MMA Fighting - BTL Roundtable | Paulo Costa Overweight, Ladd's Future, Anderson's Case For Best 205er, Fedor's Return

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

Topics this week include the corner advice to Aspen Ladd during her UFC Vegas 40 loss to Norma Dumont and if it was too much, or blown out of proportion, whether Ladd's future is at featherweight or bantamweight, where Dumont goes from her first main event win, Corey Anderson's case for being the best light heavyweight in the world over Jan Blachowicz and if that weight class is the best argument for Bellator over the UFC, Paulo Costa coming into UFC Vegas 41 fight week unable to make the middleweight limit for his headliner with Marvin Vettori and what that may lead to, Fedor Emilianenko's return to action this Saturday against Timothy Johnson at Bellator 269, and more. Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting's Damon Martin and Jed Meshew to give their thoughts on those topics, plus take a few fan questions this week on Between the Links. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Damon Martin: @DamonMartin Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide.

Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.MA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand-new of between the links as we are on the road to the big BTL tournament that kicks off in a couple of weeks.

And as a matter of fact, two of the individuals who will take part in said tournament are here today to discuss a wide array of topics in the world of mixed martial arts. So let us introduce them first. He's back from his sabbatical. He wanted to knock a little rust off before the big tournament. He's been a wedding guest, even officiated a wedding, I believe. So let us say hello to, as far as some people are concerned these days, second coolest member of the

MMA fighting community that resides in Georgia. Jed Mishu or should I call you Justice Michoud. How are you, buddy? Although Connor doesn't live in Georgia anymore. Connor doesn't live in Georgia and I have tenure on him, so get in line, bro. I'm doing great.

I did officiate a wedding. It's the third one of those I've done. So if anybody out there is in need of a semi-literate wedding officiant, my rates are very reasonable. And you could have potentially the undisputed BTL champion heading into 2022, officiate your wedding.

It doesn't get much better than that. And joining us once again, yeah, go ahead. Let's say you can. I can, you know, make my eulogy is not the word, what's the indication? I can give you some hot takes out there. I can do it all. So you guys let me know if you're in the market. Back once again, he has been knocking off journalists.

He's been knocking off musicians on the show. and Jed's absence, and many believe he's actually one of the favorites to win this big tournament. Mr. Damon Martin, how are you, sir? I am good. I'm good, good boy. I'm happy to be back and have it have a challenger that's almost worthy to me. Almost.

It's funny. Everybody wants a piece of Jed right now, but to kind of, I don't know if disappoint people is the word I'm going to use here, but here's how this is going to go, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be the same kind of show, Damon and Jed will go back and forth. I might jump in, but we're not doing points today.

Nothing like that. We're going to have ourselves a no-holds-barred little roundtable today. We're going to save the official competitions, the judging for the tournament, but you guys still get out there and get after it, but to our wonderful listeners, if you want to chime in on who you think won, if you want to go that route, go right ahead. You know how to do that, but everything else stays the same. This is more for the listeners pride rules than UFC rules

with the folks having a say in the matter. should they choose. So the pressure is somewhat off here. The gloves are off as well. Let's get into this. Let's talk about what capped off UFC Vegas 40 this past weekend because the big debate coming out of this card and it needed storylines for sure heading in and it needed them even more coming out. This conversation is still going on, the cornering of Aspen Ladd's head coach and boyfriend Jim West. Many thought it was too harsh the longer the fight went. Misha Tate use words such as abuse, others such as Daniel Cormier, Laura Sanko, to name a couple of people, basically said, look, this is fighting. Sometimes you need tough love to get over the hump. We've

gotten way worse. And Lad did look and seem to turn things around in the fourth and fifth round, so maybe the advice worked a little bit. But still, she went out and lost the fight to Norma Dumont. So Jed, to peel down the wall here, you just watched this, like moments ago. So you're getting as fresh of a take as you can give here. Your thoughts on the cornering, was it too much? Was it just right? Was it bad? Is it an overreaction?

What did you think of it? I'm glad that I was not paying attention to M.A. for the last couple of weeks, really, as I was busy with weddings. I'm particularly glad I have not seen anything but Jim Miller's, you know, great, great K.O. from last weekend. And I'm super glad I was not part of this conversation. Because I cannot believe that this is a conversation. All due respect to Misha Tate, who is welcome to have her opinion,

and whoever shares that opinion with her, I don't see the problem. If Aspen Ladd has a problem with it, then certainly that's an issue. To the best of my knowledge, she hasn't said anything. and I am I don't want to make this statement as I don't want to have the weight to this statement

that will probably come with it but it feels honestly a little sexist that we're having this conversation because like it feels as if the conversation the roots of it are in he used a bad word when talking to a lady like no she's a grown woman she's a professional fighter and he said shit or whatever the hell it was and was trying to motivate her.

Do I think it was good cornering? Honestly, no. I don't think it was good cornering. I thought a lot of what Jim West was doing was pretty decent cornering. They were giving her constructive things to do in there, not just be like, you know, hit him or whatever. Like they were trying to give some tactical advice in there. But I think a good corner would probably have. recognized that what they were doing and the frustration they were taking out was not having

the effect they were looking for and tried to change tax. But the overall tenor of what happened, like, he cursed, okay, he was trying to motivate his fighter. I don't know what the conversation here is. Aspen Ladd does not need to be protected. He didn't, like, slap her to get her going or do anything. Like, he was just like, hey, you're losing this fight. Do better.

And she didn't. I guess I have a. seen the fight so I can't really say if she did or didn't do better but I I don't really understand it I think there's a lot else to unpack with the Jim west Aspen Ladd situation if you want to get into that but as far as just the nuts and bolts of what happened here I don't get it and if it's just as simple as like that's cornering that wouldn't work for Misha Tate okay but you my my standard is you know it is the fighter okay with it if there if Aspen Ladd doesn't have any issues with it, I sure is that'll know.

A lot to impact there. Damon, and let's just throw this out there. Before Aspen Ladd competed against Norman Dumont, she fought Yanukuditskaya, was down two rounds, and Jim West tore her a new one before that third round, and Aspen Lad went out and finished her. But this has still been a conversation. You recently talked to Matt Brown about this.

He did not have an issue with the tone, with the context. He didn't think it was a tremendous example of coaching, but didn't think he actually crossed any lines. What did you think? I'm sure you've watched it a million times at this point now. Yeah, I think this is to agree with Jeff. This one of the most ridiculous conversations we've ever had in terms of criticism in this sport. Listen, most of the time when we have a problem with cornering in the fight world, it's the

opposite of this. It's when a corner is basically blowing smoke, you know, with their fighters saying, you're doing great out there. You won that round. It was close, but you won that round. back out there and everyone watching is like, what are you talking about? You did not win that round. You're down three rounds or whatever. Why are you lying to your fighter? Why are you boosting them up when they're clearly, they need like a kick in the butt to go out and actually win the fight? That's usually the criticism we hear for corners and coaches. And I think, you know,

again, rightly so, because you're sitting there thinking to yourself, how are they going to, you know, forge a comeback if they're down two rounds or three rounds or whatever and they're not being told the truth about what's actually happening out there? I agree. with Matt that I don't know that what he was saying was helping her in terms of the technical aspects of the fight. What was he doing to counter that one, two, that Norma Dumont kept just basically plugging away and hitting Aspen Ladwith and she had no answers for. He tried to give her that technical advice to the first and second, third round. And then after that, he just got frustrated as we all were. And when he originally said that, he said, what are you doing out there?

Because I don't know. I wanted to quote that and put it up and say, he's saying what all of us her thinking right now because it's true she was basically standing in front of norman dumont getting hit with a jab and a punch behind it over and over and over and over again and making zero adjustments so was he harsh sure was he was he animated sure did he really help her in the technical aspects of the fight to really help her counter what norman dumont was doing later in the fight not really but she hadn't reacted to what he had said technically the first couple of rounds so at what point are we going to say the technical advice isn't working maybe she needs to have a fire lid under her to go back out there and fight.

And, you know, she actually did have a better performance in rounds four and five when he was kind of going after her and saying, hey, this is ridiculous. Like, you've got to do something out there. She reacted a little bit. It didn't win her the fight. And, you know, of course, let's give credit where credits do to Norma Dumont for doing a good job. But, yeah, I mean, listen, cornering is not a one-size-fits-all.

What one fighter needs is not what another fighter needs. And if this is what Aspen Ladd needs or this is the relationship that they have. have and that's what she needs to go back out there have a better performance. Who are we to say we're wrong versus another fighter who says, listen, I need, I need positivity. I need a good positive corner for me to fight. Okay, again, not a one-size-fits-all. I appreciate Misha Tate's opinion. She's a legend. She's got every right to her opinion. But I feel like, you know, maybe this is a more personal experience for her that it wouldn't work for her. Maybe she's gone through something similar like that, and it didn't work for her. And I could completely understand that.

but that's not Aspen Ladd's experience and she's not come out, she's not left her coach and if she does, even if she does leave her coach and say, hey, I'm done, I'm moving to a different team and I don't want that guy on a corner. That still doesn't necessarily mean he was wrong. He was wrong in that moment, but it didn't mean that he was a bad guy or he was abusive.

It just means he didn't give good advice. Yeah, and we talked about this a lot on the post-fight show and people are asking, like, do you think maybe Misha kind of saw herself in Aspen a little bit because of the relationship with Brian Carraway and all that. And maybe she dealt with, like you said, Damon, with similar things in the past. But only a few people know the true answer to that. But my sort of take on it was I didn't really blame Jim.

And like, if I'm going to blame anybody, it's on, the onus is on Aspen. But at the same time, she has been through a lot over the last couple of years. The last couple of months, crap, even like the last couple of weeks. And I think sort of all that emotion boiled over. as she walked to the cage. And it's important to remember that, yeah, these athletes, they're professional fighters, but they're also like they're people outside of the cage. And there's enough that goes into fights as it is from an emotional standpoint.

But Ladd went through a ton with the injuries, the torn ACL and MCL, lost an opponent when she's ready to return the day before weigh-ins, 48 hours before the fight, then she gets re-booked. She misses weight herself. Fight is pulled. And now she's main eventing two weeks later in a new weight class. That's a lot to process. So let me ask you this, David.

Can she get past all of this, now adding the loss and the whole coaching controversy? And should she stick around at 145 or do everything she can to get back to 135 in a safe and healthy manner? Yeah, that's a good question. I wish I knew the definite, my initial answer is, yeah, she could come back from this. Because I really do believe Aspen Ladd is an incredibly talented fighter. I mean, I thought for a long time she was kind of the last woman standing at 135, might offer Noon as some sort of challenge because I don't think anyone else in the division will for right now. I mean, again, no offense to Giuliana Pena. I don't favor her to win that fight.

And I don't necessarily consider it a bad matchup for Amanda Nunes and some people are trying to paint that. I thought Aspen Lad being, you know, a good groundfighter, strong, big for the division. I thought maybe she could actually develop over time into a legitimate threat to Amanda noon as somewhere down the road. So I still think she has that ability, but for one, she's got to get the weight cutting thing figured out. Is she going to bulk up, put on weight, become muscular, and fight a 145

permanently, which we know there are diminishing returns there because they don't actually have a 145 pound division in the UFC. They have a champion. They don't have a division. Or is she going to work with the nutritionist, work with a coach, and figure out the way she could fight at 135? Because

here's the thing. If you follow Aspen Ladd on social media and I do, she's not hiking like 19 miles a day. It's not like she's not out there doing things to get her body in shape and she's just lazy. I just don't think she knows what she's doing with her body in terms of nutrition and getting down to weight cutting. Now, if her body just cannot fight at 135, it is just, she is just too big for that, then yeah, she should get, almost to give up, but she should work towards a feature 145. But I think she's still got tremendous potential. I refuse to give up on what was she, 24, 25. 26. Yeah, 26 years old. He refused to give up on. I refuse to give up

on her after one really bad before. It's not like she went out there and got knocked out or got knocked down nine times and lost rounds, you know, 10, 7. She lost a boring fight. And Norma Dumont did a great job with what she needed to do to win that fight, but she didn't lose in a blowout. She just didn't show up.

She literally just didn't show up. So I refused to give up on her at 26, you know, off of just a bad performance against, I think Norman Dumont's a pretty solid fighter. So no, she can bounce back from this. I think, I think honestly, the coaching thing, set that aside. I think the dynamic of coach and boyfriend,

maybe we need to address that more because that does create a lot of, you know, that's a whole other conversation about how much of a conflict interest that could be. It happens a lot in our sport, but again, that's just the reality we're dealing with here. But I think the bigger problem is where is she going to fight at? Is she going to fight at 135 or is she going to commit to 140?

I think that's the bigger issue than her coach yelling at her and the dynamic with Jim West. Again, I think that should be addressed. But I don't think that's the bigger issue. you then where she's going to fight. Jed, what do you think? Because, I mean, you didn't watch the fight, but I mean, she didn't look out of place at 145. She looked like she fits into the division. Her and Norman Dumont were almost the exact same size.

Like, there were points where Dumont was the more powerful fighter. And then down the stretch, Ladd showed that she, she has some power at 145. And she can move and have some control with the positions and stuff like that. So 145, 135, what are kind of your thoughts without actually seeing the fight? Do you agree with Damon that maybe we should address it? Because you mention it. Like if you want to talk about the Jim West Aspen Ladd thing, maybe there's more to it than that.

What do you think? So a lot to unpack there. I'll answer the first part very quickly. 145 is a division, so she can't fight there. It's not a division. It's fake one. The UFC really decides to put time and energy into building it. Okay, but until such time, they don't have rankings.

there are three 145 fighters on roster for the UFC. Like, it's just not a real division. And we, as the media, need to be better about just calling that like it is. 145 is a real division of Bellator. They have actively put time and energy in trying to develop something there. So if Aspenlap wants to go to Bellator and do that, cool. If not, she's just a puffed up 135 or taking 145 fights because there are a few women who can't quite make that weight.

and the UFC is still interested in keeping that division around almost exclusively, I think, because they got, you know, the greatest female fighter of all time two titles, and they don't just want to let that go. But as soon as Mananudo retires, that division is gone. They've done nothing to try and promote it. So she needs to, I like Damon, don't think that she is stuck at, you know, 145. I think she can make 135. I mean, I know it's been a few years and she has obviously grown, but she used to compete at flyweight in her amateur days.

Like she fought Cynthia Calvillo. Like she, I think she can make 135. It's a matter of discipline and, you know, probably getting a nutritionist and living a harder life. I'm not saying it would be an easy 135. It would require kind of year-round discipline probably, but I don't think that that should be a real big blocker for her. And so she needs to compete at the division where she is highly ranked and can make a legitimate running a title. So yeah, pretty simple on that. To go to the Jim West thing, I don't know how much we want to get into delve into the various vagaries there, but I will say that in defense

of Misha Tate's argument, you heard my stance earlier. I think largely this is a non-issue. I think if this was a dude telling this to another dude, we wouldn't even sort of be having this conversation, which I kind of, in my mind, speaks a little bit to still kind of implicit biases. in gender roles in the sport. But if you, you know, you're Misha Tate, and I don't want to speak for her, but I think that really the only aspect to her argument or her perspective here that could ring true or certainly has at least a nugget in there is that they are in a personal relationship.

And as best as I can tell, they, you know, Aspen Ladd and Jim West have been dating for some time. And Aspen Ladd is 26 years old and he has had a long coaching relationship with her. And so that does shift the dynamics on, you know, how these kind of conversations could be perceived. And I think that there's a legitimate question about how all that goes. Still, ultimately, I think that this is probably a lot more innocuous than it has been made out to be. and we're a bit making a mountain out of a molehill. But I think that there is a real conversation you had there. And just as a baseline, I know what happens all the time.

It's really not that hard to not date people you work with and or coach. Pretty easy to just not date them. So you should probably just do that if you are a future MMA coach in the making. Just don't date your students the same way lawyers don't date clients and doctors don't date patients. Really, really simple. There are 7 million people in the world date someone that you don't have a direct professional relationship with. There you go.

I wish Casey was here. You probably have some sort of sound effect. But Aspen Ladd, biggest story heading in. Aspen Ladd, despite the loss, biggest story heading out. And we have Norman Dumont, who is completely overshadowed by all of this. She goes out, wins her first main event. I scored at four rounds to one and to quote the great Jen Michoud. M.M.A.

fighting's official stance on the fight was 49-46. for Norman Dumont. It was not the most exciting fight. It was far from the most exciting fight, with all due respect to both athletes. But at the end of the day, Dumont won. She won convincingly.

And she wants a title fight. Or worst case, if Amanda Nunes wants to stick around at 135, she says, you know what? Let's just rebook the Hollyholm fight. Do it at 145 and slap an interim title on there. So as strange as it may sound, I think one of those things will happen.

I feel like her next fight will be for a title. Or if the UFC can get Kayla Harrison on the roster when that time comes, maybe she gets that fight with Kayla Harrison. Either way, despite what you thought of the fight and the performance, I think she's going to get a big fight next. Do you agree with that, Jed? I mean, I think she should. And that's, again, I haven't seen this fight.

And I'll be honest with all you BTL listeners, I'm not going to see this fight until I need to do some video breakdown of either these women later. But everything I have heard is that nothing good happened this weekend. And so I'm not going to spend the time to go watch 25 minutes of that, at least not right now. But even with that being said, you know, one of the unfortunate parts about this conversation taking place is that even if it's not, you know, the world, she didn't light the world on fire. It's still a really good win for Norm Dumont.

who has very quietly put together a really good resume in the UFC in a division that doesn't exist. But, you know, she had, Ashley Evan Smith is a, like, that's a professional fighter who she defeated. Felicia Spencer is an actual featherweight insofar as, you know, that's division.

And she got a win there. And Aspen Ladd, who, you know, is a really good prospect, even now, even coming off the loss and having lost two of her last three, like Norman Dumont is not somebody anybody's really talked about or been high on or hey this is a future champion and I'm still not saying she's a future champion but had a really good run and you know a win is a win even if it's not that impressive and yeah I think especially given there's nobody else in 145 give her a title shot who cares let's do it what do you think damon like you said 145 it's a little bit of a mystery at this point I feel like in a way the UFC is is going to try to do something with this division in order to get Kayla Harrison because everyone's going to be knocking on that door with blank checks trying to get her over.

Do you think Norma Dumont is getting a title fight next or at least the Kayla Harrison fight at the UFC can sign her? I think Norma Dumont will get a big fight. I don't know if it will be a title fight. And here's the reason. And that's because it really comes down to Amanda Nunes. And Dana has shown that he will do what Amanda wants to do. Amanda wants to come back to 145 and defend her title, he'll book a fight.

And if she's the only one there to fight, she'll get a title shot. If Amanda beats Giuliana Pena, which I expect her to do, and she says, I want to defend my title again at 135 against whoever that might be, then she'll stay at 135. I think this really depends on Amanda Nunes, because Amanda spent a couple of fights at Featherweight, you know, dismantling Megan Anderson and winning her next fight, and then, you know, now she's back at 135. So I think it really comes down to Amanda. If she doesn't get the Amanda Nunes fight, which again could happen, I think I take Holly Home out of the conversation because Holly Holm only took that fight because she had no options at 135. They had offered her Aspen Ladd, Aspen Ladd turned it down.

They offered her Misha Tate. Misha Tate turned it down. And I know this conversation I had with Holly and her manager, they were growing pretty frustrated. So the reason why the Norma Dumont fight got booked her in the first place was solely because Holly couldn't find a decent fight at 135 to fight. to fight. She wants to fight at 135. She wants to be a champion at 135. So, no, Holly Holmes not really a, you know, a legit contender here because she didn't really want to fight a 145. I think the best option available for Norma, if Kayla Harrison doesn't come over, would be booking her against Jermaine Durandami if she would fight a 145 again if Amanda Nunes isn't around. Maybe that happens. Other than that, yeah, I think it just comes down to Amanda Nunes, what she wants to do.

She wants to fight at 1.45. She dismantles Giuliana Pena, demolishes her inside two, three rounds, and says, I want to defend my featherweight title in three months, four months. Then it's going to be Norma Dumont. If Amanda Nunes says, give me the next body at Bantamweight, because at this point, let's be honest, that's pretty much what she's facing at Bantamweight or just random bodies at this point. Then Norma's going to have to fight somebody else. Because, again, I think Amanda has become kind of the one champion,

and maybe a little bit with Valentina Shepchenko in terms of in her own division, where Dana is just like, yeah, do what you want at this point, because there's no fight that anyone's clamoring to see. There's no fight anyone's like, oh, man, we can't wait to see this one. Giuliana Ping is on a one-fight win streak, and she's falling backwards into a title shot because there's nobody else for Amanda Nunes to fight.

And the same thing goes with featherweight. If Amanda Nunes decides I want to be at 145 for my next fight, Norman Dumont will kind of fall into a title shot. because does she deserve it? Sure. She's got two wins in division. Why not? But otherwise, I think it really comes down to what Amanda wants to do. And if Kayla Harrison signs, then yeah, that's different. That's a different animal. And maybe they start. I won't say they'll build the division. They'll build that fight. They'll build Amanda Nunes versus Keel Harrison. They're not going to build the division.

So, yeah. Of course, we get the Valentina Shepchenko is the wild card. Hopefully they put her ass front row for that Amanda Nunes, Julietta Pena fight, as she spit some fire and some venom at Amanda Nunes on the M.A.R. But shout out to the legend Jim Miller for stealing the show this past Saturday. It definitely was not the greatest card of all time. This weekend's card, well, that one isn't that spectacular either, but we got a crazy storyline, which we're going to talk about in a little bit. But this past Saturday, not only do we have the UFC, we had a Bellator event, Bellator 268. We had the semifinals for the Light Heavyweight

Grand Prix. Corey Anderson runs through Ryan Bader in less than a minute. Badim Nemcoff had a scary moment in the first round in his title defense against Julius and Glechus, but for the most part, one-way traffic, fourth round finish, retains the title, and now it's going to be Nemcoff versus Anderson for the title in the finale. But this stemmed a debate about who is the best 205-pounder in the world. Because we've got Jan Bolivich, this is the UFC champion. It's getting ready to fight Glover to share next weekend at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi. We have Nemcoff and Anderson over in Belator.

It's going to happen sometime in 2022. It's a really interesting fight. Anderson already feels like he's the best light heavyweight in the world. Nemcoff probably believes he's the best light heavyweight in the world. And Scott Coker is confident that whoever wins that Grand Prix is the best light heavyweight on the planet. And Scott Coker says this about every division and every fighter. It doesn't matter. You're the promoter.

These are the things you're supposed to say. But Damon, let's begin with you here. I know people view Bellator is the number two promotion there. The second league, as Yanni Blako likes to call it. But is there an actual argument to be made that Bellator currently has the best light heavyweight on the planet right now? They don't have the argument right now. You could potentially try to make the argument for the winner of Nimcoff and Anderson based on overall resumes and based on the current streak they're on. I think Nimcoff's case is hurt, you know, profoundly because he didn't get to fight Anthony Johnson or Yel Romero or somebody with a UFC resume where we could measure that against somebody who we know is legitimately good.

No offense whatsoever to Julius Anglicas, but nobody really knows him. He was an alternate and does not have any, you know, truly impressive wins on his resume to compare to anybody. So Nimcoff missed out. He dismantled Ryan Bader, which was great. but, you know, Bader's now on, you know, not the best streak of his career, and you kind of wonder what Ryan Bader has left in the tank. So that kind of gets diminished. And let's not forget, NIMCOv also got, you know, steamrolled by Yuri Perhaska in risen. So that doesn't help his case much.

I think if he beats Corey Anderson, you could say, yeah, he's got a case. I still wouldn't put him there. I think Corey Anderson's the guy with a better argument, the better resume, because he actually went out there and destroyed Johnny Walker. He went out there and, you know, and he, has big wins in the UFC, Glover to share among them, and he does have a win over Jan Blahovic.

Now, you could say their last fight, of course, Jan knocked him out. Of course he did, but they are tied 1-1. We can't deny the first fight was completely one-way traffic for Cory Anderson, and he does hold a winner Glover to share. Glover goes out there and beats Jan Blahovic, pulls off this upset.

Yeah, Corey Anderson's got a legit, he has the last win over Glover, and it was a pretty dominant performance. He also holds a win over Yon. In that case, yeah, you could make that argument for Corey Anderson. It's the same argument I made for A.J. McKee, though, even if, even if Corey Anderson goes out there and destroys Vadeem Nimcov, I don't know that he will, but if he goes out there and he goes out of Dmitmov, and let's just say hypothetically Glover does beat Jan Blahovic. Corey is the number one guy, but where do you go from there? Unless, you know, obviously he's got the opportunity to fight a guy like Anthony Johnson.

That's a potential fight that would help his resume. But kind of with A.J. McKee, AJ's kind of stuck. now. He might be the second best. He might be ranked number two or three or whatever it is of featherweight, but he doesn't really have any other competition of Bellator to make him better. Corey Anderson's got maybe one other fight. Like I said, the Anthony Johnson fight.

If Anthony comes back healthy and he looks good, that's still one that could build on your resume because Anthony has a legit UFC resume. But yeah, Corey's got an argument. Maybe Nimcoff, no, he doesn't. Jed, you have been very high on Jan Blahovic.

Does Bellator have a have a case here? Maybe not right the second, but let's just say First quarter, 2022, Anderson goes out there and Bolts, Vadim Nemcoff. Does he have a case? First, I'd like to say thank you for using Yanni Blocko because I'm a big fan. I've been trying to popularize that one for a five minute. So great choice already.

Second, sure doesn't have a case, but God respect him for trying. You know, I will say this about Bellator. If you are going to make an argument that they have a division to rival the UFC, light heavyweight is the only one of those that you can make. However, this is super, super simple. As much as Corey Anderson may hate it, Bellator is the B lead. Everybody generally accepts that. It's not to say that all the fighters there are less than,

but the totality of the circumstances are what they are. Also, Corey Anderson, one, Corey Anderson, let's just have quick chat about Corey Anderson because this is a man who is desperately in need of the Jed Talks fighter consulting services that I am trying to get off the ground and offer as part of the MMA fighting suite of coverage because first he got rid of the best name in combat sports Beast in 258 and picked overtime which is honestly one of the worst names ever so that was a bad choice already. And now he keeps trying to scoreboard Jan Yanni Blockow because he beat him seven years ago. And since that time, in the very recent history, he got not just B, he got

colded. Yes, he dominated Jan Blovich when they fought in 2015. He also got knocked the F out when they rematch. And so he has been valiantly Twitter warring himself. to be like, yeah, well, what's more dominant? All these stats from seven years ago, and then people are just like putting a picture of him being unconscious and dead. It's like obviously one of those is more dominant. I know that you want to make the lucky punch argument. You lost, you got to wear it on the chin,

and you could say, yeah, I'm a better fighter. You can't scoreboard somebody who knocked you out. It's like, it just doesn't work. It's a real Connor McGregor type of thing. Like Connor used to try and do this to Habib all the time. It was always the stupidest thing ever. because you just, all your response has to be is an image, one image of you unconscious. So Corey needs a lot of work.

If Corey does beat Vadim Nemcov, which I don't think he's going to do, but if he does, like Damon said, that's super helpful to his overall case, especially if Glover goes ahead and beats Yanni Blahow, then he does have a win over the current UFC light heavyweight champion that has not been violently avenged by that same dude. And he will beat Vadim Nimcob, who I think I have ranked four. maybe three in the light heavyweight rankings for us. Like I think a lot of the Dean Nimcoff thinks a really good fighter. But ultimately, it all comes back to the same things.

Like Fadim Nimcov lost Yeroyevir Hoshka, who probably is going to be a UFC champion next year. And if I were to pick a dude to be the champion, like the guy who if the aliens came down and we had to pick a 205er to represent our affairs, Yeradip Pahoska would be that dude. So he beat the guy. a guy who is not even the best and he himself has been knocked out by it dude now if glover beats yon then there's a cool little triumbrate but i still don't think in any world kori

inderson gets to be at the top of that like it's it's just unfortunate you know but that's okay because he gets to have a world title i'm sure he believes the things that he's saying and that matters a lot uh if he beats v dean nymkov but you're putting the car before the horse bud because viz nymkov is he's that dude like i think he's really good and i don't know that think Corey Anderson's ready, ready for that smoke. And I will close this out with one of my favorite MMA quotes of all time from the esteemed Daniel Cormier, who looked in Jimmy Mannaua's eyes after he beat.

I don't remember who. Jimmy Mano was sitting Cajside calling for a title fight. And Daniel Cormier just ethers, ether's Corey Anderson with not even a direct hit, just shrapnel, just killed Corey Anderson's whole career of, Jim Emanuel, I like you, but you beat Corey Anderson. Sit down. That's how we can all feel about Corey Anderson, even in Bellator. So no, they're not, they are the B League and he will be the number two at best light heavyweight in the world.

Would you say, Jed, that the light heavyweight division has a better argument for Bellator over UFC than the featherweight division? Because it seems like A.J. McKee is like top two or three on everybody's list right now. Oh, I think, I think A.J. McKee might be the best featherweight in the world. I actually don't. I think Alexander Volkanowski is definitely that would tool up AJ McKee. But I think AJ McKee is the best fighter in Bellator, and, you know, the featherweight division has some legs. But featherweight is just so good that even that, even though Belator's featherweight division is legitimately pretty strong. Like, light heavyweight just sucks so hard that because Belator has a few good fighters in it, like that's enough to be pretty comparable to the UFC. see real fun game for both you gentlemen while uh while dame was talking i looked this up because i

wanted to see uh bellator has 20 fighters listed in their belt in their light heavyweight rankings do you know how many of those have wikis seven seven no it's nine and that's because melvin manhoof uh and yole romero both count as light heavyweights for them as well so seven was a great guess because that's actually the number of lay, I wouldn't say. The division's porous and terrible, but it's porous and terrible everywhere, so they at least get to be pretty competitive

with the UFC and the Howard Barg. And they need to sign Big Tuna, and we can make this division even better than it is. Do you agree with that, Damon, that light heavy weights their best shot, or can you make an argument that that featherweight might be the actual answer to this question? Yeah, I mean, it's, I mean, I guess light heavyweight,

because they went out and signed guys who you know and have legit resumes from the UFC. So like an Anthony Johnson who there's only two losses in the end of his UFC career were to Daniel Cormier and there's no shame in those losses. And so that's a legit guy. Ryan Bader, I mean, he does have a resume and he does have some solid wins under his record.

And he picked up bigger wins, big wins in Bellator. So you could argue that is a solid guy to have on the division. Nimcoff, of course, is legitimately good. And, you know, since the Prohaska loss, I don't think he's lost since then, has looked great, you know, look like a world beater. So they have a, they have a legit case to say that. But again, we're talking about a very shallow division in general. We're talking about five or six guys maybe deep in the UFC and then five guys deep in Bellator.

So together, you know, together they make a decent division. But apart, we're talking about, you know, again, I mean, we're still, I mean, I'm shocked that they haven't found a way to rebook, you know, a little nog in the UFC because they desperately need people at Light Heavyweight just because he's somewhere out there. Shogun, guys like that, I love him. Don't get me wrong, but the guys like that should not be fighting. And that's where we're at. Like, when you look at beyond like the number six or seven ranked Light Heavyweight in the UFC,

it becomes a barren wasteland. And Bellator is about five deep. And then it becomes a barren wasteland. So do they have an argument? Sure, they could make an argument only because the UFC's Light Heavyweight Division, by and large is terrible. And Bellator's is almost, almost as terrible. So yeah, I guess

in that way you can say they're almost equal. And that's not a knock at the guys at the top. Unfortunately, Jan Belhovesh, very good. Glover-Teshirea, he's on this second resurgence in his career. Very good. Yuri Pajaska is a monster. Ivanim Kempkoff, great. I think

Corey Anderson's very good. You know, Anthony Johnson, when he's at his best, he's still a dangerous guy. I don't know if he's going to be that guy again. what he's dealing with health-wise, but again, very dangerous guy. But then when you look beyond that, when you drop off that ledge, man, it's a pretty far drop from like number four to number six or number four to number five or whatever. That's the problem.

That's where this division just falls apart. Well, go ahead. The local has nothing after their top, like, said. Like, the UFC's division is bad, but I don't know, man. Like, who's a lower-in, like, Eon-Cru-Laba is still, like, like, a little. legitimate fighter. You know, like, he's, he's still okay. Belator's just, also, Yanni Blahoe beat Israel Adesnia. Like, let's just not forget that he beat the dude that everybody thought is like that guy. I know he's a way class up.

It doesn't matter. He still beat one of the three best fighters on the frigging planet. Like, Yanni Blah is the best light headway. Dealing with it, Corey Anderson. And there's one, there is one, I will say, there is one really solid prospect coming up in the UFC, Ankylaev. He's got to fight with Osdemeh coming. up. Ankyloyves is a monster. If he can win that fight, then we actually throw another guy in the pool of the UFC who I think is a legit threat. I'm a big, big fan Ankelyev. If he wins that fight, then yeah, I think you got another player out there in that division because no one's screaming to see Rackich. You know, Anthony Smith, I still think it's a solid guy and a very

serviceable, you know, like heavyweight, and he's looked really good lately. But yeah, like I said, the drop-off is pretty deep. You know, Nimcov was that guy in Belletor. He was like the guy coming up. now he's the champion. Ancolaev's kind of the one guy beyond Prohaska who has like got legitimate like, you know, heat behind him. If he wins his next fight, then maybe we'll start talking about him more in that, in that same conversation. Yeah.

And we are, listen, we are, this is classic Bellator. We know exactly what's going to happen at the end of this Grand Prix. If Gagar Musassi beats Austin Vanderford in January or February, one billion percent, they're going to have Musassi go up and do a champion versus champion fight. They haven't done one in so long. So they're going to do one now.

There's no doubt about it. They're not going to build a division. That's the fight they're going to make. They haven't done one in like eight months. Since Lima, since Lima wouldn't try to. Yeah, they keep, boy, the Welthaway's in Bellator have not had a lot of luck going up and fighting Musassi, man. He's assassinated Roy McDonald and did the same to Douglas Lima. So if you're the Welter, if you're Michael Venham Page, stick around at Welterway, buddy.

If you're, if you're the champion, right. Stick around at Welterway right now. You don't want to go up getting none of that, that Musassah. Now, but he'll go up this time, we'll see what happens. What do you think of Jen? I don't think about it until right now, but are we all wrong? Is the actual best light heavyweight in the world, Renier, the Ritter, over at one championship?

Have we all just, we've just ridden off one championship? He's undefeated. I mean, the Ritter's good, but, you know, Angla, En Song, who I like a lot is not a light heavyweight. So, yeah, I mean, if he actually beat, Anybody legit, sure, but yeah. I mean, he beat Alon Song. Is that not enough for you?

Who is, who is, yeah. Middleweight? Yeah, really. He's a Dutch guy with a BGJ black belt. He can stand up and grapple. How do you beat him? I will say, I will say, to make this, to make this, I will say, there is one guy.

One championship does have the best flyweight in this sport, and his name is Adriana Marias. When you knock out the goat, when you knock out Demetrius Johnson, you are the best flyweight in the world. They do have the best flyweight at one championship in Adriana Marais. No, because he fights to 135 because one's stupid. I agree. I'm pretending that doesn't exist yet.

I'm pretending the weight class doesn't exist, all right? That's fair. Well, we talked about Cornergate. We talked about the actual 205-pound division globally. now we're going to talk about a potential 205-pound matchup, which was supposed to be a middleweight fight this Saturday, because we got 211-pound Paulo Costa, getting ready to fight Marvin Vittori in the main event of UFC Vegas 41.

Now, Vittori, being Vittori, had been putting out some somewhat cryptic tweets about this fight, saying that Costa was looking for a way out, goes to the media day, saying that Costa wasn't just overweight, he was majorly overweight. He wasn't going to make. make 185 and a lot of people just sort of chalked it up to Marvin being Marvin, just doing what he does. But it turns out he may have actually been underselling it because Costa shows up at the media day

says he's well over 200 pounds and they've now agreed to a catchweight bout, which at the moment, I know they verbally agreed to 195, but the UFC hasn't made like any official announcement yet in regards to that. But this has now sparked another debate, which we'll get into in a minute. But Damon, you had a lot to say about this yesterday. I saw a long thread featuring yourself and Aaron Bronsetter of TSN that just kept going on and on and some great points from both sides. I sided with you on this, but what did you think of this whole thing? As it was unfolding, you were paying attention. You were kind of watching it live.

What did you think of this whole thing? I saw a great, I want to give credit or credits to do. I saw a great tweet this morning from my buddy, RJ Clifford, who said, when did Paulo cost to turn into Paulo Philo? and I'm starting to agree with him because Costa has just kind of fallen apart this last year. I mean, a guy who had all the promise and potential

in the world when you go out there and you can argue whether or not he beat U.L. Romero was a phenomenal fight. Whether he won the fight or not, it was a phenomenal fight. And, you know, we all know how good U.L. Romero is when he decides to actually fight. Polo Costa then goes out and gets just dismantled by Israel Adasania

and, you know, then starts talking about I drank a bottle of wine afterwards and then he doesn't fight, you know, he doesn't have to fight with Whitaker, has the contract dispute over Canineer and now this week, you know, he's just shown up and basically said, I didn't really care to cut weight, so I didn't

bother doing it. And you're going to fight me if you want a main event for this really crappy card, you're going to pay, you're going to agree to fight me at some other bloated weight. It's, I mean, it's, I'm not saying it's a fall because the reality is, Paul O'Costa didn't really have a deep resume

to say this is an established, you know, legit middleweight because really had, you know, whatever three wins, four wins in the UFC before he got the title shot. And his one big win was Joel Romero, which again, very, very good win, very, you know, that's a quality win. But then, you know, to get eviscerated by Adasania and then have everything that's gone in last year, you feel like I bring this question up to a lot of fighters that talk to the I call it the Super Bowl hangover. When a team goes out, loses the Super Bowl the next year, they just, they fall apart.

They just don't have that same energy in the following season. And I feel like some fighters deal with that. And I'm telling you what, Costa has just, I mean, you could argue was he already a bit of a headcase, you know, going into the Adasanya fight, but then coming out of that, good Lord. So, yeah, it's a mess. It's unfortunate. I feel for Marvin Vittori. You know, Marvin Vittori has kind of done, gone out of his way to kind of be painted as the bad guy by some of the things he says, his war words with Adasanya, you know, everything after that.

but, you know, Marvin did his job. Marvin showed up on weight. Marvin showed up ready to fight at 185. And my argument being is, this is all on Paul O'Costa. I said, listen, I'd sucks for Marvin Vittori. I said this yesterday, and I stand by it. As soon as he said, I have no intention to make weight, and I came in, I had heard, Paulo said he was 211, 212, which is, you know, whatever, 26 pounds.

Or I heard he was like 30 to 35 pounds over. Maybe I don't even know how much reality we could take into his comments. he was 211, 212. I had heard 30 to 35 pounds over the middleweight limit. If he came in that far over, he's, of course he had no intention of ever making weight. If I'm the UFC, and I know they'll never do this. We all know they'll never do this.

But I said, pay Vittori, his win and show money, cut the fight, and then book him against a legit middleweight because none of this is Marvin Vittori's fault. And I don't, if he says I'm not, I mean, he's going to take the fight. I know he is. I talked to his manager last night, Elie Abdel Ziz. He's going to take the fight. But even they're getting front. frustrated because they can't seem to nail this guy down on a freaking wait.

Like he said verbally, 195 yesterday when talking to Brett Okamoto. Now we're not even sure that's right. Like 198, 200 or 200. What's it going to take to actually get him to sign on for this fight? So it's ridiculous. And like I said, what I would do is call the fight, payvatory, book him against, you know, some other middleweight. Sean Strickland.

Put him on the MSG card. Yeah, there you go. Put him on the Sean. That'd be a fun fight. Good Lord. the trash talk and that would be bizarre. Put him in there for that, whatever. But yeah, like, none of this is on Marvin Vittori.

Like, I know a lot of people love to hate Marvin Vittori. None of this is on him. And to be clear, he's actually kind of in the hero in this whole thing. He's still willing to take the fight and say, I'll fight him in anyway. When in reality, I'd say, take your paycheck and go home, buddy, because Costa has blown this. What did you think, Jed? I know you've been kind of out of the MMA space for a little while, but I'm sure you were paying attention to this and seeing this all over the place.

what were you thinking as you were seeing the tweets and seeing the videos and seeing the clips from the media days, etc. What did you think of this whole thing? One, I, honestly, my first reaction, I still have a little bit of this is like, is this a story? Because I agree. He came in, and I haven't seen,

Damon said that he has been saying stuff. I haven't seen everything. So I may totally have just missed Costa saying that he just really had no intention of ever trying to make you know, 185, but like, I agree. Being 25 pounds overweight is a lot of poundage overweight. That is also within a realm that I would believe Paulo Costa cuts for his fights in general, like of just water weight,

not like, you know, dieting down. I mean, would certainly not be the first person we've seen to make drastic weight cuts like that in over the span of three or four days. I mean, hell, didn't Gleason Tebow used to weigh like 180 for one for lightweight fights. on fight night like it's i wouldn't be shocked if yeah maybe he was a couple pounds you know over what he would have ideally liked to but i could easily see paula costa cutting 25 pounds water weight on fight week like that would not stun me uh now like i said i haven't seen uh i have if he said it i haven't seen where he's been like yeah i just wasn't going to make the

weight the whole time that's the case uh screw him that's shitty be better be a professional You agree to do a thing, try and do the thing that you agreed to do, and at least have some form of shame if you're not going to. It's a real, the optics here are very potentially like, mayhemillary of I'm supposed to make 185, and I don't even make the light heavyweight limit. But I think, you know, had this not become, my understanding is that he got their weight in, the UFC is like, dude, you can't cut this much.

Like, we got to adjust it, and then that's where all this spun from. If I'm wrong, hand up. If I'm not, then this would be one of those stories that is probably much less a story until he missed his weight by a couple of pounds on Friday. And then we're like, oh, Paula Costa missed weight. What a bum ass. I think the more I will agree with Damon, Vittori looking like a hero right now, because he clearly could not care less about whatever cost to come in as. Nor should he, because hot take, Paula Costa is not very going to.

of fighting. I mean, he's good at fighting in the comparative sense to, like, he would beat me up. But look at his resume. Damon touched on it. He hasn't beaten anybody. He beat Yoel Romero. He didn't beat Yol Romero. He definitely should have lost that fight. And more to the point, like, if the thing you hang your head on is knocking out fat Johnny Hendricks, who was shot at that point, RIP to Johnny Hendricks' career, he fell off a cliff, man, damn. But yeah, the highlights of career are you beat fat johnny hendricks uh who didn't johnny hendricks miss wait for that fight too i want to say that you missed wait for that fight i could be wrong um and then you almost beat yole romero who like let's be honest i am the biggest yole ramiro man

like you know this mike i have consistently said he's the best middle weight in the world only half jokingly like there's no bigger stand for yuel than i am if there's one fighter that like any random dude could look good against for a while, it's Yoha Romero, because he's just not going to do anything for most of the fight. And that's what happened. He didn't do anything until he started doing something. And when he did, he beat Costa's ass.

But he just didn't do anything for a while, so people think that Costa looked good. Other than that, Costa has beaten nobody in the, I guess he's been in your out-hall in a fight that I don't remember being memorable. And so, yeah, I just don't. think he's actually that good of a middle way and Vittori is very good middle way. He also has a big old blockhead that you couldn't dent with a baseball bat.

So I think he's going to beat the hell out of Costa regardless of what they weigh in. And I think he knows it. And so he gets to look like, you know, Billy Hardass by saying, I don't care. Way on whatever you want, dude. It would be a real pro move for Vittori to come in, hit 185 to make a statement and then still beat that ass. We probably won't do that because I don't think he's got. that, I don't think he's got that amount of self-promotion in him.

But yeah, you know, I think this is another story. Like, it's a story, but it feels a lot more like we're spinning our wheels because this fight card is dog shit. And I, I agree with, by the way, I agree with Jed right there what he said. I think Vittori wins this fight going away. And that probably does play a small factor in his willingness to, like, take this vice. He's like, I know I'm going to win.

and I get to come out on the other side of this looking really, really good. So, of course, I'm going to take this fight. And kudos to him for that, because I do believe Vitori's going to win this fight. I think he's going to win it Handily. And I think you would have won it Handley if Capollo actually made $185. Yes. And I would love to see Vittori hit 185, but obviously it won't happen because the weight to scrubby too much more than likely.

It would be pretty gangster if Costa made $1.85. That would be unbelievable. but I mean, so listen, go ahead, Jed. If Costa comes in, it makes 185, I take back every bad thing I ever start by it. I will immediately become a Paul Costa fan if he just rolls up Friday as like 185, bitches. That would be absolutely ridiculous.

So let's just say that's not going to happen because it's probably not going to happen. Obviously, Paul Costa, incredibly unprofessional, knowing he's not going to make weight. And I wished with all the interviews he did, like, because Paul kept saying, like, why am I going to cut weight when it's catch weight? Like, when were you told this is the catchweight?

Like, that's the question I want to know. But anyways, with this whole thing, he's obviously doing himself in the grand scheme of things, the long game, a terrible disservice to himself. Terrible disservice in getting back to a title shot at 185. It's probably farther and further away than ever. But after the beating he took from out of Sanya, maybe it was already further and further than it could ever been as long as he's the champion. So, Jed, you know I like to play devil's advocate from time to time. So watching this whole thing unfold, I'm thinking to myself, like, how can I be the positive thinker here? And there's nothing really positive about this.

But one thing that kept popping into my mind is when I was playing baseball and football and other sports growing up, my father always said to me, and he related it to life as well as a life lesson, put yourself in a position where you cannot be replaced, where you are irreplaceable. Now, as you said, you called this card dog shit, and not many people are going to argue with you. But looking at this card as a whole... Find me the person who will. Find me the non-Dana White person who will argue that point with you. Right. And looking at the card as a whole, right? Paul Costa, his manager, the UFC themselves, Dana White himself, no matter what he says on...

Y'all must have... Or whatever friggin' stupid Facebook video he does. They're well aware that they can... cannot lose this fight from this card. They just can't. You can't have Grant Dawson as much as high as I think of him as a prospect. You can't have Grant Dawson and Ricky Glenn main event this card. You just can't.

Now, certainly, Costa and his team should have handled this a million times better. Shed, listen, you should have said three weeks ago, I'm not making a wait. And they still would have done this fight. And we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. But was this, at least in theory, Jed, kind of a smart move from Paula Costa? like why cut this weight? They ain't going to cut me. They ain't going to take me out of this fight anyways, right?

It's not a smart move because, look, I do not give the UFC credit for a lot, nor should I. I don't, I think that largely they're pretty bad at their job of promotion. But what you can damn sure give the UFC credit for is, they will find a way to get even. And it might be direct. He may take a, he may just take a pay cut on Friday. They would be like, all right, cool.

we've agreed to a catchway. We're still going to give 20% of your purse to Marvin for the hassle or whatever it is. Or they will just find another way to make him feel it. So I think this is objectively like a dumb idea. Like it's never a good idea to be unprofessional. And that's basically what we're talking about here. Follicost has been unprofessional. And at the risk of losing something.

Because like, yeah, the UFC is going to go 100%. Like, they can't. There's, there's no other fight that could headline this car, like, whatsoever. But Martin Vittori didn't have to be a hard ass. Like, he didn't have to be like, yeah, I'll fight him. He just been like, no, we agreed to 185, make the waiter don't. And if that happens, then Vittori doesn't want to fight him. Costa, what does Costa get out of this?

Nothing. He looks awful, doesn't get paid. Yeah, he can, you know, be angry at Martin Vittori online, but like, no, this is objectively a really, really dumb, really awful idea. But let's just say that if you've been following Policosta for any amount of time, particularly his Twitter feed, he is not a man renowned for bright ideas and genius thoughts. So that's where we are.

What do you think about this, Damon? Because this is kind of Aaron's pill to lie on more than anything, was you can't lose this fight. UFC Fight Night, Dawson versus Glenn, doesn't really, you know, strike the excitement nerves like Vittori Kasa. Not that this is the most exciting fight of all time, but it certainly is not comparable. Let's just be honest here.

How do you think that fight night would do on, what's this Saturday? Don't we have like divisional baseball games going on Saturday? And Bellator. Okay, Belator. From showtime. Nobody watches it, but I'm pretty sure people watch playoff baseball and college football. Do you think this is what Costa was trying to do, Damon, like knowing, like him and his team, looking at this card being like this card sucks like they can't afford to lose me so i might

lose this fight but i'd rather at least i don't have to kill myself to get to 185 uh yeah i i think that's probably exactly what they were thinking uh because as jad said i don't know that paula costa is going to be giving any u in speeches anytime soon uh on the virtues of you know the the world currency or anything i don't think that's going to happen uh i think he probably did come in thinking they can't lose me for this fight card so I can pretty much do whatever I wanted. The problem is, is that kind of short-sighted thinking is not, is not dealing with the reaction. And I agree with Jed here, the UFC is real good at getting you back. And in this case, if he blows making weight, which, of course, he's already said he's going to

do, but I mean, it depends on how bad this gets in terms of like they make a 195 catch weight and he still misses by like 10 or 11 pounds, which I could 100% see happening. and the fight goes on, Vittori smokes him. I can see 100% they just released him. They're done with him. I mean, they've already had issues with Paulo coming out of the Adasanya fight, the contract negotiations, the I drank a bottle of wine, all the different things.

And he's not been high on Dana's list anyways. This is not going to help his cause. And if he goes out there and misses weight and loses badly, they could just be like, we're done with this guy. And what are they really losing? I mean, again, this isn't a personal knock on Paulo Costa. but he's not going to fight for the title again anytime soon. If he loses to Vitori, he's even further back in the line.

What are they really losing? I mean, they're not losing much of anything if he gets cut. You know what I mean? They're sending a guy who was a problem guy on the roster to Belator or to PFL or to one championship. Like, they're not losing much of anything. So, yeah, in the short term, that's exactly what I'm sure he thought. He's like, you know what? I'm weighing 230 pounds right now.

I'm not going to make 185 anytime soon, but guess what? They can't afford to lose me because this is the only viable fight this card has as a main event. Great. Short term, he's probably right. Long term, he's thinking my contract is going to get terminated the second I step out of the Octagon after losing to Martin Vittory because I pulled this. So, yeah, short term, probably what he was thinking, long term. Paulo Costa, welcome to the Cage Warriors roster. Now, I'm going to try to find some positivity here.

This opening statement is not positive because on Monday, this is a 12-fight card. Now it's a 14-fight card again because Mason Jones, who's been off the card for a month, and then Jonathan Martinez has been out the card for a couple of weeks, all of a sudden they get new opponents. So we have 14 fights on this card. However, it does start at 1 p.m. Eastern. So early day of fights, I am very excited about that. We're not going to really dig into this card much more.

that's the UFC but for the second week in a row if you're gonna have you know the phrase you're gonna be dumb you gotta be tough if you're gonna be shit you gotta be short like UFC like you can put together

eight bad fights and I'll still probably watch it if I've nothing else to do I'm not watching 14 like just do better be better your jobs so frustrated

like there is no need for 14 fights this weekend zero Speaking of Do Better, Jed feels that Bellator should always do better because apparently he's going to be turning into his favorite channel showtime on Saturday because Bellator 269 is going down right around the same time. In fact, this one starts an hour earlier than the UFC's card, 12 fights and the Bellator prelims just fly by so it's like they don't even happen. It's just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. To the point where there's like 45 minutes from the prelims to the main card. But it's in Moscow.

Big deal for the promotion. It's headlined by Fjordor Emilianenko versus Timothy Johnson. Jed, let us start with you here. Fadour coming back, created some buzz, created a conversation about who the opponent could and should be. It was Timothy Johnson. We crapped all over this thing.

We gave a beating to Bellator, but from all accounts, this was Fador's choice. He handpicked Tim Johnson. This was Belator's version of what is Fight Island, honestly. Like, the actual Fight Island reveal didn't go over

as well as our imaginations perceived it to be Fador with this long list of former UFC champions he could have fought and other names.

I mean, and then we get Timothy Johnson. No offense, Timothy Johnson, but of all the other names we had on there, we could have done better.

But we're 48 or so hours away from this card as we record, Jed. The return of Fador, where's your excitement level for this? Uh,

on a 10 scale? three. I don't even know if three is fair. I'll give this to Belador. This is probably a better card than the UFC's this week, which is not saying almost anything at all, but it's words. Fador, I will dutifully watch Fador fight because he is one of my favorite fighters of all time, despite the fact that he's been not his best for over a decade now. I will still tune in because that's what you do when you hate yourself and become an MMA fan. But this is, as we crapped all over it, because it sucked, I don't care if Fador handpicked Tim Johnson or not. This is still a terrible fight.

It's a fight nobody cares about in concept other than Fador is fighting a game and he'll be doing so in Russia. He could have fought any number of other people that I would have been really interested in, even if it was old bad MMA, like, give me Vandalei Silver versus fatal. I know Vandale hasn't won a fight in 27 years,

but that's at least, there's something there that makes me want to view it. Josh Barnett obviously was, I think, the frontrunner in most people's eyes. We're with Tim Johnson. I am not looking forward to this at all.

Vettela Minicroft is not a bad fighter. And Saeed would butcher his last name if I said it, you know, he's a competent, enough heavyweight. So the co-main event has something. There's Nirm Hamadov fighting, so good for that. Karel Sidelnikov, baby Fedor, he's out here

plugging away. It's all bad and it's super bad because I'm pretty confident Tim Johnson's going to beat Fadol, probably with a knockout. And whatever part of my soul that this sport still has and hasn't killed by watching my heroes disintegrate into old manitude. I think the last piece might die when Timothy Brigham-Johnson knocks out fatal a million ain't co.

So yeah, I'm not looking forward to it. The one benefit is may not watch it because I still don't know how to watch Showtime, Belvoir, get your shit together, stop booking the one good commodity you have against fighters that no one cares about and on a network that no one cares about three people are going to tune in and it's going to be this call.

David, what do you think? Fadar, are you excited for this? To a point. I mean, if Jed's a three, I'd say I'm probably a five because much like him, I love Fadour. I grew up Fadour. I mean, I was a hardcore pride guy. I used to stay up to all hours of the night to watch pride fights. And I remember watching, you know, Fadour and Crowe Cop and when it happened and freaking out.

Yeah, so I own two mixed martial arts t-shirts. Both were given to me, but I own them. One is a W.C. shirt that was given to me when the promotion was starting to close its doors, and I had been around WC forever, and my mentor, Ryan Bennett used to call fights for them. So they gave me a W.C. shirt, Reed Harris, gave me a W.C. shirt. So I kept that, and I own a old-school Fador shirt that says, Fador, nobody beats me. If anyone remembers that shirt from the early 2000s,

that was a really cool black and white t-shirt that said, Fador, nobody beats me. It was awesome. I own those two T-shirts. I've worn them in years. Probably never will wear them, but I own them. And that should tell you how much I adore Fadour. So in that regard, his final two fights of his career, of course I'll watch. I love Fadour. And I actually think he has a chance of winning this fight.

You know, Tim Johnson, I don't mind. I don't want to knock Tim Johnson. Tim Johnson's not a bad fighter, but he's not a great heavyweight. So there's a chance that Fador goes out there and hits him with a bomb and wins this fight. I think it's a more winnable fight than fighting Junior DeSantos or Alistair Overeem. Even though those guys aren't quite, you know, top-level heavyweights anymore, I don't think he beats those guys. Josh Burnett would have been my pick, but again, not happening.

So, yeah, I think he's got a chance to beat Tim Johnson. And overall, the Bellator card isn't great, but as Mike said, 12 fights, they cruise through the prelims, a bunch of no-name guys and girls you never heard of, including the one girl who fought a 529 pound opponent. I'm weirdly interested to watch that one. And then you got Usman Nirmagamatov, which he actually is a legitimately really good prospect. They put him against the guy with like an 11 and 8 record. So you know what's going to happen in that one. It is going to be as it is going to be what Kamara Usman and Kabib Nargamato

did to their opponents to the use. This guy is going to speed. I mean, it's if this, if an upset happens here, it is big, it is worse than the big tune and upset because. Usman is literally, they're giving him like cannon fodder to go out there and just have like a good showing against some guy. You know, Minikov is not bad. You know, Russia prospects, you know, generally there's big finishes. And Bellator at least does one thing right. When they have a good prospect, they give them mismatches usually.

So you can see them just completely destroy an opponent. And there is some fun in that. So, yeah, it's a better card in the UFC. That's not a, that's a really, really, really low bar to set. but it is a better card and it's not 14 freaking fights deep where you're going to have a you know nine hour prelim followed by a seven hour main card uh so in that regard bellator wins uh and like i said man if fedor he is coming off a win over rampage jackson be that as a may uh phaedore's still a legend he's got a little bit of gas left in tank and i don't want to see

him lose but you know what unlike the ufc where fader would be fighting you know francis and ghanu right now because they don't have any respect for that kind of fighter. At least, you know, Tim Johnson's decent. He's not great. They're not giving him to the guy that you know is just going to go out there and absolutely destroy him. So in that regard, yeah, my interest is there. Doesn't that make it sadder, though, Damon?

Because, like, I would not watch Inganu Fatal because that's morally reprehensible to pay money to see that. But I at least would feel better about him getting knocked out by Anganu because everybody gets knocked out by and Gano. If he gets knocked out by Tim Johnson, I'm just going to be real sad. He was real sad. Yeah, I mean, I can see that.

But like I said, I actually think Vador has a chance of winning this fight. Like, I would not, there is zero chance. He's at this stage. Yeah, but they're like, yeah, but. Right hands.

Yeah, but Tim Johnson, you know, Tim Johnson was a, you know, bottom of the, you know, top 15, top 20, UFC heavyweight. Uh, and the UFC,

the heavyweight division has never been incredibly deep so that should tell you where Tim Johnson is that not like Tim Johnson is not a knock on Tim Johnson I'm saying he's kind of a good middle of the road heavyweight there's yeah it'll make me sad if he beats and he knocks up Fador but I also think Fader does have a legit chance of beating him versus a lot of the other guys he could probably fight right now so in that regard I'm like at least there's that I wish it was Josh Barnett

it's not Josh Barnett though let me say one more thing absolutely we all we all pooped on Tim Johnson and not pooped on him, but he caught a lot of collateral shots. Tim Johnson, the 2020 heavyweight of the year, in my opinion, last year. And as you mentioned earlier, MMA fighting's official opinion, for the 2020 MVP of the heavyweight division, because he had a really good year last year.

You know, he won some fights. He challenged for a title. Good for you, Tim Johnson. Yes, for the interim title. And he tried to make it as entertaining as possible. So could be the last fight of Fador's career. We'll see. Unless they give him a title fight.

I just don't know what other fight he's going to want to fight. He's fighting at home. Like, what else is he going to do? Do you think this is his last fight, Damon, when there's a draw? I don't think so because, you know, I mean, in theory, I mean, I would love it. If he goes out there and wins, I would love for that to be it. He goes out in Russia. Last fight, you know, in front of his home country.

Yeah, I would love it. That would be it. But that's not how fighting works. And we all know this. If he goes out beats Tim Johnson, and he actually is going to try to fight, you know, the bet he is going to try to fight a legit, good heavy. They're going to imagine with Anthony Johnson,

and it's going to be real, real sad when what happens happens. So, no, I don't think so. Even if he loses, as long as it's not like a completely terrible. And again, I don't think this fight makes it past four minutes of the first round, no matter which way it goes. if he loses badly, I could still see him coming back for one more and say, I got one more fight left in me,

give me, you know, the Fabio Maldonado rematch or some weird stuff like that, and we get that as a final match. So no, I don't think it's his final fight because nothing ever goes the way I wanted to with M.A retirement. So it ever goes out on top. If he wins, he's going to say,

you know what, give me that other guy, and it's going to be real sad. Chad, do you agree? Oh, yeah, he's coming back. That's sad, but he's coming back. I hope he fights Vandalis Silva. That's the fight I want. It's awful, but it's so up Bella Torres Alley, and I would watch the hell out of it.

So I hope that's his final fight. I think he's got at least one more. He's probably got like two more years, though. He's just, this is an awful sport that is very unkind to people who care, and we care about this man. So bad things are going to happen. I can't wait to get the email in March. Big announcement. Virtual press conference with Fador, and he signs a new eight-fight deal with Bellator.

I mean, such a Belator thing to do. All right. So that's that. I did solicit for some questions. I got some on Twitter, some on Instagram. So we're going to rifle through these real quick. Some fan questions leading into this tournament. This first question is from somebody who I don't think anybody really knows,

but I'll just say his name, Ariel Hawani. In honor of Fador. In honor of Fador, Jedmishu, who are the top four greatest fighters to never fight in the UFC? So Fador is obviously number one, that's for sure. To never fight in the UFC? That's a really good question. Fadre, I think, is unquestionably the top spot there. After that, it might take a little bit of thinking.

I guess, are we... If we're just going over right now, I would honestly put AJ McKee as, like, closing in on that gap. Because I think he might actually just be the second best featherweight in the world. But he's got plenty of time to fight. I think Fador, Patricio Pitbull, Patricio has certainly done enough to warrant that. Who else? I'm trying to go back to, like, pride-era stuff. Because that's going to be the people who have had, like, a long enough run that I can feel justified in saying,

who would be who would have never fought in the UFC. Damon, you want to jump in while? Oh, Guil Fuji. Gumi Fuji is that she's number two on Fador. Let him go for sure, for sure. What are yours, Damon? Fadour's number one, of course. You know, when he was in his prime,

it's sad that we didn't get to see him, you know, do that. I wish we had. But I also, you know, applaud Fador for, you know, whatever principles he had standing up to Dana White. Good for him. another guy who seemed like he was tailor-made for the UFC who I think would have just had great fun fights

he would have been kind of like the Cowboy Soronia heavyweight is Igor Volchanchen I loved Igor Volchanchen I loved that guy I would love to have seen him in some of those UFC matchups back in the day like he was so much fun to watch he didn't win every fight but man he went out there and I mean he you know he put on fights he put on great fights I would have loved to see Volchanchen back in the day being the UFC because he was a really really really fun heavyweight.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, so many, the weird thing is so many of these guys and girls do end up crossing over for like one fight sometimes or two fights. Like, you kind of forget that Sakharaba actually had one fight in the UFC. Like, he would be the guy, but he actually had one. And it was the weirdest fight ever because it ended and then they restarted it later that night. Yeah.

He went in and the fight ended controversially and then they restarted it later that night. that's Kazushi Sakarabas one fight in the UFC. So yeah, it's not easy. I mean, I would agree AJ McKee is probably on that list now, because I think he is, you know, one of the best feather weights to the sport, and it's kind of sad that we haven't seen him there. I think eventually we will.

I mean, you could have said, you know, a couple years ago, Michael Chandler would have been on that list, but now he's there. So, yeah, I mean, it's a short list. Fador being definitely at the top. And I agree, Megumi Fuji, you know, would have been great in her prime. By the time she even got to Bellator,

she wasn't quite the same fighter that she once was. But yeah, it's a short list. Igor is the one guy I could think of because he was a guy who was always really fun to watch, who was never a top guy, but he was always a fun guy. Next question. Brandon Christian on Instagram. It worries me that Sterling will go into a fight too early and do serious damage to himself just to try and prove all these silly haters wrong.

I understand the title needs to keep moving, but there seems to be no sympathy. from the UFC towards him. So Damon, do you think Al Jermaine Sterling is going to make a mistake and come back too early to defend his title? I don't think so. And the reason I say that is because if he would have fought October 30th, that would have been too early.

I mean, that was the case where he would have been coming back too early. He finally kind of came to his senses and realized he wasn't healthy enough to do it. And so he dropped out of the fight. The UFC pressuring him to fight in October was their attempt. The fact that they actually made an interim title and didn't strip him shocks me beyond belief because I could 100% see the UFC doing that. So I think, because when I talked to Al Jermaine months ago,

he told me that, you know, November, December was probably when he was going to target coming back, December being the best possible case scenario. When the UFC booked him in October, I was like, really?

Like, that's kind of odd. Like, I know for a fact he said he wouldn't be ready. You know, so I don't think he will now unless, again, unless he gets re-injured,

you know, hurts himself again, and then comes back because he has no, alternative, that's when it would happen. But I think right now, I don't think it will because he already had that happen. He was supposed to come back in October and he should have been fighting.

Thankfully, you know, he dropped out and he's still recovering and getting better. So I don't think he will now because he already did it. Agree, Jed? Oh, yeah. Basically every single thing that Damon just said. I don't think

algorithm still gives a shit what people think about him, frankly. So I have no fear that he is going to box this by coming back too early. If he was going to have done it, it would have been this time. But he's already been able to walk away from this, unless the UFC straight up says, you fight on this date or we're stripping you, maybe. But even then, I still think Aljo has said a lot of really dumb things lately and is not smart in every aspect of life. But I think he's pretty smart about managing his career in this regard. And I have no fear that he will screw this up.

I'll do one more with the, this is from the Pound Town podcast. With the World Series upon us, which current or past Major League Baseball player would win an MMA fight? I'll take Nolan Ryan off the board, he says. So, Jed, which baseball player past or present do you think would fare well if they took off the metal spikes and put on the four-ounce gloves? So not a big baseball guy, which makes this. Also, why is Nolan Ryan like a notorious hard ass? I mean, he beat the shit out of Robin Ventura one time. I don't know who Robin Ventura is.

He was like 48 years old. He plunked a 24-year-old upstart. The 24-year-old upstart charges the mound at the older Nolan Ryan. Nolan Ryan infamously puts him in a headlock and just starts rein in right hands over and over again. Or that video on Twitter. I will say this, to the best of my knowledge, Nolan Ryan's old. So this is an awful choice. because whenever he was at his peak would have been long before, probably steroids

and mostly just like being physically fit mattered in baseball. Whereas if you meet a baseball player nowadays, they are frigging jacked. All of them are enormous. So I suspect that like a random middle reliever from any team would beat the shit out of Nolan Ryan because they're probably freaking huge. So with that in mind, Aaron Judge seems like a really enormous dude and could probably beat that ass. Or, yeah, let's go to Aaron Judge. He just seems huge.

So I'm going to go to size. Besides, being big and strong is the most underrated of mixed martial arts foundations. And give me Aaron Gill. Damien, you don't strike me as a guy as watching all these playoff games. And maybe there's a time in your life where you did watch baseball. So maybe you have a thought on this question. I do because there was a time. I was a very hardcore baseball fan and much to your chagrin, my team has been for decades, the New York Yankees.

I grew up in Columbia, we grew up in Ohio, Columbus Clippers were the Yankees AAA team for years. So I grew up watching guys like Derek Jeter, Mariana Rivera, guys like that coming up through the minor leagues watching games in Columbus and then seeing them go to the pros. So I was a big Yankees fan for a lot of time, went to many games in Yankee Stadium. And there was one particular brawl that always stood out to me that just, you know, benches clearing brawomen. It's kind of an old school grimy baseball player, Tino Martinez. He was a badass back in the day. I'd say Tino Martinez, man, that's a guy you don't mess with. He was just kind of the old school, kind of gritty baseball player.

It was never the best guy in the team, but he's a guy you wanted on your team. And he was kind of like that enforcer on the field. So, yeah, I would say, I mean, if you're taking Nolan Ryan off, and by the way, Jed, just for your own, you know, your enjoyment, go watch the video of him beating down. Robin Ventura. It's one of the most hilarious videos you will ever watch. He literally just puts him in a head. lock, it just punches his face in, and it's great.

But yes, I would say that. I would say Tito Martinez is my guy. There have been some funny with Chanhope Park through a flying kick once in a baseball, in a baseball fight. So that might be good. And that's taking advantage of your surroundings because baseball players wear spikes on their shoes and Chanho Park through a freaking flying kick to a guy. So that guy might get some bonus points as well.

I'm trying to think of who the former Red Sox player was that chart, that actually like did a Izzy Alcantara I think it was Izzy Alcantara. He got hit by a pitch and then he kicked the dude in the, kick the catcher in the chest.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, where he back kicked him and he right out down. Like, because usually the catcher comes out to get you.

He kicked the catcher and then went after the pitcher. That's right. That's a good one. I'm going with Jason. I will take away Pedro Martinez that's gunbag

for throwing Don Zimmer or Zimmer on the ground during your fight once in a time. I'll have you know a quicks. I mean, he charged Pedro. Pedro didn't punch him, so I had no problem with that. In fact, I went Halloween that year, because it happened like two weeks prior. I went out and visited my friends at the University of Maryland at the age of 18,

and I went as Don Zimmer. And I wore a, like, a pinstripe generic baseball jersey, but I put a pillow underneath. And all night, I just ran at people, and they threw me on the ground, and I just slid across the dance floor. I drank for free all night long. I was just like, they were like, can I throw you? I said, sure, you buy me a drink, sure.

And that's how I did it. That's how I drank all night at the college bar for free. I just let people throw me in. I slid across the dance floor with my pillow top Don Zimmer costume. That's pretty genius, actually. That's pretty genius, actually. Pretty timing. Jason Veritech is the correct answer to this question, by the way.

He would do very well. Although Tina Martinez is an excellent answer. Yeah, Tina was one of those guys. Yeah, Chano Park, though. I give him credit for the flying kick, though. That was good. Absolutely. So there you go.

We're going to do this again next week. And back two weeks, fight week for UFC 268. That is in the eight-person tournament will begin. And I believe maybe early next week, and we're trying to plan out the logistics. But as of now, the plan is to go on the, to go live on the MMA fighting Instagram page to draft out the brackets for this eight-person tournament. So maybe we'll bring some people in. We can talk some smack.

But it's all going to go down. first matchup, UFC 268 fight week. The finale will be the week after UFC 269. So we'll have some good stuff to talk about in between those events. And we'll cap it off in a big way following the final UFC pay-per-view event of the year. But until then, everybody, more raucous roundtable action on the program next week leading into the tournament. But until then, for Damon, for Jed, I am ICAC. We'll see you back here once again between the links.

Get ready for a weekend full of incredible fights. It's November 5th. To be it. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.