MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: Should Colby Covington Actually Get the Next Title Shot Against Leon Edwards?

Episode Date: March 21, 2023

Following an eventful UFC 286 card over the weekend, The Fighter vs. The Writer with Matt Brown and Damon Martin discusses the biggest storylines coming out of the event including Leon Edwards successfully defending his title against Kamaru Usman in the main event.  Edwards picked up a second win over Usman after scoring a stunning comeback knockout in their rematch but now that he’s vanquished arguably the second best welterweight in history, what should be next? Well, UFC president Dana White says Colby Covington is getting the next title shot but is that coming at the expensive of Belal Muhammad? Brown argues why Edwards should actually just take the fight with Covington while also talking about the potential matchup between Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov. We’ll also discuss Justin Gaethje’s latest Fight of the Night performance over Rafael Fiziev and how the UFC should move away from the current bonus structure and start offering finish bonuses to all the fighters on every card. All this and much more on the latest episode of The Fighter vs The Writer! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify Read More: MMA Fighting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome back to the Fighter versus the writer. I'm Damon Martin. He is Matt Brown and Matt. We are back after another UFC pay review and we are one week closer to the immortal, making his return to the Octagon on May 13th. So not far away now. I can't wait either. Eight weeks out.

Does it feel real now? Does it feel really real? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly how it kind of works. You know, it doesn't really feel that even like it's, you know, when you're like 12 weeks out, it's so far away.

You're like, yeah, I don't want to do too much, you know, burn myself out or whatever. You kind of just getting that base conditioning. And now, yeah, things are getting real. Like, you know, we're doing more shark tank rounds. Guys are coming. You know, a lot of my training partners, you know, they're getting ready for their things,

getting together, they're getting into shape and kicking my ass as much as they can. Yeah, just ramp it up now, man. It's fun. In your head at this point, how many times do you punch Cort McGee in the face? Um, I've done everything to them.

You mentioned you said punch and I'm saying, well, that's one of the many things. that was the pause, right? That was one of the many things that I'm going to do to him. Punch, elbow, knee. How many times do you imagine just obliterating Courtney McGee at this point? Every day, bro. I love it.

I love it. That's the way we're starting getting this closer to fight. You can't think about anything else. That's why I've never done podcasts before, right? Every time we started to do a podcast, I'm like, bro, you know, I'm getting a little close, you know. I'm, you know, obviously, like I'm a little bit older now and I'm a little more relaxed about it, but for the most part, you can't think about anything else, man. There's nothing else on your mind.

Every single thing you're doing, it's hard to do, like, relationship stuff. It's hard to do something. He's just hang out with your friends. Like, everything is just, let's get ready for this fight. Yeah. Well, I wrangled you into the podcast now. I was like, dude, you're doing the podcast. We're doing it every week.

And thankfully, you said that this has actually become a bit of a retreat for you a little bit to just kind of get your mind off of it. So, like, this works out well. Like I said, this is the first time we're doing this into a fight camp because when we tried to do it before, it never worked out very well. But I think it's going to be cool this time because I'm going to come up to the gym. We're going to do some cool stuff leading into the fight. And, yeah, I think it'll be fun. Like I said, I, trust me, listen, I'm not a fighter.

Not going to pretend I'm a fighter, but I do know talking to a lot of fighters. And they say, like, sometimes you just got to get your head away from it for like an hour, you know, just like get your, you know, get away from it for a little bit. And I guess that's this is your, this is your vacation from punching things for a few hours. and then, you know, for a couple hours, then we do a podcast. To some extent, yeah. Yeah, but, you know, we're still talking about it. So it's only so much for a vacation. But, you know, I'm really getting into educating and coaching a lot more.

You know, I have a lot of five left. Like, I'm not going to make another run for the title. So I know what it is, you know, so right now doing things like this, like I'm building that, those next steps, you know, maybe it could be a help, maybe be a podcaster, right? Maybe we do this and, you know, get rich doing this or, you know, whatever it is. you know, I'm building towards the next things. And, you know, sorry, with that in the back of my mind, you know, I'm also a lot more relaxed about things too, knowing that I'm not searching for a title, knowing that I'm not going out,

you know, trying to get the, the, the toughest, you know, just beating, you know, trying to fight the toughest guys every time. So there's a little bit of relaxation to that. Like, look, you know, I'm doing this. for fun now I'm doing it because I love it and I'm doing it to inspire younger people the next generation my own kids of course and the kids in my gym so with the motivation being a little different it makes a platform like this much more excited to do yeah absolutely we did the ask Matt Brown segment last week and you did a talk about an answer you know when you said you know when you're

you know when you're you're you know how do you come out of it you know I don't want to I don't kind of paraphrase the question but a lot of responses to that a lot of people were like kind of inspired by that and said like how cool that answer was and I thought it was amazing as well. So this is an opportunity where people who can't come into gym and train with you on a daily basis or don't live in Ohio or whatever the case may be or they just don't know you in that way or you know 180 characters on Twitter doesn't do the job. This is a chance for you to kind of reach out to those people and answer questions and kind of reach people on a different level. And obviously we talk about fights and other stuff too. But it is. It's a good platform to talk to people and

and reach people you wouldn't normally reach. Yeah, it's pretty cool, man. You know, I tweeted the other day. I don't know if you seen it where I was like, I was such a fucking idiot 10 years ago. Like, am I going to think the same thing about me in another 10 years? I'm sure most people think that, but just the amount of knowledge that I feel like I've acquired in the past few years,

you know, not to devolve too much into my personal life, but, you know, I went through a lot of different things in the last few years. And just the knowledge that I've gained and the confidence that I've built, And I look back into my dude, like I'm the one who's limited myself. So it's a good feeling to inspire others not to limit themselves. And if I can bring that to the world, then, you know, a little part to make this world a better place.

You know, I'm probably not going to run for president or anything to make the world a better place. And I don't think David would vote for me. So I'm going to have to try to inspire people another way. Now here's a question for you, Matt, because I had this experience last week. You know, they send you on Facebook. They send you like Facebook reminders of like a photo you posted a decade ago or, you know, here's your video from 15, whatever it is. I got a photo the other day and it's like seven, eight years old.

It's not that old, maybe like seven, eight years old. But it was you and me and our buddy Jeremy Loper and we did a, a radio spot at the casino here in Columbus. Do you remember that? It was like seven, eight years ago. It was a while ago. Yeah, it was a St. Patty's Day part. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So the photo pulled up from your memory and I was, I looked just, I looked the way I was dressed and I didn't really think I was dressed that much differently than I dressed today. But like even that, I was like, oh my God. Why did I wear that shirt? Like why does that? So even that little thing like that, seeing a member from like seven and eight years ago, I was like, oh my God. Now here, be honest, because Matt, everyone thinks of you as this savage, just fucking badass Matt Brown. What's the most embarrassing? Haircut, T-shirt, any proof that's out there of Matt Brown, that you'd be embarrassed. to see at this point in your life.

Oh, man. I should, maybe I should post a picture of it if I really want to be a glutton for punishment and just hate myself for the rest of my life. In high school, I wanted facial hair so bad. I just wanted a beard.

But my beard wouldn't grow in, but my mustache did. So you had a mustache. So I had a mustache. And I was trying to grow my hair out. Yeah. So my mom takes me to the senior picture and you have decent hair look like I don't know like Dynbach Daryl or something right

she let that happen she parts my head across the side with the mustache it's kind of hard to explain I think but if you see the picture you'll you'll get her big out of it I kind of don't want to post it but now that we're talking about it maybe I'll have to how long was there it's probably like probably like uh close to my ears and parted right down the middle not right down the middle you know like oh okay side like traditional you know um old school you know my mom's you know she's old school right you know she wanted that nice book and and i'm you know so it's it was a bad look bro dude i need to see i need to see this photo i need to see this photo i'm just Like, dude, I have plenty of embarrassing photos I could share.

But, you know, we need to see. I was going to say, like you're asking me, I don't have that many embarrassing ones. I bet you got a plethora of fucking embarrassing. Okay, you don't want to hear it. No, dude, I'm not. Dude, I fully admit I do. Like, years ago when I used to run a CD store and I was working around music all the time, dude, I had like, like, one of your all time favorite bands, Papa Roach.

Dude, I actually had, I actually had like a girl coming to my store one time and she's like, she confused me with Jacoby Shaddix, the singer, because my hair was all spiked up. I had like the giant spiked hair, like the huge, like Mohawk hair. Dude, it was so bad.

So yeah, listen, I'm not ashamed to admit I had some really bad haircuts of the day when I was like in a full on rocker mode, man. I put some, I put some serious gel in that hair. Dude, how long does it take to do that shit. What's the longest you ever spent? You know what's weird?

Actually, that took me less time than it normally takes to just like fix my hair now when I just have a normal like, you know, whatever you want to call, like a pot like kind of a pompadour kind of look. Like that took less time because I was literally just sticking my hair. It's like I stuck my finger and a light socket. I literally just took my head and went like this, like straight up and it just stayed. Because you put like that like gel glue stuff and it just makes your, hair goes straight up in the air. So that was actually, honestly, didn't take me much time at all

because all I was doing is literally sticking my hair straight up in the air. So it wasn't that hard. You have the easiest haircut though. You don't have hair. So that's why I do it. I don't like dealing with it. Now, here's the question though. When, when retirement happens one day, and I know this is down the road, when retirement happens one day and you're, you know, you're running businesses, you got the coffee business, everything, you know, all the things going on. Is there a chance Matt Brown grows his hair back out again? of all things that I've thought about I have thought of

I may go like scissors or finger length on top scissors I know you had the I know you had the I know you had the mohawk at one point so you know you can let that grow out

and just have like a bigger longer mohawk yeah I like the mohawk I used to have you know finger length on top even in the UFC oh I remember that you know it's funny yeah I took a there's another geez man like a weird thing here. Facebook memory,

I almost posted it because there's a stare down I have of you from a fight. And I'm trying to remember which one it was. But you had hair. I remember that. Like it wasn't like long or anything, but you had like actual hair. Like I can't remember which fight it was. But it popped up my Facebook memories of a photo I took of you to weigh in.

And I was like, oh, look at Matt's hair. So yeah, you have had. I'm just starting like, I want to see like full on like Matt Brown like full on just like metal hair. I want to see like head banging hair. Yeah, that probably never happened. doing my hair, man.

Even when I had a little bit, like an inch long or whatever, like, you know, I just throw a little bit of gel and shake it up a little bit and go on, man. I don't like fucking with it. It's just a hassle. And it kind of sucks because I'm like the hairiest fucking guy you've ever met. So I get to deal with it all the time. And I just hate it, man. I don't know how people do it.

I don't know how girls do it. I feel like it'd be miserable. Like, here's my morning routine. Everybody talks about morning routine. I don't have a morning routine. I don't believe in morning routine. I get the fuck up and I go. If I have to stop there, like, I got to brush my teeth.

That's enough for me right there. Brush my teeth. Get some breakfast. Let's fucking go, man. That's a far better morning routine than all these online meditation dorks. You know, they're meditating, their ice bath, whatever kind of stupid shit. Let's go fucking do something.

Let's go straight away. If I'm not out the door in 30 minutes, I'm pissed off. I mean, do you take time to shower? Like, is that, like, still part of the routine? I shower at night before I go to bed. Okay, okay, yeah. All right. Yeah, it helps you sleep better.

Yeah. It helps you sleep better. That's one of the things, you know, if we're going to talk about camp, one of the things that is actually through my training is I have put a huge infant on sleep. Everybody talks about all these different recovery things. And I go to the gym, everybody's foam rolling and, you know, they're stretching. this bullshit, you do the sauna, all these silly things. I love the sauna, don't get me wrong.

I love the ice bath, all that stuff. I said, man, like the lowest hanging fruit is your sleep. That is the low hanging fruit for every single person on this. And I read that book, Why We Sleep, but Matthew Walker, he's been on Joe Rogue, and Tim Ferriss, all the big podcast. And it just blew me away, man. So I put a huge emphasis on sleep, but blacked out my room, bought a new mattress, new pillow, new blanket, keep it uber clean.

I never go to my room until it's time to go to sleep. I read it, I listen to classical music, maybe an hour before bedtime. What else? You know, I don't bring my phone with me into my bedroom anymore. That was a huge one. I actually leave it downstairs. That was a huge one for me.

You know, John of Luey's like I take a shower about 30 to 45 minutes. falling asleep. And, you know, heat your body up and you cool off and you feel comfortable and clean. And it's just so much better, man. Are you like a strict eight hours a night kind of guy or more? So come to find out from, again, researching a lot about it. They say that like seven, seven and a half or nine, nine and a half is better than eight. Because of the way our sleep cycles work.

We go an hour and a half cycles, right? And that doesn't equal eight. so it's pretty interesting how it works so I'm more of a 9 to 10 to be honest I try to get sleeping the entire time but 9 to 10 I'm laying there relaxing no phone no books nothing no light and I'm laying there the whole time

you don't want to know about my sleep schedule man you don't want to how many hours of sleep I get at night you would not be happy with me Matt it would not do it would not do you I get like if I get I'm going to read this book if I get it's called If I get five hours, I'm on the good side. Five hours, five to six hours is my max.

That's all I ever get. I don't ever get more than six hours. Yeah, I just, I'm weird like that. Like, I just, I don't know what it is. It's not that I'm,

it's not that I don't like sleep well. I sleep great. And there are some nights where I do sleep longer, but I don't know. I just have one of those, like really busy minds. Like I can't, it's hard for me to fall as I have to.

Like, I read right before I go to sleep. It's the only thing that kind of like calms with my mind down. And then, I don't know, I'm just in a routine. Like I work every day and so I'm just like I my mind wakes me up like I don't oversleep. I don't, you know, like I don't use an alarm, but my body just like gets me up.

I don't know it's a weird thing. I just sick five to six hours. Is it after the day? Sometimes depends. I know that probably hurts. I understand that probably hurts. It just depends on the day. Sometimes I'll, you know, do it.

But other days I don't. The days I don't, I mean, it doesn't, I'll be honest. It doesn't really make a huge difference in terms of my sleep though. That's the problem. Like I still sleep about the same. Five, six hours is pretty much my norm. Like I just, I don't know. And I also, I work really weird hours.

I fully admit that. Like, you know, I'll be up late tonight working. I'm just a weird night owl too. I don't like mornings. So I keep really weird hours. I keep like West Coast hours. I always tell people, like I feel like I work on the West Coast, even though I live on the East Coast.

So, yeah, I don't know. I just, I don't know. I've never been that way. Like I said, even when I was younger, I just never slept like eight, nine hours a night. I just never, I don't know. Never did. Well, I don't think there's nothing wrong with, you know,

being a night on ever but i think you'd see a huge improvement in your life you're your um everything or better with more sleep yeah well i know a lot of people i know a lot of people say that and i wish i could like i said i need to i wish i had a better habit of that but it seems like it's doing wonders for uh for you and that's good to know uh so that's your routine yeah so you would not want to hear my routine trust me uh let's uh let's let's before before you get too much into routines. Let's talk about some fights because this past weekend, of course, UFC UFC 286 went down. Leon Edwards officially defended his title for the first time. He got a majority decision over Kamar Usman. Great fight from both guys. Leon, of course, kind of exercised

a lot of demons with this fight, kind of got past the whole fluke, you know. It was a fluke knockout, it was a lucky knockout, whatever narrative people were trying to build into it. He went out there and won this time by decision. It was a great performance. And to his credit, Kamar Usman had a good performance too. He just lost. I thought it was a very close fight.

I actually had to score it as a draw, only because there was a point deduction. I think the third round for a fence grab, which even Leon admits it was a bad fence grab. But otherwise, like I said, I thought Leon had the more definitive rounds, but it was a good fight. Leon is the champ.

I don't know. What are your thoughts? Leon Edwards is champ now? Is it kind of sunk in now? It's kind of weird. Like before when he did it, it almost felt like, okay, we're going to run it back. Like, we knew we were going to run it back.

But now he's, he's beat Newsman twice. He's put Newsman in the rearview mirror. It's amazing. I think a lot of people called it wrong. We called it wrong. It was very unexpected. And all we can really say at this point is congratulations to Leon Edwards, right?

Like he not only proved everybody wrong in the first fight, he proved everybody wrong again in the second fight. And he's going to be a beat, man. You know, he's, It's going to be a tough, tough guy to beat. Usman is one of the greatest ever. I've seen a stat the other day, maybe today. The record for fighters over 35 in championship fights under 185 pounds.

And the theory behind that is like when you're over 185 pounds, start getting the heavier weights. you know the age doesn't make quite as much of a difference right because the speed is a lot less and things like that but it was pretty interesting two and 28 yeah two and 28 i saw 170 yeah under 170 in title 585 pretty crazy yeah you know it's funny you say that i saw that stat too and i was kind of curious because oosman is 35 or 33 535 now you know who else is 35 but I'm not saying this place apart I just like I thought it was an interesting stat so I looked it up Valentina Shochenko's 35 now oh wow you know I called me when I said I was like I wonder and I was like yep she's 35 too wow yeah so I think that's pretty

interesting you know especially being I mean this sport hasn't been around that long and it certainly hasn't had the world class athletes for that long I mean we've always had you know at Coleman back in the day, you know, he's a world-class athlete. But for the most part, like, it's not necessarily been world-class against world-class guys. And I think we're getting there now a lot more. Like, for instance, in boxing, which has been around for, you know, over 100 years, it's well-known.

When you're over, you know, 30, maybe even a little less than that, especially the lighter weights, you know, you're putting the way out. There's very few, if any, another stat. very few guys that are over that age in boxing, right? And in MMA, it hasn't really worked out that way. It doesn't seem. But when I see a stat like it, I'm like, wow,

maybe it has that way a little more than we think. And I think it's going to be as more and more people get into this sport, a higher level athletes get in this sport, I think it's going to be more and more pronounced all the time. Yeah, I mean, age is the one, I mean, I know it sounds cliche. And I guess to a point of this cliche, but age is the one opponent that's undefeated. You know what I mean?

Like it gets everybody. I mean, that's just a reality. And I don't think, I don't think Kamar Usman had this precipitous drop-off to where he's just suddenly a shell of himself or something. I mean, he lost a majority decision after a fight he was winning and he got caught with a head kick in the fifth round. It's not like he's gotten dominated and he suddenly just, you know, sucks. But the competition starts to catch up to you a little easier because I would have

swore to you two years ago, Usman would have dominated Leon Edwards. He would have gotten all his takedowns. and he would have dominated the fight, and he's not done that. And this is not, I don't want to diminish what Leon Edwards has done. I want to be clear about that. But I think there is just that you're not wrong. And like, there's just a weird drop off, you know, when you, because again, it happens to everybody. I mean, I remember, and this is it different with age, but like, and it's heavy way,

but, like, I remember the first time Roy Nelson got knocked out. And then suddenly after that, Roy Nelson started getting hurt a lot more. And, like, you know what I mean? Like, things just change. Like, you get to a certain age. You don't move the same way. You're not as fast. reaction times just that hair second difference.

And especially at this high level, you know what I mean? Like there is no room for error when you're fighting the best guys in the world. And you have seen, like I said, Usman didn't get dominated this fight. He lost, but he didn't get dominated. But you wonder, you know, the takedowns he didn't hit. Is it because maybe he's just a hair bit slower when he didn't, when he wasn't able to put together the combinations to hurt Leon on the feet? Is it just because maybe his reaction times a little bit slow? Like not bad, but just, you know, a little bit slower.

And guess what? Leon caught up to him. And maybe that's just the reality of where we're at now. And this is not, I think, I think Kumar Oussman has been defined is in my mind the second best welterweight in the world in the history of the sport behind GSP. I think George St. Pierre is, you know, clearly now, you know, now that Oussman's had a couple losses like this, I think GSP has kind of separate himself for good. But Ousman at number two, I think he's fine there.

But yeah, it's like a changing of the garden away. You know what I mean? like this isn't this doesn't feel like an upset anymore leon edwards has earned it and he's proven it yeah and i think the other too is when you take a style like usma um you know a wrestling heavy style like when you're at this age like you can't wrestle as much as you could when you were younger you mean like you just you know those kind of hours anymore so your timing with the rest and the little tiny little nuances that most of us don't even see even us that know what we're doing don't even see when we're watching you know a lot of those things

kind of get lost um just because you know you're not you're not able to go in there and and grind in a d1 room like i used to do it all the time like i could i used to go to ohio state all the time two three days a week there's no way i could do that now you know those kids in there like their backs are perfectly fine like their knees are solid for the most part right and they come back from things quick. If I go in there one day, I'm not a couple of days after. You know, so I don't know how much guys like Usman deal with that. I'm not going to say that, you know, I don't know anything about his camp,

but, you know, those are the kind of things that make me wonder, you know. You know, or the same with even guys with striking heavy styles, you know, it's like, you know, you take so many shots, right? And any little bit of, you got all this confidence when you're young just because you don't know any better. And then as you get a little bit older, you start maybe thinking a little bit more. Yeah, we'll see where Usumann goes from here, right? We'll see if age got up to him. He's certainly still a, you know, top three guy. He's certainly still a freaking world class athlete. He's certainly still one of them to ever do it. And, you know, Leon Edwards is just better right

now. So it's going to be interesting to see. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost. Almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes.

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We haven't really heard from Colby from about the past year. He obviously got the win over Jorge Mazvedal, and then we all know about the incident that happened after their fight, the arrest, the assault case, all that kind of stuff that's still lingering over, over, you know, in terms of the legal system. Mazvedal, of course, is scheduled to fight in a couple of weeks against Gilbert Burns, EOC 287. McCulby kind of popped up out of nowhere after being, you know, basically out of the spotlight for the last year, popped up as the backup for the fight. Of course, he didn't end up fighting, but now he's been declared as the number one

contender, and a lot of people have completely lost their minds about this, and I have to a certain extent, because Colby's been out for a year, he's been on a one-fight win streak with a one win being over Maswadol. He has two losses to Kamar Usman, yet he's going to get a title shot in guys like Bilal Muhammad, who's on a much longer, you know, much longer winning street,

guys like Gilbert Burns, who has a chance to maybe solidify himself with a win over Mazvedal. Even a guy like Shabkat or Rechmanov, but just looked impressive a couple weeks ago and he's got wins over guys like Jeff Neal and Neil Magny. A lot of people are not happy that Colby Covington is getting his title shot. Now, if you listen to Colby, he'll say, you know,

he's the best guy in the world. He beat Usman, blah, blah, blah. And I say it all the time, Matt. If you want to keep your sanity in this sport, strike the word deserves from your vocabulary because it will just lose your mind because even though I say, quote, unquote, Balal Muhammad deserves the title shot,

you and I both know that's not how things work out. That being said, Colby Coveington, Dana-Wy is adamant, he's going to get the next title shot. He's the number one contender for whatever reason. I know you don't spend a lot of time thinking about these kind of things, Matt, but I don't know. What was your reaction? Like, because I didn't see a lot of universal, like, I didn't see a lot of praise for this idea.

I didn't see a lot of people even because I know Colby has a lot of haters, but I didn't even see like the people who are like Super Team Colby were like, man, he really deserves this. Yeah. Yeah, I'm as surprised as everyone. else. I'm just not sure why it makes sense or why they're going to do it. How Bilal Muhammad got passed up is just beyond me. I mean, this guy has done every single thing necessary. We can strike the word deserves down, but he fucking deserves it, right? Like,

what else can we say? And I think they're putting him with a fighting. Tell me. Shavkat. Shavkat, Rukmanov. Shavcott, yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, this guy, Balaul, he's just done everything. I mean, this could have been a championship run that he's on right now. He just doesn't have that belt, right? He's fighting guys like Chauvkot and, you know, I mean, done everything. And I think Balaal deserves it.

I think everybody agrees, you know, I guess it kind of is what it is. You know, Kobe's going to sell the fight. We're all going to watch. I guess maybe UFC knows that. right we're gonna fucking watch it I mean here's the thing I don't know like I understand Colby says a lot of crazy things

and Colby is a good fighter don't make any mistakes about it I'm not saying Colby's not a good fighter's a damn good fighter but I don't I where the narrative comes from to like he's just this massive drawl like he's had has he drawn in fights yeah he's fired with Mazel a big rivalry fight

his fight with Usman the first one in particular was a big draw because there's so much bad blood there and Woodley you know that was a that was a you know, FS1 card or ESPN Plus card, whatever the hell it was at the time, Apex card, whatever. And then, you know, it was pretty good. But even by then, they kind of lost some of its intrigue and interest because at that point,

Woodley had already lost a few in a row. And it just didn't seem like the same fight it once was. But I don't know. Like, it's just, I don't know. Like, I don't, there's this, like, narrative that Colby's this huge draw and he's going to really get people to watch him. And do people hate watch Kobe? Absolutely.

People hate the guy and they want him to lose. And so they, you know, they watch it. But, like, I just, I don't know. Maybe I'm not seeing it. Like, it's not that I, it's not that, I mean, if Kobe, I'll call me, I do is win one more. I said it on Saturday night. If you would have fought Bilal and won that fight, I'd have zero problem with him getting a title shot. I'm absolutely no problem with him getting a title shot.

But just being out for a year and it went over Mazel on a three-fight losing streak just doesn't, I don't know. It just doesn't strike me as like, I don't get excited for it. I'm just like, oh boy, I get it. No, I just like, whatever. I mean, I guess he's going to get it. so I just kind of learned to live with it, but I don't know. I just don't really see the logic. Yeah, I heard Leon basically saying he's going to not accept it or try to fight against.

But I think for Leon, Colby is probably one of the best fights for him. You know, I think Ballal, I think Chavka, a lot of these other guys are tough for matchups for him. So for Leon, in my opinion, it's a little bit of a blessing. Yeah, I mean, you may not have. be wrong. Let me ask you that question just in terms of matchups, we're not going to get into politics of it necessarily, but, you know, Colby does have a very similar

-ish style to Usman in terms of wrestling heavy, you know, push the pace. He's more of a volume striker than a power striker. I think Usman had a lot more power than Colby, but he's kind of a volume striker. But I don't disagree. Now that we've seen what Leon's, what Leon's take-down defense is, and I think Camaro is a better

MMA wrestler than Colby, I know that'll probably make Colby spin off his axis because he was a All-American at Oregon State and, you know, Camaro was a Division II national champion or whatever. But I think in terms of MMA wrestling, Camaro's been a little bit more dominant there. I agree. I think this is a winnable fight for Leon. Absolutely. I think it's a better fight for Leon than I said the other guys.

I mean, Kobe leaves a lot of holes in his game. He certainly has the volume. He certainly comes forward and presses the action a lot. But we don't have any reason to believe. And look, we're shocked every week we watch the fights. You know, we're just on the best we can. I mean, I was very shocked last weekend. But, you know, if Usman isn't taking Leon down,

I don't think Kobe's going to be taking him down. And Colby leaves tons of holes in a stand-up game. And I think Leon's good enough to expose those holes. And it's going to be a better matchup for Leon. You know, so it's going to be, I think, saying that he's not going to accept this fight, but I think he should, if you ask me. Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong. I mean, I think that, you know, I mean, I think, you know, Shavkat may end up being the monster in this division of when it's all said and done. I think he's a monster right now.

Obviously, I think he's got an incredibly hard test in Bilau. That's what kind of kills me about that fight is because I think both those guys can be title contenders and one of them's going to get knocked off. off and I think Below remains. I would much rather fight for a title than a fight for a contender. Yeah, yeah, but I think like Bilau, you know, like, Bilau or Shavkat, one of those guys is going to lose.

And in a way, you kind of got to celebrate that because then you don't have to go through both of them right away because I think those are both monsters. But yeah, I mean, it's interesting you say that because I'm never going to use the word easy. Nothing's easy. But like in terms of styles,

is Colby an easier fight than going against Below or Shavkat? it seems like it just comes if Leon can deal with that pace and if he can find those holes because with that high pace that Colby pushes like he leaves himself open

right he's relying on his cardio he's relying on you just having a barrage of punches and not dealing with that well I just think Leon will do holes in the

striking particularly and be able to expose him I don't know if they'll knock him them out and you know, Kobe, again, you know,

you can prove us wrong, right? Like, I'm proved wrong all the time on breakdowns, right? Like,

all the time. And, uh, you know, Kobe may be able to take him down, you know, maybe be able to wear them out, but,

uh, I'm not seeing it right now. Yeah. So based on, based on what you've seen, you would pick Leon to win that fight. Yeah. And I think,

favorite. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I agree. Like I said, I agree.

Here's, here's the thing that kills me. Like I said, even though I hate the word, even though I've said, don't use the word deserves, I just feel bad for Balau because Belau deserves it. He does. Like, he's the guy who should be here. He's earned it. He's on like a nine-fight win streak. He has a story with Leon. They had an unslaught, you know, they had that no contest fight a couple years ago. They never got to go back and rematch it. He's got, I mean, knocks out Sean Brady, beats Vincenti Lucke. He avenges that loss. He just, I don't know,

that's what breaks my heart about this whole thing, is I think Bilow is the most deserving guy. But when you talk about the matchup, you're not wrong. I mean, I think Leon's got a great chance of beating Colby. And I again, when I say easier, I don't mean that as a knock. I'm just saying like if you're, if you give me Leon and Below or Leon and Shavkat, it's a toss up. You know, I can't tell you to, but you put Leon against Colby. I lean Leon. Like, I'm not saying it's a blowout. I'm not saying it's like a, you know, one-sided fight and the odds are going to be astronomically in Leon's favor. I'm just saying that I would feel more confident picking Leon against Colby

than I definitely would picking Leon against Below and or Shavka. Right. Right. Yeah. I said I take Leon and up being the favorite in that fight. Like I said, we'll watch the fight. You know, that's what it comes down to, right? We know what's his name about? Colby, he's going to make it

a fun fight. He's going to make it a fun conference to lead up to it. Like he's going to be, he says some off the wall crazy. shit, you know, I know what's going to happen. Like, we're going to watch the fight. We're going to be excited. And Colby definitely has a great chance to win that fight. I mean, his style, I think against anyone gives pretty much anybody problems.

I just think, you know, Leon's going to be the favorite. And I think that it's rightfully so. Yeah. Well, listen, you know, at the end of the day, you're here to make money. You're here to, you know, go out and do your thing and make money and get attention. Colby will bring that. I disagree with the idea that Colby's like this massive draw, necessarily,

not that anyone's, like, out there saying he's, you know, Connor McGregor in terms of draw, but I think he's had a couple of big rivalry fights that have been draws. He kind of reminds me,

it's funny, I say this, reminds me a little bit of John Jones when John Jones was fighting, where John Jones would draw huge when he had a great rivalry. But then when he fought other guys, it was just kind of like, eh, you know,

we're not all that interested in it. And I think Colby's got a little bit of that in him, where, like, when he fought Lawler, the ratings for that card for that TV, I think that was on ESPN or ABC, I care of which one it was, but the ratings were not good.

They were not great ratings. People were not super excited because he was, Robbie's a legend, but Robbie's not going to play Colby's game. Robbie's not going to get all amped up and, you know, get in his face and shove him and, you know, call him this and, you know, he's not going to do that. He's just, it's Robbie Lawler.

He's an old school legend. He's not going to do that kind of crap. And so Colby kind of disarms Colby from having that kind of, you know, that kind of rivalry that he had with Usman and that he had with Jorge, obviously, and Tyre Woodley, for that matter. Will he have that with Leon? Will Leon fire back in him more?

Yeah, because Leon's, Leon's not my dude. Leon's quietly not bad at Trash Talk. He had a couple of good zingers on Usman last week. So I think he can have some moments with that. And again, I don't disagree. As much as I think Bilal is kind of the guy getting screwed and all this, I mean, I legitimately feel bad for Bilal Mohammed. You're not wrong in thinking that if you're going to go out and defend your title

and get a big title defense and get a big payday. So, yeah, not necessarily easier, but, you know, maybe not, maybe not as hard. I don't know. So I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe you should just take the Colby fight and, uh, consider that the one, maybe I'll say again, I keep saying, I hate use the word easier. It's the wrong word.

It's just not as hard as Belauer or Shavka right now. Yeah, better style of a stick match up. But then again, I mean, he already fought Belal too. And he knows Belaw. he knows this and he was winning that fight very soundly before the with the eye pokes right that's what happened yeah yeah it was it was but yeah i mean listen you know i sit here and say it all the time don't don't get upset don't you straight the word deserves from your vocabulary and here i am you know saying it and then getting pissy about a guy that i don't think deserves the title shot so listen i

you know as much as i want to say that as much as i want to say that it's stupid now again the only problem I have with this whole thing, isn't necessarily that Colby's getting the title shot, is that Below is not. You know what I mean? Like, Below is legitimately the number one contender. He's the, he should be getting the shot. And if he didn't exist, if he didn't exist, then I really don't care at this point because there's no other guy. You know, Gilbert, Gilbert Burns is on a one-fight win streak, uh, Mazvedal's on three losses. I think Shabkat is near there, but he's not quite there yet. So I think otherwise you don't really have an argument. But Colby's there, but while Below is there on a nine-fight win streak, it just feels like, man, like, this is, I feel, I feel it.

It was, it was like, back when, back when Nick Diaz got a title shot against George St. Pierre, when Johnny Hendricks was on, like a seven-fight win streak or whatever, and he beating everybody, and he looked incredible, look like he was the guy, and then Diaz gets the title shot because was it a bigger fight? Absolutely, it was a bigger fight. Diaz is, Nick Diaz is a freaking legend, and everyone loves Nick Diaz, but did he deserve it, quote-unquote, over Johnny Hendricks? absolutely not, but he still got it, and that's, that's another one where I say, just strike the word deserves from your vocabulary, because that's another one. I felt legitimately bad for Johnny Hendricks. He eventually got a shot. He beat GSP.

Judge has said otherwise, but, you know, it's neither here nor there. But yeah, I mean, like I said, but there's just no guarantees in this sport. Like I said, what if Below goes out and fight Shafkat and loses, then it all goes away. So, yeah, like I said, you know, it is what it is. I just, like I said, ultimately, I just feel bad for Bilalow. You know, if he loses the Shabat, it all goes away, and then I just feel bad for the guy. And like I said, you know, title shots, you know, they don't come, they don't grow on trees. You might get one.

You may never get one again, you know, that's just the nature of the sport. Yeah, and I think you made a perfect point there where it's not that, you know, all these guys aren't worthy to be fighting for a championship. But Ballal has done the most. He deserves it the most. So if we're not striking the word deserved from our vocabulary, the law deserves it. The other guys, you know, maybe, you know, they're worthy of fighting for a championship. A coach absolutely is. But, you know, when you got a guy on a eight fight in the win streak, right, or nine fight, you know, versus a guy coming off a loss.

And, you know, it's like, it's just, it just doesn't make sense to me. But, you know, we all just do what we got to do and listen to what the UFC wants to do. They're the promoter. It's their choice. Yeah. It's true. Real quick, before we get out of here, of course, UFC 286 also featured another fight. Justin Gaitch who went out there, by the way, I should have bet you on that one,

because I picked Gachie. You picked Fiziv, and I came through on that one, but Fiziv put up a hell of a fight. What an incredible battle it was, but Justin Gachie got the job done, got the decision. And now he's out there, you know, Justin's being honest and saying he probably doesn't have a lot of time left in the sport. He wants to make one last run of the title. I think it's probably a foregone conclusion as far as what's next for him, but I'll throw it out there. we got to see Justin Gaci and Dustin Porriere too. I think that's the only fight that makes sense.

Their first fight was a freaking epic, amazing fight. Dustin doesn't have anyone to fight right now. Justin just came up a big fight. Obviously, B'Neil Daryush's fight in Charles Oliva. Islam is probably not coming back to October when they go to Abu Dhabi. So to me, it's Dustin Pori and Justin Gaci. I don't think anything else makes sense unless something weird happens, but I think that's the matchup to make.

That's badass, yeah. I didn't even think about that. That's a great matchup. I want to see it. I mean, whether I fought once, but I would love to see it again. So I think it's perfect.

And the Faisiv, I mean, Gaji absolutely proved me wrong. I picked Fiziv to beat him. And I thought that, especially standing on the feet, like Fiziv is so technical, he's so sharp. I thought that Gagie didn't have a good shot there, but he fucking proved me wrong, man.

Like, what a savage. Like, you just can't say enough good things about Justin Gage. This guy is just an epitome of, a savage warrior and you know if if if shit ever hits the fan and we go to a world war like i want gauge you on my side you know like you know you want him on the front lines right there with you man like that guy is uh just a great fucking guy uh man like like i hope he's not mad to me for picking against because i love that guy man and the one of the funnest guys to watch and just deserves everything that he gets yeah good thing let me let me ask you this matt

because I put out this stat on Twitter yesterday. I said, Justin Gachy threw 11 fights in the UFC. He has now earned 11 post-fight bonuses, four performance bonuses and seven fight of the nights. The physique fight, of course, was his latest fight of the night. Now, based on the average, you know, what the normal bonuses are, that's $550,000 he's earned in bonuses, which sounds on the surface like a lot of money.

But when you really think about the damage he puts on his body and all the things like that, I said he probably deserves 10 times that. to that amount of money, $5.5.5 million for all the words you went through. I'm curious, Matt, now you're a guy, you've gotten your fair share of post-fied bonuses, and I know you appreciate all of them. I want to make this clear. I'm not trying to make it sound like you're paying the UFC in a bad light, but I want to ask you this legitimate question.

I've had this idea. I put it on Twitter today responding to somebody. I think the UFC should switch to a bonus system like this. A finished bonus. Everybody on the card who gets a finish gets some sort of bonus, let's say $25,000. and then you pick out fight of the night and two performance bonuses like extraordinary bonuses whatever

and they all get a hundred grand that was my idea everyone who gets a finish should get an automatic bonus whether it's $25,000 and then you pick out fight of the night and then like the two really outstanding performances and they all get a hundred grand

now I know I'm just spending the UFC's money but we both know they can afford it but let me just ask about the finish bonus let's not even get into like the numbers of it all. Am I wrong in thinking at this stage in the game in 2023 where a lot of fighters, yourself included probably, you know, you got on a win and a show and a win bonus structure, which I already hate. I hate that structure. I think it'd just be a flat fee. I don't like the show win bonus. But that's neither here nor there. Am I wrong in thinking that at worst,

the UFC should go to a bonus structure where everyone who gets a finish should get a guaranteed bonus because I think you would then get guys and girls willing to push a little bit extra to get that finish and we wouldn't have this constant battle of people being like I deserve 50 grand I deserve 50 grand give me the 50 grand if you finish your opponent you get the bonus yeah I guess then they'd be battling over the hundred grand right but no I think it's a great idea and I don't know how other people think

when they're an octagon but like I'm looking for a finish the whole time anyway. And I'm not thinking about money at all while I'm in there fighting. I'm not thinking like, oh, I'm going to go for this because it's $50,000 extra dollars possibly. But I would like to see that mainly like, I don't know how many times. Okay, I've made a few bonuses in my life. I don't know the exact number. But I don't know how many times I thought I was going to get the bonus and, you know, someone just eaked it out over me. And then I end up with nothing, you know or whatever locker room bonus you know which it's not $50,000 for me at least I don't know what the other guys are getting but I'm not getting 50K so for that yeah I think you know

there should be something for that and I think guys would get maybe not during the fight itself like be thinking oh I'm going to go for the finish right now for this but mentally overall like fighters are going to think about that and they're going to try to train more and fight more for the finish. So I think it's a great idea. Yeah, I just think that, I mean, will the UFC have to pay out a lot more money sometimes? Sure, there's going to be cards where on a 12-fight card you're going to get eight finishes. But there's also a lot of cards where there's 12 fights and there's like four finishes or three finishes. You know what I mean? Like not every card features that. And I just think, I just think that in this day and age,

it should be a finish bonus because, you know, listen, it's just to the arbitrary nature of it to where you know, I think one guy deserves a bonus over the other. Yeah, that just doesn't, that's not fair. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, it's like being on a car with, like being on a car with Justin Gachy. And you want fight of the night. Well, guess what? The chances you get in fighting the night when he's on the car are next to nothing.

But that doesn't mean you can't put on a freaking barn burner and then get a knock on the third round. And because you did, because they said, well, you know what? We're going to give him the fight of the night. And somebody got a really cool submission. They're doing a performance tonight. then you get nothing. You know, like, I think finish bonuses at least that's a little extra incentive. And it just, like, imagine if you're the contender series guy making $10,000 to fight and $10,000 to win.

You go out there and knock out your opponent, vicious knock out, great highlight, but you don't get the bonus. But guess what? You get to go home with $70,000 because you got the $50K for the finish bonus. You know what I mean? Like, little things like that, man. Like, I'm not looking at your record right now, Matt, but I guarantee if I went up and down your UFC record, you got bonuses. I don't know how many you got,

six, seven, whatever, eight, nine. I don't know what the total number is. But how many finishes do you have in the UFC and how much of the money would that have equated to for you over your career? That's like that was that probably an extra of what, $6,700,000 maybe you could have made or $500,000? Yeah, who knows? I said, I think it's a great idea because also, like you said,

if you're on a fight with, you're on a fight car with Justin Gage, you pretty much, you lost, right? But if you go out there and put on an amazing performance out there and finish someone right away, like you should be rewarded for it in some fashion, you know, and to have a locker room bonus that you don't really know what you're going to get versus having something that you know you're going to get, I think is a great thing.

I mean, I think everybody should be rewarded for putting on great performances, whether it's a fight of the night or whether it's, you know, submission or a knockout or a finish, you know, whatever it is. Absolutely finished. Or for it, and it's surprising that they don't already do that, as a matter of fact, because it's, that's what they want, right? That's what the fans want. So it is kind of surprising that they don't already do that.

Yeah, there's a guy on Saturday night. His name is Janelle Eschmuz was his name. And he went out there and fought this guy named Sam Patterson, vicious first round knockout. I mean, he just went. Afterwards, San Patterson was trying to fight the referee, because he was so knocked out that when he got back to his feet

he thought the fight was still happening it was that kind of knockout you know what I'm talking about Matt he didn't get the bonus now I don't have a problem with who did get the bonus Gunner Nelson got a really cool bonus because he pulled off a nasty arm bar

it was a really cool submission and then and then Jake Hadley got one on the prelims he had a body shot KO I love body shot KOs those are always fun he got a body shot KO I have no problem with those bonuses they both really cool but then

yeah now Ashmoos, new guy, comes in, pulls off an incredible knockout in the first round. He gets nothing. Muhammad Mikhail fights out of a knee bar where his knee literally got shredded. He pulled, I mean, he got one of the nastiest knee bars put on him. He came back, choked the guy out. He doesn't get anything. Like, that's what bugs me.

Like, they fight. They have these amazing performances. Those two guys walk away with nothing. Then again, they get, you know, probably a locker room bonus. And I just, I don't know what that is, you know? I know what it looks like for me. I don't know what it looks like for other guys. but it's not, you know, again, it's not 50,000, it's not 25,000.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if it's not, if you're not going to be 50,000, do 25,000. I guarantee you that's still going to be a lot of money to people who do it. I mean, 25,000 performance bonuses and then, or $25,000 finish bonuses, and if you want to keep the $50,000 performance in the night and five the night, I'm quite sure the UFC can afford it. Yeah, and especially for these young guys coming up, the making 10 and 10 or 20 and 20 or something like extra 25K that pays your taxes there

you know like that's that's a significant amount to these guys absolutely i just i think in the age we're in you know we talk about money all the time and and i'm not going to get on a big rant and get on my soapbox about what fighters get paid because i think all fighters are underpaid for the for what you put your bodies through and and the dangers you take stepping in there you should be making you know in my opinion what you know football players make when you they put their bodies on the line. I think they probably deserve more than they get too. But that's a whole other.

I'm not trying to get in that pay conversation, but I'm just saying in that regard. Like, you know what I mean? Like that bugs me that those two guys, I just use that as an example. Those two guys don't get bonuses just because they didn't get picked. You know, they didn't do anything wrong. It's not like, it's not like Muhammad's.

Right, actually. They did what they were supposed to do, did in a spectacular fashion, did what the UFC wants. You know, it doesn't, equal anything monetarily for them, though. Yeah, some finish bonuses. I think it should get it going.

I love it, bro. Real quick, before we get out of here, Matt, we do have a big bansomweight fight coming up this weekend. Cheeto Vera and Corey Sanhagan, a guy you know very well. I think you train with Corey a little bit out in Colorado. Like both guys very much, I'll be the first to admit.

I've known Corey longer. I've interviewed him a bunch more times, but I think Cheeto Vera is a monster. But big main event. I'm actually going to miss it this weekend. I'm actually out of town this weekend, so I'm at to watch on a replay. Who are you picking, Matt? Corey or Chita Vera?

Well, that's a tough one, man. You know, I picked against Chito a couple times, and I've been wrong every time, man. He keeps surprising, and he just does so many of the fundamentals so well, and he just finds a way. He's got all the heart of a champion, and certainly just he's just that guy that finds a way, man. But like I said, like you said, I've known Corey for a long time. I know his skill set. I know he's capable of amazing things. I don't have a pick in this one.

I don't know how it's going to go. This is one of those few fights where I just, I don't, I'll admit that I just don't know. Wow. Sitting on that fence. Sitting hard on that fence, Matt Brown. Hard on the fence, bro. This is just a tough one, man. It is, it is.

But I'm going to make a pick because one of us has to make a pick. And I'm going to go. I am going to lean. I'm going to lean. I'm going to lean towards Corey Sanhagen. I think he has more ways to win this fight. He's a little more dynamic on the feet. And I think that in my opinion, at any given moment,

Corey Sanhagen is the best band to weigh in the sport. I know he's lost fights and he's not there. I'm just saying like at any moment he could be. Like that's how good I think Corey Sanhagan is. He lost to Peter Jan legitimately, you know, lost that fight. But I thought he beat T.J. Delishaw. I didn't like that decision at all. I thought he beat T.J.

I just, I don't know. I just think round over round, Corey has that ability. I think, I think Cheeto, the one small criticism I would have of him is I think at times he'll lose rounds and then depend on his power to bring him back into it. You know, he was maybe losing a little bit to Dominic Cruz and then he caught the head kick and, you know, credit to him doing it. But what happens when that doesn't land? If you don't land that head kick, can you win five rounds?

Can you win three rounds in a five round five, that kind of thing? I have faith that Corey Sanagan can do it. I have a little more question about Cheeto. Can he do it? So I'm going to lean Corey Sanagan. If Cheetah wins, wins by knockout, vicious, whatever, I will not be the least bit surprised. I think Cheetah Vera is amazing. But if you got to nail me down on a pick, I'm going to lean a little bit towards

Corey Sanagan. And I think most of the time I would agree right there with you. But Cheetos just never failed to surprise me every single time. He's one of those guys. He finds a way. He's got the heart. He's got the power. He's got just so many of these intangibles that when you watch him fight,

you just don't see, right? Like you can't write it down on paper, you know, like this versus this. So he just has some of those factors that I can't quantify. So that's why I'm on the fence with it. And I just think it's going to be an amazing fight. And I'm excited to see it. But I can't pick one of these guys, man. I just can't bring myself to it.

All right. All right. That's all right. You can chicken out. It's all right, Matt. You know, you don't want to pick a fight. Yeah, geez. Is it, is it the Gage thing coming back to bite you a little bit?

You picked against him. Now you're feeling it a little bit. You feel in that heat? Yeah, maybe that's what it is, man. Maybe, you know. I'm just feeling getting down on myself. Yeah. Probably a little bit of that, to be honest.

But, but, you know, like I said, if it were, if I'd never seen, Cheeto fight, I don't know, how would you say it? Like, on paper, like I would pick Corey. But again, Cheeto just has these, he just has that way of doing it. You know, he's got that heart, just these things that he's able to pull out. And I think that's a special quality to have that you can't teach someone to get to a special quality to have that can't be trained or taught. It's something that he just has within himself, an indomitable will. whatever it is, man.

And he finds a way. He has those intangibles, as we like to call them, those little intangibles that you don't teach, you're not necessarily learning in the gym. He's just a monster. Yeah, I love this fight, man. I'm glad they're doing in front of a crowd too, by the way, in San Antonio.

So I think that's really cool because this is going to be a bar and burner of a fight. I'm bummed him. I'm going to miss it live, but I'm going to rewatch it as soon as I get home. I can't wait for that. So I'm looking forward to that this weekend. Of course, we'll be back next Monday to talk more about that fight. Obviously, we actually have a week. between UFC events

because next weekend there's that game bread boxing event Jose Aldo boxing Jeremy Stevens Roy Jones against Anthony Peddes and then after that of course we go into

UFC 287 with the fight you and I are both looking forward to Israel Adesania Alex Pereira 2 and of course Gilbert Burns and Jorge Mazvedals that's gonna be a big card

so we're going to talk a lot about that over the next couple weeks Matt before we get out of here sponsors people will usually check out you got fight camp going where can people support you man you know how it is bro they can get on the instagram twitter at i'm the immortal they can hit me up

and check out my sponsor routine r ootin e dot co one of the best sponsors they help me out with a little bit everything and um you know i hope everybody takes the time to check them out because they're great for you it's a multivitamin that's built specifically for your body precision nutrition and what else, the immortal coffee, the immortal coffee.com. Check them out, and that best coffee you ever had. Absolutely.

Well, everyone, we appreciate you guys tuning in. Of course, check us out on all of your favorite podcast platforms, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and of course, over on the best website in the world, MMAFighting.com. For Matt Brown, I'm Damon Martin. We will see you next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Rider.

Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you then. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Thank you.