MMA Fighting - BTL | Sean Strickland Title Shot Next? Dana White vs. Eddie Hearn, UFC Mexico

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Following UFC Houston, Sean Strickland may have put himself in a position to fight Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title. Nassourdine Imavov views it differently after his five-fight win streak. Did Strickland do enough to get another crack at UFC gold? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout from the UFC's return to the Lone Star State, who should get the shot between Strickland and Imavov, and if it will even matter with Chimaev teasing a move up to light heavyweight. Additionally, topics may include the Dana White vs. Eddie Hearn story writing another chapter after Conor Benn signed with Zuffa Boxing, Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao 2 being signed for Netflix, UFC Mexico headlined by Brandon Moreno vs. Lone'er Kavanagh, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions all show long on a special Wednesday edition of the program. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off. To 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... to a brand new edition of BTL. Normally I would say happy Thursday to us all, but it is Wednesday. We're going a day early because I'll be traveling to beautiful Tempe, Arizona tomorrow for RAF6 going down on Saturday. Jose Young's is already on his way out there, so we're going to be hitting the coverage streets together,

and I'm very excited for that. Of course, Henry Suhudo versus Uriah Faber is the main event for that. Armand Sarukian is competing on that card. and a host of others, and it'll be a good time. Plus, we have UFC Mexico, which is going down, headlined by Brandon Moreno versus Lonnie Kavanaugh. We're coming off of UFC Houston and Sean Strickland's incredible performance. So much to discuss with all of you on this Wednesday.

And joining me to do exactly that is the co-host. He is Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid, the climber of all climbers, the one and only Jed Bishu. Jed's got his coffee mug. He's got USA on the White Taked. board feeling America and festive.

I put that up Sunday after we defeated Canada and I was going on sub radio with Aaron Bronstetter because America is nothing if not classy in victory.

But you know we won so wear it. It was electric, it was exciting men and women champions of the hockey world and some stuff happened this week Mike and you know,

what, Mike, I don't care. Happy Thursday to us all too. Just putting it out there ahead of schedule. Yeah. I mean, it will be a happy Thursday for us all as well. So I appreciate that. And yes, go USA. That was very fun. Enjoyed that very much. I also enjoyed the team Canada members all saying three on three overtime sucks. And my favorite one was, we'll let you judge who the better team was when you judge the better team by who wins the game. Although I, there were, there were times, like, I was watching the game of my son. I'm like, you know, it's funny. Like, the USA is on a power play right now, and it looks like it's fair now.

Because, like, they had a mad advantage, and it looked, it looked like it was a fair game now with the U.S. having five guys against Canada's four. I would not say I'm a hockey expert. you know, it did look like Canada was the better team, but the better team, better fighter doesn't always win. And I can totally understand if you are like a hockey player not liking three on three overtime, right? Like that, sure, that's not how it mostly happens

in the rest of your life. But that's not unfair, right? And they didn't say it was unfair. Everyone knew the score going in. And as a fan, three on three was a wreck. Like, that was just way, I. I was talking with Bronstetter and Dennis on sub-radio about it. I was like, I think we should do more sports with fewer people in there.

Because, like, I don't think you follow rugby at all, but like traditional rugby is 15s, but seven's rugby is incredible to watch. And so, like, three's hockey is incredible. That three-on-three basketball thing was pretty fun. Not the same, but like, let's just, what if, you know, I think isn't flag football like seven-on-seven football? or something like that. Like just start taking players off the field more and open it up to a bigger space,

way more electric. Can you imagine if extra innings in baseball you took away an outfielder and an infielder? Every inning. Every inning you take away a player. I got 100% think that that's how they should do it. All right, we're in the 10th. We're in the 10th.

You no longer get nine dudes. Now you're down to eight dudes. I love that. Do we just fix baseball? We fix baseball. You just get a real pitcher's duel going and you're in the 18th inning and it's just pitcher and batter

and that's it. All he has to do is make contact. And the pitcher is to run after every ball. More sports should remove players. Oh, spectacular. All right, let's get to the peeps. By the way, shout out to the Twitch crew. Clom leading the way.

Twitch crew. What's up? Let's get into it. When will the panels be back? When we back fill Casey's position? And it's much easier to do because I don't have to host and produce at the same time. When I have to host and produce at the same time, it's much easier doing it this way. And plus, you guys still get to answer your question.

We still talk about everything. But eventually we will have the panelists back. We'll have the competitions back. It'll get there. At least I'm told that we'll get there soon and it'll be great. Joseph, did Sean Strickland's mouth cost him a title shot? There are people that love what he said about the gromming allegations? I'm unclear what that word is,

but I think I understand what he is saying. Yes. Do you feel like Sean Strickland's mouth cost of a title shot? Might have got him one. I don't know what Joseph is talking about, man. Like, we're just at this stage of life where Sean Strickland Fight Weeks are a chore if you work in this industry

because he galvanizes a certain subset of the face. fans in a way that is at best, tedious, at worst, something you must endure, right? Like, I am so happy that we're on to Mexico just because we're not. I don't have to have free speech incorrectly told to me what it is 20 times by bozos on the internet. But, like, Sean Strickland has galvanized the fan base. And so that is better than, yes, a lot of people dislike Sean Strickland, but I've said this a million times. I just, I think there are like three people in the history of combat sports

who have gotten over by being hated to like, for that to be a marketability thing that works in pro wrestling, people like heels that doesn't work in real life. And so I don't think that that aspect is working for Sean, but there are plenty of people who are deeply supportive, deep fans of his. And the fact that, you know, you stitch all of the nonsense around Fight Week, together. Sure. But ultimately, what matters most is what happened Saturday in the cage, and

Sean Strickland delivered maybe the best performance of his career. I mean, it won't be because Izzy is just such a more meaningful win, but like he thumped Fluffy proper in there. Got to finish, which is not something he does all the time. And I think you and I are in agreement, Mike. I will be surprised at this point if Nasradi Nehavov fights Hamzaat Shemayev. A guy, it is very clear to me that Sean Strickland has taken the lead, the inside track position to get the next middleweight title fight. It's such a weird situation.

It really is. Like, I'm sitting there. I talked to Eric Nixon last night about all of this, which I believe that interview is going to drop in about an hour's time on our YouTube channel. But, I mean, Nasreda Nemovoff is like literally on Friday. While we're doing the preview show, he is the guy. he's fighting for the belt next and then 24 hours later Sean Strickland goes out and does what he does and now it's like okay now he's not and then I talked to Naserdine and like he doesn't seem all the concerned and he's got there's some truth to what he's saying that like look this is we have to like treat this as a sport somehow right like I have a five shot yes Sean has a win over him it was a weird situation but Sean did beat him and beat him pretty convincingly and did so on pretty short notice which started that whole truble. trend of him getting to the belt. But he has since won five in a row and he's beat all top 10 dudes.

Like every single guy he's beaten is a top 10 guy. And I think the last three were top five guys. So like he is on like an incredible run right now. But Sean Strickland and I think I'll push back a little bit on what you said because there's like there's different heel heat and some of it like there's like for the attitude our fans. There's like the Vince McMahon heel heat where it's just like, God, we. hate this guy, but like, we're still going to watch.

And then there's like Xbox heat where it's like, oh, this friggin guy again. And I don't think Sean gets that. I think you just either like Sean or you don't. You like him. You like what he has to say or you hate his guts. And either way, it's a reaction that generates attention. And it's not like, let's change the channel, if that makes sense. So if there's one guy, I think who's making that kind of work for him, it is Sean.

And then you see like the real, like I guess even I asked Eric about this yesterday, the real Sean, which is like still the kind of brash crazy dude, but he's spending his entire post-fight interview putting over Fluffy Hernandez instead of talking about how great he was. So like it's he's such a weird guy in that sense that you just don't know what to expect from him. So I think he's going to get the shot. I think the best thing Nasor Denemovov can hope for is Hamzaat moves up and then they can run that rematch. and I think there's some heat there. Certainly, especially from the Imovov side, he friggin hates this guy. It's pretty wild, but...

She should be such a disappointing middleweight title fight. That's what we would get. And then... I mean, it is, but... And then if you're Emavov, like, I guess the best case thing for Emavov is, even if he has to sit there and watch Sean Strickland fight Hamzot, he's fighting the winner.

Like, there's nobody else. It's not like anybody can jump him. It's not like Rania or Derritter can leap over him. It's not like Kyle can leap over him. It's, he's just going to get it. And if Hamzaat wins, he's moving up, and then Nemvap will fight somebody for the belt. So he will fight for the title this year. It just may not be next.

Yeah, I mean, probably, but that's still just sucks. Yeah, it's just annoying. He should fight Hamzot. And then Hamzot, if Hamzaat beats him of Obb, should fight John Strickland. Hamzot shouldn't be going to light heavyweight. There's no need. There's no reason. We live in a broken sport, and it's not going to get better until an adult takes over.

and says we can't do these things. And that is not remotely on offer with the UFC at this point in time because none of this will affect their bottom line. And that is truly, truly, truly, the absolute only thing that Dana White, T.K. and the USC care about is dollars and cents. None of the rest of this matters. And until that starts getting affected, they're not going to change at all. And I honestly just don't know they will.

ever get affected that if this turns into a total carnival side show without any mayor at all i how would it change what would change the fighters aren't going to stand up for themselves the fans super don't care this is this is the world we live in and so nassarid yinemov i am sorry you at best are fighting for the belt in the back half of the year against sean strickland sorry yeah and that's just kind of the nature of the basin what's crazy is uh imovov is telling me that the UFC wanted to book him versus Hamzaat twice. They wanted to do it in December, which meant Marab wouldn't have gotten.

Yeah, I remember hearing that. Yeah, I mean, literally he said that. He was like, he goes, yeah, they wanted in December. We wouldn't have got Marab versus Jan if they had booked that fight. And then they were going to do it in February. We may not even gotten Volcanowski-Lopez, too, if they were going to do that in February. But Hamzat was heard, I guess, and that's why it never got made.

And because of that, he said yes to two dates. And now he's going to have to probably watch somebody else fight for bell, which is friggin' wild, man. What a time. Ace Boogie, thank you. The Connor Prakis rumors are absurd. His relationship with Dana is too strong for him to get fed to a natural welterweight of that caliber off of a five-year layoff.

To me, it's a lightweight, Patty at 170 if he fights at all. So I'm sure you've seen these rumors. I think Pachas addressed them on Instagram yesterday and basically like, yeah, man, I don't know where these are coming from. Of course, I would love to fight Carter McGregor if they offered that to me. It would be cool. and he would make a whole bunch money. But I think he said to something the effect of,

yeah, I don't think that was ever presented to me, but I would be down if they did. So thoughts on this? Yeah, no shit. Oh, yeah. This is such a weird rumor because it's so weird, I feel like there must be some level of truth to it. Yeah.

Even if it's just like somebody asked a question in an office sometime because otherwise it makes truly no sense. Like there is no, there's no story. There's no reason for this to be. And so because it's so off the wall, I'm like, maybe somebody pitched that somewhere. But Connor McGregor's not taking that fight,

nor should he. That would be a terrible misuse of him. Like, for the UFC, I still think it would be a bad fight. Frankly, Connor can't win it. And like, you're getting Carlos protests over by beating Connor, right? But if you're using Connor to do that, I just don't know that process is,

guy I would be trying to like stick my my flag in here he's already in his 30s I don't know that he has like a real title run in him in this super competitive waterway division like with Ian Gary already right there maybe but like if if the whole idea is let's just get Connor like let's use Connor to springboard somebody it's that should be like Patty or Ilya like I don't know why and you know there are also problems with those fights But like it's a problem with giving Connor any relevant fighter in the modern day. Like he hasn't fought in four years or five years, whatever it is. So real weird fight would never ever happen because why would Connor possibly take this? You can like you're just going to get brain damage and lose badly. So very silly fight. If process somehow got the offer, he should fight someone to get that. Like, yes, I will fist fight whoever I need to.

to let me fight Connor McGregor. That would be enormous for me professionally. Yeah, it's, I'm kind of with you. I kind of feel like there's smoke, because it's so random. Like it just doesn't come about it. It got to the point where like, Prochers had to address it.

So to me, it's not just like, oh, I'm getting tagged in a bunch of stuff. But now he's out there, like, making videos about it. So I'm not. It's just so random. It is. Hold on. Let me pull this up real quick before I get to the next super chat.

All right. Everything we do is a waste of time. What's that? Life is meaningless. We're all just having a good time. Yes. All right. Talk about Frank Ward suing data for billion.

I'll pull it up right now. Apparently there is some truth to this. It's all over the place. According to the telegraph, Warren's Queensberry is claiming that SELA and TKO breach separate contracts that they had signed with him and formed Zufa boxing without his involvement. TKO aims to take over the sport of boxing with Zufa and gain a virtual monopoly, similar to its market share in MMA and professional wrestling. Queensberry says since September 2023 had signed an exclusive agreement with SELA to provide boxing services,

which saw the company give SELA access to Queensberry's expertise. As the pair looked to stage big-time fights, They worked together for the first time for the Tyson Fury, Francis and Gano bout in October of 2023. A billion dollar lawsuit here, Jed, with Frank Warren suing not Dana White specifically, but TKO's Zufa boxing. I feel like my first thought after saying this was like, okay, this is the first of many that I think we're about to see. That's just kind of my thought. even if none of them win, I just feel like this is the first domino, so to speak, especially with all the other stuff we're seeing with some of the reports regarding the top-ranked deal,

yeah, the ESPN deal and some of the other stuff going on behind the scenes. Yeah, I agree. I think whether there's just going to start to be a bunch of legal plays from the boxing institution because, I mean, arguably, maybe not all of this has been on the up and up. my guess is that it probably is or at least look, TKO, Zufa, Turkey, Dana, they have an extremely competent legal team for the most part.

It's an extremely well-paid legal team for the most part. And so I'm certain that before any of this happened, they at least feel they have a legal basis to have done the things that they have done the accusations of Frank Warren per this lawsuit or like, maybe they're real, maybe we're not. Maybe we'll find out.

But I think the UFC at least feels they have legal cover for what they have done. And so, or TKO, not the UFC, sorry. So they went forward with it. I ultimately think that we won't get, you know, they're not, Frank Warren's not going to get a billion dollars. And this is never going to trial, nor will the subsequent ones go to trial. Because the UFC has a very good legal department. And things like this just never go to trial.

They're always settled out of court for some, some. It is just always how this happens because trials are where things can get wonky and no one wants it. So you just pay off Frank Warren to go away is what will eventually happen. I don't know what that number will be. It won't be a billion dollars. I have no idea how strong the legal case he has is. But also, like, Dana White's best friend is the president of the United States of America and has a significant amount of sway with the court structures of this country.

So like, you're playing an away game if you're Frank warned, if nothing else. So we'll see how it goes. I also don't know where he brought this suit. I assume it somewhere. In the UK. Oh, he brought in the UK. Okay. I mean, that does make more sense for Frank Warren.

So maybe there's a little more play there. But like ultimately, this is just going to get settled. It's going to get settled. That billion dollar number is a big gaudy number that I'm sure the settlement won't come close to because also just I can't imagine that Frank Warren that, you know, Warren promotions would have made a billion dollars. So, you know, this is just classic legal stuff. We sue, the U.S. CEO counter sue.

They'll settle out of court for some undisclosed amount of money. And the Zufa boxing train will keep right on rolling. Yep. But, yeah, I think we'll see a bunch of this stuff. So, Mike, any truth of the Alex versus Cyril rumors coming to the lovely Garden State in May, please make my day and say there is. nothing that I know of. I don't know.

It would make sense, but... It makes sense. The way that it's being described, at least from the report that I saw, and again, even when they reported this, they didn't report it as like a report. They reported it as, oh, I heard this could happen.

So like, that's different. It's rumor and innuendo as opposed to like, oh, I have multiple sources telling me this stuff. Which is why we say, if it's not an MA fighting, it's not legit because either the promotion announced it. And even then, as we say, even if the promotion announced it, it doesn't mean it's signed sealed and delivered.

Just ask Panata Moikano about that. He found out he's fighting Chris Duncan without signing a contract. But that's not like, that's a pretty typical thing these days. We also, I don't know. Because from what I understand, I believe the initial report, at least for why this fight would be done, was Tom's not going to be the heavyweight champion anymore. and they were going to do this for the vacant belt,

which if that's the case, that's insane. That is ridiculous, and that's horrific PR for the UFC. I also don't think the UFC does. I also don't think the UFC would care the more I look at it, but it would be absolutely insane if they just strip Tom and throw this fight on. It'll be really funny. I hope they do it. It would be funny.

It would be really funny. I am at the point where I want to see just how far they can push the envelope of ludicrous behavior before. before like literally one person. It's like maybe not. What if we just don't do this, guys? Like, what if we don't? Because I think that they still have a long way to go

before like casual MMA fans are like, yeah, I'm checked out. Because they've already checked out. The ones that have checked out, like if you're still involved in the sport, after this, you know, not even after this weekend, but after the months and months of like the stuff that happened this past weekend being par for the course, you're never leaving. You are a captive audience.

We're stuck. I'm following this side show sport until the day I die. It just is. It doesn't really matter what happens. And so I think they can continue to do whatever they want and act with impunity forever.

And so honestly, just show me, just do it. Who cares? Eat Arby's. Indeed. Nihilist Arbys, baby. Lazy, bet we got a ufc mexico shake up with major latina women's mma prospect regina tarynne stepping

into face ernesta karakate taryn's a 21 year old 7 and o legit striker can she get a short notice w um i mean yeah because caracate's not like a terrible fighter she's off contenders season i'm pretty sure yeah um i have not seen uh this uh regina woman compete but i've heard a lot I thought Regina was going into, I thought she was getting like a WWE tryout. That was like the only time I've really, I mean, I know she's a fighter and I know she's got some some good finishes and stuff and she can bang out there. But I thought she was like going into the pro wrestling world. So, but she's got a following. No doubt about it.

I've heard about her. I've never seen a fight. I don't know anything about the pro wrestling thing. But look, you're 21 and, you know, have a solid record, record. You know, not being like the greatest people in the world, mind you, but still. I'll stand up and take notice. And like, I assume this is winnable because Carcate is not like amazing. So this is like I'm interested just because we so rarely get prospects in women's MMA.

And this is like allegedly a real one. So we get to find out. Yeah. Let's keep the questions coming. This Mexico card is. It's not good. Big beans and ass. Like this is.

fresh. This is a good local card for the Mexican fans who are attending the card. And apparently from what I've seen, they're not having an easy time putting asses and seats for this one. I saw a thing that UFC, I think UFC account tweeted, where it was like six contender series signes from the most recent season are competing at UFC Mexico. Oh, no.

Oh, from the most recent season. Recent season, yeah. 16 there's uh i think there's 16 fighters like i think there's 16 contender series fighters that are fighting on this guy 16 that's a lot that's that's a whole lot uh as a whole lot yeah like six from the most recent season like that's not if if that promotion works on you and it's like hell yeah seek help like seek i mean this like Coposa doesn't look at that and is like, oh yeah, I get to see the next generation. He's like, so this card is filled with regional talent, like six new signies. And even if some of them are good, like, you know what that means. That is just a, what a choice. What a choice to make.

I will say it will be a fun watch because that Mexico crowd is always like super up and they'll be there for the first fight. So, like, that energy will make this more fun. Yeah, you know what else will make it fun? There's not a 205 or a heavyweight fight on this thing. So they're going to a good crowd. Ostensibly, the crowd will be good. I know that there's still going on, but Mexico's got some stuff happening in it this week.

We're going to a good crowd with all the good weight classes and not the bad ones. So, like, that's, it'll be a fun watch. But like I said, bake beans. and ass is what this card is. Shout to Chris Patino who's competing on the card. Very exciting. Oh, is the UFC doing it?

God, I love, I love that the UFC just flat out refuses to put ranked women's bantam weights on main cards. Never going to do it. Macy Chesson, Eileen Perez. Something called an Angel Pacheco and a Santiago Luna are ahead of Macy Chason and Eileen Perez. has two ranked women's bat in weights. It's crazy.

Robert Werdaker told submission radio he's going up to late heavyweight hopes you back in June. What do they think is outlook will be at 205? He said he walks around at 238. This would have been perfect Dominic Reyes fodder, honestly. If they weren't going to do RDR, Dominic Reyes, would be good. Robert Werdicker, Dominic

would have been good. But Dom's booked. So, can't do that. He is fighting, he's fighting in Miami against who the free is he fights? against Johnny Walker Okay Against Johnny Walker

So I think he'll do fine Because middleweight is a better weight Class than light heavyweight Which is awful I do think I know he said he walks at 2.30 And that's big

And he's been talking about moving up for a while In general He's declining Right he's no longer the best version of himself This is a former well to wait like this is not a big man in general even though he's kind of large now so i think that there will be a limit certainly at the tip top of the division where he could have success but this division's terrible dude so like he he can you know i would put it at like plus

200 that he fights for the light heavyweight belt but not like plus 500 you know like it's more likely than not that he doesn't but if he would say go up and honestly throw a dart I'm fine with anybody you want to do Jan Blahovitch and see which of these former middleweights Janbovich just better against cool you want to do Volcanozdemir

fine like so I think Jamal hill is like the perfect matchup isn't he out for a while I thought he's hurt but I've blown I don't know if it's blown or he's just like really taking his time coming back but like I mean I don't know I don't know

that'd be that'd be a good one Nikita Khrlov, just throw a dart to the top of 15 and put them in against it and I'm fine with it. Yeah, it's got to be, it probably has to be like a top

10 guy if we're going to do it, but I don't know, man. Uh, what else we got? Coswell, what is actually the upside to pay Connor Ben $15 million for one fight? He's not a top level boxer

or draw here in North America. I mean, I think we know the answer to this question. Well, he is a draw in England. He is a draw in England. I think that they probably can just make money, like just on that, like on a Connerbin fight outright. With that, it's only one fight deal. And the draw is to accumulate talent. And then once you have a critical mass of talent and you just have control over boxing.

I know this because it's the exact same thing they did to M&B. that the entire goal is to, and this is not like a secret. This is not a surprise or a plot. Dana White has been saying this for almost a decade. I want to do to boxing what I did to MMA. I want to, that's it. And if you know what's happened, what he did to MMA was he built a dominant league

that possesses all the talent. There you go. Yeah. And also I think this is, if him and Eddie Hearn were like buddies, and they were like talking great about each other in media interviews and stuff like that. I honestly don't think this happens.

I really don't think this happens. I think this is an F. I think, I don't like, something I like fully agreed with DJ. They had not been beefing though until the bin signing. Oh no,

they were talking shit about each other well before the Ben signing. Not like a bad, yeah. Yeah. They're talking like broad promotional shit, but they weren't like getting specific and then the Ben thing happened

and then they got real, real cat. I mean, yeah, it just, it just was like one of those things like, yeah, I can't believe he's saying these things. He's like, but I like Eddie. And it's like, well, Dana keeps saying this and it's ridiculous. It's like, but I like data. We have a great relationship. And then it's gone to, I feel like I'm fighting babies after the one of the ZUFA boxing events at the apex. And then it was just like, that seems like a strange thing to say when you've had three events and they're all at the apex and viewership is not.

even to a point where Paramount is putting up press releases about it. But okay, that's how you feel. And then Eddie started chiming back and we were getting a little more personal. And then the Ben signing happened and now it's gotten even worse. The Ben signing happened before the stuff. Before what's the? The Ben. Maybe it's been.

Yeah. No. No, it did. It did not officially happen, but it was happening before. Like that's what Eddie. Oh, yeah, maybe. Yeah. Eddie Aaron was like, yeah, the reason we started like, the reason this all started is because

this was happening behind the scenes. And so it's like, it's such a, this is Dana. This is exact what happened with pride and everything else. Like this is just, he knows how to play the game one way and it's this way. And it's to conquer. And then Connor, Ben was like, I still want Eddie to like manage me. I think it's a huge misstep from Conner Ben personally, but... Why?

Because it seems that he was getting the most money offered from Dana White. Sorry. It also appears that Matchroom was trying to get close to the number. And in his shoes, I would take close to the number and to maintain a professional relationship that I've, had for 10 plus years who stuck stuck by me in some really lean times when I had some drug tests like never once didn't back me and seems like he may have turfed that for one or two million dollars depending on like the differentials in the number there and a one fight deal with thing like I

wouldn't be my choice Mike you've seen the new dunkin cold brew buckets buckets they're 48 ounces is absolutely incredible. My wife actually showed me a video of this yesterday and I was like, okay, this is a thing. And at some point I'm going to try one of these buckets. Have you seen the Duncan cold brew buckets? No idea you're talking about. It's literally a bucket, like it's a bucket, a see-through bucket with ice and a straw. It's pretty funny and ridiculous. When I was in Thailand, you could buy buckets of booze and that was a really fun thing to do. It was, you know, like a little pale like a like you would take with your kid to the beach to build sandcastles and be like, oh, you want a jack and coke bucket

here. And it was a bucket of jack and coke or rum and coke or whatever you wanted. Luke Thomas actually said he doesn't blame Connor Ben. He's never getting a chance to make that money again. Yeah, Luke and I'll disagree on this one. Okay. I mean, I do see where Luke's coming from, though. This is, this to me, it's not exactly the same. But I remember when if you're, if you're not like a baseball fan, you want to understand this reference. And if you're not like an AL East baseball, fan, especially with the Red Sox of the Yankees. You won't really get this reference. But the Red Sox had a very good player, a center field or a leadoff hitter named

Jacoby Ellsbury. He's very good. We liked him. Dude was a hustler. Got after it. But he also, like, he played so hard that he would always injure himself. Like, he would go die for a ball and then he'd break his wrist or he'd go crash against the wall and break his nose.

Like, he's one of those guys. But, like, he was just fun and he could hit for power. He could do it all. And then his contract ends. signs with the Yankees for this, like, ridiculous amount of money. Like, just crazy. Like, money of the Red Sox or any other team would never pay this man. And then he goes and, like, takes it and signs of the Yankees.

And, like, Red Sox fans, like, normally in that situation, it's like, F this dude. He went to our, he went to New York. He went to our rival. Fans were just like, yeah, I kind of get it. Like, they weren't even mad at him for it. They were just like, yeah, dude, like, no one on the planet is going to pay him this kind of money. So, like, get the bag. And I feel like that's kind of a situation with Connor.

Like, no one's paying Connor Ben 15 million. Nobody. Yeah, but like how much is Eddie Hearn paying him? Because that's like if, if this is $100 million, okay. Like when Live golf happened,

I still morally would not have done it. Like if I were in that position. But I did was not going to cast aspersions on people for a hundred million dollar deal. Right? Like generational wealth. Yeah. Okay. you know, like, you still have to take it in the teeth

because you have sold for a specific price, but you're getting paid $100 million. You can take that, right? But like $15 million, which is the reported number, maybe it's different, but $15 million. Eddie Hearn, I assume, would have at least gotten to $10. To me, I would not have done that. I would have stuck by the dude who has been with me

through thick and thin for 10 years, has been promoting me. have a long-standing working relationship with, have been very successful with, and will continue to have a long-standing working relationship with for the next 10 years. Maybe he will have a long-standing relationship with Zufa. That's entirely possible.

But it's not like it was 15 million or 2 million. So wouldn't be my choice. Plenty of people are going to say that that's fine, and that is totally their opinion that they can have. I just, I think that this is a mistake. Who is he going to fight? Like that, that is my other question.

Who are they going to book him against so that is going to justify the $15 million price tag? It's just not possible. It's not out there. There's nobody. There's really nobody they could realistically get

to make this happen. So he's just going to get a dude. Ryan Garcia is the one that makes sense, but he's under contract until, I believe, at least the end of this year. Yeah. And Oscar ain't doing that fight with Dana.

No, no way. To be clear, I don't think Dana's going to do a lot of co-promotion. They'll do some early because they'll kind of have to, like they're doing with Jaipatai.

But, yeah, they're not going to cope with Oscar. Dana is just going to try and steal Ryan Garcia when that contract comes up. Yeah. All right. We did have some Miami fights made official yesterday, including Curtis Blades versus Josh Hokid, Jed.

Who should be favored in this fight? Josh Hokit or Curtis Blades? I don't know if we have opening office. The plate should be favored. Let me take a look. Blades, Hokit. I don't see odds for this, which isn't surprising. It's not for a month and a half when's 327?

April 11th. April something? Yeah. So it's a little ways away for a fight that just got announced to have odds drop. I think Curtis Blade should be favored, but it won't be by a huge amount. Curtis Blades is just a significantly more accomplished M.MA fighter. I know his recent run has not been like the most impressive, certainly, but also like Curtis Blade's good wrestler, like pretty necessary for Hokit to wrestle. Wouldn't shock me if Hokit wins this at all.

But I do think Blade should be a slight betting favorite. That's how I'd open the line. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not seeing anything anywhere. Yeah, I mean, this dropped yesterday and it's not. on a nice minus 170 i'd probably open it minus 150 blades and see where the public bet it because i bet money's going to come in on hoke it pretty early oh certainly most certainly uh this is kind of fun uh the ufc wonderful oh my god is that really happened uh yes a lot has happened

with the rankings help me to understand the logic behind removing lonnie cavano from the 125 pound rankings just prior to headlining a card. Yes, that did happen. Why? I don't know. That's what we're trying to figure out here. How did this all work?

Yes, Joseph Morales is now the number 15th rank guy. Lonnie Kavanaugh is out of the top 15. He's out of the rankings altogether. Other notable line movements, Jed. Colby Covington went up one spot to number 13. And I don't understand how Joseph Markis. Alice would have moved in. He hasn't,

he didn't fight last week. So it's not like, oh, he's just replacing. It's just like we just, they just changed it. And with the removal of Jailton Almeida, officially from the UFC rankings,

uh, Derek Lewis went up three spots in the heavyweight rankings to number eight after getting kind of run over by Waldo Cortez-A Costa. So Colby goes up. Derek Lewis goes up three spots. and Lonnie Kavanaugh is out of the rankings. After they should stop. They should genuinely get rid of their rankings.

It's so ridiculous. It's an embarrassment and they don't listen to them. So get rid of them. I think actually rankings are a great idea and they should have done them and they should do them appropriately and they should have meaning. And instead they're just very, very silly things.

And like, Colby moving up while D-Rod dropped two spots for Vy. is just like, okay, what the hell is happening? What are we talking about? Fluffy dropping is pretty tough, frankly, I would say. But, like, at least he did lose a fight. You know, like him moving makes sense. Melki Costa moving up makes sense.

I do, it is a little weird that, like, Melke moved into the featherweight rankings. Kevin Villiers dropped one. and David O'Nama stayed the same because they just bumped Ege. Like, I know that Ege was ahead of you, Kevin Villiers, but you just lost, so you're out.

David, you're fine. Kevin, you're going to drop low Melchia. It's just weird shit, man. I don't know what that was going on. Yeah, crazy right? All very silly. The Lonnie Kavanaugh one is deeply funny because I want to see if the graphics have him

at like number 15 for all this stuff. Because he was number 15 before when I assume they built, pre-built all their graphics. I just don't know if they've even changed it. Duke Maddoch. Derek was going up is three spots. It's so stupid. Three spots. Wow.

Duke Madduck, agree or disagree. Hamza v. Sean Strickland is low-key the biggest title fight the UFC can do right now banning super fights. Ooh, let me look at it because it probably is. My gut reaction is yes. nothing there, lightweight, no. I mean, so it's not the best, because the best one is Ilya versus Armin, but.

Yeah, that's, I think that one ends up being bigger, honestly. I don't think that's bigger. I don't know, man, it's pretty close.

It could be. You could sell me it is. Super popular right now. You could sell me, but I don't think it's bigger. Hamza, Hamza Chamaev is, it's got to be.

the biggest in like intra-division title fight that the uc can make right now i mean uh technically not true because technically they could book john jones versus tom aspinall which would be the biggest but setting that aside yes i i agree with whoever pitched this one cosmo cramer welcome to the party pal at the figure out the phrase we're going to have for uh joining the m a fighting membership because somebody uses welcome to the party pal maybe luke says that for his No, but for his, like, channel. A.K. does that for a new, on to the next one. Does he?

Nice. I mean, it's a great, look, die hard forever, you know. But we've got to find a new thing. But thanks, Cosmo. Thank you. Appreciate that. I'm trying to, yeah, I'm just looking at other divisions. And there's just really.

I mean, Dern Zhang, obviously a super fight. It would certainly be super. McKinsey Dern is going to beat. McKinsey Dern is going to be Changwili and it's going to be the greatest day of my life. That is certainly a day. It's going to be the greatest day of my MMA fandom when

McKinsey Dernby and Chewittling. That was Mike who did the Derek Lewis ranking. Even I wouldn't do that. Can I? I was listening to Otno yesterday the day before. And when you were talking about it, you're like, I can't just keep,

this is before the Hokit news, obviously. It's like, I can't just keep. booking Josh Hoken against everybody. And I was screaming at my telephone. You do it with Derek Lewis. Why can you? I mean, at least Derek's for a belt.

I'm just like, let's do fun stuff. And again, I think my take was great. They should have just done Tom Asphalt versus Derek Lewis in October. And we would not be in this position right now. I would not be in this position. I was, I was like Patrick Swayze and Ghost trying desperately to communicate to you just shouting into the void what do you mean you can't just book hoaget you know what dad goes just do it he's your new dad close it's fine it's like every time a ranked fighter

wins a fight i can't just be like okay it's hoagin against the sky boke against speback let's go it's like every i can't do it every week i have to try to get some point somewhere but yeah just double down but a k uh picking josh hoakit what a What a draft selection. It might end up being huge. I haven't updated the standings after this past weekend. I got a big week ahead of me. I've got Lonnie Kavanaugh suddenly.

Oh, we're going head to head. I got Brandon Moreno. Yeah, we didn't think we were going head to head. I really liked it a lot with Monty Kavanaugh. I think of Bruno De Silva or whoever the hell it was. I mean, like the more I look at it, like the more I think Lonnie Kavanaugh is a way harder matchup for Brandon. Look. I think Lonnie can win.

I don't know that he's gonna, but I do think he can. Yeah. He's not dead. But I like to Bruno Silva match up way better. Yeah. I'm curious to see how he does in like a main event setting over five rounds against a dude who's like Benin. It's like all he does is five round fights, except the tire fight. Like every other fight he's had in the last several years since like 2020, like December of 2020 were five round fights.

So like I think that's for the. differences. Maybe Kavanaugh gets him. I mean, I didn't think Brandon could even really be hurt in fights and it just happened. Boy, you got, tired of. I got Maine and Co-Mane this weekend, too. I got David Martinez, who I feel very good is going, he's not going to finish

Cheetos, so I won't get those points. But he's just going to do stuff for 15 minutes while Cheeto does nothing for 15 minutes. I also my riskiest pick of the entire draft is also competing on Saturday.

Daniel Zell Huber? Daniel Zell Huber. who should win. Like he should go out there and get a knock out of. But I'm still very... Let me tell you how it should happen. Mike, you want to know what should have happened? Fluffy should have held on for three seconds on Saturday.

And yet. He did. And yet. He did not. I could not have been more confident heading into the third round. Given the tinner of that fight, I was like, yep, classic fight here.

this thing's going long easy as bad because like I wasn't it was so confident I was like man I don't even feel bad about not betting on like Jacobi Smith for the climb and I was even like

oh man like thank God I didn't bet on Danny Gay to make the over against Melke who bullet dodged I got this locked up and then three when he got hurt I was like

dude just run like just run away for a little bit. Stop doing nothing. All you're doing is covering and getting bombed on. Grab him. Tackle him. Do anything.

Stop just bleeding. And all he did was just get hit. And it was like, Herb, just let him take a couple extra shots, man. It's fine. Three seconds.

Brutle. I feel your pain. Ben there. Ben-Wassant-a-Nee. I mean, it was honestly the exact same scenario. Three seconds.

seconds, yep. Stephen, boys, M.M.A. Point did a video about the heavyweight division majority of past UFC big name heavyweights were already established before they came over. Never thought about that. Parker Porter horns, Mike. Let's go. Parker Porter, I mean, suddenly the man has options. Love to see Parker Porter compete on that MVP card. That'd be incredible. They should absolutely sign him, but yeah. I mean, I haven't seen the on point video, but like the dudes over there. Shout out to them.

I mean, so I assume that they did correctly. But off the top of my head, it's like, yeah, I mean, for a big chunk of certainly the like modern MMA fan base, the biggest heavyweight names were all pride dudes that came over, right? Like, there was just all that. But then there was like that middle section where like Kane Velazquez is functionally homegrown product. Junior DeS Santos, homegrown product.

Franzigano. homegrown product. Like, these are guys who the UFC acquired at an early age in their career and ended up developing into stars. So be interested to watch the video. Maybe I'll go check it out. But, like, there certainly was a huge chunk where all the heavyweight big names just were not, they did not start here.

Yeah. Now they, all the heavyweight, almost every heavyweight on the roster now is someone who is on Contender Series. Like, that's where they get their start. now and a lot of them are like three and oh getting in there because they're just they're trying to like build this division up because there's just nobody it's like 19 fighters in the division and then anytime someone has like a boring fight at least in their eyes or in others they just cut them and then they just know that we are like six months away from contender series starting

back up and boy they will replenish that heavyweight division with with two and one talent uh all the way up and then they'll get a win and then they'll get a main event against a derrick lewis Right after that. That's how it works. You get one win over anybody and you get ranked and you get a main event fight. So we shall see. It goes. Mike Malat isn't ranked.

He's main eventing April 18th. He sure is. Hashtag Canada. Yeah, but he's at least won some fight. So that's good. And this is transparent what they're doing here. And that's fine. This is terrific.

By the way, I'm pretty sure I get a full lot. No point for that. Because that was my pick after Malott's win over Kevin Holland. I was like, you have to move with him now. Like, give him a ranked dude who will probably beat. He will probably beat Gilbert Burns. So probably finish him. And then he's a ranked guy.

And then you just give him a big fight. Like, Amin Sahabi, as much as you love him, Jed. He's the best Canadian fighter in the world at this moment in time, despite not being good. Yes, he is, yes, he is the best Canadian fighter at the time. But they, you cannot, Amin Sahabee will not be the face of Canada. his mixed martial arts for the UFC. Mike Malach could be.

Mike Malach could be. So we just like this is it. He goes out there and beats Burns. You give him you give him a top five guy next. Even though it makes no sense. That's what they're going to do. They're just going to chuck them in there with like one of these top guys.

And if he wins like then there you go. Mike, we have breaking news. Do you have the breaking news horns? We have breaking news horns. Do we have them? Is this like real breaking news? I mean, some might say it's the most real breaking news of all time. Hang on.

Let's see if we can find some breaking news music here. For the breaking news, per the GFL Instagram. Oh, geez, Louise. We've been in building mode. Over the past few months, we've been building a new foundation for Global Fight League, starting with people. In athlete performance and wellness council made up of fighters, wellness experts,

and trusted MMA advocates who have lived the sport at the highest level. A leadership team focused on doing this the right way with athletes and fans at the center. This is the foundation. More to come. And on this athlete performance and wellness council, Tyron Woodley, Benson,

Bert Watson, Leimole McFarlane, Mike Goldberg, Dr. Gin Welter, Hector Lombard, Kat Zingano, and Jessica Aguilar. Woo. GFL. They back, baby.

Never left. I'm, first of all, genuine breaking news. That's what I said. Genuine. So might call it the most breaking,

breaking news. That is the most breaking, breaking news. I should reach back out to Darren Owen for another town hall. I think,

I mean, no, there is no better time than now. I mean, you could reach back out to any member of this athlete wellness council to do

the whole on the beauty of this, well, the beauty of this breaking, breaking, breaking news is that I'm going to be in Arizona, literally in two days, where Benson Henderson is going to be. Oh, my goodness.

So I'm going to have to ask about this before he steps on the wrestling mats against one Al Jermaine Sterling. True. You got to. This is wild that they're trying to still make fetch happen. I'm impressed. I'm genuinely impressed by it. I'm a huge supporter of what's going on with GFL.

Covering their draft was one of the most MMA experiences I've ever. grad and I just I never want them to quit I want them to never hold an event but just constantly do stuff like this oh man cause well thank you got to support the good guys in the sport uh are you talking about us or gFL I mean you know no no baby they might need it they might need that dollar daddy done fell to my knees that's the common of the day oh so good uh so good Todd What's up, my man? Appreciate you hopping on. I love GFL so much.

What a product. I can't believe they're still doing this. This is spectacular. Best. Never change. GFL is back. Dropping me. GFL LFG, baby.

I want, like, I want them to do something. Like, just, again, until. I want them to do this. Felt to my needs and Whole Foods. That is so good. That is the best comment of the day. So good. Taya, well done.

I want them to do nothing but like promotional stuff. I want them to drop another AI video with a song. Like just, just be very silly. Just do drafts and create boards and put fighters on them, but never actually hold an event. Yeah, be great. Like, just do that.

Just keep planting little seeds. Oh, hey, we bought a cage. Oh, hey, we did this. It just like update us every, six months about one little thing. Six months it should be like, oh, we just added a Jelton Alameda to the board. Oh, great. And then get us excited. Gina Carano is going to be available. Get her back involved. Get her involved with GFL. She's definitely going to be on a team. I mean, why not? The next draft. And you have to, yeah, they have to do a draft this year.

Not a fight. No events, nothing. Just just do a draft. True draft. It's always do drafts. Everything should be drafts. No other organization I've ever seen. at least since I've been with M.A. fighting has gotten so much attention for doing nothing. It's so great. It's the best. Does anyone know if RF is a pay-per-view or is it free? It is on the Fox Nation application.

It's free on Fox Nation. So you have to have Fox Nation. But it's like eight bucks or something. Yes. Oh, GFL on Netflix. I mean. Should PFL be worried right now with this? I mean, should MVP be worried, really?

They're already on Netflix. Maybe GFL's coming for the throne, you know? Yeah. Can you imagine if, like, we get a press release that GFL has signed an exclusive deal with Netflix? That'd be wild. That would be wild. Yeah. I mean, look, GFL is out here dropping news like this, right?

They're out here dropping news like this. And then PFL's like, you know what? Bet Logan Storely made events in South Dakota. That poster is pretty fun. So we're clear. at the poster the poster is pretty cool i support having good fight posters it is a logan storely main event which i do not support um but the fight poster is pretty cool so good on you pfl uh he's fighting number six ranked at least in the pfl rankings florim zendeli in the walterway made event no no pfl

boston but we're getting pfl sue falls and and really good for the people of sue falls Yeah, they're back. They've had so many of, Sue Falls has had so many, like, high level MNAM. It is. They love them some Logan Storley, apparently. South Dakota gets Bellator, PFL, LFA. Boston can't get anybody.

Can't get any events. South Dakota's never getting UFC. So frankly, maybe this is, maybe this is PFL doing the right thing. Mayweather versus Pachio, Jed. Somebody, somebody tweeted. this and I don't remember who is so I don't want to be taking

credit from them but I'm going to because they perfectly summed up my thoughts which was Floyd Mayweather notoriously does not drink or do drugs like he is a teetotaler how did a guy who made a billion dollars fighting go broke already

like it's like that's not supposed to be possible and it feels like that's why this is happening. And that is sad in a lot of ways. But also the fight in general is sad. And the fact that we as a society, this is just where we are, is sad. Like we're not doing new things. We're just rehashing things from a decade ago in all facets of life.

Rhonda Gina, even though I'm like kind of on board with that, Mayweather Pachel, Mayweather Tyson, like, let the past die, please, and let's focus on building some new things. One thing I will say for Rhonda, Gina, is that fight's going to end in like three minutes. Did you watch the behind the scenes from MVP video? Yeah, I saw some of it. I originally thought that that fight might at least be kind of scrappy and fun for a minute. Ronda is going to 10 second her. If this fight doesn't end in 10 seconds,

it's because Ronda is being kind. Gina, like doing the like shadow boxing was a tough scene. Were you getting shock vibes from the 30s? It's just, I don't think she's going to do very well. So at least Ron, at least she won't suffer a lot of head trauma.

Rhonda will just tackle her and twist her arm until she taps, and that'll be okay. Yeah. See, that fight's going to end very quickly. We're getting 10, 12 rounds of Mayweather Pac-Yo. Like, that fight is going to the scorecards, like, automatically. 100%. So at least like Rhonda, Gene will end in emphatic and quick fashion. It will be on to the post show.

Guys, I can't to the comment section. People do gimmicks like this all the time. go watch any video explaining how much money a billion dollars is. It's not like, oh, I can burn like $5 million in one summer just having a good time. A billion dollars is so much money. So much money. But he's apparently gotten rid of despite not like having a drug or alcohol problem. It is wild.

Spencer, thank you. Boys, beautiful to see you all today. Love the recent content. Rank these prospects on who has the best career. Carly Judis, that'll be Jed's number one. Jacoby Smith, Ataba Gautier, Josh Hokit. Not in like who you would rather have at your family. Okay.

Okay. I think Ataboget is going to, he's the youngest and the most. Jacoby Smith might actually be like more athletically gifted than a Taba is, but Jacoby's 30. His career is not very long ahead of us. Hokit will have a very productive, good career.

But I'll go at Taba, he's the youngest, and I think the most talented anyway. And then I'll go to Carly Judice, who has flaws, but God, I just, I love, I love her. She is my, she is my grown adult daughter, and I love her. She joins the Michoud family with Jicketts 2 Plus C and Reiner de Ritter and Justin Gagchi and family members, Emeritus, Robert Glenn Lawler, and Carlos Condit.

I'm going hoke at one. I mean, heavyweight, it's good to bet on heavyweights for longevity. Because he's a very solid fighter and he's got a gimmick and the UFC is going to just push him to the moon for his entire time there. So I think he will achieve success. you'll probably win a belt. Goatea number two, just because he's young. He's green and he's already like ridiculous. And he's eventually, he's just eventually going to pan out his game a little more.

I don't know why I just did that. I'll go to Kobe Smith three. I'll go Judee's four. But I think, and Jed is, uh, up, Jed's back. We were no friends. But Judice is like, Jeannis is not going to have like a bad career. She's just, I don't think she's going to like win a belt or anything.

But like when we look at the four of these fighters, there's a fighting words. We look at the four of these fighters. There's got to be a point where it's just like like Carly Judeeis gets up into that Nate Landware, you know, old Vicente Lucay, Porier, before he won belts. That's right. No, no, no before. Give her her Louisiana.

a brother. She is Dustin Porreier or maybe maybe Cowboys Saloney. She's going to be like Hall famers. Hall famers, Mike. She's going to be like, oh, look at this card and it's like, oh shit, Carly Judee's fighting. You know that fight's going to be awesome. Like she's going to be, she's going to

be one of those fighters where it's just like when we see her name on a poster, we're like damn, we're going to get a scrap here. Like she's either going to nuke somebody or at least the fights. There's no way the fight's going to be bad. And that's a good place to be. That's that is employed for life status right there is that especially in today's day at age jed we're not going to be doing

a reaction podcast to carly judice getting released by the ufc i don't think it'll ever happen look i thought the happiest day of my mhm a phantom was the day that mckinsey darn won the title but it's going to be the day carly judice wins the belt and i get to lord it over you when you're like no she was number four in this list one time on btl uh i'm going to remember this slate. I'm going to remember, Mike, because I will never doubt you, call you, Judy's. Chris be my beautiful daughter. Keep doing violent shit.

It rules. It does rule. And that's great. So fun. It was literally the only fun thing that happened on that card for the first, like, three hours. Yes. Up until the last minute of and Cheaty was, like, decently fun.

The last minute of that fight was awesome. Like, just beat the shit out of each other. It was great. but Judis Dude she just rules And I know Julianne Miller is not like Some world beater And Judy's has a lot of stuff

To work on But man When she's rolling God damn it's fun What else we got I'll take a few more I'm actually going to Speaking with Cheeto Vera

In about a half an hour So That's who he's going to do stuff This weekend Or is he going to not do stuff That's a great question I wonder how he's feeling I wonder how he's feeling right now.

Does he feel like he's on a three-fight losing streak or does he feel like he's on a one-fight win streak? Fives are all that matters. Jack Slack has the best breakdown of Cheeto. And it's, despite running 10 miles a day and having insane cardio, Cheeto fights like a dude who's terrified, he's going to gas out.

I was like, honestly, that's exactly right. He just doesn't do anything until the very end of the fight when he knows that he doesn't have any, like, oh, I don't have to worry that I'm going to get tired. It's insane. 20 bucks. Jatouman. Appreciate you.

I think you guys are putting out great contents, like hanging out the group of buddies. That's what with the vibe we try to do here. We are buddies. Yeah. Do you guys have any up-and-coming projects for the live chat and website? You guys are looking for a producer. Yes, the last question. I think we're, yeah, I think we're getting close.

I hear we're close, but. Any up-and-coming projects? I don't know. Um. I have one that I'm not willing to talk about at this moment in time because it's in the very early stages and I have to figure out if I want to commit to it because it's a lot of work. So there's other than that stuff?

No. I mean, my current most focused project is getting some emotes for the Twitch and the YouTube members. Let's go. And then we have started talking about doing something for subscribers because like you deserve to get something for you. And I don't know what that looks like. But I would watch a long blood sport with with the fam.

That'd be great or something. Yeah, we should definitely do that stuff. It'd be really fun. We should definitely do that stuff. Would love to. Other than that, no big projects. I mean, we have a watch party coming up and Mike's traveling everywhere all the time now. So Mike's, Mike's just out flying all around the country these days.

Yes, going to Arizona for the first time, in quite some time, ever actually. Yeah, I've been kind of all over the place lately. You've never been to Arizona before? Never. And you're going with Jose Youngs, who knows the lay of the land? He knows the lay of the land. So no Uber, none of that stuff. It's going to be terrific.

Jose being in Arizona sucks, though, because I thought we were going to grab drinks on Saturday night because I'm going up to New York. And then he was like, no, I'm going from Arizona to, U.S.C. 326. That's the number one thing? Yeah. I'm going from there, so it won't be. I'm like, damn it. Yeah. So I'll get that instead. And we'll send

you some photos. Let you know. Enigma Master, when have I ever said that I've eaten a lot? Because I don't, I'm not like a big, I love food, but I can't like, I'm not like a competitive eater level of food guy. So maybe I said it, but if so, I was lying and I will own that lie right now.

Hoping, I'd love to do some more swing rounds. We might even get like a just out of nowhere swing rounds this weekend. I don't want to like over promise yet because it's not done, but there is one possibly in the works. I mean, Arizona is a good place to do swing rounds. Yes. There is one potentially in the works. I don't know if it's going to be like a full round or we're just going to be like something, but potentially we could have one. So I'm hoping to do a lot more of those.

So listen, UFC fighters, if you make your way to Hilton Head, a great golf destination, let's do something, huh? Let's make it happen. Sure. Hilton Head is a great golf destination. You should definitely do a swing runs in Arizona. It also probably isn't frozen cold there right now, which is nice. I'm sure it isn't, yeah.

It's like in the low 60s here today, which is nice. feel bad. Shout out to those in New England right now. Pretty rough, man. Dude, everything in the Northeast looks terrible. It's so bad, bad. Terrible. Jed, this is for you.

Does Damien Pinas get the win this week? You know he does, baby. This is my guy. This is the next Atabogh Gautier. He's going to be, I think he's going to, look, like him and Ataba, and, you know, the guys I really like coming off contenders, series, they're all early applicants to try and join the Mushu family clan.

Carly-Durice is the only one who's done it lately, but we're always open for new clan members. And we'll see if David and Pina can get there. It's going to take a little bit, but I have high expectations. I do believe he's the favorite against West Schultz, and he should be. But aside from having a terrifically fun name, man cracks, so it should be good. for sure. Any no bets barred this week, Jed?

Yeah, since we're doing this today, I figured I'd drop no bets barred tomorrow and just swap the order so they're not both going live on the same day. So yes, no bets barred tomorrow to talk about this fight card. Do we have a climb this week? I haven't decided if I'm ready to be hurt again. I mean, probably, let me actually look at, I think, I think I'm going to climb with Dave Martinez,

but we might have some more in there. It's just like, I was so confident, Mike. I felt so good all the way up until the last 10 seconds of the fight went out of nowhere. It's like, oh, Fluffy got hit in the knee, got knee in the belly. Oh, no. Oh, no.

Oh, no. And then, you know, my next thought after all of my oh, no's was, Mike, already all would be Fluffy. You didn't need him right in the belly. they didn't need him right in the belly need him right in the belly that would have been too little too late though no need him right in the tum tom

right and that would have been game so yeah fluffy would be my enemy forever because he couldn't tackle Sean Strickland for three more seconds he didn't have to tackle him like he'd literally anything other than cover up and die

it's such a weird fight I even ask I even asked Nickstick. I was like, what? I was like, were you surprised that like, Fluffy fought the way he fought,

I guess to some extent? Like, and again, when I say these things, I'm not taking anything away from Sean. I just was like, okay, it's pretty obvious how Fluffy could win this fight.

He just literally needs to push Sean against the fence immediately and just like keep doing that and just wear on him and like land little shots, like maybe get a quick take down, let Sean back up, a lot of Matt return and stuff like that.

And he was just like happy enough to like get in there and have a kickbox. match and like be yancey madeeros against donald serroney and just like oh good punch Sean high five oh good Sean fist bump oh we're laughing and torturous I was torturing him like you just said you just said that you were going to torture this man this is like a logical torture Mike yes you're torturing all of all your your high fives I was like what is happening and then Sean just jab at him to death and every time and then there would be a moment where like Fluffy's like oh I got him figured out and then Sean would jab him and then he

would just punch him really hard in the face of the right hand and I was like Oh. And then Fluffy would just be like, ha. That was good, Sean. High five. It was just, it was just so strange. But then, like,

but Sean also, like, looked so good at the same time. It was just, like, one of those, like, catch-22s where Fluffy just did not have the right strategy. And Sean was, like, kind of like in that unbeatable sense. That's kind of how Eric looked at it, too.

It was like, yeah, man, I think it was kind of a combination of both things. Yeah, I don't think Fluffy is going to beat him in general, but, uh, I don't,

think he optimizes chances. Mike, I have a more important and pressing issue for us to discuss. GFL? What are they tweeting now? No, no, no. We can get out of here. As I'm looking at this, Mike, are we a friend group? And I like to include all of you as well, viewers at home. We're all friends. You know, a couple of you maybe not, but I usually ban you. Meat Rocket, you're on thin ice. You know what you did. We're all friends. We're family. I need to know if we are. Are we a friend group? Meat Rocket's like he's our Charlie Day. He's our wild card. You just never know what he's going to do.

He's got to stay. He's got to stay. Yeah, but he's on thin ice. Always on. You got to always keep on his toes. Please, let's hear this. Are we a friend group? Are we a family that believes in second chances?

Oh, okay. Because I need to know if we're a family that believes in second chances. Because if we're not a family that believes in second chances, I accept that. But if we are, Daniel's, Huber minus 550 against King Green this weekend. Wow. Do we give him an opportunity for redemption, knowing that if he fails,

he's said this twice before, but if he fails this time, excommunicated forever, never to be returned to the fold. It's step one. I think you have to do it. I might do him with David Martinez to just get a little jumpstep, so I'm very confident David Martinez to be Cheeto.

okay so um now's the time because look if if you're especially if you're going to double up if you're going to double up then do it look even if he loses like you've got david martina's coming up it's fine and i lost fantasy points so like either way it's a win for you either the climb hits or the defending champion loses points when i haven't lost any fights yet this season It's true. Nobody really had, like, only a very couple. We've had like one head to head, but Damon's, Damon's lost the most, I think, right? Damon's lost, I think, too. Well, most people are getting Ws, which is respectable. Okay, look, we can believe in second chances in, boys, but Daniel Zell Hewer, like Meat Rocket, you're on thin ice, buddy. This is your opportunity

for redemption. Can you climb up from, from the sewers of my disdain and rise up and carry us? or will King Green ruin my life again? That's what's on offer this weekend. I mean, what a storyline. So, okay, that's what we're climbing with. Maybe we'll climb with Martinez as well, but Daniel Zell, Huber,

this is your opportunity for redemption to wipe the slate clean. Can you do it? That storyline and much more coming up this weekend. Probably the most important fight of the weekend now. Yes, see what you've done. You've made UFC Mexico infinitely more. more interesting.

Thank you very much for joining us. Back normal time next week. Obviously, getting ready for UFC 326, the BMF title fight, Max Holli, versus Charles Olivera, too. We'll recap UFC, Mexico, R-AF, all that. For Jim, Michek, back next week. Good night, everybody.

Love you all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.