MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Reacts to UFC 311, Islam Makhachev’s win and Merab Dvalishvili Proving Everybody Wrong

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

On the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, Matt Brown and Damon Martin react to the results from UFC 311 including Islam Makhachev making short work of Renato Moicano and Merab Dvalishvili silencing his doubters with a stunning performance to beat Umar Nurmagomedov. Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at Winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Welcome back to the fighter versus the writer. I am Damon Martin. He is UFC legend Matt Brown and Matt.

We are now living in a U.S.C. A post-UFC 311 world. And not only did UFC 311 go down this past weekend, but you went to UFC 311 at the new Intuit dome in L.A. So how was that experience? Well, first off, L.A. is warm. Ohio is cold. So that was nice.

Well, which is kind of funny because when I, I'm there. Everybody's like, dude, it's so cold. I'm like, I'm wearing shorts, man. This is awesome, you know. But at minimum, it was sunny and, you know, 50, 60 degrees. So I was pretty stoked to enjoy that for a weekend. But even more so, the show was freaking amazing. And the Intuit Dome is awesome. And it was a good show overall, you know, like it wasn't totally boring. Like there was something good that happened in every fight. I only watched the main card. We didn't get, uh, no, I got there for the we got there right during the Peyton Talbot fight which was a surprising uh not not totally surprising but showed a big weakness and Peyton's game I think and um you know he certainly has a

lot of potential right but uh you know seeing it live uh for the first time since retiring was very surreal right like because that you know we come in through the back you know walking through the back where the fighters are, walked out through the tunnel where the fighters walk out. Man, you know, it made my eyes water a little bit, man, walking through there, you know, and it was kind of awkward because, you know, I'm supposed to just be following the security out there.

And I just stopped for a second. They're right there in the tunnel and just like, holy shit. Like, this is wild, man. And then sitting there watching, like, dude, I can't believe that was me, like walking in there. Like, all these people, like, all these people were here watching me do this shit so yeah what a touching experience man but then you know relaxed a little bit and got to enjoy some good fights

yeah did you run in it like i assume you ran into a lot of fighters who probably hadn't seen you since you retired oh yeah yeah there was a lot of guys around um i was sitting close to cleo roundtree and i was trying to i i don't think he heard what i was saying but i was like bro let's start a band yeah um yeah there was a there was a lot of guys around. Mosved all was sitting right in front of us. Diego Lopez, he's bigger than I thought in person. Like, he's a big guy.

Yeah, so it was a good time, man. Yeah. I said it before we recorded. Again, I've not been there, so I haven't experienced it. But on TV, and maybe this is a bit of a controversial statement, but I thought the intuitive don't look cooler than the sphere. Like, I just thought the atmosphere, like, because the sphere isn't really built for fights. It's supposed to be like a concert venue or like a movie going experience. It's not really

built for fights. I thought the Intuit Dome looked awesome. That giant LED screen hanging overhead, the lights all throughout the crowd. I was like, damn, like, I want to go there. Like, no offense to the sphere, but like I thought it looked cooler in the Intuit Dome. It certainly looked to me like it was built for fights. It was like, it was just an amazing experience for fights. Like I was kind of we were talking about before. I think the floor felt smaller like not big enough for like a basketball game or a hockey game like you would see it most arenas so i don't know exactly what it was built for i think the clippers must play play there yeah that's the clippers arena yeah so um it didn't feel big enough for a basketball game to me but

you know it felt a lot more intimate than that felt almost like you know the old shows they used to have it like the palms or hard rock and places like that where we're smaller but then you'd look up and, you know, there's a good 20, 30,000 people there, however many people. So, you know, you realize you're in a much bigger place, but it felt a lot more intimate like that to me. Yeah, yeah, it was quite, at least again, TV-going experience. I thought it looked awesome. Like, I was like, man, I want to go there.

Like, that looked like a really cool arena. I know it's brand new state-of-the-art. They've only been there for, I think it's only been open for, like, four months or whatever, since the new NBA season. I know WWW went there for Raw, their new Netflix, Raw, like, a couple weeks ago, and so I knew UFC was going to be like the second big show there and it looked like the the WVE thing looked cool but like UFC looks so much cooler like it just looked it just looked awesome on TV again I can't tell what it was like in the arena but on TV it came across it's like this arena looks badass which was a cool reminder to win again this is the first fight I went to since retiring and I posted it on my Instagram about like you know UFC puts on the best events in the world and just go in there and witnessing it from the outside looking in for the first time which like I'd been to many fights but you know I was always a fighter right so I'm looking at it from a fighter's perspective and this time looking at it from the outside in I mean it just blew my mind the

event that they put on the intensity is totally different when you're looking at it from the outside in and just the overall vibe like I'm paying more attention to the vibe and the feel and the crowd and like just what an event they put on man like I mean they just got it down to a fucking science and and it's just brilliant what they're doing and and there's no event like it in the world. I can't imagine. I mean, you know, I go to hockey games. I've been to basketball, baseball, football.

Nothing feels like that, not even close. Yeah, the energy is unreal. Like I said, I remember during the pandemic when we first had the APEC shows, and I was like, this is kind of cool. Like it's kind of fun to hear the coaches and, like, you can hear the punches landing. You know, it was cool.

It was a novel. Like one show. Yeah, it was cool for like five minutes. And then I was like, man, I missed the crowds because I've been to a million UFC shows, and I don't go to a lot of shows these days, but when people ask me, what's my favorite moments in the sport?

It's like, yeah, I was there the night Connor knocked out Josealdo. I remember the energy in the arena. I remember Rashad Evans knocking out Chuck Ladell in Atlanta and the entire crowd just going deafening silence. Like, everyone was like, what just happened? I remember George St. Pierre walking out in Montreal and the crowd was so loud.

I couldn't even hear his music. Like, that's loud. Like, when you can't even hear the music over the PA system, you know it's loud. So, like, those experiences, they just can't be topped and there's nothing like a live U.S. show. Like I know Dana White talks about all the time.

Like you've never been, you've got to go. You do. It's like, you know, I'm not saying you need to go. I'm not saying you need to go every week. Like I said, I think the NFL is better to watch on TV than being there. But I still like going to Bingles games. Like I like going and being in the arena with the fans or the stadium with the fans. I go to one every year because I'm a big Bengals fan.

So I like to go to one game a year. But the rest I can watch on TV. but UFC like it's still you know you can see better on TV but you got to go like you got to be there at least one time to see it and experience in an arena there's nothing like it especially on a big night like Saturday where that main card was so ridiculously good like I know the prelims didn't produce a lot of finishes so we're not really going to get into that but then you open it with Reiner de Ritter going out there and tapping out Kevin Holland right away and then obviously Jelton how made it look great I was like totally stunned by how good he looked because there Day Speedback had been on a run and Yeri and Jamal Hill put on a freaking war what a great fun fight that was and of course we'll talk about Marab and Umar and Islam and

Moikano but man that was a great show like it was top to bottom of a great show yeah great matchups like everybody was matched up well I thought everybody had a chance to win and yeah you're seeing the level you know it was just a such a high level event all around right

sometimes you know as in the last couple years, I feel like the main cards have sometimes been so-so, and then you get a great main event or a great co-main. But, you know, I felt like this one, the energy was high for every fight. And, you know, like, like, Joltenhammede even, you know, like he said, I thought it was going to be three rounds of him sitting in Mount like he did on Derek Lewis, right? And then, you know, he pulled it off. And every fight, it's exactly what Dana talks about at time. He sells those shit moments, right? every fight, you know, it wasn't really an oh shit moment, but it was a it was a shit moment, right?

Yeah. Or a oh moment, maybe you can say, you know, every fight had a little something to it that, you know, had a high energy crowd. I think there was only one fight in the crowd, which is a win. I expected more, judging by like the press conferences and everything, like seeing like the Armenian fans, the Georgian fans and the Russian fans, I was like, man, we're about to have an international incident during this card. but the fact that they didn't now, obviously I know we had some changes go on the card. So let me ask you, Matt, like, because you were in L.A. when this whole thing happened, Hedatamu Kano steps into the main event for Armin Saruki. And obviously, disappointing.

I think we all wanted Armin. We talked about that fight. Even though we both picked Islam, we thought that was a really fun fight, but obviously Armin gets injured. I'm curious, I'm not putting, by the way, I don't want to knock, like, this is not a knock on Armin, but I want to ask you as a fighter, Matt, because I know you've had to pull out fights with injuries before. It kills you when you do it. But what are you doing during fight week that you get injured? Like I know it's happened before.

I'm not saying this is a unique incident, but like it's almost like, man, what are you doing? That you're like, you're getting injured during fight week. Like, shouldn't you kind of be at that point, like, just like warming up and getting done? Like, what are you doing to, like, injure your back on fight week? Well, I'm not sure what the back injury was exactly. But if it was a herniated disc, which is possible, I've had herniated disc for 15. 20 years now. And a lot of times it doesn't come from doing anything strenuous. Dr. McGill, who's one of the top doctors in the world, works with like GSP. He's a professor,

water, the university. I work with him. I think he has a term for it. He's like, I'm trying to remember the term, damn. But it's basically he's like, you know, you do all these, all this heavy lifting, you don't get hurt. And then you bend over and pick up a pencil. And now you throw your back out. And you're like, dude, what the hell? And that's not a uncommon thing. Again, I've dealt with it for 15, 20 years. And, yeah, sometimes you won't be doing things strenuous. And then you throw your back out doing something easy.

I'm guessing, you know, a total guess that that's kind of what Armin did. And hernia just sucked. Like, there's no way you're fighting with it. Like, it is that bad. Like, there's no possible way. and I think the dehydration plays a factor in that also. I've hurt my back more in the last three to four weeks at camp than any other time of life. Can I ask, and again, I know we're just making assumptions here,

but I know you dealt with back injuries because we've talked about this before. You said like the back injury you had because I remember I had a back spasm for the first time my life last year and it sucked. Like I never had a back spasm before and it sucked real bad. but is it I don't I want to say it's safe to assume would you have to like would it be a fair assessment or fair guess that arm and may have had back problems and it just like oh for sure flared up again like is that more likely than like he was just because I think the idea is most people have in their head that he was like fucking around doing something he shouldn't have been doing and he hurt his back is it more likely he probably had like a back issue at some point

and it just flared up is that more likely that's my assumption again total guess I don't think the news has even come out exactly what happened, but that's totally my guess. He was probably doing something simple, you know, maybe going through a drill or something, probably wasn't pushing himself crazy hard or anything. And yeah, just either flared up or, you know, just that was finally the straw that broke the Campbell's back. Now afterwards, and I don't want to get too far up to the subject because I do want to talk about Islam and Moucano.

But afterwards, Dana White said, you know, back to the drawing board for first. an Armin. You're not getting a title shot. You've got to re-earn it. You've got to get back in there. And even Armin said, I agree with Dana. Give me Charles Olivera five rounds. Now, Daniel Cormier came out after and disagreed. He said, still needs to be Armin. Because Islam is kind of run through everybody else. The night of the fight, Matt, I said, I agree with Dana. Like, I'm not holding it against Armin, but when you get to fight week and I don't care whether it's a weight cut and injury, something happens. You kind of thrown a monkey wrench into the EOC's plans. And you know, as well as I do,

Matt, the best ability is availability. The UFC loves when guys are willing to step up. And when you don't, when you kind of mess up, I get it. So, like, I agree with Dana. Like, as much as Armin has earned and deserves a title shot, when you fall out of a fight 24 hours before it happens and you force them to make dramatic changes to a card, you just don't get to jump right back in there. I just don't think you do.

Like, he's not a champion. You know, it's not like it happened to Islam and you can't avoid the champion fighting again. Like you remember what happened? Remember Amanda Nunes? She fell out of a title fight a few years ago, and Dana flipped out. She'll never headline another card. She'll never made it.

Obviously, it changed. She was a champion. It was different. But I agree with Dana. Like, I'm not holding it again. I'm not saying Armand's a bad guy or anything like that. But, you know, 24 hours before an event, you kind of messed it up. Now, you know, the penalty is you're going to have to fight somebody else

and you're not going to get a title shot right away. Yeah, well, I'm going to disagree with it. In my opinion, either he earned a title shot or he didn't. And if it was some egregious thing that he did to have to pull all the fight, I get where you'd punish him. But if he got legitimately injured and couldn't fight, I mean, why should he be punished for it? You know, if he earned it. If he didn't earn it, then, you know, if it would be a different situation,

if he came up, you know, on a week's notice or didn't really earn the shot, you know, they were kind of giving it to him, you know, for some other reason, which happens sometimes. But if he earned it, which I feel like he has, then that should be pretty set. Like he's already earned it. He's paid his dues. And, you know, I think the injury was a fluke-ish thing that, you know, he was, again,

we don't know the behind the scenes of the injury, right? If something comes out there, I can understand a punishment. But I don't think he should be punished when, you know, he showed up. He was ready to fight. And, you know, he legitimately. got injured and had to back out. I mean, like I said, I understand where Dana's coming from. And listen, it may not really matter because if Armand, if back injury isn't too serious

and he could book a fight relatively soon, Islam just fought. I know it was a quick fight, but he just fought March is Ramadan. We know he does not fight during that time. So he probably wouldn't fight again until June or July. That's what he did last year. He fought in June when he fought Porier, June July. If Armand's not seriously injured and he could book a fight March or April against the list say Charles Oliver, they run that back at a five-rounder.

Then I think he could still get the next shot. You know what I mean? Like he could still get the next shot at Islam. I think the key is getting, you know, getting a fight sooner than later. And I don't know how bad the back injury is, but if it's not severe enough that's going to keep him out for like six months, get a fight, win, and then it doesn't matter because Islam's not going to fight tomorrow anyway. So it's going to turn around a fight in April, you know what I mean?

So I think that's really, I think. If it is a herniated disc, like my bet is, you know, what happened is, yeah, he wouldn't be able to fight the next day, right? Because I think he hurt it on Friday, right? I think it was Thursday or Friday. Yeah, like Thursday, not going into Friday. I think that's what happened, yeah. So, yeah, so he wouldn't have been able to fight on Saturday, but he'll get a quarter of his own shot, probably already got one. And within a week, he'd be perfectly fine, most likely.

So, yeah, so that would add up all of those little. little pieces would add up to a herniated disc and he'd be able to fight in a month or two perfectly fine. Yeah. So let me ask you, I know this is, you know, obviously Islam went out there and beat Hinata-Moykana, a very impressive performance, have some out in the first round. I don't think that's totally shocking. I mean, I think, you know, I picked Islam to beat Armin. I don't think it was a shock to see him pick to beat Hinata-Moykano.

Nothing against Wicana-Mukana is a very good fighter, but that's a tall task to step in on 24 hours notice and fight the number one guy in the world. So here's my question, Matt. We've had this debate forever, and I've always said, when a guy steps up on short notice... I know the question. When a guy steps up on short notice, we should applaud them, right? Like, good job. But I should, I never, I've never once condemned a guy for saying, I'm not, I won't have time to get ready.

I'm not going to take a fight on a week's notice or two weeks notice. This goes back to the John Jones question. When he turned down the fight with Chal Sondon and after Dan Henderson got hurt, we all remember that situation. He's like, I'm not, I'm not ready. I need time to prepare. Islam is now done a couple times where he's just like give me whoever like when he was supposed to fight Charles Oliva and Charles Olivaura fall out he gets Volcanowski on 10 days notice he's like sure whatever 24 hours notice he's like sure I'm going to bed just tell me who I'm fighting now again I don't think we should penalize a guy if he turned it down but man what respect do you have to have for a guy like Islam Akachov just to say I don't care give me a name I'm ready to go I love that about him again I'm not condemning John Jones or anybody else for not doing it, but man, like, they had that quote up in the, in the UCPI.

I care what the exact quote is, but he's just like, that's what champions do, champions step up and fight. He didn't blink. I love that about him. Yeah, you got to love that about him. I thought you were going to get into his either greatest ever now because we will. We are going to have that conversation in a second. But I want to ask you, because you've been there.

I mean, you know what short notice fights really, but I just, I think the dude deserves a ton of credit because there's risks there. Like, yes, he's a favorite. should beat him not to moikano but there's still a risk yeah i i couldn't agree more that that's exactly right i mean those are two very different opponents um surukian and moikano for moikano i i part of why i you may have seen me tweet that you know he's actually got a chance here like he's you know there there's opportunities here for him um you know, he had a similar opponent, right?

Benil Darius is a South Paul with great jiu-jitsu. Islam is a South Paul with great jiu-jitsu. So I thought, okay, Mekano is actually going to be prepared for this style of opponent. Unfortunately, for him, Islam has beyond great jih Tjitsu, right? So, yeah, so for Islam, I mean, that's a tall task, you know? And I love that about him, too. I mean, he's like, send me the contract.

I'm good to go. Let's just fight. And I don't think anybody would have done that, right? I think a lot of guys would have. It is not like they, Marab and Umar wouldn't have been a great main event anyway, right? It's still a title fight. It turned out to be in a really, really great fight. But like, that's a worthy main event.

So he wouldn't even be screwing over the UFC that bad. Yeah, no, I agree. And like I said, and again, I don't fault him. He said, you know what, man? this is just a huge opponent's change on 24 hours notice. I don't feel comfortable taking it. The fact that he's just like, whoever, whatever, give me the contract, let's go. You got to have a lot of respect for that.

He went out there and tapped out Hinata Moycon in the first round. Can I ask your opinion on this, Matt? Because this is one thing, we're doing this right now. We are doing this right now. We are analyzing the fights of what happens. But did you see this thing with Patty Pimblek coming out and saying that he basically called Hinato a bitch for tapping out in the first round? you should have gone to sleep.

Listen. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. They are. We do it every week on this show. We give our opinion. But I hate this armchair quarterback shit. Like you shouldn't have tapped out. Dude, you've not been in there with Islam-Makachev.

You've not even gotten close to earning a shot against Islam-Makachev. Why are you blasting this guy for taking a shot? He missed. Okay, he missed. But he took his shot and he missed. Why are you calling? I hate that. And it's not just, it's not just singling out Patty Pimblit,

but in this case, I am. Like, dude, you don't get to armchair quarterback what he did. You don't know what it's like to get put in a darch choke by Islam Akachev. And there's a freaking Russian bear. Maybe he, maybe he slaps it on you. And you're like, oh shit, I'm tapping out. I hate that. Like, I hate you.

You should have gone to sleep. Who the fuck are you to say he should have gone to sleep? Yeah, it's just a silly thing to say. I'm betting. It's just Patty just trying to talk and be in the news. and, you know, get his voice out there and just say things. Because he's a jit-to guy. He knows very well when he is caught and when it's over.

And you start seeing the tunnel close, right, is what happens when you almost go to sleep. And I was like, what's the point at this point? Like, going to sleep doesn't prove anything. Like, you know when it's over. We all do jih-jitsu all the time. We know what the, when we're caught, we know when the end is inevitable and there's no more escaping and uh it's like

tap or go to sleep like just tap there's no shame in it you got caught that's it yeah yeah so again i think it's him just talking just trying to uh keep his name out in the news or trying to you know make a post with a lot of likes or whatever right yeah but isn't it like it's just like To me it's the dumbest thing to, like, try to get, like, I understand, you're right. You're probably right. Like, he's probably doing it just to get clicks and maybe trying to set him himself up for a fight with him not to Moincano. I know they've been going back and forth. But I just like, dude, the guy is at his lowest.

Like, I don't know if you heard his pose. You were in the arena, so you probably couldn't hear it very well because I know sometimes you can't really hear the post-fight interviews. But, like, they asked Boycano, and he's just like, I'm very sad. He's like, you know, I took a shot. I missed. He's like, you know, I waited my whole life for this opportunity. I tapped in the first round. He's like, and honestly, at 35, I don't know if he'll ever get back here again.

Dude, that sucks. Like, man, you're like, kind of broken harder for the guy. Like, this is like, you know, he's, he's being honest enough to say at 35, he's probably not going to get back here again. That's tough, man. I'm just like, dude, let the guy, like, if you want to wait, like, you want to criticize the guy, fine, but, like, that to me is the dumbest criticism, like, the whole, like, tap or go to sleep thing.

Like, I've told this story on the podcast before, and I'll tell it again. I remember when I was doing jiu-jitsu years ago, and I got caught in an arm bar. And this is just a training. session and I decided to be Billy tough guy and I could power my way out of it and I basically powered my way out of I eventually broke free but I was caught and I fucked

up my elbow because of it. I had nerve damage of my elbow because I was just like no no I can get out of this. Who the fuck cares? I mean I was in a training session. It wasn't a UFC fight and I was still like I gotta get out of this and I'd have hurt my elbow really badly I mean I fucked up my elbow really badly because of it now I understand the UFC

it's a much bigger level and everyone's like you gotta go out on your shield but like you said like He knew he was done. What does four more seconds of him going to sleep? What does that prove? Yeah, it doesn't prove anything. And, you know, in training specifically, you know, what you're training to not get in a submission,

not how long can your joints last in a submission, right? So you tap out. And it's just silly, you know. Again, I think it's just Patty trying to get out there in the news and him being himself and maybe trying to start some shit with Moikano because he wants that fight, which is fine. But Patty knows as well as anyone, you know, when you're caught, you're caught and you can tap or go to sleep. And like nothing, nothing's going to be better because you went to sleep.

Like no one's going to like respect you more or, you know, you're not going to get a bonus on your paycheck. Like there's literally not a single thing that's going to come out of you going to sleep that you wouldn't get out of tapping. Yeah, it's so dumb. It's the dumbest. conversation before but it's like the double like all the things you criticize the guy for like you just say man you didn't show up like you had this opportunity and you got blanked in the first round okay even that's like rough because you did take it on 24 hours notice he went for fight benildaree who was a good fighter by the way but it's not islam macha it's a different

it's like saying you're fighting yeah they're similar fighters like your training camp would not be totally different you know maybe do more wrestling with Islam I think would be about the only difference and it probably wouldn't have helped right like Islam is that guy yeah he looked phenomenal like I know here's the thing and you're right why he's doing he's probably trying to set himself up for the fight with O'Connor but like did anyone like it's like criticizing Volcanowski for he can call it a head kick when he took the rematch with Islam on 10 days notice like he got caught that's part of the sport like dude like does that make Volcanowski a terrible fighter no he got caught by head kick by the best guy in the world like I just hate this note

notion that like because he didn't go to sleep and like he didn't show. Again, you're right. I know why Patty's doing it. But dude, like, come on, man. Like, you know, at least wait a few days. Like, don't say it the night of and you're like, you're a bitch. He's not a bitch. I'm just saying that.

Like, that to me is too far. Like, he's not a bitch. And not to wincona is a very good fighter. He got caught. And you know what? I would bet a whole lot of money that Islam would do that exact same thing to Patty Pimbley if they fought tomorrow. Yeah, I'd like to see Moikano and Patty Fight.

I think that's a solid matchup to make right at this point. Yeah, so let's talk real quick before we get to Marab and Umar. So we talked beforehand. We said, if Islam wins over Armand Sarukin, he's in the conversation as the greatest lightweight of all time. Now, Dana on Saturday night, to his credit, said I put him number one pound per pound. He finally put him over John Jones. I was shocked he did it.

But he also said, I think he is the best lightweight in the world, the best lightweight of all time. Now, Boycano's not armin. No one's denying that. But he still went out there and tapped out a top 10 guy in three minutes and did it very impressively. So does your opinion on Islam change it all after that fight now that we're in the aftermath of the fight? No, I would go back to what I said before me. He's definitely in that conversation. Right. He has the title of defenses now. And it'd be different if Moikano came on short notice unprepared. But again, I think Morcano probably had better preparation for a guy like Islam than Islam had for a guy like Moikano and and also Moikano is on a streak like he was knocking on the door of a title shot right if he beat

banal like it wouldn't be out of the question for him to have gotten a title shot you know he probably need one more big win I think but you know he would certainly be knocking on that door so I absolutely put Islam in that conversation and I think the two of them Kabib and Islam, I think there's a, you could have a whole show debating who has had the better career and who is greater. Islam is almost certainly going to surpass him just because of a time in the game and in the sport. He's going to keep fighting and most likely keep winning. So, you know, I do think he's going to pass him.

Right now, you know, I put them pretty even. Again, I think you can make a pretty strong argument either way. Except I do think I'd have to look at the numbers, but I think our Islam has finished more guys. You know, because this fight was kind of comparable to like Khabib fighting Ally Quinto, right? I don't think that was for a title. Was it for the title?

It was the vacant title, right? Yeah, it was a vacant title. Yeah, that's how you got the title, yeah. Yeah, so it was the original title, right? And, you know, Khabib went five rounds with Ally Quinta, whereas Islam just finished Moikano in the first round. So I think there's a strong argument for Islam. I'm not totally there yet personally,

but if someone was to argue against me, I wouldn't argue back. Yeah, and I'm not trying to knock the guy, but if you're trying to put levels on it, like I would put Boycano ahead of where Aliaquinta was at that time. Like, I think Moikanto was closer. Like, Ia Quinta literally got it because he was the other lightweight on the card. Him and Paul Felder were both on the car.

and he weighed 155 pounds so he got to fight. Like it wasn't like, I don't even think he was in Moikano's position where Moikano's you said was maybe one fight, maybe two fights away from a title shot at worst. I don't think Ia Quinta was at that point. I don't think anyone was saying, man, Aliquita is the guy. So, you know, you got to give credit where credit is new to Islam. I'm with you.

I think it's still pretty neck and neck right now, but going the way Islam's going. And again, you can never predict how to these. And maybe he fights Arman and Armin and beats him. But where they're at right now, I think they're pretty dead even. but Islam doesn't appear to be going anywhere. He's not talking retirement. So I think as long as he stays on the path, he's on and wins a couple more fights and can beat an Armand,

maybe he beats Charles Oliver again. I don't know who else ends up being out there, but I think he's got a great chance to surpass him. But I'm kind of with you right now. I'm kind of like it's neck and neck. I don't want to put one ahead of the other. But Islam's on his way, unless Islam loses, and he wins a couple more times,

I think he will cement himself in that spot. Yeah, and they said, I think there's an argument either way. Islam has another title defense. I think it's pretty set in stone then that he's surpassed. I think it's pretty much a moot point at that at that point, right? It's just you can't deny title defenses, right? That's kind of on paper. That's what it all comes down to.

But even if, you know, if you want to get more subjective about, again, I think Islam has probably finished more guys. finishing Volk with a head kick. I don't think we're ever going to see Khabib do that, even if he stayed in the game. Of course, anything's possible. But I don't, you know, it didn't appear to be in the cards for Kibib to be doing that.

So, you know, I think one more, and Islam's got that slot locked. Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. And like I said, if you want to talk skill for skill, one of the reasons we always praise John Jones is because beyond his resume, which is incredible, His just his martial arts skills are just off the charts. And you could argue already Islam's shown he's a more well-rounded fighter.

Like he's a great, he's actually a pretty nasty striker to go along. Like, I don't think Habib ever hit the, I mean, he wasn't a bad striker. I mean, he knocked down Connor on the feet. But like, I don't think anyone would ever say Kabee was a world-class striker. He was a, I mean, he was a freaking tank on top when he got you down the ground. You could not get out from under that guy. But Islam, you could argue is a little more well-rounded. So there's like, again, you can make arguments all day one way or the other.

I think he's had more submission. wins. I'd have to look at the numbers. I'm not a thousand percent sure about that, but you know, you got to start taking to account things like that. You know, when it's neck and neck like this, you know, the finishes and how they finished and things like that. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So now, Matt, I want to bow down and give you credit where credits do when talking about the co-main event. No, we did agree that the odds were off, but you said the odds were way off. You're like, I, you feel like you've got to put some money down. I'm wrapped to what it was really for.

coming out there. He was like a three to one underdog. Man, let me ask this question, Matt. What an unbelievable performance from Marab? Obviously, I'm sure you saw the photos. Umar did break his hand early, but that's the fight. You're going to have injuries. Guys, I never when your I favor broke both hands in a fight and he was throwing

elbows. Like, that's just the sport. You're going to have injuries. It's going to happen. It sucks that it happens. But that's the sport. You're literally punching somebody for a living. Your handbraking is not that unusual. But I said this on Saturday night, and I'll say it again now. Matt is Marab de Wailashwili's pace and conditioning the single greatest weapon in mixed martial arts right now.

Like we do about Alex Pirares power and is striking. You talk about Islam's wrestling. You talk about, you know, I think Marab's pace and conditioning could be the single best weapon in MMA. Because no one can keep up with this guy. It is impossible to keep up with Marab de Wailishvili for five rounds. Yeah, and he's not doing it like Kane Vlasquez did that a heavyweight. Guys don't keep up a heavyweight that well. He's doing it against guys with really good cardio and conditioning.

And, I mean, his pace and cardio is absolutely unbelievable. The machine is the perfect name name for him, fits him perfectly. You know, I said it on Saturday night while we're sitting there watching him. I said, Marab is the Dan Gable of mixed martial arts. Like this guy, he's, I said it when, after the Peter Yon fight, is it, I don't see anybody stopping Marab. outside of catching him, right? Like he can, I think he still has a chance

of getting caught on his way in. Umar, had he not broke his hand, probably had a good chance of catching him on the way in at some point. He had a really fast left hand. But, I mean, we talk about, you know, all the qualities that you want to see in a fighter. I mean, when you talk about cardio and pace,

there's no quality that, like it overcomes everything else like all of your technique doesn't mean shit all of your um your grit your toughness when you can't breathe and a dude is still throwing punches and at you and taking you down fatigue makes cowards of every man yeah i always remember one of my all-time favorite fights and i always bring this out one of my all-time favorite fights was in the early ufc days and it was like ufc 28 or 27 something like that um when Frank Shamrock beat Tito Ortiz. Go watch that fight. It's one of my all-time favorite fights.

Tito takes him down. Tito looks like he's two weight classes above Frank. He takes him down. He's wrestling him. He's beating him up. But Frank just keeps working and working and scrambling and making Tito work. And by the time he got it, I think it was like the fourth round, Tito is absolutely just exhausted.

Like he's shooting from 10 feet away trying to get a takedown because he's just got nothing left in the tank. And Frank ends up knocking him out and TKO him. I think he's like the fourth round. And that was the moment when I think it was Frank Shamrock who said like cardio is your best weapon. Like if you can stick around, you will beat a lot of guys. And that to me was like the clearest evidence because Tito took him down. Tito was the stronger fighter early.

But Frank just wore on him and wore on him. And like you said, it's like a marathon, not a sprint. And by the time he got to that third round, Umar Nirmagamato does not. I mean, he just went five rounds of Corey Sanagan. He does not have bad cardio. Right. But the way that Marab makes you work,

he made it look like Umar didn't have cardio and I'm not saying that like it's an insult I'm saying like that's how fast that's how much pace Marab puts on you by the third round Umar's mouth was open they were commenting on the broadcast like saying his hands were dropping he's slowing down his shots aren't coming as fast that's all due to Marab de Wall is really just working him and working him and working him and by the third round you're like uh-oh and then by the fourth round you just see Marab has completely taken over and umar umar never shifted into like survival mode but like he was getting taken down more often he wasn't throwing shots he was just like reacting to marab he was not offensively going after marab anymore he was just reacting to whatever

marab did it was unbelievable like i just i i had that much faith in umar's skills that i thought he would get him marab proved a lot of people wrong on saturday myself included i'm happy to admit i was wrong because man that guy really is the machine yeah yeah he came out with the it looked like it was going to be a really close fight, right? It looked like it could kind of go either way. I think Umar definitely won the first round, um, maybe the second or probably the second also, right? And then like you said, that pace and cardio took over. And I was telling all the guys, all the guys sitting around me at the fight were all betting on the fights is so funny. The Sarminian guy, he lost like 15K on, uh, I want to say, he won it. No, he lost it on Jamal Hill. Right. And, you know, I said, bro, put it back on

Marab. You know, as I said, put 5K, you're going to get your 15K back, put it on Marab. He didn't end up doing it. But, you know, I said it and I'll say it again. Never bet against cardio. Like, you can't bet against it, bro. Like a lot of times, you know, when you get to a certain level of skill, it comes down to who can last the longest, who can stay in the game the longest.

And, you know, if you want to take life lessons out of that, hey, that's the same in business. That's same in podcasting. That's the same in so many different facets of life. It's not necessarily about who's the best. I mean, obviously you have to have a certain level of skill, you know, to even get to that point, right? But a lot of times it's just who stays in at the longest. And Rob isn't going anywhere.

I think he could have done it for another five rounds. And could you imagine, you know, how miserable guys would be doing another five rounds with Marab? You know, like I said, it reminds me of Dan Gable When you watch him in the Olympics back in the day, I mean, that was, he was legendary for it, the pressure that he put on, the number of shots that he would take.

And there's eye wrestlers that he trained that he coached. That's what they were known for. Like, just unbreakable. And they're just going to shoot until you don't want to defend it anymore. And like, okay, just take the fucking shot, you know. And that was exactly what Marab did. He could not get Umar down in the first couple rounds. I think he halfway got Umar down a couple of times

Umar was right back up But he never gave up on his plan and kept going after him And then by the fifth round he was tossing him down like it You know laughing at him for it right and You I said you're going to have to catch Maraub Yeah You got to catch him

What's wild about the wrestling is Is I don't even think he tried to really hold Umar down I think he wanted to take him down And make him get back up because the energy being spent with him defending the takedown, then getting taken down, getting back up. He knew it. He didn't need to go out there and try to mall him on the ground. He didn't need to play

that game because putting him on his back even for a minute would have given him a little bit of a rest period. Yes. He just took him down, held him for a second, scrambled, got back up, did it again, did it again. That's the, you obviously, you wrestled far more than I ever have, but that's the exhausting part of it

is like defending and getting back up over and over again. When you're on your back, I'm not saying it's good to be on your back getting punched, but you do get a little breather for a second where you can just kind of compose yourself. He just was like, no, no, we're not going to play that game. We're going to take him down, get up, take him down, get up. And by the fifth round, you can

just see him or it's just like, this sucks. Like, this just sucks. Yeah. Yeah. Well, great breakdown, Damon. Yeah. That's a great analyzing there. I mean, I think that I wasn't even really thinking about that. I mean, that's a great point. Because he wasn't trying to force,

hold him down. He would let Omar, not really let him. He'd make him work up a lot of times, but sometimes he would just straight let him up. And yeah, that's a miserable experience. And especially, you could tell Marab could feel that the takedowns were getting easier, right? And he would, because he wasn't really, at the beginning of the fight, he wasn't really, like, working his ass off to get the takedown. And he's like, I just make you work a little bit, right?

And then by the end, he's like, okay, I'm going to work for this. It is almost like he kind of felt out which takedowns were going to work, right? you did to run the pipe a few different times on the single leg. And yeah, like you said, by the end, Umar, you know, you got to wonder, you can't read someone's mind. I don't want to say anything bad about him. But, you know, you got to wonder if there were questions going through his mind, right, if he starts questioning himself a little bit.

Yeah. And offensively, we always talk about chain wrestling. And chain wrestling basically means going for a takedown wrestling, but then consistently continuing to work for that takedown. Maybe you don't get the ankle. take you get a double leg. Maybe you don't get the double leg, you get a body lock. You don't get the body lock, you go to the next thing. Chain wrestling is just that. Your chaining moves together to get your takedown. George St. Pierre was great at that. George St. Pierre was great at chain wrestling

Marab was doing that same thing. He would go for the leg. He didn't get the leg. You'd get the body lock. You didn't get the body lock, drop back down to the legs. He was just constantly working. Yeah, and to add to that point, he probably did one of the best MMA wrestling games blending the striking and the takedowns together that I've ever seen. Yeah. And and he and he

landed some good shots on Umar on the feet especially in the third, fourth, of his round. Like, it was unbelievable because I had Umar winning rounds one and two, but then it's just the dynamic changed dramatically in round three. Like, you know, like it was just like a totally different fight. And I thought Marab won pretty clearly.

Um, I think the scary thing about Marab right now, and I don't think Marab's going to get complacent, so I don't think that's a concern. But when you look at the lay of the land of Bantzway, like I think everyone, the reason why Umar got the shot after just beating Corey Sanehagen was because everyone kind of said, like, this is the guy. Like, this is

the guy who's going to be the champion. Why mess around, like go ahead and give him the title shot? And to his credit, he didn't have a bad fight. He just got completely outworked and outpaced and I think he'll get back there again one day. But when you look at the lay of the land of Bantzwey, like, Moralb's kind of beating everybody. He beat O'Malley. He's

beaten Peter Jan. Like, you know, like, I mean, I mean, obviously, you know, yeah, like he beats Suhudo. Like, he's kind of clearing things out a little bit now. I mean, you look at his resume. Like, is he the greatest Bannumweight of all time? I mean, look at his resume. They weren't all title defenses, right? He had to go on a 12-fight win streak to get the title shot.

But, I mean, he's got probably the best resume of any Bansomweight ever. I mean, he beat Aldo. I know it wasn't the greatest fight in the world. He beat Aldo. He beat Yon. He beat Sousam. Hudo, he beat O'Malley. I mean, yeah, you're not wrong.

I mean, the guy is just beating everybody. And outside of that one fight with Marlon Marius, where he got caught and had to come back and end up getting a knockout, which was a finish, so it kind of negates the early part of the fight. Nothing's really been that close. I mean, I know 48, 47 sounds close, but when you rewatch the fight with Umar, Umar had a couple moments early, and then it was all Marab. Like, it was just all Marab, the second half of that fight.

I know some people like, O'Malley had a couple of moments he did, but it wasn't a close. fight. It was, you know, it was the Marab show. Same thing with Suhuda. Like, Suu had a couple moments in the first round and then it was over. Marab just completely took over and was styling on him by the third round. Like, it's not been particularly close. And I know, you know, if you're

going to knock Marab, you're going to say, well, he doesn't have a lot of finishes. But I don't think, like, outside of the Aldo fight, which, if I'm being honest, that wasn't a great fight. It was a lot of clenching, a lot of, he couldn't get Aldo down, but Aldo couldn't break free of the grasp. I don't think Marab's been boring,

either. Like you can say there are guys who have boring five-round fights. Like that was one of the biggest criticisms of George St. Pierre during the latter party as rain. He was like he kind of got a little boring. You just kind of took guys down and held them down, didn't really do a whole lot to finish the fight. And we talked about that when we were comparing George and John Jones. Like the big difference was John gets finishes. George didn't. Um, Marab's decisions aren't like that fight on Saturday that was anything but boring. Like it was a great fight. Yeah. Yeah, it was a war. And look, I mean, you can, you can go and debate all day. You know, how they won or was it exciting, boring, all these things, but the son bitch wins.

I mean, how many fights in a row is that for him now? Is that 12 in a row? 12 in a row, I think, 12 in a row now. Okay. I mean, and against great competition, you know, he's not, you know, kind of, you know, beating a bunch of tomato cans on him. You know, he's not, I mean, these are champions, former champions. I mean, he's doing.

Marab, again, if people aren't saying he's the best bantam weight ever, he's on his way to be in the best band weight ever. I said after he fought Peter Yard's, and I don't see anybody stopping this guy. I thought Suhudo had a shot a good chance. He styled on him. You know, some people thought Umar had a chance. We've seen what happened there.

It's just going to be very difficult to, beat this guy. When you look at his record, I'm looking at it right now, I pulled it up. So you got, on this run, he beat Terry and Ware, Brad Cotona, Casey Kinney, Gustavo Lopez, John Dodson, who's a very good fighter, Cody Stamman, Marlon Marlora, Jose Aldo, Peter Jan, Henry Sehudo, Sean O'Malley, and Umar de Montgomery. That is a freaking run. That is a run, dude.

That is a run. And four UFC champions in a row, capped on by O'Malley, and then going out there beating the guy that everybody, myself included, had anointed the future of the division. He goes out there. I mean, you're not, like, when you say that, like, when you said at the beginning, like, is this already the greatest of all time? Like, I don't know. But then you're saying it.

I'm like, you know what? I don't know that you're wrong. Because when you look at Bantway right now, I'm looking at the EOC's rankings. You got Sean O'Malley ranked number one. He beat him. Umar number two beat him. Peter Yon number three beat him. Corey's number four and Corey's coming off a loss.

Number five is Devincent Figaro. He's coming off a loss. Number six is Marlon Vera. He's coming off loss. Then you got Henry Suu, who he beat. And then you're getting down to like Songya Dong, who's a good fighter, but obviously he's fighting Suu coming up. Rob Fon, I don't think anyone's going to say he's in the line for a title shot.

Mario Batiste is out there. Kyler Phil. I mean, you look at the bottom of the rankings, like no one's even close to really getting a title shot. I mean, you know, he's always cleared out the division. Like the only guy in that top five he hasn't fought is Corey Saneh. He hasn't fought Corey or Devin's invigorated, but both those guys are coming off losses. Like, you can't fault him for that.

not going to fight a Corey Sandhagan right now without Corey getting another win and saying to do a figure out like figurato like figurato just lost to Peter yawn and he already beat Peter yon so i mean marab's probably moving into rematch territory now because who else is you gonna fight oh mali right emalley or yon would probably be the one either way but still like i'm saying like he's almost in a way cleared out the division like look who's look who he's beaten already yeah yeah and i think out of all those like yon probably has the best chance like he has the wrestling you know we showed in the first fight like he didn't get taken down very much it just wasn't able to get his offense off. And again, I think that's about the only way you're going to beat

Rob. Like you've got to catch him on the way in. You got to get some punches off. It's going to earn some respect out of him. Right. And that's why I do think Umar in a rematch will probably have a good shot. Like he's felt it now. He knows what he's getting into. He knows the pace that he's going to be dealing with. He'll be better mentally prepared. And I do think that the broken hand played a part in right like again he was catching him early you know he was way faster than marab he was clean um and it looked like his game playing was to throw that left hand down the pipe and catch marob on the way in and he wasn't able to really do it anymore right he caught him with some left hands early and then he stopped to own it we didn't know his hand was broke and he fought through it so you know and he

kept a close fight the whole time with a broken hand so I think he does have the best shot. Hammer, him or Peter Yon have the best shot. But again, like, you got to match that pace. You either got to catch them earlier or you got to be able to handle that pace.

And I don't think most humans can handle that pace. John, John annexed this idea out there yesterday and 13, Matt, just to get your thoughts. He said, how would Alessandre Pantosia do against Marab? Because he's talked about going up to Bantam to wait, and he really doesn't have a number one contender right now.

Like Pantoja, like he fought Kai Asakura because he literally had no one to fight. I'm not saying I love the idea because you know my opinion on people changing divisions. I'm just to defend your title. But in a weird way, like Pantosia doesn't really have anyone right now. Like don't get me wrong. I like Kai Kar-France, but like, come on. Is anyone really going to get that excited about Kai Kar-Franz against Alachandro Pantosia? Morab doesn't really have anyone right now.

Like John Anniks threw that idea out there and I'm like, I don't hate it. I don't hate that idea. Yeah, I don't hate it either. It's just hard to imagine Pantoja having a shot, you know, not only partially just being the smaller guy, but you know, I'm, I'm, Pantosius has a way of controlling the pace, right? Even though he's not necessarily like the most technical guy. It doesn't always look like he's controlling pace, but it seemed like he's got a way of kind

of controlling the pace. He's always a step ahead of guys in a fight. I don't see it playing out that way with Morales. you know but I'm also I'm probably biased towards Maraub like I love the dude I love his personality I love his fights I love his style I love everything about him and I just have a hard time seeing anybody beating him coming up from a lighter weight class it's going to be even harder I agree but the only reason I would say I'm I'm I'm kind of on board for it is because it's something different it also gives Mara the chance to add another champion because

again like Kenny rematch you on like If we're going to be doing these champions moving up weight classes thing, like I think Pantosia's earned that if, you know, if that's going to be the norm these days. Yeah, I mean, again, like, who's Pantosia going to fight? Like, he doesn't have a contender. Like, he's, Kikar or France, no offense. Kikar or France will get a shot by default.

Like, it's not like he's earned it. It's not like he's gone through a gambit of champions and he's gotten here, you know, to Duran. He's on a one-fight win streak. Like, he's getting it because he's, because Pantosia's already beating everybody else. So, yeah, I don't hate the, idea and again, I'm with you. I don't love his chances, but hey, I mean, that's part of the

sport. Like, you know, like, again, when when Volcanovsky got the chance to fight Makachev, I understood it. Volcanowski kind of cleared out division. He beat Max Holloway three times. He beat Nortega, he beating all the guys that were in front of him, didn't really have a clear-cut, number one contender, so he got to move up. Now, I disagree. Like, Ilya is calling out Mokachev. I'm like, dude, you got work to do. Like, you're one title defense in. I think Ilya is phenomenal. I think he could be one of the best ever potentially, but you got to do it. And, you know, you got work to do. You got Diego Lopez out there.

You got other fights you can make. Let's slow down on you going up. But Volcanovsky, when he did it, he kind of earned it. And so you're like, yeah, I get it. Like, I'm okay with that. So I don't hate the idea. I don't love his chances, but I don't hate the idea. Yeah, yeah.

Like we said, they both kind of cleared their divisions out pretty well. So it's about the only fight that makes sense. So, and John Anick's smarter than other. so I'll give it to him. I'll agree with him. Yeah, good stuff, good stuff. So overall, I thought it was a great... I won't speak for you.

He's smarter than me. John Aick is a very smart man. I'll give him credit for that. Overall, though, great card on Saturday Nightman. Yuri Pahash going out there, got a big knockout over Jamal Hill. That was super impressive. I thought that was fun.

Really, really fun fight. As I said, Jelton I made. The whole card, like I said, the whole car was great. And obviously, we get a week off from UFC this week. We do get some VKFC this weekend. Knucklemania takes place on Saturday. Eddie Alvarez and Jeremy Stevens.

I think it's been well documented, Matt. I am a BKFC fan. I love what BKFC's doing. One thing to every guy from BKFC tells me why BKFC is finding success. I know we've talked about this before on the show. They're giving you something different. It's not just another UFC show.

I see all these announcements about PFL and GFL and all this other stuff. I know we've had those talks. BKFC is different. And I'm like, I'm excited to see Eddie Alvarez and Jeremy Stevens throw down the bare-nob fight. I'm excited to see Ben Rothwell go out there in a big. They're a knuckle fight. So, yeah, like, sign me up.

I'm into that this weekend. Yeah, both those guys are made for bare knuckle, right? Jeremy Stevens and Eddie Alvarez, big punchers, especially Jeremy Stevens. He's a big, big puncher. Hopefully they don't break their hands. Eddie Alvarez can brawl with anybody. So I think that's going to be a pretty solid fight. Might have to watch this one.

Yeah. I've never actually watched one before. You know, I've seen it. It's been like on the screen at the bar, whatever I've been at. But never watched. This one might be worth watching. You know what I love about BKFC? I actually told this to Dave Feldman when I interviewed him a few weeks ago.

I said BKFC has the best pacing. Like one fight is over and the next fight is walking out like almost instantaneously. Like we always talk about pacing is a problem sometimes where it's like 20 minutes between fights. PFL is the worst at that. PFL has like one fight. You wait like 35 minutes for another fight. They're just like BKFC's like, all right, you're done. Get out.

We're bringing the next guys in. Like they're just rapid firemen. I love that about them. Yeah. And they put on great fights too, right? You can't forget that. There is, like, so many of these organizations bring in guys from XUFC guys, build on the names, right?

The guys that the BKFC has picked up has been the right picks, right? The Mike Perry's, the Eddie Alvres, is the Ben Rothwells. These are the right guys that you want to have throwing bare knuckles. They've done a great job. and, you know, I like seeing the success.

Yeah, I appreciate it. I love what they're doing. And like I said, they're staying and they're laying. You know, they're not trying to poke the bear. They're not Don Davis saying, I'm number two. I'm the co-leader. Dana White's like, the fuck you, number two. What are you talking about?

So I love a BKFC does, man, and it's going to be a fun event. Their events are always, I have a blast. I watched their show from the bullfighting arena in Spain. There was a bunch of guys that I wasn't super familiar with. But, like, the fights were a blast. The crowd was into it. It's a show man. I enjoy it.

They're in Philadelphia this weekend. I've been to Philadelphia for every UFC show ever been in Philadelphia. And that's a crowd, man. The Philly crowd is something special. And Eddie's from there, so I'm sure he's going to get an insane reaction. They're doing it right, man. They're doing it right. Like I said, they're carving out their own lane.

We talked about that before. Like, that's the big mistake. All these MMA promotions do is they just want to battle the UFC. You know, PFL was doing it. Now GFL is signing every ex-champion that's ever been alive and they're all like 50. I don't know if that's really the problem. best idea to base your into like i saw showguns coming back dude i don't need to see chogun like i love shogun showgun showgun does not need to fight again i don't need to see that i'm sure

you don't need to see that no one needs to see that yeah then just spent a lot of money and it's going to be hard to recoup that money's hey i wish the best for him man you know they're they say that they're going to be fighter first and they're going to help a lot of these fighters and you know a lot of these guys will be getting payday so and i hope the best for them um Would I invest in it? Not my money. Yeah, I'm with you. Not my money.

I'll tell you that much for sure. I've been around the sport way too long to know how these things play out. And, yeah, I don't have a whole lot of faith. But we'll see. We'll see how it plays out. So, yeah, we get an off week for UFC this week at BKFC. Then next week, the UFC goes to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Adasania's back, taking on Nastradine Imavov.

That's a really fun fight. You got Shara Bullitt taking on Michael Vennam-Page. That's a fun fight. Sergei Pavlovich is back. So that's a really fun fight. So we'll talk about Saudi Arabia next week and maybe a little bit of aftermath of BKFC and talk about that.

Matt, if people want to support you, where can they find you, where can they throw you some support? At I'm Immortal on Instagram and Twitter, Matthew Immortal Brown on Facebook. And I just work in right now on my school community, which will be the Immortal School of Warriors.

and so you can search that up. But yeah, nothing's really up yet, but we're working on it. Working, always working on it. Well, we appreciate everyone tuning in. As always, make sure you check us out on all your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. And, of course, over the best website in the world, MMAfighting.com. For Matt Brown, I am Damon Martin.

We will see you next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Rider. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you then.