MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Reacts to Justin Gaethje vs. Ilia Topuria 2 Possibly Happening Next and Michael ‘Venom’ Page’s Future

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

On the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, UFC legend Matt Brown and Damon Martin react to the news that the UFC is considering Justin Gaethje vs. Ilia Topuria 2 as the next lightweight title fight. Is that the right move to make or should Topuria figh someone else instead when all of his injuries are healed? Plus we discuss what went down at UFC Paris including Salahdine Parnasse’s statement win and what to do with Michael “Venom” Page after another lackluster outing. All this 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, Mike Heck here from MMA fighting. And my good friend Jed Mishu is here with me as well because Jed, the day has finally arrived. It's App Day, the all new SB Nation app. It's live now. It's live, Jed. It's alive. Yeah, man, I'm really excited.

And it's awesome, man. Combat sports, like all sports, but combat sports fan especially, you guys are going to have your voices heard like never before within SB Nation. MMA boxing, not me, but you pro wrestling, Mike. it's it is a community-based app it's all about community with the USB nation app it's so easy to use and it can keep obviously combat sports fans connected to their favorite teams and all of sports too across the board so I can keep up with the Red Sox the Celtics the Patriots and the Bruins all on my phone and it's so simple to use yeah like you you mentioned those teams but uh there's

so much more because I don't care about Boston sports Mike but I get to follow the NFL all the other sport F1, the various sports that I care about outside of combat sports. And then there's the live experience because that's, to me, that's one of the coolest things. You can chat with us during fight cards every Saturday. And you can chat with other people in the communities as big events are happening. So it's, it's a really good time. So ladies and gentlemen, come fight with us over on the all new SB Nation app. Download it today.

Download it right now. What are you waiting for? Download it. Welcome back to the fighter versus the rider. I'm Damon Martin. He is UFC legend Matt Brown. I know we've gone a couple weeks where we've had like kind of a lackluster amount of news to talk about. But we actually have some stuff talking about today.

I don't know. I don't know. Did you watch or did you see any of the UFC Paris card yesterday? The daytime cars, that's a Matt Brown card. Yeah, I was actually busy. But as I told you, buying my kids cars, you know, that's a fun time. Not so much of M.A. related. But I did see the highlights.

I've seen Saladin. can walk through Dan Hooker, which I don't know if you call that surprising or not, you know, like it's kind of not surprising because how good Saladin is, but, you know, Hooker has certainly spoiled some people's days before. And he's still, I mean, he's a hell of good fighter. So, you know, I guess it's always a little bit surprising what that happens. But that was pretty impressive, though. You got to give props to Saladin, man. He's got a high. high ceiling in front of him, I think. Yeah, like, I think there's a lot of people who kind of expect it just because there's so much hype around Saladin Parnoss, and rightly so.

But Dan Hooker is a super tough guy. You know, that's why you, that's why you match him up with a guy like that. I think Dan was, like, you know, eight or nine or ten, so we're not, you know, ranking-wise. You don't throw him in there day one with, like, Armist Surukia or something like that. You know what I mean? You got to warm up a little bit. But, I mean, great performance. You know, he didn't, like, you always wonder how a guy is going to feel under the bright lights like that for the first time.

Right. And he did great. And he did phenomenal. And crowd loved him. I mean, obviously he's from Paris. So the crowd loved him. It was really cool. And now we get a new contender at lightweight.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, Hooker's not a guy that really gets walked through like that. For the most part, I mean, I think Chandler's the only guy that I could think of kind of did that. And I still think Hooker could have done better than he did on that night, but is what it is. Yes. I mean, it says a lot about Salad team, right? You know, coming in on his debut, looking confident, didn't look sure.

joke or anything, obviously. And yeah, amazing performance, man. So, yeah, let's see, you know, what do you do with them next, right? There's a lot of opportunities now. I mean, he called for Max Holloway in like the most respectful way possible. Like, he was like, you know, I just, I don't know that's really, well, it's not even so much that as, you know, I think, I think Max has earned the right. Not necessarily pick and choose his fights. Max doesn't do that, but like, you know, Max was going to fight Connor and that was going to be I'm sure he's still got a massive payday out of it, but like, you know, it feels like Max was like, you know,

right in that top five, like he needs a top five guy, you know what I mean? Like him and Oliver, well, him and Oliver fall. But like, of that level, I don't think Saladin's there just yet. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's kind of what I was saying. Like, that's a tough one, because Max is kind of that one fight away from a title shot guy all the time, you know? And like, if he goes and beat Saladin, like that,

that doesn't do much of anything for him in that respect. You know, he needs to be fighting someone. You know, I don't, again, Max isn't the type of guy I think to turn down a fight, but I don't know if you, would you call it disrespectful if they gave that to Max? Because it's kind of, if they're doing that, they're kind of saying like, okay, we think Saladie is going to beat you and you're a stepping stone, right? They're not giving him Saladin because they're like, you know, if it's where to happen. They're not doing that to say, okay, here, Max, here's a win for you. Or here's somebody to beat to get to a title shot. They're saying Saladin's probably going to beat you.

And, you know, that's the gist I would get. Yeah, I know technically it would be, I guess maybe it would be a little bit down in the rankings. I don't really put it too much attention to the rankings. But like, I think Saladin versus Raphael Fiziv is the fight to make. Oh, yeah. That's a fun one. Because Fiziv is a nasty striker. And we saw what he just did in his last fight.

I think that would be more the direction I would go. And that would be a banger. I mean, that's a main event to me. and it doesn't, you know, you're not, because I 100% agree with what you're saying. If you're Max Hollow and the UFC comes against you and says, hey, we want you to fight Saladin Paranos, and you're like, why?

Like, why am I, you know, why am I fighting down the rankings against this new guy? Like, you know, I think he's kind of earned that, he's earned that reputation where he deserves a higher ranked or a bigger opponent. And I think Faziv and Paranois will be a great fight. No, I think that's a perfect call, man. Fiziv, when was his last fight?

He had a good performance. his last fight of fireman right yeah he got the non-trenner who that's what said it's bugging me because he can't remember who he fought he got a knocker's a great knockout hold on let me look it up here uh have hill fazeve his last fight he knocked out because it was a really cool it was a really cool knockout too uh manuel torres yeah that fight yeah the main event over in azabajan he knocked him out that's right yeah so yeah izerbaijan that's what it was yeah yeah man that's a that's a good call right there yeah yeah and you're gonna find out a lot about Saladin through a fight like that too, you know?

Like we kind of, we know where, we know where Fizeev is. I would say similar to Dan Hooker, is, you know, but, but Hooker seems a little more inconsistent, you know, like Faisva, I think he's pretty consistent. Like, we kind of know where he's at who he is. And Hooker, sometimes he shows up and, you know, and shocks everybody. And then sometimes, you know, kind of ends up the way it did.

last weekend but dude I think that's an exciting fight too and you know you want to pump up Saladin or Faisive I mean that's a great fight to make I like it and they do you know they're doing a lot

of the international cars and obviously you know he's from he's from that area obviously Saladin's from France you go anywhere in Europe and that's gonna be a big fight good main event and you know it's gonna be fun like Fiziv traditionally just does not put on boring fights

it's going to be a fun fight and like I said this is where it's like getting Fizzis probably like number 10 in the rankings. Yeah. Where Saladin's going to be like number nine or an eight. That's where you match that up. You know what I mean? Not Max Holloway.

Now, if Parna's supposed to get their good winning streak and he beats Fiziv, maybe he beats like a Marisi or Rufi or something like that, then you're saying. But he's fighting Syruki in, right? Yeah. Yeah. But, like, you know, if he takes out a few of those guys, then you get Max Holloway. You just don't get like, you don't get Max Holloway on day two in the UFC, in my opinion. Yeah, again, as I was I said, that's a tough.

one but yeah we'd have to look through all the rankings to step see who's up there because uh is Faiziva above hooker that's a big because he's got to move up you know I mean he can't he's after fighting hooker I mean you don't want to be moving down you got to fight up in the rankings so yeah based on the based on oh another one that somebody mentioned last night

I didn't think about this would be a good one too um so we're there in a based on I based this on the meta UFC rankings okay that's the yeah the AI I wins, whatever. Dan Hooker was ranked 12, because he was 13. So really, it's not, you know, much one way or the other.

But I wanted to, somebody mentioned this one the other night, and I was like, that actually would be a good fight. That Quill and Sal killed. That would be a bangor too. You know, that would certainly be a banger. They don't tend to like to put two prospects like that cat against each other, right? Because both of those guys, man, you don't want one to knock the other one off, you know? Yeah, I mean, you can do.

because I don't think they want to do like Bin Laden's saying, Denise, that's another Frenchman. You know, you got to save your French stars because they're going to Paris like once a year. Whoever's riding high at that time or whatever's who they want to put in that car. I don't think they want to ruin, you know, one of their two French stars by, you know, doing it

because that crowd was insane. The Paris crowd was great. But there's options. I'm looking at the rankings right now. I mean, there's, and I'm talking about guys, you know, coming off, I mean, Moikano is out there. That's a veteran.

That's one of you probably get. That would be, you know, Southfield. that's yeah i was just to say mokano sounds like a very proper fight right the very very sturdy test on on everything stand up ground um

what's he ranked uh i think he's seven number seven i think dude i mean that's a yeah yeah you know and that's a step up from hooker you know in terms of rankings and you know most likely skills who knows who would win in a fight like that but um yeah i like that a lot yeah you know it's a good name solid name

yeah i mean Lightweight has always been a good division, but, you know, and a guy like Paranozman, and he has star power. Like I said, people went nuts for him on Saturday. So, and he's got, you know, he's got that fan-friendly style. Yeah, I think he'll be, I think he'll be good. You know, I think he'll be totally fine. So.

Yeah, that's an exciting prospect, you know, versus someone else we were going to bring up who might be on the opposite into that spectrum, right? Oh, yeah. So obviously, a lot of happening. By the way, the Paris car was pretty solid all the way around. I thought it was a good card, you know, top to bottom. Third card from the top, of course, is Michael Venn and Page.

Excuse me, making his return to action. And he got to win. 29, 28, across the board. But there was not a whole lot of dazzling about that fight. And there's been a big complaint about MVP putting on these kind of boring fights, you know, not showing off his crazy dazzling, you know, striking, his karate, whatever. And every time afterwards, MVP. And by the way, I like MVP.

I know I'm interviewed him several times. Really, really nice guy. He'll always say, man, I understand. I understand. I need to do this. I need to do this better. I need to be more aggressive. He says it every time.

He landed 12, 12 significant strikes in a three-round fight, any one. Now, it's been well documented. That was his last fight on his contract. And he said, afterwards, you know, kind of the same thing. I want to do better. I'm going to do better. But I need to be in the kind of need to be under-contracted do that. Matt, if you are the

UFC, I don't know, I can't remember who handles middleweight. I think it's McMainer handles middleweight. I'm pretty sure I think. If you're McMainer, then you're going to Dana or Hunter or whoever. Do you re-sign Michael Venom-Page? Do you keep him on the roster? Or do you just say six fights in, man? You've been

saying the same thing over and over again. And he has not had one truly interesting fight for being honest. Yeah, it's a really tough position he's in because he's not really championship material either, right?

Like, maybe, right? You never know. You can never, like, truly say that. But, you know, imagine him beating like a Hamza or, you know, a Strickland or something. You know, I don't think anybody is seeing that, right? Like, he's kind of, he was brought in, you know, as obviously, like, always a potential champion.

But really, like, we want, I think he was brought in to show some of that dazzle and frazzle and, you know, you spinning stuff and unique stuff. And, you know, if you pull out even a little bit of that, I think it gets you, especially, I mean, you know, if you're getting knockouts off of it, gets you tons of rapport with the UFC, right? Like, he is so much more. But you got to do, you know, at least a little bit of it, you know.

And he really has it. And that's a problem, you know. And I guess it really comes down to, you know, we do know that the UFC is, is entertainment first and sports second. And, you know, if it's more of a sport, you know, look, you push the guy that, you give the guy the opportunity that earns it, you know, through fighting, right? Unfortunately, that's really not what it is, right? It is entertainment first.

And, you know, so if that is the direction UFC's going, I mean, he may not get resigned. He's also 39. You know, I mean, it's not like he's a young guy. You know, and I think about it this way, guy you fought early in his crew and beat him, Wonderboy. Stephen Wonderboy Thompson is similar, you know, super exciting, dazzling does he's pulling, crazy hooks and crazy kicks and all that kind of stuff. Wonderboy made a pretty good career for himself,

fought for the title a couple of times, and was always ranked in that top ten for years, for many years. And even late in his career, he was still pulling off, like every now and again when you pull up this kind of crazy kicks. kind of crazy maneuvers. I think you've got to be Wonderboy. You got to be that. Wonderboy built up so much grace with the UFC

because he did put on those exciting fights. I know Wonderboy said, but I think he has like one fight left on his deal, and he's going to fight out and probably retire. I think that's what Wonderboy said. And he's in his 40s, I get it. But they're going to allow him that. Like, they're not going to kick Wonderboy out

for having a boring fight or two, you know, because we know, even recently when he wasn't in that top 10, he still puts on fun fights. The proof is in the pudding, and the problem is you can tell us all day, I'm going to be exciting, I'm going to get better, I'm going to do this, then do it. Just do it. And he had openings. He had plenty of openings on Saturday in that fight where he could have uncork something crazy or throwing a spinning kick or whatever.

He just didn't. And 12 significant strikes and you're a striker? That's your bread and butter and you throw 12 strikes. You only in 12 strikes? I will never And I think you notice about me mad I will never advocate for someone to lose their job So I'm certainly not saying

They should go I mean I guess technically I guess technically is out of work already Because the contract's out You know what I mean like they're not firing And they're just not going to resign him So I'll never be that guy I'll never say I'll fire him or release him

Whatever But I don't know what the UFC is losing If they don't resign him You know what I mean? Like Like The thing about a guy like Sharra Bullitt who came in day one dazzling,

you know, crazy cases. These have a couple of stinkers since then. A couple of, like, not great fights. But I watched that R.A.F. Card yesterday when he walked out in Russia, the crowd lost their minds. They love Charlebone over there. Now, I'm not saying you should just keep a guy

because he's popular, but I'm saying, like, he has this tremendous fan base. People love him. I didn't realize how big he was in Russia until I watched that RIF card yesterday. People had lost it. Like, when they announced him, people were losing their shit.

I don't know that you're going to even have that with MVP. You know what I mean? Yeah. You got booed out of the building. And like, I don't, that's my point. I don't, I'm not telling the UFC to not sign him. I'm just saying I don't know what you're losing if you don't. Well, the fact is all of those, we talk about Wonderboy or Sharra.

You know, the fact is, like Wonderboy had, you know, some great finishes. He got finished a few times. But the fact is he went for it. Like he took the chance. Like, win or lose, the UFC cares more about you taking the chance than whether you win or lose, right? Like, that's a matter of fact. I mean, I would argue that's probably more important that you take the chance

than whether you actually win or lose. You know, again, unless you're a champion, right? Like, GSP never really took chances. But he, you know, he kept winning and, you know, won over the love of, Canada and this and that. But, you know, he played it very safe. And, you know, I would argue every equally as boring fights as MVP. But he was a champion who was dominating. And, you know, and there are times he did go for it, I guess, right? Like, I mean, you know, we're against Matt Hughes, right? He did the arm bars. You know what I mean? Like, he did work his way up there.

He went for it on his way up there and then played it more safe once he got up to the top. One boy's same thing that he goes for it. Like, he'll go for it. He'll go for. the big spin, at least try, you know. He'll put himself in the danger a little bit, and he's had some significant wins. MVP just hasn't had those moments to fall back on. Like you said, the proofs in the pudding. He hasn't had those moments where he can, you know, look to the UFC,

and be like, yeah, look, I did it in this fight. I know I can do it again, right? It's been basically all of the, you know, more of the same throughout his whole UFC, run and that's a problem because you know I mean I mean what's it going to do say oh yeah I was when I was in Bellator that the spins I could do that again UFC doesn't care they care about what you did in the UFC I think

yeah yeah I mean that's kind of the whole point like I think that's why like you think about the guy like Apache Mix who came in had a lot of hype behind him I mean I had ranked at one point where I Apache Mix ranked number one at Anteway and I felt very comfortable with that ranking he came in and had you know just not a great fight in his debut, which, I mean, I understand you're fighting, you're fighting a good, you're fighting a, you know,

Todd Mario Batista's no joke, and you're fighting him on day one. Okay, I get it. I'm not giving you a pass, but just to say, okay, that's your debut. And second fight, he came against that Polish kid, and he didn't look good.

He just didn't look comfortable. And I'm sure they were paying him a lot of money because, like, at the time they signed him, he was ranked in the top five by everybody. And so after that, they're just like, we're done. Like, we're moving on. Because, like, this just isn't,

working out. You know what I mean? You lost to a top 10 guy. Cool. We understand. Now you're losing this unranked guy who is making his second appearance or first appearance of the U.S. Now you're losing to this. We can't pay you $150,000 or whatever they're paying him. And they released him. Now, I'm not like, I'm still, I still love Patchy. He's a good dude. But that's what I'm saying. Like for Michael Bennett-Page, I'm sure he's getting paid well. You know what I mean? Because like he's a name. He has a name. But you've got to prove it in six fights in you haven't proven anything. Right.

This isn't a Passing at two fights. You got six fights. He's done nothing. Right. Yeah, go back to it again. I mean,

you can't forget, like, this is prize fighting, and this is an entertainment-first business, right? Like, it's not wrestling. Like, if you go win the Olympics

and you win every match one to nothing, you still won the Olympics, and no one's going to say shit about it, no matter how boring it was. Like, this is an entertainment-first, media enterprise that you're dealing with here. This is not

it's not, you know, just a sport. It is entertainment first. And you have to understand that. It's a business, right? The UFC's in the business of selling broadcast deals and shit. You're in the business of helping the UFC do that shit, right? If you're not helping them, they're not going to help you.

You know, it's a partnership in a sense, right? And, you know, so it puts MVP in a really tough spot, you know, and it really sucks for him because he is a talented guy. And, excuse me, I think, you know, he does have championship potential. Maybe not at this age. That's, you know, the big question. If he cut in the UFC and did what he's doing now and he's 25 years old and, okay, like, you know, you still got a lot of years you can change, you know,

maybe even give you some lower-rank guys. And let's see some of your crazy. Like, bro, you're almost 40 years old. Yeah. Like, how much you're going to change at this point? I mean, how many fights does he have now in his career? I mean, probably 20 or 30. Yeah, he's a lot.

Yeah, you know, it's like, you know, not even counting the kickboxing matches or the point karate matches or whatever they did. You know, say, what are we going to expect to change out of this? And, man, at that age, that experience level, it's hard to imagine the UFC getting really much ROI out of them. And the other problem is, like, when he did, like, he did that one bear knuckle fight. Remember Mike Perry in England? Tremendous fight.

It was so much fun. Yeah. But it was Mike Perry because Mike Perry is just like a bear. He's just a tax. Like, he didn't, I don't know Mike Perry. If you look at the word defense in the dictionary, I don't think Mike Perry would know what it means. Like, he's not a debate. Look, you have the other part of that.

That is a good point because that small little BKFC ring probably played a little part there, too. It helps out my pair. So I guess if you do re-sign MVP, you say, okay, you're only fighting in the apex and we're just going to put you against crazy motherfuckers that got nothing to lose. Yeah, I mean, obviously money plays a partner to you. It depends on how much they're paying.

I mean, if you're paying them $200,000 to fight, you can't just keep giving them like scrubs to knock out. You know, you want to give them fights or that makes sense. And, yeah, but that's the thing. Like, when you think about that bare-knuckle fight, you don't generally think of Michael Vennon and Page in that fight. You think about Mike Perry being a fucking psycho and just going for it. I loved it.

I mean, it was a great fight. But you don't always want to depend on the opponent to sell your fight. You want you. Like, Michael Bennett Page is the name. You go to England, like, go to England and put him in there against somebody. You want to know that he's going to go out there and style and dazzle and throw those crazy kicks. And if he doesn't land, at least it's entertaining. Yeah, at least he's going for it.

Yeah. I just think with like where we're at today, like knowing how the UFC is with much, money and knowing how they are who they're signing and not signing, I think this is a clear-cut case of like Michael Ben Page is going to be one of the first signs to Scott Coker's new promotion when that starts. I'm not saying to me insulting. I'm saying like I think that's kind of or maybe MVP, PFL, whatever the fuck you want to call. Maybe they sign it for a one-fight deal to fight, you know, some guy over there or something.

But like, I just, I have a hard time believing the UFC is going to be like, you know, five and one with those kind of performances. Here's a stack of cash to come back. I just don't, just being honest, I just don't think they're going to do it. Yeah, we'll see that. happens. Even if they don't, though, there's a whole lot of opportunities out there for him. There's tons of organizations popping up all over the place. There'll definitely be some great opportunities for him. And, you know, again, he's in such a tough spot with his age.

It's like, do you get, how do you know, do you go win some fights and get resigned by the UFC at 40? Yeah. You know? I mean, if I'm him, like, I mentioned the bare-knuckle thing. Like, he did have, like, dude, call out the winner of Darren Till and Yole Romero in Bear Nuckel. Like, do that. You know that's going to be entertaining because, I mean, good God, Darren Tilda does not know the meaning of the word defense either. Like, that's going to be fun. And they're middlewage. You know what I mean?

Do that. You know what I mean? Like that? Because when he did it that one time they gave permission to Belator or do it, I was like, what the hell? And he looked good. It was a good fight because he had that kind of opponent. I don't want it to be dependent on the opponent, though. I don't want every time you fight, I have to know the opponent's going to come into you like a psycho to get you to fight.

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So, yeah, who knows, man. You know, the UFC does odd things sometimes, right? And, you know, the only thing I kind of don't like about what MVP is doing is he's kind of admitting defeat the whole time, every time, right? The interview is after he's like, oh, you know, I can get better. I can do this.

I can do that. So, but just you got to own what you are and what you're doing. You know, like, if you're going to fight that stuff, like, hey, motherfucker, I'm winning. You know, like, I won five fights. like what do you want me to do? Like, you know what I mean? Like, I think you got to own it. I think you got to, you got to kind of play it up and be like, you know, it's just

who I am. Yeah. Yeah, you don't necessarily want to acknowledge you're doing everything. You're acknowledging the criticism. And it's saying, I'm going to do better. But you're not, you know, in nowhere in there. You're like, I won the fight. Like, do we forget I just went out there and won a fight or I'm five and one to the

UFC? Like, you know, it is hard to be five and one to UFC. That's absolutely true. Yeah, it's kind of weird. He's kind of leaning into like all he's leaning into the criticism. He's like, yeah, you're right. I suck. I haven't done anything like I'm not doing anything fun.

I need to get better. I know I can do better. Dude, at 39 and six fights in your USC career, you should have already done better to the point, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like, don't acknowledge it. Like you said, don't, don't, yeah, just own it. Hey, I'm fucking winning, bro.

I mean, when was his one loss? I don't remember how many fights it goes. Ian Gary, it was the second fight lost. Ian Gary was still at Walter. Yeah, so he's on a four-five win streak, right? lean into that, man. You know, when you go in those meetings with the UFC, don't suck their dick and tell them about how you can get better.

Be like, bro, what do you need me to get better? I'm fucking winning. Pay me more money. Yeah. Yeah, you kind of leaned into the criticisms instead of leaning into fact that he's 5'1 the UFC. So I don't know. Like I said, I'll never advocate for somebody to lose their job.

But I just have a hard time believing the UFC's going to be like offering another unless they just offer them a contract like, you know, a dip in pay. And they're like, yeah, we'll give you one more chance. and yeah, see who he does, but, but yeah, I have a hard time to believe. I mean, they probably already had this conversation. Like, it's pretty rare that they don't have a conversation before they finish out their contract. So, you know, everybody had to know what was up

before that fight even happened. And the fact that he is acknowledging it and, you know, gives me the inclination. They probably had a conversation. Like, bro, you better fucking go out there and put on at least something of a show and then he didn't. He's like, oh, shit, I could, like, try again.

I swear I can do better, you know? So, yeah, it's a tough spot for him. I think he should get re-signed. You know, if I'm the UFC, I resign them. Again, because you're winning. I think you have to acknowledge that the UFC should. But if they don't, I totally get it right there in the business of entertainment and you can't fault them for not doing it.

Yeah, I think, like, if you're not, like, you got to remember, like, you know, generally speaking, I know you know this, man, generally speaking, when a guy's coming up out of contract, they try to get a deal done before that final fight. Like, you know, you're on your final fight, here's a new four-fight dealer, a new six-fight dealer. You hear that all the time.

The fact that they didn't do that, kind of tells you a little bit where they're thinking. You know what I mean? Like, I'm sure they could have re-signed it by now, and they didn't, so, you know. That's my point, yeah. Yeah, so we'll see. We'll see what happens.

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Fights that may or may not happen. I don't know if you saw this. John Anick, who, John Anick is awesome, by the way. Just kind of shout that out there. John Anick is amazing. He was talking about Justin Gachy coming back. Justin Gage didn't interview recently and said,

I saw him punched anything since the White House. He's like, I'm still recovering. So I'm definitely not fighting until 2027. Ilya emerged from his shadow realm of losing it to the White House and he's now back in talking and on social media and stuff. And John Annenick said he believes the U.S.C. is leaning towards booking the rematch between Justin Gae and Iliotiporia because the first fight was so monstrous, was so huge and so beloved, and considering they're both not going to be back until next year, so whatever, February, March,

whenever they both feel healthy and ready to go again. We talked about this after the fight, immediately after we're just saying, you know, should even consider a rematch. But here we are now. You know, we're months down the road and now, you know, guy like John Anick, who I have a time, ton of respect for saying like he believes this is the direction he's going to go they're going to go for justin gaugie versus ilia tuporia two to make it a monster fight just like the first one matt what do you make of the potential of a rematch between just and ilia in twenty seven yeah if i'm the ufc i don't think that's a bad idea i don't dislike it all i think

um it was obviously an amazing fight and you know justin gaigi is is always going to be a bangor So, you know, I don't think it's ever bad to put him in with another guy that's going to be a banger. I think you have to talk with Ily it's a point, though, because, you know, I've read some of the things that he's talked about, how he looked himself in the mirror. And, you know, he's perfectly fine with himself is what he said. But, you know, how life-changing it was for him, how he's so used to winning. I don't know if you read some of these comments that he's made. But those comments raised a lot of questions for me. like does he need his confidence rebuilt?

You know, and like, you know, if you're the UFC, do you want him to rebuild his confidence? Or do you want him to go in there and fight a guy like Gagey again, who's a fucking dog? You know, like, does Ilya need, dude, if that happens to Ily again, I mean, as much of his soul left during that first fight, like, can he regain some of that soul if that happens again ever?

You know, so I think you need to talk with, with Ili about it. Like, is he even up for that? Is that really what's the right next move for Ilya? I think Ilya needs a confidence builder. He needs to go down, you know, maybe a little bit lower in the ranks. Like a Moikano would be great, you know, something like that. And not saying Moikano is going to be an easy fight for him either or anything.

You know, you know, that's a, but it's, you know, just the proper type of fight, you know, with a little bit lower in the rankings. And not a guy like a Justin Gage, who's an absolute fucking dog warrior. you know his whole heart is fucking gladiator through and through right like like probably one the baddest motherfuckers of our generation you know i don't think that you need i don't think i'llia needs to go in there against someone like that again if i'm the ufc absolutely i mean it's a great fucking fight two big names um you know it makes sense in all those respects i think armin obviously like deserves a title shot more than probably anybody else and you know if again we don't

we're using the word deserved around here so, you know, we can talk about how much he deserves, whatever. If I'm the, I get where the UFC is coming from on that, is my point. And I get where the UFC would want to make that fight. The downside of that fight is

you might ruin Ilya's life. Right? Yeah. I mean, if that first fight repeats itself, I'm not sure if Ilya comes back ever the same. I'm not sure if he comes back. comes back the same from the first one already.

And I think, you know, if you actually care about Italy's life, you need to put them in there with someone. And the reason I say like a Moikano, again, not that he is Moikano, but Moikano's not a striker, like Gagey, like a dog like that. Like if Moikano gets punched up, he's going to shoot for a takedown or he might even, he's his type of maybe even like pull guard or something, right? He's not the type of just sitting there and take a punch punches until he just winged something back and finally fucking it.

You know what I mean? He's just not that guy. And there's a lot of other guys like that too. I'm not knocking on my kano. I don't want it to sound like that. But that's what Ilya needs. He needs a proper return fight, in my opinion. You see some boxing all the time.

Like guys don't come back from wars like that and go try to get unless it's like Gotti Ward. But, you know, it's pretty rare that, you know, these types of fights get rebooked and it happens right away. They, you know, they try to rebuild it back up and, you know, give the guy a tuna. right when you come off a loss like your your manager promoter whatever they want to get you a tune-up they want to get you someone to build your confidence back up you got to understand the amount of soul that left iliot to pour his body that night maybe he can build it up on his own i'm not saying that he can't but but you got to realize what was taken from him that night like there was a lot of fucking

pieces of his body physically mentally and spiritually that left and just engage he fucking ate that shit and spit it back out of him and we'll do it again. Not saying he'd win again. I don't know. But that's, you know, I think you got to, if you're Ilya, you got to be careful of that. And that's why I think if your UFC, you talk to Ilya and be like, hey, you know, what do you want to do next? You know, if you care about Ilya, right? If you just care about the UFC selling numbers, which is what we would assume they care about,

yeah, I think you absolutely book it. it's funny you say that I wasn't really even thinking about it from the Ilya side I was thinking more of like why are we doing an automatic rematch when the guy was like not even the defending champion yet

he hadn't been to the belt yet I was just thinking like in that sense but your your point is actually way better because and also you got to remember the way that fight ended at the White House wasn't Ilya got caught knocked out and you know oh my God you know

he quit on the stool and I know Justin brings that up a lot he quit on the stool that's a different level to a fucking pulp on the stool. Yeah. That's a different level of of mentality you have to build back from because like, you know, because I guarantee there people are going to be like, oh, you're a quitter,

you know, no moss, you know, whatever. Think about that. Like that's a different level of mental breakdown, I guess, the best way to say it. Like you didn't just, like the referee didn't stop and save you. You were on the stool and you're like, no more. I can't take anymore. That's rough. And I kind of really, I wasn't even thinking of it from that perspective, but that's absolutely right. And because you know, like that's Justin Gachy, man. That guy, like, yes, Justice has been knocked out, Justin's been submitted. We've seen it before.

But, like, that dude has no quitting him. You know that. Like, that dude is going to come at you until he's basically dead. And no two fights are the same, by the way. Remember, I was going to bring this up anyways. Remember, you know, Junior Dos Santos caught Kane Velasquez and knocked him out that first ever fight card on Fox. Remember last like a minute? And it was, oh, my God, he knocked him out.

They rematched. and Cain beat the living hell. Kane beat the living hell out of Junior. And I don't know. I wasn't even thinking of it from that perspective, but I think you're absolutely right. Like, do you want to crush a superstar by like throwing him in there? Maybe he's like, that's what I said,

one fight and then the fight, sure. But right now, do you want that to be his next fight with those memories still flashing in his head of Justin just beating the living hell out of him? Yeah, and you got to wonder what that fight would look like if that happened. I mean, don't keep it wrong Illy's a fucking warrior too, right? But

you know, when he gets in there with Justin, you know, I don't know if it was, you know, six, nine months ago to start having flashbacks. You know, he might start having some success and then be like, how gun shy are you going to be when you're like, like, dude, I remember last time what happened. You know what I?

Like I had success last time too. He started having some deja vu in there. You know, again, I don't think people understand the, The level of a fucking hurt that Justin put on him. I mean, he was talking about it. Two broken orbitals, broken nose, broken foot. Like, one, guys quit from one broken orbital.

Guys quit from one broken nose. Guys quit from a fucking broken foot. Like, Ilya fucking survived, baby. Like, he is a fucking survivor. He is a tough son of a bitch. Like, that's clear. Right? And Justin made him stop on the stool. Yeah. Everyone has a limit. I guess everyone has a limit.

Yeah, yeah. Except Justin Gage, man. Like Justin Gage is a type, like, you know, you knock his teeth out. He's going to bite you with his fucking gums. You know what I mean? Like, he's a fucking dog to the max, you know? You know, so much respect for that guy. I love him. But, you know, I just, you know, where my head goes first is just the illy's mentality, man. Like, he needs a, if anybody ever in UFC, MMA fighting history, needed a tune-up that, you know, if you want to protect this guy in any way, like, you give him a fucking, it doesn't even have to be a tune-up, right? Like, just a proper fight, you know, to regain your fucking footing. Because Justin took everything from him. Yeah.

I mean, that was, that was brutal, man. Like, he took everything from him. If he fights Gaichi again and loses, I mean, you may never really may retire. He may be done for good. You know, and you may ruin that guy forever. Like, he may just be like, you know what? I'm out.

Peace out. I'm going to go live in Spain and have a good life over there. And you made a great point when you talk about the difference between getting, you know, caught, you know, as they call it, or getting just getting knocked out, right? Or it's like, you know, you can easily justify that, right? Like, you can look at yourself in the mirror there. day like man i made a mistake it's like it's like dude like yeah you may you know when when when someone takes your soul like that uh you know it's like you didn't just make a mistake you made many

mistakes then you decided that you made enough mistakes that you cannot continue to do this and especially when you add in i can't i mean you just add all these pieces together like the level of success that he was actually having yeah and then just getting fucking you know meat grinded to a fucking pulp and it's like it's like dude like that's not i don't know i don't know it's tough i say talk to illy about it but that's tough too right because you know he's a worry he's like fuck yeah put me in there you know but you know he needs to talk with i i think it needs to it needs to be considered really hard it shouldn't be just uh again you've see like they're there for entertainment right they're like dude let's put them

the biggest fucking fights possible. That's a huge fight if you do it again. So if you're on the UFC side, yeah, you know, I'm sure that, you know, they've just gunned for it. If you want Ilya to be a star in the future, you're taking a big chance there, right? He might go in and fuck up Justin really quickly. But you're taking a chance.

Yeah, that's a big risk too because, you know, I mean, Justin's been very honest. Like Justin knows he doesn't have that much time left in the sport. He's got a couple of fights left probably. He's going to walk away. And by the way, good for him. You know, he's in his late 30s. He finally lived his dream becoming undisputed champion.

You know, and we talked about, like, not retiring, you know, cash in now while you got your hire hiate. You know what I mean? Like, dude, get that, get that arm in fight and make them tack on a couple extra zeros to your paycheck. I'm all for, and I'm all for Justin sticking around and fighting. But we know he's on the tail end of his career. He's got two or three fights probably left. Ilya's younger, you know, he's a superstar, you know, and you're about to lose Connor McGregor.

We know, we know, we've got one fight left on his deal. He's probably gone. So you need another superstar. Ilya could be that guy, but do you want to ruin him before you have a chance to see how big he could actually get? You know what I mean? Yeah. On that same token, on the other side of it, it's a, if he, to make him that kind of star,

it would be very useful for him to go in and beat Justin Gagee on a rematch, right? Like that would be a big upside of him rematch. But why? Versus him fighting other people, Justin retiring, and then him become a champion, and he's kind of always got that stain. But here's the thing because we know Justin's going to stick around for a little while

Let's just say two or three fights Like I'll go out and get the warm up fight Or the confidence building fight You know out there and win whoever it is And then you do that like the end of the year You know what I mean? Do Justin and then I'll end of the year And make it a spectacle

Make it huge out of the way to rematch Everyone's wanted or whatever Then you do it I don't know you do it next I guess that's my problem It's like the very next fight Like give them a chance to fight somebody else and then do it.

You're not, you know, as long as like, as long as Justin isn't saying, I got one fight left and I'm done, then I understand if you wanted to book it now, so you kind of take that chance because otherwise we're not going to get it. But if Justin's telling you, I'm going to stick around for a couple more fights, I mean, I look at the rankings. I look at who's in the top 10, who's in the top five.

There's not a fight in there. I don't think I'll think I'll be it can win. Like, I think you can beat everybody. And I don't know that you're going to run with Patty because that is obviously a very big fight. I think that should probably be a title fight. if Ilya gets the bell back. But, you know, Pat is younger, too.

He's not going anywhere anytime soon. You know what I mean? It's like, you don't have to book that one right away. But you can still do Gachi and Teporia, too. Just do it later. Do it next December, next November when you go to MSG or something. My point is, like, you don't need to rush it to do it right now. I feel that.

I do think you're taking a chance, though, right? Because Gaichi is the type he could win another fight or lose, you know, if he put him in there, say, Armin, right? and Armand beats him. You know, it's like, is that what you want to happen? You know, and then he's also the type he could go in and beat Armine and be like, you know what, fuck this. I'm out of here later, guys.

You know, you could totally see that coming out of Justin, right? Yeah. I mean, who knows? I don't think, I know Justin has protested a lot, so I don't want that fight. I mean, quit him. So what would be the point? And to a certain extent, I agree with him. But DFC's going to be like, oh, we understand.

Here's another zero on your paycheck, Justin. All right, let's go. Yeah. And by the way, if I'm Justin Gaichi, and that's what's going to get it done, they're like, you know what? We really want this fight, and he resists. He's like, I just beat him. I made him quit on the stool. Do your negotiation.

He has a great manager. They're like, oh, you're going to pay me $2 million. How about $5 million? And they're like, all right, we'll do it. And then you've negotiated your way and do it the biggest paycheck of your career. So that might be Justin's strategy. Justin's not a dumb guy. Like, he knows what he's doing publicly saying, I have no interest in running it back with the elite to Poria.

But they're like, well, your paycheck was $2 million. And here's a $5 million paycheck. Does that make any better? Sure. Let's see what I mean. So if I'm Justin, I'd negotiate my way into my biggest paycheck ever.

And you bringing up the Ilya versus Patty. I would love to see that. I don't know. Like, I don't care if it's for a fucking title. They don't have it. You know what I mean?

I think it's a good move, honestly. Like it either solidifies Patty. Either of those two could be the next Connor McGregor level star. Yeah. And I know,

I always say with a little caveat that probably nobody. will ever be the Connor McGregor level star. But, you know, highest level star in the UFC at whatever era that we're in, you know, it could be like the Patty era, right? Or it could be the Ilya era, you know, whatever we want to call it. And, you know, of course, like, yeah, you could wait till they're, you know, at a championship point and it's even bigger, I know.

But I think right now it wouldn't be a bad time. I think that's a, because it's not the kind of fight for ill. that's quite as dangerous on the feet where he, you know, he runs a risk of getting, you know, mauled up like he did Gagee, you know, like he runs the risk of getting submitted, that's for sure. Yeah. But then it's like, dude, how big of a fucking star is Patty then? You know, like it just elevates him gigantic or, or Ilya, you know, makes him gigantic.

Because Patty, I also kind of feel like if Patty lost to Ilya, I don't think it would really damage his stardom, to be honest. Patty, Patty has a, you mentioned, like no one's ever going to be Connor. Let me be clear about that. He has a little bit of that Connor aura where the losses haven't really hurt him. He lost to Gauchy in January.

He lost to Gaetia in January. And people are just like, who cares? Look what he did to BSD. You know, he's like just a popular guy. Well, he's also, he's not popular because of his fighting skills. They certainly add to it.

And, you know, like what he did to BSD, I think, you know, significantly added to it. and, you know, what he's done to Chandler. Like, those are, like, great additions. But, like, he's a star because, you know, he's got a funny Beatles haircut. And he fucking talks funny and eats food. He's got a, you know, he's got a stick to him. And, like, he's a funny guy.

He talks, you know, says the right shit. Like, realistically, that is his star power right there. Yeah. Again, like, winning absolutely adds fuel to that fire. And losing takes fuel. from that fire that's 100% true but like patty could be a famous start with no UFC like he's the type you know he could be a a fucking twitch streamer or some shit and would be very famous and popular he's a he's a very he's got a personality and as i say in the movie paul fiction personality goes a long

way um and i think people just love patty like they just love and i do like patty's grown on me like when he first came i was like who's this cocky brit fucking guy with the weird haircut now when he talks and he cracks me up like he's a funny dude like i've watched his vlogs for stories and stuff and he's a funny dude and like he knows what to say and knows how to say it he cracks me up and he's got that personality where just like you're just like patty you're not worried about patty the fighter versus patty this guy he's like patty he's just a likable dude and uh that's my point is i really think the the fighting is it just an additional bonus on top of his personality keeping it real yeah no absolutely i agree but it's just like he's got

a different aura about him than let's say Ilya Tepore. Where Ilya's aura is built around being this bad fucking savage, you know, nasty great fighter. And that's not saying Patty's not good, by the way. He's legitimately the top five lightweight.

But like, that's, you know, that's what Ilya's builds. And just to kind of close the subject on this, if I really goes out and gets destroyed again, you really kind of knock that aura back a couple of a couple notches to like, yeah, he's supposed to be this savage

you know, you guys going to rule the kingdom for years to come, but he's just got to beat twice in a row by Justin Gagey. Is that really? You know what I mean? So, yeah, I don't know, yeah. But I agree with you. I didn't think about that aspect, but you're absolutely right about that. Yeah, and the big problem is, and he talked about it, you know, a little bit,

kind of brushed on the subject. Like, that's your identity. That's who people know you as is this amazing, badass person. And it was cool to hear him say, like, he could look in the mirror, see himself and still respect himself and still care about himself and still love himself and all those great things. I don't know how long that lasts. You know, if he gets beat again, like, does he look at himself the same again? You know, I mean, again, he's a mentally strong person.

You know, seems to have a good head on his shoulders other than like kissing guys and shit, you know, but, you know, but he seems to be a good dude with a good head on shoulders. and you know and that's where i think like patty kind of relieves a lot of pressure off of himself because that's not what his career is built on is being the savage badass that wins every fight so he's like he's like nobody even thinks i'm going to go out there and fucking submit bsd in 30 seconds and then he and then he goes and does it and it's like he he has that that relief off of him where where someone like ilia like you know kind of has that pressure right that's where that's what is expected of you yeah 100% of you're absolutely

You're expecting him to go out and absolutely savage and destroy somebody. You don't really have that feeling with Patty. And by the way, the Patty thing, like, when they did the Conner fight, like, that ended up being the best night of Patty's life because the whole, I mean, not to say he was written for Conner to get injured, but because the bizarre nature of how that main event ended, everyone was just like, oh, Patty the bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, we talked about it the night after that fight.

Like, he became a super soon. That's what we were talking about, you know, more than anything else, right? 100% and how can you know like I said Patty grew Patty grew on me like I said when he first came in

I was like man I don't like this kid and then now I'm like oh Patty the bad you can't help it huh you can't help it you can't help it so no I agree

I agree with you there yeah so I'm with you like I said I didn't think the illy aspect that was a brilliant way to bring it about and yeah I don't necessarily want him to lose the rest of his soul right now

but let him hang on to it for a little while longer yeah and again I think it's just a risk right If you go in there and you know, you're gambling, but you're kind of gambling on Ily Teporia's soul. I don't know. I don't know if you want to do that. You know, I don't know how much UFC cares.

I think that's the primary aspect to be thinking about with that. Yeah. So next weekend, Matt, we actually get two fight cars. We get the UFC headlined by John Silva, which she's always entertaining, fun guy against Jose de Logato. Labor replacement. I don't know how much I loved that. But hey, you know, we'll see that turns out.

But of course, we also have next weekend the big Zupa Boxing event, which is Connor Ben against Ryan Garcia. Real quick, before we get out of here, you are definitely a much more of a boxing guy than I am. Does Connor Ben have a shot here? I'll tell you, I haven't been as deep into boxing as I was in previous years. It just hasn't excited me as much lately. You know, I don't know why.

But maybe it's because I kind of came up on Pacquayout and Floyd and, you know, I mean, God, you know, Canelo, Canelo, not Canello and Gennady, Triple G. You know, like, I just had this whole crew of guys that kind of brought me really deep and heavy into boxing, and they've kind of all, you know, had their days. And now it's this new era of boxers like the Ryan Garcia's and now that Connor Bins, which, like, Connor has a chance for sure. Like he is a, he's a warrior. I mean, he is a, a fighter, fighter.

He's a fun guy to watch. He's a real fighter. Ryan Garcia is just better than him, though. That's all it comes down. And it's, boxing is one of those sports where there's just not as many variables. You know, it's not MMA. And that's what, you know, a lot of these MMA fans have kind of switched over to buy, or added in boxing as a fan where, you know, Dana's brought him over through the Zufa boxing

or maybe they just organically went over and watched some boxing or whatever. I think that's where they're a little bit misunderstanding. Like, of course, boxing has its own shit moments. It has its crazy moments. Things happen. There's upsets, all kinds of stuff like that. But the better fighter wins nine out of ten times in boxing. And Ryan Garcia is the better, faster, I think younger.

I think he's significantly younger, if I'm not mistaken, or at least decently younger. He's just a simply better boxer all around. And I think he's going to probably work over Connor Ben pretty good. I think like, and I just like I said, I don't know nearly as much about boxing. When he went in there and boxed up Devin Haney, I was like, my God, like that was just like a master class.

He looks so good doing that. And I know Devin Haney's good. When he lost out, it was a Raleigh-Ramero who beat him, I think it was. Like, it was a weird, like, what? How does that happen? as long as Ryan's taking it seriously, which I know that's always a gamble because it's Ryan Garcia,

but I think he's just that much better. Just from the fights I've watched, you know, I watched that Ben, the two fights with Connor Ben and Chris Eubank, and Eubank's just a lot bigger. So I think that's played a part in why he lost that first one. But at his best, like, I know Ryan's, Ryan,

and Ryan has openly admitted he's had some mental health issues, you know what I mean? But if Ryan's got his head on straight and he's ready to go, I think he decimates. him. He's just so, like, I think about that because Devin Haney is a very good technical boxer, and Ryan just, I mean, beat the brakes off him. I was like, what the hell is going on here? I, yeah, I just have a hard time seeing Ryan Garcia. And now, like, there's just so much hype built

up around this and, you know, it's going to be crazy next week when they're in, when they finally getting each other's faces in Vegas and Oscar being there and Dana being there. It's just going to turn to a side show. But, yeah, I have hard time. Well, that's, again, you know, when you look at boxing throughout the years, this isn't a fight, I think, the same two guys 10 years ago. This isn't a fight that gets a ton of hype. What Dana is bringing to boxing, you got to give credit where credits do. It's like, he's hyping up, Connor Ben in this fight to be a great fight. You know, and boxing had lost some of that.

Like I was just saying, there's not many variables. We know who's going to win most of the time in boxing. And then, but boxing is one of those, I kind of use the NASCAR analogy a lot on boxing. And, you know, most sports are like this, though, where like, you know, you have to watch a lot of boring stuff to finally get to that exciting thing. But it makes that exciting thing more exciting. Yeah. Right? Like when they wreck in NASCAR.

Like, it's more exciting because you just watch fucking 100 laps of nothing. And it's the same in boxing. You're going to watch, you know, you might watch 10 boring ass. rounds and then finally that 11th round the big knockout right it's very it's very few and far between where you see these fucking goddy ward fights or these uh chavez taylor fights i mean these are just very rare fights you know and when you get it at that highest level i mean it's it's fantastic but that's what kind of what to me what makes it extra special is because you kind of have to dig through and and weed through all the technical um things and you got to watch you know kind of

the boring stuff and you know they're a lot more um well for one there's a lot more money at stake and you know they're a lot more individual and independent in the boxing side so they're kind of like you know like you can be boring and just win and boxing and then you know get up to titles and stuff right whereas in mma like they were just talking about with MVP you kind of can't do that you know maybe you can there's guys that make it work but look at mozart i mean how many fights did it take him to get to the title shot you know this kinds of things just don't happen in boxing right because you know your your credibility your is determined on your merit right and then you get fights based off your merit a lot more often there's some political bureaucratic bullshit that

they have but um i don't remember where the hell is going with that but you know the point is you know this this fight as of today like it's getting the hype because dana's bringing and the hype and give credit what credit to do for him for that. This fight doesn't get hyped, you know, in any other era of boxing. Like, this is an expected Brian Garcia win here. He's got to be a heavy favorite, I'm sure. He is. He is a heavy favorite, yeah.

It's like on whoever it was Friday or Saturday night. Like, I don't really care about, like, certain boxing matches, but like Andy Ruiz was fighting. I couldn't have possibly care of this. But someone I remember during the defense, and was like, Andy Ruiz got rocked. He went down or he was going. I was like, now I got to see this because like that dude's got like the iron jaw of iron jaws.

I was like, oh my God, he actually got hurt. So like that, you know, like that got me curious enough to at least watch the highlight because Andy Ruiz is such a notoriously and possibly tough guy to put down. And, you know, it was cool. But like, I didn't care about the fight otherwise. Like I was like, he was at one moment in his career, you know, when AJ was the one eating burritos and not caring. Right.

And Andy Ruiz, you know, is the fight of his life, right? And he made it the fight of his life. And then, you know, we've seen in the rematch, you know, what it really was. And now we're seeing it in the later this career. And again, like, this is why you watch, this is, you know, if you're watching boxing, anybody out there that wants to watch boxing, like, you have to know this is what you're going to get. Like, like, nine out of ten times that Ruiz Joshua fight goes the way the rematch did.

Yep. But you watch 10, 15, 20 of those boring fights to get that your Louise Joshua won moment. Right? And you're like, holy shit. this is awesome, right? But you got to sit through them driving laps around going left, you know, 500 times to see that. Yeah. Well, it's this weekend.

And, you know, we got Nocha UFC, which I thought the UFC, I mean, obviously, I think it's a smart idea. They had the Nocha UFC cards start early in the day. It plays out. And then, like, that night is Connor Ben and Ryan Garcia in Vegas. So I think they're playing it smart, you know, doing it with that. And there's some pretty good, pretty good fights on the Noceo UFC card, Alexa Grasso, and Menofi. your fight and there's a couple other good good fights on that card and then we roll right into of course ben and and uh ben and and garcy i'll be honest i'm not a huge like you know i'm not a

big boxing fan but i'm going to watch like i'm curious and i'm just kind of curious like what's going to look like and see if it's the end of the fight dane ends up tackling australa lois or some shit yeah yeah that's that could get wild too that's kind of again is something that are brought to boxing where like that's is almost interesting as the fight itself right Be careful when you tackle him. Don't tear his panty hose. What I'm saying. Nice one.

Nice one. I see what you did there. Yeah, it'll be good. It'll be good. So we got that. Obviously, next one we really care about the weekend after that with UFC,

whatever number we're at now, 330 or whatever, with Armin fighting Marisari and then the Joshua Van Pan-Pantoja rematch. So we'll definitely be looking forward to that. Matt, if people want to check you out, what else you got going on outside the show?

Where can they find you? What can they do? at the immortal Instagram and Twitter the immortal Matt Brown on Facebook and the immortal podcast.com there you go

and as always wanted to say a big thank you to everyone to tunes in the show we'll be back actually make sure you check us

on all your favorite podcast platforms Apple podcast Spotify and of course over on the best website in the world mampfighting.com

we'll be back next week so we appreciate what doing it obviously we got big event next weekend so enjoy the fights this weekend

and as always for Matt Brown I'm Damon we'll see you guys next week thanks to running in. See you, Jeff. All right, Mike Heck here from MMA fighting.

And my good friend Jed Michoud is here with me as well because Jed, the day has finally arrived. It's app day, the all new SB Nation app. It's live now. It's live, Jed. It's alive. Yeah, man, I'm really excited. And it's awesome, man. Combat sports, like all sports, but combat sports fan especially, you guys are going to have your voices heard like never before within SB Nation.

And MMA boxing, not me, but you pro wrestling, Mike. It's, it is a community-based app. It's all about community with the USB Nation app. It's so easy to use. And it can keep, obviously, combat sports fans connected to their favorite teams. And all of sports, too, across the board. So I can keep up with the Red Sox, the Patriots and the Bruins, all on my phone. And it's so simple to use.

Yeah, like you mentioned those teams. But there's so much more because I don't care about Boston sports, Mike. But I get to follow the NFL, all the other sport, F1, the various sports that I care about outside of combat sports. And then there's the live experience because that's, to me, that's one of the coolest things. You can chat with us during fight cards every Saturday. And you can chat with other people in the communities as big events are happening. So it's a really good time. So ladies and gentlemen, come fight with us over on the all new SB Nation app.

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