MMA Fighting - BTL | Sterling Spoils Cejudo's Comeback, UFC 288, Paul-Diaz Presser, UFC & Bellator Cards

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

Aljamain Sterling continues to add notches to his already impressive resume, this time, defeating former two-division UFC champ Henry Cejudo in the main event of UFC 288 this past Saturday. What did the win do for Sterling's legacy, and where does Cejduo go from here? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel will discuss the fallout of the bantamweight title fight from this past weekend, along with the upcoming Sterling vs. Sean O'Malley fight that appears to be next. Additionally, topics include Belal Muhammad's big win over Gilbert Burns and if Dana White, or Colby Covington is more believable when it comes to Muhammad's next move, the low-key MVP from this past weekend, if the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz press conference from earlier this week changed excitement levels for the August boxing match, UFC Charlotte and Bellator Paris this weekend, and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Morning Kombat's Brian Campbell. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Brian Campbell: @BCampbell Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Anime Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links.

And now, your host, Mom. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand-new edition. of Between the Lings. Hope you're all enjoying this second week of May in 2023. Hope the weather is beautiful and nice and much warmer. And a lot to talk about this week, as always on the program. We have UFC 288 this past weekend. We have multiple events this weekend.

We had one of the weirder press conferences in recent memory this week. It's combat sports, ladies and gentlemen. It's what we're used to. So let's get into this and introduce the combatants and what should be a very spicy matchup. First, Mr. No Gray area, the co-host of No Bet's Bard, bringing takes so hot, they'll sting your nostrils from M-Mafiding.com, Mr. Jedmishu.

Hello, sir. How are you? You got to taper that off because I don't think I have the takes today. Like, what is there to take on, given what's happened last week? Like, it's all, we'll talk about it. I just don't think there takes. I don't think there, it's hard to have takes for. this, I think.

Well, every time you say that in your introduction, that means you have many takes and we're not prepared for them. But back on the show and it's damn great to have him. He's Dana White's favorite media member and also a man who is no stranger to spicy takes. The only person in BTL history, mind you, that can stretch 60 seconds into four minutes and change and get away from it from the multi-time award-winning morning combat, Mr. Brian Campbell, B.C., how are you, sir?

got my white belt ready because that's the type of jiu-jitsu takes i got for you all right that's all i got hey i'm undefeated on this show let's see if we can keep that going all right yes looking to improve to five and oh today and jed's record i don't even know what let's be real one of those is a fake win you didn't have an answer when i hosted last time for the yeah yeah well i did you still i may have won on charm alone yeah yeah yeah right yes the people People's champ, Brian Campbell. So let's start with UFC 288 in the main event. Al Jermaine Sterling defeats Henry Sohudo via split decision.

It was a good fight. I've rewatched it a couple of times. Very competitive. I enjoyed it very much. The scorecards were kind of weird, but in the end, at least in most people's eyes, the right fighter won. So BC, it has been five days since Algemaid Sterling got the UFC title wrapped around his waist once again.

What was your biggest takeaway from the fight? And also your biggest takeaway from the aftermath of it all. It's been five days. Wow, that's all right. Look, here's my biggest takeaway from the fight. This is time we start respecting who Al Jemaine Sterling is. He has had the bantamweight title reign that has been anything but clear, clean, and contagious. From the Dicue win to the victory over T.J. Dillishaw's broken shoulder that probably should have been more of a no contest than Matt Hamill's, you know, nine to six.

But the whole point is this, what Sterling's putting together around that, the rematch against Peyodor Yan and what we saw here, this victory over Henry Suhudo, this guy's absolutely legit. Is he the best fighter without question in the sports best division globally? I still think that's an answer we do not know and hopefully we'll find out, although let's throw some respect to some of the great band-in-weights outside of the UFC, including Pat G. mix who are making his own noise these days. But what I learn is that Sterling went up against an absolutely legit

Suhudo who pulled off three years away from the sport, something that really only the legends before him, the all-time greats have been able to do, to come back and largely act like no time has passed and have been that close to pulling it off. But as you mentioned off the top, the right guy won in Aljo. At 33 years old, this is a guy that we've written off a few times, especially when he suffered those back-to-back split decision losses, a few years. ago, yet he just keeps grinding and evolving. We always know he's long, a little bit, you know, dangerous on the ground, a little bit awkward

to face. But what he put together in terms of movement, a pace, and really just outthought the great thinker in Henry Suhudo at every turn, my biggest takeaway from this is if he's not the best in the sports best division, he's close to solidifying that. This is another win we should prop up and care about because this is Al Joe reminding us how palm for pound great he can be. Jed, we reacted immediately after this fight on the post-fight show, but several days have passed.

What's your biggest takeaway from the fight from Saturday now? What has come from it over the last five or so days as well? And do you agree? I mean, BC said something. I know you just love Bantamweight globally, the best division in the sport. I mean, that's just not correct. But I fought that battle so many times that I'm comfortable just.

Well, what is it? Women straw, What is it, Meshu? No, it's not women's straw weight. So I know you have a particular affinity for that one. It's lightweight. It's always been lightweight. It's always going to be lightweight.

But people can have wrong opinions. It's totally okay. Totally okay to be one of the dums. Entirely fine. So I do largely agree with the rest of what Brian's saying, though, right? Like, I will, I'm comfortable calling out Jermaine Sterling the best Bannonweight in the world. Now, if you fought Patchy Mix, maybe, maybe Patchy Mix wins. Patchy Mix is very, very good.

That's kind of the deal with any of the high level weight classes of Bannam White, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight. Like any dude in that top 10 mixes could win the belt on any given day. But I think the resume Sterling has put together the wins he has, even though they've all been weird during this title run, like, Every one of them has some sort of a small asterisk that can be ascribed to it if you're trying to pick him apart. Like, for me, he's been the best Banimoyt since the rematch with Peoria. And I thought, frankly, that this was his best performance.

It is not his, you know, it doesn't jump off the page like the Corey San Tagan one did, obviously. It's not the same. But this was the most complete Al Jermaine Sterling look to me in there. The most comfortable he looked striking, which has always been my best. big negative to him. I went back and watched it. He, I have always thought that he is not a bad striker, but that he looks hurried and rushed because it is not what he wants to do. And against Sehudo, there was much less of that. And it's like Brian said, a lot of it was him simply outthinking Henry Sehudo. Now, the circumstances are what they are. If Sehudo hadn't taken three years off

with this fight have gone the same, who's to say? We can't. All we can say is what happened there and what happened there is I thought Al Jermaine Sterling won. If you wanted to score that fight for Henry Sehudo, it's acceptable. It's not what I would do. I think it's a four, anywhere from 4-1 Sterling to 3-2 Sehudo is a fine scorecard. And so I think Al Jameen Sterling has kind of solidified himself as the best Bannon weight in the world. I don't know how long he gets to hold that title.

Sean O'Malley obviously has to defend there. Your mileage is going to vary on whether you think Sugar Sean has. has any chance in that fight or not. And then he's going to he's going to scram. But if he had to stick around, featherweight wasn't an option for Sterling, I wouldn't pick him to hold the belt for three more title defenses. But I mean, he's already done a lot. He's got three title defenses under his belt.

That's more than anyone in the UFC. Though here's my one take on this. It's not even a take. It's just I got to get this one off my chest because a lot of people have been saying it. We got to stop pretending that the WEC didn't exist. I know that the WEC is not the same organization as the UFC, but for a good stretch of it, they were functionally the same for the lower weight classes,

for featherweight and bantam weight, which there were not UFC weight classes. They were Zuf, it was two Zufo-owned companies, and they were the champions. Dominic Cruz has four defenses of his bannam weight belt across the two promotions. You give the man his due. It is not his fault that the UFC wasn't allowing him to fight in their company, and he had to fight in the blue cage.

So I don't like the record-breaking most title defenses. It is technically true by the spirit of it. It's not true, but it doesn't change the fact that it's an incredible accomplishment in the second best division in the sport, and we should all give Al-Dermain and Sterling his props. Well, the record isn't broken by Aljo for most title defense, most consecutive title defenses in the U.S. No one is dependent at three different times. I understand. But Jed, we know where he's going.

We know where Aljo's going. And we'll get into that in a moment. But Henry Suhudo kind of left things up in the air on Saturday night. And you said he's coming back. You felt pretty good about it. And then a couple of days there. You nailed it. He calls out the majestic jacket thief,

Marob de Welsh Willie for August in Boston. And with this division being what it is right now and where Suhudo is right now coming off that very competitive fight in a losing effort, is this the right fight to make? If you're handling Henry's DeHudo's fighting career, is this what you would have told him to do? Go from Marab and see how that falls. Yes, because that's what I told him to do

immediately after the fight. In our post show, I said he's not leaving. I don't buy this at all. He's going to go home, think about it for 10 seconds, and be like, oh, they don't have anything to do with Marab right now. Corey Sandhagen has sort of called for it, but you'll notice when, Corey Sandhagen called for that fight after his, you know, great win, great performance.

There was not a surge of people being like, hell yeah, let's do it. There was like people being like, respect the call out. I think that's a good call out for you. But it didn't galvanize the fan base in any way. So there's an opportunity. He's the best chance for. And I mean, Coach Eric said it. Eric Albarasin said it yesterday on the MMA hour.

Look, if Sohudo had to go back and fight number eight and string together. there are a couple of wins. No, he's not going to do that. But he can come and fight Marab, and it's a functionally a number one contenders match. He beats Marab and Sean O'Malley wins. Boom, Sehudo versus O'Malley. He beats Marab and Aljo wins. Aljo's then moving up.

It's Sehudo versus maybe Sandhagen for the inter or for the now vacant belt or whatever. So I think this was always the most obvious path forward for him. I think he's going to get it. I think it makes sense mostly. I mean, I know some people are Corey Sandhagan stands, but I think this is right on all counts. And maybe not the timeline. I don't know about Boston happening, but maybe not that exact timeline, but I do think this is the fight. And I think it's the right way to go.

B.C. Is this the fight? Sehudo versus Mara. This is the fight. Henry's got too much left in the tank. I mean, he was that close. He was one bad scorecard, to be fair, from actually winning a split decision under the way it was set up there. I thought he rightfully lost. I also thought, as Jed did, that you could flip-flop so many of those rounds

that any score would have been acceptable. You can't walk away from that. What we do need to take close attention to, though, is who Suhudo is and his true intentions. And I think he showed that in the post-fight interviews, both in the cage and at the press conference afterwards. He's here to make history. He's here to do things people say he can't. He's an achiever. He dares to be great on that level.

He wants a fight that very few in this game are willing to even entertain in their minds to give him which is Volcanovsky at 1.45 for the featherweight title and the chance to become the first three-division champion in MMA at the extreme highest level. We always thought Connor would be the first to try that. He still might for all we know. But what's the path to get there? I think it actually is given his own three-year personal retirement, which at the timing, the abrupt nature of it, obviously UFC didn't want.

They don't want fighters to follow his lead and be that level advantageous in trying to pick and choose when they come and go to avoid having to fight all those contenders. But I still think going back in there against Marab, a guy who cannot fight for the title at the moment, given the friendship for Aljo, it's perfect. So Hudo's basically a title fight from the standpoint of critical respect for Marab. And it's something major to keep him busy to delay the inevitable transaction that's going to happen,

which is either Kane and Daniel Cormier part two, or the two of them decide to fight each other. and we got Jones versus Rashad right now. But the thing I think for Sohudo is whether you want him, F-145 against Volcanowski or think he should get a chance, he can't get there without regaining the Bannonway title, in my opinion, based on how the UFC business and power structure works for stars. This is the quickest way to get back in there. And I think also, can we sprinkle a little bit more of love and respect onto what we already gave Aljo?

Maybe him befriending Marab on this level was the smartest thing possible, because when we say we're not fully sure that Aljo's the best bandam weight in the world at the moment, yes, some of that is the mythical idea of him fighting patchy mix. A lot of that might be, you know, some of that is also could the style contrast of O'Malley solve him, but a lot of that might be that possibly the best bandam weight in the world is in his own gym there with Coach Longo and Coach Sarah in Marab.

So not only does he not have to fight him, he gets that key training partner with such a motor and wrestling ability that that ultimately was the difference in why he did win against Sohudo. And I think Henry himself said it afterwards, I did not think he was going to be able to take me down, let alone get up so easily when I took him down. We all know Aljo has always had a great jihitsu game.

Corey Sanhagen knows that better than anyone, but his ability to stay off of his back and to constantly force Sohudo to second guess and think and go down to plans B, C, D, E, and F were the key at the end of the day. So Hudo wants to make history the path to do that would be through Marab. I am interested, though, at the end of the day, has a lot of people to find out how deep this friendship is.

And on top of that, is D.C. really a great friend? Or do he just know what Kane was really made of? You got to ask yourself that, okay? All right, before we redefine D.C.'s legacy here, okay? All right? He may have been smarter than all of us, and Aljo might be, too. And boy, is Dana trying to get that fight going. He's like, Marabca can get the title fight right now.

But he just doesn't want to fight his friend. and I mean, promoter 101 right there. Just like Francis. He doesn't want to fight John. That's why he ran away, right? He doesn't want to fight John. That's why he left. Mike, let me ask you a question because based on what BC said, I firmly disagree, but I understand

where he's coming from. B.C. was saying that this is the path for Sehudo to get the Volcanovsky fight. And I know that that's what Sehudo thinks. And I understand that without this, there is no path. I think that the Volcanowski fight is gone. I don't think that there's any world where that can happen after this loss. Am I crazy for that? I mean, if he goes out there and just wrecks Marab and then he like fights O'Malley and Rex O'Malley,

maybe gets another win and Volk sticks around at 45, maybe if Volk, but I think Volk's my wild card here. Here's my problem with that, though. If that happens, if that happens, somewhat by definition, Sterling will have had to have gotten a title fight already against Volkanowski for this to be part of the journey. And so at this point, we're now talking about Volkanowski just repeatedly defending his belt against Bantamite champions. And that just doesn't, they might make him do it once.

I just am not confident at all that Volk's going to be like, yes, I will continue fighting this smaller man moving up to me because his aspirations are to get a second belt. So I think that this is gone. I think if Sohudo had won this fight and beats O'Malley, then I think he's finally going to get it. I think by losing this fight, the Volk is a pipe dream that can no longer ever happen. Well, Jed, if I could just counter that, I'd say this. Look, the whole point here is outside of Yair, Volk's beaten everybody else.

So if your stance is that... No, he hasn't. If your stance... He's beaten Max Holloway three times. It's not the same thing as beating everybody else. Sorry. That's like my biggest pet peeve in the sport. He almost got tapped out by that really good looking guy one time.

But here's the deal, though. Look, if you're trying to say Volkanowski... sooner or later going to rematch Islam and move up to 155 full time. I might even agree with you on there, but I don't think that even changes Suhudo's path. Suhudo's not in this for Volcanovsky, although when you have a short stature champion at a weight class above you, it does. If you're already short in your own weight class, which Henry is, it's a better idea. But I still think it's possible for him to be fighting Yair for the title or Max Holloway for

the featherweight title if he gets to that point. But the key here, Jed, is he's got to get to that point. And he's got to beat Marab, and then he's going to have to beat the winner of Aljo versus MoMalley. But the whole point in here is I think Suhudo is too good to go away, and there's still time to make more history. And he knows that. He fought very well on Saturday night. And I think a lot of people, even though we are hearing debate about the disputed nature of the scoring, a lot of people are forgetting exactly what he just did.

Turnback time three years later. Yeah, he started a little bit slow. It took him some time to adjust. But he still got it, brother. And I don't, you know, I hear enough in my ear from Luke Thomas going, stop this 145 madness. The guy's too short. He could never, he couldn't sniff Volks Farts. You know what I mean?

Henry Suhudo can out think just about anybody. The fact that Sterling outst strategized him and outlasted him is a huge feather in Sterling's camp. Henry's still that dude, whether you prefer cringe media or not. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think it's more about to help than the opponent. I mean, look, if Suhudo could drive. out, he would love to beat Volcanovsky to get to there and become the first three division champion. That's like the coolest way to do it. But at the end of the day, at this point,

I don't think that matters. I agree for him. It's certainly more about the belt than the opponent. I guess part of my is just like, as paradoxical as this is, because Alexander Volcanovsky is at worst, the second best fighter on the fucking planet. So, Hudo, by nature of stature, just has a better chance of at least competing. He would get tuned up by Max Holloway. Like, that's That's the biggest issue he had with Sterling was simply managing range. And Sterling isn't that tall. He's like five, seven. Like he's not that big a dude.

He's just towers over Suhudo. I think the old, like, I don't know who at Featherweight wouldn't have that same sort of advantage over him. And also even more size. Like I don't think he can beat Volk. I think Volk would be the one guy who you could. maybe sell me that he could do something against that. I just don't, I just think it's gone. I think that dream died and then that's okay.

It's really hard to be a two division champion. It's going to be close to impossible to be a three division champion. Well, the one thing Henry's got to be worried of here quickly to close is if Aljo beats O'Malley, even if Henry beats Marab, Aljo may be the one fight in Volk for the 145 title. Exactly. Exactly. I just think there are too many paths. and I do think I think he has a really good shot against Marab so but I mean that is also the first step of this there are like 10 steps on the path to get there and all of them are incredibly hard and time is not on his side he is already old in a wake class where that ages like milk I think he's just boned for that that particular dream at this point did he say boned bone dead B-O-N-E- apostrophe D like

as an adjective or as a verb? Okay. Damn bone to be here, guys. Thank you. Grammar with B.C. Yes, I love the little sound effect right there too. Last thing on this, because B.C., obviously, it looks like we're going to get Algemaid Sterling versus Sean O'Malley, Dana wants it in Boston, Sean O'Malley wants it in Boston in Boston.

There's been sort of mixed thoughts. on how UFC 288 did on pay-per-view BC because Captain Eric, like Jed said, was on the M-May hour yesterday. He said, because of Henry Suhudo, it got to 700,000 buys, which, and I like Captain Eric a lot. He's been very nice to me.

There is no friggin way that pay-per-view did 700,000 pay-per-view buys, which is basically immediately redacted by Al Jermaine Sterling. He was like, eh, I think we did like $250,000 and we might be lucky to get there. And O'Malley is probably the biggest name and star in this division right now, So if this was a main event, Al Jermaine Sterling versus Sean O'Malley, is this a big ass drawing fight in your opinion?

And if so, like, how big do you think this could be? Is this 500, 600, 700,000? Or are we like 350, 400,000? It's really going to test the star power of O'Malley, obviously. Could it peek out at 500 if promoted right? And what does that mean these days? If promoted is really what I'm saying here. Am I taking unnecessary shots at the UFC?

machine. I don't know. Am I? They don't do press tours anymore. Like, look, the idea of could O'Malley win this style was. I love the style contrast in this matchup, but I do think the whole idea of could O'Malley win this. Yes, he could. And if he does, it could end up being somewhat like a McGregor-Aldo situation, even though I'm not comparing Aldo to Sterling in this chance. I just mean his one skill may be so grand, his striking range control ability to be dangerous that it may not matter. So could you build up this fight if he, you did a press tour, if you did the kind of trash talk churning that creates the type of crossover attention that a star like O'Malley could bring on to himself, maybe. I think ultimately the

problem is they were pretty cringe in the cage against one another after 288. I argue to a lot of people who hate that fanfare and said, look, in general, I like that. Bring in the guy who has next. Let's create a moment. Let's create something that will be in our minds. I still got the two of them facing off in my head. O'Malley is taller than I, then I remembered, thinking, okay, physically, wow, look at how they match up. I like that. Is the cringe back and forth, though, going to be enough fuel? Does Aljo have enough crossover fans to really make this a monster success? The answer still is no, but I think obviously if O'Malley has his moment and wins the title, this could be the breakthrough fight where you get a pretty good platform of views, but it leads,

obviously to O'Malley being a consistent box office stud. He'd have to win most likely for that to happen. But I think it's probably the fight after. That is really the real giant breakthrough one. Jed, is this a big fight? Is Al Jemal and Sterling shot O'Malley like a big fight? Or is this like a tremendous co-main event to something else? It's a big fight.

They'll give it the main event. I echo a lot of what BC said. It's probably this is probably the one to get you to the next one. if you're O'Malley and if you win, but they will let him try and cook it and see how it goes. Can I just for one second, because this was the wildest thing to me that's happened this week, just what kind, and I want to choose my words really carefully

to be as kind as I possibly can, what kind of moron do you have to be to refute pay-per-view numbers and make yourself look bad. These are numbers that literally no one has access to and there was no reason. Coach Eric said the insane thing of $700,000, which everyone immediately was like,

that's very clearly not true. And that would have been fine. There was no need for Al Jermaine Sterling to put himself on blast as a person that generates interest by being like, that's ridiculous. they told me at we'd be lucky to sell 250. Who is this for? Who are you helping by saying that it's not yourself?

There wasn't even a reason. The only reason to say that is to get a win over a clearly insane person who's not even saying anything bad about you. He's saying you should thank us because you, we made you more money. He isn't saying you should thank us and that's why we have to do it. an immediate rematch. He's just saying, I don't know why you thought us doing this. It is an insane thing to me for Aljo to have been like, yeah, I only sold 250, if I'm

lucky in your face, Coach Eric. Like, what the shit, man? Do you understand fight sport at all? That is so dumb. Like, it is so baffling to me that that is a thing that happened yesterday. Well, look, this play, Jed's actually right on here. So let me not argue against him, but just sprinkle even more sugar on top. Aljo is the worst case scenario in terms of protecting his own future pay-per-view rights as a star.

He hasn't figured out what identity is going to work best. I think at the end of the day, what identity is the best for you is the real one, whoever you are, rather than leaning in what you think might be marketable. Not only is that statement hilarious and Jed broke it down perfectly, but I think in general, like, why do we ultimately say the fight after the fight for O'Malley? If he goes and wins the title against Al Jo to be a big deal, but if he fights either Marab or Henry after that, there's a different way that's going to be presented,

a different way it's going to be received. And it only plays down to, I don't think Al Jo knows. Do I, do I be the humble guy who works hard, or do I be the guy who's showing up in pictures celebrating the title after the DQ win? Or do I be the guy who's, you know, calling on people to boo him in his own town,

hometown, and then afterwards getting mad on it? I think the most real thing we heard from Aljo was the tail end of his incage post-fight interviewer basically like, who do you guys want me to be? Like, what do you, you know, you're all out here booing me. I'm just working hard. Aljo's kind of just kind of figure out who he is, but who he is is a great fighter and maybe, maybe the best of fighter in the sports best division.

So just focus on that and I don't want to say less talking, but, you know, so who knows the cringe guy in this division, not you, but Aljo's a little cringe lately. I wish he would just kind of figure out who am I and I'm standing by that rather than floating back and forth on character and I'm going to fake trash talk in this. spot. Just be you, all right? Just be, look, look, I'm an absolute dirt hole, but I'm not hiding it. I'm not hiding it. Okay. I'm an absolute dirt bag. Jed can have all the law degrees. We see the ponytail. We know who that guy is, right? Yeah. All I'm saying is just don't say numbers that show how bad you are. You could have just been like, that's ridiculous and left

your response at that or like a hand wave a mo. Like, you could have done any. anything other than be like, no, here are the receipts. Here's how bad I am. Yeah, in your face. It's just insane. It was nobody talked about it. It was nuts. That was wild.

Who knows? Maybe Aljo can get the rub off of a Fashon-a-Malley win, but who knows? But we've talked about this a lot. We got more to talk to the point for round one goes to, I mean, a flash knockdown at the end of round one, gives it to Jed Mishu. Nicely done. One nothing. Epic rant. Oh, I'm not going to have takes.

today, bam, nailed this. It's tremendous. It flew so under the radar or I even forgot that Aljo dunked on himself yesterday. Like, all right, cool. Good move. See, that's the beauty of the show. We remind you. We bring up things that you may have forgotten about. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information.

Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won. Feel the fun. The morning will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close to you, call 186653310 or visit comexontera.ca. So let's move on to the rest of UFC 288 in case you forgot about that because in the co-main event, Bala Muhammad gets a one-sided

decision victory over Gilbert Burns. It's a huge win. Man steps in on very short notice. Very little to train, and he did the damn thing. So we're going to do something fun here. This is what I like to call in the biz putting a hat on a hat. We're going to play a game within a game that I don't think anybody has ever played before in the history of this space. We're going to play, who do you believe more? And the subjects of this game are two people you never thought would be put together in this type of the situation. The subjects are UFC President Dana White, and the next in line for the welterweight title, Colby Covington. Yes, you have to pick who you believe more. And yes, history is being made here, ladies gentlemen. I'm so honored to be a part of this. So Jed,

I'm going to start with you. Let me lay this out to you. Okay, I'm going to paint you a picture. Dana White says leading into this fight between Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns. And after the fight is over, says 100% Bilal Muhammad's next fight will be for the Welterweight title. And let's be clear, I think we all agree that it should. Now, Colby Covington told me this week, he ain't buying it. There's going to be too much space between UFC 288, his assumed title fight with Leon Edwards, and I guess the aftermath of it all, and that Bilal is going to have to fight again if he's going to get a title shot anytime soon.

So Jed Michoud, who do you believe? Dana White or Colby Covington? I cannot believe I'm saying this. I'm going to go with Colby Covington on this one. I set it in the lead-up and nothing that happened on Saturday has changed my mind. Belaw Muhammad deserves it. He deserves to be the next guy fighting far more than Colby Covington deserves the title shot. That he is assumed, we are assumed he is getting.

But barring injury, barring Covington having to pull out of the fight with injury or something similar with Leon and them doing an interim belt, it appears they're doing Leon versus Covington and that fight is going to happen late summer early fall like that sort of feels like the timeline that we're looking at right now which means Balal is going to be on the shelf in the best case scenario for him he's on the shelf until the end of the year early of next year

and in between now and then a million things could happen so many things could happen that are bad for Belal Muhammad in this scenario the two most obvious ones are one Shafka Rakhmanov, should he find someone to fight again? And he fights that person. And he does Shavkat Rokmanov things like finishing that person. It's going to be much more of a ground swell for that man to get his shot at the title to jump in line. The bigger one, though, and the one that is really potentially a huge problem for Ballol.

And it's dumb. Don't get me wrong. Very, very dumb. Colin McGregor is at some point going to fight Michael Chandler. And the fight's going to be contested to 170 pounds. Because why not? And if Connor can win that fight, then we know this ain't a meritocracy. There's no, it ain't got nothing to do with it.

And if Connor says, I want to be the first guy to fight for a third belt in a third different weight class. And Colby Covington has beaten Leon Edwards in this point in time. Colby Covington, you will, I don't know what the UFC would have to do to make Colby Covington fight Belal Muhammad instead. of fighting Connor McGregor. So I think there is a huge window of opportunity for Ballal to have to fight again, simply because you cannot stay on the shelf as long as we'll probably be required.

And that sucks for him. But it's sort of the way things go in the sport these days. B.C., this question sort of signifies why I was against this co-made event to begin with. Not the match of itself, because this should have been the fight to be made. it should have been the Eliminator fight, but to rush it on this card were really wasn't going to make that much of a difference in terms of gross revenue.

I mean, the headliner already told us how many freaking pay-reviewed it did. And this fight didn't do much for it. It wasn't going to do anything for pay-per-viewed buys. It really made no sense to me. But for the sake of the question, Dana White said, yes, Bilal gets the winner of Leon Colby.

Colby says, nah, man, not happening. He's going to fight again. Who do you believe more, Dana or Colby? Well, there's a problem. I don't believe anybody. I don't even believe Dana. White works for the UFC anymore, to be very clear with you. I know he definitely works for power slap, and I see that everywhere. But my point is this, what are we doing here on matchmaking

in general? Like, why the hell was Peña Nunes three ever even on the table? Why are we making these guys fight on three weeks notice with a fight with this much at stake when both of their paths, meaning Muhammad and Burns, had seemingly led to a can't miss opportunity? And you're like, yeah, can't miss. You can't miss it. It's in three weeks, even though Balal, you're currently fasting for a month for Ramadan. And Gilbert, you've already fought, what, three times in the last four months? I mean, what are we doing here? You have to obviously give Bilal Muhammad credit. Both fighters signed off for the stakes here. It just blows my mind that this was not only booked, not only rushed, but it was a five-round fight in a

co-main event. Not because I don't think number one contender fight should be five rounds. I do. Probably because these guys just fought or were fasting and had no business being in this fight. The decisions that are being made business wise right now, matchmaking wise, head, co-main event

and main event-wise across the board are head scratching at best of late. Not only are we going through a severe watering down of the competition schedule this calendar year mixed in with a lot of the weird headlines and the fighter pay and all this business going on. There's nothing about this

Walterweight title decision that made sense. So yes, Belal gets the credit. They both signed up for it. He was mentally tougher. His body held up better, even though he had his own injury coming in, just barely though, and he got the win. But what do you say to Gilbert Burns, who we know he's a savage? He'll accept a fight against anybody at any point in any location, as long as the money is good. Like, he's the model employee. So what do you do? You call him up and say, I know you just beat Jorge, but if you

really want a title shot, right? You got to then fight this guy again on three weeks. No, yeah, the guy's going to fight through any injury that's going to happen. I don't like that Belal gets this win and graduates there because it was such a weird fight, but he did win it. They did have it. He has to be next. So, yeah, this is going to be an issue here.

You're right. We don't have a date for Colby. God, you're talking about the McGregor fight. Is that going to happen this calendar year? Not only do we not even have a date or an idea, wasn't Connor supposed to serve six months for Usada, the pool that he's not even in right now? Oh, come on. Oh, come on.

My whole point is this. I mean, who do I believe more at Colby or Dana? I mean, Ron DeSantis, is he on the ballot, too? I mean, who else do I not believe? I don't believe anything that comes out of Dana White's mouth right now, beyond the general place we've already been in for a decade, lumping Dana with, you know, Bob Aram and all the other great promoters. In general, you have to take everything they say with a grain of salt because things can change

and business is always going to come first and win. But right now in particular, I really don't know what's going on in terms of decision making. And I feel bad for Gilbert Burns. And I almost feel bad for Muhammad, too. Even though he got the win in advance, he already had the hiccup of that no contest against Leon where we never got a resolution. I'm sorry, in that fight last Saturday, I didn't really get a resolution either. And that's not because I'm a Gilbert Burns fan or I hate Balal. It's just why, why?

why why these terms but yeah what's going to happen next belal better be fighting for that title next because you broke meritocracy to make all these stupid decisions but all these stupid decisions played together and here we are and belal's the last man standing so there better be meritocracy involved in him getting that title i'm sorry keep connor away what are we i mean this i really i'm honestly i'm starting to feel like i'm the only person on the street corner with the sign

and everyone else is like you know what dude shut the frick up okay go back to boxing because, you know, UFC's still on every Saturday, and this is how I get off. Okay, brother, when I get off work, I'm looking to get off. So get me my can of beer and I'm going to flick it. And I don't care how many Dana White Contender Series alumni are filling up this card. Well, then if that's your take, you're not watching this show either. Go back to just watching the fights. If you watch the fights and you actually care, what are we doing here?

International Fight Week main event, eh, it's decent. What about the rest of the card? How about every other card coming up? They're all subpar right now. Why? Why? Why? Because we had to pay off that WWE purchase.

Is that what's going on? Is that really connected? Is that what's happening? I mean, I don't know why you're asking me. I don't know why you're asking me this question. I do like fantasy matchmaking. We all know the answers to these questions. This is what it is.

Jen, you're making some faces. Oh, I mean, most of it, it's whatever. I will just say that I agree, I wish we were back to a meritocracy in some points. But I'm going to say the same thing about Belal that I said about Leon until he ended up winning the title. And it's because I believe it with my whole chest, even though I don't want to believe it because I think he does deserve it. Be interesting. Like, be interesting and then this doesn't happen. Like you can shortcut so much of this by simply being interesting.

And below Muhammad is time and time again not been interesting. I thought I thought with that Sean Brady when he was turning a corner. I was like, man, look at him actually finishing somebody. Look at him doing the thing. And then Gilbert Burns was broken and gassed and he just was there. And I recognized short notice, whatever, but like you just again, he deserves it. But also try a little harder. Be a little more interesting in some ways.

You can't break out the be interesting. argument right now. You want to break that out when he's on his like eighth straight fight that he didn't lose and you're like arguing whether he deserves to be in the conversation. I'm not arguing. He deserves to be there. I'm saying it. But like I also get it. The quickest path to Dana White's heart is to drop your hands and fight like a maniac, right? And he'll give you a contract no matter what. Dana White set out the quickest path for Bilal to get a title. It doesn't even matter, dude, that you're in that you're observing Ramadan, that you're not even eating. You got three weeks

to make this happen under our rules to save the card. Belal was risking that entire 10-fight on beaten streak or whatever it was. He was risking his chance at finally cashing in. He took the chance. He was physically the last man standing.

I don't care any more whether he can sell one ticket. He did exactly what the company asked you to do. There's two things that work in this sport, okay? The plan for everybody else that they have deal with and then what the star treatment gets. You can become a company man and enter into that star treatment when you do a solid for the company. Blal did the solid. If they don't get him back

on the other end, why would you ever do anything anymore? Why would you? You're already getting paid nothing and you can't put dynamic fasteners on your ass anymore because we got to pay off our celebrity investors. Come on, dude. You just did exactly the secret code to get to the final level and get in the boss's office, is Bilal or bust, dude, okay? And speaking of a bus, he may have the best outside of the women's strawaway division

in the whole game. That guy is a pectoral machine. I like it. A little healthy debate. Last thing, before we move on to whatever Tuesday was, Jed, Saturday was a pretty fun card. We had a lot of nice performances. We had some fights that delivered,

better than we could have possibly imagined. We had some low-key breakout performances and both winning and losing losing efforts. Who was the low-key MVP of UFC 288? Who is the six-player award, if you will, of UFC 288? Low-key MVP, sixth-player award. So I think that means I can't pick Janjaun, non, because she feels like a starter. She feels like she was in the starting rotation, right? Low-key, I guess, I got two in mind, but I'll go with the easy one. Give me Ikram Alaskarov. The combat Samba world champion makes his debut.

Dude, dude got the, as you've mentioned on a couple of different programs here, Mike. Man's been getting the rub from Hamzat saying, Hamzat saying it's the toughest guy I've ever fought, including Gilbert Burns. He's like 18 and 1 or something absolutely ridiculous with the only loss being the Hamzot loss. And he comes in against Phil Hawes, who's not a top 15 guy, but it's like a top 25 dude, been around the UFC block for a hot minute. good got skills can compete is sort of one of those he's a very middleweighty middleweight Mike that's what Phil Hawes is and Icarolskarov jazz I mean laid him out like city planning man it was brutal and efficient and quick I was pretty high on this kid coming in and very excited to see where he goes in in this middleweight division so if we're going the

deep cuts that's my deep cut Yep. Robert Moses joke. What was that? That was very good. That was very good. I think Alaskaroff should get the Brad Tavares step up next, if we're being honest. But I'm that high on him as well.

B.C., who's your low-key MVP? Yeah, it's easy. It's probably the other one that other guy would have had. And it is the steamroller, the ginger-faced rock and rolla. It is Matt Fervola. Did you get the preliminary main event slot against another absolute bangor and Drew Dover? you know we're going to get a great fight, but how about like going all in

and win in the hand and walking off, you know, hog wild, letting your thing hang in the wind. That's what Frivolta did by the juice he had in that knockout and that they had to basically pull him off the blood he'd fallen Dover and such an impressive knockout. But the timely call out of Patty Plimble it afterwards and, you know, using the old chale line

and delivering it as with the boy next door sort of charm that Frivola did, you already want to see this guy more often because he's a fun TV fighter, but he's starting to show those teases that he may be more than that. And the win against Dober was a big one in the critical regard. Imagine if he does stumble into something like the Paddy comeback. It's basically showing you that whether he gets Pimbley or not, he's ready for big things.

I think he's the kind of guy that the UFC would take a chance on to find out exactly what he has because he goes after it and goes for the K.O. It was fun to see him leap right through my screen like that. Now, see, that was great matchmaking. That was excellent matchmaking because if Drew Dover wins, gets to get a rank guy next, we could start giving him a little bit of a push. Or if Matt Revolta wins like he did,

he looks like a frigging star in that place. The place went banana for him. They loved him. So, and now he's a ranked fighter. And as Jed said, the UFC's toughest division in globally as well. So big win for Mattraveola. The correct answer was Parker. The prelims were good.

I knew that's what you wanted. I don't think Parker Porter is the right answer, though. He's one step closer. Yeah, he's one step closer to a title shot in John Jones. So, yeah, the rematch. Yeah, in the same way that if I stand up right now, I'm one step closer to walking in Wisconsin. Sure, that is true by definition, but not practically. How dare you?

The UFC loves storylines, and this is one of the best ones in the heavyweight division. But let us move on. The point for round two goes to. That's a great pick, too. Point for round two goes to. Representing the CT. Brian Campbell. It's one to one.

It's because he pulled Robert Moses out of his ass. For a man who claims to be a vagabond dirt bag, he's dropping Robert Moses. Come on. What the hell is going? I'm starting to think your whole persona's alive, BC. You know, I'm the Billy Hoyle of MMA, all right? You know, you know, a native man.

God, hard goddamn work. You know what I'm making something this? You know, pretty. Look, this. Yeah, there we go. Incredible white man can't jump, drop right there. So let's move on. I know.

I saw the preview and there's just some movies you don't touch. And that would probably be one of them. Yeah, I have no interest in seeing it, but I probably will. BC, you mentioned earlier, there are some people in the corner say go back to boxing. And you are the boxing expert here. So that's technically what we're going to do. So I'm excited to get you. your take on things because on Tuesday, BC, and I don't know how these boxing press conferences

normally work, especially the on-sale ticket ones. We had our first press conference with Jake Paul and Nathan Diaz ahead of their boxing match in August in Dallas, Texas. And as AK likes to say, it was a press conference, that's for sure. It was a weird one. Nate didn't want to be there, it seemed. He kept getting up. He took a piss at one point, which is hilarious. Jake was trying to get Nate a little riled up. And Nate just like, eh, don't really care. And then we had some idiot challenge Nick Diaz to a fight. It was tough scenes all around.

So, Professor Campbell, how would you grade this first presser in interaction, if you will, between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz? From my point of view of what I'm looking for, which is, you know, what has Jake Paul been able to do in this crossover bubble? Make celebrity sizzle fights feel almost legitimate, right? this was like a C-minus for me, though, because this felt more like an influencer event than, you know, this felt more like KSI misfits. Dylan Dennis just got caoed in the parking lot than it felt like what it should be, which is, to be fair, this is like the Steakhouse fight of this era, of this crossover celebrity slash influencer slash, you know, Mike Tyson's coming out of retirement. Like, this has been a weird bubble for boxing pay-per-view coming out of the pandemic.

Jake's been the captain of it. Him against Nate Diaz should be, especially all the hurdles we had to get through of Nate getting out of his UFC deal and Hamzad agreeing, you know, the UFC's demands to come in so much overweight so they could switch the fights. And then, of course, you know,

then Nate could go out with a win so that he'll be not mad or broken enough to still come back and fight Connor in a trilogy next year on UFC. Like, we get that. But ultimately, it's like, like Nate was right. Why weren't the fans there?

If you're going to lean into the shit show, let it be a shit show. let it be a trash talking war. Instead, what was it? It was shots fired from the MMA and boxing media sphere, and it kind of just made this look like a buffoonery event. And Nate wasn't interested. There wasn't enough intense back-and-forth trash talk in a Conner way,

but very few can pull that off to be able to really hold your attention. You know, I mean, Ariel looked, you know, okay in the double-breasted suit. Shout out to him. But around that, it was just sort of like, this feels like bullshit when I want this to feel big. I was on the ground. I covered almost every, you know, iteration of the Jake Paul or Logan Paul experience.

And it's been mixed. Sometimes though it's been promoted well and you can talk yourself into, you know what, these guys ain't that bad. There's a storyline. There's a thing here. This fight should trump all of that. Yet I came out of the press conference

less excited to see it than I actually maybe was coming in. I thought Jake Paul's lost to Tommy Fury the first legitimate boxer he fought, although legitimate is obviously under question, that the loss would go, okay, this just means he's no longer chasing Canelo anymore. Let's get back to being the best influencer fighter we have. Oh, now your villain at the end of the video game has arrived.

Nate Diaz, let's do it, dude. Let's not even think about the fact that you really two weight divisions apart and that it's weird right now. Let's just do it. Now they're going to do it, but I don't really care anymore. I did shout out to the guy who was like, hey, you know, Nate, what's it like fighting a guy who's definitely not going to be in the box? I mean, there was just, you know, I mean, like, what are we doing here?

We're just pissing all over the play. Who invited R. Kelly? What's going on? Damn. Jed, I believe you were one of the people covering this presser, if memory serves it correctly. I think that was one of your duties on Tuesday. B.C. gave it a C-minus. I feel that's kind of a generous grade.

Yeah, it's hard for me to say because pressers just don't hit for me. Like, I don't, I don't. I don't. understand them, I simply do not care about any of them. So this was a bad one in the scheme of press conferences. I don't know where they were doing it, but it felt way too big, like, right? Like, it felt like there were just like five reporters because it was the same like six dudes from the same one media outlet kept asking questions. So it didn't feel like there was a bunch of reporters. It was just the two of them. It felt like a big space that needed fans around. And they're

wasn't like that fan energy. So it was just the energy of the two guys. And Nate Diaz is never going to have a high level of energy for some shit like that. That's beneath him. And Jake Paul was being weird and it's like vacillating between trying to be respectful of Nate and what this is. And getting mad at the reporters for being like, hey, you're not going to, he's never going to be in the Hall of Fame. That was the best part of the press conference when Jake, Jake Paul got like pissed off when that dude said that was like, why do you think I won't be in the Hall of Fame?

I mean, I've done more for boxing than anyone. I feel like I'm going to be in the like I could totally be in the Hall of Fame, which is obviously an absurd thing. But that's sort of what the whole thing was. It was is very weird. This whole the whole influencer boxing thing sort of is built on odd contention and some level of fan interest. And so to not have it like in an arena filled with. fans or a venue where there were just a bunch of people and kind of ambient noise around just felt weird and shitty and not it's not good you know if neither of jake paul was not trying to do

the cona mcgregor thing to stand across so nate dyes and and galvanized people and so it just fell flat and frankly probably took away some interest in this fight moving forward jad you you've basically throughout the history of this program you have taken us on a roll roller coaster ride with this Jake Paul boxing thing. You were staunchly against it. Then you got into it after going to one. You're in, you're out. Triller's one of the best vince I've ever been to.

It was so stupid and so fun. The Tommy Fury fight, I mean, you were on the corner just selling that one to people who were on the fence. And now we get this fight, which was to be expected, right? He loses the Tommy Fury. Even if he beat Tommy Fury, he's probably going to go in this direction anyhow. where are you at right now with a little over three months to go are you in are you out are you excited about this fight where are you out with it mid i think i'll get a little more interest as the fight gets a little more close to happening right because that's in general just how fight sport works and this is not like the only fights that i'm like up three months in advance for are like the best fighters in the world competing against each other like the pinnacle of combat that's For sure, yes.

Like, I am right now already pretty excited about Volcanovsky versus, yeah, you're Roger. You guys. Like, that fight, I'm like, okay, hell yeah, that's going to be dope. This fight is just not rise to that level. I'm sure I'll get there a little more. I will say, and I said after the Tommy Fury loss, the Tommy Fury loss makes this fight more compelling because, frankly, after Anderson Silva, which was a fight that I never expected Jake Paul to take that he took and that he won, legitimately won.

I was like, well, I don't need to see him fight Nates as now because Nates as Nates isn't as good at this as Anderson Silva is. I think that still holds true and I think that Jake Paul will probably ultimately win this fight. But because he did lose, if he had beaten Tommy Fury, I would have almost no interest in this. Because he lost, we get to see how he rebounds. He was talking at the press conference about making wholesale changes to his camp. He's brought Shane Mosley back to be his coach and work with him. you know i do think nate dyes is going to be prepared for this this isn't going to be a ben asking

kind of fight here but it's i need them to sell this more or for the fight to simply have closer proximity where i still won't be like hell yeah make sure you tune in but i'll be like all right saturday let's that'll be something to watch and i i will tune in for it but if we don't get something else from them some more genuine interaction it doesn't have to be negative it can be positive. The ending where they were doing the little play slap boxing was like a little bit of something. They had some moments when they were talking when Nate was like loosely talking about thinking he choked out Logan or whatever. Like there, there's something there. They just weren't, it wasn't there on Tuesday. And so I need some more of that to be like, all right, let's go.

Like, this is something I'm very, very interested in. Can I see? Can they get you back? Oh, go ahead. Yes. They can get me back. So here's the deal. The only thing I didn't like, about what Jedd said mostly was that it can be good energy. No, it has to be bad blood. It has to be bad energy. So here's ultimately where Jake failed, and I'm surprised by it. I'm surprised Jake wasn't a better student of how to sell fights because there is that PT Barnum nature in him where he can just kind of get you to,

whether you care or not, he can get you to tune in and take notice of what he's doing in general. I think he should have looked at what ultimately became a boring promotion when Mazved al fought Nate Diaz and realized Nate Diaz has severe limitations. It's not what he says in the build to a fight necessarily. If you can get him mad enough where he's going to have actions, that's where the real money is, but it's what he represents, the coolness factor,

the tough guy factor that he don't give a shit factor. I think right now Jake messed up because Jake, I think, is smart enough as a salesman, whether you like him or not, that he knows he can play the baby face in a pro wrestling sense to sell a fight and play the villain when he needs to. Here's where he needed to have played the villain. You have to get the MMA fan base against you. Nate has arguably never been more beloved than he is right now.

He always got huge cheers because people respected him and his brother and what they stood for. But if you took notice to the cheers in Nate's most recent UFC comeback, it's like folk hero status. You know what I mean? Like he didn't accomplish what Chavez Sr. did to Mexican boxing fans, but there's like this glue magnet reverence to him. I think if you were Jake, you should have been from the beginning of, look, I know I just lost it to a real boxer and Tommy Fury,

but it was close and I'm going to get him back in the rematch. This fight to me, though, this fight's a joke. Nate's too old. He's too small. He's a bum. He blah, blah, blah. He can't fight. I'm the real boxer.

I got Shane Mosley back. I've got real pro fights under my belt. What's this guy got? One sparring session with Andre Ward. He's just a slapper. Is any of that real or will it hit? It doesn't matter. You got to get people that want to tune in to shut you the hell up,

thinking that you know more about boxing and that you don't know MMA and you don't realize how much of a fighter Nate really is. That's what the attitude of the buyer should. be, in my opinion. You're also going to bring in the crowd that just wants to see a shit show at that point and see some trash talking stuff. And then you might be able to retain enough of the real fight fans who could, could, because of the loss to fury, as we mentioned, talk yourselves into the idea of

Nate overcoming the size difference and making a real fight that's fun to watch and competitive. I think the biggest problem here for this is if the promotion is a turd, there's still that potential that the fight is as well. If Jake is too big and Nate does quiet, Nate. things by not throwing enough punches and already preparing his post argument of why he got strewn on the scorecards. That's still in play. So at least make the ride to get there fun.

I didn't love the Tyrone Woodley versus Jake Paul experience, but I agree on one thing. They sold the shit out of that first fight. I actually cared. I was there on the ground. It felt kind of big in the moment, to be fair. I want to feel that for this matchup because it feels like a slam dunk. But Jake, you got to play the right role. You got to press the right buttons.

You got to get the fans to be pushing for Nate and be pissed at you. You did meme stuff instead Nate's not in the meme culture All right Nate don't go with that shit You got to meet him on his terms And then insult the shit out of him I know that sounds like some carnival court jester shit But that's the boxing bubble you've built

You know BC makes a good point there He makes a good point in that Part of the allure to Jake Paul fights For a certain subset of people Is wanting to watch him lose right Like that's particularly the MMA fan base Where he kind of cultivated that image Of I'm beating all of your heroes

eat a bag or whatever like that's gone now right so he lost so that's gone and we kind of talked about it before that fight like what happens if Jake Paul loses how long does this ride keep going so he makes a good point because like he probably should be trying to be a bit more of a dick

like that's that that that will galvanize certainly the MMA fan base to be like let's watch our hero beat you because that's what Nate Diaz does even though mostly he doesn't win he wins spiritually among a certain subset of the fans. So you know what, BC?

Well, well said. Yes. And Nate did his best work after the press conference when he's doing the interviews and the scrums. And he by far did his best work in those interviews than he did at the press conference. But he's not like phenomenal in press conferences usually. I just want to remind you that I did this on a community college education. Okay. I didn't need no, I didn't need no sixth year.

All right. But you've been hanging out of Luke forever. You're getting smarter through osmosis. I'm still just trying to figure out if William and Mary consummated. That's all I know about Luke's academic background, all right. Oh, man. Well, I think we can all figure out who's going to be in the lead after the point for round number three. And that goes to...

It goes to Brian Campbell. It's two to one. What a show. We just ended now. We've never heard. So it might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard on this program. There's like a top five list of most ridiculous things on this program. I think three of them have come from this episode in just the most positive possible way.

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So this weekend, gentlemen, we have the UFC in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jailton Almeida versus Jarziniu Rosenstrike, the main event. We love heavyweight main events, an ABC card, and this gets a notch above early day MMA. So we love that. And then tomorrow, Bellator has an event in Paris, Gagar Busassi versus Fabian Edwards, the main event. We have a first round lightweight Grand Prix matchup between Mansar Barnwe and Brent Primis,

who gets slotted into the tournament with the winner getting a title shot against Usman Nirmaga Madoff in the next round. Again, early day MMA. We support that. So Jed, what are you looking forward to the most this weekend? And what's one burning question you have from each of these cards?

Okay, so the obvious answer that I'm looking forward to the most is having a Saturday night to do something and go be social because that is easily the selling point for the UFC this week. Some people are out here being maybe not full contrarian, but at least inviting some level of controversy into their souls

by saying that this is a good card. It's not a good card. You know how I know it's not a good card? This card's happening in Charlotte, which is not a very long drive away from me, and I love going to events. Frequently will attend them if they are in driving distance. I look to this car and was like, I'm good.

You know what? I'll just catch this on the television. It'll be okay. Even knowing that I could have gone, worked it, and been home before midnight because it is an early day car. I was like, I'll pass. I'll be okay. It's just, it's a fight card, man. Like, it's, this is, as BC had alluded to earlier in the show, this is what we get.

Like, this is just sort of how it goes. Even when we're out of the apex, and this is probably a slight step up from an apex card. We're still looking at a 12-fight event where four of the fights are light, heavyweight and heavyweight matchups. that's just not going to be a card that sings to anybody's spirit. So for the UFC that I'm looking forward to being done, some of the fights are fine. The main event is what it is. We will either get the future of heavyweight or we'll get a really funny, very, very funny knockout. It's pretty much the only way that that goes.

If I have one question for this card, it's going to be simple. is the future now. Daniel Rodriguez, I think, is ranked in the UFC Walter at rankings. He may be a far for us. He's a top 20-ish kind of guy. Ian Gary is getting his step up. I think it's a really appropriate step up.

He's shown a lot of flashes, but also has shown some faults. And this is sort of the test to see, hey, are you really ready to be here to start being a legitimate presence in the top 15 or not? And so that's, I would say, by far, my biggest question for the UFC,

is Bellator. It's fine. Again, another fight card. Bellator has actually had a very good 2023 in my estimation. And this is certainly not a bad fight card. It's on Friday, which gives it a little bit extra because I don't have to be, you know, staying up late on Saturday when I wouldn't have to be for the UFC. And again, midday.

And I love the co-main event. I love Manswa-Bun-Barnoui. He's awesome. Super big fan of watching him work. I think he's going to. hand it to Brent premise. The main event is your mileage will vary. Does Gaygard have anything left?

And I guess that's the question for this event is, does Gaygard have anything left in the tank? Because against Eblen, he looked a little tough in there, but Johnny Eblen's real, real damn good. And Gaygar's just sort of been in that place for many years, it feels like, where he can have these mercurial performances. So was that just a one-off for him, or is that sort of time catching up to him in 60?

seven fights or whatever the hell his long-ass career is. So that's my question. Both of them, fine. You got nothing else to do on either of these days. Watch them. You won't be that disappointed. But if you're busy, tune in to MMAFighton. We got you covered.

Great website. BC, burning questions for each of these cards. My burning question is who booked this UFC card? Where have you gone, Holloway Cater? Right? Our nation turns its only eyes to you. I mean, JDS versus Kane 1. for the title.

I remember when like the, God, Dillashaw versus So Houda. Remember when, you know, we used to make these special cards feel special? Oh,

we got Jayorzino Roos. So we're clear. I was at Holloway, Cater, and outside of that main event, that card was also not good. Okay, well, this, this, like,

I like some of the fights on this card, but this is an ABC close-up and not good. You did nail one thing. Daniel Rodriguez versus Zian-Gerry is, I think, the best fight of the weekend in terms of,

you know, potential for, me to be entertained and learn a lot. And that's what I'm trying to do in that fight. And that seems to be the theme in general for these matchups, even on the Bellator card with the Musasi. We're trying to learn whether someone is ready for it now, like an Ian Gary, or whether it's time to go home like a Musassi, not go home for good. I think if I have the biggest question about that Bellator card, it may be a go home for good situation on that main card where former Welchewa champion Diego Lima. Did I get the, him and his brother.

Yeah, Douglas Lima. I'll do that forever. call you patricki pip patrico you know what i mean but the whole point is this look douglas lima's lost four in a row and a couple are certainly explainable moving up and wait and losing the middleweight title musasi you know and he fought well in a split of decision loss back at walterway to MVP and wrestled and showed like hey maybe in my late 30s now i'm 35 i can figure out a second gear here to stay and be relevant but he still have four losses and he's got castello van steenus in front of him who has a victory over fabi on edward two five he in that main event recently.

And so, you know, this is going to be a tough out to see if he's coming back, if he's still going to keep doing this anymore in this sport for a guy that just, I mean, just like around the corner, we were talking about where he ranks and the global level at Walter Waite. But look, in that UFC card, it's, man, I mean, I do have the same questions here about Johnny Walker, who's not necessarily in a win-loss position to lose a job or to finally cash in on the bright prospect, you know, figuring himself out. He's had the waves

and the ups and downs. But when you get Anthony Smith in a big fight here and you're on a two-fight winning streak and you're maybe showing signs of figuring out what's the best use of this change in your fighting life of going to SBG and John Kavanaugh and I think at times trying

too much to reinvent yourself. Johnny Walker tends to finish people in the first round or lose. That's what we figured out going up and down his Wikipedia page. I like when he acts a little bit more wild than anything else. I like like the matchmaking here. This fight's good. Him against Anthony Smith. You can argue it should be the main event, to be fair. I want to see what Johnny Walker is going to look like in the title

picture if he can get there. I don't feel confident at the time is now. Every other fight, I feel something extremely different. But that seems to be the question I'm looking at because damn, that guy's a physical specimen who can stumble his way into knocking you out. But I haven't felt that ever since he lost to Corey Anderson. I haven't sniffed that smell anymore. I'd like to I'd like to get a whiff of that come Saturday night afternoon. Yeah, that's just awkward. How do we get out of this? Yeah, right.

There we go. Yeah. Wow. Well, I mean, look, you say, you echo what a lot of people say, BC. A lot of people feel like Anthony Smith, Johnny Walker should unquestionably be the main event here. And the UFC made the switcheroo a few weeks back to shrugs, I guess, to do this Rosenstrike Al-Mata fight. And this was kind of my thought, B.C., and I want to get your take on this.

because to me, I think they're going to try and strap the rockets to one Jailton Almeida. They're going to give them this prime spot on ABC. They're going to try to put them over big to as big of audience as they possibly can right now because it seems like their current champion, John Jones, has an exit strategy in place, or at least a extended break strategy in place after the Steve A. Mietich fight, whenever that happens, unless they can get Francis and Gano back. And maybe Jailton Almeida is part of this contingency plan that if Jones does what he'll says that he says he's going to do and walks away,

they can have a vacant title fight ready between Sergey Pavlovich and Jelton Almeida. Now, do you agree with that or do you have a different theory? Or are you just like, what the frigate we do in here putting this fight in the main event spot over Anthony Smith and Johnny Walker? So look, I wouldn't doubt that that's a potential play in their playbook as they look to the future. I've, you know, spoken ad nauseum on multiple platforms, including this show right here about my questions in general. I know they're keeping prices down, but some of the matchmaking moves.

our head scratchers. But if you want to talk me into, they see Almeda as a key piece, whether it's facing against John or like you're saying, falling into an interim role, I'd like to find out too. So I don't hate that.

Look, I get it. It's just, you know, damn. I mean, look, this guy's impressive. He's got 13, what is it, 12 or 13 straight wins, all finishes. I mean, absolutely you want to find out and see. Maybe I'm just out on the Rosenstruck experience, you know, with all of his ups and downs

and just kind of know where he's, at but um i really hope we don't get an interim title fight just because john wants six months off like i don't know there's some of that wrangling like if you want to the only time i really justify the abuse of an interim title opportunity is if you're trying to get like a star name to come back or you're trying to book a fight that's really hard to make for whatever reason but putting the interim title slot on there gets it enough money and puts it you know in the tax bracket it needs to to make it happen fine. But if John just needs six extra months

to walk off a hip strainer or something like, what do come on, right? Get off my lawn. I don't even like M.MA anymore. I mean, what's happening here? You know what I mean? There's a lot. Chad, do you think there's a true?

Yeah. BC just doesn't like interim belts because he's a boxing guy. And so it feels a lot too much like something he knows. Oh, everybody has a belt. This is bullshit now. Don't bring your whorehouse this in my corner. city, don't do it. Don't do it. I've seen it.

I didn't know you were in NIMBY. Okay. But if John says he retired, look, if John drops the R word and says, I'm retiring, I'm done, take the belt from me, this is a nice little plan, Jed? Or do you think the OSCE just loves heavyweight main events? And that's more of the reason for this. I think it's more of that. The only reason that I don't, that it would make more sense to me to have Anthony Smith versus Johnny Walker in the main is that this fight, if this fight lasts 15 minutes,

if Rosenstrike versus Almeida last 15 minutes, it will probably be one of the worst fights you've ever seen and it will be objectively funny. Like this thing is lasting at most like eight minutes probably. So they could have just put it in the Comain and then Anthony Smith and Johnny Walker, which also probably does frankly end soon, could maybe have some more room to work if it needs it.

But it's, I don't think this is, hey, Jelton Al-Meda is going to be fighting John Jones or for the belt next or whatever. I think this is just let's let Jailtona made a headline against a win. If you can continue doing this on ABC, this guy has shown the most promise of the heavy waste outside of maybe Tommy Aspinall, who doesn't have a working knee currently, though I know I think that's almost back to working. so they're going to give him an opportunity to shine. If you can take advantage of it, then maybe we can move him along rather quickly. So which I'm fine with because Jailton Alameda's been really fun, which is not something you say about a lot of heavyweight. So yeah, this is fine.

It's fine. Every UFC card now is fine, except for a couple of pay-per-view events a year, which are awesome. That's sort of the life we live. I have a feeling we're going to touch on the subject a little bit more. But yeah, but there will be one person happy, Jed, if that fight goes 15 minutes. And it's you, isn't it? Sure will be me. For the heavyweight over magic, right?

Yeah, I don't feel great about it. But the last time out, Jilton cashed our heavyweight over bet at a robust plus 250 or something like that. So we're hoping. We're hoping he plays with this food a little this weekend. Well, let's see what happens with this final point of regulation. The point for round four goes to, and it rhymes. Jed Mishu, there we go. It's two to two.

Who could have seen it coming? I know. I mean, history being made all over the place. I don't know. Final question, and it's been talked about a couple of times here, so I figured let's just put it up here and let's let these guys get a minute. And damn it, BC, I mean one minute to discuss this topic. I'm going to say five minute.

You mean five? BC, you were victorious the last time you were here. Do you want to go first or do you want to pass it on over to Jed? Either way, I think you're going to enjoy this question and saying things that you would like to get off of your chest here. I'm going to go second this time. Okay. Jed Mishu.

We will go to you. So yesterday, Dana White made some more announcements. He officially announced the Alexander Volcanowski, Iyer Rodriguez, main event for UFC 290, International Fly Week. And now we have, with some more news yesterday, the next two months of main events for the UFC are laid out. And it begins with Rosen Strike Almeida this weekend. And it ends with a targeted bout between Holly Holm and Myra Bueno Silva on July 15.

So we're here in the main events for the next two months. Rosenstrike Almeida, Mackenzie Dernangel Hill, Kai Kar, France, Amir Al-Bazi, Mandaunas, Manda Nunes, Erini Aldana, Marvin Vittori versus Jared Cannonier, holy middleweighty, Josh Emmett, Ilya, Sean Strickland, Abis Maga Madoff, Volcanowski Rodriguez,

home, Buenos Silva. Jed, I would like you to grade the next two months for the UFC in terms of main events, and why? One minute on the clock, go. As far as a letter and or number grade,

let's go with, it's a failing grade. You don't get to pass for this. So 50. Like I don't know. It's an F. It is an F. No lie.

When you when I looked at this and I commented something mean on Twitter the other day, look at this schedule. I did not realize until just this moment that Sean Shickle was taking on Abis Magamatov, who I didn't know was a human being and just had to pull up his topology. Because it was like, I don't recall who this is off the top of my head. And that really speaks. to what we're talking about here, man. Like, these are, my tweet yesterday was essentially, if I'm a casual fan or if I'm somebody not like super invested, I'm taking the summer off.

The only of this, the only fight of this that is must watch is, uh, Volkinovsky Rodriguez. Everything else is whatever. And that's the UFC with the ESPN deal, man. It's just whatever. All right. BC, I laid them all out. nine main events. I'm sure each one in your mind is better than the next. Give it a grade.

Give it a grade and explain why. One man on the clock and go. All right. As upset as I am and mad, man, am I boiling mad? I can't call it an F. It's more of like a D, but it's on the road to an F. And not only because I come from boxing where the lack of organization just creates this wild west pool of sharks that, you know, gets in the way of great things happening on the regular. I don't want to see this happen to the sport of MMA, but why do we have fear when our favorite brands become corporate and get bought out by bigger brands? You know, there's split. One of them is we don't want the flavor to change, the message to change, the brand, what it's known for. I mean, if I'm a browser's guy and I'm not, but Disney buys it, you know, I might have

questions about what the future looks like and the message that's coming through there. But the other side of it is financially is UFC now being a power player with Endeavor, which is just bought WWE. Are they now being, you know, cut in every possible penny in corner to try to keep funds down for all the debt that's accrued of the larger company dating back to buying the UFC for over $4 billion in 2016? You can tell me no. You can tell me the WWE thing has nothing to do with it. But why across the board are we seeing fight cards that are so warm? that are filled up with non-Wikipedia having paged guys who came right out of the Dana White

Contender Series and are all managed by like the same two guys that are being paid nothing to come out here and just try to, you know, earn a spot and raise their hand. That's not like, oh, we're in a rough month and those two cards weren't up to speed. That's every single fight card across the board. I know for a fact that these guys are still alive. Why can't my, you know, why can't Gaichie and Porier face each other for the second time on on IFW. You know what I mean?

If I'm going to go there for the fan fest in the Hall of Fame, I want to see some sex, right? Like in the cage, I want to see the good stuff. I don't want this second rate stuff. McKenzie Dern versus Angela Hill

in the main event? Dude, come on. Like, really? What are we doing here? So the problem is, folks, I come from boxing. I've lived this life. Welcome.

It sucks. Okay? It's the worst. Come on. Right to your local senator. We need change. Why do I always see slap videos everywhere I look? I want my MMA.

When did they take music videos off MTV? It failed, right? What's next? I thought for sure we were going through the second 60 seconds. I thought for sure we're going through the sense. Well, he didn't start the time until deep into it. Incredible. Oh, by the way.

I don't understand how you, the one thing you picked out to like really target on was the International Fight Week card is actually good. It's the only card that is good. All of the rest of them are bad. No, it is good, but you expect great in a major. We don't have British Open, U.S. Open, and that bullshit. You know what we have? International Fight Week is a great card.

MSG, December and Vegas, that's what we have. Make it matter to me. Do I have to put on a red hat to change things around here? International Fight Week is great. Like, it is a great card, assuming it holds up. I mean, it's months away, but Volk Rodriguez, Moreno, Pantosia, two or three, Whitaker, DDP, Turner Hooker, Bo Nickel coming about. It's a great card. Don't forget about Mr. Dobelina against Sean Brady, dude.

I mean, there's some good fights on there. I was asking, though, for great. I was asking for it, okay? I mean, I think these are great. I think every one of these other cards is poop, but fight week is great. apparently because a lot of people were asking with this holly home this holly home iro weno silver news uh what does that mean for r d a versus facente luke well the great gyrime cruz and damon martin have reported that that fight will now be taking place august 12th uh so it's

supposed to be five rounds targeted to be the main event so there's another potential main event for all y'all on august the 12th so there you go cast your votes go ahead also why did we stop our list at the home Buenos Silva. After that's Aspinall, Tibera, are we getting out of our chairs in anticipation for, I mean, I guess it's London, so that's kind of cool. But still.

It's still. Tommy Aspinall is going to look like a gigantic star over there. And that's actually like not a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination, but I am bad chord. Weirdly fascinated by that fight on an island just by

itself. Not maybe as a five-round I say you're on an island being fascinated by that fight. I don't think there are a lot of people that are stoked on it. Is it going to be a fight of the air? Absolutely not. But will Tommy Aspinall be challenged in that fight? I think there's a chance he could be. So, Tommy Aspenov.

Great singing. Cast your votes. Who wins? Brian or Jed? And the fact that Casey's face has arrived on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen tells me that the votes are in and it's probably not all that close. Preview show tomorrow at noon Eastern. Go ahead, Casey.

How much did Brian Campbell win this matchup by? Wow. Great, great, great show, gentlemen. Who's to say I won't be in the Hall of Fame, Mike? You can still be in the Hall of Fame. With 14% of the votes, we had a draw. 14% but with 52% of the votes, our winner today is

and still undefeated Brian Campbell 5 and O BC gets it done gonna get BC versus Drake just to see those fan bases fight

yeah that would be a hell of a matchup BC congratulations on your fifth consecutive victory it's wonderful to have you here 30 seconds anything you want to say to the fine folks at home not really you could like watch me on morning combat

with the Luke Thomas guy Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays but that's about it. Enjoy your MMA this summer. Jed, I mean, what do you want to say here? You can take, I mean, technically you should go for like two and a half minutes to make up for.

Nah, love competing with B.C. It's always a good time. Knew what we were getting into when we got here. Thought maybe I'd have a chance because he did a lot of old man yelling at the clouds today, but the fans just love him. And how can you not? How can you not?

He's a learned man just knows who Bobby Moses is. He's educated, high-level guy. So how do you not love him? I mean, it's just the matchup that dreams are made of right there. And we appreciate you guys watching. Those are listening after the fact or watching after the fact. We appreciate you as well. Casey hit the music.

Time to go home. Actually, time for me to go pick my child up at school sooner rather than later. So thank you all very much. Back next week. We'll recap the magic that is UFC Charlotte and Belator Paris. And we'll be getting you ready for McKenzie Dern versus Angela Hill. Quite possibly the worst flight night of all time. For Jeffers suitcase.

One of the worst events I've ever seen. Brian Campbell, I am Mike Eck. Thank you for watching. Back next week. Good night, everybody. Love y'all. Fox Media Network. Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Carroll, host of the Before the Chorus Podcast.

We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome, and I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like glass animals. I guess that was the idea, was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album about joy. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus.