MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Conor McGregor’s leg, Islam Makhachev’s future, T.J. Dillashaw vs. Cory Sandhagen, Paige VanZant vs. Rachael Ostovich, more

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

Some topics fallout from UFC Vegas 31, Islam Makhachev’s submission win over Thiago Moises, Miesha Tate’s TKO win over Marion Reneau, Conor McGregor’s update on his broken leg, and more. The three will also look ahead BKFC 19, featuring Paige VanZant vs. Rachael Ostovich, and UFC Vegas 32, featuring T.J. Dillashaw vs. Cory Sandhagen. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Kristen King: @KristenKingMMA Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. We're live, pal. Hey, we are live, pal. Change it up this time. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Aiside Live Show here on MAA Frighting. It is, of course, Wednesday, July 21st, 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, if you are watching live, if you're listening on the podcast, after the fact, I hope you had a great Wednesday, July 21st, or whatever day you're listening to this episode on.

Anyway, joining us this week. She's back. She's in the fist fighting capital of the world, not just MMA, but all of combat sports, apparently. Welcome back. Kristen King. Christian, how's life in? I was trying to think of a positive thing to say about Florida. So I'm just going to, how's life in Florida?

Yeah, don't hurt yourself. Don't think about any positive. It's fine. It's good. It's a sunny day. Are you good? Because I fully expected a text message this morning saying that I need some time to grieve after what happened last night. So it's good to see it here.

I'm not, I'm probably not, I definitely am not taking it as bad as our colleague. Sean, his life is probably over at this point because for those of you who only watch fist fighting, the Phoenix Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in game six just in the NBA finals. We don't have to talk about that though,

because nobody cares about my thoughts on it. We lost, I'm not even going to say we. The Suns lost, Ferren Square. Oh, I would say we if it was like another basketball team, but I'm not going to try to pretend that I'm a lifetime Suns fan, just the last 10 years.

But congratulations to Janice Antacupo and the Milwaukee Bucks. Judah's a legend, probably one of the 50-grade's basketball players of all the time. But no one cares about any of that right now. Casey, how's life in Englewood? Life is good. Yeah. I watched some sprats last night, you know? I think that Janus guy, he's good.

No, he's not. No, he's not. I don't know. Like, I don't know. He's good. Yeah, I think, I think we have, you know, he couldn't, you know. Yonis is good at basketball. Like John Jones is good at M.M.A.

They have generational talents. They transcendens good. They are, he is already a top five power for it. He's ever played the professional basketball. Jose. Son's in nine. Suns in nine. They're coming back.

There is a silver lining here, though. There's a silver lining. You don't have. to do that shoey you were planning. Dude, I wanted to, I was in for the shoe. No, you didn't. Me and Sean were in. Yeah, I never saw.

I don't think it's like, whatever. Like it has, it's what, five, it's, it's three seconds of your life. Like, and if the sons had won a championship, it would be three seconds of my life. And I'd be like, yep, cool, that was great. Don't have to do ever do that again, but I was on record. So I was gonna come through it. Just like, I was on record that of Chris Montino had beat Sugar Shaw-O-Mallel. I would have cut and dyed my hair exactly like Chris Montino, but it just didn't, it just didn't work out.

it didn't work out. So it would have been fun. It would have been a good time in my life. But sometimes things don't work out and the fans lose out because they don't get to see me take the shooey. Anyway, you guys know that Julie can ask any questions you want in the comment section on the YouTube because Casey's monitoring that. On Twitter, on the site, on Facebook, Periscope, whatever you want to comment on Casey's man in the comments on all that good stuff. So without further ado, Casey, what is our first question? All right.

Do do, do, do, do, do. From Tristan Gordette on the site, is Corey Sanhagen still getting slept on? In your opinion, do you get the sense that fans are sleeping on Sanhagen, even though he's the favorite heading into the fight against T.J. I feel the UFC are promoting the narrative that T.J. has owned up for mistakes for EPO, kind of making him look sympathetic. Friends and I have talked, friends and I have talked to are leading towards Dill's shot to win this fight, putting himself in a position to win the ban.

I'm going to tell that he never lost. note, Jose, please send my regards to Sean Alshaddy, as I know he's grieving right now about the sons. I know it has to be tough for him seeing that last night. Yeah, it's much tougher on Sean than me. I'm not going to front or pretend. Sean's whole life came crashing down last night. So if anyone has a way to contact him, you should probably reach out and see if that man is okay. Anyway, back to the question. Is Corey Sanhagan still getting slept on? Kristen, we don't have to get into who you think is going to win the fight because it's still fairly early in the weekend. They still have to make weight and all that fun stuff.

But to answer this question, are people overlooking Corey Sanhagan heading into his fight against T.J. Dillashaw? I mean, it's a weird position to be in just because you're meeting the guy that was at the top of the division before he got suspended by USADA. And I think, I think that was Justin Gordet. I think he put it perfectly when he said that they're trying to make T.J. Dillishaw a more sympathetic figure by kind of atoning for the mistakes that he said he made. I'm not sure if I would pin that as a mistake necessarily because it's something that you knowingly did in order to drop down and have that fight with Henry Sehudo at UFC Brooklyn. But the thing is, that is a narrative that I think is easier to paint as opposed to Corey Sanhagen, who has been doing what he's supposed to do. I mean, he was pretty much pinned as a future contender, a future title contender at Bannam Wade, and he very much still is that person.

It's just when you're doing everything right, like the right way, what else are you supposed to say about that? Like, I personally would have loved to see more of Corey Sanhagen in this fight week, especially after those spectacular knockouts that he had against Marlon Marice and Frankie. Edgar, which was like a knockout of the year type of contender, you know what I mean? But that's what he's supposed to do. That's what's expected. So he has the task of meeting someone who was that guy before he could even make these moves. So of course they're going to put a lot of the promotional material behind T.J. Dillishaw because he's been gone for two years. People want to know what's been going on. How does he feel about the whole situation? What is he going to look like?

He's jumping into the deep end of the division by taking on someone. like Corey Santa Hagan, who I believe his only setback recently, is the Al Jemine Sterling fight, and that was the number one contenders fight. So I think it's a little bit lopsided as far as coverage, but that's how the cookie crumbles, really. I mean, it sucks, but maybe he is being slept on. I don't know. Personally, I don't feel like it because I know what he's capable of, but to like the casual

fan, maybe this seems more about T.J. Dillishaw than it does Corey Sanhagan. I also just think I think you just said it right there at the end The story this week is TJ's return The story this week is not Corey Sanhagen Could be the best band of weight in the world Anyway Casey

Are people overlooking Corey Sanhagen Or I'll phrase it differently Do you is the UFC do it As to take one of our colleagues Phrases Is it promotional malpractice What they're doing in Corey Sanhagen right now I think it's actually a little of both

To be honest I think the UFC see the UFC can only tell one story at a time and I feel for especially for a fight night card and for this card for this main event they're really just telling Dillardhaw's story I really don't know very much about Sanhagen to be honest other than the you know a few interviews you get and the interviews you know I don't I just get that he's a he's a unique dude that's all I get from him but um basically the Dillishaw story is easier is easier to tell You know, you saw the suspension, him being a champion, him, you know, getting his belt strip, him going for two titles, you know.

There's just a lot more history in the UFC with Dilleshaw. San Hagan is just a more difficult story to tell no casual fans. And, yeah, I think that's why he's getting, I think that's why he's getting, no, stepped on of it. But, yeah, I just think the UFC just aren't feeling. I feel if Corey wins big, then they're going to put a lot more promotional push on San Hagan, but for now it's the Dillushaw show. But San Hagan, he can take it all Saturday night, I feel. I'd be curious if you're having this conversation if Jan Sterling had a definitive ending.

Because that, if that fight had a definitive ending and Jan or Sterling had walked away without the disqualification, Like if Yon hadn't thrown that knee and he just, what, how, when did he throw that in the final round, whatever? Fourth round, yeah. Fourth round and just finished it out. And then he was just fighting Corey Sanhagen. Maybe there's a different story there, but who knows? Was this, was this fight booked before? No.

It was after. It was after, yeah, because Corey Sanhagen, when the knee happened, posted to his Instagram story of him, like, laughing and, like, putting, like, face, palming and being like, God damn it. Because he had done enough. He had earned the shot. either the rematch against Sterling or the next shot at Yon. So, uh, and then that happened. And then like, I, I don't know how quickly, but almost immediately they booked Dillishaw Sanhagen. Yeah.

Almost immediately. That, that reminded me of, uh, was a few years back when I think when Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought to a draw and, but I think, was Anthony Pettus. His Pettus. Oh, yeah. So Pettus was sitting cage side. And basically he was already set up to face the winner of that. And then the fight was a draw.

And then, then Anthony just like, gh. It's just, eh, like Kristen said, it's how the cookie crumbles. And then he lost to Clay Guida, if I remember correctly. He was the W.C. champ coming in, and they were going to unify the titles. That was right after the Benson Henderson Showtime kick, I think. A knockout that wasn't a knockout. And regards to Shaheen, he's him, we hope he's doing fine. But I keep telling him, man.

I was like, no, it's different. It's different. I know what you're going to say, it's different. If you've never won a championship and you make it all the way to the finish line and you're up to O and lose, it's different. The sun's have never won. I was there at the Astros, man. The Astros lost some cards and then they finally won. But you guys have won championships before.

Like the- Astros won a few years back. That was the first one. So if you had lost, but like losing the championship is so much worse. I'd rather have my team just get blown out in the first round than making it to the finish line. I hate I hate losing the championship because it's like, I feel like a wasted season. I hate it. Like when the Bruins lost to the Blackhawks and the Celtics lost to the Lakers, I'm like, what a wasted season.

I'm just like demoralized right now. I would rather have not made the playoffs. Because now you get the second or last pick in the first round. You don't get as high a draft pick. It's just, it's a bummer all around. It's terrible. That's what you think in the moment. You're going to feel better.

Give it a month or go. I don't, I look back on a 2010 Celtic season. I'm like, we should have won. If Kendrick Perkinson blows ACL in game seven, we would have won that championship. If the, like, the Bruins were just not a better team than the Blackhawk. Any team was going to lose to the Blackhawks that year. Why are you going to say, Kristen?

I was going to say, I thought you said you weren't that broken up over it. This is a lot of emotion. No, I'm trying, I'm defending Sean. I'm defending Sean like, like, like, because people are like, oh, it's not so bad, it's not so bad. Like, it's different because, like, I'm, like, Sean's, like, since the, like, like Sean's world starts and stops with the Sons. Like an international fight week would be like when we go to Vegas all the time,

it's always the NBA Summer League. And he would stay up and like watch Sun's rookies, not even the starters, like the draft picks play. He would go watch like unsigned players. It's just different when you're that invested in the team. It's one thing to be like, oh, I live in Phoenix. I root for the Sons. Another thing where Sean is scouting players

that might not even make the team. And he's sitting through just to this like how however old he is his whole life and never making it. It's like it's different. It's different. Like my, when we won the Red Sox won the World Series in 04, my dad was like, my dad's father died before he got to see that. And my dad was like depressed about that the Red Sox won and he didn't get to see it. It's different when you're that devoted to a team. And I'm not that devoted to the sons as Sean.

So it's going to feel this for a bit, especially because I don't think they're going to make it again next year or the year after that. Anyway, end of, end of rant. on team sports. The people in the comments are like, oh my God, again. Again, Jose, please let it go. It happens. Best fight night card of the year. The main event between San Han Dilsaw's group of the car is stacked from top to bottom.

Could not agree more. Elise Reed making her debut versus Jara Eubank should be a great fight. Yanez Costa, Alan Soriano, Maverick Barber, and of course Matrix Pavia. On paper, this is the best non-payview card of the year, question mark. Which fights you're excited about and why? I don't know if it's the best fight of the non-paper-view fight card year because I can't remember all of the fight nights that kind of blend together. But this fight card rules. This fight card is fantastic.

Top to bottom. Chris, and I'll start with you. On a scale of 1 to 10, how great is this card? This is like a solid 8 and it can only get better. Like, I'm super pumped for this card too. All the fights that was called out in that comment are great. I'm super excited to see Elise Reid come in.

I think she's a 4-0. prospect and anytime I see a new prospect, I'm like super excited for that, but it's a little bit weird because I believe she initially fights at straw weight, so like 150, but this fight, she's going up and wait to go to 125 and then Sajara Eubanks is going down from 135 to 125. So it's kind of confusing, but I don't know. I'm super excited about that one. Yanez and Costa, come on. The promotional stuff they've been doing with the Reese's and the.

and the Dr. Pepper, which I've said before on this show, they work better together than separate. So I hate this fight for that reason, because then we might have a definitive winner and the argument between what's better, Dr. Pepper or Reese's. I personally like them both. But yeah, this card is amazing. Macy Barber is back with Miranda Maverick.

That's a super interesting fight just because I think it's going to gauge where each woman is in their division. I think that Miranda Maverick is where Macy Barber was when she first came into the UFC, she had rattled off like three technical knockouts for if you include her contender series appearance. And then she kind of got that push that was to be expected. And she met Roxanne Mataferi. That didn't go well. She was going to rebuild herself after, I think she suffered like an ACL injury in that fight. And then she came back against another up-and-coming divisional talent in Alexa Grasso. That didn't go well either. So I'm wondering

what she's going to look like against someone like Miranda Maverick who is doing basically what she did when she first came in. So a lot of interesting fights. This is one of those cards where I'm like, please no fight day cancellations because of COVID protocols or something like that because we've had those and those suck. So this card is a solid eight. I can't wait to watch it.

Yeah, this fight card is the diehard fan's dream. Like the main event rules, but even the co-main like Asplag Mesa, is and I think his perfect co-main event. Like, Kyler Phillips is, I think, I don't want to see it came out of nowhere because in the Arizona scene, he was like one of those people, those fighters that

the people tabbed as a future contender. But I think in terms of like the casual USC fan, it kind of just popped up out of nowhere, especially in his win on Fight Island to now. And then Darren Elkins is fighting Derek Minter, who I think Derek Minter is one of the few featherweights in the world that has more wins than, like, and not in the,

outside of the top 50s. How many wins are they have, like 27 and 26 or something like that? Like they have 50 combined wins between them. So love this card. Puna, Soriano, Brennan Allen. I think that card deserves to be way higher on the card, but don't particularly care. And then awesome card, top to the bottom, Casey, on scale of 1.10, how great is this card? For a free card, yeah, it's great.

For a free card, I give a solid eight, a free fight night card. Because it's got a true main event, a true main event with serious title implications. Um, Aspen Ladd, the co-main event, uh, I believe Aspen Ladd might be the best, you know, 135 or outside of Amanda Nunes. So she's coming, is this our big first fight since her ACO? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So she, they're throwing her back in the deep end. So, you know, can Macy, you know, kind of, you know, she's been, you know, she's been hyping herself up for a long time. So to see if she's the real deal. Um, yeah, Conler Phillips is fun. But honestly, um, my people, main event is Barbara Maverick.

I freaking love that fight. I think Miranda Maverick is, you know, the next woman, the next prospect to really give Valentina a true challenge. Let's see, no, Lauren Murphy does and everything. But I think, I think Miranda Maverick hits her peak, she's going to be very, very dangerous, and she's already very good. And I'm just kind of shocked the UFC book this fight for Barbara. Barbara coming up two losses.

And she went from Lexa Grosso to Miranda Maverick. match. It just, it ain't getting easier for Macy Barber, so, and the rest of the card kind rules, too. It's just a great, it's a fun fight. I mean, it's a fun card. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's so weird how uneven, man, because if you look at next week's card,

ee. Yeah, yeah. Maybe they just knew they were going to have to compete with Bellator and stuff like that, so they stack to this card. But I'm very excited for Kyler Phillips fight. I've heard from, and I've never witnessed this firsthand, but, like, him and Casey Kenny and, like, Sean O'Malley, they all

trained up in like the glendell area from what i've heard kail phillips basically could do whatever he wants with shone o'malley on the ground like when that fight gets to the canvas kaila philips is like i'm going to do this this this this and this and shon o'mally has nothing for him uh obviously that's fight that's camp

in a fist fight in front of third thousand people and a closed environment and i've also never witnessed this firsthand but i am very interested to see his future at uh in banoa and paville of absolutely rules too uh brendan allan sauriano know is my quote unquote people's main event just because I think those are two exceptional middleweights who are future like top 10 185 is anyway it's always it's it's always kind of fun to see the Mickey Gall show because you kind of don't know what you're going to get you know right

like that's one of those like Mickey Gall is one of those fighters like I don't I don't I don't believe he's going to be a you know a world beater you know top five one seven one top five Walter White. But I feel like we've been along with on this journey for a while. So we're just invested in the Mickey Golf story. So I like it. Good fun. Good fun. He's had some, uh, his canceled fights that he's lost out on are like he's lost out on a Carl's Connett fight, a cowboy Oliver fight, and Miguel Baezza fight. I do not like his chances in any of those fights. Yeah. But then like who's he lost to? Diego Sanchez, Randy Brown and was Mike Perry? Was that his last fight? I think so, yeah.

And then he's beating like Mike Jackson, CM Punk, and Sage Northcut. And then I'm sure a few others in there, but weird career. Popular fighter. But to answer this question, this fight card rules. Yeah. All right. Thank you very much. What we've got here?

Ingano v. Jones on New Year's Eve. Draft Kings has a fight between Francis and Gano versus John Jones listed on their gambling website for December 31st, 2021. and Gano is the favorite of minus 155 and Jones is plus 135. Website glitch or do you think that this fight could be happening this year? Anything's possible, but I'll believe in when I see it. That is my answer.

Kristen? Yeah, it might not happen this year. I think we kind of have to wait to see what happens with Cyril Gahn and Derek Lewis because obviously Francis Nengano is going to have to meet that person and unify the titles. Not necessarily. Well, I know. I know. Going off of meritocracy, that's how it would work.

And sometimes we don't do that. But I think we'd have to wait to see how that fight plays out, see if we can get something going with Nengano and the UFC brass, because I know that they've been clashing recently. So 2021 seems way too early. Maybe next year. We have to just wait to see how things look like. We haven't heard anything from John Jones in a while.

So I'm curious to see what's going on on that end, since he's no longer with his previous management. so we got a ways to wait and I'm happy to wait for it. Yeah, just, I'll believe it's, we've talked about this in nauseam. Nothing's changed outside of an interim title that's only made this fight, this possible fight, seem less likely. Because I have a feeling if I wouldn't be surprised if the winner of 260, was it 265, if he just saw Francis and Madison score guard and New Year's Eve, like so be it. but I don't like I'm not putting any faith in December.

Is there even a card on December 31st? Because I thought the UFC, I didn't think the UFC did eat New Year's Eve cards anymore. They don't do it. I don't think they're going to do it. They haven't done them for the last two years because of ESPN. ESPN, because that's the bowl season. So Eastp is more devoted to the bowl games.

Yeah. College bowl season is so much more of a moneymaker than the UFC for networks. It's unreal. Those guys get paid even less. not anymore hey I don't know if you pay attention to sports outside of

MMA but college athletes again it's paid now when's that going through is that is that is that start I think that's ASAP I think that's ASAP

yeah yeah they had University of Miami they had some endorsement deals already like at the ready so that started so they want

they want and because everyone Cornhuskers it's got to be crypto.com across their uniforms Give Reggie Bush's

Hysman back, that's all I've got to say. Football. All right. Sprott's ball. All right, all right. Tanguin and Twitter, if T.J. wins this weekend should be allowed to fight for the title next.

Sure. If he beats Corey Sanhagen and passes his USADA test, I have no problem if he fights the winner of Yon Sterling. As long as there is a definitive winner. But yeah, sure. Sanhagen, I think we can all agree after if that, like, he was the rightful number one contender if Jan Sterling didn't have some weird stuff happening. So if TJ beats him, yeah, I don't

an issue. Chris, do you have an issue if TJ fights for the title out if he beats Corey Sanhagen? Maybe an issue with the timing just because we don't know when Al Jameen Sterling is going to be ready because I know who recently had some surgery to correct some discs in his neck, something like that. So who knows when that rematch is going to be? I think the rematch has taken place primarily on Twitter between him and Jan. I don't know how long it's going to take for him to get ready. And then if TJ does win this weekend, how long is he going to wait? Because I know he's always said that I believe I should be fighting for the title right away.

And he thinks that one fight is enough for him. But are you going to wait that long? You've been out for two years. I don't think he wants to wait. I think there's a possibility he could take one more fight, but then who would that be against? I don't know. He just did an interview saying he no longer needs to fight for paychecks. Like he makes enough money outside of fighting.

So if he wants to hold out, why not? If he doesn't want to fight, I don't know who else there is. Like, who would he fight? The rematch against Dominic Cruz, I think he might, maybe he would take that just to get a win back. But I don't think TJ wouldn't. I don't know. I'm fine. We'll figure it out when Algeman Sterling comes back.

If TJ wins, UFC is going to book Yon versus TJ for the interim belt. Cool. Yeah. Cool. I wouldn't have an issue with that either. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think there's a chance if TJ looks, wins good?

Well, it wins anyway, to be honest, that Yon just might get bumped and it just could be stirring. No. No. No. You've seen one do that, Deion? No. No. I don't think so.

No. All right. Well, I don't know. Yeah. Because we're asking about the, like, in that rivalry, Yon is the healthy one. Like, Al Jermaine has no, like, Al J. just had neck surgery. So I think the interim title fight between T.J.

and Yon is much more likely than... I like that, yeah. Al Jermaine versus... And I think an interim title will be justified because you can't mess around with the neck surgery. Yeah. Or neck recovery. So I don't have any issue.

Whether it's interim title or an undisputed title, I don't have a problem. Actually, Yon versus... Just Yon versus the winner this weekend for the interim of the end-jum of my boat. Sure. Love it. Love it.

If Aljo can't come back... Well, because do you remember, Casey, he said he might be able to come back in November, December, Al Jal Jemann, because he said he wouldn't mind fighting on the Madison Square Garden card. This is what Al Jermaine Sterling said backstage when he was the guest fighter. Remember he came in with that big cup of alcohol and was having a little fun with the media. So maybe that was just him talking, but if he wants to come back in November, so be it. I just want to see that fight. And then the log jam of 1 through 5 can continue on.

Okay. All right, let me go pull up some of our YouTube comments. Powerful trio today. Cool shirts and cool hair all around. Vibe is high. Damn straight. I'm Jessica Crystal Crew. She's got such good takes. So this is a, I guess there's a comment after what I said about Asman Lad.

Ladd's second best ever heard of GDR? I mean, she did just blast Aspen Ladd in the main event and didn't get a performance bonus. Which implies that the UFC didn't, we're not happy of that stoppage. That's still the weirdest thing. Just how Amanda Limos didn't get one this weekend. I don't understand how it works. If Ladd wins this weekend, I would love to see Ladd-GDR rematch. I thought that was a crap stoppage.

Yeah, no, GDR dropped her, but it's a fight. You know, so you're right, you're right born again. 135 is, for as much as we talked about 135, kind of being the shallow, like after featherweight 135 has a lot of fun match especially with this the injection of Misha Tate and Rene Aldan is back in the wind column

Holly Holam and GDRs are winning again Giuliana Pena is a fresh matchup for Amanda Nunes like 135 is a lot of I'm not saying any of those guys are fight for the title immediately but fun fights all around they just gotta get made

and they won't yeah oh Chandler Chandler doesn't really have an excuse now is Islam is at five now Excuse for what not fighting if hey I don't have any problem like again like I'm assuming Michael Chandler this is I can I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name Chin Maya Panda is uh saying Michael

Chandler is ducking Islam Mahachiv maybe but I think Michael Chandler really wants to fight Justin Gaichi and Justin Gaetchi is ranked higher and I think what is more fans would be interested in that fight as a five round chaotic man-a-van but Kristen we're going to use this to start talking about Islam Michael Chandler General. If you're the UFC, which fighter do you try to give Islamah Chips after his domination over Tiago Moises last weekend? I know he has a few names in mind. There is a Dan Walker fight, obviously.

I didn't really think too much about that one just because the majority of it was on Twitter. They were just bickering back and forth. But the more that they do it, the more I'm interested in it. So I wouldn't mind seeing that happen. Let's see. He also called Tony Ferguson out, I guess, to kind of complete the storyline between him and Khabib Nermagna Madov, because obviously Nirmagna Madov is his mentor and coach. And I guess he wants to be the guy to take out the boogeyman, so to speak, that was supposed to be the one in 29 and one, I guess, against Khabib. A lot of people still thought about that. There's also the Rafael Dosanos fight that got canceled like three times.

times. They should be booked. I'm not mad at that fight and I think it will settle a lot of the beef that they have between one another because it seems like Rafael Dosanos is not super impressed by Islam. I thought he looked good on Saturday against Tiago Moises. So book that fight. Has a storyline behind it. You get to settle some beef that you guys have. And then we can really see where Islam is because I think he's ranked number five now as the comment pointed out. And I know a lot of people were like shocked about that but I think he put on a good performance I think he's worthy of a top 10 contender at this point so those three names are pretty good

I would also have no problem if Islam fought benil deriush I know they both managed by the same manager Ali it depends on because deriust's wife just had their first child so if he's taking daddy time that's a different story I know our colleague Sean who we just spoke of our with his heartbroken but he had he put together like a mock lightweight card like if they did just a lightweight card like they did like 146

I think what's the card the all heavyweight card it was Charles Oliverer poor at the top Justin Gajee Michael Chandler co-mate event Darius Mahachievus Mahatchev Ferguson Hooker RDA Gillespie and also said he would have no problem if he did Gachey Darius and Chandler Mahachov I don't have a problem any of those fights because

one through five rules I think Greg Gillespie and Brad Riddell have also kind of been interested in rebooking their fight against one another. I think Brad Riddell's a fantastic fighter too. But Hooker RDA sounds fun. Ferguson, like all these fights sound fun. I don't care. Just have them fight.

I don't care who they fight. So on the real rankings, MMA fighting his rankings, we have Islam ranked at number seven. So we made those rankings before his win. But I don't think anything we changed. I'm looking at the rankings. I don't think anything would have changed. I mean, maybe he might be.

bump up in front of Fergus because we have Ferguson right in front of him. I think, yeah, I think just to the dominance of that victory, even with a lower ranked opponent. Yeah, I would see, I could see Majev going up one spot. But yeah, as long as Islam fights a name, I'm happy. And that's what he needs. He just needs to fight names. It can be Dan Hooker. And, you know, even though Dan Hooker coming off two losses, if Dan, Dan wants it, I mean, whatever, Dan Hooker's a name. RDA makes more sense. but the Derr-Yush fight is the fight I really want to see but that's probably the most doubtful

because of the management issues. And Chandler, what's going on Justin Geichy? That seems like what's going on. He's kind of radio silent, right? What's going on? Geichi? If you watched a interview with our good friend Oscar Willis of the Mac Life, he did an interview with Dana White

and he asked him straight up, are you ready to announce Gachey Chandler? And Dana was like, I want to. There's just a few things we've got to get through first. So it seems like that's the direction they're going. I always wonder what those things are. What are those things? Is it just...

I want a better hotel room? Like, what are these things? You know, you know? Oh, I can tell you exactly what the thing he was referring to. It was a big fight between Connor McGregor and Dustin Porre he wanted to get past first. Because speaking with UFCPR, they's like Dana White, like, on these big pay-view cards, there's a lot of fights that want to get made that he just has to get through the pay-per-view fight week. first.

He has to see the results of that fight before. Yeah. Or he just can't focus on anything else besides that fight week. Come on, Dana. multitask. All right. Is everybody at the UFC

and Connor in denial that Dustin won the trilogy? I knew Dustin was going to win when it was five and a half months after UFC 257. Yeah, so we'll talk about Connor's recent posts about his ankle. He posts a bunch of photos

about his ankle wrapped up. He said that he, Dana White said he has, like, chronic arthritis in his ankles, which led, which is like, I don't think, he didn't say, like, this was the reason, but kind of hinted at, you know, Connor has his history of bad ankles, and that's why his ankle broke.

But, Kristen, what do you make of all of this new talk of Connor's fragile ankles? And his ankle didn't break? Is this the new Freud-Flead Mayweather has fragile hands? conversations. Yeah, I'm honestly surprised that we're still talking about it like weeks later. It's kind of a bummer because I'm wondering how effective all of this talk is on the perception of the fight itself, especially when it comes to like a certain demographic where they fully

believe that, you know, had he not been injured, maybe he would have turned things around in the second round. I don't know. But it's odd that all this stuff starts to come out. I'm not going to lie. I was kind of interested when it first started to unravel and Connor was like, well, the UFC knew that I was injured, the doctor knew, and then he started to post an x-rays and whatnot. And I'm like, well, it's certainly interesting. I don't know if it adds anything to the narrative that you lost the fight. So it's just been pretty weird that there's a lot of

a lot of excuses coming out. And I'm just genuinely shocked that we're talking about this and not really Dustin Porreier got another win over arguably the biggest star the UFC has ever had. I think that does a disservice to someone like Dustin Porre, who's probably the best lightweight that the UFC has right now, not counting Charles Oliva and Khabir de Magamette. But he's gone. He's retired.

So I don't know why we're doing this still. It's just very odd to me. Why we're doing it is because Connor makes the UFC a lot, lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of money. That's all. If he didn't make him that much money, they'd be like, oh, he lost, moving on. That's all. But I mean, like, we didn't spend this much time talking about Chris Wyden

or Anderson Silva when they broke their legs. Like, it just happens. Shit like that happens in these fights. It's not a surprising thing, but it's just like, why is one person getting so much, like, benefit of the doubt as opposed to these other guys that legitimately snap their legs just in a similar fashion, but there wasn't a big, like, stink about it. Money, money, money, money, money.

Mm-hmm. Money, money. He also broke his tibia, not his ankle. Yeah. That's like the giant thing. Like, it was his leg that broke, not his ankle. It was like, it was like, oh, it's like, it's this freaking leg that broke.

It's, it's, and all the ankle imaging, he kept showing, that's his ankle. He broke his leg. He broke his tibia. I'm throwing reckless naked leg kicks at people's knees and elbows. That's not good. So, uh, he broke his, it was a double fibular, tibular break. Nothing is nothing in the ankle broke.

So, yeah, it's weird. It's this weird. All right. He broke his leg, not the articulating joint. Yes, I think someone said on Twitter. I can't, I apologize. I don't know, remember who said it. and the difference in the Floyd

may have were the broken hands thing Floyd won those fights well I didn't mean like I'm not using as an excuse for like every single fight card that every single fight Floyd has is oh he can't punch hard because his hands are broken like are people going to like oh Connor can't kick now because of his ankles

come on I'm sure he'll kick when he's back yeah as soon as the first face off happens at the weigh-ins he'll kick again right he loves kicking he kicks when the fights not even happening Corey Sanhagen versus Tila Dillishaw is a ban from Four Corner Sports N.Y on Twitter

Corey Sanhagan versus T.J. Dillishaw is a banger of a man event but if T.J. was to lose how would we view him after two and a half year layoff via suspension? Well, T.J. Zahillishaw is losing Corey Sanagin and a lot of people think Corey Sanagan might just be the on crown champ. Like he lost a Sterling-Faron Square but he would lose to an incredibly high-level bantam weight after two and a half years off.

I mean, he still looked, everyone still held him in high regard after he lost to Dominic Cruz after Dominicruz on a long layoff. Domitruz was an incredibly high-level Bantamweight. But, Kristen, to answer four-corner sports and wise questions, if T.J. loses, how should we view him? Yeah, I feel the same way. Like, at least you went out to someone who is at the top of their game at Bantamweight, so I don't think there's really much shame. I know a lot of people would perpetuate the idea of ring rust being a real thing.

If you're a believer in that, that's you. If you're not, then it's just a loss to a really good contender and a future champion possibly. So I don't really think I'd look at him any different. I just think he flew too close to the sun. And sometimes it doesn't work out for him. I think if he loses, do we look at his previous, No, like, pre-suspension, you know, Dillusel is like, over asterisk almost, you know, it's like,

because was that like juiced up Dillusel? Are we going to see it like that? Like post-suspension, is he just- I'm sure, I'm sure some people will. Yeah, but didn't they say that they, like, they tested all of his samples before that? So, that's what he said. Yeah, would there really be an asterisk?

I just think you got beat by a better fighter. That's probably how it is. someone actually brought it up I saw it on Twitter and I looked at I was like wow I didn't really think about it but I looked at TJ's record and you know I know you don't be revisionist history

but looking back on it now his best victory is probably I mean I mean Cody Garment just isn't seen in the same light anymore it's probably John Lenacher you know so like it's just it's been a long time all his best victories these guys aren't elite bandam weights anymore

So it's it's gonna it's I'm not saying TJ isn't still one, but that's why this main event Saturday is so gosh darn interesting. You know, we're gonna find out. Yeah, because his his like because when people forget when he beat hannan burrow, Hanan Burrow was the man. Like he a lot of people thought he was the pound for pound best fighter on plan. Yeah, like we were comparing him to make because he had like 30 so wins in a row like people compare him to Mayweather. and then he did it again, except even more violently, and then he avenged that loss to Sunsau. And then his fight against Linneker at USC 207 was like a work of art.

That's like the most one-sided beatdown. Like everywhere, wrestling, striking, grappling like TJ just put it on him. And then the Dominicruz fight, a lot of people think TJ won. That's one of the best fights. It was very close. It was very close. That is the best fight night main event I have ever seen. seen like a free like a competitive high level martial arts contest because that was a fight night

card on like fs one that is the most high level competitive fight i've ever seen in a main event on fight night it was a great fight it had a great story coming into it too unbelievable yeah everything was perfect uh and it was still like one of the 10 greatest fights i think i've ever witnessed live uh and then i think you said at the two cody fights uh yeah a lot probably didn't age as well as we thought. Yeah, and I'm not trying to, you know, revisionist things. I don't like all that. Sure.

You know. But, I mean, but like this is MMA. The game keeps changing. The band and weights, I mean, the band and weights seem to begin getting better and better. Like, Hennon Burrow was amazing six years ago, but even that Hennon Burrell in his prime, does he still, can he still be champ in this era of 135ers? I don't think so. Who knows?

But that's why I think the band-on-weight division is the best in the world right now. Mm-hmm. Another question for corner sports. Maverick v. Barber seems like the perfect matchup to see which prospect deserves the quote-unquote push. If Barbara was to lose, that would mean she would be on a three-fight losing streak. Would have lost hurt her on ever trying to compete for a title lost to Roxanne and Grosso? I think you would definitely put a halt at her flyweight title last. But if she wants to go back to 115 healthy, maybe she can restart fresh there, but I don't know.

It's a tall tax. But Casey, you're really high on this car, this fight specifically. I like this fight as well. If Barbara were to lose, she'd be on a three-fight losing streak. So let's play hypothetical. Like, I know this fight, they haven't even weighed in yet. But if you were to lose, what would that do to her career? It would suck.

I mean, it would, that's, I mean, I think, I don't know if bar. What was going on Barbara's camp? Is she, where is she, you know where she training? She's bounced around a lot. Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's the issue, her bouncing around gym to gym. Maybe there's some other, you know, things that we don't know about, you know, her training life, you know, that aren't good for, that's not, that's not working for her in the cage. So, Barbara clearly is a high level talent.

Maybe she was, I believe she was just pushed way too hard by the UFC. and maybe by the media too, but, and she brought it upon herself, too. She, no, she was hyping herself up. I think she was going,

like, I'm going to be youngest champ ever. Wasn't she one of those fighters? Yeah, you know, I'm next John Jones and everything. So, I mean, good on her for having that confidence.

Unfortunately, it just, she just wasn't as good as her confidence told her she was. This is, I'm, I don't, if I was in Bacey Barber's peak camp,

I would have stayed so far away from Miranda Maverick. I don't know why this fight got made. I mean, why the UFC made it because, you know, it's a high-level matchup. But for Barber's career, I just think even if she beats Miranda Maverick, I think the average fan doesn't know who Miranda Maverick is yet. So as far as this victory will be, I don't think she'll get the credit for it. She does win. And if she loses, I mean, that's three-fight losing streak. You have no leverage

for a very long time in your career. Kristen, what do you make of Macy's future if she comes up short to Miranda Maverick? I mean, like Casey said, it would suck, but I don't think that she would ever not compete for a title. I think that would be too soon to call. Macy Barber is super young, and of course she's going to have to learn these kinds of, or deal with these losses, which she has dealt with before. I know a lot of people made a big fuss out of the way she dealt with the Roxanne Mottifari loss, because that was kind of, it wasn't.

the best. It was kind of crappy, to be honest. And with the Alexa Grasso one, I feel like she was a little bit more retrospective on that one, but it was still very hard for her to swallow as well. But that's just the thing. When you hype yourself up because you know you're going to be a champion one day, of course, these kinds of losses, they really do suck. But I don't think that she'll never compete for a title. I think that'll come later on. But she's going to have to deal with these types of fights. And at least she's doing it now when she's young. And I hope that If she does lose again, she doesn't take it the wrong way. She just only learns to build and grow from that.

And I still think that she's a contender. And just give her a couple of years, I'm sure she's going to be challenging for the title eventually. So it's not completely over. It might be stalled for a little while. But she could work her way back. I'm not really too worried about Macy right now. Man, but losing three fights ever in the UFC,

sorry, but losing three fights is always bad. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And that's what more I was talking about. She just has no leverage. I mean, so the UFC can do whatever they want of her. You know, here, fight and, you know, I don't know, some whatever. Lincoln, Nebraska, that's a fine city.

But she just won't have any control of her career. That's what I meant. So it's just going to be tough. Yeah, it makes sense. But I feel like she's one of those fighters that are, you know how Dana White has a soft spot for them? I feel like she kind of lines up in that category just because what she was able to do before she made it to contender series. And then she had those three technical knockout wins over some pretty impressive names

considering her division. So I think she still gets a pass. I'm sorry. I don't want to give up too soon on Macy Barber. I think they will handle her with leniency should she move forward with another loss. But I don't think she's going to get her pink slip after if she loses. I think they might give her another fight. And then if we're talking forced,

straight losses, then we might have to revisit this conversation. But for right now, I still think she's in, she's kind of in the green zone. Macy has also had a lot of drama with martial arts fans outside of fighting, because I don't know if you remember that whole black belt, blue belt drama that happened, what, five, six years ago where they were winning, I think it was like, was it karate or Taekwondo or. I don't mean. It was not a jujitsu black belt. It was a.

It was a legitimate black belt in another martial art, but they were wearing their black belts while teaching jiu-jitsu. And it was like all over their website and everything for whatever school they were. And the graces actually had to come out and be like, they're not BJJ black belts. They're a different one. And then her dad, wasn't there drama with her dad after the Roxanne fight when he was like posting stuff on his Instagram? Yeah, he basically is trying, you know. Downplay Roxanne's win.

Yeah, downplay. Yeah, yeah. He was, he was Dana White, what Dana White does to Connor, you know, oh, you know, Macy had arthritis in her knee, you know. Yeah. That's why she lost, you know, but yeah, so it didn't help the situation. And the, and the, the, the trash talk with Paige, remember she called, she, she, like, had that fake DM from pages. She, like, Photoshop to fake DM. That was a mistake. So it's like she didn't do herself favors in the eyes of the fandom. do you think

is Miranda Maverick a harder test than Grosso and Roxanne? Equally. I think all three are completely different types of fighters too. Yeah. Because I think Grosso is freaking amazing at 125 too. Me too. Yeah, it's just there's just a lot of good 125ers. And I think for a while we only thought Macy Barber was the only good prospect.

Right. Because that's the only one Dana White talked about. about, but it turns out there's a lot of good flyweight prospects. I think that's it. And I think Miranda Maverick, after her last fight, she had names to call out too, but it wasn't like, because Macy Barber called out Paige, Montana Delrosa and Mekenzie Dern, none of whom were ranked at the time, because they had the most fans on the internet.

After Miranda Maverick won her last fight, she's like, I'm going to fight the winner of Antonina Shipschenko and Andrew Lee, which is a tough fight, regardless of once. So just going about it differently, I think. I think there's an awesome fight. I favor Miranda. Me too. And I'm very curious how both of these women go to move on after this. And Maverick had the benefit of taking her losses outside of the UFC.

She lost in Invicta, so they're just more as many eyes on her or as much pressure on her when she had her losses. I mean, they essentially have the same record in their same age. You're 8 and 2, 9 and 2. One's 24, one's 23. So, I mean, yeah, whoever loses, it's not, it's not catastrophic, but it would be worse for Barber. Macy Barber hits so hard for 125 too. When she was fighting Grosso, Grosso was clearly the better boxer, but every time Macy Barber landed, they like visibly shook.

She was like, God damn. So like out of everyone at 125, she has like KO power standing outside of like the champ and like Andrade. so but Miranda Maverick is super strong as well so love the fight yeah problem is you need more than a fastball you know you got a you got to have one more dude she has an atomic bomb and she throws those standing elbows like no one else at 125 so she can keep it standing call power to her anyway cool cool oh sorry uh real quick four corner sports n y is this the third run around did the uc miss a golden opportunity of put in the people's main event yannes there's costs on the main car instead of the prelim and which fighter of the two has the higher ceiling.

So is this the, is this the quote unquote featured prelim? No, but it should be if it's not going to be on the main card. They should have put that as like the preliminary fight to open up the main card. So this is what I don't even like this. Like I said this a few times. This whole prelim main card thing, let's just call it high or low on the card because the prelim is on ESPN and the main card. and the main card is on ESPN.

You don't even have to change the channel. It's basically just one long card. The only difference is Bruce Buffer makes another announcement at the beginning of the main card. So let's just call it UFC on Vegas 31, and it's just one massive card. Should it be higher? Sure.

Maybe higher than Mickey Gall and Jordan Williams or Darren Elkins, Derek Minner. But which fight do you knock off the main card if we're using this main card, prelim card? Kristen. the one you just said I'd probably knock off Oh yeah

No no no not that one I mean that fight rules Alkinson minors I'd be better suited on the Lower portion Did I get that right Is that how you want to say it now low Earlier in the earlier on the night

Earlier in the night There you go I think that'd be better An entire portion Now here's what we do Randy Costa Adriana's fight They have a bang of a fight Then they're buddies

And then in the later half of the card. They get, the UFC can pan over to them drinking Dr. Pepper and Eaton Reese's during a fist fight. That's great. There you go. Like how they did in Strike Force when Misha Tate finished her fight and then they panned over and she was eating a cupcake, they should do that.

Yeah. Or like, remember when you want to be Claudia and then immediately after you went and sat next to Dana White for the later half of the card? Great. More opportunities for both of these men to get camera time on sitting Kate's side. Also, like, how many fights does Randy cost to half? in the UFC two three three he has two he has three fights he's one he's two and one adrian yonis is i think adrianus has a little bit of a brighter prospect but randy cost is super impressive and

well-spoken what's next for matt mitrione uh this is a two-parquoise from dan pompele on twitter we're going to fly through this one what's next for matt mitrione who of course just got him and bellator just uh parted ways after his uh loss his last loss uh christian if you had to pick what's next for Matt Mitrione? Maybe try your luck in PFL. I saw someone say bare knuckle fighting. I was like, hell no, I do not want to see Matt Matrione do that. But maybe

PFL, if you have a shot, definitely try it. Casey? Dude, I love Matt Matriot on bare knuckle fighting. What are you talking about? That would be great. He's not a takedown guy. He doesn't really have heavy kicks. He just throws big wide punches. I like it. Matt Madreum, bare knuckle.

Let's do it. If the PFL comes back next year for another season after this, then go for it. But other than that, I have no idea where he would go, if not bare knuckle. Yeah, he might, Matt Maitrean might call it a day. He's on the wrong side of 40 for an individual that's on a five fight. Yeah. Well, I know there's no contest somewhere in there, but he hasn't won a fight since his win over Roy Nelson. And even that one, if I remember correctly, was like a majority of,

already fight or something like that right like it wasn't like a dominant performance yeah me he's had some bad luck i know a couple of fights he's been headbutted in the fights and the reps didn't see him and it obviously affected the fights um but i think for i think for what matrione is right now and probably his price tag um i understand bell at tor making that move so um good luck to matt mat mat matron let him go fight let him go fight uh marius puginowski and ksw I'll go fight in one championship because then you can kick... Oh, so it was the second half to that question, Casey.

Oh, sorry. Okay. AJ McKeever's Pitbull next week. If AJ wins, he's the best 145 in the world. No, but I would say he's clearly top five featherweights in the world. I think there's like a log jam of Volcanowski. And I think he's better than Volcanowski and Holloway. If you want to argue he's third, I don't have a problem with that. Whoever wins next week, Pitbull, or,

AJ McKee. I don't have an issue saying that they're the best 45 on the world. That's all. I don't rank him. I don't rank him as right there, but they're right. Both them are my, if AJ right now, my top five, he's right outside the top five. Pit bull, I think I have a number, I have pit bull at number two, actually, behind Max Holloway. Yeah.

No issue. I mean, AJ wins. He can beat anyone else in the world, too. He just needs to face him. So Kristen? I'm in agreement with you. I think one of the best, maybe not the best for right now, but he's definitely in the top five.

Yes. I would just say Max and like Volcanowski. I don't, I don't subscribe to that. Oh, the UFC is always better competition than Bellator. I'm just talking about these two, like these individuals in general. I just think Alexander Volcanowski and Max, Holloway have fought higher competition for a prolonged period of time. AJ has clearly been over the last few years has dominated his opponents.

But I just think like Back to Back Wings Over Max Holloway is super impressive for me. It's Holloway for Volcanowski and then Holloway I think is the most talented featherweight in the world. So at worst, at worst, AJ could be the third best featherweight, which is great. Great. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. No issue of that.

Yeah, those three would be the best. Just super excited on the fight. For this fight, whoever wins this fight, I put them at number three. I feather away. Yeah, no problem. Do you do. American rustic works in the YouTube comments. Any rumors on Gillespie and his next opponent?

I know Brad Riddell was very interested in rebooking that fight after their previous fight fell apart due to do COVID violations. Or not violations. It was someone test positive for someone COVID in one of their camps. I think it was fault. Brad Riddell, but Gillespie just, who did he just dominate? Diego for Heda? For her, yeah.

And he is a high level, he is a very high level lightweight. And then Brad Riddell and Drew Dober had a banger of a fight in Glendale. So I like that fight in general also because they were booked against each other already. I don't think they're top 10 lightweights, but they're clearly top 15. I'm talking, like, they're clearly talented to be top 10. I'm just talking about where they are in the actual rankings. I don't think either of them ranked or, are they ranked in the MMA fighting rankings? Who?

Yes, Gillespie, in the M.A fighting global rankings, Gillespie is 12 and Radell is 14. I like that fight. Also, because they both seem interested in it, so it could actually happen. If Islam fight someone behind them in the rankings, I would love it for the big Gillespie. So I think. I know Islam is someone head of it. I know he wants someone ahead of him, but if he can't get it and they put something behind him. I love wrestler-wrestler matchups.

Yeah. Kristen, who would you like Gregor Gillespie to fight next? No, I like that matchup. I thought I saw somewhere that Renato Moikano maybe called out Gregor Gillespie. I'm not sure how that fight would go, but I'd like to see it, too. That'd be nice. I also, I think if timing-wise, if I'm trying to book all of these, I would really like Gillespie and Riddell on the New York card because, of course, Radell, Gillespie's from New York,

and he usually performs very well in New York outside of getting decapitated by Kevin Lee. And then I know Dan Hooker wants to fight on same cards as his teammate. So if Dan Hooker fights Mahachev, who I bet once they want to put on the MSG card too, because it's a big Russian population in New York. So you can have Hooker and Riddell train together against two other high-level lightweight. so all around, I just think timing it makes sense, too, for those matchups. Does Brian Marano have the potential

be a UFC star? Potential! The man is a star. The man is a star, my man, from, or women, I'm sorry, I can't sell it by your photo. It's very small. Takeiro, all Takiro Man, 91, I'm going to assume. But yes, Brandon Marano is a star. You know, it's a nerd.

It is up to the UFC now to book him like he's a star. Mighty Mouse got main event pay-per-views. They didn't sell well, but the UFC needs to try it again and build up Brandon Moreno, build up an exciting match-up. And yeah, it's throwing them on a pay-per-view main event. I'm ready for it. We just shot a Brandon Marino lunch yesterday, media lunch, the first one since the pandemic. And the guy is just incredibly unique.

There's no one like him in the sport. There's a lot of, I mean, there's so many fighters, you know, I train hard, I knock this guy's up, you know, all that. Brandon Bramaine ain't that. He's a unique personality. He's smart. He's funny. He doesn't need to put this macho man front, you know, so I love it. And he is a killer and a savage, as Rogan would say.

I want him to, I don't know if I would put him on a pay-per-view headliner yet. I would love to put him on ESPN free TV to make him a star. against like a really high level fight and then give him these big names for pay-upy I also think that it would be travesty if they don't put him in Valentina on the same card when the world opens up because they're both Spanish-speaking champions at 125

if you're going to go to Uruguay or Paraguay or Argentina or anything like this like stick those two on the same card or Mexico it would just make too much sense because they can carry the promotional work for them because they could speak both to the American and the Hispanic audience. I mean I know COVID is a giant issue

but man imagine if they had Brandon Moreno headlining in Mexico City that was just that'd be awesome yeah and then you just with I René and Alexa and all those guys yeah what happened to um UFC on ABC was that a one-time thing I think that would be a good place to put it up on. Yeah that's what I'm saying I would love to have and be on an ABC card Yeah or so or anywhere like that But like primetime ABC because remember that was like a daytime card on ABC you know

Or it was a date, it was, it was, I thought that was a prime time card because it was crack at dawn and fight island. No, I remember, I remember ending like late afternoon. It was, it was like, I don't know. Yeah. My sense of time was distorted over there. Yeah. But it didn't have that, even though it wasn't ABC, it didn't have that, that early UFC on

Foxville. Well, I think, I also think that was like, like, ABC came in like late notice and was like, hey, stick this on ABC. I don't think it was always billed as like, we're making our debut. Also, like, no one steered into it. Like, do you remember on like Wild Wars, wild of sports on ABC?

Everyone wore the gold jackets. And no one wore a gold jacket. And I was like, I saw John Anick. I'm like, he's like, I didn't. Like, if I had heads up, I would have had a gold jacket. I'm like, yeah, duh, because it would be stupid not to anyway. Christian, what are you going to say about Brandon Marino? No, I had nothing else.

Brandon Marino is. Yeah, he rules. You rule. I think you could say he's the breakout. He's the breakout star of 2020 if he's headlining cards. Right, right, Casey, right? Not Kamar Usman. Brandon Moreno.

He's right there. One and two. No, he is. That's the answer. We can tell everyone what we talked about. Brano can't headline paper reviews yet. You just said he should. I said he should, but you just said he can't.

I said he should because it ain't my money. No, I said we should stick him on free TV and make him a global star. You don't pay for paper. You get the money right back. expensive. Anyway. That's question. That's question.

Are you three fans of the MCO? If so, thoughts on the Loki series? No. I haven't started. Are you a fan, though? I am, and I can't. Literally, I was pissed. Wait, none of that, you don't need keep coming here.

I know, but I don't want you guys to talk about it because I'm... All I want to say is, no, I'm not a fan of the MCU, but not because I don't want to exist. It just does nothing for me. I have no interest in it. but Julia is and I want to say the end of Loki

I called that two years ago you can go on my Twitter I called it everyone that called for very specific very boring very

I don't like using this word but like if you have a surface level knowledge of comic books you're going to call for very specific villains and they're boring and they're terrible transition villains. You need transitional villains. And this is a, he is a fantastic

traditional transitional villain and I nailed that shit in 2019. Call it. On the nose. That's enough. You're going to ruin it for me. No, I don't watch Loki. The Scarlet Witch series was boring. I watched the end of it and I could not stop laughing.

And then I didn't watch a single second of Winter Soldier and Falcon. I haven't seen. I call it. If this path is continuing on, I also nailed the Scarlet Witch storyline too. I didn't nail it because they're literally in the books behind me. Okay, you keep that knowledge to yourself. Let me watch.

I am. I'm not saying people might, people might, I don't want to ruin it for you. Thank you. My favorite part of the Loki series at the very end when Loki. I will literally disconnect. He's Casey's not going to give anything. I don't, I don't, I don't care about MCU stuff. I don't care.

Who is, Loki. I just, he's... Loki is the god of mischief. Thor's half brother. He's half Asgardian, half... He was in Ragnarok, right? Ragnarok is the one of the right. He is in all of the Thor. He is to Thor with the Joker is to Batman.

So my only issue is with this local because Tom Hildesden is such a good actor and he's so good as Loki from what I've... Because I've never seen in the Thor movies. I've only seen, I think, one and a half of the Avengers movies. And he's a very good local. But he's so good that people love him so much that the comic books have now made him a hero. And I'm just like, oh, we're just going to forget the last 40 years where he's tried to commit genocide.

And now he's a hero. Like, come on. Like, it's like trying to make the Joker a hero. People change. People don't change. People don't change when you're trying to destroy an entire race for 40 years. It just doesn't happen unless you're being played by Tom Hilton, apparently. Which is fine.

He's a very good actor. He nails it. So good on him. I would like, I can't give it away. Speaking of, what's the name? Tom Hiddleston? Tom Hittleston. I just watched, because it just got released on Netflix,

I just watched Crimson Peak, and he's one of the main actors. Yeah, he is, it's a good movie. I was like, hey, that's Loki. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. All right. Good horror movie.

Anyway. Kirsten, thank you for joining us, and I won't give any Loki spoils away, but plug whatever you want to plug before we sign off. this week of the A side. Oh man, I don't have anything to plug. Just thank you guys for bringing me back here. Truly appreciate it, obviously.

And I can't wait to chop it up with you guys again. This is the most fun I've had on a Wednesday. That's saying a lot. You love your Wednesdays too. Yeah, you love Wednesdays. There's one thing I know about Kristen is she loves her Wednesdays. It's Wednesday.

Casey, what do you got to say before we sign off? Yeah, hope everyone's doing great. Thank you for watching. Thank you for supporting. fighting and watching all of our videos and podcasts and stuff. And we got Mike Heck in Florida, somewhere in Florida, wherever. And he's covering BKFC and the main event, Paige Van Zant versus Rachel Ostevich. Of course.

Part two. Yeah, part two. The rematch. That's time, no gloves. We'll have presser, workouts, and one-on-ones coming from Mike. I think that's today. And then tomorrow's the way-ins. And then Friday's the fight night.

And then Saturday we get a bang over UFC card. I don't think there's Casey. Is there between the links tomorrow? No, sir. No, sir. There will be no between the links tomorrow because Mike is, of course, doing groundwork down in Florida. And then preview show leaves Friday,

fights on Saturday, post show Saturday, and then you guys know the drill. Anyway, we'll see you next Wednesday if you only watch the A-side. Suns in nine. Sure, why not? DM me if you want to. Someone message me.

they want to know more about why I'm so smart with my Loki knowledge. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.