MMA Fighting - Rankings Show: Contenders & Pretenders From UFC 300, Plus Did Max Deliver The Coolest MMA Moment Ever?

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

UFC 300 is in the books, but the shockwaves from its results will be felt for years to come. Alex Pereira, Max Holloway, and Kayla Harrison were three of the biggest winners of the night. What lies ahead for these stars? Host Alexander K. Lee is joined by rankings wizards Jed Meshew and Damon Martin to discuss who made the farthest jumps up the charts this week, whether we overvalued or undervalued some of Saturday’s notable victories, which fighters are serious contenders and which are just pretenders in new divisions, where Holloway’s unreal knockout of Justin Gaethje ranks among the coolest moments in MMA history, plus much more. Follow Alexander K. Lee @AlexanderKLee Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Follow Damon Martin @DamonMartin 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

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by the esteemed Gene Alshadhi. He could not join us today. But fortunately, the crew following UFC 300, we're all still pretty jazzed up. And we're going to get some spicy takes and some hot debates with the lovely, I'm going to just introduce and both the time. The lovely and the lovely Jed Michoud and Damon Martin. What's going on, fellas? Damon, I'm so excited we're both lovely. That's just, that's just spectacular. I just feel good about myself now. I'm ready to go hammering tongs with all of you on whatever the topics we're discussing today because I'm sure there will be zero agreement between us. That's a, that's a mood booster. I don't know. I can't remember the last time I was called lovely. So that just put me in a

great mood to start this entire podcast. Let's be love. Let's stay lovely. Let's be civil because we've got a lot to talk about. I don't really need much of an intro here. Again, everyone saw what happened this past Saturday, one of the loaded, most, you know, one of the most loaded, deepest, enjoyable cards in combat sports history, I would say. I don't know if everyone on this panel would agree. But rife with storylines, big winners. Unfortunately, some big losers as well. And a lot of rankings move in. You know, that gets excited over here, Rankings HQ. So let me give a quick rundown on some of the biggest moves coming out of U.S. 3,100. And gentlemen, I'd like to get your takes on whether you agree with these. I hope you have your individual rankings open if you want to refer to your own

sort of how you saw some of these fighter stocks coming out of Saturday night. So probably the biggest news, Max Holloway, the number three lightweight in the world now after beating Justin Gaichi, of course, the knockout hurt around the world. And Surukyan, Armand Surukyan actually jumping up one spot ahead of Holloway. He is now our number two lateweight. He came in entering number four beats Charles Olivares now number two. So our top three at lightweight completely changed, except of course for the champion Islam Mockenshift. Kayla Harrison, yes, ladies and gentlemen,

she made the 135 pound limit. She did use the non-titled pound allowance, as she is allowed to do. And she ran through Holly Home. Kayla Harrison debuts at number two on the women's bandit weight list. It will be some debate here, I'm sure. Asimane Sterling, former bantamweight champion,

grinds out decision over Calvin. Kater. He is now our number 10 featherweight. He is removed from the Bantamweight rankings. And Joaquin Buckley, this didn't happen at 300, but scored a win over Vicente Lucke recently. And he is your number 13 welterweight. So that's the move we had since the last show we did. Yes, last show you guys did. I was not on it. A little rundown there. Oh, I should mention pound for pound. You know what? Let me mention pound for pounds after. Let me get your takes guys first on those divisional moves. Anything, anything you agree with, disagree with, anything egregious. uh damon let me go to you first you know i mean i think that Kayla harrison's probably in terms of like

the biggest shakeup i mean that's the best thing that could happen to what was a garbage fire of a bantamway division her arrival is just exactly what this division needed because uh if you look at our internal rankings i think we all had women's band to wait listed as burn it to the ground because it was so bad and so Kayla's arrival is very very welcome obviously max is huge too but You know, Max is a tweeter now. Like, obviously he's ranked at lightweight, but I don't think we, I don't think anyone really expects him to stay at lightweight. I think we all kind of see the Iliate to Poriafite. So it's fun and great for Max and produced an incredible highlight in a moment.

But I don't know that that's really going to matter for him long term. So, yeah, I think Kayla Harrison is the one with the biggest impact, honestly. Yeah, and we should mention Max Holloway still ranked number three at featherweight as well. So he's number three at both 155 and 145. Jed, any of these moves that you agreed, disagreed with? I don't think we had any huge drops, if I'm not mistaken. If I've forgotten and you want to point that out, go ahead. But really just talking about some of the upward movement and divisional debuts that we saw.

I mean, nothing really that much to disagree with, right? Looking at my own rankings, I actually think I got a couple of things wrong this cycle. We do them a little fast post event, particularly on the, particularly this one. Yes. Because there was so much other stuff happening. I mean, I was up until 6 a.m. Eastern time. time after 300.

So kind of reviewing it, I currently do. My men's lightweight rankings are Isam Surukin Holloway. I actually think if we had a little more time, if we'd done it just before this, I would have put max number two. Obviously, I have a little bit of a different methodology than everyone. The only thing I will say is the only one that shocked me,

that honestly surprised me, I am a bit stunned that Kayla Harrison did not, take the top spot at women's ban on weight, both because it's pretty clear that she is the best women's band weight after her only one performance, but I think we can all all agree. And two, it just,

I don't know, we all agree that this weight class is garbage and she is the savior. She is the princess who was promised. Speak for yourselves. And she is saving it one dominant performance at a time. And for now it's just the one time. But, you know,

I also just kind of as this was going through, I saw most people had Harrison number one. This is going to be one of the very rare times in the history of our rankings, A.K., where a fighter has more number one votes, but somehow the totality puts her still at number two in the rankings. We have that at another division, I think, right now. Or maybe it's, maybe I'm thinking about Bantamweight. Bantam, it's kind of weird. Oh, there's like tie. They're tied.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Tied in several things. but I maybe once or twice I can remember there being like, okay, one person has, you know, more votes as the number one spot,

but because other people who don't have them might have that person, you know, seven or whatever. And the totality of the point system adds up. It's pretty rare, man. It's pretty rare,

but that's how we have it because more than half of us thinks she's the number one band weight in the world. But the way it all breaks out, she's not. And I was a bit surprised. I thought that we would all,

sort of unilaterally. Just be like, yeah, Max Holloway is a top three, top five lightweight. Kayla Harrison's the best band in the world. That I mean, certainly the top ten featherweight. I thought all of these would be perfunctory, and then we get a little bit of dissension going on. Here's a fun, can I thought of a real fun fact. Kayla Harrison has one fight in the UFC, a successful fight, obviously, and she now officially has more wins over active UFC fighters than Juliana Pena.

So I just want to throw that out there is like a little, you know, side notes of the whole rankings. This is true. Julianna Pena, Amana Nunes, who of course, is retired. Who is, oh, Katzingano, who is not retired, but no longer with the UFC.

What else we got in there? Sarah McMahon? Did she fight Sarah McMahon? Sam McMahon, but didn't she lose Sarah McMahon? She might have lost to Sarah McMahon. No, she beat Sarah McMahon, but Sarah's gone.

Sarah's gone. Okay. It's terrific. Also, I just, I genuinely think this is going to be the only time something like this will ever happen because all but one other panelist,

if they don't have Harrison one, hazard two. So functionally, Kayla Harrison is not the number one women's band in the world due to one, one fancy. Listen,

we can peel back the curtain a little bit here. On our eight-person panel, excuse me to say that three times fast, our eight-person panel heading into USC 300, coming out of it, three of us had Pennington, the UFC band-oweight champion in the number one spot five of us had Kayla Harrison.

Now, Because of the way our scoring system works where it's just, you know, it's just an inverted thing. It's you rank one to 15. One is worth 15 points. 15 is worth one point. You guys can figure out the rest from there. It's important to, you know, to where you land. You know, it's not just the amount of number one votes, number two votes.

Not getting a top two vote can hurt you pretty badly when the math is this close. And our other panelists will just say had Harrison outside of the top five. So that alone, I saw people in our comments asking they didn't get how this could happen. I was like, well, she's not at the top. Waiting scoring. Waited scoring. She's not in the top three. Yeah, she's not in the top three of one of our panels.

And that's all it because it's very close to me to her in Pennington. And again, I'm not against it. I pick Payington number one. I'm not against what you guys are saying either. Oh, and again, Damon has Harris number one. Jed obviously has Harrison number one. I just need to see more, I guess. Let's get into it, guys.

You know, actually this actually segues to her next segment. And it wasn't going to start off with her. But since we're talking about her, since she's maybe the most obvious questioning. answer here. I want to get into a little bit of a contenders versus pretenders section here coming out of 300 because we saw some people make their debut in a new weight class or move back to a weight class, move up to a new weight class, or make it first or second appearance at a weight class. So we've got people who are known names who are making waves now in a new division. So here we go. Let's talk about Harrison. Two-time PFL lightweight champion, 155 pounds. During her time there,

she was really ineligible to have ranked in any of our divisional rankings, but was creeping up our pound for pound ranking. I believe she made it as high as 10, I want to say, before she suffered that loss for the rest of Pacheco, and it kind of gradually started dropping down. But yes, here she is now one bantam wave fight. Number two, number, where is our pound for pound ranks? Number 11 in our pound for round.

So flew back, almost was on the cusp of falling out. Jumped eight spots in our pound for our rankings, up to number 11. I think when she fights again, if she wins, she'll be soaring up even further. And my question is, guys, is she a contender or a pretender

at 135 pounds? Okay. What are we doing here? This is the easiest answer you're going to have all day. This is the easiest answer you're going to have all day. Okay, okay, okay.

All right, I should make it a little bit. First of all, first of all, she didn't make 135. She has to make 135 for a championship fight. She said just going from 137 to 136 was like extremely difficult. Now, it was her first time doing it theoretically, at least in the short term. It will be easier to do it going forward.

But it's still tough. She has to change her body a lot. Change your body, change your body, change your diet. You never know. You never know what can happen. So it is tricky for her. So as we're ranking, guys, I want to try to keep a ranking here. Maybe people will say a little side note.

We're going to rank of the following once we get through some names here, who is most likely to win a UFC title to least likely to win a UFC title. So we're starting with Harrison. So obviously right now, number one in everyone's list. We haven't brought up the other names yet. But again, she has to make the weight. She has to make 135. So that's something to factor. And also, Raquel Paytonton is at the top.

So you factor those two things in, my friends. And then you tell me what your answer is. The weight cut, the weight cut is a bigger concern than Raquel Pennington would be. I talked to Mike Brown last night, her head coach, and I asked him about that because she very specifically mentioned on the MMA hour about, you know, that last pound sucked and Matt Brown on my podcast. Yeah, that's exactly what Matt Brown said. He's like, I don't care what weight you're fighting at.

The last pound always sucks, whether you're cutting the championship weight or not, always sucks. Mike said exactly what you said, A.K., he's like, there was her first time doing it, but it will get easier. Like, that's just the first time she had to go through it. Of course, that last pound's going to suck. And it's going to 1.35, but she'll make it. She's disciplined.

He's like, she's made lifestyle changes. Like, he's, he didn't even blink when I mentioned that. He's like, yeah, that's not really. Like that's not a concern. Like, and, you know, they're excited. Like he, I mean, he's her, he's Amanda Nunes's former head coach. And I thought, I was like, man, is it going to be a little bittersweet with that? And he's like, nope.

He's like, let's go. Let's go. So, yeah, I think she's going to be fine. I think she's going to be great. And I like, really, I was kind of joking about Raquel. Rakel's, I like Raquel. And in a weird way, I'm very happy. She finally got her chance to be a champion because she's been around forever.

She's fought everybody. Never backed down from a fight. You know, always fought everybody. But it was. almost felt like being honest, like she got the title by default because Amanda was gone. Holly wasn't what she once was, you know, and it's almost like, well, we had to throw somebody in there. And so, you know, here's Raquel Pennington. So, yeah, I don't think that's necessarily the toughest match over Kayla Harrison. I think the Weight Cup will probably be more debilitating

to Kayla Harrison than Raquel Pennington will be. Excellent points. Jed, factoring in that let's say there's Amanda Nunes fight out there, it's kind of weird. I'm trying to think like, Because if Raquel does have the belt, so I don't know, factoring in a men and news and however you want to factor her in, does that make you more or less confident that Kayla's going to be wearing that 135 pound belt? Kayla's just going to be wearing the belt. The level of confidence can't change because it's not confidence, it's certainty. I am certain that the sun will rise tomorrow and I am certain that Kayla Harrison will become the UFC Women's Bannamweight Champion. I got no, come on, I think she's going to make the wait to Damon and Mike Brown's point. The last pound always sucks because the last, you know, hour of anything you do when you have a clear target, oh, I'm almost done.

I'm almost done with this thing. It's always, it is a mental battle of like, ooh, it's the last mile of this marathon. We're almost done. But it just sucks. But it's fine. She'll make it. She's a professional. She's going to have more time.

This was not like a fast turnaround for her, but because, you know, there was sort of the inkling of this, but she did kind of speak to him. Like it wasn't, you know, by the time it got official official, we had to be right into being really super focused about this. Give her more time, change the body composition a little more. She's going to make the way she's going to run over Rocky Pennington. On these very podcast waves, I argued that Rockell Pennington might be the worst UFC champion in modern history, not as a slight. to Rock El Pennington, who I have a great amount of respect for, but more as a understanding of what the Bannamweight division is at this time. And we're back, baby. We're back. I led the charge for burn this division to the ground to top our rankings. And I am leading the, we're back,

baby, charge because Kayla Harrison can come back. I have people coming at me in my mentions because I've been saying this lot, like, oh, how's she going to save it? She's just one fighter. Because sometimes all you need is one spark to start a wildfire. One person to generate interest in this. And here's the thing. She hasn't fought any of these women. She doesn't fault one of them. That's one of the biggest issues I have with Bannonweight is who's Rocky Pennington

going to fight? Julianna Pena is in line. And then it was literally all rematches until Kayla showed up. Now, Kayla comes in. She's going to take that belt. She'll probably fight Julianna Penae after she takes the belt from Rocky because the UFC loves to give Pena a title fight despite not being. anyone relevant, like ever, other than the Amanda Nunes at one time.

And then all the, whoever else it is, whoever's next, maybe GDR gets back into the conversation. She just got back. I know she lost, but like, you know, no one ever loses at women's band and weight. You just don't win. That's how that goes. So at least all of these matchups for her will be new, will be interesting. The Amanda Nunes fight, I think, is almost a certainty to happen. And so for at least the next, like, two years, the top of women's banim weight,

has life. It has something interesting. It has a brass ring to strive for for these other women. And you give somebody two years to bridge. Maybe you can bridge your way into more talent. Maybe that's just the time we need for this division to develop and get exciting again. Bannam Wade is back. And Kayla Harrison, she brought it back. What a time to be alive. In fairness, I was in your DMs sending you angry messages because, but with the tone of the division, You cannot have saved what is already an amazing division. So I was angry at you for different reasons for suggesting that it was gone and it could be back because... It's been gone.

It's not not been gone. Sir Holly Holie Holie Holme? Misha Tape. Look, women's banalens. Dara Zella Zazna Kovka, Eileen Perez. Women's Bannonway was, you know, walking around the party. It had its jacket already on. It was saying goodbye.

It was shaking hands. Oh, yeah, we'll see you again. And then when Amanda finally left, it also left the party. When Amanda walked out, that was Women's Banimoy's Irish exit. And now, now they've showed up. The party is back. Fashionably late as always, Kayla Harrison, bringing this division back to life. I wish Shaheen was here because I know he would not stand for this slander of the women's 135 division.

He would not. So the fact that has my back on this. The fact that the fact that Amanda Nunes gave up her title in June of last year and they didn't crown a new champion for seven months in an organization where they can't wait to put title belts on people and they create interim titles, BMF titles. Like when like the only time it's ever where they held a title for a little while was when Khabib beat Justin Gaghi and they refused to they refused to believe he was actually retired and they gave him like several months to like make sure he wasn't going to come back. And as soon as the minute he retired, they announced Chandler

versus Oliver for the time. The minute he announced his retirement, they literally the next moment was we're going to put Charles Oliver against Michael Chandler for the title. They waited seven months hoping, praying something would happen. And they're like, well, I guess we'll just do Raquel Pennington against Myra Bueno Silva because why not? Who cares? A.K., here's how you know women's ban and wait is back and that left. Oh, it's back.

Yeah, because, and not it left. I will, for the sake of this segment, I accept your wording. Please go ahead. Here's how you know, because we actually, this was on the list today. Like, this was on the outline. Whereas normally we just kind of devolve our conversation into lamenting women's ban and weight sort of by the seat of our pants. This one was planned.

We planned to talk about this weight class. So it's back. This is also how you know Shaheen isn't here because I'll tell you something. You guys, again, the little inside baseball, I always have women's ban to weight topic on the menu. And it is the last thing cut. It's the last, like, it makes it right to the end. And then Shaheen's like, oh, the show outline looks a little too long. We've got to cut one thing.

And he's like, it's okay if we cut the women's band to win segment. and every time I'm like, fair, fair, fair. But next time. Not to mention the audio, Shaheen, is edited out of these pods. It's time. If you're listening at home, just trust almost every rankings episode. There's a 10-minute diatribe about women's ban and weight. You may or may not hear depending on the editorial decisions being made.

So I think we all agree. Again, I'm with you guys. I don't need to give my full opinion on why Harrison is great, why she is very likely to become champion. I would certainly, I certainly consider her to be a pretender, not a pretender. Let's move to a couple now

that are a little more complicated, starting with the man who, again, I've only barely mentioned, and who won the UFC 300 main event, the historic main event, Alex Podeda. Now, we don't know what his plans are should he move up to heavyweight.

He was kind of saying immediately after, he's very high in the moment after taking out Jamal Hill that, oh, UFC 301's next month, I would love to follow. fight at home. I'd love to sit, like, be the person to top that card, put me in a heavy weight out against whoever. I don't have to cut weight. It was a very good idea. We know, you know, of course, he has an injured toe. It's very likely he's going to make that turn around. But Pereira at heavyweight is not a new idea. You know, seeing this kickboxing knockout machine

go from middleweight to light heavyweight, and he's a huge guy, has a lot, had a lot of people already saying, oh, could he go champ, champ, champ. And now that he's kind of officially put it out there. I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask for guys. Do you, do you consider Alex Podetta to be a contender or pretender should this heavyweight thing happen? Damon? It depends.

It depends on how we're defining contender, right? Well, yeah. He's never going to win the belt. So if that is the definition of contender, no. He has a, I would say, almost zero percent chance to win the belt. That's pretender. You're saying pretender. Yeah, but if we're just viewing contender as a guy who can contend and maybe fight for the belt,

then, you know, that's a non-zero chance that he could make that happen. But Tommy Aspinall, I think, would just kill him. John Jones, despite the fact that he is a coward and a chicken and refuses to fight Tom Aspinall, I also would feel extremely confident picking him to be Alex Barrera. So that's just tough. The two dudes holding the belts right now. now. And even like Curtis Blades would probably just be a horrifically bad matchup for old Poetan. So I don't think he can win the belt. I don't think he's even going to fight for

the belt, though I could see a path because I think the part of the story that sort of, I feel like we all just got too excited about when Poetan was like, let me fight a 301 at heavyweight. I think everyone jumped to this conclusion that 301 at heavyweight met Tom Aspinall, which was not at all how I took it to mean. I thought 301 at heavyweight meant it's in three weeks and I don't want to have to cut down to 205 again because that's really hard for me to do. Why the hell would I try to fight Tom Aspinall on three weeks notice that would be insane? So I don't know if he actually does like have real long term plans to make a heavyweight run. I'm sure he would take it if offered if they're like, hey, you want to fight Tom Asperall?

Why wouldn't you kind of shoot for that for the moon in that regard? but I'm not sure he ever goes there because once he does lose the light heavyweight belt, which I would say is more likely than not for his next title defense, then what's the interest in heavyweight? Does he just do the same thing where he's like, screw it, I'm just going to move to heavyweight permanently. I don't know, but he's never going to win the belt. I think there is a world where he could fight for him,

but I probably wouldn't pick him, pick that, you know, even money odds. Just to clarify, yes. When we're going contender, pretender here, I do mean contender to actually win the title. Pretender, it just means, yes, you think they can't or, you know, have a very remote chance of doing so. Guys, it was, listen, it was contender or pretender or champ versus tramp. And I thought that was a bit harsh. So I'm going with contender and pretender. I don't want to call any of these fighters tramps.

I think it would be a bit, that would be a bit rude. Damon, what is your take? Do you think, and again, there's no timeline in this, whether. This question does not say, do we think Padetta will become heavyweight champion in the next year? At any point, during the before his career is over, do you think Alex Panetta can win the heavyweight title? I'm going to agree with Jed, and if it's based on that, you know, that terminology, I guess, pretender. Because while I do give him a slightly better chance than Jed would, only because it is heavyweight and Alex does hit like a truck and you can always catch someone, I mean, based on styles, you would think that, you know, who had a better chance of winning by not. out in the interim heavyway title of how you'd think that Sergey would pro sergey pavlovich will

probably be more likely to knock out tom aspinall and tom aspinall be more likely to take sergey down and beat him up on the ground well that didn't happen tom aspinall knocked him out on the feet um so by that regard i say yeah there's a chance you know it's like the old uh dumb and dumber thing so you're saying there's a chance yeah there's a chance because he hits like a truck and he's a big dude he's a ginormous human being but no i mean i don't like his chances i mean as jed said i think i think tom assman all beats him i think john jones beats him i think curtis blades is maybe the worst matchup ever for pro it's on the guy who can just outrestle you and just mall you on the ground and that's after yon blahovitch and israel a sanya took him down yeah curtis blaze

is going to ragged all that guy on the ground jilton jailton is also pretty tough i mean i do want to see sergey pavlovitch versus perera that sign me up for that one yeah i'd watch that I'd watch that. So, I mean, I give him a slight chance just because as a heavyweight, you know, I mean, you know, even with limited options, you can hit someone and put them out. It's possible. But I don't like his chances. And I agree with Jed. I don't think like 301, they were never, like, they're not going to cut off the Manchester car where they are almost certainly going to have Aspinol headlining where he's a massive star to put another fight on the Brazil card in three weeks when they don't have time to promote it.

That was never an option. But, yeah, like, again, I give a slight chance just because it's heavyweight. And, you know, 10, 12 years ago, you just said, man, Kane Velasquez is going to be the greatest heavyweight chairman of all time. I would have said, man, he is. He's the most talented, most insane dude. And then he gets knocked out in, you know, 18 seconds or whatever it was by Junior Dos Santos. Of course, he came back and ball junior the next two times. But that's heavyweight.

So I'll never say never, but I think it's very unlikely. Yeah, it's that never say never factor, I think that has me so intrigued by it. Because, again, heavyweight is not a great division. It's not a division filled with, it's probably better than it's been. I think we can agree. It's been, you know, the last five years, maybe it's been better than it's been, but it's still not great. And it does feel like Alpsaedetta could do some damage out there, especially if he, like, add an even, like, a little more muscle, add a little more, I don't know, gotten that special diet, a little special juice. It feels like he could do some damage up there.

So I'm probably, I like his chance a little more than you guys, but yes, obviously, still clearly behind Harrison, I think, in these contender pretender rankings. Let's move on. Race the runners. Raise the sails. Raise the sails. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution? Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors.

With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new terfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S.

From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. To one, Mr. Max Holloway. Now, this is a strange case because he goes up to fight for the BMF title, 155 pound about dream fight with Justin Gaichi.

And most of us are not assuming it's like he's making a, you know, oh, he's doing this so he can challenge Islam Makachav. It doesn't really seem to be part of the plan. But he had acknowledged and that also said afterwards, I win this fight. I'm now a guy who can probably call for a title fight in either division, and the pieces are maybe not for the Islam fight. We know he's fighting Destampori soon.

Certainly for Tuporia, and there's a lot of talk between those two guys already. But strictly at lightweight, because I mean, listen, he's held the featherweight title. Strictly at lightweight. Is there a path, even if he goes back down and fights Ilya, is there a path in the future now that we know he can beat a top five lightweight? Is there a path where he wins the 155 pound title? either by beating Islam or by waiting Islam out, Islam retires, and Max Holloway sneaks in there like Charles Oliver did when Habib went left.

What do you guys think, Jed? Can is Max won it? Do you think he's kind of serious at all about ever fighting for the 155 pound title? And could he win it? Is there a scenario where he wins it? Unlikely, but I'm not willing to count it out, right? I think that he is, there's not a personal eye-v. I'd pick in a fist fight over his Zamakachev below.

I'll say below 170 pounds. Well, you could convince me that it's below 185 pounds that I would just pick Islam to beat all of them because he's Islam. But there is a world where Islam defends his belt, you know, coming up here against Porre. Maybe he does one more by the end of the year. And then he looks to go up to Walter Waite and kind of pursue that. And then that opens up lightweight a little bit. And despite the fact that I probably, actually, I don't know, I might pick Armour. Montserukian over Max Holloway at this point.

I am deeply unsure of that. The rest of kind of the top lightweight contenders are all dudes. He'd beat right now. Like, based on what we just saw with Justin Gachie, it's still there. So it's very much, I thought he looked great at lightweight. Like, he really did fill out a little bit. I thought he had more pop on his punches. And obviously, with the finish at the end goes to show you, I think that he could be really,

really effective at lightweight. And throw in there with Islam, you never know what could happen. he stuffs a whole bunch of takedowns and he does max things. Maybe, maybe he beat Islam. I don't think that's likely. I think that most likely he will not just because it seems he is a little more focused on Ilya to Puria right now and I will still pick Ilya to beat him.

But I feel much better about his chances to hold lightweight gold than I do even about Pereira's chances to fight for heavyweight gold. Interesting, interesting. Yes, I was about to ask for your ranking afterwards. But yeah, well, Damon, do you agree? Do you like his chances better? Again, taking account all the factors, could he surprise and beat McAchev? Again, will McAchev follow in Habib's footsteps and maybe to defend the title once or twice

and then retire and vacate, leaving the door open for Max Holloway or someone else? What do you think? What do you think, Damon? Can we see Max Holloway eventually become a champ champ? Yeah, based on the criteria, I would say contender, because what he just did to Justin Gachie was ridiculous. He didn't just win. Like, he beat up Justin Gachie for the better part of five rounds and then not.

him out in the last second of the fifth round. That was that spinning back kick in the first round when he shattered Gachie's nose. I mean, that was just a thing of beauty. And that, of course, you know, completely altered the fight moving forward. I'll be honest. And I love Max. I think it's been well documented. I'm a Max guy.

But I didn't think he'd win that fight. I thought Justin's just a little bit too big, a little too strong, you know. And Max didn't look fantastic against Poria. He didn't get, you know, he didn't get demolished or anything. But he didn't look incredible. And I was like, I just think it's a little bit too much. Like, you know, and Hallowah, and Gagis looked really good against Fiziv. He looked great against Porre.

I'm like, ah, you know, I just think it's too much. Boy, did he prove me wrong. And so I'm not going to question. Now I'm with Jed. I don't think there's anybody at 155 pounds in the world that could beat Islam Machachev. But again, the reality is, is that Islam, you know, may have to, I mean, they tried to do it for U.S. 300, him and Leon Edwards.

Like, there's a world where he fights Leon Edwards, you know, in a year from now, and he just leaves lightweight behind. Or, again, at the. the time it happened, no one really saw Khabib retiring. I mean, he had just, you know, he demolished Connor, he beats Gachie and then just out of nowhere, just like, I'm retiring because I promised my mom I'd retired. No one saw that coming at the point. At that woman, he was the greatest lightweight in the world, greatest lightweight in history and, you know, number one pound from a pound guy in the world, he just up and retired. So I don't think it's out of the realm

of possibility that Islam does something similar in a fight or two. So, and, and Max is 32, as wild as that sounds, he's been fighting in the EO.C. for since he was 20. But, but, you know, But like, I just, I don't want to count out the guy. I, I'm done counting Max Holloway out. Do I think he's going to be Iliot Teporia? I don't necessarily love that matchup for him, but I don't count him out. And if you put him back in there with Porre right now, like, I think he beats, I think he can absolutely beat Dustyporey in a rematch if they do it right now lightweight.

And I'm with Jed too on the Armin thing. Like, I like Armin very much, but I don't know, man, you stay standing when Max for very long. That's going to be a bad night at the office for you. So, yeah, I think it's, I think it's a realistic possibility. I don't like anybody beating Islam. If Islam's just like, I want to be the Terminator at 155 pounds and I'm not going anywhere else for like the next like four years, then yeah, it's probably unlikely. But I don't know that that's the case because Islam's talked a lot about well to weight. And like I said, the Khabi factors out there.

He may just decide a year from now, hey, I've done it. I beat everybody. I've defended my belt five times, whatever. I'm peace out. That could happen. So in that case, like I think there's a real world where Max comes in and cleans up whoever's left. I'm kind of with you guy Damien I was definitely with you on the prediction

like I was Justin Gavejall the way I think since the fight was announced I was just like oh this seems like a fun fight fight I've always wanted to see and I but I think yeah if it comes to who hits harder it's gonna go Gathe's way I mean didn't matter doesn't matter who hits harder if one of the dudes

can't be hurt if one of them is unkillable it doesn't matter how hard you hit and that's it that's math the key is to remember that like Gathe Gatjee had been colded before, right? I think I think that's something, I think because I've always viewed Gathe's like, oh, this guy can't get hurt either.

And then like, I blanked out the Pori fight. I blanked out the Eddie Alvarez fight. It's like, he's been, he's been rocked. Like, he's been put down pretty hard. I mean, he's hurt a lot. Yeah. And I just discounted that. But yeah, it was a real statement for Holly.

Like I said, top, I had just probably is the first time, I guess since McGregor won the title. We didn't have our rankings back then, where you have a guy ranked top five. in the two arguably in the two, excuse me, the two arguably deepest divisions in the entire sport.

And we know in all likelihood he's going to get a shot at Topari at some point. But yeah, it feels wide open for him. If that doesn't work out, it feels like he has options to just go back at the 25. So, man. Just thought, Charles. Let me just,

let me just say we were going to do a, one thing I bandied about as a possible topic for this week was stock, stock rising, fall. but it's too similar to the other questions we had. Holloway would be way up there as far as I think how much his stock went up. I'm not saying people were counting him out forever as like, oh, he'll never fight for a title again.

Actually, no, I think some people were. So he's up there. You can make an argument for Kayla Harrison, some of the other people we've mentioned, but boy, with one win over a top five guy, one classic moment, I mean, everyone is just, Holly was right. Everyone is starving to see him fight a title,

fight for a title, weather's for 15, 145. So, all right, You guys have him, I'm looking at our ranking sources right now. You guys have him number two behind Harrison as far as most likely. Again, I actually like prayer's chances more, but I'm going to go you guys both in Holloway. Our last, we'll hit some other quick hits in a second. Our last fighter who made a splash in a new division on Saturday.

One Mr. Al Jermaine Sterling, a much talked about move to featherweight. It's something he talked about while he was Bantamway champion, frankly. I think back then it was in the hopes of going up and getting a super fight, but then he loses the title of Mali. His buddy, Marab Wazfili, is owed a title shot. Makes all the sense in the world to go up to 1.45. Looks like he did it the proper way, beats a perennial top 10 contender and Calvin Cater. Widely regarded as the least eventful, to put it kindly, fight on the card, but he gets the win.

It's a big win, big bounce-back win for Aljo. Guys, where does he rank on your list as far as his chances of winning the Featherweight title? Jed, would you say you? None. He is easily the strongest pretender of this group of people. And that, you know, I know that's going to come off as disrespectful to him. And I don't mean it that way. And mostly I don't care. He's, he's just not going to beat any of these dudes at the very, very top. Credit to him, like, he absolutely beat Calvin Cater. I think I gave him. I definitely gave him all three rounds. Might have even given him with 10-8 just because Cater did absolutely nothing in a couple of those rounds. but it's the ugliest 10-8 you'll ever see, right? It's just he didn't do much either. And by this time, if you're a frequent listener to our pod network, you'll know that I put more of an onus on the winner in situations like that.

Not everyone does. A lot of people, well, the loser has the requirement to make the fight more interesting because they're the ones losing. And sure, if you're just viewing this strictly as a, you know, wins and losses, checks, checks, mark system. Yeah,

but that's not all the sport works. The sport works by winning and by generating interests. Like it is, it is the two pillars

of success in MMA. And you can win as much as you want, but how's that working out from Mavsore Vov right now? That man ain't done nothing but win. And I got into

knock down dragout fights with smart people about why he should be fighting Diego Lopez in a rematch next because that winning is not the only thing that matters.

here. And Aljo won, credit to him for that. And he even acknowledged that it wasn't like the most exciting performance that he had some hesitations. He wanted to see how he would genuinely do up at Featherweight against some sort of top guys. And Cater kind of fits that mold. And I think we saw this is a dude who can have success. He's going to be a top 15, top 10 featherway. He can beat a lot of these dudes. Maybe if he really, because he's a former champion, he really gets some good matchmaking and and catches the right breaks at the right times. He can fight for a belt. But this man ain't beaten in Lillitapuria,

this man he beat an Alexander Wokanovsky, it's man he bitten Max Holloway, probably not beating Mavisar of Lov and Arnold Allen. You know, like he is he is a guy who is just going to be another high-level contender at Featherweight without being a legitimate title threat. And there's nothing wrong with that. I say it all the time.

Absolutely nothing wrong with being one of the 10 best people in the world at your job. If I was one of the 10 best people in the world in my job, I would consider myself fucking cool. I am not. And instead, you know, I somehow get to work with people who are the 10 best people in the world at their jobs. And there's nothing wrong with it, man. It's perfectly okay to be very, very good at your job and not be the best dude in the world at it because there could only ever be one of those. Does that stand for the women's band and weight division as well?

In what regard? If I am Macy Chesson, can I, can I crow a little bit of being top 10? Yeah, you still can. Okay, all right. It doesn't stand for women's featherweight. I don't think maybe that might be where we have to draw the line. I can't name five women's. I know, which is why we might have to draw the line there because like you just by being one of those.

But even then, honestly, actually, I would still do it. Like, that would be in my bio all in every, my LinkedIn bio would just be me number eight women's featherweight in the world. or whatever with your five and six record. So it's fine. If you're one of the best, you're one of the best, and that's awesome. It doesn't matter if there are only 10 other people running the race with you. You're still top 10, and that's enough. Damon, did you see anything in Al Joe's performance on Saturday that makes you think

like maybe, maybe with some refinement, maybe with some, you know, gets more comfortable in the weight class. He could actually beat one of the top of your guys and maybe win a second UFC title. I feel like I need to go first one these times because I just pretty, much keep repeating what Jed says because no, I don't think. I think of the three listed, I would put Al Jermaine in last place for a couple of reasons. And again, I know it's always like backhanded complimenting a guy. Al Jermaine is one of if not the greatest bantam weight of all time. I mean, he's an incredible bantam weight. But when you step up a weight class, everything changes not only size wise, but also

matchup wise. What is Al Jermaine best at? He's an incredible grappler. We saw it on Saturday night when he just took down Calvin Cater at will and basically held. him down and more or less ragdolled him on the ground. But when you look at, I'm looking at my Fedaway rankings right now. You look at Ilyat Toporia. We've seen him go against wrestlers and grapplers. He does very well. Volcanov. I mean, Volcanovsky couldn't get held down by Islam Akachev. And Islam Akashv is one of the best wrestlers and grapplers and all of mixed martial arts. Max Holloway's never been really that guy. Mowalsar is, you know, his brother is an Olympic gold medalist. Mopsar himself is an incredible wrestler. Brian Ortega has some of the nastiest jiu-jitsu in the

I don't know that you want to go on the ground with a guy like Brian Ortega and match him, submission for submission. Yeah, you're Rodriguez. Okay, maybe that's one. And, but even like Josh Emmett, that's the fight I suggested on Saturday night. Josh Jimitt comes from wrestling background. Like, he wrestled in college. He didn't use it a whole lot in his fighting career.

He's more known for knockouts and striking. But I don't know that Al Jermaine could get Josh Jimit to the ground. On the feet, dude, that guy has the death touch. Look what he did to Bryce Mitchell. Like, he just needs one good punch to land. And Al Jermaine is waking up. with, you know, with, with, uh, with, uh, with, uh, with, uh, with, uh, with, , uh, with, Marab holding the smelling salts over him as professor machine, be like,

wake up, uh, you know, giga chikaze, okay, that's a winnable fight. We saw him beat Calvin Cater. Dan Ege, I guess that's probably also a winnable fight because Dan's struggle, but even Diego Lopez, like, I don't know that that's a fight that I would pick Al Jameen to win. Diego's got incredible grappling. He's huge. He's a massive featherweight. And he just knocked out Saddik Yus. I thought that would be like a really fun fight. Didn't turn out that way.

knocked him out inside 90 seconds. So it's all about matchups. And I don't think there's a lot of favorable matchups for Algeman at 145. I think he got one in Calvin Cater. Credit to him for getting that win. But, you know, I could see him maybe beating Arnold Allen. And, you know, that's a maybe. I could see him maybe beating, you know, Yair, because he could take Yayaeer down, I guess.

And like I said, Dan Ikechikiccaz, that's another one, I guess. But again, like, I don't think there's a lot of favorable matchups for him at 145. if he fights Josh Emmett next, I think that could be a loss. If he fights Mosa, that's the worst case scenario because that guy's an incredible wrestler. Yeah, so I just, again, it's all about matchups.

And I don't think there's a lot of great matchups for Al Jemaine after the one he just got through. I'm glad you ran through some of those names, Dan, because, yeah, I was going to ask you guys, so we have nine people ahead of Alts show. So we don't take over all these names again. We have Al Jemaine Sterling, number 10, our featherweight rankings, nine people in front of them.

So you mentioned possibly Yaiir, possibly Arnold Allen. So two out of nine. Jed, is that about where you are of our top 10? Do you think maybe two out of those names? Do you like his chance? Oh, sorry, and one of those names is Priduccio Pit Bull, because this is M.A. fighting rank.

So in the UFC, excuse me, it's only eight names above him, eight names above him. So two out of eight. Do you agree with that, Jed? Do you think he beat a couple of those names that Damon mentioned or even worse? Less. Do you not like his chance against Arnold Allen or Yerger? I put him 50-50 against.

three dudes that I currently have ranked being. Where are they? He's 50-50 against pit bull and against yeah a year. A pit bull he would never fight a year, I think he's 50-50. And I'd pick him against Brian Ortega because Brian Ruega is bad at fighting. Oh, that's right. I would definitely

pick him as Brian Ritega because Brian Rikita is not very good. But, you know, that's, I wouldn't pick him. You know, it wouldn't shock me if he did beat Arnold Allen or could beat Mobsar of Love. but that that's the highest that like I wouldn't be surprised by if he won.

I would be frankly astonished if he was able to beat Max, Alex, Alex, or Ilya. All right. So looking at our just rankings of those four names. And again, we'll do some quick hits in a second, other fighters who shined at UFC 300. Number one, clearly Harrison, obvious contender. Holloway and Pereira somewhere in the middle. You guys had him too. I would flip them out of Pereira to Holloway 3.

but either way we kind of both agree they're on that borderline like very likely they could fight for a title maybe not win it and Al Jemaine Sterling were all pretty firm pretender at featherweight and again as Jett said nothing wrong with that nothing wrong with that he can make a lot of money

at 145 pounds who knows maybe he can drop down to 135 again in the future Al Jaljana's got a lot of big fights ahead of him but yeah you know I mean and to Judge's point also and again I'm not just saying this because I kind of dog to Al Jemaine saying he's not going to win a lot of fights from either way but like being one of the best 10 feather weights after being one of the greatest bansom weights of all time that's a damn

good accomplishment again that in and of itself is a huge feat that's a huge accomplishment a lot of guys a lot of girls try to change weight classes and and it does not end well for them he's now been a champion of bantuanian he's at least for now a top 10 featherweight that is a damn good feather to put in your cap he may never be champion i think it's highly unlikely he'll ever win 1 45 on title but again that's not a knock on the career he's putting together it's still it's just saying like you know again like I love I love a lot of guys who fight a featherweight

I wouldn't pick any of them to be Islam Akachov right now either so yeah yeah and and even even the guy he beat a Calvin Cater I think a huge a lot of credit

I know people are thinking like oh this was a in retrospect now because he got the win oh this was just a top 10 guy got the numbers next to his name they handpicked for Sterling but on paper I thought

I picked Cair to win for one Cater's a big he's a big featherweight he hits really hard and he has great takedown defense so for Sterling I remember what he did was Zabit. That's what had me. I was like, man, remember that fight was Zabit?

Like, he had a great fight with Zabit. He lost, but he had a great fight. I was like, man, he had some moments with Zabit. And Zabit was a monster. And I was like, well, maybe not. It didn't work out that way. Al Jardin Ragnolid, but still, I was like, you know, this guy's not an easy match up.

Yeah. And again, and I think that's a cater, maybe not his best night, but you know what? All you can do is give credit to Aljo. Sure, maybe not the most memorable fight, but I think a great achievement. And, yeah, even though we're saying he's the bottom of this list, it is four people.

It's a list of four people who really impressed on Saturday. I'm going to get some quick hits, guys. We're not going to rank these. Kind of just like a very quick. Well, doesn't that be quick, but just get a yes or no. So these are not people necessarily that competed in new divisions. I think one of them is. But people, again, do we think they will?

Well, for this first name, let's go, you got to go far. Will he become a champion? Of course, I'm talking about Bo, Nickel. Jed, will he? Damon, sorry, you go first. You're the wrestling man. will he become UFC champion? Yes, without a doubt.

He will hold that belt sooner rather than later. Jed. I'm not going to say without a doubt, but I would still. I want a yes or a no, Jed. I would still say yes, he will. I mean, I'm just saying Damon said without a doubt, that is that's a level of confidence. I have some doubts, but I'm going yes.

Yes, we're both. Okay, you guys are, I'll be the outlier here. I'm going to say no. I don't have a good reason why I think he's looked great. I think the division as though it is better than it was, you know, some of us argued on here that it was a top three division in the sport, top four division in the sport. I still, I think it's like, again, even though I'm not at high in the division,

I do think it's still a tough way to get through to the top, and we do need to see a lot more. Yeah, I'm being a bit foolish here because, again, when we say could he become a champion, we could be talking about like 2026. And it's very realistic that even if Boe Nickel lost a fight in the next couple of years that he could bounce back and just, you know, absolutely fulfill the potential that people have for him. But maybe just to be different, I'll say no.

I'll go the no on this one. Diego Lopez. Now, not asking, will he become champion? Ask you guys, is there a world where he fights for a UFC title? Damon. I'm going to say yes. I'm done doubting Diego Lopez. The kid, I thought I picked, I'll admit, I'll admit, I picked Siddi Usef to win.

I thought, man, striking, Sadiq's nasty, dangerous. Boy, did that go absolutely. the other way. And, yeah, dude, I'm all in. I'm with Jed, though. He stopped suggesting him fighting Mossar. That's the dumbest thing ever. It's not going to fight Mosar. He has no, Moser has zero reason to fight Diego again. Maybe down the road, maybe that's a title fight down the road, but no. But yeah, I think he's got the ability to get there. He's looked incredible in his last few fights. And he's got a lot of experience. You know, that's what people liked about him so much, as he's a prospect, but he's a prospect who had like 20-something fights for coming to the

UFC. Jed, will he fight for the for the way to talk? No. I know that we're about to have a topic on here that's going to make me the most hated man in MMA. So get warmed up. Get warmed up. I'm trying not to pick these fights, but like, just so we're real clear, everybody, not that long ago, this man was getting teched on a contender series. Like, yes, you Anderson, Brito's a fine. fighting fighter. We just got to pump the brakes. The Sadiq. Yusuf win, unbelievable. It's a great win. Like a terrific win. Blowing the doors off Pat Sabatini and Gavin Tucker is fine. Like, it's respectable.

But it's not, he's got these three wins, and we need this man to fight Mozart because he has to fight for a belt because, oh my God, he's the greatest this fighter that ever there was. No, you know how long it's taken us to get umar or two in title fight when he's probably the best ban away in the world? Why are we

rushing Diego Lopez? Because everyone sort of knows that this is this is fragile and that under any real inspection it's going to crumble. No. He's super fun fighter. He's better than I thought he'd be coming off of, you know, losing on the contender series and

Cage Fury or wherever he was fighting regionally. But no, he's just not going to beat the top dudes consistently. Like maybe he can pull one out like he did against Sadiq, but I don't, it's just not going to have that level of success if he has to repeatedly fight top

dudes he's going to catch some mouths because he's got pretty clear weaknesses certainly defensively so no doesn't fight for a ball let's not forget there was a time that charles olivero was getting choked out by ricardo lamas anything is possible for a guy to turn things around and and you know you got charles oliver got worked by paul felder and both of those are top 10 dudes joanna subritto's just a guy i know i'm just saying i just say like anything's possible i'm just saying like i wouldn't i wouldn't count him out So I'm not saying he's going to win. I'm just saying he's got a possibility.

I'm, Jed, I'm with you on this one. I'm also going no. If only because featherweight is... It's a hard division, man. It's a hard division. So I'm looking at our top 15 right now. And there are a lot of names in here who, at one point or another, you would have said, well, this person is definitely fighting for a title at some point.

Giga, Giga, Chikaze, when he was on his way up, but Arnold Allen may never fight for a title. I mean, I still think he will, but he's at the point. It may never happen. There's a chance. What was the other one I had? I was just supposed to say Molfsar. We're talking about Mosecars who, like, he's done seemingly everything he can, other than, you know, be interesting.

I'll sign up for the Arnold Allen. We'll never fight for a title. Wow. I will say he will never fight for a title. So, yeah, I think, much like some of the names we just mentioned, Diego Lopez, obviously has a talent for it. He has a little bit of a leg up on some of them because the UFC really, really, really seems to like him.

They do push him a lot of their socials. He, you know, he's very, he's very, he's, he's, he's very, he's, So part of the community, you know, being a coach, being a fighter, the mullet, the hair. He's got, he's got some hooks. He's got some hooks. And that does help you, but I'm with you, Jed. I'm leaning more towards no just because of our heart is. And, like, some of the names he's going to have to go through.

Even if he does get the Mopstar fight, like, I don't. That's the thing that is driving me insane. Like, I want the Mosa rematch. Why? Why does anyone want that? Why are Diego fans supporting this? Like, he's not going to beat him. It's not going to lose any.

No, like, maybe. know. Maybe he will. Probably he won't. And it's just like, why? Like just, what are we doing here? I don't, I don't get it. I don't understand the immense love for this dude that as far as I can tell, tracks to him having a mullet and being the only person alive who made Mothsaer of love have an interesting fist fight. And that's it. Because like, blowing the doors up Pat Sabatini and Gavin Tucker should not generate this level of love.

Listen, 2023, M.A. fighting rookie the year. That's all I'm going to say. I know. And when Vinnie Erseg wins

a fucking belt next week or two weeks from now, we're all going to be like, man, that was a mistake. Was he your, was he your rookie of the year pick? No, he wasn't my rookie of the year pick

because I followed the herd. I don't think I picked Lopez, though. I picked somebody, but I don't, I didn't pick him. But I have regretted it basically every day since. It was like,

wow. This kid's probably going to end up holding the belt. We're going to look like real idiots. It's real marks. I think we're all going to agree on this one. But I don't know. Speaking of guys who have gotten a hook in with the UFC, with the fans, who has found a voice, who has been talking his way up the ranks, that's for damn sure.

I'm picking up some big wins. Hanata Moikano. I know a lot of people were picking Jail and Turner to beat him. But experience goes a long way, my friends. Sure enough, his skills on the ground were a little too much for Jalen Turner, who may have made one of one of the gaffes of the year in round one. but listen, we know, we've seen Hannaas Moikano a lot. We kind of thought we knew what his ceiling was,

but with this newfound notoriety, could he talk his way into a lightweight title fight at some point? Damon. Yeah, listen, he could talk himself into a lot of things. He likes money. He's not going to be a champion. He's not going to come anywhere near that title. Will he challenge?

He won't challenge. No, he won't challenge. No, I mean, let's be honest. He got rocked badly by Drew Dober, and he ended up winning that fight because he outgrabble. Of course, that's certainly fine. And then he got basically knocked down and Jalen Turner had to make a screw up so far at the year by just walking away instead of walking over and finishing the fight.

That's, I mean, that's about as far. I mean, I think we're getting to the point not even now where I think we're already kind of reaching the limit of how far Mocha. Do we forget what Dosanos did to him a couple years ago? Like absolutely beat the brakes off him. And it was like getting ugly late in that fight where we're like, man, this might you might want to stop this like this is getting really bad um you know he goes in there gets a guy like gamrod who's an incredible grappler i mean yeah he can grapple but like would you pick him to be justin gaiti or charles olivera or i mean come on like i like moikano i think this a fun gimmick he's got going

right now money moikano his whatever i i enjoy money moikano but let's slow down on like you know i i don't i mean i don't know that i don't know that he's going to be der euser hooker i know those are kind of the two fights everyone's talking about right now. Like, I don't know that he wins those fights. Certainly I wouldn't pick him to get beat Fazeve. So, yeah, no, I don't think he's going to get anywhere near that title. I like him. I like the gimmick, but there's levels to this game, as Daniel Cormier says.

And I don't think like condos is anywhere near that. Damon, if he beat Dariusia Hooker, how much would that change your prediction? None, because Darius and Hooker are fringe guys too. Like, neither one of them are going to fight. We know who Dan Hooker is. Dan Hooker is a fun guy who could be a nice. number 11 guy he will never ever fight for a UFC title i think we've seen that binel der a ush is a little too older now he's had a couple of bad knockouts in a row fun fighter and he can put on some entertaining

wars he's not going to be that so no i mean that i think i think that three that three level right there like the moikano hooker deriush i think that's about like the level they're going to get to they're going to get you know they get with like a fight or two of the title and then that's about that's about as close they're going to get and i don't like moikano to be honest like when i look at these matchups like I don't love him against any of these guys really going up the rankings I mean yeah I mean he could maybe be Connor because Connor's washed and not what Connor used to be maybe I guess like yeah so no I mean he beat Patty Pimble let him beat at Patty Pimble let him beat up patty Pimble he can win that one pretty strong response there day pretty confidence he doesn't

even get a title shot you said not even near a title shot jed can he uh can the new money moikano talk his way into sneak into a title shot there it's pretty popular No, this is the highest to ever be ranked. He will never get higher than 10 in the UFC's current ranking structure. Bold, bold. He is number, yeah, you said number 10, the UFC rankings. Yeah, number 12 in ours, which I think is the same as number 10, because I think we have some Bellator guys in there.

So, okay. Never get higher than this. This is Pete McCano. He keeps, he's winning some fights and good for him. That he would not beat anyone ranked above him. I mean, I guess he could be Michael Chandler, because Michael Chandler sucks. but other than that, he can't beat anyone that's ranked above him.

And he's not even trying. Like he's probably going to fight Patty. Sort of feels like that might be the energy. And that's not going to move him up the rankings. And then after he beats Patty, whoever it is, though a darted anyone on that board, they will just batter the brains right out of that poor man. And there you go. He's a fun story.

Again, nothing wrong with being top 10, top 12 in the world at the thing that you do. but that's as high as he will ever get. While you guys were talking, I was doing a whole thing in my head. Like, could he, like, is he kind of like a Marlon Chito Vera type? Or again, company likes him, fans like his personality. But then I looked at Marlins, Cheetos wins. I was like, you know what?

Pedro Munoz legit. Dominic Cruz, I mean, maybe past his best before date. But, I mean, as far as name value-wise, a much bigger name than anyone that Hanato Maikano was beaten. Frankie Edgar, again, just name value. And he had a win over O'Malley, which probably helped a lot in his kidding. this getting that rematch.

So the only person he could fight like literally the only way to get him to a belt right now is to fight Gagie and hope he gets a takedown because he's not going to fight Porre. He's probably not going to fight Gamrot because of the gym connections there. Dary Eush, we've seen Daryush fight dudes who can grapple. Ask how that worked out for old Matush Gamrot. Like he will just beat the hell out of him. Chandler sucks. I sure you could be Chandler. Max, obviously it's a non-starter.

Fiziv, unbelievably good takedown defense. Olivera, that seems like a bad game to play, but I guess you can try if you want. Saurukian, come on. Like, there's just the only path is he somehow, Justin Gajee deigns to fight him, which Gachie should never do. This is no upside to him.

And then he can get a takedown before getting his head blown clean off his shoulders, which I don't think would happen. So it's just like, there's just no outcome for him to get to a belt here. Yeah, you talked me out of it. I was going to try to be different than you guys and throw a no out there, but I agree. You know what? Good for him.

He's making a lot of money. Again, got big fights ahead of him. He's got traction. That traction with the fans can last you forever after retirement. He has established himself now in the podcast world. Whenever Money Moikano stops fighting, he will still be making. He will still be Money Moikano in the MMA media sphere, as it were. the last guy I'm going to ask about real quick guys

Davidson figurato 2 and 0 now at 135 pounds a weight class that a lot of people want to see him move up to a while ago he's that 125 cut was killing him and we're not for an endless rivalry with Brandon Moreno probably would have moved up sooner beats rob bont

beats cody garbrand former world champion clearly a player at 135 he is currently number nine in our rankings again this is including fighters from other organizations so about whatever six, seven in the UFC. Six in the UFC's.

For him, same question. Not can he win it? Do you guys see him getting a title shot somewhere down the road? Jed, please. He will fight for an interim belt next year. And then so, lay it up for us. I think he's going to fight Cheeto Vera next.

And I think I would pick him to beat Cheeto Vera at this point. I wouldn't be shocked if Cheeto beat him. But I think that's a winnable matchup for Figaro. and I think once he beats Cheeto look O'Malley's going to fight Marab and we'll see how that shakes out but if O'Malley wins

it really feels and I'll hate it I want to be real clear I'll hate every bit of it feels like if O'Malley does beat Marab and I'm coming around to the idea that he can do that then they're going to let him fight

Ilya do a big event maybe in Spain first quarter next year I'll talk about it I think that there is momentum trending in that direction, at which point they will do the thing they did when they let Volk go up. And they'll just make an interim belt. And so it'll be like, all right, figurato, just beat Vera, former champion.

Corey Sandhagen or Umar, you know, whoever comes out of that, you'll, you'll be the other man called, called to fight on the other side of that. And so I don't think I will pick him to win that fight. And I don't think I would ultimately pick him to win the Antimoy belt. but I do think next year he will fight for an interim title. Okay, I like that. I was going to say we shouldn't include interim things, but that's such a specific and I think likely scenario it has to be mentioned.

Damon, including interim, if you'd like, do you see him challenging for, not necessarily winning, but at least getting a title shot at 1.35? I don't, but it's just because I think Bantuwait, I think Bantuwait is the best division in mixed martial arts right now. Now, again, that's going across every organization, because I Apache mix is my number one Bantonweight, and he's not even in the UFC. But, like, you know, O'Malley, Marab, you know, Corey San Hagan, Peter Jan, Umar, I mean,

those are all fights that I would pick him to lose. I like Devison. I think what he did is great, but, you know, like, I think, you know, like, I don't know, like there's fights he can absolutely win. Like, I picked Rob Fon to beat him because I thought Rob Fon had the boxing to handle Figgie and then Figuing went out there and proved me completely wrong. I don't know that beating Cody Garbrandt's really going to do much for you. I mean, yeah, it's a win, but Cody isn't the Cody of five, six years ago.

I think we all know that. Like, Jonathan Martinez is probably, I'm guessing, probably going to leg kick Jose Alder back into retirement in a few weeks. You shut your mouth. You shut your, I'm sorry. Jose Aldo, the greatest kicker of legs, one of the greatest defensive geniuses of all time, is going to get a lot. leg kicked by some bum get the hell out of this podcast that's how that's how this sport works no one no one gets to come back and have a have a whole celebration i'm just saying like jonathan martinez is like the like one of the best but least interesting guys in the

world but yet i don't think people in the legs jose doesn't get kicked in the legs he's too good just nonsense get out of but i'm like that like sonia dong is a massive guy like i think that's like i yeah he could maybe meet you know cheetah vera because i I don't think Chita Vair is that good. But yeah, I just, I just think there's just too many, too many tough matchups for him. And, and again, he's bigger for Bantuweight, but he's still an undersized guy.

Like, put him next to Corey Saneag and he's going to look like his son. Like, he's tiny compared to him. Piotr Yon, I guess. Like, that's a fun fight. I know that's the one he want, but I don't like his chances in that fight either. So, yeah, like, just, there's just too many obstacles. Again, you know, O'Malley, Marab, Corey, Yoder, Yon, Umar. I don't like it winning any of those fights. And that's just a, that's just a,

that's just a harder road to travel to think you're actually going to get there and get a title belt. So I'm going to say no. Man, I, okay, Jed says interim, very likely going to have this path to interim. Damon, pretty firm, no. I hate this. I have to lean no. Because I think when I was writing this question, I was, I immediately thought, yes, uh, Davy, Davidson Figurato is so skilled. Uh, he's got the power and kind of the reach to like make up for, some size advantages, but Damien, you brought us some good examples like Corey Sanhagen.

It's just going to look ridiculous in there. And because I'm also with you, I think Bantaway is so deep, one of the three best, if not the best divisions in the entire sport. So kind of my same reasoning for Aljo. It's just there's just too many, or was it Aljo who we're talking about for? No, Aljo, I'm sorry. Diego Lopez. Same argument for Diego Lopez.

Just when you're in a division like this, there's so many pitfalls and there's so many people already ahead of you and then others that could jump ahead of you within the next 18 months to support move so quickly. So both him, Lopez and Figgi, if they, listen, if they stay on hot streaks and they get some exciting finishes, certainly they could bully themselves with their way into a title shot. But yeah, I'll go conservative on this one. But Jed, the interim. Sachs Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way, whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit. Sax is where you can find everything. From the perfect Chloe bag for your hard to shop four-sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner. And if you don't know where to start,

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A really good point. All right, guys, let's, you know, this is a show where we rank things. Are you aware, you guys heard about that? It's a ranking show. And I want to talk about a clip. I'm not sure a lot of people saw this, the last five seconds or so of the BMF title fight between Justin Gathe and Max Holloway and Max Holloway and Justin Gathe, where they fluried and Max Holloway left Justin Gathechie,

uh, floored. Now, by the time people listen this, it'll be able to have been quite a few days since COC 300 has passed. We're all calmer, guys. We have the benefit of hindsight now. We're not prisoners of the moment. We can look back on this and engage it properly. So I want to ask you, and this is a personal question, guys.

This is personal. So I want your personal list so that we don't have to get personal with each other, if you know what I'm saying. Where does it rank, guys? Where does it rank? Just talk about knockouts. Just talk about knockouts. Where does Max Holloway's knockout at Justin Gates' rank on your personal list, your personal list? your personal list.

Damon, would you like to go first? It's so hard. You can give a range. You don't give a number. Give me a range. Yeah, top five, top three, top two. So here's what I know this is, I know I'm cheating with this question.

Here's what I would say, because I had this discussion with Alan Jaban on the podcast this week. I think, and I think Alan had a good way to frame it because I said, I think Max Holloway's win was the best finish. And I defined it as that meaning

like just like the way it went down. And he used a better word. It was moment, best moment. Maybe the greatest moment in UFC history. I think that's the way I'd frame it. Like pointing to the ground, 10 seconds left. And again, you got a frame in the context. UFC 300, biggest event of all time.

And he's standing toe to toe, up four rounds to one. And he's throwing down with the most dangerous, nasty guys in the sport. And he's just like, let's just go. And then he knocks him out with one second. It's that you frame it all together. To me, it is maybe potentially the great. greatest moment in UFC history. As far as knockouts go, though,

I'd say it's top five, but I wouldn't say it's number one. Again, you have to frame the context of it, because the 10 seconds, the point into the ground, all those things, that adds up, and that's why I say moment versus knockout. When the greatest knockouts of all time, I'm talking Anderson Silva front kicking Vitor Belfort.

I'm talking, and I was there that night, went in Ghanu, you know, basically turned Alistair Oberyn's head into a pez dispenser. You know, there's knockouts like that to me, those kind of knockouts are just, you know, I was there the night, Connor McGregor flatline Jose Aldo with one punch. That was epic. Like that's an all-time great knockout. So I'd say top five, top 10 for sure for knockout.

For me and again, I know I'm cheating saying this. It's the greatest moment because of everything surrounding it, the 10 seconds, all that kind of stuff. But is it the best knockout? Is it one of the best knockouts of all time? I don't think so. But it's, I mean, it's there top 10. And again, not to keep saying it. already said being top 10 all time is still not a bad place to be um so yeah i wouldn't put it ahead of

connor aldo wouldn't put ahead of uh you know Anderson v tour those kind of knockouts i would just say moment when you frame it as a moment that's where it takes the top spot for me the greatest moment knockout wise all the ones you mentioned like connor alster you would put those above if you're talking knockouts you would put those above just just just talk just purely knockouts i would say yeah it even I'm not saying like I'd put this above it because obviously the stakes were higher for for Gaget Holloway. But like even watching, you know, watching Josh Emmett Ether, Bryce Mitchell with one of the scariest knockouts of all time.

Like that was just like what that was the one where my my jaw was on the floor. But again, you got to, because you got to remember how it happened. 10 seconds, all that kind of stuff. That's why I say moment versus knock a greatest moment. It was I jumped out of my seat and screamed and probably scared the piss out of my neighbors because I was like screaming so loud. of that happening. But again, it's all in the context of how it happened. Yeah, who's involved, the two biggest, the two BMF best, two of the biggest BMFers of all time, you know, for the

BMF title. Yeah, the context is certainly very important. What, what is your number one if you, if you have one, I don't know if you could name it off the top of your head, your number one knockout of all time. Probably my, my, number one knock out of all time. And again, I'm cheating because I was there, but I would probably say Connor Aldo because that one was just, I mean, It was no one saw that coming and him knocking out one punch and Aldo going face first on the canvas. Everyone in the arena was just stunned. And to be fair, the moment was cool because I was sitting next to E from Entourage, the guy who put E. They brought him down and they literally sat him next to me on Media Row.

And like I'm sitting there like sharing the moment with E from Entourage. So yeah, I would say Connor Aldo or Anderson Vitor or probably be the other one I'd mention. Neither is a bad pick. I think those are number one a lot of people's lists. Jed I'm going to ask for your best for sure but give me your rankings range first for what we saw at UFC 300

Top three easily First I didn't think we were going to get a Kevin Conley shout out on the program today So here we go Kevin Connolly shout out Look so earlier when I alluded to I know that I'm going to be the least popularist boy In all of MMA media

This is it I think we're all just a little too high We're all, everyone's, everyone's enjoying the moment a little bit too much. Everyone just loves Max Holloway so much that they want this to be the greatest thing that ever happened. And it's awesome. It was a super great thing. I'm not here to tell you it wasn't a great thing. It wasn't the greatest knockout of all the time.

Damon, I love you. It's not the greatest moment in UFC history. We just have such short memories for these things. And I always try to keep that sort of thing in context. Like last year's knockout of the year is better than this one. I'm sorry, it just is. Like, I know that this was really cool and it was awesome and it being the highlight of 300. But like, one, I keep hearing a lot of different contexts about the stakes because a lot of people who are like the stakes were so critical are the same people being like, the BMF belt is meaningless.

So then what are the stakes critical about this is nonsense? Whereas like, I don't know. The stakes for Israel, Adisino, when he's fighting out. for the fourth time and pulls that CO out of his ass when he's almost dead feels a lot more substantial to me than the stakes for Max who was eight seconds away from winning

a pretty clear cut decision. So like, I'm not, it's a hard position to be in where I am not trying to denigrate that CO because it is incredibly fun, incredibly exciting. And it was part of a moment. And we were all part of that moment

because it was 300. I think people are, are juicing it to the moon because of how great 300 was and was supposed to be, that they want this to be the crown jewel of all crown jewels. We're just not. There have been other moments that are better in thing. And when we get more time to look back, we'll be like, yeah, it's an awesome moment. It's a moment's going to live forever.

We're going to remember where we were when that moment happened. We're going to think about it. But is that K.O. better than Yaya Rodriguez's hail Mary up back elbow in a fight that he was losing pillar to post. I don't think it is. Is it better than Connor McGregor's knockout 13 seconds? I don't think it is. And that's me saying it.

Maybe the biggest Jose Aldo fan you know is out here giving Connor McGregor flowers for that because that is the true and just action for that sort of knockout. That pained you. It hurt me in my soul to say that. Yeah, I'm so sorry. Like, I know that the stakes aren't as much, but you just can't convince me that that knockouts better than Joaquin Buckley pulling out some true ninja stuff like this there are just the tapestry of mbma is so vast there are always just going to be better things and so it's okay for

this to not be fetid as the best thing that has ever happened it does not take away from the moment from what you experienced and from what we all took in collectively to say man that was awesome and not be like that's the best thing that's ever happened. And we do it all the time. We do it with fighters. We do it with submit everything that happens is the best thing that ever happened because people want it to be because that's an exciting thing. And it just,

this feels so clear cut to me that this isn't the best moment. It's not the best knockout. It's an awesome one. And people are just too high about it because that is the way in which we collectively experience this sport. maybe it's top 10. Like I'm not even confident that I would call it top 10. I am already of the opinion that it is not the knockout of the year.

And I don't think that I will be correct. I believe that when we do our voting at the year end, everyone's just going to put it as knockout of the year sort of perfunctorily. But I still think Gilead Tepurie's knockout of Alexander Volkinovsky is a better knockout. Like it is a more meaningful, more substantive knockout that is equally as cool. It just doesn't have Max Holloway as part of it and doing the specific Max thing so people don't like it as much. But it's, you know, maybe if you say it's a top 10 knockout in UFC history, I don't have any issues of that. If you say it's top five, I'm going to look at you a little questioning, but I won't take that personally.

If you say it's the best knockout on UFC history, you just are forgetting a whole host of stuff that happened before. and just go back and watch some other things, man, because it ain't topping it. Edson Barbosa, Terry Adam, there's another one I want to throw up. I mean, spinning wheel kick. That's also iconic just to do that one out there also. That knockout has been one of the best knockouts in history for 20 years, you know. I don't even think we mentioned a year and zombie.

I did during my speech, I said. On behalf of memory fighting, I want to apologize to everyone, all Justin KCachie fans, all Max Holloway fans. fans, all fans of the BMF title, I'm here everyone who watched USC300, really the anime community in general for that blatant attack on everything you guys love. I feel attacked. I know that much. I'm shaken right now.

I'm just trying to have a good time. I'm here just trying to host a podcast. Won't you have a good time? I'm not having a good time now. You've ruined it. Dude, I ruined it. Why do you think it's the worst? Well, here's a quick.

Why do you think it's the worst knockout in your season, Judge? Here's the question for you. Because here's the thing. I actually think it has a better argument for the best knockout, and I don't think it has a good argument, the best moment. Because there are just like so many moments that I'm just like, this isn't even close to the best moment. It's just cool.

It is an objectively cool thing. But Leon Edwards' last second, K.O. knockout and all of the like moment to there is a big moment. Holly Holme, Ronda, Rousey is a bigger moment. Like it is, it's just an awesome thing that was part of an awesome event. but it doesn't have to be the best. It could just be great. Hey, cool guy.

What's your favorite knockout of all time? My favorite knockout of all time is still probably Dan Anderson, Michael Bisping. UFC 100. I am not willing to say that's the best knockout of all time. I think that that is my favorite. And it's sort of on the list in there. If I had to gun into my head pick the best knockout of all time, I think it's Yairiier zombies.

I think it's the literal last second back up elbow in a fight that he was losing and was literally one second away from losing in this main event. And just a unique, awesome piece of violence that happened. And I just want to be as clear as I possibly can be. Everyone in this conversation is lucky as shit that Benson Henderson fought through getting showtime kick. Because if Bindo just falls and doesn't get up, that's it. That's number one with the bullet and nothing's ever passing it. But because Vincent Henderson is too tough for his own good, we don't get it for that one.

But that's the best moment in MMA history. And I'll die on that corner for sure. Damon, if we've forgotten anything, has this discussion changed your perspective on the BMF title fight finish at all? No, I mean, like I said, I didn't have it as the best knockout anyways. I think, again, mine was just a moment. And again, it's framing the moment. I mean, again, Jed's not wrong.

Come on. Showtime kick, baby. Showtime kick's best moment in the way. Showtime. Here's the thing. Showtime kick was pretty awesome, but it didn't lead to a knockout. It did.

It led to him winning the fight. It did. He won the fight by running off a cage and kicking a professional fighter in the face in the last fight of a promotions in history. In the last minute of the last round of the last fight in promotional history, there can be no bigger.

moment then the showtime kick and Anthony Pettis gave us that. We're just talking about in cage, right? Because outside of cage, I mean, baby nuts. Okay, yeah. I mean, well, there's a lot of, a lot of Kimbo's stuff happened. But yes. In cage, off the cage, showtime kick, outside the cage, baby nuts. I love the show.

I love the showtime gig. Like I said, I remember covering it live that night when it happened. It was a freaking cool moment. But it would have been cooler if it would have finished the fight though. I think we all admit that. It would have. As far, I've reconded in my head to a finish fight as far as I'm concerned. I think in the Jose Aldo movie, I think his character does the Showtime kick and knock someone

out with it. I think we still have to future this is a cinema episode. We'll have to review that. But that is what I've heard. They give the Josie Aldo character. I love that for Jose. They created the best possible timeline, really, for Joseph. I hope in that movie they don't include the Connor, K.O.

Because no, it's way before. I also think that that has like a really good argument for being. the best knockout in UFC history. We need to stop. We need to stop talking. It hurts me to say that. Now, I think we need to talk about it now. If Shaheen was here, he'd be crying right now.

I am so glad he is not on the subject. He would be super upset. In fact, this whole section would get every mention of it, which we believe cut. I think, I think Conaraldo, I think Conrado is number one when you put the entire, like, when you frame everything together and just the, oh my God, it was so much buildup. And then for it be over in 16 seconds. and just Connor flatlines. And it's also dramatic.

It's also dramatic how he fell. Like, again, that's also, and this is go back to the Gachey Holloway thing. Like, it's all, you know, when I talk about the moment, it's because the 10 seconds point to the ground, throwing down, and then Gagy faceplants.

The way, I know this sounds stupid, but it's true. The way you fall in a knockout matters. Like, face planting a guy, like that, the way he falls, the way the Aldo fell in that fight that he charges for Connor clips,

when he just goes, crashing down the ground. Like that's just a way cooler knockout that when you beat a guy and he just falls on his back or unless you do the full on Terry Adam where you just, you know, fall on, go stiff and like fall lit backwards or the Johnny Walker knockout with Jamal Hill

where you kind of like weirdly fall that way. Like how you fall bad or is in a knockout? Oh my God. Also, so I actually I'm totally with Damon and all of that. I think that that probably has a, it has a really good argument for me. Number one shouts to Anderson Silva Vitor Bellford.

the front kick I mean that's that that's the thing like all these things are awesome and I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yum about Holloway Geichi but if you just say it's the greatest Kio ever it's like okay but like that's kind of taken something away from a lot of other

insane KOs that that deserve their recognition as well just because they happened previously does not make them worse yeah and like I said it's not the best I 110% agree with you it is not it's a cool as always said moment it's cool It's cool.

Very cool. Cool knockout. It's not. It might be the coolest moment. I'm not willing to call it the best. I am open to it being the coolest moment because of that and the point at the ground. But like it's cool, but also by the same stakes, I just don't feel like it's the best because it's like, okay, well, he's going to win that fight whether he did this. So it's awesome that he put it out there to do this.

But it's not like, hey, uh, I should, Misha Tate winning the belt after her, like, repeated. failure to do it. Michael Bisping winning the belt, like in the way he did. Like, these moments are more meaningful and better to me. I am absolutely open to the conversation of the coolest moment because other than the showtime kick, it's probably the coolest thing I can recall seeing. I'd have to think about it harder, but like, it's deeply cool. Well, before this turns into a damn episode, which it almost did. This really was quite a nice look back.

Yeah, yeah, quite a nice look back. I think we can, guys, I think we can call it. We can call the show. Oh, I should say I would put it in my top five. So, Jed, you can give me that strange look. I would put it in my top five, probably five, probably five. And my list is also weird because devoid of context, my favorite knockout ever is like Spencer Fisher knocking out Matt Wyman. And it's like, that used to get replayed.

That used to be a very popular knockout. And it's one of those knockouts that it has now been like lost to time. But that was on like every UFC like best, best KOs list. Like. So is Sean Semen getting flatlined. I didn't talk about that. Pete Drago, Scott Smith, Pete Drago used to be like, anytime you watch it, it was every list. So, like, I guess I'm having some nostalgia goggles or something, but like my number one is much.

You just stole one of my other favorite cool moments with Scott Smith and Pete Sel. He's charging, body shot charges for it just gets absolutely demolished. And if you were a new fan, like just getting to, like I was, like a newbie, getting to the UFC during like the mid-2000s, every time you saw one of those compilations, like the knock-ups we just mentioned, you would see those over and over and over and over. and over and over again. They were like ingrained into your brain, but now you jump 20 years forward. And now it's a, it's not that they get a race. They just kind of get bumped back. And now everyone has seen as with the, I'm not going to rehash all the knockouts we mentioned. Now this generation of fans has seen those knockouts over and over and over again. And now up the road to UFC 400, this Holloway Knockout is the one that will lead every best knockouts highlight reel. So that's just kind of how it works, right? So I think I will say, I think it makes my top five. I thought it was such a cool, mostly organic, moment. But again, I may be, I may be in the moment still. So shouts, you know, I also shouts to the erroneobomb, which actually is cooler than this fight. The errone bomb is,

is a cooler moment. And just in terms of cool, not like I said, I stand by the fact that I think Josh Schmidt, like literally where we thought Bryce Mitchell was dead. That wasn't cool at all, because I honestly thought it was. I actually thought a man died. In terms of like the nastiest knockouts of all time. Like that one was a moment where we're like, oh man, this might be the scariest moment ever into sport. That was legitimately one of the very few times watching this sport. I was ever like, oh, he might knock it up. Oh, scariest moments? That's a whole other list. We go Rashad knocking out. I thought he killed Chuck Liddell when he knocked him out. We got a lot of scary moments. That'll let me our another

ranking show. No, for sure. All right, guys. Let me just wrap here and just say we do a little, a little happy trails, guys, a little happy trails to one. We had a few people exit the rankings, but a lot of them in there were like the 14, 15 spots. So they kind of just get bumped out by, I don't know, math or by someone entering the rankings. So, but the one name, and I mentioned this because I also want to ask you guys if this gentleman will ever get back to the top 15.

Oh, maybe the top 15. Will he ever get back to the top 10? It's probably a better question. Beloved fan favorite, Vicente Lucke, tough loss to Joaquin. He falls from He was in the top 10 Sometime last year

He fell to 13 Now he falls from 13 To the unranked Or the fighters also receiving votes So first off Tip of the Cap We all love Vicente He's not old

I mean he's only 32 But in fight years He's pretty old He's been fighting for 15 years Guys fighting for 15 years And getting in some battles So I guess I have to ask I'll start with Damon

Damon do you think we see Vicente creep back into our rankings. Sadly, I don't think so, and I love Vicente Luque, one of the absolute nicest guys in the sport. He's a true savage, but he's 32 going on 45 by no Gary years. He's just taking a lot of damage. And listen, he had that scary moment where he thought his crew was over. We had the brain bleed and everything.

And when he came back and had the first fight past that, he didn't quite look the same. He just wasn't like as aggressive and kind of crazy Vicente Lucay that we kind of just kind of knew to come. in love in the sport. I think those days are gone. You know, I think that's just past him. And sadly, I don't think so, because listen, I don't think Joaquin Buckley is a great fighter. I think he's an okay guy and I don't want to know. I'm not, I'm not trying to knock the guy. I don't think walking Buckley is really going to make a lot of noise of welterweight. And he did get knocked out

by walking Buckley. So sadly, I think we've seen the end of that run for Vicente. I hate saying that, he's such a nice guy and he is a really fun fighter. But I think health issues and time have just kind of passed by at this point. Yeah, Chad, do you agree with that? This is a hard one. I think I'm going to air on the side of being a little more optimistic. Just because he is, I agree with a lot of what Damon said, but he's still a guy who's hovering right there and another win could pop him right back in, you know, like right

into the number 15th, 14th spot in a couple of us. and there's not like a ton of competition for those back-end welterated spots there are a few guys you know Randy Brown's going to be fighting um at least hezeleski uh sometime at the Zedown three oh two um yeah yeah as i don't i don't think we have randy brown thing um ranked so like certainly the winner of that has a chance i know uh we're not fokker dinov has a fight against in somebody booked don't remember who but he is kind of on the cusp but he is kind of on the cusp But other than that, you know, there's not like a ton of people clamoring for those spots. There are a few.

But I just think there's enough of a window here that if Lucke gets back in there, and I don't know who would get to fight. And that will be sort of the determining factor. But he can win some of these fights. If he gives back in, gets to fight somebody, gets a W. I'll say that he's got a shot to crack back in. And I'll just, AK, just for you, this is our rankings, Craig. We're talking about our rankings because also in our rankings,

we got to throw in the PF. Helator guys, because I got Jason Jackson in there, Amossoffs in there, guys like that. So I think that's also a bit of an obstacle because we're talking about guys that just are, unless they just lose, like they're not really going to get out of his way. And like,

I don't think a lot of us have Colby Covington rank, but if Colby Covington could somehow come back and beat Ian Gary, I don't love that happening. But if he does, like we'd probably all end up rating Colby. And so that's another guy who could potentially get in the way

of like a Vicente getting back in there. So I think like those two factors, you know. But also Damon, like we don't really know what's going on with Usman. Is he going to go back to middleweight if he just starts moving up there? Gilbert Burns has got to be pretty close to be in the end of his career with sort of where he's been going. So there are also a couple of dudes who like Wonderboy who's still ranked for us and he's going to drop out of there some point. He might just hang around long enough and have enough of a name. I don't think he's going to crack the top 10,

but I think he can sneak back into 15. I think he's got that in him. That makes sense. A lot of you guys have Michael Vennepage ranked, and he's demonstrably terrible. So I mean, I guess something's possible. Come on.

What we need is for MVP to fight Michael Chandler and me and Damon just have an argument about who's going to lose because they suck. I mean, the greatest podcast episode ever. He was like, no, no, no, no. and you forget that MVP is going to win because Chandler is terrible. To end this on a positive note, we're not here to slam fighting.

I'm positive. Positive Michael Chandler sucks. All right. Vicente, Lucke, if you are out there and if, you know, heaven forbid, your best days are behind you, thank you, you know, thank you to this. I'm talking about like he's retired. He could fight for, you on May. He's only 32.

He could fight for another 10 years. I don't know. If the best days are behind, man, they were pretty damn good. I mean, this is a guy who had the highlight reel of a guy who should be fighting for a title, who should be a fan favorite, but never quite put together the run he needed. One one way. Never quite found that personality hook either. We always said, like, man, he seems like such a nice guy.

I think that's all we could ever say about Vicente. What a nice guy, Vicente seems like. He seems cool and he seems like a nice guy. But never found that hook. Never became money, money, lukei, lucrative luke. You know what I mean? never found that hook that could have drawn people in. Like, listen, don't, don't forget, like, because I'm looking at his record right now, like, again, you know, he has obviously, like, he lost to Leon early.

He got pretty much saddled on by Wonderboy, Blau, you know, beat him, Jeff Neal. Okay, I get all that. But, like, do you remember the night he killed Jalen Turner? Like, do you remember the night we thought Jalen Turner was dead when they knocked him out? Like, that guy, like, dude, he may not be top 10 anymore, but that guy has a world of highlight reels. one of one of them i don't hesitate at all to say one of the most exciting fighters of his generation at 170 at least i mean this guy is is great not not going to be a cahler i don't know if he's going to get a damn he is going to get a damn he is going to get a damn oh

it's official it's on wax he's getting a damn whatever he's done i think was gilbert burns who was talking i was talking to gilbert burns about this a while ago and he i think he said the night vicente fought jalen turner was like the scariest night of his life because he's like I thought Vicente killed him. He's like, I was in the cage, like, standing there thinking Vicente literally killed this guy. So, like, dude, I'm not making light of it now, because obviously Jalen was fine.

But, like, that's how scary this dude could be, you know, at certain points in his career. Well, Vicente, again, if you're out there, prove us wrong. I hope we're wrong. I hope you rattle off three straight knockout wins. And we're just, we put you right back up there near the top 10. And we're just having good times. And we look back on this and laugh at how stupid we were to write you off.

But for now, because I, we mentioned it, because I think this is the first time since we started doing the rankings that Luque is out, because he's been there from when we started doing this three or four years ago. So happy trails for now. So happy trails for now. But guys, that was the post-UFC 300 anime fighting rankings show. Ton of movement in the divisions, ton of movement pound for pound, new names in weight classes. Some jumping in the top five, Kail Eris and Max Holloway.

Some get that much closer to the number one spot. I'm looking at you, Armand Sarukian. I'm looking at you, Alex Pereira in the pound for pound rankings right now, city at number two. So it was an exciting time. When next we talk, I'm just trying to think about what fights are, we could be talking about Vinnie Siggs, Steve R6, Steve Siggs. Vinny Siggs? I don't know. Could be our new number one flyway.

We don't know. It's funny Alexander Fadoja, U.S. 3.01. I assume, guys, we will have a ranking show after that. If we don't, either way, guys, everyone listening, enjoy the fights. enjoy the rankings. Make your own, make your own rankings. Which fighters do you love the most, guys? Rank with your heart.

That's what I'd say. And until we talk to you again. Thank you, Jed. Thank you, Damon, this, and Alexander K. Lee, signing off for everybody. Ever feel like your work tools are working against you? Too many apps, endless emails, and scattered chats can slow everything down. Zoom brings it all together. Meetings, chat, docs, and AI companion, seamless.

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