MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Reacts to Conor McGregor News, Where Does Michael Chandler Go From Here?

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

The Fighter vs. The Writer returns with Matt Brown back from his bear hunting expedition in Canada alongside MMA Fighting senior reporter Damon Martin as we react to the news that Conor McGregor is no longer fighting at UFC 303 after suffering an injury. Brown has long maintained that he never believed McGregor was going to fight again after suffering a devastating broken leg back in 2021 but does this news strengthen that belief that the Irish superstar is done or was his comeback so close that perhaps things are different now? We’ll also discuss how this latest setback serves as another gut punch for Chandler, who has now sacrificed nearly two years of his career waiting for the fight against McGregor. We’ll also talk about Khamzat Chimaev falling off the UFC Saudi Arabia card on Saturday and what’s next for Gervonta “Tank” Davis after his brutal knockout over Frank Martin this past weekend. All that and more on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer! 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

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

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine.

Available now, only from Audible. Welcome back to the Fighter versus the writer. I am Damon Martin. He is UFC legend, Matt Brown, and he survived a bear hunt. He has returned to us from the Canadian Wild, and he is here right now. Matt, how are you?

and how was hunting bear in Canada? Well, I survived the bear hunt, but the two bears did not. So have you officially changed it? I don't know if that would work, though. I don't think you could be Matt the Bear Brown. That might be, I don't know, Matt the Brown bear? That's not really me.

It's a little gay, so I don't know. That doesn't really work. I didn't want to say it. I didn't want to say it. When I thought of my head, I was like, oh, you know, that's, yeah, maybe not go by the bear. But yeah, you killed a, you got a couple bears. So it's a good experience.

I can say it. My pride month is pride fighting championship. So I can say. No, I do it. It was a blast, man. We were just talking about it off air, right? Yeah, we had so much fun, man. I see where people get into hunting, like we were just talking about.

I see where people get into it. I don't know how often I'll be doing it. I might try a bow. I feel like that's a lot more challenging, you know. I have a recurve bow. I was like, dude, like, that would be a real challenge there because, well, for one, in Canada, you're not allowed to carry his sidearm. So if you hit that bear with the arrow and he doesn't go down,

you don't have much protection at that point. It's going to be a major problem. So, yeah, I don't know. That sounded like fun, but no, we had a blast, man. So watch it on the outdoorsman with Max McNeely should come out in late July. Max was a great dude We filmed the episodes up there Had a great time

They're going to make great episodes Yeah I can't wait to go back Hopefully for a moose next time Which is actually Well we were just talking about it Like how hunting can be kind of boring Right

But the moose actually The way you hunt them Is you go out on a boat And you fish all day while calling moose and then when they come down to the lake then you shoot them from the boat I was like dude like killing two birds with one stone right and you get to fish all day

which I like fishing so sounds like a good time yeah that's like when I was I hunted in high school like I just got bored like sitting in a tree stand shooting deer like I shot deer I did it but I was like at my last deer hunt I was like this is just boring I was in a tree stand for like eight hours like this is not fun so yeah I just you know

I get it dude I have zero problem with people hunting as long as you're eating the meat or doing something with the meat. It's not, you know, just trophy hunting, which I know most people don't. But yeah, you know, I'm all for it. I don't care. Go do your thing. Like, I just, I did it. Did it several times.

Just not really for me now. Like, I just, you know. Not today. Like, in my free time, I'm not, ooh, let me go. Let me go bag of deer. Like, that's not what I'm thinking about in a free time. To be fair, I never tagged you as a hunter anyway. I don't think too many people have, so.

No, no. I think you get a pass there. Yeah, I grew up, but I grew up and like that, that was like Southern Ohio. Where did you grow up? A little town in southern Ohio near Portsmouth, Ohio. Oh, no shit. I just did a seminar in Portsmouth last week. Oh, Lucas.

I know Lucasville. Lucasville, yeah, Lucasville, yeah, that's where. Or Lucasville. That's where the prison riot was. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, our high school is right across street from the freaking prison. Yeah, that's what Lucasville is known for. Is there one prison riot where,

bunch of people got killed and shit. Yep. On Easter, Easter weekend, we were going back to school and it was Easter weekend and that happened. So, yeah, I was around for that whole thing. You were around that time. I was, I was younger than that, but like, I was in school at that time. Like, I was in, like, when that happened, I think it was like 93 or 92. Like, I was a kid. But yeah, I remember when it happened. Like, they, because we all got, we all got out of school because it was the end of spring break and then we all got out of school for that week, like an extra week. So we had like a week for spring break and then we had like an extra week because Easter Sunday was the last day

of our spring break. That's when the riot started. And so then it was an extra week of school off because they started, they used the schools to house like we had our high school and then right down the road was like the middle school and the elementary school. And they housed like all the families, like the prisoner families, the guard families, like they all stayed there so they could keep in contact with what was going on in the prison. So yeah.

So we got out of school for like it. And then the governor, I think the governor at the time called the national emergency, so we didn't have to make up the time. So we got a two-week spring vacation, which was kind of cool. I worked out pretty good for you. There's a document. I didn't know you were from, I didn't know you were from Lucasville, Damien. Yeah, I don't that is a redneck town, buddy. I do not bring it up very often. Trust me, I claim Cincinnati is my hometown. So that's what I thought I've heard you say that before. Yeah, I try to shy away from where I actually was a kid at. But yes, I am very much from Cincinnati. Ohio. That's where I grew up and yeah, we don't talk about the other one. But yeah, that's you gotta be proud of it, bro. Come on. Yeah, that's little one horse town. But yeah,

that's where, yeah, but there's actually a documentary on Netflix you can watch. I think it's like some sort of prison documentary. Somebody told me about it years ago. And it's like a 10 episode like, you know, prison series, but like the first episode is about the Lucasville riots. And like I had never like I remember, like I said, I was a kid

when it happened. So I don't remember like, you know, everything. I know it happened. Like I know the riots happened. But I watched it. It was like a fascinating watch to see like what how it started and how it erupted. And like they had video of the prison and everything, which I had never seen the inside. I don't. You drive by it.

You see the outside, of course. But like I never been in the prison. And yeah, a guy I went to school. And I want to say maybe it was high school after it happened. A guy went to school with his dad ended up becoming a warden, I think, because like he went to school with me. I think he was in my grade at one point. But yeah, the prison's right there. That's what Lucasville is known for.

The Lucasville prison. like, what is it, near where you grew up in Zini? Everyone knows about the tornado. That's what everyone knows. You mentioned Zia. It's the tornado in Ohio. Yeah, they made a movie about it. Yeah.

So, yeah, that's why. Gummo, that's right. Gummo, yeah, that's right. That movie is messed up. Have you seen Gummo? I've never watched it. Dude, it is whacked out. I would not recommend.

I mean, like, if you want to be totally, utterly disturbed, watch it. But if you just, you know, if you want to be able to sleep at night, I would probably not. I probably not watch that movie. Okay. Now I'm definitely going to watch it. It's more disturbing than like almost any horror movie you've seen.

Like it's not a horror movie. Like it's just a really whacked out like crazy like out there movie. But yeah, it's pretty wild. Well, now I definitely want to watch it. I wasn't sure about watching it before. I never heard all that out about it. Now, dude, it's wild. Like your jaw will be on the floor by the end of that thing.

It's so freaking weird. Worse than the human centipede. Well, like I said, It's not a horror movie. It wasn't really a horror movie either. That was just stupid fucking like disgusting. Like I think like there's movies like hostile where it's like, you know, torture porn where it's just like, you know, they're just literally torturing people. And there's a movie called Martyrs that's a French horror film, which is like it's a great movie.

But I've seen it once and I'll probably never watch it. It exists so utterly disturbing. Really? But like Gummo is just a movie. Like I don't even know how to describe it. Like, I guess it's a drama, kind of, but it's just a weird, like, it's just a really weird, whacked out, like, small town. Just, yeah, it's hard to describe without, like, just telling you what happens. But, yeah, like, I watched it because someone, I think someone told me it was the same people who made the movie kids.

Do you remember kids? That movie, kids that came out years ago? Another really whacked out movie. I think it was the same guy made that. And then somebody said it takes place in Ohio. And I was like, oh, I got to watch this. And I watched it. I was like, what the fuck?

So, yeah. I like seeing it. Takes place in Zia, Ohio. All right. I like shit like that. Well, there's not much else going on there, so. Yeah, that's what I say about my hometown. I was like, yeah, the prison, there's not much else there.

I think they got a McDonald's there now. That's about it. Yeah. Peek of excitement. So that's why we moved to other cities in Ohio where there's actually things to do. Well, speaking of excitement, we got a lot of exciting MMA news. this week, right? How?

Okay, so you were gone for two weeks. I want to say thank you to Alan Joban. He stepped in and stood in as a co-host for a couple of weeks while you were gone out on the bear hunt. And it's so funny because every now and again, we get drawn into a subject about Connor McGregor, and I'd get messages every now and again. I'd be like, dude, why are you guys talking about Connor McGregor?

He's not fighting right now. He's not doing anything right now. I'm like, well, listen, he's the biggest star in the sport. And when there's some news about him, we just, it's kind of second nature. you have to talk about it. And we even said when the fight got announced and the event got announced, you even said, maybe he's going to prove me wrong.

He's fighting because we always said, like you always said, he's not coming back. Is it too perfect that you're back, like two days after they announced that Conner-Bringer is not actually fighting U.S.C. 303. He has some sort of injury. We don't know what it is. We don't know how severe it is. All we know is he's not fighting Michael Chandler on June 29th. And we have no idea when that fight or if that fight is going to be.

going to get rescheduled. I thought when they canceled the fight, I thought they would immediately say, it's not happening June 29th, but it is happening on September, whatever date. I thought they would announce a new date just to kind of like alleviate

some of the worries about it. But nope, they announced Alex Pereira stepping in against Yuri Parasca, which is awesome. Brian Ortega against Diego Lopez and Anthony Smith against Carlos Holberg. I would argue 303 now is a better card.

Now, is it a bigger card? No, because Connor, you can't get bigger than Connor, but it's a better card now, but Connor's out, Matt, so just let me just throw it to you. Notice I said, maybe he will prove me wrong.

And I remember when you broke that news, the first thing I said is I'll believe it when I see it. I said, maybe he'll prove me wrong, but that's a maybe. And I would still say the same thing. Like, bro, it just doesn't make sense for him to fight again. and coming off if he's going to fight again

it should be boxing right it doesn't have to worry as much about the shin you know I think most likely what's going on here is the shin isn't taken the titanium

or whatever kind of plate they put in there isn't taking and he's having a hard time with it it's been three years you shouldn't have to recover from any injury for three years

so I'm not convinced still that he'll ever or fight again with the UFC. Maybe he'll do something else. If he does, I think it should be boxing. He's not a bad boxer. He's not going to compete with Floyd Mayweather ever, you know.

But he's a decent boxer. Like, he's got some good matches out there, I think. Yeah. I think the thing that concerns me most about all this is the weird secrecy. And listen, I'm not saying he has to tell us all his business. Like, I'm not saying the guy has to, like, show us medical records. But if it's like a rib injury, which happens. You know, rib injuries happen.

You know, I just watched the UFC documentary where they showed Sean O'Malley had a rib injury right before he fought Al Jermaine Sterling. And they showed the video of when it happened because they record their sparring session so they can break it down afterwards. And they showed him getting the rib injury. Rib injuries are pretty common. Like, that's a pretty common injury in the sport. Back injuries. Like, there's pretty normal injuries in the sport. But when they came out and said he dealt with an injury and he just couldn't get cleared in time, I'm just like in back in my head.

Like, if it's nothing, if it's a rib injury, just say it's a rib injury. If it's an elbow injury, say it's an elbow injury. The fact they're not saying anything, that worries me because is it related back to the leg? I mean, listen, I don't want to play conspiracy theories, but how could you not immediately go to that when he just, I got an injury? And then on top of that, they don't announce a new date. Now, again, maybe this is also part of some master plan. UFC 303 happens. And on that night, they'll announce Connor Chandler, it's rescheduled for,

October or whatever date it's going to be. Okay, fine. But it's just this weird secrecy around it. Like he had an injury. He couldn't get ready in time. And we're moving on. We're postponing the fight. But we don't know when.

We don't know what the injury is. That's the concerning part. Like, if you want to calm our nerves, tell us what it is. And then we know, oh, you had an elbow injury. Okay, cool. It'll be back in three months. Or it's a... Well, the more concerning part is, how about the people that bought tickets

specifically to see Connor that had airline flights and hotels and you know, tickets aren't cheap when Connor's fighting. And there's a lot of people that go to see Connor fight. And now it's, you know, now they're not getting what they paid for. Yeah. And the reality is he's 35. And as you get older, you know, Matt, I mean, this is just the nature of getting older. Injuries happen more frequently.

You know, your body breaks down a little bit easier than it used to. You're not 21 anymore, 22, where you can just, you know, bounce back immediately. and he's coming back from a devastating injury, like a really devastating injury, catastrophic injury. He's never pulled out of a fight before due to injury. So what kind of injury would this be for Connor to pull out? Like it feels like it can't be minor. It can't just be like he has bruised ribs.

Again, I'm not trying to spout conspiracies here. I'm just saying if it was bruised ribs, I feel like Connor would have just somehow forced his way through it. Well, I'll tell you my concern, you know, everybody talks about how the body. breaks down as you age and get a little slower, injuries recover slower. I didn't never really experience that. I thought my body held up perfectly fine.

I don't know if other athletes are any different. I can only go by my own experience. I always thought my body held up perfectly fine. It's all of mine, though. And we know what Connor's doing. Like he posts about it pretty regularly what he's doing. Now, how do you go back to that warrior mindset from the mindset that he's clearly been in, right?

unless he's, you know, in a warrior mindset, you know, 23 hours out of the day and then takes an hour to film a video for us to see opposite, right? But from all indications from the outside looking in, he's not in that warrior mindset. That's how the injuries take longer. That's how, you know, your mind slows down first, right? He's got, you know, all these businesses going on. He's got tons of money. He's got, he's a huge star. He's got all this media, you know, people.

Excuse me, keep burping. People tugging at him left and right. That weighs on the mind. So he's got to, so even if the injury isn't as significant as we think it probably is because he's never pulled out of a fight before, we've seen him fight through injuries before. Was it significant enough that it made his mind say, look, he's coming off losses, what, three losses, right?

There's a one fight for how many years now? Two lost in a row, and he's one and three in his last four, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So all of that shit plays on the mind way harder. You know, even if the injury wasn't as significant as before, he's like, dude, I got to come back and I have to get a win if I come back. Right. Like, he doesn't want to destroy his legacy at this point. If he goes out and loses the Chandler, I mean, you know, assuming that he comes back, right, say he comes back and he fights and he goes out and loses the Chandler.

where does he go from there? Like, you know, he's basically at the end at that point. You got to think. Yeah. Well, here's my, can I ask you this question, Matt? Because obviously you are a fighter and you went through this your entire career. Now, we know, and again, correct me if I'm wrong. From my understanding, everything I've ever talked about, when you're, when you're

training to train is different than when you're in a training camp to get ready for a fight. Things get more intense. You train longer. You train different. You're preparing your body in mind for a fight. So that six or eight weeks, whatever the time. timeline is that's a more intense training. Am I correct in that?

When you got to fight on the horizon, what you're doing in the gym, like just on a normal daily basis, it's different than that six or eight weeks you're in, like, an act, like, they give you a date, July 10th, and it's May. So you have two months. Things change a little bit in your training, right? Like, you change

things a little bit. I would say for the most part, yes, it depends. I think that for me specifically, and I think a lot of fighters can relate to this. Like, we train, when was young like I trained very similarly as if I always had a fight coming up you know about 300 to 350 days per year yeah now I think I do think as you get older you know as Connor for instance who we're talking about with more successful yeah he's going to pick it up during fight camp right

he's not I would bet he probably lived the same way I did with back in the day he was training all the time ready for a fight anytime but once you get up to a certain level and then you're you're allowed to let your body take breaks right especially like once you have fucking kids and businesses and shit you're like dude I got to let let things take a break got to give this other

thing a little bit of energy so for for Connor most likely yes I think for but I don't think that's a proper generalization for every fighter though okay so let me ask you this question this is where I'm leading with this so

obviously Connor never got like out of shape. He always looked in shape. He's ripped and muscled up and whatever he was doing on the side to get that way. I have no idea. We all know the stories. Like when he went and did Roadhouse, he's all jacked out of his mind. He looked in great shape. But being in great shape doesn't mean you're in fight shape. There's two totally different things. There's plenty of guys, that Bradley Martin guy looks jacked out of his mind, but he would get absolutely destroyed by an actual fighter. So he's in shape. So it's different. But the intensity of getting back into a training camp whenever that started.

I don't know if it started March or February. I don't know when it actually started. Obviously, Roadhouse came out, I think, in March. So after the press tour was over, we have to assume when he really ramped things up again. Because during press, I'm sure he was in like the hotel gym and shit, but he's not, you know, he's not doing two a days. So he gets into camp. So that, let's just say April, May is when he gets into camp and he's got the fight in June

and the injury happens. That's where you're pushing yourself. Like, my question is, is that's got. That would be a concern, right? Because that's when he's really pushing himself to get ready for a fight. And that's when the injury happens. You see where I'm going with that? And more injuries happen when cutting weight than anything else, right?

Like you said, he looked jacked during Roadhouse. And like you said, doing a media tour, he's not pushing himself like he would be in a steady camp, you know? So that adds a lot of those pieces add up. And like you said, being out for so long, he's probably, whether he was training or not, you know, Like you said, there was certainly a difference in the training camp intensity than anything he's been doing in the past, you know, filming a movie, however long that takes and doing a media tour and all that shit. So, yeah, he may have ramped it up too quick.

That's a great point. Yeah, so I'm just like, and again, that's the concern. Like, he was going through his first real training camp in three years. Like, that's the first time. And this is when the injury happened. It had to be bad enough for Conner to say, I'm not coming back. Now, maybe there's a chance that, like you said, like he's looking at this thing, I can't lose again. So I have to not take any risk whatsoever where Connor of 2015 might have said, fuck it, you know, Jose Aldo's out.

Give me Chad Mendez. I don't care. But in 2024, he's been out for three years. He's off all these losses. Maybe that minor injury keeps him from fighting. But again, the reality is that's just not who Connor's been his entire career. So if he's stepped out and he's coming up this broken leg, it's just, again, there's just red flags. just worry me to say, is this, like, is this, is this, is this how we're going to see the end of

Connor McGregor? Like, is this injury going to lead to, like, the end of what, what his run is going to be? Right, right. And that's a great point because even a small injury at this point, being that he has been out for so long. And again, you know, he wasn't filming Roadhouse and sparring every day. He wasn't doing a media tour and wrestling, you know, two times a day with guys. So, when he comes back, you know, say it was May or April, he comes back. Now he's got to not only get into shape, but he's got to get his timing back too. So a smaller injury, now that impedes his ability to get his timing back. Whereas before, he's training all the time.

So he's comfortable with his timing and his skills, his techniques. And he's like, okay, this injury is not going to be such a big deal because, look, I'm fucking on top of my game right now. I can work around this. I've been sparring the last three months, four months, whatever it is. I can work around this. But how do you work around that when you're trying to build everything back? Yeah. So when we talked about Connor coming back before, a big part of your argument, and I started to understand it when you said why?

Like, why would he, you know, at this point, why would he come back? Like, he's been three years coming off this bad injury. He's got all the money in the world. He doesn't need to fight anymore. What's he got left to prove? He proved a lot. He did a lot of great things during his career. Why would he fight again?

But now we're tacking on another injury. Again, we don't know what it is. Now, maybe he'll come out tomorrow and say, oh, it was a broken finger. Okay, that's minor and that's not a big deal, but we don't know. And the fact that we don't know. And the fact that we don't know, he didn't say, give me a couple of weeks, I'll be good to go. Or give me a month. I'll be good to go.

none of that's come out. I got to feel there's a purpose behind that. Like, there's got, again, like, if you're just dealing with, like, a sore elbow or hurt ribs, it's hurt ribs. I'll be good in a month. Unfortunately, I can't fight June 29th, but I'll be good July. I'll be good August. You know, that's generally what you hear people say when they get injured. The fact that there's been kind of, like, radio silence sets is what worries me.

So now you're dealing with a guy that you already questioned, like, why is he doing this, for one, Now you get an attack on is his body breaking down as he's like trying to get intensely back into training camp, get back into fights. And he's also still dealing with no matter how. We've never seen anyone come back from that injury, that leg injury and look exactly the same. Now, to be fair, the two guys we know that did it, Anderson, Sylvan, Chris Weibel, were already in their late 30s. They were towards the end of their career, towards the latter part of their careers anyways. So it's harder to gauge. just wasn't a 25-year-old guy going through that.

But Conner's 35. It's not like he's going. So, again, these questions have to come up. So, like, you wonder, like, all the little factors coming up, again, like, I joke. Like, when you kept saying he kept saying, and I was like, you're kind of starting to sell me on the point, maybe Conner's not going to fight again. Then they booked a date and it's like, all right, here we go. We're getting Connor back.

It's going to be the fight. And then this happens. And I'm like, well, maybe, Matt, maybe you were right all along. Maybe Connor's just not, like, this is just how the Connor McGregor's story is going to end. I don't know that for. certain, but I'm starting to come around to your way of thinking. Well, yeah.

And, you know, to add to that, I mean, we say, we talk about a lot, I've said it many times, like, why would he come back? Right. He built a large majority of his net worth outside of the UFC. He's already built his brand in the UFC. He doesn't have anything to prove come back to UFC. Of course, it makes a great story, and his brand magnifies even more if he comes back and turns into a, you know, wins another championship.

I don't see that happening. You don't see that happening. No one really sees that happening. Of course, if Connor really wants it and really, you know, secludes himself in the, in a tough training camp and brings in some tough guys, like, you know, I don't put it past him, but how motivated are you going to be to do that when you got 500 mil in the bank? You know, he's living his life. And he's going to come back and make.

I don't know. What is he making the UFC? Like, you know, I'll give like big numbers, like 10, 20 mil, which I doubt he's even making that. Comes back and makes 10, 20 mil. His net worth is, what, 500 mil? So you're going to come back and fight for less than 1% of your net worth? Yeah. You get what I'm saying? Like, it doesn't, like, you're going to put yourself through all that work when, like, you can make that much money.

putting it into a fucking high interest savings account. You know what I mean? So, like, it just doesn't add up, really. So you said when the fight got announced, you said maybe he'll prove us wrong. And even then you were hedging your bets a little bit, saying maybe, you know, you'll prove us wrong, yeah, maybe. As we said here, middle of June,

a couple weeks out, less than two weeks out now from UFC 303, we know he's not fighting in. And you're my, Matt Brown. Do you think Connor ever comes back? Do you think we ever see Connor again? Like I said, I was never confident before that he would. Like it didn't shock me when I seen he was out of this fight. So no, I'm still on that same train.

He's not ever coming back. And I say the same thing I said before. I hope he proves me wrong. I hope that I'm wrong. I would like to see Connor fight again. I would like to see him do a real training camp with real training partners, push himself hard, go back to the great Connor that he was before. I would love to see that.

I think a lot of people would love to see that. It's not happening. If he comes back, it's probably going to be for... The only reason I can think is if he's fucking up his businesses or something, which is possible too. You know, Mike Tyson blew a ton of money, you know, like it happens. But I don't see it happening, no, still. So now with that said, the other side of this, you know, I just...

Listen, if you're giving me percentage, I'll go 80. 20, 80, he doesn't fight again. I'll give it a 20% chance he fights again, just because I feel like... I would be on board with that. Yeah. Except I'd go closer to 85 or 90, 10. Yeah, I'll go 80, 20.

I was, like, when they announced the fight, I was like, okay, he's gonna fight. Like, I was convinced at that point. He was going to fight. This injury concerns me, though, especially because we don't know what is. What, maybe what was it? I mean, I'm not saying this is it.

I'm not, just being clear about this. This is just me speculating. What if it was his, knee on that leg that way had the damage done because that leg is weaker. You know what I mean? Like that's how catastrophic that kind of injury is. If that's the case, maybe he's just never going to be the same. So that's where I have to go 80-20. Like I think there's a part of Connor that just feels like he has to do it. Like he has to come back to prove everybody wrong, to prove you wrong, prove me wrong,

prove everyone's wrong, like, question and say he's not the same Connor McGregor. Even if Connor McGregor came back on June 29th, he wasn't going to be the same Connor McGregor because you don't come back the same at 35 from that kind of injury. No one's ever done it. Maybe he's going to be the miracle guy. But again, I got to go with what I've seen through anyone who's ever gone to that injury before to say they never come back quite the same, especially striking and being the same on that leg.

But now you're dealing with another injury during a training camp, your first training camp in three years. Your first training camp where we know you're completely clean. I mean, you know, I'm just saying, like, you know, we don't know what he was doing during that time when he wasn't being tested. Who know? I just, again, I still say 20%, because I think there's a fire in Connor that he wants to come back and he wants to just prove to people, hey, I'm coming back. I'm Connor McGregor.

I'm still the same Connor. But the other 80% is saying he's coming off a catastrophic broken leg. He's 35. He's got $500 million to bank. He just came off another injury. Why? Like what is left there? You know what I mean?

And again, until we know the injury, and again, maybe the. that's it. If we find out tomorrow, it was a bruised ribs and he just didn't feel like he could go in two weeks. Okay, I'll give him that. And if they reschedule the fight and say, it's going to be August 1st, whatever the date is. Okay, cool. I'll start to get a little bit more confident. But until I find that kind of stuff out, I'm going to be 80-20. I'm going to say that, you know, this is concerning. I mean, this is concerning what's happening. Yeah. And the whole thing is really, I don't know, it doesn't all add up, you know, like, why do we not know about what why is he not saying what injury it is you know there was the whole contract negotiation part that we were talking about or everybody was talking about before the fight

even got happened you know of course you have that catastrophic injury which i mean i can see him coming back from the injury i you know the fact that like widman and anderson sylva didn't come back the same as they were before um doesn't really really tell me a whole lot about that injury, you know, for one, like, Anderson was, I mean, Anderson is Anderson. Like, he's a unique guy anyway. And I thought, you know, the way that his style works, like his time was always going to come anyway, right? He was a very reactionary fighter, and your reactions, when they start going, that's when you start losing, right? That's, I think that's what happened when he fought Chris Wyman.

It happens that Chris Wyden is the other guy that it happened to. And I thought he, you know, I didn't see any indications of his leg being a problem in his fights where he came back. You know, he got kicked in the leg a lot by what's his name, the last fight. But it didn't look like he was unstable or less explosive or anything. So I don't think I'm not on that train that like this this particular injury is so bad that you can't come back from it I think it's just two unique cases that are in our heads that are making us believe that. Also we got to remember you know when Anderson got knocked out by Chris Wyman and then came back and then the second time is when the broken legs happened it felt like that was just like that was him passing the torch and away Anderson was just at that point of scorer and and and you know listen you'll not find a bigger Chris Wybin fan

guy sitting in this chair right now. I love Chris. Incredible guy. Nice guy. Really good fighter. But it wasn't like Chris was like the number two ranked middleweight when he got injured. Like he was already like, you know, he'd already gone through some tough losses and kind of had some ups and downs in his career. So it's so hard to say. But Conner's in the same position. Connor's one and three in his last four fights. Like it's hard to say like, you know, he got like, he had a couple, he had some good moments in that second fight with Porreier and then he got knocked out. And the third fight where he broke his leg, he was getting dominated. He was getting taken down and beat up. He was getting beaten.

up badly and and then he broke his leg and so yeah like it's hard to say like when I say catastrophic and I think that that that Porriet fight that last one where he did break his leg was a very clear indication of where Connor's head has been because you can look at someone like Porregeau compare them to Connor McGregor like Porier's head is in the fucking game when he's in there right and and it stayed in the game for a very long time he's a fucking dog And Connor has kind of slowly gotten a little worse and a little worse. And his cardio doesn't hold up. And he doesn't have the same dog in him that he had before.

And I'm not saying, look, if Dustin Poirier made as much money as Connor, he'd probably lose some dog too. If you made that much money, would you be sitting here on this podcast right now? He might, but you wouldn't give a fuck about it. You know what I'm saying? Like you lose that when you make that much money. Most people do. and these people that want to compare

to like Kobe or LeBron James whatever they got so much money but they keep playing like you're playing fucking basketball shut the fuck up you know like it's a fucking like they're really good at basketball it's easy not easy to be good at basketball but it's completely

different sport like you can't compare like you don't have to be a dog to be great at basketball you got to have to be a world class fighter especially one with like a name like Connor McGregor right like Michael Chandler's going to come in like a fucking dog like this is his fucking time right this is his time to shine this is his chance Connor McGregor it's just another fight you know it doesn't it doesn't carry the same significance in any way there's an inherent danger in fighting that's different than basketball and

football I mean football I guess is different but yeah basketball like there's a different but football players also have a much shorter shelf life too. Like, they only play in the NFL for, if you're in the NFL, I think the average career in the NFL is like three seasons or four seasons. So, like, there's a reason why, like, you know, they're not like some guys, you can't stick around the NFL. You can't just stick around and keep playing, even though you're a multimillionaire because your body, you just can't do it in the NFL.

But fighting, there's an inherent danger there. And, yeah, you can point to Floyd Mayweather and so, well, Floyd Mayweather had all the money in the world and he kept fighting. He kept fighting towards the end, and then he realized, like, okay, like now Floyd is fighting John Gotti the third because there's no risk in fighting John Gotti the third and someone's going to pay him a million dollars to do it and he can just tack that on

to his Scrooge McDuck pile of money because there's no risk there. He's not taking a risk fighting John Gotti. And all these sports, even boxing doesn't require you to be a dog. Like, especially when you're as good as Floyd Mayweather, in fighting, like just simply being a fucking mean-ass dog can take you a long, long way. Yeah.

So I understand what you're saying. And again, now you're tacking on another injury. And so, you know, and like I said, you know, when I say catastrophic injury, you're right. Like, the reality is Anderson and Chris were both at latter stages of their career. They were not the same guys they were when they were champions. Did the broken leg just kind of serve as another catalyst to just kind of like the tail into their career? I mean, Chris is still fighting. He looked good against Bruno Silva.

He looked a lot better in that fight against Brad Tavares. And I think he, I mean, he openly said that, that he was too nervous about the leg when he came back. And it affected his performance. And the second fight, he looked a lot better. Do I expect Chris Wybin to go out there and become middleweight champion and beat Dracus or Israel, out of Sonia or Sean Strickland? No, I don't.

I mean, I just don't think Chris Wyman's... But that's not because of the broken leg. That's just because Chris Wyman is nearing 40, and he's at the tail end of his career. I think Chris would tell you he's probably at the time. tail in his career. Anderson was too, but that's not far off from where Connor was. It wasn't like Connor was the number one ranked guy in the world when he had this happen to him. He just got knocked out and he got beat down by Porreux twice in a row and that's after

he beat Donald Cowboys Seroni. Cowboys is a good fire. No, I understand that and he got mauled by Kabib. There's no shame to losing the Kabib. But that's also like it's funny. Did you see the tweet that Hoffield Dos Angeles put out there about Connor? Do you see that? Yeah, yeah. Kind of getting him back for that whole broken foot thing. That was 2016. It's eight years ago. That's a long time ago when Connor was fighting to become double champ. Like, it seems like we all talk about, like, I think we have to put in context.

We talk about Connor now. It's 2024. He hasn't held a UFC title in eight years. Right, right. Like, that's a long time ago. That's a long time, yeah. And my whole point is it's just not, I'm not convinced it it's this catastrophic injury that everybody makes it out to be. All of these people that we're talking about, they lost.

some dog, right? Like they had dog lost in them before the injury. And of course, it is a gigantic injury and long recovery and everything. But, you know, that just puts more nails in that coffin of the dog.

Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, like, again, we keep saying like Connor, Connor, because it's Connor. Connor is special. We all know Connor special beyond just the fighting skills, like, because he's such a mega star, but he is 35. And he is coming off a 1 and 3 record. And he hasn't won, he hasn't beaten a top five opponent in eight years.

Like, these are all things that were not. And he doesn't have any reason to come back. Yeah. So these are all like compounding reasons as to why we have to, you know, when I say 80, 20, like I'll still give it a 20% chance. But until at least I know the injury and the timeline, I'll keep it at 20%. You come out and say you had bruised ribs and I'll be back in August. Maybe I'll, you know, 6040 it or 7030th.

But until then, right now, I'm at a day. 80, 20, and I'm leaning closer to your 90, 10, that I am 70-30. And I'll tell you, even if he does come back, I don't think Chandler's the right guy to come back against anymore. Because matchup-wise, it seems like that'd be a perfect match-up. But we all know very goddamn good and well, and I keep using the same word over and over again. Chandler's a dog. Like, you're fighting a straight fucking dog.

Like, you better knock him out. You better have far, far better technical skills. Yeah. You better. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem.

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DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. And that's the other side of this, man. How much does your heartbreak for poor Michael Chandler? I mean, he's been out for two years waiting on this fight and now he's got to wait again with no, you know, maybe the UFC has told him in private? Like, hey, hold on, hold on, we're going to reschedule this for August, September, whatever the date may be. But man, like, I said it. We did an immediate reaction show after the news first dropped,

and I think we all agreed, like, give it until December, because that would literally be two years because he fought November 2020. That's when he fought Gaigi or Poria. I care which one it was. He fought that fight in 2022, and then he did the ultimate fight only four months later with Connor. So November will be two years. If you don't have a date and a scheduled fight against Connor McGregor by December 31st,

dude, you got to move on. Like, you can't sit. He's already 37. 738. Like how much longer are you going to wait? You know, like I understand at this point, dude, you've waited this long. I get it. Wait till December. And then you got to move on, man, because at that point, even you got to give up hope that it just ain't going to happen.

Yeah, the thing that sucks is it's probably never going to happen for him. And he just wasted, you know, prime years of his career waiting on Connor McGregor. So, you know, it's unfortunate for him. I totally understand why he did it. I see, you know, I get his mindset there. But, yeah, he's in a tough. position now, right? And then who's he come back and fight? You know, it's like the division moves forward, bro. He's got some killers in this division and they're all moving forward. I mean,

this sport moves incredibly fast. And in the two years, he's been gone. I mean, you know, he had already lost to Poria and Gaichy. And again, no shame in that whatsoever. And they're still both top contenders. We don't know if Poria is going to fight again. We know Gage's going to fight again. But now you got guys like Armist Surukin out there. You got Matush Gamrod out there. Charles Olivares still hanging around He's still a monster I mean it's not like he got destroyed by Armin He got beat but he didn't

You know he'd get destroyed by Arm and Saruki It was a good fight Uh Islam's still the champion You're not you mean he's not like I love you know Islam's you know it's gonna take a lot to beat Islam And then you know you got you know Other young up and coming guys who were hungry to get there You got guys like Moikano

And you got guys like you know Even like a Drew Dover Like guys like that who are not necessarily top 15 guys who are just dogs like you say, it's just not going to get better. That time passes, man. That's the unfortunate. I get what he's doing. And I kind of said before I thought he should move on.

I'm not even telling him to move on. I'm saying wait until December 31st to move on. But man, like if he doesn't get this counterfeit, if it never happens, man, that's just, that's devastating. Because then you've given up two years of your career for literally nothing. And you're coming back in the United and say, okay, go fight Matush Gamrod. Go fight, you know, Armist, Saruki, go fight. and go fight, and none of those are going to be easy fights.

None of those fights are like, oh, boy, I can't wait for that one. Those are tougher, you could argue those are tougher fights to Connor McGregor. I would argue that they are for sure, yeah. Yeah, so. I say it's put him in an awkward situation because, you know, he could have fought and lost and probably still fought Connor. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Like it hasn't really helped him waiting out this whole time. you know if he if he lost to sirukian or um i don't know who else like islam or something it's not like connor wouldn't still fight him yeah you know and if he went out and won then obviously you know it makes it even better for him and maybe maybe he go out and win impressively and connor wouldn't want to fight him you know who knows right but yeah it hasn't really served him well in my opinion uh waiting this out um but it seems like Like, you know, he's taking care of himself well. Like, you know, he must, he's got other things on the side making money.

So, you know, I guess he's doing okay. But I wish you would have fought, you know, just as a fan of Michael Chandler, I would have liked to see him in the mix with Porre and Gigi, you know, even though he's got beat by him. Like, I'd love to see him fight them guys again or Olivera or Siruki and like all these guys. I think they're great matchups for Chandler. Yeah, they tried. I mean, they did briefly try to do when, when Connor got injured, I know they

did, and it was never like a serious conversation. It was more of like a, what do you think about this kind of thing? But they reached out to Max Holloway about doing Max Holloway and Michael Chandler. And Max, from my understanding, it never got serious. There was never any deep talks about it. From my understanding, Max knows he's going to get Iliate Tporia. And, you know, I mean, what do you risk? A title shot to get back the belt you really want against one of the top pound-for-pound guys of Ilya.

Or do you risk it against still a very dangerous guy, Michael Chandler, with less to gain from that fight. Yeah, you get a win, get a big paycheck. But are you, you know, it's a guy who is technically coming off a loss and has been out for two years. Is it nearly as much as you gain for beating a guy like Aetoporia. So I get that. But yeah, like, it's funny. We were talking about Dosano, sort of like, dude, if you're Michael Chandler, if you don't get Connor by December, go fight RDA. That'd be a fun fight.

RDA is still a dog. You're still out there. Like, he's not a top 10 guy anymore, but that still be a fun fight. Yeah, still a legendary fighter that everybody loves, everybody knows. And, yeah, that's actually a great matchup, as a matter of fact. He's older too, right? So, you know, he's on the later stages of his career. That's a great idea, actually.

I love this idea. Yeah. Do you don't want to come back and fight Fiziv coming back? Like, Fiziv is, you know, that dude's a freaking monster. Like that guy. And Gammat is scary. And, like, just like I said, the sport moves fast, man. And, you know, Armis Surukin, I think, was like outside the top 10 the last time

Chandler fought. And now he's the number one contender. That's how quickly these things move, man. You got to stick around. So I do. my heart breaks for it man like i get it dude i get why you sat out i get why you waited for this because any three fights you would have had probably wouldn't have paid you what one connor mcgregor fight's gonna pay you and you got a family you got kids i get it like this is a life-changing opportunity

but man like this whole thing just it just i want him to get it man i did i wanted him to get it you you waited this long i want you to get it now i'm just like i don't know if it's ever going to happen for you man like i just i feel bad like i don't know if it's ever going to happen for you I don't know You know, Cowboy was talking about it one day He said he didn't get paid anymore to fight Connor than Anybody else, right? He's under contract, got paid a certain amount

So I don't know, you know, maybe you're talking about pay-per-views or Well, I don't know the full extent of the deal But I do know that like Chandler was going to get paid I don't know how much he was going to get paid I don't know like I don't know what the increase in his contract And also the pay-per-view points but he was going to get paid. Like he was going to get... I can see the pay-per-view points, but like you think

there's something specific in the contract. Like if you fight Connor McGregor, you're getting triple your pay. I think it depends on who you are and what you're negotiating. Like, you know, when Nate Diaz fought Connor the first time, when he stepped in on short notice, he negotiated a better deal because he was stepping in on 10 days notice.

He goes out there beats him, and then of course he changed his fortune forever. So when they fought again at UFC 202, he's now in the kind of like the catbird seat because he beat Connor. But yeah, I think Chandler, Listen, I know Chandler's manager, Dave Martin, incredible manager, great guy, works for guys like Robbie Lala, Ryan Bader, incredible guy. I don't know what the deal was, but I have to imagine they renegotiated his deal, like, under the terms of doing the ultimate fighter and doing the Connor fight. So I'm sure, if I was guessing, like, he's going to get a couple million up front because that's what, you know, Conner's like, yeah, I know Porre did the same thing.

Porier renegotiated. I think before both Conner fights and got paid a hefty sum. and then the pay-per-view on top of that. So, I mean, but even if it's, let's just say hypothetically, it's $2 million up front and then another $5 million of paperview points, that's still probably 10 times more than you're going to make fighting RDA or Fizziv, you know what I mean? So like, which one do you, do you fight a dog like Fiziv and risk a $500,000 paid

or you wait a year and a half and fight a guy get $8 million? Like, that's a big difference. Yeah, very fair, very fair. I just, I'm not sure how those contracts work. I didn't know if you had any insight into that. Yeah, I mean, I do it a little bit, but I don't. know, I don't know Chandler's specific deal, but I do know when you have, when you're the choice, when you're the chosen one, so to speak, that you do have options to like sit down

with the EOS and say, hey, I want X amount of dollars up front. And I also, you know, want some sort of pay-per-view points. And I think that goes into it. Now, has everyone gotten that? No, but that also depends on who you are and what you've tried to negotiate. Not everyone has that leverage. Not everyone tries. I mean, if you don't try, if you don't go in, if you're cowboy, I'm not knocking cowboy. If you're cowboy and you say, I'll fight Connor McGregor, and like, cool. And you sign the contract. Well, of course the UFC's not going to be like, hold on now.

Do you want an extra $8 million? Are you sure? You know, if you're just like, dude, I'll take the fight. You know what I mean? So we don't know what Cowboy asked for it. You know, so like, you know, I'm sure Chandler and Porre were like, yeah, I'll take it. But let's tack a couple zeros on the end there, you know?

So, yeah, I'm not knocking Cowboy, but I'm just saying, like, I don't know what he might have just said, sure, give me, Connor. And they're like, all right, cool. Like, we don't have to pay extra. Cool. that does sound like something cowboy would do the UFC is not sitting outside a bank

with a blank check just saying here like what do you want? Like we know that's not how they operate. Yeah, definitely not. So what's else going on in May news? We got all this Connor news. What else has been going on? I missed two weeks of news.

Yeah, well another unfortunate piece of news that happened along with Conner is Hamzot's out again. I'm sure you saw that. Homzot out of Robert Whitaker, man. God, that's enough. I'm just like, God, this guy had so much goodwill built in when he started the UFC, had that like three-fight streak in a month.

And like everyone loved Hamza, man. He was the beast. He was the guy who fought everybody, two weight classes, has that war with Gilbert Burns. And then it's been a downward spiral in so many ways since then. Like, he had that weight-cutting issues. He was good. I mean, listen, let's be honest.

He was going to Maln-Diaz. We know he was going to Maln-D-S. But he couldn't make weight. Mess that up. Then he fights. Usman, again, not his fault at Costa gets injured, but he fights Usman. Doesn't look great against the guy on two weeks notice who's going up a weight class. And yes, Usman is an incredible fighter, but still two weeks and up to 185 and Usman still nearly beat him.

And then nothing. Haven't seen him since. And now he's going to be out again. Like, it's unfortunate. It's going to be one of the biggest what ifs in the sport ever, right? Especially if he retires right now, if he can't come back from the sickness, whatever it is. because they never confirmed what it is, right? They just said he's deathly ill, right?

Yeah, they just said he's got some sort of serious illness and it couldn't get past it in time, whatever that is. And that's, don't forget, he also had that really bad bout with COVID where he, like, retired briefly and, like, you know, came back, but he had it really, really badly in his lungs and he was, like, thought he was done. Yeah, yeah. So hopefully it's something like that where he still ends up getting over it

and he's able to come back. But if he doesn't, like, that's going to be a huge what-if. we're always going to be talking about Hamzaa. Like, dude, what if he stayed good? He would have fucked everybody up, you know? Because I think Hamza, like, he's lived up to the hype. And, you know, because he had a war with Gilbert Burns, like, dude, Gilbert Burns is a fucking dog, man.

Like, everybody's going to have a war with Gilbert Burns. No one's going there beating him easy. Or Usman, even on two weeks notice going up, like, Oussman's, like, probably one of the worst matchups for Hamzaa. And Hobzat still beat him, you know? But, like, I would bet, like, you know, they probably walk around similar weights, you know? Like, Hamzaa's probably a little bit bigger, but they probably walk around about the same. So I've been very impressed with him, and I think he's lived up to all the hype personally.

Oh, no, I think he has, too. But like I said, all the big, like the Goodwill and the luster around him has kind of been like, I mean, I think he still definitely had after the Burns fight. He was never higher than after that fight because we saw him get into a war and win. Yeah. But then the weight cutting issue and kind of blows that whole paper view up, and then he moves up to middle weight. And, again, not his fault. The fight got changed. But even, again, I agree.

Like, I always said Oussman was probably one of the worst matchups for him. But still, you know, you think two weeks notice. And the problem, the crazy thing about that fight, if you remember, was Ousman had a better cardio on two weeks notice. Like, that's a concern. Like, how is this guy? Like, shouldn't be able to outwork the guy who's on two weeks notice? And he couldn't. And I stand by the fact.

I know this all like what if thing. I stand by the fact if that had gone five rounds, Usman wins that fight. Yeah, yeah, I think we all agree on that. I always wonder if, you know, just completely random thought if that COVID,

like, fucked him up for life. Yeah. Like, I remember when I got it, dude, I was feeling it for a good two, three months after.

Like, I don't know if my cardio ever fully recovered, but it was a good two or three months. Like, I was still hurting and I fought during that time and I noticed a huge difference. And,

you know us as fighters like we're not going to attribute it to something that happened a year ago right we're like dude we're over it we're good but it's very possible it damages lungs for good yeah it's a lung it's a lung sickness and that's where you get your cardio from so like that's you know like that's a real deal but yeah and listen i think him and whittaker would holy shit that was going to be a great fight like i was super excited about that but yeah i'm not going to get it now man it's unfortunate and you know i i i do like i actually am kind of excited about this fight with Ikehr and Malley Scaroff. That dude's a fucking dog, too.

The only guy he's ever lost to is Hamzot, and outside of that he's absolutely a fucking wrecking machine. Now, do I think Whitaker should beat him? Of course, Whitaker should beat him, but let's not forget, you know, Alaskaroff was preparing for a fight. He was supposed to fight on Saturday, so it wasn't like he's not gone through a training camp.

He just pushed his training back a couple weeks. But, yeah, dude, like, I'm interested. Now, again, do I think he's going to win? Would I pick Whitaker win? Probably, but I like the matchup. I just feel for Hamzogsogs. I'm like, man, this is like, this was the fight like if he would

beat Whitaker then he would have gotten the title shot he would have gotten DDP or Israel or however that whole thing plays out now we're back to does he fight Costa coming back like does he fight you know does he fight shirkland like I don't know like what do you do with him and then when does he come back and we can't go through this whole conversation without giving mad respect to Robert Whitaker for even taking that fight yeah like that's an unranked guy that no one's ever heard of and Whitaker's like like yeah put him in there let's go yeah that dude yeah you're talking about being a dog dog

dog there's dog yeah there's a dog right there winter because they give him to feed me the fucking terrifying guy who is not ranked but yeah throw him in there with me because there's risk there's absolutely risk there's huge risk that dude's good he just doesn't you just don't know him but he's good exactly so like I said we can't go through this conversation without giving mad props to Whitaker we have to give him he's such an awesome fighter man it's such a guy. I love watching him fight. And speaking of guys who deserve all the credit in the world, how much to fucking Alex

Pereira and Yuri Parahshka have to, like, just give them all the credit in the world, dude? Alex, that guy's a UFC Hall of Famer, and he's had like eight UFC fights. Eight UFC fights, he's had, he's a fucking Hall of Famer, dude. This dude is making, like, a legendary career. I mean, what the fuck? This guy's

a fucking monster, man. What? This dude, man, this dude's just got fucking balls of steel, man. I love this guy. Yeah, and he's so humble about it, too, right? You see a lot of those behind the scene stuff. Like he's cool about everything, humble about everything. So much respect for him, man. But I'll tell you what, I'm leaning towards Yuri getting it done this time.

Only because they're coming in on short notice. And I know Pereira was on a seminar tour in Australia. Yeah. I get the feeling Yuri's going to be in better shape. Yuri's going to be better prepared. and Yuri's on when Yuri's hungry

which he kind of was always hungry I don't know what I'm saying there like Yuri's going to be hungry for this shit he's going to be in his face

and he's going to I give Yuri a good shot I'm still I'm 50-50 but I give Yuri a good shot better than I would have otherwise we'll do our picks next week

because that's only a week away after this week we'll do our picks next week but I'm leaning, I'm still leaning towards Alex, mostly because even like against Rackich and the biggest problem that continues to haunt and scare me about Yeri is that he just takes damage. He gets hit. And you cannot fucking do that against Alex Prayer, man.

He only takes one with that guy. And he didn't even have to fucking hit you good. He just has to touch you and your fucking heads in the third row. So that's what scares me. That's what scared because like he's not a defense. He's like, what's defense? What's defense? What the fuck is that?

you know and and it and it doesn't come back to bite him usually but it will come back to bite you against the other the galaxy prayer but you're right he was probably hanging out in a fucking cave like training with bears and shit and just getting ready for you know ready for war while Alex is out in fucking Australia doing seminars so maybe you're right like maybe that's what you know like sets up the trilogy maybe that's what it does well also um you know rakeach is a different matchup too though right and yeah you know rakeach is a higher volume type guy. You know, like you said, when Alex hits you, you know, it's usually lights out. But I think it will be less hits.

So I think you're going to be better prepared for that. Yeah, but dude, seriously, how much do you have to credit a guy like Alex Pereira? Like, he doesn't have to do this. I'm sure they paid him. And I'm sure like, but you're like, dude, he's just like, yeah, fuck it. He just fought a UFC 300. Knocked out you from Jamal Hill. He's on a fucking seminar tour in Australia.

They're like, hey man, we need you to save the day. He straps on that super. Man Cape, flies right into Vegas and gets ready to host UFC. Dude, like I said, man, this guy's like eight fights in his career. He's a two-division champ. He's a Hall of Fame. He put him in the Hall of Fame that week. They're doing the Hall of Fame that week.

Fuck it. Just put Pereira in the same week. Just go ahead and get it down now, right? Seriously. And you know as well as I do. I've said this a million times and I'll say it again now. If you don't step up for a short notice fight, I never blame you. Because the reality is this is a hard fucking sport.

and you talk about all the time there's so many risks involved it's hard to predict fights because the littlest thing can make a difference in a fight where it just shifts things from one way to the other so I never fault anyone for not taking it but when you do I give you all the praise in the world

because you don't have to be there especially as a champion especially just after coming off UFC 300 dude that was prayer I mean I already had all the respect in the world for him but holy shit if I had more respect for him it just like tacked onto the mountain on that one Yeah, man. Alex is the fucking man. I've been following him since Glory.

And yeah, I always loved his style. And he's just done such amazing things. So Hall of Fame, I think you are right on with that. He's a chew-in. Dude, I watched, I don't know, you were gone when it would happen. Dominic Reyes came back and got a big win over Dustin Jacoby. He looked good, big knockout. Great for him. I'd interviewed Dustin before that fight. And it got me thinking about because he had fought Alex in glory. And so I just, I went down a rabbit hole and started watching Alex's old glory fights. I'd seen most of them because when he first came in, I was like, I wanted to see this guy fight.

That guy's such a fucking savage dude. Like, he was so much fun to watch a kickboxing too. I didn't think he would carry over as well as it has either. But he made his kickboxing firm in May spectacularly well. I mean, he's just done it so good. I think a lot of guys, especially in glory, Like their style doesn't really work for M.A., especially with the high guard and, you know,

the cost of shelling up. But, man, Alex, he's hit it spot on. Yeah, I mean, what an amazing guy. And I think going to light heavyweight's better for him. I'm not, listen, I certainly am not taking anything away. I'm not taking anything away from Israel out of Sonia knocking him out, but I think he killed himself to get down the middle way. And I think he's much better at light heavy weight.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Yeah. So, and I mean, motherfuckers got so much power. And now he doesn't have to come. Oh, wait. Yeah, it's kind of scary. Yeah, dude. It's like, he hits like a heavyweight as a light heavyweight. Like, yeah, that's why people are like, yeah, throw him in heavyways.

See what he does against Tom Aspinall because fuck it. Like, he just throw him in there. Why not? I think he'd be all right. Hey, dude. Like, again, you and I have been around a long time and know how, you know, generally speaking, kickboxers have not done great transitioning. There's been a couple. You know, there's been a couple examples of that.

But traditionally it's not been the, like we usually when you see a wrestler, like a bow nickel, you're like, oh, yeah, that guy's going to be fine. Like that guy's going to be a monster. Kickboxers have had a little more of a struggle. But, dude, that guy's insane. Like, that guy is just, he's got like the death touch. He just fucking flicks you and you go fucking flying across the octagon. Yeah, yeah, I know, man. Like you said, the kickboxing, the styles doesn't always work for MMA with the big gloves versus little gloves, especially the Dutch style.

You don't see too many of those guys. Look at Gokan Saki. I thought he would be it. He was the one that kind of made me question the whole kickboxing to M.A. Because if anybody was going to come in and just wreck people in M.M.A. It was going to be Gokon Saki, I thought. And no, that did not work at all. It did not.

Yeah, I was with you. The only thing to stop Gokon Saki was he was always such a smaller guy fighting heavyweights in kickboxing. I was like, oh, man, a light heavyweight. He's going to wreck people in the U.S. One fight later, Kalil Ranchi is. like, are you sure about that? Are you sure about that? Yeah, it did not work at all. So, like I said, I've been real impressed with the way Alex has handled it and the way he is

transitioned to MMA. And, I mean, it's been impressive to watch. And, you know, the sky's the limit for him. And he comes in on two weeks notice and beats Yuri. I mean, that's going to be even more badass. But I said, I'm leaning towards Yuri in this. I just, I just, maybe it's just a gut feeling. You know, there's something like I think Yuri's on his fucking game.

now. I don't know. That's just what I feel. Well, we'll break it down next week. Last thing before we wrap up, let me just throw this out to you. We'll talk more about it next week. We're going to break down some of the fights. So now we move from Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler, and it was going to be Carlos Alberg against Jamal Hill. We know Jamal is sadly out all side of knee injury. It was going to be Ian Machado, Gary, and Michael Vitton & Page. Those are the three big fights at 303. Now it's Alice Prairie, Yuri Perhoshka, Brian Ortega, Diego Lopez. That's a fucking great fight. Ian Machado, Gary and Michael Benham Page and Anthony

Smith and Carlos Holberg. Now, yeah. Am I right and thinking it's not a bigger card? Because Connor is bigger. We all know Connor's bigger. That goes without saying. This is a better card now, though. A better card. Yeah. I agree. Better card. Better card.

Yeah, it's good I think a much better likelihood of some bloody battles. And that's what we all like to see, right? We're all bloodthirsty, fucking beer drinking dorks here I guess

yeah we're all jackled we're all thirst for the blood yeah I mean it's a natural that's why we're M-May fans right that's what got us into it originally and I think that's what's gonna keep us in it forever like these are some wars about to happen on this card

it's gonna be good dude it's gonna be a lot of fun yeah it's gonna be a blood bath I talked to Anthony Smith I texted him after they announced this fight and I said you're a wild man he's like I feel like I'm back on the regional scene. Like I just took fights. He's like, I'm having fun. And I was like, fuck yeah, dude. He's like, yeah, dude. He's like, that's when I fight my best when I'm just having fun. And he's

like, this is like, felt like a regional scene. Like it's like, you got a call. Hey man, you want to step in fight a couple weeks? He's like, sure. Didn't think about it. No, am I risking my ranking or, you know, who's the guy? He's just like, fuck yeah, I'll take it. Because he was training with Jamal. He was training with Jamal. He was training with Jamal, you know, during his camp helping him get ready for Carlos Lulberg. So he's like, yeah, I'll take it. And I'm like, fuck yeah. I love that attitude. I love that attitude. I love that attitude too. Yeah, like you should always feel that way, in my opinion. You should always feel like every fight's the same. Yeah. If you're a fighter, you fight. I love it. I love it. So we'll talk more about that next week. Of course, this weekend we got the UFC Saudi Arabia card. I know

we lost part of the main event with Hamzaa, but it's still a really good card. Sergey Pavlovich coming back against Alexander Volkov. That's a really fun fight. Kelvin Gaston's fighting on the card. Still a really solid part card. Unfortunately, we lost Hamza, but it's still a really solid fight card and it's an early start time it's like noon eastern for the start time which is kind of cool so you don't have to wait till 10 o'clock at night so yeah that's that's prime matt brown time right there now finally the east coast people are getting the good one and now the west coast people are getting fuck because it'll be 9 a.m. for them so that yeah yeah wake up early people you're normally the one-of-clock you're normally the one-clock matt's already snoring in his chair over

there so totally do i've missed wait to me main events because i fell sleep in the chair. Dude, I get it. Like a fucking grandpa. I get it. Well, the main car, the prelim start at noon. The main card's at 3 p.m. So it'll be over at like 6 p.m.

So that's pretty, that's pretty fucking great day right there. I mean, that's a good way to spend your day if you ask me. That's a great way to spend your day. Still got Saturday nights to do whatever you're going to do. It's a great way to spend your day. It's a good card. I think we would. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Damon, be remiss if we didn't mention the amazing fight by Tank Davis over the weekend, right? Because you're like a boxing fan now, I think. I am. I think you'd be watching as much boxing as I do these days. So they're talking about setting it up Tank Davis and Lomachinko. And that, my friend, is a fight that I want to see. Or Shakur. I'd rather see him fight Shakur if I had my own pick, but Lomacheco and Tank, that is a fucking fight right there, boy.

Yeah, Tank looks, dude, he had a bit of a slow starting. He's starting so slow. That's what Tank Davis does. That's what he. Yeah, I was saying, that's what he is, yeah. Yeah, like four rounds to feel a guy out. And in round five, he starts taking over. And then round eight, he knocked him the fuck out hard.

Yeah, that's Tank. All he's got to do is land. He's like an Alex Pereira of a 135 pounds. Dude, it's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah, I mean, listen, there's part of me just because I love Lomacheco. I think that'd be a really fun fight, but I think Chakur would be the bigger, like, in terms of, like, more meaningful fight.

You know, because Loma's, you know, he's only, you know, he's only had his last win over Cambosis. It's not like he's on this, like, long winning streak and all the championships. But we all know how good Vassal Lomachinko is. But, yeah, it would be cool to see him fight Chikor two undefeated guys. It seemed like forever, like, it's, and maybe I'm wrong, but it just seemed like everyone thought Haney was avoiding Shikov. So it would be kind of fun to see Tango in there and fight him.

So, yeah, I think that would be great. But either one of those, dude, sign me up. I love Vasolomachinko, so sign me up for either one of those. Yeah, same here. But I think I can't, I'll be happy when Tank and Shikor do fight because, you know, it's going to come down the road at some point, and it's going to be a huge fight. And I think that's kind of what they're both waiting on.

They're both, they're both like, let's just wait. Let's not, and that's something boxing does well that, you know, I would criticize the UFC. sometimes they knock contenders off because they put two contenders together. Whereas boxing, they're going to avoid each other and keep taking easier fights. Not that tank is taking an easy fight with Loma Chico. That's a risky fight that he could very well lose. But most likely they'll be, you know, they'll look for fights to keep building themselves up, building,

and then when the time is right, they're going to come together and it's going to be a super fight. Yeah. And then, dude, David Benavides. I know, listen, I know he slowed down a little bit in the later rounds, but, dude, that guy is a fucking monster, man. I loved watching him. I was super. I know he's, you know, 175 for the first time, light heavyweight, but I really enjoyed watching him. He just, it worried me a little bit that he slowed down at the end, and I don't, but he, you know, he said he had a torn tendon in his hand, so he wasn't

punching with full strength and things like that, but I didn't hear that part. Yeah, he had a torn tendon in his right hand, so he still fought, but. Okay. I didn't, I didn't hear that part because I was a little bit unimpressed. Really? Yeah. I mean, he won, you know, one good, but his power didn't seem like it was. You know, I mean, maybe not unimpressed as much as not impressed as I was before at the lower weight at 168,

where he was the fucking monster, the boogeyman that was coming to kill Canello and, you know, was going to fuck everybody up. And now we're like, like, uh, like. Well, he said he said he's going back. He said he's going back to 168 and he wants Canello. He wants the title. so I think that's... We'll see, yeah, we'll see, man.

From the looks of that fight, it looked to me like, like that's a good matchup for Canelo. Whereas before, I've always been like, I've been on the Benavides train for a long time. I do that. This guy's going to be scary, and he's got the right style to beat Canelo. But I just, I don't know if, you know,

if his power is going to hold that. If I'm Benavides, I'm going to 168 and fighting Canelo and not going after to meet your bill. or ardor be it better be out like that's that's what that's what i was getting at yeah i i could remember the names for whatever reason had a brain fart but yeah those two those are bad bad fights for for benavides and that's yeah i agree with him going back down but man i got a lot more faith in canelo now than i did before i still i still like at this stage in canelo's career i like benavita still to beat him you canelo's younger i've been saying that about canello for a while now

I'm like, you know, he's got a lot of money, right? He's living good. He doesn't seem like he puts on quite the fights that he used to put on. But he fucking gets it done. You know, like, and I've been a huge critic of Canelo. I've never been quite on the Canelo train as much as a lot of other people where I think, like, he lost a few fights. They gifted him, Arzlandi Laura, for one. I think he was losing to Caleb Plant.

but I was a lot less with Benavides, now than I was a few, well, before Saturday. Yeah, I'll still, I would still pick Benavita just because I think Canello's, I think there's a, I think there's a reason why that fight didn't happen, is all I'm saying. I'm not saying he's ducking him. I'm just saying, like, I think there's a reason why Canello wasn't like rushing to fight David Benavides when he was right there at 168. Now, maybe, maybe, maybe that's like, maybe that's like, maybe it's like, maybe it's.

like Benavita's master plan. I go out there and not have like the greatest night ever. And he's like, all right, now, Kinella, now fight me, motherfucker. Like, come on, let's go. You know, a little, because I,

because I don't, I don't like the idea of Bivel or Better Baville or Better Bina, like, I thought Better Bina, I thought Benadiz, I thought he was tearing to that guy the first six rounds. And the last six rounds, I was kind of like,

all right, it's a little worrisome now. Was it the fact that he was tearing into him and couldn't put him away, too. Yeah. And again, credit to credit to, It was a Gosdov or Gosdok, how you pronounce that guy's name?

He has a good chin. You know, he's only been knocked down by Betterbeyev, who hits like a fucking truck. And then obviously once earlier in his career, and he got back up and knocked the guy out like two runs later. But he has a good chin. So, like, I want to give him credit. Like, he took some, I mean, he took some fucking shots. There's a couple of him he took. I was like, God damn, how's he still standing?

But, yeah, again, but the weight's different. Like I said, what you could do at 168? Maybe not what you can do at 175. So go for the big person. paid against Canelo and yeah when he's like or Bivel better be able to say I don't know about that I don't know that's really the one you want to go for no no I think those either one of those is going to be a terrible matchup for and you know I've always thought he'd beat Canello because of his jab like he's got a really really good jab and I think that's the way to beat canello but that's not going to win the fight against Canello you know you've got to have other weapons too you got to hurt Canello um And I'm not sure if he can now. I'm just, I got questions now. I was on a Bidavis train before.

Now I got questions. Is Bivel better be have your most anticipated fight for the rest of the year in October that's coming up? Oh, man, I can't think of a better fight. You know, maybe, I know they were talking about Terrence Crawford fighting Canelo, which, I mean, if them two fought, I mean, that might be as anticipated. I don't know. I don't think that's signed or anything. I might just get rumors. Yeah,

it's just bullshit rumors, right? Probably not even going to happen. But like, if that happened, that might be up there. But, man, I can't think of a better boxing match in boxing right now. I mean, I'm excited about Fury and Usik running it back in December just because that last fight was so good. That was a really fun fight. But it's not Bevall Better Beavreveh, though. But it's not Bivol Better Beav.

Like, it's not that one. You got me, you were the one who got me on the Better B.M. Because I was like, Better Beave, and I looked him up. and now I'm like, oh, okay, fucking better be. Yeah. You're the one, you're like, you're like, Ardenabrena Veev, that guy's a fucking savage. And I looked him up, I was like, yep, that guy is a savage.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting because I think Bivol has a lot more skill than Better Biaf. Not that Better Biaf is unskilled by any means, but I do think Bivol has better skills. But Better Biav has enough skill to get in laying shots, and we know what happens when he land shots. Well, it's like the Tank Davis thing. Like you look at him, you're like, he does things. You're like, he's a good boxer.

He is a good boxer. But God, he touches you and you just go fucking down. Like, he just has so much power. And he's so good at finding ways to touch you too. Yeah. Like, that's the thing. Like, he's not just when he touches you. Like, he finds accurate shots, you know, in between punches, you know, off of slips, off counters.

I mean, that Leo Santa Cruz knockout was just, I mean, God damn, you could have hit someone with a fucking Ford truck and not hurt him as bad. I mean, that was just one of the hot. As soon as Frank Martin started backing up to the ropes last time, I was like, this is going to end so badly for him. I was like, this is going to end so badly for him. It is just a matter of time. And he kept doing it.

He kept backing up. I was like, oh, my God, this is going to end badly. Then when it did, I was like, yep, there it was. Yeah, dude. I can't wait to see him fight Loma, man. I think that's just a fantastic matchup because Loma doesn't sit like that either. He doesn't back up to the ropes like a, unless he. he wants to for fun because you're too easy for him and he wants to play matadors have shit

but he doesn't sit still you know he doesn't give you a lot of opportunities um well i i tell it back he gives you a lot of opportunities but he takes him away from you as fast as he gives them to you know uh yeah like yeah that's a fascinating matchup man could you imagine tank davis knocking out lomacheca how fucking wild that would be see that's that that's huge and and that's why he's fighting Lomacheco and that's what's a good call because if he knocked out Shakur that would be big but not as big as knocking out Lomacinco. I think if he knocked out Shakur people there would be there would be a segment. I'm not saying it's right.

I think there'd be a segment of people to say see Shakur was never that great. Oh there's a yeah there's a totally that's and that's why I say that because there would be a lot of people saying he wasn't that great. Like there is knocks on Shakur right like he's he doesn't hit hard right? We know that. You know, he, I think that's the big knock on him. He doesn't hit him. So the tank can walk him down, right?

Like, that's what makes it a very fascinating match. You know, Shakur gets a little defensive at times as does tank. So that's a fascinating matchup, too. But Lomacheca, that's the most fascinating because Lomachina is such a volume guy. He makes every fight exciting. You know, he's moving. He's doing different things, doing tricks. and tank just sits in weights and

you know makes you miss he's so slick and calm and then boom game is fucking over and no one can question loma's resume that's the difference with him and chikor you look at fucking loma's resume like three fights in he's fighting fucking savages you're like no one does this like no one does this in boxing he's like four fights in

and fight legit good competition like four fights in his career loa's resume is ridiculous like you can't you can question Shakur a little bit, you cannot ever question Lomachinkos. That's why I said, like, I agree Shakur is bigger because Shakur's undefeated, everyone has the hype

around him, but I guarantee you if he knocks out Shakur Stevens and they're going to say, see, Shakur was never that great. If he knocks out Lova Chinko, people are going to be like, holy shit. Right. Well, I think Loamichiko is bigger. Honestly, he's a bigger name. You know, like you said, he's got the better resume. He's been around more.

I think it's a better name for him, honestly. I think it's the right fight to make. And, you know, let's Shakur build himself up a little more because that's another one that knocks on Shakur is that he doesn't have the best resume and he's, he claims that everybody's turned him down, but we know how that always goes. Like, you know, maybe they are. Maybe he's asking for too much. You know, there's always 10 sides to that debate.

But, you know, it's one of the big knocks on Shakur. So do the, do the Haney fight after Haney's got to come back from the whole Garcia debacle. Like, let him fight Haney. That was the fight everyone thought was going to happen forever and it never happened. and let him fight Haney. Yeah, Haney will come back to a tune-up, though.

You know that. Yeah. Well, I'll get the tune-up, then fight Shikor. Like, I'm just saying. Like, do something like that. Because that was another one. Hayne was another one. It was like, you know, he was super impressive, but did he have the best resume?

And then he fought Garcia. And, yeah, there's all kinds of that we can have a debate all day about, you know, that Garcia. If I got Garcia looked incredible. But, yes, he was on something. We know that. And obviously, missed weight. And, you know, there's other things we can talk about with that fight.

But, yeah, like, Haney coming back and fight Shakur, the fight. everyone, because there was people who said he was avoiding Choucour. He didn't want to fight Chagore. Right. And so, fight Chacore. There you go. And then if you beat Chouin, you're back.

And no matter what you say about Ryan Garcia, whether he was on something, you know, he missed weight, you know, played all the tricks, all these different things. Like, he exposed Devin Haney. He did. He exposed weaknesses in Devin Haney. Even if he was completely jacked on every steroid, EPO, and everything else that there is, and he missed weight by 10 pounds. like we've seen parts of Haney that we had never seen before that were exposed, period. Yeah, and that's why I said, I think him and Shikor would be interesting because a lot of the same criticisms, a lot of the criticisms people have about Chacore are the same criticisms they had about Haney. And that Garcia fight kind of exposed it with Haney, can he come back and fight?

It might be a boring fight. Like, I'll admit, like, it may not be the greatest fight the way they fight. But let them fight each other and see, like, the last man standing and let Tank go fight. Lomachinko and then the winner of those two can fight Yeah, you know Well, that's a fight that almost 99% Goes to Decision Oh, it's gonna go to decision

But yeah, like people like us You know, I would definitely get into that fight Like, because that's gonna be a technical masterpiece Like they're both- It'll be a good fight It would be interesting, but it's gonna go to a decision You might as well just go ahead and like fucking chalk up to judges By the judge as much start scoring that fight right now

Like it's going to decision That's a fact, yeah Yeah, so Yeah Yeah, that's why I said, like, Loma, Loma would be a better fight, and I agree with you to be a bigger fight, so, like, why not?

Like, go for the Loma fight, get that one and add that guy to your resume, and then go after Shakur or Haney if they wanted to fight each other, something like that. Because, again, we'll see if he adds into his resume in a good way or a bad way,

because never count fucking Loma out. Oh, that's what I'm saying. There's no guarantee you beat Loma Chinko. That's what I'm saying, but that's still a fun fight. Like, it's a better, it's a more intriguing fight. And also, let's be honest,

it's a more, exciting fight. Like, you know Loma's going to go in there and fight him. Chacore might not. Like, Shakur might dance around jabbo, jabbo. Yeah, will not. Or will not. Yeah. That's what, that's what, that's what, that's what, that's what tank said last night. They're like, they're like, are you afraid if you fight him? He would just like, avoid you and like, you know, try to basically, you know, more or less run the entire time. And Tank just smiled and goes, you know how that would go. We all know how that would go. Yeah. Yeah, that's 100%. And I don't know. I can't wait until the odds come out because I'm going to drop some money on Loma.

And I'll tell you what, I'd probably still pick tank. But if the odds are against Loma, like I would put money on them. Yeah, it's an interesting one because Loma, you just, dude, that guy's so good. He's just, and he's so much fun to why. It's ridiculous. Like his style, you think his style, he puts himself in a way more danger. It would result in worse returns, but it doesn't for him. He's just so good that, like, he'll go in there and put himself in bad situation.

just, but that's also scary against the guy like Tank Davis because it only takes one with Tank Davis. You put yourself in one bad spot, one bad punch from Tank Davis and you wake up looking at the lights and say, what the fuck just happened? Well, that's what would be so interesting about is the way that Tank lures people in by, you know, kind of not really being active, not really showing everything and then kind of catching you, right? And it's like, you know, he would lure Loma in, but would Loma take the bait and how

much would he take the bait? and it just there's so many fascinating things about that matchup such a high level fight that I boy I really fucking hope that happens yeah I think the way they were leaning it sure sounded like that last night like that's the one or like a couple of people mentioned Shakur and you kind of see like tanks like it's almost like yeah I guess so he knows what that one's gonna be but Lomachinko is gonna be fun and it's gonna be dangerous just gonna be fun Loma has a fight coming up uh I forget who against it's not a big name but so he's got to win that fight first

so you know we'll find out a little bit about Loma right you know see where he's at in his career and everything you saw you saw what he did to Cambosis Jesus Christ like that was just a that was like fucking that was like watching the fucking pro versus a rank amateur is what it looked like

which has been a lot of Loma's fights yeah yeah when he picks it up you know for whatever reason you know you get the occasional fight like Tiafima Lopez right and Loma it seemed to me like Loma Loss versus Lopez winning. And that seems to be Loma's weakness, right? If you're not giving him the big holes

or if you're offensive enough that, you know, he doesn't, can't find an easy way to break through, you're going to give him some problems, you know? And he just, and it's just going to take him too long to figure you out. And, you know, and I think that's happened, you see that with boxers every now and then, you know, it's probably going to happen with Tank at some point, I think, where he doesn't land that big knockout punch, it just loses on volume. Yeah, yeah,

it'll be interesting. We'll see how it plays out. I hope it happens though. That's the one I want to see, just like purely selfish reasons. Like, that's just an incredible fight. Like,

let's see it go. Yeah, the first time I ever saw Lomachenko fight was when he was on the undercard for Floyd Manny Packia. He was like the second fight of the night. And I was like, Basil Lomachinko,

who's this guy? Because at that point, I think he only had like three or four fights in his career. He's early in the prelims. And I was like, all right. And then I saw him. I was like, God damn.

So, you know, because I remember him and Leo Santa Cruz were on that prelims. And, like, you know, for boxing, like, looking back at it, that's a pretty good undercard to have those guys on there. But, you know, you know, most undercards are pretty terrible. Like the ones last night were pretty bad. And then, you know, Benavides and, you know, Tank saved it. But that's boxing. That's all boxing cards are. So, yeah.

Yeah. Do you remember a couple years ago people were telling Jake Pauli should fight Benavitas? And I laughed my ass off at that one. That was hilarious. That would be embarrassed. That would be the funniest fight ever. Oh my God, be so funny, dude. Yeah, that's just a dumb fight for Jake Paul.

Yeah, yeah. You want your career to be over now, or, like, is that what you're doing? Like, you're just saying this is your retirement fight? Because that's pretty much what's going to end up being, so. Right, right. I mean, Jake Paul's a lot bigger than him, too. He is, but, I mean, come on now. It's fucking, dude.

Oh, I know. I mean, I'm going to be to his Brexit, but, yeah. I was like, damn, he's a lot bigger than him. You notice when Jake, you notice when Jake Paul calls out boxes, he calls out Canello. He ain't calling out better be at. He ain't calling out fucking, you know, the guys who would actually be relative to his size. Like, you ain't doing that. Right, right.

Well, the biggest star is Canelo. So, yeah, I mean, he knows they're not going to fight him. So, yeah, go ahead and call him out and, you know, get a headline the next morning. So you're in the news more and, you know, good for you. Yeah, yeah, throw them in there. Tell me that we better be it. Let's see what happens. I'll be curious.

That'd be interesting. I mean, I don't want to see Jake Paul die. I don't really care of the fuck guy, but he doesn't need to die. Oh, man, that's funny. All right. Yeah. Yeah, you're like, I don't wish that upon him. I don't wish death upon him.

Yeah, he doesn't need, you know, be slur in his words like Melter Taylor and shit for the rest of his life. That's definitely what happens if you fight better be of. Yeah, especially if you're Jake Paul fighting you better be of. Yeah. that's that's the one where you just hope the first punch puts you down and that's the end of the fight you don't get battered on for like three rounds and then he puts you out of your misery yeah he might as well just go play linebacker in the NFL and his brain's going to take less damage just play in traffic jake probably less risk in that than fighting fucking arderbid just go play in traffic just do that that'll be good for you that's better than fight yeah yeah oh man all right uh we're going to get out of here obviously we'll be back next week got ufc two or uccc three or three or three or three excuse me, in the fallout, of course, from the UFC, Saudi Arabia. Matt, where can people check you out, what you got going on? Always busy hunting bears and doing other things, I'm sure.

Yeah, I think I'm on social media somewhere. Oh, yeah, I am the immortal Instagram and Twitter, The Immortal Matt Brown on Facebook. Check out Redwood Sanas outdoors for your best sauna. Using the code Immortal 250, save $250 on your sauna. Check out the creatine gummies from at try underscore create. and those are the best creatine gummies you're ever going to have, man. They taste great, so you don't have to just mix your creatine in whatever garbage you're mixing it in,

get that dry bullshit, eat some good tasty gummies, and get jacked. I love it. I love it. All right, folks, obviously, check out the podcast every week on all your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcast, Spotify. Of course, over on the best website in the world, MMAFighting.com. We'll be back next week to preview UFC 303, the fallout from UFC Saudi Arabia, and see if we get any kind of update on Connor.

You never know. From Matt Brown, I'm Damon Martin. We'll see you next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Rider. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you then. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

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