MMA Fighting - BTL | UFC 314, Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett, Volkanovski vs. Lopes, GFL Cancellations

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

It's UFC 314 fight week as the UFC is set to put on one of their most exciting on-paper lineups in recent memory, and while hardcore fans are excited for the championship main event between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes, it appears the overall fan hype is on the co-main event and featured bout. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the big storylines ahead of Saturday's massive pay-per-view card in Miami, where the hype is, along with the overall stakes in the vacant featherweight championship headliner between Volkanovski and Lopes. Additionally, they'll discuss the five-round lightweight co-headliner between Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett, the featured contest between Bryce Mitchell and Jean Silva, GFL cancelling their first two events, the big news of Aaron Pico signing with the UFC, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and Submission Radio's Denis Shkuratov. Follow Mike Heck: @mikeheck_jr Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Submission Radio: @SubmissionRadio 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

Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Caro, 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. holiday prep means cleaning every corner, reach for Pine Sole original pine. Pine Sole is the only one you need for multiple surfaces, cleaning floors, counters, stoves, toilets, and showers while killing 99.9% of germs. With long-lasting freshness and an iconic pine scent, it's sure to give you that fresh holiday feeling. Shop now and get your home holiday ready with Pine Soul. Use as directed. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From MMA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my...

The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. Happy UFC 314 fight week to us all. And I guess a big adios to GFL and their first two cards. What a week indeed in the world of MMA. and today we discuss the big stories, a lot of UFC 314 chatter. And joining me to do all of this

is one half of this week's matchup. Yes, the matchups have returned. Let us say hello to Mr. No Gray Area, the hot take kid, the greatest climber of them all over here at MMAFighting.com. Jed Mishu, fresh back from the NYC. How are you, sir?

You left out happy Masters week for those who celebrate. It's kicked off right here. There's a television that you can't see because that would be bad video for us and might get his copyright claimed. But I am watching the Scotty Sheffler group right now while we do this. So it's just a wonderful weekend of sports. One of the best ones of the year, if not the best of the year thus far. And we got a real special guest.

It'll be real fun. Yes. I have been watching the Masters in the background all morning. Had to turn it off, unfortunately, for this program. because it is now time to say hello to his opponent jumping back on the channel here. It's been a minute. First time on BTL. I was honored and privileged to be on his show yesterday.

And now he joins us today. And what a legend doing so at friggin 2.30 in the morning in his part of the world from submission radio fame. It is Dennis Skoratov. Did I get that right? I can never, I suck with last names. Because mine's heck. How are you? Mike, how are you doing?

Heck. It's good to be here. At 2.30 in the morning, you did a fantastic job in watching the Masters is for nerds. We don't watch golf over here. We watch Real Men's Sport, which includes Australian football, which is the only type of football and MMA. Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Jeddy, are you hungover?

No. We didn't drink that much yesterday in MK. Like, we had a few, but... And I didn't. I'm asking about you. Look, just because I had some more than them doesn't mean that you should mock them for being pansies, I guess we'll go with there.

But no. I had... It's right out of alcohol on the way back and that's what I'm hearing. Those are the reports I'm getting. So apparently GFL's no more alcohol on the airline.

It would have been way cooler if they were doing service. I got stuck on the freaking tarmac for two hours again. Every time I go do MK, I have travel troubles. I'm turning into a bootleg version of Jose Young's terrible stuff.

But check out the morning combat pregame preview. It was super fun, and we had a good time. Yeah, the Atlanta to New York City and back trip is never fun. Last time I did that, I was stuck in New York for three days. So that's always fun. I mean, it's not a bad place to be stuck, but when you don't want to be stuck with three days, kind of sucks. But let's, please, Jed, please.

I was to say, I will say shout out to New York. They have kebabs, and we don't like have a Donner kebab spot on every, street corner here and is way better. Like it's way better just be like, all right, I got an hour to kill. I'm going to go get a kebab and walk to the park. That's fun. I wish I could do that here. So shout out NYC.

Sad. Sad. As happens. That's true. But listen, as I said at the beginning, and we are going to absolutely hammer UFC 314 conversation on today's show. But we had to call a little bit of an audible because we had some news drop last night that has gotten a lot of attention.

And with Jed here, we have to get right into this because the GFL schedule of events in Los Angeles for May 24th and May 25th no longer happening. We confirmed with Andy Foster over at the California State Athletic Commission last night. The cards are off. Canceled. GFL as of now are calling them postponements. Darren Owen released a statement to a couple of outlets, submitted one to me earlier this morning, essentially just saying that an investor fell out. Now it's looking like June and they're just

going to march forward and keep doing this thing. I talked to some fighters and managers this morning. To say confidence in GFL has dropped from that perspective would be a gigantic understatement. So Jedbushu, you and I have come on these shows and we've tried to tell people for months. In fact, as an actual website, even when GFL was on social media announcing these individual fights. Even when they announced a Tony Ferguson's going to fight Dylan Dennis on a date TBD, we didn't even write them up because we knew this was not something that could happen. We felt it was something that inevitably will happen that these fights won't happen

because the road has been lined with red flags as big as big as Texas, as long as Texas, red flags freaking everywhere. And now we have this news that these two events are being canceled or postponed. So Jed, you are here. It is Thursday. It is BTL. Your reaction to this news that GFL's scheduled events are not happening when they were supposed to. Who could have seen this coming, guys?

Who could have predicted this? Impossible, I say. No one saw this coming. I have been getting a ton of messages about GFL over the past several months, frankly. just like DMs, Instagram stuff, Twitter messages me like, hey, GFL announced this fight, do you think it's actually going to happen? Hey, now there's a date. Hey, Andy Foster said that they paid the money. They're clear to go.

Hey, are you going to go on there and apologize? Looks like they're actually going to have fights. It was like, look, if they have fights, that'll be terrific. I will be excited to do a post show, to do a live watch party for the first GFL event, should it ever take place. but them saying stuff and, you know, declaring a date, that is a far cry from this thing happening. And I, you know, I was skeptical in general. And then when I watched the draft show, that's when I was really all in on the, oh, this is never going to do anything. And I will stay firmly on this corner until proven wrong.

And I got to tell you all the people with me on that corner, we had some fun because I did get a whole bunch of messages being like, oh, wow, looks like you were right as that news broke yesterday. I'm stuck in the stupid airplane with an electrical problem for three hours, being like, oh, I got nothing to do. And then people are like, hey, by the way, GFL, look at that. So yeah, no one could have ever seen this coming. One of the more surprising developments in the history of the sport, arguably, and I'm quite excited about it. Dennis, a lot of firepower name-wise on the GFL roster. And just kind of digging through and talking to people,

you hear some of the amounts of money being promised to these fighters, multiple fighters getting seven figures plus per fight. There's no TV deal announced. And we're just wondering, like, how are they going to pull this off? Any surprise from you with this news from last night? Hey, man, not only is GFL maybe not real, but is Darren Owens a real human being? I know you did a town hall with him, Mike.

Is he an AI-generated image? Is this guy even real himself? I have doubts all about it. GFL is that, G, is that even a letter in the alphabet? At this point, you've got to second guess all these kinds of things. Listen, it's like a bunch of premature ejaculators trying to do a marathon porno. There's just no chance this thing is going to happen. I just don't know how you announce not only one but two cards.

And you don't even have an investor who's locked in. I'm not even talking about licenses or anything like that. I mean, I don't know, man. It seems like Dylan Danis is one of the more credible people on these cards. And that's not saying something. GFL's really let people down. You can't win back. Can you win back after something like this?

People were already downing these guys. What do you guys think? Can you win back any kind of reputation here? Or is this like someone just beat you up around the back of the school at 3 o'clock in the afternoon? Bad beat down. There's no showing up at school the next day, right, fellas? Yeah, they're cooked. Like that's the thing about the withdrawal of this like when you do say you're going to do it, given the scrutiny you're under, given that like, this is long, like a lot of other people besides just us being like, yeah, this isn't going to happen.

This is a nonsense thing. Like you've got to commit if you're going to do it because now, even if they do, and frankly, I hope they do. Like it will be genuinely fun to watch the Retirement League, you know, event and do a post show and we can be a little silly with it. Like, that would be a, and fighters getting paid. Like, I'm always in support of fighters getting money. I hope that it does happen. But, like, if it's, if it was going to happen, it happened, you know? Like, if you were the inventor of Facebook, you would have invented Facebook.

If they were going to have an event, they would not have to pump fake this first declaration. Like, all, any credibility that they may have had, which was minute to start, is all the way out. And we'll see if they ever. put it together to at least put some sort of fight card down, even if it's far cry short of what they've promised. But Mike, is it crazy, Mike, that like, is it a crazy that, okay, like, you're throwing this crazy money around, but rather than having, like, two or three sweet fights and an okay card,

these guys are doing, like, computer generator drafts and two, two cards, and they're also paying all those guys crazy money? Like, come on, guys, can we just put our shoes on before we walk out of the house first? Like it's just outrageous, right, Mike? Like, get something right before we announce this stuff. Dude, you need a TV deal. They still, like, when I did that town hall with Darren in January and he was like, hey, give it a couple of weeks.

We'll have a TV deal announced. It's fucking April. We're knocking on the door of May. We still don't have a TV deal. This is not a promotion with the money they're spending that can just put an event on YouTube. Like, this ain't dirty boxing. They can't just float a card for a hundred people in some,

airport building and just do it on YouTube. Like it doesn't work that way. Like with what they are spending, what they're trying to do, they're going to have to get a multi-million dollar television or broadcast distribution deal off the ground. And we still haven't heard an announcement. Like it's not even the investors. Just give me, they can send out a press release right now and say,

hey, we just got 60 investors all investing a billion dollars each. And then my question will be like, great, but we're your TV deal because then I still don't buy that you're real because you're just not without one. You just are not in a position to be anything without some sort of distribution deal. So, Jed, hand up. You're raising your hand. Please. What would you like to say?

So this is a slight pivot off what we're talking about, but I'm going to loop it in. Because speaking of promotions who are really going through it right now and should try to make things work a little better, breaking news, the main event for PFL's tournament tomorrow is now different because Josh Reddinghouse is not clear to fight. It is off the card. So, Marcerilli, Alvaz, honestly, I have no idea that human being is, is stepping in to replace him in the main event against Leandro Ego. That is two in a row PFL tournament events that will now not have the promised bracket because stuff went wrong on way and day. sick. Hey, but see, they have a TV deal.

They can broadcast fights. It's okay. They're still putting on events. We'll believe that they will. Yeah, at 11 p.m. Eastern, by the way, for their main card. That's going to be a tough, tough scene right now. But Dennis, after hearing all this, you mentioned the draft is an absolute disaster. Then we had cards officially announced.

We had locations. And even when they announced these cards, we still had to reach out to Andy Foster. be like, hey, is this real? Like, is this actually happening? And before we could even write anything up, like, that's how we felt about this whole situation. So you never know. Over under two and a half GFL events we get.

And I'm not saying 2025. I'm saying ever. Man, great question. Great question. Listen, I think that I think it's, I don't think we get those two and a half events, man. I think the fighters have lost all confidence. before this even happened, like Ryan Bader was on the show last week, Jed's favorite,

and he was talking about how he doesn't even trust the PFL to go there for this big money. Luke Krocolt told me he doesn't know what the hell is going on. These guys are like, all right, we'll take the payday, but I think it's getting to the point where they're going to lose half of their roster after this and people are just going to move on to real options. What about Holy Home guys? These guys are like in their 40s and stuff. How much longer can people just hang around and wait for GFL to have an event?

This isn't like the Titanic where there's the old lady. And she's like, it's been 93 years. And now we find that. GFL has an event. You know, like these guys have real time constraints on their careers. They're like in their 40s. I got to say that. I feel like a lot of the roster is pulling out after this.

And I don't think they're going to make it to two and a half events. Jed, what do you think? Set the line. You set the line two and a half events too high. The line should, I guess, two events too high. The line should be a half an event. And I'm taking the under. They're just not like, they're not going to do it.

I'll believe it when the cage door closes and they actually host fights. But like, even when people like, oh, look, they paid Andy Foster the money to be held in escrow that they needed. It's debt like, this is real. Okay, sure. Let's see. There's a lot of time between now and then. And look what happened. Like they, this does, and I don't, I don't know these people.

You did the town hall with Darren Owen or whatever. like I don't wish them ill. This does not appear to be an organization run by people who, A, know what they're doing, B, are competent at what they should be doing, or C, have any idea at all what they actually need to be doing. Like, it is, I will be astonished if they pull this off. This screams to me, an accusation I won't make as one of the possibilities. And the other possibility is somebody who's just like,

ah, I think I can make this work, but it doesn't really just woefully, woefully ignorant of what actual fight promotion is and gets in here. And it's like, ah, shit, I had a song. That's all I needed was the GFL rap song. And then I would get it going. And now it's here. Like, no, they're never doing something.

I hope I'm wrong, never doing anything. Just an answer. It's a grigger on a card. And that way you can disappoint a number of people at the same time. And maybe while we're at it, depending on what happens, John Jones and Tom Aspel, put them on there too. Just make it a one big disappointment world for all us, MMA fans and media. Jed, it's a big gap from where we sit right now to, I need to see two people fighting in a cage under the GFL banner before I believe it. So is there anything that you need to see between point A and point B that will change your mind a little bit?

outside of I need a fight to happen. If they announce a TV deal tomorrow and it's legit, does this help? Or do you need to see literal fist fights happen before you believe it? I'll start thinking maybe I'm wrong when they host, like when it's fight week and they're doing like traditional media events. Not a moment before. Because why would I?

They already announced an event and now they've canceled it. So until we like get into the middle of a fight week where they are, doing actual things there is a venue booked and prepared for them like why would i believe it so like they could come out tomorrow and be like all right we postponed and now we're happening june first i'll be like cool i'll talk to you whatever that is may 25th or whatever when you should be starting to do your media prep for that week like that is i will start to think maybe i'm wrong if there is an actual fight week that happens but i won't fully believe it until the cage door closes on the first GFL fight.

You with that, Dennis, or do you need to see, will something else change your mind in some way, at least give you more positive feelings about whether or not an event actually happens? I'm going to take one up from Jeddah. Not only do I want to see the cage that will close. I want to see like two, three fights happen before I actually believe it's happening. I still have a scenario in my head, like where some kind of MMA Vince McMahon comes out halfway through the event.

It is guys, God damn it, stop the show. the investors pulled out. Tony Ferguson and Dylan Dennis have just jumped on the bus and gone home. And now it's a cage match for the title. I mean, listen, bad. I don't know. Does the draft classifies half an event though, Jed? No.

It would have if it was a real draft. It was fake. It was a fake thing. And then they did it all by AI. And they pulled in a collection of, like, people who were important in this space, like a decade ago. it was, oh, the draft was so bad that it was almost funny, it was so bad. So no, that doesn't count as an event.

But credit to those people who I assume got paid, and if you didn't get paid, you are foolish for not asking for cash up front. They're getting people that reported a decade ago. How come they never gave me a call? I don't understand. Because you're important right now. Ah, thank you. Yes.

Compliment. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. I am told there will be another statement forthcoming later on today from the GFL in regard to their future and why these events were canceled to postpone. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, let's talk some UFC 314. The point for round one goes to, I mean, analogies galore for Dennis. He's on the board one to nothing. Well done.

Yes. What a debut. Screw you, Ted. Screw you, man. You've gone down. I gave you a wonderful compliment and now I'm getting screw you, Jed. I get a kebab for a walk at a puck, you know.

Not kidding. Yes. I mean, as everybody knows, the regulation points are about as real as the GFL draft. So it all comes down to the very end if we get that far. Maybe I'm just in a salty mood

and I just want to get this over with quickly. So let's get into a promotion. Yes, maybe we'll announce a TV deal. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday.

IKEA. Bring home to life. Simons has your holiday outfits sorted. Be ready to wow in a wardrobe design to celebrate the season. Revel in luxurious velvet, shimmering satin, elegant silhouettes and sparkling details. Whether you're going full glam or keeping a casual, you're sure to shine bright in our festive party wear, no matter the dress code. Just RSVP yes and let style carry you into the new year with Simons. Let's get into a promotion that is thriving, regardless of the effort put in the ultimate fighting championship, guys. They are coming off of one of the worst cards in maybe the past 20 years.

They're in Miami for UFC 314, which is, you know, this is, this card has to be excited. It really does. It has a lot of fans excited. But Dennis, we sort of touched on this on your show yesterday. So I want to turn this to you. Aren't we prisoners of the moment, perhaps, because yes, we have Volcanowski versus Lopez. We have Chandler versus Patty. We have Mitchell versus Silva.

We have Patricia Pitbull making his UFC debut against Iya Rodriguez. is Dominic Reyes versus Nikita Krylov, some high stakes, intriguing prelims. Is UFC 314 a good fight card or a great fight card? Because this is 2025 and not 2016. Because if this is 2016, this would probably be a middle of the road card at best, right? Man, if this is 2016, I'd have a couple of women with me and one of my convertibles. Now I've lost everything. And here I am with a child who's three years old.

Listen, I got to say, man. I think that this is a great card. And I was thinking about this earlier, and I really think that depending on what happens on the night in Miami, is what's going to make it the polarizing card that we all feel like it should be taken in as. I know like Luke Thomas said that it's missing at John Jones or a Connor McGregor, but a huge name like that. But I think the matchups are juicy here.

And I think that if we get, for example, the storylines are crazy. Like if we get Alice Okunovsky walk out here, win the title back. Now he's back in action. He's sort of showing everyone he can do it. He's coming back for another run. That's going to be huge for all of us in the media space to be like, all right, we've got a big name back in action and he's ready to go.

Then we've got this narrative between Chandler and Patty Pimble. Can Patty Pimble? Can Paddy Pimble do it? Well, Chandler be back. Then we've got Patricia Pitbull. This is his return to the UFC. What's he going to look like here? There's some stuff around 205.

And even Bryce Mitchell and Silver, some stuff on the prelums. I really think if the card goes, the right way might end up sort of sustaining a lot of us media members for at least a few months. If we go out there, though, and Lopez beats Wolkonovsky, maybe I suppose Chandler beats Pimbled, Yayae beats Pitbull. I don't know who would be more kind of less interesting in the 205 discussion or the John Silver, Bryce Mitchell's situation. But yeah, I really think in those three fights, it's really going to change people's excitement

or the way this kind of impacts things going forward. would say it's a great card mark. Jed, is this a great card or a very good but not great card? I think it's great. I love it. But here's why I asked this question, Jed. When we talk about UFC Vegas 105 being a dumpster fire and being Garbo, we're too negative. When we talk about UFC 314 being a great card, we're too positive. Like, you're just, you're overselling it. The main eventor is on a two fight losing streak. He's been knocked down two straight fight. right, it's Michael Chandler's only two and four and he's fighting in the coal main event. Like, what is it?

Like, are we too negative? Are we too positive? So that's why I asked this question. Is this a great card or just a very good card? I think the truth is probably that it's a good card. But who cares, right? Like, that's just not, at this point, we can't live in the world. We're like, yes, if this was 2016, this would be a good pay-per-view, wouldn't be an amazing

pay-per-view, right? It's not 2016. It's 2025. This is the world we live in. This is as good as it realistically gets other than a once-in-a-generation UFC 300, right? Like this is, look, the first four fights of the evening are nothing. They are meaningless dribble, right? Like those card, the Sardrit Duma, Nora Cornoli, Treshaun-Gor, Sumadji,

like all of those fights could be just as readily available in the prelims of an Apex show. So if you are judging top to bottom and really with the discerning eye, it's a good car. It's not a great card. I'm not doing that because I don't give a shit because this is a great car. This is the best card we've had of the year. I want to enjoy the sport. Like I don't, we don't want to come here and be curmudgins and be like, well, back in my day, fights used to be fun and good.

And now they're neither. We don't want to be like, man, the apex is awful. We don't. But that's kind of our choices are either a lie or admit the truth. This is a week and we don't have to lie. We don't have to, you know, blow smoke up anybody's ass and say, man, I can pump to watch this fight card. Like I am very excited to do the watch party with you Saturday night. The whole main card is good.

I would honestly, if you want to, we could watch party from the middle prelims. Like, because I am marginally interested, not even marginally. I'm interested in the Darren Elkins, Julian Rosa fight. like obviously Jim Miller Chase Hooper like that's a fun fight from then on it's bangers all the way and maybe it doesn't have the super elite John Jones top of the food chain kind of cherry on the top of this Sunday to really get it over to the edge of three stars brilliant perfection it's a great card we're going to have a ton of fun on Saturday great compelling matchups interesting storylines not top to bottom because the first four fights suck but top to the middle it's awesome this is the best we can ask for and hope for. And so I'm not going to get bogged down and nitpicking why it's not great because the rest of it is great. But Mike, don't you think because UFC 315 and 16 suck as well, we can at least enjoy 314 for a little bit? Like we're looking over the horizon and the red coats are coming.

So why not enjoy this last life piece of life before we start breaking down why Marab shouldn't be having to defend his belt against Sean O'Malley? or Jose Aldo's, you know, fighting who he's fighting in Canada or whatever else is happening. 315 is a good card, by the way. It is a good card. Even counting, like the Jose Aldo thing infuriates my soul that that booking is taking place. But removing that, 315 is a good card. It's just a card that's going to be boring. We're going to end the night with a snoozer because it's ball and no one will watch or care about it.

But it is a good card if you're a hardcore fan. And JDM will win the title and bring him back to Australia, right, guys? If he does, that would make the card much better because if Belaw wins, it won't be interesting. I'm rooting for him. Don't think it's going to work, but I'm rooting for your guy. Yeah, I mean, look, that is next month. We'll get there and we'll get to 316 as well. We're waiting on UFC 317 at this point.

But let's go back to just let's go to the main event. Let's talk about this made event, Jed, because this is a very good main event between Alexander Volcanowski and Diego Lopez. It's a title fight. A lot of questions about both guys are going to be answered. But what's interesting is based on overall buzz and hype and the metrics that the UFC, and to some extent, you and I at MA Fighting and Dennis over at submission radio, how we look at things, does this feel like the main event? Does this feel like the fight everyone is looking at and saying,

I got to buy UFC 314 because Alexander, Volcanowski and Diego Lopez are about to fight for the featherweight title. That's an interesting question. Probably not. But like it does feel like the main event, to me at least. Like it is the fight that I am the most interested in. It's I think the best fight probably, though probably not certainly, which a couple years ago definitely would have been certainly.

I think like for hardcore fans, I think that it is the main event. I'm going to guess that the more casual audience, the people who are tuned in but not like plugged in as it were, that the co-main event is probably the one that they're more attuned to just because Patty Pimbley is such a popular fighter, such a big star, Michael Chandler makes the headlines a lot because of the longstanding Connor thing. And then of course there's also the whole Bryce Mr. John Silva stuff that I'm sure at some point we'll get into during this show. it does I think broadly speaking the 314 is the sum of its parts kind of card where people are tuning in because all of it is good

like the people who buy the paper views will do it because all of it and not oh Alexander Volcanowski is fighting or oh Patty Pimblen is fighting but if we are trying to parse out who gets the credit here my guess is that Patty is more of a draw here than anybody else

do you agree with that Dennis yeah I was breaking down the thumbnails that they're using for embedded on this one. And if you guys go and have a look, and by the way, their embedded numbers are actually pretty low for this event. They've decided to go with Patty Pimbled, Michael Chandler, Patty Pimbleau, Michael Chandler. And I thought they'd throw a little bit of Volko in there,

a little bit of this, little bit of that. But yeah, their software or whatever they use for their trending must really say that this is the main event, a lot of casual buying people's eyes. I think it's big in Australia because, you know, Volko is a big name here now. he's all over sort of the TVs here. But if you come out of Australia, I guess, yeah, they have been built in Chandler for a while. Pimbleau is kind of like this next big thing for them. And it seems like, yeah, they're sort of backing the guys in the promotion here.

They're not really, I don't get the UFC sometimes these days. Like, they don't really build fights outside of sort of one or two key fights now. We're talking about this on submission radio earlier. Like, why don't you guys tell the story of 205 here, of Dom Reyes, of Nikita? Why don't you tell the story of some of these other guys on the card? Like, if you're just tuning in for the first time here, you don't really know shit about Jim Miller, you don't really know shit about a lot of the legends on this card,

you don't really know shit about the prelims. You don't know that much about the main card if you were real casual. I just don't understand whether they don't do like a bit of a boxing and build up more names, that's all. But anyway, it looks like it's Pimbled and Chandler to the UFC and the casuals. We obviously broke this fight down in a number of ways on your show, Dennis. And we'll get to like the nitty-gritty, of our viewpoints essentially on the preview show tomorrow,

but there are a couple of sort of storyline questions and prediction questions that I want to touch on. So let me ask you. Now, I know you might look at things from a different lens just based on where you are geographically, but just taking yourself outside of that. What is the more interesting world to live in? A featherweight division with Volcanowski is a two-time champion

or a featherweight division with Diego Lopez as the featherweight champion? Yeah, like for me, it's not even close. It's like hands down, Alex Okunovsky as the champion is a much more exciting world to live in. I think Diego Lopez is a good athlete. I think he's still coming to his own. But I think if he wins the belt in Miami, I don't see him as, you know, a rating champion that's going to really get a few title defenses. And I see him get the belt, sort of hang on to it for a cup of coffee and then lose it against one of the top contenders in the division.

Whereas if Alex Okonovsky comes back and looks anything like the Alex Okunovsky that we know before all the losses, I think he's got a good shot of beating a bunch of guys in the division and potentially leading into this toporio fight down the line, guys. It's a poria fight. For me, it's not even close. It's Alex Okunovsky all the way. Do you view it the same way, Jen? That this is a more Volcanowski win and doing so in a way where statistically

it's not in his favor that is a more interesting world to live in than Diego Lopez title reign? It's really good question. question. I don't know, man. Like, I just don't know. This guy's mind is still on the plane on the way back from New York. It's just like I just haven't really considered a lot of that.

Like, I mostly, like, the entirety of my thought about this fight is just, I genuinely don't know what's going to happen. And that is why it is such a fascinating matchup. It's why it's a matchup that I am interested. in. That's why it is, as I said, you know, my main event of the weekend or whatever. Because I just don't, like, the rest of it is all like, I just, I need to see it. I need to see how these two dudes

match up because Volk is a better fighter than Diego Lopez. Prime Volk I would pick against Diego Lopez confidently. I don't know that Volk is even near his prime based on kind of what's happened. Like, he is coming in, as Luke Thomas pointed this out to me yesterday, he is trying to do something nobody has ever done before,

which is win a title off back-to-back knockout loss has never been done in the UFC. Like that is, he is trying to be the first fighter below 155 pounds to win a belt over the age of 35. Like he is fighting these historical precedents and it really feels like he is fighting those things and not Diego Lopez. Diego Lopez is just the proxy for these other things. He is the man representing these things. And so, like, that's just kind of all I am thinking about. I've spent the past week trying to figure out, like, who's going to win? I have to write about this.

And I don't, I still don't know who, like, I know who I've picked. I don't feel any level of confidence. I don't have any idea what I'm actually going to see Saturday night. And that's the thing I'm thinking about the most. But he becomes the goat in your eyes, right, Mike, if he wins here in Miami. I mean, to me, I think he is the federal. Why are you asking me this question? You should ask Jed about this question.

Well, no, I'm asking you, my friend, because on submission. Radio for those that haven't watched it. Mike has a very different opinion on who the goat. First of all, Mike, you tell us who is the featherweight goat? I don't need to say. Jed will say it for me. We're in the same boat. It's going to say Alex Okodowsky, because Jed's a nice boy.

No, he's not going to. No, because he's smart. He gets it. No, he's a handsome man. You're about to give away. He's objectively not. He's objectively not. Like, I don't know what else to tell you.

He's not. This will be an incredible. He's one of the 10. greatest fighters of all time. Just super sucks that one of the four greatest fighters of all time also is in his weight class. Sucks, it's really terrible,

but that's the luck of the draw, man. I love it. I love this discourse. I love this discourse. I love how Dennis is just like, you know, it's a great strategy.

I could go up 2.0 right now because Jed just gave us an I don't know. And now you're just handing him a point right now. But let's see if Jed can run with this momentum because an interesting aspect of this fight, Jed, is if Diego Lopez wins. And this is just me thinking out loud here and trying to break this fight down in my brain. If Diego Lopez leaves Miami with the featherweight title, I feel that he just runs Volk the F over.

He knocks him out brutally. It just, to me, it seems to be a higher likelihood that if Diego Lopez is to win, he's going to knock Volcanovsky out, and that'll be the third consecutive time he's been knocked out in a fight. If that does happen, and Volk does get knocked out on Saturday in devastating fashion, is that it? Like what chances would you give that Volcanowski retires on Saturday if he is knocked out again? Pretty high.

I wouldn't say like 90%, but I'd say over 50% that he retires based on just the things he said. Like he took training like apparently way more seriously this time around on his YouTube. He was like, yeah, so I've been in camp functionally for months at this point. I've instead of trying like letting things go and then just sort of getting myself back to the spot I need. I focused on my diet a lot more. I am trying to do everything possibly that I can to maximize my window, my longevity here, and to do what I'm attempting to accomplish. I recognize that being an older dude, I need to put more focus here.

And so if he does all of that and still comes up on air, I don't know that he wants to just stick around and compete, which is that's where he will be. If he lose DeLopez, he's probably never fighting for a belt again. like very likely at that point, never fighting for a belt again. So it's, hey, do you want to just stick around and have legacy fights, have fun fights? Maybe go up to 155 for real and try and get a fight with, you know, a Dustin Porre, a Justin Gehche, kind of those sort of dudes of a similar era that can be big, exciting, fun fights that maybe add a little bit to your legacy,

but, you know, we're not in the belts or bust conversation anymore. I don't know that he wants to do that. kind of feels like he wouldn't he would just say hey man at a great career one of the greatest of all time hall of famer no doubt about it i'll save my brain cells and move on to my cooking show and all these other things that i you know can do he's a personal guy i think he has a career in broadcasting to some extent if he wants that so my guess is i'll give it like 70% that he retires if he goes out maybe not in the cage right but he would just say all right i'm going to think about it and and then says, hey, ultimately no.

But I still would like to hold out hope because, look, Volk versus Dustin Porre and New Orleans for Porre's retirement fight, sign me up. That'd be pretty damn fun. Volk versus Charles Olivaura just to do it. That'd be fun. That'd be fun. I think there are, you know, Al Jermaine Sterling just as a, you know, former champ versus former champ fight. I think there are a lot of fun things that could happen if he does stick around, and I hope that they do.

Is this something you're thinking about, Dennis? that if Vogue goes out and gets knocked out again, that this could be the last time we see him fight? Yeah, man, for sure. I think it's like more of a 90% chance, to be honest with you. I think behind the scenes where people don't realize this is this is a guy that's really struggled for a long period of time. You know, he had to live.

I think it was in his parents' basement of his family or his wife's parents' basement with his family when he was starting out, wouldn't get signed by the UFC. He didn't make money for a long period of time. And then he's got this dynamite contract. So the only way I see him coming back is if he's like, look, I might cash in on this contract a couple more times. And I like what you said, Jed. You could even do him versus Connor McGregor for the king of 145 at 155.

Who knows? But I will say that I think if it happens like you said, Mike, if he gets stopped, he's created all these alternative things that he can do now. He's super popular here in Australia. I think he can get a TV job easily. The cooking would bulk things really take enough. His YouTube's really taken off his brand. I know he owns it. He's a part owner of Engage and a punch.

bunch of other businesses, he's got a Kia sponsorship here in Australia. He's got the Rock sponsorship. I was talking to him in Sydney. He was telling me how crazy it is that he's got all these sponsorships now and he's like lost a couple of fights. Whereas when he was winning, no one would even sort of look at him twice

until like a couple of title defenses in. So I think this is a guy that spoke to media and was like the first time when I spoke about retirement, you know, it was hard for me to do. But in this lead up to this fight, I think he's sort of come to terms of the fact that he's only got a couple of fights left or if this is it, this is it, because he kind of looks like he's almost already convinced himself that he's almost done.

He's almost like talking about it to media, unprompted about, you know, maybe I'll do a couple more fights, maybe not. But it looks like he's more comfortable with hanging it up, whether it would be up to this fight or if he gets one or two more fights if it goes his way. Yeah, that was a really interesting media day scrum, especially when he brings up the doubters and all that stuff. and, you know, I even put something on a Slack channel and tag Jed, because Jed loves when Volcanovsky is the favorite and talks about everybody doubting him.

It's just one of his favorite things in the sport, but just hearing him talk about it in media day and being like, yeah, man, I understand why people doubt me now. Like, it doesn't even upset me anymore. He goes, but he even admitted Jed, like, he has to dig deep. He has to find that chip on his shoulder and he uses that. He has to dig for people to say, like, oh, he can't win or he's going to, he's going to get knocked out. like these are the things he needs for himself. Does that make you change your mind on this at all?

Or are you just like stop doing that shit? I am more open to it now, right? Like I, it's, it will never not frustrate me. And this is more of me problem because plenty of fighters do what you said, Mike. Like they are looking for that chip, that edge. That's the only way they can self-motivate. They can't motivate themselves with love and respect. It has to be with anger because that's fist fighting for you, I guess, or whatever.

But like, that's more of a me issue because he is not the only one. He was just very prominently doing it in an extremely annoying way to me. I am more open to it this time because there are legitimately a bunch of people who doubt him. Like previously he was doing it. And he's like a minus 300 betting favorite or whatever. Oh, you doubted me. Y'all said I couldn't beat Max Hollow. It's like Max said that and like a couple of Max fans.

And you were a minus 240 betting favorite. And you'd beaten him twice before. Like nobody credible really said you couldn't beat Max Holloway. of the third time and like, oh, y'all saying I can't beat Islam? Well, you didn't, my guy. So maybe we were right. Perhaps it was a good call by the haters at that point. I am more open to it now because there are tons of doubters now,

even though he is a betting favorite. Just won't throw that out there. He is the betting favorite. So more people think that he can do it. But it's more acceptable to me because, like, there are real doubters. I still don't think that that should be your motivation in life is to prove the internet doubters wrong. But, you know, whatever gets you go and gets you to the point, I guess.

And so him acknowledging that, like, this is partially fabricated, makes it better, being like, yeah, this is actually me just being a little bit crazy because it's the only way I can, I know how to do this. But, like, the rational version of me understands that people don't actually doubt me all that much. I was the pound for pound top fighter in the world. So like I am again, I have a little bit more tolerance for it. I still, it would just be cooler if instead he was like, hey man, I just want to prove my supporters right. There are people out there who still believe in me who still think I can do it.

I just want to prove them right because it's cooler to do things for positive reasons than to do them for negative ones. Well, I mean, some fighters look for the chip. Some fighters want to see you at the top. And that's where we're going for round three. The point for round two goes to. I mean, a Frankie Edgar-esque type comeback for Jen Michoud. It's one-to-one, nicely done. Tried to throw it because I wasn't paying attention.

You asked the question and I did not know what question you asked because I was doing other stuff. He's watching replay of Scotty Sheffler burying a 62-foot birdie putt earlier in the day. He was actually talking to David in our slack about something and was not paying attention. Oh, the greatness of PFL losing their main event for the 400. Yeah, pretty much. We were having a PFL discussion about stuff that, like, for work or whatever. And I was like, I don't know what you're talking about.

Yeah. So let's talk about this Patty Pimble, Michael Chandler fight. Big co-main event, five rounds. A lot of attention on this one has been since the fight was announced. And you got two guys who play their roles absolutely perfectly for this. You got Michael Chandler who can be a baby face or can be a big time heel, depending on who you ask. And then you have Patty Pimblit,

who has ultimately been the heel, but has sort of turned it around, Dennis, and just become kind of a baby face in some people's eyes. So outside of the fight building, we're just talking about the actual fight itself. Intrigue levels on a scale of 1 to 10. Where are you at? Oh, great question, man.

I reckon I'm at a solidate here. There's a lot of intrigue here. There's a lot of questions to be answered, and there's a big, juicy outcome. here that whether I suppose if Michael Chandler wins not as interesting but if Paddy Pimblek can go out here and get it done it's really going to transform everything that's happening in that 155 division in that place is like gridlocked and Ilya to Poria vacated his belt to go there so I just I just laugh at the fact that they've just got this gridlock and Patty Pimbleau winning is

just going to throw all sorts of issues into the pipeline over there for all sorts of fighters so I think yeah eight out of ten Mike Eight out of ten for Dennis, one to ten for you, Jed. Intrigue levels for this co-main event. If I take myself out of the equation, Mike, and I'm just objectively speaking, my intrigue levels here are nine, nine and a half. Like, this is a genuinely fascinating matchup.

I hate Michael Chandler, so I am, you know, less interested in this fight as a whole because there's a good chance he wins and that will make me unhappy. but if I setting that aside like I think this fight is this is perfect booking like this is we've talked about it on other shows like this is perfect matchmaking because it is a winnable fight for patty and like this is sort of the pat like I think two years ago maybe as recently as two years ago I was like dude I don't even know how you craft a path up the lightweight rankings for patty

if you're like trying to give him there I remember having this conversation on air being like look at it like who at some point he's got to fight somebody real and everybody in the top 10 are killers it's like actually now we're we're making his way up like we are moving and he's getting better this is not to drag patty patty pinball has genuinely impressed me by being a better like just way better than i thought he could be he has consistently improved time in time out continue to develop continue to fill out at lightweight and that makes this interesting because the patty of two years ago, even against a probably washed Michael Chandler, I wouldn't feel could win this fight.

I think he has a very good chance to win on Saturday, but it is by no means of certainty. Michael Chandler, for all his faults as a fighter, knows how to cheat, which is a huge weapon. It's very helpful to just get the free advantage points of cheating liberally in a fight when your opponent will try and obey the rules. He hits real hard. He's very explosive, dangerous early, and he can wrestle him.

Patty is still not like a great defensive wrestler in this way. So like both men get tired. This fight goes long. Maybe Michael Chandler can just cheat his way to winning a couple of scorecards. But also maybe Patty just gets to the back and Chandler's little wash. Like it's a really, really good matchup. I'm genuinely interested in it. I'm not the only one.

Apparently Connor McGregor is interested, though I would say that I wouldn't believe that for a moment in time. But like true, like a really, really good co-main event. I'm glad it's five rounds. And if I can leave aside my anti-Michael Chandler bias, something I'm excited to watch on Saturday. It's a super fight. Like, you see, when we say like we get upset when the UFC doesn't try, when they don't try, we get Jose Alda versus Damon's a hobby.

When they do try, we get the matchups they're making for Patty Pimblit because they are perfectly matchmaking for him, just like they did for Alex Pereira. Like they did everything right when they try and they know where they're trying to get to, they nail it. And they're doing it here with Patty. Like this is, this is perfect matchmaking. And I even said on your show, Dead is yesterday that if Patty wins this fight, I don't

give a shit who is in line. He gets a title shot next. Just do it. Because if you throw him in there with Iliots, hold on, Jed, I know what you're saying. I know you're saying. This is for the Iliate Seporia sweepstakes. But if Jack Della Madelaine, the world you want to live in, if JDM wins the welterweight title, is Lamachchev's going up, there is a vacant title at 115.

Ilyate Tupoyer versus Patty Pimble, it seems like a damn good interim title or vacant title fight. Does it not? Like, I think you just give it to him, man. Just go. Just, this is your chance. Get him while the iron's hot,

because if you chuck them in there with Armin Sarukin, he ain't winning that fight. He's just not winning it. So throw him in there for the belt. That's how I look at it. But that's just sort of the stakes and we'll talk more about that.

But when you look at this stylistically, Jed, you can jump on in and quibble with what I had to say about that. But what's the biggest question you have about this fight? Buddy, if you're doing it for the interim belt, I'm all in. Because I think the winner of this is fighting Elliott-Tupuria. And if it happens to be for an interim title,

all the better for the UFC and everybody involved. My biggest stylistic question about this fight is very simply, I mean, there are a lot of questions, but I guess the biggest one is how washed is Chandler? because Chandler's washed, right? Like, go rewatch that Charles Oliver fight. I know it's off of big, long layoff, but he's 39, man, or about to be 39. Got a lot of miles on him.

And he loses every minute of that fight up until he cheats and almost kind of wins, but then doesn't at all and then lose the rest of the fight. Like, he did not look good at all because he's 39 and has been fighting hard for a long time. And so if he's really washed, then I think Patty's going to run away with this. If he's not, I think it's a coin flip, right? Like, if he still has some juice left in the tank, I think it can be interesting. But to me, this fight, I think the biggest question is how much does he have left in the tank? Because if it's not a lot, Patty's still got plenty of juice left in the tank.

And so I will pick him comfortably in that case. What's your biggest burning question about this co-made event, Dennis? Yeah, I'm just not. I'm sorry, fellas. I'm still not sold on Patty Pimbley. I was going through all this footage. And for me, it's going to be, where is this striking out as he goes into this Michael Chandler fight?

In terms of the sizing here, it seems perfect for Chandler. He's great at the pocket. He's great at landing. Toller guys, he's going to be hitting him with all sorts of hooks and overhand. Pimblit's chin is in the air. It's going to be how many punches can this guy wear? What's he like when he's in a real war with the guy that's trying to take his head off? He doesn't really have a game where he's dangerous and keep.

keep people on the outside so i imagine chandler's going to be making his way into the pocket and he doesn't really have the power to land on chandler as he's coming in and knocking him out in my opinion i don't think he's got the timing either so i don't know i'm a bit lower and patty pimble than a lot of people out there i think michael chandler his struggles at game planning uh couldn't maybe now that he's older look at a more strategic way of winning here and uh he's been in there a number of times here now he's back from that long layoff. I wonder what kind of Michael Chandler we see from a game plan perspective. But yeah, my big question here is can Patty Pimbleau cop the shots before he takes Michael Chandler's back later and the fighter potentially submits him. What are these guys fighting for,

Dennis? What awaits the winner? Well, Patty Pimble, this is a huge one, right, fellas? I think if you lose to Michael Chandler, if Michael Chandler goes out there and, you know, it's a repeat of what happened to Dan Hooker, for example, it's going to be hard for him to come. come back and sort of rebuild. He's still young, though, so the UFC can give him some favorable matchups and he can make it back in there. But it's really going to kind of prove a lot of the data is wrong. I think Michael Chandler, in a lot of people's eyes, like what Jed said, is kind of

washed. And I don't think he's got the highest street cred as he steps into this ring. So I think if he loses to this version of Michael Chandler, he's going to lose a lot of credibility. I think for Michael Chandler here, look, if he goes out and loses to Patty Pimble, it all wins. I don't know. There's just not that much. I think he's towards the end of his career, win or lose. I think he'll still have another couple of fights who get paid good money. And he's done what he set out, right? Fellas, which is like he wanted a Connor McGregor fight. That didn't happen. But he got paid a ton of money. He's like this quasi-motivational speaker. I think he's got some motivational, like rap song coming out. And he goes out there and he speaks to kids and gyms. And he's kind of like this. Yeah, he's kind of like this Timu, Tony Robbins, and M.A. And I think, think he's achieved his goals already. Jed, what if Michael Chandler does it? What if he goes out there and wins this fight, goes out there, has a moment, cuts the

promo. What awaits him? I'm so convinced that they're fighting for Liot Toporio. People really, really want Toporio to fight as Lamakachev. And while I think that that is a bit misguided and a bit silly, I do understand it. It's also just not happening, right? Like, that is, there's no reason for Islam to take that other than for the UFC to cut him a check. And the UFC, they're not going to cut a check for John Jones and Tom Asperon.

They're not going to cut Islam a check. Because if you want to be the Bogan out here who's like, oh, are you scared of Ilya? You're a dumbass and that's okay. You're allowed to be a dumb ass. Why would he fight another featherweight who has not won in the division at all? Like he's just not going to do that. Ilya is going to have to fight somebody. Charles Olavera seems like he is trying to play hardball and not fight Ilya

Armand I don't think the UFC wants to book that fight and I haven't really heard either of them call for that matchup particularly as it's really tough and so like why you can find something easier the winner of this fight makes too much sense the pat we know the paddy storeline it already exists and they fight for a title shot if Michael Chandler wins in an ideal world Connor would come back and fight him or whatever like for for michael chandler we also know that that's not happening and so michael chandler suddenly has a meaningful big win in a big time spot the ufc likes him the ufc kind owes him a favor because of how the whole conner thing went down they are always happy to put him

near to the title picture and so here go fight ilia ilia will probably certainly wax him but if he doesn't the ufc's comfortable with michael chandler beating ilia and getting a title fight and if he does fine, Bob's your uncle. Now you can do Islam versus Ilya. You have you have cleared the one hurdle needed to get to that fight and that can be the big pay-per-view at the end of the year can be those two dudes going at it in a top pound-for-pound fighting fighter super fight. I am so convinced that the winner of this is getting Ilya, maybe international fight week, maybe a little bit later than that, but that is what's going to happen. I'm ready to bet money if someone will give me that line. Oh, okay.

That'd be a very big deal for both guys that makes the stakes very, very high here. And especially, Mike, because I honestly did not consider this, but if Jack Della does beat Balaa and Ilya goes up, especially if it's for the interim belt, 100% if Islam is moving up to pursue one, the UFC will immediately be like,

all right, cool, interim title fight. Bam. It shouldn't be for the bacon belt. I think you're having a Michael Chandler but they'll let them keep it. I think having Michael Chandler is so essential in that division, right fellas? Because it's like, don't you think, Jed,

because you got your Max Holloways and all sorts of names out there that need like a Michael Chandler to match up with them. So if he loses, I still think he's got heaps of value for the UFC, honestly. And like you guys mentioned, I like that idea. But this is one of those rare situations

where the UFC is in a win-win situation, right? Like Dana White's not throwing the clipboard. depending on what happens here unless like both guys miss weight the night before. Yeah. Yeah. That's why it's a good matchmaking. There are no bad outcomes. That's like the best matchmaking for a promotion

if all the outcomes are good. Main event too. It's a win either way. If Diego Lopez wins, he gets to headline Guadalajara against somebody. It doesn't even matter who at that point, but if Ia Rodriguez wins, like that is just such a humongous fight to book in Mexico.

And if Volk wins, like, he's Volk. He just continued. used to get more and more popular old man volt videos and singing videos people are seeing that part of his personality that are getting him a little bit more popular each day yeah same thing here chanler wins big spot patty wins big spot so that is the co-main event there is a lot more happening at ufc314 we'll get into it very quickly the point for round three goes to dennis two to i just i just i just want to address a comment i congratulations to dennis on the point i do want to Azi Enduro's comment.

Chances for fights like Ilya versus Islam don't come around off and just run it. You're 100% right. They don't come around all that often except for when they did a fucking year and a half ago. The exact same goddamn fight. The exact same one.

Twice. Like they... Ah, this is a rarity. You got to jump on it. Oh, wait, we did it twice in the past 18 months. Two years, whatever. It's fucking nuts. We did twice the same year.

Yeah, we did it, uh, yeah, within an eight months span. Within an eight months span, we got featherweight champion versus lightweight champion. Complete refusal to like acknowledge that not everything has to be right now. I want my fucking chocolate bar right now. Give me the pudding cup. I'll eat the sandwich later right now. Fucking children. Oh, I'm so excited.

So now we head into round four. So infuriating, man. Speaking of things that'll make Jedded infuriated, let's move on to the round four topics here. It's week two of Canadian Tires' early Black Friday sale. These prices won't go lower this year. So you're lying on the floor? Save up the 50% November 13th to 20th.

Conditions apply, details online. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious will throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece?

Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. Jed, before Michael Chandler and Patty Pimblit fight each other and before Alexander Volcanowski and Diego Lopez fight for the featherweight belt, Bryce Mitchell is going to fight Gian Silva in a featherweight bout,

the feature bout, fight that has gotten a lot of attention. A fight that will continue to get a lot of attention will be very much talked about by the time we get to Saturday, even more so. Describe your feelings on Bryce Mitchell versus Gian Silva in one word and then explain your answer as to why you chose that word. Bullshit, because it's bullshit because the UFC is actively promoting a Hitler apologist and like shamelessly doing it. I credit that it's not the feature about, I guess, which for part of this week it was up there. Bryce Mitchell should not be employed by the UFC because they are a media-facing company. He really shouldn't be employed in a spot where they're going, they have a 50-50 chance of giving him a live microphone to say whatever pops into his crazy-ass brain. I mean, they've been giving him a live mic all week for media stuff.

And thank God he's yet to espouse profound support for some of history's greatest monsters. but, you know, still got some more media opportunities to do that. This fight makes me feel icky in particular because Bryce Mitchell has a really good chance of winning it, which makes it even worse. So I hate everything about this. I am not looking forward to this fight on Saturday, which is an accomplishment. Because everyone who knows my content, I have been as big as Gian Silva supporter as there is in this space since Contender Series. Like I really, really love him a whole lot.

And somehow you have made me not want to watch one of his fights. But we will be doing so on Saturday on the watch party. Dennis, what's your word and why? Hmm. I guess my word for this one would be a few words. And it's who led the dogs out, right? Fellas, I mean, it's one of those situations where you can't get the cat back in the bag. And now, and you know, like, we all know where I'm from.

I'm from Ukraine. I live there. There's a whole history there, like of my family dealing with some of the stuff that Bryce is talking about and a lot of firsthand stories that I can share with people to break some of the things that he's got in a history book. But I have to say, we were talking about like you can't lose, like no lose situations. And I feel like when they went into that UFC booking room, uh, promotionally.

And in terms of pay-per-view buys, there was somebody in that room going, listen, you know, like we'll trash this guy on the press conference but this guy's going to get us big views this this guy's going to do this this guy's going to do that like they're loving it they're cashing it on it if silver wins win win if bryce wins they know they're going to get more views on that i had a look at the views on the press conference on that weird media day where he was like kind of was he like versing media was it like some kind of was he in front of congress like what was happening there. Like he was kind of

to breaking down Christ and sort of going back and forth with media members. And it was just like hilariously disgusting. But it got big views. So I think for the UFC, you know,

maybe the word is for the UFC, it's win-win. You know, this is another win-win situation of these guys. People are buying pay-up views. Maybe ESPN will be happy. What's the low-key

bangor for UFC 314, Dennis? Moving on very quickly from that fight. What's the fight that no one's talking about, but in your heart of hearts, it's right up there as a must-see fight? I just, I don't know. I love Jim Miller, you guys.

He's got this Chase Hooper fight. I know that everybody's saying Chase Hooper is going to get it done. But imagine the world where good old Jim Miller goes out there and gets it done. Wouldn't it just warm our little hearts to see the big man be able to do it with his Lyme disease and everything that he's been through in his age and stuff? I think to me that's a fun fight.

No one's really talking about that fight in terms of promotion and stuff like that. But what about this, Jed? Jim Miller wins, gets that mic. Guys, Connor McGregor, you absolutely suck. I know Chal Sunner was saying that there's nobody in the UFC that Connor McGregor can be. But maybe Jim Miller's the guy that Connor McGregor will finally return against. You know what I'm saying? I mean, if Jim Miller gets around too, it's not going to be a good night for him.

But where are you at, Jed? What's the low-key banger? Ooh. I mean, a lot of these fights are. really good. Jim Miller Chase Hooper is a good one. Let's go Dan Egey, Sean Woodson, just because I don't know that we'll ever talk about it elsewise. I think Sean Woodson's going to win this, but Dan Ege is a very, very good fighter, obviously. And this is a huge step up in competition for Sean Woodson. He is physically much larger than Dan Ege, but sometimes Dan Ege doesn't

always bring his best out. Like, I think I know this fight's going to go, but I could totally be wrong and it's just a really good featherway matchup between a veteran gatekeeper and a guy who's surging so give me that one yeah there's i mean there's there's plenty of uh there's plenty of good ones like i know a lot of people aren't going to be overly thrilled if they're out to dinner they're not going to rush home to watch sidriki dumas versus michaela elixzech but i'm here to tell you that fight is not lasting long it's going to end very very quickly and one way or the other And we got a women's band and weight fight, which has been maybe seven of those all year so far. So, I mean, we got that to look forward to.

But in all series is once we get to 8 p.m. Eastern and we get to the ESPN television platform fights, the rest of the car is just fucking magic. Like, it's all just really, really good. Love the Yegay-Watson fight. We might start the watch party like super early. I'm a completely agreement with that. We're definitely going to go live for Yege-Watson. So we'll definitely start a little earlier.

It's just a matter of how early we want to get. So that is it for regulation. Yeah. Him and Juliana Rosa gonna get after it. Just let it go. 40 years old. 40 years old, I think, right? Yeah, Rose is 36. Talk about a guy who could get on the mic.

And if Patty loses, call a Patty. Be like, I want that rematch. I beat your ass the first time in your own promotion. I got robbed by the judges. Let's run it back, baby. Get you some, Juliana Rosa. But that's a great fight. A lot of great fights on this card.

And now it's time to move on. But do we move on to the winner circle or do we move on to the knockout round? That's the big question. The point for round four goes to Jedbushu. What a comeback. He's been here for years. It's been here for years. Okay.

Oh, my God. It's not after the knockout. I'm going to have to start banning people from the chat because they just don't, literally don't understand what free speech means. And that shouldn't be a bannable offense, but it annoys me. And I have the power. And I would like to use it. Free speech.

Yeah. Oh, okay. When I'm the government, then you can use that as a fucking claim against me, you morons. Dennis, I'm throwing this win your way, by the way. Yes, Dennis could, looking real good here. Now, according to the live odds, according to FanDuel, Dennis, a minus 800 favorite heading into the knocker around. And that means one question, both guys will get it. Both individuals will have 60 seconds to give their best answers,

explain as to why their answer is best. And then we'll turn it over to the peeps and they will decide who wins today's matchup. So Jed Mishu, you have the power here. Do you want to go first? Or do you want to pass it over to Dennis? Okay. So big news, Aaron Pico's in the UFC, Jed Mishu.

It is a done deal. This is going to be a topic of discussion in its own longer standing round before the GFL decided to GFL their entire promotion up. But figure what better time now? than to do it on the knockout round. So Aaron Pico in the UFC, there were rumor innuendo,

which Aaron Pico had confirmed an interview with Mike Bond. UFC was trying to make Aaron Pico versus Mavzar of Loya, May 17th at the World's Most Famous Apex. Apparently that fight is no longer in the works. So Jed, put your Sean Shelby hat on, Aaron Pico in the UFC.

Aaron Pico versus Blank should be Pico's UFC debut fight. One minute on the clock. Go. Oh, that's a really good question. Damn. Because like there's really no wrong way to eat this Reese's at featherweight. Like we just want to see him get there.

I'm going to eschew a top five opponent. Actually, no. You know what? I guess he will be a top five of opponent. Let's start a gimmick, right? Let's do the Yaira Rodriguez just fights all the Bellator guys. Because I think he's going to beat Pipple. I think he's going to have a really big night.

But then he's still going to be in that weird situation where like he's not really close to a title fight, but like maybe he's close enough if something happens. Aaron Pico can immediately get sort of a top name like the Mobsar Ivlov that was theoretically, you know, proposed. But a much more fun fight, like I think we can all acknowledge that Yaira versus Piko is much more fun than Mavsa versus Pico. The winner then, like at that point of Yaiir wins and he really is kind of close to a title fight.

And certainly a win over Yai'iya for Pico puts him right in that conversation immediately. So let's go Yai'i Yir Rodriguez for Aaron Pico. after he beats Pitbull, because I know onto the next one rules, I am predicting the I your win. Okay. Dennis, obviously a featherweight division gets a little bit of a boost. It is one of the better divisions in the sport right now, which continues to get deeper and deeper.

Now we got a very fun action fighter, very good fighter. A lot of people consider him the blue chip prospect, Aaron Pico entering the UFC featherweight fold. Put the matchmaker hat on. Aaron Pico versus Blank for his first UFC, fight one minute on the clock go well you know something fellas to me it's not even a discussion there's a man in the rankings who's done a lot of good for one of the men in the main event coming this weekend there's a man in the rankings who i think matches up very very nicely with aran pico and

that man is brian ortega i know he wants to go to one 55 but why not come back and stick around for this fight i think it's a great way for pico to get his feet wet in the ufc get a big win over somebody with name value that a lot of casual fans know and maybe get a nice highlight real win. If that's not that fight, I'm going to go a little controversial here. If Alex Okinovsky does get stopped against Diego Lopez and we're looking at potential fights for him to have next, why not match him up with an Aaron Pico? If he gets stopped against Diego Lopez, why don't have a fun fight there where Aaron Pico can really sort of test his skills?

It's one of the best of all time. It has to be Ortega or maybe even Volcanovsky if he loses this weekend. those are the two picks for Adam Pico in the Federal Way Division. Back to you, Mike. I got two seconds to go. That's what she said in the day. You're way better than Brian Campbell, who would add to reset the clock at least one more time, if not two.

He's always playing with his cats, right? Always playing with his cats. Or he just talks a lot. And that's kind of what happens there as well. So yes, poll is up. Get your votes in. Is it going to be Dennis? Is it going to be Jed winning this week's episode of BTL?

It's good to have the matchups back kicking off this new season. And next week will be a fun show because we don't have to preview an apex card or anything. We can just fully digest what happened to UFC 314 and just sort of get you ready for what the UFC's next quarters are going to look like. I mean, it's nice to have a week off. We get WrestleMania. We get to deal with the Masters of the rest of this weekend. It's all going to be great. So get excited for all of that.

We will have programming for you. Jed is smiling about this programming. We have it coming your way. Way in show tomorrow for an hour or so. Then we'll have a preview show. We'll have the People's Pre-Fight Show on Saturday. We'll have the watch party, Jose's boots on the ground. We got press conference.

We got fighter interviews, the winners, all the tastemakers in the back. We got the post-fight show. We got the press conference. We got it all. So stick with us at MAPFighting.com. It's a great website. Jed, why are you smiling? Why you smiling?

Oh, man. the best thing in MMA happened. The best thing in MMA just happened, Mike. Do you know what I mean when I say that? Old Donnie D's tweeting again. He's out here tweeting. And not only is he tweeting, he is quote tweeting our boy, Damon Martin.

Damon Martin, oh, you know, about an hour ago, tweets out, retweets Corey Anderson being like, hey man, in 30, this is Cory Anderson tweet. In 30 years of playing sports and competing, I've never been a year without competition. Here we're approaching a year into month. Obviously he would like to compete. Damon goes, Damon quote tweets at Bellator Champions,

Corey Anderson, last fought in March of 2024, patchy mix, May of 2024, Johnny Eblen, October, 2024, Ramazan Karamagamatov, June 2024, Usman-Ustman-Rammergamatov, January of this year, Patricio Pipple and Ryan Bader are gone. And our boy, Donny D, comes out and quote tweets, Damon, nobody has to be here.

Has in all capitalized. PFL is about providing opportunities for fighters. PFL is the only other premium, serious, global, lasting MMA company with UFC. So what is your point, clown? Didn't refute a single goddamn thing, Damon said, but dunked on him with the clown emoji. Yeah, but you want to know, you want to know how you dunked on somebody? Go look at the tweet now and tell me what it reads now, because it doesn't read the same. That clown sentence is no longer there.

Oh, yeah, it's way different. I'm refreshing it. It looks like it's still the same, but. Oh, it's not. It's not. Now it is a, PFL is the only other with UFC. Countless others have come and gone.

We take our leadership role to grow MMA for fans and fighters very seriously. He refutes the clown thing, took it completely off. Don has not learned his lesson. There was a time I thought he did. He was on the town hall. says some stuff. Dana White eviscerates him

at a Power Slap press conference a day later. We have conversations where he's like, I want us to come back but I'm not going to. I'm going to take everybody's advice and I'm like,

that's really smart. And now he's just kind of like just losing it all together. It's the best. When Don starts tweeting, that's the best thing in the May. It's always something incredibly silly. It's never reasonable or good.

Yeah, we get it. Another town hall has to happen. Even in this redone, he doesn't refute the primary contention. Even in the second effort at doing this, he's not like, well, you know, we're trying to get these guys fights. He's like, nobody has to be here.

Okay, but do they get to fight for you? Do they? Come on, man. We shall see what happens. But Casey is here. No sleeves are on, which means we have a winner. So who is the winner, Casey? Oh, for that.

I just want to see actual BTL, not an open forum, but BTL with, you know, Don on one side and Darren Owen's on the other. And we just go. I've got a license, you clown. The bullshit meter would be happier than that. Casey, that's the best idea I've ever heard. Does Danone get to use AI or does he have to be here himself? Oh, listen, he is here. He was here once before, but I don't know.

Casey, who won? I'm just going to say, it was super close. It was like a 50-50 split at the end of regulation. But then we had some overtime. Kind of cheated. And we had the poll open. So that put him over the top. So you're a winner today with an asterisk.

For little help from Don Davis, Jedmishu. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cheat. Yes, you did. Michael Chandler of BTL. Michael Chandler. I wasn't. Honestly, it's really great that I am,

I did just Michael Chandler this real hard or Brian Campbell. The indigent was not to cheat. I genuinely was like, oh, I'm going to lose. So whatever. I assumed I'd already thrown. And then I was like, oh, Don tweeted this is incredible because it's a bad tweet. So I'm sorry, Dennis.

I don't deserve, I'll do the right thing. I won't be the Al Jermaine Sterling in this situation. I would take the belt, put it down. I don't deserve this. I did not come by it honorably. And we can run it back whenever you want to wake up at three in the morning to do this again. You grab my mouth, God, Ed, but I forgive you. You grab my mouth, God, but I forgive it.

Yeah. Did you bite my fingers? Is that why? Hey, you usually got to pay double for that kind of thing. Well, guys, thank you for all being here today. UFC 314, exciting time in that regard. But kind of a rough time in MMA with PFL just can't get a card to stay together, nor keep fighters, no more Bellator.

One is just kind of melting away. And GFL can't even get to a fucking fight week. So tough scenes right now. now. Shout out to all the fighters that are just trying to make their way up and get something cooking and hopefully this GFL thing turns around. I'm not feeling really good about

it, but hit the music, Casey. Get the F out of here. And enjoy the rest of our Masters Day 1 Thursday. TV's going back on in a matter of seconds, but it's great to be back. Great to be doing matchups for Dennis, for Jed, Casey on the ones and twos.

I am Mike Keck, the iconic voice of Esther Lynn takes you home back next week. to react to UFC 314 and much more. Right here, I'm Between the Links. Good night, I love y'all. This has been Between the Links, an MMA-fighting production on the Vox Media Network.

Unwrap holiday magic at Holtrenfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrance Suts. Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.

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.