MMA Fighting - BTL | Jones vs. Aspinall Officially GONE? Is UFC 316 Good? Merab-O'Malley 2, Barber's Late Scratch

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

It's been a wild week in the world of MMA, and it began this past weekend prior to the scheduled UFC Vegas 107 main event between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber, when the latter was forced to withdraw at the last minute due to a health emergency — and that was the beginning of the road to UFC 316 fight week. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to the fallout of this past Saturday's headliner getting scratched, both fighters' comments since, and if it could be a massive fight for the UFC in the future. Additionally, they'll discuss Tom Aspinall publicly saying he's the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion and wishing Jon Jones the best in his "retirement," if the fight is officially off of life support and gone altogether, UFC 316 as a whole, if the card is good, Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley 2, Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison and the rivalry growing by the day, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and multi-promotional commentator Ben "The Bane" Davis. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben Davis: @BenTheBaneDavis Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From MMA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. Yes, we are BTLing again on another Thursday. This time, a little later in the afternoon. And, man, it's been a pretty crazy week in the world of MMA. Who knew that UFC Vegas 107 would create such long-lasting storylines?

But not only that, Tommy Aspinall is out here saying stuff. UFC 316 is two days away. A lot to unpack with that one. Lots to discuss. And we have ourselves a good old-fashioned BTL bout this week. And contrary to my horrific editorial skills, I will not be hosting and playing the game at the same time. So it's been updated, as you'll see right now. But let us introduce the combatants.

First, he's Mr. No Gray area. He's the hot take kid, the co-host of the watch parties, Mr. No Bet's barred, the climber of all climbers, the freaking Edmund Hillary of the MMA space from MMAFighting.com, Mr. Jedmishu. Hello, sir. Now that's a good one. I need you to add another one because people are starting to listen to me now, Mike.

I am the chief consultant for all people. I was wearing my PFO shirt earlier today and tended to wear it on this fine program and then lunch got in the way and decided not to wear a stained shirt here. Tom Asperol, I hear doing a thing I told him to do literal months ago. Everybody's just doing what I say now

and the sports better off for it. Happy to be here. And his opponent and joining us for the first time in an official capacity, he did do a run-in once on the program, but now he is here to compete. This guy is everywhere calling fights and just getting after it. And also pissing some people off on social media.

Any chance he gets, he's the one, the only Ben the Bain Davis. Ben, how are you, buddy? Hurting people's feelings with the pipes. Good God. I'm fantastic. Dogs loose, baby. I'm in the yard. I want a bone and I know Jed's got one for me.

I don't stand a chance. Look at the pipes. What are those like 12-inch pythons over there? just just monster. Testosterone replacement therapy. All from Joddy Bones, baby. We're ready to rumble. Yes, he's teaming up with

Alexander Shobli. Sorry, Casey. Too soon. Let's Casey will Shobli be dropped in the rankings? Yeah, great question. Do you like him more now because he is he's cheating, which means he's trying? Hey, hey.

Let's focus on, let's focus in between the things. All right, but this is not a rankings podcast. I can't wait for that. You're all going to talk about women's abandon weight on this show, so it's kind of a rankings podcast, Casey. Right. Oh my gosh. All right, well, let's get into it because let's start with what happened at UFC Vegas 107.

And I was stunned that we would even be talking about this card in the fallout because we've had some time to digest it. Because, let's be honest, UFC Vegas 107 was bad, no bones about it. Were there some solid performances? Yes, was there a barn burner or two? Certainly, was it the worst card on paper this year

or an execution? No, but nobody really remembers anything about it outside of the fight and the main event that didn't happen between Aaron Blanchfield and Macy Barbara. And Ben, we're watching on Saturday. We get the promo video right before the fight's about to start. Then we go to the desk.

And Brennan Fitzgerald's like, uh, we got to go to commercial break right now because Bacy Barber's supposed to walk out. And now she's not. And they come back from commercial break. The fight is canceled. It is off at the last minute. So whether you're watching or not, Ben, I'm sure you were seeing it on social media.

What was your reaction to this on Saturday night? This is not the first time this has happened in UFC history where a fight is canceled at the last second. But considering the heat here and things that were, said and everything that happened, how did you react to it? To your point, UFC 175, Mitreau, and it's true, had kind of a similar fallout, right? But main event falling apart of the last minute,

that's certainly unprecedented. I'd say positive. Let's aim for the positives here. Neither fighter's winning streak is compromised, just so both Barbara and Plainsfield keep that intact. And, guys, we got a Ludwig Klein main event. Who can complain the Kleinscher, getting his own main event on an incredibly short notice?

No, I mean, I would say the biggest positive here is that we can still talk about. What was a very, I would say, dead in the water main event that didn't really have many fans riled up. But like you mentioned, Mike, we're here, still chik-chat about it. And the fight didn't even happen. So, you know, I guess that that's a positive in some way, shape, or form. But yeah, what a bummer. Glad that Macy is up doing interviews and not compromised in the hospital. But, geez, Louise, would have been nice to have that top five match out.

Jed, you got an early Christmas present from Alexandria and Kaylee because you had the night off on Saturday, which I know you were incredibly thanks. It was great. But you obviously, you knew what was going on. You were on MAAfighting.com. Great website, following along. You were on the Slack channels.

I'm sure you were following social media as this is all transpired. What was your reaction on Saturday when you found out this fight wasn't happening, even though you probably wouldn't have watched it anyways. My action, honestly, was I'm a genius because many weeks every year at this point, I'm like, hey, guys, don't watch. You don't need to. If you got nothing else to do, watch,

but otherwise, go to www.com, we'll let you know the important things and you can save hours of your life and do something else and still kind of be in the know. And that's exactly what I did. I only watched one fight, and I didn't watch that whole fight on Saturday. I watched half of the,

of Matush Gamrot Ludovic Klein, the main event, I suppose, actually, because that was my climb for the week, was the over one and a half. And as soon as we hit that, I was like, well, this sure is a Matush Gamrott fight, so I'm going to move on with my time and go back to watching Mission and Popkin movies. And then I, you know, I peaked in. I was like, oh, let's go to MepaFighty.com. Let's see what's, let's see if maybe if the fight's about to be on, I'll watch at least a little bit of the Blanchold Barber.

And then it was like, oh, guess I won't be doing that. I'm moving on with my day. It was great to not be living in this moment, frankly. And that is my big takeaway is that. And then like this sucks because there's just nothing good happened here, right? They didn't fight. We didn't get resolution. Aaron Blanchfield justifiably like pretty upset, even if I don't love the thing she said, right?

Like, no, she had some personal issue with Macy Barbara beforehand. And so then to have sort of an animosity that doesn't get resolved and through no fault of your own for it to not get resolved, I can see you being, you know, angry. But at the same time, not really sure her comments are valid, right? Her life is a mess. She needs to get in an order. Yes, she missed weight and that is absolutely unprofessional, but like still a little bit opaque as to what actually happened. Like that was the the barber statement was so weird where it still wasn't even clear. She's like it was they said it was kind of like a seizure.

It's like, well, I don't know. People were back there. Just tell us what happened. Like what was the physical amendment? And we still have that. So it's it seems like this was, you know, some sort of a genuine serious medical issue. And so Aaron Blanchold's comments are a little in poor taste to some extent. But you can also understand where she's coming from.

and it just kind of sucks because this fight made sense it was a good fight we're not getting it and now I don't know what we're getting with macy barbara's career her health obviously comes first blanchefield up in the air women's 125 just a whole bunch of well that that that sure was a thing that happened moving on to uc 316 ben back to you because jed kind of laid out the follow-up here because erin blanchville is pretty pissed off she was pissed off she was pissed she couldn't fight She was pissed Macy Barbara missed weight. She had a lot to say in the aftermath. And Ben, some people say, look, all's fair in the fight game and fight promotion and fight fallout.

And some say, look, yes, Macy missed weight, but this was out of her control, the health issues. Let's not pour salt in the wound. What do you think? What side are you on with this? I think especially considering that Aaron Blanchfield not only got the show, not only got the win, but then also got 20% of Barber's purse. I mean, it was financially a great night for cold-blooded Blanchefield. At the end of the...

Oh, boom. Wow. Oh, he's back. He's so back. I was about to do my best Bain impression right there. I was going to put on the announcer voice and just go. Oh, no! Oh, I might still get the opportunity.

Get your hat. It was financially. Oh, he's back again. You have to do some push-ups, Jed. All right, he's so back. Sometimes you get a phone call. No, I think that we have seen milder reactions to more severe trash talk from fighters. I think that there's been some more explosive, extreme things that people have said

that hasn't drawn the backlash to Blanchfield's comments, right? So at the end of the day, yeah, all of them war, it's a fight, and this is the second time now that Barbara has pulled out against Blanchfield. So I get Aaron's frustration. I personally am not going to condone the language and be like, yeah, let's totally, kick her while she's down. But listen, Aaron's entitled to say and do whatever she wants in this situation. And that's how she wanted to play the cards.

Jed, on Saturday, on the post-fight show, as this all was going down, I was like, there's no way this fight happens. Even on to the next one, there's no way the UFC goes back to this well. The more I think about it, if there's one thing the UFC loves, it is a heated storyline. And I know Aaron has said she has no interest in fighting her, Jed. Macy, like you said, is waiting for answers as to where. what causes this health issue. So we don't know when she's coming back.

And while Aaron is a very good fighter, she is certainly not a star. She doesn't draw a lot of money for the UFC. And as Dana White says, you know how we feel about fighters turning down fights. If they offer Aaron Blancheville, Macy, Barber, and she says no. And then Macy goes on and fights somebody else and wins.

You know how the UFC likes to conduct their business. They do this for whatever reason. So do you think, Jed, because of all this, that the UFC does try to go back to this well to pay this off pretty quickly or do they move on or are they hopeful like maybe one of these women will win a title and then then we can book this fight.

Yeah, I think they'll go back to the well at some point but not next. Preferably, you know, with with a title on the line because there's a little bit of heat there. There's a story that can be told even though the UFC doesn't even really care about telling stories anymore. They just care about cash and then ESPN checks.

But like that is a thing that they would, would do in the future, I don't think it makes sense to do it now, especially given like barbers sew up in the air. Like, theoretically, you would want Aaron Blanchield to compete soon because I know that I think we are in agreement, Mike. I don't know if Ben's on board. I think a lot of people are of the thought that Zhang Wei Lee is going to be challenging Valentina Shepchenko next at some point this year.

That just, that fight seems to make all the sense in the world. And so given that, you probably want Blanchfield to be either, you know, could theoretically serve as a backup, though there's also the Natty Silva thing going on. And so mostly you just wanted to fight because you should just make the Natalia Silva fight. And that that's a clear cut number one contender for the winner of the January Lee, Valentina Shevchenko fight. And you're going to want her to compete. And it doesn't seem like Macy Barber is likely to compete. frankly this year like i hope that i'm wrong because it would be better for her obviously to get this settled but given the sort of peculiarity around this you can't feel confident putting macy barber

in a main event until this gets sorted and this fight does feel probably like a main event somewhere and so no you just table it aaron blanchfield fights and tell you yourself when macy barber gets healthy and we can come back to this later if the stars align ben is this uh is this a fight the ufc offers both fighters sometime this year. Again, we don't know what's happening with Macy or do they move on and hope the iron strikes and one wins a title and then we could book this as a co-main event for a pay-per-view

and stack the deck, I guess. You know, normally I would caution against when you have a great fiery matchup between two people and delaying it. We see this in boxing all the time held just last week. Look at Plant Charlo, right? Just do the fight. Don't have them fight separate people.

But I think I agree with Chad largely in this and that, you know, I just, don't have reliability on on macy barbors side and um you know this isn't the first pull out this is the second pullout in a row she hasn't competed since march 24 so i feel the way that you matchmaking is yeah either backup or silver for blanchefield and maybe barber jazz de vicious if macy is healthy enough to compete later this year and then hopefully it all comes back with some gold on the line yeah women's flyway i mean the women's divisions have had a hard time like getting any buzz right now they that's why they need to really book valentina versus jang to try to

like get a little bit of a boost here. And this fight would have moved 125 forward a little bit and unfortunately it didn't happen. So we'll see what happens with Macy Barbara. We'll see what happens with Aaron Blanchfield. We'll see what's going on with the women's flyweight division. We'll see what, let's check out the latest

in the UFC's heavyweight division ladies and gentlemen in the big fight that no one wants to get rid of. No one wants to get out of their heads. The point for round one goes to it goes to Jed because, you know,

tech difficulties. I'm a loser. I don't have people calling me during the show because I'm not popular like Ben. You know what? If there is a rematch, I'm going to sabotage you. I'm going to have your line ringing nonstop, Jed.

You're going to. I'm in. That'd be great. That's right. Well, guys. I'm used to coming from behind, so. Nice.

Okay. Well. That's a real Brian Campbell's statement. That's that's that's that's some some BC stuff right there. But gentlemen, the Tom Aspinall John Jones story has taken a twist. It's taken a turn with one half of this potential mega fight officially and publicly throwing in the towel. He has waved the white flag, at least in a public forum. Jed, we have been consistent from Jump Street.

this fight isn't going to happen. Let's move on. We've been telling people since November of 2024. Guys, forget about it. This fight is not going to happen. We've been saying it since the build to UFC 309 when John Jones was like, nah, man, we got to fight Steepay.

Nah, man, we got to fight Alex Pereira. That's the fight. Who the hell is Tom Aspinall? He hasn't deserved anything. We should all move on. Tom needs to move on. And then, ladies and gentlemen, Tom Aspinall seems to move on.

Dana White may may not have moved on, but Tom Aspinall has. He tells ESPN, I am the undisputed champion. And then he says, quote, this is from the great MAAfighting.com, transcribing the ESPN interview. I'm not looking to fight John Jones. I'm looking to fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship. That's what I want to be. I want to be the UFC undisputed heavyweight champion. I see a lot of people comparing me to Jed Bishu's favorite fighter, Michael Chandler.

He dropped your name and everything, Jed. Michael Chandler waited for a long time for Conimer Greger. I'm not waiting for one fight. I'm not trying to fight one guy. I'm trying to fight all the guys. I'm trying to be the guy at heavyweight who takes out everybody. So Jed, let me ask you, is this the end of the yellow brick road officially? Now that Tom Aspinall has found the wizard and jumped off the John Jones train,

are we on the road to the MMA community moving on after Tom Aspinall said what he has said to not only ESPN, but to TNT sports and other outlets as well? No, the Yellow Brick Road ended miles ago. We've been in the woods. We've been diving deeper into the forest trying to chase a thing that doesn't exist. The Yellow Brick Road, we haven't seen that in a year almost, Mike. This man is approaching 600 days as interim champion. This ain't no Yellow Brick Road.

This is really good business from Tom Aspinall. I think I've said it on air. I don't remember. We talk about this all the time at this. point in time. I definitely wrote an article earlier this year. I was like, here's what Tom Aspinall needs to do. Just say you're the champ. Just don't even, don't talk about John. Don't even call him out. You don't have to. You just be like, yeah, I'm the heavyweight champ looking to defend my belt because what's John going to do? There are no good answers for John Jones with Tom's new

tack. His answer is either, you're not the champ because we're going to fight. Oh, no, I have to fight you. That's only the thing I really want to do. Or it's yeah, you're the champ. You win, buddy. I retire. Like, you have put John in a box by saying with no animosity. Hey man, you've had a wonderful career.

Wish you all the best. You're going to do great in your post fighting life. I'm the champ. Want to get this division moving again. Let's get going. Like, this is the master's stroke. Probably took him a little too long to get here at this point in time, but it's fine because this is the way

to play this. It is going to force, I won, theoretically, Dana White will do a postpresser this weekend, though he skipped the last one. I conspiracy, Jed, thinks he genuinely skipped it because he didn't want to have to talk about this. At some point, Dana is going to get interviewed and be asked about this fight and the John Jones thing, and Dana's going to continue to lie or whatever, but Tom's taking the initiative. And the only response John really has now is to give him one of two good outcomes. So, well done, Tom Aspinall. Glad we got here. Very excited for the Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gan fight that everyone is going to hate and will probably not be fun. But you know what? It will be real. It will be a real fight that actually happens between two competing heavyweights

for the title of best heavyweight that competes. Ben, what say you? Because the real question here is not, were we right, were we wrong? Now Tom is on board. Because, I mean, literally, since January of last year, I've been like, Tom, this is, Tom doesn't need to attack John. Tom doesn't need to talk tracks about John. He just needs to say, I'm the real champ. I want to defend my belt because I'm the undisputed champion. It took him a long ass time, but here we are.

But now that Tom has essentially moved on, at least publicly, do you think the MMA community, the UFC fan base follows, at least until day. and white does another piece of media business. I agree with Jed in that it feels like everybody's already been moved on. I mean, this is such a dead horse that they keep trying to Frankenstein and bring back. I am personally just not interested unless there's real development, right? I know that UFC Paris was just announced for September, I believe. There it is.

It's going to be gone in Aspinall. The only person that Tom hasn't beaten in the top five, which, in my opinion, he does in great electrifying fashion. Then we can just pick things off in the right way. and there's some more life in this division, and it's not held hostage by a man who is more interested in playing around in Thailand doing God knows what than being an actual defending champion. So, yeah, this has been dead, and I've been over it. And Tom, I credit him for the pleasantry and the charm and politeness that he's approached this situation with. You know, in the Octagon, hey, John, I've got nothing against you. I just want to fight you.

I think it better than you holding the duck up front row. That's all cute. That's all great. but to Jett's point, this is the silver bullet. Back in this corner, bring out the mean streak. I'm fucking over it, you know. And I think Tom is too, finally. So, Ben, what is the zero gone fight the one to make?

Because I don't think it's going to happen on that card unless they turn it into a pay-per-view. They're certainly not going to put the heavyweight championship on the line in the main event of a fight night. I just don't see it happening. Would they put like a women's interim title fight as a main event of a fight night? Yes. Would they put the heavyweight championship of the world? world with how they look at this division and how they feel about placement of heavyweight

bouts on their cards, I just don't see it happening. But if you were the matchmaker, because it would make sense for Paris. Not only is the heavyweight championship, not only is the heavyweight championship going to be on the line for this fight night in Paris, but the waterway championship is also going to be on the line. This is going to be JDM Islam and then Gahn and Aspin on the headliner. I think that's the perfect card that you can make for Paris. and fight nine accessibility is the key right best availability best ability is availability so

that's going to be a great double header for that fight nine jad you already preface this right you said by the way you're you're smirking and i love this which means something this brilliant is about to happen i'm fully with bain here that's that's a hell of a fight night let's do that it's a terrific fight night might be the greatest fight night of all time but cyril guns win in his last fight not good he did not fight well. Dana, no one thought he won that fight. So everyone has been like, yeah, I guess you can do Tom versus Cyril,

but it's not because people want to see the fight. They just want to see Tom active in fighting. But let's say the UFC calls you up Jedmishu, and they said, all right, we're moving on from John. By the time Tom's fight happens, whenever that may be, he will be the undisputed heavyweight champion if he wins. So the undisputed heavyweight champion will be crowned when Tom Asman will fight's blank.

Jed, who are you throwing Tom Aspinall in there with? Because I don't think Sierra God is like the correct fight, but based on what this division currently looks like, maybe he is? I don't know. Like, how would you book it? This is very easy. This is a easy, like, just a layup.

There's, I've said this a bunch already. There's no reason whatsoever for Alex Pereira to fight Magerman and Goliath again. No one cares. nobody cares at all do the exact same thing you did when izzie colded you all right i'm going up to heavyweight and heavyweight's a dumpster fire we don't even need you to fight a yan bohovic screw it alksprera tom aspinall make that that is at least something that will because whatever fight you book for tom aspinall if you book zero gone you are going to be excoriated because the gulf between aspinall jones and aspinall gone is a

Mints, even if Aspinall Jones is always a fantasy. People will just be upset by that. You know how you make them not care? You just do the Alex prayer thing because it's cool and it's fun. Is he deserving? Probably not. Who gives a shit? Let's have some level of fun with this because we spent the past two years not having fun

and collectively engaging in the John Jones adoration session. Like we just do that. Be like, hey, Alex, I think he just gave a message like this week or whatever. was like healing up, going to fight soonish or whatever. Sick. Alex, we don't give a shit if you fight Magamad. Magamid probably once ex. It's the biggest fight.

Who cares? We're giving up on 205. Let Erie fight Magamette. That'll be fine for us. Why don't you fight Tom Aspinall? This is something we can promote, something people will be interested in. And hey, if you win, you're just the most incredible fighter that's ever lived. Like, who know?

Like, I won't understand how to tell your story. because I'm not sure you were ever the best guy in your weight class in any weight class, but somehow you're a three division champion, which is unparalleled. So that's it. Do that. It's very, very easy.

And, you know, for me, I don't think you have C is thinking this way. Just a little bit of an F you to John Jones. Oh, you took, you drug your feet to fight Francis and you drug your feet to fight Tom. You really wanted to fight Alex? Tom gets it.

Screw you. Tom should have called out Pereira after he'd be curious. displays. That would have been absolutely brilliant. Just steal the thunder, steal the opponent. Just call him out right now. Yeah. Just call it right now. Do it. Okay. I'd like to make my first defense against Alex Pereira. That seems fun. Let's do that.

Love it. That'd be a huge fight. The silver medalist in this conversation, at least for me, if Derek Lewis beats Talas and DeShera, just throw Derek Lewis in there. Because you know he's going to be fun. Like, he'll get got. He might do the thing and bolt ass with the big shot. but more than likely he's just going to get run over and he'll get got really good and the builds of the file will be fun.

So let's just have some fun. I am in complete agreement. I like this rules of thought on display. I don't hate any option here. I think personally I'm going to still side with the gone fight, not because it's an exciting one, right, more so than those other aforementioned, but I just love the idea of Tim Aspinel beating the fuck out of every single ranked heavyweight.

For whatever reason, him collecting every name currently listed is kind of more interesting to me than Alex getting buried at 265 and then there's nothing left for him to do ever inside the UFC or Derek getting a you know the same situation. I actually need to do anything else than you see anyway. He's 36 and been fighting for 20 years. The young man, he's a young man. And these weight classes, yes, the disrespect we're all giving to one.

I think the second longest win streak in the division, Mr. Waldo Cortez-Costa, who is fighting. this weekend. Big win over Sergey Spivak. Maybe we just do Salsa Boy versus Tommy Askenoff for the undisputed title. You think fans are going to be pumped on that instead of the John Jones Tom fight?

I mean, you know how. Some would say that Waldo Cortez is bigger. Listen, at the end of the day, the UFC would never. This might be the first time, and we have to go back and like look through, outside of it being like a featured prelim to try to sell a pay-per-view,

like a Jelton Almeida, Displades. This is maybe the first ranked heavyweight fight that has not been put in like a prime position on a UFC card in forever. Like this is two ranked dudes just I mean they're on the ESPN prelim so you can make the case like oh cool they're on the ESPN prelums more eyeballs upon them but they're just like in the middle of the pack like they're not in the featured spot they're not in the main card. I can't remember the last time ranked heavy weights were just like it's just a rando prelim fight that we're putting on a card. That's how much the UFC is putting over Waldo Cortez Acosta and won Sergei Spivak.

And perfect transition because we are heading to Nuick. We're heading to UFC 316. The point for round two goes to, well, I believe Jed had the better answer. The fan base is going to side with Ben the Bain Davis because he just booked a free double championship fight night card featuring Islam Makachev and Tom Aspinall in Paris. What an electric crowd.

Unbelievable. All tied up. All tied up. All tied up. Never happens on this show. But guys, we have UFC 316 coming up on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. Two title fights. Stakes filled main card.

But boy, there is just no buzz. For this card, Ben Davis, just, we're just crawling slowly our way into Saturday night. Media day yesterday was rough. We learned nothing to it. at all. Some just awful questions from media members who were there. I'm not trying to throw shade. I'm just telling it like it is. And to me, maybe outside of Julianna Paney and Kayla Harrison a touch, this media didn't sell one pay-per-view. Now, I like this main card. I like a couple of other fights on the prelims. But the times have certainly changed Ben Davis and what a UFC

pay-per-view was 10 years ago to what it is now. So let me ask you, Ben, in the year of our Lord 2025. Is UFC 316 good? Is this a good card? I think it depends on, you know, whether or not you're blind or not, right? If you can see, then you'll probably go, yeah, this isn't the greatest of cards, you know? It's a main event that the first fight was pretty lackluster and I would say not all that exciting, didn't have big moments.

And in my opinion, an immediate rematch for Sean doesn't show that there's going to be anything different in this second fight. So I think people are going, all right, main event's going to be a second serving of that. Home main, you've got a minus 700 favorite in Kayla Harrison, a very dislikable champion in Julianna Pena, who, I mean, if there was, if there was like any fire attached to this car, Julianna Pena would somehow be able to pour water all over it.

So I think that Harrison ushers in a great era, and people are just waiting for that belt to be around her waist, and then maybe we'll get excited. I'm personally pretty interested in patchy mix. I know that in the sludge of UFC 316, the former Bellator champion's debut has gone a little bit under the wayside. But guys, this is justice for Joseo Alto. Let's not keep this twisted.

UFC 316, I could give a shit about anything else. But if Hatchy Mix can get a big old win on Mario Battista, then I'm a happy camper. Jed, that must be music to your ears right there, being the Josealdo guy. But is this pay-per-view good, Jed? Like, do we look at this? Because we'll go on a preview show and we'll talk about it, but you're shaking your head.

This is to you, this is not a good pay-per-view. I mean, good's a relative term. So, you know, this is a good card in the concept of a lot of the cards, regardless of pay-per-view, fight night, whatever, have been not good this year, right? Like, this is obviously better than last weekend's card. You also have to pay 80 bucks for five of the fights. on this card, which is, you know, a real price. We wrote about this for our roundtable preview of 316, and I was pretty unflinching,

and there are some good and interesting fights, right? Like, I just like Josh Van. I don't think the Bruno Civil fight will be that interesting, but I do think Josh Van is very good. Two title fights, I'll get to those in a second. Patchy Mix versus the man who I've decided I just won't name forever. his name is mud forever more. So Patchy Mix is fighting a dude

and I hope he kills him. And then just like Kevin Holland, Vicente Lucke, it might be fun. That could be a fun little matchup, but the best fight on this card is probably the co-main if you're just looking at like, here's something new and different

with an interesting storyline rolled up into it because of the whole Manan Nunes thing. I also anticipate Kayla Harrison is going to kill her and that will be fun because nobody likes Julian opinion. So there's that. The main event, I've been debating how much I should be comfortable saying this, and I've decided I'm going to be all the way comfortable. I don't care from Rob Devalisvili.

He seems like a nice enough man. He's a very good fighter, and I want to be clear. I'm separating him being a good fighter from being an interesting fighter. I don't, he just is not fun to watch and has never been fun to watch for me. If you like him cool, but every time he is headlining a. event, it is going to be a bad event because he is headlining the event. And worse off, he is headlining the event in a rematch with the guy he just beat nine months ago in a not especially competitive fight. Maybe things are different. Maybe the torn labor, you know, affected and maybe

Sean O'Malley just has a better game plan this time. Like, hopefully, because if Sean O'Malley doesn't do anything different to make this fun, we are ending Saturday night on a bummer-ass fight because it's a Marath Vali fight, and he's very, very good, but I do not respect his game whatsoever, and I don't want to watch 25 minutes of a CrossFit competition. If I wanted to do that, I would watch CrossFit, which is an option, and usually doesn't come on it two in the goddamn morning. First of all, don't shame CrossFit. I'm just kidding.

So you're excited? I know. I know. And again, CrossFit is very difficult. I am not disparaging the difficulty of it. I'm disparaging my level of entertainment. And cardio wrestling is just not fun for almost anyone to watch. So 1 to 10, Jed, what's your excitement level for this car, for this fight?

Like, has it grown since the roundtable or no? For the card. For the main event. I'm a little more on it for just for the main event, like a two. Like a two. And I think Sean O'Malley has like a better chance than some people are giving him to at least make this a little bit better. but nah man like this is this is stupid this fight is stupid and shouldn't be happening which also just infuriates me and it's just not going to be a fun one more than more likely than not like have you all gone and rewatch the first one would you say you had a good time rewatching it no because it's not fun because it's marab fighting and he is not fun to watch and the overwhelmingly more likely thing is marab being marab for 25 minutes at 1.30 in the morning wait a minute though maraub umar was fun as hell that was a fun fight it was very fun marab umar was

was competitive intense it's still not like a fun to go rewatch but it was competitive intense really and like yeah like it was again rob does the core my core issue morab has never once in his career tried to hurt somebody it's not what he does he accidentally knocked out marlin marius in the middle of his seven fight get knocked out streak. Like he doesn't, if you are not going in to attempt to do harm to another person, you can still be a great fighter, which he obviously is. But you are not an interesting one. And he is not going to try and hurt Sean O'Malley.

He is going to try and tackle Sean O'Malley. And I am not here to watch the NFL OTAs and the tackling drills. I could do that on ESPN, not pay 80 bucks for it on pay-per-view. Ben, Jen is at a judge. I'm just done pretending like we have to respect Marab. We have to respect his greatness because it is real. We do not have to respect any other part of him. And I don't.

Jed, Jed, I hear you. And listing the excitement level for this main event at a two is absolutely well within your sandbox. I'm going to give it a 2.1. So the torn labrum is in conversation. Price is right, Matt. The twice is right in me. I'm going to give it a 2.1. I do think that there's a level of legitimacy to that torn labrum.

I think that the fifth round of Morab and Sean is interesting because it shows the blueprint of what Sean needs to do in this rematch. The question is, can he do it? I agree that there's such disinterest in the lack of time in between. It's nine months. Sean didn't have a fight to display that he's sharpened those tools or added to his skill set. So there's no confidence in me that he'll level it up.

But I just think that recovering from the labrum, you know, not not Jay and the Pene, as he calls it, social media, all that, right? That's, I'm going to give it a 2.1 as opposed to a 2, purely for those, you know, extracurriculars that Sean's not engaging in. I think, I think my level has gone up. From when this fight was announced,

I was like, oh, God, this, not again. I don't need to see this again. But I think the storylines have been built in it and just like talking to different people about it who have had like in-depth conversations with both fighters, like talking to, a guy like John Anick, it kind of changed your perspective a little bit because obviously Sean O'Malley was not as best in this fight in this first fight. But Marab wasn't either,

if we're being honest. Like Marab just kind of cruise controlled his way into a win. And maybe that's his style. We kind of saw that in the fifth round in the Umar fight, which kind of thwarted 20 minutes of really fun stuff. But O'Malley, O'Malley just having this, this different mindset to him. And yeah, the life changes have been a big story. I think why I'm so interested in this fight is because of the worlds we could possibly live in, Ben Davis, because the fallout of this fight is where the money is, in my opinion. So let me ask you, what is the more interesting world to live in? Sean O'Malley losing and then losing two straight to Marab and kind of seeing where the sugar show goes

and Marab adding another win to that fucking ridiculous resume and this case to be the Bannamweight Goat, even though some people think he's already there, or Sean winning back the belt and we're getting prime Sean O'Malley at 30 years of age as champion. What's more interesting to you? Sean regaining or Sean losing and then trying to figure out

now what the hell do you do? If I'm defining the answer to this question on the term interesting, then I have to decide with Sugar Sean getting the belt back because now you think about a rematch with Peelder, Jan, you tack on 10 more minutes to that barn burner. Come on, that's excellent.

Boris Sannaghanaghan. right back up in the mix. That's a fight that we've wanted for years and it's evaded us, but now might be the right time if Sean Amali can get that belt around his waist. I think Marab winning, like you mentioned, would be impressive in that it adds to this just stellar resume. And he's a workhorse and you just can't take away what he's accomplished. But when you think about right the steps after another one over Sean Amali, what is it? A Piotr-Yon rematch, that's even more uninteresting. Sanhagen, I suppose, that could be an interesting one, just not as interesting as Horry and Sean.

So to answer that question, I got to say O'Malley getting the belt back what I would say, better for both that division, the company, and my interest level. Obviously, you're with that,

Jed, considering how you- It has to be, but they could also, but they could also go back to a trilogy fight. That there's a zero percent chance. If Sean sneaks one away, they're never doing that.

Why would they possibly be like, oh, let's run this again so we can give our boring guy another chance to have the belt. What if Sean wants it though? What if he asked for it? Jesus, God. Why would we ever?

Like, Sean could just rematch somebody else. I can't imagine they would do that. Because also, like, are the fans going to want that? Like, is there, is there the Marab hive out there? Who's going to be like, ah, it was a fluke. We must see it again. No, because it's boring. Nobody cares.

You got to pick Sean. And that's part of my fury at this fight, Mike. I am forced to root for Sean O'Malley, who I don't particularly care for. I don't have like any major issues with him, but like not my favorite dude. And I am stuck being like, man,

I really hope that smoking weed is a superpower in wrestling or not smoking weed is a superpower for wrestling. And he can stuff takedowns or land like one perfect knee so we can get out from the yoke of Barab's efficiency. Like I kind of. And here's the thing, because again, I'm saying a lot of really mean things about Marab, and I get it. And if you want to be angry at me, I understand it. I'll wear that on the chin. My issue with Marab is the same like James Hardin made me quit watching basketball because, yes,

he was very good. And I could not respect his game less. I have no interest in watching somebody get free throws and three-pointers. It's just not interesting to me at all. That is my issue with Mara. And so I will sell my soul if it means we get him out of there. And maybe somebody else can get Sean O'Malley out of there and we can have somebody I like am interested or like. Like maybe Patchy Mix can do it. That would be cool. Patchy Mix. You know what's fun about Patchy Mix? He tries to hurt people. It's a novel concept of fighting that the champion has never heard of. He attempts to hurt him and not just make them very, very tired. Mike may add this really quickly. There's a lot of intrigue to

me in Marab losing because we have never seen him bounce back from defeat. That version of Marab, right, the possibility of a Marab who goes, you know what, didn't get my hand raised for once, I will he come back from that? Maybe he does flip that kill switch. And we see Marab that just goes crazy and never wants to taste that L again. So I think that also is an interesting, you know, pipeline that could come out of this, is what would Marab look like if he doesn't win a fight for once? That would honestly be the best outcome.

Is Marab losing like a question? decision. So then maybe Rob could be like, oh, I should perhaps try to hurt people in fights and not leave it

in the hands of the judges. And maybe, it's not like he can't do it is the thing. He just chooses not to. To your point, Mike, he does it all the time.

He just coasts in the like, in the fifth round where he could be putting a stamp on things. He's like kissing Sean and because he, he's like, he doesn't have the tool.

I don't know why where he's like, I want to try and be interesting in this way because I can't be interesting in a visceral. I'm going to choke a man out and finish him sort of way. Like he could try harder in that regard.

He's obviously incredibly talented. But that's not what he's done. And let me also just say, because I forgot to mention this, it would also mean John Annick is again taking an L for prematurely goading somebody. And I like John Anick, I have a lot of respect for him. But his insistence that MMA started when he started commentating for the UFC and that things that happened before he did were meaningless. And that's why Marab is the goat is the most infuriating shit.

shit in the world. I'm not even a Dom Cruz fan. But that man is very obviously the band-of-way goat. And this would be quite funny if he immediately lost after John Enig was like, he's already the goat. I will add this. I like Marab's showboating in that it's unique. It's interesting. We don't see many fighters take these types of, you know, risks in fights where they're going, oh, where that strike go. I do enjoy that Marabs added that to the arsenal because it adds to the entertainment value. But, Jed, I agree to your point, right? If you're going to be showboating, why not kick it up? a notch as well, right? You can't have the cake and not eat it, right? Hold on one second. Mike. There's Mike. I was like, I'm here. I'm here. I was like, did I accidentally

some host and I didn't know? I was checking my son for a message for Casey. Sorry. Yeah, we I just got a bunch of information about the Greg Hardy arrest. So I'm passing that along to the rest of the staff. So there you go. What a guy. of C316, huh? The point for round three goes to... I bet it's not the guy who just shot all over the Banimate chain. It goes to Jedd the Machine

Michewishvilly. How about that? Come on. Mike doesn't like Rob either. He just won't say it to the masses. The fix is in. The fix is in. Listen, I haven't displayed the BTL Golden Rule since like episode one. It ain't about

whether I agree with you or not. It's about the context of your argument, how much you believe in it. Really? That's what this is all about. Okay? So Jed gets the point. Ben Davis trying to tie this up, perhaps to get us a knock out round. Jed, as we talked about,

there is way more buzz for Julianna Pena versus Kayla Harrison than Marab de Valle Shavala, Shvili versus Shana Malley, too. These two women do not like each other. People are getting heated about this fight on social media based on just other people's opinions about it. Most in the M.A. community, at least from what I've seen, are on the Kayla is just going to

annihilate Giuliana Pena in a fight that is not competitive for a second. And anybody who disagrees, those people are just hammering down on anybody giving Juliana Pena a chance. What are the vibes like for you, Jed? We're getting ready to have a watch party and watch this fight, Julianna Pena versus Kayla Harrison. We're just two days away from this going down. What are the vibes like for you?

I mean, this is the one I'm hoping for because I'm anticipating our watch party main event. I'm trying real hard not to be grumpy at it. Like I'm trying to get my mind right so I could not be like, oh, here's Marab doing that thing again. Yay. This is so fun. And but what I'm really hoping is that the co-main will be a banger. And there are massive questions before we get there. Is Kayla going to make wait?

Have no idea. Never seen it before. We've never seen her hit one three, four. hope they've got like a professional working the scale tomorrow you know not a digital one of those guys who just puts the number oh we're good that's it 135 on the dot let's move on with business and i hope that she isn't like dead to do it because she cuts obviously an enormous amount of weight to make this i can't be healthy for her long or short term frankly but if this does get to the fight the fight is for the belt my hope is that kail harrison gets to put on a show on Saturday gets to do the thing we all kind of foresaw for her when she got into MMA in general. Yes, it's a little bit nicer. The Juliana Pena, who I maintain is actually not good at fighting.

Again, there's a real chance that Saturday there are two champions, one who's good at fighting and I hate and one who I don't think is good at fighting, but like keeps being the champion, which is weird, could leave Saturday. And so my hope is that that won't happen and primarily that Kayla will do the thing and we can set up the Amanda Nunes fight for, you know, it's not going to save the division, but it will certainly be something for us to talk about

and be excited about the one major caveat, Mike. It would be undeniably one of the funnier things that's ever happened in the sport if twice Giuliana Pena screwed up the Kayla Harrison Amanda Nunes fight. Objectively, that would be quite, quite funny if she did this two times. Ben, do you like this fight?

Do you think this is going to be a blowout? Do you think Pena is going to be more competitive than people are giving her credit for? I think she's going to be, honestly, like there is a war where Kayla just annihilates her, but I think she only has a short period of time in which to do so. And the longer this fight goes, Juliana Pena becomes very live.

And maybe I'm dead wrong, but that's just the way I've seen it. And this is the way I've seen it since day one. What do you think about it? You know, Mike, since losing that point, in round three, I've been doing a lot of reflecting. And I think procuring points in this game is all hinged on passion. And I must admit and confess that if I were to pontificate on this co-main event,

then it would be inauthentic because my passion and how I'm going to win round four and tie this thing up is taking it to the middleweight division with Joe Piper and Kelvin Gastilum. I absolutely despise what Piper's been doing. I think that Joe is discounting Kelvin's ability. think his mind is on everything else but the fight. And I think that he will once again be given a veteran test that he cannot pass. When you look at that Jack Hermanson bout that Joe Piper had, he was pretty unimpressive outside the first round, which makes sense considering that nine

of his 13 victories have come by CO largely inside the first five minutes. So for me, I'm looking at a guy in Joe who has trouble winning when it extends past five minutes, right, in any other way that's not knockout. And he's going up against the guy that has never been knocked out and has danced with the most talented middleweights potentially in UFC history. Whitaker, Cananer, Adasanya, Darren Till, right? And I'm to believe that Joe Pfeiffer is the guy that's finally going to crack Kelvin and sit him down with Joe has not done anything impressive to individuals that I would say are within the realm of Kelvin's skill set in orbit. That's baloney to me. That's absolute baloney. So this betting line is absurd, Mike.

And I truly believe that big pubs Kelvin Gastilum is about to teach Joe Pipe for another lesson. Let's get some tacos, baby. All right. I mean, I love the passion. That just shows where we're at with this car where we're just skipping past the co-main event and jumping right into the featured bout. Obviously, we have, as Ben mentioned earlier and we've touched on throughout, we have the debut Apache mix in the UFC. And, Bain, you've shown your excitement for this fight. and a lot of people are fired up for this.

This is the hardcore fans fight of the card because there are a good chunk of people who call themselves UFC fans who have no clue who Patsy Mix is. They literally have no idea who this man is and they hate Mario Batista because he quote unquote beat Jose Aldo. And I've said this ever since this fight was announced

and I want to get your perspective on this. Outside of the main and co-main event fighters, there is not a single soul who has more on the line than Patchy Mix does on this card as he faces Mario Batista. He has to win. Not only does he have to win, I think he has to do so impressively.

Do you agree with that? And where are you at with this fight? Like, how important is it for Patchy to be a focal point on post-fight shows around the world? I do agree with that point. I do want to briefly say, it would also be quite funny if Calvin Gasolm beat Joe Pfeiffer, and then got on the mic and was like,

I'm never coming to this shithole state ever again. Just like, hey, Joe Piper. I remember when you shat on the country of Mexico because you fucked up your own weight cut, you dumbass. It would be quite funny. If it was like, Jersey sucks shit. I'm never coming back to this backwater ass state again. Come pick your boy up.

I put him in a body bag. That would be unbelievable. God, I hope that happens. Probably won't. But for the patchy mix thing, I agree. I do think outside of the main event fighters, he has the most at stake here. This is his introduction.

You know, first impression is the big one, right? Like that you always are. make a good one, especially when your first impression in this case could straight up just get you a title fight. Bannon Wade is pretty open right now. They're assuming if Marob wins, you know, probably a rematch with Peoria. Maybe Corey Sankan's in there, but a nice performance from Patchy Mix. I think he can jump the line if he if he dazzles on Saturday. Got to do something impressive. He can't just win like a consummate 3027 here. But if he comes in, makes a really big statement victory over the guy who I won't name.

Everyone, hardcore fans will adore him more than they already do because he beat the unnamed fighter. And casual fans would be like, oh man, that dude's pretty cool. He should probably fight for the belt. He's a champion in another organization

and just dummy this, you know, whatever the unnamed fighter is ranked like eight or something. Cool. That's something new and different. Let's do that. Conversely, if he loses, you never get another chance to make that impression again.

And he's like sneaky a little older. And so starting off on a loss, it's not catastrophic. We've seen fighters come to the UFC, lose their first fight and still kind of rebound, but puts them really behind the eight ball and obviously a very talent-stacked division. So the delta between two outcomes, I think is there's no bigger delta out there than between a win and a loss for patchy mix on Saturday. You agree with that, Bain? I do.

I think that patches mix is. in a very special position. When you think about perfect times to debut, especially in Bantam, which this might be one. And look at what some former Bellator champs have done in their debuts, right? Iron Mike Chandler with Dan Hooker. That's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

So, you know, it bodes pretty well for Patches' mix here in this position. And I will add this, 15 finishes in Patchy's 20 victories. Both of Mario's losses are by finish. So I kind of like the odds here. And, you know, I think, again, I'm going to keep riding this train. I'm going to be conducting this. It's for Jose.

It's for Jose, baby. And I think Patchy recognizes that. And listen, I'll say this. On the press conference, or excuse me, the media day, he said this isn't a step up in competition. What Patchy says. It's not a step up in competition. And with respect to Mario Batista, I agree with Patchy. Yeah, I agree completely with Patchy.

I think that he's fought harder tests. And, you know, Mario, this is going to be a tough fight for him. But it's an opportunity, right? I think Mario should recognize. We're in sports entertainment. And if you're just going to discount all of the feedback from your last fight and say, I had to do what I had to do, it's his fault too, blah, blah, blah, excuses. Listen, right?

Maybe Mario goes out here, tries to put on a bangor. And I go, you know what? You lost. But I dislike you less, you know? And that's worth some points. Can Mario get over at all, Jed? Like, if he wins, is there any way he can get over with you at all? here's the thing uh the thing about the unnamed fighter that is so frustrating is he was not a boring

fighter prior to the jos a aldo match like he was a fun dude and like that was the saving grace to the aldofans like oh this at least would be pretty fun it doesn't make sense it's kind of a stupid matchup but at least it'll be fun and then the unnamed fighter comes in lays an egg and then just like dies on the hill that actually i am smart and a genius and like this just goes to all fighters who I can't imagine any professional fighters watching at this point after I shat on the bantamway champion of the world for 15 solid minutes. But like, if you're ever in a situation where the public at large is telling you that sucks, we don't like it, the correct response is not, I'm smart and you're stupid.

The correct response is, shit, maybe I did, maybe I won, and that is what matters most, but maybe I can take a lesson and not be like, Philistines, you want blood and guts and I gave you a terrific performance of holding a man around the waist and shutting down his offense. Don't be that guy. Just be like, hey,

wasn't my best effort out there. I'll go back to being fun guy when patchy mix and I get rolling. If he comes in and does that, I'll at least respect that effort. I don't know that that's a good plan, frankly, it's patchy mix. but he can't get over.

He is dead to me. But I did really like what Bain said. Because if we can now just, Patchy mix is just the avatar for Josealdo moving forward, I'm in. And when Patchy wins the band and white belt, Joseoaldo is actually a two division world champion. Hallelujah,

the goat rains. Love that. I think if Patchy, if Mario Batista wins in almost the exact same way, he needs to just eat that up, get on the mic be like hey you should turn into it if you does that all your favorite bannam weights

I'm just going to hold them against the fence all the way until a title shot and you're just going to have to bear down and love it there's nothing you can do about it I think that'd be terrific that would get over with me in a huge way I would respect it I wouldn't like it in the same way

I respect Marob's game I wouldn't like it but I would respect it last thing quick prediction 60 seconds or less Bain, what will be fight of the night at UFC 316? Listen, we haven't really touched on many of the prelims, but that featured one between Josh Van and Bruno Silva,

I think is a pretty fun one on paper. Great strikers. Bruno packs a punch and is not afraid of going into the pocket night or his van. So, you know, I think both guys are looking for a big spotlight on this card, and I'm expecting some fun things from that flyweight affair. Jed, I feel like Bain may have taken your answer here. No, because it's a great answer. And I love Josh fan.

Climb, baby. Let's go. But no, I think there are two answers that I could guess here. I will just throw a brief shout out to Ariana and Silva Wang Song because that might be fun. But I think the answer that the best bet. And frankly, Mike, perhaps our only bet for something fun to happen on the main card, given some of the fighters at play, it's Vicente Lucke, Kevin Holland.

Vicente Luque is historically an incredibly fun fighter. Kevin Holland mostly fun, especially when he's not competing at middleweight and just getting mushed because he's not a middleweight. Vicente Luque, he's 33, but feels like he is a billion. Like just the oldest young man, like he and Kelvin Gasolam need to have a club of, we've been fighting forever and we're still quite young.

Kevin Holland, I think, is probably going to win this fight, but Vicente Luque always just sort of overperforming. forms my expectations in this late iteration. And Kevin Holland will be in there saying some stuff while he's getting tackled and things are happening. I think that's our best bet for something fun to go. So I'll pick that for my fight of the night. All right.

I'd like to give an honorable mention to APFC zone Mark Choinsky. Late notice for the 155 pound champ. It's been a pleasure to commentate his last couple outings. Mark Choinsky, the shark baby, stepping into the UFC waters. Good luck. Tough fight. Yes, Markham Mederis is a guy to watch at 155. The point for round four goes to, goes to Bain.

Bain gets it done. It's two to two. Sons out, guns out. All right. I wasn't sure where to go with this knockout round, but I feel like there's only one way we can go, and it's something we don't really do on the program that often. So Jed, I will turn it over to you.

Do you want to go first or you want to pass it over to Ben the Bain Davis? Because I feel like you guys are going to be on pretty much the same side of things here. I'll go first. It's Ben's first time here. I wanted to see how it's done. Make sure he understands like what's it played. Give him a little more time to get ready, frankly. I'm an old hand.

So I'll go first. Okay. I think I know where we're going here. I have no idea. UFC. The UFC's been making a lot of headlines. some positive, some negative. But how about the PFL this week, Jed?

You brought them up earlier. PFL coming through, making some moves. They're taking the show on the road full time. No more WCW Saturday Night style at Universal Studios and a television studio doing shows. Tickets are going to be starting at 25 bucks for the fan base so that more people can afford to go to a mixed martial arts show. And then we find out today the PFL application,

is going to be bigger than ever. With the new library, you can go back and watch all the old fights. In fact, I think Don set that up for himself so he could go watch mixed martial arts fights from his organization. So when someone asks,

what's his favorite MMA fight? He will have an answer because he has the library to go to. So Jed, talk about PFL and grade them for their first half of 2025, especially with this news this week. 60 seconds on the clock. Go.

Oh, I'm grading them. The news this week gets them up to a sea. But I mean, they were trending very poorly. But I'm just so proud of them. You know, they're my baby. You know, they were my draft team last time. I always wanted to do well. I have literally told Don Davis in your town halls that they should hire me as the minister of fun because they desperately need that.

And that's, I'm still waiting to hear back. We're working on details. But I do like that they have just started doing the shit I have said. In very on this platform, on other platforms, written the, like, the big thing I told the FFL and I've tried to convey to them and the thing is like, you can't beat the UFC. You can't do it. So you just need to look at what the UFC does. And every complaint that fans have about the UFC, do the opposite of that shit.

Fans hate the apex. Don't go to the Orlando in your own apex. That's dumb as shit. People want to watch your fights. Make it be so they can watch your fights. They are making improvements. Probably not going to be enough long term, but I really like what they've done this past week.

All right. We go to Ben the Bain Davis. I mean, you've commented for pretty much every organization in the world. Perhaps PFL might give you a call, but making moves, Ben. You know, we've been waiting for them to do some stuff. They said that the fan-friendly organization, there hasn't been a lot of stuff to really go off of in order to prove that. But this week seems like they're heading in.

that direction. So talk about the moves they have made this week that they have announced publicly and what do we grade PFL for the first half of 2025. Go. If this week wasn't included, then there certainly would be a more negative impact. But with the announcement of $25 entry to your level tickets and this free app that allows you to watch, you're a single PFL event, right? I've been complaining about not being able to tune into PFL Europe. Guess what? I can't bitch about it anymore. Don Davis has provided an answer. And I think that's the beauty of this. DFL is finally listening.

They are hearing the feedback and logically digesting it and then creating action-oriented solutions, which I love and think there's been a couple of canceled events. They've let a lot of great Bellator talent go. So that's kind of knocked them in the first half of this year. But I try to be a glass half full kind of guy. There's a lot left coming up. That gene seemed to be the next big thing.

You go to Ditchaba, her rise is still being studied and has so much momentum. So I think that the next half of 2025, with these big announcements this week is going to take it to a greater lettering. But my thought is going to be a C plus. I'm going to give it a C plus for the first half of 2025. Don, thank you for listening. Finally. A C?

What, you were a C minus yet? I don't see something. I wasn't a C plus. So either C minus or C. I can't be expected to remember the things I just said. Mike. What do you take me for? I mean, okay.

I mean, I think it was a C minus C plus for Ben, which is good. Because again, without this news, if we were just, if we had this conversation back in March, we weren't in the C's. I could tell you that right now. But they have done a lot of fun things. The tournament, the Grand Prix they've been doing, all those cards have been fun. Like they have all been entertaining watches thus far. Them not putting Paul Hughes on TV or any sort of streaming. service in the United States was an absolute bun like such a fumble uh they have fumbled things along

the way but they have they've let patricia pit bull go they let patchy mix go johnny ablin has a fight booked dakota ditchieva we'll see what happens this year with her so they they are at least trying to do stuff and that's all we ask just try try and stop fuck it with the ufc stop doing that they're not fully doing that but uh you're not the ufc you need to define an identity and they're at least trying to do so. So cast your vote is it Jed, is it Bay? Improvement. They still have the fundamental issue where they just pick a new day for whatever event they're happening. Maybe it's Thursday. Maybe it's Friday. Maybe it's Saturday morning. Who the hell knows could be any day, which is really good for building brand awareness when you don't

have a consistent schedule. Yeah. And on top of that, just keep those Sunday, Sunday night fights are going to hit like crack you know what i mean pfl keeping me uh keeping me on my edge right but now they've got especially when now the app yeah you you get the push notifications on the pfl app that's what you need yeah we have no tv deal for the for the international cards i don't know if we have them for the bellator champion series card jet it's like all different platforms to watch all different events like we got you're not the ufc like the ufc can get away with this new broadcast deal if they do yes if they stay with the s bm which right now apparently they're the front runner in negotiations but then sprinkle some with Netflix or sprinkle some with Amazon.

Like they're the UFC. They can afford to be on multiple platforms. However, PFL cannot afford to be on multiple platforms. They need to be a one-stop shop. They need to be easily accessible. So, Mike, I disagree. Mike, I think that there's such great opportunity on Fubo and gleebop. com.com.com.

And, you know, Gimbo TV. I think that those audiences are going to really push the next generation of PFL's viewing experience. You know what? It's funny you say that because I just put a chunk of my 401k into Gimbo TV. So I'm with you. I think they are really going to, they're really going to shoot to the moon in 2025.

One of those, one of those buy, buy quick and just stay with them. Just stay with them. Hold on. Just hold on to them. They're going to hold on tight. We do have a preview show tomorrow.

We'll get you ready for UFC 316. We'll have the people's brief fight show. I'm going to be on that. Do I have to be angry at Marab again tomorrow? I mean, we might have to at this point, but we'll see. We'll see where we're at. We'll have Wayans 9 a.m. live on the YouTube channel.

Casey's here. People's Free Fight Show will have the watch party. We'll have on to the next one live on Sunday, post show, all the comings and goings of UFC 316. Casey is here, sleeves optional. He chose to go no sleeves to show Ben Davis what, in fact, is up. Casey, who won? I don't know about this.

Judge. Judge, Judge is looking like he has a, has a vested interest. Despite my best attempts, your winner today. 63% of the vote, Jed Mishu. Whoa. Call me Batman. Because I am burying Bain. Golly. You know what, Jed, you wouldn't be the first.

You know, but that's what we respect about you, Ben. You're just, you're always willing to mix it up. You know, I'm, I'm happy to not be, uh, losing to you in karate combat or, uh, misfits boxing or what other shit. You've done. BKFC. Different BKFC. I'd fight you in BKFC, that'd be fun. Well, fun might not be the right word.

I don't want to go back to BKFC. It'd be something. We'll just some. We'll do some Indian leg rests letting on fight the circus. That'll be what we can compromise on. Super in. Also, I mean, you know, Dan Hooker's backyard thing,

open weight. Like, we can get in there. Let's just have a little fun with some big Kiwis. That'd be a good time out there. They gotta expand the rule set. I mean, they got to let me, you know, die for the legs if you're going to put me against the heavy weights. I don't want to just be swinging and banging. I'm just going to be doing Eminard rules.

That's what I'll be doing. You're rolling for the legs. Alex. Jed, what would you like to say with your time in your victory speech here? Well, this is actually really easy. In fact, you have something to say because a thing happened this week, and it is going to bring the mood down a little bit, but hopefully not too much. This week, the great Jordan Breen passed away for many of you watching this who, you know, are newer fans, don't really have any relationship or understanding who Jordan Breen was, what he meant to this space. I can say with absolute certainty that, uh,

I would not be doing this or where I am without Jordan Breen's contributions. There are, when the news broke, there was a huge outpouring on social media from people in the industry who all knew Jordan to some extent were influenced by him. And there's reason for that. He, his passion, especially in the early days of MMA, he taught me how to be an MMA fan. there is a direct lineage for me personally between my love of the bizarre bozo nonsense aspect of this sport and Jordan Breen. He taught me how to do that, basically. And so it is a great tragedy that he has passed.

And I don't need to get too saccharine or anything, but meant a great deal to me professionally. And I will always remember him quite fondly in his contributions to the sport. Well said. This is not much more. We can really add to that RIP to Jordan Breyan. Condolences to family friends, everybody in the NBA media space fighters who have discussed his impact on the sport and helping it grow, especially in the times where, you know, the UFC had like no coverage. And they were almost a dying breed.

But the Jordan Breans of the world were doing radio shows. And they were setting the table for honest coverage. It wasn't just, hey, the UFC is the best. get me backstage so I could do, you know, TV partner interviews. It was, no, this is good. This sucked in just being honest about the sport and then looking at it in a completely different way. Casey's here.

I know you've spent some time with Jordan as well. Yeah. Yeah, I was going to save it for the preview show tomorrow, but I'll say it again. Jordan, everything judges said about Jordan. He was one of the most influential people to really get me to. I was working in the sport, mind you, but I didn't really, it was a job. But Jordan, listening to his beat down after the bell episodes, especially after paper views, really got me just to understand mixed martial arts and I really appreciate it

in all of its awesomeness and especially all of its stupidness. He was very good at pointing that out and just how great the sport was. And I knew Jordan well. Jordan lived with me for a little bit for a month when he came to L.A. And, you know, just he was one of a kind, one of the most unique people I've ever met. Just an incredibly smart guy. And I'm just sad how it all ended for him. But at least I hope the memory of him kind of carries on.

And just, I don't know, Google him, go back, try to find some old archives of this. Watch UFC 30 beat them up the bell. And just listen to him go for 45 minutes straight talking about the fights from the main event to the curtain jerker. It's just a great look back. And just like Joe Rogan in the early MMA years, early UFC years, kind of taught people how to watch the sport. I think Jordan Breen was just as influential to me. Just in really making me – I'm sorry, I'm on the screen twice. I didn't realize that.

just made me really love love the sport and kind of um he trapped me you know it's like it's like oh man i get it now so uh jordan brain uh you're you're great dude and um it really bummed me out just sad about the whole thing yeah dude i mean i can go carry really adding more to that plenty of people out of that are if you're in the you know in may twitter space have already done some of this like caposo went back and found some stuff if you have no concept of jordan brein just go troll through those find them you can go listen to old beat down after the bells uh jordan brein show archives on the shir-dog radio network uh one of i mean outside of what i already mentioned directly jordan brein was the first guy who did an all violence team which i have shouted them out every year i have done that for us i think i've done four or five of them now. Like he is the progenitor of that. Also like indirectly, he and Jack and Kronissel and obviously some of the other people at Sherdog did a rewind look back. Just kind of looking at the history of the sport, you can go find those and hear Jordan Brin talk about like UFC 70 with Jack and and Kronisal. Jordan is one of the very few people when I got into the media space that I was like

literally excited to form any level of a relationship with because he meant to that. that much to me. And so really sucked and rest easy, man. Well said. Quick programming. No, I know it's hard to transition from that. BTL is going to be on Tuesday next week reacting to UFC 316. And we will leave you with a bit of a cliffhanger. An old friend is coming home to join us on Tuesday. More on that next week. Until that, everybody, have a great rest of your day. And there's the music. Sorry to bring, sorry to bring the energy down. Yeah, I thought you were going to let it breathe and just take us home.

But, okay, maybe Esther Lynn will let's have the final word. Pick the energy back up. Yeah. Bye, bye, everybody. UFC 316 is the best. It's the best. Yay. It's good to have been here.

Again, this is the thing. Jordan loves the silly, stupid parts of this sport like this is right now. This has been Between the Links, an MMA-fighting production on the Vox Media Network.