MMA Fighting - BTL | Nate Diaz Wants Out, Fiziev's Arrival, Jake Paul vs. Hasim Rahman Jr., UFC Long Island

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

Nate Diaz has made it perfectly clear that he wants his freedom from the UFC, but getting it seems to be a whole different story.  On a brand new edition of Between the Links, the panel will react to Diaz’s recent interview on The MMA Hour on Tuesday and try and predict where the popular fighter will stand by the end of 2022. In addition, topics include Rafael Fiziev’s ceiling in the loaded UFC lightweight division following his fifth-round finish of former champ Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC Vegas 58 this past Saturday, UFC Long Island this Saturday, the stakes in the main event between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez, the card as a whole, if there’s any interest in Jake Paul vs. Hasim Rahman Jr. on Aug, 6 at Madison Square Garden, and more. Host Mike Heck will moderate the BTL title matchup between champ Drake Riggs from MMA Mania, and MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Drake Riggs: @DrakeRiggs_ 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

This is Between the Links. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Hope everyone's having a wonderful week. The MMA and combat sports space is a busy one as always. So let us not waste one more second and introduce the participants on this week's program. First, a man who has talked a lot this week just because he's hosted multiple shows. He's been on multiple shows. And now he's on another one, Mr. No Gray area.

A man with takes so hot, you'll need two air conditioners in your room. but will those takes finally get him a victory over the champion? He now has longer hair than the champion. Let's find out. Jed Bishu is here. How are you? First of all, I think I won the first battle with Drake. I absolutely should have won our most recent contest.

And I think even Drake would admit that, but his fan base is simply too strong. And third, I now know what you felt like when you were on Radio Row and just talked a lot because I've been doing a lot talking this week and I gotta be honest I'm even tired of me at this point oh yeah there's nothing there's no feeling better than by

fight day you just don't want to hear yourself and I feel like you're you might be in that situation but who knows this this show brings a little bit of a different a different vibe out of Jedbyshoe as he takes on the reigning champion we handle our the old

regional pro wrestling titles where we don't just like throw title matches on every show. We space them out. We make sure it's big money, big ticket sales. MMA manias, Drake Riggs looks to keep that belt on the proverbial mantle, although he doesn't have a belt officially, but he has a new haircut. Hello, my friend. Hey, yeah, I know I'm a new man, nice and fresh, growing the locks out for what it was a little over two years. And no, I know. We need to make an official BTO belt. What are we doing? Oh, doesn't suit you? I don't like the haircut. No, you got to go back.

It was way cooler. All right. Give me some time. Why don't you like it, because it's just this is, I don't know this, Drake. This is,

uh, and change is bad. As we all know, change is a bad thing. Um, so yeah, I don't like it. Yeah,

I'm growing my hair out as you can see. So, uh, let's get into this thing. Yeah, it'll be gone tomorrow morning. Let's get into this thing because as everybody knows by now, Nate Diaz was on the MMA hour on

Tuesday. And the long of the short of it, he didn't really say anything we didn't already know or anything we hadn't been already speculating. But I will say, like, when you get to hear it from the man himself and you have somebody like Ariel asking him those types of questions, it just provides more context. It just seems more real. Like, we finally get to understand where the man is coming from. But he's made it very clear to the UFC and anyone who is a fan of the UFC to the promotion cut the crap give me my last fight let me go on my merry way i have no interest in resigning or extending my deal i want out just give me my final fight of course to be fair we didn't hear from the other side there's two sides to every story but this current chapter in the

ufc versus ds saga is sort of consistent to everything we thought we knew about the situation drake so your reaction to the interview nate's thoughts on everything etc now that we got to hear from mr two nine himself. Yeah, so I mean, like you said, I thought it was majorly just your typical Diaz kind of rambleathon, at least in the very end of it. Like the first 10 minutes I found the most fascinating because, you know, he's getting warmed up a little bit, talking, not giving as long of answers and being as comfortable as he ended up being towards the end of the show, which kind of lost my interest, you know, don't really,

Not that I was too interested in hearing about, but it was interesting, though, to kind of hear him just speak about it on the platform that he was on with the MMA hour. And it's always interesting with Ariel. And yeah, he didn't say anything too new. The thing I found most interesting was him kind of talking about going back to the Benson Henderson title fight, his only UFC title fight. And around that time where he was kind of wanting out a little bit is how he said it and maybe realize. that the pay wasn't as good as it should arguably be kind of highlighting what he was making around then and whatnot but yeah for the most part it didn't really tell us anything too new

I mean he said that Hamzot declined him and whatnot of course he's never going to say that he's the one turning down these fights and whatnot we don't really know exactly who is it's always you know what he said she said whatever but yeah I think it would be nice and really great to see him just get what he wants because he doesn't want to be there anymore and be let go. But we know that's never going to happen. UFC's going to hang on to him for one more and most like that Conard trilogy or something like that just to get him out of there, even though they didn't want the Homsot one.

And that doesn't seem like it will be happening at this point for whatever reasons. But also, Ariel pointed out right after. And I thought it was kind of interesting to note how Nate never actually said anything negative specifically about like the UFC or Dana. being like dickheads to him or anything of that sort. He was just saying, you know, I want out. You know, I was kind of sick of this. I'm over it.

It's not about the money for me anymore. I got enough money. I just want to be able to go do my own thing. So it's good, I think, that he got to do that and talk about it for as long as he did. But if you've been following kind of the story, none of the stuff he said should really surprise you or be too new. But overall, I think it's always good to have the kind of conversations that. he's bringing up and, you know, people talking about independent contractors and yada, yada, especially in the same week that Dana gives out $250 to some guy.

So, yeah. $250,000. $250,000. That's, right. Yes. Hey, that was a part of it. Different numbers. Yeah, definitely different numbers.

Jed, I mean, I don't know how many times in the show we have talked about the Nate Diaz, UFC thing. but now this wasn't a tweet from Nate Diaz. This wasn't Dana White talking to the media about Nate Diaz after a tweet, after a press conference promoting an event in the future. We got to hear from the man himself in an extended amount of time. So your thoughts on what Nate Diaz had to say, has to change your perspective? Do you view the situation in any different way than you did a month ago when we last talked about it? No, because he said everything that I've been saying that,

You've been saying that we all knew. Like this is, this just is what it is as far as this goes. And it's really unfortunate that Nate's in the situation because the only thing he said that was different or really felt like that that really stood out to me was, and I can't remember the exact wording. So sorry about this. But it was about how when he signed his contract, he felt like he was fighting for his life functionally.

Like this is that. And like that, just that, framing really jumped out of me but the rest of it was all like yeah he clearly doesn't want to be here anymore he hasn't for a while um that's why he's been so adamant about getting a fight uh and it's really super shitty that the ufc can do this to people uh because they just shouldn't be able to like you shouldn't be able to freeze somebody out who actively wants to fight uh there there is no good faith clause obviously in their contracts because very clearly they are not working in good faith and that like that's they obviously want to hold him for a specific fight uh or hold it hold this

over him for resigning him purposes and should they not be able to resign him they want to give him the worst possible fight for him and this is nothing new they've done this for a long time with a lot of people it doesn't make it doesn't make predatory business just because predatory business prices go on doesn't make them any more palatable still really really shitty um and so it sucks to hear it directly from the horse's mouth but again this is stuff we knew uh the thing that i i took the most from it is that Nate could have could have gone another way with this and instead like you noted uh like Drake you know like Drake noted not you sorry Mike he he didn't say anything super negative about the UFC just said hey they've been great I want to leave uh which

is a really mature way to handle this because when one party holds all the power being real you know mad at them as justifiable as it would be is not going to help them at all he is largely forced into hoping for the good graces of dana white or somebody to just stop being a huge piece of shit um because that's all this is like it it is that simple and if you are one of the people who are licking the corporate boots get get the hell of to program, man. Like, I'm not going to say anything that's going to make you happy. And nothing will make you happy because there's obviously a big hole in your life

where you weren't loved enough to think that shit like this is okay because it's super, super not. So, yeah, the UFC is doing an awful thing to a fighter that I'm not even like a huge fan of. Like, I like Nate Fine, but I've never been like a DAS dude. But he's objectively in the right this, like in this situation. Then you should be able to go apply his trade elsewhere. Like he, if he wants to go box or whatever or do jiu jitsu, let him go do that.

You can just, it takes so little to just be a good company and they, but they really super will not do it. And that sucks. Yeah, and that's a thing because Nate, Nate is a very opportunistic guy. He's a sly, sly individual because of the surface. And I've had friends who have watched the Diaz McGregor fights. They know who Nate is, but they aren't fully engulfed in the sport. they'll say to me, you know, Nate's, Nate's a burnout. He thinks he's bigger than he is.

Why would the UFC cater to him and all these things? And I just tell them, like, yeah, this guy is doing. He's smart, he's cunning, and he's been uber successful because of how cunning and how smart he is. And it's led him to not lose any steam at all despite some of these losses that he's had. And a couple of them have been pretty one-sided. You back to the Mazadol fight a UFC 244, he got. I mean, he got wrecked in that fight.

That fight was not close. That was not competitive. And Diaz still was able to gain some steam from that, even though it was a one-sided beatdown. But, I mean, it's just crazy the way he's able to do this. And like I said, he's an opportunistic guy. And if the UFC just let him do what he wants, like just give him his fight, let him move on with his life.

Who knows? Maybe two years down the road, they offered eight something. He says, okay. and comes back. Like, why can't you just have your cake and eat it too? So let me ask you this, Jed. It's February 2023. All right.

We're going to jump in the, we're going to move up in time here. Are we talking about Diaz post-UFC life in February 2020? Or are we still having a very similar discussion on this show and on other shows? I think he's gone by 2023, but you make exactly the right point of like, selfishness and being a being like a cut throat business person is almost

I'm not even almost it's all it is always a short-sighted tactic like you could just not be shitty and life will unfold in a substantially better way for you like maybe maybe this isn't isn't the incident that inspires people to be pissed off but like there is an endless supply of ammunition for any disgruntled UFC fighter to be like, hey, this is all bad and we should fix it. And at some point, all of that will add up. And this is another piece to that of, hey, they sold a billion dollar company and I still am begging for cash handouts at the end of fights. Hey, Dana White just gave a quarter million dollars to dudes who already have more money than me because they're YouTubers or whatever. Hey,

all of our contracts are like they're super predatory and entirely one way. And, And one of the biggest stars in the sport got screwed. If they can do that to Nate, oh, my God, what can they do to me? Like, all of these things will eventually add up to make things worse for the company in the long run. Whereas if you're just not an asshole, it all works out better. And like you said, maybe Nate does come back. Maybe Nate goes, because right now he clearly wants to go box. Maybe he goes and he boxed.

He makes big payday or whatever. Maybe he gets one or two of them. And maybe then at the end of he's like, you know, I'm, I'm. seeing my options dry up a little bit here, I can go back to the UFC and there's a big fights with UFC fighters for me. Like that's, that's always a thing, but they, it's not how they operate. They're entirely short-sighted. And to some extent, it works because they're, you know, a billion dollar entity. But like, I often think that's, we don't know what they could have been because they could have been substantially more. And the last point here to make is that, like,

this for any of the people who are pro UFC here one you're stupid i'm just going to tell you that straight up two this is not a Nate Diaz thinks he's too big for his britches because as he said ensure you can debate the veracity of this but there's no reason there's no reasonable reason to think that he is false that they are offering him essentially more money than he's ever made to make him one of the highest paid athletes in the sport like that is entirely credible because he is that big a draw. People know him and love him. And so this is entirely about control. And the UFC wants it and Nate wants to control himself. He does not want to be in the situation he's in. And they should let him go because it's the morally correct thing to do. And if they refuse,

they should at least give him a fight. And I think that at some point, it feels like Nate has finally learned he just has to say yes to whoever. And they have to offer him a fight. He will just say yes, fight it. Same thing I've been saying forever, dude. Just go in there, have your corner throw in the towel. Leave the company and be on your way. Drake, February 2023, true or false? Nate Diaz, still under contract at the UFC. Oh, man, that's like, I think that's the perfect timeline right there, Mike, to where we could, you know, have something figured out for sure. But I'm going to say, I'm going to say false. I think that he will end up getting a fight maybe around the end of the year.

Maybe it could be, you know, the first event of 2023, January. But I'm going to say false. I think he'll be out by then. And the whole idea of, you know, him potentially coming back. I like everything Jed's saying. And I think there's, you know, great merit to it. And he's making a lot of good points. But I don't know.

I struggled to see, and I guess it could be different with someone like Nate. I struggle to see him coming back to the UFC. at any point after leaving, considering what he could make or get from it out of there, even though he is saying, you know, it's not about the money for him and he wants to do these different types of challenges. He'll take on anybody, yada, yada. Once he just sees that freedom and ability to do so much more with his fighting career and opportunities, it makes me think, why would I go back to there when it was this way before? Like, what are the odds of it changing, despite maybe the movement it could create,

and like Jed mentioned, it's probably not going to be quick enough in the lifespan of an ADS fight career where he's still relevant enough. And yes, he says he's never going to retire. So who knows we could see Nate Dia's fighting and do his 60s for all we know. But we don't want to see that, do we? So it's a very interesting dynamic with someone like him who also at the same time, if we're going to be completely honest, isn't like the best fighter or anything. So who knows if he goes on to box and whatnot and gets beat up and doesn't have a lot of success. still drawing numbers because he's an A. Diaz and just wants to have these fights to have them and whatnot. Like, would the UFC even be interested at that point? So there's a lot of different

things to go into with someone like him who's not, let's say, in the prime of their career and doing as good as they have ever. But ultimately, I think that 20, 23 February, we'll get something on. It seems like Dana is, it's always hard to tell with him, but like he's leaning towards getting kind of tired of this as well, at least from the minimal interactions that he's spoken about and saying, oh, he should probably go fight Jake Paul. I can make sure think maybe if this can ramp up more, and this is a great continuation with this long interview that he did, he'll do something. They'll get something together.

Somebody will fight him. I mean, who's going to say no to Nate Diaz anyway? And he's just got to say yes to whoever it is in the long run. Yeah, he wants to fight in July or August, and I doubt that happens. But who knows? Maybe February 2023, he'll be out of there. but last thing on this and then we'll move on. Drake,

maybe this whole situation gets something that pisses everybody off. They're like, well, they can do this to Nate. Maybe they'll do this to anybody. So does this change anything for the future? Like, does this situation, in your opinion, open the eyes to the rest of the roster in any way? Like, we all want this to happen, right? We all want that shoe to drop somewhere. We all want these fighters to come together and get more and get what they're worth

and get what they deserve, what they deserve, and they just won't do it, like a $4.2 billion dollars to do it, $1 billion a year essentially for the UFC in profits, this ESPN deal that is making them money, hand over fist, none of this stuff has done it. Does this situation change a thing in that regard?

I don't think so. I don't think Nate's the guy for that. I mean, we've seen already that they can go on and do just fine without him, and they can pretty much go on and do just fine without anybody. but if this was someone like Connor, for example, that's obviously the guy who would be able to, you look at him like,

oh, wow, he's actually the one in this spot now. I think that would be a lot different than someone like Nate, who has not been very active and not to say Connor has either, but it's still Connor. And there are levels to this, and you can always make that argument that Connor supremely elevated Nate's popularity once their fights happened. I don't even know if that's a debate anymore, really.

I think it's kind of, that's just fact when you look at everything, So I wouldn't say that Nate is the guy, honestly, and as popular as he is, and as long as he's been around. We've seen it time and time again with many people, but Connor, I think, would be that guy. He's, you know, the top of the mountain when it comes to all that stuff. Jed, anything, any steps forward at all? Or is there a better chance of the UFC bringing in another reality show called the Ultimate Contender, where they combine Tuff and the Contender series into one super show. And we could just bring in prospects, two.

make way less money than Nate or Connor or anybody else is making. Yeah, they don't need a new show. They just have an endless supply of fine people off the contender series to make 10 and 10 cheap labor, baby. Woo-hoo. There you go. There's not much else to say on that topic. Like that is what the contender series is.

And if you guys don't see that, you're just not paying attention. That's all it is. well let's move on it was uh again if you haven't watched the actual interview i highly suggest you take a little over an hour of your time and go watch it because Nate opens up and he's Macaveli rules yeah Machaveli rules we got a chrisavila I was saying that chrisivila just takes over for a minute everybody's favorite but who loves chrisivola Nate literally takes a piss break and chris ovella subs in and then nick maximoff shows up for a couple minutes i mean literally the whole

The whole Diaz crew was there at some point. So it was really good stuff. Kudos to Ariel for making it happen. But the point for round one goes to, to the man with more hair, Jed Bichu. It is one to nothing. Good start to the battle. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners,

I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. It's just $39.99? How could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister This gold watch for my partner A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss?

Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering, start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. Black Friday is here at IKEA And the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials,

all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. Let's move on to things that actually happened inside the Octagon like this past Saturday. Rafael Fazeve gets his big opportunity, gets to head.

line of card against a former world champion in Hafiel Dosanjos. It was the battle of the Raphael's or the Hoffials, whoever you want to put it. In the end, it was Raphael, who gets it done. He was up 3-1, at least on my scorecard, heading into that fifth round, goes in, puts RDA away quick in the fifth round. I know people are complaining about

the stoppage, but there's nothing to complain about, especially if you watch the slow-moes and the alternate angles of the replays. Mark Smith did a great job. This is not a controversial stoppage whatsoever. And Raphael Vizib gets it done. So, Jed, this is your division. You have sung the praises of the lightweight division for years. You continue to do so.

And now we have this exciting crop of talents. Moving on up at 155. We talked about it on the ranking show, but how impressed were you with this performance from Raphael Fizier, what is the ceiling on this man after watching him put away a very durable guy, especially at 155 and Hafeel de Sanjos? I was super impressed.

I liked Rafael Fiziv, but I didn't know how much. I mean, we'd seen him have some setbacks. Yeah, some setbacks. We'd seen him not even look like the best, but when he got his biggest fight, he showed up. And you can say that sure, RDA is a thousand. And so that win takes some of the shine off it. But RDA is still a very good fighter. that did not look that much to me like RDA was diminished.

It looked like he just didn't have the tools to win the fight. He tried to do the things he wanted to do and couldn't do him enough. It actually boosted my estimation of Fiziv. So before that I had before that fight, I kind of pre-set my rankings to where I thought everything would be and then I'd adjust for the last couple of fights that were relevant. and I had Fiziv, I think, at like, top ten-ish in the division, sort of on that cusp, like him and RDA were right there. And after that fight, because of what he did there,

because of a lot of the things he showed, and frankly, just because of his style, I think he's my number five lightweight in this, in this iteration of the rankings. I think he, and I could be wrong on that, because he would, I think I'd still pick me, Matush Gamrod and Armand Suu Kian to beat him, but he could give both of those guys a ton of trouble. And he can really give most people in this division a tough fight.

He has blossomed into one of the best sidewits in the world. And so I don't think he's ever going to win the belt, but we talked in the ranking show earlier this week. I think we all sort of unanimously agreed he's probably going to be the first guy among this crop of rising contenders to get a title shot just because he feels the closest. and his callouts are strange, but oddly, oddly appealing. Like, I enjoyed the Raphael and the doll callout. I thought that that was amusing. It's certainly different. And, you know, he's the one true Raphael now.

Ralph Dos Angeles is, he's not it anymore, he's Ralph. And no one likes a Ralph. Ralph is a, Ralph is what you say when someone throwing it up and you're in, like, middle school. I'm like, yeah, I get outbacked Ralph and it's just is what it is. Give me Hafeu al-Faziv to challenge for the belt within the next 18 months to a year because lightweight is incredibly constipated at the top because everybody just refuses to do anything cool up there. They all just Michael Chandler and Dustin Poire want to fight each other

despite having not beaten somebody outside of their little bubble in like 10 years or something stupid. So yeah, it might take a while, but I do think within the next 18 months he will challenge for the title. Drake, what did you think? Did live up to the expectations? Are you as high on Fiziv as Jed is and a lot of other people are? What did you think of this performance? I think it was undeniably a very good performance by him. I didn't really know what to expect out of it, though, you know, going in.

I knew it would be a very interesting matchup for him and one that we kind of needed to see against somebody like RDA who, yeah, I don't think is over the hill yet or anything like that. I think he could still hang with a lot of the guys. And I think that he did hang with Fiziv despite, you know, comfortably kind of losing his way up until the finish. And then, you know, obviously definitively losing and getting knocked out. Cleanly, like in real time.

Yeah, that did look a little quick. But I'm glad you mentioned that, Mike, because it was actually a pretty darn good stoppage by the ref there. What I believe it was Mark Smith, who jumped in at a great timing. But, yeah, no, Fiziv looked great. And I think the most important thing we kind of saw out of this. And we already knew that his takedown defense was good as they kind of continued to remind us throughout the entire fight.

But what was most impressive to me was seeing his takedown defense continually tested and him kind of passing with pretty flying colors there. I know what they calculated one at least out of there, maybe two by the time it was over, but still was never in really any big trouble in that regard. And for a striker of his caliber being one of the very best in the division, I think that was huge, especially considering who was at the top of the division, you know, two phenomenal grapplers in very different aspects, Charles Oliver and then Islaa Makachev. And so I think that we will, I would not at all be surprised if Fiziv challenges for the title.

I think he definitely will challenge for the title at some point. I'm not sure how soon 18 months still feels kind of quick to me just because of how weird lightweight is right now and what is all kind of going on with and who's around. And, you know, Connor potentially jumping in to make things last even longer for whomever. but yeah, I think that he will be a title challenger at some point. But to say he'll be champion, I'm not quite ready to say that just because of the challenges that styles like Olivera and Makachev specifically provide him.

I think that those guys, you know, are some serious trouble for him. Not that he can't do well, but Amokachev is like one that really fascinates me, considering how well his takedown defense has continued to be. I struggle to see it being as good as that against. a Machachev and I'm sure even names like Gamrod and Sarukin could make things very interesting there too but then it was performance against RDA was definitely very good you could argue his best

maybe not the flashiest of knockouts or finishes that he has had in his career but yeah very good very impressive the battle of Raphael and hafael was fun stuff and um I wouldn't be surprised if next he he goes out and gets smashed with Benil Darius and uh poor banil loses after all the momentum him he's gained. I mean, I love the Gaichi fight. I actually think there's a very good chance that fight could happen because both are getting, I mean, the story's just there. It's just, it's kismid for those two guys because both fun strikers, both getting

no surgeries in the same month right around the same time, both looking to come back right around the same time. It just makes sense. It's like, it's like a perfect thing between those two guys. And if Fiziziz beats Gaichi, he's definitely got a claim for a title shot. Just don't know if he does that the constipated word is a great. one to describe lightweight. But last thing on this, then we'll move on. Drake, outside of holy crap, Fazeve is really, really good. What was your biggest takeaway from Vegas 58?

Well, I like that takeaway. Well, well said there, Mike. But man, biggest takeaway from that card, I mean, Saeed Nirmagamatov is very, very talented and continues to show that the Bannamweight Division is the best in the world across all organizations I do not care it is better than lightweight I know Jen will argue with this one we've argued a bit but the depth of this division you're just objectively fucking wrong dude is it

I don't know what to tell you like I don't Jose if you're watching this can you hop on real fast because I've had to make the point a million times and I'm getting tired of it it's just like yeah they're smaller and they move very

quickly it's just not as good division it's never been but please continue great Well, Sayyed Nuramauga made of looking phenomenal as a striker as a Nirmagomarov, which is something you don't often see. I think I'd probably have to go with him as my highlight. I mean, the rest of this card didn't do anything too spectacular for me, but I do want to give an honorable mention to Kennedy and Zechakwu, if I pronounce that correctly, as well,

who first cut through Carl Robertson, like butter, utilizing his wrestling, which is kind of something we've never really seen, especially in that degree before. So I think he deserved a shout-out, but I think the continuation of Saeed proving how amazing the Bannamai Division is probably my highlight. Jed, your biggest takeaway, from Vegas 58 outside of Fiziv winning the battle of Raphael versus Raphael and us realizing that Fiziz actually a really, really, really good fighter.

I mean, that's the big takeaway, but the other one is, and Drake mentioned it, it's Kenny and Chekwu. I mean, the dude has a lot of potential just because of his sheer physicality. Like, he is enormous. And he looked great against Carl Roberson. Now, granted, Carl Roberson, former middleweight, not the greatest fighter in the world, but Kennedy is still relatively young, especially for light heavyweight. And that's it. I mean, we could also talk about the lightweights because for as much as people wrong,

we want to say Bannonweights the best. Like Jamie Malarkey and Michael Johnson are what, top 50 lightweights? Come on, man. What are we even doing here? Those dudes are top 50 lightweights and they're still better than most people in most divisions. It's the best way class Because two top 50 dudes still put on one of the more fun fights on the card Let's be honest

And Michael Johnson, not going to say he got robbed But like he has He has a case to be angry about So yeah, that's a You know, it was a Let's be real This card was a pretty forgettable card There were a lot of forgettable things that happened on it

And we're on to better ones because Long Island, at least on paper, a little bit better, and next week is London. And that's, let's go, baby. Love the London card. There we go. Is this the first show we've done as like the whole member and chat set up? It's the first time I've seen it. First time I've seen it.

So this will be fun. This will be exciting. I guess there's some sort of new live chat scenario. I think it's to the, the MMA hour big fans. I don't know. But we have new men. Like you can become a member. I don't know.

I don't know. This is all new to me. This is all too new to me. And this is all very exciting stuff. But I hope all the people Drake brings with him from the fan base that I truly do not know where he gets it from. But credit to you, bud. I hope they're all paying to be members of our live chat now. Maybe if you actually came on and defended your friggin title, they'd be here all the time.

And we'd make a lot of money. What am I doing right now? This is here. Do you remember the last time we did this dance? It was like two months ago. sure it was last month it was last month i i call i come whenever i'm called man that's true i'll defend every week if i have to oh okay now i like we're going here the points for round two before you talk about something just really exciting goes to

oh no let's skip the next round if we good. Go to the interim bantamweight champion, Drake Riggs, now that he has a haircut. He's now winning at the bantam weight limits. I love the bantamweight division as well. Jed has a point. It's a good division. Oh, yeah.

Banyl is probably the second best division in the sport. Guys like Davy, Grant, Adrian, Yon, as all these guys who we'll see. Like half of the MMA fighting Bannemweight ranks are in Bellator. That's how I know it's not the. best division in the sport because if bellator owns a large number of good fighters in it that division sucks ass boom lawyer can't fight that argument can you boom wow that's that's why i argue it that it is better because there's more from everywhere you see it's all top heavy with the ufc yeah listen if if the ufc was wcd in the late 90s the ban of weight division would be the cruiserweight division of that

WCW iteration, which was awesome. Because there's a lot of people who just watched Nitro just to watch the cruiser rates run around, flip around, and just have these crazy wrestling matches. But the money was with Hogan and, you know, the money divisions, the heavier guys, you know what I mean? But that's neither here nor there. Let's talk about something that everybody, I mean,

everybody is here to talk about professional boxing at Madison Square Garden, the Mecca, the world's most famous arena. We thought we were going to see Jake Paul versus Tommy Fury. Tommy Fury cannot get into the United States. And instead, Jake Paul will take on 12-1 professional boxer, Hasim Rockman Jr. This is happening, and Amanda Serrano is on the under, is not on the undercard.

She's the co-headliner for her bout, but we're back to MSG with most valuable promotions, Jake Paul will close the show against Hasim Rockman Jr. Jed, I have to ask you, do you care at all about this? Like the other ones we at least could talk about and find ways to sell it, but golly, I have really tried to find a way to just like something to like here. And I just can't. I can't find anything to like here.

Do you care? Does this have potential just be a horrific flop? altogether. I don't know. My care level is very low. I have at least a passing interest just because Jake Paul has become such a thing to us in this industry and this sport

that I am at least, like I'm going to get people that text me about that. Like that is 100% of thing that will happen in the next two weeks. People will start being like, ooh, this Jake Paul thing. So I have at least a more. marginal interest, mostly and honestly knowing the outcome, less in watching the boxing

match because it's not good boxing. But I am, any interest I have also ties to, to some extent this does feel like Jake Paul is actually taking a risk and he has managed his career extremely well up to this point where all of it has looked like there was a case to be made that this was a risky step. and I thought Tommy Fury made a lot of sense kind of going along that same thing but Hasim Rahman Jr. arguably is actually more risky

just because he's a not going to use a word more accomplished because he hasn't beaten almost he's beaten nobody really worth their salt in boxing the one good fighter your face knocked him out but he he's huge he's an absolutely enormous person with a large size advantage

and he is a professional boxer at the minimum. And so this is a pretty big step up in that regard. So I guess theoretically this is where the rubber meets the road, right? We're going to find out if Jake Paul is a celebrity boxer or Jake Paul is, to some extent, a real boxer. But I don't really care that much about it. It just sort of is a thing. And a lot of people are going to like it. And if you do it, that's cool.

I'm not here to yuckier yum, but this one's not, this one is much less for me than any of the others have been. What do you think about this, Drake? Because if you recall, when Jake Paul last grace the squared circle, you and I were there together in beautiful Tampa, Florida. When he knocked out Tyrant Woodley to conclude one of the worst combat sports fights in the history of combat sports fights. This was a brutal fight with Tyron Woodley. It was a really tough watch. And we got the knockout, which sort of. changed the narrative of it all. But it seems like even then losing Tommy Fury and then getting

Woodley that some of the steam was being lost here. Woodley knockout, he got a lot more steam. And then we just haven't seen him in a while. We got the promoter role, which is great. He has done tremendous in this far rate of boxing. He's done an amazing job becoming bus watch TV in a lot of ways, the promotion, what he did, being a part of the Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor fight. Like, he's done a tremendous job. Do you care about this fight at all? Is this something that you are going to make sure that no matter what, on August 6th, my ass is on the coach, showtime pay-per-view is on, and I'm taking the batteries out of the remote because I ain't changing the channel. Oh, Mike, you're just asking questions.

You know the answer to at this point. I could not, I literally could not care less about this fight. I mean, I don't really care about boxing in general. So this being a more boxing challenge and less weird freak shows spectacle of sorts for Jake makes me even less interested. I'm going to do everything I can to be as far away from this fight as I possibly can, Mike. I want nothing to do with it.

This is already too much talking about it right now for me. But yeah, and that's why I think it's kind of hilarious, though, because watch, this will be the fight that people are the least interested in by a good margin, and it will end up being the one where Jake loses. Like, I just have a feeling of the weirdness. That's how the combat sports world likes to work where, oh, the guy that you want to see beat him or you just want to see him get knocked out. It'll happen, but it'll happen when no one's watching because no one cares about this fight. It has no idea who he's fighting.

Even with the Tommy Fury stuff, I feel like that lost a whole lot of luster after everything that happened with the last supposed to be fight, you know, in the Woodley rematch, like you mentioned there. And it hasn't helped that Jake has maybe been, I don't want to say less. active because he's always kind of around and, you know, keeping himself relevant. But he, I just feel like people have stopped carrying a decent amount after the Woodley one. And I'm glad you mentioned how awful that fight was, Mike, because if that knockout doesn't happen, my goodness, who knows where we go from there, because there was practically nothing that happened in that fight up until that knockout.

But yeah, as for this, this one right here, it's, it is what it is, man. Like, good for him to actually take a likely more boxing challenge. and taking on a boxer. So that's cool. I'm glad to see him do that. But obviously, it's not what people kind of have gotten used to seeing from Jake Paul and necessarily want to see from him, I think, except for maybe people who are serious Jake Paul fans,

whether it's of him as an athlete or a personality. So for me, I could do without either of those. Yeah, I call that a billion dollar punch. A lot of people feel like it's over exaggeration, but I don't think so. Like between the money he would have lost and the money he kind of gained. back and what could come from that, I call that a billion dollar punch and I'm okay with that. So you mentioned the L word, Drake.

You mentioned the L word. What happens if Jake loses this fight? What happens? Ooh, I mean, that's the funny thing too, right? Is if it does happen to an opponent like this who, you know, the least known Rockman, Jr., out of everyone he has fought, there's multiple ways to get go. And I think the obvious is like, all right, well, this completely kills Jake Paul's boxing group. He'll go away and continue to do his other stuff.

Or people will give him the excuse of he lost to a boxer this time. Give him one more, see how he does like, all right, this is what we waited for and knew was going to happen when it happened. So they'll kind of brush it off. And I mean, it depends on how he loses as well, right? If he does get knocked out or if it's a decision and is competitive, then, you know, I'm sure he'll get a pass, potentially or people will really slam him again kind of depending on how he does lose potentially it reminds me a little bit of i guess logan's loss to what kSI or whatever it seemed like people all thought that he wanted to win and not that i cared much about that either but from what i was

seeing uh everyone kind of expected him to win and then he controversially lost or whatever so who knows if there's even funny a business but i think that most likely he will get a pass because it's the first boxer and this was what we were waiting for to happen. I'm glad you brought the Logan thing up, Jed, because same question to you, because Logan loses to KSI or whatever. And what does he do? He gets the frickin' Floyd Mayweather exhibition fight

and probably made a gazillion dollars. I know he's saying that he didn't get paid, but who the hell knows? Now he's signed with WWE. So the loss to KSI didn't really hurt him. So I feel like a loss doesn't really affect him at all. In fact, you could make a case that a loss, actually could, maybe in the short term doesn't help him, but they're still, like, I feel like

the pool of potential opponents grows significantly with the loss. Like, you could fight different athletes, different celebrities, you can go back to the MMA thing, the thing that was making you all this money and getting you all this attention in the first place. So would it be the worst thing in the world if he loses this fight? What happens if he does lose to Hasseem Rockman Jr. on August 6th? No, it's fine if he loses this fight. I think it all depends because I don't know how this plays out right not this fight I don't know how the Jake Paul career goes because it's really hard for me to see past the next two or three fights right like I don't I do not know Jake Paul's fans fundamentally don't understand them so I don't know how much they have an appetite to watch him try to be a pro boxer right like if this is so far he has fought other big names and talked a bunch of shit and sold the fights in that way. And because that is new and different,

and he was fighting other famous-ish people, there's something compelling there. But if he beats to see Markman Jr., I don't know what's next for him, right? Because then he's beat, even if Aramond Jr. is not like a great fighter or like a super pro or whatever, he's beat like an actual person whose job is boxing.

That is their profession that he will have now beaten. and that feels like that puts him down a very different path because he's still obviously a lifetime away from getting a Canelo fight or like doing anything like that. But at that point, if he beats a real boxer, it's like, Anderson Silva is the only dude who makes sense for you next. And sure, I mean, maybe the Nate Diaz fight. Maybe that still makes sense because it's Nate Diaz.

But like those two fights make sense to me from a here, there's a baked in something here that people will have interest. I have no idea how long Jake Paul fans will want to watch him continue to just try and be a pro boxer. Maybe it's in perpetuity, in which case, the loss doesn't hurt him. He's in the Connor McGregor's zone, and his fans are going to tune in. Like Drake's fans are going to tune into this show and skew the vote when I'm obviously beating him pillar to post. And having a fan base and being beloved is that's a skill. And if he can market it, that works for him.

It feels to me like people who like Jake Paul because he did pranks or whatever the hell he did, that unless they're naturally boxing pins, it feels like that dies out at some point. So I just don't know how that works. And in that regard, a loss is better because the loss does put him back on that here. Just fight a bunch of MMA fighters or a footballer or some other athletes doing other things and you can kind of stay in this celebrity gimmick as opposed to going down this other road. but honestly, I have no idea. Like, to me, the most obvious thing is do his brother did.

You box a couple times and you go to the WW. Like, that's just go be a professional wrestler. Or, you know, go join AEW instead of WWE, and then you can have your own area to do it. Like, that just feels like the actual place that you're supposed to go. But I'm not good at predicting this. I would have been wrong about basically every turn of Jake Paul's professional athletic career at this point. I'm on Ticketmaster right now.

I was just curious how ticket sales are doing for this card. They're not doing very well. They can't be good. I mean, they're not doing at all. That's the other thing. There's not much happening. Even Jake in his own like shit talk video to Connor, which by the way, that was the biggest bodying since like Ether.

Like, oh my God, that dude was killed Connor. Like that, if he said that to Connor in his face, Connor has no choice but to swing on him. like that. Those are, that is the definition of fighting words. But in that, he was like, I sold 200,000 pay-per-view buys

in the second fight with Tyron and Woodley and no one wanted to watch. And it was like, it's kind of weird that you're admitting that because like, those are Demetrius Johnson pay-per-view number. So I don't know about that. But also that I was like,

I mean, I get it, short notice, a rematch no one cared about. But if, if no one has cared about his opponents that much anyway, like he is the guy who's supposed to bring them in. So if his,

floor or close to his floor is 200k buys like this is going to do that number it's going to do the same and that i don't know how long that is a a business strategy that other people will invest in or that he'll even be that interested in of well i can i can box somebody in for 200,000 payper you buys and paper and arena because i can't sell out the tickets to this i get it it feels like we should be coming to the end of his road here, but then he, maybe then he does get to fight the Nate Diaz one, and then he fights Nate Diaz,

and that thing will do huge numbers, so it won't matter. Yeah, and he could fight Nate, whether he was here, as long as Nate can be free. Yes. Honestly, it's better as he loses to fight Nate. Well, a percentage would you say of the seats is left?

Oh, 70. Probably. Oh, wow. Tickets also couldn't have gone on sale. I mean, they had to have gone until relatively recently. But yeah, this thing was not knocking the doors down to go. The Serrano-Taylor presale sold like 10,000 tickets, like just in the pre-sale before they went on sale in the public.

So, yeah, this is not good. They could get some late buys, who the hell knows, maybe they'll drop some tickets. I just don't know a world where someone's like, hey, you know what? This Saturday, let's go watch Jake Paul fight Hasim Rockman Jr. Oh, tickets for like the middle section are $256 to watch. I just don't know a world where that happens.

I will say this, going to Tampa and Drake, you were there. They're off. That, that Amalie Arena was packed. I mean, there were a ton of people there. I couldn't believe it. And there were a ton of people there from the get-go, like from the first prelim. There were a lot of people there. I was stunned.

I was honestly, I couldn't believe how many people were there. But, oh, well, no more Jake Paul talk until the week of the fight. So we'll take a couple weeks off. Let us move on. Yeah, so listen, two weeks off. Something the UFC hasn't said in quite some time. So the point for round three goes to, it goes to Jedmishu. It is two to one.

Oh, good. The ghost. Hanging in there? He's hanging in. He's hanging in. So he can make it to the, at worst, he makes it to the knockout round. We know you love the thought of a vacation to Europe. But this time, why not look a little further to do,

a city that everyone talks about and has absolutely everything you could want from a vacation destination. From world-class hotels, record-breaking skyscrapers, and epic desert adventures, to museums that showcase the future, not just the past. Choose from 14 flights per week between Canada and Dubai. Book on emirates.ca. today. Whether it's a pair of running shoes or a new car, you check how well something performs before you buy it. Why should investing be any different? At Fidelity, we get that performance matters most. With sound financial advice and quality investment products, we're here to help with accelerating your dreams.

Chat with your advisor or visit Fidelity.ca. Performance to learn more. Commission's fees and expenses may apply. Read the funds or ETFs prospectus before investing. Funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change and past performance may not be repeated. So let's go to this Saturday, and I am very excited for this Saturday, mostly because we get a big card,

we get a big-ish card on ABC, and it starts at 11 a.m. Eastern. Prelims start at 11 a.m. Eastern. The main card is at 2 p.m. Eastern. This is, like, right in the ABC Wide World of Sports Wheelhouse in terms of when this will actually be on television live. If John Anick are not wearing the yellow ABC Blazers, we have done something wrong.

This has a terrible travesty. They should be wearing those. gold ABC jackets to the world and wide world of sports, but that's not a hearing or there. So Jed, we will begin with you.

Describe the UFC Long Island lineup from top to bottom in one word and then explain yourself. Solid. It's just, it's just solid. Like, it's,

this is not a card that you call up your friends and are like, hey, what are you doing Saturday afternoon? Because I know it's, I know it's July and the weather is gorgeous.

and we could do any number of things to go hiking. We could go to the park. We could just sip beers and float down a river, but instead we should stay inside and watch people fistfight. This is not that card. But it is a very good card if you have nothing going on, if you broke your leg and can't go hiking, if it's raining, so the outdoor activities,

wherever you are, not as fun. It's a gray card. And if you're on the East Coast, it's fantastic. Because you can watch this whole card, and then for the first time and it feels like years, honestly. You can be like, cool. I'm going to go to dinner with my friends.

Maybe go out and have a beverage. Maybe you have a lot of beverages. Totally fine because I don't need to be checking my phone for updates on what the hell happened on this fight night card. So it's a very solid card. Also, every fight on, I won't say that every fight on this card is good because not all of them are.

I mean, they're mostly fine. But I truly do not know the last time that every fighter on a card had a Wikipedia page and that card wasn't a pay-per-view because the pay-per-views usually are that way, 276 at least certainly was that. But I don't know the last fight night card where you could just be like,

oh, all of these people have done enough in their lives to merit a Wikipedia page, which is not a high bar to clear because you can just go make your own. So it's not a high part of clear. But many people haven't. And so this one does, it's the main event

is awesome. Shane Burgos, Charles Jordane is awesome. Most of the main card is at least relevant. The fights might not all be awesome. Let's be real. But Chanel Sumadairji,

probably going to be really fun. And some of the undercard stuff is okay. So solid B plus-ish card. Drake, what is your word to describe this card and explain why? So I'm going to go with, I think the word hardcore. And I don't think it's exactly the perfect definition of a hardcore fight fan card because of the fact, well, there are all Wikipedia pages like Jed said.

But I mean, in my opinion, considering myself a hardcore and seeing some other people's online who maybe aren't as excited for this, I think that this card is, you know, exceptionally good for a fight night, especially compared to some that we've gotten recently. I don't know sure that helps because of ABC and whatnot and you know, Misha Tate Lauren Murphy was moved off of the 276 one and not to say that's going to be the best fight by any stretch of imagination but two notable names of former title challenger and then, you know, former champion. But yeah, no, I think this card is very good. I mean, you look at some of the fights that Jed even listed. He didn't even mention Ricky Simone and Jack Shore,

another great set of Bannam weights right there. My goodness, they're all over the place, aren't they? So, I mean, that one is Derek could be. There's a top 20 Bannam weights. It is a very good fight. There's that fight. I mean, even as early on is Dustin Jacoby, who's been doing well at Dionne, Jung. And I'm really excited for Emily Dakota's debut, of course,

and the UFC former Beltaudel title challenger, recent Invicted champion taken on Jessica Panay. I just think top to bottom, there is a whole lot to like, especially for somebody who has been following the sport closely. And even if you are a more casual fan, I would struggle to not be excited with, you know, just watching for that main event, which you were going to know. And then you'll be satisfied with what I can see a lot of finishes going down on this card. I mean, Puna Soriano is on it as well against Dulce.

Always fun to say Lungambula, right? That's the opponent there in Burgos and Jordane, like Jed said. I mean, there's only like two maybe matchups here that I am not like expecting to be at least thrilling in some aspect. But I think there's a lot to like. And so in terms of a hardcore fan who should know every person. person on this card in particular, I don't see how you don't really feel excited for this. And, you know, of course, maybe if it's earlier for you like it is me on the Pacific Coast, that's a little bit of a bummer.

But then, hey, you can get it out of the way and you can go have all the fun in the afternoon like Jed was talking about over on my side. So I think this is better for you. Yeah. Yeah. So you get to enjoy the lovely weather and the, you know, the summer. Finally, finally coming around over here. But yes.

Yeah. you get to go to the beach and go out at night. We just get to like go out at night. So there you go. We talked about, we've talked about the stakes of the main event quite a bit. We all, I think, I know I fail and I've said for a while, even after Josh Emmett beat Calvin Cater,

that if Yayae Rodriguez beats Brian Ortega, he's getting the next title shot against Alexander Volcanowski. I think that's what the promotion goes. Yair has said, that's what the UFC has told him as well. But Jed, what happens if Brian Ortega wins this fight? Does he get a title shot? Did they run this home right back? Does Josh Emmett get a title fight?

or are they going to have to fight each other? I'll be the saddest panda that has ever lived if Brian Ortega wins. And it's like, it seems like he's going to. Like, it's certainly the most likely outcome. And I can't. I still don't like Brian Ortega. I still think he's not very good, even though he is objectively one of the three or four best featherweights in the world.

I don't understand him. He doesn't make sense to me. And he's probably going to lose. probably going to be losing every second, like always, you're going to lose every single second of this fight until he just throttles. Yeah, yeah, that's just how his fights goes. The one exception being Korean zombie, I guess the two exceptions being Korean zombie where he was never losing that fight, a max, where he just did the losing the fight and not the miracle comeback part. The rest of it, he just loses every fight, he's in, then he has a miracle comeback.

And so that's probably what's going to happen and it's going to suck because I'll have to once again come on our post-fight show and be like Brian Otega won, yeah. And then when he wins, he's not going to get a title fight just because we already did that song and dance. He needs to do more to get himself back, or at least dear God, I hope so, because I really want Brian really want Alexander Volcanovsky to fight other dudes instead of just fighting the same guy over and over and over again. it would be great for him to actually defend against the rest of the division. But if Ortega wins, he's not going to, because if Ortega wins, then they're going to just run him into a lightweight title fight, which is stupid because that division is also clustered at the top, because as Drake mentioned on a previous question,

Connor might come back and do some dumb stuff. We still don't really have absolute clarity on who's going to fight for the vacant belt. It's just a bunch of chicanery going on. And instead of Volcanovsky defending against Emmett or Honodalindale, or any of the other like seven dudes at featherweight who have come on in the last year and a half he'll just go up to lightweight and then Ortega will fight Josh Emmett

in a number one contingent match which sucks because he'll definitely submit Josh Emmett and then Volcanovsky will justify Brian Ortego when he comes back to featherway and we'll somehow be talking about him being the greatest featherwood of all time which is obvious horseshit because obviously Jose Aldo at this moment in time

I'm not saying Volt couldn't get there but he'd do a lot if he just stop beating Brian Ortega and Max Holleyer Holloway over and over and over again because that's not how you declare yourself the greatest by just being the same two dudes in circles for years. So I am the world's biggest Sierra Rodriguez fan this weekend and dear God I hope he does it. Please, please, everything is so much better if he wins. Jed, are you pretty much declaring Brian Ortega as the featherweight Derek Lewis here? I just got to make the comparison. Oh, I previously, Derek.

Eric Lewis, Brian Ortega, and Yoel Romero, interestingly, I love both Derek Lewis and Yol O'O Romero. Y'O. Romero, I may be the biggest stand of in the entire world. Brian Ortega, I have never cared for. But they're all very similar in that they lose fights until they win fights because they're, they are predatory fighters. They are not, they win wars, they lose battles. And I understand that in like a baseline.

But it makes a lot more sense to me when like Derek Lewis just hammered. Jack some dude with lunchbox. Like, oh, yeah, he just knocked that dude out. It's not like, dude, you train with BGA black belts all the time. Why are you giving him your neck? Like, what are you doing, Cubs? Like, what are you doing, Cubs. What are you doing? You're a black belt yourself.

What are you doing? It just doesn't, I don't understand it because he is obviously incredibly talented in a way that I can't quite put the pieces together to. And so I hate because you all, you hate what you don't understand. That's how the world

works. Drake, would you understand what would happen in the UFC's eyes if Brian Ortega wins on Saturday? Would I understand what would happen? I mean, if we're talking in terms of him getting another title shot, I mean, I don't, I don't agree with that. I don't think that the winner of either man, whoever wins this fight should get the title shot. And I think it would be a whole lot more likely for, well, I mean, it makes more sense.

if you were to give it to Jaire because he hasn't fought Volkanowski before. And Ortega obviously is, he's coming off of the Volcanovsky loss going into this one. So it still feels very fresh. But again, they could be like, oh, that first fight was so great when really it was only just the fact that Ortega almost got him. Like, it was one side of traffic for Volcanovsky as it has typically been outside of the Holloway rematch, right? And that made the fight very fun in what I think the UFC even gave that fight up for the year last year, which is kind of funny. I mean, was in crazy moments and whatnot,

but I don't know if I'd go that far. So I think Josh Emmett has definitely been the guy to earn it here at Featherweight, and I would like to see fresh faces. I'm always about fresh matchups, too, so I agree with Jed there. Like, you got to see these champions beat more people rather than the same guy over and over before you can declare them the goat. I've been saying the same thing about Kamar Ushman lately,

and yes, it's not these four. fighters faults that they're beating people and then they're rematching them like the ufc can throw at them whoever they want but before you start making these crazy claims let's hold on you know look at what other people have done the gsps to aldos who beat everybody before finally being toppled um before we can declare you as the best ever as you're still in the middle of making this a reality but either way that's going off on a tangent as for this matchup here it'll be very fun very exciting and just because of that alone even if it's close. You could see the winner coming out. It is on ABC, so extra exposure. Like, it has all the

makings of jumping over Josh Emmett. But at the same time, I still kind of struggle to see them actually going through with it just because of the fact it seems hard to sell the potential Ortega rematch this quickly, again, depending on how this fight plays out. And then for Rodriguez, yes, he has a great fan base and you could get, you know, the Latin America on his side there to get them excited. They'll watch whatever supporting their guy in a title shot. But I don't know, it just seems out of place for logically and merit-wise, which doesn't usually matter to the UFC. But I don't know. It's a very odd situation here with the featherweight division. Now, as Volcanofsky continues to dominate and is teasing lightweight. And Dana even said he can do whatever he wants.

So who knows? Maybe Volcanowski does go up, fight Olivera in the meantime. And then we see the winner of this fight take on Emmett, which I wouldn't hate that actually because I think Volcanovsko Orlavera would be absolutely insane. Well, there you go. I don't think Jed loves that idea. I don't think Jed loves the idea

of Volk going up to 155 and fighting either of those guys, but we'll see. I'm fine to say if he just ditch featherweight and do it, man. Like, just do that. Like, you want to go, cool. Don't come back. I can give you the free shot,

but just you're there now. That's where you live. That's the world you live in. And this is not a Volk-specific thing. I've felt this way about every fighter in every division forever because it just just fosters everything up to hell when you're like, all right, cool, they can go do this thing unless like the only fighter,

and obviously that wouldn't happen that I think actually deserves it at this moment in time would be Israel Dissania. Because he has actively cleaned out his division. If you look at the UFC's rankings, look at our rankings, he's beaten like most of the dudes in the top 10 of that weight class. He's already also made the effort

and it failed. So you don't let him do it again because he tried it the one time. It didn't work. But like folks beating two guys in the top five. Beat more of them and then you can go do the two-way thing. Otherwise, just go. Just you go like, hey, I just want to go get that one. I'm like, cool.

Leave 145 on and Alan Josh Emmett. You two can fight it up for the vacant belt. Like, let's do that. That works for me. There you go. All right. Point for round four goes to It goes to Drake.

It is two to two. You know what that means. It is time for the knockout round question. One minute will be on the clock. One minute will be on the clock. And each individual will have a chance to answer a question. And once that minute is up, we'll go to the peeps. They will decide who they thought won the matchup in the poll.

That will be in there. And then E. Casey Lide will come on. and he will now once the winner of the matchup. So Drake, you are the champion. You have the prerogative. What do we want to do here? Do you want to go first, or do you want to pass on over to Jed Michu?

I'll pass it to the challenger, Mike. All right. So we have a little, it's the same question, but it'll be multiple sides here, Jedbushu. This is a question that was asked me on Instagram. So I thought I would present it here on BTL. So Jed, you can choose door number one. I assumed it was.

You could choose door number one or door number two. Number two. Door number two. So we were talking about the future of the 205 pound division. Oh, that's right. Uri Perashka, Uri Perashka has come out and said he's going to fight Glover to Shara for the title. That's what he wants. And I feel like the UFC is probably going to do that because, like we've said many times,

if you're going to do the Glover rematch, you have to do it now. otherwise it's just not going to happen. So apparently, I mean, there are multiple people who are eyeing this title, but there are two that are kind of at the top of the conversation right now. One, not surprising. The other, very surprising. So Jed, you chose door number two. You are the reigning, defending, undisputed,

welterweight champion of the world. You are Kamara Usman. You are going to take one minute and defend your statement that, you're ready to jump up to 205 and that you should be the next guy outside of Glover Tashira Yuri Phrashka to fight for the title. One minute on the clock, Mr. Usman, your time starts now. I mean, guys, did you see the photo? Did you see me and Jan? I know Jan's talking all this this nonsense about dropping to 185 and facing Israel disinia. I can't move up to 185. Three kings. I can't do it. I'm not going to come at my boy, though I would.

obviously kicked the shit out of my boy should i want to do that so you know what i'm hunting bigger game the biggest game the 205 pound yri per haska that wild man let me do that you saw the photo me and yon basically the same size in the words of mike goldberg virtually identical so i don't know why i can't go up and fight the 205 because i can't do the middleweight one and everybody else is doing you're gonna let volkinovsky do it i was pound for pound king way longer than volkinovsky is and we're suddenly going to let him move up in wait class? I can't do it. So if Izzy's going to hold tight to his and he has to

because he's fighting Pereira next and props, my boy's going to beat Pereira, I got a going up. It's cool. Glover's old. Yon's also old. No one gives a shit. Let me fight for Hashka.

Wow, there you go. Hans was probably better than he would have done. Yes, Jedbushman, getting it done. And she's a crime for the two of them. for the 205 pound title. But that, all right. So,

Drake, that means you are the other side of this coin. You are the man who holds not only a new haircut, but the man who holds the legendary Polish power and once held this title, the 205 pound title. Yombovich, who feels like the champion has dishonored the samurai code

by saying one thing. and then going out on social media doing the complete opposite. So why are you the guy that should be fighting next for the title, knock over to Chera or getting the winner of this fight? Why are you the guy more so than Jedmishman? One minute on the clock, your time starts now. Well, I mean, first of all, Yuri, man, what is going on here?

You told me that you would give me the title shot. We were having a very friendly conversation between two very scary European men. imagine just how big that this fight could be for our country. Now you go back on it, turning the samurai the code away? I mean, I thought this was what you were all about. Is it the noose that I carry to the octagon with me and gives me my power? Are you afraid of that? Along with the legendary Polish power, I mean, I've been so good recently.

I was a forward champion. What more do you need? I just beat a guy in Alexander Rockage without even touching him. I beat the guy. I didn't even have to hit him and he went down. That's how good I have been. And, you know, Glover Tashara, maybe he got a win over me, but it was a fluke. Think of what we could do for European M.A.

You are a liar, Yuri Prasca. And just because of that alone, we should settle things. We are no longer friends. You've been knocked out by King Moe before. Imagine what I would do to you, Yuri. I get why you don't want to fight, but this is the one to make. I mean, what a spirited battle. And it just so happens that as this is going down, a absolute monsoon.

And I mean, a scary storm has hit the storm has hit the. a low country. So we need to do this relatively quickly. So get your votes in. That's how it goes. Before I lose power. This is going to happen. It's frigging, it's always frigging Thursday. It's always between three and like four 15. You should have asked me before you moved down. I could have told you. I didn't think this would be like an every single day thing. Oh, it really is. What are you, Mike? Are you in Carolina anymore? No, I'm in South Carolina. I'm in South Carolina. I'm a low country here in South Carolina.

just getting absolutely monsoon upon. But little programming note, so much content on the podcast network, it's absolutely ridiculous. The ranking show, we have no bets barred. We have multiple episodes of heck of a morning. Dan, they were good.

The Donald Seroni episode is about to head on up. That was a very dead and AK myself. We'll have the way in show 8 a.m. tomorrow. And that's going to go from 8 to 10 Eastern. that will have a heck of a morning, that will have a preview show, Saturday, People's Pre-Fight Show, Post-Fite Show, on to the next one on Sunday, so forth and saw it.

So Casey, let's go to you. Let's get, let's figure out who won this damn thing. Is it, and still, Drake Riggs? Or once again, Jen Michoud. Look at how, I mean, just look at how well-dressed both of these guys are. I mean, this is, I can go full. top button you want to go want to go all the way buttoned up oh the better look wow i got i got to do new i've actually never buttoned the top button here so you got to go top button oh yeah all right

this is a golf shirt you certainly do not go top button everything okay uh looks like everyone has their votes in oh wow all right is that wait a minute is that is that is that a oh wow like just really close Or is this an, oh, wow, this is an absolute annihilation. I'm going to assume it's the latter. No spoilers, no spoilers. Call it a hunch. Okay. All right, all right, here we go.

Oh, boy, scary. Ooh. Today, with 55% of the votes. Oh. And still, Drake Wiggs. All right. Yeah, that was good, Jay. Listen, you're getting better and better.

Closing the gap. And like, yeah, six more title defenses. You might get this thing done. In like a real world where Drake doesn't, his mom doesn't have like 18 burner accounts. He was just spamming votes. Like the plus minus for Drake and the people he brings is like 12 points. So I actually won by a lot in like a regular poll. So I feel great.

Good battle. Well done. As Greg Jackson once said, get some fans, Jed. Come on. And for those of you who don't, and those of Drake's fans who donated $1.99 or whatever it costs to be a member, thank you very much. Drake, 30 seconds, my man. What would you like to say? Is your record improves to four and two?

Oh, man, it feels great to go to four and two, Mike. I mean, the wins keep racking up the title defenses. Let's just remember to stay positive, you guys, in this crazy world we live in. Be friendly to one another. Don't need to be mean all the time. And, you know what? I actually want to make a call out, Mike. and I think it would be a first.

I think it would be a very first time that we would see this person on BTL, at least as a competitor. So I want you, Mike, Heck. I want to take on the man himself for my next title defense. Can we make this happen? We could have Casey run the show

or Jed, somebody. Oh, bullshit. Bullshit, I'm hosting. Absolute nonsense. What do you think, Jed? You want to host? I'll absolutely I used to call out Casey all the time

when Casey was the Judge Jerry and executive producer and we never got to do it because you guys you just protected Casey because I maintain Casey's the only man who's ever defeated me in the show so I'll absolutely do

if you want to run that my only thing is at some point at some point are we going to get the Connor the Connor Jose fight like that's that's the one I'm trying man I don't.

Connor's, Connor said he's going to be really busy the next couple of weeks. So when he is available, we'll make that happen first, at the first opportunity. But if Drake, if Drake wants to take host Mike

out of this middle spot and over to the right spot and he turns into Boston Mike, if that's what Drake really wants, I will make that happen. And it won't be pretty. It won't be pretty. There will be yelling.

There will be changing, of accents probably multiple times. If you listen to the last few episodes a heck of a morning, Boston mic has been unleashed a couple of different times. You slip it out every once in a awesome. It's the most fun. It would be a monsoon in the whole show. Ooh.

I accept. I accept and I can't wait two weeks from right now. Let's go. To host this show with a belt on my shoulder, Drake Briggs. Let's go. You can hit the music, Casey. Hit the music.

I'm sweating. It's 114 degrees in here. Let's go. You're going down, Drake. You can bring all the millions you want. Because now you've got cousins and lots of them and they'll all be here donating their 199. You have Boston and Boston is everywhere.

That's true. We are everywhere. We're taking it over. They're just everywhere. I don't understand. That's it. But until that... Is that even less hair than I do?

Yes. He does. No. It's gone tomorrow. But for Drake Griggs, for Jevisu, I am Mike. We'll see you back here once again between the links. Good night, everybody. Love you guys.

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.