MMA Fighting - BTL | Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2, Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov, UFC 311, Khabib's Airplane Dispute

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

It's officially UFC 311 fight week as the UFC brings two big title fights to the octagon. In the main event, Islam Makhachev is set to defend his title against Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch, while Merab Dvalishvili puts his newly won bantamweight championship on the line against the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel previews Saturday's big pay-per-view event, the two championship bouts, the highly anticipated light heavyweight bout between Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka, and the rest of the card as a whole. Additionally, they'll give their thoughts on the shocking airplane incident involving Khabib Nurmagomedov, Mackenzie Dern's big win over Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 101, Leon Edwards vs. Jack Della Maddalena to headline UFC London in March, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Morning Kombat’s Luke Thomas. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew 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

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But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. 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 BTF. Happy Tuesday to us all. Yes, earlier in the week's showtime,

of course we have the Don Davis Town Hall coming up on Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern and with all of the news coming out about PFL recently and the future of Bellator or the fact that Bellator is no more, the timing just could not be better. So stay tuned for that. And perhaps there's another town hall to look forward to after that. I'll say, as you asked, I listened more on that later in the show.

but we do have a lot to talk about it's UFC 311 Fight Week. What a freaking card it is. And we're certainly going to give it a bunch of time here, the respect it deserves. And who better to talk about this stack card than the two gentlemen joining me today. And it's fitting because there's a new timeline that just dropped this morning for Islam Makachev versus Armin, Suruky, and two.

And there's a nice long clip about Islam Makachchev versus Alexander Volcanovsky 1 featured from these two gentlemen battling for the first time. ever on the show, so go check that out after this. But let me introduce first, the hot take kid, Mr. No Gray area, the Baron of Boop, and on the way to becoming the greatest climber in the history of MMA. He is Jedmishu from Mammat.com. Hi, buddy. Big week ahead, is it not?

Big week. Frankly, I'm just really excited for Thursday because in general, I support the Don Davis Town Hall. The first one was a fun experience that led to much joking. in frivolity amongst us, but this one, man, I can't wait to see what happens. Patricio Pipple is out here burning the boats right now, and I can't wait to see how Don deals with that. You also told a lie, you said that Bellator is dead.

Apparently it's not dead for some specialty title fights. They're keeping it around. I don't know what the hell's going on with them, so I can't wait for Thursday, and today will be fun. We can mix things up while we wait for the main event of the week, frankly. What, Jed? You don't understand the branding and marketing for PFL champion series starring Bellator Lightway Champion Uson-Rmaga-Madoff? I mean, the branding just writes itself.

It's so easy to digest and understand. It really does. But back on the show this week, the man who made donk a thing in the space, an OG of M may funny, we're now just crushing it on morning combat, his live chats, breakdowns, etc. and the guy is a hell of a YouTube channel you need to check out. He's the one and only. Luke Thomas, welcome back, Luke. What's up, fellas?

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. It's great to have you here. Let's just talk UFC 311. Let's just get right to the meat and potatoes. Not even going to pretend to give a shit about Vegas 101. I have a feeling it'll come up at some point later in the program. But we'll talk about the main event in a second.

We'll get to the co-main event and the featured bout and some other stuff in round two. But Luke, I want to start. with you because last time you were on is right before UFC 310. We all liked the card on paper. There were some intriguing matchups, but it was lacking the star power that most UFC paper views need. This card, UFC 311, it's got everything. It's got the best fighter in the world representing the best of the best division in the sport. We have a title fight in the division. A lot of other people say is the best division in the sport and the co-main event, which is a lot of weirdness to it. And we'll touch on that later. We have a high stakes pressure-filled feature boat. And just

a lot of matchups here that are very interesting or have at least one fighter on it that you're just excited to see compete. So what's your excitement level for UFC 311 right now? Hi, extremely high. I mean, not the highest it could be. I would reserve that for something truly special, truly rare, something that doesn't come around even every calendar year, but something much rarer than that. But like, this is, I'm not saying this is all you could ask of the UFC, but this is basically what you're supposed to be asking of the UFC. And of course, they can't produce the number one pound for pound guy in the sport every time, but they're producing him here. Here is the top guy in the sport defending his title.

And again, in this very stacked weight class, although there's some debate about that, given some of the age issues. But nevertheless, this is the top contender he's supposed to be going against. That alone, even if the rest of the card was trash, that alone for me in either boxing or MMA, whenever you have the number one pound for pound guy defending against the consensus top contender, that's appointment viewing. Then you add in the fact that you have the Bantamway title up for grabs. need I say more there.

Plus, down the line, either interesting bouts in terms of how they match up or how they match up and what they mean for the division, like Yeri versus Jamal Hill. Then, of course, Hanatsam-Weikano, if he gets a big winner of a Binaldereux, which, by the way, is kind of a sleeping, sleeper, good fight. And then just madness with Reneer de Ritter and Kevin Holland. On every level, this one basically delivers its good bouts, it's consequential bouts. It's the number one guy in the sport. It's two titles in two of the very, if not the very very best.

divisions. This is it, folks. This is what you've been waiting for a little bit here. Jed, I am fired up for this one. I'm fired up for the watch party. Command Center 4.0 is going to be buzzing. How excited are you for 311? 10 out of 10. This is, I mean, we'll do this on the previous show and stuff. This is a three Michoulin star card, right? Like a lot of what Luke said, I firmly agree with. Let's just add on a couple of things. Yeah, you're getting the number one pound fighter in the sport. like that's awesome. You're getting two title fights that are, I would posit, of two of the at worst four best fights that can be made in the sport right now

when you are talking about level of skill, level of ability, level of accomplishment going head to head. Like these are the best of the best. Like Islam versus Armand two, I think is the best skill for skill fight that can be made right now. Umar versus Marab is very, very close in that conversation, if not number two, at worst, it's number four, right? Like maybe you could find another couple there. So you've got those two at the top.

And then you've got a lot that speaks to me personally, Mike. You got a lot of silly gooses going after things that are consequential. Yeri Prahashka versus Jamal Hill. I don't know how that's going to go because no one knows how Yiripa Pashka fight is going to go unless he's fighting Alex Pira. Then you know that he will get pooped. But otherwise, like he might come out and get knocked out instantaneously because Jamal Hill hits very hard and Yeri is a certified psychopath.

Or he might just kind of come and sort of Gehry the hell and then say something quirky and insane on the mic afterwards. Like that is, Yeri Pajja is the Justin Gachi of Light Heavyweight automatic appointment viewing. And we're getting him as the feature about. As Luke points out, Anato Moikano versus Benil Darius is kind of a sleeper, great fight with frankly outside potential for a title shot to be awarded, should Moikano win? Like, I don't think that would happen, but we can talk about the kind of various paths that lay if Islam beats Armand. He didn't have a ton of obvious lightweight contenders,

so maybe this is very big stakes and a very good fight. And then setting aside, my personal love for Hennier to Hidder, as I will forever call him to just to twist the knife on AK, setting aside my personal love for him and how much of a silly goose he is. The Kevin Holland matchup is perfect, not just because it's actually like a perfect stylistic oil meets water kind of thing going on there, but because this is old school UFC matchmaking, the Dutch night trying to conquer Holland. That's the type of nerd shit I'm in for.

And that's just the beginning of the main car, baby. Everything about this is perfect. I cannot wait for Saturday. I love this main event so much. and I've been waiting for this fight for nearly six years. The rematch this time for the richest prize in the game, the UFC lightweight title, Islam Naakove, defending against Armand Sarukin.

Now, everyone knows what I think about this fight. I've been driving the Arm and Surrogian train for almost eight years now. And he gave Islam a heck of a fight in his debut at just 24 years of age. Yes, he lost a decision. Since then, only one loss, which was a controversial decision to Matush Gamrott in one of my favorite fights of the last five or six years. his last two fights knocks out Benny Darius quickly in a main event,

beats Charles Oliver at UFC 300, and Makachev has had an interesting title run. He beats Alexander Volcanovsky in a super competitive fight. Then he knocks Volk out in a short-noticed substitution fight. Then he stops Dustin Porier in one of the best fights of 2024. So my question to you, Jed Mishu, is this the toughest fight of Islam Makachov's career? Like, look at his resume, he's been around a long time.

Is this moment, this fight in particular, Is this the toughest fight of Islam Makachov's career? Well, it's one of those questions that will probably be in a much better place to answer afterwards, right? Like, very obviously hindsight will be perfect on this one. I will say yes, though I am very open to the idea that the first Alexander Volcanovsky fight was. Yes, Islomachiev had a clear size advantage. No one is disputing that. But that is at the time when Volkanovsky is at the peak of his powers.

He appears to be maybe the best. fighter of all times. People are starting to kind of whisper that as a possibility. And Islam had just won the belt. And while many of us thought he would do what he has gone on to do and was this great ascendant talent, there were still some unknowns about him. There were still questions that maybe he didn't totally deserve his path to get to the title. He didn't have to kill a bunch of ranked guys. He sort of just got there. He had just won the title and this would be his first offense. So I think that there is an argument that, you know, going in blind, we could say that the Volk fight won maybe is tougher than this. But I'm not sure.

And I think I will defer to the Armin Surukian fight. And perhaps it's just because of you, Mike, because you have been hawking Armin Surukian like you were a dude at a county fair trying to pay his bills. For the last eight years, you've been selling me on this dude. And he's very, very good. And I don't know if you're just getting over with me that this fight is going to be. extremely competitive, but the odds makers don't agree. The odds makers have friggin Islam installed as a pretty hefty favorite here. And so that is a little bit of tension for me this week of trying to figure out why do I think that this fight maybe won't be close, but will be competitive,

whereas Vegas is telling me something different. Look, we obviously don't have the benefit of hindsight with this particular fight, but, you know, just kind of comparing it to some of the on-paper matchups, Islam. has had from Bobby Green to Charles Olivaara to Volkanovsky then Volcanovsky again to Dustin Poria and the list goes on and on right now at this point in Islam's career on papers this is the toughest fight he's had I disagree with some of the setup you had I think calling the first Volcanovsky fight super competitive is not quite right I think that is at worst three to Islam and I think a better score is 4-1 Islam I know he had he faded kind of late down the stretch you know you

can decide whether that was a weight cut thing or something else. But like, there was never a moment in that fight where I felt like Volkinovsky had a true upper hand. I think there's a lot of revisionist history about that fight. And I think Islam won it cleanly. I mean, it was a good fight. And I think Volcanovsky gave a good account of himself. But I really dispute the notion that it was in any way at all close. It wasn't. Asking if it's the toughest one, this is a difficult question to answer. Let me say a couple things. I mean, on paper, is Armin more dangerous than Prime, Charles Olavera? I doubt that.

I don't think that he is, but I would also say something like this. I went back and I watched the first fight, and I would say if today's Armand Sarjukian fought that version of Islam Makachev from six years ago, 2019, I would say Armin would win hands down. There would really be no question, but of course, we're at a different place. Here's the problem that I'm up against with this one. I certainly think that Armin, and by the way, my mom is Armenian, like, let's go Armenia, right? I believe that he can give Islam a fight that basically nobody else can, except maybe Matej Shammarot, but he's not really relevant.

So in this particular context, so you're just left with like the available contenders. Who can push Islam in some of these wrestling, scrambling, relentless pursuit, physicality kind of situations in the way that Arminor Yuki and can? The answer is really nobody. In that sense, he kind of is the toughest fight. However, what I would also push back on is this idea that as good as Saryukian has gotten, and again, he is the top contender. Whether he wins or not, there was nothing artificial about him getting to this position. But I feel like he hasn't done, he hasn't shown me enough in actually demonstrating skill development

that tells me he's got enough to really give it to Islam, short of Islam. having some kind of renewed weight cutting issue or, you know, some other kind of ailment we're not aware of or just having an off night. In other words, if he's on and Armine's on, they're both on, I don't know if Armin has shown quite enough skill for me to really believe that Islam is threatened over the course of five rounds. As good as Sarjukian has gotten, Islam's gotten a lot better since 2019 too. I think that the skill gap that they had between them was not significant but noticeable.

I'm not sure we're not we're going to get anything different on Saturday. So it's the kind of fight that he offers. But is he the most like dangerous opponent that he's had? I don't know about that. Well, obviously we're breaking this all down. Do you want to add some, Judd, please? Luke just approached that from a way that I hadn't considered, which is interesting to me. Like I, because Mike, we've talked about this on and off air.

I am of the opinion and not to tip my hand to very. programs will do this week. I think Islam is just like a little bit better everywhere, and so that this will be a fight where Armand is very competitive, but ultimately loses 49-46, right? Like that's how I view this. At the same time, there's a piece of me that thinks, if I'm just a little bit wrong, that this is the biggest threat to Islam to lose the title. But in a very different way, like, I don't think Armand's killing Islam to win the title, right? Like, I think I think that he has like a 20% chance to maybe just sort of be slightly better than Islam and take the belt. Whereas I think Charles Olivera has like a 5% chance to beat Islam.

But when he does, it will be by doing something violent and dangerous, sort of an immediacy thing that upends things. And it's just sort of a, I think that that's kind of like how Luke was looking at this. And I had not really considered it. I was mainly looking at danger as the concept of taking the belt, not providing actual. physical in cage danger to him. Yeah, I mean, there is a part of me just from like a scientific perspective that hopes that this fight goes into four and five because, well, I think Armand Surukian beat Matouche Gamrod that first fight.

And I've watched that fight a hundred times because it's so damn good. He did slow down quite a bit down the stretch. Like he definitely slowed down. He was not this obvious. And nobody really is in round four. He slowed down on third round against Olivera. Yeah. Can he?

Can he make? maintain if this fight goes long. So I'm very curious to see on that end. I do think if Armand wins, I think he just runs his ass over and it's a quick fight. Because I do think if it goes long, I think Islam's just going to kind of drown him down the stretch. But that's obviously something we'll talk about throughout the week. And we'll save some of those obvious questions. But Luke, you mentioned something earlier about the lightweight division right now.

Because if Islam wins this fight, and there's certainly names in the top 10 he hasn't fought yet, a lot of them are coming off of losses or at least losses that happened in 2024. So there's not really like a ton of options here. I mean, sure, could you do an Oliver rematch after the Chandler fight? Sure. But he's coming off of a loss to Suruki in less than a year ago. And Islam stopped him to win the belt. And yeah, you get Dan Hooker if he beats Justin Gaichi, that fight fully materializes.

But Islam already ran Dan Hooker over. So that's something you can maybe look at as a rematch. But I just feel like he's going to run into a million rematches here. So one of the questions I have, and I'll pose to you, if Islam wins, what are the chances this is his last fight at 155? Decent. Good, even. No, decent. The problem is, as we already know, what's going to happen up at 170 with Bilal Ahmed and Shafqqqqqqmanov.

I suspect that if Shafkot wins, of course, it opens up the floodgates at that point you could make it happen. And they just might. But, of course, if Muhammad wins, well, you got some difficult. questions to answer now. That doesn't actually, by the way, preclude him from going to 170. They might even decide to do a super fight. Hell, throw another BMF title, have Islam versus Kumar Usman at 170. I'm not advocating for this fight. I'm simply trying to imagine what are some reasonable possibilities that we have to at least consider in the event that Balal has closed off that chapter or at least that opportunity, that avenue. And now you're trying to figure out

what do you do with a guy who, to your point, has beaten most of these guys or they're otherwise is kind of old and not really worthy or the fight just doesn't seem all that compelling versus some more attractive options, even non-title ones at 170. This is the central tension of his career. And of course, the X factor here is, well, what about Ilya to Poria? But it's still so, I mean, it's January 14th for crying out loud. Like, I don't even know what's going to happen with Ilya. And Ilya wanted to fight with Charles Alvara.

Apparently Charles Alvara doesn't really want it. And so that remains a escape valve should they need it. But again, two problems with that. One, it's yet another 45 are moving up. And then, of course, the other problem is that we're just talking about him not wanting to be at 55. These cuts are hard for him. He wants to go to 70. That's a non-starter at that one there as well.

I mean, this is really getting to something more central about the lightweight division. It is still a very, very good division. It will always be a very, very good division on some level. But the problem is there was a class of guys that were supposed to move out the existing ones, the Fizives, Saurukians. Now, he did his job. he's not alone, gamrots or some other ones. And they were all supposed to just kind of push out the existing power structure.

And they didn't. Not much. Not nearly as much as they needed to. So those guys just hung around. Well, now Islam is like, what am I supposed to do? There's supposed to be a fresh set of contenders that I'm supposed to take on. Contrast this with the run of GSP where there were always guys pushing out the existing power structure along the way, where he had to fight multiple generations of them. Islam doesn't have that opportunity.

So to the point you raised, Mike, I don't have any good answers for this. And I bet you the UFC doesn't either. We're going to have to figure this out as we go. Jed, you got the pencil here. Islam goes out there and does what you and many other people believe he's going to do on Saturday. Like, where does he go from here? Because, again, he's fought like all of these guys, except for Michael Chandler and Justin Gachie, but neither of them are really in a title discussion.

But as we've seen, maybe that doesn't matter. that much. Yeah, so I know exactly what's going to happen here. I feel really confident in this. I wrote about this in our, I got to ask this for the mailbag column that I think is dropping in 10 minutes on Amymoffind.com, great website, go check it out. I think it's 6040 that this is his last fight at lightweight. And that 6040 is the, that is the exact way that I rate Shavkat Rachmanov versus

Balal-Mohman. I think Shavkat is 60% likely to win that fight. If he does, Islam is fighting Shavkat for Shavkat's first welterweight title defense sometime next year or not next year sometime later this year sorry if ball wins then is sort of stuck he is it does not preclude him as luke said from going up to welterweight uh and pursuing another fight he's spoken about not really wanting to fight bala if that happens though maybe left the door a little bit open that perhaps that could be something that happens i would just tend to think that won't that if ballal wins that that won't occur i also just don't

think he's going up to welterweight if ball has the belt because going up and doing an Anderson Silva-esque fight against somebody up there is like okay I guess like that's fine but why wouldn't you just defend your belt and add another defense to your resume to like if he wins this weekend he sets the lightweight title defense record at four if I'm in his core I'm like it is better to build that up than to just take a one-off fight against random welterweight that it doesn't really get you anywhere because you're not fighting for the belt. Times have just changed from when, you know, when Anderson wanted to do stuff like that. It's not the same world anymore.

I think there is about as close to a 0% chance as possible that he fights Ilya I think he has no interest in that. Tuporia has multiple contenders at his weight class and he can buck in and do whatever he wants. But he's got to handle his own business. He's got three dudes to fight with first. at worst two dudes to fight with. So I think 60, 40, he goes up and fight Shavka.

And if not, then as I mentioned, there's a world where Anato Morcano gets that title fight. Like, if he beats Benile Daryush, there's nobody else. It is either a Charles Oliverer rematch or Anato Morcano, who is on a good run and would be top 10 in the weight class. We've seen worse guys get title fights. But he is beaten four of the top six contenders in his weight class. And the ones he hasn't beat.

are Justin Gage and Max Holloway. Who lost their last fights? Like they can't really get there. So I think it is more likely than not that Chavcott wins and his on face of Shavcott. But if that doesn't happen, then he will have one of those slightly awkward title offenses against a guy who is not an undeniable challenger, but it's good enough. You know, Charles Oliver, a rematch is good enough. Penhato Morcano is good enough.

And we'll just be okay with that. Yeah. I mean, anytime we get to see that, I'm warm pound for palm fighter, fight against anybody. It's appointment viewing. So that's a Saturday cannot wait. And of the storylines surrounding that fight, most of them come afterwards, I think.

But then there's other fights on this card where the storylines are big heading into it and that's where we're going for round two. The point for round one goes to goes to Jedbyshoe. One to nothing. Nicely done. Set the tone, boys. Set the tone. With Instacart, you get

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Doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. A win is a win. Winning's winning. tag winning to winning, Vin Diesel. All right. Let's talk about the co-main event, some of the other happenings at UFC 3-11. Jed, from a psychological perspective,

the co-main event between Marab de Wallis and Umar and Amaga Madoff, this is like a sports psychologist's dream come true. Because Marab has had such an interesting start to this title reign. And the man just, like, he's not ready to fight. He's just pissed off heading into the fight. because I just talked to Barab last week. He just seems pissed. Like, he's just angry about all of this.

So after seeing sort of the builds from both guys and just looking at the excitement of this matchup on paper, what's the biggest question you have heading into this fight? Ooh, the biggest question. I don't have a lot of questions because I think that this is a foregone conclusion. But I guess if I have a question, it will be this. Is Rob going to fight well, or is he completely outside of his mind right now?

Because we have gone over this a lot because we've had a lot of reason to over the past few months. I think Rob has handled the first few months of his title reign about as poorly as is humanly possible to do. Heading into this fight, he, you know, some people think armchair psychology is dumb. I think it's fun, though not perhaps instructive, but it is fun to play the game. Rob couldn't be doing worse mentally in front of this. He seems to be like crumbling in a way that is to him being upset and then come fight time he will focus and, you know, do Marab things. Or if he is going to lose his mind when the cage door closes and then try and get in a fist fight that he can't win. He can't win a fist fight against Dumar.

He can win an M&A fight against Dumar, but he's not going to win a fist fight against him. If he just kind of goes crazy, this might be a really short night at the office. I think ultimately he is going to lose anyway, but my questions are largely, how does he approach this? Because we just haven't seen this side of Marab before. And will this affect him at all come fight night? Or is he able to bifurcate and separate those two parts of himself and be about the business when the cage door closes? Yeah, the psychological aspect is very interesting with Tom. this because I wonder if Marab is just outside of his mind, like Jed said, or if he's like

the Ryan Garcia of MMA where he's just making you think he's outside of his mind and then just puts on a performance of a lifetime, except he's probably not on all sorts of shit. But what's the biggest question you have heading into this fight? Yes, and as far as I know, Marab, not virulently racist like Ryan Garcia, another difference between them, perhaps. Very true. My big question is going into this one. You kind of have an answer, but not fully,

is what does the UFC think of Marab? It took a long time to get a title shop, but I've seen the longer ones. And then the first chance they get for a title fight, granted, part of it is just expediting fights into parts of the calendar that they need rather than, you know, hey, we would love this fight if it happened in March, but we need one for January.

Let's push it there. but like, I don't know, man. I've sort of been hearing stuff around the rumor mill about how the UFC views Marab and what role they, I should say, how they view him and how valuable they consider his contributions. I don't know what to make of all of that. I guess we're kind of to see what the UFC does, but I just bring this all up to say they didn't give him much time to really wait for the most difficult fight he could get. They kind of rushed it. I don't think Nirmagabab is fully healthy, but neither is Marab. Marab is angry about this in general because remember, I mean, how many times have you seen like, you know, Marab fights fan at, you know, local whatever the fuck competition?

You're like, yeah, there's Marab again. And then he makes skits where Sean O'Malley is driving a Barbie car driving down the street in Las Vegas or something. Like he's like, you know, I'm pretending I'm not mad. He's like the most mad guy ever. But at the same time, you know, I feel like it has ratcheted it up. Like there's really something else going on. Is that tension with the company? I tend to think there probably is a little bit of that.

And then you really kind of have to add, well, what if it's kind of close? Marab doesn't get blown out, right? I mean, he might lose, but he doesn't typically get his ass whooped and then stopped in two or three rounds or something like that. It might go the distance. And if it does, and if it's reasonably close, are they going to give him a rematch? You're going to find out the answer pretty quickly, I feel like. And my hunch is that if there's any opportunity to move on from him,

they will. I'm not declaring to you that's what I want. I'm not declaring to you that that is a good thing. I'm merely declaring to you or rather I'm asking, but with some kind of suggestion, obviously, you know, what does the UFC really think of this guy? I don't know that they think a whole lot. And I think any opportunity to move on from them, from him, excuse me, they'll take with open arms. It's up to him to deny them that opportunity. It's a fascinating tale because Barab thinks his relationship with the UFC is fantastic right now. And the way Dana sold this, essentially, at least the way that like Dana recited it as he announced this fight. He's like, Marab is just so pissed and he kicked down the doors of UFC headquarters and demanded this fight.

He said, this dude's talking shit. I got to shut him up. And I asked Marab about him. She's like, yeah, they wanted me to fight in January. And I said, yes, I don't want him to talk crap about me anymore. I'm mad. And I was like, okay, that's not as exciting as an answer as I thought it was. But Luke, I want to take me you just said a step further because we've seen guys in these.

situations. Leon Edwards was a guy that just like, all right, this is probably his only chance of the title. Balaahman, yeah, it's probably his only chance of the title. And I think you could have said the same about Marab, only chance of the title. Leon lost his belt. We don't know if he's going to get another title fight. I don't think Marab's getting a rematch. But if he goes out there and loses to Umar and you said the UFC, you suggest that the UFC might just want to open the door and let Marab kind of just get out of the title picture, do you see a world where he gets another title fight? at all? It would take a Hercules effort, which maybe he can pull, but

I would, okay, so we have to talk of probabilities. I know this is a show, we're supposed to give you hot takes, but the best I can actually do is what is likely and least likely. I would describe that as extraordinarily unlikely. I would bet everything I own that if you were to lose him, and more to that point, let's be very specific. If you were to lose either a clear decision or get stopped, which I think tends to be less likely, But certainly a clear decision. I do think Nurembergadov is lucky to win here.

You know, I think they're ready to just say, no thanks, but no thanks. And like there's not to say that there's nothing he could do to get back to a title, but it wouldn't, like what would be the path? What would you have to show a radical transformation in your style? But that tends to come with, you know, being up and being down. Whereas with the style that he's got, he's mostly for the, you know, up and up quite well. I don't think that's likely. Is it to be that he's just going to beat a bunch of other contenders?

And that's going to what's going to go into play. play maybe. I mean, it's an interesting question here, right? Because if they do really think that Nimergermegov is their guy and they really want to put effort behind him and they don't want Marab, what do you do with Marab? Because he is likely to beat a lot of these other contenders. I know it's crazy. Marab is the existing UFC bantamweight champion. But what role does he serve in the company if he's, A, not a surging contender, like on his way up, like in the way he just was, or be the existing champion. If he's just the guy to play spoiler to all the other guys,

they don't have a lot of use for that necessarily. So that either means you've got to change divisions, which I guess if Teporia leaves 145, that's something he could try. Or, you know, I don't know what his future is with the company. It's a bunch of weird things. I know, again, it's the strangest time to introduce this, but you have to be able to think over the long term on this one, yeah, this is a strange one for them.

I don't think if they don't have to give him a title shot after this, I don't think that they will. Jed, if he loses the belt on Saturday, what is the chances he gets another crack of that belt anytime soon? Or any time in his career? Is this the last time he's in a championship fight if he loses on Saturday? I would say it's the last time he'll get to fight for the Bannonweight Belt, right? Like it would be astronomical for him to put together the type of wind streak

that would necessitate getting back there because DOC doesn't like it. It's pretty clear to me that they are ambivalent to him at best. Maybe they do not actively dislike him, but they do not see him as somebody beneficial to them. And they're, I'm sure, a whole host of reasons, maybe even tracking back to just him and Aljo refusing to fight each other. That has always bothered Dana White when Jims do that.

And so maybe it just started there, but they very clearly do not, and at least very clear to me that at best they are ambivalent towards him. And so they are not going to put him back, they're not going to do him any favors. The one way he could maybe, I think realistically fight per title, is to change wave classes. And he has talked previously about maybe dropping down to flyweight.

I don't actually know how feasible that is for him. But given where the flyway division is right now, like we just had the number 10 dude in the world fight for a belt there. We had a guy who was not in the promotion come in and get a title fight. Pantoja is beating everybody that there is to beat in this weight class, and they're just kind of pulling dudes out of the ether to fight him. So there is a universe where if he could make flyweight, they would let him run that.

But I think if he loses, this is the same as Ballal and Leon and the same dudes before them. He has his one opportunity. And for him, like, and this is why this is why he is mad. I am so convinced that the reason he is so upset, he is not mad at Umar because Marab is not an idiot. Umar is not disrespecting him any more than Marab disrespected Sean O'Malley with callouts and stuff. Like they are just fighters.

And Marab knows that. But he is mad that he is being forced to fight the toughest dude he'll have to fight in the weight class in his first head of defense. Because if, but if he does get to. through him. If he pulls off the upset and wins, it's pretty smooth sailing for Marab. This is a huge leverage fight for him because the loss is catastrophic and the win sets him up to rematch dudes. He already trounced. So like it is all on the line for him on Saturday more so than any other fighter in my opinion. Oh yeah. Marab winning would actually be hilarious to watch just to see

like how the UFC kind of twinkle toes around it and it just he's going to have to. to fight Jan and O'Malley and all these guys again until somebody else comes up. Like it's, that's it. They'll just let him get the fights he tried to fight instead of this one. And they'll be okay enough with it and just cross their fingers that Sean O'Malley gets him this time. But he won't. And so they'll just not like him.

But it will be exactly like Aljo. They'll be like, eh. Okay, he's the champion. I guess it's fine. Like, we'll live. Another fight that is very exciting. We have Jamal Hill. returning for the first time since UFC 300 and his knockout lost Alex Pereira,

taking on Yuri Perashka, who is returning for the first time since getting knocked up by Alex Pereira at UFC 303. Two guys handling the build to this fight much differently, Jedmishu. So let's just, let's paint a word picture, if you will. For the casual eyes and ears of UFC and MMA fandom, Jedmishu, why is this fight so important on Saturday? because Yuri Perashka's fighting like I that's reductive but it is like just tune in to watch

yri fight in six UFC fights he has five bonuses and was on the receiving end of two bonuses his two losses were to Alex Pereira who won a bonus both time he knocked yri's hats out like this is we get all-time great action fighters like historically we've had a bunch of them And there are currently several of them still kind of competing or ending their career. Yuri is one of the very few dudes to do it at a weight class above 170 pounds. Like him and Shogun, maybe it's like, and I guess Prime Vanderle. Like he is must see television because he will get or get got. And it's also deeply fun to just listen to him talk.

He is a very, very special boy. But when he gets in the cage, he just doesn't. largely doesn't give a shit about defense and has this creative, wild, wacky offense that is really tough for most people to deal with. And Jamal Hill hits real hard, like, that it's very possible that Eerie just gets jawed immediately. But the thing is, Yeri has a really good chin. He gets jawed all the time and then comes through and sort of overwhelms you. If you're Alex Pereira, you can avoid that.

But this is, will be absolutely critical to watch because Yeri is must see television. And it's also, like, deeply fascinating to watch on the other side of things, because I truly have no idea how good Jamal Hill is. You could convince me he is anywhere from the third best light heavyweight in the world to the 20th. Like, anywhere in that space is possible because his performance in his Glover to Cher was immaculate, like almost perfect as far as the fight goes. It's also the only time he's remotely looked like that in his career. And so is he Cody Garbrand at Light Heavyweight where he has one terrific night in the biggest moment of his career and then it's just kind of a dude other than that? I have no idea. We'll get more answers for Jamal Hill and we get to watch Yuri Perashka be the large violence idiot that he is.

And I can't tell you how excited I am for this fight. Luke Jamal has been kind of downplaying Yuri's accomplishment saying, look, man, you just get your ass kicked and win. I got caught by Alex Pereira, you got your ass beat by Alex Pereira, just this whole my loss was better than your loss. And everything that's come out of Jamal Hill's mouth is, I don't know what's going on in that man's head. And then him going up to Pereira and the PI and all that. And then Yuri's just like, yeah, man, he could say what he wants,

but I have now accepted who I am. Like, I just go in there and fight and be an absolute maniac. And I knew I'd be champion, but I just didn't enjoy it. But now I truly know who I am. I am this warrior. I am this guy. And instead of just doing it in fights and locking myself in a dark room for 72 hours at a time, I'm just going to be this guy all the freaking time.

That's what I learned from the Alex Perr knockout. So sell this fight to the casual viewer, why it's so important, Jamal Hill versus Yuri Perashka. Well, I mean, it's just funny to me. It's like, Yuri is like, I spent 72 hours in darkness to learn how to face the demons of my soul. It's like, I don't know, dude, maybe just bring your fucking hands up and take defense seriously. You don't have to sit in a room and have smooth shits like Aaron Rogers. Don't infect him with shit.

You're going to ruin him. You just need to like not block punches with your face. That's that's the trick here. I mean, everyone wants, like, he's got a fight style that is a function of his quirky personality. And that's why people really like him. But to me, it's just so the height of ridiculous. that you're doing these like darkness retreats. I'm like, turn the lights on

and just get the pool noodles and work on slipping punches. This will take you much further than meditating with Sam Harris's mindfulness app in the middle of fucking nowhere. What are you talking about you crazy, crazy? Yet wonderful man. To the point about the question you ask,

Mike Heck, about the goodness of the fight, listen, Jamal Hill has gone out of his way to make a lot of enemies with the fan base, and you can see that anytime, you know, he says almost anything at this point. But the reality is there is a little something, a little, understand what I'm saying, a little something to what he's saying.

Is it totally wrong to argue that Yuri gets his ass kicked and then wins fights? No, it's not wrong at all. There is numerous examples of that. And in fact, it's one of the reasons why fans find him so endearing. Like, you go to the rackage fight at 300. He was getting tuned up, and then he just wasn't, and then he storms back.

It's exciting. and he is athletic and he is strong and powerful. And he does have a very strong mind and these things really matter. That's a dangerous guy to fight. And in fact, Jamal Hill, I think did an interview with some local media in his area are making the same kind of acknowledgement that, hey, this guy storms back. You have to be ready for that second, third wave of when he comes. So like, I actually feel like Jamal has some ability to show us something here

because he understands what he's up against. But like at the same time, thing's like, well, you got dominated and I got viciously chaoed as like there's like a grand difference between them. I mean, there might be a difference between them, but it's not really one worth paying an enormous amount of attention to, really. And so he's

also got a lot of like nonsensical things that he is saying along the way, but it's a great style contrast. It matters a lot for the future of this division. And in particular, it's massively consequential for not just the winner, but the loser. The loser in this particular

case, if it is URI, this is a huge indictment on the direction that he is trying to go, unless he makes big changes or something and still loses. But you see what I'm saying. And for Jamal Hill, I mean, he keeps trying to get back to this Poetan fight. And it's like, dude, you got a guy who is limited and available to be hit, but super durable, super tough, used to that kind of a thing. You need to be locked in on this. If he gets pushed even further from the title, then there's a question about whether he'll ever get back there again, even for as weak as 205 is, relatively speaking. So you love the grudge match-ish aspect of it.

You love the consequence for the division. You love, I mean, dude, someone's getting brain damage in this one. I hate to be so blunt about it, but I don't know how anyone could disagree. It's a great fight. It's a great fight. It might be sloppy. I'm it's definitely going to be crazy at times, but it's great. And it's great for not just those reasons, a lot going on behind the scenes.

Yeah, just perceptually, Jamal Hill needs this one about as bad as anybody needs a win. Like really. Yuri, like Jed says, when you see Yuri on a fight poster, it doesn't matter if he's lost five in a row. They just want to see this dude get after it with somebody. And Jamal Hill, just like you said, gets enemy after enemy and he keeps trolling fans on social media and trolling other fighters and media members. But he says a lot of stuff.

And then when he loses, it's, well, I dared to be great, tried my best. And then it's just like, come on, man, Jed's favorite thing in the sport. That energy changes real quick. Yes. Jed, anything you want to add to what Luke said? I'll add two things. One, I should win the point this round because Luke is trying to take Yeri Barajco away from us.

Like he wants him to be like a regular boy. No, obviously not. That's ridiculous. Like, let him do his thing. I don't mind. I don't mind if he, I don't mind if he maintains his style. But if he's going to maintain his style, we got to, like, people are like, oh, he's a former champion,

which of course is true. But like, they want him to be that and be championship caliber. And I'm trying to explain to them like it probably in the future, one never knows, but probably in the future won't really work that way. So if you want to accept them as like quirky guy who does quirky things, cool. If you want him to maximize his chances of winning, a little bit of that is going to go a long way. That's all I'm saying. No.

No, 2.5 is garbage. Keep doing you and blame it on the mystic forces that your opponents employ is way better. that way, Yuri. And two, just because I personally have bagged on Jamal Hill a lot, Luke said something that did kind of make me remember a thought that I've had about Jamal Hill. And it is this. Jamal Hill is actually pretty bright and aware how to assess other fighters.

Like he has a YouTube, you hear him talk about matchups. Like he hasn't, like this is not a doofus, right? Like he is not a bozo. He understands fighting at some level and can actively be like, like, oh, yeah, Yeri is a real credible opponent. Here are the things he's good at. Where Jamal Hill's failings are is his ability to assess himself. He clearly has no concept for like introspection whatsoever,

which leads him to say, I would have beat Alex Pereira but for getting caught. He got knocked out with the first punch that was thrown. And so that makes this another, like, that is another fascinating angle to this fight because I absolutely believe that Jamal Hill can look at Yer and say, say, here are good ways that I could approach a fight with Yuri Prajka. And I absolutely believe he has no ability to recognize his own deficiencies and thus might just get Yeried all over because he won't prepare for it. I cannot wait for this fight.

It's going to be very silly one way or the other. Yeah. It's just got to be a great card. That fight, the two title fights, everything before it's going to be incredible. So let's move on. Let's discuss something that we saw in the news on Sunday. Point for round two goes to Jedmishu. Nicely done.

Yuri for life, one to one. Yeary for life. All right. That's not one to one, baby. That's two zero. That is two zero. That's right. All right.

Luke's back up against the wall here. Against the wall. We got, you know, like I'm used to it. We got bullshit judges in the sport. This is what you get, you know. Get you and your crew to the big shows with Go Transit. Go connects to all the main concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. And Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fares.

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This is big. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at tellus.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. All right. Well, let's talk about what we saw on Sunday, because a clip, a video went pretty viral. We saw Habib Narmaga Madov on what turned out to be a frontier airlines flight. Let me just pull this up for context.

The clip we all saw, guys, was this viral thing of Nirmagamadaf, he's being asked to change seats. Habib refuses, and then there's a flight attendant, essentially telling him that a supervisor could be called to escort him off the plane. and then Habib appears to leave by himself. And obviously, Habib's going to be very busy on Saturday, coaching two title fights back to back. But this story, Luke, we saw Habib released a statement about it,

seemed very calm in the video. And then Frontier Airlines released a statement to us yesterday. And I'll read a little bit of this. It said, quote, customer, Habib Narbaga Madoff was seated in an exit row, was asked multiple times if he was willing and able to assist in the event of emergency. According to the flight attendant, Mr. Narmaga Madov, not respond despite repeated attempts, which placed him in noncompliance with FAA requirements.

The flight attendant informed Mr. Nirmaga made off that he could be moved to a different upgraded seat or exit the plane. Videos circulating on social media platforms do not capture this interaction and instead show a subsequent interaction after a gate agent entered the plane and reiterated the option to be receded. As a result of the customer's initial unresponsiveness and repeated declinations of a seat change, he was asked to deplane per airline and FAA policy. see the decision to deplane the customer was in no way related to his ethnicity and we have refunded

him and his traveling companions for their flights. Luke, what has your reaction been to this over the last almost 72 hours? Confusion, to be perfectly honest with you? I mean, listen, I'm the exit row king, right? I don't fly first class unless someone else is paying for it, which is pretty rare. And the best. best seat to get if you're my size, six foot four and 270 pounds is the exit row. And of course, if you've ever sat in the exit row, you know the drill. The stewardess or whoever comes down the line and says, everyone's sitting there, can you help in the event of an emergency?

You're all like, yes. You got your headphones on at 6 a.m. You're leaving wherever the fuck. And then they make you stop and they go down the line and they make you say, can you do it? And you have to say yes. Like literally, here's how I know this. If you just keep saying, okay, sure, whatever, they'll remove. you. There was a guy on my row on a flight one time where they actually did. And it wasn't a big

to-do. He actually, I don't think he wanted the seats. He ended up there. He was a small guy. They moved him and it wasn't a big deal. But like, they don't take kindly, unless you're like closely locked in on them and you actually say the word yes. If you just give a thumbs up, sure, okay, whatever. They don't like any of that. I don't, I don't quite understand what the rules are in that sense, but they seem to be sticklers for it in the end. Was Habib doing that, not even thinking twice about it? Does he normally, I mean, dude, first, of all, why the fuck is Habib flying Frontier? I mean, did you lose a bet? Habeeb? Holy fuck. Get off Frontier. You couldn't pay me to get on Frontier Airlines. I don't even know what the

fuck. Why would you even subject yourself? Anytime you've ever seen a fist fight on your phone at the airport, it's in front of Southwest Frontier Ryanair or what's another one that's a good one? Spirit. Spirit. Spirit. Yeah, spirit. Oh, spirit. The fucking Peter Pan of the skies, ladies and gentlemen. You better bring brass knuckles through TSA when you ride spirit, you cheap fucks. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is you get the worst stewardesses,

you get the worst service. They're used to all these cunts who board the flight and talk shitty to him. Maybe they didn't like his answer. I don't know. This idea that like we can declare he was automatically discriminated against. Would I be surprised even a little bit

if they discriminated against him? Of course not. This is a thing that we've seen on camera a million times. Would I also be surprised if it turned out with the statement that the company put out that they tried to get some kind of formal yes from him and he just give them, you know,

sure, a gibberish or whatever, not understanding the magnitude of what they require you when you sit in those seats? I could also see that as equally plausible. I don't really know how to parse this. I just, there's just not enough evidence to declare it one way or the other. Jed, what did you think of this whole thing?

And then, you know, first it was being told it was Alaska Airlines, turned out to be incorrect. Habib released his statement, clarifies its good old frontier, and then he released his statement. Other fighters and people around the space have obviously defended Habib, and then Frontier releases their statement to us yesterday. What has been your reaction to all of this? I think Luke nailed it all, right? Like, the overwhelming thought is, why are you flying Frontier? I am confident in saying that Habib and America Medov has more money than I do. And, like, I don't don't fly frontier.

Like, I'm not doing that. Like, I can pony up for Delta. Like, you can't go, like, I would have thought it more likely that they would just, like, rent a jet to fly the team than fly economy frontier. Like, not even, not even business class. Like, he's flying economy frontier. That is baffling to me that this unfolded in that circumstance. The other thing is, I, like Luke, if it came out, if we were able to read,

minds and it was this was some form of discrimination. I wouldn't be like flabbergasted by it. I think it is not the most likely answer to what occurred here. I think the most likely answer is probably somewhat close to the frontier statement. They asked him and as Luke said he gave him a thumbs up or said sure, whatever and they didn't get the response they wanted in it. This was some flight attendant on a bad day or a power trip and just said, okay, you're you didn't give me exactly what I want and then they they just kept doubling down on it when it became clear that he was willing to to do the role necessary he was capable of doing it his English is fine like but they once they were in that room they had gone down that path and now we're just walking down this road

to see it to the end and so you could certainly say that frontier and the people involved probably should have cut their losses at some point but I find it's not like he's like walking around with a Quran and the Crescent Moon on and being like, I am Islamic you, and then they're prejudicing him. Like, that just doesn't make sense to me. I think that this is, you know, don't ascribe to malice what you can to incompetence. This seems much more likely that they just got a little too agro in a very reasonable situation that could have been handled otherwise and didn't. And now, now they can't admit fault because we don't do that in this society. That is not a thing that ever occurs. It's the other person's problem, you just have to figure out why it's their problem. So, a weird story.

Didn't think that it would be like a thing this week. But here we are. Definitely a weird story. Here, the lesson is, don't fly Frontier, please, for the love of Jesus Christ. Don't fly Economy Plus or whatever Frontier. If you're Habib, Narak a goddamn Medov. Yeah. Yikes. Go JetBlue. Go Delta. You can do better. All right. Well, let's move on. There's there's lots of news and notes to get to. So the point for round three goes to no drama here. Luke Thomas two to one when your opponent says I think arm nailed it that pretty much he got all of it. He got this hometown cook and I got a fight. Oh, don't worry. We will probably go to the to the actual judges, the fans who I'm told are way better than me at this. So lots to discuss when it

comes to the news and notes category. Let's start with McKenzie Dern, guys. Gets a big win in the main event of UFC Vegas 101. She says after the submission went over Amanda Hebas, she just wants to keep on adding to the win streak and is in no rush to get to a title fight. So Jed, you have been on McKenzie Dern Island for quite some time. You just can't quit her with your picks and your analysis.

Doing the thing is different for everybody, but did she do the thing on Saturday? She did. She finally won me some money, Like, as opposed to just pouring, pouring dollars into her and having her not pay that off, she did it. It was terrific. Me and Sheen Al-Shadi, the last two remnants on McKinsey Dern can get their island. What a day Saturday was for us.

I did not watch it live. I had a birthday celebration where me and some boys went to Benny Hanna and then went to watch Den of Thieves 2. That movie is bad. I guess you all wondering. But I came out of Denethees and was like, all right, love, what happened? And I see the McKinsey Dern has pulled off the arm bar, go back and watch the fight. Look, I'm not willing to say that she is going to be the champion, but I'm not going to not say it because I've got too much invested in McKinsey Dern Island. Right.

Like, I have made a home here in this small plot of land in the middle of the Pacific. And we will resolutely hold on as long as we can. And now we have life. there is something exciting. Like this wasn't just a win because she's got some like wins on the resume that we just kind of squinted our eyes and pretended were better like the Vrina Genjiroba win. Like this one like she finished her. She looked good during the fight. Like she looked like she remembered how to fight because there was that period of time where she started working with Perillo and like learned how to jab and still had a lot of huge flaws.

But like looked like she was developing. And then there was like a three-year stretch where she just looked like ass most of the time. But now like she's back to looking like she is improving, that she is adding tools. She had elbows and punches on the ground, which is something I've been calling for forever. Like she looked better than she has previous. I think that this is the best we have ever seen McKinsey darn look. And maybe she doesn't get to the title. Like maybe she doesn't get to win the belt.

But I now feel like there is a reasonable path where she can fight for a title, which a couple of years ago seemed impossible. So Saturday was a big day for the last remaining members of the McKinsey Dern Banwagon and hop on board. Water's fine. We're going.

Luke, did McKenzie Dern's outing on Saturday night make you want to jump on board the McKenzie Dern train? How would you grade her night overall? Pretty high, pretty high grade. I mean, I think the reality is this. There was something truly different about this wind than other

wins. She's had other wins that came quicker. She's had other wins that looked nice. Obviously, he's had some devastating losses along the way too. But if we're just talking about the side of the ledger when she got the W, this one felt different. And I think the reason why it felt different is because we always knew she had jiu-jitsu prowess. And, you know, to the extent she could find a way to like shoehorn it into about her, sometimes get a little lucky with the way in which it played out. She could. But there was two problems happening. First, and this is what sets this win apart. in my judgment, she began and clearly evidenced the reality that she is building pieces around the jiu-jitsu that's making it all work together more nimbly, right? So consider that,

you know, she had the double leg in the second round. For a time, she had single-digit takedown accuracy in the sport, which, you know, take-down accuracy doesn't need to be high. Habibs lived in the mid-to-high 40s. It doesn't need to be super-hot. high, but single digits is like abysmally low. It's one of the worst ones, I think, if not the worst one for a ranked fighter I've literally ever seen. It's really, really bad. She has up that to some degree, and you saw her get the double leg. That's one thing. And then on top of that, even when she caught the reversal with the arm bar at the end of the third, she gave up on that arm bar to go back to mount and then set up a new attack. There was a patience. There was an awareness about what is, in terms of

the way to get the results you want, what's the best way to go about? I made a video some months ago where I noticed she would take the back of opponents and then she would climb real high. She would balance on her forehead and then try to open them up by punching them while she's resting on her forehead. And of course, you're just never going. That's like this is taking a jujitsu mind and then like quickly applying it to MMA and hoping that it works. Rather than understanding where the sport is and how to set things up properly, I felt like a lot of that got addressed with the performance that she had and the way in the way. which she was able to show. To me, that is that is quite a big deal. However, there is

another aspect to this that needs to be kept in mind, which is styles make fights. Did I see something in this fight that tells me she won't get lit up if she fought Jessica Androge again or even Jan Shaan, depending of the whole long that fight would have to stay on the feet?

Not really. I mean, I'm not declaring to you that it's inevitable, but that performance didn't address that in any real kind of way. I think what I saw, though, to wrap it all up here is, did I see someone that if they wanted to put in the title fight, you could make a reasonable enough argument that they earned it? And more to the point, depending on the matchup, have a reasonable enough chance of confidence in their abilities to get the win. Yeah, yeah, I think I did see that.

And I'm not sure I ever really saw that before. Again, except for some Doug Flutie Hail Mary kind of thing where you're just hoping that it works and sometimes it did. this one was a drive down the field. This was, I'm not going to say it was Jaden Daniels. I mean, there's only one Jaden Daniels out there, quarterback for your Washington commanders. There's only one of him. But hey, it was regular season Sam Darnold.

Hey, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. The Vikings won double-digit games. Before it was like Atlanta Falcons, Kirk Cousins. Well, I mean, you can't do shit with that. This was a lot better. It wasn't Jaden Daniels. It was pretty goddamn good.

Luke, we go from a brighter future in the UFC women's divisions to a UFC run ending in one of the UFC women's divisions. Former UFC women's band-in-way champion Holly Holm is a free agent. She asked for her release per her manager, first reported by Ariel Hawani, then confirmed by our own Damon Martin. And wouldn't you know it, Luke? She got it. What was your reaction to that? And where do you think she ends up? I think it's a pretty smart call.

43 years old. How much time does she really have left to do much? Probably, I mean, dude, at 43, you're entering Bernard Hopkins territory here with this kind of a thing. I mean, understand something for the folks out there who maybe forgot this or were not aware. She was inducted into the boxing hall of fame. I think at this point, several years ago, she's already done with one athletic career. This was all just bonus time. I'm not even talking about the kickboxing side of it, just the boxing side of it. And then now she's into MMA. She's in her early 40s.

She has kept herself in great condition, physical condition, I would say, and has not taken a ton of abuse as far as we can tell as well. And so if I'm her, listen, you're not going to win a UFC title. Maybe you feel like you can test the free market a little bit. Certainly I would argue that they, PFL has a bunch of names, but Holly Holmes got a name that I think a lot of fans are still going to like can care about. She can fight at 145 if she wants up there. I don't know how much she wants that. It remains to be seen. Or maybe she goes to BKFC or maybe she goes to karate combat, something like

this where she can kind of tailor not just what the paychecks look like to some extent, but more than that what the experience looks like. And then how much of an ability to manage that experience, how much say she has over things in a way that she probably just didn't with the end Dude, the end of a UFC run, unless you're willing to be a Jim Miller, which is a noble, awesome thing. But unless you're willing to commit to that, it's not, there's no real path for you at this point. You, you, you, you're going to get chewed up and spit out. The company is going to use you for their purposes, not yours. Better to take some control.

There's going to be tradeoffs in every direction, but better to take some control and then carve a new path. What that looks like, I guess we'll have to see. But I actually feel like it works out for everybody here. I'm not sure UFC fans wanted her to continue fighting anyway. There was jokes she was going to headline an apex card and there was going to be groans about it. Seems like something of a relatively speaking fresh start. Jed, the Holly Home UFC era is over. She asked for the release.

She got it. What did you think? I think great call from Holly Home. I disagree with Luke on that this being a win for everybody. I don't think the UFC cares that much. Obviously, they granted the release. but women's bandam weight is a dumpster fire inside of a bigger dumpster fire. Like there's, there are no, with Hollyholm leaving, so we are very clear,

Misha Tate will become a top 10 bantam weight in the UFC as a result of this because she will leave the rankings and Tate will bump up like Misha Tate in the year 2025, top 10 bantam weight. Like there just aren't the bodies for this weight class. So for them to lose one and lose one with a name, even if there are the jokes about her style and how unappealing a fighter she has been, she's still a name who could headline an apex card. So I think they are losing something there. I think PFL theoretically will gain something or maybe GFL gain something. I don't know.

I don't think that this is good for the U.C. I also think the U.S. is too big to really care, right? Like this is this is a hangnail on the Goliath that is the UFC if it's anything. For home, I think this is obviously really good. As Luke said, she can kind of tailor her career how she would like to end her career now. The UFC, part of the problem with the women's Bannamway class, they're just not being names. All she would have looking for in the UFC are rematches and one rematch a year. That's pretty much every woman's Bannamway gets to fight once a year is pretty much how it has gone.

few years for them. So she wouldn't get to be active, make several paychecks. And instead, she can maybe sign a non-exclusive deal with the PFL to take some fights at 145. Or maybe she wants to do the influencer boxing thing. Like she wants to go be on a Jake Paul card and go back to boxing in some ways. I think that this obviously just gives her a lot more flexibility in her career that she doesn't with the restrictive UFC contract. And ultimately, she's going to be a UFC Hall of Famer. I don't think she has one yet. If memory, serve, but like, ultimately she will get inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. She will be the only person in both the Boxing Hall of Fame and the UFC Hall of Fame,

which is a pretty cool feather in your cap. She had a very solid MMA career overall, and she gets to spend the last few years of her athletic career competing how she would like to. So great for her. And then last one we'll get to here. Jed Leon Edwards has the next fight booked. We confirm Sunday night agreements are in place that the UFC. is close to finalizing Leon Edwards versus Jack Della Madelana,

main event, UFC London, March 22nd. Jed Bishu, grade this matchmaking. A minus, right? Like this, I mean, this is a terrific fight. I am surprised that this is where Leon was willing to go. I thought he, after losing the belt, would want a softer touch, sort of particularly, you know, going to London, doing that thing. I thought that it was the most sense in the world was you do Leon versus Mossvedoll.

Like he gets to kill Jorge Mosvodal. You finally get closure to that. That can be the main event of something, et cetera, et cetera. But this fight is obviously much better than that fight. Like this is JDM rising and tender trying to get over the hump. If Jack Della wins, he's suddenly your next in line. Like if Jack Della beats Leon Edwards, he is next in line for the winner of Shavkat versus Balal with the Islam Makachev caveat sort of hanging in the balance there.

And if Leon wins, he's right back. He'll still need another win unless Shavkat wins, in which case he is sort of right there in consideration. So I think this makes a lot of sense as we traditionally think of sort of UFC champions who are former champions coming, making their first return since losing the belt. And mostly just to fight rocks. Like this is a very, very good matchup between two of the six best welterweights alive. So pretty pumped for it.

Luke, Rocky Edwards, J.D.M. Grade this matchmaking. One of, if not the best. I don't know if it's the best. It's absolutely on the short list of one of the very best non-title UFC fights you can make independent away class. It is excellent. It is excellent. J.D.M. coming off that Gilbert Burns win, which wasn't going necessarily all that great,

but he rescued it. He performed ably, but then really rescued it at the end. And that was an incredible, incredible presence of mine. mind to do that. We've already seen how he looks on the feet and what he represents from Australia. Just a really, really exciting contender. I previously talked at 155 how those guys weren't pushing people out. Well, here comes a chance for the guys at 170 to do that with with JDM taking on Leon Edwards. So you get that kind of generational push, a conflict anyway, between them. And more to the point, like Leon Edwards, you know, kind of a little bit. I mean,

he rescued himself in that fifth round performance against Bilal, but kind of shit the bed there and had a lot of things to blame the late night and, you know, the training and everything else. Like, it just didn't necessarily go right for him. This is a monster chance to reinsert himself into the title picture that, you know, if he loses, I don't know if they view him on the same level as, you know, Mara, but I don't know if they're going to be necessarily in a big rush to get him back there. And also, just on the style of points itself, like Leon much more battle tested than JDM, Leon, much more, in my opinion, well-rounded than JD.

has a lot of different skills in areas where JDM doesn't, but JDM at the same time is really making a name for himself and improving drastically fight over fight. Dude, this is what you want. I've said it before, man. There's two times in a fighter's life where they're really doing exciting things. People always assume it's when they're defending the title. That's one of them.

The second one is when they're coming up the ranks of the contendership queue and then they're beating guys that you weren't sure that they could necessarily beat. Can they defeat that guy? Can they really go to hostile enemy territory and take the strait? from, or not the strap in this particular case, but, you know, get the dub there in this kind of way against that guy who's done that kind of a thing. And it just changes your perception in real time about what they're capable of doing. You get another one like that with this after coming off of the Gilbert Burns fight for JDM. It's an opportunity.

Again, it's not quite a title fight, but as if it's not going to be one, they don't come much better than this. Yeah, it's a great fight. I'm looking forward to it. And UFC's calendar year building up very nicely. All right. They're starting all hot. They are starting off hot. The point for round four goes to light them up, my friends.

We're going to the knocker around. Two to two. Luke ties it up. The big Moe. Firmly in Luke's corner right now. Firmly in Luke's corner as we head to the knocker around. One question decides it all. Each will have 60 seconds to answer.

Brian Campbell not here. So I know both of you gentlemen will handle it within the correct 60 second time frame. But Jed, do you want to go first? Yeah, he's tough. I'll go first. I got to take the momentum back from him. This is not going to be a Jaden Daniels miracle comeback. I'm going to squash that shit out quite quick.

How'd that go against Michael Pinnock's guy? I don't give a shit about the Falcons. That's fine. He's a Colts fan. I'm a Colts fan, which is a whole different bag of problems. But. But speaking of bags of problems, as we mentioned, there's going to be a town hall with Don Davis, the PFL founder and chairman Thursday, 1 p.m. Eastern right here on this here channel. And Don teased on the first town hall in October. And it wasn't officially official at the time. But Bellator as a brand was essentially no more, that all the fighters are going to be under the PFL brand umbrella. The Bellator Champion Series is going to be rebranded to Champion Series 2.0 or now the PFL champion series. and we've also confirmed the season format is no more.

They're switching to a more classic tournament format and other things as well. Now, Jed, PFL and Don have a lot of other things to answer to, and boy will he on Thursday afternoon. But focusing on just these two moves, is this a good move for the PFL? One minute on the clock. Can you clarify which two moves I'm focusing on? Again, just.

Eleanor, no more, under the same umbrella, season no more. tournament. Okay. Start the timer. We're good, Casey. It started. Boom. These are unequivocally good decisions from PFL.

Like, these were a thing that one, I thought was going to happen for a long time that, hey, they're going to do a year of Bellator because I believe that there were contractual obligations tied to television rights, broadcast, et cetera, that they've had to carry through for a year. and as soon as that was up, they were going to Bellator. Well, Bellator's done after a year. I feel justified in that belief. Two, I had a brief, you know, I kind of like the season thing, but nobody else did. So you got to do what the fans are telling you to do.

They're not. My issue with this is for every positive step PFL is taking. They are moving forward. They then take big steps back by what the shit does it mean? The Bellator brand carries a rich history that will continue to be respected through select feature title bouts. What? Why?

Don't respect them. They are dead and gone. Move on with your life. Focus on you. All this weird shit you're doing. It needs to be settled. There you go. Luke, same question.

Some changes within the PFL ator. There is no more PFL ator. It's just PFL and these champion series events are PFL champion series events starring Bellator champions, which is still kind of weird, but Bellator cards are no longer a thing. And now we're not doing the season. We're doing classic tournament. style mixed martial arts. Good move. Go. Great move. The only move to really make. Now that they have elbows, for example, they're up to modern standards. Now that they're getting rid of the

tournament, still have the, they're not going to call it a Grand Prix, but I guess a Grand Prix pre-style, but this is much better than doing it, this convoluted way where you're asking people to do stupid-ass math. They got rid of that. They got rid of, dude, the Bellator brand was dead long before PFL ever got their hands on it. All of these things are by themselves good. In fact, not only good, great. And I would even argue to some degree borderline essential. Here's the problem. It ain't going to save them. They cannot save them. It can make the product more interesting and it can make it more dynamic. And for the first time, they might even be able to build a fan base, something that they haven't ever been able to do. But the problem is,

there is one group of fighters at any given time in history that the fighters, excuse me, that the public perceives as legitimate. And all of those guys are at UFC, until the UFC has cross pollination with the PFL roster. There is no way for those guys to get legitimacy, which means there is no way for them to compete. It cannot be done. Better, but better on a sinking ship. Well, there you have it.

Some moves with PFL, perhaps more moves on the way. I can't wait for town hall. I'm so excited. I'm going to tell you that is like, I am so excited for that. I'm genuinely excited. At first, when I heard all this news is breaking, I was like, shit, because it seemed like he was going to announce all this stuff now, but like,

in hindsight, it's so much better. Like it's so much better. The timing truly could not be better. So again, Thursday 1 PM Eastern. Maybe it would be better for us as a site if we like were breaking the news or whatever, although I think that's even debatable from a content perspective. I, it is going to be so fun to just have people being like, hey, Don, do you see Patricio Pipples eight tweets?

Respond, please. He's like, I can't wait for the channel. He will for sure. And obviously it's a town hall. So your questions matter. Bring them in. I'll obviously have follow-ups. I'll have my own questions as well.

So fire away. We'll see you. Link should be up shortly. You can start leaving them in there. But as you vote, another quick announcement, because apparently it is town hall season here on M.A. Fighting.com. We do have Don Davis Thursday.

And the big announcement is my vacation is starting a day later than it was supposed to. Why? Because a lot of you have asked for and it is officially happening this Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern, I will be joined by the founder of the brand new global fight league, GFL, Darren Owen, who will do the same thing Dawn is doing on Thursday. And I know you guys have a billion questions about GFL and how they're how they're actually pulling this shit off that they're promising. Are they not who's to find out? but at least Darren will be on to answer the questions to the best of his ability. So that's 1 p.m. this Monday. So two town halls and like four or five day stretch.

So get ready. And then I'm off the radar for for 10 or so days. So vote, vote, vote as Casey says. That means I have to do BTL next week. Oh, yeah. I'll manage that. You sure do. Yes.

Get the votes in. As soon as we see Casey's wonderful face on the bottom right hand corner in the screen, then we know the voting has been, has been complete. I don't see Casey yet. I need to know who else we can get you to town hall with. Like that's now where my mind is at, right? Like, we get John Nutt to fight circus.

I can make that happen, I'm pretty sure. Like, let's have the town hall thing is fun. I'm a big fan of it. It is. We can get fighters. We can get managers, coaches. I don't know if anyone will be as good as Don Davis, who came out and said he doesn't watch MMA,

which is one of the greatest answers ever given in front of a live screen. That was the same answer my, that was the same answer my wife gives. Like, in other words, like, my husband's not making me watch it.

I'm not watching it. You know what I mean? I was like, I don't watch, I don't watch the sport. Cool. No, but like you won't have any fight.

Like, there's none. Nope. Okay. What a time to be alive that was. And what a time is going to be. on Thursday at 1 p.m. Casey is here.

Do we have a winner? We must. Yes, we have a winner. Oh, Dave Feldman would be a great town hall. Yeah. With 54% of the votes. Competitive. Competitive.

Your winner today is and still undefeated. Yes. Don't call it a comeback. He's been here for years. Down to low. Jaden Daniels. I'm the Jaden Daniels of BTL.

Lick my balls. Well, Jaden, the confetti falls upon you. Now you have 30 seconds to talk about whatever you want. Plug away, whatever you want to say, the four of yours. I just want to wish the Washington commanders

good luck when they take on the Detroit Lions this Saturday, which will, by the way, be happening during UFC 311. You can catch my watch along and then post-fight show at YouTube. slash Luke Thomas. Thanks to the boys, EKC and Jed, the dirtbag, who looks like he works at 7-Eleven. And of course, Mike Heck, I appreciate all of you. And thanks to everyone out there who voted for me as well.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Jed, your response to the fan voting. I just want to see Luke Thomas try and like evade tackles from NFL football players. If he's Jane Daniels, I want to see Luke Thomas trying to get slippery in like the A gap, you know? that i think that would be some great content right there so perhaps maybe that's something we can we can look at on luke thomas's youtube channel that said casey hit the music we're on out of here tomorrow obviously jose is en route to los angeles to inglewood which is always that's really good media day coming up tomorrow press conference on thursday way and stuff on friday

it's got to be a busy week here at mbfighting dot com so stick with us for luke jed cacey the i iconic voice of Esther Lynn's going to take you home. We are back next week. I won't be, but Jed will be right here on Between the Links. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. MMA Fighting Production on the Box Media Network.