MMA Fighting - BTL | UFC Breaking News, Brandon Moreno Shines At UFC Mexico, Emmett vs. Murphy, PFL Tourney

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Dana White and the UFC dropped a bunch of news on Tuesday, including two title fights for UFC 316 — Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley 2, and Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison — along with a new main event for UFC Kansas City between Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates. How does UFC 316 now stack up with the rest of the 2025 slate thus far? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to, and answers your questions about the big news of the week, and the potential ramifications of each. Additionally, topics may include Brandon Moreno's unanimous decision win over Steve Erceg, along with other notable moments from #UFCMexico this past weekend, UFC Vegas 105 headlined by Josh Emmett vs. Lerone Murphy, the PFL dealing with hurdles and speed bumps even before their World Tournament kicks off, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and José Youngs. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs 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

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. 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. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. On M.A 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. We are in the middle of a very busy week.

We had some UFC breaking news earlier this week. We got UFC back at the world's most famous apex on Saturday. Saturday. Pretty terrific main event for being on a Shosh Ahmed versus the Roan Murphy. The PFL kicks off their world tournament tonight. And there's just a lot to talk about today. And that is why at least one last time. We're going to turn the programming over to you guys. Doesn't mean the Q&A episodes are going away for good. But we're going to kick off a new season next week ahead of UFC 314. Jed Mishu battling some new folks and some old friends. It's going to be a lot of fun. But joining me today to answer your questions is MMA Fighting's Road Warrior, who is just a few days away from hopping on a plane down to Miami for UFC 314, which is just an incredible card on paper. He is the one and only Jose Youngs.

Where is he? The social media guru. What's up, buddy? What's up, guys? My spirits are high. Rafael Devers got a hit. Christian Campbell has been re-signed. or extended.

Garrett Crochet has been extended. Now just do it again with Roman Anthony and Marcelo Myers. And Jose will be a happy boy. Yes. You know, I feel like we're in for a roller coaster ride as Red Sox fans this season, but we shall see how it plays out. Watching the Dodgers hurts by soul at times,

it is also just ridiculously fun at times, watching what it is. He's just get up and clutch up. Anytime Muki Betts is anything good, it just breaks my heart a little bit more and more, but that's just the life of, of a Boston Red Sox fan in 2025. And we are here to talk about lives as MMA fans here in 2025.

So let us bring in producer extraordinaire E. Casey Leiden as he is the man who is going to bring up your questions. Of course, the super chatters get to the front of the line. You're going through the digital velvet rope before everybody else. So what do folks want to talk about today, Casey? Let's just talk about the Dodgers. How are they doing? How are they doing? Are they on pace for a good?

What are they in pace for for the season? Like a 162 and zero or something? Yeah. They haven't lost it. I mean, it's just math. Yeah. All right. But we'll talk about.

They haven't. I have not paid attention to me. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, they're eight. Yeah. Yeah. Damn.

The NL West all killing it. Padres are 7.0. Giants are 5.1. Dime next four and two. That's the best division in the entire. all of baseball. You can win 100 games and get to the second wild card spot. Yeah. All right, but we'll talk about the MMA now. So first question from our great friend, longtime commenter, Joseph Boza. Okay. What are Mike and Jose's thoughts on Kansas City,

now being Ian Machado Gary versus Carlos Pratchez, felt like to me that was snuck in under the announcements of UFC 316. So, Jose, we haven't gotten your on-camera reactions to this. Tuesday, UFC says the big boss is going on. Instagram's going to make some announcements. He announces the two title fights for UFC 316.

Marad Vosch Raleigh versus John O'Malley, the rematch for the Bannamway title and the women's Bannemway title will be online as well, Juliana Paney defending against Kayla Harrison. I would say the reaction to that was, I don't even know if they're mixed. I would say it's more meh overall because, one, I don't think any of those announcements

surprised a lot of people and two, a lot of people sort of up in arms that Sean O'Malley is getting in a media rematch. But the one that has seemed to have gotten a lot more attention, especially on the positivity sides of things, is Ian Machado, Gary, stepping in to fight Carlos Prachis. Of course, Pratchez is supposed to fight next week at UFC 314 against Jeff Neal. We found out that Jamal Hill is injured,

his fight with Khalil Roundtree. That was supposed to be the main event for UFC Kansas City. That is being postponed. And now we get Gary versus Pratchis, new main. event, UFC Kansas City. Thoughts? I mean, I likes the original Kansas City main event.

Cleo Rallandstreet, I think, surprised a lot of people when he went to toe to tell Alex Pereira, and I was, if you can do that well against Alex Pereira, I was excited to see how he would do against another former champion. And I know Jamal Hill has kind of become a meme at this point on the internet, but he is a very good fist fighter.

I wanted to see Cleo Rountry fight another elite fist fighter. I didn't have a problem with the original one, but as someone who is doing all the social media for all the fight announcements, I can 100% say that what you said is 100% accurate in that Ian Machado-Garry versus Carlos Prates has not only drummed up the most interest, but it has drummed up the most positive interest. Ian McChad-O-Gary, I think, has done such a 180 in the eyes of the fans.

I know he became a little bit of the butt of a joke, you know, with the whole Kobe Covington buildup, and then he fell out of the fight against Vicente Lucque, and it felt like for a while Ian Machado-Garry was just kind of enemy number one on the internet for reasons that had nothing to do with fighting. And then he stepped up to fight Shafkot, not only stepped up to fight Shafkot on short notice, did extremely well against Shafkot.

Probably Shavkot's toughest test. Actually, not even probably. Without a doubt, Shavkot's toughest test. And he showed a lot of wrinkles to his game, you know, before he was knocking out people with that cross-right or, cross left, whatever it was, and head kicking Daniel Rodriguez, and now he's getting Shaftat in a possible

rear naked choke in a five-round non-title fight. I was the, just from the internet, just his fighting ability. Fans have done, seem to do it 180. And Carl's Prates is a terrifying man to fist fight.

And Ian Machado Gary volunteering to do this on short notice for five-round fight. All the comments have been Godspeed, Ian because you're you know you're quote I'm not going to use the phrase but more good fighter and decided to see him fight a terrifying human being it's good test for Carlos Prattis too because I don't know if you saw that remember like I think it was seven eight months ago he did a video and I he went down the top 15 at welterweight and it was like it would

be a hard or easy fight and he said Ian would be an easy fight this was seven eight months ago now I will preface this that he's not saying it's an easy fight like he's going to walk through him. He's just rating them like he thought Belal and Shavkat would be very hard fight. Sean Barry would be a very hard fight. All the heavy grapplers would be hard fights and all the non-heavy grapplers would be easy fights. The image of Agar that kind of backpacked MVP and then fought

Chavcott to a five-round decision. If he shows up, it could not be a, it might be a real tough day at the office for Carlos Bratis. What do you think of this fight, Casey? I love the Pratchez-Neil fight because it seems to be sort of the evolution to welterweight. You fight Neil Magni, you beat him, then you get Jeff Neal. If you beat him, that just shows you are a top 10 level welterweight and then we can kind of go up and up from there. It's like one, let miss test to the next.

Skips over Jeff Neal now and gets Ian Machado, Gary, who's in good favor with the UFC. A lot of people think this is a very difficult matchup for college process. Your thoughts on it. Well, for process, this is a great fight. I mean, we basically booked a fight as if he already beat Neil. Because I feel like if he would have beat Neil, this is kind of the fight he would have gotten around this ranking. So in the sense that we kind of got the fight we wanted in a sense faster than we got it, faster than we expected it, rather. I didn't see any quotes from Machado Gary.

Has he been training? I mean, this is a very short-noticed fight for such an important five-rounder. I mean, I'm assuming was he, has he said anything about that? Or is he just, well, okay, I'll take anything. So basically, like, everything, everything that I had heard was that he took a couple weeks off after the Shafcott fight, watched it a lot, learned a ton from it. And then he wanted, he basically has just been working ever since. He wanted to just continue to hone his craft in hopes to fight maybe international fight week

or maybe sometime in July. That was sort of his time frame. so he has been training he hasn't been preparing for a fight training but he's just trying to get better and better and you know i think this all came down to you know could he find the right bodies to train with in order to do this and apparently he has found the right bodies to train with in order to do this so yeah good on him man risky risky fight risky stylistically i think it is i think i agree with Jose he said it's um or what the fans are saying it's kind of a favorable matchup, but

Pratchez is very tough, very dangerous, and so it's honestly, it's a great fight. I just worry about the short notice factor, but as a fan in Kansas City, fans watching from home, I think this is a fight we kind of wanted to see better.

We want to see more. Neil's great and everything, but we thought Neil is more of a gatekeeper for process, but you know, we're trying to see how good. We know, we know Jeff Neal, We know who that is. We don't know how good Carlos Pratchez is.

So we're kind of, yeah, skipping the line. Now we're getting Gary. So it should be great. Yeah, good, good fight. Yeah, excellent fight. And it's five rounds, right? I'm assuming. Yeah, okay.

Yeah, they rarely do the whole three-round main event anymore. But thank you, Mr. Boza. All right. Sleto, super chat. What Sean Marab announced, what do you think of the rumored Jan versus U-Mai? at 318 or whenever, I think that fight rules. So 318 would be July?

Yes. So this is the first I've heard of this rumor. If it is true, I don't hate it if they do Jan versus Umar. It kind of makes sense, right, ranking-wise, because all the other top Bannam weights are kind of matched up, because you've got Sanhagen and Figurato about to fight, or Rob and Sean O'Malley about to fight. like I guess and Umar just fought for the title Yon wants to fight for the title

it makes sense it's also an awesome fight I need five rounds of that yeah me too yeah is that a co-main I hope it's a co-main I don't know this is the first I've heard of this

well do you think it's co-main worthy for paper reviews yes 100% yeah me too just step with checking I like this fight only if I know there's no guarantees but the winner

gets a title shot. Otherwise, I don't think these guys should fight each other. I think if Yon wins 100%, because that would be, what, three in a row for them against, then they would be three really big wins. I think Corey would still,

it would be come down to Corey and Yon, and Yon beat Corey. Yeah, if Corey gets to Figueredo. But if Corey gets to Figueroa, Corey's a fresh matchup for Marab and for, O'Malley. But also, if O'Malley wins, they also have the trilogy fight.

That's a potential really there. It's going to be, yeah, really interesting because this fight will be, if this rumored fight, this will happen after we know the results of Marab versus O'Malley 2. So yeah, it's really hard to say it right now. Wasn't Omar banged up too? Didn't he? Because he fought with like one hand against Marab. Yeah, he broke his hand until like early in the fight.

Yeah. And that was after he had another like wrist or arm injury to begin with, right? Yeah, that's why he didn't fight in December. or he wanted time. Yeah. No, you're supposed to still fight on that card against, uh,

was it against Figy? I forget who was. Song, yes, it was Song yodong, yeah. That was the, the rumor and innuendo there.

But yeah. Oh, Bob I didn't think it was going to fight like March, March or something. The more important part is why I wanted to bring it up. Rob is fighting once again in my fantasy league. So I get two fights from Maraub in the same, in the same,

I don't know, quarter or whatever. So. You drafted spectacularly. I took chances. I took Tom Aspinon. I don't think he's going to get a fight at all, so you know what happens. But I get two marabs in there.

So this is good. That's huge. Thank you, Slito. Jace, got tickets to UFC Miami for the nerds. No practice rip. Yeah. Well, he got Jean Silva. That's true.

Oh, yeah, he's going to beat in my little flat earth or drafting? I don't know. I'll take that ill. I'll take that ill. I was at the gym today, and there's a couple of guys that work out there that know what I do for a living. So they were asking me, like, which fight is the most anticipated for the Miami card in terms of, like, fan interest? Honestly, I would say the main event, now that Neil Prattice is out, has like the least buzz.

Patty Chandler seems to have a lot of buzz. The John Silva, Bryce Mitchell, clearly has buzz. And then the Pitbull, yeah, because it's Pitbull's debut, has a ton of buzz. And then it's like, the main event fucking rules.

It's one of the best featherweight fights you can put together. It's so good. But like, in terms of fan interest, it seems to have the least fan interest of like the main. I don't know what bumped up

from the prelims of the main card. Now that. As of now, it's the Dominic. Dominic Reyes, I think Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So like those three... Dominic Reyes for Sneaky to Cryloff, yeah.

So like, before the Prate's Neal fell out, like every fight on the main card felt like it had more interest in besides the main event. And I don't know if that's because people thought Mazzar was going to get it or because Iliad never technically lost or Bulk's coming off a loss. I don't know why, but it seems like there's a lot more interest in fights

on the main card outside of the main event. Yeah. I mean, because they all, I mean, most of those fans thought they were getting, I mean, Volk anyways, but they thought they were getting a Tauria main event. Yeah. Until he vacated the belt. So, but I think this is going to be one of those things. Like, we're not going to see Volk and Diego like trash talk each other a whole bunch.

But I think the more, the closer we get to the fight, the more interesting it is. I still can't, I still cannot get that press conference face off between those two guys out of my mind. Because Diego Lopez is like three feet taller than Volcanowski. He looks. Two-way classes bigger than him. It's crazy. Man, if he wins, if he wins, that's, Lopez-Movs are main events, Guadalajara.

That's not even a question. Oh, 100%. But I say that, if Yair wins, why would they not do Yair and Diego as a man-oam-a-man-a-ha-ha. Why would they not do that? There's so much. Oh, man. That card is going to be so good.

I'm kind of curious if Lopez wins Will Dana and the UFC brag about the contender series How like oh this is the guy we didn't sign we didn't see talent then Confidently I don't think I don't think I don't think Dana White remembers half the contracts he was given up If you say oh if I could go up to him and be like Uh You're you happy that you got Marab through the contender series You'd be like oh yeah I always knew it like he has no concept

Yeah he's no concept He was on the contender series, though I thought he was on looking for a fight No, he was on Contender Series He lost to Oh, Lopez, I think, I thought you were talking about. No, no, I knew that. Lopez lost to Brito.

That's all I was talking about how, like, the UFC like a fight. Yeah, that was the spinning back fist of Rott's? Of Stats? Oh, that was that fight, wow. What a crazy world. Like, if Stots won that fight, then

And Saz is obviously, to me, a really good band-in-white, but M-Rob's M-Rob, too. Yeah. Data probably remembers 10 contracts he's given out on the Contender Series. And they were the last-on-Malley, Jay Cadley, Bo-Nickel, obviously, Joe Piper. Joe Piper, obviously. Jamal Hill. Jamal Hill, yeah. That's crazy.

Yeah. Yeah, so Lopez could be the first Contender Series loser to win a UFC title, right? Oh. Could be. It would be correct, I believe, yes. He would be the first, no, Alexa has it. He'd be the first male undisputed Mexican champion. I know Kane is there, but he's Mexican-American.

I guess technically Diego's Brazilian, but moved to Mexico. Trains of Brazil, but I guess trains in Brazil, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. We have some colleagues that went on, that were saying, that were questioning that. I'm not going to put him on blast. and a bunch of Mexican journalists came out and they weren't mean about it they were like Diego's basically

is 100% Mexican at this point like he lives there he trains there he's like everything he does is in Mexico he is Mexican Yeah I like Does his media in Spanish unless asked in Portuguese Though he I was talking to him once And he's like my meet like before his media day

He's like I'm just going to throw curve balls And he answered a question in Spanish And then he answered a question in Portuguese And even Fabiano was like, what, what the hell? And then I was like, this guy. I love it. Does he walk out to the Brazilian flag or Mexican? I'm sure he still walks out the Brazilian flag.

I don't think he walks out with any flag. Like on his little ticker? I don't know. Either way, yeah. I guess you, yeah, I just more curious. He gets one of those cool double flags, the Mexico, Brazil flag. He's got Brazil on UFC on the website, on the UFC website. But if you go into Getty, the ones that,

like the Portia ones that are in the back that Mike shoots, he has both flags in his hand. And then he has, when he wins, he has like the Tito Ortiz thing where one side is Brazilian and one side is Mexican. God, 13 is so good. Oh, yeah, duh. And I completely just hit me Moreno one.

I'm stupid. I'm very dumb. No one remembers. Ignore everything. Even though we love my way to have, we just forget him. It's a lot. it's a lot it's also i feel like brandon and figurado fought like a thousand times in that

span of time it just all kind of blended together yeah year was an intern champion yeah yeah he got that sick interim belt yeah um wait is pit bull yeah year is that still in the prelims they didn't they're not bumping that out or is it got bumped up oh did okay cool cool nice good as of now it's the as of now it's the uh as of now it's the main card opener i like it i like it i like that i like that oh no it's not uh ray is Trial off is the opener, then the two featherweight fights, then the two five-rounders. God, so good. And look at, look at Casey.

You get pivotal women strawweight action. I like that fight. Not buried on the, yeah, it's the second to last prelim fight, Janjan, and Bernda Janja Robo. Number one contender. That's an awesome fight. That's an awesome fight. I love that fight. Thank you, JST YouTube.

I get some more super chats. Roll through them. J. Fish, what's next for Joaquin Buckley? Also, Mike, what is the best Celsius flavor? And why is it sparkling orange? I like the watermelon one. Arctic Blast is pretty good. Arctic Glass is my favorite.

But I mean, I like them all, honestly. Are there any you don't like? Yeah. Yeah, I don't like the peach one. Green tea. I don't like the peach one. I don't like the green tea. And I don't like the ones that don't have that aren't carbonated.

Oh, that's. Those suck. Yeah. I thought I got a faulty can one time. I was at a MVP event and they were giving them out. Like, oh, cool. I grabbed it. I was like,

what the way? It's like, this one's broken. This is broken. Arctic Blas is my favorite. Yeah. But the ones without the carbonation is hot garbage. Yeah.

It's like drinking a, it's like drinking like a warm Celsius. It's just like warm coolade. It's like some hot coolid. Someone in the chat will get. get that reference. God. Oh, yeah.

But now, you know, as much as we love Celsius and they're not a sponsor of ours, let's talk about Joaquin Buckley. Oh, yeah. Where does that leave him in this conversation? I think it's the Sean Brady fight. Okay. I think Brady had his big win.

Buckley had his big win. Neither of them had fought for the title yet. I think that's, I think that's. Shavcott is obviously next line for the winner, allegedly, because Islam could always skip the queue. but if in this world if ballol wins he seems down the clown against anybody um i think buckley and brady should fight for the number of contender i also just like that fight in general i like that fight as well you agree casey yeah buckley brady yeah brady didn't sound like he was he was hype on sitting

sitting around for nine months 10 months so it makes a lot of sense and buckley to me is a um i don't was a favorable matchup, but I think we're all going to favor, but favor Brady in that fight, I would think. But obviously, Buckley has a chance to win. Buckley is so powerful, man. That's why, but again, I want to see that fight. Even if it's for not, even if it's just a fight night main event in Nashville,

so weird. Who do you think can do more pull-ups, Buckley or Brady? I bet Buckley could do more pull-ups, but I bet Brady could, like, out weightlift Buckley in, like, every way. I think Buckley, yeah, because Buckley is an explosive guy, but I think Brady, like, he could crush more watermelon with his with his arms.

That makes sense? Two totally different. I totally get that. I totally get that. There's different strengths. I get it. I wish we had more of that. Just instead of these apex cars, just, you know, just.

Combine, dude. Combine, yeah. Just skip an apex. Just no apex this week and just, you know, get your top 10 guys and just do a combine. That'll be so. Oh, it'd be so good. we talk about it. Every six months we talk about it

and we got like all excited and depressed it's because the NFL because the NFL draft is happening right now so now like it's just calm mind fever. You just start yeah imagining things. All right. Thank you Jay Fish. Did we answer everything?

Yeah, so let's see if that. Yep, we did. Also to add to the Buckley thing, Kamara Usman, he's got to get a fight man. Dude's got to fight real soon. I feel like he's just getting left behind. I feel like he's like kind of almost like Suhudo

when Suhudo was like retired but not retired I feel like Usma's kind of the same just kind of waiting which is you just keeps you just kind of keep forgetting about him but he's still there I guess I think he should fight the loser of Balal and JDM

I don't mind that especially if it's Belal because apparently they tried to fight each other in a podcast studio might as well fight in a Hucktogne maybe they're just waiting to see how that all plays out because there's been getting the title shot like as much people want to argue for that is just insane it's an insane argument at this point that he should the title shot after three straight losses sorry is but is is is buckley

isman is that off the table not not off the table at all no yeah no i think that's it's if you're buckley you i think if you're buckley you are doing everything in your power to fight usman like that's the one you should all your videos about yeah you should be full-fledged on kamar usman To me, the UFC should want that, too, because the problem of Buckley-Brady is that you're going to knock out a contender, and, you know, that just gives them less options for whatever. So, yeah, I hope the UFC makes Buckley-Uzman. That makes a lot of sense. I forget, when you mentioned Uzma, I'm like, oh, I forget, he's just there. I just forget about him.

Yeah. Thank you, Jay Fish. Oh, Celsius. Every other week, I go to Costco and buy a 12-pack. It's super cheap at Costco. It's great. So that's where to get it. The variety pack?

Yeah. Hannah, my fantasy league second season starts this weekend and I have the first draft pick. Who should I make sure to steal? Casey, this is for you, by the way. Or is fantasy football. Oh, I'm too much fantasy football. Oh, no, it's April of June.

It's got it. It's M.A. Oh, from April to June. Oh, yeah. So your fantasy drafts on a day. like two months? Is that three months? They do quarterly. Oh, a quarter.

Well, yeah, grab my rob right now. I take my, well, no, you probably won't get a bonus. Hmm. I don't know, someone, someone take this. Someone take this too. I'm thinking. Kayla. Kayla.

Kayla's on a bad. Yeah, Kail's not a bad one. Although I think that, I think that, she won't make an event. Yeah, she's not made. Oh, title fight though. It's title fight. Yeah. Boy, I think that fights, honestly,

I think that fight's dicier than people think it is. I agree. For Kayla. She's got to cut that one extra pound, man. It seems like it's nothing, but that's going to be a huge story heading into that card. She's made 136 fine. She's looked.

I think, yeah. Yair would be a good get, I think, if you want non-title fights or main events. Because there is absolutely a world where he head kicks pit bull. Let's take it. First pick. I do think Belaw's going to beat Jadam. But still, that's risky because Jada M hits very hard.

I actually would. Valentina. That's a tough fight, man. Manon's a beast in there. But the last time we saw Valentina pissed off was Jessica Androdd, and she beat the soul at her. Yeah, she was not pissed off for this third Grasso fight, but she just, she dominated. That wasn't an overly exciting fight. Not, you know, I'm not complaining about it.

Yeah, the Androge fight was a, there's very few times that I've called performances, perfect games. That was a perfect game. Yeah. It's kind of give away your pick, but who would you draft, Volcanowski or Lopez? Volcanowski. Yeah, probably Volcanowski. I would have no confidence on Fight Night. Yeah.

It's so it's just so many variables there. But when I look at a fight 50-50, I will take big fight experience all day long, which is why I picked Marab to beat Umar. And, you know, it's just one of those things. When it fights close and I'm torn, I'll go with the guy who's been there the most times. And Volk has been there for the last like six years. But you might want to also go, I might also draft for youth and. not coming off too straight head knockout to so it's been a lot of time though it's been 14 months which is nice a nice little break i kind of like volks that attitude as of late yeah yeah don't

sylva is a big favorite but still a diet it's kind of a dicey fight i like it i would go belaw i think belaw is my first pick i'm going mara rob rob has been good maraub's been good to me i'm going marab yeah marab's a good marab's a very good pick too yeah main event might not get the bonus but title fight all that everything else is got. All right. Thank you very much, Hannah. And you have to draft a four International Fight Week card is announced.

That's tough. John, thoughts on what the Atlanta Fight Night main event will be. What's the date on that? August. June. Oh, June, June, way earlier. June 12th?

Yeah. June 14th. Here's what we have thus far. We reported Jamie Lynn Horth versus Teresa Bleda, Alonzo Metafield, Umar Sai, and Rose Namibunis Miranda Maverick are official for UFC Atlanta. So I don't know, man. They could just make Rose and Miranda main event. Yeah, they could. I'll say, and I have no insight to this whatsoever, I'll say that's where Kululah Rangri, Jamal, Hill ends up.

But again, this is not me. That's pure speculation. That is not me trying to be right. That would make sense. But two guys coming up knockout losses though, but is it rose coming off a win or a loss? I can't remember. Lost, Darren Blanchard. Yeah, okay.

Okay, well, yeah, I guess it's a bigger fight. Sure. All right. Thank you, John. John, what's PFL thinking having a 10 p.m. card on a Thursday? I mean, I feel like this is a, I feel like most PFL questions start with what's PFL thinking, dot, dot, dot.

Boy, Jose, I got to tell you, I have not seen less buzz for a somewhat major MMA promotional kickoff event than I do for this one. There is just no buzz around this at all. It's a lot of the divisions like top fighters, guys who are probably favored to win are all out.

Like Fabian Edwards is out. Magamagamatoff is out. Ulytov is out. I think they lost a big one due to a weight miss yesterday. I mean, this thing is falling apart before the first punch is thrown.

And there's not a lot of star power, not a lot of names. I don't know, man. Like I'm going to watch just because I want to, I'm more, I'm more on like the Casey side of things where like, sure, I hope the fights are good, but I want to see what the production looks like

at Universal Studios. Like what's it going to, is it going to look like WCW Saturday night? Are we going to have a rotating smart cage in between fights? Like that's the kind of shit I want to know about. But I don't know, man. What have you seen from the social media universe in regards to the excitement levels for the PFL world tournament? It's all, this is happening?

Question mark? That seems to be the first comment is, didn't even know this was happening. Thanks, PFL. But I'll tell you what, Mike. I would much rather a PFL card start 10 p.m. on a Thursday than a Friday because that would be a long Friday night. So good on your PFL. Hey, don't worry, Jose.

Don't you worry because next Friday, 11 p.m. main card for the PFL card the day before UFC 314. Good thing. I'll be in Miami working fight week. Have fun, Mike. I will say for this PFL card. I'm actually really excited for Adam Borch coming back. I think I'm bored. Yeah.

I think he's the most underrated featherweight in the world right now in the sense that people just don't know about him. But I think he's no top 15, top 10 featherweight. So I'm actually super excited to see that I'm Borch fight. And in the main event, I've just seen so much Kreshkoff. I'm kind of bored of him a bit. Yeah. And I have no issue of Jason Jackson.

I think he's a very good Walterweight. I just seen so much crush off fights in Bellator. I'm kind of over it. But he's obviously, they're obviously two very good welterweights. But Adam Borch is kind of my main event. Is this a make or break here for PFO? Yes.

I feel like we say that every year, but I feel like with everything that's happened, some of the fighters on the rosters, everything that's happened since the Bellator acquisition, I feel like they have to do something big this year. That I'm starting that way. they were on such a high after the Paul Hughes Usman fight.

That's the most we've ever thought about the PFL. And then they've actually made good changes, I think, getting rid of the seasonal format and bringing in tournaments. Yeah, I don't know if it's break, but they have to put on a good showing, especially because I think we can all assume we're not going to get Francis this year in the PFL. Jake Paul's certainly not going to fight in the PFL.

You got to do something. You got to do something. I still want to know what these guys are fighting for outside of the cash at the end. Like what comes next? Do they have to do the tournament next year? Do they get a title shot? Like, I still don't know. And what Don told us when we did the last town hall is that, well, as of now,

they're in the title conversation where maybe they're a win away. But like, that's fine. But if you just won $500,000, you're not guaranteed a title shot. Like, what are we doing here? I don't know. I'm rooting for them. I hope this is good. I hope they have some highlight reels.

I hope their social media, one of their social media finished clips on social goes wild and viral and everyone's talking about them all week because they need to do something, man. The sport needs it. We need it. And when we say these things about PFL, it's out of a place of love. We want them to do well.

We're rooting for you. But it just seems like every decision they make is like, huh? Why? What are we doing here? Like, Paul Hughes's next, like, his next fight in Northern Ireland, I'm fairly certain is the same day, if not the day before or after, of the Belaw-M-Mohamed JDM fight.

Like, that's what we're going to be talking about. Unfortunately, not Paul Hughes. Yeah, and he's going to, he's fighting a guy. He's probably like a minus 800 favorite, or at least he will be, come fight day. So I don't know. Hopefully they can put some of these champions series cards together and they're really good

and we get some power. Hopefully we get to see Patchy Mix, fist fight. John Fis fight. Johnny Eblen. Yeah. What are we doing? Why is just not fighting?

I don't get it. I truly don't get it. If you don't have, if PFO doesn't have the banking out to pay these gentlemen, then let them go. Right. It's okay.

Patchy has a little bit of like, Catchy has a little bit of leverage. And I think Eblen has a little less leverage, but some. Those are the two guys that have leverage in this situation. Pitbull obviously did. Like I know Corey Anderson's come out and sort of said, like, I want out to. But he might have like the least amount of leverage of a major MMA champion that I've maybe ever seen.

Because I don't know, like, UFC's not going to scoop him up. No. They let him out of his contract early. They were just like, okay, bye. So where, like, if they've released Corey, where did? does he go? Does he go to GFL and just hope someone takes him? I don't know. That's wild because he's legitimately a top 10 like anyway who can't get a job right now. That is it's wild.

Where's Ryan Vader going to go? I don't I don't know. To Hollywood. Yeah, PFL. Jeez. I don't know. I'm moving on for BFL. Thank you, John Ray. Ray Ray. Is Lewis versus Tashara real for Nashville main event? It's not on our website, so for now, I'll say no. Would it surprise me if this is a fight that is being made for a fight night main event outside of the UFC Apex? It would not surprise me in the slightest.

Oh, it's a very... It's a very fight night main event, but I don't know if it's happening. And we still don't know what happened to Lewis in that last pullout. It was the injury, nothing. No, I did. Super weird. Nada. Chase, fun fact, we're watching BTL at work.

I just put together a flight itinerary with Dana White is the passenger. Crazy coincidence? What? Is it the Dana White? The Dana White? I guess so. Maybe. It's very bizarre.

Where are they going? I can't tell people that. You can't tell people that. Yeah, please don't. Fahim, imagine Walterway without last minute strike by boring Leon. We'd be without arguably the craziest moment in UFC history, so it's hard to imagine. Yeah, I mean. Who would have ozman fought next if he didn't get him?

Who would have fought next? Who would probably would have? They'd probably have given him Colby again. Oh, yeah, you're right. even though he beat him twice the second one was was really was a really close fight I don't know

that's a good question that's a really good question I don't remember yeah wouldn't be blah I wonder if like you go back to the you guys did a watch party

for that one I assume right was that watch party time or was that before? No nope that was which car was that two I don't know

278 It was called like 287? No, 287 was the first Miami card. I think it was 278. 279 was Singapore. 278, yes. No, 279 was the Diaz, Ferguson,

Hamza, Kevin Holland Fiasco. Oh, how could I friggin forget that? The first watch party was UFC 280. Oh, okay. That was 280. Yeah, I'm trying to think, yeah. If Usman wanted to win that fight, yeah, I don't know. Probably would have fought Jan Blahovich.

Remember, he kept trying to fight him? He didn't want to, because Izzy was the champion. He didn't want him to go up. Oh, but then Pereira won the, Pereira won the belt in November. So maybe goes up, maybe goes up to 185 and fights Pereira. Yeah, as I was thinking, too. Yeah, we kind of had Axe Pereira versus Usman at 85. Oh, man.

cow. I don't think, I think. I don't think he would have done it because he would have, because Izzy would have got the rematch. And then like Izzy go do your rematch. Oh, yeah. You wouldn't step on his toes. But I don't know.

All right. Thank you for him. Interesting. But my guess would have been Colby. It would have been Colby. Third by and Colby. Because Colby had been in Mazudal earlier that year. Yep.

March. March. But then he beat Maas. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Then all the stuff happens. allegedly and then we didn't see

Colby again until the way in before the Ousman Everichelagia you're right we're like oh shit it's Colby

Steve do you all believe the first G oh wow thumbs up do you all believe the first GFL event will happen

events Plural 28th and the 29th in beautiful La La La La Land, Los Angeles, California. Whoa.

One fight already dropped off. Is it one fight already gone? Oh, yeah, 30, 30 fights. Well, Fabricio Verduem was scheduled to fight TBA, according to the full drop, which GFL, like, released. They made, like, the initial announcement with, like, six big fights on each card,

and then they released, like, their full card, like, several hours later. And they had Fabricio Verdeum versus TBA. So, yes, that fight, is off the docket? So do you believe Jose Youngs that on May 28th and May 29th, our jobs will have us watching

the Global Fight League? Yeah, I think the event will happen, but I think a bunch of those fights won't happen, if that makes sense. I bet a bunch more fights fall apart, but I do think they will have their two fights. Now, the better question is, will they have another set of events after that?

That I don't know. but I do think yes, I do think they'll actually have. Excuse me. Yes, I do think they'll have them. I just don't, I think half those events will fall apart. He said half. Okay.

So on our internal Slack channel, we were talking about, I think of the original card they put out there, was the over under of those, like, like, with 30 fights, how many of those fights would drop off? I put over under at nine and a half. So Jose's going over. I think nine and a half is low, too. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of names on here who could fall off the day before. It's very possible. I feel like GFOs. I almost can't even like, I almost don't even wait, want to waste my brain space like theorizing about GFL yet

because it still is fake to me. Tony Ferguson versus Dylan Dennis is not happening, right? Like that fight's not going to happen. Anthony Pettus and Benson Emerson will definitely happen. That will happen. That will happen. Holly and Julia will happen. Yes.

I could see. Marloresis Rayc is a question mark for me, just based on the two gentlemen involved, more so on the Borg side. It's 35, I assume, not 25. So Borg. Yeah. So Borg can make that.

Ask Mlad is always a question mark. Todd Duffy is always a question mark. Yeah, that is for sure. Wait, wait. A limel is fighting at straw weight. All right. Really? Straw weight.

Yeah. That's what they have are listed. Oh, okay. All right. She had tough time making 25, so all right, we'll see. That's what I'm saying. Wait, wait. So, Pettus Henderson.

That means they fought in the UFC, WEC, WEC, karate combat. Yeah, karate combat and now potentially. That's got to be some sort of. A tetralogy, baby. Yeah. And then after that, they signed a BKFC.

Let's just have a grappling map. Yeah. Do a grappling match. CGI. It's party. Oh, man. Then they gave a horse. You know, everything just covered all.

Benson would cook. Benson is so good at basketball. Really? Yeah, we played. This is a very, this is a fun story. For, what was the main event? There's Bader and it was heavyweight. Who is Fador's heavyway protege?

Moldowski. Yeah, Valenti Moldovsky. So I think it was Bader Moldowski. It was in Phoenix. And shoot, who I think that, I think Benson was fighting, or it might have been Bader Corey Anderson. They were both, because both those were in Phoenix. And then Benson was fighting, uh, Brent Primis on that.

card it all blends together uh it was the one where big tuna fought in phoenix and got crushed oh that don't even bring that up jeez go on man he fought sullivan no not sullivan collie um that sounds right yeah so that event fador was at too and the open workouts were on the sun's court like not their practice facility facility like the actual NBA arena was where the open workouts were and it was me Nolan king from MMA junkie and maybe three or four other media members that I had never seen before and if you see in the video that we posted

uh Fador and his team spent like 30 minutes trying to make a half court shot while Maldowski was doing lapsed so I filmed I'm like this is just a weird fever dream happening right now and then Benson was there and a few other people were there and we have you guys played knockout in basketball so we played a game of knockout and uh benson beat me at the very end that was we were the final two knockout's a great game and i will never understood off a major upset on that card against islam momadoff that's right that's right and i will never rematch don't king and basketball ever again i want to know against him and that's how it'll

warm in is he go to basketball uh we're both equally as good as good but he missed two layups and I will never let him. I will, but like, layups that no one was in front of him, he just straight up missed. It's on videos somewhere. During knocking? Never. No, we were just shooting around.

Like he just clagged it. I was like, ha ha, I made fun. He probably better basketball. That was funny. I'll never rematch him. One and all. All right. Thank you, Steve.

Yes, it'll happen. With Instacard, you get groceries, that over-deliver so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? Easy. Want honey-crisp apples that are firm, green,

and definitely not Macintosh like last year when you lost the fall bake-off to perfect Penelope Johnson. Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over-deliver. Service-piece exclusions and terms apply. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things.

Exactly. The new iPhone 17 Pro on TELUS's five-year rate plan price lock. Yep, it's the most powerful iPhone ever, plus more peace of mind with your bill over five years. This is big. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at tellus.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. Mike Jose and Mustache, for a giggle for the show, quickly look up the single cover for sensitivity. by Ralph Levant in the 80s

and tell me that's not Lorone Murphy. I know exactly what cover you're talking about and it sure is, man. That's super funny. That's so funny. Wow. New Edition's own. That's a good look.

That is a sharp look. I like it. That was like every member of New Edition who had a solo album, that's like what their cover looks like. Bobby Brown had a similar one early on before he got all Bobby Brownie. Yeah.

Shout out to Boston. Yeah. I like this. This is actually a, it looks like a scan of it, the cassette tape. I like it. That's right. That's right. Thank you, Masters of the Universe.

That is very, talk about flying on the radar. Holy shit. What a great fight, Emmett, Monroe Murphy is. Awesome fight. It's one of those fights that the US is better, but. Like the, when fighters, fighters call out other fighters, the fight almost never. happens, even if it makes sense.

It almost never happens because the UFC already has things in the works. But Lorone Murphy calling out Josh Emmett after Abu Dhabi. Everyone was like, yeah, that makes sense. And I was like, well done, UFC, you actually made the fight happen. That's right. It's such a proper, actually a proper UFC apex main event. That actually makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

Yeah, the rest of the car, you know. It's a great fight. It's a great fight. The best fight of the weekend by far. Oh, yeah. Josh hasn't fought since the Mitchell knockout, right? Yep. Yeah.

And this is Lorone's second main event, right? Second main event. Nice. Awesome. The first time? Edson. Edson Barbaroso. Yeah.

But no one watched it because it was the same exact time as Usik Fury. Okay, yeah, maybe there was something weird about it It was like the timing was weird on it yeah Like it ended right before the Fury and Usik Which is fine, it's like good timing But like everyone at that point I think it was yeah, it was the first time they fought Usick and Fury

So everyone like that was Really? Yeah It was that same May May 24 May 10th right No shit I thought it was a different thing Was that Diaz Moss at all

The boxing match? No, that was no, that was in July, I thought. I don't remember. Oh, that's right, because it was supposed to be the same day as 301, and then they moved back to July. You're right. Yeah, May 18th, 2024, Tyson Fury, Alexander Usik 1, Edson Barboza, Lorone Murphy, UFC, Apex. That's right, because then that week, that week, we did the bizarre links, and I had you argue why Fury and Ustic should happen inside the apex. Great call. Great call.

Nailed it. Yep. All right. Speaking of this week. Three undefeated fighters on this card, Garul, Fini, and Murphy, who is at most risk of losing their O? I'd say,

I think Garul should be Ode Osborne. Yes. Probably Lorone. Finney's going to win, dude. Yeah. Yeah. But like it's a main event And a UFC main event

You're a good fighter Like you're not just a good fight You're an elite fighter Like both of these gentlemen Could be top five feather whites Josh Shema has fought for an interim title And lost by a mistake he made By following and pressing the air into the canvas

And getting tapped So probably Lorone Just because he's Competition is just higher than the other two Now We'll read now Will Reese McKee get a USC win? No.

You'll not. Yes. What's up on Finney? I don't know very much about him other than fighting three times. He's like he's the other Bo-Nichol, right? Same thing. No, he's not the other Bo-N-N-O-N-N-O-N-N-Gle. So I've seen Torres-Fini fight live multiple times.

Then-Bo-N-N-N-Fight three times? Contender Series? Twice. Oh, just twice. I thought you had three times. Sorry, sorry. He won up doing it going nice. Yeah, Finney had two decisions, I think.

The second one was like real, it was a really boring fight, but he also fought a dude. No, no. He's kind of the problem with Finney. Finney is a brick shit house. He's just a, he's a five, he's like five, eight, five nine, but he's just a monster. So like when he fights dudes, the guys he fights are always like way bigger than him and have longer reaches. and just it's weird stylistically for him. So his fights sometimes are not aesthetically pleasing.

But I mean, dudes got, dudes got star written all over him. And I noticed that like early on in his pro career when I watched him fight live. And I don't know, man. He's just, his shape makes him like a fan face. But it also could make the style really tough to watch. Torres Finney wasn't even a running back.

college. He was a full back. Like, that's how wide he is. He was the guy that blocks for the running back. Because you didn't even have to block him. You just have to run five miles left or right to get around him. That's how wide he is.

He has one decision. He's good. Two finishes. You got to finish his first time. The first one, he didn't get a contract on. Yeah, third one, he just annihilated a dude. And they're like, okay, now you get one. But that's the first time I watched Finney fight,

he absolutely creamed the guy he fought. Like just ran him over and I was just like, cuts a great promo at the end. And I remember just, I went up to Abe Cow at the time, who's his manager? And I was like, who the fuck is this kid?

And we were talking about him a lot. I was like, this dude just blew me away. And then they did another card in Savannah, like maybe two months later. And he fought again a guy that he probably could have done the same thing to. And he was kind of struggling a little bit. Just a lot of take down, a lot of lay and prey, not much happening.

And eventually got dude out in the third round. But it wasn't like the most exciting fight. And that's like one of the things that's like sometimes he just relies on his wrestling a little too much and the fight gets a little boring. But he's got a gas tank on him. Like he can go, man. It's just a matter of like, can he get to that second gear? And it's just a mental thing with him.

But yeah, he's got to be an interesting guy to watch in the UFC. No doubt about it. All right. Thank you much. Got a couple more super chats coming in. Tanvir, do you see Francis retiring from MMA after his next PFL fight and strictly moving to boxing? It's apparently the last fight on the deal. What do you think?

Probably. But I think he's going to be involved in it because isn't he like the ambassador or something for PFL Africa? I don't know the exact title. So he'll be involved. But in terms of competition, it would not shock me at all. Francis hung it up after his last fight on his PFL deal to just focus on boxing. I think you give him the Puginooski Eddie Hall winner, PFL versus KSW. Let's just get real weird with it.

And then what a way to go out. And then go boxed bunch of dudes. Like that's fine. I mean, in MMA at, I mean, I don't know, I might be just making numbers up here. But like, Francis, he at best, he can only make maybe a, what, one fifth. to what he can make in boxing in MMA? Yeah.

Something like that. Yeah, somewhere around that. Like maybe one, maybe a third at best. Yeah, it's just for much, much more expensive training and much more dangerous training.

MMA is just more expensive to train that and more, more, just more dangerous to train. There's more likely of injuries. And Francis is he's near 40 now, right? He's in that person. Yes, he's close there.

Yeah, so, yeah, go to boxing, sir. We've got, you've had a good time here. Move on. Get up, get that, get more bags. Who's he going to fight? Like, that's, that's why I said, like, just get super weird with it. Just give them a strike, like a powerful striker of some kind and just let him go to work. I know people, I am fascinated with the Vadim Nemcoff idea, but that, I'm more fascinated

if Francis is going to stick around for a little bit. Yeah. But it was just like, hey, this is going to be. his final fight if we're all like thinking about it in that way. Vadim Kemp is not the guy. Not for this final fight. Mkkoff will be an interesting fight, but I don't see that being like the final fight.

Yeah, or no. Yeah, because he just doesn't have a name value yet. He needs something something he needs bigger for them cough to get that fight. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Chamber. Chase, not sure if you guys looked at betting lines for UFC 314, but there are a lot of good value on the underdogs, any you like.

Um, I haven't really, I mean, there's, I mean, there's obviously some that I will, that I will take a little stab at. But I'll probably have more of an answer. Let me just see if there's any, there's anything I can look at right now. Pippold is another dog. That's interesting, but Pipples, you know, he's just so past, he's like just past his prime. Like, Darren Elkins is a huge underdog at plus 310. Like, I might take a look at that. Jim Miller's a plus 350.

Yeah, and Elkins is just like, it's impossible to finish that man. And I feel like that's Julian's best chance is to finish him. Jim Miller's plus 350 and I like Chase Hooper a lot, but Dominic Reyes plus 146. That's a fight he can win. Yeah, there are some interesting dogs on here. Patty continues to get to become a bigger favorite. Oh, he is a favorite. Okay, it's interesting.

Who's a favorite? Patty. Patty one minus 175 right now. Paddy's the favorite. Paddy's a yeah. Which I understand. John Silva, a big favorite? Huge favorite.

Mine's 340. And then Volk's slight favorite. Ian Gary's slight favorite too right now against Pratchez. Minus 138. Yeah, I'll take more of a look next week for the watch party. But yeah, there's some, there's some interesting one. A good ones. Thank you, Chase.

How in the world does the Stella Noonet? This is you. How does the world does the Stella Noon still have a job? Six and five overall O and four in the UFC. If she just, I know Jose doesn't want to hear this. If she just fought at UFC London for selfish reasons for the fantasy team, I drafted Molly McCann for the sole purpose that she was fighting Estella Nunes on that car. to get a finish and a bonus and get me all the points and probably turn around and fight again somewhere.

But instead, she fights somebody who we all knew she was going to lose to. I didn't think she'd lose as decisively as she did in the first round. And then retires. And obviously the retirement was big news in the social media spheres. But now she's fighting this weekend and she's going to lose again. So there you go. She's there to get God. That's why she shows a job.

That's right. But she was matched up with Molly McCann. They were booking Molly McCann a win in London. Loma Laboombe is a minus 800 favorite. Whoa. Wow. Against Estella New Nets. Minus 800.

But you answered it. Why is she in the UFC? Because she's there to build up other fighters. She will not be there after this fight. Loma hasn't fought in a while, huh? Yeah. The last fight was... More than a year.

I think it was the Brune and Brazil fight. And before that it was Elise Reed, which she choked her out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's done a three-fight win streak. So it's been 14 months, 14 months. Okay. Yeah, been a little bit, yeah. Yeah, I was like watching a Loma fight, so should be good.

The Elise Ried fight was like, whoa, look at Loma. Submission Grappler. They got Loma. She's fighting. She's fighting the day before the White Lotus finale, which is taking place in Thailand. It all makes sense. It's all coming together. She's on a quiet little run right now.

Five out of her last six? Yep. Her losses are to Lupy and Angela Hill. That's it. She's beating everybody else. And she seems to be getting better, too. Yep. All right.

Thank you, ladies of bed. What's the most 80-sounding name ever? Oh, God. Spud's McKenzie. there you go there you go anytime I anytime I get question

dude Larry Bird is such an 80s name God that's a great name like that is that is just so 80s I just all I think about is like the 1986

87 and 87 Boston Red Sox when I think of like 80 sounding names Tom Brunanski Mike Greenwell Wade Boggs Bob Bob Melvin

is like such an 80s name. I know it was on there. It's like Bob Melvin is such a, such an 80s name. What about, all right. What about a, God. What about a female? What about a female 80s name?

All I think of is a, because I've had this conversation a couple of months ago, is we don't hear the name Sloan anymore. And that's all I could, who is the girlfriend in Ferris Bueller's Day Off? And to me, that's like my favorite movie from one of my favorite movies from the 80s. And you don't hear the name Sloan nearly enough in 2025. My first name is so funny.

First one came to me was Goody Hawn. I don't know. Dude. Kurt Russell, like Kirk Russell. Like these are all like. I like what lazy bed say. Gordon, just the first name, Gordon. Like, or Gordon Bombay.

Yeah. I like someone. Best 80s name ever. Paco Porter. That name transcends decades in the Buccio until the end of time. But you know who is far ways away from the 80s? Christian Campbell, who just went deep. Let's go.

Hey, well, we're talking about 80s. Let's talk about Val Kilmer, the late Val Kilmer. All right. Very underrated Batman. Actually, just a good actor, really good actor. Very good actor. Yeah. Yeah, I loved him.

actually I forgot I forgot he was in Willow I think I yeah and Willow was like one of my favorite movies growing up as a kid I'm born again I struggled to name my favorite

Valcomer because I love Willow I love I loved his Batman because I was a kid when that came out so that will just perpetually be an amazing movie you know it's not technically good uh tombstone's glory yeah Jim Moore

he's like he like I all this stuff about Austin Bullitt being Elvis, Balcimer will do it first. Oh, yeah. In the range that Valcomer had, the fact that he was like super comedic,

like in Hot Shots. Was it hot shots? Yeah. Hot shots. He could do comedy, drama, he did straight up action. He did dramatic action,

like in heat, you know. Yeah. Just a lot of good ones, a lot of good ones. Oh, 80s names. Tom Selleck. What a great name.

Mr. Baseball. Tom Salis. You ever see Mr. Baseball? Of course I've seen. Starring a rookie Frank Thomas at the end of the movie. Yep. Oh, classic. Classic movie.

Oh, it's so bad, but so good. Okay. Hold on. Let's take a couple more questions before we get out of here. This one's from you, Mike. Mike, you think JDM is getting 5045 by Bilal? No, I don't think it's, I don't think it's 5045. What does that fight?

May 15th, May 12th, May 12th, I don't know. I told it for a guy. I'm getting two morale fights and two Bilal fights. It's insane. Wait, you got a, how are you getting two Bilal fights? Oh, wait. Oh, no, he has fought yet. Sorry, I'm just, I'm just excited.

Is he going to fight international fight week two? Jesus. I think Belaw wins a decision that looks somewhat similar to the Leon fight. That's kind of how I see it. We've seen Jadem struggle with grapplers, guys with experience, but he is dog tough, man. That guy is tough as hell. He could take punishment,

and you can never count him out of a fight at any point. And the dude can crack, can absolutely crack. so but ball has usually been very durable. I just think overall, ball is just a nightmare for a lot of guys in this division. With that cardio, he's getting stronger. His athleticism continues to grow.

His fight IQ is just, he just breaks dudes. Like, what he did to Sean Brady was so impressive. Just unreal. He's getting real close to cleaning out a division and he's not even had a title defense yet. Yeah.

And he hasn't fought like Uspin or Colby or Mazzadol or any of those guys. He just fought he fought everyone those three names you said didn't want to fight. Pretty much. Like Wonderboy, Maya, Brady, Gilbert, Vicente. Yeah. All the way up. All right. And our last question, like go to Masters of the Universe.

Yes. If UFC wants to make his return, they have to give him Leon saying he's fragile on the feeding comparison. I love that fight. Do you and how do you see it going today? This is, if you're ever going to make that, first of all, that fight should have happened like three times already. Yeah. It should have happened probably like right after Leon beat Usman the second time. You should just go right in there and do it.

Instead, you gave it to Colby, which is, I mean, it was choice. But. Well, they. because Mazuradol fought in Miami and lost. Was that card? Yeah, well, he lost to Gilbert Burns on the first Miami card

and that was his last fight and that was the whole narrative whether if Mazredull wins would he get the shot against him? Oh, that's right, that's right. Leon was like, if Jorge wins, I'm going to fight Jorge, but he didn't win. Yep, that's right.

Touche. But yes, that is the fight to make. Leon is out of title contention. and they're not going to be any rush to give him a title fight again. Just do the fight now. They were booked on the, was it the Blahovic, Mago Med Enkolae fight with Patty fought Jared Gordon? That fight was supposed to happen on that card?

Because they were booked. And I think Jorge pulled out or someone pulled out. It was a December card. UFC 269 Olivera versus Pori. Okay. All right. So it's the year before. Oh, shit. Yeah. There are a lot of fights on that card. I mean, that fight was a that fight. Barbara Blanchfield, Edwards, Mazzadol, Moreno Figgi, DDP Muniz.

Holy shit. Yeah, that was that time where like the Tapology fights that were canceled list were as like almost long as the entire card because of the COVID times. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think, look, I don't think this, I think the, I think the first of the first thing. looks very similar to the fight in the build will look almost identical to MVP versus Paul Daly that's how I think that fight looks like they'll be separated

there'll be security everywhere bad blood all around heated final face off heated touch the gloves before they fight and then Leon tackles him for 15 minutes again and told them it's gonna be one of those like

haul them up against the fence type situations where maybe it gets a take down around because Mazdaal's defensive wrestling is actually actually pretty damn good. It's vastly underrated. But I don't think it's going to be two dudes chucking them in there for 15 minutes. So I would pick Leon to win, but just do it now. Who gives a shit? Yeah, who gives a shit? And I might as well, he's, he's 40, right? At least, right? He's got me up there. If he ain't 40, he's right there. He is, he is 40. Just turned 40 in November. Yeah. Happy birthday. And we got, last super chat came in real quick. Someone younger than Jones might have the skills to beat their champ at some point,

but can someone climb the ladder that young anymore? I guess someone beating Jones record. At heavyweight? How old is? Headway is tough. The issue is can someone climb the ladder but also be that engaging and move the needle enough, too? Like, yeah. It wasn't that John Jones was winning.

John Jones kind of had an aura right out of the gate about him, too. Can someone, like, like, like Ross Jr. is amazing, but outside of Mexico, I don't know if he's out. Yeah. Yeah. Izzy had it too when he made his debut. Like before he even fought, you were like, this dude's fine for a title someday. Yeah. But he's already past that age.

So I'm wondering some 20-year-old can have that type of personality and also, you know, can really be, you know, an athlete. athletic, you know, phenom. Because to be that great, that young, like, you just have to be incredibly athletic because you just don't have the time to learn all the skills yet. The only guy I thought sort of had all of that. And then it turned out to, like, not be wholly accurate is Muhammad Mikhail. I agree.

Because he had some more about him. That debut, just ethering Cody Durdin the way he did. And then just kind of fell off a cliff from there. But coming out of that fight and just even even his subsequent win, I think, on the London car, wherever he fought after that was, I mean, he just took dude down like a hundred times. It was just like, okay, this, no one, it's going to be really tough to beat this guy. And then he had sort of some swagger to him. And, you know, he was an interesting guy. You just wanted to see him more and more.

And then the performances just didn't match up. They still won. That's the thing. Yeah, you'd still win. Yeah. But it would just be like, okay, the aura was there, but now, like, John wasn't winning, like, boring decisions. Yeah, that's, that, that's what I mean. You know what I mean?

You need to sort of have it all. Yeah. But Mikeyaf was probably the closest that I saw, like, a young fighter coming in, made a debut that just, like, stole the show on the night. Because that was the first fight of the night. It was the first fight of the card on that London card. And he just destroyed a very tough, durable guy. that was like the last time that I've seen a guy come in super young and thought to myself like this dude he's either going to be it's I thought coming out of that he was going to be I was like

don't be surprised this guy wins two belts that's how highly I regarded him even before he officially had that UFC debut but after seeing that debut I'm like all right dude just strap the rockets to him he's going to win two belts I mean and one of those weird stories is very good, but he doesn't have that crazy ore about him. I think for someone to do this, it's got to be at upper weight classes. It can't be. I agree. No, I agree.

Because I'm trying to think of all the, all the fighters that are under 25 are all like Josh Vans of Flyway, Tyra's a flyaway, Rural Roos is a Bantamweight. Meyer and Santos definitely lost that last fight. McIov isn't even just in any division right now. Like, Vann's an interesting guy, but like there's not, we're just like, this guy's very good at fist fighting, but he doesn't. have like star. I could be the face of the company or to him.

You know what I mean? So yeah, it's tough. Yeah, it's Kevin Vallejo's. Yeah, he's a good one. He's a good example. That guy's, what, 24? Yeah, even 24. He's still, he's already lost.

He's already doesn't beat the Jones record. Yeah, it's got to be someone who could have, I could have played professional, like, football, but decided to do fighting, you know, had to be someone like that to do it, you know, but... Maybe it's Torres-Fitting. Maybe it's Torres-Fiddy. Maybe he's the guy.

If he's a youngster. He's a young buck. If he rounds his game out and makes it to either UFC or PFL or whatever, Cade Ritola would be an interesting one because, what, he's 20, 21, and he's already got a massive following in Jiu-Jitsu. Yeah, Kate. And he's, and he is a big, he is a huge name in Jiu-Jitsu. He'd be like a low-lake

Is he a lightweight? Is he a lightweight or is it better way? Well, yeah, lightweight, right? Because I think he just fought at one championship welterweight. So he would have cut to lightweight. Cade would be a good one. Yeah. If Payton had won, he seemed to have some buzz.

Payton tall of it, that is. Yeah. Oh, yeah, pain. Okay. And our last one. There will be somebody coming. Yeah. Someone's going to be coming

Seeing guys Kids Kids are not playing Little League baseball anymore They're training Mixed Boxual Arts At like 7, 8, 9 years old So someone will come along

Just not here yet Uh I can't stand it I know you planned it I'm going to send straight This water gate I can't stand rock One of them in here

Because your crystal ball Ain't so crystal clear So I just want to see you I wanted to see you say it I'm glad you said it out loud Because I was reading it in my head.

What the hell is this dude saying? And then as soon as you started talking, I was like, oh, I see what. I was the same way. I was like, what? I was saying, there is a, when I was on the radio, there was a sales woman who would write like creative commercials. And I always had like sort of a creative mind as well. And there was this one sponsor, they like advertise this for a whole bunch of stuff called

the Backwater. grill and we would always do like different sort of spots for them and one of them she wrote a rap and she was like just do it however you see fit my heck rapping beastie boy style uh to a backwater grill wrap uh my colleague would just sort of be the echo in the background during like the big words you have to hit the rhyming words but yeah it was yeah boy made its way in there a little flave a flave throwback i mean it was just one of those things so Yeah, a little story about the beasters. I like this comment.

Right kids know the money is that I may not be as well because they know the path. It is a much easier path to become a professional MFA fighter in the UFC than is to become a major league baseball player. When Juan's, here's an interesting question for you, Mike. When Juan Soto contract ends. Will anyone in the UFC right now still be in the UFC? Dude, that's a great question. Jim Miller? Jim Miller.

Jim Miller will be like Jim Miller will, how old is Jim Miller? How old is Jim Miller, Mike? Who knows how old is Jim Miller? 40, 40. Jim Miller, if in 15 years, Jim Miller will be 55. I don't think anyone, because once so a sudden, 15, 7, 65. 5 million guaranteed. Yeah.

Rale Roses would be 35. Oh, Rau Roses. He could be Rau Roses. But like, does he want it? Like, like, but like, we're thinking about it like 15 years of fighting is crazy. Like starting it, like, especially starting when you're younger. Like, yeah, he could be. Josh Van could be.

But have you seen how Josh Van fights? I don't think he's going to be fighting. you've seen in 15 years. Like that will catch up to you. Who knows what like the landscape of combat sports is going to look like? We might be on, we might be playing baseball on Mars. Dirty boxing might be the biggest promotion in combat sports in 15 years.

They could be the co-leaders. They could be the co-leaders. Dirty boxing and PFL, baby. That's it. Put that into perspective. I'm going to pull this. up every fight there'll be so many fighters who have their own promotions in 15 years so in 2010 15 years ago is 2010 I'm just looking at all like the the UFC dot com awards I guess Ryan

Bader is still fighting he was fighting in 2010 oh but like Matt Brown's retired RDA is still fighting that's crazy still a relatively high level too runs Larkin yeah But then like, like 15 years ago was Anderson Silva Chal son of one. Oh, I'm being stupid. 15 years ago, Charles Oliver made his debut. He still like could be the champion. Yeah, he's like basically like number of two.

That's lightweight. Yeah, it's wild. So yeah, there's someone there. It will be like, there will be like 10 people. But you know what? Yeah. Just look at the GFL lineups and you'll find 80% of them fun 2010. But you're right.

Because 15 years ago, Charles, was 20. So like rural roses very well could be still in the U.S. in 15 years. And Charles, and 15 years ago, we weren't looking at Charles Oliver like, oh, this guy's going to be around 15 years. We thought he was a talented, no talented Brazilian grappler, you know, that's really, you know, we weren't thinking like, you know, just weren't thinking that this of him. Can you. Tony Ferguson was fighting for California Fight Syndicate in 2010. Can you guys, so UFC.com, 2010 awards. Can you name.

who the UFC listed as their five best fighters of 2010 of that year yeah it's why and Anderson I think no no he's not on top no this is fights that happened in 2010 so like if you were one and out like you know how do you fight her the year this is their fighters of the year 2010 this isn't like overall I think you could get four of them there is no chance you get number four I don't know. Go. Same.

Number one, Frankie Edgar. B.J. the first. GSP's five. I think 2010s the year he got hurt. Kane is two. Shogun is three. The iconic George Sotteropoulos number four.

Wow. Oh, that's a great. I wouldn't have got to George. I was going to say like Brendan Patch or something. And then like George. Number seven. Jim Miller, number seven. And then top five newcomers.

Can you guess the top five newcomers? One of the, two of them are still in the UFC. Wow. Charles, O'Hourner. Yeah, he's number three. Charles is number three. He was concerned. He was a, man.

Two of them are in the UFC. One of them is still fighting. Number one is still fighting, but not in the UFC. Clay Gweed? No, no. No, no. All right. Yeah, read them.

Wow. All right. Number one, Phil Davis. Number two, Jake Shields. Number three, Charles Olivera. Number four, Kyle Noak. Number five, Court McGee. Dude, this list.

And then six, six is Joey Beltron. That's crazy. Dude. And then Danny Roberts. Jonathan Brookings. Wow, that's a name I haven't. Wow, Jonathan Brookings. Oh, my God.

What a man. The Pan Talbot before Pan Talbot. Yeah. Oh, yeah, you're right. I'm looking at the, I found the 10 best fighters of 2010 list. That's hilarious. Rick Story, Evan Dunham, Chris Levin, all tied for 10th. Love that.

Rashad Evans, Yushan Akami, Jim Miller. I mean, come on. Jim Miller and 2010. JDS comes in in number six. What a time. I can't wait for 2035 on BTL when we go back and look at. at the 2020 list. George Soderoplas went 3 and O

and tapped Joe Lozon and close out 2010. And fun fact, that was his last professional win ever. Yep. Because then he lost out. He lost one, two,

three, four, five. He lost five fights in a row and then came back out of retirement. He retired in 2014, it came out of retirement 2023 and fought to a contest after an eye poke. George Soderopoulos. Holy shit.

Wow. What better way? I don't know if there's any way we can beat that to end the program. I mean, most 80s names, 2010 fighters. I mean, just a perfect way to captain's top. Hey, back to normal next week.

We'll have matchups. New season of BTL. It's going to be very exciting stuff. It'll be UFC 314 fight week. So it's going to be upbeat, positive, all sorts of craziness going down. Jose will be boots on the ground. We'll have all your coverage for you,

including the PFL tonight. UFC back at the famous Apex this Saturday. Join us, will you? For Casey for Jose, I'm Mike. I'm Mike back to get one. Someone to create odds for BTL this season. This has been Between the Links

and MMAT fighting production on the Vox Media Network. Unwrap Holiday Magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that 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.