MMA Fighting - Rankings Show: Who Is The *Real* No. 1 LHW In MMA? | Plus Khamzat Ascends Into Top 3, More

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

Will the *real* No. 1 light heavyweight in the world please stand up? The MMA Fighting Rankings Show returns after another monster month to debate the MVP of April, Khamzat Chimaev's torrid ascension up the welterweight ranks, and predict the breakout name of an action-packed May. Then, co-hosts Shaun Al-Shatti and Alexander K. Lee are joined by old pals Damon Martin and Jed Meshew for a round of "State Your Case" as we try to make sense of the bizarro world that is the 205-pound division. The gang also makes a few long overdue mea culpas, takes a few well deserved victory laps, and much more. 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Sean O'Shaity, and as always, I'm joined by my man, the Prince of Positivity himself. He is the King in the North, and his Toronto Raptors are actually putting the fear of God into all of Philadelphia today. He is Alexander K. Lee. We appreciate you for joining us, A.K. My man, how are we doing today? You got to be feeling top of the world. You got to be feeling great. I'm in a great mood. Staying alive. It's all gravy.

I see some people saying, like, oh, well, you're still going to lose the series. And it's like, guys, the Toronto Raptors fans were like, we were ready for a sweep a few days ago. So it's all gravy here. If they win another game, great. If they lose it home, I mean, that would suck. But, I mean, at least the fans can say bye to the team, which was after a really, like a really fun, surprising season. And if they somehow become the first team to come back with three, oh, I mean, it doesn't even mean to explain how incredible that would be. But it's all good from here and out just enjoying the experience.

And let me say, Shaheen, your sons will be fine. Your sons will be fine. It's always darkest before the dawn. Don't make promises that you don't know. I'm not promising anything. Like I said, there's no promises. Just like I'm not promising that the Rafters can complete this comeback. I'm just saying I've seen enough from your team that I really feel like that they can weather this storm.

I mean, I hope you're right to break the fourth wall. We're recording this Tuesday morning. This is going to come out Wednesday morning. So another Sun's game will have already happened. I might be obscenely depressed by the time you all listening to this because I don't know that Phoenix can handle losing. in the first round after the greatest season in the history of our franchise. It was just not a thing.

So I don't even want to... Cautious optimism. That's what I would recommend. I don't even want to entertain the idea of that happening. I will say, as someone who's going through their own personal struggle right now with these NBA playoffs, seeing what you guys are doing to Philadelphia

and the panic that is setting in within the fan base of the Philadelphia 76ers is hilarious and delicious and I'm really enjoying it. So thank you for that. Couldn't happen to a nicer groupie. Well, it is so good to be back. I appreciate you holding it down for me last month, AK. I was obviously gone during the last rankings show.

I missed you so much. And I think a lot of the listeners and readers did too. Well, you absolutely crushed it carrying it. You were doing the Lord's work out there. And now back to where I belong. And Lordy, Lordy, what a month it's been, my man. I mean, I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful April. It's the end of April.

You guys already know, but just in case you don't. This is our once-and-month look at the M.A. fighting global rankings and we're coming to you actually a week early this month again because UFC 274 is next week. So that's going to be a ton of fun. So we figured I might as well just roll this out early. And so looking back at what we just experienced since the last ranking show, it's quite a bit, right? Three UFC events, three Bellator events, PFL seasons rolling. You got two PFL events, plenty more, tons of movement this month. And we're going to talk about that later in the show with our good buddies Damon and Jed. But Akefell.

I'll just throw it to you first to start us off, man. I mean, the biggest movers and shakers of the month, when you look at the list and mull it over, who's your MVP of April? Who won the month? It would be very easy to go with a popular welterweight, who we've talked about a lot in our podcasts, a lot in our rankings.

Listen, he gets people's attention, and he made a big jump, which we'll talk about later. He made a huge jump and really is worthy of being called the MVP of the month. But there was someone, an actual UFC champion who made a little bit more of a more subtle move up with a performance that was outstanding, a title defense that was amazing. And even though it was against kind of an overmatched, you know, replacement opponent,

I feel like it sparked something in the fan base that has had them looking at him in a new way. So I am talking about Alexander Volcanoz. Oh, okay. The UFC featherweight champion. I didn't expect this. I was absolutely not expecting you to pick this. I love big rankings jumps, of course, when you see guys jump like four. or five spots or again, in the case of, again, this Walter rate, who we'll talk about a second,

seven spots, that's great. But I think when you're at the top, when you're at the one, two, three spot, it's so, other than, of course, beating one of the two guys ahead of you, it's so hard to make any move. But somehow our man, Alexander Bukonowski, has claimed the remaining first place votes that were eluding him. He's now unanimous, eight first place votes, and he moved up and our power. pound for pound rankings, which is super difficult to do. I think a lot of us are default is to kind of keep, unless something crazy happens,

kind of keep the pound for pound the way it is. Especially at the top, right? Like, especially at the tippy top where there's not a lot of wiggle room. Yeah, we're very happy to have Kamar Usman up there, Israel, Arsanya, Francis Nganoo, the Three Kings. It makes for a great headline. It looks cool. There's a certain symmetry to it.

And both all three guys are amazing dominant champions. But Volkanovsky, right now, he is at number three. he's gotten in there. And again, when people, not just the zombie fight, but looking back to Ortega fight, yeah, there was some danger moments for him, but he really did clearly win that fight, two wins over Max Holloway. The resume is as strong as anybody. I mean, the question now is, are we underrating him?

Is there possibly, could you say he's the second best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? I don't think anyone would make a case for him over Usman, but I'm sure there's some people that are thinking over at Asana. And then when you're taking the spirit of how some people look at pound-for-pound, and kind of favor smaller guys and view them as more skillful and can kind of project, oh, well, if, if Volcanovsky was 185,

he'd beat Adestania, if he was 170, he'd beat Usman or whatever. If he was a heavyweight, he'd beat Inganu. It makes it even easier to kind of look at him as legitimately, at least according to the only rankings that matter,

the NBA fighting pound for pound rankings, the number three pound for pound fighter in the world. So by making, yeah, by making that move, I will say, he won the month, he won April. I am so surprised to hear you say that because I was actually going to be my pick, and I thought I was sort of doing something sneaky here of like, oh, AK's not going to pick Alexander Volcanozky

because you've already been high on him. Like you've been on the Volcanovsky train, I think, for this whole time, whereas we have had a few stragglers, and I would consider myself in that as well, where I was one of the people who was consistently voting Max Holloway is the number one featherweight in the world. Out of pure stubbornness at this point,

I'm freely accepting that and acknowledging that I was wrong, and I was just generally being very stubborn about that. but same too with the pound for pound where I moved him, I made a seismic move up for him in terms of the pound for me this month where I put him as my number two guy at this point. Like I feel like he had been Kamar Oussman to me feel like the two best fighters in the world

and that was not something I was willing to say even a month ago. So I actually agree with you 100%. I think Volcanovsky low-key won the month and it's sort of something we have talked about in a lot of different shows and actually we'll get to it more later on in the show when we bring in our extra two panelists of it feels like something switched with the way people are perceiving Alexander Volkanowski with this last win, which is very interesting because it's not like Korean Zombie is his best win

and he has better things on the resume, but it does feel like the perfection that he's sort put out there for the world in this fight and just the way he's approaching all of these various title defenses and fights and the way he's almost running circles around these guys and leaving them to make so many decisions in real time that is just too much overloading their brains and no one knows how to really approach this guy except for that one really close fight with Max, it's kind of unassailable.

You're just wrong at this point if you're not, if you're still playing that flag on the Max Holloway is number one train. So I actually agree with you. I think that Volcanovsky is my MVP of the month too. And if we look overall at where we stand compared to where we were last month, our biggest jumps of the month

was something you just mentioned. Actually, it was twofold. But on the men's side was the one you just mentioned. It was the one that actually came in the welterweight division. We have Hamzat Shemayev. He is now officially a top three welterweight in our rankings. He has jumped from number 10 to number three after that win over Gilbert Burns. Whereas on the women's side, that was her other big jump.

We had Jessica and Drogh jump from unranked to the number four straw weight for her win over and Amanda Lemosch reentry back into that division. And that actually gives her a top four spot in two divisions because she's also the number two ranked female flyweight. First fighter, I can remember in these rankings kind of occupying the same two-division space to that degree where she's such a highly ranked person in both. Whereas on the flip side, we had a few names fallout.

We had Jermaine Duranemi actually fall out of her number three spot in the Bantamweight division. That one was due to inactivity. We have an 18-month threshold to compete. As you know, AK, she finally passed it. And also, happy trails to Marlon Marais as well. He's retired, so he exits our rankings.

Out of everything we just mentioned and a lot of stuff we didn't mention. What sticks out to you? What was the most impactful moves do you feel like of this month? Well, listen, I was saving the Hamza talk. Like I said, I easily could have let off with it. We have been saying for the long,

and actually, this is a good discussion for you and me because, so he ended up at number three, big jump up. Not surprising, he beat Gilbert Burns, you know, past title challenger. Now, I have, I put him all the way up at number two in my rankings, and my application is pretty easy, so I'm going to let you go first.

still have him outside your top three? So what is your what is the what's the reason why is he you can tell people who's ahead of him and why why is he not quite in the top three for you yet? So I mean my top three right now are Camaro Colby and Leon Edwards and so that's I I mean at this point you could really exchange Hamzat with Leon and I wouldn't argue with you I think Camaro Colby is the top two and that's sort of definitive in my mind right now the rest is is workable like I think Hamzat probably is the best win between him and and Leon the Gilbert Burrs win. But I think Leon, there is more of a body of work there that I still respect if you're

still in this division and you're doing it every time out. I tend to put some weight into that. So I wouldn't complain. If somebody has Hamzad at number three over Leon, I wouldn't say that's wrong. But for me, I'm not ready to do that yet. I have joined. I'm looking at it now. My goodness, I just realized I have joined Jed.

Jed, Jed Michoud has been way ahead calling Comzat number two. I think he did this two months ago, I want to say. Yeah, there's a bit of go. To some controversy. But now I'm with him, mainly because for me, it was just a matter of MMAM. I've actually had Burns over Cunnington this whole time. I think since we started doing the rankings, I've always had Burns my number two. So it's pretty simple.

Shemaya beats him and takes the two spot. But yeah, I understand Covington has been the number two for most people. And a win over Burns doesn't necessarily give him that spot. And which is why so many people, including Hamza's coach, are saying, we want Covington next, seems with the next logical step up, very, sellable fight. I think a lot of people hope that fight happens. I don't see why it can't, but I think we said that in MMA a lot before. So fingers crossed, all the money's right and all the timing's right. And we can see Ahamsa Shimaev and Kobe Compton at some point in the near future.

Yeah, absolutely. And we're going to bring in the rest of the crew here in a few minutes. But I'm sure there's also going to be plenty of gloating in that too, because there are a few things to gloat about. But AK, quickly, before we do that, let's look ahead to what's next. because you look at the slate for May. It's pretty busy. You have four UFC events over the next four weeks. Two more Bellator events, PFL season, full swing, like we said. So weekly events pretty much from here on out.

UFC 274 is really one of the most stacked cards that we've seen of the year. We're getting just a gaichi back, Charles Olivera. You've got even Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler on that, Rose, Carla. Like there's a lot of good stuff. Kayla Harrison's coming back. Same exact week. And, I mean, the main event, really, we've all. been waiting for Ryan Bader, Chuck Congo too, for the Belladour Heavyweight title baby in Paris.

Like, come on. There's just a lot to like. What if Congo wins? Oh, my God. What if Congo wins? I've had a listener. I think it's our usual, I think it's our onto the next one pal, Tristan Gordead. If I'm mistaken, I apologize for the, um, whoever it is that's been harassing me about Czech Congo ever since we start. If I forgot your name, sir, uh, polite sir, who's been bothering me since we started doing the rankings, why, why is Czech Congo not ranked? Check Congo's been doing this and this and this. for so long that I believe it's our palatrist and if it's not again I'll correct it on social media or something but yeah listen if check Congo beats Ryan Bader I don't care if it's an ugly

decision or some I don't know some weird like even a controversial decision unless it's an absolute robbery we're I think we're all going to have to rank them I don't know man what I mean Ryan Bader Ryan Bader right now is number 10 and our heavyweight rankings he is the idea of writing down Chuck Congo in the year of our Lord 2022 you know in my top 15 at heavyweight is giving me, it's giving me heart palpitations. It's stressing me out. Czech Congo has got to be 44? Something like that, right?

Like, that's not, I'm not, I'm not talking crap here, right? He's 46, my guy. He's 46 years old. So in the year of our lower 2022, if he beats Ryan Congo, Ryan, Fader, 46 year old Czech Congo could be ranked at heavyweight. And the only rank is the matter. That's wild. That, we're going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

Yeah. Let me touch one quickly. The other thing said, yeah, listen, Oliver versus Gichi coming up, super exciting fight. There's not a lot to say about it. It's really like whoever wins, I feel like should be, is whoever wins is the number one lightweight in the world. One member of our panel will disagree. They've been, they've had that Islam Makachev pack going for a while now, and that's

fine. And I don't, I have a feeling this result will not change that, which is weird. But anyway, for most of us, people of Gaci wins, you will see them at number one in our rankings. If Oliverer wins, he'll stay where he is. Well, so that was going to be my question. What do you eyeball on? Like, what's the biggest storyline here?

Rankings play that you think we're going to be talking about at this time next month. I don't think you want to know what I think is the biggest. Like I'm touching upon these because, look, these are title fights. Obviously, they're important. I mean, Carla being number one would be crazy. Obviously, she was at one point the number one star weight in the world before you want to get your J-Chic like, you know, made her UFC debut and you're coming off the ultimate fighter. It was a very weird scenario.

But at one point, she was number one. So all these years later for her to be number one again by beating the same. opponent who she beat an ultimate fighter finale to become number one. Very bizarre, but it is possible that you will see Carlos Barr's at the top of our rankings. Congrin Baderberg already talked about, Sheen, I don't want to scare you. Oh. We could be close to another Holly Home title shot. What?

She fights, she fights Kettlin Vayana and the main event, the main event of UFC Vegas 55 on May 21st. look who's ahead of her like Raquel Pennington would be like ahead of her of course Amanda Nune is fighting for the title next

but Vorekel Pennington she's beaten twice they like giving Hollyholm title shots Keltland Baer on our rankings is number seven so it's a quality win

she hasn't fought Giuliana Pena yet if Giuliana Pena Penaena does retain against Mennoninez does a very good chance depending how all these

how that Pena-Nunes fight goes Holly Home is next I don't know I'm not ready to get there for you, you, man. I think there's a giant step that you're missing of like, Peña has to do this against the man. Of course.

Like, that's a lot. I'm just warning people now. It's not a tornado yet, but the winds are kicking out. I find people know, like, oh, it's getting a little windy. And I'm like, yeah, you don't have to go into your house yet. But I'm just saying, be prepared. Get some proofing up. Get some proofing up.

Maybe just prepare it just in case. Chop down that, you know, there's a big tree next to your house. Maybe call the city to chop that tree down now before the storm comes. I'm just doing a public service announcement. And the last thing, and this is personal, Alexander Rockich could make a big jump. Could make a big jump. He is fighting Jan Blahovitz on the next UFC Vegas card, I think.

Yes, big opportunity for him. Big opportunity, fingers crossed, this fight stays together. It's been delayed postponed before. But yeah, there's just a few things that I think. We're coming off pretty eventful month, and we got another good one ahead of us. And yeah, man, this is the summer of rankings

or the upcoming summer of rankings, I feel. Well, you know, AK, those were all great answers. I can't argue with any of them. But you're wrong. Ultimately, you didn't pick the right answer. You didn't come upon it. And you didn't even stumble upon it. I figured you maybe would walk into it.

And then I could jump in. The answer is my guy, El Kukui, is making his comeback. I mean, come on. The El Kakuwe train is still going. I'm still driving the train. I've been driving this train for 10 years. Everybody's bailed. I'm the only person left on this train.

train. I'm looking around wondering where everybody went. It's happening. The El Kakuwee Renaissance is upon us. And it's going to go down in Arizona. In my hometown, we're going to have the honor and the privilege of seeing this man rise from the ashes and prove everybody wrong here against Michael Chandler. And then who knows, Elkakuey title reign coming after that. You know how it goes. I don't believe any of that. But that would be really cool. I'm just saying, just throwing out there. If Elkakuey could somehow do it. Hey, he's still in this. game, I'm here for it. We have a lot of respect for him.

He's number seven. He's number seven. He's right behind Chandler. This is perfect match baking. Seven versus six. So it's not out of the question. But one thing I do know is I feel like this is going to be another fight that just takes even more years off both of these guys' lives.

I'm just telling you. We don't want these fair weather fake fans jumping back on the bandwagon. After Helcog Kakua comes out here in Phoenix and does terrible things to Michael Chandler. If you're not on right now, you can't get back on. It's just me. I'm the only one left, but I'm not welcoming anybody else once this goes down. Just throwing it out there. So you need to get on now or it's not happening.

Shaheen, we are here for you, not against you. We're here for you. We're here for you. Look, I'm just mentally preparing myself for a very sad outcome, if I'm being honest. Both possibly what happened last night when people are listening to this podcast and. Oh, geez, I thought that's what you were saying. I thought that's what you were saying, possibly the state you're in now. when this podcast is actually, you know, on the air,

and also what could happen in next weekend. I can't. I'm sorry. Well, you know, we'll talk about it next month. Let's say that. In the meantime, let's take a quick break, and then we're bringing in the rest of the crew. And we are back, joined now by the boys.

You already know. Damon, Jed Mishu, we appreciate you fellas for coming on as always. And so we're jumping right in. We had a ton going on this month. But by far, there was one division. I think we all disagreed on the most. And I think you can guess what that is.

Jed, what's the most nonsensical division in MMA today? The division that simultaneously is probably the weakest we have, one of the weakest we've seen, but also like kind of weirdly compelling because of how ambiguous it is right now. Do you know the answer? It's got to be 205, my man. That's been the case for basically since John, I'm going to say retired because he hasn't fought

and I don't think he's going to for a while. Certainly since he left the division that it's been absolute anarchy. I'm pretty sure everyone in it is bad. And that makes it really fun. You're not wrong. I mean, it's the light, heavyweight division. It's so strange this place we've gotten to with 205. This was once the glamour division in the UFC,

the division of Stars, the division of Chuck and Tito, Rampage and Vandalay, Randy and Rashad, Sheldon and Machita, Jones, and D.C. And now where we're at today is just a very, very bizarre place

when you look at those names. So bizarre, in fact, that somehow, this month, a fight that didn't even have a real result, Corey Anderson's, no contest with Medeem Nemcoff and Belator, somehow had a fairly seismic effect on our 205-pound rankings, despite the fact that, again, there was not really a result in that fight. So right now, as we speak here today,

this is how our light heavyweight top five listed out on MMA fighting this month. You had 42-year-old Glover DeShera in the number one spot still, and then Bellator, number one contender, not even champion, and Corey Anderson holding down the number two spot. He moved up. Number one contender for UFC year at Prohaska, three, former champ, Malukovus and four, and then Beltaire champ Vadim Nemcoff,

finally coming at number five. Pretty weird. But the thing is, this time around, for the first time ever, we were not only totally split as a team on who received those first place votes. It wasn't even close to a consensus. We had three different fighters end up

with more than one first place vote. Glover got four, Corey got two, Yuri got two. And so, fellas, we're going to start out today. We're going to play a little game. Game called state your case. Each one of you gentlemen represents one of these three factions, AK over there, repping for Glover to Cher, the OG, Damon, reping for Corey Anderson. He's been on that train for a long time.

And then Jed, you're reping for your boy, Eurobor Haska. When the rock passes over to you, it's simple. Just state your case. Why is your guy the number one light heavyweight in the world? And let's see if maybe we can sway some hearts and minds here today and bring out some sort of consensus. So AK, I'll swing it to you first. You're a rep for the number one fighter in the world right now on these light, heavyweight rankings. Glover DeShara, why are you right? Stayed your case. I somehow have both the easiest and hardest argument, I feel like, to make here.

Fortunately, the UFC is still the biggest name in all of MMA. When people think UFC champion, they generally think that that person is the standard bearer. As we've said, Bellator, this has been a lot. long time developing. This isn't a new discussion of, oh, is the Beltaire light heavyweight division the best. This has been going on since at least last year, probably before that, when Bader and Phil Davis and then, of course, they signed Corey Anderson. It really got people talking. And Corey Anderson does have a not recent, but I mean, it was a convincing win over Glover to share. And I guess a lot of people feel years later, it would probably arguably even more

favorable for Cori Anderson. But I'll say this. As much as I enjoy MMA math, people know I I love using the obscenely expensive MMA math calculator to figure things out. This is one situation where I have to point to strength of resume and almost the quality performance. I do like that to share is a bit more of a, I would say more of a finisher than Corey, though Corey's been on a good run. But I think Glover has been beating the better competition. This is always a difficult thing to quantify when we're talking promotion to promotion

That's why I understand people will default to head to head when they fought who won Coramson. That's fine. But I think if we dig a little bit deeper, I favor Glover's wins over Jan Blahovitz over. And if you want to do in my math, Jan holds one win over Coramson, blah, blah. Jan Blahovic, Maheta, I think, is a good win. Anthony Smith, I think, is a really good win. His work, maybe I'm including some of Glover's past work. Maybe I shouldn't be doing that.

Maybe I'm looking at too much of his career as a whole. and I'm also not a believer that Corey initially just runs through him in every match. Again, impossible to predict. I don't know if we're ever going to see it again. But it's not like I was so blown away by Corey's performance against him

in their first fight so many years ago that I'm like, oh, there's like Glover has no chance. Corey Anderson would be heavily favored. I don't think Glover has no chance. So based on strength of resume, maybe some sentimentality. It is the UFC. It is where I think we can still agree

the majority of the top talents compete, even at 205, I feel comfortable seeing that the old man, Glover de Chera, is the number one light heavyweight in the world today. Well, let me go ahead and speak for the true number one light heavyweight in the sport being Cory Anderson, because while I respect A.K.'s opinion, it's completely wrong. Here's the thing. I like Glover. I do. I like Glover. And his story is incredible. What he's done these past couple years is unprecedented to be 42 years old, become a champion. Again, the last run of the old samurai, so to speak, it's an amazing story. That being said, we can't erase, you know, Glover's entire history. He's been on a great run recently, but he hasn't, you know, he had been, you know,

before he went on this run, he had almost kind of been forgotten about a little bit because he did go on a bad tear there for a while. And one of those losses was a short notice. Let's be clear about this. Cory Anderson took the fight on short notice, like two weeks notice, and why. washed Glover Tashara, washed him hard. It was a blowout, complete lopsided decision in three rounds. Now, yes, Corey did lose to Jan Blahovitz, but that's not a bad loss. And also, let's not forget when they fought the first time. Granted, several years ago, he mollywopped Jan Blahovic over three rounds.

It was a lopsided, completely one-sided fight in that regard. Since then, Corey, we can't forget, of course, Corey also had some good quality wins in a row in the UFC before losing to Jan. since then he picked up a quality win and a blitzing win over Brian Bader. Again, I know we all want to discount Ryan Bader now, but at the time, Ryan Bader was still ranked in the top six, seven light heavy weights in the world. And then to go out and do what he was doing to Vanim Knoff. I mean, he was winning that fight in one-handed fashion. I mean, the first round was kind of close.

Second round was all Corey. Third round was even worse for Corey. He landed some good shots on the feet, had him hurt, and then he ended up getting the takedown and was battering him pretty good before the unfortunate headbut that ended the fight. I think when you look at resume combined with the I test, the eye test being who has looked the most dominant, who has looked the best recently, I think it all adds up to Corey Anderson being the best guy in the world right now. And I think that that's the argument. It's not just resume. It's also how is he beating people. He is dominating and finishing people. And I think that,

again, yes, I understand we had two rounds left, Vindyemimkov could have potentially come back. But we've seen no one do that to Vindyemimkov since he lost to Yeripov. several several years ago over in Risen. Since then, Vadim has been on an incredible win streak. He's earned his top five ranking, and Corey Anderson was dominating him. It was a one-sided fight, especially right up to the ending.

So, that being said, I think Corey Anderson is the best light heavyweight in the sport right now. That may change in June, because Glover is going to fight Yuri Parahaska, the winner of that's probably going to end up being number one and rightfully so because that's a very big fight. But for now, from now until June, Corey Anderson is the best light heavyweight in the world.

I, for one, Damon, I have to say that I think I agree with you, at least in this instance, it feels as if AK's case is based around the idea, well, the UFC champion should be the number one guy no matter what. Well, you know, recently Glover lost really badly to Corey, too. Like, what are we talking about? At a certain point, we're making these weird arbitrary cutoffs for everybody. Like, if you don't want to, if you want to take away the Yon fight from Corey the first time or the second time around, like all of this is weird arbitrary cutoffs. Jed, let's throw it to you. I could see you stewing over there.

Hit me. I'm the master of weird arbitrary determinations, and I'd like to first say that I have no fundamental issue with Damon's stance. If you think Corey Anderson is the best light heavy in the world, you might not be wrong. Also, it does not matter because this division is garbage. So your piece of garbage is slightly less moldy than my piece of garbage, but it's all trash all the way.

down the line. Strong opening. But for... Strong opening. My goodness. I'd say there is possibly one piece of trash that's not trash, but is actually awesome. And that is Yuri Prasca.

I will also admit that I share... I have Yuri number one, and I share that with probably the most insane panelist in our ranking panel, which makes me feel a lot less good about having him in the top spot. Unnamed. Unnamed. Unnamed, but the person who will unnamedly be shamed later in this broadcast. Someone who may also be an undefeated M.A. fighter. Potentially.

And so I feel less good knowing that kind of lineup that I've got. But at the same time, I can't do it. I just cannot physically put Corey Anderson as my top lie, I have to wait in the world because he's, he's Cory Anderson. Like, is that it? Is that it? It's just a fundamental hurdle that you can't cross. I don't think Jeff's the only one facing this problem.

The thing is, I don't think. Oh, AK, you relate to this? I and I and millions of Americans. Millions of Americans don't know who Cory Anderson is, but the people who do, no, we just can't. And I have never, I've talked about it before, I think, on this pod. I've never been able to get over. Daniel Cormier just hitting him with a stray when he was blasted Jimmy Manoa. And just like, E3 isn't.

existence. And it's like, if this is the world we're in where Corey Anderson is the best light heavy weight in the world, just burn that division to the ground. So there are in that world, there's really only one potential bright spot. And it's here in Prakashka, who's the man and awesome. And I think everyone on this pod and everyone we work with and everyone who follows the sport would say that he is absolutely the most exciting light heavyweight in the world, whether he's the best or not, is up for debate.

he'll get a chance. As Damon said, in June, he's going to get a chance against Glover. But for me, it's the two things of, I don't want a world. I don't want this world to be real where Corey is the best. Anyway, and so I am going to believe in Erie, and hopefully he will prove me right. And also, like, the fundamental aspect of how I rank people is if they're fighting tomorrow, who am I picking? I know a lot of people wouldn't pick Erie over Corey. Maybe you guys would pick Corey.

I'm sure that our colleague Mike Heck, who is driving the Glover, is going to beat Yeri Bandwagon. Probably would be in on Corey, but I would take Erie over any light heavyweight in the world. Maybe that's fanboyism. Maybe it's just because he's dope and he deserves to be fanboyed. But I'm riding this train until the wheels fall off. And God willing, those wheels will stay on through June and we will get an ann new. And the insanity can come to an end. And we could have Yuri Phrashka versus Magamette and Kallai of two people who actually might not suck as light heavyweights.

It would be the best outcome for all of us. That's a very good question. I actually, I mean, I think we assume the Corey Anderson-Nem-Kov rematch will be booked ASAP. Yeah, that seems like the plan. But even if it does, so this kind of a more question for Damon, if Yerra-Hashka just like dusts global to share it, not going to happen. Let's say just dust him. Would that, is that possible for him to jump over, Corey? Yeah, I just said, like in June chances.

Because, again, to me, it's about resume, but it's also about, you know, what you're doing right now. Corey dominating Vadim Nemcoff in a fight that I do truly believe he would have won and potentially could have finished in the fourth round. I still count that as meaning something because Vadimimov is very good. And he was getting dominated by Corey Anderson. Yeri goes out there and dust Glover to Cher, he's going to be number one. I mean, I just, it's a more impactful win. And the same thing goes, you know, Glover can go out there and dominate and finish

Yuri. I'm not saying it negates Corey's win over Glover, but that is another high profile wind to add to his resume. Again, now then maybe a month later, if Corey goes out there and washes Nimcoff again, then maybe we switch again. That's just point to point of the rankings. It is reasonsy bias to a certain extent. And the winner of Yeri and Glover, we're talking about in my rankings, the number two

and number three light heavyweights. It's hard not to put the winner of that. I fight number one because how impactful they are to that division. I do have to say, I love that Jed's methodology is essentially twofold. It's one, Uri's awesome and two, he's not Corey Anderson. Yeah. Like that's it, like that's all it takes at this point. I have a question.

He's using the ABC method of doing this. Anyone but Corey. Oh, nice. Look, if Mcvin and Kolaev hadn't thrown up a duck against Diego Santos, he would have been my number one. But yeah, that was. But he absolutely did. It was such a bad performance that I can't.

Even me in all of my methodologies couldn't be like, yeah, let's put Angla. I have one. So I'm riding with Yuri, baby. Let's go. Well, so I have a question for both Jed and AK, because I'm with you, Damon. I think Corey is the best. It took me a while to get here. It was hard for me to actually say that out loud.

But I feel like at this point, I don't, there's like not a really good argument against him right now. Like, it's very crazy that we've reached. his point. So Jed, a.k. If Corey Anderson was just some other random dude, his name's, you know, Lance Uppercutt. Lance Uppercut. Lance Uppercut's coming in here

as a 205 pounder. You have no baggage with him whatsoever. You didn't know about him until, you know, all of this, and you just see the resume, and you see what he's doing in Bellator, and you see Lance uppercut go out there and really like smash with Dean Nemcoff to a level that we really haven't seen that guy get smashed.

He owns a win over Glover. Like, is at that point, are you like, oh yeah, Lance Upercote's absolutely the best light weight in the world or light heavy weight in the world. Is it just the Cory Anderson thing? Like if he is someone else entirely. If he were a Coram and Der Megamadov, I like, I might be like more compelled to put him number one. But it's just the baggage. There's too much baggage. No, no, no, no. For me, for me, I'm just looking at again now. My case was you know, besides the UFC factor, strength of competition, strength of competition. And I, I, so since their last losses, you know, Glover's last loss was to Cori Anderson, Corey was to Jan.

I get it. The Bader win was really great at the time. The Nemcov essentially a win. Obviously, no contest officially performance. Fantastic. It's just, it's hard for me to give a guy number one. And before that, his wins were Dovlett Zahn, Yag Shimrodov, and like Melvin Manhoff. Well done on that.

Right. And then Glover, Jan Blahovich, who, again, the last guy to beat Corey Anderson, so MMA Math. Tiago Santos. People can, you know, judge how good he has a 205. I think he's a top 10 guy. I think our rankings agree. I believe he's in the top 10 or in the top he's 11 now.

Tiago Sanchez was good until he started fighting with no legs. That was his problems. That'll slow him down. Tough to succeed with that. Anthony Smith still in our top 10. The Kri-Laf fight was whatever. It's kind of ugly, but actually probably a better win at the time than it would have been now.

So the strength of competition is just so high for me. And Corey Anson, again, Ryan Bader and NEMCOV, great names. But guys who have kind of, I think both have, Well, Nemcom now is five, and Bader's kind of fallen out, but I guess that's more because he's a heavyweight now. But it's not like a huge. It's not like huge. And definitely I understand the head-to-head makes a big difference.

But that's quality competition. I'm a big guy. That's how I do most of our rankings. So that's a that's how Glover. What it comes down to, what it really does come down to for me is I think in terms of competition, they're fairly even. And I think what puts it over the top for me is that Corey did. It's the head-to-head.

beat Glover. Like that's that's what does it for me because I don't think the level of competition is so dramatically different. But Corey has the dominant and it wasn't like a close fight. He took it on two weeks notice and he washed him. I mean it was a 30-26 or whatever it was. It was a one, you know what I mean? It wasn't like a 29, 28 split decision somewhere. Like it was was a 30-26 one side of beat down. And I will say the one thing, my favorite part about that because people, I've seen a lot of people be like, well, that was like four years ago. Glover to share was 38 years old. Like, dude's not a prospect who's growing leaps and bounds between every fight.

Like, what do we? Apparently he is, Sean. That was probably a better version of Glover who was just fighting in a division with Anthony Rebel Johnson, Daniel Cormeier, and John Jones. Like, what are we talking about? The Jan Blahovitz went is even, yeah. The Jan Blahovitz win is even more recent. And I can't put Yon Blahovic.

I can't put Corey Anderson over Yombovich. I just can't do it. I think that's entirely. That's the thing. That's the thing. That's the thing that we haven't talked about. And for me, get back to your original question, Sean. I don't think it would change my rankings if his name was something different.

I was just looking. I mean, I might be more inclined because that name's substantially cooler than Corey Anderson. What if he had kept 258? If he kept 258, he would be my number one pound for pound fire forever because Beasting 258 is one of the best nickname in the history. And you can't beat it. And then he turned it to a very stupid thing. thing, which is the most core interesting thing, but we're digressing. The point I'm trying to make is his resume is actually not like that good.

It's fine. Like I'm not, and it's in the context of the division. But the thing is no one's resume is that good. Well, exactly. That's why what I'm saying is I don't think I change it because like, sure, year he doesn't, maybe doesn't have like a lot of big spots on his resume, but this man hasn't lost in six years. I take that very seriously when I'm looking at prospects or just fighters in general because

winning fights were sort of regardless of competition for extended periods is really, really difficult. His last loss was to Muhammad Law, which he then avenged pretty authoritatively. So he hasn't had an unavange loss since 2013. Like, to me, I think I would have Erie at the top spot regardless. And frankly, the only reason I have Corey Anderson as high as I do is because he has to win over Glover. And I think if they rematched, I would pick Corey to win that. I agree. I agree.

The Jan fight really throws me in that situation because I think I would pick Jan to win a rematch there, though I'm not certain. But because Jan lost so definitively to Tishar, you've got a bit of a rock paper scissors. And so I aired on the side of Cory Anderson because he's the youngest of them. And so probably has the best chance of changing that dynamic in a future fight than Jan would. But I think if you took names out of it, I would still be putting Yuri because I put a lot of value on being functional. un-defeated for 10 years. Last thing on this, because we got to move on. We have two other divisions we want to hit.

But we make fun of this division quite a bit in our various shows and, you know, whenever we're doing what we're doing. But is it kind of fun? It's so much fun. I kind of really like the idea that this division is so bad that we can't actually like figure out who the best of this mediocre group is. Like that's actually really, that's so much more interesting to me than just like John Jones being the best for 10 years.

This is a far cry from John Jones being the best guy in the world. Because at least when John Jones was around, you can always be like, well, it's John Jones. He's potentially the greatest fighter in the history of the sport. Or even a DC where it's like DC's number two, but like you, he's so far above. Yeah. Now let's be, hold on. Let's not forget. They said it was just on the MMR.

They said, Alexander Gustafinson's coming back to light heavyweight. Maybe there's a body you can throw in there against somebody. Oh my gosh. But, yes, I agree. But I agree. I agree. I agree. I think it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a

It's not, it's definitely not a deep division by any stretch of imagination. And the guys that you would peg is like saying, man, this guy's the future. Then he goes out and puts on a abysomally boring performance against Tiago Santos on no legs. You know, because Ancolaev, I'm with Jed. I pegged Ankeliov as the guy for a while now. And then he goes out and has that fight. You're like, God, I can't, I can't rank him any higher. I can't rank him any higher than he is.

Like, you know, so yeah, yeah, I'm with you. It's kind of fun when there's a bit of a bit of a bit of. with garbage fire. It's kind of fun to watch a garbage fire. Yeah. And light heavy weight is muddled and middling in kind of a fun, interesting way. Not like women's band to wait, for example. That is like, you want to talk about a division that's bad and just bad

and not fun to talk about or look at. Women's band to wait is rough. Dude. It is for every month, every month, Shaheen and I do for anyone listening, we do the writing for most of writing for the post that actually goes out. It is just a dead zone of interesting angles of

movement, of movement in the rankings. And again, God bless all the talented fighters in that division, but there's just no, it's been like this for almost a year now. Coming up with 15 is tough. Yeah. We mentioned it. They also fight so rarely. They fight so rarely. They fight so rarely.

You get like maybe, you get like maybe 25 women's bad at a year. Well, I think something like that. AK, we mentioned it in the first half of the show, but like GDR this month was out because of an activity. And I think a lot of us struggled to figure out a 15. person to put at the number 15 spot. Like that's just what, like Aspen Ladd ended up getting that 15 spot for a lot of people. And she hasn't won a fight in how long?

Like it's, I nearly, I nearly ranked one fighter twice because I thought I didn't have them ranked. I was like, oh man, I found a 15th person. And then I realized I had them already ranked. I'm like,

oh my God, I really have no one to put in here. I completely, I actually just forgot that the whole GDR thing. So thank you for reminding me of that. Also, also Bandomay, we currently have Misha Tate in there.

And she's theoretically, not going to be that anymore. I got to find two slots to fill this thing. And there's, you can put anyone. There's anyone in the world could fill it. They might be the 15th best. I've no idea.

I think it's like the thinnest roster in the UFC. I could be wrong. I think just globally, like not even in the U.S. Outside of women's featherweight, I'm sure it is. No, women's featherweight. Oh,

I mean, well, that's not a real division, but of the divisions actually have divisions. Like, by my country, there's 30 or less. I think 30 or less women's, that's less than heavyweight that's less than like men's flyweight there's not a lot there it's a slim pickly shallow division that is that is let so we're clear that's less than men's flyweight

a division they actively tried to kill not that long ago that almost didn't exist they they they actively tried to put that out behind them i'm sorry i and shoot it and they have more fighters in that division i took us on a chance how much how much do you miss betch cohaer right now it's all i'm saying she was every stalwart of the bansomweight division well i'd meet every day. Every day. All day. Like, what are we doing?

One day at a time, Damon. One day to time. Let's move on because there are, like I said, there are two other divisions we wanted to hit today. And first is the featherweights. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine.

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Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. vacation. Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to aeroplane members on equip flights. Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See air Canada.com. Because look, y'all, sometimes we have bad opinions. When you give outtakes as frequently as we do in this industry, sometimes there's a bad one sprinkled in there. They can't all be winners, Jed. And sometimes

you choose really weird shit to plant your flag into the ground for and then you kind of have the flag in the ground and you have to just be like, look, this is my position. I have to defend this position now. I'm man enough to admit that I made a mistake where once I was blind I now can see. It took me longer than it should have probably,

but for the first time ever, the Australian national nightmare is over in the MMA fighting rankings. We finally have a consensus. Alexander Volcanowski is the number one featherweight in eight out of eight people's ballots. The last two holdouts for me and the undefeated E. Casey Layden, we finally relented with our Max Holloway stubbornness. We had him still ranked at number one for pretty much the entirety of the existence of these rankings.

AK, did we finally land in the right place? And why do you think it took so long and why are Casey and I such jerks? Well, it's not just you two. I mean, let's check out all the talk after the second fight. I mean, it was a very close fight. I think it's one of the robbery reviews I'm most proud of. probably, I can't remember the traffic, probably one of the most red ones. It was understandable.

It was, it depending, honestly, depending how you score fights personally, I mean, there was a case for Holloway. You know, the whole Pride Rules thing, he knocked, he knocked or stunned Volcanovsky twice. I think Volcanoxie clearly won the last three rounds, but the images that people took away from that fight were Holloway hurting Volcanowski significantly, not so much the other way around, though I'm sure Holloway didn't exactly have a fun time in there, getting whatever, have 100, 120 significant strikes, however many got hit with in the last, the last, the last, arounds that fight. But that, he's always such a popular fighter.

Volkanowski, for some reason, is just kind of not clicking with people in like a mainstream way. Or wasn't. I would say, I think he is now. I don't know. It feels like he's crossed some sort of threshold with that. Well, he's definitely stopped caring, which always helps. It's definitely one of those things where, you know, some people try too hard to get people to like them. And of course, that almost never works in sports in any realm of entertainment. And then once you kind of take on that, I don't give a crap attitude, then it's like, oh, you know, you're playing hard to get a little bit and suddenly people a little more into you.

Plus, it helps that his fights have just been awesome. I mean, the Ortega fight, one of the best featherweight title fights I've ever seen, the zombie fight, pure dominance. But I don't know, but I know why. I think part of it is also that we've kind of had to accept Holloway might be a guy who never fights more than one time a year again. And he is Owen 2 versus Volcanovsky. So it's just really hard, even though we know he's as good, you know, based on that one fight

and business resume is like, you can easily say he's as good as Volcanovsky, but we have to reward activity, we have to reward actual performance, we have to award, like we said, a guy who's clearly starting to endure himself to a greater part of the fan base. Will he ever be as popular as Max?

I don't know. But I do think that it's not hard now for more people after the zombie win to say that this guy is better than Max Holloway, at least until they get to have that trilogy. I will say the way in which, like because ultimately what what causes right it's him beating korean zombie which that shouldn't

like korea i know we all hold korean zombie in high respect like we all you know he's he's a legend of the game he's one of the fan favorites but like beating korean zombie is not the best achievement that alexander volkinovsky has in his entire career it's not i wouldn't even say it's top three so like why was it this one right and for me it felt like this fight was such a flawless a plus just like whatever you go you want to say is the perfect performance that was basically it to the point where it was almost like a slap in the face of just like, dude, like how long you're going to deny this? Like, how long are you going to deny me that I'm easily the best dude in this division? And it's, it's becoming just like so in your face and apparent that like if

you're arguing for anybody else at this point, even if it's max, like, it's just not there. It's just not it's not the same thing. And to me, this was like the real wake up call of like, dude, you're, you, you're, you're just being ridiculous. Jed, am I an idiot? for taking this long, like the fact that it took this long? I, a little bit. Yeah. I mean, you're not, of all the corners to really want to die on, there are worst corners to be on as our unnamed panelist has staked some of those claims out.

This one was always a very weird one to me because it felt so much to me. Like it was just people really like Max and they were refusing. Totally might be part of it too, if I'm being honest. I love Max. That is what it always felt to me because they fought for 50 minutes. And if you scored that last fight for Max, okay. The first one, I honestly wasn't that. It was competitive, but it wasn't close.

The first one was a blowout. Like out of the 10 rounds they fought, Max, at one at best four and probably actually only one three. And so to me, it has been extremely clear the whole time that Alexander Volcanowski is the best featherweight. and it just felt like he's not popular. And so we all love Max and everyone was holding on to that, which honestly feels even more in retrospect now as the, as you were saying, him beating Korean zombie is less about, you know, oh, he beat Korean zombie and more about, oh, he beat a guy who I really like.

And now I can feel justified as opposed to him maybe beating Max Holloway, you know, because some people are still really dug in on that and beating Jose Aldo in a way that wasn't the most entertaining. It kind of his- Even the Ortego one where it's like he almost loses to Ortego whereas Max came out and blew him out of water like blew him out. Yeah. And let's also.

Interesting career in that way. And let's also not forget, you know, to defend your pick, even though I've had Volcanowski number one the entire time. Let's also not forget since losing to Volcanowski, you know, hollow went out there and, you know, worked Calvin Cater and, you know, landed 800 significant strikes. And then he did have a bit of a war with the Iyer Rodriguez. has, but that was a really fun fight, and he still won it and looked good doing it.

That's another top five opponents, so it's kind of like Holloway's done nothing to disprove that he's still the second best guy in the world at worst. You know, he's done nothing to dissuade that opinion. And if you truly believe he beat Volcanowski the second time, I get it a little bit, even though, again, I thought the second fight was close enough to where I scored it for Max, but I had no problem with Volcanowski winning. And he won handily in the first one, 4946, and I agree with Jed. at worst at best max has won four rounds and I think you know it's probably closer to three so yeah

I mean that's why but I understand it because not only had Max had that really close fight with Volcanovsky the second time but he's also done nothing to disprove his place in the division and his other fights you know beating Calvin Cater beating Ia Rodriguez so I get the argument but you know at some point you got to come around on the talent and and the the appeal of Alexander Volcanowski not only does he have two wins over Max but he now has as, you know, a convincing whatever Brian Ortega, yes, he got caught in a couple of dicey submissions, but he got out and, you know, beat up Orteg outside of that. And then to go out there and just put on a masterclass, a fight that he's supposed to win.

He is supposed to beat the Korean zombie. But the zombie is one of those guys that we hold in high regard because he doesn't go away easy. He's not a guy who just put out. And he went out there and just, I mean, did zombie land a punch? Did he land anything in that fight? Like, it was completely. Statistically, he landed like 50 shots, according to. I don't believe it.

I don't believe it. I had this conversation with Mike afterwards because I looked it up was like, this cannot be correct. Yeah. There's no. What's constituting some of those punches? Like, nothing. That is as close to a perfect,

flawless performance. Like that is a straight Mortal Kombat flawless victory as we've seen in the last two years. Like it wasn't like a flawless one round thing. Like it was, I will say, I, there's something about the way all this has played out. It almost feels to me like the worm has turned a little bit where

obviously Max and Volker are going to fight for a third time. If that had taken place a year ago, I would have favored Max. At this point, I wonder if we are too far gone down whatever this path Max is where obviously he's still young. I think he's probably still in his 20s. I could be wrong, but I think he's probably like 28, 29 range. He feels much older than that because in fight years he probably is much older than that, right? Like this is the guy who's gone through.

Okay, so he just turned 30. Well, he turned 30 in December. Okay. So he just feels much older than 30 to me. And I wonder, like, if they fight, if they fight next, I'm favoring Alex. And I wonder if we kind of reached the best of Max. Like the, the, the, the, the Ayer Wars, like, you can only do that for so much, man. Here, here's what I'll say on this, because I think I have been amongst the bigger Max haters.

Not that I'm a hater, but I just feel like I've been realistic. And most of the NBA community has been not. I have been predicting he was going to fall off physically for like three years for exactly the stuff you're saying, because he's been he's been competing since 18 he's taken a lot of like he fought Dustin Porriet in that that adds two years to your life I was like I'm saying one of the best Sean we were at that fight it was one of the best fights ever seen and it was a he took monster shots from Porier and I thought after that I was like he's just going to drop off you can't you can't take this he's been so hard well also he had the he had the brain thing

with yeah he had the he had the he was having all these these sorts of things. He's just going to fall off physically. And then he ate a ton of shots of Calvin Cater and Yaya Rodriguez. And he seems to be impervious to damage still. At some point, you imagine that will go away. But I've been thinking it was going to happen for years and it hasn't happened yet. So I wouldn't at all be shocked if he's just made of something different than other men are.

I just think, like, is matchup wise also when you look at the way the Volcanowski, like, when you look at how Volcanowski dealt with Max in a way that no one else has done, that. I mean, he took Max out of his game. He lowered the amount of shots that Max was able to throw and land. He took Max out of his game. Mac, we know what Max does. Max is the Energizer Bunny and kind of like the Diaz style where he's just coming after you constantly with punches. He does not slow down. Yeah, the snowball rolling down a hillside. Yeah, Volcanozky slowed him down twice. Twice he did it because the latter rounds are the one in the rematchel. We're Volcanoxie won. He'd lost the early rounds. And then he came back in three, four, and five and won. I mean, I'm with you.

I think Volcanoxie would be favored. And I don't, there's not a featherweight on earth right now that I would pick to be Volcanozkin. I think that also says a lot about where he's at because I like Patricio Pitbull. I've obviously been very high on A.J. McKee. I like, you know, I like, you know, I wish we had gotten to see more out as a beat before he went on his, you know, Exodus from the sport, all those kind of things. But there's not a featherweight on earth right now that I would pick to beat Volkanowski. And I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't know. I don't. I None of those fights would I feel like hesitant to pick him in. Like I would not feel like even in the trilogy and Max.

Like I think that's his toughest opponent, but I still favor Alex. Well, I think one thing too that speaks to that is this past month we had a little bit of a change to with the pound for pound rankings where for pretty much the entirety that we have been doing this, the pound for pound rankings have been comprised of the three kings, the three African-born UFC champions. Kumar Usman, Issyanaa and Francis and Ganu taken up those top three spots. And finally, again, whatever it was about this one, the fact that, again, it's not even close to Volk's most impressive win. Yet this is the one that did it. Volk has now invaded that top three. Volk has now our number three pound for pound male fighter in the sport. I have number two on my list.

I finally Maya Copeland in a big way, I think. It feels like there is almost like an overcorrection happening right now with Alexander Volcanovsky. That's very interesting to watch. Well, to me fair, I was the one I was the one to center. I did not move him up in my pound for pound rankings. It's not because I don't like, I think he's incredible, but I do weigh the zombie win. Like, Korean zombie, again, great five, fun fighter, you know, perennial top 10 guy. He's never been a top five guy.

He's never been a legitimate, like, I never thought he would beat Jose Aldo a decade ago, and I never thought he would beat Alexander Volcanowski two weeks ago. So is Volcanovsky amazing? 100%. He's incredible. Just that win in a particular didn't do enough for me to say he's better. than, you know, what the other guys in the pound for pound list.

By the way, I mean, he's been number one for me for a while, but yeah. You also had him at five, though, so, like, there's not a ton of room to move up. Yeah, same. Other people, like, I didn't move him either, but he's been four for me forever. Yeah, that's just, so,

whereas other people, you know, there was some room to move him up, and I'm glad to see that cooler heads prevailed with our unnamed panelists, too, had him, like, outside the top 10 pound for pound fighters. I think 15 or something. Not me.

Not me, but as someone. Again, someone who may have recently want to fight. Listen, and inactivity hurts. I know it hasn't been that long since Ngadu fought. Like, the UFC. He fought January. That's a lifetime ago. Where were you in January?

You're about to make an inactivity case. This calendar year. No, no, but it's not just that. When is he going to fight again? We know. That's not. That does matter. No, it doesn't matter.

No, it doesn't. When is how he could at least? We have no idea. We know. He could at least fight again into the next three months. We know Francis Nganu isn't filed to the end of the year. This is the same thing. No, no, no, no, no.

Hold on, listeners. You can also break his foot tomorrow. You're not a time traveler. You don't have access to the future. You can't go and do this. Oh, so Francis Nganu might fight this year. He might. He might.

He said that he's got from knee surgery for the next like nine months. He said he said November. November December is winning. That's like right at the end of the year. That's part of the year. Is that still the year? That would still be something. That will still be something you fought twice in 2020.

Listeners, I apologize. Listeners, I apologize for letting these two guys talk this long. I should talk over them. Are you guys telling me that that Francine Ghanu is just as likely or more likely to fight again this year than Alexander Volkanowski? No, but what is that? No, I'm telling you, it doesn't matter at all. Because we know we might, Volcanowski fought more recently. We know he's going to be active.

So there's a reason we push him up. It matters. It matters. It matters to people. No. If he does fight and win again, then I will push him up. Yeah. But if he, but I can't say he's going to.

One, he's talking a lot of greasiness. right now about maybe I want to go to lightweight or like I have no idea what he's going to do and I'm not going to project. Okay. He's going to fight three more times. If he does, he'll be my top pound for power fighter. I didn't move Volcanovsky up because like I said, I do think Gondi's resume is like super strong.

But I will say like it wouldn't surprise me if people at this point and their own personal listeners, you can tweet at us, whatever, your own personal power panelist. If you were, people are already kind of dropping Ganu down just because again, they don't think they're going to see him again soon. I think that matters. I don't think that doesn't. That feels like a flawed way to look at it. I disagree completely.

So just because he's been out longer, he loses his ranking because he's not potentially fighting. That's what we're ranking in on because... That's the way I've seen a lot of people do their rankings. So, I mean, I think you guys, whether looking at it, realizing it or not, if you look at your rankings, you have punished people for inactivity or for potentially inactivity. So Adasanya fought in February. I don't know.

He hasn't been booked yet. So I guess I'm going to drop him out of my top pound for pound because I have no idea when he he's fighting next day. People are saying, does he have any injury that's going to keep? him out until November or December. No, for sure. He can't fight.

You are correct in that I will punish him for inactivity. When that comes, I will preemptively say, that's the time. I'm saying, don't tell me. It's the same thing. Don't tell me it's the same thing. You guys are being disingenuous by saying it's the same thing. I am. Today it is.

Today it is, you dropping him in your rankings, if you were to drop him in your rankings today, because he probably won't fight this year. I know, but I'm saying in this world you're talking about, Today it is disingenuous. In four months when Volk has picked up another win, that's not disin, that's just realistic. He added another win to his resume. It's disingenuous to say it's likely that in Ghana, we'll fight soon. I'm cutting in because I don't actually even know what we're arguing at this point.

This is a very strange side road. Listeners, no, I don't even need to make a case. Listeners know what I'm saying. This is the angriest I've seen AK get in like months. Keep that same energy, A.K. I know I'm right. I know I'm right. One thing I want to hit about,

the featherweights before we move on. A little side note to all of this. Bellator now following this Pitbull-Makee saga that we have been following, has two of the top four feather weights in the world in our rankings. Pitbull and McKee number three, number four, respectively. Two of the top four, does that feel correct? The fact that Bellator would have two of the top four at 145? No.

You say no. Tell me why. that that feels okay to me if you are doing your rankings by my methodology of these people will beat these people in a given fight which most of our rankings panel says that they do their methodology based primarily on resume and look people people did the damn thing against a j mckee and that is awesome and i'm here for it a j mckees wins are over who in In our current rankings, like I'm trying to look at our featherweight. The number three featherweight Pitbull. That's it, though. He's got one. He has one win over a currently ranked fighter.

Pitbull has the win over McKee, which he also has the loss to. And he's got a win over Michael Chandler lightweight. Like that's, that it's, to me it seems it's fine to do it from a, yeah, I don't know, I'd probably pick Pitbull to like beat, I don't know, give me. Or Tega or somebody. Well, I hate. I'm well known for hating Brian Ortega, but I'd probably still pick Brian Ortega, but I'd pick BitBull to beat like Josh Emmett or whatever in a fist fight. So that's fine.

But if you are saying you're doing it off of who they've beaten, that feels a lot tougher because Brian Ortega is out there doing the damn thing. Arnold Allen hasn't lost in ever or whatever. But to that point, you know. To that point, though, you mentioned Arnold Allen. Who is Arnold Allen beaten? Yeah. Dan Hooker.

That's about Gilbert, Gilber. for Melendez four years ago man that's a big one. Nick Lins, Nick Lins. But he also hasn't lost. Yeah, yeah. But you can also say that about AJ. You can say AJ hasn't fought anybody, but yes,

he just lost a pit bull, but that was his first loss ever. And Dan and Arnold Allen, uh, he's, his biggest win is now over Dan Hooker who is like three and six at Fed overweight. I'm not sure. I'm not making that number up, but like he's not, he was never,

might be right with that uh nick lince and i like cadiouc yusuf very much i mean cedic usa's a quality fight but again not and then after that it's gilbert melendez jordan rinaldi mads bernel there's your bellator guy uh and mac wannamere connie so yeah i don't know that arnold allen has really put together a resume to say man this guy's yes he hasn't lost but who's he beaten i don't i don't know that anybody was propping up arnold allen maybe is the well no i'm just saying in that top five That may have been the bad answer, but like, I think it's even me, a man who is well known as hating Brian Ortega thinks that like Brian Ortega should be ahead of both of those gentlemen. Well, so, Damon, I know you, you, you correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you have Pitbull at 3 and McKee at 4, which I do as well. Like, why is that the move in your opinion?

Like, Belta are having two of the top four. Why is it feel right for you? Well, for one, I think, you know, you look at Pitbull's entire. Pitbull actually does have a pretty solid resume overall. I think, you know, the win over him is where AJ gets kind of jumped ahead because AJ was undefeated. I think in terms of level of competition, it's not that different from, as I mentioned, like a guy like Arnold Allen, who is considered one of the top guys in the UFC, and then

you go out there and starch Pitbull in, you know, two minutes, knock him out and submit him basically in the same fight. That's the big quality win you need. Pitbull coming back and getting revenge in the rematch and close fight again. And I think that's also why AJ didn't just bottom out. fall further down the rankings versus like, let's say, in a Lima-Lay McFarland, who loses to Justine Kish, there's a reason why she went completely out of my rankings, because that's a really, really bad loss. Pitbull beating A.J. McKee in a three to two, you know, 48, 47 decision is not a terrible, terrible loss.

So A.J. only fell back one spot for me where he was number three. Now he's number four, and pit bull did get a win over a guy I considered to be a top five featherways. So pit bull slots in a number three. I like Brian Ortega. I'm kind of with Jed a little bit on the Brian Ortega thing. I've never been super, super high on him. But I can't completely erase his resume. But, you know, I mean, getting, you know, getting, getting, you know, getting close to beating Alexandria to Roganovsky with two submission, but this then getting, you know, beaten into hamburger meat for the rest of the fight doesn't really add a whole lot to him.

He does he does have a convincing win over a Korean zombie, but, you know, where does zombie really right at this point in his career? So, yeah, I mean, based on what they've done recently, Pitbull and AJ McKearer, right there. Again, Ortega's number five in my rankings, I just can't put them in number three. As we just discussed, beating Korean zombie suddenly makes you one of the

best pounds fighters in the world. Apparently so, yes, apparently that's true. Chad, I am a little confused by one thing. I'm not calling you out, but you did say using your methodology, then you would understand why Pitbull and McKee are in the top five, but ironically, you're the only one who doesn't have both guys, I think.

I think you're the only one who doesn't have both guys in the top five. five and six yeah i mean close enough but what like then why i'm just saying arnold allen i mean because i i would pick on an allan to beat them but that is the way if that's the way you're you're doing it is that way like totally get it because i'm i would not bet my house that arnold allen would win a fist fight against either man i would just pick him to win that i've i've been big on arnold allen allen around forever and i was really impressed by his the way he approached the dan hooker fight. And so I'm, you know, I'm investing early in that R& Allen stock because it's, it's great.

You want to get it on the ground floor so you can say, I told you so. I told you guys. Well, you're, you've got you bought a new house off those Hamzat dividends. Well, hold on. Those Hansat dividends. And, and let me tell you, I've got some lightweight stock that, uh, it's going to, that's going to cash out at some point, buddy. Is the Makachev is going to go to pay for my kids college. So that's a perfect segue to our final segment here because you're talking about investing early, getting in on the ground floor. The last division we want to hit today is the bantam weights.

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slash business protection to learn more. Canada Life, insurance, investments, advice. Buy the dip, baby. Because we had a lot of conflict resolution in our rankings this month, especially at the tops of these divisions. And Bantamweight was almost the perfect example. Ever since we've started these rankings,

there has been no consensus at all between the Al Jemann-Sterling Peter Yon situation. At one point, there was a lot most people were pro aljo and then people became mostly pro peter and then it kind of has flop back now to where seven out of eight of our panelists have now conceded aljamae sterling the number one fighter in the world at this weight class there is still one man who's holding out for peter yon on our rankings i do not understand it at this point he said he scored the fight a draw he said he scored the fight a draw well you know okay whatever he's not here to defend himself i'm just but i will say again speaking to a what I was just speaking to about getting in early, Jed, you have been at one, I think at one point, you were sort of the last man standing with the Al Jemaine Sterling train. Maybe one other person was there with you. And one other.

But you were more or less the last man holding the t-shirt waiting to, you know, get your shine. So I got to say, you get a little victory lap here because you're right. You were right. And everyone has now come to your side. Take the victory lap. We don't give it out often. Congrats. I'm not going to take a big one because.

I it was not a pick I felt the most confident and certainly because even going into that their rematch was like oh, Peirler's probably going to win this as I watched a bunch of tape. I think at one point you told me there is no actual way Al Jermain's going to win this fight after watching tape. Yeah, because and that was a bit hyperbolic because I wrote for the site saying here's how Aljo can win. It was basically exactly what it did. I didn't think, I knew that it was possible.

I just didn't think it was possible for him because of the way he's fought and all the bagged he was carrying. I just assumed he would not be really smart and really good. And then he was both of those things. And now that man taking the world's biggest victory lap and no one deserves it more. But the whole time, I've just, I treated Al Jermaine Sterling's win over Peter Yan as a legitimate win the first time because I firmly believe that that was a legitimate win. and this second one I thought was a pretty clear 4846 for him and he's he's the best band of weight in the world you know like maybe peterion will get a third crack at him and be able to do the thing that time but if if they're rematching I'm still going to pick aljimate starling because I still think he can be a human backpack to anybody at this

weight class that he's really good and he I'm glad he is finally getting the shine And everybody, everybody, well, almost everybody, can't say everybody, because obviously. It's unbelievable that we're still having this debate. Some person decided that it was not, but almost everybody kind of go, almost everybody is on board to at least acknowledge that Al Jemaine Sterling has done enough because he has. Outside of the Peoria fights, his resume is better. He has just done more and deserves to have the recognition. as the best guy in the world at his weight class.

Can I defend the, because he's not here? Absolutely. It's indefensible. Do you really need to? No, I actually, I'll be honest to. Of course, listen, I, I, I'm with you guys. I'm on the Sterling. I'm back on the Sterling train.

But I understand where our dear friend is coming from because, okay, so he thought Jan was winning the first fight, but I'm with you, Jed, you know, I still count that as a legitimate win for Stunt. DQ win is a DQ win. Rules rule. So there's no asterisk next to that win for me. That Sterling won that fight. I'm sorry.

He won by his qualification. You just say it every time. And that matters. That matters how he won, but that is official. This fight, again, I understand the draw. I saw a lot of people scoring it a draw. So if you thought that Yon won the first fight and then did enough to fight Sterling to a standstill and you already had, you know, Yon ahead, then I can understand why you wouldn't switch their positions. Again, I scored the fight for-

Here's my issue with that exact argument, though, because I think that there's a very clear problem with that argument. And the problem is you are scoring the first fight, not based on the actuality of it, but how you felt a thing was going. However, any human being in the world who watched that second fight, if you want to score it a draw, officially okay. But the winner of that fight was clearly Al Jermaine Sterling. the one who, if you just ask somebody off the street, who won that fight, they'd be like you know that dude who had the other guys back for 10 minutes. He clearly pride rules

won that fight. And so who was this who was this educated person that you drank out of this. Randall on the street talking about pride rule. What? I'm just saying in this circumstance, you are giving Jan the benefit of the doubt in the first fight and not extending that

same benefit to Aljo in the second. And that feels entirely a I do not personally want. It's a Corey Anderson. I personally don't want to put Al Jal Jain Stelling is the best guy because to me, to me, those things are very closely related. And if you're going to do that for Yon, you need to extend the same courtesy to Aljo if you call it a draw.

Okay, it's a draw that Yon lost in the same way that, sure, it's a DQ that Yon won. 100%. I mean, it's me standing on my Holloway corner. Like, at a certain point, you lose. You lost. You were wrong. You got to just admit it. This gentleman panel, this gentleman panelists has many opinions, which I find truly heinous.

This is not, this is not one of them. This is what I just, I do disagree with it. Well, here's a, but I think there's a, I think there's a case. I, and I think you're completely, completely insane. There's no case. There's not a case. Preach. Okay.

Because, because here's the thing. Here's the thing. Like, okay, we, like, I earlier, I made my argument about Corey Anderson being number one, like heavyweight based on the fight, how it was going to Vadim Knoff, understanding there's going to be people who are going to argue, there were still two more rounds to go, I get all that, but based on the visual, what I saw, I saw a better fighter in Corey Anderson beating Vadine Nimcoff. Under that statement of argument, that's also why I had Peter Yon ranked ahead of Algeman

Sterling. Based on the way the fight was going up to the DQ, Peter Yon was winning one-handed. There's a one-sided fight to that point. Outside of the first round, Peter Yon was dominating him, going. into that fourth round and of course we had the unfortunate ending. So I still had Peter Yon ahead of him. I don't see how you could potentially even argue against it now that Al Jain Sterling is number one.

Not only was he winning the fight, he again, to just back what Jed said, he had the most dominant moments in the fight. He had his back for two. The fact that, I mean, I'm sorry, I'm going to do it. I didn't want to do it, but I'm going to do it. The fact that there was no 10-8 round in that second round is still utterly ridiculous. to me and you could even you could make an argument for round three but or for you know for round three but i'm not i'll just say round two for sure al germain won that fight you can try to argue

with me it was a draw it wasn't a draw aljermaine sterling won to fight and if you add in the dq even if you don't like the way it ended then aljermaine sterling is the number one bantam weight in the world peter yon is number two i have him number two and i'll probably leave my number two unless he loses that's it end of argument you cannot justify to me Peter Jan still being number one in the world based on any rational thought. Now, if you want to be irrational, which, let's be honest, rankings are from time to time, okay, fine. And it's going to be chaos rules, then so be it.

But in this case, Al Jermaine Sterling has done everything he needed to do to take his victory lab. I was wrong about the rematch. I was completely wrong about the rematch because I was so high. I was so high on Peter Jan. I was like, man, no one's going to be Peter Jan right now. David was the best wrong, though. I was. I was. I was the most wrong. But it wasn't Al Jamein I was wrong about. I was 100% on the Peter Yon train. I was like, man, Peter Yon looks unbeatable. What he did to Corey and what he did in the first fight? I was like, he looks unbeatable. Al Jameen Sterling went out there and fought the perfect game plan. Did he take his foot off the gas a little bit in rounds? Sure. But, you know, again, he went out there and completely dominated two of the rounds. And at least one of those should have been a 10-8. But neither here nor there. Al-Germaine's number one. Peter Yon's number two. That to me is the

into discussion until they meet again or, you know, Algeman loses. Yeah, and that's it. I mean, I was wrong. I'm willing to accept that I was wrong. I was wrong a couple different times in this pot. It just happens. We all were wrong for the most part. Even Jed was wrong, who is the person here who was saying, he was actually right.

He was wrong, too. So it happens. I have no regrets. I'm no regrets guy showing my chest right now with a no regrets tat. We got them together. I feel great about where I was at. Can I tell you ahead of time, no, I'm just going to put a spoiler in it for next month's rankings and I don't want to I'm just I know we got to wait till the fights play out how things are

going to go but I'm just going to tell you ahead of time right now my pound for pound rankings are going to change in June in May because I'll tell you right now Lance uppercut is going to get a spot in that top five pound for pounds I'm just saying that's 100% going to get a spot in that top five I'm just saying people are sleeping on Lance what about some of these other hitters abandon weight though you know bell toer got some some of some of them going to break into your pound for pound is Danny sabs D sabs going to make a run for you? Oh, I mean, we don't even need to go down to say, Danny Sabatelo's side road, because we're going to be talking for three hours if we do that. But that's a great segue for the

last thing we wanted to hit about the bantam weights, because right now, if you look at this bantam weight top 15, we have on M.A. fighting, and even just the top 13, really, it's unusual in that Bellator has four of the top 13 bantam weights in our top 13 bantam weights in the world. that to me I might be wrong but that to me feels like the most any non-UFC promotion has had in a single division in our rankings and I will so I throw it to all of you guys I mean A did we get this right B is that like is bellator's bantamate division kind of low-key the most impressive division a non-UFC promotion has had since like the days of strike force and I guess among those that group like who you guys highest on that's a bunch of questions throughout there but just in general Actually, Gene, as you know, I'm a facts check. I do believe we must have at some point have had Corey Anderson, Bader, Phil Davis, Nemcov, and probably Rumble Johnson, right, at some point. Maybe not Rumble.

I don't know all the sense of the way Rumble works. Well, he's in there now. No, yeah, you might be right. That actually is her. So he probably was in there. But Light Heavyweight's so weird. So that's like Bantamweight. Oh, you mean real normal division.

Yeah, like an actual division. Like a real division. Like an actual good division. Not piles of garbage. A division that many people. wrongly claim is the best in the sport. Yeah. Wait, are you talking about Banton? Wait.

Yeah. Okay, we don't need to go down there. Stop it. Did we get this right, though? And like, is this, is this say something? Like, is this the best division you've seen in a while outside of the industry? It feels right. Belator has invested.

This is what happens when you invest in a division. Beltor has invested, bringing in Sergio Pettis. You know, Petis committing to 135, making Hormor Gucci a permanent part of the roster, you know, not just sort of this kind of shared. Verizon talent that they had. Signing guys like Patchy Mix, Wanner Triletta, Rufian Stats, these are quote unquote homegrown

Bellator guys. That's big. They're scouting departments on point. They did the Grand Prix. They promoted the division well. It feels like a perfect fit for the rankings right now having Pettit. We've got Pettus at 8, Stots at 9, Horoucci 13, Mix at 12.

Some people, I don't think so. I think our top 7 is pretty solid, but I'm sure there's some who would say, some of these names, maybe a Pettus, maybe, I don't know, maybe not Rufian Stott's yet. But like, Sergio Pettus belongs in the top five. I don't know. I wouldn't go that, I wouldn't go that crazy yet. Because, again, I do think this is a strong, very, very deep division with a lot of people with

established resumes. But if you're Bellator, you can certainly tout, like, well, we think Pettus could beat Rob, well, I'm sorry, that fight happened. We think Sergio Pettus could be, I don't know, Colis Anagan, maybe, but. That at that at his core, and I have three Belator fighters in my, top 15, but they're on the latter part of the top 15. It's not because I don't think they're good. It's because, and listen, I like Sergio Pettus,

solid what he's done, beating, you know, Juan Archeletta going out there and doing what he's done has been impressive. That being said, I cannot forget what he did in the UFC. I can't forget him getting 3026 by Henry Sehudo. I can't forget him getting beat by Rob Fon. I can't erase those from my memory. So if Sergio Pettis is the gold standard of Bellator's Bantamades, I can't crack that top seven, eight in the rankings.

I just can't do it because of who they're good. I don't, I wouldn't, I don't know that Sergio Pettis is the best bantamweight in Belator. I don't think any of us would actually say like it. I think it's just a free for all. Like, I think he loses to Horaguchi in a rematch. And I think Stots probably beats him as well. And I, and listen, I think. Stats ranked above him.

Yeah, Stats. Stats looked. I mean, Stats getting a head kick was incredible. And I really look forward to the day we get to see Stats versus Danny Sabatelo because people forget, uh, people forget Stats was actually a division three national champion at one point in wrestling. So that's going to be a really issue. Uh, yeah, I know a D3.

I'm not sure if he was D2. I think he was a D3 and a D2. I think he was a two-time. I know he was two-time. And then Danny, of course, wrestled at Purdue, which is Big Ten, which is the best,

you know, in all of college wrestling with Penn State and, of course, the Ohio State University. That being said, I look forward to that match. But Stats has looked incredible, and you can't deny what Patchy Mix went out there

and did to Kioju or Guzhu, who we all have a lot of respect for. I just... Which, by the way, I'm still stunned by. Like, that was the... If I had to pick one result on that card, between the bantam weights that I felt really confident about. I thought Horiguchi was going to win that.

I'm going to have to start jumping back into our fight picks again because I absolutely would have picked patchy mix to win that fight. But that was a good win. So, yeah, they're all there. I just, I have a hard time bumping them higher than where they're at right now. And again, I think like if I look at my rankings right now, like I, you know, when you look outside the top seven, you're talking about Dominic Cruz, you're talking about Pedro, Munoz, you're talking about Marlon Vera, Chito Vera.

They're all, those are guys you could see them jump. But I don't think they'll ever get to a point. where I'll say unless they just lose and they just look terrible. Like I can't imagine moving one of them over Morab. I can't imagine moving to one of them over Dillishaw or Aldo or San Hagan. Like that, I think it's going to take a lot for the Belator guys to get close to that like top seven. But do they deserve the spots of the top 15? 100%. I come down somewhere in the middle of this.

I think there's some opportunity we overcorrected here because I think there's some opportunity that we are all just too high on Kyojy Horg. And because of... It's totally possible. And because of the way that it works out, like, okay, well, Pettis beat Horaguchi, so we have to have them in there. And Mix just did it. And we have to have them in there. We don't want Keoggi to drop.

And then Stott's probably would beat Horoguchi. And it's just like you sort of, because we all like Keoggi, we just had to put four of them in. I don't think it's wrong, though. I think ultimately kind of where I've, as I've been thinking about this, is the problem is for as much as people want to say that Bannonweights, It's the best division. It's a great division. It's really fun. It's also in this weird spot where the UFC rankings have a lot of people who are, frankly, old.

Like, Dominic Cruz is Dominic Cruz, and I've never been a huge cruise guy, whatever. I think it is unquestionable that he is not at his peak, and he is holding on to a ranking in that division based on not competing that often and a name. Frankie Edgar is also old. Mali Marius is still in the UFC's rankings and he retired and was killed five times in a row or something insane. Like it's a weird transition stage for their for their rankings. And so it's this very very easy to say, okay, well, these four guys who are competing and doing things, we can put all of them in. And I don't think it's wrong. I also think that like is totally possible that any of those guys could come to the UFC and be a fringe top 15 dude because we saw Sergio Pettis Luz to Rob Fon.

So to some extent, I guess I'm with Damon that I don't think they're going to make a run to the top. I think where they're at's fine. I also think it's very possible that maybe if they were in the UFC competing against this sort of rotation, they would not be quite as high as they are. So it's just kind of an interesting way with how this division works right now. Can I throw out a question? I'm just curious about because where I have them ranked, I have them like it like, I think I have like 12, 13, 14, like right at the bottom of the top 15.

11, 12, 13, yeah. Yeah, right there. They're right towards the bottom. And I like all these guys. One guy I don't have ranked, who I do, I legitimately do think he's a really good guy. He just hasn't had great competition. It's Sean O'Malley. Would you pick any of those three guys to beat Sean O'Malley?

I have all four of the mic above Sean O'Malley because I believe all of them would beat him, though I think Pettis would be the most interesting fight. O'Malley could be Petty. I'm just curious. I'm just kind of, O'Malley's not my rankings, but I would pick O'Malley to beat Pettus. I would pick him to beat Stats. Oh, I would not pick Stots for that all day. And I think, I think Patchy Mix would be the one really interesting one because of the grappling factor. Yeah, I would pick Stots and mix over O'Malley all day.

Pettis, I'm with you. And frankly, I would pick Horaguchi, but it might be one of those things. I'm only said, I only use O'Malley as an example because O'Malley's not a good example. O'Malley's not my top 15, but he's like on the fringe. Like, he's like that guy. I think he got bumped. I think he was in my top 15. He got bumped because maybe.

went in and Stats went in because Stats wasn't in my top 15 before. Now he is because you knock out one archelaide and that's a good win. I will say, Jed, I think your point about Horaguchi is really interesting in that I think we all just really like Kioji Horaguchi. And so the fact that he's in this mix and now is losing to these guys almost forces us to put them in. Like that's a really interesting point. And I think that's accurate because MMA math at work. Because even after two losses, I remain very high on Kioji Horaguchi.

Somebody on this somebody in this podcast dropped Horaguchi out of his top 15 I'm just saying just saying somebody here did I don't think that's wrong I also again I would pick Kyogi to beat Marlon Vera

so that's why he's in my rankings yeah well I don't disagree with the hell out of Marlon Vera so so let's end on this because we've gone long I just quickly to everybody of these four and we'll even throw our boy D. Sabs in there

Dennis and Sabatelo could be in this as well so the five guys that are sort of in this Bantamweight mix right now for Belator. Who, if you had to just pick one, give me one name. Who's most likely to pull a pit bull to where a year from now, we're like, oh, is this dude a top three guy in this division? Stots for me? I think I agree, Stots.

Stats for me as well. I think the ceiling's pretty high on him because he's a great striker, but I think people forget his wrestling, man. He's a tremendous wrestling too. Great promo, too. Great promo. You'll be seeing a lot of Stats. That's the thing, too, is the lead up to a Sabatelo Stats fight.

would be really awesome. I have a lot of, I have a lot of respect for Juan Archeletta. I had him ranked until this most recent thing for a long time. And yeah, I think Stats is, Stots is the best of the bunch. And I think out of all of us, I've probably been the highest on patchy mix, and I'm still very high on him, but there's still parts of his game that worry me, you know, like when I see what happened to the archeletta fight, when I see like. When he has to strike, is that the part of the game?

When he can't just get a backpack? Yeah, but to that, yeah, he hasn't developed the way that Sterling did where Sterling actually added real good striking to his game when he went out there and outstruck, you know, Pedro Munoz and beat him up on the feet for three rounds. Like, he developed that. That's what Patchy makes is missing. But Stats is the complete package, in my opinion. He's an incredible striker and he's a phenomenal wrestler too. Like, 100%. Yeah.

So I take back, by the way, I was not. I'm wrong. I would pick Stats to beat Amali. I'm wrong about that. But I would pick O'Malley to beat Patchy and, uh, and, and Sergio. Sorry,

I mix that up. I would pick him to meet those guys. Look, I've taken a lot of hells. Watch him fight. I've taken a lot of else on this podcast.

I'm going to take one victory lap. I was way early on the Stats train. I had him ranked when no one else had him ranked. You did. And you guys were slow on it. And so I'm going to take my one victory lap that I get this podcast because otherwise. No, you deserve it because you've had him there for a hot minute at the back end of your ranking.

He was one of those guys. He just kind of slipped on. He kept. flipping under radar. Like he was good, but I was like, yeah, but, you know, who's he beat? Which is, it's funny because he's a great promo. He's a great press. Like, he does a great press conference.

It's just, when he, when he did that to Archelaide, when you head kick Artcholetta like that, and Archiletta is just, you just, again, I have, even though I have Archelada ranked, I have a ton of respect for Juan Archelada. You go out there and head kick him the way he did and beat him. That's a phenomenal win to me. All right. Well, this has been another episode of the M.A. Fighting Ranking Show.

Let's go ahead and wrap it here. We appreciate you guys, as always. for joining us. Keep it locked to MMA fighting. Next few weeks are going to be a little crazy. I mean, we have UFC 274 coming. We have the return of Kayla Harrison coming. All sorts of stuff coming out of Bellator as well.

We just got a very busy schedule rolling in as we hit the summer. So keep it locked to MMA fighting. As always, we'll be back again next month, breaking down all the action from what looks to be a very, very interesting May. That man is Jed Mishu for Damon Martin. For Alexander K. Lee. I am Sean O'Shti. We love you guys.

And we'll see you next month. I just realized how much patchy mix is fucking this whole third. It's like, no, it's Gucci, man. You were 100% right with the Gucci thing. Well, it is. But like, also, one Archela of pea patchy mix, and I can't come in because, like, it's dominant.