MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Did Ilia Topuria Just Win Fighter of the Year with His Knockout over Max Holloway? Plus Khamzat Chimaev Over Sean Strickland?

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

On the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, UFC legend Matt Brown and Damon Martin marvel at Khamzat Chimaev dispatching Robert Whittaker inside the first round with a brutal jaw-breaking submission and if that win should vault him past Sean Strickland for the next title shot. Plus we talk about Ilia Topuria’s stunning knockout win over Max Holloway and the argument that he’s now locked up Fighter of the Year for 2024 plus much more. Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And Matt, we are now living in a post-UFC 308 world where I got nothing right. You at least got one thing right in our predictions beforehand. But we now live in a world where Ilya Tuporio has knocked out Max Holloway and Hamza Chamaev has dismantled Robert Whitaker inside the first round. We were texting about it on Saturday. How wild was that car? on Saturday. Well, those two fights were wild as they get. I mean, and just the tension of both of those fights.

I mean, that's what the UFC is all about right there. That's why we watch a sport. That's what we love, right? Just the buildup and the tension, you just know some shit's going to go down. And it delivered, you know? Like, I think everybody was shocked at how Hamzot did Robert Whitaker. So I'm going to throw this out to you. And by the way, this is not like a.

one guy's better than the other, but what was the more shocking result? Was it Ilya knocking out Max? Not that he beat him. I obviously saw a world where he could beat him. I just didn't think you'd knock him out. Or Hamzot, three and a half minutes, breaking Robert Whitaker's jaw, teeth, whatever.

I mean, that was, that was silly, which is a more shocking result? Because both are pretty shocking. Yeah, well, I picked I, I was more shocked by the Hamzaat, because I picked Whitaker, right? So I was more shocked with that. I think a lot of people may have been more shocked with the max because we've never seen him get treated like that in Octagon before.

I'll be honest. I was. I was. I was, okay, this sounds like a weird, like, compliment and like when I say this, I was more impressed by Toporia, but I was more shocked by Hamza. If that makes sense.

Because, like, Toporia, like, to me, because Max looked good. That wasn't like Max didn't look good. Like, he had moments. Like, I think he definitely won one of those two rounds. I had a couple of people thought he won both rounds. I didn't think he won both rounds, but he had some moments. So what, like, Max went in there and just didn't look good.

You know what I mean? Like, he just didn't look like Max. No, he looked good. And Tuporia caught him and knocked him out. That, to me, is slightly more impressive. What shocked me, though, was I just, again, we both pick Whitaker. I just didn't think Hamzok could do that to Whitaker. Like to take him down and completely mall him on the ground and then lock up that submission and tap him out inside four minutes, I just didn't see that coming.

That shocked me. Like, I'm not shocked at Hamzat won. I think Hamzot is good. I just didn't see it going that. Like, that was, like, Whitaker didn't do anything in that fight. Yeah, I think you said it good. And that was exactly it. I mean, we've never seen Max get knocked out, but we've never seen Whitaker just get manhandled.

with that, it looked to me like Hamzaa barely even broke with sweat. I mean, you know, we knew he was going to shoot at some time. He decided to shoot straight away, didn't give Whitaker a chance. And it was just such domination. I mean, we've seen Whitaker get taken down. He comes back up. He couldn't get back up. We've seen him, you know, getting bad positions.

He gets out. He almost got out a couple times. And it was like Hamza was two steps ahead of him from the get-go. He, like, he knew where Whitaker. was going before Whitaker went, had an answer. And, man, that finished just absolutely, you know, I think all of us, we watched like, why did he tap so fast, right? And we seen later why.

I mean, that was just brutal. And, you know, because this was what we all thought that Hamzat was a couple years ago, right? And then he fights Usman on short notice. And we're like, okay. And then he fights Burns. and we're like, okay, like, yeah, we know you're good, but are you all that? And whatever he's done to change, you know, whatever he changed his camp, his mind, whatever it was, he's everything that we thought he was.

And I think I said this on Saturday, I'm not trying to take attention away from what Hamzot did, but I said, I think you got to give a little extra credit to Kamar Usman to go in there on 10 days notice, up a weight class, and actually nearly beat Hamzot. I've said this numerous times they would have two more rounds I think Usman wins that fight because he was taken over but I don't think that's

and I think now we have I think me personally have a little better perspective because in that moment I was like man maybe maybe Hamzahn ain't all that like a guy on short notice on 10 days notice

and going up a weight class almost beat him I think now I'm looking back saying I think Usman was just that good and like Usman's just a monster maybe we just didn't see coming in that moment because Whitaker had every you know there's no you know

it wasn't like had short notice or he wasn't prepared. And he had a couple moments to get up. I was super impressed by Hamzot's ability to keep sucking him back down to the ground. Like, because Whitaker's so good at getting up. He did. He got to bounce up once. But the patience that Hamzat showed to not like, you know, exert himself, not just

punch himself out trying to go for the finish early. He was patient, poised, waited to get control. And he didn't go for that submission until he knew he had him because he kept going to try to get his back. and Whitaker kept slipping free. And then when he finally got it in, and obviously the tap came like immediately after. But I was just super impressed by like,

I know it was a short fight. It was a first round fight. But to see how much patience that Hamza showed, I was super impressed by that. Yeah, and it was like when you compare it to the burns and the Usma fight, which is what raised questions about Uzma, or I mean about Hamza was,

yeah, I question, I wonder if Hamza just decided, look, those fights made him realize, like, I'm a wrestler and that's what I need to be. doing to guys. Like he didn't try to stand with Whitaker for a second, right? And Wynne Burns both gave him some problems in the wrestling or the striking. So that tells me, I'm just how I just had to say, okay, I got to come back and make a point this time. I'm going to fight to my strengths. I'm not giving him a chance. Let's give him the fuck out of there. And that's exactly what he did. And the way, I mean, he literally shot from like across the

octagon and got to take that. Like that was, that to me was like, one of the most shocking moments because he didn't set it up. He didn't like try to cleanse. He just literally shot from like as soon as the fight started shot from across the octagon got the takedown, which again, that early in the fight, that's when your guy is the freshest, he could scramble. And then he never let, I mean, Whitaker scrambled a little bit to his feet once, but then he got pulled right back down again.

And I mean, listen, we saw Israel out of Sonia in their first fight, like kind of take it to Whitaker. But even that, like, we were like, wow, like what an impressive. reforms from Israel, but like Whitaker was still, you know, he was still, you know, in their throwing. I've never seen Whitaker just absolutely get mauled like that. Like, he never did anything. I don't think he landed a punch.

I don't think, I mean, no one's done that to Robert Whitaker. Yeah, so he's lost some fights, but like they were all close fights against, you know, the top guys. I don't think he's, is he ever even been finished? I don't remember being finished. He got, he got, he got, he got, he got knocked out by Israel and he got knocked out by Dracus. They were both like on the feet though. They were both, you know, and that's, you know, striking

fights, you know. And both of those, he was doing well, you know, until he got knocked out, right? I mean, he was losing maybe, but doing well. Like, he didn't have anything on this. And I think we're, a lot of us were basing his, you know, picking

Whitaker, more or less based off Yor Romero, right? Like, we know how good Yor Romero is at wrestling. And he wasn't taking Wittaker down. We're like, bro, if you can't, if you can stop Yul Ramirez takedowns, like you're stopping anybody's takedowns. And here, I'm out, it's like, no, not mine, motherfucker. Yeah, and dude, when he got that choke on, like, I was like everyone else was like, what happens? It was so quick.

And then you see the aftermath, man, he, I mean, you, okay, you're, you're obviously a professional fighter, Matt. You've been there. Like, can you, are you able to explain? Like, I know you're not in that moment. You don't know exactly what happened, but, like, the pressure that can go on the chin, like, as a almost like a face crank, almost like a pressure choke versus like, because I know a lot of people were like, oh, he didn't have it, he wasn't under the throat. No, he was literally crushing his jaw.

Yeah, so normally like it's on, you know, the lower mandible of the jaw, right? And I've never seen teeth break before like that in a crank ever. I know Whitaker was saying like his teeth were already loose or something like that. So I don't know, maybe that has something to do with it. But, you know, generally you just crank the jaw so hard that, you know, the jaw could, potentially break. But you would expect it to break back by the ears, right? Not right up front like that.

So I've never even felt the pressure, like, straight on the teeth before. So I can't even barely explain how you. I've had the crank, but, you know, it's sort of a jaw crank, right? Like it's like twisting your actual jaw and it feels like it's going to break. And, you know, you try to go with it. you turn your head to one side of the other and try to go with it and they can keep cranking it. We've seen this multiple times. You know,

or if they have your jaw right in the crook of their elbow, right, they can suck it in. So it feels like it's just going to, you know, compressing your jaw. It's not like your jaw has a bunch of strength or muscle to it or anything. So that was a very unique one. I mean, just crushed it, right? Like that's the amount of force that it takes to do that. I mean, and see the aftermath of what Whitaker's mind. mouth look like like that's wild to me like that is so wild to me that about a pressure net quickly

picture i've ever seen right like like i seen that picture i was like what the fuck how did this happen yeah it's so wild so i think the natural question coming out of that now is you know what do you do with hamzot next and i know we've all you know they talked about it's going to be sean strickland and dracus i've heard early next year heard rumors about that and i am i like sean like i mean Sean's a lunatic and he says some really dumb shit from time to time, but like I think he's obviously a very good fighter. And listen, like it or not, Matt, this sport is all about what have you done for me lately? We're prisoners at the moment, right? To see Hamzot go out and do that to Robert Whitaker, something that no one, no one has ever done that to him before in that method, like going out and taking him down and just mauling him on the ground.

I like Sean Strickland, but how do you not book Hamzot against him? against DDP. That's like, we talked about Alex and Jones is one of the biggest fights. With Israel out of the picture now, like, DDP Hamza is the biggest middleweight fight they could book, period. And I like Sean. I'm not knocking Sean Strickland, but this is the nature of the beast. Because remember after Sean beat Costa, everyone was like, fight Whitaker. Fight Whitaker.

And he's like, no, no, I got my title shot. That's the danger right there. because now everyone is screaming Homsah, right? Like, we're all screaming Homslaz should get the title shot, right? Dude, it's hard to make an argument against giving it to Homsop, right? But it's just, like we said, or like I said, he's everything that we thought he was. Like, anybody on this planet that beats Robert Whitaker like that deserves a fucking title shot. You know, that's just what it is.

You know, and Strickland, if I'm the, you know, if I'm the, UFC, I say, look, Sean, if you want to sit on the sidelines and wait, cool. If you want to fight in the meantime, you know, we'll get yourself. But if you want to just sit and wait, you can fight, you know, the winner of Hamzot, DDP. Yeah, I mean, if I'm like, again, that's the danger of waiting, right? Because like while waiting does pay off occasionally, there's also the danger of something like this happening. Because, you know, because Strickland said, he's like, I'm not going to fight Whitaker. I got my title shot.

Nothing is guaranteed, though. We know that. That's how this sport works. And the reality is Hamzot's what everyone wants to see right now because Hamzot did that to Robert Whitaker. If Strickland had done that or beaten Robert Whitaker convincingly knocked him out, we'd be saying that about Strickland right now, but he didn't. Hamzot did.

And so now we all like, again, and also, you know, the UFC is all about making money. Hamzot and DDP is a bigger fight than DDP Strickland too. Just, let's be honest. It's a much bigger fight. So, like, how do you not just, I mean, I'm not saying they need to rush and say it's got to be booked in February. but how do you not do that next? Like, how is that not the fight you want?

Yeah, and I say rush. I mean, I'm not coming out on skays. I'm sure he's ready. I have no doubts that he'd be ready, you know, this month if they want, if they could book it this month. Right. So I say book it straight away. You get it going and look at it.

If Sean wants to sit and wait, you know, I think that's fair to let him sit and wait, promise him the next one. But even then, like you said, sitting and waiting, who knows what's going to be next around. quarter, but they know they got a star in Hamzaat. They know that they got a potentially a very dominant champion coming up here. There's no way that you, you know, don't put him in there.

I just, I don't see that happening. We're all riding high off this right now. So I know this is kind of hard to even answer because we haven't really broke it down yet. But how do you think Hamzaat does against DDP? Because Dracus is like the new, Dracus is the new guy that just like, I know he's, he technically doesn't. do things right, but he just finds a way to win.

So, like, I don't know, like, on paper, you think take down, wrestle, and you just mauled the guy on the ground, but do Dracus keeps, I don't know, what do you think? How do you think Homzot and DDP goes? Problem is, we've seen too many fights where Dracus is getting beat up and then comes back. I don't know if he can take that beating from Hamzat, you know? Yeah. I mean, I've said that before about Dracus, too, you know, and I'm, I've been heard just like many people like we're believers in Dracus now right like I don't I don't think a lot of us were

while he was coming up but I think he's turned a lot of us and we're believers but it's hard to be a believer against Hamzat man the way he's looked and and particularly you know the way he looked against Robert Whitaker it's like he's like I'm putting my money on Hamzat like it's going to be a long time I think before betting against Hamzat yeah I think like the guy that everyone I saw this mentioned like Joe Rogan did his companion podcast and somebody throughout Bo Nicol. I was like, that might be the one guy who could out wrestle Hamzot. Jemaya, but we're still probably at least a year or two away from Bo Nickel getting in

that conversation. He hasn't even fought a top 15 guy yet. So like, we're probably on the edge of that happening in this couple of years, but that might be the first guy that could actually give Hamzot problems in the wrestling because obviously with DDP, you know, the fight goes into fourth and fifth round. Hamzot has shown some issues with conditioning in the past things like that. but I think what we saw on Saturday was that Hamzat showed the patience, like I mentioned, like he didn't just go in there and go crazy trying to get a finish.

Like he was patient, set up his takedown, set up his grappling, set up his control, waited until he had the right position and locked on the submission. I mean, it's hard to bet against Hamzai doing that to anybody that can't stop his wrestling. And while Usman was able to do it, Usman's not a middleweight, he's not there. The only real wrestler that's at middleweight that I can think of is Bo Neuf. nickel. Like, I don't know that anyone can stop. Again, it's all about matchups, right? Like, styles make matchups. When you look at that, when you, Adasanya, I love Israel. Dracus took him down and submitted him. Dracus is not a wrestler like Hamzot. You look at, you know,

I mean, we thought Whitaker. We thought Whitaker would be able to stop and he didn't. So, I mean, there's nobody in that, like, I like Sean Strickland. I don't know that Sean Strickland could survive with Hamzot on the ground. Like, so, yeah, like, on paper, like, I don't know that anyone can stop homzot right now. I think he would have had a much tougher run at Welterweight where there were good wrestlers and obviously cutting the weight down to 170. I don't know that that obstacle exists for him at 185. Yeah, it's a tough one, man.

You know, and when you look at the top rankings of the UFC middleweight division, you don't see the guys that are going to be able to wrestle with them. And that's such a powerful force. And that's why everybody's picked Bo Nickel to be one of the next guys, right? And that's an interesting matchup for sure. Because even the thing is with those two, like they're good enough wrestlers that, you know, we've seen this before where they end up being strikers, right? We end up seeing a subpar striking match because they're like,

I don't want to try to wrestle this guy because they know the amount of energy and how much they're going to have to put out to, maybe get something, right, just to get some control or something. And the big question with Hamzat, right, that's, it's going to be, is his cardio going to hold up? Because DDP, you know, he's a durable son of a bitch. It's just a question, can he take Hamzat's beatings for a couple rounds? We, you know, we got to make the assumption that he's going to get beat up a little bit because

Hamzat's that fucking guy. Can he take it for a few points? right? Is he going to, you know, just be a, take beatings until Hamzot gets wore out? I mean, that's a tough game player. I mean, remember, this is like, we can't forget, like, Hamzot got the submission, but Hamzot is a tear just with punching. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, imagine if you got to get underneath that guy and he's also wailing away on you with punches and you got to defend the submissions. Like, it's a whole other animal. So, again, I know we're all riding high right now. I'll never ever count DDP out again because I've doubted him too many times and he's proved me wrong. So I'll never count him out. But right now, like, A, that's the fight I want. I want DDP Homsat tomorrow.

Give it to me. I'll buy it tomorrow. And B, I still do lean Hamsat just because I don't know the DDP has the wrestling to counter Hamzot the way that, you know, some other guys maybe could. And again, we saw it on Saturday. You only need one. He only needed one takedown. He didn't need anything else.

And Whitaker couldn't get out from under him. And that was a guy that we were all convinced. Like, this is a guy who could give him problems because Whitaker just doesn't stay underneath people. Well, that didn't work out too well. So, again, I'm leaning Hamzot. But the one thing I'll say for sure. And again, I like Sean Strickland's. I like who he is.

I like his fight. I like that he earned it or liked that he got a chance. Dude, sorry. Like, sorry. Like, what your your decision against Paul O'Cost? versus Hamzaat mauling Robert Whitaker Hamza's getting a title shot that's all I'm saying

Yeah it sucks for a shot But like you said that's the game You know and right now we're basing everything We had a lot of questions about Hamzaa Which is why we chose Robert Whitaker He answered all of those questions You know We're all victims of the moment

Hamzad did You know he had the moment Yeah and you know And you know how Dana is like when Dana promises someone a title shot, like remember the Colby Covington thing for the longest time. He said, no, Colby's the guy. We're all like, why? Like, why is Colby getting this shot?

Like, Balau was winning and we're like, Colby. He was very Saturday night. He didn't say that. Somebody's like, so what do you do with Sean Strickland and Hamzot? And he's like, it's a very good question. Call me on Tuesday. He didn't commit to it this time. Like, that's, that to me, he's very telling.

When Dana is not like, oh, no, no, Strickland's still next. Then Hamzot will get it after that. He didn't say that. He's like, it's good question. The fact that, Dana didn't jump on it. That to me, he's like, uh-oh. Like, Sean Strickland better be sweating a little bit right now.

My guess is, you might know more about this than me, but my guess is that Dana doesn't know exactly where he wants that title to take place, right? If it's going to be in America, it's got to be Sean Strickland, right? And if it's, you know, maybe in Africa or Abu Dhabi or someplace overseas where Hamzok can go easily without a potential hiccup, then they're going to put Hamzok. And I know that a lot of people have raised that question about Hamzot's traveling, and I know he said like there's no problem, but I think we've all heard that there is a problem. While I do agree that it does handcuff the UFC a little bit in terms of titles because they put on so many shows in Vegas and America, the UFC has expanded so deep into other territories. Like Turkey Al-Shake is paying a boatload of money to get the UFC to come back there in February.

If they get Hamzot as a champion, he's only going to fight once or twice a year. You can easily go to Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia for those fights. Like, I'm not saying that you make that concession for everybody, but Hamzat is a star. People love him. And it's only one or two fights a year. They go there once or twice a year. So I understand the logistics and the difficulties of, like, not being able to come to Vegas. But Saudi Arabia is going to pay you $20, $30 million to put on a show there.

you do Hamzot in Saudi Arabia and then you do a second title defense in Abu Dhabi like it's not that day and they're going to get paid for it so while I understand it's an obstacle it's not the end all be all like if he can fight in South Africa and do the fight with DDP down there that's a massive

massive fight I can't say I can't believe they're going to just nix Hamzot because he can't get to the U.S. There's just too many opportunities there and they're doing enough shows now overseas to where the EOC be like yeah we'll have a middleweight that can only fight in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. It's fine.

Well, I was just, I brought that up thinking, okay, maybe that has something to do with the decision-making process here. And particularly, I don't think they are committed to South Africa yet, right? They don't have it nailed down yet, which I think may play a role in that also. And you would know way more about that than me. Yeah, I know they've talked about it and they said they're working on it, but I don't think it's done. I don't think it's going to happen like tomorrow.

You know what I mean? Like, I think this is like probably deep into 2025 when they would actually realistically do that. But I agree. Like, on paper, you're absolutely right. But I just think, especially now with the partnership they have with Saudi Arabia on top of Abu Dhabi, you know, I just think like. You know, with the partnership with Saudi Arabia, of course you want to Hamzaa. Yeah. A hundred percent.

I mean, that's a, that's a no-brainer. Like, you don't even. But you don't even want to put Sean Strickland on a plane to Saudi Arabia anyway. I mean, remember, like remember when Abu Dhabi got announced originally, we were all assuming it was going to be Islam, because Islam's got a massive fan base over there. He had the thumb injury, he couldn't do it. Islam can obviously fight in the States.

He fought in the States in May. But, you know, guys that have that fan base over there, that's why they want them over there. Well, if you make a champion, then you've already got it built in. Like, Hamzlott's your guy. You headline every Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia pay-per view with Hamzla. he's champion. I don't think that's the worst idea in the world.

Like, you know, I get it. I understand you want to make him a star in the States as well, but they're getting paid a lot of money to go over there. And that fan base is going to show out for Hamzot. So just put him there. Let him be there. And speaking of traveling around to different parts of the world, now we also have potential gigantic European star in Ilya, right,

with what he did. I mean, I'm just blown away that he knocked Maxx. out like that. It was interested because, you know, people were, were given Max one of those rounds. And when I'm watching it, I was like, you know, I could see where like a judge or somebody would give them the round. But I guarantee both of them walk back to their corners. Max sitting down thinking, man, Ilya's got this.

And Ilya sitting down saying, I got this. It was. Like the demeanor and the feel of that fight. Like Max was searching is what it felt like And wasn't finding where Ilya was like Dude your time's coming What was scary about that fight for me is even again I did get I think I gave one of the rounds to Max

I think maybe the first one and then I gave the second to Teporia And it was just again based on volume And a couple of you know extra punches here or there But what was scary about Ilya in that fight Is when you watch that first round He threw a couple of shots where he's like he was an inch away He was just finding his range It wasn't a matter of like

It was just like, it felt like, I'm not even kidding. I'm not saying this because like I picked wrong. I picked Max. I thought Max could get it done. But that first round started, I was throwing and coming after him and coming real. I was like, there was a moment in the first round where I sit at my computer going, oh shit.

This is like, this is because Ilya just showed no fear. And like there were a couple of those that just went whizzing right by Max's head. I'm like, man, if he lands one of those, it's going to be a bad night at the office. And boy, man, I mean, when he caught Max with that shot and hurt him, and then knocked. Dude, we've seen Max take bombs from some of the best lightweights in the world. We saw him take shots from Dust of Pori.

He was one of the hardest hitting guys in the sport. What Ilya did was unreal. A lot bigger than Ilya, too. And, you know, that was what I said, you know, leading into this fight. I said, look, what I lilia is going to have to do at some point is laying that fight-changing shot. I thought that he'd, okay, I knew that he'd landed the fight-changing shot when he hurt Max. I thought for sure Max was going to come back, though. Right?

Like I thought, okay, there's that fight changing shot. It's really going to be Ilya beating up Max now, you know, for the next, you know, at least round or two. But, you know, Max, he's going to stick around. And I was just so impressive how Ilya just took his time, you know, placed his shots so well. And just some of the best boxing, I think we've seen in MMA. And the way that he strategizes everything so well. keeps himself in such good position all the time. And that calf kick, I think, when I was watching, I kept saying that calf kick was actually

the game changer in that fight. As you notice, Max switched to Southpaw, I believe in a third round at the beginning of the round. And he stopped in the first round. He was throwing that left kick to Ilya's right arm a lot and having good success with it. And that's, you know, the smart thing to do, you know, to keep that right. hand at bay the whole time. And then he stopped doing it. And I think it was because

that I had calf kick. Yeah. You could definitely tell those leg was affected. Like he was definitely favored that leg after a couple of those calf kicks. Yeah. So that's the, those little things like that is what's so fascinating to watch when you

kind of understand what's going on. Like if you're going out to the gym and sparring your friends all the time and you start picking up on those little nuances, like that calf kick to me is why he was able to knock out Max Holloway with his hands, right? He didn't stop beneath the calf kick. He didn't, you know, just simply outbox him, but he used the calf kick,

messed up Max's left leg, stopped Max from throwing that left leg to Ilya's arm so much, which opened his right hand up. I think it was the hook that actually heard him first, and then he dropped him with the right hand. But those little sequences, man, that was, that's what makes Ily's. is so special, you know, because he's such a good boxer, but those other little things that funnel you into his boxing, that's some very high-level stuff right there that really, you know, gets my blood pumping to watch. Welcome aboard Air Canada.

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Conditions and exclusions apply. Yeah, I mean, it's just like I said, he could have, I mean, he could have beaten, if he beat Max Holloway anyway, I would have been impressed with the fact that he knocked him out was just unbelievable. And I had this feeling, had this feeling after the fight.

And I know people get so sick of us talking about Connor McGregor, but I had this feeling after this fight. I said, I think Ilya is the second coming of Connor McGregor. Let me explain what I mean by that. He goes out there and absolutely terminates guys that aren't supposed to be terminated. That's what Connor did early on. And one thing I was like, oh, it's generally, it wasn't every time. But one thing I always remember about Connor early on is like when Connor would win,

like he would say all kinds of crazy shit before a fight and then go in and win and he was usually pretty respectful afterwards, right? Like he would like pay credit to a guy or whatever. I remember that a couple times. Ilya was saying all kinds of madness about Max leading into the fight. I'm going to dust this guy off and meet him in the center of the octagon. We're going to throw down, blah, blah, blah, blah. After the fight, praised Max, as he should.

Max is a legend. How can you not like Max Holloway? But I think what we saw on Saturday night, and again, to a lesser extent with Alexander Volcanowski, because Alex was great, but Alex was never a – Alex really hasn't been a star, right? Like, Alex is a great champion. He hadn't really been like a big draw. Max is. Max is a bit of it is a draw.

To go out and do what he did to Alex and then go out and did what he did to Max Holloway. You could just argue he's already knocked out two of the top three. By the way, it's ever. Jose Aldo being the other guy and obviously Jose is not there anymore. Like the star power for Ilya to Poria now with Spain and Georgia, obviously Georgia is a much smaller country, but Spain is very much behind him. This might be the next guy. Like in terms of star power? like he might be the guy

like Iliate Soporia might be the Connor replacement that they need because no one's ever going to be Connor and I'm not trying to make that comparison in that regard I'm just saying like in terms of star power I think I'llie could be that guy interesting

because you know there's a lot of different types of stars and star power right there's the the GSP stars that are respectful and go in and they become stars because they keep winning right and then there's the Connor type stars or the Sean O'Malley's, right, who have some, you know, you know, some, a different aura about them, particularly Connor, where there's, you know, the, the shit talking, the,

the antics and things like that. And that just amplifies their star power. And then, you know, of course, they have to go in and get the job done, too. And Ilya doesn't really, to me, I mean, you know, he talks a good game, you know, but he doesn't have that side of things, all the antics and everything. And I think that'll limit his star power, at least in America, because that's what Americans want. We're a group of fucking bloodthirsty barbarians that, you know, I don't know. Overall, that's what we like.

We like the drama. The Europeans fan base, I can see him tapping hard into that, right? I'm not going to speak for Europeans, you know, in terms of what they like to see. But I do believe, I do agree with you, they have a star over there to that level. Whether that translates into America, I'm not sure about that, though. I mean, he's obviously going to be highly respected. He's already, I mean, I think he's got a lot for Fighter of the Year this year. I think, you know, he's got a long reign ahead of him.

you know, he might end up, you know, he's still got a long way to go to be up there with the GSP's and the Anderson Silvas. But he's right on that path. But, you know, Connor is, you know, when you bring him up, like, it's just a different level of stardom when you add in the antics and the drama. Yeah, you're not wrong. I just think that, you know, Ilya's not, doesn't say, doesn't go full on Connor crazy, but he does have a little bit. of that or around him like that you know like there was a time when conner had like an or of invincibility around him like you just felt like like when he fought eddie alvarez like Eddie alvers a legend Eddie alvers one of the best fighters of that weight class of all time

Eddie just looked like he was a deer in the headlights going against Connor like from the press conference to the way he ends like he just it was a whole different animal going against the Connor McGregor in there now I don't think that was the case with you know max holloway you could argue is a bigger star than illiate to poury at that point right like max is a is a well-known quantity what he did at uc 300 i mean come on um but ilia just has this like i know this we used to say this about rory macdonald he almost has this like american psycho like just this cool calm demeanor and then he gets in there and he's a fucking animal like it's just there's and as you said there's different stars like you know there's there's

the trash talking you know shana mallis and the kana malle's and the kana mcgrgers and then you mentioned the george st pierre's i feel like ilia is almost like a bit of a hot hybrid because he did he did say some wild stuff about max i'm going to knock him out of a point he did say look he never got disrespectful he never got like he never started talking about his family crazy shit like that but he goes in there and just absolutely performs like an animal like ilia to me could be that like hybrid like he's not going to go full connor but he's also not going to be gsp like he's kind of like right in the middle there and and and i think that that and again and i think as much as people don't like to talk about it i think how to you have

having that fan base behind him, Spain and Georgia, that matters. Because we just, Americans don't get behind Americans the way that other countries get behind their guys. And maybe it's because we have so many. I'm not trying to sound egotistical. But like, in America, it's like if you're from California or you're from Oregon or you're from, you know, New York. You get New York behind you. Not the entire country. All of America doesn't typically get behind American athletes until it's like the Olympics, right?

Like that's what we get behind America. But in Spain, they have one guy. They have Ilya and they're fucking going to champion that guy to the ends of the earth. Just like Connor did with Ireland, like Bispin did with England. Like it's different. That's why I'm like, I get a little bit of Connor thing. But I think he's like a good hybrid. Like because afterwards he was just, he was Maxis Diss, praised him.

What a legend. What an honor to go in there with. I loved everything he said. Even when he came with, when Volcanowski came in the cage, he's like, if anyone deserves it, you deserve it. You know, you're a champ. I look forward to it. Says all the right things, does all the right things.

I think he's kind of like that perfect hybrid like GSP and Connor. Yeah, so now, you know, the difference between him and a guy like Connor, I kind of get sick of saying his name, but, you know, the difference is, you know, Connor was losing and still became bigger and bigger star, even as he's losing, right? And we still, we talk about him now, right? fucking, what, four or five years after he's even fought? And, you know, I don't know if Philly is that guy. You know, if he doesn't go out and dominate his next however many fights, you know,

like a GSP or, or Anderson Silver, you know, I don't know where his ceiling in terms of stardom is going to be without that domination also. Whereas Connor, I mean, you know, he dominated for a quick minute, you know, very impressively. But, you know, when it was over, it was over. And we kept talking about them. You know, I don't know if Ilya has that, that vibe yet. You know, it's a vibe. Like, that's why we're still talking about, he's got the, he's got the fucking vibe, right?

He's still in, still in the media all the time. You know, I don't know how many times, you know, if he tweets something, like all the media sites jump on it. like, Ilya's got light years to go to get to that. Yeah. And also, I think, like another example is like Nate,

like Nate Diaz. When you look at Nate Diaz's record, like Nate Diaz's record is not good. Like, it's not a good record. But after he had the Conner fight, he took a whole other level of start. And yes,

it was because of the Conner fight, he reached that. But now he's like, he's his own planet. Like, we all know Nate Diaz. When Nate Diaz talks, we listen. That's just part of it.

I mean, you saw the thing with Brendan Scha. Like, he gets into the Brennan's shop. That thing. blows up. The dumbest, the dumbest rivalry that I could think of right now is just Nate Diaz and Brandon Scha. And by the way, not dumb in the sense of like, in the sense like they're dumb. I'm saying like, why are we like, huh, Brennan Schen? Because I love Nate Diaz.

Nate Diaz's lightweight. Brennan Schaub is a heavyweight just based on physics alone. That's not really a fight that anyone should want to see. But that's because when Nate talks, we listen. Connors, he talks, we listen. You're absolutely right. He's not, he's certainly not there yet. And maybe he never will be. We may be looking at like, again, like, like, a couple of unicorns there. And again, Nate's unicorn is because of Connor. That's where he got to start him. But yeah, I just, I think I'llie's got something.

Like, I just think there's something about him that's, that's magnetic. As far as what comes next, I think they talk about doing the Volcanowski rematch. And he certainly is anyone that deserves it he does. I don't know how excited I am about that rematch, just because it wasn't like the first fight. It was close. And yes, I know he was coming off the knockout and everything. but I don't know. Like me personally,

like, am I wrong I thinking I'd kind of rather see Diego Lopez? Am I wrong I thinking that? I knew you're going to say. The fact is it's a rematch, right? And, you know, rematches like that where a guy gets finished fairly quickly, you know,

it's just, yeah, like you said, it's just not as exciting as seeing some fresh blood in there. And, you know, Ilya right now is the fresh blood, right? We've seen Max and Falk. And, you know,

so he's the fresh blood. that's come in and, you know, kicked out the old guard. And we're, and I think there's a little feeling in, in us that's like, okay, the old guard is the old guard now. Let's bring in the new guys. So I get where you're coming from. But I also do still feel like on paper, you know, it's Alex, you know, he's, you know, on paper.

I don't, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm coming from, where your gut feeling is like, dude, I'm UFC. I want Diego in there. But Alex does deserve it, right? He does. The one thing I will, I will give credit for Alex is this, that he took time off. Like, that was what scared me because I think he did come back too soon from the Islam

knockout. I'm not taking anything away from I'm just saying, like, I think he wanted to come back and he came back a little too soon, and I think it probably cost him. He took a year off. He's been off for basically a year now. He's been all since February, and he's not going to, fight until at least next year. I think that's good.

So, yeah, you're right. He deserves it. But just in my head, I'm like, man, Lopez and I'll be a fucking fun fight. Them to rematching in Europe, you know, ideally Spain, that's a big fight. That's probably a bigger fight than Diego Lopez. Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. What do you make of, what do you make Ili already talking? Like, he's talked about him.

He's also kind of hinted other ways as well about, like, doing more. multiple divisions. Like, I'm so over it. I talked to Demetri's Johnson last week. That interview will come out in a couple of days. I mentioned you because I was talking to DJ, and of course, DJ loves you. I said, we were talking to his 11 title defenses, and he flat-out said, he's like, yeah, that's a record that'll never be broken. Because no one wants to defend their titles anymore. Like, no one wants to, no one wants to just stay in division division. Even Dana on Saturday night, it's like, I like when a guy wipes out a division before he starts talking about other divisions. I appreciate it. That's another Connor thing.

Like, Connor did it. Now everyone wants to do it. Dude, if I'm, if I'm Ilya, like, I know Dustoporri, it was like, I want Ilya or Max. I get it. That would be a big fight. But, dude, go out and fight Volk, fight Diego Lopez. There's going to be another guy coming up in featherweight somewhere along the

lines. You know what I mean? Get five or six title defenses in and then worry about lightweight or whatever. You know what I mean? I think welterweight is probably way. I just, I think he's way undersized for that. but yeah i'm kind of indifferent to it honestly and i get why they want to do it i mean you move up and wait it's a win-win for you right i mean you go up and you lose like okay i'm still the champ

down here so they have nothing to lose by shooting for those stars but so i'm i'm more or less indifferent to it and you know as long as the matchups make sense like like ilia going up to fight Islam, you know, it just seems like, you know, you've got to prove more to me than what you've done so far to go up and fight Islam, right? You better beat Diego Lopez, right? Now, if you beat Diego Lopez, you know, or rematch Alex, beat him handedly, you beat Diego Lopez. I think, like, personally, like, I would be a lot more open to it. They'd say, okay, you know, especially if he beats them very well, you know, shows some take down defense and things like that. but, you know, we've seen you hurt before.

You know, you're not Hamzat, right? Well, even Hamzah, we've seen him hurt. You know, so, yeah, that's a tough. Like when Connor did it, you know, I mean, like you said, he had that aura of invincibility. I don't think that I don't have the feeling right now, the Ili is invincible. Like he is, you know, my gut feeling says, like,

there's still chinks in there and Islam is going to expose those. chinks. You know, so it's like it doesn't really excite me that much. But again, I'm more or less indifferent to it because, you know, I like watching those fights. Like, I would totally watch that fight. I think we all would. But, but I agree. I agree with you guys too, though. Like, you know, blow out the division, become the biggest star that you can. You know, if you're that good and can do it, like, yeah, build your stardom as a multiple time defending champion and then go up. and now it's a twice as big fight anyway. You know, when Alex, when Alex did it,

like he was a gigantic star, right? Like he fucking, you know, beat Izzy. So, yeah, maybe, I mean, maybe, well, I guess, I mean, I'll probably pretty close to that, too. Just beat Max and Volk. So I'm kind of indifferent to it. Yeah, I'd like to see him do the rematch with Volk and Lopez. Then maybe, maybe depending on how it plays out,

maybe you get the winner of Movesar and Al Jermaine, just because those are two really high-level grapplers so you can kind of see like, okay, you're taking out a couple striker. I know Diego is a very high-level grappler, but he's more jiu-jitsu, not necessarily wrestling. Moe-s-sarer, more wrestling. You take out, that's three more fights.

I think that's doable, and then you start talking about lightweight, and I don't know if Islam's even going to be around at that point. I don't know if Islam's going to play, you know, stick around. I mean, he's got Armin probably, you know, coming up next. That's a hell of a good fight. But, yeah, I just...

Islam might be looking at moving up, right? Yeah, so I mean, I just, like, I just, I don't think it needs to rush, I guess, so I'm getting at. Like, I get it where you're saying, like, indifferent to it, but like, and I'm not saying I wouldn't get excited for it. I'm just saying there's still some challenges. Like, I know you took out Vulcan Holloway and that's pretty fucking impressive, but, you know, do a couple more and then, you know. Yeah, we also have taken into account the fact that like, like an Alex prayer moving up, like he was a gigantic fucking 1A5 and he was killing himself to get there and still dominating. and we get the feeling it's probably more healthy for you a 205 anyway go up stay up cool we talk about someone like ilia like he's not a big guy he i was actually pretty shocked at how

much max dwarfed him like he was way smaller and he's going to be a lot smaller than islam too so you know when we kind of take it and it doesn't appear at least um you know from the outside looking at he's destroyed himself to get down there um you know, in weight. So, you know, I think that's the other kind of X factor in all this, you know, when guys talk about moving up. Yeah, you got to think about that. I mean, guys the lightweight are massive. Like, these guys are freaking huge. You know what I mean? Like, he's going to be giving up a lot of stuff. Like, I was with you. I was like, damn, I didn't realize how small he was compared to Max, like, in terms of height. He's going to be giving up a lot

and he's also going to be giving up size and strength to Islam. I don't care how prepared you are. Islam's a fucking, you know, a wrecking machine. That's like the, You know, that's a whole other animal. You can even argue like Armand, that would be another animal. He's a big dude, too. So, yeah, I just, dude, you got some time. You got time. He's like 27, I think 27.

Like, you got time, dude. Take a couple years. Rule over your division. If you do what I, you do what I'm talking about. You take out Volk again. You take out Diego Lopez. You take out Mosar. Then we'll start talking about Islam, you know, at that point.

But don't, you know, there's no rush, I guess, what I'm getting at. There's no rush. Yeah, or Al Jemaine. That fight's not done yet. Yeah. I'm just saying most are like because he's obviously he's higher ranked right now. But yeah, I mean, Al Jermaine, same guy.

And Al Jamein's an incredible wrestler. Like he's Al Jemaine, I can't imagine is going to sit out there on the outside and play the boxing game with Ilya to pour you. Or if you do, you're wildly crazy. So. Yeah, I mean, you never know, right? Like, if there's one thing we learned about this sport over the years,

is like any fucking thing can happen right like we can not predict a god damn thing you know sometimes it works out the way we predict it right like i i was one-in-one over the weekend the vast majority of the time we're we're shocked every weekend that's why we love a fucking UFC right we're constantly shocked and let's not let dude i'm telling you man diega lopez hits like a fucking truck don't count that dude out man he's a big boy too like that's a big featherweight. Like, don't count Diego Lopez for being, I'm not saying it's going to happen.

I'm just saying like, don't count him out from beating Elliott to Port either. That's a big boy right there. He's got great grappling, huge hands. It's an interesting matchup. You think that Diego needs another fighter is going to have to fight again before he gets the title shot, though?

Probably just because of timing, because, you know, much like the Strickland thing. I think Strickland kind of shot himself in the foot a little bit by saying, I'm just going to wait. because you wait and other things happen. Like we got Mosaar and Al Jamban coming up, you know, in December. Like, I'm not saying these, because I don't think they need to give him like Max

because then if Max wins, then you just eliminated a contender. But there's other fights out there for him. Like, you know, let Diego stay busy, you know, maybe put him as the co-main event on the Alex Iliot-Teporia card and then just naturally moves right into a title fight if he wins. I mean, it's super impressive to do what he did to Brian Ortega. But, yeah, let him fight, you know, I don't know who. I don't know. I don't necessarily need to, you know, maybe he gets like a Josh Emmett who's out there.

I know, you know, Lorone Murphy called out Josh Emmett, but maybe like a Josh Emmett or someone of that level and let him get one more fight, stay busy, and then move into the title fight. Because you're right. Like, listen, I'm prisoner in the moment. I think Diego and I'll be fun. But you're right. Or Volk deserves it. He's a champ. He deserves it.

Let him get one more. Yeah, I was just to say that's what puts. Diego is such a sticky position because what is he two or three at this point? So, you know, all the guys that he might potentially fight, he's going to be fighting down, right? So if he's going to stay in busy, he's given somebody else an opportunity. So, and he does come across me like the type of guy who's down for that. He's like, let's fucking go. Let's fight.

But we've seen that play out the wrong way more than once. Yeah, I mean, ideally, like, just because of timing, like I think Volk and Lowe can Lopez would be a great fight. Like, let them battle it out and the winner gets Ilya. I mean, I'll just fought. So I'm not, like,

I know that Volk wants to fight in Sydney in February. I mean, I'm just saying, like, maybe, again, I'm not going to fault Volk of Eweights. Certainly not.

But if you could do Volk and Lopez in February and the winner fights Ilya, I'm just saying it's not the worst idea in the world. Oh, I think that's solid because, you know, and then you got, like you said,

you have Mofsar and Al Jermain fighting. and it's kind of okay, you know, now we, now, you know, the winners of each fight, you know, things can get, people like all that drama in the division, right? Who's getting the shot, you know, who kind of perform better, who's the man of the molemate? So, you know, it forces those guys to go into those fights where they have to take the opportunity now. They got to, you know, after they win, they got to take that opportunity on the mic, you know, in the media, they got to take their opportunity. you know the UFC loves that right

they put you in that position so that might be a great idea after all yeah might not be the worst I didn't know you did before we get out of here you did say one thing and I want to I want to hear you explain this because you're not alone in what you said but you mentioned it kind of in passing earlier he said

Iliate Tepore is the fight of the year now the consensus before Saturday was Alex Prair is clearly the fight of the year three fights three title defenses three knockouts how do you not give it to them but I see a lot of people coming around on Ilya Tupori and I was saying you knock out

Alexander Volcanowski and Max Holloway in the same year I don't care that Alex has one more title defense you can't beat that so your argument is there's no doubt Iliot Tupori's fight in the year yeah it's just hard man because you know Alex didn't knock out three you know pound for pound grates or two he fought three times but you know

he knocked out two pound for pound grates and, you know, as great as those guys were, the Alex fought, they weren't Holloway or Volcanowski. And I don't think anybody expected Iliath, I don't think anybody expected anybody on this planet to do what Ilya did. You know, if Max and Volk had fought, you know, 170-pounder guys, like, like, I don't think they would have expected for both of them to just get, you know, knocked out.

So, you know, as impressive as Alex was, This is one of those where, like, you know, it's too bad. We can't just have two-fighter of the year awards because they both deserve it. You know, you don't want to take a damn thing away from Alex. But, you know, the year's not over yet either, right? I don't think any, I don't know if anybody else said potential contenders are fighting the rest of the year. I think the only person who could have an argument maybe is Bilal if he goes out there and beat Shavkat. But, yeah.

I think the problem is, and this is, I, I think, I mean, dude, go back and listen to our episode and talk about Alex Prayer. Like, I was full on Alex Prairah mode, and I still love Alex Pereira. Because when you talk about these arguments, fight of the year, whatever, you got to, you're getting down in like the nitty gritty, right? Like, you got to get into details. And while I totally understand Alex doing it three times and basically doing it three times in more or less like five months is incredibly, like that's unbelievable. Like that's unbelievable to do from April to October and do what he did. That's pretty remarkable.

I like Jamal Hill. I like Yeri Pajasca. And I like Kolo Roundtree. Well, you look at career resumes. None of those three come close to what Volcanovsky or Holloway have done. That's not a knock on them. I'm saying they're very good fighters. But none of them have had the career of a Volcanowski or Holloway.

That in and of itself is big. But then you add on, he knocked them both out. He didn't beat them. He didn't split decision them. He knocked them both out. I agree. Like, I love Alex. And you're right.

Like, in a perfect world, you give two five of the year awards, but you can only give one. Dude, like, and I think Bilal is the only guy who could even have an argument. He goes out there and pulls off the upset against Shab, got a guy that everyone thinks is going to beat him, which I still think is ridiculous. That would be super impressive. But Leon, even Leon, as good as Leon, Leon didn't have that career resume that Volcanozky and Holloway have. you beat the you just beat two of the three greatest featherways of all time in one year and you knocked them both out

like that's remarkable yeah that's uh I don't think that you can compare to that like it so I'm all on the Iliot train for the fight of the year again I wish we could give something to Alex

because you know what he did like you said it was remarkable but you know it wasn't Max Holloway and Volcanowski. If Alex had to John Jones, right, we'd be like, okay, you got it, buddy. Yeah. That wasn't available to him. And look, Alex beat the guys that were available.

Ilya beat the two best, you know, two of the best legends, you know, career winners in the history of this sport. And like you said, knocked them out. like Max Holloway does not get knocked out. Like nobody knocks out Max Holloway. And Max, and you can't like, and you look at Max's career, like he's gone with a ton of guys that are knockout strikers. Like he went, I know he lost to Volcanowski three times. Didn't get knocked out by Volcanowski three times.

He fought Dustin Porre, one of the hardest hitters ever in this sport, didn't get knocked down. He fought Justin Gaichie, one of the like legendary finishers in our sport, didn't get knocked down in ended up pulling off one of the craziest knockouts of all time. He fought Connor. I understand Connor blew his knee out and they were both very early on in their careers, but we can't doubt, like at his best, Connor was a lethal striker with nasty knockout power.

He went three rounds with Connor. There's enough proof out there so you don't knock out Max Holloway. And I'll just do it inside three rounds. Exactly. So you got to give it to I, right? I think that debate's pretty well settled, right? I think most people are going to be on that train now.

Yeah, and listen, dude, I mean, I'm sure Alex is crying all the way to the bank from all the money he's made this year. Like, yeah, you can hand over the five of the year word. They've paid me millions to go, you know, murk these three dudes in 2024. I'll cry myself to sleep on my stacks of $100 bills. I'm sure he'll be fine. But, yeah, I mean, dude, it's, like I said, the only guy I can see in making an argument is Bilau if he beat Shavkat. But even that, I think, is still a little harder just because of who Max and Volkar. Yeah, Bilau, you know, is certainly get a consolation prize, right?

And beating, you know, Leon was great. It's a, you know, his problem is he decisions everybody, right? Yeah. And if he wins with Shopcott, I think we're all assuming it's probably going to be a decision, you know. So that's going to be his biggest thing. If he went in and, you know, just mauled Leon Edwards and then went in just mulled Leon Edwards and then went in just mauled shopcott i think you'd have us you know at least an argument you know you're you don't have the star power to to get you know the actual award from alix perrera though yeah yeah like i said

that's the only that's the only that's the only argument you could that's the only if you're going to make an argument that's the only guy left that could make the argument but even that like tough one yeah you can't really make the argument like but i mean listen that's i know it sucks like that's the year. Like sometimes, sometimes fight a year. Like when we come to the end of the year, you're just like, yeah, it's pretty much like we know who gets it this year. You know, you kind of might feel bad for Bilau and Alex.

They both end up could have incredible years, but then you got to look at what Ilya Taboria did. And I think, I don't think I'm wrong in thinking, like if you were going to rank the three greatest featherweights of all time, it'd be Aldo, Holloway, and Volk, right? Like, I think that's pretty clear. Yeah, I think it's an easy answer, yeah. And he just beat two of the three. That's ridiculous.

Yeah, I don't know if we have seen that really since John Jones, right? When he first came on and, you know, he beat Shogun, beat Machita, Rampage. I mean, you know, he was just demolishing guys. I can't think of anyone where we've seen beat that level of competition, particularly that early on. Yeah, and even in John's case, like not all of those were finished. Like he went to a decision with Rashad Evans. He went to decision with D.C. Not that it's a bad thing to go to decision with D.C., but even that, like, he didn't

do what Toporia did. Like, I'm not saying, you know, my opinion of John Jones, I think he's the greatest of all time, but like, to knock out those guys.

Like, that to me is what's even wilder. Like, he didn't just beat him. He knocked him out. Like, again, I'd be just, I'd be super impressed we beat them. I'm unbelievably impressed

that he knocked them both out. Both guys who are good strike, great strikers. They're elite strikers. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's, I think that's pretty well settled then. I'll be a lot of the year.

Yeah, 100% man, what a year, dude, God. When you think, just think about that. Like, dude, imagine, like, fighting those two guys in the same year. No, no, you knocked them both out in the same year. Like, dude, all the flowers, man, all the paychecks, all the flowers. Like, dude, you've earned it this year, man. I'm excited to see what the future holds for him, you know?

I think it's going to be a fun ride watching Elliott to pour it for the next however many years. Real quick, before we get out of here, I just got, you know, obviously Magumet Angola went out there, got a big wins. looks like he's going to get his title shot against Pereira very good about that hit the title shot did Dana say that he did he's like yeah that looks like what we're going to do so

I'm happy for him wasn't you know wasn't you didn't go out there and just you know knock him down and beat him up but he won and dude you can't deny the guy anymore but I got to ask you as a guy who loves striking what did you think of a sharp bullets double spinning back fist knockout was that not one of the wildest

fucking things you've ever seen yeah so that was awesome it wasn't the wildest he ever see because I actually teach that technique to some of my guys at the gym. And my, it's so funny, because as soon as it happened, my guy that was sitting right next to me watching, his name's Josh Pereira, he fights in like an LFA and 5-0 undefeated pro. He hits that in sparring occasionally, actually, like almost identical to the way that Shafcott did it, or Shara did it. So, yeah, I have seen it, but I've never seen it executed in a live match, only in sparring. So, fuck yeah, Shara. He's another guy. Can't wait to see him fight everybody.

Dude, it took a replay for me to know what happened. It happened so quick. I was like, what the fuck did he hit him with? Because the angle of the camera, I couldn't see it right. They showed the replay. I was like, holy shit. He hit it with two backers. Yeah. That's one of those I teach, but can't do. I've never, hit it live before but if I'm teaching a class on spinning shit I'm like I'm like you know you can do this like you know I always tell the class

like I've never done it promoting you to do it but you can do it I'm sure it's possible and now everybody's going to be practicing it next week I bet we I bet we see more of them in the future now they showed they showed his workout he was practicing it during the workout

no one was really like thinking about it that moment but he was like showing it off you know probably play into the crowd a little bit, then you go and pull it off in a fight. Yeah, that was, that was awesome, man. That was a great performance by Shara. Dude, what an incredible knockout, man. I love it. It's like after the Joaquin Buckley knockout on input, like everyone's going to be practicing that.

Like, now everyone's going to be practicing the double spinning back fist to see if they can pull it off. Yeah, well, the Yonkeem Buckley, that was a one and a million shot. I've never seen nobody do that before. So, yeah, I wouldn't even try to teach that. But, man, yeah, that was, that was. nice man. I like that. And with Ankaliev, you know, it's a, I was, I'm surprised to say that Dana gave him the shot because obviously he deserves it, you know, but we all know that that word

doesn't mean a lot in this sport. But that was not, I was, I was feeling bad for Ankaa, because I was like, man, that was not a title earning performance. But it was really, Rakech wasn't allowing it to be, like he would not engage with him. So, I'm so happy that he's getting that shot. And I'm actually excited to see that fight. I think Al-Kulayev may not be the biggest fight, right? Because he's not the famous guy. But I think he has a good shot of winning that fight.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree. And also, like I said, I appreciate that Dana, like, said he was impressed and he didn't dog him. Because I think you could blame Rackich as much as anything for that fight, not being better because he was on his back foot the entire time circling away from Ankelaev. Like, he wasn't giving Ankalyev a lot to work with. You know what I mean? Like, you have to engage a little bit.

And he wasn't. And, you know, and also if you're Ankelyab, you don't do something stupid. Like, he's still a dangerous guy. You don't just go hog wild and hope you get a knockout just for the sake of impressing people. And then you get caught because then it all goes away. So, yeah, I was actually waiting for Dana to be like, oh, I don't know. That was not like that good. No, he was like, no, I was impressed.

Yeah, he's going to get it. I was like, thanks, Dana. Good job, Dana. We talked about last week. We know Uncle I have's problem here too, right? Alex has choices. Right? Is Alex going to do that fight?

Is Alex, you know, you know, we said last week, Alex is going to wait for John Jones. Most like, I mean, if you're Alex, that's what we say do, right? If I'm as manager, you know, don't even talk to data for the next however many weeks. Well, we got three weeks or four weeks until. Less than, less than. three weeks now, yeah, less than three weeks.

Like, put your phone on silent. Don't pick up when Dana calls. Just defer to your manager. Your manager says, hey, he's in the jungle, you know, doing some philanthropy or some shit. Like, wait for John Jones, you know, or, you know, Steve A might beat him still. But, yeah, I think that's the tough position

that Uncle I have is in here. Yeah, I agree. Well, yeah, like I said, maybe you only has to wait a few weeks because if John fights wins and retires or Steve A wins and retires, then maybe it doesn't, you know, but, you know, Aspinall is still out there.

That's still a big fight too. And, you know, so, I mean, yeah, there's no guarantees. When you're Alex Pereer right now, Alex Pereer's got every option available to him. Exactly.

We know that John's talked about retiring after this fight, but we know that money talks very fucking loudly. And Alex Pereira is the money fight. So, yeah, he may, say he's retiring but you know you put

you know you start putting eight figures in front of somebody's face and there's like oh all right you know yeah that's what he said you had Alex Alex sitting there cage side watching it you know come on now like you know just and as you said I agree with you you said that stylistically it should be a it's a that's not

a that's an easier fight for John right? Yeah yeah that's a fight you want to drop Jones yeah like dude you're going to risk it against the guy like Aspinall you got a chance to go out there to fight Alex in a much bigger fight, get paid a shit ton of money and stylistically a guy you should beat, you know, pretty handling. I'm not saying he will because Alex is a dangerous motherfucker, but it's a fight you should

win versus Aspinall. I can't tell you for sure you're going to beat Aspinall. It doesn't get much more tempting than that. So it's you got exciting rest of the years still ahead of us, I think. Absolutely. Absolutely. So UFC 308's in the books this weekend. We got UFC Edmonton and then next weekend another card.

and then obviously we're rolling to MSG. We're going to probably start talking about MSG sooner rather than later because, of course, John Jones, Stevie Miochich is just a massive, massive fight. How can we not want to talk about that? Obviously, this weekend was an incredible event. UFC 308 kind of lived up to expectations. What a crazy night it was. And I think we're going to be talking about Iliot Tuporia for quite some time.

That dude's a monster. Matt, if people want to support you, throw you some support. Where can they find you? Where can they check out your stuff? Matt I am the immortal Instagram and Twitter, the Immortal Matt Brown on Facebook. all you motherfuckers should be taking creatine. So go to my link in bio on Instagram or at try underscore create on Instagram and get, I think, 20 or 30% off of your order of creatine. And if I need to talk more about creatine, I fucking will.

But you should know, just Google it. It's for everybody young and old, male, female, quit making excuses, buy some goddamn creatine. There you go. As always, we want to say big thank you. everyone that tunes in the podcast. Make sure you check us on all of your favorite podcast, platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and of course over on the best website in the world, MMAFighting.com. For Matt Brown, I am Damon Martin.

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