MMA Fighting - BTL | Kevin Lee Released, Triad Combat's Future, UFC Vegas 44, Bellator 272, More | Tourney Match #5

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

Kevin Lee's release from the UFC seemed to come out of nowhere, but was it a total shock? That topic, along with where Lee may end up will be discussed this week on Between the Links. In addition, the panel will discuss this past Saturday's Trilller Triad Combat event — which featured well-known MMA fighters such as Frank Mir, Mike Perry, and Albert Tumenov — and if there's a bright future for the concept, which main event is better between Rob Font vs. Jose Aldo at UFC Vegas 44, or Sergio Pettis vs. Kyoji Horiguchi at Bellator 272 for the promotion's bantamweight title, the low-key banger of the weekend, and more. Mike Heck moderates the first BTL Championship tourney semifinals matchup between Jed Meshew and Kristen King. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Kristen King: @KristenKingMMA Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. The MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. Our host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. We have arrived at the semifinals of the BTL championship tournament, the final four, if you will. And yes, we had to switch some things around in terms of the matchups,

shuffle the deck a bit this week due to some scheduling things. But we got our first set. semi-final matchup going down in a matter of seconds. Anyways, first off, I'm Mike Heck, and I am pretty damn sick. It has been a rough week for your pal Mike. Yesterday was really awful. Today is a tinge better, but still pretty awful. But I'll give you what I can.

I'll try not to hack all over the microphone, and I'll try to keep some semblance of a voice the rest of the way. But much like these two fine competitors, they're going to look to punch their ticket to the finals. Let us introduce them first. They say momentum is the key in the postseason. and she's coming off a win nine days ago over James Lynch. She feels her opponent is perhaps looking past her,

plans to make him pay for that as well from Bloody Elbow, one half of the BTL tag team champions of the world. Kristen King, how are you? I am doing great. I feel confident because I have a win over Jed. It came in a tag team setting, but a win is a win. And I'm here to capitalize on that momentum. and I'm glad that my opponent has dressed for the occasion

because it's about to be his funeral and I can't wait to deliver the eulogy. So let's go. Damn, that's what we love to see. And let us introduce you to that man who has the most wins in the history of this show, Mr. No Gray area, and he opened up a lot of eyes all around the MMA space

with his wardrobe in his first round appearance. But I've got to say it's even better this time around. Mr. Jedmishu, how are you, sir? I'm confused. What are we to? Funeral? Who goes to a funeral looking like this? These are happy colors. Bright, blue, vibrant?

This is spring attire. I'm sorry, you don't know that. But don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to do the research when you're on the bench. Because we're not talking about previous victories because the past is for powers. I am looking ahead. I'm looking ahead to the finals. I'm looking ahead to Phoenix Carnivali and the can of whoopass I will be opening up upon her to prove that I am the only greatest competitor in the history of this competition.

Well, that's why we're doing this tournament to begin with. Two incredible promos to begin things. So let's talk some MMA. Let's debate. Let's talk about the comings and goings, the hot topic, if you will. Let's start with Triller's latest combat sports venture this past weekend. Triller Triad Combat, despite the Thanksgiving holiday, their younger audience outdoing other things like seeing their old friends,

a lawsuit from BYB, on top of them for the use of a triangular ring, which is so incredibly blatant. It's not even funny, but the show goes on. We saw MMA fighters take on boxers. We saw Metallica. We saw MMA actually win the night in terms of points.

We saw Frank Mear get in there, Matt Mitreone, Mike Perry, Albert Tuminoff, to name a few. Personally, I enjoyed it. there could have been a little bit less gaga between the actual fights, but the action itself. Pretty good. Not sure if you watched or not, Jed, but did the concept at least give you something to think about? So I did not watch.

I was also dressed up on Saturday. I had a baptism to attend. You know, I'm out here shepherding the youth as the godfather to a dear friend of mine's bouncing baby boy. But I was intrigued. I, of course, I mean, obviously, when you can't watch a fight live, what do you do? You tune in to MMAfighting.com, the best website in the world to get all of your updates. And so I know intimately what happened. I saw the video of Frank Meere getting seriously like that.

That was actually an awful, awful finish to that. And Dan Mergliata, I know he came out and spoke about it, but that was still terrible. The rest of the card, not a lot of things that I held my hat on that looked or even seemed that interesting. But the overall concept, you know me, Mike, I'm a big Triller guy. I'm a convert after having gone to the Jake Paul Ben Ascran fight in person. Trillers got me on board, the triangular ring, which still feels weird to call it a ring. That doesn't seem like we should be able to do that because it has three sides. Nonetheless, I'm in on the overall concept. I have no idea what the legs that this has, though, because I don't know what they paid the fighters. It probably

wasn't a small amount. I can't imagine they covered their returns on it. And Michael Buffer has got to cost more than everybody else combined for those shows. You can't be running Michael Buffer out there. You got to get some other dude. Let me do it. Triller. This is my official envoy to you. I can be the

voice of Triller Combat. I'm built for it. I'm dressed for it. Let your boy have a shot. Kristen, what's say you? Do this concept give you something to get excited about? I mean, 20 bucks. Not a terrible price tag for an event like this.

Not at all. Honestly, I went into it not really expecting much, and I left it. I felt like it was a good event for what it was supposed to be. I think there could potentially be a future with this whole triangular ring thing. But I have questions, I guess, on both the product and the production. As Jed mentioned, you have Michael Buffer. Then we had a Metallica concert also, and I'm pretty sure those guys ain't cheap. And then we had Frank Mears saying that he was poised to make the most money of his career had he won the fight.

Obviously, he did not win. But I'm thinking this whole production and this whole setup is going to cost a lot of money. I don't necessarily know if that's something that they can continue to do in the future. but it was a very nice first showing. And then product-wise, as interested as I was in the first event, what comes after? What other intriguing fights are you guys going to put on that is going to make me shell up another $20 or however much you want to charge for the next pay-per-view? Because I think we did get some really nice surprises with someone like Alexa Culp who got the fastest knockout in the only women's fight on that card. I was very impressed by her.

And then we also turned in for some of people, some people that we already knew, like the Frank Mears, like Albert Tuminov, like the Mike Perry's in his first post-UFC fight. So I'm wondering, where do we go from here? The bar is set, I guess, in their standards fairly high. So I'm wondering, well, what comes next? What are you going to put on? Because they don't necessarily have an established roster to get a lot of people interested. So I just want to see what they're going to do, what new fresh fights they can bring to the table

and whether or not that's going to be a really long-lasting type of product. It appears they want to come back. Maybe February or March, Kristen. Maybe we'll see Rampage to Action versus Shannon Briggs. Maybe the coaches will collide. Maybe they'll do a reality show with the two guys because I'd watch the hell out of that thing. Maybe some other big-name fighters.

Maybe we'll talk about one of those fighters in round two. but do you think, Kristen, in 2023, that we're going to be sitting around doing live companions for triad combat events? Do you think this will be something that they can sustain three, four events a year for years to come with something like this? Because this is not something you could do every month because it'll get people get tired of it super fast. But if you do like a quarterly event three, four times, is there something there? Yeah, I think so. As long as there's not an oversaturation of the product, because, this is honestly like a novelty type of thing. You're not expecting to sit down and say every

Saturday night, okay, we're going to watch Trillardt Combat. That's not going to happen. And I don't think it should happen if they do want their product to last well beyond this year. And as you said, potentially into 2023, 24, et cetera, et cetera, whatever. So as long as they don't overstay their welcome as in like a combat sports type of schedule, I think they're fine. Three to four events, each year, that sounds great. I think you could capitalize off of that because there are going to be times where maybe there aren't any fights on that specific weekend and all the attention is going to be guided towards you. You benefit off of that. That's the payoff. So don't oversaturate the product, fix a few things with production. And I think you have a sustainable going in the next few years.

I just think you have to play your cards right if you're a trailer. And I feel like they'll do good. It just depends on what they bring to us next. What do you think, Jed? How do we sustain this? You got that look in your eye, like maybe they can't do it? I don't have a lot of confidence in them, mainly because I've been following the sport a long time. I know that technically this is a whole new sport, I guess, because it's mixed weird rules or whatever.

but we're talking about, you know, mid-level MMA. Really, that's what it is, even if it's in boxing gloves. You know, this is that kind of trying to find its footing. We've just seen so many promoters crop up and die because they do this thing where they go very heavy with monetary requirements. You know, like they get Michael Buffer. They get Metallica as an investor and Snoop Dog and all this stuff. And eventually that money runs out and they're not turning enough of a profit. And I have a real hard time seeing how Triller can keep this up.

Because to me, they had the Golden Goose, man. Like, say what you want about Jake Paul. People are invested in Jake Paul, the sportsman, the combat sports athlete. And Triller had him first. Triller was there first, and then they couldn't come to terms again. Maybe they never could have. Maybe Jake just knew his own value too much and that he can kind of run the show on his own. But I think if they still had the Jake Paul centerpiece to their promotion,

that is a tent pole that can prop you up that you can build around, that you can continue to develop and grow and build a name brand. But for now, it feels like they're going to be chasing the dragon every time out. They're going to have to go wilder, more ridiculous. They're going to have to do a straight line as a fighting ring instead of a triangle. Like, just cut sides out of it. I don't know where else they can go, but they're going to have to keep iterating and making different things happen.

And the only way you can be successful like that is if your overhead does, doesn't exist because you're an organization like Fight Circuits, which is really just run out of somebody's backyard. And that is not what Chiller's trying to do. I just don't think they're going to be able to cover their costs. And for a short time, you can get investment money. You can keep pushing through. But eventually you're going to have to show a sustainable business model to keep generating interest in investors. And I am very much not sure that they can do that.

I hope I'm wrong because the more the merrier, any kind of weird insanity I'm all for. I'm not a super big fan of Frank Meier, old and washed up MMA fighter taking on one of the 10 best heavyweight boxes in the world. That's a bridge too far for me personally, but the rest of it I'm kind of in for. Mike Perry is a guy who needs a place to fight in sort of a side show act, and Triller feels great for stuff like that. So I hope they get it together. I'm just not confident in them. Yeah. I mean, I feel like we have this conversation after every Triller event.

Like, how can they keep doing this? But I will give them credit. that one moving an entire event from one coast to the other in less than a week's time was pretty impressive. And then to come back and host an event in a baseball stadium with like less than a month's notice, I remember that press release coming out. I was like, what? You're going to do this three weeks from now? And they did it and they reported 20,000 plus people.

I don't buy that for a second. But that's like one of my big concerns because normally when you're talking about a promotion trying to find its footing, those are the types of things that end up being the, the straw that breaks the camel's back, like they're just cutting even or just managing expenses enough. And then calamity strikes and suddenly they can't deal with it at all. Triller is at the beginning where they have all this interest and money backing them. And they still are having like fundamental problems that they're having to work around.

Like that's not going to work in year two when your investment capital is dried up. And then you have to change venue on like a day's notice. Like that's where things go bad real fast. I mean, that was mostly because they needed Holyfield to fight. And then where else can we make that happen besides Florida? Florida will let anything happen. We'll let anybody fight in Florida. Of course we will.

Absolutely. Hey, Metallica was cool. A little too much Nick Cannon and Fat Joe in my eyes are for being on this far too much, Ryan Cavanaugh. Yeah, I mean, there was too much Fat Joe. No is that same is too much Fat Joe. Yeah. there was Saturday was too much too much like go to him a couple times after every fight no no

this is the bellator this is the problem bellator has uh between between their fights but all and all it's pretty fun card on a rare weekend without the UFC but maybe the lad some more big names maybe one in particular to their next event they're going to talk about next but the point for round one goes to Kristen king on the board one to nothing you know jed i'll put in a good word for you if they want to cut costs and just not bring back buffer and bring you in, I will definitely put in a good word. How much is your rate? You know, we can talk off air about that. I don't want other people lowballing me if they hear my prices out loud, you know. Of course, of course. Good idea. It's all about the business, baby. Come on. Kevin Lee knows that. Let's talk about him.

That's right. Yeah, that's right. Kevin Lee knows all about big business. And we found it on Tuesday. Perfect segue. That's why you're the face of the special. program. MMA fighting reports on Tuesday that the UFC and Kevin Lee are done. They've released Kevin Lee from his contract, former interim title challenger, so much potential, a lot of talent, great on the microphone, definitely the gift of gab, just hitting his athletic prime at 29 years of age. Yes, he's lost two straight. Yes, he's lost four to five, but many feel like he still has a very high ceiling in the world of mixed martial arts, but not just in the UFC, it appears Kristen King because he's not fighting for the UFC anymore.

So what was your reaction to this news? Were you surprised that the UFC just cut Kevin Lee, just like that? I was bummed. I saw that news and I was like, Kevin Lee still had a little bit left in him in the UFC. And then for him to be unceremoniously cut like that, especially how he described the situation on the MMA hour yesterday, where he said he essentially just got an email, no phone call, no nothing, until he had to contact the UFC brass himself and be like, what's going on? And it was just not a good day. I was very bummed. I understand people looking at it

from the perspective of, well, he hasn't been winning. And I get that. But the guys that he's met in the Octagon recently, those are like some top caliber guys. I thought that he still had a little bit in him. The last fight was against Daniel Rodriguez, who honestly, he could, could be the next big thing at Walter Wade. So I was a little bit saddened for Kevin Lee. And also add on to that, he's currently on suspension for ADHD medication. And I was just like, well, that's just like another bad layer on a really crappy Sunday. And it just, it sucked. It really did suck. But I was very happy to hear that he's already fielding offers. And that I think to me, that's a testament of who Kevin Lee is and where he's going to go. Because by no means, is he a washed

fighter. I'm not looking at Kevin Lee like, oh, man, he's really, he's really out of here now. I'm not looking at that. I think that, as you said, he's still in there. He can still have some juice. And depending on where he goes, I'm sure he wants to be paid what he believes he is worth. I hope that that is a possibility. And for him to already have offers on the table is great. And I think that he would make an incredible addition to a Bellator, to a PFL. If you really want to go for a million dollars, great. And he already has the weight class figured out. He said he's told at Helwani, he's going to be fighting at 170 from this point on.

Fantastic. I'm very happy for you. So did it suck to see him get cut? Yes, it did. But I also think that he still has a very, very bright future depending on where he ends up. Jed, were you surprised by this move? Both of you are dapper dressers, as everybody can see right now in your case. were you surprised by this move that the UFC just willy-nilly cuts Kevin Lee?

Let's be clear. I don't have an ounce of the style that Kevin Lee has. And I think a lot of myself, but that man, that man has fits, like for real. I was a little surprised, but it totally makes sense upon reflection. I'm going to disagree with, I wonder what the right word, I guess opponent, though it doesn't feel like that. You know, this other person on the show with me, I'm going to disagree with her, because I think Kevin Lee probably has washed. I know that that is a hot take,

but I do not have gray areas in me. And I think Kevin Lee has not looked. Yes, Kevin Lee knocked out Gregory Gillespie. That was awesome. Other than that one very, very great blip, he has looked horrendous for like most of the last, I don't know, four years or whatever that period of time is since the Tony Ferguson loss. He just hasn't looked very good.

He has been fluctuating with his weight. he's been trying to figure out lightweight welterweight. This Adderall positive test, I don't take anything away from that kind of personally. Like he has ADHD. He needs this medication. But to not have applied for the exemption, there's just, that's just, that's just a mental lapse that like if you're, you're really dialed in your own point, you are a professional fighter and you're focused entirely. like you're you're not going to make kind of those basic errors and the issue with kevinley has never been talent it's never been ability it's never been work ethic it has always been between the years like that

has been i mean that's we've seen that time to game going out there he has he got out fought by ally quinto who he should never lose to ally quinto ever like and i don't know i wrote this the last time he fought when he i thought he's going to lose to danio Rodriguez that was a list list sort of not great performance from him. D-Rod's a great fighter, but I wrote this after that, you know, I don't know how you fix him because he's been trying and saying all the things

about being fixed forever. The same way Tyrone Woodley has said, I'm going to have the fire this time and go out there, it's just not there. It's not manifesting itself. He is only 29. Maybe he can turn it around, but it is so rare to see somebody

in any athletic discipline who kind of has the yips or however you want to call it. whatever, whatever is affecting Kevin Lee mentally, it's so rare to see them turn it around, and especially in fight sport. Like I think it was a little early. The UFC probably could have given him another fight,

and there's a lot to say about the way in which they cut him, which I fully agree with Kevin Lee. I think they did him dirty in a lot of respects about that. But if you're just looking at fighters as investments, other people are going to be able to generate more and make more off of and with Kevin Lee as a fight. fighter than the UFC is. And it kind of makes sense.

I view this a lot like when they cut Jake Shields. When Jake Shields left the UFC, he was, I don't remember he was cutter if he just didn't renegotiate. Honestly, it's been a while back. He was coming off a loss to Hector Lombard, maybe. But like he was still one of the top welterweights in the world, but they just let him go because there was no need to have him there. He wasn't bringing as many eyeballs as he would cost them.

And ultimately, Jake Shields went on to lose. lose a bunch of his next, you know, several fights and just kind of being a little listless for the remainder of his career. I think that's very likely what's up next for Kevin Lee, which is unfortunate because, again, one of the most talented fighters in the sport, all the promise in the world, it's just a matter of him fulfilling it. And at this point, I don't think he's going to. Yeah, I feel like Kevin is a guy that, like you said, the tools are all there.

It's between the ears, but it's also he's a guy that needs to be sort of guided. by the right person. Like Robert Fawas was so was that guy for him. And then he passed and it just seemed like everything sort of withered away from that point. And he's tried to go to TriStar with Farrasah Hobby and go to different gyms with different coaches and with different people, wizards of the sport, if you will, and just hasn't seemed to click. And sometimes fighters just need that relationship and Kevin hasn't really seemed to find it.

But man, the way that this all went down, the email, not even hearing from Shelby or Dana, he got a text message from Hunter Campbell after he reached out first. It's just crazy. So with all of this now, yeah, go ahead. All of that sucks and is lame, but like is not, none of that is the thing that is like

the most unprofessional and frankly garbage to me. Like, I get it. It would be classier and a better move for the UFC to make a phone call to him or sit him down and have it than sending an email, but like, whatever. But the fact that like they either knew,

that they were going to fire him or they internally had made the decision like three weeks or something before they actually did ultimately release him via email. Like that's just Garbo, man. Like that's, I don't know what the decision tree goes on there, but

that's what Kevin Lee talked about with Ariel. He said that, you know, sometime early November he said that they knew that they were cutting him, but they didn't tell him until whatever this past week. Like that's just that's trash. Like let the man the man can't fight because he is under suspension only in your organization.

Let him, if you're not going to work with him, okay, that's your decision. But he needs to be able to go out and provide for his family. Like it's the holidays. Maybe he needs to fight. And delaying that is just really trash. So, Kristen, you ran off some of the options for Kevin Lee, Bellator, PFL. We talked about Triller. They'd be crazy to not make an offer.

I believe even Kevin said that they've already reached out to him. Even BKFC has a lot. of money. Don't know where they get this money, but they seem to have a lot of it and throw it at some of these big names. Where would you like to see him go? Where do you think he ends up? Like, if you had a choice, like, are they the same? Like, where you would like to see him go and where he ends up, or are they different? I mean, I feel like my main two would be Bellator and PFL. Belator, just because I wonder if there's already an established relationship being that his brother is on that roster as well. And I would love to see them compete under the same band. And

I think that'd be really fun. Also, the welterweight division and Bellator is super interesting. I don't know exactly how well he would fare against them, but I think that he seems to have the mindset of, you know what, I'm just going to cherry pick my opponents from now on or give that advice to younger fighters coming up into the UFC. So maybe he still has that mentality going into another promotion, and he just tries his best to get back to the win column.

So I like the Bellator option. I do like the PFL option, always because if you have an opportunity to make a hundred, 170, oh my God, not 170 million. One million in a permanent. Could you imagine 170? No, sorry, one million. If you can make that amount of money, I am all for that.

I believe he said he at least touched a million throughout his tenure in the UFC, which was about, what, 18 fights, eight years. So if he feels like he needs to get more of that, I think that'd be an awesome place for him to land too. I think I saw he's already getting callouts too. I saw Will Brooks, former Bellator champion and UFC fighter call him out and then Glory hopped on.

It was like, do you guys want to kickbox? And I'm like, I don't know if we want to put wrestlers in a kickboxing match, but I'm happy that there's interest for Kevin Lee for a bunch of different promotions. But for me, I think Bellator and PFL would probably suit him better in the long run. What do you think, Jed? Where's Kevin Lee's next fight going to be? Where could he potentially make upwards of $170 million? I think it depends a lot on what Kevin Lee specifically is looking for.

If he is just trying to make a million dollars, which seems to be a thing, PFL makes the most sense because he, all he got to do is win the tournament there. There's one glaring problem with PFL, and it seems very likely that if he went to he would have to fight Rory McDonald in the tournament there, like in that Welterweight tournament. And I know that he has been training with Ross Hobby and TriStar. I don't know how open he would be to that, if that would be a problem or not. But it seems if he signed with PFL, that fight seems pretty inevitable. I think Bellator has the deepest roster of Welterweight.

If he is just trying to continuously have good fights against, you know, name good opposition, makes a ton of sense in Belator. I know Scott Coker would be crazy. not to be interested in him. But I think that that's probably not the best play for him either, frankly, just because a lot of those Walter weights are going to be very difficult matchups for him, in my humble opinion. I think, honestly, what I would like to see happen the most,

and what I think may happen is I think Kevin Lee might recognize the position he's in right now as a somewhat interesting commodity to a lot of different people. And instead of, Tyrone Woodley's trying to do this right now, right? He came out last week or earlier this week and said, I want to fight four times in 2022 and four different sports. I want to fight MMA and boxing and Triller and all this different stuff. And I don't think that that's feasible at all for Tyrone Woodley because I don't think that there's that much interest in paying Tyron Woodley

the amount of money that he thinks he's going to be worth. I think there is more of that interest with Kevin Lee. And he is not in a position where he's going to have to sign a restrictive contract with any of these orgs if he doesn't want to. He can maybe negotiate for, hey, I want to, do two fights with Triller and then reassess. Maybe then I'll, I'll open up the door to Scott Cochran go to Bellator. Maybe then I'll take a look at PFL. Maybe the landscapes change to me over there. I think if I'm him, what I would like to do is to keep my options as open

and fluid as possible for as long as possible. But I think probably ultimately we are just going to see him in Bellator because that is a, it's probably the best signing for that Bellator can make, frankly like they they need people they need people that people care about and he comes into arguably their best division already so probably bell toor but i hope he's a little more cagey about it i hope he cherry picks where he goes next tuchay well played yeah we'll see i mean i i actually think the way it happened was pretty awful in my opinion and you guys ran off the reasons why but i think he's in a better position in his career right now than he was even 72 hours ago So the options are plenty.

Because the only thing I thought, I had nothing to do with any stuff that we just talked about. Why does anyone sign with the UFC? I genuinely don't understand it. Nobody who has ever left that organization and half the people in it aren't happy. They all talk about how they're not happy and how they are working for terrible bosses. Like, why would you, if you were a free agent of means and talent, why would you sign there? I just don't get it. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Like, choose to be happy. There is not enough money in the world to get up and not like your boss every day. Just go work for a boss who respects you and values your time and effort. It doesn't seem difficult to me. Maybe I'm the crazy one. I was waiting for it. There it is. Be happy, everybody.

That's the moral of the story. And hopefully Kevin Lee is happier now than he was 72 hours ago. he's happier with his next chapter of his career compared to where he was 72 hours ago. So enough of that. We'll move on to round three. Speaking of Bellator, we'll discuss them. The UFC also has a card this weekend.

The point for round two goes to might be the new Prince of Positivity, Jed Mishu, one to one. Be happy, people. Just choose happiness. That's right. Dress nice and choose happiness. So let's move to this weekend.

We have two very fun, Anim Wait main events coming up. Friday night, Bellator 272. It's their final event of the year, headlined by a world title fight between Sergio Pettis and Kiojihoraguchi. And then on Saturday, UFC Vegas 44, a 15 fight card, which starts at 7 p.m. Eastern. It's going to be a long night of UFC action. That'll be headlined by Rob Font versus Jose Aldo. Both of these are great fights. We'll talk about each of them individually. But Jed, we're going to start with you. Better main event. or UFC this weekend. Look, this is one of the few times that's not an entirely ridiculous question.

Kioji Horaguchi is, for my money, probably the best flyweight fighter in the world right now. I know he doesn't really compete there anymore, but he could still make the weight, and I think I would pick him to beat any flyweight on Earth at this moment in time. And Sergio Pettus is a damn good fighter. If you are an avid listener of all things in a main fighting, you probably heard our rankings podcast daily this week, where E. Casey Leiden, who's currently manning the ones and twos of this very program, vehemently argued in favor of both Sergio Pettison and Kiojahor Gucci as far as Banimwaites. I am maybe not quite as bullish as Casey is, but I still have both of them ranked in my Banymweight rankings.

I think they're sensational fighters each, and it's a really good fight. The problem is I have both Rob Font and Jose Aldo above both. Kioji Horaguchi and Sergio Pettus in my rankings. And for that alone, I would say that that fights better. But realistically, I think it's better anyway. Maybe Kiojiorguchi is one of the three or four best band-em weights in the world. Rob Fon is the best band-em weight in the world. Boston Cartel, baby.

He is the best 135 on the planet. Just check yourself, it's coming. Slow but surely it's coming. And I am sad to say that it's coming at the expense of one of my all-time favorites. There is no bigger Josealdo Mark than I am. I argue vehemently for him being the greatest featherweight of all time. If you disagree, you're wrong, flat out. No contest.

He's the best featherweight of all time. He's one of the three greatest fighters of all time. He is the youngest UFC champion in history. People say that that's John Jones. That is wrong. Josealdo was a W.E.C. champion before John Jones became a UFC champion at the time of the W.C. only existed for unknown tax reasons. He's one of, if not the best fighter of all time, and it's going to be really sad to watch Rob Font jabbing to death. But for the first three rounds, this fight's going to be magic because Jose Aldo is maybe not as good as he once was, but he's as good once or for three rounds as he ever was.

This man remains the best defensive fighter in history. And for three rounds, it's going to be gangbusters, brilliant, technical, awesome, incredible stuff. And then at the end, Rob Font is just going to be younger, fresher, and work at a higher pace and kind of, eke out a decision over the latter rounds. But I will always watch Josealdo fight, and I will damn sure tune in to watch the Best Band Waiting the World Fight. Wow. That was a passionate answer.

I will say that Rob Fond is not much younger than Josealdo, like less than a year, remember he serves? Albaugh got them 50 years on him, though. There's a difference between young, like, T.J. Dillishaw is technically older than Josealdo, but that also feels insane to say. because Jose Aldo has been at the top of the sport since he was like 21 years old. That's a great point. Kristen, what do you think?

Belator, UFC. Who is the better main event this weekend and why? I will say Belator by the slightest margin, only because I think the way that they are currently shopping this fight as a champion versus champion fight, which I completely understand. Sergio Pettis is the current Bellator champion. and then you have Keoggi coming in from Risen, and you get to see him vibe for the title that he never lost. And he's still, honestly, he's walking around here saying, I still feel like I'm the champion,

and I'm the real Bellator champion, because he did never lose it in competition. He had to give it up because he injured his knee and was out of action for about a year. So when they announced his signing earlier this year, I figured that it would be a fun matchup with Sergio Perez. he was already targeting him and look what happened. We got the fight that we wanted.

I am very much interested in seeing how Sergio Pettis looks for his first title defense. I think he surprised a lot of people in the Juan Archeletta fight. I didn't think that they really gave him too much credit. I thought that they believed Juan Archeletta was still going to retain the title. And Sergio fought smart. He felt beautiful. I absolutely adored that performance. And I was very happy for him.

And it seems like he has really found his footing in the Bellator promotion. So I am very much excited to see what he does against Keoguji Horoguchi. He is honestly one of the best band-of-weights in the world. And I honestly kind of feel just a tinge sadness for Sergio Pettish just because it feels like he's not getting any credit. It seems like he has to fight all over again for the championship that he already has. And no one seems to be giving him the credit for the performance that he put on to get that title. So only by the slightest margin do I think that this one is just a little bit.

better because when I look at Font and Aldo, obviously I'm very excited. But then if either one of them wins, what happens next? Because this is not a number one contender fight. This is a not number one, but maybe next type of fight because we still have T.J. Dillishal out there. We still have Sterling and Yon to figure out. And Sterling's still injured. T.J. Dillishaw is still injured. Corey Sanhagan is still hanging around there, even though he just lost to Peter Yon. It just feels like, where do we go? It feels like they're going to be in a little bit of like Bannaway purgatory after this fight because there's no idea where we could take these two whoever wins. So I'm going to go for Bellator, Kioji, and Sergio. I think that has that

be just by the slides margin, like a 51-49 type of thing. Yep. And Sergio's sort of approaching the fight with the same lens as a lot of other people are like maybe I'm not the champion, but this is my way to prove it. I have to make sure of it. And he said he's like baby sitting He's babysitting it. And I feel bad that he feels that way. But I guess that's what a lot of people think. Good for him to be honest, man. Like, no, you roll.

You're wrong. I guess he can. Well, let's talk about this fight a little more because you mentioned, Kristen, he looked really good against Warnatio Letta. I was there. I watched that fight Caged side. It was a competitive fight. But that was a clear, clear Sergio Pettis win.

There was no controversy whatsoever. Horgouchi never actually lost the title. He had to vacate after the knee injury, comes back, wins the rising title. Now he looks to win back the Bellator title. So just looking at legacies and where they're at, I think I know your answer, Kristen, but we'll just throw it out there anyway. Who needs this one more, Horaguchi or Petis? Petis needs this one more.

He needs this one way more than Keoguchi. I think Keoggi is already established as one of the greatest fighters in that division. No doubt about it. He is one of the greatest. Sergio Pettis is on the cusp of greatness, and he can prove himself with a win over a fighter like Kioji Horaguchi. So if anyone needs it more, it's definitely Sergio.

I think he spoke with Mike Bond of MMA junkies saying that this feels like a breakout performance for him. He really does want to show people the improvements that he's made over the years. And granted, we've seen those in his fights. He may not have found his footing in the UFC, but he certainly has found it now. and he gets the chance, this grand opportunity to not only headline this card, but do it against one of the greatest fighters ever.

And if he can get that win, we should start considering him as a great ban of weight competitor. So Sergio really does need this win, especially to establish his legacy, which is already being questioned because he has the belt that a lot of people don't view him as worthy of having. But he's the champion. He's the champion. and it sucks that he has a little bit more to prove, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess. So Sergio needs it. Jed, if, excuse me, do you agree with that?

And if so, we'll be, like, we know how fans view Bellator, especially this year. It has not been a terrific year for Bellator for being honest, especially with the promotion and things are doing. Some things are getting better. Some things are not getting better. But if Sergio Pettis,

if you agree that Sergio Pettis needs this one more, If he goes out there and just does the same thing to Horiguchi, they did a warrant our cheletta, six months from now, are we talking about Sergio Pettis as a top five bannamweight on planet Earth? Do you think that's the case? No, because, I mean, it's obvious that my opponent hasn't watched or listened to any of the other MMA fighting podcast because we discussed Sergio Pettis and Kioji Horeguchi, and there's very much a question on whether Kioi Horeguchi is one of the top bannam weights in the world. several of our rankers have him just like just hanging on to the top 15 and most everybody except for me and Casey I think looked at Sergio with disdain and like no he's obviously not so even if he goes out here and blows the doors off Kyogi like at least for our purposes in our panel he's probably not going to be a top five guy maybe other people will obviously Kristen will view him very highly he'll be number two for Casey which would be ridiculous but not like the most

ridiculous thing just because Rob Font has a win, like, in the recent history over Sergio. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know who needs him more. It probably is Sergio just because what Sergio's fallback plan? Like, if Sergio loses, he just goes back to the mix. If Kioji Looj is, like, I don't know, he could go fighting Risen or do something else. Like, he can go fight in Japan and be just as big, if not bigger. It won't really hurt him that bad. so I guess by those terms

Sergio probably needs it more, but I think both men need this. You want to have titles. You want to win the belt because what that means for your legacy and everything. And, you know, if our conversation this week is any indication, you have to do something incredibly impressive

outside of the UFC to make it into the top five of the MMAT Fighting.com global rankings. So both men need this win really badly, or they're going to be like a top 10-ish, maybe the top 15 Bantam weight. So both men need it tremendously. Just so we know,

I have Pettus ranked higher in my rankings than you do, Jed. I'm a spot higher than you. I didn't know you had Pettus. Good for you. Of course I did. I just didn't have them in the top five or ranked above Robblin.

I got you talked about this. We did talk about a lot of stuff. We did. We did a lot of guys. Golly. Go listen to that after this because it's crazy. It's the true area. I am really with Arche Lutterman ranked though because I'm a good person and believe in Bellator as a product.

I don't have Archiliterite right? I don't know. I guess I don't think so. I think I'm the only one knocked him out of that spot. He was there, but Song you don't knocked him out. So, uh, okay, so that's that fight. UFC, we talked about 135 in the UFC is awesome. It's a lot of fun, but it is a sloppy mess.

especially at the top. Hopefully in the next four to five months, it clears up a little bit. We get the Sterling Yan fight. But this is another big one. Font, Aldo, Fon, trying to get to that title shot. He's very honest. He knows with this win, he'll have five straight wins. Getting a win over Jose Aldo should put you in a great spot.

But he even knows this probably won't be enough. The winner will probably fight T.J. Delishaw. That's the way he's looking at it. Aldo has fought for the belt. He's lost. He's looked sensational in his last two fights. one of the all-time great fighters, as Jed said, former champion. Jed, who needs this one more?

Rob Foner, Jose Aldo, for sure. I mean, it doesn't need it in regards to his legacy is set in stone, as far as I'm concerned. Like, the only thing that's going to make me not view him as one of the three best fighters ever is if Kamar Usman puts together, like, I don't know, three or four more wins, maybe just three. He probably doesn't need four to get there. But, like, Josaldo is what he is and what he is meant to this sport is unassailable for me.

first ballot hall of fame or no question and just he has nothing to lose ever because of that but as far as his immediate dreams he has spoken very candidly about considering retirement coming back becoming reinvigorated and being really interested or invested in getting to a second belt getting back to a title shot a lost drop font probably ends that for good I mean maybe not you can never say never in this sport but if he loses his fight I don't I think that that's the end of Joseo the potential champion dream. Whereas if Rob Font loses, it's a setback,

but he still has enough tread on his tires to kind of move forward. But yeah, it's got to be Josealdo. Do you agree, Kristen? Is it Josealdo or is Rob Font got more on the line here, in your opinion? Man, I feel like it's Rob Font, just because I recognize that he doesn't necessarily believe that a win over Josie Aldo is going to do much for him.

But I personally do. I mean, I believe Rob Font, which, by the way, he was first called to take on that short-notice fight against Peter Yon at UFC 267. Obviously, he could not take it for a number of reasons. But if he was already on the short list for contenders to meet someone for a championship, I think he's right there. And I think that another standout performance, kind of like the one that he put against Cody Garbrandt where he just methodically picked him apart, he can do that against Jose.

Although someone like that, I think he puts himself in prime position to potentially get to that space one day. And it could come as soon as next year, depending on how things shake up in the division. We still don't know about Al J. J. Delishaw. Peter Yon said he's ready to go in February or March. So that could be a real possibility if Rob Font goes out here and does something, nothing short of spectacular against Aldo, I think he's in a great position. So I, for me, I think Font has it more than Aldo. Two really good fights. We are blessed this weekend as MMA fans,

especially with Bannamway fights, although it's a lot of MMA to watch for being honest. Like Saturday, 7 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 3 p.m. 10 p.m. main card. 15 fight card. It's going to be a long night, ladies and gentlemen. Bandaway Panama Bonanza indeed. So we'll move on to our final topic of regulation. The point for round three goes to Kristen King is up two to one. Excellent round. Very happy.

By the way, I'm really happy that these events are happening on Friday and Saturday, because could you imagine trying to watch both of them on the same day? I feel like that'd be a lot. I wouldn't want to do that. I just wouldn't watch Belltor at all. That's fine. I knew you were to say that. I do you would say that.

But we can appreciate it. But, like, I just wouldn't watch it. Let's also be honest, I'm probably not going to watch most of the UFC cards Saturday. It's probably going to be a Sunday hungover watch for me. Okay. Well, the honesty is just flowing here on BTL, but. What Saturday? Georgia, baby, SEC Championship. Georgia Baylor has a big day.

It's a big day. How do you feel about Brian Kelly going to LSU, Jed? I think it's hysterically funny. And if this was a different program, I would offshoot us for 30 minutes to talk about how dumb that choice is. but nobody wants to listen to me wax poetic on college football. All right. Well, let's wax poetically on the under the radar fights. The low-key bang-around.

Round four is the low-key bang-around. We get two big events, lots of fights to choose from two exceptional main events, but something's going to lead into those exceptional main events. So you can choose the Bellator card. You can choose the UFC card. Whatever one you want. Kristen, we begin with you. What is the low-key?

banger of the weekend. What is the best fight of these two cards of this weekend that no one's given enough love to? Man, there's a lot on the UFC card. There's a few on the Bellatory card, but for me personally, I am

very excited to see Chris the action man, Curtis, back in action so soon after his insane debut at UFC 268. He gets to take on Brendan Allen, who, by the way, I don't know what's going on with like his opponents,

but I feel like he's been rescheduled for like five or six different opponents in the last few months. And who gets the call? Chris Curtis. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the very definition of a low-key banger. I think that this one is on the main card.

I think it's like what, like maybe first or second on the main card. That is good money. That is a good fight. If you saw Chris Curtis do what he did to Phil Hawes, and you know what kind of fighter Brendan Allen is, this is something that you don't want to miss. And I'm very much excited to see him back so soon,

especially considering the type of career that Chris Curtis has had in recent years, it just warms my heart to see him finally under the UFC banner and going against these guys. So it should be really fun. I like that one. Chris Curtis, Brendan Allen. It would have been Matt Brown and Brian Barbarina, but that fell through and that kind of broke.

my heart. So this is my next one. And I really enjoy this one. Jed, what you got? Look, I, you know me, Mike. I, I have a lot of tendencies. And one of my tendencies is to rip the UFC to shreds when they put on 15 fight cards. It's insane. But, I mean, if you're going to do it, this is the way to do it. This card crushes the Wikipedia test. Like, almost everybody has a Wikipedia page, which is great. And all the fights are just awesome. Like, you could throw a dart and anything you hit is either really well matched or interesting. Like, it is a, this is really good work from Sean Shelby and company, uh, top to bottom.

And I will tip my hat to them for that. But if we're talking a banger, I wanted to come in here, you know me. I love the big boys. I wanted to come in here and talk to you about Jimmy Crute, Jamal Hill. But then Jimmy Crute rock, rocked that ape drape, that majestic hockey hair. And there's no way that that's low key anymore. Everybody has to be tuning in for, for Jimmy Crute's. hair, if nothing else. And so I'm going to go

with the only answer. The only true answer is in the flyweight division. On the undercard, as bangers should be, when they are of the low-key nature. It's Manel-Ka-Zal-Lav. I'd probably butchered it. I'm sorry. That name can't be said. It's impossible to say that name. So blame everybody but me.

It's not my fault. Manel-Cap is the man. I think E. Casey Leiden is a huge fan of Manel-Cap. Former rising champion. Dude in his last fight, had a flying knee knockout and somehow didn't get a performance of the night bonus, which is insane. He came to the UFC a little, it hasn't been great, a huge robbery in one of those fights. And then he also, he lost Julian Paiva, who I have is one of the top Bannamites with what he's done since then with the win over Kyler Phillips.

This dude's awesome. This dude throws hammers and is exciting and fundamentally just the best thing to watch any given point in time. And Zagas, not even going to go with his last name. Zagas is damn good, man. Like he also came to the UFC, lost a couple. One of those, I think, was, if I'm remembering correctly, who did he lose to? No, I was thinking about Manel Cape, sorry.

Zagas came in, lost one of those was whatever. But he's, their boat just really fun fighters, man. And it's flyweight. It's going to be action-packed until Manel Cape kills him. And that's what's going to happen. So tune in. Well, I mean, we know why he didn't get a bonus because he missed weight. Exactly.

I mean, it doesn't matter. I like a lot. Give that extra money to the homie because he deserves it. He got his brain knocked around. He, you're telling me, O'Dowdow's born couldn't use an extra 50 Gs? He could have. He probably needed them for medical expenses. That's true.

And listen, made Odeo's born, make some different choices in life. Not going to pretend. I totally forgot, but you should still give him the props is one of the best performances in night. Yes, it was a nice knee. That is a pretty good card. It is a pretty good card on paper. It's just a lot of fights. Fishing some of these on whatever.

The card two weeks ago was hot fire. And by fire, I mean, a garbage fire of awful. Put some of the good stuff on that one, spruce it up a bit. Well, the good one of that card fell off like the day of. So it wouldn't have saved face anyway. It just, and besides, we're saying this is a 15 fight card. We still have how much longer? What a day?

We're 48 hours. We don't have enough hours to get rid of most of these fights. We need 10. 10 is the max. People have lives they want to live. Especially if you're doing a 7 p.m. start time. Yeah. Yeah, there's some good ones on here.

And let's not forget. It's a really good fight, man. Fight card. Alex Brona and Mickey Gall is like It's opening with Louis Smoke of Vince Morales Like that's a freaking good fight Alonzo Menafield and William Knight Is just going to be bananas

Those two guys are just going to throw burdens of each other Somebody falls down And let's not forget the key The key component That makes Brennan Allen versus Chris Curtis so fun Sean Strickland will be in Chris Curtis's corner Well Brennan Allen will be in there fighting Chris Curtis

So that should be a lot of fun Although I talked to Chris Curtis about that, which you can check out on MMA fightings we got next. He feels like it doesn't know why Brennan Allen thinks there's any kind of beef there, but I think it's going to be pretty fun. But the point for round four. Before you get the point, can I just say like shout out to the co-made event because we haven't talked about that at all and that's arguably the third best.

I mean, it's not arguably, it is the third best fight of the weekend outside of the two title fights coming. Like, that's just a bank. and we haven't talked about Hafeel Viziv, who like may actually just be a legitimate top five lightweight in the very near future. And Brad Vidal, who's dope. Like that fight is going to be technically brilliant and great.

And nobody's even talking about it at all. Because I think everyone just, yeah, everyone just assumes that's going to be like a fight of the year contender. We already know that. That's common college. I guess, I don't know, but we were going to go to this whole show without bringing up, like a fight between two of the ranked,

like the top 15 ranks. lightweights in the world. That seems kind of disrespectful for us as all to not have mentioned them at all. You're not even going to watch the event Saturday. My bad, if I didn't. You're not going to watch it until Sunday. You're not going to watch it until Sunday. You're not going to watch it.

Well, yeah, because I'm already going to be drunk from Georgia putting the wood to Alabama. And I want to give these gentlemen the respect they deserve for sober viewing so I can appreciate the technical and tactical brilliance. Thank you. Oh, man. The point for round four goes to, it's going to Jedmishu for the last two minutes and nothing to do with the question.

It's veterans. When you're not doing well with the question, you just muddy the waters. Yes, you muddied them all right. You poured like 25 gallons of water on the mud. We muddied them up all good. So final question. One minute.

Each of these competitors will have to answer said question It'll be the same question for both. I got really lazy, so I just thought of one like a minute ago. I've been dealing with sickness and sweating my sweating bullets. So I think this is a fun question, especially for the time of year. So Jen Mishu actually got the blind draw for this choice. So you get the choice. Do you want to go first or do you want to pass it over to Kristen?

I will pass to Kristen. Okay. Kristen, here we go. We mentioned the Bellator event this week. We got the UFC this weekend. We got the UFC final pay-per-view of 2021 coming up next week. And then the final UFC event coming up on December 18th. We also got some boxing fights.

We get Jake Paul versus Tommy Fury. We get so much stuff coming up for the next few weeks to round out the year of our Lord 2021. So my question to you is, and this is as open-ended as it can possibly be, what is your bold prediction for the rest of the year in MMA-Slauhrase-com combat sports. Like from these events, what sticks out to you? What's your bold prediction as far as talking points go for the rest of the year with these cards? One minute on the clock. Your time starts now.

My bold prediction for the rest of the year is that although in the lightweight division, even though there could be a really good chance that there's a new champion crowned between Charles O'Levara and Dustin Poirier, something. tells me somebody by the name of Connor McGregor is going to skirt his way straight to the top like he's been talking about, saying that he's going to walk straight into a title shot by the time he gets back next year. And as much as it does not make sense, it does when you're talking about the money. So I could see that happening sometime. Oh, could you imagine if we get like some WWES type of thing where Connor is there at that night and just like confronts whoever wins that

in the octagon. That'd be fun. That'd be great. That'd be great promotion. We could have like another UFC 229 bus type of thing, I guess. And we can set that up. So my bold prediction is no matter where the lightweight division goes, Connor is probably going to still weasel his way into this,

into a title shot by the beginning of next year. There's my bold prediction. That would be hilarious if like Connor was there and he went and confronted the winner. And Justin Gaitie was going to like casually walk over and confront the winner. but Connor was already in there. What an amazing moment that would be. You just have to sit down. You can't even get mad about it.

So that would be a lot of fun. I would figure that like Justin Gage, you would kind of just fold his chair and then just like slam it on the back of Connor. Kind of like that. You know how they used to do back in the W. You just got to sit back down at that point. All right, Jed.

You've heard your opponent's answer. One minute on the clock, bold prediction for these final few weeks in the year of our Lord 2021. Go. I hate my opponent's answer because it's supposed to be bold, and she went out on a limb in no way whatsoever. She's hugging the trunk of the tree.

Obviously, Connemerger is going to shortcut to the front of the line. Dana White has basically said that. There's nothing shocking about it. But you know what is shocking? Next weekend. Next weekend UFC 29 is taking place. There's a title fight at the main event. There's also a title fight in the co-main event.

is the greatest female fighter of all time, Amanan Nunes, is taking on an overlooked challenger. Somebody nobody cares about whatsoever. Giuliana Pena, who's been talking a rash of crap, and nobody thinks she can win. I don't know what the odds are. It's probably minus $4,700 billion for Amanan Nunes, minus 170 million.

That's what it is, minus 170 million for Nunes to win that fight. Everyone's looking past it, and they should. Penau shouldn't win this at all. But that's why they fight the fights, Mike, they get into the cage because no one knows what's going to happen. And this is exactly where things go haywire.

Giuliana Pena, Bannon Way champion, 2022, baby. Wow. Holy cow. Wow. Mind blown. Because I know Jed does not believe what he just said, but it was both. We'll see. Why would I say something that you believe it?

Why would I say something? I believe it. You said you believe in a military product and then crapped all over it like a few answers later. I don't believe you, Jed. Exactly. Okay, go ahead, Mike. Sorry. Had to call him out.

By the way. By the way, just, just, just to put some perspective on this. Currently, via our friends at Giraff Kings, Amanda Nunes, minus 850 as a favorite, Juninauania plus 575. So don't get you. Not. Wait, that number is going to keep ballooning up, but then right. before fight time. Hammer that line. Let's go Pena. There you go. Here we go. We now turn it over

to the judge, the jury, the executive producer, E. Casey Lyons, and waiting patiently in a small circle on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Suns-out, guns out, got the hat on and everything, baddestash in M-A media. Who wins? Who punches their ticket to the finals to face the winner of next week's matchup between Phoenix Carnivali. and Alexander K. Lee, we turn it over to you, Casey. You know what? I've made a decision.

This one, I think this one's pretty simple, actually. You're a winner. Because basically the question was bold prediction. Of course, Jed freaking Michoud. Jed Mishu gets it done. Wow. My voice just Peter Bradyed all up in here. Holy cow.

So everyone is clear, for the rest of the next two weeks, I will be living by that bold prediction. Julianna Payne, you're going to pull off that upset, baby. Let's go. Now, if you were to say that Carter McGregor would not be involved in the lightweight title picture, that would be a bold prediction. I guess. Didn't feel right.

Didn't feel right. We already know what it is. But you know, hey, great competition, great effort, Kristen. You just, you know, ran into a steamroller today and a great looking suit. So it was a great contest. I mean, if I had to lose to anyone, I would have literally wanted to lose to anyone else that is not named Jack, but because that is the situation that I'm dealing with now,

I have to respect him. We joke here and there, but he's obviously a formidable contender, so I'm going to do the gracious thing and wish you the best of luck next week. And honestly, Casey, you saved me from potentially going against my tag team partner, Alex Cayley in the finals. And I think that would have been very, very gut-wrenching for me. So good luck.

Chuck, Jed. I look forward to it. He did not save you because Alex K. Lee is not going to be Phoenix Carnival. The Cinderella story stops next week for sure. Chad, what would you like to say? You know, I'd like to thank my mom and dad, my family. Mostly, I'd like to thank all the people out there believing me because this is it. This is what we've been for. This is what we got suited up for. tune in in two weeks when I do get to take on Phoenix Carnivali after she handles her business

because I'm going to be dressed. You guys don't even know what I've got playing for that. But this is it. This is the game. I've had to scrap my, I've earned it. Every step of the way, I had to take on rising contenders. Young hotshots coming here, throwing fire, throwing 90 miles an hour at me.

Carnivali just cleaning up the dregs of MMA fighting, the guys I've beat every other day, like it's no problem whatsoever. She's coming in. It's going to be much like Nunes Pena, the greatest of all time, overlooking the scrappy opponent. And we're going to have two upsets in a couple weeks and two new champions. That's what we're going to have. So hold on. Would it be a bold prediction to say that Phoenix wipes the floor with Jed or is that just? That's what the odds makers are saying. The odds makers are, they're wrong this time. I'm going to prove them. Bet your money on me. draft kings i bet they're putting up lines right now yeah we got to root for team j and j jed and juliana that'd be a great sign because if that if this is what happens the finals will be right after that

jed you get to wax politically in the championship game if jilliana pania wins the title you might get an automatic point like right away when she wins the title i believe that that will be what pushes me over the edge to become the new btl champion well we will see who Jed's opponent will be in the finals next week. It's AK versus Phoenix Carnivali. What a matchup it is going to be. Kristen, tremendous job. We appreciate you coming back on here.

Jed Michoud, congratulations on the victory. For Jedd, for Kristen, for E. Casey Lydden. I am Mike Keck. We'll see you back here next week. Once again, Between the Links. Good night, everybody. This is Esther Lynn. You're watching Between the Links.

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