MMA Fighting - Paul vs. Woodley 2 & UFC Vegas 45 Post-Fight Show | Jake Paul's Brutal KO | Lewis vs. Daukaus

Episode Date: December 19, 2021

There’s only one way the chaotic year that was 2021 could end — and that’s with more chaos. Jake Paul starched Tyron Woodley with a one-punch knockout that is sure to follow the former UFC welterweight champion for the rest of his days, and Derrick Lewis capped off a finish-filled night with a historic knockout of his own against Chris Daukaus. MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti, José Youngs, Alexander K. Lee, and E. Casey Leydon sift through the wreckage of a violent night to break down the top storylines coming out of UFC Vegas 45 and Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley 2, including Belal Muhammad’s big breakout win over Stephen Thompson, whether Nate Diaz could soon find himself sucked into the Paul orbit, and much more. Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @ShaunAlShatti Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Mixed martial arts and boxing. Mixed martial arts and boxing. Yeah. Oh, man. We are doing this. We are doing this. Oh, Jesus.

What is up, my friends. Welcome. The final big combat sports night of the year. And my God, what a night it was. We thank you, as always, for joining us. This is, of course, the UFC Vegas 45 post-fight show, the Paul Woodley II post-fight show. really just were at all violence post-fight show here tonight.

We're not discriminating. This is on MMA fighting. You know the crew. That man over there is my Arizona brother, Jose Young's, patrol on the paint up north. We have the Prince of Positivity himself, Alexander K. Lee. And of course, the finest producer in the business, E. Casey Layden. I am Sean O'Shti.

It is very late, especially for A.K. over there. I think it's like 3 a.m. for him. So let us get to it, fellas. Because, wow, busy, busy night. Let's break it all down, and I suppose there's really only one way we can start. Oh, gosh, Jake Paul, Tyron Woodley. The rematch, man, and it ends with essentially a worst-case scenario for poor Tyrone Woodley. Three years ago, this man was on top of the world.

Talked about as one of the best pound for Python fighters in all of combat sports, and tonight he got the Nate Robinson treatment. Round six, it was a face plant, K.O., it was a bad one. Jose, I'll start with you, man. I won't lie. I feel pretty sad right now like surprisingly sad seeing all these memes flying around the internet

knowing how this one's certainly going to be treated from here forward the internet is not a kind place just your initial thoughts about what we saw tonight weird weird night that was a pretty awful fight until that one punch landed that was significantly worse than the first fight for everyone was like

oh Jake Paul ran away Tyre Woodley didn't throw any punches in the first fight I would have preferred that over what was happening until that one punch was that one punch Jake Paul landed. So I don't want to say I was surprised or not surprised. It just when it happened, I was like, huh, I guess Ty will lose asleep right now. We hadn't really seen that in a long time or if ever. Nate Mark Whart.

Nate Markler was last time. Yeah. I mean, he's obviously been he's been hit hard and teed up and choked out and lost one-sided decisions. But it's like what we said about Connor McGregor for so long. Like the mystique about him was, yeah, he lost, but there was never really that image of him just unconscious on the canvas. Like we've seen him choked out. We've seen him T-K-O'd. We've seen him break his leg.

But we've never really seen him separated from his sentence and face down doing his best floor mat impersonation. We saw Ty and Woodley do that tonight. So it's weird night. The younger, faster, stronger. Bigger. Undefeated boxer. beat almost 40-year-old fighter who hasn't really won around in several years. So that sentence, I shouldn't be surprised.

But given the fact that it's Jake Paul, maybe I am slightly surprised that he's the one that's etching his name next to using Nate Markhart and Jake Paul in the same sentence in 2021 to describe combat sports is a perfect way to end this year. It's so weird when you say when you frame it like that. But you're not wrong, man. And I think the one thing that stuck with me, this is a very short promotion to lead up to this rematch, right? It was a lot different than the first time we saw this. And the one thing that really stuck with me on that little tete-a-tete that these two men did with our friend Ariel Hawani this week was Tyrant's whole rant about how I can't believe

this guy of all people has a win over me, that this guy can say that he was able to beat me and that sort of thing. And now it's just, it's so much worse. It's so much worse than that initial rant for Tyrant now. I mean, A.K., we can circle back to Jake and a few. But obviously, we run an M.MA site here, right? We have history with Tyrone Woodley, and, man, it is hard not to think that something irreconcilable happened to one of our own tonight. AK, for you, did this whole series, in particular just tonight, changed Tyron Woodley's legacy forever in your eyes?

So that's a complicated question. So, okay, so for me, I don't think it should change his legacy that much in the eyes of MMA fans. I think, obviously, we know in his prime he was one of the best welter weights. This doesn't change those outcomes. This doesn't erase his knockout of Robbie Lawler. It doesn't erase his two-fight series with Wonder Boy, his domination of Darren Till, and whatever other Woodley highlights you want to cherish and hold on to.

It doesn't change those things. What sucks is there's a whole audience of combat sports fans who are just hearing about Woodley for the first time because they're Jake Paul fans or they're casual boxing fans. Or they've only know the Woodley sort of this latter stage. age Woodley, even the guy that fought was in the UFC recently and was losing fights in the UFC. And that's the scary part for him is that amongst the greater population, he is the former UFC champion who got knocked out by a YouTuber. And it's completely unfair, you know,

but I mean, this is the headline, this is the tweet, this is the memes that are going out. These things are presented without context. So again, for those of us who are whatever, are you what I recalls, hardcore, just people in the media are just dedicated fans. We know how good he was. We know how good he was. We know what a talented guy. He probably still is. What a great athlete he still is.

But what most people are going to see is this guy who just lost a second time to social media, celebrity, you know, general provocateur, Jake Paul. And the second time just getting clean knocked out. One of the, if we were talking about boxing, we say this is one of the best knockouts of the year. I mean, that's how NASDA is. If you ignore the rest of the fight, if you ignore it. You know, just aesthetically, good Lord, that was, that was scary. Oh, man. It's weird when you're sitting there and listing off all a tyrant's qualifications, right?

Because I still, even all of this aside, this whole year, how this has played out for him, he's still a top five welterweight of all time probably, right? Like, he's on that short list just for his MMA qualifications, what he was able to do at his peak. He's still right there with some of the grades at 170. But Casey, man, I mean, I'll throw the same question to you. Did the way this year played out? And in particular tonight, will this change how Tyron Woodley's remembered in your eyes? Slightly.

I think in the moment or like even as soon as I saw it, like, this is the worst thing ever to ever happen to Tyron Willie. And it feels that way in the moment. But actually, I think the way Woody kind of handled it, came to the press conference, even did a little, no, little interview in the ring, actually. Incredible at the press conference, I have to say. Like, he did not need to do that at all. And it's commendable. It's commendable. we're talking about just like legacies and stuff

well first of all the knockout I don't know how we calculate this but do you think by in the next week or so this will be the most watched knockout of the entire year in all combat sports across all the internet without question without question yeah okay so that just sucks retiring Woodley I mean just says a person that just sucks a year on that receiving

in for you know it's just going to be bad but legacy wise yeah it takes a shot but I don't I don't put this on the same level as like say how BJ Penn kind of destroyed his own legacy and BJ Penn one of the greatest lightweights ever we don't even think of that anymore he now is just kind of this guy gets knocked out at bars by random dudes

Ty and Willie he he chased a dream it didn't work out he still got the paycheck but the dream didn't kind of became a nightmare I guess so I don't think it's as bad we want to think it is, but it still sucks. And I think the way Jake is kind of handling and not really discrediting Woodley and saying he sucks. He's like, he, this guy's a warrior. I just fought like a freaking warrior.

I'm proud of what I did. He's not, he's not, he, Jake never kind of discredited Woodley. If anything, he kind of, he kind of raised the stock, you know. And that's just him being a really good promoter, a really good, really smart price fighter. And yeah, yeah, Woodley handled it well. And yeah, we're going to make, everyone's going to make fun of them. We're going to see the mean, the mean memes, but. You know, he's got that, he's got that cash to cry in, you know, so he's good.

Sure, and hopefully it's a lot of cash, if we're being honest, right? And these last two fights since August, I hope Tyron made enough money to just live well for the rest of his life. You know what? Mama Willie seemed okay if the knockout, so I'm okay if the knockout. Yeah. I mean, Jose, you, you know, she's one of, she's one of combat sports is like great class acts, right? If Mama Willie was fine of it, I think we can be. No surprise, yeah.

Jose, you alluded to this when you're sort of talking at the beginning of it. And it was a really bad fight, right? Like that right, like, Loki might have just saved this whole circus that is Jake Paul because that was a bad, bad, bad, bad fight before Jake landed that shot. You even had commentators and the referee just weren't able to mask and hide their disgust. I think that referee said, come on, y'all, at least four different times, just like audibly loud for us to hear on that broadcast. Just quick straw poll between all you guys.

Should this be the last time we see Tyrone Woodley fight in general? Like is this the last time you want to see Tyrone Woodley do anything in this sort of context? No, he's... Whatever he wants, I'm fine with. No, but do you want to see him? Not what he wants. I know what I said. I don't care if Ty Wildley fights together or not.

If he wants to fight cool, if he doesn't cool, like I'm going to cover his fight. regardless. I take that as a no. I take that as a no. I want to see Tyron Willie fight. I want to see him fight again. Obviously, I love to see him fight an MMA guy in boxing. I like those type of matches and stuff.

I want to see him in MMA. I don't really want to see him in MMA. I want to see him pursue his dream. I feel like we've invested so much time. We know Tyron even better now. Yeah. I don't mind. Now, is he going to get this big payday?

Is he going to main event a pay-per-view? No. But, you know, we'll see. Him and Dan Hardy is always out there, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's probably, that would probably be palatable. But honestly, I'm done, man. I'm done watching.

I was probably done watching Woodley fight before the Lucke loss. I was just after the, I think Covington. I think Covington was the one that really broke me. That I was really like, he really just can't, it's such a cliche to say it over and again, can't pull the trigger or whatever it is. But that's just like, that's only one aspect of kind of is what makes his, is making his fight so brutal to watch. He'll be 40 in April, I think.

And that's a hard 40. That's a hard 40 with a career in wrestling, a career in, of course, MMA. Now two kind of ugly boxing fights and one vicious knockout. I just, I don't know. I'm not saying he can never win a fight again, but I was really surprised how many people were convinced that they would see a different Taran tonight. I wasn't sold at all. I'm like, there comes a point where you fought so many times. And, you know, so much of fighting is fight or flight.

and balancing that and I think his flight has so far overcome his fight instinct. You're just not going to see him put on entertaining or like aggressive fights, I think, ever again. And look, if he hears this, this becomes a sound bite and this motivates him. Fantastic. I doubt it. I doubt one, I doubt he would even care what I thought. And two, I just don't think that that's in him anymore. I think you can tell yourself you're going to fight a certain way. And then once you step in that ring or stepping that cage, it's a whole different beast.

it just becomes this other thing. And I'm just speaking as an observer, but I really am not interested in seeing Turnibly fight anymore. Last few things here, then we'll move on to UFC, because I want to move on from this very depressing topic, if I'm being honest. Why are we depressed about?

Are we depressed? I'm bummed to see, I wouldn't say Tyrant's a legend in MMA, but someone who is so decorated MMA become a punching bag in a punching, and like a joke to, I think a lot of people out in the wider world who maybe weren't,

aware of him before this. That's what I'm bummed about ultimately, I think. Because we've seen this guy do great things, you know? Like, we saw the good times for him and the rest of the world's just seeing the bat. But Jose, I want to just quickly throw it to you because we saw it all week and we saw it even again tonight, the Nate Diaz part of all of this. Jorge Madswell, too, even if you want to throw him in there, but it is no coincidence that Chris Avila was on this card. And it worked, right? Like this whole strategy, it got Nate in the building. You're getting Nate Dia's quotes this week. And on the same night where we saw Dana White say it, UFC Vegas 45, the post-fight press conference, that Diaz-Poree may actually happen.

That might be on the table now. We all know Nate's contract status, one fight left on his deal. It feels as if Jake Paul and Nate Diaz, these two guys are circling each other in a way that is very obvious. I just ask you, is this going to happen in 2022 and should it? It will 100% happen in 2022. Should it? I mean, they're both going to make a lot of money, so why not? Jake Paul, I mean, Nate Diaz is going to lose.

to Dustin Porre, probably in 2022, and then he's free, and then he can do whatever he wants. He's probably going to box both of the Paul brothers, if I'm being honest, and then he can go do a trilogy fight against Conne McGregor outside of the UFC and make all of the money. So

good for you, Nate Diaz. Make a whole bunch of money fist fighting, a bunch of people that a bunch of people want to see you fistfight. So, yeah, 100% and 100% if we're talking about prize fighter. 100%. I mean, last thing on this, then we'll move on. But A.K. Casey, both of you, odds for Diaz Paul in 2022. Do you see this happening? And who do you favor in that fight if you're being real?

Well, I like what Casey tweeted, had a tweet earlier saying he was really already kind of thinking about Paul and McGregor. Now, because of McGregor's injury, that probably makes it less likely to happen than Diaz. And Paul also, like we said, there's a lot of Paul Diaz talk. It's sort of the more immediate matchup. But really, I'm already. I'm just going to come out and UFC will never let that happen. Like they would never. ever go for that. Why not? Well, you just, but we just said that he'll be, because McGregor's not going to be a free agent anytime ever. But we just said, we just said the McGregor Diaz trilogy outside of the outside of the, outside of the UFC. Same thing. I think at some point he'll be, you know, if he becomes a free man, that, that Jake Paul McGregor fight is going to happen. Now in 2022, like I said, probably not. Again, health health stuff for McGregor and whatever other crap he wants to do in the

UFC before that's done. But somewhere down the road that's happening. But I'll agree with Jose. I think in 2022, yeah, do we see that Diaz fight? happen with Jake Paul, I would not bet against it. I think the odds are favorable at this point. Casey? I actually doubt it. I know we're poo-pooing the idea, but I mean, it was a co-promotion between Showtime, Mayweather, and Zufa for the Mayweather Connor fight.

And I'm talking about Connor under UFC contract fighting Jake Paul. So I still think that's out there. I think there's so much money to be made. And yeah, when's Connor, Jake Paul is going to take? It's not going to happen, I think, for a few reasons. It's not going to happen anytime soon because, A, Dana White actually respects Fleming-Mayweather as a businessman in a box. There it is.

Definitely doesn't respect Jake Paul. And second of all, Conno, hold on, hold on. See, Casey and I were talking about this before. Time out. Time out. We think he does. Time out. Time out. And second of all,

Connor is not going to fight Jake Paul under a UFC contract. He's going to fight him when he's out of the UFC and make all of the money. That's going to be the biggest thing. Whether we disagree or agree or not on Dana White respecting Jake or not, Connor isn't going to take that fight until he's out. And he doesn't have to share because Connor's oversharing. This is a guy that's not wearing the crypto shirts for 30 seconds on a way. And you think he's going to share the money of the Jake Paul fight with UFC?

Not happening. He's going to wait to get the lion's share. I think that would become like the third biggest boxing pay-per-view of all time. Is that crazy to say? That's not crazy at all. I think that'd be just behind Mayweather McGregor and Mayweather Pack now. I think it's number two. Oh, damn.

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All right, enough of this nonsense. We need to move on. Let's move on to the real fights tonight. The real fights. We all know what it was. I'm just saying there was fun stuff tonight, and I want to talk about the fun stuff. Darry ones are Craig for.

Okay. Boxing. Boxing is irrelevant unless it's 12 rounds. That's my opinion. Oh. Oh, take that, Serana. Take that. Spice.

Oh, that's a different story. But fellas, the Apex was alive tonight. The UFC Vegas 45 was on one tonight because that was a hell of a card. We were talking about it going into it on the preview show. It looks like, you know, one of those decent cards where you're going to get some fun fights. But 10 finishes on a 13 fight card, it tied the third most finishes on a card. modern UFC history. And then in the main event,

a different kind of history was made because you had Derek Lewis, the man who seemingly can't get any respect, no matter how long he's been doing this, the man who's been the underdog in eight of his last 10 fights, and was somehow the underdog again coming into this fight against a newcomer

who had four UFC fights. Derek Lewis did it again, guys. He did it again, swanging and banging. H-town on that hoe, first round gets it done. I'm just saying, dare I say it, the future Hall of Famer is now the UFC's all-time K-O King. He moves into first place

all-time with 13 knockouts. Jose go to you first. Initial takeaways from what we saw tonight from the Black Beast, doing it again, man. I mean, Derek Lewis, outside of France and Ghana probably has the most horrifying punch I've ever seen in the history of the UFC. I mean, because they're also just so different.

Because with Francis, they're kind of looping and they just look violent, like people's heads snap back, and they kind of just fly. Like, you punch them. when franz punched you you kind of leave your feet like a la andre olaski or gyrzino Derek lewis needs like he could fight in a phone booth and he can generate power in like one inch and then all of a sudden you're dead so uh derrick lewis fights are like i don't know what

i'm watching half the time because i always feel like a bunch of his knockouts too are when his back is to the camera and he's like punching against the fence or his opponent is shooting in for a takedown or something crazy is happening. And then all of a sudden, your opponent is asleep is doing a Ty and Woodley impression in the middle of an octagon. So it's just, it's such a weird thing watching Derek Lewis fight,

because like you said, he's an underdog all of the time, and he's almost always losing his fights until he touches you. So that was the definition of Derek Lewis fight. Chris Dawkins didn't look bad at all until he got punched in the face. And then all of a sudden he started to lose conscience,

starts lose consciousness. So yeah, good for, good for Chris Dawkes. Because that first flurry, Chris Dawkins survives like the first dude. I was like, I was like, how many people have we seen survived the Derek Lewis flurry? Like, I can't think of many. I'm saying. I was like, goddamn, this is going to be a fight. And then

Derek Lewis just sprinted at him and punched him a whole bunch more times and then Chris Dawkins was unconscious. So a crazy fight, awesome fight. Chris Dawkins didn't look like he, Chris Dawkins looked like he belonged in that top 10 at heavyweight. And he just got punched by Derek Lewis, which happens to the worst of you. I mean, he looked like he belonged for three minutes, and then all of a sudden he didn't, right?

A.K., I said on the preview show, that I was a bit baffled by this whole thing, at Lewis being the underdog in this fight. It seemed like you look back on his resume, and it's a long one. These are just not the types of fights he loses. Like, there are very specific types of fights against the very elite of the elite that he will lose, and then the rest of the fights, he generally will just beat everybody else. What do you make of what we saw tonight? Yeah, I mean, look, since a couple of things, since a couple of of odd losses like Sean Jordan and Matt Mitrione. The only guys he's lost to,

Cedil Ghan, current interim champion, Junior D'O Santos, former world champion, Daniel Cormier, two-division champion. Mark Hunt's, again, one of the great, you know, one of the great heavyweights, one of the great striking heavyweights of the very least kickboxers. And also that Mahan won was like the peak of his bad back.

Like he was almost immobile in that fight. And that was probably one loss in a stretch of, I think, um, I'm going to eight win. And he went eight and one. So that was the one loss in like eight. So he was still crushing people. So the only question, you know, you kind of ask yourself the situation is, well, is Chris Daucus going to be in this, you know, in that tier? Will we one day look back and say, oh, that was another loss against, you know, a future UFC champion or U.S. title contender Chris Dachas, which I still think he could be.

But was it going to be building that, getting that shot with a win over Derek Lewis? That's asking a lot. Dachas had beaten some good veteran names like Olinik Abdurahimov. But this is his first, like a legitimate top five guy. I know Derek Lewis has been around for a while. So people, I think every time, you know, he faces one of these young contenders, I shouldn't say young, but I'm sorry, relatively fresh contenders. They're going to ask, well, is this, you know, is he on his way out?

It's a time that he becomes a stepping stone. And I don't think we're near that stage yet. I think, again, he has a lot of wins left. And I still think guys who are at the cusp of the top 10 or just at the top 10, like in the eight to 10 range. I still think he's too much for them. I think that's what we saw with that with DACA. It could have gone the other way. It is heavy weight.

It's just there's a reason. that these things keep going Derek Lewis's way. You know, people have to acknowledge it's not just luck. It's not just his raw power. There's like a legitimate skill to what he does and how he approaches fights. And it's why he keeps getting these wins. So just, yeah, another big victory for the Black Beast. Absolutely.

I mean, Casey, like coming into this, obviously this was too much too soon for Chris Dawkins. Like that was sort of the big question coming into this. We talked about that on the preview show. And really the difference, right, between the Tom Aspinall path. and what Tom Aspinall was trying to do have taken it slow versus what Chris was trying to do here where he's a little bit older. He wanted to sort of make that move, make that jump very quickly. It's just so hard in this heavyweight division when there's so few viable names, that escalation can happen overnight, like sometimes too fast. And this was one of those.

I wonder for you, like, does this validate in your mind, almost like what Tom Aspinall has been preaching about just taking the slow road sometimes? You know, you got to find out. There's only one way to find out, you know, who you are and how good you are. and Chris Dachas, you know, he signed the contract. He thought he was good enough. He talked a big game. He was super confident. 99% of heavyways to cry out have a problem with me.

Turns out that 1% is Derek Lewis. I'm not anti-Christoccus or anything. Did I pick? Did I pick Lewis on the preview show, right? I'm fairly sure that I'm the only one here that picked Derek Lewis. I'm pretty sure I was the only one that picked Chris Dachis. I think it was 2-1. Derek Lewis.

Okay. Was it? Okay. Okay. Okay. Because you said that. I was pretty, I've been pretty high on Lewis for this fight, especially the big jumping competition. And I, it was one of those, like I said, you know, MMA fans have very short-term memories.

What have you done for me lately? And Derek Lewis, I think, just had a bad fight. Zero-Gone fights great. Chirogan is just really good. He just, he just- He makes people look bad. He makes people look bad. He just makes people look bad.

I think he exceeded my expectations. I thought that was going to be a close fight. It was not a close fight. Sirrigan is just really good. Sirrigan might be the best heavyweight in the world. We don't know, actually. I won't be surprised if he does beat Francis when I thought Francis was the best heavyweight ever

just a couple months ago. But here we are. Derek Glouc, he had a bad fight. He's in the apex. He doesn't have to worry about fans. He doesn't have to worry about his favorite, you know, screwed up click rapper in the front row watching him. You know, he doesn't have to worry about tickets for families,

you know, all that stuff. He's just... The embedded crew. following him around the whole time. Oh, so it's something funny, Derek. There's something funny. Talk about your balls. Talk about your balls.

Say the line, Bart. Say the line. Say the line. Yeah. And I feel like Derek Lewis fills out all the time, you know. It was just a low-key. These apex,

he said it. Just listen to his post-fight interviews. Like, stop giving me these main events. Stop giving me these five-rounders. I just want to make my money, beat up some people, and get out of town. And these are the perfect fights for him. Derek Lewis just doesn't, he just doesn't,

he doesn't like, He doesn't like the glory of being a fighter. He likes the paycheck. He doesn't like the glory. He just wants to get his money and get out. And Apex cards are perfect for him. And I don't know how much this means for Chris Dawkins. It's just a loss.

He can easily come back and still be the best heavyweight in a couple years. Charles Oliver, no, got subbed by Jim Miller, a bunch of other people, before he became the best lightweight ever. So I'm not trying to throw Chris Dawkins out the window or anything. He's obviously really good. Just a bad night for him. and Derek Lewis is freaking awesome and there are levels to this game

and Derek Lewis is on a higher level right now. Yeah, I mean, he's still, he's essentially in the same spot he was coming into this, right? We all saw him as the number four guy in this division behind Cyril, Francis and Steepay and whatever order you want to throw them in. And that's still where he is.

So gentlemen, just quickly, let's go around the horn here. I mean, you look at the landscape. You have Inganu and Gan, obviously going at it next month. That's the next big pay-per-view. And then you have Steepay and John Jones just sort of sitting out there in limbo. We don't really know what's next. next for them. Jose, I'll start with you first.

Like, match make this heavyweight division for me right now. What do you feel like this goes? Because we had Dana White even tonight saying, Derek Lewis, you might want to stay by your phone just in case a call comes and we might need you to fill in in January. Regardless of who he fights next, Derek Lewis should be on that Houston card in February. That's for sure if he wants a quick turnaround. But that's up to Derek Lewis. It seems like he didn't have, he didn't really enjoy fighting in Houston last time.

But that might have just because he was the man of ante, he obviously seemed to enjoy when he fought. I think that was, was that even, that might even been the opener of the paper view, if I remember correctly. So, uh, meritocracy and wins and losses matter. It should be steep, but I want steepe to fight John Jones. So who's even left that Derek Lewis hasn't fought? Because of Chris Dawkins had won. That's a whole lot of matchups that you can make.

Uh, because he hasn't fought. He was, what, he's four or five fights into his UC Green. I feel like Derek Lewis has fought everyone. Who's, who's even left to heavyweight? for him to fight. Pulling it up right now. Jarzino, he's the only one. He just lost to Curtis Blades. Otherwise, then you're looking at like the Tom Aspenols of the world, right? I know, no, I know what. Give it to me. I know what you're going to say and give it to me. The answer is Tad Tui Vasa. That's the only foot I want to watch right now. Tadu Iovasa is a

fat boy who likes to knock people out and drinks liquids out of shoes. And Derek Lewis is a big fat boy who likes to knock people out and throws a cup into the audience. They are both just sound bite machines and you know you're going to have a good time at that press comments they'll have a fun time they'll have a silly goose time uh fist fighting for our entertainment so i don't give a f i don't give a fudge to quote the great bala mohammed i don't give a fudge about rankings give me inject tied to evasvers derrick lewis into my veins i know all these people on my twitter when i tweeted that were like oh no it should be the volkov rematch no f that fat boy tied to evasvers fat boy Eric Lewis. I'm about it.

Sticking inside a small apex, even better. Sign me up. The Volkov rematch sounds horrible. That's just like, that's one of those special ones where it's like we saw something really cool happen. It's because MMA fans on Twitter specifically, actually no, MMA Twitter is just a bunch of people that you say, I like the color purple. They'd be like, you're stupid.

You're wrong. Red's the best. I'm like, whatever, bro. But like, I don't like, they just want to argue for no reason. But the answer is tied to Ivasa. Anyone that wants to you, the vault. coffee match, go suck an egg. Jeez.

Okay. Purple's the best color. Ty DeVosso is purple. I just have to, I'm not certain, but I was watching this post-Py press conference and someone mentioned that the gentleman who caught

the cup, you were talking about shooies, that he tried to then do a shooey out of the cup. I don't know if this is true, but I really badly, like, kind of want it to be true while also really not wanting it to be true. I don't know if anybody has inside info here, but please let a brother know if this guy tried to do the shooy out of this cup i i that's rough aka what

you do next with derrick lewis i i don't hate the volkov rematch it wouldn't be my first choice but i do think you can go outside the top 10 like that that's a rankings fight that's sort of like well they're you know uh the first fight was again volkov was winning and then you know uh give him his chance of redemption he did get knocked out late in that fight fine so that there's a storyline there it's a very fight night worthy either headline and or Comane. So I get it. And rankings-wise, they're close.

Gersonio, another good option. But I don't mind going outside the box, as Jose suggested, with Taito Vasa. Or even, I don't know, I feel like maybe, just because this would be kind of a feel-good fight, though I know, because Derek Luzzi, be probably pretty heavily favored. This is why people wouldn't want it. But Walt Harris, I don't know. I feel like Walt Harris, I feel like that would be a good, fun fight. Oh, my God. Walt Harris on three-fight losing street.

And now, why do you hate Walt Harris? I don't hate Wall there. It sounds like you do. Listen, I don't think there's an, I know we keep trying to find an easy, an easy feel good fight for Walt Harris. I don't know if there is one in the UFC, for being honest. I don't know if there's someone you can just queue up. Harry Huntucker. There are any bad heavyweights.

Don't say any bad on Harry Huntsucker slander coming and I won't hear it. I won't hear it, Casey. Though maybe that probably would be, that actually probably would be really good. That's who Warrers should be fine, but that's enough about. Harry Hunsecker. God bless him. But no, I don't hate the Volkov matchup as much as Jose does. But I think that the tie matchup was very realistic. I think he's going to enter the MMA fighting global rankings, I believe.

We won't know yet for a few weeks. But I do think he'll take Augusto Sakai's spot. Sakai was 12th. So either someone else is going to hop in there or I think tied to a boss might crack it. So hey, they're both in the top of dean of the most prestigious rankings in all of MMA. I'll know there's anything wrong with that. Fair enough. Well, hey, let's move on to the co-main of it.

No, no, no. What's up, Casey? Derek Lewis versus my personal friends. I want to see Derek Lewis versus John Jones. We ain't going to see that. Yeah, that's not happening. I want to see it. I really want to see it.

But I want to see Derek Lewis versus Stepe. Because Steepa ain't going to get that title shot. And it's a fresh fight. And it's a, and if Steepa really is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, which I kind of don't believe he is, even though. the statistics, the numbers say he is, Steepa should beat Derek Lewis, and that's why I want to see that fight.

I actually think I like that fight the best. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Derek Lewis beats up cops. Now he's going to beat up a fireman. That's the gimmick. Beating up first responders. Are you a paramedic?

You're next. Oh my God. I actually think I might like the Steepa fight the best at all three of these. Yeah, I love the steepe's holding out right now, and I just don't think John Jones Jones is going to come back for anything other than a, a heavyweight title fight.

Like, I don't think he's going to fight, you know, a Derek, a Derek or a Stebe, whatever. Anyway, let's move on. Co-made event, fellas, because another upset in this one and a fairly big upset at this, one that none of us called. And I think if we're being honest, I think an upset that none of us even really expected. You had Balal Muhammad going out there and just dominating Stephen Thompson, putting the wood to him, pillar to post.

It was never close. Fight was never in doubt. You had 30-25s on the board. 30-26s just totally. domination. You had seven take downs at zero, nearly 12 minutes of control time and a 15 minute fight. Wow, man. Like, Balala Muhammad has been waiting for his big breakout moment. And I think we finally just saw it. Jose, what do you make of what is easily the biggest win of this guy's career? Caught me by surprise. I think I picked, if my words were correctly, I thought

Stephen Thompson was going to cruise to a, like a, what did I say, like 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, 10, 9, 30, 27 across the board. I think I referenced like Blah Mohamed wins a lot of decisions, loses to a lot of guys in the top five. Wonderboy's been in the top five for so long. I feel like three-round fights going into a decision in a fight that Stephen Thompson is involved in. Normally, he's the one that's winning. I know he just lost to Gilbert Burns, but Gilbert Burns is really, really good. And I thought Belal Mohammed was a top 15 welterweight, but not a top seven welterweight. So Belaw Muhammad proved me wrong. The biggest upset decision-wise, most dominant.

an upset, I can think of in a long time in MMA in terms of, like you said, that was just a shutout. I know we've seen... 3025, man, 3025. I know we've seen upsets where it was like flash knockouts or submission stuff like that, but for Bala Muhammad to do that to someone, a lot of people, I remember that thing that was going around on M.A. Twitter was like, oh, tweet a picture of someone you were really confident was going to be a UFC champion. I saw a lot of Stephen Thompson's.

A lot of people thought he was going to be Tyne Woodley back at U.S. UFC 205 and UFC 209. So good on Balam-Mohamed. Now he's this new guy, this new guy that every single press conference he's going to be at. He's going to be like, so you're an analyst and a fighter. When are you going to think of hanging it up

if you don't get a title shot? Which is just, I feel like every time Anthony Smith does a press conference, it's the first question he gets asked. Now you can add Balam-Mohamed. But he's not going to get a title shot, but clearly top seven, top five, welts way in the world right now.

AK, I mean, I think this one just surprised a lot of people in general. And if we're being honest, this is not two in a row for Wonderboy, like in particular the way a win, right? This very takedown heavy game plan for you. Is this win more about Ballal finally taking that long away to the next step? Or is this what's going on or is it more about what's going wrong for Wonderboy right now at this stage of his career for you? Definitely a bit of both.

Definitely bit of both. I'll praise Bilal first because, again, it takes a lot to be that adaptable. I think we view him as more almost one of those, again, high volume striker. You know, he wins fights based on Cardi. and just kind of outtuffing people. And I'm sure he's a fine grappler. I just don't think it's seldom he's ever used to just really dominate a fight before. And on paper, I mean, that certainly seemed like an option is what you would want to do against Wonderboy,

one of the trickiest strikers in MMA. We just didn't think he could do it. I mean, a case I'll tell you on the pre-fight Q&A, I could not have been more wrong. Someone literally asked us, one of the questions was, do you guys think Bilal will just, you know, wrestle and smother while Wonderboy? And I was like, that's not going to happen. I'm like, I know we just saw it. But I'm like, I think that's just the, the Gilbert Burns loss was so fresh in people's minds.

They think, oh, his wrestling is a weakness. I'm like, historically, take down defense is a strength of Stephen Thompson's. So that's why it lends to the second part of your question where I do think, fundamentally, I'm sure, take down defense is fine, but you're just getting older. Your reflexes are a little bit slower. Your opponents are a little bit younger, a bit hungrier. Wonder Boy, will be 39. in February.

So again, I'm sorry, I hate to keep dating people like this, but age in combat sports really, really matters. And once you start going, once you hit that sort of hump, there's a hump, it's really hard to come back. I'm sure people will have examples of fighters who have, you know, looked washed, I don't know, maybe, on Jarlovsky, maybe, you know, look washed and then kind of somehow found a second, third, fourth gear in their careers, but it's rare.

Maybe Wonderboy is that guy, but right now there's, based in the last two fights, there's very good reason to believe that he's not. and his days of contender could be over. Casey, I mean, same thing to you. Is this more about Balal women winning for you, or is this Wonder Boy losing? What's the story here? I'm going to go Wonder Boy losing.

I'm not trying to take too much away from Mr. Mohammed with the biggest win of his career, but I'm actually going to put much more of this on a Wonderboy. I made a big oversight when I was looking at this fight. I completely forgot this was at the apex. Big point. It's a big point for even the main event, all of these fights.

It played into it. I completely forgot. It was the apex. I think they even mentioned that in the commentary. As soon as Wonderboy's got that super wide stance already. He takes two steps back. His foot is already in that little, you know, the warning track area. It's not good for him.

And, you know, in the overdone storyline, too, with Wonderboy, aren't you Wonder Man now? That actually takes in, that actually says a lot because at some point, these fighters get old and tonight I felt I saw an old wonder boy and it showed in the small apex small apex cage and with blah and belaw just sticking to a game plan and he do belaw he sticks to a game plan and i credit it gave him a lot of credit for that and um he didn't he didn't care about making this exciting he just knew he had to get a w this is one of those fights were you don't got to win impressively you just got to win and that's all he needed um so like we're not talking because me

Take out the fact that it was an upset. It was a boring fight, you know, in terms of just pure fight entertainment. But the storyline of the fight, you know, Wonder Boy, not being a top contender anymore, basically. That's why we're kind of talking about it. That's why I put more of the kind of the story of this fight on Wonder Boy just getting old and just that. This is a new crop. And AK mentioned, though, this kind of Arlowski thing, which I think is interesting because Arlowski never kind of came back and became a title contender. Arloskey was just one of the best, one of the best heavyweights,

and then we kind of came this kind of middle of the road heavyweight and just managed to survive. He had a very brief moment. He had a number one contender fight against Steve Bay. Yeah. Okay. He hit that, but did we ever think that Arlowski, when he came back to UFC, was going to be a UFC champion?

Was there any of that, did you ever feel that? No. No. That's what I mean. Maybe Wonderboy, if he can stick around, and if he's okay, with this. This is a big thing for fighters and for fans too, and I wish more fighters and fans were okay with this. Wonderboy used to be one of the best. It's okay if he becomes just a top 15 guy. It becomes a gatekeeper. I'm okay of that as long as he's happy of that. And he's content, you know,

with the damage that does his body, just living that life, you know, like Arloski does. Arlowski makes a great living being a top 20. It's kind of this very end-of-the-line gatekeeper. Is it a gatekeeper to the top 15? Yeah, maybe Wonderboy would be that pretty soon. Like, Gatekeeper to the top 10. And now, Balaw, he's the top 10 fighter. So, yeah, Wonder Boy got old tonight. Small Cage wasn't good for him.

And I don't see Wonderboy coming back in any sort of title run. That's a shame. It sucks for him. Like Jose said, he's one of those guys we thought at some point, even after the Woodley losses, that he would get one more crack at it, but just didn't happen for him. the opportunity. He lost the burns, even losing tonight. There were roads to get to that title fight. It's just he didn't win those fights. And here we are. Yeah, it certainly does feel

as if tonight's that last nail in the coffin for what could have been with Usman Wonderboy, just that really interesting stylistic match. It was right there. It was kind of, it wasn't right there, but it's been right. It's been sort of right there for a while. It's timing. This game's all about timing. And unfortunately, we never got to that. I think it would have been a very interesting fight for Usman just stylistically. But it is what it is now. Jose very quickly, I mean, this is now seven fights in a row unbeaten for Bala Muhammad. And this one puts him

in fairly elite company, like say what you will about Wonderboy, but he was still up there in those rankings. What do you think now? What do you do with Balah Muhammad now? I know he wanted Leon Edwards, and I wouldn't be opposed if they made that fight solely because of how that first fight ended. But Leon Edwards also head kicks

Bala Muhammad really hard before he stabbed him in the eye. So it wasn't that competitive for the what, 60 seconds it was, but But yeah, that's only 60 seconds. So take that for what you will. But I don't know if he wants rematches. I wouldn't say no to Vicente Lucke rematch.

That was so long ago, as so many people pointed out, those UFC 205 of the first MSG card. Because I tweeted like, oh, how come no one's calling out Vicente Lucay? And they're like, oh, they already fought. And then there's this big argument about how that was so long ago. Fine. Run it back then. If they're both at this new part, like Leon Edwards,

saying he's a new fighter, he wants a shot at Kamar Usman. Stick Balam-Mohama. and Vicente Lucke on the same card as backup fighters, because that's two rematches of a welterweight. Both fighters are, all four fighters involved in those two fights are completely different from where they were so many years ago. So if I'm the UFC matchmaker, stick to two nice guys in Bala Muhammad and Vicente Luque against each other

on the same card as when Kamar Usman and Leon Edwards fight. I don't mind that fight, but I would say I don't know why Lucke would take it, right? because that sort of just leaves him in the same place that he is right now. He sort of needs that one last like elevation in terms of opponent. I do really like the Edwards-Belal rematch. That would be really fun. And I think it sort of works right now, but it does feel like Edwards is maybe that next fight for Usman. What do you think, AK, what do you do next with Balal?

What do you do with Wonder Boy? How does this play out? I saw people calling for a Sean Brady fight, which I don't mind at all. I know it's kind of weird because Muhammad has so many more UFC fights than him. but Brady kind of jumped over him with the Keesah win, depending who you ask. In our rankings, I think Brady is way ahead. Sorry, in our rankings, Brady is eight. Muhammad is 13th.

Of course, this includes Bellator and other organizations. So he's way ahead of Muhammad in our rankings. He is ahead in the UFC's official rankings as well. Where are you going to put Muhammad, though? Because this is the rankings before the Thompson fight. This is true. This is true. Well, this thing.

It kind of goes with what Sean was saying. I was saying, how much do you bump up Balal? How much do you drop down Wonderboy? So it's tough. Again, I wouldn't drop down Wonderboy too far. He still has some pretty high quality wins. He beat Luke A, the guy that we just mentioned a bunch of times. So, yeah, it's going to be tricky.

It's going to mess with the MMA math a little bit, I think. I think we're going to, you know, you can't just rely on, well, this guy be this guy, this guy, it's going to be a bit tricky in that regard. But yeah, either way, I don't mind the Sean Brady matchup. His name has a bit more buzz. It's not really fair. again Muhammad is is more accomplished than him technically in the UFC but I don't know I think he'd say no to it I think he'd like I think he probably thinks he can beat Sean Brady I think he'd like the idea of handing him his first loss and frankly I don't know what other matches he can get right now that's going to push him closer to a title shot because I just know I think the UFC likes Bilal Muhammad they don't love him I don't think they love him is fighting style not super fan friendly and I think he's got a great quirky personality but not that kind of personality that's a an easy sell for the UFC

UFC promo team. Also one name that I'm actually a little surprised hasn't been mentioned. Hamzat Shemayev? I mean, he would definitely have the, Blal now has the ranking where you can sort of if Hamzat wins that fight. He jumps all the way

up to that ranking, right? Casey, where do you go with this? I think in terms of fairness, because Mohammed just fought someone that was way ahead of him and he beat and he beat that person, I think now, your next fight, you kind of have to fight someone behind you. And that's why I actually do like a fight. Like Brady.

I even like Kiesa and I like Shemayev. I think, because I don't think, the Edwards fight doesn't make sense to me. I think Edwards is getting a title fight. None of the other, Loukei, I just don't think Loukeh should take that fight, honestly. I mean, Leuke can take it.

I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you. There's just no reason to. I think he can just wait around for a better fight. And the fight literally does nothing for him other than be risky. So I think, yeah, For Muhammad, he's not going to get that title shot next.

And I think he should fight someone right close behind him. Brady, even Kiesa. That was a super close fight. And the Shmaa fights right there too. All right. So there is still so much left to hit tonight. So I want to get to some fan questions in a second. But just first, quick straw poll.

Who among us scored Angela Hill versus Amanda Lemos for Angela Hill? Because I absolutely did. Angela Hill won that fight. Oh, I wasn't watching the fight close enough. I can't say. I didn't score that one. Casey, Angela Hill won that fight.

Angela won that fight. It was a great, first of all, 3027 might be one of the worst scores of the year. I do not understand how you can keep the second round away to... That card that was crazy. Rounds one and two were so easy to score. Obviously, it's round three.

That seems to be kind of the swing around, the tougher round to score. And I understand why some people thought Lemos won the round three. I was pretty, even with the spinning elbow not being technically a knockdown more of a knockover because it kind of hit her shoulder. But even then, I still thought Angela Hill was the better fighter

in the round three. And I thought she won a fight. I thought she was going to get her ass kicked, honestly. Limos was the biggest favorite in the card. I didn't know that. She was the biggest favorite in card. And man, what a curse fighter, Angela Hill is. It's crazy at this point.

Oprah four in split decisions. Casey, did I not say this was the upset to watch out for it, though? I actually thought like, again, I wasn't to watch the fight super closely, but every time I looked over, I'm like, Angela Hill's doing pretty good. It's just since most people, including myself, I was say, I talked out of both sides of my mouth here

because I did predict the first round win for LeMoshe, but on our Q&A, but on our Q&A, I did say if you were a gambling man and you were going to bet on an upset, that that's the one to do it. And we saw why. We definitely saw him in the fight, why that was games. Yeah, and when we talked to Angela Hill,

I was like, you're crazy lady, and she was real confident. She's like, no, I see holes in this one this game. And she ain't ready for me. And she was partially right. But yeah, it was a bummer. Bummer. But at least Dana White in the post-press conference acknowledged that he thought he'll won the fight. So, you know, that means a little bit.

It's just crazy at this point, man. It just sucks. It's just incredible bad luck. I don't know what it is about her fighting style that judges don't like that they almost like, but there's one judge that just, nah. She's the queen of the bad beat. Like, this is now four split decision losses in a row, or not in a row, but just in general, for her UFC career.

Four. They can easy to go another way. All of those. Courtney Casey, Claudia Goodellio, Michelle Waterson, tonight I thought Angela won all of them. And her UFC record and her run and where she would be in this division

is so different. Even half of those go the way they should have. It's just crazy. And I will say for the audience, just to give them context, A.K. Jose, you guys were on the boxing beat tonight. You guys were assigned boxing. So there's a reason you weren't watching the fights.

You were not being irresponsible. You were doing your job. Watching like three or four things at once. Yeah. So we're getting late into the night. I know AK at this point has to be almost. Oh, sorry. I want to say.

I'm asleep exhausted. So let's get some favorite questions. No, I'm jazzed up now. I wanted to say about the, sorry, I will apologize again for not watch the fight closely. But M.A. Decisions.com. 11 media members logged on M.A. Decisions. 10.

10. 10 for Hill. 10 out of 11. The lone one, our good pal, Derek Riggs, who scored a 29, 28, Lamos. Which again, I don't think it's like the most. insane score, but it does show you media was pretty clear who they thought got this one.

3027. 3027 is I was right. Doug Crosby. Doug Crosby. All right, Casey. Let's get some fan questions in here. All right. I'm throwing for anyone watching, throw your comments up in the comment section. I'll look for them. Let me post one that we already got.

And vote in the poll. I threw up a poll here for what was the most memorable moment of the night. and Jake Paul Woodley, Williams, Gore, Lewis, Dacus, or Muhammad, Wonderboy. Paul Woodley, I'll say, way ahead. I will say, while we're waiting on these questions, Williams Gore was way more fun than it had any actual right to be. Like, that was one of the better fights we saw tonight. And I really enjoyed it.

You guys are crazy because that was horrible boxing, but for some reason, we love, I think MMA fans really like horrible boxing. Because I'll, absolutely. We can have a horrible sloppy box. Because there are how many takedowns are almost working. that bite. It was like a half of an early. Gorshot really early and he got in deep.

I mean, that would have been a complete take down in the UFC. Also, the Darren Williams like half knocked down where he just basically pushed him like out of the ropes.

Like that was hilarious. I'm here for that. Like that was interesting. I'm really, I just enjoy watching really crazy high level athletes to try to do this stuff. And then of course

the clip of, of Gore becoming momentarily distracted and then eating a punch and then eating a punch and then looking back at at Dary Williams like shocked like, what are you doing?

and then eating another punch right in the mouth. That's the new, I mean, that's the new meme. That's going out there. Like, I hope that becomes more famous than the Woodley Cay. I know it won't, but that scene is just incredible. I got, I got that exact meme sent to me by several of my non-combat sports. We're friends. That's the one you guys are paying attention.

You got, punch, I, oh. What? Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Chill, chill. All right. Let's get a couple questions in here before we get out.

All right. Guys, ladies, here are some questions. All right, here we go, here we go. Oh, yeah, the highly anticipated. Four Corner Sports S, does Justin Taffa deserve the Carlos Felipe rematch? Justin Taffa coming in here, the only UFC heavyweight of all time to miss weight. And then, of course, he wins his fight with a quickness, very brutal knockout of Harry Hunt's sucker with that head kick in that first round. I don't even have an opinion on this, do you?

Carlos Felipe should be fighting What's his name? The fat guy that did the flip in MSG Chris Barnett? That's the fight to make Because they both called each other out They both want it So as soon as both of them said

Let's do it I forgot about any other option for those two So that's the fight to make Can we bring back Rakey Martinez Just to fight Chris Barnett Is that can we make this happen? I was so sad when they cut him.

I'm like, no, no, this flight has to happen something. I really pulled this question. Four corner sports is a regular contributor to onto the next one. So he's always bringing out some deep cuts. I'm like, I don't know who's wondering about this question, but apparently one person is. So it takes a corner port. It's a total bummer for Tava not to get the 50K. I don't know if he would have got it tonight.

Because that head kick, K.O. was so freaking cool because Mr. Hunsucker, he blocked the dang kick. He blocked the whole thing, yeah. The kick was blocked. And it was so hard, he still knocked himself out. That extra pound, baby. It was that extra one. That extra pound.

I mean, I know he was hurt before. I know he was hurt before. But just, just, but even, these are, these are experienced fighters blocking kicks. And to get knocked out from a properly blocked head kick, that's just, that's, that scares me. That scares me. Do we have a theory of why he couldn't cut the extra pound? What's your theory? Do we have one?

I mean, Oh, I thought you were going to lay it on me. I thought you had something cooking. Come on. So does this tell us he's already cutting down from a lot? Is he like well over 265? Is he like 280, 285? And he's actually cutting weight to make the 265 limit or 266 that were the kids.

It was literally one pound. And he weighed in pretty early. So I think they would have given him extra time to cut the weight. And again, look, we don't encourage extreme weight cutting around here. If there's health reasons why I couldn't do it, I understand. It's just very strange. It's very strange for a heavy weight to not be able to cut one pound. And again, very likely costing himself a $50,000.

Oh, yeah. And the fine. That's a one pound over for a heavyweight. That's like a 125 are coming in like 0.2 pounds over. You know, it's such a nominal and just nothing type of, but you didn't make the weight. I'm going to go rogue here. I'm going to go rogue here on this next question because I see it from David Sandin. And I just need us to address it.

How about Killer Cub Swanson? Excellent fight IQ and game plan. Can someone here for me just wax poetic about the veteran killer cub coming in there again tonight? Shaheen, go ahead. I'm setting the table for you guys. I already said I absolutely love when you see these type of WEC veterans still just hanging around in the game. I said this with Dominic Cruz the other weekend. But this one was so nice, man.

Darren Elkins, like Darren Elkins made a career out of surviving these type of things, right? He has a tatted on his body. He felt so strongly about it that he tatted it on his body. And tonight, Killer Cup going in there and knocking him out in two minutes, spinning wheel kick. It was so good. I love that so much just to see the vets coming in here like this. He still got it.

That's all I'm going to say. Still got it. Dude, those slick as hell. A few years back, I got to watch Killer Cub do a pad session with Sixth Gun Gibson in Albuquerque. and it was actually me and John Jones and we were just watching it and we were like that guy's a champ

like we're just watching Cub workout and just seeing how talented he is watching just enroll like he is just a talented talented fighter and just he just never got that streak he needed to even fight for a title I put a tweet out the last week

and I said that in my mind no Gagar Musasi and Cub Swanson are the two best ever UFC fighters to never actually fight for a UFC belt. I mean, I would say Tony Ferguson, but... Tony Ferguson, but...

Like, any belt. Any kind of... Any kind of... Any belt. Any about U.S.C. I'm counting interim belts. Yeah, I think just... And obviously, Musassi probably wouldn't eventually get it,

but he moved on. Killer Cub, spent his whole career, he's going to retire as a UFC fighter. And he'll never get a title shot. And I hope... I hope the fans just appreciate him. He's just a great dude, a great fighter, and we got to see it tonight.

Yeah, what was it fight? He lost that? It was a cheek gigafite. Yeah. Yeah. Which is that's a, that's a totally excusable loss. Like Cubs wants to the state.

Hey, man, you got caught, yeah, but that's how it is. He's just a great fighter. Last one, let's end on this, and I want to loop hosting

because it's his boy. Tristan Gorday saying, with Gamrod's win tonight against Carlos Diego Ferret. God, dang did Gamrod look good, too, man. Thank you for bringing that up.

Thank you for bringing that up. Does the lightweight division have the best prospects in the bottom half of the top 15 in the UFC? And he notes Alvarez, Radell, Sarjukian, Gamrod, Fisiev. Jose, I mean, your boy, he showed out tonight. Yeah, 100%. I mean, everything about that sentence is accurate. I mean, I know a lot of people have been on the 135 Bannonweight hype train for a long time, which that is clearly like the most competitive right now at the top.

But I've never really jumped off the 155 division just being the most interesting in terms of like the talent level from like one to 50. I think there's not a division that can compare because if you look at like we do one through 15, but if you tack on 15 to 30, any one of those guys could be like a, like they could be

a top tenor in like two years. Like I said this. I thought Gamera should have gotten the red carbon treatment like you're at Prohaska and Malcop when they joined. But we get it. But all of us agreed it's because of 155. Like light heavy weight needed to do blood and flyweight there wasn't a lot of contenders

flyweight and a lightweight you fight someone like Brad Riddell. He might like what, Drew Dober wasn't, isn't top 15. Drew Dober could easily be a top 15 lightweight in the world. So yeah,

Matea's Gamrod deserves a top 12 opponent next. That dude's a monster. He's an incredible grappler and then he's stopped. Like, I thought he got hurt, like Diego Phaeda got hurt

like a freak accident. Oh, no. I know. And then all the replays, Gamrod like slide it in this real sneaky. knee, like against the fence, just a thing of beauty, man.

And I can't wait. I said I want to see him in Riddell fight. That depends on if Radell can get back into the cage after getting that pretty brutally finished by Fiziv. Because I think a lot of people want to see Gamrott in Gillespie because that would just be kind of a fun, like grappling, grappler versus wrestler-type matchup, but I want Fiziv to fight Gillespie.

And then Gamrock can fight Riddell. And the moral of the story is, lightweight, lightweight rules. Oh, God, you just gave me the vapors. Tell me off with Gamrot Radell. That sounds nice, man. You know what else rules? KSW where Gamrod came from.

I'm actually glad this came out, because I do want to shout out the one thing that there really wasn't space to talk about. There was KSW 65 today. And Gamrott, a former two-division, KSW champion, now joined by Roberto Robo Kopsul-Ditch, who took out the legend of Ahmed Kalad,

with just an insane left-hound bomb. So if anyone hasn't seen that, We have the highlight on MMAFighting.com. You can find the post. And, of course, check out KSW social media wherever you want to see it. You got to see this punch. It was so nasty. It left Kaldov down for, like, I think, a full two minutes afterwards.

It was really scary. And Solich now is now the KSW middleweight champion in addition to the Welterian champion. And probably sure to join Gamrod and other former KSW stars. I think of a pay cut over here to talk about. I know what I was saying he doesn't want to be. He loves fighting. I was saying after Guram versus. is Gamrod on Fight Island, I said to the people in the media tend, like, this fight could be

like Holloway-Porye. Like, they fought so young in their careers. And then, like, seven years later, they're two of the best fighters of all time. Like, Guram is a lightweight who's main training partner is Hamza. Like, the dude is a monster. He was like, on the beach, he was, like, lifting him up and, like, turn. Like, you know, that thing you see wrestlers do with? They just lift the body up and turn them.

He was doing that to Hamza. lightweight was doing that. And then after he won, he's like, well, I'm here, and I know Makashchev needs an opponent. So I guess I'll throw my name into the hat, Islam. If you want to fight, I'm here. I'll fight you in four days. I'm like, this dude is just beat Mathez Gamrod and wants to fight Islam Makashv on five days notice. This dude is insane. Like, sign me up for any, like that. I hope they rematch in like eight years with their two top three lightweights. I just say this by that fight too. I thought, like, I know everyone's going to be like, you know, Michael Chandler, you know,

Justin Gachy, fight of the year, fight a year. But me, on just a personal level, I freaking love this fight so much. I even tweeted, I said, this is scramble porn. Like,

the scrambles that they were doing, I was just like, I was just getting sweaty. I was just like, oh my God, those scrambles, like, whoa,

it was beautiful. It's like, and that knee, it is too bad because the way the knee, the way Diego basically got hit really hard, there was no real way for him to collapse. and he was already on the ground

so he was like telling the ref, dude, I'm done. So I get why it looked weird and the refs just couldn't, I mean, the commentators just couldn't tell from the camera angle, but, oh, great job by Paul Felder tonight on the commentary, calling out the races and the crowd. Oh, with the Balama, yeah.

Just great, just, Paul, I know we were talking about Cruz and D.C. last week as far as colored commentators and who we dislike most or whatever. Paul Felder, I changed my mind. He is the best color commentator in the UFC. He just did a great job. And he made a good job to recognize and tell the audience.

No, no, that was not a freak injury. That wasn't a random shot. That was a planned knee to that kind of, I guess, floating rib back there. He's like that floating rib, yeah. That was completely planned. He took him down to whatever, got his back take. And that was just beautiful performance by Gamrot. And poor Diego Ferreira, if you remember the commentator said,

oh, his coaches couldn't make it tonight. What did they say? They had other obligations or something. A previous engagement. A previous engagement. So later on, a couple hours later, I'm watching the Paul Woodley pay-review. And Darren, look at Darren Williams' corner, I was like, oh, there's Diego's there's Diego Ferrer's cornerman.

They're at the freaking boxing match. I was like, yes. I understand. Darren's a co-owner. I get, he's a co-owner. It was a funny. That's a tough beat. It was just funny on the commentary?

He had previous engagements. I'm like, was he in a wedding or something? Is he a best man? What's going on? It's like, no. Oh, that, that poor Carlos Dago for Hara because that knee to that floated ribbed looked like one of the most painful things we saw all night

on a night full of painful things. But hey, y'all, this has been it. We've gone long here as we do, but... 75% Paul Woodley, most memorable moments, unsurprisingly. coming in a close second, Lewis Stock is at 15%. So, I think, hey man. Give the people what they want. This has been your Saturday night.

UFC, Vegas 45, Paul Woodley 2, Post-Fight Show. Our final post-fight show of the year. And it has been amazing being back here with all you guys. I have enjoyed it so much. Huge thank you to all of you who tuned in not only tonight, but just who made us a part of your 2021. whether you're watching live, watching the replay, listening on the podcast network,

whatever it is, we appreciate the support so much, and we have so much more good stuff to bring you in the new year in 2020. Also, keep an eye out. We might have a little end-of-year awards show coming, too. Keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, that is it for us tonight. That man over there is Jose Young's. We got Alexander K. Lee.

We've got the best producer in the business, E.K.C. Layden. I am Sean O'Shati. Happy holidays, y'all. What a joy. It has been to be. back here with you. Keep it locked. It's MMA fighting and we'll see you soon. Appreciate it, Jeff.

I'm going to go watch Spider-Man tomorrow morning. It's fantastic. Yes. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.