MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Reveals the One Fighter with Do-or-Die Stakes at UFC 314 Plus Picks and Predictions

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

On the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, Matt Brown and Damon Martin preview UFC 314 and the biggest storylines including Alexander Volkanovski coming back from two knockout losses and trying to reclaim the featherweight title in his fight against Diego Lopes plus Paddy Pimblett getting the biggest opportunity of his career against Michael Chandler, who is trying to bounce back from arguably his toughest loss to date falling to Charles Oliveira for the second time plus much more. Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Back to the fighter versus the writer. I am Damon Martin. He is UFC legend Matt Brown, and we are now finally here.

Matt, I've had to go through some rough shows lately, but we are finally here. It is UFC 314 fight week. The UFC almost kind of punishes us with some of these not-so-great shows so we can get to the big one, which is UFC 314 this weekend,

which is stacked and a really, really good card. Dude. It's about time, huh? Like, it's almost like going full circle, back to the old days, right, when we'd wait three or four months for our card, right? Except now we just got a bunch of kind of filler cards in between. Man, did you watch the card on Saturday? I did not, no.

It was rough, man. It was, like, by the end of the night, I was just, I joked. I was like, we're about headed to a, we're about headed to a freaking 48, 47 decision to fight it up being a 4847 decision. Like, it was just not good. Like the whole card was rough, man. So many decisions and just, I don't know, man. Like, I know people always like, it's these cards you don't see coming that are great.

That happens occasionally. But then you get the car where it's like it's not good and then it also is not good. Yeah, yeah. I feel like that used to have more back in the day. But I thought it was really unexpected too, considering like Josh Schmidt usually puts on really good fights. And Lerone Murphy, like, you know, is a young up-and-comer who I haven't really watched much of his fights. but you got to think he's hungry and pushing hard to get up there. So I don't know.

I guess. You didn't miss much. You didn't miss much. Let me just put it that way to you. You didn't miss much. So was it just Leran Murphy outpointing him, right? And just more or less, it was, yeah, like I said, it was him basically avoiding Emmett's bombs and him basically outpointing Joshua.

But it was just not like. And I think the first. Like, that's kind of what you have to do, too, right? Yeah, I mean, you can, I mean, I mean, I'll eat to poor. I mean, he took Josh Hibba. Granted, I know I'll have a sports much different fighter, but he took it to Josh Hibba, but yeah, it survived to win all five rounds.

But, yeah, I just, it was what, like, and afterwards, Laron's like, because he's undefeated, he's like 16 and 0, and afterwards he's like, I want a top five opponent. I want to get the title contention. And I said on Twitter, said, here's the problem. I said, by Monday, and I'm lying,

because we're talking about it, although I'm probably not giving him the shiny wands. I said, by Monday, we're not going to be talking about the performance because it just nothing stood out. Like, he didn't do anything. He didn't do anything. like, oh man, like what a dynamic, you know, he really did this or he really did that.

It just out pointed him. And it's like, dude, that's never going to get you the attention you want. Like you can go 20 and 0. It's not going to get you the attention you want. No one cares. Yeah, like Ankaalliab, right? And that is the unfortunate part about those smaller cards too, right? Like you have to do something special to get noticed.

You can't just go in there. And, you know, like I said, Ankylaev, right? He's a perfect example. I mean, I think he was fighting on bigger cars, but he just never. you know, wasn't getting knockouts, wasn't having, you know, crazy exciting fights, just kind of winning little by little. And of course, they got him to where he's at now.

But, you know, there's other examples too, Bala Muhammad, kind of the same thing, you know. Don't want to take anything away from him. Love the dude. He's an amazing fighter. But, you know, he's doing a lot of decisions. So, you know, it's a different world now, right? There was so, you know, GSP back in the day was different.

But these days, like, you've got to stand out. There's too many guys going there. There's too many people standing. out. Yeah, and if you're not, like, if you're not incredibly popular, like, GSP was, like, GSP got by, yes, he was, I mean, GSP was incredible, don't get me wrong, but, like, he got by with, like, maybe less thrilling fights later in his career, but he was also one of the most popular guys in a sport. So he kind of got away with a little bit more than, than somebody else would, but, you know, so. It was also a different time, too, right? Like, there wasn't a hundred

guys deep in the division trying to get title shots, right? Yeah, like, you have to do something. I said, like, when you look at Ily at Teporia, like, he got, you know, four out of his first five fights for knockouts. Like, that stuff is memorable. Like, if you're going out there just flattening your opponents, you're going out there putting on these crazy, exciting fights. And even if you don't get finishes, like, you got to do something to stand out. And the reality is, like, just beating a guy 4847 when you have a main event fight just ain't going to do it. Doesn't do it. So, and this weekend is a great example of a guy who stood out, a guy who took a fight on whatever it was, like four days notice.

and then he's gone undefeated since then is Diego Lopez. I mean, that's a guy, like going into UFC 300 last show, I said, man, I think Sadiq Youssev might get him. And then he went out there to absolutely flattened Saddam. And I was like, well, I guess that's not a good sign there. Diego Lopez, man. Yeah, I remember that. That was one of them where I picked Sadiq, you pick Diego, you know.

You get one every now and then on me. Yeah, but it was his turnaround of what he's done has been pretty amazing. and he gets Alexander Volcanozzi this weekend. And it's a really interesting matchup because Diego's on a streak, you know, winning everybody. He just beat the hell out of Brian Ortega. I mean, that was a super impressive performance. Volcanowski's coming up two knockout losses.

Now granted, one was to Islip Machachev on 10 days notice. The other was to Ilya, but he's also 36, about to be 37. I mean, this is a tough spot for Volcanusk. I want to say, I never want to say do or die because you and I have learned enough to this sport. You're never in a totally do-or-die situation, but about to be 37 in a weight class where age rarely gets you better? Yeah.

Well, I think there is a do-or-die on this card that we'll probably get to in a minute, but it's definitely not Volcanowski, right? But, you know, and he's fighting us surging up-and-comer, right? And if Diego beats him, you know, Diego did what the UFC probably, again, we've talked about this before. We don't think the UFC necessarily cheers for anyone.

but I think they would rather Diego win this fight, right? Like he's a super marketable guy. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he's a crazy, exciting fighter. He's always fun to watch. And, you know, he hits a different demographic, you know, and Volk has kind of had his time, right? And like, what are they going to do, put him in, you know,

another rematch, you know? So it's like, yeah, if you're the UFC, you're like, you know, again, we're not going to pitch. but, you know, it works better for us if Diego wins this. Yeah, I mean, the reality is, like it or not, like, we've kind of been there, done that with Volcanowski, and it's not that he's not a good champion. He's a great champion, but you got to remember, you know, I mean, it's not like he lost to Poria, you know, eight years ago.

He lost him a year ago, and he got knocked flat in that fight. Now, again, maybe he took that fight, you know, too quickly after the Islam fight. I think he personally think he did. But Ili is leaving the division, and that was a guy who looked like that. was going to be a superstar. I was going to be a huge superstar for that division. Not since, I mean, I love Max Holloway, and I think Max has got his own star power,

but I think probably not since Connor was a featherweight. Have we seen a guy with that kind of potential, which was Ilya Tabori. Now, he's gone. Now, I'm not saying Diego Lopez has that kind of star power, but, you know, he's got the Mexican fans. He's got the Brazilian fans. He's fun, is exciting.

And he hasn't been there before. And like it or not, I think a fresh start is better when you're going to crown a new champion. You know what I mean? Because like you said, if Volcanovsky wins, and again, I think he can. But, you know, does that really inject a ton of excitement into the division? Or does Diego Lopez, you know, injects them?

So I agree. Like, I don't think they're rooting for it. But if what is more favorable for the long-term success? Crowning a new guy like Diego Lopez, I think it's probably a better scenario. Yeah, but unfortunately he's got to go through Volk. And that's not going to be an easy night. I think it's a bad matchup for Diego, honestly. Like, I think it's, you know, if Volk is,

if Volk is at, you know, still where he was, right? We don't know if he's lost a step, right? You said he's, what, 36, 37, and he's, you know, he's been in some wars, you know, he's been through a lot of tough fights. He's had a lot of camps. He's had a lot of success. So if he's still in the mental situation, he was five years ago, like I think he's a very, very tough matchup for Diego.

and I would pick five years ago, I think I would have picked Volk every time. But I'm not sure where he's at, you know? I mean, I do think that getting knocked out by Islam and then turning around and fighting Ily if four or five months later was a terrible idea. I think that really did not help him out much. And he took a full year off, which I think is good. But as we said, typically speaking, guys don't get better with age in these lower weight classes. And he's about to be 37.

And you know as well as I do, Matt, the drop-off. is quick sometimes. And I'm not saying that's the case of Volcanowski, but if he gets hit really hard by Diego Lopez, and we know Diego Lopez can do that, if he gets hit really hard early in this fight and gets, you know, damage badly, gets dropped, whatever, I don't know that it's going to get much better for him

because we've seen this time and time again. You think about the greats, you know, like I always say when you look at when Robbie Lawler fought Carlos Kondo, which was one of the greatest all-time title fights ever, I was like, I think they took a piece of each other's soul in that. fight because they were never the same like they could they were never quite the same fighter they just beat the absolute hell out of each other and they were never quite the same after that they still got some big wins and some good performances but they were never at that same peak

championship level and you can't help but wonder dude you get knocked flat by machocheb you get knocked flat by ilia tuporia do you come back from that as strong at 36 going on 37 it's a tough spot yeah i think he's going to though i'm i think i think volka's going to get it done i i think he's going to be back to, you know, I think the year off is going to serve him well, and I think he's going to be hungry, and I think he's going to come back. You know, but it's not going to be easy for him, right? Diego is an absolute monster, man, and he's done nothing but impressed me every time. Yeah, I know Diego, I just wrote an article about it. Diego went down to Oklahoma State, and he was working with David Taylor and the team down there, which I love, I don't know, did you see,

you probably didn't see this, but if you get a chance to go check it out, it's on Diego's Instagram. He took a picture with David Taylor. And David Taylor won the Olympic gold medal at 86 kilograms, which is 189 pounds. Diego Lopez looks bigger than David Taylor. And Diego Lopez fights at 145 pounds. I was like, good

Christ. Like, go look. If you get a chance, go on Instagram and look at the picture, you would think that Diego is the bigger guy. And I'm like, holy crap. Like, he's like, he fights a featherweight. And David Taylor wrestled, and David Taylor is a coach now. He's probably not walking around at 189.

He's probably walking around, you know, 205, 2, 10. And he looks smaller than Diego Lopez. It's crazy. I was like, good Lord. I met Diego. I met Diego in L.A. when I went to a fight out there. And I was surprised, too. I was like, he's a freaking big dude.

I actually forgot what weight class he was in because I asked him about, I was like, oh, are you going to fight? I forget who. But it was like a 55er. And he's like, no, I'm a 45. I was like, wait. Yes, you are, aren't you? I remember thinking that

because he's a really big guy for sure and he's ripped too, you know? I mean, he's not a bad big, right? Sometimes you see that like guys are big and you're like, well, there's a reason, but... Yeah, it's like when you... I said this like when you think back, like,

in the day of Frankie Edgar being a lightweight champion, now you put Frankie next to Islam and they did some training together like a year, year and a half again, they took a photo together and I'm like, you would never imagine. these guys were in the same weight class. Like, not even in the same, you know what I mean? Like, not at all.

Like, there's no way. And, like, when you see Diego stand next to David Taylor, I was like, my God. So I think the size thing can help him. I think the link can help him. I think the power can help him. And I think he's got to go in there and not fight afraid. And I don't think he will. But he can't go in there and face the goat, one of the greatest feather weights

all the time. He's just got to go in there and beat up Alex Wolkenowski. Like, he can't hold him in high regard. He's just got to go in there and fight his fight. And be honest, like, you're not wrong in the way you're talking about Alexander Volcanowski, but remember Diego Lopez has a lot of momentum on his side. And for the first time, for the first time ever, really? Volcanozky's got to answer some questions.

Like even in the, even coming up to Mokachachov fight, you say, well, he took it on 10 days notice. Like, you know, he got caught, 10 days notice, who cares? He lost to Ilya. And even then you say, well, he took the fight too short. He probably shouldn't have taken that fight so quickly after the last one. Yeah. Now he's not questions. He's got legitimate questions to answer.

We've not really had that with Alexander Volcanowski before. Yeah, that's an interesting point. I think he's going to answer him all, though. Like, I think he's going to be at the top of his game. I think he's going to, I think I have a strong intuition, just my own intuition, gut feeling that he's going to be the oldest featherweight champ. You know, there definitely hasn't been one at 36 years old, right? I think he's going to get back to it.

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely possible. It's really interesting. You think about Diego's toughest moments. I mean, obviously, Movesar on four days notice. I'm not really counting that one. But you'll think about, you know, Dan Igay on three hours notice and pushed him pretty hard in that third round. You know, I mean, he's, you know, maybe say, does he have some conditioning issues? And Volcanowski's not the guy you want to mess around with that, actually.

You know, that guy could go five rounds. It is interesting, though, because Diego's so dynamic and it kind of feels like he's the next evolution of that division. So I'm leaning Diego Lopez in this one. I just, there's something about momentum. I love guys on a role and I don't think he's going to go in there fighting the mystique of Alexander Volcanozky. I think, you know, I think maybe Yair did that a little bit. I think it kind of got in Max's head a little bit after he had lost the first time. And like he couldn't quite get past that guy.

It was like a roadblock. He just couldn't get past. Ilya went in there and fought him like, I don't care that you're Alexander Volcanowski. I'm going to beat your ass. And Ilya, it's poor he did exactly that. If Diego approaches it that way, I think he could have a similar result. Yeah, and I expect Diego to approach it that way also, but I just think that Alex is used to fighting bigger guys.

And I think Diego's best chance, you know, is early on. He's got to catch him. And, you know, we know Alex very well, man. The longer to fight goes, you know, the better he's going to be. And if his fight gets into the deeper rounds, you know, and starts getting difficult, like I just, I know for a fact that Alex will push through it, And that's why I started with, you know, depends on where he's really at mentally, you know. And, you know, like, is he still fighting because he's hungry, you know, to get back to a title?

Is he comfortable where he's at? Is he comfortable with his legacy? Things like that. He comes across to me just from the interviews and stuff. I hear him talking, like, you know, he's comfortable, but he's still going to be pushing to go back for a title shot. And I think he's going to come in and surprise a lot of people here. I mean, there's got to be a motivation, right? Because, like I said, for the first time, we're questioning him.

We never questioned him before. People are actually questioning Alexander Volcanowski. And that can also, like I said, as much as I talk about, like he's got to answer those questions, that could also motivate him like crazy. He could be like, all right, like you doubt me? You're doubting me? All right, let's go out there and prove it. And I mean, again, like, it's so crazy like two years ago, less little, just a little

over two years ago, he put on one of the best fights we've seen with Islam Akachev took him to a very close decision. And we're like, man, what a great fight, what an all-time great fight, blah, blah, blah, and then he takes that fight on short notice and we're like, well, this is interesting. And then he gets head kicked knocked out. And he just came back too soon. I'm not taking anything away from Ilya to pour. They could maybe have that fight 10 times and maybe Ilya wins nine of him.

I don't know. But I never liked him taking that fight in October and coming back in February and fighting Ilya to Pore. Like, dude, that's like losing the dynamite and then jumping in a vat of gasoline on fire. Like, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? Yeah, I actually don't mind that quite as much. I don't know.

I'm not as set that that had as much of effect as you think. And it may have. Like I'm not saying you're wrong by any means. But I just think Ilya was actually that good. I think, you know, Alex certainly has a tough chin and everything. I think whether he had got knocked out or not by Islam, like, Ilya was hitting on the spot. Like, I'll, you know, we've all thought that he could do it.

And I think he's just that good. Yeah. I mean, you're not, you may not be wrong. I mean, we'll see. I mean, neither one of us know, right? We're just, we're guessing. But I really think that. Like, I think that, you know,

Ely is just that good. And I don't think it, I don't think either of those knockouts affected Alex. I don't think knockouts affect people as much as people think they do, right? Depending on, I know, I know that's going to be different for some guys. Like, some guys are going to be majorly affected. but it's most likely like it's more mental than it is the actual physical like your brain recovers you know in a month or whatever you know i think it's going to be fully recovered now whether it be back to normal i guess you know that

depends right on tons different factors that none of us even understand we have to get a neuroscientist on here and we're not doing that so but you know my point is i think it just recovers better than people give it credit for like and maybe i'm just speaking on my own behalf because like it now I never, like, I only got knocked out once in my career and I was like, I was like, well, I wasn't nearly as bad as I thought and I felt fine like the next week, you know, so I think what's worse, you know, is those, you know, the, like I had, I got a concussion once also. I fought through the whole fight got concussed in the first round and fought through the whole fight. That was way worse. I had symptoms for months after and, and took a very long time

to recover. But like the blunt hit, bam, where you just knocked out. It's not that bad. Yeah. Well, also, I think, you know, we're talking a lot about, like, you know, Volcanowski coming back and things like that. And I know that I'm sure he wishes he could fight Ilya to Poria. That's, you know, not going to happen. Probably not going to happen. But, I mean, if Volcanowski can go out there and beat Diego Lopez in an impressive fashion, in any fashion, really.

I mean, I've already said Volkanowski's in the conversation is the greatest featherweight of all time. I know everyone always pushes back and says, well, he doesn't have seven title defenses like Aldo. And I do think title of the defense is absolutely matter, but I also got to look at the body of work. And as much as I love Joseo Alto, and I think Jose Aldo is a freaking legend, you know, he had a couple, you know, Mark Harmonic in there.

I don't know if I'd really, you know, put that. You know, he had Kenny Floring. A couple guys, they're like, good wins, but I don't know if I put them like all-timers, but, you know, Alex has three wins over Max Holloway. No one's going to say Max Holloway is not an all-timer. He does have a win over Josealdo. He has a nasty performance over Brian Ortega,

a nasty performance over Yaya Raregas. If he could go out there, and beat a young, hungry contender like Diego Lopez. I'm not saying that solidifies him as the greatest weather way to all time, but I'm saying it definitely keeps him in that conversation because no one's done it. You know, 36 years old going on 37, that just doesn't happen. We know the stat we've talked about on this show before.

You just don't do it. If he can do it, man, that's pretty damn impressive. That's what I said. I think he's going to do it. Like, I think he's that good. And I think Diego is just a little bit in over his head this time. Yeah, I do like what you said about the knockout, though, because I've been saying that this whole time, and you're saying that doesn't make me question that, because maybe I've been thinking about it the wrong way,

like mentally getting past it, but, like, physically getting past it, maybe it's not as bad. Yeah, and again, I think it affects everybody a little bit differently. My bigger concern with Alex would be the fact that, like, he played rugby for so long, and who knows how many concussions he had during that, and then fighting after, you know, It's like that's just a lot of little brain damage and I mean I don't know how long he played rugby I don't understand rugby that much I don't know if there is like tons of concussions but my assumption is they are getting concussed you know at least their brain rattled a lot so but that would be my bigger concern because again both of those knockouts were more like blunt impacts and and

I could almost guarantee like he woke up the next day and was perfectly fine yeah yeah I mean obviously there is the mental side you know that that's very true the mental side is more But especially having two in a row, right? Like if he can get through that and not question himself. And Diego Lopez is not the guy to question yourself against, right? Like he throws fucking bombs, you know, and if he's going to question himself. But that's where, again, I think, like, going longer into the fight is going to hugely, hugely favor Alex. And as long as he can get through, you know, a solid round.

And, you know, even if he loses the first round, you know, closely, not like getting blown out, but, or beat up a lot or whatever. But, you know, getting through that round and just getting his confidence back and feeling like, you know, he's just in a fight again against another guy, you know, and maybe he starts to get Diego's timing a little bit. And I just think he's going to be able to do that. But that's what we'll see. And mentally, I'll say this. Mentally, that's one thing I don't question about Alexander Volcanowski. I really don't.

Like, I think mentally he's incredibly strong. I mean, again, 10 days notice to take that Machachev, I not blank. he didn't make any excuses he got caught. He got caught against Deporia. Same thing, he didn't make excuses, didn't say, oh, I came back too soon, or I should have done. No, he just took the loss and moved on and smartly. You know, he took time off.

He didn't rush back in there again. Mentally, I don't think, I don't think. So, again, if you're right and physically, there's no after effects of that, I don't think mentally is going to affect him. So it could get really interesting. Because I don't take, I don't take Volcanozki's a guy who's going to beat himself mentally.

You might beat him physically, Well, I guess more when I say mentally, I'm thinking more like, like how long ago was the Maka Chab fight when he got knocked out? And then, Ilya, so it was October 20, 23, and then February, 2024. So it's been over a year, a year and two months now since the two-war. Yes, it's been a year, a year and however many months, about a year and a half almost, since he's had success. You know what I mean? So when mentally, I'm saying he's been dealing. dealing with that in the back of his head this whole time.

Right. And, you know, it does one or two things, right? It's either going to break him, you know, where he's got that little worm of doubt crawling through his brain all the time, or it's been motivating him this whole time. And he's like, fuck you guys, I'm coming back and I'm going to prove you all wrong. And I would assume the latter for a guy like Volcanowski, but he is still human. And we all are. And you don't know what's really going on.

on in there. You know, we can all play a part. We can all play a role and we can all sound like we're the baddest dudes in the world. But at the end of the day, when we go to bed at night and we're having bad dreams, you know, that's one of those things. You're not going to go tell in interviews about the fucking nightmares that you had about getting knocked out, right? Yeah, 100%. No, you're right. You're absolutely right. So yeah, you may be right. Like I said, I've been talking more about the physical side. You're talking about the mental side. You're probably right about that. But it's really interesting because like I said, man, he's going to get, I mean, he's got to be smart about it,

but if Diego hits him really hard one time, like does that make him question? If he gets dropped, like, you know, little things like that, can he come back for that? Does he start questioning himself? He was like, oh, shit, here we go again, you know? Yeah, I think that's the bigger fear, you know?

And again, that's why I talk about, like, getting through a round, you know, whether it's, you know, I think we'll find out a lot in the first round of this fight, you know, whether Diego can hang with Volk. Because, you know, Volk might just outclass him, too. like, you know, Diego has known to be a bit wild, and, you know, a vault could take advantage of that too, you know.

But, you know, I think for Volcanowski, just getting through a good round and, you know, as long as he's not getting blown out of the water in that round, I think it's going to serve him well and he'll be able to, you know, start getting back to himself and just being who he is. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you. This fight goes deep, third, fourth, fifth round. It definitely favors Volcanowski for sure, no doubt about. that so yeah i'm sticking with deagle lopez but i mean i like i i'm you know volkanoski's a monster

and uh you know he was kind of like he he was kind of my uh my other like dracus guy where i was like oh he's you know he's gonna lose this fight and he didn't lose that fight oh he's gonna lose this one didn't lose that one so uh i'm going against him this time but but i don't know if dracus even picks himself to win fights he's like fuck it i'm just going out there and fight oh i won again shit um we're talking about do or die i think i know what you're talking about do or die in this fight card, and that is Michael Chandler against Patty Pimbley. Michael Chandler always puts on exciting fights. No doubt about that.

We all know that. But he's 2 and 4 in the UFC. He's 37, 38, I think, right around that age. He did not have a good night at the office against Charles Oliver. It was not, I mean, he came back in the fifth round, but it was not good for him up until then, and it still didn't end well for him. He had a couple moments, but it still didn't end well for him. and that was after two years away because the old Connor McGregor fiasco.

When you say do or die, Matt, is that what we're talking about here? Is it do or die for Michael Chandler? Yeah, yeah. And again, we really don't like using that term and we try to stay away from it. But this is one, I just can't see it being anything other than do or die for him. And whether, you know, die, I guess it may be the right word. But, I mean, he said it very clearly himself before, you know, if it's a title or nothing, right? Like I'm not here to fight guys, but to just, you know, make money or whatever.

And, you know, the problem with Michael Chandler, he doesn't have a quality win in the UFC. I mean, you could debatably say Dan Hooker, but at that time, like, how high of a quality of a win was Dan Hooker at that time, right? Like, I think he's been on streak and he's kind of finally come into his own since then. And I think it'd be a higher quality win today than it was then. but like Tony Ferguson is not a quality win, right? I mean, I don't think anybody's going to argue that. And I don't know if he beats Patty Pumbole, if you even consider that a quality win, really.

I mean, it's definitely a higher quality than Tony Ferguson, right? But it's like, you know, how much does that really do? That just means like, okay, you're not on a losing streak anymore. All right. But and with all that I said, like, I would probably, lean towards picking Chandler in this fight. Like I think this is about as good of a matchup as he can get. And if he can't go out and win this fight,

then I don't know what the UFC is going to do with him. Here's the thing about Michael Chandler. And I think you know and I think probably our audience knows. I like Michael Chandler a lot. I've been around him many years. Not him for many years is a great guy. But the reality is wins matter. And the Dan Hooker win looks better, as you said, now than it did.

It was a good win. win at the time don't be wrong it wasn't a terrible win but like Dan is doing better now than he was four years ago whatever that fight happened so like it looks better now but not based on when it happened Tony I think tell me if you would agree like when when they brought him into the UFC and he fought Dan Hooker it was like well you better be able to beat Dan Hooker and you'll be able to do some good things if you don't beat them then you know we might regret even signing you yeah no you're absolutely 110% correct absolutely yeah 100% um and Tony Ferguson yeah it's a good name, but that's not Tony Ferguson

of, you know, of, I wanted, I was supposed to fight Khabib Niroga-Madal 18 times Tony Ferguson. It was not that guy anymore. Right. Um, his lot, and here's the thing. And this is what, this is what gets so frustrating when you talk about a guy with Michael Chair. All of his losses are good losses, like Dustin

Porre, Justin Gachey, and Charles Levera twice. Those are all good losses, but they're losses. You can't, I mean, you can put on exciting fights all you want. If you always lose those exciting fights, then it's still losses and this is the first guy that he's fought in terms of like I'm not obviously with Dan because Dan Hooker I think at the time was a fringe top 10 guy and Tony Ferguson was on the

outside looking in at the top 15 I think by that point I can't remember where he was at he was definitely not in the top 10 um Patty Pimble is like a fringe top 15 guy so on paper Chandler should blow him out of the water like this should be a fight he should absolutely win but he loses. I mean, now you can't even use that excuse of saying, well, he just lost to one of the top best to go. Okay, he lost to Charles Oliver. Well, that's not a bad loss.

Well, he lost to Destoporio. Well, that's not a bad loss. He lost to Justice Gaitch. Well, that's not a bad loss. You lose to Patty Pimbled. I'm not saying Patty's not good. I'm just saying, like, where Chandler is supposed to be or where he thinks he is, Patty Pimbleet should be a guy he should blow out of the water.

Like, in theory, he should do to Patty Pimble, what he did to Dan Hooker, what he did to Tony Ferguson. If he doesn't, you can't use that excuse anymore. You can't say, well, he lost the best guy in the world. We don't really know who, we don't really know how good Patty Pimble it is. I've been on the record saying I don't, I don't buy him as a top five guy. I just really don't in this division. I'm not saying he's not good, but you can be a great lightweight and still be the number 10 guy in the world.

Like being in that top five is tough. You lose to Patty Pimble, man. I'm not saying it's done or it's over. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to play those kind of hypotheticals. but you can't fall back on the, he's the top five guy in the world because he's not. Right.

Right. And I think we're going to learn a lot about Patty Pimlet in this fight. I think it's one of the great things about this fight. You know, we're going to learn is he top 10 potential? And, you know, to be honest,

like beating Michael Chandler shouldn't get him into the top 10. It probably will if he beats him. You know, like I don't know how Michael Chandler is in the top 10. I love Michael Chandler. I'm not hating on him at all. But like most people have to like win fights to get into the top 10,

you know, And he just didn't, you know? So it's just, you know, sometimes the rankings are kind of odd, you know, that they're a little bit like subjective, not really objective. But regardless, I think my point is we're going to find out a lot about Patty Pimbley because, you know, this is definitely the toughest guy that he's fought, right? I mean, he's had some, you know, quality wins. I mean, he's doing good things.

And who was his last fight? God damn it. I don't know why. Bobby Green. Bobby Green. Yeah. I mean, like, that's a quality win. Like, that's not.

nothing to laugh about, right? Bobby Green's a bad motherfucker. But, like, Bobby Green's never been in top 10. Like, Chandler has at least, you know, whether he earned it or not, he has at least been looked at as a top guy for a long time, right? Even when he was in Bellator, like, everybody was like, dude, like, Chandler's a top guy, you know, one of the best in the world. So no matter how you cut it, like, it looks really good for Patty to win.

but there's no way he doesn't have to go through the fire to win this fight, right? It's Michael Chandler. Like you have to go through the fire. You've got to walk over the colds to win this fight. And that's just, that's why I think we're really going to find out a lot about Patty Pimbley. If he can deal with the adversity that he's going to deal with, you know, and I don't know what his game plan is for this fight. Like, you know, taking down Chandler, I don't see that being an easy task. You're standing with them.

Like, Patty's never shown like a good jab or teep or, you know, good. movement like he's kind of had you know kind of wild boxing and you know superb jiu jitsu but you got to get him to the ground to get that superb jihitsu and if you start you start playing that wild punch game with michael chandler like you're literally in the world that he wants to be in it's funny i don't want to just sit and repeat what you said but like i agree with everything you're saying about where chandler's at like he cannot he cannot lose this fight if he wants to stay and consider himself an elite lightweight he just can't you can't to the number 15 guy or 14 or whatever Patty's at and still consider yourself at 37-38.

You're just, you're not going to get back there again. You're just not. It's just too hard in this division. This division is too deep to get back there. But at the same time, I agree with you. I think Michael Chandler wins this fight. I think he's going to go out there and blow the doors on Patty Pimbled because, as you said, Patty's best path to victory is taking Chandler down and submitting him.

Could he do it? Sure, he could do it. Chandler's a good wrestler, though, and like, you know, yes, he got caught and submitted by Dustoporia, but that was after they went to. a freaking war with each other. Charles Olivares been on his back for like 20 minutes so you couldn't tap him out. Like this is not a guy you just get out of there easily.

You know, you probably have to walk to the fire, get burnt a little bit, and then you finish him late in the fight, kind of like what Eddie Alvarez did once or what Dustin Pori did. He doesn't just walk through the fire. You just stand in the fire. You're just standing there with a flamethrer on your skin

for like 10 minutes and actually come out on the other side. I don't know that I've seen, I don't think we've ever seen that. I know we haven't seen that from Patty. Like, we haven't seen him. Like, he arguably didn't be Jerry Gordon. I thought Jared Gordon won that fight. And we're not, and like, dude, like, you get hit by Michael Chandler, dude. That's a different world.

Like, again, the guys, again, I know I said, you can't keep losing the good guys, but losing the chance, losing to Oliver, losing to Porier, lose the Gage. Those literally are three of the top five lightweights in the world, and maybe three of the best lightweights ever. And we know Porre has got a legendary shin. Gage's got a good legendary chin, you know. Olivera, you know, while he did, I mean, he flattened Oliver in that first round. He was maybe seconds away for winning that fight.

And then obviously he survived and came back. But like if he puts Patty down the way he put Olivera down, I don't think Patty gets up again. If he puts, he puts Patty down the way he hurt Porre in that fight, like in that first round, remember he had him hurt, he had Porreya hurt badly in that first round. I don't know that Patty gets up again. So I'm with you. Like I'm saying the circumstances for Chandler. are incredibly dire. You cannot lose this fight.

But when it comes to me picking this fight, I think Chandler should blow the doors on Patty Pimbley. Well, it's interesting to say, you know, you don't think that Patty will get back up. That's why I keep saying, like, we're going to find out about Patty Pimley. Like, he has to go through that probably, most likely. I mean, he might just go in there and blow him out of the water also.

Who knows? But that's why I said, like, we're going to find out about Patty in this fight. And my guess is that's why the UFC made this fight. We were like, you want to talk to big game? Cool. Here you go. Here's your shot. You know, like you want to trash talk, all that shit.

You want to be the big famous guy. And you want to, that's the way the UFC operates, right? They're like, you want to be the man. Here you go. Here's your shot. And he's earned his right to, again, other than the Jared Gordon fight, which, you know, he's still ultimately like tapology and Sherdog have them as, is a W so you got to

take that into account right and in that sense yeah he's earned his right now if patty goes out there and beats Michael Chandler that absolutely fucking propels this kid right like that puts him in a huge like he's probably

a main event next 100% and he's a he's already a star we already know that he's already a star the only problem that Patty has is he's in the deepest nastiest division in the sport where it's like it doesn't get any easier. Where Patty has a good thing going for him right now, though, is if he can beat Michael

Chandler, if he can go out there and tap out, actually finish Michael Chandler. And again, those are big if he can, remember, Poria is one fight for retirement, and they're not going to book that fight. Like, they're not going to book him against Porier for Porre's retirement fight. They're just not going to do that. Gaghi is out there, and he's still, I mean, obviously what he did to Viziv, he's still a monster, he's still out there. But we know that Gai Chi's towards the tail end of his career.

Maybe they'd give them Gaiti, maybe they wouldn't, I don't know. But you start thinking about that. Then you start thinking about the other guys. I mean, obviously, Armus Sauru is out there. He's a nasty monster. Ilya is a nasty monster. But Ilya and Patty had bad blood dating back years. Could you imagine if Patty goes out there meets Michael Chandler,

who wouldn't pay a pay-per-view to watch Ilya to fight Patty Pimble? I mean, dude, he's... They can't do that. Come on. He's not Connor. I'm being clear about it. He's not Connor. but he's got a little of that Connor appeal, like a little bit.

Like he's got a little slice of that Connor appeal. If he can beat Michael Chandler, watch out. He's going to talk a whole lot of shit, and he should. He should absolutely talk a lot of shit. But why would you say they wouldn't do the Porreux's retirement fight, though? Like that would be, I think that'd be solid. I think it would be, but I think it's going to be Max Holloway for that fight. I think they're going to do one more great fight between them.

Yeah, because I think Porre wants to go out with another leg. so to speak, you know, another big guy. Like, I think Gaiti would have been a good one. Holloway would be a good one. I think he wants to go out with, like, that one great rival kind of fight, but it's his last one. And I think they're going to do it in New Orleans, you know, they want to let him have his big moment.

But, man, if he gets, if Patty wins his fight, though, I mean, again, he's propelled into start him at that point, really. I mean. Well, the problem, here's the problem. I think that's huge. I agree, but here's the problem. If Porier beats him, then you just had Pori at his last fight beat a guy who has a chance to be, like, your top five guy.

Gates, you lose his two. them yeah okay it's gaugie we kind of know we're getting there same thing with holloway like holloway like holloway is still holloway patty beats chanler but then gets wiped out by porre i'm not saying it all goes away but you kind of lose the momentum a little bit with him you want to kind of keep patty on that streak um but dude if he beats michael chanler especially he can finish michael chanler dude watch out he's gonna be talking so much shit and he's like that's a that's a huge win and um i think you can do it i just in my opinion like i think chanler knows he has something to prove because he was so hyped up for that Oliver rematch,

and he's like, you know what? The Connor thing fell apart. I sat out for two years. Yeah. I'm going to get this fight. I'm going to beat Charles Oliver, and I'm going to get my title shot. And then it just didn't.

I mean, it just went the exact opposite way. Like, it just completely went the other direction. He's got to know. Like, he's got to know. He cannot lose to Patty Pimble. Like, again, I'm not saying his crew is over, but he. Which is not a good feeling to have either. You know, as wild as Michael Chandler has fought and as savage as he is and everything, you know, that could create some hesitation too, you know, and maybe he'll play a little safer this time, right?

I mean, like, dude, I can't lose it as motherfucker, you know, doesn't come across me, Michael Chandler doesn't come across me that kind of guy. But having a little bit of hesitation in your mind, that could that could also give you a lot of problems when fighting a young, hungry kid, you know? Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. Because, like, we talk about do or die, like, if Chandler loses, where does he go? Like, what, what do you do? You know what I mean? I'm not saying he retires necessarily, but, you know, you're not getting Gasey, you're

not getting Porre, you're not getting Charles, you're not getting I'm getting one of those top guys. Like, now you're going to fight, you know, I mean, I'm not saying it's a bad fight, but you're going to fight. Which, I mean, that would still be a good fight, I guess. And, like, there's still a couple of guys out there, but, like, you're no longer the main event or co-main event probably. Maybe probably not.

Yeah, so, like, I'm not saying it's. do or die, but they're, I think this is a test for both of them in a lot of ways. I think they want to see, like, Chandler, dude, as you said, do you really deserve to be in that top 10? You better beat Patty Pimble. You can't lose to Patty Pimble and say you're a top 10 guy. Yeah. You know, for Patty Pimble, it's like, are you a top 10 guy?

Well, beat Michael Chandler. And we can almost remove the word, the name, Patty Pimble from it. We just say, you can't lose the number 15 guy, right? Like, Patty, you know, with all due respect, like, he's good, you know, like, I don't want to take away the credit. Like, like, he's better, I think, than. and we all thought he was, right? Because he was talking, you know, some crazy shit.

And then, you know, he's performed very well. And he's improved every time. He's, I've been very critical of a lot of things with Patty Pimlet related. Like the way he puts on the weight, you know, and some of the stupid things he says and the way he carries himself. And, you know, so there's definitely, you know, a lot to criticize on him. But he's went out and perform. So, you know, I don't want to, I don't.

don't like necessarily saying like you know you can't lose the patty pimmas like really you can't lose to the 15 guy or 14 guy whatever you know that whatever that guy's name is yeah yeah it's a big moment for michael chan like i said i mean again he whether he likes it or not what he deserves it or not he's always going to take that criticism for sitting out two years for the conner fight that never happened and again i'm not saying he shouldn't have done it because the connor the connor thing is a massive payday and you know he kept getting assurances it was going to happen so on and so forth but people are going to criticize him say man you waste two years of crew waiting for a fight that never happened and he goes out there and kind of has a bad bad night at the office with charles

olivera he cannot follow that up with a bad performance against patty pimble he needs to go out there and remind people that he is still a very very dangerous guy but you go out there and you get wiped out by patty pimblit again your career's not over you're not you know you're not necessarily going away but your days of being like it's title shot or bust that's probably done like that's probably right there right they get it It's good. Now it's your decision. Are you going to title shot or bust?

Because that means you're busting. Yeah. But, yeah, you know, it is what it is. He's a, the nice thing for Michael Chandler, he's got a lot of options. You know, win or lose his fight. Like, he's got a great brand. People love him. I think he'd be an amazing commentator, you know, or an analyst, you know, a podcast type guy.

You know, something. Like, he's really got a good voice for that kind of stuff. So I think, like, you know, the potential for him is still there. The brand is still there. Yeah. But if he wants to do it for fighting, he needs to be Patty Pibble. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, I mean, that's why I'm bringing up podcasting and being an analyst or a commentator, right? Because it's like, well, if you beat Patty Pimble, you better start thinking about that stuff. Or if you lose to Patty Pimble, you better start thinking about what the next career is going to be or the next path. Yeah. You're absolutely right. You're 100% right. But I think, and we both said, you were saying that,

but I'm picking Chandler to win. Like, I think Chandler wins this fight. Yeah, it's just hard to see how Patty, you know, ends up pulling this off, you know, on paper. But we know all these fights are and, you know, Patty could go in there and freaking double leg them, you know, Matt, huge slam them and, you know, like huge trig, right?

Like pick them up, carry him across the cage and slam them and, you know, put a head arm choke on them in two minutes, right? That's just this goddamn sport. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.

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like last year when you lost the fall bakeoff to perfect Penelope Johnson. Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over deliver. Service fees exclusions and terms apply. That is, that is. I want to ask real quick before you get out of here, because I know last one we talked about Patricia Pitbull fighting,

Yaya Rodriguez, so I'm not going to revisit that one, but I do want to talk real quickly about John Silva taking on Bryce Mitchell. This is such an intriguing matchup, because it looks like striker versus grappler, and Jean Silva's riding a streak right now, man. He's so exciting. He's so fun. He's part of that whole fighting nerds team.

And boys, he leaned in to just making fun of Bryce Mitchell. And Bryce Mitchell is not doing himself any favors. I mean, the guy never seems to do himself any favors. And I'm not even talking about the Hitler stuff. Like, I'm not even getting into that.

No, we've had that discussion on the show. But like he had that. Did you see the thing with him? Like, they got until like the verbal altercation, the press conference. And then Bryce puts the message out on social media. saying he's haunting it with demons. And I'm like,

I'm not questioning anyone's religious beliefs. I'm not a religious guy, but I'm saying like, I'm proud that you can believe what you want to believe. But there's sometimes when you listen to a guy saying and stuff like that

and you're like, are you okay, man? Like, are you okay? Like, do you need some help? Like, that was my first instinct watching that. Like, he's like, he sent demons after me.

Like, John Silver was a bad dude. I don't know that he has the power to send demons to your house. Like, I'm not saying, like, I'm just saying. Like, I don't know if he's the guy

who's like, chanting and sending demons to your house, Bryce Mitchell. That's all I'm saying. No, I feel you. But realistically, I mean, just we're dealing with MMA fighters here, right? And there's a lot of whack jobs in this sport. There's a reason why people, myself included, why we choose the path of going down the path of being an MMA fighter

and not going to college, right? Or not getting a regular job, not opening a business, right? like there's a reason that we choose to put our life on the line in front of millions of people to make money and it's not because we're saying fucking normal motherfuckers like it's there's there's no good business model there there's no strategy why do you think all those fighters get taken advantage of by the UFC right where we're all exploited like the fucking peasants because we're all a bunch of fucking dummies like we're not like a bunch of people with college degrees and shit like i mean there is some guys with college degrees and to be fair

there's some extremely intelligent fighters. I'd actually think of myself as one. But you can't just lump everybody in and be like, wow, look at these genius motherfuckers that decided to put their life on the line for others' entertainment to make money. And that's also what makes it exciting too, right? Is we're all a bunch of fucking nut jobs. And Bryce just happens to be kind of at the top of the list of those, right? Like he's just be, you know, he's a little bit closer to the edge, you know.

And, you know, I love Bryce, actually. I met him long, long before he was in a UFC. I really like the guy. I think he's an amazing person. I think, you know, he's got a really good heart, you know. But like we all have, not, maybe not all, but it's very common in this sport to have, like, superstitions and believe crazy things. Because ultimately, like, when you step in there and, you know, you're looking at,

can I do to cross the cage. I'll give you an example, right? I don't believe in God at all, right? I'm atheist. I don't pray, like nothing, right? But before every fight, suddenly I was like, you know, I don't know if there is a God, but, you know, if he is, like, we fucking do something tonight. Like, you know, so, like, the mind plays so many fucking tricks on you, you know,

in this game. and it's fucking intense and it's you're you're talking about a bunch of barbarians you know around a bunch of other bloodthirsty lions you know all fucking trying to make beat each other up for money

so the reason I say out that is like like none of this it doesn't surprise me at all right and I don't think it's necessarily you know he's in a in a in a boiler right like a pressure room and you know So it's not necessarily like, I don't think, necessarily indicative of necessarily who he is as a human being.

Like he might be completely different if he had a relaxed life on the farm, you know, which I think he probably will end up there. But he might, you know, he might come back, you know, 20 years from now and be like, damn, I can't believe I was believing that crazy shit. Just like after my fights or after my career was over, I'd be like, like, what the fuck was I even like praying to? You know what I mean? So that's kind of a long way of saying. Like, you know, I'm just not surprised. And, you know, I do think Bryce is a good dude. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

You know, maybe he's just, you know, a little bit lesser IQ than some other people. But I don't like judging people for simply having a lesser IQ. Yeah, I do appreciate what he said. He said, we're all nut jobs. He just kind of is at the top of the pyramid there with old Bryce. And not do you need me to defend you, but one thing you said on the show before, and you always said, like, and I say this about you, you're a very, very smart fighter. But you always said, as smart as you are as a fighter, you always loved fighting more than you loved negotiating for bigger persons.

And you said, like, I probably should have asked for more money, but you just loved doing it. And that's not saying you weren't an intelligent guy. It's just your love of fighting, your love of competing, trumped your love of negotiating for money. So, like, again, when you talk about smart, like, I don't think, I don't think, I honestly, I really don't, like, I'm not sitting here, I'm not seeing your questioning Bryce's intelligence as much as, like, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, my head around some of the things he said that he's like I don't know how much he's saying it for shock value like he hasn't just found that niche like sea belts are dumb the earth is flat it's almost like he's leaning into it's the unfortunate part about the world we live in these days too is that you know you can so like the basic of human psychology is you know every every human every most of what we do in our

lives is like running towards punishment or running towards reward or away from punishment right and when you say like something crazy or stupid and then you're rewarded for it like your brain is naturally going to start thinking like what's the next stupid crazy thing I can say and then if you say something enough you start to believe it right and part of why I said it is like I have a friend who is a flat earther but I don't think he was originally a flat earther but he kind of like I think he you know he got kind of a big uh Facebook page now Because he just started saying that shit and he got rewarded for it, right? Like he and now he has like a Facebook page that he runs, you know, talking about flat earth.

And ultimately, you know, and he's even one thing he's kind of even said to me was, you know, I'm not hurting anybody. And I'm like, you know, you're not wrong. Like you're actually not really hurting anybody, right? Like he's stupid as fuck. Like you're kind of lowering the IQ of America or whatever. But like, yeah, technically you're not really hurting him. But when he said that, I was kind of like, like he's kind of already justifying. But now

my point is ultimately He said it so many times I think he actually believes it now Yeah Yeah I just like I don't know I don't know totally what Bryce believes Or doesn't believe or how much it's him being

You know just putting it out there And as you said like he said it once And now everyone's like oh Bryce And then he's being rewarded for it Now he's like the flat earth guy Like that's his thing We're talking about it He's being rewarded

talking about it. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, listen, if you take all the noise away, all the insanity away, he is a really, really good fighter. And I didn't, I've never, I've never dislike, I dislike a lot of what Bryce says. I think he goes, I think he says a lot of loony things that just don't make a whole lot of sense. But he's certainly not alone in that. There's lots of people who say loony things that I don't agree with or that I think are dumb. And again, this is going for me as a guy, like before I was in writing, I wanted to be a scientist. So like for here, someone saying flat earth in 20, 25, I'm just like, my head hurts. I'm like, it's 2025.

Like, good God. You said this. You'd be ridiculed saying this 100 years ago, much less now. But again, like you said, he's talking about it. People are talking about it. People are buzzing about it. People talk about him. He's being rewarded, as you said.

So, but in terms of fighting, he's a really, really good fighter. But the reality is what Bryce has said more recently and, not to do with the flatter earth stuff that flat earth that you do flatter doesn't really hurt anybody that you're right it really doesn't say the holocaust didn't happen that that's a whole other animal and to me there's a lot there is a there is a big spotlight on brice for this because you remember when they did that press conference people always kind of like kind of like the shon stricklanding like they kind of cheer for brys so they're kind of like we like brice he's kind of our guy that last press conference didn't go well for him john silva got the

cheers and brys mitchell got booed like you finally crossed that line like it's heart. I'm not saying good Lord, sadly, there are people who probably believe what Bryce Mitchell believes in some of the other things he said. But he can't go out there. And again, like, again, I'm not saying his career is over. I'm not saying he gets dropping the UFC, none of that. But this is the first fight back since then. He needs to go out there and remind people he's a damn good fighter. Like at the end of the day, we're listening to you first because you got famous in the UFC, not because you got famous being a flat earth. You got famous because you're a fighter who believes the earth is flat. Not because you're a

flat earther who got in the UFC. Remember that. So, he needs to win this fight. And let's not forget, like, yes, he beat Crone Gracie. I don't know how great of a win that is, but before that he got his head absolutely obliterated by Josh Schmitt. Jean Sillard could do that to him. He could do to him what Josh Ivitt did him. Yeah, the one thing about fighting, I mean, we've talked about many times,

is all people ultimately care about is if you win or lose, right? I mean, ultimately, right? Maybe like in Kalive, right? He keeps winning. Like, he has way more fans now than he did before, right? And not because of his personality. GSP is the best example, right? Like, nobody was excited to watch a GSP fight necessarily,

except for, you know, people from his country that were just cheering because he's from a country. And nobody walked out of a GSP fight. You're being like, damn, what a fucking awesome fight. Like, very rarely, right? But he kept fucking winning. They're like, bro, like, you can't hate on the guy. Like, he keeps winning.

And, like, you know, it's kind of like in business, they say like cash flow solves everything. It's like in fighting, like winning solves everything. Like everything will be forgiven. Everything will be forgotten if you're just a fucking winner. Yeah. And listen, I mean, this is a big moment for both of them because Jean Silva looks like he is legit. Like he looks like a real threat to that division. He's a monster.

That whole fighting nerds team looks fucking legit, right? Like, I don't know what the fuck they're doing. But yeah, they're all looking savage. Yeah. And again, we talk about, like, if Patty beats Chandler, his star power magnifies like a thousand times because he's doing it in the co-main event against a really popular guy. If Jean Silva can go out there and lay ways to Bryce Mitchell right now with all the stuff swirling around Bryce Mitchell, dude, it's even bigger. Like, because Bryce Mitchell, I think he's in the top 15. I'm pretty sure he's not.

So, like, it's not like you're going to be, you know, it's like you're going to jump into rankings or anything. But it's like, it's like if Reiner de Ritter can go out and beat Boe Nickel. you could say that's a bigger win than beating... I'm not... People are going to say, oh, he's... I'm saying, like, that's a win

that's going to get you more attention than you've got to beat Jared Canaaner right now. I'm not saying Jared Canaaner is not a bad... Jerichael is a bad fighter. I mean, a bad man. He's a good fighter. But he's never been like this huge magnetic personality. Bo Nichols had attention on him since day one.

You beat Bo Nicol. You tap out Bo Nicol. Your interests shoot, skyrockets with that win versus beating a Marvin Vittori or Jared Cannon. more established guys who just don't have to name. Bryce Mitchell right now, love him or hate him, he's got a lot of attention around him.

Mostly negative, but a lot of attention. You go out there and you lay waste to that guy, dude, your star power shoots. And that's bigger than beating the number 15 ranked featherweight right now. I don't know who the number 15 ranked featherweight is. But Bryce Mitchell is a bigger name. You know what it means? Yeah, like you said, a lot of it's like timing too, right? Like Bryce just happens to be in the spotlight more right now than he has been in the past, too.

You know, he was always a, you know, a little bit loony and said crazy shit. But, you know, now he's kind of said some things that went a little bit farther than ever before. And so now he's got the spotlight on him. So, yeah, John Silva goes out there and takes that. Everybody's going to know his name on Monday. And I'm picking John Silver to win this fight because I think that as much as Bryce Mitchell does have the grappling, I just think John Silver hits like a truck. And I like, man, I'm just not betting against us fighting.

guys right now. Like, they're on so much momentum right now. Like, I just, I just, I love what this kid's doing. You know, we saw with Marisi Rufi a couple weeks ago, he did the King Green, you know, Kyio Baha'o's doing it, Carlos Prattis is doing, like, these guys are nasty dudes and I'm just like, I'm not betting against them.

Someone's eventually going to lose. We know it's going to happen, but I think stylistically, Bryce is a great grappler, but I don't know if he can get Jean Silva down. If he stays standing with John Silva, it's probably going to be, it's going to be lights out. So I'm going to John Silver in this fight. Yeah, they's tough to pick against John.

Like you said, all the momentum is on his side. And, you know, with Bryce beating Kron, I think it was his last fight, right? That's not, I don't feel like it's a big momentum fight. He was like, he's kind of had to do what he had to do, right? It's not a huge momentum fight. But, you know, John and his whole team, too, right? All the momentum, like they feel like they're the fucking masters of the world right now. Like, they can take over everybody.

And, you know, I've been huge on process for a long time, actually, even before, you know, his name's kind of been getting out there a lot more lately, but, you know, I've been impressed with him for a long time. And now I didn't know that this was a big team until recently and or a team at all, right? And, but it seems like, you know, their entire team's got to be just on cloud nine that, you know, they're just, and it's just going to motivate them all to train even harder and smarter. So I'm with you on John Silva on that. Yeah, and I'm even wearing the glasses. I guess I guess I'm supporting the fighting nerds right now. I got my glasses on, so we're part of the fighting nerds over here, too.

Man, this card is ridiculous. I mean, like I said, we talked last week about Patricio Pitbull and Yaya Rodriguez. Then we got Nikita Krylov taken on Dominic Reyes. That's a fun fight. Dan Higgis back on this card, Jim Miller and Chase Hooper. That's a really fun fight. So this is a good card, man. This is a really good card.

Yeah, hopefully I'll get to watch it on Saturday night. My boys, twin-year-old boys, 14 years old, are doing the first hunting trip this weekend. So I have to go out there with them. and it's actually going to be fun, but I don't know if I'm going to get to watch the fight. You know, I don't know if the camp is going to have a TV with pay-per-view out there. They might.

It's ran by a former football player, Matt Light. You know, I give a quick little plug to his foundations, the Matt Light Foundation. And that's what they do. He's a huge hunter. He played offensive line for Tom Brady. He was one of his good together. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so he actually lives right here in Ohio in Greenville, in the middle of fucking. nowhere but he's got a few thousand acres and he has a foundation where he supports uh kids learning about hunting and wildlife conservation and things like that and it's pretty cool so my kids are gonna be a part of it i'm gonna be out there i don't know i don't know exactly what they're going to have me do but they want me like speak to the kids or or just be there to look cool or whatever you know for promotion stuff i'm not really sure but uh should be a good time what's uh what are they hunting uh turkeys nice that's interesting yeah yeah your first hunt it's gonna be a

fucking turkey. I was I said it's not deer season. I always think deer season in Ohio. It's not deer season right now. It's all the, what are the hunting? Yeah, yeah. Like, turkeys are not easy to hunt.

So it's going to be a fun one. Yeah, that should be good. Well, you know, not, you know, check it out on Sunday. Sometimes, like, obviously, I cover the show, so I always watch a lot, but there are certain shows where I'm like, I kind of wish I could just, like, fast forward through all the stuff and just get to the fights and just watch the fights and just watch the fights the next day. So you might actually benefit and just get to watch the fights and kind of get through

all the other bullshit and just, You can watch a three-hour paper. That's what I usually do is watch on Sunday morning. Yeah. You can watch a three-hour pay-per-view at about an hour and 45 minutes. Less than that, bro. Because you can also go on Twitter and see the fights that you can skip. Yeah, that's true, too.

Yeah, you know that you don't need to watch every fight because, you know, I usually look at the, like, I'm not that guy where I have to wait to see who won or whatever. I'm like, dude, I don't really care that much, you know, if it's a cool, if I don't want to see it, you know. Yeah. I was actually out driving picking up something the day that Usbandar Magamato fought Paul Hughes, and I missed like the first round. I was watching it on my phone in the car, and I was like, oh, I got to watch it. I had on. So I'm driving.

So, of course, I'm only half watching it. But, like, I went back and watched it right afterwards because I wanted to see it. And, like, actually, it was a great fight. But, like, I was still watching the car. I was like, well, this isn't really watching it. It's in the car. Like, I got to actually watch the fight. So I went home and watched it.

I already knew who won at that point. Like, I knew who won the fight, but I still wanted to rewatch it. So, yeah, I get what you're saying. Like, you know, so, but it is a great, it's a really good card this weekend. And we got a couple, you know, we got a couple good cards coming up, obviously. We got that one. And then, uh, the end of the month, we get the Kansas City card, Carlos Prattis and Ian Machado, Gary. Who, boy, what a good fight that is.

Yeah, yeah. And then, uh, and then, uh, and then, yeah, so we got some good, we got some good cards coming up. And then, you know, May we got Bilal Mohamed, Jack Delah, Madelana. So we're getting into some good fight cards. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I'm stoked. well have fun hunting with the boys this weekend that should be for now are you are you just going are you actually hunting um i won't be hunting i don't have a license so just the kids

yeah so i'll just be going yeah should be a good time though yeah yeah i think it'd be cool yeah out there in the middle of nowhere greenville i'm sure where is greenville it's like on the indiana border it's like two hour drive from here okay the name sounds familiar i've in Ohio my whole life and I don't know where Greenville is. Tell you where Greenville is. Yeah, exactly. Somebody brought him Zinia to me the other day. I know where Zinia is.

I know where Zia is. I know where Zia is. So, all right. Well, always we want to say big thing to everyone in the tunes in the show. Matt, anything else you got going on? You want to plug? Because I know you got some stuff going on with the gym, some other stuff. Anything going on that you want to throw out there for people?

Yeah, I don't know. Like, you know, we're starting our second gym, May 1st. So I guess anybody locally listening, you know, come out and check that out. We'll have an event next weekend, April 19th from 10 to 1, you know, just a little open house that everybody, you know, get to know the instructors and meet me and all that. So, yeah, I guess you can follow on social media at I'm the Immortal Instagram and Twitter, the Immortal, Facebook. I'm sure I'll be posting all about it. Yeah, and tell, if you go to Matt Brown's Instagram, leave messages to tell him, go to me. machine head with Damon on April 30.

I'm trying to convince you a gun on the Cincinnati with me to go see Machine Head and In Flames. So drop some messages from Matt Brown to go see Machine Head and In Flames later this month with me. All right, folks, that's our episode. I want to say a big thank you to everyone to tunes in the show. Of course, we'll be back to break down and see how well we do with our picks

next week for the UFC 314 Fallout. As always, you can check us out all your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and of course, ever the best website in the world, MMAfighting.com. Matt Brown, I'm Damon Martin. We'll see you guys next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the writer.

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