MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Francis Ngannou's future, Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane, Dana White's reaction, Anthony Pettis' PFL run, Gervonta Davis's KO win, more

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

For this episode, Sporting News Senior Editor of Combat Sports Andreas Hale joins José Youngs and E. Casey Leydon to react to some of the biggest stories in MMA and boxing. Some topics include the recently announced interim #UFC heavyweight title fight between Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane, the futures of Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones, and Stipe Miocic, as well as the weekend winners from BKFC 18, Gervonta Davis' big win, and Vasyl Lomachenko's return to the win column. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Andreas Hale: @AndreasHale 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix Colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-by journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. What is up, everyone? We're live, pal. welcome everyone to another Wednesday edition of the ASI live chat. I am of course your host, Jose Youngst here with M.AFighting.com. It is 10.4 a.m. on Pacific Coast, 1.04 p.m. on the East Coast. Joining us this week, I've been wanting to have him back on since our first, the first time he was on.

It was almost a year ago. It's got to be almost a year ago. Maybe a little less. But the last time he was on, we talked pretty much everything other than MMA and boxing. pretty much mostly about hip-hop. Casey wasn't here, but welcome back, everyone. Sporting News is Andreas Hale. What's up, man? How are you? I'm good, man. Yeah, it's been about a year.

I think it was pandemic time, man. We haven't talked to a minute, so it's good to catch up. There's been a lot happening in the combat's world, boxing world, MMA world. It's been a lot happening in the hip-hop world, too. We can talk about that if you guys want to. I remember last time we went on this random tangent, Casey, where we compared J. Electronics to Ryan Hall,

And that was probably one of the more enjoyable conversations I've had ever on the A side. But Casey, how's life in Englewood? 6,000 million degrees like it is everywhere else in the world right now. It's a good muggy 74. So I got a refreshing, refreshing water here. And I'm like, I'm a cool, we use it with straw. I think it's great. I'm doing good.

Thanks for asking. Andreas, what's the weather in Las Vegas right now? Yo, it was cloudy yesterday. And it was still like 100 degrees and it rained. So it's like the rain came down and evaporated. Yeah, it evaporated on this way down, man. So it was a, it tied his balls out here. It's disrespectful.

But you're in Arizona. Like Arizona is completely disrespectful. So I'm envious to Casey right now. Yeah, me too. We got, we have a nice, the rest of the week, our low is 104. That's the lowest it will get for the whole week. And it will probably stay like that all the way up until Halloween, which is just, as you said, disrespectful. But you guys know the drill. You can ask any questions we want. It's not every time we, every episode, we get someone that also has his toes in the boxing world as deeply as Andreas does. There's a lot of boxing going on this past week. There's a lot of boxing coming up. There's a big heavyweight title fight at the end of July. So let me talk about that if you want too. So anything you want to ask, throw us, throw it our way. I'm sure Andreas will give some people an update on his project with E. Of course, Big E of the WWW. The last time he was on, he was the intercontinental.

champion. I don't believe he's the champion anymore, if I remember correctly, but he is not, yes. I didn't want to say that and not be wrong because I've been a little, now that pay-per-views are back in all these markets. I've missed a lot of professional wrestling these past few months, but we could talk about his project too, but Casey, what is our first question? To the questions. All right, here we go. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. All right, let's get to the big one. Yep, this is the one I figured we were going to talk about first. Andre's already shaking. It said, Derek Lewis versus Cyril Gahn for interim title.

Given Jones goes public about a big payday for heavyweight fight, Aganu asks in public, what are we doing wrong regarding fighter pay versus boxing? So when the UFC books, Derek Lewis versus Cyril Gahn, it is a mega flex toward Jones and Gano as a display of power. Do you agree? Change my mind. So, Andreas, a couple questions. Jones and Gano and Stepe.

Don't forget Steepay. And Steepa, yes. Stepe. Stipe is now the steepe is the forgotten man in this heavyweight title picture. So, Andreas, you started shaking your head before you started reading the question.

So when you heard, or you saw Brett Okamoto's tweet announcing Derek Lewis for the Cereal gone for the UFC interim heavyweight title at UFC 265 in Houston and August, what's your initial reaction? Get the F out of here. First and foremost. Like, listen, man, Michael Bisping,

Anthony Pettis, Robert Whitaker, Kane Velasquez, GSP, Matt Hughes, all those guys went nearly two years without a title defense. And gone who fought when? Three months ago? Yeah. Come on.

Come on. An interim title for what? What are we doing here? This is a flex of power. This is absolutely what it is. Cyril Gahn and Derek Lewis, I mean, look, I love to see the fight. This should just be a fight. This shouldn't be an interim title on the line.

What hell is the interim title mean? Look, I come from boxing where there's like too many goddamn belts. so I'd like to see less belts and now that they just create belts on the fly if a champion doesn't fight for three months like this is turning into boxing without the sanctioning bodies it's disrespectful man I'm gonna keep using that word

because this is so disrespectful to Enga I don't know if John Jones will ever get a title shot what are we doing here? I think the thing that also Francis brought up is he had already done enough to earn his number one contendorship once Steepay and D.C. were kind of holding up the division for three years

because they DC and Steep fought once a year against each other for three straight years. And in that time, Francis pretty much lapsed the division. And he had asked for an interim title shot on more than one occasion. He asked to fight Giresigno in Jacksonville for an interim title. It was very justifiable. And that was almost a, and I think so, Steepa knocked out DC U.S. 241 in August of what, 2019, if I remember correctly.

And then Giresigno fought Francis in May of 2020. And Francis asked for a time. And at that point, they hadn't announced the rubber match between DC and Steve A. Francis asked for an interim title. They said, no, we don't need it. We're not interested. Three months later, after winning the title, there's already an interim title. So Casey, I know you've talked about this a lot, but has any other thoughts crept into your mind after hearing this announcement.

Without sanctioning bodies, and I kind of keep telling this to people, there are no rules to a UFC belt. If the UFC Dana tomorrow just tweeted, oh, we're stripping Francis because, I don't know, whatever, they can do that. There's no rules. There's no rule book. There's nothing that says anything

that one year, six months, three months, you don't defend it in three days. We can take your belt. We can do anything. They can do whatever. They stripped Tony Ferguson for tripping on a cable that when he was on a UFC PR tour,

like he wasn't like on his own. He wasn't at a water park messing around or anything. He was doing work for the UFC promoting a fight. He injured himself, and they stripped him of the title. So, like, there's no rules to this. Unfortunately, the UFC belt as, as cool as it is and everything, everyone wants one. To me, it's still just a glorified employee of the month. Yeah, you get a good parking space.

That's about it. There's no, there's no rules. They can make him up. And there's a reason for that. So the UFC has options like this. they can just flex their power and disrespect, disrespect their own belt and disrespect Francis Nganu. Do you think this, Andreas, do you think this was a timing thing?

Like they wanted one more belt on that August card? Or do you think there's really something behind the scenes going on with Francis? More disrespect for Amanda Nunes, too. Sorry. Sure. There it is. More disrespect. More disrespect.

Sorry. Amanda Nunez can't headline a pay-per-view on the own for the title. We really need Cyril Gano, Derek Lewis. like they're selling tickets. Is that what we're doing? Again, is that what we're doing here? We couldn't wait another month for Ngano to vend his title. In all fairness, he deserves that, right?

Like, he at least has earned that. There's so many other fighters say, oh, I'm not ready or they get hurt. And Ganu waited all this time to get his title shot, destroyed Steve Miochich, and he's asking for another month. It's not like he's asked for another year. Cyril Ghan and Derek Lewis, again, a great fight,

but why does it have to be for a title? And if it serves, if it serves Nunez and people, for the title, that's even more ridiculous. I don't think, let's be honest, you could put three or four title fights on a card, right? But, you know, most people buy pay-per-views for the main event. Or the die-hard's buy just because

it doesn't matter who's fighting. Right. Putting an interim title on your poster, doesn't make me sit there and go, ooh, I need to spend $75 or whatever the hell it is to buy a pay-per-view because I want to see Derek Lewis and Cyril Gaon fight for the title? Cut it out. It's ridiculous.

Disrespectful. It wasn't ticket sales You know the UFC ain't going to have problems selling tickets in Houston They're going to fill the bit of a Toyota They're not ticket sells Yeah, it's cool to have Derek Lewis fight in Houston That's cool

But they sold the tickets already They didn't need it to tell us tickets Yeah This is what happens when they sell the tickets out Before they announced the fights Like remember when they did that in the London card That was headlined by Jimmy Mano And Corey Anderson

And people were up in arms Over that being the main event But the tickets were already sold And the UFC's like Well, you already bought him. Sorry about it. But it's going to be longer before we see John Jones, Francis Gano, Andreas. That was pretty much a layup to book that fight at some point. And now it seems even longer. It's going to take even longer.

Again, what are we against here? Like, what do we help me understand this, guys. John Jones, Francis and Gano, that's probably one of the biggest fights. The biggest non-Connor McGregor fight they can make right now. And, you know, if either guys ask you more money, it's not like you don't have it. Come on. It's not like you don't have it. You're underpaying these guys from getting with. Don't get me started on this.

These guys get paid too little to fight, right? And now it's like you're asking the pound-for-pound best fighter and arguably the best fighter in the history of the sport to move up in weight class to fight perhaps the Mike Tyson of the heavyweight division. And what is a blockbuster could potentially just be a one-fight show where you could pay everybody else to 20 and 20, and nobody cares because you can pay him for the main event. Pay these men.

Pay these men what they're getting. Deonti Wileyland and Tyson, if you were fighting for a third time, They're getting paid, paid. John Jones is asking for what I think he deserves. And, you know, if a day they say he doesn't sell tickets, this fights, sells tickets, sells paper views. Mainstream wants to see that fight.

Come on. Yeah, you slav those two in, put the heavyweight title on the line. I feel like it's a no-brainer that that fight happens in Madison Square Garden, heavyweight champion of the world in MSG with the history of that arena with the heavyweight title. That's not a layup, as I said, that's lowering the basket and just placing it in. but real quick back to Amanda Nunes example kept saying with any of a championship fight there was already a championship fight in this card

we had the lady goat on this card and that's in the UBs well she doesn't sell she doesn't sell you know it's like that is on you UFC you cannot sell the one of the arguably the greatest female fighter ever to ever to be definitely ever to be in the UFC

one of the most violent fighters and she's going across she's facing julia Pena and yeah you can argue if it's going to be competitive or whatnot, but Julia Payne can sell a fight. She can do that. And that's what Amanda Nunes needs. Because Manana Nunes, she's just not a natural, you know,

she doesn't drop promos, but Julia Pena can. And it's like, this was a great opportunity for Mananuta's to have, like, a rival. And then she can showcase on and fight night. And it just sucks for Man and Nunes. And all the spotlight would have been in her. Now coming to that fight week, all we're going to be talking about was like, this is a stupid interim title fight and we're not going to be talking about a man that freaking

newness you know it's really frustrating because she's arguably one of the most disrespected champions that we've seen right she's had to be you know second billing so many so many times when the Ronda Rousey fight happened she wasn't even in the damn promo she's a layup

in terms of marketing is concerned like if you want to reach the LGBTQ community you could have used her years ago she's violent she destroys people what else? And then she's genuinely a nice person. Like this,

the paradox of her being obliterating people and just being genuinely nice, having this baby, like there's so many things to sell here. And yet we continue to see her get disrespected. I don't understand it. But it speaks to the fact that I've always said this, the UFC doesn't necessarily know how to market people of color. I just think they have a really hard time selling their stories

because they don't necessarily understand it. It's easier to sell, say, Northcut, Pace Van Zan. It's easier to sell, you know, Rhonda Rousey, Amanda Nunez. They were like, oh, we don't know what to do with her. It's easy. It is the last day of Pride Month.

And I don't think I saw anything really the UFC push Amanda Nunes, who was an openly gay fighter. She's done no gay charity events in the past and anything. But USC did nothing to highlight that, to use gay pride month to promote her fight in the month. I don't know. I mean, the level of disrespect.

The level of disrespect. Through the roof. What did you guys think of Francis's manager or agent, whatever term you want to use, him and Dana's little Instagram spat, where Dana responded to ESPN's graphic of Francis's team's statement saying they're shocked and they hope for more clarity, this and that.

Dana said, you had clarity, you knew this was happening, this and that, and then Francis's agent came and put this long, piece out and said, we will air everything out. I have no problem being blackballed by you. Andreas, what did you? You cover multiple sports with multiple agents and everything. We don't really see agents and managers like this in MMA. So what did you make of those two's Instagram spat? Oh, Casey just did it. It was the chef's kiss, man. Please. Please do it. Because things need to be exposed, you know, you're going to blackball, somebody blackball and whatever.

Because the public eventually will get fed up with this kind of nonsense. And if in Ghana was agent or a manager, whatever he says he's got this information and this is all nonsense, put it out there. Please put it out there. Because you can't keep doing this to fighters. You can't keep selling wolf tickets to the fans as well. Like, Danny tries to control the narrative. And I understand that, you know, as the man of the company, he has a perspective, but you're not always right either, dude. You're not.

You're not. And somebody's got to speak up. Too many fighters, too many managers, too many people are scared to speak up. Please expose it. I'd love to see it. Make it happen. Let me see those receipts. Dana. Where are those receipts, Dana?

You knew what was happening. Let me see those receipts. That's all. But guys, didn't you hear in the UFC, they're all about making the best fight the best, and that's all they care about. For those of you just listening, you could hear the irals for Casey and Andreas right there. Dude, there needs

to be like prop bets on, you know, whatever betting sites for when Dana will say Francis Ngano doesn't want to fight. Oh, yeah. I'm waiting for that. There's multiple ways to turn down. What are the go-to-dana ones?

What are the go-to-dana lines when? There's multiple ways to turn down a fight and asking for money is just one of them. That's the name online. Asking to get paid. Yeah, asking to get paid what you're worth is the reason to turn down a fight? Come on again.

Why do we keep doing this? Why do we keep doing this? We're in a loop. I felt like we're in a loop, yeah. Also, why was, like, Francis Ingano just got back to the country. Where was he? He was doing a victory parade in his home country. Like that, right, and like they put it was all over everything.

That was one of the coolest scenes like Kamaro just did it. Israel Adasana just did that. And now that you're penalizing him for that. Their champion is promoting the UFC brand all over the freaking world. And then you go, hey, fight now. They're promoting the brand. They're promoting UFC. These, those are promoting those three letters, that belt, that what it's worth in the continent of Africa.

That's amazing. The youth saying, and that's, that's thing Ghana is doing it on his own. It's just like, and you, and. Let me ask this question, though. What does the interim title really mean? Let's get down to the name. Glorified number one contender that gets a shiny belt. And why did they need a belt?

What does it mean? Usually there's a champion who's completely inactive, injured, injured, you know, at least, you know, a year of inactivity, it's three months. What is this belt? This is a fake belt. Remember, if you're a pro wrestling fan and then, you know, CM Punk won the title and ran off against Alberti, you know, when Alberta is O'Reill tried to cash in. And John Cena B, radio stereo.

Yeah, held up the title. And CN Punk came back. And fans were like, oh, that's the real champion right there. CM Punk was barely gone as long as Francis and Ghana. That's scripted pro damn wrestling. CM Punk was gone like, was gone like 24 hours or something like that. Wasn't it like the day? No, it was like four weeks, right?

Yeah, it was something weird. Mr. Mann was like, yeah, let's have a, you know, have a new champion. And then punk came back. But he, like, literally ran out of the company. That was a storyline. And God, who hasn't done anything but promote the company. And this interim title fight belt isn't an glorified number one container because we know damn well.

Gone Lewis, whatever goes down goes down. But then John Jones goes, okay, I'll fight Nagano for 50 bucks or whatever. You know, he's in front of the line. You know, so it's not, it's, it's ain't even. Even in a in a perfect world John Jones is fighting Francis and Gano and Derek Lewis is fighting Cyril Ghan in the co-main event for the number one contender

And isn't Steve Bay ahead of both gone and Derek Lewis? Yeah Yeah I mean like when we were in When we were in Houston I asked Dana White for an update on the Derek Lewis Francis fighting goes that's the fight winner will fight Steve Bay John Jones is going to wait That was what he said a month ago

And now that's just out the window So yeah that means Colby Cummings is not funny Kamar Uzman for people keeping traps because Dana White said that just as much as he said Derek Lewis, Francis, and Gano so that fight is clearly not happening. Wait, wasn't he? Wait, refresh me on the history.

He was also an interim champion. Who didn't get the fight for the belt? I mean, with his interim belt, right? When he fought, he fought the hero, he wasn't an interim champ, right? There was no title of unification fight. No. Shocking.

Wait, so are the last two interim belts were those Tony and Tony, am I missing Tony and Colby or was there one in between? Well, Poria was the interim champion. Yeah, Porey got the notification. Okay, Porey, okay, so he actually is an interim to actually was no more contender.

Okay, well, there was one in between. And I think that one was justified, right? The Poree one, because Habib had been out for a bit, or he was going to be out for a bit. Yeah. I mean, and most times, I'm not a fan, I mean, I'm not against interim belts and they're justified. like, Bellator just had, they, they, they really, that one is, yeah.

That was very justified because of the tournament. And it's not, not something that's not injury. Sometimes it's just, you know, if you have a, that's the issues when you have a fighter in two-way classes, sometimes they can get tied up in one way class. So that one made sense for Bellatorre, and no one had an issue with that. This one clearly doesn't fit that. You know, I guess, oh my God, we're going to be talking about this so much. We, in this, God, dang it.

This is a little. It's frustrating. Yeah. It's frustrating. If you're a fan, you should be frustrated, you know, us as media. We're frustrated because we all want to, I mean, no disrespect. I love Derek Lewis. I think he's a great guy.

And Serragone is a great, seems like an excellent fighter. And I love to see that bite. I just don't, just stop disrespecting the champ. That's all. Stop disrespecting your champion. Do you cheapen your champions by doing things like this? You're cheaping your own belt. The UFC cheapens.

Like, they're very, you know, cut off the nose, bite the face, you know, all that. Yeah. I want one last thing on the, this, Andreas I want, because you're in the boxing world. What is, and we're talking about solely the fights, not the business behind it or anything like this. More, what were you more disappointed over?

Losing the Francis John Jones fight that was a layup or Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, unification for all the belts. John Jones, Francis. The reason why is because, I mean, we kind of knew that Tyson Fury was going to be stuck with

Deonti Wilder, and we kind of also know that the winner of that fight, well, if Tyson Fury wins more than likely the Joshua Fury fight will still happen. We have no idea if Ngano and John Jones will ever happen at this rate. Like, it's getting ridiculous. Like, John's inactivity will become an excuse because he's been inactive for so long. That's a good point. That is a very good point. Josh is fighting, is Joshua fighting Usik?

Is that happening? Seems like it's September 25th. It seems like that fight is happening. So it's like they still line up. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. It's only months apart. A month and a half apart.

John's the best of the world. Arguably ever in the history of a sport. If he wins the heavyweight title, I don't think there's an argument. He would be the best. I think he would be, especially if he beats Francis. I think he would surpass GSP in my mind.

Yeah, I'll agree with that. Whatever. Yeah. He's up there. That's all, yeah, it's all subjective. Yeah. Sorry, I was, I was just thinking about that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, um, wow, um, 300 pound bench press video. Sorry. Uh, great form, right? Did you see his quote, have you, but do follow his coach?

Sorry. While there's new coach on Instagram, Casey. He posts the weirdest stuff. I mean, I was at the press conference and he was a weird dude. No, no. His, it's another level. Did you see that video of like his lady painted a picture of him, Andre, or that video of his lady painted a picture of him, Andres? Yes, man. I saw that. I was like, yeah, this makes sense for a heavyweight champion to have this guy as a trainer. Whatever.

I'm so excited about that fight. I'm excited for it, too. If Deonti Wilder wins that fight, it's going to be ridiculous because everything that's gone on between the suit being too heavy, the accusations of, you know, cheating and loaded gloves to his own trainer, you know, spiking his water or throwing in the town being paid off, If he wins the third fight after all this nonsense, and then he's going to tell everybody to shut up,

it'll be one of the, it'll break the internet. If he blows Tyson Fury out, it'll break the internet. I really wanted Tyson Fury. I really wanted, because Tyson Fury is obviously the biggest troll in the heavyweight division.

I really wanted him to come out wearing the, like I wanted him to come out wearing the same suit that Wilder wore at the press conference and just start shadow boxing on stage. I thought that would have been hilarious. Like when he came out on the best, Batman outfit against Clitchco. He shadow boxes and gases out like 10 seconds in.

You're right. You're right. This is heavy. Man, I don't know how he did that. Very impressive. Heavyweight tomfoolery. All right. Some other ridiculousness.

After Laptin is tough. Is there any argument that tough should stick around as opposed to container series, which would add two to three seasons a year. Yeah, I think Casey's answer this a lot. He doesn't want Tough to exist in general, but Andreas, what are your thoughts on the Tough Contender Series debate? Tough should die.

Tough needs to go away. It did die. It came back. It's a zombie. If you go to the UFC apex, there's like a timeline of tough. It literally says 2005 to 2018. It had

its own gravestone. And then they brought it back. And why? It's not like they even brought it back with a new format. It's the same. Like I'm away from home. I got kids. Cry, cry, cry.

I got to fight for my family. Cry, cry, cry. You know, let me scrap row. They're still wearing the neon colored basketball jerseys as uniforms. It's been like that said season one. And it's not like there's heat.

There were heat between these coaches going in. No, there's nothing there. There's nothing interesting. about this show whatsoever. These narratives don't even get me, you know, I'm like, I don't want to watch. Just fight. That's it. Just fight.

I don't need these ridiculous stories. I don't need these guys in the house. Just fight. Just fight. He doesn't even count. He's a good fighter, but is he a good roommate? That's why I need to know. I was like, I don't.

There you go. Listen, if I want to watch Housemates fight, I'll just watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta or Logan Hip-Hipoff. We have, we already have those shows. We don't need a crappier version of it. And I feel bad because when I say this, I'm never shit talking the actual fighters on the show. I know a couple of them.

I understand the opportunity they're going for. But this is all ridiculous. If they want to do some reality show, do the contender series, which is kind of reality show of their whole, you know, you got a contract, you get a contract. But no, but they're still just focused on the fights. Just, I don't get it. It's a waste of time.

I even still think the contender series could take breaks along or breaks between seasons because from what I've heard, they're kind of tapping the market really hard, and they're running out of fighters. And now you're getting these fighters coming in with like 2 and 0, 3 and 0 records. Oh, well, it's a scam. It's a scam, too, as far as contracts and stuff. Anyway, who's off the top of your head?

Who is the last really high level tough winner that is like still doing damage in the UFC? Oh, my God. I think there's clearly one answer. Oh, I mean, there's a lot. I mean, two, two, I mean, yeah, like, for the very recent, recent seasons. Usman is the Usman won. He's obviously champion since then. Rose, Rose, Carla.

No, I'm not talking about, like, the season crowning a champion. I'm talking about, like, they won the ultimate fighter, and then they had to, like, fight their way up. I'm not talking about, like, Nico and Roe. And I'm talking about Winners. I know. I'm talking about winners. Yeah. Because, like, Camaro, and then the next season is Ryan Hall.

obviously he's kind of inactive right now and then Tatiana won the year after that she's obviously I think a lot of people consider her one of the uncrown champions but after that you got like Brad Catona Juan Espino is still good Macy Chazin is still good but like I don't know if they're winning titles anytime soon

Tim Elliott Jesse Taylor's Brad Caton is not even in the UFC anymore you know you know he's doing well off their tough stent is freaking let me bang guy Julian

Julian Lane He's doing Graham Bear Knuckle He got a victory I watch his fight Like he's crazy But he comes out He has this let me bang still

And he has one He has one knockout win In the history of his comeback career Yeah It's called let me bang Not let me knock you out It's just he's always banging though He's banging banging banging banging

The guy bangs It's not a lie Not a fan Juliana of Payne could obviously win the title Cory Anderson could still win the Bellator title He won but Eddie Gordon also

Ryan Bader was Ryan Bader tough yes yeah Ryan Bader Double champ beat Vinnie McGill Hage that was the gross That was like the last season I actually watched And that was like the gross prank season They're like peeing in each other's drinks and stuff

Okay moving on Yeah MMA this is literally just tell MMA does PFL's league system produce more entertaining fights Lately there's been a lot of great finishes And the fights that go to decisions are crazy good too biggest fight easiest paycheck is that why everyone from 125 to 145 volunteer to fight sugar shahun on 10 days notice i think these are two separate questions yeah okay i was confused

i was like i'm what yeah andreas andreas do you like pf ls league system it's cool um it's a different wrinkle you know it's intriguing but 90% of the time i'm watching i'm like wait what's going on like yeah wait oh you need a first round finish oh well what if i just run around you know and run the time out. But it's still intriguing. It gives, you know, it's like, it's like the big three, right? You know, it's like there's the NBA

and there's the big three. Like, we got a different set of rules. So it's fine. I mean, they do have good fights. You can't front. Like, you know, when you watch PFF, it is entertaining. The system is, it can be sketchy,

especially if you try to explain it to somebody who never watches MMA. It's like, hey, or you should watch this. And it's like, well, what does this mean? It's like, hell, I don't know. Just keep watching it. I feel like, have to broadcast does them continually explain, you know, what the point system is.

Like, have to broadcasts that. It does, I think, make wins and losses feel a lot bigger. Like, if you lose, like when Anthony Peders was fighting his last fight, he's like, if he loses, he misses the playoffs. I was like, oh, shit, that's right. He has to win. So I guess it makes wins and losses mean a little bit more, but. Go ahead, Casey.

I know, I think I know what's going to ask. I was like, what is, I don't know, I just, the playoffs. I don't know. I don't understand. And like, are there only, I didn't know, are there only two fights to get into the playoffs? Is that right? Points. So I think it's, but you only fight two times, right? Then I can never get an explanation of that.

So I thought it was like a round robin where you have to kind of kind of like a World Cup where you reach everyone. And then. I think if it was like that, the season would last more than a year. I think that's like that's what it should be. But I think they're just time. So I think it's like two fights. If you get two first round finishes, you're just automatically in the playoffs. But there's more than two fighter, but there's, so you don't, it's not a round rob,

you don't face everyone in your bracket, right? You just. I don't believe so, but you would have to ask our own A. Cayley, he's the PFL whisper on our site. See, that's what I wanted you to ask, because there's no clear answer. I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, biggest fight, easy paycheck is everyone calling out Sugar Sean. Andreas, if you could pick, who should fight Sugar Sean on 10 days notice?

I'd like to see the Marlon Vera fight. The rematch? Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. Other than that, I don't know. As of him fight. Yeah, I think everyone, I think off the top of my head, Marab, Rayborg,

Tim Elliott, and Ricky Simone called him out. And I believe Sugar Sean responded to Ricky Simone, so that I bet that's probably the path they'll take. I don't think there's any chance they give him a Rob right now. because he seems like a he's going to be a monster in that division. And then Ray Borg is obviously a 125 or out of the UFC right now. Timeli, it's a 125 who also lost his opponent. So I'm thinking it's going to be Ricky Simone, which is still a good fight.

I like that fight. Does Amali want to stay on the card? Is that the plan? Yeah, I think so. Use the opener for the pay-per-view card for the Connor card, which is like the prime spot for pay-per-view. Yeah. And the UFC wants to keep him in that spot too.

So the interesting thing about this question is easiest paycheck. First of all, how big is that paycheck going to really be? Yeah. Second of all, is it easy? Sure, Sean is a very good fighter. Yes, he could be a douche, but carrying babies in interviews, but come on, man. This kid's got hands. Carrying babies talking about doing heroin, talking about his fellow fighters.

Yeah, it's not a great look, but he's still an incredibly high-level martial artist. It's a for a short, for a short notice fight, it's a low risk, high reward type fight. That's what it is, you know. Oh, yeah. Sugar-Stan, even though he's not, is he even ranked, is he technically ranked top 15? Mm-mm. I think he's just outside of the top 15. So for, he would be like 16.

I would argue he is the most, he is the most valuable non-ranked fighter you can face in the UFC right now. Am I missing someone? No, you know what I'm saying? No, not. Yeah, I mean, John Jones is. are ranked. Well, for a

it's, it's, it's, let's be serious. Nick, Nick Diaz isn't ranked either.

Well, yes. He's not? Yeah, you know, I'm trying to see him. He's not. Yeah,

for a guy that's never been, for a guy that's never, how about this, has never been in the top 15, you know, or even been a title

was, he was, he was, I think when he fought Marlon, he was 15. That's the highest guy. He was.

He was. He was. Not on my rankings. , not on my rankings. So who should face him? I don't know. Anyone, I don't care. Ricky Simone.

You're facing Louis Smoker for some freaking reason. So I don't think it really matters who he faces. That fight made zero, like, I mean, cool. Good for you, Louis Smoker. But how's Louis Smoker doing? Is he okay? Did he want to check on him? Is he doing all right?

Is he just injured? You have no idea? He got hurt. That's all I know. So much to check on him. I don't know. You can't fight. You can't fight.

Sugar Sean, unless you, no, check on Ricky Smoka. Louis Smoker first. All right. Oh, more PFL. Muff Daddy, Mr. Weasbox. Where's Anthony Petits goal from here? Using the benefit of hindsight, how much a mistake was he going to PFL? When he left the USC, Bellator seems like a much better place for him,

knowing that he couldn't fought guys like MVP, Patricie Pitbull, Douglas Lima, or Paul Daly. It just seems like his star power took a big hit going on to in PFL. Also, fun fact. him and Kumar Usman are the only two fighters with multiple wins over top six ranked UFC Walter whites. Who's the other guy? I know he knocked out Wonderboy.

Who's the other guy, V? I want to figure this out about looking at that apology. Yeah, me too. Oh my God, I don't know. I can't think of the other one. It's just Wonderboy. That's the only one I can think of it. Oh, duh.

It's, yeah, it's obvious. But both fights were at, the first time they fought. I was a lightweight. Who is it? It's Kesa. He tapped Kesa at 226. Oh, yes. Wow.

I didn't think Keseo was top six, so that kind of, right. Yeah, he's number, him beating Neil Magnet catapulted him into the top six. And then, of course, he knocked out. So he has stoppage wins over Stephen Thompson and Michael Kesa. Anthony Pettis is getting into that Michael Johnson area in the sense that he has incredible victories and like, what, you lost to them? Type of guy. You know what I mean? Listen to this stretch.

Like people always say who has the hardest, like the toughest schedule, like record-wise in the UFC. I would look to Anthony Pettis's like resume at one point in a row. These are who we fought in a row. Cowboy Soroni, Benson Henderson, Gilbert Melendez, RDA, Prime version. R.D.A. Prime version. Eddie Alvarez. Edson Barbosa.

Charles Olivera. Max Holloway. Jim Miller. Dustin Porre. Michael Chesa. Tony Ferguson, Stephen Thompson, Nate Diaz. That is from the years, 2013 to 2019. There is no easy fight.

And at one point, all of those fighters were at one point, top five, if not top three fighters in the division. So, yeah. At the beginning of that list, those are prime versions of those fighters. It's very important to know, too. Yeah. Correct. And a lot of them are stopping. Like Charles Oliver and Gilbert Melendez are incredible.

incredibly high level black belts and Anthony Pettus submitted both of them. Yo, that's a murderous role. Like if this was college football and a strength of schedule, that is the, those are arguably outside of Habib and BJ, like the 10 greatest lightweights ever, his resume.

He obviously didn't fight Habib and obviously never fought like Prime BJ Penn, but like Gilbert Benson and Cowboy and RDA in a row. And even, you could throw Joel Lowe's on in there, like before he kicked it off. Like, that's rough. That is a rough stretch of fights. He lost to Eddie, right?

But that was really close, right? Yeah, that was just like, that was just like, I'm going to shove you into the fence for 15 minutes. That was Eddie going, I got to get that W. Yeah, okay. But still, it was a very competitive fight, but regardless, yeah, I know he lost the fight, but. Is Pettis better at 170? I think this. Okay, all right.

So here it is. One, where does Anthony Pettis go from here? Home. because he's got to figure this out. I'm being serious because fighters who rely surely on their athleticism, there comes a point in your career where your brain tells you that you can still do the things that you used to do, but your body says no,

and you have to figure it out. And I use Roy Jones as a perfect example in boxing. Roy Jones was built just off of his athleticism and reflexes, broke every rule in the book when it came to fighting. Once he slowed down a nanosecond, it was over. And he had to adjust. He didn't. And that was pretty much the end of the end.

his career. He kept fighting. Sometimes he was still more athletic than some fighters and he beat him. But for the most part, the fundamentals weren't there. He didn't figure himself out. He was done. Floyd Mayweather, on the other hand, when he was pretty boy, Floyd, was obliterating everybody until he started hurting his hands and he started to change his style based on his hands injury history and what he knew he could do. Anthony Pettis needs to reinvent himself. He still goes out there and tries to do the things that he can't any longer do. There's no more showtime kicking Anthony Pettis. he probably fall off the cage now. And that's no disrespect to Pettis.

It's saying that you're getting older. You have to figure out what you can and can't do now. And that's why I say he needs to go home. Is it over? I don't know. But mentally, he has to understand that my body's not going to cooperate like it used to. I need to reinvent myself. And he has not done that yet.

So he needs to take some time off to figure it out. Otherwise, he's going to end up like Roy Jones, just a huge losing streak. And then people will say he's washed up. Even though you just explained, he's fault the murderous role of fighters and at one time was on the damn Wheaties box. The only UFC fighter on the Wheaties box still. Have there been any other combat sports athletes?

Like it was like Marvin Hagler on Wheaties Box or anything? I don't know, but I'm definitely the only MMA fighter who's been on one. Yeah, he's. I would imagine. Yeah, I was going to say Muhammad Ali's probably, but yeah, Muhammad Ali's been on a few times. I think they even came out with one when he passed away. He might have had like a commemorative. commemorative one.

He's been on it a few times. I'm sure there's been Olympians in the past, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. I like the Roy Jones comparison. Anthony Pettis also started like his own business, like his own agency. So maybe he's being pulled in a thousand different directions when he's not fighting.

To Clears the Shields, was she ever on the Wheaties box? I just Googled it. And there's like a photo of it, but I don't know if it's real or not. I don't recall. She should have been two-time Olympic gold medalist. Like she should have been. She really should have. Yeah, it's a fan-made one.

I think someone complained about her not being on it and then made their own. But back to this question, I would love Anthony Pettus and Bellator and into that and in that Walter Waite division. That's just exciting fights. That's all. That's just Petits versus, well, talk about giving Pettus like murder as Rose. Like, oh, Pettus versus Douglas Lima. Let's do that. Jeez.

That's not fun either. Yeah. But, you know. But Pettus Paul Daly? Like, hell yeah, I want to see that. These are fights that we kind of, you know, just I want to see. I don't fault him for going to PFL. I understand the mentality.

But as a fan, you want to see him in Bellator. As a fan, you looked at that line of a welterweight wage, you're like, shit, he can fight there. And I'd love to watch every single one of those fights. He could headline, whatever. Now it's like, you know, you lose the clay collard. And it's like, all right, dude. What? Like, now what?

Hey, hey, hey, I'm sensing some clay collar disrespect here. Oh, no, no, no, no. Once upon a time, that would have been preposterous. to think that Clay Collar could beat Anthony Pettus. Now it's like Andy Pettus has come down to earth. And Clay Cawler's a part-time boxing. We had an amazing run in the bubble at the top rank. I really think kind of the factor no one's really talking about

because you don't really, it's hard to kind of talk. What's the word? Sorry. But the bubble. PFL has got a really strict bubble. And I've heard a lot of complaints. I mean, it's just how it is. but like, the UFC essentially has no bubble, you know, so fighters kind of come and go.

And a lot of fighters have been dropping out, especially in the past with UFC. But PFL has been very strict. It's like a two or three week bubble. I heard it just sucks. So I heard Petit's kind of like another fighter saying it really just mentally drained them and just made it very difficult to fight. And a lot of them probably didn't fight their best. But they all had to go to the same circumstances. So it wasn't like he had an unfair advantage over someone else.

but it'll be interesting seeing Pettus kind of back in this kind of non-pandemic version of Pettus where you can just kind of train regular if his coaches kind of maybe just be more mentally there. And yeah, but the PFL thing just didn't work out for him. To answer your guys' questions, Muhammad Ali has been on the Weas Box twice in 99 and 2012. Max Bear was on it, Jack Dempsey, and Ken Norton. Is that a boxer? Are those all boxers? Yeah.

Yeah, they're all boxers. Okay. That's what I said. They're all boxes. Max Bear fought in like the 40s. Oh, okay. Like he was, he was, and then obviously,

it's B, A, E.R. And then obviously, Jack Dempsey and Ken Norton, you guys know. Oh. Stone Cold's even been on the, no, Stone Cold Steve Austin's also been on the Weaves Box.

He's the only professional wrestler. Well, he deserves. There you go. Tristan. Tristan, Tristan, Jeremy Stevens' explanation, two of a fighting. You buying Jeremy Stephen's justification,

why he pushed Choucar close during the fighter face off in April for U.C. Vegas 24. Interview with the MMA junkie, Stevens felt Chircar got too close for comfort, which he did not like saying that he came up to his, came up, he came up with his hands behind his back, putting himself notes and nose with him,

which he felt broke conduct first. According to Stevens, he felt that he didn't cause the concussion with this hard push that day and felt that close wasn't ready, citing other interviews where close was switching camps in dealing with injuries. Stevens felt like it was BS in just a bunch of experience. So Casey and I talked about this when it first happened, but Andre's just quick thoughts on the Jeremy Stevens, Dracar Close situation.

And these stare downs and these guys getting close to each other and using it as an excuse to push somebody. But it does get kind of out of control. And I can understand the invasion of personal space. But you got to do something about it then, right? I don't know if this was Jakar Close looking for a bailout. No. you know but it sounds like it right you know it's like there was a lot of things going on in his camp am i buying steven's excuse for pushing him yeah actually i am i understand why he did it how many people

get pushed these you know weighings anyway lots right whose fault is that whose fault is apparently it's sean shelby's fault that day Dana blamed sean shelby hmm and how many how many shoves have there been when dana white's there lots right right? More than Sean Shelby's. Yeah. Like once a show? How many,

how many UFC cars have there, man? I'm going to say like once a show. Yeah. And, you know, Sean Shelby is, what, 130 pounds and Dana White's like the big dude. It's stupid.

But I understand what Jeremy Stevens is saying about personal space. Like somebody gets in my face like that. I'm pushing them. No. Look, I get it. I don't agree with it.

I think you should conduct yourself better. I think you shouldn't push fighters, especially the day before a fight. I don't think you should, but his explanation. You know what? I have to think about this. What do they call these?

What does this call? It's called a face off. It's called a face off. I guess the question becomes... What are you doing? And what is Jeremy Stevens' nickname? Lil Heath. There you go.

Living up to his nickname. He came out to real motherfucking geez. Like, he's a gangster. Yes, he did. So, you know, I have to look through the history of Jeremy Stevens' face-offs to see how close. Oh, no. It is always like that. I remember when Hannan Burrow got off the scale and he was literally adjusting his pants, like tying his, like his sweatpants and looking.

And he was looking down and he didn't even see Jeremy Stevens. And Jeremy Stevens shoved him away because Henan Burrow wasn't paying attention. And even Henan Burrell was like, what the hell was that? Like, it caught him off guard. Jeremy Stevens always gets aggressive. Always, always, always. I recant my statement. I recant my statement because now I remember these things.

Okay, yes, the Henan Burrell thing. Yes, but I still, it's not justified. No, I mean, you just can't. You can't justify it. Like, I get one like that. Like, he shoved the hell out of them. Yeah. Yeah, he did.

Double shove right here in the shoulders when you're flat-footed and your hands are basically behind your back, that's kind of F you up, especially a freshly dehydrated drug car clothes. This isn't like hours later when they're rehydrated and like they're ready and they're kind of in fight position and then you get a shove. It was just like, you know, and like, and like, dude,

Dr. Clark Close may not be everyone's favorite fighter, but he's still a tough MFer. So he was like a borderline top 15 lightweight. And all of a sudden people were like, he's a wimp. It's like, no, like he's a human being. That's just M. That's just M.

That's just M. That's me and M.A. fans because he also went to the PI and got tested and he was messed up. Like that's why they, he came, he still can't fight. I mean that's crazy that you still can't fight because it was like a whiplash it was a whiplash effect whiplash yeah and it basically gave him concussion who's paying for that that's the big yeah again like we talked about this a ton when it happened so it was like the story of the week like if you slip in fall if if you come to my house and you slip and fall right and you crack your head

open you sue my insurance right and then my insurance is take care of your doctor bills It's my house. That's the UFC stage and scale, right? Like, where these- In their building. In their billion-dollar building. Okay. Just checking.

Yeah, but it's Sean Shelby's fault, remember? John Shelby. Oops. From Fias, Rafique, apologies for his pronounce the name. What's next for Ron? Who's next for Rhonda Rousey? Any promotion.

Valentina and the Go are great champions, but pay for you by as a mainstream popular. Just aren't there. No disrespect. That is disrespect. I mean, she just had a, she's about to have a baby. So what's next for her is having a mom. No, no, no.

Who's the next? Who's the next? Oh, who's the next? Who's the next Rhonda Rousey? Um, I don't know. Rhonda Rousey's Ronner Rousey. Why do you? Yeah. That's, she, she's, she's a one of a kind.

For all her faults or whatever, she's still one of a kind. And I'm still bummed. She's not part of the sport. Me too, me too. She was lightning in a bottle. You can't emulate that. What she came and did for the sport. Like people disrespect Rhonda all the time,

but she was washing people. Yes, the game evolved. That's what happened. You know, when Royce Gray, she fought Matt Hughes, the game evolves and it moves on. But at that point, she was the baddest on the planet. Yes, we made dumb comparisons. People said, oh, she should fight for him in a bunch of dumb stuff.

Yes, but you can't take away for what she did. But you can't emulate that either. There will never be another Mike Tyson, right? Mike Tyson was lightning in a bottle. But don't say, but don't disrespect Valentina and Amanda like that Because Amanda doesn't even get the opportunity Which we just talked about earlier We just talked about, yeah

I mean that stretch of time And that stretch of time in MMA with Connor and Ron like That was like pre-champion Connor When like every single fight he had just kind of captivated The entire world and Rhonda That was a special time and mixed martial arts Andres you mentioned this earlier about the UFC the not being the best or just I think

MMA in general not being the best at promoting fighters of color do you think this comes at all into it with Valentina and Man and Eunice or just in just other female champions you know yes absolutely I always said Rosanna Emma Eunice was a layup

for them in terms of your story marketability she was a layup Rhonda's the easiest layup because you know you can't argue against what she accomplished, but she also, it's easy to market that look. And fighters of color, if you don't have a, and it's funny because you guys know the UFC team, there are lots of people in color that work behind the scenes, right?

But they have stories to tell, and I've always said this about boxing. Lazy journalists always tell the same stories about fighters of color. He fought his way out of the projects because he didn't have a daddy. And now he's a world champion. And that's not true for every fighter. Fighters have different stories. It's kind of like pro wrestling, where. a white wrestler has so many gimmicks.

They can be so many different things, but the Latino wrestler, you know, they're the same. They had guys coming on in lawnmowers because they can't think of anything better. You have to tell better stories with your fighters. And it's not like there's not a base out there that you can appeal to.

There's a reason why the MMA crowds look like they do. There's a reason why there's still people that I know that I grew up with say, you watch that white boy sport? And it's not because there's so many people of color in the sport. But if you're not selling them to these markets, how do they even know they exist? Because my friends ain't buying no expensive as UFC pay-per-view for fighters that they don't know.

But you have to sell these fighters to a community. And that's what boxing does so well. You look at the Giovante Davis's of the world. You look at the Deonté Wilders of the world. They're able to sell these fighters. The UFC just has a huge problem selling fighters of color. And I can't understand it. There's so many intriguing stories.

I don't want to hear about Kamara Usman's dad in jail for the United States. the billion of time. There's so much more to him being a father. I don't want to go to Black History Month and the story that you're telling is Michael Chandler adopted a black kid. Look, I think it's so great that Michael Chandler adopted a black kid, but that's not my Black History Month story when you got a billion fighters

of color? What are you doing here? It's lazy storytelling. Everything's got to have a story behind it. If you can't tell a story properly, you shouldn't be in this business. And I'm just saying the UFC should do better. Michael Chandler adopted a black kid, Black History Month. And then, you know, I love Don't,

He's like, we're so glad to have Michael Chandler's. Let me get the hell out of here. You have so many black fighters. You have Al Jemaine Sterler sitting right there. Got Kamar Usman sitting right there. John Jones is the best fighter in the world. So off of that, what do you make of, they've pushed Daniel Korme quite a bit, both on UFC and ESPN. And I know Roy Nelson had a lot of negative things to say about that back on the day.

But what do you make of that? Because I know that's what people, I know I'm just playing devil's advocate based on what people will bring up in the comments. look look if you play ball it's okay because tyrant woodley at one time was one of the baddest fighters on the planet and was also one of the most disrespected champions in the ufcce johnson too yes but in tyrant's case he would buff the system right he was so much appeal to tyrant woodley like he was in straight out of compton there was so many things you could do with this man he looked apart he looks the part too you know what i mean like he had it he had the story he had everything, you know. Man looked like a super soldier. Let's go back to Rashad Emmons when he was on the Ultimate Fighter and the shit that he got for being a showboat. Being this, like, listen, but Cormier, I love Cormier.

Cormier is a very nice guy, but him being so nice and agreeable is easy to sell. But when you're not those things and you're a person of color, they don't want to hear it. They just don't want to deal with it. And there's always one, you know, there's always one guy that's like, all right, this is easy sell. We can deal with him. And then, plus, you can't deny Kormier's credentials. You just couldn't do that. I have a black friend.

Essentially, essentially, that's what it is. You have all these black fighters. Look, I use Al Jemaine Sterling as a perfect example. Al Jermaine Sterling could be marketed to the community because if anybody ever saw this, they put him with Eric B in a commercial that hardly anybody saw. Was Al Jemuner Lernerner, Eric B, from Eric B and Raq Kim? And Aljo had the flat top with the gold chain. And I'm like, why aren't you guys like putting them on sway in the morning?

Why is it on like the breakfast club? Why is he in these markets to appeal to a community that you desperately need? Even though UFC is comfortable with where they're at, there's still untapped markets that you can hit with a lot of these fighters. And they're just not doing it. And I can't understand why. I just don't get it. Yes, I do. Never mind.

I'm sorry. I do get it. You get it. You get it. You get it. Kobe coming to goes to the White House. to interim champion. Yeah,

I get it. I get it. I was all, I was kind of shocked because I wasn't that range of combat sports until I got into MMA. But then when I got to

MMA, I started going to boxing events. You know, my wife, she covers lots of Mayweather, big boxing events. So I started going

these boxing events. And I was like, holy crap. Even though it's just still people punching each other for money, the demographic, the demographic was so different.

And And, And, you have to, you go to both, you go to big events for both, both sports. and you just, like, the demographic crossover is very, very limited.

And, yeah, I just, I've always been kind of amazed by that. Like, I was like, you know, I live in Englewood here. It's a, I mean, it's a very diverse community here. And so when we're, I train in my garage and I can, and I can tell, like, everyone, like, there's like, there's like youth boxing gyms down the street. No one knows what MMA is in this neighborhood. So when we're rolling on the ground and our neighbors are walking by, I know they're looking I was like, that's some weird shit going there.

So it's just, I think it's so, I never quite understood why or how MMA can be kind of just part of the black community. Because I know it's kind of getting there in small parts, but as a whole, it's still a novelty. Would you, is that correct, Andres? Oh, that's absolutely correct. Listen, like for me, when I got into it is because, like most people, I've written across UFC 2 on my black box as a kid. And I was like, I just like watching people get punched in the face for a living. That's just the things that I do. And I enjoyed it.

But, you know, when after the dark period, when UFC came back, they had, you know, once Zufa came into the picture, they had opportunities to tell better stories. And I always use Rashad Evans as a perfect example. Rashad Evans was an easy sell to the community. He was the champ. He won the ultimate fighter. And he felt like one of us. He came out to Mob Deep Shook Warns.

He felt like one of us. But it felt like that the UFC. kind of muted what Rashad Evans was and they didn't give him the opportunity to promote himself in the markets that he needed to be in. I wrote for the Source magazine and I interviewed Rashad Evans. But I felt like, shouldn't he be everywhere?

Shouldn't you be putting him on BET? Shouldn't you be putting, again, put him in these markets. He should be recognized by the community and inspire the youth to want to get involved in MMA. But if you're not infiltrating those markets, you can't, it'll remain the perception that you know, it's a bunch of Budweilers drinking. and white guys, college kids that like the sport

when that's not true. And they don't even make up a majority of the sport as fighters. It's crazy. I just, again, I can't rub my head around it in those terms, but then I hear Dana White talk sometimes. I'm like, I get it. I get it. When you some rapid fire, Jose?

Who did, sure, who did what Woodley play in Saratacompton? Was he part of a lynch mob? He was part of Lynch mob. I couldn't remember. That's easy. Like, how could you not sell that? but whatever. Whatever. All right.

Here we go. Yeah. All right. Rapid fire before we close it out. So I'm going to our YouTube comments. So thank you for all the comments. I'm going to throw a bunch up now. I've been keeping track.

Here we go. What are your Fourth of July plans? Getting ready to go to Vegas. No big fights? No fights, yeah. I'm getting ready to go to Las Vegas. Yeah. This is for Jose before we got on.

I said I hadn't covered a fight live since last March. So I'm mentally preparing myself for McGregor-Porey next week. I'm jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. So I'm about to drink a lot this weekend. How about that? Yeah, it felt like because I was talking with our good buddy, Oscar Willis, and I felt for like a year and a half, it was me, him, John Morgan, and like a rotating group of other MMA medias that would come in and out.

And it's the last few we've seen more and more of our old friends again. So it's going to be fantastic to see a bunch of the people I haven't seen in a long time. Because it feels weird going to Las Vegas and not seeing everyone. I don't know. Crazy. So you're 4th of July. plans are preparing for Connor versus Dustin. Mentally, yes.

He's going to sit there and like, I'm going to stretch, I'm going to get all my healthy fats in, I'm going to get all that stuff, get ready. Carb up. You already know. And it's high sale in Vegas too. So yeah, I'm relaxing this week for once. Yeah.

I'm going to go see some boxing. Yeah. Last Saturday, there was so much boxing, bare-knuckle boxing and M-M-M-M-M-M-M-A. that a week of nothing will probably mentally reset me. Yeah. Anyway. All right.

I have a question for Andreas since he calls the club. All right. This question for us. Hi, guys. Stopped him on and say hi. Go Ryan Hall. Yes. Ryan Hall is returning in the fight we're all going to be at.

So very excited. Andreas, last weekend we had Lomachenko win, Tank Davis win. We had the big UFC fight. We had bare and uncle boxing going on. Biggest winner. single winner of all those events whose performance stood out the most Devonty Davis

Tank looked Tank Proot showed us a lot He fought Mario Barrios at a higher way class Now granted there was a lot of smoke and mirrors With that fight Mario Barrios was tall And they made it seem like oh he's tall But Mario Barreys is he fights on the inside So he's kind of I don't want to say he's Taylor Bay for Tank

But it was a fight that tank could win But he faced him adversity and he showed this power Can Carry Up from 30 all the way up to 40 And he filled up another building in Atlanta stay far marita the kid's a star he's the biggest winner and i can't wait to see him fight again was that a good fight i really i really i think he's not beautiful fight awesome beautiful performance it was it was it was i need go ahead i was to say it's one of the i've spent a lot of time saying i can't wait to see what happens when tank davis gets punched in the mouth one good

time and how he reacts and mario barrios hit him a lot and tank adjusted after the first four rounds we was trying to figure it out and then it became a war And Mario Barris had never been down in his career. And he, like, he, in that uppercut to the body was a thing of beauty. It was, it was just incredible. I tweeted a gift of it, Casey. It was picture perfect. Every single question I had going into that fight for both men was answered.

Like, I think both men came out winners, but obviously Tank Davis was the biggest winner. And I need to see it fight Ryan Garcia. That's literally the only fight I want right now. But it's not going to happen. No, not any time. It's never going to happen. Is that a fight that actually makes sense? Is that more just a...

No, that's... I think it's a fight that makes it. Well, it should be... I don't follow boxing super close, but I know... It should be Ryan... Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney should be fighting

because, like, there's those videos of them, like, they fought amateurs a thousand times and they trained, and that's the big story, but of course they're never... I don't think Ryan Garcia's ever going to take that fight. But Tank Davis is... It'll happen because, you know, Eddie Hearn in the zone and Match Room.

It'll happen. It has more of a chance happening. than Tank and Ryan Garcia. You know, Floyd Mayweather had those comments, like we can keep all the fights in house, we don't have to venture outside. That's posturing because if the money's right and Ryan Garcia continues,

in stock continues rise, you damn right they're going to fight. So I'm going to present you some names because, I talk about these a lot off this podcast, but now that you're here, I want to take advantage of it. Haney, Garcia, Tank, Lomachenko, Lopez.

Ten years, who's had the best career? Okay. In 10 years from now. Before I answer this question, are you talking about in terms of how much money they made in Star Power or the better actual boxing career? The boxing career.

That's tough. It's tough. I'm leaning towards Tiafima right now. Because he already beat one of the best fighters in the world. Yeah. Yes. And Tank is very small and he's outgrowing his weight class. So when he fights taller fighters is going to be difficult.

Ryan got put down by Luke Campbell. he got up, which was great. But I feel like Ryan's own personal issues may get in the way of his career. Devin Haney is probably the most skilled, but I think he's going to turn into one of those fighters like Terrence Crawford where he can't land the big fight. So I'm going to say Tia Fimo for now because Tio is an excellent fighter, marketability. Like, he's very marketable.

Like his post-fight celebrations are there. Cutts a good promo. Cuts a good pro is his dad is bat-shick crate. he's pretty much got everything you would want to see for a young fighter to be from a superstar so in terms of boxing career I'm gonna go with Tio right now

do you think Haynes is the more talented boxer than Lopez I've yeah I think they're I'm such a big fan of I'm such a big fan of Lopez but like I so I don't know I'm just this is the first I've heard someone argue that

yeah no Devin Devin gets a lot of shit right because he doesn't finish people off. But you know who else got a lot of shit and not finishing people off? Floyd Mayweather. And the thing about Devin is he's got an excellent jab.

That guy? Floyd Mayweather. Is he doing it right? Yeah, he's, you know, wearing hella gold chains and yelling at him. He's crazy. But Devin is a guy, I think, is like, when you watch his fundamentals and for Gets, too, right?

It's not like he hasn't gotten close to peaking yet. So we're going to see him fight a lot more, and I think people will get over themselves to be critical, but as long as it keeps winning and he gets bigger and wins more titles, I think skill wise, he's him and Tio are right there, I think. Yeah.

Also, if you were to tell me that Ryan, like in 10 years from now, if you were to tell me that Ryan Garcia never fought again, I also wouldn't be surprised either, because I feel like he's in and out of the sports so much, which is unfortunate because I think he's super talented, but it's always in and out with him. He always tells me he's going to retire in three years, right?

Yeah. Well, he had said at one point he wanted to quit boxing in like five years and do MMA. I was like, that's not going to happen. There's no way. He told me you wanted to have a clothing line. He was like, I want to have a clothing line. I was like, Ryan, listen, man, you're young, right? And when you hit 30, you're going to be like surprised and you're going to be like, I still feel like I got more left in me.

All fighters do this. I'm going to retire before I'm 30. No, you're not. But him, he's got like, Africa Carpian and fits things and social media pages blowing up. He doesn't have to fight. No, he really doesn't. You know what? How old is Ryan Garcia right now? 22, I believe him in... 22, 23.

Yeah, him and Haynes. When you're 22, the age of 30 feels like 65. Yeah. You know, so, yeah, I get that. When you're 22, you feel like 30's old. But when you're 30, you go, oh, all right. Ryan also has, like, the best team, like, in terms of his coaches and everything. He trains with Canelo.

Like, Canelo's going to all of his fights and everything. So he's going to get that rub, too. So, yeah, I hope he doesn't quit. But if, again, If you were to tell me he never fought again, I would have he surprised. No, I'm with me either. Let's fly through these. Just fly through these.

Happy 55th birthday to Mike Tyson. Oh, most memorable Mike Tyson moment, Andreas, real quick. We're going to keep it. We're going to keep it in the ring, in the ring. Oh, come on. I'm sure you. I don't want, all right, fine, fine. Out of the ring.

What biggest, most memorable moment in Tyson? The interview we told Leslie was going to eat his kids, man. Like, oh, my God. That's, that's, look, I've watched every Tyson fight. I actually have a DVD collection of every single Tyson fight. And yes, he was explosive, phenomenal in the ring. But that post-fight promo?

Like, that man cut a promo. I was like, you know. There's reasons they use that promo. And like, I feel like there's a song every year that comes out that uses parts of that promo. Yes, yes. Like, Mike was an enigma. So, yes, fifth band. The fact that he's still here at 55, given how most of his life was, is a, is,

is like a victory in itself. Mike Tyson's biggest turnaround. Between him and Snoop Dog, their baby face turns were incredible. Snoop was on trial for murder, right? Mike Tyson was for jail, you're rape. These guys are like two massive babies faces. Snoop's doing a goddamn Corona commercial.

You could have told me this shit in the 90s of these two would still be here doing this. Snoop and Martha Stewart doing shit together? Like, what, dude? All right. Yeah. I have issues of Mike Tyson, but I understand.

I understand. There's redemption. I get it. Mike Tyson, normalized face tattoos. My God. I would not. Someone told me that's the most,

because I'm, I'm kind of big into the tattoo world, and that's probably the most famous tattoo in the world. Is Mike Tyson's face tattoo, I would say. Yeah, when he did it, we was like,

he's lost his god of mind. But then you know what? Now you don't even see it. It's kind of part of it now. It's weird. It's also, that that tattoo has also brought to the forefront copyright laws and tattoos because like now if you put it in a game or like when it was in the hangover,

it's copyright trademark stuff because it's an original piece that the artist did. I remember Carlos Connick got sued for that. Yeah, Carlos Condit's too when they put it in the video game. Yeah, that's a weird thing. All right. Sean should choose Keller. Wouldn't hate it. Brian Boone Keller, good friend of the show has called him out a bunch.

I like that fight, actually. So do I like him a lot? A lot of people said they would love to see Keller. Yeah. I think he called him out on this show a few times, so it would make sense. Okay, boom. He also said that if he wins, he would smoke with him. So I think that just helps with that.

Thoughts on Dana acting like a child because Francis has a great MMA management team. Didn't take the BS that came out of Dana's mouth. Yeah, we talked about this. a lot. Dana just not every time coaches or managers push back on Dana like that. I think as a general role, if Dana is talking shit about your manager,

your manager is doing a good job. Great. Yes. If you're a fighter, your manager should not be best friends if they're promoted. They should actually hate each other. You know, you know, like Holly Holmes longtime manager and her and Danas are not

on good terms. That means they're doing their job. Yeah, exactly. exactly another one from Mr. Boza AG fights for Glover and Jan's fight supposed to take place

to USC 266, push back to UFC 67 you know Francis asked for Derek at 260 USC said no what the hell is going on so I believe yeah I don't know

Glover and Jan is allegedly going to take place in Avadavi cool timing I guess I thought it would be so I thought it made too much sense to have Jan and Glover in Chicago

considering there's that big Polish population Yeah. Throw March in Tibera on that card too. Throw Yohan on that card. But obviously, as I've said a million times, anything we want doesn't happen in the UFC. No.

And the question was, what the hell is going on. Doug, I don't know. I don't know what the hell is going on. Your guess is as good as ours. Someone wants money. That's all.

And Dana don't want to pay people what they're worth. Or rather, Hunter Campbell. Yeah. The lawyer? Yeah. Who's at every. Who's at? Hawani on Twitter.

Who's at every prize conference you go to now, Hunter's standing off to the side when Dana speaks over to the side is usually to him. Remember pre the cell

you would hear fighters Connor over like oh I'm going to talk to the Fritia brothers after me Lorenzo. Wasn't Dana so basically the new

Lorenzo is Hunter Campbell. Mm-hmm. Is anyone excited for Lewis to gun as a fight? Yeah. That's a problem.

Yeah, that's a problem. Yeah, when we hate on this fight, We don't hate on Lewis versus Gahn in itself, then punching each other for money. That's cool. That's going to be great. But obviously, it's outside of the fight, which makes it an issue. Correct.

You don't need a, you don't need a fake belt. No, I love the fight. I don't love the fact that you're undermining Francis and Gownie. That's it. That's it. Jake Paul donating money to fighters, yes. What is Sarah Alpar? Yeah.

I believe her name started to go fund me. and Jake Paul quote tweeted it or shared an article and was basically like, it's a disgrace, this and that, you have my support, so on and so forth. So we've talked about this a million times, me and Casey, on various posts and preview and A side shows, but Andreas, what are your thoughts on?

Professional boxer, Jake Paul, getting into the UFC fighter pay argument. Look, man, you can hate the messenger, but the message is correct. And what Jake Paul is doing, I applaud that man for it. He could be a douchebag and then all that other stuff. I'm separating those things right now

because he is absolutely right. The fact that he has the power to do something like this and ruffle some feathers and then donate to fighters, come on, man. It's really making Dana look like a fool. So shout out to Jake Paul in terms of that. I've had time to sit with him. Like when I was with the zone, you know,

we did a couple of his fights, spent a lot of time with him. You may not like him as a person, but again, the message is on point here, and I love it. Jake Paul annoys me because it reminds me, God dang it, humans are complicated. You can't just be, you know, wise or gray. Either a good guy or a bad guy.

God dang it. I hope he's doing this for the right reasons, too, because I know a lot of people saying he's just doing it just to take shots at Dana. If that's what it takes so be it, if that's what it takes to have change, so be it. But I hope he sticks with it is what I think people are saying. It's not just a smokescreen.

Yeah, I hope, yeah. And we have an interview coming out with, what was the ladies, Sarah Alpar? Alpar. Alpar. Yeah, we did an interview of it today while she was getting, while Jake Paul was donate money to her. It's pretty awesome. I'm going to fly through these. Hot take, John Jones loses to everyone in the top five of heavyweight and lighthead weight besides Lewis and Cher.

I think John Jones could very well, has an extremely high chance of being the heavyweight champion of the world. I think he will be but I've been saying that forever I think John Jones has lost his last two fights I think he wasn't motivated I'm sorry I don't think he was as motivated I think if this man fights is a heavyweight I think fighting for if you're not

if Francis and Ghana is going to motivate John Jones I also think that John Jones has one of if not the highest fight IQs I've ever seen inside an Octagon I think John is going to be the heavyweight champion in the world Are we really doing motivated John Jones? Yes. Are we there yet?

Are we there? Are we there? Are we doing motivated John Jones? Yes. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Actually, I don't like John at heavyweight.

I don't agree with the light heavyweight thing. He can't be anyone in the top five light heavyweight at heavyweight. I don't know, actually. I mean, anyone at heavyweight can put you to sleep in one punch. That's the thing. Like, you give Derek Lewis 25 minutes. to land one punch. Yeah, that's all you need.

The Agano fight is the intriguing one because John's never been a great striker, right? And it only really takes one from Uganda. That's why I always wanted to see the Rumble Johnson John Jones fight because I wanted to see him with that kind of striking. So that's the only thing that concerns me is that power because John, he can get hit a lot.

And it only takes one from a heavyweight. But I think a light heavyweight, I think he beats everybody there. You're a procrastco. He's future champ. Yeah, because he fought in Rising. We get it. Anyway, we want, yeah, yeah, we, Casey, we know you like, this isn't between the links.

You're not hijacking for Jerry Prohaskat talk. Anyway, we're going to, we're going to, all right, all right, all right. We've been going on for a long time. We've been about 18 minutes long. I did want to get this in because I saw I'm tweeting about it for a bit. Top three MMA fights we're looking forward to. John Jones and Francis Nagano, if that ever had, are we talking about realistic fights? Yeah, Bikes are actually going to happen.

I don't know. I'm really excited for T.J. and Cody Sanhagen. And that doesn't have a date, right? Yes, it does. Doesn't it end of July? They rebook the end of July. Oh, okay. Awesome.

Adisania Whitaker, too, whenever that happens. M.M.A. Oh, and Pitbull and McKee. Yeah. That's the one. Pit bull and the key. that was the one that immediately came to mind. I can't wait for that fight. I'm quite a scale.

I'm very interested in next week's fight with Connor and Dustin too, because I need Dustin against flowers. I really need him to truly get his flowers, but, you know, nine times out of ten, the guy who wins the second fight, went to third fight in the trilogy.

So if Dustin does this, I'm interested. But if Connor wins, the internet breaks again. So I'm very intrigued by the atmosphere next week for that fight. Yeah, that fight. I'm super.

I just want that fight. I can't talk about that fight because I'm going to jinx it and then it won't happen. Oh, I love chaos. So let's talk about it. So do I? I love chaos.

Because it's not only me. It's not my money. I know. I absolutely love chaos too. When I was sitting at Cajide, when Nate Diaz got the cut and then they called the fight against Jorge, and everyone was where I'm like, this is kind of fun.

This is funny to me. I just fight fans so upset. But we've gone a little over time, and I wanted to get this in because I saw him tweeting about it, and right before we close out. Real quick, Andreas, what did you think of the off season? I like the off season. I also think it's overreate.

It's Jay Cole's latest album. Yes. It came out right when I was going to Houston, it came out. So that's literally all I listened to when I was walking to events. Like, I like the off season a lot. My problem with it is not Jay Cole. It's Jay Cole fans. They were like, this is classic.

It's the greatest album ever. It was out for like 24 hours. It was out for 24 hours. It was already like instant classic. this and that. It's like relaxed, but I thought it was really good. I don't know if this album

in the year, though, because Tyler, the creator's album is really good. I was going to bring it up. That's what I was going to close. That's what I want to talk about Tyler's album. Call me if you get lost is so good. And I am so happy part because like 2013 Jose

is so happy that Domo Genesis came back and is back on another track. Obviously, I'm bummed out. I'm bummed that Earl and Frank aren't on it. But you can't get everything you want for. Call me if you get lost absolutely is phenomenal. It's better than Igor

And Igor is fantastic too Oh yes Oh yes oh yes I like it better I love Igor so I'm not I don't love it I'm not like new one I love this new one but I don't love it as much

In terms of a In terms of a complete rap album That hits every single spectrum Because Tyler got Got some good melodies on it He's got some good production on it It's his best bars In a long time

Like his flow and rhyming in there is better than it's been in a long time. Yeah, this is Tyler's best album, I think. This is the culmination of all of his, of like, his last few years. There it is. It's, you know, I wasn't, I was not a big Tyler fan with Goblin and Wolf. I was not a big odd future fan. But there was, the talent was always there.

Like, you can see musicality and everything was always there. This is like Tyler reaching his final form, right? Like, this is him ditching all the, you know, like late teens, early 20-year-old nonsense that he was rapping about. But now it's like everything's kind of kind of, coming together for him. And Igor was that project as well. Like, Igor being what it was and call me if you get lost being what this is, it's like when Kendrick made to Pippa Butterfly and Damn, right? There were two completely different projects that people love for different

reasons. This album is incredible. This, right now this is my album of the year. Mine too. And I've not established to. Also, I just want to point out, I have an absolutely massive goblin poster right here that I got from that tour that I've never got rid of. I liked goblin, but like, obviously listening back to i was like oh like this is just not high quality music but at the time it was just it was just refreshing it was like a new it was like just the new thing i was also like 22 when it came out and it was something i just had felt i had become stagnant and music had become a little stagnant it was just something new um but i'm glad domo's back because domo went genesis went to college to me for one year he went to as u and he walked around house parties and he's like i'm gonna be a

professional musician. And I'm going to buy his first, he's like, when I become a millionaire, I'm going to buy a diamond charizard medallion. And guess who he bought a diamond charade madallion? And I remember that house party when he told everyone that. I was like, good on you, man. Look, since we're doing stories, fun fact, I'm very close. I used to be the editorial content director for two doughboys.

And if anybody remembers, I had beef. with two dope boys. A little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Okay. We were at South by Southwest one year during the Woody Awards. In Tyler the Creator.

The 2011? The 2011 one. That's the big Tyler one. Yeah. That's when I was at too. And he says fuck two doughboys at the Woody Awards. And we were there, me shake and me from two doughboys.

And I'm like, we're about to fight. Like, there's about to be a fight. Because they talked, like, we thought we were going to get into it with them. It's a long story about why that happened. But it was never anything personal with Tyler and them. It's just when you are in music and you get so much music every day, you don't get a chance to listen to it all. And we didn't get a chance at that time to listen to Tyler like that.

And then the quality wasn't that great in terms of the sound quality. But yeah. So there was a time that I thought, oh, my God, I'm going to have to fight Tyler the creator. That's crazy. And now I'm listening to his music. I'm like, this is incredible. Like, this man, he's grown so much as an artist. It's incredible.

There was that early Tyler. Like, if anyone has ever used Garage Man, like the default. sounds like the noise effects and everything they're all in tyler's old music because that's all he could do and he was like recording into his microphone laptop i loved it because i thought it i think that's what like the charm was for it but yeah it wasn't wasn't the best like bastard still i still love bastard that album i was i was a big odd future fan from day one when i first heard yeah me too orange juice orange juice is one he says that odd future wolf gang kill them all Don't give an F.

Two, and then Loader Squad, Bacon Boys, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Oh, wait, Anders might appreciate this. Hold on my, uh, see. Check out my little Grave diggers poster back there. Oh, six feet under, man. And we got, and we got my doom shrine right behind me, RIP. That is a legit metal mask that my friend molded for me.

You see that right over there in the corner? Look at you, man. Oh. The mad villain? You love to see it. RIP. That crushed my soul. Doom was one of the greatest of all time, man.

That's an enigma right there. Speaking of which, Super What? With M.F. Dumasarface Rules 2 this year. That's way up there. Very damn good album. Anyway, we've gone an hour and a half, but I'll talk with Andre. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we can be here all time anyway. Andres, thank you so much for joining us again. You can plug whatever you want to plug right now before we sign off. You can follow me on social media at Andreus Hale. We didn't get a chance to talk about it, but if you see this thing behind me, our heroes rock. That's me and Big E from the WWE and Johnny Davenport,

who designs the New Days gear. We're doing a cartoon that's kind of schoolhouse rock on Black history with some hip-hop involved. We raised a bunch of money on Kickstarter. We're in production right now. Rhapsody is doing the song about Ruby Bridges. It's going to be really dope 3D animation. So that's coming at you,

hopefully by the end of this year. And yeah, that's about it. Just, you know, just keep up with me. If you follow me on social media, you're going to get a treat because I don't just talk about MMA. I talk about everything and it gets wild and people say crazy things to me. I'm sure you guys are seeing that before. We love it. We love it.

We're also in a case who are in a fun chat. Me and Andre is in a fun chat. We just talk about hip-off the whole time. And it's clearly kind of on sabbatical right now because he's dad part too. So when he comes back, he'll be back on the show again. dude that guy has been ducking me he's like oh because of training yeah yeah i whipped up on him one day and he's all like oh crap i better go make some babies otherwise i got no excuse to come over here and take my

weapon take my weapon from casey so i'm just saying but we're cool we're not keeping score it's just fun we're just sparring we're learning we're not we're not we're not we're not yeah well one shit one of it anyway you can find this on all your Spotify networks and I don't think we'll be back next week because Casey and I will be a media day with Andreas for USC 264. So we're going to skip next week

and we've been back next week by Andreas. See you in Vegas, man. Thanks for joining us. All right, Joe. Peace out. God. We didn't even talk about Joe Schilling. Oh, boy. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.