MMA Fighting - Reaction: Islam Makhachev vacates title, Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 plus more fight announcements

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Islam Makhachev is vacating his title to make a move to welterweight to face new champion Jack Della Maddalena, which also results in Ilia Topuria taking on Charles Oliveira with the vacant lightweigh...t belt on the line at UFC 317. In the wake of UFC CEO Dana White announcing those fights and so much more — including a date and location for Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 in Chicago — MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee and Jed Meshew react to the huge news revealed on Tuesday. Check out the full reaction as we take a deep dive on everything just announced including multiple title fights and new main events. Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to MMA Fighting⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our full video catalog⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Like MMA Fighting on Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:19 and a future welterweight championship about involving Islam Makachev. This is MMA fighting. This is our live reaction to the crazy Florida fights that was just announced by UFC CEO, Dana White on Instagram Live. I am Alexander Kaley. Hello, everyone. My hair is a mess. This is pure chaos.
Starting point is 00:01:37 That is, this is, this is reflective of how we are reacting to the sudden flurry of fights. Some of it, which we fully expected, some of which kind of came out of nowhere. But either way, we have fights, guys. We have main events. UFC 317 and a month has a main event. International Fight Week has this main event. And we have got a co-main event too. So we got a lot to talk about here, including some like kind of under the radar weird announcements
Starting point is 00:02:01 that are also exciting in their own way. So as I said, this is AK Lee, guys. Happy to join you. Happy to have you join. us for this live reaction. I am joined by Jed Mishu as well. My hair is also a mess, but you see I
Starting point is 00:02:17 I have a hat. But I can go on, I can go hatless so we can be together in the messy hair. Yeah, and E.K.C. The beautiful E.K.C. Lighten is also here with us. We're throwing all this together, guys. We threw it all together because we got to react. We got to react.
Starting point is 00:02:35 Casey is not on camera because I don't even think he has close on. I think that's how caught up card. Oh, okay. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Sorry, I just let me do my job here. The camera's framed here for a reason. All right. Let's continue. Didn't mean to cast aspersions. Let's start with what I get, well, let's say the big news. It's really two stories tied very closely together, two stories that have been tied close together for months, really, ever since I would say February, since Ilya toporia, the undefeated featherweight champion said, I am vacating. the 145 pound belt.
Starting point is 00:03:10 According to Dana White, Ilya just didn't want to cut anymore, and Ilya has not said anything to counter that. So yes, it looks like he is done with featherweight. He's not going back down. And he thought, he said,
Starting point is 00:03:20 I'm going to fight either Islam Makachev, who he had been really mainly targeting, but he was also aware the possibility with Charles Oliva. We had the UFC 315 main event this past Saturday, which we knew had implications because Balaam Muhammad is friends with Islamakachev, and Islamakachev has talked about moving up.
Starting point is 00:03:37 270 pounds. Would that happen if Muhammad held the belt? Well, we don't need to know because he didn't. Well, Muhammad was defeated by Jack Delam Adelaidellina, clearing the path for Islam Makachiev to move up. And now we have officially, there we go, the UFC 317 main event, it will be, Ilya and Charles Olivaire for a vacant title.
Starting point is 00:03:58 And somewhere down the road, TBD, we will have Islamakov facing Jack Delamadelaela for the welterate title. Two massive fights. Jed, you've had a lot to say about both of these potential matchups and the discourse surrounding these matchups. So please, let your voice be heard. Now that this is no more debating, no more arguing. Well, I shouldn't say that. You say that.
Starting point is 00:04:20 This is. You say that. There's nothing anyone can say now. Anyway, the fights are set in stone. Knock on wood, everything sticks together. We get these belts whenever Islam and JDM is set. Where are you at, Jed? This is great.
Starting point is 00:04:36 Right. And like, I've obviously a million different thoughts. And a lot of it, I mean, even in this, this was announced less than an hour ago, the reaction has been curious in some phases to me. My biggest reaction. And then we can dive into the other particulars is this is dope, right? And like, none of this is surprising. At least it shouldn't be. Some people are surprised because they had talked themselves into something else for reasons that. remain unclear to me, but like pretty obviously, as soon as Bala Muhammad lost, it was very, very clear that Islamar Chav was going to move up and challenge Jack Delamadalena. That is now going to happen. That's functionally locked in. Once that were to happen, we knew heading into 315. If X, then Y, right? And the Charles Olivera, Ilya, Ilya, Teporia fight was certainly set to headline international
Starting point is 00:05:33 fight week, assuming all this happened. that fight rocks and so like we could dive into and we will all the various implications my first thought is just damn this is dope because if you look at the schedule they're pretty sick man like people have been up in the like well there's still no main like there's still nothing for fight week what is it we got basically a full fight card now 317 looks rocking i love that fight i love that fight before it became obvious. When it was, when Iliad Tupori was saying a year ago, six months ago, I don't need to fight for the belt.
Starting point is 00:06:10 I'll move up and fight Charles Olivera. And people are like, hell yeah, that's dope. And then people lost their minds and were like, no, he may only fight Islamakachev. No other fight matters in the entire sport. It's like, why that fight still rocks. And it's still rocks today. And it's still going to rock on June 28th when they get in there and do the damn thing. Jack Delamadalina versus Islamarov.
Starting point is 00:06:34 I never really thought about that fight until Delamadalina, you know, was now fighting for the belt and it could happen. And then after seeing last weekend, that fight also absolute stone cold rocker of a bout. The rest of international fight week, it's not mentioned on the screen here, but we got official Alhandro Pantoja versus Kai Kira France. Kind of a weird one, like based on sort of other things that play in the flyweight division, absolute stone cold banger. DDP Homsot, which we'll talk about, Stone Cold Banger. Like a bunch of sick fights have been announced. And there are certainly some people out there who are not happy about it because they wanted something different. And I can't vibe with you guys right now.
Starting point is 00:07:17 Where I can vibe with is all this shit kicks ass. I'm going to have a damn fun summer. Yeah, I hope no one is too unhappy. I get it. I get it. Jed, you mentioned it. This for now, possibly forever, puts, you know, takes, you know, takes, away, Ily Tupura versus Islamakachov.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Great fight. I've wanted that for a long time. I think it's an awesome fight. But after what J.D.M showed at UFC 315, I mean, you guys, you know, even you guys who wanted that other fight, you're not a little intrigued by how this one's going to turn out, you know? I'm not saying JDM as like a household name or a superstar or anything, but seeing what happened with Balal and him becoming the champion.
Starting point is 00:07:56 JDM on very lengthy. You got two huge win streaks going up against each other. Jadim has won, I think, 18 straight. now or something has not lost since he lost his first two pro fights and hasn't lost and of course you have Islam who has lost one time in his career otherwise 27 and one just completely indomitable so it's an amazing it's an amazing matchup I would I would implore fans not to focus on what you are not getting and focus on what you are getting I also like the Toporia olivera matchup of course it's it's a great fight of course if we're talking lightweight title fights yes to poura macho machetechup jumps right
Starting point is 00:08:30 off the page. I know those people out there who are like, oh my gosh, another shot for Olivera. This is actually his third time, Jed, fighting for the vacant title, technically, right? Because the Habib retirement. Yeah, I guess that's true. Yeah, that's when he won it. He lost the belt to scale against G. So when Islam fought for it, it was technically a vacant title. So this is the third time, third time that Dobranks is competing for the vacant belt. But he always brings it. He's super exciting. And I want to tell people, like, Toporia, you know, he's thrown shade of Islam. That's his job, whatever is supposed to do.
Starting point is 00:09:00 keep planting those seeds if in case they fight someday or just whatever, just, you know, be a jerk for sick of being a jerk. He said, like, the very first time he talked about moving up to lightweight, he was very aware of the possibility that he'd have to fight Charles Oliver. This was, I think, I want to say late last year. So before he'd actually vacated the belt, I think he said something about like, yeah, if I go up, I could see myself fighting on Charles Olivera. I think he said for like a number one contender spot.
Starting point is 00:09:24 So. Yes. Like, a hundred. Like, that is what has baffled me about this whole conversation. I know. Well, like a sheer. level of entitlement of people being like can't happen and like i get it you want that fight to happen nobody and i i was prepared to come on our shows this week before this has been announced
Starting point is 00:09:41 him and like i will cede all my objections if every one of you who are dying on the hill of this is the only fight that matters will preface all your statements by just saying i don't give a fuck with his um once reasonable he has reasonable request and i don't give a shit because then that's fine and at least you are being honest about it, but it has been couched in such way of, it would be ludicrous for him. Heavens to Murgatroy, he might have to fight someone else.
Starting point is 00:10:09 No, he can't do that. He must fight him now. When this motherfucker was saying, dude, I'll fight Charles. Like, that's cool. I'll move up and it doesn't have to be for the lightweight belt. I'll just scrap against Charles because that's fun. Like, and it is fun.
Starting point is 00:10:24 And like, for all of you who are just still so dying on this and need it, it's still possible. It can still happen. It might not be happening next and that's okay. But do you think that Iliate Tuporia is going to go knock out Charles Olivera? Because I'm assuming you believe that. I'm assuming you want this fight because you think Tuporia will win. Because if you don't, then you're just losing your mind over another failed featherweight
Starting point is 00:10:51 attempt at the lightweight belt. So you must believe he will win. and if he's going to beat freaking Islam, he's going to be Charles and if he beats Charles do you think he's now going to be like, well, I've defeated Charles and there is a huge population that has lost
Starting point is 00:11:07 their mind about the potential to me fight Islam I'm going to defend against Justin Gaichi next. No, he's going to beat Charles at freaking 317 and be like, okay, hope Islam wins the welterweight belt because I'm trying to fight him and be the world's first three division champion.
Starting point is 00:11:23 That fight can still happen and if it doesn't happen, then it's not that big a deal because it means Charles beat his ass. And then it would have been a waste of time anyway. Instead, enjoy the sick-ass fight that is Iliot-Tuporia versus Charles Oliva, because that fight is a ripper. No doubt about it. When is Charles Oliver ever been boring? And Ilya is Iliot-Tuporia is Ilya. That fight's a ripper. Islam versus Jack is a ripper. And maybe it gets even bigger down the line. Chad, bring in some solid logic to this discussion. And I'm for it, I'm for it.
Starting point is 00:11:56 But I sympathize a little bit with people who wanted strictly because they wanted Ilya and Islam now. They wanted things. And again, like I said, I understand this perspective. You know, I do a little matchmaking show every week called on to the next one. And I have been guilty of just kind of throwing matchups together that I know could use a little bit of, you know, use a little bit of time that could, you know, stand to simmer. But there's that part of me that knows, you know, combat sports is so unpredictable. And you're right. There's a very realistic scenario where it still happens.
Starting point is 00:12:24 But I think it's hard for people to shake like, well, what if we've lost the fight forever? What if now it can't happen? What if Islam? What if, what if Toroir doesn't go up? What if they lose their respective fights? And then they can still fight, but then it loses this luster. Like, I do understand a little bit, like the disappointment. Again, I'm so down with the fights that were announced.
Starting point is 00:12:43 But, you know, there's room for disappointment, right? I can understand that you wanted the fight and being sad that you're not getting the fight. But like, honestly, I've tried to think of, this whole thing has felt like if I was just belligerent, that we have to have Drickus Duplessi versus Yuri Perh Kinext and anything else is garbage. It's like, no, there's many other good things. You want this fight? That fight would have been sick. I've never once denied that that fight would be awesome.
Starting point is 00:13:15 I have denied the circumstances in which we are in. in that Ilya Tuporia wants to do this and that's fair and he has gone about it in the right way. Vacating the belt is going about it in the right way. Islamakov has a very fair criticism to do this. I've done this twice before and last time y'all didn't give me credit. People don't remember this, but I do. I was because I was like, maybe we should wait like a tick before we do Islam versus Volcanovsky. And the entire build to that fight was, well, it's for pound for pound number one status.
Starting point is 00:13:47 And then Islam beat him. And then some people were like, actually, I think Volk won. He very clearly did not. And nobody gave him credit for being pound for pound. Like, well, he's still bigger and so blah. So he did this thing before and nobody gave him the benefit that was predetermined beforehand. And then he does it a second time.
Starting point is 00:14:04 And it's well, Volk had a quick turnaround and he killed him. He didn't have a full fight camp. Why would he want to do it a third? Like what is the justification? It is a reasonable thing to be like, hey, man, I would like to not do this again. especially when now this is available. If this, if Belal wins and he's stuck and he's unwilling to do it, okay, maybe it's just his lot in life.
Starting point is 00:14:28 He's stuck with this. But it's not. And so he is getting the opportunity that he has wanted for basically the entire time of his title run. They've been talking about this forever. And it's cool. It's a sick fight. Like that is the crux of all of this. Maybe it's not as good as this other fight in your head.
Starting point is 00:14:47 That fight might not be that great either. Like, we don't know until they actually fight. These are two awesome fights that do not prohibit the fight you want. In fact, might actually make it even bigger should it happen down the line. Let's focus on the other awesome fight we're getting, Jed that you mentioned. Because, okay, listen, we can go back and forth about whatever, Deboria and Machajevo, Deboria and Oliver, whatever. Guys, you're getting to Porreiraeufo's Oliver is fantastic. And guess what?
Starting point is 00:15:18 We're also apparently getting Jack Delam Adelaidellana, new champion defending against Islam Makachev. We don't know a date. We don't know what time. We're hearing a lot of buzz about, you know, a potential card in Australia later this year. That seems like the perfect opportunity, of course, to have Jack Delamadelina defend in his home country. So, and that'll have to be after September, because I think as far as we know now, the UFC has booked all its pay-review dates, if I'm not mistaken. And, of course, we have 317 next month. Oh, two bear views next month, excuse me, in Las Vegas.
Starting point is 00:15:49 319, we just heard Chicago 320 we know is Guadalajara. What's 318? What's 318, shit? Isn't 318 New Orleans? Yes, of course. The Dalsabori is farewell, of course. 318. So it looks like we're aiming at 321 or later for Makachov-JM.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Could be even late. Like I said, I would probably lean towards the later part. The fight would be my guess. Yes. Yes. And we got a big, like I said, we got a big one. Not the fight that I think any of us expected two months ago, though I think we all started to have like think about the reality of it when we realized that, yeah, Jd M was getting his shot
Starting point is 00:16:26 and Jadam had somewhat of a chance to beat Ballal and he did. So Jed, one to ten, like how much, how jazzed you for this fight? Let's get positive here. Where is this on the excitement scale? I'm a ten. I was a ten. I talked about on the post show like, and I didn't think I would have been a ten. Like, right? I don't know, three months ago.
Starting point is 00:16:47 Like, that would have been like, that's kind of weird. But I, this fight is awesome. Like, the fight itself on the merits is a fascinating matchup. I believe Islamakshiv is better than Bilal Mohammed. Belaw Muhammad gave Jack Delamadena a very tough fight. Jack won, I think he won four rounds on one scorecard, three rounds on the other two. Some people scored at 5-0.
Starting point is 00:17:09 I scored it 4-1. A lot of those rounds were competitive. Belaw didn't win that fight. I'm not saying that, but he was competitive against him. I think Islamakchev is a better fighter than Belaw Mohammed. I think he brings more tools to the fight. But at the same time, I think Jack Delamadalana presents a lot of really interesting challenges for Islamachchev. Outside of just being a naturally bigger dude, we saw his vastly improved takedown anti-wrestling,
Starting point is 00:17:35 not even take down defense, preventing wrestling from getting off the ground, working with Craig Jones, a la Alexander Volkovsky, man's got sick mitts, hits pretty hard. Like, that's, that is a fascinating stylistic matchup. And then on top of that, AK, you are adding in a legitimately great story. People really like the Volk Tupura or the Tupuri of Makachev story because it's one versus two and that's very, I guess that to me like that's the selling point and that's great. This is such a mirror image of, hey, the first, when, when Mokachev won the title, Volcanov came into the ring, he said, let's fight this fight. will go to Australia and fight you for it. Bob's your uncle here.
Starting point is 00:18:18 Now we are getting the inversion of Ilya, new champion, ready to fight him. Maybe it happens in Australia. There's certainly been talk about it being Australia. It could also be Abu Dhabi in October, depending on the timeline, where that gets going. Craig Jones, he wants to get one back for Volcanovsky. Jack Delamadalina does. There are many fun, interesting stories at play. and the biggest story that nobody has talked about because everybody I genuinely believe the people who are super fast, like focused on the Machchev Tuporia are seeing it from the lens of I think Tuporia wins and we want to crown Tuporia in this story.
Starting point is 00:18:57 Whereas I don't know if you guys know this, Islamakshiv might be the greatest lightweight of all time. He might be. I don't know if he's there yet. He's set the record in the UFC that's certainly meaningful. Habib looms large over this. This is an entirely separate thing for him now completely out of the shadow of Habib. He never did this. And he is now making a case as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Starting point is 00:19:21 This is a linchpin to that case. And we get to see it. If he goes up and wins, this is legitimately incredible shit. And I don't think, I think people were so focused on what they wanted that they're not recognizing how awesome this fight is in all facets. It's every part of Islam versus JDM is a ripper. When I got a great deal on a great gift at Winners, I started wondering,
Starting point is 00:19:46 could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious will throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard?
Starting point is 00:20:05 At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winters? Stop wondering, start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Yeah, this is brilliant stuff.
Starting point is 00:20:34 Listen, we got to get credit to the UFC and Dana White for getting that news out there this Tuesday, because there was a lot of questions after 315, Where is Dana? I guess people were I think even if Dana had been there He wasn't guys I think you know he wasn't going to announce
Starting point is 00:20:49 Any of these fights on the Saturday night So we got some lovely Dave Shaw time Smith God's been quality time with Dave Shaw Always a delight But yes I believe They were sort of irony Right away ironing out What they were about to announce in a few days
Starting point is 00:21:02 So here we go guys We thought we might wait later in the week You know he tends to do these things on a Thursday But it is before the middle of the week And you have got yourself some big fights Jed you talk about Islam being maybe the best fighter in the world, we got a booking for a guy who I think,
Starting point is 00:21:17 you know, if he fought more than once a year, we would be viewing as the best fighter in the world. Yes, Hamzat Shemayev, guys, the prince that was finally. He did it. Finally, finally fighting for a title. I mean, we all thought he would have fought for a title years ago when he burst into the scene,
Starting point is 00:21:33 won like three fights in, what, a month or something, just smoking people left and right, had a bad bad of COVID, other issues. He was like, and then it became a joke that he never fights. He went from being the guy who was breaking a record for turnaround to just never seeing him. Still getting big fights when he came back. Still impressing. A few struggles here and there with some great fighters with highly ranked fighters.
Starting point is 00:21:56 But here we go. This is UFC 319, which is only three months away. But when we're talking about Shemaya, this feels like it's a year away. We are just every day. If you are excited about him challenging middleweight champion, Drickus Duplice, the whatever juju you believe in, whatever candles you need to light,
Starting point is 00:22:16 incense you need to light, put it towards this because I am almost more excited for this fight check than I am the two fights we just talked about. This has the potential to be completely insane. I cannot offer a pick right now. I've been saying for a long time,
Starting point is 00:22:31 like I think Shemaya, when he gets in the cage, I pick him to beat anybody. But the way DDP has looked at the top of 185, just so fun, so unorthodox. I need this fight. I almost wish it was sooner than the other two. Like, I just want to see this one happen.
Starting point is 00:22:47 Jed, do you? Can Shavaya do it? Is he going to beat your, you're, it was a medium-sized or large adult son? Which one is your DDP? No, he's my media. I have two medium adult sons. They're fraternal twins.
Starting point is 00:23:01 Yes. They look alike, but they're not identical. My medium adult son is going to win. And this fight's awesome too. Like, like literally, for the last four years now, we have done like a predictions thing of who will hold belts?
Starting point is 00:23:16 And every year, we've always been like Chimaev. A couple of years people have been like he's going to hold two belts and he's never even fought for when. He has finally gotten there and it is the perfect foil for him in DDP,
Starting point is 00:23:28 a man that everybody has underrated forever until they all just kind of figured out, oh, actually he is really good in the last fight. Like the last two fights is when everyone was like, oh, yeah. I guess he's good. He's like goofy sometimes. He's really good.
Starting point is 00:23:43 And this is like a perfect, I think, I think it was Oscar Willis just put up a image of Taz versus Crash Bandicoot. And that's what this fight is. It was perfect work from Oscar. It's going to be so gnarly except for I think DDP is going to win. I think he's going to show out impressively. As long as he doesn't get, you know, his face broken off in the first five minutes, I think he's got a really good chance. And when he does, well, I don't know if you know this, by then, AK, we will have RDR as having defeated my, the sad man, Robert Whitaker. And suddenly it's full steam ahead.
Starting point is 00:24:23 DDP, RDR, maybe December, maybe just maybe January, but God, I can't wait. That's the best fight we're ever going to get. Man, there was a ranking show a long time ago we did where you guys were trying to convince me that middleweight was like the hottest division. And I didn't believe you. I think I fought it. I think like historic. I wasn't. I fought it hard.
Starting point is 00:24:42 It was everyone else. You did. You fought it hard as well. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We were wrong. Middleweight is banging. And at the top, thank goodness for this champion drink as duplice because all these
Starting point is 00:24:52 possible matchups are capturing the imagination. We're getting Shemayev. We're getting, if RDR beans from Ritka, we're going to get RDR and DDP, which is, I'm tingling right now to think about these potential placetor. RDR, God forbid, something happened to Shemayev. I don't know. He could step in there. This is thrilling stuff.
Starting point is 00:25:10 I'm so excited for this matchup. By God forbid, you mean like 60, 40? Something happens to it. Dude, I don't know. This is just, this is great. Again, the tip of the hat to UFC, Dana White and the matchmakers. You guys are crushing it right now. We could talk about, let's talk about one more sort of under the radar, not under the radar.
Starting point is 00:25:27 We have a title fight that we should at least address. I'll get back to, I want to round back to 317. No, let's round back to it now. Let's go back to 317 because, yes, we've got a title fight. and we've got a good chunk of the card. I think we've got eight fights announced for UFC 317, excuse me. There's our co-main events. Alexandra Prantosia, arguably one of the three pound-for-pound best fighters in the world,
Starting point is 00:25:51 putting on another title defense against Kai Kar-France. A rematch of sorts, for those of you who are a fond ultimate fighter viewers, you of course remember on the 24th season that Alexandra Pintosia beat Cai-Kar-France in that tournament to advance. I don't know if advanced, I think was he the... advance the final. Anyway, in a very, very good tournament. Tournament of champions, they called it.
Starting point is 00:26:13 So now, Kai Kar-France finally gets his shot at revenge, not like an amazing win streak. He actually just snapped a losing streak, but it was with a very impressive first-round knockout of recent telechallenger Steve Erseg. This fight has been rumored for a long time. I think it's great that Kai Kar-France is getting an undisputed teloshot. He fought for interim with Moreno, I believe.
Starting point is 00:26:34 But this just feels right. This just feels right. Pantoja needs challengers. Carcara France, fine. I know people say, oh, he's not even ranked a top five contender. Guys, you got to give champions fresh challengers. That's just how this business works. He, in fact, is ranked, actually.
Starting point is 00:26:48 Kai Karinzance is number four in the U.S.C. I mean, I'm talking about our rankings, Jed. Do you see the graphic? He's only six in the rankings that matter. They're fighting global rankings. But he is a fresh challenger. We know that Kai Karer, France, at his best, can hang with anybody at Flyweight. and Steve Urstead got a title shot, good for him.
Starting point is 00:27:09 I think we would all rank Kai well above Steve, and especially after that knockout, I think it's time. So Jed taking this into account with what we got in the main event, UFC 317, they did good. 317 rocks, man. I do want to address the co-main event just because, like, we knew this was coming. I would have preferred if it was Manel cop, but we had the cop revolve fight booked forever ago, so we've known this as a thing.
Starting point is 00:27:35 And so that's fine. That is on the undercard of this event. If something does happen to Kikara Friends, you know, can't make weight. I think Kopp obviously steps in, so it's great. But look at this car top to bottom, man. Like last week, people were losing their minds. Man, what's 317 about? We don't have a main event.
Starting point is 00:27:55 We don't have fights. Well, we all kind of know what the main event's going to be. We're just waiting for it, but we know. And I promise the international fight is going to be a pretty good card. the same way you guys are losing your shit over UC 300, but it's going to end up being decent. And look at this 317 card, man. DePrio Olivera,
Starting point is 00:28:12 there's no chance that fight isn't just bananas for however long it lasts, right? Pantosia, Kaika, France, again, when have either of them been in boring fights? Polo Costa Roman Coppola, which is announced today, that's weird, but fine. Let's start up the rest of the card on there if we can, Casey. I think we have a, do we have a graphic for the rest of the car?
Starting point is 00:28:30 I don't want to put you on the spot. but uh i don't have the costo one ready because i oh i thought that ended up real i thought we had no cost cost a couple of his is real certainly a little weird but like a perfectly fine matchup of top 15 middleweights but you'll dare you shanato morcano i mean i suspect that will be incredibly fun it's benny d and hanata morcano uh janada denise justin tafa if you're gonna have a heavyweight fight that's a that's a heavyweight fight to have that thing is not lasting longer than three minutes. Then the aforementioned Brandon Reval
Starting point is 00:29:05 of Minot Cop, was that two? I don't remember if they fought before. It's too hard. Fight's sick. Fight's just absolutely disgustingly sick. Jackermanston, Gregory Rodriguez, Robocop. Signed me up for a Robocop fight eternally. And then Viviana Arrucho, Tracy Cortez.
Starting point is 00:29:25 That's like easily the worst of these belts. And it's totally fine. Like a totally solid, rock solid top 10 flyweight matchup. Like, this is a ripper of a card. International Fight Week is going to be incredible. Yeah, I like that this card kind of benefited from some of the other fights. You know, these are, so, you know, Dariush and O'Kano, of course, was supposed to happen at, in February, in January, January, the Islam Machachev title defense. And then O'Kano got pulled from the Darius fight to fight instead.
Starting point is 00:29:54 And good for Darius, just waiting for this fight to happen because this is, this is still the right matchup. It was the right matchup for both guys when I was supposed to have. happen and as Jed said it should produce fireworks no matter what i also like age appropriate matchmaking you know this where i want i'm there with jack hermanson and gregory rodriguez too you know let's let's this is this is this is where these people should be i had a lot of people i remember after uh robocop's last lost they wanted to fight hermanson there go guys whoever whoever called for that you nailed it great fight prediction and uh roy valancop like as has been pushed back from another car too and lands on 317 so what else is new with the ufc they can only fall upwards uh at one more fight we got to talk about
Starting point is 00:30:30 UFC Abu Dhabi, I believe, has its co-main. I don't know if it's Co-main. We have the main, we said Whitaker and RDR. This could land as the co-main as we have Shara Bullet and the literally just fought Mark Andre Beggeo. MAB striking when the iron is hot, man. One of the most vicious knockouts we've seen in a long time must have called the, must have spoken to the OC officials right after he said, book me, book me, book me, book me.
Starting point is 00:30:56 Top 15, top 20, gave me one of these guys. They probably said, Sharra Bullet, dangerous guy. He's like, yes, I want this opportunity. So there we go. Big fight in Abu Dhabi. I actually think kind of a winnable fight for Bahia. Like this should be a showcase, I think on paper for Shara. But Power Bar keeps surprised me, man.
Starting point is 00:31:13 I thought him and Silva was a toss-up, but he looked to be in another league. So there you go, guys. One more intriguing fight for the always talked about Shara Megamatov. Just some quick thoughts on that one. Oh, definitely just to like the meme of one of these things is not like the other. DDP versus Hamzat, Ilya versus Charles, Islam versus Jack Della, Shar Bullet versus MAB. All right.
Starting point is 00:31:39 Like as Dana was announcing, he was like, ooh, you really ended. You didn't finish on a high note there, Dana. But probably a fun fight. Great matchmaking. You know, Sharbleau just doesn't need to fight dudes. They're going to take him down. MBB is going to come, punch throw elbows until he falls over and probably get knocked out. But it'll be a fun one.
Starting point is 00:31:59 It's going to be fun kind of carnage. You're muted, okay? Oh, I'm muted. I'm such a good mood. I forgot to, I didn't want people to hear me squealing. I'm just excited. I'm jazzed up.
Starting point is 00:32:14 I'm glad we got, like I said, we got, you have some clarity around USC 317. This card is right around the corner. Again, remember, keep mind, this is their international fight week.
Starting point is 00:32:22 So people were probably booking tickets and hotels in advance just to, you know, in anticipation of what was to come. And whoever did that, I'm very happy that, knock on wood, they seem to be getting a very good card.
Starting point is 00:32:32 Everyone just stay healthy, please no one do anything stupid because whoever put their hard-earned money down for international fight week and the UFC Hall of Fame and the Expo and all the activities that happen that week I hope you are you are well served let's go to the I was going to bring up we just got some news also patchy mix patchy mix now leaving the PFL he is he is a free agent what a night this is guys you can ask questions about that if you want but let's go yes more breaking news a plus news dump from PFO. They're like, hey,
Starting point is 00:33:03 you know what's really, you know what's really, really bad for our, uh, our brand. The fact that like all of the good, when we bought Bellator, everyone was like,
Starting point is 00:33:13 great, you got a lot of good fighters. Now they're all mad at us or leaving. What if, oh, Dana just announced this. Hey guys, as soon as that's live,
Starting point is 00:33:21 let's slip this out there. And maybe people won't talk about how another one of the best youngest, like, just like a guy you can build around is gone. from them. So tough scenes. I'm sure it's a coincidence. I'm sure they are always planning to release that news tonight.
Starting point is 00:33:37 I'm sure it's a coincidence. So well done, Don Dave's the PFL. Pacti Mix is free. You have to imagine UFC bound and just another killer in the insane 135 pound division. But yes, guys, you want to talk about that? You want to talk about 319? You want to talk about Cheryl Bullitt and Mark Andre Bechio. We are here. I'm seeing a lot of buzzing around in the comments, have not been looking. Casey, how was it in there? Help us sort this out, man. are people saying what if people want to know honestly better than I would have thought our comments yeah that's too bad that's all right i believe you we surprised everyone here um me let's okay
Starting point is 00:34:11 let me let me just read there all i'll close the poll now since we're going to listeners a lot of responses what fight are you more excited about 60 percent jdn versus macachev uh 39 percent toporia versus Olivera. Not a surprise, not a surprise, right? One of them is a true super fight. That's actually a really good, I think, turnout for Olivera to Portia, almost 40%. It's a great fight. Don't call it a supervite. I had a long argument on Twitter this week
Starting point is 00:34:33 that this was not a super fight. I was like, I don't. It's two top 10 pound for pound fighters fighting. One of them's going for a second title. If this isn't a super fight, your definition of the word is meaningless. Super chat from RS40. RS 40. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:34:55 If Charles Bees Ilya is he in the top 10 of all time, I'll... Top 10 lightweight? No, he already is. Top 10 pound for pound. Yeah. Not remotely. I love Charles, though.
Starting point is 00:35:09 I love Charles. Charles are the greatest action fighters of all the time. Here's the thing. This question, I genuinely believe this question gets to my serious, biggest frustration with the past five months. It presumes that Ilya is the greatest fighter of, alive. Ilya is a great, he is a great fighter.
Starting point is 00:35:29 I'm not saying he is not. He accomplished an, the two wins of last year are as good at two wins as anyone in the history of the sport has ever had. When people were all pro Alex Pereira's fighter of the year, I was like, no, I said heading into the max holiday, I was like, whoever wins this is fighter of the year because of how big this is. I am not here to tear down Ilya by any stretch. I am here to simply allow this shit happens in this sport and you do not know the future.
Starting point is 00:36:01 How many years ago is it now? 2016. So what is 2016 to hear? A decade ago, this was Connor McGregor. And if you tried to tell Connor McGregor fans, actually Eddie Alvarez is the last win, the last win that anyone gives a shit about and his career bottoms out, They would have looked to you like you were a Martian, but this happens. You don't know, I know that Dustin Porrier is a great fighter because he's done it for two decades.
Starting point is 00:36:32 Ilya might be that. He could. He's super talented and could get there. And he might go wax Charles Olivera and start building a legacy that is unfuck withable. But he has three meaningful wins and we are crowning him as the goat fighter already. That is genuinely what I think the vibe of the, we got to see Elia fight Islam because they think he's going to win and we can be part of this when it is just as, if not more likely, that actually is a Machchev is a much bigger man and the best fighter on earth and he would just
Starting point is 00:37:01 beat Ilya and then what have we done here? If he beats Charles, we can revisit this conversation. But if Charles beats him, maybe that win age as well or maybe Ilya doesn't win again because sometimes the sport gets wacky. We don't know, so no, not at all at last 40. Yeah. And as far as Charles' own merits. I mean, there's just a few too many weird losses on there during... Yeah, just to me losses. You could say pre-prime, like, you would argue he wasn't his prime. Like, you, if you want to say, well, his prime is when he went on this big winning streak and became
Starting point is 00:37:28 the champion. Fair, but he's been fighting really good competition for a long time and there's some odd losses. Not that that disqualifies you from goateness. I mean, Jay, Casey and I will tell the virtues of BJ Penn's, you know, top 10 legitimacy for all time. And, like, he has one of the ugliest resumes
Starting point is 00:37:44 on paper that you can look at right now. But I just think it's a a bit too far for dress this is just if you go back to down look at some of his fights with like really good fighters like he just he's got some odd loss on there probably lost that he shouldn't shouldn't have had if I'm being honest so can't can't can't get there it's great fighter though this might be a silly question but who was a greater feather who had a greater featherweight run McGregor or Toporia suporia uh he got multiple all time great wins at it and McGregor got Aldo, which is obviously an all-time great win.
Starting point is 00:38:19 At his road to Prime, Auto, too. Yeah. Aldo, I'm just to say Aldo at the Prime. I think that's probably the clear line of where the Prime ended, but Aldo at the Prime. But then, like, you know, the whole knock on him beforehand was, well, we kind of manufacture this. His other good win is Chad Mendes, which is a great win. It did come under the short notice circumstances or whatever. Honestly, the parallels between Ilya and Connor and Connor McGregor are,
Starting point is 00:38:45 so massive as to be hard to dismiss, frankly. Because the whole thing about Tuporria before the Volk fight was, did he even deserve this? Because he had one good win. He had the win over Josh Himmit, which is a good win, but it's not like a great win. But people liked him. There wasn't anybody else.
Starting point is 00:39:02 We were really excited about it. And then he went on to do this. And so the same thing here, which is why I bring up McGregor again. I believe he will be better than Connor McGregor. Like I believe that I'm liet of Bore is better and will be better. But I would have thought a lot of good things about Connor McGregor in 2016, and most people did. And you just don't know how the die is going to roll. And so we should really be a little more
Starting point is 00:39:30 cautious about that sort of thing. This business is impossible to do. We just saw Jack Dalam Adelina pulled from a UFC London main event and then become the champion. Like he wasn't even supposed to fight for the title this year probably. Now he's a military champion and now he's fighting Islam Makachib. So everything's dude, everything. Basically has a backup fighter to Shafkat. Yeah. Yeah. That's what he was. Yeah. That's supposed to be Shepso's supposed to be Shavkat.
Starting point is 00:39:54 Yep. Insane. Quick super chat too before we get to the other questions. Ray, Ray, thank you so much for the super chat. He just says, get Costa out of the UFC for the love of God. I'll tell you
Starting point is 00:40:09 this, guys. I think Paula Costa will be out of our middleweight rankings for the first time if that you guys makes you feel any better. Should have an update on that soon. Yes, I understand people being a little tired with Paulo Costas' edge lord social media shtick and the fact that he hasn't been a particularly great fighter in the cage in a long time. He's got one win since 2019. His last knockout was 2018 for a guy who is just like, you know, so often touted for his punching power.
Starting point is 00:40:38 He hasn't fought a lot, obviously. That's going to limit his statistics there. But I get it. people are a little bit fed up. But hey, if he loses to Roman Coppulov, you might get your wish for everybody. I don't know. I mean, again, popular guy, good, good, you know, very talkative guy, good on social, not good, but loud on social media. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:40:56 Which the UFC likes, yeah. But it'll be three straight losses, five out of six for him. And I don't think cost is like a cheap ticket either. I imagine he's up there as far as salary goes and the UFC or I should say even TKO. They see a number like that in the ledger and not a lot of success. with it. You can get cut. All right.
Starting point is 00:41:17 I had to look up and see when the last time he fall was. And it was 302 and Sean Chicoke. I just genuinely didn't remember. Yeah, not a great fight. Lots of fight announcements, but two names that noticed were not mentioned. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come. Whoa, is this economy?
Starting point is 00:41:39 Free beer, wine, and snacks. 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. Nice. Air Canada.
Starting point is 00:41:56 Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to Aero plan members on equip flights. Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See Air Canada. com. Yes. Evencraft.
Starting point is 00:42:05 What's up? Evencraft? Regular. They were mentioned by Dana White. Sort of. Okay. So Evencraft is saying, Jones versus Aspinall, never mind, duck emoji. course. Yes, Danny White was also fielding questions from the live chat as he was doing it.
Starting point is 00:42:20 And, yeah, Jones, Aspinall came up pretty frequently to the point that he had to address it. And he just all he said, and Jed, there's another question here for you saying, what are your thoughts on this? He said it's going to happen. He just said it's going to happen. He said, just wait, guys, just wait. He said, Jones versus Asimol is going to happen. I don't even know anymore. Both guys, I feel like every week keep talking about it and making zero progress. John Jones just today we did a hilarious Instagram video where he was like, I'm living my best life, I'm not ducking anybody, I don't understand, how can people say that's ducking?
Starting point is 00:42:51 Jed, I know you're I'm a rich duck. Let him have it. Let him have it. I don't have to. He's not fighting him and we know he's not and what's the incentive for Dana to say otherwise? For whatever reason they have decided that this is a hill they are willing to die on.
Starting point is 00:43:07 They will go down with this ship for as long as it is. if it is they think that this is just so marketable and they can make so much money that they aren't willing to give it up. I don't know. I am not in the head of Dana White and the decision makers at TKO, but they have decided to let John Jones do whatever the hell he wants and Tom Aspinall be damned. Tom Aspinall may be the future of their heavyweight division for years to come and they don't give a shit about making him happy or doing right by him. They are going to hold on to this dream for as long as possible. And now that they've got basically the next five pay-per-views booked out, what do they need this fight for? Like they, you know, like at best we are now looking
Starting point is 00:43:46 in another five months of this and hopefully it happens at the Madison Square Garden card, but it won't. John's just not going to fight him. And I would have assumed that Tom Aspinall surpassing the record for most days as interim champion would be enough shame on the UFC to spur them to action. It clearly isn't. I don't know what it will be. Maybe if John, maybe the line in the sand will in fact be the return to New York and them saying, hey, we're going back to New York. If you don't fight him now, you're done. And that's, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:44:20 It would be insane if that's the line. But I wouldn't trust Dane at all when he says, we're making that fight happen because if they were making that fight happen, the fight would have happened. It would have happened already. It's just not going to happen. And that's okay. John doesn't need to fight him. John can go live his best life. I wish Tom Aspinall was getting treated better,
Starting point is 00:44:40 but such as his lot in life, it seems, and eventually he'll get there. I still believe. I still believe. Now to the Square Garden, November. You know, the usual John Jones trip. John Jones gets who he wants, gets a big payday, and Tom Aspinall just has to sit on it until then.
Starting point is 00:44:56 So I don't know. I still think it's going to happen. Do I even care? Like, do I even want to see that more than like Johnson Almeida versus Tom Aspinall? I have no idea. I don't know. I just feel like. John just shouldn't take time.
Starting point is 00:45:06 this fight. Like, I, I said this months and months ago, I don't know, a year ago. Like, every time, every day he delays is worse for him. The John Jones, if John Jones does fight Tom Aspinall, there is no question he will be that he will not be the best John Jones we've ever seen. He is getting worse because that's how time works. Tom Aspinall, in contrast, will be the best Tom Aspinall that has ever lived. Like, he is making this harder on himself by playing this.
Starting point is 00:45:35 Every day. And I, and John knows it. John, listen to how John talked about the steep A fight. John knows he's not his best self anymore. He's not going to take this fight unless the U.S.C. makes a offer he literally can't refuse. And I refuse to believe the U.S.C. will ever do that because that's just not how they do business. And Casey, they don't, they don't, UCC absolutely just does not need to. I mean, with all these fights, I've seen maybe one or two John Jones.
Starting point is 00:46:03 It's like the farther, yeah, the farther we get along, the less interested. I feel like when you said, okay, when you're doing the whole, I still believe, I still believe. I was getting like memories of you saying that for Connor versus Chandler. I still believe. I still believe. It was the same tone. And I haven't stopped. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:23 So, yeah, we've moved on. We have moved on. Again, just to circle this back or just to circle the square here, if Ilya wins. And Islam wins. I guarantee you, Ilya's going to be trying to fight for the welterweight belt. I don't know that the UFC would allow that. I don't know that they wouldn't if we're being 100% honest. And if they can just back pocket it and be like, okay, well, it's Islam Akachchev versus
Starting point is 00:46:50 Shavkat Rakhanov. People will forget about John Jones. If they can say, okay, you guys really wanted this. Here it is. Islamakchev versus Ilya, a welterweight title. Ilya Teperoy has a chance to do something. Nobody has ever done. Nobody will give a shit about John Jones.
Starting point is 00:47:04 They don't need him. They're not going to pay him the king's ransom. He needs to fight. And it is just a matter of taking up time for reasons that I don't quite understand. Casey, let's go to a couple more questions here. What do we got? Lazy bad super chat. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:47:24 Does Saudi card on ABC now need more name value? I don't even know what that is. So let me. I don't even know what card we are talking. talking about Saudi card on, does it need, or this is, oh, we're talking about UFC Abu Dhabi. Is there another card? I'm not, I don't. I, to the best of my knowledge, it's not a Saudi card.
Starting point is 00:47:51 I mean, there will be one because they're always one. Yeah, hold on. Does Saudi card ABC not anymore name value? I assume he means, he's maybe getting mixed up with UFC Abu Dhabi. That's the only ABC card I see coming up. Well, no, there's the Baku ABC card. Baku. Oh, that is on ABC.
Starting point is 00:48:07 Okay, so maybe he means Azerbaijan. Yeah. Okay. Lazy bed, I know you're in there. I know you're in the comments there. Please clarify. But either way, I think both cards are looking pretty good so far. So Azerbaijan, Baku,
Starting point is 00:48:20 Jamal Hill, Kloh Roundtree, the main event. We've got Fazeve on there fighting Ignacio Bahamandas. I love that matchup. And the return of Kyoji Horoguchi against Tagir Ulan Bekob. So pretty cool there. And then, of course, we just said the ABC card in Abu Dhabi. Lazy confirmed. in the chat, it's Abu Dhabi.
Starting point is 00:48:37 It means Abu Dhabi, Robert Whitaker, Reiner de Ritter, Shara, Bullitt, and Mark Andre Baccio, how can you want more star power than Nikita Krillov and Bogdan Guskov? Excuse me? Excuse me? We also have us. You've got RDR, baby. You don't need more star power. Asu Amabai, Amazon Tamirov, which is actually really amazing.
Starting point is 00:49:00 I'm super good. Did you all hear? Did you, case, I don't think you heard live? Dana, did you hear Dana talk? about RDR because he re-announced. It's like this has already, this has already been announced, but Robert Whitaker, former middleweight champion versus straight out out said former two division one champion.
Starting point is 00:49:16 He said one's name. Whoa. That's how you know RDR's over, baby. Dana White is talking about one. Wow. Les Ezo's had a good relationship, I think, with one, right? So they did the trade. It's the only trade in M.A. history, you know?
Starting point is 00:49:30 You know, that's bonds you for life. But I love that Amabai of Tamero fight of flyweight. and Ibo, Oslo, Billy Alicana was also announced. I think we've got them all now. I think we've covered all the bases. Yeah, they definitely need to add a couple more notable fights, but that's not a bad base. Again, four of those fights with respect to Ibo and Billy Alicana,
Starting point is 00:49:51 four of those fights, I'm pretty intrigued by maybe. Yeah, Kerlov and Gusekhov, both guys ranked in the UFC. I think Oslob, I love them. Huge fan. I think he's going to bounce back. Ambly of Timorov were both ranked in the UFC flyweight ranking. Yeah, this is pretty good card. Plus, just like, just peek around and look and you'll see like, one, Magu and Anka Live is like arguing for the fight of Pereira and Abu Dhabi.
Starting point is 00:50:17 I don't think that, obvious that wouldn't happen to this, but like, you can just kind of look around and see the names who might make an appearance in Abu Dhabi and start putting together something that's decent. Yeah, it's going to end up being fun. Probably not great, but not terrible. Yeah. So they got a lot to look forward. to this year. Man. Yeah. Before we get out, I'm just interested in your opinion. Who has more to lose? Elia or Islam? I'll go first. I'll let me give you some time. I see your brain moving. I'm going to give you some time to let it simmer. I think I'm going to say I'm going to say Ilya right now.
Starting point is 00:51:00 I think that I think Jed has outlined a lot of the reasons. I do worry that one, I'm not saying one loss will ruin his career. I do worry that one loss will like send him down a shape. year of path than he would have had if he had stayed at featherweight because i think yes there's risks at 1 45 most of life is out there i wish we'd had that fight happen before but you know what i think i can't remember who got injured it was supposed to happen i still want to see it and if you had lost to mobsar yeah it would have taken away a lot of his mystique um but this to ilia is such a it's such a little unfortunate how it played out because when as soon as he vacate the featherweight title, it would have been really nice if right away the UFC had said,
Starting point is 00:51:44 okay, you are fighting so and so for the lightweight belt. But we know, of course, they couldn't do that. They had the Bilal Muhammad fight coming up. We now know, as Jed has explained before, that clearly Islam and Habib did not believe in Balal. And that was there. My best take. Such a good take. You can't just prove it now. It cannot be disproven. I think they're not fully. I think they're not. And now they're like, yeah, no, but they were at least they were at least polite enough to like say oh no and belal lost well i guess we can book this fight now um so so i don't think that uh and i think as we said sorry a lot of times about ilia's featherweight run is it just feels like he's left something on the table with islam yeah there are good fights at
Starting point is 00:52:27 lightweight there's always been good fights at lightweight but it it did feel like he had done enough to say okay now i can't go chase the second title even though i'd love to see him stay 15 um ilia can we got mosar we've got other guys at 145 it really would have been cool to see him establish more of a legacy down there. And I think if he loses and just falls flat in his face after having sort of the hubris to move up when a lot of people weren't really calling for it, that's going to hurt him. I mean, the La Leyen, look how much ridicule he got for the La Leyenna thing, which he then took back. I don't know what his reaction is going to be if he gets just bonked by Charles Oliva.
Starting point is 00:53:02 And again, not even Islam, not even the guy he thought he was chasing for a lightweight title. Now he faces a guy again who is his third time fighting for a bacon belt. So I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll, I think I settle on Ilya as well. Islam has a lot to lose as well. The argument for Islam, I believe, is that if he loses, it's really tough in two specific categories. One, he's older. And so the loss halts his momentum, jobs back down to lightweight. They get that fight.
Starting point is 00:53:36 but then is he in a Volk situation where Volk loss to him dropped down, suddenly gets knocked out by Ilya, Ours are reversed here. It's just tougher. He's older, has less time to rebound from any loss. More specifically, this is, and again, people haven't talked about this enough because it's new, it's fresh, they haven't really, they've just been too busy being mad to really digest what this is. This is legitimately Islam Makachev's attempt to do something unique and special
Starting point is 00:54:05 outside the shadow of Habib Nurgumatov. This is, I liken it on the post show to when Daniel Cormier won the heavyweight belt. And yes, he was a light heavyweight champion. But there was always an asterisk to some degree because of the John Jones presence. Despite all the things that went down and he was a legitimate champion, etc., there was the looming thing of John Jones over his title reign. And then he goes up and wins a heavyweight belt and is entirely unencumbered by that. and it is a title all his own that no one can take away from him in that regard. Something similar is at play for Makachev here because for better or worse, the specter of
Starting point is 00:54:44 Habib looms over Islam's career. I genuinely think that's part of why people underestimate and are still sort of like lukewarm to Islam during all of this, why the story has not been centered around Islam Makachev's greatness, but what can Ilya do? Because there is the, well, he's not Habib. Habib was something pure and special, and he is the consolation prize to Habib. Even though he's not, I do think that there is an overwhelming sentiment of that that permeates, and this is his opportunity to shed that entirely.
Starting point is 00:55:16 And if he loses, he'll never get it again. And that's probably really terrible for him. That being said, Ilya Tupori is probably going to be a pretty sizable favor against Charles Oliver. I haven't looked at odds. if he loses that suddenly all the people who were super pumped about him have to be like oh shit well lightweight is bigger than featherweight and we didn't consider that he just got beat by an old man because the other thing is jack della madalena undefeated since his first two fights right lost his first two hasn't lost since
Starting point is 00:55:52 charles olivera he's kind of lost a lot you know he lost arm and seruki not that long ago so losing to charles olivera despite olivera's long term greatness is much more damaging in the immediacy. And then again, like you kind of outlined, D.K., puts him on a potentially bad path, right? Like if he drops down and suddenly Mopsar beats him, holy shit, we are reevaluating the entirety of Ilya to Pira. So I'll say to Pura, I think they both have a lot to lose, though.
Starting point is 00:56:18 It's a great question, Casey. Jed, last thing since I have you, and you mentioned Oz, thank you. Since we have the no-bets barred maestro in the house, very quickly, I will say, you're right. Okay, so obviously these just got announced tonight. so we don't have clear odds. Bovada this past weekend, I think after UFC 315 concluded, put up odds for Makachev della Madelena.
Starting point is 00:56:38 They put Makachev minus 200, Delamadelaela plus 170, and we have nothing for Toporia Oliveira. So, yeah, I was going to ask you, what do you think of that line, and how would you set the line for Toporia and Oliver? I think that line sounds right. I think I would have expected Makachev to be a favorite, not like a massive favorite, but like a favorite. it while you're looking
Starting point is 00:57:01 did they have a line out for Makachev versus Toporio oh I can look right now I'm pretty sure it's somewhere let me see let's see here say I'm sure somebody dropped that line somewhere I just don't recall what it is off the top of my head yeah I'm seeing just just randomly
Starting point is 00:57:15 from MMAs MMA pros pick I don't know if they made these odds or they got these odds from somewhere Toporia sorry you said for which matchup Machchiev Toporia yeah they set it at Makachev minus 245 and Toporia plus 200 So a bigger favorite than August.
Starting point is 00:57:32 Yeah. Just because, so I tweeted earlier because Ilya's response tweet was, sorry, Charles, what I'm about to do to you. I just want to chase greatness. Unfortunately, Machetev ran away. And I just quote to me as like, if Islam ran away, then Tepore ran away from Mavsar and Diego Lopez. And a lot of the worst reply guys are like, no, it's entirely different. It's obviously not. And I'm not saying you ran away.
Starting point is 00:57:57 Neither of them ran away. That's just how time worked. but then people were ardently being like, no, Islam is moving for an easier fight. Well, the odds would suggest that you're actually dumb fucking wrong because apparently the odds suggest that Jack Delamadalena, the welterweight champion might be a more difficult fight than the featherweight champion. Can't fathom why they might think that. Hard to really, I'll have to really spend some time mathing out the difference between
Starting point is 00:58:25 fighting a former featherweight and fighting the welterweight champion of the world, see if I can get back to you with possible reasons. That being said, I think those odds make sense. I would line it a little closer. I think that fight is very, very competitive. I think what Jack showed against Ballal makes me, prior to the Belal fight, I were like, yeah, Islam's going to win. Then he fought Belaw.
Starting point is 00:58:43 And I'm like, I don't know, man, that is a hard dude to fist fight. And he is only getting better. He's 28 years old. He is still going to be improving. He has improved every time we have seen him. Craig Jones has now had multiple attempts to essentially face the, Eagle MMA thing, the Habib, the Pallol, that fight camp, build tools against it. Personally, I would think that fight should be lined 50-50, minus 1-10s on either side.
Starting point is 00:59:09 But I get why the opening odds are going to favor as pound-for-bound and important fighter. For Charles and Tuporia, Tuporia certainly be the favorite. I bet he opens at minus 350. I would line it closer than that, but I bet that's what it opens at. 350. I think that fight should be lined closer because, again, I think people just terminally underrate Charles Oliver all the time. I think we've, you know, I don't want to put any, like a lot of stock in this
Starting point is 00:59:38 because obviously long time ago, different circumstances. Lightweight and featherweight aren't the same weight class. They are 10 pounds of difference. Charles Olivera is a very big fellow, particularly compared to Ilya. I think Ilyadipura is well suited to win this fight. but if he punches Olivera in the face and then refuses to go to the ground with him and Olivera gets some time to recover,
Starting point is 00:59:59 Oliver is a dangerous dude and again, not the same fight long time ago. What's Black Country Bangor's name? The fuck is that guy's name? Jai Herbert. If Jai Herbert can hurt you, Charles Olivera can fucking kill you and Charles Olivera is a killer.
Starting point is 01:00:15 I think, again, favor Tuporia suspect to win. I would never count out Charles Levera. So I would think the fight should be lined close. closer, but if I was dropping money on an opening line bet, I'd say minus 350 for Tupuria. Yeah, it's a high. That's a high number. If it closed that high, I wouldn't surprise if it opened that high.
Starting point is 01:00:32 If it closed that high, I would be really surprised. I would be really surprised. But thank you, Jett, thank you for that input. Thank you for all the input, the gambling input, the analytical breakdown, the reaction to the reactions. I love it. Thank you, everyone for tuning in. Thank you, Casey, for the production. We will sign off here.
Starting point is 01:00:47 This was meant to be a usual quick news reacts. Guess what, guys? you got a full podcast. So for anyone listening on their way to work tomorrow. I'm not supposed to be here today. You're not supposed to be here. There's too much stuff.
Starting point is 01:00:59 We had to talk about it. I know. It's my travel to. Yeah. It's a trap. Thank God. Casey was here. Thank you,
Starting point is 01:01:04 thank you, God, you're all here. I'm sure you guys all have things to do, but you chose to spend your time with us. And we're very grateful. We've got great fights to look ahead, guys. UFC 317, 319, Abu Dhabi. It's all happening.
Starting point is 01:01:15 Thank you again. This is Alex Keeley of M.A. Fighting signing up. Casim Hassani. Charles does get hit too much but if Justin Gae doesn't put you out cold I don't know if the poor it can I guess we're going to find out
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