MMA Fighting - Rankings Show: Listener Q&A! | Naming The Justin Gaethje All-Stars, Paul Daley Stories, More

Episode Date: February 2, 2022

It's mailbag season! After a dead month in the rankings, the MMA Fighting crew break down the doors to February by answering your best listener questions. Who are the Justin Gaethje All-Stars, aka the most exciting fighters alive? Which non-UFC fighter doesn’t get dang enough respect in the rankings? How on earth can we fix Bellator's heavyweight division?? Co-hosts Shaun Al-Shatti and Alexander K. Lee are joined by Damon Martin and Jed Meshew to hit a deluge of topics (and, somehow, tell stories about the soon-to-be-retired Paul Daley asking to use their bathtub). Catch new episodes of the MMA Fighting Rankings Show on the first Wednesday of every month. Follow Shaun Al-Shatti @ShaunAlShatti Follow Alexander K. Lee @AlexanderKLee Follow Damon Martin @DamonMartin Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew 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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I hope everyone out there had a wonderful January. I hope February, at least the start of February, is treating you well. You already know, my name is Sean O'Shti, and I'm joined, of course, by the Prince of Positivity himself, the number one Toronto Raptors fan in the MMA media. My guy, he is Alexander K. Lee and AK, we are back at it again, my man. it's a new month how you feeling uh thank you sheen i'm feeling good it's always it always feels good to be recording this show with you uh you mentioned of course i am the prince of positivity i needed quite a bit of it this past month and being honest uh january did fly by but uh for the

purposes of this show and as someone who loves you know me i love rankings i was keeping my own rankings and math baby that's what you do i love rankings math rules rules rules number one hashtag Ranking Rul. Hashtag Rul's Rul is close behind. Because I, I've been keeping my own rankings for so long. So I always get excited when there's a lot of fluctuation, a lot of dramatic fights, a lot for us to sink our teeth into. We had two UFC events, a Bell Tour, and a handful of other events around the world. So there was a lot of M.A. action. We didn't have a lot of notable changes in the rankings, to put it nicely. Is that fair to say, Sheen? I think that's extremely fair to say. I think that's very much putting it nicely. You could say that this was the deadest, the most dead month of the history of us doing the show, the history of us doing these ranking cycles just in general for the site. It was a wasteland out there, my man. Usually we have a couple big topics to hit something or another.

This month, let me list it for you real quick for the people. This was basically the entirety of the rankings action that we saw this past month. Ryan Bader shot up to number nine from 14 at heavyweight while Valentin Mollodoski dropped down to 13. very exciting stuff. Calvin Cater and Giga Chikaze flip spots at 8 and 10 at Featherweight and then of course Brandon Moreno and DeVis and Figueroflip spots at flyweight in the top two. And that's it! That's all we got.

And the thing with those changes is what makes them not fun to talk about is they just didn't, it was very little of a shakeout because, again, Inganu essentially was number one, defended his number one spot. Moreno and Figgy just switched positions and Cater-Chicazzi. just switch positions. I believe, I believe going in, you said, Chikaze went up, so he went down to, Kater went up to, and they essentially just traded spots. Nothing. So we had great fights. We had great fights, which could have had implications. Bader, like we said, the biggest jump were obviously because a lot of us were ready to kind of write him off from heavyweight entirely.

Then he did this interview with Damon. He says, I'm not going back down to, I'm not going back down to light heavyweight, which made it actually even more likely that were like, well, we won't be talking about Bader at all. He's going to, he's probably going to lose to Moldovsky. where he said he's not going back to light heavyweight, so a lot of us are going to take him out of that rankings. He's hanging on by a thread in the heavyweight rankings. And if he loses this, again, probably wouldn't be there. Instead, vaults back into the top 10. So that was the only thing.

Otherwise, like we said, that, you know, we didn't get any real, real major shakeups. There's fights we lost. I mean, we had a few fun fights. Some have been rescheduled. Some haven't. And those with rankings and implications. There was a Kennedy and Brunson. So that's going to happen this month now.

Viviani Aririo, Alex Grasso, has not been rescheduled. and we lost a really cool one in Movzar of Loya and Ilya. I'm still warning that one. I'm still warning that one so bad. And it's not like we would have talked up with that one for 10 minutes, but it certainly would have been... We could have.

But it certainly was a compelling match if we wanted to see. And the result, I think, again, would have moved one of the guys up really far. Moussar, especially if he had won, I think you would have seen a lot of guys in the rankings kind of just from a speculative standpoint saying, man, I'm going to bump him up some of these other more established names because he's undefeated. Toporia is super tough.

And Teporei would have jumped up as well, maybe not as much of lawyers. So as you said, Shaheen, there's just not a lot to discuss. Thankfully, we do have planned a pretty lively second part of the show. But I did want to get your thoughts on a couple of things, Sheen. I know I'm sure you've talked about this in other things and written about it. First, what is your excitement level? We should pay some respect to our biggest mover. What is your excitement level, Shaheen, for Bader, Chick-Congo?

I can't. The rematch. The rematch. What is your, one, on a scale of one, two, let's just make it normal. One to ten. What is your, with ten being, it's most excited. You can't do this. You were like, coming into this, so people, the little inside baseball here,

when we're planning the show out, where we're going back and forth, throwing ideas out. And AK's like, let's do a whole show about Ryan Bader. And I'm like, I can't do that for you, man. I just can't get on board with that. My excitement level for that is basically the same as my excitement level for the entire Bell Tour heavyweight division. We'll actually, we'll get into that later in the show, which is probably like a two, maybe, maybe a two and a half.

Chuck Congo's involved, so it's always a little weird there. You know, he gets some weirdness. Dude's like almost 50. What is he, like 46, 44, something like that. He's up there. Yeah, he looks incredible. He looks incredible. If it would have been the fade or rematch, I would have jumped to like a six or a seven.

Yep. Just because that's the retirement fight had been cool to go out on that. But excitement level, very, very low. All right. Let me hit you another quick one. Do you want the Figgie Moreno, the Trotology next? Which side are you on that? Oh, absolutely.

I feel like there's no other option. Like, who are you going to throw Asker or Ascaroff? If one of them put on a dominant performance, and let's say we had a lot of rumblings, you know, we know the UFC tends to, you know, Figgi just threw out a number. He just said, I want a million dollars to fight Moreno again. I really don't see him getting that if we're being honest. If we, if we, you know, if we're in the media in the no, kind of hear rumblings that, oh, man, this negotiations taking forever, would you at some point be like, you know what?

If Ascarov, again, Ascroft dominant win over Kikar-France, Kikar-France dominant win over Ascarov, would you be like, let's move on? Is there any sense that you're like, yeah, I'm okay with moving on from the Tetralogy for now? Sure. I mean, if it drags on, I wouldn't mind moving on. Because at a certain point, you've got to keep the division moving. It does feel like flyweight is hotter and, like, more interesting right now than it has been maybe in the entirety of its existence.

I love DJ as much as anybody, but flyweight was not an interesting division for a long time because it felt like we knew what was going to happen. This is totally up. We said it on the post-fight show, but these dudes have fought three different fights for a lot of rounds at this point. And I have no clue who's the better fighter,

which is fascinating. There's no parallel really to this in UFC history. So to me, it has to be the fourth fight. Figure this out. It's 1-1-1, really get a definitive answer on it. And then we can move on, and it feels like whoever would win that fourth fight would maybe not be a star

because it's hard to be a star in that division, but they would be someone that people would be excited about and there would be a lot of steam behind that division moving forward. I feel like you've got to do that fourth fight. And it does feel like we can wait for, again, Ascarov, Kai Kar, France, Alexander Pertoja, Manel Kopp. It does feel like there is a fresh bunch of contenders coming up and that if they can get the Moreno, you know,

figure out of a fourth fight sooner rather than later, the rest of the year could be like super exciting for division, like you said is harder than ever. So I'm down with that. I'm not as locked in on the tetralogy. I've enjoyed all three fights, but I'm a little more open mind. I'm like, you know what? Maybe it's time for a fresh challenger and if they can hold off on the detrology.

But I get it. You don't want to play around with this stuff too much. And last one, this is got another quick one, Shaheen. Chikaze, how much does that hurt him in your eyes as far as like him becoming a contender? Like, do you think he's now that puts some like two or three fights back? Does he just need one good one to get back to what people were saying that he could be the number one contender? What did you think of that? What happened with Cater?

I mean, it was certainly a bit of a letdown, right? In particular with how much he was talking ahead of time about how he deserves to be in the title picture and, you know, how dare they book this fight without me having this fight already. And we, we as a community really definitely rode off Calvin Cater just as a whole, which I understand really because you haven't seen him in a year. He's coming off that Max Holloway fight where Max Holloway basically sets fire to the record books. And, you know, that's not the best look for you to sort of sit on for a year. but Calvigator did the right thing by sitting out that long, really recovering as long as he could.

Giga is still 7 and 1 in this division. He still has a killer win over Edson Barbosa, still has, you know, monster knockouts left and right, Cups wants, and whatever you want to call it. He feels like he's evolved into being somebody that matters and will continue to matter, but it was pretty apparent that he, you know, he's a striker who just got outstruck pretty thoroughly throughout the course of that fight. And so, yeah, I mean, he's not maybe in that conversation. He's probably one or two wins away,

but I certainly think he could get back in there, don't you? Yeah, no, definitely. I am the last person to write off contenders quickly. I know MMA is the ultimate, what have you done for me lately? Or what haven't you done for me lately? I guess in this case, which was not overcome another top 10 guy. But yeah, and it was a good fight.

He's tough as hell. He did get outstruck. No question, no question. Clear winner Calvin Cater. It's not like it was close. Clear winner Calvin Cater. But look, Calvin Cater learned from the Max Holloway fight. We want to believe that Gika Chakazza can learn from the Calvin Cater fight.

Circle of Life, right? That's the other thing. People always celebrate in M.A. It's the Circle of Life, right? You know, M.A fans are big on that sort. But yeah, there we go. Big fans are big on the Circle of Life. Yes.

Look, everybody's always talking about the Circle of Life. I'm reaching here again. But that's pretty much, listen, that's pretty much all there was to talk about in January. I do, I will tell people, February, fingers crossed. We've got a lot of action, ranked action coming up. Some had heavyweight, but I think the two divisions people are going to want to keep an eye on. Our middleweight, of course, we got the title fight, Adesania, Whitaker, too. Musassi's got a tile defense.

Derek Brunson, Kenoneer, Hermanson, Sean Strickland. So tons of middleweight action. And then at lightweight, we got Darius and Islam Makachev and the Battle of the Hafeel. So, Shaheen, I don't think we'll have this problem next month's show, right? Right? No, and ultimately, we're joking around. It's a good problem to have because now we're able to, we like to say this is a show of the people. We threw it out to the people, the call out to the people for the first time on this show.

We tried to solicit some questions from all y'all, and y'all really just poured it on. We got tons of questions. So, hey, why waste any more time? No rankings this month. So let's jump right to the mailbag. All right, now we are live with the crew. You already know. Me and AK, also Jed Mishu, Damon Martin on the line as well.

We appreciate you fellas for joining us, especially on such a big week. I mean, Jed, first of all, congratulations on joining the team here. Full-time capacity MMA fighting staff member, man. It's awesome. We're excited to have you, man. It's weird because you've been on this team for so long. So nothing's changing. I've actually been on this team longer than everyone here if we count your hiatus from

MMA fighting. I have one of the longest tenured people at the company, but I'm super excited to be here full-time. It's super exciting, man. We're going to have to be doing a lot of cool and creative stuff. with you, maybe a podcast or two on the pod feed. Keep an eye out for that. And then Damon, my goodness, man, you're Cincinnati Bengals. They did it.

Is this the greatest week in Bengals history? Is this the greatest week in your life? Are you just floating on a cloud right now? Like, how are you feeling? I just got to say two words, who day. That's all I got to say, who day. Yes, I am floating on Cloud 9. It took me two days to remove my Joe Burrow shirt.

I am very, very excited. I cannot wait for February 13th. I have never experienced quite like this excitement because the Bengals have been terrible pretty much my entire life. So, yeah, I'm very excited. I don't want to derail this already, but can someone explain the Who Day thing to me? Thank you. Yes, please. I don't understand.

It's a lot like Hu-Dat from the Saints who I don't like. So I just don't get it. If you could please explain. I actually thought it was the same thing as the Saints. I'm not going to lie. Just now you saying that made me realize it's not the same. you know I can't I actually used to know the exact story how this came from and I can't remember the exact origins of it but it was just a chant that started at the started the bingo this is going to be going on since i want to say the 80s maybe before that but yeah it was

just the whole chant was just who day who day who they think going to beat them bingles i don't really remember i used to know as a kid where it actually started at but uh but yeah it's just been something like i because i always remember when sam wisch was the coach when boomer asyerson was the quarterback and we were actually good back in the 80s uh and it was just like that was just the chant and that was what everyone said and you know it was just part of bingles lore i guess Yeah, so I guess maybe it's funny. I say it all the time and I don't know that I've sat here and researched where it actually came from. But yes, it is the it is the chant and it has been a part of our mantra for many years.

We really haven't had a big reason to chant it much over the last 31 years. But yeah, very, very excited to chant it now. I was going to say, who do they think is going to beat them bangles is a really rough chant to have for the last like 20 years. Guys, I, I googled it. A lot of people. I googled it. I googled it according to a local Fox News affiliate in Cincinnati. It originated from Super Bowl 16 in January 1982 when the Bengals were playing the San Francisco 49ers. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go in the 80s. And it does sound like it was a

it was meant somewhat as a variation of the Houdat, the New Orleans Saints Houdat chance. So I don't know how much this is apocryphal. I assume it's hard to kind of cite this stuff. Great word. But that is, it goes as far back as about in 81 or 82. Yeah, that was back in the Sam Wyshe era when I'll never forget when I was a kid when he yelled at the, when the fans were throwing snowballs and like batteries onto the field. And he got Sam Wich got on the microphone and said, you got to stop doing this crap. Remember, you're in Cincinnati, not in Cleveland. We don't do that here or something. Basically shaming Cleveland because, you know, we all hate Cleveland.

And so, yeah, it was one of the greatest Bengals moments in history when he shamed the Cincinnati crowd for acting like Cleveland people. I love it. So yeah. Anytime Cleveland, I take a drive-by. It's a good show. It's a good time. Proud moment in Bingle's history right there. Well, man, I am excited for you.

I've been sort of living vicariously through this with you because, I mean, obviously, I just went through this with the Phoenix Suns of a historically garbage franchise for most of your life just suddenly becoming great all of a sudden. Hold on. Hold on. You cannot compare the struggles of the Sons to the Cincinnati. The Sons have been a quality franchise for,

like 30 years. I would argue that the son's last decade is much, much, much worse than the Bengals last decade. Oh, I don't know. Damon. I mean, the last decade, maybe. Yes, exactly. We were a trash for the last decade. Y'all were making playoffs

with Andy Dalton. You just wouldn't do anything with it. Interestingly, both of those are historically frugal franchise owners, too. This is true. Wonder if there's a correlation between not spending money in professional sports. and making a good product.

UFC, look at you. Great transition. I love it. There you go. See, that's why we bring you on board, those type of transitions. It's wonderful. We're here to talk MMA,

not football, although for Damon, I hope that you guys do it. I really do because I experience the heartbreak of almost getting there and I want you to really get the whole process, the whole way through. But let's take some fan questions. We mentioned at the beginning.

There ain't much going on in January, at least as it relates to the raking. So we are a show for the people and we're turning to the people right now. So we got a ton of questions. We asked you guys to give us your best rankings questions or even just non-rankinging's questions, really whatever you wanted to talk about.

And you guys gave us a ton. And so we're going to try to just bulrush through all of this, get through as many as possible. So let's start here. Let's start with Double Dutch, who comes at us from Twitter. Starting it off spicy, calling us out a bit. He asks, how can Darren Till still be ranked number 11

and y'all's rankings when he is one in four in the last four, years. That is a great question. And I'm going to throw it to you first, A.K., because you are one of the few people prop and Darren Till up in these rankings right now. Am I, am I, you know, let's, let's bring it up. When we do this kind of talk, we should bring it up. So I have Till at number nine. Where does everyone else? You have him at nine. Damon has been 13. I do not have him ranked. Yeah, you have him nine. Damon has been 13. I have him at 14 and Jed is just cut bait entirely. I haven't had him ranked for months. I agree with this caller.

Great question, sir. His name I don't remember. I honestly, honestly, I do hate that I still have him in the top 10. But, but a win over Calvin Gaslum goes a long way for me. I know it wasn't a thrilling, like, dominant victory, but that means a lot. Calvin is still, oh, Jed has also knocked about his rankings fairly. As have I. I'm going to ask why that win means a lot.

Because I have Gaslam. Well, so I have Gasolm still at 10. So for perspective stick, I have him at 10. So he had quality wins at middleweight before going on this slump that he's in. We all remember the fight with Izzy was a classic. I know it's a bit of ways ago now. It just, I just feel like it says more about, I guess, how I feel about Gaslam. Like, I still think he's a quality middleweight.

And because Till beat him, I have to put him above Gaslam. Like, I just can't drop the guys. And the Whitaker fight, I thought was good too, the Daryntill Robert Whitaker fight. So a clear win for Whitaker, but I thought it was competitive. I think Till had his moments. There was a knockdown or at least a near knockdown in there. So it just speaks to like the quality of the guys they fought too. It's hard for me to drop guys down when you're losing to like Derek Brunson.

You're losing to Cannoneer. You're losing to Whitaker. I just cannot drop you down that far. I agree something should be said about just straight up winning fights regardless of your competition, especially if it's at the UFC level or even at the Bellator level. But until he loses to someone like lower ranked than him, it's hard for. for me to drop till that far. So I, so I know it looks weird, a guy who's, one in four, one and three at middle, sorry,

two and one in middle, excuse me, when one and four in his last five. But it's just the guys he's lost to. They're good fighters. They're good fighters. How much can I penalize someone for that? The better question is, when has he ever won a fight against somebody who was good? And it has been like a clean win. His best win by far is old Donald Soroni.

like that's his best win by a lot he beat wonder boy is that his last win yeah 2018 am i right yeah also four years ago basically and and beat is a very technical technical definition of what happened there also missed weight by like four pounds yeah i saw this question ahead of time and i had to look because i was like do i still have him ranked and i looked and i do barely uh and here's the thing my again, I'm kind of with A.K. on, he's living vicariously through one win over Kelvin Gaslam. And again, to put that in context, when he beat Calvin Gaslam, even though that was not a great fight, and I think it was a split decision. Calvin was one fight removed from, you know, pushing Israel out of Sonia to the limit in a, you know, fight of the year candidate. And at that

point, Calvin Gaston was ranked, I think, at the top five in the middleweight division. So I think that is really what he's living through. Now, yes, Kelvin has not looked great in his last few fights. He's whatever one and four whatever in his last five something like that uh again i'm just i i'm basically dropping him down further and further as time goes along because that one win is all the matters the only and this is again i'm not justifying i'm just saying i think the only reason that win matters so much is because of the context of when it happened which is kelvin being one fight removed from the israel out of sonya fight very close fight and he was like number five at the time or number four in the division he beat him and then till went to like number four or whatever it was

kind of like crazy at that moment. And then he's just progressively just dropped further and further down. So he's kind of like on the on the tail end of where he would be ranked anyways. And like I know Chris Curtis is getting a lot of love right now. And I love Chris Curtis. I think he's phenomenal. His story is is incredible. But you know, as impressive as it is to beat Brendan Allen and and, uh, who was the other

when he had, uh, Phil Halls, uh, the great wins, impressive wins. I'm just not sure I would say that's top 15 wins yet, you know. And so Chris Curtis, probably be the guy on the fringe with me saying I'm going to jump him in there. But I just, again, Till's just living vicariously through one quality win, even if it was like three years ago. And, and again, I want to emphasize, it's not just that. It is the fact that I do not drop fighters that quickly if they lost to quality competition. Especially the fight with Whitaker was competitive. Brunson obviously is whatever. But hey, Brunson's top five. That says how great Brunson is,

not necessarily how bad, how bad Till is. So that's the thing is. It sucks because once you've reached the level, that win over Gaslam put Till immediately in the top 10, now he's only facing top 10 guys. If he dropped down and was facing lesser competition and racking at wins there, I mean, would that be better than losing fights to like Robert Whitaker and Derek Brunson? I guess. But winning is better than losing. Yeah.

Would Darren Till being your top 10 if he beat Phil Haas and, I'm sorry, what was the other name, Damon? And the other guy just beat. Brendan Allen. Brendan Allen. Would that put Darren Till on your top? Probably not. He'd put him my top 15, not my top 10.

I don't think he would be. Like, I think that you just, look, if you guys want to have him at the back end of your thing, like, I'm okay with it. I feel the same way. Well, I think on my rankings, Wyden is the one who sort of falls under this category. I'm similar with Gaslam. If you want to argue that there are not 14 or 15 middleweights who would beat Darren Till in a fight, I'm fine with you making the argument. I don't, I just don't, I don't think that's true. And in part, because I haven't seen him beat people.

Like, I get what you're saying, okay, and that's how you, that's how you judge your rankings, and I'm, I don't have a real problem with it. Some of them, it depends, yeah. That's good. You should definitely have your rankings fluctuate from division to division. That's consistent. Whoa. We'll deal with that way. We'll deal with that way.

Oh, whoa. Let's not call up the methodology of rankings, buddy. Trust me, you don't want to get into that discussion again because it's one you can't. win. So settle down. We don't have to settle down. We've done this many times. We don't have to redo it. I don't want to bar us down because we've got other fan questions. Exactly. Let's not go up to people's right here being you need to win fights for me. And so like yeah, if you beat guys who are top 20, 25 middleweights, I would view his career substantially better because I want to see you win. That's even if it's you know, you're facing lower quality of competition,

Like, I still value a win over lesser competition more than a loss against better competition. So never fight higher rank. So never fight high-rank competition then. What was the point then? Look, Sean O'Malley is dead correct in how you should approach the fight game, fight the lowest guy for the most money. And that's, that is a tried and true way to work. There we go. That says it.

Before things get a little too heated, let's keep it moving. We have plenty to get to, gentlemen. This next one's coming from Scott, who says, with Paul Daly's retirement now coming, rank your most memorable Semtex fight. And then he asks also, is a lifetime ban for Paul Daly the most retroactively crazy overreaction in UFC history considering everything we've seen since? Well, I mean, I think any Paul Daly conversation starts with the Nick D.S fight. Has to. Has to. That's true.

The Nick Dias fight, the great. It's funny. I think it was Jose the other day who tweeted out, like, gives the greatest one round fight. And Jose, was it you, uh, Shane? I tweeted out something about like, you newfangled kids have to watch this fight. Like, it's, it's worth, it's like, what, six minutes to start to finish? It's coming on to its 11 year anniversary in April.

Yeah, but it's funny. When he said that, I thought, didn't that fight go two rounds? And it's like, no, it's like, it just has enough action for like five rounds. Like, it's just the most crazy back and forth fight. And kind of to go along with the second part of the question, it kind of reminded people why, I like Paul Daley was, because that suspension or lifetime suspend from the UFC, that did a lot of damage to his reputation. Like that did a lot of like, oh, man, forget this guy. Did a lot of damage to his career.

For sure. And then when the Nick Diaz bike came around, though, again, even though he lost, it was like, holy crap. Like, this guy is, people forgot like, oh, this is why this guy was so, I mean, highly talked about in the first place and so exciting. And he's really never looked back from that fight. I mean, there's been some stinkers since when you have, what, over 60 fights, you're going to have some bombs. there. But that was great. And then literally 10 years later, the fight with Sabahomasi, which was almost, again, a back and forth chaotic fight. So those are the first two that spring to my mind. But the second part of the question, I guess we can get in a bit. But I don't know if you

guys have any other Paul Daly moments that are jumping out for you. Two Paul Daly moments for me. One, just to throw out a quick Paul Daly story, I'll never forget when he was fighting in Strike Force here in Columbus on the Misha Tate versus Ronda Rousie card, I was going to interview him that day and he actually asked me because I was staying I wasn't living in Columbus at the time I was living in Pittsburgh and I was down here for the fights and he actually asked me if he could use my bathtub to cut weight in because his bat the room that strike force the room that strike force booked him in didn't give him like an actual bathtub they gave him like a shower and so he asked to use my bathtub to cut weight so that's my favorite paula favorite paul daily story as far as knockouts

go hold on we can't we can't gloss past that Paul daily cut weight in your bathtub no no he He asked me to. He actually ended up, they actually ended up switching him around. Sorry, I should. Yeah, he actually asked. He asked me, he's like, hey, could I use your bathroom to cut weight in?

I was like, sure. And he's like, you got a bathtub? I was like, yeah, he's like, sure. Because we were all staying in the same hotel. And he's like, could I use your room? And then he ended up, like, he was supposed to come up, and then he called. And he's just like, we found another room.

Thanks for offering. I was like, sure, you can cut weight in my room. Why not? That's just so emblematic of whatever that era of MMA is. It's just so slapdash. People just do it. doing things. It's nothing's organized. Nothing's planned. Everybody just flying by the two of their pants. I love it. I was fully prepared for Paul Daly to do his weight cut in my,

in my bathroom. The other part of that, as far as knockouts go, there's a lot of them. And that's one thing about Paul Daly that you love. But I think my, you know, two in particular, I agree. I think the Nick Diaz fight is probably the most memorable. I mean, what a crazy insane four minutes and 57 seconds that was. But I always remember the Scott Smith knockout, which was one of most vicious knockouts ever and that was in strike force and i remember the martin camman knockout when he got to the ufc because everyone was kind of high on martin camman at that point and daily comes in and just obliterates him inside three minutes and that was just one of the most like stunning knockouts uh maybe not like his highest like highest rated knockout but i always remember him

coming in and making like an immediate impact yeah those were actually both the ones that i think of mainly because that was the kickstart of right there at the beginning of his strike force thing. I mean, obviously the Nick DS fight is the Nick DS fight. It's one of the best fights we've ever seen. But yeah, the Camden fight, I don't remember as well. But I have a great deal of respect for Campmans. So that just doesn't jump out at me. But for sure, for sure, Scott Smith, because that was disgusting.

And then I'll just lead us into the second part of that question. Nope. Don't think it was no reaction at all. I think that it was one of the few times the U.S. You got it dead on correct. And the fact that they have since not done good things does not mean that the time that they did the thing correct was wrong. It means that they just continue to fail after the fact. But you can't fight somebody, like fight, fight them after.

Really, though? after the fight's over. I'm surprised to hear you say that. Clear line. I'm surprised to hear you say that, just considering like everything that, like, obviously what we've seen since,

we've seen guys do some wild shit and then still end up in the UFC. You don't feel like just, if, like, if that happens now, Paul Daley is like in the UFC still. Like, especially if he was where he was, where he's like this exciting action contender. I agree that if this happened now,

that it would not be held to the same thing. standard. I think they got it right, though. Like, that should be the standard because, like, they should have never tolerated Paul Hussein or Paul Horace's nonsense. And, like, the reality is, is that could have gone much worse. And because it didn't, because the result wasn't awful, you know, Kosha just, like, laughed it off or whatever it was.

Nobody thinks about it horrifically. But, like, Paul Daly's a hitter. And so if he does. that after the bell to a defenseless person and instead Kostchik gets like got got, then nobody's, nobody reconsider this all like, yeah, that dude should be arrested. And so like his, the process, I think totally justifies the reaction. I don't think that it's what they do today. I'd still not even entirely sure why they did it then because it's not like it was that far

out of line with other stuff that that went on at the time. But again, I will say. I think all the other stuff's wrong. I think that that's actually the correct way to handle that situation. It did. I mean, David, you were around back. It did feel like the UFC was sort of trying to uphold some level of a higher moral standard when it came to those type of things.

Like, you could get, you could get, like, statements from them, right? What a time to be alive. You would get, like, real statements from them if something happened, and they would issue a statement about, you know, the thing that happened. And they, like, they had the Miguel Torres thing. and like all there was like a bunch of examples from that era of like them trying to put on the good impression to the outside world before everybody sort of realized like oh if you just like ignore stuff like people move on yeah they like in the moment in the moment of doing that you know

I I tend to agree with Jed that it's like it was the right move based on the like the egregious action of like punching your opponent after the bell sucker punching him and let's just call it what it was after the bell fights over you sucker punch him it that's a horrific thing and I had no problem with it. The problem I have with it now, and again, I understand times of change, whatever, but it's just even with that, you know, it's the EOC's inconsistency with punishing people, you know, like, like, if that's the case, then Khabib jumping out of the cage and attacking Dylan Dennis and everyone, like in, in that, in that context, Kibb's gone.

Like, he's banned forever. Now we know that's not going to happen. Connor McGregor launching a freaking moving dolly and a bust full of fighters gone forever. that's not the world we live in now. So that's my issue with Paul Daly is that, like, you know, you gave him the death sentence, so to speak, and you never let him come back from that. And it bums me out because we know how inconsistent they are with these kind of things. It just would have been cool to, at some point over the last couple years or five years or whatever,

just get him back in here, let him fight Robbie Lawler, let him fight Carlos Condit, do sort of the tour like that, let him fight all the hitters. Like, that would have just been fun. Maybe the Nick Dia's rematch. That's all I'm saying. We missed out on that. I agree with Damon. I do want to make one very slight defense of Habib, and that's to say that I think it's okay to do that if you're attacking Dylan Danis.

Otherwise, totally agree with everything you said. But if Dylan Danis is the guy, then that's fine. Go for it. Jump out of the cage. To be clear, and to be clear, I don't think they should have, I don't think they should have banned Khabib. I'm just saying like, you know, if they're trying to say what Paul Daley did was bad, then how is that not bad as well? And that's the point. No,

Habib shouldn't have been banned. And, you know, in retrospect, even I overreacted in a moment because I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe he just did this, whatever, you know, whatever in the aftermath. But yeah,

if you're going to ban a guy for sucker punching a dude after a fight, how are you not going to do the same thing to a guy who literally jumps over the cage and attacks somebody on the outside? So the UFC is just completely inconsistent with this stuff. And in reality, and you're right that,

you know, back in the day, they tried, remember when they, remember when they find Nate Diaz, for making a slur. They tried to, the quote,

find him. They did it to, like, Donald Serroney once, too at that point. They tried to, they tried to enforce that code of conduct policy.

And now, like, it's just completely out the window. Like, when you ask about, like, one guy gets released,

who was it? They got released for getting arrested like nine times in a week. Finally, Bob Ross. Yeah,

Bob Ross. And then you talk about, you know, John Jones. You bring that up. Wow, Sean. That's how you, that's how you qualify him,

Violin Bob Ross. That was his nickname. I forgot his name in the moment. He put me on the spot. Luis Pena. Yeah. Luis Pena. Yeah.

And then you bring up John Jones and you got Dana Hemhaw on his way around the conversation. Well, uh, you know, every situation, uh, you know, so that's the UFC. I mean, we've just come to expect it. It's just the juxtaposition between now and then is so funny to me. One last thing before we move on, uh, Paul Daily memories. This one's going to just be forgotten about entirely and it's not even like a fun knockout

or anything like that. But I just remember him during the John Fitch fight. basically like appealing to the crowd and appealing to the referee and appealing to the broadcast with what everybody was feeling at that moment of like, come on. Why is this guy doing this right now?

And then what did he do and what did Paul Daly do in the very next fight against MVP? Very true. Right? Wasn't that the most wasn't that the funniest thing? I think it was MVP. Who wasn't that initiated the wrestling

in the fight? No, it was Paul Daly. Yeah. So that was the very next fight he went to wrestling and he lost but that was, That's a two-parter. That's what makes that so hilarious.

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Gambling Problem Call connects Ontario 1866-531-260-19 and over. President in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See golden nuggetcassino.com for details. Please play responsibly. This next question is coming from Dan and he wants us to get personal. So I don't know that we need to get personal, but we can maybe answer it. What is the single worst ranking of anyone on the staff, the one that bothers you most? And then he says don't have to name names. Oh, we're going to name names. Oh, wow. So one immediately jumps out to me, but I'll let you guys go first. Well, listen, we, listen guys, we talked about this in a previous. show when our beloved Jed K. Michoud Eschoir kind of did an overhaul of his rankings,

you know, a controversial overhaul, but one with an internal logic to it. However, I still cannot abide by actually, you know what? This came up in a different way last time. I said, Jed has Islam-Machachev ranked as his number one lightweight. But the justification being that he feels if Islam Makachev and Charles Oliva fought that Makachev would win. So I'm like, okay, I don't like that. You know, I feel like a cheat, you know, who you beat should matter. Resumation, when their guys are this close, I feel like resume should matter. But that's fine.

Islam Makathev right up there? And Jed's not alone in this. I think there's a lot of people if you ask them today. And in fact, I think a betting odds came out for a Makachev-Olivaa fight. I think Makachev would be favored. So like that to me doesn't justify the ranking, but I understand the logic there. But why is Justin Gaichie? Why do you have Justin Gaetchi over Charles Oliver?

And also, why is Gates-Gi over Porre? So basically, Charles Oliver would be a, three is like the problem. Yes. No, even, actually, even the Pori thing is even stranger. Why is why is Gaecchi over Pori? So Poria is four. Why is Gaii two spots ahead of him? Oh, man, I thought you were going to come in me for a different one that is much more easily, easy to attack in my opinion. I might have missed it. I might have missed it. Well, it's pretty simple when you already explained my justification. I think Gaichi beats Charles Oliver if they fight. And I know Poeia has the win over Gaichi, and up until Gaichie's lost to Oliver, I had Poeier ahead of, of John.

Justin Gaci. Because I thought that if they rematch, that Poyer would still win. After that fight with Poyer and Olivera, I bumped Poyer down. Olivera ended up getting a bump up one in my rankings as a result of that. But I still think that when they fight later this year, Justin Gachie will beat Charles Oliver and become the UFC lightweight champion. I think Justin Gathe would beat Dustin Poye in a rematch. And, you know, that's, it's pretty straightforward.

Like, my rankings are largely defined by how I believe a fight between the two people, you know, people would go. And in this instance, I think Gachi would beat both of those men. If Olivera beat Gichi, is he still number two behind Makhachev? It will depend on how impressive it is. And Mokachev also has a fight coming up, you know. So, because, you know, I had, like I said, I had Olivera down behind Porre. and then after that, after the Poirier fight, the obvious thing to do would just be to move Oliver up in front of Poirier,

leave Poirier in front of Gaichi. But the context of that fight made me reevaluate how I felt Poe and Gaichi would match up if they were to fight again. And so it's the same thing. If Olivera beats Gaetia really impressively, and it makes me reevaluate how I think he'd do against Islam, particularly with Islam having his own fight coming up, then I'll readjust.

But at least at this point in time, Like, if I have to put 20 bucks down on who's going to win between these guys, I'm backing Islam first and then Gaichi second and then Olivera. I could totally be wrong, by the way. Like, we're going to find out in May. I applaud. Jed, I applaud how much thought you've put into this new methodology. Again, it's bold, striking. Some might say insane.

But I applaud it. I applaud the thought you put into it. I'm just saying it's a lot of work to not just put Charles Olivera number one. You put in a lot of work to do this. I don't know why. I don't know why. But you have. And that's to be commended.

suppose. Because, you know, this is how I want to do my rankings. I want to do it by who I think are who I think are the hardest 15 dudes in the world. And this is how I've got it. I'm totally, totally, totally willing to be wrong. It is. Great. I thought you were going to come to me for Hiney to Ritter in the middleweight rankings, which is a tougher sell for sure. I can't, I can't disprove that he's not better than the guys you ranked him above. How can I say he's not better than Sean Strickland, Your Honor? I can't prove that. I can't prove that. Look, he's on these two He's undefeated, right? Two division champion, undefeated.

What can I say? He's Dutch so he can kick and grapple. What more do you need? And look, that's fun. And let's be real hard. Let's review you home. That's a fun ranking. I'm not going to hate on that.

That's a fun ranking. Damon, what's your one that you just every time you see it? You're like, what the hell? Boe's, I have two. I'm only going to mention one particular. Well, I'm going to mention both, but I'm going to say one bothers me more than the other. I have pretty much an issue with everything. Jed does at Welterweight outside of Kamar Usman at number one.

Because, you know, Hamzatimai number two, Gilbert Burns number seven. Gilbert Burns at seven is really weird. Michael Page at number 12, even that bothers me. Sean Brady ahead of Gilbert Burns. I just, yeah, this is a most of the issues. But I see. I don't want to put Jed under the firing squad, so I'm going to go another direction since we're not going to name names. It's the same argument.

Also, you just did. You literally just did anyway. It's also just the same argument. Sean Brady beats up Gilbert Burns if they fight, so that's why I haven't ranked ahead of him. He hasn't accomplished really as much for sure. That is absolutely not true, but we go for it. The other one I haven't, and we've brought this up before,

I won't name names, just say it's not somebody on this particular podcast. So has Yoroslav Amosloff rank number two at, I believe he is a quality, welterweight. He is still, I mean, in terms of unproven, I mean, yes, he beat Douglas Lima. Absolutely. you know, great win, impressive win. But number two over Colby Covington, Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards, Bilal Muhammad.

I mean, Vicente Luque, I mean, good Lord. I mean, I can understand putting him like five, six, seven maybe. But two ahead of the killers in the UFC. And I think Amoslav is a quality guy, but I think he loses to Colby. I think he loses to Gilbert Burns. I think he loses to Vicente Lucke. I think he loses to Sean Brady.

There you go. There's one. I'll give Jed. I think there's a lot of guys in the OCE would lose you right now. And in terms of accomplishment, he has one quality win. And it was not the most. Yeah.

I mean, I mean, you want to call that a win, maybe. You're a big, you're a big NCAA collegiate wrestling guy. That's a four-time All-American that he beat. No,

I, he had, technically he does have a win on his record over Logan Storley. I don't know if I would call that a win, but he technically does have a win over him. But yes, that's, That's why it just, again, nothing against him.

I just don't see him being that high. I just don't, I don't see him as the second best wealth in the world. Number two seems fair. But that's what I love about the rankings is this unnamed panelist has Amosov number two and Jed has Shemaya of number two and the unnamed panelists has Shemai at number 13. Also, one other thing on that list on the same person, just to throw it out there, he has Neil Magni ranked ahead of Vicente Lucke, which is beyond head scratching. So I'm actually going to stick with the same person.

And I'm going to, you know, because AK and I talk about this every time. Because, you know, AK and I do the monthly totals every month. We have to sort of do the math on all this stuff. And so we're just DMing complaints to each other constantly as we do this. And every time that we deal with this, it's just, it sets off another round of ranting between us. This person has Israel Adesneau ranked as the number eight light heavyweight, which, okay, I guess. it. He fought close with Jan when Jan was a champ. But what do

do you do? Like, Izzy's not a light heavyweight. He's not going to fight again at light heavyweight. He has him ranked above Dom Reyes, Phil Davis, Muggle Man and Kaleif, Anthony Smith. Like, this is just silly. That's all. That's all I'm going to say. It's just silly. I want out. I sign out. I'll say this. Jed,

Jed, if he, let's say, unnamed talents, what? If he was, he could defend himself. Like, would you, like, wouldn't you, would you favor Adesania over Reyes, Anthony Johnson, Phil Davis, Anthony Smith. Probably, maybe, right? He's not a light heavy weight.

I don't care. Not what matters. He's not a light heavy weight. This is ridiculous. If I was ranking out of Sonia 2 or 5, I'd have him pretty high up there. See? So there? Yeah, sure.

If I'm ranking Kamar Usman at Welterweight, I'm sure he, or at middleweight, I'm sure he's going to beat some guys on my list, but he's not at that weight. It's just silly. That's all. Let's not make this airing of grievances episode two. I'll say at least another 10 months for that guys, please. I'll close us down very quickly. Yeah, go ahead, please.

I'm not going to get into the ban and wait and how almost everybody is wrong with their champion because we've done that. We've been there, done that. I will stick with the lightweight, and this is at one panelist. This is two, three, four, five of our steam panelists have decided that

Rauch Manfeo deserves to be ranked. Oh, how dare you, sir? Come on. How dare you? All of us. How dare most people thinking that arguably winning two fights last year in the PFL and then winning two other fights in the PFL

get you into the top 15. Like, he very, there's a strong argument. He went two and two last year. Officially he obviously went four to and won a belt, but as the deepest best weight class in the world, you could definitely take issue with some of my rankings there for sure. I'm not here to say that everything. correct. I just, by the standards with which people on our site rank things, it, uh, boggles my

mind that Roshman. I mean, well, by your logic, everybody has him ranked. By your logic, he should be hired in Tony Ferguson. You, you have like Marco Madsen in your top 15. Like, how are you coming at us for Housch Manfield? Because Marco Matson would tool Houch Manfio up. This is ridiculous. I, I don't stand for this injustice. It's the way I set my rankings. Hold on. Did Marco Madison lose to Clay Guida? I'm just throwing that out there. Didn't he actually lose to Clay Guida?

Oh, Damon with the kill shot. I think there's a really good argument. Clay Guido, I'm pretty sure Clay Guida would be Rauch Mafio. Let's not say things we don't believe. That's ridiculous. Why is howish Monkiel? Why isn't he higher than Tony Ferguson?

Whoa, whoa. All right. I still think Tony Ferguson would beat him off. Okay, but he hasn't won of fights since June 2019. You just told me that winning fights matters to you. We just had this. Look, I'm not here for the Tony Ferguson Slander that's going on right now. This is unnecessary and excessive.

Hasmonfio is one. It does matter, but I also have been very clear that the guiding principle behind my rankings is, I think this guy would beat the other guys that are beneath him. Like that is the core conceit behind my rankings. We're moving on. We don't need to keep having Jed explain his methodology. I thought the core conceit has changed a bit. Okay.

All right. We move on. We're three questions in. We have way too many left to get to. We can't do this. We can't do this show without it devolving and arguing. All right. This next one's coming from Dan, who says,

which non-UFC fighter do you think doesn't get enough respect, whether that's your guys' rankings or just generally in the MMA space type of rankings. Housh Medfio. I think it's a little bit. Next question. I'll go here. Do you mind if I jump in on this one? And I'll say it because in the rankings,

I'm the only one that has this one right and it still disappoints me that Adriano Marias is the best flyweight in the world. Now, now hold on. I understand. Everyone's going to say, well, he's not,

you know, technically not a flyweight. My mouth was already open and my finger was in the air to literally point that up. Yeah, I understand that. But if we're going to rank them as fly weights, when you go out there

and you demolish Demetrius Johnson the way he did, and I'm talking, you know, knocked him in the middle of next month and did it so impressively, I have a hard time. And again, I like Devinson Figueroero.

I like Brandon Moreno. I like all the guys in the UFC, but I'm just, I'm not saying if you have number one. But the fact you wouldn't have the guy like number one or number two at worst when he goes out there and does what he did to Demetri's Johnson. And I think because one, as soon as Demetrius went to one championship, everyone just kind of forgot about all the things he did. And to just completely discount what he did me, just completely demolish him and just completely knock him out the way he did. It drives me crazy. And again, I understand the argument against him is he's technically not fighting at 125 pounds, but if we're going to rank him as a flyweight

and we're going to count his win over the greatest flyweight in history and not just beating him, I mean, convincingly, knocking him out. If Henry Suhuda wasn't retired right now, he'd probably still be ranked in the top three at flyweight just because of his one win over Demetrius Johnson.

So the fact that Adriana Marias doesn't get a little bit more respect drives me insane. I mean, he's getting respect. For most of us. I have a lot discounting that. We all, all the rest of us have him at three. I feel like that's not disrespectful.

I don't know if you've seen it. How did you feel knowing that our unnamed panelist has him six? Sorry, has Demetrius Johnson six behind Alex Pettis. How does that make you feel? Yeah. Let's not. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Sorry, that's last question. That's the last question. I'm sorry. Yeah. Again, most people have him like top three, top four, except for, you know, certain people. It just, I just, again, to me, one or two,

it's between him and Figurator right now. I just don't, when you go out there and you knock out Demetrius Johnson, I just have a hard time believing that, you know, if this was, if that had happened. And again, we're going to talk about the weight classic. Okay. And just put it in the context. If this has happened on a bigger stage, if this had happened in the UFC, if that was Figurato who knocked out Demetrius Johnson, he, you know, and he was still champion.

He would be number one forever until he lost. And Marias hasn't lost. He knocked out the greatest featherweight, the greatest flyweight of all time, who was still, you know, very active, very good. I just, I have a hard time believing he's not. I have him number one, but I think number two is it worked. I will say, I think one thing I am proud of in regards to these rankings, there's some things I'm not proud of, certainly, with how these rankings have played out. But one thing I am proud of is how much representation we do have outside of the UFC.

I feel like we are pretty inclusive. You're welcome. I mean, it's everybody across the board. Like, I feel like we are pretty inclusive just for, you know, Bellator, one championship, even KSW, like all those different promotions, PFL. And so I think more of on a broader scale, my answer for this would be somebody who doesn't get respect enough within the sport would be two different welter weights. One, Ray Cooper, because Ray Cooper is out there,

Merkinfuls. That dude is a destroyer in the PFL. And it's just like nobody really watches PFL. But like he is a marauder out there. And I'd be fascinated to see how he would go against a lot of the top welder weights. If you just kind of let him off the chain and let him just do whatever he wanted in the UFC,

like I think he could beat a lot of those guys. And if not, it would be really tough fights. And then two would be the two-division champ out there in KSW, Roberto Saldick. Like, that dude is a monster. And I think I might be the only person who has him ranked on our entire staff at Welterweight. No, one other person has him at their 15. Like, that's ridiculous. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah, no, that dude's amazing. He's going to come over to the UFC whenever he wants to come over to the UFC. Like, he's just a star over in KSW. They've kept him busy in two divisions. And he might chase a third title. He says he wants to let heavyweight title now. So he's really had no reason to come over to the U.S. He's probably making more money over there.

He's probably making more money over there. He's probably pretty famous over there. So whenever he decides to come over, he can. But yeah, you're right. I mean, he could easily be in the U.S.C. right now fighting ranked guys. And no one would be surprised at all. I like him very much. I agree with you 100% on Ray Cooper.

I think you and I have him ranked the highest of anybody. I mean, when you go out there and, you know, I mean, Roy McDonald was, you know, not that long ago. He was the top five Welterway to go out there and dominate him the way he did. And then, you know, the run he's been on, especially this last season, you know, again, I don't, yeah, could you imagine the firefight that would be Vicente Lucie against Ray Cooper? I mean, good God. Oh my gosh. Could you imagine, like, just start writing bonus checks right now.

Tell me off. Good God, Damon. Okay. I will show some love to someone who I apparently have disrespected, but I was just writing. I was actually just writing about them. Hold on. As we're doing this, Jed, did you just make a note to yourself to rank? Soldick in the next reggae cycle.

I've seen this on her sheet appear in front of my eye. No, you're totally right on Soldick. I'm not going to lie. I just absolutely forgot he existed as a human with doing my rankings. And next month, I will fix that. Because he would definitely beat up

many of the people on my rankings. And so he will move into the top 10-ish for sure. I love that. If I accomplish nothing else this month, at least I accomplish. shit. I just completely spaced that he existed as a person. Like, that just don't know how completely forgot about him. And he just fought a middle way. In fairness to you, he did just fight. His last

fight wasn't 185 in fairness to you. So that might have been, you know. No, I just totally forgot about him as a person. But going to fix it. So good call, Sean. Thanks. Let me show some love because I have, I clearly have not been doing it in the rankings to one champion, uh, uh, Zhang Jingnan, who has been, I had to think about it. She's been in our rankings. Like we've had her, I think around 14, 15, I think ever since we started. She's been doing really well in one. And I was taking a deeper look at her record, actually, before the show. She's actually 17 and O competing at straw weight or whatever one's, you know, definitely

kind of 125 pounds. But whatever, straw weight. I think she would fight at 115 if she had to cut to actual straw weight if she fought for another promotion. So I don't think it's crazy to call her a straw weight. She's 17 and 0 at her own weight class. She has a distant loss to Colleen Schneider from way, way, way, way back a long time ago at like a catch weight.

And then she lost to Angela Hill when she tried to go down to down a weight class. But that was after she had already beaten Angela Hill. So so that loss, she is one in one. She's just been really consistent. She hasn't been able to fight a lot. One has had to deal with the COVID restrictions, but she already got a fight in the books this month. I just mentioned her because she's the only ranked straw weight that fought. She beat Miora a couple weeks ago.

And if she has it like a three and oh year, she could, I don't know if she'll make the top 10, but certainly we'd have to push her up. regardless of who she's fighting over in one, if people know them or not, she's just been really, really consistent to her weight class and a very strong champion. And I see,

Shaheen, you have her at 11, Damon, you've got her at 12. So I should really, again, I'm the one who's disrespecting her here. And so to make up for it, I'll show her a little love on the show. A self-call-out. Yeah, I love it.

Had to do it. Let's keep it moving. And speaking of non-USC fighters, what's up? I don't get mine. Oh, Jen. Did you go? Go for it.

You need it. You need it. You're the most. I think you're the most non. It's extremely obvious. We've already talked about him. It's Serenia to ridder. Man, the man is an accomplished BJJ player and you can kick people.

And you guys still have people like Darren Till in your middleweight rankings. Come on. Give my man some love. Till would be a two to one favorite if they were messed up. Well. No. Let's not get ridiculous. I don't know about that.

Those might be the odds, but I don't know if there'd be good odds. Money to be made there. Anyway, let's keep it moving. Non-UFC fighters. on this train. This next question is coming from Ian with an exclamation point. I love that.

He writes, if Cole Conrad never retires, going way back with this one. Cole Conrad, ex-Belitor champion, who retired to go do dairy farming or something to that effect. How does this affect

the trajectory of the Bellator and possibly UFC heavyweight division? What would his chances have been against the current crop of contenders? If Cole Conrad, if Coltrane was still fighting right now, is he Belator heavyweight? which him?

Fun fact, Ian asked me this question for hot tweets like two weeks ago. Did you address it? No, because I've talked about Cole Conrad probably more than most people in this space have the best five years. You always use him as an example of someone who was like smart and walked away from the business and is like living happily. I think that's how you bring him up usually, right? He has two.

He's great, two excellent examples. One, as the guy who's just like, I'm going to go trade milk futures. and this is a way better business plan for my life, which absolute hero, total respect. And two, I always use him as Cole Conrad's out there selling milk. And if he just got in a gym for three weeks, he could beat the ass of most people in the UFC's heavyweight division because that's absolutely true.

And so given that, I'll lead us off and say, yeah, Cole Conrad would probably be the Belator heavyweight champion still. And that's why he left. run, 10 year run. I mean, who would have taken it from him? Tell me who is a good Bellator heavyweight champion.

Oh, wait. You can go dig into the Wikipedia and find. They had like Volkov-Minnikov for a second, you know? Chuck Congo could come in there throw a couple low blows. You never know.

That's just not. Look, I'm just going to take Cole Conrad. One, he's got the background that, oh, was it 2008 Olympic team? It just was unbelievable at M.M.A. Henry Sudo, Daniel Gormier, Cole Conrad, killing it. And two, you know, if you beat Eric Prendel, you've done it all at heavyweight.

There's nobody else that you need to defeat as far as I'm concerned. I'm joking, obviously, but that's actually kind of true for the Bellator division, because there ain't nobody there. This is a complete tangent, but do you guys remember, like, one of my favorite low-key MMA like things that happened that people have totally forgotten about is the Eric Prendel, Tiago Santos thing. Do you guys remember this?

Yeah, he waited a year for revenge. It's the greatest series in Bellator history. It's amazing. If the listeners out there have not seen the series, I'm sure you can't find video of this. Like maybe you can find video one of the fights. Eric Prindle and Tiago Sanchez. She might not want to.

Just two random Bellator heavyweights when that division was worse than it is now. And the first fight, Tiago Santos hits Eric Prundel in the nuts and it was a really bad one and it ended up ending the fight and so then they book a rematch like a year later

and at some point Tiago Santos is on the ground and Eric Prendel is standing over him and the referee yells don't kick him in the nuts or something that effective like don't kick him in the groin and Eric Prendel unleashes

the biggest monster axe kick right onto the nuts right onto the nuts and that ended that also important to note for those listening this is not UFC middleweight slash light heavyweight Tiago Santos it's a different one because there's probably a lot of

people who have no idea and are like wow no no this is a big monster it's a big big monster his name was big monster so so two things for that one it's the greatest story because they fought a year later so in my mind prindle was literally waiting or so almost here like 11 months that whole time like I'm going to get him back I don't care if I win or not I'm going to get this guy back and sure enough he did And I don't remember, I think it was after the first fight or the second flight, the immediate ad that ran after, this is not a joke. I remember this distinctly, was for corn nuts. So this is, really, this is one of those MMA memories that you cannot like, it's right, you can't find a video that encapsulates this because you had to have been there and really seen it to understand how bizarre and hilarious this quote unquote feud was. The first ends by no contest.

The second one ends by DQ. And it is the greatest series in MMA history. It is one of my dream stories to write some sort of feature about this. I've actually done a little bit of... We need the trilogy. I've done a little bit of legwork. And I talked to both Jimmy Smith and Sean Wheelock who are commentating because I was starting on this feature like a year or two ago and they just never went anywhere because I couldn't

find some of these guys. But it's just I love that this happened. It's such an MMA thing. It's such a heavyweight MMA thing. It's just so good. Do you have any cool Conrad thoughts? Yeah. To bring us full circle, yes, Cole Conrad's last win was over Eric Prendel, funny enough.

Yeah. I think the only, honestly, Bellator's heavyweight division has been a barren wasteland for quite some time. You know, when, and listen, I, you know, nothing against the guy, but when Czech Congo is your number two guy and he's like 50. I think he's pretty much, you know, talk, talked about the quality of division. Honestly, the only guy that I could see that may have had a chance against Cole Conrad in his prime if he was a heavyweight. I mean this seriously, is the current champ Ryan Bader only because Ryan Bader is an incredible wrestler. And when you look at any time Ryan Bader's fought other wrestlers, he's and he beats most wrestlers. Now, I think Cole Conrad, of course, six foot five monster.

I think he's a better wrestler. But again, Phil Davis was a better wrestler. Bader beat him twice and stopped him from ever getting taken down. So I give him a puncher's chance just because he can hit hard and he actually does have really good wrestling. And Cole Conrad was never more than pretty much a wrestler in there. So he would probably have the best chance, but no, I don't think anybody else would. Well, actually, this double, this conversation, dovetails really nicely into this next question coming from C-level Aldo,

who says, Bader versus Congo 2 may be the worst heavyweight title fight on paper in at least a decade. What can Bellator do to reinvigorate their heavyweight division? And then he throws out a few suggestions. Crossover events with KSW, PFL, Hira, Sluas, Sluw, Sengallis, wrestlers to develop, two developmental deals, abandon the division entirely. Jed, this is a very Jed question. I need you to answer this. Oh, man.

All of those ideas are spectacular. One, I think the most obvious and the one that's probably the most palatable is they for sure do just need to do crossover fights. Like, they know that their division is bad because they let Ryan Bader have two belts and not really care about his heavyweight title for the last two years. But, you know, doing some crossover fights would be at least some level of. of interesting. Bader versus Pugianowski?

Yes. Yes. I mean, well, that would be incredible. I would watch, I would spend all the money to watch that. And yeah, like that's, they need to, in my opinion, they need to not treat heavyweight as a real division. Because it's not. It's a fake MMA division. They're like 10 good heavyweights in the entire world because all the rest of them play football or basketball and make much more money than getting their heads caved in.

And so if you don't have any of those people because you're not the UFC, like, you're just not, you just got to steer into being weird and doing fun stuff. Sure, they could try the developmental deal. I'm not sure how well that sort of thing has worked out for them, though. You're saying for all the Singlese wrestlers? Well, for the Senegalese wrestlers, that'd be awesome. But, like, you know, they've done a lot of developmental deals with four-time All-Americans and stuff. And, you know, I don't know how much that's paying dividends. It's certainly getting better fighters, but I don't know if that's doing traffic for them.

But for me, I think the one, close down to the vision is a great choice. Just do 205 and up. But if you're going to keep it, lean into it being weird. Do a cross-promotion fight with Puginowski because people will tune in. That's at least interesting. Like, the reality is you don't have the best heavyweights in the world and you're not going to sell that lie. so abandoned selling that lie. Try to sell that lie at featherweight, at bantam weight, at welterweight.

But at heavyweight, just steer into the, yeah, these are some big dudes who hit, you know. Kimbo Dada, I say this unironically, is one of my five favorite MMA fights I've ever seen in my life. I've said this a thousand times on pods, but it's the most fun I've ever had at an event by far. Unquestionably one of the five most entertaining fights I've ever watched. And that fight wasn't even remotely close to being anywhere in the neighborhood. of a competitive, you know, top-tier heavyweight fight, you can put on entertaining things that aren't about having the best in the world, and they just need to abandon that because they're never going to have it for heavyweight.

So if you can't have the best, at least have fun, that should be Bellator's motto for everything moving forward. So the big, meaty men slapping meat philosophy, I like it. Big meat and slap and meat, baby. How have we mentioned, has a single in these wrestlers so many times at not mentioned Rook-Rook. Bring in Rook-Rook. All right, that is what we.

Let's, I know he's under one. When we say cynically wrestlers, that's what we mean. Yeah, he's synonymous. He is synonymous. Can you name other cynically wrestlers, okay? I mean, I was going to throw out something fake and, like, no one would know, but I've had that pretty, they're pretty crass. So I'm not going to do that.

To be fair real quick, you know, when you talk about heavyweight, like, yes, Ryan Bader, Czech Congo's not a great fight, but at least you know who Ryan Bader is. Try to name, there's been, there have been, I think, three heavyweight champions in PFL. Can you name any of them? Because I can't. Philippe Linz, excuse me, Philippe Lins? The current, the current, I could have done Lins.

Yeah, what's his, what's his record in the UFC right now? Oh, and then. Oh, God, what's this last guy? And then, and then you look at, you know, and listen, I like him very much. Actually, I've talked to him, interviewed him, super nice guy, Arjabular, the current one championship heavyweight champion. He was, you know, three and one in the UFC left as a free agent. I don't think anyone looked at him and said, man, this guy's going to threaten and gone to one day.

you know so the reality is excuse me sir excuse me sir oh no that is my number 11 ranked heavyweight in the world right there thank you very much now you done it david the point is heavy weight is not deep anywhere so you know while bader in chekongo

is not a great fight uh baiter at least has some name value and and has you know he did knock out phaedore in like 30 seconds and you know mauled mitcher so again there's no fix because there's no fix anywhere. You can't name any heavyweights

that are worthwhile out in any organization. Well, so that's the thing, and that's the last point on this. I know you can't fix that division, but at least you can make temporary stopgaps, and I do kind of wish that they would have done Bader, Fador, 2, in Russia. 100% for the title fight.

Because that's going to be Fador's last fight. You give him a chance to sort of walk away in Russia. Maybe he wins the title. Maybe he doesn't. But either way, like, that's really fun. If he wins, if he wins, then they just retire the Bellator, heavy late division that'd be a way to go there you go i'm all on board with them making that fight but

they got to go old school pride they have to tell ryan bader like the day before they have to they have to give him food poisoning they can't let him fight clean because you set that up to do exactly what damon said you set it up baiter's not smart enough to know to take a dive so he will just go win again and that's what you don't want you want fader to win then you retire the division Everything's perfect and magical. And so do that, but do it the right way, the pride way. I love it. Last two questions here, and then we'll get out of here.

Let's do these rapid fire gentlemen. This one coming from Ari Gilbert, who says, if you had to make a ranking of the top three most entertaining fighters currently active, who's in your top three? And let's go ahead and disclude Justin Gachie because that's just like the given. Oh, bollocks. Man's number one. Obviously, he's number one.

So top three, not Justin Gachy. Yeah, most entertaining. The Justin Gachey All-Stars is what we'll call it. I'll go first. I actually wrote these down because I saw this question. I want to make sure to actually think about it ahead of time. Beyond Justin Gachie, of course, I'll go Vicente Lucke. Yes.

Yeri Pohashka and Charles Oliva. Love it. I actually have two of the same. I have Francis and Ghanu, Yuri Pahasca, and Charles Oliver. Man, Francis, I can't. agree after this most recent fight. There was a good fight. I was enthralled by that fight.

Is that a fight? You want to rewatch? No, but that's also the first snoozer he's had in a while. And just in terms of most entertaining, like, there's no, there are a few people out there who, to me, is as entertaining as that gigantic man. You're normally going to get better from him. That's certainly true.

I think the most obvious one, I love both of your answers, largely. give me a Yu-I-Prahashka is awesome I'll take him for sure and then Charles Oliver that man has been absolute nails and the most obvious one that people are probably going to look past Connor McGregor

there's a lot of reasons Connor's famous and one of them is that he has been in one boring fight in his entire life and it was when he blew out his knee against Max Holloway that that dude is a hitter that is a great call totally forgot he existed I kind of cheated I have four names

I have four names in my top three I kind of cheated. Chris Burnett, Beast Boy, listen, we're just beginning. I know that was his first UFC win, but he's been entertaining people for a long time. I'm just happy he finally got to do it in friggin' Madison Square Garden in the UFC. Just pure love with that guy. Jessica Andrage just has that, like, you know, a fight could end at any time appeal. And the fact that, like, you know, of all the women, she probably has that the most.

I think it makes her special. And I kind of, and I went with two names for my third spot. Please save us. Because we're missing one bad. Well, well, it's probably not the name you're thinking of because I want to go with the team of bank and no money. The, the, uh, the, uh, fighting. I don't know what to call it. Are they, what, the, uh, not sime mean, what do they call it in Fight Circus?

They call it, uh, the, the asymmetrical. The asymmetrical. Yeah. They did lose, regrettably, the asymmetrical title to Will Chope last time. But I mean, listen, in my heart, they're still the best two-on-one, one, undefeated two-on-one fighters out there. They will bounce back when Fight Circus comes back this year. So banking no money if you're out there. I don't know what your background is.

And they always say they're both like break dancers or something. Yes. Whatever. You guys find a hell of a show every time you get in there. So that's my taking up my tweet spot. I'm changing my answer because we can't be considered an MMA podcast for what we've done. I'll remove Yuri Pajska and Max Holloway for sure should be on somebody's list. Sure.

Sure. Also one low-key one that I knew nobody was going to mention, but kind of actually works. Paulo Costa. Yeah. For sure. Bangers. Like that dude is not in a board. It is all gas, no brakes, and a hell of a chin.

That's the textbook action guy. Yeah. Also, AJ McKee, want to throw some non-UFC in there. Last one, gentlemen, it's been a lot of fun. And again, thank you, everyone, for your questions. Sorry if we couldn't hit all of them, but, you know, we're a little long-winded sometimes. Let's end on a high note. This one's coming from Chris.

And he wants to know what is your one most anticipated fight currently booked in 2022? I'm just going to steal it because I, want to get this one out. It's Justin Gagey Charles Oliver. It has to be. We all just established that Charles Oliver is one of the five most exciting fighters currently going, and we unanimously agree that Justin Gagy is the most exciting fighter that's ever lived.

On the merits, that fight is going to be unbelievable. And Justin Gachie, like I said, I think he's the most exciting fighter that has ever walked to the face of the earth. He could fight anybody, and it'll be great. but he's going to fight another guy who can match him in bonuses and excitement and energy for the most prestigious belt in the world, the UFC Lightway title. That's the stuff, man. It don't get no – the only fight I would rather see other than that is Gachey v.

McGregor for the same stakes, which maybe we'll get down the line. But this is as good as it gets. Yeah, I'll say – and you're right. I mean, Jed, that's 100% of the fight. I mean, come on, let's just be honest. But if we go outside of that, I'm actually going to pick another lightweight fight that I am just incredibly intrigued by. And that is Benil Daryush and Islam Makachev. I think that is a fascinating matchup.

Makachev, a mauler on the ground. But Benil Daryush, she's an incredible jiu jitzu stylist. And B'Neil, you know, there's another guy. You could, you know, quietly put him on that most exciting fire list. I mean, that guy's been a highlight reel the last couple of years, you know, putting on a lot of bonus fights and knockout power, too, which is something that, you know, is interesting. And I think this is by far, you know, Islam's biggest step up in competition. No offense, whatsoever to Dan Hooker. But Dan Hooker's never been known for having much of a ground game.

And here you got, you know, Benil, who's a legit, you know, Brazilian Jiu-Belt, legit, nasty grappler on the ground. So I'm just utterly fascinated by that fight. And hopefully the winner will move on to fight the winner of Gajian Oliva. Yeah. Again, I mean, just based on quality of and the talent level, that is for sure, number one. But I am really, really fascinated by the Covington Mosvedolfi. That's scheduled, right?

That's booked schedule? Yeah, no, that's deadline. I am really, one, thank God, they didn't book them as coaches on the ultimate fighter and waste our mother effing time with whatever, six weeks of filming and then the two months of the show. Like, God, thank you. Whoever had the good sense to just say, let's just book the fight and not waste their time with that crap, thank goodness. Now, I don't know how. You're going to have to watch Juliana Payne you do it, AK, because you're going to be the person who watches it. I know.

Hey, listen, I watch the lone. Here's the thing is, I watch every season anyway. I'm telling you right now, Covington, Mazvedal, Nunes, Pena, it doesn't freaking matter. But I don't know how real their feud is. I still think that Covington and Mazvedal that there is some behind this. I still think there was some planning to make this few, you know, become what it did. I have people who are a lot smarter than me and who are closer to the situation than me have told me like, no, it's very legit. Like they hate each other.

You know, I come from the pro wrestling world. I still think there's some backstage booking going on. But regardless, whether it's real or not, I'm into the storyline. And I think that's one of those fights that is just so tense for as long as it lasts. Like it's a main event, right? So a five-rounder, I'm going to be on the edge of my seat. I don't know how good the fight will be, but I will be very, very, like, tuned in to that one. All great picks.

I think all of them, like, honestly, the slate coming up is just, it's really good. Like, the big, big fights coming up is about as good as you could ask for if you're an an MMA fan. One more I'll throw in there because I echo everything you guys have said. But this is a fight that a year ago I wouldn't have been that interested in. And in particular, like two years ago, I wouldn't have been that interested in. But now it feels like the UFC did the rare thing where they let it marinate. They gave it some time and it feels like it's kind of at the right time, right place.

Izzy Whitaker, too, to me, is like really, really interesting now to where it wouldn't have been that interesting if they would have done an immediate rematch. It wouldn't have been that interesting if they would have just done it, like, given Rob one fight and then kind of like run it back. at this point, it's really fascinating to me. We've seen Rob sort of just talk about how he's acknowledged, you know, like Izzy was in my head, like all of this, the other factors leading into this affected me. I fought like an idiot, like all these different things.

Like, I am, Rob has sold me with his performances and with the way he has talked about that fight on just the idea that this could maybe be something different, and maybe it's not. But the question, that being out there, that to me, I can't wait for that fight, man. That's going to be good. Yeah, I really like that matchup.

too and I think it's uh you know Whitaker was completely not himself in the first one you know completely not a Robert Whitaker performance so I'm fascinated by how he's going to approach this and I think this is a big fight for for easier as well considering you know he lost a yawn didn't have like the most exhilarating performance against you know Marvin Vittory and he come out and you know kind of put on that classic dominant easy performance again I think this is uh and let's be honest I love Derek Brunson I love Jared Cananier Jack Cromance and all the people but I mean, Robert Whitaker is far and away the second best middleweight in the sport. And so this is really the classic like number one versus two matchup.

Letting it. I wrote about this for this. I wrote about this for the site either last week the week before. I'm way more interested in this fight than I wasn't their first fight. I was extremely confident that Izzy would just rinse Whitaker in their first bout. And then it went basically exactly how I looked. But Whitaker showed me a lot. I think that all of the stuff you guys have said about

Whitaker not being a good headspace is true. We've seen Izzy look more beatable. I am really interested in this. I was not all that interested the first time around. So I'm with you. Good choice. Also, if Israel wins, if Israel wins, does Stone Cold's music hit and Alex Pereira run to the cage afterwards?

Is that like, we're waiting for like, Stone Cold, Stone Cold. Can we just get more of that in general? Like, why is that not a thing? run-ins entrances like that, come on. Let's have some fun here. Also, I will say just throwing in real quick before we get out of here. If Gilbert Burns of his cams at Shemaya is the moment that's booked,

that might shoot to number one for me above all of this other than Geichi Olivera, just because I'm so fascinated to see how far this can go. But anyway. Straight to the top, baby. That's how far. Homs out train. Get on board. You don't have, Jed, you don't have enough at the top.

You should. Not right now. You should have a number. Because I think, no, because if they fought tomorrow, I'd still pick Ousman over him. But by December, Rusman's a little bit older than he's got a little bit more money. I don't know. Jen, I want you, I want you when you feel like Shemaya is ready, I want you to just put him number one. Like even if Uzman or Shurman, like just randomly, I want people to be like, whoa, what the, why does shit?

Like just in the middle of the summer. Like it's like after, let's say he fought Gilbert Burns, it's like two months after the Gilbert Burns fight. I want you to just be like, you know what? I feel like today's the day. I woke up and I think he beat his mind. Look, he's putting out a lot of training videos. You know, if I see something in there that's making me feel some type of way, I might just go ahead and pull the trigger on it.

That's educated. That's an educated pick. Anyway, thank you, gentlemen, for joining us. And thank you everyone again for all your wonderful questions. Amazing questions. Amazing. It was a dead month for ranking. So we appreciate you guys helping us out.

It was not a dead month. The best heavyweight in the world lost. Zero gone. He lost. All right. Enough of that. Enough of this. What are we talking about? Damon, I wish nothing but the best for you, man.

What is it? Like two weeks at this point? Yep. February 13th, baby. 6.30 p.m. on the East Coast. Dude, I hope you guys can get it done. I imagine your stress levels up to that, up to that date is going to, are just going to be out of control. So hopefully you can have a relaxing couple weeks here and have a fun Sunday night in a couple weeks. And Jed, once again, welcome aboard, man. I'm glad you're finally on here full-time.

We can't wait to keep using you in more capacities. Get the podcast running, get the shows going. It's going to be fun. And hey, Damon, Jen, thanks for joining us. That man is Alexander K. Lee. I am Sean O'Shti. Keep it locked, everyone, to MMA fighting. As we continue to bring you kind of coverage, you've come to expect and love from this website. This has been the MMA Fighting Ranking Show. We'll be back again next month. See ya.