MMA Fighting - BTL Roundtable | Ngannou vs. Gane, Moreno vs. Figueiredo 3, Kattar's Big Win, More

Episode Date: January 20, 2022

Could Francis Ngannou have too much on his mind ahead of his first heavyweight title defense? That storyline is discussed on this week’s Between the Links ahead of Ngannou’s main event bout with Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 this Saturday. In addition, the panel talks the trilogy fight for the flyweight championship between Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo, the UFC’s first pay-per-view event under the new price increase, Calvin Kattar’s incredible bounce back win against Giga Chikadze at UFC Vegas 46 and where that puts him in title contention, the ongoing battle between Dana White and Henry Cejudo, and much more with MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Jed Meshew, along with UFC bantamweight Brian Kelleher fresh off of his victory over Kevin Croom this past Saturday at the APEX. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Brian Kelleher: @brianboom135 Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is Between the Links. And now your host, my... Yes, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. We're doing a live roundtable edition of the program, some friendly banter to discuss all the big news going on in the world and mixed martial arts.

Thank you for having us on. We're hoping for the big championship battle to go down next week between Jed Mishu and Phoenix Carnivali, but lining up the schedules has proven to be very difficult, but we will get it done at some point, but I figured we can banter,

keep it somewhat friendly, and have some fun on this Thursday afternoon. Speaking of Jed Mishu, he is here right now, the reigning, undisputed BTL champion, although you don't have your first title defense, Jed, you are here to talk some MMA. How are you, my friend?

I am not. We talked about this, whatever week it was at this point. I am not the reigning. I am not the unresputed. Phoenix Carnivali. Again, unlike Al Jermaine Sterling, when I say something, I mean it. And I am not the champion until I beat Phoenix.

So you can give me that paper title. I'm going to put it down and I'm never picking it up. You're not going to find any images of me online with that belt. Because I'm not the real until I beat the real. At some point that's going to happen in the interim, happy to be here and chat with you guys. Should be fun. Yeah, I mean, I, I did all this work to put this tournament together,

and it means nothing? It meets nothing, Jed. Is that what you're trying to tell me? No, we just haven't had the finale of the tournament yet. I beat some bozo named Alexander Lee who I wake up and just destroy. I don't have to do it. We half asleep and just murder that guy.

It doesn't count. The title comes when Phoenix goes down. And that's what's going to happen as soon as we do get locked in the BTL case together. But for now, I am an interim champion at best. Well, hopefully next week we can settle that score once and for all. Also joining us this week is a man coming off of a big victory this past Saturday in Las Vegas. You got a late notice opponent change, got the job done against Kevin Kroom at UFC Vegas 46.

Let us say hello to Mr. Brian Boom, Kelleher. How are you, sir? Look at that. Boom, baby. What's going on? I don't know who Phoenix is, but I'll tell you what. I'll take an illegal knee and a championship belt and some paper. viewpoints on this bad boy.

Brian, congratulations on the win. And I am curious, though, and you may have shared this information elsewhere, but that damn Michael Bisbing just took that microphone right away from you and you were about to say something very compelling it looks like. What were you going to say, Brian? Tell the folks if you would be so kind. Unbelievable. I was going to pop his damn eyeball out, to be honest with you.

But I just wanted to get on the mic and say, hey, Vegas, can I get a boom? because I did that in Florida once when there was fans, and the arena erupted. So I was excited to do that. It wasn't too important, but hey, Bisping, he definitely played me on that. Did you go to the bathroom before we started the show? Everything's clean. I took a nice shower.

I got ready proper for the show. Yeah, that's another story in itself. I'm surprised Bisping didn't ask me about that, but that was something I had to share with the fans just because it was my truth. It was my reality and I had to tell it. I thought it was hilarious. All right. Well, I guess we appreciate your candor and in your openness and your honesty, Brian.

Yeah, no, before the fight made, they give you, you're wearing these tight-ass shorts and you got the cup. Everything's like, you know, so you, you know, you got some gas coming in. Your nerves are kicking. And I'm thinking, oh, my God, I'm the second fight. You know, this fight's about to end. I'm trying to fart. and like it's you know when it's not a fart it's a little bit something else so

I'm thinking I can't push like I can't do this I I'm trying to let it out slow just ease it out you know and it's not working so you know I say you know what I gotta do this because I don't have time to go to the bathroom so I got to let this out so I go to let it out a little something you know I feel warmth

and a little bit of like dampness there and I'm in the middle of warming up with my teammates so I got to tell them all my dude I think I sharded man I got to I got to hit the bathroom so So yeah, that was my story. Went to the bathroom. There was a little mark there.

It wasn't too much. I wiped it up, cleaned it up. And I think Kevin Kruhe might have pink eye, but hey. Who says MMA fighting doesn't give me the news you need, ladies and gentlemen? Who says that? The answer is no one. Fighting dirty. Dirty as fighter there is, man.

The Rick Flair of the UFC. Wow. All right. Well, let's start with you. Vsie Vegas 46, and there was no sharding involved in this fight, at least to our knowledge. And the way that this card ended was Calvin Cater put on one hell of a performance against Giga Chikaze. He was a pretty sizable underdog.

Most people were counting him out of this fight following that loss to Max Holloway a year or so ago. But he goes out there, as Jed Michoud likes to say, put the wood to Giga Chikazze for 25 minutes. So, Jed, we will begin with you. Did you learn more about Calvin Cater or Giga Chikazze on Saturday night? I mean, I guess I learned more about Giga Chikaze just because he could take a beating. Like, we, I did not, I mean, I just assumed that most people can't take that sort of an ass whoopin because it's a big one. And so at any point, you could quit, you could find a way out, or your body could just turn off. And, I mean, Giga, Giga lost.

I think every judge had him lose every round. I gave him one of the rounds, but he lost cleanly. but he was by no means not still trying. Like he wasn't holding on to survive. He wasn't points having to survive. But, I mean, he was out there throwing back, you know, giving as good as he got for portions, but just not for the balance of the fight. So, I mean, we learned certainly some about Calvin Cater,

his ability to respond from taking his own halacious ass beating a year ago and kind of do the things he needed to come back, reset and get back in there and then put on that performance. But I mean, I think we knew, or at least I feel like I had a good concept that Calvin Cater had that sort of game in him. Sorry, I was getting a phone call. But I didn't know that Chikaze had that level of toughness in him. So I was really impressed by both guys.

What do you think, Brian? Did you take more away from Calvin Cater's win or Giga Chikazza's loss? You know, to me, I would say Calvin Cater's win. I think a lot of people had questions about, you know, what kind of Calvin Cater we were going to get after that Max Holloway fight. You know, he took so much damage in that fight. A lot of shots, you know, accumulated, and people worry about that, you know, and, you know, he really showed his ability to adapt and make changes,

not only just from that fight, but also during this fight, you know, I thought Giga looked really sharp early with the kicks. He landed a couple really hard. And then you saw Cater make the adjustments and he closed the distance. He made it a boxing fight. He really used a lot of forward pressure to make sure that, you know, Giga was on his back foot. He could no longer really utilize that kick with the same kind of power if he's backing up constantly. So I was just really impressed during the fight with Calvin Cater's ability to adjust and make it his fight.

we've seen some outstanding bounceback performances throughout this long run of the ufc we've seen guys and gals come back from some tough losses some long layoffs brian but what calvin cater did after the holloway loss and taking a record number of strikes and being counted out by almost everybody in this fight was this one of like the the best bouncebacks that you can recall yeah i mean to me i mean as of recent for sure because you know the the beating that he took took was like it was it was pretty uh you know one-sided and and people you could tell in the media that it was a concern you know for a lot of people but you could you could also see that uh calvin cater's got a great team behind him that that's smart you know his coach is uh definitely underrated i think and you know

they took the time off and a lot of people had concerns about that too like oh too much time off we don't know how's that going to affect him but for him he had a good quote that i really liked he said like I never got worse by, you know, taking more time to get, you know, to train to put into the gym to focus on this next fight. So I thought that was great. And yeah, I mean, as far as like bounceback wins, he honestly, like with that win, he pretty much erases the Holloway lost. Like I think people are just going to remember that last fight with Giga and think, man, who's Cater going to fight next and where are they going to put up next? He seems to belong at the top. in terms of what this win did for cater jed and you were very respectful on the roundtable last week on the podcast network talking about the sort of ceiling that you had for calvin cater and giga talked a lot heading into the fight about title shots volkinovsky in general while cater did what cater in the new england cartel guys always do they focus on the task at hand they don't talk trash and in this case it paid off huge because all the talking giga did had

cater coming out smelling like absolute roses. I know this all depends on the result of Volcanovsky zombie, how long Holloway will be sidelined for with this injury, and who knows? Cater could end up as the backup for the title fight in April. Has your stance changed on Cater being in the title picture and how close he is to that shot now as opposed to last week? No, and that kind of goes back to the,

I think I learned more about Giga. I think, less of Giga than I did coming into the fight. Not as not, I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. There's no way I guess to take the way I just said that other than disrespectful. I thought Giga had the, the basic level of talent to maybe be a future title contender. I kind of don't think that anymore. I think Cater just sort of show the deficiencies.

And Giga while young in MMA is probably too old to really make some big changes in the time that would be necessary for him to put a concerted title run to. together. For Cater, it's really the same thing that I said last week. Like, I think Calvin Cater is one of those guys who we are destined to not respect enough for what he has accomplished and what he's able to accomplish. I think that there's a really strong argument that guys like him or Michael Bisping or Martin Campman, like those guys who absolutely maximize their tools. Like, to me, that's one of the hardest things you can do in life and certainly in this sport is getting every inch out of, the tools God gave you. And I think Calvin Cater is certainly doing that. But I think fundamentally, God didn't give him enough tools to really grab that brass ring. And so I feel sort of the same. He is going to be a top five guy and he can beat a lot of really good fighters.

I think he's going to struggle to consistently put together wins over top eight opposition that would get him to a title fight. So if he gets one, it would be a matter of timing less than. Yeah, he's undeniable because, I mean, I think to some extent, Brian's right. Like, people are going to start to forget about the Max fight because this was such a dominant showing from him. But at the same time, he also still ate a ton of shots in this fight. I know we aren't talking about it. But he ate more shots in this fight than he ate in any other fight of his career other than the Holloway fight.

And that's going to leave a mark and be rough moving forward. But also just like, we know what the top is at Featherweight. it's it's max and volk and and he clearly is not getting to max like that's that is not a gap that i think he can overcome based on how dominant that fight was so i don't i just i just don't see it for him um you know if he does great it would be a good win for volkinovsky or holloway again because like i said he's a top eight top five guy but i just don't think he i would not bet on him getting a title shot before his career is done what do you think brian because We don't know how long Holloway is going to be out for.

He could be out for two months. He could be out for a year. We have no idea. We don't know the extent of the injury. So let's just say it's the latter. Let's say Holloway doesn't fight at all this year. Calvin Cater could be next in line for the title. Like he could get the winner of Volcanowski and Zombie easy with his resume.

Like if you compare the two resumes between him and Zombie, they're pretty damn close. So if you had to guess, if I gave you 20 bucks and said, hey, Brian, take this $20, you got to put it on whether or not Cater gets a title shot in 2022. Where are you putting it? You know, I think like you said, with the different factors that play into this, you know, with injuries and stuff like that, there is a lot of luck that comes into play. And I think, you know, Jed's right. I think if Calvin Cater has to go through Max again to get to that point,

I don't think he has great odds to become champion. But, you know, that's also another thing. You know, you never know how this plays out because how long is Max out, you know, can Calvin Cater slip in at some point, you know, zombie versus Volcanowski. What happens there? You know, imagine, you know, zombie wins. That mixes up everything, you know, we don't know what's going to happen from there. And then if Max comes back and ends up champion, that's like a rematch that you can make down the line. And a big story you could tell about, you know, Cater's made changes. And but he was dominated completely against this guy the first time out. So I think. there's a lot of variables that come into play. And honestly, from that last fight, I did see, like, a different fighter in Calvacator, you know, with a lot of new tools that he added to his game. Those elbows were amazing. He landed a couple of real sharp spinning elbows.

And I think that, you know, he mixed in a couple of takedowns and they seemed a little bit more of a desperate thing. But, hey, he has them there now, you know? So, you know, mixing up the game is very important. You can't just be one-dimensional, go in and try to box someone, and that's it. So I think if he can keep improving and adding to his game and somehow slip in, maybe something happens. You never know, man. I mean, look, zombie just got an opportunity, right?

So things can happen and he could slip in if he keeps winning. It's a featherweight's interesting right now. Obviously, Volcanowski Holloways, the fight everybody wants to see. But again, we don't know how long Holloway is going to be out for. Cater versus Yair would be a lot of fun. Cater versus Ortega would be very interesting. Giga takes a step back. What do you mean?

You don't like that, Jen? No, you can put Kater in against a broom. It's going to be fun. Dude is a banger of an action fighter. Like, I got nothing but respect for Calvin Kater. I don't think he wins against Yair, and I think he probably doesn't win against a lot of the other. Like, that's the other thing about Featherweight, too.

We talked about it last week. Like, it has so much emerging talent that that is about to start coming on. And Kater, who's kind of had a shot, at least against one B at the top of the thing. Like he's not going to be next up. He's going to either have to fight which is a fight that I don't think is great for him or he's going to have to fight like Josh Emmett or something and I just don't feel great about it.

But you can put him in against any human being on the planet. It's going to be fun as hell to watch. Agreed. Great performance. I spoke with Calvin on We Got Next. You can find that on the podcast network. I manned up. I manned up. I told him that I picked against him and he took it in stride and he handled it like a pro.

So good for him. let's talk about another individual who has found himself in this Volcanovsky featherweight title discussion of the last couple weeks. That is one Henry Suhudo, who has found himself in a middle of a lot of storylines these days. But when the news of Max Hollowade's injury came about, Suhudo raises his hand and does the Suhudo thing. Take shots of Volcanovsky. But then over this last week, he sort of turned his attention, not on Volcanovsky, but to Dana White and the UFC. after getting passed over for the Korean zombie, who oddly enough is a member of the fight-ready squad

and will be training with Henry Suhudo to prepare for this title fight. But Suhudo has had things to say about the UFC and Dana White. Dana White, in turn, as he typically does, has had things to say about Henry Suhudo and being retired and it being silly for him to just jump the queue. So, Brian, outside looking in, this was a story heading into your fight, obviously. What have you made of this whole situation?

This Dana White versus Henry Suhudo battle. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think Suhudo is actually, he's kind of a funny guy, like, with his shit talk, you know, and it's interesting. And he does say a lot of the right things. But at the same time, like, you know, Dana White's not going to bite for someone who is not, like, real superstar power, you know, the whole comparison to GSP. It makes sense as far as, like, a rational thing. Like, oh, you let him come back and challenge, you know, Bisping for the title at a different weight class. And look, he just up and left. And, you know, that's the thing is that was a mistake looking back for the UFC.

They kind of don't want to do that again. They don't want you coming in, winning a title, and then just bouncing and leaving it, you know, empty handed and then having to figure out the division. So I think that's a big part of it. And then on top of it, you know, Suhudo wants to get paid. He wants to get paid like what, you know, he believes he deserves, which, yes, you know, Olympic champion. He has all the accolades. And, you know, it would make rational sense for him to get a chance for what he's done in the sport. but for, you know, his star power, it's not matching up with the UFC.

And I think that's what the big difference is. Jed, your thoughts on this because Suhudo wants to go out there and make history and become a three-division champion. However, the man upped and retired. He kind of left the UFC high and dry after he stopped Dominic Cruz. A lot of eyeballs. We're on that whole card and that whole situation because this is the first sporting event back. It was UFC 249. we're trying to get sports moving forward.

What else are we going to watch? Let's order this pay-per-view. And Henry Sohudo goes out there and bolts Domina Cruz and gets the stoppage win. And then he just ups and retires him wanting more money and all. So Dana, like Brian said, he's a little weary because when you get burnt once, you might get burnt again. At the same time, Sehudo's won titles in two different divisions. And although, also like Brian said, he's not as big of a pay-per-view draw as he probably thinks he is. Outside of Holloway, this was probably the.

the biggest featherweight title fight the UFC could make here with Suhudo looking to make some history in the storylines attached you. What have you made of how both Sehudo and Dana White have handled this whole thing? Man, I have a lot of thoughts. Most of them are mean. So I'm just going to say them. I very, you know me, Mike. I am not a man who sides with Dana White on damn near anything because he's just wrong about

damn near everything. He's totally correct in this situation. almost totally correct. He's correct in his end. The things he said are dumb and objectively untrue. So when Dana came out and was like, no, you know, like we, nobody gets to do this. You don't get to come out of retirement and then jump up a weight class. Like that's objectively false.

They did it for GSP. So the way he said it was very stupid because there's a much easier way to say it. Because what he actually means is nobody gives a shit because nobody does. I think Henry Suhudo is an incredible fighter. He is a two-division champion and a former Olympic gold meddist. I will be super frank and say, I believe being a former gold meddhist is more impressive than being a two-division champion in the UFC.

Like that is an incredible accomplishment, especially he did it at 18 years old. I have nothing to speak against his fighting prowess. I do think that like Brian said, he says a lot of the right things, but he doesn't quite and I'm trying to figure out how it works

because it's like he knows what he's supposed to say and he says it but just just doesn't get it quite right at the end so it botches everything because if he wanted to fight this fight if he really did want to fight

a featherweight title fight he could get one he can't get one immediately and that's kind of where the disconnect is here because he is not a star nobody genuinely cares uh you know this because

I To me, it is pretty obvious that his retirement was a contract ploy that didn't go his way. And then when the UFC called his bluff, he just kind of went with it. Because it was pretty obvious immediately after he retired. He was like, yeah, you know, I'm retired, but I don't make enough money. And if Dana knows the number to bring me back. And so that really reads strongly to me as, yeah, I just want more money because we've seen Connor McGregor do that before. We've seen Nate Diaz threatened this sort of thing.

Like, it's John Jones threatened to walk away until he got more money. I think he overplayed. He thought he was more important because he thought that having two belts meant he mattered. But it doesn't because the UFC does not really care about their champions, only slightly above the rest of their fighters. And now he's just sort of down this road. If he really wanted to get this fight, he could very easily do it by just saying, hey, Dana, I want to come back. I don't care about the Bannon White Belt. I would like to try and make history be the first three division champion.

You're not going to give me a title fight? Okay, what's Brian Ortega doing? Let me fight Brian Ortega. He comes back and beats Brian Ortega. He gets a title fight. That's just it. But I don't think he wants to do that. Not because he's afraid of Brian Ortega.

I think he only wants this fight if it's just going to be really convenient for him. If all he has to do is say, is tweet out, hey, I want to do this. And they're like, let's do it. And we're going to give you a big bag of money on top of it. But that's not how it was ever going to work. And he knows that that's not how it's ever going to work. So I mostly feel like this is posturing from him. Because also he's not in the Usadipu.

He never could have fought in March. He has to come back for six months. Technically the UFC can give him an exemption, but they're not going to. So I feel like this has mostly just been posturing from him. And unless the stars align, he's not really going to he's not going to get this chance and so he's just not going to fight again which is fine it's just be a lot cooler if he wasn't lame about it on Twitter so Jed let's just say let's say the UFC was like all right all right dude you want this

we're going to give it to you here's your exemption let's see what like people want all right let's let's survey the people are you like would you be personally more interested in the zombie fight or so who'd go in for the third title like if we're up to you If Dana, I called you on the phone and said, which fight would you rather pick? I know you're a zombie fan. I get that and you want to see it in that way. But your thoughts overall, like outside of wanting to see zombie get a shot? I mean, outside of wanting to see zombie get a shot, for sure, I'd rather see Sehudo.

I think Sehudo is the more objectively interesting fight just because it would present such a rare opportunity. The first person to win three belts in the UFC, even if I would say that that's a a little suss about that, but still an incredible accomplishment. Frankly, we had talked about this. I don't really think zombie super deserves a featherweight title shot here either. So neither guy would really deserve the title fight. I think zombie is going to do way better numbers than Sehudo would. But from kind of all of those, you know, journalistic storylines, it's certainly much more

interesting for Suhudo to try and make history. What do you think, Brian? Are you more Volcanovsky Suhudo or more Volkanovsky zombie here with Holloway not in the picture at the moment? I'd be more into the Suhudo thing. I just think there's a little bit more interest for me, you know, as a fighter, just to see history like that and see if he could do it. You know, I mean, he's a smaller guy.

I mean, he's fought at flyweight and then Bannamweight and he's, you know, he has all the tools, though, to beat anybody that's in front of him, really, with his wrestling background and all that. So, you know, much improved striking as the years went on. Like, I'd be interested stylistically to see that fight. And just to see, like, can Henry Sehudo really come in and do that? It's just the whole retirement factor doesn't help you in negotiations. And I think that that's where he's at right now.

He's trying to flex on the UFC. And whenever you do that, it just never ends up good for you. Yeah, the timing of the retirement. Yeah, the timing of the retirement was terrible. Yeah. It was terrible. Unless you really make a difference, you know. the timing was so bad because you immediately

in the post fight was like yeah he'll be it only got him fight for the belt that's fine it took him six months to admit Habib who obviously was legitimately retiring was going to retire because his dad down was like no we're going to get him back here so hootos like yeah I'm out he's fine see ya don't let the door hit you on the way done yeah tune in to ABC we'll give you an update on

on Habib status like it was just so silly that whole that whole thing. So we'll round it off with this. Is there a world Jedmishu where Henry Sehudo, Dana White, and the UFC can find some sort of common ground? Maybe we see Triple C fight again inside the octa. Do you think he fights again, simply put? No.

Unless he gets bills, and he's about to have a kid, bills do pile up when you have a kid, but they're not going to give him a featherweight title shot, like straight up. If he wants to come back for a Banimate one, but I don't, I think that presents super high risk and low reward. So unless he changes his mind about the money he wants, they're not giving him one. Because the UFC sure isn't doing that. What do you think, boom?

Do you think we see Suhudo fight again? Maybe, I mean, maybe this year, maybe not, but do you see him, do you think there's a world we see him actually fight in the UFC again ever? I kind of lean towards no also, you know, I think like, I don't think they're going to jump for the amount of money that he wants unless they really desperately, needed him and it just doesn't seem like that would ever play out like maybe if you know zombie cater uh you know all those top guys behind vokanowski get hurt all at the same time and they want to make some kind of super fight to fill in the gap like that would be the only way that i think

they would like jump for like a higher number for him but otherwise i just don't see him even wanting to come back to ban him wait unless it was for that number as well you know there's he's already made the history there like he has no reason to do that he just wants to make more history and get that third title. So it's, I feel like it's 45 robust and I just, I don't see the UFC biting. Yeah. So Hudo overshot in such a big way. He was like the guy in a long came Polly playing basketball, just Jumanji and throwing the ball

over the hoop. He was so, he missed every shot he took here. Like, I'll, A for effort, absolutely A for effort. But the UFC clearly does not appreciate being made a fool of, especially on a card like that. And what's awful, what hurts Sohudo as well is that the two divisions he represented have both clearly moved on without him. The flyweight division too. A lot of people thought Sehudo saved the flyweight division.

Yeah, there's some semblance of truth to that. But Figueraida going out there and finishing people, that helped the division. Branagh Moreno's incredible moment in June, that helped the division. Both divisions are doing just fine without Henry Sehudo. So he doesn't have a lot of, doesn't have a lot of weight to this whole thing. Let's see what happens. Let's be clear, Mike. They're not doing just fine.

They are in better shape than when Henry Sudo was the champion of them. Like, entirely legitimately. The Brandon Moreno, Davidson Figurado, Figurato trilogy has been awesome. And either way, you're getting a, in my personal opinion, a much more interesting champion. And certainly somebody who is at least committed to actually being the champion of that division. And at 1.35, like Peodorian and Aljo, that's, there's a lot. of heat on that and that division is just shit brian notes that division's fire so like way better shape than when he was there trying to fight dominant crews and old people because he was doing legacy stuff

and not really concerned with being the actual top guy in the division to more pressing matters gentlemen because we have the ufc's first pay-per-view of the new year this saturday ufc 270 the media a day went down yesterday. Press conference goes down 8 p.m. Eastern today, which you can watch on M.AFighting.com. We got the two title fights. Main event, tons of storylines here, gentlemen, Francis and Gano

versus Cyril Gahn for the heavyweight title. We have the, for a short, short time anyway, former teammates, both guys finding success at the MMA factory out of Paris, France. They were never teammates. They were never friends. That's right. But they trained together like six six total times.

Six total times. but ingano moves to Vegas, becomes heavyweight champ, gone looking to become the undisputed champ in his own right. So we have the coach, the teammate thing, kind of, we have sparring footage stuff. We got Inganu's contract situation, his issues with the UFC,

just a lot to digest here, especially from the Ngano side. So, Jed, I'll start with you. Inganu clearly has a lot in his mind heading into this fight. The betters have seemed to notice this because the betting line is flared. Ghan is not the favorite.

That number continues to rise. But in Ghana, is still the most terrifying fighter, probably in UFC history, and he looked like he was a pit bull ready to jump off his leash at Media Day yesterday. Do you personally, as a fight fan

and as a respected journalist in this field, do you have concerns that the storylines heading into this fight could have in Gano a bit distracted heading into Saturday? No, I don't think he's distracted. it. I just don't think he's going to win. I don't think distraction has anything to do with it.

The way he has carried himself and acted basically since the fight was announced has really smelled strongly to me. Like he knows he's in for an ass whoopin. And he's in the same way Rhonda Rouse, he used to do that like posturing like all the time. and she did it all the way up into a Holly Home fight and then was embarrassed in that fight. I'm getting a lot of really similar vibes here. They've trained together. I think he just knows, like, you can't count Ghanu out. He's the most powerful puncher we've probably ever seen in this sport. If he lands, he can put anyone out.

He has, you know, more than a puncher's chance. But I think, I think this is a terrible fight for him, and I think he knows it. and I think that is, I don't know, people don't usually say the, we weren't friends, I never liked you anyway, unless like you were friends and you're hurt or you like are in a vulnerable position. I just feel like he knows about to get his ass beat and he's saying things because that's what you're supposed to say, but it's all a false confidence and he's going to get his ass beat.

Ryan, what do you think? Do you think there's merit to these concerns for in Gano? Do you believe it may be a bit overgrown? And let me ask you as a fighter as well. Let's just say you were getting ready to fight a former teammate and sparring footage leaked. And then at the media day, the guy you're about to fight is like, well, there's some things that weren't shown in the sparring footage, including me knocking out, knocking this dude out with a head kick. Is it like, what do you think of that whole thing? And is there merit to all these other concerns for Ngano?

Well, you know, I'll say this. I think Jed's probably right, but I'll bring a different perspective. I think that, you know, with all of the stuff that is going on with Ngano and the leaked footage and all that stuff, there's a lot of, you know, personal feelings, I think, from Ingano inside him that, you know, he, it's giving him a chip on his shoulder. It could at least. And it could light a fire under you that, you know, you're kind of embarrassed. Like, there's some footage out there. It looks like you're getting touched up by this guy.

And maybe you were. And maybe you have this thought, you know, I'm about to go in there. And this guy is another level. I've been in the gym with him and this is how he feels and I'm aware of that. It's hard to get past him and land my shots or whatnot. But that can also really motivate you and really inspire you to go in and get the job done because, you know, you opened up to this guy's coach who was your former coach and you gave him, you know, information about yourself and just, you know, built a relationship with somebody.

And then they're kind of, you know, on the flip side. And they went and, you know, went to somebody else. and now you're facing that guy that, you know, you knew in the past and had trained with. So there is a lot to the story. And I think that it's possible that it could have lit a fire under Engano to try to kind of, you know, say, listen, you think one thing and you, you know, you might have got one up on me in training, but this is different. And it is because, man, I've had the shittiest, the sparring sessions before some of my best performances.

And that right there just goes to show that if you get, if you connect yourself to how training went always, then you can bring some negative vibes into a fight. You have to be able to disconnect from, you know, how training went and, you know, how'd you feel last week in the peak of your camp? How did it go? You know, sometimes you have the worst training camp and you end up having the best performance in the fight because you got it up here and everything's together and in order mentally and psychologically. And hopefully that's the case for Francis because I do have concerns that a lot of this is getting to him and that he might be overthinking things and not just with the coach and the league footage, but with the UFC dispute and him wanting more money and this

and that. It could all be adding up and be in the back of his head. So I do have those concerns as well. Jed, if this fight goes the way that you seem, at least the way I perceive that you think it's going to go, that God's going to win and become the champion, we all know about in God who's contract. And if he loses, he can test free. agency if he wins, he still got that champion's clause and we'll probably have to stick with the UFC for the end of the year. If this fight ends the way you think it's going to end,

do you feel like this is the last time we see in Ghana in the UFC or do you think cooler heads will prevail, win or lose? Maybe not the last time. I do just want to say very briefly I hate that this storyline of the teammates is like so

to the front because I think it's a pretty fake one. Both men have said, yeah, we weren't really like that close. We've spent some time training, but you shouldn't take too much from that. But it has become this thing because of the coaches when I think this fight just rules on the merits. Like these are, I think the two best heavy weights in the world. So this fight is awesome. Like, and I don't need this. I don't need this sort of puffed up extracurricular stuff to make me stoked about Saturday. Like, I'm just ready for this anyway. But back to your original

question, Mike. I just wanted to say that. Um, I think, I think, I think, he could come back, I don't think he resigns with the UFC after he loses Saturday. I think he, nor should he, frankly, it is honestly probably a better business decision for him to lose to gone on Saturday because that will effectively terminate his UFC contract. And if he doesn't go out there and look awful and get knocked out immediately, even if he's coming off a loss, I think there's still a lot of interest in doing some of those bigger boxing fights. You know, there shouldn't be. Nobody should give a shit to watch him box Tyson Fury because Tyson Fury is going to murder him. But there is. People care enough about it.

He has a mystique to him. Coming off a loss, maybe dulls that a little bit. But if he could find a way to just invite Seorgan to take him down and then submit him, that's ideal. Because then he gets out of his TOC contract and then he can go make a shitload of money boxing, however many of those he can line up. then when that's over, he can always come back to the UFC. They'll re-sign him at this point. But I think it's pretty obvious that they're not going to cater to his wishes of having an option to go box if he wins or do any of those things.

They're just going to ride out his champions clause if he wins and keep him hooked for as long as they are able because that's what this organization has done for the last 20 years. So, yeah, I think that's kind of where I sit on it. It would be better for him to lose in some ways. and when he does lose, I think he's going to pursue some of those other opportunities, but he may well find his way back

to the UFC eventually. So to sort of play devil's advocate, because Jed does make a lot of good points, and I do completely agree that this teammate thing being the promotional storyline is silly, because the real storyline is the contract. And the UFC is not going to promote that. Dana mentioned it like a couple of times,

but they're not going to put in the promotional video in Ghana going on the MMA hour and talking, about his contract situation. It's not going to happen. But the media, obviously, and I'll agree with Ariel on this because I know we talked about this yesterday, we're selling the fight better than the UFC is. The media is because we're talking about the contract situation because that is a very interesting thing here. So Jed is saying, Brian, that a loss for Ingano opens the doors for more money and bigger opportunities. And there's some truth to that. A boxing fight with Tyson Fury,

as silly as it might sound, would do bonkers box office. However, I think Francis's biggest issue. and if you listen to the Hellwani interview back earlier last year, when he talks about just wanting respect from the UFC, I mean, money is part of it, but he wants to feel like the UFC is behind him, that they're promoting him, that they're pushing him. Would a win actually be better for him? Because what could be looming next?

John Jones. And if Francigano beats Cyril gone, everyone is going to want that fight. Everyone's wanted that fight for 18 months, but everybody will want it more than ever. and John Jones has already said he's talking about it. So would it almost be better from a promotional stance if he goes out there and wins

because the UFC is going to probably have to do whatever they can to make this fight happen? Because I don't think anyone's going to be hankering to see Engano Stepe 3 here, are they? Yes, that's a great point. I was thinking more on the lines of what Jeb was saying before, like about how, you know, if he lost, you know, he has opened the door now to, you know,

go into boxing and make some really big paydays. He mentions the boxing and stuff. So it's definitely something that's in the back of his head, which could also be a mental distraction, you know, going into this fight. Because imagine thinking of yourself, oh, wait, you know, if I lose, you know, when they release me, I'm free and I can go pursue things for the money that I think I deserve. So that's kind of a crazy thought. But if you go into the John Jones route, I mean, man, if he wins the fight,

he puts himself in a position or at least the best position to negotiate for what he does want. and to get the company behind him to the point where he feels respected because, man, if he's going up against John Jones, imagine like they go to Africa or something crazy. Like, they're going to get behind this guy. They have to at that point and really build that fight. And, you know, that's going to be probably one of the biggest fights in UFC history if that happens like that.

So he puts himself in a really good position if he wins and he can play his cards right and kind of respectfully meet with Dana and tell him how he feels and say, listen, I'm about to fight John. Jones, I want this, let's do this. I think the UFC might actually budge because that's the only fight that and that's the fight that they would have to make at that point. What do you think about that, Jed? Because, I mean, John Jones fighting Sierra Gan is interesting as well, but John Jones

fighting Francis Ngano, I mean, clearly, if you go out and ask any MMA fan what fight we have to see in 2022, list five, pretty much all of them are going to say Francis and Gano versus John Jones. So how much is that factored? And on the flip side, I feel like Cyril Ghan's playing with house money here. Like, yeah, I will suck if you lose to Francis and Ghanu after all the talk and all the storylines. But he's only 31.

He's still very new to the sport. And it's not like this is going to be his only chance to fight for the title. So your thoughts on that and just the Jones factor. And if Francis can can use that to kind of parlay that into the respect that he wants. I don't think the Jones factor matters at all. I'm extremely confident. And when I say that, for one very simple. reason, the UFC has essentially told us that it does not matter because, yeah, people have only

wanted that fight. People have only wanted that fight for like two years. At the moment that Francis and Ghanu knocked out Steepin Miochich, that was the fight. Nobody gave two turds about Cyril Ghan fighting Francis and Gano. The UFC did it because this whole contract thing, because both Inganu and Jones were like, we want to do this. We want you to pay us more because that's a reasonable request and they were like nope not going to do it and because we hold all the cards here we're going to make an interim belt and now you have to fight zero gone instead like they didn't do that to help francis and ghanu they did that specifically to hurt him they yes the ufc should they should have already done it but if he wins they should immediately make the jones fight i have no trust

or belief or faith that they will do so because john jones and francis and gano both have some level of principle, and they want more money because they deserve more money, and that fight will generate an enormous amount of money. Doing it under their current contracts with the current stipulations at whatever their pay rate is, is I won't say it's unfair because they did sign onto it, but it's sort of ridiculous for the UFC to kind of hold that line as ferociously as they are. and I think that that's just the same thing. Like, if the UFC wanted to make John Jones and Gano, they'd already done it.

They're interested in the same way that Henry Suhudo is interested in a featherway title fight. If it comes to him without issue or effort, he will take it. That is how the UFC feels about that fight. Yes, it'd be huge. Yes, they'd love it to happen. But not if they're going to have to pay one penny more than they are already currently contractually able to get from that fight. I just don't see it happening. So, I mean, and to that other point, like, I don't, if he beats gone, I don't think the UFC's going to get behind him.

The UFC historically gets behind fighters who play ball. Like, who is the, like, who is Dana White's most favorite fighter of all time? It's Ronda Rousey, because Ronda Rousey made a shitload of money and never complained about anything ever. She just said, yeah, let's do it. And that's the people that he gets behind. That is how the UFC structures So they're not going to support Francis Ngano As long as he

wants things for himself That's just not how it works Imagine that he Imagine Ingana won and then the UFC Made like another interim title fight With like Steepai and someone else I think that's legitimately Very possible

Yeah that is an incredibly possible outcome Because he's going to win and be like Hey I want to renegotiate And we're like champions clause dude We're not going to renegotes negotiate, we're just going to re-up you because you still have the bell. Well, I'm not going to fight then. Okay, we'll make a new champion for it.

They're just, that's just how this works. When, if they were better at this, if he won, holy, can you imagine how much money could be generated? If he beats gone and then they do Jones and he beats Jones, how big would a Tyson Fury in Ghana who fight at that point be? And Angano was said specifically, he's been like, I don't want to do this. I want the UFC to make accommodations for me to box. And I want them to be involved because I think that'll make it a bigger production.

It'll be better promotion. He wants to wrap them in. And they don't care because they are so one track. And it's infuriating that they aren't good at promoting because that's ostensibly what they're supposed to do. And Francis and Gano is the easiest guy to promote. All you have to do is show videos of him knocking dudes out. He doesn't even have to say anything. That's all you need to do is show videos of him knocking out,

Alistair over him over and over and over again, and people will pay money to watch him fight. Yeah, like they have such a clear path to doing a really cool thing, making awesome fights, which Dana White has said over and over again, that's what they do. They make the fights fans want to see, and maybe making an enormous crossover boxing match. Then again, is stupid.

Tyson's fury will wax him. But people would, for me, and in droves to watch that fight. It would be unbelievable numbers of people interested in that battle. And we're probably not going to get it because we're probably going to get Steepa versus John Jones

as an interim title fight like that. So it's so frustrating. So if you're the UFC and the heavy hitters, Hunter Campbell, and so forth and so on, you're hoping Cyril Gan wins because he'll play ball and fight John Jones

more for legacy than the paycheck. And he's going to win. He's going to beat the hell out of it. for instance in ghanu just sucks things could be so much cooler dare to dream dishe duch well let's talk about the co-main event let's talk about the flyway title brandon moreno davison figurato trilogy fight third straight time we're seeing this title fight first fight was a classic ends in a draw second fight one-way traffic from moreno gets the finish figgy goes and works with henry sehuto at fight ready and it's been a whole

Moreno is a traitor I gotta get this one for the Gipper mentality from the Figgi small side of things so Brian just your thoughts outside of storylines on the fight between Moreno and Figurato seeing this for the third time the UFC going right back to this well

yeah I mean no the fight's amazing I mean the first fight was great really close they had the draw and then you know the second fight Moreno came out and really put a stamp on it and and put away and submitted him and looked really sharp doing so. And I think, you know, Figuero has kind of shown a lot of like excuses about things previously and why he lost. And, you know,

he's trying everything he can. I mean, to go train over there with Sohudo, I think it's a great idea. You know, Sehudo does seem to be a good coach as well as a fighter. But it seems like he's smart, you know, with game plans and that whole team is over there. So I think that's a smart move. you know because figurado was just known to be kind of an emotional fighter and he goes in there and just throws a lot of power into every shot and if you don't put a guy away and you think you're going to put a guy away that could really drain you and i think that kind of happened in in the in the first fight a little bit but he stayed there and then the second fight marino kind of had reads on him and i and i just think marino kind of has his number right now you know i think uh he now

knows that he could he can grapple with him he could submit him and you know the striking is very even. You know, Moreno throws a little bit more volume. Figuero has a little bit more power, but I think Figuero really is going to have to come into this fight a different style, you know, really be patient, trying to fight a little bit less aggressive and maybe a little bit more smart. And I think if, you know, Suhudo could talk that into him over this camp and kind of show him how to mix things up a little bit better, keep Moreno guessing. It could, it could help him out. But I just, I lean towards Moreno. I think he has his number right now. He's figured him out. And I think he has all.

the confidence in the world right now. Jed, I feel like with the whole heavyweight title story and everything, all eyes are on that and the different things. There's an argument to be made that maybe Figgie might be a little distracted with this whole Sehudo storyline, needing to get

this one back, could be his last fight at 125. I mean, if you follow Figurato on Instagram, the dude looks absolutely shredded, best shape of his career, but it doesn't matter. You're 34 years old. other time catches up to everybody and ask Cody Garbrandt like he looked healthy but that cut to

25 does something to you it really does because he's a big dude for this division always has been it's definitely a struggle having said that and just the match of itself do you see this fight going any differently than the one from this past June no I agree with a lot of what Brian said the only wrinkle that interests me is I am interested in in figurato at you know at fight ready with Sohudo because he has the tools to be more competitive than the rematch, certainly.

But to me, this is a really clear fight. I mean, I'm always willing to say I could be wrong because what do I know, dude? But to me, this is there, I mean,

you watch the sport long enough, you see trends and this really looks to be that same trend of here, Figgie Smalls was on top, he's getting older, he's falling off, and we have just seen

Brandon Moreno blossom before our eyes to become the best flyweight in the world. And, you know, you said father time comes for everybody. And look, it's really hard, especially in the lighter weight classes, to kind of stave that off. And especially for a guy like Figurato, who is a really fun and enjoyable fighter to watch, but he has exploitable weaknesses, namely his grappling's never been like a super strength of his.

But his game is entirely built around that power. and just his raw physicality in a lot of ways over the other guys in that division. And as that starts to fall off, it's really hard. Figurado did not rise to the top by being some unbelievable technician. And so he can stave off father time longer than most

because he just has all these skills. Like a guy like Josealdo, who is one of the most technically brilliant fighters we've ever seen. He's well past his prime. And yet made damn well get a title fight. this year at a division lower than he spent most of his career because he's just so talented he can find ways to work around it i don't think figgy smalls can really do that as well um he's 34 he's dropping off and i think honestly the biggest thing to me i think the the defining feature between fight one

and fight two is moreno spent 25 minutes with him and was like oh that dude can punch me in the face and it won't knock me out i can't afford to exchange that i can't afford to exchange with him on the feet, not be, you know, I need to be reckless, but I don't have to be afraid of, of this guy who, who knocks everybody out. I can do that. I can scrap with him, and I can fight my fight the whole way. And so he came in, and that's why we saw him basically beat Figgie pillar to post in the rematch. And I think it's the same thing. He knows that Figuero, who is overly reliant on his power in a lot of ways, you know, he always has a chance to hurt him, but it's, it's not a given. He can eat those shots and stand up to it. And he can put a pace on

figurato who cuts a lot of weight and make life hard for him i i think i think the sohudo thing is going to mean figurato last longer than the third round i think he'll make it into the championship rounds but i still think moreno is just a better guy at this point yeah tamar's going to be really interesting when he steps on the scale see how he looks if he's in there first and he's fresh and he's got all that energy yeah that's a big victory for him it's going to be interesting but if he comes in looking like you did in the second fight, just looking like hot garbage and just looking depleted. That's going to be very telling. We're running out of time.

Jed, I know you wanted to talk about this. This is the first fight card under the price increase for pay-per-views for the ultimate fighting championship. 74-99. And the two title fights are really good, Jed. The rest, some interesting fights. But, I mean, and we got to factor in. Adasanya Woodacre, too.

out of Sonia Whitaker 2 and UFC 271 going down in less than a month. So now you're trying to get these fans to spend money on both of these cards. What do you think of the card as a whole? And is this a card, Jed, that you're telling people that they should stay home, watch from start to finish. And by the way, pay $75 bucks for the last five fights. No, this is, I think Casey said it before we filmed. This is a classic boxing card.

there are, this card's garbage, man. Like, no disrespect to the fighters on it. Some of you are very interesting and compelling fighters. And some of these fights, especially in the undercard, are interesting. Who one reason or another? But this is not, they're outside of the top two things, there is not really anybody on this card that somebody who is not deeply ingrained in the sport of MMA will have even heard of.

I mean, there is a guy named Nuregamesdov, but it's not the one that the people will think if you just ask a random, If you take a poll of people at a B-dubs, they're not going to be like, I know who Saeed and Mergamov is. Like, is he related to Habib? I know that one. So it's just, this is, this is a two-fight card. If you, I would actually, I still would recommend you pay the 75 because I think, I think the main

event is that compelling and that important of a fight. It's the two, it is for the baddest man on the planet and the two best headweights in the world going at it. And I, I think Brandon Moraine. and Davis and Figurato, I mean, their first fight was one of the fights of the year. Their second fight was fun, even if it was more one-way traffic.

Those are enough to make me say you should buy it. The $75 price point is stupid. I don't know the validity of Dana White saying the UFC doesn't have any sway over that determining factor. Because Dana said it, I'm going to assume it's not true. But it could be true. He said true things before,

just he doesn't make a habit out of it. Um, so either way, it's ridiculous. Um, somebody, I forget who said whenever, somebody on Twitter was like, yeah, the price of inflation is not near the cost, like the cost expense here. It's risen 20 bucks in three years or something dumb. Like I, this is the part of the sport that hurts me is knowing that they, the UFC doesn't even pretend to care about its fans. Like, they're coming off of two of their most successful years of all time. They, have said that repeatedly, despite there being global pandemic going on. And despite that, they have neither raised pay for fighters or given them an equitable share of the earnings that they should have. And those profits also haven't trickled down to the fans with decreased card costs. Like, it's just, they're just going to milk us for everything and keep paying off. Pay off that ticket, man. he spent four bill to acquire it.

They got to pay that down. And it's not coming out of their pockets. So it's coming out of ours. Brian, I know you fight for the UFC, so we're not going to talk about the price increase. But just you're a fight fan too. You're a student of the game. So your thoughts on this card as a whole? No, I mean, I think this card as a whole, like it doesn't have the most depth to it.

But like he was saying, more of like a boxing style where it's like that big heavyweight fight at the top that has lot of anticipation, but maybe this is the UFC's way of saying like, hey, we're going to give you a shit pay-per-view so that the numbers don't skyrocket, so you have zero negotiation power after this, Francis. But I

don't know. There's some crazy tactics, you never know, but I think, you know, the Francis gone fight, it's enough to get people watching and to pay that number, you know, the 75. But

it's tough. It's I mean, you'd have to be a really diehard fan to have a lot of interest in the undercard and the different fights on the way up. You know, there's not like any really crazy storylines on any of those and a lot of hype behind any of those either. And it seems like more than less, cards are like that these days just because, you know,

they're just putting on good fights and you have to really just appreciate good fights because a lot of these guys who don't have star power or drawing power or anything like that, like they still put on. on really exciting fights and, you know, bring eyes to the sport. And I think, you know, fans appreciate that. But as far as money and numbers go, it doesn't really translate.

To be, to play devil's advocate, this card has been kind of ravaged. Let's be honest. Just taking a look at Jericho near Derek Brunson was supposed to be on this card. Obviously, got moved to the February card, which makes all the sense of the world because there's a middleweight title fight on it. Viviani Araujo, Alexa Grasso, was supposed to be on this card. Bobzar of Loia versus Ilya Tuporia was supposed to be on this card. So COVID took away that fight, but at least Tupori is still on the card fighting Charles Jordane.

So the card was better as like in the original status of said card. But yeah, it's not it's not the greatest of all time. But those are some interesting. I think Brian nailed it. I think Brian nailed it. I didn't even really think about it. I think they shortchanged this card to be like, yeah. screw you, Francis.

You're not selling more than 500 on your name alone. We're not giving you any boost. I think he nailed it. That's it. That's totally it. Could be quite possible, man. Totally. All right, Jed.

All right, Jed. What is it? What's the low-key banger? Dude, it's not even close. This is the most obvious. It's like, I will say, the fight I'm the most interested in on the undercard. Honestly, outside of the main two fights is Ilya, Charles Durdane. Um, it would have had that been Monsor I've loved, uh, that would have been like the fight I cared

about the most. Like I think that, I think those are two future top 10 guys. Um, incredible talent. And I, this is the fight I won. I think Charles Redaigne's still a really interesting, uh, test for, for Tivoria. I think he's going to win pretty handily. But, uh, I want to see him style on one more dude before I'm like, before I put him in the top 10 of my rankings. And I think that we can see that but if I'm just going pound for pound violence it's roundy barcelos victor henry um case he says it all the time uh i don't agree but he's not far off bannam weight is one of the best divisions in the sport uh ronnie barcelos has had like four fight of the nights or whatever in his time um and victor i don't know has victor any fought in the oc yet um i just remember

i'm from rising where he was a banger like in rison he did some really weird stuff he has like like an inverted triangle win there. Like he's just a fun scrapper. Barcellus is probably going to run him. He's probably going to just rinse him. But for however long it lasts, it should be fun, scrambling, weird, compelling stuff. So that's easily my low-key-banger of the weekend.

Victor Henry is actually, according to Sapology, the number one ranked Bannamweight in all of Japan. How about that? So, yeah, he just beat a UFC vet, put him away in his last fight before getting the call, which is long overdue. Maybe Mossnor, Kanahara, who, you know, a little old, but still a dude that's worthy of respect.

Like, he was a fun guy in Risen, so, and Marani Grosceles is like the definition of a fun dude. That guy is, he's never in a boring fight. That should be a fun one. That is my choice as well. Brian, what is yours? What is your low-key banger? He mentioned it first.

Mine is the Jordane and Ilya Tuporia. the original matchup was probably better with the undefeated, you know, guy putting the O on the line. But, you know, I really liked Jordan. After that last fight, he showed a lot of fire against Ewell. And just the way that he ended that fight, vicious with that push kick. I mean, he had a chip on his shoulder. That was some crazy stuff.

And he had some intensity, man. And I think, you know, he could come in here and get an upset if he brings that same intensity. Because, you know, Tuporia has been a real rising star. He has some nasty body shots. He's a finisher. And, you know, this is an interesting stylistic fight. You know, I think Jordane is probably, you know, doesn't have as much power as to pour you, but he does throw a lot.

He's highly skilled. He has really good kickboxing. And he mixes up trips and takedowns well and has a good jujitsu game. So, yeah, I'm really, really interested to see how that fight plays out. But that's probably my low-key bangor right there. That is a very interesting fight. It'll be a – and it's kind of a house money fight for Jordan. too. So if you can keep it on the feet, it's going to be interesting. But if Tepore gets them on the

ground, it could be a pretty rough night for Mr. Jordan. So, all right, we have talked about all the topics here. And there's no actual battle. There's no winner or anything like that. And normally we'd have the knockout round and things of that nature. But I'm going to give each you gentlemen, 30, 45 seconds to just talk about whatever it is you want to talk about. If you want to talk about MMA, you want to say anything, just wax poetically about something. We'll give you the final word, if you will, on this roundtable edition. Jed, we begin with you. You are the interim champ, at least in your eyes.

What would you like to say? MMA or whatever. I would like to speak directly to Dana White. You and I don't be eye to eye on many things. I would just like to ask you to just do the things you say you do because you make a big point of saying that the UFC is better than boxing because you make the fights fans want to see. you don't do that anymore.

You make some good fights. I'm not here to say you don't, but the fans have pretty unanimously said, we'd like to see Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier fight, and we'd like to see John Jones and Francis and Ghani fight. And instead, you are not doing that almost undeniably because you are trying to affect your bottom line better. You are trying to get two positions you want.

You'll make the Diaz-Poyer fight. If Diaz will re-sign, But if he only got one fight left, you're going to make sure you get it to be the Conner fight so they can't do it outside of your organization and make all that money themselves. Dude, just make the fights and move on. You've seen it enough times. Other people have come and gone. We're still going to watch your product. You're still going to overcharge us 75 a pop for it.

Just make us the fights we want to see now so we don't risk losing them forever. The standing ovation from the capacity crowd. Boom, what would you like to say? You know, I'd like to speak directly to Dana White as well and just say, you know, you've done everything right. And you treat us fighters great and you give us the platform and you might lie sometimes, but I think they're good lies. You know, there are lies to make us feel better. And you really, you know, you've built the sport. You've done great things for the sport.

And, you know, you've shown nothing but respect to us fighters. And I really, I love the bump in the paper views. Like, I want to pay more to watch the product because it's great. Like, the product is amazing. And I think it's perfect, matter of fact. And, and Nate Diaz, just, you know, letting him, letting that anticipate and just kind of build and not giving him fights when he wants fights. Like, it's probably a good, good business move. I really like what you're doing.

And, you know, bald recognizes bald. So, you know, just thank you for everything. Brian wins. I know we didn't have a. competition, but Brian wins. Yes. Here's two things that stood on my mind from this entire episode. One, there's a very active dog in somebody's house barking away, and two, someone needs to change the battery.

Someone needs to change the battery on their smoke detector because I keep hearing a beep. That's both me. I lose. Safety first. My house is on fire, guys. safety first then teamwork let's always remember that but that's it that is it ladies and gentlemen boom thank you very much for jumping on waxing poetically about mMA jett always a pleasure hopefully we get to set up this championship match for you next week against phoenix carnivali but we have a lot of fun stuff

going on uh here at them may fighting getting you ready for ufc 270 we got the press conference 8 pm eastern don't miss that we also have the way and show first way and show of 2000 and 22 going down. I think it's at 11 a.m. Maybe it's at noon. I'm not really sure. Just follow along. We'll let you know.

We'll be live talking about that. We'll have a preview show. We'll have the Ceremony Awayans. We'll have the People's Pre-Fight show right before the main card's going to start. I'm not going to give you a time yet because who knows how many fights are going to actually be on this card on Saturday. And then Jose Young's is in Anaheim. He'll have all the winter interviews after the boats. We'll have the press conference post-fight show.

And then AK and I will be live. Sunday morning for on to the next one. Good night, everybody. Thanks for watching. This is Esther Lynn. Bye. Take it easy, guys.

Thanks. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.