MMA Fighting - Emergency Reaction! Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway For BMF Title At UFC 300!

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

UFC CEO Dana White dropped two big fights for the upcoming UFC 300 event, including an all-action lightweight bout for the BMF title between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway. With some of the negative vibes surrounding the event in its early stages, does this announcement begin the trend towards positivity? MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti, Jed Meshew, and Eric Jackman react to White's massive announcement, the Gaethje vs. Holloway five-rounder, discuss what it means for the lightweight title picture and Islam Makhachev's next move, if this fight means the rumored Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad welterweight title fight could move to a different event, and more. Additionally, they discuss White also announcing Jim Miller vs. Bobby Green for the historic card, if it is the right fight to make for Miller, along with how the card currently stands eight official fights in. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @ShaunAlShatti Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Eric Jackman: @NewYorkRic Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. 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 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. ...to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hi, Mike Heck here for M-Afighting.com again on this Tuesday, January 16th, 2024,

and you may be thinking to yourself, we already saw an emergency reaction pot on the feed. Well, we get another one because UFC CEO Dana White decided, you know what? Right after the PFL announced their big pay-per-view event with the PFL champs battling the Bellator champs, what better time to announce UFC 300 fights than just several hours later on the same day. And that's what he did. One of the questions we had was, who is Jim Miller going to fight at UFC 300? And we already have our answer. It is Bobby Green.

So Jim Miller will, in fact, compete at UFC 300. he'll do the 100, 200, and 300 dance. And we also heard from UFC CEO Dana White that Justin Gaichi will compete at UFC 300. No, he will not fight for the lightweight title. He will defend his newly won BMF title against Max Freaking Holloway, five-rounder, UFC 300, April 13th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is some exciting stuff. So not only do I have one person to react to this, Not only do we have two people to react this. We have three extra people to react to this. We have Shahid al-Shadi. We have Jed Bishu. And we have New York, Rick, joining us. So, Shaheen, I will begin with you.

Perfect timing here. We've been waiting, you know, ever since the France-Saghanu fight, got announced her like, oh, Dana's going to announce something, and he didn't. And then all these announcements come, and Dana's relatively quiet. But today is the day. Dana said, no more.

I'm going to step on this announcement. And we're going to announce Bobby Green, Jim Miller, but the one that's gotten all the headlines here, Justin Gaichie versus Max Holloway for the BMF title. Does this just scream 300 to you, Shahid? It does. It does, right? It prompted a second reaction show, just a second of the day.

I have three big takeaways from this one as I try to wrangle my toddler into bed. One, it's so fitting for Dana to do this today, right? Like we literally, just a couple hours ago, we're talking about how, hey, like this Bellator PFL card. Pretty great card. Pretty like solid card all around. Totally going to get overshadowed by UFC Mexico City that exact same day. And there you go, Dana, already overshadowing it with what's probably the most like, at least, you know, it's kind of getting the temperature of the fan base and social media and et cetera.

Kind of the biggest announcement they've had so far for UFC 300, at least certainly the one that's gathered the most eyeballs, I would say at least, right? This Justin Gaci Max Hollow one, that seems to be the one where everyone's actually excited rather than it landing with a thud, like the first title fight we got between Zhang and Zhaonan. Takeaway number two, I love that Jim Miller's on this card. The matchup's fine. It's not the ideal matchup. I liked both the ones he threw out better, the Paul Felder fight, the Matt Brown fight.

Matt Brown in particular, Matt Brown really was into it. It seemed like it was kind of a retirement fight for Matt Brown, too. I like that fight a lot. If you're going to give me Bobby Green, I'll take Bobby Green. I'm not going to complain about Jim Miller being on this card. Not maybe my pick, but whatever. I like it. Number three, I am stunned. Stunned, stunned my kick that Justin Gaci took this fight.

There seemingly is no reason for him to take this fight. We all assumed after Charles Al-Livera was already booked against Arm and Siru Kyi and on this UFC 300 card, that that was just it. Justin Gaci was that guy. He was going to get Islam who seems like he's going to be around in the summer to be able to fight and defend his title. They better, they are, I'm assuming they are paying Justin Gachie a lot of money to do this, because they needed something big, they needed something splashy. And as I said at the top, this is the one that has seemingly landed the hardest with MMA fans that has brought the most excitement of all the announcements we've gotten so far.

So whatever they're paying Justin Gaghii, it's certainly worth it because this seems to finally feel or at least make this start feeling like a 300 type of event. I love it. I can't complain about it. Jed, with all these announcements, and yes, some have landed with a thud amongst the MA community, the Zhang Wei Li, Janjanan fight, which I really need. I didn't think it was that bad if it's like one of three title fights. But we've been chanting thus far that, especially with the lightweight division,

the UFC has come out and just done the thing. Dustin Poria versus Benoit Santini, Charles Oliverer versus Armand Sarukin, which is also on UFC 300. And now we get Justin Gagey versus Max Holloway. Is this the UFC doing the thing in your eyes, Jed? I told you. I told you guys at the start of the year. at 2024 is the year where meritocracy and good vibes reign.

There's another individual on this call who said I was crazy, who did not believe. And look, look at all the good things that keep happening. Davidson Figurato's fighting Cody Garberant, Mike. Everything I want is happening this year. It's the best year ever. There is one downside to this, but we can get into that later. There's one really big issue with what's happened, but it doesn't matter because the things that the positives here are they're just too damn good.

Who is going to ever be upset about Justin Gathe, Max Holloway? People have been suggesting this as a thing that could happen. And to Shaheen's point, I was like, no, that will never happen. Because why would that happen? Justin Keachie has the title fight. Why would he possibly accept this fight? And then he did. I don't know why.

I hope he's getting paid all the money in the world. But that fight's going to roll. That fight's going to stop. Like that's, we have in the past two weeks, we have had like three different contenders for fight of the year, just take over the race. Like, it is unreal what we've had coming here. And I know that there's a bit of pushback on the Jim Miller, Bobby Green, because everybody wanted Matt Brown, everybody, Paul Felder.

This was the fight I called for. This was the fight I said after the event. I was like, do Bobby Green because I don't know that Paul Felder's going to actually come back. to at least let him get in the gym and maybe feel it out for a hot minute. But the Matt Brown fight was, it would have been fine. Again, as I said, there's no wrong way to eat this Reese's. But Jim Miller's not a well-to-weight.

Matt Brown, him fighting there, that feels like we're trying to make something more than it really is between two guys with a lot of accomplishment in the UFC, whereas Bobby Green makes all the sense in the world. They're both awesome. They're both down to scrap. This fight's going to be sick as hell. And oh, by the way, not that this map. matters to most people or whatever, but

Bobby Green was just ranked, may even still be ranked in the UFC's lightweight, lightweight rankings, I'm not sure. Jim Miller gets a W and somehow at 40 years old as the all-time leader in every statistical category of all time, now he might get ranked

two on top of the sick-ass fight we're about to get. Sign me up. This was an unmitigated win, even with the very large issue that we will talk about in a moment. We will certainly talk about that. Bobby Green, number 14 on the UFC's rankings. Number 14, Jim Miller in the year of our Lord, 2024 might be ranked in the deepest division in the sport.

That's what's up. This is unbelievable. And like we said on the post-fight show, Jim Miller versus anybody is fine. Bobby Green is a fine choice. They try to make this fight a few different times, so hopefully it all comes to fruition. But New York, Rick, here it is. Max Holloway versus Justin Gachie, BMF title. And I have been, you know, I'm pretty tough on the UFC.

I, when they do good things, I usually say they do good things. And when they do bad things, I will come on here and say they do bad things. But I have been telling people, just be patient. Like the UFC 300y fights are coming. We're only like a third of the way into the card being built. Everybody relax a little bit. It seems like a lot of those people who have been negative about UFC 300, especially with this Gachie Holloway announcement,

they seem to be coming on board a little bit more. What is your reaction to this fight in particular? and then you can throw in your thoughts on Jim Miller versus Bobby Green as well. Yeah, love this fight. To Jed's point, cannot believe that Justin Gachi is doing this. Nobody has been beating the Max Holloway

needs to fight and be damned with your knocking off contenders concern nonsense surrounding him than me. And now, after everybody whining and griping and moaning about him potentially knocking off featherweight contenders, he's going to hop up to lightweight and potentially

knock off a lightweight contender, which is incredible. I love the deliciousness of that. And I, and, you know, I'm not picking sides here, but I would love to see it get done

because that'd be quite interesting to see how Max Holloway tanks another division. Except for some word clear, he doesn't knock off a lightweight contender. The issue at featherweight is he beats him and then no one gives their shit to watch him fight Volk for the fourth time. If he beats Gaichi, everyone's going to be pretty goddamn stoked to watch him fight Islam.

Sure, but the other side of that. He's still the number one contender. The other side of that equation. He is fighting for that title. I would love that. But the other side of that equation at Featherweight is the suggestion that, like, Ilya couldn't beat Max Holloway.

Oh, no, we can't do this. We're not here to litigate your ridiculous crusade for Max at Featherweight. No, we absolutely are. You can talk about sick shit lightweight fights. Get dunked on, son. No, we absolutely are because there's so many whiners, yourself included, complaining about those potential fights. And now all of a sudden, Max Holloway is here to save the day,

as he could have in a fight against Ilya Teporia, because that fight's also awesome. And now we're going to get him versus Justin Tachian. How on earth we- Howard versus Tuporia and say it's my off. What are we talking about? What are we talking about? The point is Max Holloway has been in a no man's land

because everybody's so concerned about the idea that he's going to knock off a contender and now he's going to knock off a contender at lightweight and then he's going to get the title shot. That's what's going to happen in this fight. Not knocking off a contender. It's replacing one. Those are two extremely.

extremely different ideas. Sure. However that goes, that's fine. And by the way, I'd be open, by the way, I'd be open for Holloway versus Volk if he's able to beat

I feel like this is getting derailed. I'll be just happening. We'll get to the potential questions and perhaps downfalls to this announcement. Let me just say from a selfish perspective. This is, this is everything for me. This is,

on to the next one, listeners from episode one has you have all heard me say at some point in my fight watching career i have to see justin gaichie versus max holloway this is the fight we have to see and when justin gaichie lost to charles olivera this is the fight i've been screaming for after justa gachi beat rafel viziv this is still the fight i've been screaming for after max holly beat on island this is still the fight i was screaming for and now i'm going to get it at ufc 300 so downfalls aside i love this i'm going to watch it. I'm going to, the watch party is going to be absolutely electric when this fight happens. I don't even know if there's going to be another one after this, because I might just retire

from watch parties after getting Justin Gaichie versus Max Holly, the dream fight of all dream fights. That's obviously not true, but you know, you can feel my excitement here. It's pretty up there. You know why it's happening, Mike? Because this is the year where decency reigns. Because truly, what is more meritocratic than Justin Gaichie defending the BMF belt against Max Holloway. There's no better contender. We're living in the good timeline, boys. Soke it in.

What this all means, too, for lightweight is really, really fascinating to me. That's the problem. I don't find this a problem, though, because you essentially have two matchups between the top contenders on the same night. And so it becomes this weird sort of like whoever is the most impressive performance is going to get Islam. And I don't know if that's what. Tell me. Sell me. So it doesn't matter because it's a two-month turnaround for Islam to fight in June.

Who the hell is going to fight him? Because I'm going to guarantee you right now. Justin Gage and Max Hollow. Why would you assume he's fighting in June? Why would you assume he's fighting to June? Well, I mean, that's sort of the rumor mill turning, right, with UFC going to Saudi Arabia, potentially for a pay-per-view card. Islam himself has said my timeline is Justin Gagee in June, put USC pay-per-view. Obviously, it's not in set in stone, but that seemed like a good timeline.

now that may well not happen because I guarantee you the winner whoever wins Gachie Holloway they ain't turning around in a couple of months like that's they're turning around in six months like that is going to be a war and then I mean Sarukin Charles Oliva in a similar boat it would be less hard for me to believe that one of those dudes could come out of that a little bit cleaner but you're taking the three the three top dudes for your lightweight champion and putting them all on a fight card. And that's, if we are not going to get Islam Makachev now until late summer at the earliest. I just don't see a world where it can happen unless it's totally off the board for a challenger for him.

Well, that was my thought. Initially, Shaheen, when this announcement came outside of, this is awesome, was, I don't know if Islam's fighting in June. Do you have that concern as well? I don't know if it's a concern. I think it's a potential, certainly. like it's a potential reality of all of this. That seems like tomorrow's problem when we're talking about today's news, though, right? Like, I don't even care.

This is, this is spectacular. Like, we need big fights for U.S.C. 300. These are big fights. Worst case, you just, I mean, you can just throw a gamrodot in there, right? Like, we're absolute worst case. These four dudes beat the hell out of each other. Can you imagine Islam Gamrod's fortune here? Then you just throw Mattias Gamon.

What a hero for them. Already a backup fighter to a fight he didn't get to back up. And then you just throw him in. there. Like, there are ways that all of this can work out just because lightweight is so ridiculous. Does this raise the stakes for Dustin Porier, Benoit Santone? Absolutely. I think any light... It probably does. I think any lightweight fight on the calendar right now could seemingly be a one number one contender fight. C&N at all this plays up.

Given a timeline... Whoever can get out of there. Whoever can get out of there on skates. If BSD beats Dustin Porreier, actually, they could turn him around for a June pay-per-view. and that'd be fine. And if Boreen wins, I mean, sure. No one would flinch at that at him getting a title shot despite, you know, not quote-unquote deserving it. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea.

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We have two title fights if we want to count the BMF title. I assume we're going to get a third. All the rumor and innuendo is spiraling towards Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad for the Welterweight title. And if anybody cares about card placement, there's nobody who cares about this more than you, New York, Rick. So regardless of what this third title fight is going to be, should Gachie Holloway be the main event at BFC 300? Probably. Yeah, probably, but I would assume that if Leon Edwards

and Belal Muhammad are on it, they're going to be in the main event because of being in the heavier weight class and Leon being a long-rearing champion. But yes, it should. But, Mike, you came to the right source. Who cares? Who cares about who is? Legitimately, I care. I actually, and there's a very good reason for it. Explain it to me. So we just finished recording No Best Barred, and we actually discussed that about this. This weekend's paper, for you see 297, it is not a very good card on paper. It's not going to matter at the end of the night because the main event is guaranteed to be chaos. And so if you go to that event, if you pay drop 80 to watch it, when you leave it,

your last thought will be this wonderful, exciting main event. cards, no matter how good a card is, it really is sink or swim based on the main event. A great card with a trash main event will still leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. Putting Belal Muhammad Leon Edwards, a fight that I have repeatedly referred to as the leafy greens of MMA title fights, which is a legitimately a quality fight, has an overwhelming likelihood to not be that sort of exciting moment for fans, whether they're watching it, at home, whether than the arena. Max Holloway, Justin Gachie is, I would bet literally anything you wanted to bet.

I would bet my life, not hyperbolicly, that that fight will be exciting if nothing else. You have to finish the evening with a guaranteed banger like that, because to go from that in the co-main and into a tepid, 45-strike-landed Leon Edwards' performance is going to absolutely destroy the good vibes of that evening. I think it is, I largely agree with card placement being overrated. I think in this instance, it is critical. I agree with everything you said. I don't think it will happen.

I don't think it will happen that way. But I agree with everything you said. I think this is the way you end that night. Absolutely. Well, so there's a couple elements to this, right? Because one, everyone's really concerned with who headlines. Do you all remember who headline UFC 200? Yeah.

was a supposed to. Yeah, as a man of Nunes, I also remember us not really liking UFC 200 in the aftermath. Sure, but it was a massive card that did massive numbers. And ultimately, they could put you and me fighting on this thing. It's going to sell a million pay-per-views. That's not the discussion topic.

I understand, but I'm just saying, like, the main event is what it is, but ultimately if the card itself is just 13 fights of fights like this, like people will be into it, regardless of whether the end is satisfactory to them or not. Also, though, I would submit to you that I don't know that this would be like, who knows that this isn't going to be the headliner? Like, if things play out the way that they end up playing out,

they just throw this at the top because who's the biggest star in this car? It's not going to be Leon Edwards. It's not going to be Belah Muhammad. It's going to be these two dudes who are the biggest stars on the car. And if that's what it just comes to, who's going to complain about Justin Gachey versus Max Holloway, right? Like that is, that's foolproof in that regard. There's a wiggle room here. There's wiggle room here.

There's also a line of thinking of like, man, what better way to make Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad palatable than to kind of prime the pump with like an all-time banger? A little bit UFC 248-esque, you know? You get Zhang and Yowana and then you kind of have to swallow Yowel and Izzy. I mean, that's a tough post-dinner coffee right there. I will also say legitimately one of my first thoughts on this happened is that Leon Boul just isn't happening at 300. It's possible. I think it's 301 now. Like they need a post a post 300 and it's just,

I am still of the opinion that because they did not announce this as a main event. I think that this is an excellent fight to announce as this could be a main event. If they, if Dana comes out on Sunday is like, yeah, that's your main event, whatever. No one's going to blink. I have remained and still remain of the opinion that the winner of this weekend's fight between Sean Strickland and Drickus Duplice, Dana will go to them immediately after the fight and say, Hey, are you good to turn around at 300 against Israel Dissan?

If they say yes, that's your main event. This is now your co-main. If they say no, well, we can still just throw this as the main event. And with the reaction it's gotten, nobody's going to be upset with Gachie Holloway being the main. I think Leon Bollal is just not at 300. Very possible. I think exactly what you just said about this weekend is totally, totally, totally possible. Is he headlining 300 makes

I mean he would be the biggest star of all this and you do it with Drickis or the rematch for Sean Either of them Either one works It's just a it's a perfect main event for it It's just whether it can be done And if it can't This is a hell of a consolation price

But by the way I don't even think you need necessarily Izzy Like I think there's a world where you can put somebody in against Drickus or DDP Homsot could hop right in there And you've got Homsot Yeah So there's a world where, yeah, the middleweight title becomes the object of choice at the top of the card. Hey, Shane.

Can you visualize a world where shot strictly came into 2023 as nothing? And then all of a sudden he wins Fighter of the Year. Then he's headlining UFC 300 as reigning champion. Like that is a world that is a possibility ahead of us. Shane, I was just going to say, do you remember the last time Max Holloway went up to lightweight and also on the fight card was a middleweight title fight? That was a pretty good evening of fights. It's pretty good. Those were the one and two number of fights of the year.

So if we did the Izzy Max twofer again, probably going to be a good fight card. So do you feel like at least, I guess we'll probably end here. By the way, Paul Felder, as we record this, tweeted out, awesome fight. So he seems to be in favor of sitting this one out. And who knows? Maybe he still fights a UFC 300 and just fights somebody else. Who the hell knows? I think it's Paul Felder.

Paul Fielder, Matt Brown. Now we do Paul Feld and Matt Brown, yes. I'm way more into that, frankly, than Matt Brown, Jim Miller. This is good stuff. Do you feel like things are coming together now, Shaheen? Do you feel like the M.A community can now take a deep breath and just be like, okay, we're starting to, this is, I mean, by far, this is the most positive reaction we've gotten of anything. People seem, even Brian Campbell, who is on BTL, just taking a big fat turd on this card. the feeling he had about it.

And now seeing this fight, I even asked him, I said, if they booked Justin Gagethe versus Max Holley for the BNF title, will this save the card for you? And he said, yes. And even he is putting this one over.

His excitement for UFC 300 is a little more palatable now. Do you feel like this is the beginning of everyone's frowns turning upside down when it comes to UFC 300, that maybe the expectations are starting to even out a little bit? Maybe a little, maybe a little. But also, do you know MMA fans?

Have you existed within this? people go complain, Mike. This could be the greatest thing in history of the world. People going to complain that it's not up to their par. Because, you know, that's just what we do. So I would say this is maybe the little bit. This is probably the start of the shift a little bit towards the sea change. Like, oh, this is U.S.

It's rendered. Pretty good. Let me also throw out, though, and I don't want to, I hate to be this guy because I'm here for the year of good vibes. The more I think about it, there is a secret downside to this fight. And I just want to throw it out to you guys. and you can send it back. This is a half-baked idea.

Just throwing it out amongst pals. Send it back if it's not all the way based. Yeah. Guys, is this the fight that like ends Max Holloway forever? That has been very prominent on Twitter in the 30 minutes since this has been announced, and I don't understand it. Well, so here's the thought, right? People who fight Justin Gae, a lot of them have different.

I've written about it. They get changed forever. Yeah, he changes people. Max has been on this thin line for a while of like, sooner or later, the damage is going to catch up to this man. Jed, you and I were in Atlanta when he fought Dustin Porre at 155. He got pretty fucked up, my guy. Like, that was a really, really brutal fight. Justin Gates, he's not going to go any easier on him.

Justin Gates, you really mauls people. At this age, he's 32, but in fight years, he's probably, he's probably 36, 37, right? I don't know if he has another one of those in him and to be able to bounce back after that. Is this a real concern? So it's a real concern because a lot of people have it. And I guess I can understand it. I think this is just a way better matchup for him than Porre is.

Justin Gaget is still not like a defensive wizard. And so Max is going to get his offense off. And that will make it easier for him to not get clubbed around like Porier who just parried everything and then just dumped him. I won't be shocked. Max has been in the fight game forever and Justin hits real hard, but I did not have any concern about like, oh, this is it for either of these dudes. I think they're both probably past their prime, but this is just going to, they're still right on the edge of being awesome, so it's fine.

I don't think this is a Tony Ferguson fall off, like what will happen. If Gachie wins, and I'm not sure he will. I don't think of it. Go ahead, Eric. I'm in the same camp with Jed. Like, I haven't seen enough of a slip where I'm starting to get concerned about Max in that regard. And maybe that would be the thing that would kind of lead me. But there are some times where it just falls off a cliff where all of a sudden that day comes and you fall off. And that could be it for Max.

But I'm not concerned going into it. It would be an interesting world after that. But I'm not as concerned about it. Can you imagine if Justin Gachie knocks this man out? That's the thing. So that's the thing that I'm most concerned about in this type of matchup. I don't think it's possible, though. But that's what we say before it happens.

Because Max Holloway has been one of, if not the most durable fighter I've ever seen ever. I legitimately think it is the greatest chin in the history of the sport. At some point that ends in this going up and wait to face a marauder like Justin, who we just established tends to change people. Yeah, but could you imagine the other universe? could you imagine the other universe where max puts a volume on justin that he's just never seen before and he's definitely going to do that and is just smacking him up and is just putting the myths on him and justin doesn't know what to do because that's a world i could see too it is but while that's

happening just Justin's going to kick the shit out of his legs too he is going to do that they're just going to havoc each other it's going to be incredible I'm so excited on it it really is but the thing you just laid out Eric the legacy boost that that would give Max, like there is nothing in this sport that would give him a bigger legacy boost that's feasible, right? Because like obviously he goes in there and beats Islam or something that would give him a legacy boost. Yeah. That's not feasible right now. But if he goes in there and just beat. Are you just write that off as impossible? Well, not at this moment. He's not at this moment. He's not at this moment. Like, that's not a thing. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying,

though. This is to be able to do that at this age, if he did that, like we're talking about a max in a different way when he retires at that point. Can I just turn to the original question from Mike? I think this is a turning point. I do think this is a recognition. The fact that Justin Gachi took this fight, that the UFC came to Justin Gachi and basically probably said, hey, we need some help because the comments are not being kind

to what we put together so far. Whatever you need, we will get it for you. I can't, I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, I'm sure it was massive. I'm sure it is something along those lines. because there's no reason for Justin Gachi to take this fight. And the UFC had to see the fans' reaction to these fights and say, we need something special.

And you know what? They did it. They delivered something special. This is going to turn the tide of how people feel about this card. Are they going to still probably want to headline it with a middleweight title fight? Or maybe the welterweight title fight, who knows, I could see it. And I think it would be prudent to do that. But this, I think this is a huge step.

And fans kind of voting, you know, a little bit. Like, I think there was a, I was certainly somebody who thought that the UFC was going to make people kind of swallow whatever UFC 300 was and just take it and take their medicine and accept it. And it seems like they're listening. They're hearing that like they needed something else and this was definitely something else. I would bet a sizable, I would bet a sizable chunk of my bank account that Justin Giacut. Gichie is getting pay-per-view points for this. And that is the only chance Justin Gachi will ever get to be on a million by pay-per-view, and that is a lot of money for us.

Yeah. Mike, I'm laughing because while Eric was talking, I just realized I'm now 100% certain that Leon Edwards and Bala Muhammad is not taking place. Because can you imagine Dana trying to make that announcement after this one? Hey, guys, I got another hot one. Just people just making the fart noise at him in his, live. What do you know? This is both. So, yeah, no, that's definitely not going to happen. Hey, look, maybe, maybe when they talked to Justin Gagey and his team, they said, look, we're going to give you

pay-per-view points. And maybe this Connor McGregor Michael Chandler fight that Connor has announced for June 29th, which we have not even recognized as an actual thing yet, maybe that comes in and headlines this card. And you get Gaci and Connor on the same stage, that would be It's never going to happen. Can you ever going to happen? Connor's never going to be on this card. You can't put Connor on this after you just loaded it up. But also, you would never do it anyway.

They're not going to put any champions on a Connor card ever because it's too expensive for them. Yeah, if you're giving out all those paper viewpoints. But also, like, this would be the card to now not do Connor. Connor could have saved this card potentially if they didn't do Justin versus Max. Now I feel like they're in a good enough spot that you leave Connor exactly where he is. Can you imagine if Macs? wins.

I can see this world. Think about it. Because I can imagine it, but like, now we, you know, Max and Habib were supposed to fight forever ago and now instead it's Max versus Islam. By the way, one of the sneaky best press conferences for a fight that never happened ever. Like the energy between Max and Habib was absolutely incredible. I would love to see Max and Islam.

It would be so good. And if Gagee loses, if Gagee loses. If Gagee loses. then we are one step closer to Gachi McGregor, which is my actual Nirvana fight. Hell, I mean, I could see a world. I mean, I thought the direction Mike was going was that Gachi was going to slide into the Connor fight,

which I could definitely see happening. That could happen too. Can you imagine Michael Chandler? Can you imagine Michael Chandler after that? God. Michael Chandler, sorry, dude. I might quit M&A. I'd be so happy.

Oh, my God. I'd get Gachy, Connor. And I'd get Michael Chandler taken an L. I don't think this could be a better year for me if that happens. Is that the justice though, Jed? Does that take away from the meritocracy and the earning conversation that was happening? I think it's justice. I think Michael Chandler taking L's is justice.

Okay, fair enough. Flat out. Fair enough. Well, here's what UFC 300 currently looks like, if you aren't aware. Justa Gathev versus Max Hawley for the BMF title. Jean-Wea Li versus John Jenon for the Straw White title. Yuri Pahashka versus Alexander Rackich, Charles Oliveira versus Armand Sarukin, Calvin Cater versus Al Jemaine Sterling, which is a tremendous fight.

Bo Nicol versus Cody Brundage. I think we're all kind of understanding what's going to happen here. Jedd's Vice Nirvana fight, Davis of Figurato versus 40 Garbrandt, and Jim. Oh, someone's going to sleep. And his name is Cody. That's UFC 300 so far. We still have, what, seven fights left to be announced for this one? God, I got to say.

One of you bums. Even if Nate Diaz isn't on this card, which he's definitely not going to be on this card. No. The UFC owes Nate Diaz so much money for this BMF idea because it has saved their ass twice now. And this is like a really big one for him to have saved. I think to a certain degree, but like they could have. If you do Max versus Justin, there does not need to be like a gimmick belt attached. I think everybody would have been as hype for it.

This is a way for them to justify, hey, three title fights. Yeah. Yeah. Without ruining the actual title fights slate. Yeah. Residuals. One fight just changed. Get on the phone and get your residuals.

One fight changed this whole thing. That card was exactly the same, except they changed it with one fight that just blew up the internet. You're saying the whole time. Everyone was way too impatient about 300. Yep. It's going to be good. Just give it time.

Here it is. Now we just need Tom Aspinall versus Derek Lewis. That won't happen sadly. is complete. Park reporter, maybe. Ooh. Now you're talking about the phone. What's, look, Waldo Cortez-A-Costa is on a nice little windstreet. Just beat a former heavyweight champion.

Yeah. I think we run him in there with Tom Aspinall and let him salsa his way into getting knocked the F out. Well, if we bring up Waldo Cortez-A Costa on a UFC 300 reaction pod, I think that's the perfect time to end this thing. So, thank you all very much. I assume this will be the final reaction. action pot of the day. Maybe it won't be the final of the week. Famous last words.

Famous last words. Shit. We're about to get Connor, like each other fight officially announced for some card. But thank you all very much. Stick with us at M.A.fighting.com for all of your UFC 300 news and all of your UFC 297 news because from what I understand, Jose Youngs has finally arrived to Toronto, Canada after multiple delays. I'm sure you saw it all on Twitter, but he is there. My best friend, A.K. Lee is there as well. It's got to be a fun week, everybody. So stick with us, ammafighting.com. Thank you for listening and good night, everybody.