MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Israel Adesanya's rise to superstardom, Robert Whittaker's future, Jon Jones' comments, Joanna Jedrzejczyk's weight cut, Fedor Emelianenko vs. Rampage Jackson, more

Episode Date: October 10, 2019

For this episode, José Youngs and Petesy Carroll break down Israel Adesanya’s violent destruction of Robert Whittaker at UFC 243, Adesanya’s meteoric rise to UFC gold, Whittaker’s future inside the Octagon, and what’s next for the rest of the middleweight division. The pair looked ahead to this Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ card in Tampa Bay, featuring Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Michelle Waterson, Cub Swanson vs. Kron Gracie and the return of Mackenzie Dern. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. 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-fi 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. With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver, like when you get groceries that are the same prices in store. With no markups at select retailers, you get in-store products for in-store prices, and the only thing that isn't in-store is you. That means you could order in-store products at in-store prices while you're in sweatpants, in spin class, in stuffy work meeting, in anywhere but in store. So download the app today and get $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver.

Service fees exclusions in terms apply. Support for this podcast comes from Healthnetics. Do you have nagging aches and pains from your younger, more eyes? Athletic Days, Health Netics CBD is a premium brand CBD that may help take care of aches and pains, as well as relieve anxiety and sleeplessness. Healthnetics products are all natural, THC-free, made in the USA, and undergo third-party lab testing to ensure quality and purity. All CBD is not the same.

Order today with a money-back guarantee at Healthnetics.com and use promo code sports for 20% off. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello everyone, Jose Youngst here at M.AFighting.com here with another episode of the A-Side live chat on, of course, M.AFighting.com, because you already knew that. You're on M.A. Fightings YouTube page with me on this side, but on the other side of the world, P.C. Carroll, long time coming. You haven't been on a long time. Let's see. Where are you been since the last time we saw you? You were in Dublin for Belator Dublin. You did Abu Dhabi. you did Melbourne, as you like to call it. Melbourne, Melbourne, okay. Stop with the Melbourne. One of us is wrong and it's not Jose Young. So he was in Melbourne.

Off to a fantastic start. But people have been asking me the whole time, where's pizza Carol? Where's pizza Carol? The last UFC podcast, the last podcast, last UFC event I covered in Anaheim, more people ask me about you than the actual podcast. They go, where's Pizza Carol? I go, he lives in Ireland, man.

I don't know what to tell you. He's not in Anaheim right now. So, but it's good to hear that Pete's Carolina spans all over the world. But he is back. I specifically asked him to be on this episode of the A-side because, of course, he was down under for a historical UFC 243, which is going to get right into it in a minute. But of course, Pizzi, how are you?

It's been a minute. What you've been up to outside of covering fist fighting? Absolutely nothing. I don't have time for anything else. Just loving my dog. And that's pretty much it. That's all I've got. But it's funny you mentioned that people,

people asked where I was. Because I was at an event last week and nobody knew who the fuck I was from the first second I walked in there. They just kept walking up to the two legends, Casey and Esther. And I was very upset. I was thinking about paying someone to walk up to me while they were around to put me over a bit. But didn't have any cash to hand.

So, I mean, I just had to get on it in the end, you know? Sure. Well, no one has ever recognized me. And here in the States, you got a lot of fans specifically. What about Mike Perry? Yeah, that's true. Mike Perry is a big fan of mine. Uh-huh.

But out here in the States, people love Pizza Carol. I can't, during the open workouts, UFC 241, the whole time I just said, Jose, where's Pizzi? I'm just like, I'm fine. How are you guys? But, of course. I've got to release a calendar or something next year. I guess so.

And the official M.A. Fittsie Carroll calendar spread across all of Ireland. I'd buy it. I'd hang it up right here, right here. But we're going to jump right into the questions. I have not looked at any of the questions. Pizzi has not looked at any of the questions because, as he says, that's cheating. This is, of course, and I speak when I say, your guys, the audience, if you want, it's your podcast.

Whatever question you want to ask, do you want to ask Pizzi about his incorrect assessment on the Joker? You can ask him about his incorrect assessment on the Joker. You could go on the MAAFighton.com, the post. You can leave your comment in the comment station or you can hashtag the A set on Twitter. I promise we're going to get to Twitter. Everyone always says go to Twitter. You all ask the same questions on the site and Twitter, but I promise you. We will get to Twitter.

But right out of the gate, someone's telling me my microphone isn't on. Great. I don't know. The microphone is good to me. But we're going to hop right in. I can hear you. I can hear you. All right.

People can hear me. Izzy and Jones from Rob Holland. Good day to you, sir. What are your thoughts on the beef and potential fight between Israel versus John? Some people would like to see this fight right now, like Jed said in the morning report. But I see absolutely no need for this fight soon. and sure later down the line when Israel's defendants, let's say, four times. Why are people always so quick to jump to these superfights right away?

For me, a superfight between two dominant champions, each with their own extensive title reign. Think GSP versus Silva. The counter argument, of course, is that if you don't do it now, has the potential of not happening at all. By the way, what is your definition of a super fight? So, PEC, you're on the scene for Israel out of sign. It's historic second-o knockout of Robert Whitaker. I feel like all week people were asking about John Jones. is speaking about Israel Osnit.

He was asked at the press conference about John Jones. So, what are your thoughts on a possible super fight, whether it's now or down the road between Israel-Sanah and John Jones? I like it down the road. I don't think it's important to do it now. I think when you speak to Izzy, he is very, he is well-taught-out plans on what he wants to do in this sport. And I think one of the key things that he wants to do is defend this belt,

possibly try to defend the belt as, many times as Anderson Silva and Demetris Johnson, these are the people that he's referencing when he's speaking about what his legacy is in the sport. Why put him in against Jones now? Fair enough, Jones has cleaned out the division a few times over, but Izzy's just getting started. And middleweight is thriving at the moment.

Look at this guy. He's at the post-fight press comments talking about Jared Cananeer. He's going to make stars in that division. I don't think there's any need to put him in against Jones straight away. That's going to be on the slowborn as Casey Lloyd and put it over there. and I completely agree with him. I don't see anyone really rattling Jones's greatness for a long time. Why get another champion to go up and take the kind of the fire away from one of them

that they both seem to have right now? I don't think that fight needs to be made now. Maybe, like, and also, Izzy doesn't seem to struggle to make that weight class at all. Look at the amount of the things he did during the week ahead of this fight. Other fighters would be crippled underneath the pressure of all these events. I don't see why the hell we'd want to move him to 205 now, not a major. when he becomes one of the great champions at Middleweight, which I think he's capable of,

that's the time to do a super fight with John Jones. Which one? She only takes amazing votes. She's the greatest by a country moyle. Oh, my God. Even the picture took of Robert Whitaker looking at the screen of his knockdown just before the second round starts

is just unbelievable. And like, I mean, you can talk about so many pictures. Sorry, I cut you off, you go ahead. But she's absolutely unbelievable. She's the great. Yeah, and apparently I was muted for like 30 seconds in there, so no one even heard what I was saying anyway. But I'm going to continue rattling on like everyone heard me.

There's an amazing photo that Estrelin took of Israel Al-Sign had jumped up on top of the octagon cage and was giving the double birds to Paulo Costa sitting octagon side. Paulo Cost is telling him like, it's me and you right now. It's me and you. He's in a very flamboyant shirt. You can't miss him. He looks like Superman, even when he's not wearing that shirt. But he was there.

He said he was going to fly out. Israel Sinus, after the press comments you were at, someone asked him, was Paolo next? And I think he said, we'll see. So I hope that's not him going back on what he's been saying the last few months. I was a little alarmed here in that. But I think Dana White said Paolo Costa is next after he beat Yolo Romero. Israel-Assad already has his eyes on Jared Cannon Air. He said he wants to defend his title a few times before fighting John Jones.

He said, I believe it was to you. Did he say Raider Stadium, 2020 in Las Vegas? That's the giant NFL stadium being built in Las Vegas right now. So if Israel has signed it keeps this trajectory and John Jones keeps winning, that sounds like a fantastic place to have Israelite Siner versus John Jones. Because like you said, it's not like Israel Sina's struggles to make this way. Did he come in under 185? Didn't he come in like 184.5 or something like that?

So I think he walks around to maybe 190, 193. It's a lot harder to balloon up to 205. than to make 185. And again, it's a little weird for me that John Jones is the one saying that's teasing Israel out sign that you won't come up, you won't come up. Maybe you'll have, what did he say? Maybe you'll have confidence to come up when this last few years, people have been saying the same thing about John Jones moving to heavyweight.

And now he's trying to get a middleweight to come up just after he won. I don't know what your thoughts on the matters, but it seems like it's, it's, I don't think it's a good look for John Jones to be calling out a middleweight right now when people are asking John Jones to move up to. heavy weight. It's funny because in the lead up to this event, I talked so much about the Star-making Power this, if Israel won what it would mean for the UFC. And it completely turned out to be true. But like, the fans are always going to say, no, it isn't. No, it is. I can remember we, we put out a poll on our Instagram page before this event and 70% of people picked Robert

Whitaker to win this. I mean, and then revisionist history to like, no, no, I had Izzy and all this stuff, but let me tell you how how big I think this kid's going to be. I believe when and if that fight ever happens, he will be bringing most of the interest to the contest. I think he's going to be the big name that, you know, the big name between him and Jones when that eventually goes down. And to be honest, look how fun that fight is with Paolo Costa. Look at the dynamic those two guys have. Why would you not want that fight to happen? Why would you want anything to get in the way of that fight happening? It's fantastic. Israel spoke about it at the post-fight press conference,

Oscar Willisassassan about it from the MacLife. And he was saying, like, look at Paolo. He looks like a superhero. He looks like the guy that everyone thinks is tough. I want to be the guy to beat him so people go, oh, my God. And that's what it would do. 100% a casual fan seeing Paolo Costa and Izzy standing beside each other.

I think I know who they'd favor just based on the physique's alone. But I do not buy into the whole skinny thing with Izzy. He looks absolutely outrageous, man. The guy's physique is outrageous. And that's the way I like to see. a guy's not cutting a lot of weight to fight in their division and potentially dominate their division. Yeah, he's a tall middleweight. So he's similar to John Jones in fact that he's not absolutely monstrous, like Yoller, Merrill and Paulo Costa.

But he's a lot taller than these middleweight so he can afford to, what is it? Like his muscles are, I don't know, I don't know the phrasing, but he doesn't need the muscles because he's taller than everyone. But the second half of this question by Rob Holland, what is your definition of a super fight piece of Carol? Two dominant champions from two divisions facing off against each other. Yeah, I think, can you name many superfights that have happened in the UFC outside? Like, yes, we've had double champs. He's had champ versus champs. I think Steepin Miochitz and Daniel Korme was a legitimate superfight.

Can you name, how many superfights do you think we've had in the UFC? Oh, you know, McGregor v. Alvarez was won. GSP v. Bisping was probably one, even though GSP was away for a long time before that. And Bispening and only defended the title maybe once before. Yeah, that's probably, that's all I can think of off the top of my head, to be honest. But there probably is more. I would say, man, the new next to Chris Cyborg would be one of them. Cyborg was the greatest.

That legitimately was a battle over who is the greatest female and then mixed martial arts of all time. Would Yohanna and Tchachenko check out for that? I know Yowana wasn't the champion, right? At Strawaway at the time, which he was an incredibly dominant champion at Strowewe. before she went up to fight, Valentina. Would that count for you? I guess it would depend on what people consider. Do you have,

is this has to be champion versus champion for it to be a super fight? Like we've had GSP versus BJ Penn before. I think that was like a bit, that was a big super fight. I think you have had to have been a champion. Like say like Randy Gautour and Tim Sylvia felt like a super fight when it went down as well.

Dan Henderson versus Anderson Silva, even though they're saying weight class because Dan came from Freud and Anderson was a dominant champion in the UFC. Like Rampage. and Chuck, like stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is a few, like, I mean,

but sometimes super fight gets thrown around a bit too loosely. I do agree with you. It's making us think about it even, and we're nerds. I might be a little bit more of a nerd than you, but how about Nate Diaz versus Jorge Mazvedal? Do you think that's a super fight?

It's a blockbuster fight. I don't know if it's a super fight. I would agree. I know our own Dan Segura, when they initially, remember a couple months ago, there was the report that Jorge Mazel was going to fight Nick Diaz. and Danes Seguaro was like, that is a super fight.

I've been asking for this fight forever. That is the definition of super fight. So if Hory Mazudal is the needle mover he is and Adiaz is obviously the needle mover, if you're just looking at metrics, right now that's a super fight. Those are the two most popular fighters not named Israel As Sonia on the UFC roster. Yeah, I get you, but I mean, I suppose super fight, the definition of super fight is pretty loose, right? Is that what we're trying to do? Are we trying to come out with the definitive meaning of superfight?

right now. All right. We're putting on piece of Cal, whatever you said, is going to be the absolute definition of super fight from here on forth. So choose your words carefully. Dominant champion versus dominant champion. Mazvedal V. Diaz is not a super fight. It's a blockbuster marquee.

And there you have it, folks. The definitions of the super fight is in the books. I'm going to call Webster Dictionary right now. But we're going to move right along from LFNWA, long time commenter, middleweight, middleweight, The new money weight. Yo, middleweight is popping. Really seems like having some of these old heads move up to 205 really breathed new life into both division.

Israel out of sign. A new champ with devastating style. Paulo Costa is actually the Hulk. Jared Kahnter controls the universe. Robert Whitaker. Hopefully back from the dead health returns in less than 12 months. So, PC Carroll, middleweight division and all of a sudden, one of the most exciting divisions in the UFC.

And we talked to Dana Seguera last a couple of weeks ago. We were remembering the time when the middleweight division was basically the top, seems like the top five of sandstone. You have Wyven, you had Rockhold, you had Romero, you have Jacques O'Reay, and then you had Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping floating around in there. And all of a sudden, you have Israel Asanian emerges on the scene. Robert Whitaker emerges onto the scene. And now Middleweight division, that top five is now no longer the same. But it's as exciting as ever. as someone who saw the culmination of now we finally have a unified middleweight champion.

We no longer have an interim champion and a reigning champion. We have an undisputed unified middleweight champion of the world. Jared Canaaner starts Jackramansen in Copenhagen. Your thoughts on this new, as LFMWA said, middleweight, the new money weight. Yeah, I think it's a great division. And that's why I'm so against the Jones for you right now. I mean, let this play out a bit. Also, just from a European point of view, Till could be a huge addition to that.

I don't like that first fight with Gasolm. I really don't like that fight one bit for him. But I mean, I think they could have paved his way into that division a bit better. And if they had have done, it could have been a big thing because once again, it's another striker. It's another guy who's going to mix it up very well with Costa and Stilebender. At least on paper, people would find that an interesting dynamic. I don't think Hermanson is going to be going away. It was a bad loss to Canaaner, but he's all.

also there. I think there's a lot of interesting guys and they both they all of their different kind of things about them that is interesting. Um, so yeah, I think I think it's absolutely amazing at the moment and that's why they need to keep the division together rather than let guys jump up to different weight classes, et cetera. Yeah, like LFMW, LFMWA said, I think I have so many letters. So LFMWA, tell me what this means. I read your questions every week and I still have no idea what those letters means but all right sorry go ahead yeah you think about it and you then that'll be your promo at the end of the at the end of this episode for people not people listening and not watching pisa carol is literally writing down an acronym he's trying to say but pc uh lfmwa also asked is this

a product of fighters leaving the middleweight division we saw we saw luke rachel move up we saw jaccaray move up we saw chris wyatman is moving up anthony smith giago santos is this mass this at middleweight, which people said would maybe made this division so thin, would we be in the same scenario now if those names I said hadn't left the middleweight division? Well, I'm sure they'd be spotted

around in the top 10 of course, but I mean, let's not, like, I feel like, M. My fans are so bad for this. Like, as soon as Whitaker loses, they're like, oh, well, he's shit now. He, like, he was brilliant. Like, he bet Y'all Romero twice. I mean, he bet, like, I feel like that should speak for itself.

Like, Y'all Romero was a terrified terrifying, terrifying man and this guy has beat him twice and then he gets overwhelmed to become for Israel to become the champion. Like yeah, I'm sure it would look a bit different, but I mean, Hermanson beat Jackeray soundly. He beat him soundly. These guys, like these guys deserve their spots here. And to be honest, the fighters who moved up, they've had better success in the new eight classes. They should have been there all the time probably. You know what I mean? Like that's like, I don't think that's fair to say that these guys are only rising to the top because people have left.

Those guys left because they couldn't get to the top. That's where they were gone. Yeah, and I guess the gap between 185 and 205 is so massive. I mean, Chris Wyman himself said that this was eventually happened. Jacques Array said he teased it for a long time. But when we spoke to not, he's not a light heavy way or middle way, we spoke to Michael Keesa at UFC 240. He was one of those guest fighters.

And he said that he should have gone up to Welterweight years ago because 155 was killing his body, He was making him miserable. He wasn't enjoying life. And we asked him, like, if Welterweight, if you're so good at Welterweight now and your body feels healthy, why didn't you move up? Why even start at 155? And he said, I was in the top 10 at lightweight.

I didn't want to leave that and start over in a new division against lesser-range fighters. I could have fought for the title in two or three fights. So maybe that's where Rockhold and Wyman were. After Wyman loses to Jacques-Aray, maybe that was like, I'm not anywhere near. I'm just as close to a title fight in middleweight as I'm a light heavyweight. Now's the time. Maybe Rockholds the same way. Maybe Jacques Gray was the same way.

There was an excellent write-up by our own Garemet Cruz about Jacques-Gerre going through a bouts of depression leading up to his fight. Unbelievable article where he was literally crying on his way to the gym in preparation for Jack or Manson. He really felt like the guy that stood the company right, took any in all-comers, fought Chris Comozy twice, fought Tim Bosch, fought Jacker Manson, fought all these guys that he He just wanted to do and he never got the title fight. Absolute bummer that he never did.

But now he gets a shot against John Blackovich, it's UFC, South Paulo. But we're going to move right along. We got a couple questions about Yonna and Jachic, asking us to pick the fight between Michelle Water and Yowana. That fight might not even happen. I haven't looked at the update since this podcast started. But last I heard Pizzi,

Yonno was struggling to make weight. She might not make the weight. Now there's talks and maybe she fights maybe someone in a catch weight. Maybe Michelle Watterson doesn't take the catch weight. She moves to UFC 244 to fight Jessica Andrade. I know McKenzie Derns on that card too. So I'm not going to ask you to make a prediction, but what do you make of this whole situation that we've,

that literally started moments before we went on air? I'm very surprised by it because we were only speaking to Joanna, maybe three weeks ago in your obash. And she really, we were buzzing after talking to her. Like she felt so reinvigorated. She gave us a brilliant interview where she, in one sentence, compared herself to Connor and Freddie Mercury. So I mean, it's, it was unbelievable.

And I'd like to hear that she's having trouble with the weight. It kind of shocked me a bit because she really had me believing everything she said, you know, and it sounded like there was going to be no hesitations. There's going to be no problems getting down to the weight class. It's very interesting that, you know, this far out, I heard like she had told the UFC, you know, some reports are saying like up to last week that she said this. Like, I mean, that's a like, I'm not even coming near this. I'm not even in the, like in the conversation for straw weight at the moment.

And I think, are they talking about a 190 pound catchweight? Is that what's being said? I don't know the exact number, but I guess they had offered Michelle Waterson a catchway and she doesn't want to do it. That's the last time. I haven't looked since we went on there. It's not Waterson's fault, you know, like this is the thing. So I can understand where she's coming from completely. But again, this is the kind of fight that could make Waterson, like, you know, it could really put her on the map.

like even though she's already a big name, but a victory over Joanna would mean so much to her right now. It's just disappointing because the fight itself is just amazing. It's just two brilliant, brilliant strikers facing off against each other. And I couldn't wait for it. Like since this has been announced, I've been dying for this fight to happen. And, you know, in MMA, generally there's no smoke without fire. And I just, I have my doubts it will take place now at all.

And that's really shitty for us, unfortunately. Yeah, it's not just unfortunate for the fans, but look at that division. I mean, a lot of people were looking at this as a number one contender fight with Tatyana Suarez, a lot of people believe she was the uncrowned champion, but she hurt her neck back at UFC 238. So she, when Wiley Zhang got the towel shot over her, she didn't have an issue with it because she needed to recover. Now, Yohanna and Jacek and Michelle Writerson seemed like the most logical number one contender fight for Wiley Zhang. Wiley Zhang is one of the breakout stars, if not the breakout star, of 2019. Apparently, Yohani and Jacek turned her down three times.

If that fight eventually, say Yawanna wins and that fight eventually happens, that's a huge money fights, especially in the Chinese market. Michelle Waters, one of the most popular fighters not to win a championship, she fights Wiley-Jane. That's another big fight. So this is just an absolute bummer for the division, not just the fans. Yeah, it was just about the side of you. Like, I mean, Zang must be like, shit, like what's going to happen as well? Because, I mean, that's a huge fight. Like, there's not, like, I put out the article, Yohanna told us she turned down.

Zhang three times. And she said in the thing, like she goes, at that stage, she needed me. And people are like, oh, what are you talking about, Joanna? I was like, no, that's pretty much exactly like, Zhang is this unbelievable athlete, bulldozing through the division. But she did need Joanna.

Before she got that unexpected title shot, she would have gained massively from fighting Joanna at that stage. I don't know why people are like, oh, what's she talking about? No, that was 100% what was going on there. She would have gained so much from it. And I'm sure she's going, well, Jesus, who's going to put me over and make me the bonafoy, the dominant, a big name around the world? This is the champion. It was Joanna.

Like, it is someone like Joanna. And had Waterson beat Joanna, she would have had that value to then take into a fight with Zhang and put her over. So I'm sure that everybody in that top five at Strawweight is thinking, shit, is Joanna leaving this division for good? And it is worrying for them because without a doubt, I think in the Western world, she's the biggest name in that division. Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt. If she does leave the division, though, it would be a little, it would be a bummer. She's the most dominant champion, obviously, of that division.

She's one of the five most dominant. One of the great European fighters of all time. One of the great, not male or female, one of the greatest European fighters of all time. One of the greatest female, one of the top five greatest female fighters of all time. She really, really wanted to break Ronda Rogers' title defense record. But obviously she lost. she ended up losing to Rose Nama Yunus. It would be a big blow for that division.

But again, if she can't make it, I'd much rather see her fight at 125. She said after she lost to Rose the first time, that her big announcement that she had been teasing all week, was she wanted to move up to 125 and fight Valentina Shoshanko or fight someone for that title. Ended up happening. We saw how that played out.

It just, it's a bummer that we would lose her in that division and be a bummer for that division as a whole. But if she does leave, who gets the next title shot, P.C. Carroll. If she does leave, I guess maybe do you just give it to Waterson? I mean, I don't know. Tatiana Suarez, I really don't know. It's really messed up because I guess, as you said at the top of the show, everybody saw this as the number one contender fight.

I mean, nobody was really looking beyond this, like because of the star power of Joanna and Waterson. It would have made perfect sense for either of those to go in against Zhang and put her over onto a new level. And I'm sure she would have been rubbing our hands together for that. for you because she is an absolute beast. Without, yeah, there's, yeah, if, if, if Michelle, I let one report I had read again, I haven't read it since we started there was, I guess the UFC maybe even offered Michelle

Watersen a fight against Jessica Androge, a UFC 244 in New York. It's not the same. It's not the same. Jessica, that's a dangerous fight for her to take. Jessica and Drach is a very dangerous siloistic match up for her. Again, a completely different style fighter than you want in a Jason. So she would have to completely change her camp, fight a smaller, A smaller, a shorter fighter, a harder hitter, a completely different style of human being inside the octagon.

A three-round fight, it wouldn't be a five-round fight. I don't know if you take that. If you want to stay active, sure, but I don't know if I'd take that if I'm Michelle Waterson. No, I think she's got to be clever here. It's just a tough situation. I don't know. Like, you know, the way Joanna was speaking about it, I just didn't foresee this. Like, I mean, she seemed excited.

She seemed, like, I feel like it is her health at risk here. So, you know, I'm not going to be pointing fingers and screaming and shouting about it or anything. But the way she was talking about it, I just never foresaw anything like this happening, you know. And she kind of spoke about the trouble she encountered before the Rose fight. And I just, I just, the way she was speaking, I just didn't think weight was going to be an issue anymore. I just thought she had a new team, a new look at this situation. And unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case indeed, but there's still great fights on that car.

I don't know. I don't want to get into it because we might have more questions coming down. But like Chrome Gracie returns on that card against Cubs Swanson. I know Guillermo Cruz has been counting the days until Chrome Gracie steps back in the Octagon. He was very disappointed when he didn't find him that big real card back in May. He could be a big needle mover. I think he could be a really big star for that, not just the division, but the whole UFC. But we're going to move along. From another question from Rob Holland, Pizzi, I think you would be a better answer for this since you were right there.

Bobby Knuckles, where does the name? the coolest nickname go from here. I personally thought he did okay in the fight. He fell in love with the same sequence a bit too much, but other than that, I believe he is still a force to be reckoned with in the rejuvenated middle of the division. The winner of Gasolent Till is a good option. Plus, he is still only 28. If you can keep injury free, I personally see him rebounding from this loss. How about you? So yes, Pizzi Carroll, before I kick it over to you, Rob Holland said he thought he was, Whitaker was doing okay. You were at the postway press conference, so Robert Whitaker said He thought he was doing well until he wasn't.

He thought he really was performing at his best, and he had his finest success against Israel-Ison, until he got clipped those two times. I spoke with Kelvin Gasolm yesterday at the Domino's M&A Management Media Day, and he completely disagreed with what Robert Whitaker's assessment. He said he watched it, and he was not only disappointed in Robert Whitaker's performance, he felt like after watching Robert Whitaker's skill set and what he brought to the Octagon, that he felt cheated out of a championship when they were supposed to be.

opposed to fight in February when Robert Whitaker ended up pulling out of the fight and then Israel and Sanja and Mr. Silva got bumped up to the main event. He goes, I would have dropped that Robert Whitaker like a sack of potatoes. I felt robbed. I felt cheated out of the title. At the end of the day, it doesn't end up matter because he lost Israel and Asani anyway. Kellyn Gassel, I completely disagreed with Robert Whitaker's take. You were there. You saw you probably had a better vantage point than any of us. You're taking Robert Whitaker's performance inside the Octagon and where he goes from here. Yeah, I had to watch it again because after, like when you're in the arena, right,

like I'm Cadeside, a lot of movement in that fight. Like people with Robert charging at Asana down, they were kind of disappearing behind posts. And I'd see like Robert lunging and I'd hear the crowd exploding. So like it was 60,000 people cheering for Rob pretty much. So it was kind of dizzying at that point. And I thought after watching it back while I was there, I thought the first round was way more competitive than I actually was. And Casey, to be fair, when I came back to him, he had watched it on the broadcast view, and he had kind of said, look, I think Izzy wasn't controlled

of this fight throughout. And I agree with him after watching it the second time. But in terms of Whittaker and his future, the greatest evolutions in Whitaker's career have come from defeats. So if you imagine he had lost at 170 that prompted his move up to Middleway, he goes on an eight-fight win streak takes the division by storm beats the buggy man the division gets the belt i mean i feel like it was it was very tough you know i felt like um i feel like he can come on and he can be even better now and i think the lack of activity he had ahead of this fight really screwed him over you know i think um you know he just it was almost like he was trying to prove himself uh right the fact that he had taken this time off and he was saying i needed that time off and maybe israel should have taken more

time off than he did. And then he's like rushing forward, bulldozing forward, trying to catch him. You know, when we were drawing parallels between that performance and Ronda Rousey's against Holly home in the same arena. But yeah, I certainly think he will be back up there. Even Israel himself said to me that the post-fight press comments, look, I went over and I told him straight away, we're going to be having a rematch in the next couple of years. There's no doubt about it. He thinks maybe two more wins and we're going to be right there. Because when he looks impressive, he looks really goddamn impressive. So, yeah, I think Wittaker's far from done.

And people forget, he's a lot. He's younger than Izzy. He's 28. It's crazy to think about it. But yeah, he's younger than Ida Sanya. So, I mean, yeah, I definitely think he's going to be back. And I think he's going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. If you were Robert Wittaker's camp, who would you like to see him face?

Is the winner that Till Gassum fight the one to make? Or do you take a Jared Canaaner fight? I don't think anybody wants to fight Jared Cannon Air after he upset the Apple cart in Copenhagen. Yeah, I'd like, like, I mean, I think he could fight. I eat him, really.

Like, I mean, it's, I think it would, for me, it's very interesting to see how he does when he returns. I mean, even if Till, loses to Gassel, maybe that's the fight. Maybe Hermanson, maybe someone else that's coming off a loss as something to gain. But, you know, I see anyone in that top ten as an interesting fight for Whitaker.

And I guess he's going to want the, the biggest name that's there. and it's just very hard to predict. You know how things change in this sport from week to week. It's very hard to predict. But yeah, not a bad shout. Gasolum v. Till winner. But you know, Gasolam's going to be shouting for that Adasania rematch if, you know, he wins that fight.

And of course, he should. He gave him the closest fight he's had in the UFC. So why wouldn't he? Yeah. And, but the one thing Israel Adisang did is he named Fala Costa and he made Jared Canaaner. And you know if a champion is dropping your name, that kind of short. the pathway to the gold. Like, yeah, he said he would rematch

Kulman Gasolm down the road, but if he's bringing up Jared Kaneer, who's... Did you watch any of the post-fight stuff from the UFC Copenhagen card? Jared Kahnir carries around crystals. He says it, like, balances his chakra and his energy and everything. He has, like, he's

like carrying a ball. Like, I don't know what, it's some mineral. He walks around with that, like, for people not watching right now, I wish you could see Pizza Carol's face. It is absolutely unbelievable. He was on the UFC at the ESPN desk and he had like a thing, like a ball of pyrite and he's like this awards off negative energy and really allows me to perform at my optimal performance inside the Octagon. And I was like, I want to see this man fight Israel

Israel Adasagna so badly because that's just a clash of characters right there. And I think it would just be so fun in the lead-up to that fight, seeing Jared Kaner carry around crystals and seeing Israelan and talk about anime. I would love everything about it. what the hell has happened to America that this is a thing I mean Jesus Christ I mean we all think you're weird as it is and now he's like carrying around crystals

before you go into you know bludging another man I don't know look when you saw what happened you saw how he won you're telling you the crystals didn't work I thought that was a crazy fight for her manson to take to be honest

like I if you can imagine they dangled that that berry in front of him like you in Copenhagen you get that win, you come across this huge star in Scandinavia and then we get you

into that title fight and he's like, oh yeah, cool, I'll fight anyone actually and they're like Jared Cana-Nair and he's like, shit.

But like he was even saying it before he goes, yeah, okay, I wanted to go with a bigger name value but this guy is terrifying. Like you told us that

on Eurobash. He was saying like, this is a crazy competitive fight like and this is the only guy that will fight me in Copenhagen and I was like, oh man,

that is a shit situation. And now he's bringing crystals. Jesus. Hey man, the power of, the crystals broke the hearts of everyone in Denmark. So don't knock it until you try a pizza carrol.

Next time we have bad audio, I'm going to blame the fact that I don't have any crystals around me. We're going to get this sorted out. We're going to get some crystal on our hand. I'll get Derek Canaan here. On the case now, don't ever make that face on this podcast again, especially when we talk about crystals. We're going to move along.

Americans are so crazy. It's insane that that's a thing. I can't believe that's a thing. Yeah, well, what's you going to do? You are, you, next time you talk to Derek Cantanair, you tell him what you told me and I want you to tell me his answer. But I'm going to give the listeners a little, I'm going to give our live listeners a little update from A. Hohani said, and this is his tweet. He's told Yawanna and Jachuk had a good workout this a.m. and does not want the fight to get canceled. After it was made clear, Team

Waterson was not interested in a catchweight. Yawanna has decided to do everything within reason to make 116 pounds. She'll be at the open workout later today. So there you have in PTC. apparently this fight is still on it's not officially canceled to me it really sounds like yonna was struggling to make the weight uh wanted to call it maybe was maybe thought michelle watterson would take the fight no matter what michelle watson called her bluff and now yawanna and jic is trying to make 116 but that fight is not officially canceled she's doing everything within her reason to make 160 pounds i see a lot of questions in that comment section so uh there you have folks.

Yohanna and Jason that's a bad move. Not canceled. Historically, Yohanna has talked at length about how much that way could

before the first Nami Yunus fight affected her. And that was the most devastating loss of her career. So do I think this is a good idea?

Absolutely not. I really don't like this stuff. It's worrying. Yeah, it's not good. It's not a good look for the sport. And now we're going to

have everyone's eyes on this way in on Friday. and a person could potentially be in a very bad way on the scales and I think it's a terrible look for the sport. And look, I feel sorry for you know, and she's a, she's a very compelling person. She's an amazing fighter.

And it sucks that, it sucks for Watterson too, but I mean, it's just, I find that very worrying, to be honest, you know, and I hope they have, like the UFC have done in the past. They've stuck medical teams around Florida's who they believe will be struggling to make the way. And I just really hope that she's around the clock supervision here There's no point to hurting yourself, you know?

That's worrying to me. Yeah, health comes first and foremost. If she can make the weight great, but I don't know if you heard any of the stories of Rose and Pat Barry were telling. They would, like, bump into Yawanna before their first fight. And she, they said she did not seem mentally there at all. She was, like, saying all of these weird things and was really freaking them out. And maybe it did have to do with the weight cut.

I don't know. All I know is if Yonah has obviously struggled to make weight before. If she can make the weight healthy, great, but she clearly can't. And I don't want to see you on an injury to get up on that scale looking terrible, looking real sucked out and struggling to even step up on scale. But that fight's not canceled for those listening now. For people who listen later on, maybe that fight has already happened. And all of this worked out. But for right now, for our live audience, this fight's not canceled.

We're going to move along from longtime commenter Trumbo. He's asked a lot of questions, but we're going to get this one. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, specifically, Pisa Carroll. Star quality versus actual star, Israel Outa Sniuskhani and Connor. Izzy definitely has the star qualities, but does or what will translate into the actual superstar? Despite having all the makings of a star, is there any indication yet on the paper view by the U.S. 243?

Will he actually cross over to being a star like Connor, GSP, Chuck Liddell, etc? Connecting with casual fans, is there any evidence that he does this, And at this moment from the actual numbers, curious your opinion. So Pete and Carol, you were there. I'm sure it was a different environment being in Australia, considering that's the part of the world Israel-Aa-Sahunner is from. That's where Robert Whitaker's from. So that rivalry between Australia and New Zealand obviously played that big part.

But as someone who saw the genesis of Conn McGregor's rise through superstardom, a lot of people compare Israel-A-Sahma's ascension to Conrader's ascension. You asked Israel-A-Saheisand, I didn't like it. Israel Adaniya did not like that. He goes, I don't know why you keep saying that. I'm trying to be the best of me. I don't, like, I may have a same management company as Connor McGregor.

Yeah, to be fair. And that's what the question was. So is he, you know, relax the cacks, my friend, all right? But, yeah, look, I think it's stupid to be like, oh, you know, is he going to be as big as Connor, the biggest star of the sport has ever produced? I know, that's going to be a bit of a push to forecast that one at the moment. But I do believe that he has. has the potential to be massive.

If you think about, we talked about this on the coffee talk with Casey and Esther. Look at the amount of different little kind of communities he hits. You know, with the comic book people, anime, not only is he a huge character

in the Australasia region, he's going to be the lightning rod for the sport in Africa, I believe. And then even like the breakdancing communities, I think he's just dotted them itself so much around. He's like active in the MMA memes and MMA kind of internet, social media. I think he's doing that better than anyone in the world.

So does he have the potential to be a huge star like those names you just mentioned? Absolutely. Is he going to be bigger than Connor McGregor? He has said so, but you can't say Connor's name when you ask him that question, apparently. But no, I do believe in all seriously, I do believe he can be absolutely huge. Like, guys, just remember when he is saying this can't happen. You also said he wasn't going to beat Robert Whitaker. So calm yourselves down.

It's not going to happen overnight, but this guy is special. Like, I mean, even Casey was saying it's kind of like having a Ronda or a Connor there when you see him at the media day. He doesn't take a second. He never hesitates when you ask him a question. He's already taught about everything you could possibly put in front of him. Yeah, he's going to be a huge star. I believe he's going to have his haters along the way. And that's, that's power for the course.

But, yeah, I absolutely think he can be one of the biggest names. in the sport. And he arguably already is. And as Casey said, as well, this is the first guy that we've seen do this that has come into the UFC after the Reebok era has begun. You know, he has managed to make himself look so unique, stand out from the crowd when they really aren't giving you a lot of chances to do that. And I think that speaks a lot to how big this guy can be. Yeah. And what was Israel to sign as? What did he say he wants, he can be the guy to make $100 million in the UFC. He says, you don't need boxing. A fighter can make $100 million in the UFC and now I'm going to be the one to do it. So he sets his goals high. He says, but again,

he also says he doesn't want to be here for a long time. He wants to be here for a good time. I don't know how long he keeps fighting. He said right now he's still having fun, as my light falls down. But is there, there's still obviously questions in terms of his actual fighting inside the octagon. Like, how does he do against an elite wrestler like a YOLR. Yeah, Kelvin is a great wrestler. He's not Y'all Romero. I think a lot of people asked the same questions about Connor when he was getting all these fights against Dennisiever,

against Porier, against Diego Brandel, and then he fights Chad Mendez and you see what happens. But then you see him and fight Habib, and you see what happens. So for people saying he's never had a test, the test is coming. It just hasn't happened yet. I was saying that when Connor was coming up. Like, why is he fighting all these strikes? He's going to get a wrestler eventually.

He can't just avoid them forever. So there's still questions there. that was one of the questions. That was in the comment session. How would he do against a wrestler? We don't know. It's coming. Another question from Trumbo, though, is

Paulo Costa, would he be a problem for Israel to Sanya? If you watch this fight with Raya Hall, he's much better at keeping the fight in boxing range, and his chin and pressure is unreal. He has cardio issues, it seems, but do you think Izzy can deal with the power

and the pressure? How do you see this fight going? Peace of Carol, before I kick this over you, I love Paul Costa versus Israel and Sondi. I think that is. if you said it on maybe the coffee talk, it's power versus just Israel-A-San, this dynamic elite striking. I think this is an awesome clash of stylistic matchups.

They're both strikers, so it's not really going to go to the Candace at all. You saw Paul Costa just stand straight in front of Yola Ramal, just ripping those hooks to the bodies over and over and over. Paulo Costa was there. You saw him a media day. He looks absolutely monstrous. What are your thoughts on Paulo Costa versus Israel-A-Assad. Yeah, it's huge.

The marketability factor in the fight is absolutely huge. They must be the two biggest QD boys in the middleweight division at the moment. And they're also like, they're also fantastic fighters. Like, I mean, and that style matchup caters to casual fans around the world. You know, a lot of times I'll tell my friends if two strikers are going to be fighting with good knockout records because that's the kind of MMA they suddenly tune in for. And yeah, I think it's a huge fight for the middleweight division. And I'm very excited about it because sometimes you get the.

impression when you talk to people, you know, they don't know how a fight will go. They're, you know, they want to look into a bit more. But you speak to Israel and you speak to, speak to Paolo, as I did last week, and you look them dead in the eyes and they are adamant that they are going to kill the other guy. Like, I mean, they, they read like, Israel's talking about it like, as in what it's going to show the world when I do this. Like, oh my God, when I beat this big muscle bound guy. And like, Costa is like shaking nearly talking about, um, Israel calling him a juice head and saying he's going to break his face. I mean, these guys, have an amazing dynamic where they want to commend each other for that.

I doubt that's going to happen. But I think it's a fucking huge fight for the middleweight division, man. Absolutely massive. And either way, it creates a massive, massive star at the top of that division, which is needed for this great era that we currently have at 185. You hit it right on the head. I've been saying that all week. The winner of Paul Costa is Israelisian.

Yes, Israelis-Sin is a superstar. Paul Costa, as me, us to the NBA media say, looks good getting off the bus. He looks like a fighter. You see that guy walking down the street. You go, that guy is either an athlete or more specifically, that guy fights people for a living. Or he just...

Just as a side job. Yeah, or he has a side job playing Superman in a Brazilian soap opera. That's neither here nor there. The winner of Israel Adasania versus Paulo Costa is going to be a megastar. Whether it's Israel Asana puts on another performance like he did

against Robert Whitaker, I think a lot of people thought Robert Whitaker would be his toughest test. And I think that was his easiest fight in terms of inside the Octagon. He's ever had. He pitched a perfect game. It was very reminiscent of Connor running through Eddie Alvarez. If he follows that up.

Can I just say, like, we had a question about wrestlers earlier on. Do you know that Robert Whitaker was going to be in the Commonwealth games because of how good of a wrestler he is? Yeah, yeah. I know he didn't wrestle that much, but Jesus, if it was there, he would have went for it, you know? Like, he would have went for it. Like, sorry, I cut you off there, but I was just thinking about that, as we said. Robert Whitaker came into the sport as a striker and completely evolved to the point where he was taking

Yol Romero down at points in their fight. So, I mean, it's not just about running in and shooting a double leg. You have to create the openings and he couldn't against Israel. So, you know, that says a lot about his ability to keep wresters off him already, I believe. Yeah, and you obviously watch Israel

the sign of his Kelvin Gasol. Kelvin Gasol was shooting for takedowns. Israel would stuff them. And then that fifth round, throws up a triangle choke off his back, this elite level kickboxing champion, is now throwing these crisp triangle chokes off his back in the fifth round of a championship fight after four rounds of hell. I think there's a lot that Israel out of time that hasn't shown us. I'm very curious to see what happens when he does fight a wrestler, but that will come eventually. He can't

avoid them forever, especially if he's going to fight John Jones. John Jones is an amazing wrestler himself, too. He took Daniel Cormney down. But again, 2021, I don't want to keep talking about John Jones was Israel. because I hate that fight. That's going by. That's what we're by. Apology, accepted. But another question from Ted Bear. Actually from Lodovic. I'm trying to...

Ted Bear asked a lot of questions. He asked a lot of good questions, but we got to give other people the opportunity, especially because this one in particular, Pizza Carol, another one since you were there. Hi, guys. How surprised you by the outcome of Ally Kinta versus Dan Hooker?

What do you think? What did you think about what you saw and what should be next for both fighters, so maybe a little grammar should be thrown in there. But yes, Pizza Carol. Dan Hooker, Dan Hooker beat Allied

Kinta. Call them out, said, come fight me at UFC 243. Ali Akinsa obliged him. And then Dan Hooker not only emerges victorious, but didn't break his sweat doing it. Got caught, even there's that picture of him caught in a leglock and him giving, like, wagging his finger saying, no, no, no, you don't got me.

Wins the fight, gets asked a question, doesn't answer the question. It says, Dustin Porte, I'm going to break your face, come find me to New Zealand, I'll end you, and then walks away.

Outside of Israel, as Sanya, doesn't get much better than that at UFC 243. As someone who is there, how did Dan Hooker come off in that arena? Oh,

amazingly well, and the interesting thing about that performance is Dan's a wild man, usually. He's caution to the wind. He just goes in and tries to Blitzkrieg guys.

And it was the most mature, least flawed performance, of his career because he was so composed and because he was taking his time. And he actually said the reason why he fought like that is because Al, as much as he complimented him and clearly respect Hooker, he said something like, I think when it comes down to it, I have better skills than him. And that forced Hooker to fight that way. We genuinely don't see that man go to decision a lot. And after seeing that masterclass, I'm like, Jesus, he should fight like that every single time. I thought he was unbelievable. I appreciate the post-fight call out. And to be honest, like,

Porreier's trying to play that McGregor lottery game. Like, McGregor, like, look, when the word for McGregor's camp is, like you have John Kavana saying, suddenly,

I want to fight Frankie Edgar. That happens for a reason, man. Like, you know, that means that Connor probably wants to fight Frankie Edgar next. It's very silly for Dustin Porreier to hang around if the sounds from the camp are saying otherwise. And so,

yeah, I like that fight a lot. It is, like, I feel sorry for Dustin, though, because Dustin was an absolute savage, going to Abu Dhabi and fighting Habib.

And then when to fight after that, you want them to travel all the way to the other side of the world. It's even further than Melbourne. And you're going to, you know, that's a tough ass for me, to be honest. I do like the fight,

but I wouldn't, I wouldn't blame Al if he, I mean, sorry, Dustin, if he didn't want to do it. And I think you'd have to kind of say fair enough, you know? Like, if he doesn't want to do that after what he's done, fair enough, man.

Like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to be upset with you. and what about Saroni or someone like that I think that's the name that makes the most sense Donald Sourney's been doing like there was a point in time where Donald Saroni pretty much only fought in the United States but then you saw him

where did he fight Darren Till was that Poland that was like over that was overseas right Dansk yeah yeah he fought him in Dansk and then he fought Leon Edwards in Singapore he fought Alan Ottawa he fought just engaging in Vancouver so he's doing a lot more international fight so if he wants to keep that up he doesn't really care

who he fights he's one of those guys that's just lights doing it. And if you want to a guy that will bring the scrap, as Dan Hooker says, the answer is Dan Hooker. I mean, so Donald Sorony, Dan Hooker, I think would be an awesome fight-night fight. What was in Auckland, that's where they wanted to do it. So I like that fight. I like the Dustin Poir-Yte fight better, but I don't think that Pori fight's going to happen for Dan Hooker. I think Seroni is the most logical next opponent for Dan Hooker. That's not a bad thing either. I mean, Phil out, I'll watch Dan Hooker fight either of those guys. I like Al A. Quinta versus Gregor Gillespie as well.

I believe Gregor Gillespie is fighting Kevin Lee in New York City. So I believe they're booked up. Oh yeah. Sorry. Jesus. Yeah. But I like, I'm glad that Gregor's getting a fight like that that can push him into that mix because he's a savage like and people have been crying out for him to get a fight like that. Sorry, that just slipped my mind there. Thanks for it. There's a lot of fight. There's a lot like Islau Makhachev is out there. You got, who is it? All right, but let's, let's Islam, right? I get it, right? I get it.

But at the same time, like, he needs to take big steps. Like, I mean, like, fair enough, Havi Silva is a great fighter, and he got the win over him there last time. But it was 10 minutes of pretty much nothing, and then he exploded in the last round. I feel like before that, after you're taking his first loss in the UFC,

they just kept on putting him against, like, similarly leveled opponents. And I want to see him take that big step up. So that's one thing. I don't think he's answered all the questions just yet, Islam Makashchev. I'm not buzzing about him. You know what I mean? I'm not like, Islam Makershev's going to fight.

Holy shit, let me just cancel everything. You know, but he could be that guy, but he isn't that guy yet. I agree. I'm not saying Dan Hooker could should fight Islam mockstiv. Dan Hooker went on Twitter saying like, that dude doesn't put bums and seats. He'll fight. He wants to sell out Auckland the first time he had lines. Then he puts it, Dan Hooker's credit.

He goes, I'll fight Islam in his backyard. after I fight someone else in my backyard. So Dan Hooker's down to fight Islam-Makishav in Moscow, sign me up. But maybe Al-Iquinta versus Islam. Ally King is on a, what, two-fight losing streak. I don't know. Like, I'm sure he would want a higher-ranked fighter.

I know Barbose is out there, Felder's out there. You got a lot of great lightways right now. I love that fight that you just mentioned, Eikwinter versus Makashev. I think that's amazing. I really like that. I like that fight a lot, too. All right-Eakintz obviously fought Islam's teammate.

I agree, too. So book it, throw it on the card next year. We have to go back to Brooklyn. I know Al likes fighting in New York. Obviously, there's that huge Russian population in Brooklyn. I think that fight makes a lot of sense. Throw that on ESPN or a pay-per-view card in Brooklyn or New York. But we're going to move along.

We're running out on time before we hop over Twitter. LMFWA. P-T, I have not forgotten. You have to come up with an acronym for that. But, Risen versus Bellator. Rampage versus Fador. I freaking love cross-promotion. I'm all for it.

UFC versus Pride. U.S.C. versus Mayweather. And now Risen versus Bellator. How do you think this affects the open market free agency and MMA knowing that U.C. competitors are willing to work together to make big events and matchups like this? So, Pete, you've watched Risen all the time on our site. You are closer to that part of the world than me. So you watched a lot more of that.

I saw you. Did you write up the article this morning on Risen? So Fador versus Rampage Jackson. Pride 2.0 blast from the path has happened in December 29th in Verizon and their big New Year's Eve in Japan. What is your thoughts? Is this fight awesome in 2019 or am I just getting my hopes up? No, I thought it was very funny who ever put that meme underneath the article where it was like, what year is it? And it's like, yeah, it's crazy, but it also makes sense. You know, look, we're not, we're not jumping up and down for it over here, but these guys are bona fide legends

what they did and pride. And yeah, it's probably going to sell a lot over there and it's going to genuinely garner a lot of interest. So, I mean, that helps everyone. That's what we're looking for here. And I do think it's really cool when this happens. I loved Caldwell v. Haraguchi. And Bellator seemed to be the real instigators of this every time.

I mean, I really want to see them do a show in Eastern Europe with KSW and pit some champions against each other. Like, I'd love to see that. And I think it would really put KSW. on the map to be fighting these Belator guys. And it would also give Belator a great foot into Eastern Europe. Nobody can compete with KSW over there. So I think it's fantastic.

I maybe look in the Western world, we're looking at that fight going, oh, look at these dinosaurs or whatever. But I do think it's going to pack out an arena in Saitami. You know what I mean? These guys are legends. So it makes sense. These guys have been promoting fights there for a long,

long time. And yeah, it makes sense for them, to be honest. And, you know, it's tough. obviously Fadar coming off the beta loss, but I wasn't sitting there watching the press comments like, this is a disgrace. I wasn't looking at it like Chuck and Tito, you know what I mean? Yeah, it wasn't that level of like, what are we doing here, folks? But I love what you brought up the KSW cross-romotion with Bellator. I spoke with Mara Levendowski back in July. He came over and we did a really long sit down or a long sit down with him where he talks about like he

he's talks with Bellator and Scott Cobra specifically. He's talked with Ryzen. all those guys, but it just comes down to timing, money. Obviously, you want, they're down to put their champions up against the other promotions, but like you get that weird, like, what if my champion loses and all of a sudden Ryan Bader is also now the KSW heavyweight champion? How often is he going to come back and defend his title? So there were a lot of things that need to be sorted out for that happened, but he said, I'm very interested in making, in cross-boding with Koker and Risen.

He'd love to do with the UFC. That's never going to happen. he's going to try to do an event in Chicago. He really wants to do an event in Chicago in the USA. He said there's a really big Polish market there, and they want to test the waters in the United States in Chicago. So if they can find success in the United States, and that opens up that market,

that's another player in the Western Hemisphere in MMA. Not going to catch the UFC, but you could have those fun. Maybe they send Phil DeFries over to Bellator, and he fights on a San Jose card in New York, New York. I love everything about it. Who's like going like, oh, can't wait, Lorain Bayter faces this guy at heavyweight.

You know, and I know there's great heavyweights there, but it's just not compelling a lot of interest at the moment. So, I mean, I feel as though, oh, I was going to ask you, you know, today Scott Coker said at that announcement, sorry, at that press conference that three, a team of three Belator fighters will go across and fight Royzen fighters.

Do you have anyone off the top of your head? Can I just make a pitch for James Gallup? versus Manil Cape that would be absolutely unbelievable. Ooh, I love that fight. Awesome shit talkers, man. Two unbelievable sellers, I think they would light that place on fire, man. And look, James has told me in the past, he'd love to go over and fight in Japan. I think it's brilliant.

I'd love it. He told you specifically he'd like to challenge himself against Horiguchi, specifically inside a ring. Like he wants to fight in a ring. I believe Patrici Pitbull, the not like Patricio's brother is going to do something on that card too. so I like to see I like wait a guy right I think there's I like I wish Ryan I wish Bader could go over there maybe have like not a championship fight but like a really fun Jerry pro Haska is a is a fire that's crying out for a challenger at 2-0-0 like he's already beat Albrex and he was just signed by Bellator and he literally he was on Eurobash

after he won that title calling out Ryan Bader so I mean maybe don't maybe don't maybe don't make a championship bout make it a catchweight at 2-10 or something and let them just get it on because they don't get along. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, just send Ryan over there for like a fun fight. Send, uh, like, obviously Fador and Rampage are going over there. So like, like, Chales retired, but like, why not send Liotomachita over to Risen having fight in Japan?

He obviously has roots there. I would love to see Leo Meshita fight inside a ring again. Gagard Musassi, too. I know he is probably going to fight Hoffie Laudovato Jr. down the road. But there's a list of Bellator fighters. I would absolutely love to see fight over here. there, Michael Chandler, toss him over there. Any of the top, any fight, any

fighter. I really believe that Gala and Cape could make a genuinely, like, really interesting fight because Cape talks some mad shit, man. Talk some mad shit. Like, and people know who he is, and people, if they even started saying, oh, they're giving him an or a can,

you're being ridiculous. That guy is a savage. James has proven himself. Those two coming together and fighting in a ring in Japan. on close to New Year's Eve, man, that would be unbelievable. You'd have so many Europeans tuning in to watch James too. I mean, I know people don't like him when they get all upset about him, but people genuinely tune in.

He sold out an arena twice now, and he's 22 years of age. Come on, guys. And that's a fight where if you put that underneath Fadoor versus Rampage, they're going to get fallout. They're going to get eyes on them for people tuning into Fado versus Rampage. And they're going to see these two guys just throwing like venomous insults at each other, the whole lead up, it's going to be a crazy scene to begin with. They could come off as massive stars, especially fighting right before Fadoor versus Rampage.

And look, and look, it's, you saw the demeanor between Fadar and Rampage. Like, they aren't going to be extending themselves to sell stuff. They have massive respect for each other. You can tell that they, they know each other pretty well at this stage. So having a guy like James over there to upset, you know, the situation and Cape is always just that that shit, man. He was talking mad shit before he fought, Horriguchi, everything, man.

And look, it's a classic style matchup as well. Cape swings for the fences. James is an artist on the ground. Look, I think if you're ever going to put a fight together, that's the one. Make it happen. Pizcacarel, back in the Bellator booking committee

once again. He's been there many a time and the fights always pan out great. But real quick, Pisa Carroll, I know you want to answer this question. From Twitter, Titor Ortiz versus Alberto L. Patron, should we care? That is the question for a bitam. No, no, stop. If you are stop, if you're caring, stop it right now. For 39, 99. For 3999.

Look at the mirror and slap yourself. All right? Think about, think about what the fuck you're asking yourself right now. No, all right, absolutely not. Jesus Christ, control yourself. Sit down in a dark room for a while and have a word with yourself. All right, you don't need to ask me that question. That's a ridiculous question. For 3999 pay-review in Hidalgo, Texas, which is about as far south as you can go and still be in the United States.

So Pt Cahel doesn't like it. Do you care more about, all right, so what? If you, those fights, say that fight happens on the same, well, I know your answer. Art Lobov is going to rematch Jason Knight, bare-knuckle boxing. How do you feel about that one? Yeah, I don't know.

I'm not... Not a big fan of Bear Knuckle Box and signing Vandaleigh and Hector Lombard either, considering Hector Lombard is an Olympic Judokin. And now you're taking away his biggest skill set and having him fight people when he's what? How many knockout losses has he had in a row? Like he got knocked out by Dan Henderson.

He's been knocked out by Neil Magnet, Anthony Smith put him through the ringer. You're taking his best skill set away, taking the gloves off, and having him go fistfight people inside of a circle. I don't like that at all. Never want to see Van der Le Silva fight ever again at all.

I know there's an article on our site where he said he is, he's feeling the effects of CTE already. Never fight again, Vandalei Silver. Yeah, and Jesus, like I can remember Vandale came to Dublin all those years ago he had just signed for the UFC. I don't think he was injured for a while

and he was getting all those face surgeries so he hadn't fought yet and just seeing how people are idolized them and they're falling all over themselves to train with him and now from to be in this situation. And look, it's not that it's not that I don't accept that Artham and Jason

had this fantastic fight the first time around. But I just feel like, like, bare knuckles should have that on the back burner. That should be there, Jones and Adasania. You know, they should be like, you know, after these guys fight a few more times you can do that, I'm just like, lads is this it? Like, you're going through the well with that one already.

Like, you don't have other options here. I think that's what's annoying me about that, to be honest. Look, and look, Godspeed, them. I hope they make lots of money and everything like that. It's not their fault. But really, if I'm fighting, for these guys and I've already, you know, left so much of myself in there already fighting that guy. I'm like, why aren't we, you know, people are always going to want to watch that fight if they're

in the mood for that kind of fighting. So why the hell are we doing this again so early? Is this it? Is this, are we already at this level? Like, I've just fought Pauli Malinagia and now you fight the guy you fought first time around. I don't know. That's, that's what I don't like you. So Pizzi, call up your Bellator book committee, get Bellator to sign Arden Lovaugh.

toss him in a rising ring and watch magic happen i would love to see that but one final question from twitter from who what is this twitter handle from denny rance what movies did peter watch sean denny what movies did ptzey watch on his flights back from melbourne i watched um the new liam galaherd documentary which was made by my friend gavin fitzgerald and it's absolutely amazing I watched the Diego Mara Donner documentary. It was absolutely amazing. I watched three Louis Theroux documentaries. And I watched a bit of the new South Park, I think.

I'm not too sure. That is a very eclectic demographic of movies and documentaries you watched on a flight back from Melbourne. But I'm going to put you on the spot because you and I have been talking a lot of greasiness online. Anthony Walker, our good friend jumped in the middle of this too. I know you asked me for my review why did you like the Joker and why are you wrong?

It's an acting master class. It's beautifully shot. I have never read a comic book about this guy, but I also never heard the initial version of dazed and confused, but I taught Led Zeppelin's one fucking ruled. So why wouldn't I like this?

Why do I need to read the fucking comic books to have an opinion on this. It's just you being overprecious about the past. That's all it is. Get off your hoi horse. You were the guy that puts people in the lockers in high school, weren't you? You're on T. John Jones

thrown all this shade of people that watch Dragon Ball Z. Pizza Carol throwing shade of people that read comic books. You're the menace. You're the monster. No, I'm throwing shade at you throwing shade at me because I've never read a goddamn comic book. I'm colorblind. All right. It has nothing to

Yes, I did not enjoy the plot based off of the comic books. Didn't like their use of Gary Glitter's music at all. I thought that was real, that was a terrible decision. I don't even know Gary Glitter's song, so how would I even know that? Like, were you a big fan before the news broke? No, but I've been to sporting events. I know that song exists in the world. Wasn't a fan of that.

Thought, I could get into this. I could do a whole episode on this. If you wanted in my opinion. I want you to do a feature on Detnote, and I want you to do a feature on this. I'll do death note, Israel and Asana and Naruto, and then I'll explain why a pizza car is wrong.

I was waiting for that to pop up in the email thread. I'm going to explain this to everyone. And me and Casey were like, oh, he's definitely going to do. He's definitely going to do something. And then he just sits there talking about Joker, which is going to win a lot of Oscars and Ruben-Hose's beautiful, beautiful thing.

To be fair, to be fair, I think Joaquin Phoenix out of everyone that has ever played the Joker has captured the physical, mannerisms of the clown prince of crime better than any living human being that has ever lived. I thought the plot was... And you go with six out of ten for that. You know what those six points are? Those six points are solely from the acting.

I thought the plot was stupid. I thought the music was poorly placed. Didn't it? I thought if you just took away the Joker, that's just a movie about a man dipping into madness. Why haven't used it the Joker? That's just a cash grab for the people that, hey, we'll make a movie about the Joker. Just making him a crazy man.

Didn't enjoy that at all. That could have been a movie by anyone not named the Joker. I know our comments love this. I can talk about this forever because now Batman's sole purpose in life is to combat a revolutionary movement in a city. Tom Foolery. That's what I said. Hogwash, Poppycock, and I spit in the general direction of whoever made that movie because now the Joker comes before Batman, which is Hogwatch 2,

and now Batman has to go fight a movement. Stop it. Stop it. I know Pete and Carol loves you want to borrow one of these 800 comic books behind me. Maybe you'll learn something. Maybe you'll grow a real mustache after you can read it. I don't deserve this. I'm colorblind.

This is prejudice. You had it covered with your 10. Sean Al Shahn messes me. He was like, that's the greatest movie I've ever seen. I was like, wow, must be really good. I went to see it.

I was like, eh, it's all right. Because he told me, oh, wait, and I tell you about people trolling me in a locker.

Every time I tell people I haven't seen the princess, whatever it's called, Princess Bride, Jesus. Oh, my God. Did Esther and Casey just disowned you after you told them that? So did she in. They just walked away from me and they kicked me in the shins a few times and pushed me in the face. That's what happened.

Casey gets me too often. Brian, please have a word. It's hurting me. It's breaking me down. If you would have told me you'd never seen the Princess Bride and I would say next to you, I would have done worse. I don't want to get into it right now. Jokka better feel the Princess Broid is basically what I'm trying to say.

Oh, my God. What a horrendous thing. for anyone to ever say. Bite your tongue, Pici Carroll. You better pray you're not in Las Vegas in December. I'm coming after you. I'm going to come over the table and come after you. But we're going to end this.

Give us this smoke. Dude, you don't want any of this smoke. I'll tell you that much. Oh, my God. Anyway, for Jose, that's Pizzi, Pici. If you want to do a promo, the floor is yours. I know you've been working feverishly on that acronym this whole episode.

Yeah, I just, you see, it's just, it's two voluble. for me to say what I was just wrong a series of curse words after each letter so I'm in that's as far as I got with that for my promo I spoke to esther at length about this actually in Melbourne if you're gonna take your fucking shoes off on a plane do it immediately as soon as you get on the plane don't wait for 10 hours into a 14 hour flight to expose your disgusting odor feet you smelly fuck that really upset me on the way over there I was gonna carve someone up I'm not mess with you I was just looking at him and then my eyebrows start doing this twitchy thing and then he was like oh sorry mate i need to have a piss i was like oh we'll break your

fucking face don't you the smell of your feet is disgusting i can't even eat this shitty pasta that he just gave me i can't you know so just just be wearing it at or else wear flip flops so you can just avoid the problem altogether jesus so when we fight i'm gonna have that guy in my corner he's gonna be my cornerman when we fight he's already dead he's already dead he never he never he never reached his final destination is that what you're saying That's what I'm saying. He didn't even make it the customs. Jesus Christ, I did not think Pizzi was going to go scorched earth on a man that took his shoes off on a plane.

But I guess for my promo is, why does everyone hand in on anime all of a sudden? Because John Jones had made sense had something bad about Dragon Ballsy. I love Dragon Ball Z. And I love Death Note. And I love Naruto. And it is a joy to see a fellow weep with a Calvin and Hobbs tattoo. Shout out to Israel and Sondon for also having one. reach the pinnacle of a sport

it gives hope to all of us anime nerds with Calvin Hop tattoos out there stop making fun of us John Jones I don't know what we ever did to you I bet you like Dragon Ball Zee and you just don't want to admit I know Angela Hill is a big is it flies the weed fan very well

out there so for Jose that's Pizzie Carroll a very agitated Pizzie Carol don't take your shoes on yeah so from this point on if you see Pisa Carol just run up and take your shoes off and start talking to them I would love everything about it.

He'll rip your legs off your body. Everyone should read pictures of their feet at Pizt & Carroll. He'll love it. Oh, no. Oh, I really would. I really would. Oh, God. And with that, I'm Jose.

That's Pisa Carroll. We're out.