MMA Fighting - BTL | Pyfer Finishes Adesanya, Tsarukyan Beats Poullas Again, Moicano vs. Duncan

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

This past Saturday, the UFC, RAF, and PFL all put on events at the same time. In the main event of UFC Seattle, Joe Pyfer put Israel Adesanya away in the second round with brutal ground-and-pound, han...ding the former champ his fourth straight loss in the process. Is Pyfer getting enough credit for the biggest win of his career? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel recaps Pyfer's big win to cap off the best UFC card of 2026 to date, and discuss where both guys go from here. Additionally, topics include the fallout of RAF 7, Arman Tsarukyan's main event win over Georgio Poullas, Colby Covington getting a tech fall win over Dillon Danis in the co-main event, the buzz RAF continues to get, the UFC heading back to the Meta APEX this weekend headlined by Renato Moicano vs. Chris Duncan, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions all show long. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:25 Get on the road and experience more than you ever thought possible. The new Accura ADX Crafted for more Explore the Accura ADX at Accura.com You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network From MMA Fighting Studios This is Between the Links And now your host
Starting point is 00:00:56 My The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL Happy Thursday to us all We are back Coming off of a pretty damn incredible Saturday this past weekend in the combat sports world. UFC Seattle rocked.
Starting point is 00:01:19 What a great card that was. Definitely the card of the year. Eclipsing UFC Vegas 114, who set a very high bar. UFC Seattle came in and said, I got you. Watch what we do. And man did it deliver in a big way. It was capped off by Joe Pfeiffer, stopping Israel Adasagna in the second round.
Starting point is 00:01:39 We also had RAF-07. which was a massive event. I was there. Crowd was electric. Armand Sarukian just continues to build his star power. PFL had a banger of a card as well, but unfortunately not a lot of people watched it because their timing is just not great
Starting point is 00:01:58 when it comes to setting the schedule for these events. But if you did watch PFL, Pittsburgh, you had a damn good time because it was a very, very good card. This weekend, the activity levels aren't as high as they were last weekend. UFC back at the world's most famous meta apex with a match between Hanata Moikano and Chris Duncan. Always good, Jed Mishu,
Starting point is 00:02:20 when teammates are fighting each other in main events at the world's most famous apex. You are here, of course, on a Thursday to answer everybody's questions, Mr. Nogray area himself. How are you, my good friend, Jed Mishu? I forgot that they're teammates, honestly. I've been off for the last couple of days, and so I am a little behind,
Starting point is 00:02:42 on, you know, where you'd like to be playing catch up for a fight week, except for this is a fight week where it's fine to be behind, quite frankly. So I took some time to enjoy. I unplugged from Slack and just now realizing that both of these dudes train out of ATT. So that adds another bad layer to the bad sandwich that is UFC Vegas 116, 15? What are we at? Is this 116? Let me double check.
Starting point is 00:03:12 I honestly don't know. I'm also flabbergasted by this one-fifthouss deal. 115, okay, that makes sense. 115, yeah, 116 is Sterling's a law, which that's a damn good main event right there. It is. Stakes, high stakes, unlike Saturdays, which, uh, not great. Look, we all understand that this is a, you know, this is a buffer week. We are, we're getting over this one to get to next week, where we have,
Starting point is 00:03:42 of the double header of 327 and the Masters, and it's going to rock. And PFL Chicago going on at the exact same time as UFC 327. I wouldn't say that that's third on the list of priorities, but yes, that is also a thing that's happening. Oh, my God. PFL has really picked the worst days possible to do their events
Starting point is 00:04:04 because that PFL event this past weekend was pretty decent, quite frankly. And it was the third, maybe the fourth most watched event of the weekend and that's tough for them and the same thing next weekend it'll be wait is next weekend also when are the NCAA's wrap
Starting point is 00:04:26 Final four is I think it's this weekend which means the national championship game Saturday April 4th so it's this weekend so they'll miss that they'll miss that so they do miss the Final 4 So at least At least we've got that going But 320
Starting point is 00:04:47 But 327 on paper Is the best card on paper To this point by a lot Yeah No one's going to watch this card We're going to have That's going to be a second screen for sure Yeah if that
Starting point is 00:04:59 That's probably Boy I hope ESPN Unlimited Records this and puts it up On their station So we can go back and rewatch it on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday because, it's not a bad card either.
Starting point is 00:05:15 It's just like, no, Chicago's fine card. That's the thing. Put it on Friday. You're actually putting together good cards. They're just placing them in the worst possible times to place cards. Like this weekend would have been a terrific time for PFL Chicago or PFO Pittsburgh.
Starting point is 00:05:31 Either one of them would have been well served this weekend. We would have come on this show and like, Mike. It's one of the rare weekends where the UFC doesn't have the biggest event. going on and instead they put them on bad weekends so you know it is where it is yeah i mean you can make a case the ufc didn't have it last week with raf oh yeah definitely i i would say raf was that was the thing that was going to grab that 100% but like that was even worse to then be the third option yeah that's just you got to you got to find your spots better than they're
Starting point is 00:06:07 doing yes all right well this is the people show. Let's see what you guys want to talk about. By the way, speaking of PFL, Jed, looks like, you know, I've talked to some folks as well. It seems like there is some real truth to a possibility. At least it's being discussed to say it's like close to the end zone is wouldn't be accurate, but apparently PFL is really considering rebranding back to Bellator. That'd be the worst idea possible. It would be just a horrific idea. People who are so done with Bellator couldn't wait for Bellator to be gone and now you want to go back to Belator what happens why don't they watch the show Jed you gave it to him you told them exactly what
Starting point is 00:06:51 to do what is happening look John Martin I'm going to speak directly to you on this one since I think you're running the show now I mean this with all love in my heart that I possess you know we're coming up on Easter to spring it's time of new beginnings we don't go backwards that's just not a thing that we do. And look, I gave you a great idea. If you don't want that, I understand. I'm not, I'm not here to pitch my idea to you. What I'm here to tell you is, just stop and think for one minute. Just think about it. Think about the proposal that going back to Bellator is because what it is, I mean, there's no kind way to put this. You bought out Bellator for, nothing. That is a company and a brand that ran its course. And it was successful insofar as you
Starting point is 00:07:48 could be successful in the space for a good amount of time. But, you know, we're not going back to it because you bought it out. So like, why are you just trying to be a product that failed that you ended? And that's what you're doing. You've gotten rid of the season structure, which I think is probably reasonable, right? But still, like, all of your branding has put you into, if you just become Bellator, all you are is Bellator again. Like, you have just entirely become Bellator again. And that was a failed business model.
Starting point is 00:08:22 So why would you think that this would be better? This is that, is it a rest of development or the bit is, I mean, these people are idiots. It's never worked once in history. But it could work for us. Like, that's don't do that bit. Pick a new name. I will happily workshop new names.
Starting point is 00:08:42 If fights doesn't work for you, there's any number of things. But going back to Bellator is like the worst idea you could do. Shit, Gladiator is like better than Bellator. Like at least people know what that means. Please don't be Bellator. Like I don't,
Starting point is 00:08:59 I want you to succeed and you're not going to, but you don't have to hasten your demise. Yeah. Like, what was there? look forward to back in those days with Belator there were some decent fights, but... Grand Prix, they were cool. Yeah, and then they just stopped doing it. And then, like, they just wanted to become
Starting point is 00:09:19 the UFC, and they were not good at it. And then they shoved... It was just, watching Bellator was just tough, man. Like, it was just tough. Like... They did all these same things. They were not on a consistent night. They would continually run events that counter-programmed the UFC to their own detriment. Belmont
Starting point is 00:09:38 Well, Tor didn't really have a good broadcast deal, so I guess PFL's got one up on them there, being with the worldwide leader or whatever, but like, you're running a playbook that failed. Like what the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and thinking the outcome will be different. Like you just try,
Starting point is 00:09:56 there's a whole universe of options. Try literally anything else. Yeah. Just the thought of it just like brings me back to it. It's like, all right, Mike, you're on Bellator duty. I'm just like, oh. I do I have to like watch like and the fights aren't bad. It was just like here's a fight and then we're go to the desk with Josh Thompson for 25 minutes.
Starting point is 00:10:16 And then we go to another fight and then we go back to the desk and then we go back to the desk. And it was like the Josh Thompson cards and half of them had dudes making zero versus zero debut fighters and under cards like just. Don't don't do that. Don't do. Like stick. PFL is better than Bellator. It's legitimately just better to be PFL than it is to be Bellator. 100%.
Starting point is 00:10:38 100%. Go back to World Series of fighting if you're going to change it. Like at least there's that. Honestly, yes. That was at least fun. Yeah. There was probably still like a touch of life left in there if it was run properly. And there wasn't a bunch of weirdness going on.
Starting point is 00:10:56 But buy out the pride name from the UFC. I don't know how much that would cost. Or strike force. Anything. Yeah. Like just anything other than Bellator. It's so bad. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:07 100%. All right. Let's go to the peeps. Joseph. Caleb Harrison was on Jorge Mazelos podcast. She said after Amanda, it's either 145, Valentina at 135, or deuces. Thoughts on that? Is Kayla knowing her time is up?
Starting point is 00:11:20 Or is 135 that good? I mean, both? I think this was the obvious answer, right? Like, she wasn't going to put together a sustained rain at 135. She's already been very open about being like, it's a very hard weight cut. She's doing it specifically to get the UFC belt, which she did and now you know there's this man to fight kind of think the man to fight at 135 is silly you could just do it at 145 and it'd be fine but again i've been pitching women's
Starting point is 00:11:47 heavyweight forever and i still think they should do that uh but like what's 145 what's that mean who she fighting in 145 is there ain't a 145 of her to fight so it's assuming val still is val you know it's she fights chavchenko because what is she going to defend her belt against who like who is she going to defend her belt who is the 135 are on the rise right now that's like within striking distance of a real thing you know like it's no so she's either going to fight val or bail or rematch her hand if it's close i think if if you are the ufc and you are listening to this the only thing you can do here is you have to throw be a mosquito in there with with Raquel Pennington or somebody like that.
Starting point is 00:12:37 And if she goes out there and just rinses her, then you give her a fight. Because other than that, like, there's nothing. Like, there's not, no one's painy again. There's just nothing there. Like, outside, to just do newness again at 45? Like, is that what we're doing? Because that, you could possibly do that.
Starting point is 00:12:53 But even so, boy. The only thing you can do, and the UFC would never do this because it's fun and interesting, would be to do the, like, what we pitched PFL years ago. wheel. You just, I'm like, okay, Caleb,
Starting point is 00:13:08 bail on the thing, you can fight at 145, and we will do silly challenge fights for you because that will be
Starting point is 00:13:16 fun, you know, but like, cyborks never coming to the U.C. The U.S. never bringing cyborg back. They're never fighting.
Starting point is 00:13:21 There's nobody else at 145. So like, yeah, it's just, it's maybe Val, if Val still has the belt, and maybe Amanda,
Starting point is 00:13:30 if their first fight is very competitive and close, or it's Cia, and then, that's fine. Like good solid career always sort of was the outcome given how things have gone at 135 over the past 10 years. Yeah. And she can go to RAF and wrestle Kennedy Blades and like a ton of money. Like it's fine. Yeah. But if anybody thought like Kayla coming over was going to
Starting point is 00:13:55 be a decade long relationship, just especially with her going to 135, there's just no chance. She loves the gloves. Mike and Jedi urgently need to know who's interview you enjoyed more this week. Joe Pfeiffer or Deonti Wilders? I won't pretend that I saw the Joe Pfeiffer. I saw the one clip from Wilder. Yeah, that's really all you need. Insane. So I'm going to pick that because that clip is insane. Yeah, I mean, I think the big takeaway from Pfeer, we didn't really learn. I mean, we learned some things, but the big takeaway from Pfeer, at least for me, was it's something I think we're going to get to it a second.
Starting point is 00:14:40 You know, it might as well just get to it. Why the F did he stop kicking the lead leg Joe is something bad. Is that Joe Piper feels like he's not getting the credit that he feels he deserves for this win. It's not, oh, wow, Joe Piper's good at fist fighting. It's, oh, Izzy's rinsed and washed and had no business being in there with Joe Piper. And even Joe was like, but he looked great. He was beating my ass and that I beat him. So what is Joe getting enough credit for this win?
Starting point is 00:15:10 Is this more about do you feel like everything you've seen on social media has become, oh, it's just the only reason Joe wants because Izzy's washed and there's no other reason why. I mean, it's not the only, but it is the primary thing. And I empathize with Joe because it's a tough position to be in. But like, that's just the reality, man. Like I, you know, that is sort of the nature of getting a fight like this is the benefit to you is you will move up substantially in the rankings and be in the title mix. The detriment to you is that there is a baked in excuse for your success. And you, that's just the cost that you have to pay for this, right?
Starting point is 00:15:55 Like, you can be upset about it and you can feel a type of way about it. And that's not even unreasonable because I'm sure that Joe Piper does believe. that he was victorious in that fight because of his own successes, because that is what most fighters believe in these situations. But as an outside observer, we talked about it in the post show. I put that more on Izzy being faded than on Joe having, you know, being great and improved. It's not 100% it's entirely that Izzy's faded. But watching that fight, I was like, yeah, Prime Izzy still beats this version of Joe Piper,
Starting point is 00:16:29 but we're not at Prime Izzy anymore. And so I understand and I empathize, and it is like a tough situation. But these are champagne problems. If your problems are that people are giving you enough credit, well, that doesn't really matter. You got the ranking. What is he now? I'm going to look to the UFC rankings. Five?
Starting point is 00:16:49 In the UFC rankings, what is it? Six maybe? You're six. Yeah, you're number six in the rankings. You went from being 14, which probably shouldn't have even been that, to number six. So this is the cost of it. And you can put that on the bulletin board as, you know, I'll show them that fighters love to do.
Starting point is 00:17:10 And you can prove it by fighting a dude in his prime next. And if you beat that dude, then nobody could take it away. But this isn't something new. And it's not something specific to Joe Pfeiffer. It's not like the world is hating on Joe Pfeiffer. This is what happens when young dudes beat old guys, almost always. And so, like, you know, I empathize.
Starting point is 00:17:30 It would be a little bit frustrating. But like, it's a whatever, man. You just got to be okay with it. Yeah. And the tough thing is, and you say this, I know you've said this after a couple of Joe Piper fights. I didn't look like,
Starting point is 00:17:47 I learned nothing from this. I learned a little bit from this, but not as much. Yeah. I mean, I didn't come out of this being like, oh, Joe is, Joe's going to fight for a bell.
Starting point is 00:17:56 I mean, he probably will fight for a bell because the UFC is going to make that happen. whether he like quote unquote deserves it or not. If he wins one more fight, they're going to give him a title fight. And if Hamzat Shamiyev goes out and wins on May 9th, it wouldn't shock me if Joe Pfeer gets immediately thrown into a vacant title fight because Hamzat's probably going to 205. They're going to make this happen.
Starting point is 00:18:20 They're going to try their hardest to make Joe Pfeer a UFC champion. They will probably do what they did with Patty Pimbleau and throw him in a match in a matchup that they feel like he should be able to win. That's what they're going to do. That's what the UFC always does. Who do you throw him in there with now? Do you just wait and see if Hamzaat wins and then you just give him a title fight?
Starting point is 00:18:47 Is that what they're going to try to do? Or do you think they give him somebody else? Like I'm trying to see who they can throw him in there with. They're not going to throw him in there with DDP. I think that's what you do. I pitched this on Otno. and I think that it's literally
Starting point is 00:19:03 the best matchmaking they could do and anything else you can be fine with it if you book Kyle Bahalio or if you book Brendan Allen after Brennan
Starting point is 00:19:12 essentially beats Edmund there's no wrong way to eat the Reese's I think DEP's the exact right fight like he just beat a former two-time champion right
Starting point is 00:19:23 and so now to book him against a guy not of that stature is just kind of wasting the build that you put into this dude. So let him fight DDP.
Starting point is 00:19:35 If DDP wins and Homsot leaves, DDP versus Eam-Vov's a belt. If Joe beats DDP, no questions. He's fighting for the belt next and that's fine. To me, I think it's a straightforward
Starting point is 00:19:46 you pick trick as two plus E. I know DDP was talking about maybe having a fight book, but nothing is pinned to paper at this point and the timeline should be fine. You do that at International Fight Week? Cool.
Starting point is 00:20:00 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do here. You can do anything with him because he doesn't fall in any of the other guys. I kind of feel like Imovov makes sense, but imov's kind of crazy. Imov should simply wait because he's either fighting Hamzad or or Sean or he's fighting for the vacant belt. Imov should just kind of hold out, I think. Piper Fluffy would be interesting, but I don't think it means as much as it would. You should definitely not book Piper Fuffy right now.
Starting point is 00:20:32 are fluffy coming off a loss against Piper on the biggest one of his career that's just like yeah and a bad loss Kyle Bahaio Brendan Allen are fine I think DDP makes sense and they should do that yeah I mean look if Edmund Chabazzin goes out there beats Brennan Allen he's literally a top five fighter he beats Brennan Allen you could do that too and that'd be fine and that works if you're really trying to get Piper a title fight then you just oh here's Edmund you can beat Edmund because I think he can beat dead and then boom but like yeah give him ddp be fun fight we'd all have you imagine the trash talking can you imagine ddp talking about bullying this man who has found inner peace or whatever
Starting point is 00:21:16 it would be terrific the scenes book that fight uh nick thank you for the fun with numbers of mckinney's damn they were good episode rough math says at his current fight average he'd need a hundred and 71 fights to tie Frankie Edgar's Octagon time. Yeah, bro. We talked about this a little on the post show or it was like he's had like 30 career I don't know, whatever he's had.
Starting point is 00:21:43 His UFC, like he is probably because he's going to stay employed by the UFC forever. Like they'll just never, and why would you fire him? Never fire him. He's like the perfect guy for the UFC or frankly any fight promotion. Doesn't complain.
Starting point is 00:21:59 you know what you're getting every time out perfect he'll fight two three times a year perfect so he'll stay employed forever and like there is a real world where he gets on that like top 10 leaderboard of most UFC fights ever and he won't be remotely near the most UFC fight time leaderboard
Starting point is 00:22:22 and mostly that leaderboard overlaps right like the guys with 50 fights or whatever like Jim Miller has like eight hours of octagon time. Like there's a lot, it's not a one to one, but there's a lot of overlap with, because the more you fight, the more time you're going to fought. He's going to still be like 3,000 on the list of UFC fight time, even if he has 50 fights. It's awesome. Uh, Joseph, is RIF the right move to keep Armand's name in the spotlight? For RIF 0, he will try to go 4 and O in the mats versus your eye of favor is the co-main. He will 1,000% go 4-0 against your eye of favor. That match is
Starting point is 00:22:56 not even going to last a minute. Armand's going to attack him in less than a minute. It's going to be pretty wild. But let me, let me tell you something about RAF and Arm and Surukin. RIF has, if there is like, if we were going to do like quarterly awards, RIF is MMA fighting's promotion of the year by a billion miles. They're, all of their events have destroyed everybody. Every single event they've had this year has destroyed anything the UFC has done or anybody else has done this year. Like just go look at, and anything involving Arm and Sarucan and any,
Starting point is 00:23:30 way, shape, or form, when it comes to RAF, he has become, I don't know if he's like tough. We were talking about this in one of our meetings. Armin, without question, is one of the seven biggest stars in the UFC right now. At least like how we view him, everything he touches does mega numbers. Not like good numbers, like massive numbers, more than like anybody else we have on the channel at all. It's crazy How popular he is getting So at least to me
Starting point is 00:24:05 Like dude he should wrestle at every R-AF event Every single one of them Like he's just going in there He's getting a big bag of money He's getting wins The Giorgio thing was lightning in a bottle But at this point like just go in there And keep your name relevant man
Starting point is 00:24:21 Like just go on there and remind people That you are here That you are here And that you should be fighting for the belt You should be The fact that his post, his April Fool's post, him saying, I'm fighting Ilya at the White House card, in less than a day, did more views, did more likes on Instagram than the actual announcement of Ilya versus Justin Gaci all time.
Starting point is 00:24:49 That's bananas. That's frigging bananas. So, yeah, Armin, keep doing your thing, man. go to go to hype go to raf keep doing this shit as much as possible because you're just getting more popular by the day i when i saw this booking i do i want to start by saying uh whoever i'm hired to be his PR person uh is not getting paid enough because in the past 15 months he has made one of the more remarkable career turnarounds we've ever seen like this was a dude who was a hardcore darling
Starting point is 00:25:27 because he was a good fighter, but nobody cared much about, and is now one of the bigger stars in the promotion and has more active juice than anyone. And he did it, Mike, shockingly, by doing the thing we always say, he just competed a lot.
Starting point is 00:25:43 I do wonder if this is maybe a touch too much. Right? Like, going every month to an RAF is, that feels like maybe where maybe we're on the verge of jumping the shark. Like I would have liked them to say, you know what, do this at RAF 9.
Starting point is 00:26:05 And we get a brief, because just every month, this is a bit of a, it's just a lot. It's like a lot, a lot. And it feels like we're at risk of this being overexposed. But, I mean, thus far, it's all been working. So we'll see. I do wonder if we're getting close to a turning point where there's simply two much arm in our lives. I mean, as long as he, see, what they're doing, though, is they're booking him brilliantly.
Starting point is 00:26:35 Like, they're putting him against the right guys. Like, no one believes Uriah Faber has any shot here. That's the thing is. I don't know if this is the right guy. Like, why do I give a fuck about this? But what will happen is when they show up at that press conference, even though Yerai knows he's in there to just get dusted, he, that press conference on the day before the event is going to be incredibly entertaining because Faber's already like,
Starting point is 00:26:56 putting out videos and like doing real fun Instagram posts about it being like I'm gonna teach his dude a lesson even though like we know it's not true but he's gonna go in there just like he did with the Suhudo match like no one expected Fabor to beat Suhudo but their press conference was hilarious Faber was on fire like in the
Starting point is 00:27:13 best possible way so Armand will have like a little dance partner at least to like show his how he's pound for pound probably the funniest guy on the roster and it'll all be good and then obviously Armour will go in there and crush him he'll Techam in 45 seconds, but the build to it all is going to get a ton of highlights and
Starting point is 00:27:32 ton of views and people are going to be talking about it. You know, maybe take May off. You know, take May off. Get ready to go watch the lightweight title fight. But yeah, keep, keep this cooking right now. But when cable fights in May, like, you know, maybe sit that one out. Yeah. I just, I think he should have not done this one because this.
Starting point is 00:27:56 I just don't think this matchup makes any sense. It's not compelling in any way. And I am less sold than you are that this is going to get over in a substantial way. It's just like, okay. You know, like, especially because if this were Arm and Colby, now I'm interested. You know, they kind of pitched and started to build to that. And now we're getting a squash match.
Starting point is 00:28:21 And it's just on the heels of stuff. Like, I think we've done a little. too much here. We should maybe take some time. But like at the same time, I mean, I'm sure he's getting paid. So why would you turn down the paycheck to go mush Uriah? That seems, you know, I would do that. So I get it.
Starting point is 00:28:39 I just, I think we're on the risk of over exposure here. He should be a little cognizant of that. All right. Lazy bet it. Mike and Jed, how cool is it to see Kai Kamako the third get the late notice call to fight this weekend at the apex? Awesome. He's getting to return to the UFC.
Starting point is 00:28:58 buddy i've been out of out of the loop for two days what happened uh kai kumaka is back in the ufc jed and it's not even like uh some dude got injured and we have to have him like be the emergency fillin they signed re-signed him and another fighter to just be a late notice entry on this card on saturday he is taking on 11 and 1 dakota hope who has fought for a few ufc a whole bunch She's fought for LFA, peak fighting. Pretty fun guy. And, yeah, Kaikamaka the 3rd. Dude, his, he certainly paid his dues outside of the UFC
Starting point is 00:29:40 in order to get his opportunity back. Man, I forgot he was even gone for this long. It's been almost five years since his last UFC fight. Since then, it's one, two, three, four. Yeah, five Bellator fights, three PFL fights. Did he go to the finals? Was he a final? finalist.
Starting point is 00:29:58 Didn't he lose to Brennan Lockney? Yeah, was that a final fight? No, that was a playoff fight. He lost in the playoffs. And then he went to tough enough. What did he beat in the finals then? Bubba Jenkins? Didn't I believe he read.
Starting point is 00:30:13 Timur Kizriev. Oh, yes. It was 2024. Kizra of, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then, yeah, I thought he beat Diego Brando. He probably should be four now since the PFL thing.
Starting point is 00:30:24 But good for Kai. Like, I know they've been trying to get him back. Like, I know that you, UFC has had their eye on him. There was a lot of, hey, we like you. We want you back, but you got to go get a finish. And he did so in his last fight. So, yeah, now he's back taking on Dakota Hope, Jedbushu.
Starting point is 00:30:43 So now that you know this information, reaction to Kaikamako the 3rd, getting his UFC return. I'm a huge fan of, I just pulled up Dakota Hope's tapology. And he's currently booked for two fights. he's booked to fight Kai Kamaka on Saturday, and then he's booked to fight Carlos Calderon for the Fury FC Championship in May. Methinks that one's not going to happen. I respect the fact that he wants to fulfill his contractual obligations.
Starting point is 00:31:16 You know, it still could happen. Kai Kamaka blows the doors off, and maybe the UFC is like, yeah, it's fine. Go back to where you were, kid. Good for Kai Kamaka. Like, he's a fun dude, you know. Like, he's a fun fighter. And the words UFC quality, what do they mean in this day and age? You've seen some of the UFC quality on display the last few weeks.
Starting point is 00:31:39 But, like, Kai Kamauga has always felt like a guy who deserved to be here and had a good run in PFL Bellator. Apparently, I didn't realize he'd been doing the tough enough thing for the last year and a half, basically. But fine. you know, beat, like, looking at it, beat real dudes, like real opposition. Josh freaking weems, man, I haven't thought that guy in a while. Over and thing. And it's like, yeah, deserves to be here.
Starting point is 00:32:07 Good for him. Yeah, 100%. I know nothing about Dakota Hope. So I can't say whether this is a good fight or not. I simply know nothing about that, man. You all get to see Dakota Hope on Saturday. Hopefully both guys make weight. It is a lightweight bout, which I think is good.
Starting point is 00:32:25 we're not just chucking these dudes in it 145. This card on Saturday is so bad. Like truly it honestly, like I think it honestly has the worst fight ever put on a UFC card on paper. Which is what?
Starting point is 00:32:41 Cowan Pereira. Haley Cowan-Ales-Perera is a bad fight. Like it's that's just a bad fight. And then Landauvinata hasn't fought in three years and he's taking on Darius Flowers
Starting point is 00:32:58 who also hasn't fought in two years. Like, this is, this is like this entire card. And I would like to say no disrespect, but there's no way to say this respectfully. Every single person on this card is just what was in the back of the fridge and we threw a stew together
Starting point is 00:33:21 because we needed to get rid of all the stuff in the fridge because we're about to go out of town for a week. going out of town for a week what have I got in the old produce bin I just got to throw it all on a pot and cook it because we're leaving or we're going to throw it out like there are a couple of like minus 2,000 favorites
Starting point is 00:33:39 on this card or something like very close to that uh yakyev is a minus two grand depending on the book you're at could be much lower minus 1,500 once you get to that thing and Tommy McMillan is a minus 1800 on Fandul like
Starting point is 00:33:56 he's a minus 1800 on fanduel what dude i don't know what i don't know shit about monolo's uh zuccini or whatever like i got nothing about him right and like Tommy is like Tommy's fine fighter but Tommy's fine you shouldn't be minus 1800 against anybody probably but like this is they have cleared the
Starting point is 00:34:21 everything out everything must go sale this is a fire sale of card. It's pretty bad, man. Like, it's pretty bad. I honestly think it's the worst card. I've, like, intentional card I've ever seen. Yeah. Because again, the main event doesn't have any, like, that might be fun. Them being teammates might mean it's not fun. I don't know. Also, it could be like a sparring match. It's like, it's hard because ATT is just so big. I don't know to what extent they do train with each other. Um, Moecono, to his credit,
Starting point is 00:34:59 does not strike me as a dude who's not going to try and hurt somebody, regardless of if he knows them or not. So at least there's that. But like, I think on paper, I think this is the worst card I've ever seen. There, I mean,
Starting point is 00:35:11 there's clearly, there's a billion times more stakes in the co-mate event. Yes. And Richie, more so on the reachy side. But that fight probably is not going to be fun. No. Like,
Starting point is 00:35:26 But I'm super curious what they do with Ritchie if she wins. This is. They like her. They obviously like Calum Walsh. She's dating Callum Walsh, which doesn't hurt her at all. Oh my God. This rocks, Mike. We'll throw this up.
Starting point is 00:35:45 Oikano and Duncan said they were sharing saunas at ATT this week. Oh, well, then we know. They still might not be training together. But like, I mean, yeah, the thing is, if you're, it doesn't matter how big the gym is. if you are at the same gym you're going to have a relationship with the person it doesn't have to be super personable but like anybody who's
Starting point is 00:36:04 ever trained like you just you'll see them around you will I'm certain they have spent some time competing against each other in some capacity man this is just wild yeah this card
Starting point is 00:36:20 this car named an apple we talked about a little last week with me and AK it's not apple picking season So right now it's strawberry season. This is a strawberry is a berry season. Go take the family, pick some strawberries. Take the kids. Man, as a kid, I loved strawberry picking.
Starting point is 00:36:38 I don't know if that's a thing y'all do up in the old northeast area. But if you haven't done it in South Carolina, I highly encourage the strawberry picking. I used to love strawberry picking season. So you do that. You go home. You make yourself a strawberry shortcake. You hang out with the family and you tune into Inmatefighting.com website. And we will keep you up to date on the things you need to know from this weekend.
Starting point is 00:37:05 Yeah, it's Easter and Passover weekend as well. Oh, Easter weekend too? Man, you know what goes great with an Easter dinner? Some strawberry short cake dessert. Go get those strawberries on Saturday. You'll have a great time with the family. And then, you know, I don't know what, Mike, do you guys do like an Easter dinner? Like a big, like family Easter dinner.
Starting point is 00:37:28 I mean, we'll probably, uh, we'll probably cook out on the grill on Sunday. Have some, the in-laws over and stuff. We used to, we used to do a big Easter dinner. We did too. And, uh, it's, you know, strawberries go great with that. So do that this weekend, boys. Yeah. Uh, Duke Bad Duck.
Starting point is 00:37:46 Will Joe Pfeiffer fight for a belt? I don't know. Would UFC want Pfefer to fight for the belt? Yes. And when UFC wants you to fight for the belt, only thing stopping you is you losing. So true or false, Jed, Mish. Joe Piper is going to fight for a UFC title before his career is over. True.
Starting point is 00:38:02 I mean, the path is pretty clear right now. They've got him in the top six, top five, or whatever. Like, he needs one win. You've got to just find the win. The thing about Joe Piper is, like, he's not without ability. And that is the thing that I tried to give him credit for on our post show this weekend. It's like, I learned a little bit about Joe Pfe this week.
Starting point is 00:38:24 I didn't learn a ton. nothing none of the reasons he won were to me like oh look at he's added depth or whatever it was but I did learn that like he can overcome a bad situation because he was losing early in that fight and historically once the ball has started rolling downhill for him he has not recovered well and so in the second round of that fight against dizzy he's losing and just continues to try and force the issue. And that's not like a tactically brilliant, awesome thing, but it's something. You know, like he's still young. He's still improving. Uh, and so he's not without weapons. So like, you can get him there. And they've already managed to get him pretty close.
Starting point is 00:39:10 I don't think it'll be that difficult to get him over the line. Yeah, they're going to, he's got to fight for the belt. He's absolutely without he's 1,000% entirely possible he wins about like he's still young. He hits really hard and he's a very good athlete. I do not think he is strategically or tactically excellent and I think he has a limited set of skills but
Starting point is 00:39:35 he's got positives to him and in a division that's probably, now if you were to tell me that Hamza Chamaev was never going to leave, then I would say no, he's never going to win a belt. But Hamza Chmaiv's not going to be there. And so you're looking at Nastrianimov who's
Starting point is 00:39:52 good, but I continually underrate. You're looking at Brendan Allen who is good, but I continually underrate. You're looking at at DDP who's probably not going to be too much longer at the peak of his powers, right? Like, totally a path for him to get to the belt.
Starting point is 00:40:08 Yeah. He could, they could just give it to him. Like I said, if Hamzaa goes out there and dust Sean Strickland and he moves up and he says, like, I'm done here, I'm going to do Pai Free Move-Aval vacant. And that's fine. Yep. More than likely. They're going to try. They're going to try to make him a
Starting point is 00:40:24 champion. They're going to try to make him a champion. Breaking news, Jed. Breaking news. PFL just announced, breaking news. PFL just announced some big fights for UFC Sioux Falls.
Starting point is 00:40:38 Headed for BFL, Sioux Falls, excuse me. PFL Sufals, uh, Hennettah versus Sergei Balistini and Magamed Magamadav versus Leandro Higo. May 2nd.
Starting point is 00:40:54 fights in the year of our lord 2026s good fights um again i would this one maybe is not as bad uh not entirely sure what it's a logan storely main event card though yeah um also going up against perth but maybe that won't be as bad because they perth might not be on a time overlap here so um because this is you know it's the protest jdm fight I don't know if they're going to make that fight go on at like seven in the morning or whatever there. I think they might, EFC might do that at like real time in Australia. So maybe you're not overlapping. Those fights are more interesting than Logan Storley because it's Logan Storley.
Starting point is 00:41:42 Again, this is the thing. I think PFL is actually, this has been, I think this year when they moved away from the seasons, this is like their best matchmaking that they've ever done. and it is falling on deaf ears because they keep putting it in all the... And they're even going to the right places just at the wrong times. 100%.
Starting point is 00:42:03 Take over Friday nights. Like, I don't understand why PFL isn't a Friday night thing. You can do every Friday night. The UFC never has anything on Friday night. You will never be in opposition to them do every Friday night. Your only competition on a Friday night is LFA.
Starting point is 00:42:20 And LFA is on Vice TV. and very few people get Vice TV. Yeah, like, it's just Friday night, man. Just do Friday nights. I don't, this is not hard. It's deeply, deeply not difficult and they cannot seem to get it to land. I'm curious if, like, they even have a say in this. Or if ESPN's like, no, Saturday or we have to do Saturday.
Starting point is 00:42:45 What does ESPN have going on on on Friday nights? It's so exciting. Like, during football season, okay, is ESPN the Friday night broadcaster? maybe i don't remember okay but like right now what the do they don't do in an NBA is it's been does dine broadcast NBA does it i don't know like friday nights man just do Friday nights or seems very simple and maybe that's maybe it is ESPN i don't know but like i think their deal runs up this year wherever your next broadcast deal is it needs to be codified that our events will be on Friday nights. That will be the night we'll be doing them.
Starting point is 00:43:21 If it's Netflix, if it's ESPN, whatever. But like, you just can't be doing this head-to-head against UFC. It is never worked. It's never once worked out for you. Yeah, no one is going to watch that card next weekend. Nobody. It's unfortunate because it's a, it's a good one, too. Lazy bed.
Starting point is 00:43:39 Am I out of my mind for thinking Yaroslav Amossov is going to convincingly whoop Joel Alvarez. Yes, UFC. We had confirmed this. I think four or five days ago that this is a fight but the UFC officially announced it this morning UFC 328
Starting point is 00:43:56 on May 9th, Newark New Jersey, Amosoff, Joel Alvarez, reaction to the matchmaking Jed and lazy bed saying Amosoff going to convincingly whoop Joel Alvarez at UFC 328.
Starting point is 00:44:11 I love Joel Alvarez, so I don't want to believe that's true, but I can see it. I can see the path for that to happen. My thought of the matchmaking is good fight that I'm very interested in. Feels like a tough out for Amosov, right? Like he did the thing. He came, he got a victory. I thought that his next fight would be a dude to get him into the numbers, you know?
Starting point is 00:44:38 Like that seemed like, okay, former champion in another division, made it, you know, fought outside of PFL for whatever he did the cage for everything, beats like a long-standing UFC veteran convincingly. And you're just like, oh, that should make him get a ranked guy. Give him a ranked welterweight, not a lightweight who's moving up because it just sort of happened. And it's just like it does feel like, I think it's bad matchmaking that Amosov deserved more. But the fight itself I very much enjoy.
Starting point is 00:45:14 Amosov should be a betting favorite here. I love Joel Alvarez. He's a violent man. And we'll see. Yeah, it's a good fight. Let me see what that whole card looks like. So I remember seeing it? I was like, yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:28 Which event is this for? This is 328. I remember thinking like immediately, I was like, this card kind of needs this fight. Eh, it's decent. It feels weird because there's just some weirdness going. Like two of the main card fights are very, very, very strange.
Starting point is 00:45:45 And the main event is, is good and bad. So it feels weird. But like, this could use some prelim juice and this is prelim juice. Yeah. Yeah, 328.
Starting point is 00:45:58 This is the best fight on the prelims by a lot. Yeah. By a lot. Yeah. I'm trying, because I mean, copuloft,
Starting point is 00:46:08 Tullio, Jimmy Suss, Santos. We know what that's going to be. I mean, these are set up fights. There's a lot of squash batches. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:16 Goateaf, is just got to smoke Ozzy Diaz yeah Al-Qaulio is I guess competitive because Marco Tolio is the man who defeated freaking big big dude from last weekend whose name has escaped me at this moment but like uh...
Starting point is 00:46:33 Daniel Santos Du Ho Troy oh man that means I gave I gave do-do when I did thing last week I didn't realize that why when I was when I did the wonderful onto the next one in space of you this past weekend. I booked Larry on Douglas versus Dooh Troi
Starting point is 00:46:55 without acknowledging that Dooh Troi was already booked, mainly because I would like to see those two dudes punch each other in the face because I think that would be quite fun. Who should I booked against? He's apparently booked on this card per... 328? Per Wikipedia.
Starting point is 00:47:11 Yeah, I think that fights off, so you're not in doo-doo. Yay, I didn't do-do anybody. Woo! We love that. Then book them against Larry and Douglas, because that would rip. Med-Jishu Minister of Fun, thank you. Thoughts on a possible Izzy versus Holland or Buckley matchup? I think Holland would make a ton of sense, and they should book that.
Starting point is 00:47:31 If Izzy is going to insist on continuing to fight, I think Holland makes a lot of sense, and you should do that. Buckley, I'm, Buckley's a welterweight, so no. I mean, technically Holland is too. Yeah, but Holland does the bounce around thing, and Buckley is like trying to be a legitimate contender at welterweight also he's booked against sean brady so we'll see how that goes first i think holland makes sense as far as like you can headline something with that fight and people would be into it yeah that was a fight to make i actually i remember after izzie lost the belt to sean strickland i was like do izzie versus kevin holland like that's that's also it also it's
Starting point is 00:48:12 fine. They're going to book Izzy against Bo Nickel, I'm telling you. I've seen it. The Spice Melange has given me future sight and their Bo Nichael, should he defeat Kyle Dawkes? His next fight will be Israel this new. Yeah, probably.
Starting point is 00:48:28 I don't like it. It's perfect matchmaking and you can sell yourself the story on why Bo will lose and then he will win and they will continue to build people off. is he's name.
Starting point is 00:48:43 I'm trying like I'm like literally looking at like who they could do. There are no good options. Yeah. It's like, Beau is the most cynical option that will happen.
Starting point is 00:48:53 Kevin Holland honestly is like the best option I can think of. And I didn't think of that. So shout out to whoever that was that pitch set. All right. I have matchmaking for a Z. I have it.
Starting point is 00:49:06 The matchmaking will be as such. Sometime, probably, it'll probably be in October. We'll give Izzy some time to recover. And plus this person can't fight anywhere else. After this guy beats
Starting point is 00:49:21 Michelle Pereira, June 27th, we do Izzy versus Sharibullet. Yeah, I mean, that's sure, but Izzy will just get knocked out. I don't want to do that. I mean, he might get knocked out by Boeh-Nickle too. Mike, can you check the slack?
Starting point is 00:49:40 And I'll pull a question up because your services may be thing. Oh, God. Well, I answer your services are required for that, yes. So I'll take over for a moment. I'll take over for a moment. Yes, do the thing.
Starting point is 00:49:58 Some potential stuff working behind the scenes here. Easy versus Belgaree. Belgari. I mean, there's Jusa. There's obviously a story in some heat. Again, I just think Izzy's going to get knocked out, so I don't want to do that.
Starting point is 00:50:17 Izzy versus Iron Turtle. I actually don't hate this fight. I think somebody mentioned this beforehand as a possibility if Izzy lost, and that's not bad. Is Shabazian beats homie, Brandon Allen, then no. But if he loses,
Starting point is 00:50:34 why would you give him another chance against the top 10 rank guy? But sure, that's, you know, that's sort of kind of the realm of work. in here. This is the meanest thing. Because what would happen if you booked Izzy versus Gautier is Izzy would win. He would be winning and then he would lose violently and bad.
Starting point is 00:51:01 Izzy to PFL. I mean, they'd love him, but no. Izzy's going to retire in the UFC. Again, this is why I was saying, like, this is why I said beforehand, man. like I want Izzy to retire. I said after. I want Izzy to leave the UFC. There are very few things that make sense or good in the UFC.
Starting point is 00:51:29 We could still have some fun with him outside the UFC if he did, you know, go box Anderson Silva instead of MMA fighting him. Like people would sign the hell up for Anderson versus Izzy in a boxing match, you know? Like we could have some fun with him doing things. like that, but he has to be out of the UFC to do those things. Yeah. But I mean, like, I kind of feel like Izzy's the kind of guy that the UFC would just be like, fly, butterfly. I think if he asked, yeah, but like, he doesn't want to.
Starting point is 00:52:02 And it's so, like... Should he have retired on Saturday? He didn't need to retire in the cage on Saturday. He shouldn't have done the I'm not effing leaving thing because, like, he should leave. And it's, this is said with love. in my heart, right? Like, there are more interesting things for you outside of the UFC. You could beat people in the UFC, but the people you could beat are not the people you
Starting point is 00:52:25 will get booked against, right? And, like, everybody blowing smoke up his ass and, like, he could still beat a top 10 dude. He can't. We've watched this happen. Time after time with fighter after fighter. Once it's gone, it's gone. You're just, that's just the reality of it. And yes, Izzy can look good for five, seven, ten minutes.
Starting point is 00:52:48 But eventually the bill comes due. Like he can't, he no longer has the margin for error that he used to. And so you are asking a guy who has 120 fights professionally to be perfect for 15 minutes. That's just not a reasonable ask, right? Like he was beating the head. He was cooking, Joe Piper. And then he got a little confidence. for one second, he got popped in the face and it all crumbled.
Starting point is 00:53:18 Like that's just, and that's what happened against Nasreddin Imovav. That's what happened against Drickus 2 plus E. This is, it is a pattern. It is what will continue to happen unless he fights somebody super low level. So why? Why do you have to be forced out of the thing? Just spend a little bit of time, think about this, go to Hunter and Dana and be like, hey, I don't think I got it anymore, right?
Starting point is 00:53:45 Like, I just don't. But I still want to compete. I still want to have fun. There are other things out there. Let me try them. And they probably would say, you know, be free, man. And we could still enjoy like we have with Anderson. This is like the exact thing happened to Anderson.
Starting point is 00:54:03 And people kept being like, he can still pull it off. And then he lost seven, eight. And then he left and he had a whole new career doing something else. Please do that, Izzy. Follow your hero because that is a way better option. Let me ask you this. Any interest in Izzy versus Colby at 185? Sure.
Starting point is 00:54:31 I mean, again, like if you have to do it, like if we have to make him fights, like that's on the better end of things. But like, what is who's, what's that do? Why do we care? It's just like spinning our wheels. Sure. fine, I guess.
Starting point is 00:54:47 But Colby should just stay doing wrestling. He's better at R.A.F. And that's cool. Yeah, I think he's good there. He should go do other things. Yeah, like that's a good fit for him. Is he?
Starting point is 00:55:02 And that's the thing, like, the lesson that every fighter should have learned from Mike Perry is sometimes the fit just isn't right. And Mike Perry found a thing that fit and he's grown immeasurably from it. The fit is no longer right with Izzy and the UFC and the quicker they figured, both sides figure that
Starting point is 00:55:21 out, the better everyone will be. You can do other things with them. It'll be fine. Let's see what else we got. Anyone know how many fights Izzy has left on his contract? I have no idea. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know like when he resigned
Starting point is 00:55:42 or if he resigned, probably have something to Google because I'm sure like if he did resign sometime in the past couple of years, then we probably wrote about that or it was news. So I just don't know. What else we got? But like I don't think that that matters. Realistic, like maybe if he had one fight left, it's just, all right, I'll fight one
Starting point is 00:56:06 more to fight out my deal and then be gone. But like, like you said, I think that he has enough goodwill with the promotion that if he was like, hey, I'd like to go do some other things, they'd be like, that's fine. be free man you're good and it just it feels like the best outcomes are not having Israel
Starting point is 00:56:25 in the UFC at the stage all right take some more questions Jed I'm going to send a few more text messages okay um problem wasn't as it was too small for two of five problem was he ran to Jan who's more well-rounded
Starting point is 00:56:44 um I mean the problem was a little bit that Izzy was too small for 205. I think Jan Blahovic is one of the more underrated fighters in the history of the UFC, but he basically just sat on him at the end of it because he's bigger. And I think Izzy would have struggled at 205. He could have won many fights there, certainly. But long term, that would have been a very difficult division for him to make Hayton because he is not a huge one.
Starting point is 00:57:10 Like he's a tall and lanky 185er, but like this dude who is consistently weighed in at like 183 and stuff. Like he's he was never He would have needed to put on real size To stay at 205 Um Mike Ajad
Starting point is 00:57:28 Why does Barab spar with elbows And knees full contact And not wear headgear Did you see his nose? Yes Uh Jacked up I mean it was already jacked up
Starting point is 00:57:39 It's like way more jacked up No it's more jacked up Um I mean Because he wants to replicate fighting As close as possible Like I I think there are reasons to do it.
Starting point is 00:57:51 I don't, you know, it's tough because you do, you're at, you are assuming more risk by doing full contact sparring. But like, I mean, it's the fight business. There's risk involved. So I get it. Maybe he didn't optimize, but like, it's fine. He broke his nose. He's just going to let it heal and he'll fight peyodorant.
Starting point is 00:58:15 I'm guessing International Fight Week is the timeline for that, but I don't really know. Yeah. You would think. It feels like a lot of things that could happen in an international fight week. Could be Connor. Could be double bantam weights. Could be lots of things. Both bantam weight belts. I hope it's Connor because I would really like,
Starting point is 00:58:41 I like Connor to fight again purely so we can stop talking about when is Connor going to fight again. Yeah, that'd be great. And if they booked the Mosulah fight, honestly. that makes a ton of sense. I would do Mazdaal or Holloway. I don't think any other fight makes any sense right now. I just would not do Max Holloway. But Max would have probably have to go up to 170 to do it.
Starting point is 00:59:05 Max would just beat the shit out of Connor. Like that fight would be remarkably uncompetitive. And I think that if Max still had the BMF belt, then maybe there's some juice there. But like, I don't know. I don't know why Connor would take that fight right. right now yeah they're not gonna do charles because charles no don't do charles that would be terrible um but like conner versus mosterall both dudes are well washed i mean i still think moscow probably
Starting point is 00:59:34 tunes him up but like okay it's at least something it's not bad yeah i don't know again i honestly the best fight probably still is chandler but i get it i get just being done with the thing that was bad for a long time. I just been like, I'm wiping my hands of this and walking away. I understand that. This will probably make the most sense, but that timeline doesn't work,
Starting point is 00:59:58 given the White House booking for Chandler now. Yeah. You can always just pull Chandler from that fight and throw it. And they could. And again, like, it makes the most sense, but I was so certain that
Starting point is 01:00:12 Connor was going to fight for the BMF belt. And right up until that fight happened and Charles ruined, like, single-handedly, killed the BMF belt, which is really, really impressive, but he absolutely did. And so it's just like, that's never happening. So now what, now what do we do?
Starting point is 01:00:28 It made all the sense in the world for kind of fight for the MF title until Charles won in the way that he won. Yeah. Lazy bit, what pair of shoes did young Mike and Jed have to have? Every kid had a pair that they dreamed of. Some got them. Some didn't. What was your holy grail pair of kicks as a youngster?
Starting point is 01:00:46 You guys are going to be absolutely shocked to hear this as a man who exclusively wears black t-shirts. I have genuinely never cared about clothes in any capacity and that extends to shoes. Until I was 30, I owned the same, I bought
Starting point is 01:01:09 a pair of samba's and that was what I wore every day of my life. Basically until I was in my mid-30s and their lack of arch support started hurting my feet and I shifted shoes to something that was a little more comfortable for me. I wear my bam bams, my action bronze and baclavas to the gym. The best shoes in the world, by the way.
Starting point is 01:01:31 Yeah. I wear those to the gym and I wear those if I'm trying like going out somewhere in public public, you know, to like be with people. But my, I have, I did not care about shoes. I am not one of those people lazy. Didn't have a pair of shoes I needed. I just wore the same thing forever. I'm the same. They were like, I mean, I went to elementary school where like that's people just like, it wasn't like in a rich part of the Boston like area, like the cities that like sort of extend off of Boston. But people like always wanted like good, good sneakers. So I think the one for me, it was it was the pumps. When Dee Brown was pumping his shoes and won the slam done
Starting point is 01:02:17 contest. We're in that Celtics jersey. Everybody in my school won frigging pumps. I eventually got them like two years after they went out of style, but I did get them. During that time, I don't remember, I don't know if it was converse. I don't think it was converse. Maybe it was British Knights or something. Someone, some company made
Starting point is 01:02:34 like a pump knockoff called the regulators and those I got because they were like the cheaper knockoff, which I was fine wearing. I was like, you guys need to have your pumps. I get the only these pair of regulators up in here. But I eventually got the pumps a couple years later.
Starting point is 01:02:51 So, but other than that, I'm with you. I'm not a big, like, sneaker guy. I don't have, like, a closet full of sneaks. I have, like, currently, I think I have, like, four pairs of sneakers. I have, like, one pair of weightlifting shoes and, like, a pair of running shoes. And that is by far the most amount of pairs of sneakers that I've ever owned at one time, ever in my life. So I'm with you. Not a big shoe guy.
Starting point is 01:03:17 But I'm not a big, like, clothes guy either. I have a lot of shoes. I currently have the most shoes I've ever owned because Action Bronson sends me shoes. But, like, yeah, I have a pair of house shoes. I have a pair of slides. I have my everyday shoes. I've got gym shoes. I've got dress shoes.
Starting point is 01:03:38 None of them are fancy except for the actions. Who would Mike match up Alexa Grouse with next after her win? Um, mid on. I'd do mid on. So me and AK did on onto the next one. That was forever. That was, that was so violent, man. Like that was, it was pretty cool.
Starting point is 01:04:02 That was, there are like maybe three or four times watching UFC fights since I started in May fighting where I was like, ooh, something's real wrong. Uh, one was when Josh Emmett knocked out Bryce Mitchell. Two is when Yuri Perashka knocked out Dominic. And three is when Alexa Grasso knocked out and submitted Macy Barber at like the same time. That was so sick, dude. Just the violent nature of the knockdown and then just her ripping the almost like just trying to steal the throat of Macy Barber a split second later was so nasty, dude.
Starting point is 01:04:37 It was so nasty. We're up there just watching like in the media section at R.F watching this knockout. We're all like, I hope Macy Barber's okay. really truly hope she's okay so that's exactly what she needed that was that was crazy man it was pretty rough one certainly the roughest of this year still not as bad as i genuinely thought josh emett might have killed bryce mitchell i think that's the worst one i've ever seen um but this was it was pretty pretty bad for sure yeah jessica dumping rose on her head was bad because but like rose didn't stay like dead forever as if i
Starting point is 01:05:16 her call. But it did like in the process like oh she can break her neck. That's terrible. Yeah. Bryce Mitchell was down for like a long time face first just staring into the core of the earth. I think that's the worst one.
Starting point is 01:05:37 Masters, your guys new edition from Boston are beating Phil Collins for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. New edition, new kids on the block all from Boston. I mean, look, trust me. I was a I mean, I know the name new edition. I don't know if I know a new edition song off the top of my head. Candy girl. Candy girl.
Starting point is 01:05:55 You are my world. Okay. Yeah. I need your love each and every day. Yeah, that was a good one. Again, new edition, a little before my time. If it isn't love, Mr. Telephone, man. There's a lot.
Starting point is 01:06:09 New Edition was money, man. And they spurned off into some big deals. They made a comeback in like the mid-90s too. And I had a couple of very big hits. hit me off and I'm still in love with you. And then, yeah, new edition got, we got solo Bobby Brown, which like changed young Mike's life. It was a big Bobby Brown guy growing up in the late 80s. We got Belbiv DeVoe out of that group.
Starting point is 01:06:33 Oh, now, Belbiv DeVoe. That girl is poison. Poison's an absolute heater. Poison is a heater. Yep. Dumi was a big one. How does nobody walk out to poison? That's a great one.
Starting point is 01:06:45 Like that's how like just eat, literally. any woman fighter should walk out to poison and then change her name to poison. Pierre Poison Rodriguez. I'm going to just look at the rankings and who needs some help? What woman's fighter needs some juice? As much as I love and admire new edition, they should not be beating Phil Collins out for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. No, they should not.
Starting point is 01:07:15 That's obviously. That's obviously that's crazy. Dude, like straight of. Vernier's Roebuck could use the poisonry brand, you know. Oh, like, Jillian Roberts, I mean, pick, pick a name. Julian Robertson could definitely use the poison song. I'm just trying to think like who thematically feels the most like poison. But yeah, do a, again, whoever manages fighters, if you have a female fighter on roster who's like in the UFC,
Starting point is 01:07:45 change your name to poison and have. come out to belbiv dev devo's poison like that that would just be the nuts a couple more we'll get out of here uh what are the odds all the americans lose and get violently finished at the ufc white house card from chase thank you chase well they can't all lose because you have an american v american battle going on so they can't all lose that's a great point but uh I mean, it can happen. I mean, with all due respect to the Great Avon's a hobby, I don't think he's violently finishing anybody,
Starting point is 01:08:26 let alone Sean O'Malley at the White House card. He might beat Sean O'Malley, but I don't think he's going to like cold him. That's just not his style. Let me pull up this White House cards. I can remember what they all are. Gagee. Gagee's going to get violently finished.
Starting point is 01:08:44 Yep. There's no American in the Co-Maine. O'Malley's probably not getting violently finished Chandler's probably getting violently finished. So yeah, I mean like if Steve Garcia loses he's getting violently finished.
Starting point is 01:08:58 Yeah. Yeah, that fight ain't going to the cards. That fight's going to be fun. That's exciting. Yeah. We're going we're going like old school hip hop right now or like at least 90s like ABC are the ones who have the few with Chris Cross. Another bad
Starting point is 01:09:14 creation. Yes. I own that cassette tape a big song with iisha they had a spider-man song which is very which is pretty popular for them but there are like a lot of those like little those those groups uh high five was one uh you mentioned criss cross ABC uh who else uh soul for real was another one and then they all got like older and that was it they had no more hits chris cross i think had like a couple little little baby hits after that and then that was it they were just all done What a weird time.
Starting point is 01:09:50 What a weird time? ABC and crisscrossed, I mean, just too many. Crucial conflict versus bone thugs was the rivalry. Bone thugs was a time, too. I'm just trying to think, like, what's Alexia Tyner's name? Trying to find the best poison that we can have out here. Pierre Rodriguez, pure poison Pierre Rodriguez. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:10:15 It's not awful. It's not bad. I think she's been like three or three in a row. that could be somebody get a little extra juice behind that's a great one though I mean that's a great walk-up song it's so good
Starting point is 01:10:30 how is nobody doing that there's no creativity this goddamn sport anymore yeah I mean everyone this is how we do it return of the Mac like dude it's right there
Starting point is 01:10:43 the legend Anthony Smith became a legend almost entirely because he's came out of return of the Mac which is a banger It's like, yeah It's such a good one God, it's such a good one I just there's so many
Starting point is 01:10:59 So many good options that they just don't do Yeah Michael Poison Page What about Balaamaama It's poison? It's pretty sick There's just a lot of good things we could do there man I think honestly
Starting point is 01:11:15 Jillian Robertson walking to poison Next time would be During her next fight would be be awesome be great perfect julie i'll tell you what i'll tell you what tatyana saueres tatiana sworez you want to you want to leave frog some people you want to you want to make a statement you want to send a message to mackenzie durn in the ufc matchmakers you walk to that octagon on saturday to poison by belbiv devo and you go out there and you finish vienna john jeroba you're getting a title fight i mean like you're the ones
Starting point is 01:11:49 you already have a win over Julian Roberts. You have that over her already. So, and you know, we've got us go. We've solved it. We've done it. It's Tatiana Suarez. Go get it. Go get it. You would instantly become more popular than Callum.
Starting point is 01:12:05 The UFC would push you over Callum. I think this is a no-brainer. I think this is truly a no-brainer for her. She won't do it. What's the opposite of poison? By Tatianosaurus, do you mean Tabitha Ricci? Tabitha Ritchie. not said oh tautiana could could do it too next week
Starting point is 01:12:21 yeah do it next week do it next week yeah she could do it too you should also do it wait is tautilana fighting next week she's fighting lupy godinias next week at 327 yeah the first one of you to put this just you'll you'll immediately become part of you'd be adopted into the mishu family the mishu foster family yeah loopie uh not a bad loopie could probably which i hope verna doesn't watch because i don't really want to adopt verna the Michoud Foster family, but I'm a man of my word. A man of my word. If you show up to poison, the story is so good.
Starting point is 01:12:58 No one is, yeah, no one is going to like turn that song off. No one's going to not sing it. That's the thing. Like, I don't think fighters do this enough where you just like, you should pick bangers that everyone likes because then the crowd will immediately be on your side. And if you wanted the extra juice and you could learn the, uh, Turk poison dance from scrubs and do that on the way to the cage, then everyone would love you. There's nothing a bunch of drunk fight fans want to do more than sing songs in the crowd.
Starting point is 01:13:31 Yeah, man. It's driving me out of my mind. Everybody wants to sing that. Everybody. When it hits, it hits hard. This is why I've maintained for as long as like 20 years of fandom, I've always given the exact same answer. What would be my walkout song?
Starting point is 01:13:49 Twist and shout by the Beatles, baby. You tell me that arena would not be looking like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the moment, shish, shake it up, baby. Witt. Place to blow the, blow the roof off the gaff, as the Brits say. And also, twist and shout. That's a funny play on words for submissions. Yay.
Starting point is 01:14:11 Yes. I mean, there's lots, there's lots to go with there. Like any like true cheesy wedding song would work. Uh, the twist. Uh, you just came out to the barreana. Just shout.
Starting point is 01:14:23 Yeah. The, the, the OG shout has always been my backup because that's also just like a perfect anthem song. Hey. And then like, if you're singing in the background.
Starting point is 01:14:33 If you timed it right, you would be getting out of the pre-fight check corner right. Right when we're doing the, a little bit more now. Yes. A little bit softened now. And you could just do this with the. people and then a little bit louder.
Starting point is 01:14:47 As you like walk into the cage, it would be, be mega land of a thousand dances. That would be great as well. The nah, no, no, no, I mean,
Starting point is 01:14:57 there's so many. Just do it right. It's not, it's not always about the fighter. It's about creating ambiance around it. Correct. I don't know who came out to Umba, but this person,
Starting point is 01:15:07 they get it. That sounds like Ty to, like a Tai Tuvaa. It does. That's again, Ty gets it. Tie gets it. Literally.
Starting point is 01:15:13 Ty became popular and still remains popular. He knocked some people out. He did the Shui, and he came out to fun pop songs. Like, that's it. That's the whole thing. And fighters don't just like, what if I just get people to come out to fun music? Like, that'd be pretty cool.
Starting point is 01:15:30 Party in the UFC. Come up to the Sabrina Carpenter. It'd be awesome. Yeah, that's a bob. Paige Van Zammett got a huge pop, but she came out to Beastie Boys, No Sleep, till Brooklyn while in Brooklyn. I mean, yes.
Starting point is 01:15:42 It's good shout. That's terrific All right I think once we get to To all this I think it's time to Yeah probably well today What
Starting point is 01:15:56 Look Stephen Aspland is the exact Sort of dude who should be coming out To fun catchy pop songs Okay That's pretty weird I'm waiting to see more information on this But
Starting point is 01:16:18 Surfing USA Yeah it's a little too old No, but yeah. I don't think. I trust me, I appreciate the Beach Boys more than most, but. Pet sounds a great album. But I don't think that would work. Surfing USA.
Starting point is 01:16:33 What's, yeah, there's a lot of good ones. There's just so many. There's no wrong way, except for every way the fighters currently do. Ain't no mountain high enough. Ain't too proud to beg. Like, those are all bops. Any temptation song? Literally any temptation song.
Starting point is 01:16:50 Temptations are the four tops. Like, you've nailed. any of those and we're good especially if the uc ever went to detroit like everybody oh man everybody at uc detroit if they ever did that should be coming out to something from motown 100% be ludicrous to do anything other they again like and pfl this is the type of stuff i can give you just put me on a very reasonable consulting fee and we could just have fun you can talk to your fires and be like oh you wanted to walk out to this incorrect you're walking out to
Starting point is 01:17:24 tequila oh you wanted to walk out to something that means something to you personally in your journey no let's let's cue up war and we're out to la bumba yeah you like it or not war
Starting point is 01:17:41 that's what you're coming out to okay buddy deal with it we'll have way more fun you have no say in the batter yeah no incorrect you could choose from one of these three songs that's absolutely go ninja go ninja go a million percent someone should be coming out to go ninja go ninja these are the things guys
Starting point is 01:18:05 wonder boy these are the things wonder boy should be go although wonder boy does come out to wonder boy by today's d and that's just a terrific i know that's if you have something that's like perfect that's fine but like right here we're going to chicago for the pfl next week at least one person needs to be coming out to the Bulls' entrance song. The Alan Parsons band. Yeah. Just got to be doing that. This is how we do things.
Starting point is 01:18:29 Yeah. Love that. See, PFL, we're fixing it up here. We're fixing you up here. I've given you so many free ideas. Yes. Just use one of them. One of them.
Starting point is 01:18:42 Well, I think we're done here. I think we have done everything. Sorry, we couldn't give you some breaking news on the program. We tried. We tried to do it. I reached out to a lot of people and try to get it done for you. But keep it locked to m.finding.com because there might be some news soon. There could be some news coming your way.
Starting point is 01:19:03 So be prepared for that. And we thank you for once again jumping on and listening to us banter afoot and allowing you guys to join us and trying to fix PFL and some of these other MMA promotions. So next week will be a big one, obviously, getting ready for UFC 327. which I'm very, very excited about. And it's going to be a great show. It's going to be a great week. Jose will be in Miami. And it's going to be a great time.
Starting point is 01:19:28 So for Jen Bishu, I am Mike Keck. Thank you for watching BTL. Back next week to get you ready for UFC 327 right here on the program. Good night, everybody. And back tomorrow with the preview show. Love y'all. Preview show tomorrow. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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