MMA Fighting - BTL | Paddy Pimblett vs. Tony Ferguson, Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, UFC Vegas 79 Fallout

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

UFC CEO Dana White kept very busy this past weekend announcing big fights, most notably for UFC 296 at the end of the year, including a matchup that has gotten a lot of reaction between Paddy Pimblett and Tony Ferguson. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to the announcement of Pimblett vs. Ferguson and if it was the right booking, along with other notable bouts for the UFC's December slate, including Stephen Thompson vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov, Vicente Luque vs. Ian Machado Garry, Rob Font vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, and more. Additionally, they'll discuss the fallout of UFC Vegas 79, Mateusz Gamrot's injury TKO win over Rafael Fiziev in the main event, Bryce Mitchell's massive win, the overall MVP of the event, Johnny Eblen's case for being best middleweight in the world following his Bellator 299 stoppage win over Fabian Edwards, Francis Ngannou's open workout ahead of his fight with Tyson Fury next month, Israel Adesanya being charged with drunk driving prior to his UFC 293 loss to Sean Strickland and more. Host Mike Heck will moderate the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Alexander K. Lee.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter 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 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 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. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand,

new edition of BTL. Thank you for joining us on another Thursday. Apologies for the late start, but we got through the technical difficulties. A lot to discuss on a rare week off for the UFC. So let's get into it and introduce the combatants, some M.MA fighting, infighting, which I always enjoy. Let us introduce first. He's Mr. No Gray Area. Mr. No Hot Take.

Mr. Dan, they were good. One half of No Bet Spard. He's M.M.A. Fighting Zone. Jedbushu. Good to see you again. Great to see you, Mike. Happy to be here. A little thrown off my game because two minutes before we went live, I was just informed of the Chandler Jones saga that's going on,

brother of John Jones. And this is wild. So all the best to him and his family, because I don't know what the hell's going on there, Mike. Yes, we do wish him the best and hopefully he's all right. back on the show. Maybe Chandler just needs a little positivity and who better to bring that positivity than the Prince of Positiveity, the co-host of On to the next one. And my best friend, also from M.AFutting.com, he is Mr. Alexander Kaylee, AK, how are you, sir? Oh, hello, my best friend and all my best friends out there in TV land. I'm not going to lie. I've already started, like, cheating because I sent that news, the Chandler Jones News, to Jed, to throw him off. More

accurately, our editor said it worked. Our editor said it to me. I have passed it along. And Jed, I know Jed cannot be completely on the ball between the links today. So fingers crossed. Not really, but anyway, that I can get another W today. Look, I am just a man. And if you start throwing out accusations about Aaron Hernandez, I'm, it's going to throw me off

the game. I don't know how to react to this. it's baffling. Great style of Casey here. Well, we will try to move past this at least for now. Again, hopefully he's doing

okay and he can get on the other side of this, but let's talk about UFC Vegas 79 to kick things off. Jed Mishu, we had a main event that ended abruptly and ended in an unfortunate way. First round between Raphael Fisiv and Matush Gamrod is everything we hoped for and more.

It was incredible. The striking. the scrambles. Everything about that first round was the fight. This is what we expected for 25 minutes or so. And then Rafael Viziv throws a kick with his right leg, left leg plants funny, goes down in a heap, ends up tearing his ACL. And Matush Gamrod, even though it wasn't the way he drew it up, picks up the biggest win of his UFC career. So the fight didn't last very long, Jed Mishu, but what did we learn from Matush Gamrod in this victory, even though it's not the way he wanted it to happen. Nothing? I don't.

Did we learn anything? Look, that fight was, I think, what we all expected. Super fun. I thought Gamrod showed, you know, some good stuff on the feet, not like amazing. And that's not where he's going to win the fight, but able to contest, survived a couple of really big shots from Fiziv, tried to get his wrestling going. Classic Gamrod style, got one of six takedown attempts. Like, that's just sort of who he is. I think that fight was everything we thought was going to be,

and there's nothing to take away because the fight got taken away from us. You know, you can't blame Matush Gamrod for that. Not his fault would happen, but that's it. He is also not the cause of the injury. That's just one of those fluke things. The human body is really not built for this in general, and Fiziv came up on the wrong end of it. So good for Matush Gamrott to stay.

still be standing, you know. That's your health. That's always a win. But I took nothing from this fight just because of how it all played out, what ended up ultimately happening with it. So, yeah, disappointing end. I hope in the future at some point, probably long off, given how long Fizzieve will be on the bench. But we get to run this back because it was living up to what we thought it could be as far as a competitive matchup. AK, did you learn anything from this fight, especially on. the gamrod side gets the win didn't get to fight his whole fight but a win is a win did you learn anything here i'll put the positive spin on it right away nothing that we saw as little as there was

should you know deter anyone from considering gamrod to be someone who you know can compete in the top five can be a future title challenger it was only around in a bit of action but yeah that that that uh you know very entertaining grappling style is there i like his ambition i like that he again Again, the callout was a little murky after, but we understand now he wants Charles Olivera under the assumption that Do Bronx is going to lose to Islam Makachev in their rematch at UFC 294. So that's one thing that we can't take away from him. He's a man of ambition. He's, I think he's not incorrect that he is close to a title shot. Both him and Fazeve, what made this fight so important was that they had both had shots at guys in the top five and not necessarily pulled out, you know, had not.

pulled out a victory. So it is really, really unfortunate. We didn't get a winner here because that would have guaranteed them a top five opponent. I still think Gamrod gets it. But the unsatisfying end to the fight means that he could be matched up with someone else. Again, closer to him in the 8, 9, 10 range, maybe even someone outside the top 10. So that's a tough break for him. But I do like he's at least putting it out there, putting onto the universe, and letting the matchmakers know, hey, at the end of the day, this was a win.

very unfortunate how it happened, but let's move on. He didn't do the thing like, oh, well, that was disappointing. I'll fight whoever the UFC wants me to fight next. I know I've got the title of my sights down the road. I'll beat whoever I have to beat to get there. No, he said, this is a win. Give me one of the top three guys, whether it's Charles Oliver or someone else, and let me get my tubel shot soon.

So if anything we learned, he's not lacking in ambition. But that's about, other than that in cage-wise, which just wasn't a lot you could take away from there. What are the chances in your mind, A.K., and I know we talked about matchmaking on the next one. What are the chances he gets Oliver if he loses to Makachev or gets a top five guy or, I mean, because some people brought up after on to the next one, well, Arlen Allen got Max Holloway after the unfortunate injury in the Calvin Cater fight. But Arn Allen had also not gotten a chance to fight a top five guy before. And then he gets the dude that basically gets you to the title fight and loses that fight. But for Matush Gamra, he's gotten.

his top five fight. He got Benile Darius and he lost that fight while there's other guys in this division that are looking to get that opportunity that he has gotten already, Raphael Fizib got it as well. What are the chances he gets a top five guy or do you think he's just going to kind of have to either fight backwards or fight in the same range he's at right now? I'm actually leaning towards like 55%. I think he has a chance. I think again, by making his intentions clear, I think the UFC likes that. By saying the right things in the microphone, I think the UFC likes that because there's just nothing he can control about that injury. That wasn't his fault.

Mike, the Arnold Allen example is really good because it ended up being, he ended up getting Max Holloway because Max Holloway is the kind of guy who he's in limbo and he just wants to keep fighting good opponents. So he's going to fight the Arnold Allen's the world. And if Arnold Allen's, you know, want to stay busy and want to shot the title, they have to go through the Max Holloways. That could be the next stage of Olivares career if he doesn't beat McAchev again because he's not.

he will likely not get another shot in Makachev as long as Islam is at the top, which could be for a while, depending whether Islam wants to go do the two-division champ thing. So he might end up being that super exciting, reliable Max Holloway type. And if he wants to get back in there, let's say he does lose and he wants to get back in there January or February, wants to stay busy, wants to keep catching checks, wants to keep fighting high-level opponents. Gammon fits that bill pretty well. So I will, and I've also said, I believe it's possible that. he could also get Michael Chandler, if this Chandler, McGregor thing, you know, drags on for another six months.

I think it's kind of looking good for January, February, but we're talking about McGregor. I wouldn't bet on it. So if you consider Chandler, top five guy, I think he is in the UFC's rankings, and that would count, and I do think Oliver is possible too. So, yeah, I think as crappy as that fight ended for Gamrod and especially Fazeve, Gamrod's not in a bad position, man. I think he can get a top five opponent next. Chad, agree or disagree?

I think it's 50, 50. A lot of moving parts here. To me, I think this ultimately hangs on Charles Olivera and what he wants to do if he does lose to Makachev because he has not thus far been a guy who's trying, who's doing the Dustin Porre. I'm not going to fight these guys thing because that's just sort of been how his career has worked out. but he loses the second time to Makachev. He's well and truly out of the title picture at that point in time. He's a legend in the game former champion.

The question becomes does he want, does he say, I have enough credit built up that I don't have to take these fights back? I can wait for the right spots. Maybe I'll rematch Dustin Porre, because that's a fun, you know, fight between two guys of this level. And Poirier, I think, would take that fight. And I think that there's a possibility he does that. I don't know Charles well enough or feel like. I know him well enough to know if that's true because he also, you know, he did fight Bini Daryush.

He does seem to be open to this idea of, man, I'll just whip up on these dudes, whoever. So if he's open to it, I think that Gameraut's actually going to get that. If Oliverer loses. If Oliver wins, they're probably going to do with Trilogy with Morgachev and then Gammarot's well and truly out of it because Pore is not going to fight him. Gachis not going to fight him. Daryus should already fought and Daryus, it seems like he's going to be fighting Armand Sauru. That's a whole separate texture of this is like, well, Sarukin beats Darius.

Where does that put him in the title fight? I think the answer is either he's going to get the fighting ones with Olivera or he's going to end up having to fight Grant Dawson after Grant Dawson very likely beats Bobby Green next weekend. I think that's next weekend. Maybe that's the one in two weekends. Whatever. Next month. Yeah, next month. That fight just makes way too much sense given their timelines.

and that's unfortunate for Gamrod because he has functionally fought back twice with the actually Physiov might have been above him I guess so maybe he did get to fight up but he fought back with Jalen Turner got that win can't blame him for what happened in Physiev seems like it's just going to be one of those situations where because Porreye is not going to fight anybody

then he's screwed because in a meritocratic world he would be fighting Dustin Porier that is the fight that makes the most sense logically here Dustin's just not going to do that. And so he gets a little bit screwed by that part of the whole game. So, yeah, probably going to be Grant Dawson. But if Olivera does lose and if Olivera isn't, you know, isn't going to be on the celebrity fight tour, then maybe he can get what he's hoping for.

It's a weird spot because Dawson's an ATT guy. I don't know how tight they are. It seems like because when Dawson was on BTL is right before. the Gamrod Serukian fight, I believe, and he said that they trained together, but I don't know, like, it's a big gym. I see Kill Cliff from his Kill Clif in 296, so. I could be wrong. Don't quote me on this.

I believe that I saw an interview with Dawson where they trained together, but they aren't like that tight and they might be open to fighting one another, but that also might be, we're open to fighting one another for the belt, not. a mat, well, not that kind of matchup, which sort of wouldn't go anywhere. So it's just at some point the ATT people, like ATT is too big a gym for this sort of thing to happen. Like you just can't not fight everybody at ATT because they're pretty cool. Like they're half of the top lightweights or ATT or whatever.

Porre is there. Don't do that. It's so. Yeah. What about Dan Hooker? I think Dan Hooker's a fine name coming off of a win over Jalen Turner. That's not a bad one. At least it's a name.

I forget that Dan Hooker's real. I am so exceedingly confident that Dan Hooker's done. That's a terrific win over Jalen Turner. I'm just so confident that that's a career-changing fight in the same way that, like, Lollar Condit was like he lost something in himself and I think we're going to find out. But yeah, I know it's fine. It all just sucks because the truth is he deserves to fight upward.

Like all of these guys do. and four of the top five guys have no interest in fighting people. Like Justin Gagy, I can't totally blame him. He has done what he needs to do to earn his title shot, and he did fight back against Fiziv. Fair. Dustin Poyer, again, the ATT thing, I don't know if they even would, but I can absolutely blame him for not fighting, wanting to fight back.

Charles Olivaire, again, may or may not be that guy. And Michael Chandler is desperately holding on to the hope that a Connor McGregor fight. And individually, I can understand each of their cases, and I'm not saying that they're doing the wrong things for themselves, but in the grander scheme of the best weight class in this sport, it is really, really shit when four of the top five dudes are not interested in playing the game for others. I do want to touch on a couple more things from this card before we move on.

A.K., I'll go to you. We had a main event with some high stakes at lightweight, right? Lightweight is, you know, to me, it's the best division in the sports. Some people think it's number two, the divisional stakes, everything involved here. It was a huge fight. But I don't think anybody had more pressure on than Bryce Mitchell on Saturday. This guy was in about as much win of a situation as there could be got a tough opponent

in Danny Gay. Close, close fight. Bryce Mitchell gets it done. Coming off of the pretty bad loss to Iliot-Teporia, Brad Bryce Mitchell's in-cage product, AK. This is a massive win and one he needed very, very badly. Yeah, I thought his performance was outstanding. I loved that fight.

It's not like one of my 10 favorite fights the year or anything, but as far as, you know, grappling-centric M.M.A fights go, it was really, really fun to watch. I thought so. Not that it was full of crazy scrambles or all that stuff, but like seeing Dan Iege, who has a great ground game, you know, being pretty prepared for Bryce Mitchell, being pretty prepared for his tax.

I think he had the right game plan. And Mitchell just having to sort of power through to adapt on the fly, The back take near the end of the fight was just fantastic. It was a very good performance to him.

And he really needed it. He really needed. I had said for that fight of the guys in the main card, I think he has the most to lose because the Toporia fight looks really bad. Whether you want to say it's just because DePore is really great,

which he is, whether you want to believe that Mitchell had the flu, which he probably did, fans, for the most part, don't care about that. They care about the in-caged product. You stepped in there,

you got handled pretty bad, you lost, suddenly you go from again a guy that everyone was looking as a contender to, oh, you were exposed. Like Tupori is a real contender, Bryce Biltz was another pretender. So he needed this one. It's really since Dan Ige, great fighter, not a guy who is likely close to a title shot himself.

So if you lose to him, which I thought he could have, I think I had picked I gay to win by decision, then you're really far out. And then we're talking about featherweight, where it's just killers coming up all the time. So I don't know if Mitchell, I don't know how far removed it would have taken Mitchell from the featherweight contender conversation and if he would have even been able to get back. That's how important I feel that win was. And I know we're just talking about the in cage, but I will say he's made so many headlines with this sort of outside the cage personality, his belief in conspiracy theories and all that stuff, that if he doesn't keep putting on performances like this, he risks becoming a meme.

You know what I mean? He risks becoming just a character. It's like, oh, Mitchell's good, but I really, you know, I'm really interested in him just because of his. he's a wild man and his personality. I like his how passionately is, about his religion and stuff like that. And that's great. He could become a very popular fighter with his schick,

with his, I say schick, but I think he's pretty genuine about these things. With, you know, the things he says, his outlandish comments. But I think he wants more than that.

I think as much as he's a personality now and someone who's like, you know, stands by his beliefs and everything, I do think that he still believes he can, you know, fight for that title and become champion someday. And he had to prove it on Saturday.

And I think he did big time. So, um, that's the beauty of it is you can like a fighter or not you can like the personality or not but if they deliver in the cage then people are going to keep asking to see you fight that's really the most important thing jett would say you what did you think of bryce's performance and i'll add to this was he the MVP of ufc vegas 79 and a k i'll let you answer this after uh what did you think of bryce's night at the office um yeah you're never going to be an MVP if you spout conspiracy nonsense afterwards so you that that that That just ain't it. That was fine performance. It's about what I expected. Ege, better boxer, but Mitchell, a bigger dude, was able to do enough in the grappling

realm to win the judge's scorecards. Certainly saw some scores out there for Ege. I don't think those are awful. I scored it for Mitchell. But, yeah, this is about what I expected. A good rebound for Mitchell. I don't know what his sort of ceiling is in this weight class. Featherweight is really, really good.

it's not Bannonweight and it's not lightweight, but it's between them and probably the third best division in the sport, though I'm open to arguments for Walter Wade as well. And so, like, you know, he's a top 10 guy, but his game remains fairly limited. I don't think we've seen a ton of growth from him in the last couple of years, which is also problematic as far as where he would go. But, you know, he got a good win over a hard-nosed veteran, a guy who has been around the block for a very long time and been been very, very successful. So great win, not the MVP. That fight wasn't, you know, fight was fun, certainly, but wasn't the fight of the night

and wasn't even one of the most memorable performances outside of being really, really weird in the post fight. And like, yeah, that was incredibly off-putting to me, not just for the part of the conspiracy part, but like, good for him. him trying to donate to Hawaii, even if maybe his intentions they are a little muddled or odd. But, you know, asking somebody to pray with you when you don't really know Dan Igay's stance on it and he seemed uncomfortable, maybe just don't put your religion on other people. That's always the request.

It would be the same request you would make of me if we were there. So that would just be better if we did that. MVP I'm going to say Tim Means but I don't even know if that's true I think there's a great argument for Marine Rodriguez Brian Battle Fun

I mean there were a bunch of fun performances but look Tim Means the dirty bird still got it baby and most importantly Mike the most important thing about Tim Means is I know that you are an avid listener of No Bet's Bard

but this guy this guy right here he knew that tim means by kio was happening he said it was decidedly so and you know what it was and that plus 450 prop bet on tim means by k o at time looked a little sweaty thought i might get it at various points then thought i might not get it always trust the magic eight ball he just never let me down so tim means is my my mvp okay one vote for tim means where's your vote going It's going to the mute button.

Yes. I was double muted. I muted my device and I muted the program we're using. I want to make sure that people did not have to listen to me. It has to be Marina Rodriguez for me because I did not think we'd be talking about her at all after this card. The rematch was fine. But there was a lot of why is this fight happening? It was a runback of a last second five-round main event, which was pretty good, which is pretty good.

that fight was a good fight with her and Michelle Waterson-Gomez. So it wasn't like unwelcome to see them fight again. The timing was just a bit weird because Michelle Wartisan-Gomez hasn't won a fight since then. So she's got this four-fight losing streak now, which I think started with Marina and now is continued Marina. And Marina Rodriguez was struggling in her own right. But rankings-wise, the numbers made sense. I think a lot of us thought it was going to go to a decision. Again, it could be entertaining, but at the end of the day, forgettable and not seemingly of little consequence for either fighter.

but the way Marina performed, she just annihilated Michelle Waters and Gomez. And it's, Michelle Waters and Gomez has lost fights before. I can't remember the last time she was just straight up, just hammered. I mean, this was unbelievably violent, unbelievably, it sounds sick to say, entertaining performance for, if you're, you know, if you're rooting for Marina, certainly. And then I thought the call-out was perfect. I thought the post-fight call out of Tatiana Suarez, that's the way to go, man. You got to aim high because I think Tatiana's 36 or something. 37 years old.

She had a great window to challenge for the 115 pound title, but she got cut up in the fighters of the top getting rematches and just having bigger names than her. So she never, she should have gotten a shot, but it was never a home run. It was never like, oh, this is like outrageous that Marina Rodriguez is not getting a title shot. It was almost like always just, justifiable enough

not to give her that shot. And now she's way out of the picture. But if she beats Tatiana Suarez, then we're going to have this moment where we say, well, now you have to give Marina Rodriguez a tell the shot. Assuming Yangshanan and Zhang Wei Li happens, the path is clear for Tatiana or Marina, and that's the way to go. And, again, we wouldn't have said this before the car.

I never thought of her calling out Tatiana. I didn't think we talked about Marina getting close to a telethshot again. Is it a lot, she'll be a huge underdog. She'll be at least plus 300 probably against Tatiana's ours. And that's fine because she can go fight somebody else. She can keep collecting paychecks. I think she still wants to be a world champion or at least get a world title shot,

just get a crack at it. And that goes through Tatianosurra. As any other friend now that gets her closer. And if she beats her, she leapfrogs a lot of names, including some fighters that she's lost to. So A plus effort, A plus callout by Marina Rodriguez. I'm still surprised talking about it that we're saying she's the MVP of this event.

Yeah, well said. Love the callout. It makes a lot of sense. And if she wants to get to a title fight, that's the fight she needs to win. So love it. Let's move on. The point for row one goes to,

I mean, we have to reward the magic eight ball. It's one-nothing, Jedmishu. Ooh, that's a new sound drop. That's an old one. Is it? Oh, the magic eight ball is reward enough in itself. This guy, printing money. New gimmick.

Listen to No Betts Bar next week, and we'll see what the eight ball has to say. Plus 350. Plus 350 on the gimmick thus far. Let's go. wonderfully done. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S.

From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time.

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Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 1-8665-3126-0 or visit Comexonterio.ca. Didn't the gimmick also say Michelle Watterson, too? Yeah, but it lost one unit on Michelle Watterson and it won 4004.4.5 units on Tim Means by K. Plus 350. She didn't lay a take down 10 seconds into that fight. I'm like, oh, maybe Jen's on. You slacked me and I was like, oh my God, this is the best.

I was at dinner with friends. I wasn't working. And my friends were like, what the hell's going on? Why are you cackling? I was like, because this is great. And then that lasted about 18 seconds. And then you messaged me a minute later and like, I might have spoken too soon. Yes.

Michelle Waterson Gomez, tougher than a $2 steak. Let's head to Dublin for Bellator 299. And we'll begin with you, Jedmishu, because Johnny Eblen retains the Bellator middleweight title in the main event, two competitive rounds. Fabian Edwards opens up a gnarly cut above the eye of Johnny Eblen heading into round three. You could see this thing. It was nasty. Cutman did an incredible job, kind of vacillating that thing up and keeping it from just leaking all over the place. And then Johnny Ebbling gets a takedown and just unloads a barrage of ground and pound on Fabian Edwards,

gets him out of there. All hell kind of breaks loose and then cooler heads prevail. What's your reaction? Johnny Eblen, Fabian Edwards. This was a tougher fight that I think most expected it to be, but in the end,

the result is what most expected it to be. Johnny Eblen is still the Belator middleweight champion. Here's my reaction, and as simple as terms I can possibly put it, Johnny Eblen is the best middleweight on earth. That reality will be reflected in our, latest rankings update whenever we have that.

I will be putting him at number one. I currently have Drickus 2 Plus C at number one because I couldn't, I couldn't put Sean Strickland there. I'm sorry, that man lost 12 months ago. I can't put him in number one. So I think it's Johnny Ebblin. It's not a runaway. I'm not saying that he would beat everybody he fought, but I think I would favor him at this point in time over every middleweight in the world except maybe.

Maybe Adasanya and maybe Duplice, but I think it's great. I think there are a lot of knocks you can have on him. A lot of knocks you have on that performance. It wasn't perfect. He's still developing as a fighter. His striking game is still very raw. But the overall texture of that fight here is what I saw. I saw a guy who, despite some limitations, approached this very, very smartly the way he was fighting.

I think if you told most people, hey, he's not going to score takedowns, they probably don't know like, well, Fabian Edwards probably going to beat him up on the feet. Like, I think he's a better striker. And while that played out to some extent, I still scored the first two rounds for Eblen just on activity. He outworked him, got to the spots that were successful for him in that way. And then in the third round, what really has made me feel confident in putting him as the number one middle weight in the world is that third round. because that's championship shit right there. Like, hey, I fought two rounds that were competitive.

You know, my game plan was longer term. The game plan is out the window. There's a cut that is seriously jeopardizing my ability to win this fight. Even if I want to compete, they may simply stop it because of what has happened here. I have to finish this now and make this a non-factor moving forward. something that really only like top top level fighters can do particularly against very quality opposition i think fabian edwards is a quality middleweight i have him ranked in the top 15 i think most of us do mmafightcom website has him as a top 15 middleweight and he he turned on the jets man

and 20 seconds later 20 seconds after it became apparent hey i am in jeopardy of something bad happening i must end this he did that's championship level shit that's that's stuff that really haven't seen from frankly anybody else out there. Like, as great as Israel a distance is, when it was apparent that he was losing this fight, he shirked away from Sean Strickland while Sean Strickland screamed in his face and didn't level up and go super saying on him. Johnny Eblen did when push came to shove. And that given the rest of his resume where he is as a fighter in his career, I'm happy enough calling him the best middleweight on earth right now.

A.K. Did you leave Bellator 299 believing the same thing Jed did, that Johnny Eblen is the best middle weight in the world? Did you take that away from Saturday's card? I still can't do it. I can't pull the trigger on it. I've been one of the more conservative Eblen ranking. I will, I'll shout out now. We probably have the right people. As I'm doing this, right, I'm looking at our internal rankings talk and Jed is already making, Jed literally. it's making changes to his rankings. So I was going to say Johnny Evelin was number two and Chad's ranking is now number one. That's two number one votes. We also have another auspicious panelist

who had him as number one before this event. To be clear, we didn't update these rankings post-Bellator the over from the last update, which was post-293, which is when I had Eblen-I-I-I-was-going. Yes, and I was going to say heading. into this event here's where they're ranked but you know there's no point now we'll just say he now has two number one votes the bell tour middleweight champion uh as low as eight as low as eight uh actually i will say all the people involved in this show today except for me are the ones

who have evelyn in their top three otherwise he's in the seven or eight range so and i'll speaking for myself not the others who have ranked him lower um it is not at all like i have met seven that's not at all an indictment of his skill or his level of competition. I think I'm just giving a lot of credit to like I'm not ready to put him above Robert Whitaker. This is based both on who I feel like they've beaten and if they matched up,

I still think Whitaker is a tough fight for Johnny Epplin. I don't think that's a crazy thing to say. I don't think it's crazy to pick Johnny Eblin either, but I think Whitaker is a tough fight for him. I think Drickus duplice is a tough fight for him. We still have Alex Pareda in there. That would be an interesting matchup. I think Eblen would certainly be favored.

And then, of course, then you have Izzy and Sean Strickland. And a lot of people in favor Ebblin over Sean Strickland as well and maybe over Izzy. So there is a very strong justification to have him number one. I just can't do it yet. But I will, I have to address a few things. I see it in the comments already. I see it all the time. Anytime we talk about Johnny Eblen being in the top five being number one.

I know Ariel did one of those tweets after the win. Like, is it time to have this conversation about where he ranks? And it was filled with the most ignorant casual replies you could see. He doesn't fight anyone in Belator. Belator's a B-League. You can't be... I don't know. I wish we were past...

I thought we were past the point where we assumed that, like, oh, just because someone's fighting in Belator, they couldn't compete in the UFC. I thought people were over that. I don't understand. Like, Fabian Edwards would be a very good middleweight in the UFC. Gayguard, maybe a bit past... I don't know what you're talking about, AK.

Absolute nonsense. Michael Chandler famously came over, not even as champion and oh that's right he's almost immediately fought for the title and damn near won it and he's bad he's actually bad I'm old enough to run I don't want you to go off right but

or WEC like the B leagues I remember those days pride is the B leagues that's the weird thing right we have so much evidence that fighters can come over from these notable promotions and succeed in the UFC and we actually have like less evidence that fighters from the UFC go over to to like Bellator and Dominator go over to.

That's not like, that hasn't been a consistent thing. But people act like, oh, if Paulo Costa went to Belator, he'd win the like Middleweight championship overnight. Like, based on what? Like, I understand based on what. And our rankings are as guilty of it as anybody, of course. You look at Ryan Beard, sure. You look, and he's a great fighter.

You look at our rankings. And yes, where is guilty of it as anyone? We rank majority of UFC. There's some one championship guys in there. There's some BFL guys. We have definitely a healthy sprinkling of Bellator. So I understand. It's just we just see these guys promoted more.

We see them in what are perceived to be bigger fights. But I don't think you can definitively say, oh, well, Fabian Edwards isn't a UFC level middleweight. Why? Anatoly Tokov is not a UFC level middleweight. That's absurd. Like, that's crazy. Like, you might not be, you might not rank him top of Dean, but I think he's comfortably top 20, top 25. So what's, I need people to, there's no, the other thing is people say we give a Bellator bump.

And I think it's the opposite. it. I think fighting for Belator is like you have to people are, it's taking away like it's harder for us because we have to be a little more objective. We kind of have to project. And if anything, I think people aren't ranking fighters highly enough because

they're in Belator. Like I see people say just because someone's a Belator champion, they shouldn't be ranked high and that's fine. That's fine. We don't think titles should determine who was good. But if you watch these guys fights, if you watch Johnny Eveland fight, I don't know how you can't take away from his performances that this guy would be competitive against

any middleweight in the world. So if you don't want to put him number one, that's fine. I don't. Like I said, I personally don't have him in my top five. But it is ridiculous to say he doesn't have a case to be in the top fives. I think it's far more ridiculous to say that than to suggest he's number one. I think that I think you can make a better case for he's number one than he belongs on.

That's how high on him. I am on him. And as Jed illustrated, when you have those knights where, you know, you might not look great in the thing and you still pull out a highlight real victory, that's the kind of stuff the champions are made of. So not number one for me, but we're going to find it in the next couple of years. We're going to get a real good gauge of where he and number one is already in discussion.

So you bring up interesting points. So let me ask this real quick because there's obviously the rumor and innuendo about PFL absorbing Bellator, them coming together. And Johnny Abelmaier yesterday, you can go check that out, gave his thoughts. not doesn't seem overly thrilled about it open to it as long as things kind of fall into place but all in all he feels like it's not a great thing for you know just everything involved so okay what is the best case scenario for johnny ebblin moving forward like if you were guiding him and you guys are talking you were to call him up right now and he's like okay what do you

with this whole thing in terms of move. Is it the PFL deal? Is it the absorption? Is it if they merge, he should try to opt out and go somewhere else? Like, what's the best case scenario for him after this win? Because this very well could have been his final Bellator fight. As much as I would love to see him stick around and, you know,

rack up three, four, five, six tile defenses again, and sort of prove that point that it doesn't matter where you fight. It's one, it's who you fight. And again, there are good middleweights and middleweights. and middleways that they could sign to fight in Bel-Tor. And also, again, the quality of performance, these are things we should evaluate necessarily than what promotion you fight for.

That would be great. If we're talking to the perfect scenario, it is still to go to the UFC. It is still to go to the UFC. And really, for the reasons I mentioned, because I can shout from the mountaintops, I can shout to the cows come home. That Viltour competition, you know,

is on, when you get to the top five, top six, top seven is on par with UFC. I can say it. I can say it all I want. That is not the fan perception. That is not the public perception as much as I wanted to be. And so the best move is always to go to the UFC.

I do worry a little bit that he would get low ball, that they would try and bring him in. Like, oh, who's Johnny Eblen? Because even in Belator, as great as he is, I don't know if he's popular. I don't know if you can say Johnny Evelin's a popular fighter. And that matches the UFC way more than whether he's 14 and 0, 15 and 0, 60 and 0,

five Beltautel defenses. That doesn't matter to the UFC, unfortunately. They want to know, can this guy draw? So I still think he'd get a decent deal. I think that would be the right move if he could try and make the jump now.

He's not super young. He's in his prime. Middleweight is a division where I think you can get by a bit without being, you know, you can get by in your mid-30s and close to later. Look at again, get Garminu Sasi. But I'm curiously how he do in the UFC.

Maybe I'm being selfish. And I think fans are curious too, and they want to see that. So that is the ideal situation. Yes, if you could somehow get out of it with the sale of Belator, he's got to make the jump. Do you agree with that, Jed, that he just, if you were guiding him, you'd just be like,

get me to the UFC any way, shape, or form? No. I do want to address the B League thing because he's the deal, Beltor is a B League. Like, that's just facts and that's fine. But B League doesn't mean fighters or shit in it. it just means that they aren't like the totality isn't the same football is a B league to the NFL and you still every year see dudes jump in their rookie seasons and be Jalen Carl you're one of the

best players in the world like Johnny Eblins that dude if you jumped to UFC he'd be fighting for a belt in a year I would think that he wins it but you know he's he's immediately in that mix like we saw with WBC like we saw with strike force like we saw with pride we see happens all the time And so if you are talking to Johnny Eblend and you're guiding his career and the only thing he is concerned about is his legacy, then yes, go to the UFC. Because that is where his legacy has the most to gain is there. It's just the realities of this sport. It's unfortunate in some regards, but your all-time resume will suffer at this stage if you don't go to the UFC. So, yeah, if I was doing that, but that's not what I'm doing.

doing. That's not what his job is. His job is not legacy. His job is prize fighting. And I will basically never suggest anyone go to the UFC as a prize fighter because they probably do. I mean, they certainly pay the most writ large, but I think that you can get more money going to a PFL tournament. Johnny Eblen can win a million dollars every year, which is more than the it will pay him doing that. So and, you know, yeah, easier competition writ large. There will be individual fights that are tough, but I would always say take the million dollars and fighting they don't have a middleweight division,

but they'd open it up. So fighting John Salter, the Bellator dudes, that seems like a better career choice to me. But if he has the option, I think based on, you know, we said to Ariel yesterday, I think he would pursue it.

He would say, all right, fine, I'll go to the UFC because he will get a good enough deal. Like, he probably won't get the Michael Chandler, like full-throated deal, but undefeated guy, He's very quality. He's got personality. I think the UFC can see a future with him.

So probably gets a good deal. Probably comes in, fights Robert probably like that, and then immediately gets a petal conversation. And if he wins and he can get those paper viewpoints, then he can take in the big bucks. But give me the burden of the hand over dealing with the U.S. because I would personally just never want to fight for the UFC in general they seem nightmarish to deal with in that regard.

So, yeah, I would say don't do it. If you're concerned about legacy, yeah, go for it. Well, they're in that car, but we have to move on. Let's talk fight announcements. Yes, the point for round two goes to my best friend. You're on board one-to-one. Good stuff. It's because I call my friend.

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Well, listen, AK is here because he's the man, but also because we have to talk about something that happened since we last spoke, AK, you did it, and it's all your fault. We're getting A.O.296, the fight that you first put out into the universe, the fight that you made happen. Without you, none of this is possible. We are getting Tony Ferguson versus Patty 2,000. Pimblit at UFC 290.

A.K. You've broken Otno forever. You've broken the program. You made this all happen. Your reaction to that fight, has your stance changed on it at all? And what has been your reaction to the collective reaction of this fight? Most people are feeling like Tony is the land going to slaughter here. While other people, fighters, ex-fighters specifically are saying,

what is everyone so mad about Tony Ferguson's going to want this dude? What do you think of the reaction of all of this? And do you want to take a little bit of a victory lap here? Michael, my best friend, stop it, please. I can't. I've been getting praise and also in all week. I guess we're a week now from the announcement, close to a week now from the announcement. I've taken so many victory laps.

I am exhausted. I am dehydrated. My muscles are aching from. At this point, I've run more victory laps than actual laps. the race. That is how much I've had a chance to celebrate this truly ridiculously

delightful matchup. Nothing has changed. If anything, seeing the discourse around it, oh my goodness, my excitement has only grown. I have only become more. I need tomorrow. Like, I've reached the point, that point

as an amendment where you get scared. You're like, oh, man, so far away from this fight happening. Like, what if so much can happen Patty has dropped out of a few fights Tony's up there in age he might drop out of a fight

you don't know there's a lot that can happen some guy it's a cutting so I will go as far I say this Mike let me say this if we're talking to fight announcements

if I had to sacrifice every other big fight that got announced and make sure that this fight happens I would do it at a I want to say this I need this more than John Jones, Steefe.

I need this more than Leon and Colby. I need this more than seeing the year of the raw dog possibly come to a random shot, Alex Andre, Pantosia. I need this. I need this bad. I would take Patty versus Tony over all this. I think it is just a perfect example of modern UFC matchmaking

slash professional wrestling booking. It's the perfect, it is the first fight of the TKO era. It's the first true fight of the TKO era. Even people who hate this fight, like absolutely hate it. Your eyes will be to the screen. You will, there's no need, if you care about Patty, that you can be a lot of the people. There's no way.

Absolutely fascinated for every second of this fight for us last. So no, Mike. My enthusiasm is with every day. And I just want to see this fight. Apologies for the technical difficulties. Our wonderful producer, Casey, is in Las Vegas, right? For us, so standby, we will battle through this like we always do. now what do you make it all we're getting patty versus tony freaking

freaking ferguson here so uh i felt you know the fight announcement here there had to bring i had to bring our guy back you know and ask him what he thought of of the contest and so i stared down and i said does tony ferguson have any chance to beat patty Pimblit or is this going to be as bad as we think it is? And I want to see if we can get this visual up there. I don't, not a hundred certain it can, but if you can, that that says outlaw not so good, which is unfortunate because that's, I agree. I agree with the magic eight ball in this instance.

Tony Ferguson is extremely washed. This is a brutal matchup. But hopefully it's the right one. You know, hopefully the eighth time is the charm. And this time when Tony loses, he can recognize that it's time to move on. You had a great run, one of the best lightweights ever. Unfortunately, you never got to fight for an undisputed title, which is a crying shame. But interim champion, that's a good career, man, and it's time to hang it up.

And hopefully this is the last one because. This is the most transparently garbage making I've ever seen in my life. We've got an end of the seven-fight losing by wind streak. There is no explanation for this other than exactly what it is on its face. And I am just hoping that everybody leaves here with as many of their faculties as possible. Can Patty Pimbley Gain anything from this? This is one that I've been thinking about because on the surface, I've grown into the matchup a little bit more. I'm like, all right, I get it.

Like, maybe Tony can win. And like, that's, it's possible. And it would be objectively one of the craziest things to happen in an already crazy year. Like, imagine a world where Tony Ferguson just kind of ends all of the Patty hype. After losing six foot row, it would just be absolutely insane. But, Jed, what does Patty gain here? Like, if he, Michael Bisping said it, I don't agree with a lot of what Michael Bisbing

says about a lot of things. But he did say something that I do absolutely agree with. I think Patty, you know, complete lose-lose situation here. Because if he loses the Tony Ferguson, he's in, he's a right moving forward. He can still fight in London and get the star treatment over there. And if he wins, I don't think he gets anything here. Like, I don't think the fans are going to be like, oh, we love this guy now. Wow, he just beat Tony Ferguson.

No, people love Tony Ferguson. He's lost six in a row. So like, what does Patty gain here? Am I crazy to think he gave? gains nothing from any results? No, he can't, so he doesn't gain much, but he does gain this. And it's that, I mean, this is, again, this is the biggest name on his resume by a mile. It's not even close.

Yes, the stage he's at in his career means that really does this add much to the resume? No, but what this does add is Tony Ferguson for his many flaws. And I have never been a particularly big Tony fan in general. the man is going to talk he's going to be a vibrant you know and personality he is going to make a build of this and this gets to be the feature fight on the final pay-per-view of the card and unlike Jared Gordon or Luigi Benjamin he or whoever else like there is a real foil here to build the fight Tony's going to say a bunch of stuff half of it's going to be insane he's going to

tweet and with all capitalized first letters of words he's going to do all that there's going to be a build here. Casual observers aren't going to care. They maybe remember from his big run, a couple losses, but they're not all six of them or whatever. And so ultimately for the casual fan, this will be a bigger thing. And mostly this is just an appeal to stardom for Patty.

Yes, this doesn't mean much meritocratically or really to the resume, but this does let him get a big rebound spot against a guy who is going to make this feel like, a moment in an event and a real promotional partner, which is something I think Patty doesn't need, but is always nice to have if you're not the only dude carrying that lift there. So I get it. It's just, it's awful, but I get it. Okay, what can Patty gain from this? Do you feel the same as Jed that he could gain something? Or I do kind of feel like he's going to lose the spot. Now, I think Patty, I do feel like Patty can

gain something if it just depends on his attitude in this fight i think he's respectful to tony before during and after and puts him over the entire time and doesn't buy because you know what tony's not going to do tony's going to sit there and be like i'm going to kill this dude he's going to say a bunch of crazy stuff like jed said but if patty can kind of keep his composure and just be respectful of tony and treat him like a legend and all of that still win i feel like he can gain something i feel like his perception can change somewhat because the perception isn't great after the Jared Gordon fight. So outside of that, can he gain anything?

You guys are barking on tree. I've been saying he has a lot to gain from this match for the beginning. I still think he does. Name value means a lot. Name value means a lot. And I get it. I see the comments. Here's the thing.

Commenters, you guys are smart MMA fans. Michael, Jed, Casey, and the truck. You guys are smart. Do not say that about our commentaries. I will say that. Our commenters are just here. Oh, Johnny Eblins or whatever. I wouldn't say they're smart.

They have the right to their opinion. All right. This is America. Or I'm in Canada, but I mean, everything's America when you think about it. What was I going with? Oh, yes. This guy has name value. This guy has name value.

There is a casual segment of fans out there who probably don't know the depths to which Tony's career has fallen. They don't. They know him as like, didn't that guy almost fight Habib? Didn't that guy? Isn't that the guy who won like 50 straight fights? Isn't that the guy who fought like Justin Gehche? He's fought all the great fighters?

This is who he is in the minds of a lot of people. Even if you don't, even if you are a smarter fan and more educated, like, oh my God, Tony has lost six straight fights. Tony is still just, he's just a much bigger name than anyone than Patty has fought. And just importantly, well, thought this fight was never going to happen. for various reasons, not necessarily because Tony's ranked so much higher above him at this point. But no one ever thought he could get a fight like this at this point. A guy who is, I don't know where people would rank him now, but recently as year, I think,

was still in the UFC's team. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. Either way, not far removed. Not far removed. So this is way ahead name-wise and rankings-wise of anyone that Patty has fought. So if we're being smart and we're really breaking it down, looking to it, and we're dealing with like the situation,

or beating Tony Ferguson in the year of our Lord, 2023, on the run of form that he's on, should not do much for him. But there's a lot of things about Patty that shouldn't work. That shouldn't, his fame is so outsized compared to his skill already. That he's always had probably more to lose than to gain in a lot of these matchups, right? At least in this case he has a name, someone that will look good on the resume. It won't look good once they click through to Tony Bergen's resume and then see where he was at when Patty beat him. But if you're just looking at Paddy's ready, you see these names and then there's Tony Bergson on there.

So superficially and from a promotional standpoint, I actually think it does a lot. It does a lot. I don't think it's a lose-lose. I think it's big win, but also big lose because, yes, if he loses to Pat, Tony, it'd be friggin hilarious. and it would and would permanently remove him from any contender conversation ever. So it's high risk, but I don't agree that it's no reward. It is actually high reward. And again, this will be one of the most talked about fights of the last quarter of the year.

It already is. I shouldn't say will be. It already is. And that doesn't happen with an opponent besides Tony Ferguson, unless they give him an actual top 15 guy. So I think he's already gained from this and will gain even more come fighting. I think A.K. inadvertently touched on an important piece of this fight, Mike, which is, I've said it many times, and I'm going to keep saying it and stand by it. 2023 is the funniest year in MMA history. And if there was ever a time for Tony Ferguson to fight somebody like Patty Pimbled, this do it because just the coup de grace, the caper on, undeniably the funniest year in the history of the, this sport would be Tony and Patty in this transparently awful fight.

And honestly, that alone might make me bet on Tony because I might never stop laughing. And I'm not a Tony fan, but it would just be unbelievably funny if it happened. And by the way, this extremely hilarious Patty loses. It doesn't end his like career as a fighter. It ends us talking about him, again, not the memory, but it ends even that glimmer of like maybe Patty can be a top 15 guy. That's over. That's over if he loses to Tony. But it doesn't end his career.

Him and his team will know how to play off it. They'll have a laugh about it. Dylan Danis hasn't fought in like three years. And he has a legion of sycophance. So I'm saying the cult of personality that I think Pimbley has, which again, I think is only growing with this matchup, it will ensure that he still has a career. So it's hilarious if he loses. It doesn't, it's, that's the other aspect of it. Financially, notoriety-wise, he can lose to Tony and still have like three more years of being considered a headlong name of the business.

That's just how M.M.A works. So I, that's, God, I love this, man. I love it. This is incredible. Listen, there's a lot more we could talk about. There's other fights that were made. We're going to talk about some other things. So we're going to award the point for round three here.

The point for round three goes to, we're making history. here. It's a 10-10 round. It's a draw, which one to one. And... Wow. Why is that not a K? The man who created this fight. He hates this matchup so... I don't think you understand how much this man has hated this. So it should be a 10-8 round for me then. Right. I feel like I just got... I just got utilized for grabbing the fence or something. It's a 10-10 round. because due to the lack of time, we have the Canello versus Charlo press conference

coming up at the top of the hour. We're going to go right into the knockout round right now. We're going to go right into the knockout round right now. And the beauty of the timing of all of this. Yes. So this is a tough fight. We've had three rounds tie extra round to determine the champion. It's a sudden victory.

Oh, now you know you've put it in terms I understand. Thank you, Jen. I knew you needed to help, AK, but I knew that this could give it a cost for you. Yes. But AK, because you were so compelling and because you did put this fight into the universe and it is all their fault or you deserve all the praise depending on which side you're on, I'm going to let you choose. Do you want to go first or do you want to go last? You get first choice. First always.

Okay. Well, luckily at this time, this is about the time I have to ask this question. And this is probably my favorite knock-around question. It created two years ago one of the greatest moments in the history of this show. And I'm hoping we can make this happen again. So, AK, because we have a lot of fight announcements, and because most of the main events and co-main events are locked up for the rest of the year and turn big title.

It's about. And I know there may be spouts. My question for you in 60 seconds are less simple. What is your bold prediction? For the fourth quarter of the UFC's calendar year, what is the bold prediction? Jedmishu famously said Giuliana Pena was going to beat Amanda Nunes and become the women's abandonweight champion, and he nailed it. What is your? Pena V. Nunes-esque bold prediction for the fourth go.

This is an easy one for me because this is a bold prediction that I've planted the seeds for, I want to say beginning of the year, but even before that. Because this fighter is a fighter who I enjoy everything about them, except for one very, very specific part of them. Their nickname. Their nickname. What I said at the beginning of the year, Mike, really write about anything. Supposed even when we do the who will be champs by the end of the year. But on a lark, flyweight, I said, Brandon, Royval.

I said, I had a feeling he's going to sneak into the title picture. Sure enough, they announced that Panujia, Royval rematch, right there, right at the end of the year. And I think Roy Val can win it, man. I love Pantosia. I think the idea of him being a one and done champ because I feel like it took him so long to get there and I don't want to be discredited if he doesn't defend it.

But it's the year, guys. I can't believe it. And this is going to carry over to 2024. 2023, the year of the raw dog. And Brandon Roybalming, one of the stars of the 2024 as well. Can't believe it. Okay, now I know what some of you were thinking, AK, that's not really bold.

Like, there is a world where we can visualize Brand Royval winning this fight. However, what makes this prediction so incredible is that on our, onto the next one, 2023 prediction show, you predicted Brennan Roy Ball would end the year as the flyaway champion. So if this happens,

this might be the first, like, non-champing kind of out-of-the-box pick that one of us has had that's come through. Plus 200. Plus 200. it might as well uh maybe get me maybe invest in a l a k perhaps invest in a magic eight ball jad this is your category this is your question you've nailed these what is the bold prediction for the remainder of 2023 in the ufc maybe you know if you want to go a little bit outside you want to get

a little crazy with this you can go so uh i wanted to say that my bold prediction was going to be Alex Pereira is going to knock out your Ere Pajko, but that's actually the betting favorite at this point, which I did not realize. So that's a shame. So I'm left with two options here, Mike, and I don't, I'm going to throw one of them out very briefly because we just talked about it. I think I'm going to talk myself into Tony Ferguson beating Patty Pimbleau. But we already talked about that. We don't want to rehash it. So with my last 35 seconds, I'm going to tell you, it's been the funniest year. It stayed the funniest year. And you know what else would be funny as hell, Mike Heck? Do you know what would be so unbelievably funny.

It's coming up next month. Saudi Arabia. There's a little boxing match going down. Tyson Fury, one of the best boxers. Heavy. Gangna who can barely throw a one, two. We just saw the training that he looks out of his depth. He's out of his element, Donnie.

And it doesn't matter because the gods are chaotic this year. Entropy, Mike. Entropy. Francis who knocks out Tyson Fury. Oh Wow If this happens, Jed You might

You're the champion forever I mean you've already Yes You've made some incredible moves already With the pain you pick The pick All of this Casey will bring you in

You're the man with the controls here You're the man who has to get ready For this press coffer Are we gonna do anything Or you just got to pick the winner Either way is for me It's been a chaos Go

what do we think here in Las Vegas? All right, sorry. Can you hear me? We sure came, buddy. The room is glassed ground. There's like 10,000. When we started this, the room was empty, and then all of the funny, like 50,000 people came in this room.

So, apologies. They were all watching. They all saw them to predict the future. But I am going to pick the winner today. Not the fans. Not my gay. full score at full power. Is because I always think it's funny when he says raw dog.

A.K. Nick. A.K. All right. That's all it takes. That's all it takes. I know my audience. Oh, man.

Well done, A.K. Congratulations, my friend. You just knew what was going to happen. You started with the Chandler Jones queeds trying to get jet off of his game. and apparently it's made off. Any final words for the people? Thanks everyone for tuning. And thank you everyone for just, I don't know,

generally being cool people and watching our shows and reading andmaidfighting.com. And yeah, thank you for, you know, handling this on site. I know it's getting crazy out there. But yeah, we should, we got a deal. We got stuff to do. And thank you just for having me off. Yes.

Jed, how do you feel a decision? Clip it. come from my mentions October or 36th or whatever day it is. When it happens, I'm the only man on wax with it. Just make sure you all remember, same with Pena.

We're going to do the same thing. Chaos, baby, let's go. We're going to hit them with the Chaos Amber. I love it. Can you ask the eight ball first at least? Can we get the eight ball? No, no. You can't ask the eight ball in this one.

I got this. Oh, no. I got that. All right, Casey, you can hit the eggs of music. We are done. I appreciate everyone. Stick it with us with the technical difficulties back next week. We'll be less chaotic here on the program.

We'll have some things to talk about, I'm sure. We will get you ready for UFC Vegas 80 and so much more. So for A.K. I'm Mike Hack. Like A.K. I appreciate you watching all the shows, listening to all the programming. I'm here to tell you, there's more to come. Just stay with FAAfighting.com.

Love y'all. Into the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.