MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Bellator 223, UFC Greenville & BKFC 6 & fallout, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Colby Covington welterweight title picture, more.

Episode Date: June 26, 2019

On this episode of The A-Side Live Chat, José Youngs and Alex K. Lee react to BKFC 6, UFC Greenville & Bellator 223 and discuss what the future holds for Jon Jones, Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Jose Aldo, Rory MacDonald and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Alexander Cayley, he was my first ever co-host. You can't see him if he doesn't talk, so I don't know why. Oh, hey, guys. Oh, that's right. Sorry. Oh, okay, so that my short, I was just showing off the shirt, showing up the brand, as I'm contractually obligated to do. And I finally got a little insider joke. I finally got my mug after several months of calling for one.

So we're both on brand. But as always, this is the A-side Live Chat, Alexander K. Lee, Toronto's own. First time he's been on the show since the Raptors won the NBA finals. You were my first co-host as host of the A-side, and you, in legendary fashion, one of the questions was, will the Raptors win? And you said, Raptors and six. and that's exactly what happened. So let's see if we can get some more of that Toronto magic from you.

Yes, I was, I honestly barely remember that I made that prediction until it got to the game 5 or game 6. And let me say, I was at the parade last Monday. And it was horrible. I was one of the people I tried to camp out at the end of the parade in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto to welcome the players when they arrived. And it took up five and a half hours for them to get there. And I'd been camping out already for about seven hours. So I was standing in a crowd for about 12 hours. I'm lucky to be alive and lucky to be here for our lovely viewers.

So I'm here for you. Thinking about being on the show again is really what got me through the hardest times. So you're telling me the city of Toronto doesn't know how to hold a championship parade. It's like they've never won anything before. It's been a long time, man. It's been a long time. I'll tell you. And I can't imagine.

I was pretty young. the J's won about over 20 some years ago. I don't think it was as crazy as this. This was something I think they said, over two million people. And yeah, you could tell. It was rough. I'm not from a city of champions like one Mr. Jose here.

I was going to say, like growing up in New England, we have, you're born with a, you're born, you learn how to read and you learn how to hold a championship parade. It's just, welcome to New England. Get ready for parade.

Remember you guys were tragic? Do you remember when your region was tragic? What happened to that? That was so much more fun for the rest of us. I do. The rest of us enjoyed that so much. Yeah, but those are days in the past, and now we are the city of champions. It's like one every four years in some sport.

Less than that. Less than that. Even ruins might have lost, but we still make the championships every year. It's be boring at this point. Once again, hey, beat us if you don't like it. But anyway, we can talk about how much better Boston is than Toronto for the next three hours. But we're going to jump to the questions. As always, you can leave a comment in the comment section of the post.

The green questions will obviously prioritize, or you can use the hashtag the A site on Twitter and we'll get to your questions. But jump into the comment section right off the bat, Alex. Aldo and his new contract. What do you think changed his mind from wanting to finish his contract and move on to signing a new long-term deal from our friend, Zaku Kokegi on the site. So for those of you who don't know, Josie Aldo, former Featherweight Kingpin, signed a new eight-fight deal, nine-fight deal. I can't remember the exact number with the UFC, but this comes after he was saying he wanted to finish up his contract and then retire. He wanted to have basically have all of his fights in Brazil and then right off into the sunset. What do you think changes mine? I have a few thoughts

and maybe theories, but obviously, I don't know 100%, but what do you make of Josealdo basically doing a 180 since his last fight? I mean, you know, money, I'm sure. I'm sure UFC flashed the cash. It's always a basic answer, but, you know, I'm sure, I'm sure there's more to it than that. For one thing, I think he can see, you know, I know a lot of the talk was of him wanting to try his hand at, you know, just professional boxing or just doing something else outside of MMA, but if anything, probably these last few fights have reminded him or shown him that he still has a lot, a lot left in the tank. I mean, yes, he lost to Volcanovsky. It was a convincing win for Volcanowski, not disputing that, but I mean, he went, it's not like he was blown out. He went

all three rounds. It was a pretty solid fight that he just happened to, he just happened lose but before that he takes out Moikano he takes out Jeremy Stevens you know there's a loss to Max Holloway but that's certainly nothing nothing to be ashamed of he's a he's a hard he's a hard 32 years old but I think he knows you know I think he just took he surveyed the landscape outside the UFC and realized you know there's no place like home which is really what the UFC's been with for him for the better part of the last decades so yeah money and also just comfort you know it's it's what he knows I think we'd all like to see him step outside of his comfort zone a little bit, maybe try 155, but that's probably

another discussion. But yeah, I don't think it's a super complicated reason for why he's just decided to stick around. Yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you said. I do think his last performance had a lot to do with it. I mean, he was saying he wanted to ride off into the sunset when he was finishing all of these fighters, like Jeremy Stevens and Hanato and where Conno like back-to-back finishes. And then he doesn't only lose to Alexander Volcanowski. Like, it was pretty convincing, like 3027. Like he got outclassed in his hometown, Solm City on a major card.

I think that play has a lot to do with it. Like me, he doesn't want the last memories of, in my opinion, the greatest featherweight fighter ever to be getting outclassed in front of the Rio crowd. And yeah, there's the argument that Max is now the goat.

I know Joe Rogan always says that. But Max Holloway, the current champion, he even calls Jose Algo the greatest. Like he has stuff to do. I think if Max finishes Frankie Edgar at Edbiton at the end of July, I think that should be enough to kind of put him over Josie Aldo. But for right now, I think Josie Aldo is still the greatest feather way, whatever. Max Holloway is right there behind him. And only like he's getting better and better every fight as you saw. Yeah, he did lose just and point.

But that was a lightweight. But I think of major factors, A, money, probably got a lot of money thrown his way. And B, the memories of his last performance are really kind of rooted into his mind. And he kind of, he definitely wants to erase that. Frankie's going to beat Holloway anyway. So, you know, that's really not a discussion. I agree. I think Aldo will go down is the greatest further rate of all time because, you know, Edgar, until he fights Edgar again, a third time, and Edgar finally beats him.

So I should, I think if viewers can't tell him, a bit of a Frankie Edgar mark. I'm a fan. I'm a non-biased reporter slash blog guy, but I do have some fighters I like. I'll admit it. I'll let people know now. I'm a Frankie Edgar fan, warts and all. So, yeah, I think Frankie is, I'm just putting that up. there. It's not one of the questions. So I figure, hey, why not just say Frankie's going to beat

all the way and then knock out Aldo inside of a round and. And I can't wait. I know for sure. I can't see the live chat right now. But anytime someone said brings up Josie Aldo or being the greatest or anything like that, you just get a million. 13 seconds, 13 seconds, 13 seconds, which, fair enough. He lost to Connor O'Gregor in 13 seconds, but then Connor never fought again at featherweight ever again after that. So I still put Josie Aldo as the greatest featherweight ever. But he lost fair and square to Connor McGregor. There's no arguing that. There's no controversy surrounding 13 seconds.

But anything else you want to say about Josie Aldo, Josealo's contract before we move on? No, I'm just going to say, you're happy guys. You got your Connor mentioned. I don't think we had a single question or topic on hand. I was going to discuss Connor, but there it is. That's for all our trolls out there, is your Connor mentioned. We had PC Carol on last week, and we didn't get many questions about it either.

So sticking with the theme of the A side. But moving on. From Lodovic, our friend on the site, is Bellator slowly becoming strike force 2.0? Hey, guys, that New York Bellator event made me think, is Scott Coker slowly turned Bellator into a new strike force, at least when it comes to recruiting young talents? He had two Gracies and Dylan Danis on the card, i.e. world-class BJJ guys. They have Ed Ruth and Aaron Pico, top-notch wrestlers, James Gallagher and Adam Borch show they have a strong game in Europe, and they're getting even more talent on their shows by co-promotion.

Yes, they still have some lackluster shows, but it seems something is brewing in there. What's your take on the current status? More importantly, where could they get in a few more years? Also, do you see them co-promoting with other organizations like KSW? Thanks as always, thanks as always for keeping the show running. Anytime I love doing the A-Sides, it's going to run as long as I have breath in my lungs. But for the KSW thing, I know the Scott Koker and Martin Luda-Dowski, can never pronounce his last name.

The president of KSW, like, they're friendly. Like they've said, I know Scott Koker has said in the past, if they ever do hold an event in Poland, he's not going to do it without KSW's involvement. I know when they hold a lot of the events like in Birmingham and in Dublin and all those events, they work hand in hand with the local promotions to fill the prelims, kind of help set the arena up and everything. So if they do go to Poland, they're for sure. I can't imagine.

They're definitely going to co-promote with KSW. But what do you make of this whole is Belator Strike Force 2.0 as our good friend on the site pointed out. Well, first, KS, the thought of them co-promoting with KSW is frigging fantastic. Our own Jed Mishu will tell you that KSW is bar none, the greatest promotion in the world. PZE's done a ton of coverage on KSW. So we have definitely fans here at Enme Fighting. And I know there's a lot of fans. Anyone who's seen it always kind of just walks away.

with like this impression of like, holy crap, that's a great product. And, you know, they want to see more of that. Of course, you know, maybe the talent level isn't quite as high as Belator of the UFC, though there are some very good fighters there. But, yeah, if they co-promoted with Belator, they would for sure be able to put on a quality show. So do we see that happening? Gosh, I hope so. You know, fingers crossed.

And like Jose said, it seems likely. There's definitely communication there. So the Strait Force 2.0 question, they kind of, kind of already are like the becoming is is an odd thing i think um you know once they once scot cocker took over all those years ago those comparisons were going to happen no matter what and um nothing he's done so far i think has has done anything to make those comparisons lesson uh he look scott cocker's a smart guy he he's always known not to compete with the ufc but to be an alternative to the ufc which is what strike force was and it's what belltor is so um so the question yes in a way

it's it's it already has become um they have some like you some of the talents they mentioned like i think neem and gracie showed a lot in uh in that war on macdonald fight i know i know he didn't win but he showed a lot and i think that's a guy that that they he's a big part of their uh welterweight division which i think we'll discuss more later uh for years to come dylan danis love him or hate him i can't believe this guy keeps generating headlines uh you know i can't stand that kind of persona but boy we're talking about it aren't we and ed errant pico a lot of the wrestlers that they've been signing. I'm just looking at the names that Lodovic mentioned, James Geller, Adam Bortz. Yeah, these are young guys you can build up. Hopefully they don't end up, you know, hopefully they

end up being assets for Belator and not future assets for the UFC. But yeah, as far as Beltaur becoming like a strike, maybe not 2.0, maybe strike force, you know, 1.5, something like that. Because I do feel like they're their own thing and different. But yeah, as long as Scott Coker's there, that's the influence you're going to have. Yeah, I mean, if there's one thing Scott Coker does, finding high-quality fighters to, these young high-quality fighters to build off of, like if you look at the UFC now, like Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, like, Jacques-Ary, even Gayguard, like, yeah, Gayguard was a big name, and Jacques-R was a big name for it, but he brought all those guys into,

there was into Strike Force, and then obviously the UFC bought Strike Force, and they all moved over. But there was like, there was a time where a bunch of, like, the top tens of every division had some remnant of Strike Force near the, in the top five, top 10. So Scott Coker's, I don't know if he's doing the exact same thing, but he's, Dylan Danes is what, two and no now? And he's like looking at that, I was looking at like, because I was handling a lot of the

YouTube and Instagram stuff. Like Dylan Danes is outside of Chale Sondon's retirement, Dylan Danes had the most views, most clicks, most everything. So whether Alex hates it or not, Dylan Danes is two and O and is is way up there in terms of traffic to the site. So people want, people want that Dylan Danis. Yeah. And I mean, look, Strike Force was built around both talents and attractions.

Like you said, they had talents. Like, again, guys, people hadn't heard of that Luke Rockhold. They gave Tim Kennedy his break. I'm thinking all middleways for some reason. Jackaday, you know, they brought him over to the U.S. So they were kind of built on that. And they also had attractions, like, and I'm not saying anyone they have right now in their roster compared to this.

But of course, the Kimbo Slice, who is still, I can't, I say this a lot time, is still probably one of the five biggest proven draws in MMA history. for a guy who only fought, I think, eight or nine times. So that's something that Beltor and Scott Cooker in general has always been able to do that I think the UFC has never quite been able to do. I don't know if they've ever been able to balance the attraction, the strict attraction part with guys who are also good fighters. They've got guys who are good fighters and also attractions, of course, Conne McGregor,

you know, attractions outside of their fighting ability. But they haven't had guys who are, they haven't, I don't think they've ever got like, like the CM punk thing, I don't think paid off. So not in the modern era anyway. They've never been able to find just those guys who are just attractions, not necessarily great fighters who can legitimately draw. And again, and Dylan Dennis, who knows? Maybe he is a great fighter who can also draw, but that remains to be seen.

Yeah, Kimbo Slice is a good, so it was a good name to bring up because, yeah, Kimbo fought in the UFC, but he wasn't headlining these giant, like, tent pole events like he was in Bellasor. And yeah, that Houston fight where he fought Dada 5,000 might be the, worst fight in UFC history or the best fight in, well, in MMA history, not UFC history. Might be the worst fight in MAA history or the best fight in MMA history, as some people say. But that was people tuned in to watch Kimball's Life's fight on that card. And the main event of that, wasn't that Shamrock versus Gracie, like two or three or

whatever it was? Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah, the UFC is, they're not doing that in 2019. They're not putting Hoyce Gracie versus Ken Shamrock as a main event with Kimball. But I bet they wish they could, though. I bet they wish they could have that for some of their fight night events. You know what I mean?

Like an ESPN card, because they only do a few ESPN cards a year known. Not the ESPN Plus, I'm saying specifically the ones aired an ESPN. I wonder if they would love to have that option to have like every now and then have just a crazy special attraction fight. I hate it. I don't want it. I absolutely don't want it on ESPN. I mean, BJ Penn is fighting on the prelim cards and the prelim events of these big cards. And we're seeing how that's playing out.

I definitely don't want to see Ken Shanrock versus Hoise Gracie on ESPN. Yeah, people would watch, but I wouldn't want to watch that. I would. Moving on, future of fighting from Milo of Croton or Milo of Croton. I'm sorry if I mispronounced that. By the way, by the way, I just want to interrupt and say, I hope our users are not too clever with you. I always feel like we're going to read out some username that is like some foreign translation

of like a lurid sex act or something. So if you guys are doing that, I'm just saying ahead of time, please don't because we read these names out verbatim. We are hapless members of the media. We're doing our best. We don't know, you know, we don't know all these crazy terms and memes that you kids are coming up with these days. So please be kind with your username.

I'm sorry, Jose, continue. Well, I guarantee you no one thought of that until you just brought it up. So I know people I got to start doing it. So old man, Alex is given the youths of the world ideas. But moving on from Milo of Croton or Milo of Croton, I'm sorry if I mispronounced the name. But Future of Fighting, hey guys, recently Dana White unveiled what he described as the future of fighting. I don't know if the U.S. Apex and various performance institutes are that, but I do appreciate the U.S. trying new things and having a vision for the sport. Question.

What is your opinion on the future of MMA media? Thanks. Bonus question. Should there be journalists versions of the PI where every hour on the hour, an automated recording of Luke Thomas calls you a donk and berate your work? hashtag free pizzie carol well pizza carol is not captured at all he's just he was on last week and he was great everyone loves pizzi uh so he'll be on again in the future but uh i was actually at the ufc apex uh the big tour and the day in the debut that when dana white did call the future fighting and it looks great from what was built but it's not done yet i mean the tour we had the

only thing i said this last week the only thing that was done being built was uh The contender series ring in the middle, the octagon, the cage, whatever you want to call it. And then Dana White's office was done. And then everything else was, this is where this will be when we're done building. This is where this will go. This is where this will go. So is it the future of fighting? Maybe, but I want to see it being done.

I want to see it built first. And I do the UCPI is being built. Dana said like China, Puerto Rico, like these, these, uh, these, uh, countries that MMA is not in the mainstream yet. Like someone asked him, like, why don't you have one in Brazil or Dublin or all these other countries where MMA is popular. He goes, well, that's not the point. We want to build up MMA in these countries so we can break around and then bring

MMA to the forefront to be a legitimate sport. And then we can start growing the talent there, which is why China and Puerto Rico and Mexico were kind of marked as where he wanted these PIs to go. But future of MMA media, I mean, M.A. if I'm still going to be here. As for getting yelled at by Luke Thomas, like, whatever, he can yell at me. I'll just say, cool, man. Keep doing your thing.

I don't know what your take on that is, though. I actually have an app. It's a Luke Thomas app. You have to be part of a special sign-up list that it does exactly what this guy said. It, like, yells at you. So it's like the clock where it wakes you up before you am to work out. Exactly, exactly. It constantly asks me how much I lifted today, which is usually nothing.

So it hasn't been great for my self-esteem. I'll be honest with you. But I think it's been good for my productivity. So yeah. You're calling you a donk. Good for yourself, esteem? Yeah, I can see that. Yeah.

It's rough. It's rough. Because I know I'm a don't need Luke Thomas telling me. So it really hurts. Should there be a journalist version of the PI? Gosh, good question. It's called going to journalism school, taking journalism ethics. Yeah.

If anyone's been to journalism school, trust me, it is a grind. and you'll know that you won't need a PI after. I'll tell you that much. It is rough. The future of fighting thing. I mean, you know, Jose, it's kind of crazy to me that like so many people have I see people asking this on Twitter too, like, what was the future of fighting that Dana was, even after the apex got revealed, they were like, what was the future of fighting?

Was it just the apex? I was surprised so many people, like, latched onto this phrase. Like I saw it as like sort of this stock kind of press release. comment. So I didn't look into it too much. Maybe it's the future of the UFC. Like I think I've spoken when I've had to speak about this before. I'm optimistic for you know, I don't mean to crap on the idea of the UFC Apex. I think it's cool. And I think what he wants to do as far as, you know, it being this venue that they have 100% control over. I can do anything there, jujitsu competitions or kickboxing, boxing, you know, he's talked about, he's talked about

Dana White, having his son compete there sometime. It's cool. It's a very cool idea. You know, and I'm sure there's all kinds of regulations and paperwork that need to be done before these things can happen. But until I see that, I don't know. I don't know if I'm convinced that it's not just, like I said, an upgraded version of the PI, which, again, was also a great idea already. So the future of fighting thing is definitely, I don't know. I don't know if that's what the apex represents. It's a big step for the company itself, but for all of MMA fighting, I know the UFC is the leader.

And as they go, everyone else tends to go. but I don't know. I don't know if I binded the whole future of fighting thing. Well, the PI is right next to the apex. Like, it's not one or the other. The apex is pretty much where the events are going to be held because they're going to be able to do all the broadcasting and booth work and everything right there.

And the PI is just five-minute walk away or like a shuttle ride away. So I, again, like, I think it's cool. And I think it'll be really neat when like Invicta, if held an event in Las Vegas for it. because a lot of their events are in Kansas City, but if they have the, like for upcoming International Fight Week, if Invicta held, remember they held that event with Cyborg headlined in Las Vegas during the International Fight Week, that was, I was awesome.

But if they do that again, but they have a place already built in the UFC Apex with the broadcasting tools, with the ability to go live, with the ability to, like, cut to a desk all right there, I think that's hugely beneficial for promotions like Invictor, or Titan or LFA or any of these smaller promotions that want to look legitimate rather than like, I don't know if you've covered in an LFA event. I don't know if I'm just using LFA as an example.

But like when they're held in Arizona, the cage is kind of pushed up against a, it's in a concert venue. So it's pushed up against a stage. And it's very, it's weird to get around. There's the media section is really far away. Obviously, I don't, I have no idea how they brought. I haven't looked into how they broadcast it on the internet or anything. But if promotions like that already have a cage in the professional setting with this equipment already all there, like I think it's hugely beneficial for the smaller promotions to be able to go in there and get like,

especially because a lot of this stuff is going to be on FIPPass or ESPN Plus, like all of these promotions with deals that are on Fight Pass, if they can just go to Vegas and have this equipment already there waiting for them, I think it's awesome for the smaller promotions. And the UFCPI is right across the street. Yeah. If the apex can become this hub that it is sort of being hyped as, that is super exciting. Like you said, for everyone, not just the UFC.

So maybe I'm being a little cynical in questioning the whole future thing. But like I said, I'm almost, I want to believe it when I'll see it. So the intention is good. I just need a little more, a little more proof. I sort of skirted around the future I'm media questions. So I'll just touch on that quickly. It's certainly in flux. I think people can see that.

You know, I'm not going to tell people, oh, you know, because our site has clearly changed a lot. We've brought some great talent in. We've seen some great talent go out. But it's in flux, but I also will say, and I'm, by the way, I'm biased. I'm in the MMA media. It's exciting. I think it's exciting. I hope people are checking out what's been going on at the athletic.

I think I've plugged them every time I've been on any show because I know people are loath to subscribe to anything these days. It's just not the way people use the internet now. They don't want to subscribe. But I would say, please give it a chance, take a trial. There's just a different kind of reporting that we do because I think what we do is important. I think the kind of stuff they're doing there is important. and obviously some of our colleagues are there

so I stand by them so check out the athletic check out the work around at ESPN that's exciting you know we've got guys like Ariel and Mark they're over at ESPN they're taking that covers to a new level so it's it's gonna be different you know I'm not sure what the overall image of MMA media has been and if people seem to think it's I don't know trending in a wrong

direction for whatever reason but I think it's trending in a good direction I think you just have more options and for the reader that's good and I always assume for the reader that's good I would love it if MMA fighting was everyone's one-stop shop for all their MMA needs. But, you know, once you read all our stuff and click on all our articles a thousand times, throw these little guys at ESPN a bone. You know what I mean?

Give them a click here and there. Yeah. Right. Like, like the ESPN, what is that, a newsletter that comes out once every couple weeks? Yeah, I think it's Espin. I think it's pronounced Espin. Espin, right, right. Yeah, but again, I don't, it's weird to think about, but since we're in the MMA media,

I haven't looked at it as like an outside viewer in a lot. long time. It's what people ask was like the future of MMA media. I was like, well, well, it's good. It's good that all these sites are being built. But then I think about like, man, the optics looking in must be rough. But it's not like I, the reality is it's not rough. Like jobs are good for everybody.

Like the more jobs that are created in any media is awesome. But moving on. Anything else you want to say about all this? The apex or MMA media, Alex? No. If we talk about the M-A media anymore, I'm probably going to start taking shots of people. So let's just leave. And I know our colleague, Jedmishu's over in Atlanta, being like, no, this is a gang war.

Eminem's fighting versus everyone. But we're not quite as aggressive as our good friend, Jedmishu, who I'm still trying to get on the A side because Lord knows the internet needs his hot takes. But moving on from LFMWA on the site, Welterweight title picture, UFC M Bellator. Wellterweight might be the hottest division in the sport right now, arguably deeper than ever before. Starting with the USC, how do you see this, how do you see this picture shaking out? What is next for Camaro? And who do you want to be next? Colby versus Ravi, Askin versus Jorge, Tyrant is taking out.

Camaro was injured. And then we also have Bellator. How do you see this title picture shaking out? We have Rory versus Lima 2 and the Welterweight Grand Prix and the for the championship. Paul Daly is out there. Ed Ruth is a fun matchup for everyone. MVP's winning streak is finally broken. I imagine we'll see more fun matchups with him too.

But yeah, Alex, we were talking about this little before we went on air. Welterweight division is pretty awesome across the board. I mean, yes, most people point to the lightweight division as the most exciting in MMA, especially because of the top 15. Like, you could be outside the top 15 and still be considered an elite leader. Welterweight division is right there behind him as one of the most exciting fighters in all of MMA. But how do you see the landscape of the 175, 170-pound division?

division shaking out between UFC and Belito over the next two years. Don't say 175. Hey, Dana White doesn't like that, all right? No 165, no 175, Jose, all right? Come on. Stay with you. I'm willing it into existence. Don't do it.

Come on now. I'll say this. How great is it that the Walter rate division is moving? I think it was after the, after Till took out Seroni or something, that there was a moment where you had all these contenders and for some reason just nobody could get matched up. There was health reasons. There was rankings reasons. And it sucked because you knew there was all these good fights.

And then I guess Tyrone losing the belt kind of loosened things up a bit, kind of opened it up who could fight who again. So that's a good. It's just exciting. Yes, that 170, which like we said, one of the top three divisions, probably in MMA, is moving. For Kamaru, man, it is a shame that we can't get Kobe Cummington. Again, love him or hate him. I do want to see him in a title shot.

I wanted to see him fight Tyrant. I think a lot of people did. I want to see him fight Uzman. So, you know, now he's got this fight with Robbie. Instead, that's a super dangerous fight for him. If you ask me today, I'm actually picking Robbie. So, you know, I don't know how that's going to shake out. As for Kamarou, I guess he gets the, you know, the Ascrin Mazvedal winner,

unless I'm missing something more obvious, which I do all the time. And that's a match job, but I would love too. I'd love to see if Ben Ascran, Kamar Uzman. So, you know, the champ has some good options. And just a touch upon the Bell Tour thing, there's just one thing. I like what LFMWA, gosh, I hope that's not, again, not an acronym for something bad.

I like what he said about MVP's winning streak, you know, being broken as kind of a good thing because they had to be very delicate with Michael Page and his matchmaking. They clearly didn't want him to lose. And when you do that, it does limit what you can do with him. So now that he has that first loss out of the way,

it's like, hey, you know, it's right. It does open things up. There's no need to preserve this aura. And now you can just look for fun matchups for him and get him to fight. So I hadn't even thought about that. So I like that point by LFMWA. Beyond all the stuff with the tournament and, you know, Roy Lima, too. Yeah, keep an eye on MVP.

I hope that Beltor finds a way to use him. Because, again, he could be that guy sort of what we talked about before, both an attraction for his memes that he creates, you know, sometimes. And also, he can be a really, really fun fire to watch. Yeah, the 170-pound division in the UFC, I think, like you said, like a year ago or a couple years ago, it was really like we were, it was all this unfortunate incidents is happening where we couldn't match up these really high level fighters. And I think Darren Till versus Wonderboy, that was an awesome matchup. And that was a pretty,

that was a great fight. A lot of people think Wonderboy won. And now Dana White's like maybe we pushed Darren Till too fast. He was too young too fast. But I think Ben Ascran joining the hundred, hundred and hundred and seventy pound division in the UFC did wonders for that, for the promotion, for that whole division. I mean, I was in LA. and for the UFC 239 Media Day and just looking at YouTube like Ben Ascran, people want to hear what he says and he's only had one fight in the UFC and that was his first fight in how many years? Like he knows what he's doing.

And with Chale Sondon now out of the picture of Eminem well, retired, quote unquote retired because what does that mean in MMA? The landscape needed someone like Ben Ascreen to kind of take that mantle of like, I'm going to talk a lot of trash and then we're going to fight. and Ben Ascreen has picked up that ball and ran with it. Robbie Lawler coming back after his pretty bad knee injury against Hafelde D'Sonius, which was in Winnipeg, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. Him coming back offers a lot of fresh matchups.

Colby Covington now taking the fight against Robbie Lawler. That's beginning of August, but then Ben Ascren is also fighting Jorge Mazudal, U.S.U.C. 239. And as far as what's next for Kamaro, I think he said himself, he's probably going to be ready around November. So maybe that MSG card that the UFC always holds in November. I think it's going to come down to who has the better performance between all of all four of these guys. Because, like, say, what if Horri Mazur doll comes and just knocks out Ben Ascran?

Like he did Darren Till. Like, I saw a lot of people picking Darren Till to beat Jorge Mazurdaul. And then Horamazir comes and just starches him in one of the most violent knockouts of 2019. Like Darren Till's head clattered off the canvas. And then if Colby Covington comes out and beats Robbie Lawler, I don't know how you can deny him the title shot. I mean, he was the interim champion. He comes out and maybe he finishes.

Maybe he doesn't finish him. But he just maybe he, like, because Camaro, when he fought Hotfield Los Angeles, there were like a couple of 50, 44 scorecards in that fight. And then he got the title shot. So maybe he just dominates Robbie Lawler for five rounds. I don't know how you can't give him a title shot. I know Camaro, after he won the belt from Tyrant at the press conference. He said, I want to beat up that guy so badly, talking about Colby Coving.

And so if you're Kamara Usman and you're recovering and you have these two very high level fights, because I know there's a lot of like, oh, why don't you ever match up the contenders against each other? Like, why are you preserving contenders for future fights? Like, these are two awesome fights. And I think the winner of whoever has the better performance, because Colby Covington is in a main event, Ben Afsgren is not in a main event. But if Ben Afsgren goes out there and stops Horamazudal, Kamara Usman's already eyeing that fight, He has history with all of these guys, so two big money fights if you're the UFC Welterweight champion.

As far as Bellator, I think the wild card and all this is John Fitch. He fought Roy McDonald to a draw. He considers himself the uncrowned champion. He thinks he actually won that fight. The only reason Rory got to move on in the Grand Prix is because he was the reigning champion. And so with the draw, he got to move on. So I think whoever wins that fight between Rory and Lima, I think they're going to, I think they'll have to fight. John Fitch he considered he didn't lose.

He didn't lose in the tournament. So I think he makes the most sense as for as far as who's the next in line for the Welterweight Championship of the world in Bellator. But any other thoughts or opinions you want to throw in on this? Man, I'm ready to move on. I think our boy LFMWA is doubling up here though. Yeah. Yeah.

So moving on from all a friend from last. Oh, yeah, LFMWA. There's two green ones back to back. got much. So doubling up, John Jones running through the light heavyweight division again. Jones' recent rate of activity is really wearing down the light heavy division roster quickly. It's foregone conclusion that Santos is dead man walking and we're looking to the future for viable contenders. We're talking about fast-tracking Luke Rockal to the title with a win over Jan for Christ's sakes. What about Ratchick walk in Reyes? I guess my question is, would you

rather see Jones destroy blown up middleweights with tons of experience or Jones destroyed big and powerful young contenders? Can we have it both ways? ways. Great question. So the light heavyweight division is kind of gone through this massive changing of the guard over recent years where you have guys like Rashad Evans retiring Leota Machita and well he wasn't a light heavyweight, he was a middleweight but he most he recently fought a light heavyweight in Bellator. Him and Ryan Bader left. Daniel Cormier is now at a at heavyway. Guston retired obviously and then you have guys like Anthony Smith, Luke Rockhold, Chris Wyman's coming in, Tiago Santos.

These guys are all middleweight so that came into big things at 205 and now they're fighting for the titles. So great question. Your thoughts, Alex. Absolutely. We can have it both ways. And I don't think John Jones being active

and running through the division is a bad thing at all. I don't know if I'd use the phrase wearing it down. I thought that was kind of an interesting choice of words there. No, I think it's, look, this is him going on. I hate to say redemption toward because I, you know, I'm personally not a fan of some of the stuff John Jones has gotten up to and all the, you know, the drug test controversy, of course, is for me, I'm definitely with the camp that it raised some questions about his legacy and all that. I'm of that thought. But nothing changed my mind that when he steps into the cage, he is arguably the most compelling fighter in the world today, maybe the most compelling fighter of all time. And watching him go to work is, is frankly always enjoyable. So, no, I think, but I like the suggestion of having it both ways because I don't think he necessarily has to go, oh, knock off Walker, knock off Reyes, knock off Rockish one by one. He can have, you know, fight one of those guys.

And then, you know, should a Luke Rockhold or someone, or gosh, Chris Wyman who brought it up recently because he's going up to middle of late, somehow one of these guys fast track their way to a title shot. Yeah, you can do that. You have that name value fight. And then hopefully one of these other guys, Rockich, Walker, Reyes, whoever is again, one of these other guys, Rockich, Walker, Reyes, whoever is again, one more fight, you know, better, one more, six months better in development, and we can see them have a more competitive fight with John Jones in the future. Sadly, we probably will see at least one of those names mentioned thrown to the wolves too soon. So probably Johnny Walker, the way he's been talking and the way he's been performing, like I think

he's at least a year away, if not more, from being able to seriously challenge a guy like John Jones. But this is the nature of the fight business, you know, sometimes you're a victim of your own success. And I think a lot of people would love to see Johnny fight John at some point. It might be sooner than they expect. So yeah, not a bad thing at all. And I'm really looking forward to John Jones staying out of trouble and defending his title, whether it's against these quote-unquote blown up middleweights or, or yeah, this nice youth movement in 205. It's exciting. Yeah, I think having questions surrounding opponents or questions surrounding who should fight next and there's this big like who's next in line never a bad thing uh it it i don't it might be rough

when he does actually clear out the division i remember when george st pierre was running through the welter rate division that was like well who who else is there uh it's not yes maybe if john jones hadn't lost all of those years to his own stupidity uh maybe we would be in that predicament but i think john jones leaving like being gone for the that long period of time and then coming back to all these fresh fresh matchups like it's never a bad thing when arguably, arguably the greatest fighter of all time, in greatest in-Octagon fighter of all time is active. And I was in, when I was in L.A., we asked him about that.

Like, this is your third fight. Like, he's going to fight three times since Daniel Cormer's last fight. And we asked him, like, why, like, is this activity basically making up for lost time? And he's like 100%. Like, he lost all this time in his career, the prime of his career. He's healthy. he didn't take all those those he wasn't in those wars during those times so he basically wants to in his words give back to the fans uh that stuck by him and taking all these fresh matchups

so john jones uh definitely hasn't cleared out the light heavyweight division yet and i asked him like everyone wants you go to heavyweight everyone wants you to fight daniel cormay at third time everyone wants you to do a b and c it's these it seems like fans are telling john jones what his goals should be right Like we want to you should be a champ champ. And I go, well, what are your goals? Like, because it seems like everyone is telling you what they want to see you do. What do you want to do? And he goes, I just want to be undefeated.

In his mind, stay undefeated and beat these guys in the light heavyweight division. And yeah, being a champ champ, he said, is going to be awesome when it happens. That's how we phrased it. But he has time, he said. He's like, what's the rush? Like, yeah, he because I, he's like, I beat Daniel Cormey twice. if I beat him a third time at heavyweight, like, yeah, I'm a champ champ, but fighting Daniel Cormney, like I've already done that twice.

Like I have time to go up to heavyweight. Might as well continue my run of dominance of light heavyweight. And when I clean out the division, then I'll go to heavyweight. So John Jones knows what he wants. He wants to stay light heavyweight and beat all these up-and-coming guys. I knew Luke Rockhold's talking to talk. Chris Wyman has said he can beat him. And there was that time when Rockhold, I mean,

Wyman and John Jones were like the two champions. And they're like, oh, let's fight for the King of New York at MS. G like that they have history there it's not it's not bad history but uh Luke Rockhold seems to have kind of beef with everyone in the top five in every division but he also has pretty he has like a blood feud with Anthony Smith right now so if Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold eventually throw down on the under on like maybe the co-main event of the undercard of a John Jones title fight like I'm about it and then Johnny Walker and Ratrick and Ray is are young up and coming like heavyweights And John Jones was a young up-and-coming light heavyweight once too before and look what happened to him.

So the light heavyweight division is pretty exciting right now. And John Jones is fighting a crazy man in Tiago Santos. Like I want to see John Jones fight someone that can basically just throw sledgehammers and flame throws and like swords all over the place. And he doesn't know what's going to happen to the octagon. So I'm very excited for that fight. Yeah, that's an exciting fight. I think, again, we're going up a little bit of a tangent. But I do, I do want him just to stay at 205.

I'll never understand. It's cool. It's cool to imagine him matching up with Steepi Miochich or Brock Lesnar, you know, when that was a fun rumor. But when you think about like all the greatest champions are where like are renowned for not for taking super fight like George St. Pierre, that Welcher, he never other than when he fought Bisping, you know, he was a he made his name at Welterweight.

Anderson Silva took a few fights at 205, but it's the middleweight stuff that made him, you know, what he is. Fador. Fadoor, people have said maybe he could have dropped to 205, but who cares? Who wanted to see that? You know, his heavyweight run is legendary. Josie Aldo, we talked about earlier, 1.45. So as cool as it is to imagine John Jones going up and become a champ champ,

I don't think it's necessary. If he never does it, like, it'd be less fun. It'd be cool to see, but I don't think it's like a tragedy or anything if he never does it. And I want to further tangent, I'm sorry to derail the show, but I want to ask people about John, you answered the Media Day in L.A. This is my question to the ether, the MMA ether. I don't know if they can directly respond, but whatever. Hit me up on Twitter, do whatever you want.

Which John Jones do people prefer? Do they prefer the over-the-top kind of dickish John Jones, who says all kinds of raw stuff to his opponents and disrespects reporters and is vaguely threatening? Or do they prefer the John Jones we saw on Monday who was like kind and genial and super diplomatic? Because I had mentioned to you guys that I find that the nicer John Jones a little scary. I don't know. There's something about it.

It's horrible. By the way, for anyone saying, I don't know John Jones personally. So I'm not saying one persona is phony or one is real. I have no idea. If anything, he's probably like a lot of celebrities and athletes. We don't know the real. I think we don't know the real John Jones. I think that that's a private thing.

I'm sure people who know him will say he's a totally different way than anything we've seen. So, but I do want to ask you, what do you guys like? Good John Jones, bad John Jones? Is it even that black and white that, you know, the two, the two, the two sides of him that he sometimes presents. He's a fascinating character. He really is. I can tell you from my experience, my friends who don't really follow MMA, like the very

raw John Jones. I had one specific incident. I remember he came off from a, I think it was a press commiss or stare down or whatever. It was with Daniel Kormier and he was like elevated heart. Like he was hot. He was ready to go. And he just goes, mask off. And like just starts like spitting fire.

And like that specific moment where he was like mask off, like that got brought to me by more than a few people who don't even follow MMA. So I, but like you said, kind and cordial and like I'm the best fighter in the world with a smile on my face. John Jones is a horrifying person because you don't know what's behind those eyes, we're going on behind those eyes. But anything else you want to say before we move on? John Jones, please don't block me. That's it. He already blocked me. And for reasons unknown to me.

I think I was collateral damage where two people were arguing in my in my in like a thread about John Jones and he just blocked everyone. Yeah. It doesn't bother me. I was just, that's what I assume because I've never really interacted with him on Twitter before. But moving on from someone who was brought to our, who left a comment last week and PC Carroll wished them a better life because his name is life is kicking my butt or her.

Life is kicking my butt left a comment. Bellator UK, a great, even devastated by idiotic format slash packaging. I think he meant great event devastated by idiotic format slash packaging. I enjoyed the fights from Bellator London, except these were two or three, who the hell knows, events, somehow distribute around different viewing platforms and labeled as different things. Bellator London was separate from Bellator 223 for some reason. Can you come up with any good reason for this cluster fuck? This time, Bellator can steal U.S.C. slender easily because U.C. Greenville was the weakest car in U.S. history. Instead, Belator pulled a defeat from the jaws of victory.

It was, I'll speak on the broadcasting thing. It was real weird. I never know where Belator is going to be aired. I never know what time is going to be aired, whether it's going to be delayed or whether we can watch it live or what it's called. I think the Belator New York card, the first MSG, was something similar, like the prelims where Bellator, like, won. I don't know what the exact number was, but it was like, Bellator, like 187, and then the main card was Bellator, NYC, or vice versa. I can't quite remember, but they were basically two events and two different hashtags on Twitter. So that's annoying. I never know where it's going to air. I basically, our colleague, Pizza Carol, I'll use him as a source for all of this because I don't know what's going on sometimes. But they were awesome fights.

I just didn't know how to watch them at the time. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. So, you know, we look at these questions ahead, of course. I was trying to be here and think like, oh, I'll find a way to explain this. But as I did more research, it became more confusing. So it's an extremely valid question. On the positive side, we had the ratings report coming today from our own Dave Meltzer. Apparently, I did a pretty solid, the paramount portion of the card, which was headlined by Paul Daly and my mind just blank.

Because it was Paul Daly and Eric Silva. Eric Silva. Yeah. Did a pretty solid number. I think just under 400,000 viewers, which was their highest since January, though considerably lower. That January high was slightly close to 700,000. So just to put that in perspective. So it kind of goes what this question is saying is they had a drawing card.

They had a card people wanted to see. So the people who, you know, they had an audience there. I wonder how much higher that number would have been if it would have been more clear whether the whole card was going to air. if the Musasi Lovato fight aired on Paramount, which it didn't. I believe that was Beltor app only, I think. And I think some of the card also aired on the zone. And I'm just talking about, by the way, on our side of the pond, over there, there was something, it's like on Channel 5, and I think Sky Sports.

If I'm off, anyone, please just kill me in the comments. But either way, the point is that it wasn't all on one channel. I heard there was blackouts in certain regions, which is extremely confusing. Someone, I think, mentioned a comment that the main event, depending what you know, what you were watching on, not the main events, sorry, the Musasi Lavato fight, depending what you were watching on, was cut off midway, peppa pig style. So it's, I'm not going to, you know me, I don't like to be harsh. I'm always, I'm always delicate in my language. But was this a misopportunity?

Yeah, I think big time it was. I can't speak to the, you know, exact broadcasting requirements that led to this decision. And maybe it all makes sense, you know, over at Belter HQ, maybe this is what made the most money. Maybe when the numbers come in of the UK viewership, who is primarily who this card was for, it'll be extremely positive. But as far as growing the brand, I would be, I don't know how they could possibly, you know, skew the numbers to say that this grew the brand when it could have helped in that regard, at least a little bit.

So, yeah, a little bit of a shame that is confusing to watch because there was some good fights and so a lot of stuff happened. And there was no UFC event the weekend of Bellator NYC, correct? I don't think so. And Bellator, NYC, this most recent one, the Roy McDonald one, that was on a Friday. Right. If I'm Bellator, I'm sticking that fight card on a Saturday, no competition. And people are used to watching fights on Saturday.

It's in America. It's on normal prime time over here. But it was on a Friday. I don't know how it did well, but I don't want to say missed. opportunity because that fight card obviously was great and was one of the we we talked about it actually the first show like that could have been the the most stacked bellator card in bellator history uh but yeah i don't know i was very confused this weekend because i was also greenville and bare knuckle boxing and bellator so there was a lot of fisticuffs going on and as soon as i was

like as soon as i saw one was overly complicated to figure out i don't want to say put it in the back of my mind, but I was trying to do like three things while also trying to find Bellator. And I didn't know all of a sudden I'm seeing like Twitter like Bellator already started. I was like, oh great, now I have to go find this. So it was a little confusing, a little confusing. But I'm sure they'll, I'm sure. And I'm sure they'll fix it for the future. I hope anyway.

You mentioned bare knuckle. And I just want to, there was a question earlier. It didn't get green. I just going to touch upon it quickly. I think just a lot of people in general are asking what's with all the bare knuckle coverage. And just to give a little inside baseball. I think, man, I wish people could see these bare-knuckle events, the ones that we focus on anyway, they do insane numbers. People, especially the low pop malagnosy one, you know, I mean, that's probably the most famous fight now of the modern bare-knuckle era, however brief that is.

So, yeah, we definitely do a lot of bare-knuckle coverage. And I think we will, going forward when there's, you know, an appropriate event that we think there's some crossover appeal. And, yeah, I mean, that matters to us. For sure, it's, is it catering to a certain audience, you know, because, you know, because, you know, beyond our core, yeah, probably. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Like I said, we're talking about expanding, Bellator expanding audience.

You know, we're always looking to expand that as well. And I think if people will see, we had like just as much coverage of Bellator 223 slash London and Greenville. Yeah, Judge Mishu was in Greenville. Right? Yeah, I think we had just so much coverage on Fight Night as we did as Bear Knuckle, maybe even more. We're talking about raw articles.

Now, post-fight, we definitely have had more bare-knuckle stuff than, I will say, than Greenville aftermath. and Belter aftermath. So if there's a criticism of that, people don't like that stuff. I mean, that's accurate. Like I said, as far as we can tell, people seem to be interested. But I do see the straight comments here and there are asking why there's so much bare knuckle stuff.

But that's why there's an interest in it, for sure. It might not be to everyone's cup of tea, but it is out there. I'm telling you. And yeah, and I'm definitely for it. Yeah, and Esther and Casey said there was actually a ton of media at the bare knuckle event. So it's not just us covering it. There was a lot of people there to watch Polly Malinaji and Artem Lobov throw down with no gloves on. But moving on, unless you want to say anything else.

Now, just say, sorry, everyone. That is the nature of the combat sports business. We are always, you know, we're sticking with our core for sure, but we're always moving on to the hot new thing as well. So, yeah, that's the nature of the beast. Yeah, we're going to move on quickly because we've been talking a lot, and we still have a few questions to get to. but the dangers of mixing roles from DA DAF MAFMAista. All right. Colby Covington should not have Dan Lambert as a manager.

This is the first sentence, like right off the bat. It puts Dan in a position where if he declined on Colby's behalf to fight Robbie, it could have a backlash for other ATT fighters. Managers are supposed to function as a wall between fighters and promoters when conditions are harsh and having a manager that's also the owner of a gym is terrible. harsh that's also the owner of your gym this this punctuation is missing and this is a terrible idea for any fighters career as history has shown it has not has not worked for him so far and backfired again recently should fighters serious should fighters i'm putting i'm going to add some words into this sentence i feel like is a few missing should fighters be serious about a career

being serious about a career find a manager before they find a high level not their first gym to circumvent getting peer pressured into a situation like this. Also, what's worse having your coach also be your manager for having your dad as your coach. Oh, my. Well, there's a lot of that sentence, that one long sentence with no punctuation was rough. But yeah, your thoughts on fighters having their coach as their manager or their dad as their coach. And this whole situation, this comment are presented. Yeah. So for anyone who isn't on our site and can't read the question, it's just, should people find a manager first before deciding on a gym, you know, designing on a big gym? And two, as you said, clearly, what's worse, a coach manager or dad manager. Sorry, coach manager or coach dad. It's, yeah, the Dan Lamber thing is, is a little tricky. He has so many fighters under his umbrella that I get it. I get what they're saying here. This could set a bad precedent. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I

I don't know if I agree with how with the Daphmeister's like such as, again, I'm not even sure if there's a question here. Someone's trying to convince us of something. I don't think it's the worst thing because I think coaches can know, gosh, they can know a fighters, you know, motivations, what drives them, and they're just around them so much more. Most coaches, I think this goes out of saying, are obviously around their fighters more than their managers are.

And now is that a good thing? Okay, I somewhat, I'm thinking now and I somewhat see why maybe being too close to the situation, you know, might not be good. Why you need that manager? I know there was a debate not too long ago of whether some fighters even need managers. Yeah, so I don't know how much that is now. As far as I know, most high-level fighters have representation, but I'm sure there are some exceptions. I would say the dad coach is worse if I had to answer this question. I think the dad coach is a, it can only go so far.

Maybe I'm stuck on thinking about Sage Northcutt and his broken face. And maybe I feel like I'm unfairly blaming his father for, you know, not stopping that. I don't know how much control he had over that situation. But yeah, I'm also thinking about other sports where athletes were coached by their father up to a certain age. and I'm thinking about Pete Merevich, this first one comes to mine, and then the football player and it's escaping my name now

and people are going to remind me, I'm sure. So yeah, the dad coach thing I think is worse. I think manager coach, I think manager coach can work. The specific Dan Lambert situation, again, I'll be honest, I don't know, I don't understand all the dynamics of it. And maybe, I guess we're saying he's, or what the DAFME says saying is that the Laller matches,

you know, they got forced into it, but I don't know if that's the case. I'll be honestly. I'd have to do a little more digging to know, like, how reluctant Colby and his team were to taking this. Because I don't know. I think it's somewhat of a sensible matchup for that. Maybe I'm wrong.

Jose, I've just rambled. Please fix this answer for me. Well, right out of the gate, you said Pete Marevich, and that was wrong. Pete Marevich, Pistel P. Pistel P. P. Marevich is a basketball player. Yeah. And I think you're talking about Todd Marinovich.

I was, but Pete Marevich was also coached by his father. All right. Well, Pete Marevich was, I think, that's too different because Pete Marevich had an unbelievable career. He did. If the three point line existed when he was playing, he would have averaged like 60 points a game in college. Tom, he did, he did. But his father also kind of messed up his life a little bit. Fair. Todd Marinovino. No, but I was, I was thinking of marriage and Steve Marinovich, yes, as well. Todd Marinovich was the quarterback that was like, there were like rumors and legends of he, he never had a Big Mac until he was in college

because his dad was like so strict on him. But I did Dan Lambert might be going back to the question. Dan Lambert might be a different, specifically for Colby, I was there when he won the interim title fight against Rafael Dosanos. And as soon as Colby Covington walked out of the Octagon, Dan Lambert was waiting for him and they just hugged. And Dan Lambert was like on the verge of tears. He was so happy. So specifically for Colby,

I think he's known Colby for so long, like since the genesis of his MMA career. It's a different relationship between Dan Lambert and Colby and other fight manager coaches or gym owner coach, gym manager managers, whatever the situation is. So then a lot of fighters down at ATT have Dan Lambert's back. A lot of them like really credit them as like a father figure to them.

So that might be a different scenario. I also think it depends on the situation for dad coach because Stephen Thompson's had great success in the UFC Octagon and his dad is his coach. I remember why I was there also Octagon side when Wonderboy knocked out Jake Ellenberger. And you could, I don't know if you remember that fight, how it looked at that fight card looked on paper, but that was the day after UFC 189, which was Connor Mendez, Robbie, Rory 2. So that's like arguably the greatest main card in U.S. history. The next day was the Black Zillians ATT, speaking of Dan Lambert, ATT tough finale. Right.

And there was no one in the arena. I mean, we could literally count the people in the arena. I think people just had burnout. And I think that's the last time the U.S. He's ever done that the day after event. It was so quiet in there that you could hear the coach. It was like watching the contender series live. You could hear the coaches yell. And you can hear Stephen Thompson's father shouting all these instructions.

And you just hear spin. And then he spin kicks Jake Ellenberger in the head and knocks him out. So I think that situation right there just shows you like, yeah, he's been coaching his son for so long that he knows like when to throw what. and he just goes spin, and Stephen Thompson knows what to do, and he scores the knockout of the night. One of the craziest knockouts you'll see. And then that obviously catapulted him into the title picture, because I think that was the last big test.

But I believe after that he fought Rory, and after that he fought more, like, and eventually he fought for the title. But I think it just depends on who the coach dad or who the manager coach is, whatever you want to call him. Everyone's situation is different, especially for Colby and especially for a fighter like Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. But go ahead.

Someone just comment on the site. Lomachenko is also coached by the dad. Yeah, 100%. I mean, he's done fairly well for himself in boxing. So perhaps I stand corrected. 100%. And we're going to move on because there's a lot of questions popping up, kind of all involving the site slash us.

But I'm going to get to this one first. From Eduardo Bueno. Oh, boy. Friendly question, Jose. Hey, Jose, can you talk about your little encounter with Mike Perry in the infamous friendly hair case? What happened after you left? Any repercussions or counseling from the other media members?

Did this cap? Did this case change something on the way you approach fighters nowadays? Cheers. Well, sure, I'll pull back the curtain. I asked Mike Perry a question that he didn't like how it was presented and he got very angry in me and was during a scrum for before USC Denver. I'll take, I take blame. I presented the question.

I couldn't present the question better. It was also a lot of people saying like, oh, why didn't you ask him about? this why don't you ask him about this why don't you ask him about this that was the end of the scrum and mike perry if you don't know he gets on edge when he's cutting weight as most fighters do uh he was not in the best of moods because he was cutting weight and this was also the fight before he fought cowboy so a lot of the questions were like winkel john versus cowboy kind of thing and mike perry stuck in the middle you could see him being a little on edge i asked him about if he was friends with louise pania his friendship with louis pania because they were the two of the

subjects of the anatomy of the fighter blogs that week and they were like cutting weight going out to dinner playing basketball together and it's an interesting dynamic when you see a very tall ginger man with an afro in an earring hanging out with Mike Perry it's just an interesting dynamic and I asked about that definitely could have presented it better 100% I get that and Mike Perry got very mad and said I had friendly hair and walked away and he was hot for sure after like he walked right into the hallway of the fighter hotel and yeah I could hear his coach but cooling him down and some of the media for the people asked if the media like consult me they no one ever came up to me and was like that was a bad question i just i knew and they some people

were like i don't let it get to you and i didn't like i'd not i don't dislike mike perry at all like if i saw if i'm going to interview him again in the future at future media media days whether he remembers the incident or not the only thing that really bugged me was uh later on that week because i think that was on a wednesday or thursday and that was my first ever event covering for I'm a fighting. He's still on the anatomy of a fighter. And that week, I kind of took off. He's watching him berate me. And then he's like, yo, F that reporter. And I was like, well, that was kind of mean. But again, I don't dislike Mike Perry. He's, I'm going to interview him again in the future. I definitely could have prevented the question better. And I'll take,

I'll take blame. But no media member has ever come up to me and been like, oh, shake it off. I mean, or told me I didn't do a bad, no one told me I did a bad job. they just said don't let it get to you and I was like it didn't it's part of the job getting yelled at by fighters I guess yeah you know why nobody told you did a bad job because you didn't do a bad job you did you didn't you did your normal job okay I'll say whatever you know when we when we ask kind of those questions I'll say like somewhat fluffy questions about uh fighter social media and what they've been up to look that's that's interesting stuff and and if you don't ask sometimes those questions lead to some super compelling answers sometimes they don't I don't think there's any reason for him to have been set off I don't think you need to

apologize at all. Anyone out there, I'm not apologizing. I'm just saying I definitely could have presented the question better. The wording. I don't know what you did wrong. I remember the clip. I don't recall you doing it. Before anyone says anything,

I don't even like Jose. So this isn't me defending my, I don't even, we work together. We're colleagues. I don't even really like the guy. So this isn't me just defending my friend or anything. But I don't think you said anything wrong.

Mike Perry is a personality for sure. And in fairness, you said cutting weight, I can't imagine what that does to people's like demeanors and stuff. So for sure he was on edge. Like I'm not going to say this guy is like a jerk all the time. Again, like I said about John Jones, I don't know Mike Perry. I've never interviewed him personally. I've never even done a scrum with him.

I don't like his persona. I don't like what, you know, the character he puts forward. I know some people think he's cool and quirky and he's out there. He just comes off to me like someone I would not want to hang out with. And I know this is on video in public. Look, if this gets out there and Mike Perry thinks I'm a jerk, that's fine. I'm sure, you know, we can talk it over sometime. And by talk it over, I literally mean talk.

I don't want him to beat the living crap out of me, which he could do probably in about three seconds. So, yeah, I, that moment I thought was, you know, I already was kind of not a fan of him. And I didn't like how he handled it. The clip is out there if anyone wants to see it. You guys can judge for yourselves if anyone on either side did anything egregiously wrong. I don't think it was the worst moment for you or him. But, yeah, people ask people want to know.

And I'm just using that's an excuse to kind of say, I don't like Mike Perry. Though for people who admire him as a fighter, I don't blame you. The guy is really, really exciting to watch. And as far as I know, work ethic-wise, I've heard nothing but good things. Like as far as how hard he works in the gym, like, I've heard he's like a top, you know, he's a guy. He's a top-shelf athlete as it is. And I heard he just like, he's really, really good about that.

So I'm not saying anything about him as a fighter. And I'm just, again, basing my comments on what I've seen and how he presents himself. And so, you know, let this be. This is the beginning of the AK Lee, Mike. Perry feud than SOB. But you know, Mike Perry, you can call me friendly all you want, buddy. That's just put it out there. You want to call me.

I'm a friendly guy. I'm a friendly guy. At the end of the day, he said I had friendly hair. And now I get that all the time on Twitter. There's worse things for people to say at you. Yes. Like I talked to Ariel years ago and people still bring up like people like you get slapped. That was what, like 10 years ago when Nick Diaz said that.

And he still gets it and he still interviews Nick Diaz and both Diaz brothers. So it didn't bother me. I didn't take it personally whatsoever. I kind of I moved on from it right away and then but what's you going to do there's worse things to be called than a man with friendly hair your hair looks great by the way oh hey thanks yeah thanks yeah moving on though because I don't want to I hate talking about myself there's a handful of questions I'll try and pick and choose but there's been a lot of there's a lot of questions future of anime fighting even the questions have been blah blah blah what are your plans for new shows are coming and we can't say exactly what's coming, but stay tuned. There's a lot of fun stuff happening at MMA fighting down the line, but we can't say yet. Just be ready for some fun times ahead on MMAfighting.com, right, Alex? Yeah, again, I don't have anything to add to that.

Like you said, we have stuff coming along. You know, nothing we can go into detail about. Sorry, to just my camera there for a second. But we appreciate all the comments, questions. I know, again, look, our company's been our site. You know, we've had a lot of talent change, and that's fine. but, you know, I think stick with us. Damon Martin, if you guys have been reading Damon Martin stuff,

you know, we just brought on Damon probably a couple of weeks ago. The guy, I think he's written about 500 articles in the last two weeks, and a lot of them, original interviews, exclusive interviews. So, yeah, man, I don't know. From our side, I mean, MMA fighting just keeps cranking along. I think we're doing great. But I understand, yeah, for the readers, for sure, things are different. Things are different.

So stick with us, man. We appreciate it again. Comments, criticisms, people who love us, haters. just hang in there and, you know, keep, keep on reading, keep on clicking. And I'm going to jump to Twitter because there are still a few questions on the site, but I'd feel bad if I don't get to Twitter and we're kind of, we're running a little long as it is. But from our friend, Dan Shapiro on Twitter, what does this Colby v. Loller fight really accomplish? And is the log jam at Weldway really too deep?

Since March, Ardena and Lucente Lucay are the only top 15 fighters who have competed. So are we heading towards another interim title? We kind of talked about this before. I don't think the, I like, like, Colby Cognizant needs to fight. His last fight was USC 2225, I want to say. I remember the dates, the events correctly. That was the last Chicago car when he beat Hafeuels de Sonsas in the co-man event. And, but like, we've talked about this before.

He just, he needs to fight. If he beats Robbie Lawler, there's no arguing. I think there's a lot of, a lot of people kind of criticize him for not taking the fight against Tyre Woodley on one or two separate occasions than the cancellation of that pay-per-view event in January that Kamar Uzman and Ben Askran both volunteered to save.

I guess Colby Covington didn't. This is just all from what I've been told. I think he wants to fight, and if he's going to get passed up, he was in danger where if Ben Askron goes out there and puts on an unbelievable performance and Colby Covington is still waiting for Kamara Usman, Ben Asking himself said,

if I beat Horamai Mazzel, I'm going to leapfrog Kobe Cunnington again. I'm going to be another fight of the leapfrog. So maybe he saw that, the writing on the wall. And he's like, oh, I have to fight. I have to keep my name in the top of the top 15th on the lips of readers and viewers' minds. So if he beats Robbie Lawler convincingly over five rounds in a main event fight, like again, I don't know how you can deny Kobe Cometton the shot against Kamar Uzman.

Yeah, Dan Shapiro, it's a fair question. but I will say this is one situation. I understand also, it's true. It's a really dangerous fight to throw them in. This is one situation where I wish MMA was a little more like boxing, and they had actual kind of tune-up fights or keep busy fights. You can't really do that with this way the UFC is structured. I mean, the roster just isn't that big.

You're not going to throw in Colby with some like, you know, bottom 30 welterweight. And again, in MMA, he could easily lose to him. So you definitely don't want to do that. So it's really a no-win scenario. But like you said, he needs to fight again. So, yeah, if anything, It's, what purpose does it serve? It's a really exciting matchup.

It's, it's gonna, is it the headliner of that event? I believe so. It headlines a card. So just from a, from a, you know, purely like functional standpoint, that's, you know, it serves, it serves a purpose in that sense. But yeah, I wish there was more of a tune up and not someone who could legitimately take his head off. But yeah, I mean, it serves a very logical.

But didn't you hear Dana White at the UFC Apex Q&A? Like, he's going to save boxing and make these fun matches. that no one gets to see. Forget two fights, man. Yeah, oh, no, I'm sure I'll handle boxing fine. Again, when his son is champion of the Dana-White Boxing Association in three years, that's going to be great. That's going to be really good for our headlines, I feel.

Sure. But we're going to move on. One more question on Twitter. With Inganu versus JDS, I believe it's very likely the winner. I'm reading it off an iPad right now, so I'm not bouncing my camera around. With Inganovers, JDS, I believe it's very likely the winner gets the next title shot. If Inganu wins, grammar, if Ingano wins setting up a match with DC or Stepe, do you feel Inganu has turned the corner in his mental game and technical skills to not be controlled via wrestling against DC or Stefe?

Well, I think it really depends on who wins that Steepai DC fight. I think D.C. is coming up at the end of his career. I mean, well, not even, I think. He's definitely, this might, he said in himself, this might be my last fight. And then he's obviously people going to ask about John Jones over and over and over. people ask John Jones about Daniel Cormier over and over and over and over. So if Daniel Cormier wins, I don't think he's going to fight Francis or JDS next. I think he might fight John Jones a third time and then call it a career.

If Stipe wins, maybe they do a trilogy fight against Daniel Cormier. So there's a lot of questions coming out of that before we can really matchmake. But if Francis goes out there and just crushes Junior Dos Santos like he did against Curtis Blaze and like he did against King Velasquez, like, is anyone going to argue that that man doesn't deserve a U.S., another U.S. shot at the UFC heavyweight title. And in terms of his mental game, he seems to be doing everything right now.

He's training out of the P.I. And I think I've seen him at syndicator, extreme guitar. I can't quite remember what Jimmy is in Vegas. But that Derek Lewis fight definitely opened his eyes to, like, I can't be gun shy. I need to, he was so focused.

He was like, he said himself he was gun shy and he was nervous in there after his fight against D. PAD to, like, preserve his energy. And I definitely think he's turned a corner in both his mental game, his preparation. because again, Steepay, I don't know if you remember I was at that fight. He said that he thought he could just go out there and knock Steepa out right away, which you see in the first round he's swinging these sledgehammers early.

And now I think he's kind of formulating a gay plan rather than just to capitate his opponents, he's coming in with a plan of what to do. Whether he can implement that against an elite level wrestler like Daniel Corme or like a person that already beat him, like Stipe is another story, though. as you mentioned we're low on time so uh i'll just read the question quickly has he turned the corner a mental game technical skill not to not be controlled be a wrestling against dc or stepe uh no yeah yeah i don't i don't want to be that blunt i want i'd rather like if juk because if we're short on time we're short on time we're short on time no yeah and he's what his last few fights have been what

less than a minute combined maybe a little more than a minute combined we don't know but uh if whoever wins that fight there's no argument with me that they're they are the most logical next contender for the UFC Heavyweight Champs of the world. Who they fight for that title is another story. But we are, we ran 10 minutes over time as it is. Alex, as usual, the floor is yours for whatever promo you want. You have a lot to live up to because Pete Carroll went scorched dirt last week talking about Dana White Contender Series.

And you actually watched the Contender Series. I don't know what your promo is about, but the floor is yours. Well, I'm definitely not going to talk about Contender Series. It was maybe the least notable episode in the history of the show. one ever to have no finishes. But congratulations to Miles Johns and Miguel Braza. I probably messed that up. I'm sorry, Miguel Baezza for getting their contracts. Well deserved. There's probably a couple other guys that could have gotten them as well, but no big controversies this week. Nothing Brendan Lucknane related. So hopefully contender series gets a little

better. The fights have been a bit stagnant this year, but I won't ran on that. I will say what I've got coming up this week, a couple of interviews from guys fighting Minneapolis, Vince Murdoch, and Journey Newson, who were late-noticed replacements, so I got those. My predictions, as always, for Minneapolis will be coming up, and I want to say something about predictions, and that's one, I'm terrible at them, though I'm on a good streak recently. But even though I'm on a good streak, for people who read my predictions, thank you first. Secondly, never use my predictions to gamble. I never put a disclaimer at the beginning, because I think it's just common sense.

As if you've, as if anyone who has tracked my success rate, do not use them to gamble. I've had a few thank yous on Twitter like, oh, thanks, man. you picked a few good underdogs. I'm like, yeah, listen, I got lucky. I got lucky. It's MMA. I would just feel not to gamble on MMA ever. But if you must gamble on MMA, do not use my predictions as a guideline.

They're strictly for fun, strictly just for conversation, and to almost like a little preview of the fights. They are not for gambling purposes. Read the predictions. And for my promo, I'm going to say I am going to miss the MMA hour and the MMA beat tremendously. Like we both said, we have fun things coming. I personally wanted to give it a good send-off. I remember listening to Ariel's show when he ran it for a long time, even when he was on the fan house days.

I remember when he had Overeem in studio with celebrating the birthday to Rampage Jackson doing Gendem style, to Mahem Miller kind of losing his mind in the old studio. And then the M.M.A. beat was always a pleasure to listen to some people that I hoped would eventually be my colleagues, so now they are my colleague. So I am going to miss those shows tremendously, but there's going to be, again, a lot of fun things

coming at anime fighting down the line. I think Luke and Danny were great. I know they had big shoes to fill with New York, Rick, and Ariel, and I think they hit it out of the park. And I'm going to miss both of those shows, like I said, quite a bit. But don't blink. Fun stuff. Fun stuff is coming.

But for Jose, anything else you want to say? before we sign off, Alex? I'll just say the end. Guess what? The A side every week, man, it ain't going nowhere. So the A side. So, yeah, we got some new programs coming along, but let me says an A side's going to be here every Wednesday,

whether it's me, Pizzi, who else works for our side? Gwee, Esther Lynn, Casey. Now it's a name. I hate doing this. Now I have to name everyone. Amen. Damon, we've got to get Damon out here. So, and heaven help us someday, Jedmishu.

It's going to be back. The A side, and I don't think planet Earth is ready. But, yeah, this. This program ain't going nowhere. Jose, you're doing an amazing job hosting. Keep it up, my man. And someday people will talk about the A side, much like they did, the MAA hour and the beat. Well, I hope that is the case.

But for Jose, that's Alex. We'll be back at normal time next week. We might have some fun things for next for UFC 239, fight week, all being Las Vegas with Esther and Casey. And the comments section loved Casey the last time he was on. So maybe we'll be on again. But for Jose, Alex, next. week normal time you can stick around on m a fighting dot com and the youtube page for all of our fun

stuff obviously usc minneapolis is on saturday correct me if i'm wrong uh we didn't talk about it but who see a for megan josephinevina is on that is on that card too and that is very important fight for the future of the flyway division and who could possibly get another the next shot at a 125 pound title but until then we're out