MMA Fighting - BTL | Whittakaer vs. Chimaev, Moreno Taking Break, Dana White Hints At U.K. Pay-Per-View,

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

It's been an interesting week in the MMA world as the UFC gets ready to return to Atlantic City on the road to UFC 300 — which includes Dana White hinting at bringing a pay-per-view event to the United Kingdom this year. If it happens, who should be featured on the card? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel takes live viewer questions about the promotion's return to the U.K., if Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall will defend their belts in front of their home crowds, and who else could fill up the lineup. Additionally, they'll answer questions about topics such as UFC Saudi Arabia getting a slew of fights announced, including Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev as the main event, former flyweight champ Brandon Moreno announcing he's taking a break from MMA and what that means for the division in the short term, Saturday's UFC Atlantic City card headlined by Erin Blanchfield vs. Manon Fiorot, Rose Namajunas' big win at UFC Vegas 89 and where she goes from here, and whatever else you would like to discuss. Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions all show long. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Why do you save and invest? Is it so you can spend hours every day glued to the stock ticker, worrying about every movement up or down? Or is it so that you can live a better, happier, more fulfilling life? Betterman wants to help people invest to live, not live to invest. With features like automated saving, global diversification, and tax smart tools,

Betterment is full of ideas to help you reach your goals without having to babysit your investments. They help their customers invest so that they can go live their lives. Go to Betterment.com to learn more. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. a podcast network. May 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 on another Thursday. And you know what? Sometimes you head into these Thursday shows and you're thinking, what the hell are we going to talk about? We could talk about things that happened last week that are kind of storylines, but not much.

things that are happening this weekend where there's a couple of storylines, nothing really major going on. And then you decide, let's just do a Q&A episode. And then lo and behold, UFCO, Dana White makes a whole bunch of announcements. So we do have something to talk about. And that's exactly what we're going to do here on the program. And joining me to answer your questions, Mr. No Gray area, the hot take kid, the cannibal kid, Mr. Jed Bushoe. Jed, how are we doing, buddy? This is terrific.

yesterday, you know, before we log off, I get the message from you. Hey, we're not going to do a competition this week. We'll just do the Q&A. There's just nothing happening this week. And I was like, yeah, honestly, it's totally reasonable. Fair. I go to bed. I wake up and suddenly there are things happening, Mike.

So it should be a good one. Get those questions in. Video editor extraordinaire joining us as well. You will be deciphering through your questions, probably chiming in on some of the topics as well. Casey, you're there. How we doing? There he is. Your internet was a little bit choppy. We're going to do a little maxed room for a moment, but I think you're there now. Can you move? There you go. All right. He's blinking. I blink. Okay, that's all that matters. We're back, baby. We're back. So obviously, get the questions in. Super chatters. You get to cut the

line. Real quick, if you haven't checked it out, and I'm glad both of these gentlemen are here. The debut episode of Swing Rounds live on the MMA Fighting YouTube channel, myself, Mike Perry playing nine holes of golf. And I know you're thinking, I've seen these YouTube videos, the YouTube golf scene. I don't want to watch these guys play golf for 90 minutes. You don't have to.

A nice, tight, fast-moving, beautifully shot 18 minutes for you guys to check out. And it's everything you would hope it would be and dream of. Shout out to Jed Mishu. who shot this like an absolute savage and then shout out to E.K.C. who put it all together just magically. So thank you, gentlemen. Make sure you guys go check that out.

And as the questions are compiling, Jed, let's just get right to the big news. And I want to get your reaction to this. Dana White, just after midnight Eastern time, jumps on social media, makes the big announcement. UFC, Saudi Arabia, June 22nd, main event, Robert Whitaker,

the former middleweight champion of the world taking on Hamzat Shemayev. That is your headliner. Other fights announced, Sergei Pavlovich against Alexander Volkov, which created a little bit of a stir. I'm sure we'll get questions about that. Kelvin Gasolum, Daniel Rodriguez, Johnny Walker, Volk, and Ozedemir, and Shara Baga Madoff taking on Ehor Potiaria. So those are five fights. Jared Gordon is also on this card, taking on Nazareth Hackperast. So, So right now there's six fights on the books. Your reaction to these matchups announced by Dana White and more specifically, Robert Whitaker versus Hamza-Chayev. My first reaction was, oh, wow, I didn't think I really saw that coming.

And then my second reaction was almost immediately following that sort of first moment of disbelief was, yeah, remember when Saudi was going to get Mahalman McCoy? That was ridiculous. this is much more appropriate. This is already, you know, we're six fights in. I don't know what the round card out with. Maybe it will be a bunch of contender series dudes.

You never can know for sure. But this is a fight night card. Like this is a good fight night card already, which is honestly the expectation that we as fans should have for all fight night cards. I'm sure we'll get into this weekend's one. But it's not as good, frankly, as what Saudi is getting for their debut effort. And this is

great. Interesting matchups. Some matter more than others, obviously. And the main event is, I don't know what to think of it, Mike. What were your thoughts on this one? Because obviously, it's a fine fight. I understand what it does for Hamza.

Hamzao wins this number one with the bullet. He's fighting for the belt, probably in 2025, because somehow this man fights once a year now. But I get that. But if Bobby Knuckles wins, where does that put him in the title picture? Not far off,

but I kind of assumed we're going to get Robert Whitaker, Sean Strickland. And so now this is interesting what it does to the middleweight title picture. Agreed. Love the matchup. I think of all the actual options here. And I think I probably expected Hamzaa versus Paul Acosta because of the built-up beef and those two guys can sell.

I got to say, this is probably the most intriguing matchup they could put together outside of TDP Izzy, in my opinion. I'm very much looking forward to it. I didn't see it coming like you, but now that we have it, I love it. I absolutely love it. And it's going to be interesting to see where the rest of these guys go. Dana did say, and if we're going to take Dana's word and you know the man never lies, It's a number one contender fight. Winners getting a title shot.

Just ask guys like Bilal Muhammad and all these other guys who fought in number one contender fights. Hamzaa Shamaimai just fought in a freaking number one contender fight in his most recent fight against Kamar Usman. So depending on who you believe, the winner of this fight is going to get a title shot. And if Robert Whitaker goes out there and hands Hamzaa Shama if his first loss,

I don't care if he's fought easy 18 times. I don't care if he got knocked up by DDP three weeks ago. He's probably getting a title shot and I would actually be okay. with that. I mean, yeah. I agree. I do think that this is, if you're Whitaker, the path is clear. I take this fight. I win this fight. I do get a title shot. I don't think anyone will be upset for it. But it then just is, what are we doing with Sean Strickland? Because, you know, that it feels like we're getting DDP as E. That's obviously been even rumored for 305, I think, in Perth. But where's Sean Strickland fit in?

because prior to last night, I would have said Sean Strickland was higher on the title shot list, right? But now Robert Whitaker can jump him, and I don't know where Sean Strickland goes from here. So interesting stuff at middleweight right now. I think you do him and Paul Costa. I think that makes sense. You could do, if you do Dosteporier challenging Islam Makachev,

let's just say it happens June 1st. That's the main event. Throw Sean Strickland, Paul Costa in there is like the cold. main event. It's pretty damn good one two punch to make up for what we're at least on paper going to see 301. So I don't I don't hate that. No, here's what we're doing. I mean, so I don't hate that at all and maybe that is what happens. But if Brendan Allen gets past Chris Curtis this time around, then, you know, all the storylines are there to let Brendan Allen, you know, fight Sean Strickland again and do the, I beat your teammate finally after I lost to him.

I'm going to do the same to you. No, because there's somebody else in this conversation. No, because there's somebody else in this conversation that is often forgotten that has literally nobody to fight right now. So Brennan-Alin beats Chris Curtis. He's probably poor Jared Canaaner has a case, but now he's going to have to fight Brennan Allen. He's going to have to go fight Brennan instead.

Mike, we'd all agree to just not talk about, at cannoneer and maybe he would vanish. So you can't be bringing up his name because that ruins the gimmick. If you just slide away and we're all, we'd all be okay with it. We're like, yeah, that's fine. It's totally acceptable. So, uh, no, Brennan's been trying to fight Sean Strickland again. He's about to fight his teammate again on short notice.

If this time he overcomes Chris Curtis, we're doing it. Book it. Let's get Brinnell to title shot in 2025. Yeah. There you go. You seem very excited about this idea. Casey, what did you think about this Whitaker Shamaia matchup? Cool.

I mean, just as long as Shamiya's fighting, that's all. I mean, as long as he fighting a guy in top five, I just hope the winner actually gets a title shot. Yeah, pretty much everything you guys said. No real. I'm just, I just want to see it happen. I'm kind of tired of the Shemaya of, like, I don't know, whatever his issues are.

The guy bought every, like, 13th. seconds a couple years ago now we see him every decade so i don't know i'm just uh i just want to see it just that's all i i don't know his bond yeah i'm just like i'm not i don't want to get i don't get too hyped up because i feel like it's just i don't know until it actually we see them in Saudi Arabia or something i'm just kind of not believing it but so far so sounds cool and i hope it actually gets a title shot i hope fights mean something basically yes Wait, the Usman, the Usman fight, that was supposed to, wait, was it, who did she fight last time? Yeah, that was, that was, that was for a title.

Yeah, that was supposed to be for, I thought that was, okay, yeah. It was like sort of around, but I just, Hamtot's just career has been weird. He fought, you guys realized he fought three times in two months and, uh, since then, in the ensuing three years since then, he has fought four times. like what's just a baffling career turn this man has taken what year was that when he bought those three times 20 it was 2020 it was COVID it's 2020 okay so wow it was that was when they were doing fight island COVID yeah yeah okay I did I was like man it's that long ago now yeah yeah I don't know pretty wild pretty wild two other things about this card both are pluses in my opinion ABC which

is awesome. And since this is happening in Saudi Arabia, more than likely, it'll be an early card. Yeah. I like that. Which we like. I like that. I mean, congrats to Saudi. The sports wash is going great. Like, you're getting on ABC and nobody's like thinking twice about it. Like, it's, this is not even me being like moralistic about it. It's just like, what you guys did it. Way to go. I got. I'm not being. But. I'm like, you won, congrats, man. The money won out and that's good enough. Yep.

Money is undefeated once again. Yeah, money is. Keeps winning, man. I mean, look, we live in America. It's not like we have a great moral high horse to stand on. But it's just, there's not even a contest. There was at least like, ooh, is this like, okay, no, whatever, it's fine. Put them on ABC, prom top, baby.

What about that one thing? Hey, we got Shmive on the card. Woohoo! Let's do it. Just think of all the commercials that run. Visit Saudi Arabia. Visit Saudi Arabia is going to have a website. It's going to be off a Shane on June 22nd.

Beautiful. Congrats, man. You guys won. Well done. You did it. Well done. All right. Let's go to the peeps.

There's other things we can. discuss even in regards to the announcements. All right. Let's see what we got. Let's go to our super chats first. And we got a super chat from Chase. Chase. I remember you guys told me UFC 302 in Newark would be headlined by Leon Ballal 2 with a London car in July.

Is it likely Jersey gets Islam versus Dustin Porier. So we didn't tell you that that was going to happen. we assumed as much because all year long, the UFC's return to the UK, which has always been expected to be Manchester, was going to be a fight night card. Dana has even said it himself at various points that it was going to be a fight night card. And then just recently, he changed his mind that it's going to be a UK card because he understood that he is two UK champions and Leon Edwards and Tommy Aspinall right now. So it only makes sense to shift gears here.

there are the questions I have regarding July and we'll maybe get to those but I basically because I think we brought this up we talked about the Jorge Mazadal Nate Diaz fight happening on June 1st that the best they can hope for especially with like an $80 price tag is that Leon Edwards versus Blahmohamed is the main event for 301 UFC still going to do better buys but if you do Islam versus Dustin Porier freaking no one's buying Mazadal versus Diaz so do you think now, Jed, that June 1st, if you had to guess, if there's a betting line on it, let's just say it's even money, would you bet that Islam Makachep versus Dustin Porre will headline UFC 302?

I guess. I don't know. I've just been operating under the virtual certainty that Islam was going to Saudi. It would appear that's not the case. Islam has repeatedly said he wants to fight in June. If that's the case, they just need to announce it. Because if that's the case, there's no viable turnaround for the 300 people, I guess, just. Because that's like June 1, right?

Like, that's April 13th to June 1. So the dudes fighting at 300 can't, they're not making a five-week turnaround or whatever that is. So if that's the case, yeah, just go ahead and announce that fight. And it's okay. It's kind of weird, right? like but it's fine like that's two big stars jersey will be okay with it it doesn't there's not like a connection there but sometimes it's not like leon balla would have been a connection either so it's that uh but i i will just say chase i love you thanks for super chatting with us you're coming

with a lot of confidence that the ufc won't book leon edwards knowing they're going to england because we have seen them do this a bunch this year. Alex Pereira is fighting one month prior to them going to Brazil. They don't give two bucks about doing things smart. So like it is absolutely possible. They still just say, all right, Leon, you're fighting here. Oh, yeah, we are going to England. You do not get to come.

That's absolutely still in play. So I would hope that logic would win out and that wouldn't be the case. but I wouldn't bet my life on it is what I'm saying. Casey, what do you think? Great points by Jed. Great points by Jed. But now that they announced Saudi, and look, could they be kind of holding this one

just behind, just hoping that Connor Chandler happens June 29th? Because if for some reason that falls through and with Connor, everything is possible here, you can always shift that one to the main event of international flight week you get Islam Dustin two big stars it would make way more sense there yeah but you can't do it if Connor's headlining against Chandler yeah you don't do it but you got to get two bites of the apple so if Connor Chandler is a go June 1st Islam versus Porier is that

3 that would that be 303 or 304 what 303 would be international fight week okay there there. Excuse me. I mean, I got to be honest of you. The Chandler, the Chandler-Connor thing just kind of throws me for a loop because I just don't believe it's going to happen. So everything just kind of messes up in my head, honestly. And now this, now that Islam isn't fighting in Saudi Arabia, I'm just kind of, and I just kind of found this out like 20 minutes before, like, I kind of just started my working like 20 minutes. It goes. I'm just kind of soaking in all. actually I don't really have a good idea, to be honest, right? It just seems like to be a giant mess.

And it doesn't really matter where the location is. It's just all about availability. And they'll put anyone anywhere, I think. It doesn't really matter. It's hard to give logic to the UFC right now. It's just whatever works works. And they're making money. That's all I kind of, that's all I really feel right now about the UFC and booking.

They don't care who they book in places because they're going to sell out. Yeah, that's what I mean right now. I mean, I could kind of go. They don't care about the fan experience being go. This could go here. It's go there. But like I felt like I've kind of burnt my own brain kind of trying to apply logic to it. But now it's just like, okay, whatever.

There's Alex Perrier's fighting in a month instead of, you know, in Brazil. Because it's just, that's the way it is. I don't know. There's no real logic other than it's a main event. Made a bit worthy. If they end up going to Manchester and they just announce it, we're doing a card on, I don't know when they're going to do it.

If they do it July 20th, that's the same day as Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. If they do it July 27th, which is from conversations I've had, that's what's like kind of being thrown around right now for that card. Makes sense. So we'll see. Going against Jake Paul, Mike Tyson on a free card.

I'm assuming it's free. Just a subscription. Christian base card on Netflix, right? Yeah. Yep. Ooh, that, yeah, I don't think that would work. I mean, I guess that would be the time to throw out Liam Belaw. But they're supposed to go to, they're also supposed to go to Salt Lake City around that time because that's usually, you know.

I think that's just going to get bumped. Or to August maybe. Well, no, because they're going to Perth in August. No, I think that they'll just bump that back. They can go to Salt Lake City another time or whatever and still get as long as they get it in the year. but they want to do the things that they've wanted done. I think the Salt Lake City thing is just not happening until the fall. Yeah.

All right. Thank you, Chase. Thank you. Nice, Chase. Support for this show comes from the audible original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the

quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two ghosts in the machine. Available now, only from Audible. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them.

They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. Dark Trace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Another super chat coming in from Michael.

Hey. My. Fizzi versus Darius? Oh, Darius. Okay. I was like Darius. Hootie and the blocish, Darius. Darius Rucker.

Oh, yes, yes, yes. Or maybe Darius Flowers. Oh, yeah. I was going to be a roster. I was going King Darius. Oh, King Darius, yes. It would be a good, I mean, that would be a good matchup for Sadi. I just don't think Fiziv is going to be able to fight in June.

I mean, that dude suffered a gnarly injury. He's going to be out for a hot minute. So. How long has he been out? When was his fight? It was like November, was it November that he fought? Hold on. Okay.

camera when was that card maybe it was October September 23rd yeah he's probably not going back in that time frame that's probably around the time that he would actually be like cleared to go back to training right yeah I would say maybe end of the year for his eight nine months yeah yeah I would say that that's unlikely yeah who would derrish fight I don't know There yous Yeah

So was he going to Two fight loop What is there you What is this streak right now Two fights in a row Yeah two big knockouts in a row Yeah Maybe if Jalen Turner

Beats Anato Moikano You turn him around That's where I would see Darius right now Okay Yeah Or if like Jim Miller Beets Bobby Green

And he's a ranked fighter Maybe you give him That sounds kind of fun Actually You're right I like that I think that's a fight That works for both of them

If I'm Daryyush, I do not take that Fizib fight. That's all. Even Fizib if Viziv is healthy and ready to go, I would avoid that if I'm Darius. I think at this point in his career. I mean, it's a fun fight for the fans, but for Darius' own career. I would try and fight BSD. Well, you could do that. My thought was November Madison Square Garden main card opener BSD versus Raphael Fiziv.

just let them to set the friggin table, baby. So let him get after it. That'd be fun as hell. Would Fiziv take that? Yeah. I think so. I think, I think, I don't think BSD lost that much. I think with the staff infection story and, you know, he did well against

Dustin the first round, I think, I don't think BSD lost that much, that much momentum. I mean, obviously he lost some, but not, it's still there. there's still heat on him. I am marginally opposed to it because in general I do feel like if you lose, you should have to defend your position and not get another bite at moving up the ranks, which is what you're giving me. I agree. But Fazeve's lost two in a row too, so you have to go backwards.

Yeah, Fiziv going backwards, I'm fine with it. Ben Wausantan de knee. Who would I like him to fight? Oh, there's a very easy answer. What's Drew Dover doing? Let those two dudes go hammering tongs on each other. That's not a bad idea either. I mean, that fight's guaranteed to be fun as hell.

Yeah, that's it. Give me Drew Dover. That's the one thing that they could take him down. Drew's not a great defensive wrestler. That could be tough. Yeah, be fun. Maybe. Okay.

All right. Thank you very much. I know we have other super chests to get to. I know. Yeah, we have a lot. I see them flying in. I love it. Jameek, do you think gone turned down Pablinich?

Okay, so this is, okay, this seems like a good opportunity to bring this whole thing up because, golly, man. The amount of DMs I got at like 1230 a.m. Eastern time, because I shouldn't have been awake at this time, but it's just how I am when there's a big project dropping. the next day. I don't sleep very well. I get anxious thinking about it. So I maybe took like an hour nap and then woke up and saw all this news. But man, the amount of DMs that I got, you guys are bullshit, your fake news, all this stuff because we had reported maybe two days prior, I think month, no, it was Tuesday. It was literally the day before. We reported that Alexander Volkov is fighting Jailton Almeida at UFC 302. And the amount of DMs I got saying that we are fake news and all this shit, Dana was right about you, was just eye-opening.

I was stunned by all of this. I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that fight was 100% real. We confirmed it with multiple sources. That fight was 100% of thing. I had conversations last night after I got those DMs because I wanted to get to the bottom of this. They got the call. I'm told by a member of Jilton Alamedis team, they got the call a few hours before Dana made the announcement that they were shifting gears. that fight was going to happen at 302

Saudi wanted a boost they shifted gears to do this fight and now Jailton is still going to fight at 302 we just don't know who he's going to fight so he's got to remain on the card I'm hearing a couple of names being thrown out there but nothing to the point where we can really report anything

at this point because it's still kind of fluid but that fight was 100% real that was a real fight and you bet your ass that we had conversations in our Slack channel. Even though we didn't even report this fight, we just confirmed an initial report

that the UFC pulled this off because they wanted to spite the media and be like, see, don't listen to those assholes. You hear it from us, then you know it's true. That fight between Almeida and Volkov was a thing. The UFC did contact Jelton's team and said, look, we're going to ship things up a little bit. You're still fighting June 1st.

We'll find you somebody. So that's the story on that. So I just want to get that out there. but Jed, do you feel like Cyril Gahn was offered this fight with Sergei Pavlovich? He turned it down and then the UFC ended up shifting gears or like, how do you think this all played out? Do you think Gond was even in play for this fight? I honestly have no idea. I doubt he turned it down.

Just why would he, right? Like fighters aren't afraid of other fighters. I don't know why I have to keep saying this like a whole bunch lately. fighters just don't duck other fighters unless they're named John Jones and they don't want the Tom Asperall smoke he's a thousand percent ducking him this is real this is not a gimmick don't be can scared John but other than John Jones the coward

everybody else is not afraid to fight other professional fighters because that's just how it goes so I just strongly doubt he would have turned that down for any reason other than like injury or the timeline or not being ready because he also like has a pretty good chance to beat him too. Other than the fact that all fighters are psychopaths

and think that they can defeat anyone that has ever walked the earth in a fist fight regardless of logic reason or size, like, Seorgan has to look at Pavlovich and be like, okay, he does two things. I just have to not get hit by the one thing. That's all I got to do, and that's hard, but otherwise I can do my serogani things. So I just strongly doubt that he ducked this for any reasons

that wouldn't be like, I'm a little injured or timeline doesn't fit for me or whatever it is. Or the fact that after he beat Sergei Spivak, he delivered a couple of weeks worth of just maybe the worst strategic moves when it comes to getting yourself in position for something big. Because after he beat Spivak, him calling out Sergei Pavovich, would have been perfect. And in fact, had he done that, had he done that, he would probably have gotten the fight with Pavlovich at Madison Square Garden. There is a chance that happens.

If he comes out on that microphone and says, Sergei Pavlovich, you're next. Let's fight. Winner gets a title shot. Instead of saying, no, I'm not fighting him. No, I'm not fighting this guy because that would be fighting backwards. And no other fight makes sense for me except fighting for the title. because he did the same with Tom Aspinall as well and no sold him too.

And boy, I think this is, this bid him on the ass real bad the way that he handled himself after that. And even going on the MA hour and did the same thing. Like still didn't have a name said, nope, the only thing that makes sense is a title fight. I think he bundled this so badly. And I don't know if it's a punishment, but I don't think they're going to give gone that kind of a fight right now. Unless they're going to give him Tommy Aspen on now, but I don't know. Nobody. Here's what's going to happen because he did bungle this real bad.

And that's the other reason that he's not ducking Pavlovich because he has to be able to see what is happening. If he's turned, if this, you know, offered and he turned this down for any reason, the UFC are petty. And instead of fighting Sergei Pavlovich, a man who is a decent shot to beat, though he could get knocked out certainly. he's getting Jailton Almeida next. Like that's just going to happen. And I got to tell you, if you saw, you know, Seulaghan's takedown defense and you've ever watched any of Jailton Almeida fight, I think we can all surmise how that fight is likely to go. So if he was ducking him, again, I don't think that's true. This is, he ducked right down into a flying knee.

He'd been asking the shit out of himself if he was ducking. What do you think about this, Casey? Oh, actually, I think what, I think the UFC is petty. I think, I think for some reason, maybe even we don't even know about, they do not like Gone right now. And they loved him when he was the guy who was going to beat Francis when Francis wouldn't re-sign. Yeah.

How fate changes, you know? Yeah, Gone. Gone Al-Meda sounds like the way they're going to go. I have no reason to believe Garner would turn down Pablovich. That just doesn't make sense. I just, and like, like Judd said, these guys are afraid. It's just, they're afraid only. Unless they're John Jones.

Yeah, unless are John Jones, of course. Unless the fight just doesn't make sense, but gone Pavlovich makes sense. So, yeah, it's going to be gone. I'm made it. Which is, which is, which I like, which I like. I like style clashes. and God's got to prove himself against a high-level grappler. So we're going to see it.

I hope we see it. I kind of forgot about Sir Ragan, honestly. When I saw this, when I saw this, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, it's like, it's been, so he fought September 2nd. And there's nothing on the books for him right now. So yeah, and no injury, right? He's just, Gons just hasn't been booked, right? Is it as far as my knowledge?

It was just wild. Which is all we have every freaking heavyweight on every card on every apex card, but we can't get through or gone in the cage for some unknown reason. You're going to get rebellious. If rebella goes in there and does work against WCA in St. Louis is super fun, but also insane matchmaking. It would be categorically insane. Hey, dude with five total fights and two wins in the UFC,

fight the number two dude. Okay. Dude, I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like the craziness of it. I don't care.

I don't care. You got to give Rebellis Charzino and then somebody else. Jersey will make more sense. Georgineer does fire white and God. But whatever. Also whatever. Oh my God. That would be funny as hell.

It would be so outlandish that I'd be okay with it. Exactly. This is ridiculous. It's almost a point where, like, a commission shouldn't have misanction in this fight. I love it. I love it so much. I love it. All right.

Thank you very much. Do, do, do, do. Super Jet for him, Kenny. Thank you, Kenny. Odd to announce Bobby in Saudi and then an Australian pay-per-view. Kind of goes back to the point, eh? of none of that really matters where these guys fight. So yeah, what do you think of that?

They're going to Perth two months later, but I'm sure Whitaker was offered this. I'm sure Whitaker was aware that they were going to Perth, but perhaps the opportunity to fight Shimaeuf was just too big to pass up, Jed. It's like a little bit strange, but it's not because they're too high, It's the two halves of the fight.

Yes, Whitaker being in Perth would make sense. But I think just pretty transparently, hey, Rob, you want to fight in the main event against Hamzot in what is almost certainly a title eliminator? Or do you want to fight? I would guess the co-main event, though I guess there's possibility for the feature fight. That Perth card still is all rumor,

but would not at all surprise me if that's DDP Izzy and then they even tack in Volk Toporia 2. You can just say Yolo, do that. So you rock that. And then if that's happened, then you're the feature fight against whoever it ends up being, you know, Sean Strickland, whoever you get. It wouldn't be Hamza.

Hamzot's fighting in Saudi. And you're the feature fight and that feature fight's not for a title shot. Like this is a pretty clear path for Rob. Like, yeah, obviously option A is better for me. It would be cool if the whole universe worked out. but that's just not where he is career-wise right now. Can I just say something? I have, I mean, obviously I want to see DDP versus Izzy.

I think Perth is a terrible place to have that fight. Like why? Just do Volk versus Toporia, too. Make that the main event. I know it's a little soon and somebody would be kind of up on arms about it. But first of all, Israel out of Sonia is from New Zealand. We saw what happened when he fought, It's all the same place.

If you've never seen a globe, it's all the same. Right. But just because somebody lives close to your area, it doesn't mean that that area likes the other area. Close is also a very relative term geographically. Do people know how far Perth is away from, say, Sydney or Melbourne? I don't think people, I don't think are, it's incredibly far. It's like, it's like, you have, UFC as a pay-per-view in Los Angeles.

Well, we got to get a lot of New Yorkers on the card. That's how far away it is. Dude, and why would DDP even want to go to Australia? Like, DDPs to me seems like a guy that's just like, no, not doing it because it's dumb. So why would he go there to Australia to fight Israel out of Sanya? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Like, that fight does better in Las Vegas than it does in Perth, in my opinion. Or just like hold out for South Africa.

Like, who gives a shit? Like, literally anywhere else. Anywhere else, I think it's fine. I don't think there's any rush. Go to, yes, go to New Zealand. New Zealand. Go to New Zealand. So we're clear, because I just Googled this, because I thought that this was right, but I want to make sure.

Would you care to guess how long of a flight time it is from Perth to Auckland? Five hours. Eight hours? It's an eight hour flight time. It's the same as being like, hey, Jed, you should fight in Russia. You should fight in Sweden, Jed, because they're close. No, no, they're not. See, it makes no sense.

It makes no sense to do it there. I see somebody people on Twitter are like, oh, there's no other fight you can make. Yes, there is a guy who's actually from Australia being in the main event. And Tupori would do it because he just seems like he's that dude and just wants to get Volcanovsky behind him forever so they can go to Spain. but it doesn't seem like they're going to Spain like anytime soon, at least anything that I've heard at this point, it's going to probably take some time to get over there. There's no chance of getting to Spain to this year.

Zero chance. Yeah. They had three African champions that couldn't do a pay-per-view in Africa. They're not getting to Spain in one year. I think they're fine with Volk in the main amount. I have a question. I've always had this question about actually booking fighters near where they're from, especially with the UFC, if the UFC is so big, does it matter that, like, you have a car in Australia,

you need Australian fighters. Like, why does that matter? I know, I'm just only speaking for myself, but like, if I, if UFC's in L.A., I don't need to see fighters who are from L.A. I want to see fighters who, there's no chance I'm going to see, like bring, bring, I don't know, fighters from China, bring high-level fighter, bring Pavlovich or something, like, bring fighters who aren't who aren't don't normally fight here you know i'm trying to say like why why do we why is it is so like so for some fight like for big stars it's not going to matter connor has fans everywhere

you take him anywhere they're going to be fans there but particularly as you get down the like the main events probably have fans and the ufc certainly has fans but it does make more sense to have a french crowd and be like oh i don't i am an m m i'm not an m m ms fan i am at an event and I maybe casually consume him. I am going to this French fight card because Cedric Dumbay is in the main event, and I know him, and that's awesome. And then for the 12 fights leading up to it,

there's a dude rocking a French flag. Hell yeah, I will die for that man while I pound this beer. Like, it's exactly that you have to do it. It's so much better to do it that way. Unless you're going to do a UFC 300-style thing where you're going to bring all of the super popular people to a location like the WW traveling road show basically I guess that's what I'm

kind of thinking about like how pro wrestling tours it's not like oh we have local pro wrestlers coming to your you know yeah well they do don't they and that like what jobbers are aren't they like local talent that they believe to lose to people you don't buy tickets for the job or that's what I'm saying I'm not saying I'm just more asking the question because I never really quite got that kind of fandom but I understand why they do I'm just kind of of interested if the UFC is so big can it be bigger than selling you know. Oh, they don't have to. They absolutely don't have to do it.

It's just a low hanging fruit. Plus also, Casey, you're forgetting the most, honestly, probably factors more into the UFC standing. If you have to buy a bunch of tickets from fighters from Perth to Vegas in that 20-hour flight, those are like $3,000 plane tickets. So you have to, if you got to buy them from. you know, Perth to Melbourne, that's a substantially cheaper plane flight. So you're cutting costs down with that, too, Casey, don't forget.

That's this true. That's true. And and Perth paying for two events, which also helps, paying the site fees. They get a multi-year event, a multi-year deal. So they'll do a card this year and a card next year. So that always helps as well. If I lived in a city that paid for events, like I would, would be living with my local representation.

Like in the same way that like, and, you know, if you're not an American viewer, this will probably not mean much to you. Like, I would lose my mind if I'm like, oh, we're going to, we're going to pay for this billion dollar at like stadium for this pro football team. Like, fuck, fuck, no, I'm not. That's nonsense. Oh, we're going to spend millions to get the UFC here. Why?

Who gives a shit? They can come or they can not. We don't need to pay for them to come. I would be up in arms if I lived in Salt Lake City. Oh, I 1,000% agree. My tax dollars are going to bring this shit here. Yeah. My tax dollars need to fix the roads and feed the homeless.

Yeah, yeah. Unless it's like free tickets for the local community or something or whatever. But no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, but that's a whole other giant can of worms. Jen Chui, you're absolutely incorrect. UFC does pay for flights. They have to pay for travel for fighters. And I think their protocol is two team members.

It's pretty low. It's pretty low. Yeah, they don't do the full team, but their protocol, like, one, you have to pay for the flight of the fighter to get there. That would be dumb. And I believe their protocol is two on top. I know a lot of times there's only one hotel room. I think it could change. I know it's changed recently.

but you use speech is only one hotel room and so they pay for the flight but then the other fighter has to pay for hotel for their corners so that's why you see we watch these like little video blogs they go oh why this fighter is on the main card and yet six people are staying in its hotel room because of reasons like that and usually it's near the fighter hotel yeah yeah and the hotels are crazy expensive that week so it's a yeah yeah that's a whole another mess big mess thank you much Kenny. Oh, you're going to love this question. I'm very excited for this one. Thanks, Kenny. Michael. Is middleweight the best division for 2024? I can't see any other division coming

close to the matches, stories and stakes. What do you think? I mean, if you want really the true answer to this, we battled this out quite a bit on one of the ranking shows, not that long ago after DDP, I think it was the first one of the year after DDP won the belt. And we're talking about how good middleweight is. It's great. It's going to be the money division for the UFC this year, in my opinion. It's going to be the money division. DDP is going to be huge.

Three main events already. Yep. Plus Alan Kurt is two on the books plus Rob Chamey. So five main events. It's like a pretty high number for thing. Top of the division is very interesting. There are some very middle-weight. It's having a good year.

It is not the best division. But the UFC has fallen into some great storylines in the middle-weight division, and that's what matters. That's what matters. The middle-weight division has characters and has storylines, and that's why you could call it the best division in that sense. Yes. My answer is always going to be lightweight for all of these things. And also, like, yes, there are more main events. but I don't know.

We just got Poyer BSD. We're about to get Gachee Holloway and Sarukin Olfara and then Islam's going to defend. Like, give me that overall, this middleweight nonsense. Oh, yeah. Lightweight is insane. Dude, lightweight is the best vision. Like, this is in conversation.

But middleweight is going to be. I'm also just saying. Minowates are money in a vision this year. I also just think lightweight is delivering, like, things that I care about more outside of. I get the argument and I'm not opposed to middleweight. Like, it's having a moment. But I think we just perpetually underrate how sick lightweight it is because it's been incredible for 10 years.

And it's just like, oh, the same way that like LeBron wasn't MVP every season of basketball for 12 straight years. Like, yeah, whatever. Or like that year they gave Charles Barkley the MVP over Michael Jordan. It's like he's won it too much. We got to focus on the other things. It's like it's like when they eventually are going to start giving the MMA, the MMA journalist of the year award to like Mike Hack instead of Ariel just because we're tired of it. I got to say, nobody talks enough. Nobody talks enough about Ariel's ability.

He is so dominant that he is blown past that because that happens in every sport. In every sport, they're just like, oh, whatever. Like we all know Patrick Mahomes is the goat, but it's fine. Like he doesn't need Lamar can win MVP. Happens in every sport. Ariel's just got a stranglehold on that motherfucker. Just, nope, not giving enough for anyone. That's great.

If that happened and I'm like, like I sat there in the awards and they called my name, I'd literally be like, what? I'd be like. Well, Charles Barkley was MVP. You can be MVP, Mike. Oh, my God. It just like wouldn't even feel right. It would be.

Who was the fighter earlier this year that thought he won, even though they clearly didn't announce his name? Oh. Oh. It wasn't Fili, right? No, no. No, because there was a women's fight who was a women's fight. Oh, no, Dern, Dern.

McKinsey Derned. McKinsey Derned. Yeah, but there was another one. There was another one too. But they actually misspoke on the other one, I think. Oh, no, no, the name's sound of the like. That's what it was. Oh, in the comments.

He went over and he was like so happy. and he was going over to do the interview. And then like the cut, I think it was, it was a DC who was like, nah, man, you didn't actually win. I forget what it was.

It was a fight night card on the road. Yeah, I remember. Someone in the chat will figure it out. But that's how it would feel. I'd be like, this is right. It would just be wild.

Yeah. McKenzie Dern did also thought she heard her name too, but she admits she was just concussed. Charles Jordane, chat, chat saying Charles Jordain. It was Jordan. I thought it was Charles Jorn.

Yeah, I was like, it's a Canadian fighter. Jordan is the first name that popped into my mind, but I wasn't sure. It was already. And I can't remember who his opponent was, but the name, when you kind of yell at. Sean Woodson. Sean Woodson.

That's what it was. Yeah. Woodson, Jordan. Yeah. So in a big arena, echo, we, it sounded like his name. And the fight was relatively close. Yeah. Yeah.

Also, I do just want to say, no disrespect to Charles Barkley. The round mound to rebound can hoop. But it is, it fit my purpose. So sorry, Charles. All right. Thank you. Thank you much. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Jayfish. What's next for Camaro? Jayfish. We're still in a waiter. Back to Welterweight. So I suggested this this morning, Jed, on heck of a morning. and I'm going to bring up the name that you say shall not be mentioned in the middleway conversation. Don't.

Don't say. What about Kamar versus J.C.? Jared Cananir? Don't say it. Just stop. Stop saying his name. He'll show up and then be around. Is he a candy man?

What are you talking? I don't know. I just, he was doing that thing where he was like kind of around the title picture when no one wanted him to be. And then he had one of the worst title fights, not of all time, because, I mean, we've had a lot of bad ones, but a very bad title fight. And then it's just like, oh, but he's kind of still in play.

And it was just like, what if we all just forget about him? And he just goes away. He's part of this old poopy part of the middleweight division. It's not part of this fun, rising pile of humans. So sure, I don't talk about a fight I could not care less about is the only issue. issue there. I would rather us do something more fun with Kamar Ustman than that. I think that fight

honestly makes a ton of sense promotionally. I don't know that Usman has any interest in going back to Elta Raid or where he's at with that. Usman is in a really tough situation because like when you are no longer in the title picture

at lightweight or featherweight or benton weight, there are kind of other names or dudes who've been around the block and are just like awesome like hell yeah let's let's see those fights happen fights just for funzies you know the the legends tour stuff he doesn't really have that at walterweight i guess just not a ton and like middleweight with where it's at like whittaker would have made sense but obviously that's no longer in play so i don't know what you do with them i'm just going to continue to default to the stephen wonder

boy thompson fight just because that's a fight that i was always at least partially intrigued by And it feels like that's where these two dudes are in their careers. They're doing those sorts of things. What if Chris Wyden beats Bruno Silva on Saturday? I'm absolutely in for that. If that's in play, 100% we can do that. I like that so much more than Jared Canaaner. It is not funny.

I think there's lots of fun fights for Camaro, but the Canaaner isn't one of this. Like what? Give me a fun fight for Camaro that's reasonable. I'm going to say that loud I like Kamara versus Strickland I just think that's a weird fight that makes kind of That's just not reasonable

To happen at this juncture But you weren't going to give him Whitaker Right Whitaker was Wait are we talking to say yeah I was going to give him Whitaker Prior to Whitaker winning his last one Like now that Whitaker's won And he's moving up

Like Strickland's the number one middleweight In a world He just lost the Hamza I just you can't have him fight Sean Strickland right now It's just not really He's all three five losing streak you just can't do it i just i agree it's a fine matchup but like what are what are the

matchups that are reasonable to book that are interesting who's my um MVP yeah i that was my second suggestion that's the same thing as the stephen thompson but yes i'm in for that but i'm actually super here for widen if widenman beats bruno sova i think that's quite fun is kamar but you want to but you want to give kamar the legends tour already basically right that's kind of the difference i'm not quite ready to give kamara the legends tour but i think that's what the slight difference is but i see it though i don't mind if i'm not if we're not given the legends tour go back to welterweight you're not a middle weight if we're giving if you're not going to do welterweight then just fight people that are cool like i just all right

much. Thanks, J. Fish. This is more of a comment than a question. Oh, no, it is a question. Sorry. A super, a super comment? Uh, I demand to know where that money goes. Hold up the Dunkin. Mike, hold up the Dunkin. I already drank it. It's in the garbage. That's where it goes. It goes right to Mike Heck's gut health. Yeah. I, uh, I did buy a second one. So I do have a small one in the fridge. It's one of those days where I need two coffee. That is crazy. Crazy day today. Mr. Idaho, so you know, my cake right now is on his private yacht in the Mediterranean right now. So that's where it goes. Look, Idaho, where it goes is we're saving up and we are going to buy a UFC event to be broadcast live on a moviefetti.com.

They better not give us no mahaia of Alex Perez bullshit in the main event. Paul 300 airs and ad for Apex 100 what's the lineup now this is a question who headlines Apex 100 which is what I have this is main next week is 90 right next week's 90 correct uh we're who has to be in the card at least Dersino has to be in the card right for the longest time I was of the opinion that it we should just do Holly home because she's been doing a lot of apex work. She feels like she fits the apex vibe. And I think that, but you still, it is still 100, so you want to elevate.

You don't just want to go Giorzini Rosenstrike versus Marcyne Taubura. But I think the co-main event is Rosenstrike-Tibura. Like those two dudes have been putting in the apex work and they deserve the co-main event. I just don't think they have enough cachet for the main event of an illustrious. card like that. First of all, they both do in today's UFC. Very possible. We're elevating Apex 100 above other Apexes.

Slightly. The same way they do with 100, 200 and 300. This is the Apex Apex event. Yeah, I think you need like all the MVP's. I think you have to put Sean Strickland in the main event. I was thinking that I was thinking Strickland too. He's too big now. He's too big now.

He's the face of the apex. He's the face. Once he won the title, once he won the title, it's the same as with the middleweight belt. When you become fun, you lose the middleweight, middleweight title. I don't think he became fun. Rose Lama Unis just headlined at the apex. No, no, I was saying, yeah, that was baffling. I still don't understand what happened.

It was a fever dream that we put. Strictly winning the belt makes him too popular to put him in the apex. I just, I don't think we can do it. It's a special event. He lost a bell. It's a special event. Now he's back at the apex. He goes back to where he got his roots from, you know?

Yeah, third shot, literally throw shot in there with absolutely anybody. Doesn't matter who it is. It could be a freaking Twitch streamer. I don't give a shit. But he needs, he's the face of it. He cast to do it. He would do it. No.

What if we have Sean Strickland serve as guest referee? Is that like, we do that? Now we're talking. Just a commentator. Like, let's get. Let's get a live mic into Sean Strickland's hands on ESPN. For six plus hours, yeah, let's do this. Okay, Sean can be, Sean can do the, um, the Megan O'Levy role.

Oh, she's a megan O'Levy role. Where she's doing the walk-and-talk. He's doing the walk-and-talks. And he's just like, he goes, yeah, man, so these two guys are about to fight. What the fuck are you looking at? It would just be the best. Like, it would just be the best. I think we're on this on me.

Chris Curtis has to be there. I accept Sean Strickland if he and Chris Curtis are going to fight each other. They just do that. That would be kind of wild, actually. It would be fun as hell. Strick and Curtis is the main event of you of Apex 100. We're on something. I'm so in on this stupid ass fight.

That is so stupid. I love it. I kind of think, I kind of think Kevin Holland was a first team, Apex fighter before. Kevin Holland, for sure. I think that's the thing. I think Kevin Holland you can put back in the apex. And it's just hard for me to imagine putting Sean Strickland how over he is.

And like he's in the prime of his stardom and then just funneling him into a gymnasium. Which makes total sense. So the UFC would totally make that fight. That's how it works. They might. That's how much begin. Remember Sean's first fight back after the injuries and the long layoff at the apex? He's talking shit.

Hollyholm, Misha Tate 2 is your main event. I'm standing on that business. I don't like that. Don't like it. We were good of Strickland. Now we're drifting. Now we're drifting. Holly home Misha Tate 2.

Ketland Vieira probably needs to be on the card somewhere. She's been fighting at the 8th. Oh, Kellynne Viehl. I'm sure it's in there. Kelleenviar versus Chelsea Handler. At least few heavyweight fights are on this card. Jessica Androge probably finds a spot. She's headlined about 18 apex cards.

mostly on most of them on short notice yeah oh angela hill getting in there angela hill jess gonna drudge run it do it again it's fine sure i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna throw my team in on there i'm gonna turn my team in on there victor henry who's on he's fought for he's got he has another fight booked to the apex so he's both osherats yeah we got to get some contender series prime cuts in here like some oh you're right you're right you're Bosher. You get both Bacherats. What'd you say?

Both Bachelors can fight. Yeah, both Boshrats. Yeah, that's it. We got to give some more contender series fodder in here. But look, look, look, we're still ways away. We don't know what the landscape will look like. But Paul, this is a wonderful question. Circle back with us in a little bit, you know, in a few months when we're closing it on it.

We'll do something big. Bring back the Dachas Brothers for this card. Love it. Also, I can functionally guarantee you when we're at like, UFC Apex 80 or something. Right before we get that fight card like announced, a thousand percent MMAfighting.com is going to have a roundtable where it's like fantasy book, UFC Apex 100.

Parker Porter, great call. Great call. Bring them back, baby. Oh, yeah, UFC 100. It should be like a, what do you call it? Like they're with a tough does when they bring back everyone. Like bring back all these guys that have been released just for UFC 100. If they wanted to do it right, Apex 100 would be exclusively like women's flyweight fights and heavyweight fights.

It would just be just alternating between women's flyweight and heavy weights. Or maybe just women's bandwates. I don't know. Women's flyweight have graduated. I don't know if they have enough banyweight's on roster to do that. They'll fight twice. No, there'll be flyweight's not cutting weight fighting at bantam weight. Cynthia Calvio has to be on this card for sure

Bring back Jessica I I want to be dead serious with you before we move on If the USC announced an all heavyweight fight card That would be my Nirvana That would be my favorite No no at Salt Lake City All heavy weights I would pay 800 American dollars for that fight card

It would be the best I want to see Like just for fun Like what is the worst card UFC could book right now of their roster? Just to see I think it was called

UZ Vegas 87 Whoa All right It's getting New York Was a real bad fight card man Uh Lacey man

Thank you In a hypothetical world Where Vincenzo Ersen wins the title versus Chantosia Do we do a quick turnaround First Defense

As main event for Perth card. Is that even that quick of a turnaround? It's really not that quick of a turnaround. Three months. Yeah, that's actually a fine turn. If Vincenzo wins it, for sure, he's, I mean, he's not the main event for the Perth card.

He would be the co-main event. The main event is either going to be Volk or it's going to be Izzy. That just sort of seems like the writing on the wall. Vincenzo as a new champ, you know, defending against, I assume they'd let Pantosia run it right back, do that in Perth. I think that would make all the sense in the world. I love that Vincenzo is going to gain steam from this way to go, guys. Ben Chino.

People are like Steve Ress at my, who's that? Vichensile. That's it. Oh, geez, Vincenzo. That's like saying it now. Vincenzo. It's a great name. I can't imagine having that as an option and going with Steve.

Steve. Uh, question for Casey from Domitop seven. E Casey, do you think you resemble Vince from Hell Pichel or is it just the mustache? Just the mustache. I think it's just a mustache, but I appreciate it. I see it. I see it. I think there's had the glasses.

A slight resemblance. We'll do a side by side one day. Me and Mr. Pichel. Thank you very much. dreamy uh domy pop seven uh do me do do uh nick exam 95 how big of a super chat to battle jed when an opponent falls out of btl love the q and a but battles are the best uh battles are the best when there's actually something to talk about turns out there was

something to talk about but you know a battle last week 300 they'll certainly be a battle no doubt about that we kind of have a battle for that We can come up with a number. Yeah. I'm going to need to see a cut of that number, but we could come up with a number. Yeah. You know, we can't just all finance Mike Henn X, Duncan. You know, like, I got to get Duncan too.

I like Duncan. Let me get some Duncan, you know? I mean, and just remember, guys, I am a rewards member as well. So not every dollar goes to this. I accumulate enough points to get a free coffee once a week. So no worries there. Do you sometimes go and you forget your little punch card and you have like six punch cards with like eight holes in it and you're like, oh, yeah. Technology is the best.

Technology is the best. I wake up, I get my kid breakfast, I get ready. And then while my kids eating breakfast and my wife's getting ready, I go to Dunkin' Donuts and get the coffees. I come home and then I drive my kid to school and then I go to the gym. And I order on the way. So all I have to do is do it on the phone, pull in, walk in. They already know, hey, Mike, how's it going? Coffee's right there, grab it, put the straws in, get back in the car and drive.

They know you. They know you? I'm there every day. There's nothing better in life. Every day that I've been. Every day that I, every morning that I've woken up in Bluffin, South Carolina, I've gone to Dunkin Donuts. Everyone.

Wow. Every morning. There's, I mean, it's really the best when you are regular and you get the Cheers treatment. It's just... It hits so different. It's just the best. I have two places in town that's that and it's...

They're my favorite... They already were my favorite places, which is why I went to them as frequently as did. But if you just did that the first time I ever walked in and you somehow knew it, I'd be like, I'm a fan for life. It's the best feeling in the world. I got a couple... We got a couple places around here when me and Esther walk in.

They don't yell our name. out but they like we stick out i think they they go oh hey what's up so hey guys it's a good building prime table for you yeah yeah skip all the resumes they know they know they know they know they know our order and everything is pretty good i like we're so we're so asian those places are um our our our our our our our our places you have you have a boba shop in south carolina or alana you know bubble we have yes we have boba here uh i don't actually have one that close to me. I'm trying to think how far away.

I got about... Because I live in a place where I can walk to like everything. Yeah. I don't have a one that's walking distance around, but... I have about 15 of them within walking distance of me. Wow. L.A. just... L.A. doing a different world.

Different world. Yeah. Thank you very much. Mark. Mark, Volt Deporee 2 at 305 is fine. Volk wins. Trilogy in Spain. Topori wins.

Can fight someone else in Spain. they're good for Spain, 2025 either way. Yep, I'm fine with that as well. Mark nailed it. I mean, yeah, that's it. You're just not going to Spain this year. And so, and again, I hate commedia rematches. We know this.

If you're going to give one, Volk is obviously a dude who is deserving of one. And honestly, he's deserving of getting to do it, you know, in home territory in that respect. So, yeah, I think Mark's on it all the way. Yep. Yeah, it makes sense, but it's just wild to get an immediate rematch after. I know it's two different people, but two bad knockouts. So, but it makes sense, but it's weird also. I don't like it, but it also makes sense.

I hate it, but yes. I mean, it's a weird. It's weird. Yeah, special situation. I mean, look, if Yaya Rodriguez won, they would have probably gone to that fight somehow, some way because of the heat that's been, and I just don't know if they'll give it. I wish it was Ortega.

I don't care about the heat. I think Ortega brings enough, but whatever. I think the only way this, the only way this doesn't happen at 305 is if Volk says he's not ready on the timeline. I think that this actually lines up about properly with sort of what he has suggested for this year. Six months. Yeah. So it would be okay as you get some time off. But if he rethinking says, actually, I'd like to take a little more time off.

off. Then I don't think they're going to bring Ilya to Perth to fight random body, you know, but it makes way too much sense for that fight to go to Perth. Yep. One of the big reasons why I don't want to see this fight is like I feel Topor, Tuporia might run to the same situation that Volk had where all this title defenses are going to be against the same person almost. Like if,

if Volk has a competitive fight against Tuporia and then Fulke gets one more win, we're going to demand another we're demand a trilogy and then and like we're all maybe i don't know i i think this is just less likely no matter if bulk loses the rematch no matter how he loses is he completely never going to fight to purr you again ever ever ever even if it's i would say yeah i i would say yes mainly because if and when he loses it'll be the same way the first one happens like he's just going to get like if if volk has had like blown the doors off max then wouldn't have been like we got to have max

but they were competitive fun fights and Max kept winning like Ilya obliterated him and I suspect we'll do so again but if he doesn't and it's a competitive one maybe we get a third but that will be the end of it right it'll just be three and that sucks I never want

that but I don't think it's going to be this like same situation where Max still has just around the title and like are we going to do max volk four i don't think that will ever be a conversation here and i guess too i don't i don't want to see the same situation happen where bulk becomes a new holloway in the sense that they're just going to you have to beat bulk if you want it by topuria type of thing you know if i don't care how volk loses if he loses if he loses the rematch which i

believe he will uh go to lightweight homie yeah yeah exactly cut less weight and there are a bunch of sick-ass fights to my previous point in this show there are a ton of dope legends fights i sign me up today tomorrow and for the rest of eternity for volk geachie uh vote gorge uh vote gulf b sd volk any of the like just do it olivera put it olivera put it in my veins now i was asking for him to bail on featherweight a year ago because i didn't care like i don't care like these other fights i cared about to some extent It was like, no, the answer is always going to be fight the dope people and all the dope people are lightweight. Now, all I want to see, just for the visual, I want to see Volk versus Jalen Turner. I just want to see it.

Oh, my God, dude. That would be tough. But like, Volk Oliva is a deeply fascinating fight to me, like a deeply fascinating fight to me. I would love to see that fight. So you fight to Poria, you get gassed up again, just bail and go to 155 and have some fun fights. with some dudes because that would be sick. I don't think Volk's that guy who just bail. I think he was like, I can do it.

I can do it. If you get stretchered again, I don't think he can convince himself he can do it. Well, he can. Fighters are crazy. That's fair. But hopefully somebody will be like, dude, just cut less weight and go chase money fights because if you stick around here, they're going to make you fight. Chase the money, boat.

Chase the money. That's all. They're going to make you fight Arnold Allen. And while I would love to watch Volk fight on Allen, I'm one of 12 people that would love to watch that. It's not the money fight. Yeah. Yeah.

Volk versus Porre is terrific and everyone wants to be part of that. All right. Thank you much. I got a few more. Let's go through these. Giovanni, guys, Walter Wade is the greatest and most consistent all time, no? Starting with the Matt Hughes era,

it's never been weak and to this day is pretty stacked in my opinion. Walter is not better than lightweight. I'm sorry. This is not. Consistent. Has it been consistent? No, Walter White has been a deeply consistent weight class. And there's an argument that historically all time it's better because there wasn't a lightweight.

Like Walterweight has been there almost since the inception of like mixed martial arts as an entity. And it has always, I mean, you went Militich into Hughes functionally into GSP. BJ popped in there for a moment, but you're into GSP. be uh... Robbie Lawler into Woodley and then you're here where we're at Oussman into Edwards

like it's the list of welterweight champions is truly astonishing and so I get where you're driving at Giovanni and I don't think it's wrong necessarily I do think lightweight is just a better weight class

and has been equally as good for as long as it has been in an existence. I would say that one of the arguments against it is that it hasn't had, it doesn't have the same level of champion, right? Which I put down to it's just a more competitive weight class. It's hard to have a long, like nobody reigns more than three fights at lightweight

because it's a freaking shark tank. But I get what you're coming, like what you're arguing or saying. And it's not wrong. There's a legitimate case that Kamar Usman is the third best. well to wait of all time. And like considering the accomplishment Camaro has, that's pretty wild. In that sense, yes.

But he's, I would say Comernerner O'Sman's undoubtedly, well, the way it's like a year away. 15 fighter all time. Yeah. Well, where it's a year away from being super injured, like really interesting. Like once the older garden is out. Like lightweight had it, took lightweight a while.

And we're still not even over because Datsipori is probably about to get a title shot, which I'm cool with. But we're starting to make some movements here. We're starting to see the older guard title challenger, former champions fight the younger hungry fighters. Walter Waite needs that so badly. Needs that so badly.

We're just not getting it. Colby getting a title shot last year, pissed a lot of people off. Colby getting the rematch with Usman at the time, pissed a lot of people off. It's just one of those things where Mosphidal getting a rematch is also very dumb. Yeah, that whole thing.

Multimuthaway had a pretty tough, like, last year and a half, I guess, two years. Yeah, but that's on the year. It sucks because that's on the UFC to me. That's not, I mean, not on the actual fighters. Yeah, but that's, that's how we view things historically. I know that's how we view it. But the UFC itself has kind of shot itself in the foot as far as the Walschoy Division, keeping it great. I mean, look at it right now.

It shot itself in the Coldway Division by burning it down. And that's why I think Walter White was considered the Marquis Division because they shot themselves in the foot with the lightweight division when they had it, you know. Big J.B.

Oh no. I can't believe that was a draw. It was fucking ridiculous. Just go watch that fight. It's fucking ridiculous that I was scored a draw. Like I don't, this is not a world. All right.

Chase, what's up from Omaha? Does Lionheart beat Vitor Petrino? No. Yeah, probably not. He could, I guess. Weird fight for... Work through that whole thing was the best.

Look, because his Vito Petrino's not like great. He's fine. In my head, Anthony Smith is more washed than I think maybe he actually is, if that makes sense. Because, like, I was just very convinced that he was all the way washed. And then who did he fight most recently? He just went. He'd be Ryan's man, but he, right, he'd be Ryan, and then he fought Cleo Roundtree,

and he ended up getting knocked out, but that was in a fight where he was, like, looking more competitive and spry. And so I was like, maybe he's not as washed as I think. I do think he probably gets knocked out. But again, Vito Petrino is fun. Like, I enjoy Vito Petrino. I'm not sure. He just went to a UD with Tyson Pedro.

I don't think the man's good because it's the retirement fight of Tyson Pedro and that's you know where we're at And that wasn't a a thrilling affair I want to be real clear UFC 301 is not going on the

Michoulin star scoring system it's going on the fart scoring system Vincino getting a fart I got to tell you UFC 301 might do worse than UFC Saudi on the fart scoring system.

Wait, one of you're paying 80 bucks for too. Yeah. Man, Macchino's a fart, right? A lot of people aren't paying 80 bucks for that one. Yeah. Jeez. All right.

And this is our final question. All right. It's a good one. Not really. Shout out to all of you. You guys rule. Can you curse on super chat questions? Hell yeah.

Mr. Signor Pepe. I mean, Let's have a little bit of decorum, a little bit. I don't know. If you go, if you go 1099, maybe, I'll let you throw. You can use the words that you would like to use, but it's, you know, the level of them depends on how much money you give us, right? Like, I'll let you drop a straight F-bomb for a 10 spot.

But if you're trying to be PG, just two bucks is fine. you know. If you could say it on FX, you could say it in the super chat. If you can't, probably shouldn't say it. Yeah, I'm not sure, actually. Because we have some filters on to keep the bad people out. But I don't know if that applies to super chats, actually. I would be learning.

Guess it doesn't, but don't actually. Only one way to find out. Someone super chat in with words and see what happens. Again, only a lot of money for them. because we are, we're for the children. We're for the children. And your next opportunity, your next opportunity to test that theory

will be tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern for our UFC Atlantic City preview show. Yes. I find it deeply amusing we got zero questions about multi-card. Oh, we didn't. Yeah, you're right. We didn't get one. I'm not surprised, but deeply amusing.

As you can see, 4.5 farts, this is, I think we've determined that this is a slightly above average apex score. I think the apex fart score is probably around a three and a half. So this is slightly above your average apex card. I want to, no, we're going to have one question, one non-super chat question about tomorrow's card, because I actually want to talk about this fight real quick. I respect it. Gensirova Loopy is happening this week considering we don't know the status of Tatiana Suarez

is there a chance a title shot could be on the line? No. Not a title shot. Honestly, yeah. I actually think that that's real. Who else is fighting right now? Like if Suarez is gone, gone, right? Like, are you doing Zhang Wally?

Well, guys. Zhang is fighting in 300. She fights once every nine months. so it's not like she's fighting maybe she's trying to be more active I don't know I don't think this is insane I actively do not think this is insane

I mean because Amanda Limos just lost to Wiley so like they're not going to run that right back Viena is number five in the UFC's ranking so the people in front of her are Jan who's about to fight for it Tatiana Suarez who don't really know what was doing Limos who just fought for it and Jessica Androj and Iganjj obviously has the name etc

I don't know man like she beat mackenzie durran has done anything if if reina rarigas wins big maybe I actually I had not considered this at all legitimately I think there's a there's this is a real thing this is possible I say no the winner will be on like of i jane jorob was on i think three fights in a row. Maybe it's only two, but it would be on three. And Lupi is, you know, people are pumped on on Lupi Godina. She's got three or four in a row. And obviously this is her a big step up in competition, but it's the top five win. She would be a top five opponent. Somebody knew with a little bit of pizzazz to her. Like, I don't think this is crazy. I think it's crazy. It would be one, it would be one trillion percent dependent on Zhang Wei and nobody else. Oh, for sure.

Like nobody else. Now these ones will have a say in it. If Yon wins, are they doing a rematch with Wei Li? 100%. Probably. Almost so doing it. Theoretically, they would also actually do in China. Yeah.

I was talking about the early, talking about like putting fighters where they're from and then Wei Li, Jan in Vegas and not China. The card they had only a couple months before. Yeah, whatever. That's all another thing. I think, I think Verno will have a better case because of the ranking. Not that I'm against Lupy. Um,

I would see the ranking though. I agree, but she doesn't have like that. She'll be 12 5. Yeah, but I think she needs like, I don't know, I think she needs another,

I think she needs like a name. Like, not saying, like Varn is very good, but I think she would need a name. If she wins, you know what? Even if Janjarova wins,

because I'm sure Janjarova would be just fine with this. winner gets McKenzie Dern. McKenzie is still a name. Yes, she's lost two in a row. McKenzie is still a name. And I think winter gets Amanda Limosh. Yeah, maybe.

Maybe. That's at least fighting up. And I agree that I think that's more likely. I'm just saying I would have scoffed this off as lunacy until I just actually thought about it. And it was like, oh my God, this is the state of the strawweight division right now. And I like both the fighters. I think it's a good fight.

but like it is really weird but they are they there's no juice in this weight class anymore and what happened dros just had such a bad up and down run the last little bit rose is bailed yawanna's gone like the the reinforcements are slow if coming at all carolina nikovic is still holding a ranking like there's no juice in women's straw weight right now and so we might be in a world where lupy godinez gets a win can cut some sort of a promo gets slotted in there. It's wild. A flyway. But the title thing is all messed up at flyweight too.

Like, man, all the women's divisions right now are kind of a mess. They will wait. They will wait as long as possible for Tatiana's war as to come back. Yeah, probably. They'll wait nine months to a year for Tatiana before. In my head,

Straw weight was better because it's like, oh, Tatiana's coming. She's not crowned yet. She's going to get there. And then when she's out of the picture of injury again, It was just like, oh, actually, hoof, this weight class could use some pizzazz to it. You know what? I will, I will, I will add a couple of percentage points to this, but under one condition. John Wey Lee goes out and wins and says, hey, Dana, I want to fight at the sphere on that card.

Lubey Godinez wins. This could be a fight for the sphere. Loopy. I could make a lot sense. Mexican Independence Day card fighting for a bad. belt. I could see that happening. Oh, if Wiley wins, they're just going to start trying to slaughter up to flyweight,

aren't they? Maybe. Well, they wait for Tatiana. I wait for Tatiana and be like, I'll fight Aaron Blanchfield or whatever. We'll see. Man, they're going to wait for.

John Wei Li Tatiana is, Jean-Weilly, Tatiana, like, I have to see that fight. That'd be unbelievable. Tatiana, stop getting hurt. Stop it. Quit. Quit that.

Bad Tatiana. Well, we will have more of these questions. Oh, we go on more. Last one. Casey, please tell my coworker Pete to bring back the mustache. We should all aspire to be more like you. Batastash and M. Pete, bring back the mustache, please.

You got to go full camera, Casey. You can't do it on a three split. Oh, do I have a three? I don't have my shot set up. All right, Pete. That's okay. You get to see it. Pete, close your left eye.

Yes. Yeah. There you go. Hey. Pete. Grow the mustache out. Bring it back. Everyone wants to see it.

Please. Please. Do it, Pete. Well said. Hit the music. I mean, what a way to end. What a way to end to a memorable edition of the program. Lots coming up.

Again, go check out swing rounds with Mike Perry. It's delightful. It is delightful. Preview show tomorrow 1 p.m. Eastern. All your UFC Atlantic City coverage. Don't forget. Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern, another rewatch party. We're going back in time, this time, to 2016, for UFC 200 on the road to UFC 300. So thank you all. Back on the show next week. I'm hate to Jed. I am Mike Eck, the iconic voice of Estherlyn takes you home. See you next week.

Good night, everybody. Love y'all. This has been Between the Links and MM Fighting Production on the Vox Media Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.