MMA Fighting - BTL | Paddy Pimblett Dominates, Volkanovski Featherweight GOAT? Plus, Full UFC 314 Fallout, More

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Paddy Pimblett battered, bloodied, and eventually stopped Michael Chandler in the co-main event of UFC 314 this past Saturday in #Miami, and now the ceiling appears to have been raised as to how high Pimblett can go in the UFC's best division. Can Pimblett find his way to UFC gold, and what's the next step to get him there? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel recaps Pimblett's outstanding performance against Chandler, his championship potential, and where "The Paddy" goes next. Additionally, topics include Alexander Volkanovski regaining the featherweight title against Diego Lopes in the main event, the featherweight GOAT discussion with this latest accomplishment, Jean Silva destroying Bryce Mitchell, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and José Youngs. Follow Mike Heck: @mikeheck_jr Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is Between the Links. And now your host, my... The iconic voice, Sylvester Lynn, welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. And what a Thursday it is. We're coming off of a damn good UFC 314 events.

We got a weekend off from the UFC, which is always good coming off of a very good event, like we just had in Miami. It gives us some time to digest the big moments. We have WrestleMania this weekend, good times, good vibes all around. And very happy to be back here on the program before we introduced the competitors. Wanted to shout out my son Grayson, who turns 12 today. So happy birthday to him.

He's just the best. Yes, the horn sound. We'll celebrate later on with the fan. But right now it's about BTL. so let us welcome in the combatants first, Mr. Doe Gray area, the hot take kid himself, the climber of all climbers from MMAfighting.com, Mr. Jedbissue. Hello, sir. There he is.

Are you doing, buddy? Good. Happy birthday, Grayson. What are you guys doing tonight? You got a cake going to the Charles Esther cheese of it all? What's the plan? Nah, he can't do chunky cheese anymore. It's too big for it.

I don't even know if Chuckie cheese still exists. It does. There's actually one in Savannah. So yeah. I know where it is in Savannah because I can't imagine it's moved. So it's been there for 40 years. They have like trampolines in Chuck Echise cheese now. It's just,

it's come a whole long way. But yeah, he's a little too, a little too big for the Chuckie Cheese land. But happy to welcome back to the program, a man who is in the building in Miami for UFC 314 this past Saturday night. He's MMA Fighting's Road Warrior. our social media hero, Mr. Jose Young's live from New York.

What's up, buddy? I've never been to Chuckie Cheese, but I bet. Seriously? I've never been to Chuckie Cheese, but I bet it's more fun than watching UFC fights next to the president of the United States. But you've like actually never, is that like not a thing in the north? No, there was there was one in, there was one in Rhode Island near CCR. I just never, I just literally never went. I don't know why.

None of my friends had birthday parties there. My parents never took us there. Nothing against it, but we had like Rhode Island at one point had like this. I assume they still do. They had this sick like skating rink, United Skates of America that also had laser tag. That also had arcade games. So you're going to go to a birthday party. And it was like half a mile away.

If you're going to go to that area for a birthday party, you're going to United Skates of America. Shout out. That is a terrific business name. We had a place called Roller World in the Boston area, which is very, very similar. Lots of birthday parties spent at Roller World. We had Star Castle. Star Castle, United States. Which may actually still just be there too, Mike.

United Skates of America, every, like, because Rhode Island is famously very small. Some say the smallest. And every school function or like every birthday from like eight, to 12 was there. And it was like, you can't miss it. We also, Mike, you're from New England. Do you ever go to Lasergate? Never went to Lasergate.

Our favorite, we had a Good Times Emporium, which was like just outside of Boston. That was freaking slap, man. What do you guys sell? Good times. And we have a surplus of it. There's a place that used to exist in Atlanta in the north suburbs that I would drive past every day when I went to work in the law office up there years ago.

That was called Tropical Paradise Good Times Emporium. And buddy, you can guess that it's not a laser tag spot. So as soon as you said, Good Times, I was like, ooh, different things going on here. Yeah, we didn't have any tribes. Topical lead-in to Good Time Emporiums. This is just like a smoky pool room, but it also had like arcade games and basketball and all sorts of fun stuff.

It's a good time emporium. Yeah, speaking of good times, I'm glad both of these guys are here because a little bit of breaking news. We've gotten a lot of messages about this. A lot of people have been asking for us to do something like this. And we were thinking about it for the Royal Rumble. It did not happen.

But this weekend, we're absolutely going to do it. We got the sign seal in delivery. we're going to do a WrestleMania watch party and not just for one night we're going to do it for two nights which is very, very cool, very laid back.

Jed is actually going to join me Saturday night for night one for the CM Punk, Roman Rain, Seth Rollins, main event card, and Jose is actually to join me for night two on Sunday

for Cody Rhodes versus John Cena and much more. And like I said, this is going to be very laid back, very chill, going to be a good time. So 7 p.m. Eastern,

on this here channel. We're gonna have a little bit of fun watching some professional wrestling, Jed. How are we feeling? One might even say it'll be a good time emporium for us. So I'm excited. I will ask incisive questions about whatever the hell is going on

because I don't know anything about what's going on. At this point I know like, I think I know enough professional wrestlers to like not be totally in the dark, but I don't know who's competing in the main event of the night I'm covering I don't know what's going on there. So we're going to have a time.

Yes, Jose, you're excited. Yeah, you might even see me eat pizza during it. And I haven't eaten pizza in a long time. So there you go. Yeah, they'll be. Why are you anti-pisa? Is that why you didn't go to Chuckie Cheese? Are you anti-pita?

No, the best pizza. You don't want rat pizza? The best pizza in all of America is on Federal Hill, Kisternas pizzas in Rhode Island. But when you're in New York, you kind of overloaded in pizza. It's like the first year I lived here. I ate my body weight in pizza. And then I was like, all right, let's not do this all the time.

So Jose made some pizza. And I'm sure some of the big winners on Saturday after UFC 314 ate some pizza or their favorite meal. That's right. Let's talk to UFC 314. What a lot happened. What a transition. Jose, let's bring you up on the screen because Jed and I were here in command center 4.0 watching UFC 314. you were in Miami at Kasea Center in the building.

How would you grade UFC 314 from that perspective? The crowd, the fights, the feeling in the arena, the storylines, all of it. Ooh, interesting. I'm going to preface this because I said this once before and people got very annoyed to me. I didn't get to go out and watch almost any of the fights in the arena because there were so many, like all the means. The fighters they brought back for media.

It was just like one after the other, after the other, after the other. So I was watching fights out at the corner of my eye. I only got to go out for the very first fight of the night. It felt there was clearly excitement because like every time I showed up for the press conferences and stuff that there were fans lined up. It was not as how would I phrase this the buzz in the air for the press conferences and the wayans and the fights was not as as palpable as the last two. The first one was obviously Israel-Issarine, Alex Pereira. That was the first time they had gone back to Miami in like 20-something years.

So that was a big deal. Israel is a huge, huge star. And then the next time they went back was the Sugar Sean show. And then they had Cheeto Vera. Obviously, Miami is very Latin-based. So he was a massive superstar. And that, to this day, is one of the loudest press conferences I have ever been to. You obviously also had Dustin Pori on that card and a few other big names.

but in terms of the hype I feel like this was a really big card for die hard MMA fans there was not a lot of crossover appeal a lot of the conversations throughout the week like when fans I would run into

I would be going to media stuff fans would see me and they'd be like none of them asked me about the main event it was all Chandler Patty and then do you think Bryce Mitchell is going to be John Silva no one asked me about Pitbull no one asked me about Yair no one asked me about Dominion Nick Reyes. No one asked me about

Danny, Gay, Sean Woodson. Like, these are very elite fights. No one's asking me about it. It was Patty Chandler and then is, not even is John Silva going to win? It's is Bryce Mitchell going to lose. So the biggest pop of the night was very clearly the President

of the United States. Take that for what you will, but it just the air was not the same. Like the hype surrounding the fights was not the same as the last two. Still good crowd just not nearly the level of the last two Miami events. Jed, what say you?

Because Jose makes an interesting point because the hardcore fans, we got our card, right? We got good fights. We were very high on this event. But the fans at the UFC is 100% catering towards, which is the casual audience. They got what they wanted to. They got John Silva, Bryce Mitchell.

They got Patty Pimblez big moment. It was almost like, everybody got what they wanted here. We got a good night of fights. We got storylines. We had meaningful things happen when we have been just, that's all we've been asking for for the last several weeks when we haven't been getting it.

And the UFC got to promoted events that catered to the audience they are trying to get. And it was very successful in that end. So after having some time to reflect on UFC 314, what do you grade it overall? I mean, it's an A minus B plus, right? Like it did as well as that card. probably could have done, right? Like maybe, maybe if you're like really nitpicking, you could say, ah,

they could have, they could have, you know, tucked the elbow a little bit tighter on that spin or stuck the landing just a little bit more. But this was the card we wanted, right? We wanted them to put some time, put some effort into a real fight card. And then all of those fights delivered. Really, the only fight that sort of was a letdown was the Yeya-Radriguez-Petpoil fight. And that's, I think there are some reasons that was probably a letdown. and it is what it is there.

But the rest of the event, that was a little bit of a down spot, particularly when we were watching live. Everything else was money, right? Like John Silva did the damn thing. Dom Reyes came back, you know, to establish himself as a legitimate 205er again. We got that fun story going in.

The co-main event, Patty Pimlet, looked as good as he ever has. Not good enough to be in the top 15 at lightweight, according to some producers in this sport, but a very, very talented young man arrived. And then in the main event, Alexander Volcanovsky, you know, did a thing that nobody has ever done. And we could clibble with it.

We could say, well, he didn't really win the belt back. But like he made history. And that is, and he did so in classic vintage Volcanovsky fashion. Like, so it was top to bottom. This card was everything we wanted it to be. It delivered on basically all fronts. And so, I mean, this is an A, right? Like, this is just as clear of an A.

This is the standard we wish the U.S. of C would uphold time in and time out. And they have it. You know, that's just the truth. But this just is a reminder that when they do try, when they care, when they put forth real effort, they can deliver great nights like Saturday. Because Saturday was a damn fine night. The big story, as you mentioned, is Patty Pimble, Jed, even though he's not as good as Alexander Shobli in some people's minds. And we're going to obviously get to Alexander Volkovsky when he accomplished on Saturday in round two.

But as we imagine, Patty just delivered on Saturday, Jed. He just, he didn't just beat Michael Chandler. He beat the soul out of that man. He ran Michael Chandler over, left him bloody and battered before a mercy stoppage by the referee. This is everything he needed to do, man. And we've had some memorable moments in the Octagon, Jed, some performances that we've talked about for a week, a couple weeks after. Is what Patty did on Saturday the most memorable thing that has happened in a fight in 2025 thus far, Jed.

Hmm. That's a fun way to phrase it. I'm going to go with no, but mainly just because I think the actual answer is John Silva. Like to me, that feels more memorable just because of all the hype that was built into it. And my genuine concern that he might lose that fight, and instead he just,

like I was really confident, Patty was going to beat Michael Chandler. Maybe not to that extent, but I was very confident in him. I was very concerned that John Silva was about to lose, and instead he just delivered a pillar to post ass beating and a gnarly finish, like one of the better submission finishes of the year thus far. So I'll go with no, just because I think John Silva beat him on this event.

But I'm open to the idea because like just looking down the board, what other like big finishes are there this year that are just like stand out unbelievable? I mean, I guess you could make the case that Makachev absolutely destroying Moikano, like, given the circumstances, is pretty memorable. But other than that, there's not like a ton. So it's right up there, certainly. Yeah, like the only other big finish that came to mind that was maybe Yuri, Jamal Hill, because that fight was great.

And it was just like a big moment for Yuri and everything that went into that fight. Obviously, Mauritio Ruffi's knockout win was awesome. too, but like it didn't get, it just didn't get the shine it deserved in the aftermath, I guess. We didn't talk about it for weeks afterwards. This one, I feel like we're going to, Jose. Where does this rank so far? And most memorable, talked about moments of 2025, what Patty did. Plus, you get to look at it through different lenses.

One, you were there and two, you're our social media guys. So you see what's sort of trending right now when it comes to this stuff. In terms of conversations, the most memorable things that have happened socially are in no order. a start from no particular order was Israel had a sign to getting knocked out by Imavov. That was pretty big. Paul Hughes fighting Uzminder Magamemadam had up to

a very competitive decision in the PFL. Probably Yeri knockout over Jamal and then probably this one. And then I would kind of lump John Silva because what he did in Seattle was also very, very

started a lot of conversations so I would just kind of lump John Silva. And then honestly, in terms of, it's not a surprise to anyone that watches M.A. But by far, like light years, there's like, like, we have to remove it from the equation because it would skew the numbers. The bell curve would skew way too to the right in terms of social conversation was Magamette Ankalov beating Alex Pereira in the way he did was not exciting. But it, my God, people are still talking about it on our social channels. That is by far. That fight week has generated more conversation from beginning and end than any other fight we've had this year.

And it's because Ankelyev won and the reaction. And I think it's more they're angry that he won because they're Pereira fans and the way he won. So yeah, I would say like those five or six, but this is very clearly in the top five. Maybe top two. Ankelyev and Patty probably generated the most conversation for sure, though. Jose, Patty's in a big time spot right now. There's nothing off limits. There's nothing that would be shocking right now.

You could book him against Charles Oliva or Ilya or even throw him in a title fight. You could throw him in there with Colby Covington if you want, even though it seems like there is zero interest in that idea, despite the backstage quote unquote dust up between those two guys. So if you had the mighty pencil right now, how are you booking Patty after this win? Hmm. In this world, in this world, Is Islam staying a lightweight or is he going to welterweight?

This is your world. You can mold this world however you see fit. I would do... I would do Patty. I wouldn't hate Patty and Charles at all. I really like that fight a lot because Charles is one of the most exciting fighters in the world and he very clearly going to be favored against Patty,

but Patty, what he did to Mike, Michael Chandler, Charles Alvair couldn't do and Mattes of the score gone I selfishly just want to see that fight but I'm trying to think of what fight makes sense Habib made a very good case for Islam just making the arm and fight again Ilya came out on the Joe Rogan podcast

saying that he's more interested in a fight with Patty than anything else if these fights makes sense I would probably do Ilya versus Islam probably Patty versus Charles and Armand versus Gatchie I don't know who hooker fights

he's kind of the odd man out right now he's also healing so I think those three fights I'm trying to make a sense because selfishly I want to see Patty and Charles so I'm going to work that way new but that's my three lightweight fights I wouldn't make Jed where you at what's the fight what's the move like I know you can predict

where you think the UFC might go with this and then there's a place you would like to see as a fan, right? But if you were the advisor of one Patrick Pimbled, and he called you instead, Jed, you're the director of fun here in MMA, and I trust your judgment. I want you to, the minister of fun,

guide me. The vice roy of fear. Yes, guide me in the direction I need to be guided in. What are you telling Patty to shoot for if he called you and said, advise me, sir? because like I said, nothing's off limits here. I think he has a shot

at pretty much everything at this point. I think Patty should shoot for Charles Olivera. To me, that is the fight that he should attempt to get. It's also a fight I'm like pretty interested in now after Saturday because Paddy's has just consistently looked better and as good as Charles Oliver is, both historically and even still currently,

he's got a lot of miles on him. Like he is probably the most beatable of the names that are available to Patty at this point in time just because like he's slowing down a little bit. Charles is still extremely good, but he's definitely, I think he's definitely not at his prime anymore. And so you beat Charles, you get a title fight. If I'm in Patty's corner, that's the fight I'm saying this is the one we should be pushing for. Charles is really, I think, misplaying his hand and trying to hold out for a title fight that just doesn't seem like it's going to come for him. and so he's going to have to fight somebody

and if I'm Charles, okay, fighting Patty also seems like the best outcome for me since I'm not going to get that title fight. We're going to get back with Armand, probably not like great for him. I doubt Ilya actually does fight him.

So I think that fight would make sense. If I were in charge, I would do, uh, and I like, I think like the best way to do it is actually probably not what I would do. The best way to do it is Ilya and Armand fight. And then Patty and Charles fight.

and, you know, Lockageev hangs around and waits, but we'll see. I think we are going to end up getting Patty versus Charles. I think that that probably will happen. I think Ilya... In Abu Dhabi. Yeah, sounds reasonable, honestly.

I think Ilya should not get a title fight, but the public is really pushing forward at this point, so that seems very possible. So unless Islam moves up, unless Jack Della beats Bala and Islam moves up, in which case, if that's the case, Ilya versus Patty for the interim lightweight belt, book it, we're done, don't have to talk about it again. That's the fight to make for sure. But I don't think that's going to happen. So I think Patty versus Charles is what will happen and probably what should happen, even if I personally think now is the time to just do Patty versus Ilia. why not?

It's just such a big fight right now. And who would have thunk it? Like after UFC 282 and Patty's getting ready to fight Jared Gordon and him and Ilya are getting after it on stage. And then that moment in the hotel lobby in London, like we all were like, if this fight happens, Iliad just kills this man. This is not even a competitive fight. And now all these years later and all these performances later, we start to look at

Patty in a little bit of a different light. So I know he hasn't sold over everybody. Trust me, I've looked at some of the comments on some of the thoughts we've had, especially on the ranking show. Not everybody sold on Patty, but I'm sold right now. And I was one of those early detractors, that's for sure. But we'll see where Patty goes. We'll see where this division goes.

Let's talk about the UFC featherweight division and what Alexander Volcanowski accomplished on Saturday in the main event. Point for round one goes to Jose Young's back. at it back on the board. Well done. All right. Let's get into the way UFC 314 ended. Alexander Volcanovsky.

Once again, the UFC featherweight champion of the world defies all the statistics. Fighters over 35, 155 and below don't win title fights. Volcanovsky was able to do that. Fighters who've been knocked down back-to-back fights don't win title fights. Alexander Volcanowski got that done. Defeats Diego Lopez. I thought 49-46 was the first. way to go. I know Jed scored it 5045, 48, 47s. I mean, either way, there's just no world where

you could score that fight for Diego Lopez. So Volcanovsky goes in there, survives a knockdown in round two, gets back up, gets the job done. So Jed will begin with you here in round number two. Biggest takeaway from Volkanovsky's statistic, excuse me, defying win over Diego Lopez in Miami. biggest takeaway I have unpopular takeaways that I don't think I want to voice because it's just a problem the biggest takeaway is I will go with the easier one

so we don't have to get bogged down in this fight right now Alexander Volcanovsky is one of the ten best fighters have ever lived that's a take I had prior to this fight after the fight the take is confirmed because like one of the things and I've mentioned this many times before on air

one of the things that really separates like all-time grates is their longevity, their ability to succeed past their prime because a lot of fighters can have, you know, be flashing the pan isn't the right word, but they can have these monumental rises

and then sort of peter out and never kind of get back there. I think everybody should be on the same page that Volcanovsky is no longer his best form. Like that's just how time works. And despite

that, he came in and pitched a nearly flawless performance against a dangerous top five guy. I think we could cripple. I think we can pick Knits. I think that Diego Lopez is a flawed challenger in some ways. But the big point is not any of that. The big point is that Volk doesn't have his fastball anymore and he is still out there pitching shutouts with his off-speed game. And that is a testament to his ability and that is really a, a clear clear sign of his greatness because Anderson Silva, you know, John Jones, George St. Pierre, Jose Aldo, these are guys who have done that for years after their best. They are still getting out there and getting significant wins. And we never know how a fighter is going to age. I think

Volk is clearly in that back nine part and he has got a big significant win. So credit to Alexander Volkinovsky because it was pretty damn cool. What's say you, Jose? I know. there's a lot going on in Miami. A lot of fights, a lot of action backstage. Biggest takeaway from what Volcanovsky accomplished on Saturday. Oh, man, that... I agree with everything Jed said. I've also said for a long time, the biggest skill,

like the most underrated skills that people don't talk about. Like, everyone talks about IQ and grappling and striking and cardio and all that stuff. But I always... I think what separates like that upper echelon group of fighters that will fight for the title or, as Jed said, be one of the 10 greatest fighters of all. time is your ability to fight through pain and chaos because you can just keep pitching perfect games.

But the second that someone throws a wrench into your plans, how do you overcome that? John Jones is the master of that, same as George St. Pierre, famously got headkicked by GSP. Anderson Silva's fought through all kinds of things. I feel like the only guys that we never really saw that from in the UFC were Habib and then really DJ when he was in Flyway, Demetius Johnson. They just continuously just dominated everyone. and that's another level of dominance

that Volcanowski's not done that. He's had even the fights that he wins, they're worse. Like the Yair fight was a tough fight. The Korean zombie fight was a tough fight. He's not going out there and just mauling dudes like 50-43. He knows he's been in a fight after all of his performances and he turns around and gets back in there. But man, when he got, was it the second round he got dropped by that right?

I can't even remember yet. That was unbelievable. I didn't think Diego was going to knock him out, but when he went up and then popped back up and then continued fighting, man, that was impressive. And then do the same thing in like the fourth round, I think he got clipped real bad with that cut and couldn't see and then circled around and then came back on the fifth and just kept fighting. We know Volk can do this. We saw this when he fought when he was famously in that guillotine against Brian Ortega. And then he's had all those that in just one of the greatest fights you will ever see in Perth, Australia. we know he can do it but that doesn't last forever so the fact that he broke all of these records

especially age-wise and he's still able to do that against a guy that like i interviewed danigate and he said Diego's power deagle opens his power is just different like he's fought the heaviest hitters at featherweight but Diego tries to punch through you he's not he doesn't have that snap he's trying to like punch the wall behind you your head just happens to be in away and volk said himself like he has stitches in his mouth he can't eat so man vulcanowski is just so good he's so good he is i'm still a josialdo truth there i think jos a alzo's greatest fritherto way of all time vulcanowski would agree max holloway would agree but now i'm not going to argue if you want to say vulcanowski is the greatest because that was so impressive what he did

i'm glad you brought this up and jed i know you love this conversation because this is all so subjective the goat in pound for pound talk. It's usually all silly and dumb. This is a different kind of a case in my opinion because this has just become this big debate at 145. And I, at one point I looked at this debate and I was like, you guys are all ridiculous for even suggesting this.

Like people are saying Israel Adasania is the greatest middleweight of all time considering Anderson Silva's there. People were saying Kamar Usman is one title defense away from catching George St. Pierre for being the greatest wealth weight of all the time, which is ridiculous. Like those are just asinine and make no sense. This is Alexander Volcanovsky and Jose Aldo. This is a very close race in most people's eyes.

And in my opinion, after reflection, Volk is either neck and neck with Aldo or he is a win over Mavsar of Loyav away from being neck and neck with Jose Aldo. Maybe even surpassing Jose Aldo if he wins that fight. So, Jose, in your eyes, what does Volcanowski have to do in order for this to no longer? longer be a conversation, no longer be a debate. Look, Joseo Alto, what he accomplished? Unbelievable. All time great, but Volcanovsky's just better. He's just accomplished more.

If he goes 2 and O this year like he wants to, I'm comfortable calling him the greatest featherweight of all time. I think he would pass the title defense record too, if that, if not passed it like he's right there. I think if he hands Movzar, his first loss and then either beats Yair or beats John Silva or a guy like Pico, that. that has this hype around him and he cleans out basically cleans out the division a second time i don't think we're talking about just valk being the greatest featherweight of all time

you have to start having that conversation of is he in the top 10 top five greatest fighters ever is he on the mount rushmore of the ufc is he on the mount rushmore of mama because there's nothing left like if he retired right now there's nothing left for him to prove if he goes to no i'm i'm I'm saying he's the greatest featherweight of all time, for sure. Jed, where are you out at this? Because I know this is one that's going to be tough for Volk to really move the goalposts for you. I mean, you revere Jose Aldo in such a way. And I understand that.

I do want to say, Jose Aldo is one of my three, four favorite fighters on planet Earth. Right. Volk is so good at fist fighting. Yeah. I honestly think the gap is way closer than I thought it was on Saturday. The more that I've thought about it. I still have Aldo there, but like Jose said, if you want to at least make an argument for Volk, like I will listen to you now and I will not call you a fool.

Jed, you may not be the same, but what does Volk need to do? Does he just, is this all about the title defense numbers at this point? This is all about the statistics. He's got to get to double digits in order for this conversation to change for you. We can have the conversation if he gets two more title defenses. So we're clear if he does get two more title defenses. the conversation will still end with Jose being the goat. But we can start having the conversation.

But I don't make the rules. Like, Jose has nine title defenses and Volk has five. If he gets to two more and he has seven, then the conversation can absolutely be had in earnest. And at that point, that is when I will proffer that, yeah, he does technically have seven, but also two of those came after. losing the belt to a duty never beat. And that's like, that's not his fault, but that is absolutely

part and parcel of this. I don't think there's a person on planet Earth who thinks that if the aliens came down and said, pick a 145 fighter to defend the honor of the planet, we're not putting an illiatorious ass in that ring to fight for us. Like it is that Volk can only do what he can do and what he has done has been exceptional, a top 10 fighter of all time. Jose Aldo has been critically underrated by everybody who became a fan when Connor McGregor rose. That's just like that is honestly the story here is that the people who became fans in 2016 and thereabouts and primarily know Jose Aldo as the guy who got got by

Connor did not see the nine title defenses that predated that and don't give credit to like this doesn't count to his featherweight greatness obviously but what he's doing at Bantamweight is categorically fucking insane. Like, you have to imagine that in like six years, Volcanovsky drops down to Bantamweight and is still like a top 15 fighter. That's like the parallel that's going on. That has nothing to do with the featherweight.

The featherweight falls to Joseo Aldo has nine title defenses. And people try to rip like his opposition. And it's basically like he beat Mark Harmonic. It's like the one thing. People like, that's a garbage win or whatever. because the rest of them are hitters. And like, you don't have to listen to me. Listen to any, like, all of the smartest people in this space are all on board with this.

We're all like, yeah, we just watch Jose Aldo fight and we understand what happened. And because he started so young, youngest champion of all time, like his career peak came a little bit earlier. If he gets two more, I'm happy to put it, we can have a conversation about it. But five to nine, man, the measure of greatness is beating the best dudes in the world. And that's it. The best guys in the worlds are the dudes who are fighting for the belt. Five to nine rings matter. He needs two more to enter the conversation.

And part of me, frankly, thinks it's a little weird that we're all like a number of people. We're just like, oh, he beat Diego Lopez. That's the greatest featherweight of all time. when like that seems weird to me not that that's a great win an exceptional performance but like this is the thing that got him over the hump

Diego Lopez isn't even like the fourth best featherweight active it's just a top five win which is great but it's not beating Movsar like I would feel better about it frankly if it was beating Movsar who is undeniably like the second

best featherweight on planet earth right now it's just it feels so much to me that people either just don't remember Joseo or they just really want to forget about him for whatever reason and anoint Volk because they like him because they love him. And we can anoint him. We can call him one of the 10 best fighters of all time.

And you can even say he is better than Josealdo that if the prime versus prime, those two guys locked horns, he is better. He is more technically skilled. I'm not sure I agree with you, but I am open to that conversation. but he has simply not accomplished what Jose Aldo has.

That is a matter of numbers, and he has not accomplished the same thing. Greatness is a matter of accomplishment, and he does not have it. It's not there. Two more and we can have the conversation. Love it. Last thing on this, Jed, was Bob Zare of Loy up the second biggest winner in the division on Saturday? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I think 100%. arguably the biggest winner in the division. I mean, I guess Volk gets to be the biggest winner because he gets a belt. But it seems like Movsar is next. So Volk, you know, to both of their credits, both Volk and Lopez said prior to that fight, prior to that fight they wanted to fight Mobsar, neither were like committed that this is what's going to happen. And Volk has since come out and said that like he wants to fight Movstar. He's not sure if the UFC wants that fight to happen.

But I think that that is what's going to happen. And this is where I will give Volk a ton of credit. And I gave Volk credit for most of his career about this because he deserves it. Volk has never shied away from the challenge. He's never been like, I don't want, no, no, no, let me fight, whatever. It's like, okay, I want to fight this dude. And I believe, paraphrasing slightly, look, like it's great for my legacy to be an undefeated guy like Mavsorev-Ev. Like that's the fight that should happen.

I believe that's probably, frankly, the fight that should have happened instead of Lopez, but neither here nor there. I think that's coming up. So 100%, I think he is the. second biggest winner of Saturday night as a whole. Jose, you had head nods. You made a little bit of a face there. How big of a winner was Bob Zara Bloyev on Saturday? Which is talking about featherweight division.

I mean, if they've stuck John Silva in a title fight right now, I don't think anyone would complain. Plus, John Silver beat the shit out of Bryce Mitchell and was probably the biggest superstar of the entire fight week. So biggest winner in general, even including Vulcanos, he might have been John Silva because he might even have Dana White at the best man of his wedding

and get some Brazilian pop star this thing for him. So I'll say John Silva might just be the biggest winner including Volk. Volk might be number two and then Mavzar can be number three. That's just, but I get what you guys are saying.

Yeah. It's just, John was so red hot heading in and the wind just made him a little more red hot. A loss for him would have been catastrophic. It was just like when you have someone that's red hot and you have a guy it's like you have a guy that people really gravitated towards because he's like he his fans are the same fans as yury they're just weird guys they're just really wacky dudes that you just can't stop watching and then they're fighting a guy that just i'm not say universally because there is a sect of the internet and a sex of planet earth that harbored the same views as him but brys mitchell was very clearly disliked in this fight. He got there was a F. Bryce Mitchell.

He got booed at the press crimes. I don't know if it came across through the stream. The booing came across the F. Bryce Mitchell didn't. Oh, that was a big old F. Bryce Mitchell during it. And then they switched when he did the little dog, weird dog comment. So when you have a dance partner that everyone hates and at the same time, everyone just loves you. And then you literally choke the man unconscious. And then you go on like a national tour of a country that you've,

never been to promoting like yeah i did this for your country you're probably the biggest winner yeah the hell of the night and coincidentally enough we're going to talk about how big of a night it was for john sylva in a matter of seconds but let us move on where we were i knew where we were going transitions for you what a guy the point for round two goes to passion cells jed Mishu one to one nicely done. Volcano's ball. He gets it. Thank you for whoever's outside beeping the horn.

But let's go back to John Silva. Yeah. Let's go back to John Silva Jose Youngs because, again, talk of the town. He was the self-recllaimed carrier of this card. Pretty much the entire build kept saying it was very confident, said some things. Some people called them cringe. But what matters most, Jose, is that, The man talked to shit and he backed it up in the octagon and got over big.

Just decimates Bryce Mitchell. This fight was competitive for maybe five seconds. And John just put it on him, man. He did everything you said he was going to do. Taped him. Bryce was like super unconscious, kind of uncomfortable, that overhead shot. You just see John barking over that man's unconscious body. Everything about this was so big.

So you sort of touched on what this week, this performance, all of it did for him. And it's happening real fast, man. Yeah. Can you compare this rise of a guy like this to anybody else that you've seen? In freaking Yuri, Yuri Prahaska. That's the guy.

Like, Jiri, like, kicks the door and beat Volcanozdemir, and then went out there and melted Dom Reyes. And then just after that, it's just like, all right, we want to see this guy in these crazy fights. And that seems to be Jean Silva. Like, Yuri got fast track the title because of his crazy fighting style and his crazy wackiness and I feel like that's going to be Jean Silva right there because

it doesn't speak English but man knockouts and submissions translates all you got to do is throw on those glasses and literally bark into a microphone and everyone pops like he is sports entertainment right there

doesn't need to cut a promo just chokes a man unconscious barks in front of his face and then does his strange cries to Bruce Buffer cries when the announcements are read and then begs Dana White to be the best man at his wedding. It's Yerry, man. I feel like he's, I'm not comparing their fighting styles,

but it just, this, this, it just reminds me as someone, see, someone outside agrees with me. They're honking their horn. When he, when Yerry knocked out Dom Reyes, that fight was just absolutely bananas. And it doesn't, no one really seems to care who John Silva fights. Like, yeah, the John Silva, Bryce Mitchell fight was without question, the most talks about fight of the entire.

Fight Week on YouTube, on social, and on site. I'm sure you guys had conversations about it, too. Anything John Silva did, printed views and printed clicks. There were a lot of featherweight fights, and John Silver was the superstar, but to compare him to someone, I mean, it's got to be eerie. He's just, he's, it's got to, in recent times to put, like, because I'm sure they're like, when zombie was on the up and up, that was also just crazy too, especially when he pulled off that twister and then had that crazy.

crazy fight against Porreier. And then just immediately thrown into a short-notice fight against Jose Al, though no one complained. So, yeah. Of recent memory, his fan base and the way he carries themselves. And they even pose the same. When they do their fight, like after media days and stuff, they take their portraits. Same pose and everything.

Just strange dude that happens to be an incredible fist fighter. Jed, as a founding member of the John Silva fan club, One, how proud of you? How proud were you on Saturday? And two, is Yuri the comparison? Because, I mean, when Yuri came in, most of UFC fans, it happened at a time where like the pandemic was happening. And yes, the fan base grew exponentially around that period of time.

But most people who were excited to see Yuri Perashka fight knew him from Risen. We knew this guy was coming. And it translated immediately. John, I feel like, has come a bit more out of nowhere. but he just shot up big time. So maybe Erie is an apt comparison. But what say you? Have you seen anything quite like John Silva?

Can you compare him to anybody? And how proud of John Silva were you on Saturday considering how much you have pushed this man? I mean, I'm very proud of him. He's my boy and he keeps doing the thing. It's a really good question. Like, Yeri's not a bad answer, like individually. But I don't think it's perfect.

And I'm trying to think of one it is because the other part of it that is so like a part and parcel of this is that it's not just john silver he is part of a whole like he is part of the fighting nerds camp him and colo's protest are really run in point despite kaila also being a fighting nerds dude it's like the two of them have really put put this place into the spotlight with braoio and huffy and stuff there as well and so like there is part of that where yri was just yeri yri didn't have like a a running partner making the same like blast up to the top of the charts like Carlos protestants.

So it's a little bit unique in that fashion. And it's awesome. Like the whole fighting nerds thing is sick. We did a list of the ranking show. We did a whole breakdown of who like basically ordering who we think in the fighting nerds has the best chance to win a title at some point. So make sure you go check that out. And I maintain and still do that it was Jean Silva because I think,

featherweight is much more open right like there are he's going to be like i don't even know what's what's he ranked now let me pull up the old ufc rankings and see john sova's ranked number 11 in the ufc rankings but that's including max holloway who's not a featherweight and ilia tipporia ranked above him it's incredibly funny that ilia tipporia is now ranked number three in the ufc's featherweight rankings that is absolutely hysterical uh that they went ahead and did that but so like he's functionally ranked number four in the UFC's featherweight rankings. And he easily, easily has the most juice right now.

Like before Saturday, Diego Lopez was the guy, right? And honestly, maybe Diego Lopez is the comp of like just sort of burst in the scene, very exciting, people sort of fell in love with them. John Silva is not the same, but he's in that same kind of position now where he's one win away from a title fight.

And it wouldn't even be the craziest thing like in this modern day. It wouldn't be just. I'm not saying this would be deserved, but it wouldn't be the most insane thing in modern UFC history for them to be like, actually, Volcanovsky's going to fight Jean Silva next because we hate Mavsar Avilev.

Like that is a thing that possibly could happen. It shouldn't, but it could. And it's awesome. Look, I think he is definitely borderline cringe at a lot of points, but his in-cage performances, when he's not slapping hands with his opponents, are electric and we saw that on Saturday.

There's a reason I was so high on him coming off Contender Series and the reason I'm still so high on him as a potential title challenger in the future. I'll throw this question at you, Jed, because I think it is a fair question to ask at this point because this fight was promoted and came together in a way that you were not a big, huge fan of. Bryce Mitchell's saying the things that he said, Dana White calling him out on it, calling him an idiot, but then saying, hey, no repercussions.

he is, you just get to pay money to watch this man get his ass kicked in an octagon. Like that's his punishment and that's good for you fans. That's the beauty of this sport. And this fight did build up excitement. Dana was sort of right with the fan base they were trying to get. People who don't watch fights but want real life drama, I guess, and that's what they got here. So my question to you, because I mentioned heading in that the loser of this fight is going to have a rough short time. But this is MMA and people bounce back from crazy shit all the time.

So my question is this, can Bryce Mitchell bounce back from this? From this build, the last several months, everything about this, the way he lost this fight, not being competitive really at all, can he bounce back from this? No. I mean, he shouldn't be in the UFC. But one, Bryce is probably like no longer at the peak of his powers anyway. the division's getting better. He is still a good solid fighter.

I would never take that away from him. But he's always been a bit limited, right? Like he just doesn't, like he has an annoying striking game if you're fighting him, but it's not really a dangerous one. It's all to set up is grappling. The sport is progressing. He's getting older. I think that he's sort of naturally going to phase out anyway.

But also, you know, the UFC got one promotional thing out of Bryceman. Mitchell getting his ass beat. I just don't know how much leeway there is to that. And especially if he comes back and beats somebody, then okay, maybe he can go. But I just in general also feel like this is probably not going to coincide with a good run from him. He's got a lot of distractions outside of the world of fighting, which is never good. And the one win was Crone Gracie, who nobody even pretends to believe is like a UFC caliber fighter. So he could be in store for a pretty rough descent here.

Yeah, it's amazing how you were talking about Bryce heading into UFC 310. This was the fight, the flat earth bowl, as you called it, between Bryce Mitchell and Chrome Gracie. And that's what happened. But again, Jose, you were there. You heard the booze. You heard the chance. You saw it all unfold. Can Bryce Mitchell bounce back from what happened in the build and in the fight from your

UFC 314. Bounce back in the sense that he'll definitely keep fighting in the UFC. And as much as an awful, awful person, just as much of the heinous thing that he says is a very good fighter. Does he belong in the UFC? Don't particularly want to see him in the UFC. But if he must stay, he's going to be guys in the top 15. That's just a matter of fact. Yeah, the Chrome Gracie fight is what it is.

But like the dude beat up, Edson Barbosa, the dude beat up Danny. like he has names on his resume and I feel like they're just going to give him these monsters and they're just going to use him as a way to build other stars if that makes sense because everyone is going to want to tune in to watch to see bryce Mitchell lose like uh there were a lot of people there that were booing Bryce Mitchell even in Florida which caught me off guard uh a lot of them made videos about it a lot of them are getting hate one of my friends that works at another site is getting a whole bunch of hated by it from just the dregs of society so um unfortunately bryce mitchell has that sect covered he will be have fans for

the rest of his life and people are going to want to see him win and people are going to want to see lose and if the ufc wants to keep it around you got to give him fighters that they can you know build off of if that makes sense last thing on more of i guess a positive note uh jose who was the low key MVP of ufc 314 i mean it's hard not to say Dom Re is getting three in a row and just knocking a fool out in a main event of a pay-per-view. That was pretty cool. Who's the cat that had a really excellent fight against Trashon Gore? Tullio.

Tullio. That fight was really fun. And that guy is very well-spoken. He was there with Norman Dumont and his media day. I'm sure no one watched it because it was like the second and third fight of the night. That fight was a lot. that fight was a lot of fun that fight was just sloppy nonsense

and he won but the dude got someone tried to rob him in South Paulo by punching his window in and then saw I was Norman Dumont and Marco Tullio in the backseat and they're like this is a bad idea and then gets to Miami it gets in a car crash

and then goes out there has a very fun fight a very exciting fight sloppy nonsense that I really enjoyed I think he's what 1 and 0 2 and 0 or something like that calls out Marvin Vittory not going to happen but shoot your shot at least he had a

name. And then what does he use his media day for? To make a case for his girlfriend, Norman Dumont, to fight the winner of Kayla, Amanda Giuliana trilogy. So good on you, young man. You used your time wisely. Made the girlfriend happy, called out a popular fighter or, you know, Marming Torres is a known fighter, and then fought through adversity. So if we're talking low-key MVP, it's got to be Marco Tullio. Where are you at, Chad? Who's the low-key MVP? First, I want to shout out Dan Ige who that was dope and he's pretty cool guy.

So always shout out, always loved to Dan Igay. Dan Igay, by the way, I was thinking about this because of somebody, some people tweeting some stuff earlier this week. Dan Igay is like literally the exact fighter who in 20 years, people will be like, see, Diego Lopez didn't beat anybody. Dan Igay sucks or whatever. He's like the exact fight. He's like, Ricardo Llamas is treas. Josie Alder beat a bunch of bombs. Like actually, I don't know, man.

I watched Dan Hague fights. Good. It's really, really good fighting. So shout out to Dan Higay, but I think the low-key hero of the card is, I think it has to be Chase Hooper. Like, Chase Hooper was a gimmick when he came. Like, he was 18-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. The gimmick first. And wasn't even good.

Like, when he came to the UFC was like, oh, this guy's not, he might not ever be good. Like, he looked bad at points in his. his UFC career. And then he comes out and Jim Miller, who is still like a top 35-ish lightweight, he had the run of play and was doing some dope shit to him too. Like he kept putting Jim Miller in the truck, like threatening twisters and just real wild shit

against like a high level black belt in Jim Miller. Chase Hooper, since coming up to lightweight has been lights out. He is still so young. Like a couple of years ago, if you're like Chase Hooper is going to be a top, 15 lightway to be like he's gonna get way better I guess and I'm like oh I could see it I could absolutely see the like the progression the path of development he's on you know

nothing but respect for the beloved Jim Miller and then comes out and is even like hey man I'd like to not fight only old dudes that'd be kind of cool like 10 out of 10 weekend from Chase Hooper big shouts to him yeah it's funny one of the more popular Otno picks were Chase Hooper versus Michael Chandler after what transpired a UFC 314. Oh, plus the gooner thing. Shout out to Serge Green in the chat,

who's like, which I've now learned what gooning is on a meeting this week about it. But like, big weekend for Chase Hooper. Do you think, because we had this conversation in the meeting room right after, if Chase Hooper beat Patty Pimblett, would that be shocking?

No. Yeah, Chase Hooper's really good. surprising, but not like, I think of being super. Shea super, it seems is this seems to be so good at grappling. Like the second you lock up, like that seems like a bad place to be,

no matter if you're standing around the ground. I would obviously favor Patty, and I would assume Patty would win, but that would be a really interesting fight. Like, or like Chey versus Ignacio Bahamundes or Rufi, like tall, lanky guys too. Those are really,

really fun fights. Yeah. I think Patty would just kind of like toss him around a little bit, but still his technique is just so impressive. But like the backlings would be real fun. Don't watch anything about fighting starring Chase Hooper because you can watch me just perpetually feel older

and older and older at every sentence he says. It was like there was a UFC, like there's this UFC PR person named Hunter who like escorted chase into the meeting room. And then he said, I asked Chase Super, what his favorite Star Wars was, and he said,

of the originals, probably, or his least favorite, and he goes, of the original Star Wars, probably Phantom Menace, and they just hear of Hunter just go, oh my God,

like in the background. Oh, man. Also, that being his take is wild. Yeah. Like, setting aside the old man part, Phantom Menace is like the worst Star Wars.

That's what he said. He goes, what's your least favorite? You said, Fantasian. Oh, least favorite. Oh, okay.

Well, you know what he said his, He said his favorite was the Clone Wars television show, which was after my time, too. Oh, Star Wars people love the Clone Wars TV show. I never watched it. This is after me with you, but they all swear by it. So that sounds appropriate. I asked him what his favorite, what's the first CD he ever bought?

And he goes, it's probably the last CD I ever bought because, again, he was after CDs. And he said, the Halo 3 soundtrack. And I was like, what a sense. What a sentence that is. Wow. What a freaking legend. Man, I'd love to, we should do like a Chase Hooper versus Grant Dawson BTL because they would get real nerdy up in here and I'm here for it.

Let me, let me moderate that one. You guys can take a day off. I would love that. Bizarro links to the nines. Yes, to absolutely would watch that. All right,

let's move on. Let's hit some lightning news and notes. Point for round. three goes to stealing it with some on-site insight, Jose Young's, two to one, nice and done. All right, let's get to some news and notes, some lightning round stuff. Jed, let's begin with you. One of the bigger moments that happened this past week in Miami took place at the UFC 316 press conference and it had nothing to do. I mean, well, I guess somewhat to do, but the biggest moment had to do with somebody who was not even competing at UFC 316. Amanda Nunes says she

is coming back and she essentially has teased and pretty much confirmed she's going to fight the winner of juliana pania versus kela harrison which happens on that june card june 7th in newark new york new jersey how big of a move is this jemishu and how much does this help a division that boy really needs a boost does it not i mean it it desperately needs the boost and it certainly helps problem is it could hurt the division in like a really substantive way as well shout out to Amanda got inducted or like got declared as inducted this weekend too right I didn't make that up okay making sure I wasn't conflating all the Amanda stuff so shout out to her for that one of the most obvious inclusions that could ever be the 2025 class shaping up

quite nicely for the Hall of Fame Amanda Nunes coming back is obviously great business for one event whoever is it is, whether it's the Pena trilogy or whether it's Kayla Harrison, that will be a big fight, right? That will be a great pay-per-view. We will all be very excited about it. And what comes after, Mike? What is next after that? Because either outcome is not great. One outcome is obviously much worse. If Amanda wins, is she really going to stick around? At that point, what does she have to do? Like, what is there for her to do? So no, like, if she wins, she wins the belt in a one-off and goes back to retirement and then Kayla Harrison and Julianna Pena rematch for the vacant title.

And that just feels like we spun our wheels to no real gain and to the actual detriment of the weight class overall. If she loses, that's great for the promotion, right? Either Julianna Pena has now won the trilogy and is the unquestioned best bantamweight on earth, etc., etc. Or Kayla Harrison has beaten Amanda Nunes. She is also the unquestioned best bannamweight on earth. and she can carry the division forward so far as it can be forward, be carried.

But where does it go? There are no reinforcements coming. That is still the fundamental issue. There is no help on the horizon for this weight class. And like this is like, again, I'm interested in the matchup. It's good largely. This is like peak Bellator matchmaking where it's, this is the only thing we got. And we just got to hope that in eight months after this is resolved,

something new will have occurred because they are not building new stars to come through really any of the women's weight classes but certainly women's bandom weight is dire and so it is a reprieve but that is all that it is and it could even be pretty negative if manorunes wins the belt Jose would say you the new hall of famer about to come back yeah it's basically everything jett said was our first instant like it's always cool to see the best of what they do to compete but the big the money fight is Kayla I think a lot of people are going to be picking her to beat Juliana probably pretty handedly

and then the trilogy fight sells itself that's probably the second biggest fight you can make but after that like what are you going to like a René Aldonner like what are you going to give her Norma Dumont like that's a good fight as a fight it's not a headliner and Amanda's already beaten all the champions

all the former champions the featherweight division doesn't exist obviously people would want to see the Valentina trilogy, but seems to be Wei Lee is going to go up to fight Valentina if Valentina gets through Manon in Montreal. And honestly, Valentina versus

Wei Lee is vastly more interesting to me than Valentina versus Amanda three. So I don't really have much else to add. It's just I want to, I'm happy Amanda's coming back. I never really believe she retired the first time. I just think she was a little burnt out and just from being hyper-competitive and had

cleaned out the division, had another kid with Nina, and now She wants to come back and do the thing. And I'd probably favor her over both Kayla and Julianne, if I'm being, if I'm being honest. I probably would have favored Kayla. And then I saw the fight against Kelun Vieira, and that fight was very difficult. Not difficult, like Kayla won, but that was not the dominant Kayla we thought. Obviously, she lost to Larissa Pacheco, so the blueprint is out there.

And I think Amanda Nunes' IQ is just second to none in the women's division. I would favor Amanda over both of them, especially with the time off of not having to cut all that weight. but yeah exciting for one fight and then after that she's going to retire and then where does Kayla and Juliana go from there like if Kayla wins because it's honestly for all three women like if Kayla wins and then beats Amanda what's left for Kayla if Juliana wins and then beats Amanda what's left for Juliana like they there's no money fight after that unless you yeah there's just nothing so it'll be a fun for one fight and then after that who knows I mean there's Norma Dumont so shout out to

to homie for big up in her. But like that's... We're talking to Norman Dumont, Macy, Chesa. And like, those are not big money fights. Does Raquel have a fight coming up? No. Okay. Disha does.

That's right. Who's Tisa fighting? She is fighting. Shit. I just looked this up too. She's fighting, I believe, on that apex card on May 17. she is fighting Luana Pinheiro maybe

yeah Luana Pinheiro it sounds right it sounds about right last thing we'll touch on I was got to touch on the UFC 316 press conference but we don't need to do that let's talk about UFC Baku June 21st Jose

we got the main event Jamal Hill versus Khalil Roundtree because what better place to have those two dudes fight each other than in Azerbaijan we also find out return of Kiyoji Horeguchi is official. That's right. He will fight to gear Ulan Bekhov of all people.

Jose, thoughts on this event, the fights that were announced, et cetera. I mean, welcome back, Kiyoji Horiguchi. Here is a dude that is either going to make the fight real ugly or real dominant. Like, I mean, it's a good fight. As a martial arts competition, I actually do like to get Rulambeka versus Kiorgi Horiguchi. I would just rather prefer Kioji Horiguchi. you just walk right into a tile shop because he deserves it.

I'm glad they rebooked Jamal versus Cleo Rounchy. It is very strange that it's in Baku and Azerbaijan because, you know, famous Baku native, Jamal Hill, is certainly going to push, you know, viewers to watch and he's coming off a loss or a couple losses. Cleo Rounchie's coming off a loss. And I mean, it's an exciting fight in terms of striking. Again, I'm glad it's happening. It is very strange that is happening,

because I know there's that rumored Fizia versus Ignacio Bahamundas. That feels more like a main event to me. Fiziv is from, I don't know exactly where Fizier is from. I don't want to, I don't want to misplace him. But that seems more like a main event for me, especially with Ignacio Bahamund is just being an absolute

muller and lightweight. But the biggest story for me is I wish Kio Jory Guji just walked right into a title shot. Seems strange they're giving him to gear because Tegir never even really struck me as a guy they were trying to build up. Like if they made Manel Kopp versus Kioji Horaguchi, I know Minel Kopp is fighting Brandon Rival. Like that fight would be more interesting to me or Brandon Rivalve versus Kioji Horig. It just seems like a strange matchup to me, if I'm being honest.

Yeah, Kioji versus Brandon Moreno. I mean, there's so much fun we could have. I mean, I get what they're doing. Like if Kiyoji wins or if Tegir-Lam Bekhov wins, you could give in, they could just do the Pantosha fight in Abu Dhabo. maybe or Kioji wins they could I don't know it's a strange it's a strange setup yes uh Jed would say you by the way the the Fiziv Bahamundi's fight rumored yeah that at the moment's um it is a fight that could happen they're obviously first of all Fiziv fighting on that card is probably

just the most important thing because he basically is from there so throwing him on that card is of huge importance bahamundas would be super interesting I know that's a name that they are interested in, and I know that's a name the UFC seemed interested in, at least short term. But as of this very moment, there's no official fight offer, there's no contracts, et cetera. But that'd be a damn good one. But Jed, UFC Baku, June 21st, a week after the UFC's returned to Atlanta,

Hill Roundtree, Ulan Bekhov, Horaguchi, and some other stuff that I'm sure you will point out. Some other stuff. Yeah. I mean, look, the Hill fight is cool. Like, that's just, we all thought that when it was KC. It was like, oh, this is a really fun fight. You know, I don't really know, like, what it's for because light, heavyweight title picture is a bit muddy right now.

Well, it's just a fun fight on the mayor. It's great matchmaking. And so it doesn't really make sense to be in Baku, but it's just as fine. It's not like it had a special connection to Kansas City either. So perfectly fine for it to run in Baku. The Kiyoji thing is awful. Yeah.

It's the second worst piece of matchmaking the UFC's done this year because nothing will be worse than Jose Aldo Amin Zhabi, which is just a travesty of fight booking. But this is also a travesty of fight booking, right? Because like here's Tagir Lumekov, a really hard opponent who most people do not know. And it's not even like that easy to look good against him, Kyoji Horibuchi.

Have fun in Baku because this is all the Baku, the millions of assets. Azerbaijani fans are here for Kyoji Hori. It just is a, it does not make any sense at all beyond. Oh, Kiyoji Horguchi is back. Let's just pick somebody in the top 10 and throw them on, not the apex, which I guess that's better than nothing. Putting them in the apex would have been worse.

So this is better than that, I suppose. But like, there were just so many other ways to have fun with Kioji or just run them right to a title fight. Who cares? Like, frankly, he and Pantosier are kind of building that up already, despite like training together actively. They have both given multiple interviews saying that, like, yeah, we'd probably do it. If it's for title, we'd have to work around it at American Top Team, but that'd be fine.

And just like, cheesing in photos, like fake punching each other, Rocky 3 style or whatever in photos. Like, they're setting this up. And instead, you book a matchup that doesn't prevent it from happening in the future, right? Like, if he beats Tegu Lumbakov, they can run it. The rules don't really matter a flyweight. but also it's not like, oh, he wins this very obviously. We're making this next title fight.

Like Brandon Moreno just made all the sense in the world. And you could just hold him until they go to Guadalajara, and that would be fine. But we're doing this and it's fine. Ultimately, Keoggi's back and that rocks. Yeah. Tusha. All right. Time to move on.

That is June 21st. Today is April 17th. The point for round number four goes to Jedmish. two to two nicely done all right let's get into it uh final questions time for the knock around 60 seconds for each competitor to answer said question and it is going to be a fun one so jed we will begin with you uh do you want to go first you want to pass us over to jose i'll go first screw it all right well as we mentioned at the top of the program we're going to be doing a a resslemania watch party both saturday and sunday it is a big event oh i hope this is about pro wrestling i'm

I'm going to, I'm going to baw. Oh, don't, don't you worry, Jed. We have made this very fair. And we are going to tap into the part of your brain that people just love, that fight circusy type of, type of thing that we're thinking of. So my question for you, Jen, Moushue, if you could book a pro wrestling match between UFC or MMA fighters, past present future, however, at WrestleMania in a pro wrestling style gimmick matchup, who would you book and how would you?

do it. 60 seconds on the clock, have some fun, my friend. Go. A pro wrestling gimmick matchup. I don't know enough pro wrestling gimmicks. And now I'm looking through like UFC. I'm trying to think of like what's the best pro wrestling gimmick. Because the one I know is Royal Rumble and that is a great gimmick, but that feels like

that's a little too hard to structure. I don't know. There are table ladders and chairs match. Let's go to that. Does that seem fun? Let's get a lot of foreign objects in there. And look, I think that the obvious choice for me will just be porting over the fight I want to see with two very weirdo personalities into a wrestling ring.

And you give them tables, ladders, and chairs. They're both creative psychopaths, so they could probably find some cool things to do with those. I'm speaking, of course, about Yeripur Haska and Drickus Duplessi, my two large adult children, who I very much want to see fist fight one another someday. but I'll also watch them like throw each other through flaming tables and off of ladders and hit each other with chairs because that just seems like good old fashioned American fun. So give me that DDP versus Yere TLC match. Wow. All right.

See, I knew you would get there. I might take you that. I've never had to talk through it. That read like that sounded like he was reading a mad lib that a 10-year-olds filled out. Name fighter. Dreek is duplicated. name another fighter, Yeri. Name a wrestling thing.

TLC. There you go. That's the only one. I know that there are other gimmicks. I just don't know the other wrestling gimmicks beyond Royal Rumble and Table Ladder to Chairs matchups. That TLC with Yuri and DDP would be really good. But Jose, maybe advantage you here, but same question for you. 60 seconds on the question.

And go. Everyone will hate this match because it's for people. that like to see good old fashion catch rasseling. I want elimination chamber. I need Shana Bazler in it. I need Josh Barnett in it. I need Gazushi Shakurab in it. I need Shinske Nakamura.

I mean, you could even throw a Tank Gavin in there. He was in WCW just so we could throw someone to the lambs and get choked unconscious. You could throw Ken Shamrock in there. He had the intercontinental champion and then took a full on chair to the face from the rock. throw Matt Riddle in there too. We can make this. If you have catch wrestling experience and you fought an MMA and you're going to,

and you have any sort of professional wrestling experience, I'm going to throw you into a device that is completely made of chains and you can't escape. Not that you'll need it because you'll just do very fun and very technical catch wrestling in the middle of a chain link fence. That sentence itself, he sells it right there. That's what I want. Catch wrestling in a,

an elimination chamber. I'll tell you what. Because Sakarabas is the right. I didn't even think about Sakarava. It was just like the most obvious choice. That's right. Don Frye. You could throw in there,

Dan Severin. Kit Cash had a couple of fights, if I remember correctly. China probably had an M. M.M.A fight at some point back in the Batista. Shout out Dave Batista. 1-0. 1-0.

Providence, Rhode Island. Joe Lowe. Who's that other gigantic fucking, like, Nathan Jones had an MMA fight, star of Mad Max Fury Road. Who's the other, the other wrestler who's like an army wrestler, who's just like the biggest man that's ever been,

who fought like twice for Strike Force? There you, Bobby Lashley. Get that dude in. That's right. Bob Sapp. That man is one of the biggest human beings. I mean, technically sexy star, it had a couple fights and had a cup of coffee,

in Kambatsi, American, whatever you call it. Same as Alberta Tel Rio. Jake Hager. Oh, I remember that weirdo in Bellator.

Derek Lewis feels like he might be able and pro-lessing famous, famously good at fighting and wrestling Ronda Rousey. Derek Lewis could be

the ringing outs there. I think that would be a lot of fun. So cash your votes for that. And for this matchup, again, just setting the table for this weekend no one rest of me 41 i'm glad no one mentioned brock or ronda because that

felt like i could cop out you know what i'm saying because they were very good at both i didn't even remotely think about actually doing like real pro wrestlers because that tells you're my head was who are fighters who would do okay did it do mike do you remember shan o'hare yes he fought he fought in when pride was in l. a when they did that coliseum card. Did they not? No, in Vegas. I think.

In Vegas, that's me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He and the K-1, right? Yeah. Who did he fight? I don't remember. No one that,

but he definitely fought and he definitely lost by knockout. And I think he was like, oh, and six or something. He fought rumbo in the rock. I don't remember. I don't remember who he thought. Did he fight Rombo?

Oh, that crazy. Yeah. Yeah. What a promotion. Some fun cards. But Casey is here with full sleeves and a hood on.

So, yeah. Well, yeah. All right. We will be winter for six more weeks. Well, we have our votes. I wonder who won. Your winner. You know what?

No. You know what? I don't care what the voters say. When you mentioned catch wrestling and Josh Burnett, you are my winner. You know how to do it. Jose Young, you're the winner. God dang. I know.

See, you got a pan with one. Play me or John. Judges. What a boo. You have to candor to the judges. Morab did it. I just pulled him to Rob. I just catered to the judges at the end.

Wow. I mean, just a brilliant, brilliant move right there. We've seen some brilliance on this program. Our old friend New York, Rick, used to be brilliant. He would be, you know, non-ego, the non-ego would come out. He'd sit there and put over the other guy. Vote for him, vote for him. And he always got the baby-face votes.

but Jose manipulating the game, manipulating the mind of E. Casey Liden, no judge is going to favor. I spent a way too much time in Florida. Okay. Yes, you have talk about what you want to talk about here. The floor is yours, my friend. Shoot, man, I don't know. It's a weird week that there's no fights, but WrestleMania will be fun.

You know what I'm going to use my time for? You should go to your local bookstore and pre-order. what is it? Our good friend Mark Remondi has a new book coming out about the NWO. He's been working on it for literally years. Every time I'd see him at a fight, he'd have to go right back to his hotel

and watch every single WCW Nitro in the world. And then I'd see him the next day, he'd be like, oh my God, I'm at the Wolfpack part. I'm at the Wolfpack guy. It's been so long. And now it's finally coming out. I'm very excited to read it. So that's what I'll use my floor for.

Go buy Mark Remandi's book. Go pre-order it. It will be a lot of fun. Casey has it right there on the bottom. I haven't got it yet. Say hello to the bad guys. That was called? You got an advanced copy?

Romani lives a block for me and didn't give me a I don't want to, I don't want to like poo-poo you too much, Ed, but I might have an advanced copy. What in the world? What in the world? He literally asked him, he was like,

he was like, go order it. He's right there. Mark Romandie was literally in the Casey circle. He's right here. He's right here. Hold on. Hi, Mark. Hey!

He took a bump. He took a book. That's so funny. Wow. He can't hear you. Go read the book, everybody. This is not planned either. We can't read.

It's not out until June. Well, unless you have an advanced copy, which Casey has. I generally think my coffee is in my mail room right now. There you go. Pre-order. I'm going to go egg his house.

Hey, Mark, your house is getting egged in about five minutes after the show ends. We're not eggs. Eggs are too expensive now. T-P. I was going to say, what are they doing down in the land that you can afford to throw eggs? Can't throw, eggs. Casey, hit the music. Time to get on out of here.

We appreciate all of you for joining us once again. Join us this weekend. Whether you're a wrestling fan or not a wrestling fan, We'll all have fun watching WrestleMania 41 and watch parties, just very chill. It's just going to be good vibes, good times all around. So thank you all very much for Jose, for Jed, for Casey, for Mark Romney, even. Author extraordinaire, I am Mike Eckack back next week to get you ready for UFC Kansas City. Yes, Ian Machado, Gary versus Carlos Brachis.

Get your Vince Gapertrude Say hello to the bad guys. We'll see you next week. Love you all. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.