MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Reflecting on 2020, Leon Edwards, Khamzat Chimaev, UFC 257, more

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

For this episode, José Youngs, Mike Heck, Alex Savas, and E. Casey Leydon react to some of the biggest news in mixed martial arts. Some topics include reflecting on the chaotic year that was 2020, the fallout from Khamzat Chimaev withdrawing from his fight against Leon Edwards, a preview of UFC 257 next month, and more. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alex Savas: @alexsavas Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Jose. I see him. Jose. I'm right here. Can you guys hear me now? Now we hear you. Well, I was like doing the intro and then all of a sudden it said I was muted and then I disappeared and I have no idea what happened.

Anyway, the wonders of live television. You want to be the A side to close out in 2020 if you're going to have technical difficulties. All right. Anyway, I am, of course, your host, Jose Youngs here at M8Flein.com here for the final episode of the A Side Life Set of this ill-fated year 2020. So because it's the last year, we decided to do one giant-sized episode of the A-side. Joining us this week, I'll start at the bottom. Mike, first few questions.

How's Christmas? How's the little one's Christmas? How's the little one's Christmas? Excellent. So he was good. And how's the weather in miserable, cold, rainy New England? I think you checked off a lot of those boxes. It is cold.

It is windy. It feels every bit of winter as you would expect it to be. But next week, it's supposed to be like in the 40s, maybe even low 50s all week around here. Wow. Who knows? Classic New England's week and New England weather. You just never know. Yeah, I talked to my dad on Christmas and he was explaining the flood warnings to me as a cat runs across Alex's screen.

Yeah, he was explaining the flood warnings, blah, blah, blah. I don't wish those days upon anyone, but anyway, Alex and Casey, how's life in, what do you call it, locked down California? I don't know. See, he's got an Esther running in his background. Chaos over here. No, we had a great rainstorm a few days ago, and I was like, PJ and I, like, canceled, I mean, whatever plans we had to, I don't know, go work out or whatever. Ordered a pizza, enjoyed it fully. I was like, God, I can't believe how much I missed, like, a proper rainy day.

It was amazing. Was that your first rain day of Southern California? Yeah. Well, okay, it rained the day we moved in April, and I don't think it's rained since. Yeah, I'm from Texas. So, like, I mean, I'm used to these giant thunderstorms. But after you live in L.A. for like a month,

if it's drizzles, you know, you hide. Yeah. Like, nothing has, like the city shuts down. Cars are slipping and sliding everywhere. We were like, it's madness. For driving. I don't know. Okay.

So I'm from Chicago from big city. I'm used to driving in chaos, but the drivers in California, like, do they take drivers out here? No. No. What the heck are you on here? When I moved to Los Angeles in 2016, it was a lightning storm the day I was moving. So like when I was unloading everything, it was lightning and rain. And there were two car accidents outside my new apartment at the time.

I was like, LA is great. I was told it's always sunny. I was told it's bad traffic. And all I've seen is rain and car cars. crashes in like the first two hours I moved here. We get rain like once a year in Arizona too and the dirt from the desert doesn't absorb all the water so we get massive floods. Yeah, flash floods immediately and everyone, and the world falls apart.

But anyway. Like Alex, how exciting was it when you saw lightning? I don't need, I didn't even see it. I didn't see the lightning. There was hail and the hail looked like snow after a while because it was all starting to pile up. I was like, this is wild. I love it though. I can't wait till the next one in what six months?

A couple years. Yeah, a couple of years. Well, I remember when I first moved, it was right. That was the, when I moved and had that lightning storm, someone was like, remember that huge drought like years ago, Casey? Where like no matter what, you take public transportation, like there would be signs saying like save water and this and that. That was the first like rainstorm in like eight months. And it happened to be the day I moved. So I didn't believe and believe the drought even happened.

Anyway, no one cares about that. You guys know the drill. You guys can ask questions in the chat, Twitter, the comment section. Whatever you want, I've been playing cyberpunk nonstop. Ask me about cyberpunk. Someone asked me about cyberpunk. Without further ado, Casey, what is our first question from our lovely listeners? First question.

Dustin v. Connor v. COVID. With more contagious strains of COVID popping up, what are the chances that this fight stays together? should the USC Institute a mandatory bubble for pay-per-view main-event fighters and their teams. Otherwise, I suspect you're going to see a lot of fights fall out in the first half of 2021. Also, who should replace Hamzat to fight Edwards, Magnica, Haas, Holland, someone else. So, yes, to start, we'll start with the second half of the question, because for those of you who aren't aware or don't follow MMA fighting's news cycle, Hamza Shemayev is out of his fight against Leon Edwards.

It came out this morning that he was suffering from, well, he hasn't fully recovered. from having COVID, his lungs haven't recovered. So he is no longer fighting Leon Edwards on. Was that the Wednesday card? Yeah, that was the Wednesday card. He's no longer fighting on the Wednesday card of Fight Island. We'll start with there, and then we'll go from there. Mike, I'll start with you.

If you had to pick, who should Leon Edwards fight in replace of Hans-Ashamayath? I think for Leon, he'd probably want the higher-ranked guy out of all of them. So that would be Michael Kiesa. I'd probably go that route if I was him, Neil Magny. it just seems simple that it should be one of those two guys because they're already going to be there anyways. They're already on that card. So you just bump one of them up. And then you still have to figure out which 70 fighter you're going to bring in to fight whoever gets the bump up. So I can see Kiesa being the guy. I can also see Magni being the guy. But if I'm Leon Edwards, obviously the Shamaia fight had way back.

So if he decided that I want to wait for Shamiya to come back and take that risk, I don't think I would blame him. but I think at this point after being out for so long, it's been a year and a half at this point. The guy just needs to get in there and fight. So I think the correct answer is anybody. Like literally anybody who's available that could get him in there just to compete and get some reps in, just fight and go from there.

If it is Michael Keaza, I wouldn't hate if they just turned around and booked to Magni versus Shemayov, like later down the road. Senator McNany's been asking for that show the whole time. Anyway, Alex, I mean, yeah, Alex Casey, which one of the two welterways would you be most intrigued to see Hamzash, Leon Edwards fight? Go ahead, Casey.

No, you go, you go. Do you need a minute? Okay. No, I agree with Mike. I mean, look, I just feel so bad for Leon Edwards. And at this point, it's got to be worth his time. So I'm hoping for Keisa 100%. He deserves the higher ranked guy.

I mean, I think we were all kind of like, what the heck? When the Shemaiv talk started, we were all like, Leon Edwards deserves better than this. So I'm not on the Leon Edwards, like, Shemayev, I'm not heartbroken that that fight broke out because I really hope that this just ends up working out in Leon Edwards' favor, because he just deserves it at this point. Casey? Neither. You rip up a contract that just got signed, and you get Kevin Holland on a plane.

A middleweight? Kevin Holland's on middleweight. He what? He's ranked middleweight. Yeah, he's ranked middleweight, but he's a Walterweight. I don't, I think that would... Kevin, he's the one I would want to be the least. Is he absolutely not fighting Walterway anymore?

Has he ever fought Welterweight in the UFC? He's O and O in the UFC, isn't he? He's fought Walterweight. Not the UFC? Not in the U.S. But he's mentioned by fighting Welch away, so he'll make him out of catch him. Yeah, I guess. It's not a lot of time, you know.

Yeah, if I'm Leon Edwards, I don't want to... That's his thing. That's his thing. thing. I'm Mr. Short notice, man. Come on, boo, boo, boo. Shima, he's on a short notice. I'm Kevin Holland. Finally, in other words, I want to fight. If I'm in other words, I want to fight a ranked welterweight, not a ranks middleweight.

Kies and Magny have fights. I hate ripping fights apart. That's BS. And those guys, that's an excellent fight. So unless there's no, you can't get a ranked guy this quick. It's just not unless, or unless you get a ranked 55er who wants to come up to 70, you know. So maybe if it, maybe, maybe, uh, maybe, maybe, uh, 55 or is looking for a fight.

That's a, that's a name. But now we're just giving Lee on the bottom of the barrel again. What that? That's what happens, man. I mean, Chimajumaya should have fought in Vegas. I mean, well, I guess he was already sick then. Who knows? I guess.

What about the BMF, what about the BMF champion? Yeah. BNF champion doesn't just fight anyone any day. I love that fight. Of course, but that's the worst thing that's happened in the Wilds-Oid Division. That title. Yeah. Yes.

I want Kevin Holland invite everyone every week. If somebody isn't going to be the guy, just have Kevin Holland do it. Have Edwards go up to meet at 175. I would say it would have to be, it's not going to be a 170

if Kevin Holland's going to be in there. Of course. It would have to be a catch weight, like 175, something in that neck of the woods. And it would have to be something that was decided like yesterday if that was going to be the case

because Kevin's a big guy. Like he's not like 220 or anything like that, but still, I mean, he's still going to have to cut to 175 maybe. That's a pretty good cut for him, I would assume. So, yeah, I'd like to see it. I feel like he'd be a good option, but I feel like a lot of things would need to happen for that to be the case. Plus, he's got a big main event fight with Derek Brunson now, scheduled in March. And I know that seems like a long time for a guy like Kevin Holland, but I mean, if they did it and could agree on a catchweight, I'm down. What about Lucke?

They fought before, right? Didn't it? What about Vicente Lucke? He could fight. Like, he's the highest-ranked guy that doesn't have a fight right now. Or I'm looking outside the top five. Well, Stephen Thompson's on a fight,

but didn't he get hurt? Like, he got hurt in the nearest zone, but he's not in for a while. And with all the traveling of fight island, like, that causes even, that just causes a lot more problems, you know, a lot more hurdles to jump. I don't think I don't think Edwards is fighting.

I think he's, I just don't, unless he's going to fight just, you know, some, some, some, some, some rando who trains out of Abu Dhabi MMA sport, Jim. I don't know. Or that's why the Magni-Kiazv fight was made so much sense because they're both going to be there. So, like, you pull one of them and then even throw, like, Luke A-In. Some Edwards get screwed. Someone gets screwed. That's all. Like, if, so that means Magny, if Magni fights Edwards, that means Kees is fighting Arando.

You know, that's, that's a rando. A random that's not no equal ranking. I think I think Tyron Woodley would be an interesting option. Like talk about a guy who would like need. I mean, I don't think he would on the short of notice, but talk about a guy that would just be like, I really need a win. Not only that,

but to get it against a guy like Leah and Edwards and they were supposed to fight in March anyways, imagine if he just stepped up and said, you know what, just give him to me. I'll do it. That works. But again, that's, you know, to lose another fight.

for Tyron Woodley, that wouldn't be good. But still, the risk would be worth the reward, in my opinion. So, yeah, so I don't think, yeah, you're right. Kevin Holland hasn't fought Walterway in like three years. So, yeah. So I don't know, but he was a Walterweight. So I don't know. Because he's taking on his short notes, fights on the,

as Kevin Holland said, I just won't fight Walterweight, or is it just more I just need more time? I think he called out fighters at Welterweight, but that's because he was just looking for it. Like if you watched the last press conference he was at in Vegas, I brought up that. And he goes, he just says stuff, just try and pick a fight. He just wanted big names.

He didn't necessarily want to go too well to it. He just wanted a big name. Which is why he called on Mickey Gall because he would beat him. People know who he is. But then he started on this at the time. That was also his first fight. That was the Jacksonville car and called him out. And he still said, he goes, I'll fight him,

but it'll probably have to be at 175. I can't make 170. Okay. I thought, okay, I was making sure I just wasn't out of my mind when I was thinking, Holland at Walter White. He has mentioned Walter White before.

Okay. Anyway. Oh, but there was also a first part question. Oh. Should there be a bubble for main events? There should be a bubble

for all the fighters in 2021. We joked when we were on Fight Island for last time. What does he mean by Bubble? Does he mean bubble on Fight Island or

bubble during training camps? Because that's when these guys are getting COVID during their training camps. Probably both. I would say Like if the UFC has there, if everyone wants to go to the apex and just live there, great. But that's probably not feasible for these fighters.

We also jokes on the last fight island card that if Connor fought on the next fight island card, we couldn't imagine he'd want to stay in the hotel with all the other fighters. Just because so many people have issues with the guy or they're, I don't know. We jokes that he would probably just bring his yacht and sleep there because it's right on the body of water. Like sleep on the yacht and then go short a train. And I, the more I thought about it, the more that's probably going to, I convinced myself that's probably going to happen. I really wish, I really wish we could talk to a reporter that was on the,

that was in the NBA bubble. I want to, I want to talk to someone who, who lived that life because that seemed very, that seemed very successful, obviously very expensive. But if the UFC, if, you know, the question was, you know, a bubble, you know, And I'm assuming this bubble needs to last more than just fight week Because like maybe like two or three weeks out And that's going to be very expensive Because just fighters don't make it

I don't know who's going to pay for it And UFC I don't think UFC is willing to pay for it If they can just keep replacing fighters all the time Have you read the stories of the people coming from the NBA bubble? No Like the players that so like So like the players and reporters Especially like if you like LeBron and the Lakers

And then the Miami eat they stayed the entire time because they went to the championship. And reporters, commentators, like those guys, they stayed there. I think it was Jeff Van Gundy, who I can't remember if he has the head coaching position now. As soon as the bubble ended, he was like one of the commentators. He just got in his car and drove, like, 18 hours straight as soon as the bubble snapped and was on the phone with like a therapist, like a psychiatrist, because it was so just mentally, like you lose track of time, reality, everything being there.

And I was only in the bubble for five weeks. And like, week four, I was like, I can't, this is nuts. I can't handle this right now. And then the Habib fight week started happening. It got really busy and I was fine. But I can't even fathom the NBA because it's like every other day. You see like, and the bubble is getting smaller and small in terms of people because they leave once their season is over. So I would love to speak to a reporter.

But they probably, I don't know. I know. I know some reporters had to like talk to therapists. and stop as soon as it was over. What helped a lot, too, is because I think the bubble had a limited number of people that were allowed to be in there for the NBA bubble. So there was like a maximum. So when players were eliminated and they left, if you hit, if your team survived long enough,

you got to a point where there was enough space to bring in family members. But it was only like two at a time, I think. So like if you made like the conference finals, like say the Lakers made the conference finals, like LeBron could bring his wife and his son. it. Like that was it. But then there was this whole thing like reporters couldn't like employees of the team couldn't. So like the like the physical therapist for the Lakers couldn't bring their like significant other end. There was a whole thing. But like if you heard it hit a certain point in the bubble, you could start bringing people in. But I don't know. Again, I don't know the exact details. I hope that answered the question. Long time commenter. Joseph Boza. Habib said in any of the, they, Habib said in an interview that he is not the UFC Lightweight champion. He thinks the winner of Dustin is Connor 2 should be the new champ.

Why is there at least not an interim title on the run? So I think to clarify, because a lot of things got lost in translation, I think Habib actually said the winner of this fight should fight for the lightweight title. Am I correct? Yeah. So whoever wins between Dustin versus Connor should fight someone for the vacant title. That's what he said, not that this fight should be for the championship. I know that's what John Kavanaugh said.

So no interim titles, please. In a perfect world, I think we all, in a perfect world, I think we all agree there should be something on a final four, like Connor v. Dustin and then maybe Chandler v. Gage, winners fight each other, something like that. I don't really care who's in the tournament, but tournaments, you can't argue with tournaments. Yeah.

Turnips. Yeah. Tourments. Is that a Rhode Island accent? No, I have no idea where that came from. I have no, I say tournament. A tournament. Yeah, well, it's because, like, I don't know, like, you go on a music, you go on a, like, a band goes on a tour.

Tournament. That's just how my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my see the word and I, how I say, you don't go on a tur. You know, I also say, I also say almond and I don't know where that came from because that's not. Oh, that's wrong. Yeah, that's wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. bag of almonds. Don't know where that came from. I mean, it's true. Paul Simon had a song. It wasn't called,

You Can Call Me All. It was called me Al. So, Almond. I get where you're coming. I see, I see it. I see where you're coming out. I see where you're coming. Oh, I also go on pecans, not pecans.

I can go either way. Yeah, both work. Pecan pie. Yeah, it's pecan pie. But then if you're talking about just the pecan, it's different. I just say pecan. And when I say, I think of Danny DeVito's character saying,

Pekin and Sandy's, and it's always sunny. What he tries to come up with a team name? So wait, so did a Russian website, they didn't translate, they mistranslated it into English, I assume? Is that, we all based everything on RT sport. Something like that. And then Ali, Abdelaziz, Habiz, Habiz manager clarified, and then a bunch of other people clarified.

too. So I think the official word that Habib says is the winner of this fight should fight for an eventual title, which I don't think anyone would disagree, right? If they made this a title fight, I wouldn't be shocked. I wouldn't. I wouldn't really offend me. I wouldn't be that offended. I mean, that's why we knew Connor was fighting Cowboy. So whatever is next, he's eligible, you know, to fight for the title. But Habib's retired, so happy Charles, Habib. I don't think he said it yet, Casey.

Oh, yeah, you're right. My bad. Kevin Holland's Trash Talk from T. Gordon, Gorda, 1982. I think he also said a bunch of Twitter questions, too. So this is the Tristan Gordaette show. Two-M.A. fighting. Where do you rate Kevin Holland's trash talk? It's got to be up there, in my opinion, with the likes of Connor, Dom, and Izzy.

He was able to create beef with Darren Brunson. And the next thing you know, the U.C. grants them their wish. And the two are booked to fight on March 6th. Also, what do you think about the match of itself? things to everything, really enjoy the show. So first part, where do you rank Kevin Holland's Trash Talk? I'll start with Alex. How would you compare it to Connor?

Dom, I assume Dominic Cruz and Izzy. Okay. I don't, maybe I haven't been paying that much attention to Kevin Holland's trash talk, but as far as I'm concerned, I don't know if he's really said anything that has crossed the line. And somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but Connor is definitely cross the line. Izzy's definitely cross the line. I'm not too familiar with Dominic Cruz's.

trash talk but so in my opinion that puts kevin holland's trash talk level above the others because he hasn't crossed that line and i hope that he doesn't um because you know you can't come back from from those things so in my opinion kevin holland the others number one i think the dominant cruz are dominant cruz and cody got pretty aggressive at times they were talking about like yeah they were talking about like you didn't grow up with the dad and you didn't grow up with the dad either and i was like this is odd trash talk. Cross the line.

Do Dominic and Uriah was... Yeah, they were bad too. Dominic was so brutal to Uriah. Like, just hurt his feelings. Like, it was bad. Do you remember the, they did the sit down with T.J. and Dominic was just talking,

and T.J. was just like sitting there looked like just not even responding, but Dominic was just talking and talking and talking and talking, talking, talking, talking. I like, I don't hate any these people's trash talking is because I with these people specifically um including Kevin Holland that's how they always are and that's how they are out of the brink octagon too Connor Dom obviously they say stuff I wish they didn't but I don't have a problem with most of what

they said um Kevin Hollins I asked Kevin Holland this in Jacksonville who he thinks the best trash talker in the UFC is ever and he said Connor so Kevin Holland thinks it's Connor all agree with Kevin Holland Mike what do you say? Yeah, I mean, Connor kind of made it cool, didn't he? Like, the UFC and... Jail made it. That was cool. Yeah, Chale made it cool.

Like, Chale laid down the foundation for it, but Connor took it to another level. Like, he was able to bring that more to more ears. You know what I mean? Like, more people paid attention than Shale. And Shale was great at it, too. So I would say, like, those two guys are like 1A and 1B. But Kevin Holland is great, man. He's, I mean, he's been like that his entire career.

pre-UFC, you know, winning fights, losing fights. He's the same guy. He's always been like that. He's so quick-witted. And to me, he comes from like a long line of trash-talking Hollins. Like, I interviewed Kevin Holland before his, like, one of his short-noticed fights, and he's on the bus going to Virtual Media Day, and he's wearing a mask of him smacking Joaquin Buckley in the face that his grandfather made him.

So clearly there's, this is a general. operational trash talking family. Like, they all know how to get under people's skins and be quick-witted. So I thought that was like an A-plus thing right there. I'm like, what is on this mask? And he said it was the silhouette of him slapping, walking Buckley in the face. I'm like, oh, my God, that is just unbelievable. Yeah, he's right up there.

He's right up there. How Rick rude of him to wear his opponent's face on his own attire. What was the next part of the question? What do we think about the fight? I mean, I love the fight. I also think Derek Bruner. is one of these guys that is just down to fight like he goes all fight he also didn't Derek Brunson also call Kevin Holland and Kevin Holland was like great so I think they

both made this fight happen there's a story between these two guys that Kevin Holland just talked about apparently they met once before and Kevin didn't like the way Derek spoke to him and he never forgot it so he was planting seeds all year is Derek Holland Mike Perry Tom Marvin Vittori like those are the guys that he's like planting You could just look at Kevin Holland wrong or not even wrong. In his mind, he convinces himself it's wrong, and that's enough to motivate him. I think it's awesome. Michael Jordan did the same thing.

You just concoct these scenarios that would create stir issues in his mind. Awesome, cool. Gets me interested in a fight. Also, I think the fight just makes sense in general. I wish it was sooner, but is what it is. yeah that can't booking a fight for kevin holland three months away kind of

that's not what kevin holland's about come on he he he became number two fighter of the year almost fighter of the year if marina more than got that decision all based on fighting what like every 30 seconds so yeah three months away it's ridiculous

that happens man we all said it once he be jacqueray it's like wow now he can't always man always like you get all these fights like yeah hams that once he actually actually be the guy who we've heard of. Izzy was the same way. Did he fight like four or five times his first year?

Now he fights like twice a year. It also travel restrictions in New Zealand probably hurts that too. But then you get guys like John Jones and Rhonda who would defend their titles like every three, four months. And then John disappears. Ronda retires. Like it's just like they go in these streets. So they go, I got to make some money. Got to fight every day. Then I'm good. Kevin Holland underrated trash talker Karam McGregor just says whatever sells Gerardo

at J.C. Doulos 1 on Twitter. Also, I think he's responding to a question from another question. Do you think Majdahl is losing fans because he seems to be getting picky with fights? Hashtag the A side. I think he's losing fans

for a lot of reasons. I think that's one of them. I think that's part of it. Mike, what do you say? People just want to see a fight. I mean, that's, that it is what it is. Like, the guy stepped in on like days notice, travel to Abu Dhabi, cut a bunch of weight and saved a title fight. So I will give him a pass on taking some time off because, I mean, the fight didn't go his way.

I still felt like his stock rose despite losing that fight. And I still feel like there's questions that have, especially like casual viewers who's say if Mazadol had like a full camp to prepare for Usman like could he beat him? They were impressed enough in those first two rounds to think that Mazadol could do it. And that's what you got to do. And that's what makes you a star. Like you can lose and your stock can still rise. And that's what happened with Mazadol.

So I think not fighting Leon Edwards, I think people got over that pretty quickly. But at this point, I think you just got to go in there and fight Colby, get it out of the way, win or lose. You move on with life. and we can just put this whole crazy feud behind us because we dealt with this Colby Woodley feud forever and now it's Colby Mazadol, like let's just make this fight. If you win, you're a hero, you're a god amongst men for a lot of Colby haters.

If you lose, so what, you're still a star and you can still fight Nate or still fight other guys. So I don't think he's losing fans, but I think he needs to book something pretty soon. Alex, is Mazurah losing fans? No, I think MMA fans tend to be quite loyal to those that they, I don't want to use this word, but to those that they stand. And right now, Maso is just out of sight, out of mind.

But as soon as he comes back and he's got a fight announcement and he's back in the headlines, it's going to come back to exactly where he was. And right now, the only time we've heard from him is about, you know, his political leanings or whatever. And I'm obviously not going to get into that. But that's all we've heard from him. But as soon as we start getting back into the fight talk and the fight game, then it's going to go back to exactly how it was.

It's just out of sight, out of mind. I think he's definitely lost some fans for sure. I think it's his political reasons, his anti-mask reasons, him kind of thinking the election was rigged, his thinking that COVID is a hoax, which a lot of people obviously agree with. So I think it's a big combination of not fighting,

people seeing him tweeting but not fighting. I think a lot of people are tweeting for him, not using his Twitter. I mean, like, people will chime in in his inner circle and kind of give reasons why he's not fighting and we're not hearing them directly from Jorge, which I think a lot of people rub a lot of people the wrong way. Also, this Colby-Horhe-Mazvedal fight just makes sense even if they didn't, even if they liked each other. And it's still not happening. I think people are just frustrated at this point. But I do agree once he steps in there, people are going to forget a lot of the things that.

I just, from my experience, every time we talk about a fighter outside of the octagon, people are. like, who cares? Who will that matters is what he does inside the octagon. And that's just been like the majority of MMA fans. So, no, I don't think anything that he says right now has cost him a whole lot of, maybe a few of the, you know, people who take that stuff seriously. But as a whole, I don't think he's lost a whole lot of fans. Are you, are you defending the stick to sports fans?

No, I'm explaining the stick to sports fans. Except when it's things I agree with. Then keep going. Otherwise, show, uh, yeah. Jerks. I'm just reading my comments out loud, Casey. All right? This channel's gone downhill since Ariel left.

I think people are frustrated that he's not fighting. I think people are frustrated he's not fighting, and they are taking it out on whatever he's doing. So it's like when John was, John Jones is out forever, and he was getting into all sorts of tomfoolery. the second he started to fight DC, people kind of forgot about it. Same as Connor. So right now they are mad at Jorge because he's not fighting.

The second he comes back, I think they'll forget it. I think they're just lashing out. Also, he's the BMF champ, and like I said, that is the worst thing that happened in the Wildway Division, because for the BMF champ that's turning down fights, allegedly probably not a good look. But once he comes back, people will be happy. Yeah, and the BMF champ doesn't tweet out fake memes of Boston for information.

But they look so real, Casey. They look so real. When is Neil and Neal happening? Hashtag the A side. Well, this is Neal Magnet versus Jeff Neal. Shout out to A.K. Lee for coming up with Neil on Neal. They were booked before. Jeff Neal had that just awful.

What was the exact medical issue? Congenative heart disease or something like that? It was something crazy. where like he was like he was checking his pulse like every like 30 minutes in case in case his heart stopped and like so sounds awful but if neil magni is obviously already boasts in kesa i'm assuming one of those guys are fighting at other words i don't think neil magny will fight anyone because it's neal magny but i don't know if the u s you want to make that fight especially because neal magny i'm neal jeff neal just lost i assume if neal magny loses maybe they make that fight but mike when is neal and neal happening I don't know, man. It's going to be a while, I think, unfortunately. And listen, if you're Jeff Neal, you're fighting Wonderboy, that's one thing. Like, you have to deal with the mystery and the intrigue of Wonderboy on the feet.

But Neil Magny, there is no mystery. He's going to be all over you for the entire fight. Like, if you fight for 25 minutes against Neil Magny, you were going to be exhausted. And if you're having some problems with your heart, a guy like Neil Magny is not the guy I want to be fighting against to test that out. You know what I mean? Like, his pace is just unbelievable. So I think we will see that fight at some point, but I don't think we see it in 2021. Maybe 2022 would be like my earliest guess.

How many main events is Neil Magna have? One? Was Lawler a main event? No. No. I think it was the Ponziabia one where he got smashed. Yes. Oh, that was the main event.

Oh, I think that's the only one. That was in Buenos Aires. I think that was Ponziio's last fight, right? I remember that guy Yeah he has a fight he's fighting the leech So they say Yeah yeah so they say yeah Neil Magnet's but I

From what I've seen There's no question Neal Magnet can go five around so maybe 2022 we have a lot of questions So that answers that Yep TFSMMA First of all

I want to say Alex you have a beautiful smile And I want to ask you guys about The UFC doesn't have interest to make a tournament. Sorry, this is for the other Alex. Not cool, Alex, by the way. No, I know. Yeah. Don't get a big head over there.

Oh, yeah, I'm just flattered. I want to ask you guys about why the UFC doesn't have interest to make a tournament for the most likely vacant lightweight belt. UFC doesn't like tournaments, Grand Prix, whatever reason. We all know why because you don't want to risk losing a big money fight in the tournament. they just tournament. They just want to make the big fight now. But Mike, why doesn't UFC want to make a lightweight tournament?

I don't think I should be the one answer in this question, Jose. You say this like every week. You know the answer to this question. If the people want it, we don't get it. That's it. And everybody wants this tournament. So there you go. I don't know.

There's just no rhyme or reason. Like sometimes it doesn't make sense. This, it makes perfect sense. You can do it with four people, eight people. 16 people, it doesn't matter. Like, this is too easy, especially in this situation where we don't have a champion.

Now's the time. Like, you don't even have to call it a tournament. Just lay out a bunch of fights where we know where it's going to end up with somebody with the title. It doesn't know we're not doing a tournament. Fine. We know it's kind of a tournament.

Just give us a kind of a tournament. Anything that has the word tournament in it, whether you say it's true or not, something that leads to somebody wearing the title because this is silly. We have no champion right now. We have no champion. We have so many freaking contenders.

Have a friggin tournament. Sorry. Well set. So, Mike, do you want a tournament? A tournament. I want a freaking tournament. Has there ever been a better time in the UFC history? Uh-huh.

To have a tournament? Mm-hmm. I like the point. I said this on one of our shows. Even if they made Conner versus Porreier for the title, And then the title just followed the fighter throughout the tournament. I would be fine with that. Like in Bellator, where the champion is part of it, it's not like the winner gets a vacant belt.

I don't hate that. And they want to do Chandler Gaichi and then have Oliver versus Hooker be like that Daniel Cormier type stand in. I don't hate that either. But if you want to throw Charles Oliver in the tournament and have Hooker v. Chandler be for the replacement, I don't hate that either. I don't know. There's so many lightweights that you could do honestly anything. you want to Machchev and Felder and throw Tony Ferguson in there awesome do it

Diego Ferreira cool if things don't make sense go to the money that's all it is yeah I think also you can't manipulate a tournament you know they want to be able to handpick their fights and wear like their worst case scenario is they have this big tournament Connor loses in the first round and like all the big big and then the finals is like Charles Oliver versus Drew Dover, which is a great fight, but like that's not what they want. And that's exactly, that's 100% the truth right there. I think the UFC is deathly afraid of having a guy like, he'll have a different name this time, but someone's the same markability, like when RDA was the lightweight champion.

Us, people who like fights, we were like, cool, RDA, he's the champ. I didn't expect that, but he's a champ. He's a champion. He's earning it. Good for him. RDA's title fight when we defeated against Eddie Alvarez was a freaking fight night

Can you imagine a lightweight title fight on a fight night? It's just like... Wasn't it a fight past? It was fight past too, yeah. So, yeah, I think a guy like Charles Altavera is obviously a very different fighter but I think in terms of selling paper views

isn't very much different from RDA. Maybe actually a little worse because RDA speaks English so I think the UFC is just very afraid of just a very non-markable star being their champion at lightweight division, and that sucks. Right. But what do tournaments do besides have a winner of something? It creates stars. It helps create stars. Look at AJ McKee right now. I agree. I agree. But see, Mike, here's the problem. I say this all the time. What's the problem with that scenario? It makes sense. And M.A. doesn't make sense.

It's a silly sport. But yes, make a Grand Prix, especially in Lightweight. It would be the best. It would be, I dare say, one of the five greatest Grand Prix in terms of talent we've ever seen if the U.S. he did a Lightway tournament right now. I'm kind of getting angry,

just thinking about it and not happening now. Yeah, all right. I got to move on. I'm got to move on. I'm going to put this question up there. I don't know what it means, but hopefully this isn't offensive. Amma fighting.

Heck, have you, have you ever? ever been to Baba Louise and Great Barrington? If not, you should go there. I have been to Boba Louise in Great Barrington. I have also been to Baba Louise in Pittsfield while I was still there and took part in a pizza eating contest at Boba Louise in Pittsfield during my radio days. So, yes, I have been to Boba Lueys. It's been a while. It's probably been probably five or six years since I've been to the Great Barrington location, but good stuff. where in Massachusetts is great barrington it's in the birchairs okay it's a cool place it's very uh very hippie very crunchy good stuff like really cool downtown area people are just so happy down there you'll see people in the

park just like musicians will just come together randomly be like hey we're just going to meet at 10 a m and no one knows who's going to come they just go there and they just jam for hours and hours and it's it's a good time There's a Barrington, Rhode Island, and it sounds like the exact opposite of Barrington, the worst place in Rhode Island. It's not not crunchy at all? No, not even a little bit. If you don't have a fancy sports car and live in a mansion, you probably, like, you're out of place in Barrington, Rhode Island. We totally blew past the main part of that story, Mike.

Tell me about this pizza eating contest. Did you win? There was a pizza eating contest? How does it happen? Is it just who can finish this large pizza of the fast? passes. How'd you do? So, uh, we lost. We had to put a team together. A team effort. Okay, there you go. We, we, we, it was against the, the Pittsfield firefighters and police officers. And it was like,

me, one of my, one of my coworkers. Yeah, we had, it was like radio listeners who would like call in and like be a part of the team. So we had some adults. We had some, some kids on the team. So it was just, it was all, all in good fun. Every, you know, the winners were the charities involved. and that's what it's all about. Eat cheesy carbs for a smile. Sounds like a good time. Is crunchy the same as granola? Like when you call some of granola?

In the nicest way possible, I say that. Yeah, sure. No, I don't take it as one either. I think that's a nice word. My dad is one of those on the corner, drum circle dreads guys. Like, that's like, he's one of those dudes. Really?

Really? I'll have to book them. Yeah. Yeah, my dad. I'll have to book. My dad's crazy hippie. You want to come hang on in Western Massachusetts in our drum circle? You'd dig it.

All right, which question are we on? Callum Barnes on Twitter. Two-part question. With the success with the pandemic shows this year, do you think we'll see the top fighters fight more this year, Milesville, Jones, Connor twice, maybe both Diazbrose? Number two, if so, would be the over-under on five pay-per-views, doing over one million buys.

Hmm. Lots on pack. Well, of all the names he mentioned, Connor is the only one with the fight books. John Jones allegedly going to fight the winner of Steepi Francis, which isn't books either.

I don't think Nick fights. Nate, maybe. Mazudal probably. Under, I think less than five pay reviews do a million buys. What is everyone else's thoughts. Well, how many did it this year? Just the one? Just the counter cowboy card? Yeah. I think two, I think two fifty one did two close to that. That was the first, that was the first

fight island card. Yeah. Which was that that was the that was the three title. Oh, okay. Yeah. That was Usman Mazvedal, um, Aldo, Jan, Holloway, Volcanowski two, Rose, Andrage, too. Rose, to like that was the stacks card it was also the first fight iron cars so people probably entreat yeah so i'll stay under five yeah oh yeah yeah way way under five yeah five would be like five would be like the max and that's like i mean i think i have connor fight cowboy five times in a row maybe and they'll probably still do a million each but you guys you guys will buy anything as long as on earth there. I just don't know, like, I don't know if everybody on this list is a million pay-per-view

seller. You know what I mean? Like, even, like, even John Jones when he fought DC, like, in the last fight, that, that did really well, and there was so much heat there, and that didn't even do a million pay-per-views. I mean, getting a million pay-per-view guys, yeah, it was like 800,000, which is still a really good number. getting a million pay-per-view buys in this day and age where let's be honest there are some some folks out there who aren't going to spend 65 bucks a month on a UFC pay-per-view event

they might find other ways to view this product and with it being so easy getting a million pay-per-view vise in 2020-2020-201 doesn't happen as much as it did like four or five years ago so I'll say under easily dude they have to save up for mayweather low and Paul. Why spend money on the UFC paper? No, they bought it. They bought it on day one so they could save 20 bucks on the buy rate. You're right. You're right. Dang. This is actually brilliant. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. I think if Jones fights Izzy, that'll do a million, I think. That'll do a million.

Especially if it's the international fight week like Izzy keeps talking about in July. So psychic. He has to be on and John is now a heavy way. So probably not going to happen in July, but. is what it is. Anytime Connor fights, I'm comfortable saying I'll do a million buys. Anytime. I'm very...

If not a million, go ahead. Oh, sorry. But I'm super curious, though, how Connor is going to sell with, I've kind of talked about this a lot, with no crowd,

with no press conference, with no big way-ins. Like, Connor's going to be at a way-ins where it's just, you know, it'll be Dana White, not Sean Shelby,

but just, you know, it's just in a ball, it's in a hotel ballroom. You know, it's like, This is going to be very different, a very different, Connor week. You know, with no, no, because Connor, you can't come out there, do it as a little thing wearing his jacket, you know, I don't know.

It's just going to be very different. I'm willing to bet there's a press conference on Fight Island. Yep. Because it's the last pay-per-view of, it's the last card of the three days. Wouldn't it be surprised if they just did one to mega press conference right at the beginning with all the main event guys? Or, because like I thought for sure, Connor would be the first card because then they could have a full fight week without a fights getting in the way, if that makes sense.

So like Connor would fight the first Saturday. So we have a week of just Connor, Porre, and then the Wednesday, Saturday. Kind of like in Jacksonville, where the pay-per-view kicked off the three cards in seven days. But that didn't happen. He's now the last one. So I don't know. I assume we'll have a big press conference. Dana White has said a thousand times they want fans, but I haven't heard anything yet.

So we'll see. There won't be fans. Oh, but you brought up the Paul brothers. So, yeah. Oh, God. You did it first. Natalie Duran, what do you guys think about Jake Paul versus Ben Ascreen and Logan Paul versus, or Floyd Mayweather versus Logan Paul? Okay.

I'm actually kind of excited to see Jake Paul and Ben Ascran. Floyd Mayweather, Logan Paul is just stupid. Like, that's just a dumb idea. But Ben Ascran. What is? You know what? Are we arguing what's more stupid? Is that what we're doing here?

Isn't that the question? Yeah. No, you're not wrong. Go ahead, Mike. I personally think when it comes to Jake Paul versus Ben Ascran that seems like cool Alex is involved in this as well. I feel like everybody that's excited about this is in the middle of the biggest troll job in the history of combat sports. Ben Ascran in September just had like major. Major, major hip surgery.

I mean, major hip surgery. If this guy comes in and boxes in March, I will be the most shocked person in the world. It's just, he, like, when I spoke with him, he said he was thinking about getting back on the wrestling mats to, like, drill in September of 2021. All of a sudden, he could start dancing around and boxing. Not saying, like, you need to, you know,

your cradle in people and doing all sorts of transitions on the mat. But you're telling me that Ben Ascgren is a miracle healer. It can get in a box in March. I just don't see it happening. Maybe I'm the one being trolled. Maybe the surgery happened way ahead. Maybe this is just like this prolonged thing where it was all leading to Ben Askern versus Jake Paul. I just don't see it happening.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I think this is all just a well-orchestrated plot by like everybody involved to sell, as Nick Diaz said. so well wolf tickets to get people hyped up for this fight that's not going to happen it's just not going to happen ben's doing a ben is an a plus doing an a plus job making people buy it if it happens i will come on the show and say i'm an idiot i was wrong you guys are all right you should have been excited about it i'm a dope but i'm not saying it i don't think i'm going to have to do that i think we're all going to be sitting there in march seeing jake paul fight somebody that is not ben asker ladies and gentlemen sorry i feel bad is my character's laying around

at night going, am I being trolled? Are they trolling me? Am I trolling them? Am I getting outmaneuvered by the Paul brothers? How's this one? Is this life? Is this real? Jake Paul again. When do you think the last time Ben asked him hit pads was? Before he bought Davey and Maya? Yeah. I don't think he's like thrown any sort of strike at all since his last

UFC fight. Maybe hell pads, but not hit pads. For Ben Ascran, I don't think he can get humiliated in the combat sports sense more than he did when he fought Masvada. So I think if he can take that fight against which Paul was it, Logan, Logan Paul. He would take it. Jake. Wait, wait.

You know, I had a thought. I had a thought in this, but I don't even care. I'm just going to shut up. just don't care i i'm insulted getting knocked out by jake paul would be so much more embarrassing than getting knocked out by horrid mazgal i don't it would not be because he will make more money getting knocked out by that paul guy than my mazadol that's fine so maybe he's not embarrassed but i would be embarrassed for him i would be i would look at ben asking me like god i can't even a mat. I would never leave my house

if I was a professional fighting and knocked out by Logan Paul, or Jake Paul, whichever one. Which one? Which one took a phone in front of a dead body? I don't know. I don't know. I couldn't pick it out of a lineup. I just found out. I just found out. I just found out. One of them is covered in tattoos.

That's the younger brother. That is how I tell him apart. Next question. Damn. Cubers. Kids these days. youths MMMG 2K20

as MMA media members Do you think Dana respects you guys? I feel like you should appreciate the MA media more There have been fights on the UFC cards I have had zero interest in And the moment you guys talk about it slash break it down I am fully invested hashtag the A side

Well All right guys does Dana White respects us I'm assuming he's talking about us for specifically Right More just MMA media in general in general no i mean i think he's made that pretty clear um i mean it's PR 101 though if you i think it would be it would behoove him to at least be cordial and at least not you know make a hit piece for everybody but i don't know i don't yeah no he doesn't obviously it just

makes me sad because like i see how hard everybody especially at our site works and if people knew like what this job entails and for people to claim like oh they hate the sport blah blah blah you literally cannot do this job if you hate the sport. It's working on Thanksgiving. It's working on Christmas. It's nights and weekends. And you know who else works nice and weekends and holidays? Surgeons. Is anybody here making surgeon money? No. Okay. So let's like take it easy on the MMA media memories. Everybody's doing their best, just like everybody else at their job at home. You know, we're no different than anybody else. And I say, I'm not a report. I'm not a journalist. I'm just here, you know, throwing up some videos on social media every once in a while.

So like, I'm just here to, you know, stick up for everybody at the site. You guys rock. Get him. Mike, does Dana White hate us? You in particular, Mike. Oh, I mean, it's like looking in a mirror when he looks at me. According to our fine readers and viewers. That's funny. Do I, Dana, go.

Oh, that's funny. Maybe it's just a bald head in the Boston area living. No, I don't think he respects us, but that's fine. That's just who Dana is. like Dana has to win. He's as stubborn as it gets. And I've been known to be stubborn myself from from time to time. So I get it.

But at the same time, I don't care. Like if he doesn't respect what I'm doing or anybody else doing, that's fine. Because he needs us as much. He needs us like he does. We need them to put on fights and we have things to cover. And I get that. But we help grow the sport, whether people like it or not. Like this, like the question stated,

there have been there have been some pretty bad fight cards like some pretty bad ones that we have gone on whether on between the lengths or preview shows something like that and we've found diamonds in the rough we have been the sunshine on the otherwise cloudy day we found ways to make these fight cards better than they are on paper find the intriguing storylines the under the radar fights and storylines things like that i feel like we've done a good job creep in piquing interest in some of these cards so i mean at the the end of the day, he may not respect us, but at the same time, I think he knows the value we provide to the sport. And that's why he hasn't like banished media altogether, because he could say what he wants in those hit pieces. And they could post A.K.'s face on a video and all this other stuff. But at the same time, I think he understands the value we bring to the sport. And without us, you know, maybe they don't sell the company for $4.2 billion. Well said. Well said. Casey, Does Dana White hate us? Oh, of course he does.

Today he does, but tomorrow, when we're, you know, talking about how awesome this fight card was, you know, he'll say, you know, nice things. Like, he said, like, you know, at successful pay-per-views, you know, when Dana talks at the post-fight press, there, and then afterwards he'll say, you know, I just want to thank the media you guys, you guys know, you guys did great covering us and thank you for coming out and everything. Like, this just depends what mood's he in, you know? It's like, but he's, but he's very normal and very emotional, like, normal people are when, like, we can say, we can tweet out, right, 50 nice articles about, oh, what a great fight. What a great match, uh, fight booking. You know, what a great this. What a great that. but then we put one thing suggesting, I don't know, maybe this was kind of off. And then he'll just go off one comment after 50 nice things. So he just, he's a guy likes to focus on the negative and that's what that's what fuels him. You know, obviously his bank account is, you know, whatever, it's like just unbelievably big.

So, you know, what's going to drive him now? I know, he has to, you know, he has this little chip on his shoulder, you know, like, oh, these little wimpy MMA media guys, they've never done anything in their life, you know. Look at what I've done, you know. I mean, he's just, he just wants to fight. He wants to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. That's his thing. So don't care, but it definitely doesn't respect us.

Yeah, I don't particularly care. Yeah, if he likes me or not. I'm just going to go there and say, this guy beat this guy in an octagon. And Dana White said this after. And that's what I'm going to keep doing. But also, but thanks, thank you, thank you for the commentary. You know, I appreciate you listening to us. And, you know, when we talk about it.

And we've talked to, Casey and I have talked about this. off air, like especially when we were getting the couple of fights together. Like, someone asked us why the UFC just doesn't stream everything themselves and send the video to like, like, you know how like someone like, like an AP writer could go and write something and then he just blast it out to everyone. Like, why doesn't the UFC keep everything in the house? Like, why do we need reporters at official wanes? Why do we need them at press conferences when, like, why do we need these like shooting them?

It's because imagine if they turns the cameras around to get crowd shots and there's no cameras there. Like the UFC wants to show people covering the sport. They want us there. Whether they like our questions or not, they want us there to at least show people are there. Like when they, when they cut the question that when they cut around to the the questions of the reporters asking at the old style press conferences and you see all the cameras right there, it looks great for the UFC. Imagine if there were none though. So that's why they want us there. And that's why they don't just like virtual media days I get like some people don't have the ability to record or they can't make it so they'll send the recordings out after.

But they want us there to record and put up ASAP to just show that we're there. I mean, like, I was in like every freaking embedded video because like, but it's always me holding a camera and stuff. So it was just like, yeah, they, they, yeah, they like the presence of media. And if he doesn't like media so much, how's he going to do these media hit pieces, you know? How's he going to do that? True. Yeah, those are fun.

Those are fun. So think of it back. Dana loves us. Daniel Pompeo Who should says cans We talked about this a little bit You want Kevin Holland Everyone else seems to think Magnet case

And when Connor wins Connor with one end by the way Chris Callahan on Twitter Tennis dudes 222 when Connor wins Do we see McGregor Moussville next Nope nope Hell no

I think Connor that what did Connor say after When he's like at the press counts after he be cowboy And Mazvall was there in that bathrobe the same bathroom that Connor wore. I like the Mayweather like overworkout. He was like, oh, people love a trier. And I was like, oh, just twist the knife, man. Just completely no-souled, like shot him down, made him like irrelevant in like one sense.

God damn, Connor. That to me was worse than who the hell is that guy. Yeah. He was, oh, God, you love a trier. And I was like, geez, leave him alone already. He's dead. Stop kicking them. That was that just ethered.

To me, that ethered Mazuradol right on the spot. But yeah, that's not happening. Terrence Levrette on Twitter this time with former Rise and Champion of Cape Newsy now. Who is fighting on the rising card that you see being the breakout star and going to the UFC? Well, you don't have to go to the UFC to be a star. Or it would help in the eyes of casual fans. But this Rising card is awesome. And you know what?

We're not going to say. we don't watch it. Right, guys? I'm sure we all know what we're talking about. We're all going to watch it. And we're not because our interest is more than in the negative. So, Mike, who should fans pay attention to on this rising card? Well, I think more fans are going to be paying attention to Kai Asakura on this card

because of what you may be alluding to. I think people have done their homework. So in a strange way, that video clip has actually probably helped Kai Asakura because people want to sit and fight. And that fight with Horo Gucci, is just ridiculous. I mean, Kaius Akura has two knockouts this year and they're all via soccer kick. That's all you need to know, Google it, my friends. But there is one fighter that I am interested in seeing Kazuma Kuramoto's fighting on this card. He's fighting Taya Nakahara.

And before his last fight, he was 6 and 0 or 7 and 0 with seven finishes or a whole bunch of finishes, undefeated, really good guy. And he lost his last fight to like a 22 fight veteran in the second round. It was a one punch, Keo at one of the shoot O 20, 20, 20. events. So he's fighting Tayao Nakahara, who's got 23 pro fights. It's an interesting matchup, but this guy is exciting. One of the best Bannam weights in Japan. He's probably like a top 20 guy like in that region, but very exciting. He's a finisher. He's fast. He's dynamic. So he's a guy that I would pay attention to. I'm not sure if he's on the main card or not for Verizon 26, but yeah, he is. He is. So that that'd be a guy like if you're looking for like an

up and coming guy who's in his like mid, late 20s that could do some damage. and is exciting to watch that's one guy I would put my figure out did you guys know that we keep talking about these YouTube fighters and this and that and everything did you know Kai Asakur is incredibly as an understatement he is an shockingly successful YouTuber in Japan mm bro he has like oh he has like 600,000 subscribers he is a he's I'm willing to bet a lot of people discovered m-ma because of his YouTube channel He's a really, he's a huge star in Japan, especially because of YouTube.

He has like, his videos on. His on YouTube channel. Is it no, but is it like, like, acting related or is it just like lifestyle? I think it's a little bit of everything. Like he's, he'll like go, like, confront guys. Like, I think he has like, M.M.A. fighter confronts drunk man on the street or like, and then he'll do, like, blogs too or something, stuff like that. But successful YouTuber fighting for a title against who many consider,

one of, if not, the best fighters outside of the UFC. A lot of people consider him, he could be the best ban on the world. He could be the less flyaway in the world. Like, I think the fact that DJ, Demetrius Johnson is fighting 125, 135, I think I put him maybe a step above,

but 2021, that might be different. But yeah, Hiori Jorge Horgoose for Kai Asakar. F-in rules. Anyway, Casey, you were at the last rising show. This is the first time you're not in Tokyo slash Vegas in a long time. Yeah. I know you're going to watch.

But what other fights are you excited on this card for? Well, I was just thinking, it's like, I got to take a little a nap. I got to make sure I take a nap this afternoon because I think the opening ceremonies. And, like, Risen's New Year's Eve card is without a doubt, without a freaking doubt, but the highlight, MMA-wise, in my year. It's just an amazing show. No one does it like, no one does it as big as they do. Obviously, the main event is super awesome, so rematch.

And I just can't wait for that main event. Return of the return of Kyoji after his really bad knee injury. Shout out to Mike Brown spending two weeks in quarantine in Japan. So I'm hoping he stays a couple of days to go to Russell Kingdom. But let's also not forget, Mazudal has said that he thinks Kioji Horaguchi is the best fighter at ATT. Like Masvidal, Jorge Mazdaul has said that. So for those of you who just think, just followed the UFC and want some sort of like, it's great for us to talk about it and be excited about it.

because we're going to watch it no matter what. But like, say what you want about Hoare Mazvold not fighting or fighting whatever. He's a phenomenal fighter. And if a fighter of his caliber thinks that Kioji Horiguchi is the best fighter at ATT, which is one of if not the top gyms on planet earth, that should get you excited right there. Also, I just looked up Kai's channel to get the official name of it. It's just Kai channel and then backslash. And I don't read Japanese so I can't read it.

But all of the titles are in Japanese. so I can't tell you what they say. But it's like 3.4 million, 1.1 million, 900,000. So I can't quite, I don't quite know what they are, but it looks like there's photos of him playing volleyball. There's him holding a giant pizza. So I'm assuming he eats a huge pizza. It looks like he plays dodgeball against some guys.

It looks like he eats a bunch of whole chicken nuggets next to his dog. So yeah, you get a lot of everything. Guy Asakura's YouTube channel. So go watch. After this, go watch Go watch. find Kai Oskir's YouTube channel because it's very successful. And also, so people are asking, someone, I think the fight costs $20. I think it's fight TV, I'm not sure, but it's $20 per view.

But man, it is probably about a seven-hour experience, the whole thing. And it's just so good. I mean, freaking tensions fighting. Good Lord, that's fighting. The very opening of the card, freaking Mino Man's back, who's missed kind of pro-Rustra. real minimum like just seeing minimum man live it's always fun and um and there's a lot there's just a lot of japanese talent on here that i'm just not familiar with to be honest because it's just we have so many freaking fights to pay attention to over here so this is just an excellent chance

just to see that there's there's a lot of mma in the world and um it's just the presentation is so different i'm just it's the best it's the best it is the best and it's in a ring God bless him. All you need to hear is case to say the opening ceremonies begin. Opening ceremonies. They also let like when MVP fought on Risen last year and he walked out with us Akatsky, not just in Akatsky outfit. Like he had the headband.

He had the rope. He had the throwing knife in his mouth when he run out. And I asked Roxy about it because she fought on the January pay-per-view, the Connor car when she fought Macie Barber and she was like, that was the, like, she was like freaking out over it. She was like, I want to do that, but the U.S. He won't let me. Another question from Tanks, Leverett, who is the closest to being a realistic new champ, who would be an improvement for the current champ,

meaning they would stay active and keep the division moving. I feel like the only division that's really not moving that people are openly complaining about is like heavyweight. So I think Walter weight, just because no one burns is happening. but like at least we have some sort of idea of who's going to fight who we just don't know when but yeah heavyweight would be i think if france was championed he'd fight a lot yeah exactly and he's angry so even though he's fought stepe before and lost he's pretty frustrated right now i wouldn't want to face an angry in ganu personally i agree i agree other than that a lot of we have a lot

of quote nude champions as it is like yon just won the title vulcanosk just won the title. Well, he's supposed to fight Ortega, but we don't know when. Like, Izzy's the middleweight's moving up to fight light, heavyweight. So a lot of things need to have him first. So I guess maybe heavyweight, but I'm not saying Francis would be a better champion than steep. He just might be more active if that's what you're asking. Yeah, I think if Gilbert Burns beats Kamar Usman, he'd be another guy.

That's very true. He'll fight like a day. That dude wants to fight every week. Yeah. I was in Jacksonville when the Jacques Reilly Hall fight fell out, and Gilbert Burns, like, I'll fight your eye haul, because he was there to corner him. Oh, my. Oh, oh. Excellent production, Casey.

It was about to happen, and I'm surprised it hadn't happened before. Can you point your mic toward you, Alex, and not the cat? Thank you. There we go. Well done. Which cat was that? Attella. She lives up to her name.

Wait, what UFC title fights are booked right now? Or pretty much in the works? Megan Anderson or Amanda Nunes, Megan Anderson. Champ first. Champ, the featherweight champ for women's. Is that it? I think that might be like the only one that's like on the books. That's kind of wild.

We have a lot of like, like we. We know figurato Moreno are going to rematch. Like, well, we know Jan and Sterling are going to fight. We know, like, all the, we know these guys are going to fight so-and-so.

We just don't know when, and it's not like, I don't think anyone's put pen to paper yet. Odd. I mean, like, Behovet. Yeah, we know that's coming.

Yeah. And we know, wait, wait, wait, wait, but. We know Volcanoffi-Otega. We know Usman Burns. We know Steve , Francis.

Like the Wiley, Rose, Carlos Sparza, that seems to be, they got to figure that situation out too. Flyweight, who knows? Like, who knows who's next to Valentina? Who's next for Nune is at Bantamweight, too? Yeah. Because I think if... They screwed it up when they had Holly fight Aldana.

Yep. Yeah. I wouldn't... Holly should fight your enemy. That's the fight. and the win of fight or if they just make that if they just make Amanda featherweight

have a stay of featherweight and then make that for the vacant bantam weight I wouldn't hate that either ooh Darby Crash on our YouTube comments is hating on me dude Mr. Life goes on

Darby Crash come on Mr. Punk Rocker geez you don't if you don't know if you don't know Darby crashes Google him I want to answer this one oh where is it

I like this question question. Oops, I'm going to get rid of that. Tristan Gordette has asked a question on the site, Twitter, and now you two, man. This guy is dedicated. He's DMMA. Which fighter surprised you the most for 2020? Also, which fighter do you think will have a great year in 2021 that known is talking about? I think the fighter that impressed me the most, obviously, Kevin Holland.

I didn't expect him to knock out Jacare. The other fights like Buckley, Darren Stewart, like those fights, like obviously I thought he could easily win. Him knocking out, Jacqueray shocked me. Any of that. Who is our top five breakout fighters? Was it Samayev, Holland, Buckley, who else? Who did I have? Chaos Williams.

Chaos. And who the hell was the fifth one? Oh, Uri Perashka was the fifth one. Right. My, let me find it real quick. My breakout fighters of the year were, where Shemayev, number one, just because I never heard the freaking dude before.

Yeri, number two, Kevin Holland, Piggy Smalls, and Charles Oliver. But the question was like, surprise. I know. So I was trying to see who surprised. Kevin Holland surprised me. Kevin Kavana didn't surprise me because I knew when he fought Tiago Santos and he went to the decision and fought a very competitive fight, I thought. I was like, dude, this dude's legit.

He's going to be very good once he has a full camp and everything and just rose into being a full-time fighter. But him knocking out Jacques Grey the way he did was super surprising, not actually winning. The fighter that surprised me the most in 2020, though, was Jan Blahovitz. Lohovich. Just because I thought he was a mid-tier, top 15. There was, so I read, I reread my, I wrote the 2018 or 2019 breakout star of the year for the site. And at the time, it was Izzy because it was his first year in the UFC. He went like 4-0.

And then like number two was Aaron Pico and Tatiana and Volcanowski and I think someone else, because there's like a tie for fifth. Oh, Anthony Smith, I think, might have been two or three because that's when he had that incredible run before he fought John. I wrote things like, yeah, Jan Wilhova just still a light, heavy way. That should go, that goes to tell you how shallow.

That's the pitch it is right now. Man, like two years later, he made me, my words, but Jan was a good one because I brought this up a thousand times, even so Dom and Jan that the UFC wanted him to lose to a lot of fighters so they could use the winner to propel, like, Rockhold, Jacaray, Dom, like, Corey Anderson, and he just kept knocking him off,

and then eventually, now he's the champ. A fighter that I completely forgot about being a breakout star that I really, really impressed me because I didn't think he'd be here at this point was Marvin Vittori after he beat Jack Khamanson. I completely forgot him on my breakout start. Because I was there when his fight fell out in Jacksonville, and I was like, that sucks.

Like, why doesn't he fight your eye haul? They're both middleweights. And then to finally fight Carl Roverson and then to get the quick, and then to step in against Jack or Manson, going from a three-round to a five-round and win. And now we might fight Darren Till. I think, yeah, he really surprised me.

He showed me that he is an awesome, awesome, legit fighter. Do we- My surprising fighter of the year, Glover Tashira. Good God. What a year that guy had. And he's still not going to fight for him. for a title, which is absurd. Absurd.

He's not fighting for a title. He could. He better hope Yombo wins beats his daughter of Sanya or he ain't fighting for the title anytime soon. True. Glover's so freaking good. He's so freaking good. This is his best, this is like his best year.

This is like the best, like the best he's looked in his career. Like he's just finishing everybody. Like he's finishing durable guys. Like, there are very few people who thought, that he was going to beat Tiago Santo and he did. Like, it did it impressively. The guy should be fighting for a world title and it's just,

it sucks. Like, he's going to be kind of ignored in 2021 because there should be no other fight for him, but I just don't see it happening, unfortunately. And he thinks he's like 70. Yeah, that's crazy.

That's crazy too. I, I, yeah, he's, uh, he's awesome. But unfortunately,

uh, he doesn't, he won't he he's not gonna he's not gonna go yon you suck you know all that stuff you know he's not gonna you know he's not gonna john jones you know eat my butt you know he's just not gonna he's not gonna he just that's what the ufc wants man you know you know they just won't guys just say crap you know and um unfortunately he just lover is just a really actually he's a great fighter who i yeah i completely don't expect him ever to fight for title again he needs to bring in like Paul Heyman or something to cut promos for him.

Figgi, Figgis, Mawis. He's got Wali, right next to him. Walid's great. I know the media we like to complain, oh, that's not, that's not Figgie saying that. That's Wali's saying that. But in terms of just selling fights, Waleed, Wali gets that.

He'll, you know, he gets that part, you know, so, and fans don't care. Alex, who's your surprising fighter of the year? The first name that came to mind was McKenzie Dern, and then the second name was Brandon Moreno. To be honest, I didn't think that he would at least even get to the title this year, let alone fight to the title to a draw. I mean, that's kind of awesome. That's a great story. McKenzie Dern is a good one, really good one.

I think the Hanukes' fight, the Seifers fight and the Marcos fight didn't surprise me, but the Jan Derova fight. Like her just all of a sudden just going in like crazy. Because when I say, yeah. When I called McKenzie Dern the winner of that one before it happened, I believe Casey thought it was crazy. And said, have you seen the last three Johnorobo fights? Hey, it was. It was a fight of the night till the main event. It was a very competitive fight.

She impressed me the most about McKenzie Dern, though. And this is, I really mean this, too. She took a, she took a weapon. She broke her nose. She got a gritty fight that wasn't really what, which I guess we haven't seen her in. that type of stand-up, stand-up war. And she got, and she got pieced up, and she pieced up Janja Roba, too. And the fact that she came out of that, like, okay, and winning to fight legitimately

and a competitive fight, yeah, it's like, okay, McKenzie Dern, she can fight. She is a fighter, you know, not just someone, if she gets you to the ground, no, watch out. She's a, she's a tough, yeah, she's a tough, yeah, she's a tough, late. She went, she fought through, um, uh, stress broke, my, broken nose. So, no, I'm excited by Dern. I'm still in the Janderoa train, though. Don't, don't watch out.

McKenzie doesn't already have another fight, right? I don't think so yet. Yeah, she does. Oh, she does. Nina Ansoroff. Oh, that's right. I mean to answer off, April 10th. There you go.

Isn't it? That's a great, Piper, Dern. That's smart. That's smart. We was that Nina Anseroff and Tatiana Suarez both fight on that Chicago card, and Nina had a baby. And it's now, and is back. before Tatiana Suarez. Yeah, that's wild.

That's crazy. Hey, having a baby is easier to get over than having a pinched nerve in your neck or whatever she's got. Is it a pinch nerve? It's just neck. It's, I mean, the neck injury. No, it's severe neck injury. Yeah.

Yeah. From wrestling. I don't know what the exact situation is, but she can't shoot for blast double-like takedowns, which is like her thing. Yeah. I'm going to give the Tito thing, you know, she has a broken C-64, you know, whatever. with Tito used to say all the time. Shoot, man.

Why didn't we mention Tito's best trash talkers in MMA? Oh, God. It's the best trash talker in politics right now. Oh, right. No, he's not a politician, didn't you hear? Oh, yeah. What's that Twitter account that always post the Tito clips? Full contact, like, NTW or something like that.

Yeah, yeah. It's such a fun rabbit hole to. to take a trip down. It really is. That Twitter account is doing the Lord's work. I love it. Sometimes I wish they would link back, but yes, I agree. That's true.

God bless him. It's a nice aggregator site. Twitter account, I should say. Oh, second part of the question. Which fighter do you think we'll have a great year in 2021? That no one. Who's going to be our breakout? That no one's talking about.

Who will be our breakup? star this year. Leon Edwards. Boom. Oh, Jed will love that answer. Man, well, MMA-wise,

I'm going to AJ McKee. That's a real good one. I think you will win the tournament. He could be championship. Yeah, I think he'll win the tournament and go up to 55. Which means he might fight pit bull twice. Who knows?

That'd be really crazy. Which. You might buy 40, the champ. He's still double champ, right? You still do. I think, Scott Coker said Patricio might vacate so his brother could fight for it. He could fight both pit bull above his back to back. Go to no against the pros.

Either one. Yeah, either way. And I wouldn't hate, and Patricio could go to 135 and get that title too. But U.S.C. wise, who are we thinking? who like what man i you want to font is a good answer rob fawn is a good answer kacey kennie canny could be a good answer if he beats dominic cruz can he could be a wicky good answer yeah you're not wrong

mayor ab and him eventually fighting again i think mayor ab and casey canny could be like poor a hallway where they fought so early in their career and then later on down the road it's like a much bigger fight yeah i felt the same thing about Shane Burgos and Calin Cater though and that could still be a big fight. The breakout start of 2020 and the UFC will be Manil Cape. I knew you're going to say that.

I was waiting for you. We'll see. That Pantosia fights, hopefully that happens. That is tough. But look at me, like we have we have Hosmot this year. Like, we'd even,

I think we'd even know the guy existed a year ago. So who, like, yeah, who knows? Who knows? Oh, you know what? Maybe that, who's that, do that be Charles Oliverer in Fight Island? Oh, Alex Oliver. No.

Sorry, Alex Oliver. I'm sorry. Alex Arvarez. I'm sorry. Alexovaer with the, I think, from Kazakhstan, he looked amazing. Yeah. But we only saw him once. So.

With the wolf hat. Yeah. Uh, did you take a couple more? What we got here? Any word on the return of ice cream, Crone? We all knew an all stand-up fair with Cub wasn't going to end well, but Crone held his own for a BJJ guy versus a good UFC vet hashtag the A side. I've heard nothing.

I know our own Guillermoz before this pandemic happened was just beating his head on a wall for the UFC to book Cron Gracie in Brazil. Like when they did that pay-per-view, when they announced the pay-per-view in Brazil, it was supposed to be Al-Doh and or supposed to be Suhudo and Aldo. I think it was in South Palo. He's like, Chrome Gracie, make it happen. Every single Brazil card, he would call for Chrome Gracie to be on. and so I don't know

I have literally no idea but I haven't heard anything he takes long gaps though I don't think we're going to see Crone back in the UFC I think I think that that's kind of done his gym Crohn's jihitsu gym down here is closed

and it closed before the pandemic so yeah I heard I heard he's not he's just not he's over the MMA thing I think you know

gave it a shot and you know he saw the limits maybe and um maybe if he's not under contract anymore we might see him fight you know a one off like in in japan or one or something like that but um i really don't think uh i think i think i think he's done in the ufc unfortunately it was it was fun to watch very interesting interview too because you could he doesn't watch the sport i kind of love because he right because he fought on the first ESPN card and i had to write this story about, so I interviewed all the fighters in Media Day, like, what do you think about fighting on ESPN? He goes,

didn't even know that was the thing until right now. And I was like, that's interesting. They just called me off guard. Didn't know how to have it. I had zero response, because I didn't think anyone would say that. I always think that's interesting when, like, high-level fighters or even any professional fighter,

they just, like, I don't watch this. Like Robert Whitaker, when he, for the last media day, when they were like, what do you think about Anderson Silver retiring, like next week? He's like, is he? Yeah, he's fighting your eye haul. Oh. Is he?

Yeah, he's like, is he? He's like, well, I beat him. So, okay. Speaking of people who are going to have a great 2021, what are going to get his frigging belt back? I hope he's active, man. He's so, he's such a good, he's so fun to watch. I don't know.

I heard from a certain promoter, he doesn't want to fight. Yeah, right, right. Just saying. Rats. Rats. Four corner sports. Is this the fight to make Game Bread versus Leon? Highly doubt.

Mazzville takes the fight. That's not pay-per-view, main event, or co-main event. And it's a response to Leon Edwards calling out, Jorge Mazdaal. Not happening. Not happening. Yeah. It was the fight to make in March of 2019. And it never happened.

So the ship's kind of sale at this point. They're not going to be. a fight unless the title's on the line. Yep, none happened. And not the BMF title. Thumbs out, destroys Colby, changed my mind. I don't care. Yeah.

Oops. My official answer to that is maybe. Maybe. It's a fight. Colby's, it's a fight. That is a fight. As A. Kaley said, that's a fight. I like, say what you want about Colby.

is like what he says and how he acts and how he carries himself and portraying himself dude is an unbelievable fighter an unbelievable fighter like he could be the second best welterweight in the world he could be the best welterweight in the world in this new camp he said we he fought ozman and he changed camps after so and that fight is one of the best fights of 2019 like i don't think we'd all disagree yeah so you won't be shocked if colby covington is the welterweight champ at then the 2021 no wouldn't be surprised I wouldn't be more surprised

that they rebooked that fight but I wouldn't surprise if he wins if they fight 10 times they could each one five I also think if Hamza he would just like leapfrog everyone I mean at the end of

if Colby fights Mazadol and wins his next fight will be for the title like it has to be I don't care if they just fought in December of 2019 like Colby's next fight will be for the belts if you can spas it all. Yeah, you're not wrong.

All right. This last question, where you go? Is for a certain panelist in particular? Max L. Kukui Holloway, what contender series alumni from this year are you most excited for? I'm assuming this is from Mike, because he covered the contender series for the site.

God, there's, I mean, there's so many. I mean, I think coming out of this year, I would say, how could Jordan Levin not be at, if not at the top of the list, near the top of the list? Because I feel- He was my favorite for you to come off the contender series this year. Yeah, it's got to be him. After a slam-K-O. win, it doesn't matter who it was against.

I feel like his stock has risen so much because of that. I think people are starting to see his personality, and there's a cat, who also seems to like Jordan Levitts. So that's a good thing. Big fan over here. Big Jordan, David fan. Yeah, I mean,

Levin's got to be at the top of that list, but there's a lot. I mean, I'm really, I'm actually, I'm really excited to see Cheyenne Bayes make her UFC debut whenever that happens. I thought her performance against Hillary Rose is outstanding.

She's got a great personality. She can talk the talk. I think the story with her and her husband, both being in the UFC at the same time. I'm sure the UFC's going to try to capitalize on that, put them both on the same card for their debuts. Those are two off top of my list. but I mean, what did they sound?

Like 40 freaking fighters this year? So there's a lot to choose from. Yeah. Levitt's my guy. Most because I was at his fight and we talked with Stephen King at the press conference. And I was like, oh, did you just make Team Jose? Probably. I don't know if Levitt's the guy, but I love his personality and I wish him's success.

I enjoy fighters like that. And I enjoy just different types of dudes in this sport, you know, not just. know the same you know the same story whatever like i just like guys like that so it's gonna be fun uh is he is he booked is he booked in the fight no so weird sometimes got a baby having a baby hey good for him congratulations yeah he announced to that his contender series by mistake oh yeah yeah that's funny he's like yeah and me and my wife are having a baby oh we haven't even told her mom yet he like he like or something like that um we've been talking a long time.

Yeah, now we're not. It's not like there's media days this week. I promise a giant-sized episode. We had a giant-sized episode. So are we wrapping 2020, Casey? Well, yeah, we've done all the, I've gone through all the questions. We've talked a long time. Yeah.

Got to take a nap for Verizon, buddy. Yeah, I got to take a nap. I've got a little work to do. Yeah, yeah, we answered everything. All right, yeah. This is a wrap for 2020 on the A-side Locker, chat. I'll let you guys promo whatever you want for. I stay selling Mike, the floor

is yours. Plug whatever you want to plug. Happy New Year, everybody. Thanks for checking out all the content this year. I will say I am very excited for on to the next one to drop on Sunday because me and AK, we've already recorded it and it is a

comprehensive preview of 2021 where there's just been a bunch of questions that have come in over the last several months from different listeners about just like kind of buy or sell questions leading into 2021. Some of them are absolutely ridiculous and interesting. So me and AK talk about that.

We predict who will be champions in the UFC, who will be fighter of the year, male and female at the end of the year. And then we come through with our burning hot take of the year, which both of our picks are outlandish. They're both outlandish, and they probably will never happen. But if they do, we'll be heroes.

There's no doubt about it. But that drops, that's going to drop on Saturday. it's good stuff. Thank you all. Happy New Year and Godspeed, everybody. Casey, what you got to say? Man, I just want to actually thank all of you, the fans.

Thank you. I really, I really mean that. Yeah, you guys kept watching. I know we've had a lot of craziness in this world. This year sucked. It sucked. Apparently it was good for the UFC business-wise. but it sucked and um yeah it was a tough one and um a lot of big changes happened this year

i didn't travel 90% of the year i sat in this chair 90% of the year so that was exciting but um man just um i'm hoping 20 2021 is a better year and um just excited about um our m mhmate fighting team now we got mike heck here got hoz-y young got a salvis the other Alex um man we just got a lot I like our team. We're hard workers and it's exciting. I'm just hoping 20-20-1s better. For planet Earth. For planet Earth. Yeah, just in general. Alex, how you signed off 2020? I gave you two promos to take up a promo. Wait, what? No, in true Alex, I have a spash. I have no promo. Happy New Year. Be good to each other.

Jose, take it away. Here's what I'm going to say. And I tweeted some of the... I tweet. Wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Oh, my God. Staring right at you, right. I think I'm a goner. I think he's after us.

Seriously. Anyway, I'll say this. I said something similar to the, when I was, I tweeted about comic books a few days ago, and I'll kind of reword it for this. I know when Connor fights, we get a lot of fans that only watch Connor fight, and a lot of MMA fans, they get very protective of the sport that they watch. So I don't want to see any, oh, you didn't watch Jack or Manson versus Marvin Vittori, then you're not a real MMA fan. You know what? If they want to watch Connor fight, they're a fan.

They might not like, they might only watch Connor, but at least they're watching. So I don't want to see any gatekeeping with mixed martial arts in general. in January because you know what happens. We've all seen it. Anything that gets people in the door to watch MMA, I'm fine with. I know a ton of people who got into MMA only because of Connor. And you know what? They stayed.

It's not like they left. So no gatekeeping in January. I don't want to see any of it. Let people enjoy what they want to enjoy. And if you disagree with what they say or they say something that is incorrect, like, oh, I want to see Connor fight Steepa next. Like, just be nice and correct them and say different. way classes. Don't call them names. Let people like what they like because at the end of the day,

they're not affecting your life. And that is how I'm closing in 2020. Let people like what they like as Esther Lynn runs in the background. Anyway, for Jose, that's Alex, that's Mike, that's Casey. We'll see you in 2021. We're out. Logan Paul, fighter of the year, 2021. Just saying it. Just saying it. I will be here. We're going to have a great year. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.