MMA Fighting - BTL | UFC Lawsuit Settlement Reaction, Dana White Entering Boxing, UFC Paris, More

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

The UFC was off this past weekend, but the combat sports world saw a stunning result in the boxing ring with Daniel Dubois knocking out Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium. What does that result do for the always interesting heavyweight division in the squared circle? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to Dubois' upset win, and talks what could be next following the biggest win of his career. Additionally, topics include Dana White officially announcing he's entering the world of boxing, UFC Paris this Saturday headlined by Benoit Saint Denis vs. Renato Moicano, the co-main event between Nassourdine Imavov vs. Brendan Allen, Petr Yan returning to face Devieson Figueiredo at UFC Macau in November, Reinier de Ridder signing with the UFC, the UFC reaching a settlement in one of their antitrust lawsuits, and more. Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and José Youngs. Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.A Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host, my... The iconic voice of Esther Lin, welcomes you to a brand new edition of Beas! ETL, happy to be here on another Thursday. Sorry, that was bad.

We got to fix this in post, but you're okay. I got to do that again. I got to do it. It's a perfectionist of me. Casey, can we rerun it, please? All right. We're live, though. All right, right, all right.

All right, hold on, hold on. Sorry, this. All right. What a start. Good start. Good start. Here we go. from the MMA Fighting Studios between the links.

And now your host, Jose Youngs. Frame me up. That's right. That's right, ladies gentlemen. It's another bizarre old links. You guys have been asking me for quite a long time when we're going to do this both via DMs, via Discord, via just straight Twitter, straight to my face at NoJUC.

What are you going to do another bizarre old links? So we decided. we should do it right now. Why? No specific reason. We just decided it's a rainy day in New York. The Red Sox have been eliminated. I need to take my mind off of specific things that make me sad, specifically the Red Sox being eliminated from the MOT playoffs,

which should have happened weeks ago. But we're not here to talk about the Red Sox, even though we probably could for hours and hours on end because that's all what you want. My name is Jose Youngs and welcome to another bizarro between the links episode. You guys know how it goes. I'm going to ask the questions to these two gentlemen. They have not heard these questions. I'm fairly certain Jed probably saw through this ruse.

It wasn't like the first time when we caught him off guard. He doesn't seem as shocked and chagrined as he did last time. But, Jed, how are we? My only question is how deep did the ruse go? Because the viewers don't know this, but we had some technical difficulties before. Now I'm not sure if those are real or not. What's real? No, that is 100,000 percent.

Like we had some serious technical difficulties that we are still working through. That is 100% accurate. The only lie is that Mike Heck is the host. I don't know. I don't know if I can believe you. You're an untrustworthy narrator at this point. Up is down. Black is white.

Dog sleeping with cats. Chaos incarnate. Let's have some fun. Well, none of that is true. But what is true is Mike Heck is the other half of our contestants this week. Mike, how are we doing? Doing great. Boston Mike is here, ready to deliver some.

takes. Jedd, when did you know that the ruse was here? Was it the realistic coughing? Is that when you realized? The moment you did that, I was like, okay, well, we're doing this again. Oh, fun. That'll be fun. Like these. Plus, like, I don't even know if I'll make it through this show. Apparently, there's a hurricane attacking me right now. So, yeah, me. Currently, the weather is open up. The hurricane is, of course, called Hurricane Heck, and he is about to take over your life on this bizarreo between the links. We'll get to know our contestants a little bit more. I'll, you know, Wheel of Fortune, Jeffrey's style.

We ask some questions. I got my no cards right here, as you can see. I'm going to, you know, we'll get to know our contestants a little bit more. But, of course, you guys, if you guys didn't see it last time, Jed cowardly, as he is, decided not to take the last question seriously. So there will be, of course, we do need a winner this time because I am putting it out there that there is, the loser will have to do something, specifically on the next episode of between the links. Nothing like belly flops or carry you.

anything like that. This is going to be more of like, I think it'll be fun. I haven't even thought of what it is, but I'll think of it by the end of the show. So I hope we take this show seriously because our audience demands, you know, as serious journalists as we are,

well, I can't always say that for people that live in Atlanta. You know, maybe Raymondi, it's about it. It's all I can think of the journalists that live in Atlanta. So we'll get right into it. Casey, how are we doing?

Are you excited for another episode of Bizarre Lins? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, we are. Round one, ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen and Jed, we're not going to start with MMA. We're going to get there, but we're going to get this out of the last time we did Bizarroen, and you know, Tyson Fury had lost to Alexander Usik. So, Jed, I'll start with you.

Back then, you know, we had some arguments over, like, who's the best pound-for-pound heavyweight in the world? And we all agreed it's Alexander Rusik. He's one of the three-pound-for-pound fighters in any weight class. It's usually between Terence Crawford and Inouye or Inouye and Alexander Usik. I hope it's insin anyway. Yeah, I would put Anthony inouye number one. He kind of transcends the pound for pound scale.

He'll beat your ass in real life. We're just going to say, you know, we're just going to say Inouye in the boxing room. You know, no holds bars, Anthony Neway, Boss Routen, those kind of cats. They're in a league of their own. But Jed, I don't know if you noticed or saw Daniel Dubois knocked the soul out of Anthony Joshua in front of 93,000 people or allegedly 93,000. It could be 78,000 people. people get that reference people watch shout out dave melzer shout out d'am elzer shout out uncle d'n

uh daniel dubois knocked out anthony joshua who many people did not have in their top five pound per pound rankings list you know maybe anthony joshua you could argue he was the second third fourth best heavyweight in the world but i want you to tell me why is daniel dubois the number one pound for pound heavyweight in boxing right now. Because he just killed the guy. Like, I mean, look, you could come at me with this like,

oh, Danny Dubois lost, blah, blah, blah. And sure, like, that's a fact, I guess. But what about your feelings, Jose? And what about when you feel something, when you watch a man lose consciousness like six times? I know officially he only got knocked out once,

but like, realistically, Dubois got like six bodies on him in one fight. And that's, he, he's the feeling of the heavyweight champion. Because look, no disrespect, Alexander Usik and Tyson Fury. They're a heck of competitors. And, you know, Usik had Fury in all sorts of trouble, but he didn't finish him. And if you're not finishing fights, as the great Kenny Floreen once said, are you even winning fights, you know?

Then that's just up to the opinion of some dudes who are watching the fight. as opposed to definitive answers. Who's giving us definitive answers? Daniel Dubois and the freaking fists of Fury have given us a definitive answer. And so right now he's the best heavyweight box on the planet. So in this pecking order, you have Daniel Dubois number one. I'm going to assume Tyson Fury is number two in this list. Anthony Jobs will put up a valiant effort, so he's probably third.

So I think we're on, Mike, I think we're on record that Alexander Rusick is the fourth best heavy in the world on Jed's tier list? I think you heard that, right? Correct? I was actually going to go five because, I mean, you left out Zhang. That's true. I mean, why as well just put down to Wilder? Big Bang put a body out on Wilder last time out.

That is true. Give a man his respect. So everyone watching clip this, you know, Jen made his arguments for, you know, heavyweight MMA royalty and a heavyweight MMA rankings the last week. He has a new tier. He has a new tier list. Daniel Dubois number one,

Alexander Rusick number five, even though Alexander Usik beat Daniel Dubois. And I might add, got hit in the nads about 20 times in that fight. I count it. 20 times. If you're not cheating, you ain't trying. That's true. That's true.

I think Mike said that one. So, terrible answer, dead. We're going to move right along to Mike. Mike, you know, we're going to stick with the theme of boxing. There was a big boxing match last week. There was no UFC. There was a big boxing match. Colin Walsh one.

Correct? He did. Callum Walsh won. He is, you know, fighting on Fight Pass. Dan, he's kind of Dana White's pet project. Right now he's going to be Dana's life four. He's going to be the spear, the spear into this boxing world. Dana White is going to be, quote, unquote, the savior of boxing.

However, I think we could all agree. Boxing has never been more popular than it is right now in the 21st century. I don't really think it needs saving. I mean, Turkey Alashik's doing this thing. We're getting these fights that we always want. But Mike, I want you to tell me, in a complete answer, boxing has never been more popular in the 21st century. It doesn't eat a savior.

So why is Dana White the savior? Because he's striking all the iron's heart. By the way, I cannot stress how hilarious this graphic is. This is the longest graphic in the history of this program. It's two full lines. It's absolutely incredible. So my biggest question about all of this, was Dana's like, oh, I'm, I'm going to enter boxing.

He's been in boxing for all this time. He was in boxing with the McGregor fight. He's been in boxing for the last three years of this Callum Wall situation. When is he not been in boxing? There was like a two-year stretch where he actually wasn't in it, and he's been there for so long. Now, I understand now we could do the quote-unquote Zoufa boxing, whatever he's trying to do, but he's just going along for the ride right now.

He sees how popular boxing is. He sees that he could team up with somebody like Turkey Alashik and realize that, hey, with this guy as a partner and this guy's money helping my money go a little bit wider, he can cash it on this, whether it's Kalmalsh or whoever they bring on. There are some other names mentioned at that just very boring post-fight scrum after the contender series on Tuesday.

I'm intrigued by it. I assume he's going to be teaming up with Turkey and all this. I could be wrong, but he's been in it. He's certainly not. not going to be the savior of it. He might just be like an extra face because he's way better at this promotion stuff than Turkey is at this point. Turkey's kind of falling off and I think he kind of sees that. So Dana could be sort of the Paul Heyman to his, to his Brock Lesnar, if you will. It's just got to be super weird and strange. And he made one mistake already though. The one

thing I actually wanted him to do was take the game bread boxing model model and do it with UFC fighters, just have a bunch of UFC fighters who, like, are waiting for fights, just go in there and box each other. Like, we can get Adrian Yanna's Rob Fott rematch in a boxing ring. That would be sick. I would watch the crap out of that. I think that would be a cool thing to do, but Dana already shut that down. And now I'm already like, eh, and what is this actually going to look like?

So will Dana actually be the savior? No. Will he get credit for being the savior by some minions who know nothing about the sport? Absolutely. but we all know he will not be he's just going along for the ride probably the best time to do it. What are we talking about?

Boxing, you know, Tank Davis, Rangor, so you do 1.2 million pay-review buys. Of course they need Dana White. Of course they need Dana White to save boxing. You know, boxing is selling, like, how many times, like, in the last 12 months, how many boxing matches have we covered at MMAFighting.com, probably more than any other year combined.

Of course. Yeah, but that's misfits, you know. Really, they're doing the heavy lifting of safety. boxing. Sir, that is about his box. That is peak boxing. That is peak boxing. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

They're the one saving it, not Dana. KSI is the boxing savior. You all just too scared to admit the truth. They need Dana White so, you know, clean it up. Dana White is seeing this fancy car and he needs to get on it. He needs to, you know, he sees, I don't know, what's a soccer team that keeps winning? Manchester City keeps winning. So they keep winning?

Maybe. They do in this fantasy world. they keep winning and Dana White's you know what I can help you well you know we won eight in a row nah I got this I'll figure I'll help you figure it out and that's Dana's that's going to be Dana's role I don't care if the Yankees had 27 rings Dana White's like you know what I'm the guy I'm going to win this so anyway both terrible answers I'm of course as you know going to have to give it to Mike he had the more thoughtful answer he gets seven total points so up he's up seven the nothing. A touchdown.

Seven's nothing in BZaro BTO. That's true. I think you were down like a million points after the program. You know, I'm trying to keep it close. I'm trying to keep it. You know, people want to be entertained. People want to tune in, you know, the dregs of society and life that are struggling through their weekday. They want to watch this live. They want to see a close competitive game. They don't always want to see blowouts. They don't want to see the Broncos versus whoever they, the Bengals, they went 46 to 10. something like that, maybe I just made that up.

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28 to 3. 28 to 3. Moving right along, we're going to get to get to know our guests a little bit more. Casey, we can pull up. We can pull up Jedts facing us a note. So, so Jed, I have here on my note card. I have here in my note card that, it says your favorite movie is Angels in the Outfield.

And more specifically, your favorite, you know, both literary and cinematic character is the dad in Angels in the Outfield. Explain why. Because that's, I think people are a little confused by this. He's not the most popular one. Isn't the Dad dead in Angels in the Outfield? No, he's the dad that gives up his son for adoption because he doesn't want to be a father anymore. Oh. That's an Angels in the Outfield?

Correct. He says, Dad, what can I come home? was when the angels win the pennant and then he prays to God. Oh shit. I was thinking Field of Dreams, not Angels in the Outfield. I was like, what the fuck movie? No, I'm glad you brought that up because it says right here, my favorite character in cinematic history is the dad in Angels and the Outfield.

My least favorite is the ghost, the dead ghost dad in Field of course. Yeah, that's what it was like. A little bit of a curveball. A little bit of a curveball. Well, appropriate use of language there for Curfball. on these two epic baseball films. Look, you know, sometimes you got to put yourself ahead of your children, obviously. Like, they say it in airplanes.

Help yourself before assisting others with their masks. And the father and angels in the outfield, you may call him a villain. Many might. But I think self-love is an important thing to practice in all phrases that that phrase can go with. And I don't know the character's name because they painted him as a villain. But he knew how to prioritize what's right. And look, if he didn't, if he didn't impart that sort of wisdom on his child, he wouldn't have had the strength to pull himself up by his bootstraps

and invoke a higher power to help the angels fulfill all their success on the diamond. I think what you're saying is if his dad didn't abandon his son that Danny Glover never would have adopted, Joseph Gordon-Levin. So I see what you're trying to say. It's still really weird that you're into the deadbeat dad of society. we're going to get to know you. It says here that you can punch a hole through a 10, 10 inch cement wall and you help orphan kids regularly. Pretty much the opposite of Jed. Tell me about yourself. Yeah, all those things are true. In fact, because of this tropical storm, this is an actual true story.

This morning, I had to drive three people home because they couldn't get through the entranceway to our complex because there was eight inch floods up to my knees. And their little tiny cars could not get through so I had to drive people through the floods and back to their home. So yeah, you know, unlike in my, uh, in the bronc in the old bronchi. So yeah, I mean, it's always about giving back. Jed likes to, you know, sell first and all that. I'm the total opposite. So I think this is a perfect matchup here between myself and Jen Michoud, A, B, Face versus Heel, Good versus Evil, Hulk Hogan versus Sergeant Slaughter, all that fun stuff. That's very true. You would never be a deadbeat dead. Unlike Jedd's

Hollywood hero, the deadbeat dad. But moving right along, no rebuttal from Jeff, we don't have the time. Anyway, round two. Moving right along. We're going to start with Mike. We're going to start with Mike. We're going to start with Mike.

He's up 7 and O. I'm very curious. I'm very curious about this answer. It's the most day in sports 7 and O. So, you know, Nocho UFC was a big deal. A historic car for UFC. sold a lot of pay-per-views, sold a lot of tickets, sold a lot of merchandise, you know, according to MAAfighting.com and a report that the UFC put out themselves.

It is, you know, the highest grossing gate in promotion history, highest other merchandise ever, and so on and so forth. Of course, in the main event, Marab de Balasvili, deep-thrown Shanao Malay, who a lot of people were saying should be the biggest star in the UFC had he gotten past to Mara. Now, everyone thought it would be Umar Nomagamano. Mara said, no, you know, I don't want to fight Umar first. I want to, I'm more interested in Davis and Figurato. David Sigrido got booked up with Peter Yan,

who you guys famously did the legwork on and confirmed the story. So obviously, he's supposed to fight Umar and Magamatov, correct? Nope, not in this world. Instead, I need you to tell me why the best broadcaster and podcaster in the world, Henry Suhudo, deserves to skip the queue and rematch Marab Davaoishvili. Keep in mind, Henry Seudo coming off two. losses, back-to-back losses, too competitive, still lost. Why should Henry Sehudo? Why does Henry Sehudo deserve to skip the line over Umar Numagamato? Who just be Corey Sanhaden,

Haden, and rematch Marab DeVosvili for the Bannonweight title of the world? Well, there's two very obvious answers to this, Jose. I'll start with the least obvious answer. one, it was a competitive fight, but as people remember, if you remember UFC 298 in that fight with Marab, Henry Suhudo cracked Marab a couple of times in that fight. And Allah Michael Johnson versus Habib Nirmaga made off, that could have been a turning point.

Now, Marab was just an absolute animal. But here's the most important reason why Henry Suhudo should get this shot. It will take him away from the podcasting studio. It'll take him away from Kamaro Uspin, Because once upon a time on this program and many other programs, heck of a morning specifically. I talked about how much I admire Kamara Usman's mindset, his analytic brain in this game. And then he started doing a podcast with Henry Suhudo.

And now he just says very weird things that don't make any sense. Surround yourself with the right people, Kamara Usman, because Henry Suhudo is just bringing you down. Henry Suhudo just needs to get off of Twitter. he needs to get out of the podcast studio. And if that's what it takes, just give him a title shot. If it takes pound for pound off the air for a little while, or at least it's a Kamara Usman solo hosted program, then I think we're all winners.

I truly do. So you know what? Henry Suhudo should get this title shot. He should battle against Maraad de Wallis really in a rematch. And Umar Namaga made up should wait in line, perhaps be the backup fighter, make a little bit of an extra paycheck. How about that?

Yeah. You know, Umar, you know, he might get the backup spot, you know, for all we know, like Corey Sanhagan could win the backup in the backup in this world. He just lost to Umar. He's lost all these guys. You know, Corey Sanhagan can go weigh in his backup. And Umar can fight Song Yodong. We'll get something like that. They, you know, they can headline in the apex card. I love it. Or you know what, stick him in Edmonton. Five, let's get three five round fights up in Cold Edmonton in November headlined by Umar and Mogamato versus Song Yadong for possibly the backup for the bantamai title of this is fantastic. But, you know, I do, you know, in this world, Henderson Hood wins. And then he does pound for pound with the belt on. He does the next Eagle F.C. broadcasting with the belt on.

He's Tim Sylvia. He walks through the airport. He walks through security with the belt on because you know it'll happen. You know it will happen. And I live to see it. But moving right along. Jed, you know, obviously, Marab won. He's in this world, he is going to fight Henry Sehudo.

But we're going to, we're going to tangent off into another multiverse. another alternate dimension. According to Sean O'Malley, he won the fight. Sean O'Malley is the reigning Bannonweight champion in the world. I don't think so. I had Marab winning 4-1. I don't know how you. How did you have that score, by the way?

I mean, O'Malley 1-3-5, isn't that the world we're living in a game? I'm glad you brought that up. I need you to convince me and the rest of the world. Why is Sean O'Malley the rightful reigning Bannonway champion from the world? and he was robbed, he was short-changed. He was, his belt was taken unjustly. Why should he have two successful title defenses? And he should be moving on to fight Henry Suhudo

for the Panamweight champion in the world. I mean, this is, you gave me a softball here. I thought that this was the show where, like, I'm just fighting off the demons, but you gave me an easy one. You needed a win. We know how your life is gone. You needed a win. I do need a win.

I mean, look, it's just O'Malley makes the case for himself. Like, I don't even have to add that much to it. 1.35, baby. What happened, Jose Young's? What happened, Mike Heck? What happened Casey Leiden to you got to beat the champ to be the champ. You don't hold the champ for 20 minutes and then suddenly you have the belt. You don't just lightly knee him in the knees when you can't get him down and then do lay and pray and then just survive.

the barrage that he suffered in the fifth round. I mean, that tells me all I need to know. At the end of the fight, Stockton Rules, who was the man running away from conflict? One Sean O'Malley. Well, sure was. Marab de Valsh, held him down. By Diaz rules, Marab got blanked. He did nothing in that fight, according to Stockton Rules, which are really the rules we should all be aspiring to live by in the sport.

But even by the current rules, I mean, you can pull. up the stats. I could show you that in the first round that Marab unanimously wins, he actually doesn't really do any damage and the strike numbers are the same. I could show you that, but you know in your heart to be true. The man who was afraid at the end of the fight,

who was hurt at the end of the fight, he's the guy who suffered more damage and by definition lost. Sean O'Malley, 1-35, and still, the Sugar Show continues. So what you're saying is the Mexican judges were biased towards the Mexican fight in Marab de Valle, Schvili, and gave him the hometown

cooking? No, no, because as we talked ad nauseum about going into this, actually, Sean O'Malley is the more Mexican of the two based on whatever reasons they were arguing about. I mean, Marab is the only one that walked out to an Mexican song. So maybe, you know, maybe they were swayed at the end. I, who can say how the judges were feeling in the pool? You were there, you know the, I mean, maybe the moment just got to him. The sphere was extremely exciting and enthusiastic and they were like, I really like this guy who's doing a lot of hugging. I'm going to support him despite clearly. And kissing.

And kissing. And kissing. And kissing. Maybe they just got confused that this was a fight and not some sort of, you know, interpersonal exchange between the two of them. Who can say? That's true. That's fair.

You know, I'm all for the hugging and kissing in an MMA fight. It makes it kind of silly. Makes it fun. It makes it fun. Because imagine if Sean O'M out, imagine if someone was like, someone said this. like a decade ago. They were like, I had a friend who was like, what if a guy just ran out of a guy trying to kiss him?

And the other guy was like, oh, back off and it tapped out. And it was like submission by attempted kissing. I'm all about it. I'm all for it. But, you know, Jed, excellent question. I mean, excellent answer. Mike. Excellent question, though.

Excellent answer for Jed. Excellent answer for Mike. But of course, as we know, the bad guys aren't allowed to win and they aren't allowed to pick up any ground. It goes to Mike, of course. It goes to Mike. You gave it. You gave it.

He gets 18 points moving right along. She's part of the conspiracy to keep sugar down. I forget how many points I gave you in the first round, Mike? What did I give you? Seven. Seven. Seven. It's 25 to nothing.

So you're up 25-0. Yeah, Jed. At least it's not a million, right? I mean, it's fine. 25-0, that's the second most dangerous lead in sports. What's the first? Seven and O. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

But anyway, we're going to get to know our audience a little bit more. Mike, you know, you host a lot of, you host a variety of shows, preview shows, between the links, you've got a lot of interviews. So it says right here, Mike, you've been doing this for how long? Just in the sport or here to me? Just in the sport all together. It's about seven years now, seven, eight years. Seven, eight years.

And I'm hearing that you're building a new command center. What's the update on that? we're just waiting for the bells and whistles, Jose. The floor is done. The framing is done. We just need to get some sound boothy. Dress it up a little bit. I would say by the time UFC 308 rolls around, we're going to be off and running.

Hey, we love to hear it. And Jed, I got nothing for you. Moving right along to round three. Round three. We're going to stick with Jed. You know. It's exhausting. It is.

No, it's great. We're having a silly good time. I'm taking this very, very... I just wanted a mic to tell you. Well. Last week, you know, you did your... You argued that, you know, went over Hannah-Farre is a bigger deal

than it went over Steepet, John, whatever, for Francis. You know, you've called a very specific fighter a coward. We've, you've said Tom Aspinall is the best heavy way. You've said Francis is best heavy way. And we're not going to rehash the last time you gave a terrible answer. What you your answer was to refuse to answer the question and you went on your own maddening tangent. You were, you know, stark mad and raving like a lunatic. So I need you to tell me, why is Tom Aspinall the fifth best heavyweight in the world behind number one pound for pound heavyweight, Steve Ameotich, John Jones number two, Francis Ngano, number three, Hannah Ferreira, four, and rounding out the top five.

is Tom Aspinall. He is the fifth best heavier in the world. Why is Stepe Miochich the pound for pound best heavyweight in the world and Tom Aspinall rounding out the top five? I know you have a lot of feelings about this. You've blown up our Slack channel. It's a great question by the way. Why is Tom Aspinol trying to skip over Steepay? He's

number one. Explain yourself. Explain your word. So not everyone's going to agree with this and that's okay. You know, I don't, I can stand firmly in the light of being correct, and the rest of you can just be idiots. And that's fine. It's not a crime to be stupid, as I like to say.

Steepa is just undeniably the guy. I mean, look at the resume of significant wins over current fighters that matter in modern-day heavyweight MMA. Of course, he's got the win over Andrei Olovsky, the goat, the greatest heavyweight of all time. That's a good point. Steve Mietich finished Ander Alovsky. That's, I mean, that's just where we're so.

starting the conversation. Fabricio Verduem. What could be more relevant than a win over Fabrizio Verduem right now? I mean, just that is so significant in today's heavyweight rankings. The Junior Dos Santos, the rematch, because we're talking, you know, this is a litany of the people in the top 10 of heavyweight history. And then you get to, you know, Daniel Cormier. Was Daniel Cormier a career light heavyweight who was undersized in light heavyweight?

sure he was those things but you know what he also knocked out stepe before and stepe has the temerity the resolve to come back from that and and get not one but two wins did it take him 40 minutes of fighting to figure out to hit daniel cornea in the body sure but he figured it out sure the greatest heavyweight of all time you would think might come to that conclusion a lot sooner based on tape study and just generally fighting. But he got there in the end. And that's what matters is that it might take him a while. Maybe

he loses to John when they fight. But if they fought 12 times, 13, 15, he'll probably get John eventually. If you give him enough time in there, and John gets old and decrepit enough. And that's why Stipe is the best heavyweight of all time and the second, Ander Alavski, heavyweight.

And the best heavyweight currently competing in mixed martial arts. I'm glad you said that. So to round out your argument. Correct uses of the air horns, too, by the way. To round out your answer, Stipe Amiotich, who has not fought since the pandemic, UFC 260, is off our pound for poundless altogether,

both heavyweight, you know, unjustly in your world. I assume you keep slotting him number one, and then AK keeps sending back. It's just the rules. AK's like rules or rules, rules, rules, can't do it. AK's like, you know, MMA's not supposed to be fun in this world. Stop, stop putting Steepa number one. Stop writing Stepe's name above the crown.

Like, yes, beating Steepa supersedes the crown, the heavyweight title. I like your Moxie Jed. I like your answer. I like it a lot. So there you go. Stepe Amioch is pound for pound, because everyone knows what that means, especially Dana White. Pound for pound number one heavyweight in the world. Look, if two men walk into a fire station and Steepa is one of them, he's the guy walking out.

He's the guy riding the fire truck out. You know what he's doing? He's doing. He's carrying him out and administering CPR after he absolutely. Molly Wops him. I'm moving right along. I like your mom. He's a hero.

Mike's sticking with the heavyweight division. We obviously, they announced John Jones versus Jed's pound for pound heavyweight, steep Amy Ochich. And as Jedd just eloquently argued, Tom Asthmael is the fifth best heavyweight in the world. Third best in the UFC, obviously because Francis, and Han and R in the PFL. He also said Tom Aspinall will undoubtedly weigh in as the backup for John versus Stipe. The interim champion will weigh in as the backup for the undisputed title.

But, you know, I heard Mike thinks this is a terrible idea. He should not be weighing as the backup. So Mike, explain yourself. Why should Tom Aspinall stay as far away from MSG in November as possible, say as far away from John, say as far away from Steepa, maybe even defend his interim title again. Why should Tom Aspinall not weigh in his backup

for John Jones versus Stepe in the Alches? Because Tom, I mean, Tom's a rich man. He fights for the UFC. And as we all know, if you fight for the UFC, you got it made in the shade. The UFC just gives you opportunities. And Tom Aspinall is cash in on those opportunities, just like the other 977 fighters on the roster.

That's why they all rich. But Tom should stay away. He should stay away because he's going to become the undisputed champion when this is all said and done. And I would like to propose a different backup because I think this would be just really interesting and fun. There is a large, gigantic heavyweight named Rebellus to Spain, Cuban fighter, just a ginormous individual, about to fight Austin Lane and just, by the way, Chef's Kiss matchmaking by the Ultimate Fighting Championship here. putting him in there with Waldo Cortez Acosta, as I told you all, with all of the matchmaking suggestions on onto the next door, if you make that fight, it's going to be an absolute disaster.

And boy, was it. And now they're giving him Austin Lane, former Jacksonville Jaguar, and I think we know exactly how that fight's going to go, which means he will be ready, willing and able to step in on a moment's notice. He will step on that scale. He will make weight. And if something were to happen to John Jones or Stepe Amiatich, We could be living in a world where rebellious to Spain lives the American dream

and becomes the UFC heavyweight champion of the universe, beating either Jed's pound-for-pound best fighter in the world or Dana White's best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Either way, it's a win for us all. It's a win for dreamers everywhere. Let's give Rebellis to Spain an opportunity, shall we? Round of applause. You know, I like that answer.

Rebellis of Spain was not on my bingo card of names that were going to be brought up in Bizarro. That was a bizarre world in my own. We're off on another multiverse. This is a multiverse of madness, if you were. Who did you give the points to? I like both of your points. I like both of your answers quite a lot. You know, Ander Alasky, heavyweight goat, rebellious to Spain, you know, the future

heavyweight champion of the UFC and probably going to fight John Jones and Madison Square Garden, because Stipe is going to pull out this time. I was going to give the winner six points, but I'm going to split that up. Mike, you get three, and you get three. I'm on the board I like both of the next we got 28 to 3 28 to 3

was that the score of the Super Bowl that you all lost or was it 26th? I don't know who y'all is I'm not a Falcons fan but that was the score of the Falcons Patriot Super Bowl I'm talking about the collective

Atlanta that's a who's your football team? I'm a Colts fan hmm no no comment there's nothing There's nothing. We're not a franchise of matters.

We've now learned more about Jed than I ever want to think in my entire life and that he is a cult friend. Moving right along. We don't need to get into it anymore. Your business doesn't move in a straight line. Make sure your team is taking care of through every twist and turn with Canada Life savings, retirement, and benefits plans. Whether you want to grow your team, support your employees at every stage,

or build a workplace people want to be a part of. Canada and Life has flexible plans for companies of all. sizes, so it's easy to find a solution that works for you. Visit canadalif.com slash employee benefits to learn more. Canada Life, insurance, investments, advice. Round four, 28 to 3. We're going to stick with who started the last round. Mike?

No, Jed started last round. So we'll start with Mike this time. Ooh, I like this question for Mike. I really like this question for Mike. We got a big, big UFC event this week, UFC Paris. Maybe not as stacked as previous UFC Paris cards. There's no Cyril gone on this card. Benoit Santini versus Moikano and Naughto is the main event.

A lot of people think, you know, maybe it shouldn't be the main event. A very specific person that, you know, Mike interviewed, Brandon Allen thinks Brennan versus Nasor Dianvov should be the main event. And, you know, he said a lot of harsh things about the ranking panel. He thinks that that his fight, his middleweight fight against, you know, I'm not going to argue. I would have liked that main event, but I'm always down to clown with Benoit Sanfini versus Nantanato and five-round fight. But, you know, in this world, neither fight deserves to be the main event.

Brandon Allen versus Nasr Dian. Mavum kicks off the main card. Benoit Santanyi versus Nathamuikano is the co-main event. Instead, we got a little battle between welterweight prospects, Kevin Juset versus Brian Battle. Why does Kevin Juset, who is what, 2 and O in the UFC versus Brian Battle, who's on a tear? Why is this the real main event of UFC Paris? Kevin Juset versus Brian Battle.

I think you need to ask yourself, why isn't this the main event? That's fair question. It's a great question. Look, Brian Battle looks like an absolute world-beater in his last fights against Angelosa. And let's be honest, in bizarro world, the man tried to cheat. And as we say at M.AFighting.com, you should always cheat because nothing's ever going to get called. and in the one rare unicorn type case where something was called

and some sort of result was changed that happened in that fight where Brian Battle was up probably 20 to 16 in that fight he was just putting the wood and the boots to poor old Anglosa and look Kevin just said a local guy is going to get the crowd behind him

and like you said two and oh inside the octagon very technically savvy and these are two guys that probably shouldn't be fighting at welterweight let's be honest these guys should probably be fighting in middleweight they're two huge guys who cut a lot of weight but two totally different styles. Both have finishing ability.

But Brian Battle, Kevin Jusset, they're just going to collide, man. Two freight trains, getting after it. One's going to go a little bit faster than the other. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the faster one's going to win. Maybe one has just a couple more cars. Maybe that's what Kevin Jusset's bring into the table. So I think it's a great matchup.

I think the stakes are incredibly high, fantastically high. And who knows, maybe the winner of this fight, because they are so big, maybe they can be the backup fighter for M. and fight for the heavyweight title. So the stakes just got even higher, Jose. As Shaheen El Shadi once said,

time is indeed, what is it, a flat circle? I can't even remember the freak. That's how mind-blown I am right now. Bringing it back around. So sorry, Rebellus to Spain. Kevin Ju-Suzan-Bryon-Battle will be waiting as the backup for Steepamiochus versus John Jones.

Tom Oswald will have to defend his... Tom Aspiral, you know what? Tom Asperol, you know, Tom Asperol can defend his interim title against Rebellus to Spain. You know, Cyril Gond, and Alzin Rolkov can kick rocks. I love your moxie. And bizarre a world aside, Kevin Juset versus Brian Battle is the fight I am most looking forward to at UFC Paris.

That fight absolutely slaps. But moving right along, Jed, I don't know if you saw or heard, but Justin Gachie, Justin Gajie, you know, they're just so intertwined in my mind. Justin Porier said he probably has one more fight left. He tweeted, trilogy. We all assume he's talking about Justin Gage. Now, get the rubber match. A lot of people want to see him close it out in the Smoothie King Arena,

the best named arena in all the sports in New Orleans. Dan Hooker responded with rematch. Obviously, he wants his rematch against us and Porre. I think, and honestly, the two Justin Gachey-Poye fight, two of the best fights you'll ever see, the Porre Hoker fight is a very underrated banger. The only problem is it was in front of nobody in the UFC offense. I'm fine with either of those fights.

Justin Gachie said he probably has a handful left because he ever goes to sleep again, is that's a rap. He's called out Charles Oliver. He called out Dan Hooker. He called out Porre. He called out Charles Oliver. Or you know who he called out.

Charles is obviously fighting Michael Chandler. So that's off the table. So we kind of have this triangle right here between Dan Hooker, Justin Gachey, Dustin Porre, Dan Hooker. Who's going to fight who? Now, UFC's Paris's main event. The winner will most likely, you know,

they'll probably fight someone like a, maybe they'll fight Denny. hooker. Maybe they'll fight Patty Pimble, but not in this world. In this world, the winner of Hanato Moikano versus Benoit Santhini will indeed be Dustin. Dustin's last fight. Convince me why a rematch between Benoit Santhani or a fresh matchup against team eight, I believe he's ATT guy, if I remember correctly not to Moikano, that deserves to be Dustin Pori's swan song in the U.S.A. Well, I will answer your question, because I always answer the question.

I just want to say I am a bit disappointed in Mike. He didn't bring up the real reason that Juset Battle is the main event. It's because it's the only fight that has a tough winner. And given who his best friend is, the disrespect for the ultimate fighter winner, Brian Battle, and kind of the legacy of tough 29, just felt disrespectful. I'm just throwing it out there. Just, you know, do with that way you will. As far as Dustin Porier fighting the winner of Anato-Mecano be a bit of,

Again, I kind of feel like you're giving me softballs here, Jose. Like this, how do I need to sell this fight to you? Okay, sure, it would be a quick rematch if BSD wins. Is anyone complaining that fight was banger? That's one of the better fights of the year. And it was only a round, you know? And so him coming back and just doing that again, nobody will ever turn their nose up at watching Benoit Sandini or Dustin Poir

fight individually, much less in opposition. to each other. And then if we get an Otto McConnell, look, he's not quite to the level of Dan Hooker and BSD and the always delivers bangers, but this is a guy who delivers bangers. Like, this is, this is what he does. He gets in there and he has fun-ass fights. And if he has a fun-ass fight with a teammate, that's fine. We've seen them kind of manage this at ATT before. We're not going to get a whatever that garbage-ass PFL fight was where it was a glorified sparring session and they just hugged each other until the end. That's not what's going to happen if these two dudes get in there and mix it up.

So look, I'm not saying it would be my first choice because I think there are a lot of options for Dustin Poirier. But there's no wrong way to eat the Dustin Poiris's. And if the winner of this gets that, great. And then the sprinkle, just a little sprinkle on top that makes it most important is that if the winner of this is fighting Dustin Poirier, you know what they're not doing? They're not fighting Patty Pimbley. And that's a win for all of us. because we don't want to live in a world or Patty Pimble is one of the top 10 fighters in the world. That just then, then he's just going to be insufferable to listen to.

And I already have a lot of listening to him. So this is a full-blown win. I support this plan. You know what I don't support? I don't support Hippocrine. Your best friend, apparently. You don't support your best friend apparently. I don't support hypocrites.

Yeah. Well, he's not the only, the only reason I bring that up because he's not the only fighter from Tough competing on Saturday. I said champion. How dare you? I said champion. Okay. Roosevelt Roberts is a champion of my heart. You know what?

The man battled his way back. What a save. What a save. Oh, bad. What a dink. But anyways, Roosevelt. Roberts is on top too. It's an unbelievable name, though.

Is he going to be the champion of just getting annihilated on Saturday in front of a ruckus crowd? But I did. Shout out to Roosevelt Roberts, getting back in the UFC. Kevin Lee. He can't get back at the UFC, but Roosevelt Robert shirt, Dan. Shout out. What a save. It's a champion of my heart.

This is the craziest show of all time. And it's exactly because of that. Mike, I'm not even going to mention it. Mike, you get the 32 points. I'm fine. Honestly. You know what? Mike.

The roller coaster of emotion in a second of, ah, shit. Well, he's a champion of my heart. It was unbelievable. Mike, you need to say Rosa Roberts. A big old thank you card, maybe an edible arrangement, maybe some chocolate because those are all roberts got you 32 total points.

So you are up, what? It's 32 to 20. 60 to 3? 60 to 3. Oh, that's, we can come back. Well, you know what? Big performance needed. Big performance needed.

And we're going to let the fans decide this one. We do need a winner for this. So Mike is up. 60 to 3. This one will be worth 71 points. I love me a prime number. This tie breaker will be at 71 point.

That's a prime number, correct? Yes. Casey, pick a number between 1 and 8. 1. 8. Mike, what number are you picking? somebody to choose from i'll go with eight on the money absolutely nailed i don't even need to ask casey what his guest was because that's how in sync we are that's how in sync we are over here

on the video department so mike i'm going to start with you for 71 points in the final tie-breaking round you know the ufc has had some big free agent signings these past few months you know kaias occur has come over michael vanem page has come over kaila harrison has come over but renier Ritter, former two-division champion at one championship, went for three, went for history, tried to become the three-division weight champion. Didn't work out for him. But he's since become a free agent and has since signed with the UFC. He's going to face Gerald Mearshardt in the number, in the world's greatest, most famous arena of the UFC Apex.

Can't even say that without laughing in November. Well, you know what? In this world, he blew it. Renéard de Ritter should not have signed with U.S. he should have gone somewhere else. He should have gone to any other promotion, Cage Warriors, Rise and whatever.

So Mike, why did Renéard DeRitter blow it by signing with the UFC? Well, I mean, it's pretty, there's a couple of very obvious reasons. One, he's probably making a pretty decent, I don't think UAE Warriors has, like, a ton of money,

but I'm sure they paid him pretty well to compete for their organization. So I think he's probably, making a touch less money fighting for the UFC, if we're being honest. The second thing is, boy, and it just, I needed that beautiful graphic made by Jose Young's in the NBA fighting social media team to really put this in perspective. Jed, I know how you feel about Mr. Derriter, RDR. He's a hero of yours.

The guy's done so many great things. You were the driver of the train. You got, the reason he was ranked so highly at any point was because of you, was because of you. And unfortunately, in his UFC debut, he's going to get mearsharted real, real bad, where he's going to have a terrific first round. He's going to have

a terrific first round. He's, he might even tie Gerald Mirchart into a little bit of a pretzel. But the problem with Gerald Mirchard is, unless he's fighting Hamzaa Shemayev, the man is absolutely unkillable. And he's untappable. He's unfinishable. And I don't think Renier de Ritter is going to be the one to do it.

I think Gerald Mirchart is going to dig deep. I think he's going to defeat. He's going to finish Renier-Durritter. He's going to be atop the leaderboard for most finishes in middleweight history. Anderson Silva will be below him. It's just going to be records, records, records for good old GM3. I think the mistake of just losing on the bank account side of things, and then he's going to get mere sharded at UFC Apex 100, Jed,

at the biggest event in the history of this promotion. It's going to have RDR with a real. red mark next to his name because he got submitted in round two by gerald freaking meershardt is it even a mistake though if you lose in an event of that magnitude so what we're saying is rennie ad derrida will join the likes of you know hector lombard matowsh scamrod and these big freaking signs like come in and you know gerald meershardt is going to be the tim boch he's going to be you know who who who did he Gurm he all would have Ghammererlossi yeah

Girol Mershardt Giroch yeah so Gerald Mirchart Gouram equals Tim Boch those three are just all the same person you heard it that was what Mike was really trying to say Tim Bosch equals Gouram equals Gerald Mirchart that's what Mike was trying to say and just not as many words that's what you know I got you I gave him you saying Mike we're on the same way. Like we're on the same way. Yeah. I didn't we're like stockton him alone. We just,

I know where you are past layup. So, you know, Guhram. I would have chosen different people. I love that. Guam Alley opening it to Timbos. I love that. Guam Alley opening a timboe. Sign me up for that full piece back that too. Moving. And then Mike called you Carl Malone, which I

personally think is an insult. Oh, they're pieces of shit, especially Malone. But at the same token, on the basketball court, they were fun to watch. We can't They were. Plus the fits. Man, those 90s jazz fits. Looking fly with zero championships.

That's all I'll say. Just like Jed. Anyway, except without looking fly. Jed, I'll take it. We've talked a lot about the lightweight division. We've talked a lot about the welterweight division. We've talked about Michael Chandler, Chald's Olivera, Justin Poir. We've talked at nauseam about these two-way classes.

But one individual that we have yet, to talk about this year. I, honest to God, cannot remember a single BTL, a single preview show, a single post show. Dana White has never been asked about this man ever. Connor McGregor. Oh, okay. It's supposed to be coming back at some point. Well, you know, probably not coming back. He was supposed to fight Michael Chandler. He is not. A lot of people are now saying that Connor McGreg will never fight again. You know, he's not as well known in the world. He's not as

famous as you know a Mattash Gamrod or a Guram Akuta Laze. He's just not at that level fame-wise. He's not at that level. He's never won titles. He's never, he has, I think, maybe a thousand Instagram followers, certainly not 30 million plus. I'll tell you that much. But, you know, there's this small select group of individuals that really want to see

this unsung hero, Conn McGregor return. Some people don't believe it. So, yeah, I'll give you another way up. You need it in your life. Convince me why Convin's me why Connors. Gregor will indeed return in early 2025. And who will he be facing? I mean, he's obviously coming back because Connor's a man of his word. If there's one thing we know through history, it's that when Connor says something, much like Dana White, if Connor says it, that is chiseled

in stone. It's a thing that is going to happen. And nothing will get in the way of it. There will be no setbacks. There will be no issues. And Connor has said, I'm coming back. I have to finish this story, make my return. And now, you know, now it seems like we're targeting early 2025. The UFC certainly seems to be targeting that as starting, you know, come January, their TV rights negotiation period opens up. And there's always a little to have a Connor McGregor fight boosting up your overall pay-per-view sale numbers when you're negotiating new contracts. So the UFC is invested. Connor has said it. So just take that to the bank. And most importantly, it's just what's right. This is a sport, I think we lose sight of honor and integrity

and just doing the right thing, Mookie, you know? And in this sport, Connard Greger is a bastion of doing the right thing. And it's not just that he wants to fight. It's that he deserves to fight Michael Chandler. He owes Michael Chandler a fist fight, and there's not a person alive who deserves that fight more than Michael Chandler himself. And yes, Chandler's going to go fight Charles Oliva. Maybe

he wins, maybe he loses, it doesn't matter. It's immaterial to what's going on here. Because even if he wins, and maybe he's on the cusp of a lightweight title shot, which would still be a little weird, but like maybe that just what happens if he does beat Charles Olivera, if the opportunity is lightweight title fight

or Connor McGregor fight, Michael Chandler knows what he needs to do, what he wants to do, and what he deserves. And what he deserves is the opportunity to fight Connor McGregor. I think everybody knows it. Everybody is on board with this. And we're going to be getting that January or February of 2025, those two dudes finally finishing their story together. Well said.

You know, Mike has long been a defender of Michael Chandler, so I'm glad he brought him up. I'd probably say Michael Chandler is his number one fighter, probably followed by who's who's number two John number three would probably be Volcanowski who everyone

continues to doubt which is that kind of rounds out your top three right? I'm trying to think if there's somebody there I forgot

but that sounds pretty okay sounds pretty accurate well I mean steep don't forget steep oh yes

well you can steep is the one that you write because steep is like one and then Michael Chan would be two and then who did I say was three

John and I think that's probably right and then Ancine you is kind of right above kind of outside in the list because he's just the baddest dude in the entire world. The goat, go-goat. So, Casey, did we have a are we letting the fans pick a winner this round this time? Are we...

Oh, yes, fans, get your votes in. Get your votes in, I'm going to ask them all the Mike, I'm curious, who you get a roof for in the playoffs now that the Red Sox are out? I don't know, man. I don't know. It's going to watch the games and hope they're fun. Like, it's, it's tough.

I don't usually root for divisional teams and things like that. Never. I don't know. It's just, I just want to see a good, a good playoff, you know? I want to see some close, compelling series. You know, maybe a couple sweeps early, but once you get to the, to the DSs, I want to see some close competitive battles. The correct answer is whoever the Yankees are playing is who I will be rooting for.

But once they're eliminated, once they're eliminated, I am all aboard. They're going to lose. Yeah. All right. Dude, they're getting eliminated. I can't live in the world where Aaron Judge has a World Series way. I cannot.

No. They will choke like they always do. It's going to be glorious. This huge gigantic payroll with this lineup that nobody can get out. And then they lose in five games to some team that they're a plus that is a plus 600 underdog against them. So by the way, was there no antitrust lawsuit in Bizarro world? I'm just curious. Would you like to talk about?

about it? I mean, that all kind of of things together. Like in Bizarro, the fighters be paid appropriately. That's right. I did discuss that earlier, so you're right. There was, there is none. There is none. In fact, the UFC is actually suing the fighters in Bizarro world for being so rich

and successful. So I want to you know, Mike and I talked about this yesterday and I put together some questions very hastily. And then all of this came out this morning. And I just felt it wasn't appropriate to throw such a serious topic into bizarre world, if that makes sense?

Yes. I think that's reasonable. Mike, Jen, I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Mike, your quick thoughts on what, uh, because I'm sure there are fans that may be tuned in that want to hear our thoughts about it. So Mike, the flow is yours. I mean, the fighters got more, at least like some of them did. Some of them did.

I mean, this is this one settlement is bigger than the others combined in the last one. So I guess that bodes well for the Kung Lee side, but nothing about the Cajun Johnson side. you're looking to get it dismissed. By the same token, Jed, I'm sure you feel the same way. And we've left Bizarro world. Yes. I just feel like this is still, I mean, it's a little tiny winlet. It's not even a victory.

I still wanted to see this go all the way. And when the judge Bulwer was like, nah, dude, we're going back to court. This is no, no, no, no, no, I thought for sure that we're, the judge's going to force us to go all the way. Now, we've got to keep in mind that the judge could still say, absolutely not. we're not accepting this. This is still going to trial, which is scheduled for February. And there's a part of me that kind of hopes it does.

But then there's the other part of me that seems what Tom Waller is out here tweet and saying, please accept this, please accept this. And you think about where these past fighters are now as opposed to back then. Jesus Christ, what happened with Tom Lawler in his career because of a weird drug testing situation? And he's lost everything. And now he needs this to happen. When a lot of us look from the outside in thinking, just take this all the way.

I want to see what the UFC's business practices really are. I want to see those text messages between Dana and some of the managers that have been questioned. I want to see some of the seedy things that I know about that I can't talk about. But now we can all see them. Now we can all have a better understanding of how dark this sport can actually be. And this just says we're not going to get that. more than likely. And yeah,

I mean, good for the fighters. They got a little bit more. And they could thank Judge Bullwer for that, but still not a huge win in my eyes. I don't know about you, Jed. Yeah.

My first thought was, wow, that's not that much more. Yeah. Because I am sort of just of the opinion that like, once they accepted the first terms, and then it got kicked back, which was wholly surprising.

It was like, okay, well, the UFC is looking to deal here. And they were getting off very cheaply, frankly. And so now they'll still just deal and it will be, you know, a substantially more amount. And that will assuage Bullwheres concerns and they'll just call it. And then they kick to like 50 mil or whatever, which like, I'm not here to downplay how significant 50 million

dollars is. But in the context of the business of the UFC, that is adding a fiver on top of like the tip or whatever, it is just not a massively significant number to them. And sure, the fighters may feel that. But I was surprised. it how relatively small that was. And like you, I'm a bit sad. It's one of those things where it's hard for me to knock them. It is hard for me to come at the fighters and be like, you need to not do this. This is about more than money because at a fundamental level, it should be.

But I'm not in their shoes. I don't have their bills to pay their families to feed, et cetera. And that's, I mean, frankly, this is how capitalism works. And so I understand it. And it's mostly just disappointing to me because to me, this whole lawsuit is not, like, it's about more than billions of dollars that they deserve, which that is significant. It is about restrictive contracts and the outsized influence the UFC controls over this space and having a better, healthier sport with the absence of a monopoly. And I said this the last time, this was the last bastion. There are no saviors coming.

There is no cavalry to ride in behind it. This is the fight. It is die on this hill or don't, and the fighters aren't willing to. And again, I understand that, but it is disappointing because at this point now, the only substantive change that can ever come to the sport to kind of make it more equitable will be introducing the Muhammad Ali Act into fighters, which, you know, in my opinion, should exist already, but like, it's not. I don't think it solves all their problems.

And I thought that this had a chance to do something significant. So I'm a bit bummed, but hey, if the fighters are happy, it's their lives. Who am I to tell them no? Yeah. I'm very interested. If Danaway does indeed take his four-hand of boxing, how he's going to deal with the Ali Act, that is all, obviously, all over boxing. But I'm glad you guys said all that.

I saw we wanted to talk about it, but we're supposed to have a bizarre old silly goose time here. That is a very serious topic. I think we can all agree that, you know, it shouldn't have been a bizarre question. But I'm glad you guys got the floor. I think you made the right choice. Yes. I was actually hoping one of you guys would talk about it.

The winner would talk about it. But I'm glad you guys both got the floor. Casey, do we have a winner? We definitely have a winner. We definitely have a winner. Is it double-digit winner? You're a winner today. I don't even know who's going to be the winner because it's bizarre.

Is it like reverse world? Does the most votes mean the least votes? Your winner is Jose Young's. Oh, wow. Full swerve. Full swerve. Full swerve. At it, at it right now.

I am now 14 and 14, Casey. I am 500. I am the 2024 Balsher Reddocks who have floated around. 500 that's the entire time. I win. y'all are losers suck it nerds suck it nerds I didn't see that coming

you got me on that one I didn't see that one how did I not see that coming I'm actually mad at myself for not seeing that coming yeah it's obvious in hindsight didn't see it we had a silly good stop I think the last time we did this we did it on an off week when there was no UFC event and it was off some really big news and you know remember Connor had done that live stream, Usick had just won, Lorone Murphy hit just one. There's a lot of news happening.

So I think if we do this again, maybe it'll be closer to the new years. Well, we have, you know, we can have a fun time. We don't have a big event coming up. Because I think the questions the first time were a little more bizarrely, if that makes sense. And, you know, Jed did get a whole bunch of softballs as he, as he quite said. Anyway, Mike. I'll take them. Love us all the time. You're the host normally. What did you think of this episode of Bizarro? It was everything I hoped it would be in more. It was fantastic.

So great job. And what a swerve at the end. And you just never know what's going to come at you on an episode of Bizarro BTL. And you just never know when it's going to come. We didn't promote it. We didn't tell anybody. We just did it. I didn't know what the questions were either.

I just brought it to Jose. He said, bet. And then Casey said bet. And then here we are doing weird shit on the show as my dog was peeing in the house. And people were putting together tables in that. So I mean, this is the perfect time to do it. I should have been suspicious when you didn't send me like this, you know, the syllabus for the app. And we're just like, we're just going to cover a whole bunch of stuff.

And that's where I should have been suspicious. And I wasn't at all until it happened. It was like, oh, we're doing this. I thought honestly, I thought this was a better one. The first one, novel, different, something we'd never done before. This one, I don't know. I like the questions better. I felt the vibe more.

I was into it. So, well done. appreciate you all and thanks everyone for tuning into another episode of bazaar links i think we should do this again at the end of the year after all the pay-per-views come in maybe we can get it maybe we can make it a round table type thing where i ask a bunch of people questions they absolutely don't want to ask but this is mike show i'll let him handle that my regular maybe he's just saying that to keep you on your toes maybe you're just saying that to keep us on our toes maybe we do bizaro before ufc 309 because no one sees it coming

You just never know. Could do that. Very well, good. Well, you know what's impossible? You know what's impossible? Nothing. We'll see you next time. I don't know what I was expecting.

Love y'all. This has been Between the Links and MMI Fighting Production on the Vox Media Network.