MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Matt Brown Teases UFC 300 Return, Still Doubts Conor McGregor Actually Returns

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

The Fighter vs. The Writer returns with the first new episode in 2024 with UFC legend Matt Brown and MMA Fighting senior reporter Damon Martin reacting to the latest news in combat sports including Conor McGregor announcing his return. Just days ago, McGregor touted his plan to fight Michael Chandler — at middleweight — at the upcoming International Fight Week card in June but Brown still doesn’t buy it. Brown explains why he’s always doubted that McGregor would ever fight again and that opinion hasn’t changed even with this latest announcement. We’ll also discuss Francis Ngannou returning to boxing for a showdown against Anthony Joshua in March. Does Ngannou have a realistic shot at pulling off a win over Joshua and what would that mean for his future in MMA? Plus, Brown teases his potential return at the historic UFC 300 in April and what fights might actually end up headlining that card. All that and much more on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer! Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

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

two, ghosts in the machine. Available now, only from Audible. Welcome back to the Fighter versus the Rider. We are officially in 2024, and the man, the myth of the legend himself has returned for vacation after a, hopefully a relaxing holiday. Matt Brown is back.

Matt, the show is not the same without you, but hopefully you had a good break and a little vacation with the family around the holidays. I had a great break, but no, it was not relaxing. I took the kids skiing and it was just me and the kids, so, you know, no babysitters or anything. So that's never relaxing.

And when you're skiing, it's not really relaxing. Like you're going, I mean, I relax. You know, I go out and enjoy the mountains and everything, but, you know, my boys are old enough now that they can go out on their own. I don't have to stay with them, but even that's not relaxing because they got, they got this little app on their phone tells you like how many miles they ski tells them their speed, all these different things.

They come back in two days they had done over 50 miles and reached the top speed of 45 miles an hour. Good Lord. I was like, how the hell are you going that fast? That's wild. Yeah. and that's, I mean, it's fucking dangerous too, right?

Yeah, like that's wild. Like professional ski equipment, like we got, you know, thrift store helmets and, you know, whatever just get us out to the mountain. That's wild. Yeah, I assume once you have kids,

like your relaxation is when you sleep. That's pretty much when you relax. That's generally about it. Yeah. Fortunately, my daughter was like, she loves skiing, She's not trying to like brave the storm and shit, you know, and she likes it for a couple hours.

And then she wants to watch some, you know, whatever stupid cartoons that are on TV these days. Yeah. Yeah, I've never, like I said, I know we talked about this before you went on vacation. Like I'm not, I've never done skiing. I'm not real good with that kind of stuff.

So I know I would be face planted in the snow. That'd be my version of skiing. Like, how many miles are you snow today? About half a mile. How fast you go? About, oh, I don't know, about half a mile per hour as I face planted into the snow. That'd be my.

that'd be my stats for the day. Yeah. Your stats would be a broken jaw and a broken leg. Dude, I got no. I tried desperately for years to learn how to skateboard when I was a kid. And I just never had it in me. I could play sports. I played basketball.

I played football. I played a lot of sports in my life. But I could never get like the balancing of like a skateboard. I tried. So like I know skiing would go badly for me. Like I just know that. Which is surprising to me. You seem like the skateboarder type.

I try. man I tried man I thought it would be something I could do I just I don't know maybe I just got a late start I didn't try it I was like 16 I don't know maybe like because a lot of people who start skateboard they're skateboarding as kids but yeah I just never I don't know just never got the hang of it always wanted to just never got the hang of it you know I just thought about do you still have your Airdine

in your house I do Nice you've been using it I do I use it quite often actually it's nice one of the best things I have that I can actually do at a home because like I have a gym membership uh to a place down the road for me, and they're over 24 hours, which works with my schedule. But sometimes, you know, you just don't want to leave the house or it's cold or it's raining or, you know, Ohio weather is what it is. And it's just like, I just want to be able to get some,

do something at home. And having that is like a huge benefit. Because I was like, you know what? And it's in my house and it's quiet. So I can just do it at like 2 o'clock of the morning, doesn't bother anybody. And, uh, and yeah, it's a huge benefit to have that. So that's the, uh, the old Matt Brown special right there. That's great to hear. It just crossed my mind and I thought man you haven't mentioned the air died in a while so you know the next step we're going to have to get you over and hit the sauna

sometime I know I got to get over there and do it now I got the ice plunge or the cold plunge but it's I mean what's the weather been what like a maximum with like 30 degrees the past few days that water is so fucking cold

you have no idea it hurts so bad now what did you do Do you do the cold plunge and then the sauna or the sauna then the cold plunge? So I do both. So at nighttime, I'll use the cold plunge more just to do longer sauna, right? Because you can only do so much sauna and then, you know, you just start getting to war out. But then you jump that ice plunge.

You can't wait to get back in the sauna. It just kind of cools off the body. But I do it every morning. The first thing I do is I wake up, no matter what the weather, I get out of bed without looking at my phone, without doing anything, brushing my teeth or anything. The first thing I do when I wake up is walk out there, take the lid off, jump in. Now, normally I try to get to like three to five minutes, but this past week, like I tried to do three minutes the other day. the water was 30 degrees and I have no idea. Maybe the thermometer was wrong.

I don't know because it wasn't, the water wasn't frozen. I have no idea how it wasn't frozen. But, you know, so the water was probably 32.5 degrees. Dude, it hurts so bad. I had a hard time walking back inside. Man, that's rough. Yeah, everyone talks about the cold plunge. Everyone loves the cold plunge.

That's like a big thing these days. Dude, I thought it was just a fad, you know, when I first started doing it. I was like, you know, they got the cold plunge sponsored by Redwood Outdoors. You know, I appreciate them. They're awesome. The, you know, all of the stuff they sent me is fucking amazing. And it's a life changer. But I'll tell you what, I thought it was kind of a bad thing.

But then they get it sent to me. And I'm like, well, you know, it's sitting out there. I got to try it. See what it's all about. And it's been one of the best things I've ever done for myself. I got to tell you, like it's like a better than a cup of coffee. Have you done have you done have you done have you done cryo before? Yeah, I don't think it's all that honestly So Chris so the cold plunge is better than I because I've done cryo I did cry out before but I've never done the cold

Blunch so I've done cryo before and obviously you know it was like a minute long whatever they let you stay in there for you know what I mean but I was always curious like if it's similar or different or way different or what it is I mean the cryo is okay you know I think it's like better than nothing but it doesn't even compare to the cold plunge. Like I do three minutes in the cryo. That's, I think, the standard for what they say is the longest you can stay in. The cold plunge, though,

I mean, if you can do three minutes at the temperature that water is at right now, you're a fucking savage. And I think the difference that I felt at least is the water, and this is the difference between a cold shower too. Like when I,

I soak in the cold water like it, like I feel like it gets to my bones. Whereas the cold shower or cryo, like my skin gets really cold, but I feel like it's just my skin. But when I'm soaking in that, you know, usually like 35 to 40 degree water, like you feel your bones get cold. You know what I mean? Like it soaks in to you, I feel like, which to me is something special, man. And it, it's, It's really cool, but more so than all those benefits, you know, like, it's certainly going to help your, your, um, inflammation. I'm sorry, inflammation, things like that. Um, more than anything, it's like getting up first in the morning.

And it's just such a miserably hard thing to even conceive of doing. You know, like you're laying in this comfortable bed. You got your phone. You could get on. You can, you know, go brush your teeth. Go get some. coffee, go relax, you know, slowly wake up. But when I just straight walk out there fucking freezing cold and just jump in this

motherfucker, like there's no adrenaline rush like that, man. And on top of that, I feel like, you know, I got it facing east so the sun, where the sunrise is. So I feel like I get a little bit of sun in the eyes too, which feels. ever listen like Dr. Huberman, he talks about that. Yeah. The benefits of getting the sun in your eyes early in the morning. I imagine it's even harder right now.

Like it's, I mean, not that it's fun to get in there when it's, you know, summertime, but like right now it's like you're, you just walk outside. It's already 30 degrees here at Ohio, so it's already cold. And then you just get even more shocked to the system jumping in the cold plunge. Dude, when I'm walking out there, it's probably, I don't know, 10, 15 yard walk. I'm like, how the fuck am I going to do this? I'm already so cold. Yeah.

It's fucking miserable. But once you jump in, you know, you sit in there for a minute, you know, depends on the weather, how long I can sit in there. When it's 35, 40 degrees, I can do it for three to five minutes. When it's, you know, getting down in the below that, like, I've only been doing, you know, 10 breaths is what I did yesterday. Yeah. You know, just deep breaths.

You know, long deep breath. So, you know, maybe a minute. But when you walk back in the house and you start warming up a little bit, you feel fucking amazing, bro. It is unreal how amazing you feel. It's like you just did a whole workout. Yeah. Well, there you go. The cold plunge.

Way to start the day. I wake you up and get you going. Better than a hot cup of call. It really is. I swear I'm a coffee guy. But I do still drink the coffee after though. But I'll tell you, just sit out there, man, get the sun in your eyes, be outdoors, you know, do the hardest thing you could possibly think of before you get any input before you have to, you know, reply back or see, you know what I mean? Before anything happens to your brain. Like you just accomplish the hardest thing that you could. just about the hardest thing you can think about doing.

Yeah, that's awesome. That's very cool. Yeah, I've always heard a lot of people talk about that, the benefits of it. I've done sonnas before, but I've never done the cold plunge. You're going to have to come over sometime. We'll do the son and the cold. Right now is the best time because the cold plunger will test your fucking metal right now. What kind of man are you in Ohio weather at 25 degrees in a cold plunge?

Can you take it, bitch? And, well, the nice thing, too, is I have a, fire burning, you know, a wood burning sauna, right? The heater and there's a wood burner. Yeah. So I can get it hot as I want, bro. And that motherfucker gets hot. Last night I had about 220.

Jeez, man. The brown compound over there getting a full setup over there. Dude, you cook a, you cook a brisket at 225. You'll be roasting nuts over there, Matt. That's what I'm saying. My nuts will definitely be roasted. Well, we're back after a couple weeks, you know, away, taking a little holiday break.

We're getting back in the MMA schedule coming up this weekend. The next week, of course, you'll see 297, and then it just doesn't slow down. The schedule, once it starts, it doesn't really stop. Being away for a couple weeks, so a lot has happened recently, and I want to get into that as we start the show. We're also going to talk about 2024. just going to preview what's coming this year.

Fights we're excited about, champions, things like that. So, you know, we've got lots to talk about, of course. So much news, you know, so much stuff happens when you're gone for, you know, two weeks. You think, like, no events are happening, no, you know, nothing's going on. But then you come back and everything's happening. There's no slowing down in the news cycle in the world of MMA in combat sports. Of course, we all thought UFC 300 was going to be the big fight with Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler, that was going to be the headliner.

We all found out about a week ago. That's not the case. Connor McGregor announced that he's going to fight Michael Chandler, International Fight Week, which is on June 29th, a weird day. It's not going to be the week of July 4th. It's going to be June 29th. They're going to fight, and Connor's saying middleweight.

I don't know if I still buy that, but they're going to fight. June 29th. We also know that Francis Nganoe got a boxing match with Anthony Joshua. We got a couple of fights announced for the UFC 300, but not any of the main events. title fight. So, Matt, what did you, what did you think of the big news cycle while we were gone? Well, first off, Damon, I'm sorry. You're the inside man. Is it confirmed? Conner's fighting Chandler. So it's confirmed as far as both guys have definitely agreed to it. Both guys agreed to the

date. There have been no bad agreements issued, no contract signed. I think, I think, it ain't confirmed until it signed, right? Yeah, I mean, the UFC hasn't announced it, but I think they're not going to do it until the contracts are done. I think part of that is the weight thing. Like, Connor announcing a middleweight, I'm like, come on now. Like, I think we all know it's not really going to be a middleweight. Like, welterweight, okay, I'm fine with that, but middleweight?

Like, what sense does that make? Like, Matt, you are a welterweight, and you could fight a middleweight. We've talked about this in the past. Like, you could fight a middleweight. I've got a middleweight. Yeah, you could fight a middleweight. But when you start going up multiple weight classes, like Matt Brown at light heavyweight, if you actually

walk around 210 pounds fighting, you're not the same guy. Like, that's a lot of weight to pack on a body. And Connor's smaller than you, like way smaller than you. He's like 5-9. You're 6-2, right? 6-2, 6-1, 6-2? I'm 6-foot on the dot. Six-foot on the dot. He's like 5-9, okay? So he's much smaller than you. Now he's bulky, you know, all that kind of stuff. 180. But that's a lot of weight. Like, that just seems like a lot. I understand. Like, I think that whole middle-way thing is just him exerting his dominance over Michael Chandler saying, I pick the date, I picked the location, I'll pick the

weight class, I'm going to tell you to jump and you're going to say how high. I think that's what we're dealing with here is Connor just kind of exerting himself and knowing Chandler has no choice but to say, okay. That's it. Yeah, I think that's it. And the thing is that, in my opinion, favors Chandler heavily. The heavier this weight, the weight is for this fight, the more that's favoring Chandler. I mean, he's an explosive son of a bitch, and he's a strong, strong guy.

And he is the bigger guy, too, I think. You know, I've stood next to both of them before. And as far as my memory serves me, like, Chandler is the bigger guy of the two. So the higher the weight class, the better for him. And Chandler's never fought up 45. I don't think he can make 45. I think he works hard to make 55. So, you know, I think he's naturally the bigger guy.

And I think the heavier this weight goes, the more it's going to favor Chandler. Well, you know, like the one thing I will say, like when you cut weight, and this is a real thing, we know this has been proven. Like, when you cut a lot of weight, it can affect the amount of damage you can take, especially punches to the head because you suck out so much water weight and things like that. I think Chandler not having to cut that weight is probably good for him. Not only that, but he's going to, he's already a very powerful guy. It's going to add even more power. Now, will that also potentially help Connor? Sure, but, you know, we've seen Connor fight at Welterweight a couple of times,

but he's never fought like a legit welterweight. He fought Cowboy. I know Cowboy did fight a Welterweight a few times. Obviously, he's a good fight. I think that's probably the most legit welterweight he fought. Nate Diaz isn't really a welterweight. I know we've always said that. He's a lightweight who goes up to a welterweight and fight.

He's not really a light. He's not really a welterweight. So, yeah, it's weird. And Chandler ain't. Chandler couldn't cut to 1.45 unless he started lopping off body parts. That dude is not making 1.45. Yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't think it's going to be a middleweight, though.

I think it's going to end up being a welterweight way. I think this is Connor just saying, I'm going to serve you a plate of food and you're going to eat it because you're dancing to my tune right now. And this is just all, like, Connor, like, we all know, like, we've had that, we've talked about this on the show mad about Connor and the whole anti-doping thing. Like, you don't drop out of the anti-doping pool for a year unless you're doing something. that you don't want to get busted for. And we've talked about, again, I'm not faulting him for that, right? But he got, he did the ultimate fighter in March of last year. March of 20203 is when they started filming last year.

He could have jumped into the Usada pool at that point and been ready to fight by October. But he didn't do that. He waited until October to get in the pool. So he had six months of whatever the hell it was he was doing. He finally gets in October. He'll be cleared in March going into April's when I'll finally be cleared to fight. So that's one thing right there. And then we all know, like,

If Connor calls the UFC says, hey, I want to fight January 1st, January 20, whatever the card, the one coming up to 1997, I'm ready to go, let's go to that date. Do you think the UFC's not going to try to cater to Connor and give him the date he really wants? Connor, June 29th, middleweight, basically a year and a half after him and Chandler were originally matched up, this is all Connor saying you're going to dance and I'm going to tell you to dance and you're going to continue to dance and I'm going to tell you to jump and you. you're going to say how high. I think that's what all this is. And I'm still not convinced it's going to happen. That's why I asked the Phil's confirmed because, is Connor going to fight again?

Like, everybody keeps, I know he announced that, you know, he loves being in the spotlight. He likes everybody talking about him. He likes it. We're talking about him right now. That's what he lives for now. Why does he even, he doesn't need to fight? What purpose does it serve him?

He's not getting back to a title. He's not going to do anything significant ever again. He's got 500 mil in the bank. Like, what's a few mil for fighting, you know, somebody like Chandler. What's that going to do for him? That's like if I gave you 10 bucks, you'd be like, all right. Well, what are you going to do with this, right? Thanks for $10.

Thanks for $10. It's not even going to change your day. Yeah. Nonetheless, your life. So he doesn't have any motivation whatsoever to do this other than being in the spotlight. But when he simply makes announcements and talks and, you know, comes in and out of the pool and does all this, everybody's talking anyway. Yeah. I wonder the biggest question I have about Connor coming back.

and by the time he fights again, if it does happen in June, let's just say it does, yeah, that's going to be three years away. And you and I both know that kind of time off doesn't benefit anybody, especially at that age. Like he's going to be whatever, 34, 35, 36, somewhere around then when he's coming back. I mean, John Jones might be the one exception of a guy who's been off that long and came back and found success right away. But typically speaking, you don't. George St. Pierre was gone for a while, came back and had that fight with Bispig. But again, generally speaking, you do not take out that kind of time.

time and come back to the same guy or girl for that matter. Like that's just not how it's built. And on top of that, I think I'd be more convinced about Connor, not necessarily fighting, but being serious about this, if he had humbled himself in some ways, like, we're not like every, and again, I don't know specifically what he's doing behind the scenes, but he publishes so much in his life. I have a hard time believing we wouldn't see some of it. But, you know, he's always out to dinner and drinking wine and on the boat and doing this,

party in here. He's in, you know, Saudi Arabia at the fights and comparing, you know, $1,000 watches with Cristiano Ronaldo and all these different things he's doing. And I'm quite sure he is in the gym. I'm sure he's trained to some extent. But I've said this years ago, for Connor to get back anywhere close to where he was at one point, I think Connor needs to humble himself and realize that he needs to work with different people to get him better. I'm not saying John Cabinnell is not a good coach. But everyone could get comfortable in a situation. And I think Connor is always the best guy in the room where he trains that right now. Is he ever getting pushed? Is there a guy in there who just outstrikes him and makes him get better?

Is there a guy outrestles him and makes him get better? Or all these people there to just serve Connor? And, you know, if Connor said, you know what, I'm moving to American, I'm going to an American top team. Now, I don't think that would ever happen because Dustin Porre or whatever. I'm just like hypothetically. I'm going to go to American top team and train for this camp. I'm going to go to Saif Saeed down in Fortis MMA. I'm going to train with him for a train. I'm going to seek out, you know, Chris Wyman to help him my road, whatever it is. If that was the avenue he was taking and saying, I'm humbling myself, I want to work with

these guys to help get me better to get me ready for my return. I'd be a little more convinced, but we all know that's not going to happen, you know? And so I just questioned, like, where's his head at? Like, where is this? Again, I lean to what you're saying. Like, is it just about the publicity, the attention, the spotlight, versus actually coming back to fight and beat Michael Chandler? Yeah, I mean, when you got that kind of money, like, who wants to fight?

You know, I mean, you got to be a true warrior savage to want to do that. You know, like a or, you know, like an athlete, like Floyd Mayweather, right? Like, he had enough money. He could have chilled. But, well, on that same token, you know, well, here's the thing. Like if you look at, you know, some of those payouts were released, right? And you look at how much Connor was making. I mean, what was his highest payout?

Do you remember it was like $10 million? Something like that. I think it was like $8 to $10 million. You know, so let's say, you know, Floyd and Connor both have $100 million in the bank, right? If Floyd goes and fights again, he can make another 50 mil or 100 mil or something. If Connor comes back in fights, he's going to get what, 10 or 15 mil again? like this i don't see how that would do it for you you know what i mean um now in terms of him training i mean he's got the money speaking of that dude he could fly those guys in and put them up

and you know he doesn't even have to go anywhere like he could get the fucking killers to come in and and train with them the high i mean he could have the highest level guys in the world you know he could build an olympic training center there whatever he wanted you know um So whether he actually needs to leave and go somewhere else, I don't know. But, you know, there's no reason that he couldn't have the absolute world's best coaches and trainers. And not that maybe Kavanaugh is one of the world's best. You know, it certainly is in MMA, it appears. But, you know, he could have the best wrestling guy, the best boxing, best more time.

And he could have it all. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And when I say train with different people, like, I'm not saying he has to. I'm saying, like, he can say, I'm bringing in. you know, all these guys to come help me. I'm going to bring it, you know, you know, you got the money to do that. But the other point you said there is like you said, you know, he's never going to be a champion again.

He's never going to be that guy again. You know, with Floyd, I think at that point, when Floyd was nearing the tail end of his career, he had made hundreds of millions of dollars. But I think Floyd at that point was fighting for legacy. He was undefeated and he wanted to cement himself as one of the greatest boxers to ever do it. You know, you finally got that Pac-A-L fight. He had the Canelo fight. Yeah.

Yeah, he was at that point. Connor's not there. Like, Conner's not fighting to be the greatest of all time. No one's going to put Connor in that conversation. Like, no one, he could win his next five fights in a row and no one's going to say, oh, man, Connor is, man, he's right there with John Jones and George St. Pierre. No one's going to say that about him, you know what I mean? So he's not in the same position as Floyd.

Floyd was fighting for legacy. Floyd was always, I'm undefeated, never been touched, blah, blah, blah, and I'm going to retire undefeated, and that's what he did. Connor's not in that same position, so he's not even got that to fight for necessarily, you know, and I agree with you? There's two sides of that, right? Because like I said, Floyd would also make, you know,

50, 100 mil every time. And he's fighting for legacy with the, you know, the undefeated. And, you know, we could talk about how he picked and who he picked and everything. But, you know, like you said,

he was definitely fighting for legacy. There's many people to this day that argue that he's the best ever, which is absolutely ludicrous to me, if you know anything about boxing history. but he convinced those people. Yeah, I know far less about boxing than you do, and even I know that Floyd Mayweather's not the greatest of all. He's good, don't get me wrong.

He's an incredible style, incredible career, but no. That's like people trying to tell you, Mike Tyson is one of the best heavyweights of all time. Like, no, he's not even remotely close to that. Yeah, I think it's, and I tend to agree. Like, when you look at where the sport is now and you look at, let's just, again, let's say welterweight and lightweight, those are the two divisions where Connor will most likely compete, because he ain't getting to featherweight anymore. Like, Islam Kachov, Charles Olavera,

Justin Gajee, Dustin Pori, Armin Sarukian, and then Welterweight, Leon Edwards, Balaamah, Muhammad, Gilbert Burns, you know, even Colby Covington, I may say whatever we say about him, but Colby Covington, you know,

Shabkat Rachmanov, would you pick Connor to be any of them right now? Any of them? That's exactly it. Exactly. How is he going to, that's what I'm saying. So he has, he knows that too. Like he's not a dummy.

You know, so him picking Chandler was a smart move on his part. For one, because, you know, that is a fight that would get fans exciting, excited. That's a fight that we would all like to see, actually. It makes sense, right? Like everything, all the pieces add up where that fight actually makes sense. Chandler also engages with him, and Chandler also hasn't taken another fight in how long now. He's like taking the bait to the fullest. Yeah.

And Chandler, who is very dangerous, and if you're asking right now if they fight, who would I pick, I'd probably pick Michael Chandler to win that fight. But Michael Chandler does get a little reckless at times. You know, he does take chances. But look at, I mean, again, and I think Michael Chandler's an incredible fighter, but look at Michael Chandler's record against those guys. to Dust of Porre, lost to Justin Gaichie, lost to Charles Olivera. You know, his wins are Tony Ferguson and Dan Hooker.

Good wins. Don't get me wrong. Dan Hooker especially, because I think Dan's really good. Tony, you know, we all know where Tony's out in his career right now. But would you pick Connor to beat any of the guys that have beaten Gachia or beat Chandler? I wouldn't. Gachie. But we know the Porre fights have gone the last couple times out.

Gachie, Olivera. I wouldn't pick Connor to beat any of them. I mean, even if you go down the line more, there's a lot of guys I would pick to beat him. I mean, you know, you look at like Fizev, for instance. I mean, I don't think it's a good match for Connor or even if you look at like the, like the Bobby Greens, I mean, like he that I don't know that I would pick Connor to beat him. Yeah, I mean.

I probably favor him. Maybe a little, I don't know, but you know, but you get my point. Like you're talking like, you know, the top 20, you know, this sport moves quick, man. Oh, it does. And they're fucking killers. Or like a Drew Dober.

Like, I'm not picking Connor to beat Drew Dover. You know, like these, you know, you could go down pretty far before you start saying, like, okay, this is a surefire match for Connor here. Well, that's how fast this sport moves. You know what I mean? Like, you can, that's why I say three years away and how much has changed. Now good guys have gotten. Like, the sport involves, guys get better, new guys come in, you know,

Gamrod's out there. Like, he's another one. I think he'd be a terrible matchup for Connor. He's a great wrestler. You know what I mean? Like, that's the last guy Connor wants to see it. Again, let's just say, appendically, you move to Welterweight. Does he want to see any of those guys? Like, does he want to go in there? Like, listen, I'll say what I say about Colby Covington, you know, shit in the bed against Leon Edwards, but Colby Covington would take Connor down and grind on him

immediately. That fight would not be interesting. Connor would spend, you know, 15 or 25 minutes on his back, eating punches from Colby Covington. Gilbert Burns, you know, Shavkat, I mean, all those guys. Like, you know what I mean? Like, none of those guys are going to be good matchups for him at Weltsweight either. Like, go on down the line.

Like, who's going to fight Wonderboy? He's going to fight, you know, Neil Magny? Is that, like, where we're getting at now? Like, where we think, like, maybe he has a shot. And Wonder Boy is one I would love to see, actually, even though I would heavily favor Wonder Boy. Yeah. I think that would be a really fun fight.

It could be. I think the funnest part would be the pressers, where Connor would just be talking mad as shit and Wonderboy, I guess, sir. Yes, sir, you are correct, sir. But yeah, I just, I agree with you, though. Like, I just, I don't know. We'll see.

And again, no announcements have been made, no contract signed. So your prediction that maybe we never see Connor again still actually stands true because nothing's been official yet. So. I don't believe it still. Like, until I see it, I'm not going to believe it. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ.

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Yeah. So now that was also announced. Of course, a couple days ago, we got the announcement of Francis and Ghana. It was getting the boxing match with Anthony Josh. since we've been gone, Anthony Joshua got to win over, what's his name, the German guy, Wallen. He got to win over him. And obviously, Joseph Parker pulled off the upset against Deonti Wilder. Can I just say real quick, because I said this on Twitter, Matt.

Can boxing stop being so stupid and just they should have just booked Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder? It was the dumbest idea ever to book them against different guys instead of just having them fight each other. but whatever. That's boxing. I don't understand. It worked out great for Francis, didn't it? It did work out great for Francis. Good for him.

But this is the fight. Before they officially made the Fury fight, this is the one you wanted them to make. You said Anthony Joshua, Francis Ngano, is the fight you thought would be best for Francis Ngano. Now, that's before we saw him fight Tyson Fury. How do you feel about it now? Even more so.

This is a perfect fight for Engano. the only thing, you know, after watching Ingano fight now, I thought that his MMA style of sort of reckless abandon, throw caution to the win come at you, swing hard as hell. That's kind of what we expected when we, before we seen him box, right? But he fought Tyson pretty technically, right? Like he didn't throw caution to the win. He went in there and he boxed with Tyson.

boxing with Joshua may not be as easy, you know, for a couple reasons. For one, you know, did Tyson take him serious? I think he did. But if he didn't, then he might be in a rude, might be in a little surprise when he goes in there with Joshua. For two, you know, did Tyson kind of shit the bed? You know what I mean? Like, you got to wonder if he just, you know, he's just, you know, he's.

was ready everything but then when he felt ingotto's power he just kind of shit the bed and was like dude like i can't lose to this motherfucker like you know i mean like you just that anxiety or those thoughts of like what am i doing you know this guy's better than i thought um so anyway so if he goes in he fights joshua so technical like i think it might be a tough for fight for ingano you know I think he's better off going in there swinging hard and going for it. Like, that's how you beat Joshua. With that said, this is actually a 50-50 fight for me right now. Like, I'm not sure that because we haven't seen enough of Ingano to say, you know,

he can go in there and do this and this. These are going to be his weapons, right? Here's his strategy. But we know what Joshua is, and he is not. he's not a strong chin guy he does not take punches very well so this makes it a 50-50 fight to me right now i mean remember when he fought andy ruse the first time you know andy ruse is kind of got that mark hunt style like just you know shorter stockier big heavy-handed you know what i mean and he cracked Joshua.

And that altered that fight. But to counterpoint that a little bit, Ruiz is a very, very different stylistic matchup. And that I think Joshua underestimated. He did. And Ruiz is very much a combo puncher too. Yeah. But I'm saying like that big heavy-handed style, that big, you know, that big heavy-handed style.

And I agree with you on the Francis thing. I don't think, like, my opinion was with Tyson Fury, I don't care if he did just come off to couch. It's Tyson Fury. He's the best heavyweight in the sport. Even off the couch, he shouldn't have had that kind of performance against Inganu, which leads me to believe Inganu is that good. You know what I mean? Like, it's not that, because as I said, listen, I 100% discounted Francis going into that fight.

I was happy for him, hoped he did a good job, but I no way believed he would actually win that fight. When it was over, I thought he won the fight. and I don't care of Tyson Fury trained for five minutes before that fight. It's Tyson Fury. That's like, again, I know it's different sports and I know it's a weird comparison, but that would be like, you know,

that would be like Deonté Wilder spending the next six months training him and making you throw him in there with John Jones like he got ready for Alexander Gustafson the first time. John Jones should still wipe them out with that guy because it's John Jones. Same thing here. I thought Tyson Fury was just that much better. Like even off the couch, he's that much better.

And Francis of God who proved us all right. wrong. So yeah, I think this is really intriguing. And I think if Francis can crack Joshua a couple of, because after Francis cracked Tyson and put him down in that third round, the demeanor changed entirely. He stopped wagging his chin. He stopped playing around a little bit. He stopped dancing.

He had to play it serious at that point. Even then, he was still cautious because he knew how much power Francis possessed. Joshua can't play that game because Joshua doesn't like to get hit in general. You get hit a good time by Francis. You may not get up again. So I don't know that I'd say he's going to win the fight full on, but you convinced me, you know, six months ago, whenever we talked about it,

that Joshua was probably the best possible matcher because Joshua doesn't like getting hit. That hasn't changed. That hasn't changed. And then the one thing that Joshua has approved on a lot, though, is his jab. And he's always had a pretty decent jab, but in his past few fights, his past few performances, like his jab has really looked really good.

He's looked really clean with it. And I didn't really see, and this is why I said, you know, we just need to see more of Francis to make a solid pick, right? I didn't see Tyson using his jab nearly enough. Now, I could go back and watch the fight and dissect it more.

Maybe some people are going to, you know, tweet out that I was wrong or whatever, or, you know, whatever else is bullshit. But I don't remember him, using his jab. I remember I kept saying like, why is he not jabbing him more? And, you know, Joshua has done a very good job of educating his jab much better in his past pre performances, which is where I see his best chance of beating Francis, right?

You know, beating him with a jab, beating him to the punch, slowing him down and wearing him out little by little. But like you said, Joshua does not take him. take punch as well. Francis lands a counter like he did on Tyson. I don't see Joshua cutting up from that. Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. Like, he gets a good one on the chin.

That's maybe I'll share over Anthony Joshua. He does not like getting hit. And that's Francis Ghan is the last guy you want hitting you. Right. Especially, yeah. I mean, it didn't look like he landed on Tyson even that clean, really. Yeah, it kind of glancing. It was kind of a glancing shot, like off the side of the head.

And he just knocked him down. Like, good shot. Yeah. If I remember right, like, I remember some other punches that I thought were even a little bit cleaner, but didn't have quite the pop on him. But regardless, you know, it's going to be a tough night for Joshua, man. If he doesn't get his jab going, in my opinion, because if he starts exchanging with Engano, you know, we've said it for a long time.

That's why a lot of people picked Engano or gave him a chance where we didn't. he's got the nuclear option he has that fucking chance and Joshua is the one guy out of all these heavyweights where that is a gigantic factor in the fight yeah I agree now here's the question

I'm throwing this out there just I'm curious Francis is now going into back-to-back boxing matches he stole the show at Tyson Fury a lot of people believe he won that fight but even if it was a real split decision loss or whatever was no one expected him to last that long with Tyson Fury, much less come that close to winning. He's now fighting Anthony Joshua. If he wins this fight, which I think there's a real world where he can win this fight.

I don't feel that way. After seeing what Francis did with Fury and knowing what I know about Anthony Joshua, what you've taught me about Anthony Joshua with the chin and kind of looking at his career, there's a real world here where I see Franciscano winning this fight, right? You said 50-50. Francis deGana goes out in March and wins this fight. Does he ever come back to MMA ever? Why?

Like, why would he? Yeah. Yeah, who knows, right? PFL has pretty loose contracts for him, you know? So I'm not sure. I guess the problem, like we talked about in the past, is the opponent, right? Like, who the hell is he going to fight? Where, you know, where it makes sense for him, you know, when, especially if he beats Joshua,

like, this will be a huge pay-per-view, especially with Ingano coming off such a great performance. against Tyson, like this, Joshua already sells gigantic paper views, and, you know, particularly, you know, in Europe. Yeah. Now with Ngano coming in, like, this is going to be a big, big match. You know, this is, how is he going to find an opponent in MMA to make a match that big? I mean, if he beats Anthony Joshua, and I mean absolutely no offense to these names I'm about to mention, just to be clear about that.

But is he going to come back and fight Ryan Bader or Hainan Ferreira or any other random heavyweight? Because heavyweight's not a deep division as it is. You know, who's he going to fight? And if he beats Anthony Joshua, he just sets himself up to get the winner of Fury and Usik. Or maybe he gets, you know, maybe just gets a rematch of Fury, depending on how that fight plays out. Maybe it's a loss and Fury just comes back and they do the rematch.

Whatever the case may be. He's setting himself up for a massive, massive future if he beats Anthony Joshua. Now, if he loses different conversation, you know, maybe he gets blown out, maybe he gets knocked out, then it's straight back to him in the man that would make all the sense of the world. But if he could beat Anthony Joshua, and again, I think there's a real world where he does that, I don't know, man, because, again, Francis is already like 38. Like, he ain't a young guy. You know, if he could beat Anthony Joshua and make $30 million or $25 million,

whatever he's going to make for that fight on top of what he already made for Tyson Fury. I don't know why he would. It's not because I don't want Francis back. Of course I want Francis back. But I'm just being realistic. Like if he goes out and he's just set himself up for the chance to maybe become heavyweight champion of the world. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's what I said. Like, who's the, who could you possibly match him up with other than John Jones if somehow, you know, the universe works out where he can get an MMA match with John Jones. Yeah. And if John Jones is that much of a.

a free agent, you know, it might make more, he might want to go do boxing against Francis and Gun. I mean, we've seen the craziest shit in MMA. I'm not ruling anything out anymore. So, but, you know, I certainly don't see that happening either. But yet, I mean, there's just nobody out there that's going to sell pay-per-views. Like, like this Joshua fight, for instance, as big as it is and as big as it's going to be, you know it's going to be uh the paper views are still coming from joshua yeah right like that's the

the lion's share of the paper views like Joshua is still the A side absolutely until ingano beats a real heavyweight like you know like you said you thought he'd beat Tyson or if he beats Joshua Joshua's still the A side so and Francis is not a pay-per-view draw to that extent yet so he comes back to MMA he's the A side, but the A side is not a pay-per-view draw. That's a problem. Yeah, exactly. And that's where I'm saying.

And again, who's he going to fight? Like, we've had this debate since the day's time out to PFO. I'm glad PFO signed him. I'm glad he got the deal he wanted. Certainly didn't fumble the bag. Anyone that said that. He said, shut the hell up. But, and this is to Francis's credit.

If he can go out beat Anthony Joshua, why would he? Like, why would he? What are you going to gain by coming back and fighting again? I like Ryan Bader. I'm using him as example because he's the Bellator champion, but Ryan Bader's not exactly a star. You know, Ryan Bader's not been a big draw his entire career. And Ryan Bader's a wrestler.

Do you want to go out and beat Anthony Joshua and come out and take the chance of Ryan Bader is going to take you down and grind you for five rounds and you lose and then everything's gone? No, you go fight the winner at UcSuk and Fury and make a boatload of money and have a chance to actually become heavyweight boxing champion of the world in your third freaking fight.

That's what you do. And the only other thing that I would add to that, though, is, you know, when Francis got released from his UFC contract, he waded out. Everybody said he fumbled the bag. He has constantly surprised us one time after another with the amazing, not only performances, but his ability just to get these big fights. So look, if he wants to come back to MMA, like, I bet like it would surprise us also. Well, like, what reason we have to not believe? Like, he's going to shock us in some way. Like, he's got some genius plan in his head or the right people around them, these masterminds coming up with things.

But they're fucking putting things together the right way. And me and you are not seeing it, obviously, but they are. Could you imagine, though, if Francis does pull. off the win here and then gets a chance. Again, to fight for the heavyweight title against Usik or Fury. I don't know who's going to win that fight. We'll see. Usik's really good, but Fury

is obviously a much bigger, you know, guy we'll see in February when they fight. Sets it up for the rematch, and he has a chance in, let's say, December to become heavyweight champion of the world. I mean, that would be one of the greatest combat sports accomplishments ever. He was already the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Like, he's already reached the peak of MMA because he was the UFC Heavyweight champion. Sorry, PFL Bellator, one championship. Your heavyweight champion is not better than the UFC heavyweight champion. Let's just be honest about that. It's not. Other divisions, you can make that argument. I would make an argument right now. I think Patchy makes it the best band weight in the world, but not heavyweight. The heavyweight is not the deepest division. The best heavyweight still exist in the UFC minus Francis Inganu. You go out and you beat Joshua and you set yourself up to even fight for the boxing heavyweight title and your third professional fight, you have

reached a status that has never been accomplished before. That would be unbelievable. And I don't doubt that it could happen. I don't doubt whatsoever that it could, especially if Tyson Fury could beat Usik, then you're set up for an even bigger chance to beat Joshua and then rematch Fury. Holy shit. That beat gigantic. And he goes out and wins a heavyweight title.

I think he should just go to the Olympics and try to win the fucking wrestling title. not right yeah say hey i made more money now i'm just going to challenge myself yeah but you know i think usick is the dark horse and all of this that um you know i'm i'm actually leaning towards him to beat fury and i think he poses a very very hard match up for ingano i'm with you i'm actually leading usick as well because i'm starting to think like just he's so good man technically he's so good. He's undersized. I think we all know that, but look what he did with Joshua twice. And that last fight was not a split

decision or whatever they said it was. That was not. That was a really bad judging call, but he won that fight pretty clearly. I'm leaning his way as well, and that could throw the whole thing off. But again, maybe even that, but still, if he beats Tyson Fury by decision and Francis beats

Joshua, he can still have to rematch with Fury for a lot of money. Like, do that rematch and make a lot of money. Or he'd go for the title and try to fight Usik. for the title, in which case, you know, the only thing with that is it's not nearly as big of a pay-per-view, I don't think, right? Like, it's, you know, all of the hardcore people, all of us are going to watch it. I think it would be a big pay-per-view, but it's not a Tyson-Fury rematch pay-per-view. No, but it's not.

But Ussick, if Ussick beats Fury and in Ghana who beats Joshua, what other option would be out there for UcSSK? Like, he's going to be on ESPN. That ain't going to be a pay-per-view. You know what I mean? So that's, Inganu is the biggest fight you could have at that point. So Usik would be like, all right, let's give me Ingana. Let's go. Like, give me that fight.

That's the one I want. So this, like I said, we're in a world here. Like after March 8th or whatever date that is, like we could be living in a world where Francis Gano has already fought his last M. May fight. I truly believe that. If he beats Anthony Joshua, dude, he's got the chance to become heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Why would you even fathom coming back at that point?

And I hope he does. I love Francis. I want to see him fight MMA again. I'm just being honest. Like, what would he have to come back for? Yeah, I agree. It's a, all we can really say, man, is like, fucking good for Francis, brother. We all thought he fumbled the bag.

I thought he fumbled the bag. We all thought that he was making a mistake. He wasn't going to get that big fight. And then he gets a big fight. And then we all thought he doesn't have a chance. This is going to end up. We're all going to regret even why. watching this shit. I didn't even watch it live, as a matter of fact. I mean, to be fair, I was

cornering somebody, uh, two guys and, you know, we were streaming it, but I wasn't really able to watch the, you know, but I probably wouldn't have watched it if I was sitting at home alone either, but, you know, he goes in and, you know, arguably wins, you know, gets a loss. I mean, what more can you say about this guy, man? He's done it. He proved everybody wrong. He went out and he won the fucking bag. He didn't fumble the bag. He won the bag. Even if he loses to Joshua, he didn't fumble the bag.

Like, he's gotten too massive. He earned another boxing match with one of the top heavyweight boxes in the world. Like, that's how wild this is. Like, Connor didn't do that. Like, Connor fought Mayweather. After Connor fought Mayweather, no one was like, oh, man, we got to fight Connor and this guy. Connor Connell. We got to see that.

No one cared. Like, okay, what we thought was going to happen, happened. Floyd styled on him and knocked him out. That's what happened. Like, no one was crying for Connor. to go get other boxers at that point. Connor was, but nobody else was. No, one wanted to see him fight packed you out.

No, but what Francis did, everyone's like, okay, let's see the Joshua fight. Let's see Deontay Wilder. Let's see this. Let's see that. He's, dude, he's manifesting it. Even Joshua said, let's see it. That's the craziest part about it. I can't believe Joshua took the fight.

I'm very surprised that he did. Like, why would he not, I'm still running through my head. Like, why would he not shoot for the, winner of Furiusi Uc I mean he's probably you know him or Parker

are going to be in line for it like it really blows me away that he's like that he's he's going to accept this in Gano fight it makes no sense on his end at all other than a big pay per view

I got to imagine Saudi Arabia ponied up a lot of money like I think that's got to be part of it like they're like we're going to pay you guys a boatload of cash to come over and fight for us and I mean they got the money so you know here's an extra 20 million put the show on here and maybe Joshua still doesn't see in Ghana who is that big of a threat maybe he just thinks Fury looked like shit and he just doesn't see Angano's a threat I think he's going to regret that

if that's his attitude but maybe that's he just still sees this as a very winnable fight and it's a great payday and it's you know because if Usik and fury are fighting in February they probably won't fight again until towards the end of the year November December most likely you know so maybe he just doesn't want to sit out and he just you know he beat uh auto wailin pretty handily you know joseph parker he got beat joseph parker so that's not a fight he's going to want to get again like why would he do that uh you know garel miller loss like what else is out there for him so maybe in gano is just like this is the best thing i can get right now biggest payday and then move on to fight the winner of fury and usick i imagine that's got to be what he's thinking

well i like how you're following heavyweight boxing real close i don't follow the heavyweight It's nearly as close, but you're like spitting off all the names and everything. I'm glad to see you into boxing now, Dave. I am. I watch it a lot more, man. I watch it a lot. I think this last year was probably the most I've watched the boxing. Like, because we talked about a lot on the show.

And so I kind of wanted to educate myself a little bit more. So I've been like even the, even the matches like, you know, I watched like, you know, I watched all the bigger fights. Like, I always watched the biggest fights, but I actually watched, like, all the bigger fights that you. Like, all the marquee fights I watched. you know even like you know one's on like regular showtime or DeZone you know not the big big pay-per-views like the regular you know and I'm learning man

I'm learning like I said dude you got me on BetterBeev I'm way on Better BF now like I'm way into him that's the biggest announcement of the last month in boxing better be a fighting be vol now and that my friend is an absolute

master class bar and burner of a fight man that's going to be so good that is going to be that might be the best match of the year. That is going to be, holy shit, that's a fight. And you don't hear it talked about a ton either. I haven't heard, you know, nearly the hype for it. But that to me is one of the most anticipated fights of the year easily, man. You know, the only question is better be of is a little older. But we've had that question for a long time. I think he's 38, 39. And we've been waiting

on him to get old for years now. And he has not shown any signs. So, But this is going to be a tremendous fight. I think we're seeing this kind of like what we saw when we saw Triple G fight Cannella. Triple G was already a little older when they fought the first time, but I still think Triple G beat him. You know what I mean? So I think that's kind of where we're at now with this one too. Like, you know, because like last year we had Crawford and Spence, which was one we waited forever for. I don't know, and I'm certainly not making excuses, but you know, Spence after the accident and everything, you kind of wonder, like, you know, was he there?

And Crawford, you know, just absolutely dominated him. but that's this year's version of that has better be having Bivel and I think that is just a tremendous fight. Like it is a toss-up to end all tosses. I couldn't begin to tell you I think it's going to win that one. Yeah, there's a lot of really great boxing that's going to happen this year, man. I already know it. You know, there's a lot of guys coming up.

We should keep a section on the podcast every week where we just discussed it just a little bit. We don't have to go crazy with it. It's definitely more of a maybe some more Thai too. man. Come on. Because that's the best sport there is. What One has done with Muay Thai is fantastic. I hope they can keep their business afloat. Lord knows how long it's going to last.

But while it's lasting, we got to enjoy this thing in all of its fucking glory. These guys are getting paid more than Moitai fighters have ever got paid, even though the champions are probably making like 20 or 30K or something. Or, you know, who knows? Not that much. But, you know,

for them that's a life-changing money when you live in Thailand so you're seeing these guys coming up and and you're seeing just the best fights I think that maybe we've ever seen in history I mean moitai is the best fucking sport there is out there and the level of competition out there is just fucking tremendous yeah I love it yeah we should definitely talk more about boxing I've been watching watch anyways fight I watched a lot of stuff lately I've been pretty proud of myself with the boxing stuff. Are you going deep when you know about Inouye? I know. I watched this fight this last, was

last week, two weeks ago. Watched this fight then, yeah. So it was a scary motherfucker. Dude, that is that guy. It's unreal, man. I had watched kind of like highlights of him, but I was like, I got to see this fight. And I'm like, holy shit. So, yeah, man, that dude's real. That dude's seriously real. So, yeah, I'm good.

That dude straight up a scary motherfucker. Like, not scary in the way that Mike Tyson was scary, where he said insane shit and did, you know, bit your ears and all that shit. But the way he boxes you and the way he breaks you down and beats the living hell out of people is absolutely fucking scary, man. He's a terrifying dude.

He's a terrifying dude for sure. Getting back to MMA though, Matt. So we were going to talk about some of the fights we're most excited about as we look ahead of 2024. A lot of fights have already been made. UFC 300 is kind of an odd place, though, because now we know, at least in theory, Connor and Chandler are not going to fight until June, it looks like. John Jones is injured, probably not going to be ready to fight until summertime, him and Steepa,

so that's probably going to weigh. I thought that was going to be International Fight Week, maybe even later now, if Connor is actually going to fight in June. Again, if it happens. Not a lot of options left for UFC 300. You know, I know we've heard the rumors probably going to be Leon Edwards and Bilal Muhammad. Thank God they're going to give Bilal Muhammad his title shot. Makes all the sense of the world. I'm glad he's getting it, but I don't think that's going to be the main event.

We got two title fights at UFC 297. We got Volcanowski at 298, Sean O'Malley at 299. Alex Pereira is out there. He's a champion who doesn't have a fight right now. We got Leon Edwards, I just mentioned, you know, of course. Islam Makachev was a guess, but Ramadan runs until April 10th, and April 13th is a fight. And Islam does not like fighting around Ramadan. Bilal Muhammad will.

Belal Mohammed's done it. And he said, you know, it's a test of wills to do it, but he's done it. I know Islam does not like doing it. so I don't think Islam's going to be on 300. I think we can go ahead and chalk that up. Unless something weird happens, I don't think he's going to fight Gachi or Olivaa at 300. Volcanozky's already fighting.

Amali's already fighting. Pantosia's out there. So I guess Pantosia could defend his title against somebody. You know, Zhang Wei, I guess, and Alexa Grasso are out there. But, I mean, the options are getting kind of limited for 300, Matt. Like, there's not a lot of choices out there.

Yeah, you've got to wonder how much they're going to, make a big deal out of it, you know. That's what I keep thinking when I hear about all the people already matched up and, you know, how do they make this a big card. The only other option that I ever crossed my mind was that the Izzy does come back in that amount of time. And that's the best I could ever come up with. Other than that, I kind of think, okay, they're just going to make it as good of a

hard stacked from top to bottom as they can with great fights and believe that the UFC 300 names going to sell itself. I think Pereira, my prediction, we did a predictions article in MMA fighting. My prediction was Pereira Adasania 3 at Light Heavyweight. That was my prediction. Give them the trilogy. Let Israel go back up to Light Heavyweight. Do it again.

Who gives a shit that he lost the Strickland? Everyone would still like to see that fight. Pereira's champ now. Reverse the course. What they just did, they fought. think it's perfect time. I think that's the fight. And then you co-main with Leon and Bilau, that's still a really good fight

and that's still a good co-main event. And then maybe you throw on Grasso, Chichinko or Zhang Wei Li or one of those fights and a third title fight and then you just stack the rest of the card. Yep. I'm seeing the exact same thing you are. The only question is the only question is that main event, is that what it's going to be?

Right. Like, is he going to stay true to his word that he's out till what do you say, 2027? I don't think he used to be truthful about that. Well, maybe not to 27, but, you know, is he still going to come back this soon? You know, that's a big question mark. And, you know, money talks.

So, you know, they might have to convince him a little bit. But, you know, he's the only guy, really, that it would make sense to do it, unless someone comes out of retirement, right? at Nick Diaz and GSP, you know, maybe they re-signed Nate Diaz, you know, something like that. That's the only other options that I'm seeing out there. I had some people suggesting Rhonda Rouse and I was like, guys, let it go. Like, not only would you want to see Ronda against anybody right now?

Like, that would just not be a fair fight. Like, Rhonda was not doing well five years ago. Do you really want to put her in there with Holly Holm again and just run that back? Like, what are we, like, what are we doing here? Like, you know, when Bron, when Bron, when. I was at UFC 200. When Brock came back, that was a cool thing. And Brock at that point was like 38, 39, still incredibly ripped, you know, just a monster of a man.

And it turns out not all natural. But, you know, that was, but he fought Mark Hunt. You know, and Mark Hunt was a striker. We all kind of knew how that fight was probably going to play out. And that's how it did play out. But Rhonda, like, really, like, I'm not interested in that. Like, I have no interest in that. The world's moved on.

She hasn't fought in six years or whatever. five, six years. Like, what are we going to get out of that? Like, what, what, or, it's even longer than that. I think her last five was 2016. Was it 2016, I think? Was it 2016, I think, when she fought Amanda? I know.

We're getting old, bro. Yeah, that's like eight years ago, whatever. It's 2024 and that was a long-ass time ago, as my point. Do we really want to see Ron DeRousey come back and fight somebody? No, I don't. I have no interest in that. Yeah, unless she comes back for some sort of a gimmick fight, you know, with the, against another WV.E.

You know what I mean? The suggestion. The suggestion I saw was Gina Carrano, Rhonda and Gina. Yeah, Gina, you know, which, you know, how long has she been out even longer, right? It's like 13 years, I'll have 14 years. And in my opinion, I hope that the UFC doesn't, I don't want to say stoop to those levels, but it's kind of stooping to those levels where it really is. I know that this is entertainment, but like you're really crossing the line towards like becoming.

in a gimmick. You know, Dana said before that, we don't do gimmick fights. Like, let's hold true to that, right? Like, this is UFC 300. Let's make it a great show regardless of who you have on the show. Even if, you know, even if it's Leon and Ballal is the main event, which I don't, you know, with all due respect to those guys, I don't think anybody's like begging to see it. We're just like, hey, Ballal deserves it and Leon's a champion.

So you guys should fucking make it. outside of that like i don't see i don't think there's anyone like like dude that's going to be a fucking barn burner we got to see that one um but if i'm the ufc um said let's make a fucking quality card let's stick to the the quality of this brand and and let's just give the highest quality shit and and 300 is going to kind of sell itself right it's going to get all the hype without even um i mean you know they're going to promote it like mad but with no promotion all, it's going to get the hype.

Yeah, and there's still plenty. Listen, you know, if you do Izzy and Pereira as the main event, that's a good main event. You do Bilau and Leon, that's a good co-main event. There's still other good fights you could book on there. You can get Hamzot to come back. Kabar Usman's out there. You know, other guys are out there.

The only, the only quote-unquote gimmick fight they could do, like, Matt Brown. Hold on. I'm going there. Hold on a second. Don't get ahead of me now. The only gimmick fight I think they could have done that would have been cool. they're not going to do it, just to be clear about this. But if they could have done the GSP Khabib, I'm in.

That would be like a gimmick fight. Like two guys who've been retired. Okay, give me those guys, but that's not going to happen. Which is in a gimmick fight either. It's not. It's just two guys who've been retired for a while, you know what I mean? But that's it. I don't really have that.

Like, dude, we saw it happen when Nick fought when he fought Robbie. Do we really want to see Nick come back and fight somebody legit? Like, you know, and I mean, Nate would be fun. And, like, we did Nate and Porrier, but that's not a main event. Like, that's a good co-main event, maybe your third fight, but Nathan and Dustin's not a main event right now. But yes, you stole my lead. What about a Matt Brown UFC 300 appearance?

I like that idea. I'm working on, bro. I talked to Sean, and I said, I'd like to be on it. That's as far as I've got so far. What do you say? Did he answer? Yeah, he answered. We talked a little bit.

And come on now. You got to give it to our listeners here, Matt. Come on now. Well, to sum it up, as easy as I can. He said, basically, I can be,

I can, he can more or less guarantee me a spot on 300, and you didn't use the word guarantee. But the placement, you know, I could get a higher place on a different card, potentially, if that makes sense, right?

Right. Being that it's 300, like you might end up a little lower than you want to be, whereas you might get on a different card and be up higher. And, you know, so it's kind of like, you know, which one do you do, you know? I mean, it's one thing if they say you're going to be the opening fight on the prelims, like the early prelims, which that would just be wrong,

versus like if you're on the prelims, like you were on the prelims when you fought Tim Means when you started the run of crazy finishes on that card leading in the end. to Robbie and Rory and all that. The insane card with Connor. We got Maine on the prelims. You were the main on prelims. Yeah, you and you and Means were the main on prelims. And that was the, because the whole card sucked up to that point.

Remember it was all decisions. And then you finished means. I don't remember. I was warming up. Every other fight before yours was bad. And it was all decisions. And then you finished Means. And then the main card went bonkers.

Like that was one of the greatest six fight runs in UFC history. From your fight on, that card ruled. Because that capped off with Connor, beating Mendez. Rory and Robbie Lawler had their fight. That whole fucking car was insane. That would be okay. But they're saying like you're going to be the opening fight on the early prelims,

like the first fight of the night. Okay, I'd pass on that versus like getting a co-main event. But, you know, featured fight on the prelims, second fight on the prelims on the UFC 300 card, massive card. I don't think that's terrible. Yeah, the only thing is when you are the first fight on the prelims, you know exactly when you're going to fight. So you know when to warm up.

and you get out of there early and get to hang and chill. But also. I get paid the same. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, you also have to imagine, this is just my opinion, Matt, but like I have to imagine if they're going to put you on 300, they're going to give you a worthy opponent. Not like, here's just this random contender series guy. Like Matt Brown, Paul Felder, that's fun.

Matt Brown, Jim Miller, that's fun. Like, that kind of fight. Like, legendary. Kind of like when you court McGee's a guy who've been around forever Fought his ass off deserved to be in there with a guy like you When you fought Diego Sanchez ultimate fighter one winner that kind of stuff like I would imagine if they're gonna put you on 300 that's the kind of fight you would get At least in my opinion and then I think it kind of raises the level a little bit if you can fight like a Paul felder

Jim Miller I'm just starting a couple of possible names like that kind of fight I think that would be a lot of fun and it would raise the stakes of fighting on a 300 Yeah, well, we'll see. I mean, those probably be getting back to me pretty soon. So I'm already ramping up, getting in shape. Fortunately, well, unfortunately, I had a staff infection this week, so that kind of threw things off the loop a lot. But getting back into it, man, and starting to get the weight down and training hard.

So we'll see what happens, man. I'm ready. So, you know, whether, and I kind of told them, look, if it's not 300, I'm cool, 200. Like, can I get fucking 300? but you know it is what it is right like I'm there to fight and try to smash a fucking elbow through somebody's forehead and that's what I'm going to do no matter whether it's in my backyard or whether it's UFC 300 you already know I tried to matchmake this because Jim Miller's fighting this weekend and we know he's going to be on 300 he's already been promised to

slot yeah I try to match make you and Jim Miller like what a fucking amazing legend fight that would be Like just two of the fucking old school badasses going in there and throwing down. How much fun would that be? And I know Jim said he fight Walterweight. Like I think that would be a worthy fight of 300 like you and Jim or Paul Felder coming back. I know Paul's back in the Usada or where the fuck they're calling now. The anti-doping pool that's no longer Usada. He's doing it again.

So that's a possibility. I think that would be fun. Like you and Felder, you and Miller, like that kind of fight. I'm not thinking in Bolterweights on top of my head. Like if they could have run you and Robbie back, that would have been fun. But obviously Robbie's retired now. but like that would be a 300 fight. I think that would be the kind of perfect fight for you, in my opinion.

Yeah, my opinion too. I'm down for whatever, though. I don't really question a whole lot. Like, they throw me an opponent. I say, let's go. Well, the request has been made, and I assume you're going to break the news right here on the podcast. I mean, geez, you did the last one.

You got to do it with this one, right? Like, you break a 300 fight on this car. Come on now. Yeah, whenever it happens, I'm ready, bro. Boating from flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Oh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea.

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I mean, you know, a lot of the champions are already matched up, you know, like a couple of things I'm looking forward to. Obviously, when John Jones comes back. And I know a lot of people are complaining that he should fight Tom Aspinall, and I like Tom Aspinall. and I understand that that's the quote unquote

like sexier fight for the hardcores because Tom's on a run and John is the heavyweight champion but I have to remind everyone and no one's going to like hearing this but I'm just being honest and telling you the truth Tom Aspinall's interim champion because they needed a fight on that pay-per-view

he's not interim champion because they needed that John was out and they were you know just desperate to crown a new champion in his absence John fell off the card, they needed a title fight. So they booked a new title fight. They booked an interim title fight.

I don't really have a problem of John fight Steepa. That's a legacy fight. I get that. Like Stepe is the greatest heavyweight of all time. John wants to put that on his record. I get it. I understand that. So I don't really have a problem with him coming back and fighting Stepe.

And maybe I'm one of the like nine people excited about that one because I do look forward to that fight. Outside of that, man, I do look forward to it. Tom's not comes back this year at middleweight. I think he's going to be a real force of nature, depending on who he faces. I thought him and Adasania would have been a great fight, but I think they're going to end up putting Adasania against Pereira,

you know, because they need a main event for 300. But him coming back is going to be exciting. You know, Bo Nichols fighting at 300. I think he's going to make waves. I mean, he's not there yet. He's not certainly not a contender yet, but he's there. I just spoke to Manil Cobb a couple of days. He's fighting coming up this weekend.

I think he's a guy you've got to keep an eye on for the flyweight title this year. Tatiana Suarez, that girl is a freak. She is just like, somebody's holding the belt, I think Jane Willie is a monster. She may just be keeping the belt warm until Tatiana Suarez gets there. Like, that's how good that girl is.

So there's a lot to look forward to this year. Boy, you got a good list there. You know, a couple things I'd add. First, I'm going to agree. Like, Tatiana is the fucking beast of that division. She's the problem in that division. for everyone. I don't think anyone holds a candle to her in that division.

So I agree with you right on with that one. And I'll tell you what, with John and Aspinall, like, I would personally, I'm still on the train. Like, I would rather see John fight Tom Aspinall or Stipe fight Tom Aspinall. Like, I feel like Aspinall deserved it, or deserves. that big fight now and his legacy fight, right? Of course, of course, like John and Stipe, you know, makes for a great fight and it's interesting and all that. But I keep in mind, too, like, this is the UFC.

Like, you fight the best, and especially if you're, if you are the best, like, you fight the best until you can't anymore and then you move on. if John's the champion, like he should be fighting the best, right? And Tom Aspinall is the best. So I am kind of on that train too. I get what they're doing. I understand it. Like, certainly John and Steepa is a much larger pay-per-view,

which is probably why the UFC wants to keep it that way. But I want to see him fight Tom Aspinall. I want to see John fight Tom Aspenal or Steepa fight Tom Aspinall. So in theory, I'm with you, because it is the more established guy. Tom Aspinall has established himself as the guy. But the reality is for all the, you know, the best fight to best, I mean, you know, I'll just throw back what just happened. Colby Covington fighting Leon Edwards.

Colby Covington didn't deserve that shot. He absolutely did not deserve that shot. You know what I mean? Belal Maham was so far ahead of him. Shafkat Rakmanov was ahead of him based on what he'd done recently. You know what I mean? But Colby's the name. Colby who sells or Colby, you know, apparently sells.

enough that they want to put them in there. So that's what I'm saying, like, to you and me and the hardcore, we all know how good Tom Aspinall is, but there's a casual audience out there putting down $80 for a pay-per-view, and they're more likely to put down $80 to see John Jones fight Steepi Miochich than they are to put down $80 to fight John Jones versus Tom Aspenol. And I think that's where the UFC's coming from. And listen, I'm with you.

Let Stepe fight Tom. Like, you know, when the UFC, when John Jones got injured, they didn't even offer Steepay. the interim title fight. They didn't say, hey, or fight Tom Asponar fight Sergey Pavlovich

for the interim. They didn't offer him that because they wanted to preserve the fight. They wanted to preserve John and Steepa. I get it. So if they're going out of their way to do that, they're not going to change that. Like, I get where Tom Aspinall's coming from.

He wants to be the best in the world and the best of the world is John Jones. I totally understand that. But the reality is, dude, you're not getting it. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I hate it, and I'm sorry for you,

but you're not getting it. So keep a close eye on Jailton, Almeida, and Curtis Blades, because the winner of that's probably going to be your next opponent, pal. Yeah, and I agree with you. I mean, I know what it is. I said, UFC is a, you know, a profit first company, right?

I mean, that's why you have companies. Like, businesses exist to make a profit. So, you know, I'm not hating on them for doing that. I'm just saying, you know, I would rather see that, you know, Tom fight those savages, you know, the top guys too, or John fight the champion. but is what it is. With that said, the two things that I'm looking the most for, too, off the top of my head

is how Alex Pereira does in the light heavyweight division. I think there's some exciting matchups there for him. I think that's a fucking, he's such an exciting guy to watch. And, you know, we never know what's going to happen if someone's finally going to be able to take him down and hold him down. Because we keep saying that's good, the weakness, that's what you got to do. and hasn't happened yet. And, you know, he's one of the greatest combat sports athletes in history. So I love watching him and everything that he's done and always cheering for him.

He's such a fucking badass, man. Love that guy. So that's number one. The number two is in my own division is what Shavkat ends up doing. Does he get the title this year? Is he everything that he's shown us so far, he's, proved to be everything that we thought he was. Does he hold up to that, you know, at the top of the division?

Because he's got a tough path ahead of him now, right? Like, you know, he's beating Leon's not going to be no easy feet. I'm guessing he's probably in line to fight the winner of Leon or Belaw. He's probably going to be the next guy to fight for the title there. And I'm excited to see what happens there. And I think it's going to be a fucking barn burner of a fight, whether it's Bilal or Leon. with Shavkat. You know it would be a fun fight. I don't think they'll make it because they

could sacrifice him, but dude, Uspin and Shavkat would be a fun fight. That would be a really fun fight. But I agree. Shavkat is a monster and I don't think it's a I don't think it's, you know, as good as he's been, it's certainly not a lock that he's going to roll through Leon Edwards or Bilal Muhammad, you know what I mean?

Like, that's no guarantee, but I'm with you 100%. And am I wrong in thinking that I... Is Usman going to stay at 185, though? I don't know. We haven't heard for sure. Like he said he would, but I think he could still fight it well to wait if there was a good fight for him. You know what I mean? Like I think if they gave him Shavkat, I think you'd take that fight. I think that would be a good fight for him, you know?

So, but yeah, like that's interesting. And I don't think, listen, Pereira, like, I think Pereira is going to be a better light heavyweight than he was a middle weight because he's not cutting all that weight anymore. Like, he's a big guy. Like, he's a big dude. Like, cutting all that weight, dude, like, I'm telling you what I was talking about way earlier in the show. When you cut that much weight, it can diminish the punches you, the, the punches you, can take. And I think he's going to be a better lighthead. Dude, I know we're talking about Pereira Izzy at 300, and I hope they make it. It's a legendary rivalry. Let's see it

finished once and for all. That'd be really cool. But tell me, you would not want to see Alex Pereira or Israel Adasanya, whoever wins that fight against Jamal Hill. Holy shit, that would be a fight. Oh, yeah. Exactly. That's why I'm so excited to see what Pereira does this year. When you talk about the cutting the weight, you know, the punches that you're able to take is only one part of that, too. It can certainly affect a lot of other things, too, including your cardio, your strength. And I think the one thing kind of forgotten is your mindset, because a lot of people, I've seen this many, too many times, their whole camp is focused on making weight. They're not really training for an opponent. They're not really training to be the best they can be.

They're not really training to go kill a man. They're training to cut weight. And then I've experienced this myself where Friday night, like after you cut the weight, like you just feel so fucking relieved that you got all the weight off and you're done. You almost forget that you got to fight tomorrow. And then you got to like refocus again to go fight the next day. You know, because like your whole everything, you know, is going, up and up and like you're killing yourself to make this weight.

And then finally you can relax and everything comes down. It's like now you've got to fire yourself back up again. And that can be a big strain mentally. So my point is it affects a lot of things on that. So seeing Pereira not cutting that much weight, I agree. It's going to be an exciting thing. And it's funny you say, because I remember having a conversation when Michael Kiesa went to well to weight.

What you said was almost word for word, he told me. He said I used to go through every single camp. I didn't learn anything. I was just cutting weight. I was just so concerned about getting my weight down when he was fighting a lightweight. That's all I could focus on. I was doing road work and cardio and watch what I eat. I could not get better because all I could worry about was cutting weight. And it's literally word for what you said. That's all he says. All I did for eight weeks was just cut weight. I didn't train to get better. I was cutting weight the entire time. Yeah. And it's amazing, you know, guys like him. or maybe Pereira, they still get as far as they do.

Like, just shows, like, fighters are some crazy tough motherfuckers, man. Yeah, if the time it worked out better, you know, I think you and you and MVP would be a fun fight in 300. I'm just throwing that out there as an idea. I know MVP's fight. Yeah, yeah, I think it'd be a blast. Yeah, he's fighting. He got something booked, though, didn't he?

He's got Kevin Holland in March. It was in February or March. I can't which one it is, but I don't think it'd be too soon to fight at 300 in April. So, but that'd be fun. Dude, Holland's not an easy fight, man. They did not give MVP an easy fight for his first fight in the UFC. Like, that is not an easy fight. If Kevin Holland fights him in a real fight, like, doesn't do the Wonderboy bullshit

where he says, let's just stand and trade. Because he took Wonderboy down one time and just let him back up. He doesn't do that. Dude, I think Kevin Holland can absolutely beat Michael Bennett and Page. Well, even if it stays on the feet, I mean, Kevin Holland's a nightmare on the feet and the ground. So, yeah. Yeah. And Michael Bennett Page is not Wonderboy.

So, you know, it's going to be interesting. And it'd be interesting to see how MVP does in the UFC, too. You know, it's very different than the guys. You know, there was only a couple of guys over at Bellator that he fought that were really like UFC level. Like Douglas Lima, who knocked him out. I can't even think of anyone else. But I'm sure there were others. But, you know, now he's in the big leagues.

you know, now Kevin Holland is a perfect like welcome to the big leagues you know, because he's an absolute fucking killer and he can fuck you up from any position. Yeah, I think they're not giving him like a win. They're not giving him

like an easy win. Like they're not giving him a fight to say, welcome to the UFC Michael Vendompey. They're giving him a fight to say, well, you're jumping in the deep and you better learn how to swim, big boy because you're getting Kevin Holland right out of the gates and that is not an easy fight man. and I agree, that's not, like, he did not fight, you know, he fought, you know, Paul Daly, you know, and we know what Paul Daly was.

He fought, you know, Logan Storley, who was incredibly one-dimensional fighter, and he fought Douglas Libby who knocked him out, and the second fight was just a really ugly, kind of boring fight. That's not Kevin Holland, man. That's not any of the guys you're going to fight in the top 15 in the UFC. You know, that's not a wonder boy, like you said, that's not any wonder boy. You better, you know, we'll see how good Michael Ben and Page. right now. We'll find out pretty quick. And they can do that with Wonderboy.

He came in. They originally, I can't remember the name of the first guy they gave him, but that guy was just a, I mean, he just stood there and looked completely hypnotized by being in the UFC and fighting a guy who hypnotizes you. Even when he fought me, I mean, I think they expected, you know, me to be another one of those guys that would stand there and take shots from him.

And I just proved him wrong. which, you know, just to be a little bit disgruntled here or be a little, whatever you want to say, I don't know. But I've always felt like when they talk about Wonder Boys' losses, they don't really bring mine up a whole lot, you know, just saying Joe Rogan and D.C., you know. But anyway, yeah, so MVP's coming in with a, you don't see guys come in debut fighting guys like Kevin Holland very often. that means either they want to see MVP get his ass whooped or they want to throw him to the deep end and they believe he's going to do big things

straight off the rip. Yeah, I kind of lean towards the former. They're just like, you know, throw him in there and like, you know, not like, you know, this is, you're getting Kevin Holland that day one buddy boy. Like, you better be able to sink or swim here because I don't, I don't, I've interviewed MVP a few times. Incredibly nice guy.

I think he is a talented guy. But I've never been, on the train of saying like he is this next level unbelievable superstar guy. Like I've never been on that train with him because Bellator fed him a lot of tomato cans and he should have just knocked out and he did what he was supposed to do. He didn't really fight the best of the best his entire time of Belator. And Bellator had guys that could have thrown him. He never fought Jason Jackson.

He never had to fight Amosov. He never had to fight the guys at the top until he fought Douglas Leva. You know, we saw it happen the first time they fought. So I don't know. Like I said, we'll see how good he is over here. We talk about what we're looking forward to doing in 2024. I got to be honest. Like, I'm also looking forward.

Like, I know I kind of dug a little bit on, like, whether Francis are fighting on. I am very curious to see what PFL is going to do this year. Like, now that they have the Bellator roster, how are they going to employ that? Are we going to get really good fun notable fights? Like, are we going to get Kayla Harrison and Chris Seibor? Are we going to get, you know, patchy Mix proving that he is, in my opinion, I think he's the best band to win in the sport. Like, no offense, Sean O'Malley, but I think Patsy Mix is the best bansomweight in all a mixed martial arts. Are we going to get him quality opponents that are going to be able to push him because they don't have that.

They don't have a bansomweight they have is a bellator bantamweight. So can they find or sign or seek out free agents? You know what I mean? Like, can they get those guys over there to fight? Johnny Eblen kind of in the same boat with the middleweight division. But that's interesting. So I'm interested to see what they do. Also, what are the name I didn't mention the UFC?

I completely forgot about this. what's Umar and Armagh Mata Medov going to do this year? That's another guy looking forward to seeing what he does this year. Yes. And which has just brought up a good point that I was saying about may not be the most exciting thing to be looking forward to, but the whole, I believe, Bantamweight Division with Marab, Cheeto, Shottomali, Aljo, or if Aljo's moving up.

Aljo's fighting Calvin Cater. Oh, he's fighting, yeah, yeah, moving up. But, you know, if, you know, If Rob was to lose or something, I don't know, would Aljo go back down? That's what I mean. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, the whole thing is pretty interesting. And as dorky as Sean O'Malley is, like he does make a bring a lot of interest to that division.

San Hagan coming back, dude. San Hagan. I mean, yeah. It's an exciting division overall right now. It's an incredible division, man. I mean, like I said, we got a good fight coming up this week at Mario Batiste and Ricky Simone. that's a really fun fight. That's a really good one.

Obviously, Jonathan Martinez has been killing people lately, and he's in there. He's a very soft-spoken guy, so he doesn't really, like, you know, bang the drum, look at me. But, man, he's... Look what Cody Garbrand just did to Brian Keller. I'm not saying Cody Garbrand's back,

but Jesus Christ, man, when he's on, that dude still is fun and is dangerous to watch anybody in that division. So, yeah, there's still a lot of good fights out there. You know, Dominic Cruz, I don't know what's going on with him, but Rob Font. You still came at.

Demison Figurato is an band's away now. He looked great against Rob Font, that's a fight we both didn't see going that way and then he goes out there and styles on Rob Fawn. I mean, dude, there's so many fun fights at Bantway right now. I mean, give them all to me. I want to see them all. But Umar is the guy in my head.

Umar is the guy. He's my Shavkat. Like, I want to see how far Umar can take this because healthy, I think Umar can be the best Bansway in the sport. He just hasn't fought those guys yet. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see when he fights the real fucking killers because he's got a very, very unique style that, I'm not sure

these guys well that's one of the great things about Bannon with there's so many different styles and everybody is you know God they're just stylistically like they need a

fucking round robin tournament like that's the best thing I think of like I want to see all of them fight each other because and you know and Umar just brings another wild style in there that we're not used to see him Yeah, him and Corey would have been such a fun fight.

I don't know if they're going to rebook it this year, but that would have been a really interesting fight because Corey is... Or him and Chito or any of the strikers in the division, I mean, he's going to make a very tough fight to call. Yeah, Umar and Jonathan Martinez would be a fun fight. That would be a fun fight. You know what I mean? Jonathan Martinez is no joke, man.

That kid's super tough. Leg kicks are nasty. Him and him and Omar would be a fun fight. Dude, I mean, the list goes on and on. That is such an exciting division. And like I said, I think, you know, Sean has brought a little bit more interest to the division.

Not really my type of guy or whatever, but, you know, he's brought a little bit more interest to the division, which, you know, I don't see him being champion at the end of 24. I don't either. I don't know if he's going to get past Cheetah. I don't know if he's going to get past Cheetah from being honest. that's going to be very very very interesting you know and chito's that guy that you know you fuck up he's going to take you out you know and he just stays in there he's so good at staying in a fight the

whole time especially like what we see with dominic cruz right he just stayed in there stayed in his face stayed disciplined and found his spot and um you know it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out but but sean does always as as a fighter surprised me too. Like he's always overachieved. But whether he's actually overachieved is what I can't decide, right? Like, is he actually overachieving or is he actually this fucking good? It's going to be interesting because it kind of reminds me a little bit when they made

the Bisping, Dan Henderson rematch when Bisping was champion. And Dan Henderson was at the tail into his career. You know, he wasn't really the number one contender. But Michael Bisping wanted that one back from the knockout of UFC 100. and Dan still gave him an incredibly tough fight. Caught him with the H-bomb, we thought he was going to get him again. He was a good scrap. Dan gave him everything he can handle.

Bisping ended up win a decision, but Dan just didn't go away. And that's kind of what I see in this fight. Like, is Cheeto really the number one contender? No, he's not. Like, he doesn't actually deserve this. He's getting it because he has a win over Sean. But that doesn't mean he can't win this fight. Like, that absolutely does not mean he can't win this fight.

I mean, yeah, Cheetos is in his prime, too. He is He looks really good with everything that he's doing And like I say he just stays so disciplined And stays responsible with his jab and his kicks And you know stays in a stance always And you know It makes for a tough fight for anybody

Because you make one mistake And he's gonna put it on you hard Yeah and but again Sean shows O'Malley surprised me with Aljo I didn't think he'd beat Aljo He did Maybe he gets past Cheetah But man

I mean, good Lord, walking the gauntlet after that, you got to go through Marab or even Suhudo. I mean, listen, I say what you will by Henry Suu. That's still a tough matchup for anybody. Sanhagen, Umar. I mean, good Lord, that is like walking into the lion's den and just like throwing down a piece of meat and asking for trouble. Is Sehudo coming back? Yeah, Sehudo's fight Marab in February. Oh, shit, I forgot all about that.

I see so much of Suhudo doing all of his stuff on social media all the time. I forget that he fights. to I think it's like as a now or something. Yeah, he's actually training. I think he's helping Amir al-Bazi get ready for Brandon Moreno down in Mexico. He's helping him get ready for that fight down in Arizona.

So, uh, no, he's still, but yeah, him and Marab, man, that's a fascinating fight. You know, Libby goal medalist. Marab spams you with takedowns. Interesting fight. Only three rounds. So, you know, Marab doesn't even have to go hard like he did against Peter Yan for five rounds.

So that's a real, dude, if Marab beats Suhudo and they don't give him a title shot, I'm just done. Like, I'm just going to call it a day because good Lord, what else is that guy have to do to get a title shot? No doubt. And I mean, he didn't get tired in five rounds with Yon.

So, you know, yeah, it's going to be really interesting. And also to be interested because Sehudo will wrestle with him too. Yeah. Right. Like he's not going to avoid wrestling. Like Yom was just being defensive and,

you know, trying to get back to his striking and not really wrestling with him, just trying to get away from the wrestling. Whereas Sehudo will absolutely engage in. the wrestling with them, which then we'll get to see how good Rob scrambles are and how good is, you know, how good as Matt wrestling is and things like that. Yeah, that's a great fight, man. So many good fights coming up, man.

And like I said, the schedule does not slow down. Once it starts, it does not stop. We've got a lot of big fights coming over the next few months. And, of course, UFC 300 in April. Hopefully we'll see Matt the Immortal Brown on that card or another card, you know, sometime soon after that. But, yeah, lots of big stuff coming. We've got lots of coming in 2024.

Next week, of course, Matt. You'll see 297. We're going to kick off the year with our pay-per-view. We got Sean Strickland. Did you see Sean Strickland's interview with Theo Vaughn? Did you hear about this? I heard about it. I didn't watch it.

Yeah. Yeah, pretty emotional stuff. He broke down a couple times and rightfully so. He went through a really shitty childhood. I get it, man. You and I, well, I know I did. I didn't have the most stable up bringing myself so I can understand where he's coming from. Him and Drake is going to throw down a couple weeks.

and we got Myra Buenos Silvan, Raquel Pennington, going to fight for a new bantanweight title, which is interesting, without Giuliana Pena round. So, yeah, interesting fight coming up in Toronto in a couple weeks.

Yeah, we're making picks. We'll do it next week. We'll do it next week. We'll do it next week. Yeah, because this week is actually a good fight too. We got Johnny Walker and, and Magamad Ankaliev coming up on Saturday. Yeah, dude, that's a real good fight.

The rematch. Probably going to fly under the radar a little bit, but yeah, yeah, because they fought first on when was that? That was just a couple of months ago, right? Yeah, November they had no contest, and so it ended, you know, in a controversy with the, was it low blow or the eye poker, I know what it was. Ended.

Now they're rematching in January, great fight. Manel Kopp fighting Mateus Nicolao on that card. That's a really good fight. Jim Miller fighting Gabriel Benitez. That's a good fight. So, yeah, under the radar card for sure, but really good. And then going right into Toronto with Strickland and Drake's Duplice. so good fights coming up.

Good. We got a lot of breaking down to do, huh? We do. We will do that next week. But for now, we want to say thank you to everyone that always tunes into the show. Matt, where can everyone check you out anywhere? They want to throw you some support. Depends on what social media platform you like.

I got Twitter, X, I guess, now is what it's called. X at I am the immortal. Instagram, same. Facebook, The Immortal Matt Brown. And probably some other. shit at the Immortal Coffee, you know, I can't ever remember all this shit. I got so much shit going on, bro. You can find me on fucking Airbnb if you want. You're everywhere, man. Finding you in the ice bath. Come over finding you in the ice baths.

We'll find you in the mornings. Dude, I'm telling you, you got to come try it sometimes. Maybe not in the morning. You know, that's for us fucking weirdos. The hardest of the hardcore. I don't know. It's kind of hardcore. It's kind of just weird, too. because like I don't want to, I don't like having to wash my underwear, so I just go out there naked. Like my girlfriend, you know, when she stays in, she's like, you know,

wake up more than I'm walking outside naked into my eyes. She's like, what the fuck are you doing? Neighbors are like, what is this guy doing out in his yard? Unfortunately, I'm private from my neighbor. So. Okay. But you would think that I'm, you think, maybe I'm hanging around Coleman too much. Yeah, Coleman.

Coleman doesn't mind, you know, showing off the hammer. He certainly doesn't mind doing that. So, you know, Matt just hanging on nude in his backyard, getting in the ice bath. I will not be joining you on those mornings. I'll just tell you that ahead of time. You know, clothing is not optional when I'm over at the ice bath, just so you know. Yeah, I don't want to see you naked either, Damon. No, no, you don't.

I promise you you. That's what I'm saying. No one wants that. So trust me. I want you getting too jealous if you see me naked. Oh, man, I tell you. All right. We're going to end on that note.

We're talking about nude ice baths. That's how you know the show's gone off the rails completely. We're going to be back next week with our UFC 297 previews. We get ready for the first pay-per-view card of the year. We'll break down Drake's Duplice and Sean Strickland. Obviously, as always, you guys want to find the podcast, wherever you find podcasts, Apple, Podcast, Spotify. And, of course, over on the best website in the world. We'll see you guys next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Rider.

Thanks to tune in. We'll see you then.