MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor Drama, UFC Vegas 24, ONE on TNT 2, Bellator 257, Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren, more

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

For this episode, José Youngs, Mike Heck, and E. Casey Leydon react to some of the biggest news in MMA. Some topics include the charity drama surrounding the planned rubber match between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor at UFC 264, Jimmy Flick’s recent retirement, and more. The three will also look ahead to the upcoming UFC Vegas 24 card, featuring Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum, ONE on TNT 2, headlined by Christian Lee vs. Timofey Nastyukhin, Bellator 257, featuring the rematch between Vadim Nemkov vs. Phil Davis, and Ben Askren’s upcoming boxing match against Jake Paul. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hey, we're live, pal. Welcome everyone to another episode of the A-side Live chat on MMAFighties.com. I bet you're wondering if you think, one, I probably sound a lot better. No more echo. That's because I have a brand new, brand-new mic professional. You're probably wondering, that doesn't look like Jose's normal setup. That's because I moved, and I'm finally in my new setup.

Got a lot of books behind me still. I have even more on the ground. That's been like a three-day process. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw my plate. I had about nine rubber-made bins filled with books. One of them weighed 110 pounds. That was fun to carry up a flight of stairs. That's neither here nor there.

Welcome this week. You've seen them on preview shows. You've seen them on weighing shows. You've seen them on post shows. You've seen them on between the links. You've seen them on what the heck. But he's not hosting this time. He is a guest panelist.

Mike Heck, welcome back. How's life over in New England? It's great. We're about to get six inches of snow here in the Berkshires tomorrow night into Friday. So happy April to all of us. Snow in April, man. Nothing quite like it. I remember one time in second grade in Rhode Island it snowed on April 1st.

And my heart damn they're saying because they canceled baseball practice anyway. No one cares about that. Casey, all the ones and twos, of course. How's life in? angle. How's double vaccination like? It's good. I got great reception. Yeah, mostly like 6G. Yeah, so it's cutting down my Wi-Fi bills. It's awesome. It's awesome.

I'm now connected with Mr. Gates. Did it kick your ass? I was slightly tired the next day, but I'm kind of always tired, so I wasn't sure. But I did have a little sore arm. I felt like I just got like just punched an arm, but whatever. I'm very nervous because my first. My second shot is the day before I fly to Jackson. Oh. So I get it Sunday and then I get up playing Monday morning.

Like, not even, like, maybe 12 hours in between. And I'm very nervous that I'm going to be on the airplane just like, or like walking through, because I have a layover in Dallas. I'm just going to be sitting in Dallas at the airport, just like zonked out. I'm very nervous about it. Just do a bunch of pull-ups, you know, you know, build up your immune system. You're good, man. I can't, man.

My whole, if anyone wants or like, I talked about my moving thing. My body is falling apart from carrying books. My hands are cut up. It's hot out here. Carrying boxes upstairs. If you want a good calf workout and then never be able to walk again, carry boxes up and stairs because I did it for two days and now I couldn't walk yesterday at the end of the afternoon. Anyway, anyway, Mike, how's the little one?

He's good. He's good. In school right now. He's getting picked up as we speak. So the wife should, he might be, he might make an appearance on here. Who knows? But I'm happy to say, I'm happy to say that I'm getting my first vaccination on Tuesday. So we're getting there.

And then Mike can be back out on the road again for all these Bellator's in Connecticut. I know. Finally. God, it's like impossible here. Somehow I got super lucky. I got like the last time frame. I got to drive two and a half hours to get it. But worth the drives.

I had to drive to Vegas to get mine. So. I had to walk across the street and took about a 30 second walk. It's great. Anyway, anyway, let's talk all sorts of MMA. We got one on TNT2. You got Bellator 257. We got UFC Vegas 24.

We got Ascran, Ben Asking versus Jake Paul. The whole lot of fistfighting. We got a whole lot of fist fighting happening this week. We talk some wrestling, if you want, some pro wrestling. I was building this desk while watching day two of WrestleMania. so let's chat let's talk about whatever you guys want to talk about Casey what's our first question to the questions all right here we go the big news nice semi big news today we'll see

oh god from MM 2k20 on Twitter Eddie Alver here's Oscar Darla Hoya early thoughts and views hashtag the 8 side so I read this headline on maflankcom of course this morning when I woke up and I looked at it and I said I should be surprised but I'm not surprised because if anyone's going to fight Oscar Delahoya, I thought it was going to be either Eddie Alvarez or Anthony Pettis. I thought it was going to be one of those two because they're not in the UFC.

I'm sure one and PFL would love the publicity of fighting Oscar Delahua. They're about this size. They're both Hispanic American, of course, Puerto Rican. So that just sells itself Mexican-American American. Mike, your initial thoughts

on this alleged Eddie Alvers Oscar Delahua boxing match. want to add because MFG 2K20 did not. Good for Eddie Alvarez. I mean, especially after what happened to him last week and the disqualification and all of that, like talk about a guy's fortune changing in a matter of days. Like this could be a very big deal for him, very lucrative for him. I like it.

It doesn't surprise me at all. I think the Pettus one would probably surprise me more just because he's in the middle of the season and the bubbles and all the stuff that are going on. So I don't know how favorable PFL would have been to that idea. I mean, the publishing would have been great for them. But Alvarez, you know, considering the world we're living in right now in combat sports, this makes all the sense in the world. So kudos to Eddie if he gets the fight.

And I'll be watching if it happens, no doubt about it. On Triller, of course, you just bought out, Fight TV, right? Or Fight Hub, Fight TV? Which one do they buy out? Fight TV. Yes. what a world we live in. Casey, initial thoughts on Eddie Alva versus Osses, Delaware.

I was shocked, but at the same time, it had to be somebody. So I think any name they would have said, I'm like, what? But yeah, like, yeah, for some reason, when I heard the Oskirtsahe Hoyer retirement thing, I was like, I didn't even think of an opponent. I was just thinking of just De La Jaloya. I thought I was thinking more like Tyson, how Tyson fought. I thought, who did Tyson fight? Jones.

Jones. Jones. Sorry. I was thinking like he was going to fight like another retired, you know, famous boxer or something like that. But I don't know why I didn't cross my mind to do this. He had announced that he was going to fight a UFC fighter. Oh.

They wanted, like that was the whole selling points. His mic wasn't turned on, so I didn't hear it. That's true. And I'm going to be salty about it for the rest of my days. So when they should inevitably show these highlight packages and they show that footage, you're welcome. everyone of course right away when they were there

and I posted that video clip to our socials and YouTube's all the comments were so we get in and see Dana White fight inside a boxing ring in 2021 we brought it up to Dana White and he just laughed

in our good friend Oscar Willis's face and said, you guys just want to ask me stupid questions don't you and they just moved on like he didn't bite at all I was shocked normally if you want a good Dana

rant you bring up Bob Aaron Marasca delahoya and just let him go and that's good that's good for a couple 5,000 Twitter views like right out of the gate didn't it bite and we were like well good on you like didn't just blow a gasket well that's the thing Dana White's a promoter

and why is he going to promote someone else's fight unless he's part of it he's not going to promote it he can't even promote his own fights yeah it so is this fight is this a more competitive the fight than the fight we have this Saturday

between Paul and Ascran? I don't know. What do you think? What are we thinking in this fight? Who you got? How old is Oscar Delaware? Forty-eight. Oscar fought at a light of wake class and Eddie did, didn't he? It was an Oscar

like in the 140s around. That's what I thought. Or originally, when he was an active fighter. Yeah. Yeah. Something around there. But when was his last boxing match? I'm going to find out.

He's 5'10. His last boxing match was in 2008 against Manny Packett. That was a long time ago. I mean, I would favor Delhoy in a boxing match. You don't favor him? No, I just depends on the rule set. Yeah, it would be one thing, like, if he was fighting, like, Sugar Ray came out of retirement, fought, but, like, Eddie Alvarez.

is still in his physical prime and hits really hard. I just think it's a matter of age. It's a discrepancy at that point. I don't think it's a matter of boxing skill. I just think Eddie could probably take a harder punch and hit harder at this point in their lives. All right. I don't know if it's going to be an exhibition fight or what,

or not. Who knows? We'll see. It's still going to get done too. Yeah, I doubt it'll be a pro fight because Osceville, Hoy would have to pass a bunch of medicals and physicals and all that stuff.

Jesus. What was the, how long was George Foreman out when he came back? Remember he came back all thick? And he was like, but then he fought in Vanderholyfield. Yeah, but he came back as like a real boxer, not like a celebrity boxer. Yeah, he also came back and looked really, didn't he win the championship back? Yeah, that was like the whole thing. Yeah, you won it all, like at age 90 or something.

I don't know. Yeah, he took, it took a while. I can't quite find the exact date. But I remember when he fought Evander Holyfield. And he worked on his core so much because he knew Evander would just punch his body. So he would block like this rather than like this. And it just looks super bizarre to me, this fat long. And that was one of the best heavyweight fights I've ever seen in my life.

Yeah. But George Formers is an ageless wonder anyway. Yes. Anyway. He took 10 years off. Yeah. March 17th, 1977. and then he came back March 9th, 1987.

So he lost to Jimmy Young. He lost to Jimmy Young in 1977. And then he came back in 1987, and he won like 10 plus fights in the span of like three years in a row. And then he lost to a Vanderholyfield and then rattled off a bunch and then rattled off a bunch. And then lost to Tommy Morris and all. RIP from Tommy Gunn from Rocky 5, won a bunch, and then lost his Shannon Briggs. So, like, he lost three really good fighters and beat everyone else.

So, man, good on, Yaskin, though. Maybe you can pull it off. Did Ben Ascgren, did he say this is going to be his highest payday ever in his career? I don't think he's come out and officially said it to us. I haven't seen it anywhere else. Do you know, Mike? Or are we kind of assuming it is? Oh, it's no doubt about it.

Because why else would he do it? Yeah. Because that's all I'm wondering, too. Like, how silly is this game of prize fighting where these A-level MMA fighters are making their biggest paydays fighting celebrity boxing matches? I just, like, and same with Eddie. I wonder if, I wonder if Eddie potentially can make more from this than he did when he fought no, Connor or MSG. I mean, it's just, it's just wild. Yeah.

I do not get this sport after working it for 15 years. It still shocks me. I wonder what I was thinking about this last night. I wonder what fighters like Floyd Mayweather where their whole career was based on how much money they can draw and all of a sudden they're seeing people coming out of retirement fighting YouTube stars and making like an insane amount of money.

Like we saw him do it with tension, but that wasn't like a YouTube pay-per-view on Triller or anything like that. I know Mayweather has the whole deal with Showtime. But like someone in the YouTube comments was like, Mayweather, Delahoya, too. And I was like, honestly, that'd probably sell a ton of money. If De La Jollaure, like, just, like, rolls through Eddie, I could see that happening. Oh, 100%.

I mean, he'll have to, like, knock out Eddie, like, within three rounds or something. Or, like, do you remember when Manny Packo was going to fight Connor McGregor in the Middle East for, like, COVID charity? Remember they announced that? And then it kind of fell apart. Like, why wouldn't they try to do Delaware Pacchio? Like, just slot in Delaware instead of Connor. You just mentioned Connor and charity? That's true.

Well, I was sending us up. I was sending us up. Yeah. Give the fans the softball right there. All right. A segue. We'll get to that in a little bit. Hey, Floyd's dance card's a little full.

We just need a date. He's supposed to fight Logan Paul in another blockbuster. I heard that wasn't happening. Oh, my God. I forgot about that. Jeez, I forgot that was a thing. I heard that wasn't happening anymore. It's not happening at all.

I know they postponed it for some reason. but I heard it was I had heard rumors it wasn't happening and then we saw Floyd and Sakhi Bar and Dana on that tweet and I was like something's in the works with something so I have no idea but that Logan Paul thing doesn't interest me whatsoever but it is what it is make a bunch of money anyway anyway okay to talk about MMA now Jeff Balo on Twitter Auto Heart Record At Auto Heart Record My question is If Connor gets all wild up And becomes early era

Mad Dog McGregor No more Mr. Nice Guy LOL And still loses to Dustin Then what In terms of persona Future matchmaking, etc.

Well If he loses to Dustin Regardless of his persona Is going to be a huge Blow Because at the end of you got to win. Mike, what do you think?

If we get early Arab McGregor, like Mr. Balo says on Twitter right here, what would be the big, what would be the fallout for McGregor losing the trilogy fight to Dustin? I don't know. It's kind of hard to say.

I mean, we saw earlier Eric McGregor lose to Nate Diaz and then he got it back and became an even bigger star. So, I mean, I think he just fights Nate either way. Like, if he, if he loses, he can just fight Nate. Unless Nate beats Leon Edwards, which the odds don't favor that happening.

And, you know, looking at it right now, I don't see Nate beating Leon Edwards either. So if Connor loses, he could just go fight Nate and that fight will do monster numbers anyway. So it will be a crushing blow towards title hopes, at least at this point in his career. But he will still have some big fights definitely in his radar, no doubt about it. Like, he could fight Nate, you know, if Mazadol loses to Usman, there's a lot. always a way to make that fight because Mazadol lost two straight. I mean, there's still options for Connor to draw and have big fights. It's just, you know, him fighting for titles anytime soon will just be out of the equation.

I mean, you can just look at it and just be convinced that Dustin's just the better fighter if he wins again. And I think people can understand that. It won't be like some fans will just think McGregor will say McGregor sucks and all this stuff. He just talks crap all the time and yada, yada, yada, but I think Dustin will gain a lot more than Connor will lose if that makes any sense. I got you. I have a theory too, but Casey, let's get your thoughts, too. Well, I think that the main difference, when you're talking about the Nate Diaz

loss or whatever is that that was a one loss losing streak. You know, if you lose, and this will be two losses in a row if he loses to Dustin. And one thing that we're seeing, too, is we finally saw Dustin, I mean, we finally saw Connor get knocked out cold. Like in his previous, like when he lost him. Mayweather and we lost in Nate. You know, he got he got the standing TKO so we never got to see McGregor out flat and, you know, Nate choked him out and everything. So, so I think what Dustin did to him, he kind of really smashed that illusion of, you know, invincibility in the sense of at least stand-up

wise. It's like, oh, well, he's not even the best stand-up fighter. And if he loses again to Dustin in July, I mean, I'm sure it's going to be my knockout too. I mean, God, that has to hurt Connor. I mean, I just don't, I mean, of course he's, I mean, he can still main a venom forever, you know, just off his name. But like, is he still going to be Connor McGregor if he loses again? And I just don't see that. I think now he'll just be seen as a guy that used to be this giant star. And, you know, now he's still a big star. But I just, you know, I just don't think he's still me the same, especially if he loses it the same way this time.

Happy Connor or Mad Connor. because that's what the question is actually about. I think if Connor loses, fans are still going to think he's invincible because I post whatever I post about Dustin or Nate, they're all Connor's dancing. Connor's ability to make the people that beat him sound scared is unbelievable.

Like he goes, oh, because he lost by TKO. He got his face punched in after getting his legs kicked out from under him. And Connor spun that into, you shot on me first. You were on your back leg. You kicked me in the leg. And I wasn't ready. And I got punched like,

you're the coward. You didn't meet me in the center of the ring. That's what Connor's saying. Carter has spun this narrative that, oh, I could have beaten Nate, but he shot on me. Oh, Habib beat me, but he shot on me and took me down.

He didn't fight like a man. Go read Carter Sweets. He's like, I had you on your back legs. That's why it's like, you were backing up to the fence. And fans were like, yeah, that's right. Connor, you're not a man.

man, you didn't meet Connor in the center of the ring. It's so bizarre to me. It's so bizarre. The only thing that can happen, like, Connor needs to get knocked dead in the center of the ring by a punch. Because then if he gets head kicked, he's like, oh, you didn't fight him like a gentleman. You threw kicks?

Who throws kicks? You are mixing your martial arts? How dare you, sir? How dare you? It's so weird. So in a world where, in a world where the world makes sense, Connor losing a third fight is a detriment. but Conner's ability to spin the narrative that we've seen lately,

I don't think will hurt him whatsoever. Because I have friends who only watch Connor fights, and they still think he beats Habib any rematch because his foot was a balloon and he wasn't ready, and Habib was a coward and grappled him. They're like, this narrative that you have to stand only punch in M.A. is Tom Foolery. Also, I think if Dustin wins and Nate wins, they fight.

without a doubt because that's a money fight. They don't need a belt on that. If Nate beats Lance Land Edwards, Dustin beats Connor, there's already the seat of dissension there. They're talking all kinds of greasiness to each other. And I think at this point, Dustin just wants big money fights.

Nate wants big money fights. That's a fight. You don't need a title on the line, the headline of pay-per-view. Or Nate could go fight Jorge Mazdaal again. But I think honestly, Dustin coming off a Connor win, makes him a bigger deal than Masudal beating Kamau.

if that makes sense. Because I also think they would just do the trilogy with Camaro if Jorge wins. Maybe. And that sucks for Stephen Thompson, unfortunately. Who? Yeah. Exactly.

Jeez. Mr. Nice guy. Exactly. Get nowhere. All right. Double question. Two questions. Who sent this one?

Oh, wait. It's cut off. There you go. Another one from MNG. This one on the site. So two questions. Bigger had a 168-day turnaround between him losing and Nate the first time and then beating him.

If the trilogy fight with Porre, spelled Porre, a little odd, okay, it goes ahead as planned. There'll be 167-day turnaround when he lost him. We have seen him make the adjustment before in a similar time frame. Do you think he can do it again? Mike, I'll start with you. Before we get to the second question. Connor, quick turn.

This is an interesting question because we saw, Connor beat Cowboy, but we all kind of agree Cowboy coming off of three straight stoppage, like not just stoppage losses, but Cowboy got stopped violently. And three straight fights. Loses to Connor, Cowboy eventually said like his head wasn't even there. Took a year off, and you can't take a year off and then fight Dustin, pretty much. But this quick turnaround, that and MMG 2K20 does lay it out. And I say it all the time, like I base a lot of my opinions off of what we've seen.

It's like so history repeats itself. This is an interesting question. Can Connor on a quick turnaround be completely different fighter from the first fight? Can he? Sure. He can. Will he? That's a different question.

I mean, we're going to see a different guy. We're going to say, hey, Jose is now his long hair and is a shadow. He's a silhouette of himself. Listen, I think he's going to be a different fighter. I think he's going to make adjustments. He'll be in a better place than he was in January more than likely. But that doesn't mean he's going to win the fight. I mean, Dustin's got a lot of confidence right now.

And, you know, I don't know how you can change that much in that amount of time. Like, he'll be able to change some. But Dustin, I mean, confidence is everything. When you have momentum, that can carry you a long way in this sport. And Dustin's got all of it right now. He's got all of it. Like Connor had it heading into the first fight because, or into the second fight, excuse me, because of how the first fight went.

But now Dustin has all the momentum, all of it. So yeah, I mean, if anybody could do it, it's Connor. He's been able to do it throughout his career. And an act of Connor is seemingly a more dangerous Connor. So this is a big test for him. Like we'll see where he's at. Like all the, I'm not going to say there were excuses, but all the narratives that came out of that fight,

the long layoff, the drama with the UFC. He wanted to have the season in 2020, but only fought once. Like dealing with all that, the emotional roller coaster that that relationship seems to have between Connor and Dana and the UFC. Like all that's out the window now. Like you've got to find. fight in short time with this in a rematch with the guy who just beat you you got exactly what

you wanted so i feel like we're going to see i don't know if we're going to see the best mcgregor but we're going to see a better mcgregor than we saw in january but will that be enough i don't know we'll see the odds makers seem to think it will be because connor's a slight favor right now but we'll see i think connor will will be better but dust will probably be better too casey what's say you um no No, not enough time. Dustin will win this in the same manner. But pay your 70 bucks.

So when I was on Fight Island, there was a lot going on that week, obviously. Connor came in on a yacht. He had to quarantine for 48 hours. There was a F1 track zipping around the entire time. This fight will be in Las Vegas, as it was announced today, in the T-Mobile Arena, sold out, what, 20,000 fans. So if this is a normal fight week with everything in it And Connor doesn't have to like quarantine for 48 hours

And this and that And this is as close to normal as we can get I'm very curious because there was a lot going on that week Connor came in on the yacht He wanted a quarantine on the yacht They didn't let him he had to come in It was a whole it was a lot of it was a circus For both men to be fair

So this wasn't just a Connor thing But Dustin was proactive and came out like seven days early. So he was there for the entire week. Connor got there like 72 hours before the fight. So he had climatized. I'm very curious to see if like normal fight week McGregor will become the new anomaly

like sea level cane and motivated BJ and there was a new one that popped up to. Bald Brian Ortega. Bald Brian Ortega. That's right. They're a few of them, yeah. Max with hairs another, or Max with hair is another one with like the beard and everything or beard and max uh so yeah i'm curious uh what

goes on can he do it again he could i still favor dustin uh but anyway dude the connor i'm awesome carna mythology is so amazing it's just so amazing because we're and you're you're right jose like but we're seriously going you know what maybe connor would do better if he didn't have to worry about parking his yacht all week like yeah like it's like how can you how can you fight a you know, Justin Porier, when you're too busy worrying about, you know, your yacht. You know, yacht problems. Yep. And I'm also, I'm also curious what, like, the world is going to look like then in terms of, like,

travel and everything. Like, will all the Irish vans come over and come out full force like they typically do for a Connor McGregor-Vegas fight? Because he feeds off that energy. It's like a whole different atmosphere in there when that happens. So not saying that makes all the difference in the world. but I mean if Connor feels like, you know, his rise to his first championship all over again,

like what will that do to him from a mental perspective? So there's just different, Jose made great points about that whole fight week and being on Fight Island and Abu Dhabi and things being different than it was the first trip in July and all that. Like there's different factors heading in. We'll see what happens.

But I'm excited for the third fight. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, I'm beyond excited. Let's also get there first. Because as I always say, nothing's official. Nothing is official until they are inside the Octagon. Because remember, we were, segue, remember when we were supposed to see Volcanowski and Ortega at UFC 260?

That didn't happen. And that was like the week of the fight, which will segue us to the second question from an MG2K20. If Volcanowski-Oortega is happening, end of year, after they shoot tough, that would be the title not being defended for, for one and a half years. Holy crap,

I had not even thought about that. Should Max get an interim title shot? That way if Max and Volcanozky won a champs' storyline would be another way to sell the trilogy fight, especially when Max O2 down? Wow, I had not even thought about the featherweight division

being held up for a year and a half. Because, yeah, that makes, yeah, because when's the last time Volcanox fought last July? Against Max on Fight Island? Yeah. Wow, I had not even thought about that. that. That was not even, because in my mind, they're still fighting in the week, Volkovsky and Ortega.

Mike, do we need an interim title at 145 pounds? Absolutely not. And the reason why he didn't fight since July of last year is because there was no number one contender. He's been waiting for so long to have somebody else besides Max Holloway to fight. I talked to him probably in August or September. We were still waiting on things to happen. We're waiting on Zabid. He was supposed to fight. He was supposed to fight. Iyer Rodriguez, that fight didn't happen. We had to wait all the way until the Korean zombie versus Brian Ortega fight to actually have like a high level featherway fight.

Like we had Cater. Cater had a good year in 2020. He beat Jeremy Stevens. Then he beat Danny Gay in July. But like he still probably needed like another win. And then we found out Cater was fighting Max Holloway. So kind of looking at what happened between them, we still had to wait for those questions to be answered.

Like if Calvin Cater had beat Max Holloway, Cater would probably be the one fighting for the title instead of, I mean, who knows? Who knows what would have happened with that situation? So it was a matter of getting the right contender up because one, we were in a pandemic and two, the featherweight division, at least in the top five, weren't seen a lot of movement there.

So plus, Volcanowski, it's not like Volcanovsky didn't have a fight booked and was like, I want more money, pay me, and then I'll fight somebody. He got a fight. He just caught COVID, a really bad case of it. Like, if you go on his YouTube page, he goes through everything and it's just gnarly,

hearing what this man has had to go through and is probably still going through in a way right now. So I don't think you can necessarily do an interim. I mean, I guess you could if you wanted to build storyline, but it would be kind of silly at this point, especially in this division where we finally have a contender and it took so long to get there. It just wouldn't make a lot of sense.

Yeah, the more I think about, like, the more I think about it while you're answering that question, these two coaching tough makes no sense to me. Hey, there's no beef. Like, that's the whole point of tubs to get like, it's like a high pressure situation and you get these two rivals and they're trying to get people tune in

for the drama that they can sell like the T.J. Cody, Claudia, Yawanna, John Jones, Chale. These guys are two very nice individuals. And again, like you said, holds up the division. And Alex is coming off a severe bout with COVID. And now you're going to put him in a room

with a bunch of fighters for a long period of time. Like, yes, he's probably going to be recovered and this and that, but a year and a half of no featherweight title fights is, that sucks. That brings me back to like the Connor days of like all these weird interim titles and everything.

Casey, what say you? Do we need an interim title of featherweight? Oh yeah, I love interim titles. I have no issue. I have no issue of them. Yeah. I mean, I would pull Ortega from Tuff and just do Max versus Ortega for the interim

and just throw Tup down the toilet. So in this world where that doesn't happen And they're still coaching tough Who do you put against We all agree Max if there's a match title Max is A side Who's he fighting For an interim title

I mean if you do it If you turn it around real fast Then I would do Max versus Korean zombie But I know zombie is matched up against Dan Igay So I would do Max versus the winner of zombie versus Ege Be you have to wait a little while No workout If any injuries come out from the winner of that

but yeah that's what I'll do otherwise if you would just want to run it as soon as possible Max versus Zabit you know if he's around yeah I think that's the fight yeah I think that sells his interim and yeah they got Mike check in his head I mean the anti-fund

I would not disagree with you more why you know like the beat's not going to get it why it's not going to get it I have a number one contender we have we have Mazvedal fighting he's not the number one contender he's fighting next week or whatever so there's no such thing as a number one contender

it's just like first of all first of all Mazadol is one of the biggest trials in the sport second of all the champion called him out so there's your second point that fight will sell no matter what well I'm saying but he's not no more contender

they're just trying to make money it's just that's all it is that's all it is I mean yeah and Zabit is a a beat's gonna sell a million pay per views after having not fought since November of 2019. He hasn't even been a five-round main event yet.

That's not my concern. My concern is just moving the featherweight division along. That's all my concern is. I don't care. I don't make an extra 100-K if the paper-view so well. You have Arnold Allen. Arnold Allen deserves that shot more than Zabit right now. If we're being honest after that one.

Max Hollywood versus Arnold Allen. Do it. I don't care. As long as the division keeps moving, that's all I care about. I don't make extra money of the pay-per-view sales. I just want- It will move. Max versus.

This is not Volkanovsky's fault. It's not Volcanovsky's fault. This is not like Bannamweight. Like Bannam weight's in a whole different predicament right now. Wait, wait. And what I wish they would do is say, hey, Volcanovsky, Ortega, chill out. You guys can prepare for your fight whenever. We're going to get new coaches.

We're going to get Piotr, Jan, and Al Jermaine Sterling in to beat the coaches. That'd be so much better. We're in the same predicament. I mean, yeah. It should have been what it is. Because also Algeman is recovering from neck surgery. while he's coaching tough. So like he's on the shelf there and Volcanowski and are taking to just fight.

In July, maybe the co-main event of not, I don't want to put a title on the co-made event of a non-title fight. Yeah, I agree with you, Mike. Should have been Yon, should have been Sterling Yon. Oh, if we were talking tough, I mean, I said flush tough down the toilet because tough screws up everything. Right. Yeah, but I guess it just checks all the boxes.

Like, like champion can't fight for a few months. Recruing from neck surgery. The drama's there. Two very good teams, ATT and the Sarah Longo and Eric Nixon of Extreme. So all of those are there. You got, you can get, A, you can get weeks of Matt Serra on television and Ray Longo, just yelling at fighters. You get the ATT guys. I'm sure Mazu doll would make an appearance.

Dustin Poir would probably make an appearance because they're all ATT. I agree. Mike, it should have been that, but it's not. We're here, and it doesn't make any sense to me. the more I think about it. Volcanovsky has been the ultimate company man the whole time. Like he's never done anything to make the UFC not trust him or question him. Like he's done everything right.

Like I'm not saying that the interim booking interim title will penalize Volcanowski. What am I taking away from Volkanowski? I'm not, I'm confused. I'm not taking away anything from Volkanowski. He's on the shelf. So I say run an interim. It doesn't take anything away from Volkanowski. at all.

But like I said earlier, like if they did it fine, like it wouldn't surprise me, we've seen worse interim title fights booked, but I don't think, I just don't think there's a need for one here. You know what I mean? Like you can use tough to build it, like whatever, who cares? Like the fight is what it is. If tough gets like gets us an extra 10,000 pay-per-view buys, great. Good for the fighters.

They get a couple extra bucks, but I don't know. I think there's divisions that probably need an interim title fight more than featherweight does. I agree. And also, if you look back at all the interim titles we've had, it's mostly because it's never been because the champion is coaching the ultimate fighter. It's always been, they're hurt. They can't get to the United States, you know, something like GSP blue is a, look, boy, is the ACL.

I guess feather, and then what, they created belts for headliners. Like when Pettis fought Holloway, they just needed a title at the top. So they just made one. They didn't need the featherweight. interim title because Josealdo had just won a UFC 200 or had won UFC 200 right the in a belt or number one contender or something

and then they just needed a belt that night so they just created it and the winner would fight Joseo so I don't like interim titles I don't like tough I just want them to fight in August or June oh I want to say interim titles so these gentlemen get paid more because these guys

um has you know I think they have bad contract so they They'll make a lot of money. They get more money coaching tough, too. So the end of the... They don't get that much. They don't get that much. At the end of the day, fighters just need more money.

There we go. It all comes back to that. Donald Allen and Max, that's a fun fight. I'm going to go to the YouTube comments real quick. The YouTube's. High Friends vibe is high. What does that mean, Jessica? I don't know.

Weird out. Friends's vibe is hot All right Here's the big one Which is the biggest fight this week So what do we got? UFC Vegas 20 is it 24?

Something like that I get all confused UFC Vegas 24 Robert Whitaker versus Kelvin Gasselm Finally We got one championship Who is

Wow I just wrote these down I exit out of my Christian Lee Christian Lee and who's he fighting? Nastyukin. Oh, that's right. That's my rule so much. And then we have one shit.

We got Blen-We got Belator. 257. That's Vadim Knavkov and Philadelphia's 2. Yep. And then we got- Cory Anderson versus the other guy, with a really long name. Yes, and I'm not going to,

I'm not pronounced, I'm not saying it because I don't know him. I just don't want to butcher his name and I'll feel bad for the rest of the week. If he wins, I'll learn to say it. I've been trying to say it. My mouth just came, put all those letters together.

And then, of course, we got Jake Paul versus Ben Ascran and, of course, Frank Mears on the other car as well. Oh, yeah. A whole bunch of all the weird fights. Anyway, Mike, if you can only watch one fight, you can only, starting tonight, because one on TNT2 is tonight in America.

If you can only watch one in the next seven days, which fight are you watching? this is such an interesting question it just depends on how you look at it like i would say for like my job for like outside of my job for casual fans who want to talk to me about fighting and just because i want to see it because it's such a circus in the most fun way possible it's it's it's paul versus askeran it just is like i'm not thrilled about saying those words out loud but it's just it's the correct answer. It's my answer. It's that fight because that's what everyone's

that's what everyone's going to be talking about for like the next week. So that's the one. I just, I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm curious. And when I have no idea what's going to happen in something, that's usually the answer. So I'll go with that. But all those other fights you mentioned are really good and really interesting.

But it's got to be the boxing match. Casey, you pick a Bellator? Of all the fighters, fighting this week and Nimcov is the best fighter. So if someone who actually cares about... Do you think he's better than Robert Whitaker? In his weight class?

I mean, rank... No, just pound for pound rankings. Would you put... Oh, I'm not going to do pound for pound, but ranked within his division? Well, he's the champion, so of course he's... Like, no one's higher than him. Well, I'm talking about worldwide.

Like, worldwide, I would have Nimcov, about even with Whitaker worldwide, like where Whitaker would be in the worldwide middle-weight rankings. He's... Whitaker would probably be... In my, Whitaker's number two behind Izzy in my mind. I have him behind Musasi, though.

Musassi? Okay. I don't have an issue with that. Yeah. No, don't talk bad about him. It's two A to me. And I think Nimcov's that good, too. And that's why I'm really excited about him fighting Phil Davis again.

I didn't see the first match. I remember when Phil Davis lost a Nimcov, I just saw the highlights. I was like, oh, Phil Davis must be falling off. He lost to some guy I've never heard of, you know? And it turns out, no, he lost the freaking Nimcov, you know, guys we just didn't know how good he was at the time when he beat Phil Davis. So I'm really interesting to rematch. I think Phil Davis is, I think he's the most underrated light heavyweight in the world.

He's still easily at top 10. And on his best days, he's the top five light heavyweight. So that's why I'm really excited about Nimcaught Phil Davis. But of course, the degenerate and me agrees with my keg. Of course, it's the freak show match between this this total bro jock YouTube amateur boxer. versus a retired UFC fighter who is literally the worst striker, maybe ever to be like a ranked fighter in the UFC. Name a worst striker ever in the UFC.

And that's who's fighting in a boxing match after he's retired and after he has like a new robotic hip placed in or something. That guy that fought, um, Ike on Fight Island, that threw the kick punch. What's his name? A ranked fighter? Yeah.

Oh no, he wasn't ranked. Yeah, yeah. The quarter he was like, he threw a kick punch. You can't throw a kick punch in a fight. I mean, and like this, and like that's what, I mean, Ascran, I think, actually I think Ascran is such an underrated MMA fighter. I think people, you know, just look at his last, you know, two fights.

He goes, oh, you go submitted. Yeah, UFC. Yeah, you know. But I think Aschon was an amazing MMA fighter, but he is literally the worst striker ever to have a ranked number by his name in the UFC ever. Fair. Fair play. And I just, and of course, that's a fight.

want to see because like that fight makes no sense now what i paid 70 bucks to see it i don't know that's a different story yeah that's uh based off of this week though this past weekend celebs cross going into a different world was very interesting this past weekend uh we had of course at rasselmania we had bad bunny who was apparently the greatest wrestler who ever lived That was pretty good. He was pretty good. And then Logan Paul, who sold a stunner better than 50% of the world could sell a stunner. So, yeah, it was an interesting day for celebs jumping into another world.

They're not part of it. But, oh, I hate to agree with you guys, but I have to be with you. Just being at that press conference, because I was at that whatever you want to call it, press thing, I were like, crap. I have to watch this now, don't I? Like, I am in. You got me. But I will say there are a lot of interesting storylines on these next few on the UFC Bellator 1 cards because we got, of course, And Jarlovsky, Chase Sherman.

That fight is that fight is happening, right? Am I crazy? Okay. I was just trying to remember. I'm like, I know those two have a fight. Are they against each other? Jukar closed Jeremy Stevens rules. Tracy Cortez and Anthony Birdchak are also fighting on the prelons.

Two fighters that represent Arizona. They fly the Arizona flag very high. And Casey, you always bring him up in our fantasy matchmaking. Alexander Romanov returns on the preliminary card this weekend. He's planning Juana Spino. I hate that fight. Juanisino is so handsome. He's so handsome.

I don't want him to get beat up. If you watch. I love looking at that, man. We have the clip out there. You see on Fight Island they put the hats on the table for, like, fighters to wear if they want. And he puts, he sits down and he puts the hat on, and then he keeps adjusting and adjusting. He has the hat literally on the last clip and he puts it on and it just sits on his head like this. Like it won't.

It can't get it on his head. His head is so big. And then on the Bellator card, no one's talking about it because it's and it's unfortunate. Is this not Paul Daly's retirement fight? Oh, yeah. I saw that. I didn't even realize Paul Dade was on this card. That's a tough fight.

He's fighting Saba Hamazi and I think Paul Dela is going to crush him. I think so too. I think Paul Daly is going to walk away with the W. and this is his last Drew Butz also on this card Yeah Yeah This is Raymond Daniels is on this

Oh yeah the rematch The net shot of all nut shots The rematching it Yeah Pedro Carvalio is on Pedro Carvalio is all the way On the prelims of this card Dude

Saul Rogers is Saul Rogers from Matt Brunella on this card This fight card is so good And no one's talking about it JJ and J.J. And Carvado is fine J.J. Wilson

He's a legit prospect too I like J.J. both in. He's really good. It's a scrap. And then of course, you're like, Abdul Razak, Al Hassan's on the UFC card. Violent Bob Ross returns. It's Jessica Panay versus Lupita's going to go down on this card too. So it's, uh, Austin Hubbard is the guy that who did he, he's the one that made that guy quit on the stool, right?

Max Rochstoff. Yes, that's right. So lots of interesting storyline for probably the diehards, but you know Jacob Paul Ben asked. was getting out all the eyeballs. Of course. Of course. So, what's wrong of us? We have all these amazing

lifelong martial artist at the pinnacle of the sport facing each other in the octagon, in the belletro cage, in the one cage, but they're like, nah, let's watch this YouTube guy versus a retired guy. Also, because you brought it up, Casey, tapology, not

has worldwide like heavyweight rankings. I'm assuming these. are based off of like fan interactions. Yeah. I don't quite know how tapology rankings work. They have Nemcov the 17th best light heavyweight in the world. Oh, no, no.

Their rankings are way off. They're ranking, yeah, because they're all fan rankings. Yeah, like Douglas Lima isn't even the top 10 in Walter whites. Like Musasi's like ranked like outside the top 10 too. So don't, yeah, their rankings are, yeah, it's all popularity based. He's right above Paul Craig and he's below Jamal. There you go. God.

I don't hate the top five though. Yon, Glover, Dom, Ratchik, and Jiri. I'd probably, I would throw Vedeem in the top five, but I don't have any issue with that top five either. Anyway. Yeah, once you get past top five, then it gets really bad. Magamette and Goliath sitting at seven, though.

I saw this comment. I just, I liked it. What joke did you ruin? I don't know. I don't know. I'm interested, though. But thank you. I appreciate that.

Mike, what's your favorite Jurassic Park based off of this YouTube commenters? Handsome Boy. Oh, the original. I agree. The original. I agree. Julia Chuggerman says, handsome boy.

Yeah. Damn straight. Oh, look at us. Handsome boys. Here we go. A little bit back to Connor. Joseph Boza. Is this whole Conover's dust and thing just a publicity stunt to make us by U.S. 264?

UC-257 did 1.6 million buys because that card rocked. When I first saw all this going down, I was a... I could see arguments from both men because Connor's like, well, you didn't tell me where my 500th, half a million was going. So if I'm a businessman, I get it, but I'm not a businessman. So if you publicly say you're going to announce you're going to give half a million and then you don't, that's bad optics also because didn't Habib give promise in the cage and then like eight days later gave 100K to Dustin's camp after selling his shirt.

Like it was a quick turnaround and there was like he did it. He came through with it. And then Dana, I think, matched him. So, oh, I hated. I was in the middle of moving when all this was going down. So I wasn't following it live. Our good colleague Alex Savas was the one making all the Twitter graphics and controlling all this. And it seems really weird and gross to me.

But Mike, what was your first? First reaction was when you were seeing all of this play? out of the plan for those and for those of you to live on a rock apparently dust and paulier and con well not apparently just point connor came to an agreement that connor would donate five hundred thousand dollars to the good fight foundation which is dust and porre's charity uh after their fight at u s two 57 in january connor mcgregor made a prediction that he would front kick eddie alvers and finish him in the in the trilogy fight dust and poory said that's a cool prediction you also predicted you

would give our foundation 500k and then your camp went silent Connor then said, well, you didn't tell me where it was going to go. I'm not just going to give you 500K without knowing where this money is going. And then they were going back and forth. Obviously, it drummed up a lot of interest in the fight. But is this all a publicity stunt, Mike? I don't know if he'll go as far as publicity stunts, but it turned into something that, you know, created more heat.

Connor seems to be more excited. He, you know, sent a message to Ariel today, say, and I sign my boat agreement. I'm going to kick this guy's ass, something to that effect. But listen, we got more heat on it. Now, you know, this is not, you know, the nice guy McGregor. We're not going to see a bunch of guys trading, you know, charitable donations and hot sauce up at the press conference. We're going to see a bunch of guys trading insults and maybe some pushing and shoving up at the press conference when they face off.

There's not going to be arms around each other posing for pictures at the press conference. the Ceremony Awayans, there's going to be some heat or there's going to be some heat on this one. There's going to be some sizzle on the stake. So any way to get attention brought to the fight, yeah, I don't know if it was like a complete publicity stunts, but I think it was a bad look for everybody involved. I was a bad look for, you know, conceptually for Connor, because now his character's being called into questions, bad look for Porier putting it out to the public. And I, I truly believe that by the time this fight happens,

I don't know if cooler heads will prevail, but the 500,000 will go to the Good Fight Foundation. I know for a fact, like, I'm not going to say no for a fact, but I'm pretty confident that this will all be settled from the donational standpoint, but cool. We get more heat on a fight. I don't like the direction they've taken to get there, but the fight's more interesting now.

Casey, what were your initial reaction to the Tom Fullery that played out on Twitter? Dustin Poyer has a legitimate charity. It's like, I don't know, it's, it's not like a fake charity. It's official charity to register and all that crap. Connor said he was going to pay, pay up. This isn't publicity. What I think Dustin's going to just, all of a sudden,

Dustin's like this hype man kind of like and just, you know, just throwing these, he's going to put his whole reputation out there of his charity and himself out there just to, you know, sell some more paper views. I just don't think Dustin's that person. and if you are going to do a publicity saying you do it like the week of i don't know like you announce it at the at the press conference hey where's my money you know connor you know i don't know i you know just dustin that that's connor made a promise and dustin's like hey you know what's going on that's all i don't and yeah i don't think it makes dustin look bad no i'm just to play devil's advocate

because i honestly don't have a horse in this race because i don't and to be fair none of us know the exact truth. This is all just like. But we know Connor didn't pay the 500,000, right? That's what they have to do it. We know why, but we were not in any of the meetings. We are not in any of the conversations. We're just not. So if Connor says, hey, I just want to know where this is going. If you can show, hey, I'm going to build 600 playgrounds and you have those plans in place, sure, I will give you $500,000. But if you're just saying, hey, put $500,000 in this funds that we will use over the span of 10 years, maybe he just doesn't, is not as,

comfortable doing that. Maybe he wants proof, documented proof, that his thing's going to do. That's not a donation then. That's not a donation. That's like, that's fine. That's fine. And again, I'm playing devil's advocate because you weren't in the conversations. Mike wasn't in the conversation and I wasn't in the conversation. None of us know what these conversations led to

because I, what I forgot to say is Conner's manager Auditare said that his family and Dustin's family had dinner together in Salt Lake, which Dustin did not dispute. So there were talks and I, so I don't know where the miscommunication or where the dialogue fell apart.

I don't know. None of us know. We have Dustin's side and a lot of people hate Connor and hate the UFC, so they're going to join Dustin's side right out of the gate without even hearing the other side. There's a lot of Connor fans, as I said at the beginning, that Connor can do no wrong. He walks on water and can turn water into wine.

And they immediately side with Connor. Turns water into whiskey. And I am saying, I am saying I do not know what is going on because I wasn't there. in any of these conversations. So I'm not going to try to guess. If Connor wants proof that he's going to build a million playgrounds, then that's him. It's his money.

It sucks. And it's terrible optics. And it's a charity that is a proven charity that the UFC gave Justin an award for his charity. Yeah. Casey, you and I were there when they filmed. We didn't film it because they were shooting for UFC fight pass so we couldn't film it. But we were there. We saw him get the plaque or the trophy or whatever it was.

So we know it's happening. I just don't, we don't know. I don't like taking sides on an argument over Twitter A because I think that's silly and I'm an adult and I don't like taking sides of a social media feud. I also don't understand people that respond to tweets and Instagram comments. I think that's silly too. I don't know. I want to hear them talk about it in person rather than through the internet. Mike looks like you got something to say.

Look, there's, no, I mean, this is the, this comparison that popped to. in my head as this is going on has nothing to do with charity, but this is kind of like something that I thought of because some people are just like, yeah, you know, here, I trust you, here's the bunny, go put it towards whatever you want. And there's some people who are just more cautious. Like, for instance, like my wife's boss, she works for, she manages like a periodontal office, but her boss is into cars. So he owns like a small car dealership. And on my days off, when there's nothing going on, if I'm available, like, I will drive to, you. I will drive to to different places and like pick up cars that he bought and drove and drive them back.

So like sometimes, you know, we'll go and the deal will be done. And the guy's just like, yep, here's the keys. See you later. Safe travels. But on Thursday before between the links, I went down to the Boston area and picked up a car. The guy comes out, full mask, like the check had already cleared. It was already in his bank account. But the guy was so paranoid about like who was getting it.

Like he needed to see RIDs. Like he needed to see everything. like he wanted to take video of the car and like go around and check everything out like to make sure that like when it landed like he wasn't responsible for any damage or anything like he was like super paranoid about everything so instead of us going and picking up the car that her boss ought to like already paid for like we were there for an extra 45 minutes like answering this guy's questions and him like going after like some people are just like they're more careful they're more paranoid when it comes to this stuff like and i understand that it's charity and stuff but for connor like maybe he just wants to see where it is. And then on the other end, like Daniel Cormier was talking about this on Monday, like there's a company that sponsors the wrestling team that he coaches and they travel and go on trips to compete in wrestling tournaments. And the guy who sponsored them, like never asked for an itemized receipt, but they make sure they itemize like every dime of where that money is going and they send it to this guy because they're cautious on the other end. So some people are just more

cautious than others. Connor just wants all the information. She wants to see it. He wants to make sure everything's official. So I don't have an issue. Like, I don't think either one is right here. Like, both don't look great in the situation. But I understand where both are coming from. You know what I mean?

Like I said, it's apples and oranges. It's cars and charity. But some people are just more cautious and careful than others. That's kind of how I look at it. And I think we can all agree that this whole thing of like, Connor probably wants proof. Dustin Poyer, if I gave Dustin Poyer, If I had $500,000 and I gave Justin Porre that money to his charity,

I am very confident. I am one percent confident that all of that will be used in that charity. Like, we can all agree with that, right? Like, Dustin is not going to be one that's going to take a cent of that for himself. Conner is just a weird dude. Connor is probably just a weird dude and just wants to know, okay? Like, that's probably the case. As he says, well, listen, maybe.

You must be new to him as he said. Connor wants to itemized receipt for $500,000, $5,000, but he dropped over a million dollars for a watch that has two people humping on it. Yeah. He's a weird dude. Maybe they agreed, be like, this money is going to go towards, you know, building a gym.

I think that's what it was. It was like building a gym in the area. So maybe he just wants to like make sure that it is building a gym. Like it's something he believed in. Like, I don't see it. Like, I don't see a huge problem with it. The problem I have with all the... Where did Dustin mess up? Where did Dustin mess up?

Putting it out... I don't think putting it out in public was a good idea. I agree. I agree 100%. What makes Connor look bad in this situation isn't the fact that the donation hasn't been made yet. I don't think there's... Sometimes things take time. So I don't have a huge giant issue with that whole situation because I feel like it's going to get done at some point and that's half the battle. The problem I have with the whole tweets, and again, like Jose said, we don't know what happened.

the fact that Dustin's team has reached out to Connor and he was quote unquote ghosted. Like they're not getting any response. Like that's where I have the issue. And again, I don't know what the hell is happening. I don't know if there was ghosts. I don't know if there were messages saying. But the fact that if that's true, if what we are to believe on Twitter is actually the case, them not responding to the messages is what I have an issue with.

Yes, because for all we know, Casey, they were trying to send itemized receipts. and they just couldn't reach Connors team maybe that is true we again but again we don't know and I don't want to take sides until I know all of the facts I also hate arguments playing out on Twitter between grown men that fistfebred

I hate that we're talking about this shouldn't have it was either we talk about this or Paul Ascran so it's a lose-lose situation I don't think it's a publicity stunt either no it is not publicity stunt but I do think Connor is taking advantage of the situation

and making it a publicity stunt, which is 100%. There you go. Opportunistic Connor. Oh yeah. And he never loses. Opportunistic Connor. All right, there it is. That's funny.

Here's a fun one. Let's talk fighter pay. Oh, great. Another one from MMG 2K20. Has John Joseph's made a mistake? baking and a light heavyweight title before negotiating a contract for him to fight a heavyweight. Also, though I agree, all fighters should get paid way more than they do.

Why are fighters signing contracts in the first place if they are not satisfied with the money? Surely it makes sense to ask for more money before signing a legally binding contract. To answer the second one, Casey, I have a fight. You're going to play a fighter that wants more money. So when I offer you the money, you're going to try to get more money out of me, okay? Casey, here's a contract for $5,000. How much money are you making off this? No, you have to sign this contract if you want to fight in my company.

Are you asking for more money? Yeah, if you're making $50,000 off me, making $5,000, then we have a problem. Oh, so you want more than $5,000? Do you want this money that Casey doesn't want? Yes. Yes, you do because you want to fight in the UFC. Oh, you see. Cajee, I'm a hungry newcomer.

You scab. Sign your union card, heck. Sign your union card. I'll take it. I'll take it. Give me a pen. Casey, we tried to get to. Oh, and by the way, breaking news, Casey lied in afraid to fight.

Mike, heck, real fighter wants to step up on short notice and take a fright. He's great, isn't he? His foot was blown up. His knee was torn ACL. We offered Casey the money. There's a million ways to turn down and fight and not taking a fight is one of them. See, that's how that works. Anyway, is John Jones making a mistake by vacating the title before negotiating a contract to fight a heavyweight?

Mike, I'll let you start. No, because he has money. He has lots of it. So he could never fight again and be fine. So he's, he just happened. I mean, he's in a position where he can take this stand right now. yeah so good on him for taking it and i think a lot of and here's the problem because i go back to the jimmy flick interview like with this whole thing and just hearing his reasons

about it like and how he said like fighters don't have the the balls to unionize they're too stupid to unionize and stuff like that and like i just it just kind of sucks man like every every fighter should be should be getting more money i think we can all agree agree with that but I have no problem with the way John Jones is in the situation. In fact, I almost commend him for the way he's handling this situation. This is great. Like, you have money, you have position, you have power, you vacated the title, and you have the fans buzzing for a fight that everybody seems to want to see right now. So keep your feet in the damn dirt. Dig in. Dig in longer. I mean, you got time, you got money. You got things going on. Like, just wait till you get yours, son. I applaud what he's doing right now. I think there's a lot. I think there's a lot. I think there's. This is great. And I don't think it was a mistake at all that he vacated a light heavyweight title. Because what would he have done? He would have had a light heavyweight title fight.

And we'd still be having these conversations later. He's just decided not to delay the inevitable and just do it now. Good on him. And he's doing a damn good job with it right now. Casey, is he making a mistake, John Jones? John Jones doesn't get enough credit for vacating the light heavyweight belt because he could have just held under that thing. And then he could have just made that division completely stagnant. and Jan Blahewicz would not have had this time to become Jan Blahovich,

the Polish power champion. So I really commend John Jones for that. So no, he's not making any mistakes. Maybe if he had the title, he would have a little more leverage over the UFC kind of because he's, you know, he's holding up a division. But no, I don't think he's a mistake. And, yeah, get your money, John. I agree for everything Mike said.

I agree. Yeah, but you know what happened? You know what happened if he held on to the title and tried to make this fight happen? They would have just, they would have taken the bell from him. So he just, I mean, he just said, screw that. They're not taking the bell for me. I mean, I'm giving it myself because that's what they would have done, 100%. And I think fans would have held it against John, too, for holding up to the division too.

So that's why I think this is a smart move by John. So, yeah, dig in, like you said. Okay, it's fly through these. Oh, that's a long one. Wow. From Tristan Gordet. Do you think the dispute to Con McGregor and Justin Porre is just a way of Bill?

Oh, wait. We already read the picture. So no. Oh, we are? No, so we pretty much just talked about all. Okay, we talked about that. Sorry. Here we go.

M.M.A. is not a career, but an opportunity, Tristan Gordet. After hearing Jimmy Flicks' interview with Mike Heck, does Dana's claim of fighting an M.M.A. is not a career, but an opportunity ringed truer than ever. It sounded like Jimmy expressed those same statements as well. So, Mike, this is your interview. Do you agree with what Mr. Tristan Gordette has to say?

100%. I've thought that way for a long time. Like, look at where, I mean, you were talking about WrestleMania earlier in WWF and stuff. Like Vince McMahon had the same thing back in the 80s. Like even in the early 90s when we had the crappy gimmicks, it was always like, we're going to give you a chance, kid. Like, it's up to you. It's up to you to sell the tickets.

It's up to you to get over. It's up to you to do those things. WW ran off of that formula for years and years and years and years. Had some success. Some stars broke out. Others did not. UFC is doing the same thing right now. Like, WW and pro wrestling has been around a lot longer than MMA and the UFC,

but it's exactly the same thing. And eventually, like, you know, guaranteed contracts and competition and things like that, getting bigger names over to the competition. That changed the business forever. And I feel like, you know, and even the pro-wrestlers never unionized. They tried. There were conversations. They never did.

But eventually, yeah, eventually, yeah, because he stooge everybody out and Jesse Venture and such. But eventually the business boomed and the way business was done, not just in WWE, but other places, created opportunities for other guys. And it changed the way business is done. Wrestlers make a lot more money. Wrestlers get a lot more opportunity. That's eventually what could be with the U.F. and Bellator and MMA, et cetera, once the competition gets better and starts getting even bigger and bigger names, and I think Bellator has done a good job.

I think PFL is doing a good job and one's been doing a good job, getting some of these bigger names over. But once these companies start to get to that next level, I think the business will improve. I don't know if it's going to change like the outlook and how fighters are being paid and what's in contracts. But I think time will eventually tell. But yes, short answer, yes. It is an opportunity. It is not a career. It can get there,

but it's up to the fighters to get over somehow, and it's not easy to do. Casey, what say you? Oh, yeah, like Dana calling an opportunity. That's just a way for him to, you know, pay them less. But, yeah, that's all that is. It sucks. It sucks. Dude, one of those,

one of the biggest mysteries in the 15 years I've been working in MMA. Outside of the top, you know, two or three fighters in every division, I do not understand how fighters, how professional fighters make a living. And I just don't understand. And Jimmy Flick kind of explained it perfectly. It's like, I have a full-time job.

I have a family. I have kids. And I have to train to fight the toughest fighters in the world with zero guarantees. Like I can do all of this, train my butt off, miss my family, break down my body. And then the week of the fight, oh, my opponent gets COVID. All right, got to go home. No money. because you don't have it because you're too stupid to sign the union card

so you have no guarantees. So it sucks to be a professional fighter. And it sucks to be a professional fighter like on Jimmy Flicks level because I kind of say a lot. It's a curse to be a really good fighter but not a great fighter. And I think Jimmy Flicks is a really good fighter who would be a lots of exciting fights. I don't know if he'll ever be a top five guy or whatever. But he was always giving me that range where like,

yeah he would still have to keep a day job to be able to have any financial stability for his family and that that's just incredibly stressful and just hard on the body and i get it i 100% get it and this has nothing to do of jimmy flick being scared of any flyaway or you know you know you saw it all heck you know all that kind of crap um it's just um watch mike ex interview of jimmy flick i don't know he breaks it down pretty well and um yeah it's It also didn't surprise me that it was that Jimmy Flick retired because Mike, didn't you have an interview after his last win where one of his quotes was like, you know, I have a 401k job. I have land. I make a lot of money outside of fighting.

And so when I read Jimmy Flick retires, I'm like, yeah, like, didn't catch me by. He's the exact. He's my age. Like we always talk about how like Casey interviews fighters, Cidj's and you, Mike, you've been a few fighters your age. He's 30. I'm 30. And he's already got a lot, the foundation laid for a long lucrative life. So if he doesn't need to get punch in the face to do that, why not?

Why not take it? I also, his interview in the ring when he made his announcement. I can't remember. I apologize, Mike, maybe you know who shot the video. I wanted to give them a shout out. But he's like, I don't want to be Connor or Demetrius Johnson. I thought that was a very good way to lay it out. I'll say.

Yeah, he just, it was just good on him, man. Like, I think a lot, I think this will be a catalyst for some change along the way. Like, maybe not for like a union or fighter pay or anything like that, but I think fighters are going to take a deeper look into what they do and kind of determine whether the juice is actually worth the squeeze at the end of the day. So good on him.

That was an unforgettable interview. And, I mean, it was tough. It was tough to listen to and tough to watch his reactions. and it was heartbreaking. It really was. The part where he was talking about his dad, how he wanted his, what was his phrasing?

Like basically he wanted his dad back in his life or something like that. I can't quite remember, but it didn't work out. There's a comic book that I just read the other day that is that. Like the kid killed himself trying to make a football team.

His dad didn't care at all. And so the kid just shoved down his dad's throat. But that was an alarm. alarming in the sense that it was made me think about a lot of things anyway, go ahead, sorry about that, go ahead. What's our next to case? Yeah, I think it's just,

and I also love that Flakey interview too, especially because we just find out there's so many reasons that fighters fight, and that's why I kind of, I love this sport. There's so many reasons. Some guys fight because I want the money. Some guys fight because they, you know what? I actually like hurting people,

and I shouldn't like, and this is the best way I can do about going to jail. And Jimmy Flick kind of, you know, said, you know, he kind of, he was going for all the success in Mixed Marshall Arts to kind of get closer to his dad and it didn't work out. So he's like, well, that's not, I'm not closer to my family. It's not helping my immediate family. My wife and kids right now is making my home life worse.

And it's just stress. And yeah, it's just, yeah. Being a mid-level UFC fighter is a tough, tough living. Yeah. I like this question. Hall of Fame, Andy Burton. Andy Burton. If and when do you think will you get an MMA Hall of Fame?

Never. Never, never, never. A physical building? Never. There's not even a pro. There is like a million pro wrestling hall of fames. There's never going to be a definitive. This UFC Hall of Fame is the same thing as the WW Hall of Fame.

It's up to one guy that determined. who goes in there. And there is no UFC actually a Hall of Fame. It's literally just a hallway. I mean, it's actually is a true hallway of fame. Yeah. That's pretty funny.

If great, well, and WWE has a warehouse that a lot of people consider like the actual Hall of Fame because it has all the props in memorabilia ever, like pretty much ever. And then a lot of, like Casey, you've been going to Bowling PWG a lot, and I can't remember her name, but one of your friends that makes a lot of the gear

for the fire. Isla, defyla. Yes, Ila. She makes like the Youngbugs gear, right? And she makes like Sheena Bazelers. Chan Beazers is not the Young Buck, but some other wrestlers, yeah. Right. Well, you know, Robbie Fox, our friend of Barstool, he used to make a lot of shirts and stuff for them that they would sell on pro wrestling teas.

But anyway, it's up to the wrestlers to make those. So they get to decide what they do with the memorabilia. So a lot of the famous things we've seen over in the WW are like lost in time. UFC probably does like they don't have props and stuff but a lot of their designs are their own designs that they sell like the Robert Whitaker symbol that you can't get on UFC.com you got to go to Robert Whitaker. Anyway, if great fights are put in the Hall of Fame, why aren't great finishes? They kind of go together. Yeah, I also don't make great fights. Yes.

But like if like would you put Dan Henderson's knockout of Michael Bisping in a Hall of Fame just like that moment? I don't know. You don't put really good double plays into the baseball Hall of Fame. That's a great point. You don't. Casey, what's your favorite double play? Name a double play that should be in the Hall of Fame.

Oh, I can't, I can't name one in particular. There's so many good ones. Dude, the double play is my favorite play at all sports. I just love the double play. I just think it's beautiful. Classic six, four. 4-3, 463, or what do you got?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would have to be something involving those, like, mid-90s Cleveland Indians teams with Roberto Alamar and Omar Viscale. It'd have to be something from those two gentlemen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a big fan of. But then, yeah, yeah, I don't know, I like outfield double plays. I'm a big fan, most of the guys play outfield. If you were to put three fighters who were retired into the UFC Hall of Fame right now, who would it be?

I would put D.C. René Gator and Habib. Randy's already in there. Randy's already in the Hall of Fame. Oh, three recent retires? Oh, okay. D.C. Habib, obviously. Frank Shamrock. Frank Shamrock.

Okay. No. Yeah. Frank Shamrock 100%. Yeah. Frank Shamark, three times, basically. Yeah. 100%.

I don't know. I don't. Ran, he is the. who's one that's Mike who's a wrestler not in the WV Hall of Fame it was Randy Savage was the big omission for years but he just he went in like like what

10 years ago who is Owen Hart is not in Owen is the big one we know why yeah the family and Bruno Bruno San Martino wasn't in for for a long long time I think

Lex Lugar but we know but we kind of know why Bischoff's now in there. Bishop. Sean Michaels is going to be in it four times, but we can't get freaking Owen Hart in it. But we know why Owen Hart's not going to be in.

Yeah. Yes. The Rock will be there eventually. Okay, outside of D.C. Habib, who are some current retirees? Max. Connor. No, no, sorry.

I've retired. Oh, retired. Steffat Shrew. I don't think Stevent Drew is a Hall of Famer. Oh, you're just asking about recent retire. Oh, yeah. Sorry, yeah, the second part. The recent retirees that would be in the Hall of Fame.

I can't not think of any right now. I know Jenz Polver needs to be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, Jen's supposed to me. Oh, that's, I forgot about him. But guys, like Ricardo Lamos, they just don't quite make it, you know? No. Gostristen's not retired anymore. But is he in the Hall of Fame for a fight, right?

Like, they put his fight with John Jones in the Hall of Fame. It will be or it is already. He could be, he could have multiple fights as far as just, him in the D.C. fight, I think, was just as good too. That was a great fight. Houston, yeah. Recent retirees going on the Hall of Fame. Am I forgetting someone?

Like, is Misha Tate Hall of Fame? Well, I know she's coming back. Well, is Misha Tatea Hall of Famer? She will be. You think so? Yeah. I think she should get him. Even that fight against Holly, that fight was a great fight.

The Julie Kedzi fight was a great fight. Mm-hmm. Strike horse. They don't count strike force. She's just, she'll be in, for sure. Um, I can't even think of who was retired recently. Yeah, I don't know why my mind's kind of blanking right now. Like, has been gone in yet?

He'll go in. He's already in, right? Yeah. He's in. Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Casey, we worked the red carpet when we interviewed him. When he went in, that was like the last big one.

Oh, yeah, you're right. Is GSP retired? Is GSP retired? Oh, Henry Suhudo. Oh, geez, Louise, yes. Yeah, he'll be in there for sure. Yeah, Sehudo. Crow cop, pro cop's not in it yet.

He's got to be in it. Crocote. You have to include his, UFC career alone, no, but its entire MMA career, of course. Without a doubt. Also, Dana loves Crocop. Colcom.

Yeah. Kana has a ton of respect for Krolet. Rashad Evans? Is he in it? Yeah. He was, he was getting inducted when the earthquake happened. I thought he was. Oh, is he only speaking?

Was he being inducted or was he speaking? I don't know. I don't remember. I could be wrong. Because Rich Franklin just went into. Chad Mendez, does he belong in it? See, I think he's that kind of that Ricotta Lama's area where like you were just a really good fighter. But what about that fight with Aldo, though?

Well, that's a great fight. I'm talking about just him alone. Yeah, you're not wrong. Josh, no, Josh Barnett's not retired, but I don't think he's going to go in. He probably should go in the pioneer one, but, you know, there's politics. Markart, Lesnar? Lesnar would definitely go in. Yeah, Lesnar will 100% go in.

They'll name a building after. Yeah. Mark Whart's that Marquard is that La Mons-Mendez area, too, I think. Yeah. All right. That's fair. Cool. Okay.

And we're going to do this one is a quickie Because it says quickies and we'll wrap it up with this one Quickies Matt Bradbury If Amanda Neers is booked in a Bannamweight fight With Frank Yeager Who would you pick to win? Not Prime Frankie, modern Frankies Not Prime.

Because that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. Like Prime Frankie, of course, but I don't know. I am not going to answer that question. That's not funny. Thoughts on Chuck Delt L fighting again. Is he fighting again? Is he?

I hope not. Chuck Redel versus Logan Paul. Dude, probably. Probably a boxing match, right? He's not going to do M.M.A. again. I would have seen Chuck Ladell face like one of the Paul brothers in a kickboxing match. Of course, MMA, they lose. But kickboxing me, I think, I want to see Logan Paul have an MMA fight because he was a high-level wrestler.

He was a very, like, we've seen him wrestle. and scramble with Costa. Costa? Like obviously Costa got the better of him but Logan Paul held his own in there for sure. He had he's not wrestled in a long time. He's a strong guy. I don't know his cardio would do. Our own

Damon Martin like he knows better than us because Damon loves amateur wrestling and I like it from the outside looking in. I don't know your guy's level but like Damon follows and like lives it and the state of Ohio like wrestling is king. And so

So Damon can tell you a lot more of Logan's credentials in the wrestling world, but he was impressed with him in high school. So I, when Damon tells me someone's a good wrestler, I believe. Yeah. On one to 10, one being no chance in hell, speaking of Miss McMahon, 10 being definitely happening. What are Leon's chances of finishing Nate Diaz taking into account he's left elbow Larry? Yes. Get that one to stick. And naked's cut and eventually Nate's chin is going to go.

Mike, one at 10. This is happening. I mean, finishing, I'll say a five, only because I'm not saying like TKO or a submission or a knockout. Like if the fight gets stopped, it's going to be the same way the Mazol fight ended, where a doctor comes in, the cuts too bad. So because Nate gets cut so often, I'm not going to rule it out. But if you take that out of the equation, it's a two. How many times has Nate lost by cut?

Is it just a Maswana fight? Yeah. See, I think this Nate losing by cuts is I think we have a lot of carryover from Nick Diaz Because people forget that Nate fought Pettus just like less than like two months Or two and a half months before that And Nate had a giant, that was the same cut

That opened up in the Masrata fight It was literally this or whatever was right here right here It was the same exact cut from the Pettus fight that never healed up The one that Masrata opened up And like we talked about that. that after the fight, but people kind of forget that it was just, that cut literally wasn't healed up. So I don't, I think the idea that Nate gets cut all the time and the fights are stopped.

He gets cut up, but the fights aren't necessarily stopped. He's don't even stopped one time ever because it cuts. But yeah, of course, Leon's probably the heavy favorite going to this. So I give it a three. I will also, let me also add where this fight is taking place. It is taking place in Texas where there's just tomfoolery and skullduggery everywhere to quote the gray Jose young. So that's why I up that a little bit because of the cut because that commission and everyone

who's a part of that commission absolutely sucks. They're terrible. It could go either way. They could have a busted lip in those stuff to fight or Nate's eyeballs could be hanging out. And they're like, ah, keep it going. So I agree with you, Mike. You just don't know. The cut thing I'll say.

Scar tissue doesn't get better. He's been out for a while, though. It's a lot of time to hill. It's fair, but he does get cut a lot. Like, not by stoppage, but Nate bleeds a lot. And if he has that scar tissue over his eyes over, what, 15-year fight career and you're fighting a dude that his whole gimmick is to cut your face open with elbows,

I could see another stop. I agree with Mike. If it's going to be, if Nate is going to be stopped by Lynn Edwards, it'll be by something like that. I don't think we're going to see him get peeled off the canvas. And I don't, there's, I think the Leon Edwards submitting Nate Diaz is a zero percent chance if that happening. So the way this fight ends, I think is by a gash or Nate just beating the soul out of Leon in like rounds four and five. Yeah, it's either going to be like a dominant decision win for Leon or we're going to be so pissed off heading into the main event that something crazy happened and we're just so upset about it.

Five rounds, baby. I love it. I'll give it a, I'll give it a nine out of ten that something will happen. we'll be pissed off. How about that? I don't know what will happen. 9.99. Something's going to happen.

We're like, that was stupid. All right. Love it. We've gone on a way. We've gotten 25 minutes over time. Yeah. I got to switch everything up. We've got the Bellator Media Day coming up right after this.

Perfect segue. We have Bellator Media Day coming. Stay locked in on our YouTube channel after the Bellator Media Day. Mike, is your video? Is what the heck on YouTube this week or was it only podcasting? It's only podcast. I don't know why.

It's just weird. Some technical issues with like the intro and the segment. So we've already released two of those interviews. The Jimmy Flick interview is there. We released Stephen Thompson, which is a fun interview. And we get Julian Marquez. That should probably drop shortly. And Randy Koss is always fun.

New England and New England chat. He's just a blast. So yeah, that's a fun chat. him versus Adrian Yannas, that's the fight he wants in the most respectful way possible. And Costa's breakdown of the big fight this weekend was pretty, I liked it. I liked this breakdown. It was tremendous. And I liked one of your boys to breakdown too.

So speaking of that, our own also Alex Savage has also put together a little montage of all the fighters we've asked about this fight. It's a super cut, the fan-sided special as we call it because that was what we lived in Breedon for a while. she has an excellent super cut that she put a lot of time into on all the fighters giving their takes on the ask football fight so go watch that watch bell's media day and then go watch all of mike's interviews and then we got between the links tomorrow where jed meshew is fighting someone because jemishu's whole life is based on between the links and i have a life outside of that so anyway we'll see you next time next wednesday happy birthday aka You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.