MMA Fighting - Fighter vs. Writer: UFC 331 picks and predictions plus does Mauricio Ruffy Have a Better Chance at a Title Shot Over Arman Tsarukyan?

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

On the latest episode of The Figher vs. the Writer, UFC legend Matt Brown and Damon Martin look ahead at UFC 331 and make their picks for the main and co-main event plus we discuss Arman Tsarukyan getting shut out of a title shot, Mauricio Ruffy possibly jumping the line and getting his own shot at gold plus much more! Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the fighter versus the writer. I am Damon Martin. He is UFC legend Matt Brown and Matt. We are finally arrived at UFC 331 fight week. Did I get the number right? I can't remember what numbers. He's already. I thought it's 332.

I have no idea. What is it? I don't know. It's in Los Angeles. I know that. Yeah, we've done this a good 330 times now. Sometimes we lose track. Yeah, I mean, I'll always lose track of these stupid numbers.

It is 331. I was correct, yes. So, UFC 331 this weekend, Joshua Van, taken on Alessandreya Pantogia in the main event, of course. Armistarukian taken on Marisi and Dauphi and the co-main event, potential title to Eliminator there. And, yeah, so lots to talk about with that. Yeah, so how's your weekend? That's great, man. Just got back from a seminar.

Yeah, it's interesting that you said that potential title eliminator, huh? Because Armand's Truki's been in the title eliminated the last, what, 10 fights? I mean, I have to say potential because there's no guarantees. I mean, I don't care what Dana says. And Dana, to his credit, even though I don't agree with him, he's like, you know, nothing, you know, we'll see. We'll see what you see what happens. That's kind of like his standard answer now when you ask him about that. Like he learned his lesson because he used to always say, yeah, you win, you get a title shot.

And then, you know, whatever would happen, he wouldn't get a title shot. People get pissed off. So I think he learned his lesson in that regard. But yeah, I mean, who knows? I mean, like I said, we got, you know, I know we're waiting to see what's. going to happen, you know, in terms of like, you know, I mean, we got, I don't know, you know, I don't know, you know, Justin's not going to fight until next year, which, you know, we're almost at the end of the year at September, so it's not going to have that much time left,

but who knows? Yeah, that's, yeah, that's a crazy division right now, right? And I don't think a lot of people expect to Justin Gagey to be the champion right now. So, you know, it's hard to say what's going to happen. You know, now they're talking about the Ilya rematch, which, you know, we talked about, that last week and uh you know of course armin is the one who deserves it but then you got patty what not patty uh who am i thinking of um you tell me uh i'm not sure you're talking of patty was definitely one of them i know he's definitely in the running yeah well yeah okay you got patty and

whatever you know it's a it's a tough spot to be in right now you know if you're like if you're armin and you're clearly the number one contender right like we all know he is he's because the number one contendry should have been fighting for the title before now. He should have fought when Patty fought Justin back of January. That should have been Armin, but it wasn't. But Armin has openly said, like, I need to win this fight and I need to do it impressively because if I lose, I'll probably never get a title shot. He's accepting the fact that he's still kind of weirdly in the doghouse for that whole

debacle couple of you back in January 2025 when he dropped out of the fight with Islam on short notice, which I've said a million times I think is dumb. I mean, you don't give him an immediate read. You don't give him an immediate fight after you pulled out, but you don't need to punish him for freaking like three years. Right, agreed. But the reality is you need to win and you need to win impressively. You can't just win.

You can't just grind a guy out for three rounds and win a decision 30, 27. It was like 3026. You need to go out there and put Maricio Rufi away in impressive fashion. Because what Marisio Rufi did at the White House, when he knocked out and demolished Michael Chandler, that's not like, you know, That's not a huge feather in your cap at this point where Chandler's at in his career, but it's still a highlight.

It's still a highlight. And you and I both know, highlight real knockouts always count more than highlight real submissions, unless it's like the weirdest submission we've ever seen. So I think Armand's got to take some chances in this fight. He's got to go out there and not only look impressive and win, but he's got to do something memorable. You know what I mean? And even that's not going to guarantee him a title shot.

I'll tell you right now, it's not going to guarantee him anything. but he can't just go out there and win. You know what I mean? You can't just go out there and grind out of a 30-27 decision. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know because I think if he does just go out

and grind out a 30-27 decision, a close one, I think he's still in line for the next title shot. But it's really going to, but at that case, it's going to be dependent on what happens, you know,

with say Patty or Ilya rematch, all these other things. Like they might have a little bit of priority over him, right? Now, if he goes out, and say knocks out Marisa Rufia early in some spectacular fashion, does a spinning wheel kick or some shit, you know,

really gets everybody excited. I think that does put him way higher up on the priority list, right? But either way, he's got to be, you know, I mean, obviously, like, he's in the running for next in line, right? But it's just like how high on the priority list of in the running are you?

Because there is other, like, you know, you know they would love to have Ilya or Patty rematch, Gagey, right, over, over Armand. They would like, they get to a bigger fight, you know? I don't think it's healthy for either one of them, but, you know, it's, you know, Armin is just, he's, man, like, what a shitty situation that he, that he can't necessarily be happy with going out and just getting a win, you know, like he should be able to, right? He should be able to feel like, hey, I win this fight, everything will be good.

but like you know you you you said it he he's he does need to do more than just when yeah i mean i feel for arman i mean i really do like i you know yes he deserves blame for dropping out of that as long when he had to hurt back or whatever happened um and i know justin gaitch came out this week and said it's because he was going to miss weight that's why he dropped out i don't know i'm not i'm just you know that's what he said but who knows um as time passed and people get a chance to start thinking about it. That's the problem because like two months ago after the White House car, we were all, it's going to be Armist. It's got to be Armine.

Armand's number one. Like, come on now. It's Armist's Rookin. We know. But then now it's like, well, Ilya's coming back, you know, and Ilya's healthy again. And he's going to start getting ready. And we know Justin's already said, I'm not going to fight until next year. So it's like, because of the UFC, you start thinking about the marketing.

machine of building towards Ilya Justin too, how big that would be. And let's be honest, Matt, it probably would be the biggest fight they could book right now in that division. It's not like Connor but we know that's not happening. But they can start building towards it now and it could happen in January, February and like it or not, it's a massive, massive fight because of what happened

at the White House. I don't agree. I don't think he should get the shot and I hope he doesn't know because I dislike the guy. I'm just like, he just lost. He got quit on the stool in the fourth round. Come on now. but my opinion means literally dick it means nothing so right right we talked about last week too right yeah or patty like I said Paddy is a star too you got you got Patty but both those are rematches and Justin demolished both of them I mean I know Ilya was winning he was doing good he dropped Justin all these things but ultimately he made Ilya quit on the stool with two broken

orbitals a broken nose and a broken foot okay so ultimately you know he He's in a situation where those are the only two other options unless Rufie does something awesome, right? I think, you know, that, like you said, and he's the type to do something awesome, right? You know, if he gets a lead on Armin, you know, is able to stop those takedowns or, you know, I can't see Armin standing with him for very long in that fight, right? But, you know, if somehow Rufi's able to keep that standing, he could absolutely pull up something spectacular and jump all these guys, right? a new fresh face in there. But then, you know, when you got Patty and Ilya, it's like you'd really be in as big of stars as they are, you know, if I'm in the UFC shoes, I'm like, do I really want them losing

twice to a guy that's about to retire? Yeah. You know, who doesn't have a lot of time left, right? I think you're better, you know, getting Armin or Rufie, which maybe that's why they made that match, right? You get Armin or Rufi. If Justin's safe, he's got two fights in them, you know, you get a, or something. say he's got one fight in him, right?

His next fight might be his last, which he, we've talked about this. Like, we don't know which fight's going to be his last. It could be his next one. If it's Armin or Rufi and Justin beats him, okay, now you can bring in Patty and Ilya as champion, a championship match, right? Or if Rufi or Armin beats Justin, now either of those guys can come in and come in and not having to face Justin in a rematch. Yeah.

I just think, like, I think the UFC knows they've learned a certain lesson about the strike while the iron's hot kind of thing. They don't want to sit around and risk potential fights. So I don't know that they're going to give Ilya the shot. And I'm not going to rehash everything we talked about last week when we said, you know, why we both agree he shouldn't get the shot. But let's just set that aside for a second. If I really is healthy and ready to go, I mean, we're just, it's just like booking. We talked about this for years with Connor. When Connor comes back, he's going to get a big fight.

You just have to stop complaining about it. It's just you have to let it go. It's Connor. He's a star. You don't have to like it, but it's going to sell, and we just need to move on. I kind of get a little sense of that same feeling with Ilya. Like, we know Justin's not fighting this year, so we don't even have to worry about. Armin could go out and lay waste of Maurice and Roofie and look amazing and look like the number one lightweight in the world.

It's still at least four or five months away from when Justin wants to fight. And time, you know, we all kind of forget. You think it's going to be that far away? Yeah, I mean, Justin said he's not fighting this year. He still hasn't thrown a punch since the, since the earlier fight. Yeah, I guess we still got, yeah, so we still got almost four months left in the year. Right. Yeah.

Three something months, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so. Okay, yeah, a fair point. So, either one that could come out and go look spectacular. Maricio could throw a giant spinning back wheel kick and knock out, Arm, oh, my God, what a great knockout. Or Armin could come out. or like a flying triangle or so who knows.

But time, you know, time's going to pass. Three months is going to pass. Four months is going to pass. And we're going to start seeing I'llia in the gym, hitting the pads. You know, I'm back. I'm better than ever. blah, blah, blah.

And Ilya has that star power. He has that little bit of that Connor factor. And we, like, we don't like it, but it doesn't matter. When Connor was coming back, we said, Conner wins one fight, is a fight for the title. It's stupid.

It shouldn't happen. But that's what Star Power does for you. So I'm just saying, like, as much as we don't want to see Ilya or even, you know, like I don't think Patty should get to shot either right now, although I think Patty probably has a better argument just based on what he did to BSD, you know, and, you know, and he did go to decision with Gage. He didn't get finished.

But the reality is like, star power matters, and I don't think the EOC is above saying, your army goes out there, looks great, Rishi Orufie goes out there, looks great, whatever happens. And then come January, you're like planning. like a big, big card in February, March, something like that. And if they announced Justin versus Ilya is a rematch,

they pay Justin a boatload of money, and they're paying Yelia a boatload of money to do the rematch, we're going to complain for a little bit. We're going to, oh, man, this is not what we needed. Arm is going to screw it over again, whatever, and then we're going to turn it in and watch. Because that's what you do when these big fights happens. So in my head, what does Maricio,

what do Maricio and Armin need to do to stand out? well there's really nothing you can do to guarantee yourself a title shot that's just not going to happen you know what I mean but go out there and be spectacular make something look spectacular whatever the case would be and at least put your name and at least at least enter your name in that same sentence as Patty and Ilya you may not get the title shot but at least you're in the same conversation yeah much to be fair I mean it's not something you can necessarily control either right you know those are two very high level guys like you don't just to get to decide that you're going to go out and pull off a spectacular knockout. If that was the case, I think MVP would probably be with the UFC, right? You don't always have that choice when you go to get these tough motherfuckers. But I'll tell you, the one situation that you have here is, look, if I, like, this one, I'll just cut right to the chase, right? I wish Dana would go back to where he just says this is a number one title contender match.

and even if Justin's next fight was say Ilya coming back he said okay well Armine you beat Rufi I said that was the number one title contender match you get the winner of this championship fight you know you just have to sit on the sidelines because we got a star whatever you know I do kind of wish that that would be the case because it just solidifies it you know it just make even if it doesn't necessarily happen

which like you said he's learned his lesson you know you can't always do that. But I feel like it would be, you know, fair to these guys to know that going into this fight. Yeah. I agree. Now, my guess is part of it is what you were saying like Dan Lerner's lesson, but also, you know, are guys going to fight a little more safe when it's like that, when they know that that's what's on the line? Could be. And maybe that's what he's trying to prevent, right? He doesn't want two guys going out there just winning, right? Of course, like, this is entertainment. It's not all sport. It's part sport, more entertainment.

He wants you to go out there and put on entertaining fights. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're right. Like, it's just, I feel like not that it matters to me, and I'm sure he doesn't really care, but, like, you just feel bad for a guy like Armand. Like, what does he have to do? Right.

Like, how much more does he have to do? Like, what you were saying before? Like, he needs to go out there and do something spectacular. I'm like, bro, what is it? Will this be a 13-fight win streak if he won this fight? Like, why does he need to do something spectacular? I agree. He doesn't earn this.

So, you know, that's where it kind of rubs me the wrong way when that is the vibe going to the fight that he has to do something spectacular. He's on a fucking 13-fight win streak. It's got to be one of the top win-streaks in the UFC. And you look at the names that he's went through on this win-street. It's not a, you know, it's not an easy run that he's been on here. So, you know, it'd be nice to see him get what he's earned, in my opinion. Yeah, and we always talk about like never, never hold on to the word earned or deserved in this sport because it'll drive it crazy. And the weird thing is, funny thing is, is like, as good as Arman's been, he doesn't, he doesn't have that same aura around him to, let's say like an Islam Makachov does.

You know what I mean? Like Islam is not going out there and knocking people in the next week, and he's not putting on these like, you know, crazy, spectacular knockout fights or anything like that. Like when he was champion, he'd beach up a little bit, take you down and submit you. You know what I mean? He was just that good. But there was like a certain like aura around him because it comes with the same campus Kabib and like, you know, oh my God, these guys are unstoppable. Armin doesn't have that. And like it or not, it matters.

Like, you know what I mean? Like he didn't have that same appeal with fans, even though his style is eerily similar in Islam. Like they have a very similar style of wrestling and submissions. But you just don't know. You can't guarantee when a guy's going to catch up. my fans are that way. Now, I do think Arm is more popular now. A lot of it, I think, comes from him doing R-A-F, doing wrestling and having the rivalries over there, Dylan Danes or whatever.

And hanging out with Nina Drama. Yeah, that all helps. All helps. But you can never, like, Dana, Dana says it all the time. It's true. It's like, if I could just make a superstar, oh, my God, imagine who I could make a superstar. There's no guarantee. I do think Armis is more popular now than he was a year and a half ago. But I don't know if there's enough of a fan base to make that kind of noise to say it's Armin or nobody. Like, you got to give it to Armin, you know what I mean? But you just got to give it to Armin. Remember, we've had this before, guys who just win fights, win fights, win fights,

and they almost get a title shot by default because there's nobody left. And they should have gotten it before. Like, I always bring up Johnny Hendrix, should have gotten a title shot before Nick Diaz. Like, why does Nick Diaz get a title shot against George St. Pierre? Reality-wise, but he eventually got the title shot and all that kind of stuff. but um or john fish you know won like 19 in a row before he finally gets a title shot um that's still happens today you know what that reminds me up a little bit was like tony ferguson where like i

remember when he was on his big win streak like everybody was kind of vouching for him and everybody's bro give it to fucking tony what the fuck we want to see tony and kabb what the fuck's going on where you don't really kind of hear that same vibe from armin everybody's like yeah arm is there he deserves it whereas Tony was like why the fuck is he not getting this title fight? Yeah Armand just doesn't have that that same appeal. You know what I mean?

Tony had Tony had that appeal it sucks and I'll tell you right now I don't care if Armand wins 2928 and it's a split decision and it's a back and forth war he wins he should get a title he should have got the title shot before now but he should get a title shot but I don't control that

I don't get to make those decisions so I'm just being honest to saying if you are an Armin fan or an arm in supporter or whatever, prepare yourself because he could go out there and have the greatest finish. Just, I mean, absolutely mauled Reese and Rufi. I mean, go out there and just take him down and just absolutely just destroy him. And six months from now, when they announced Ilya versus Justin two, don't get mad at me because I'm telling you, you just don't get your hopes of it, is all I'm saying.

Yeah, that's the word with it. Again, it's not all sport. if it was if this was just simply a sport Armand would have already had a title shot Ferguson would have got a title shot Mofsar would have already had title etc etc we could go on forever it is entertainment you have to be entertaining you have to have to get eyeballs you have to get attention

if you're not getting attention you're not getting a title shot yeah we just saw I mean look at look at boxing this past weekend you know like Connor Ben's not a bad fighter he's not a bad fighter but he's nowhere on the same level as a Tiafimo Lopez or, you know, those guys like that. Or Steven Hennie. Yeah. Yeah. And Ryan Garcia showed.

He knocked him out inside two rounds. Like I knew we talked about last week on the show. I was like, hey, he's going to win. He's just that much better. I just didn't think it would end in two rounds. But they made it because they could hype it up. You know what I mean? Conor ban, you know, coming from England, blah, blah, blah.

That hyped it up and Sufa, you know, Zufu put the machine behind it and built it up. in reality you and I both knew Conor Ben had very, very little chance to win that fight. Actually ended quicker than I thought it would. But that's the reality of combat sports now, man. It's not just about who's the best fighter. It's like, Devin Haney for the longest

time was like, Devin Haney is the best boxer in boxing. He's so good. And then obviously Ryan Garcia did pick him apart and beat him up pretty bad when they fought. But, like, or look at Shikorinzen. Look at that guy. That guy's unbelievable. He just doesn't have that personality where people are like, you know, oh my God, he's super star.

He doesn't have the fight style. He's got pillow fist. He's a defensive first fighter. That's why I think it's going to be good that he's with Zufa because Dana will start building the machine behind him. You know what I mean? You'll start building a promotional machine behind him. But the reality is that's just the world we live in, man. You said it a million times.

This isn't a sport. It's entertainment. And you got to learn to live with that. You don't have to like it. You don't have to cheer for it. But that's the truth. Yeah, and pros and cons, right? Like, there's some good to that.

There's some bad to that. You know, I think there's a lot of people, you know, a lot of boxing purists, including myself that don't necessarily like that happening to boxing, where boxing is ultimate entertainment also, but it's been governed by sports authorities like WBC and IBF, et cetera, et cetera. And they come with their issues too, right? That's not like some perfect system.

There's no such thing as that. But it has kept it more of a sport, right? Having mandatory challengers and, you know, kind of reaping what you sow a little bit more. And, you know, I like that. But I see the other side too. Pros and cons, right? Yeah. You don't get the Patty Pimblets in boxing.

You know, the guys that aren't title holders but are Uber famous. I mean, is there a single, you know, you know, Patty Pimbleit type in boxing? No. Because it's, because it's, it is more sport. Yeah.

You know, or wrestling, you know, like an Olympic wrestling. Like, there's, like, you know,

the guys that medal. You know what I mean? Like, you don't really know anyone else. And I've said a million times, like, that's what the UFC has done better than any promotion in sporting history.

Not, not just combat sports, but literally sports all around. Like, like, how many, how many personalities in the NFL,

do you even know, as their actual personality, you know, like who they are? Like, do you know a single NFL player as well as you know Sean Strickland? No. And even that. And you think those motherfuckers aren't as crazy as Sean Strickland that there aren't some that are just as fucking insane and crazy? Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I mean, hell, I couldn't pick a lot of NFL players out of the line out because they wear a helmet all the time. I don't know if their faces look like. No, you're absolutely right. And listen, like I said, I'm just being honest when I say, you don't have to like it. But we are, like it or not, Matt, you and I and the hardcore fans are in the minority. We just are, you know what I mean? Like, we're sitting there.

I'm not trying to rehash the Justin, the gestigach the thing. But like, we're like, why would you give Ilya a shot? He quit on the stool in the fourth round and Justin just beat him. Great. That's the two of us saying that. There's a thousand people out there who are very casual fans who just know Ilya for being Ilya. Oh, you're going to give I a title shot? Let's go.

let's go that's what I want to see and our opinions just drowned out because we're not we're not the thousand we're two we're two you know what I mean and that's the reality yeah it really is and that's what the UFC has done is they they've changed combat sports in general right now you have like R aF who turned wrestling into entertainment um you know they keep it somewhat sports still but it's ultimately been turning to entertainment they're doing the same boxing try to turn in entertainment they're kind of trying to do it to jiu-jitsu right which is going to be i think a tougher road in in that sense but you know they're trying try to do some things with jiu-suitzoo they've certainly done with m-m-a and you know they'll do it anywhere they can right represent that's how you make money

you make money right sport can make money right you got the nfl you got hockey MLB all that shit But the UFC can overtake all of them eventually. Yeah, like I said, they got it down in terms of entertainment and then people, you know, they appeal with people, and that's really all that matters. We do have another title fight, so I don't even do our picks. I assume you're picking Armand this weekend. Yeah, I think you kind of have to go with Armament.

Boy, I could see Ruffy pulling one off here, though, especially the way he looked at him in his last fight versus Chandler. He looked like he had, he's turned the corner. but you know I say it's all the time when we do these picks I mean you got to pick what's what you see on paper right you don't you don't really know what's going on and on paper Rufie Armin is the the pick I'm sure he's going to be a decent favorite too

Yeah I mean I don't want to just go grappler versus striker Just automatically pick the grappler But I just think that Armin is on such a role right now And he's so good And he's not a terrible striker He's not like awful It's like you put him on his feet

He has no idea what he's doing I just think it's a matter of time Before he gets a takedown And catch his suspicion But it could be fun Like I said Rufi Rufi looked great And you know yes he did

He said, yeah, that one loss on his record. But other than that, like, he's been a lot of fun, and you know he's going to make it fun until he gets caught. So I think it's going to be a good fight until it's over. And I tell you what, man, I'm, like, really close to leaning towards Rufi on this, which I know is a little bit of a wild call. Getting on paper, like, Armand has a big edge. But, man, there's something that I feel about Rufi here.

You know what? I'm going to go with Rufi, man. I'm going to take the chance here. I'm going to make that my pick. I think he's going to pull the upset. I think he, like, he's so long, too. You know, he's so big and long. Armand just can't make any fucking mistakes, man.

And, yeah, I'm going to go with Rufie. This sounds terrible, but, Matt, I know you'll agree with me when I say this. If Rufie can go out there and knock out Armand, he pull up a spectacular wheel kick, jumping knee, whatever, and he wins, the UFC will give him a title shot. I feel like they might, yeah. I feel it's a good chance to get. I think Ilya would still have the, the, the, I agree.

If he really wants to, right? If he says, no, give me the fucking towers. I think they would, but yeah, good anyway. But I'm saying, like, because Rufi knocks out Armin, that solves so many problems with the UFC. It really does. Because, you know, Rufi is like, what you want, like what they want. You know, Ruby's an exciting, dynamic striker, knockout artist, so much. fun to watch. And Armin's just not. Like, that's just not Armin style. But you, if he knocks

out Armin, he's eliminated a problem that's just lingered around for the past two years for them. If he can knock out Armin, they're like, oh, well, Armin got knocked out. Rufi, you're and I'm telling you right now, you're absolutely right. I'll say, I'll say, I'll end the title shot. And he's like, I'm not quite ready. You know, I need a couple more months to, you know, let my healing get done. Okay, Rufi, you're up, buddy. I guarantee you that's what's going to happen. It certainly puts the UFC in a good spot then, right? They're a much happier spot where they have those different choices. I'll tell you, yeah, just, man, it took me a second to think about it.

You know, again, when you first asked me, you know, it's like, man, you got to go with Armin. You can't really not go with that. But the more I think about it, you know, I think Armin, you know, he's got a more predictable style, too. So I think Rufi's going to know what to expect. Rufi's very unpredictable. I think that's going to play a big factor. But I think more than anything, he's just Rufi's size, man. I think Armin's going to have a hard time closing that distance.

And I know where Chandler's at in his career. So, you know, that win wasn't as spectacular as, you know, to make me feel confident that Rufi's going to beat Armin, right? But what he did show was like really good footwork, really good distance control, right? and very high ring IQ, right, knowing where he's at, knowing when to strike, patience. Like, he showed a lot of advanced veteran, you know, vibe in there. And I think he's, you know, he's going to pull out some stops here on Armand, man, you know. Yeah.

I mean, I'm still picking Armand. I got to ride with Armand. I think Armand's going to become champion one day. But when that day comes, who knows. but yeah, I mean, I'm with you in a sense of like if Rufie wins, the U.S. I don't think Dana will. You also assume it's the case I just flat out celebrating, but I guarantee he's got a big smile with us somewhere deep down inside. Oh, we got, you know, don't have to deal with this Armin bullshit anymore.

So, yeah, we'll find out. But I'm sticking with Armin. I still think Armin is the guy until he's not. Like, you know, until he can, and maybe, like I said, maybe it's just the weekend he gets B, Marie's here if he could do it. So, but I do like Rufi. I'm going to pull the upset there. I'm going to call the upset.

All right, I like it. Now, the main event, Joshua Van and Alessandri Pantosha, not a lot of talk there. I've talked to Joshua Van a million times. He's kind of a soft-spoken guy. He's been a little bit more vocal lately, but, you know, and Pantosia was a very dominant champion. Obviously, a freakish injury ended his reign.

And then Joshua Van comes out there and has that incredible fight with Tetsuya tire to kind of solidify himself as champion. It's weird because, like, everyone is riding on Joshua Van now, which is fine. He's a great fighter. But it's like, after he won, everyone's like, oh, you're not a real champion. you're not the real champion you got by a fluke um what do you think man who like this is really a first

fight they didn't get to fight the first time so like what do you think of this one if you would have asked me before he fought uh tyra i would have absolutely picked pantosia i picked pantosia the first time they fought after that tyra fight i'm going with joshua van he looked fucking phenomenal uh the kid has hands for days um he looks sharp discipline he's hard to hold down he's great his scrambling um he's got hard He's got guts. I'm going to go with Joshua Van on this. Pateja also looked phenomenal throughout his title run, but he didn't face Joshua Van.

And I think Joshua Van is just fucking young full of piss and vinegar. And he's just firing on all eight cylinders right now. I think Pantosia coming off an injury is going to hurt him, right? He's been out for how long has it been? I mean, it's been a while now. It's been about a year. I think it was last December. So it's been about like 19 months.

got injured, right? Yeah. In the last fight. But then, you know, how long was it when he fought before that? You know, I don't know. Yeah. A few months probably, right? So you're looking at, you know, a year and a half, you know, a year and a few months since he's actually had, you know, fought in a ring, right? Because he didn't fight when he fought Joshua Van.

He got hurt really quick and didn't last. So that's a lot of time off. And like I said, Joshua Van's firing on all these cylinders, man. He is fucking on fire. and I'm going to go with Joshua Vann right now. Yeah, I'm picking Vann as well. I think he's like, he's exactly what this division needs right now. You know, young, exciting knockout artist.

That fight with Tyra was awesome. That was a great fight. And my worry with Pantosia is, I've heard all these rumors coming, you know, his arm never fully healed, and it's never going to fully heal. You're always going to have some sort of twinge in your arm from what happened there.

I don't know. There's just something back of my head. I don't, like, I'm not saying this factual, I'm not saying I have some inside information as a reporter. I'm saying I just have a gut feeling. It almost feels like Pintoja is forcing himself to come back now because if he waits any longer, he knows there's going to be a long line of guys

who are going to get tired of us. I'm like, I need to see Joshua Van versus Manel cop. I need to see that fight. That is going to be a fucking barn burner. There's no way that fight would suck. But I think Pantosia knows he's in that out-of-sight, out-mind business. You know what I mean? The longer he stays away, the more people forget.

what kind of champion he was. And it also, it's not like when he was champion. He was a loved, you know, famous champion. You know, he was just kind of there. I thought he did phenomenal, right? He had a great title run, everything. I thought he, I thought he's a phenomenal fighter. But he wasn't making waves. You know, no one was watching Pantosia to be like, oh, this my voters badass or anything like that. You know, more because of the division than because of him, I think. And like you said, that's Joshua Van brought what this fucking division. needed. Tyra brought what it needed. They happened

to, you know, clash together. I think we're going to see the two of them again at some point. But, you know, I just think Pantosia's time is over, man. Unfortunately. Yeah, and he was a great champion, but I think it's the outside of mind thing. I think he's coming back super quick because he doesn't want people to forget

he was a great champion. And you come back to soon against the guy like Joshua Vannier and get your ass laid out. That dude is, oh, he's just so much fun to watch, man. And he's super tough. And he just, I just really like Like I said, if I don't get to see Joshua Van versus Manel Kopp in the next year, I quit. Like, I'm just, I'm done. Because that fight, that fight is going to be awesome.

Like, I need to see that fight. That is an exciting fight for sure. Yeah. That is an interesting thought that Pantosia might just be coming back a little too soon. You know, it could be an ego thing, could be kind of a loss of identity, you know, like he's been championed for a long time. And he's not used to walking around with a broken arm and no. no belt around his waist, you know, not getting that same love.

And, you know, so it might have been a psychological issue that he's dealing with. That's certainly a possibility. I hope he's more disciplined than that. And I hope that he's coming in fully prepared. Because obviously, I want to see the two of them fight at their best. Yeah. I think it's a good fight. But even take away all the other outside stuff, I still think Joshua Van wins.

Like, he's just rolling right now. And I think when you got that kind of momentum, it's tough to stop that road to movement. him and I think he's just, I think he's on a roll right now. Yeah, I'm right there with you. And the, uh, that tire fight really, well, that tire fight really sealed it for me, man. The way that, that he fought him, the scrambles is that he's young, just full of fire and energy and piss and vinegar and, uh, and man, he's, like you said, he's on fire,

man. That, that's going to be a hard fucking guy to stop right now. Yeah. It's a, and I think it's good for the division too, because like, as great as Pantoja was and I'm not knocking Pantosia. at all. But like, when Brandon Moreno and Devinson Figuero were rematching

or doing their trilogy or whatever, that was probably one of the more popular times for the Flyway Division because people were into that fight. Like, it was a really cool fight and they put on great performances. Flyweight is always going to have to battle for itself. Like, we had the greatest, we had arguably the greatest fighter ever as

Flyweight champion, and no one really cared about that division. DeVos Johnson was like the champion for like five years, you know, 11 title defenses. People doesn't really seem to care a whole lot. You know what I mean? Like, so when you find someone that can, you can like glom onto it, that you can grab onto and say, this guy's going to be a superstar, you better do it.

I think Joshua Van is the first guy in a while that has that superstar, like that superstar possibility for flyweight. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. So real quick, before we get out of here, Matt, we didn't really touch on this too much because you and I are, you know, kind of, I don't know what it was, but, hey, I don't want to say cruel, but we're kind of out on women's MMA in general

and have been for a while now. But I know you saw all the news. Valentina Shepchenko gave up her belt and she's dealing with an injury. She's going to be out for like another year or whatever. She's already been out for a year. She's going to be out for like another year. And so she gave up her belt.

Now we're getting, oh God, who is a Natalia Silva against Wang Kong. I know that's your most anticipated fight for the rest of this year. But she gave it up. And I know Dana had talked about it last night to ask them, you know, like they basically brought it up because they're like, Valentina volunteered.

to give up her belt because she knew she wasn't going to be back soon and she didn't want to hold up the division, which I really don't know what you were holding up. There's nobody there nearly as good as Valentina, but that's neither here nor there. And he's like, yeah, you know, she took the high road. You know, she gave up the bell. And when she comes back, she'll fight for the bell,

which I'm confident they will give her that title shot. And then somebody asked about Tom Aspinall, because Tom Aspinall has been out since last October. We're coming up on one year. And I'm sure you've heard the rumors, you know, he's not ready yet, not quite healthy enough to fight yet. I thought he was, but I guess not. He keeps saying, I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to go. And now he's saying, no, I'm not ready to go. And Eddie Hearn is manager, whatever we want to call him. He's not ready to go. And Dana said, we're going to have that conversation soon. You know, I think Tom would want to do what Valentina do, which is not a whole of the division. Now, Matt, you and I know heavyweight's not in a great place right now.

It's not the healthiest division it's ever been. But what do you do with Tom Aspin all right now? Because I know there's still that, like, lingering kind of bad blood with Eddie and Dana. you know, everything having the eye pokes and whatever else. But there is a certain, like, my thing with belts, I've always said, if you can't defend it within a year, then you've got to give it up. And October is right there. Like, we're literally two weeks away for being in October to where it's going to be a year.

And he still hasn't been scheduled and he's still not ready to go. So what do you do with Tom Asperma right now? Yeah, I mean, you know, this is going back to, you know, this not really being as much of a sport as it is entertainment. In a sport, you have pretty standard guidelines. If you don't defend it this often, you know, if you're out for this long, then, you know, it's vacated. And that's a pretty standard sport stuff. But again, this is entertainment.

So that's not the way the UFC works, right? They kind of just make the decision based off of, I don't know, your popularity or, you know, what works best for the company or the division or whatever. I don't know. but um look if i'm the ufc yeah i you know i would set that standard you know six months or a year you know whichever you decide nine months whatever it is and you know with tom aspinall i mean you know i think you do what you can to keep him around though right and obviously you got to be respectful of his injuries and everything but you do what you can to keep him around i think the guy is uh is absolutely uh has some big fights a heavyweight i think you know he's a draw he's uh brings a lot to the

heavyweight division you know yeah i think you do what you can to keep around but you know from what it sounds like um you know especially with eddie herne being injected into the situation you know lord knows what kind of fucking political bureaucratic fucking drama's going on behind the scenes man and you know we just we don't really have any idea and and and you know that's that's where sometimes shit like that you know in this game gets unfortunate right where you got to deal with that kind of shit and um it sucks for tom aspinall sucks for the ufc sucks for the fans right just kind of sucks for everyone involved like you know what the ufc is always pride themselves on is we get the best and we make the best

fights that people want to see well we want to see tom aspinall yeah the problem the problem that tom has is like tom is not tom is not waiting on a contender like like cyril gone's injured or something like that and he's just waiting, waiting, waiting to defend his belt. He's the champion. He got fouled. So he's the injured one. And it's not his fault. None of it's his fault. But they've already booked the October paper views. Abu Dhabi, we already know that's a book with the Bantamway title, fight, and everything.

So that's done. Like, you're not fighting in October. We already know that. I thought maybe he'd be ready about November for Madison Square Garden, but it sure sounds like he's not. I mean, asking Tom to take the high road when he was the one who, who was fouled and got injured, it sucks. Yeah, I'm not about that. Yeah, but at some point, you've got to move on.

You know what I mean? You can't just have the champions sitting there waiting. And, you know, I know Tom's going to fight again. And Tom's going to get healthy enough to fight again. It just may not be until, like, January or February next year. In the meantime, as much as I hate interim titles, and I hate interim titles, I despise interim titles. You almost have to, in a way, just to keep some interesting.

Real Alex, not an interim title? Am I? Yeah, so Cyril is the interim champion right now. You got to get Cyril defend the title then. You know what I mean? I know Alex Prair has been out there talking. Like, I want that rematch and I think it's going to happen. I think, you know, Alex probably knows something we don't know,

which is like they're talking to him about fighting Cyril and a rematch, which I don't know that I love that. You know, I don't know that I loved a rematch because it wasn't like the first one of super close, but whatever. I mean, Alex is a superstar. You said the heavyweight division. I mean, just doesn't have tons of choices out there either. Yeah, but. Alex is in that same kind of Ilya Teporia bucket,

where it's like he's a superstar, and superstars get something more than the average fighter gets. And tell me if they book Cyril and Alex again, you wouldn't be excited. It'd be a fun fight for as long as it lasted. It would be. It would always be fun. I think the downside of that fight,

not too far off from what is saying about Ilya, if Alex goes out and loses again, what does that do to his stock? I mean, I know what he did at middle and light heavy, it was amazing stuff but he's a heavyweight now that shit's in the past you're a heavyweight now

you lose twice like we're pretty much like you're probably not fighting Tom Aspinall Tom Aspenall comes back he fights surreal gone you know what I mean

like it's I don't know what that does to his future of big fights I don't know what big fights you make next after that there's always fights to make but but that's kind of what I mean by his stock

like I mean everybody's going to respect Alex Prayer the same but but it's um you know what do you do with him if he loses again he writes Josh Hokit that invite Josh Hogan yeah okay there you know that's that's something yeah but um yeah but but you know that's i'm not going to say that's a gimmick fight but it's like you know is that really what what we're going to be excited to see because I mean that's not a great matchup for Alex either no it's not but but heavyweight is so shallow right now that you only have so many options. I'm with you.

I think Gable Steveson is just, you know, on his way to become a champion. But you and I know they're not going to throw him in there to fight for the title in, like, his fourth fight or third fight. They're just not going to do that. He's fighting soon, but they're not going to do that. They're not going to put him in a title fight after, like, three UFC fights. He's not brought up to.

Yeah, they know what they got there. They're going to take care of it. So, like, we're probably a year away from Gable getting that opportunity, which is fine. I'm not mad about that. Problem is you don't really have anyone else to fight. I mean, Hokit, yes, Hoket is a very loud whatever you want to call him.

I'm not a fan of his antics, but he is a good fighter. But I get to feel like they don't, they don't want the title anywhere near that guy. They don't want that guy to be the representation of the UFC right now. And Alex, I mean, it's weird because, like, when Alex got absolutely demolished by Israel out of Sonia and it just moved to Light Heavyweight, we all just kind of forgot.

Like, we're just like, oh, now he's a Light Heavyweight. Oh, my God, he's going to be a lot of Heavyweight. And sure enough, you know, he turned into it. to be a beast of light heavyweight. Alex was kind of, I think there's certain fighters that can resist a loss, a bad loss. And I think Alex was kind of one of those guys.

And also Alex was like 39. Like he's not, he's not the peak. But here's the thing. We can resist a loss. Like he lost to Israel, Asana. I get where you're getting out there.

But I think losing twice to surreal gone, when Alex is, like he's, he's the boogeyman striker. Right? And then, you know, again, what happened with Israel? You know, there's a long history there. Israel's easily one of the best strikers in UFC history, if not kickboxing history and just history period, right?

He's, you know, amazing. And I think that's an easier loss to resist than two against Surreal gone. Yeah. And I'm not saying he will lose again, right? Maybe he beats Surreal next time. I would pick Surreal to win again. I picked him the first time. But that's where I think.

feel like that starts to hurt his stock at that point. And I get what you're saying. Like, you know, guys can be very resistant to that when, you know, you're Connor level or, or Ilya, you know, maybe even Alex. But, but man, I feel like with him being 39, um, you know, again, you got the, the other potentials in the division, like the Hocits or the Gable Stevenson's like, you know, it's, it doesn't the, if he loses that fight, I think the future does not look quite as bright for him as it as is looked in the past. Yeah, but I'm also of the mind, like, he's sticking everywhere. If he doesn't fight, if he doesn't fight Cyril Gond right now,

then probably the Hocud fight is the one they're going to make because there's the bad blood. Hoka talks a lot of trash. That's a fight Hockech can win. That's not like an impossible fight for Hocke to win. So what's worse going out there and fighting Cyril Gond for an interim title again and knowing that because they're two strikers, there's still a great chance that Alex wins.

I think Alice could win that fight. Or going out there and getting grinded against the cage, getting out-wrested for three rounds against Josh Hoke. So, I mean, what's worse? Like, what's the worst loss? Yeah, but or do you put them, I don't know, I'm not even sure who all is in the division, but like a Sergei Pavlovich, you know,

the guy that's more likely to stand with them, you know? I don't know about a Volkov, maybe, you know, something like that. You know, because, like, if you're going to fight a heavyweight, you know you got to fight the heavies you know yeah i guess that's just what it is um and and that's where again like i feel like his stock just drops because you know i that's what the future isn't quite as bright right like i hope it's not a great matchup for him i'm sorry like it's you know i think it's a very winnable fight for alex and was certainly um if alex is able to win that fight i think that that's a phenomenal win right like again it's going to get a lot of eyeballs and people

lot of people would love to see hokey get knocked out i think it would bring a lot of more attention to Alex so probably would be the right fight to make um but but man that's not a bright future you know like like you if you lose to you know just hypothetically lose to surreal gone and now you're fighting josh hoak it like that's not a great situation to be it in my opinion no i think you're absolutely right the problem is this heavyweight is so bad right now the options are just so unbelievably limited you know what I mean? So, like, this isn't the day where there was Junior Santos and Kane Velasquez

and all these top guys. Junior Sanchez. And I think if you're Alex, you're 39, you know, he's at the tail in his career. There's no doubt about it. He's not going to fight until it's like 50. And obviously he feels completely agreed by the whole Cyril Gagne,

shots at the back of the head, whatever. They can build it into a bigger fight, and that's what the UFC wants is a bigger fight. You know, like, I still think there's a great chance Alex wins that fight. Do I, I pick Cyril too. I think Cyril wins. But, you know, who knows?

Like I said, you know, his serial has shit to bed before. So, you know what I mean? Like, who knows? Well, you know, I didn't mean to cut you off. But I think there's a point to be made there where, with Alex being 39 and now you put him against surreal gone. If he wins, there's a chance he retires. There's a chance maybe he fights like Tom Aspinall.

which is another big fight. If he loses, you know, it's like, okay, well, you know, he's 39. You know, it's kind of the tail end of his career anyway, right? He's not going to be around too much long. And UFC, what their job is to make the biggest fight. So you've got to make that biggest fight while you can make the biggest fight. Yeah.

And right now, like, Tom, Tom, like, I don't, like, I think Tom, you know, I don't know if Tom would be like, oh, here's the belt I relinquish the title. But it's getting to that point where it's like, you know, you're not going to fight a year. I feel bad for it's not your fault Your eyes got fucked up But we got to move forward Whatever the case would be

And obviously he's not he's not gonna relinquish the title I don't see that I don't think you should Especially with everything that's gone on And he was the one who got fouled It wasn't like he fouled somebody and got you So I don't think you should But in the meantime

If you're Cyril gone yes It doesn't make a lot of sense for you to go out And fight the guy you just fought knocked out But like it or not it's a big fight And I'm sure they can tack on a zero on the old paycheck. December needs a big headliner. We'll watch. I mean, we're going to watch

regardless because we're hardcore fans, but I think we'd watch regardless because it's still a fun fight for as long as it lasts. Like, we both picked Cyril Gondon. We were in the minority. Most people are picking Alex to demolish him. Just do the fight. Just do because... Yeah, and that's a good point.

I mean, that Alex has created a storyline with it, right? Maybe some people might call an excuse or whatever, but it creates a story line, right? He didn't really beat me. You know? Yeah. Yeah. It gives it more of like a reason for a rematch.

Yeah. And it also, weirdly, in a very odd way to think about this, it does give Tom more time to heal up because if Alex goes out there in December, let's say, and knocks out Cyril gone, they could potentially do a trilogy, which would even put more time onto it.

Or if it's such a nasty knockout, then they're like, we got to do the Tom Aspinall fight four months from now and you give Tom time more time to recover. You know what I mean? You get time and let him get ready. So yeah, or if Cyril goes out there and knocks him to Alex out again, you're like, okay,

well, that's done, but now we just got to wait a few months for him to heal up, you'll give Seeril time to, you know, get through another training camp and then he fights Tom in March or April or whatever. But if I'm Tom Aspinall, fuck giving up the belt. I'm not giving up the belt for shit. You're holding, I'm holding on to that belt because the way that everything went down and it took so long for him

to become undisputed champion, there's no way I'm giving up that belt voluntarily. Now here, here's the scene that I see playing out in my head is they make the Alex rematch,

Surreal gone wins. Tom Aspenall comes back, surreal gone wins. Now he's got the record for the most title defenses. They put him in there with Hokit. Surreal gone wins.

Now he's the greatest UFC champion in history, our heavyweight champion in history. Fucking surreal gone, the motherfucker got the most chances at the bell. and no one thought would be it.

And now he's suddenly in the history books is the most defending UFC heavyweight champion ever. Yeah, it could actually happen. But like I said, we're in a weird way, you know, just like they're doing with Valentina sitting out and they're going to crown a new champion. We all know, it's just like when January,

I'm not trying to knock McKenzie Dernan. I think she's a great fighter. But like when Zhang Wei go to that belt, we knew who the number one fighter really was. Like we knew the number of, you know. It's just like right now, the Wang Kong or whatever her name is and Natalia Silva,

one of them's going to have a belt. We both know that's not Valentina Chichinko. We know we're not ignorant. We know the best flyway in the world is Valentina Chichinko. Is Valentina out because she's hurt? Yeah, she had a shoulder injury or something, so she's been out for a long. So what did they just do it in-term?

I mean, I guess, you know, more power to her for being so such a nice person and religious shit in the belt. But I don't know why didn't they just call? and be like, or when they had that conversation, like, yo, don't give up your fucking belt. Like, just do a fucking interim title and, you know, and it'll make a bigger fight when you come back. And weirdly at heavyweight, like, Cyril Guns holding on the interim title.

He's been an interim champion a couple times over. Like, right now there's actually a couple of interesting potentials in there. You know, you got the Alex Prairie match, which, you know, like it or not, probably is going to happen. You got the Josh Hogan factory. He's out there talking lots of trash. you know and if he wastes enough time you get gable steveson lingering in the wings just like in the shadows just waiting to become the best heavy weight so you have a couple options fly away was no there were no good options of flyway division's bad but there's a couple of that's where my story adds up perfect right because uh all this all this happens for surreal gone perfectly and then he retires because he's like i ain't fighting gable fucking steve is some motherfuckers yeah i mean so he beats um beats Pereira, Aspinall, Hokit, and he's like, I got the record, bitches, I'm out.

Gable, see if you can do it. He probably will. But I ain't going out, you know, getting slammed on my fucking head. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know. I feel for Tom, I think the hardest part for Tom, because, like, none of this is his fault. He got eye poked. He got, he got foul.

It sucks. It sucks. But I don't think he should give up the belt, but at the same time, it's like, we got to, we got to, you know, the division's got to move on. Whether you're going to do Cyril versus Poked or Cyril versus Alex in a rematch or whatever, something's got to pop here in the next few months. And like I said, when Tom comes back,

he's immediately the number one guy. He fights for the title. Don't even dick around with that. But, yeah, he's just in a tough part. Hopefully, Henry doesn't fuck that up either, you know. Realistically, again, and this is where, like, I just wish the UFC had some sort of standard with that. Yeah.

Because, you know, again, he's coming back in this situation. And, you know, it does suck for Tom. But, again, if there's just a standard where they say, look, if you don't fight for a year, it's vacated. You know, then it's not anything personal. It's not, you know, because of any Hearn or, you know what I mean? Or because drama, any of this shit, they're like, this is the fucking standard. This is the way it's handled. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

All right. So UFC 331 goes down this weekend from Los Angeles. I'm sure we'll be watching or in Matt's case waking up on Sunday morning and watching it because you know it's late night most likely yeah most likely but uh that car goes down this weekend so we'll have to have to talk about next week uh the uc train keeps rolling there's a lot of big cards coming up so we'll talk about that matt if people want to check you out what you got going outside the show where can they go what can they do i'm immortal instagram and twitter the immortal matt brown on facebook and the immortal podcast now there you go and as always as always we appreciate

everyone tuning into the show we'll be back next week with more breakdown and analysis and all the good stuff, probably talking shit about something. And, you know, so we appreciate that. For Matt Brown, I am Damon Martin. We'll see you guys next week for another edition of the Fighter versus the Writer. Thanks so much for tuning in, and we'll see you then. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siaia, and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. and today I'm still figuring it out.

Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem.