saturday. I would be shocked if we don't get something approximating this. The bar for that fight is Lawler Condit, the good. greatest fight of all time. And like this is one of the very few fights that could clear it. I don't think it will because I will never think anything will clear it until I see it. But that's what's at stake.

That's worth it. It is absolutely worth it even if one of these dudes has to lose and maybe that hurts, you know, Justin Gagy's story or whatever. Worth it. Worth it 10 times out of 10. Follow that, Drake. I'm just kind of caught up on did, did Jedsay, what was it, Gaetchi versus Connor is his most anticipated a fight of all time.

Is that what I heard? The fight I've wanted for years, for years. Oh, geez. Jed Michoud Cashew or Jed Kassu. This guy's nuts, Mike. My God. I mean, I win the point because that was awful. It was the worst.

Come on, man. That was fantastic. How do you? I love that so much. How am I nuts? Gachie McGregor is of insane fight. How? You don't think Gathe would roll him over?

At this point, at this junks right now, Connor, are you mean like crime versus crime? I would have always picked Gagher to win that fight. But Gage is going to come out and chop Connor's legs and he's going to get hit by every left hand because he gets hit by every left hand

because he forgets that he's allowed to jab until like the third round of fights. And so he will get hit by Connor's best punch and Connor will get hit by his best weapon over and over again until Connor eventually crumbles because he ain't built like that. But that fight will be insane. The buildup will be insane. Connor on the mic will be insane.

Gachy is the second coming of Robbie Lawler and we'll get to say some like cold-blooded, I'm going to take his soul shit to Connor. That fight has been my number one and will remain my number one until it happens. I think I'm just fascinated by after us agreeing that Gachie's probably the most exciting fighter of all time. And then mentioning Robbie that you would want Connor included even around them. That's kind of a... You understand that Connor McGregor is a top five most exciting fighter of all time, right? I mean, outside of his, outside of your, anybody's personal thoughts on him,

every time the dude had like nine bonuses and seven fights like Gaichi did, because every time he fights, it's not fire the nights, though. No, because a lot of times he's killing dudes. Like when Gaichi gets chaos, then I didn't get fire the night. It's the same. like there's that but like connor mcgregor's only boring fight is max holloway when he blew out his knee like that's whatever your thoughts on i'm thinking more in terms of a top 10 exciting fighter of all time yeah no yeah yeah i just mean in terms of yeah competitive i just don't see that especially at the stage the list of exciting fighters is like eight lightweights and then two other and robbie lauder it's hang out it's all yeah it's just like it's it's in max and connor

and Gaichi and Charles and Dustin. She's just a bunch of sick lightweights. And then like, oh, Robbie Lawler was also incredibly exciting. It was pretty cool. But to get back on track anyway, Mike, no. These guys know what they signed up for. I mean, obviously, they like each other. They don't want to go in there and hurt each other.

But no, it's not going to be more bitter than sweet. I think that's kind of a ridiculous thing for the most part to talk about when we're talking about fighting. Yes, of course, you don't want to. want to see people get seriously, deeply injured for a long, long time or permanently or anything like that. Maybe depending on who you are and what you like to see. But again, they know what they sign up for.

I don't think there's any bitterness about it. It is all as sweet as it could possibly be. Again, this is a fantasy fight. One of those fights that especially when Justin Gachie came over immediately, even probably right before when he came from WSOF, people were already fantasy booking and thinking about the potential fights that he could have in the UFC. Chandler was one of them. We got lucky to have that.

We've gotten a lot of them. Actually, we've gotten pretty lucky and spoiled with these fights that we knew this human car crash could have with other humans. Max Holloway is one that didn't really come into mind until I think a couple of fights in when Gagie was around for me anyways. I was like, well, I guess that could make sense if Holloway was to eventually leave featherweight. Didn't think about it as much as the others. but once it came into mind, it was like, we need that.

And we're getting that on UFC 300, and it could not be a more perfect spot for it. BMF title, sure, five rounds. That's the most important thing. It's as sweet as it could possibly be. Throw out everything else. This is what matchups. These are the matchups we live for.

No bitterness. Perhaps some bitterness from Chad. Shout out to whoever was in the comments who noted that cashews are not nuts. so So. Really? I played myself.

All right. Well, I believe there's seeds, but I didn't know that until someone mentioned. Technically a plant. Thank you for all the super chats. The point for round number four goes to. I had that one stored up for a while.

It was a good one. Cut it out. Quit it. Jedbishu, two to two. Nice to done. There's all. awful. Drake turning into Joey Gladstone here.

Good enough. Appreciate it. All right. So we're going to go to the knock our round. This doesn't happen on the show very often. One question will decide at all. I wasn't really sure where to go with this, but I know what to do now. And I think it's going to be super fun.

Each will have one minute to answer said question. And then you guys can vote for the winner. There may or may not have been a poll up there already. I'm not really sure. But Jed, what are we going to do? Do you want to go first? Do you want to pass it on over to Drake? I just feel like it's better to go first for something like this.

Because you can't pull something totally out. And I can speak on anything about 300. If you go off the 300 board, I might regret this. But I'll take first. I just, someone just DM this and was like, could you talk about this on heck of a morning? And I'm just going to go ahead and just talk about it right here. We have a whole bunch of shit going up this week,

getting ready for UFC 300, including on Thursday, there's going to be a press conference in Las Vegas. and it's all 26 fighters on the card will be taking part in the press conference, Jed. So my question to you in 60 seconds or less, when the press conference is all said and done, which fighter will we be talking about the most? Who will be the star of the UFC 300 press conference?

Who will steal the show? Who will have the viral moment? Who will have the MMA fighting clip of the presser? Which fighter? One minute on the clock. Go. A lot of good. choices, right? Because it's not like

other fight cards where Sean O'Malley's at the top and pretty clearly he's going to get 90% of the questions. You can get a good mix here. I fuck it, I'll take the charge. It's going to be Jamal Hill. Jamal Hill has been in his feelings, basically permanently, since

a very interesting path for him to take where he willingly vacates the title, a la Yiri Perashka, and then spends the rest of it functionally just complaining that people don't respect him and that Alex Pereira is a fake champion when like what did you think was going to happen when you vacated the belt bro somebody else is going to win the belt you also by the way got the belt under similar circumstances and you didn't hear yere pop it off

and be like fake champion this is garbage uh he going to be in his fields and he's going to let people know he's going to get mic time he's going to get questions and he's going to say a bunch of stuff maybe it's nonsense maybe it's not but it's going to get the people going it's going to draw headlines it's going to continue to generate interest in this main event. I'm going with Jamal Hill. Jed is saying Jamal Hill will be the one to get the people going. Drake, same question. Is it Jamal Hill or is it any of the other fighters participating on the car?

There'll be 26 fighters. We'll be one of the other 25. One minute on the clock. Go. I'm so happy that Jed went with Jamal Hill there because I think he's definitely going to be maybe he might be the moment. It might not be the best moment of the press conference. He will have some. But there is an answer here that I'm really surprised that Jed didn't go with.

And I think it is the guy, our boy, in the kickoff fight here. Cody Garbrandt is going to steal the show. Not for anything he can do on the microphone. It will be very cringy. It will be the same old Cody Garberant we always see. But you got to remember what happens with Cody Garbrand at press conference is he tries to fight someone. He's not lined up to fight. This happens almost all the time.

UFC 300. history's going to repeat itself. He's probably going to start fighting and beefing with Jamal Hill because these two guys are both volatile, when around other people who say anything critical of each other, it lines up too perfectly. These guys are going to have some sort of beef. Cody can't help himself.

But if it's not him, it's also going to be some love for Diego Lopez at the end because everyone just loves the guy. But Cody Garbride is going to steal a show for all the wrong reasons and fighting people he's not lined up to fight. When I first was off the board, was not even close to a choice, I would have made. Am I wrong? Do you like the choice though, Jen? No, I thought I thought I was giving you a layup with Bobby Green because Bobby Green is a man who's going to say some funny shit. They'll probably

fight each other too. And I'm the saying, I think Bobby Green has a way better chance to try to fight Cody Carbone than Jamal Hill does. Whoever's closest to the other yeah. Max Holloway usually turns things up at the pressers. That's true. And they're kind of Well, he's like unexpected. Yeah. Max is for sure and a half some moments. I don't know if Max would be the most popular fighter on the stage, but he's going to be one of like the top three. And he always comes up with some good stuff during those pressers.

I think Max is definitely the most popular fighter on the stage. Yeah. I'm really interested to see how this all plays out. Those presses are always interesting to see. I don't think they'll do everybody all at once, honestly. That's really hope they don't. It's too much. Break it up.

30. Yeah, 30 minutes for the early. 10 minutes apiece. 10 minutes a piece. Yep. In and out. We don't need a two-hour press conference. That's for sure. All right.

Get your votes in. Who wins? This is Jed Mishu. Is it Drake Riggs? Who is the morning report goat champion of the world here at M.A.fiting.com. We get so much going on this week, Judge. Yeah. There's so much happening.

Also, I thought. And Cater. No. I love that like so much. They're also good. I thought of this midway through the episode, and I just want to stake my claim here early. When Jim Miller does win,

I'm going to get on our post show, Mike, and I'm going to say, F it, we ball Jim Miller for the actual next lightweight title shot. I'm going to stand by it because he will be a ranked lightweight if he beats Bobby Green, and screw it. Let's give him one of those. We gave Dan Henderson a title shot for being Hector Lumpard once upon a time,

just so we could all feel good about it. Let's do that with Jim Miller when he beats Bobby Green. I will start the Jim Miller campaign for a lightweight title fight. I just want to throw that out there early. Someone proposed that if Jim Miller beats Bobby Green, or I'm sorry, Jed, when Jim Miller beats Bobby Green. Correct. If Armand Sarucan beats Charles Olivera, we do Jim Miller versus Charles Oliver three.

Oh, yes. They should have done it now. I still think they should have done Dustin Porre, but that was prior to Porre getting booked against BSD. I wouldn't hate that except for the part where he doesn't get a lightweight title fight, which is the part I wouldn't like. But that would be fine. If you want to do Charlie Charles Ellis, why not?

Sure. Hey, we can create a belt. You said we need to create more belts. You know, it deserves a belt of some kind, right? Like, I'm not crazy for thinking that. Just, yeah. I don't know, the old dude belt, whatever the belt, just hanging around belts.

He's just sticking to it. Unfortunately, we're not going to get, we're not going to get Jim fucking Miller from Bruce Buffer because of the I don't believe I think we're going to get it. I don't think we're going to. I think we're going to get it. I think we're going to get it. I think they're airing it on ABC too.

You can't do it. You just can't. I, you could throw fucking bleeps on ABC. It's fine. I think we're going to get it and it's just not going to be what we want it to be because of the way Bruce Buffers's cadences, it will just come off weirder. Because it won't be like, that's Jim fucking Miller.

It'll be like, Jim, fucking. Miller. So that comes off like worse. It comes off like an act and not a nickname. So, but you got to do it. Like, I don't care if you're on ABC.

I don't care if Dana White looks you in the eyes and says, don't you fucking do this, Bruce. It's one time, man, is you go fire you? They go fire you? Do it. Be a hero. If they fired him for that after everything they've said about free speech.

Oh, man. If they fired you, absolutely correct point, Mike. And two, if they did, you would become. the most beloved figure in the sport. Fans would rush in droves to buy whatever it is you're selling. I think you got like a whiskey or a scotch or something out.

They would buy it. I'd buy one. But like, hell yeah. Why not? Shouts to Bruce Buffer, take him up for the team. It doesn't seem like it's going to happen, but John Annex did everything in his power to call him Jim fucking Miller

anytime he has a live microphone in front of him. It's fine if it doesn't because. As long as he does it in the light. title fight between Jim Miller and Islamakov, then I can accept it. That's a guarantee that's a must have, yeah. It's so weird. We're having the most violent government-sanctioned sport in the world on national

on TV, but you can't say the F word. It's one time, baby. Pay the fine. Pay the FCC fun. Yeah, it's not even a big fine. Just negotiate. Negotiate it.

Be like, Joe, we'll give you a fine in. Add the fine into the, the pittance you're paying and the antitrust lawsuit and write off for taxes. It's fine. Just do it. Love it. Casey is here, which means we must have a winner. Oh, yeah. His reactions every time. I just love people who like, can't do it. ABC said no. What are they going to do in real time? The only person who gets to dictate whether this does or doesn't happen is Bruce Buffer. He's got the live mic. You can be the hero, Bruce, do it. 300. Come on.

This should have been the final question. And the title fight. Yeah. Really should have been the problem. You're right. You're right. Your winner today with a dominant 70% of the votes

is Jed Kashu. I was feeling good. Is this your first win over Drake? It honestly probably is. I was ready to go though

We were talking about beforehand I just filmed No Bet's Bar before this We just recorded it I had all this energy I've got I've got the Georgia hat Natty champs baby right there I was ready to rock I will use my time wisely

Because I've said Basically everything I want to say guys We got it all out there Sure I could I can give you other thoughts This is the only thought that matters We don't get these We just don't Connor and I were talking about earlier today

at the end of No Betz Bart episodes, a lot of times we are exhausted because we do 42, 45 of them a year. And it's just like, okay, we just slog through a bunch of Apex card, like whatever. We were so hype because this does not happen. You don't have a fight card this good, this, this is worthy of your time and attention and your money. And so I implore all of you to really enjoy this because two weeks from now, we're going back to Apex Slop.

Like, there's going to be a lot of garbage, but weekends like this, they are unimpeachable. There's a reason everyone's so excited. We had so much fun today. Enjoy it, kids, because it's going to be awesome. And go to namafeight.com. It's a great website. I have a piece that dropped at noon today called This Is Sparta. It is looking at U.S.C. 300 through the lens of the film 300 because my job is fucking better than yours.

And I get to do cool shit like that. So go read it. Love y'all. Yes. Drake, any final thoughts? Anything you want to add to that? Just glad to be back. Always a good time on BTL with you guys. And yes, very, very excited for UFC 300. You guys should certainly enjoy it. I'm speaking to the fans, the crowd, everybody, of course, because I will tell you personally, like, I enjoyed, I don't even watch wrestling anymore.

I follow along with it, which is weird, I know, but I watched WrestleMania this past weekend for sitting down, start to finish. And I felt more enjoyment doing that than watching some of these apex cards. So to have something real energy and a crowd and a big show, we should not take it for granted, especially in these times where it is insanely easy to do so. So I am pumped. It's going to be such a great event. And I'm glad that you guys had me on for the 300 week for BTL. So thank you for that.

Mike and Jed. And yeah, you can just follow me you guys at Drakeers underscore Twitter, Instagram, and all my non-morning. reports at MMA mania. But of course, the morning report, too. Great website. I think we might be doing a Tuesday show next week, breaking news,

just because we're supposed to be off all next week, but I can't miss the 300 recap episode. It might get like a whole bunch of staff members on and just like get after it, but we'll figure it all out. In the meantime, what these two guys said is correct. Hit the music, basically.

What they said is correct. Shouts the cable, McLaren. Still coming for this smoke. Oh, boy. On Twitter? Campbell hit me because I posted yesterday. That idiot who runs karate compound is like, I don't drink water. Water's the devil.

I was like, oh, you're just objectively the dumbest personal hive. Campbell's like, no, he shows that he knows things that you don't. All right, Campbell. Sure, man. I don't know. Drink water, kids. I, Mike. Drink water, kids.

It's not that hard. God, I'm glad we stopped the iconic exit music for a kid. Yeah. Awful tweet. Jesus Christ, you wonder why people don't need to go there. Anyways, don't take, don't take this for granted, everybody. Like these two guys, said, 300 rules. Guys, and guess what?

Shout out to PFL. They're doing the thing this week. They're stepping, trying to step on some toes. They're doing it in Vegas the day before 300. So shout out to PFL for, uh, for doing. fun thing and enjoy us the rest of the week. So much 300 content coming to much more for Drake, for Jed. I am Mike Hack.

Good night, everybody. Love you all! This has been Between the Links, an M.A Fighting Production on the Vox Media Network. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From Deaf and Power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal,

Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. Support for this show comes from Chase.

If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action. And your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to pre-sales, preferred seating, and more savings. For more information about how to step into a world of more with Chase Experiences, visit Chase.com slash experiences. Benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders, deposit in credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. member FDIC.

Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply.