MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | UFC 240 fallout, Max Holloway’s title reign, Cris Cyborg’s contract, Frankie Edgar’s future, B.J. Penn's next fight, more

Episode Date: July 31, 2019

On this episode of The A-Side Live Chat, José Youngs and Petesy Carroll talk UFC 240 fallout, Max Holloway’s title reign, Cris Cyborg’s contract, Frankie Edgar’s future, B.J. Penn's next fight, the welterweight title picture and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. What's up, Universe? Jose Young's back here with another episode of The A-Side. sorry we're three minutes late. As always, whenever we are late, it's usually because of one man, and he is returned to us. Pizza Carol, what happened this time? I don't know.

Every time I try to start this show and I turn on my camera, it doesn't work. Then I have to turn off my whole computer and then eventually we can get started. That's, it's a good omen I feel at this stage. Right. If it didn't happen, something would happen during our actual live broadcast. So in tradition, PTC Carroll is back. I know you've demanded it last week. Your IFA was on.

That was very insightful. Is he a new guy from M.A.Foyton.com? Did he swear to someone? Yeah, it was like a tryout for him. He was like this hot up and coming writer. And I figured we give him a little bit of a spotlight. I don't think he's ever really been in front of that many people at once. So we thought he could tell.

You could tell. I honestly don't think he knows anything about MMA. Like that's what I was feeling when I was watching. I was like, who is this imposter? Right. You know, he's just, how would I put this? He's not quite me. That's what I'd say.

Not quite me. I didn't want to say those words, but not Peecey Carroll is the biggest knock anyone could have on the A side, including myself, apparently. But we're back. Pizzi is here. You've demanded it. So I'm always down to have Pizzi on. So without further ado, Pizzi, let's dive into these questions with your favorite people, the MMA fighting commenters. All those people last time talking mad shit like they were going to do something to me.

Not one person has approached me. I like fighting. Come on. Approach me. If you see me in the street in Dublin. and you don't fight me i'm going to be disappointed how many people how many people commented back after your little rant against them i think a couple of people were a little bit upset with me but you know that's what we we have the our sport is full of the biggest crying fan base of all time they

never stopped whinging about everything so i mean it was to be expected and you've only reinforced my uh my belief that you're all a bunch of losers anyway so whoa thanks very much wow and before i start Before we start, Pizzi, I must say, your hair is on point this time. Is it? Yeah, I was actually a bit worried because they're only out of the shower and I was like, the volume could be, the volume could be a bit crazy here today. It's pretty tall. Your hair's looking pretty tall today.

Oh, yes, yes. I need to just do a buzzcoe, I think, at this stage. Hey, try it, man. We don't know where to find out. But first question from Milo of Croton, Milo of Croton. I still can't pronounce that. I'm sorry. But boring goats.

Hi, guys. It seems every week there's a new discussion over who is the greatest of all time and it's getting boring. It's no fun to speculate on when it gets discussed every single week. And I say that because he puts periods between all these words. Why does the goat conversation dominate the media? Do you guys, the media, even enjoy talking about this every thing? Thanks. So you see two 40 happen.

Max Holliday beat Frankie Edgar in Edmonton. And right away, some of the first question. questions were, are you now the greatest featherweight of all time? I assume that's where this question is coming from. Also, BJ Penn was in the headlines again. I'm sure a little questions about that. He was long time considered one of, if not the best fighters on the planet during his heyday. But greatest of all time conversations, where do you stand on it? Do you enjoy this conversation? I'm not asking who you think is the greatest, but it does seem every time there's a big pay-per-view, this conversation cubs up, whether it's A, how far away are you, this fighter A from

reaching the goat status or are you the goat or has someone superseded the goat? Your thoughts on this quote unquote goat conversation of MMA? It's just a matter of opinion. Like I mean, it doesn't, it's very hard to solidify anything with that kind of stuff. And I mean, yeah, it happens after, after every event. I don't even feel like it has to be a big pay-per-view event. We're talking about someone being the somethingest ever, every time. Like, so yeah, I'm tired of it. Like, I understand where people are talking about it to a certain extent because Frankie's a champion. He's been a perennial contender at Fedderweight. And then Max, of course, you know, who's probably been, you know, under-celebrated by our sport, I really think because he's that good. But, you know, it's expected.

How do I feel about it? I hate it. But it's part of it, isn't it? You can, you can nearly feel it coming after all of these events. Once there's a title on the line, we're going to be talking about some being the greatest. It's just the way it is. Yeah. And this was, really none more evident than UFC 239, which was two paper views ago when John Jones and a man in Union has both fought on the very same card and every single question to John Jones was how does it feel to A, be fighting on another card with the greatest female of all time because many people consider you being the greatest fighter in general of all time. But that changes quite frequently. I remember when Fador Malianenko is considered the greatest fighter of all time. And then

that stopped abruptly when he lost to Verdun. I mean, one loss dropped him from that. conversation at the time. I didn't obviously agree with it. I still consider him the greatest heavyweight of all time. Maybe not the all-time greatest fighter. I think George St. Pierre is the greatest fighter. In my opinion, I think John Jones. Yeah, I think you're right. I think GSP is the consensus for me. I don't, you know, it's very hard to argue with George St. Pierre being the greatest fighter ever, I guess. Yeah. And look at us. We're having it. We're having a greatest of all-time debate now. Look, that's how quickly it happens. You don't even mean for it to happen. Right. It just every time this conversation comes up, it always escalates into who do you consider the greatest fighter of all time.

I know a lot of people still consider John Jones the greatest. I think Demetrius Johnson doesn't get enough conversation in that argument, especially now that he's not in the UFC. There's a lot of these fight fans that if you're not, if you're out of sight, out of mind, where if they're not seeing you on ESPN or fighting for the UFC championship, you can't really be considered the greatest. But he does have the right for most title defenses. and the man he beat Anderson Silva, who many considered the goat at the time, had that record. So I think Demetrius Johnson doesn't get a fair shake,

especially in this era of champ champ. He never really did that. He just wanted to dominate his weight class. But it's usually the same top five, top four, but I do get a little tired of it every single week. I'm just wondering actually, Jose, do you know the way like you go American sports, right? I'm just wondering if someone, like say a baseball player

or a basketball player or an NFL player, they piss hot, they fail a test. Are they immediately excluded from the greatest of all time conversation or are they still there? Because I often think that with Jones and stuff like this, you know what I mean? That's a really good conversation question, especially in baseball, where that is, I think, one of the most highly debated conversation over who the greatest baseball player is of all time, only because baseball has been around for 100 years. So players that played in the early 1900s, how would they compare it to players playing in like 2019?

It's a very different game, especially like ballparks or different pitching is different and all that stuff. But Barry Bonds, who many consider to be the greatest player of all time. He has the all time record in home runs. I think he has the all time record in walks maybe and single season home runs and all this. But he famously failed. He tested positive for band's substances. And that's pretty much tarned his whole career. He's not even in the Hall of Fame.

He has all of these records, and he's not, the media isn't voting in the whole time. A, because he might have had a little prickly reputation with the media as being a little standoffish. So now that they have to vote him in, it's kind of getting back at him. And there's debates whether they should put an asterisk next to his name in all of the record books, considering he failed the drug test. So that question is actually very prevalent in baseball, where Barry Bonds, if he was clean, there is a very strong argument. He's the greatest baseball player of all time.

I believe Alex Kaly on our site, me and him were having this conversation, he considers Barry Bond's the greatest player of all time, even though he did take stories because at that time... Well, Alex is a known steroid user. That's true. That's very true. It's ridiculous. But during Barry Bonds' run, I don't want to say everyone, but a good chunk of baseball

players were taking banned substances. So if you compare him to his contemporaries, it's not like he had this massive advantage. It's just he physically grew too. You saw him go from like this scrawny baseball. player to this very muscular player and all of a sudden like me all the records yeah 100% I don't what I think you gained what like 100 pounds since you joined enemy fighting all natural all natural as well yeah all natural lean muscle yeah but what's your what do you think about that should should fighters tied to ban somethings this be can be in the go conversation I don't know how I feel about

that's why I asked you like I mean I feel like the re one of the reasons why gsp I feel like he is the best guy is because he's never had any of these kind of incidents in his past. You know, I feel like that's kind of important. And, you know, that's the reason for me why I've always pushed him to the top of the, to the top of the pile. But like, we look at John Jones, an incredible fighter. He's brilliant and he's right up there. And he could be number one on that list if it wasn't for these series of issues he's had.

And I think for me, anyway, it does factor into it. And even Anderson Silva is a massive Anderson Silva fan back in the day. You know, I just don't see him there. Even at the peak of his career, I think it's, even though I thought he was the greatest of all time back then, it's very hard to now after the subsequent failures, you know? Yeah, I do think George not testing positive does kind of cement him at the top. And he did the two weight clats thing.

I mean, he did have two title fights or two belts. And he's won. He's, every loss he's had, he's avenged. So I think to me it's a no-brainer, but it's, you see how fickle fans can get. yet if George had lost to Michael Bisman, he probably would have fallen out of the top five in a lot of fans' minds. It's very fickle of,

but with this comment specifically, I do get a little burnt out of talking. Yes. Who is the greatest player? Player, who is the greatest fighter of all time? Because it is subjective. I mean,

a man who knows, people consider her the great female fighter of all time. When did that turn into when is she just the greatest fighter in general of all time? Yeah. That's another conversation for down the road. You remember BJ Penn used to be thinking, thought of was one of the greatest, photos of all time. How long

does a conversation about BJ Penn last in this day and age before you get to, oh, and he was one of the greatest photos of all time. That's the problem with what's going on with him there, but I'm sure we'll get to that later. Yeah, and just quickly on that one, Alex and I talked about this on the post show at UC 240,

I still kind of put BJ Penn as the greatest lightweight of all the time kind of by default, just because there's not been a lot of long reigning champions there in that way class. Like, I think the win, if Habib fights Tony, I think the winner of that should be considered the greatest lightweight of all time. But at the moment, I think BJ Penn is still the greatest lightweight who's ever steps inside

the octagon. But that's another conversation for down the road. All right, moving on from LFMWA. Thoughts unnormalizing Dana Damaging Fighters Brands. Title says it all. Just figured I'd ask a general question based on the coverage of Cyborg entering free agency. So it was only a matter of time where we talked to cyber free staff. I'm sure you watched post-fighter press.

conference. I'm sure you watched all the media leading up to eat. I'll even go back to UFC 239 with the Amanda Nunes fight. Dana-Wa kind of dragged Chris Cyborg through the mud where he said Chris Seibor doesn't want the rematch. Chris Seibor doesn't want to fight Amanda Nunes. She wants easier fights outside of the UFC, this and that. And Chris Seiborg is basically responding to him every chance she gets. She's putting out her own YouTube video. She's putting out her own tweet saying, I asked for the rematch. But I think it's, it's no secret that this was for last fire in her contract. I'm sure the UFC offered her, well, if you want the rematch, sign a new contract. She didn't like that contract, so she didn't get the immediate rematch.

It has nothing to do with not want to fight Nunes. It has everything to do with wanting a good deal, like a better, a fair shake. Because if Dana White said, like, I'm sure you heard to, Dana White says, Chris Seibor can sign a one fight contract and fight a man in Neunes next and get the rematch. But if she wins, there's not like they're going to let her walk away with the belt as a champion, she would have to continue defending her title like championship clause. Of course. I'm sure she saw exactly what they were trying to do, didn't play their game. And Dana White famously does not like fighters who don't play his, play his game and play

into his contract game. So, yeah, what do you think of Dana White? Like, as Chris Seiborke said, bullying, she brought up the term bullying. She says kids in her daughter's school actually make fun of her for what they, people are saying about her mom and her daughter's almost got in fights in school over what kids are saying about her. So your thoughts on this whole Dana White versus Chris Cyborg feuds. I'm going to date it back to the Amanda Nunes lost because I think that's really when it's kind of come back to the forefront. Well, like, when did he make the comments about her, you know,

about her, you know, being looking like Vandale-Silver? Was she even signed to the UFC then? Like, I mean, that was so long ago. That was UFC 172. That was the scrum before John Jones, versus Glow to share. And that's right around when they were trying to get Chris, the Chris versus Rhonda fight was still. Cyborg versus Rhonda Rousey fight was still in the forefront. And they wanted Chris to drop to 135, which you couldn't do. And then Ronda Rousey kept bringing up failed drug tests. And Dana White said she looked like Van der Le Sildovin-Adress and then stood up and walked around. It's great. When you see that footage, it's insane. Like you're going, is this for real?

Like, is this, is this for, this is the billion dollar industry? This is the head guy. It's insane. And she's been completely disrespected, one of the greatest fighters of all time, Chris Soiborg. And, you know, I feel as though she's definitely being disrespected. You know, she clearly wants this fight. And then I can remember Jed on Monday morning, the morning report he puts out like, Dana White says Chris Seiborg might want easier fights.

And I can just see in the comments, she was wearing a T-shirt that said Seiborg v. Nunes, too, January 2020. It's ridiculous. It doesn't make any sense. I mean, I heard her interview with Ariel O'Anne yesterday on Monday as well. And the stuff that she's saying about, like, you know, compensating her for flights for situations. It's crazy.

Like, I mean, it's just very unrealistic to me that she signs with them again. You know, with all this disrespect. Like when you know someone like Coker would roll out the red carpet for one of the greatest photos of the world, like all of these people would. Bellator, one championship, rising. all of these people are going to want to her. Like she's going to be a really, like, one of the biggest free agents of all time in the sport probably.

And, um, you know, she, I think she said she has a three month window where she can kind of deliberate what's going on. And it just seems like to me they're way too far apart. Like they need to be singing off a similar hymn sheet. And it, it doesn't seem to be anywhere in the same ballpark.

Like one's the polar opposite of the other. And if I'm Chris Seiborg, I completely understand where she's coming from. Like, I mean, she's being disrespected at this stage. There's no doubt about it. And maybe it is time to just end it, you know? Like maybe it is like, I mean, if you've been consistently disrespected to the level that she has, maybe it's just time to go. Yeah, and I believe it's 90 days. So yeah,

about three months, but Chris is, I can, until she lost to Amanda Innes and we're going to go right back to this conversation. I had Chris as the greatest female fighter of all time. I think Amanda, I think Amanda Nunes is kind of leapfrogged to her, especially after knocking her out and knocking Holly Holme out in the first round. So I consider Amanda the Grace, but Chris Cyborg is right there number two. And if Chris Seiborg gets her rematch, beats Amanda Nunes,

and they have a trilogy, and she beats Amanda Nunes again, and she's now the UFC featherweight champion with two wins over Amanda Nunes. She's the grace. She's right there again. So I agree with you 100%. I was trying to think of who the last big free agent in MMA,

and I think Ariel brought up, it was Dan Henderson, when his contracts, ended and he went to strike force and i tend to agree with that i remember when dan henderson signed with strike force it seems like a really big deal a big power move by strike force to take this a top contender over from the ufc and i tend to agree that chris cyborg is going to be one of the biggest free agents in m mb a in the last 10 or 15 years especially as a female fighter and she really really understands her brand i don't know if you watch the uh ufc open workouts the uc 240 open workouts

She didn't do a Q&A. She didn't do an open workout. Instead, her and her coach and her teammates were throwing flyers into the crowd, promoting her after party and her watch party and plugging all of her social media. And then she went out into the crowd and spent the 30 minutes taking selfies with everyone, everyone there. So she, and then we interviewed her at Media Day and all she kept bringing up was the fans will decide where I fight next.

So she understands her brand. She understands that her brand takes, precedent over the over just the UFC brand and you know Dana white doesn't like that he wants those three letters to be more important than anything else so Chris Cyborg doesn't want to play Dana's game and I think she's one of those few fighters that doesn't have to because like you brought up Scott Coker which I think is awesome because they have a great history Julia Buds there I think that's an awesome martial arts fight just a that's an awesome martial arts fight and she said Bellator's featherweight division is better than the UFC how many fellow whites are even in the female feather whites are in

the UFC three but yeah i was i was talking about this year a day like i mean if they're if they're going to get rid of soyborg you may as well get rid of the division that you made the division for cyborg let's be honest like that's what this was about and um am amanda nunes has you know taken all the bounty really from that situation and fair play to her well you know do you really have interest in growing the featherweight division you need the biggest name in featherway fighting uh in it and that's chris soyborg like i mean i know amanda's the greatest fighter of all time that's how we view are now But if you're talking about Star Power, I'd still say Chris Zoyborg is a bigger name. Well, absolutely.

I mean, she can fight in a pretty blatantly, like, yeah. She could fight in the United States. She's a big deal. She could fight in Brazil. She's a huge deal. She did her camp in Africa? I mean, did you see that video that Ariel put out of when she won? I guess she was helping, like, it was like, I don't know if it was a charity or she

helped build a school or a playground or something. I'm not 100% on what she did. But there's all these kids in Africa jumping up and down, like, celebrating she won so she's a superstar no matter where she goes look and i can remember i went the first time we're at first and the only time i think i saw chris soyborg fight live was in that incredible uh international fight week back in the day uh 2015 i think Thursday wasn't victor yeah today was frankie edgar v chad mendez and then saturday was connor and mendez i believe is that right yes and they also had the page van zant versus rose card that week

Yeah, it was insane. And I can remember that week, all the Irish press outside of the Connor fight, of course, and there was a lot of Irish fighters on the UFC card. I can remember as all so excited to see Chris Seiberg. Like that was, that was nearly, that was bigger than the other UFC event that was going down the next day. And it was, it was huge. I can remember media members running over to see her just walking in because she was that big of a celebrity, that big of a name in the fight game.

And, you know, that wouldn't change. I'm sure I'd be every bit as excited to watch Chris Seiborg fight again. So I don't understand it. I feel like there's a lot of parts of this that we probably don't know about because it just doesn't make sense for them to be so far away from each other in this negotiation. It's a bit stupid, you know? Like the girl's wearing a new Nesvi-Syborg teacher and then the first thing Dana White says is she's looking for easier fights. You think Julia Budd's an easier fight? Oh, my God.

Yeah, not at all. See what she did to Olga Rubin? Jesus Christ. So if I have to ask you, gun to your head, does Chris Cyborg resign with this? the UFC. No. Yeah. I don't think she does. Why would she? Why would she? I can't find a reason. I can't find a reason. If I had to bet, I'd say she'd reunite with Scott Coker over in Bellator, but she said she would test the field. And if the UFC comes with a good, good deal somehow and she wants to do it, I would love to see Chris versus Amanda News. It would just bum me out if we never

got that rematch. I feel the same way about Connor and Aldo. I would love to see that rematch just because the fight was so fast and i would like to see how like not even a whole one whole round would go but it would really bum me out if we never got that rematch against what the two greatest female fighters of all time yeah yeah like i mean like we're talking about bell ator but i could see roy isn't putting an awful lot of money down for someone like cyborg as well like you know she could be a huge deal over there and you know they've they've pretty troving them women's divisions over there as well but maybe not at that that size a fetter weight but i'm sure they could make a spectacle out of soy bar she's she is a walking spectacle of fairness you know i mean her good friend gabby garcic

fights there so she she has she knows how that that operation runs but we could talk about chris side work for an entire an entire a side episode so we're going to move on all right so i i think this would be a good one for you ptze because you do watch long championship you're closer to your time zone i there from your friend life is kicking my butt again hang in there oh you're true it man come on don't let the boss drag you down he must be reading the comment section too or or her could be a female we don't yeah yeah whichever just come on keep them keep them up and keep the chin down stay positive everyone hi there i hope you're having a great day what is your prediction for how muddy mouse will do in one i know

there's a little there's little information to go on but i trust your confidence and professionalism in all things m mma and i'm sure you will answer your answer will enlighten enlighten me no sarcasms pizzi You've won one championship. I watched one championship. We talked about him a little while ago in the goat conversation. How do you think he'll fare in one championship? Is it only a matter of time before he has one championship gold wrapped around his waist? Yeah, well, I think he's the greatest lighter way fighter we have, you know, like in the whole sport.

So I do feel like that will happen. But the one championship situation brings about a few different situations. I mean, why do all the guys that go from UFC to one? championship look way smaller than the guys that they're fighting on one championship. It's notable. It's notable. And, you know, we have no transparency from one championship about their billions of viewers or about their groundbreaking weight, weight cutting protocol. I think when Luke was doing the M.MA or he asked Gary Tonin about it, right? And he didn't have a clue what the situation was. I don't think he got to see his opponent weighing in.

I mean, look, they pat themselves on the back all the time about how great. they are and they give us absolutely pretty much no transparency about it. Do I think Demetris Johnson is the best fighter in one championship? Yes, absolutely. Does that mean he will win the title? It should, but this bar is insane. There's just too many things going on. I do think he will win the belt, but I just won championship. I'm a bit weird about them, to be honest. I don't disagree with you. And I remember when Dennis Seguera was on, we had this exact conversation. Their weighing situation is real, real funky where you don't get to see the early morning wayans. You don't get to see your opponent doesn't get to see. You don't get to see

your opponent way in, all this. So whether these American fighters going over are a little too trusting, maybe they're used to the UFC where they just assume everyone is following the rules. But Demetrius Johnson, like you said, is I think still the greatest lighterweight fighter of all time. I know he lost to Henry Sehudos. And they did he though? He lost on paper. We lost on paper. You're right, you're right. And I don't think it was a robbery.

The L conspiracy theory. Everybody's got the thing. He never lost. Sure. But the L's there. We're probably not going to see a trilogy ever, especially if Henry Sehudo is kind of hinting at how he doesn't want to do this much longer. But the L was there.

I still consider him maybe one A1B with Henry Sehudo. But maybe he was good at Bantamweight. The only losses he really had. where to Dominic Cruz, I know he lost to Brad Pickett and he never got that one back, but he lost a cruise who a lot of people consider the greatest bantam weight of all time. Where am we saying Brad Pickett's the greatest of all the time? That's what I want to know. Yeah, that's very fair.

That's very, very fair. Does that make Ian McCall like one of the greatest fly weights of all time? Yes, it does. See what happens? Spoirles out of control quickly, doesn't it? We had this conversation with Uriah Fabor last week about MMA. Who? Right, Uriah Favre.

That young upbler. That young writing upstart, who I think will have a bright future in the MMA world. Not too sure about that. Not too sure about that. Right. So someday he'll make his MMA debut. But Demetius Johnson, I still think should win that tournament. Even though he might be undersized compared to everyone,

I just think he's so, he's such a high-level martial artist that, and he trained so smart. And his coach, Matt Hume, is such a genius when putting together game plans. I really, I expect him to win, but that's no easy task considering he might be fighting guys. about one or two weight classes above him. Absolutely. And sure, if he doesn't win, one might just magically change the decision, so they have to do it again like they did with their kickbox, the recent kickboxing bout.

So, I mean, there's another reason why I can't trust these guys. Am I entertained by them? Absolutely. But these are two different questions. And isn't Eddie Alvers back in the tournament? Yes. So who knows? Maybe he loses and then that opponent can't, his old opponent can't fight.

And then he's back in the tournament. So who knows? Do I expect... Yes. The phone never stops with one championship, lads. Keeping us on our toes. Do I expect Demetius Johnson win the tournament? Yes.

Will? It's not, but it's not going to be easy. No. It's going to, it's exceedingly hard. But moving on, because we have a question from our very good friend, Lodovic. Any buzz for Nate Diaz versus Anthony Pettis? Yes. Hi, guys.

There you go. Hi, guys. Maybe I'm wrong, but judging by the small amount of buzz for Nate Diaz's return, it seems like nobody even believes the fight will happen. Oh, man, I have a lot of thoughts on that. Nate's side seems to be completely silent. And the only thing from Team Pettits, if I remember, was Duke Roo saying he'll be a homie for his camp a few months back. I don't know what.

I don't know what that means. That's it. Is this fight still on? Do you believe Nate Diaz will show up? If so, how do you see the fight going and what do you think is next to the fighters, depending on the outcome, of course? Thanks always. P.S. Jose, how did you manage to get your eye favor on who's currently working on getting Tony Ferguson and who's

getting we're going to get pretty fergus next well right here he's going to interview tony ferguson i would love to have tony ferguson on the a side no he said your royal favor was going to interview tony ferguson i would love to have your eye favor interview tony ferguson on the side but i think tony ferguson is a little preoccupied uh to deal with this young upstart writer named your i a favor but uh ptze carroll nate dyes anthony pettis you said you were into it right away i am very hyped for this fight but do you agree it's been rather silent in the buildup for this fight. I mean, yes, we see the pictures of Nate Diaz training.

He looks in phenomenal shape. Anthony Pettis is always putting pictures out there of him training, but there's been no back and forth. In my mind, it's a little of the last time we saw Nate in a fight in a fight camp. Yes, the Dustin Porey fight fell out was before the Connor fight, and that had all of the hype in the world surrounding it. So is this just a matter of the last two Nate Diaz fights have been so high, highly anticipated because it's the back-to-back counter fights that maybe this is falling under the

radar or is it because we have that huge heavyweight title fight in the main event your thoughts yeah i feel like it's a huge fight i feel like anyone you say that this talk about this fight to in the i'ma community is like oh that's going to be unbelievable but i always cast my mind back to what you said um i think i was on this podcast a week that was announced yep and you were saying um you just don't want to jinx it. You know, you just don't want to, we, we have seen so many horrible things happen at the 11th hour in this sport. And it feels like to even suggest that Nate might not show up is jinxing it slightly. Of course, it's on my mind. I don't want to talk about it that much. But I think the reason why it's not being hyped so much is because MMA moves so quickly.

Like, Jose will agree with me here. We don't even get, like, we're having this, oh, Max Holloway, the greatest of all time conversation. And that will be gone on Monday next week. that will be, we'll be talking about something completely different. Like, not to say that the argument's gone, it's just that the conversation

will have moved on. If you remember, before the two Connor fights, Nate fought Michael Johnson. Yep. And that fight didn't read, until that media day, where he showed up

and started drawing his name on the signs and everything and saying, why wasn't he on the poster? That really wasn't having a crazy amount of anticipation around it. So then he showed up, the media day, came everybody who's buzzing for it then he has this unbelievable performance so i'm kind of looking

at it like that this is going to really pick up momentum very very quickly i think the fight is very intriguing because pedis has come off that great knockout of wonder boy we haven't seen nate and so long it's very hard to know what way he's going to show up and i feel like the winner should fight connor mcgregor well there you go i'm sure people will love that but if nate wins i think it's a no-brainer that i have been asking for that trilogy i know john cavano every time someone him what do you want if it was up to you what would connor do next and his answer has always been the trilogy with nate roddy as well same all the guys in the camp want that again it brings something special out of that camp and nate's camp i mean i can remember i was standing outside

before the second fight outside the david of copperfield theater with sean al shattie and chuck mendon hall and i was saying jesus there's no buzz for this fight at all is I'm going to hell broke, all hell broke, lose, people are throwing balls and we're like, holy shit, this is huge. So, like, it doesn't take a lot for an innate Diaz for you to gain legs. He just has to say one thing, have a moment. It doesn't even need to be worried sometimes.

He just needs a moment. And then it goes insane. And let's not forget that Anthony Pedis has been poking bad blood and stuff. So I feel like their first face-off is going to be electric. I think it's going to be, I don't believe that anyone really knows how how worked up Nate could possibly be about that situation, but how many times have we seen someone talk shit about Nate Diaz and him not care? That does not happen.

I believe he's going to have that in the back of his head. He's using it to motivate himself. And when those two guys see each other, everybody is going to suddenly be talking about that fight. I agree. And it seems like, I think you hit it on the head with the Michael Johnson fight. Nate is pretty quiet in all camp.

He's just very much about his business and getting ready for his fight. But once fight week happens, you don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, like Michael, when he drew his name on the poster, he tried to draw a little stick figure for his fight against Michael. Very accurate. Very accurate. Exactly. And then his second, his first fight was Connor.

He took that fight on what, like two weeks, 11 days, whatever it was noticed. So he just got thrust into it. And he immediately had to do the press conference. And that first press conference was so back and forth that Nate basically became a legend after that. All of these these sayings like that from a, that, that first press conference and then like kind of getting a little scuffle and then staring down. And then the second one, I think I was saying the same thing. I was in Vegas for USC 202.

And that whole week, I was like, there's not a lot of buzz for this. This is, they're billing this is one of the most hyped fights in UFC history. And I don't see a lot of fans talking about it. But then once that press commerce started, it, the hype went through the roof. And that's all, that's still one of the most bought pay-per-views in UFC history. So I think once you get those two at a press conference, and we haven't seen them together yet, Once you get those two at a press conference or me today or stare down, I think that's really when the hype for Nate Diaz's return will kick up because

he was supposed to fight Dustin Pori and that fell out. Maybe fans are a little jaded weather. And Nate Diaz, I mean, Anthony Penn historically doesn't always stay healthy. He's missed a lot of time between fights and he is going up to Welter right now so his body's not to plead. And I think you said it again perfectly. There's, he's poking at Nate. this is not just another fight for Anthony Pettis. These are also two guys where they'll fight anywhere.

Like they see each other and they, one of them calls out, they'll throw down in a hotel. So I think once you get those two in a room, you'll start to feel the, the media get behind that fight for sure. And yeah, I feel like,

I feel like the reason why it will happen is because the UFC have told them that the winner gets Connor. That's why I feel like it makes sense. If you look at the way all of this stuff is coming together, you have Dana White saying Covington gets the Cameroosman fight if he beats Robbie Lawler, leaves Masvedal with nobody, leaves Leon Edwards with nobody, and then we have Pettus and Diaz. So I feel like Conner's the natural guy to take on the winner of Diaz and Pettus, and maybe Masvedal has to fight Leon to get a shot at the toilet.

I'll watch all of those fights. Yeah, well, I mean, it's probably a dream scenario knowing how jumbled these things usually come together, but I think that's the ideal situation for me anyway. I don't think Horace Amazvedal think it's an ideal situation. You know, but I think that pretty much suits everybody else in this equation apart from Asvada. But first, for that dream scenario to happen,

Colby Covington has to be Robbie Lawler. Yes. Not easy. Oh, my God. I'm with you on this one. I can't believe the amount of people that just think this is a matter of Covington showing up, like on Saturday night, do you know what? I mean, like, this is going to be, like, look at what I mean what I did to ban asking.

It was like a, it was like a horror movie scene there for the first 20 seconds. And Casey Lydon, when he was on the A side, we were talking about like this whole scenario like, oh, if Dustin Porre beats Habib is this the greatest run layway history. And he's like, hey, let's pump the brakes. Yeah. He still has to beat Habib first. And I was like, that's fair. We're putting all these hypothetical situations out there when he has to do the one thing that no one has ever been able to do. and that's beat Habib.

So if Kobe Covington beats Robbie Lawler, and that's a big if, give him the title shot. He's already earned, he's earned it more than enough. He was the interim champion. He missed out on two opportunities. But he has to beat Robbie Lawler, which is like former champion. Who's he lost to? Tyron Woodley, Torset, like blew up his leg against Hafeil Dosanos, and then controversy in the Ben Askin fight when he basically turned Ben Ashton's face in a hamburger meet.

So it's, uh, let's the most intimidating person I've ever interviewed Robbie Lawler. Yeah. I mean, like, I mean, it's, he is the realest guy in this sport. Like, I mean, Jesus Christ, like, I know, like, there's so many real guys. Don't get me wrong. But I can remember thinking, you know, and it was that same, I think it was the Mendez fight week. He was fighting McDonald, that legendary fight.

Yeah. And it was like when he was doing his open workout, it was like smoke was coming out of his nose when he was, like, he was so intimidated. And he was lock an eyes with me because I was right on the side of the thing. And I was genuinely shitting myself. Like, I was like, why am I wearing these cranes? pants this is not going to go well for me shit myself and then the ufc are like oh i was working for a newspaper in orleans that are covering it loads so they were like

do you want a quick one-on-one with robbie and wait hand was like this holding up the phone yeah no way yeah yeah i didn't see the way he's fighting on sarty like yeah it was that was perfectly acceptable for me to be absolutely terrified of that man i mean if you watched are you the when sean el shoddy was interviewing him before you see 235 he would ask like there were questions like oh, do you and do not like this process of media day and stuff? He's like, he does that thing where he's just like smart. He's like, I'm just excited to fight, man. I just want to fight.

That's all I care about. This is all whatever. I just can't wait to fight. And I was like, oh, man, that dude's going to punch a hole through Ben Askin's skull. He basically did, but Ben Asking survived. But that is another conversation. Wow, we are running short on time, but we're going to pick things up. I go.

I always talk some shite when I put together. But it's entertaining shite. So enjoy it. All right. From I am Sheila Andrea. All right. New comment. Well,

done, for being you. Holloway's next title defense. Post on Twitter by MNMedia asking about this game. Glad they asked about this. Yes, this is why I picked this one

because I do have a lot of thoughts on this too. They're asking about this game. Mostly UFC 243 answers. Well, that would be great for Volcanoxian. The UFC two months seems like too short of a time for Holloway to get into another five-round fight. especially considering the schedule he has kept so far.

Besides, he said he really wants to fight in Vegas. Last paper view of USC 2019 is going to be in Vegas, right? Correct. What about that? What do you guys think? So, yes, Carol, all week, everyone was asking Max Holloway during the fight week. Hey, if you win, is Volcanowski next? Is you 243 next?

And on paper, it makes sense. Volcanowski is from Australia. The fight is in Australia or New Zealand, that New Zealand-Australia area. It makes sense Volcanowski would be on that. But he is, in my mind, the rightful number one contender featherway. But two months is a very quick turnaround for Max Holland, I'm considering he fought in what, December, five-round title fight, fought what, April, five-round title fight,

and then fought July five-round title fight. I think he went three or four rounds against Brian Otega, went five rounds against Porier, five rounds against Frankie. Now, people want, and he doesn't have the easiest cut down to 145. Everyone keeps bringing that up. He'll play it down, but he doesn't have the easiest cut. He makes it, though, fair play to him. But to turn around after three title fights in seven months and asking a drop-down to 1-45 might be asking a lot.

The money might be right. Maybe he does it, but Max Holloway said he wants medical tests before he even thinks about taking that fight. Great, great move. Love that answer. He brought up the death of that. It's escaping me right now. It's really going to bother me. That boxer that died very recently.

He goes, there's been some. tragedies in the combat sports world lately. I want to get checked out. He was sitting up there with his son, Rush Holloway. He goes, I have this guy right next to me. I want to be able to walk and talk and be all right. I want to be on top of this. So Matt, I love that answer.

I completely agree. If he's 100%, he gets cleared. He wants to do it. I would love to watch him in Volcanowski fight in Australia, but I really loved his answer about he wants to get medically checked out first before he even considers taking another fight. Yeah, and I mean, these things have a profound effect on fighters. I mean, I can remember we had a tragedy in Ireland in 2016, Joe Carvalio died.

That really got into Connor's head, right? Yeah, incredibly so. And not just Connor, Patty Hewland, like, I mean, Neil Serio was talking to all of these legends of the Irish scene then. And, you know, it's just a sudden thing that happened that changed how everybody really looks at the sport in Ireland. and everybody on the scene was kind of affected by what that happened that night. And the scene is actually still directly affected because of what happened to jail that night. And so, yeah, I thought that was a brilliant answer. But can we just cast our minds back to when everybody was explaining away

why Frankie Edgar was going to get a title shot? Because he gets to do this and then he gets to fight in October, completely taking the toll that this takes in your body for granted and how much of a struggle this is from Max Holloway. But that's how they explained it away. Volcanovsky, who weighs in on the Freud, perfectly, wouldn't be ready to fight Max Holloway at 240, we were told. And then because Holloway was thrust into the situation,

a situation that a lot of people didn't think he was, the reply to that criticism was, well, it's going to be fine. He's going to fight Volcanowski at 243. What I will say is, if they added Volcanovsky to that card against Holloway, in this, it's a stadium they're doing it in, right? That's 60,000 seats. It makes, that makes sense. That makes, wakes more sense than Frankie Edgar getting another random title shot, okay?

That makes more sense to me. They should have just left that alone. And, you know, leave him after that loss to Porreier for a while. Make sure everything's all right. He's clearly concerned about it. And then fight in the October. Like, and fair play to Max Holloway. If he does this, we aren't worthy of him.

If he does this, the man is a god. You know, we're already trying to claim him as an Irish man. because he spent two days here or whatever. So, I mean, can we be the 11th Island? But that's just what I wanted to say about this. When Frankie Edgar got that title shot, everybody was like, it's going to be fine. He can do it in October.

And it's like, this is a really quick turnaround again. You know, I'm not saying, oh, he has to be on it. It would be amazing if he was on it. But if he even does that fight, I mean, we aren't worried a Max Holloway, man. And if he beats Volcanofsky in Australia, after Volcanowski came off that 3027 fight over Josealdo. I don't know how you can't say Max Holloway isn't the greatest fairer the weight of all time. I think that would really...

I'll go back. Yeah, there you go. Every single question, we have to go back. I hate this conversation and I fall into it every time. But at the UFC luncheon, someone did ask Max Holloway, like, did you want more time off after the Poria fight? He said he asked a fight in July. He wanted to ask July.

And he said once they put out the... Because he lost out... out on that fighting against Brian Ortega International Fight Week after he fell off for those, those unknown medical reasons where he had like those concussion-like symptoms and from the weight kind of everything. So he lost out on that. He really wanted to fight in July. But he said once he saw the schedule, once they saw they were going to Edmonton in July, he's like, well, I know where I'm fighting because he declared himself the new face of Canadian MMA. That's four paper views or four cards. He's headlines. Three of them, I believe, were paper views. Or two, I can't remember the

exact number but he's like how many did george headline i think george headline like five or six pay-per-views or cards in canada and he's like if i break that face canadian m-m-ma i was like well i guess he keem doado seemed to take issue with that but he wanted to fight in july he got frankie i think they gave that shot to frankie because they tried to make it twice and frankie stayed on ufc 222 to fight brian ortega so i think the ufc was just doing them a favor like you you helped us that you saved that card we'll do this for you he didn't the same the same favor that they're doing for BJ Penn now yeah I love these favors they're great aren't they

oh yeah no one's asked about BJ Penn I'm actually surprised about that but if I think Volcanozky's shooting on the Australia card but it's rough how who will fight would he take if not Max Holloway I mean he's number one he's the number he's the best way to end it no yeah I mean like yeah why would you why would you

why you would but he cut weight too he cut weight at USC two It's an animal. It's a dangerous fight. That is a dangerous fight for Holloway. Like he's, Volcanovsky's an animal and he's got the great Eugene Berman, who I feel like he's one of the most underappreciated coaches in the whole sport at the moment. You know, I feel like he's a live dog there in that fight. But yeah, it's, I think it would be absolutely massive if they could do it. But I'd put Max's help before everything here. And I feel like, I nearly feel sorry for Max because we all have friends like Max, who seem like just genuinely chill. out dudes and you see him walking into the arena during the night and he's like something's terribly wrong with him oh my god you're like come on man he's just relaxed that's just way he is he's walking to get into a fist fight of course he looks like he's stops going through your mind when you're about to go fight another human being inside of an octagon uh but he beat frank eggy frankie frankie edgar fair play to him uh i i thought i had i think four to one max but it was an

entertaining fight. I was a real big fan of that fight. I thought it was pretty one-sided. Did you? Did you have 50-45? I saw that a lot. Yeah, I think I did. Now, I know if a couple of rounds were close,

maybe an early round and the last round, I think, where, like, I don't know. I can't remember perfectly, these things happen at 6 o'clock in the fucking morning. I'm sorry, guys. And then, of course, there was an eight-hour risen event straight after that. Oh, my goodness.

But, yeah, I thought it was a fairly one-sided, win to be honest and that's not taken away from frankie's a legend and even when i didn't think that was the right thing to do to give him a title shot i'm not disputing frankie's legacy is an absolute legend but i thought it was pretty one-sided yeah it's one-sided i didn't hate the match but they announced it um i think frankie anger and i was talking with someone this it wasn't on camera anything frank edgar seems like that fighter in the same vein as holly home where she could come off the loss and still get a title fight just because of her history like she knocked out ronda And she has these really, she did, obviously she got knocked out by Amanda Nunes.

But before that, and all of her fights have been, like, entertaining scraps. Like, she didn't get the doors blown off her by Cyborg. And yes, she got submitted by Misha Tate. But I think she was, what, like three minutes away from winning that fight, and then she got caught in that submission. So she seems to be one of the, like, both those fighters seem to be those fighters where if they get a title fight, like, does it make sense on paper? No, but is anyone really going to complain that watching them fight high-level fighters?

Yes, me. Yeah. Pizzi Carol, Peece Caryl bringing, like, I don't know. I don't know. Bring emotions to their knees while also matching fights for them, apparently. That's what's happening at the moment. I tweet about these fights in Ireland, and they just happen. That's the way it is.

We wait with, we wait with our, we're holding our breasts for whenever Pizze Carroll puts together these matches, because it's only a matter of time before they become reality. Exactly, exactly. But does that mean that, that mean that Masvedal is going to have to, fight Leon Edwards now, I guess, right? I like that fight in general. I just, I think they have unfinished business. I mean, they already fought once

backstage. Why not make them fight inside an Octagon? Did they fight though? Or did someone just battered, like, throw tree digs at someone and then, you know, an upheaval of security, separate them all? Like, I mean, it's so funny, like, I mean, that they kind of talk about Leon being afraid

of this stuff and all. Then you read this article about him, like basically being involved in gangs since he's a teenager, you know, like, and Birmingham, you don't, Don't mess around in Birmingham. I don't tell you that from the Orleans, the UK. Don't fuck around to Birmingham. And that's where that mine goes from.

I want to go to Birmingham. I really do. And I said that once. Someone was like, why? I was like, oh. Yeah, this sounds cool. I was like an interesting place to go from all the stories I hear. And they're like, yeah, you don't want to go.

And I was like, well, I'll be the judge of that. But during that Edwards thing, like when Myers was all walked up with his hands behind his arms and then like three piece and so did him. And then you saw that, that, that clip. of Mazurah and Ascreen kind of jawing at each other in the hallway before UFC 239. And Mazu, dog is again standing there with his hands behind his back. And someone's like, hey, like, like you guys fight on Saturday, right?

And he goes, I'm not doing anything. My hands are behind your back. And someone goes, yeah, they were behind your back when you walked up on Edwards too. That was like, it's a fair point. You know, and again, when he fought Ascreen, he came out with his hands behind his back and then need him in the skull. So you never know what's going to happen. I'll watch Mazur doll fight fill in the blank. I mean, that's a dog.

So entertainer, man. He's a huge star now. And like the one thing I will say about, Ben Ascran had the best answer. If you were Leon Edwards, what would you have done? I would have said I was going to press charges unless they made the fight. That was a gene. That would have been a stroke of genius. Yeah, but Leon Edwards would never do that.

No, no. But I really hope that if the UFC ever have them at an event together, they have a lot of security there. because we don't need another look like that, to be honest, over here. They'll have security for sure. And that's a headlining fight in one of these fight night cards. I want that as a five-round fight for sure. And I don't know if you saw about Wonderboy. He was backstage at UFC 240.

And he did he beat someone up as well. Yeah, that's typical Wonderboy still there. Just the meanest. He walked up with a snarl on his face. He just head kicked someone backstage and was like, that's what's going to happen to my next opponent. And then he just walked out of talk shit, motherfucker. Yeah.

That's Wonderboy. just swearing and frowning and head kicking strangers. But it's all serious. And as he said that Leon Edwards deserves the next title fight. He goes, Mazuradol doesn't, he said, Mazurl might not be the most deserving because, like, I'm sure Wonderbaugh wants Mazurzegal to get the title because he has a win over him. But he said if he was the UFC,

he would really look into Leon Edwards, get in the next title fight. He thinks that he doesn't get fair shake because he fights so much in the UK that maybe American fans just don't know enough about him. And I tend to agree. I would feel like the biggest thing. that's playing against them as casual fans, you know? Like, they're just like, they don't have a clue and they're just three pieces of the soda, Leon.

Yeah, like he just bet RDA guys. Like, what do you want the guy to do? Like, I mean, like, he's, he's an elite welterweight now. Like, people that are like, huh, sure, we all know what would happen if he fought Masvedol. We already saw it. You are crazy. You are crazy. Like, look at this guy.

Look at this. Look what he did to Gunnar Nelson. And then look what he did to RDA. Look what he did to Soroni. and you've beaten no one, Leon. What are you talking about? Shut up. You're a joke.

Who are the last few guys that beat Osangos to? Camaro Ouzman. Cody Covington. Champions. And then he does basically the same thing except he keeps it standing and grinds it out. So the last two people to be RDA went on to win championship belt.

So. Yeah, I like. I think about Leon Edwards being a bad, bad dude. Yeah, I don't know if he's going to be the champion, but I'm certainly wondering, that means he's probably, you know, there or thereabouts. And what is that on seven or eight fight win streak?

Like, yeah, I think it's at some point, at some point, yeah, he might not be the biggest draw in America, but how are you going to, like if he wins again, like nine wins in a row,

eight wins in a row at Welterweight, which we're considering one of the deepest divisions in the UFC, if he beats Mazurah, how are you not going to put him on the shoreless if not give him a title fight? Yeah, everyone in the comments, he's going to be like, oh, Tote Furks,

it has like a thousand wins in a row. and be like, yeah, that's not fair either. He should already have a title fight, but that's because of injuries. If Maasvah, if Leon Edwards just keeps winning. I like, so I'll bring this up. I'll go back to Max Holloway. I talked to him before UFC 199 when he fought Ricardo Lamas. I asked him, and all these people keep calling out Connor and calling out Habib

and these Nate Diaz, like, for the money fights. That was the money fights. And his quote was, that's not my style. Don't ask for the money fights, become the money fights. And I go, I love it. And he said, if I just keep winning, how are they going to deny me a title shot? And that's exactly what he did. And now we're having conversations about Max Holloway being one of the greatest fighters of all time.

He just kept winning and winning and winning and winning, got his shot, knocked out Josie Aldo, beat him again, beat Frankie Edgar. That's a wrap. So as long as Leon Edwards keeps winning, it's only a matter of time before he gets a title shot. And hey, if Masvedal fought Leon and beat Leon, that would be the most legitimate. win of that three fight run. Wow. I mean, I never thought about it. I think it would, yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't disagree.

I think I'd like to see how he wins if he just goes out there and crumbles Leon Edwards again. And like, I think it would be, I think that's why the, like, Leon's not an easy puzzle to solve. Like, I was talking to Gunner Nelson about their fight and Gunner was like, I have traps that I set. Like, you know, and I consider myself a pretty elite jiu jitsu player and a lot of people do. You know what I mean? And he was saying, Leon knew what traps I was setting. He just watched everything. He was,

he completely consumed every fight that Gunner Nelson had been in and knows, even if it seemed in theory that he would be advancing position, he knew that if I go there, Gunner's going to capital, he was like, Gunner sang his praises on Eurobash a few weeks back. He was like,

the guy's mind is unbelievable, you know? And then we saw that against RDA. He already ate RDA, you know? Yeah, he absolutely did. Like, and then dropped that, that lovely left elbow. Like, I mean, he's starting to have little signature things in his style that people are taking,

you know, become a presence to himself. This is what Leon does. And I think that's important as well. People, the people you say, oh, you always go to the decision, but what's happening in the 25 minutes is a lot more interesting than just a result to me, you know? Yeah, I mean, I saw something on Twitter. It was like a gif of all of, like Leon Edwards past few wins. And he's landing that left elbow every time. So they've dubbed him left elbow Leon. And I can't say I disagree. Yeah, yeah, he's a good guy. It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. But I do think that Mazvedal be reluctant to take that fight.

I think he's waiting for either, as he has already said, McGregor, one of those huge fights. Maybe a Nate Diaz or a Pettus, depending on how that goes, or, you know, the title fight. And we're going to do one really quick one because we're running up on time. All right, Frankie at 135. I'm hearing a lot of MMMedia saying Frank should move down to 135, but he doesn't, but doesn't that go against everything about MMMedia

are advocating, which is fighters fighting close to their natural walk around weight in order to fight healthy? Frank or maybe a small featherweight, but in one of the old MMA fighting videos, he said his normal weight was 160. 135 is a big cut from 160. It might even be heavier now since that interview was many years ago. What do you guys think about 135 and how would you reconcile? Every single medium, I don't want to say every single one,

a big chunk of them on media asked Frankie, like, hey, is 135 out of the question? He's like, I'm focused on Max Holloway. Hey, what about Henryson, he'll go 135? I'm worried about 135. This is very reminiscent of all those title fights. He had a 155 where he's like, what about 145? He goes, I'm the champion of 155. Why would I want to drop to 145?

It seems like everywhere Frankie goes, people are asking him to cut down and cut down and cut down and cut down. If he's 160 and that's accurate, still, I don't want to see him will cut to 135, but if he can do it healthy and he wants to do it, by all means, go ahead. I'm never going to tell a fighter what to do with their career. But if 160 is the thing, I don't know if, I want to see a depleted Frankie Edgar. We saw what happened to Anthony Pettus, Anthony Pettus and T.J. Dilleshaw. They said they could do it.

And then Anthony Pettus missed weight, and he said it wrecked his body. And you saw T.J. Dillishaw had to turn to performance-enhancing drugs to EPO because you could feel the effects of the weight cut. So in Michael Keesa and all the end, who is it, Hafeo Dosanos, they all moved up in weight. Like the trend now is moving up in weight, not down. So I don't want to see a depleted Frank Yeager one thing. But that is just my opinion. Your thoughts on Frankie going to Bantamweight next.

Yeah, I agree with you. And I mean, I feel like Bantamway has one of the really thriving divisions at the moment that is full of young fighters. You know, it's full of these hungry young guys. Like, I mean, there's no easy fight for Frankie there when he goes down. And as you say, it's an extra, it's an added amount of trauma to go down there. But one thing I will say again, the size of these fighters is changing drastically from generation to generation. You know, Frankie doesn't look

anywhere near as big as the guys he's fighting a feather way. And that's part of the allure of Frankie, right? Like, he's this little guy taking on the world and it's, he's been doing it for years and I know he fought at 154, but he was completely missized for that division. Like, I mean, even when he was at the height of his power,

he was probably like, you know, undersized for that division. You know, I don't think it should be something that people should be stressing them out over. I think he needs some time away to think about his next move and I know Mark Henry's a great coach and I really don't expect that those guys would say right we're all on board with this if they thought it was going to be a health risk of Frankie but I don't think he owes anything to anyone I think he's already

solidified his name in the sport you know the future Hall of Famer and he's a legend does he need to do it no will he want to do it yes does it happen I don't know do I wanted to happen probably not yeah I just Frankie's like I said he's one of those fighters that's always going to be in that top five he's I think he has the record for me most like total octagon time in his career because he's fought in so many five round decisions and yeah but those decisions are also chaotic like his two gray manor fights yeah obviously to a decision but the the benson henderson fights the josialdo fights uh he fought charles oliver to a decision at three round fights so uh we just don't want to see him turn into bj pen right because bj

j as without a doubt tarnish his legacy now and he's one of my favorite fighters of all time but as i said earlier, it's the last thing you talk about when you're talking about BJ Penn now is remember that Jeremy, remember the Stevenson fight? Like, you know, you don't, you don't think about these things immediately. And that's how we used to always think about him. You know who BJ Penn's last win was it? Well, his last win. Yeah. You know who he beat? Was it Matt Hughes? It was indeed. That knockout in the first round, was it? I believe so. And I don't, that was around Matt

Hughes is like the down the end of his career i think he had maybe one fight and the last time he didn't lose was against fit right that draw or was that after that was a draw i believe that was after i'm not a hundred percent on that one but uh we were i was talking uh it was the it was the very next fight he fought fits to a draw and so he knocked out matt hughes at ufc 123 in 2010 uh we're getting we're getting fucking old his last win at lightweight against and i and i matt hugh's obviously a legend in one of the top five great like one of the top five great as welterates ever one of the greatest UFC champions of all time is but again that was like on the downward trend of his career i was talking with casey about this in edmondson the last real contender that bj pen beat

was his title fight when he beat dago sancho when he slashed his forehead open that was in my like thinking back that was his last like win over a top contender when he was defending his because then I believe he lost to Frank Edgar next. And since then, he's lost to Nick Diaz, Roy McDonald. He lost Frank Edgar again. Yeah. Look, we had to pull up his record there to remember this stuff. That's not good.

Like, that's not what you do with Legends. You should be going top of your head. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember that. Remember that. And look, these moments you're talking about were huge. But they are the last things that we talk about when it's BJ Penn now. That's a tarnish legacy.

Like, unfortunately, that's what it means to tarnish one's legacy. You know, when it isn't the first thing you say about this, him, he's one of the greatest furors of all time. You've, that's good done. I don't disagree with you. It's, I'm sure we'll talk about this one because now he's fighting Nick Lance, which I think he's a harder, he lost to Clay Guida's last fight. I think Nick Lance might be a harder fight.

Yeah, Nick Lentz is no picnic, man. Like, there's no fight there for BJ Penn. There's no fight there for BJ Penn. There's no way I want to see it. That's not how we should be talking about a guy that was once considered the greatest fighters of all time. And he was, believe it or not, he was 100%. And I said it earlier this episode.

I still kind of put him as the greatest lightweight ever by default, just because he was so dominant at the top. And I still believe he has the record for most defenses in a row. Maybe Benson Henderson has tied him. That's the suit us to show you how chaotic and Stacks Lightweight Division has been over the last few years. And Connor and Habib and those guys kind of, the lightweight division was kind of stagnant for a long time.

I think until Habib beat Connor at UFC 229, because that was him successfully defending his belt. the last the last time of the undisputed lightweight championship was successfully defended was when dosanos beat saroni and that's when nate ds beat michael johnson so that just goes to show you how stagnant that division has been but we're out of time it's 1103 my time i don't even know what time it is over and over on your seven oh three baby the only time the matter is dublin time you can't see me but i'm shaking my head right now but as always promo time p t i'd p t i'd pete i'd p t i'd p t People wait, wait and wait and wait for weeks.

They just want to hear you rant about something. So your rant have been on point in the last few times we've been on. Hit me. I don't really have anything today. Oh, no. So I'm just going to do a big advertisement for our fantastic Eurobash podcast, which is brilliant, which is the one stop place for all your European MMA needs. If you think you're a real fan of MMA, you've got to tune into the bash and find out what's going on in Europe.

crazy sheiks putting on fights. Insane shit every week goes down here. This is a million miles away from your plush blockbuster events. This is carnage over here. And if you think I'm bad for rants, you want to hear Noel McGrath. He's belligerent. He's drunk most of the time. It doesn't even make sense.

So please tune into Eurobash. You can get it on MMA fighting. If you search MMA fighting and iTunes and Spotify, you can get Eurobash and you can get the A-side with Jose Youngs. Come on. What more do you want? And I'm sorry I'm not pissed off about anything this week, but I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so it's hard to get into that rage kind of mood.

Well, I just assume Nile is drunk all the time, whether he's on Eurobatch or not. Yeah, he's got a serious problem. We probably shouldn't make light of it. No, we should have that conversation with him. This is an intervention, Nile. I'm on the A-Sah. We'll have him on the A-side and be like, Nile, we need to talk. And he gets so angry as well, which kind of feeds into the belief that he's drunk all the time.

So it's a magic combination, really. Well, we love you, Nile. I haven't seen you in a while. I hopefully that changes soon. But my promo will be a lot of people talks about UFC 240 being weak or shallow and everything. I do tend to agree. It was very oddly built. The flyway fight between Pantosia and Figuero, being on the prelims.

That was amazing. Very weird. That fight was awesome. I talked about that a ton on the post fight. The post fight show. So if you want to hear my thoughts on that, you can hop over there. But I think one of the stars that really emerged from that, just from reading the comment sections on YouTube,

was Akeem Dawadu or Akeem Dawadu. I've been told both. I'm sorry if I mispronounce the last name. I've been hearing about him even before he was in the UFC. He was a Calgary native. He was dominant World Series of Fighting. One of our colleagues, Danny Austin, who lives up in Calgary covers MMA,

has been talking about him forever. And then he did stumble in his first UFC debut. He lost over in London, submission. That was SBG's fault. He was training there at the time. Blame them. John Kavana, you've blown out of hands. There you go. Pizzi found something to be upset about. But Hakeem, back-to-back decisions. He's looked unbelievably. He's one of the most technical strikers in the featherweight division. And it goes out there and knocks out his opponent at UFC 240. He said he felt a lot of pressure, not just to win, but to win in violent fashion.

And he did. And then he comes back and sits down. He's all mad and angry. And we're like, you just won by knockout. You're probably going to get the $50,000 bonus. Why are you so mad? He's like, because I got punched three times. I was like, all right. Like, he was so mad at himself for allowing his opponent to touch him. And I thought that was not a star making performance.

That really stood out in my minds. And then he took issue with Max Holloway being called the face of Canadian MMA. He's like, I'm Canadian. I should be the face of Canadian MMA. So, Akim Duol, not only won by knockout, his demeanor, and his attitude, I think really resonated with the fans. I saw a lot of comments.

He was like, oh, man, this guy is so critical of a headkick knockout and $50,000 that I can't wait to see what happens when he wins in more spectacular fashion. So, Akeem Duhato really, really impressed me at UFC 240. Yeah, I've interviewed him before. He has always that mean. He has the word being tattooed on his chest. I'm going to get friendly tattooed on mine. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Don't do that because that every time we're. We're on the A side. People are going to bring up the two friendly people. It's a tribute to Jose's hair. Oh, no. All right. But for that's, we've gone a little over time.

But for Jose Young's, that's Pizzi Carroll. He already plugged it. You can find all of his brilliant interviews on the Eurobash. I think it's one of the more unheralded podcasts in MMA. I think the A side is one of the more unheralded podcasts in MMA. No. Oh, you do go on, Pizzie Carroll. I love you, Jose. I love you and your beautiful.

Oh, my God. I'll catch it from over here in the pond. But for Jose, that's PC. You can stick around, UFC, uh, blah, UFC. YouTube.com backslash I'm fighting, all that stuff. And fight me if you see me in the streets. I don't want any excuses. Come up and start fighting me.

Even if one of my dog or with my girlfriend, just, just come and step to me and see what happens. Yeah, just go up to pizza and say, hey, are you pizza Carol? Yeah. And they're just over. It's over. Smash your face in. Oh, my gosh.

Pizzi, so Pizzi is an angry, angry. angry, angry gentlemen. So come find me, as Max Holloway would say. But for Jose, that's Pizzi. We're out.