MMA Fighting - Coffee Talk: Recapping the UFC's Week in Jacksonville

Episode Date: May 17, 2020

In the latest edition of Coffee Talk, MMA Fighting's Esther Lin, Casey Leydon and Jose Youngs recap the UFC's week in Jacksonville including UFC 249, UFC Jacksonville and UFC on ESPN 8. 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

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We're coffee talking, except I don't have a coffee. All right, that's good. Welcome. Let's go. Welcome to Coffee Talk. My name is Esther Lynn. This is E.K.C. Liden. That over there on the other side of the frame is Jose Young's.

I'm the photographer for MMA fighting, and these are my colleagues. Hi, colleague. Laughing at me. This is our post-event discussion show, coffee top. But we're going to combine three events into one. And usually we do it over a cup of coffee. And so Casey and I are drinking this Zoka coffee, Paladino espresso blend. And despite the fact that it's an espresso blend, I did a pour over.

So sit away. But let's take it over to Jose. who is, tell us where you are and what you're drinking? I am in the Dallas airport. I got off my, so I'm in the connecting flight from Jacksonville, Dallas. 90% of the plane, well, the whole plane was full again, but it was about 90% UFC staff, fighters, or other journalists. So we're all, I at least know we're all tested.

So I'm not as stressed, but I am drinking, nothing, because there are no coffee shops open in this terminal. because of social distancing. Coffee dog doesn't exist in pandemic times. Oh, and for everyone who follows me knows my body is pretty much made of coffee, so Jose is not a happy person. Oh, no. What are we going to do?

We'll discuss what coffee have you been drinking all week, because we did shoot some video of your fancy, your barista station in your hotel room. Oh, my God. It was, I don't know what brand. Brandon was, but they gave you like six or eight variations of coffee. So those like French rows, dark, house blend. And then they give you one cardboard cup, like one. So you have eight coffees and one cup.

And like obviously room service can come and switch it out. But I usually have all my camera equipment. So I don't like room service coming because I don't want them to be around all equipment. So I basically would have to go downstairs to Starbucks in the lobby, which is the only thing open and just ask for a cup. and at the beginning they were like it'll be a dollar and I was like can I just have the cup and they're like whatever just take the cup so I'm trying to charge you for cups yeah so I basically just drank hotel coffee all day because all day every day my heart almost exploded I drank coffee of Waynes drink coffee of fights the coffee of Waynes was incredibly burnt so yeah all and all if I'm grading this week just on caffeine intake I imagine this is one of the the most caffeine I've ever ingested in my life in 11 days, and none of it was good coffee.

So, so crappy pandemic coffee. Hey, we were a great coffee all week, so I don't know. Yeah, okay. Sorry, bud. Yeah, okay, guy. So, are you recording? We've been recording the whole time. So, how long were you in Jacksonville?

I was in Jacksonville from the, I don't know, I don't even know days anymore, but I got in last, so the first fights were May 9th, correct? So then I believe I got there May 7th, and then I'm leaving, what's today, May 17th. So I was there for about 10 or 11 days. Just pretty much, but you say in Jacksonville, and I say in the hotel, because you could tell me I was in Jacksonville, and I would have to believe you because I didn't venture out at all. Maybe just over the bridge, because there's another riverwalk, just to get out of the. hotel, but I was basically confided in about half a mile radius. Everyone was. And at the end, we were slowly starting to lose our minds. Jacksonville is also known as the city of bridges,

apparently. There were so many. There were so many. I told you, like, I was texting. I was like, I need batteries. So I would walk to go over the bridge to get the Walgreens that didn't even ended up not existing. And like both times, Oscar Willis, the Max Levin, the previous, the previous, you show for 249, we got stuck waiting for the drawbridge both times because there's so many yachts and boats. And I think there were, one, two, there were four bridges. I could look out the window of my hotel and see four bridges. So whoever said that is so accurate. That's your big takeaway from three fights one week. Bad coffee, hell of bridges and fighting. That's the three three things that made up my week.

The good thing is that the fights were all actually very good. Yeah. I just wanted to get your impression of how it went for you and for the fighters, like what you saw while you were there. Just in general? Well, it's... Each fight night. It's interesting because, like, the journalists and the staff,

like, we were pretty much there the whole time, and fighters would trickle in, trickle out depending on fights. even the UFC PR team would they like had a they wrote they rotate so like there's like a group that did the pay-per-view and then they went home and then a new one came in for the Wednesday and the new one came in for session so it wasn't they weren't just there the whole time um so it was I was seeing everyone get tested pretty much everyone like when I got tested I tested with Dan Henderson Daniel Cormé Loris Sanko and then by sat by Friday the Jacerine news broke but every by then everyone I had been tested but then Sunday after the Saturday fights a new group of

fighters comes in. So then they all have to get retested. So the lobby was always really full, but it was always everyone was spread out because it was mostly people trying to test. And there were markings all over the floor. I had to get temp. I still have my temp check bracelet off. You have to get temp chipped every single morning. And then they just, they swap out your wristband. So if I have to say anything, it was efficient. There were signs everywhere. Saying the hours you can check in, I obviously felt much safer staying at that hotel. than I would anywhere else, even though they were potential risks of people having the coronavirus. I felt very safe, but everyone was wearing masks.

The only ones that weren't wearing masks were Bryce Mitchell and Sam Alibi and Dana. Those are the only three people I saw not wearing masks. Even at the fights, everyone was wearing masks. Like the ring hard girl, Brittany Palmer, was wearing a mask, which Buffer, Renee, the PR person. Heidi was wearing a purple. Because you know how, if you guys know Heidi, she's a huge fan of Prince. Yeah. She had a purple face mask.

Nice. She had a purple face mask the whole time. So it was by the end of these 10 days, I think a lot of people were just really tired of seeing the same group of people every single day. It got pretty, I can't describe it. It was brutal. Yeah, because normally our fight weeks, no, we kind of have our standard of fight weeks, which usually get there Tuesday. We leave Sunday. And that's kind of, you have this rhythm.

you filled it but everything was i guess everything was just there was no everything was just throwing off there's like like yeah there was there were no there were no slow days like even so like wednesday so like we had the fight Saturday and then sunday like we still have work because you have all the post fight stuff to do and then monday i guess was a down day that was pretty much the only one because then tuesday no monday was even virtual media day so we had all that uh tuesday was wands wednesday was fights and then uh wednesday's fight and then uh wednesday's fight Thursday, Media Day, Friday, Wayans, Saturday fights. So it was just like bang, bang, bang, bang.

You're just constantly doing the same three-day stretch. We basically did Media Day, Wayans fights. Media Day, Wayans fights. Nine days in a row. So my camera equipment pretty much never left my bag. But if anyone watched the Wayans show, we were all just delirous. Like, I can't look at another person to stand on a scale. Right now, I just can't.

So I have a question, actually, because we've done, over the course of our time working these shows, we've done a couple of times when there have been multiple fights per week, right? Like UFC 194 had three events in one week, that kind of stuff. Did this feel worse because it was spread out over a longer period of time? Or do you prefer, which one do you prefer?

Like crushed in or the spread out? In that specific scenario, I much preferred 194 because the big title fight was at the end. Like, we peaked so early. Like, the pay-per-view was just amazing. And then after that, like, Wednesday and Saturday were good. But it was like, like, a lot, some of the journals did even stick around for Wednesday and Saturday. So media day, like the media room was me, John Morgan and Oscar. That was the media asking questions. So it got to the point where, like, as everyone knows, John Morgan, like, always asked the first, like, three, four questions.

And I'm like, I don't, he asked all the questions. I'm just going to make something up. So it's not just a John Morgan's film. So, like, me and Oscar were just like, We would toss questions in now and then, but it was, I much prefer them all right there. Because again, you're right. It's not spread out. You don't feel stuck in one place. And we peaked really early right out of the gate. Yeah.

And when we had those UFC events or three events one week, it was still one week. Yeah, still one week. It was still a normal Tuesday through Sunday. It was just, or Tuesday, yeah, it was just. And you could leave the hotel. You could leave the hotels. We could shake, you can shake hands of people. you can get within a foot of people

you know like we I was staying on like my floor was like filled with fighters and at the end we were all like it was felt like a small community of like everyone going through this ordeal like me like Linnae of the UFC car was the only one that stayed there the whole time

and she was like I feel like like we're just a weird family right now because we've literally just been working together for 11 days and now we just don't want to see each other at all anymore. It was it's it's it's I've not experienced anything like it cover of fights in my life. You know it's weird like when it's originally the original plan there was supposed to be another card in Jacksonville this Saturday and I was just

thinking that's just for the crew like that's almost that's just that's just that's deadly. Yeah we thought that when they had said when they had announced that it might be in Jacksonville again actually what deterred it was the staff the staffing and the crew and all the people who have been there for so long, their exhaustion was going to come across. And you could kind of tell because, like, over the weeks, just people started getting a little less careful. Over the weeks. Oh, yeah. Over the week. Felt like weeks. People started getting a little less careful about their PPE and stuff like that. And mainly just because you could tell people were just exhausted. And it really actually does

come across. Even though the show was smooth and there weren't any mistakes, it still felt like you could tell that the crew was pretty tired. Well, and I can say what you saw was probably smooth, but talking system, just UFC staff from like behind the scenes, it was not, it was very like a stressful environment. Like I spoke with someone who works for the digital team who he does, they do like, like, you know the, the media gets like quotes like email to you right after. It's just like a real quick like two sentences. Like he has to do all that with the fighters, but then he also has to send it all out.

He said that the internet and technology and everything was constantly crashing. It was like the most stressful, stress-inducing time he's ever been in the UFC. And then Dana comes in. And then right before Dana comes in to do like his little digital thing, like the internet just goes down. So then they're scrambling again at the last second. So I can say it looked really smooth on camera. But it was like, as you know, what I was going through with my own audio issues, it was pretty stressful and chaotic behind the scenes for a lot of people.

So now that you've done this, well, actually, real quickly, how much time do you have left before you have to get on your next slide? I think about 45 minutes, so we should be good. Okay. Yeah, just people at home, just make sure where, do they know where Jose's at? Yeah, let's remind the listeners and viewers here. I am in the Dallas airport. Luckily, this is my terminal, so I don't have to go anywhere. I can see, like, quarantine kids and your car close over there because they're also going back to Phoenix.

Like I said, this whole flight, my first flight was UBC staffing fighters and a lot of them. Now I have to go to Phoenix, too. Hey, she's 50K richer. You're not wrong. Good on her. That was a slick arm bar. Yeah, that was good. Props to the U.S.C. cameraman, too, for catching that.

Yeah, the angle was perfect. They kept the one shot. They didn't do any W.W.E. cuts and make four pets and one move. So it was like, it was good. And, you know, that's the benefit of the empty arena. We heard the scream. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, you're a sicko.

I'm sorry. I could hear the fighter scream. I'm really liking this pandemic air MMA. I'm ester man. The body shots are what stand out to me. Oh, yeah. It's like punching a bat. It's like having a slab of me in front of you and just like punching it.

That's like like my, I tense up. Like I can't remember which one of what I said. I think it was when Justin Gage got low blowed and then Tony Ferguson came out hot and opened with like a body shot I was like oh like my body just like like reverberated through my chair yeah it was uh overrooms like not over or overrooms is crazy uh but in gano's knockout was the the sound of gyrzino bouncing off the fence stands out to be much more than a punch um so it's these sounds that you don't think about that like make my muscles just tense up when i to watch them.

How did, how quickly did the new normal get normal in a sense that when you saw the first fight night, whoa, no crowd, this is weird. But by last night, by time, you know, the ninth, 10th fight the night, you're like, okay, normal, no crowd, biting, I can hear everything. I'd probably say after the first one. The first one was, like, unique. Like, I was, remember I was sending all of you guys, like, pictures of like, we have a ring girl. Look, they're disinfecting and stuff.

They're doing this. They're doing that. But by Wednesday, it's just like, yeah, we already know all this. We already know the drill. We know where we're going. Like, not only that, but it was the same to sign seating. Like, the media room had assigned seating sort of social distancing. So I basically went from my station to the octagon side.

Station, octagon side. Like, it got to the point where the security guards were obviously security guards for the arena, not the UFC. It's the point where it was the same security guards that would just have conversations with us about, because we'd see them for like 11 hours. hours, like three times a week. So we all just started talking between fights. So it was a unique experience for sure. When you get home now, you're going to have to quarantine two weeks. What's that going to be like? It's, why do you have to quarantine? Oh, yeah. Maybe explain. Well, even the UFC medical team, like, suggested that, I mean, they can't enforce it, but they're like, you've been tested and such,

but you've also been around a lot of people and obviously like Jacques-or-ray test positive. So they want, they basically as a safety and they suggest you quarantine for two weeks just in case. But I was going to do that anyway. They wouldn't have to tell them because it would be foolish of me to be around a bunch of professional fighters

who are coming from all different parts of the world and then going back to where I'm from, I could be asymptomatic for all I know. And then getting someone else sick. So I was going to do, they didn't have to tell me to do that. that was obviously a no-brainer. Which will make it interesting, because we're talking to some media, if Dana wants to do this every fight night, every fight every week,

they can't really quarantine for two weeks, and then go cover a fight week after week after week after week. So it's going to be interesting in terms of media. And it's got to be noted, too, for people at home that, while you're in the hotel, yes, everyone was tested and whatnot, but your flight to and from, you're in a packed flight. No social distancing on this flight, right?

Yeah, none, not at all. I mean, you even said it. There was a moment when I was just getting like a bracket sandwich downstairs and there was like fighters and coaches. And for whatever reason, like there was like, I don't know what it was, but there's a lot of National Guard members in this hotel too. So you saw a lot of people walking around in fatigues. By Thursday or Friday, I feel like a lot of people were getting, not a lot,

but a few people are getting a little too relaxed with it. Like less masks, less social distancing. And some, like a lot of, I felt bad for this hotel staff because they would have to like deal with all that. They'd have to tell people to like, like, like if you looked at the restaurant, they would have like this, this table's closed, this table's closed, this table's closed.

And people would keep trying to sit there. And they'd be like, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm like, no, you can't sit there because it's like this is six feet between tables. This table is closed. So I felt bad for the hotel staff. But yeah, by the end of it, some people weren't taking it seriously. So you just want to take every precaution.

Were you in your room in that whole Marvin Vittori Roberson thing happened? Oh, funny. You mentioned that. I am fairly certain I was maybe one or two doors down from Marvin, who all of a sudden I hear a lot of screaming in an accent. I cannot understand. And then I see the footage. So I think he, I don't know this to be certain, but I'm pretty sure he took a while to calm down in this hotel.

I heard a lot of screaming on that floor, right around that time. Interesting. So, tell me a little bit more about this Arizona thing that might happen. Yeah, so living in Arizona, our governor, Doug Ducey, I believe it was Friday, so two days, two, three days ago while we're recording this, announced professional sports can go on in our state. It's the point where a lot of bars and restaurants are just open. Like there's no rules. Like it's like if the restaurant is comfortable opening and not doing social distancing, like go at it. A lot of them aren't doing that. They're still just doing curbside pickup and delivery. But the governor wants to bring all the sports back.

I'm sure you guys have heard. He welcomes the MLB to just have all their games in our spring training facilities in front of no fans. It's all in front of No fans. I shouldn't say that. But which would be stupid because it's too hot to play baseball outside in Arizona. So why our ballpark has their tract to the roof. But once that was announced and Dana said May 30th, may or may not be in the apex because of Las Vegas's and mayor and the Nevada's governor, they might not be ready for May.

It might be closer to June, specifically the casinos. Arizona would make sense. It's only four hour drive south. We have an arena. It's right. It's closer to the host. then the hotel I was at just in Jacksonville to the Jacksonville arena. It's close to two hospitals.

It's on a train. It's near the airport. It is in the middle of downtown. And Arizona is over. So that might be a little of alarming. But Arizona just made sense unless they wanted to come back to Jacksonville. And I guess they could technically go to Texas, but I don't think they want to go back to Texas. After all the judging fiasco from the Houston card, we were all at.

So Arizona just made sense. And I asked Dana to his face. And he said 100% if we can't get the apex, we'll 100% go to Arizona. So I might have to know the quarantine card, but I get to sleep my own bed this time. Why isn't the UFC going back to Florida? I'm kind of, if everything, he was speaking so highly of it and stuff, he's like, oh, Florida rules. Jacksonville is awesome.

But we're not coming back. I was kind of confusing. That's a good question. I was wondering that too. I never got a definitive answer. I think he just, I know the apex is what he wants. maybe it's just like it will be so last week like if it does if if it if it if the apex does happen it will be last minute because it's like right around like he's like we talked of yesterday and the fight's supposed to be two weeks and he's like

the apex is the plan it might not happen I assume he just doesn't want to ship everything across the country again and then all of a sudden say apex is go and they have to ship everything back while in phoenix to Vegas you can just drive it up and back really quick it's not it's not quite difficult yeah and the governor is much like come on down yeah actually that may it makes more practical sense in terms of just logistics but they don't have a place because they don't have a place for next week well originally they were going to fight next week I'm just saying it's just about there's obviously stuff we don't know what's going on the May 23rd car got pushed to May 30th so we were all joking could damn because like there was like I heard we had all heard that it might

be June 1st is when the UFC can start doing cards in in Las Vegas so just start to fight at 12-01 June 1st in the apex, but that was more of a joke. Again, there's a lot of questions we don't know. And it might not even be in Arizona. Like, I'll joke to all the other media. Like, I'll see in a couple weeks in Arizona, but for all we know, it could be Las Vegas. We're back at Tachi. Yeah.

Tachie. Who knows? Maybe Mickey Mouse is going to clear it and like, ah, do have your bites at Tachi. Whatever. I wish. All right. No, no, no, I'm not done. I was going to ask if you had another question because I feel like you, you had something in mind that you wanted to ask.

I'm looking it. Now that, we're showing off our coffee cups now. I like that black, that black mug a lot. What does your coffee mug say yesterday? It says black metal, black shirts, and black coffee. Three of my favorite things. And yes, it's black coffee inside. It's the only way to drink coffee.

I got oat milk in my. Yeah, you would. What was your favorite moment of all three fights? Of all three fight cards? Yeah. Your favorite, you know what? Like someone asked you, like just giving one memory of it. What's your...

The Justin Gagey winning, like the fight itself is really cool, but I had seen Justin Gagey fight so much outside of the UFC because he's from Arizona. So I remember watching a fight when he was like 3 and 0, 4 and 0. I saw both of his, like he had two fights against Luis Palomino when he defended his World Series of Fighting Championship in Arizona. It was the entire town of Safraud, Arizona came to the fight in like, it was a, it was a music venue with the state, with a with a cage up against the state, maybe 500 people were there. And it was like all of his friends and family. And those were two of the most violent wars I've ever seen in my life.

And I remember thinking, like, he's doing this for 500 people. imagine what happens to the U.S. I was hoping he would get to the U.S.C. before they all caught up to him. And I think that was the fear of a lot of people. And then he had that war against Michael Johnson right out of the gate. I was like, oh, no, like, it was...

I was glad people could finally see it because I had been watching Justin Gagey fight for so long. But to see him actually win a UFC championship. And, like, I've interviewed him a lot these past few months in person, whether it be a dominant media days or media days in general. And I always ask him, like, what's more important to the belt or beep?

and he was always like Habib is the most important thing. I don't care if it's not for the belt. I just want to fight Habib because he's the best. And now it's not only fighting Habib it's also for a unification bout on an historic fight island card.

So Justin Gagee winning just was interesting because like you guys have known fighters from like, like you guys have known to Angela Hill since what? She was like one in one. Yeah. Like when she,

if she wins the UFC championship, it's just going to feel like a bigger deal to you than if like Cloudy Godale. Like it would be like we're obviously journalists or unbiased, but there's still some emotional connection to watching a fighter from their first fights all of a sudden win a championship. That's why I felt like when I watched Justin Gagethe because he won a state championship in Arizona in high school in Glendale. And then he outlined in a UFC car there. It was very surreal watching him win that championship. And Safraeer, Arizona just lit up fireworks when he won.

Like people were like people that I know from Safra were like tweeting like, what are all these fireworks for? And people are like, Justin Gage, won. So, like, the town itself is, like, I don't, the town is so tiny. There's, like, a Walmart and, like, that's it. That's, like, the only thing in the town. So the fact that someone from Safford, Arizona won a championship is crazy. Is it going to be weird when fans are actually allowed to see fights again? Because I feel like, I feel like it's kind of normal now.

It really, really will. Like, I hate to say it, but I really like the no fans because, A, I love here. hearing punches. I love hearing corners. Like you guys are all saying like Walt Harris and Eric Anders's corners probably didn't do the best job on Saturday. And then even the main event between like Justin Gage and Tony Ferguson. Like from the fourth and fifth round, Tony Ferguson got just lit up. So what coach did they set on the feet? It was all striking.

So which one of his corner men do they send in the octagon? Eddie bravo. Freaking Eddie bravo. Like what is Eddie bravo? Just keep rolling. Just roll in, down. Like, what is, what is Eddie Bravo going to say? Tony Ferguson?

Oh. Box. He would be the first one to say that. What am I doing? I know. But, yeah, I like, a lot of fighters likes the no fans, too. But it was pretty 50-50. But it's going to be weird with no fans.

I don't, it's going to feel, it's, I think when fans come back, it's going to feel like the first, it's going to feel like 249. or it was surreal for like one night and then all of a sudden it became normal again so that first fight would note with fans is going to feel weird. Yeah. To me, just watching you from home,

the only fight I honestly missed not seeing fans or would have really changed the experience was Gagy versus Ferguson. I feel like a full arena. I mean, the fight goes the same most likely, but I think I would have different memories. But the fact that I have memories of hearing all those punches,

hearing them talk to each other, hearing Justin Gachie, the human highlight here, the human highlight real one of the toughest dudes on the planet, just moaned and like, oh, my balls. A lobo? That's something we're not going to get the experience. What a special moment we got to all share. That's the most memorable moment.

In a specific fight, it's just Justin Gagchi's screams of agony from getting a lobo. Yeah, it's going to be, I'm going to miss it. Hopefully it's not three fight cards in 10 days or seven days, Because even Dana was like, I can't wait to leave Jacksonville right now. But I'm going to me. I hope you guys can experience it before the fans come back. Because it's undescribing.

Like you've seen tough and you've seen the contenders. It's 10 times weird. I think the apex is going to be, it's not going to be the same because you've been inside the apex. It's kind of small. It's built to be small. This was like 15,000 MTC. so the echoes were crazy. So I hope you guys can see a crazy, empty arena fight

before they go to the Apex, because I can't describe it. Yeah, because the Apex is designed essentially as a TV studio for fights. So it's definitely the audio experience, all of that stuff is going to be a lot different. Someone's just screaming in the background where you are. When you want to say, you want to say, to experience this, but what was the main, what's the thing, like, my favorite part was when you were describing how, when Justin Gichi got hit, and then he had to apologize to his coach. What other, like, were there any little moments like that last, last night or on the Wednesday

card that kind of, like, stood out, just kind of weird moments that you basically will never get again because you won't be able to hear what's going on. Yeah. Sejar, Eubanks, his fight was. really interesting because she was basically like she was on top of Sarah Morris and like her she was like looking at her coaches like all right left leg she's like

all right yep what's next and then basically it's like she's at a seminar and like Ricardo Almeida was like giving her a lesson and we could hear like every step he said and she was like doing it the whole time so it's basically watching professional fighter just learn a move in the middle of a fight who was

the Ray Borg Ricky Simone fight was really because they talked a lot. And like Ricky Simone was like, you look like me. And Ray Bort was like, you look like me. And then they just started, but then they just started fighting again. So it's like little moments like that.

How uncomfortable was, well, maybe it wasn't, was Glover versus Anthony Smith? Did that feel different in the arena? Yes, it was like, I would describe it as someone takes like a pillow and just makes it, just like soaks it in water. So you have a wet pillow and you ball it up and you just keep hitting a piece of meat over and over. It wasn't like slicing punch. It was just like thud, thud, thud, thud over and over and over.

It was like, oh, what are those, um, you, you, Trank Casey, what are those things you, like, people stand up and they, like, practice elbows and ground and pounds on? It's a huge bag that lays on. Oh, yeah, yeah. It sounded like that, but it echoed. And it wasn't uncomfortable more like, it was scary because you could see, like, we saw Anthony Smith's teeth come out. And like when he went to his corner, I could hear like my teeth are falling out. And I was like, don't say that. Like, don't tell your coach is that.

So knowing that and watching like the punches, and like, because when you hit some, when you hit someone in their standing, like it snaps back. But when you just hit them and it just goes and their head stays there, it's a different sound. So I would say more scary than uncomfortable. I thought Anthony Smith was going to lose his eye at one point and getting hit something else. Oh, man. And the beat down of Overing was like the beat, the Overing Harris fight, it would, is obviously emotional

and it probably would have been really quiet at the end, no matter what, especially because Overim won. But when Harris was like just putting it on him, the fans would have been they would have lost their minds seeing Walt Harris like have this moment that he was so close to victory who knows if they could have willed him to the victory

or if he would have made a mistake but when O'Reem hit that switch and reverse I think like you know there's moments where there's like this crazy flurry against the cage and then someone reverses and pushes it against the fence to catch their breath and the crowd just starts booing like I've seen so many fights like that

that I could just picture what, like, I could hear the fans in my mind when Harris's going nuts. And as soon as Overrin hits that switch and then pushes against the fence, I just say, boo, like, in my mind. But it was, yeah, that one was rough, too. Seeing Overring getting punched a lot. Like, also getting punched in, like, the head and the body sounds a lot different from getting, like, you're punching, like, an elbow. Like, it's just, like, thud.

It's like bone on fist, so it's those sounds you don't think. Like, you get punches sound differently. And you could really, they really captured with no fans. Anything else? If you like violence, I can't, if you like violence and, uh, watching technique, I really likes no fan. The song you dong, uh, Cheeto Verify where they just like put their foreheads together at one point and were just like throwing hooks and elbows and knees and everything.

It was just, it just looked, if it sounded like, Like one time they kicked and their legs met, it just sounded like two baseball bats sitting together. So, yeah, I can't. Like, I'm trying to put this into terms that people, like, might know, but it's hard. It's the most unique experience I've ever had watching a fight. Yeah, wow. I wish I was there just with a field recorder. The Darren Elkins fight, too, like, when he, there was a point where he got, like, punched,

and you could, like, hear the blood, like, splatter on the canvas. because it's like because like he got punched and whipped so wasn't the punch that that made the blood it was he punched and then he whipped his head around so like he has all his hair that was like sweaty in blood just like whips across the canvas it was yeah it was gruesome there were a lot there's a low fans made it a gruesome week the overhead view of the cage um was like it just like it just looked like a blood sprinkler yeah it looked like there was a blood sprinkler or something that was just Darren Elkins getting like all this whip his hair and head is going to whipped all around. It was pretty much. It was, I hope you guys in the spirit. I hope you guys experienced because, yeah,

it's, it's just, it makes it more interesting. Like, you can, you can also focus on a lot more, like for the Wiley you'll want to fight. When they're doing all these insane techniques,

like they're mirroring each other, the crowd is getting so into it that your heart rate elevates. But when there's no crowd, you can really, like, focus on like, uh, like,

I gave Barbosa one. Like, Barbosa didn't throw a single kick, like that whole first round because Igay was just going left to right, left to right, left to right, left to right the whole time. Basically did not give Barbosa any opportunity to launch a kick. And then he hits him with that flying needed the chin. You can really just like watch the setups and the game plan is much easier if there's no crowd around. That's cool.

So if you're a fight then, you should definitely. go back and watch this over again. I couldn't recommend. Like, I was talking with Igay, like, in the airport, and he was saying, like, because I was asking him, like, it seemed like he threw a lot, but they weren't loud like we expected. He goes, yeah, like, he may be landing one kick to my leg, but he would, like, eat it and throw, like, five punches.

So it's why he wasn't limping nearly as bad as most Barbosa, like, opponents are. And you could see it, like, watching that fight. I'm like, these kicks aren't landing at all. And it's what really makes it noticeable is there's no, like, slap. It's just like a glancing blow. And when there's crowds that drown out the sound, any kick that lands you think is loud or no fans, you can clearly hear just glances. So I think it's clearly beneficial of the judges because like a leg kick that doesn't land sounds a lot different than a leg kick that does land. It's much more audible than no fans.

Oh, well then that actually brings me to one more quick question. So people had issue with the judging over the last few cards. But you say that it was actually easier to hear the action. Yeah. Do you think that, why do you think that there was the disparity in judging? If you think there was. I didn't agree with the Angela Hill card. The Barbosa EGay won was 50-50 to me.

I scored for Barbosa, but I won't argue that E-Gay, and then I had Marlon Bera win. So I guess I would have disagreed with all three. But it's not like I had Elkins winning, too, actually. I thought Elkins didn't have enough to know. But either way, I think he, he definitely won the first round,

and I don't, I don't remember. Just too much. I don't think it was just so much. That felt like one long round, instead of like three, 50, three, five minutes.

But it's interesting, maybe the, that's a good question. I mean, Angela definitely had more, like, specifically for that, or both for Angela's and the Verre fight.

Barrett and Angela definitely had more output, for sure. And they were throwing more like combinations like kicks, like kicks, knees, elbows, punches. But Song and Claudia would land like one clean punch that would be much louder than any of Angela's and Marlins, any of their strikes. So maybe that swayed the judge is like being able to hear the one hard punch over 10,

like not glancing, but like killing them with bug bites strikes. So one power shot versus a bunch of. technical shots. Maybe that swayed. You could also hear the commentators very clearly. So maybe that could sway them too. That was that was I was thinking like that might be a thing like if like we've heard like what you were at what 240 cyborg Spencer like cyborg to dominate it. But if you just this is the replay it sounds like it was a back and forth war. But it was not. So like if that swayed the judges too maybe I'm not quite sure. But cloudia's and songs punches definitely were louder than my.

Marlins and Angels. Like, there's no, like, in my mind, I could cure all. Like, I can vividly remember punches. I just saw Angela and Marlon just throwing a lot and hitting, but they weren't loud and echoing as cloudy as in songs. Anything else? You want to add? Anything, any other cool, cool shit you saw or cool shit you experienced that you just

did not expect? Cool shit I didn't experience. I mean, fighters walking by, fighters walking by Meteoros seemed a lot more interactive with us because we have seen them so much. So like, people would walk by us and be like, ah, fuck, I shouldn't got punched in the face that time or something like that. Like, he was telling me this.

I'm like, don't talk, tell me, tell you your coach. But, like, I've been in the elevator with this guy so many times that I had so many legs, so how is your day doing? What are you getting out? What kind of, what are you getting in your coffee? Oh, nice sandwich. Like, like these just normal conversations that when I would see a loser or a winner, they would feel some obligation to, like, tell me something.

So that I was not, like, Tony Ferguson, like, I've interviewed him a thousand times, but I've never been, like, close. Or, like, I've never, obviously I'm not trying to be friends with anyone, but I've never had this rapport with him where I could just, like, I could see. He'll never came up to him and say, hi, Jose. And I'll never go up and say, like, hi, Tony. But, like, after this loss, I was, like, walking by, I had seen him so much. the week leading up to that fight that he came up and gave me a fist bump he's like ah next time i'm

like that wouldn't have happened if i hadn't seen you fought for four days so it's i wasn't expecting the the the fighters to interact with the media as much as possible probably just because we around each other so much thank you so much for um calling in in between your flights i know it was kind of a mad rush to get to the dachsonville airport now here you are in dallas i'm away home so the dallas airport is a nightmare i hate it I do appreciate you making time for a good cup of coffee, even though you don't have any. Oh. Oh.

All right, sign us off, Esther. Do your big cool sign off. My big cool sign off is just thanks for listening and watching Coffee Talk with me, Esther Lynn, E. Casey Lighted and Jose Youngs. And tune back in later on this week for A-Side and what the heck and all the great stuff that M.A. fighting has for you and all the coverage on these future. your pandemic times and cards. And hopefully we may, hopefully all three of us will be at UFC 250. Hopefully. When there's a, when there's a date and venue.

Yep. Whenever they get a date and venue, well, we will do our best to be there. And I hope it's a drive. I do not want to fly. Definitely not. All right. All right, Jose. Thank you.

Be safe. Pick your mask on. Don't cough from people. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.