MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Praises Sean O’Malley, Disagrees with Dana White Regarding Chris Weidman’s Future After UFC 292

Episode Date: August 22, 2023

On the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, Matt Brown returns from hiatus to join MMA Fighting senior reporter Damon Martin to discuss the fallout from UFC 292 this past Saturday. In the main event, Sean O’Malley scored a dramatic second round knockout to beat Aljamain Sterling to become UFC bantamweight champion for the first time. Brown praises O’Malley’s performance while also taking one on the chin after he picked Sterling to win ahead of the fight. We’ll also discuss Ian Garry’s huge win over Neil Magny and if he deserves any criticism for not getting the finish with his opponent clearly compromised during the fight. We’ll also play matchmaker for Garry to see what should be next for him after the win at UFC 292. Brown will also react to Chris Weidman’s long awaited return to action following a devastating broken leg that could have easily ended his career. In the wake of Weidman’s loss, Brown credits Brad Tavares for getting the job done but he also disagrees with UFC president Dana White when it comes to Weidman’s future. All this and more on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. the Writer!  Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify Read More: MMA Fighting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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To the fighter versus the writer, I'm your host as always, Damon Martin, and he is back for the attack after a two-week break from the show on vacation. He is UFC legend Matt Brown. Matt, welcome back. It's been a weird show without your own, man. Yeah, I missed all you motherfuckers.

I had to come back. Even though I was chilling on the fucking beach, I was like, man, this just isn't as good as hanging out with Damon Martin and talking to MMA fans. Dude, the photo you posted on Instagram with you drinking out of a coconut, but then somebody remade it with like the hellfire behind it, it had to be like the best Photoshop of all time. It was also like the worst time I ever Photoshop with the shit going on in Hawaii.

That's true. That's what most of the replies were. They're like, like, bro, you'd be a little sensitive. I mean, you know, people are who are fucking sensitive all the line. But I was like, yeah, I can kind of get that. Yeah, my bad, whatever. I just thought it's funny because you're like the metal dude. Like, you can't be just totally enjoying a beach.

You got to look like you're in a badass, like in a heavy metal concert or something. It worked out pretty well. Drinking out of the skull. I like it. Your reputation precedes you, Matt. Which I would have actually enjoyed that more than being on. on the beach drinking out of fucking coconut. But it's the situation that I was in, you know.

We do it all for the nookie. The rare occasion when we take a break, I took a break earlier this summer, and it's like you go away for a week and it's like the weirdest, most bizarre thing. You come over and it's like a whole different world when you come back. I mean, but you're probably like me, right?

I did for my lady, so me and her could go there and fucking be romantic for two weeks, right? Good time though, right? Like, it's good to get away a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I don't give a shit. Like, I used to just sit in the hotel. Like, she goes to the beach.

I'll go for a little bit. I sit in the hotel, you know, and be like, hey, whenever, I'm going to be in air conditioning. So whenever you're ready to get laid, like, I'll be here. You guys for a couple hours comes back and do what we got to do. I've never been a big, like, beach. Like, I went to Hawaii a year. ago and I had a blast but we were there for a rumble in the rock show for BJ Pinsold organization and so like we got we got like beach time we also did a lot of side seeing stuff

and you know went around the whole island everything and it was you know we were hanging out with Shogun Hua that week which was cool so it's like kind of like a work slash vacation but like my girlfriend's always like I want to go to the beach I'm like the beach to me is boring like sitting on a beach for like hours at a time and just roasting in the sun seems like the least fun thing ever to me like I don't I need to do like I want to do shit. Like, I don't like just sitting on a chair. I can't relax that way. Like, my mind is always working on something. So, like, that's not relaxing to me. Yeah, I read a book or something. I guess. Once you get drunk, like, everything's fun. That's true, I guess. Yeah. Here's,

here's another coconut drink. Go ahead and drink up. You'll feel, you'll feel better. Yeah, which is like the weirdest thing to me, because I'm like, when I'm that hot, I'm like, I'm not want to fucking drink. I want some fucking water. Like I'll sit in the room in the air conditioning And get drunk with you, but I don't want to, why you want to sit out here in this fucking Oven and get drunk? Yeah, then you go into water and there's the sharks and, you know,

I just, dude, I saw jaws, I don't need to see. I don't need to get in the ocean. Like, I'm good, you know, like. Yeah, where I was at, there was a lot of jellyfish. I've seen a few people get stung. Yeah, dude. I respect the ocean too much to go in there. I'm not, that's not a place made for humans.

good, you know, like I've seen, I don't, I don't need to take the chance that there's going to be a, you know, a shark coming for me in the water. I'll be good. I'm, you know, I can, I could see it. If I could, if it goes beyond, like, my feet, I'm good. I don't need to go on swim in the ocean. I can go to a swimming pool if I want to swim that badly. Yeah, that's it. Man, it's a monster soup, man. But, you know, we can't tweet this because, you know, you get a lot of hate on Twitter when you don't say the right thing. I come to find out. Yeah, yeah, that happens. That happens. Speaking of things that were twittered, and I stepped in my own pile of dung last week doing my UFC 2-92 preview where we now have a new UFC Bantamweight Champion of the world. Sugar Sean O'Malley gets the job done, second-around knockout over Algeman Sterling. I should know better than to ever believe anything is a sure thing in the sport. I would have sworn Algeman Sterling winning was as close to a sure thing. I thought he had every advantage over Sean O'Malley, with the exception of the knockout power on the feet, but I just thought, you know what, he's going to get inside,

he's going to drag it to the ground, and he's going to choke him out, or he's going to put him away that way, or he's going to dominate him on the ground. None of those things happened. Sean O'Malley caught him with a big right hand in the second round, knocked him out. Matt, you had your Twitter last night,

which did crack me up when you posted about, basically, I don't see a way Sean O'Malley can win, and then a few hours later, well, this tweet didn't age very well. that's it, man. It did not age well at all. That was, in retrospect, it might have been my worst tweet in history.

But, you know, like Sean, to me, he kind of reminds me, just for me personally, not necessarily overall, but a little Carter McGregor, right? Again, for me personally, where you remember, I completely discounted Connor McGregor. I said, dude, he's not going to fucking beat Aldo.

I didn't think he'd beat. I think Max Holloway on his way up. I kept saying, dude, this guy's not all that. And then the motherfucker goes out and is all that. But is sugar going to do what Connor did? I don't know about that. But, man, you know, just kept proving me wrong. You know, I just, you got to give props to Sean.

You know, the difference between him and Connor. It's like, Connor, again, I'll say it. I've said it before. I'll say it again, like a 13-second knockout is not nearly as impressive as what Sean O'Malley did there. where he set it up. He had a great game plan, you know,

played the game to the highest level from beginning to end, stuck to his guns, and fucking landed that perfect shot at the perfect time. What was, yeah, listen, take nothing away from Connor and Aldo,

which, by the way, you know, I'm pretty sure Matt Brown still owes me some money from that fight from the one random time we wagered on a fight when he still regrets that, and I bet on Connor,

he bet on Aldo. But that's either here nor there. what was so beautiful about Amali's performance was exactly what you said he set up that punch there was no like and this is again I'm not taking away from from Connor I'm saying like Aldo charged at Connor and Connor did what he's supposed to step back and made him pay for it but that was just such a quick sequence we never really got to see the setup you know what I mean it was just like a one of you know be a bang bang kind of thing. Sean was setting that up throughout the first round.

He was baiting Al Jermaine to come forward on him and trying that same faint over and over again, trying to get Al Jamein to his credit didn't bite early. But in that second round, he came after him and stepped in and threw that left hand. And O'Malley, it's like he saw a dinner table. He's just like, ooh, I'm going to feast on this. And he just absolutely bust. And if you watch the replay in slow motion, you can almost see like, I know that maybe I'm reading too much into this. But if you watch it in slow motion when you play the replay, you can almost see it in Aljo's eyes because he closes his eyes as he's about to get hit.

And you're just like, he knows it's coming. Like he realizes he messed up. And Sean measured him for it. Like it was really brilliant execution and the way he set it up. And he stayed patient. That first round was not great. Let's be honest. That was not a good first round.

But that's because Sean wasn't fighting outside himself. And then basically it was like it was almost like a game of. chicken. Who's going to make the mistake first? Sean's like, I'm not doing it. And Al Jermaine's the one who made the mistake and Sean made him pay for it. That's it. Yeah. That first round may not have been anything impressive, but you can see, you know, well, in retrospect, you know, you can see Sean just downloading all the data in that first round, right? Great footwork, great movement. I think this morning when I woke up and checked Twitter, I mean, there was just you know, breakdown after breakdown of all the different things he did,

kind of the ways that he ended up getting to where he got to. And I mean, it was really, really impressive. And the fact that he did it with one punch like that against Al Jermaine, who's not really, you know, known as a chenny guy, so to speak. You know, and of course it wasn't just a one punch knockout. He ended up finishing him, which brings us to our next point. Did you think the stop which is early? Because I think we're probably going to agree on this where if he wouldn't have let it keep going, like, I wouldn't have been like, oh, he should have stopped it.

But at the same time, my gut feeling was like they stopped it too early. But at the same time, I'm like, eh, you know, if I was the ref in that situation, you know, I might have pulled the trigger there too. What do you say, Damon Martin? Yeah, I don't think it was a terrible stoppage. Like, me personally, what I have probably, you know, again, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the. you were on the outside looking in. I'm not Mark Goddard. Mark Goddard is a tremendous referee,

so I'm not going to question his judgment. He's actually one of the guys who typically makes really good judgment with stopping fights. So in that moment, I don't think it was terrible. Would I have liked to see him getting a few more seconds in there

just to see if he could grab a leg or, you know, hold on or, you know, recover in that moment? And again, I know you're supposed to judge every fight the same, but it's a championship fight. Like, you want a guy, you really want to let a guy go out on a shield.

You know what I mean? So in that moment, like my head, I'm like, just let it go a few more seconds. You know what I mean? If Al Jermaine's clearly not making any movement to get better where he's at, then yeah, stop it. But again, I don't really have a huge issue with the stoppage. When I rewatched it, Sean with those long-ass arms of his, man,

he was reaching down and punching Al Jermaine pretty good, even from like the top position. Like, he wasn't laying down. He was like standing over him and there's long-ass arms coming down and tagging him. So I don't have a huge problem with it, but I probably would have let it go a few more seconds. It's just, again, I don't like there to be any question. Not that I want to see Algeman get hurt or, like, break his orbital bone or anything crazy like that.

I don't want to see that, certainly. But it's a championship fight. I feel like you got to give him every possible avenue to potentially come back from that. But, again, I don't think it was a huge, I don't think it was like a terrible stoppage or anything. Yeah, I feel that. You know, I was thinking about this earlier. I don't know exactly how you would do something like this, but I would love to see some kind of science or a study or something on, you know, what the difference would be between, say, like a Katona

Gibson that fight earlier where they were just sob or knocking, punching the hell out of each other the whole fight, the amount of damage taken in a fight like that versus what if Al Jermaine took another five shots? You know, I mean, he was obviously hurt, but it's like, does, do those extra shots when you're out or when you're close to out, are those more damaging to your brain and when you're just simply standing there and, you know, taking these shots. And I always wondered about that because, like, how much of a risk are you really at when you're, you know, when you're rock or you're buzzed or whatever and you're taking extra shots? I don't know. Just a little side note to bring up for this just been on my mind since that fight.

You're not wrong. I mean, I mean, they've said this through science for years. And again, I'm certainly not the doctor. But, you know, the big discussion with boxing, it's not the big knockouts. repeated blows to the head to do the most damage. And that's why boxing is what they follow. And that's why boxing it happens because in boxing, you're taking three, four hundred shots over a 12-round fight.

You know what I mean? Like it's not you getting hit by Mike Tyson one time when you go down. It's the 400 shots you take over a 12-round period and doing that for a 20-30 fight career. That's generally where you see it. You know what I mean? And I think like we all know the story. Incredible story was run on MMA fighting last year on Spencer Fisher. Spencer Fisher was never a guy

Like he wasn't like when you think about Spencer Fisher what do you remember about Spencer Fisher Was because he went in these wars Like he got in these incredible drawn out three round Just battles you know what I mean And that is typically where you see more long term damage Is from that now again I'm not advocating that We should just let guys get their head knocked off

When they're already you know Basically concussed I'm not advocating for that at all But I think it's been pretty proven It's the repeated blows of the head to do more damage than just one or two in that moment You know, it's the, it's the, it's the, uh, Jean-Wei Lee, what she did to Amanda Limo, there's like 400 strikes to like 28 or whatever. It's that that's going to do more damage over time, you know what I mean?

Now, short term, you could argue that Cody Gibson, you know, I think he broke his orbital bone and that fight, at least look like he did. That's, yeah, and that's, that's kind of what I'm talking about with Al Jermaine. Like, I wouldn't want to see him get hurt to the point where he gets his jaw broken because he's not defending himself and Sean's just, you know, blasting away with him with punches. my bigger concern in that moment isn't necessarily the concussion, not saying it shouldn't be, but that's always been my understanding.

It's the repeated blows over time to do more damage than, you know, that moment. And then, so that's kind of where my question is, is like, okay, you know, so did Cody Gibson and Brad Coutona take more damage, right? They had more repeated damage than, you know, let's say they let Al Jermaine go and he took another five or ten strikes, right? there still wouldn't have been the same number of strikes that Kutton or Gibson probably landed on each other, right? Or the amount that we leave, Whaley or whatever hit on limos. So there was even one more fight that it's not coming in my mind that, you know, Magny, well, I guess he got kicked the leg the most, right?

Yeah. But anyway, I think you get my point, right? And it's like, you know, is that how much, how, how damage you? are those, you know, five or ten extra shots or maybe say he did put them out and maybe landed a couple extra like Dan Henderson on Michael Bisping, like how much damage to that extra shot do

versus, you know, if he was actually intelligently defending himself or standing, right? And they call it intelligently defending himself and just taking shots, which is where I kind of question that whole terminology to start with because it's like, you know, a lot of guys that are fresh, straight up,

they don't intelligently defend themselves to begin with. What do you call intelligently defending yourself, right? Like there's guys that take shots like maddening, you know, and it's like, well, there wasn't nothing intelligent by that defense to begin with. So, you know, so where do you draw that line? But I do know what the actual point is. But I don't know, it's just a thought that I've been kind of thinking about. Yeah, no, you're absolutely.

right and I listen you know you certainly don't advocate for anyone to get hurt out there we're not you certainly don't want to see someone go through a serious concussion or something like that but again um you know especially again I know but like I said with the championship fight like do you want you want to give him every opportunity to try to come back from that and would it have made a difference I don't know he looked pretty badly hurt you know Sean was teeing off on him but you know again like I said it's just the stakes of the moment you just you just want to me it's like because I know, I know, like, Aljo made no excuses. He didn't, you know, complain about the stoppage afterwards any of that kind of stuff.

But I know in the back of his head somewhere, he's like, I wish I would have had like 30 more seconds just to try, you know, just to come. Because we have seen guys come back from that and really bad knockdowns. And again, title fight. Everything's on the line. This is the biggest moment of your career. But again, I don't really question Mark Goddard's judgment because he's a really good referee and, you know, looking in that moment. I've seen replays where I see guys' eyes roll in the back of their head. I didn't see it on the first take.

And I'm like, well, you know what? That was a good stoppage. So here at the moment, you know, I guess that's kind of what you have to, you know, you're asking these guys to judge on a split second. And, you know, and again, it is what it is. Yeah, and I get all that. And that's why I said, like, I don't hate the stoppage. I'm not mad at it.

I think he stopped it according to sort of what the standard is of today. I would like to make a, get that standard, move the threshold a little bit. I think they should let guys go a little bit longer. And it seems that they're so concerned with the, you know, looking brutal or whatever. And it's like, dude,

like it's a brutal sport, man. It's always going to be, um, again, all respect Al Jermaine, he was all class the whole time. You know,

what he handled it like a champion and the way you expect to champion to handle it. And, excuse me, you know, that, that's exactly what you expect out of a guy like that. I, I feel like we've seen,

crazier comeback so you know what i mean there's a guy that could do it's aljimane well especially him being a ground specialist you know what i mean him being on the ground like him his ability maybe scramble pull guard you know grab a leg things like that but again like i said it's i don't i don't really have a huge issue with the stoppage but would i like to have seen it gone on for a few more seconds yeah especially again in the moment it's a championship fight it's a big

moment uh he didn't get he didn't get he didn't get knocked out by that shot you know he went down he definitely went down from it. But, you know, again, it is what it is. And now, you know, Sean O'Malley is champion and we're in the, uh, the sugar era, so to speak. This is, I'm not saying the UFC, I'm not saying the UFC nested labor roots for one outcome or another because if we've learned one thing over all these years, Matt, the UFC's a machine. Yeah, they've been without Connor McGregor for over two years now. They've been raking record profits. It's not like Connor being gone as ruined the UFC or Rhonda retiring is ruined the UFC or Brock Lezger leaving ruined.

So I don't think the UFC, I know that like it always seems like on the surface, they're kind of rooting for one guy or another. But I don't really think that's true because the UFC at this point is a machine. You know, they're going to make their money whether one guy fights or not. But let's be honest, like Sean O'Malley is the story they want to sell. He's a contender series guy, you know, basically grew up in the UFC. He's got a huge fan base, magnetic personality, exciting fighting style with the knockouts. I mean, he's flashy. He's got everything going for him.

I mean, again, I don't think the UFC was rooting for Al Jemaine to lose. I truly don't think they were. But let's be honest, this is kind of the scenario that would have been ideal because now you have a supermarketable champion. And what I believe Matt is like the hottest division in the sport. When you look at Bant, wait how good it is right now. So now they have a super marketable champion. They're no longer dealing with the Al Jame Mareb thing where they wouldn't fight each other because legitimately Marab is the number one contender.

Like he legitimately is the number one guy And I respect him for not fighting each other I've said that on the show many many times But they don't have that clouding over them anymore You know, Al Jermaine, you know I don't know He always seemed to you know Ever since the Peter Yon incident

It seemed like he was at odds with the fans Not through zero fault of his own by the way I really don't understand like let's boo Al Jermaine And they were literally chanting FU Al Jermaine last night Which is crazy to me But uh you know Listen was the UFC better off with Aldo or McGregor champion. I mean, yeah, McGregor

is a huge name and obviously he's in a different place that Sean O'Malley is, but I don't think they're rooting for Aldo to lose necessarily. If we've seen one thing with Connor recently, Connor's like, you know, one in four in his last five fights or whatever, and he's still a superstar. He's still going to sell a million pay-per-views

when he comes back if he ever comes back. So I don't think Sean O'Malley needed to become champion to be a star, but let's be honest. This does catapult him into like superstar status and the band-to-weight division's better than it's ever been, and now Sean O'Malley's champion. Yeah, and I wonder, but, like, what is Sean O'Malley's ceiling now?

Right? Like, I mean, he just beat Al Jemaine Sterling. Like, you know, this guy has a high ceiling as a superstar, not just as a fighter, but as a superstar. This guy has the high of the ceiling since maybe Connor. Yeah, I mean, he's, you know, and he seems to approach him the right way. I said this kind of jokingly to somebody last night. I was like, O'Malley's kind of like a less problematic Connor.

Like, you know, now maybe that'll change. You know, now he's champion. We'll certainly start seeing his name in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. But he doesn't, he hasn't done that yet. You know what I mean? Like we haven't had, you know, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's going to go out and get into really bad problems. Again, he seems like everything you'd want.

He's colorful. He's flashy. He's outspoken. He's funny. Got an exciting fighting style. and again he's in the best division at the best time right now so I don't know what that ceiling is I mean I don't know I don't know that I'm going to say

he's going to sell a million pay-per-views every time like guaranteed cash to check like when Connor shows up but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to put him in that upper tier with Israel out of Sonia John Jones you know and I think Sean O'Malley is like the next late you know the next level level down I don't think he's quite to that if Connor's number one I think Izzy and Jones are probably number two and then I think O'Malley's like in that third level on the way to being in number two.

Like his next title defense, it's a big one. And the Cheeto Vera fight, you know, everyone's freaking out saying Cheeto doesn't deserve it. And he only lost to San Hagan. He just won a not the greatest fight in the world against Pedro Munoz. But let's be honest, this is what the UFC feasts on. They feast on storylines. And this is a storyline. Don't be surprised if at some point in the near future, you hear Cheeto Vera is getting a title shot against Sean O'Malley.

Yeah, keep it real. You want to see it? I want to see it. Right? Like, we know that Marab is the man in line, deserves a shot. But I want to see him fight. I want to see him fight in Cheevera. I know that's going to be a better fight.

We kind of, I think we kind of know what Marab's going to do. And, you know, until last night, we probably would have all assumed that he'd be successful doing it, right? But now we're all like, well, you know, Sean did it against Al Joke. And he do it with the same kind of, you know, wizardry against Marab. You know, I'm picking Marab. I think most people are probably going to pick Marab for that fight. With Chita Vera, you know, we're getting a stand-up war, right?

We're getting the fight that we want to see along with the storyline. Yeah, and let's not forget. Listen, I talk about like the UFC does a root one way or the other. Let's be honest, Matt. like the UFC, I think there was a little frustration there with the whole Aljo Morab situation that they just adamantly said we're not fighting. I'm not saying they're going to punish Marab necessarily, but Cheeto is the bigger fight. Listen, Marab is the guy.

He should just be clear about that. Marab should 100% get the title shot. He's earned it. He deserves it. And he's probably stylistically about the worst possible matchup for Sean O'Malley in theory. but at the same time I said it last night on Twitter I said don't be shocked if they grant his wish

because him and Cheeto in a rematch a chance for Sean to avenge his only lost to the UFC yes he did get injured in that fight but you know it's not like Cheetah Vera's a bum you know Cheetah Vera is still a top five top six guy in the world he's still a really really good band to wait so

yeah I just I don't like I don't think anyone should be surprised if we hear an announcement in the next month or two that Sean O'Malley's fighting Cheetah whether it's on that December pay-per-view or maybe January to headline that card. Like, just don't be... I said this last night.

I say this all the time, Matt. Strike the word deserves from your vocabulary if you want to be like a real MMA fan because you're going to go crazy thinking about these kind of things. Like in my mind, it's Marab. It's Corey Sanhagen. You know, I haven't looked at the list.

And Al Jermaine in a rematch because he was the longest reigning champion. Like those three all deserve a shot over Cheeto. Let's be honest. but what does deserve even mean now? No, that's exactly right. But like I said, if I am going to watch one of the two fights, you know, they can deserve out of the sentence,

I prefer to watch Cheeto versus Sean O'Malley. I mean, would anybody disagree? Again, we kind of know what my opposite game plan is going to be, whether he accomplice it or not. That's the only exciting part of the fight, right? Is Sean going to be able to die, Raj Marab, you know, spamming singles and doubles at him for 25 minutes? You know, is he going to be able to catch him on the way in?

Is he going to be able to do that? And if he does it, it's going to be insanely exciting. Because, like you said, along with Aljo, you've got to put him up there as, you know, one of the top worst matchups in the division. So, you know, I don't think anybody's, like, clamoring to see that fight. But for Cheeto, like you said, there's a storyline and the fight itself. is an exciting fight, man. That's a good fight.

And it's not a guarantee. Let me be clear about this. It is a more favorable matchup for Sean. But don't think you're just going to go out there and just run through Cheeto Vera. Like, Chito Verr is a super tough guy, man. He hits like a horse. You're not just going to go out there. Like, this is not like, like, when they made Bisping versus Henderson, too,

that was all predicated on Bispin getting a chance of revenge after the UFC 100 knockout. Let's be. Dan Henderson wasn't really a number one. He wasn't really deserving of a title shot. That was all about Bispings' redemption. Let's be honest. This isn't that necessarily. Now, does Cheeto, quote-unquote, deserve the shot?

No. He just lost to Corey Sandhagen five months ago. So he doesn't deserve the shot. But he has the storyline, and he is still a top five, top six guy in the world. It's not like they're just pulling him out of a hat and he's getting signed to the UFC because he has a win over. He's not Joe Duffy, who had a win over Connor McGregor back in, you know, Ireland or England or whatever it was.

like, you know, a decade ago, you know what I mean? Like, they're not pulling him out of the scrap heap to throw him in there and say, here you this is the guy that beat you. Like, he beat him in the UFC. Cheever is still a top six, you know, top five, six guy in the world. It's not that egregious. Do I disagree with it? Yes.

But also, and also let's also remember this, Brab was dealing with an injury. He had a hand surgery. Corey's out for months. We know that. He had elbow surgery. So he's going to be out for a while. If Sean really is going to fight in December, January, it's either going to be getting Marab back quickly or go ahead and set up the Cheeto fight

because it's something we can promote now versus later. Yeah, and what's he going to ask for? He's going to ask for a Cheeto. We know that. Yeah. And when you get to that superstar status, like it or not, you do get more sway with what you do. I mean, you know what I mean? I know we keep bringing up Connor because this is probably the closest comparison in terms of personality

and magnetism, attractional, those kind of things. but let's not forget when Connor when Connor started saying I want to fight Gaichy instead of Chandler did anyone believe there wasn't a chance that could happen? Yeah of course there was a chance that could happen it's Connor you know of course we believe when Connor says I'm going to beat Chandler

and I'm going to go fight for the welterweight title even though Chandler's clearly not a welterweight was it would anyone be totally shocked that would be considered why do we consider that because it's Connor Frickin McGregory is the biggest star the biggest draw in the history of the sport Now, Sean's not there yet. Of course, he just became champion.

As I said, I wouldn't put him in that top tier with Connor and or Jones. Are like, is he right now? He's not there yet. But he's on his way there. And when you start, when you start pulling, like, I mean, Matt, let's be, you and I, listen, we're Ohio guys, right? Does Steve Miochich truly deserve the title shot against John Jones over, over Sergey Pavlovich? No. He lost to Francis two years ago.

He hasn't fought since then. But why is it happening? because this is what John Jones wants. John Jones wants to fight the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time, who is still obviously a very good heavyweight, but he hasn't fought since then. This is not Steve-Bey's the most deserved... There's nobody else of Steve-Bey's getting it.

No, Pappovich is the... He is the number one contender. We all agree on that. But Steve-Bah's a legend. He's a heavy-weight goat. This is the resume that John Jones wants to build. So that's the fight that's happening. Again, we got to strike the word deserves.

Does Marab deserve it? Is he the number one guy? Absolutely. But if Sean O'Malley goes to Dana White and says, I'm the champ now, I'm representing the UFC. I'm going to bring in pay-per-views. I want to avenge that fight with Cheetah Vera. Is the UFC really going to be like, no, no, no, no, man, you've got to fight Marab. That's the only fight we want.

Right. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. And I think you're spot on. I think it's going to happen, too. I think that's the fight that's going to happen. And, you know, Marab probably gets a winner. Yeah, Marab, I mean, Marab and Henry Sehudo still a good fight. I know they were talking about doing that one.

That's still a fun fight, yeah. Yeah, that was the fight that they were going to do originally, and then Marab had his surgery, and then Henry was going to fight Cheeto, and then Henry got injured, so Henry and Chito, or Henry and Marab could be a fun one. I feel bad for Marab because, like, he finally waited for his friend to, like, either leave the division or lose the title. He did, and he's now still stuck in kind of no-man's land

because it sure looks like Cheeto's going to get the title shot. Yeah, yeah. So, what an exciting division, though, right? Like, that's just, like you said, man, that division's on fire. And then, you know, even when you talk about those top five guys, I mean, can you believe, like, Peter Ghan is still number five right there? Yeah.

As good as he is, he's fucking number five. Like, what a division, right? Like, man, these guys, what a savage division. That's all you say. Let me just throw this out there right now. I got two words for you. Matt Brown. I got two words for you. Umar, Ramagamatov. I cannot wait to see this guy. I know he got, he had the shoulder injury. He didn't get fight Corey San Hagan, but that to me,

like, that's the boogeyman. That's the guy coming up that I'm like, I can't wait to see what he does against these top guys because Umar and Ramagamatov is a problem. He's like the anti, he's like the, he's like, he's like, that's the guy you probably want to keep O'Malley away from. Like, that's the guy. You're like, Umar is a monster. Yeah, yeah. We still got to see what he can do against those top guys, but, man, yeah, you're exactly right. You know, there's still other guys in that division, too, that we're not even talking about that or just, yeah,

I mean, you got to sit here and talk about it like this to remember how savage that division actually is, man. And, yeah, excited to see the future for that. You like Amali's chances to beat Cheeto in the rematch, or do you still do you think Cheeto can get it done again? How do you lean that way? You know, I think Sean would be perfectly fine in that fight. I think, you know, of course, with it being Cheeto, it's a dangerous, dangerous fight.

But I think also since our last fight, I mean, Sean seems like he's improving every fight. He's getting more and more comfortable with being in the UFC and who he is and being a superstar. Who he is as a fighter. Like, he's really developing very well. And it seems to me that every single fight he goes out there, he's looking a little bit sharper every time. and he keeps passing these tests. And let's not take anything away from Cheeto because, you know, Cheeto is such a good fighter too.

But what I'm not seeing out of Cheeto is a ton of advances. You know, I see him. He's still kind of the same fighter that he was, which may be good enough to beat O'Malley, though. You know, that's where I can definitely be wrong. But I just feel like Sean is just firing on all eight cylinders. and just getting a little bit better every single time. What do you think?

Yeah, I agree. I agree. I'd favor Sean. You know, I think we saw with Corey Sanhago what he was able to do to Cheeto. And I think O'Malley has a similar body style, similar striking. I mean, not similar striking, but like similar as in there, both strikers. They got long reach, good precision, good accuracy.

You know, and Sean, it wasn't like Sean was doing terribly against Cheeto the last time. He got leg kicked and got hurt and then went down. And then Cheetah finished him on the ground. It was kind of like a bam-bam sequence of things happening. I don't think Cheetah's going to roll over and play dead for Sean O'Malley. I certainly don't think that. And I think Cheetah Vera, just like we saw in the Dominic Cruz fight and we saw in the Rob Fon fight, that dude can put you out in an instant.

So you cannot play around with the guy like Cheetah Vera. But yeah, I'd favor. I'd favor O'Malley. And I think that's probably why I'm like, listen, Marab, not only does Mara have earned it, like he's a tougher matchup. Like, let's be honest. I think Marab's a tougher matchup for just about anybody. But like I said, I just got to be honest.

and like, you know, if he really wants it, I think O'Malley's going to get his wish. He's going to get Chito. And, you know, I mean, I don't think the UFC is going to be like, no, no, no, no, we can't do this. Cheeto winning against Munoz absolves him of that. They can't say that, you know, he's coming off a loss or, you know, whatever. He's been inactive.

No, he won a fight. He's still a top five guy. And, you know, I'm just penciling that fight in for like late 2023, early 2024. Exactly. Yeah, I think that's what. going to happen. You know Sean's going to push for it. He's been pushing for it publicly. So he's going to push for in private. That fight's probably going to be the one that happens. Again, I do lean a little toward Sean. I think Cheetos is a little bit too hitable still.

Again, I think it like Cheeto has the potential. He has the skills and talent to beat Sean O'Malley. But he's got to improve some things a little bit. He's got to, you know, I think he's got to get set a little bit earlier in the fight. And I think he's got to get set a little bit earlier in the fight. And I think, he's got to, you know, have a little bit better defense, maybe do a little bit more feigning footworks and stuff. And, you know, I think he's got a good shot. But again, I feel like when I see him fight, it's sort of the same fight every time, whereas Sean O'Malley, it's sort of a step up every time. Yeah, I agree. I agree. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance

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Obviously we mentioned Jean Way Lee had an incredible performance dominant performance of Amanda Lima's the biggest strike differential in women's UFC history, which says a lot.

She looked incredible. Obviously, Mario Batista went out there and got a big win over DeMont Blackshare. That was impressive. And of course, Cheeto got the win over Pedro Munius. I wanted to ask you Matt, though, because we mentioned it before we going on the air here. Another fight that took place in the main car was Ian Machado Gary getting a win over Neil Magni. One of the most bizarre rivalries that built up over like two days. You know, Neil.

You train with Neil. You know, like, Neil's like the nicest guy in the world. Like, Neil is just like, he's just a nice dude, you know what I mean? And like for Ian Gary to get like Neil Magny fired up to her, like, he's flipping him off in the cage and stuff. I'm like, dude, what did you do? Like, what did you do, Ian? Like, you somehow turn Neil into like a fired up, like, bad guy here. Like, what's going on?

That's so funny, Meg. Because knowing Neil as well as I do, that really, it really took me back a little bit. But also, again, I know Neil really well. as nice as he is, like he has a lot dog in him too, which we all see in the cage, but, you know, as a person too, like he has that dog in him.

Like, you know, do not take his kindness for weakness. Like, he's going to fire back on anything that you throw out of him verbally or physically. And I think that's, you know,

maybe he said some of the wrong things because he's not used to trash talking. He's not used to talking shit. He's not used to be in that position. He's not used to guys coming at him like that. So maybe he said some of the wrong things. that sounded like it maybe got Ian a little bit extra fired up. I'm not sure exactly what he said.

It sounded like Ian was complaining. He said something about his kids or something. He said during media day, Neil Magny said something about I'm going to spank him. I'm going to spank him like a child or something. He's like, and you know, as a father, you know, like, you know, when you get spanked, it was a weird, like, it was Neil's attempt to trash talk and Neil's not a trash talk. It was just like, it was poorly worded. and Ian Gary just ran with it

and it obviously pissed off Neil Magny because he looked like he was really angry about it and I get it but Ian just ran with it. Now here's the one thing I will say and I'm not listen Neil Magny took this fight on two weeks notice. Now I know I talked to Neil the Friday before the fight happened he told me point blank as soon as he got home from Jacksonville in his last fight in June he went right back in the gym

he was training but again I'm always caution when people say that training in training is different than training for a fight. Matt, you train every day, but you're not training for a fight. But anyway, I'm not making a shoot two weeks notice. Okay, Neil Magnus stepped in there. Neil Magnus is not going to roll over for anybody. Does Ian Gary, I want to say criticism is probably the wrong word, but should we have expected a little bit more out of Ian Gary,

considering how badly Neil Magnu was hurting that fight? I mean, he was basically hopping around on one leg. Should he and Gary have gotten a finish? Should he have gotten to finish? That's a good question. and I felt like he probably should have got a finish. But he also did all the right things to get a finish. And Neil just, he's that tough of a guy to finish.

You know what I mean? So I almost, I don't, I would say like Ian should have got the finish, but you can't fault him for not getting the finish at the same time, which is a very contradictory, strange thing to say. But just knowing Neil, train with him, I see I can get why he didn't get the finish. But, I mean, you can't ask, I don't think you could ask more out of what he and Kerry was doing. He did everything he could, and he fought a flawless fight.

I mean, I think it was a 10-8 round, every round. So, you know, what more could you ask out of? He just didn't, just couldn't land that one shot to really, you know, seal the deal and put him away. There were a couple moments where he, you know, made Neil get back up and stuff. And, like, he wasn't jumping in when Neil was backed against the cage. And, like, part of me is like, good job don't over-exting yourself because that's when you get caught because we've seen that happen a million times when guys go crazy and spam with punches and then they get caught so part of me's like good job not doing that the other side of me is like clearly neil was compromised like he was literally fighting off one leg for the last five six minutes of that fight like you gotta kill that guy like you got to put him away so i'm kind of a two sides like i don't fault him neil magni's incredibly tough neal magnatee doesn't just go away but at the same time i'm like you had the guy hurt you clearly

had him compromise. Like, you could have just, you know, throwing leg kicks and just chopped him down and, and finish. So I'm kind of a two-month-s. Like, I don't think, again, I don't think it's a criticism. I don't think we should criticize him for not getting a finish, but I felt like he could have gotten a finish. I'm basically saying what you're saying. Like, I felt like he could have, but I don't really hold it against him.

Now, here's the question, Matt. Ian Gary is now going to jump in that, like, top 10 realm of the Welterweight Division. This was his other real deal. He beat Daniel Rodriguez. Daniel Rodriguez, super good fighter, but Daniel Rodriguez kind of like on the cusp of top 15. not quite top 15. He goes out there and does that to Neil Magna. He was supposed to fight Jeff Neal.

He wanted to fight Wonderboy. Dana White claims Wonderboy turned it down or doesn't want it, which, for my understanding, Wonderboy might be in line for the Kamar Usman fight, which if that's the case, why would he fight Ian Gary? That's my argument. If he's going to get Usman, why would he fight Ian Gary? Be that as it may.

How good is Ian Gary? Because we're at a time at Welterweight where we have some really good prospects. We got Jack Della Madelena fighting Kevin Holland come up in September. That's a tremendous fight. I'm really high on Jack Delamadela-Madelana, but Kevin Holland is no joke, man.

I'm like, I'm not sold on Jack Delah Madelena winning that fight. You got Shabkat Rachmanoff, who is a monster. Now, Hamzot's gone. He's going the middleweight, so that's kind of out of the way now. But how good is Ian Gary? Like, is he a guy we can look at right now and say, this guy is going to be challenged for her title? Is he a guy who are like, he's not quite there yet?

Is, like, where, like, how good is he and Gary in your mind, Matt? he looked to me like he's going to be a top three guy from that fight there with Neil Magnet. You know, it's going to come down to some matchups, so I think. If you're asking me to match him up, I'll match him up with Shopcott. I don't think Shopcott has a fight booked, right? They're teammates, though, so I don't know if they'll fight. That's the problem. I said the same thing last night.

I matched me, and I said, ooh, that's a really good one, because Shabcat was supposed to fight Kelvin Gasselham. That fight fell apart. Now he doesn't have a fight. I was like, immediately. And someone's like, oh, they trained together at Kilcliffe, FC. And I'm like, oh, crap, I forgot about that. So I don't know.

I don't know, like, their best friends or anything. But I do know they train together. So I don't know if they would push for that. They don't have the same manager or anything. So maybe. But someone did bring that up to me last night when I suggested the same thing. Okay. Yes.

Yeah. So a lot of people are probably agreeing that that's obvious. Not obvious, but that. That's certainly a good matchup to make, test them both, see where they're both at, right? We know how good both of them are, but we don't know which guy belongs there and which one does above the other. So I'd be interested in other. Are they teammates or are they training partners? Are they just going to the same gym or are they trained together, helping each other out, friends, working with each other?

because they're in a situation where both of them, that fight would do wonders for either of those guys. So, you know, it's going to be interesting to see what Ian's ceiling is. Again, watching his fight last weekend, I mean, I definitely see him in the top three. I could see him being champion. I haven't really seen his ground game. I haven't watched his fights much,

so I'm not sure how he can handle a really good wrestler or a really good jih Tjitsu guy. I think that's going to be the bigger question coming forward, right? Yeah, I hope, listen, he really impressed me last night. Finish aside, I don't care whether you got to finish or not in that way. Like, he looked really good because Neil Magny is a really, really tough out. Neil Magny is the measuring stick. If you beat Neil Magny, you're probably a top 10 Walterweight.

Like, that's pretty much how it goes. Like, if you beat Neil Magny, you're a top 10 guy. But I hope that they still move him along a little slowly because I don't, I don't have the same feeling about Ian Gary that I immediately have with Shavkat. Like with Shabkat, I like, this guy is going to be a champion. It's not a matter of when. It's not a matter if it's win. I don't quite have that same confidence in Ian Gary quite yet, but that's only because

he hasn't had those fights yet. You know what I mean? He's only had a few fights to the UFC. I did like the Wonderboy fight because Wonderboy is a really, really, really good striker. If you're going to go out there and try to play that same game with Wonderboy, it might not work out well for you. Look at Wonderboy did to Kevin Holland.

I mean, he just picked him apart. I mean, that was a nasty fight for Wonderboy. But if I'm Wonderboy and I have a chance to fight Kamar Usman, why would I fight Ian Gary? Like, why would you even consider that if he gets Kamar Usman, former champion, one of the greatest welterweights a whole time? And that's pretty much a guaranteed title fight if you beat Kamar Usman. So I don't fault Wonderboy if he doesn't take that fight.

It's hard to say because Gilbert Burns would, like, right in my head, I'm like, oh, Gilbert was in his corner. Gilbert's not going to fight Ian Gary. He was literally cornering him last night. So he's not going to be there. So I don't know. Vicente Lucke also trains there. Like he just had a big win over Hopfield de Sanio.

It's like in my head. I'm like, that would be a fun matchup, but they also trained together. So I don't know like the matchups that make the most sense for him are kind of tough to matchmake right now because he doesn't, it doesn't, at least on paper, it looks like he doesn't want to fight those guys.

But I don't know. I mean, like I said, there's always going to be options out there. Magny's a super good test. But I like, again, I like the Shabcat fight. I agree with you. It's like, are you teammates, are you friends? Or, you know, do you just run into each other?

the gym. Like, which is it? You know what I mean? Because that's four guys from that gym in the top, you know, top 10 or 12 with the welterweight division. At some point, you're going to have to fight each other or, you know, or somebody's going to have to get out of there and just basically say, we're not going to fight. Like, I understand

Vicente and Gilbert won't fight. They're like family. Like, they're like literally brothers. I understand that's a little different dynamic. That's what you said. And I was quote you on this, Matt. You fought training parties. You fought teammates. You'd never fight a friend. They're different. Like, Vicente and Gilbert, I get. But are Vicente and Ian Gary like that? Are Vicente or are Ian Gary and

Shaftat like that? Because if not, you know, what are we doing this for? You're doing this to become champion. Well, guess what? That's a tremendous fight. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be interesting to see what happens there because all those guys. I don't know who's friends, who's training partners, who's doing what there? Who's going to coach you? Who's, you know, who's got the hierarchy who's training with each, you know, there's so many little pieces that puzzle, right? Like, maybe if you trained with the guy some, a couple of times, only a couple times, which you're like, I know that I can get the best of them. It's like, you're going to push for that fight, right?

You know, or vice versa. Maybe he, you know, got the best of you. And you know that he's got your, you know, he's got that a little, got your number. And, you know, maybe you try to avoid that fight. So I don't know how that plays out, man, but, but either. way you and gary his stand-up looked absolutely world-class and he looked like he could

handle his own with anybody in that division and i'm not even sure what's going on the division honestly i mean what who's the who's fighting for the title next i mean what's the top three four guys doing well colby colby's going to fight for the title against leon we know that so that's the fight they're making and below's the number one guy in waiting so those three guys are kind of out of the picture right now

I just looked at the rankings right now. Homs not's still in there, but we know he's moving to middleways. Let's take him out of the conversation. You got Gilbert Burns, who I already mentioned, you got Shavkat, you got Wonderboy, Jeff Neal, which did seem like the perfect fight. Maybe they rebook that because I do think Jeff Neal is a really tough matchup for anybody. He hits like a truck, really good boxing. That would be a fun fight.

Sean Brady is another one that's out there. Sean hasn't fought. I know he was supposed to fight. He had a staff infection, so he got, he was able to fight Jack Del and Adela-Madelina. incredible grappling. Maybe that's the test we need for a guy like Ian Garry, a guy who can grapple and wrestle and take him down, so maybe it's Sean Brady.

There's a couple of matchups still out there before we start really running into these problems. I wouldn't hate if they rebooked the Jeff Neal fight. That was a really good fight. I like that matchup. And I think Jeff Neal's a super tough out, so I think that could be fun. Yeah, I'm with you.

That's the, out of all those guys you mentioned, Jeff Neal is the fight for him to go for at least. Sean Brady. that's a very, very tough test for you and Gary. Like he couldn't put away Neil Magny had him hurt multiple times badly. Sean Brady's going to be equally as hard to get rid of, even if you're winning the whole time, but he can get rid of you at any time also.

So that's a very, very tough matchup for him. I'd love to see that. I mean, I think that'd be a great test. But I think Sean Brady should be. fighting up, though. I don't think he's he needs to fight down like that. Well, he's coming off a loss. You know, he got beat by Bilal and so, you know, he was

going to fight Jack Della Madelana who's behind him. So I wouldn't hate the and Gary fight. Fair enough. That was actually what I was going to say next was Jack Delamada. Jack Della. I don't know how to say the rest. Yeah, Jack Della and the two surging guys with

a very good, strong stand-up styles. The winner because Jack Della is fighting Kevin Holland in September. The winner of that fight against Ian Gary? That would be a great one too. The winner of that one against Ian Gary? That could be a tremendous matchup.

Yeah, well, the winner, that's probably moving up, though, right? Well, I mean, they're both there. Actually, they're actually, you know, right now, according to the UFC rankings, excuse me, Kevin Holland is number 12, Jack Della is 14, and then Ian Gary right now is 13. Now, Neil Magnu is 11, so they're right around each other. They're all around each other, huh?

Yeah, so I'm not opposed to that fight, Boy, you got a lot of options right there is basically what it is. Yeah, and rebooking Jeff Neal seems like it would make the most sense. So if I'm Ian Machado, that's what I'm looking for. Yeah, absolutely. I also want to touch on real quick before we get out of here, one of our big thing to happen on Saturday. And, of course, Chris Wydenman made his long away to return more than two years out of action.

Made his return. Lost to Brad Tavares. Not really surprising to me when we did our preview show before. with Alan Joban on the show, Matt. I said, listen, you will not find a bigger Chris Wyden fan to me. I think Chris is a great dude. Never, I root for him to come back because it broke. I talked to him, you know, two weeks after that happened, the surgeon, we talked several times during that two years off.

I did several interviews. Good dude, man. I mean, just a great guy. And you root for people to come back from that because that's such a devastating injury to go through. But if there's one thing we saw, and I said, listen, what breaks my heart about this whole thing is Chris is coming back at 39. of a really badly broken leg and it wasn't like he was in his prime when it happened, you know what I mean?

Like it wasn't like he was in the run where he was champion and he got lost because he lost the title because he broke his leg. I'm starting to wonder, Matt, and I don't know that like this is a, I don't think this is a controversial statement saying this, but like is that compound fracture that broke?

We've seen it now several times. Like if you, not like all the time. We've seen it a few times. Is that like the one injury in MMA? You may just never come back from the, because Anderson was never the same again. Like, I'm not saying he didn't have good fights after that,

but he never looked the same after that broken leg. He just didn't. And now we've seen Wybin, and he looked tentative. He didn't have the same explosion on his takedowns. He was clearly favoring that leg. Maybe that was just a nerve. I mean, he mentioned he was nervous after the fight. He was a little nervous when he got in there.

And then when Tavares started targeting the legs, you could tell it bothered him. Like, I'm starting to wonder. And obviously, we got to do a little. with Connor McGregor coming back at 34, 35, dealing with the same kind of injury. Like, that might be the injury, man. Like, not say, I certainly do not root for anyone to not come back from that. But I'm, like, starting to wonder, like,

is that the one where you just never come back the same? You know, I really don't know, but I'm going to say no. Because all of these examples that we're talking about are guys that were had been champion and it happened after they were champion and then tried to come back from it. So, you know, I think the point. in their careers that have happened had as much to do with it as the actual injury itself. And the one thing that I, everything I've been reading on Twitter and people talking about is everything about what Chris Wyman, his leg and Chris Wydenon.

I'm with you. I love Chris Wyden. Hung out with him a few times. Amazing guy. But I have not heard near the credit for Brad Tavares. this fight. I think Brad Tavares did the right thing, and I give the credit to him more so than Chris Wyman's injury. I think the injury never happened. The way Brad Tavars looked Saturday, and the way that he fought would have won that fight maybe at any time in Chris Wyman's career.

I thought that Brad just played a perfect game plan and landed it perfect. And that lead leg kick, starting it off. I mean, that was, you know, it was a perfect gameplay. And he did it very, very well. So, and Brad's always had great takedown defense, right? Like, the commentators were talking about it. Like, he's always been extremely hard to take down. So it's, you know, it was a bad matchup for Wyman anyway. So, you know, in that respect for, you know, trying to take him down. So, you know, I give credit to Brad Tavaris and hopefully Widenman can come back and fight some more guys. And, you know, I don't agree with Dana.

I don't think Chris needs to retire. I think he can come back and still do great things, still do big things in the sport. Just don't fight Brad to bars. The dude's a bad matchup for you. Yeah, Brad has nasty leg kicks, and Brad is a veteran. He's a guy who, he's a guy who you could have envisioned

fighting Chris Wyatman before the injury. You know what I mean? It wasn't like he got this fight because they're trying to give Chris a guy he could beat. Brad Tavares is a tough matchup. I mean, the guy went five rounds of Israel out of Sanya. You're not just going to throw out. You're just not going to walk through Brad Tavares on your best night, much less, you know, coming back from two years off of an injury. I don't agree with Dana either in the retirement thing.

I mean, listen, Anderson, like when I say that, like, is this an injury you just don't come back from? Maybe, but also, as you mentioned, like age and things play a factor in that, Anderson still wasn't. fights after that. Now, did Anderson ever look the same? Anderson's a little different case, too, because Anderson was a kicker. Anderson used his legs a lot more. Chris is more of a wrestler. Chris was never a guy out there throwing leg kicks, tremendous leg kicks. That's what happened when he broke his leg, but he's not known as a kicker. That's not really his style. He's not Luke Rockhold. He's not typically known as a kicker. He was off for two and a half years. Like, you know, like, dude, that's tough to come back from the best of circumstances, much less when you're

dealing with a broken leg and people telling you may never fight again. So, I don't agree. And if he would have gone out there and got leg kicked again and his leg broke again, then yeah, maybe I'm like, all right, like, but that's not what happened. He got, Brad Tavares fought him with the perfect game plan. He was, he made Chris question himself a little bit when he took out the other leg. He took out the left leg, the right leg's the one that was injured. Now Chris is kind of in his own head.

You know what I mean? Because when you saw, when Chris shot early in round one versus what he tried to do in round three were totally different, totally different. And so. Which again, you've got to credit Brad DeVaris for that, right? Yes. Not the injury, not the time off. Like, he was slower because he got kicked in late.

And when we talk about Anderson or Connor, those are kind of the two big examples outside of, well, the only two examples I can think of outside of Chris Wyman. Like, those guys were on incredible, like, historic runs. And they were going down when they broke their legs. You know what I'm saying? Like it wasn't like they were on that incredible historic ground, broke their leg and came back. It wasn't like they were on their way up, you know, doing, you know, with all this, you know,

momentum behind them, break their leg. And then they just got to continue to get back to getting that momentum back. Like their career arc was on its way down already. Yeah. And also, like, I've never been a huge proponent of telling guys when to retire outside of one major thing. And the one time I typically do this is when it comes to damage. Like when you're getting knocked out four times in a row, you know, that's when I'm like,

you know, I don't want to see you get hurt. Like I remember years ago when Ken Shamrock was still fighting and he had gotten knocked out badly a couple. I'm like, I just don't want to see it anymore. Like I don't want this guy when he's 60 years old not to be able to play with his kids or his grandkids because he took too much damage in the head and he can't, you know, he has no cognitive function anymore. That's when I start talking about retirement. Like, I don't want to see you take too much damage. But Dana, Dana said Joe Lowe's on a shirt on.

Why should Joe Lose on retire? Like, Joe's 39, he just came off a win. Now, Joe is flat out told me personally numerous times. Like, he's like, I may never fight again, but I don't know. Maybe I will. Like, he's not, but I don't like that. Like, we're telling people, like, Chris, I wouldn't tell Chris Weiban to retire based off that performance.

Like, you know what I mean? Like, if he went out there and he was taking head shots over and over again and getting knocked out, like, badly, like, he had a great chin. and then suddenly the chin is gone. He gets touched and he just goes down. Maybe we'd have a different discussion, but that's not the case here. He's 39.

He had a fight where he got beat up by a better guy. Brad Tavar's is a tough dude. Guess what? There's a lot of guys the middle-way roster would lose to Brad Tavars right now. It wasn't like Brad Tavars was some bum. They signed off the streets and he's just like, here, go beat Chris Wyman.

No. Brad Tavars is a veteran. He knows what he's doing. And guess what? He had the perfect game plan. Knock off the takedowns and beat up his legs. That's what he should have done. You know?

And that's how you beat a boxer wrestler, right? So that's why I said you've got to give the credit to Brad Tavares. So, yeah, so that's my two cents on it. Like, you know, I think Wyman's still has a lot left in him, but we've got to give credit to Brad for this one. He went out there, executed a perfect game plan, a perfect fight. Can't ask for more than that.

So where do you fall on the whole? whole like, because I get, listen, I mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not like saying he's a bad guy for this, but like, where do you fall in the whole Dana White wants guys to retire argument? Because sometimes, like I said, there are times when he says it, and I do agree with him in terms of the damage thing, when the guy's just getting knocked out left, right, and center and he's just, he's not the same guy anymore. I get that. But I'm not to be, like, Joe Lozahn as like, why are we like, where did that come from? Joe's 30, like, it's not like Joe's, like super active or anything, but like, why? And again, and again,

do I understand caring about Wyman because, you know, you don't want to see the guy get hurt? Sure, but he broke his leg. If he had like a, you know, a brain bleed or something like that, we're having a much different discussion from like taking too many punches. That's not the game. Like, I kind of, I get it. Like, Dana is certainly allowed to have his opinion, but I also, I've said this for years. Like, I'm not a big fan of telling guys when they should retire because, you know, unless it's a damage thing. Unless it's like a brain injury kind of thing, that to me is a different kind of.

But that's not the conversation we're having about Chris Wyden, or Joe Lozon, for that matter. Yeah, I don't really have much else to add to that because I pretty much agree with you. And I'm not sure why Dana is saying that. But he said he's entitled to his own opinion. And, you know, Dana's a strong opinion guy and, you know, just kind of is what it is. You know, and I think also Dana's, you know, he likes to see guys performing at their best, too, right? Especially the guys that he likes.

I mean, he doesn't like seeing guys out there. and not perform at their best. And that's why, you know, I can't say it too many times. Like, I think it was Brad Tavares. I think Chris Wyden was performing or had the potential to perform very well. But Brad Tavars took that away from it. It wasn't Chris Wydenman not going out, you know, being injured or whatever. It was simply Brad Tavarst was on point that night.

Yeah. And also, we got to remember, you know, no one sitting here saying Wyman should be fighting, he should be fighting Jared Cannon in ear tomorrow. He should be fighting Marvin Vittori tomorrow. He should be fighting, you know, the top middleweights in the world. No one's saying that Chris Wybman should be out there fighting Dracus Duplice or Rob Whitaker. No one's calling for those fights.

You know what I mean? Like there are other middleweights for Chris Wyman to fight that I think Chris Wyman could beat. Did he have ring rust? Did he have things like that? Sure. I mean, you're out for two and a half years. How are you not going to be affected a little bit?

And also, again, kicking in the gym is not kicking in a fight. You know, when you kick a pat or whatever, you're still not getting the same impact as kicking a human being, you know, and when you're in the gym, Matt, like, you don't kick your training partners with full force trying to knock their head off. Like, it's just a different feeling. So, you know, and Brad Tovar is a tough guy. It was just a, it was a bad combination of factors for Chris Weiban to come back. But I don't think we need to anoint him like he's done. Like, he also made it to decision. He, his, his leg was badly compromised and he still fought his way to the decision.

Like, he didn't give up. He could have just laid down, rolled over and let Brad DeVars finish him. He didn't do that. He stuck around to the end. So I think Chris Wyman still has some fight left in him. I don't think we need to tell him to retire. I'm not saying he's going to be fighting for the title anytime soon, if ever again. But are there fights out there that Chris Wyman could win 100%.

Yep, I couldn't agree more. And I still think he could do big things. I think he'd get back to the top 10. I think he has that in him to do it. It's just going to be a very long road now. Yeah, I mean, you look at the top, look at the top 15 at the middle way right now. I mean, one of the guys in that list is Calvin Gasselm still. He has a winner of Calvin Gasselm, Jack Hermanson, that could be a fun fight.

Jack's a good grappler. Like, I'm not, I'm not saying they should make that match. I'm saying like, that's a fun fight. Paul Craig, Long, grappler, now he's in the division. Yeah, it can be fun. I don't know if I would, Chris Curtis might be a little tougher, but Andre Munez, good grappler, high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy. That could be a fun fight for a while.

And those are top 15 guys. I'm not insanely guys outside the top 15, but I'm saying like, are you going to tell me there's not a, there's not two or three fights on the UFC roster Chris Weidman can win? No, I would 100% pick him in some of those fights. He just, he ran into a bulldozer last night

named Brad DeVarres. Brad DeVarres beat him. That's it. Yeah. Brad was on point, man. Like, so I just, I think people should stop talking about Wyman's injury. And I think Chris would say the same thing.

I think he would sit here right now. I think he would say the exact same thing. Look, I bet he felt good going in there. I bet everything was on point in his training camp and his nutrition. And he had a night against the guy who was better than him that night. Yeah, nothing wrong with that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's the sport.

Yeah, so it's going to be interesting. Like I said, where he goes from here. And, yeah, fun night. It was a weird one. Like I said, there was a lot of decisions on the main card until Sean O'Malley got to finish. but overall pretty fun night. You stayed up to watch the entire car. I was shocked about that.

Yeah, that's a rare thing. But it was only because, so I actually watched most of them driving back. I had a seminar in Kentucky. It was driving back. It was about a five-hour drive. We started, and I was watching while I was driving, which I don't suggest anybody do,

because you probably die, but, you know, I gave my life to this sport, and that's, you know, that's how I roll. Yeah, no, I get it. That's, yeah, you literally give me. your life's at this sport in one way or the other. So, yeah. So now you're back, you're back, you're back for the tag, back for vacation, back in training,

back at, back at the Immortal Martial Arts Center? I trained while I was on vacation. I don't stop, man. It's just, it's like eating breakfast, they're brushing my teeth. I get up and that's what I do. So, yeah, we're having fun with it, staying in training. I'm going to decide pretty soon if I'm going to fight again this year, and we'll kind of go from there. Yeah, I still, did I tell you, I still think UFC 300 next year is the one to go for.

Not to say you can't fight both, but I'm just saying like, that's the one man. I still, dude, I'm pushing so hard for you and Jim Miller fight at UFC 300. Like, I'm playing full on Sean Shelby Matchmaker. I'm like, that's such a fun fight, man. Like, that's the one you made. And that's, not to go back to the Wyman thing or even Joe Lozahn. Like, those are like, that's the kind of, like, I want to see those kind of fights. Like, I'm not saying, because you fought the young guys.

Obviously, you fought the younger fighters. You've never turned down a fight. but like you and Jim Miller special. Like, you know what I mean? That's the kind of special fight. Like I like, like you and Cort McGue is a fun fight. Two veterans,

you know, guys have been out there, guys who earn their spots. Again, I know you'll fight whoever, but like those are fun fights. Those are fights that mean something. Yep,

yeah. Most of it happens. Like you said, I'm not a big guy. I'm not big on like picking the next fight or anything. So, um, we'll think maybe it'll be 300 or maybe it'll be sometime this year.

But I'm going to start. getting into a better shape, start getting ready for, you know, ready to get ready, is what I like to call it. You know, I'm generally pretty ready, but I'm going to start getting the weight down a little more, start getting the discipline back together a little better. Because right now, that's a big difference, right? I train every day because I just love training and there's really not anything else that I want to do.

But it's different when you kind of start thinking about having a fight or getting into camp where it's an actual discipline thing because there are days where like maybe i'll go you know i don't know go to the mall which i don't know why i'd say i never go to the fucking mall you know but you know like maybe i'll go do you know something right something else uh maybe i'll sit at home play guitar today right but when i'm you know getting ready for a fight well in camp or getting ready for camp that means no we're going every day we're getting regimented and we're putting in time and we're going to be guaranteed that we're going to be ready. Yeah, no, I agree.

No, I understand. That's why I'm saying, again, not certainly not making excuses, but like Neil Magnet training and Neil Magnet training for a fight. There's two different things. Like, you train every day, but you're still not training for a fight. Like, that's a different kind of, that's a different level of training. Yeah, training for fun and training for a fight are two very, very different things. And, you know, a lot of it's just the training partners that you're going with or the

amount that you're pushing each other. you know, if you're trying to improve and get better, if you're trying to help everybody else. Like, you know, Neil's certainly that nice guy that's going to be helping all of his training partners get ready for their fights versus, you know, being maybe a little bit more selfish and a little more self-centered

and, you know, picking your training partners that are going to push you a little more and being a little bit more specific about what you're doing and being more regimented about things. Yeah, there's a lot of differences. But guys like me and, you know, You know, I know just like Neil, too, he's the same way. Like, we're in the gym every day.

We love this shit. Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, but like I said, it's different than when you're actually getting ready for a fight. I know, did I see on your Instagram, Josiah Harrell's back in the gym, too? Yeah, you know, Josiah never really took any time off. And the first day he came back, I was like, bro, are you sure, man? Like, I don't know. I can't punch you.

And he can't explain to me everything is going on. And, you know, he can't get knocked out is the thing. So as long as he doesn't get knocked out, it's perfectly fine. So we're keeping the training goal and be trained tomorrow. And, you know, he's going to be, he's going to do big things, man. Like, I look forward to watching his career progress. Yeah, he seems like a super good prospect. And it sounds like, from everything I've heard, like, he will fight again.

It's just a matter of timing and everything. But, you know, credit to the UFC. Like I said, man, that's a scary situation that they had to catch on to. But, you know, better for him in the long term. And he's still on the roster. You know, he's still in the UFC. It's just a matter of when he'll get a chance to fight. So I saw him back in the gym, which was cool to see because, like I said, you're always, again, you certainly root for guys, especially when they're going through something like that.

And it seems like he's doing well. And hopefully we'll see him five, maybe 2024. Yeah, yeah. And I think he stayed at the gym the whole time even when he came back from Vegas and everything when he was supposed to fight Jack Della. But, you know, my gym is actually a long drive for him. So, you know, I think he took the time off where he was like, okay, well, I'm not going to drive that, you know, 45 minutes to an hour. that was kind of his time off. He stayed at his home gym

that he's trained out for the last 10 years or however long he's been training and did his work at home. Yeah, and then Mark Coleman's boxing in October, there's that coming up too. Yes, he is. Which is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen.

Watching this guy transform, we've all been watching on social media, I'm sure you have. Oh, yeah. And the transformation is, It's real. You watching him hit the bag. I mean, it's just scary, man.

Like, the guy's got so much freaking power. My dude, if you would have picked up boxing when you were a kid versus wrestling, he would have been a world champion at that too. So, you know, just a freak athlete, man. And he's got more energy as 57 than I think I have now or even when I was 25. So, you know, I love what he's doing. And I can't wait to watch this fight go down. You going down with him?

Is it in Florida? Is that with a fight side in Florida? We haven't even talked about it yet. I think it's in Florida, yeah. We haven't even mentioned anything about it. I don't know. Yeah, he looks incredible shape, man. He's really transformed his body.

I mean, he looks incredible shape for 57. All the things he's gone through, man. I mean, it's natural that I'm rooting for him, like I said. And that's just awesome to see. He seems healthy and happy, and that's all it really matters. That's all it matters, man. It's going to be a great time. And I know this guy's fighting as a former pro boxer,

Montel Griffin, and everybody's kind of counting Coleman out. But I'll tell you what, if Coleman lands one of them, fucking ham hops on you. That's a bitch is going down. I don't care who he is. Like that's Mark does

some bitch Coleman can punch like a motherfucker. He's going to turn Montel Griffin into the Hammer House body bag. The old Hammer House, the old Hammer House bag. He's a chucker on there. That's what he's going to turn him into.

It's going to be interesting, man. I can't wait for it, man. Coleman's going to be so happy. You know, and that's what it's all about. You know, he's been down in the gutter for, what, 10, 12 years now. So he's getting a kick out of it, and he's going to have a great time. And that's what matters. Yeah, I can't wait.

I can't wait. Well, we got fights again coming up this weekend from Singapore. Max Holloway's back in action against the Korean zombie. That should be a fun one. Aaron Blanchfield taking on Tyler Santos. So a couple good cards. Early states, it's a Matt Brown start time, 8 a.m. Eastern on Saturday. So it's a Matt Brown's fight card.

That's what I like to see, man. That's my favorite time. So we'll talk about all that next week. Obviously, what's that? Is that going to be on Sunday morning or Saturday morning? Saturday morning. Saturday morning starting at 8 a.m. Eastern. Okay.

Awesome. I'm there for it. Yeah. So we got that next weekend. And then obviously fights come up in September. Of course, we got UFC 293. Actually, only a couple weeks away now. He's around of Sonia and Sean Strickland.

That's September 10th, I think, or 9th or 9th? I think it's 9th. September 9th. So it's only a couple of weeks away. So lots of stuff coming up in the near future. We'll have a lot more to talk about. Matt, what else you got going on? People want to check you out, support you.

Now you're back for vacation. You're back for the attack. Where can people check you out at? You know, man. At I'm the Immortal, Instagram and Twitter, at the Immortal Coffee, Instagram and Twitter. No Crash Coffee.

Let's go. I love it. Everyone, we appreciate you tuning in, as always. We appreciate the support. As always, good to have me. Matt back after a couple weeks off. I don't like to give him very much downtime, so he has to escape me every now and again. So I have to pull him back in for the podcast.

So I appreciate everyone tuning in. As always, make sure you check us on all your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and of course over on the best website in the world, mhmapfiting.com. We'll see you next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Writer. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you then.