MMA Fighting - BTL | What's Next For Brian Ortega After UFC Shanghai? Plus, Walker's Big Win, Misfits 22, More

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

UFC Shanghai is in the books, and while some things certainly happened that were newsworthy, the two biggest storylines came from the final two fights, including Brian Ortega's rough 48 hour stretch from his chaotic weigh in, to his performance against Aljamain Sterling in a lopsided five-round loss. Where does "T-City" go next, and could it be to a promotion outside of the UFC? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout from the UFC's most recent Fight Night event, what happens with Ortega next, what Sterling gains from the biggest win of his featherweight run, and Johnny Walker stopping Mingyang Zhang in the main event. Additionally, topics may include Saturday's Misfits Boxing 22 event, which features Darren Till vs. Luke Rockhold, Tony Ferguson vs. Salt Papi, and Dillon Danis in an MMA fight, the Raja Jackson — the son of Rampage Jackson — incident in the pro wrestling world, and much more. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they discuss the biggest stories in the combat sports world. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠@m_heckjr⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠@JedKMeshew⁠ Subscribe:⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠ Read More: ⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit 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. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. From M.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 through us all. Great to be back with you on a rare week without a UFC event. And that doesn't happen all that off. But thank you for joining us. Today, Q&A edition. Like I said, no UFC card. So we're just going to banter about with all of you guys and gals. And joining me to answer your questions, the man, the myth, the legend, Mr.

No Gray area, the hot take kid himself, the one and only, Jedbushu. And what a backdrop he has today. Look at this. Just a joy in life. Summertime in the living is easy. Is it not Jedd Michoud? You know, sunny Florida. As advertised, sunny and hot, not even that hot.

I mean, it's like warm, but mostly it's lovely. I get why people move down here, you know, fantastic weather as we approach this Labor Day weekend, a weekend of where the UFC has decided to lessen our labor, a big fan of that, and some other stuff going on this week, which I'm sure we'll get into. Yes, and I'm just going to throw this out there. As you can see, the infamous pool is in the back. where Jed created one of the greatest moments in the history of the program. And Jed has said that he will do a cannonball or some sort of jump into that pool

if we could get $100 worth of super chats in today's episode. So if you want to see Jed make a fool of himself, jump into the pool, create a memory that will remember forever. That's all it takes. That's really not that much money. So if a hundred of you guys do a $1 super chat, That'll do it. That'll get you in there. So keep that in mind as we go.

I'm trying to cover my gas money down here, bro. And there you have it. So keep that in mind. Casey is on the ones and twos today. He will be bringing up your questions. Hopefully they're super chats because then we can get Jed in the pool. What do we got, Casey? What do the peeps want to talk about?

We do a misfits boxing this weekend with a lot of, uh, MMA. We've got stuff happening, I guess, related stuff. It's certainly a thing that's happening. You're a dirty boxing tomorrow. Yes, dirty boxing tomorrow. I will be covering that, not in person, but I'll be watching and keeping you guys posted on what's happening. Brian Battle, made weight.

He won the most difficult battle there is, the one with the scale. In AZ Ray videos, mentioned another thing. What is the event to watch this weekend? Is it CGI 2, which is a two-day extravaganza, misfits, There's also dirty boxing, Jed, with, you mentioned Brian Battle. We get Jarzini Rosenstrike in the main event against Rocky and Cleveland for the inaugural dirty boxing heavyweight championship of the world. A lot of UFC vets on here. Bruce Lerai, Alex Casares is competing on the card.

Guys like Mike Breed and Tyson NAM versus Ricky Bondez is on that card. So there's a lot of known names, especially to the hardcore MMA fan base competing on that card. but if you could only watch one event this weekend, what are you choosing? Probably C.J.I. Though, like, it's a two-day event, which is, like, way less fun in that record. But the first one was really good. I really enjoyed the first Craig Jones invitational. And so I'm kind of interested to see how this goes.

I know we lost the Gabel-Stefson, you know, Craig Jones matchup that I wasn't, frankly, that interested in. Like, there's sort of an absurdist curiosity to it. But, like, Craig Jones is a professional grappler and one of the best ones doing it. He was certainly going to win. It was just kind of how good would Gay will look. Now we know Gabe will make him the move to MMA. I'm much more interested in that.

But, again, the first CJI was just really good. And so if I'm picking one, I would rather just watch one night of that and not do two. but the misfits is interesting enough. Like I know we are covering that. There's certain levels of intrigue to the various parts of it, but it's nothing like if I missed it, it would not, I would not be sad, right? Like it's not one of those things that I need to know how Luke Rockhold

Darren Till unfolds. I'd be okay without it even if I do have some curiosity. And Dirty Boxing, I have never actually watched one yet. I know there have only been like three previous to this. but I've gotten to see some highlights you know there's some stuff going on there that's not awful that is interesting when you got nothing else going on tomorrow night

so none of them are bad but if I'm picking one give me the one that I feel is the most proven track record of enjoyment I love how we have the tracker the cannonball tracker on the screen here nice I can't even really see it because yeah there's there's something blocking it so all i see is to go so it's it's all good so i'm speaking of the gable steveson thing i wanted to read this i don't know if you saw this but anything that has to do with craig jones and something falling apart for him usually leads to gordon ryan responding to it

uh gordon rye went on instagram after this news broke and this is what he said gable pulling out of the main event of cj i cj two and then fighting less than two weeks later on ufc fight pass is such a baller removed by the UFC who has been attacked nonstop for unknown reasons by CJ. I bet CJ never put a pullout clause in there for Gable, which would penalize him for pulling out. I'm sure there wasn't otherwise Gable wouldn't have pulled out. I'm sure Gable read thoroughly through the contract before signing thanks to the advocacy about this matter from C.J. Now C.J. can't fight any real Jiu-Jitsu guy because he will surely lose like always and likely won't have time to find another joke match in time. My man can't.

win at anything. At least I'm still a touchable. Thoughts on, on this, that perhaps the UFC, Gable, his team, the people behind UFC fight pass, maybe nudged Gable in the direction to sign this and then pull out a couple

of days before because there was no pull-out clause. Pretty what a take. I got to say. That's a terrific take. Honestly, could be true, right? Like, I hadn't thought about it. My guess is no. My guess is that Gable just realizes that, like, unless he was getting paid just an

exorbitant amount for the CGI thing, like he's got a MMA fight. He's going to focus on that because that's kind of where his future lies. Wouldn't stun me if this were the case, right? I mean, I get why he's doing it, right? Like, just the long history of bad blood between the two of them. But also this week, Claudia Gedelia was like Gordon Ryan, never compete for UFC BJJ. So Ryan, you know, carrying some UFC water here with no functional end point of success for him really shows you how much he just despises Craig Jones. Like that they're just longstanding beef.

Great take. I have no idea if it's true or not, but like that's that's real A plus take work from Gordon Ryan. So if he is done grappling and wants to get into take game, I'll be on the lookout. I watch my back. Yeah. I mean, to be fair to the Claudia thing, Jitz magazine kind of screwed that whole thing up. They didn't like transcribe that interview like perfectly.

So Claudia basically said like as long as he's on the sauce, he will be no longer. He will not be. But he's always going to be on the sauce. Yes. But it wasn't just like, no. Eff it. He's not going to be here. As you can see, $89 to go.

$89 of super chats combined between everybody. If we hit that number, Jed will jump in the pool. And maybe we'll put a poll up and you decide what jump he does. We're going cannonball. I belly flop last time. I'm not living that life again. Cannonball works. There we go.

Connor, thank you. Let's get this done. Let's get this done. It's important to set goals. Yes. We might do the show for three hours until it happens. Josephosa. UFC 32, Tracy Cortez versus Aaron Blanchfield was made official.

thought Aaron would get a title shot, is the super fight between Valentin and Waley more likely now? I think that fight has to happen. I would be stunned if it doesn't at this point. And you can't give Aaron a title shot. You just can't. I understand she didn't fight Macy Barber and that is of no fault of her own. But she's coming off of a lopsided loss to Man in Fioreau and then a very competitive, very close come from behind decision win against Rose Damienis. That just doesn't get you a title shot of my opinion in this division.

In fact, I would probably make the case that if Jasmine Jasda Vizzius beats Bannon Fioro, she is ahead of Aaron Blanchfield. And in fact, we'll still be ahead of Aaron Blanchfield if she wins, and even if Aaron beats Tracy, in my opinion. So it's a good fight. I think this is one that should have been made a while back. There's some history here. Tracy handed Aaron her first MMA loss,

even though anybody who watched that fight, doesn't feel Tracy won that one, but it is what it is. But here we go, Jed. Did this basically tell you we're getting Valentina Wealey or did you feel we were getting Valentina Whaley without this fight being booked? So we're getting it anyway, but this definitely lends itself to believing

that that's more likely. And we got an announcement just a little bit ago that Dana White is going to be going on Instagram to make some announcements today. I think most people anticipate that the big one will be Islam versus Jack at MSG. We have not confirmed that fight to be happening, but I mean, basically Islam and his entire team have said that's the fight. Like, that's it. For weeks now, it seems an open secret

that that is what is going to happen. And so I'd be surprised if that's not announced today. But, you know, maybe this is one of those things where we get multiple things announced. And maybe we get Volcanowski versus Laura Murphy in December announced. Maybe we get Valentina versus as Jang announced. Because that does seem to be the fight that needs to happen. And there's just been no announcements for, frankly, any of the women's titles, right? Like, there are three women's belts. And we know one of the matchups.

And a lot of people seem to think that the other is a super fight. And we've gotten no traction on any of it. So, yeah, I think this certainly can lend you to the idea that this is more likely going to be the thing that happens. and it's definitely the fight that should happen. It's the fight I'm the most interested that they can make at 125 right now. So I hope that this is, that that is what this is saying. And that in a few short hours, Dana White will be like, I don't know what MSG is going to be like 322, I think.

Is that right? So 323, Shivchenko, Zhang at, I don't know, I guess Vegas is probably where they'll end up doing the December pay-per-view. So I hope that that's what we get in just a few hours here. Yeah, I mean, what they should do is just to give the women's divisions a little bit of a boost. If they do do Islam versus JDM, which we expect, Valentina Wailey for the Flyway Bell, be a sick-ass co-main event for that card. Like, that's just a great fight to be the co-main event. So I love that.

The thing about the Aaron Blanchfield fight, because I even did it, it was so funny. Like, coincidentally enough, did a question of the day. and people are like, let's build the 322 card. Let's say JDM Islam's the main. Valentina Whaley is the co-main. How do we round out the rest of the card? Now it's like, Aaron Blanchfield is definitely fighting on this card. Let's do her versus Natty Ice.

And that will be like a clear-cut number one contender fight. Kind of surprised they were with Cortez and not Natty Ice. Unless Natty's just dinged up or she's waiting. Maybe she thinks she's earned the title shot at this point. And she wants to sit back away. I don't know. So we'll see what happens there. We'll see if maybe they book Iliate Tporias.

title fight for December. I don't know. Natty. Natty ice is like the reason why I can't read too much into the Blanchfield thing because Blanchfield is not even the next contender, right? Like Natty Ice is. So if she gets booked, then I'll be like,

okay, for sure they're just doing Zhang versus Chimchenko. What a bead in my face right now. That's fun. Perhaps. And look, maybe we'll get a third title fight out of this or a fourth. Maybe they'll say,

hey, we should do it in a straw weight for sure. Not even interim. Just crown a new champion. Like when I spoke with Wade, she was like, yeah, she's just crown a new champ. Like, Waley was like, I'm moving to 125. Like, I'm done with this division after this.

So those words alone tell me, okay, she's done with this division. She wants a new challenge. She wants to fight for the flyway belt. So let's do Verna versus McKenzie Dern. There you go. Crown a new champ. Two, two. It's Verna Dern two.

Make sure you get it right. We don't want you to have any do-do, Mike. to earn two for the belt. Yeah, that would be awesome. I am surprised they're doing Blanchfield Cortez just because it does seem like a little weird in that if Tracy Cortez wins,

like this is mostly a set up fight for Blanchefield to get the win she should have got the first time round. But if Cortez wins, she goes from being like number 15 to number like three and it kind of muddles up like what's been going on at 125. So like there is risk in making this. bite, but perfectly fine. And, you know, good chance at some get back for Blanchfield.

Yep. Thank you, Joseph. We're down to $72 to go, guys. You see the pool behind Jed. It will be full of Jedbushu if we get to that goal. There will be so much Jedd Michoud in that pool. Yes, El Gato de Santiago. Thank you so much.

We are getting there. We are chipping away at the Jedmishu Cannonball Fund. I'm not. That pool is not. is not deep. I'm not diving in that thing. Yes. A cannonball.

There's a vote for the cannonball from Muhammad. Shout out. And Bruce Lee. Nice. A lot going on there. So thank you. A lot. Lem Ellis.

Sounds crazy, but is Montel Jackson won away from a title shot if he beats Figgie? If he beats Figgie, yeah. Right? Like you beats Figgie, that's the like name win that gets you to elevate. And then it's like, okay,

you beat figgy now beat jr de yon or whoever it ends up being and then yeah so i don't think that's crazy at all beating figgy's not going to get him a title fight but beating figgy absolutely sets him up for a title eliminator my my biggest look people who have been following my career for a while know how high i've been on montel jackson forever ever i mean since his first ufc fight taking the Ricky Simo one on super short notice. I was like, this dude is just a problem. Big hands, explosive fighter, super talented, but was really raw, like when he was fighting the Kelleher's

and the choleruses and the succumbtoths of the world, but he was just so dynamic and athletic and strong that he was good. And then he kind of got humbled up by Brett Johns. And ever since then, he just isn't fighting enough. And that's the problem when you're in a division like this where there's constant movement all the time. Since 2021, since the Brett Johns lost, knocks out Jesse Strader.

There you go. That was in March of 2021. Fought J.P. Bayes. I think he broke the knockdown record in that fight. He knocked JP days. It was a lot. Six times or five times. Lopsided decision.

Then he's out for well over a year. Fights Julio Arse, beats Ronnie Yaya, a little more activity. And that was in April of 2022. And then he's out till July of 2024, knocks out to Mon Blasher at 18 seconds. And then he's out for almost a year again.

And then beats Daniel Marcos. So at least we're getting two Montel Jackson fights in 2025. So this would be a good win. Beating Daniel Marcos, who was 17 and O heading into that fight. It was a competitive one. But if he goes out there and beats Viggy, yeah, he's in a great spot. But for him, he's going to have to get back in there relatively quickly,

probably by like April of 26 if he wants to be in the title discussion because there's just there's a lot of names in this division there's so much movement guys coming up like if they do maria batista versus umar namagamadha made off like they're talking about Mario wins that fight like he's in a great spot so like there's just so many contenders right now so being active is is huge here so we'll see I'd love to see it yeah uh you've been high on him for a while he just just has to compete and if he gets does it it'll be great lazy bed give me a jackknife or a can opener those are okay can no jack knife can opener very we could do a can opener yeah uh happy birthday mark romay yes happy birthday is in fact mark romay's birthday and it's always a k's birthday uh which three mma media members would you invite to your pool party um i mean why would i i guess i can't pick myself right because my pool party. Part of me wants to invite Casey, but also part of me is intimidated by how bad I'll look compared to him, Mr. No Sleeves, No Mercy. But I'll go the two of you. And I mean,

what would a pool party for Mike B without his very best friend, Alexander Cayley? There's the horn. Yeah, I mean, I'm obviously inviting guys I work with, right? Like, that's that's automatic no doubt about it but if but i assume lazy beds asking us to think a little more outside the box uh mark rundi would actually be like really fun because you could talk pro rasselin over a couple of bevies uh i'm i will attend to pool parties at mark's place uh he and i've talked about it's his right next to mine he has pool so but i'd be going to his not him coming to mind you know yeah but technically he's not a media member i'mma media member anymore also also also very true. He's either pro wrestling or football.

I'd probably invite Connor Birx. I enjoy him. I mean, who doesn't love G.C.'s the man. Might be controversial to some, but Nolan King's one of my best friends in the industry. So I'm hanging out with him for sure. And I don't want to like, James Lynch and I have a very good relationship. So I'd hang out with James Lynch. She placed at NHL 94 back in the old days. So I'll throw those out there. But if I thought three is tough, I wish it was like more, but three stuff.

But obviously it would be MMA fighting first. And if we're thinking a little bit outside of the box, then I'll go. Yeah. If I'm going for not MMA fighting fam, then it's, I mean, you just can't bring somebody like Brian Campbell to a pool party. You have to clean the pool afterwards And that's a lot more work than I'm willing to do If Luke Cannonballed

He'd just splash all the water out of the pool So you can't bring him either But like a Ben Davis We love a Ben Davis Yeah, that would be a great one Challenge stories To bring to the pool You know

Plenty of great opportunities out there Last on the list is Michael Chandler, who I will never go to a pool party with. Fair enough. All right, $67 to go for the jackdife or cannonball, or the can open, excuse me, no jackdives. So let's keep him coming. Don't let us down.

Jayfish, is Deporia versus Gaichi happening or nah? So I literally just did the question of the day about this. This is the question that I got. Kind of reacting to the rumor and what does this all mean? Gachy's not deserving. yada, yada, yada, basically reading out the question. Because there's obviously, it's a three horse race, right? It's Gaechi, it's Armin, and it's Patty.

We've talked about this. Gagey's the more exciting fight. Patty's the biggest fight, but Armand's the most interesting fight, but has the least casual appeal of the three, and it's not close. And the more I thought about this, the more I realized, you can actually make cases for all three of these guys to get it, and then you can certainly make cases for all three guys

to not get it. Like, it's pretty much 50-50. It's the way scale. You could put little marbles in and try to weigh it out, and you can make the same case for all three guys. Having said that... It's a Pokemon. It's a starter choice.

You've got pluses and minus to all three different ones. They're all very specific things. They've got advantages over each other and a little round robin. Are you charzar or are you Squirtle? Or are you Bulbosaur? I got to the other one. It took me a minute. It's also not trauma.

It's charmander. So essentially what I've landed on is if the betting fairy dropped a $20 bill on my desk right now, and I was told and ordered, you can only use this $20 to bet on who is going to fight I'dipolia to Poria next for the lightweight title, I would put it on Justin Gagey. Without insight, that's just my guess. I think they're going to, it's a combination of, okay, Justin's pissed at us. He's helped us out a lot. Plus, Ilya's the guy we need to kind of hitch our wagon to

if we're going to build anybody into a star because he is the best chance of becoming a star. Let's try to make both of them happy to some degree because if I'm Millie at Teporia and his team, I am on the horn at the UFC saying, I want Justin Gagee. That's the fight because that is the most exciting of the options to the broader fan base.

And to be perfectly honest, it's the most winnable fight for Iliad Seporia as well. That's just prize fighting 101. And what a great way to start the reign to fight Justin Gaichi, a former champion, the most exciting fighter in the history of the sport, at least top three at worst. That's a good way to go. So, yeah, I think, I think Gaichi does end up getting it. So I'm now going to extend my Pokemon analogy because I sat here thinking it through.

Patty is Bulbosaur, right? Like he's the easiest one. You know, probably not like the best one long term, but it's just so easy to do, Patty. He's a super good matchup for the first few gym leaders. You know, just he's playing the game on easy mode. You're looking for a main event to start your new Paramount deal. That's the one.

That's how you make the biggest splash with Patty Ilya in January. Gachi is Charmander He's the coolest one Right like that that's just the coolest fight that you can have Maybe not the best fight But absolutely dope Incredibly fun And like it'll it'll just be cool as shit

And Armand is squirtle Like he's probably the best one He's probably like the one that is the both the best And the most effective for like You know long term success of the division whatnot And so it's just like which one Are you a bubble sore guy there nobody's really a Bobbleser guy.

He's a Squirtle guy, he charmedander guy. And I think the U.C. is going to pick Bumosaur. I think that they're going to try and play the game on easy mode. It's what I've said from the jump. I think Ilya should want it. He did want it. They did the face off. I know that that doesn't mean anything.

But to me, the simplest route to take is you do Iliapati. That is the first numbered event, the first big, big event for the Paramount deal. because it's the biggest intra-divisional fight you can make. So that's still where I'll put my money. But God knows I love me a Charmander, you know? Yeah. Well, we shall see. We shall see how this all plays out.

Casey, Cliff, that's some of my best work, and I did that off the dome. Hey, listen, you know, maybe there's an MMA gym out there that really likes Pokemon and disagrees with your take. and we'll be very mad about that. So you got to keep that. I promise you if we clip that, there are going to be a lot of people who are like, you don't know shit about Pokemon.

You're right. I played the one Pokemon a million years ago. Yes. Yeah, maybe we'll find out the answer to that question. I played at least two of them. I never really played it. Never,

never my thing. Yeah. It was just a little after your time. Yeah, I think I'm just a little, I think I missed it by a couple years. Yeah, you missed it by a couple of years because it was like right in the sweet spot for me. Yeah, $57 to go, ladies and gentlemen, we are chipping away here. 57 bucks, Jed's going in the pool. Chase, Jed, where did your Chandler hate stem from?

There are a million reasons to hate him. Just curious where yours originates. Well, you see, he opened his mouth and started speaking. And that was it. That was just every time he talks, it's the worst thing ever. The fact that he has like tried to brand two catchphrases is endlessly annoying. Walk on and see you at the top. It's just like, it's the most cringy thing in the world.

So much so that I'm going to take see you at the top and make it my catchphrase for the climb. Because he doesn't get to have two of them. Just every time he speaks, it's something terrible. And that's why I don't like him. There you have it. And Jenna said many times that because of, if Chandler didn't speak, he's an objectively fun fighter in the UFC. Yeah, he might be one of your feelings.

And like his style of fighting is usually the thing that I'm super into. But it's just every other part of him that I'm out on. Thank you, Chase. What else you got? Firefly Funhouse. Thank you. Are either of you planning on watching WWE class? in Paris on Sunday.

Also, Jedd had just started my third and final year of law school. It's almost over. I don't think I'm going to go out of my way to watch Clash in Paris. I probably will look at highlights. But, you know, Labor Day weekend, probably going to be out and about and probably won't be watching it live. Didn't know that was a thing. Don't have any concept for what's, is that important, anything like that. Kind of fun, though, that they're going to Paris weekend before the UFC goes.

So TKO really dominating France for a 12-day span or whatever. Hey, 3L, but there's the old adage of law school is your one L scare you to death, 2L work you to death, 3L bore you to death. 3-0 year was awesome for me. It's the easiest. You already know what's it. Like you already know what's up. You probably hopefully have your job lined up post-law school already.

It's just don't fail and cruise to the first. finish. Enjoy it. 3-0 year should be the most fun year. Good job. Fire 5 Fun House. We're rooting for you. Get it done.

Get one of those big hefty degrees. Yeah. Where are you in law school, kid? It's a good question. Let us know. 57 bucks. Come out. Let's get you in that pool.

Get jet money. I got to be honest. I did not think we were going to hit that goal. And we're, I guess we're 30 minutes in and about halfway. So on base. We are, yeah. we're on pace no doubt about it listen to lazy bed jed cannonball jed can opener it's all all on the

table but we need your help next question uh remove armin from the rankings hasn't fought in a year and a half turned down summer fights still no fight booked so wait a minute is that true that he hasn't fallen a year and a half let me check that out ufc 300 was the last one so 18 months would be October. So if he doesn't fight by November, by November 1st, yeah. Yeah, if he doesn't fight by November 1st, he's out of the rankings.

He will and fast. I was to say he can't be out yet, but yeah, he's getting pretty close. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. He did tease something today about soon or something like that, or maybe that was last night. So maybe he's part of the potential

Dana White announcement, right? Like maybe Dana announces Armand versus Dan Hooker, or Armin versus Gaetje or whatever it is. Armand versus Patty as something. So we'll see. Maybe Armour versus Ilya. Maybe they actually do the thing. So they're not picking squirrel.

They're not picking squirrel. I know. But we'll see. Yeah. I don't know who Armine has actually turned down. Dave, unfortunately, lost my wallet at a wedding over the weekend or I'd contribute for the boys. Hope it was a good wedding. predictions for Dana's Instagram live announcement.

And we kind of touched on this earlier, but what do you think he's going to say, Jed? I mean, I would bet my firstborn child that it's Islam versus Jack at MSG. Again, we have not confirmed this, not breaking news, but this feels like the most open secret maybe of all time, that that's kind of what's happening. And so I'm sure we'll be more than that.

He's not going to do all this preamble for the most obvious fight in history. But that'll be the headline. I'm going to go ahead and say to take, and this is much more speculative, but I am going to say that we get Zhang Shevchenko announced, whether that's the co-mate of NNMSG, whether that's 323 in December. And I'll also even say we're going to get Volk Murphy announced because maybe you were waiting for Aljo, but you could just run it.

And like if John Silva beats Diego Lopez, okay, that would have been a little bit of a quicker turnaround. He beats him maybe he can weigh in as the backup for 323. So I bet we get those three title fights. Maybe we get like another main event tucked in there for, I don't know, one of their upcoming fight night shows,

APEC shows. But I'm going to say those two main events, that co-main event. and you know what, F and we'll even throw the aforementioned strawweight title fight between McKenzie Duren and Viena Jandrova their rematch

for the now vacant, maybe interim belt. So I agree with a lot of those. I think they'll announce pants versus van for whenever, probably in December. Totally forgot that that fight is obviously happening and that, yeah, totally makes sense that that would be one of the first.

Yeah, I mean, Van already said like, you know, already teased it. So I assume that might be the co-main name, SG. That'd be pretty damn sick. That'd be a damn good one. I saw some people, I saw some rumor about if they do do Valentina Wailey, which I think they're going to do, that Dern Jan Jaroba for the vacant strawway belt would be the co-main event in Abu Dio. which I think would be fine. Like add another title fight to that card.

I'm sure the Riyadh season folk, the Abu Dhabi fateful, those paying the money would be happy to have a second title fight on that card. So you could do that. I wouldn't hate that at all. Yeah, I do think Islam JDM is almost a guarantee. I think we're just going to get that whole MSG card, like most of it announced the main card. Yeah, I think we'll get whatever the case.

domain is we'll get a big feature bout announced on that you know maybe it's called his process taking somebody on or whatever because i think he said he wanted msg um so like i think we'll just get like a lot of msg bouts and then maybe a couple of the 323 stuff and some other smatterings i'm gonna throw i'm gonna throw out a super weird one um just based on the video that i created i'm gonna say michael chanelagh is added and i'm gonna say Leon Edwards versus Jorge Mazadol at MSG. There's just no chance because that would be fun and they're not going to do that. I mean, I don't know how fun that fight actually is.

It would be a fun thing to talk about. The fight probably itself wouldn't be that fun. Honestly, though, I'm going to do that fight that I've ever been. Yeah, I just don't want to see. Yeah, I don't care like to see Leon Pratchez would obviously be a big deal for Pratchez, but like, what are we doing here? Masel is going to come back and fight in the UFC and he continues to say he's fighting the UFC.

Like, what are we doing? Just book that damn fight. Let's just get this over with. And then we can move on to the other fun stuff. So, I mean, there's a lot of names it could be. But I think we're going to get all the main and co-mains for the rest of the pay-per-view year. And maybe we'll get, I think he's going to announce a ton of shit today. So much that I can't even like think about it all.

I think Qatar's main event's going to get announced. Oh, I forgot. Yeah. We're going to get the rest of the 20s. the 2025 slate, at least the big stuff. I think all that's coming. Not apache, yeah, the non-Apexie cards. I mean, maybe he'll announce those two,

but I think, yeah, I think we're going to get the rest of the in front of fans, made events the big fights announced today. So, that would be my guess. All right, next. Is this Paris card flying under the radar, asked lazy bed as far as height meter goes. Lots of fun fights,

several massively talented debutants pretty big names paris crowd always is electric i like i like the paris card i like it a lot i think it's going to be a very fun time of course the main event is imovov versus bahalio massive fight it kind of kicks off this middleweight grand prix b sd versus marisha rufe mason jones bellagio key modes bucassas bucassas paou krejou y fernandez wild pit milcada that's the main card I mean, Umar C, Brensen-R-Rabreuxa, Tibero,

DeLyrecha, Fokrinov Gustafson, Gomi, Ruchala. This is a fucking banger, actually, now that I, like, read these out loud. This is Patterson,

Trey Waters is fun. Brad Javaris, Robert Bryjek, and then, you know, Axel Sol is going to be fun. I really like the main, I really like the main,

I really like the main and the co-main event. Those are the only things I really like. The rest is just like various levels of okay versus like that'll be fun even if I'm not like stoked on it or whatever. But rock solid Paris car, the crowd will absolutely add some liveliness to it. So it would be fun of it. Pull the gun, we off. So, you know, you say it all the time. You got to let the people miss you.

It'll be nice to come back with a renewed vigor towards this run of not being in the apex for quite some time. Yes, which I love so much. We're out of the apex until November, and it's lovely. And for all the fans out there who enjoy some early day MMA, you're going to get it. New and Eastern prelims, 3 p.m. Eastern Main Card. It's a beautiful thing. Love that. So that bumps it up a point right there.

Next. $57 to go. We've hit a wall here. Firefly goes to Duquesne in Pittsburgh. Well, congratulations. I don't know. what Duquesne is, but go dukes, I guess,

whatever you are. And yeah, enjoy it, man. Last year, and then you take the bar and then you're done. Then you're a full grown attorney. Luke Thomas seems like a lot of fun at parties. He does seem like a lot of fun.

Luke is quite fun, actually. Yeah. Next. Yeah, Luke's the man. Luke's really like, I love Luke I shouldn't get in a hot tub with Luke because he will simply just take up all the space

but like at a pool party with there's lots of room be totally fine wait what Faunt Roses Jr. surely that's not canceled they just fucking they just booked it like literally I'm going to find out an answer for you right now okay

so I have no insight to this I know that was reported a while back it was not even close to being done It was merely an idea. And that's as far as it was, but yet it got prematurely reported. It ended up being the fight, but it was not anywhere near done, which is why we didn't, which is why we didn't report it until the UFC, like, officially announced it. And even then, even then the fight was not done. But the UFC did announce it, so we went with it.

But it was not like 100% done. At that point. I haven't gotten an update since, but yeah, we'll see. I'm sorry, was it Crazy Kev who announced it? That's what I'm seeing. Reports are per MMA Latino America. I don't know anybody on that one, so I'll reserve judgment. If it's because Crazy Kev said it, that's about as reliable sources,

me saying something, shitting it out. It ain't nothing to that. Well, I'm going to try to find out. I'll see if I can get an answer for you. But, yeah, we will try to get an answer during this program. That's why you come to BTL. Live looks into stuff. Yeah, it's always tough because then I have to go on my phone and send message.

Star Wars stuff. Who do we think is on more juice, Pico or Chandler? Jesus. We're down to 55 bucks, so we'll take it. I am not going to cast aspersions on two men who, to the best of my knowledge, have never tested positive for anything. Yes. Also, I wouldn't care if either of them were on juice.

I've been pretty clear. Totally okay with steroids in the sport. No issue with it whatsoever. Next. Carter Ortega, he's a shell of himself these days. couldn't beat anyone from Bodog fights at this point. Damn. I mean, harsh words there.

Also, shout out to Bodog fight. I mean, what a time to be alive, the old bow dog fights. Yeah. Should he be cut? I actually, I wrote about this in the mailbag. I don't think he's going to be cut. But if he got cut, it wouldn't shock me because he is the exact bad combination of things for job security.

He is expensive and unreliable. And that is just like the exact anathema to how the UFC wants to do business these days. Brian Ortega has been around, he seems to be well liked. And so I think he's going to get one more crack at it. But he costs a lot of money. And now he's like not showing, you know, I know he ended up fighting Diego Lopez. Don't forget he was booked to fight Diego Lopez that crashed out. And then they rebooked it later because.

of weight issues. And now this thing happens. The fight almost doesn't go forward, ultimately does go forward, but he looks like trash because probably should have been fighting in the first place. And so that's just not a reliable entity, especially when they're paying that much money. And the other side of this is like, and this has been true for the ESPN deal as well, but the Paramount deal, like, is going to very clearly, we know how much money the UFC is making for the next seven years.

Now, live gates can, you know, raise or lower this number a little bit, but like, we know at a baseline. They're making $1.1 billion every year for the next seven years. When you have that, the only way to increase profit, literally the only way to increase profit is to lower expenses. And the way to lower expenses is to not pay guys like Brian Ortega. And instead, replace them with contender series guys making 15 and 15. whatever the new contingency of contracts would be with this paramount deal. So I think he'll get one more crack because they like him because they invested in him earlier.

You know, they still run those Modelo commercials where he's in it. But if he has anything, another two out of line, I think he's gone. Okay, we're back. I don't know, man. We'll see. I'm torn on this one because nothing would surprise me. He's done at Featherweight. Like they're not going to book him another featherway.

At lightweight, sure, I think maybe you give him a shot, but it's hard to answer this question without hearing from Brian himself. Like he literally has said nothing since the way and stuff outside of like a love you all after the weight debacle, just a little IG story thing. But he hasn't said shit, at least from what I've seen about this entire situation. So yeah, who knows where his head is even at right now? Where is his interest in fighting? Does he want to be a layweight?

Does he want to try a new hold? Because let's be 100% honest here. The UFC does not need Brian Ortega at all. They don't need a single fighter on that roster. They don't need John Jones. They don't need, they prove they don't need Connor McGregor anymore. They'll certainly take him if he wants to fight, but they don't need him. They just sold a $7 plus billion deal without Connor fighting in the last four plus years.

So they do not need a single fighter on this roster right now. So they could absolutely cut Ortega without question. But I think they probably will give him another shot. So hold on one second. I'm told that fight is off. Oh, no. Devastating news. I'm not devastated, but that is kind of a bummer.

I thought that was a fun of a minute. Shout out. Shout out. Shout out to Rislock MMA. They were the first to come up with this with this story. So. Shout out. Somebody from Browlerosa's Jr.'s team just told me that that fight is no longer happening.

So there you happen. Okay. So shout out to Rislock for getting that. Breaking news confirmed. Once it's been confirmed by us, you know it's good. That's the stamp of approval. Jed, I want you to answer this question. Does Volta Valka get his fourth consecutive heel hook on October 11th versus Mo Oussman?

Solo me up, Casey, right here. The big dog. Entirely possible. Absolutely wild that Volta Valker's on this sort of a run right now of just heelhooking dudes. Granted, it's heavyweight and they're all bad, but it's still really, that's like a fun gimmick. And it's things like this that make me really like M. Like when you have weirdo stuff like this and you can think back like, oh, does anyone remember that time this happened? And like Mo Usman is theoretically Mo Usman should be able to like sprawl and brawl to a bad heavyweight decision.

But he's like exactly the kind of guy that is going to get healed by Walter Walker. Plus, I mean, the Walker brothers, unstoppable right now. So how do you bet against it, given what Johnny just did? Casey, we can ask other questions while Mike continues. Important, important work. Chase, Super Chat. Am I crazy for thinking PEDs don't have an impact on the outcome of fights? You can't tell me PEDs got D.C. to dip his head into a head kick.

You're not crazy. I would not be so boldest to say they don't have any impact because all things have some impact. I just have, I think they are wildly overstated. the impact that performance in hits and drugs have in most sports, but particularly in a sport like MMA where there's so many constituent moving parts. It plays a role because all things play a role. But, you know, I do not believe that Vitor Belfort, his run powered by TRT was like, it was entirely that.

I don't believe that trying to think of like known drug cheats. Josh Barnett, I don't think he won the heavyweight title because he was on the gas. I think there are many reasons and that's a contributing factor, but I think people vilify PEDs for reasons that have never been quite clear to me. Because it's just science. I don't know. Seems okay to me. But I also think it would be presumptuous and bold to be like it has no effect whatsoever because, like, Like, everything does, you know.

Eating healthy has an effect. Training hard has an effect. So it certainly has an effect. I don't think it has an outsized effect. And I think that that's sort of the difference. I think most people think that if you just take steroids, that is like the determining factor, which I do not agree with. Quick question.

Is there a line? Is there a line in the sand? Like, I don't know. I'm not an expert, but like EPO or anything like that. My stance is pretty like, steroids are not inherently bad, but they are cheating if they are illegal. And so it's just like that, right? Like don't take them because you have agreed not to do so. And so you are gaining an unfair advantage over opponents who are also operating into those terms.

But it's not like you took drugs, you're a terrible person. Like I just think they should be legal because I don't. And I think EPO is fine. If somebody could give me like a good argument, why, but it's just very hard for me to draw the lines between like what is what is the difference between taking, you know, using EPO and like getting reconstructive knee surgery, you know, like I, I, that's maybe a bit hyperbolic, but it is like, this is just scientific advancement. And so I'm not like, how is that different than other.

drugs that are being taken other than we've just kind of decided these ones are too much or whatever especially when we're starting from the idea of like you just get way better it's like okay but people are naturally born way better like many professional athletes have like a different chemical makeup than I do and if we fought I wouldn't be like well he was just born with more natural testosterone that's bullshit you know like he he's cheating. It's just like, I don't, I think these things just aren't, they're not a big deal to me. And so like, I agree that if you're, if it's legal, like if it has been determined that it's not allowed, then you're just cheating. And so like, yeah, but it's, it's not like a moral imperative

that we should get steroids out of the sports. That is just never rung true to me. I'm back. Good to be back with all of you. I can now 100% Sense with full confidence, Rob Font versus Raul Roses Jr. is off, don't you, UFC? Multiple sources. Multiple sources confirm. The plan as of now, Rob Font, hopeful to remain on the card. UFC seeking a replacement. Nothing has been locked down or solidified as of yet.

But yeah, that fight is off. There's also reports about Alexander Hernandez versus Carlos Diego Faheda on Nochi UFC, but I have not confirmed that information as if yet. So we shall see. 50 bucks to go. That would make a lot of sense. I love that. That would be a banger.

Let's go. 50 bucks to go halfway there. We're confirming on the program for you guys. Okay. We're making things official. We're doing our best here. We're going off track. Let's go.

Blood and Beer. If ESPN gets UFC FightPass, do you think they will push to phase out the regional MMA on the platform? Because I doubt CW plus LFA are bringing in a ton of revenue or viewers. So there is a report that ESPN is trying to get UFC Fight Pass, which would be the library more so. But one of the big parts of Fight Pass is getting regional promotions seen by New Orleans. eyeballs, scouting talent to some degree. And there is a growing concern, Jed, that if this deal goes through, that ESPN is just going to keep the library and say bye-bye to streaming regional events like LFA and Cage

Warriors and, you know, karate combat's been on there. There's a whole bunch of other things as well. So, yeah, what do you think? I would suck. It would suck if they got it. it just because ESPN is a terrible video platform. And it's just awful. So that would fight pass is bad.

ESPN is worse. So like that would be lame. This is actually really interesting question. I would assume that if ESPN purchases fight pass or, you know, like gets the gets fight pass in this regard, that the contracts would not allow them to change programming substantially. because, like, if what would, what would you be getting is ESPN just the former fight library? Do you care about that? Like, is that it's not really a profit leader, not that regional may is, but it is at least content. So I assume that the contracts would just not allow them just to majorly change what's going on there.

And so they would get all the stuff that's on Fight Pass. They'd get UFC BJJ as it's coming on and that sort of thing, which would be. interesting, certainly, but I don't know why ESPN would want it, but it does appear that's real. So I guess we'll find out. Yeah. There you go. It's a, it would be a bummer if that happens. I mean, especially with like LFA getting Gable Steven, like you would think you would want

Gable Steven to fight on your platform because I would assume he's going to have multiple fights with LFA before he goes to Contender Series or UFC just straight up, like you would think that you'd want to air those fights on your platform. But we'll see. Be a bummer if they just take it all away and just buy the library. That'd be fucking stupid. But I see how the wind blows. And then I would have to keep, I guess I was still probably going to end up paying for ESPN

plus anyway, but I would definitely have to at that point. I can stop buying bypass, I guess. It would be nice. Yeah. All right, what else we got? Janbovich posted today in regards to having a new fight sign, care to speculate on the opponent. Give him fucking Johnny Walker, baby.

Let's do it. Let's give the bad what he wants. It's not like Johnny, like, fought for a long time. He should be fine. He could turn right around. Maybe you do goose cough. I don't know, but. I say goose gov is like the only other person that jumps out as possible.

I'll say goose go. I'll say Guskov, but it would be way, way funnier if it was Johnny Walker. It would be. It would be. And hey, I mean, he just got a main event win and not in the apex. So maybe he gets it he called. Maybe he gets he called for it. Yeah.

Took a little damage. Only five for like six minutes. So it could be all right. They do in December or something? That would work. All right. What else we got? 50 bucks to go for the Jed Cannonball.

Thanks to take that Q, boys. I hope ESPN gets zero control over the product. Sure. We'll see. Contenders here has been amazing two weeks in a row. All five guys got contracts and some decent new K.O. prospects. I mean, I don't know if they've been, I mean, certainly better than the first week.

No doubt about that. That first week was tough scenes. I don't know if the last two weeks have been amazing. this past week was great because there was just a bunch of ass whoopens and then like one really fun ass fight that led to like a great comeback win so i i definitely enjoyed watching tuesday i went on my way to watch it i'm glad that i did um was this just like a i think you talked about this but i think tuesday felt like squash match week where like they they yeah they knew who they wanted already and then they just put them in very winnable matchups and luckily those guys showed out and I think the previous card the the Josh Hokie card and all that we definitely saw some talented guys but you could make cases of certain fighters not getting contracts like I don't think the dude who I forget his name off top my head it was a fun

ass fight and a great win but if you miss way for contender series you should not be getting a contract. I'm sorry. You just shouldn't. I don't think you should. He missed by a half pound. Well, I mean, still, I don't care. I don't care. You miss wait for that opportunity. You shouldn't get a contract. Plain and simple, unless you are just the best. By a half pound, I think he came in on short notice too, which is the other thing. So I believe that's what Dana said. He was like, you took this on like eight days notice and you was a half pound. Dude, Sean Woodson took a fight on like, Sean. Woodson took his contender

Tender Series fight on like four days notice and he cut like 40 pounds and made weight and then got a knockout and got a contract like sorry I didn't think yet they didn't have to it's whatever the my fundamental issue with this question meat rocket is it wasn't bad Tuesday and like

I appreciated it because it just it was over quickly those four first show knockouts and then one really good fight with a comeback uh Dana Cormier gave up the game on commentary when he was just like, oh, this guy's a minus 600 favorite and he's the third biggest favorite on the card. It's like, yeah, we know what we're doing here. Like these, they could have just signed these people. Instead, they signed, they let them do this to get them over. But like, as like a product to view, sure, it was pretty decent because, like,

you just got murders and then won a fight between two guys who should have been signed out right, both like have extensive experience at like LFA and Kampate. And like just should have both been signed previously. And you pair them together and then it led to a great fight. One guy gets signed. The other dude will almost certainly fight on Continued Series again this season, maybe even and then get signed. So it's just like we're crafting outcomes as opposed to like genuinely letting this be a job tryout, which is what it's built as. And so that feels a little weird to me to some extent.

But like if you're just tuning in to view some knockouts on a Tuesday, perfect for you. Yeah. Yeah. Again, not going to soapbox it. Contender series, first two seasons. I mean,

you literally had to blow the doors off the place to get a contract. Like literally blow the doors off place. Tough used to be good. Tough used to be filled with good prospects and fighters. And then it just became, it got to be a watered down product. And so like this is just, you know,

this is contender series. It's not the worst way to spend a Tuesday night, but like, we already knew what you just look at the odds. You know who's getting signed coming in. For sure, for sure. And what I've learned more so is, yeah, there's some good fights. There's definitely some good fights loaded throughout. But what we have learned is that there's just no way. Because I know Dana was like, I would a double contender series output.

No, you can't do it. you just can't we can't do a half a year of this i think eight to ten weeks is perfect give us something to look forward to every year because by week 10 we're like okay again another contender series thing and it's always like five other events happening like right around here at that point a hundred fights a year that's just a full-blown 10 weeks is perfect man yeah Antoine ho chaplin's gonna be great so yeah yeah also next week the main event, Jean-Paul. I don't even know how to say his last name.

Former teammate. And I say teammate loosely because former guy who just could just destroy me by looking at me type of talent who's moved from 55 to 70. But he's kind of a small 70 guy, but he is crazy athletic and crazy good. So I'm very excited for the main event for our next Tuesdays. Okay. Yeah, Luis, Francis Chenelli on Contender Series. Yeah, I'm surprised he has gotten a look at Casey.

Oh, wait, they're putting Antoine Ho back on. Oh, man. I was just looking at that. Yeah, Luis is four. Oh, go on, Jed. I was saying Antoine Ho got killed by Lonnie Kavanaugh last year. Luis is 4-0 for first-round knockouts. Currently, he is recovering from an injury, but he, I'm not, I don't know if he's disclosed it publicly, his injury, but he should be getting a fight very soon. He is pretty much back in training.

Yes, yes, ladies, but you will see much more Luis very soon. All right. I take a few more. We do have $50 to go. I think we've hit the wall here. It is Labor Day weekend after all. Nemcoff is amazing.

Dude's completely wasted at PFL. He would kill him the UFC. I think he beats Ankylaev. Yes, Don Davis broke some news last night. Vadeem Koff signed through 2027, which is probably a good move. When I spoke with Don Davis, face-to-face at PFL Charlotte,

he told me that there are a number of signings, that they are going, or re-signings and signings that they're going to be announcing over the next several weeks. He would not tell me what they were. Basically, he laid it out as all the fighters that we want to keep around. We have locked them up,

the big ones, I guess. And then they have some fun signings along the way as well. So I saw some things on Twitter. I haven't obviously like really dove into this because this is obviously like a, a good keep for PFL, but it's not news that will blow the doors off of you. Like, we're not going to write an article about Vadim Nemcoff resigning with PFL for two more years because it's just...

Because we hate the PFL, yeah. No, it's just not that big of news because Vadim doesn't fucking fight anymore. Like, he just doesn't fight. And if he does, he's a minus 10,000 favorite in all the fights. So... It'd be perfect for contender series. Yeah, so someone's... someone had wrote out like a transcription of some kind that said like he was talking to the

UFC and the UFC offered him like half of what PFL did. So ultimately decided to stay with them. I don't know. But yeah, Nemcoff's in PFL. You could do the Francis fight. I mean, that one's right there. It seems like pretty obvious. There's a little beef between him and Corey Anderson.

You could do that fight. knock that one out for the heavyweight title perhaps i don't know but yeah mcuff would have been interesting in the ufc but he's just not he's not a guy the ufc's got to like shell out a shit out of money for he's just not that guy yeah uh me rocket followed up saying he'd make more money in the uc i think that is exactly why he did not sign with them i suspect quite strongly that the bfl offered him a lot more money in the ucc'd pay him yeah That's, yeah, that's insane. Yeah, that's an insane take that he would have made more money in the UFC.

It's not true. As a rule, at the rule, Descott cut from the UFC or they're getting paid more than the FL because everybody wants to fight with me from a, like, like, like standpoint. Jed looks like Popeye right now. Yeah, I just, I don't know what's going on.

Is Jay? I am what I am. Where's Where's blue dough? Did Jad jump in the pool with his laptop? What happened? I don't know. What else we got?

Let's keep it coming. All right, we got a few more. We'll get Jed back. All right, hold on the second. This one was for Jed. Next Australia fight has like 16 or 17 fight. should UFC say F it and just make it at even 20? Oh my God.

Am I back? You're back. Your soap. You're back. You're so. I was talking for a half minute. I don't know what you guys heard. I could hear you, but I was clearly frozen.

So I reconnected. Oh, super frozen. Should UFC Perth be an even 20 fights at this point since they're going to bump it up to like 17 at this point? So it shouldn't be, but that's at least kind of a fun gimmick. It shouldn't. I'll hate it. But if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly, you know? I mean, if A.K. wants to give me that Saturday off, if for a 17 fight card, I wouldn't hate it.

I just, I wouldn't. Like, I'm very interested in the main event. 17 is like the worst number of fights. It's like a, that's like a bad prime number. We can't be doing 17. You got to at least get it to 18. Not on a fight night card that no one's going to care about two weeks later. for 17

my OCD. That's right. Do we have anything else, Casey? No. Oh, wait a bit. Jay. He's moving. And now he's first.

I can hear you. I don't know if you can hear me. Yes, we can hear you now. My internet is rejected. us. It doesn't want to do this anymore is what it's decided. He's clearing up, though. All right. We're out of time here. Yeah, I think. MyFi is only allowing us a few more minutes. So if you got to see a pool jump,

we got to hit $50 more in Super Chats or else it's not going to happen. And TikTok goes to the clock. What else we got? Anything. Okay. We got 10 minutes, 10 minutes to do it. That's just Pokemon slander catching up. with him, Chris. How did I slander Pokemon? I didn't slander Pokemon. I made a great analogy.

One of the best. I'm telling you, if that gets live on the, in the Venn diagram of Pokey fans and MMA fans, that little like section, man, they're going to love that one. That's a sweet spot. Terrific. One of our biggest videos on the MMMA fighting YouTube channel is an interview with Rhonda Rousey about Pokemon. So it's there. Rhonda Rousey is very famous and Pokemon is very bold.

I'm not sure there's a huge number of Pokemon fans who know who Elite Tupuri is, but the ones who do, they're going to love that. Go back to that other question. I can't believe we're talking about this, honestly. Extra Ed. What is Tank Gain from beating Jake? What does Jake gain from a loss? I am choosing Jed to not, well, yes, money is, money is actually the only answer. This is the answer.

This is the answer. Guys, it is not a real fight. They've already, they have advertised it. They have announced it as an exhibition fight. This doesn't, this is not real. I am not, I'm not even treating this as a real fight. So, yes, money is. I don't actually know if it could be a real fight because they can't get to a remotely similar weight class.

Yes. Tank gets money. Jake gets more money. And Jake could say he could do what his brother did with Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition. I hung with the pound for pound great and I beat him. Even though like I lost, it went to a draw because it's an exhibition fight and there's no decision being made. He could say, I want the distance with the best fighter in the world. And Jake can say that and people will have to listen to it and people won't agree with them. But people will have to hear what he has to say about it. And Tank gets not. nothing. And tanks should obviously be fighting somebody else right now. And he's not. So, yeah, it's money and that's it. And viewers, because people, even though this is really dumb, people are going to watch it and they'll probably stack the rest of the card with like fights that are interesting. So it's a November tradition.

It's a now a November tradition where Jake Paul is fighting somebody he should not be fighting in a boxing match in November. So there you go. I wanted to jump in. Jake T. Gigate. Jake T. I was sorry, I want to jump because I want, I want, I want Judge's opinion on this.

Is this, this is a freak show fight, right? Yeah. Is this by all definition of freak show fight? Why do we not love this then? By most of them. Oh, I, I think it's stupid, but it's, so it's not like charming, which is sort of the, like, part to freak show fights that are fun. Here's why I don't like it because Tank should, well, I don't like it because I'm not a huge fan of either man involved. But Tank should be fighting real opposition.

Freak Show fights are fun as like a splash in the middle of doing real things. Tank should be fighting Omar Roach. Like they should be doing that again. And so instead he's doing this. And I don't blame him. This is much more lucrative. But like that's, I don't have any issue with this from Jake. I think this is great from Jake.

Like this is, but again, Jake has managed his career perfectly the whole way at top to bottom. Because like if he goes and wins, either way he gets more heat off this. People have thoughts on him picking on the smaller dude. Like, this is great from him.

The entire issue is that tank should be fighting real boxing matches against like a dude he just went hammer and tongs with, you know? So that's the issue. Yeah. Yeah. It's a freak show fight, but it's like,

we want to see tank fight somebody else. It's not like we want to see Mike Tyson fight somebody else. It was just like, what the fuck is this? Yeah, Tyson vines a freak show fight. It was fine with it. I mean, it wasn't fine with the moral implications of it, but it was fine with it in general. And then the fight itself, but yeah,

I'm glad Mike came out of it without getting killed or badly, badly hurt, which is always a good thing. But, yeah, Tank is like just much more interesting fights that he could have from a, like, actual boxing sense. But yes, still. It will legitimately be. funny to me if tank dummies him which is absolutely in play that will legitimately be hilarious to watch just like oh look like yeah he's you're twice his size but he can box and you cannot

that'll be funny but tank should yeah tanks should be fighting real boxers they are real boxers it's not like he's cleaned out his weight class or whatever you know you got anything else jett and mike thanks for being great thank you michael thank you michael bass for also being great yes belly flop again up we didn't do it sorry we didn't get it I'm a man of my word we didn't achieve the goals we'll try again next time you know 50 bucks to go who's got it you should not spend it on that that's just yeah dude says yeah slavery day we better this yeah buy buy by by 30 rack and enjoy it you know 30 rack is 50 dollars godly probably not but it depends on what you're getting you know

That's true. That's true. If you get the good stuff, I don't think if you get Red Dog, it's going to cost you $50. So, all right, hit the music. I think we've, uh, wait, wait, are we done? No, wait, no. We're good on questions. We're good. All right. Hit it. We're out here. Shout out to Jose Youngs. Shout out to Jose Youngs. He is in the UK for Misfits Boxing 22. Apparently, it's press coffers going on, and it's what you would expect when you have influencers.

and Dylan Danis and Luke Rockhold and Darren Till on stage. So look for that, those houts on M8fighting.com. Preview show tomorrow. We'll have a post-fight show up to the event on Saturday. It's why the hell not. But Jed, or Casey, I am Mike Eckack. Back next week ahead of UFUFU.S. Paris.

Love you all. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.