MMA Fighting - BTL | Poirier's Last Chance vs. Makhachev at UFC 302, Strickland vs. Costa, Nick Diaz Return Set

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Dustin Poirier will step into the UFC octagon this Saturday in what will likely be his final chance to become an undisputed world champion. To pull it off, he'd have to defeat the incredible Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 302. Can Poirier do it, and if so, what happens to the top of the lightweight division? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the Makhachev vs. Poirier headliner, the divisional landscape based on who wins, along with where either would rank all time at 155 with their hand being raised. Additionally, they'll talk the co-main event between Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa, the stakes for both guys involved, Dana White announcing that Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler will have a press conference in Dublin next week ahead of their UFC 303 fight, the addition of Ian Machado Garry vs. Michael Page, and Carlos Ulberg stepping in to face Jamahal Hill on the June 29 card, Nick Diaz's return set for UFC Abu Dhabi, along with Marlon Vera vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, and Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Chiesa for the August event, and more. Host Mike Heck will be joined by MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew to discuss those topics and answer your questions. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew 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 reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco 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 two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. MAFighting Studios, this is Between the Links.

And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand-new of BTL. We are back on another Thursday. We are on the eve of the eve of UFC 302, which we'll obviously talk about today. We'll Dustin Porre finish the story against Islam Makachev. We'll answer that question and all of your questions on the program this week. Q&A edition. We tried to do this once a month. Today just happens to be that day. And it just happens to be a day where there's a lot to talk about. And no, it will not be another bizarreo episode of the program. to answer your questions.

Mr. Hot take himself, Mr. No Gray area from M.Mafiting.com, the gambling guru himself, the Baron of Boop, Jed Michoud. Jed, how we doing, my friend? Boop. I should have put boop on the board. Doing good. Just got back from the dentist, so half of my face, I can't quite feel it. So glad we're not doing competition.

I wouldn't be at my best. But unlike many of the losers and cowards that populated them in the, I would come and give my game face anyway. Like I wouldn't tell you about this if this were a competitive BTL. I would take that to my grave because I'm not here about excuse. I'm here about results.

But fortunately, we're not even doing that. This is about the fans today. So you guys can get my half best. Well, I mean, that's all we can ask for, Jed. We'll let the questions compile. We'll answer throughout the show. E. Casey Lyde and our fearless producer will join us as well.

but before we get to the peeps, Uncle Dana White dropped a little bit of a bombshell yesterday and I wanted to get your reaction to this. We didn't get the chance to do an emergency pod or anything of that nature yesterday. Dana White right at the start of the UFC 302 Media Day, jumps on social media and announces the remainder of the main card for UFC Abu Dhabi, which is going down August 3rd.

We already knew what the main event was. Corey Sanhagan versus Umar Nermann. Magamatov, big one 135 pounds. Over this past weekend, we confirmed that Cheeto Vera is fighting Davis and Figurato on that card. And then Dana comes on and announces three additional fights. One is McKenzie Dern versus Lupi Godinez. That's why everybody's here.

Of course, they want the reaction of that one, although that is a great fight. We also found out, co-main event, five rounds, the return of Stockton's own Nick Diaz, as he will take on Vicente Lucke. It was also announced that Tony Ferguson heading back to 170 to fight Michael Kiesa. So Jed, let's start with

the name that made all the headlines, the announcement that kind of shook everybody up. Nick Diaz is back. It was quite the road to get to this card and to get to this opponent as Ariel Hawani laid out yesterday. But now he's fighting Vicente Luque, who's on a tough little skid right now.

He looked really bad against Joaquin Buckley. Nick Diaz back versus Facente Lucque five rounds in Abu Dhabi? What do you think? Nick Diaz army? It is super weird. There are obviously a bunch of like immediate thoughts that come to mind. I think the first one that everyone had is just why? Like what?

Who is this for? Even the most ardent Diaz fans, I can't imagine are like too stoked about this. because of the reticence we had with the Robbie Lawler fight. The Lawler fight, Nick hadn't fought in like six, seven years. And we were all like, this is not ideal. He didn't seem himself. It felt like, oh, maybe this is a cash grab. I don't know.

And then he goes out there and just kind of gets worked over by Lawler. And so we're like, okay, but at least he didn't like get seriously injured. And we can end here and that's fine. now we're going another step of bad and you know it's it's been not six years so i guess when when was the lawler fight like 2020 2020 so it's been like three or four years um but instead of getting aging Robbie lawler who's there we get Vicente luke who is also aging it's absolutely true but is coming off like a good relative win over Hafeiard dos angios not that long ago and is still like probably at a better stage of

his career than Robbie was at that point in time. And so, I mean, the primary thing is just concern. What is this about? And then you just sort of go down the list of other things. I think the next thing my mind jumped to was there's a chance that this works out well because you remember when Nate Diaz was doing his schedule for his last fight was against Hamza and we're like, this is really dumb. I don't know why we're doing.

And then some random nonsense happened the day before the fights. And suddenly we get it swapped into Nate gets to fight Tony. And, oh, we landed on the right outcome, even if our process was truly, truly terrible. Well, same sort of things happening with similar players as well, because Tony Ferguson getting booked against Michael Keisa. The more obvious and correct booking of these four bouts at 170 pounds is Tony Ferguson, who's lost seven or eight in a row against Nick Diaz, who hasn't won in over a decade. And then the two guys who are still ranked in Kaysa and Lukai

just match up with each other. And so hopefully some nonsense happens, and maybe that's where we get. Because if those were the matchups announced, it would still be weird. It would be odd just for Nick to be returning at all and for Tony to keep getting fights like high, relevant fights. But instead, what we got to.

is Tony fighting a ranked welterweight coming off eight losses in a row, and Nick fighting a ranked welterweight, and he hasn't won in a decade. So super weird, and we can go into it more. But Mike, is that kind of how you felt too? I think the first reaction was like, what? Abu Dhabi, Nick Diaz. And then I think I had to digest that first before I thought about Vicente Lucque. And I think I had sort of the same reaction.

you had like if Tony's on this car why not put these two guys together and then I realized it's just not going to happen at least at this moment so then I thought about it is this is this as scary as social media is making it out to be and I don't know because of just how Vicente luke has looked lately he's not the same dude that went hammering tongs with Mike Perry he just doesn't seem like that caliber fighter anymore maybe he's on the downslide he's obviously had a lot going on with the head and the brain. And then Ariel jumps on the M.A. hour yesterday and reacts to the news and kind of lays out how this all played out.

So I want to kind of turn this to you. Push to fight GSP. We knew there was zero chance that was happening. Then he pushed to fight Colby Covington. Colby obviously wasn't going to be ready. I think after all the interviews I've had with Colby over the years, I think he would take that fight in five seconds. Then MVP, then Kevin Holland, most of those.

would have taken place at UFC 303 if Nick had his druthers, but in the end, we land on Vicente Lucay. So let's take GSP out of the equation. Never going to happen. Colby, I would say, would be possible because that's the kind of fight Colby would take, prize fighting Colby. And then there's MVP and Kevin Holland.

So is this the best option of like the ones that he pushed for, I guess? Like if he couldn't get, we knew he wasn't going to get GSP. Colby was maybe a bridge too far, but I could see Colby pushing for that. Then there's MVP and Kevin Holland. Is this a better result than MVP or Kevin Holland? This is the second best of the listed offers, which I'm terribly saddened when Ariel started talking. I was like, none of these are good. I don't know why we're in this realm at all, at least with Robbie, it made sense.

Like, the law of the fight, we had concerns, but it at least made sense. It was a very understandable booking. Nick Diaz getting any actual ranked dude is insane. Him getting Colby Covington is truly insane. Of course, Colby would take it. Why wouldn't he? But why would the UFC entertain such things? I actually think the GSP idea would make a ton of sense because screw it.

Why not? You know, like GSP's not retired. Some people might want, like if you were to fight, you know, again, people are like, oh, let's let him fight land. I don't give a shit about that. GSP is well outside of his prime years. We don't need to do that dance. We don't need to see if he can beat Joaquin Buckley.

Probably still can actually. Like, no, it would be fine for them to do a weird legends fight if you could convince GSP to come back, but I guess he doesn't want to do it. And so of those, Luca is probably the best one. Still bad outcome. He's like, Mike, what happens when Nick wins?

I'm not saying win. If Nick wins. I don't think he's going to win. It seems unlikely he does. But, like, if he wins, what are we even doing at that point? Four-year-old Nick Diaz beats Washed for Sinti-Luke and now is, like, will fight Joaquin Buckley next or some weird shit. It's just there's no point to this fight other than the obvious.

And the obvious point, and I had this conversation with, it was John Nash yesterday on Twitter. I don't remember if it was him or not, but that sounds right. the point of this fight is transparent and clear you know fighters can never retire they don't have it in them nick being one of those maybe nick wants money i don't know about that can't speak to that but the ufc wants this fight because their tp rights deal's coming up and so they they haven't been building new stars to the extent that they've ever built new stars and so they are going to bring back all of the people that they can with any name value to get them over to juice those numbers so when they renegotiate with ESPN and at this point probably with multiple streaming services.

I suspect that this will not be exclusive to SPN moving forward, that they will do a bifurcated TV rights deal split amongst multiple properties. They want to have the best numbers they can. And so they're going to drag Nick Diaz's ass out of semi-retirement to give them a bump in numbers. And that's really the only master that this is serving is a transparent, capital, ballistic pursuit of ratings. And I'm sure it'll work, but it's, it's a weird fight. And I don't, I don't, I don't care about this fight, which I think is the worst part of it.

My, my instant reaction was not to clutch my pearls. Nick's going to die. It was like, you and whatever. Like, that doesn't do anything for anyone. So it's just a weird fight, man. Yeah. My, my other reaction was, this is Abu Dhabi trying to stick it to, Saudi Arabia being like, oh yeah, you want to do Whitaker versus Hamza, you want to put this card

together? We got Nick freaking Diaz and Tony Ferguson on the car, which may not mean the same to them as it means to us, but still, Nick is a giant name. And by the time we get to August 3rd, we're going to be freaking intrigued to see what this man looks like. If you followed him on Instagram, dude looks in tremendous condition. He looks in a good spot. I think he's out of Cali right now. I think he's in Houston training. Seems in a really good place. Ariel sort of confirmed that himself. So I guess let's see, right?

Sure. I mean, benefit of the doubt, we'll see what he looks like there. And Luca is washed as well. So he at least has an opportunity to come in and maybe not look bad. I just struggled to think that this was the ideal matchup for Nick. Like just there has to have been something more sensible than what we've gone with. but it's fine. And if it does juice casual interest, then that's what the UFC cares about in there.

And maybe there is that. Maybe Abu Dhabi feels a little bit better about getting won over on Saudi. I think that the Abu Dhabi court is better on paper. But like, it certainly, well, it certainly has more names on paper. But like, I'm not counting the Fergus and Kiyasa fight is good either. So it's not like the of the like five fights we have. have two of them i think are bad so i don't know if it's there yet but yeah it's we'll see is the only real answer here my other reaction to this new drag all those condens ass back out to fight

nix wouldn't hate that either would not hate that either tony ferguson versus michael kiesa i do not mind this there's a little bit of a story here these two guys are booked to fight each other How do you mind this? I mean, no, I mean this with the utmost respect to Michael Keessa, because I like him a lot. But Michael Keessa is not in the title hunt whatsoever. Yes, he does have a ranking, but as we've learned over the years, the UFC rankings don't mean a whole hell of a lot. It actually doesn't. I just looked this up.

He lost the ranking. I thought he was still holding his ranking. I thought he was still at the back end, but Kevin Holland has taken 15. All right. So even better. There is a story there. I don't think Kiesa has many fights left. I'd like to believe Tony Ferguson doesn't have a lot of fights left,

but you never know that that guy. And these last bunch of fights that Tony's been booked in, including the Paddy fight, which was one of the most venomous bookings I can remember. People had all sorts of opinions about it. We just felt like, oh, man, like Tony could get hurt in these fights. And again, with the utmost respect to Michael Kiesa, Kies's not really a hitter.

He's not a guy that's just going to batter Tony Ferguson and leave him a bloody mess. He might take him down and tap him. which is okay, but I feel somewhat okay because I don't think Tony Ferguson is just going to get absolutely brain melted out there, if that makes sense. So I felt somewhat relieved with the booking, not that I think he's going to win the fight, but at least I feel like if Tony loses,

he's not going to get badly hurt, if that makes sense. I mean, I don't share that same confidence just because we, We know what, like, we know what this fight is going to be. Kaysa is going to instantly take him down and then work him over on top until such time as he finds a submission or just runs it out. Like, it just is who Tony is at this point in time. No, he won't get actual punted out of the cage like Michael Chandler did to him. But like, this is probably just going to look a lot like Charles Oliver or the Benny Darius fights. And that's fine.

Like, that's better than getting punted out of the cage, I guess. But what, like, what are we doing? Why are we still entertaining this? I understand Tony Ferguson is going to keep fighting because he wants to keep fighting. And I'm not saying he shouldn't. I mean, I don't, if I knew him, personally, I would strongly encourage him to stop. But, you know, this is how he makes money. Who am I to tell man how to, how to, you know, put food on the table?

The UFC doesn't have to be involved in this business. He lost eight in a row. Just cut him. Just cut him. Hey, man, if you want to keep him. fighting, that's terrific. You can go somewhere else, you can go to BKFC, you can do whatever you want, but we're not going to let you lose nine in a row and then 10 in a row. Like what, at what point have we had enough with this venture? And so to do it, and then sure, if the, if the bar too clear

is let's let him lose softly, then I don't know what fucking world we put ourselves in where that's what we need to be okay with. Like, it's fine. I said, I think the last time, he fought, I was like, Patty's not going to do what needs to be done. And they need to beat him into submission. Because he's not going to ever think that he's had enough. And so you need to put someone out there who is going to club him into retirement because he physically has to reckon with the reality of the situation. Case is not going to do that.

But he is going to hang 3026 on him. And so it's just like, what are we doing? either cut this man, let him fight Jim Miller just because, or put him in there in Shavcott, and let's be done. Like that, I would, I am not even kidding, kidding in the slightest when I say, Shavcott's not getting a title fight yet for whatever reason. Book him against Tony. I would like that more than Kiyaha, not because I have a bloodlust, but because that might

drive the point through Tony's head. you are not here kid you're done you had a great run go home so if it's not if it's not shopcott or i guess b j pin because then we can just see who has the biggest losing streak in ufc history i don't i feel awful about it and i hate that fight much more than i hate the nick ds fight what if tony ferguson goes out there and just darses up micha yes and taps them are you just going to like ah no okay no No, because my process is 100% correct, even if the result happens oppositely, because here's the problem. No one should want him to do that. Shaheen, Ashadi, you know, colleague, friends, wonderful man, huge Tony Ferguson fan.

He's been going through it the last few years because Tony has lost eight in a row. Tony's fans shouldn't want him to win because he is not going to go out like Robbie Lawler. Oh, I knocked down Nico Price. I'm outy. He's going to be like, look, I just beat Michael Keesa, who was ranked six months ago. I still got it. Now at Welterweight, I'm going to make a run. You shouldn't want that for him because he's not.

He's not going to make a run. So you should have hoped that Keesa beats the hell out of him. But he won't. It'll be the exact same thing that's been happening. Tony will have like one moment of success and he will latch on to that internally. If I could just do that one thing all the time, I would be good again. But he can't. And so he's going to keep going until he's 12 in a row.

And Dana White's finally like, look, I can't even pretend to do this anymore. You're out. Fair. You heard the doorbell. FedEx is here. I don't know why they ring the doorbell and just drop the box and leave. I don't understand that. Just leave the box.

Just let you know. Also, I was incorrect. He's only lost seven in a row. Oh, yes. Okay. Seven fights in a row. Well, that's that's August 3rd. Sanhagen, Umar, five rounds.

Nick Diaz, Pacifica, Luka, five rounds, Cheeto Vera, Davis Figurato, which also went down. I love that fight. Joko. Tony's not beating Keesa. I'm so sorry for you. Like, I know that you desperately want it. He is not. The man can't stop a double leg anymore.

Not that he ever was like that graded it anyway. I was always super convinced to be able to have throttled him. But like he can't. Benile Darius walked him like a. dog. You think Michael Keeso, who is a much bigger man, is not going to do the exact same thing? We will find out. Cheeto versus Figgy. He gets a gun, Guadinias, Tony Ferguson, Michael Giesza. That's the main card for UFC Abu Dhabi. I don't know what we're talking about. Tony retired in 2020, Shaheen.

It's right. It's the right answer. Sheen, good work. God bless, Shaheen. All right. Let's bring in Casey. Let's answer the questions. There may be more questions in regards to these fights being announced, but there he is. E. Casey Liden. Wait, is Tony actually 40 now? Is that true? Yep.

Yeah. So the U.C.'s big announcement for Abu Dhabi was two 40-year-olds? This sport. Man, what a company. Is there anything to be said about almost like the Buckley County, O'Connor, in the sense that any conversation is going. conversation because we didn't talk about Dern Loopy and that's a freaking awesome fight, but we don't care because that fight makes sense. But these fights don't make sense.

So that's the fight we're talking about. Is there anything into the promotional thinking of that? This is a like promotionally, this is fine. Like there the idea of promotionally is just get two names on and thing. That's fine. This is morally questionable and somewhat useless. Like promotionally it's fine. Who cares?

They got Nick Diaz fighting. It doesn't matter who he's fighting. They got him fighting. I guess the big question too, also. Was there an answer? Why wasn't Tony versus Nick just booked? That's a much better question to me. It's like a big overall.

And I don't, I honestly don't know the answer. My guess, based on what Ariel said, is that Nick didn't want to fight a dude on an eight-fight losing streak. And so, they don't. were just, no, my baby brother just beat his ass, and he's lost eight in a row. I want to fight the number four Welterweight in the world, Colby Covington or whatever, because Nick's a lunatic, but that would be my guess. All right. 209, baby, 209.

All right. What are the peeps talking about? Gareth, Jed, you're a legend. You literally make my days. Multiple days for Gareth. How about that? Look at this. Back to vacuum.

back-to-back compliments. Wow. Jamique, the dam on show was great. Love you guys. Some damn love. The damn on jail was great for me personally because when I put it out there,

both A.K. and Shaheen were like, why? Why? I was like, just shut up and do it. And then it was like, oh, it was actually fun. Of course.

Those guys are weird. I mean, to be fair, when we went back to watch the fights, they were miserable. Shale had three good fights in his whole career. But that's not why he's great. It's not.

It's not at all. All those shenanigans inside the cage, that's whatever, you know. Watching the promos was a joy. Yep. Yes. Oh, my God. His press conference with Tito when he fought Bellator is still, that is the thing I'm having my favorite press conference ever.

He's so good. It is not my favorite. favorite. It was so funny. It was so funny. Okay. All right. Baby Nuts is the greatest thing that's ever happened. That's the greatest single line, but as far as the whole, okay, well, this competition, it's up there. I mean, that pressure lasted for three minutes because of the Baby Nuts.

They almost got in a fight. It was awesome. R.RP. All right. One more super chat. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no.

But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of food. Fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.ca.

Jayfish, when Dustin KOs Islam and he retires after, Who will be fighting for the vacant lightweight belt? Islam versus Armin 2. Also, will Minnesota come back against Dallas? All right. Will Minnesota come back against Dallas, Jed? No. But too big a hole.

I thought that they'd have more life than they have early, but somebody, it might have been Chase Serrano, who tweeted at the start of the series. The problem with this series is that there are two closers on the court, and neither of them are on Minnesota. And it's like, yeah, just they just don't, they're not good. They're not there to win in crunch time in the way that Luke is at this point. So they're not coming back.

But credit on them still scrapping, love aunt. And it's dope. It would be the funniest thing ever if they did. Although I want Dallas. I want them. I want Kyrie Irving to show his ass up to the TD Garden and just get womped on in front of 15,000 people. Because it's going to be glorious. Celtics are going to put the boots on who.

they play and I hope it's Dallas. God, I hope it's Dallas. Please let it happen. Let them just close it out. I want them so badly. That's who I want to play in the finals. It made me a lot happier if Minnesota won this series just because I can't, well, it would be the best and I stopped being an NBA fan when literally the day the Hawks traded Luca for Tray Young, which to my mind was an abomination at the moment and sure has worked out to be an abomination. over the time. And so the more Luca has success, the unhappy I am about basketball in general.

So it would be better if the wolves won for me. But I don't believe they're going to. I am certainly something that you're going to win. Let's go to the other question. We'll get there step by step. Casey, I'll ask you first. If Dustin Porrier goes out and knocks out his al-Machachev and does the thing, pulls a Michael Bisbing, pulls off the big upset, wins the title,

checks off that final box in his career. Does he retire? Or do you think he keeps going? I think he retires. I think he retires. I think, yeah. I think he, yeah.

I think, no chance. I think he's going to. But there is, look, could he fight Connor again? Sure. Zero percent he retires in the ring.

Okay. That's fair. Why do you feel that way, though? Because I think there's a chance he does not fight again. Retiring in the ring takes away the possibility of fighting Connor for the belt. And I guarantee you that if Connor beats Michael Chandler 303 and Dustin beats Islam, they will 100% run that back for a fourth time for the belt if both men are holding if Dustin is not retired. So it would be career malpractice to retire that evening.

you can retire later go home enjoy the belt just do the stock answer of man i finally accomplish my dream i'm not even thinking about what comes next right now give me some time to celebrate this moment and i'll get back to you and in whatever 34 days or whatever the hell it is Connor knocks out then you can dial up data and be like hey let's do it i we don't even need to say the words because you know what i'm thinking the same way we'll just do that and then if Michael Chandler wins, you can retire because that's fine. Like you're not fighting Armant-Sauruquean, you know, like that that would be ridiculous. So basically, Connor or nothing if he wins?

Maybe not or nothing, but per like, I'm sure that they could find something else that would juice it enough to make it, but it would be clinically insane of him to turn down championship money on a, like the championship steps on a Connor McGregor fourth fight title fight. tied off right like that would just be that thing's going to sell 1.5 million and he gets a cut it would be lunacy to do that i think there is a zero percent chance if he beats islam he retires that night he retires i think the UFC would try to run back Islam i really do i think they would try to go there i think they would try to run back Islam if connor doesn't win but what if connor if connor has the choice because we might even have to wait right Connor wins june 29 that's awesome

but if Leon Edwards beats Bilal Muhammad, don't you think Connor would find more intrigue in fighting Leon for the third belt than fighting Guston again? I don't think anyone's ever found intrigue in fighting Leon Edwards. I'm bored just saying the words Leon Edwards right now. I understand that lens, but if you're Connor and you've already accomplished...

You moved that one for me to put it down. Yeah, I think we all would prefer one of these. I understand what you're saying. Like, I don't, I assume not in large part because like I don't, he just wouldn't beat Leon like at all. Whereas like he probably doesn't beat Dustin either. What makes more money? What makes more many? What makes more many?

Yeah, Dustin. I'm pretty sure it's Justin. Yeah. I can't be 100% certain because maybe the Conner fights was a third belt. But I think it's Dustin. He's a much bigger star than Leon. Yeah, I don't think it's. And they have so much history, too.

Like, the promo you can do with Connor saying abhorrent things to Dustin Porte, his wife with his leg broken. The story you can tell, I think that that just makes more money and that makes more sense for Connor. It's a real story, too. The ship is sailed. You don't believe him? No.

I believe him in the same way that I believe Dana when he said the ship is sailed. And three days later was like, the ship turned around and came back to port. It's actually now he didn't say come back to port because I don't think he knows that how that war he's like oh ship turned right back around and sailed back the same shit like yeah ship went reverse yeah yeah like if he does there's a zero percent chance he fights arm and like why would he there's no that would be so dumb so so so essentially you're talking like for dustin to come back with a victory he has to be guarantee like

what 25 million around there i would think because that's what you i think you'll i think he would be making if he fought Connor as a champion? Sure. I mean, yeah, 20 million sounds about right. We're talking 20 plus million, yeah. I think that, yeah, basically that's the number, I would think, for Dustin. I won't say that it's a zero percent chance that he would fight like someone else or run it back with Islam because he is still a competitor and like any pay-per-view points as the champion and as a popular dude is going to be $10 million, right? Like he is going to make $5, $6, $7, $8 million for any title defense.

And I know he is not hurting for money, but like, there's still $5 million. It's still $5 million, you know, to do the thing that you love and are good at. And by winning the belt, his career will be cemented top three or four lightweight all time, top five lightweight all time, certainly. And so maybe he does just say, screw it, I'll fight whoever. And in that case, it would be Islam. but I think the overwhelming likelihood is that he attempts to fight Connor if Connor wins. Yeah.

I think you'd actually get the UFC's blessing to retire. And he may be the only guy because of the second part of this question. They have a built-in vacant title fight, ready to go. They could do Islam versus Armin and Abu Dhabi for the vacant belt. Easy peasy. Done. I mean, I guess that is what you do unless Connor wins and Connor wants to fight Islam. Again, I want to be.

really clear for all the comments. I'm not saying what should happen. I'm saying the realities of life. Obviously, Connor should be nowhere near any title fight of any kind, but that's not the world. So, like, if,

if Connor would fight Islam, 100% the UFC would do Connor versus Islam versus Islam versus Islam versus is arm and one of those is a big event and one of them is not. Yeah. Let's be perfectly clear here.

If Connor McGregor signs a new extension with the UFC before he fights Michael Chandler, if he wins, he's fighting for any belt he wants. Yeah. You can fight 5570. He can go fight DDP if he wants. Whatever he wants to do, if he beats Michael Chandler and signs a new deal, they will let it happen. Connor would fight Tom Aspidall.

If dollars makes sense, let's go. With the UFC create a, Judge's right. Would the UFC create a 65 weight class for Connor? Oh, no. Real quick. So that's the bridge too far. That's the one bridge is too far. I'm just saying.

Because we're saying Connor gets anything he wants. Connor gets anything he wants. I'm just throwing that out there. No, they would just make a different, they'd make the key lobbied for it. They'd make the Connor belt or whatever. It was fine. Which honestly would be fine to do. Make the counter belt.

Who cares? The red panty title? Let's go. Can you imagine Islam versus Armin for the vacant belt would be. It would be. It would be the best, like, paper title fight of all time. Like, yes, and it's the champion and we get it, but also one of these dudes is coming off a loss.

Like, Dustin winning just mucks up everything in the worst way. Islam Armin II is the fight I need to see the most. Like, as a just a fan of high-level martial arts, that's the fight I've seen. I have decided that I'm less interested. Like, I want to see it. it'll be a good fight. I watched a ton of tape for Poy, a Machachev 2 or whatever for this fight.

And I left thinking, man, Armin is just, Armand's in a really tough position in his career. There is not a dude better suited to ruin his life than his Lamakachem is. We'll see. We shall see.

All right, thank you, James. His whole year, like his entire career, every day training to beat better Armand Sarukian in Habib. It's just, it's so tough for Armin, because I think he beats everybody

else, but he doesn't beat Islam. It's so tough for him. All right. Do, do, do. Super chats is fly through them. Kenny, do you think Strickland at minus 270 is too high, Jed? 100%.

100% too high. I am not willing to commit to Paul O'Costa getting the win this weekend. But I really thought about it. It's hard to judge because both men's career have been so weird. Whereas like when Islam and Dustin fight, I know exactly what's about to happen with both of them. Like we just have so much data to be like, hey, here's how they fight.

Here's how they will likely match up, et cetera, et cetera. Strickland's career is just odd because he was kind of like a middling middleway and then randomly beat the hell out of the second greatest middleweight of all time. And like, you know, arguably beat DDP. I did not score it for him, but it's not wrong to say that he should still be the middleweight champion. And Paulo Costa beat the hell out of a bunch of people who aren't very good and then has been quite competitive against high level fighters with one or two hiccups. Stylistically, I think Costa is a really tough matchup for Strickland.

And he might still get by him, like right? Like, he still has a lot of tools, but Costa is going to, is not one who backs up in the same way that Strickland wants to come forward. Costa rips the body and like Strickland's whole thing is keeping his head safe with his, you know, weird Shelley defense. And so like ripping the body, being the guy who's getting, whoever is the one backing up will lose and Costa is going to keep him backing up. Strickland doesn't hit that hard and Costa is exceedingly durable. Like this can just be a really grimy fight. for Strickland. And so minus 270 is a big favorite for a dude who, like, I think this is a coin flip,

frankly. If this is a three-round fight and Strickland is minus 270, I would bet on Paula Costa in a second, 100%. But the fact that it's five rounds, I truly believe, like with all angles I've looked at this fight, if Sean Strickland doesn't get knocked out in the first seven and a half minutes of this fight, he's going to cruise. he's going to cruise. I think he's going to grapple a lot in this fight.

I think he's going to surprise some people. Just talking to Eric Nixon and stuff. And I know that Sean is not the guy. Sean is not typically the guy that listens to the coaching and listens to game plans 100%. He's a little willy-nilly in there. But I do think it's, I do think the grappling has been implanted in his head a little bit. He's very good.

He's very underrated in that department. So I do think he's, he might not use it for. five rounds, but he might use it early just to kind of throw Paul off his rhythm, possibly get him tired, and then Strickland can do Strickland thing. So I do, I actually have a bet on Sean Strickland in this fight. I took the points minus five and a half. I think he will win pretty comfortably here. I could be wrong. He could get caught. Could get 10-8, it could be maybe a 10-8 first round. Costa lands a big shot and drops him or something, but I feel like five rounds just suit Strickland

way better in this situation. Has Strickland ever, has he gotten beaten up in early rounds and come back to win? Or is he kind of, once he gets the lead, he kind of keeps the lead? I mean, once he gets the lead, he usually keeps the lead, yes. Yeah, because you're talking about the five rounds. Oh, he'll have to get through the fire. No, Policostos. It might take a 10-8 round to come back and win the fight.

But, like, I'm trying to imagine Strickland coming back from a beating. And I'm sure he can. He's a tough guy. but I was just wondering, am I forgetting a fight where, like, he's kind of... Not that I can think that he came back from a beating. I will say that they're, what I didn't mention and kind of, I'm unsure of the five rounds, like it feels like it should favor Strickland. I'm not sure it will favor him that much.

Just because, like, there's also a really clear line through, like a through line for the people who have beaten Sean Strickland other than Alex Pereira. And it's like, if you don't think Jared, Canoneer beat him, that's fine. I don't think I scored that fight for Canonier either. Canoneer and DDP beats John Strickland in the exact same way. They just throw a lot harder than that dude does, and they throw at a comparable rate of volume. And if you're throwing harder punches at the same rate, like the math just favors you.

And Costa is exactly that dude. He throws a lot harder and throws roughly the same as Strickland. So like I, like you said, if this were three rounds, I'd actually pick Costa with some confidence. As like I am interested to see how Strickland's gas tank is is an advantage in rounds four and five, but he might already be too far behind at that point on the judges. I think we're heading for Slii City here, man. We'll see what happens.

It's going to be a good fight. It's going to be a good fight. And Paul Costa can make a lot of noise here. Yeah. Do or die. Paul Cost's title chances, that's for sure. that's the thing that's weird if costa wins he's like is immediately back in the title picture and if strickland wins like he is or loses he's suddenly like pretty far outside of a title shot small margins man howdy asks title fight for strickland with a win on saturday I think it's pretty unlikely.

If Robert Whitaker beat Tom Zachimae F, then yes. I think actually it's the, I don't think it matters. I think the winner that's going to get there, right? I think they'd run Whitaker against, I think they'd run Whitaker DDP 2 over Strickland DDP 2. Over Strickland? It gets a really impressive win from from Strickland, maybe, but I think they just let Whitaker do it because Whitaker's you know

Whitaker is maybe not as popular as Sean Strickland is right now but coming off two long or two wins at that point he's got the coastal win he just beat Hamzot who is the anointed one I think they'd let Whitaker get it or maybe frankly at that point they just do Whitaker Strickland as a true no doubt about a title eliminator because Jared Canaaner is back for reasons that remain You said his name.

No one mentioned him. Because he's fighting next weekend. We have to say his name. I had no idea. I had no idea. Thanks for reminding me, jerk. He's fighting next weekend and one of the worst cards put on paper in some time.

You just love talking about him. No one in the comments has mentioned him. And just, I'm just like, Jericho, why's no one talking about him? I think the answer is no, is my guess.

I want to say. To the Strickland getting a title fight with a win. I want to say no, too, but because for promotional reasons, I feel the UFC love Sean Strickland as a top contender, but not as champion. Ooh, that is, that's a reasonable take. I like that a lot. It's a really good one. Yeah, he's a great, super popular.

He's a main event, whatever, on a pay-per-view, but you don't want to be your champion. From just a, you know, UFC PR perspective, but you'll still make you lots of money, you know, top contender. And if Homsop beats Whitaker, then is a zero best chance. They're just doing that. Casey, Homsup versus AC or DDP is what they're doing. Let me ask you this, Casey. Who has more pressure on them to win this fight?

Is it Strickland? Because there are some people like, I get DMs with like heck of a morning questions that I try to get to. And someone had asked me, if Sean Strickland loses, does it nullify him winning the belt in the first place? Because that's him losing the DDP. and then losing to Paul O'Costa. Does that, I'm not going to call it like a farcical question,

but that's just how the question was phrased. Or is Apollo Costa who has just been sort of up and down, this will be the first time in, what, six years that he's fought twice in a calendar year, and we're getting him twice by June 1st, which is insane. He's popular. He's had his problems with the UFC from a negotiation standpoint for his contract.

He is popular, but that window is closing on a guy like Paul. So who has more pressure in your opinion? Who needs this one more? Based on the betting lines, I'm going to go Strickland. Needs it more. Just because to prove that Izzy fight wasn't a, basically a fluke. And I'm still not sure if it was or not, honestly. John Strickland kind of still confuses me as a fighter.

I just don't understand how he's this good. but he clearly is very good and beating Costa will kind of I guess more cement it within least for my own opinion that all right Strickland is legit like he is legit like top two, top three

middle weight no matter what you know because right now the Izzy fight still just seems weird if you rewatch it it's just a weird fight it doesn't really make sense but it happened and he won so yeah that's why I think Strickland the more pressures on Strickland for this fight

And the fans obviously still feel this way. That strickening is demand with that betting line. So it'll be, yeah. Yeah. I think it's cost up, but mostly because like if this is a real, you guys are kind of. You guys are. This is a real sport. Like if this is real and this is based on merit and the best guy fights the best guy,

then it's Strickland all the way, 100%. But because Strickland is so popular, he's a guy. I don't know if like the Strickland fans will jump off. the train like they do most other like fans do with most other fighters maybe they will maybe they'll come on twitter and just be like fuck this guy i don't see that happening because of just the following that he has now and when you have that kind of a following and you're still fun and people still like you you're never really out of the conversation and sean is one of those guys who i feel at least brings a boost to almost every card he fights on.

And it started from the Alex Pereira fight and it continues on now. So I feel like he's never really out of it unless he goes on a Tony Ferguson run. But if he loses this fight, yeah, it's going to suck. It's going to sting and he might have a little bit more work to do. But he's still a winner two away from getting right back in just because of who he is and how popular he is right now. I think it's true. I mean, I get.

I totally get it. I, well, for honestly, the reason. reasons you just said or why, like we wrote about this this week, Mike and I argued for Strickland, because like we know what Paulo Costa on losses looks like. We know how the, you know, the MMA community reacts to him. It's what we currently have. He's still a popularish fighter. People are interested in what he is doing. He has enough personality to make things happen. I am deeply unsure of what Sean Strickland off loss, it looks like, as an MMA entity. Because, and there's a lot of this in speculation, I don't particularly think that people

care for Sean Strickland because of his fighting style, which is largely not the most interesting to watch. And I don't think they care for him because he is like a captivating personality, though I do think that he has something there. I mostly think people have gravitated towards him because of the stuff that he says is reinforcing their individual beliefs. And that's fine. I'm not judging that as a way to go through life.

Do you? But that is a much more fickle level of fame and popularity because you don't want some loser to reinforce your beliefs. You don't give a shit about it. It's why Jacob Volkman is not, you know, still an entity in the MMA space because he lost a bunch and no one gave a shit that he was saying the stuff that they liked. It is like winning his part and parcel. of that kind of fame, and I am deeply skeptical whether Sean Strickland is a guy who people will like regardless of the outcomes. And so I think everyone is more significant to him. Either way, we'll always have UFC 293, one of the funniest nights of the United States.

It's so much fun. Best post-fight show of all time. It was incredible. It's the only regret I have in MMA media is not going with my heart and picking Sean Strickland to win that fight. because God, I would be, we'd have a tattooed on my forehead. I'd be the most insuffable man to have picked Sean O'Malley

and then Sean Strickland, just the two Shons carrying me to glory in 2023. Man. And DDP, God, 2023 would have been such a good year for me if I had just had the Wavos. All right. Let's keep it going.

Next super chat. Chase in the super chat. I'm not going to put your super chat on screen but it's talking it's talking about it boston and he says f boston just telling you the mike but i'm not going to put that no too vulgar hey they hate us because they hate us because they ain't us they hate us they hate us because they ain't us all right but we got we got a super chat right actually in defensive chase we hate you because you say things like that it's just the worst phrase in all of of christened them they hate us because they ain't us no

Wow, double hat. I got an holiday. It's a hat on a hat. It's a hat on a hat. What else we got? Achilles, I'd rather see Nick fight for a title before Ballot. Mike, when your Southwix was 4-1 to the Mabs, I'll send you the parade video, what's your guys fight at the night?

First of all, it's never going to happen. Fort one is not, does not seem accurate. Dude, the Celtics haven't even played well at all in this entire postseason. They have not played like one, like, one. like super quality basketball game yet and they're still just rolling everybody it's incredible they're like the worst great team because they they aren't playing well but they keep winning so it's like they might not play good basketball at all and still win yeah that's how it works and they're they're eventually going to start playing good basketball and then it doesn't matter

who steps on the court they're going to lose i don't know eventually we thought tony ferguson will win a fight or retire that doesn't seem to be happening Well, there you go. What's the fight of the night for 302, Jed? What's your prediction? Oh, I forgot that there was a second part of this question. I thought we were just talking about that 302 fight of the night. It's not going to be the main event.

I mean, it's probably going to be the main event. It's going to win the fight of the night. But we've already talked about that enough. And so it's lame. It's chalky. The feature fight of the evening is going to be ban. anagrams. Kevin Holland versus Mikhail O'Leixacek. Unclear why now is the time for Mikhail to get into like a pay-per-view portion of a card. But both of these do dudes chuck it a lot. And Kevin

Holland will give you commentary while they're just throwing the kitchen sink at one another. And I suspect that this fight will end in the second round after Mikhail gets tired from just throwing everything you can at the impenetrable Kevin Holland. And then Kevin Holland will tap him because that seems likely. But it's going to be really fun while it lasts. What you got, Casey? Yeah, Strickland Costa or Holland, I can't even say his last name. Michael. Olat-Zech.

Olet's A-Chic. But I want to ask, I want to add, the reverse, what fight has zero percent chance of getting fight at the night? Bro, come on. I just want to hear it. You know the answer, Casey. You know the answer. Don't you dare say it. I mean, I'm sorry.

Does Alexander Romanov know how to be interesting? That's going to be the funniest fight of the entire card. That's going to be miserable. I can't. Here's the thing. We now know it's going to be miserable. You could have at least maybe sold this to me prior to Curtis Blades. It's like, maybe Romanov can just stuff some takedowns and then it gets sloppy heavyweight

striking, which is kind of fun. Jelton O'Made, it took Curtis Blase down with Eads. He's going to double Romano so fast it's going to make your head spin, but Romano's a good enough grappler and a big enough dude where Jailton's not going to be able to do like Jailton tap him things. He's just going to hold him for

14 minutes and 34 seconds of this fight. It is going to be misery to watch. I think it's on the pay-per-view. I think we're going to get heavy-weighty, heavyweets. I think it's going to happen. Oh, I hope they gas out like in 30 seconds. and it's just start.

I'm on heavy over nation this week, Jed. Oh, we're big. We're, we're infested. Have you seen, like, Romano's, like, photos? That one fight, he got, like, trim and spelt. He did not do that for this one. He was like, hey, we're going to put on mass. It is going to be a misery to watch this.

It's got to be the best. Sorry, I had a good reason to talk about that fight on the show, so I was like, ooh, I got, here's my opening. I don't think Phil Rover. versus Jake Matthews is going to be all that fun. Like, Phil might finish him late, so that'll be kind of fun. But I don't think that. Grant Doss and Joe Selecki could be fun in a, like, grappling kind of a way.

Like a high level grappling. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. It's going to be fun. Alex Marono is not going to be bad at all. I think that's going to be fun. No, that will actually be fun of its own merits. Yeah.

I'm very excited. I got to say. Nicky Cole of Basel Huffis could be terrible. Yeah. Could be terrible. And I got to say, shout out to Mitch Repos. making his UFC debut. That fight is going to be fun against Andre Lima.

It's going to be fun. I don't know if Mitch wins, but he's certainly going to be a trier out there. Who's Mitchroposo? He's going to bring it. What's this story? He's Titan FC's Flyweight Champion? Cage Titans and the CES champion.

So he's got both New England regional titles. But he's really good. I followed him for a while since he was 18. He's been like one of the top prospects in New England at 25. He's a legitimate quality flyweight prospect, Casey. He's super good. No, he's good. So was Andre Lima, which is kind of the issue.

He was on the ultimate fighter. He was the first seed. I think he was the first pick overall on the ultimate fighter. And then he ended up losing his first fight, got wrestled and lost. And then he was on the contender series and fought Jake Hadley, who missed weight. Oh, okay. Jake looked incredible in that fight. So that's no excuse.

And I think even if Jake made it. wait probably that same result would have happened but uh since then mitch has just gone out there and just finished a bunch of dudes and i think he should have got the ufc call a while ago but i was getting his chance on short notice and sure and jama's gonna try to get a second win after getting bit in the first fight i will also say casey that the main event has a high high probability of being boring if you take out the stakes yeah just on the fight itself yeah i see what you're saying I mean, well, I think the stakes are going to be, I mean, I'm, I don't get this wrong, I'm picking Dustin Porre because I want to live the gimmick. But if rational Jed, we're speaking, the stakes will be removed almost instantaneously when we realize what this fight will look like.

And then it will just be 25 minutes or maybe less of that being effectuated into reality. Pore is simply not a good enough defensive grappler or wrestler. And Islam is not Habib. and won't like beat the shit out of him when he gets on top and force Porreier to get tired and give up his neck, he will be much more content to just play control game. And I think there's a real world where this fight looks like all the parts of the BSD Porre fight

where BSD just had a back body lock and had it. Poirier is good enough not to get tapped from there and BAS is like, fine, I'll hold this position. That's okay. Exciting. I'm just saying Like we don't want that to be the outcome Hey I brought the topic up it's not this is on me yeah

I think the most likely scenario is the Machajev just takes his ass down and sits on him Empore is stuck there Yeah All right Goes back to the corner he says not a lot of space Mike Brian not a lot of space Yeah no

That doesn't exist out there Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won!

Feel the fun! The morning will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1866533 or visit Comexontera.ca. With Amex platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Paul asks, how did Porre's custom shorts get fumbled so bad?

It should have just been diamond printed instead of floral. Do you agree or disagree? I don't agree that diamond printed on floor, but I looked at the shorts, they're not good. is a bad design. It's just not a good floral design. It's really bad. Here's my thing, right? Like, I think the diamond thing would have honestly been fine.

I didn't even think of that, which shows that I've been, you know, design, not my subject, I guess. How is it not just like a Florida Lee? Like, that feels like, like the easiest layup of all time for New Orleans, Dustin Boreen, to at least have that, like, as part and parcel of it. And two, I don't know. Somebody tweeted this yesterday. And when they said it, it crystallized why I reflexively wasn't into them. It's like, oh, those just look like random frat dudes board shorts for the beach.

Like, what are we doing? Like, they're nothing, at least with Max, like the floor thing when Hawaii makes more sense, there's nothing unique or germane to Dustin Porre. It's just a different short. And it's, I did not care for them at all. I thought this was miss. Yeah. I mean, you're right.

But, I mean, watch the press conference tonight. Porre is going to come out with a freaking Hawaiian shirt on that probably matches what that is anyways. That's what he usually typically wears. The little fighting or preparing for a bite. The little green leaf right there. Like, why is that there? Why is there? Yeah, that's tough.

I didn't notice that as a tough location. These are really, they're not designed well at all. This is very, like the shorts are maybe, I was going to say, oh, they're backwards. But they're backwards, that's even worse. It's just, for sure, this should have just been diamonds and floridly. Like, yeah. For these hot sauce has a diamond on it. Like, for sure, you should just be doing diamonds and floridly.

And like, then those would be sick. They would be awesome. Like, hell yeah. They're trying. They're trying. They're trying. All right. I do love that Islam doesn't get custom shorts, though.

They probably, but Islam's the kind of dude that they would ask and he's just like, nah, I'm good. Well, the other thing is like, what would they even be? There's nothing that like jumps out. Habib's face all over them. Yeah. It's just like, but it struck me. There's a picture of the Abe hugging.

He doesn't have a nickname. Like, there's nothing there. Islam just gets Habib back in his corner. It's like the thing that he gets. I was like, this is. He's, he's face all over him. When Abe beats Porreier, there's like, he will have a very reasonable argument to be the number too lightweight of all times.

and he's so nondescript. It's fascinating. Yeah, 100%. Like number two right now is BJ Penn, and I will still have BJ over Islam. But when he beats Porre, there's a real conversation at what point he passes BJ, you know?

It's probably one more after that, frankly. If he beats Armin, he's probably there. Yeah, if he meets Pori and Armin, he probably is number two all the time at that point. It's just like, what do we know about this man? Nothing. We know no things about him. Nothing. Yeah. Nothing. I've seen lots of questions about this.

And I don't know. I've been following this. But yeah, what's the story on this? Does Islam staff going to play a role? So, you know, this happens like every funny week. No, they showed a picture of him with his shorts on and one of his legs, like, looked a little raw. And everyone's like, oh, he's got staff. Oh, that does look like. staff. It could be.

I just Google. I mean, it might not be, but does look like staff, particularly the him training with the cover up on it would tend to be staff. But it's fine. Is this from Embedded's video? No, his photo of

like his pre-fight photos. Oh, his pre-fite photos. People pointed it out. So the UFC sent that out. I just have if it's, I just have, there's no way the UFC was sin. It also actually, if, And this photo that's from there doesn't look like it's new staff or recent staff. So like if it was staff, it looks like it's on the back end of it.

And maybe that would have affected his training. But we'll never know whether it does or doesn't. But ultimately, it's, I don't think it will matter. This is a really bad matchup for Dustin. Oh, by the way. I don't know if it's as bad as to believe that it is really bad. Perhaps, gentlemen,

the UFC has been watching BTL, and perhaps they heard your commentary about what could be in the heavyweight fight between Jelton Almeida and Almeida. I was going to bring that up. You saw it. No, they bumped it. Alligator Romano versus Jailton Almeida is now a preliminary fight, and Nico Price versus Alex Marono,

two is now on the main card. How about that? How do random heavies get main events for fighting? nights, but two top, well, I don't know, wrong about I was not top 10, but, you know, a top 10 heavyweight gets thrown in the prelims. It's kind of crazy. Because they realized that it's not going to be a quick vibe. It's going to be heavy.

It's going to kill the vibe, Casey. So it's either heavyweights or like, you know, go down into Zeleski dos Santos into vibe killer. I'm so bummed now. I learned from Rebellis to Spade and WCA. We can't do this anymore. Speaking of that, let me make a direct supplication to Roman Koppelov. If you come out here and do the Waldo Cortez-A-Costa shit to Seizor Omeda, I'll never forgive you. You got booked in this fight because you don't shoot takedowns.

I know you're an 18-time combat sample world champion or whatever, and very clearly you could just out-grapel Gory Kidboxer Sez-O-Meda. But don't fucking do that. No one's here to see that. You have to understand that the sport is not about you. you're not the center of attention here Roman Koppel. You need to come in here and chuck Mitz with this dude because that's what you're here for.

I swear God, if you come here and shoot one stupid ass takedown and WCA this thing, I will hate you forever. He's going like, it's a thousand percent going to happen. He's going to fire in and my Almeda parley will go up in flames and the dream of Cesar Alameda versus Alex Pereira will die because Roman Koppelov wants to be good when he's just fine. It's going to be infuriating. Fight against your own interests.

What a... What a promo. All right. I'm so right. He's going to do it and it's going to suck. I honestly am not sure of the man has ever shot a takedown attempt in the UFC, but he's not an idiot.

So he's going to be like, I'm just going to take this dude down. It's going to be fine. But it's not why we booked you this way. How dare you mix the martial arts? How dare you? Not against a glory kickboxer. kickbox him. Be a man.

Yeah. We've got great for Sean. He has landed two successful shakedowns of the UFC. Oh, yeah. Well, then I'm it as cooked. We're done here. Rip up that parley. All right. Let's get to these super chats.

Spencer, Ben and I May fans at UFC 113. BTL and preview review shows become some of my favorite content of all the time. I want to say thanks for the content. Thank you, Spencer. Appreciate that. Spencer. We'll have all of you.

We'll love Spencer Moore. You remember what 113 was? Yeah. You can know Jose's in here? All right. I was probably there. I was definitely there. I just don't remember.

I definitely watched. I definitely watched it. I've watched every UFC event ever produced. So that was Machita Shogun too. Oh, in Toronto. All right. Yeah, it was also the infamous Josh Koshchek, Paul Daly fight. Yep.

Me and Erawani were interviewing Josh Kosch. At the moment when Machita got knocked out. We're like, oh, I'm a very distinct. I think I should get to see the main event because I was doing work. Chase, what are the odds? Leon Belal gets fight at the night. Chase, Mohammed, president of the fan club.

I have to look up the rest of that event. I mean, the odds are pretty low. because the main events get get push a lot 25 minutes gives you an enormous advantage uh bala mohammed has one fight of the night in his career um i mean is man edward that's a great question casey i'm i'm looking that up right now uh the answer is exactly what i would have guessed zero he has zero fight of the nights so blah is the more yeah statistically blah is more likely to be the one responsible for it also is

fight of the night i never would have pulled was against alan jubon um bobby green patty pimblets gonna be fun on around giga is gonna be fun i have probably i'd be fun there's no chance no chance i wins fight of the night though i'll be fine we can molly mccan's always in fun fights molly mccan is a scrapper um i would guess the daniel pinnade is always in crazy ass fights so that's gonna be up there the umbillog you get fight a night if it's a kind of a crazy come back that goes to decision. I would think like, Blah takes the first two rounds and then I don't know. Something like that would have to be some sort of story arc, not just like, it won't be just

pure swinging and abanging type of. I will say it has at least a shot just because 25 minutes and I strongly doubt the co-main event will be Fight of the Night Material. But I would not bet on it to get that. Leon Edwards like throws like two strikes a minute. it's it's a bad number uh here we go thank you very much two to do you all right

super chatting with you chase Spencer back a number of W's Islam needs to be higher Habib all time it's a really good question I've thought about a lot in the last like few months years I don't know the answer

like I it's gonna be a bit of a vibe feel because like this if he beats Dustin he will tie the longest lightweight title defense streak at three they're like four people

currently with it and he will tie it he will very like he has a good chance to pass it if he beat you know he then fights Armand beats Armand

I don't know because he also has been pretty clear he wants to go pursue the welterweight business and so if he bails on this to go do that then his lightweight

resume won't be there. If he gets two title offenses, he's not ahead of Habib, like two more on top of the two that he currently has, particularly because, and I know some people don't factor this in, but I do. One of the things I rate so highly about GSP's run is it was all against different dudes.

Like, he had very few rematches and the rematches he had, and that, you know, more understandable. But the fact that currently Islam's, like if Islam wins on Saturday, his lightweight title reign will be two against the same featherweight, and then Dustin Porey, who doesn't deserve a title fight. Love Dustin, all-time great, doesn't deserve this title shot. So really weird title defense resume, whereas Habebs was interim champion, Dustin Porei,

interim champion Justin Gagy, like just an insane run of dudes. The timing was just back on Abe. At the peak of where they were going, the timing was much better. And then, like, I think. that it's hard to take away the fact that if Habib, Habib probably would be retired now if his father hadn't passed, but like they fought all the time, and we were pretty clear on who the better man was at the peak of their powers,

and it was Habib. So at some point the resume will just surpass what he was able to do. I think at least three title, three more title defenses before I'm like, okay, let's open that. to the floor for debate. Look at this division now compared to how we were viewing it 18 months ago. It's the same, just older? Yeah, but I mean, we saw a lot of these guys get their chances,

like all these young up-and-comers get their opportunities. Armand cashed in. Fiziv, unable to. He's lost two in a row. Jalen Turner's lost two out of three. Ben-Las-Anteni gets knocked up by Dustin Pore. So, like, these guys have all been put in these positions to, make that move up,

but only one has been able to do it. And even Grant Dawson, like even a guy like Grant Dawson, gets a main event with Bobby Green and gets knocked out in like 20 seconds. Now he's fighting Joe Selecky. Yeah, all these guys are reviewing as like,

these guys are like two or three wins away from getting into the top five and just think of the fights you can get with like Islam versus Jalen Turner, Islam versus Rafael Viziv, Islam versus Armand II and all these other dudes. Like the only ones that are like, the only guy who hasn't really got, gotten that chance yet is Batush Kamrod.

He's the only one that hasn't really gotten that, like, big fighting. He did. Wait, did he got Benny. He got Benny. Oh, he got Benny. You're right. You're right. You put him down.

Yeah. Yeah. But then Benny lost. So he never got the title shot. Yeah. Betty never got it. Chuckie lost. Chuckie lost.

Just can't stress this enough. Lightweight's the best division. It is impossible to make headway. Because all of those dudes that we just listed two years ago were like the future of the weight class. but because they didn't get to do the, oh, I get one fight and then I get to fight for a title. It was I got to win four in a row against murderers to get that shot. No, like, Armand, frankly, has been very lucky. Like, because he got like where his losses came, even, and I know, Mike, do you disagree?

He didn't, he didn't lose to Gammon. Sure. Sure. On paper he did, and that should have set him back, but because things broke well, he got to fight, you know, Charles and get into this spot in that way. But like it's just impossible to win six fights in a row in this weight class, which you have to do to, you have to win six fights in a row once you become a contender.

Once you're a top 20 dude, you got to win like five to get to a belt. It's just you can't make headway here. That's so nuts. Yeah. And then you also have guys like Connor. And if it's the time he works out, he just might jump in front of everyone.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, Connor's like. how honestly how lightweight kind of got broken. It was just like, okay, now we're adding more fights to climb the ranks to get there because just a really popular dude kind of gets to be in front of you.

Just because money, money talks. Yeah, it's the best division. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's an Obey. It's lightweight. I get it's the money division though.

I get it. If you combine big fights, I get it. I would be open to Bannamweight being a better division if all of the Bannam weights were under one roof. No, no. I've always said that. Bannamweight worldwide is the best division. I still don't agree with that.

I'd be more open if we got to see that happen. But also there's just like I have a lot of speculation that Patsy makes is very good. But like I don't truly know. Or conversely, like I don't know if Sean O'Malley's good. Maybe Patsy makes way better. We're just never going to find it. No. Never.

Never. We're going to get Patchy Mix versus Leandro Ego next, so get ready. Grant Dawson lost all hype after last fight. Is he top five material? I got to tell you guys, and this is a low-key kind of hot take, outside of like, you know, the top two fights and stuff, I think Grant Dawson needs a win on this card more than probably anybody else. I don't think that's a hot take.

I think that's firmly true. Yeah, this is it. like this is truly it his dream of you know this year i'm be top 15 then that year and be top 10 then that year will be top 5 then i'll be world champion if he's ever going to fight for a belt he's got to be joe selecky if you lose this fight yeah he'll get wins and still have a good career but he ain't fighting for a belt if he loses joe selecky and joe is good like he's very he's a very solid hand yeah he lost his car close but it's because he got freaking power bombed unconscious very rare is a quality ufccly life or

weight. I mean, yeah, it's very good. Yeah. But Joe Selecki being a plus 370 dog is like. No, Joe Selecki.

It's way too big a number. Way too big a number. BTL alum, Joe Selecky, by the way. Actually, Grant was on the show once upon the time as well.

So, yeah, both guys, both former BTLers getting that. But minus 45 scenes. Pretty wide. It's a new price for a dude who's, I don't know,

they're just going to grapple a bunch. It's not like one dude is substantially better in that regard. I don't think. I guess we're going to find out. Yeah. Is he top five material? No. I don't.

Yeah. But heading into the Bobby Green fight, I certainly thought he was. Certainly thought he was. I thought he had an outside chance to be a top five dude heading into the Bobby Green fight. Yeah. No. Because he's also 30.

And like, so he's still got, you know, four primeish years left in him. but like that also just coincides like I will never think he is better than Armin I will never think he is better than Islam who else is young in this wake like I don't think he would ever do well against physique and so that's already three dudes who are like white

turn I think is destined for welterweight so he can kind of skip that one I've now I've given up on Jalen the lightweight and I'm now pivoting to Jalen the lightweight Jalen is a lightweight I can't I can't Christen but

Walterway has a long history of good not great lightweights coming up and then just wrecking shit Gilbert Burns Michael Keeso

the list goes on plenty of former lightweights doing quality things at Walterway and I'm now of the beliefs that Jalen Turner

will be one of those as soon as he accepts it into his heart yes but also yes he could beat Jalen Turner but I don't

I wouldn't pick him to beat Jalen Turner. But Benoit Sondini, I think, is an atrocious matchup for Grant Dawson. That'd be fun. That'd be a fun fight. It'd be fun as hell. BSD, I'm so excited to have BSD in our life for the next like six years. I know.

God, man. Him and Fizzie would be incredible. Him and Dan Hooker would be fun as hell. I need him and Justin Gachy to fight each other. That's going to happen at some point, I think. Running out of time, I think. He's basically just retires because, like, it's fine, but it would make me so happy to watch and fight each other.

Oh, man. Pass the torch of violence, idiot, on to BSD, please, Justin. It's important. Love it. All right. What else we got? Then we get to take a couple more.

Although, I love that RDA is still in the UFC's lightweight rankings. What an absolute grift that, that man. That's going. Michael asks, is it possible for Colby to be the backup for UFC 304? If you want to give me an aneurism, sure. I would lose my fucking mind.

He popped up. I actually don't think it's possible. It just don't even think it's possible because we all watched Leon Colby and the O'C. It's not want to do that again. I'll say no. Like, I don't, yeah. I mean, well, I'll say it's possible. Okay, I'll say yes.

It's possible. What I bet on it? No, I wouldn't bet on it, but it's possible. I hate what I'm about to say. Why are we offended by this? because no backup has ever actually fought. Is it because if you are a backup, he will get the next fight? That's what Dana says, but Matush Kamrott's still waiting on that title fight.

He was supposed to get. I just, it just won't happen. But I, and again, can't believe I'm about to say these words. And boy, do I hate them. Based on timelines, it wouldn't be insane to think Joaquin Buckley could get the backup role in that. Like if we're just trying to get a backup fighter there. But Joaquin Buckley is already backing up Connor versus Chandler.

He's super not doing that. But because MVP and Ian Gary are fighting like a month before, they're not liable to be backups. They're not going to have shopcott serve as a backup like that. That just doesn't seem why it's going to happen. I don't think it would be Colby, Jack Della. He's now with staff or whatever or injured. I don't remember if it's staff or injured, whichever one of those.

We're going to do Gilbert Burns? Like, honestly, it's a pretty tough list to find a backup that might be suitable. And at least- What if MVP just like destroys Ian Gary? 100%. If MVP destroys Ian Gary and can make weight again a month later, not even a question that man is the backup fighter. there you go similarly if he and gary does the same he would also be the backup fighter be fine all right

we have a hold on mike heck hafeel i just want to be clear hafeel de sandro's in 2020 beat hanato moikano and in 2020 beat paul felder and through those wins he is hanging on to a top 15 ufc lightweight ranking what a grift he's also like explicitly stated he's not fighting at 155 again And it's just hanging in there. What a hero. Truly. All right. What do we got?

Dude, RDA, Tony. Why are we doing that fight again? Do anything other than what we've done with Tony. Oh, I figure we have so many, we have a couple more months to complain about that fight. So I kind of, um, look at this. Whoa, Tanvir, thank you. What a guy. Yeah.

But I think I think I wish you had chatted something. Oh, I think I think you, I think he messed up. Thank you. But I think this is this is actual question. Oh, okay. But good. Yeah, but thank you. $50.

I mean, that's like two or three ice coffees, right? That's like a week's worth right there. And think of the, think of the loyalty points I'm going to get. That's a couple freebies on top of it. I'd be able to buy my wife a copy this week. I think this is this question. UFC has reinstated flags. Do you think they allow Islam or other Muslim fighters to display the Palestinian flag?

I don't think so either. Hard no. Freemus speech? Free of speech? I am truly interested to see what they do with the post-fight because somebody not that long ago said something in a post-fight, but didn't like directly say Palestine, but did like kind of mention something. And I am fascinated, particularly. I honestly thought about it less with Islam, though, certainly there's that.

But like doing the we're going to Abu Dhabi and we're going to Saudi soon. And like, I don't know, man. I'm just going to be really interested to see what they do because I think it's really unlikely they allow that to occur if they can stop it. We'll see. I would say doubtful, but could be wrong. Yeah. But, yeah. And I will also say that Islam, like Habib and Islam,

both seem to be really understanding of the business implications of their moments in time and like there are you can find quotes from Habib that are things that I would super not support or agree with but he was very clear

of cultivating his outward fight persona as in marketability in like pretty reasonable ways and so just not to beat around the bush he's not he never came out and said a lot of the shit Sean Strickland says despite probably agreeing with much of it

and Islam has been very similar to they are very cautious and considerate about when they vocalize things so probably unlikely that Islam comes out with like a huge pro-Palestine message like in his post-fight speech we'll see

okay there you man yeah a few more super before we leave. Patar. Balala and his both win their next two fights. How likely do you think they fight at 170 pounds for a title?

Zero. Bilal basically said that. Did he not? Wasn't he speaking with you? Or maybe he was speaking with Damon? I don't remember who he was speaking with. Yeah. But it was you, right?

And didn't he just say like, no, we're homies? Yeah. They've trained again. You've been training together. He started training with, you know, team Habib. It's like we're homies. But Islam could go up and fight for the fight Jikis for the middleweight belt.

That's fine. Yeah, I don't think they would fight each other. Although if there's a falling out, I think Islam would jump at the chance to fight for the world. I would confidently pick Islam Akshchev to beat either Leon Edwards or Belaw, Mohammed. But this is also the same dude who stood firmly on the corner saying, Habib would have beaten Izzy and you'll never convince me that he would not have beaten Izzy. much less Usman. Usman would have been more difficult than Izzy.

Yeah. Killers asked Perez versus Edwards. Sorry, you guys, last one hoping for a good fight, a coach choking out another fighter, not the best look. Yes, there's some heat on this one. What happened? I don't remember this. I mean, Perez and Jocelyn Edwards.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. And things happen backstage. There's chokes and all sorts of shenanigans. And yeah. They're going to fight on Saturday on a preliminary fight that is going to happen. That's all. I mean, a lot of heat there.

Yeah, Elylyne Perez should probably win. And if she does, she'll do something that gets social media. With all this animosity, do either of them have a finish in the UFC? I know that they're like average fight time is 15 minutes or close. So maybe we'll get a little, you know, something a little spicy or early with all this animosity. All decisions. for Jocelyn Edwards and the UFC and

all decisions for Eileen Perez. Her loss was via submission, though, to Stephanie Eager. Which we know Jocelyn Edwards big submission threat, so seems likely. Signor Pepe, bet the house on Dustin, courtesy of No Bet's Bard.

Also, we need season two of cinema and Jed sucks. So we're clear. The two programs, you mentioned, I am a deeply invested part of, Signore Pepe. So I love this. This is an unbelievable bit from you. It should have been like a compliment sandwich, though.

It should have been no bets barred. Then Jed sucks. Then also needs season two. Then it's like you feel good coming in. You feel good going out. Also, Senior Pepe, you're definitely getting season two of this is cinema. I'm already working on our plans for season three, which I have tentatively pitched as the season

where we exclusively watched Never Backdowns and the entire Never Backdown universe. And then season seven when we're running out of shit is when we get into the Shark Nader universe. Thank you. Tucker, UFC should sign J. Ellis to fight Tony Ferguson instead. Shout out J. Ellis, New England legend. Yes.

He's five for Cage Titans like 800 times. So like a reasonable thought, but what if he wins? You know? Like, what if Jay? How many times of, I feel like do we say that for every Ferguson fight? Like, I can't believe they're booking him, but what if he wins? That's even worse. I meant what if Jay Ellis wins.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Listen, Jay, Jay can strike, man. Like, Jay, if you ever watch Jay fight, the dude gets after it. He gets after it and he swings and he throws hard. He's got pretty good striking. And then you take him down and the fight. and the fight is over.

Like, it's just over after that. He's, once he gets taken down, he's done. But he is fun until that happens. And he can't hit. Raymond Arnold, I know you've been waiting for the Never Backdown episode. We've been waiting. The entire show was functionally pitched on My Love for that movie. So we're savoring it.

We're not going to come out with that one. Like, we've got to take our time to get to Never Back Down. Yeah, yeah. You got to do them all. There you go. Gatorquake, the premier Emmy movie. franchise. We'll have to review that movie once in the can, Jed.

Chase, good luck keeping a Palestinian flag up, Balal. Yeah, he might be the one that... I saw this from Chase. It was like, Chase nailed it. Yeah. It's going to be interesting that week. Even with the media questions. There's a 0% chance if Balal wins that he

doesn't say something after. Like, there's just, I mean, that, because media week, you know, he kind of can say whatever he wants. But like, his post-fight interview if he wins, I just don't think there's any chance he doesn't say something. And that will be fascinating to watch ESPN plus a Disney subsidiary manage that. Anything else?

Are we good? We are good. Okay. Loaded show. Thank you for all the great questions. Thanks for the super chats. We appreciate all of you. Tomorrow, busy day, of course, the Way-in show with A.K. Lee.

Jose is obviously in Newark so we'll see all the drama unfold at Wayans there will be a preview show tomorrow I'm not sure who's going to be on it I just know that I will not be on it somehow some way I got a Friday off before a pay-per-view

so I'm going to take that and run with it before I have to fly out to New York Yeah does this be I'm hosting tomorrow I need to now figure this out I mean maybe maybe another bald gentleman will host but we'll figure it out we will let you know

and then Saturday That's what all the fun happens. Well, the people's pre-fight show, Casey and I will answer your questions once again, leading you into 302. We got the watch party on Saturday. Very excited to be reunited with G.C. And the fellas in New York City. And then, obviously, Jose's going to be there.

So you'll have all the post-fight interviews, press conference, post-fight show, AK and I live on Sunday for on to the next one for some matchmaking. It's got to be a weekend full of fun. Plus, just some good boxing going down. You're a combat sports fan. You are in for a treat for Casey. for Jed. I am Mike Eck. Thank you very much. Back next week to react to it all. We'll see. I like that. I like that kind of place with you home. Good night, everybody.

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