MMA Fighting - BTL | UFC 331 Fallout, Van & Tsarukyan Shine, Steveson's Tough Week, Fury vs. Joshua

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

UFC 331 delivered an incredible fight card, and in the main event, Joshua Van put his rivalry with Alexandre Pantoja away for good with a spectacular title defense in the main event, while Arman Tsarukyan earned himself a shot at Justin Gaethje and the lightweight title with a knockout of the year contender against Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event. How will you remember UFC 331? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout of UFC 331, notably for Van and Tsarukyan following their show-closing performances. Additionally, topics include the horrible week for Gable Steveson, the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight being made official for Dec. 11 on Netflix, BKFC returning on Saturday with Darren Till vs. Yoel Romero, Henry Cejudo and Tony Ferguson competing for Misfits Boxing this weekend, the UFC returning to the APEX for a Fight Night card headlined by Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Raoni Barcelos, and more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew. Download the SB Nation app here ⤵️ 📱 iOS: ⁠⁠https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sb-nation/id6789240983⁠⁠ 📱 Android: ⁠⁠https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sbnation.app⁠⁠ Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, Mike Heck here from MMA fighting. And my good friend Jed Mishu is here with me as well because Jed, the day has finally arrived. It's App Day, the all new SB Nation app. It's live now. It's live, Jed. It's alive. Yeah, man, I'm really excited.

And it's awesome, man. Combat sports, like all sports, but combat sports fan especially, you guys are going to have your voices heard like never before with, within SB Nation. MMA boxing, not me, but you pro wrestling, Mike. it's it is a community-based app it's all about community with the new sb nation app it's so easy to use and it can keep obviously combat sports fans connected to their favorite teams and all of sports too across the board so i can keep up with the red sox the patriots and the bruin's all on my

phone and it's so simple to use yeah like you you mentioned those teams but uh there's so much more because i don't care about boston sports mike but i get to follow the nfl all the other sport F1, the various sports that I care about outside of combat sports. And then there's the live experience because that's, to me, that's one of the coolest things. You can chat with us during fight cards every Saturday. And you can chat with other people in the communities as big events are happening. So it's, it's a really good time. So ladies and gentlemen, come fight with us over on the all new SB Nation app.

Download it today. Download it right now. What are you waiting for? Download it. Thanks. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of BTL. Happy Thursday to us all. We started a couple of minutes late.

That is the stream yards fault. It's super weird because we couldn't see your comments popping up so we could throw them on the screen. And then, you know, as you do in life, you just log in, log out, log back in. And there they are. All the comments are up there. I didn't want to have a show without comments, especially from Lazy Bed, as you just saw. And we appreciate you checking out the program, as always, lots to talk about.

UFC 331 still giving us things to talk about. Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua is official. Dana White is involved. Eddie Hart is pissed. He's going to try to fight this all the way. John Martin is out at MVPFL. We get Darren Till You all Romero, competing in bare-knuckle boxing this weekend.

Misfits has a card, including Henry Sehudo and Tony Bernie Ferguson, just so much going on. And we're here to talk about it all with you. UFC 334 released its lineup, and it seems like forgotten news with everything that's going on. So we can talk about that and much more. And joining me to do exactly that is Mr. No Grayery himself, the hot tag kid, Mr. Clime himself, Mr. Jed Mishu.

Sorry, Jed. I forgot that, I forgot things happened at 331. Damn it. I wish I could take that back. How are you, sir, outside of that? Good. As long-time listeners of our programs will know, before moving to MMA full-time as my career, I worked in the tech industry for about five years.

And you would be astonished, Mike, that all, like, the answer to 90% of tech problems is turn it off, turn it back on. That's it. Like, there's a reason that when you call Comcast, the first thing is like, just turn off your router for a minute and turn it back on. Because that is the solve for like a vast majority of problems. And really, like you said, the same in life. You know, take a nap.

Take a nap. Come back and a little, you know, 20 minutes later. You're going to feel right as rain. You feel much better. Your comments will start populating and you'll be ready to go. Yes. Let me ask you a question about UFC 331 because I've rewatched some of the big moments from this many, many times. Obviously, the Sean Shrap knockup.

was big. I rewatch the Armin Ruffy fight. The elbow was big and trying to dissect everything Armin did from sort of like a strategy standpoint was really fascinating. Josh Van and Pantosia rocked that fight. I've watched that fight five times now. It's so damn good. And Van's fifth round is a legendary fifth round, in my opinion. Like the more I see it, the more I appreciate it. Years from now, Jed, because we're going to remember this card. This is outside of the White House and the spectacle and all of that. This was the card of the year. There have been some good ones this year, no doubt about it.

But this one I will probably remember more, mostly because it has such staying power. Ten years from now, niece, nephew, child, grandchild comes up to you and says, Jed, tell me about UFC 331. What's the first thing you're going to say? As it stands right now, the first thing is the Gables loss,

because that is just all the oxygen's in the room. 10 years from now that could change, right? Because there's a possibility that Gable Stevenson ends up not being very good. And if that's the case, then we won't remember this as like, you know, it will still be like a monstrous upset. It will be, oh, that's the time we figured out Gable wasn't good. But how often do you think of the prospects that never were in this sport, right? Like, well after they happen, you're not like, oh, yeah, you know, like, man, what could have been or like, oh, that kind of, ended up not being that good.

Those people fall to the wayside. And so it's entirely possible that happens. And if so, then certainly the thing we will talk about will be Josh Van. And that this is, again, he could lose the belt in his next fight and maybe that'll shift it. But this could be really the start of the Josh Fan title reign. I know technically it's a second title defense. And not even technically like it is, it's a valid. The tie, again, I thought the first title win was valid, even.

even if we don't have to make too much of it, he defends against Tyra. But like spiritually, this felt like the passing of the torch. He took the belt from Pantosia, not he got the belt because of something weird that happened. And I know that if he watches this,

he'll be very upset because he got upset all week about it for reasons that do not make sense to me, but, you know, not my pig, not my farm. But yeah, like, it is, this is a two story, a tale of two stories at this event, really. which is odd because I think most people, and still realistically, the biggest star in and out of this event is still Lamans Rukin, but he is not the biggest point of conversation,

certainly coming out of this. Not even close, which is kind of bananas, honestly, but at least you got Justin Gage's attention, and we'll obviously, I'm sure we're going to be talking about that. We're going to get to your questions in a moment, get them here, super chats get priority. We're obviously going to be going to the SB Nation app for questions. already got a couple going in there as well.

But you mentioned Gable Stevenson, and I asked you about this in our Slack channel. We've had a little bit of time to digest it. So Gable released a statement after the loss. We were wondering, all we heard was from Abe Kawa that we saw this John Jones statement. I've seen some reports online, and I really wanted to clear the air. It was my decision to take Gable straight to the back after the fight. Honestly, it was the first time in this situation for me, and my instant reaction was to get my friend to the back to make sure he was okay.

Gable's work ethic and will to win is there. And I stand by him and I believe he will go on to be one of the best heavyweights in the UFC. He will be back, I'm sure of it. We heard from Abe. We heard from him. Then we heard from Gable Stevenson, I believe on Tuesday. And here is what he had to say. I was quite surprised this is the direction we went, but this is the direction we went.

Quote, this statement is for my family, my friends, my fans, and the people who truly know me and know the kind of man I am. I know there are people who will never support me no matter what I say or do. That's their choice. But I'm speaking to the people who know me not just as an athlete, but as a husband and a father to a young daughter. Prior to and during Fight Week, an incident from my college years was brought up by my opponent. I believe it was raised to get in my head, but it also reopened something that had been addressed years ago. Continues on. I want to be clear, I did not do anything alleged.

I was never charged with a crime and the matter was ultimately dropped by the district attorney. The allegations were not acknowledged. nor brushed aside. They were thoroughly and heavily reviewed as I fully cooperated with law enforcement, including a separate Title IX review. There were no criminal charges, no conviction, and no finding of responsibility against me. The matter was closed, and there was no pending legal issue involving me. My own attorney did their own investigation and stated on the record that even if the law was changed, I would have, I would have the same outcome, which now speaks for itself. I understand how serious allegations,

like this are, and I understand that people may have questions when they hear only part of a story. Moving forward, I'm going to keep focusing on my wife, my daughter, my family, and the work in front of me. To the people who support me, thank you. I know who I am. My family knows who I am. The people who have walked with me through life know who I am. That's what matters to me, and that's where I'm going to keep my focus. And it ends with this.

As for my opponent, congratulations, you caught me. A mistake on my end was made. it was your night, just like my wrestling days after my loss. I came back with an undeniable will to win and focus that led me to the top of my sport. The result of Saturday night, I believe, will catapult me to do the same. I will be great, and this won't deny me. What is your reaction to the statement? Because addressing the allegations and everything that happened,

I did not see this coming at all. I thought the last part of that, the, hey, I made a mistake. He caught me. I don't know. Like, he didn't say,

Sean was lucky, but he didn't not say that, I guess. It kind of like, lent it to that. I was like, this is on me. I mean,

he basically said it without saying, if that was my takeaway from the fourth part. But were you surprised that this is the direction he went? And what was your reaction to the statement overall? So I talked at length about this yesterday

on submission radio. and I'm going to rehash a lot of those thoughts here. I would love to speak to a PR professional because very, very clearly a PR professional looked over this. Like this is a manicured cultivated statement. And I would like to look that PR professional in the eyes or any PR professional and be like, are you good at your job?

This is a horrible statement, in my opinion, Mike. I think this is a horrible, horrible statement. Tell me if I'm wrong. Tell me if you disagree with my feelings here. But one, opening with this is for the people who love me and then spending the next six paragraphs addressing very clearly the people who do not love you. Right. Like the people who love you don't need a message about how you did not commit sexual assault.

You know, like they already ostensibly believe that. And, you know, then moving into this whole thing will be me talking about it. and not about the fight or about the ensuing controversy, right, like of me leaving the cage. It is mostly a, hey, I didn't do this. But also there's just like, there's a bit of like, man, just say you didn't do it and move on. Like you're talking, there's too much.

There's too much explaining of I didn't do this. I promise you I didn't do it. Look at all the ways I didn't do it. And Albert Bernanco, who used to write for Deadspin, and now rights for defector. And I forget the politician he was talking about. This was like, I think this was 2016. And it was a politician at like, at one of the primary debates.

This isn't to be political. I want to be really clear. But whoever it was like on the primary stage just kept being like, I don't have any scandals in my background. And Bernagra was like, dude, if you keep saying it, like it just makes me think that this is not real. just yes you can deny it you can come out and be like hey this was brought up it affected me it's not true i'm gonna do my best not to let it get under my skin moving forward but he just

spent four paragraphs talking about a thing that he is addressed like he addressed back then and you can't just keep doing it the fans are going to bring up what they're going to bring up people are going to feel the way they feel you can't keep trying to fight this battle like it's a new one for you and so that's terrible but the worst part of all of it. The thing that was like the most frustrating to me, because I think all of that was bad and a poor choice, but the thing that like got my goat, as it were, he didn't

he didn't apologize to Sean Chiraph. He didn't congratulate Sean Chiraff other than in the like, you okay, buddy. You can read the tone of that. He doesn't say Sean Chiraph's name. He calls him my opponent and functionally says, you got lucky my opponent. I'll be back and better. Don't like, people dislike you for a lot of reasons, you know, and very clearly this is a man

who wants to be loved. It was so obvious that he was not prepared to be booed out of the building at all of this or be faced with the, you know, his past history. But the way, like you either have to just accept that you're going to be hated and come to terms with it and he does not seem to be, I don't think that's in him. Or the way you. you fixed this is to actually reckon with the things that people dislike about you, right? Like you talked a mess of shit. You looked, looked past this man physically and metaphorically,

called him everything but a bum and then got ghosted in 12 seconds. The very least you could do because you couldn't stand in the cage and take your lumps. You could, you could just be like, hey, Sean Shraf, I still don't like you personally. what you said crossed the line or any, you know, you could say any of those things but you're like, you can say his name and be like, you got me. Congratulations.

And not with some like, you got lucky son. Like, you got me. Take the loss. He has no ability to take this loss. And shit, he didn't really have the ability to take the White Hendrickson loss in college either. Like that's still, when people ask him about White Hendrickson, he gets real chippy and is like,

no, he's got a whatever, like, but like just, it's okay to not be like you, we have four fights. It's fine to get knocked out. It's fine to kind of be an arrogant asshole beforehand. It's not fine to be a petulant child afterwards. Like you got to, you got to be an adult. You got to grow. And this was like, I thought this was a catastrophically bad statement on all counts.

So I agree with you on the first part. I'm still like shocked that this is the way they went. I understand from like, just the basic public relations way of going about it being like let's just get in front of this but even then like this doesn't really tell the whole story here people just hate him but i will say this the the one part i i actually give him an a plus on was the last part because this is what he should be he should be this guy you this is saying this and i agree in principle but he can't be it is the problem if he could internalize being a bad guy like being a villain

okay. He's not John Jones. Like, this bothers him to his core. You can see in his eyes. I don't know why, though. I totally don't get, like, because most people, most people with the armchair psychology look at him and he's like, okay, this dude's a bad guy. Like, they just look at him. He's like, just, so all you have to do is just let take the mask off and just be you. Just be who you are. Like, he cares. He cares. John Jones only cares that people don't call it. The, only way he cares what people think is them is is that everyone must acknowledge he is the goat anything else like i genuinely don't think it rates in his emotional scale but like if you call anybody else the goat he's like that is nope eat it and die you know like that that's the only

thing gable like very clearly honestly just reminds me a ton of daniel cormi and a lot of this like he did not expect he's an olympic gold medalist he did not expect a bunch of american fans to hate him and they do. And if he could just be at peace with being hated and be like, yeah, it's fine. Like I have my family and friends and loved ones. I think that would be great. Leaning into being the villain would be very profitable for him. I have no expectation that he can do that.

And so, like, I, this isn't hard is the thing, too. I said this on submission radio. And it's just like, this isn't new that he's not walking a path that nobody's ever been down being famous and disliked. Like, this is a very common thing. If you just Googled, hey, how do I apologize for being an ass and losing publicly? Other people have made statements. Like, this just isn't, you can, you can do this and it be not a thing.

I just, I think it's just that me, like he and I will never see the world remotely similar because I could, if I was remotely attacked, I'm like, no, don't send that out. Why are you sending a novel out? Just post. You don't need to send a 10-paragraph novel about what happened. All you need to do is be like, hey, I got knocked out, I was emotional. I should have stayed in the cage.

My apologies to Sean Traff. That was disrespectful. Also, I talked a lot of shit about you beforehand, and you got me. We'll run it again down the line, enjoy your win. I'll be back and better. Like, this is not hard. This is 101. shit. How can't you do this?

There are a lot of people feel like he's not even going to fight again after this. I mean, I think he's going to fight again. I'm going to say the same thing we said on the post show. Like, he still could be really good. I have a lot more concerns about it now because everything we said before, the fight remains true. Sean Trough is like the worst guy on roster and you got ghosted in 12 seconds. Like, yes, young fighters lose and that is a thing. that can happen, they usually don't lose this bad to like this level of opposition.

He's got things to work on. I don't think that John Jones is actually a good camp for him to be with. That's the camp he's chosen to be with. It will be, I think that, again, I made this comment on Twitter. If you were trying to pick somebody, I think, who would be less effective for like modeling your game after, Gable Steveson to John Jones is not. they're not remotely similar in skill set, ability, or talent. Like they are, he's, he's basically Daniel Cormier.

And he's trying to, like, he is short and an Olympic wrestler. And he's like, what if I go learn from 6 for John Jones, who also realistically, like, never learned how to be, like, have striking defense. John just had a really good chin is enormous. Like, you can't do these things. So when I see him, like, with John hitting pads, hitting back up, elbows and flying knees. I'm like, what the shit is that in your game for? That's not you. You got to, I don't know, we'll see. I'm not willing to throw the baby out

with the bathwater. He could still be good. This was as bad a weekend as any fighter has probably ever had in the UFC. I think it's, I think it's, I think you can make a strong case. It's the worst week in the history of the UFC by any fighter ever. And you're right. Like, and the thing about MMA in the UFC specifically is even the biggest stars become disliked at some point there's over exposure there's just being around too much like Israel Adasania experienced this Sean O'Malley experiences Bolkinovsky experienced this

Armands obviously experienced this there's everyone has experienced sort of the ups and downs and then there's like we can't miss you if you don't go away kind of thing and then like oh yeah this guy's this guy actually is great Plus, Gail made $160,000 to compete in fight for 12 seconds. Yeah, he got knocked up, but he still made a bag to do that. And that's just the disclosed pay probably made a bit more, too. So, yeah, I think they'll give him, obviously they'll give him another shot.

He's two fights in. They got him probably for four, four or six. I'm sure he'll go through that. Plus, he gets still do R.EF. And let me ask you a question. Because to me, this is, and I think we were on. Honestly, all of us were on board with Gable coming to the UFC. And I think, like, hand up, I think that was a mistake quite realistically.

Watching this fight really struck me that, like, he actually shouldn't be in the UFC right now. Not that he can't, you know, beat low-level opposition. He got one win. I think he will get others if he sticks around. But to me, Mike, this is why, like, we've bownickled him in the worst way, like, in the same bad way they bow-nickled. where at best he's going to get three fights a year right now. And looking at that fight, what he needs is he needs to fight every month. He needs to be fighting every other month against really bad oppositions.

We can learn how to fist fight because he doesn't know how to do it. And so is there any thought to the UFC being like, hey, we're not cutting you. We're still going to pay you, right? Like you're still our guy. but we'd like to send you back out into the wilderness a bit to learn because you just need to get six fights in 2020 what was this year 2020 6th is that we're in right here? You need six fights in 27 and we can't we can't give you six fights

that's not what the UFC does so you know we'll let you go to LFA and get some work in you know do some way is there any thought to that because I think that would be the best possible thing for him they should have been doing that anyways. Like when he first far for LFA, like he did that. Then he did dirty boxing like three weeks later. And then he did the,

the Mexico fight three weeks after that. Like he was on a good run. And then they signed him. And I think he fought to get after that. But then they signed him. And it was just like, okay. But at this point, like, look at, like, Sean was like sort of the right dude.

But there were others that were like better. choices like Max Jimenez like those guys Thomas I mean Thomas can hit hard too so like Max is really like a big time striker but like what look at what they're doing like I thought about this too and I was but then I was like look what they're doing with Anthony Wintz right now they're just pulling dudes off the regional scene bringing them in and letting him cook them like they should have done the same thing with Gable here and they did that essentially I'll say Sean basically is that yeah but at least he has like some experience he has some decent wins on the regional scene. It was his third UFC fight. But like Anthony went both of his UFC

opponents were like weren't in the UFC. They just pulled them off the regional scene and they're they're squash matching him essentially. Like that's what they're doing. And perhaps that's what they were thinking about doing here too. But I don't know, man. Like I think it might be too late to do that to like just sending them back to the regionals. It would be a great precedent. I love done contender series when they would just do like, hey, we like you. We think you have something. We're not signing you, but we're going to put you on a developmental deal. Like William Knight, William Knight got put on a developmental deal. And he told me he was like the best thing that ever happened.

He, as long as he fought with a fight pass affiliated promotion, he could fight every weekend if he wanted to. And he did. Dude, all the time. About for CES. Fought for CFFC. Then we fight for CES again.

Then like three weeks later, you fight somebody else, like just kept fighting. He would go in there and fight all the time. And that's how he built up his experience. He got a little extra dough. and then he signed with the U.S. That's like perfect. Yeah. He's the thing. Like you, they, if I'm Hunter Campbell,

Sean Shelby, I'm in the war room on Tuesday. I'm being like, look, we still believe in, in him as a prospect because the pedigree is too good not to, right? Like, if you remove the pedigree, there are concerns. Like if you were just, if you removed everything you knew

and just watched the clips of footage available of him, you would still say he's a very good prospect. You might not say he's, all world unbelievable prospect, but you would still say this is a very athletic heavyweight who moves, you know, a little bit differently than other heavy weights. There are, like, he is a good prospect with big holes that have to be solved. And when you look at, and so like, if I'm like, hey, but then you add in the pedigree, you're like, he's still an amazing prospect who could be the future of this promotion.

We don't want to ruin him. And this was clearly too much too soon. Like very clearly too much, like he, he had an opponent who got in his head and he has huge developmental flaws that just need to be worked out with time and effort. Let's talk. Like, let's call up LFA. Let's call up a Alaska fighting championship or any of the others and be like, hey, book him. Book him for some fights. We'll pay.

We'll pay his rate, right? Like, you don't, you don't have to pay. You just fight him, some dudes. And we will pay his quote. and let's get him five fights in the next 12 months against not like total bombs but like not hard opposition and just let him learn, let him figure this out

and then by the end of 2027 maybe we re-wrack this and be like, okay, now it's time for you to fight rebellus to Spain or whoever. Yeah, I don't know, it's going to be interesting. He needs to, he probably needs to get a sports psychologist to prepare himself. He is like that. Where Sean drafted, every single dude he fights the rest of the way is going to do the same thing.

They're all going to do it. They're all going to bring it up. He needs to prepare for that. He needs to prepare that no one is going to like him. He needs to understand that. Like, they will never turn to his side. There are certain fighters who are just never going to be loved or liked. He is one of them.

They're just not going to. The wrestling community will like him. They will not say the things that, the MMA fighters say, like, Wyatt Hendrickson's not going to go up to an RIA press conference and say the things Sean Giraff say. He's just not going to do it. But this is a different world.

The fan bases are different. They're rabid. And they just, they are, they just want to be part of the show. Wrestling fans just want to watch good wrestling. MMA fans want to be part of the, part of the show.

So he's going to be a real interesting test. And if you're the UFC, like, you're either going to get, you're just going to get a short-term payout on this, where people are just going to hate him because they're going to care one way or the other. They're just going to pay to see him lose. They're going to buy Paramount or whatever just to watch him try to lose and they're going to rue for it. And even if that's for two or three more fights, like, UFC's fine.

Like they'll cash it on that and then he'll go off and do something else and somebody else will come along. Like they're in a position where it doesn't matter. And best case scenario is he gets his shit together, starts winning a bunch. And then people just keep hating him all this way. and then it's just going to grow and grow and grow. So either way, like, it's going to work out for the UFC. But, yeah, what an interesting week. We just spent 25 minutes on this.

It's the biggest thing that's come out of it. Yeah, no doubt about it. So let's go to some questions here. We do have a couple of super chats. Christina, thank you. At what point is Paramount at fault for these UFC events? They paid a ton of money to not have any say in this. By the way, best reaction to the Gable Keough.

Yes, from the watch party, which was a lot of fun. and a lot of people said it was the best watch party ever got a lot of great feedback it's some great fun uh paramount's not to blame i mean they are they're to blame in general and i i sort of i mean it's how deep do we want to go down this well is sort of the question here and a lot of it's speculation but i think speculation that people could look at me yeah that's probably right I have, and I felt this way with the ESPN deal and I feel this way with the Paramount deal. It is shocking to me how the UFC has been so able to cater itself as the customer when it is selling a product, right? like paramount is paying the UFC money and paramount is asking the UFC questions right like that

and that's the only relationship like that really that I can think of in the world like if you go to the grocery store and you buy a product that's you know or best buy and you buy a defective product or product that's not good or it's not kind of what you thought you don't then go back and be like hey I'm really sorry this isn't very very very. very good. I guess I'll, you know what, never mind, I guess I'll just take it. It's fine, whatever, I don't care.

Like, that's, when you are the purchasing entity in a relationship, usually, right? Like, the people who are selling you something are trying to do something for you. And that has never been the case with the UFC TV rights deals over the past, you know, decade plus. And I don't, I do not understand it. Like, if I was in charge of Paramount TV. I understand it, but in a way that I just frankly don't want to discuss on this program.

But if I was, you know, in charge of Paramount and was like, hey, I'm giving you a billion dollars a year, it wouldn't be for whatever you decide. It'd be like, you're going to give me a good quality product or I'm not going to give you a billion dollars a year. That's it. Like that seems so obvious to me. But it's not how it goes. And it's not how it went before. And so it's tough to blame Paramount for this when the,

the blame can just go, the UFC doesn't care. But if you want to also blame Paramount, I'm not opposed to throw in some shade their way. Like, they could demand more. Yeah. Will they? I mean, all Paramount has to do is just put the full events up. Just do that.

Like, you can probably control that to some degree. Just put the full fucking events up. All of them. So you don't have to like skip around, fight to fight. Like, give the people what they want. Do that. If you can't control the cards that we get, control the production.

afterwards. Do that. Make it, make it easy and digestible for the viewer. Like if you had to miss a fight night card and you want to watch it on Sunday and you just want to like watch the whole thing from start to finish, like make it easy. Don't make it such a task to do it. Jesus. Do that and you might get a little bang for your buck. People might come back and just like rewatch a bunch of shit. Maybe you'll be taught, maybe it'll be the top program if you make it easier. But those numbers probably keep dwindling and dwindling, dwindling because it's not like DVR where you just like go back and push play and watch the whole thing and skip to what you want, it's almost impossible to go watch a full event. It's crazy. It's absolutely ridiculous. I hate their viewer.

I'm a, like I said, I've said this earlier. I'm getting a little less tolerant of it because we're in September now. New Vindgers, I'm willing to give you a grace period to like, oh, we've never really had like this level of live sports every week doing this. So we got to figure it out. But like, yeah, they, again, you are, I'm Paramount. They're about to finish this merger and own half of the media world, which would be terrible for everyone, but that's a separate topic of conversation. Like you guys, you're worth $8 trillion. Like, you can pay one, like, one intern and one tech guy to build out a back end in a significant way. It's just like, make say, hey, you, you're a UFC fan. Like, here's the UFC section. Here's full events. Here's individual

fights, here's search functionality that is not dog shit. And like that wouldn't, that would take, again, I worked in a tech industry that had, like, I worked for a company that had significantly fewer resources than they do. And like, I could have got this spun up, like I could have pulled, put together a team

and got this spun up in like two weeks. Like, it's not easy, but it's not chat. Like, it's not difficult. It simply requires a will to do it. And then nobody has that. It's very clear. they don't have it. A couple more super chats.

Michael, New York Rick and Joe Rogan's hot takes on Gable haven't aged well. Shouldn't they know better by now? Listen, everyone has hot takes. Everyone thought Gable was just going to speed run to a title. Like, you know, obviously a little green. I think you saw it in the Mexico fight. But just go tackle people and you're probably going to win a bunch of fights. That, you know, it's just people get caught, man.

Everybody loses. Everybody loses early on. And, you know, that's the thing. I've had some pretty horrendous takes. We all have. So I didn't think it was that hot of a take. Honestly. My stock answer for things like this is like, yes, and they do.

They do know better. Like we all know better. But it's one, this would not like these sorts of shows are not built to be moderate. You know, like that's nobody, like that's just not, that's not nearly as interesting. more frankly is fun and i think that we could have a nuanced conversation about the

commodification of media like sports media writ large and that that has probably shifted too far towards the uh stephen a smith max kellerman uh that like hot takery thing like we've probably we've shifted that that too far like that we've we've overdone it but it is just more fun to get caught up in the excitement of something than to be like, well, actually, you know, like statistically, most heavyweights get hit a couple of times and everybody loses, he'll probably face a setback before he's barnstorms away to a title. And so I'm willing to give him a pet, like most everybody was on board with this. We all, we all see the talent and the potential that's there and thought, and heavyweight is

just such, so buns. It's like, yeah, he could, he could run real fast. if they were still committed to it, if they watched this fight and hadn't changed their opinion at all, then I'd be like that, you know, new information, at least recalibrate slightly. But I'm not willing to bury anybody over jumping on board a momentum bandwagon because I've done it.

Like we've all done it. It's fun. Of course. Of course. And you guys love to bring it up when we're wrong. And we come on here. We're wrong. That's the thing.

We put the hand up and that's it. We move on. We have another. bad take three weeks later it's the it's the it's the never it's thing man it's it's everything's okay if when you're wrong you're just like yeah man i was wrong in the way that like if gable had just been like hey man uh because i i think i want to be really clear i think leaving the cage is shitty i think it's a shitty um i also don't think that you let that you have to be like this is the worst man who's ever lived because he left the cage plenty of people came out and were like look other

fighters have done it. Yeah, it's shitty every time they've done it, right? I think Gables was like a little shittier than than D.C. because D.C. was like visibly crying and upset. And so at least that's a man who is actively in the throes of an emotional breakdown, whereas Gable like was grinning. Was smiling walking out of the gauge. Was clearly fuming inside, but trying to like deal with it. But like, yeah, you just, I'm not, we don't have to spend forever hating him because of this one incident, but it's the same thing. Like, all of life can really, like, track back to how you interact with people. And if you are shitty to a stranger or your friend or your neighbor and there's reasons for

it, right? Like you had a bad day. You got dumped. Something terrible happened. You got fire, whatever. That doesn't excuse your behavior. And you know that. And then the next day you come back and you're like, hey, Phil, I'm really sorry about

yesterday, man, I was going through some stuff, but that's no excuse. I should have been better. I apologize. It was like, yeah. It happens. We are all human. And he couldn't do that. He has no ability to be like, I fucked up. My bad. He's just like, you got lucky. I'll get you next time. Nobody, like, nobody should respect that. Own it. Own it. Yep. Nathan, does Pitbull win the Burgos Billy Q award for sickest moment of the year that will be forgotten in time? Poor old dog did his best he could to fall up, shrop the hero. We talked about it on the watch fire. We're like, these poor bastards have to go in there and try to like, try to want up or at least try to keep pace with what just happened, almost an impossible task.

But you know what? Another fight I've gone back and rewatched. That fight was awesome. And Pipple was incredible. And Du Ho Choi did his best and was a hammer at times, but it was a great. nail and Pitbull had the best performances he's had in many, many years. Yeah, man.

Like, yeah, it's going to be a little forgotten. The most, like the best feel good card of the year. Right. Like, Cheeto was back. Like, Cheeto, Cheeto looked like full blown Cheeto again. Sean Shoroff did what he did. Pitbull was back.

Like, he obviously looks a little older, but like that was the best version of people we've seen in years, quite frankly. And then the main event was insane. So right, right? Like even tie tie loss, but like that's the best ties looked in this entire fight losing streak. There was a lot of feel goods going on on Saturday. Yeah. Armine gets his day in court now. Like no ifs or butts. Like he's the guy like everything that people wanted to happen, I guess happens. So yeah, great performance with Pitbull. Great fight.

As long as it lasted. Like it was very, very fun. But Pitbull was just, he was on one. So good on him. Caroline, thank you. Hot takes. Speaking of hot takes. Cop beats Van 10 out of 10 times. Nightmare matchup. Two, Oliver will not win another UFC fight. Three, Ilya, will be forced back to featherweight. I disagree with the first one just because it's absolute. And I do actually, as I've thought about it, I think it's, I feel it's a coin flip.

But stylistically, it's not a coin flip. Stylistically, this is a very bad matchup for Josh Van in my opinion. I do think that Josh fan is such an ascendant talent that I might pick him anyway. I haven't really like fully debated the matchup. 10 out of 10 is just

I mean like that's that's a lot. A hundred, batting a thousand is not a thing that happens in time of this sport. I agree with two. I do not believe Oliver wins another belt. No,

you guys need another fight. Oh, Another fight. Oh, sorry, I read that his belt. I disagree with that. That is a very hot take. Unless he just, like, fights one and retires. He's still, he ain't what he was, but he's still extremely, extremely good.

So he'll get one more, I think. I think I agree with three, Mike. I've come around to this. I'm not, you can, I'm not going to stand on this corner and plant my flag here. I think there's a real possibility this happens, Mike. There's a real, real possibility. I completely disagree

at the wording of the question. Like, the UFC is not going to call him and be like, hey, you're going back to featherweight or you're out of here. He'll be like, okay, bye. Yeah. Maybe he has, I also disagree with the sentiment

he goes back to featherweight. Because I, like, and this has been one of my takes for at least a year. He's fighting like two more times and he's gone anyways. So I don't think he's going to go back. I think he's fine just trying to accomplish this one last thing. He feels like he truly feels like he's done everything possible at Featherwhite.

Went up there, won the belt, beat two of the best of all time in that division, finished both of them, and beat the hell out of pretty much everybody else he fought in that division. Like he feels like he's got nothing to prove. There's no challenges for him. Although I would disagree with that because the Movisar fight was super fascinating to me. but I think he's checked out that box he's good

I would love the Diego Lopez fight Lopez would have been really fun too but he can't happen now and that might honestly really really be a problem for really well I mean he just he gets Lopez 500 times well he ain't fighting Diego now

if he goes back to featherway because Diego's moving up it looks like so he can still fight Diego Diego is moving up unless Mavstar beats Volt and I think Diego might be going right back down yeah maybe but yeah i don't know i think he's going to go in there and try to get back to it like he'll probably fight patty next or somebody else if he wins and he'll get an immediate

title shot and if he wins that then he's the champion if he loses then he can just walk away and be fine like it's totally okay i i think your take is reasonable like your position is reasonable. Where I disagree, and I think why I am more on board with this, is I don't think he'll be done in a couple of years. I know he's basically said that at various points. That was before he lost.

I think, I don't believe fighters will ever quit in general. And as I started, like, looking at the board, I have real questions about his viability's lightweight. Not his viability. He can win fights, right? Like, Charles O'Olaver is exceptional, and he

nuked him. It's also really really good style matchup for him. Because, like, I'll tell you right now, I know he just got done up in a bad way. If you book Ilya versus Maricio Hoofey, I'm putting a lot of money on Maricio Hoofey to be eight feet taller and an extremely good striker. And it's just like how he is,

he is very small for this. Like, it's not like he was an enormous featherweight. And he is, we saw the limits of that against Justin Geichie. It was a one-time fight. If they rematch, I might even pick Ilya to win it again, right? Like, I'm not saying he can't win at lightweight. I think he can. But can he put together five, six fights, like wins in a row at lightweight?

I don't think so, man. Like, it's... Patty Pimble, I always thought, would be slaughtered and sacrificed, like an ancient pagan goat, you know, like, had he fought Ilya. And now I'm like, I don't know. Paddy's got a great chin and he's huge. And maybe Ilya just hits him a bunch and gets tired and loses. Like that's entirely possible for what could happen there.

And, you know, killing Saul killed is also gigantic. Like how does it in the same way that like I got real, real concerns about Isla Makachev taking on the Michael Morales of the world? Like I don't know. I think Ily it was an exceptional fight. lighter. Weight class exists for a reason, you know, like Frankie Edgar was 5, 7 or whatever, and he wouldn't sniff a lightweight belt now. I think it is better than Frankie ever was, but he had a window that he took advantage of with Charles Olivera. But now there's this new blood coming up. And like, Ilya could beat, I think Ilya could be Armin. I would pick

Armin. I think Ilya could beat Binwasandini. I still might pick BSD. BSD's gigantic and can just physical him. Rufie, Saul killed. Who are the other like up and coming lightweights that I'm missing? Like I'm that aren't on top of my head right now. Like these are all tough. And so unless he does just fight him. No one in bail.

Oh yeah. Tom. I mean, Tom Nolan. Yeah. But like Parnas. Usman. Like they're there. Usman's coming over.

Parna. Jalen Turner. These are all fun fights I would love to see. But I don't anticipate that Ilya could go. 100%, 90% if he fought all of them. And so unless he does just hang it up, because I don't think they're going to let him try his hand at welterweight. So now it's just sticking around lightweight.

That's probably not. I just don't think that's going to go well for him. Depending on who he gets matched up with, I think it's like if he fights Patty, that fight feels like a coin flip to me. And if Patty beats him, his only options are retire or go back. And 145 has really fun fights for him too.

like why I was really frustrated when he moved up that weight division's very good and he had a lot of really cool fights there he could have smoked Volka second time he could have fought Diego Lopez he could have fought Mavsar he could fight uh jean silver and kevin mjilloes and aljamein sterling there are a lot of incredibly good fights at 145 and now those are will feel weirder if he does go back or we're just going to watch him lose to huge lightweights potentially if he proves me wrong

and he just dusts all these dudes up credit to him. You know, I'll come up, I'll raise the accountability and be like, I was wrong. He's still a great fighter and I still think he can win these fights. But I think if he sticks around for more than five for three, four, five fights, he's going to have a couple of losses.

And at that point, your career was like, well, do you want to be an also-ran at lightweight? Or do you want to go back to the weight class where you made your bones? And I think he does. I don't think we're going to see him fight for a while because it's all, which kind of leads you to by follow-up, Jed. If Justin Gates, he retires

and they crown a new champion, I think he's going to. I think he probably should. He should. But Armin's a bad. Armands a bag. Armin's a bag. Any fights a huge fight for him.

Yeah. So it purely does he want the money to lose, you know? So my question is, if Justin retires, Armine versus who for the vacant belt? They will do. They will do. I agree. I do not think they should, but they, that is what they will do.

Yeah. Patty has a better case right now, just because I would do Armin versus Patty. And then if you, if you must do the Ilya thing, he can fight the winner. Yeah. But they will just do Ily a versus on them. 100%. I agree. Dot, dot, dot, roo. Jed, how good do you care about Moikano versus your boy, Nolan? Um, Oikano was probably going to beat him. I've sort of, uh, if I'm very interested because this is, I think this is an appropriate test for, for Nolan and like his individual development. Tom Nolan's biggest issue is that he is super not athletic. He is very, very large. Um, but he is slow of foot and of head. And that means you can just bang him. Uh, like that's, that was the way that led to his loss. It's it all of the troubles he has had in fights has been that for us ziam is not a is you know basically the same guy his success in his career has largely been based on being very large for the weight class and he met a dude who's bigger than him. He's just like I don't know what to do.

I've never fought a guy who's bigger than me. I don't know what's what's going on here. So boycano is definitely more athletic than Tom Nolan, but it's also not like moikano's in the prime of his career. And so this feels like the appropriate like have you. figured out some tools to bridge the gap between guys who are just faster than you, because I think Moecona will be, and Moecona is still obviously very dangerous. And if he can, then, okay, now I'm a little more interested in you moving up the ladder here

and taking on some of these much more athletic dudes, like Rafael Fazeve or something like that. I like Moikano in this fight, too. I think this sets things up perfectly. Moikano goes out there and beats Tom Nolan on Halloween in a main event. and then Moikano gets on the mic and calls out Usman, because that's a fight I would make. Like, if Ousman's coming to the UFC, I would do Ousman-Margemaid up versus Anato Boikano.

That's the first one. I'm not, he ain't going anywhere near the patties and the ilies. As much as his manager wants that to happen, as much of his, you know, managers, other clients want that to happen. Uh,

it's not happening. Like, you got to go get a win against the top 10 dude. Moikano's perfect. He's a vet. He's been in big spots. He's made event. cards. He's a tough out.

Usen probably wins that fight, but it's a win-win for the UFC. If McBoycana goes out there and wins and cuts a great promo, like, that's great for him. Like, that's what I would do. That's your introduction right there. And then if he wins that, then we can start talking about these other guys. But yeah,

it's fine. Well, it turns out that Tom Nolan is still 26, you know? Yeah, he's young. He's still very young. I will be astonished if his long-term future is a lightweight. He's just six two. And it's not like he's a like spindly six two.

He's fairly thick for a six two lightweight. So, uh, you know, we'll see. But yeah, uh, I,

I was astonished Moikano agreed to the matchup, honestly. Because like he, when he beat Chris Duncan, he was like, give me somebody that's real. This is bullshit. You know,

like I don't want this garbage. Chris, like, no disrespect to my teammate Chris Duncan. But like nobody knows him who cares. And then he accepts the, this fight. which doesn't feel like people know Tom Nolan,

but I love the matchup. I think it's like very good matchmaking. Yeah, I like the fight. I bet they were just like, dude, do you either fight Tom Nolan on October 31st? You don't fight this year. Probably I was presented and they probably give me a little more money. If you beat Tom,

we'll give you somebody in the top 10 or whatever. And Tom is ranked so they can point to them. Be like, he's not a nobody, but yeah. Critical Cameron, Fury versus Jury. Joshua official December 11th Netflix reported Yeah, it's happening and it's not happening in the U.S.

And Dana is involved and Eddie's pissed about it and How was he involved? That's what like I didn't see that part So I don't know. Oh yeah, he's it's a ring magazine card And they in the press release, Dana's, Dana's one of the promoters.

Was Dana involved with the ring magazine? Did I miss that? Well, he's involved with like the Connor Ben fight with Ryan Garcia was a ring card. Yeah, but Connor Ben is a, is a fighter, is a Zufo. Yeah, that wasn't a Zufo. I mean, it was like, Connor Ben is a Zufo fighter.

Right. Not none of these, none of the people in this. This is like Crawford Canello. It's the same thing where like Dana was the dude facing everybody off and he used the Ford facing promoter yet wasn't a Zupa boxing card. This is also not going to be a Zupa boxing card. But, yeah, Turkey's running it and Turkey chose Dana. There you go.

This entire thing has been incredibly stupid, and I don't understand half of it. To me, it was very obvious that Eddie Hearn was like 90% in the right from the very jump, right? Like, yes, there is literally no point in putting Fury A.J.

At MSG. Like, other than, like, it's, like, that is the affliction-brained. I don't know. I am stupid, and my worldview is limited. did. Oh, big fight, MSG, dur. It's like, no, it's a big British heavyweight fight, put it in Great Britain. Like, this is not hard. And so the, like, push to put it in MSG is so, was so

immeasurably stupid to me and seemed to be like the, an enormous part of the friction between the two sides in the buildup to this. It's like, you already agreed to do this fight at Wimbley. Just do it there. Like I don't, I thought Eddie was right the whole time. It's like, we already agreed to do this. Now they're trying to change it up for reasons that are stupid. So no, we're going to hold our guns. And now they still shifted. They went to Cardiff. I've been told that that was just

because, uh, that the stadium is bigger. They, it's an 80,000 C and yeah, 80,000 with roofs, like with a roof. And so, okay, I still think like, not everything needs to be about being the biggest thing possible. Sometimes you, like the event would still feel big. in, you know, Wembley or whatever.

But sure, you want to get as many seats as possible and you want to make sure weather can't get involved. Okay, that's fine. You're still in the UK. That's great. I'm glad we're getting it. I'm glad all of this happened.

Very obviously, Eddie was not lying for most of this, despite Dana's continued statements that AJ was, AJ's obviously just scared or Eddie's an asshole or whatever. I was like, no, they clearly wanted a thing. And then you guys finally caved. I don't understand why Dana is involved or he doesn't need to be involved. It feels like he is involved purely

because this became a pissing contest. And so he was like, Turkey, you've got to put my name on this because I'm not losing Eddie about this. Because to Eddie's point, what is he bringing to the table? What is he contributing? Like, you don't just, you know,

in Hollywood you can be an executive producer and get your name on the byline and not do anything. Like, what is he contributing? What is he done? He doesn't manage the fighters. Like, they have their own promotional entities that could do the actual promotion stuff. He's not in charge of the venue.

He's just, he wants to be involved in this. And Turkey's like, that's fine. Which seems very stupid. But, okay, I guess, as long as we're getting the fight, sure, assuage his ego, if that's what it takes. He'll host the press, he just, he's going to be the face of the promotion. He'll host the press conference. He'll face the fighters off. Like Dana loves that.

Turkey loves that Dana loves that. So it will be Turkey, Ring Magazine, and Dana White. It's a partnership between the three entities. Eddie Hernd did an interview with IFL TV that dropped earlier, and this is what he said. Quote, even Netflix put out a press release. The fight will be in conjunction with Dana White. There's loads of battles to come on that because that ain't happening either. Dana White cannot be involved with this fight promotion.

Netflix clearly didn't get the memo. No one talks to each other. I speak to Sella and Turkey. quote, no, Dana White is not involved in the fight. You've got a contract that says that he won't be at the presser, blah, blah, blah. Then Netflix says the fight's in conjunction with Dana White. Now we have to go through that process and deal with it. It's a little bit annoying, but as I've shown through the UK battle that we won,

we stand by our contracts. So there you go. Again, it's just like I don't explain to me what he brings to the table that is of value. And then I'll be like, okay, yeah, sure. Like that's, this is all stuff that Eddie said. But like, I think Eddie just has the right of it. And I don't think Eddie has the right of everything all the time. But like in this instance, it's just like, he just laid it up very clearly.

He's like, what does he bring? Tell me why he needs to be involved. He, he called MSG to book the venue. Okay, we don't want to do it in MSG anyway. But like, we can also call MSG and book a venue. So if, if his involvement is just he's the emcee of the event, pick any person. like I guess you can have Dana. Have you seen Dana host things?

He's not very good at it. No, he's not. It's, I don't, it is so clearly that this became just a huge battle of egos between them, between Eddie and Dana. And I'm glad that ultimately that didn't stand in the way of this fight happening. But like,

somebody just sit Dana down and be like, dude, you were worth a billion dollars and your best, friends with the president of the United States. Just stop fucking caring about this shit, man. Like, it, do anything else with your,

you have a, how a date is what, 57, 56? Some like that. You have 30 years left on this earth. Like, enjoy it. If that, dude. Like, yeah, like, you know,

the most we get are 70 goes around to the sun. Like, find ways to not just be this. forever. It's, it has, it is exhausting to have this shit constantly around. Yep.

Chef Nerdmond, better chance of 27 Bannamweight champ, Val or Bia? Uh, probably Bia. I'm going to say Val, because, should be.

I've solved it, but. Yeah. It seems like, it seems like they're slow rolling Bia. I mean, they are giving your Macy now, but I wish they kind of gave,

on the second fight on the card. Yeah, I wish they gave her, like, Raquel or Juliana, like, pretty quickly because she's still going to have to win, like, another fight or two after this. And Val could just be like, I'm done, and she's going to get an immediate title shot at Bannamweight. So, and Kayla,

if she beats Amanda, like, I don't think she fights again. I think she's probably done. She does fight again if she fights Val, because Val should move up. Yep. And, but even if she doesn't, and Val, and Kayla vacates, Val should move up anyways.

I could still do it. But yeah, you just, if Val is sitting cageide for a man thing and then everybody will be like oh yeah that's the only fight that anyone has any interest like no one cares about Norma Dumont versus Kayla Harrison and that's you know I'm sorry for Norman Dumont and Jocelyn Edwards like they have done the work and should be

treated with more respect but like nobody will be interested in that fight Val like Val is the one way to keep Kayla around or I mean maybe Amanda's interested in reclaiming the throne and defending I'm unclear what's in her head. But like... She'd probably play Val again.

That's a big fight for her. Put Val. Like, they're promoting this thing as the greatest woman's fight of all time. I think that is an incorrect assertion, but like, you can, you can squint your eyes

and make the argument, right? Like, I don't think it's valid because I think Val versus Zhang was clearly like, these are two significantly more accomplished women. Like, both of them are more accomplished. Certainly than Kayla. And like, I think Val's accomplishments

are basically, right there with Amanda's. And so, like, that's a better fight. But if you do Val versus the winner of that fight, you can also be like, greatest flyweight of all time, you know, one of,

if not the greatest female fighters of all time, versus either the other candidate for greatest female fighter of all time in a trilogy bout, or two-time Olympic gold medalist who just beat the greatest female fight. Like, that's a big fight. It's so much bigger than you can do anywhere else.

Val needs to move up. She should not go back to fight Wang Tong or Talia Silva. It makes no sense. A couple more super chats. Caroline, Prime Dillishaw versus John who wins. Two, should I travel two hours for a rise in New Year's event? Yes, that's an automatic. 100%.

You should do that every year. If it's two hours, you should put it every single one. At the minimum, do it one time. One of my bucket list things in Fight World is to see a rising event on New Year's. because, like, I never got to, I've watched a couple of prides live, you know, paid the pay-per-view. Like, I never got to be in Saitama or anything, like, 100% do that. Yeah. Prime Dillashaw versus Jan, who wins?

That's a terrific fight. It's an absolutely terrific fight. I think, I think Prime Dillishaw is the best Banimate I've ever seen still. but that feels like a coin flip to me. Dilshah, because Jan is such a slow starter, I think Dilashaw would certainly take the first round and probably just take the second, and then it will be on him to adjust later in the fight

to get one of the last ones from Jan, who's started to move. But I'll probably pick prime Delishaw against any Bannon wage who's ever lived. So like, if I were to think about this from like a watch party perspective, Dillishaw probably like a minus 150 favorite, right? 160 maybe. I'd pick Yon.

I would bet on Yon. I would take Yon and dog money because I do think it's a close fight. I'd probably lean Yon anyways, just barely for the reasons you just said. Yon can't be killed and he gets better as the fight goes on. And it's not that Dillishaw couldn't get better as the fight goes on. I think Jan would pull away down the stretch, but I can see it's a 48-47 fight either way. That is,

that's my feel. That round three feels really swinging. Yeah. It's one of those things. I mean, there would be a terrific fight. Yeah, it would either,

it would either be one of those sorts of yon just wins all the last three rounds or it'll look like Usman Colby 2, where like Usman's winning the first two and three quarters rounds, and then Colby gets going and wins the rest of the fight, because that's what happened in their second fight. Could be that. It just depends on how quickly Jan gets going. Nick, I guess I'm not surprised, but it's good to know.

There was one more part of that last question. Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Best and worst part of your job. It's the same thing for me, Mike, but I don't know your answer. I mean, the best is just, I mean, being able to hang out with my friends every day and do a shows is awesome. It's very fun. I've learned more in the last two years than I ever thought I would.

because of people leaving and just having to teach myself how to do these things. So my knowledge about like different variations in the sport has certainly grown. It's also kind of like the worst part about it because there are very few moments off that I have at this point.

And I guess that's really the worst part is just, you know, I haven't had like a Saturday night date night with my wife in a long time because you'll never have that again. That doesn't ever. I never have that again. But, you know, it has allowed me to, like, move to South Carolina, which is the best move ever.

But yeah, that's probably it, man. Just there's no off season. And, you know, company is obviously great with me needing a day off or two or, you know, taking a vacation and stuff. So I can't complain about that. But, yeah, it's not like football where it's like, oh, we have three months where not a ton is happening. Right. Yeah. And then I would say, like a big plus this year was, you know, being back on the road again.

There's a lot of times of me not doing anything on the road. I've gone like full years without traveling and covering events and it was a little tough because I always want to be out there and be part of that grind. It's just super challenging and like what can I do? But luckily we took a shot on RAF in January and let's just like let's try it and see how it does. And they just clobber number wise, numbers wise. So I get to keep going and covering those events. And those aren't like super long trips either.

There's like a couple days, which is, which is pretty nice. Gone for like two or three days. Not like you're going to Vegas on Monday and covering a fight week till Sunday. You know, you're gone for like three or four days. So I can deal with that as opposed to being gone for a whole week. It's very tough being gone for a whole week with a kid and a wife and now two dogs, including a puppy who's just an absolute maniac. So, yeah, that would be it.

What say you? It is the best and worst things are the same, which is, I, have turned my hobby into my profession. And I've spoken about this before, and I've had plenty of people email or ask me this, and I give them the answer. It's like, I don't regret it. I love that I love my job. That is, I could make more money doing something else, right?

Like, I am a licensed attorney. I could make more money. But this is worth more than money to me to wake up and love my job and get to have that sort of excitement in general about what I do. And so I say it is worth turning your hobby into your profession if you can do so. The benefits outweigh the negatives. But the negatives are also very real. This my hobby is now my job. I don't get to watch fights for funzies anymore, right? Like I don't, I can't really check out of fights if I'm like, this card this weekend is ass well i'm working it and so that can be it can be a huge grind when the thing that

you love to do like even just the mental shift of man this thing i love to do every weekend suddenly is an obligation and not a choice and so that and then also an addendum to that uh working in media there is not an immense amount of job security and that adds stress to your life that is otherwise You know, when I worked in tech, when I worked as a lawyer, I didn't really different, there were different stresses, but the primary stress in any media job today is, well, I have this job next year because you can't ever be certain. True. Very true. Nick, I guess I'm not surprised, but it's good to know Jones would have walked out if he ever lost to you. What a perfect pair of those two are.

There you go. Again, I don't, I'm fine with it. Like, it's shitty, but you can come out and say, I credit to John Jones. in this, I don't say those words a lot. He did the appropriate thing, which is where he took it. He said, hey, that's on me. I just wanted to get him out of there. His response was much more natural and appropriate of like, yeah, you know, I just,

I was never been here. I was very concerned about getting him to the back. And you're like, yep, I get it. We don't need to. We're good. We're good. So like, that's it. That's all you have to do in this instance.

Like, that wasn't the best look. My bad. Here's why I did it. No excuse. I'm sorry. Easy answers. A couple of app questions. SC Sports gal asked, Hi, guys. What do you believe is the biggest X factor in the Nunes versus Harrison fight? How diminishes Dunez? She's 38 and hasn't competed in over three years.

For Kayla, the weight cut will always be an issue and she's coming back from a serious neck injury. Also, how does she look in the championship rounds? We haven't seen her in those rounds of Bannonweight, so it's still a question. Or is it something else entirely? who are you picking and what are your thoughts? The biggest X factor is what does Amanda Nunes look like? Yeah, like I don't. I 100% agree.

I maybe it was on this show that we talked about. I was like, they never would do it because this isn't the UFC's way. I really kind of would have them to have Amanda come back and just smoke the worst fighter on roster. Just to be like, oh, look, we get to see her do it. She can go through the process. Get a tune-up fight in. And so that's a little bit mitigated because Kayla's now been out for like a year and a half for however long it'll be by the time they step in.

But she has been more active, more part of active training camps, right? And so, but the biggest, it just has to be the biggest question is like, is Amanda, does she still have it? Right. Like if you watch the Rams game on Monday, if you're a football fan, Aaron Donald was out three and a half years or whatever. And for being out three and a half years, he looked unbelievable. for having not played a snap of competitive football. But he also looked like the worst version I've ever seen of Aaron Donald because he hadn't played football in three years.

Even if Amanda looks amazing for a long time off, does she still look like Amanda? We won't know until the cage door closes. 100%. I think if we get 80% of Amanda, she wins. But, I mean, dude, three years and 38 years old is a very long time. I think, I mean, I think Prime Nunes is clobber. Kela. I don't think that fight is

remotely competitive, especially with the weight cut and all that. But again, we'll see. Amanda has had a lot of it. The one positive, I would say, about Kayla being out is that whatever Rust Amanda has had,

she's had a lot of extra time to shake it off. She's had almost an entire year by the time this fight happens. So I think it probably gives her a little bit advantage, but we'll find this is probably one of those fights we're going to know pretty quickly how it's going to go. Yes. It's not going to be like if Kayla can't get takedowns or anything and Amanda starts piecing

her up early, like this is what the fight is going to be. But if Kayla gets takedowns and gets like four minutes of control time, then Amanda isn't deep shit. I mean, but I'm fascinated by it. We should see. But yeah, it's exactly that. Everything you said. Lazy.

NFL is reportedly prepping for their first event in November. Live from Argentina, which of these two things happen first? GFL one or key MMA ones later for 2027 launch. Key. Key. Key. Key will do. I believe that when key launches, they will launch.

I will believe GFL launches when I can see their YouTube stream. That's it. Yeah. There we go. We'll rapid fire the YouTube chats. we did to get a couple more app chats. Armand, if we were to make a mini lightweight tournament between these six fighters,

which combination would make the most sense in your opinion? Gaichi, Serukian, Seporia, Pimblit, Olivera, Salko. In the order proffered. So I would do, so if you're going to do six fighters, I would have Gachi and Armand get a buy.

And then I would do, yeah, I would do Lia Paddy, Charles Salkild. and then Charles Salkald winner fights Armin or no, fights Gaichi Ilya Patty winner fights Armin

two winners fight for the undisputed belt there you go I think I think that's pretty pretty accurate uh da da da

conpar quick question why was there such an uproar when Usman jumped the fence after the fight but not a peep when Hamzah does it and jumps over Ruffi

who is still unconscious in the corner uh one i didn't see that uh two the uproar was really not about oosman jumping the fence the uproar was that he collided with song he almost elbowed him in the face elbowed him and i know that and i i do even when he says like if i wanted to elbow him i would have elven him i agree uh but like he he clearly had a a reaction to do it and then checked it and then didn't do it uh if hamzot i again I haven't seen it, so maybe we're just missed it. But like, if Hamza out ran into somebody, you know, like, also, you know,

who he was on the ground. So it's not like he collided with the guy who just won. He hopped the fence to celebrate with his guy who won. So there's a different. Yeah, I would agree with that. Not that I love either, but. No, don't jump, don't hop the fence. Like, be a professional.

Your job is to be a professional. Also, it is a, I'm willing to give a little bit more grace because that is Us brother. Like, there's a difference there to see a family member, uh, get that happened to you. Like, you might just react poorly like he did. Because like, you saw the, the camera video of Habib, like trying to grab him. Uh, like, there's an emotional reaction. But don't do it. Be professionals. Yes. One more app comment. Question. Uh, Roto John, 1969. What happened to Invicta? I haven't heard from them in a long time. Just to put on events. Um, they, no longer are who's who's their broadcast partner now

Jesus Christ I have no idea they signed somebody with something they're on CBS sports were they not yeah I don't know if that's still happening now well definitely now that the Paramount deal with UFC has happened I don't know if they put on any events this year but last year they put on a couple in Atlanta they got acquired by somebody

but I don't remember Anthem? Wasn't anthem? That sounds right. That sounds right. I don't know if they're... So their last event, their last event was May of 2025.

Well, they might be dead then. I didn't realize that. Wow. Okay. And I think they went to... Damn, I did not realize it was that long. Yeah, CBS, I believe, was their last TV deal for CBS Sports. I know they did some cards on YouTube for a while.

Yeah, I don't know what's going on. You see if... I mean, they must be in the run here. I mean, maybe there's like any announcement. To fold their women's divisions because they might, maybe the UFC is just going to do that after Kayla and Amanda. Yeah, basically it's just like highlights of,

like their whole social media is just highlights of old stuff that's happened and a happy birthday wish to Shannon Knapp that was the last thing that I've seen yeah I don't know they're on I mean they were red hot for a while man but now like

LFA and contender series and all that stuff is just really yeah they've really just kind of taken the soul from them so yeah I mean they all the good weapons fighters are

they just can't be there anymore so it's tough before we get out of here we need to talk about the other thing that's on the top and I think you put in the thumbs and stuff oh john martin correct uh john martin out at MVPFL um you surprised by this i'm very surprised by it uh i want to be really clear nothing i'm saying is because i've talked to anybody i don't know anything but is just reading the tea leaves and just it feels pretty obvious that in my history in the corporate of America, when a company gets acquired, there are people leave. When my tech company got bought out that I worked at, all of our upper management left. And we all knew it was happening. We got acquired for a very large sum of money that I will not say.

and part of it was, you know, we had, I think, six VPs at the time. Two of them during the acquisition negotiations were folded in to the existing structure of the company that bought us, Cox Automotive. And, you know, they, to my knowledge, they're still there. The remaining corporate structure of our tech company left. You know, they went, they took a buyout option. they got whatever and they exited. That's pretty standard, you know.

This was pitched when it happened as a merger and it now feels significantly more like MVP just bought PFL out, right? Like the same way Bellator got bought out, PFL was bought out. John Martin was one of the power brokers and thus he no longer has a job. That's what this feels very much like to me because there's a redundancy. If Nekisa and Jake are your CEOs, you don't also need a third CEO, right? And so it feels to me like that is what has happened, which gives me some pause about what this will be. I had, I like John Martin.

I thought he had a decent mind for the sport. I had some issues. But like he felt like he brought an enthusiasm and a professionalism that could be beneficial. And now this just feels like MVP, MMA. And that still might be good. I'm holding judgment, right? like we'll see. But I liked the idea of having a person who wasn't entirely beholden to Jake Paul

in some level of charge here. And that doesn't feel like what we've got. And so I've got some more concerns than I previously had about what they will look like moving forward. Yeah, man. I mean, this. So I think in Lazy Bed kind of pointed this out in the most recent comment, I think the biggest thing is the ESPN partnership and with John at the helm

doesn't seem like there's a lot of grace left especially with John publicly coming out and be like, yeah, these guys suck to work with essentially and they didn't help us at all. So I think that's kind of part of it. And then on, he's completely correct. But then on top of that too, I just see, I think most people would see just from,

And I don't know how much Jake's going to be involved. Like if Jake goes to an event, we're going to see him the entire friggin broadcast. The key to just seems like a guy that like is just not going to sit back and not be involved. And so it seems like this was a play. I mean, there are reports out there from pretty reputable people that this was not really a merger, but more of like, let's pay them. Yeah. It's not even an acquisition. No, it's like more reversed.

like help us here you go okay that's how it worked so like and it seems like the board just voted john out and i don't know man we'll see i mean nekisa obviously has some like has a bit of an mama background he worked for the ufc for a long time so like he knows the game to some extent like he was part of the sale the big sale of the company like the original big sale the company back in 2016 like Nikis was there for all that. I need a face of the company who is not going to just take over the entire broadcast.

That annoys me and this is the MVP way and we saw it ever since the merger. Both like big, both, I think they had two or three events and it was just those three dudes all over the broadcast like the whole time. Anytime I went to break, it was, oh, here's John Martin. Oh, here's Jake. Here's the key. Like, what are we doing? What are we doing to stop that? And I think the key is like a pretty good like face for the company. Like put him at a press

conference. I think he does a good job. He's very well spoken. He's got to look to him. They either you like him or you don't. But like just over exposure in that end is such a mistake for them. So they need to be, they need to be unbelievably careful with who is the guy in this spot and I kind of hope they bring in a guy to to kind of be that I mean they tried with they tried with the guy like coachman that didn't work at all uh I love coach you know obviously he's got the WWE background but they like they tried to make him the guy but like he never answered a fucking question ever he never answered anything this is like you really know the answer at anything yeah like why you why are you putting him out at press conferences

to answer questions you he's not either allowed to answer or does even know the answer too, which to me, I tweeted this like super tongue and cheek, but I think it would be one of the funniest things ever happened. They just brought Don Davis back to be that guy. Like just to do press conferences and shit, it'd be super funny. Super funny. Don't have them go on like MMA podcasts. Don't have them come on a town hall. Don't do that. Don't have them go on Bloomberg. Just have them come to a post-fight press conference and say a bunch of shit and get some clips like there you go just be nekisa i think nekisa will just be the day-to-day face and jake will be partial face right like he'll be there whenever he chooses to be in

i have many questions about them i think nekisa is good at it i don't care for him at it but i think he's fine at it and so that's okay um yeah i got i got concerned about what this will be, but as I said, when it was at first announced, I think Jake Paul, whatever your criticisms of him and I have many, he has been objectively very good for women's boxing, and he has not really been overwrought on those things, right? Like he has, he has let those products breathe on their own in many ways, and I hope he has that same sort of intention here. Time will tell. I will say, just from like brief interactions I've had with like MVP folks,

they want like they are, they are tuned into lots of stuff. They, they watch programs. When I came on and talked, and even when I tweeted it out, um, and talked about how I thought the MVP MMA press conference was awful.

It was one of the worst press press conference ever watched, mostly because it took forever. It was an hour and a half. It was still brutal. And I stand by that. Um, I talked to a lot of people from there, and they're like, why would you say that? And I told him, it was like, it was the longest press conference ever.

No MMA fan wants an hour and a half press conference. They want like 25 minutes in and out, faceoffs, go home. Like, that's what they want. This isn't boxing. They don't want that. They want to just be wrapped and packed with this thing. Give us the big storylines and get the F out of here. And hopefully they learn this when they do these events.

So, yeah, I think they'll end up on ESPN and they'll do a bunch of like 10-pole events. And then they'll probably have an event or two on Netflix. certainly like they will be on ESPN. Yeah, which is what I figured to begin with, which is why I figured they brought Nickyson, Jake in, because they have a great relationship with ESPN, so it kind of secures a TV deal. John being there kind of hurts it because he talks shit about ESPN.

But I also talking shit if it's true. He just aired laundry. He didn't talk shit. He aired laundry. That's very true. Which is also corporate bad, right? Like, you're not supposed to air laundry, but he didn't say a lie.

Yeah. You know. And then they try, like, they just tried to copy the UFC in so many ways. They brought John out to, like, make all the big fight announcements. And it's not like Dana going on Instagram live and announcing Iliot Toporia versus Justin Gaichi headlining the White House or something. It's like, oh, guys, wait until you see this. We got Sergio Pettis fighting Mitch McKee in the main event, which like is a bang or fight.

Like, it's a great fight. But like, is, but that's not like a fight. It's like, holy shit. You got 10,000 live. You could have dropped a poster for that. And people were like, oh, shit, that's great. Oh, tune in live at 10 a.m. for John Martin. Like, we don't need that.

They never needed that. It's like Ron, Ron White, you know Ron White, the comedian? Yeah. He had a joke where he's taking a plane flight. And he's like, this is in this baby little aircraft. And the pilot gets on the intercom to say, we'll be taking off in 10 minutes. He's like, buddy, you could have just turned around and said, hey, we're about. to take off.

You don't need an announcement to announce it, man. Just let it go. Before we get out of here, because we should need to get out of here. I just want to say, if you do work for MDP MMA and you're watching this program, reach out.

Like, just we don't we don't even have to make the relationship public. This could be on the down low, but just be like, hey, you are the covert minister of fun. We're just going to run ideas by you and see if you're like, that's awful or like, that's pretty good. You know, like, let's just, let's start a dialogue, you know, somebody reach out and, uh, let's, let's have a conversation about that.

Because I want more than anything, I want you to succeed. Like, I really, really want you to be very good. And I, I hope you are. And I'd love, you know, reach out. I'll help. Last thing, uh, Hasada feels like, uh, John got played by Nikisa and Jake Paul. have also read Nekisa as a big ego and butt-a-heads with Dana during his UFC days. So there you go.

I don't know any of this. You don't get to be the head of, like, you don't get to be the CEO of anything if you don't have a big ego. That's just like not really. Just how it works, you know. You have to have that ego. You have to be a stubborn prick at times. That's just part of the game, man. Like the ones that aren't, aren't successful.

So, and Nikes is very successful. Jake's very successful. Dane is very successful. So, uh, way back in look I know we also went 30 minutes but Gail Leason

so kind of Billy hands up being answered I knew that this one was going to go long because there were a lot of things that happened yeah but don't worry

I'm sure you guys have many thoughts about UFC Vegas what one is this 121 I think 121 and not Raoul Roses Jr.

versus how many Barcellos that is one two one is correct yes yes one to one so we will have a preview show tomorrow, join us for that. We'll have a Q&A on Saturday. Join us for that before that fight.

We'll have a post-site show. We'll have on to the next one. And we'll make it up to you. I'm probably doing that, aren't I? No, maybe. I'm assuming that's happening. Okay, we'll talk. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. But lots coming your way. We appreciate you very much. For Jed Miche, I am Mike Heck. Thanks for joining us. See you on the preview show tomorrow. We're out of here. Love y'all. And download the app. It's a great app. One of the best apps that I can chat with us on fight night because you probably won't be watching the fights