MMA Fighting - BTL | Reaction to UFC 331 Announcements, Usman Nurmagomedov’s free agency, UFC Belgrade, and more

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

Usman Nurmagomedov is the hottest free agent in MMA, especially with the new MVP-PFL merger. This past weekend, Nurmagomedov fought out his PFL contract in style, running through Archie Colgan at PFL... New York in the first round. Now, Nurmagomedov has to choose between being the face of the new MVPFL promotion or attempting to follow in the footsteps of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, and vie for the UFC lightweight title. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to Usman Nurmagomedov’s win over Colgan at PFL New York and where the top lightweight goes from here. Additionally, the panel discusses the rest of PFL New York, Dakota Ditcheva’s underwhelming win, Uros Medic’s big win at UFC Belgrade, the recently announced main event for next month’s Noche UFC card, and more. Join MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Alexander K. Lee as they answer your questions all show long. Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is Between the Links. And now, your host, Mike. Happy Thursday, everybody. And as you might be able to tell from my voice, I am not Mike Heck. I am Jedmishu, M.AFindon.com. Thanks for joining us for another edition of Between the Links.
Starting point is 00:00:37 Mike Heck is off today. He is not on vacation, but he is off. He hit me up this week and was like, hey, what if I actually take a day off and you handle this? Especially he has been doing double times if the great Jose Young's was on vacation. So Mike had to do a little more social work. And so I've got the reins between the links. But don't you worry. Never you fret nor fear.
Starting point is 00:01:00 I am not alone to answer your questions. As we've done a couple of times over the past few weeks with people taking vacations and going about their business, I have a co-host with me. He's known by many as the King in the North. He's known by Mike Heck as his best friend. And I just know him as the most handsome man in MMA media. Alexander Kaylee, AK, how are we doing? I'm doing great.
Starting point is 00:01:26 And let me assure the fine listeners of between the lengths and MMA fighting. No more vacations, Jen. There's no more vacations ever. I took a vacation. I think you believe you took a vacation as well. Jose took a vacation. We all kind of like took July. We took some time off in July.
Starting point is 00:01:40 in a little bit into August. And you know what? I said, no more. Back into the MMA content minds with you and with me. This is why we're here, shit. We are, we are, we owe the people. We owe the people time. We owe the people content. We got a lot to talk about, fortunately. I'm actually really happy that I got to be in this episode between the links because stuff went down on the weekend. Stuff went down last night. Stuff was going down this weekend. I mean, we can look ahead to next weekend. There's a lot of business, man. There's a lot of business going now so I'm excited. Very happy to be here. I'm with the listeners. I'm already seeing some
Starting point is 00:02:14 some lively comments from the usual Eminiacs. Nice. Yeah. A lot. It's one of those weird weeks, AK, where like a lot has happened. None of it is just like the, hey, this is what has to lead thing. And so when I was talking on the mic about kind of like,
Starting point is 00:02:34 what would the graphics be? What would the headline be for this week? It was a, as you can see, sort of a mix, right? It was like, well, we got PFL New York and the fallout from that. You know, we probably don't speak too much about UFC Belgrade, but that just happened. And a couple of big things that happened there. We have an event. We're back in the apex on Saturday.
Starting point is 00:02:53 There's a PFL tomorrow. So, like, there's sort of this pile of things. We officially got the Noce announcement, which everyone had sort of heard and had been rumored for some time. And then, AK, yesterday, late yesterday evening, right around the time I was getting off work. So like 730-ish or whatever, we finally, finally get an announcement for UFC 331, aka I do want to pull up this card so I have it because I'm sure we'll get questions about this, but I figure we'll just lead with talking about that since it feels like the biggest
Starting point is 00:03:28 thing that happened because in what's, this is the first week of August. So five, six weeks, something like that, UFC 331, we'll go down to the crypto arena in Los Angeles, California. have the full card. Now, we knew some of these before. Some of these have been rumored, but your main event, the rematch between Joshua Van and Alejandro Pantosha for the UFC flyweight title, the title that Van won after an injury, you know, 10 seconds into their fight in December. Your co-main event, AK, and you can see it above on the graphic for us here, a bit of a surprise as Armand Sarukian takes on Maricio Ruffi, a different. fight had been heavily rumored, and instead we get a pivot to this, the return of Gable
Starting point is 00:04:15 Stevenson, I'm sure Mike Kek will love that for his fantasy teams, he takes on Sean Schroff. This broke yesterday before the main event was announced, but rebellist to Spain, tied to Ivasa, we're doing, we're still running tie out there. And not the Mercano, Brian Ortega in a lightweight contest we already knew about, Cheeto Vera Charles Vordane. I think we had not confirmed that, but that was openly known as well. Ewell Baranuski, your guy, A.K. Alonzo Minifield, Giga Chikade, Joe Anderson, Brito, Patricio Pipple, Adduho Troy, Casey O'Neill, Edwardomorah, Edmund Chabezi, and Bruno Faheda, and Michael Aswell, Jr. versus Zhu Song Yu. Apologies. Top to bottom, a lot of name value here, A.K. Nothing that really stands out as like, oh, I've got to tune in, at least in my estimation.
Starting point is 00:05:10 me just your your overview thoughts on the 331 announcement and what we have to look forward to for next month's pay-per-view. I'll be honest. Yeah, yes, I have. I'll be honest. I think I got like inordinately excited when I saw this pop up just because like I know we're not like months ahead. I know this is literally just around the corner and given how time, how quickly time moves
Starting point is 00:05:32 now, like you know, 330 is going to come up in a second, you know, and then by the time that's over, we're already looking ahead at 331 and getting that coverage ready and feeling like it's coming up. So I know it's not that far ahead. But I think I'm just happy that we got this full, clear lineup. Because if I'm not mistaken, I'm just going about you like UFC.com, I don't even know if we have a clear lineup for 330 yet. And before people say, what are you talking about?
Starting point is 00:05:59 We know what the fights are. If you go to UFC.com right now, it's a little bit slow for me right now. Like their main card is only four fights. I don't know if one fell through or something. It just feels like I think there's still some fights moving around. I haven't kept up the latest rumors. Maybe there's a reason that main card is not finalized. I should go to tapology instead of uc.com and see what's like actually been talked
Starting point is 00:06:19 about and what's been at least agreed upon and, you know, reported. But yes, it was just nice to see 331 fully laid out. I don't think they need to add anything else. Like, this is the card. And it's weird. I've set the bar so low. They're like, UFC gave us a complete card. But I mean, it's not something to be taken for granted these days.
Starting point is 00:06:38 Even this card we have this weekend, Vegas 120. I think they added two fights in the last. last like 10 days. Like it's just very weird. So yes, congrass to the U.C for doing the bare minimum. For making the van, Pantosia 2 fight, just making it official. We all knew this had to happen before the end of the year. I think we all just had to make sure that obviously Pantasia was,
Starting point is 00:06:55 Pantosia was cleared. So love that fight. Needs to be done. Needs to resolve. I often make jokes about rematches like being pointless and like unfinished business. This is the definition of unfinished business. It never even really started. And as for Suruquian and Rufi, like I'm just excited to
Starting point is 00:07:11 see Armand fight. I know it's bizarre. I know I guess we're going to talk about it more, but I don't I don't think it's it's much of a stretch to say like obviously everyone was talking about Armand and Charles Oliver are possibly fighting early, early, early like Scuttlebutt was saying, oh, they should fight for, you know, Charles's BMF title. Then people said, well, that's not really going to be on the line. The BMF title is dead because the Holloway fight. And that and that fight kind of to our understanding from what we've seen from what others have reported, it was never really official. If anything, I think it was mostly, honestly, a few fake accounts that are not fake accounts,
Starting point is 00:07:48 people who do fake reports that said it was like, oh, it was out there and it's locked in for whatever event. It was never near locked in. I think some people reported Charles Oliver was never even offered the fight. And of course, Charles's close friend, Alan Nessimento recently passed away, very, very sad story. And he hasn't said that. That's obviously not the official reason why he's not fighting at 331.
Starting point is 00:08:09 But I think that's a reasonable inclusion that if the armament's, but was ever in the works at all, I think we can understand Charles may want to take even the rest of the year off and sort of process, process what happened there. But sorry, that was off to the side a little bit. I like the card from what I'm seeing, Jen. I'll say that. I'll give it a, I'm on an 8.5 excitement level. Well, that's ambitious.
Starting point is 00:08:27 Yeah, yeah. I mean, you don't sound as jazz. You don't sound as jazz. It is a strange one. I think that main event's great. We need to have it happen. I do feel a little snake-bidden when it's like, all right, this was a good fight last year, and then something weird happened.
Starting point is 00:08:42 Hopefully nothing happens again. But also, like, I'm just curious to see, right? I feel strange about that because in December, I felt really comfortable picking Pantosia. I feel way less so now, especially, like, when his body just gave up on him and the first one, like, I don't know. The co-mate event is just such a strange thing to process. Like you said, AK, I do believe that the idea,
Starting point is 00:09:10 the energy was headed towards an armin versus Charles from what I've heard, but that that wasn't official. And I think, like you said, it's reasonable to draw the conclusion of if that was something they were going to do, the tragic passing of Alainasamento probably negated that or played a role in that because that is understandably terrible to deal with a friend and a training partner having out of nowhere, 34 years old and died of an apparent heart attack, genuine tragedy in this space. But, I think really my feelings are the rest of the court is whatever. Most of those other matchups are not that interesting, right?
Starting point is 00:09:51 There's the top two. Whatever. I mean, Gable Steve's going to run over Sean Sharaff. Rebels to Spain, Taitoivasa makes me uncomfortable that we're doing this. Moikano Ortega could be good, but Brian Ortega has been in such a weird spot forever, and I don't particularly care for him as a fighter anyway. So, like, that's really weird. You know, Cheeto's not going to throw any punches,
Starting point is 00:10:19 and so Charles Jordane is going to beat him because he will throw some punches. Like, most of the rest of it is, it does not carry much interest to me. The fight's, the big exception being the co-main event, and I knew we're going to get a lot of questions. and all of you send in your questions. We're just Q&Aing this whole thing. Super Chats get priority, of course. But several people immediately threw up comments and or questions about this.
Starting point is 00:10:45 And this is kind of my from McMurdy here, or McMurdo, sort of is my feeling here. Why are they killing the Ruffy hype? Seems like dumb matchmaking. A.K., when I first saw this announced, my initial thought was, I thought we were doing Charles. And I didn't really like the Charles fight, but I at least got it. I was like, and then was like, oh, Charles probably isn't doing it for this reason. And now Ruffy steps in. And I was like, this is, I'm just going to slaughter Ruffie.
Starting point is 00:11:13 And that ruins all the Ruffy hype. What are we, am I wrong? Do you think Ruffie has a chance here or is Armand going to BSD him? Like just happened not very long ago from Rishi. Yeah, I'm with you. I think there's a very good chance that Armin just runs through him. We all know, we all see the blueprint there. right armand just one of the best wrestlers in 155 which is saying something when you consider how
Starting point is 00:11:34 how talented this division is he is still one of the best wrestlers of 155 and that's not exactly rupy's strength we know him for we know him as an exciting striker we love watch this guy stand and bang and just smash people um so yes from a mass making standpoint it's it's pretty senseless you know my my understanding is um sorry my gosh is my guess would be rufi wants to fight again for the end of the year he wants a big name um when it became clear they wanted to keep armin uh 330 on 331 somehow they said well we'll find an opponent we'll call up a I don't know if Rufi was the first person they called but I have feeling there's no hesitation on his part probably gets a little bit of a bump up and pay for taking a not
Starting point is 00:12:11 on like short notice but we don't know when he got the call I feel like it should be viewed as short notice we got it within like six weeks five weeks of the fight because again based on reporting this kind of came out of nowhere maybe we're crazy but the other opportunity for Rufi is hey he pulls off the wind he's not Not guaranteed a title shot, but he is the number one contender. I think we all agree Armand Serukian is the number one contender. He's getting a title shot, if he will. So it's a long shot.
Starting point is 00:12:40 It's the same logic that Bogdan Goosekhov probably had when he was like, oh, I'll go fight Ankelyev. Yeah, I could probably go kill Jan Blakovich next week. But man, if I beat Ankelyev, I'm the number one contender. Ankeliov's like number two or number three in the ranking. So it's that same logic. Is it good logic? Probably not.
Starting point is 00:12:57 Should the UFC and Rufi's management be putting in this position? probably not like I feel like it's their job to protect these fighters and like you said avoid like put them on the right path to getting a title shot because there is a path for rufi to do that like there is a path and this is not it if i were creating the path to ruffi would not be in that path so i don't like mind the matchup just because i get it rupee probably wanted to fight for the end of the year and what what a great opportunity for ruffi if he pulls it off but it does just feel like a lopsided thing and that's uh that's not going to do a that's going to be really bad for ruffy and it still don't even know what it does for Armin if he wins, Jen. I don't know. For Armin, and so this sort of gets to some other questions on this, but it's like, here, I'll pull up this comment from Matthew. I agree with you on the like, I get Rufi doing this. And I think, I think it's fine if you're Rufi to say, yeah, because big opportunity,
Starting point is 00:13:50 if you lose you lose to the number one contender and you can still rebuild yourself to make another title run, that would be that damaging. I get his perspective. I don't get the O.C's perspective. because they put time and energy into building this guy. He just lost to BSD, like just lost in the most obvious fashion and hasn't really proven that, oh, he's grown from that loss, right? And so now you're just throwing essentially a lamb to slaughter here.
Starting point is 00:14:16 In my view, maybe I'm wrong and he pulls us off, but like it feels like bad matchmaking from the UFC perspective. Okay, from my perspective, for Armin, as Matthew questions here, Does this mean Justin's fighting Charles or Max next? I don't think that that is what this means. Mike has been sort of banging this drum for a bit, and I tend to agree. Armand just had to fight again. Justin has been very clear he's not competing again this year.
Starting point is 00:14:45 If they offered him an exorbitant amount of money, I'm sure he'd say yes. But to his point, I've fought twice already this year. And the way I fight, you can't ask me to do that three times. in a year. I think that's fair, quite honestly. And so Justin's not going to fight until next year. That would mean Armand, if he was waiting to hopefully get his title fight, he would be on the shelf for almost two years, right? Like he fought last October, so not two years, but, you know, 18 months in the prime of his career. Yes, he's doing RF, but he needs to fight. And so he fights, this is what ends up happening. I'm okay with this. But, AK, to your question,
Starting point is 00:15:26 from our good friend Lazy Bed, what does Armin have to do to guarantee himself the next title shot? Is there anything he can do to stop being the bridesmaid and become the bride? I believe that should he beat Maricio Rufi, his next fight is for the title. I think that this is, my belief is that he would be fighting for the belt anyway, right? Like that he would be the next man up if Justin was going to fight again in the fall. But not going to happen. so he needs to stay busy, he takes this fight.
Starting point is 00:15:58 I believe that his next fight will be for the lightweight title, either Justin Vacate's or he fights Justin for it. But do you agree, A.K., and do you think that this is a position where he needs to win impressively to guarantee that his next fight is for the title, or does any win get him over the home? I'll just on a second. Mike, I knew that's going to happen. I knew that's going to happen.
Starting point is 00:16:24 Jed, I see people saying, is it me that my, My mic is, there's a little bit of an echo. Guys, isn't me? Maybe a touch. Does you hear an echo? Okay. I don't know. People are saying, oh, no.
Starting point is 00:16:34 No, Jed, they're saying it to you. Me? I don't know. I hear it like a little bit. Oh, because I'm on my MacBook, Mike. Does this sometimes. That'll be better guys. Oh, here we go.
Starting point is 00:16:43 There's the podcast quality. Thank you, guys. Thank you, listeners. There's the podcast quality audio. I did this last week during onto the next one. I don't know what guys. I'm sorry. Like I said, July.
Starting point is 00:16:53 I don't know what we did in July. Okay. M.A. It's good, still a good month as always, but listen, we took a little time off and mentally we got, we got a clock in here. I'm still not good at producing things. Don't say that. You're very good at it. You're very good at it. I'm not. I'm capable. You're great at it. Let me preface that. Let me ask this first by saying, I don't believe there's anything anyone at the UFC can do to guarantee a title shot. Literally, almost nothing guarantees a title shot. You can be the number one contender. You can be the number of contender and like beyond this crazy wish.
Starting point is 00:17:25 You can be the interim champion. We know that means almost literally nothing. You can weigh in as a backup and still not be picked to fight. Like there is nothing that guarantees you a title of fight. So if we're saying like, can Armand come as close as possible? Like what can he do to come as close as possible to guarantee? Yes, he needs to fight at 331. Okay.
Starting point is 00:17:46 That's why this is happening. We agree on that. Preferably win an impressive fashion, which we think he can. He should be able to take Rufi down and finish him with ground and pound or submission. Like, you know, that's a statement. That's a real statement. Cut a decent promo after.
Starting point is 00:17:59 I don't know if he has to, like, cut out some of the side quests and some of the shenanigans. I'm still not sure how the UFC views that. Because certainly they haven't stopped him from doing Real American Freestyle stuff. It seems like they're okay with that. They haven't stopped a lot of their fighters from doing Real American freestyle stuff. And now that there's the crossover belt, they're actually allowing UFC fighters to, like, go up against each other in REF, which is, like, strange to me. Are they?
Starting point is 00:18:22 Maybe he's retired, guys? I don't think they have drawn a pretty clear line about active competitors. But what about, hold on, hold on. What's the R.A.F. a fight setter. What about, what's Shamaev? Isn't Shamiya, who's Shemaya wrestling? Did I, did I think that? He wrested Dylan Danes.
Starting point is 00:18:39 I don't remember. He did wrestle Dylan Danes. Isn't he wrestling someone upcoming? He's wrestling. Hired Woodley. Okay, retired. Yeah, I think it's still just retired dudes. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:52 Yeah, and then Marab's wrestling. Sehudo again. Okay. So there's like a weird. Okay. There's still a thing. Anyway, the whole point is REF. I don't think that annoys them. His whole social media, you know, a side of things that he's done to build his own persona. I don't think that bothers them. If anything, they should love that because it's a fighter promoting himself and building his name without, you know, costing them a penny. So they should love that, though I guess maybe they might not understand it. That's my other thing. The matchmakers and Dana White are kind of just like, it might not jive with them. So they might understand what is all this stuff with all the eating and the Nina drama and blah blah
Starting point is 00:19:26 why should we push this guy and then I think there's still a mens he made for yeah some of the dumb stuff he does the headbut on Dan hooker I have to imagine they're over the first title shot debacle with whether it was you know he had injured his back or you know the rumors that it had something to do with his weight cut not substantiated by the way just people said that I think Dana White might have accidentally alluded to it so I I hope that time heals these wounds. Because again, I don't know what he can do as a mea culpa for the Dan Hooker thing and the myth of, you know, spoiling that fight with Makachev.
Starting point is 00:20:01 But I will say, I do not think a dominant performance over Rufi guarantees him anything. I will stand by that basic premise. I think as long as it's not an awful performance. Because, I mean, Dana came out a couple months ago and was heaped praise on Armin. I think they're over the problems. and now this is just well this is we're in this strange world where just in gaiti won the title because the plan was quite obviously depuria puts gaiji to the sword and then deporia waits out and at the end of the year he and his lamauchev fight for the welterweight title that was in my belief
Starting point is 00:20:40 the full plan and then gachi kicked the apple card over and lit it on fire by beating dupuria now that fight's gone you can't do a rematch like there's there's nothing to argue to give Tuporia another crack at Gachi like he has to fight somebody else but he's also probably just going to take some time off after getting beaten into submission functionally
Starting point is 00:21:03 Gachi's taking time off and so their plan had been Teporea is going to vacate the belt to Armand Charles 2 for the vacant title and now it's Charles isn't fighting I don't know how long this will happen but he's not to do this so it's just all chaotic and instead of that they're just kind of piecing it together but i think that they are they've turned the corner on armin given the just how complimentary dana was of him the last time he spoke about it and so he goes out and he bsds him he's i think
Starting point is 00:21:36 justin gasey's going to have to fight armin surukin and that sucks for justin gaichi because i don't think he's going to win that he could but i don't think he's going to win that so but we shall see First, we've got to get through 330, and then the 331 conversation can happen. But sort of tied into all of this, AK, what's going to happen with Patty? Do you think he fights Ilya? Because lightweight now has some motion in it. If Oliver is out, Patty coming off a big win over BSD. Patty Ilya, Patty Charles, what do you think?
Starting point is 00:22:11 I would love Patty, I think that's the way they should go. If I were waving my magic wand, Patty Ilya would be books tomorrow. for whatever reason, I feel like the UFC is reluctant to book this matchup. I don't know if they're waiting. I don't know what they'd be waiting for. Maybe both guys would be asking for more money to take it because of how much, you know, legitimate beef there is there and what a draw could be. But I think in this Paramount Plus era, I don't even know if that's really possible.
Starting point is 00:22:37 I also have, in my mind, people know me as the Patty Whisper. I have successfully called multiple Patty fights somehow. I was the originator of the Tony Ferguson matchup. I will take credit for that until the day I die. I said Tony Ferguson, people said I was crazy and then it happened. Michael Chandler, I don't think you should be proud of that, AK. Oh, I'm so proud. I'm also proud of the Michael Chandler pick, which I also said was going to happen.
Starting point is 00:22:58 I mean, that's fine. It's okay for Michael Chandler to get beat up. People like Tony. Yeah, and that was more obvious, too. I don't know if I was first on that. I think a lot of people were like, yeah, he's going to end up funny Chandler at some point. And it did. So now I'm pushing this very strange.
Starting point is 00:23:13 I think Patty could get Charles. maybe. Or I've said it would be the funniest thing ever if he was the Usman or Megamatta fight. So we'll talk about what you can talk about more later. You guys can listen to it on to the next one, hear my thoughts on why I push that idea. Again, not a crystal ball pick, not like, oh, I think that's their number one choice. I just got this weird feeling that they're going to try and give Usman a top 10 guy that end up being Patty. But no, I like, I like, I like the thought of Patty getting Charles Oliva. Oh, was the initial question. Like what's Justin going to do?
Starting point is 00:23:47 What was the eye? What did I go off on this ramp? No, the initial question was what's Patty doing? Oh, what's Patty doing? Oh, so I'm on point here. Yeah, I don't know. I think to be Charles. I think he does get the Charles fight whenever Charles is ready to compete again.
Starting point is 00:24:00 Not that Charles should have, like I think Charles should be able to jump into a title fight or like a number one contender fight. And that's not really what Patty would be, I don't think. I think he probably is a number one contender fight. They would love to push Patty into a title. Oh, and if he beats Charles, boy. I mean, coming on. He, you know, he went to a decision with the current champion. He just eviscerated a top seven opponent.
Starting point is 00:24:24 If he beats Charles, he's like, I think we're getting Patty Charles now, which is good because I think that's the fight that should have happened. Maybe that's it. Yeah. I think the UFC looks at this and says they missed the win. They wanted to do Ilya Patty. That was the idea. And then Ilya was like, I'm not fighting because I'm getting divorced.
Starting point is 00:24:43 And so Patty fights Justin Gaci. that solved a problem with Gaichi being like, I'm going to retire if I'm not fighting for the belt or whatever. Gaichi, again, pulls off the upset wins. They're like, oh, shit. Well, okay, I guess it's Gaecchi versus Deporia now. They want to fight. They want I even Patty to fight for a belt.
Starting point is 00:25:02 And now that's a little harder to pull off, but I think they'll go Patty versus Charles. Patty can beat Charles. Patty beats Charles. Patty fights for the title. Or Gagey's probably not making a run here. Gachie might fight once. and then vacate, and then you can set up a Patty Ilya fight.
Starting point is 00:25:19 So I think we're going to get Patty versus Charles. Ilya is going to wait. And maybe they do Ilya versus Usman. That would be kind of sick, quite frankly, for his debut. I mean, I know he hasn't signed with him with the UFC, but okay, actually, let's pivot to that before we talk about anything else. Usman and Bergmadov, big win at PFL, stomps out Archie Kohl. in or Colgan in three minutes or whatever it was.
Starting point is 00:25:51 Immediately afterwards, he talks a little bit of trash to Jake Paul's. Like you always say the UFC doesn't pay, show me the money, pulls Jay McGuire on his ass. PFL seems inclined to show him the money. And I personally believe that if it is purely a dollars and cents thing, I bet PFL's offer comes in bigger than the UFC's price. And for about 24 hours, I had some belief that this. might actually be a free agency. And now, okay, in my opinion, it feels like this is a,
Starting point is 00:26:23 we are playing out the string on a foregone conclusion that everybody knows he's going to the UFC and that this is, when I was on morning combat on Monday, I likened it to, you break up with your girlfriend or your girlfriend breaks up with you, you're already dating somebody else, but you don't want to, you know, put it on the gram. You want to give a little bit of space there.
Starting point is 00:26:46 so it doesn't look rude. Like the social cues are, you don't say, yeah, I broke up with her and now I'm dating her. And so they're just, they're playing this out for a little bit, but Usman will be signed by the UFC soon. That's my belief, AK. Do you agree? Do you think Usman's coming to the UFC? And if so, who do you want to see him matched up for his first fight? Yeah, I strongly believe he's coming to the UFC.
Starting point is 00:27:10 That's not breaking news for anyone. I did just check his age, though. So he recently turned 28. he's a fresh 28 he's in his prime probably uh and he still has plenty of years to get better i too wonder if he signs a shorter term contract of the pfl like even a that's what i pitched on the post show i was like he i was like if he he could just go to them and be like look i'll sign in two year 18 month contract uh because y'all need me for the next two years you were in a transition period you need the the best things you can put together while you build a base and
Starting point is 00:27:42 deliver something else. These are the terms I will accept. It is two years, X amount of dollars, X amount of fights, non-negotiable. And then I'm still young enough that when I go to the UFC, I'm not past my, I'm not, you know, Michael Chandler. I am at the peak of my career and I've built myself even more to demand more from them. I thought that that could be the case. But the way everyone's carrying themselves, I don't, it doesn't feel like that to me, okay. No, no, I think we agree that would be the logical thing to do.
Starting point is 00:28:13 I was really since, like, you know, just we don't know exact numbers, but we hear like Dakota Ditchava is making, you know, so much money per fight. And I think Uzman should certainly demand significantly more than that. And then, like I said, for two years, let's say two years, four fights, maybe five tops. And let's say he's making a mill or one and a half mil, maybe even, you know, per fight. I know that's a big number, but I'm just saying we're talking about what would it take to keep him, they're going to have to overpay. They're going to have to overpay to what the UFC will give him.
Starting point is 00:28:41 And I don't think UFC would be inclined to give him those numbers. So if PFL is able to provide that, again, and like you said, 18-month, two-year commitment, he can still, and then, you know, guarantees no matter what, the end of that two-year period or X amount of fights, I'm a free agent. No, no, like, you know, champions, claws, none of that. I'm a free agent after this many fights, this many years, whatever, whatever. And then he's 30. He's a 30-year-old, probably still undefeated fighter.
Starting point is 00:29:06 going to the UFC, so that's tons of leverage. Who knows where the UFC is at that point, where the lightweight division is that point, what they'll be inclined to pay him then. But if he's really concerned about legacy and he's, you know, stacked up enough dough by then where it's just, it's not an issue for him anymore. That's an option.
Starting point is 00:29:22 So, yeah, I'm leaning, obviously, like 80, 20, you know, in favor of UFC. It just makes sense. Maybe we're just saying this as fans, too. There's all these fresh matchups you want to see. Because if he goes there, I know I said Patty, I think it's unlikely.
Starting point is 00:29:38 I think his first opponent, I've seen a lot of people say Charles. Mike has pushed Moikano, assuming he beats Ortego, I think maybe win-lose-dry. I think like it doesn't even matter. From the producers of Super Troopers and Super Troopers 2
Starting point is 00:29:57 comes, you guessed it. Broken Lizard and their rowdy patrol squad returned to the scene of the crime in Super Troopers 3. The mustaches are thicker. The Maple Series. up stickier and the pranks crazier than ever. Buckle up for the funniest comedy of the summer.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Super Troopers 3, now playing only in theaters. Get tickets now. Because I'm, and in that sense, I don't know if that's the exact name I would go with, but I'm with Mike where I'm not assuming the UFC throws him in there with a top five, top six guy. I know I think a lot of fans want that right away. I don't know if that's necessarily they would go with it. So I think Moeco is a perfect name. I think Fiziv, I wonder.
Starting point is 00:30:43 also this weekend's main event or win-lose-or-d-draw gamrott if gram-rott wins it makes a lot of sense i think you can lose it still makes sense oh god no i think there's a new chance no not too tough no gamrod just is a nobody cares is a void of interest you're not going to put this guy against it's just true man he's headlining ucgis one 20 he's headled at u.sie in two days arguably look at the board two facts on this board arguably the worst card of the year i like matush gamrott i actually enjoy matush gamrott fights yeah but that know that man is a he is a void of interest it's not
Starting point is 00:31:16 and this is me and mike firmly disagree on this like Mike has said like he's gonna they're not gonna rush him in the top five I was like no I he's getting a top five guy he's one I think is unquestioned to me they're not gonna do Saladin Parnasse doesn't have anybody
Starting point is 00:31:32 like he should be getting that treatment but instead he's getting Dan Hooker top 10 guy and that makes sense Habib Nurmergumatov arguably the greatest fighter of all time not really but like some people say it. He has this weird, unique niche to claim of the only undefeated dude, right?
Starting point is 00:31:48 And then the current top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Like, these are the guy, they have a long, deep relationship with the UFC, a immense amount of respect for them. And Habib's not, just going to be like, no, he's not fighting.
Starting point is 00:32:03 No, we're not fighting enough. That is a waste of our time. This is the best lightweight in the world. Give him a top five guy. And so, like, I think it would be sick if it was to por. it won't be tapuria but you know depending on how things shake out charles olivera is an offer max is on offer probably not patty because they don't want to potentially lose patty there
Starting point is 00:32:24 but like i think it is a a guy who he beats and gets a title fight off of not a guy who he beats and then gets a title eliminator off of that is my firm firm feeling for this i'm going to shout out a not-no listener uh for this pick and you're going to hate this is this going to be nonsense though this name just entered. I had to check the rankings. The meta version of the rankings has this man now at number 14. I would love to see Usman debut against Tafik Musaya. There's not a lot of juice to it.
Starting point is 00:32:55 I get it. I get it. He probably has even less juice than Gamrod. So, I mean, I understand that's like as far as probably. That's the worst pick you could ever make. I don't hate it. Because again, but again, I have to be, like I have to be. Me and Mike are firmly in the camp that they are not going to put him against top five, top six, top seven.
Starting point is 00:33:12 that it will be outside the top 10 possibly top 10 highest like number 10 the highest but outside the top 10 um but i think moikano's like pretty high in the meta rankings um so i think like ruffie's the lowest dude they'd give him yeah so but i'm going this is like a while i'm shouting out barry o'rereilly very good on a listener matchmaker it's outside the box i just feel like something weird's gonna i just feel like they're not fully committed to pushing him that hard um so we'll see but depends what they're paying him you're right depends what they're paying because they're paying him if they're having to do even 70% of what pfl's going to offer him yeah maybe they want a return on their investment right away so i'll acknowledge that man i uh i just pulled up the uc media rankings
Starting point is 00:33:56 volkinovsky is the number two pound for pound fighter and i'm like what why not that he not that he should be low but like they bottomed out ilia to number five okay It was like he beat Volkanowski. That's the media one, right? Yeah. Meta has. By the way, by the way, UFC.com, I, you know, I'm not in between the links a lot. I need to take this time to rent.
Starting point is 00:34:22 Have you seen when you switch between the two things, the toggle, Jed? Yes. And they're not lined up. You know what I mean? They don't. It's because the meta rankings don't have pound for pound. Oh. Well, it's very disturbing because I can't do like, yes.
Starting point is 00:34:36 No, it does jack it up. swap the meta right like the men's pound for pound is the first one under the media rankings panel and they stopped oh no and then women's is at the beginning of the winning section so it it kicks them all down one i don't like this because i'm like oh let me compare these two oh no my eyes have to this is horrible it is what a first what a first but a first yeah like marab being number eight is like okay i guess sure he can be behind sean strickland but that seems silly like i what a what a strange strange outpoint i'll say i'm glad that they did not try to do better rankings for pound because we listen we can't we i'll say it at mab fighting dot com our esteemed panel we can't
Starting point is 00:35:14 figure it out and uh i don't think asking a i to do it is even is justing g and shan strickland really of the americans have really jacked the system strickland's done it twice listen strickland broke it years ago after the izzie win and it never got it never got fixed and then he broke it again it never got fixed i mean it kind of would have been fixed because he had been winning and was like, okay, if he's just going to be good, then that's fine. It's just weird, but it's fine. Yeah. And then he beat DDP, who then lost.
Starting point is 00:35:42 And it's just like, well, now, and then he beat the guy who beat D. No, he didn't be DDP. He lost the DDP. No, he lost the DDP. But then DDP lost to Hamzai, and then he beat Hamzai. And now we've got a weird, sir. It's so strange. Okay, we do have a super chat from my good friend Chase 1000.
Starting point is 00:35:57 Even with the reports of armor will get a title shot with a win. If Ilya versus Patty is hypothetically made by December, the winner of that will jump him. I absolutely agree that if they book that fight, the winner of Iliapati is fighting for the belt next. I think there's almost a 0% chance that they wouldn't be. Let me see how that's phrased again. Hold on. I have, I can't. I can't.
Starting point is 00:36:17 I can look at this. Where is it? No, I can't. How do I see this, Jen? You put on the screen again? I have to pull it back up. Hold on. I feel I was about to see it.
Starting point is 00:36:25 What can I see it in? I don't know. Okay, I got it. I got it. I got it. It's on the screen now. I see it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:36:31 Okay. Thank you. Ilya versus, okay. December. December. Okay, so they would have to be ready, though, to fight. Like, what if Gathe wants to return in January or February? I don't think either Ilya or Patty makes a quick turnaround.
Starting point is 00:36:48 I think Gatji doesn't care about when he returns so long as it's not this year. You know, like, I don't think he wants to fight next summer, but I don't think it would be even, like, untenable for him to do that. he just really was like very clear like I'm not fighting again I've done it twice this year I'm not doing a third one and I'm like I get that that's reasonable yeah and you know two two of the 10 best fights of the year both of them were car crashes don't do a third one of those that would be insane and maybe he wouldn't want to do January February because that's the whole oh having to train over Christmas thing that fighters complain about all the time and you know by this point I feel like he's a champion he should be having the greatest Christmas of his life given given this is the best year of his life he really should not come back to like going to be fighter in the year He should not come back to April. Yeah, okay, no, I think that's a very reasonable suggestion, Chase. Yeah, yeah, if it's a good fight and either guy pulls off like convincing win, man, that might be it. It might be time. It might be time.
Starting point is 00:37:47 There is some, like, I'm not super interested in Ilya. No, I should be. I was to say Ilya Gate T2, but that fight was great. That fight was great. I should be into his second fight. Okay. Great suggestion. I hope that's what happens.
Starting point is 00:37:59 I hope that we get Ili and Patty, one, two, I hope that we get I'm sorry. the winner gets that to get tough. Mike, I want to address this Mike Connell. If activity matters and Ilya hasn't fought at featherweight for quite a while, you can't just leave him a number one forever,
Starting point is 00:38:09 especially when he's not currently fighting in the division. It's not the featherweight rankings. This is the pound for pound rankings. And in the period of time since Ilya knocked out Volcanovsky, he also knocked out Max Holloway, Charles Olvera. Wokanovsky has beaten Diego Lopez twice. Yeah, yeah. He should be higher,
Starting point is 00:38:28 like, Ilya should just straight up be higher than bulk pound for pound. I don't. I feel like that shouldn't even be a controversial take. He lost one fight up a weight class technically, and he's won the same number of fights against historically better opponents and much more dominant finishes than beating Diego Lopez twice. I think this shouldn't be a controversial take. Yeah, agreed.
Starting point is 00:38:52 Okay, I was talking about featherweight pound for pound. That's not a thing. Featherweight pound is just the featherweight division. Yeah, I'm not sure. I understand. Yeah. from our good friend average show. Hi, not Mike Heck.
Starting point is 00:39:07 Hi, and AK. How does Max factor into this? How far away would he be from a title shot at 55 and what is his path? Max Holloway is an interesting case, AK, because Justin Gatesy has talked about wanting to get that back. And then he beat before UFC White House, he talked about kind of wanting to fight Max and get that back. After USC White House, he was a little less interested in that, quite frankly. And then of course Max got dominated in probably the least interesting way possible to be dominated by Charles Olivera. Still has a win over the current champion so that kind of perpetually makes you in the mix.
Starting point is 00:39:47 But is he really like that performance was so bad? Where does Max fit into this? And then a dominant win over Connor McGregor, Jed. How dare you gloss over this? I'll be honest. way through the show when we started talking about this, I think Max is the one that they would...
Starting point is 00:40:07 I think Max is the one that Gaiti would want. You mentioned that. I think if the schedules line up, I don't think Max is that far. I think he could legitimately just get the title shot. One, as we said, yes, the UFC 300 moment over Gigi. I mean, that's just going to be replayed forever. He has that.
Starting point is 00:40:22 He has a very convincing win. And again, everyone remembers he was winning that fight all the way through, too. I mean, Gachi was somewhat competitive, but Max was dominating that fight and then got to, you know, put the exclamation point on it. And then he has the juice of a Connor McGregor fight. You know, maybe it doesn't mean what he used to with a quote unquote red panney night or whatever. A lot of people watch that. I'm not counting that as a fight.
Starting point is 00:40:41 It's not a real fight. It doesn't matter whether you can or not. A lot of people watch that fight. A lot of people watched that card. A lot of people had eyeballs on Max Holloway, right? Yeah. But nobody watched it was like Max is the man. They were like, that was stupid, okay.
Starting point is 00:40:52 No, but I'm saying his level of, you're right. But his level of fame is so high. I'm saying he is still, relatively speaking, I'm not saying he's like a mainstream superstar. but relatively speaking to other fighters, it's very, very high off the name recognition letter. And if the UFC wanted to do Gaithi of your favor, which I think is possible, I mean,
Starting point is 00:41:07 I don't think Gates is the kind of guy who would say, oh, I don't want to fight Ilya or Patty, you know, if that scenario materialized. I don't think he'd care that much, especially if it was his last fight. But I think if he had a choice,
Starting point is 00:41:16 he would pick Max. And Max obviously would, if there was an inkling that he could wait for a title shot, would. So if by some chance, Gates Gets to come back earlier in 2027, like we said, he probably wouldn't.
Starting point is 00:41:27 it's max i think max gets a january february or march fight i think that's very possible i think i hadn't really considered this but as i was thinking about this right now i think it's more likely it would be charles than max both because he beat they both have wins over gaichi uh gaichi has spoken a little more openly about wanting to fight charles than max i know charles has had the recent tragedy but like we're not talking this year and again I just had not
Starting point is 00:42:00 for whatever reason thought of this there is some possibility that Max wants to hold out for the Connor trilogy because that's such a big lucrative opportunity that's the next summer quite frankly and so you can do this anyway what if we just do Max versus Patty
Starting point is 00:42:17 that kind of feels like that's the fight because Max just got dominated on the ground so this would be hey you're going to fight a big dude who can tackle you you really show that you can you know that that was a bad night and not a bad quality of your game because realistically after that fight everybody was like oh yeah nobody's really tried to take max down for most of his featherweight run he just fought a bunch of dudes who wanted to stand and bang with him and then like charles was a control grapple and you never had to have that many of those fights
Starting point is 00:42:48 so that kind of makes sense stylistically for patty to your point max is super big name super popular you get that kind of win. You've made a statement, hey, it's time. And, you know, if you finish him, Charles didn't. I kind of like that matchup, A.K. I've seen the suggested many times. And I don't know why for me. I've never, as the designated Patty Whisperer, it's just never, like, connected with me.
Starting point is 00:43:14 I just don't. I agree on paper. A lot of things make sense. Maybe I'm so put off by the Charles Olivera fight. I'm afraid we would see that again, which it shouldn't. It shouldn't happen. But I didn't think Charles would do that to him, if I'm being honest. I'm still, you know, it seems so obvious now when you watch the fight back, the way it played out.
Starting point is 00:43:31 But I always thought Max had a chance to keep that fight in the feed and win it. I think I'm pretty sure I picked Max to win. But now I'm worried. Now I don't know if now I don't know if Max is like that is just the way to beat him now. It shouldn't be. Or, again, credit to Patty and credit Charles, they're just so high level of grappling and there's so much bigger that they're able to pull that off. So, yeah, certainly a possibility, not my first choice, but it's a good. Yeah, it's possible.
Starting point is 00:43:58 And then, of course, there's the ever-present Diego Lopez conversation because he's moving up to lightweight, and we know that the UFC will do whatever they can to let him fight for a belt, however quickly they can do it. A.K., let us talk about this weekend. Actually, you know what? First, let's talk about last weekend. Just because we should at some point discuss UFC Belgrade
Starting point is 00:44:19 and the big win from Eros Medich from our friend Joseph Boza. Do we learn anything new about Eros Medich this past week? Hard to tell a 30-second fight. It was pretty obvious that D-Rod had been in jail. So, yes, Medich just ghost D-Rod in 30 seconds. Granted D-Rod is pushing 40 and spent most of the past year in a Tijuana lockup, A.K., what do you make of the Euros Medich performance on Saturday? I mean, it was great.
Starting point is 00:44:47 I don't want to have to over-hype it. I don't want to under-hype it either. I think it was great. I think it was the perfect booking. I love how the UFC set Euroschup. He called for this. you know, after he beat Jeff Neal, said, hey, please bring, please bring a card to Serbia. I've got my visa situation all sort out.
Starting point is 00:45:01 I can go home. The timing is perfect. I assume he'd heard some rumbling that, of course, they were going to bring a show to Serbia, and he just kind of helped, you know, kind of helped push it through and give them a very, very easy headliner. So I love that. I get it. I get down playing it down, Rodriguez win. You mentioned the age.
Starting point is 00:45:17 You mentioned the Tiano prison storyline, which, you know, we've written about, everyone's written about ad nauseum. He wasn't at his best. but to me Yoros took care of business that's what he had to do. Everything was in his favor. Hometown, age of opponent hitting a heavy bag apparently doing as best he can in a Tijuana cell.
Starting point is 00:45:39 It didn't raise his ceiling for me in any meaningful way if I'm being honest. It didn't tell me like, oh, this guy is definitely like destined to be in the top five. I still don't know that. He's not far removed from being knocked out by Punisoriano in like 20 seconds. He's not far removed from being knocked down by Gilbert Urbina.
Starting point is 00:45:58 I mean, I remember I was recently, I had it forgotten about that, and I was researching obviously for the fight. I'm like, oh, Gilbert just like smoked him to start the fight. That's how Euros is. But what I do love is that I feel, I hope, Euros is entrenched as someone that the UFC trusts do headline, smaller events, co-main events, beyond main cards, you know, just provide a highlight, someone who can be a litmus test for up-and-coming welterweights down the road.
Starting point is 00:46:22 if he puts together a run and fights for a title, awesome, but it's like a happy accident. I don't think the matchmakers need to be like, well, how do we create a path for yours Medici? If he does it, great, if he doesn't. But they have a star, certainly, in that country, maybe other European cards, you know, vaguely in that geographical region,
Starting point is 00:46:44 you can certainly feature him prominently. So love what happened there for Eurosh. Again, I'm not making any bold claims about like, ah, he's definitely going to fight for the titles. Sunday. No, no clue. He could go on a two-fight losing streak next. The way he fights, he's just so, so aggressive. He's really the better Terrence McKinney of the 170-pound division. Yeah, I've decided the comp for him for me is Vicente Lucke of really fun action guy. It's put together a pretty impressive wind streak that puts him sort of on the like dark horse
Starting point is 00:47:14 cusp of title contention. But I just don't think that this holds up under sustained. And he can, has an opportunity to beat anybody in the weight class, but against that upper echelon of guys, I think he's going to get got. And so maybe we get one more, but he feels like he's just destined to be a great action fighter. And basically only one great action fighter in the history of the world has ever won a title. And that was a miracle in Justin Gachie doing that. you know like it's if your style is so balls to the wall you just you have to high roll so much
Starting point is 00:47:57 because at any point in time you can get snapped off and like gachie shouldn't be the champion it's a miracle that he is the champion it is still it is still super weird to live in the world where just in gagey on paper is the best light weather it's ludicrous so like I just don't think it was much just going to be able to to run hot like that but prove us wrong. Super fun guy, and I think he did level up last week. He is now a main eventer in my mind. Like, it was when I looked at it, I was like,
Starting point is 00:48:26 I can't believe we're doing Euros Meditsch in the main event. And now I'm like, yeah, we can do Oroz Meditsch in the main event. That's fine. From Anakinski, MMA, Saul killed, didn't spell it right, but Saul killed, also wins this weekend. Who do we see next for him? So we haven't talked about UFC Vegas 120,
Starting point is 00:48:44 a.k. which happens on Saturday. Oh, right. The main event, and one of two good fights on the card is the main, and the main event's a very good fight. Killing Salkil takes on Matush Gamrot, a lightweight contest. No title implications on the line here, just not reasonable to assume that. But Gamrot sort of, Gamrot really,
Starting point is 00:49:05 if Armand Surukin is always the prize made, never the bride, Gamrod is that to the nth degree. This man weighed in as a backup fighter for Islamakachev, and then the UFC was just like he was the designated backup fighter and the UFC was like nah Volk
Starting point is 00:49:22 I know you're fat and on the couch can you make weight in three weeks and Volk was like sure and then Islam ran him over of all my takes one of my greatest ones like this is stupid just have Gamrop fight him Volk fighting him is going to be terrible
Starting point is 00:49:38 and everyone was like you're dumb that first fight was so good I was like yeah that first fight was in Australia and Volk had had like three months to prep or whatever. He's coming off the couch. He's going to get run over and it's going to feel so dumb and like we got robbed of something great,
Starting point is 00:49:54 which we did and is exactly what happened. So Gamrod, really, they're just never going to let this man fight for a title and he did not win enough fights to earn a title shot. Saul killed. Kind of the new hotness, A.K., he and Ruffy sort of the guys that the UFC seems to be
Starting point is 00:50:09 getting behind, AK, I do want to read you, killing Saul Kild's. a run of opposition in the U.C because that is what makes this fight interesting to me. It's all killed. I did not rate him that highly coming off Contender Series, and I have been incorrect, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:50:26 He and Carlos Protest are my two biggest misses probably ever on Continental Series. He beat Anshul Jubilee, Ginalashmoos, Nasrod Hock-Prasht. That's actually a very good one. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good win. Jamie Malarkey.
Starting point is 00:50:42 and then nah Jamie Mallarkey in 2026 ain't it and then Benile Daryush and Benile Daryush in 2016 really ain't it they have this has been prospect development
Starting point is 00:50:56 is how I'd like to call this but now he is getting a real dude like this is a genuine dude in this weight class not the most dangerous dude but I mean Benil Daryush in this current iteration
Starting point is 00:51:08 scored several takedons on Saul killed if Saul killed runs gamrod over. What's next for him? If he runs him over, man, I wasn't even thinking about that. I just, I don't know if that's possible. I mean, I assume that if he's winning, it's by being killing Saul killed or not edging out a decision.
Starting point is 00:51:25 Yeah, yeah. I know, because I was just about to make a point about like, you know, this isn't Gamrod's first time kind of being thrown in there with a, a hot 20-something prospect. Let us not forget the great Armand-sur-Rukion fight from, where right, 2022. arguably a fight he lost. I mean, listen, if you want to score that fight for Armin, I get it. I think it was a very close fight. Mike Heck's favorite fight of that year. So he is like an extremely difficult litmus test for these blue chippers.
Starting point is 00:51:55 Yes, Salkl has to run through him. If he does, gosh, it sounds so weird to say that. I'm just trying to think, has anyone at Charles Olivera? Other than that, did people, has anyone ran through? Whoa, what is the, do you hear that? Sounds like you. I am so sorry. Yeah, yeah, we got some stretching going on overhead.
Starting point is 00:52:14 Okay, I'll try to talk more to me. That out. He's just not a guy that happens to, but okay, for the purposes of question, Saul killed first round, K.O. Or second round knockout either way. Very definitive win. It's hard because you and I just laid out. So this puts Saul killed in somewhere in the top seven, top eight,
Starting point is 00:52:28 depending what rankings you're looking at. And you and I kind of just laid out a bunch of fights for the fighters in the top six. So I don't know how we fit Saul killed into there, but having him fight back also seems silly. Because here are the names ahead. Let's say he beats Gamrod. I don't think he's getting Patty. I don't think he's getting Max Holloway.
Starting point is 00:52:45 Charles Olivera, Armin, Ilya, Elia Gaci. I don't think he's getting any of those guys. So he's got to fight back. Maybe he gets the loser of Surrey Kian and Rufi. That's my best guess I can make just off the top of my head at a glance. I already see myself saying that on onto the next one. This beginning if he wins. It's hard.
Starting point is 00:53:05 It's really hard because he will be. He said I'm getting abducted. No, I'm fine. I'm not getting abducted by aliens. Because he probably will jump over Rufi in the rank. Well, yes, he probably will jump over Rufi in the rankings if he chaos, if KOs, Gamar. Which is the way the meta rankings are done, which favor finishes.
Starting point is 00:53:23 The meta rankings favor finishes. So he will technically be fighting backwards, especially if Rufi loses to Srukia. And if Armin loses to Rufi, I don't know if he fights Salkil, but that would be the only way to go. So anyway, that's my advance Otno pick, guys. I think he gets the loser of that matchup. Yeah, I kind of see what you were saying. Looking at the board here, probably is fighting backwards.
Starting point is 00:53:46 You know, maybe, I mean, maybe that backwards is just like a Solidine Parnasse. If he gets past Dan Hooker, like, yeah, lightweight's interesting. Sort of Gichi not fighting for the next eight months is going to slow a little things up. And the weight class is weird. In transition, a lot of rising talent. We'll see. I am not at all convinced he's beating Matush Cammer. right on Saturday. I think I will pick him but I that is a difficult difficult fight for him.
Starting point is 00:54:18 So we will see. Let's talk a little bit about next weekend. Okay, we've got a question here from Chas Berkey. What's the chance Ian Gary does what he says he's going to do in going and out boxing his long for three rounds and dominating him on the ground and seven. What what odds am I getting on this, Chad? Am I getting? There's so many odds. What would the odds have to be? What would the odds have to be for me to bet on this exact circumstance. It'd have to be like plus $8,000. An enormous amount of money. Like that exact scenario, okay, maybe, maybe you could talk me into the,
Starting point is 00:54:57 that was the first part of the question, box is in. How boxing him? Yeah, and for some reason the fight's able to, you know, stay on the feet for three rounds, okay? You can convince me that that's real, but I don't even believe it. but the boxes him up and then submits him. I mean, club and sub. Yeah, but he's just, he's outbiting him on the ground and a club and sub.
Starting point is 00:55:19 No, no, no, no, no. The same thing. Oh, was that dominating on the ground? He said dominating on the ground. There's a zero percent chance he dominates as a mock chuff on the ground. I think he and Machado Gary can win this fight. Absolutely. I'm not saying he can't.
Starting point is 00:55:32 He can't win this fight impressively, though, is my, my belief, A.K., where it's like he can win, but it will be. a small edges in three of five rounds, you know, like, oh, I, I defended enough takedowns. I used my size advantages. I stuck a jab out and kicked him several times and didn't let Islam get going with offense, not I cooked him. Like he just, Ian, even Gary doesn't really cook people. It's not like his thing.
Starting point is 00:56:02 That's not how, it's not how he gets down. He wins on the margins. And I think that's a very difficult task against the best fighter. in the world and quite possibly one of like the seven best fighters ever but like he's definitely not going to just kick him in the head and Islam's going to fall over. I don't that
Starting point is 00:56:20 feels so unlikely to me. Yeah. No, nobody's admissible. We've seen our, we've talked about the pound for pound rankings earlier. I think four, I think four, I think four, I think this year lost fights with like Hamzad Elia and who am I forgetting someone else? Oh,
Starting point is 00:56:36 I mean Marab. I was sorry, that was last year. in Pantosia that was last year as well yeah it's kind of interesting um also in our pound for con i'm just forgetting someone obvious that also lost a fight i feel like uh alice padetta i think alice putada was was still in our top five i believe when he lost uh before he lost a gone so yeah is is long the next domino to fall i wouldn't think so but i think i'm achado gary has just kind of feel like he might be though right he has a good chance yeah i know people don't lives. I know people don't like Ian Machado
Starting point is 00:57:06 Gary. I know there's a lot of parts of his personality. People don't like. I get it. And by the way, I don't agree with some of those takes. I think there's, I think he has a persona that is specifically designed to rub the, and make community the wrong way. Maybe that's a nice swag can put it. But he's a damn good fighter, man. He's one of those guys who, like, I think, you know,
Starting point is 00:57:23 people get their disdain for him mixed. Like, watch how he beat some of these guys. I'm not saying all these fights were exciting, but he wins fights and he wins them pretty convincingly. So, So yeah, could he beat Islam? Him beating Islam would not shock me in the slightest. I'll just wait for that way. I would be betting on Islam to win for sure.
Starting point is 00:57:43 But there's just a lot of, like you said, I could see him. You just need to win three out of five. Three out of five. We've seen it. We've seen titles change hands this way, guys. And not get finished in the other two. Not get finished.
Starting point is 00:57:54 Yeah, very important detail. So yeah, I really like this match up. And I'll be picking Islam all the way, guys. I'm talking Islam all the way. But if I'm wrong, I won't be like, oh, I can't believe. I was wrong. Oh yeah. I'm Michael Garry. Big guy and a pretty good fighter. I'm begging Islam, but it won't be by a law. I don't think this is a bit, this is a ass kicking one way or the other. It'll just be, I think Islam can get enough taked, enough control to, you know, win more of the rounds. But the rest of this will be a tepid kickboxing match. And just like, I think it's going to be small margins. That's, that's my belief. A couple primarily for me, AK, but we just want to address them. Scott McCray, Jetty, you climb this week.
Starting point is 00:58:34 week step 11 right what's the pick it is step 11 we are not climbing come a lot we've had a we've we had a we had a conversation had an external discussion about this yeah nothing i like i didn't actually look at the pfl lines for tomorrow no no let's pull that up we pfell is good it's been good to us you have been good to it oh oh betting wise you mean yeah correct for and overall i think actually action wise hasn't been too bad um yeah none of this pf i'm pulled up the pfl lines Moldovsky would be the one minus 400 against Bruno Capulota. Yeah. It wouldn't be wrong.
Starting point is 00:59:10 It wouldn't be an awful choice, but I think I'm just going to skip and lock in for 3.30. We are 30 way up the mountain. I recommended McGillen to you. I did not know he was like a minus. No, no, huge. No, huge favorite. I did not know it was that big. Okay.
Starting point is 00:59:27 Oh, wow. I thought it was a little bit closer. But yeah, none for this week. We are, I am on step 10. so 20 to go have actually quite an excess of capital built up um net step between net steps 12 and 13 i think okay what i've decided to do is take that excess capital and bank it and so because i'm at step 10 right like and i the goal is not to get to the 11 000 dollars the goal is to get 30 bets together so i'm going to take that excess capital at step 10 and bank it and then i've paid for a few
Starting point is 01:00:01 of these previous steps. And so that'll be our checkpoint. We get to step 10. Maybe step 15. We'll do another banking possibly, but certainly step 20. And so yeah, we'll be at step 10. We'll put, I have like, it's like $150 banked away if I do this just about there. So we'll do that.
Starting point is 01:00:21 And then we will advance with UFC 330 next week. But thank you, Scott McCrae. Also more for me from Cosmo. How many title defenses of Walterweight for? Islam would he need for you to jump on your goat table with the others. So, A.K., it's a little more for me, but I do want you to weigh in here. Javier Mendes came out this week, or maybe at the end of last week, I can't recall, and said that if Islam wins, you've got to put him in the goat conversation.
Starting point is 01:00:47 I, AK, famously, have a pantheon of goats. And if you pick any of the six fighters in the pantheon of goats, I will not argue with you. I think there are credible cases for John Jones, Jose Aldo, Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, Demetrius Johnson. Who's the other one? Fador? Fador. That's correct.
Starting point is 01:01:06 Fador. We're the same. I think we're about the same. Those six, to me, if you pick those as your goats, I might not agree with the choice, but I will not argue the point. I think that there is a clean case that can be made for them. And then outside of those six, there's a grouping of, you know, the next tier. That's the VIP section of the club.
Starting point is 01:01:27 Habib is like a strange one because he's. does not have nearly the level of accomplishment as other people, but it is a little bit of a unique circumstance. So Habib is kind of in the mix. Marab, even coming off the Lost of Puerto Yan was in the mix. Volcanovsky, Max Holloway, like these sorts of people are in this next tier down of like nobody should call them the greatest fighter of all time. That would be silly, but they are all-time greats worthy of respect, et cetera, et cetera. You know, like the number two's historically in their weight classes or whatever. Makachev would be different, okay?
Starting point is 01:02:02 And I've spent some time thinking on this because he will not have, I do not think he is the lightweight goat. I think Khabib is the lightweight goat. Makachev has more title defenses. I think Khabi has one more title defense. If he had stayed, I think he certainly would have been. But he left to do something else, and you can't credit him for his wealth rate accomplishments at lightweight.
Starting point is 01:02:22 That's just not reasonable. So I think Khab is the lightweight goat still. Makachov could be higher on the all-time great mountain than him with what with winning a second belt. I think if he beats him, Machado Gary, it's certainly very reasonable to say that he is an all-time greater fighter than Habib. And for me, A.K., why I'm so interested in next week's main event, is it will be, in my estimation, the first time, should Islam succeed, the first time that we've had a real double champ in the history of the UFC? We have 11 of them, officially on paper. but if you go back and look at any of those any of the 10 people that are not is Lamakachev
Starting point is 01:03:01 there are there is to some level a major asterisk for their second title the primary one being most of them don't have defenses in weight classes right like the old adage is not true but it's like you're not the champ until you defend the belt like half of these people did not defend belts successfully in multiple weight classes they won one and then they sniped another george st pierre being the example right okay he sniped the middleweight belt was he ever actually the best middle weight in the world. I don't think anybody would say that, right? Like he won the belt because of timing,
Starting point is 01:03:32 but he never defended it thing. So a lot of these, a lot of two division champions in the UFC history never defended a belt, Connor McGregor, right? And then the very small number that did, man, like, do you credit Henry Suhudo for defending the belt against Dominic Cruz?
Starting point is 01:03:50 Because I don't. I don't at all. I think that that's a nonsense title defense. Amanda Nunes probably has the best. best case because she did defend against real women's featherweight. Women's featherweight is women's featherweight. Yeah, I agree. So it's like she actually does have like real ones,
Starting point is 01:04:09 but there is just the women's featherweight of all. You know, DC, some people question his light heavyweight. One is John Jones exists, unfortunately. Yeah, and his light heavyweight title defense was freaking Derek Lewis. Like John Jones, if you want to say he's the greatest fire of all time, cannot argue the point. Beating steep A to defend your heavyweight belt is a garbage thing and that's not real. Islamakachev would be the only male fighter and arguably the only fighter in the UFC history
Starting point is 01:04:39 to win a belt in multiple weight classes and defend that belt against legitimate top opposition. This is a take, Jed. Not everyone is going to be on board with this. That's okay. Yeah, yeah. I'm just like also super old school like Randy Couture, but again, heavyweight, again, Fador existed. No, he did.
Starting point is 01:04:58 No, it would have been right when Fador. Randy never successfully defended Bell. He successfully defended Bell. He did. He did not defend that heavyweight. You are correct. He won, lost, one loss. Now, there is sort of a caveat there of the Vitor Belfort,
Starting point is 01:05:16 eye cut scenario. Right. And then he did win when they fought. But on paper, he didn't. Randy, again, in the same Amanda Nunes thing, you can make the argument that Randy did it. And I'm like, okay.
Starting point is 01:05:27 Different eras. Well, it's just a different era. And it's just a little weird where it's like this is, in the way we think of being in multiple division champion, Islam will have done it correctly. Where it's not, I just did this to tick a box. I was actually the best well to wait on earth. Not I beat one guy and then called myself it. I was actually the best guy.
Starting point is 01:05:49 It is a very, very rare, rare thing that he is attempting to accomplish. I don't know if he will do it. but if he does it, I think I will put him in the mix. I don't think I would call him the greatest fighter of all time. I don't think it would be correct. But he will be, I'll have to think long and hard about it. I think it would be legitimately, yeah, you're kind of, you're in that conversation where if somebody else wants to call you the goat, I won't take offense to it, you know?
Starting point is 01:06:20 Let me just say, it's not because the original question was how many more tell the Benz Zazini? Yeah. There's a question. It's not even how many more. It's the quality of them, right? I think we agree upon it. It's the quality of them.
Starting point is 01:06:30 And right now, what's right is. It's both. Like, I do want you to have many, but like, they should be, if the, if the crux of your argument is I'm a two division champion, you're, it can't be fraudulent in my opinion. It can't be dominant crews as your, like, that's nobody, that's nonsense. But the beauty of it for Islam is that he has the opportunity for both quality and quantity because we have micro-merals out there. Like I said, I just Ian Mitchell-Degri kind of Carl's Proches.
Starting point is 01:06:54 We have Shafka. Shafka, where are you, Shafka? Come save him as Shafka. Who knows? Let me say, Yoros Medici, down the lie. I know that would be, he would be like a, you know, plus 800 underdog. But I'm just saying, that's like a name that he were able to string together two more first-round knockouts. Like, people would view him as a legitimate threat.
Starting point is 01:07:09 I mean, you know, Maas was very there. And then, who knows? Again, other guys that are coming up the rankings that we were not, not even the top 15 yet. Like, there is the opportunity for, like, three, four, five. I'd be surprised if he went that far against, like, legitimate number one contenders, guys with flashy records, flashy highlight reels, guys who have beaten other, like you look at their resumes and they have beaten good competition to get to their shot.
Starting point is 01:07:32 So I hope, I hope he's able to stick around a couple more years and that there's just no shenanigans, and I would love to see the Schaugh-Morales fight. I'd love to see the shop-cott fight. Because if he has those to his resume, oh boy, like you said, we may expand our range. If he beats Gary and then, if he beats Gary Prosses and Morales, I'll probably just call him the goat.
Starting point is 01:07:52 Like that, I'll just be like, I don't, I mean, again, if you want to say it's John or any of the other people, I still think those would be valid arguments, but I'd be like, if he beats all of those people, he's unquestionably in the conversation. He's in, it is now a seven-man pantheon conversation instead of a six. But like, I just,
Starting point is 01:08:12 that seems unlikely that we're going to get that many out of him. I hope it happens. It'd be tremendous if he really was just like, no, I'm actually just going to put a run down. And if he, but if he does, that's still hard to do. He's still got to do it.
Starting point is 01:08:25 So I think he's going to beat Gary. And if he does, I probably will keep him just outside. He and Habib will be the guys manning the doors to the Pantheon. But if he adds one more after that, I think I just have to put him in that like. Talk about it. We got to talk about it.
Starting point is 01:08:43 If he does it, he will be the only person to have defended a belt multiple times in multiple weight classes. Yeah. There will be no caveat. to that claim, it would be like, oh, he's not part of a group of four people that defended belts and multiple ways. He's the only guy who did it multiple times. And that is uniquely special if he does. He also just passes like my pound for pound eye test. Like if you told me,
Starting point is 01:09:07 there's a like, in a fantasy scenario, prime Islam versus prime, you know, my, my favorite fighter ever, GSP, there's not a party of me that goes like, oh, GSP would run through prime. That fight would be like that fight would be. It's one of those things where I feel like if they fought like 10 times he could go five and five like that so just by an eye test skill wise what we know about Islam he's right up there as like some of the best fighters you've ever seen and like so good this isn't technically part of like it's sort of inherently part of my pantheon system but like if you in my opinion and sort of a thing that i that always really hurt marab as marab was stacking these ones and people like you got to put him in there it's like i don't even think he's the best band
Starting point is 01:09:48 weight of all time but like thing like if he kept going part of Part of it is like everybody in that group was the best pound for pound fighter in the world and for a chunk of time too. It wasn't like, oh, I had it for a week. It's like if you're the best, like if you want to be the all time greatest fighter, you have to have been the top fighter in the world pound for pound for a period of time. Like Fador had like six years where it's the top pound for one fighter. GSP had like six years like.
Starting point is 01:10:15 Aldo Anderson Silva, Demetrius Johnson. like the like all of them were historically like oh that's the best guy in the world and Islam has that like Islam has been the top pound fight in the world for like three years at the stage of things so yeah he's he gets he gets some credit for it so we'll see we'll see if it goes um few super chats we're going to get to and then one last question we're going to get out of here but we must get to these super chats first from our from Michael bill two dollars just sucks to me and Gary is he's and Gary, you know? And Michael Beal, that is, I couldn't agree more with that statement.
Starting point is 01:10:55 I do not care for Ian Machado Gary, but I don't care for him in the ways everyone else don't care for him. And it makes me be like, no, I hate him. You guys hate him for bad reasons. I hate him because he sucks. Yeah, yeah. Listen, there's a lot of angles to dislike Ian Machado Gary from. He's a deeply unlikable person. I'm mostly indifferent. And by the way, this is not just a public persona. We know people in the industry who have interacted with, you know, Michato Garry who have told us like, yeah, it's just not a fun guy. I don't know a mean person, but just apparently just unpleasant, unpleasant to be around. So I don't want to gossip. I've never met the man personally. Go ahead, Joe. Go ahead. I think that's important, not a mean person or whatever, but just like there's a difference between me not liking you and you being a bad person, right?
Starting point is 01:11:43 Like I don't think it is, well, never say never, but it is, it seems unlikely to me based on what I know and what I've heard. Like, Imichato Gary is going to rob a bank or commit like a big crime. Sure. That in years later, it would be like, wow. But like, I just, I cannot imagine having a beer with him. It would be awful, I think. You just dislike him on a human level. And that's fine.
Starting point is 01:12:06 Yes, correct. I, his personality is deeply in opposition to, to me as a person. and I don't think we would get along, but I don't think he's not like a bad human. He seems like a fine person in that record, just not oil and water. Yeah, I'm indifferent for the most part. I get it.
Starting point is 01:12:26 I understand I feel don't like him. I think a lot of the stuff about people kind of taking digs as his personal life is ridiculous. I know he puts it out there a bit himself. I get that. But I think some of the things are just so silly. And it just becomes so, like, rooted in untrue stories and hearsay that I'm like, okay, guys,
Starting point is 01:12:42 like I said, there's plenty of reasons. Just like him. Pick those reasons. Don't go out of his life. But yeah, I agree. I like the initial comment. It's a shame. It's a shame you. It is. It really sums it up. Well, it does feel like he could hit another level of popularity. But maybe he's peaked. Just, but hey, I got to tell you, somebody in the feed this week was like, honestly, this is brilliant. In a sport that glorifies Sean Strickland and Josh Hokit, Ian Machado Gary has found the only true way to be like a heel amongst the fan base and support women's rights. And be a vegan and be a vegan.
Starting point is 01:13:22 I was like, honestly, he kind of has cornered the market of like, well, I can't, I can't be a heel by being Colby. That doesn't, people just like me. What if I do this? Yeah. It's great. People care about it. Listen, people care about it.
Starting point is 01:13:36 I'll say that. Love or Mahat him. He's in that range. People talk about him. Should he win, it will be, the discourse will be. something. Should he beat his on Mockachev. A couple here from
Starting point is 01:13:47 M.M.A. Guru, Simon Fett. Yeah, yeah. Let him say his fees. He paid $5. Let's not sort of bad press. That's not sort of bad press on the way. Just because you pay money. I mean, I'll draw the line at some things, but this is fine. This is fine.
Starting point is 01:14:00 Mike Hack and Jed Mushu are co-sports analyst and a lawyer. A.K. is the worst thing that ever happened in a May fighting on a hurt my feelings kindergarten. I don't understand the last sentence. Neither do I. I got called the worst thing that happened. to the sport last week too. I don't know if it was Simon.
Starting point is 01:14:16 I think it's him again. Somebody goes like, you're the worst that's ever happened in me. I was like, that's just impressive. And then also from Simon, don't time me here. And I was going to and then I saw the other message.
Starting point is 01:14:26 Simon, I wanted to be clear. I'm the one who timed you out. Not A.K. I did it twice. I think he knows that. He's still coming after me. I don't think I'm getting,
Starting point is 01:14:36 I didn't think I got blamed for the guys. I will say, I told someone to F themselves in the chat, but it was not him. So I time people out constantly because I think it's really funny. Yeah. You got to make your own joy in life and having my own small dictatorship is I get how people in like HOAs are the worst because they give them a small amount of power and they will abuse it.
Starting point is 01:15:00 I'm like, oh, I can. Ban. You're out of here. It's the most fun. Thank you, Simon. Thank you, Simon. Thank you. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:15:07 One last super chat again from Michael Beal. Malat versus Buckley. His name is not Joe Buckley. Joe Buckley. Jo, Joaquin, Jo. Malat versus Buckley, Alberta, October 17th. Who you got, AK. You can't ask me.
Starting point is 01:15:23 I'm biased. Canadian brethren. Obviously, I'm going with Mike Malad, of course. I hate this fight, but I do think Mike Malot can win it. I just find any Mike Malott fight funny now since Gilobrens has given him the best gimmick where if you fight him, you apparently have to retire. Because it means. Genuinely my favorite.
Starting point is 01:15:40 that's happened probably in the last two years. According to Gilbert Burns, who like multiple quotes said, I'm trash now because I can't beat Mike Mulach. He literally just said, well, now I know I'm, I saw him. Saying it that directly was incredible. I think Wyden, Wyden said something like that a couple weeks ago on the like Deepwater's thing where they were talking about retirement and Wyden.
Starting point is 01:16:03 Weidman didn't say the name, but he was like, yeah, because they were talking about Porier. They were talking too poory about like you walked away and you still had it, right? Like you, you have a win over the current lightweight champion. Like you could still be competing. Well, I was like,
Starting point is 01:16:17 I quit because like I was just losing to people I should never ever lose to. Gilbert Burns just said it specifically and made it way funnier. I mean, like, if I can't be my lot, what the hell am I doing here? It was the most like respectful way to disrespect someone's entire career. Extremely disrespectful to your opponent who just beat you to say like.
Starting point is 01:16:38 It's my favorite. Not that they're great, that they're like, oh, they're so bad. And now I know I'm worse. And I have to leave. It's my favorite quote of the year by a lot. I think about it all the time. Like he just, because he, it's great because you know he wasn't trying to be disrespectful. If you're trying to be disrespectful, it would be really good trash talk.
Starting point is 01:16:57 But instead it's just like, that was his earnest feelings. Like, this guy's ass. And if I can't beat him, I must be even worse. And it rocked. Buckley, if you. lose to Milat, please don't retire. It's fine. There's other fights to be had. You do not need to retire. Mike Malat is a decent fighter and should be treated as such.
Starting point is 01:17:16 So I'll pick him a lot. I don't know. He does. He is a deal. I'm going to pick him. I hate this fight because I think it does nothing for Malat. Like if he beats Buckley, he's in the exact same spot. And there are four former champions in this weight class. And you should be like each of the rising guys who aren't already past the former champion. Like protests and, like Morales. They're already beyond the former champion level.
Starting point is 01:17:42 But like you've got Usman, Leon, Ballal, and JDM. And you could put like Bonfim and Malat and Medich, like these guys who are trying to make a run, you give them one of the former champions and see if they can build something. Instead, Buckley is just, Buckley got his shot at Usman and he lost. He should be fighting, he should be fighting way much further back than Mike Malott, in my opinion.
Starting point is 01:18:05 So I hate the fight, but I, you know, it'll be fun. And I think Mike Mott can win. And AK, we're going to go out on this one. I saw this. Do you see what I saved? I've been trying to think. Yeah, I've been trying to prepare myself. From our dear friend, Lazy Bed, I like to end on a non-MMA question.
Starting point is 01:18:23 You're the lead casting director for a film studio. Without a single look at the script, you're asked to blindcast the leading man for a feature film. Who do you cast, A.K., before we get to that, one more from Michael Biel just pop up. It's not a question. but Joe will make it an entertaining fight. I think so. I agree. I agree.
Starting point is 01:18:42 I agree. The Buckley-in-a-law fight will be fun. I just don't like it promotionally. Yeah. Thank you for that, Michael. And now, lazy, to your question. A.K., simple question is, you blindcast a leading man for a feature film.
Starting point is 01:18:57 Who are you going with? I think there's nuance and layers to this question, AK. Because you're blindcasting. So, like, if you knew the specific genre of film, that might make a difference. You need to pick a guy who is versatile, who you think can carry a film, and it doesn't really matter if it's, you know,
Starting point is 01:19:16 a hard-nosed drama, if it's an action franchise, if it's comedy. You need a guy who's versatile in that way. And probably, you need a movie star too. Like, you can't just pick,
Starting point is 01:19:28 like, my favorite character actor. You need a guy to lead this thing. It's a tough question. Where are you going? Yeah, I mean, I'm having two instincts. I mean, the very obvious choice right now would be Tom Holland.
Starting point is 01:19:38 Tom Holland is so hot right now. I mean, it's, I guess the question is. He's in the two biggest movies of all time. He is one, not, he's not the lead in the Odyssey, but he's the number three on the call sheet. And he is the unequivocal number one on the call sheet. Yeah. What is probably, maybe not because Dune 3 is coming out and like, I will be surprised if Dume's Day does better than this, does better than Spider-Man financially. And you mentioned versatility, the guy he can obviously, he can, obviously, he can,
Starting point is 01:20:06 do humor, he can do drama. Like, we know him from doing these franchises. And that would sort of be the big question is, can he carry a big movie that's not a franchise? Because even his other hit Uncharted was also obviously based on video game. Yeah. You can't pick Tom Holland because his other work, like outside of IP, he is not open to movie. It's like, no, well, smaller dramatic work.
Starting point is 01:20:26 Right. He's not other movies that have been critically acclaimed, but not big. He is not, but who does though? That's my question is like, I don't actually don't know if you can name an actor who's like just launched an original IP these days. that's been like a huge block. It's not really a thing anymore, unfortunately. There was a time when it was. That's why I said, I think it's such a good question.
Starting point is 01:20:41 I think it's such a well-time question because I don't know what that means anymore. So selfishly, I would pick Dan Kaluya, just because there's also a part of this. I like that. But where is he? This is my other question is like, what the, why is this guy not? I know, I know these things are cyclical. Like, who knows? Maybe next year there's five movies starring Dan Kulia.
Starting point is 01:21:00 He's very, he's very choosy about the projects he wishes to embark upon. if he can divorce me but i love dan kuluya i would love to see a cast him as a leading man and i don't care comedy sci-fi drama artsy film some west anderson movie i would love see time cahua to say to her that ooh a z gray has a good choice in the comments i see a lot of good choices i mean there there are people i think a lot of these are like kind of interesting but wouldn't i actually do think florence peter's a great answer and that she has a wide level of range yeah i am not certain she can open a film right like is a, because I am thinking, like, I need an A-level star. And if you just put Florence Pugh on the poster, is that going to get people in the door?
Starting point is 01:21:44 You might get a great performance, absolutely. But is that going to get people in the door? I am not certain about that. She's not. She's not. She's got the Dune. She's got the Spider-Man. She's in Spider-Man and Dome's Day.
Starting point is 01:21:56 So she is also going to have a big three. I think instead of Pue, I think Zendaya is, probably actually can open a film like in that regard. I mean, she has, she's going to be in four, three of the biggest movies of the year and one awards bait movie this year. She's in the Odyssey. She's in Spider-Man. She's in Doom 3.
Starting point is 01:22:19 I don't think she's in Doomsday because that wouldn't really make sense, but I guess it is possible she's in it. And then the drama is like awards bait for later in the year. Like she is there. I think that would honestly be a pretty good choice. My choice, I thought about Leo because I've been thinking about this off show. Of course. I saw someone mention Leo right away.
Starting point is 01:22:39 I think Leo's, Leo is not a wrong answer in any regard. I feel like, like Leo could do it, right, AK? Like, because he can be funny. He's obviously a great dramatic actor. And if you do a Leo movie, Leo actually might just be the right choice. He's so good. Hero, villain, in between. He's extremely talented.
Starting point is 01:23:03 He's great. I also, and this is a little cheating because he just opened the Odyssey, but Matt Damon is just, I'll go see a Matt Damon movie because it's a Matt Damon movie because we had this conversation earlier. It was like, if you had to pick somebody's filmography and he's the only person you to watch, I think Leo has done more like elevated movies as Matt Damon.
Starting point is 01:23:24 Matt Damon has done significantly more fun, rewatchable movies. This is a whole other debate. We can't get into this now. Yeah, there's a whole other debate. Wow, you got to be thinking now. love me some Matt Damon. Matt Damon is a very, very good choice. If you're trying to pick someone who's
Starting point is 01:23:42 younger, and I don't even particularly care for him as an actor, I think he's a fine actor, but I am not, I think Gosling just has enough range, and Gosling can open a film. Gosling can kind of do everything. Not my favorite actor, but he's probably like the under 45 guy I'd pick for that. Wow.
Starting point is 01:24:02 Canada's own. Yeah. The superior Ryan, as I like to call him. I mean, probably. Don't say, we don't need to say the other guy's name. He's probably. We're ending on such a positive. Seacrest?
Starting point is 01:24:14 Yes. Yes, that's what I was referring to, correct? I assume that that's, are there other Ryan's out there? Who can say? Don't worry about it. But at this stage, I'm going for almost 90 minutes, AK. Good. It was a great show.
Starting point is 01:24:26 I had a great time. Wonderful time. I had a wonderful time hanging out with you, AK. And it's the last time I'll hang out with you on, this week because I am not on the preview show tomorrow. You and Mike Heck will be doing the preview show tomorrow for UFC Vegas 120. Got a little loud. I'm off Saturday, so I won't be on the post show either.
Starting point is 01:24:47 You guys enjoy that. Make sure you tune in for all that and on to the next one. All the rest of the coverage from Ramefighting.com for this weekend and beyond. And then AK, we're on the road to UFC 330. We will have, I mean, a pretty good time. time, right? 3.30 looks like it's okay on paper. Certainly the top fights are very good. The support could maybe use a little bit to desire, to be desired, but I think there's an REF next weekend as well. We got some stuff happening. So make sure you keep it locked in and find.com for Alexander Kaylee.
Starting point is 01:25:22 I'm Jedmushu. Thanks. Love y'all.

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