MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | UFC 238, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier, Alexander Gustafsson Retirement, Cris Cyborg

Episode Date: June 5, 2019

On this episode of The A-Side Live Chat, José Youngs is joined by E. Casey Leydon to preview UFC 238 and answer your questions on UFC 238, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier, Alexander Gustafsson Retirement, Cris Cyborg and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Healthnetics products are all natural, THC-free, made in the USA, and undergo third-party lab testing to ensure quality and purity. All CBD is not the same. Order today with a money-back guarantee at healthnetics.com and use promo code sports for 20% off. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What's up, everyone? Jose Young's here. M.A. Fighting for the A-side at your usual time. See next to me. Cameraman, extraordinary. Casey Leiden.

Is this your A-side debut? It's my A-side debut. It is not my video debut. I've been on some awesome fight night post shows and a couple of pre-shows. But for the A-side, you know, when they bring out the best, the best caught and sick, and now I'm here. So you're not an unfamiliar face, but for this one, obviously we're going to read the questions live and then we'll answer them to, we'll answer your questions. You can hit the hashtag the A side or you can leave a comment in the comment section below. We're obviously going to answer the green questions first, but Esther, off camera.

Oh, hello. Your first question is, retirements. The talk of the town this week has been about the recent retirements of some. bigger names than MMA. Please be so kind to shed your light on this, and do you think any of these fighters could have continued in another weight class? Thanks, guys, from Rob Holland. Yeah, so Casey, as you've obviously seen, Alexander Guffington retired after his lost

to Anthony Smith on that same card, Jimmy Manow announced his retirement a few days later after his violent knockout lock to Alexander Ratchik. Rackich. Rackich. Rackage. And then King Moe, obviously not a UFC fighter. And also on the card, Nick Hein. And Nick Hein.

And Nick Hein, he also retired. So four retirements, three in the same weight class. Your thoughts. Wait, three retirements on one UFC card. Is that a record? That's a good question. I would imagine so. We'll call it Mike Vaughn.

See if you can get some numbers on that. But so we get four named retirements this weekend. The one that didn't come as the surprise at all was King Mo. Yeah. I'm just, it was the question, if a different weight class would have been a possibility,

is that what? Yeah, basically would have a different weight class and shed some light on our thoughts on the recent retirement. I was always hoping Mo would drop to 185. He's not a big 205, or he maybe walks around at 2.15 at best,

when he's fat. So, but Mo, most, I think Moe's 38. He's got so many. injuries he's like i don't i don't know if he ever truly fought his full potential no about any injuries so i i get mo and it looks like mo's in a good place at um um or is the ATT i believe so yeah yeah he's they say he's gonna be i'm sorry a big coach down there and that's super so i'm really happy for him i'm happy i'm happy i'm happy he left um after seeing his last knockout

and rising um yeah it's just uh i'm bum i'm bum that he never got the fight us at we never We never got to see him at his peak for a long time, but I don't think. But other than him going to 185, I think it was too late in his career to really make a big difference. And he actually told, like, our new coworker Damon Martin that, like, he can't even jog without being in pain. So, and he is 38. He's like, I'm 38. I have kids. I can't even jog.

I can't do this anymore. And it bums me out that, like, his only championship, and like, he won Strike Course championship, but then it was a vacated, right? No, yeah, yeah, he won. Then he lost to, um, Pageau. You're right. You're right. And then people look back on. But he knew what card he wanted on?

It was the big Strike Force Nashville card. That's right. When he beat Gayguard. Yeah. Not the most exciting fight, but he beat Gayguard. You know, and that's in a giant feat. And go in the archives. And one of my favorite moments I've ever been part of in the sport is I was shooting

of Air Hawani. Oh, the one he was crying backstage. Yeah. And TriForce gave us access to backstage. We interviewed Moe backstage when his legs were all messed up in the fight. He had caught, like, going for a take down, he caught, like, big elbows. So his eye was, like, just blown up. Was he wearing sunglasses?

And he was laying on the ground and he got super emotional. I remember that. And it was just like, and those were one of those moments in the sport where I was like, oh, man, like these are real people. You know, this isn't, like, at home we're like, oh, violence. Yeah, just bleed. But, like, for these guys, like, you know, it was, it meant so much more than just that paycheck they were getting and I felt that and that was just I'm just happy I was there I'm happy we've got

the documented and happy that everyone can still see it he also headlines the only bellator or bellator's first pay-per-view against king rampage right which you got robbed yep he was robbed yep and then they and then he won the rematch but never got that trilogy uh so you would say him crying in the background you're most up there up there because you were right there in terms of my fighting he did win the rise in like that first grand prix they had right the heavy weight won? Zincolku. It's right, you're right.

But he did win the Grand Prix at Risen, didn't he? I don't think he won. You won a Grand Prix? Do you win a Grand Prix? Yeah, he fought two times in one day, Risen, heavyweight Grand Prix final. Oh, yeah, the Risen one, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then he went and fought Phil Davis at, like,

light heavyweight, and then he got knocked out by Ryan Bader in the heavyweight tournament. He said he was going to drop down the middleweight, and he didn't, and he stayed a light heavyweight, and he lost again. Now he's calling in a career. But any other thoughts on not just came over like Jimmy Manor and also Alexander Gustaf. Gus is someone, that one, I think I'm in the same opinion that I think Anthony Smith said after about when Anthony Smith was asked about Gus retiring. He's like, dude, he's still good. I mean, it was a very competitive fight until I got him.

And like, and like Anthony Smith's like, I'm really good. So just because this guy's not maybe the best, he's still really good. So unless Gus system has just like, unless he's just really afraid of those long-term injuries like CTE or he's just way more injured than he's really letting on. I'm kind of, I'm bummed. He's retiring because I think he still is a lot more. But like I said, this ain't a sport where you want to, you know, do it a half-ass. So if the guys want out, go out. And Jimmy Manuel, I mean, he was, I think he's 39.

I believe so. Yeah, 39. too horrible knock, too horrible big knockouts, back to back. Hey, bro. You know, you had a good ride, you know, time. I guess you know, if you want to move on in life, do it. And I think Nick Heinz got a lot of, he's got

a lot of things going on in his life. He's like an actor in Germany or something. I was in Augustus and he is like a new, like not a brand new dad, but I think he's there, I believe, I can't remember if it's a, he had a boy or a girl, but his child was pretty young and maybe he is scared of it. I remember

him proposing to his girlfriend in the ring, or the Octagon, I should say, after one of his, I believe the glove to share. And glove again. Yeah. And he's like, he said, he told Luke Thomas on the NMA, or if he can't beat Anthony Smith,

maybe I don't have it anymore. He said that weeks before they fought. So when he announced his retirement, I wasn't overly surprised just because he did tease it, like weeks in advance and not, it sucks for the light heavyweight division. It was already shallow, and now they lost two fighters that.

Like, Gususon and Maniore are always, really good like if you have those international UK shows like they could have line or they could be in the co-mate event and now they're too they lose two light heavyweighs so it's rough for that division as a whole especially it's as shallow as it already was i'm always i'm always kind of um i'm always kind of bummed unless gus is leaving for undisclosed injury reasons like no cTE he doesn't want to talk about publicly which is fine i get or just chronic back problems like to leave any position you're in, like just being a camera guy or editor, if I'm the top,

if I'm the 10th best person in the world at what I do, I do it till the wheels fall off. Like, if you're the 10th best shortstop, you know, you do it forever. You know, you 10th best, whatever any sports, but for some reason, fighting, if you're not that top two or three, number one, number two, number one or number two, it's a weird sport like where you're just like,

nah, like the money isn't worth it, which is crazy. He's also lost, he's failed to win the championship three times and twice to the reigning champion. So maybe, I don't, I obviously can't speak for him, but like say John Jones. But no, but like when the, what was it, the Buffalo Bills, when he lost like four in a row. Four in a row. Did Jim Kelly retire? But the thing is like, they could have, they could keep, they could keep making the championship.

Like, they could keep making the Super Bowl. Like, it's hard to give, as long as John Jones is the champion. Like, I don't think Alexander Gibson is getting another shot. And I don't see John Jones losing any time. So maybe Alexander Justin feels the same way. He's already lost to the two best light heavyweights probably ever. So it's just going to be stuck as the third best, and he just doesn't want that.

And Getson might have one of the unique, most unique, you know, fight finder records you're ever going to find in the sense that probably his two best performance, in my opinion, his two best performances in his entire UFC career were in losses. Yeah. And that's just a weird. I can't think of any other fighter you can say that for, like, oh, you want to watch how good this guy is, watch these fights that he lost.

Yeah, I mean, he dropped Daniel Carmine hard And what was, I believe, the Houston one I left that fight thing That was the best fight I've ever seen But I also said the same thing What he fought John Jones And then he goes and just start

His Glove to Cher And he basically pitches a perfect game Against Glover to share And knocks him out of those up I don't know I think fair Anyway, anything else you want to say About Jimmy Manoa, Alexander Gustafson

Um Well, no, just Happy Trails, guys I think we have some good times then enjoy the rest of... They are teammates too, so All-Stars, both light heavyweights at All-Stars. The next question is,

from LFMWA, the future of the flyweight division if Sehudo wins, do you think they shudder the division if Sehudo wins, the Bandsamweight title this weekend? I don't think so. I mean, they have other fly-weight fights happening, and Joseph Benavides was on the MMA hour saying, Dana basically said that him versus the rematch

rematch between him and Formiga is already the number one contender fight, and he didn't, when Luke asked him, like, what's beneficial for you? Henry winning or losing? And he kind of was like, huh, that's a really good question. Joseph Benevita said that if Henry does lose, like maybe that gives him a reason to come back down and defend his title. But again, if he wins, is that good for the Flyway Division that they have a championship that is championed that is charismatic and beat Bantamweights and everything. But we'll go on these maybe title defenses at Bantamweight. So Casey, will they shudder?

Do you think they'll shutter the flyweight division if Henry wins the Bantamweight title, the UFC Bantamway title? I don't think so. If he wins? Yeah. I don't think that's, if it does shutter, I don't think that's going to be like the final linchpin that's going to fall. I don't think they're going to kill it, but I think it's going to be a dead division, like the, like the women's one-foy division. Yeah, it's still around, but is it really around? You know, it's technically it's there.

Yeah. But there's no, they don't provide rankings for it. I mean, at some point, are we going to even, are there even going to be media rankings for the flyweight since they're cutting so many fighters? I think there are, I think people said there's only. I'm looking it up right now. Maybe eight, 10 fighters. There are 12 fighters in the UFC rock, uh, flyweight rankings outside of the champion,

Henry Sehudo. And they, you can see them all. They just keep moving up. Yeah. Like Matt Snell is the. number 12 ranked flyway and he's like the last flyway in the division that's what so you understand my point like it's is it i don't think they're going to shut it because i don't they don't want to shut it completely because that title fight you can always put it as a co-main for a pay-per-view in case something

in case the main event falls out or if you need if they have ufc Beijing or something and they need a fight that matters and you know to make to make the whatever the the money people in china happy and ESPN plus people happy so they want they're not going to shut it for they're going to keep it open for for matchmaking reasons for fight card reasons but I don't think it's a real car I don't think it's they also have alexander pantosia and figure out figurato are also fighting that's another flywood fight so like Joseph venez was saying like he noticed that a lot of people were um being cut off of losses and that was kind of how they're explaining it but then like figure figurato has is coming off a loss and he still has not only does he still have a job he has a

coming up. So Joseph Benevita said that for a while the waters were murky and then as soon as Henry knocked out T.J. talks of the flyaway division going away kind of cooled down. So maybe Henry Suhudo like can keep the flyaway division aflo. I mean, he is a charismatic champion. Like people want to watch and do all this cringy stuff. You know what though? But Suhudo is a prize fighter and if he beats if he beats marlin the money i think there's going to be more money for him to his next fight to fight up band him weight against probably the winner of sterling and munoz or journey munio he's always popular i don't know i throw cody in there man how maybe dominion like like like who like i want to see sehudo benavitas a lot a rematch i

really want to see that i really i was hoping this i was hoping that was going to be the next fight. Same. But from a butts in seats perspective, which is what the UFC really cares about, if, I'm sorry, Henry wins, Henry versus like Cruz or any of those guys, I think it's just a bigger fight. It is a bigger fight. And I was hoping they would do Henry Sehudo versus Benavittes two for the flyweight title. And then the winner would basically get the, the bandway title job between Marlon versus fill and blank. Yeah. Probably Marlon versus Munez. Or Sterling, Sterling is ranked one. So actually, I, so in a weird way, I think there's, the flyweight is actually in the worst spot if Suhudo wins.

Yeah, that's basically what Joseph Benavita said. Like, he might want to stick around at Bantam Wade. The money's going to be better, probably. I would imagine so. But they got another champ champ and Henry can now have two titles and a gold medal. Yeah. So that's my. So I think we're in agreement.

Like, I don't think him winning is the reason it's going to fall apart, but I think him winning is less beneficial for the flyweight division. But they won't shut the division down. Completely, but because it's going to be there just to fill in spots for important cards. Yeah. All right. Moving on. Next question.

All right. Well, then I'll just move this over there. Shavchenko and Suarez are both huge favorites this weekend, but which one might take an L? Shevchenko is a minus 1,600 favorite over Jessica I, and Suarez is a minus 900 over Nina Anstrov. Do these odds seem right to? you. And if you had to pick one of these fighters to lose this weekend, who would you pick and why? I am the wrong person asked when it comes to betting odds and gambling and all that stuff. So whether to say the odds makes sense, I'll leave that to you. But in terms of who,

I think, I think Jessica has a better chance of winning than Nina. Really? I was going to go the other way around. I think Nina's got a much better chance of winning. This is perfect. Why? Just need is more. I think, I think Nina, relative to the division, It's just better than Jessica I. I think Jessica I, while of course she has a shot, I think Valentina has to make a serious mistake. I would agree. Like just a mistake.

She doesn't make it very, like, just, I'm just going to throw his punch and just leave my hand here for a long time. So you don't expect a Kamar Uzeman performance from Jessica I where she just comes in and dominates the champion from the beginning to end? Jesse I is going to be able to. I'm not saying, like, you don't, you don't. No, no, no, no. But Kamarvarez was, that was, to me, a 50-50 fight. I mean, like, Jessica Eyes, I think she's very fortunate and just, it's just right time and place for her.

She didn't want, what, three in a row? So, like, she's not, like, her fighting for the title makes sense. It's not like, no, yeah, it makes sense. But it just, I just don't. And I'm excited about this. I'm excited for the fight, though, because I think it gives Chichenko something, something to play. off. Like, like, I talk, you know, oh, I love martial arts. I love martial arts. I like when two guys are super, like, respectful for each other. But sometimes I do, I do like the Jessica I. It's just like, just insane confidence she has, despite, you know, losing how many times she's, she lost. And this is her first title defense, again, after winning the title from Yuan and JJ, who was a flyweight. So, oh, our strawweight champion, the former strawweight champion. So I am excited to see her face another actual flyaway. Who's, they both fought at 135. And now they're kind of.

coming down. So I, but I personally think Jessica has a better chance. Tatiana, I think, is the best fighter in the strawweight division. I think I want to see her against a, I want to see, Tatiana could smoke Nina easily, but I just think Nina's, I think they've really gotten like in her past fights is she gotten just like completely just washed. No. That's what I mean. I think, I think it's always going to be a tough fight for, um.

I both fights are tough. I just, I've been more impressed with what Tatiana's been doing lately than Nina, like her actual performances in the aisle. Like she's been just dominating her opponents. Like she ran through Carla Spars and former the inaugural UFC Strawweight champion and former Invicted champion. One tough. So I just think Tatiana has, I've been more impressed with what she's been doing of all

the women that we've, we've been talking about. Yeah, I guess we're just going to fight. Yeah. I hate you. Why not you, granted you agree with everything I say? Do you think the winner of Tatiana and Nina deserves to fight for the title match? That seems to be. Yes. No, about a doubt.

The winner of Swars versus Anzrov needs to fight the winner of Androge versus Waterson. That's what I was going to say. I'm like, because you're very much unboiled with Michelle Watershian should fight for the straw weight. Absolutely. Absolutely. And she's the most deserving, you think?

Deserving means nothing. That was deserving. I was hoping. That was a softball. Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's about she had the top 10 win. I think she has two, three victories now at consecutive victories at strawweight. I don't think Michelle, I think Michelle is at her prime, maybe past her prime, but as far as like, she's not, she's like, I don't think she's going to be getting any better.

I think this is the time for Michelle. She's peaking. She's peaking right now. I think peaking in popularity right now. And she's by far the most popular of all four women. Yeah. I think, um, I think I even looked at their, I think I had this, this argument with, um, our former colleague, Shaheen, Shaheen. Oh, that's a Bernie.

And he was no very swar, Swars, Swars. And I was like, he was like, oh, Michelle, she's like, no one likes Michelle more than Suarez. And I looked at their Instagram, Michelle's got like two million followers. And Suarez has like, I think, 60,000. Would she be, if she wins the title, would she be the first mom to be a U.S. championship? Yeah. I'm waiting for that.

I'm waiting for her first mom to win. So that would be. A mom has a won yet. The storylines are there and she's more popular. So, yeah. It's hard to argue. And I think, and once you get that top 10 win, which she got a dominant top 10 win over Carolina, I think pretty much, as long as you have a win and you beat a top 10

fighter, you're good for a title shot. And right now, the timing is right there. And then just have Swars and our answer off just, you know, they fight and then they just wait. And it's right there. Starved Division is very exciting. I must say. I love the Starved divot. It's been more like Yonah losing kind of opened a lot of doors. What if Androge rematches Yonata, because Yonra does have that win over, like a dominant win over. If I don't want to see, I don't think it makes sense, but just for selfish reasons, if Swars wins, I want to see Swar's Yawanna. Yeah.

That's by our... I want to see Swar's versus fill in blank. I think there's a lot of matchups that would like to see how she does.

But anything else you want to say about these four women? What do you think about the odds? Like, I'm not the best person to ask about opening odds and stuff.

I mean, they make sense because... No, it's a minus 1,600. Well, okay. Swars is minus 900. Yeah,

I'm about... If I had 100 bucks, you know, yeah, so, I mean, I would never put money on those type of odds because that's just ridiculous. But I can see how they got there. I mean, you know, if it was a pick and fight, oh yeah, I go Swars.

Oh yeah, I go Schenko. Right. So. This question is, again, from Rob Holland, who has asked a lot of questions. The people's main event this weekend, Ferguson versus Cowboy. It is a big discredit that this is a three-round fight. Is this perhaps the biggest fight not to be awarded a full five rounds

and what other fights can you recall that stand out as missed opportunities to be five rounders? Okay, a quick note by the whole three-round versus five-round thing is the UFC could totally make this a five-round fight, by the way, just completely make this five-round fight. The problem is, well, they don't want to because it affects the pay-per-view time,

but I don't know, is that even a thing anymore? It's on ESPN Plus. Yeah, that used to be a big thing. You can't go past a certain time limit, but now it's not. So I'm not sure why. But essentially, if you're a fighter, you want to get paid more for a five-round fight. That is, what, 40% more training, 40% more chance of injuries, 40% more wear and tear in your body for that training camp, 40% more damage in the actual fight of a possibility.

So I completely get why most fighters, unless you're going to get, paid for it, don't want to fight five rounds. But as a selfish fan that doesn't care about fighters or their bank accounts, I wish this was seven rounds. Like five rounds isn't enough. I just want to see these guys like, yeah. Like this is a fight like when we were talking before we were going to the Korean zombies versus the I and Rodriguez fights, like take the octagon title implications, everything out. I just want to see these guys spar or fight or whatever. This is just a high level violent martial art matchup. This is the kind of fights that I love. Like, I don't care about who gets the title fight after that.

I just want to see these two fight. Yeah. Yeah, I just, what's the question? Like, should this be a, is this opportunity? Can we too? And are there other facts you can think of that or miss opportunities for five-round? Yeah, Anthony Pettis versus Nate Diaz coming up at UFC 241, right? 241, that could be a five-round main event for sure, but what you're going to do?

I mean, it's a welterweight. They're both like Anthony Pettus looks great at Welterweight, obviously after his knockout of Wonderboy. Nate Diaz has a fought since he lost. Like he himself, he said, I won my last fight, but looking at the record, he obviously lost. So that's one that immediately sticks out of my head. Connor versus Dustin Porre could have headlined that card way back in day. I know Connor was still, like, relatively new, but he was still a big deal. Over, so that would have been, that would have been over the title fight.

I don't know if that's a car. I don't know if that. Was that the card? Yeah. Because that, if you look at that card, that also had Eddie Al versus Cowboy. that had Katzen Gano versus Amanda Nunes, that had Dominicruz, just DeKamizugaki, Yola Romero versus Tim Kennedy. Those are all fights that could have been awesome for five rounds.

So any one of those would have been great. Yeah, I mean, you can, there's dozens of fights. You can probably go, oh, just too bad that I didn't go more rounds. I mean, too bad that wasn't five rounds, but I can't really think of him right now. I think the first Lyota, Matt Henderson. That was the co-main event of Ronda, at least, Karmouche. I remember there was a lot of people upset that that was the co-main event. Like obviously the Ronda should have headlined the U.

But it was her first U.S.C. fight. She was really popular. Was it Ronda versus two? Liz Karmouche. That was an main event. No, I'm saying people were upset that Dan Henderson and Liotto was the co-main event at the time. What? Because then Dan Henderson was supposed to fight John Jones and then that fell apart.

So he was basically risking his no more contendership against Liotto Machita. And then they fought and then Liotto Machita won a very narrow decision. But I remember leading up to that. There were other fights in that card? There were. Nah. People were very upset that Leota-Michita versus Dan Henderson was the co-main event. Alex K. Lee would like to interrupt you, Casey,

and let you know that a five-round fight is actually 67% more training than a three-round fight. He's very good at math. His brain's clicking on all cylinders with his Toronto Raptors, Stephen. But I remember the... But the point being, math, math, using the math. Math. What is math, really? it takes a lot more training

and fighters want to get paid more for our five round fight so we can go on that was that was what you do oh okay this is

here's a question from Twitter Aaron asks Aaron from Toronto asks Can Parier beat Nirmie and if so how I want to believe

we were actually talking about this before we even got on air and we both were agreed that he has to do what no one else has been able to do and that is stop the takedown and that's not stop the first takedown and not stop the second takedown

but continuously keep Habib Nirmiga made up from doing what he's proven to be arguably the best at inside the octagon. So the question is can he do it? Yes, he can do it. He has the capabilities but will he do it? Yeah, I can do it. I can do it.

Am I going to do it though? So B.B.V.C. you next. Yeah. Yeah. You're shaking. Yeah. You're just like ankle.

Yeah. Just, well, I mean, but then Habib could like. I feel like you're representing all the people on the internet. I say, I can.

Stay in the mark, rap. Pall like a man. You know what, though, but Dustin is so dang good right now that yeah,

I fully expect Habib to win, but I want to see it happen. I want to see that's that's that's that's the fun part. Like can Habib still do it over and over over again? Because that's what's so awesome because you know his game plan. You know, he's game plan. You know, probably simple one-toos, a few overhands.

You know, the threat, no, you have a little threat to stand up. No, that's what that's what got Connor, you know. But you know his game plan. And like that's, that's what's so incredible. You know what's game plan and you know what he's going to do. And you still, and that's all your training camp for. That's all you're training for. And you still can't stop it.

So eventually someone will stop it, but is Dustin the guy? And oh, my man, can you imagine the upset to do this to get that upset in Abu Dhabi? Or, like, if there's going to be a home, if there's ever like a hometown crowd that's, it's going to be for Habib in Abu Dhabi. That's, that's hostile territory. I mean, the fact that the fact that they're having the pay-per-view at Abu Dhabi time. Yeah. Not doing this whole, like, hey, sheiks, show up at 3.8. to watch fights, you know.

No, like, it's, this is for them. This fight, this is one of those rare paper reviews. It's actually for that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, it's, like, when, like, when, like, when you see, like, when you see, lots of, you, lots of, you know, I remember seeing the gusususim, yeah, Rumble versus Gustusson. Super early over there. They walked out probably three a.m. and they had stopped serving liquor, I think, three or four hours before that. So at that point, the crowd was just, they were just tired. They had just watched 15 minutes of Ryan Bader versus Phil Davis.

Two great fighters, horrible matchups. And to some reason, that was a rematch. Well, I don't know why they, they rematched in Bellator. No, no, that was. Oh, that was the first fight. Oh, okay. Because then they fought for the title. And it sucked.

It was like, oh, yeah, and it's both of them. Exactly. And both of them, why did you meet this fight again? Yeah, both of them are like, this is. is we don't match up well. But the point being, those fights, even though that fight is for the Swedish crowd, they still made him show up at 3 a.m. to watch their boy fight.

For a B, for a B, oh, yeah, knocked out. He actually walked out a little after 4 a.m. 4 a.m. So remember the press conference started at 5 a.m. Good God. Bluh. I mean, I'm going like, like, like, memories. But, yeah, but Habib is the fact they're doing a pay-per-view at the local time for

Habib. Habib. They're doing it for Habib, man. Yeah. So it will be one. It's, betting wise won't be the biggest upset by far. I mean, but I think for the crowd and for what's on the table for that for the Abu Dhabi market. Do you think that Dustin Poirate will be Habib's, like, toughest challenge that is fought inside the octagon?

Who would you say it's toughest challenge? Prior to this, probably Connor Edson Barbosa. or RDA well Edson and RDA I believe were three round fights and Connor was like he finished him in the fourth round yeah but Dustin's been on

like look at like I think I think Dustin without a doubt is a tougher fighter than Connor oh yeah without a doubt is a tougher fight so yeah I would have no issue saying this is gonna be the toughest fight for Habib

I still expect Habib to win I expect it probably be the not probably just a grinding decision which is going to be exciting in the moment, but if you kind of rewatch it later without any, without the stakes involved, it's just going to be like, oh, I guys holding another guy down for 25 minutes. Do you think Dustin is the best striker that Habib's ever fought?

Because he has fought Connor and like Edson Barboso, like we were saying before we got on there, like a good striker in the sense of like kickboxing. Yeah, yeah. I would say so. I would say we were talking earlier. Like I think Connor in the first four minutes, three minutes of a fight, he's the best striker at lightweight. In the first three or four minutes, by far.

But over time, like in the fifth round, I'm sorry, in the third round, the fourth round, when, you know, your gas tank is now at 30%, 40%, I definitely believe Dustin is the most dangerous striker past the first round. He doesn't. Does that make sense? Yeah, 100%. I mean, his fight. And that's very important.

That's very important for Habib, because Abe's not a guy that's probably going to finish in the first round, lets he lands an overhand. And what I'm very excited to see, too, is like Dustin Poirier, Like, Connor has that window where he said, like, he kind of, like, when he fought Floyd Mayweather and got finished in his press comments, he's like, I have this window where I just, like, get really tired. And that was downfall against, like, Nate. And then he kind of overcame that in the rematch. And then he had, he didn't overcome it against Floyd. Dustin, when he fought Max, like this most, when he won the interim title, he tried to finish him really fast in the first round.

And after that first round, I was like, man, I don't know, Dustin's probably just used all of his energy. And then they fought five rounds. and he didn't slow down at all. So Dustin Poirier's cardio is going to, I'm very curious to see how this, like, person with extreme cardio fares against Havib's, like, grinding, top-heavy style. That doesn't, that is not proven to that. He just, like, gets all his energy drained after two rounds. And it's a different type of cardio. It's not like a Max Holloway cardio where it's a volume cardio.

Right. He's got, Dustin's got a cardio where, like, when that fourth round comes, like, those punches still hurt. They're coming so heavy. Those right hands are. Like his fight against Anthony Payne. Pettus was like very back and forth, both very bloody. It was all like grappling on the ground. The Gaichi fight.

That wasn't the, I think it was the third round. I must see. I believe, it was in the later round. Yeah, yeah. But, but, um, Poirier got hit hard early in that fight. Remember where the point you thought Gaichi was going to win that fight and he recovered. A lot of I folks in that way. Yeah.

Fourth round. So fourth round. So all that power, he's still a devastating power in the fourth round. That's something like Conno never had. And, and, um, and, um, and, um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, And I think even Edson, especially if you grind him down, he won't have that power walking out in that third round if he's taking two hard rounds before that. Dating back to 2017, which was his first vice after the Michael Johnson lost, he beats Jim Miller, fights Eddie Alvers to no contest, finishes Anthony Pettis, finishes Justin Gagee, finishes Eddie Alvarez in the rematch, and then takes the featherweight champion Max Holloway two decision. Say he beats Habib, is that the greatest run?

of fighters of victories in UFC history. And that lightweight, man, that's a hell of a run. Just in general. Just, I got to think of more about that. John Jones's 2011 was super impressive. That's the first one that jumps out of me. And then not UFC related, but like, I believe it was that 04 Grand Prix, that Shogun won. That was also ultra-impressive.

Dustin's run would be extremely unique for a guy. Because Shogun before that and John Jones, those guys weren't coming off devastating losses. Yeah. Yeah. The story is. I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say Dustin was like, Left for Dead as far as like a title challenger. But, I mean, he was got, he's a guy that got flatlined a couple of times.

No. You got flatlined by Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson. Yeah. In the Hidalgo, Texas. Yeah. So I think in terms of lightweight, I think it's 100%.

But in terms of just UFC history, it is way up there. But that John Jones, where he beats Bader and then Shogun, like, Rampage, Yodo. Like, that was super impressive to me. It's fun to think about, but he still. has to do the hardest part. Yeah. He's just to beat Habibia. Yeah, because I was saying that about Anthony,

I was saying, I was pretty much saying the same thing about Anthony Smith a few months ago. If he beats John Jones, it would be one most incredible career renaissance as I've ever seen. A guy that was under 500 for a time. But he still has to beat John Jones. And like right now, he still has to be Habib. And that's going to, that's the thing. So it's almost even too, it's almost too hypothetical to even talk about. at this point. Do you think beating Habib's harder than beating John Jones?

Yes. It's a good answer. Yes. It's the correct answer. Yes. You know, because we're rambling, we only want to talk for an hour because we have other things to do. So we're going to, we need a, you need to give us good, like, hey, we have another question from Twitter from Eduardo. He does.

Who is the biggest, most highly ranked MMA fighter you think Sehudo would still crush? So try to go up in weight classes and think, who could Suhudo still be in a higher weight class? Wow. So like, this is the other same size? No, no, no. No. Basically, are we saying, are we thinking of the other thing? Well, because people have always watched MMA or loved Jiu-Ditsu because the idea that the smaller person can win, right?

So can Sehudo beat someone bigger than him? Because if it could be Marlon. Yeah. Yeah, so who'd be Gokensaki? Could he take Gokensaki down? Wow. Like, style-wise. Of course, if it's, you know, you know, stand-up, of course.

Yeah, it's modest. Dolk-Saki, the one that tried to fight Mark Hunt at heavyweight? Yeah. Wow. That's a, I never knew I wanted to see that fight until now. I would have been. I mean, I think, I think, I think, I think, so, like, you think, so hoodoo could be, I think some. You think you beat Jeremy Stevens?

No. Yeah. Yeah. That's featherweight. Like, I just went up two white classes. Like, Yair is super tall for featherweight. Like, maybe Darren Alkins. I don't think, I don't think, I don't think Sohudo can beat anyone in the top 40 at featherweight.

Wow. I mean, that's just, I mean, I don't think DJ could do it either, you know? I think, I still think DJ is the best flight weight in the world. That's another story. That's a whole story. Sorry, but, yeah, I just, I think Sehudo, We're going to find out where he is a bantam weight. Like right now, I think Sehudo is like a top 10 bantam weight.

Your answer could change after his fight against Marlin. Yeah. Like if he just like, say it's five-round decision and Sehudo just dominates, like 50-45s, a couple 50-44s in there. Yeah. If he can beat Marlon, like no one's ever beaten Marlon. And it's what besides early, early in his career when he was training in Brazil. WSOF, post-WF, Marlon, Marius. Pre-W-S-O-F, you mean?

Post. Okay. No, like pre-W. He was like, he was like kind of a mediocre fighter before. Remember, he lost like his first whatever, whatever. But if, if Sohu do can really, like, win-win the Saturday, that changes. But right now, I just, I've seen Tohudo lose a couple of times already, you know? He didn't, you know, he's not.

Well, his fight against Benavides is, that was tight decision. It was a super tight decision. I thought Benadby was won, but obviously, I mean, it was a super close fight. And that's why I want to see the rematch. But am I thinking Benavitas is a top 45? I mean, could he compete at 45? No, he's at 25 for a reason because he's too small to be the top, to be an elite 35er. He'll be a contender at Bantamweight, Benevitas, which I think Sehudo is still.

I think Sehudo is a contender at Bantam weight. Like Demetrius, Demetrius was a contender at Bantam weight, but they weren't the best at Bantamweight. I think Sehudo's the same thing. I think it's where we're going to find out Saturday, too. I like your answer. It's a smart answer. All right. A question from Milo on the website here.

Should some fighters do less media? Are some guys just better off doing less media because they don't come across well? Was this an attack on Suhudo and his cringe, whatever thing? I would imagine. Because I love, I love it. Yeah, there's a, in the middle, I cut out the middle sentence, sorry, Milo, which is, at the start of the week, I didn't really mind Sehudo, but his promotion this week on Embedded and other places has really started to annoy. me.

We're talking about him, so it's working. Now, Milo, are you watching these Sohudo interviews and these Sohudo embedded in going, you know what? I'm not going to watch this fight now. I'm not going to pay 60 bucks to watch this guy get his ass kicked. If that's the answer, you're not going to watch it. Then, yes, he is talking too much. But you're going to watch.

You're going to hope he gets his ass kick. So whatever Sohuto is doing, it is working because Sehudo is a prize fighter and he knows it now. Listen to her. Listen to his scrum. We just had an, L.A. L.A. And he talked about, he kind of, you know.

He had security there. Yeah, security there. He had security there. He had security there. I mean, he kind of broke K-Bave a bit when he was talking about like, oh, I'm just saying this because I want people to buy the pay-per-view. You kind of, you know. You can't do that. I know, he can't do that.

I was like, dude. But he basically said that. He's like, I won't be watched pay-per-view. I want people to watch me get my ass kicked or watch me, no, no, F-up this guy. So, um, um, um, the answer is no, Milo. What was it? Um, I, if we're talking specifically about Henry Seudo, no, just keep doing what you're doing, man. Because like, we're talking about it for a reason. And like, Henry's like, like, the big issue with Demetri's Johnson was that he wasn't, like, great with the media.

And like, they like, they're like, oh, he's the most dominant champion, but no one cares when he fights. I mean, when he set the record for most title defenses, he did it in the co-main event below an interim. an interim lightweight fight. So I think Henderson Hutto saw that. And he's like, well, I got to do something differently. So he's doing his part. So if we're talking specifically about Henry Sikido, like, no, he should just keep doing what he's doing.

All right. We have a question from Tragic Bronson on Twitter. Jimmy Rivera versus Peter Yan. I feel there's more to lose for Jimmy than Peter. Does Pierre Yan win put him in line for the next title shot, since we're on Bantamweight right here? And where does a loss leave Jimmy? Jimmy Rivera, who suffered a 30-second KO to the man fighting for the vacant belt this weekend.

I think Jimmy obviously has more to lose because he's coming off. He's won in two in his last few fights. He got headkicks by Marlon and Utica. And then he lost Al Jermaine Sterling, who, to answer the other part of the question, like, well, Peter Yan deserve the next one. I think the winner of Al Jermaine Sterling is Pedro Munoz should fight for the title. And Al Jermaine was trying really hard to get that title shot over Sohudo to begin with. Munoz coming off that K-O of former champion.

So I don't think Peter Young will get the next title shot, but he'll maybe be another one away. I mean, he's looked unbelievable in the Octagon, but Jimmy Rivera for sure has more to lose against a hot prospect like Peter Young. Yeah, unfortunately, Jimmy Rivera seems to be in that, the high-level gatekeeper, not the, if you can beat Jimmy Rivera, that means you're pretty much good enough to fight for a title shot pretty soon. And this isn't going to be Peter Yan, no matter what he does to Jimmy Rivera this Saturday, he won't get a title shot.

Because I just don't think he deserves it over Jimmy Rivera. But, yeah, this is a very, I'm very surprised. Jimmy Very took this fight, but more props to him. But, yeah, he absolutely has the most to lose. Jimmy Rivera does have a win over Pedro Munoz, too. So if Pedro Munoz beats Alsterman Sterling and he's obviously should get the next title fight, but like, Jimmy Rivera should want Pedro Munoz to be Al Jermaine Sterling. Because Al Jardin Sterling hasn't went over him.

He hasn't went over Pedro Munoz. So there's a lot, Jimmy Bear has a lot of things that need to go his way if he wants to jump back in that title picture. So because that fight against Al Jermaine was dated back a long time. Like they both said they've been thinking about each other since they were on the regional circuit in New York. So him to lose that rivalry and it wasn't a knockout, it was a decision. He lost it pretty handily. Yeah, 100%. It wasn't a close decision whatsoever,

and Al Javier just happens to be clicking at all cylinders lately. So Juniper has more to lose, and he's not going to be in the title picture, unless a lot of things go his way. Yeah. Next question is from Denysaurus on Twitter. What? Denysaurus.

Denysaurus. Deni, D-E-N-N-I, and then like Soros, like a dinosaur. Oh, Denysaurus. Denysaurus. Is light heavyweight finally getting spicy again? it's definitely like we were we were talking about the little off there too it's definitely super an interesting division where you're seeing this massive departure from like the old guard and seeing a giant influx of middleweights coming up like i am super curious how luke rachel

looks against yon blockovitz uh at uc 239 because if he just runs through it like obviously the anthony smith fight is there corey anderson's like been chomping at the bits to get back in the octagon uh so and ovin st bruce coming off that loss too so we're seeing a lot of these fighters leave and this huge influx of exciting fighters come in. So it's definitely gone spicy just because there's a lot of new names. Plus, we have an active champion in John Jones who wants to fight the challenges. Absolutely. Yeah, like heavyweight rules right now.

Yeah. We can, we can do, that's another question, debating how we want to match them up. But like, right now, you have what, Reyes, Raich. Ray is Ratchick. Rackich. Rackich. Rackich. Rackage.

Rackage. Rackage. Yeah, Ray is Rackich. Johnny Walker. Right now, to me, those are the three premier prospects. But there's other guys there, too. And they obviously have Brockhold Smith right there. We don't know if Santos is going to do.

You know, he might, I don't expect him to win, but who knows it could be competitive, you know? What's Chris Wyman? Is he going to make 95? What happened? Yeah, he said he would fight Jack Hermanson in the middleweight, but Jack Kraman's kind of moved on from that. So we don't know yet. Yeah, I really would.

If he jumps up to light heavyweight, that's another. Yeah, I really wish you would go up. But because I don't see, I think, you know, we just see him lose so many times now. Middleweight, I don't think the UFC is just too hot on that. But to answer your question, Dino's, Dinah, Denisor's. Yes, the light heavyweight division is spicy. And we still, Falcon Oskinear and Julipi didn't get to fight. Like if Vulcan, and a lot of people think Vulcan beat Dominic Gray's in that last fight.

Oh, yeah, you're right. So if Vulcan, if one judge reads that decision his way, he's on, like Dominic raise no longer. And we have the resurgence of Ed Herman's. Oh, and the big picture of the back on the stage. The Shogun is still flow. The Shogun is still there. Yeah, Shogun is still there. You're right.

This is kind of odd question, but I'm not sure. Dan Shapiro asks, since we can already purchase most media a la carte, why not fights? What are your thoughts and promoters offering individual fights for purchase? And could this also help deliver metrics to determine a specific fighter's value. How much would you pay just for Ferguson versus Soroni? In a three-round fight or a five-round fight? I think that's the big thing.

That is awesome as a fight. So if it's, I pay for five-round fight, I don't know if I pay for three-round fight between them. You pay for $60 or you're paying you out? You pay $25. How about this? Would you pay $25 for one fight? Tony Ferguson versus Donald Seroni, five-run fight would be enough to get me to buy ESPN plus if I was a, if I was on the fence. It's almost like, oh, if you buy this, you get to watch it just this fight. All right, let's do it. But I don't know if I'd pay $25 for one fight.

But I think we would. The problem is that you'd be packaged like that if it feels like you're only buying one fight. But I feel like most boxing papers. That's what I was going to say. You wind up paying 60 bucks for essentially one fight. You mean, you pay your 60 bucks. Actually, it's 70 or 80 bucks for boxing. You pay your 80 bucks to watch a fight.

Yeah, there's prelims on it. But you have a party? No one's really watching the prelims. Like, you know, they're kind of watching, but no one's, like, sitting down really having big debates on the prelims or even the co-main event. Maybe the co-main event at best. Yeah, the co-main event is always when I tune in. Yeah, maybe. But I think we've done it a lot already in boxing.

It's just, yeah, they would do it. I don't know. I don't think the UFC would ever do that. But why not? Yeah, Danny Garcia fought in the co-main event of Mayweather Cana. Yeah. That's when I tuned it in because I wanted to see Garcia and the Tisi really bad. Yeah, but it'll be interesting.

I don't see any reason why the UFC would do that. But, yeah, I'll pay $25 bucks to watch Soroni, Soroni versus Ferguson, three rounds. Now, would you pay 20? I don't want to crap, I don't want to crap another five. But is it like 25 bucks and that's a wrap like you don't get? Yeah, one fight. Guys walk out, hand raise.

All right. Yeah, I feel better victory. 25 bucks might be the most I pay. All right, 25 bucks. For a non-title fight? Probably. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So you're saying you, you, all right, for Ferguson,

Ferguson for Dols Rone is just such a good fight. Yeah, that might be one of the only fights I pay for a non-title fight. Definitely, it's just like I said before, like, that's just a high-level martial arts. I want to see that. Would you pay 25 bucks to watch Gatchie versus pretty much any top lightweight? Probably. Yeah.

So I think, I think the answer is yes, I would pay, I don't think you're paid a full of 60, but, you'll pay, you know, a good chunk of change. Yeah. Esther. Rob Holland again, but I just, there's a couple of true or falsees. Okay. Gus makes a comeback, like Joan suspects. Faber wins and has another fight. So he's going to lose, but he's still going to fight again.

Yeah, he wants to fight, too. I think he's going to want to, and I bet TJ would want to fight him. That would be great. Actually, you know, I'm already kind of hype for that fight. T.J. versus Fibber and T. two years. I'm down for that fight. They're going to have to.

Or actually the fight, I want to see if we're going to do stupid fights, I want to see Faber go up to 150. 150. And if the UFC is not going to release BJ Penn. Oh, no. Faber versus BJ Penn at 150. If we're just talking fights at just Legends League, why not? What? If the UFC's not going to release Bay Japan, he's going to fight.

This is a big, if they're not going to release him. At least give them big names to fight. Yeah. Big names are... New Japan versus Saper, 150. Why not just make a Siam Punk? I said that many times. I'm 170.

But I feel like I'm in Chicago, and it feels like I'm kind of shitting on punk by saying that. But I like that. Yeah, so do I. He's living his dream. Jimmy Manuel gets an offer from Bellator and becomes a big player in their light heavyweight division. I... No. No.

Well, you know what? You might get an offer because Belichore does so many cards in the UK. It's true. So I don't think it'd be a big player, but I think he might get an offer. But I don't know how the contract stuff works. You can't just retire unless his contract's over. He can't just retire. I was going to say, like, if he comes back, he might be contractually obligated.

Assuming, under the assumption, he's a free agent right now. He retired being a free agent. Yes, they will get an offer for a UK card. He won't be a big player. Let me close thing him fight in the UK. Okay. True or false. Jessica I goes the distance with the champ.

Okay. True or false, the winner of Ferguson Cowboy gets set aside for the return of Connor. Hmm. If Tony wins, he has to fight the winner of Habib Porier. I mean, Habib was on. I don't remember what someone interviewed over in his... So if Seroni wins. Let's go.

If Soroni wins, let's go. I bet Seroni fights Connor. Okay, I'll go true for that. You don't think the UFC is just going to do whatever Connor wants? I mean, I don't want to think of it. I don't want to think about it. Yeah. But Connor, there's new pay-view models.

Like a big question for Connor's future. He's not getting these pay-view points anymore. They don't want to pay Brock Lesnar, like, a flat rate. They're not for it. And Connor wants, like, part of the company. Like, there's a lot of questions out there. They need to be answered before. Connor even fights again.

Doesn't Connor already own the C and UFC? That's what he says. Yeah. All right. Any updates on Usman versus Colby? Not to my knowledge. Because Usman just had, like, knee surgery, didn't he? Yeah, search you somewhere.

He said his last few fights, he basically had his, he was fighting with like a shattered, like a wrecked knee. And you saw him at the post-fight press conference. He came in on a wheelchair. And that wasn't because of what happened to fight. That's just like his knee has been falling apart for a long time. So he finally got it cleaned up. How do you, how the heck do you fight at the highest levels against someone like Willie with one good leg? Well, let me say that he basically followed one hand because now he has arthritis in his.

Oh, yeah. So he can't, like, he can't throw a punch? So one knee versus one handgun? Okay. Fair enough. It's a fair fight then. Yeah. It's a fair fight.

Science. All right. Question from Peter. A Peter Carroll from Ireland. Will the next Bantamweight contender be decided at 238? Contender? Yeah, I would say so. You think it's going to be between?

Yeah. See, so yeah, there's, that's going to be decided this weekend. I would hope so. What the UFC does is another story, but I would imagine so. Dominic's out for a while, right? Yeah, he had like shoulder. Yeah, so Dominic's gone for a while. Cody's obviously out of the picture for a little bit.

Am I missing somebody at the top? Al Jermaine and Munoz are the only two that would make sense. Yeah, I thought maybe I'm forgetting any. Unless Peter Yon just like skips the line. I don't see, unless it's like a Russia card. Yeah, but I don't. Yeah. Yeah, true.

No Kick, No Clan wants to know. What is the best Misfits album? Static Age. I will believe you. I like, okay, I like Earth AD a lot because, like, they, it has more of a hardcore sound, which is just more my preference. But I think overall it's just music will go to static age. Okay.

I actually want to bring up this question from Eduardo, because I am curious. Yes. Is he a much as a statute in a one? Yes. The question does this question does sound handsome? If you had a $1 million budget to tell any MMA story, which one would you tell? This is for both of you, actually, because I am curious what, Jose, if you could go anywhere and interview anyone and write a story about them, who would it be? What's MMA?

M.A. You go first. I got to think about it. You have a good answer. I want to do a story. I want to do a real 30-4-30 on Shannon Rich. but not now because I think I went to his fight finder right now

he has 87 losses I want to be there 57 wins something like that 57 you know I'm being something there I'm such a glass half empty guy but he's 57 and like 87 right but I want to be there I want to be there and document

the road to his 100th loss because I think it's and it might be off or nothing because he might win that fight he might be you know you might be 56 and 99 after that but I just think someone doing this for this long and getting your weight cutting going to the way in talking to the media walking out there in the gladiary challenge king of the cage wherever and then getting your ass

kick 99 times and doing it one more time i just think that's an amazing story and yeah i'm all about i'm really like just as a media person like they always bring us the winners after the fight and like winners are cool but like i'm always actually i'm always way more interested in the losers, to be honest. And there aren't no real losers in the sport, just the guy that didn't win. I mean, it sounds like I'm not trying to be like an asshole, but I think there's more, I always think there's more of a story in the other side of things. By the way, if you have Netflix, watch that series Losers.

There's a whole docu-series called Losers, and it's very good. I think Dana Corman would be an interesting one because he came up with the wrestling things in his whole, like there's a lot of unhappy things that have happened in his life that a lot of fans don't know about, or I've always heard from Brazilian media that Tiago Santos has a crazy childhood. Really? Like he grew up in like a rough part of Brazil and like a rough part of Brazil is like someone once described he's like you ever seen that movie like City of God or City of Gold or whatever. I was like yeah, he goes, yeah, that's where Tiago Santos grew up.

I was like, whoa. Like I want to know more about that. So one of those two guys for sure because they just seem like they have super interesting stories that I don't think enough people talk about. Marlon has a story. Yeah, Marlon too. from that kind of background too. So one of those two guys for me.

We have a question from the chat, which normally we don't pull from because it's full of ridiculousness. Armando asks, hey guys, just curious what you guys think about Ali saying, there's a GSP clause written in a Habib contract. What does that mean? I have no.

Isn't GSP out of the USADA testing pool? I have no idea. Like, didn't he retire? And he's like, I don't hide. It's like what? So if he wins a yes fight George, what at 150 like george would cut to 155 does that mean gsp has a clause that only gsp has

i don't know what that means yeah yes that's what that means oh so i'm not sure what i'm not sure what it's referring to yeah i don't know that's a mystery yeah i have no idea i know habib really wants that fight and nate was on uh ariel's show saying that the uc wanted to do like a four-man tournament with like him habib connor and someone else maybe tonic can't remember but uh so for no george it was like george connor Nate and Habib or something like that

they wanted to do like this four person tournament and the winner the winners would fight so like theoretically we could have had like Nate Diaz versus George St. Pierre and the finals of this tournament or Connor versus Joe I don't know what the first round matches would be but I assumed Connor would rematch Nate in the first round and then maybe George would fight had been the first round and then the winner of those two and move on yeah I'm just I just I don't have very much of George really wants that fight. Yeah, because it's big paychecks. And I get that.

But someone like, I don't get, I don't get more money for covering those fights than I do for this fight. So, like, I don't really. I just want to see Tony versus beat more than anything, honestly. I want to see more gay. I'm a big gauge you guys. I say. I'm not going to say yes because if I say yes, it won't happen. Would it happen as a non-title fight sometimes?

Don't. I'm going to say it'll never happen to put it out in the world because every time I'm, to get excited about it. It doesn't happen. And I was on when, uh, when I did the show with, uh, the old host, Sean, uh, he was like, oh, what do you think of these matches? Like, I don't think any fight is happening until they're in the octagon. That's how jaded I am. So I don't think it'll ever happen just because I've been, I've played with fire too much and it's burned me too many times. Um, I think, I think there's a good chance it happened. It's the next fight for both of those guys. Uh, ha. One can hope. One can dream. All right. Uh, well, it's

one o'clock. So I will, there's one more question. You need good questions? No. I'm just kidding. No, no, no. Just a comment from Twitter from Dennis Oras again. Just wanted to know Casey, because Casey is full of these. The time has come. What is your hottest MMA take? And please don't get me fired. Yeah. He's as bad. It's just, ah. Hot as MMA take. Man, I don't know. I don't know. I know.

I don't know. So you open the fridge. What do I want to? Yeah, I want everything. All right. Otherwise, I'm going to interrupt you and ask another question. Yeah, give me a little bit more. God, dang, I got stuff too.

Hit me. I can't think of it right now. I'm a blank of it because we're kind of going over everything. Do you think Chris Cyborg's going to come back to the UFC? Yes. Who she? Oh, resigns to the UFC. Resign?

Oh, it is official. Oh, it is official. So it is happening. Oh. Oh, will she re-sign after? I don't think so. I think, and I think she's going to go to one or Bellator. I was going to actually, that was my hot take kind of a little bit. I was going to talk about the women's 45 division and how I think, well, if Holly, if Holly beats Nunes,

I, God, I hope that the rematch is going to be at 45. So. No, no, between Amanda and Holly at 45. Because Holly... Oh, so then. Holly could take both her belts. Oh, my gosh. But if Nunes wins, I want Nunes.

I think the Cyborg Spencer fight is just dumb. Spencer just beat Meehan. Dominated her. Like, if that was Cyborg that beat Megan that way, or that was any other fire, if that was Holly that beat Meegan that way, or Nunes that beat me in that way, you'd be like, oh, title shot, or whatever.

but since it was Spencer we kind of like, because she doesn't she doesn't look the part honestly she's kind of big smile kind of not just ripped person doesn't look getting off the bus yeah you would say but I really wish they did

Nunes versus Spencer but then what if in this scenario Holly beats Amanda for the band to win title and then they rematch a featherweight and then Amanda wins the featherweight title now they're one-on-one at two different weight classes they both still have belts it's just a crazy scene

It's just an anarch. When you do double champs, stuff, this is the situation you're always going to have. It's very true. Because eventually, yeah, they're double champs, but how are they not going to be double champs? And that's what it creates all the, especially when you have someone like Holly, the most ridiculous fight ever that was booked was Holly versus Megan Anderson.

Why was that fight ever booked? What did it mean? Nothing? Nothing at all. So Cyborg, no, not resigning. Yeah. She's going to take, she'll fight. She'll fight. She'll fight. And then that'll be it. And a fight that means.

I have no idea why they're fighting because if Cyborg beats Spencer, which I think she will. Actually, I think Spencer has a better chance of being Nunes than Cyborg. But if Cyborg beats Spencer, then what? You knock Spencer out of title contention and then Cyborg leaves and then the... Unless they don't get it. Oh, if you win, you just get the rematch guaranteed at 1.45. But who knows? But I think she might go to Velotor.

Like Scott Coker is there. obviously has past relationship. Yeah, just more options because she's buying Risen. 100%. Do kickboxing. Yeah. So I think this will be cyborxed. Well, I think we should wrap it up.

Wrapped. So anything else you want to say? Hot takes or nothing like that? Was I not hot enough today? No. No. I think people were expecting. No.

Casey's A-side debut, equivalent to Derek Lewis versus Francis and Ghana, just fireworks promised and nothing. What? Was I Derek Lewis or? Oh, that's up to you? So I had a bad back. That was my issue. You had a bad back and you were gunshot. I was gun shy. So a lot of hype on this. But I'm Jose. That's Casey. This has been the A side. We're going to, the audio will be up on all the usual places. We're going to be back to our usual format next week where I don't know who's going to be joining me. I know the comment section really wants Pizzie Carroll back. So maybe we bring Pizzi back. I'll have to see what he's, he was supposed to come back. last week where he was in Stockholm doing his job. So, but I'm Jose. That's Casey. We're in Chicago for USC 238. You can check out the YouTube page, the site. Damon Martin's had a bunch of interviews up since he's joined,

AK and Jed and Dane and everyone and Guillermo and Pizier doing their thing on the site. And obviously the YouTube channel we're going to have tons of workouts and media days and everything. So see you over there. And for this episode of the A side, we're out. Are we live? Are we live? You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.