MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Bellator 222 fallout, Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series, UFC Greenville, Chael Sonnen, Paulie Malignaggi vs. Artem Lobov, more

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

On this episode of The A-Side Live Chat, José Youngs and Petesy Carroll react to Bellator 222, the season premiere of Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series and preview the upcoming UFC Greenville and BKFC 6 cards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Sorry for that delay. We were dealing with some unforeseen technical. technical difficulties, but we got squared away. It's not my fault. It's the man opposite of me today. But if I had told you that my co-host was dealing with technical difficulties, his end, the first person you would assume it'd probably be Pizzie Carroll. And that is who is with me.

Because I, honest to God, since I took over this, every week I get comments and tweets and messages and DMs asking me when Petey was going to return to the A side. He was supposed to do it the first week, but he had to go do some UFC Stockholm stuff. And then I was in Chicago, so I did it with Casey Live. And then he was going to do it. But then he had to go cover this little press commerce with Habib Normica Madoff and Dustin Porre. But this week, we made it happen. Peecee Carroll is back in our lives. Pici, what's up? Welcome back. Thank you so much for that lovely introduction. and unfortunately everybody missed my big technical faux part today where I had to shut down my computer very quickly at 6 o'clock

just so we could turn it back on so my camera would start working again but here we are we're back a bunch of questions tick and fast thank you we can't have pizza carolano not see his beautiful face but we're gonna we're gonna hop right in first question p t rory versus bellator from our friend eduardo buello hey fellas Scott cocker said he wants rory versus Lima in September. Three fights in less than five months. I think this is an awful idea and a lack of respect

against his champion and pound-for-pound best fighter on his roster, specifically with Roy's recent history. Is Bellator giving up on the Roy project? I think Douglas' chances are bigger if they fight soon. I remember a while ago, Rory was complaining about a few things in Bellator. Maybe the relationship isn't that good. Is Rory planning to leave?

Cheers. So, Pizzi, Roy McDonald did pick up a win over Neiman Gracie, the main event of Bellator 222, punched his ticket to the finals of the Bellator Weltoeweig Grand Prix, he'll rematch Douglas Lima. But I don't know if you watched the post-fight press conference after, and Scott Coker had said he wanted that fight to be in September,

which Douglas Lima also had mentioned because the Grand Prix started in September, and they wanted to end it in September. Roy McDonald was emphatically, that doesn't work for my schedule. He's had a few fights. I think he has another kid on the way. He wants to recover.

He wants to fight later this year. So what do you make of Scott Coker wanting basically three fights in five months for his champion whose recent comments have caused quite a bit of stir too? Yeah, it's very interesting. I don't blame Rory at all. I mean, he had two five-round fights back to back there. I mean, I don't think it's asking a lot to hear. Give me a little bit of a break boss.

You know what I mean? Give me some leeway on this. But I will say one thing about Rory, a lot of people are kind of talking about always back to exactly where he should be. But I wasn't convinced by that performance. I wasn't convinced by his comments afterwards either. And I think a great way of looking at this is the first time he was meant to fight Lima,

I was very strong on the Rory side. I was like, I think he has, I respected Lima a lot, but I was very strong on Rory was going to win it. This time around, I think I'm definitely favouring Lima. And that just shows you how much has changed for Rory MacDonald in that year or

whatever since his last fight with him. I don't blame him at all, for one thing, a longer kind of time off, downtime after that fight. And I think Coker should respect it because Rory's been a fantastic signing for them. And the same can't be said for all the guys that have been signed directly from the UFC to Bellator. Yeah. And, I mean, he did lose to Gaygard-Mussi pretty emphatically.

He fought John Fitch to a draw. And then he fought Neiman Gracie. And I remember talking to Josh Thompson at Bellator 221. and I asked him should the winner of which and Michael Benham page versus Douglas Lehman was on that card. And I asked him, should the winner of this fight be considered the favorite for this Grand Prix, considering the champion fought to a draw and then his post-fight comments and everything. And he said that Neiman Gracie should be the favorite. But I agree with you that yes, Roy McDonald won, but I don't think it was enough to sway the odds in my mind.

I still would favor Douglas Lehman in the rematch because that fight, that first fight wasn't easy for him. And a lot of people, like, a lot of people consider that last round was kind of the deciding round where it was pretty neck and neck. So I'd have to agree with you. I agree with this comment too with Eduardo, where if they do fight in September, I'd have to favor Douglas Lima. But if it's farther down the road and Rory figures it out, then I guess you favor the champion. Well, just look what Lehman has done since then. Like that knockout of MVP was incredible, man. People were losing their minds over here.

You know what I mean? It was insane. Look what Rory's done. As you said, that fight with Fitch, it wasn't anything to really write home about the loss to Gagard was emphatic. I mean, you know, based on that alone, I think it's very hard not to favor Lima. And maybe that fight with Rory was what put Lima on the map for an awful lot of people that hadn't consumed Bellator up to that point. So, yeah, completely agree with you. Great question.

We've got off to a fantastic start, might I say. Yeah. So we'll move right along. Question specifically for me, but I don't know if you've watched any of the videos or seen any of the background stuff. UFC Apex from our friend Ted Baer. Howdy fellas, just wondering, being there in person, Mr. Young's, what was your impression of the new Apex Center? Can you explain how these new facilities the UFC is building all over the world fits into their overall strategy? It seems like a huge investment to be building performance institutes all over the world.

also could you could you clarify is the PI free to fighters or just free for shack that i do not know i know a huge chunk of the roster is actually training there uh jessica i did a did her camp there ahead of valentina jeshchenko or fight against valetia sheshenko franz and gana has been there for a while but i actually just got back from las vegas maybe an hour or two ago from the the ufc apex unveiling it was a very impressive the size of the building was enormous uh they actually were Dana revealed that while they were building this institute around, which is across the street from the PI, they were adding stuff because they had space. So like, hey, we asked him, like, is there anything in the design plans that you wanted that weren't included? And he was like quite the opposite.

We were basically adding stuff to the blueprints as we were going because we had more space than we anticipated. So it was very impressive. They're actually going to add more seats to, I don't know. Obviously, you watch the contenders. series yesterday. They're going to add more seats around the octagon to fit maybe 1,200 people to watch a contender series fight. They're going to have some tough fights there. Lauren Sanko said she wouldn't mind seeing invicted there. But it was a very impressive building, but it wasn't even close to being done. Like that main octagon room, the main centerpiece

with the octagon and some of the bleachers in the VIP section, all that, that was complete. A lot of the stuff was still under construction. So it was enormous. what they told us was impressive. But I want to see it built first before I can really say anything. But in terms of the PI, Dana White said he was targeting obviously Mexico, Puerto Rico, China. So and we asked him like why those countries, like why not Brazil? Why not London? Like why not Ireland?

Yeah, why not Ireland? Like these countries that have this wealth of talent, why not build them there? And he said that he wants to build them in places. that haven't really, MMA hasn't kind of broken into the mainstream yet, and he wants to use these PIs to build the talent in these countries specifically because he wants, he's basically building PIs in the cities and countries.

He wants to break the UFC to break into, like, Dublin obviously already has, like, a vast popularity of MMA, especially with Connor and Artem. Never heard of them. Yeah, right? Especially for PC. what do you make of the performance institutes being built all over the country and all over the world

specifically in these countries that the UFC hasn't really broken into yet? I think it's good. I mean, the P.I. has been a great success. When you talk to fighters about that place, they're always kind of, they're always kind of singing its praises. So I guess it does make sense to put it into that market, and put it into these markets that they're trying to build and build talent in those regions. Like we've seen how how decisions can be swayed, but a UFC geographically and stuff like that. And obviously at the moment, there's a huge amount of talent there from China at the moment.

That's very interesting. Obviously, Zhang is getting that title fight as well. So yeah, it doesn't really surprise me. But it looked great. It really looked great on TV watching it or on whatever Chromecast, whatever way you're watching it. It looked really impressive. So I'm looking for it. Even if the results weren't that impressive, but we can get to that later on.

I have my rant ready to go. But yeah, it's, it looked really good. And I guess it's good to see the world's flagship MMA promotion reinvesting in the sport because I believe that's what they're doing. Yeah, since I was there for the fight, the contended series fights, I didn't get to see it on TV. And Dana White actually said that a lot of the people in the audience didn't get to see any of the filler, like those promos between fights. It was basically just dead quiet between fights. It was kind of. It was weird.

So there's a lot of stuff to work out. But did it, did you, you obviously, I assume you watched the Contender series the last few seasons. Was there a different feeling watching it in this new facility as opposed to the old tough gym from past seasons? Maybe it's hard to tell just based off one, but it was certainly obvious that they were in a new place. The promos and stuff are really good. kind of takes on this nearly like, do you guys have X factor over there? Yeah, we do.

You have the X factor? So it kind of like, all right, this guy tells you how hard it's been to get here and now he's fighting. Every one of them, you know, this guy does this terrible story, now he's fighting. That's the way it kind of went.

Very verse, coarse verse. But I did enjoy it. I think it looked really good, you know? Yeah, we didn't get any of that in the arenas. So you guys weren't even crying when you're watching the fights like I was? No, we were just like, the next fight going to happen and then they're announcing they're announcing it so we didn't see

any of that in the area space is huge right you're going to be waiting for a while there between fights the space is absolutely huge like and because they obviously weren't done building but dana white actually in the in the tour he right before the tour did a Q&A and he kind of dropped his nugget like yeah it's it's open to the public like anyone can come and we were like wait so a fans can just like walk up and just come, like, they don't need a ticket or anything. He's like, yeah, just show up. And that blew up in his face where he said that he just got an enormous,

like his inboxers under siege asking where fans come, like, oh, when should I show up? When should I show up? So he basically had to put out like, hey, we're like, we're at capacity. So he's, they're going to add, they're going to add more bleachers and seeds for, like, now fans can just, like, you don't have to be friends or family. You can just show up and watch a fight for free at the, at the, at the impact. So there was a ton of space, a lot of empty areas around the bleachers.

So I'm very intrigued to see, especially later on when they figured all out and fans start to realize that they can just show up. Because I asked Dana point in blanket, like, are you going to charge tickets, like maybe $5 ticket? He was like, no, just show up. Just come on by. I was like, well, that's a dangerous. That's dangerous, Dana. You're going to get all these weirdos running in. but that will that will stop as soon as they have an irish fighter on the contender series as soon as

500 irish lads show up absolutely rat-a-strunk i can see that ending very quickly oh boy honest to god i i want to be there for that one i just want to be there for that one i just like oh god what did i do like right away in the scrum we asked him like so where were all the fans he goes oh my god that kind of just took off and blew up in my face so uh i I don't think the UFC PR even knew that was a thing. Because when Dana said it, there was kind of a moment of silence like, what? What?

But moving on, from our good friend Matt the donk, he seems he always gets a question in here. Dylan Danis, P.C. What did you all think about his second fight and how would you like Bellator to continue using him? Part of me thinks he should just throw away another eight lowly donks at him to keep building him up over the next three years as he gets more cage experience. But another part of me wants to see him get beat down sooner that if he keeps trolling us with John Jones callout, hashtag cringe. So, Pizzi, Dylan Danis, long-time training partner of your friend, Connor McGregor.

I'm sure he's well-known over on your side of the pond. Had his second fight in Bellator, his first fight since that incident at UFC 229 with him and Habib and Connor. and he ran through Max Humphreys. Like it was, he put Humphreys through a wood chipper and came out victorious. And later, John Kavanaugh said that he had like a knee knee injury and he confirmed there was a knee injury or something like that or ankle. I can't quite remember, but there was some sort of injury.

What did you make of Dylan Dennis's performances? How would you like to see him use moving on? And when I put this out on Twitter, like when should he fight again? A lot of people want him to fight over on your side of the pond, whether it be in London or Dublin or where it would be in London or Dublin or work. wherever. So what did you make of Dylan Danes' performance? And where does he go from here? Yeah, it was a very good performance. I think he was very dominant. And that's really what you expect when a guy is coming from such an elite background as he has in Jiu-Jitsu. You know, I see

people complain about the level of opponent all the time. But really, that's the level of opponents you can expect for a guy who's taking his first steps into mixed martial arts. I think where the problem is created is when he gets on the mic afterwards and he says, give me John Jones and then they're going to have another guy who's like maybe four and three in his next fight or three and three or whatever it might be and people are going to say, oh, why didn't you? But that's just what he's doing. He's doing that so you guys do that.

We're all playing the game with him here. Every time we get excited and upset about it and start, you know, effing and blind and I always, that's what he wants. He doesn't give a shit if we're happy or sad about it. Once we react in some way, shape, or form, that's all he cares about. Like, I mean, do I think he's a fantastic? person for doing that? No, but I mean, do I think it's resulting in a fantastic career and traction for him? Absolutely. So why would he stop? Yeah, he's doing it. He's doing it right, man. And we

we saw the Chale Sondon's career come to an end on Friday too. I'll talk about that later. But Chale himself said like, booze and cheers, though that's what you want to hear. You never want to hear silence. And I've seen the numbers, the social media numbers on our site from Dylan Dennis clips or stare downs or wayans. And he is routinely one of the top two fighters in Bellator. Like, even, he even,

like, overshadowed the main event in terms of, like, his, his, his, his,

his, his, his, his, his, his, his, he should have seen

the comments on our YouTube page when he, what, they walked out with the towel. When he needed, yeah, the way in, it was,

they just went scorched earth on him. Like, how, yo, you need the towel to make weight, like, how I'm professional. Like, he made weight.

It's not his weight, baby. Right. It's like, they're just looking for a reason to like complain about this guy and he keeps talking and he keeps winning but he's only two and oh so i don't know what i don't know how big of a jumping competition you can actually get they seem to be uh giving him the michael venom page treatment right now yeah and i mean this is this is what they probably should do look what what they do on the

opposite scale of that with iron pico that blew up in their face you know what i mean like like and what i don't understand is um you know when um um um when Aaron Pico was saying, like, I don't want to step down in competition after Corales defeats him. They don't give him a big step down in competition when they put him against Adam Barks. For those of you who don't know, like it was 12 and O,

an unbeaten Supremo from Hungary before he went over there. He's huge for 145. But what I don't understand is they kind of seem to take, they take Aaron Pico's word for it and kind of carry on as he wants to go. But we won't see, we won't see Dylan Danis getting matched with Rory MacDonald John Jones in his next fight.

So I just don't understand the thinking there. Like, why is it one rule for one guy and one rule for someone else? I like the fact that they nurture talent. It makes them big. It makes them sellable. Look at MVP. I mean, we were right along for that ride, right up until that KO to Lima. Look at James Galaher.

Like, I mean, this guy has so much traction. People complain all the time. Like, until he fights a champion, people are going to say, you're putting him in against shit guys. That's just the way it's going to happen. Like, it's the right way to do. deal with the way to do with Dylan. I think you've got to nurture talent.

And yeah, I'd say more of the same for the next two, three years, probably, you know? Yeah, I mean, Michael Venom Page's whole thing was he never fought, like, quote, unquote, like real competition. He fought against cans, which I didn't agree with. But then he fought Douglas Lima. And I think he won that first round. I mean, yeah, he got taken down, but he had risk control the whole time. Like, Douglas Lima didn't do anything.

I was really impressed with him on the ground. I was really impressed with him on the ground. Absolutely. And then he himself said when he got his legs kicked out from under him in that second round, and he decided he was finding so much success on the feet that he was overconfident. Like I'll just stand up. And instead of go backwards, like roll backwards away from danger, he just stood up like he had tripped on the street and then walked into like a upper cut from hell on the jaw. Like it was his mistake, he says. So it just goes to show. you like yeah he might not be fighting the biggest names with the most impressive records but like he's still a bad dude inside that cage and uh um and but what do you think about dylan fighting over uh in in in the uk or dublin or something like that well the dublin card is most likely going to be announced on um on saturday when bellator london goes down um obviously over here on saturday that's happening um so i think what what we've heard is they're probably going to announce some of the fights

for the Dublin card in September. I'm not too sure which date. James Galler seemed to kind of hint at it on Eurobash this week that he already has something going on there. And really, I think it works for Dylan to come and compete in Ireland now. I think it works for him to,

like they don't get the same crowd in England as they get in Ireland. They don't have that wild, passionate, screaming fan base. And I think Dylan would really benefit from that. I think I know he only competed on Madison Square Garden, but to see the adoration that's heaped on people that are connected to Connor and connected to that thing,

that would probably benefit him greatly. And people are already kind of thinking about what opponents he could face. I mean, there's a very good fighter. He's even record at the moment, I believe, 3 and 3. Keith McCabe, who has stepped up on short notice to face Galarbo Fondo on this card. And we feel as though he is a very solid test for Dylan. Like he's very good on the ground in terms of his normal MMA competition. and he's been beaten by two SBG guys in the past,

Richard Kiley and Kiefer Crosby, who are both signed to Bellator now. So I think that could potentially make sense for Dylan. I think that's a fight that both SBG, Bellator will look at and say, well, you know, I think this is a good, like it's a good step up, it's a steady step up. It's not like he's fighting one of the killers

at the very top of the division, but a win against someone like McCabe, who was well respected in Ireland, would really do Dylan a lot of favors. But of course, as soon as this is announced, I'm sure all the U.S. fans will be saying, who's this Cam he's putting against? But I think it would be, I think it's a no-brainer to put him in Dublin, to be honest. I mean, you sold me.

I mean, I just wanted him to fight in Dublin. I wanted to see the reception that he would get and how, like, because in America, I've seen him fight live. I saw his Bellator debut, and he gets a lot of booze. Like, it's pretty 50-50, but I would like to see him fight in front of a crowd that just absolutely loves him. Yeah. To put this into context, like at the last Dublin card,

Peter Qualey, who was, who had never really fought for one of the big US promotions or one of the, he had fought on Obama cards and things like that in Ireland. He got pitted against the guy, Miles Bryce, who had fought with, who had trained at Khabib's gym ahead of 229,

who used to be an SBG fighter. And the, the fierce treatment of Miles in the lead up to that fight, Everyone was calling him a rat. Everyone was telling Queen to go out there and kill him. Just because they felt like that was heavily reliant on the Connor and Kabebebebe dynamic. But just to see how much people got behind Peter and gave him this hero's ovation when he went into fight miles. I think Dylan would get exactly the same thing if he ended up fighting on that Dublin card, you know?

I'm curious how he reacts. I mean, he's so used to playing the villain. How is he going to react when no one hates him? We love you, Dylan. What? He's just like coming out. He's acting like this bad guy with his leopard. Like he had like leopard print shorts on.

Yeah. He didn't take his sun. He had like space age sunglasses in the press comments and people like, oh, look at this clown. Like he shows up in Dublin and he gets no hate. Like that's like it's like Chale Sunnan. Like when Michael Bisbing later in his career, he'd come out to cheers.

And even he was like, what is happening right now? Like when did I become the good guy? Yeah. But I just want to see how he'd react. But moving on, you actually touched upon this fighter a moment ago, Borix. Our friend, life is kicking my butt. All right. Sorry about that.

Same here, man. It's all good. Stay real. Stay in the corner. Peach is going to hit this question for you. So hopefully it's a turnaround in your life. But Borix, everyone speaks about Pico's derailed hype train, but nobody seems to notice the breakout talent that is Adam Borix.

Pronounce Boric. All right, my bad. with an entire nation, small as it may be behind him. Even though Pico was laser focused on his strongest trade, his wrestling, he did zero damage from Borch's, who managed to get off the mat eventually and faster each time Pico took him down. Do you expect Bellator to seize the opportunity and pull a victory out of the jaws of an apparent defeat by promoting this very talented young fighter? and you hit it, you touched upon it briefly, but Boritz, like, I picked him to win after seeing that stare down. He looked absolutely massive next to Aaron Pico,

and his record, like you said, undefeated fighter. It just, I didn't, I, Pico could obviously win, but coming off that halacious knockout, and he had just switched camps. He went from McKee's camps or Antonio McKee's camps to know Greg Jackson camp. I don't know if there was enough time in that one. in this new camp going into this fight. When did he last fight, I think it was January,

and then he fought in June. So that's only a few months in his new camp against a, like a colossal fighter. Huge. He even himself said, Borch was on the MMA hour and speaking with Luke Thomas, saying, like, maybe he was too young for the height. He needs a break,

and maybe he should go to, maybe Aaron Pigo should go to 135 pounds. But Bellator seems to have this well-spoken, good looking Borage care kid who just knocked out Aaron Pico with a flying knee on one of the biggest cards they've ever put together in Madison Square Garden does Belator have a bona fide star

in their hands in Adam Borch? Well they have a situation there that can play right into their hands Jose because they already do shows and hungry. They've done shows in Budapest before. This guy has fought there. He's already won by flying knee KO in Belator before this fight even happened.

I mean, I feel like it would be terrible for them not to really get down to Hungary and put on a big fight for this guy there because as he was explaining, he was on with Usan, Eurobash the week before the fight. And he was kind of explaining, like, he seems to be the guy that's generating the interest there now. So if he can be the spark that lights the fuse and Hungary, that would be absolutely huge for Bellator and it would be huge for him. But I feel like it's nearly like Bandejas beating Galaher to some extent. I felt like the story was way more about James Galaher being defeated than it was again than Ricky Bandehas taking a big wing and we obviously saw Ricky taking that loss to Patrick Mix at the weekend as well but they cannot sleep on this opportunity. This is a big opportunity to do something big in Europe. They're already heavily invested in Europe.

They have this European series going. I feel like to be very silly if they don't. It's it's made for them. It's right there for them to take it if they want it. So they need to do it. And really, like, I feel like Bellator coming into Europe now with this European series, and they're competing with the UFC. If they had a bigger name, they'd be able to compete with them even more.

It's just a brand awareness so far over here. People don't automatically say to someone on the street, Bellator, and they go, oh, the mixed martial arts promotion, they don't do that yet. They do that with the UFC. That's where they need to go. And by having stars in these locations, James Galaher in Ireland, you know, they have a lot of guys in England there as well. get Adam going in Hungary and this will all work in their favor.

I honestly believe that. So they have to do it. I really hope it does result in a kind of a positive career search for Adam because he's a great guy and an astronomical talent. As we saw, just the presence of mind, he was being absolutely outwrestled, completely dominated in the grappling exchanges and then to have the presence of mind just to pick that one moment where he could set up that knee. I doubt he could have set that up at any other point in the fight.

Absolutely amazing. This guy has something and they have to, they have to, the room with it. Yeah, and just based off of his interviews, too, I mean, they can, he's not a, he's a well-spoken kid and he's not afraid to say, like Luke asked him and he even asked him in the press, like, someone asked him in the press conference, like, were you under overlooked? Like, what did you think about that? And most fighters would be like, oh, I don't really care like about underdog status. And Borch was like, it bothered me. Like, it bothered me. How many people were telling me Aaron Pico was going to knock me out. But I knew I was going to knock

come out and that's exactly what he did so borch is hearing that it's weird hearing a fighter like admitting that fans telling you you're going to lose bothers you so right out of it was an anomaly to me he also told luke that his father was afraid of what was going to happen in that fight like that is jesus christ like that is that is really raw honestly and what he had said to us the week before the fight is i want to show everybody who really deserves hype and my god he certainly did that and what do you Where does Aaron Pico go from here? I mean, Bored said he should go to 1.35.

Pico does have a pretty long medical suspension after that knockout loss. Borch was very confident with saying, like, Aaron Pico's career is not over. He's four and three. He's two losses in a row. A lot of people might be writing this kid off, especially after his bellatory debut, he got finished, gets finished by Henry Corrales in an exciting fight, but got clipped on the chin and then loses again. Where does Aaron Pico go from here?

Should he take a lot of time off until his next fight? And what do you make of this whole Aaron Pico's career is over already? And he's what, like 24, 23 years old? It's absolute bullshit. And the thing is, right, they need to allow this guy to cut his teeth. They never let him cut his teeth. He was going in there against absolute animals from day one. I mean, the guy needs to have some kind of a day.

developmental period here. We've seen his hands. They're tremendous. We've seen his wrestling. It's tremendous. But he needs some time to be able to put those two together in a live fight situation. And really, with the talent pool they've put him against, they haven't been able to do that. Now, and if this takes bringing him right the way back and starting to match him like

Dylan Dennis, they have to do it because they have to correct this issue. They made this problem. He doesn't go out and decide who he's fighting every week. Bellator do. So it's time to go out and rectify the problem that is now on their hands. hands. They created it. They have to deal with it. And I'd like to see them allowing him to cut his teeth. Like, could you imagine what he'd be doing to guys if he was put in with these dudes that have fought like two or three times? I remember after the Corallus knockout, he was there saying,

don't put me in with these people. I'll hurt them. And you know what? He's probably right. But at the end of the day, this is the game that we're in, my friends. I know it's not pretty. I know it's not glamorous, but this is what it's about. And if you haven't allowed him to show us what he can do against guys who are in the same kind of time period in this sport as he is, we're never going to realize how good he is. Just keep constantly trying to the lines is ridiculous. And if they haven't learned a lesson now, they never will. Yeah, I was honestly, I was kind of caught off guard, not by the, yes, the opponent.

And yes, like, like he was still fighting at featherweight. But it seems like a quick turnaround. Like January to June after a violent knockout loss. He was, like, put away. And then he, yeah, you, you said, you, you touched upon it. But he was like, don't put, like, you can put me in with these guys, but it's going to be a lot of hospital bills. Coming your way, Bellatorian. But we, I mean, Casey and I were talking about this, our cameraman.

Before the Valentina fight, like, she needs to do something to, like, to get, like, to get these fans behind her. Like, and sometimes just each fight is to show off. Like, the level of competition might not be. on your level, but you just need, like, a fight where you can just do crazy stuff and get on the highlights and build your highlight real, grow, get your confidence, and you have a new camp. Like, I don't think people are talking about that enough. Like, going from Antonio McKee to Greg Jackson's is a pretty big jump, uh, after spending your whole career training with this one coach and now you're going into this super team.

And you only spend six months training with him before you get a fight against a monstrous featherweight with an undefeated record. I don't know what bell at the day. I don't know what, like, I know Aaron Pico wouldn't turn down fights, but someone should have just sat him down and be like, hey, man, don't take this fight. Someone needs to take it out of his hands. Like, it feels like he's almost, like, because he said it, we'll keep doing it. Like, that's what it felt like.

If that was a step down, you know, you need to have a word with the matchmakers. Like, if they honestly thought Barix is going to be a walk in the park, that's crazy. That's great. Look at the size of the dude. Just based on the physical stature of the guy, this isn't going to be easy. And even though he made it look pretty easy up until the end of the fight, like, I mean,

he was, he was so good in that fight. No one's done that to Adam. No one's done that to Adam. And everyone, everyone kept saying that after Aaron Pico's loss to Henry Corrales, like he's one of the few fighters like him and Cody Garbrandt, like fight,

fight more boring. Like don't go out there and just look to just decapitate your opponent. right away like it happened with cody garbair against pedramunio's where yeah that fight was awesome but he got knocked out and then erin pico also like obviously fought henry corrales and that fight was awesome but he got knocked out and people were like hey man like should probably stop getting in gunfights and put together a game plan and then you saw that in the first round and he looked great like it might have not not may not have been exciting but he definitely won that first round and then he got knocked out and he got caught so uh erran pico should i i i guess

guess fight more boring yeah yeah well like i mean when he has like i completely commend him the way he fought um in his first fights was was thrilling to watch like oh my god like it was it was edge of the seat stuff we know he has that in his arsenal um but it should be a showing phase at the moment it shouldn't be a proving phase at the moment it's a showcase let's see the showcase we're forgetting that connor mcgregor got a got a title fight off the back of a fight with dennis seaver come on There is a purpose for showcase fights, my friends. Yeah, 100%. I mean, Michael Venompage, his biggest opponent, like, well, yeah, he fought Paul Daly,

but I don't think anyone saw the fight going that the way that went. But then he fought Douglas Lima, and he looked great. But then, but all the way up until Douglas Lima, he was putting on these insane highlight fights. And fans were like all week, all week of, like, because I was there on the ground and I was talking to fans and media, like, what fight are you most excited for? It wasn't Michael Chandler versus Pitbull. It wasn't, it was, it was Michael, it wasn't Jake Hager, who was also on the card. It wasn't A.J. McKee versus Pat Curran, like prospect versus veteran.

It was Michael Venom Page and Douglas Lima because they wanted to see Michael Venom page after like 10 fights of just fighting in the Matrix, fighting against a high-level fighter who can do it all. And he looked great. and but that fight was so hyped and then looking at the numbers because that fight was also the same weekend as UFC 227 with Rose and Raj. And who do you think did the most, the biggest numbers on YouTube and Instagram and Twitter and Facebook? It was Michael Van Page who did the most numbers. So Aaron Pico should be a mega star.

He should be a bigger star. But he should also, yes, you said it perfectly. Should have show off fights to build that confidence and get all the fans. behind him, but we could talk about this forever. Can I just wait one more point on that, Jose? Absolutely, Pizzi. The one thing I'll say is people burying Aaron Pico at this stage of his career are absolutely they're idiots, right?

Look at James Galaer, right? He loses to Ricky Bandeas. One fight later, one fight later, he is probably the most called out guy in the promotion. Every time I do a podcast, every week on Eurobash, if we have a Bellator fighter anywhere between flyweight and 155. They're calling out James Geller. Who do you want? Next James Geller.

When you have that kind of intrigue in fighting you, you're far from gone. You're gone nowhere. Maybe your stock has even been elevated. So far from the end of Aaron Pico, far from the end of MVP. And as James Galaer has already proven, far from the end of him. Yeah. Aaron Pico's not even 30 yet. Like he's not even close to 30.

He has a lot of time to, A, get like, figure out his new camp and, Yeah, four and three looks bad on paper, but he's get three, three more wins under his bell against in those showoff fights, like you said, he's even one. Even if he goes out there and just starches his next opponent after a long break, Aaron Pia goes right back in the mix. I mean, he, I'd go as far as saying I wouldn't rule him out being a future Belator champion. I'd still say that.

Oh, absolutely not. Like, people have been saying he was a future Belator champion before he even had a Belator fight. Yeah. Like, that's not going anywhere. But moving on, from our friend Lucian on m-fighting.com, and people can leave comments on the post, and if you see a question you like, you can recommend it,

and when it's highlighted green, we'll highlight those. But moving on from our friend Lucian, salary comparison. Greatest of summer days to the both of you fine gentlemen. Oh, thanks, Lucian. It's raining here. It's terrible. It's disgraceful weather, but let's move it on. Oh, it is a beautiful, cool, 108 degrees over here in Arizona.

You think these freckles would last in the desert, my friend? I'd be born alive. You would die. Like, R.P.C. Carol, he died getting off the plane. But Lucian's question, due to the ongoing Women's World Cup, I read a lot of articles regarding money and finances relating to that sport. Something that stuck to me is, that the highest woman's salary belongs to Norwegian, Ada Hegerberg, who funnily enough,

has refused to represent her country in the cup and whose club salary is 400,000 euros annually, ignoring sponsorships naturally. Thus, I was curious to hear from experts such as you that, how does that, as you, that, how does that annual salary of 400,000 euros compared to the UFC fighter's income, would you consider an average or good income in the sport, especially when you consider that training, and I, at least? these partially healthcare costs are covered to the club in Hegerberg's case. And hopefully you don't find the question formulation too silly. Just it seems a fun way to think about salaries.

There probably could have been some commas in there. But as someone over on that side of the pond, 400, I don't know exchange rate whatsoever. It will be about $450,000. $450,000 for her club to play soccer or football, as you call. it over there. Yeah. I'm just going to say straight away, if you could guarantee 90% of the fighters in the world, 95% of the fighters in the world that much money per year, they take it. There is not a lot of people. These, these fires are still grossly underpaid. I mean, it's ridiculous. Like, I mean, like a lot of people think that they've made it when they get

to the UFC and only when they start getting them paychecks as they understand that, well, this is after I pay everybody, after I pay the tax man, this is barely a living wage. I mean, This is a, I think payment is going to continue to be a big issue among fighters. But let's not make, like, short of it, that would be a huge amount of money for the vast, vast, vast majority of MMA fighters, I believe. Anyway. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I made this little graphic and I can't remember the numbers off the top of my head of the UFC. I believe it was 234 or 236, whichever one, whichever one Israel out of Sonia fought Kelvin Gasson.

and those Porre and Holloway. It was the Atlanta card of the disclosed payouts. And there was a lot of uproar about how a lot of those undercard fighters. I mean, I think someone made like $12,000 to fight on the undercard. And I posted that picture to Instagram. And some of the fighters in the graphic commented on it with like crying faces. I won't obviously name them like you go. Name them.

Name them. Name them. And go find them. If they want, but a lot of fighters were like, damn, like, like Israel out of time. I can't remember. He got like maybe $350,000 or something like that off to fight Kelvin Gasselham in a crazy fight. But Kelvin Gasselm himself, something that stuck out with me, I believe after is Derek Brunson

fight where he used to be one of those guys that would be like, hey, pay fighters more, pay fighters more, pay fighters more. And obviously, fighters deserve to make way more than they're making now. But then he was like, see, I was saying that. And then I got to the UFC and I realized that there's undisclosed bonuses for certain things outside of performance, performance of the night bonuses and stuff like that. So I have no idea how much money Israel-A-Sahang actually walked away with from that fight against Calvin Gaslam. But just seeing fighters comment like sad emojis after seeing how much money they made was shocking to me. Yeah.

It's no surprise to me, man, to be honest. it's really when you when you explain like I can remember when Ireland obviously got their first taste MMA through Connor I'd be doing radio shows with like Patty Hula and Ashling Daily

and people like this and like the host that there would be general sports hosts that probably wouldn't know much about MMA and when they got into how much they made they're like you'd be lifting their jaws up off the ground you know they couldn't believe it like for the physical toll these guys

taking their body the amount of time the selfishness they have to have in preparation. And then to get paid, like, you know, pittance in a lot of cases, it's a bit of a joke. It's definitely a joke, you know, but unfortunately, that's the sport at the moment. We're still new. We're still getting there. And you still have to pay gym fees. You got to pay your coaches.

You got to do all that. So, yeah, you make $50,000. Say you make $50,000. A lot of that's going to go to your manager, your agent, your coach. And the taxman. The taxman. So there's especially like when the UFC was at $2.32. or 232 went from Vegas to California.

Oh, yeah. Pekogram thing. A lot of the questions were like there is a huge increase in tax taxes. Oh, shit. From California to Vegas. And so he goes, Dana, like, what do you get to do about this? Dana's like, well, I'm getting tax too. Thanks, man.

Oh, well, that's fine then. Thanks, man. Thanks, man. All right. We're going to do another one on the site. And then we'll go to some true false. But from our friend Ninja Trees. All right.

Lovely good name. Good afternoon, A-side. So I was thinking about Tony Furgh, potentially getting skipped over by Connor for a title fight. Do you think, for Tony's sake, the ideal situation would be Habib loses to Porre. Then Tony would fight Dustin and Abib and Connor would fight. Or do you think they should just give Connor the title fight no matter what the result of Habib versus Dustin is? And I'm going to answer this right now. Tony Ferguson should not take any other fight unless it's for a UFC title fight.

I mean, I said this last week with Brian Keller when he was the co-host, the last time Tony Ferguson lost in the UFC, women weren't even on the roster. Jesus. His last loss came before Ronda Rousey's debut in the UFC. So he already has the longest winning streak in lightweight history. He has like one of the longest winning streaks in UFC history. And now people are saying like, oh, you should fight. Justin Gagee, oh, you should fight the loser.

Like, imagine a world where the UFC goes, hey, Tony, fight Justin Gagee, and then you get a title shot. Like, no, no. Tony Ferguson should not fight anyone else besides the UFC lightweight champion of the world. And even Habib Nareememeyov himself said,

like, someone asked him, like, oh, what about Connor asked for a rematch? And he's like, why? He hasn't won a fight in, like, since he beat Eddie at UFC 205, which, yeah, that was one of the greatest performances I've ever seen from a fighter. terms of actual like yeah the promo is great but Connor pitched a perfect game in there. But even Habib was like, Tony Ferguson is on the line for both of us.

Like the winner's going to fight Tony. Yeah, like maybe if it's an exciting fight to do an immediate rematch, that could that's always a possibility, especially with UFC. But as someone who's covered Connor McGregor probably more than anyone in this business, do you think the possibility of him skipping the queue again to get a title shot is a possibility? I don't agree with it. it makes zero sports sense. I think it's a completely

a business move. But unfortunately, yeah, I do think there's a possibility that he will get the next fight, the next Cracker Cabeeb. Do I agree with it? Absolutely not. I've been shouting from the hilltops

about Tony Ferguson now for a long time. Maybe I wasn't the biggest fan of his erratic personality, first of all, but I've slowly grown to appreciate it. But it's an absolute travesty what's happening there. You can't help but think the fact that he was with Conner's management company,

paradigm. You can't help but think that was affecting them negatively ahead of, well, in his previous bids to get a title fight. It's the fight that should happen. Unfortunately, Kabeeb and Tony have an awful history when it comes down to making that fight happen. But it's a joke. It's a joke and it literally underlines how the UFC have gone more and more towards entertainment than sport. And the way to get this sport legitimized is to go, towards a sport angle. You guys have it legitimized over there in the US. You guys have it.

Like people know what this is. In Europe, it's still very hard. And when you have to start explaining things to them where there's this guy that's a complete outlier in the sport, but he's not somehow allowed to fight for the title because this other guy is going to make them a whole lot more money. You know,

it's tough. It's tough. And I don't expect it to be a smooth path for Tony Ferguson to get to a title shot. And, and you know what I mean? I do feel as though, if you're Connemer Greger and you bring so many eyes to this and you potentially create stars based on whoever you get in the cage with, is it worth your while to fight anyone else but the champion?

If you have had this dip in form from the Alvarez fight where he looked unbeatable to the Kabib fight where he looked very, very beatable, do you risk it by going in there with someone else potentially losing and then have to have an even bigger trudge back to the title? That doesn't make sense of your Connor McGregor. And unfortunately, it probably doesn't make sense if you're the UFC either. The most money they can make right now is putting Kib and him for better or for worse, probably for worse, back in a cage together. And I wouldn't reel out that happening. So, and Ninja Trees also asked, is it in Tony's best interest that Habib loses to Dustin Pore? So perhaps, like, if Dustin loses, then he'll fight Dustin for the undisputed title. And then

that, now that Habib is. no longer undefeated and no longer the champion. Maybe is Connor more interested in writing the wrong of that loss rather than winning the title again and they rematch? So is it in Tony's best interest, Tony Ferguson's best interest, that Dustin Porre wins in Abu Dhabi? This is a hard one because obviously Dustin and Connor have history as well. Like I mean, the fact that Connor's knocked Dustin out in 2014, you know, who knows he might send out a tweet that night.

and everything gets very exciting all over again and thousands of people retweet it along with their pictures of proper 12. And, you know, it's hard to know. It's very hard to know. As we know, this sport changes rapidly. It changes on a daily basis. Like, it's crazy to even think about it.

But I wouldn't rule out if Dustin won that fight, Connor wanting to fight Dustin and doing that rematch before it came back around to Kabib. I wouldn't rule it out, certainly. Like, it's a better. I'll fight for him too. I mean, he gets to fight within his wheelhouse. We saw what happened when he was forced to fight within Kabeb's wheelhouse. Like, it wasn't good. Even when he got back to his feet in the third round, it wasn't good. You know, so I think there's a lot to think about it. Like, this man is far more than a fighter. He's a brand. And I think people forget about that an awful lot. Like, what's good for the brand, you know? Yeah, and honestly, if we're looking at just in-ring abilities and like high-level Arkansas.

Ferguson, for skill was like... 100%. I mean, well, but I'll watch, I'll watch Connor versus any of those guys. I'll watch Tony versus any of those guys. All of those fights are crazy. Like, all of those fights are awesome. But like you said, in terms of what's right, Tony Ferguson versus fill in the blank UFC lightweight champion.

Like, I don't care who has the title. Like, for all we know, it's a draw. and they like habib retains fight to me ferguson though actually i'm still on record and i'll say this forever like i don't think that fight will ever happen because i am a strong believer in reverse psychology where if i if i get really excited about a fight usually never happens it never happens so i am on record and i'll stick with it that that fight will never happen why didn't you say last week it won't happen it probably will you should have said last week that brandon luck nine will never get a contract off this day

or I choose an I can tenders series thing. Someone asked me a question about Brandon. I need to talk about it, please. And if we don't, I'll give you all the time in the world. Because as soon as I, because we plan this A-side out like a week ago. As soon as he didn't get the contract, I was like, I know what Pizzi's rant is going to be.

I know what's going to be. So if you're watching this, hop on Twitter. It'd be like, Pizzi, tell you. tell me about the contender series. And then it's all yours. So, but we're going to do some true false real quick. And then one final run through the page and then we'll hop over Twitter. True false, Korean zombie beats Hanato Monagano at USC Greenville.

I will say true. I will say true. Korean zombie was winning that whole fight. I was there for that. That's one of the craziest things I have ever witnessed in any sport was Korean zombie versus Yaya Rodriguez. and that fight was absolutely awesome. That was my favorite fight of 2018.

He was winning that entire fight until literally the last second of the fight. So I will say true because every time I think, like even when he came off from that last long layoff, he knocked out Dennis Bermudez on the Super Bowl card in Houston. So Kate and ring octagon rust wasn't a thing. So I will say true. Korean Zami gets back on the win column against Anato Moikano. Yeah, I think it's a very close fight. Like, I mean, look at Moikano.

He's right there. He's at the top of the division until that lost to Alo. And I love Korean Zobby. I've been a huge fan of him ever since his WEC days. So I wouldn't rule it out. I'll say false just to be controversial. So me and Jose can duke it out online about this later. But yeah, I think it's a very close fight.

Fair enough. And moving on, you've actually, you watch a lot of Risen for the site. So this will be in your wheelhouse. Hopefully. Yoji Hori, defending both Bellator and Risen titles will not work. bonus, Belator will create an interim title in the process. True. True to both?

Sorry, I thought, Belator will create an interim title, I believe. And you don't think he can defend both titles simultaneously. I think he's probably going to do, you know, aim to defend both every year, you know, two fights. And it might go awry. and as soon as it does, they're going to be huge calls from the Bantam White Division to keep it moving and get a title going.

But yeah, that's what I think. And you could always have Belator fighters go over to Risen and challenge him for the Rizzo. It's great, man. I love it. I really love that, man. I really, really love it. I think it's so cool.

I wish the UFC would get involved, but as long as Dana White's in charge, it's never going to happen. But I agree with you, man. Like, Darren Caldwell loses to Kioji Horaguchi in a ring. They're obviously quite, questions like, oh, did the ring play a factor? So they're like, let's run it back in a cage.

And whether you agree with the decision or not, Kioji Horaguchi won. But yeah, I agree with you 100%. I love not just Risen versus Bellator cards, but I love like, oh, this guy won in a cage, just thrown in a ring now and see who's really the best. Do you think that in any way, the fact that they were unifying these two big promotional belts

made that fight more exciting to watch, made it more tense, because if you were just looking at that as if it were a contest, and we didn't know who those guys were, we wouldn't and the belts weren't involved nothing like that nobody would really be talking about this but the fact that those titles were involved the fact that it nearly feels like something really significant is happening in m mma when this fight is happening i think that made it feel more exciting it made it more tense so when horiguchi's on the ground struggling against those takedowns it kind of makes it more i don't know it feels like a lot's riding on every second of that fight you know

oh absolutely titles will always make a fight matter more but when you're like when you're making you're making taking history where you're taking titles from two like a promotion and like a federation or whatever Risen wants to refer to themselves as like yeah 100% it just reminds me of like when when dan henderson fought and yeah or and dan henderson also fought rampage so when they were going over deployed and all that kind of stuff pride belts unified with the ufc belts like that felt to me like i remember having like i didn't sit down when anderson silver walked out i was like oh man this is I am so hyped for this fight because I love, like, there's always

like that who has the better fighters. It's always like that. That's why obviously, I don't know how much you pay attention to American baseball. No. Before they would have the American League and the National League, and they'd play each other once for a two weeks span, but you'd play the same teams every year,

so like the American League East would always play the National League East. Right. And then in the World Series, you get these two. Where only one country is involved, just for the underlying. in the World Series where one country is involved. Thank you, America.

Go ahead, sorry. Hey, man. If you want to talk baseball, we can talk for hours. But the World Series always had these two teams that more times than not, never played against each other, had players who never played against each other. So you'd have like this unbelievable hitter and this unbelievable pitcher and like, oh, what would happen if they finally faced each other? And it just felt like a really all together because the championship was on the line.

but you got these awesome dream matchups that you never that you'd always wanted so i signed me up for all the co-promotion in the world i love everything about it because i'm mad like even so i posted this this clip to instagram of keoggi horaguchi with the two belts and i said what's next for the the new champ champ of mma and you know who the first comment the first comment was connor henry sehudo saying he don't want this smoke and i was like oh man i my god i want that fight so bad like like the winner gets three belts and then Henry Suhudo's head gets even bigger both physically and metaphorically

so he's a quadruple champion with three belts and a gold medal like so. Imagine if he could get involved man. It would be brilliant man. I love what Henry's doing. It would be great if he could get involved in this man because he's bringing so much attention to those lawyer or weight classes like him or hate him, whatever you want. He definitely is, you know?

Yeah, I mean he even in his media luncheon before his fight with Marlin, someone asked him about co-promotion. He says, bring Darren Calgo over, bring Kyoji Horaguchi over, like, bring them all on. I'll take all their necks. And I was like, wow, like, Henry Suhudo going to fight Kyoji Horaguchi, like, in a ring with four, three-chamaged on the line, like, I'm all about it.

But Jose, they were looking for a reason to get guys to watch this division back in the day. Surely this is the way to do it. If you're going to make one exception for one-way division, let's make it this one. You know, because you were nearly going to kill the whole thing. This makes it mean way more. If you're allowing the Floydweight dudes or the phantom weight dudes to do this, it adds a completely different dimension to the division. Even if it's going to be one loophole for those guys, that's the way to do it. Well, pizza, the problem is you're making sense.

And that's not allowed in the world. Don't be ridiculous. Me making sense. Now I know you're making fun of me. This is the same promotion that, like, remember we almost had Rannickettort? Like, we could have had RANDTor versus Fador back in the day. Like Dana White didn't want it. To me, that's one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of combat sports,

like boxing and MMA. Like obviously Anderson versus George is a bigger one if they were actually under the same roof. But like Dana White's refusal to co-promote, I think, like I get it. Like he won't, like I get it. But I wish he wouldn't do it. We waited so long, way too long for Vandalai and Chuck as well. I felt like we waited way too long for that fight to happen. And if it had to happen a few years earlier, would it be an even better?

But the fight was fantastic. Don't get me wrong, but it could have been even better, you know? I mean, just off of that, remember when he sent Chuck Liddell over to be in the Pride tournament? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, he's done it before. Like, he was there. And, like, he was upset when Chuck lost, lost, obviously. He lost a rampage, I believe.

Over him. Was it over him? I think he beat Over him and lost the Rampage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because then they rematched in Belitt in the UFC and Rampage, knocked him out for the title. And that was kind of the beginning of the end for Chuck Ladell's reign atop the light heavyweight division. But he's done it before.

like when they do another grand prix and rising like maybe the fort like the new year's eve one like just send henry sehudo over to represent the ufc and like i imagine him and keoggi horiguchi be on opposite ends and they can fight in the championship for everything because then henrys hudor comes back and he has three belts and he's like i'm like potentially potentially comes back with three belts but tent exactly and then even if he loses now keoggi horiguchi is the one of the like now we're talking about Kyogi Horiguchi being one of the greatest combat sport athletes of all time. Is it Kioji or Haraguchi a bigger name because of his Bellator and risen success than he was when he was in the UFC? I think so.

That should that should scare them. That should worry them. Honestly, you should be very afraid, UFC. Yeah, when Dana White did an interview with Aaron Bronstead, I want to give him credit for it. Shout out. Yeah, he asked him about like the recent, like, roster cuts like Elias and Justin Willis and all that, Elias Theodoro

and Dana was saying like, when have I been wrong to let these guys walk away or go? And I was like, and my first thing was like, Hiogi Horiguchi. Like, that's a bad, he's a bad dude. And yeah, he lost a Mighty Mouse, but like, I think he fought Mighty Mouse a little too soon. And that was an exciting fight

up until he got submitted. It wasn't like he was getting crushed. Look at KSW's success they're having with the UK market now because they have Scott Ask him and fill the freeze to UFC, guys who are cut and now they're the champions and now they're helping them move in and sell out like a 15,000 cedar in the UK. So I mean, if you don't see that as a as a bad decision, I don't know, you know, sorry, go ahead. I'll present this to you. Who's had, who's a bigger

dealers, who's had the moat like in your mind was a bigger loss for the UFC. Kyoji Horaguchi, who's now the Bellator and Risen champ or Ryan Bader. who is now a heavyweight and light heavyweight champ and took zero punches during that heavyweight Grand Prix. Who's the bigger loss? Like I feel like Haraguchi now, but this could be because of the revisionist history

goes out the window in MMA because it's just, here's a fight week, here's a fight week, and what's freshest in your memory, right? But I certainly would feel now, based on all the traction, based on all the conversation,

I'd say Haraguchi, because it didn't feel the same over here, certainly even when Bader was doing that to fade, or it didn't really have the same impact here. Yeah, and I'll play, I agree with you, but I'll play devil's advocate. The UFC doesn't really have a lot of fly. Obviously, they have less than enough

to even field a full top 15. But the light heavyweight division has a full top 15, and they're hurting for title contenders. I mean, we've obviously seen a mass exodus of middleweights jump over to light heavyweight. So like Anthony Smith and Tiago Santos are now fighting for, fighting for championships,

and they were middleweights. If Ryan Bader was there, he'd be right, he'd be right at the top. I mean, he'd probably already fought for a championship now. So in terms of in the world of UFC looking for fights, I all played devil's African and say Ryan Bader, but it's, I think both, Dana White got both of them wrong when he let them walk. Yeah, I'll agree with that. That was a true false question.

We talked for like 20 minutes on that. True. I mean, false. Yeah, we'll hit these quick. All right, by the end of 2020, both Heather Hardy and Aaron Pico will not be an invalidatory. false yeah i agree with you we talked about iron pico forever and heather hardy's an exciting fighter she always has her boxing career to fall back on but uh they'll both be sticking around uh scott cocker likes those type of fighters for these especially these big tent pole events

where you can put on these fun matchups uh true false chel p makes a comeback probably against tito or t's i'll say false because tito or tis is apparently signed in combatea americas and i do not see chel sahnan signing the combache americas go against all prevailing wisdom when it comes to MMA retirements and say false as well. Right, because who actually retires, though? Chale seems to be a straight shooter when it was.

I guess he did retire. I'm walking myself in Accor now, but I'll say false. I'll say false to fighting Tito, but I wouldn't rule out the American gangster coming back for another fight, obviously in Bellator. He did say he was a big Bellator.

He was a Bellator through and through right now. But final one, true false. UFC 232 is too good to remain intact until July 6th. And I'll start. I'm going to say true because, like I said before, I'm a big believer in a reverse psychology, and I am a pessimist, a glass half-empty type of guy. So I'm going to say it is way too good to be true.

We've been burned way too many times in the past. And I will not be confident this fight will remain intact until John Jones and Tiago Santos are out of the octagon and the fight's over. Go again. Hit me with that one. again, sorry, I lost my focus for a brief second. Is UFC 239 too good to be true? Will it stay intact up until July?

You're asking us to curse the gods here, really? Exactly. So I don't even know how to answer that to not upset the gods. What, like, I mean, I'll just agree with whatever Jose said and move on. Yeah, I don't think it's going to stay intact strictly because, like you said, I don't want to anger the fight gods, which is why I have. I also don't think. Do these people not realize what they're doing here?

They're tempting fate. This is not us. You can't blame us for this. We've been asked these questions. And Brian Tucker has guns pointed at us and we don't answer them. We're going to be executed. Which is why I also don't think Nate Diaz is going to fight Anthony Pettis because I love that fight too much. And the fight gods do not let me have nice things.

Look, see what Jose does for you guys. See what he does for you. He looks after all of us. Fair play, Jose. Again, we agree with you. And all on us is on you. not me. I'm just looking out for the common fight fan, but I think we've wrapped up all the comments.

So we're going to hop over to Twitter. We actually got a bunch. A couple Horaguchi questions, which we hit upon. Compare the, oh, from our friend Dan Shapiro. Compare the last two UFC pay-per-views, UFC 238 and UFC 27-238 versus Bellator, 221 and 222. Are we witnessing a true leveling of the playing field? This is an interesting question. Yes.

Bellator 221 was an awesome main card. Like, it had some obviously great prelum fights, but the main card was awesome. We had Chandler Pitbull. We had Lima versus MVP. We had Jake Hager. We had A.J. McKee versus Pat Kern. That was an awesome fight card.

And then on that same weekend, we had the Rio de Janeiro card, which was like Rose versus Andrage, Canaaner versus Anderson Silva, Josialdo versus Alexander Volcanowski. And then Bellator comes like their next event is that, or their next big event was the New York 1-22, which we've been talking about forever.

And then BELA UFC also had that pretty awesome event in Chicago. That was brilliant. That was a very good event to be fair. Cowboy Soroni versus Tony Ferguson wasn't even in the main or co-main event. So is this a leveling of the field or just an anomaly that we've gotten and two incredible tent poll events back to back from both promotions. I'd say if I was Bellator, I'd definitely say it was. You know, I'd definitely think it was trending in that direction.

And that's a good thing for the sport in general to have these guys. Even that this is a question that needs thought is a good situation for Bellator 100%. I do agree that Bellator 221 was a lot more prevalent in Europe than UFC 237. and that's huge. I can't tell you how huge that is, Jose, because nobody knows, like people need to, like the brand awareness

with Bellator needs to be hammered home. And when you have people tuning in for this on Sky Sports at 3am, that's a huge deal for Bellator over here. I feel like that's really, really important for them. So I felt like that had a big impact over here and so did last weekend's card

because there was no UFC to really compete with it, you know? So I certainly think, based on those four, events, I'd have to agree with that completely. But do I see that being a regular occurrence from now on? I think that's harder to see. It's harder to forecast. I really hope so. But certainly a good sign based on the last four events. And I'll present you with this scenario. I asked Alex K. Lee this on my first show. That guy knows nothing about anything.

While I do agree, the last two of Bellator events have been amazing. They've been, I think, two of the best back-to-back events they've ever put together. But did they use all of their headlining talent in a very short amount of time? And are they going to be hurting down the line? Because I remember UFC 205, which was Connor versus Eddie, also had Yowana versus Carolina Kolkavich. They had Tyrone Woodley versus Wonderboy. But that card also had Habib.

Chris Wydenman, Chris Wydenman, Romero, and all that. So, like, that card was unbelievable. And then beginning of December, they had the Toronto car, which had Max versus Anthony Pettis for the interim, featherweight championship at the time. And then I believe that also had Korean Superboy versus Cubs Swanson. How can you remember this, man? How can you even remember this?

Oh, you don't even know. My brain just, that's all I think about is these fight events. And then later that month was Ronda Rousey, there's Amanda Nunes, Cody versus Dominic Cruz. You also have, I believe, Overeign, no, Overeign Mark Hunt was later in March, but you had all these really big events back to back to back in a short amount of time. And then January comes around and they have to cancel the pay-per-view because they didn't have any fighters to headline. Because also, I believe Demetri's Johnson defended his title against Tim Elliott in that talk,

because that was when all the champions of other promotions came in the house. And Tim Elliott won. and fought Demas Johnson. I believe that was a great fight. Yeah, awesome fight. That was in November. So they used a lot of champions in a very short amount of time. Michael Bisban thought, we thought he might headline it,

but eventually he was like her and then he didn't fight again until he fought George St. Pierre. So is this scenario going to happen with Bellator where they viewed so much talent in a very short amount of time that these next few events might not be the best? Yeah, that's what I think. That's exactly what I think. Like, I mean, it's great for now for the time being, but do I see it lasting?

I hope it does, but I doubt it, to be honest. Yeah, this is, this is where we really see what Bellator can do. All right, so another question from Twitter. Do you know what, oh, before I ask this question, do you know what an S-B is, Pizzi? No. So an S-B is a, it's like the Academy Awards for Sports here in America, where it's hosted by ESPN,

well, they'll do like best team, best athlete, like male athlete, female athlete, but it's not, it's not like in individual sports. So like you could have LeBron James and like Roger Federer up for male athlete of the year. But for fighter of the year, who deserves an S-B? Amanda Nunez, this is 2018, obviously. So up until December 31st, 2018.

Who deserves the SEP? Amanda Nunes, Daniel Cormier, Henry Sehudo, or Israel out of society? on you for a fighter of the year. Amanda, probably, right? I would have to say it's Amanda or Daniel Cormier. Daniel Cormier did knock out Stefe. And then he also defended his people forget that 2018,

he defended his title against Volcker-Corposur and defended his title against Derek Lewis. So in my mind, I'd probably say Daniel Cormier, but Amanda Nunes is, it's like 1A-1B, because Amanda Nunes knocking out Chris Cyborg blew my mind. Yeah, it pisses me off so much, the UFC haven't found a way. to market Amanda better. Like, I mean,

she's an unbelievable story. Absolutely unbelievable. I do want to, I'll say this, though, and I don't know if you watched it, but I was at the UFC Apex. I,

it was a very difficult, like tour because the, felt like every hallway was very narrow. So all the media was, like, bumping into it. You're too big, Jose. You're six foot seven, man.

Come on. Yeah, right. You don't realize that I'm standing behind a, I'm standing in front of a 10 foot bookshelf right here. But so I was, I was filming this.

It was very shaky because we were all bumping into each other. But Dana White Bracely brings us to like his quote unquote like office area. It's just like a little couch spot. And he has two paintings up or like their pictures blown up and stylized. He has two. He has Connor and Floyd staring down. And he has Amanda Nunes running around the octagon with their titles. Those are the only pictures he has.

And they're massive. They're huge. It's an entire wall. So if you haven't seen it or anyone watching this, hasn't seen it, go watch the little apex tour I gave you because that seems to be the only room that was done being built. And he had, and someone asked him, we go, why Amanda? Like, obviously, we get Connor Floyd because it was an important moment. That picture just looks awesome. But like, why Amanda?

And he's like, well, you know, me and Amanda have like a good relationship and I really like or this and that. And in my mind, that, I was like, it clicked. I was like, why aren't you? What are you doing with her? Like, you mean he doesn't have a speaker of Ben Askeran there, no? No picture of funky Ben Asker. It's weird though. So yeah, I'll say, I'll say Daniel Cormier, you're saying Amanda.

Yeah. All right. That covers across all bases, right? Correct. And I don't know if, like, if they're saying only 2018, I don't know why Henry Sehudo would be in there. I can't even think back that far. I'm glad you're here because I would be just like, I don't know.

You don't. Habib? Habib fought how many times he fought. Once maybe? Twice. He beat Al-Aikinta and then he beat Connor. Oh, yeah, okay, yeah. And he was like that ally of Kinta, he went through like five opponents. I can't even imagine writing a main event breakdown that fight week because you probably changed in the eight times.

So I did jump back to the post on the page and this wasn't recommended, but I do want to get your opinion. It is in the headline. Arten Lobov versus Polly Malinaji, very knuckle boxing. Casey and Esther are actually going to Tampa to do some stuff. And film in and shoot it. So what are your thoughts? Obviously, Artum has the Connor rub. He's a longtime friend training partner.

This fight was basically made because of Polly's antics during the Connor Floyd lead up. And then Artim obviously went to BKFC. And it seems like a no-brainer that this fight would eventually happen. What do you think about this? and does the country of Ireland care? Yeah, I feel like I've said this a lot on your obash. Like, my friends would be sports fans. Like, they'd be far more big into soccer and Irish sports

than they would be, say, UFC and boxing and stuff like that. But all they've been talking about since this was announced was, can we come over to your house when Artem's fighting Polly? Can we watch the fight? Oh, my God. They are going crazy about it. Now, these guys aren't kind of, they are fully invested in it, in the kind of sense that the traction,

the press conference got all the outrageous stuff that's been happening. And at the same time, I believe the boxing community have really been frowning upon it. Like, because Pauley is, you know,

he was a world champion. They know him from the Showtime broadcasts and, you know, they feel like he's probably let himself down a bit. But what I see happening here, and I fully agree that this is, the popularity of this fight is really based on what happened in the preparation for a Maymac.

But what it's doing, I'll tell you what Polly's behavior is making. It's making people feel like Artem is some kind of savior. It's kind of pushing him up as this cult hero that's going to sort it out. Like, I mean, this is a crazy concept. We're talking about Artem Loboff boxing, Polly Malinagi, and everybody's like, oh, Artim's going to do him. It's insane that it's happening.

It's the interest in this has completely blown my mind. And I think I can remember you and Sean talking about it when he was still doing the A side. And he's are completely right. This is probably, for me anyway, when I'm talking about the casual people I see in the street, not the crazy MMA crackheads like us. This is the fight that they're talking about. This is the fight that has somehow provoked their interest. And what was the initial question?

Because I've gone off on a tangent. Are people interested? Yes. Yes, they are. How do people watch it over in Ireland? Like I know we have different like broadcasting rights and all that. All right off the lovely people at Foy TV. So what do you think about, it's like it's $40.

Yeah. What do you make of the, like people on, people are tweeting in me like this should be like, there should be $20. It should be $15. It's $40 too much for Polymalanage versus Ardenlobara. And you see, you're asking the wrong guy because we don't have, we don't have them kind of price points over here. We just pay a subscription once a year. Really? And it's gone. And that's why the fact that they're going to charge as an extra price for UFC 239 has been very controversial over here. people are losing their minds about it and rightly so we've paid you once we don't want to pay it again but um i couldn't tell you exactly how much it costs over here i'm going to try and get it up

very quickly because usually it's at a lower price point for us right because we're here we're going to be watching this at probably 3 a m or something like that so usually it's a bit lower than that um but uh i don't i don't quite know it's it is it's coming up to me 40 dollars as well so there you go it's a universal price and that's going to be tough that's going to be very tough to get people to buy it over here, to be honest. Well, we're going to watch it regardless because we just love anarchy, especially when it's, I don't know how much you know about Florida, but Florida is not looked upon very well here in the States.

It's usually, it's usually, it can call the armpit of America. I obviously don't want to call it that because I don't want to be mean to the people of Florida. Danny Seguer, our good co-worker is from that. It's from Florida. So I don't want to go into the whole this Florida. of the worst state. But a lot of people don't like Florida, and a lot of people in particular,

don't really like Tampa. And that is where this fight is taking. So I said, I went to someone who I told him when the fight was happening, and I told them about it, bare-knuckle boxing between this fighter who doesn't have the best MMA record against a professional boxer,

a former professional boxer, and this was made completely because he yelled at his training partner. And I go, where do you think this fight is taking place? And they said, probably Florida. And I go, wow. And I go, what, what city do you think it is? And they're like, probably Tampa. And I was like, wow. Like, you hit it right on the head. So they're doing a right, I guess, over in bare and uncle boxing. But I'll ask this. This isn't a question. Where does bare knuckle boxing go after this? Like, because this seems to be like the big fight that everyone was kind

of like when Artem signed and then Polly signed, like this seemed to be a no-brainer. But once they fight, what else can they do? How many more aspiring partners can we get to call in from the Mayweather McGregor camp is the real question, right? Make a whole card. Yeah, no, it's, look, it's good for them, though, in the sense that everybody's talking about it. Like, this is a thing. Like, this isn't like, oh, this is going to happen and nobody's going to talk about it.

Like, the traction of these things are getting as huge, right? Like, you see the numbers. Like, the traction of this stuff is getting as huge. And I just want to say, someone. what selfishly because of my co-workers, I think Casey and Esther put that organization on the map. When they went there for the first event and they took all these beautiful pictures, made these beautiful films, I think that put it on the radar in a way that maybe nobody else in the world could do. And it made them look serious when you have professionals like that hanging around

and making such beautiful art out of it. I think that helped them a whole lot. And I think that was the perfect launch pad to be featured on our site when they're trying to get into this industry. That's really a retirement home for MMA fighters at this stage. Let's be honest. Like, I mean, that's, that's what all the fights have on this card. Chris Leib and Brennan Ward, I could go on, Johnny Bedford. You know, that, that's what it is. And like, I don't know where it goes from here, but I really hope they have something for us during this event that will provoke interest in the next event. I feel like they need a big announcement here some way, somehow, or they need something big to happen that will provoke interest like Pauley v. Artem. Do I see it?

it happening immediately? Probably not. This is a weird commodity. As I believe you and Sean had said, this is basically the sequel to UFC 229. And I've seen the power of that in the Moyles Price and Peter Quilly fight at Belator Dublin.

I know it's real. So yeah, fingers crossed that the organization have their wits about them, though they can announce something big while this fight is going on before or after or whatever. Yeah, I mean, I was doing social media for our site during that card. And like we posted a picture of Artem's face, or this is the most, the most, the prior car.

The Jason Knight one. Yeah, yeah. Jason Knight and Artem. And it was like the aftermath. It was like all their, their face all like carved up and stuff. And that's one of the like, that cracked the top 10 of most liked images on our entire site, like overnight. Like, and it was the comments blew up. And then we had a little video clip of like just highlights of them fighting inside the ring with bare knuckles.

That blew up too. So it's Artim Lobov headlining the two biggest cards in bare knuckle boxing history. Obviously in 2019, it's, uh, Artim is just cementing himself as a champion of the people. What happens here, though? This is what I was thinking about today. If Artim goes back and decides he wants to do MMA after this fight, I can, you can nearly guarantee he's going to be commanding a big paycheck, right? Like, after provoking so much interest in this, like look at where he was going to.

He was on an entry level UFC contract coming off the ultimate fighter. And now he's in this situation where, you know, he's saying he's making six figures off this fight. This has been a great career move for Artem Loboff. I know his record doesn't change. We all know that people endlessly complain about his record. But we know, look, we've been talking about it all day. This sport is veering more towards entertainment day by day. I think he commands a huge paycheck if he decides to go.

back to MMA after this, but does he see the point? Is he going to be able to generate enough money here? If you're a bare-knuckle boxing or a bare-nuckle FC, you certainly don't want them going anywhere else, and you'd probably pay him to stay, right? I would imagine so. And from my few interactions directly with Ardstone, he doesn't seem like a guy that would really turn down fights. I think he just likes to fight regardless of who it is. So I think he would like to fight, but I agree with you. He needs, like imagine if he wins, like if he beats Pauli Malinagia. Like, he has Like wherever he goes. Like if I'm Bellator, be like, come on down.

Headline all of our doubling cards. Headline all of our like UK cards. Like just. Oh, Belator, we're 100% looking for Artem Loboff. Like, when you think about the, like, you look at the amount of talent they've got over here. They were definitely pitching Artim Loboff trying to get him. But he ends up with bare-knuckle FC. That says to me that they are paying him a lot of money, a lot of money.

And he deserves it. Look at his face. And I don't know the bare knuckle boxing's financial situation, but if they can keep it up and they can keep giving Artham Lobov six figures, and like if I'm Artham, I'm 100% I'm taking that. But we are out of questions. We're running close on time. No one asked any questions about the contender series.

Right. So Pizzi, we said it before. I knew what was coming. As soon as I read, as soon as I heard in the arena, who the contract wins. winners were and who was not. I knew what your promo was going to be so

Pizzi, the floor is yours because I know you're going to want to use all the time you have to go scorched earth on Dana White. It's an absolute disgrace that Brendan Locknayneem wasn't signed last night. It's an absolute disgrace. He has been on a six-year road to get an opportunity to fight for these

guys again. This man has had his heart ripped open by the sport. In his six years away, from the UFC. He lost one fight. They didn't give him an opportunity. He was about 20 years. He must have been 22 at the time.

He has put together a record of 12 and 2, and I've written it down here so I know. His combined records, if you look at the opponents he beat on that 12 and 2 run, their combined records are 123, 54, and 2. Okay? Yesterday, Dana White, Dana White comes out and he says,

look, you know, I gave this heavyweight guy a contract because he bet the number eight Greco-Roman wrestler in America. Brendan Lachnain is the number one unsigned talent in Europe, all right? In MMA,

not in Greco-Roman, in MMA. Why aren't you sign them? It makes absolutely no sense. And if you look, like, I mean, he's beat a guy. When you look at Bill Aljo,

he deserved, like this, both of these guys deserve to be in the UFC. It is that caliber of a fight to dismantle Bill Aljo, not only in the striking where people expect

but to be able to out wrestle him as well. For a European guy, everyone's trying to shade us. Oh, you can't wrestle, blah, blah, blah. Look at what he did there. That should be impressive. You shouldn't be torn around and saying, oh, we took him down in the last 10 seconds of a fight. He took down Bill Aljo.

The guy everybody was saying was a Division 1 wrestler, I believe, before this. He took him down in the last 10 seconds. That's where Bill was predicted to be dominating this fight. Surely, surely there's enough videos of Brendan Locke 9 out there, beating up guys, standing up, that you know that he can do that. doing it for 14 minutes of the fight. Why is this takedown causing him that?

And why did they show this reaction that he's fought masterfully for about 14 minutes? And then it's just back to Dana White, like nodding so negatively after this, this takedown attempt. It's absolutely ridiculous. He was the performance of a night against the highest caliber opponent of the night.

It's a joke that he's not signed. You are running out of talent in the UK. All right? How many guys need to retire? Ross just retired. Jimmy just retired. When this UFC London Carrier, comes around in March, you're going to wish you signed Brendan.

I guarantee you because what's this going to do? This guy's torn down contracts from all the major promotions just to get himself in a situation to sign for the UFC again. What do you think is going to happen now that he hasn't been offered that contract? All of these guys are trying to ring him right now. Whether he's answering the phone, I couldn't tell you. I'm sure he's distraught that he didn't get his contract last night. But if they missed out on Brendan Locknayneye because of this

and he goes on to be a big star with a different promotion, many of which are trying to get into the European market, many of which are putting on events in London as we speak. That's the UFC's fault. Absolutely ridiculous. It makes no sense whatsoever. And I'll just leave it there. But thank you very much for giving me the opportunity, Jose.

Yeah, I don't know if they showed it on air or not. But I saw it when he shot in for that takedown at the end, like the takedown that's everyone on everyone's mind, Dana White went like dish and threw his hands in the air. I don't know if that came off on camera. real, but I was like, I saw it and I didn't really think much about it because the soon that fight was over, we were all like, well,

that's a kind of like, now everyone else is just, who's going to get the second contract? Like, Brandon should have gotten it. Like, that's it was no brain. I mean, I don't know if you watched any of the scrums, but like Paul Felder and Brandon Fitzgerald did a co-scrum just about the Apex, and we asked him, like,

which fight are you looking forward to? And this, that fight was the one they both said, and they it honestly they like i we're going to be sad when one of them doesn't get a ufc contract like they were kind they were just like one of them is getting one and then i i i saw a picture because obviously we didn't see it live being there live we didn't see all the graphics but it showed like paul felders rankings and brandon was number one and then they show them sitting there just kind of like disappointed with that graphic next to his head and i was like what happened like i thought that fight was

unbelievable and it was basically to me after that fight like who's going to get number two but obviously you said it perfectly. This is, no, but hang on, Jose. This guy, his face is broken. He'd been pissing blood a few minutes before. And they wheel him out and they sit him down on the couch. So Dana Hoy can come out and tell him, you know, why didn't you take a few more shots, pissing blood?

Is that all? Sorry, mate. Come on. It's absolutely ridiculous. So if he had to take two more punches in those last 10 seconds instead of, you know, implement his ground game and show his massive improvements in wrestling, you would have preferred that.

That would have got him a contract. Come on, man. What are we doing here? Are we looking for the best fighters? Because, like, I don't understand why he'd pick these other guys. Like, fair enough, they're great. I have nothing against those guys. Fair play to them.

But why is the finish so important? Because it generates more interest. Look at the guys social media. Are you joking me? Tyson Fury is talking about this guy who's fighting on a Tuesday night. I mean, come on, man. What are we doing?

What are we doing? If you're Brendan, and this is the, we'll close the problem with this, if you're Brandon, do you even consider the UFC again? Or is this just such a slap in the face that you're like, I'm done, I'm over this. Just get me paid now, wherever it is. He's been at this crossroads many times. And to be, to be completely fair to Brendan, he's obviously a lease. And he obviously had a lot of contracts on the table from big, big, big, big.

Think of the UFC's main rivals. All of those guys wanted to sign him. And he always said no, because he wanted to fulfill his dream of fighting in the UFC. Like how many times can you break this guy's heart? Honestly, I'd say he's up for going again. If that's what they want him to do,

I'd say he's probably up for it. But in the meantime, I'd imagine all the UFC's competitors are going to be making him very lucrative offers. It's not every day you have Manchester United players making videos on encouragement, Toys and Fury making videos on encouragement. And getting me to talk about someone like this,

generally means that they're a special person. I'm very disappointed. I better just stop there because I could go on. I could go on for days. Yeah, you don't want to get pizza too hot. But for my promo, I'll make it real quick, and it has nothing to do with the fights. Last week, on this show with Brian Kelleher,

I read someone's comment for, like, how it was written. It was spelled. Someone was poking fun at Lyoto Machita and spelled it, L-I-E-D-O-T-O, so Liotto. I read it how it was spelled, and now my Twitter blew up because, like, oh, he doesn't know how to pronounce Liotto Machitas today. What kind of M-M-A person is this?

I know how to pronounce Liotto M-O-M-Ghita. I was reading it how the commenter wrote it because he was obviously poking fun at Liotomachita. He was on Chale side, because I guess Chale-Sahun had called him Laioto Machita in the past. He was basically just laying out all of Chale's son and past insults for Lioto. So I know how to pronounce Leotumachita's name.

I was just reading it how the commenter left it. End of rant. End of promo. I wanted to give Pizzi all the time to go on his thing because like I said, like I was, I was just ready for it, man. I got my cough. I was like, all right, hit me, Pizzi. But that's going to wrap up this episode of the A-Sy. We went a little longer, but the Peece.

But the people demanded Pici, and we gave him 90 minutes of Pizzi. Obviously, he's going to come back. I mean, I do it with Pizu all the time. But we have it a little. We got one. Thank you so much, Jose. Have me back. I would love to be back on.

And you're doing a fantastic job, my friend. I love you very much. Me and the dog watch it every Wednesday. Oh, I appreciate it. And we're going to, we'll try and get Danny Cigar on and obviously at AK. And Casey got a lot of family. Never heard of any of those guys. Right.

Casey got a lot of support when we, did a live in Chicago. Who? Who? Who wants to come back and who knows? Maybe we'll have other fighters on down the road. But for this episode of the A side, it'll obviously go up on all the usuals like iTunes, Google Play, like Stitcher and all that.

But I'm Jose. That's Pete de Carroll. You can stick around on the enemy fighting YouTube page and mameafighting.com. We got Jedmi Shue, I believe, is going to UFC Greenville. So we'll have some content on that. There's a Bellator card this weekend? Is there? I don't think so.

I don't think so. But like I literally have had more cups of coffee in the last 24 hours than I've had total hours of sleep. So my brain is everywhere. And then obviously. And you still look beautiful. I was there. How do you do it? What's your secret?

What's the moisturizer, man? Give me something. Look at this hair. I need some kind of advice here. I tried to straighten it. Shout out to my Irish father and my Mexican mother for creating what you see. before you. Beautiful.

Beautiful. Boy can I get some of that. What the hell is this? It's like a patched roof. Apparently, you need to have Irish relatives from Westmeath, Ireland, because that is where my dad's side of the family is from. What goes on there? I don't know.

Westmead's a lovely place, but they're terrible at all sports. Tell them I said that, please. I'll tell my dad that, and he'll just be like, all right, whatever. And obviously, Esther and Casey will be in Tampa for bare-knuckle boxing. We are both very much looking forward to the content they put out. They're the two best in the business at what they do. But I'm Jose. That's Beattie Carroll.

And we'll see you at the same time next week for another episode of the A side. Who the host is going to be? Not even I know. But I'll let you know. And with that, we're out.