MMA Fighting - BTL | Merab vs. Yan 2 Headlines UFC 323, Dana White Announces First Paramount Title Fights, More

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Dana White made it a memorable Thanksgiving for MMA fans with the announcement during the Chiefs vs. Cowboys game that Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett for the interim UFC lightweight title headlines UFC 324 over the Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes mega-fight, and also revealed later that evening that Alexander Volkanovski will face Diego Lopes for the second time in a row in a featherweight title bout in the main event of UFC 325. While the bouts are big, they were met be a tidal wave of negativity from the fan base. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to the big title fights announced for the new Paramount era, the reception from the MMA community, and where this leaves other title hopefuls, including Arman Tsarukyan. Additionally, they discuss Saturday's UFC 323 event headlined by Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan 2, Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van in the co-main event, Henry Cejudo's final fight, and much more. Join MMA fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions all show long. 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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Battery life varies significantly based on device, settings, usage, and other factors. 2025 was a wild year for the tech industry. AI seemed like it took over everyone's brains. It was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about. Nvidia became the most valuable company in the world. We had some huge new video games, the Switch 2 launch, a lot of people got it, there was just a lot going on. And on the Vergecast, we are talking about the best, the worst, the most important, the biggest

heel turns, all the stuff that happened in 2025, and making maybe a few predictions about what's going to happen next year. All that and more on the Vergecast, wherever you get podcasts. This series is presented by Jira by Atlassian. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast, network live from mhmate fighting studios this is between the links and now your host mike heck the iconic voice of esther lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of btel happy Thursday to us all.

Hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Obviously, Thanksgiving was a very big day for the MMA community and a number of ways. We finally found out what the first few title fights will be for the UFC on Paramount era kicking off in January. The emotions have been running high since then, so we'll obviously discuss that. And we got UFC 323 coming up on Saturday, a really good card. main event Marab de Walsh Raleigh v. Piotr Yon 2. We got Alexandra Pantosha defending the flyway title against Joshua Van.

We have the final fight of Henry Suhudo's career against Peyton Talbot. That and much more. I'm actually really excited for this event. Really excited for the last UFC watch party of 2025, which I will be a part of. And joining me on the show and will also be joining me on the watch party this Saturday for UFC 323. He has Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid himself, and an absolute gamer because, well, let's let Jed explain. Jed, how are we feeling on this Thursday? And, of course, welcome back to BTL.

Today I'm the hot tea kid. I've got some herbal tea with, I don't know if there's such a thing as too much honey, but I am testing the boundaries of how much honey a man can consume in a 24-hour period. A little bit of a cold has come on. I blame Jose Young's entirely, frankly. It's his fault. I went out and had a few beverages with him on Sunday night, and it was cold,

and I think that he's the cause of all my pains. But hurt not injured. We're here to talk about a very good card, as you see, two stars. I honestly strongly debated giving this three. I think you can't call this a three-mishu-one star card because of the lack of, like, big star power. but and we'll talk about it Mike I've gotten some pushback that this is a good card

some even you know people who come to a MA Fighting Cart website they're generally considered hardcore fans right like this is the you know this is our community some people aren't very into this I think those people are wrong I love this card I love what we're gonna get to watch on Saturday well I mean look if you're if you're throwing this out there

and people are questioning it show your work Jed Why is this, why is this a two-star card in your eyes? I've said on multiple programs at this point, I think they've nailed it as far as like, I think this is a really good bit of promotional work here because it is very hard to thread the needle of not totally punting on your final obligations. It's like when you get a new job, right? Like you put in your two weeks notice at the new job. Everybody knows that you're not there.

And like you're not, you're not taking on new projects, right? Like, you're done in two weeks. That's where the U.S. But it's a difference between whether you totally mail it in, you know, you're like, I, here's my two weeks notice and I'm going to use two weeks vacation or it's two weeks notice, but don't come by my desk and put anything on it. I'm, I'm just picking up a paycheck for two weeks until I move on. You don't really want to be that guy, but you're also, you're not going to give it your best effort because you got to save your energy for the new thing. They're not going to give us their best card at the end of the ESPN era because they want to, you know, kick things off with the bang, which they certainly are doing.

We talked about that already, you know, and they've spun up reaction pod or whatever, Mike. But they've done very well at producing a card that I think is meritorious, right? Like you've got two title fights and two meaningful ones. Now, the main event is a rematch of a fight that wasn't very competitive. Maybe it'll be more competitive this time. I'm sure we can get into that. But it's certainly a real fight.

Like, this isn't Diego Lopez getting another crack at at Alexander Volcanowski. Like, Peoria has won three in a row since then. Like, he deserves his opportunity. And on top of that, Rob's making history. Like, even fighting this fight is making history. It'll be the first champion to fight four times or first person of four title fights in one calendar year.

Obviously, if he wins, he pretty much locks up fighter of the year. He does something that's not been done before. Like, this is historically significant. And everybody on, everybody watching this right now, knows that I don't even care from Rob Dvalishvili, but I would never argue that Saturday is not a meaningful, significant thing, even if I might end up finding it boring. Co-made events awesome.

Josh Van, making his case for fight over the year, Pantoja, the most underappreciated champion in the sport. That fight is just going to probably be a heater because it, like when has Pantosia been in a boring fight? Moreno Taira is awesome, the last dance of Henry Suhudo, in a very weird, interesting fight. Gustav Lehovic all of these fights are meaningful now if you want to say that this might not be the most fun i'm open to that argument but a lot of stakes at play on saturday a lot of good fights

good matchups and the undercard is solid like i don't think i think everybody on this card has a wikipedia page or like 90% of people like these are known quantities we're getting on saturday and i think top to bottom it's a really strong card i think it's I think it's really good. Like, I think it's an, I think, I'm not going to say it's an excellent card, but is a very, very good card. There are, I mean, and even so, like, the, the first three fights are like the opening, the naima of Myron Santos fight is interesting. It's two guys that nobody really knows, but are two guys that are pretty good and are on good runs right now. It's actually good.

It's a quality fight. Yeah. We know what Mancer Abdul Malik and Tonyo Tricoli is. It is a, that's a murder. Yeah, it is a, let's get this guy over fight. It should be a squash match against a veteran who, you know, is not, not trying, but obviously his poker career is sort of taking center stage right now. He's a big ton of money doing it.

So good, good on Antonio Tricoli. Ebo, Azzan, Ewo, Baranuski. This is the UFC hoping that we just get two dudes chucking them and one guy falls quickly. But then the last, the last. Plus, it's a fun gimmick. Ebo versus Evo. Come on. We can all appreciate that.

fun it's for the pound signs and the hashtags but the last 11 fights are all like really interesting they all have some sort of storyline attached to them edson barboza back to lightweight fighting jalen turner who's back fighting after the shortest retirement of all time marvin vittori like needs a win badly and he's fighting bruno fajeta for as i am versus dezim sadikoff is awesome like that's might be my favorite fight on the entire card i love that fight is There's no way that fight stings. Macy Barber coming back against Greenie Silva, like, you know, will she make it to the fight? I'll believe that when she's in the cage, frankly.

Because we've, we've literally seen her not like, not make the walk. Will she make weight? That's another question. That's another interesting story. Terrence McKinty, Chris Duncan rocks. No way that fight is bad. Grant Dawson, Manwell Torres, could get a little silly, but two very good guys on the come-up at 155 pounds by the way shout out to grant dawson he was the star of media day yesterday no

will know this and no one will really watch it but if you're looking for a guy no one's watching any of it look at the numbers on our vids for media day i did last night i was like wow that is bad tough scenes it's it's not a it's not us this is the kind of card where like you could skip all the you could skip all the fight we get to show us just to show up on friday way in and then show up on saturday that's all you need for this one those who are going to watch it are all watching it nothing is going to happen this week that is going to bring in an extra pay-per-view buyer not one thing you know what this card's awesome mike um i i said a lot of it and then i realized in the middle of it there's actually a way shorter way to say uh this this card rocks

because there are four lightweight fights two bannamway fights and two flyweight fights yeah of the 11 meaningful fights none of them are more than 135 pounds they're no heavyweights it's a banger like that's just it like honestly i think we don't talk about that enough like if you just built booked cards with people that weighed out less than 185 pounds more often than not it's going to be heaters and like yep that's like looking at it's like there are four lightweight fights on this when eight lightweights are competing your night can only be so bad because they're all going to rock yes i am looking forward to this card no one's going to watch it but those who do We're going to have a really good time, I think.

So all right, let's, uh, let's go to the questions. That's what this is all about. And obviously super chatters go to the top. Give us your questions, people. So let's get after it. Bobby, uh, do we see Suhudo versus Moreno in 2026? So Henry Suhudo started off the week, Jed, by doing a little scrum on Tuesday night, let loose on Dana White, the Nevada Athletic Commission and many others about eye pokes.

And then said, no, this is my last fight. the only person I'll come back for is Brandon Moreno. He does not like Brandon Moreno. At least that was the thing. Brandon Moreno is asked about this at Media Day yesterday. And he's like, I don't understand why he's so mad. Like, I don't have beef with him. If I sit next to him at the press conference, I'm going to go shake his hand and wish him all the best because that's what Brandon Moreno does.

And then Suhudo goes up at Media Day not long after. Jose Young tells Suhudo what Moreno said. He's like, yeah, he's probably right. and then Suhudo on the clip of that said that he dabbed up Brandon Moreno like seconds after his his media day ended so it seems like the beef has been squashed at least to some degree maybe things will pop off at the press conference but uh yeah I don't think that fight happens in 2026 or ever jed I forgot about it honestly because like the whole suhudo's retiring I was like yeah he's retiring maybe if he wins like he'll get confused and think that he shouldn't he should frankly even if he wins he won't he should frankly even if he wins he won't he and it's like go out on top you know so few just so few people do that but until he mentioned it i was like oh yeah i forgot that that was a thing and once that happens i think it happens so i actually think that this is likely um if you get starched by talbot maybe not but like i don't soon i didn't want to retire the first time i don't think he wants to retire now i think he's a bit caught in

between of like okay well i'm not good anymore and he's not bad but he's not good anymore and I don't think he wants to be the guy who they just let build people off of, which feels like where he's relegated to. But I think he would be interested in doing, you know, the super fight thing. There just aren't that many available in the weight classes he competes in, right? Like, because the big name guys are fighting for actual belts. Moreno being the kind of obvious exception to this. So I actually think it makes a lot of sense. Not like assuming Moreno beats Tyra.

Moreno loses a Tyra. It makes all the sense in the world. Marino beats Tyra like theoretically he should fight for the belt. But if Van wins, they're going to do an immediate rematch. And if pants wins, we don't like, do we really book Moreno Pants 4? Not totally opposed to it. But like you don't because Kioji's right there. So then Moreno's like, what is he going to do?

Sure. Fight Henry Suhudo. So I think that fight sort of. fits and if if he's bringing it up that makes me believe that that's it's a real possibility especially with sort of the place that both fighters exist in right now again i just don't think henry wants to retire i think he doesn't i think what he doesn't want to do is be on jerolovsky he like henry se hoodo is not willing to just be a professional fighter which is kind of where his career is at right now and i don't blame him like that's a that's just a personal choice

there's nothing wrong with not wanting to be that guy but you know if he can still be in big fights and not just fights i think he wants to stick around and that would feel like a big fight so i'll say it happens yeah i say no chance i think it's the suhudo's last fight by far i think so hoodo said it kind of said it best at the at media day he was basically like look you retired before we hear this all the time they say it's the last fight then maybe you go ahead and lose to Talvin you're like oh I want to go out on a win and Suhudo I think just kind of nailed he goes nah man I think data would cut me after anyways and he's probably right I think I think the UFC is done with Henry Suhudo I think they were they were done with him when he when he

retired the first time he left it's still one of the funniest thing that's ever happened in the sport it's the worst retirement in sports history and he was asked about this at the at BD day as well he's like I have no regrets like blah blah blah blah he goes you want to retire on top and And I get that, but you should have just kept going with it because it was truly bad. Like you were on the cusp of going somewhere and really getting to that upper echelot. Like you're probably like another two wins away from being a star. And then you left and you thought the UFC was just going to cave and they were just like, nah, Piotrion's going to go ahead and fight for your belt now.

And that's it. Bye bye. Have a great trip home from Jacksonville. And thank you for your contributions. We're out of here. We're totally fine. And then he came back to a title fight in a weird world where the judge knew how to score a fifth round. Henry Suhudo would be the Bannamweight champion right now.

It's crazy to think about. And then he wins around against Marab and then gets marab and then the Songgiang thing happened. So it's like, it's not like he's gotten the doors blown off him since he's come back. But I mean, he was getting worked up by song, but. Yeah, he was losing that fight. He was losing that fight. But I wrote about, I wrote about Souda today. He's the lead from the mailbag.

that goes up this afternoon um he's had a very weird career it's objectively not a bad career right like he's a two champ um and you added in the olympics so he's objectively at a very good career i think his career is going to age incredibly poorly um and that's mostly his fault frankly and so like it's it's one of those weird things where like he tried really hard to brand himself as the greatest combat sports athlete of all time that's not like remotely true um it wasn't at the time and it's only going to look like worse and worse as time goes on because like I mean I've just been a fan of this sport for long enough to see how people with much better resumes are forgotten so who though like he is going to be buried to the sands of time

very quickly and it's it's a tough scene for him um and I don't I I know why he did it I think the retirement was a really dumb idea um and it's just like it's aged so poorly for him because like this is he might not be wrong like the uc might be done with him dana was done with him instantly i've literally never seen ever in the history of the sport i've never seen a fighter be like i'm going to retire and dana not be like like just the difference between when habib was going to retire because his dad died and dana was like he's not retiring and when henry did it it literally in the post press conference. Dan was like, cool,

Peoria yon will fight next month for the vacant belt. Like they didn't give him a day to be like retiring on top in part because of how it all went down because he fought Dominic fucking Cruz for his title defense. Like in I know we've been talking

lately about the worst title shots ever handed out. That's the worst title shot ever. I forgot how bad that was. Dominic Cruz fighting Henry Sudo is the worst title shot ever given. And so like maybe that's also why he's been a little more vocal this week, this month about

his issues with ipokes and et cetera. It does feel like these two parties are at a natural conclusion but I don't know. Moreno Suhudo's good enough business. They need something to headline noche.

Why not? Don't think it happens. I think everyone's kind of done here. But we'll see. We'll see. Talba just might go out there, win, and then it won't matter so uh chase what to push back on the notion that kayla versus uh hold on we have the the it factor just said huh that was like six years ago dom was still active and considered dangerous

buddy that that is actually the most incorrect statement that's ever been commented on a comment oh no you know how i know you have time to delete it you have time to delete it delete it right now you better walk that one back dom wasn't considered dangerous and he damn sure wasn't considered Dom hadn't fought in four years when he got that title fight he had not competed his last fight was the before the before the pseudo fight was a loss to freaking Cody Garbrand four years prior he wasn't active he wasn't dangerous that was I that was a troll bit you got me I'm I've got holy shit oh that one got I had to I had to wow yeah that that's tough that's a tough look this isn't even me being hyperbolic dj like this was the worst

like he had he had not fought in four years and his last fight was a loss to cody garbara like it is the worst title fight ever given you should probably put the accountability hand up just just just throwing that out there throw the right hand up say my bad should have looked at topology or something uh chase what to push back on the notion that kela versus amanda should be the main event of UFC 324, the fan base damn near ride it on Twitter at the rumor it might be. It's not, it might be. It is. They literally said, Gagey Pimbled is the main event.

Kayla Amanda is the co-main event. The actual title fight is the co-main event to the fake title fight. B.S, I think we're headed towards Tom being stripped for injury. All right. I don't think there's really much more to say about the Kayla Amanda thing that hasn't already been said. This should be the main event. It's the bigger fight. I disagree with what I think it's fine as the co-mean I've come around to it like

come around like from a merit standpoint very obviously it's silly but like I don't believe in letting the promotion just do nonsense right like there should be order to the universe right like but that extends to what fight should be made as far as card placement goes I'm fine with it because like, and I genuinely believe the reason they are doing it is a man, Michaela might suck. That fight might be boring. Justin Gachie won't be boring. You know he won't.

So put him as the last guy to go out because the vibes fans have from any event are all. If the entire event rocks and the main event sucks, you end on a bad note. It's the last taste in your mouth. Justin Gachie being the last guy to walk, you're guaranteed for your first big event in this new broadcast deal for people to go home. at least feeling okay, I'm fine with it. I, it's totally okay. From a promotional standpoint, this is where I'm happy to give you leeway in card

placement order. I'm happy to give you some leeway in circumstances like this. Go with the guaranteed excitement. I don't hate that. I just think, I don't know. It's a big deal. It's a big fight. It matters.

Man, it's coming back, the greatest of all time. Like, I have a bigger issue with Dana, speaking out of both sides of his mouth because like if you just booked it and then shut the fuck up I think it'd be fine but saying this is the greatest women's fight of all time and then putting it the me and interim fight that see

like that sounds stupid but again like I at the baseline of in the night on your on your best note like it's Costanza leave him wanting more you got to you got to that that's what you do with Gachi so I get it and I'm fine with it

you should have never went on Instagram after the Super Bowl announcement or the halftime announcement because that ruined everything it was just like you know it's a hat on a hat going on Instagram and yeah do it all that stuff like I mean it all at once I don't I didn't get that

I think the answer is probably a time slot thing like they because he announced like 12 fights or whatever that's just a lot and CBS doesn't CBS didn't want this to be a here's for UFC fans it was a hey here is this is the biggest game of the year like the the viewership I mean it's the Cowboys on Thanksgiving the viewership was out of its mind whatever yeah it's like it was I was trying to look it up before the show because somebody put the numbers out it was outrageous and like that's the UFC getting to go thing and so this

is I get that in general like hey here are the bullet points watch the UFC on Paramount Plus in January you don't need to dive too deep into it but it definitely was like then a little weird for him to talk a little bit more about it to us afterwards yeah uh do you feel like jays says i think we're headed towards tom as but all being stripped for injury i mean it's possible i'm going to say no but man it's it's in there um yeah i know you guys are gonna you i know what you're thinking right now heck's gonna say the thing he always says, Derek Lewis versus Waldo Cortez Acosta, the winner of that fight might be fighting Cyril Gaon for the interim title.

I mean, it's totally possible. The U.S. seems to hate him now, which is, I mean, I kind of get, but also very silly. Man, I got to tell you, Dana White just consistently beefing with his heavyweight champion is a wild thing. but that's just sort of par for the course now so yeah uh easy ray videos thank you happy birthday to bill superfoot wallis december 1st 2025 this past monday any thoughts to his contribution to m mcrowdy and kickboxing a lot of people have adopted his style in mhm a wonder boy MVP machita

suhudo pit bull brothers etc shout out to superfoot jed uh shout out to superfoot i haven't thought of bill superfoot wallace in probably a decade Leave it to Easy Ray Easy Ray videos to come through So God, yeah, it's The Superfoot system I remember I remember the commercials

For that back in the day I mean, I genuinely have not thought About Bill Superful Wallace In I'm trying to think like a lifetime It's probably like talking to Jordan Breen about some shit or something Yeah

I mean I honestly like he certainly contributed something because like it was part of the early broadcast yeah he's part of the early broadcast stuff um he's never going to like be a hall of famer or anything like that just just part of the rich tapestry of this sport yeah so shout out I mean shout out to you easy ray that's a name that we haven't heard in quite some time so but happy birthday how old is he now I don't know 79. Damn. Happy 79th.

He is still alive, correct? He sure is. Terrific. We love that for Superfoot. Yeah. Man, I miss the old broadcast where it was just like a whole bunch of weirdos. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

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This is big news yesterday. It came out yesterday. 324 has a change already. Natty Ice will fight Rosedombe Yunus. Thoughts on Natty Ice stepping up for Alexa Grasso. Is she risking her title shot? I think it's pretty obvious, like just on its face. Yes, she is risking her title shot because fighting anybody is, is risking it on paper.

But is she really risking it taking this fight, Jed? I mean, I don't, I don't know. You know more about the behind the scene stuff. and so I'll defer to you on that but my interpretation of this is that she would be risking her title fight by not taking this fight because it seems that Shevchenko

is not going to defend early next year right like whether that means they're just going to hold out and see what happens between Kayla and Amanda and if Shevchenko is going to fight that like maybe that's what they're waiting for I don't know maybe Shevchenko has just been like

yeah I'm not going to fight until the spring could be either of those things but either way uh i mean natty i deserved the title fight i'm not here to argue that point i don't know why anyone would use the word deserve anymore when geago lopez is getting a title fight um when justing gachi and patty pimlet are fighting for an interim belt deserve in the words of william money and got nothing to do with it and rose getting another would have in general just opened up the opportunity for the UFC to burn at a ice, right? Like if Rose beat, Rose gets this dub at 324 before, it would tell yourself, it's like, okay, that's the fight we've been trying to make for a while.

Maybe they just do it because they don't care. They do not, there is no semblance of meritocracy. They don't give a shit. And we don't function either because no one's stopping watching because the right, like rightful contenders are getting passed over and so my you know cynical view of this is like hey will you step in to fight rose because if you don't rose wins you might stop be fighting valentina next anyway so she has to take this fight and i think she can win this fight i think it's a good fight to get her over she beats rose there's just i mean there shouldn't be a question

anyway but there's really no question so like she's risked it but she also may have been risking it if she had passed up this opportunity yeah well i mean perfectly well said uh lexa has an injury apparently it was pretty bad like it's not like a toward acl or anything but um for what i'm told it was it was pretty rough it was uh yeah you got you ain't fighting january 24th kind of an injury so uh prayers up for alexa big opportunity for daddy ice i think she wins this fight pretty handily but who knows maybe we get a plus Rose Diamond Eunice who's who's on one. We've seen this many times where she shows up

and just looks like the best fighter who's ever competed in the women's division. Like she's had... I do think this stylistically is a better fight for her. Like, this is a fight where Rose could have some success. It'll be interesting. I think Natty Ice is vastly underrated in the grappling department.

I kind of think that's Rose's best chance is tackling her. But now he's a very good defensive wrestler. She's actually pretty sneaky on the ground. I think it's a really tough fight for a rose unless she just clips her with something because she's not going to have the speed advantage she's certainly not going to have the strength and power advantage it's got to be

it could be a rough night for but who knows you know we've said that about rose fights in the past and she comes through so uh thoughts on josh van at media day telling reporters that he believes pantosia is the flyway goat because he didn't start didn't start watching mMA until 2017 he doesn't remember DJ love that by the way i mean it's obviously on its face a really silly argument but

josh doesn't it's an honest one yeah he's just like yeah bad i started watching the UFC in 2017 i've never watched dj fight so yeah pantosia's the guy i made my debut when pantosia was champion so he's the best flyweight i've ever seen fight so that was his reasoning behind it and i thought it was very funny uh yeah like i'm totally cool with it because i just think it's like it's honest it's a it's a dumb opinion obviously because like the world doesn't only exist in the things that you know like that's just not a way to go through life with anything right like oh well this like that's a real stupid way to exist as a person of only the things that I know are real and everything else is

nonsense um but it's at least way more honest because like the truth is most people who are giving these takes that I shut down and think are idiotic are that they didn't watch MMA five years ago or whatever and there's nothing wrong with that but like at least just be honest like yeah man I became a fan in the last five years that's why my opinions are that Conner's the greatest ever or whatever you know like so that's cool you want to know a fun game I've been playing this week Mike I would love to it's a great game we played a lot on No Best Bard this week I got to I got to play it a little bit with the morning combat boys you may know this off top of your head but let's just throw it out there do you know when Josh

started his professional m-ma career 2000 2020 October of 2021 he's been a professional for four years

and a couple of months do you know the last time Henry Sohudo got a win Dominic Cruz that was May that was May 2021 no that was May of 2020 Oh 2020

yes, Jacksonville, the MC2 in the entirety of Josh Vand's career has taken place since the last time Suhudo won. Because Josh Van fights so often, he has 17 fights in a four-year career. Like, he has more fights than most people on this card on Saturday, despite being a professional for four years. You can play so many fun games of like, when was the last time Jan Blahovich got a good win, right? had Josh Van started MMA yet and the answer is eh sort of how many wins does Josh Van have

over the last four years compared to Kamara Usman oh my God I mean that's like 20 to 1 I think Van has what 15 wins I think is what Josh fan has um so 15 to 1 is the answer

it's it's a really fun game I've been playing well when I told the mK boys on Monday I was like you guys are realize he's been a professional for four years they're like are you kidding it's like no october 2021 he became a professional after we decided covid was over it is it is ludicrous the career he's had so far it's wild uh chase who will get a title shot first arm and sarah mar or mobsar of loev um um armin surukian because they're going to cut mobsar what honest to god i think that they are but they're not going to cut him but like

if they weren't going to give him a title fight now they're just never going to so they're like he's going to be one of those dudes that they just let go like he fights out his contract and then they's buy like they're going to mahi of him for sure and i don't i think it's incredibly stupid but i think they're going to mahi of him i don't think they just don't know how you don't give him this title fight right now it makes no sense to me i don't even know what's going on with him honestly no i don't know if anyone does yeah him and i mean at least we have a little bit of it up i mean we told you that shopcots planning late february early march so uh that's uh that's the timeline is perfect for islam arkachev

do you see did you see the fan poll when we did the who deserves the next thing um I'm so proud of our readers, baby. I'm so fond of it. Over 50%. I didn't think anyone was going to clear the 50% threshold. Yeah, baby. I love our readers. I actually think they got,

I actually think the voting was spot on. They nailed it. I think they nailed it. I was so proud of them. Yeah, did a good job. Everybody did a good job. Usman was fourth behind a head of just Pratchez, which is perfectly done.

That's the only guy Usman somehow deserves the title shot over in this current conversation right now. yeah but but credit to usman who's like i think protest after me protest is the most deserving which is what a take from kamar usman he is so bad it is it was so funny to watch him say that and then henry seudo of all people was like he just lost to ian machado gary and kamar's just like eh it's fine he's like yeah but he in it sucks it's like basically what he said oh my god it rocked someone is at my door jett take over for a little bit please i will take over uh because i don't have the technology i can't take over and put questions up but uh let me see

what we see can we please count josh van as a burmese champ and an american champ uh i mean yeah like he he's from meanmore isn't he so like i don't know why he wouldn't get counted as I don't actually know what flag he walks out with But like he would absolutely be the first champ for Myanmar And he's an American citizen to the best I believe So yeah, then we'd have three champs four if you count Max Holloway Boom, because we have McKinsey Dernay and Kayla Harrison as American champs right now Oh thoughts on Rousey Taylor

We gotta get Mike back here at some point because that's important But let's let's talk about rousey taylor when mike comes back up because that's a good one enigma master jed how drunk is luke after the podcast no nobody really gets drunk um i got a little buzz this time more so than most but that's usually just because i think that was because i'd been out the night before um but no you know it's just a good time hang with the mk boys we like that um can we talk more superfoot Wallace did pay $20. I don't know what else you want me to say about Superfoot Wallace is the thing.

And we certainly appreciate that. But like he was the commentator on, was it just UFC one? Did he do the other early ones? I can't remember if he was beyond that. And, you know, like did martial arts movies and kickbox. But I don't have much more to say there. is there any females on this card uh theoretically macy barb will be fighting on saturday i say theoretically because it's macy barber thing um oh if he walks out with me m r flagg dope

what was that mike what did i miss oh i was waiting for you to get back because somebody asked the most important question and i didn't want to talk on it without you you can go find if you want to pull it up because i don't remember what was uh what are your thoughts on ronda rousey and katy taylor boxing each other I think this is the best story of the week. I'm so happy about this story. It's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. It's truly, I need to know, like, what the terms of this fight are before I, like, truly react to it.

But if we're talking, like, this is a full-on professional boxing match, this truly might be the worst decision of Ronda Rouse's career. like she is going to get dummied like real bad and it's like concerning to me how bad this could be for her is she going to get paid though that's because look jake paul's going to die but he's going to get paid to die so i think this is but jake's like young and has yeah it's really lives like if he's a cat he still has like eight lives left ronda's like ronda's in such a bad spot right now her damage body is already in the red at this point and she hasn't fought in a lot she hasn't fought in a lot she hasn't

fought in a decade outside of the wwee stuff and she's still on red yeah i mean the the i didn't realize it's been that like how long has it been since wb the concerning part is that ronda it's like spoken openly about uh concussions and brain injury and so like you just never want somebody with that to fight um the thing that i think is deeply funny to me is ronda has been like whoever she was on was it burke crier or whoever the hell she was talking with that she was just like they'll have to pay me a billion dollars to come back to mama and like okay if she get back to mhm a she can't beat katie taylor like she i would have a better chance of beating katie taylor than ronda would and i don't have any chance of beating katy taylor in a boxing match so it's just

like I don't they're not paying her a billion dollars so I don't know why shit that would be like if she needs the money or wants the money the u.s. you will pay her a bundle to come fight somebody and she could probably even go like jita carano dude just have an mama fight with her well that might that might be tougher i'm sure she's still under uc contract so that would be tougher to ball off let me do it do it for the ufc like that's way better maybe the uc would do that i don't know but like yeah like you could negotiate a fight that's not amanda or or Kayla or whatever in the UFC.

Like, you could fight Misha Tate again in the UFC and get paid a good chunk of money and not get brain injured. Go fight Giuliana Payne. She's not going to hurt you. That's also true. But like, I mostly think that it's just a nonsense thing. But what if it happens?

Man, that would be, it'd be great for us. We get many clicks. Yeah. I mean, Lance Pugbier, I believe, first reported this. And he's actually in Thailand for the, or he was in Thailand for the WBC thing. and he has gotten things wrong before so i and even like when katie was kind of asked about it she was like yeah i saw the reports like i would love to do that and of course you would why wouldn't you

i mean that is like the definition of prize fighting you get the biggest bag and she is kind of whoop ronda rousey if that fight actually happens and like this is a legit fight so yeah pretty pretty wild stuff we'll see how it plays out uh chef nerd bond if patty did a told you so like dana did it 300 would you be caught on a mike saying he wouldn't fight for a title reminds me of all the people saying sean would never fight for one oh probably um i'm usually like pretty open to guys fighting for a belt when they're famous because it's the road is just so short like if you're popular it's not that hard to get a title fight but like i will not remotely pretend to have believed in patty pimblit um as he rose up right

like he i've i'm certain that there's stuff on mike of me being like ilia taboria would slaughter him back when they were beefing and ilia wasn't ilia um i have been incredibly critical of patty pimlet's potential in the uc since coming over only recently and like even sometimes i think that maybe I'm being an idiot for backing off that stance because like he has beaten just a litany of old dudes right like just he's not getting the best wins they're they're fine wins and he's looking good which is all you can ask but he has sort of been elevated beyond he hasn't had to go through a murderer's row to get to where he's at right but at the same time like i've i've i've been the last few months i've come out and been like hand up man

Like, I, he's getting better every time out. He's improving. He's a legitimate, you know, top 15-ish, top 20-ish, lightweight. So you could probably could find some very disparaging remarks for me about Patty Pembley. Maybe even saying he'll never fight for a belt. I don't know. Um, but it's definitely possible that I said that. Oh, I know I did.

I know I did. But then, and, and you're right there. And even along the way, I was like, they're not going to give him Benoit Santini. They're not going to give him Grant Dawson. They're not going to give him guys like that because why would they do that? Because he probably loses to most of those guys. I think Jalen Turner at one point was on that list. But now like, it just turned out perfectly for him.

Like the Jared Gordon fight, he lost the Jared Gordon fight is one of the worst decisions in the history of the sport. Not the worst, but one of the worst. So in the way he handled that was just really, really poor. But the thing about Patty, on top of, like, his performance is just getting better is he's becoming more likable overall. Like he is, he's still kind of like talking some trash, but he is like, it seems like he's more accountable for past performances and things of that nature. He's still being like a seller, but he's doing it in a more, I guess, humble way. Like he's a little more respectful of the opposition more so than ever before. And, you know, it's, it's, it's not like fake beef anymore.

I, I, I kind of like what I'm seeing from him personality wise as well. But you're 100% right. Like, he is, he is certainly not fighting the guys that Armin had fought. You know what I mean? Like, he's not, even if he came like, like a win over Dan Hooker would age so well in all of this. When it's very obvious and very clear what has happened. But at the same token, like, Again, if you're Patty Pimble, are you just going to say, no, I haven't beat a top five guy.

I agree with Dustin Poyer. I should get another win before I fight for a title. Of course not. You take it and you run. So do it. And like on your point, he's, I mean, we don't talk about this enough, certainly. It's not just you get better as a fighter. You just become an adult.

I think Patty Pimlet has matured. You know, when he joined, he was 26 and he was super famous. and that's that goes to people's heads and you can be kind of an ass and you can say stuff like his response to Jared Gordon win right like he's just he's an adult he's 30 years old like he's I was a huge piece of shit when I was 26 I'm still kind of one but like you just you get you get older you get wiser um and he's consistently gotten better so I don't think it's outrageous for him to fight for the interim belt um I think it's outrageous for either man to fight for it over armin but it is what it is at this point yeah i'm still holding out hope that armin

gets his crack that ilia is just like look i got through all the personal stuff i want to fight in april and like patty and gaiti and gaiti aren't ready and there no world there's no world that exists right now where the ufc says no to ilia to poria fighting anytime he wants there's just no world there just isn't so if he wants to fight earlier and none of those guys are ready, Armand gets his chance. He might lose the belt. Is he still 28? 20, yeah.

Good, maybe I'll be over and I can hate him less. He may lose that fight, but that would be nice if he matured a little bit, that I could like him more. Having a smart home is a cool idea, but kind of a daunting prospect. You have to figure out which devices to buy, how to connect them all together. It's all just a lot. But for two weeks on the Vergecast, we're trying to simplify all of it. going to spend some time answering all of your questions about the smart home, and then we're

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Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Joseph, what do you think of the backlash of Alex Volkinovsky versus Diego Lopez, too? Diego went on ax and basically told the crybabies to shut up. I mean, that probably sets up a story here, wouldn't you, wouldn't you say? In the history of telling people to cry about it, that it's just never, the response is, like, you're never going to make fans or look good by telling people who are upset to shut the fuck up.

Does Diego Lopez want to be a heel? That's a good way to be a heel. He's not going to be a heel. He's just going to turn off potential fans because, like, he's, He's done nothing wrong. No one is claiming that Diego Lopez is doing anything wrong. It is okay to acknowledge the truth of a situation, which is basically like what Volk did is like,

we didn't think this was happening, but sure, we'll fight him. Like, that's fine. That's the correct answer. Diego Lopez would be like, I didn't think I was going to get it.

I'm going to turn down an opportunity? Of course not. Like, you don't have to then be like mad at people for being justifiably angry that you're getting preferential treatment it is okay to acknowledge your own privilege in life and not be upset that you are privileged like it's not that hard yeah and obviously this created a lot of backlash and a lot of social media stuff um obviously i'm sure people are quite aware of the whole jason house situation um jason i tweet don't know what you're talking about

mike i tweeted something out uh about this exact tweet where dago's like stop crying, do all this stuff. And to me, I took it as, all right, yes, he's shouting, he's sending this message to Lorone Murphy and Al Jermaine Sterling and Movesarvoyev, but he's also saying it to the fans to, hey, stop crying, all that. And then I quote tweeted, this is terrible. Whoever's guiding him in this needs to do better. What he should have said was, hey, I understand.

I didn't think this is happening either, but I'm not going to say no to a title fight. Obviously, not saying. that like he's this is not the message i would portray to the fighters but to the fans who under who are obviously upset about this uh this is how you should have approached it and then i got the quote tweet from obviously saw the quote to you from jason and i didn't say anything uh that was a real interesting night by the way you're very lucky he's lucky that i didn't say a goddamn thing yeah i didn't i didn't react i was trying to figure it out so i just like you're such a professional i put a little tweet like will i react maybe i'm sure i'll come up at some point i was ready

i was ready to pick that fight for you but here's here's what happened it's the day after thanksgiving um and i think it was a two remember it was the saturday it was the saturday i tweeted that on friday it was the saturday uh where this happened and the quote tweet happened or friday night and then saturday uh i get a text from jason and it's just kind of more of the same And he was basically like, look, no one reached out to me to get my side of things and understand, like, why this fight was made. And truth be told, there is, once the Isaac Dolgarian thing happened, um, Jason was a little upset with me. And that's a lot of it had to do with, remember I, I jumped on the post fight or the preview show the day after. I was like, hey, my bad, Derek Minner wasn't a part of the Eridium crew.

like Kraus was and he was under Kraus but he wasn't part of Arridium so jason was a little upset about that and i and i got it which is why i went in there and apologized but we kind of left it in a way where it's like hey no need i heard what you said you know it's it's all good so my response was look as i said before if there's an issue like let's just talk about it like a lot of times it's miscommunication so why don't you like let's talk on the phone and have this out like anytime anyone said an issue we either talked face to face or we did it on the phone and then we always like figured out like why are we so mad in the first place and then the call happened and i listened and i listened to jason and he listened to me and we were it was like it was

very uh emotional chat at times and he was fired up about the whole situation where he's like look man like i get it i understand understand why people are pissed like if then what we're mad about he's like i get it but like you know Diego's done nothing wrong here and he's getting attacked left and right like and it's frustrating for him and it's frustrating for me like look and he goes and i was like all right well tell me what that's called being a public figure bro i'm sorry i was like so what people are mean to me online too you know what i do don't fucking think about it because it's the goddamn internet who cares so i was like what happened why like what how did this happen and he goes

And he says, look, before Noce, we were offered like a bunch of different names. We said yes to this guy. We said yes to this guy. We said yes to this guy. And apparently no one was saying yes to John Silva. John was being offered to a lot of these guys. Everyone said no. Diego said, cool, I'll fight him.

And basically they were told like, hey, I know you just lost a Volk, but like the quickest way to get back in the mix is to fight John and have a good performance. Now, this is not them saying, hey, if you win this, you're getting a title fight. This is them saying, like, you want to be, like, in the conversation, this is how you do it. So they were like, bet, this is what we'll do. And then Diego went out there and had a fight of the year contender against John and finished him in a sick-ass fight. And Diego looked like a frigging superstar that day. Like, his entrance felt big. The performance was crazy.

The fight was wild. Now, if you're, if you are witnessing this, your first. like was and we all kind of agreed with this on the post fight show like man like i don't want to see him fight volk right now but of like volk somehow loses the belt like he's getting a title shot and you know what if he gets one more win against anybody he might just get the volk fight again and we were like totally okay with that and then you know they basically told them after the fight like it was like wow that went way better than we thought like you guys are are in the mix and the whole time they're like they're not thinking they're actually going to get the title fight

thinking they're going to get it and then they got a call like hey you got it and then what are they supposed to say like oh i don't know man lorone just knocked out iron pico and mozar hasn't lost in a while i should sit back and for those guys to get their crack um and obviously they're like sure we'll we'll take the fight and it's clear that it's not the most meritocratic way to go about it and they know that like they're fully aware of this and they understand the out the the backlash and the outcry of the people saying like this is ridiculous um but they're also not going to turn on a title fight so like i i get it like i get why people were so fired up about this i get why he was so fired up about things that i was saying too like i get it maybe not the best way to go about it

that's why i didn't respond on social media like i don't want to do the social media back and forth silly i'm 42 years old like i got better things to do but i'm glad i'm glad we had this conversation he was glad we had this conversation and i'm like let's just just do that. Like, we laid our cards at the table. Just because we don't agree with each other, doesn't mean, like, there's beef. Like, he understands everything that I'm saying, and he somewhat agrees with it. And I get what he's saying. Like, I get his side. And that's why I was like, let's just have it, let's just have a conversation, put all the cards in the table, because texting and social media, things are lost in translation, things are lost in the shuffle. I have a

feeling we're both mad about things that, like, are just being over. oversaturated. So there you go. That's the side of it. Jason and I are cool now. He, we talked it out. I don't think Diego, I don't think Diego should be getting a title fight. So my stance is not going to change on that whatsoever. And he knows that. No, it's my worst. I forget him.

Yeah. Yeah. But. And I, and I'm with you. I didn't like the way. I didn't like the way that message was like fans stop crying. But apparently in reality, this was like, not meant to be that way it was more towards the road it seemed like it's supposed to be that but like yeah like be better communicating or and i people don't do this enough just don't say

anything you don't have to tweet you you do don't have to post you can simply not and that's fine too but if you do like if you willingly engage in it take your medicine when it comes back at you man like it's just isn't it's just very silly to me i some people because the internet is filled with people and people will be stupid at times are going to be upset at you for taking this fight most people and even those people if they were like being logical for a moment like yeah obviously you take the fight you've done nothing wrong you just except like it's okay to acknowledge that you are in a privileged position for one reason or another and that doesn't invalidate what you've done or accomplished or how you have helped get yourself to where you are but you don't always have

to be upset because somebody on the internet was mean to you. I promise you life exists outside of the internet. Yeah. I'm glad I went down the way it did. It was bugging me like all day. You're so professional. No, even my like trying to do like a family day and stuff and like my wife could see like something was on my mind. And she was like, you're not all here. What's going on? I'm like, I'm fine. And then like I went out and like talk to Jason on the phone. I was like, all right, I'm going to take care of this. And I came back in and and talk to my wife. She goes, oh so that's what was bothering you i'm like yeah and she was like all right i'm glad you guys talked it out and you're all good now so uh and so am i honestly so am i and people could feel

however they feel about me or jason that's fine but uh i'm glad he because he didn't have to call me we didn't have to do that he could have just said like f you like i get your take like we're regardless and then you know he even he was mad at the wrong take though too like that was the thing like his response was bad yeah like that bothered me almost as much like his response was as if you were saying they like he was a bad manager no it was not what was said yeah and that's and that was that was the thing so like that was the thing i'm like i'm not he he's just like you know we manage him like i'm not saying i don't know that what i'm saying is this this social media post comes off as hey fans stop stop complaining this is what's

happening like eat it just eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner you have to eat it like we're just going to slingshot it down your throat and it's not what happened like it that's not what i meant i meant like you know most of the time when like fighters tweet things like this and it's not even always the manager sometimes like a teammate or a coach it's just like hey you know what you should do you should tweet this and Diego's like learning english and getting better um he speaks better english than i speak spanish or portuguese yeah it but like you know it's not his first language so i and then it was third i And then it was kind of I was like it the perception is this is him calling the fans

this like he's saying the fans are cry babies just tweet at lorone murphy and it would have solved all these problems like if you just hit it at lorone murphy like okay that's fine talk shit about fighters that's still kind of silly but talk about him fuck it but at the end of the day like i'm very happy it all went down that way but he knows i don't i don't agree with this this title fight but i also understand that you can't turn it down and that diego's on the wrong nobody's in the wrong here this is if you if you want to be mad at somebody and that was like the big thing the big takeaways like if you want to be mad at somebody be mad at the ufc and the match rakers don't be bad at the fighter that's not deago's fault that he's getting a title i mean it's not

you don't blame diego that he was offered a title fight and he said yes that is not his problem i'm going to do a list of the worst title shots ever given because like this has got to be top five it's up there I just wish and here's and I guess like the last thing I'll say about this from a devil's advocate perspective this to me

is so risky for Diego because if he loses two title fights to the same guy in 10 months like he's in like I don't care how popular you are you are in you are in a hole that you are going to have to dig yourself out of

for a while is even as popular as he is and like look he could still be very successful and make money and headline events in front of crowds they go they go to mexico once or twice a year he can always do that he can still that's that is a great place to be you can be very successful doing that duster porre did a you know headline lots of events and you know he got undisputed title shots but still like even though he never won the undisputed belt had his he was had a very successful career because she's very popular uh at the same token like this is such a risk for diego man such a risk so and that's why i like i'm somewhat intrigued by it because i want to see how

volk i want to obviously see how volk looks it seems to me like the ufc is like yeah this guy's leaving us so like we could leave the belt in diego's hands and he's very popular if i'm the ufc like i that's how i sort of view it if you're looking at this from a business perspective even though meritocratically makes no sense um i want to see what volk looks like man and i want to see if he retires after this fight like i i have a lot of questions about this again i'm not defending this fight but this is what we're getting so rather than be like super pissed off about it because nothing's going to change in fact dana will just triple down on it and then i'm also curious like if diego wins the belt and volk doesn't retire like are we just getting this fight

again like if they're just going to do it a third time no i mean if diago wins wins, yes, but I vote probably retires. I think Volk retires anyway. I think this is last fight. Yeah. That's my sense is that Volk is just this is his exit and instead of

using his exit on him, Mavsar Evlov, who might beat him. Like, if Volk retires on top, that's a fun moment. And if you lose DeLopez and retires, at least they've got the belt on somebody they like. Whereas, like, they don't care. They obviously hate Mavsar.

they've never really loved Aljo though they don't hate Aljo and Lorone Murphy had like the one moment but prior to that nobody was talking about Lorone Murphy so like it's just the safest option of maybe he loses in his last fight and then they can go about ordinary business

when this shakes out if they weren't going Mobzar or Murphy I thought they were going to go Aljo I think Aljo would make substantially more sense even though that would also not be like the most deserved title fight of all time it made more sense in this one but it is what it is tis what tis yes uh jonifar out any big personal plans for the big break yeah we're gonna have quite a quite a bit of time which i love by the way like we always i always say

like we can't miss you if you don't leave and boy can you imagine like and we're not getting like a shitty apex card to kick off the year like we normally get we're getting do like that we're get and like feel how you may feel about interim belts and stuff like that 324 as far as like fight by fight it is sick there's a great card that is a loaded ass fight card with some great high stakes matchups and after like a six week break we're gonna come back to that to back to back numbered events like i don't know like how the excitement will be for volk and lopez as the card currently stands and i'm sure they'll add some other things but like We're going to be so fired up for this, dude.

Like, I'm, I'm very excited. But obviously, in between that, there's going to be a lot of time. So do you have any plans, uh, from UFC Vegas 112 to UFC 324? Anything kind of mesh in there? Well, we will have the Joshua Paul event after that because that's the week after Vegas. So it's one last week because we will be doing that. We're going to do a digital watch party and, you know, cover that. So that'll be happening.

Um, you know, then there'll be just the, the normal holiday plans. I think my, because enough people have been asking about it. And it's just not a thing that can really do currently, um, for obvious reasons. Um, I think when that big extended break, I'm going to try and get at least one, damn they were good. Yes. Because Dustin Poirier deserves the damn they were good. But maybe try and bank a, a bunch of them because we'll have, like, we'll finally just have some

time to maybe make that work um which is hard to do as our crew has gotten smaller and the event pace has not slowed down whatsoever so at the minimum over the christmas break and tend to get a damn about dust and pourier done because of all the fighters who've ever deserved a damn he is right at the top of the list with you know robbie luller and carlos condit you know so for sure that and uh maybe pick up a couple of other projects i don't know um we'll have some time to do some fun stuff, which I'm excited about trying to figure out what I'm going to do for the Christmas project this year, which I'm running

out of time to start working on. So I'm going to have to work that out. But yeah, I'll say, and then you know, family time. Yeah, watching Georgia win the national championship by beating Ohio State. Screw you, Damon. You said Notre Dame wrong. Notre Dame, the Patty Pimblet of college football.

Hey, they made it to the day. Hey, they beat Georgia last year. They at least beat a top team to get there last year they didn't just they were just given a national championship opportunity that but but this year they're the patty pimblit they should not make the playoffs like it is it's ludicrous that they're going to be in the playoffs because they've beaten no one hey that syracuse team is real good that they drop seven literally on our group chat yesterday one of my friends was like i'm sorry why is notre dame a top 10 program i was like well the exact you know all those arguments that people were like insiders are making about texas

like you got to like if you don't let texas in the playoffs then no one's ever going to schedule hard games again which i think are stupid texas should make the playoffs even though that'd be great for us because we own texas it'd be terrific to have them in uh at the same time notre dame is is the opposite end of that where they haven't played anybody and so they just get to be in playoffs yeah they're super famous and they fought nobody they're patty pimple yeah i'm looking forward to uh i'm looking forward to the break i think it's could be great yeah We'll have some fun with the Jake Paul and the Joshua experience. Jose will be boots on the ground.

Jed and I will do the virtual watch party. We'll have awards. We'll have awards. Jed and I will have our final BTL of the year, the promotional airing of grievances. If there's any, if there's any episode of BTL that I get the most backlash about, it is certainly that one. Because we tell like it is on this show and all of our, other shows.

Notre Dame did beat USC. Okay, that's at least a win. But the losing to A&M and Miami is tough, especially when Miami is ranked beneath them. And then we'll have another fantasy draft to look forward to, right?

We do. Are we doing a promotional draft too? We probably will, but that might fall by the wayside. We'll see. I think fantasy is way more over. Well, fantasy is way more over and it's just better and there aren't promotions.

anymore though they do different things and so i'm interested in doing them both but yeah um man it's a big weekend for fantasy yes the fantasy leagues i think there's only a couple of things left thank goodness waldo cortezicosta did not get his wish it's not over yet it's not over yet don't get too excited about that i've got two people this weekend damon's got two people this weekend. You have Piotr Yan this weekend, A.K. as Josh Van. Gie has Pantosia. So there's only Giaz cop

and you have Robertson and I have Shariae for the final card of the year. But let's go Bogd and Gouskhov and Brandon Moreno, baby. It's going to be a good time. I'm actually driving to Massachusetts on Sunday. We're going to do the watch party, get no sleep. I'm going to do on to the next one. I'm going to work

till one and then I'm going to drive to Massachusetts. And I'm going to be there for the next two weeks and then i'll drive back after uh the 21st celebrate christmas and then uh yeah we'll be back in the back in the saddle a couple more we'll get out of here do you think a i will affect your job soon super chat um i mean it already has in general just um yes i don't want to dive too deep into it um almost certainly and that's unfortunate it has also just going to affect everyone because I don't know it's probably not ideal that like half our GDP is tied up into AI speculations but maybe I'm wrong I'd prefer the economy didn't crash because we were

hoping on some white knight savior that AI will actually solve all the world's problems what do you do we have to ban simon fact because he's like threatening to cut my break lines. I think that's a banning. That's, yeah, we're going to, hey, buddy. Peace out. We're going to give you a good one. Yeah. I'm pretty lenient with a lot of things.

That one is not ideal. Yeah. Especially with like the family in the car with me, you piece of shit. Yeah, that's pretty, that's pretty rude. You're out of here. I hope Bogdan shows up to the way into the white handprint on his head. That would frankly be sick. I I want Bogdan to win

because Yon's old and Jan was great but like it's your almost 43 man just go do something else and Bogdan's fun like we need fun people at like heavyweight

he is fun he's got stories to tell what else we got anything else I think he met because it's snowing well I hope so say that well yeah

it's say that's well he didn't get banned permanently so yeah he's just in the i can only do a 24 hour ban so be better next time that's the case just clarify we just had a whole conversation about text and not telling the whole story so i i thought i put out a valuable lesson i really wanted my rebellious cue answer what was it i say what's the Rebellis Q, is it about him fighting Sam Alvey this weekend? Or Friday? Tomorrow. That's tomorrow.

Friday is tomorrow, isn't it? You're right. Yeah. I'm not in the brightest mind state right now. I want karate combat to like do well. And for a, for a hot minute. Buddy, if we're doing a promotional draft, they're in it. All right.

They kind of have to be. There's nobody else. Yeah, how are we going to do it? So we got, it'd be UFC, PFL. BKFC is the other And then it's probably karate combat Dirty boxing I say it's karate combat or it's dirty boxing

Or if we're going to get spicy It's about to go R aF man That's what I was saying RIF if we're just trying to have some real fun RAF RAF is way more over than karate combat is right now Is RIF's entire business model Hope the UOC buys us

Because it seems like that's the business model It does kind of seem like that's what they're just going to employ ufc fighters to wrestle and then hopefully they dana white's like instead of making ufc wrestling we'll just buy r a f it's not a bad idea it's not the worst business it'd be more it'd be more popular than ufc bjj right now i mean their issue is that they don't they've done like three events and it's super sporadic which is ironic because currently like as we're doing this talk they're having the Muhammad Ali act like meeting in Congress and one of the things that do it like one of the

arguments I saw on the timeline is like this will help boxing because we intend to have like a regimented series of events instead of like sporadically here's a fight card blah blah blah it's like okay where's the regimented series of UFC BJJ stuff what are we doing man yeah this is a tweet from Luke Thomas because obviously there's Luke is following the whole thing. It's terrific. Muhammad Ali's last wife, Lonnie Ali, speaks. Boxing has suffered a steady decline in both popularity and integrity.

HBO Showtime and ESPN drop boxing programming, she notes. She says, HR 4624 reinforces Muhammad's life's work. I don't think that's true, but okay. Yeah, it is. What a time. Michael, you'd be subscribing to UFC's Ignite Meal Plan in January. CrossFit beckons for UFC. food no

is that a thing yeah they did um I guess they did like some sort of media thing after media yesterday and they broke news that they're like the UFC is actually doing like their own

like meal plan like factor but it's like the UFC ignite meal plan uh Mike Slito had a comment that I don't Josh Van had a quote about no game

plan was that uh yeah i wasn't paying attention that much yesterday i was doing some other things and mostly laying on my couch trying not to die i want to get let me see if i can get uh um i'll talk about josh van again i'll pull up the quote i'll pull up the quote uh do i don't have any game plan to be honest it's wherever the fight goes you can make game plans and things like that but come fight day it can be a whole different game you know what i mean whatever he brings i'll be ready if he if he wants if it wants to strike will strike if he wants to go to the ground i'm ready for that i just don't want to focus on one thing it's wherever the fight goes what we see on tv and what happens and we're locked in the cage together is different i'm the type of guy

who likes to adjust to his style so i'll adjust to whatever he brings that day i'm knocking him out inside three rounds that's just not true um but most fight like if you talk to most fighters now they they don't have like specific game plans they kind of to just focus on what they do and their coaches may like zig and zag and zag to certain tendencies that a fighter presents but it out the george st pierre fighter who just like was obsessed with their opponent watched like hours and hours of tape every day before a fight there are some fighters who are still like that don't get me wrong but for the most part most fighters are focused on themselves and they just want to focus on what they're doing and kind of let their

coaches figure out the best plan for that particular fighter in that particular fight, right? Yeah. And there are a couple things. Like, one, young fighters in general are less prone to be game plan focused. They're young. You're young and you don't think you need things like that. Like, I'll just be me. And, you know, it's worked out largely for Josh, man.

Two, if you fight at the frequency with what she's competing, again, he's had like 18 fights in four years. Um, you, there aren't, you don't do bespoke game plans at that pace. Like, you're just, you're showing up in your fist fighting and you're learning while, while doing. Um, I think that that, I mean, should, he might win Saturday. Totally possible. Um, I do think game plans are important. I suspect his team has at least, like you said, Mike, some ideas about things that they want. Um, and maybe he's just not focused on that. But like, as you get old, they're like the best fighters in the history of the sport have game plans that's why they're the best fighters in the history of the sport like they're very few fighters just like eh just out there vibing and seeing what happens like it's because you know it it is an edge to have a specific game plan to have triggered responses for known actions from your opponent is that's just the way to do it in a sport where like you know people are cutting so much weight because it gives them a 2% edge to just be bigger or whatever that is.

Like you get a big edge in game planning. So it's not surprising. Um, and I suspect that it's not even entirely true because someone in his camp has some ideas. But of, I, I don't think I would particularly want to go into a fight with Pantosha without having some real ideas about what I want to do because Pantosha is a freaking handful man.

And if you're right, if your thought is if it goes to the ground we'll grapple like okay godspeed buddy the worst honestly the worst thing i read from that quote and it's not even like a bad thing just be confident is i'm gonna knock him out inside of three rounds he's not going to do that nobody nobody can nobody can't this dude out inside of three rounds right now or inside of 20 rounds his he just cannot the dude kid if josh fan knocks out pantosia like the post fight show is gonna be all his i don't even give a shit what happens something main event it'll be the josh van show if he knocked out pants yeah uh he's just not going to do

he might beat him like he absolutely can win this fight though i'm i think pants is going to win on saturday but um i i would like him to have a game plan because if your plan is like that the i don't have a plan works if you can win in all phases and i am deeply uncertain that josh fan can win in all phases of the game like that plan works when you're just way better than everybody you fight like okay i don't need to have a plan yeah you're better than everybody it's fine or it works when your plan is so linear like i am i am habib my plan is always the same plan but even habib had specific plans about how he was going to enact his overall strategy the i just kind of vibe only works if you're better than everybody at everything and i don't believe that's the case with

pantosia i mean honestly this is the the kind of way i view this fight is for van to wait he's got to survive in advance because i i don't think he survives but if he does and this fight goes long then he's got a chance but i i just don't see i i will be very surprised if van just goes out there and just nukes pants i don't think that's possible well that's the thing like i think van has like if i'm van's corner and if i'm van and maybe again also it's possible that van this is a lie and van does have a game plan he's just saying stuff because fighters don't want to give away the game plan or whatever right um that could totally be true as well but like if i'm van coming into this uh the game plan like i think the game plan's pretty obvious i need to be on the front foot because both both dudes want to pressure and whoever is backing up very simply whoever is backing up in this fight is losing this fight neither fighter is good is nearly as effective as they are off the back foot so I have to be the pressuring fighter that is actively that's usually harder when you are also the fighter who doesn't want to engage in grappling because you have to come forward and at any point pants could be like no I'll just stand here when you step forward and now we're hugging and that's where I would like to be anyway so I think he needs to win the pressure footwork battle and I think he needs to work the body he's got great body shots but he throws them fairly sparingly like he mostly wants to get his jab and combinations going up top and I mean you can score a lot and he beat the breaks off brand of revolve for big stretches of that fight by doing that but like pants is going to keep coming forever so work his body over and take this fight like if this fight goes long pants has that dog in him in a way that very few fighters do and you need to take that dog out behind the shed and level it with body shots for five rounds if you can so like just straight up like if i'm pants in the corner like that's our game plan our game plan is to win the pressure footwork battle make sure we're never on the cage we're

because Pants also, or Van also can get back straight up into the cage, where he's a very effective scrambler. But, like, there's a difference between not getting taken down by Brandon Rival and Pantos are just sort of slithering his way to your back. And then suddenly the round is over and you might be choked out. So, like, stay off the cage, be the guy coming forward, work the body. But, like, all of that's, that's not, like, different than what he does, but it's a focus on what he does tweaked in specific ways.

Because the rest of his game is, yeah, be your. yourself throw in super high volume like work at an incredible rate uh when he gets in contact with you create a scramble down block move away like all those things are happening but like he should have specific ideas on how he wants to effectuate his his like strategies and if he doesn't that is a little concerning but not unsurprising he's young a couple more mike and jett what do you think about cody garbrand is the next opponent for alexandra to poria perfect that was Yeah, honestly, if you ever thought about that, that's a really good pick. Oh, is that your wildcore pick?

That's a great, great call out. Great shout. Lazy, but thank you. No Q. Just thanks to both, to you both for being cool dudes. Thanks, Lazy. You're the man. You are the man.

The most important base in MMA is endurance. No, but it's not a wrong call. Like, yeah, the, you know, the adage that fatigue makes cowards of us. all is very true and marabdavalsh really has basically taken that to the nth degree of extension just like i can do this forever um luke tom has put this really well he said it a couple times but like he said it in a way that i think we all sort of implicit understand but i'd never like it's just very clear of like it's such an enormous advantage to not have to regulate your output to simply just be able to do, to sprint forever, to do as much as you want, as long as you

want is an enormous advantage that Marab has over everybody. And basically nobody else in the sport, fluffy or like gets to employ. So yeah, it's a great base. Being an incredible cardio monster will get you very far in the sport. And what Pantosia does. We're just like, I can take so many more risks than other people because I can take. take literally a baseball bat to the face uh yeah i so i actually believe durability is the is the most important base in in may um certainly the higher weight class as you go that's

doubly true but like there are a number of fighters historically who would have been like the best fighter ever if they could just get punched in the mouth like brock lesnar might still be ufc heavyweight champion if he liked getting hit in the face but he super did not and that his whole he was deeply not durable and that was like a big problem durability is you can have a successful in a career with like mediocre uh cardio or whatever you it's a non-starter to compete in m-ma if you don't at least have a baseline level of durability sorry if this is something you'll cover soon any sleeper fights of the year that aren't being talked about enough um i don't it's a weird year i don't know

what fights have been talked about a lot like the satikoff um saddikov fight 100% um i'm trying to think like i feel like nobody really talks about holloway poorier too because that fight was really really fun but mostly people talk about like the retirement and the bmf um it has been a weird year where there's not like a clear frontrunner to me for fight of the year i'm too yeah there's There's like I think they're all in the same sort of band of like and pick your flavor like nothing is there's no yearie glover right we're just like yeah that's the fight of the year um yeah i mean i think the correct answer is probably uspan hues won yeah i mean it's a great fight i mean that that like when we talk mostly because it didn't happen in the ufc so it automatically is going to get docked points by most people uh because it wasn't in the UFC, but that's going to be probably like the low key fight of the year that probably won't actually win. Um, I think Royval van is, I think it's Royval van, Bilal JDM, Marab Umar because we're doing this fight like fight now. Yeah. I mean, that fight, if I could go back

and rewatch one fight this year, it's probably that one. There's definitely Holland Roger guess for me. That, that's on the list. Honestly, that's really close to being my fight of the year because it's so funny. Marabu bar is really good. The Lunetti, uh, vlogden contingency series fight is like, it's weird. There's, there's not a, this is the most open I can remember fight of the year being. Like, there's not a clear frontrunner to me for fight of the year this year. Yeah, there's a lot.

Like, it's going to be a fun year to go back and rewatch. Like you're both of them. Maybe we'll get it this weekend. That's the thing. Like, if you put on a really good fight. in these last two events, recency bias could carry you to a fight of the year. Like if one of the,

like if Gaichi Pimble, it's Justin Gagy. When Justin Gagey fight somebody, just assume that it's the fight of the year. Because more often than not, that's the case. Like, he said four fight of the years

in his eight UFC years or whatever. Like it's, and finished runner up at least once, maybe twice. So maybe it's just Gagy Pimlet. I could absolutely see that being fight of the year, frankly. Evelyn von Steena said everything the fight was not uh that's my submission of the year yeah that's that that is sub of the year yeah it's submission of the year i don't think it's

it's fine the fight it was very it was a very johnny ebblin fight for two and a half rounds and then like von sina started like started getting going and things got a little interesting and then the finish happening at the end was just insane um but like just that it was definitely dramatic, but I don't think that's like a fight of the year contender for me. I like this question. Both of Yuri's fights are in the top 10. It's also yeary. It's just like, pick a yeary

fight, it's probably in there. I'm glad about this question because I'm now, I'm on this corner. Gachy Pimbley's going to be fight of the year. In the dark, that's my pick, fight of the year. Screw it. Let's do it. Okay. I think that fight's going to be really fun, frankly. I think the fight's

going to be really fun because Patty Pimblit has his head just on a platter but he's actually very durable in general and he can grapple and Gaichi can't all that well so like I think that fight's gonna be really fun

that's my fight of the year pick God there are a lot of really good fights to share I'm saying this now so we can clip it after the event and I can look like a genius okay well that's his pick you can't that's it fight of the year's Gaetie Pimblet

in the dark all right hey look we might uh maybe we have a new segment for 2026 we just we predict what will be award winners for oh I get yeah that's it right there boom I love this love this very much all right uh we're gonna get out of here because I'm about to interview uh Anderson Silva oh you need to do that so I got I got a roll that's why I had to roll do you think Josh Van thinks he's the

middleweight goat or does he think that it's Israel to Sanya oh great question he definitely he's definitely never watched it fight so he might think it's jerk his two plus see he wouldn't be wrong that's my goat that's my go right there all right here is to do stuff and i need to go lay down yes i finished my tea an hour ago and my throat is good in me so yes i've got pedal on i'm gonna go pour another tea lay down for a bit for a bit. We'll have a preview you tomorrow.

I believe it's at 3 p.m. Eastern, so join us for that. Tomorrow's a busy day. Thank you all very much. UFC 323. It's a damn good card. Get excited. Stick with us at M.Afighting.com for Jedi

by Kack. Back next week to recap it all. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Support for this show comes from Odu.

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