MMA Fighting - BTL | Khamzat Chimaev's Dominance At UFC 319, DDP & Pico's Next Moves, UFC Shanghai, More

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Following UFC 319, Khamzat Chimaev is the brand new UFC middleweight champion after delivering a lopsided victory against Dricus du Plessis in the main event. While Chimaev was in full control for 99 percent of the bout, the performance has garnered from groans from UFC fans and the MMA community. Is that fair, and if so, which fighter should take the blame for it? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the UFC 319 main event, the backlash it has received despite the impressive showing from the new champion, and what's next for du Plessis following his first UFC loss. Additionally, they react to Lerone Murphy's sensational knockout of Aaron Pico, if Murphy is definitely Alexander Volkanovski's next challenger, what the next step for Pico should be, Saturday's UFC Shanghai card headlined by Zhang Mingyang and Johnny Walker, Anthony Hernandez vs. Reinier de Ridder being announced for UFC Vancouver, Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis, and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Morning Kombat's Long Island Luke. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠@m_heckjr⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠@JedKMeshew⁠ Follow Long Island Luke: @maincardminute 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

When I got a great deal on a great gift at Winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious will throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss?

Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at Winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last.

Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. We got a lot going on in the wonderful and wacky world of mixed martial arts.

And we have a fun match for you on the program today. So without further ado, let's do you. us introduce the participants first. You know them. You'll love them. The hot take kid, Mr. No Gray area, the man who will just climb, he will fall down, he'll climb again,

he'll fall back down, and he'll just keep on climbing from M-Matefighting.com. Deadbushu. What's up, buddy? You did just remind me I need to build climb graphics for this week. So thank you. I forgot to do that. So, um, hey everybody. Excited to be back.

we have sad things to talk about and I guess we're going to talk about them. Do you want to reveal your climb bet yet? Oh, yeah, my climb my climb bets. I revealed my climb bet on the live watch party for UFC 319. It was always going to be Zhang Mingyang and it is Yang like he's he's going to win this weekend.

Though I do think that fight is like, as I looked into it, It's a little more competitive than probably, like, I thought originally. But still, at this point, it was too fun to do it. I'd already said it. I have to be a man of my word. Yeah. I can't remember what happened yesterday. You're asking me in a room or something that happened five days ago, which is funny,

because that's what we're going to be doing today. But joining us making his BTL debut, the third member of the morning combat team to appear on the show, MK's gambling guru, the one and only. Long Island, Luke, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, guys. I appreciate it. I already was telling you guys pre-show. I'm ready to argue to the death with Jed.

I don't even care if I don't believe in it morally. I'm winning the argument with the lawyer today. Let's go. I love this attitude. This should be a very fun matchup. Oh, you think so, do you? Because those degrees right there would say something different, bro. You're going to have to give me that degree after this episode when I win.

No, that degree cost me $100,000. I can get it to a fucking soul. I'll take the honorary degree then. There you go. Well, guys, let's let's begin with how UFC 319 ended. And I know this might hurt Jedbushu a little bit, but Hamzaa Chmaiv is the new middleweight champion. He defeats stricc his duplicity in a fight that was not close.

It was not competitive. And the results become kind of a polarizing topic, Long Island, Luke because this performance was dominant. Nobody expected this type of one-way traffic over 25 minutes. People expected if Homs out were to win, it would have been quick, round or two, we're out of here. This was bell to bell 25 minutes of an ass whoopin outside of one moment for Triggis DuPla C where he got full amount and maybe something could have happened, but it didn't.

It was super impressive. However, as you probably seen, the fans are booing in the arena, the fans who were not in the arena. We're not very happy with it. And a lot of people are saying, yeah, he won, but it was incredibly boring. And Hamzat has taken a little bit of a beating. So, Luke, and I want you to show your work here, fill in the blank. Hamzaa Shamiyev's championship win at UFC 319 was blank. I set this on MK.

I'm going to use the word dominant. And I'll say that because, yeah, it might have been boring, dude, but he dominated the fight. I know Luke Thomas wanted to say he was just using a. controlling position. He wasn't actually like working to get any offense. And sure, that's true. But it's almost like the Islam Makachep thing. If I'm the best wrestler in the world and I'm going against someone, I'm going to use the best thing I'm good at. I'm going to use my wrestling. If you can't hang with my wrestling, that's on you, bro. That's on DDP. Jed, that's on your boy. All right? He should have been better at defending the wrestling. It's not Hamzot's fault that that's

the best path to victory. Granted, like, okay, this is almost as if, uh, Justin Gachi or Terrence McKinney, who I think are the two most exciting fighters in the UFC, went into a fight and just wrestled for 25 minutes? Yeah, we'd all be a little disappointed. Like, dude, what the fuck? I expected you to stand in there, bang, put on her performance. But at the end of the day, the man just won his first title. He's getting the safest win. He's also like trying to save his cardio through five rounds. I get it. I don't think, I think the fans being a little upset need to slow their role. But at the end of the day, it was a dominant performance. I'm sticking with the word

dominant. Jed, Shemayev's win was blank and your reaction to Luke just putting it all on your boy, trickus duplicity. You're muted. I was trying not to interrupt Long Island Luke with his terrible takes with my guffaws and coughs of derision. My one word,

heartbreaking, we was just sad. You watched it. You were there. We were in the room together. at the watch party and I was just, I was just sad because it was never in doubt other than that like one moment, which would have been truly the greatest moment in the history of this sport if Driggis had just face cranked him like at the very, very end of the fight.

But it was just like, I don't think for other people was sad, but for me, the number one DDP guy almost instantaneous. It was like, well, this isn't going great. and it never went good the whole narrative of like I wrote about it this week is Hamza up boring

I don't think we should call Hamzaa boring because this was one boring fight and it was a boring fight if you're trying to tell me that this wasn't a boring fight get the F out of here like I got to tell you I was way I didn't bother me that this fight was uninteresting

I was way more perturbed by the sheer volume of like professional fist fighters coming out here to be like, d'ur, y'all don't know what you're watching. Frikin losers, you're not real fans. No man, it's an entertainment sport. We can call them like we see them. Balls and strikes, baby.

That fight was not interesting. Nobody, nobody in the world said that it wasn't a dominant performance. And most people were not like Hamzot should do more or should have done more, right? Like, yeah, it is on Drix duplice to create a few more scrambles. That being said, I've been pretty consistent with this position in my entire career. Yeah, it is on Drixus to do that. But you know what Drix's punishment is? He lost.

His punishment for that is taking loss. Hamzot also didn't do anything, right? Like, I, Luke Thomas is not wrong in that Hamzot prioritized safety over everything. which got him a W, totally fine. But like you also still have to kind of take your lumps if that's what you're going to do because this isn't, this is not a sport. We say it all the time. This is the entertainment industry.

And for all of his career up until Saturday night, Hamzaa didn't give a fuck about safety. Like he just came out and he dummied people. And Drickis was super safe. And Hamza was like, okay, I am comfortable winning this way. Nothing big picture wrong with that, but you do have to like acknowledge you could have done more. Like he got in the crucifix four times and he never, never hurt him. I've never seen someone be in a crucifix for a total of like 12 minutes and cause no damage. Like that's not.

And it is because of a choice he made. And that choice may or may not have led to him winning. But he's got to wear that piece of it. And we don't have to pretend that that was a super fun thing to watch. So, Jed, I want to go back to you because one of the things that I was actually kind of fascinated with once the aura of the fight wore off in the result was, how is Dana White going to react to this? Is he got to approach this in a super positive way and put Hamzaid over? Or are we going to get the wasn't a barn burner type of answer from Dana White? And Dana White's put it over big time.

And I was listening to Ray Longo on Anakin Florian, and Ray Longo had basically asked, like, what if that was Jose Aldo who put on a performance in a title fight like that? Would Dana have treated it the same way? Because, like I said, we've seen Dana react to Marab title wins and just be like, yeah, it wasn't great. Belaw winning the belt, wasn't a barn burner.

So is this just Hamzot being a star? We're going to put over anything he does? Because Longo's question is a good one. How would Dana White have reacted? If that was Joseoaldo putting out a performance like this, are Armand Sarukian winning a title with a performance like that? Do you think it's the same reaction or do you think Dana is slamming it a little bit? Dude, you didn't even say the best example, which would be Mavsar Evluev.

We've seen Mavsor Evlou have good fights and Dana be like, that was boring and sucked. You know, like it's 100%. And like I said it on the watch party, I was like, dude, he's going to put Hamzaud over. And to some extent, Hamza deserves to be put over. Again, I'm not trying to crucify him unless we're talking about crucify him and the way he crucified DDP. We're like, I lightly ping him for doing bad, but no real damage is done to him.

Then that's fine. That's a totally great crucifying for him. And an appropriate one, like, he's had one bad fight in his career. And it was the one he won the title in. And that bad fight was dominant. So we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. This was an example of Dana being a good promoter, which sometimes he does accidentally. But no, if this was Movsar, absolutely not.

If this was Jose Aldo, John Hennick would have been on the call being like, this guy sucks. He might actually be the fifth greatest featherweight of all time. He can't even finish this jackass. Like it is, it's just part of how narratives are spun in this industry. And if he does this four more times, absolutely. like you got to start really holding his feet to the fire um but like to me the biggest part of the whole narrative is just is a statement not of this fight it is a statement of this fight's broader reach because this was i i think the biggest fight of the year we'll never know pay-per-view numbers ever again

but like this was one of the few events this year that really i got a lot of people talking about it to me outside of the fight world uh the barstool push like seemed to get like people who don't follow fighting were like hey is that Chechen dude just going to win because he's from Chechnya so I assume he's a bad like people were texting me that hamzad is over and this got broad appeal outside of the little fight bubble and when those people come to a fight event and they are pitched something you yourself Mike a take that I kind of agreed with like this is going to be the fight of the year these people were sold that this is going to be incredible And instead, it was super not.

And so this is not mostly hardcore fans flipping out about this. This is the broader public, you know, thinking they're going to get a good time and getting a snoozer because that just is what it is. And that's okay. But Dana should put him over. He's probably going to be champ for a while. So you should put that guy over. Were you surprised by how Dana reacted to this, Luke, compared to Marab wins, Bilal wins, Movesar wins, etc. done similar things.

You can argue the Bozar win over Arnold Allen was a much more fun fight than this one. 100%. I mean, Dana will be the first guy to shit on anyone who has a boring performance. This has to be just we need a star in the UFC and Hamzat is our guy. Let me just brush this under the rug, say it was great, and then we'll move on to the next fight. I don't know, like, who else they have that they're going to put this push behind. You just mentioned Marab. Balal, Evloy.

These are guys that like, with the exception of Evloy, two former champions in Balal and Marab that like had almost no push behind them the entire time. Marab's getting a little momentum now because he finished O'Malley. If he doesn't get a finish there, he's on the, they're shitting on that last performance at Prudential Center just the same. Like, I don't know, dude. I feel like this, first of all, I want to say that Hamzad is just like, people are like, oh, he's not a finisher now.

This is boring. This is whatever. who is beating him in this division, even if he does put on his exciting style or his boring style, I feel like even Fluffy, who I'd argue probably has the best chance to beat him is like, I don't even give Fluffy a chance against this guy. And it's pretty disappointing because I feel like middleweight just went from one of the most exciting divisions with all these up and coming contenders to now like, dude, I'm not even looking forward to the next title fight.

Who cares? He's going to face Kyle Boholio or Nasardini Mavov and run right through him? Like, I don't know about you guys. I'm just middleweight's dead. Middleweight is dead. Write it down. Wow. Middleweight is dead.

Yes. Do you agree with this, Jen? Middleweight is dead? That is a statement. It's certainly a bold take. No, I think middleweight's fun. Because, yeah, I think Hamzot's going to win for a while. But I've thought a lot of things that were wrong.

That's why they fight fights, you know? Like, I know that I know that every. everyone in the current modern age of fandom, just they don't need to see fist fights. They just, these guys are the best guys, right? And like, I don't need to see Elliot Tupuria beat any of the other featherweights in the world.

He beat two of them and he's the best, probably that's ever been. It's just like, I think Hamzot's going to win. I will pick him against everybody that he fights. But fight him. Prove it. The test of greatness is not what I think will happen.

that you doing the shit, right? And so, like, everybody thought Robert Whitaker was going to beat DDP and then he didn't. Like, I am interested because also for as dominant as that was, for as nigh untouchable as Hamzat has looked in his UFC career, the fact remains, like, we still kind of don't know a lot about him, right? Like, we know that he is among the best hammers I've seen in a generation. I have no idea what he looks like as a nail.

He's never looked like a nail before. And if somebody can do that, and that's what happens in the sport, you give all the fighters in the world months and years on end to prepare for you to build specific game plans, to see one tick of yours. And suddenly, you are Alex de Grasso and you notice that when Valentina Shikchenko spins, you just jump on her back and choke her ass out. That can happen to him. And so middleweight's not dead at all.

He's got a new champion who's got literally there are four people. If you booked him against tomorrow, I would be like, yes, sign me up. That is, that's high-level mixed martial arts. Middleweight is just fine. Luke is crazy. Who are those four people? I could think of maybe three. Who are those four?

Fuffy RDR, Kyle Baha'aio Nasir Dine Mavov, the four people in the Grand Prix. If you would be high-up, I would pick him over anyone? But if the test of a good fight is well, would I pick him over anyone, then fuck every weight class is dead. Because I'd pick every champion over all their contenders. That is a dumb way to view shit. No, dude, a featherweight fight gets booked today. You might not pick Volk. Let's be real.

Okay, so I'm sorry, feather. I wouldn't pick Volk. We're going to talk about that in a bit. Featherweight's the one good weight class because the guy holding the belt might not be the best. That's an insane way to view things. This dude has fought three fucking middle weights. In his whole life, he's fought three middle weights. And you're like, division's dead.

He's going to beat him all. Order. Water in the court. You're yelling too much in the court. you should know this from law school. All I'm saying, dude, is any, like, Nasredini Malava versus Tchamayev, if they booked that today, fans are like, really?

That's what we're getting. No, fans are in because it's Tchamayev. After that performance, I think majority of fans are out. I don't think that's right to say, but I do think the momentum is not in his favor. Now you put him in a boring matchup against the least popular guy of those four. I don't think. This is just one of the more ludicrous takes I've ever heard.

I'm trying to argue again. The brand new champion who is one of the biggest stars in the sport that has killed the weight class before one title. Like that is just absolutely insane. It's not his fault. He's good. Dude, if Islam, uh, no,

I don't know. He's fought three middle weights in his entire life. And one of them's Gerald goddamn mere charge. Like, come on. Yeah, but he also finished him in 13 seconds. So that's, yes, Gerald Mearshardt. Yeah, nobody puts Gerald out like that. Like, like, St.

Chick killed him in a minute. Like, that doesn't, that's not, took him a lot longer. Took him a lot longer. What are we talking about that a weight class that got the champion people have wanted for five years is dead and gone? Well, there's an argument. There's an argument that, sure,

there's fun new matchups now that you got a new champion. Great. But like, you've seen him run through. the Whitakers of the world on the way up. There's no like, oh, put that guy in there. Answer me this question that very, like, what do you care about as a fan? If fun new mat, like, you just were like,

oh, they're fun new matchups. Fuck that. Who gives a shit? Like, why are you watching the sport? I want to see the champion challenged. And if we go into a title fight. They're fun new matchups. He's never fought those fucking guys before.

He's a minus 500 against everything. Did you hate John Jones's entire career? Were you just like, fuck it, John Jones? wasn't a minus 500 every time. This is an insane take. If all you want is like I only want to see super fights, then I guess that's a way to be a fan. But it is not what I said.

That's not what I said. But now that you brought up super fights, we can go into that whole thing because the most interesting fight right now is if Hamzaat can make 170 and Islam gets the belt and you do Islam Hamzaat. That's the toughest fight for Hamzaa right now. Chet's like, I can't even do this anymore.

I mean, yes, making 170 is the toughest fight for Hamzot. I agree. All right. Sure, sure. That's far more difficult than fighting for RDR. Yes. All right. I mean, look, that was a spirited debate about the division.

But Luke, I think there's somebody else who might disagree with your middleweight is dead take. Driggins duplice might disagree with that because, look, the UFC will be in absolutely no rush to throw him in there with Hamzaa Chamaev after this fight. So I'm curious. We're trying to revive this division in your eyes, Luke, and DDP is a big part of it. He's a fun part of it. Where does he go from this loss? So I think this question more goes back to Hamzad in the sense that we know Hamzad is not

fighting at least in 2025. You're pushing that back at least six months. Now let's say he gets a title defense in early 2026, which I think is being optimistic. it's putting him at least out another year till the second title defense. I'm bringing up the second title defense because the first should arguably either be the winner of Bolagio Imavov

or the winner of RDR Fluffy. But where does that put the other winner for the next 12 months? Because they're going to be waiting in no man's land waiting for Hams out to come back around again. I think DDP, being the former champion, having a couple title defenses,

coming off of that loss, yeah, it was dominant. No one really wants to see the rematch. But I think DDP could kind of weasel his way here into fighting one of the winners of those two matchups. So like, let's say they give the title shot to Boholio after he beats himov. Obviously, I'm just imagining here. And let's say Fluffy beats RDR. Fluffy's not going to want to wait around for a calendar year.

The man's getting older by the day. He's already been pretty active. He's already got, what, eight straight wins at middleweight? Like, fuck it, what's one more? I think you do RDR, sorry, Fluffy, DDP, or whoever wins that fight. DDP, I think, is still in a really good position here. Sure, that win then might not get him Homs out again because of how dominant it was, but I still think like he's top five matchups still coming off of this loss.

Jed, DDP is your medium adult son, heartbreaking loss, no doubt about it. We've seen lots of takes about DTV. Rampage is like, yeah, bad, he's dead at middleweight. He should probably fight at Walter weight right now. He should probably find a way to cut to 170. because he's cooked in this division right now with Tom's up being champion. So, I mean, just lots of wild takes going on here,

but what's next for DDP after this loss? Again, I don't think DDP can make Welterweight so he shouldn't do that. I know he did it, but that was a long time ago. That's a terrible idea. I do think he's kind of cooked right now, right? Like he, as so long as Chameyves holds the belt, they're never booking that fight again.

and they shouldn't like i forever a ddp stand i think if they fought again in a year or two like maybe he has made some adjustments and the fight would be more competitive um you know if they fought a hundred times he's going to win a couple of them probably but like they're just that fight that was a 50 41 fight like you just you never rebooked that sort of matchup unless drickis beats like six top dudes in a row and that's a huge thing to ask so you just Yeah, he, as long as Hamzad has the belt. And according to Luke, he's going to hold the belt forever in a lifetime. And we shouldn't even fight the fight.

So he really is kind of- He'll probably retire in two fights, so it's okay. So, yeah, like, I, DDP is sort of in the, like, Max Holloway position. Or he could try and make a run at 205 if he just wanted to do it for, you know, shits and gigs because him versus Yeri would be terrific. But I think the plan for D.D, like, if I was in DDP corner, I'd be like, all right, take some time off. Let's stick at middleweight for a little bit

and let's get a couple of wins and see how the landscape shakes out. Because again, nobody has any idea of Hamzad Shemai of may lose his very first fight. No one's going to pick that, but it could happen. And if that does, then Drickas is right back in the mix. You know, if Hamzart goes out there, let's say somehow Sean Strickland is the guy to beat Hamzot. He gets a couple of wins and, you know, he talks,

he's popular and he talks his way into a fight. So if I'm DDP or in his corner, hey, go back to the drawing board, fight the best guys you can fight at this weight class and sort of go from there. And I do, the one thing Luke said thus far on the program that I agree with, I think the winner, one of the winners of these two upcoming fights is very possible for him. not certain it will happen because if I'm the not chosen winner, right? Like if let's say Imov and RDR win, you know, I don't know if I'd want to give up a potential backup spot to take a really hard fight against the former champion. Maybe, maybe time just requires it. But, you know, somebody in that mix makes a lot of sense. And that is a good, big, important win for Drickis.

So, yeah, he's not totally cooked. but it's not a great position when you lose like that. Well, that is the main event of UFC 319. Other things happen, especially in the co-main event. We'll talk about that next, but the point for round one goes to, I mean, I love what Luke did there, but it's Jed. One-nothing. Well done. I want to be clear, that Crucify line, some of my best work ever, and that came right off the top of my head.

A lower degree came out there, I could tell. Yeah. I also, yeah, you having the mic muted hurt you badly, but then. And boy, you came back in a big way and made it happen with the crucifix sign. So Jed... Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

But first... Ah, there. The last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy?

Easy. Want honey crisp apples that are firm, green, and definitely not Macintosh like last year when you lost the fall bakeoff to perfect Penelope Johnson? Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over deliver. Service fees exclusions and terms apply.

We'll stick with you here. Let's talk about Lorraine Murphy, the man who stole the show in Chicago at UFC 319, spinning back elbows Aaron Pico into the land of Winden Ghosts absolutely insane and now it appears he could be the guy to challenge Alexander Volcanowski

for the UFC Featherweight title. Jed, your reaction and you're probably the perfect person to ask this now that we've had some days to digest this, your reaction to how quickly the Roan Murphy was able to change the trajectory of his career, how fans view him, and on top of that,

regardless of what happens, of the co-made event on Saturday, is he the 100% next guy for Volcanovsky after this win? Honestly, for as impressive as Hamza's performance was, Lorone Murphy shifting his narrative at the span of three minutes in some odd seconds, might be the most impressive thing to happen on Saturday because, and again, can speak sort of to the volatility of the sport. Heading into that event, I don't know the number of dollars it would take to convince me that leaving it, people would think Hamzot is boring and Lorone Murphy is the second coming,

but it would have been a lot of them. It would have, like, that would have been a preposterous thing to suggest. And then Saturday night at 2 a.m. in the morning, I guess Sunday 2 a.m. in the morning, it was like, that's kind of the vibe people had. Credit to, like full credit to Lorone Murphy, right? Like he took it, he stepped in on relatively short notice to accept this fight. could have been a tough fight, you know. I want to say early on he was having some trouble,

but it was so, like, the fight was so short that that's not even really, like, fair to say. And then he blew up Aaron Pico and now may get a title fight, which is like triply impressive when you consider that Aaron Pico is not ranked in our rankings. I don't believe, maybe he is. I'm not sure if he's ranked in our rankings, but certainly wasn't ranked in the UFC ranking. So he's going to get a win and very possibly a title fight over a guy like Mavsorev,

who's the most deserving, human being alive for a title shot. And I think it's 80, 20 that he does get it at this point. Outside of like, Volk stood up and took notice, you know, called them out for December. Murphy was like, I'm in. Dana White seems to already be behind this. Like the momentum is there. And a few months ago, Laurel Murphy had no momentum, none whatsoever.

Like he had gotten the win over Josh Emmett, but he's having to like, again, try and dictate to fans what they should and shouldn't enjoy, which is always a failed effort of like, actually that was a clinical performance and y'all are just losers because I'm really good. Like, okay, be interesting. Buddy, that's how you be interesting. 319 is how you be interesting. That's how you get title fights and not get, you know,

stuck in the Leon Edwards. I have to win 27 fights in a row to get there. So an incredibly impressive performance and an incredibly impressive turnaround for sort of a recent trajectory of his career. And like, I didn't ask this. If he does end up getting, he's got a really good chance to take the belt. Like, he's got a really good chance against Volt. Boy, what a watch party that's going to be in December of Lorone Murphy.

Ends the year as featherweight champion. It's going to be pretty intense. Luke, your reaction to what Lorone Murphy did because like Jed said, he was one of them for sure. A lot of people were just like, yeah, Lorone's in the Balal, Leon, Marab territory. he was going to have to win 12 fights in a row. A lot of people thought Aaron Pico was just going to go out there and run his ass over and get a title shot himself.

And Lorone Murphy's like, no, not doing that today. Knocks out Aaron Pico. Your reaction to what he did and is he 100% next for Volk in your opinion. I mean, dude, it was so impressive. And I was the one saying that like, I don't even care how Lorone Murphy wins this fight. He could get the most impressive finish. And he's still going to have to fight Mofsar of Vloy of next

because I didn't think the UFC was going to do him any favors after this fight. The fact that Volk is calling for it and the fact that Dana is also like, yeah, I don't mind it, is like, what? I didn't see this coming. He definitely deserves it nine straight wins and you're coming off of like one of the best finishes of the year so far. But if I'm Lorone Murphy, I am hounding the shit out of my manager until September 13th

being like, get this done, we need this booked. Because if John Silva goes out there and Merck's Diego Lopez, they are like, booking Diego Lopez versus Volk the next day. You already know that. Also, maybe a little bias here, but, you know, my boy Aljo fights this weekend. If he puts on an impressive, it'd probably have to be a finish.

Let's be real. If he goes out there and finishes Brian Ortega, maybe something as spectacular as this, you can't tell me you wouldn't love to see Aljo versus Volk. I mean, that would be pretty exciting. I don't know about you guys. But I do think Lorone should be next, but there's these two curveballs out there that I'd be worried about.

I think he's got to book that in the next three weeks. Otherwise, he could be screwed here. Yeah, I mean, maybe Aljo does something super impressive and changes the narrative. It's got to be tough, though. Even Aljo's kind of like in that mindset knowing, hey, probably going to have to wait for the winner at best. But, Jen, I want to go back to you. Let's talk about Aaron Pico and what comes from this, because it's clear he is a supremely talented guy. He looked good in the fight until he didn't.

great skills, but the overall experience in big fight situation is just not there. I mean, you can make an argument. He's probably a guy who has been mishandled his entire career. I mean, how many times on these shows, Jed, have I said, what is Aaron Pico's best win? And boy, do we have to dig deep to find it? And now he's on the receiving end of another highlight real knockout, a scary knockout. And this is the third time he has been knocked out like this, Jed. and he's only 28 years old.

Not a good thing. So if you're matchmaking for Aaron Pico right now, you debut on a pay-per-view in the co-main event spot against the top 10 guy and you lose like that, where does he go now? How would you do it? He needs, and I say this with some reticence

because this is still a camp that invokes a lot of adoration. And I even like several of the coaches there. He needs to leave Jackson Wink. It's just, he needs something new. He needs a whole new look interpretation viewpoint on how he should compete, what his skill sets are, the way he should go about fighting. And like maybe the guys of Jackson Wink are telling him to do something different and he's just going out there and doing it.

But like, he is, he doesn't have any concept of defense. which is pretty tough for every fighter other than Brian Ortega. And Brian Ortega only gets away with it because he is made of Adamantium. And I got to tell you, the results are in. Aaron Pico is not built out of fucking Mithril. Like he can be cracked. And the way he competes is just putting himself in the line of fire without concern for his well-being. And that doesn't work.

And we're talking about a guy who clearly has like the composite. skills that are incredible. But he has struggled to put them together in a, like, he, I mean, we've seen it, but it's always come against somebody just vastly inferior to him. And that is a real, like, you've got to figure out a way to work on that. And honestly, I think the best way is it's like, you have to adopt a new style. You have to figure out a way to fight differently. And that probably means just going to a new camp because it's just, it's just,

It's just, it's not working at Jackson Wink. Like, your career is not working there. And so, I don't know what, you know, ATT is just like the easiest answer because they have all the fighters that exist. But like, honestly, go to AKA. Like, go for that sort of a look. Like, you have the wrestling pedigree and Javier Mendez has proven to be really good, like, really, really good at teaching, you know, primarily grapplers.

not just striking but specifically like how to be defensive on the feet in a way that Pico desperately need. So like if I was Pico's, you know, friend or whatever, I'd be like, hey man, call it pavi. See if you can work out, you know, with some of the Dagestanis over there and kind of build a better game than what you got going because it's all the potential in the world and he has some of that I also think just comes from the way he was the formative years of his career went and the cake was baked in a lot of ways, but he's still young enough to salvage this. And I don't want to totally burn him down.

Lerone Murphy may well be the next featherweight champion losing. That's an explicable loss. But it's starting to feel like he's the problem and not that he's limited, but that he is approaching this maybe not in the ideal way. Luke, from a matchmaking perspective, I don't think you can really go wrong here. because again his Bellator career was was kind of mishandled right like going from Zach Freeman and then just kind of building up from there the back-to-back knockout losses like

he was probably like a minus 1,000 favorite against every single guy he fought moving forward. These are just one-way traffic type matchups and there's not a lot of growth that comes from those like Justin Gonzalez to me was a good win because I just was a guy watching a fight for LFA and on the regional scene and like that to me 15 and 0 guy like that was a solid victory for Aaron Pico, but he's in the UFC now. Like, do we do what we do with Pitbull and throw him Dan Igay? He could very much knock him out the same way Lorraine Murphy did. Or do we give him Mohamed Yahya?

So he'd go out there and knock him down nine times and get a finish and build his confidence that we can kind of build him back up from there because he's only 28. Like, how do we do this? I was, I'm glad you said the pit bull thing because I was going to suggest exactly that. you went too high. You gave him Lorimer. If he gave him a top five guy, you gave him arguably the next champion.

He emphatically finished him. First of all, he's got to take at least a year off. Get my man some fucking NyQuil. Take a step back, dude. Because Jed was saying, you guys were saying he's 28 years old. Like, come back at 30. I don't even care. You're still in the prime of your career at 30.

Take some years off. Come back. Let's see you against the Dan Ige or whoever is the featherweight gatekeeper, for lack of a better term at that time. See where he's at. You can't just give these Bellator guy, I don't care who they are coming in, what accolades they had.

You can't just give him a top five matchup to start and then try and figure it out from there. Give him a borderline top 15 matchup to start. And when they emphatically run through that person, then you go, oh, now we can step him up. Or when they lose that, you go, oh, this guy was never that great anyway. I think if Pico got Igay to begin with,

we're having a completely different conversation today. I'm not saying he would have won, lost, whatever. I don't know what would have happened. I'm just saying, I blame this more on Lorone Murphy being so good than I do Pico being completely shot. And Jed was saying, like, for how short the fight was, it almost looked like Pico was looking good in the beginning. I know Jed said he didn't really think that that much,

but I kind of thought that. I was like, I bet on Lorone Murphy, and I was like, shit, man, Pico might win this fight. And then, you know, Laron lands the bomb of all. bomb. So, yeah, if I'm Pico, man, just take a step back, take a year off, get your mentally back together, and then take a step back in competition as well. Damn, man, it's a lot of time off. He was just off 18 months. And now he's that, like, that's two fights in like three years. Don't take a step back in competition either. Like, your whole

career has mostly been you fighting shit competition. Like, do you don't have to fight a top five dude but like you need to be you gotta not fight the whatever the Gonzalez is that he fought are like you gotta fight people Wikipedia pages sure I meant step back in on UFC level which is probably

you know champion level in Bellatory you know so I mean would you do would you do like a use of Zalal would you know I think I think use of a bad match Keter? Feeley

actually but I would like I think Philey's like the right fight. Known guy, veteran can be great, but can also look bad. And he can create a highlight real one way or the other. I don't mind a feely one. I think Cater might be like a good last chance kind of fight. I don't know.

I would love, but I would hate if Cater had to lose that because what is that, like five in a row then if Cater loses that. Yeah. So I don't love that for Cater, but it'd be a good test for Pico. He's going to be real interesting to keep an eye on here with his UFC run. So let us move on, everybody, because the UFC's heading to Shanghai on Saturday. The point for round two goes to...

I'm trying to think who he should fight. I can give it a little. That's fine. Lala and Luke. Nicely done. It's one to one. We're all tied up. I suggested on to the next one do Muhammad Yahya.

Like, just get him a win. Like, get him a win. Like get him a win. And even like, like Jack Jenkins, I was like, if he beats Jack Jenkins, that is the best win of his career by a lot. So. Sure, Jack Jenkins is a legend.

Yeah, and Jack's booked anyway. So that wouldn't work. But I don't know. I think you just got to get this kid a win and just let him build his confidence a little bit. I don't care how you do it. I mean, you can basically start over with this guy and just like build him up from scratch,

which is nice. So especially a super, supremely talented fighter like that. So, yes, UFC Shanghai. We got ourselves a fight night in front of an audience, super early on the East Coast, 3 a.m. prelims on Saturday, 6 p.m. main card, the main event, Zhang Ming Yang, taking on Johnny Walker.

We also have a five-round co-main event between former Bannamweight champion Al Jermaine Sterling against Brian Ortega, the multi-time title challenge. Ortega, some other fights on here as well. Luke, uh, excitement level. for UFC Shanghai. How are we feeling about this one? All right.

A one to 10 level. I mean, I'm going to give it an optimistic seven. And I'll give it that seven because it's an early morning card. Yeah, it's a little too early for my liking. But like,

I'm not going to bitch at the end of the day if I'm done with UFC coverage by 10 a.m. Eastern time. That sounds pretty damn good to me. There's three fun fights at the top of the card. I'd argue there's even more like sneaky good prelims in there. I'm talking about energy. G versus Loner Kavanaugh.

That sounds like a fun fight. McEl Pereira versus Kyle Daukes. That's a fun fight. I'm getting up early. I'm doing a full card watch along for this. I'll be up at 3 a.m. for it. I got to argue that it's a good card. Mention the top three fights.

Sergei Pavlovich versus Salsa Boy. I mean, Salsa Boy arguably lost his last fight. Did get the nod going against Pavlovich, who I think has lost two straight. Or no, he's coming off of a win over D'Arzino, lost two straight before that. Either way, is Pavlovich coming or going? Is Salsa Boy coming or going?

is this going to be what six in a row for him now that'd be crazy already mentioned my boy al joe needs to get a big win here johnny walker in the main event probably a showcase fight for nying yang but uh you know johnny walker's probably going to get knocked out really funny we can all laugh about the highlight you got to give it a seven it's a solid seven jet a seven from luke are you is are you as high on this one no um my proprietary scoring system, as you can see right here. This has four fights above replacement level. I do like that it's, I mean, this is so early.

We're actually talking about this on like a meeting this week that there is like a small piece of me. I'm not working the event on Saturday that's like jealous that to Luke's point, you know, you can be done working by noon on a Saturday. That's so rare. And then we get next Saturday off because Miss Fits is Friday, I think. right anyway whatever it's like the rare back-to-back Saturday evenings as a m-ma fan that you can just sort of do whatever you want so like there is that piece of it

and I do think that the top end of this like I said there are four fights above replacement level on this card that I'm very interested in and there's like some smattering of other stuff but like we've got a bunch of road to UFC champs on here you know like we've got there are five fighters training out of the same gym um that is just like the Chinese gym, I guess, or whatever, the Shanghai gym. And so it feels a little regionally. This feels bellatory is what this card feels like, where they would go to a region and be like,

we're going to load up the prelims and then have a few fights that other people will care about. Those fights are interesting. I'm, you know, I'm going to wake up at 7 a.m. I'll wake up earlier than that. But I'm going to tune in for the main card of this. But, yeah, four farts. is a four-far car, which isn't terrible, but it's not amazing.

We mentioned the main event. We got Zhang Ming-Yang, 3-0 Jed in the UFC, three performance bonuses, three first-round knockouts. He spent about eight minutes of total octagon time in there. Just knocked out Anthony Smith, put a sad end to the Anthony Smith career, and the fairy tale ending was not to be for Lionheart. The legend, Anthony Smith. Get it right.

Yes. Like Aaron Pico Jed, Zhang is 28 years old in the division that needs excitement big time. I mean, light heavyweight is poo-poo outside of like three or four fighters. And Min Yang Zhang can cement himself in a really good spot here. So I'm curious with the state of this division, we got a championship rematch coming up at UFC 320. We also have Kalil Roundtree versus your Prakashka on that card. We have even before that at Perth, we get Dominic Reyes versus Carlos. Ulberg at a big fight at 205 in the main event there.

What is at stake for Zhang Mingyang and Johnny Walker, more so on the Zhang side on Saturday? I mean, if Zhang wins this one, like in the UFC rankings, he's going to go up like two spots. He won't go up. Even if he blows Walker up and gets another first round stoppage performance bonus, he won't like vault up the UFC rankings, but he will vault up the UFC rankings.

star board. That's a bad way to phrase it, but like he will, the UFC will look at him and be like, okay, this is the dude. This is the guy to at least be an interesting addition to the title mix. Maybe he doesn't get there,

right? Knocking out Johnny Walker does not a champion make. Though, Mark McKenick Live did it and became champion. But like they, this is, even though it doesn't feel like a huge step up, Johnny Walker is,

you know, the best opponent, Jang will have faced. and so if he can just come in here and kill him and do it in China kind of get over in that way his next fight's a title eliminator I don't know who that title eliminator comes against

because light heavyweight is so kind of up in the air right now but like his next fight is I think most people certainly I think that the Yiri Khalil fight is probably a title eliminator at 205 and so you know

maybe his next fight is just Carlos Zolberg. Or is Zolberg booked? Yeah, he's like, Donovan. Oh, I forgot. I forgot the Dominic Reyes thing was still happening. Okay, well, when he wins the most boring decision you've ever seen against Dominic Reyes, he'll fight Carlos Zolberg next.

And that'll be a title eliminator or something akin to that, you know. Don't give him Jan Blovich. I mean, give him Jan Blovich, if you actually want to see what he is as a prospect, don't give him Jan Blovich if you're trying to get this guy into a fist fight for a belt. But he'll get like a top five. name if he beats Johnny Walker. How dare you say this about Dominic Reyes, the guy who's going to fight for

the belt again, he's going to do what no one expected. This is, it's all worked out, the seeds I've been planting for so long, it's coming to fruition, Jed. Dominic Reyes is going to fight for a belt in 2026, and it's going to be glorious. There'd be an incredible story. It sure would, but all kidding aside, and I'm not really

joking. Luke, do you agree? Like, what is at stake here for Zhang and even Johnny Walker, who's been brutally chaotic in his last two fights. I think for Johnny Walker,

there's a little more at stake here. Obviously, Zhang is still young enough that like a loss doesn't really ruin his career per se. It's late heavyweight he can come back.

I think if Johnny Walker gets finished here, is that the end of like Johnny Walker headlining, you know, apex or fight night cards? Probably, right? I don't know if he has much name value after that besides just getting knocked out

funnily. There's a matchup we forgot to mention too in this top 10 that just got booked, and it's Merzikana versus Rackich. Like, that's another now making this division even deeper. I do feel like Ming Yang might need one or two, maybe even after this. And I'd argue that that Erie Khalil fight

might not be the number one contender fight just because if Poetan wins, I don't think we want to see him fight Erie for a third time. Yeah, we could see the Khalil fight again, but truthfully, I don't really care about that. I think Dom Carlos is more likely the next title challenger. So maybe Ming Yang fight the loser. of one of those two fights,

someone in the top eight-ish to get him a little closer to title contention. But I definitely think more at stake here for Johnny Walker. And if he gets a win too, dude, now, I mean, a bunch could happen. I don't even want to go into the possibilities of Johnny Walker wins. But there's a lot on the table for him if he gets it done. Yeah, I think, you know, the UFC, it will publicly say, like, we're rooting for one thing or the other.

But I think there's a part of it's like, God, we want Zhang to win this fight and look real good because then we can keep coming. back here and putting him in big spots and and go from there now luke as far as we kind of touched on this a little bit with the lorone murphy topic alj made sterling brian ortega big one at 145 pounds uh i talked to both guys already uh aljo is stunned that this is five rounds he's no idea why it's five rounds he's a little pissed off about it because he's getting three round pay for five rounds of fighting uh and brian artega doesn't give a shit he's just like yeah i think we're making the same amount of money and cool now the fight

definitely won't be boring. I mean, they're both, yeah, and they're both managed by the same manager, which is kind of interesting as well. But look, featherweight's in a weird spot. Both guys recognize it. You know, the last time, actually the last time both guys fought, Ilya Tepore was still officially the featherweight champion. He's not even in the division anymore.

He's now the lightweight champion. Volk is now the featherweight champion again. What's on the line for these guys? Algebraed Sterling and Brian Ortega in a potential 25-minute matchup. All right. So like I said earlier, I'd argue a finish for Aljo could get him a title shot. I think that's obviously a little unrealistic. So more realistically, think of Ortega wins, man. He's just floating in that top five still. He's still got to be at least one win away from a title shot for me. Like, all right, he's coming off a win off Yair loses to Diego. Then you're going to beat Aljo. I don't know. I don't think that deserves a title shot. You still got Mavsar up there. You got John Silva, Diego Lopez. There's too many other things going on. in the division. If you're Aljo

and you get a win here, again, let's say it's not emphatic. Let's say it's a five round unanimous decision. Fuck, man. He's kind of in no man's land too because he already fought Mavsar so they're not going to book that again. Maybe if Diego loses to John Silva, they give him Diego.

But both guys are at least probably winning this fight and another win after it away from a title shot. And like, does anyone want to see Volk Ortega, too? That fight was a lot of fun, but I just feel like, it's past its expiration date. I think it would have been a lot more fun

like two, three years ago than it is right now. Chad, what say you? What are these guys fighting for on Saturday? Won away. Winner of this is won away at featherweight. They, I mean, Aljo, former champ, you know, he's one in one up the weight class. If he beats Brian Ortega, who, hold on,

going to look at the UFC rankings right now. Brian Ortega is number five in the UFC rankings. So he'll move. into a top five position in the UFC rankings. And that functionally means he is won away from getting there, even could get there, if something happens to Laurel Murphy, M. Officer Evloev, and Yayae Rodriguez, who apparently is in title conversation, which is absolutely lechris.

But yeah, the winner, like, if Aljo wins, he's probably going to fight Yaiyar, right? Like, that's a different matchup. We don't need to do that with Ortega if he wins. if Ortega wins I don't know we'll get some weird speech about the Eagle rebirth of life and he'll talk about maybe going to lightweight

well remember that remember when he was just going to go to lightweight and then didn't do it and honestly that kind of would have been a good career move for him so he'll fight somebody like he'll probably fight Mopsar if Ortega wins he probably is the guy who fights Mopsar so

but either way a win in a five-round fight like this big, big spot, big position, it did their next fights in title Eliminator. I wonder what happens to Sterling if he loses. I don't think they'll like cut him or anything, but to Sterling look in the mirror and just say like, yeah, I'm done. I don't need to do this anymore.

I mean, he's been saying for a while, like he knows he's at the end of the line and each fight could be his last. He's not really sure what's going on. He's got the rum business, which is taking up a lot of his time right now and is starting to really take off. Like, if he goes out and loses a 49-46 to Brian Ortega

and has two straight losses in a new division, like Sterling does strike me as a guy who's going to stick around and fight the next wave of featherweight. You know what I mean? I don't see Sterling wanting to stick around and beat the Neil Magny of the featherweight division. I don't know. So I think that's kind of an interesting wrinkle to this fight as well. But speaking of interesting wrinkles,

a lot of interesting things have happened over the last few days. We're going to discuss via the news and notes. Point for round three goes to Luke, two to one. I can see my degree already. I'll start clearing space on the wall over here. If you got 150 grand, you could have it. We added an extra 50? I thought it was 100.

I think it was actually like 120 something. It was more than 100, but less than two. All right. Once that new UFC deal kicks in, I'll get some of that to you. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation, here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks.

Sweet. Fast-free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels.

Wi-Fi available to AeroPline members on equipped flights. Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things. Exactly. The new iPhone 17 Pro on TELUS's five-year rate plan price lock.

Yep, it's the most powerful iPhone ever, plus more peace of mind with your bill over five years. This is big. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at tellus.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. Perhaps it's going to trickle down naturally. Yeah. No, man, I'm just, you ain't try to got to do that. go join PowerSlapp.

They make, and I quote, shitloads per day. That's true. Most watch sport in the world. So. Yes. If you're a bodybuilder, stop being a bodybuilder. Go do PowerSlapp. You can make shitloads.

Yes. Apparently one of the power slappers, at least according to one of my colleagues on Slack Channel, tested positive for meth. She did. Terrific style, right? Yes. I mean, Power Slapp, just just the sport.

of Kings. Jesus, frigging Christ. Speaking of the sport of kings, once upon a time, it was the sport of boxing. And boy, oh boy, Jedbushu, some news dropped yesterday. The real sport of Kings. Jake Paul is not fighting, and the Joshua, Giovante Davis is not fighting Roche. Jake Paul is fighting Jervante Davis in an exhibition bout in November on Netflix. I think one of the funniest things about this whole reporting thing is my coppinger reports that it's happening November 15th and then you know I talked to some reps from MVP

and then Nikisa comes out and it's like it's funny how these guys have sources and then they get it wrong and all they got wrong was the date was off by a day also it kind of wasn't even off by a day it's just like it was like a time zone thing yeah it was just it was just a Super weird, but the fight is true. And it's happening in your backyard, Jed.

We know what you're going to be doing about a week. Two miles from my place. But your reaction, Jake Paul versus Gervante Davis back in November, back on Netflix. What are we thinking here? This is pretty wild. I had so many thoughts. My first thought was this is objectively hilarious. Like this is just one of the funnier things it's ever happened.

happened. You don't have to like Jake Paul. You need to respect him, not as like a combat sports athlete, but as just a world-class shit eater. You know, just unbelievable to be like, I am going to fight Anthony Joshua. People want me to fight a real boxer and former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. I'm a fist fight him. Whoopsies. The talks fell through. Guess I'll fight Javon. today. He's a real boxer. Four division world champion. What did he weigh in? Last time he fought 135 pounds and I fought it 200 pounds. And it's not even, it's in an exhibition, which like, I guess probably has to be because they're not going to wave remotely near each other, come fight night or whatever. But, uh, I mean, just absolute world class shit eating from, from Jake Paul here.

marginally interested, right? Like Casey made at this point on Twitter, and it was one of the things I thought of, like, we recently did a, like, best freak show fights. And, you know, this is certainly in that vein because there's absolutely a world where Javentra Davis comes out here and dusts up Jake Paul's no box and ass,

like me playing Manny Pacquiao and Fight Night up at heavyweight for shits and giggles in 2007 or whatever. Like it is very possible that Jake Paul like has to fight a real boxer and suddenly just is getting tuned up despite the fact that he will outweigh him by 60 pounds at least on fight night. So like those are the two things is like this is hilarious. I don't want to say I'm into it because like it's I'm not in that regard.

But I world class trolling and you have to respect it. The really the worst part about this is that, you know, Jake Paul is fighting a dude who got arrested for a DV incident like a month ago. I know charges were ultimately dropped, but still like, you could have picked some other boxer who was 60 pounds smaller than you and has a big name. But, you know, Jervanta's out here doing what he's going to do. It's all ludicrous. And the whole, the whole bait and switch with Anthony Joshua is just one of the funnier things I've seen. this year. Luke, what do you think about this?

This is this is silly gooseery at its finest, but millions of people are going to watch this thing happen. I hate everything about it. More so than I've hated any other Jake Paul fight and not that I've been into any of them, but I've at least humored them. I've at least watched them, whatever. Like even the Tyson fight, I was like, yeah, I'll watch that, whatever. I know Jake's going to win, but I'll watch it.

Dude, this is just like, okay, first of all, I think the lowest Jake's ever weighed in for a box of match was 180. You just mentioned tank fights at 135. So this is like if Hamzat Chamaia fought Marab. Like this is what we're getting here. And like you might be like, oh, they're both good at wrestling. That'd be a good match. I forget how good they are at wrestling.

This is a boxing match. And 85 versus 35 are we joking here? Also, the biggest winner or sorry, biggest loser, this entire thing is Lamont Roach Jr. The man fucking beat Tank in the first fight. Yeah, it was a draw. But if anyone watched that fight, Tank fucking got his hair wiped in the middle. It was a whole took a knee. I mean, it was all, it was completely, fuck,

cheating. A lot of cheating. Tank definitely, like, should have been disqualified. That fight literally should have been a win for Roach. Roach rightfully going to get the rematch. And now Tank's like, yo, fuck that. I'm going to go fight Jake Paul. Like, just the stupidest thing ever.

Also, like, we've all wanted to see Tank fight these big names. Teofimo, Devin Haney, uh, fucking, I'm Blankin on the 3rd. Shakur. Like, these are names we would all love to see him fight. And now you're going to fight Jake Paul. It's like, why? This does nothing for anyone. It's so stupid.

What a time to be alive. My one issue is likening this to Hamzot versus Marab. Hamzot is good at fighting. He's so good that you think middleweight should be closed down as a weight class. And Jake Paul is not. So this is like, who's that dipshit? Who's the dipshit guy who's real racist on Contender Series this week? Josh Hawkins.

Yeah, that guy. It's like that guy fighting Mara. Not even Mara. Let's not call Jarvata Mara. Yeah, Maraub's too good to get, yeah, yeah. It's him fighting Figgie Smalls. Yeah, yeah. Right.

Yeah, pretty crazy. Well, I mean, that fight's happening. And then up in Vancouver, Luke, that card is starting to come together. We have a main event. We kind of touched on a little bit. Anthony Hernandez versus Reindeer the main event for UFC Vancouver we also got Kevin Holland versus Mike

Malat on that card Jazza Jazz de Vizius versus Manon Fioro Cheeto Vera versus Amin Zahavi so that main card's coming together nicely but a lot of people are wondering Will Hamza turn around is RDR getting a title shot it's Fluffy getting a title shot how is this all going to work? Dana announces

Fluffy RDR headlining UFC Vancouver and then immediately stated that the National Dean Imovov Kyle Bajlio fight that ain't a number one contender fight. It's going to be a little round robin and made the best performance win a title shot against Hamza Tcha Myev. Your thoughts on UFC Vancouver as the stands right now. I think it's a fun ass card. That main event is a banger. I feel like it's an interesting matchup. I do think Fluffy Hernandez, I mean, middleweight is dead. Let's be real, guys. We've already been over this. But I do think

Fluffy Hernandez probably the second best fighter in that division right now outside of Hamzaa Shemayev. So like I'd like to see him fight RDR. RDR does have those. knees to the body that are crazy. We have seen Fluffy finish to the body before. So it's an intriguing enough matchup. They're both good on the ground. They both like to take it to the ground. I'm in, all in on that.

Kevin Holland, Mike Malott, maybe a little, like how good is Mike Malat? Can he get over the Kevin Holland train? I know he had a lot of hype behind him. They've kind of like dulled down his matchmaking a bit. So this is like a nice little step up in competition. If you're Kevin Holland, I mean, it's at 170, dude. Let's get a win at 170.

I know he just lost a D-Rod, but like, come on, you can come back, you get a win here. Cheeto Vera, Amin, Zahabi. It's okay. It's a fight. It's an okay fight. I mean, I guess both of those guys will benefit from winning that fight, but, you know, nothing too crazy. Who did you say Jasmine was fighting?

Man and Furo. Man and Furo. Yeah, that's a good, dude, that's an intriguing matchup. Big step up in competition for Jasmine. Furo needs another win to get in there. I mean, this is a good card, but. you know, with middleweight being dead and all, it's kind of like, what are we doing here, guys? Just, you know, shut down the division, Jed.

I'm a huge, huge fan at the Vera Amin's a hobby. A win would be helpful for either. Just like the most dismissive way to be like, it's a fight. And honestly, I feel it. Like, I get the vibe. I don't, it's not a bad fight. It's actually a pretty good fight. Amund Zahabi is overachieved massively.

Cheeto Vera is way more popular than his talent should make him. And so, like, that's kind of an interesting contrast of sort of beings at this weight class. But I don't have any idea what to expect. Like, it's not like Amund Zahabia is the highest work rate fighter in the world. And we all know, Cheeto won't throw a punch for 17 minutes if you let him. So, like, I don't, that fight could be anything. I could see Chito killing him. I could see Chito doing nothing.

I have no idea. That fight is, it's interesting, maybe for bad reasons. The Jasmine Menon fight is awesome. That fight bangs. I'm a huge fan of that fight because we, like, this is the fight that Jasmine can use to get. She'll be a title challenger if she wins. And it is sort of just like we need to see this kind of level of fight from her. I like the co-made event selfishly because Kevin Holland is on my fantasy team.

And so I would like him, he should have won. but he's stupid and now he at least gets another opportunity to score me some points so i support that um and i i even agree with luke about the main event um i think fluffy Hernandez is the second best middle weight in the world because the number one middle weight is named riner de ritter that's right boys and girls he's gonna knee fluffy right in his belly fluffy's gonna fall over and die and dana's gonna be like look i don't care that kai bollio just lit up nasterdine mivov it's Tom Zod versus RDR, and baby, let me tell you, I'm going to make so much money on RDR as a plus 800 underdog against Hamzak Shemaya. He is the man to end the tyranny of this long-reigning middleweight champion who has cleaned out the division all but for one man, Reiner de Ritter, the true number one middleweight in the world.

Jed, have you thought about how you might feel if DDP and RDR both lose in a span of like three months? I'll look, I'll, I'll take solace knowing that they will be booked against each other and that'll be okay, right? Like, you can't hurt me if as long as that fight is still possible. It would be better if that fight was for the belt, but that's what's going to happen. They're going to fight for the belt next year after RDR takes it and Drickis like, I don't know, dummies, Baha'io or some real stupid. Because his win is going to be a good, like a good win that's really dumb because he'll be losing and then suddenly like he drickises. you know, Nasr Dene or whatever it is.

And then summer of next year, RDR Drickus for the middleweight title. That is a full circle moment. Last topic we will hit at the end of this round because as Luke said, middleweight's dead now that Homesthat champion and perhaps one of the fighters that was competing UFC 319 saw the writing on the wall

and decided, you know what, I'm going to miss weight by four pounds and I'm just going to exit this division. I'm going to exit this organization because I know what's coming. Brian Battle officially released from the UFC first reported by MAAfighting.com. It's a terrific website. Jed, four pounds over.

Mrs. Wade at Welterweight goes up to middle late. Mrs. Wade again for his fight with their Salta Brits of Biaf, the fight is canceled, and Brian Battle no longer on the UFC roster. Your reaction, right move, wrong move. What do you think? I think it's just the expected move, right? Like, they did this with Anthony Johnson. When Rumble moved up to middleweight and blew it by like a lot too, it was worse than the buying battle one.

I think Johnson came in like damn near 200 pounds or something for a middleweight bout. And then they were just like, man, you got to go somewhere else. Like we can't, we can't be doing this. This is it, right? Like maybe if the fight had gone on and he had been impressive, he might have gotten another crack at it. But like if you if you can't make the weight when you get bumped up, it's a you problem. Like there's something else is going on outside of like, oh, I am trying to fight in a weight division I can't fight in. Brian Battle can fight a middleweight.

Like there's no physiological reason he couldn't compete at that weight class. You know, like arguably he couldn't really do it at welterweight. Sure. But like that he, that's a discipline problem. That's being a professional problem. And he wasn't. And so you should send him back. There doesn't mean you have to blackball him forever.

But he's clearly got something going on. And I, you know, maybe he'll have a rumble-like effort. And suddenly he'll be a two-o-fiver. And that way class is terrible. So like maybe he puts together some things and becomes like a guy who people care about outside of it. But I think it made all the sense in the world to cut him. Kind of surprised that I don't know if it took that long, if it just took the news, you know, to get caught up.

But like, I sort of anticipated, like, oh, Brian Battle Fight is off. He's out of the promotion to just be one, two, immediate follow. But right call, you know, figure it out, Poo Bear. Go, go back to the PFL, the regionals and get it together. Luke, your thoughts about this. Were you surprised? I mean, I wasn't surprised just because everyone was kind of murmuring about it all, you know, day Friday when he missed weight like oh is he going to get cut on this but you know i think this is

less about missing weight and more about being seven and one in the ufc that's the new curse to get cut from the promotion it happened to martin budai it happened to brian battle who's the next seven and one fighter i'd be worried as hell if i was seven and one in the ufc right now because realistically there's guys i think brian battles miss weight three times in his ufc career there's guys who miss more than that i mean why why are we going to cut him over this i mean no in all honesty it was a big fuck up dude how do you move up 15 pounds and then miss by four pounds after that he also like didn't seem that apologetic about it which never rubs me the right way when it's like damn bro also he claimed that like ruseboeuf accepted the fight with the weight miss then he took a nap

and when he woke up he didn't accept it something tells me he was being you know a little weird about it and ruseaboyov's team didn't like the way he was going about it and they were like fuck it, we're not going to take this fight. So I don't know. I think, again, being 7 and 1, probably the biggest risk in the UFC right now. But I guess it's warranted. I feel bad because I like Brian Battle. I think he's a fun guy to watch.

So like, I guess I'll have to tune into his PFL fights now, you know, that's it. I do want to bring up one more. I'll start with you, Luke. Nocha UFC, card that is not good. I mean, let's be honest. If we're comparing the 2025 Noce UFC, the last two. years. Not very good. Good main event, obviously. We got

John Silva versus Diego Lopez. Some things have been added. We had Tatiana Suarez and Mena Loamos on Lexington's car, but I think most people already know how that fight's going to go. Jared Gordon, Raffa Garcia was probably like the third best fight on the card. Up until yesterday, it was made official. Raul Rost's Jr. is back.

He's fighting Rob Font. I'm told this is supposed to be the co-main event. I am also told that this fight is not like 150% locked and loaded just yet. Probably going to happen. The UFC announced it, but this wouldn't be the first time the UFC had it has announced a fight that is not done. In fact, they did it with Montel Jackson versus Davis and Vigureto as well. But your thoughts, man, like this is a big ass step up for Al Roses Jr., who is winning fights. He's had to work for a lot of them.

And now he's fighting Rob Font, who loves to play spoiler. I was just going to say, Rob Fon is literally like, if you're a heavy favorite going into a fight against Rob Fon, you're going to lose because Rob Font is, loves cashing as a dog. First, it was Kyler Phillips.

Then, John Matamoto in his last fight, like the guy, he's been cashing for me. I'm not going to go against Rob Fon this time. I assume he'll still be a dog, despite the big step up in competition. But,

dude, this is like Raoul Roses. I think we obviously rushed him a little bit going, I mean, we gave him C-Rod. It felt like it was that much of a run. rush, but they've kind of been slow rolling him since then. It's nice to see him get top 15 a little high in number nine, Rob Fon.

I mean, you could have gone maybe the aforementioned Kyler Phillips, someone in that 10 to 15 range. But it's an intriguing fight. I'll be excited for it. Can Rob Font play spoiler again? Is Raul Roses good enough to be in the top 10 right now? And if he is, there's plenty of fun matchups for him there. So it's exciting. I'm into it.

What's say you, Chad? Is this the right fight to make? No, but I think for different reasons than, or at least for me, from what Luke said, because it's not just the fact that Rob Fawn is fairly high up. It's that this is a really winnable fight for Rosas. Got like tons of respect for Rob Fon still hanging around at the top of this weight class. He's 38 years old. Like, that's old at Bannon Way, you know?

And so, like, he is on the last stretch of his. good years if he's not already in the decline and he probably is but he's credit again credit to him the fact that he is able to still kind of get these necessary wins when at times i was like okay the end is coming so i don't like that they're giving him like a real chance to get this high and like rob faunt may be like slightly overinflated given like his age in this weight class right And so if he wins this fight, Rao Roses Jr.'s next fight is not like a top 10 guy. It's like a top five guy for a title fight.

So this is the path if you're trying to shoot him into legitimate title contention. And it feels a little quick to me. So, yeah, I would have preferred like Marcus McGee coming off the Peoria Yon loss. Like that would have been the fight I would have done. But, you know, maybe the UFC has decided it's time to pull the trigger on Raul Roses Jr. and built him into something real. And it is by no means, guarantee, he beats Rob Font.

And if he loses to Rob Font, no harm, no foul, he lost to the number nine guy in the world. So it makes sense. It's just not something I like. I would have comfortable giving him a ranked guy, but like I said, I think Marcus McGee would have made all this,

like would have been the perfect fit for me. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right about that. So we'll see what happens. Let us move on. The point for round four goes to, Jedbushu 2 to 2. Well done. By the way, just kind of looking into it,

I was looking for betting odds on Rob Fombe versus Roller, I looked. As he said, I was like, let's go see if they've dropped him, had not. Fluffy Hernandez, minus 240 favorite against RDR already. I can't wait to make all that money. RDR.

So you're betting on Fluffy Hernandez. That's very, very smart. All day. Somehow has dropped a spot at our middleweight rankings after that performance against Roman DeLite. It's fucking insane. But three of us know what we're doing. He dropped the spot.

That's pretty wild. Yeah, he dropped number nine. The three of us who are bumped. Because Hamzaat got bumped. Yeah, but Hamzaat wasn't like 11. I assume in our rankings he was lower than Fluffy. He'd be Robert. He smushed Robert Whitaker.

He's probably in the top five. I don't, I don't know. I know I didn't have it. But the only way it would make sense for. Fluffy to drop is if Hamzok got bombed in front of him. It wasn't before. That's wild, though. That is wild to say, I'm proud to say that three people got the Fluffy Hernandez thing

right. And it just so happens to be the three people who are here. The two of us and Casey on the ones and twos nailed it with Fluffy. But somehow the rest of the panel made him drop a spot. It's absolutely insane. But let's go to the knockout around everybody. One question decides it all. And then the peace will decide who wins.

So Jed, do you want to go first? or do you want to pass it off to Luke? I'll go for sure. Why not? All right. Well, Jed, we've been waiting. We've been wondering. Wow, I'm all the way over there. What was going to happen with one Sean Strickland? People keep asking when's he going to fight? Should he be the one fighting Fluffy Hernandez?

Should he be the one fighting RDR? Where is he in the title picture? And you couldn't really fairly answer that question because we're wondering what his suspension would be for the tough enough incidents back in June where he decided to jump into the cage and punch a dude who just want to fight multiple times. And we found out today what the suspension was.

We thought it might be a year. We thought it might be more because, you know, you can't just jump in a cage and start punching people. But Sean Strickland gets a six-month suspension and a $5,000 fine. The suspension expires on December 29th as of right now.

but Strickland can have that reduced to four and a half months if he completes an anger management course approved by the commission. So Jed, if you are Sean Strickland right now and you jumped into a cage and attacked a fighter who just won a fight and the Nevada Athletic Commission gave you six months, are you feeling like this is a win right now? Your reaction to this, one minute on the clock, go. Well, you said if I'm Sean Strickland, So I have to put my mind in the mentality of Sean Strickland,

who I have some level of affinity to more than others in the space, but would never claim that this is a man who's a fully rational actor. If I'm Sean Strickland, I feel like the wussification of America has made it so I can't punch a professional fighter in the face. Are you kidding? He's a professional fighter and he's a piece of shit because he did whatever he did. And so, like, grow up. I got punched in the face all the time growing up.

growing up and look it made me a world champion so this is just the softness of america coming through uh five thousand dollars you know that's a lot of money for for something that i don't deserve to be vilified over if i'm not chan sugar if i'm me yeah this is this is a slap on the wrist i can fight in four and a half months dope all right israel an asania we just found out our fight date it's going to be in december as the co-main event to wolkenovsky versus laurel murphy Boom. There you go. I get to tell you.

I'll give my thoughts about this at a second. But Luke, yeah, big news. Sean Strickland, six-month suspension, maybe four and a half, depending on what he does, and a $5,000 fine for, you know, jumping into the cage and attacking another fighter after he won a fight.

It's not bad, right? One minute of the clock, go. Not bad at all if you're Sean Strickland. I mean, I'm sure he would have got a few extra shots in there if he could. and I'm sure he would have taken a few extra months suspension. It would have been all been worth it. I mean, dude, yeah, you can't get into the ring and fight another professional fighter,

as Jed Sam, but I mean, dude, they were in a professional fight. Sean entered the ring and punched this man. He was making gestures at him. I mean, if I'm Sean, yeah, I want to say something to the guy, but you can't get in the fucking ring, man. Let's be real. So I think it's a slap on the wrist for sure. It should have been like, I mean, a year, dude.

I think Sean Strickland probably has an in with the Nevada Atlanta Convention. know we're being real. So I think he, he wooed his way through that. But to be real, like, it was honestly fucked up. If I'm just being me right now, like that was fucked up. Dude, you can't just get in there punch you. I don't care what the fuck he's saying. Settle it in the gym like you claim you do every day, Sean. Challenge this man to a sparring contest. I know Nixick would love that shit. Let's get in the ring at Extreme Couture. Sean Strickland versus that guy whose name I already forgot from that promotion I already forgot. Let's go. Book it today.

his name is Luis Hernandez that's it yep leisherdandez probably will be a UFC fighter at some point dude's real good and he didn't want Sean suspended at all

he didn't want any punishment he was just like dude it's just guys being guys like cut the shit it happens like the motions ran high it's all good I don't want any suspension so I'm curious I'll probably reach out and see what Louise thinks about this but yeah

I got to tell you I would take the suspension down to like 90 days if we could live stream Sean Strickland going to anger management. I want to see this more than anything in the world. I was thinking that. I didn't make that joke one slightly crass and two you're going to get it is the thing because he's going to go and he's not going to live stream it but just follow his Twitter account man because I guarantee you in the next couple of months there's just going to be like errant Sean Strickland tweets about being like man, this country got so soft. I can't be angry anymore. And that's because he's going to be sitting in a room with like a professional

therapist being like, is anger helping solve your problems? No, you're here now because of anger or whatever. Like, you're going to kind of get it. It'd be like when they had Kane and Daniel Brian like do anger management together as a tag team.

It was just some of the funniest shit you will ever see in your entire life. would be, I mean, it just would be must watch television if TKO could put a camera in undocumented, I just think would be unbelievable. They should have made him do a PSA. Oh my God, I'm still waiting for the Armist-Sorukian one. That would be incredible too. I mean, the PSA should absolutely be a part of all of it

and it should be released to the public. And boy, can you imagine what a shot in Strickland PSA would look like about not being angry? Lovely stuff. So cast your votes. Get him in here. Once you see Casey and his sleeveless shirt more than likely, he'll announce the winner. We'll have a preview show tomorrow for UFC Shanghai.

Don't know who's on it. Don't know what time it's happening. So stay tuned to the MA Fighting YouTube channel, and we'll let you know when and how that is all going down. There will be no people's pre-fight show on Saturday. There's no effing way. We're doing one at 2.30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. We love you so much, everybody, but that's just not happening. but we'll be up covering the event.

We'll have a post-fight show, so get your coffee ready around 9 a.m. Saturday morning and we'll recap everything you may have missed or watched with us. And then on to the next one on Sunday. No AK. Might be riding solo for that one.

And then it's on to Misfits Boxing 21. And Luke Rockhold versus Darren Till and Tony Ferguson and Salt Poppy and Dylan Dennis, apparently. Gonna have an M.A. I can, I know, Sunday with you if you want. All right.

We might just do it Saturday. I'm on so I can do it. I can not do it Saturday because I am not coming to work to do that. But I'm working Sunday so I can odd know with you. We'll see how it works out. Worst case, well, there's no, you know what? Maybe we'll just do that because there won't be an otto next week because we're not, we're certainly not going to match me for misfits boxing.

That's for sure. Casey is here. Sleeveless shirt. Is that an Inganu? sleeve of shirt? No, roots of fight. Got some roots of fight for guts. Yeah, yeah.

Shirt of a coward who ran away from the UFC. Interesting. Didn't want the tough fights, huh? Yeah. What an asshole. And I still got to rank at number one. I still believe. I still believe.

Well, I mean, he's running out of, man, was it October? I think it's only, October. He's fine. He's got so much time. We're good. We're good. Christ.

I thought that was like two years. years ago he fought in for her just seems like a lifetime really does uh casey who won all right it's a very close vote but with 52 percent of the votes that is close you're a winner jed miss you oh rigged rigged wow jed gets it done what a battle That's what's up It's staying on the wall Cleared that wall space for nothing Staying on the wall

Right here We played for slips And I still got mine That's right Boom Yeah it's actually a new on this In fact Luke It is gigantic

That thing is fucking huge I did not really like One when it got framed They they went real big The diploma is like literally twice as size of my college diploma. It's gigantic. I am. Uh, Jed, anything you want to thank the fans.

I would thank the voters. I want to thank myself. Um, and I want to thank Hamzaa Shmaev in the Crucifix position, because I'm pretty sure that that is when I won this. And I'm feeling great about it, feeling great about RDR becoming the next middleweight champion and saving this division that desperately needs to be saved from the tyranny of I'm such my. Luke, any final thoughts?

We'll let you go. No, thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate everyone. I'll be doing a watch along for the card on Saturday. So if no one got you at 3 a.m., come join me. Main card minute. I'll be there. What an impressive man.

What a hero. The hero, you never knew we needed, but we now have. So thank you long. Does someone have to do it, Luke? Do they have to do it? Yes, me. I feel I feel I'm obliged to do it. I mean, people would be okay if you should.

started it for like the Charles Johnson Kavanaugh fight like that'd be a good start that fight you're right that is like four getting out of the replacement fights four a m anyway so I might as all just got out of three you know it's not a big deal all right well catch long island Luke and his PJs and a coffee and three yeah you given out all your um parlays because I'm yeah I'm on giving parles are oh I got 12 I got 12 every week jet so we got 12 giving bar them I'm on three I'm on three of them this week. I'm very excited. What you got?

Which one? The Inbo Parley, which is the five Inbo team. The Road Champion Parlay, which is the three Road GEOC champions. And then the fun hat parlay, because two of the fighters have fun hats. And so, Erin Satibaldiev and Taya Liyake, nerd of what, I can't, the hardest names. First Fight of the Night. and first fight on the main card. Correct.

So three gimmick. I'm doing so bad betting this year. I was like, I'm just going to start having fun again. Bring back the gimmick parlays. And they're three available. Let's go. I love it. So follow Luke.

Check out no bets bar and see how Jed's going to be betting on this card. Casey hits music. Luke has a new program. Yes. New show out prop quiz. Two of your favorite MMA guests going head to head. New episode drops tomorrow with familiar faces that you guys. probably if you're watching this program you definitely know Casey get that get that ugly

oh and one out of there I don't want that shit up there you know this is I won this you know we all know I can't even point at it it's all over the play I hit my mic oh god we're we're out of here right thank you everyone you didn't win this baby you know who is going to win it me on prop quiz check it out see you guys later good night everyone love you all this has been between the and MMA Fighting Production on the Vox Media Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

From festive and cozy fashion to luxe beauty and fragrance sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.