MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | UFC 237, Donald Cerrone vs. Conor McGregor, UFC Ottawa aftermath, Tony Ferguson, Romero vs. Costa

Episode Date: May 8, 2019

Shaun Al-Shatti welcomes Alexander K. Lee to The A-Side Live Chat, where they answer your questions about UFC 237, Donald Cerrone’s big win, Tony Ferguson’s potential return, Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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This Black Friday, you've got a whole month to catch all the exclusive offers waiting for you. See your local Nissan dealer or nissan.ca for details. Conditions apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello, hello, welcome back, my friends. It is so good to see you all. It is May 8th, 2019, and this is this is the Aiside Live Chat podcast. I hope all of you out there are having a sensational start to your week.

We appreciate you all so much for joining us today. It has been another crazy week in the MMA world. Before we continue, let me bring in my co-host for this morning, joining me on today's program, making his A-Side debut, Canada's own. He was just on the ground in Ottawa covering Cowboy v. Iaquinta. Thank you so much for joining the program. Mr. Alexander K. Lee. What is up, Alex?

Welcome to the A-side. Sean, Evan May fighting fans. Thank you for having me. Let me just say, respectfully, that at last, this show can live up to its name. Now that you have a co-host who truly, you know, can bring that A-Side. A side quality discussion to the show. With all due respect to our... Oh, God.

With all due respect to Mark Bermondi, who's a brilliant, talented, dare I say, beautiful man, you know, I think at his peak, at his two of you together with you carrying him, maybe the show was a B, a B plus. It got a little closer last week with Chuck. Obviously, Chuck is brilliant. So maybe a B plus, almost A minus. But now, now finally, it is the A side. And I cannot be more excited to join you and bring whatever the heck it is that I bring to this program.

Oh my God. Alexander coming out here firing shots at Mark and Chuck. Mark is great. Mark is great. I'm kidding. Marcus is brilliant. Of course. I say all of that was great.

You already committed to the gimmick. You can't back pedal. Well, hey, man, it is good to have you. You did fantastic work last week in Ottawa. And one quick note before we start, I got to represent for the goat. All elbows. Esther and K. Esther Lidd and Casey Layden. Thank you. All right. I don't know why I said thank you, but congratulations to you two. The creative duo, the minds behind MMA fighting. They got married this past Sunday in Albuquerque. It looks like an awesome ceremony. They got title belts. It looks super cool. I am so happy for you guys. Congratulations to you guys. Got to represent for the goats on the show. By all the elbow shirt, there's only one way to go. But in the meantime, man, there is so much to discuss on today's show. of C-237 is ahead of us. And although it may not be the best pay-per-view,

there's still plenty of like going down in Rio. Also, Donna Serroney continued the rise of Dad Cowboy with another monster win over Ally Quinta in Ottawa, plus Tony Ferguson's potential return and a whole lot more. But as we always said, this is your guys' show. So we'll talk about whatever it is you want us to talk about. You can ask us a question on the MA fighting page below. Any question that gets three recommendations,

those will turn green and get priority. or you can ask us a question on Twitter using the hashtags the A side or chat rappers. Replay the show is going to go up immediately on all the places you expect. YouTube, SoundCloud, Stitch, or Spotify, etc. And like I said last week, that all can be found on the MMA fighting feed, where you also find the MMA hour, the MMA beat, and the Eurobash podcast with Pizzi Carroll. All of those are fantastic as well. If you have any problems with that, let me know.

and I will try to help you out as best I can to find what you need. And with that, man, you ready, Alex? Let's do this. I'm ready. Let's go. All right. We are starting up and first coming from the MMA fighting page. It's coming from our friend Jay DeLuca, and he followed our advice and shortened his question this time around.

How and why BJ Penn fighting this weekend? He writes, hi Shaheen and Alexander. All MMA media fans and journalists can agree that BJ Pan needs to stop competing within the sport. Yet astonishingly, the UFC continues to book him for fights. The amount of exorbitant brain damage BJ has accumulated over the years, especially since 2010, is incomprehensibly painful to watch. BJC continues to not only lose, but losing gut-wrenching, disturbing, and cataclysmic fashion.

My goodness, J. DeLuca. BJ has won one out of his past 10 fights and is deeply troubling past and current issues of domestic violence being recently revealed, yet he is still being permitted to fight on Saturday. what is your take on why the UFC turns a blind eye to BJ's performances, allowing him to continue to compete, and also his issues going on right now with domestic violence with no suspension from competing. So wow, Jada Luca really not giving you a softball there to start, Alex. But BJ Penn is indeed fighting this week in Rio de Janeiro at UFC 237.

He is facing Clay Gwita, a fellow veteran. What do you make of all of this, Alex? Okay, there's a lot to unpack. there. Thanks for the question, Jay DeLuca. I love how this guy writes out his questions. By the way, I know, like you guys, to tell him to shorten it, but great, well-worded questions. This one's quite layered. So I think the first thing to address is, well, why does B.J. even keep fighting. You know, some have speculated maybe he just needs the money, though I believe he does come from a somewhat wealthy family in Hawaii, but, you know, we don't know their exact financial situation. So it could have something to do with that. Mostly, I think it has to do with athletes. It's hard for them to let go when you're competing at the highest level of the sport. The example I always think of is Kobe Bryant. It's a recent one. He played probably well past his best before date.

You know, he wasn't the great player he was in the last few years. But, you know, imagine that high of competing at the highest level. And when it's over, it's over. You know, you don't get to go back. So from BJ's perspective, and maybe I'm romanticizing it too much, I think that's probably why he's not going away. Why does the UFC keep booking him? More questionable.

Definitely more difficult to figure out. because we've seen in the past that they've, at least, you know, I think of the example of Chuck Liddell. I know he's friends with Dana White and I have something to do with it, that they've been, you know, kind of suggested that they don't want guys to fight anymore. You know, and even just kind of said, like, I'm not going to book this person to fights anymore. I don't know why they're not doing that with BJ. He does have a name. He's still somewhat of a draw. I think when you go to a place like Brazil, that there's still value there, and I can see why they want him on.

but I am a little bit put off by that and a little curious why they haven't you know just given him a sign that maybe maybe that this is they don't they shouldn't give him fights anymore but I think Sean before I move on to the end of the legal question that was brought up I want to hear you know what you would go to say about that

no yeah you're you're not wrong Alex you're not wrong and I think this is a conversation that we have after every BJ Penn fight at this point sort of threw out this sustained comeback really starting back in 2017 when he fought yaya here in Phoenix and that was one of the more depressing arenas, sights, sounds that I have been around in this sport

as the Iear just beat the living crap out of him for about five minutes. And this is, yeah, this is just something we keep revisiting. I think after the Ryan Hall fight, I sort of thought maybe that was the end. BJ Penn finally getting submitted

for the first time in his career, maybe that would be it. But then here he is back at it. And I do think it is just one of those things where it's, BJ's always been an, interesting character who I think it is very, very difficult for him to find. I don't want to project, but it feels to me like it's difficult for him to find purpose, direction in life without

this. And this kind of centers him. MMA training camp center him and sort of bring him back to what he knows best. And that's difficult, man. That is a difficult thing to escape from. I mean, he is 40 years old. Now he turned 40 in December. It's a rough ride. And I think this particular one feels a little egregious though just because of like jada lucas said and like you said what is going on with bj pen right now i mean he has not won since 2010 he's i think won one out of his last 10 fights but he also does have this really messy battle in the core system that's going on right now and everything is alleged so you don't want to you know jump too forward with it and and proclaim him guilty of something that maybe he is not but it is a messy situation right now and i'm surprised that that he is

card and that he is available for media and this sort of thing. But I guess the UFC making a tone-deaf move is not the most surprising thing. Yeah, and this isn't the first time. I think to answer what Jada Lucas specifically asked was, what is your take and why they turn a blind eye to those performances and also these recent allegations of domestic violence. I think we've seen with, they're just inconsistent with their policy as to how they handle these things because, you know, speaking of something that just happened yesterday, Anthony Johnson, you know, that report came in that he was involved in a domestic incident. And in the past, he actually had been, Anthony Johnson was suspended back in 2009 for a previous allegation that came up. Nick Diaz also got a suspension or at least,

a comment, a public release from, not release, I'm sorry, the company released, you know, a comment about his situation. And they were both going to put on provisional suspension until their cases were resolved. They certainly weren't booked to fight like BJ is now. And then there's other situations like this one and also Abdul Razak al-Hassan, who had some pretty serious allegations against him late last year. And they have not commented on that yet. So it's just inconsistent.

I think I don't know if there's an answer. I don't know how they decide who to comment on, who not to, and who to suspend, who not to suspend. So I understand the frustration of the fans and I'm as loss as they are on this one. Yeah, and you just really hope that BJ Penn escapes from this weekend relatively unheard. At this point, I think that's all we can hope for. The Ryan Hall fight was kind of a best case scenario in that he lost,

but he didn't take much damage. Maybe something like that can happen this weekend, or maybe he surprises us, who knows. Way to sell the fight, Sean. Way to sell the fight. UFC 237, ESPN Plus. Yeah, I'm not. I think it's safe to say I'm not excited for that one.

But let's move on and let's talk about happier subjects. I always like you starting our show on a bit of a downer, Jada Luca. Just kidding, I love you, buddy. Questions coming. But now let's talk about something happy. And for that, we go to Dizzy Dord, who wants to know about this lightweight division. And he writes, Cowboy picked up a big win last weekend and now sits in the top five once again. Assuming Habib versus Dustin is the next title fight.

How do you match up the rest of the top five? Connor, Tody, Cowboy, Justin, who fights who? And so this can sort of lead us into the conversation about UFC Ottawa, of which you were there. Alex, I mean, it is pretty wild at this point what we have seen from Donald Seroni. Dad Seroni is now 3-0. This is the man who not long ago was saying, having a kid won't change me at all. And it has changed him tremendously. It feels he is 36-year-old, and he is making a real, real push here.

and one that continued on Saturday. I mean, he picked Al-Iaquinto apart from range. He stayed aggressive with that heavy jab and those leg kicks. Also, that fourth round front kick that dropped out. What a fight. Incredible performance from Cowboy. You were in Ottawa. So I want to start here.

What was the sense that you got from him just being on the ground all week? Like, does it feel to you like this is a different man than the one we have seen in past years now that he is a father? And this feels like very personal to him. you know it did a little bit and i feel embarrassed that i i overlooked it we did a little preview show danis sigura hose yungs and i at least speaking for myself i was counting out dad saroni i was of the of the thought that oh i acquint is younger and he's on the come up and seronies he's just coming back down to lightweight he's not going to do anything serious down there except keep putting on fun fights as he always does and that was a terrible terrible assessment of of the situation

uh he he really i think i made him mistaken his calm for, you know, I don't know, lack of energy, which isn't what it was. You know, we know he's a slow starter. And we know he's spoken about how his attitude can always be a little funky before fights. This isn't anything new. And for some reason, I was treating it like it was. So there's definitely something different about him. His love and passion for being a father is incredible.

And I made the argument, Swanson would win because of the father. He lost. I argued against Seroni for some reason. He won. So really, the lesson all this is Donald Seroni is great. Never listen to me when I'm picking fights. I'm going to take out that clip and I'm going to send that to you on a consistent basis now that you have put that out in the world. But yeah, man, it's wild just even watching because I wasn't on the ground in Ottawa for this one, but you can just sense a feeling of maybe not maturity, but just this is a, it feels like a very different Donald Serroney. than we are ever used to.

I mean, he had particular moments in his career where he would say, you know, I'm in it to, let's finally do this title run. Let's do this title push. But he never really felt, you never really felt the actual conviction behind him saying that in a way like you really do now. Like this feels like his sole focus, his sole goal. And he looked sensational against Alia Quinto, who is really one of the best lightweights in the world

that was coming off that big win over Kevin Lee. Cowboys 36 years old now. he has more miles on him than most in this sport. He has been in wars left and right. He has fought more often than anyone in UFC history. Are you surprised that he is still doing this, I guess? Like, does this feel like something special is happening? You know, again, I shouldn't have been surprised

because skill for skill, he's really still as good as anyone at 155. And he was as good as a lot of people at 170. You know, he had a nice run there. I know, I think he ended up, you know, going four and four, or something, we're four and three. But there was a stretch there where he was, you know, starching guys in the first round and didn't look like he had any problems going up from weight.

So, no, man, I shouldn't be surprised. And I shouldn't be surprised if, I think one of the things, another thing we talked about before the show is, will he get a title shot? And I guess this relates to our question of how do we shake out the rest of the top five? And I said, I don't see him getting a title shot again in the future. And after this performance, again, probably wrong. If the cards fall the right way, yeah, you could see Soroni. competing in for a teloshot. What's next? Man, a fight with Tony Ferguson would be nice,

eh? If Tony Ferguson has sorted things out, I don't know how much of benefits Tony, but we're just talking from entertainment standpoint. And again, like I said, having to keep guys busy until they figure out what's going on with the with Habib and Dustin and the rest of the telepicture. Man, Tony Cowboy, that's kind of a dream match, I think. Well, hey, that's interesting. I'm glad you segueed us into that because that's sort of, let's play that shell game with this lightweight division right now because it does feel like there are so many options out there that's so many possibilities but it also is uh it's a confusing division just because we have two champions and they're not going to be able to probably fight for a little bit uh so here's what

we have in front of us right because dana white said yesterday that the connor feintner khaner mcgregor fight makes sense for for donald saroni uh that's certainly one that they tried to do before they try to do it before this fight that was in discussions for a couple weeks nothing ever came of it Justin Gaichy is also still out there. To me, I like the idea of Cowboy Connor. I liked it back then. I like it even more now. That feels to me like a fight that could headline a pay-per-view.

I don't know what that means anymore now that these paperviews are on ESPN Plus. It's basically the same thing. You're just paying for it. But that feels to me like a fight that you could easily headline a pay-per-view and probably do really well with whatever really well means in today's era. Justin Gachie is also out there although I kind of like him versus Tony that feels like the most madness

you could put in one cage together just two complete psychopaths but what do you like for him is it is the Ferguson fight for you the Cowboy versus Ferguson? The Ferguson fight would be great it would be also nice if he could wait for the

Porieh Nehamehamedov winner but he set himself in the post fight scrum that he's just like I know I'll get bored He's like, I know I can't wait. At some point, they're going to offer me a fight. So knowing that, and I think knowing what we all know about Cowboy and his desire to stay busy, he probably is going to take quite before.

So, yeah, I like the idea of Ferguson matchup. Maybe him and Gate G. You know, that would also be interesting. It's, gosh, you almost can't go wrong some of the names we've thrown out there. And also, as you mentioned, you know, what does it even mean to be a pay-per-view main event anymore? So I almost feel like that's not into consideration as far as, you know, what they're going to do with Connor. So yeah,

Connor's a wild card and all this, isn't he? And I like the Soroni fight, but at the same time, I could easily just see him just, I don't know, avoiding that fight, maybe not seeing what he has to gain from it, even though I think as you guys have discussed in the show before,

there's a lot for kind of gain, especially with a win, almost like a bounce back fight, which some people might not think he needs, but I think it would go a long way to restoring sort of that faith that his fans once had in him. Yeah, I think he absolutely does need a bounce back fight.

If he goes out there and loses again, at some point, he's just a guy that people know is losing fights, which is a weird place to have arrived with Connor McGregor. But I guess one last thing before we move on. This is a tough loss for Ally Quinta. Ray Janelle was on a really nice run. It felt like he was coming into his own in this lightweight division. It's a tough one for him. He maybe takes a step back. But I guess any parting thoughts on Ray Janelle and maybe where he goes from here?

I, like several people, I think, thought this was going to be the step. up fight for Reginald, you know. I mean, the win over Kevin Lee was great. I thought already that elevated him to, you know, top five position. And then the Soroni fight, I thought was going to be sort of that proof that, look, Kevin, Kevin Lee is really good. Kevin Lee and I are both really good. I'm, you know, I'm the better of those two. We are both top five fighters. Seroni, Seroni is a top five fighter of the past. I'm speaking for, you know, what I thought Al win would do. And I'm going to show that by getting a definitive win, you know, whether by knockout or decision. But, you know, didn't go his way. And I think, like you said, it's going to make a lot of people sort of

reevaluate where is he as a contender, you know, will he ever get a title shot again after the short notice chance he got last April? That seems in doubt. It's very hard to climb that lightweight ladder. And when you're losing to a veteran like Seroni, who I would think at this point his career, I Quinta should be, should, you know, was reasonably favored against and should beat, it's hard to see where he's going to go. But, you know, lightweight is fairly unpredictable. Al is a great fighter. But yeah, this raises a lot of questions as for his actual role as a contender. I like the idea of him versus Barbosa.

That feels to me like a nice bounce back fight for both those guys. They're both coming off the tough losses, still ranked in that sort of top seven mix. That, too, me, feels like a good one. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, again, you can't go wrong with. So we said you can't go wrong with matchups in the top five. You might not be able to go wrong with matchups in the top 15. So a good question that was asked.

And really, you know, I can just say UFC matchmakers do the right thing here and just book these guys. Let's not waffle too much on what's next. And let's just get these guys in the cage, mix them up, and really you can't lose. Yeah. Well, hey, let's keep it moving. Let's look ahead to maybe this weekend and beyond. And this one's coming from Matt the dunk who wants to know about UFC pay-per-view

buys in the toilet now and for the near term. Does it matter? He writes, UFC 236 reportedly did less than 100K. buys. I don't know if it's less, but I think it's around that number is what I'm hearing as well. So I don't know if it's less, but it's definitely just in that range, which is not good. He writes, I'm guessing partly because of issues with the ESPN Plus platform, but also because there wasn't a real title fight on the card. Do you think UFC 237 will do any better? It seems like an awesome fight night Brazil card, but not necessarily a paper view that's guaranteed

to crack the 100K number in the US. UFC 238 might do better, but still, I seriously doubt a Sehudo Morayas-led card does better than 200K. What does it mean for the sport in the UFC that they could have three straight lukewarm paper views? Do bad pay-per-view numbers signal less interest in the sport overall, or is it something else? And so this is an interesting question, and this is sort of maybe the first example we have gotten of actual data that we can use to discuss this new paper view agreement between

the UFC and ESPN, because up until now it was more or less just. projection. I'm trying to figure out what maybe this would look like. Now we have some sense with this first one coming back, 100K is a low low, low number for a UFC pay-per-view. Before this deal, if a pay-per-view got 100K, that would be a disaster. That is no longer, at least financially a disaster for the UFC because they are getting mad. They're getting big money for each one of these paper views that they are doing on ESPN Plus. But this is sort of what we kind of expected, right? Like we talked about it a lot that you're putting a paywall in front of a paywall

to get people now this second barrier to entry to get these payper views sold. People are a creature of habits, especially sports fans. They have been trained for decades at this point to order that pay-per-view off of DirecTV or wherever else they can on their cable or on their cable box. And now you're changing that up on them. know what percentage of MMA fans are hardcore fans, right? How many people are checking Twitter? How many people are checking MMA fighting? Whoever, whatever they, you know, you would get that kind of news. So I feel like that probably was new for a lot of people. Alex, we now have

another, our second pay-per-view in front of us of this new era, UFC 237, and it's not, you know, it's not the best pay-per-view, let's be honest. So what do you, I guess, what do you make of, of sort of what we've seen so far. And, you know, just to answer this question, what is this signal? I mean, does this mean, does this mean anything for the sport in the UFC if this could be the second of maybe three paper views in a row? That would be pretty low numbered to start this era. Yeah, but first of all, what a shame, if that's the case, if those viewership numbers are

indicative of the actual interest because, you know, we got two amazing fights on that card, right? And I know people were talking about it after. Now I'm wondering how many people may have viewed it through nefarious means. so to speak. Not that I'm aware of such things. You know, people tell me about it. I don't dabble in there. This is just what I hear on the streets, Sean, you know.

Keep your ear to the streets at all the time. I mean, I'm from the streets. I think as people can tell, by the way I look and the way I talk, you know, so, yeah, I keep my ear there still. It's definitely more so. You know, bless the UFC marketing team and social media team and the fighters who, they tried to do what they could on Twitter. They had the fighters.

I think they had a few fighters recording videos like, oh, here's how to watch ESPN Plus and they retweeted them. But again, that reach, one and it only goes so far and it also feels like it reaches a specific audience. Like you said, there's people that are just used to traditional cable still and ordering through cable. Even, I think people who cut the cord, I think some of them still have access to, I don't know, a way of ordering pay-per-view, besides through this ESPN Plus platform, it was really confusing. If I'm just by going through some of the comments that I saw, again, on social media and, you know, on our own website about how to order.

And, you know, it was a big change. So I don't know if the company should be concerned. This is something that, you know, you would hope they'll figure it out. And you'll kind of get the audience back that you had before, that audience of regular pay-per-view buyers, however big that is now. But for sure, it was worrisome for such an entertaining card. And even this one, which I know we're saying, it's not the most stacked card, but it has a big name on it, like Anderson Silva, Josie Aldo, a nice title fight at the top. I think I agree with most people who are thinking it might not do much better than the last one. Do I think it's caused for them to panic?

Should that be the case? I'm going to hold back on saying that for now. Yeah, I don't know that it's time to panic yet, but I think we will figure that out by the summer. And I eyeball UFC 2309 as sort of the test subject for it. because I think this weekend, 37, probably, you know, like we said, not the best card. I don't know that that's going to do the best numbers. 38, it's a good card, but it's more of a hardcore fan's cards. So I think, again, you can kind of excuse it away if it doesn't do the best numbers.

But 39 is a stacked card up and down. You got John Jones, you got Amanda Nunes, Holly Home, Francis Ngano. You got Luke Rockhold, like Shano Malley. You just have a lot of guys, Ben Asker and Jorge Mazbital. You have a lot of people who are real legitimate players in the space. that people very much care about. And by that point, that'll be the fourth pay-per-view

that's on this new deal. By then, people will have figured out or not, whether or not they will have figured out the process and how to do this, or they will have just, you know, jump ship and said, you know, I'm just not going to stick with this. That, to me, feels like the pivotal one to sort of eyeball down the road that if that does a low number as well,

we might be talking about maybe a new ceiling, I guess on where how lucrative and how big pay-per-views can really get and maybe how much this industry is going to change because of this deal. I think you can really excuse it away for the next three, but in July, that's going to be a big one. Yeah, I think I agree. I think what I want to, what we need to think is not how much will it do, but how much does it have to do in this new era for it to be considered a success? Because the days of, even if you did, you know, I don't know, Brock Lesnar versus John Jones or, I don't know, Connor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather in an octagon or something.

I don't know if through the ESPN Plus platform, you can even get a million, you know, pay-per-view buys, the equivalent or the equivalent of a million peer-view buys. So we're going to have to gauge things differently from now on. I think that's almost for sure. Like if the 239, as you mentioned, does 500,000, I would think that's a very strong number. I know it's a loaded card and people would think, you know,

if this was a paper-view, strictly pay-per-view, that would look really bad. But yeah, that's an incredible number, actually, because you have to think, right? Like how many people, how many subscribers is ESPN Plus have? I don't know the actual number, but say they have a million. If 500,000 buy it, that's literally half of your subscribers. Like that would be a ridiculous number. Yeah, so that's really what I'm asking you and asking people, I'd say fans in general and people who keep track of these numbers is, like you said, I think after 237, 238, we'll get an idea of just how many people,

how many subscribers are also ordering pay-per-views. And then based off of that, we're going to have to say, is $500,000 a massive success? It sounds like it would be. But we don't know. Again, we'll have to get a better grasp of the subscriber base and how many of them are even interested in the UFC. But yeah, 239.

That's, like you said, you know, hover that finger over the panic button, I would say, MMA fans who care about how the UFC's bias do, because that will be a big test. I imagine it'll do quite well. And regardless, the UFC is making a ton of money on this ESPN deal. But what it means for ESPN, the ESPN side of things, I'm not sure. Not even just the ESPN side of things, but also just the fighter side of things, right? Because we just talked about Connor McGregor in this last segment.

And how does Connor McGregor make his money? He makes his money on pay-per-view. He makes almost all of his money on pay-per-view. The base pay is always very small percentage of what he makes. And we have already seen this now once where Brock Lesnar, he was in negotiation, with UFC for so long about coming back, and it's starting to leak out now that maybe this deal, this ESPN deal played a part in him not coming back to fight Daniel Cormier

because he wanted a higher base purse than the UFC was willing to give him to offset really that lack of pay-per-viewed money that he was probably going to make. Connor McGregor is in the exact same situation, so it would be fascinating to see, A, whether the UFC and him can come together, come together on some kind of deal that includes different caveats than maybe they're used to. Also, though, if they do, it'll be fascinating to see that numbers report once it comes out of what that base pay would be for someone who is the superstar, who is the Connor, the Brocks, the John Jones, whoever, who can actually attract people to their fights and to buy their fights, what that new base purse will have to be to offset all of this other lack of income. It should be fascinating to see.

Yeah, and just one more thing to add to that. It's interesting to me how fans kind of view this so far, the early going, because some of them are happy that guys like Brock Lesnar part-timers and someone like a Connor McGregor who has not exactly been the most committed to MMA fighting over the last couple of years, like how they, they're kind of liking that, okay, well, these guys are good. They're losing their leverage, and we're glad the UFC's taking a stand and that they're able to take a stand now because of this new deal.

And on the other, but I would say to that, you know, well, if you think those guys are losing leverage, just imagine how much guys who are already underpaid and guys who you probably like how much leverage they've lost in this new deal. And it's a bit of a mess. So I could see fan sentiment kind of going both ways. I don't think if I'm speaking for myself that this deal has been great for the sport and that it necessarily will be great for the sport in the future. But maybe that's just me being pessimistic for once. So yeah, I'm going to go full of Ramande on you right now and say The fans who are celebrating the fighters losing leverage, F those fans.

I don't even want you guys in this sport at that point. If you're celebrating fighters losing leverage and income, get out of here with that. Come on, man. Well, again, I think it's specifically those two, but you're right. They might be talking about those two, but it obviously expands well beyond those two, like Brock Lesnar and Connor. So I, F those fans, indeed, Sean. Oh, I got, I'm pulling the darkness out of it.

Quoting you, quoting you. All right. Well, let's move on before you say something you regret. And we're going to go to FAA01, who wants to talk about Yowel versus Paulo. He writes, is this fight the middleweight equivalent of Tony versus Habib? Kind of is. What have we done to anger the MMA gods with it being booked again? This time for UFC 21. Is it something that the UFC wants, the fans want?

And apparently the fighters want themselves. Or it is something, I'm sorry, that they all want. My questions are, which falls out more? Yowel versus Costa or Tony versus Habib. Also, which fight actually happens first? So this is an interesting way to start this conversation. I don't know the exact number. Maybe you know better than me.

To me, this feels like maybe the fourth time this fight has been booked or at least discussed as being booked, which is coming close to matching Tony Habib already. Although I think those got longer false starts before we didn't get them and we're disappointed. sometimes even the day before the fight. But hey man, it is back on. It is back on for UFC 241, which already has Daniel Cormier versus Steppe Mioch on it as well.

So that is looking like a pretty interesting card already, just with those two fights. Thoughts on the rebooking of a matchup between probably two of the most muscular-looking men in the entire sport. Yes, I think our own Guillermo Cruz did say that this will now be the fifth. This will be the fifth? Or maybe this is the fourth. But, yeah, we're definitely in fourth or fifth range,

which is where Tony and Habib's ill-fated matchup also resides. Now, is it the equivalent of that? I mean, as far as, I guess, name value and how many times it's missed for various reasons. Yeah, but I also would not, I don't know if I would put, I mean, Romero, I would, but I don't know if Bohatchina is, you know, on the level of Tony or Habib in the middleweight division. So in that sense, as far as like, oh, wanting to see possibly like the one and two best in their division in the world, which I think is what Tony and Habib is,

it's not quite on that level. As far as how cursed it is, yeah, it's up there. And as far as it being an intriguing mashup, especially just based on their ridiculous physiques, it does feel like we're missing out. But like you said, it's booked and let's hope for the best. And I do think it'll happen before we ever get Tony and Habib. Yeah, I agree with the little last thing you said there.

I think this time it will actually happen. It feels like in the past, There were a lot of reasons why this fight didn't happen. I think the first few times it was just the UFC saying that the fight was booked when it wasn't. And we even knew that at the time and spoke about it. And then, you know, there's various other things that came up over the course of the book trying to book this fight, whether it was YOL being on the reality show or wherever it was. But this time it really feels like all of the stars have aligned.

And where I actually get this fight. And this is a really fascinating fight that I think is going to tell us a lot about both men. in particular about Palo Costa, but also with Yoel Romero, about how much more he has left to give us in this middleweight division. He has struggled to make this weight. He is over 40 years old. He somehow is the ageless man. He is incredible that he is still doing this at his age.

And he, to me, still feels like the number two in this middleweight division. I know Izzy has the belt right now, but if Izzy versus Yuel was booked right now, I think Yol would probably be the favorite. So it'll be fascinating to see whether YOL still has one more good run left in him. That being said, I do like the dynamic, the early dynamic between these two. They are already firing shots and Yuel even posting the video of Palo Costa getting IV that led to his suspension. It feels like this is probably going to be a fun one.

Yeah, I like, I don't know if I want to say I like that, but it certainly wasn't wasn't beyond the pale given that I'm told that that was you know that's an old video people are aware that that Costa fish did get in trouble he got that six months suspension that I mean I guess we didn't know it was happening as it was happening but he did get a six month suspension from the New York State Athletic Commission

for the IVU so it was kind of a fun little jab you know Costa Costa kind of saying look man I don't you know I don't do anything I don't do anything that I'm not supposed to do and Romero just kind of like a wink wink he's got he's got that underrated sneaky Twitter game you know that Romero so it is it's It's, you know, it was mostly harmless, I think.

He loves those hashtags. Last thing before we move on, what's your early read on this fight? Oh, gosh. What did we just say about me picking fights, Sean? Why are we doing this? Well, that's why I want to let the people know where you're going so they can bet on the opposite side and make some money. I don't think, I don't think Bo'Hacchina is quite ready for Romero yet.

If Romero can make the weight comfortably, you know, I just say comfortably. If he makes the weight, I'm going Romero. Yeah, I think I'm agreeing with you, but hey, who knows? The bottom could fall out at any moment for some of these guys who are getting up to that age. So maybe this is it. This next one's coming from philosophical perspective on the MMA fighting page. He wants to know about Jordan and Ben. Hey, guys, I hope you all have a nice day.

I love the pleasantries to start that. I am a big time fan of funky Ben Ascran, but he really was taken to school by Jordan Burroughs as expected. Jordan B is arguably one of the best wrestlers ever and might even be the best. Such an athlete, how do you think he would do in MMA with like two, one to two years of training? How far could he go in a shorter time with a number of years he would probably be elite if he can handle the strikes? We've seen the top wrestlers dominate in MMA as good as Jordan, or as Jordan is as good as it gets. That one got a little complicated. it would be so interesting to see him try MMA. Cheers.

Yes, I love this question. So Ben Askeran and Jordan Burroughs earlier this week, we're at Beat the Streets in New York City. It was a very cool event to see wrestling on this elevated platform, big crowd. It was cool to see wrestling in sort of a big stage like that. And I think that was sort of what everybody was talking about afterwards, Ben Ascrant and Jordan, just that, yeah, this was probably going to be a squash match. But it was cool to get people paying attention just for a second to wrestling. Jordan Burroughs ends up sweeping Ben Asker and he doesn't score a point, 11 to zero, really dominates Ben.

But I don't know that that was a surprise to anybody who really follows Jordan Burroughs. And man, he is a physical specimen. He is a absolute monster. How do you think he would do an M.A? Well, again, the way the question is posed, one to two years of training, he'd do fine, especially if they brought him along properly. You know, Bellatorre does a great job of bringing along a lot of these former Division I wrestling stars. I think that would be the home for him, you know, if we're just getting ahead in the

question a little bit. But yeah, he'd do fine. He's a great, incredible athlete. I think he probably compete in MMA at 1.45 ideally. He might have cut a bit of weight for that. I think he's a 5 foot 8, something like that. He's 5 foot 8 and he wrestles it around 165. And, you know, we don't encourage extreme weight cutting around here, but should he become super serious about this? I wonder if his coaches would recommend that feather rate is ideal. Yeah, one to two years... I mean, he'd probably be a lightweight. Yeah, one to two years training,

he's already cutting to get to 65. Okay, true. One two years' training, he'd be fine. A lot... If we're just talking about physical skills, the guy would have everything he needs. And again, I'm sure he'd get together with a top camp.

He could really pick almost any camp you wanted, I would imagine. The question is always the mental. You know, some people just don't like to get punched in the face. You know, I call those people normal people, you know, not enemy fighters. And some people just don't like it. And, you know, I wouldn't blame him if he did like an amateur fight, took an amateur fight or whatever, just even in sparring, you know, did six months of hard sparring and said, you know what, not for me.

I don't even want to try it. I know he said he, I think recently said he wanted to do it once or someone's maybe speaking for him. But because I remember as far back as I think when he won the gold medal back in 2012, I don't think he had any interest in MMA back then. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, of course, but I don't think I any interest in then. Obviously, things are different now. It's quite a bit later. He's probably, now that he's done everything he can do in. wrestling. He might be looking for new challenges. So yeah, physically, if he'd do fine. I mean,

we're talking to a guy he could become a legitimate contender if he stuck to it. But mentally, complete wildcard, no idea, might not even want to do it. Yeah, I mean, he's an interesting case because he's sort of gone back and forth on MMA quite a bit over the last, you know, four or five years. He's often talked about what it would be like if he did do it. It feels like he just always wanted to sort of establish his legacy in wrestling first. But man, he is, like I said, a physical specimen. I mean, he is absurdly talented wrestler, absurdly athletic. His length.

His arms are crazy long for his size, too, which would help him tremendously in this sport. He would be a fascinating case to watch because he is still only 30 years old. He is charismatic. If he, that blast double that he had, we saw it when he picked up Ben and basically just threw him off stage, that blast double would do really, really well in a UFC octagon where you can use the fence and really use the fence to get takedowns. I hope we get a chance to see it. I don't know if we will because he does seem to be one of the few wrestlers who can

really make a living just wrestling. But it would be awesome to see him come into this sport because I think he could be a monster very, very quickly. We have seen it. I mean, guys like Henry Zahudo, even Aaron Pico, who, yes, he's young and he's struggled, but Aaron Pico is the same type of just Uber prospect when it came to wrestling. And we've seen how quickly guys can make a transition into MMA if they have that base. That is probably the strongest base for the sport.

Yeah. And for anyone who didn't get a chance to see highlights or watch the match itself between Jordan and Ben, make sure to check out Chuck Mindenhall's recap on our site where he describes it in an exquisite detail, just to have some idea of how dominating Jordan was in the matchup, apparently. Yeah, yeah. It's a fun matchup, man. And I like the way Ben handled it afterward of just being like, well, you know, I had to go take my ass with him.

He knew what was coming. We all kind of figured what was coming. But that was very cool to see. And like I said, it was good to see wrestling get a big spot. That doesn't happen often. Moving on, though, next one's coming from philosophical perspective. And this is also from the MMA fighting page. He wants to know about Bellator versus the UFC.

Hey, guys, in my opinion, Belator has a very strong main car this weekend. but why is not the main, okay, I'm going to skip past that. Why is the main event not promoted more or better? That's what he meant. It has a storyline of beef and two of Bellator's best fighters in it. I believe it is the best fight of the weekend together with Josie Aldo versus Alexander Volcanowski. And so this question, he is obviously referring to Michael Chandler versus Patricio Pitbull,

which will be going down this weekend at Bellator. Alex, what are you feel, what are your feelings on? this bellator card also this fight that maybe isn't getting the love that it should well firstly when i saw the best fight of the weekend together with uh josea versus alex i was like me and joseyungs like i don't know we're going to going at it like i know we don't like each other but we're not i didn't think we were going to settle with fistocose anytime soon um then i you know thought about it for a second and realized they're talking about people who actually you know matter in combat sports um you know it's a weird question though because he's saying why is it not

promoted more slash better promoted by who? Does he mean where the media is not covering enough or fans aren't talking about it? Does he feel Beltor hasn't done a good enough job? So yeah, I'm a little curious about what do you think he means by that question? Do you think, I thought Beltor

was doing a pretty good job. But clearly at least one person and maybe many more. Don't think that's the case. So yeah, what do you think about that, Sean? Their promotion from Beltor itself. I mean, I will say, I think it's flying under the radar a little bit. And I wonder why that is, because it is one of Bellator's better at cards that they're

putting on this year. I mean, you got Chandler Pitbull. And then the co-main is Douglas Lima versus Michael Page, which is the semifinal of the Walter Wake Grand Prix. And that's a big one. That's a big, big fight. Plus, Jake Hager on it and A.J. McKeever's Pat Karen. There's a lot to like on that Bellator card. And I think you could very well make the case that that main card is better than UFC 237. So to me, I do understand a little bit where he's coming from, it comes to the lack of promotion for it. But I do wonder to what how much Bellator can really do, right? Because we are so inundated at this point where with there's so much content,

there's so much, there's so many fights, there's so many events. Every week it's something new. Last weekend, we had five different events going on. Now this week we have another three or four or five. It seems hard to drum up interest for anything that is a B-level fight or below, unless you have, you know, this A-A-A-A-A-play. type of main event that people are going to get excited for. I will say, given that this is a champ, champ, you know,

so whatever super fight matchup, it feels like it got a lot less of a push than Vori and Wissasi. Again, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm just not paying attention to the right, you know, things on social media or the right outlets. But I'm nearly sure they definitely tried to push that harder. Maybe because that fight, I don't know, was a blowout.

They're hesitant to push it again. but really given Chandler's been with the promotion for so long, Pitbull's been with the promotion for so long, you think if they were going to have faith that, you know, okay, like this time, we really want to push what we think is going to be a competitive main event that this would be the one. So it is a bit of a mystery. And it was, yes, like you mentioned, Michael Page, who they've pushed for so long. And now I wonder how many people even know he's fighting this weekend, AJ McKee, Jake Hager. Even on the main card, Taiwan Claxon's another guy. I know they want to push.

So, yeah, I think the card has been underserved a little bit. on the promotional side of things. And again, it probably is just a product of oversaturation, as you said, whether it's Beltor, UFC, 1, Risen, all the cars that are out there and trying to get a piece of that promotional pie, there's only so many bites to go around. When you look at the five fights on each of the main cards, which one do you like more, which you feel is the better card?

You know, that's tough because I think for me, you know, and I think for a lot of fans, Joseo Aldo and Anderson Silva, no matter who they're fighting, even if you think they're both, you know, well past their prime. Ander Silva certainly is farther than Jose Aldo. They're still must-see TV. You know, they still got that name value. I think it's hard for me to say that a really intriguing featherweight matchup between AJ McKee and Pat Curran is better than an intriguing featherweight matchup between Joseo Alto and Alexander Volcanowski. So I would still, you know, my apologies to my Belter heads.

I love Bellator. I'd still give the edge to 237. the difference being of course one is a one is a you know pay-per-view one is uh is on the zone so so they're both it's funny interesting they are both on streaming services but yeah i guess i would give the edge to 237 that's really the only way that you can pronounce to zone yeah you got to put that fake on it yeah that feels right uh i think i would agree with you i would lean towards 237 a little bit but belator is close man this is a fun weekend for MMA fans.

Something you're everyone. I should have said at the beginning when I was complimenting, when I was very politely complimenting our departed of Mark Romani that I want people, if I'm on the show again, if this isn't the last time I'm on the show, I want people to know that my, my mission statement of MAs, MMA is, MMA is supposed to be fun. You know, I know we're as responsible as anyone for reporting a lot of negativity, but MMA is supposed to be fun. You're supposed to enjoy fights.

You're supposed to enjoy matchups. You should get a charge out of, you know, former WW superstar Jake Hager, pummeling some guy named T.J. Jones this weekend. I know it's a squash match, but, you know, this stuff is supposed to be fun. And so if you tell me that you think that's more interesting than what is the fourth most, than, you know, Clay Guida versus BJ Penn, have at it. I won't argue with you, sir, you know, you, sir, whoever it is that is saying, this hypothetical person that's saying that, I won't argue with you.

So, MMA is supposed to be fun. And, yeah, the Beltor card looks real good. And if, yeah, if you have DeZone and not ESPN Plus, hey, I don't think you're missed now. I think you're still getting a pretty good show on Saturday. Yeah. Well, hey, let's keep it moving. And this next question is about what I believe to be the best fight of the weekend

now that we're comparing the two. So this is coming from Combat Chief, and he writes, what does it take for Aldo to get another title shot? He has had two spectacular finishes he talking about Jose, since losing to Max Holloway and has stated that he, will retire at the end of the year. I predict that Aldo will be Alexander Volcanowski. So where would that put him? So Alex, this is a big, big fight for both men, Jose Aldo, trying to keep this run alive against Alexander Volcanowski, who has looked untouchable in the UFC.

He's coming off that huge win over Chad Mendez. And I am on record saying I love what Jose Aldo is doing here in this featherweight division right now and what may be his last year in the sport. He is just saying, F this. I'm going to clear out this whole division. Other than the champion, I'm just going to clear out all these contenders. And I love it. People wrote him off so hard after the two Max Holloway fights, and he has come back with a vengeance and been a murderer. And this fight between him and Alexander Volcanowski really feels to me like there is so much at stake for both men. So let me throw this to you. What is your read, I guess, on Jose Alito Alexander Volcanowski. This whole

whole fight heading into this weekend and what it will mean for both of them. For Volcanovsky immediately makes you the number one contender, especially if he gets a finish, if he finds a way to finish Josie Aldo, who's so durable, even at this stage in his career, you've got to give him that title shot. I know, I know it's weird. He still seems overlooked. I feel like people don't know who Alexander Volcanovsky is, and we were talking about marketing earlier.

I think that has a lot to do with the UFC not pushing this guy. I'm not sure. I don't know. where are the videos, where are the, you know, where's the, the, the features on this guy. He needs, he's unbeaten in the UFC. The guy's on a heck of a run. And he's an exciting fighter. It's not like he's, he's a boring point fighter.

This guy is super, super exciting. So big question mark there as to what, what's going on with their push of him. As for Aldo, no, beating Volcanowski only, you know what it does? It makes him the number one contender. But he already is the number one contender. He's, he is the number one contender until someone else besides Max Holloway or Connor McGregor. definitively beats him. And the only way he gets another title shot anytime soon is if Max loses the belt

or they need some sort of replacement main event because Max can't defend something like that. So sorry, sorry, all the fans. I love Aldo. I think maybe top five pound for pound all time, he's not getting another title shot as long as Max Holloway has the belt. Yeah, you're not wrong. And I say this is a guy who has a Jose Aldo picture right behind me. And so in a weird way, it almost feels like the person who has the most to gain or lose in this

fight is a person who isn't even fighting this weekend. And that's Frankie Edgar. Because to me, if Jose Aldo can win on Saturday and beat Alexander Volcanowski be the first person in the UFC to beat Alexander Volcanowski, Frank Yeager's the guy. He would be then the guy you would throw against Max Holloway as that next title title challenge are at 145. But I agree with you, man, if Alexander Volcanowski can come in here and dethrone a legend, like Josealdo, a legend who is coming off these back-to-back knockouts of Jeremy

Stevens and Hanato Moikano and has looked sensational, he's the guy then. He is 7 and 0 at that point, untouched in the UFC coming off of Chad Mendez and Josealdo wins. Like he absolutely 100% has to be the guy at that point. And either way, I am excited for whatever we're going to see because I love this version of Joseoaldo. And I think it's cool to see that he still wants it. still wants this title. He still feels like he has it left in his, some gas left in the tank.

Where are you leaning with this fight when we're coming into this weekend? Yeah, and I should add the other way he can get a title shot is move up to lightweight. I don't think that's true. Oh, really? No, I don't think that's true. I think it's probably too late in the game for him at this point. If he maybe had another year or two that he wanted to commit to it, I think he could do it. But that division is so backed up at this point. We're not even going to figure out this title versus title situation until probably the end of the year. year. And then you already have Tony Ferguson behind it waiting in the wings and also maybe Justin Gagey to some degree, Cowboy Soroni, Connor McGregor maybe. So I think it would be impossible

for Jose to work his way into that mix with any sort of speed. Fair point. Fair point. So what's your read on Aldo versus Volcanovsky this weekend? Oh, who's going to win? Just the matchup itself. What do you like about it? And what, yeah, where are you? I mean, I agree. I think with Ember when it was initially booked, I think the first thing, a lot of people thought was, for one thing, when Volcanovsky beat Mendez, people were joking how similar they were body typewise, kind of the way that they strike

with some similarities there. Volcanowski, also a good wrestler. So people are kind of saying, well, you know, Aldo has fought Mendez twice. This is almost like fighting Mendez a third time, though, you know, back in his prime, maybe arguably a better striker. Again, I'm not sure how people want to judge that.

So since he knows a formula for being a Mendez type fighter, isn't this a somewhat favorable matchup for him? And I kind of lean in that direction as well. I do think Volcanowski is better than Mendez. Is he better than Mendez was when, you know, the two times he fought Aldo? Hard to say. I think Mendez is actually a really good fighter. I don't know if he always gets the credit he deserves.

So I'm going to say it's going to be a great striking matchup, duh. and I think I think Aldo's going to pull it out. Oh, he's picking the old dog. I think I agree with you, but I think maybe that's my heart talking. I would not be surprised whatsoever if Volcanowski pulls it through, but it's going to be fun to watch. In the meantime, let's keep it going, man. And this one's coming from Milo of Croton,

who wants to know about D.C. and Stepe. Hi, Sean and Alex. I wasn't totally sold on Lesnar D.C., but I was more into it than a steepe rematch, he writes. It's even more disappointing that Stepe just sat out all this time. Why did the UFC give Stepe a rematch instead of a fresh matchup with DC, or a fresh matchup for DC, I should say. If DC beats Steepa again, then does Stepe lose even more in the long run,

even if he goes on to win the belt again, he will always be known for his losses to DC, surely. Thanks, fellas. And so we talked about this quite a bit last week, so I guess I won't rehash. too much of my own thoughts. But I am curious for your thoughts, Alexander, because we were not, Alexander, yeah, I don't know why. Volcanovsky is throwing off now.

But I am curious for your thoughts, Alexander, because you were not on this program. DC, Steepai, Lesnar, this whole thing seems like a bit of a mess. But where we have ended up is that DC and Stepe will rematch once again. Do you like that call? I'm on record saying, I don't like that call.

I think Francis and Gunno should have gotten it. Do you like that call? Yeah, you know, last week when you guys were chatting on the solid B plus side, I did hear that discussion. And I'll say, you know, it's hard for me to say whether I agree or not. But I will say, I hope the kids out there learn a lesson from all this. This is for the, this is for the children out there who are watching the A side. The A side is for the children. It's for the children.

That's what I thought. You know, I think Stipe showed, if you just wait. around and don't do anything and every now and then do an interview and we always thank Steve A for doing interviews and you just you know keep keep your keep your name out there wait for the the S storm to again this for the children to settle and you know I'm being flippant but obviously have the accolades that this guy has under his his belt I mean he is arguably one of the greatest not arguably he is one of the greatest heavy weights of all time, and I'm sure some would say,

maybe the greatest based on his amount of title defenses. But yeah, look, he played the game. He played the game. Steepa is a hardworking guy. You know, he's a firefighter. We all know his story. But that, you know, that doesn't mean the man is not smart. You know, I'm of the side that I thought this guy needs to fight again.

He's being a fool. Well, guess what? He didn't need to fight again. He got the title shot he's been asking for. So really, who are the fools in this situation? I mean, he kind of lucked into it, right? because I don't know what he knew this ESPN deal was going to come, and that's really what seems to have sunk the Brock Leznor negotiations.

So that worked out in his favor. I don't know that he could have seen that coming, but it does feel to answer the question of Milo of Proton here, I mean, it does feel like, there's a lot on the line here for Steve, because he does lose two in a row for DC, and then even, you know, after that goes on to win the belt again, as this gentleman suggested,

that's a harsh shadow to escape from. At that point, your DC doing your thing at light heavyweight, right? you're the guy who lost to John Jones twice and yeah maybe you're the champion now but you're not the real champ. I don't know that that Sipay could really escape that shadow. Do you? It's certainly something that people bring up as you mentioned like with the John Jones, the John Jones DC situation and DC had to do, I mean, think about how much work DC had to do to even have people, you know, consider that maybe he doesn't need to be John Jones because I'm sure there's some people who will say, well, he's done so much. He has his own legacy. The John's Jones

stuff is there, but it doesn't, you know, it can, be a note and not a shadow over his gore. He had to change divisions to get to basically achieve pretty much, which Steppe, I don't think he'll have that option. Now, if he again, you know, wins the belt, rattles off four straight title defenses, you know, sets a new heavyweight title defense record. I think that would go a long way. And I think, again, like we say with D.C., people would always mention, yeah, he couldn't beat Cormier, but still, based on his own achievements, you know, we can still consider him, we can still make an argument for him being the best heavyweight of all time.

And again, this is if he goes another run of title defenses. So there's a lot on the line, but I'm not going to say that if he loses, oh, well, he shouldn't have done it. It was stupid to take this immediate rematch. No, I think it's a good, it's a good calculated risk. And I think the reward is good. And even if he fails, he has time to make up for it. Well, hey, last thing before we move on, you kind of waffled.

So I want to get your opinion. Oh. Was this the right call? If you're the UFC, would you have done steep A versus DC2 or do you go in a different direction? I'm going. I would go with the steep A, the steep A rematch. I like your suggestions in Ghanu. I don't know if you, I think you also mentioned junior.

I don't know if you mentioned junior. Maybe someone mentioned junior. Getting a, you know, getting another, getting a title fight again if he continues his winning streak. But just based on sort of their short-term thinking, again, you said if I'm the UFC, if I'm the UFC, if I'm the UFC, long-term thinking isn't always what, you know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's not always their biggest strength. And they see, it's a fight that we had before.

It's a fight that main event did a peer view before. I don't know how successful that was, but it did main events. It's a, we get to put a nice two next to it. You know, that's always good. The fans, they like to see a two that makes it more important. It's bigger than the first matchup. Let's just make this fight happen. It keeps this guy happy, Steepay.

And DC has said he'll do it. So it's pretty much the, I would say, the easiest, thing they could have done after the Lesnar fight fell through and they just, they just snatched it. I agree with that. It was certainly the easiest. And that seems like the route they go often at this point. But hey, let's keep moving.

And let's transition over to Twitter. We're going to try to hit as many of your Twitter questions as possible. If you want to ask us a question, hit us up on Twitter using the hashtag the A side. And first ones coming from our good friend Dan Shapiro, who wants to know, is Douglas Lima the most underrated fighter in all of MMA, if not who is then? And so this is, of course, Douglas Lima. We're talking about who is fighting Michael Page here this weekend in that Welterweight Grand Prix semifinal that we talked about earlier.

Douglas Lima, in my opinion, he's probably a top five welterweight in the world. Not even probably. He definitely is. And nobody really talks about him. Nobody really knows about him because he has done it all under the Bellator umbrella. Do you think he is the most underrated man in MMA? I was going to say it's unfortunately might not be a Douglas Lima problem, more so a bellator problem, as you've kind of alluded to already. He's up there.

If we're going to, you know, throw our list out there, I would certainly say top five, top five most underrated. But it's, you know, again, you know, Sean, I'm here. See, again, that this were your previous hosts. I'm sure he'd have a fancy, you know, these have a big name already prepared. But I'm here, I like to change sort of the parameters of the questions, right? That is what I'm here to do. Because underrated is a strange thing. If you're a Belator fan, I don't know if Liam is underrated.

You're very well aware of how good he is. And, you know, he's properly rated. But like you said, for the average person or most fans, maybe he's underrated. I'm not sure. It's such a subjective term, you know, underrated and overrated, of course. So throwing those around is always difficult to have a discussion. So a lot of guys in Beltor, we consider underrated, like Fabian Edwards, who just had a huge, the upkick, K.O. this weekend, which got overshadowed by the, you know, the Raymond Daniels insanity punch,

as I'm referring it to. Guys like Emmanuel Sanchez, Henry Corrales, Nemcov, who's coming a light heavyweight. So just to throw some names out there, guys who could certainly be considered underrated, but maybe more so just because, like you said, where they're fighting. So maybe underrated slash overlooked. If you wanted to say Lima, yeah, I think it's hard to argue with that. He's a two-time Bellator Welterweight champion.

And how often do you hear when people are talking about the great welter weights in the sport today, how often do you hear his name being brought up among the best? Because he's certainly up there. Yeah, I think he is that guy. I think he is the most underrated. And I think there's probably a culmination or a contribution from a couple different angles for that, right? Because one, he has fought basically his whole career under Bellator, and he is not the most boisterous guy. He's not going to cut a promo.

He's not going to give you some crazy interview where he's firing shots left and right. And so if you're in Bellator, that seems like maybe one of the ways that you can get people to pay attention to you is by doing that. And he's not that guy. In fact, he's the opposite. He's going to be the nicest human being

in the building no matter where he is, which is great. But I don't know that that helps his maybe, the awareness of him in the general public. And also, too, I mean, it's just, when you look at the big names in Bellator, right? Who really stands out? The Michael Chandler's, the Roy McDonnellan,

Gagar Musassi's guys who have been through it, but also have just somehow broken through to the mainstream to some degree. And I think a large part of that has been because of, say, a push from Bellator getting Michael Chandler on commercials and same thing, what they did for King Moe, and just different opportunities to sort of do other things. Even Aaron Pico to a degree, probably I think, is more known than Douglas Lima just because of the way that they've handled him. And I don't know that that's a slight to Bellator or a slight to Douglas Lima or anything, but I think it's just probably a confluence of all of those events that have led Douglas Lima to be just so dramatically underrated in this

welterweight division in this sport. But I think he has a chance here. I think he has a chance to open a lot of eyes. As you said, he is already a two-time champion in this division. This last one would be it, though. If he can do some terrible things to Michael Venom Page and really be the first person to do those terrible things to Michael Venom Page, And I think a lot of people have been wanting and waiting for something like that and then go on and do the same type of thing in a rematch against Roy McDonald after their first fight was ridiculous already. I think he can come out of this tournament as maybe not a star for Bellator,

but definitely someone that when they put him on the card, people outside of the hardcore base are going to look at him and be like, oh, man, Douglas Lima's fighting. I'm in. I'm ready for it. There is one more name who is, I guess at this point, Belator adjacent and probably underrated for multiple reasons. The weight classes he's fought in, the geographical reasons. I'm talking about, of course, Ryzans Kyoji Horaguchi. Yes.

Hardcore. I mean, of course, hardcore fans love him. Anyone who's, you know, really dedicated to following the sport, definitely not underrated. Everyone knows how good he is. But because he fights in Japan, because he fought a flyweight for so long, you know, which is, again, for whatever reason, a vision that a lot of people just refuse to embrace, people don't realize how good he is. His record is insane at this point.

He just beat the Belator Bantamweight champion Darren Caldwell. So he's been doing damage in 125, doing damage at 135 over in Risen. And his fights are exciting. He finishes people. Again, I know because he doesn't speak English, people will not know.

He's got a good personality. There's something about him. There's a vibrancy and I think an unspoken charisma about him. And I wish there was a way, again, I'm not blaming anyone for underrating him. I wish there was a way a guy like him could break into the mainstream of whatever that means of mixed martial arts because i think kioj horaguchi is fantastic and and possibly even more underrated than douglas lima yeah although he does seem to be a

big star over in japan it seems like him over there he's getting a lot of opportunities and endorsements so hey if he has found his niche over there more power to him because i agree i agree with you he is one of the best uh but hey let's keep it moving and this next question's coming from our good friend loyal listener, Tragic Bronson wants to know about Jared Canoneer. He writes, Canonier looks to have found his home at 185, putting on an impressive performance against David Branch in his middleweight debut.

What do you guys expect from his matchup with Anderson Silva in Brazil? Does Anderson still have enough in the tank to take on the kill a gorilla? So this is the co-main event here on Saturday, AK, Jared Canineer, Anderson Silva, who just fought Israel, Isra Saini. is getting right back at it. And this is a big spot for the MMA Lab's own Jared Cannoneer. What do you think is going to happen?

Yeah, he sells nothing. He's Anderson Silva. This guy's Greg. I know, like, I know just literally probably 20 minutes ago, I was saying this guy is well past his prime. But I think, I think even in the state he's in, I still, maybe it's nostalgia. You know, maybe I need to let go of the past. I still see him as just being this incredible elite.

striker. You know, the Adasanya fight, yeah, Adasanya clearly won. I'm not saying that that was a close fight or anything. But we saw the flashes. We saw the little flashes of how Anderson Silva is. And Kenoneer is really good. His striking is so solid.

He's got power. But I almost feel like that he's the kind of guy that back in the day was exactly the kind of opponent that Anderson Silva would clown. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm reading this wrong. Maybe I'm not noticing enough what Canaanerer can do.

But I do feel like, I'm not saying Anderson Silva's going to clown him. I'm sensing an Anderson-Silva win. I'm going for it. That's he put him down right now. Anderson-Liv is going to win. It's going to beat Jared Cannonier. Oh, my goodness. The 44-year-old Anderson-Silver, you're going with him.

Man, maybe he will. I mean, you look at sort of what he has done over the last several years. I know he has struggled, but you haven't really seen Anderson Silva get blown out, other than his fight against Daniel Cormier, which there are a lot of circumstances around that fight that you can experience. skews. Other than that, you really don't see him get blown out. He lost to, it's a Bisbing, he won't, he beat Brunson, and then he lost to Adesena. Those were all relatively competitive fights to some degree. I mean, I think it was tied with Izzy going into the final, the third

and final round. It's actually really compelling fight. People were crapping on this matchup when it was booked, but I actually really liked this fight. I like to step up for Jared Canaaner. Like, like this question said, I mean, he looked really good at middleweight. This is a guy who started at heavyweight in the UFC and he has just slowly worked his way down and he just put the wood on David Branch back in November. This could be a big, big, big moment for him and we might have a new middleweight contender at the end of this night. I don't know how much longer, and if that happens, I don't know how much longer I want to see Anderson. So we continue to do this and just be food for these young lions that's a feast on as

they come up. But I think it will just be really cool to see Anderson in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, like the old days, just doing it one last time. He's 44 years young, Sean. All right. Listen, he's a, he's a youthful 44 years old. I mean, honestly, I mean, literally, if you look at him, you know, he's just, he's been blessed with the smooth skin, you probably wouldn't. If I told you he was 34, you'd probably believe him. But also, look, you know, to borrow some pro wrestling parlance, which I know the A-side viewers love. If I had the book, I mean, there's no way I book Jared Canineer and Anderson Silva in Brazil if I think that there's a chance that Anderson's going to get embarrassed.

I don't think Kenanier is going to, like we said, blow him out or knock him out or finish him. So that's fine. You know, maybe he still wins. And the crowd is just happy to see Andrews Silva put in work for 15 minutes. But I think that the matchmakers know what they're doing here. and sure enough, it's going to be a showcase, a showcase fight for a guy this far in his career, but a showcase fight for Anderson Silva.

Yeah, I think, I think Kennear is going to be a good, a good, what's the word I long before? A good soldier, do the job here, as it were. Take the three-second tan to, again, another pro wrestling term. Wow. Yeah, that's right, that's right. It ain't over. Mark's gone.

The pro wrestling talk isn't gone. It might even increase if you have me on again. All right, that's, that's how. it is the pro wrestling talk and the anderson silver love you're telling me 43 year old anderson silver is coming into a showcase fight against the young killer that's that is a hot take my friend i'm going i'm going all the way with it hey well we will see soon enough uh in the meantime let's keep it going in this next one's coming from lucas vega who wants to know about brian ortega he says with brian ortega saying he's ready to fight again

who do you think he should face in his first fight back uh so this is an interesting one brian or Tegga is now, said, you know, all my broken bones are now healed and I'm ready to go. He is still the number two man in this featherweight division. Where do you see, considering what we're getting with Volcanovsky and Aldo this weekend, what do you feel like is the right matchup for him? Okay, so he's ready to go. Now I wish I'd put a little more thought in this one. I think he's ready to go.

Pardon me, my first thing, first thing that came to my mind was, wouldn't it be interesting if he fought the Moikano zombie winner? They're going to fight at Greenville, upcoming U.S.ville. Greenville show. I think it's, I think it's a fight Moikano would want, for sure. Zombie will fight anyone, so that's intriguing. Well, it would be a rematch from Robles. Yes, I think he would want that one back. So that's the first thing that jumped into my mind. I don't think, pardon me, I don't think if Bolkinovsky beats Aldo that he'd be willing to fight Ortega. I'm not even sure, again, I'm not sure. It would be a cool fight to do someday in the future,

maybe when, you know, one of them is the world champion or something. It's a title fight. So the other, this guy may seem beneath him at this point. And also we can't seem to find out where this guy is. Maybe something like a Yaira Rodriguez. Ooh, I like that. I don't know if we're at the point where we need to say that Ortega needs a tune-up fight because, again, he hasn't been gone that long. But he is coming off a pretty rough loss.

So a fight against a year, who's still a dangerous opponent, but one against whom Ortega would certainly be favored, would be interesting, I think. I like that. I like that a lot. And I don't know that it's necessarily a tune-up fight that he needs. But he definitely does need a rebound fight. Because that was a bad loss to Max, and it feels like he's probably a decent distance away from getting a rematch.

I like the EIAe fight. To me, I think depending on what happens this weekend, say Volcanowski wins. I wouldn't mind the Frankie Edgar rematch, because then that's kind of Frankie Edgar would probably need to fight again if you wanted to get in that title conversation. I wouldn't mind that Frankie Edgar rematch, give him more. notice this time last time was on short notice uh or what do you think of zabit that would be the one

test for zabit before he gets thrown to the wolves at the top of the division i would love that i just know that's probably a situation where the ufc is trying to preserve two bankable um got pardon me two bankable guys who are still kind of on the ride i know artiga just had his title shot but i still view him as being on an upwards uh trending upwards and zabit obviously is zabid looks like an absolute world beater and a future contender himself. So, I mean, yeah, if they're willing to, again, go to sort of, to stick with that old adage of, look, UFC, we make the best fight the best. We don't predict, we don't protect anybody.

That would probably be the number one fight to make. But as it is, like I said, I think they'll go a little more mid-range, something like a year. Or again, maybe that we get a Moikana rematch or Ortega zombie. I don't know if I want to see him fight Edgar again, if only because I'm a fan of Edgar. and seeing him and get his head just punched right off his shoulders last time was absolutely mortifying. Well, hey, let's keep, I want to keep talking about this featherweight division. So this next one's coming from Stashed.

He just asked us on Twitter, who do you see being the featherweight champion by the end of 2019? Max, Aldo, Ortega, Zabit, great chat. So thank you for that. Stash. We appreciate you watching. So bouncing off of our featherweight conversation, is Max still the champion by the end of 2019 at this point? or do you see it being someone else at Josealdo maybe or Brian Ortega or like we were just saying a zap beat Mago Meshripa.

My head is, I don't know how you guys do this every week, Sean. My head is hurting. Just calculating these possible, you saw Infinity War? I'm not talking about endgame. Don't worry. No end game spoilers, people. You saw Infinity War, right? Of course, yeah.

You know at the end when Dr. Strange is calculating. Oh, not in the end somewhere in the middle. Dr. Strange is using the time jam and he's trying to think of all. I feel like that right now. I feel like my body is spasying out trying to. You guys, you guys, I get me credit. This is a hard gig. I'm stalling, by the way.

I'm stalling, clearly. No, no. I, you know, if I were betting man, I think, I think Max is nearly unbeatable at 145. Even let's, you know, try and map things out. Let's say Volcanowski beats Aldo, Volcanowski gets a well-deserved title shot. You know, from what I've seen from Volcanowski, he's great. I just think, I think Max is still on that next level. The fight with Poria was really good, right?

I know, I know he lost, but the fight with Pori was really good. You know, we saw all the skills he has, his insane toughness, his insane chin. It's just really tough to overcome that. So, yeah, if we see like a Volcanovsky title defense and then, gosh, I don't know, I don't know if he'd even be able to register two title defenses. But if you did, I can't see, you know, maybe like you said, Edgar Ortega and Edgar would beat him, of course, because he got here's the best. And then he would finally get that shot with Holloway that he was supposed to get before, you

know the injury happened back back last year. I still think Holly would beat him as well. So I'll play it safe. I think Holloway will be your champion by the end of the year. Though, again, it might be off of just like one title defense. This one's hard for me because I wonder what that trip to 155 did for Max. Because A, throws your body off a little bit just by doing that. You got to then for Max is always a hard cut for him to go back to 145.

and to now have made the 155 do that whole experience and then come back down. I think that's going to be a little difficult. Dustin even told me something similar in the lead-up to that fight where once you make that move, it's hard to come back. Maybe Max didn't commit to it as hard and really get his body as ready for 55 as, you know, someone that would have that's making a permanent move, but still, you never know. Also, he took a lot of damage in that fight, man. He took a lot of damage in that fight, and he is someone who has been in war after war.

war after war, whether it was Aldo, the two fights against Aldo, Brian Ortega, he is just someone who's taking a lot of damage. And I know he is still young, but he is old when it comes to fight years. And I wonder how much longer he'll be able to keep this at this immensely high level that he is at without some level of a step down. So I could see it being max by the end of the year, but I'm going to go out on a limb. And I think it might be someone new. And in that case, I think we're either getting an Alexander Volcanowski champion or Mr. Zabit and Mangumet Shripoff. I think one of those two guys has a chance to do it by the end of the year. And I think both are probably just one fight away from getting the opportunity.

Sean, I'm experiencing some deja vu here because I recall when we work together in Toronto covering the Holloway Ortega fight. We both picked Ortega to beat him. And I think we, I think, again, I recall. we were talking about, oh, you know, the dabbling at 155, which he tried to do before the Nomega, the Nomega metoff fight. And obviously that didn't happen. You know, he wasn't allowed to. We thought, you know, that messed with him.

And yeah, how much damage does he take in? I just feel like we've had this discussion before. The difference is I feel like I've learned. And now I won't doubt him at 1.45 again, you continue to step over the line. You're a habitual line stepper. And you, and that's fine. Like, that's, again, that's why, you know, you're the A side guy and I'm just the guest. But I'm saying, I learned my lesson.

Until someone beats them, I'm not saying nothing bad about Max. Max, if you're out there, I was wrong before. I think you're going to be the champ for, again, at least a couple more fights. I can't speak for Sean. Sean's on his own, all right? Whatever. Just you can address your grievances to him. In fairness, I also picked Dustin over Max.

So this just seems to be a pattern for me. I don't know why. You were right, and you're right that time. Yeah, but I guess maybe a trend that I didn't even realize. So, hey, we'll have to see Love You, Max, still. So let's see. Let's take a few more from Twitter and then we'll get to the promo and then get out of here. So this one next one's coming from Ryan Webb, who wants to know, have you heard anything

when Yaya Rodriguez could potentially schedule a fight soon? I don't know that I've heard anything specific, but I know he is healthy now and he is now starting to look at something. So I think something could be on the schedule soon, but I don't have anything concrete on that yet. Anything for you? AK? Like I said, look, I've got my ear to the streets, but I got my ear to the streets up here in Canada. So, yeah, we don't get a lot of Yayair news up here, unfortunately. I'd like to say, I have a scoop for you. I don't.

But, hey, you know, there's a reason I mentioned before. I have seen people commenting, but not actual scoops. But yeah, definitely there seems to be a swell of people wondering when Yaya Year will fight again. And I think I'm going to say, like, that's usually a good sign that hopefully we will see this person soon. You know, again, we don't know what the UFC's planning. We don't know if there's a reason. Yayir hasn't booked maybe it's a choice of opponents. Maybe it's a money thing.

He's had, you know, we've had some problems with Yer in the UFC regarding contracts before. So it could have something to do with that. But really, sorry, just speculating right now. But if I were to bet that he would be fighting in the next like three months, yeah, I imagine we will see Yair with a fight books. Yeah. Well, hey, this next one's coming from Laz Nikolovsky on Twitter

who wants to know, hey guys. After watching the fight between Iaquinta and Sironi, and then I watched the Canelo fight, I must say it is shocking the amount of money discrepancy there is between the two. I would appreciate your thoughts, thanks. Yeah, you're not wrong, Laz. I mean, but this is also nothing new, and this is something we have talked about ad nauseum, I guess, forever, right? It is the discrepancy between the two sports.

I know Donald Seroni probably made six figures for this fight. I don't know the exact number, but I think it was around six figures. And Canelo made, I think, $25, $35 million, something like that. But that being said, I think there is, I would hazard a comparison, a direct comparison between the two a little bit because Canello is basically the most popular boxer in the entire world right now. He's probably the biggest draw in boxing in the entire sport right now. So I think that's a little hard to compare the two.

But this is also nothing new. And you would love to see a guy like a Donald Seroni, make more money for everything he has put into this and all the years he has put into this. But I don't know that we're getting there anytime soon. I mean, we just had this conversation about 236 and the numbers for 236 and Izzy and Calvin Gasolum and all these guys, maybe not making as much money for the years they took off their own life as they should. But this is the sport that we live in.

I don't know that anything's changing. Yeah. And Soroney, such a great company, man. And one of the big things coming out of his fight was that they let him wear this custom patch on the inside of his shorts, you know, it's sort of a, from his old Muay Thai shorts, a dedication to that, a dedication to his grandmother. And it was a great moment scene. It was great. And he was saying, this is such a sign that finally, you know, the UFC, I really feel like after fighting for this company like a hundred times that they

really appreciate me. But I'll tell you something. If you, if Conello, you know, whichever organization he was fighting for us, you know, if they told him, oh, you know, we're only going to pay you something like to show how much we appreciate you, he, he, he tell them to shove that patch right up their butts. So it was, I'm not saying, I think, like I said, it was a cool moment, but it does show you the different mindset these guys have. And again, how much fighters, it's a broken record, need to, if not unionize, align in some way. Maybe I'm just being, you know, it's semantics here, but align in some way.

Talk to each other. Ask questions. Figure out a way to, again, gain some negotiating power, whatever that is. Union, Ali Act, some combination of those things. because yeah it is it is silly when you see even though seroni is not you know at the level of fame in mixed martial arts that canela is in boxing to be for for canella to be making exponentially more money and an insane amount more it does seem a little unfair but what is fair in combat sports uh nothing really yeah sign those project spearhead cards yel uh then last one

let's do this last one this one's coming from our good friend strike mx who writes with the UFC's new pay-per-view deal. Do you think the days of guys like Connor jumping the line to a title shot are effectively over? For example, do you think it's possible he jumps Tony for the winner of Habib versus Dustin? So we talked about this UFC deal, ESPN deal a lot on today's show. So I won't rehash a lot of that. But just to answer the question, do you think the days of guys like Connor jumping the

line because they would make more money or they, I guess they'd bring more buys to the show. I don't know that that's over because Brock Lesnar would have been able to fight Daniel Kormier had he agreed to terms. The UFC was ready to do that. And the UFC will let Connor probably fight almost anybody that he wants if he wants to come back. So I could very much see it possible that he jumps Tony Ferguson in the line for the winner of Habib versus Dustin because he is Connor McGregor and the UFC will bend over backwards to get another Connor McGregor fight. understandably to some degree, considering that his last fight was the highest selling fight of all time.

But I don't, so yeah, I don't think those days are over. Maybe they have been curbed and curtailed a little bit, though. What do you think, A.K.? No, definitely not over. Again, almost to bring it back full circle to something we talked about at the beginning of the show, we won't know how much influence these fighters have on buys, really until 239.

When you have a big star like John Jones, then we'll really see, and also all the other big names on that card, then we'll really see how much these guys can influence bias, because they still matter. They have to still matter to someone. There's money there. Anywhere there's money,

it's a factor for somebody. So, yeah, guys that McGregor, once they're able to figure out, okay, well, well, what's a, you know, what is a large amount of buys, who is being affected by it, who do I need to talk to, whose ear do I need to get into to tell them,

look, I can make you more buys, more money. That will lead to, to him having similar influences as he's as he's had over the last, you know, a couple of years. So, no, when it comes to big draws and powerful people in the industry, like McGregor, like Lesnar, they'll always find some way to have leverage. Will it be the same kind of leverage they had before? No, but as far as jumping the line, I mean, these guys don't even see the line. You know, forget jumping the line.

They don't see the line. You know, they're their own line. Yeah, they're their own line. They're their own rankings. Those things just don't matter to these guys. And I don't think the ESPN Plus deal is going to affect that that much. They're their own line. Well put.

I think that's a really articulate way to put that, actually, because you're right. You're not wrong for better and for worse. Well, hey, man, this has been your first A-side Live Chat podcast. I think you killed it. Thank you for joining us. Let's go ahead and do the promo where we talk about something very important to us on the way out of here. And I will go first. And for me, my promo, you had mentioned.

earlier in this show that to you, MMA is fun. MMA should be fun, that you look on the bright side of all of this, that we, yeah, sure, there's a lot of negativity, but why dwell on it? I agree with you. That is something, that is something I say often, that I'd like to be positive. Everyone else wants to be negative. I like to be positive. And so for me, I want to look at something crazy that happened this past weekend and a trend that we have seen developed so far in 2019. By now, all of you have seen Raymond Daniels kickboxer extraordinaire, his outrageous 720 knockout of Wilcar Barros at Bellator. I believe it was 220 this past weekend.

One of the gnarliest knockouts you will ever see. Didn't really make any sense to a 720 spin and then knocked him out with the right hand. And that was that. It was very wild. And I just want to say how cool it is and how lucky we are that we have gotten such a strong, strong start for 2019 for all of these blank of the year contenders.

all of these candidates for knockout of the year, fight of the year, you go on down the line. The first, by the end of the first half of this year, you could have a full list of the best fights and knockouts of the year, and it would rival a lot of years. I mean, just fight, just knockouts. You go Raymond Daniels, Anthony Pettus over Wonderboy, Jorge, Madsvedol with Darren Till, Johnny Walker's Toosome that he did fights. You got Lucke versus Barbarina, Izzy, Calvin Gasolm, Dustin versus Max. there has just been ridiculous action to start out 2019.

And I love it. I cannot wait for more. I think it is very cool to see so far. And so kudos to you, Raymond Daniels, for keeping the trend going. 2019 is a very violent year, and I am here for it, Alexander. Sean, I love the positivity. Like I said, MMA should be fun. And just kind of transitioning off the Bell Tour Birmingham thing,

what would, you know, what would my first appearance be in the show? If I didn't break the rules and sneak in an answer to, one question that we kind of overlooked. I saw it earlier. I'll be very quick. Someone asked was Brent Premises Gogolata win at Beltor Birmingham? Was that like the only the other, you know, the only other Gogolata finish besides the infamous Nick Diaz, Takunori Gomi, Gogholaola finish, which was overturned because, you know, he's smoking too much of the wacky tobacco in Japan?

No, there have been several, I'm sure. And as a point of trivia, former ultimate fight. fighter two heavyweight finalist, Brad Ims, once recorded back to back, go go plot of finishes. So I'm nearly certain he is the only MMA fighter to ever do that. So no, it's not the only one. In fact, someone did it twice in a row. Brad Ims, wherever you are, hats off to you. That's fantastic. And how do you got to feel if you're that second guy? How did you not see it coming?

Yeah, right. Like, what are you doing, guy? So I don't know if those, I was going to plug. I don't know if those are available online. I'm sure one of them probably on YouTube, you can look up, Brad Ims, go, Plata. I'm sure it's out there somewhere. And the other thing I'll just say, you know, I've got an interview with Chris the action man, Curtis, which I want to plug, which will probably be up tomorrow because he's fighting at the season premiere of the PFL, their 2019 season, which starts tomorrow. I always encourage everyone to watch as much MMA as possible, even though, which sounds a little crazy considering how much there is. But, you know, I really just mean branch out.

PFL, one, so many promotions that put shows for free on YouTube, especially internationally. check them out, you know, even if it's just checking out highlights, checking out fights, checking out our feature with Jed Mishu and I, Miss Fiss on MNFighting.com. But there's so much, if you're tired of like, oh, I don't want to get ESPN Plus, I don't want to get the zone, you know, I don't want to pay for all these streaming services. There's a lot of great free options out there, and you never know which one will make you fall in love with the sport again if you feel like you've become jaded. So MMA is supposed to be fun, and there's a lot of it out there.

And, man, thanks for letting me be on the A side. Oh, absolutely, man. Absolutely. Well said. Good message to end that on. MMA should be fun. I agree with you. It always should be fun. And we got a fun weekend ahead of us. And this has been another episode of the A Side Live Chat podcast. Thank you guys so much for joining us. We appreciate you so much. And thank you, Alexander Kay Lee, for making your debut on the show. We are happy to have you. I'd say you killed it. I appreciate you, man. Good work last week in Ottawa. And hey, the fun does not stop here. It's going to be a long week in Rio, in the air in Brazil. We got our own Guillermo Cruz down there on the ground. Should start having stuff from that. Come from media day, open workouts, et cetera, starting today. So that's going to be fun. Looking forward to that.

Replay the show going up on all the usual spots later today. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your week. I hope you enjoy your weekend. I hope you enjoy your fights. We love you. My name is Sean O'Shti. That man is Alexander K. Lee. You have anything you want to give the people on the way out?

Nothing but peace and love. Peace and love to all the. the fans, all the readers out there. We always appreciate the support, of course, M.A. Fighting. And I feel comfortable speaking for all the fighters and saying that they appreciate the support as well. So, hey, man, if you see me again, hopefully I'll be up again on the show and spread more love and positivity, Sean. It's been a great time. Absolutely, man, absolutely. Well, hey, this has been the Aiside LiveChap podcast. Thank you so much for joining us, guys. We'll see you next week. In the meantime, love you.

See ya. Ace Side.