MMA Fighting - BTL | UFC 273 Fallout, Bellator 277 vs. UFC Vegas 51, Cejudo Says He's Coming Back — Do We Care?

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

Alexander Volkanovski, Aljamain Sterling, and Khamzat Chimaev all picked up big wins in the final three fights of UFC 273 this past Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. This week on a special roundtable edition of Between the Links, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew discuss Volkanovski's win over Chan Sung Jung and where his performance ranks in terms of great championship performances, as well as Volkanovski's chances to get a lightweight title fight anytime soon. In addition, the panel discusses Sterling's victory lap following his split decision win over Petr Yan to unify the bantamweight championship, what's next for Yan after coming up short, Chimaev's stock following his decision win over Gilbert Burns, the chances a fight between Chimaev and Colby Covington will be next, this weekend's Bellator 277 and UFC Vegas 51 cards, AJ McKee's future after this fight with Patricio Pitbull, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR 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

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And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Estherland welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links here on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. No video this week. We're back to regularly scheduled BTLs. Next week, we're going to do another roundtable edition. And second week in row, we did one heading into UFC 273. We'll do another one heading out of UFC 273 and into the double header that we will get to witness this weekend. UFC has a card.

Bellator has a card. But if nobody promotes it, are there really cards? We will answer that question and much more. I am Mike Heck. And joining me as always, Mr. Jedmishu, Mr. No Gray area, get the oven mitts ready because the takes are coming in hot. What's up, buddy? Hey man, I don't make any promises about the takes this weekend because can you even have hot takes about what's happening?

There's some fights. Some people will be engaging in hand-to-hand combat. But this UFC car is a tough thing. And Bellatorre, it's not that much better. Well, we will discuss those. but I think it would be the right thing to do to start with UFC 273 and what we witnessed this past Saturday because a lot happened. A lot happened on that card.

As our good friend New York, Rick, put it. It was a three-course meal. There are some other things in the mix, some appetizers, maybe a dessert, an ice cold beverage, if you will, that were sprinkled throughout this event. But let's talk about the big three storylines. Let's talk about how the night ended. Alexander Volkanowski just put,

it to the Korean zombie. I thought this fight was going to be a Volcanovsky win. I thought it was going to be a bit more competitive. I thought Volkanowski would get his first finish in quite some time. I thought it would happen in the fifth round, but I thought you'd have to deal with some adversity, but he dealt with very little, if any, adversity. This is a near perfect game for Alexander Volkanowski. Fourth round, TKO. He gets it done. Herb Dean with a terrific stoppage. Your biggest takeaway from this performance from Alexander Volkanowski. man he's uh he's really good at that whole fist fighting game in me i i thought he like you i thought he's going to win i thought he's going to win convincingly i did not really think chentzen

jung had much to offer him but uh i didn't think it would be that convincing you know like that is as close i don't like no hyperbole no hot take here like just straight shoot in fact that is as close to a perfect performance as we've seen in the octagon in some time. I'm not talking about a one-shot, K-O where, okay, he landed one great punch, but for whatever that was, 15 or just under 16 minutes, it felt like he knew everything three steps ahead of Korean zombie. The punch stats honestly, like genuinely shocked me. because I looked at him earlier this week and I thought, okay, so Korean zombie landed, I don't know, like 10 punches in that whole fight.

And he apparently landed 48 and I don't, I just honestly don't believe that that's true. Because if he landed him, he landed 10 that were good shots and the rest of them either Volk rolled with them. They glanced off a shoulder. I mean, he was firing on all cylinders and basically from the moment, this fight started. It was very clear who was going to win. There was no doubt about the outcome. It was just how long it would take to get there.

And it turns out it took about 15 minutes and 45 seconds. There's a tremendous performance. And I'm trying to think back at some of the title defenses that looked like this, right? Because I think Adasania versus Paul Acosta was a near perfect title defense. I thought McGregor's performance against Eddie Alvarez, UFC 205, one of the all-time great championship performances. I feel like this one, I think this one was better than both of them,

but I feel like he's just not going to get the same kind of rub that McGregor or Adasani got for their performances. Yes, it was a lower-weight class. Yes, this, like, this was probably the second, maybe the third most compelling fight on the card. You can make a strong argument that Shamiya Burns was the most interesting fight on the card. Through the build of the fight week,

I thought Sterling Yan became the second most intriguing fight on the card, and then Volkanowski zombie end up being the third most intriguing fight on the card, just so happened to be the main event. So if this is Connor McGregor defending his featherweight title against Korean zombie, and he put forth a performance like Alexander Volcanowski did this past Saturday, we'd be talking about this for weeks, would we not? Yeah, probably. I'm not with you on saying that this,

was better than those two because I think you name some really good examples of like absolute masterclasses. I think this is just kind of on par with both Adisania and and McGregor in those instances. But I think you're for sure correct in that because of who he is, because of how little importance the main event of UFC 273 was given in context. Like, regardless of an interest standpoint, This was certainly the least promoted fight on this card of the big three, despite the fact that it, you know, ostensibly it was the fight in the title. It was the main event. But all of the buildup, all of the talk beforehand was about Al Joyan and about Hamzaa Burns.

And this was very much an afterthought, even though it was the main event. So for sure, we're getting a lot more love if Volcanovsky was a guy who engendered more love. but that's just not it doesn't seem to be who he's going to be as a champion which is a shame and he is probably going to be a guy that's perpetually overlooked despite

how truly great he is so there's a lot of interesting lanes that Volcanowski can take here. It seems like the most obvious one is the one everybody wants to see him take and fight Max Holloway for the third time. That seems to be right there. Of course

we get Henry Sohudo coming He's running his mouth. So he's back in the Usada testing pool. He's saying it himself, so I tend to believe that he's actually going to do it this time. He really wants the Volcanowski fight. If we're up to him, if he had his druthers, he's picking this fight over the Al Jermaine-Stirling fight. And then Volcanowski said he's going to be paying close attention to the Charles Olivera Justin Gagee fight because he might want to jump up to 155.

So I would say the latter is probably my least compelling option, at least right now. give me another year and another couple of title defenses, my mind would change. It's Holloway for me. Suhudo isn't really all that interesting to me. What say you, if you had the choice, if you had the Almighty Pencil,

are we doing the trilogy fight with Holloway? Are we doing the Suhudo fight? We lining him up. Or do you want to see him go up to 55 and test himself against Oliver Gage? No, we're doing the trilogy fight. Look, God love him.

He's being true to himself, and that's always the important thing. He's not getting a lightweight title fight, so he can spin his wheels and say all the things he wants to about that. It's just not happening. You know, he was on the MMA hour this week, and he said it in the way that you know he's not telling the truth. Not that he is lying, but that he is saying something.

He is trying to will something into an existence by saying it exists currently. He was like, yeah, there's been some interest in me going up to, like, hey, that's like a thing. It was like, no, there hasn't. No one has talked about it. No one cares about it. And that's not your fault, but lightweight is a cluster.

Like, it is a true fuster clock, and he's not jumping the line at lightweight. Like, that's just not a thing that's going to happen. There are a lot of people kind of jockeying for position. Connor McGregor's ghost hangs over that entire division. And when he comes back and how that plays in the title picture, Volk's not going to 155, so whatever. Volk also has, I still. can't figure out if what he is doing with regard to Max Holloway is genius or just like very

dumb. It's one of the two. But he continues to try and like just off put that as if that's not a real fight while also saying like, yeah, I'm not afraid of him. I'll fight him, which is true. I want to be extremely clear. I cannot believe Volcanovs because afraid of Max Holloway because I think he's already beaten him twice. But it's just super weird to hear him talk about it on the MMA hour. He's like, yeah, you know, right now there's nobody clear cut, you know, I, so I can entertain going up to lightweight. If one of these contenders steps up, there is a clear cut contender. It's Max Holloway. Well, we don't know. I don't know if Max is uninjured or what. Actually, no, we do. It was extremely clearly reported. Max was injured, pulled out of the fight, and he got uninjured and was

willing to step in as a backup at UFC 273. Max is ready for that fight. It's the fight that most people want to see. So it's super weird for Volkanowski to just kind of act as if things that are true aren't. Like that's a very he's living in a very strange reality if he's like

if he's not just putting on right now. And so it's super weird because that's obviously the fight people want. Now I've been on the record, Mike, you know, I'm not that interested in this fight. Like I am because it's two best guys in the world competing and it's probably as good as mixed martial arts gets. So I'll always

watch it. But I've said from from Jump Street from the first time they fought straight through the second time they fought I think Volcanovsky wins nine out of 10 times. I think he is uniquely capable of adjusting to and overloading Holloway's offense

with his own and is just going to win more often than not. And so I'll watch it but I'm not like I need to see this because Max is the true greatest like Volk's the dude and I'm on board but I'm also on board to see it. So it's super weird to me just how he's handling everything. Because we know it's

going to happen. There aren't options for him. It's going to be Max Holloway. He's just trying to will other things into existence kind of fruitlessly and in a way that is going to, by definition, make the fans think that he's afraid or he's ducking or being dodgy instead of just being like, yeah, man, me and Max have to settle up so I can move on. Yeah, Volkowski, it's we talk about colby playing the greatest hits this is volkenovsky's more like just more mature version of the greatest hits because he did the same thing with holloway like a year ago when everyone's like he's got to fight holloway again he's like me we need a contender to step up we get these fights coming up we got cater we got this guy we got this guy we need a contender

because like back then it made sense like yeah i already beat max i don't want to just keep fighting max over and over again but now he's like well i don't know if max is right to fight. Like, yeah, you do. Everyone knows. He pulled out of this fight for an injury. So now you're just saying stuff that's like, you're either intentionally being obtuse or you're just being really weird. And either way, it's just a very strange way to approach it. And I don't, like I said, I can't tell if he's putting on it, like, this is part of a put on, or this is just like, his brain is convinced that Max might not actually be ready, which is then really, really weird to me. I would like to see that fight as the co-main events on the International Fight Week card.

I'd like to say, because you have to think with these fights being booked, you have to think that the frontrunner to headline that card in July is Adasania Canineer. And then maybe I think a nice little co-made event would be Volcanowski Holloway 3. Volcanowski wants to get right back in there. He didn't take a lot of damage. Apparently took 48 strikes. I missed about 47 of them. So, yeah, I mean, great performance.

from Volcanowski. I did notice of all the things we discussed, of all three of those options, you discussed two of them, but you didn't discuss the Houda. I did not hear his name really come out of your mouth. Are you just not interested in that whole thing at all, or is he sort of on that Nick Diaz level where you're just not

going to believe it until he actually is on a poster, walks to the octagon, gets introduced, and all of those things. He's definitely in that category if I don't believe it. I also just don't care. And that's going to be the hottest take I say today, probably. because I know a lot of people, especially deeply ingrained in the industry, are, like, interested.

I'd watch it. I don't care at all. I don't like Henry Suhudo, and I'm not going to be, like, shy about it. I think he's a really good fighter. I think he adopted this King of Cringe personality that does not make me want to buy paper views to see him lose. It just makes me want to turn off the interviews, but I'm fortunate to watch him in. And he, again, like, like Volker and, he, again, like Volcan.

his interviews only a billion times worse, hearing him talk all, frankly, for the past year, but certainly for this past week, has just been like the most obnoxious thing in the world. Like, oh, well, you know, I want to come up and I just, I think I can be Volkanowski. Cool. It's been extremely explicitly explained to you that you are not going to get that opportunity. Dana White has been super clear. Like, if you would like to do this, you need to come and you're going to have to take a fight at 145 first. and Volkanovsky has also said that

and so if those two primary parties want that to be the case you're just going to have to fight somebody else at Featherweight. He really definitely doesn't want to do that because I don't love his chances to get like I mean he could win but it's it's very hard

and so he wants this is the most transparent power grab basically in the world of I think I can win that one fight if I lose absolutely nothing bad happens to me. I lose a fight up two weight classes for my original one

to maybe the best pound for a pound fighter in the world. Zero downside to that loss. Nothing but upside. I can be the first triple champion in UFC history, yada, yada, yada. But I am not willing to put any single thing on the line for this, a.k.a. I'm not willing to go back and fight for the ban on weight title and reassert my dominance there. even though I think he would have a really good chance

of beating Alderman Sterling or, you know, maybe down the road, Peoria, or Arnold Allen or any of the other guys there. Not Arnold Allen, sorry, but you know what I'm talking about. And but at 145, he doesn't want to have to go fight Arnold Allen or Calvin Cater or whatever to try and solidify a thing because that loss ruins the narrative of being the greatest combat sport athlete of all time. And so it's so transparent and so. so self-serving and so obviously not going to happen that all it does is make me mad,

especially when he acts like the world is crazy for denying him like, wow, you guys don't want to see him make this is garbage. Dana White, you let George St. Pierre come back. Yeah, George St. Pierre was the greatest welterweight of all time who came back after he defended about 17 times or whatever absurd number and then also was an enormous draw. That's why he got to come back out of retirement and fight Michael Bisping to win. a belt. And I think if you asked Dana White right now and he was being honest, he was like, that was a bad choice. We shouldn't have done that because George just bolted with the belt.

And Henry Suhudo will just leave with the belt. If he came through and beat Volkanowski, which I do not believe he would do, he would absolutely never fight again. There is a zero percent chance. So there is no way this happens unless he is going to commit to doing something that he won't do. So this is all just him yelling into the void and acting as if he is the only sane one and the rest of us are crazy. And it's mostly just the most annoying thing in the world to me. And I wish it would go away. You're a very good coach. Go coach people. And please get off my timeline, Henry Sohudo. I mean, I wish I was Casey right now. And I could play the round of applause right there because I mean, I could not agree with you more. I just don't care. I don't care.

Like if you want to fight, fight, fight. You want to go commentate Eagle FC. I will laugh and have fun on Twitter spaces at your expense. I mean, good for you. You probably made a good chunk of money to put yourself in that position. I'm sure Eagle FC is paying you very well to be a pretty awful color commentator. But it brings joy to some folks. And that's great.

In terms of fighting, I just don't care. I would have so much more respect for him if he just said, like, the UFC keeps calling me, but I ain't coming back. I'm not coming back. And here's the thing about GSP. GSP, the UFC knew that there's a possibility he bowled with the belt, but at least in their minds, they're like, well, at least he'll pop a number with him. At least he'll pop like 7,800,000 pay-per-view bys. What the hell is Henry Suhudo Volkanowski going to pop 300, 400?

I mean, the brand would sell maybe 450 on its own. What's Suhuda going to sell 40,000 on his own? Nobody cares. Nobody cares about Zudovu. I'm sorry. He's such a good fighter, but his personality and him leaving at that time was literally the worst business decision maybe in UFC history. Right when

he was starting to peak, right when he was starting to come up and people were starting to care, he leaves. And he thought the UFC's going to be begging for him to come back, begging him. Please, Henry, please come back. And by Thursday of the following week, they're like, all right.

Actually, not even Thursday. Data waits at the press office, he said, Piano Yon's getting a title shot, like immediately after. They got over him within two hours. it was look and then that's honestly one of the things it just doesn't get said enough is what you said right there like he just screwed the pooch so hard like he adopted the king of cringe thing like for the dillishaw fight basically like that's like when he put it on uh it was the dillishaw fight and then that was overshadowed entirely by dillishaw popping for roids um and so then he basically had it for the marlin maris unification and then beating domin a cruise, which nobody cared about because everybody was like, oh, this is transparently garbage.

Like, you're not a fun champion. You are just trying to not fight real people because you don't want to jeopardize this construct of who you are as this dominant combat sports athlete. And like, it's just the way it is. And I wish I could tell him this, but like, you, maybe you could get traction with this personality or whatever, but you have to keep winning and keep fighting and not just say, I'm the best ever, but I don't fight anymore. And my claim to it was incredibly tenuous at best. Anyway, it's all, he had, he's just done nothing. He's done all of the Connor

McGregor. I'm going to take the highest upside, lowest downside possible, like all of the risk aversion, but he's done it in like the worst way possible. holding UFC belts or trying to fight for new belts without having previously established a billion people in the world loving him. Because for all the crap Connor deservedly gets for basically doing the same thing, Connor did it when he was an actual star. Connor was like, I'm going to go get the lightweight title now that I'm an actual star, not, well, I have a belt, so I'm going to do this and I'm going to pretend to be a star.

You can't manifest it, man. you got to be it and he's not it and he doesn't know it and so it just is awful is all that it is yeah so if he ever wants to get to a title fight he should have to fight either peodor yon or marab at 135 you beat them you get a title fight 145 is going to have to fight like arnold allen or yair just getting like the toughest riskiest low reward fight you could possibly get and even then i don't think it does it matters like if he just never fights again i'd be fine with it honestly I'd be totally fine with it. He wasn't, like, he wasn't a wildly exciting fighter anyway.

He was a good one. He lost twice to Demetrius Johnson. I don't care what the judges say. So he's never been the best flyweight, even though he got a belt. And yeah, it's just like, if he wants to come back, straight shot him into an abandon way title fight. I have no issues with that. He left with the belt.

Totally, it's fairly open right now. Totally okay with him getting straight shot to a bandamway title fight. In no world, do you give him a featherweight one? Like you just, I could have, the only time I could have seen it is when Max pulled out. I could have seen doing it then if he was already in the pool and waiting,

then sure, why not? You're not really losing a lot at that point. Okay, whatever. But he doesn't get to do one because he wasn't a dominant Bannamweight champion. He won the belt, you won a vacant title, and then beat an old man.

It's not, you weren't a dominant champion. You didn't beat anybody, frankly, in the division. So, yeah, you just don't get to do it. Yeah, I don't think he's going to get the Algebra and Sterling fight either because Jose Aldo's there and T.J's there. I think he's going to have some work to do. He played this terribly. I don't know if he did this on his own.

If he wanted that, I think if he wanted the Banimate, he'd get it. You think so over Dillishan Naldo? I don't know. Yeah, I don't think Aldo has a... I hope I'm wrong. We talked about in the post-fight show. God love him. I love Jose, although I think he has a great chance to meet Hajmadstere.

And he's, you know, my pick for, I think, the second greatest fighter of all time in my list. So I would love to see it. But I just sort of feel like they're going to go Dillishaw that they feel that that's more baked in. But if Zahudo, you know, if he is back in the pool when he's committed to it, it sounds like Aljo wants to take some time off, come back in the fall. I feel like they'd go with that over. Especially because Dillishaw, like, arguably beat Corey Santagin, but kind of didn't. Like, I could see them being like, let's do Dillishaw, although, Sohudo, you can be up next. Hack the holidays with the PC Holiday Insiders Report.

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Workday, moving business forever forward. Well, let's talk about Al Jermaine Sterling because I have to see. say, and I think you probably agree with me on this. What Al Jemaine Sterling has done since Saturday has been masterful. I am enjoying all of it. I'm enjoying social media. I'm enjoying just jumping on and hitting refresh to see who he's targeting now. I love to the contract. I love how he's pointing out individual people to get after. Big John, Josh Thompson, you know I'll always sign up for those types of tweets, enjoying those very much. Poor Jonathan Coachman's getting it. I'm loving that as well. I'm loving everything Al Jameen Sterling is doing.

And you know what? This wasn't a 49-45 or a 50-44 that he put on Peary on. But the man went out against a guy that most people thought was going to just roll over him. He wins, unifies the titles, and he's going on this victory lap right now. And I'm loving it, Jed. I'm loving everything Al Jemey and Sterling is doing. This is tremendous stuff. I love it all.

What have you made of Al Jermaine Sterling post UFC 273 in this victory lap he's taking? look i got no issues with them doing it because we talked about beforehand there was nobody with more pressure on him coming in 273 he piled the pressure on himself outside of whatever he had on top he talked a massive amount of crap that week and told everybody hey come sunday i either get i'm going to be talking a lot of shit or i'm going to be eating a lot of shit and i feel like i'm going to be talking it and when you do that when you put yourself out on that far of a limb I mean, you climb all the way out there. He's holding on by his fingertips and the branch is bending, almost breaking.

He's that far out. And you do the damn thing. You deserve all of the smoke. You get to bring all the smoke to everybody who's doubted you, every hater. He gets to do all of this for as long as he wants. And I will never tell that man to stop because he does not need to. In my eyes, he won that fight extremely clearly. the official MMA fighting.com score of that fight is 4846 Sterling.

He took rounds 1, 2, 3, and round 2 was a 10.8. And look, I'm prone to hyperbole and prone to saying things. If you disagree with that scorecard, there is no other way to say it. You are incredibly wrong. Just straight up by the rules of scoring in MMA. And I am frequently a man who does not follow the rules. So if you don't want to follow the, like, the rules you're saying, supposed to and you scored it differently.

Cool. I would still say you're wrong because whatever metrics you're scoring that don't come to that conclusion really make you feel just like an Aljo hater. But like by the rules on the books, very clearly won the first three rounds and very clearly took a 10-8 in the second. Like there's dominance and duration, baby, and damage because he piled up damage with that ground and pound over the last 30 seconds. If he had not done the ground in the second round, maybe you can argue that he didn't do enough to earn a 10-8 in round two,

but it does not matter. He clearly won round one as well, and I've had this argument with a couple of people. Peoria on did nothing. Go re-watch that round. He came, like, Aljo's, again, I am not stepping on his corner. I'm going to let that man do what he wants to do. Aljo has said, has not said things in like the easiest to power.

valid way for some people that hate him. But like the core concept of all Peoriaean did was come forward at the mean face and get out footworks by me is pretty true. Questionable how good the footwork is when the footwork is largely just like running away. But Peoria did in fact do next to nothing in that first round and by far the most damage and the most effective strikes of that round were Al Jermaine Sterling kicking him. Like he just kicked him. him a bunch and kicks count people like that's it so it's just it's extremely clear how that fight was

scored the only thing i have the only nitpick i have to al germane sterling and again do you buddy because this is this is your moment shine shine bright crazy diamond shine i he still seems really mad and i feel like he should just not be because he ain't there's nothing to be mad about anymore. Now you just get to relish in it. And not mad at the coming at Josh Thompson for Josh Thompson saying some dumb shit. Like sing, I'm all in on that. But the way he was talking to Aero yesterday of, you know, it's funny that, you know, how they score stuff. He still seems like so, so mad in his core about like the way people view Peoria Yan, even after beating him. And I would just say, let that go, man, because you won. You don't need to hold on to that.

That anger's not going to help you at all. It got you through and passed him, and you're on to brighter futures. So celebrate, King. Go off, but just let the anger inside evaporate and be joyous in dunking on the haters, of which there are still many. I agree with everything you've said for the most part. I get it. I feel like he carried in the biggest chip on his shoulder, maybe we've ever seen in a UFC fight.

and I think that 13 months and that chip just continuing to grow, I think a chunk of it left him, but I still think a bunch of it's still there. A lot of it's there. He's trying to jump over that line and just get a piece of everybody, and I get it. I'm actually surprised he's going this hard, honestly. Just be Saturday at the Postway Press conference,

I like, I set him up for it. I was like, what do you want to say to everybody now? You said, wait until I win this fight. then you're going to hear what I'm going to say. I'm like, what are you going to say? And he was just like, you'll see. He had a chance to just cut a promo he didn't. But now he was just saving it for the next day, saving it for the next couple weeks.

How long will this go on? Do you think this goes on until he fights again? Do you think he just keeps running with this? Because I love it. I don't know for how much longer I'm going to love it, but at least for these four or five days since he won the title, or excuse me, unified the title. I'm loving it.

This is good stuff. It's going to go on as long as people keep coming at him, so probably for a while. I think you actually sort of outline kind of, I think where I stand on is it would have made a lot more sense to me. And so, like, I could associate with it a lot more if he just dunked on everybody at the post fight. If he just went off and he just let it all, because he clearly had all of this built up. And so if he just let it all out in a venomous bath of punishment, and destruction on those who doubted him, of which there were many.

And just let it all go because I'm with you. I'm never going to tell him to stop because he deserves to do this as long as he wants. He won the fight that people said he couldn't. But it is going to lose its charm over time. And so if this continues to happen, even if it's totally valid for him to dunk on people for the next five years over this,

this keeps happening for months and months and years, then no one is going to like him. And like, I think Al Jermaine Sterling should be a beloved champion. He is a really interesting dude. He clearly has, like, has a style that is fun to watch. And maybe there are some things about him

that he just won't ever be like a super high-level star that everybody's going to gravitate to. But he doesn't, I don't think being the heel is a natural thing. for him and if he does this for months on end he is just going to naturally be put into that role and i don't feel like he plays that role like all that well and i think that that's probably not a great role for him like personally to to accept so i would have rather he just dunked on everybody immediately but if this becomes a prolonged victory lap again go off king you you did the

damn thing ain't no one here to tell you no he did a great job all fight week he built this fight up for me again. Heading in, I was like at a seven in terms of intrigue. But as the fight we progressed, he got me up to like a 9.1. I was really excited for this fight. It was a really close one. I scored it for Sterling. I've watched that first round multiple times with the commentary on, with the sound off. And Sterling wins that round more convincingly every time the more I watch it. So hats off to Al Jermaine Sterling. I'm curious because I don't, and believe me, if Aljo, if you're listening to this, I'm not trying to take anything away from your performance. In fact, I am giving you kudos for an incredible build throughout the week.

You said a lot of things, and when you cover those fight weeks, anything you say gets brought back up the next time around. So if Aljo says something at the Media Day after Jan was there at the press conference, that's going to get brought up to Yan at the press conference. Same thing. If Jan says something at the Media Day, Alja didn't get to it. We're going to ask about it at the press conference, and you're going to get a chance to respond. Is there a chance in your...

mind that Sterling just annoyed Jan to the point where he almost did he fight too emotionally you feel because that seems to be a take that I'm seeing an awful lot on on social media. Sterling did a good job just getting Jan mad the build to the fight. He just couldn't wait to get in there and punch Aljo in the face. He didn't do a lot in that first round, but he was a lot more aggressive moving forward in that first round than we've seen him in his past fights. Do you think there's a chance that Alja just really got to him and annoyed him and that Jan came out and just fought a little more angry than he normally does? I think Jan definitely fought a little emotional in that first round.

I don't know if it was the Fight Week stuff. I don't know if it's just... Honestly, it could easily just be that Jan is still mad about the first fight. Like, it could have nothing to do with Fight Week, but he could just fundamentally believe. and I actually think that he does fundamentally believe that Al Jermaine Sterling acted his way to a UFC title. Like, I don't think he's just talking trash.

Like, even though he clearly is the dude who screwed up and did the wrong thing, as I've said, for a year plus, I think he just absolutely believes that Aljo faked it to get out of that fight. And so it could just be that. It could be the build of everything over a year. It could be all of these factors. I don't know.

But I thought in that first round, and the thing that struck me the most when I was watching it is, man, I expected Aljo to do that. And we talked about it beforehand. I thought Aljo was going to be the one because he so clearly had this huge chip in his shoulder. And Jan had been saying all the things of, I don't care, I'm going to go kill this guy, and then I'm going to move on with my division. He was like very stoic, very straightforward. And Aljo was the guy who was obviously very mad and trying to not be mad.

And so I thought he was going to be the guy. I thought he was going to come out and do the same thing he did in the first fight and over-exert himself. do way too much and blow his gas tank. And instead, he fought really smart. Like, he had a brilliant first round of, I'm just going to stay away from this dude. And I'm going to kick him every time I get a chance to set my feet. And then I'm going to run away and I'm going to keep doing that for the whole round.

I'm not going to look for a takedown unless one presents itself because he knows that's coming. And I don't want to play that game yet. And it worked. And Jan came forward and missed a lot. He, I think the stats say he missed on 50% of his. shots which isn't like a huge thing but when you also only throw like 20 of them it's not great to throw 20 strikes and land half of them or whatever number it was and he just was clearly loading up shots too like he he spent a lot of time chasing aljo and he's usually better at

cutting a cage uh because he he to me at least looked like he wanted to hit him really hard um and then in that second round he got taken down almost instantaneously and then he was spent the whole thing and when you go back and you're listening to the translator talk you know in the corners his corner recognizes what's happening is like hey man whatever you're doing stop it you you've got to be better and you can't give up a taketown if you give up another taketam we're going to lose and he he got more centered and more dialed in aljo says he took the last two rounds off i want to believe that that's not true because that's i just tend to not believe fighters when they say stuff like that but at the same time aljo also said that the first fight was because he didn't eat and beforehand and so we fall like

crap and nobody believed that and then we saw what happened in the rematch so like maybe aljo did just coast the last two rounds i don't know but i do believe yon fought came out way too emotional and then settled down later and we got to see him do the things he's really good at as the fight progressed. But to me, again, like, like you said, that's a credit to Sterling. Like, that's, that's not taking anything away from Sterling because we all thought he was going to be that guy. And he fought really smart, just really brilliantly prepared for this whole bout.

And dude, go off, King, keep doing your dance. Ray Longo with the coaching corner of the year thus far with a look at him. Look at that MF her. And then he said, like, you humiliated him. just tremendous stuff from Ray Longo. Congratulations Sterling and his team. Last thing on this, Sterling has options. He wants to take some time off.

He deserves to take some time off after everything he's gone through, getting the victory over Peodor Yan. I have a feeling these guys, their paths will cross again, maybe the next year, 18 months, two years. I'd be down to watch them fight a third time. I'm curious where Peater Jan goes from here because there's different options for him. Let's just say Dillishaw gets the fight.

You could do Yon versus Aldo again. be down to watch that. If they give it to Aldo, we could do Jan versus Dilloshah. There's some smoke there. My thought is, let's just make everybody happy. Throw Jan in there with Marab de Walsh Willie.

Marab can be the boogeyman and keep Jan away from his best friend and his teammate. Because we know Maraub ain't fighting Algeman anytime soon, but at least he can sort of box Jan out to getting a rematch. And if Jan wins, the story continues on.

He gets a little bit closer. So do you like the Marab idea? Is there another idea you like for Jan? What should be, sort of his next move because I'm sure he wants to get back to Algermaine and at least a shot at that title sooner rather than later. I love the Morab idea. I don't know how much he wants to do it just because the way those camps have been at each other, maybe he wants to just take a step back and get some get a break from it, which honestly would be totally understandable. But I think that

fight makes a ton of sense. We are quickly coming up and I did not think this is going to be the case. We're quickly coming up in a world where Rob Valishvili is going to be, you know, the showgun to Al Jermaine's Vanderlay and just playing gatekeeper to the title shot to him. Because I don't those two men are not going to fight each other. But I think that fight makes a lot of sense. And I'm really interested. I got to be honest,

I am so fascinated by what happens with Piard Gion right now. Because I think he's still one of the most talented fighters in the world. bar none. But one, we saw that Aljo basically beat him by staying away from him and then by doing the exact same back take twice. He took him down and Jan just didn't want to stay down. And so he got up and gave his back and so or tried to and in so doing Aljo's just on Alger's backpacked him. And then that was the end of the round basically. That's very exploitable. Obviously moving forward for anybody in the future, even if taking Jan down is really difficult. But the thing that made makes me so fascinated is Yan has, Jan is really good in five-round fights, like close to

impossible to beat. Alderman Sterling obviously just did it, but the way his offense builds on top of each other, the way he never gets tired and keeps building really makes it difficult to out, outwork him over 25 minutes. He might be going back to 15s, and that's a very different style of. fight. Like if Aljo and Jan fought in a three-round fight, I would favor Aljo every time. Like, straight up, I just would. Because Al-Jo will just go gangbusters on him for eight minutes. And he's just got to survive the back half and he can win the fight. And that's not what Jan does.

And Jan was pretty quickly moved into five-run fights in his UFC career. I mean, he fought a bunch of them before, but look at the names he fought when he was doing three-rounders. Trudy Shihara, Douga Silva Dan Drogh, John Dodson, Jimmy Rivera, Uriah Fabor, those were the guys he fought in three-rounders, and those aren't, there's no way to say that nicely. Those are not guys who are going to challenge him really at any competitive standpoint.

But Jose Aldo, for my money, won the first two rounds against Peoria Yan when they fought for the title. And then Jan built off that and won late. You put him in a three-rounder. I'm still going to I'm going to pick Jose Aldo in three-round against Piotr-Yan. Corey Sante again, I remember Corey definitely won the first round. Do you remember that fight?

Did Corey win the second round? Because I vaguely recall him winning the second round on my card and Jan sweeping the back three. But like, Piotr-Yan, as he has gone up the ladder of talented opponents, has strongly benefited from being in five-round fights because that is much more conducive to his style. And if he is now no longer in that realm, because maybe he headlines of fight night, but maybe he's the co-main event in the pay-per-view or whatever, or the third fight, the feature fight in a pay-per-view. And if he's back to 15s, that opens up a lot of opportunity to feed him now.

So I am really fascinated to see what happens. Because I'm also interested to see maybe Yonah Justice style knowing that. If he says, hey, I can't, if he gets rebooked with Aldo, I can't fight the same way I fought last time with Aldo, I'm going to run out of time. Although too good defensively for me to have a slow build, I need to kick the triggers quicker. I am super excited to see what happens with Peoria on coming out of this. Yes.

Sanahagan fight. I gave Corey the first round. I gave Yon the last four. But the second round was close. It was a close round. If you scored it for Corey, ain't going to argue with you. So, yes, it would be really interesting to see what happens with Pejorie. Al Jain Sterling.

March on, my man. Well done. Congratulations. You built the fight up. tremendously all fight week and you came through on the other end. So congratulations to him. All right, before we move on to this weekend, of course we got to talk about the big one.

Hamzaa Shamiyaf defeats Gilbert Burns. He's 11 and 0. We go to a unanimous decision. Things got a little bit hairy for Mr. Boers. Gilbert Burns showed up, ready to sling, ready to throw hams. He did. Shamiah, tough as they come.

What a fight this was. This was an instant classic. But a lot of people feel like Shamiyev's stock with a win against the number two welterweight in the world, according to the UFC, in their rankings, that his stock actually drops in this fight. Do you agree with these people at all? Do you feel like his stock dropped in this one?

Or did it grow because he overcame adversity? He got tested by a guy who was seconds away for becoming the welterweight champion of the world. Where does his stock go in your eyes after this 15-minute war with Doreno Burns? it drops um and not but i think not for the reason most people are thinking it drops it drops not because it drops because it was just so high because there was so there was unlimited opportunity for him and so his stock was basically at infinite he could have been anything we could describe our hopes

and dreams onto him he was a blank canvas of a fighter despite having four fights because nothing it happened other than him beating the absolute breaks off people. And so he could do anything. We could see him go in and do that. He could have done what he did to Lee's Youngling to Gilbert Burns. He could have done it to Kamar Usman. He could have done it to Ezra, this, and that. He could have done that to Glover to Shera in our heads because anything was possible

because we couldn't see the limitations because it was just, it was captivating. And now we see that, oh, he's actually a person. like he is not a fight god and can't just walk through every human being alive, which obviously he wasn't. He shouldn't have been, but our expectations were, our dreams were fun and we let them run because you should always let your dreams run free, Mike.

Let them roam, let them store high like eagles or wolves. And that's what we did. And so we're coming down to Earth. And so it has to drop because it was so astronomically high. I legitimately was on the record as saying this dude has an outside chance at winning three UFC titles. That is a thing I said coming 273. I'm pretty sure that that's not the case anymore.

I'm still thinking he's got a real good look at two, but he's outside. He's probably not going to get a third, but it's not impossible. But it's just, we just came back to Earth. So it's not his stock dropping so much as us just having to be realists, which sucks. No one wants to be a realist, but like that's where we are now. And that's okay, because we all, like you said, we learned a lot about it. We learned that, you know, he can be, I forget who said it. Somebody put it in these terms this week. Maybe it was Brian Stan. He can be the hammer and the nail. And that's good because at some point he's going to have to,

we're going to have to see him fight through adversity. And he did. I also love that he, honestly, the best part about his whole week to me, was that immediately after the fight, he recognized that he was stupid. Because he clearly was. Like, he won that first round decisively when he engaged in some wrestling and decided that that was okay. And then he just tried to knock Gilbert Burns his head off in the last two and got real dicey for him. So, and he recognized like, yeah, I didn't fight that smart. I just thought I could run through him and I can't.

And a lesson learned. So I think we learned a lot about him. Our stock dropped because it came back to a reasonable experience. Expectations still high still really high expectation this dude's gonna have a title He's gonna win at least one I guarantee that But I think we you know we just had to temper ourselves a little bit which is good for all of us even if it sucks Sometimes you got to eat your vegetables up So Hamzaa Chimaif was like the actual human being version of Fight Island like when Dana

Well I didn't have a lot of hope for Fight Island just because because I've been around the UFC long enough to know that they were never going to make it like a recreation of the kumate which was obviously the thing that they should have done but you know whatever but yeah in a lot of ways actually that's true like we dreamed so high only to be let down a great encapsulation of the UFC remember the BMF belt remember the high hopes we had for that thing and they rolled out like somehow in probably a worse version of their current title to be the BMF belt like he's just that and that's okay it's still going to be the best available in the world probably

yeah and you you attach the rock to the whole thing and it still was a letdown so yeah i i hear you i plumb forgot that the rock i will say this while shemaiah stopped like maybe shemaiah is human and yes he pleads blood after all i actually think this is the best thing could have happened to him honestly this fight was the best thing that could have happened to him. This is way better than him running through Gilbert Burns in a minute. The mystique still might have been there

and you might have been on this show right now saying, hell, three belts. No, no, no, no, no. Four belts. This guy may be winning the heavyweight title too. But in reality, this is going to make him a much more dangerous fighter. So I ask you this because I don't know if Colby's going to take this fight.

I think if Colby's smart he takes this fight because now's the time. If you're not going to do it now, why wait? Because if Shemayev goes and wins the title, you have to fight Shamaev, his confidence is going to be through the roof, he's got to be better and better, and he's going to keep rifling off these wins, and you're going to get him in his athletic prime. So if you're Colby, you probably jump on this now, a five-round fight on ABC coming off of an absolute war with the guy like Gilburn, so you took a lot of damage.

Not that it's going to affect him like long-term right now, but he's going to be feeling the effects of that fight in the next one. There's just no doubt about it. So let's just say, this is the This seems to be the route everybody wants to take. The UFC wants it. Dana wants it. Hamzat's down for it. Colby has told me he would take this fight if the UFC offered it to him. And Colby headlining on ABC against anybody, being the American that he is,

would make a lot of sense, in my opinion. So does this change the way you view Shemaya versus Covington after Saturday? Because you probably looked at it one way heading into Saturday. Does it change the way you view it now? It does not. It makes me want it even less when you start talking about putting Shemaya and Covington in the main event in an ABC card. That is a disaster waiting to happen from a hot mic standpoint.

So less interested in watching that. But I think, look, I have been the biggest Hamzaa proponent probably on our site. M.A. Fighting greatest website in the world. Go check it up. I have had him as my number two well to wait in the world for some time. Boy, do I feel really good about that choice coming out of 273? I feel like I have that nailed on the dot because I think he would tool up Kobe Covington. If I'm Covington, I disagree with you, Mike.

I see the logic in what you're saying, but I think if you're going to have to fight him, you want to fight him with a belt on the line because at least a belt is on the line because fighting him in the main event to ABC, you're just going to take that L on national television without a belt to win as the upside. There's a lot of downside and little promise there because the other thing for him,

I mean, I just don't know. If he beats Shima, maybe he gets another title fight, but I don't even think that's true. Like, I'm not sure that they would do that because you have all these other competitive, telling welterweight fights coming up you've got this weekend we haven't talked about it yet but vizente luke wins is weekend he should get a title fight he just deserves one and so i don't know that they would maybe they would maybe hamzat's epic a star and they feel the wins compelling

enough but i i i just think i don't think it matters because i think to hamzot tunes him up like i i thought that coming in i was honestly really impressed with with hamzat striking like we knew we hit hard we didn't know anything else about it thought he showed a lot of good things in the feet. He also showed some weaknesses, and he would overcommit the strikes, and, you know, Burns ended up finding a way to time him with left hooks, especially when Hamzot would get way too eager and rush in looking for the kill. Well, Kobe Covington isn't a big hitter.

Like, so it's not like he is going to land one big shot on Hamzot, because Burns hit Hamzot with the best shot he's ever landed his career. And it put Hamzaat to a knee for sure. But he survived it. So if he can take that, he can take anything Colby throws back at him. I think the wrestling's probably a wash. And either way, it's not a huge advantage. Both men will just be able to pop up.

And so it's mostly just going to be striking. And one dude, I think, is much better. So I'm Covington. I'm making a full tilt run towards Israel-Dissania at middleweight. Just ban on Walter weight. I'm done with it going that way. Because I think, I think Homs out's a problem for everybody up. two and including Kamala Usman.

Yeah, I'm curious to see, I mean, obviously, that is a big storm you have to weather with Shemayev, but that fight gets to the second half. If we get midway through the third, four and five, how interesting, that fight gets real interesting.

Like, if Colby could steal an early round somehow, he can avoid major damage and, like, get a takedown and just somehow just have cage control time and land a couple takedons. do a little bit of damage and just steal around. That fight gets real interesting down the stretch.

It really does. So I want to see it. I honestly want to see it. Winner gets a title fight. Let's do it. I mean, ABC, you just got to just not air anything from those two guys at all. Just let him fight and don't give them a post-fight interview. And there you go.

That's a big fight and a very big deal. But we'll see what happens. It's tough. Tough to put them on national television. Yeah, but Dana White doesn't give a shit. Dan would be like say what you want free speech baby we let you say whatever you want to say

and props to give a Burns too great performance he's out doing the media rounds you start talking about a union you start talking about a fighter's union you're going to find yourself on the wrong end of a pink slip real quick yeah don't do that on ABC

we could talk about 273 for a while McKenzie Dern didn't think she won that fight but she won that fight officially Marco Madsen gets a win Vince Pichel probably got more of a rub in the end. Ian Gary remains undefeated.

Fine performance, very honest with his assessment of the fight at the post-fight at the scrum. Good on him. Anthony Hernandez, keep an eye on that guy. I think he's going to be a problem at 185 if he continues to improve the way he is. Raquel Pennington is also proving to be a problem at 135. That was a great performance against Aspen Ladd. What? What?

Aspen Lad, man. I don't want to spend too much time on it. because we already spent a lot of time on this. Man, Aspen Ladd could have been a fighter, and now she just... Aspen Ladd very easily won the one round of that fight where she tried to actually play to her strengths.

Yeah. She didn't try to do it for 10 minutes. So it tells you something about her or her corner or both. And, you know, all the promise in the world, and she is not going to pain out. And that's a shame. But great win for you. for Rocky. Yes. Go to 145, Aspen, win a couple of fights. Maybe you get a title shot up there.

Julio Arce, missed wave gets a win. Pierre Rodriguez. You could see the moment where she was like, F this, I'm supposed to fight somebody. I'm going to turn the corner. And then Kay Hansen, no longer in the UFC. So we wish her well in her future endeavors. I think this will be a good move for her overall. Alexia Lennox gets his 60th win. We got to finally use the graphic, first round submission. Mike Malott, star making potential with that guy. Canada might have something here. Great stuff.

Very emotional, heart on the sleeve, everything about the fight, the performance, the post-fight stuff, even gets the Ariel Hawani rub in the end. Tremendous week for Mike Malott. Your business doesn't move in a straight line. Some days bring growth. Others bring challenges. But what if you or a partner needs to step away? When the unexpected happens, count on Canada's

Life's flexible life and health insurance to help your business keep working even when you can't. Don't let life's challenges stand in the way of your success. Protect what you've built today. Visit canadalif.com slash business protection to learn more. Canada Life. Insurance, investments, advice. So let's move on to this weekend. We don't have a lot of time, but looking at these two cards on paper, this is a three-fight weekend for being honest. For being honest. Can I just start, let's just start with Bell at because this is by far the more intriguing card than the UFC card. It's not even close. It's not even close.

The main event is a thousand times better. The co-main event is a million times better. The UFC main event has some stakes, but in the end, these guys are just sort of, I think Luque probably is a better shot at getting a title shot to win that Balmahama does. I think I'm not saying anything that's out of line or untruthful, if we're being honest.

But... That's just a great fact. Here's the thing, Jed. I was hosting heck of an afternoon, literally right before this. I thought the Bellator card was Saturday. It's tomorrow. It's Friday. And I wasn't 100% clear on that.

What does that tell you, Jed? You have A.J. McKee, your homegrown talent, the guy you're trying to build to be your star, he's fighting in a main event and a rematch of what you considered your biggest fight in promotional history and me who covers the sport. full time on a regular basis, thought this card was on Saturday. And I'd have looked it up to make sure I was wrong.

What does that tell you about Bellator, about this card, and about how they are promoting it, because UFC 273 stomped a mudhole in this card and walked it dry, and now UFC Vegas 51 is picking up the pieces, and this is a way better card on paper. It tells me that you're more plugged in than I am.

I also work in the space, like my career is right in the space. And until this Monday, we were doing our team call to discuss, like, I did not recognize that there was a Lelotaur, much less like a relevant Bella tour this week. Like I just totally spaced on it. And everything you said, like, there's nothing else to say beyond what you said. This is a headline by a rematch of the biggest fight. in promotional history. It has arguably their two best fighters in the organization are on this card. AJ McKeve, Adie McKeever, the Nemkov, and frankly, Patricia Pitbull is probably number three.

You know, maybe you want to do Gayguard or whatever. But like three of their five best fighters and hell, possibly even four, I guess, if Corey Anderson is one of five best fighters on this card. And nobody, nobody's talking about, nobody's doing anything about it. I've been saying it for a really long time. Bellator doesn't care anymore. Like they don't. And to me, look, the biggest thing that's happened this week about Bellator was yesterday when AJ McKee basically said he wants out.

That's, I mean, those weren't his words on Ariel's show, but his words were, you know, his eyes told the story. I'm dead serious. Like this is, it's going to be slightly paraphrased. But Ariel asked AJ a question about, I forget, what it was about it was about, you know, if he's going to do something different or, or no, if he went up to lightweight and would he compete, would he still compete it well to wait? Would he win two times?

Like, so, like, if you did go up to lightweight, you got to, would you defend both belts? And AJ McKee's answer goes, I've always wanted to have a UFC title. That's how we started the answer. Like, basically everything he was saying yesterday was, yeah, man, I want to fight in the UFC. I am contractually stuck here under the champions cause here. I think he's got three fights committed under this champion's agreement with Belator. So he's got, you know, a couple more after this. But everything he said sounded a lot to me like, man, Belator is not paying me and they are not promoting me.

And I'm the best fighter in the world. And I, it sucks that I'm the best fighter in the world and I'm fighting on a Friday and nobody knows. And I don't want to do this anymore. And I think that's entirely fair. because I don't think he's the best by the way in the world. I think that's Alexander Volcanovsky. But I'd love to watch them to fight. And more importantly, I know when Alexander Volcanovsky is fighting.

I know when he is fighting. If nothing else, I know when that man is competing, as opposed to being like, oh, we need somebody to work Bellator Friday. Who's available? Like, oh, Bellator's on Friday, who's going? What's happening? Oh, it's two title fights? Well, hell.

I guess I finally get to. to use my Showtime subscription. It's so dumb. I don't know what they're doing as an organization. We've talked about a lot, and I don't know how to, I don't know how to fix, to me,

the core fundamental problem being, I don't think they care about their own product. Because if you cared, you would somehow make people more interested or invested. You would, Scott Coker could be just calling us every day and be like, hey, I'd like to get AJ McKee in with you,

for some meetings or some interviews. You could make this happen in a way they're just not doing. And I don't know why, but from the outside looking and it just feels like they don't care about their own promotion anymore. It's brutal, man. It's brutal because they have a decent roster.

They're not going to be the UFC. They got a solid roster. They got good fighters. They got Aegee McKee. And I knew they were, I knew they were fucked a week after McKee won the title because we didn't see him anywhere. He was not.

nowhere. What are you doing? He should have been sitting next to Michael freaking Strahan on Good Morning America, two days after winning the title. He should have been sitting next to Kelly Rippa and Ryan Seacrest. Everywhere. Everywhere that would give him a seat. He should have been on it. Jimmy Fallon. He should have been on all of those shows the entire week. And we, what was the next time we saw him, Jed? I think he probably did an interview with Damon or something. When was the next time we saw him?

we saw him at the Jake Paul Tyrone Woodley fight like three weeks later they brought him in for like some desk work for like two fights we saw him for a total of like 11 minutes on that card and that's it and then we haven't seen him since we haven't seen him since

what are you doing? It's also just super weird because like I can even understand if you just don't care like they don't care okay I totally get that position he is not a star he is not drawing whatever i think that misses the point of promotion but i understand it but at that point also just let him leave like he clearly wants to leave don't invoke a champion

and i'm like all right we're not going to be able to resign you when we no longer contractually hold the reins just go and beltor used to be really good about that as the thing and i don't i don't want to say that this is a thing because it hasn't happened a lot but that was always one of the things that i always thought so scott cocker at least understood empathy it was like okay well like you don't want to be here don't be here like that's fine go you know we want you to be happy we want to have a happy group of fighters so if you want to go try your hand elsewhere go do that and i don't again agent mckee didn't say anything like he is stuck with bellator or that they are refusing to let him walk but it feels an awful lot like he is contractually locked into a champion's cause and he knows exactly how many how long that is and the moment that that is up he is gone and so it's all just really weird and i don't know what's going on well unless they offer him a million dollars a fight then he'll stay i don't even know if he do that honestly i mean i know he said that's what he wanted but that also feels a little bit like one of those things that like so when i

left my last job. I told them, hey, because I was doing good terms with those people, and I told them, hey, this is, I'm leaving to go pursue a thing that I really want to do and yada yada. So there's really nothing you could do to keep me here. But because you're asking, if you want to keep me here, I'm going to need $300,000 a year in salary. And obviously, I was not going, I would have been triple, you know, plus what I was making. So they weren't going to do that. that's what this feels like of i want a million dollars a fight okay you could just say 10 million like you could be in dollars they're not going to pay you that so like it's fine it's fine they they wouldn't pay look man they wouldn't pay Kayla harrison and we talked about it

at length they're not going to pay jim mckee who is definitively less of a star than kail harrison like whatever you think and people have come at my throat about me saying Kayla Harrison is I would rather be promoted Kayla Harrison, AJ McKee. Whatever you want to think about who they are as quality fighters, I'm not here to have that. As promotional entities, Kayla Harrison is a much,

much bigger star than AJ McKee. And that is fact. Yes, he ain't getting a million. I think they will get very close, but I still don't think it'll be enough to keep him. So he's got this and he's got two more fights. So if he wins this fight, he goes up to 55, fights but tricky,

probably wins that fight, wins that title. and then, I don't know, you do one more, maybe you fight Benson Henderson on the way out if he beats Peter Quilly and Dublin. Maybe you can get all three of these fights done this year. At that point, if he goes up and be Spatriki, let him go fight for the Garbo interim belt.

Let him beat, let him fight Logan Storley, because Logan Stoy is going to beat MVP. Yeah, probably. Let him go fight Logan Storley. If you're going to have him and you're going to keep him there, at least do fun things with him. He's literally already beaten all of the people in the tournament for his division, so

let's just go have fun with him. So that's the biggest fight on the card. The most interesting fight of the card is the co-made event, and of the weekend if we're being honest. Vadim Nemcoff versus Corey Anderson is probably the most intriguing fight, probably the best fight of the weekend, if we're being honest. Aaron Pee goes back against

Aidley Edwards, Tim Johnson, Linton Fasel, Tyrol Fortune, Rakim Cleveland, and then Kyle Kretschmer Michael Embardo is fun. That's just a lot of prospects from probably the San Jose area. Probably a lot of A.K.A. guys getting on the car to get a hometown rub. Then we go over to the UFC on Saturday.

We got UFC Vegas 51. We got a great main event, Vicente, Lucie, Blah, Muhammad. Co-main event is Cairo Barallo, making his Octagon debut. Before we go to the UFC, I do want to talk very, very briefly on the co-meat event. Mainly just because I want to get your opinion on it while we're here. Because for me, this is the number two and number three light heavyweights in the world fighting. I currently have Yuri Bahashka ranked as number one. I have Fadim and Corey Anderson ranked next.

That is how it goes. Again, my rankings are done entirely by who I think would beat who. And I think at this current juncture, Corey probably beats everybody. He certainly beats Glover. I would probably pick him to be on in a rematch, but I mean, we already saw him beat Glover. Not this version of Glover. Okay.

Not the older one. The wiser Glover. I'm pretty sure Glover is going to win or lose, retire after his next fight. So I, you know, this is two top five by anyone's estimate. I would say top five light heavy weights going at it. and do we think the winner of this is the best light heavy way in the world? Like, do they have a legitimate claim to it, Mike?

There's a con. There's a cut. There's a win over Glover especially. Yeah, but I mean, again, this is, this is Glover who was just getting hammed every night, drinking like 40 beers. Like, you know, this is not the same guy. This is not the heavyweight,

the light heavyweight champion of the world, Glover to share. And I think if they fought again, it would be a, it would be a different fight if we're being honest. There is an argument to be made. I will say no. But number two is very possible. Number two is very possible.

If Vadim just runs through Corey Anderson, he's clearly the second best light heavyweight in the world, in my opinion. Yuri will be number three. If Vadim runs through Corey Anderson, he's going to be my number one light heavyweight in the world. I don't think he's going to. I think it's going to be really fun back and forth battle. And I could absolutely see Corey Anderson winning.

But if Vadim runs through Corey Anderson at the end of this month, I will be bumping him to number one. So big stakes in this fight for me. Yeah, it's the most interesting fight on the card. It's not even, or on the whole weekend, 100%. Also, the thing that's the most interesting is like our rankings are currently split. Most people have to share it, number one, at light heavy. But a few of us, three of us have Phrashka. but if Vedem wins, I think you could see some of these things change substantively.

It could be the first division we've ever had in the MMAFighting.com Global Rankings, the only rankings that matter, best website in the world. The first time we've ever had three different people as getting, receiving votes for the top overall spot. So this is a fight that super matters. It does. And Bellator hasn't told you that because they don't care if you watch their product. but let me tell you that this is a fight that super matters. Real quick with the UFC.

Lukai Muhammad's a good fight. It's a good fight. It's the fight you have to make. I just, I'm not all that interested in it. Like, it's a fine fight, there's stakes.

You get two guys on good streaks. Luke is, I mean, look, this fight matters a lot more for Vesente Luque than Balamohama. In my opinion. Like, if Lucay,

this is a bust win for both guys, But Lucke clearly has a better shot of getting a title fight than Bilal Mohammed does. At least that in my mind. And I'm not trying to knock Bilal. Vicente's out here just colding everybody. Highlight reels galore. Balal's just very effective, but he's not that kind of a fighter. So I think title stakes-wise, how close we get to an Usman fight, or even a Hamzat fight,

this matters more to Vicente, Lucke. This is much more must-win for him. A loss of Balaw. I mean, it sets him back a little bit, but I still think he would have to win the same amount of fights, even with the loss here, to get to a title fight. So just your thoughts on the matchup, who needs this one more? It's there.

It's a fine fight. It's good main events compared to others we've seen over the last six or seven months, but I just not all that fired up for it. I don't know why. I think you're not fired up for one, because it's a rematch of a fight that nobody was like clamoring to run it back. Luke very, very clearly won the first one. The first round,

CAO, like, it was extremely evident and sure they've changed a lot. It was a while ago, yada, yada, but it's just not one that, like, matters. I'm pumped for this fight because I think Blahma is very good at fighting, and mostly I think Vicente Lucke is arguably the most exciting fighter above 155 pounds in the world right now. Like, there aren't a lot of guys that if I'm just, just throwing a dart in the dark about who to watch that I'm picking over him at this point in time because he is just, man, it's all gas, no breaks, baby. And I love that.

I love watching him fight. I do think this matters really importantly for Mohammed, because I think a win here probably puts him like right there. You said that you think it's the same number of wins to get a title fight. I think all Mohammed's probably just never fighting for a title, if we're being honest, he's going to settle into a happy Neil Magni role as Neil Neil starts to age out of the divisions and that's okay Neil Magny, great fighter, has the record for most wins in Walterweight or whatever

and that's just kind of where Ballal is going to be but if he does win this he'll move into the top five and then he probably is one one or two wins away depending on what he can go is if Ballal wins this and Colby says I don't want to

anything to do with Shemaya. I ain't doing it. Then Bala says, I'll take him. I don't care. Let's go. Get wrecked son. And he beats Shamaia. Then he's, that's, that's right in. He gets it, it's, it puts him into a title shot, which I think is his clear his path in, frankly. Because otherwise, if he does win this, which I don't think he will, he is going to have to fight Kobe Covington or Gilbert Burns or, um, he and Gilbert don't train together, do they? Who in Bilal? Yeah. No, Vicente does, though. Vicentane Burns, that's right. Okay. Yeah, I think actually that's probably just what happens is if Belaw wins.

He probably fights Gilbert Burns next. And a win over Gilbert Burns could theoretically put him into a title fight. So I think it matters for both men. It is a fight that matters a lot. It's just hard to care about this card because we've got a bit of the 273 hangover. And the rest of this card is a tough hit. Yes, I do like the... respect to all the men and women fighting on this card.

But I'm in on Chris Barnett fighting. Always going to be in on Chris Barnett fighting, never going to turn away a Chris Barnett fight. And the rest of these are all what I would classify as fine. Just fine. Like, sure, they're in a card. You know, Devin Clark William Knight, two big boys going to do beefy things. At heavyweight. Yeah, big, big beefy heavyweight things.

Yeah. Um, uh, the co-main event. This actually, I, this might be the first time in like five years that the co-main event has not had, uh, Wikipedia pages for either fighter, which is just the absolute better. Um, even though Cald Barallo and Gadsie Armagodziev are like, you know, they're undefeated or maybe there's one loss between them. It's some, some dumb stat like that, um, that they're both very good middleweights, but it's just awesome. neither of them have wikis and that they're the co-made on this damn thing. If you don't have a Wikipedia page, you should not get to be on a promotional poster. Like that should just be a rule because you can go make your own Wikipedia page.

That is a thing that you can do and they don't even have that. And yet they are supposed to get you interested in the fight night card. Man, go spend Easter weekend with your families, people. Go do that. That's my in thought. on this card. I do like the Miguel Baezza, Andre Fialo fight.

I like Kevin Krum, Aletangeli, that's good. And I'm glad to see your car close getting back in there for the first time in about two years. Oh, the opener.

First fight. So it should start off in a fun fashion. All of these fights are fine. They're fine. They're all fine contests. Most of them even belong on a UFC card somewhere. It's all fine.

this is a holiday weekend for many. If it is for you and your family, I would strongly encourage you to enjoy that family time. And if it's not a holiday weekend, you know, I strongly encourage you to enjoy that family time anyway, or personal time or invest in your other hobbies, because I say this all the time, Mike, you know I'm true. If I was just a fan and didn't work in this industry,

I would never watch this card. I would, I have a subscription to ESPN Plus. And so what I would do is I would check in at mMAfighting.com. It's the best website in the world. MMAfighting.com, very easy, all one word. I would go there to get live coverage updates, see what's going on. If I had time and I was near television, I'd tune in for the main event. But if not, no big deal, I can see the highlights.

I can see the live blog, which. I think I'm doing this week. Do all that. I'd watch our post show to get the rundown on what are the fights I should watch or not. And then Sunday, after I do Easter with the family or play golf, or whatever it is I'm doing on Sunday. Or maybe Monday. Maybe I wait until I go into work Monday.

And when my boss isn't looking, I pull up ESPN Plus, I'm like, ooh, Jed and Jose were talking. And they said that Baia is a Fialho fight, that was a real good banger. So I'm going to throw that up on the other screen, mute it, because I don't need the commentators. And I'm going to watch that specific fight because I know that one's good. And I know the main event's good and maybe one other fight I know is good. And everything else, I looked at the highlight videos that were thrown up on

MMAfighter.com, the best website in the world. I mean, I didn't spend seven hours watching 14 fights on Saturday, none of which are very good. And this is after a card on Friday, which has more value in terms of fights than this UFC card. And again, I'm not trying to disrespect anybody. Bell's her card just better. And this card is fine. I am in for everybody getting money.

Brian Stan was on the MMA hour this week, and he said he gave his advice to young fighters. And one of the most important things he said to all young fighters was that they should get a hobby, and they should invest in that hobby because fighting isn't going to be there forever. And I'm going to tweak that, and I'm going to give it to all the fans.

I know that fighting is your hobby fans, and we love you for it because you let us do the thing that we love to do as a profession, and I will always, always be grateful for that. But also adopt a second hobby because you do not need to spend your Saturday night watching Jordan Levitt, Trey Ogden. You don't need to do that.

That is not a thing. Your life is not going to be substantively better for having done so. So read a book, you know, go outside, play pickleball. I don't know, whatever it is that you would manifestly interest you. but I encourage you to exercise your other hobbies this weekend and just come to us and we'll tell you the stuff that you need to know from this from what happened this week what's important this week we will help you with the stuff that you need to know and you can live a more fulfilled and enriched life with a wide diversity of interests I mean that's it we can't go any further than that well said well said fine weekend of fights and we will leave it at that so

you're celebrating a long weekend, enjoy it. If you're going to be watching cards on Friday and Saturday, enjoy them. If you're going to be doing other things on Friday and Saturday, besides watching fights, enjoy those as well. For Jedbyshu, I am Mike Eck. Back to regular BTL next week, live 3 p.m. Eastern next Thursday. But until then, everybody, have a great rest of the weekend. We'll see you once again between the links next week.

Good night, everybody. We'll be good. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.