MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | A.J. McKee’s future, MMA judging, Sean Strickland’s dominant performance, Cody Garbrandt's move to flyweight, more

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

For this episode, José Youngs, Alex Savas, and Alexander K. Lee react to some of the biggest stories in #MMA. Some topics include fallout from Bellator 263, A.J. McKee's submission win over Patricio Pitbull, Sean Strickland's dominant performance over Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 33, and more The three will also look ahead to #UFC265, headlined by Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane, and Cody Garbrandt's flyweight debut against Kai Kara-France. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Alex Savas: @alexsavs Follow Alexander K. Lee: @alexanderklee 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. Hey, we're live, pal. I didn't even use the intro. Here we go. I didn't use, I have it. I didn't use it. I don't know why, but we're live. I hope so anyway.

I don't see anyone pop. I don't see, there we go. I see people populating now. I see questions coming in. Sorry, guys. Casey is not here. He is in Houston, so I'm running the show. I'm doing the boards.

I'm doing the questions. I'm doing the producing. It's early. You might have noticed we're starting. The sun is not. The sun actually is rising right now in Phoenix, Arizona. You might be wondering why we're doing this so early. It's because, as I said, Casey is in Houston.

He's going to be at the U.S.U.S. 265 Media Day, which I believe starts 30 minutes after we end today. So we'll end at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. And then I believe Media Day is scheduled for 8.30 a.m. Pacific time. We will have that live stream on M.M.A. Fightings YouTube page and on the site. I don't know if we're streaming on Twitter and Facebook. I will leave that up to Casey. see but you guys well for all I know that might start early because a.k. you have been to a media day in a bit. Alex, have you been to you've not been to the new format.

You went to a couple pandemic events, but it was pre media days, correct? Yes, pre media day. Yeah. Sometimes the fighters want to get it over with and they'll be like, can I start right now and they're an hour early and no one is set up. So hopefully that doesn't happen. Well, hey, if they want to get it over with, if we get an hour of Derek Lewis, I will take it. But anyway, you guys know the deal. can ask the questions in the comment section on YouTube. You can answer questions with the comment section on the site, Twitter. No problem.

I'll get to those right now today because I'm focused on. I'm kind of focused on doing a thousand things at once. So if I don't see it, I apologize. But first things first, Alex, how is life in California? We haven't seen you on the A side in a bit. It's been a minute. Yeah, no, we've been kind of preoccupied. We had my sister's wedding a month ago.

I feel like she got it just under the wire of now rising cases and uncertainties. again, so we're happy. Life is calm again. Life is calm. A.K. How's life in Markham? Thank you. Thank you for correctly designating where I'm from. Not just a greater Toronto area, but yes, from Markham. Things are good, Jose. There could be better COVID-wise. Again, we're having a little bit of struggles with people wanting, you know, the quarantining and getting the and all that. It's not ideal yet. We're still, I think we're back in theaters. We're back in theaters. and I recently watched the ninth, the ninth Fast and Furious film, so we're somewhat returning to normalcy. So the Fast and Furious thing, that's for real. You really like those movies.

Oh, he loves it. You thought that was a gimmick? Hey, hey, chat. Chat, chat. If anyone's in the chat up this early, send any Fast and Furious questions. I will answer either on the show or I will contact you directly and answer. I'm working on a book, Alex Savage. So someday I will make the past. I like the, I like the third one.

It's so good. Thank you. You're a man of culture. I think the third one is an underrated film. Jose, you're a man of culture. Like film. You're a man.

I see people all the time go like, go like, oh, I look all the fast furious movies except for Tokyo drift. I just pretend to. And I'm like, whoa, what are you? Excuse me? That's the best sound. How are you? Has the best soundtrack.

So good. So good. In Rhode Island, it, one of the snows, uh, my friends and I used to like, because we're stupid, it used to like drift around corners in the snow and ice. Obviously, we're listening to the Tokyo. theme song but we were like 15 and 16 years old. So it is what it is. I'm not sorry. Did we get in a car accident? Maybe.

That's not either here nor there, but you guys know the drill. Ask your questions. We'll answer them. Tokyo drift related or not. I saw the green night the other day in theaters. That was a fun movie. It was 30 minutes too long. They didn't show the actual ending. Just again went in the green night. It's two and a half hours.

It's a long movie. That's a lot. It's a lot. And if you've read the story, they did not even, they ended it before the ending. Anyway, that's not the here in North Carolina. How artistic of them. Got a little too artistic for my take, but anyway, let me find these questions.

I am so unprepared. I have no idea where the questions went. This is great. I am participating, by the way, but I see Fast Furious questions coming in. Guys, I will answer those in chat, but I will also be paying attention to the MMA questions. First question, AK, we're going to get them right away.

DM. Okay. This is Timmy O's show DMs Alex Alex you said this individual has been asking a lot of questions and we haven't got to anything, right? So we're going to get him right out of the gate. Questions for the A side one. Reports of Bellator viewing numbers were released today, but I've seen some tweets that say YouTube numbers from prelim and Canada were included. So from your team's research, what were the final ratings and how do you guys think it positions them, positions them fit the future? Well, I don't know the exact ratings.

You'd have to ask, I would ask my our colleague, Dan Marne, he seems to be the ratings guy. But, okay, how was the, so I can't give you exact numbers or how they fit into it, but how is the reception in Canada for the Bellator fights? Well, I can tell you the, so because the Bellator card up here is actually free on YouTube in Canada, we do not have, Belator does not have a television broadcasting deal up here. It used to be on, well, we had Paramount Network up here. So it used to be on Paramount Network, but it's not on there anymore. And we don't have showtime.

There's no showtime in Canada. So the good thing is, though, until there is a TV deal, we can watch for free on YouTube. So the numbers I'm looking at are pretty good. Again, this is just raw YouTube numbers. I don't know exactly how to how to extrapolate these into, translate these into like television viewership. For the prelims, it's kind of weird. For the prelims, 294,000 views. This is just on the Bellator's YouTube channel.

And then for the main card, 223,000 views. So I'm not sure why there'd be less views on the main. card. So that's a little confusing. Maybe. That is confusing. I don't know. Again, unless a lot of,

I'm trying to think, like, is there, maybe there is some way to watch in Canada that I'm not aware of, but I don't know why people would choose. As far as I know, there really isn't. Again, we don't have showtime up here. But either way, pretty good looking numbers compared to the actual showtime numbers. I'll bring those up in a second. There was quite a bit of controversy because obviously I know.

for you guys in the U.S. Showtime Sports is a premium channel, right? You have to subscribe to that. Do you, I mean, well, I mean, of course you guys watched it, so I assume you have it. You know, you would never watch something through nefarious means. So they have a, they have an app. So if you have the Showtime app, you can stream it there. So like my television, I don't have cable.

So I can't go to like channel like 304 and watch Showtime. But I can tee up the app and anything that is, you can pay for it on there. Or you obviously with Bellator, you watch. watch it for free. So basically if you spend like $5 a month, you get all of Showtime's content. Okay. Yeah. So so so so you still have to pay. You're still you're still you're a subscriber too. Okay. Sorry I'm trying to bring up the next chair. I'm just being a bit slow. But uh, of course that the UFC card did a lot better and and you know, you have people now saying how could a card headline by sort of this non-event middleweight bout a good middleway

matchup for sure but compared to what was being hyped as you know the biggest fight in. in Belta history, how could it do such a big number? So Strickland and Hall did 797,000 viewers on ESPN and apparently peaked at 953,000 for the main event. Belator 85,000 average and 177,000 for the main event, so under 200K. But that's actually a really good number, I think, relative to most Belator cards. So again, people have to kind of view these, you know, you can't view these and avoid. There's, there's, it's comparative.

But I understand the public perception. that it looks bad for Bellator. I would be curious to see how much live viewers were happening in Bellator, right? Because obviously in this stream, we get X amount of viewers, but then when it is done and it is on YouTube to see how many watched after the fact. I don't know how many people are watching Bellator live as it's happening. Alex, you watched it on Showtime, obviously. What did you make of the product as a whole in terms of the production of the Bellator fights?

I don't know. I always think it's great. I mean, I find the pacing a little slow. Like sometimes I'll look away, especially when UFC's happening at the same time and we're posting, you know, winter graphics or whatever. And you're like, is this fight over? Like, oh, my God, did I miss the fight? You're like, oh, it hasn't even started. Like, with our attention spans these days, I mean, like, you were just talking about two and a half hour movie, like, impossible. I need this stuff to go.

Like, let's go. But other than that, you know, it was great show. Yeah, the pacing was a little UFC on Fox-ish. But anyway, another question from Tim. Timmy Osso. Apologies if I mispronounce your name. This is much smaller. On the morning combat,

Luke and BC say the best way to keep AJ Bellator is by giving him double champ opportunity, potentially boxing fights, and good payday. But now, with Dana mentioning, his name and Bellator not having the capital to give him 30% of McGregor pay or in the potential future

due to low viewing numbers versus UFC equals less fanfare. Do you guys think it's less likely for Bellator to keep him in the coming years? So we're probably going to get a few questions about AJ and Bellator. Actually, I know we're going to get a few questions about AJ and Belator and AJ in the UFC. A.K., if you're Bellator and Scott Coker, put on your Scott Coker hat.

And for one second, pretend that you can actually talk about the future and not say, I'll get back to you. What is your three-step game plan to keep AJ McKee? Oh, my gosh. I mean, well, CBS has to be the first step. getting him on CBS and non-show, non-show time sports, getting him on a regular showtime. Get him out from behind a paywall. Get him out from behind a paywall.

Well, the thing is, that's step one is getting out from behind a paywall. I do think one of the next two steps has to be getting him back behind a paywall. I don't mind the pay-per-view idea. I saw a lot of people being fun of it. You know, that was one of the quotes we kind of grabbed for a story after Bell Torah, 263. And I get it. It's, and especially now, people look, I'm sure people look at the numbers now and be like, you couldn't get them to spend $5, whatever, on a Showtime Sports subscription,

how I didn't get them to spend $40 to $60 on a pay-per-view. But again, they don't need to do UFC numbers with the peer view. They want to break something like $100,000. Can they do that with Agent McKee? I think it's possible. It has to be the right opponent. It has to be the right circumstances. The right weekend.

You know, you've got to pick the right weekend. The timing is everything. So that might not be step two, like step one, CBS, mainstream showtime. Step three, pay-per-view. Step 2 in there somewhere is, oh boy, I love the idea of someone said send him over to Risen for a fight. I'm not sure how much that helps is cachet over here. But if anything, just to keep them busy and if you're not going to do the Pitbull

rematch. But step two is definitely do something created with it. I would love the idea of a boxing match, some sort of dumbass celebrity boxing thing. If Bellator could promote that one of their cards, it hasn't been done before in that way. Having an M.A promotion actually just promote a freak show boxing fight like that. just try you're going to have to get outside the box because i think i think timmy raises a good point that otherwise within the next two years there's going to be a lot of mckee to ufc talk there is now but it'll become very very realistic in the next two years without without a concrete plan yeah i don't

know what his contract situation is either so if he has x amount of fights left or x amount of i don't know how we bell it towards uh champion contracts working on the uc when you become champ they kind of they can hold you for as long as they like it extends your contract over time don't know the case uh for that But Alex, I think you admittedly didn't watch a lot of Bellator, I would assume, before joining MMA fighting. I know you and I have covered the Bellator fights. You and I covered A.J. McKee's fight in Chicago. He fought Pat Kern in Chicago. I just thought of that.

Did he come off as a star after his performance and during his performance? Part of me wants to say yes, but honestly, like, no. My, you know, my baseline for, like, stardom might be a little bit higher than a lot of people with MMA because I think I'm always, there's so much. much of my life that's not in MMA that I see how honestly small the MMA sector really is. Like people talking like, is there a lot of sign you're being a star outside of M.A. Like he's truly not. He's really not. You know, so no, AJ, me, the only person who has transcended MMA, well, I guess Ronda Rousey too.

I do like my mom test. Like, does my mom know this name? If I say Ronda Rousey, she knows who that is. Connor. She knows. AJ McKee is nowhere near that level. But, you know, if we're talking like going to UFC, like what does Belter need to do to keep him. I mean, money talks. I think that's kind of just like the big thing. I mean, Scott

Coker's very adamant about like building up his talent from the beginning. Like, that's why they're just picking these people. They're not taking top talent from all these places. It's their goal to like train them and raise them and now they build their own stardom. But so, but to keep someone like that, you got to, you got to make it worth their time. So. Yeah, I think he did an interview with our own Damon Maron, plug Damon again, where right before his pit bull fight, he said Max Holloway is still his junior opponent. At some point, he wants to fight Brian Ortega because when AJ McKew was 19, he rolled with Brian and Brian tapped him with the triangle. And he goes, I just want that back for myself. But he says, if the check's not right,

don't talk to me. So you are correct, Alex. Money talks. And AJ, AJ McKee's going to need a lot of money to stay. Maybe he'll win another million dollar tournament. Anyway, four corner sports and why? How likely or unlikely are we going to see USC 268 at MSG for November after the news that came out for New York City? Also, if New York, UFC 266. It doesn't happen in NYC. What other venues would fit perfectly. It has Usman versus Covington to Miami, Vegas, or other. Hashtag the A-side.

AK, how likely or unlikely does the U.C. touchdown in New York City in November? I mean, I think it's possible. I know, so my understanding is that they're, you know, they're just simply the mandate is like, look, you got to be double vax. And I assume some sort of, I don't know how you guys are handling proof in the United States, some sort of proof of double vaccination. before being allowed into indoor restaurants, things like that.

No? No, it's just a word. It's just a word. I'm double-backed. Scouts honor. Scouts honor. Double-vaxed, sir. You cannot question otherwise. But either way, I would hope, again, that most people would be by, this will be November.

Probably a little optimistic. But yeah, if it's allowed, I mean, Madison for a Guard, I'm sure they can implement some sort of, please be double-vaccinated, all the staff has to be double-vaccinated, all the fighters, coaches, everyone has to be double-vaccinated. So it's possible. It's the issue definitely of the partial. They might also decide, well, we still only want to have partial capacity. And that's where we run into the problem with Dana White, who has said, I'm not doing partial capacity to venues.

It's sold out all the way. So if there's even the slightest chance that there's that extra bit of safety protocol from Madison Square Garden or from New York City, you're not going to see UFC 268 in Madison Square. So it's just not going to happen in New York. So I like the suggestion there. definitely Florida. The paradise that Dana White has declared Florida to be. It's probably where they would have it. Yeah, for the Covington factor, send Usman into some, I guess, enemy territory.

Covington plays in Florida, right? Like, I mean, he's popular still there, right? Yeah, Usman used to train in Florida, too. And he just knocked out Horamaziral in Florida. So I don't think I have any problem with there. Florida's numbers are looking horrendous, though. Real bad. Real bad.

Yeah. So I don't know if Florida is possible. Do you think Colby Covington is going to want to fight in an arena if people are being forced to be vaccinated? Someone tells me he's not. That was my thought, too. Even if the UFC could make MSG work, it would be a kind of a day and a move to just pull out of New York City as protest. You know, I can see that totally happening. Yeah.

I mean, we've already seen a handful of fighters, including Bannon White Champions tweet about this, which was alarming. I think a lot of, he and he was like, he was like i don't get people that argue in twitter on general he was like arguing with a lot of like people with like 10 15 followers i'm like you're stop it you're a public figure it happens to the best it happens to i put my i can't do it i can't do it anyway uh Miami Vegas or other I guess Arizona's possibility doesn't seem like we care about any of this happening over here Texas maybe I know Dana wants to go to Texas a bunch I would assume Vegas or Texas though Vegas, you have to wear masks now.

From when I hear, well, yeah, you have to at least wear the mask. I don't know how they're handling, like, vaccines and stuff. But for what I've heard, because I haven't been back to Vegas in a bit, is the media has to wear masks. Like, even if you are vaccinated, you have to wear a mask, even backstage. Are you frozen? Can you hear me? Yeah.

Okay. Just my video. Yeah. McDonald's Wi-Fi. You know how it is. I got to go out into McDonald's. I can't. I couldn't tell if you were deep in thought.

Yeah, no, no, the video's probably a little choppy. Hopefully the audio's coming through. Anyway, we got a few comments from the previous question. Let's go. If they come up. Champions, championship clause, three fights for AJ, source. Mike Barnes, interview, Mickey. So there you go.

Questions asks, answers received. What does that mean? What does that mean? I think the championship clause, like, so you might extend your fight three, your contract three fights. So question asks. But then if you, oh. Okay, okay. So starting from when he won it, they're saying, like that he now owes them three fights. Okay. AJ McKee versus Concord McGregor might help. Don't know who Conqueror is, but if you're thinking of Connor McGregor, wrong way class unless AJ wants to go 155, which I know he definitely does. Some people are saying there's a lot of like people throw names out for AJ McKee, but they're all pretty much what he said. Like AJ versus Max, AJ versus this anyway, moving on.

Savas, McKinia annihilates McGregor at this point, right? at this point concord's a goner concord's a gunner concord but regga does not stand a chance against agency just your opinions what are some of the worst pay reviews do yous he's ever put on this week this week features an interim heavyweight title fight no one asked for when we could be receiving john jones

versus francis g francis his first name begins with an end francis and gano and franzi and g also okay that's fair Also, Francis and Gano is the braining heavyweight champion in the world. He would get top billing, not John Johns. Anyway, worst pay-per-views. Jose, you can go for it. Yeah, this is a Jose question. Is it 149?

Was that the Calgary one? Oh, gosh, I was there. That was real bad. I was there as a fan, I believe. 177 was also really bad. Why was it bad? So 149 was just decimated by injuries. And like every, I think only one fight had its original, one,

main card fight had its original was the original fight and that was Shet Congo versus I can't even remember and even after Shet Congo was like I was hurt I should have pulled out because it was a bad it was a bad fight he just it was a bad heavyweight fight and he was like I should have pulled out but he didn't want to

because everyone was that like a two year stretch of time where like everyone got hurt your eye favor was supposed to fight Dominic Cruz at USC 148 and that was like the big rivalry and UCC 148 was Anderson Silver versus Chale Sun and two which was going to be the biggest pay-per-view ever at the time.

And they were the co-main event for that. Dominic Cruz gets hurt, so they pull Uri of Fabor from. Alex's cat is so upset about the talk of UFC 149. So they did Uri Fabor versus Hennon-Borau. Was the main event, which was a fine fight, but it's not what people wanted. It was also for an interim title, not the undisputed title. And the co-main was Hector Lombard and Tim Boas. His debut. This is Lombard.

Those with Lombards Day. Oh, that was so disappointing. Who was he supposed to fight? I don't think it was originally Tim Boch. I don't know. I'm looking at it. I only see. Oh,

oh, Bispin. No, no, no, no. Oh, Bisp being was supposed to fight Tim Boch. Yes. And then Hector Longer was. So I don't know where. Regardless. That wasn't the best fight.

That was very disappointing. He's still, Dana White to this, not honestly to this day, but as recently it's like a couple years ago, it was like still mentions 149. It's like, like he apologizes for it. Well, that's why the, that Calgary Fox card that he brought,

it was like Eddie versus Dustin, Yowana, Tisha Torres. Who else was on that card? It was one other really big fight. I can't remember. But he's like, this is a like a payback. And I'm sorry for UFC 149. UFC 177 was pretty bad, but that was also decimated by injuries. That was the co-man event was supposed to be T.J.

Hanam Barrow, too. And then Hanam Barrow passed out, couldn't wait like two days before. So they took Joe Soto, former Belator champion, who was fighting on the prelims in his debut, and just elevated him to a title fight. He came up when we were asking, I think. People were asking, like, was Michael Chandler one of the fastest ever to get a title fight in the U.S. And we were like, Joe Soto is the answer. The day of his debut. Yeah.

And then I can't remember what the, I can't remember what the rest of the card was shaping up to be. I think DJ Chris Carrioso was the co-main and then that got moved to UFC 178 as the main event that was the first Connor Dustin card and Tony Ferguson versus Danny Castillo was elevated to the co-man event yes that was a controversial fight wasn't it?

Yeah that was one of those fights where Danny Castillo spent the entire fight on top and Tony Ferguson was just stoned elbows from the bottom and Danny Castillo's interview post fight because he thought he won was if this fight was in jail, Tony Ferguson would have had a new dad. Special shout out to UFC 76. Back when they did titles for pay-per-per-per-views, which I sorely miss,

UFC 76 knockout, which did not feature any knockouts, which is just hilarious. But it had a forced girlfriend, a Shogunhua, great fight. So, I mean, it's not like it was a terrible card. I don't think. I'm looking back on it,

it certainly wasn't the more memorable ones. But it is funny that there was three submissions, six decisions. No knockouts. UFC, UFC 33 is like widely considered to be like one of if not the worst. That was the, I believe the first pay-per-view post-9-11.

So, apparently like Vegas was a ghost town from all the stories I heard. Like no one was in Vegas doing anything because of the situation going on in the country. And Dana put this stacked card together. Like he had three five-round fights at the top. And he actually did the Star-Spanglet banner at the beginning. And it was like a whole big thing. And then almost every fight went to a decision, including the three five-round fights.

And they went over time. So I'm pretty sure fans did even see the end of the fight. I think it was Tito Ortiz versus Vladimir Matsuchenko. Of course, Kay Lee remembers that fight. So I believe that those are usually on the short list for worst paper. You guys have been to more live events than I have. Savas, what's like the worst, like live event you've been to? Like just for whatever reason, whether it's because the card was bad or you just had a crap experience or.

I don't know if I ever had like a really bad experience. There's a couple like, and it has nothing to do with like the promotion or the fighters or anything. Obviously just like it would be like personal problems or like issues with other media members or. Oh, we can't. Okay. All right. All right. Cut it.

Cut it. No, it's nothing bad. I mean, people just, I'm a short. I'm a short person. And so like I always like go up to the fun because I'm not blocking anybody's view. And then there's people who don't acknowledge the head space above me as my personal space. And people are like trying to put. camera above me and then like those guys like arms kept falling and hitting me in the head. I'm like my

guy like my space. It was I think it was USC 200 USC 22. I can't quite remember the exact pay-per-view number but it was back when the the T-Mobile arena's media room was the visiting team locker room because like obviously the T-Mobile arena is an NHL. Arena and one of the local media TV studios got there really late and the the scrums were already happening and he kept telling me to move and I was like bro I've been here for three hours you just got here and I was gonna fistfight him I was real angry I was real real angry I was real real angry PR yelled at him anyway moving on anyway last and last things K a K what's the worst event you've covered live then I've only been to like a handful uh and I don't

I don't think I was in Calgary no I don't think I was in Calgary I think I've remember if it's at 149 live I don't think I was there live but I was at, what was the one in Winni? Henderson. Oh, that one was Rashad Evans. Henderson, Rashad Evans. That was bad. Yes.

That had Steve A Roy Nelson was the co-main event. Yeah, that was real bad. That was as a fan. I was not covering it. That was before. That wasn't great. That wasn't great. We've had some bad cards up here.

We've had some great cars up there, too. We've had some great. Anyway, we've had some great. Four Corner Sports and Y again on Twitter. Cody Garber and going down to 125, 5, 1, 25 pounds to fight Kai Kar, Khaar, France. How many wins would he need to have a fight for the belt? And can

this jump? Can this jump to go down? Jump to go down? Jump to go down to flyweight, help him have longevity, or would Bannon White give him that better of an opportunity? So okay. Worded strange, but I understand what you're saying. I think if Cody beats Kai Kau

France, he fights for the title next. A.K. If it's like a first round knockout, yeah, easily. I mean, he got, he got, regardless of whether it's a knockout or not, I think he could fight for the title. I think if it's a stinker, I don't think he fights for the title. But, I mean, we had to see what other options are at 125. But he was scheduled to fight Figgy last-

Or the title. And he was going to have no wins. He has no wins in 125. So it's a good question. But, I mean, I think if, like, I think if you think about it for like two seconds, the UFC loves Cody Garbrand. They love Cody Garbrand. They like his style of fighting.

They like his personality. He has a huge following online. Huge online following. Look, the way he came up, he was a made man after he beat Dominic Cruz. He was a made man after that, right? So his name is going to carry that forever. Yeah, one win. I think it has to be impressive, Jose.

He doesn't think so. Savas, I don't know. What do you think? Gets it no matter what? Well, based on what you're saying, you convince me, probably. But if it was up to me, Brandon Moreno would not fight anyone for a long time. Remade flyweight champ forever. That is not an option

The man has to I think what Cody has going for him is Brandon Moreno is already mentioning Cody They're like, what do you want to fight next? He's like, I like the Cody fight So if the champ is mentioning you Then you're already on the short list But if Cody wants to see how his body reacts

Before going back down, that's That's another thing. Also, let's not forget this fight is in December A lot of things could happen between now in December Kai could get hurt, Cody could get hurt there's a pandemic happening in the world Chast Skaeli walked all the way to the octagon and didn't even fight

so until I see Kai Karfranz and Cody Garbrandt inside the octagon this fight's not happening what do you guys think though about the longevity side of it? Will this increase his longevity? He's not a big he's not a big Bannon way. He said he would walk around

at like 145, 140 so if he's gone in 5 to 10 pounds we go to 135 and he adds 10 to 15 it's not going to be great Alex you like morning Wayans Alex Abbott you like morning Wayans it's gonna get harder every year though

I mean the older you get that's what they say Yeah you don't historically see fighters go down In wait getting older Yeah I'll say good luck to you I mean not I don't want to do it

Four Corner Sports I'm supposed Sprott's like Casey Like Casey Four Corner Sports hopped into our chat He said sorry for it Sorry I was driving into the city as I was tweet. Don't drive and tweet people. Come on. This is, you know what?

That's what you should be apologizing for. Not the wording. So I didn't think people drove into New York City. It seems like a nightmare. Boom. Anyway, I'm going to go through the YouTube comments. See, you forgot everything. A lot of talk about AJ going to 155. Someone says that, AK, how's tough, Ben?

You don't get a lot of the ultimate fighter questions anymore. Oh, yeah. Or you know what? Maybe we do, but Casey runs the questions. Casey is a known a hater of the ultimate fighter, so maybe we just don't talk about it. How's the ultimate fighter been? The fights have been excellent. The fights have been really good.

So that part of it is if you're one of those people who only tunes in for the fights, you're having a great time. Very good fights, very entertaining fights. The show is as being as ever. Maybe more boring. They did nothing to change in their hiatus between season 29, season 28.

Nothing to change the format. And that's fine. I've said this to what you will. If you love the ultimate fighter for what it is, again, you're enjoying the fights and you're enjoying the way they handle the pre-fight hype and kind of looking to the guy's lives. Cool, cool, cool. If you're kind of, if you thought it was stale like 10 seasons ago, it feels more stale than ever. Like, it feels like a show, honestly, that came out five years ago, six years ago. It's so weird. But a lot of exciting names on there, like Ricky Tersiosios is going to be a lot of fun. It's cool as see Vincent Murdoch, get back in the cage, you know, he had the brain conditioned. So he's back. So there's some good stories in there, good talents. I think they picked the right divisions. I don't know if I I see anyone as being like, oh, this guy's going to be a future champion or anything, but I think we know a long time ago that that's really not what the old fighter or the contender series are for. So I would say, recommend me like, again, if you like tough, check it out.

Otherwise, if you tuned out a long time ago, there's not a lot of reason to tune back in. I'm still shocked that they're still using the neon colored basketball jerseys as uniforms. Yes, that has to go. No, no. See, that I'm a fat. But again, I'm a tough guy. So it's like I'm a tough guy. I'm a T-U-F guy.

I want to see something I want to see some flair I want to see some jumpsuits I want to see basketball I want to see like boys to men jumpsuits yeah we need to elevate it reality TV has gone off the deep end

like they need to keep up oh yeah yeah I'm sure Alex Savage you haven't watched the ultimate fighter huh I actually watched two episodes the season the first two episodes because I love Okunovsky

so I thought I'd give it a shot and it was just unbearable like he said I mean it's like watching something from 1994 like I feel like it should be in 4-3 on my TV it's like on the Unbelievable. Yeah.

If people don't know Alex Savage is our resident reality TV show expert on MMAFighting.com. So if she doesn't watch it, it's not scandalous enough. It's probably not scandal. Yep, there you go. Anyway. From. The jerseys, if they adopted like a full-on like Adidas, like track suits. Yeah.

With the kangaroo hats and everything. Yeah, Ella Cool J. Just straight up L.O. Cool Jaying it. Yeah. There's some dope donkey chains rolling into it. I'd be about it. I'd actually watch. I'd get a jersey and everything.

Anyway, Zero 1. Dustin recently talks about maybe retiring and focusing on hot sauce business after winning the belt. Habib and Henry, Henry Suhudo also retired in their prime. Do you see the same trend with fighters who are able to secure their future financially to leave MMA early after winning the belt? So, AK.

I think it's different fighter to fighter because we see a lot of guys who I'm sure are financially set, a la Matt Brown, He owns a gym. You know, he's already retired once. I don't think he's hurting for money. But he continues to fight because he just enjoys fighting. He doesn't need it. It's just, you know, something he enjoys doing.

But then when you see guys like Henry Suhudo and Habib, I think he might be a little different. I don't think he retired because of monetary reasons. He retired because his father passed away and his mother didn't want him to fight more. Henry definitely retired for monetary reasons. I wanted a lot more money than Dana White was willing to pay him. So, A.K. We'll start with you.

Will we see this trend moving forward? more will we see this trend pop up more moving forward I think it's like you said it depends from fire to fighter Dustin's going to be an interesting example because if you remember he has so much mileage on him he's been fighting since he was like a teenager like since he was like 20 at pro since I can't what's the documentary they did on him like Fightville Fightville yeah he was like three and oh or something like that

fighting like a like a like a carnival or something like that it's like wild yeah he's he's got so he's a different story he's got a lot more mileage than most he's only it's crazy he's only now starting to make the money that an athlete of his caliber should be making. Mazurals is the same. Yeah, same, right? So they have a different perspective on it. Like, a guy who becomes champion,

let's bring up Cody Garbrand, a guy like Cody Garbrand, even if he had a successful business, which I don't know, maybe he does, has some things on the, you know, on the roaster, on the fire, as it were. He's probably still going to stick around a few more years longer because it's like, again, he's, he became champion so young.

you know they want to fight they want it they want to they want to they want to do it but porreye he's had all the thrills he's done he's really done it all he's beaten connor mcgregor twice again he's won an interim belt if he wins the undisputed belt it's for us is fair to say now he's just grounded and really cement his legacy but legacy does not feed the bulldog and and it's like he has a family i don't know if we ever i'll i'll kind of go in a different path direction i don't know if we ever again see the the Anderson Silva George St. Pierre, Demetrius Johnson, 8, 9, 10, 11 straight title fights. Oh, you're getting ahead.

Oh, here we go. Also, do you see Anderson, GSP, John Jones, Demetrius like streak from any fighter in the future? So before we answer that, Alex Havas, are we going to see more fighters retire early for financial reasons? Yes, but I don't think it's purely financial either. A lot of the time, I mean, we're getting so much more science. and data back about like CTE and the effects of sparring and things like that. And what we saw with like the Spencer Fisher piece from our own Stephen Morocco,

like this is entering people's heads. And Mike Heck did an interview with one of the younger guys, the new guy. And he was very aware of the damage he took in the fight. And he's like, it was more damage than I wanted to take. You know, I don't want to keep doing this. Like, who was that? I think it was Jeff Molina? Maybe.

And he was just very, he's like, I don't want to take that much damage in my next fights. Like these young guys coming up are very aware of the, of the, the effects of fighting and stuff like that. So, but the retiring early and in your prime, I mean, I'm full 100% advocate for because otherwise, like, you're going to talk about legacy. I mean, people want to remember your name as it's prime, not to mention if you're looking for financial stability after the fact, if you want to open a gym, if you want to brand yourself or do any of those things, it's better to do it while people know you as one of the bests

or going out on top. You know, nobody wants to join a gym of an old washed up UFC champ or whatever. So that's all part to consider. The answer Scott McCraigrate's question, how does the benefit of a fighter to retire because they're not going to pay enough? To answer the Henry Suhudo question, Henry Suharto was set, was fine. Financially, he just wanted, as he said, heavyweight money, and he wasn't going to get it. So he had the power to walk away. Some fighters can't walk away because it's like, as Tim Mien said, he likes fighting, doesn't really care if he fights for the belt or not because to him this is a day job and this is how he feeds his kids.

Yeah. I mean, what else are you going to do? They've been fighting their whole. whole life. They don't have any training. Have you ever seen that? I have you seen when Miguel Cotto lost one of his last. I think I can't, it might have been in Canello. And then he was backstage because you know how boxing does behind the scenes in 24, seven documentaries better than any thing the UFC has ever done. And they just had a camera on him. It wasn't like camera cuts or anything. There was no ambient music playing so you could just hear all the noise around him. And his hands were unwrapped, but he was in the back. His face was all bruised and cut. and his wife is sitting next to him

and she's just like clearly holding in tears because this is like his 50th something fight he just lost badly and then he just like looks at her and she starts bawling her eyes out and he goes and his phrase was like

what else can I do? This is all I got. I was like oh my God like a praise the cameraman but don't show me that I don't want to see that but I'll try to find that clip and tweet about it tweeted out or something like that but that is that sticks with me also because i

went into that fight as i have said many times i'm a big canal alvers fan so i was really happy but then i saw that and i just got it just bummed me out so badly because i also i like me al koto i just was not rooting for him at the time but it made me feel bad i think you've had one more fight and then retired one of the best ever anyway to answer uh raised question on twitter do you ever see an andersen gs p john jones or Demetri's like championship streak with any fighter in the future. I think if someone's going to do it, it'll probably be Kamar Usman right now, or maybe Izzy. I think the Robert Whitaker fight is going to be very telling.

AK? No, I don't think it would really surprise me. I mean, the equivalent, if anything, Amanda Nunez and Valentina Shredenko come to mind. Amanda Nunez, especially, I mean, if you combine the featherweight and bantamate tele defenses, then she'll get close, you know, but we already know, she's, starting a family. She's mentioned multiple times, not that she wants to retire, but she's clearly looked ahead beyond her competitive years. So I always say with her every year, honestly, coming up could be, could be her last. I really would be surprised if she's still competing in

2023. I would be surprised. I really would. And so she could come the closest, but who knows how many title defense are even in there. It could be one fight a year for her. She might not even want to fight more than once. And then, like I said, those guys come from a different era where the money was a little different. The way the UFC ran itself was a little different. I find I think it would be really difficult to hit the kind of eight, nine, 10, 11 consecutive tele defenses again. There's other options. Again, I know people don't want to talk about this all the time, but like celebrity boxing. There's other things to look out outside the UFC. Look how Conner McGregor handle it, just kind of jumping between divisions. The motivation, it's just not that great incentive, I think,

to necessarily keep defending titles as opposed to looking for for new challenges and jumping to other divisions and so yeah i think it's i think it's highly doubtful we see one of those again valentina if someone's going to do it'll be valentina i think but she got alexa grossa coming up she's i don't think macy's close macy obviously believes she's close marina maverick i think it was only going to get better off of her loss who else is a 125 that could give her a test i mean people are really excited about like men al fioro and stuff like that but but some of these people feel so far away they are they're like prospects they're prox exactly like they're not in her prime like the top five i think the less of grossop fight would be a lot of fun

like striking wise but who's grotto fighting right now? Andrea lee oh no she's fighting jojo jojo yeah oh that fight rules they UFC really wants jojo valentina they've given jojo a million number one contender fights I want it they've given i want it at this point uh Alex avis to be getting to see another long reigning champion I was going to say yes but it can kind of change my mind about you know just looking at for greener pastures. You're right. Like being the champ isn't really the pinnacle of the career anymore. It's like what else is out there. So I think all the money. I think Valentina could do it. I think Valentin is financially secure and she just seems to enjoy fighting, like training,

competing at a high level. She's also one of the few that is like next man up, you know, a lot of champions after three or four wins, title defenses, they start looking for those big money fights. But Valentina really does seem just give me. the next body. Like she's like when, when Jennifer Maya once, she's like, Jennifer Maya's next.

When Jessica Andrade moved up, she's like, okay. Like she's not arguing. And Dana loves those fighters, you know, loves them. Valentina is fighting Lauren Murphy.

Is that in October or September? October. Is that the, September? September. Is that the co-main event to Ortega Volkanowski? Oh, wait a minute. Yeah,

September. September. And then the Nick Diaz shows right before it. That's also a five round. Oh, my God. No, I can't even know what that's about that. But yeah, I would say Valentina. If Izzy gets through Robert Whitaker,

which is by no means an easy task, is there anyone a $1.285 for him? Is there anyone at $185 for either of men, honestly, outside of each other? You know, no, I know. I think there's a clear cut. They are the best. They are clearly 1A.

one B to me. Yeah, yeah. If they fight 10 times, that could be five and five. Yeah, I picked them against it. Well, you know, hey, Sean Strickland, get up there. Let's see what Sean Strickland can do. We're going to, I haven't, there's been a few questions, uh, about Sean Strickland's performance in the chat. And, hey, man, Sean Strickland fights Izzy or Robert Whitaker. That'd just be a fun fight. Don't, don't, don't know if he wins, but he's going to talk a lot. And so what Izzy? That's not going to get in Izzy's head at all. Let me tell us. He's not going to, he's not going to put up with that. Right. And Robert Wade is just going to, like, laugh at him. He's just like, I'm Savas, I know you don't want Moreno to ever defend his title, but do you think he could?

Do you think he has the potential? It's such a tough division, but I mean, he could ride along. He could. He could. But it's just, it's one of those things where every fight feels like a coin flip at some point. Like, it just anything can happen. You know, it's just that mentality. To go off of that, I can't find the question.

I'm losing, the questions you're coming in a lot faster than they were at the beginning. Perfect. There it is. Oh, let's get this one out of here. Why do you think high-stake fights finish so quickly is related to high-pressure example? Andrew Silver, Chris Wydenman, Jose Aldo Conn-Megroger, and most recently, Patricio Pitbull, A.J. McKee from Securo Man 91. So we do see a lot of fights that are built up in this big, exorbitant fashion. The U.C. puts the PR machine behind it, and when's the last time the U.S.C. has built up this big mega-fight that's ended being like a fight of the year?

Oh, like, wow Or like an insane fight Like you can even like a man named Ronda That was lightning quick Like a man Nunes Misha Tate was lightning quick Aldo McGregor Eddie Alvers McGregor I know that was the second round

But it was still like that that could have Eddie won zero seconds of that fight Like he just pieced him up I mean you're counting Israel Adasanya Robert Whitaker Like again that was built up to be the big The big middleweight fight We just saw Sanagan

Dildes shot. I guess I'm I was sticking to like title fights and stuff. Yeah, yeah, that'd be like a tier B high stake fight like you're talking about tier A. Yeah. Maybe like Gastilla Medesania. Oh, that's a bang. Right on the money. But the problem

with that one is that was for an interim title and I felt like the UFC was not getting behind that. Yeah, that's right. Because the main event was for like the lightweight. That was the co-main event. I was it. For a Holloway, right? Yeah. There we go. That was also for an interim title though.

Like I got like yeah, like and also Dustin wasn't the man yet remember because the only reason they got they made that they wanted Tony Habib Habib was taking time off and then they said Tony fight Dustin for the interim title and he said no and so they gave it a max so that was like their third option that wasn't even their first option was that the greatest fight card ever maybe it was at least the best main co-man one-two punch I can remember in a long time but yeah you guys aren't wrong about that but even like Habib poorier that was what second round submission third second second or third round like it's rough

it's rough I don't know I don't think it's high pressure or anything these are also like the best fighters in the world fighting so anything can happen yeah only I think we were spoiled by the the GSP era where it was all a lot of control a lot of control exciting in its own way I always thought

but I do remember at the time GSP took a lot I mean probably to the day still I guess a lot of black for his style but the first that's why I begin so big the first Anderson's silver, Chris Wyman fight. Obviously ended fifth round submission. But she'll son and...

No, you said Sonan. Sonan. You said... Sonnen, yeah. Silver Sonnen. That fight ended. So that was a big one. I mean, John Jones is, you know... John Jones, Gusterson was... Dominic Reyes. But I mean... Yeah, how hype were those fights, I guess is the question.

Compared to Silva Wyatman, Alda McGregor, Pitbull, okay. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I think there's a bit of... of confirmation bias. I think now we're thinking about. Figurato Moreno. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. That was a bit, Justin Gaci and Tony Ferguson. I know that was, I think a lot of people assumed Justin Gagee would be a harder fight for Habib than Tony at the time anyway, so that was more like a,

let's see how he does against Tony for the interim title. And I am so happy that happened in an empty arena. The first Cormey Jones fight went, went five rounds, right? Yeah, but that was a very competitive. But it was a high, I mean, it was a highly, highly hyped fight.

Salty veteran says, I think Volk for sure, I don't think he beat, I don't think he beat Holloway, but he's a great fighter and champ worthy. I like Volk for sure. So I don't know if you're saying I like Volk to have a long rain, but a lot of people. Check out our rankings, people. Check out if you're, if you're, if you're, uh, I was in our rankings, by the way, which just just came, uh, updated today. And you can, you can see what we think of, uh, Volkanowski and what we think of,

of Holloway and AJ McKee. I don't vote on the rankings. AK does so you can go see how they've played out. Alex is Volcanovsky or Holloway, your number one featherweight. Volcanoz. Yeah, mine too. But I just, I put him there because he's the champion.

A lot of people view it as talent-wise, and I think Dustsuporri's most talented light win in the world, that still rank Charles Oliver above him because he has a big shiny belt. It's neither here nor there. Anyway, I'm going to bring this up because I want to correct. to this man this Abdul Abdul Aziz I can't pronounce I'm not even trying to pronounce I apologize for I'm misproness clean we'd rather see AJ versus Max or Horaguchi

versus Moreno in a fight well I read this question completely wrong I must have been really tired this is the interesting question anyway so I'm taking it back I think it's I thought because I didn't see the max thing I was so tired when I was pulling these up because it's so early I thought it was would you rather see AJ versus Horraguchi or Moreno I mean like that doesn't make any sense but AJ versus max or Horaguchi versus Moreno in a cross-promotional fight. Ooh.

That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. Wow. Hi, PJ. I would...

Probably A.J. Max. Oh, but, dude, Horaguchi and Moreno, they are the most, they are two of the nicest people you will ever meet in the world. If they're so, oh, man, all right, I'm not thinking about this. Alexavis, what do you say? I don't like watching two nice people fight, so I guess I'll take AJ Max. There you go. That's very fair. I'll make the case for Heroguchi-Mirano.

I mean, I just think, I mean, I know a lot of people might not be following Horacucci as closely because he's over and rising. he's not fighting North America, but his fights have been super exciting. As it was, again, before he, when he was in the UFC, he just such a fun fighter to watch. And him and Moreno, I agree, it would suck to that one of them would have to lose unless it went to a draw. But man, like just the skill level, and I'm not saying AJ versus McKee would not be a high-skilled fight, but there's something intriguing about the speed and the skill level of Haur Gucci and Moreno. And I'm trying to imagine now in Japan, gosh, they have that they're having COVID- issues too. Like I want to say like a Pax Saitama Super Arena or something. That's, that's like

this great visual I have, but obviously that really can't happen now. And it's a cross-motional fight, so it can't happen anyway. But, uh, but yeah, that to me, maybe, maybe I give that to Ed the edge right now. Also, I'm probably more intrigued right now with sort of, I still think there's, um, like there's challenges for A.J. McKee and, in, and, uh, Belator that I'm interested in. Uh, Moreno. Yes, there's guys, but, uh, again, some of the, I think quite a few might be, some of them might be rematch and things like that and then Horaguchi again he needs fresh fresh opponent so I think that'd be

Horoguchi's had the cross promotional fights in Belator too Yeah yeah Calgoor Goli versus Pettus would rule Yeah and should happen Well what if Pitbull dropped down to 135 and fought Horaguchi Oh One can dream Yeah it's possible

Again we've been saying he looks he looks like a guy who can make that cut Alex Savas if you haven't watched like old UFC embeddeds Or actually I'm pretty sure Horoguchi has a YouTube channel or just go watch some of his videos. He is the most jovial man not named Brian Marino and he loves fishing so much. I have never met a man who loves fishing more than Keoggi Horaguchi. Like I think like this whole argument over like Gregor Elisbee being the best fisherman in M. I think is Kioji Horaguchi.

I've been saying that forever. There was no, I remember an old embedded before he was fighting Demetrius Johnson. It was like in Montreal or Montreal. all and he was like watching he was literally just watching people fish on his iPad he goes and he's like this just gets my mind right like um he's like can't wait and he just literally he goes and he's just like this is this is my happy place i was like oh man i'm here for it's so weird he's such a nice man though he trains down at a he's at ATT right yeah he's at ATT such a nice individual anyway Terrence Lever out on site

Judging by round We'll be quick with it Well I'll try to be quick with this I know you all get asked questions About judging all the time So I'll offer an idea I said on Twitter to E Casey Liden I think fights should be scored by the round

Like if two out of three judges Give you that round you want it That way we get rid of split decisions If judging was done like this Like on the TJ versus Corey fight He would have won thoughts P.S. Please bring back the video questions Or allow fans to video chat in

Like Brandon Shob does on his new show Thanks and welcome back, Alex. So yeah, we'll have updates on the A side, maybe at another time for that. But I would love to bring back the video, video submission questions. But real quick, AK, do you like the idea of judging fights round by round? God, I mean, I'm not against it. Because I don't think it paints that different of a picture than what we're getting now. So for people who might not understand Terrence's question, because I don't know if everyone knows the exact scorecard situation,

two out of the three judges scored the fight for Corey Sanhagen in three rounds of that fight with T.J. Lilshaw. But if you look at if you just tabulate the numbers, the math, the way it's, you know, the total score, then it's T.J. who got more, sorry, the more tens that he needed. I know it's confusing. I would just people go tell people go look up the score card and kind of do the math. It's almost like a like a mind trick. This happens in a few fights. This also happened in the second Nunez Chivchenko fight. Shevchenko actually won two out of three judges' scores on three rounds out of five. But the way the math adds up, Amanda Nunez gets the, gets, got had more 48, 47s. It's very, very strange. So I would, I'm not against trying it. I don't think it goes against the spirit of how the scorecards are solely tabulated. So let me put this way.

I'm more into this than open scoring. So I can say that now because Casey's not here. So I'm not going to get a whole diatribe about it. But, yeah, I like, it is interesting. And so many people thought Corey won, it would kind of go along with the eye test as well. Now, would it create some other new controversies? I'd have to look back at kind of, again, situations where maybe it didn't work out that way. But I like the idea, Terrence, that's a good point to bring up.

And I'd advise fans really look at these scorecards and kind of be like, how did that, how did this, can come to this number? It's interesting. It will be interesting when you get those nine, nine rounds. Like, they didn't, who got, was it the Kai Kamaka? Not Kaikamaka. Yeah, yeah, Kaikamaka. Yeah, he got a point taken away. It was a draw.

Alex, do you like this idea, quick? No, it's just a band-aid fix for what the real problem is, and that's bad judges. True. Correct. I like the, I like the, I just like the you won this round, you won that round, like in pride. I don't need the whole 10-9 system. And like everyone has said, I know Alex Davis got easy on camera saying, like, use the whole 10-point system. Give it like 10-3s.

Give it 10-4s. Like 10-7s shouldn't, like we never get 10-7s anymore. I remember when Frank Edgar and Great Manard fought to a draw. Do you remember that first round, AK, was just... I prefer not to think about that because I'm a big Frank Yeager fan. I just remember the slam, the comeback slam. Yeah, that first round was basically Gray-Meynard beat him as close to death as a fighter could possibly.

Like if the referee stopped it, I would have been like, yeah, thank God. But he let it happen, and then Frank Adler still came back and won. And I remember Gray-Manor rewatching that. Drop, drop. Well, then he climbed back up the score. The next, yeah. I remember Gray-Manor watching it. It was like an embedded, not embedded.

It was like a countdown or something. He's like, why was that not a 10-7? Like, why was that not a 10-7? Like, I was like, I don't have an answer for you, Gray-Man. That was a good question. Anyway. I guess this individual has a second and third idea. Did we answer one of his before?

I'm sorry. It's been a long morning. I apologize. Second and third idea. I have tried messaging you guys on Facebook, but my question never gets read. Include international audience, please. Sorry.

I know it's live, a lot of other podcasts, we managed to include more than U.S. audiences in the shows. You're not wrong. I apologize. We will bring this idea to Casey from Unique Ariola. Interesting username that's going on. Spelled with U-Aprosophy Neek.

I watched Spellator for the first time, and these are some things that I enjoyed over UFC events. So interesting question that we answered, asked Alex this earlier. Fighter walkouts production work following them beforehand. So he likes the fighter walkouts is what he's saying. Like, and this is a production work.

Like, oh, you know, it's on show. It's on showtime. Yeah, so it's kind of boxing style. I don't know how if it's,

I don't know if that's Bellator employees or like UFC employees. When actually I know they hire a lot of their contractors because Alex, when we covered the, uh, the card of Chicago. our old colleague Hunter was with us and he knew all of the techs working he's like oh yeah

I worked at that guy at an NBA game I worked at that guy at a hockey game so like they clearly brought in like professionals not like actual Bellator employees so did you guys like the walkouts for Bellator I love them I love them sure nobody does them right I feel like I would love them

but like I don't know they just tell how should they be done They're just cringy. Like, just do better. Pick a better song. Stop trying to dance if you're not on rhythm. Like, it takes me out of it completely. I disagree.

Dance, dance your... Fighters, dance your hearts out. If you're terrible, if you're good, I don't care. Dance your hearts out. Who was Hannah Guy? Was a Hannah-Gai? The Valley of Lareda. That's one of my favorite moments of the year.

Dance, you know, dance, dance, dance. I'll go. I will never tell people not to dance, Oxalves. How dare you? Did you guys like AJ's entrance coming out to Dr. Dre with the money and everything? Oh, I was sick. I don't remember it. He walked out to Dr. Dre, obviously, California, Anglewood is from California,

and he had a massive water. I don't know if it was real money or not, but it's obviously the winner gets the million-dollar checking through it up in the air. I think that is very overplayed. Yeah, that's so take. Okay, fine. In every aspect of entertainment, not just the sporting world, but making it rain is, is very 2003 for me. And I have no, if it never happens again, I wouldn't care.

Unless it was something funny. Some of these, do have a little bit of a high school, vice presidential election quality to them. But I like that. I always have. Maybe I'm immature. I like that. I need someone to do, you guys remember when they did the elections in this high school.

I need someone to do the, oh, he's coming in on a helicopter, and he's, he's on a boat. And then he's driving it on a motorcycle. and it's like he's coming into the arena and it's like oh now he pops out of the entrance wow how did he do that's amazing pretty much what the old WWF used to do yeah I need one of those I find those

hilarious if you want to be cheesy then fine but like it's them taking themselves too seriously while they're like fake rapping like what are you doing no it has to be sincere or it's not funny I don't want them I don't want them winking at us no I want I want us to be able to laugh with them okay but see they're not laughing

with themselves they're like yeah I look cool That's a, I look like, I'm about to fist fight a human being. I'm throwing money in the air. Yo, that's funny for us. That's funny for us. That's funny. That's funny. 2003.

2003, Usher's still a thing. Anyway. Does the round cage promote stand up? So I like the round cage aesthetically. I despise what it does for the actual fighting because you can't corner anyone. You cannot corner. You cannot make these angles into circular cage. I think it's, I hate the circle cage.

I hate it so much. Give me a two. Decahedium over a circle page. That's a 16th side. I think that's 16 sides. Anyway, colored gloves were cool. Love the colored gloves. I love, love, love.

Yes. And look, one Chris of the UFC, stop putting the fighter's shorts as the identical short color as the identification for the fighters. Just do red corner, blue corners. Just do red and blue. Sometimes they'll have like,

his guy's in the gray shorts. This guy's in the silver shorts. It's super, it's really confusing. So at the very least, if UFC's not going to do a cool. colored glove thing. You still have the corners. You still have the tape on their gloves. Just do the what's call it kind of corner they're in. Stop being cute with the colors. Love the gloves. You can dance but don't be cute with the

colors. Yeah. Now you're getting it. Yeah. Anyway, we got a few more questions specifically for AK if I can ever find them. I doubt it though. No. Are we counting John Guy. What's the overrun on our Fast and Furious 30 happening? I mean if you want to count all Fast and Furious projects that's already happened. There's been video games spin-offs. There's been shorts. There's a cartoon starring Dominic Toreto's nephew, I believe, Tony Toreto. Yeah, so, I mean, we're kind of already, if you're at all the lore.

That's right. Is Paul Walker? Is it Paul Walker? He's the one that passed away, right? Is he the one that's, is he, is it missing him? The ninth one, yeah, it's just getting super awkward. Some people I saw really liked how it was handled the new one, and I understand why. I don't want to spoil anything.

I'll just say, it's getting awkward. why he doesn't show up. And literally every movie now, the last movies, it's one line. It's like, where's Brian? When's Paul Walker's got. He's got to look after the kids. All right, moving on.

So let's go. We've got to go save the world. It'd be really nice to have Brian around. It's a shame he has to take the kids to school today. Okay, let's go. Let's go. Don't bring him up. Don't mention him anymore.

Getting uncomfortable. A.K., who is the dude punching the bag during the credits? Oh, I answered this in the chat. I don't think he's an established festival. Furious character, but he is a well-known sort of character. Also, Paul Walker was a creep, right? Isn't that what I hear?

In real life, but there wasn't a great person. Yeah, maybe a little Leonardo DiCaprio dating some underage, some young women. But like, when you say young, you mean like under 18 young, right? I'm going to tell people to look up, but there are allegations out there that yes, when he was coming out there, some improper relations. So look that up. You guys look that. Favor fast and fierce character.

and then we'll end on this. Mia, I will say this, Jordana Brewster's character, Mia is so underrated. She's like one of the most disregarded characters in the series. I have literally no who idea that. She is the love interest of Paul Walker in the first movie, but becomes so much more than that.

She is the heart and soul of the Fast and Furious franchise. And just because she doesn't get to, she gets to kick ass in the new movie, but for the most part, she's like the mom wife character, but she motivates so much of the action in the series. You shouldn't have saved this question for last because I can give you a 20-minute treat treat-treaties

on my Jordana Brewster is essential to the Fast and Furious series. I would love nothing more. She was sorely missed in the eighth movie, but I'll say, not my favorite character, but I want people to show more appreciation to Mia Torreto slash Mia O'Connor. I don't know if they ever actually get married.

Mia Turretto. Anyway, he's bow wow ever come back with his Hulk call? He's in the new one, and he's not so little like that. Yeah, he's bow wow now. Him and he's just bow wow now. And yes, all the three guys from Tokyo trip come back and they are unrecognizable. Like why?

Yeah, they're just older It just look different The movie technically I think is set maybe Five years after Tokyo When I've gathered From like people that I know that watch this It's like all the movies are not in chronological

No there's a lore There's a whole lore Exactly is that not I had no idea I've seen the first one Like when it first came out And I've never seen anything In Tokyo drift

I will spoil this movie It's so old If you haven't watched it yet There's a really cool character Han Solo who dies or just Han Who dies But he's such a cool character

They wanted to bring him back for the sequel So they said oh screw it We'll just say he's alive But that these movies are before Took place before Tokyo Drift Ignore the phones Ignore the cell phones Is the chronological?

Chronologically is Tokyo Drift the last movie? Not anymore It is now before The timeline has caught up So we are now With seven we cut up So it is between Four and seven

No, sorry, it is between six and seven. Learned something new every day, but I remember Bawa, I'm going to end on this. Bawa had his, was like a sion, like one of those box cars, and it was green, and he had customized it to look like Hulk Fists were coming out of the car. I think they thought that was actually going to like become something. Yeah, because it ruled. No. Like I don't remember what year that came out, but I was like, even I was like, that's stupid, but I love it. Anyway.

Well, there you go. We're going to end this because we got... That sums up the series. That sums up the series. Anyway, we went five minutes over. I know we got media day coming so we can't hang out and shout with you all guys all. I'm sorry. Alex Avis, before we sign off, you got anything to say?

Anything to plug? No. No. No. No. No, she doesn't. Hey, Kaylee? Watch fast peers?

No, no. I don't know. Yeah, catch up. One question you didn't put up. If you're going to start people, if you're a fast newbie, a fast, a fast, Newby or Furious or Newby, whichever one you want to call it. A fooby. Thank you, Alex Abbott.

You always have to know what to say. I would highly recommend starring with Fast Five. That's actually the first one I watched. It's just a really good movie. It's the best one of the series. Yeah, it's the best one in the series. It informs so much of what comes after. It's a little bit difficult to go back after because the first one,

the first movie is so different from everything else. But you can do it. You can do it. And so I would say, are you going to do guys? Fast Five. I absolutely love how into Fast Fats and Furious A.K. I'm very into it. It's very real. It is this generation Star Wars trilogy. I don't know if people know this. It is. I've never seen Star Wars either, but I would want, if I had to choose to watch the nine main main line Fast Furious films or the nine mainline Star Wars, and I love the original trilogy of Star Wars, like one of my favorite trilogy is ever. But in total, all nine, I'll take the nine Fast Fieries movies any effing day. Any day.

All right. Anyway, we'll end it on that. Fast 5, The Rock Ball My Ticket, so I love that movie. Other than that, I haven't seen any of them. So no judgment for me. Like, you guys can like what are you guys like? Stick around on this YouTube page. Casey is live on the scene at UFC 265 Media Day in Houston,

and then Alex and I will get clips out, AK will get his stories out. But until that starts in 24 minutes, go read MMA Fighting's global rankings. And you guys could stop arguing in our Instagram comments over why our rankings are different. my god people how many people i had to remind that these are not the ufc rings but anyway for jose that's alex and alex we'll see you next week