MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat: UFC 249 update, Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje, Henry Cejudo vs. Dominick Cruz, more

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

For this episode, journalist Alex Savas joins José Youngs and Alexander K. Lee to discuss some of the top story lines in the world of MMA. Some topics may include UFC 249 on May 9 in Jacksonville, featuring title fights between Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje, Henry Cejudo vs. Dominick Cruz, and Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, as well as the planned cards on May 13 and 16, featuring Anthony Smith vs. Glover Teixeira and Alistair Overeem vs. Walt Harris. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Petesy Carroll: @PetesyCarroll Follow Anthony Walker: @EKC Follow Alex Savas: @alexsavas Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver. Like when you get groceries that are the same prices in-store. With no markups that select retailers, you get in-store products for in-store prices, and the only thing that isn't in-store is you. That means you could order in-store products at in-store prices while you're in sweatpants, in spin class, in stuffy work meeting, in anywhere but in-store.

So download the app today and get $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Ooh, music's back. I think we're going to talk about some serious stuff. Look at this, Brad. Always.

Looks like we're in a noir film. We've got some serious music going on. But the mood. The mood is set. This is Monday. I wrote it down for the time. This is Monday. I don't know the exact date.

But this is the Aideside Live chat. I am, of course, Jose Young's, M.AFlein.com. Joining us this week, someone that the comment section has been asking for ever since she made her debut all the way back in Houston, I believe it was in February. Alex Savis, aka Cool Alex, the Cool Alex of Evan Mayfutney.com, joining us alongside who we like to call the other Alex, Alex Kaley. So I'll start with Cool Alex because she is the guest of honor this week. Alex, what's life, been like in quarantine? And how's the move to Los Angeles, man? So far, so good. Yeah, we moved in the middle of all this.

Which was weird because honestly, like, the part that everyone's really freaked out about is, like, flying. But there were, like, eight people on our flight. And I think that that's the fewest amount of people I've been around in public. So I feel like the airplane was actually the safest place to be. But, yeah, no, so far so good. L.A. is very hot. We're in the valley, so we're cooking. But I'm loving it.

Chicago came from Chicago, case you don't know. It's freaking freezing all the time. So happy to be here. And other Alex, not that anyone cares, but how's it? life with you. Oh. First of all. I take it back, Alex.

I care very much. No, no, no, no, no. Keep that energy. First of all, let me say, let me say this. I had a clause. I want everyone to thank me who's watching the show today. Everyone involved with the show today. Everyone watching the show.

I want everyone to thank me that I'm even here. Because I had a clause in my contract that I would not work directly with Alex Savas. I guess it's a loophole because we're not in the same room. So I guess I don't have a lot of, I've spoken to my lawyers. We're working on it. right now, apparently I have no grounds to object to this broadcast. I am here because I am a professional. I am happy to work with the Savas Dragon over here.

And, you know, at least that's what I have to say on camera. But I'm ready to go. I'm going to put all this animosity aside. Let's put all this animosity aside. Let's try and work together. Let's try it. This is put on a good show. I agree.

I like your shirt, by the way, Alex. 10 out of 10. I'm pressing to impress. Me and Alex looks like we're about to go around a bank. You actually come professional. Casey Man behind the camera How's life with you?

Also murdered out this morning Huh? Also murdered out this morning All black Yeah yeah Oh brown It's a nice brown Okay close enough

Yeah Webcams Yeah what you get Um yeah You know Quarantine You know Uh

Everything's dumb Everything's dumb For those of you that Obviously don't know because you weren't there. But before we signed on, Casey was serenading us with some Roger and Hammerstein,

if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, a little Oklahoma. Yeah, it's jamming out. It's a good jam. You blast it. It's all right, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

You guys suck. I know. Anyway. MMA fans don't know. MMA fans do not understand what good musicals are. Oh, Esther is coming to yell at me. No.

Oh, fix my hair? Yeah. What a good wife. Aw. living the dream can't hate it anyway but as all you guys know this is not our podcast it's your podcast you can leave a question on twitter you can just hashtag the a site or you can just respond to the tweets in question that you all love to do you can leave a question on the site or you can just drop it in the youtube comments because casey is always on board to throw up your lovely

lovely comments uh i don't think we have anyone from no one from the crystal crew besides me this week, Alex is a other Alex is a staunch opponent of the Crystal crew. Alex, I don't know. Cool, Alex, I don't know your stance on Crystal's butt. No Crystal crew this week. I'm sorry, everyone.

I have to fly the flags. But Casey, first question from our lovely listeners. Let's do it. You know what? Let's get a YouTube question. Actually, this one's kind of pertinent to us. Oops. There we go.

Will MMA fighting be doing a live way in stream for U.S.C. 249 from Maria Gronen? Well, I can assure you if we're there and we're able to do it, then I'm sure we'll figure something out. For those of you who don't know, U.S.C. 249 is taking place in Jacksonville, Florida. It's also, I believe it's the 9th, 13th, and 16th. It's like three events in one week. According to Dana White's IG story or IG Live, I can't remember whatever it was, I think 10 media members are going, like 10 total. So I would imagine the selection process, the screen process is still going on.

I don't know how many of us will be able to go, if any. I'm sure they'll be very, again, selective with who they want to send. But if we're even able to be in the same room as the official lines, I'm sure we do something, right, guys? If the UFC gives us the green light to go to the event, we're journalists, that's what we do. and we'll cover the event. Regardless of, you know, you know, regardless of our opinions

on if the event should be happening, but I think as journalists, we want to go and cover an event because it's news. So right now we're just in a holding pattern. We just, we haven't found out yet. Is the expectation that

if you're able to go to 249, you're basically safe for the week for the other two events? Is that what you guys would do? I assume. Yeah, but that was sucked to fly all the way back for like one day. Yeah.

But yeah. Yeah, the assumption is right now there's, there's only three events, three events, right? That's it. Nothing. It's three events in a week. And then there's like rumored fights like in June later on. But the three in question that week or the three in one week starting with usually 249 and the two title fights. But when Guillermo was in Brasilia for the USC Brazilian card, they didn't even let people into the official lanes, right?

No, everything was at a hotel, the fighter hotel, which was a few miles. hours away. So even if we can't, even if we're there, there's not even a guarantee that we'll even be able to shoot the official way in process because when this fight was going to take place in Fresno at Taichy Palace or what, not Fresno, where was it, Casey? I know it's the Fresno Aaron. Linmore. Linmore. At Tai Chi Palace, we were all talking like, we can't plan for this like a normal fight week. There's going to be no open workouts. There's going to be no media day. We probably won't be able to go to official Wayne. I doubt there's going to be a ceremonial lands it's pretty much you go to cover the fights and pretty much nothing else there's

no fight week it'd be like going to like the super bowl and not doing media just going to the game so it's for all these like what's meet fight week gonna be like it's on pre it's uncharted water but i think yeah go ahead but i'm sorry imagine like super bowl with like no no no big national anthem no halftime show no no no fans obviously no media week it's probably just literally just a game that looks like any other game. In a practice field. It's not even in a stadium. It's in a practice.

It's on a high school field with metal bleachers. But I think Guillermo has like the, he was there in Brazil for the last UFC car. I think if you really look at what he was able to do, I imagine it's something similar. But it's uncharted waters to say the least. So I don't know. I have absolutely. If we're able to, we'll do it. Alex.

Did Alex freeze? I like your, I like your lower thirds, by the way, Casey. that was the default it just came with it came with the computer Alex is frozen can't hear you can't hear or see you for those of you that listen to this after the facts because of course this is broadcast live on YouTube other Alex Alex Alex K Lee is frozen

I'm sorry guys I've got some connection issues oh no my part I'll just help on my back are you back Alex are you back Alex hold on on my back Are you frozen? I don't know I think I'm popping in and out what were you saying before you on ceremoniously,

we got frozen? Yes, before my internet broke. So, I mean, sorry, I could also, I couldn't make out a lot of what you guys were saying, but I know your answer is more pertinent to being there on site because you guys do a lot of that coverage live. I'm more of a house mouse. I'm up in Canada.

I'll occasionally cover stuff, obviously in Toronto, Vancouver, things like that. So it's not much an issue for me. I am hoping that the UFC, this is just in regards to the original question, like the live stream, will there be a live stream, the way-ins? I'm hoping the UFC presents kind of a more comprehensive live stream sort of coverage on their own.

This time, they normally don't stream the morning weigh-ins on their own channel. But again, these are kind of different circumstances. So I would hope that they would at least give outlets that option, kind of help outlets out, give us that link so we can see that. And then maybe we can still provide some live commentary because I love Wayans. People know me. I love me some Wayans. So I hope we have that option to watch it somehow. The two Alexes love the official wayans.

It's like your favorite. I know I look forward to early morning Wayne's every time yeah it's good at the last one we did with when Casey got Casey and Esther whipped together that god that seems so long ago there is Ryan Sonja Romero fight car when they had that excellent new display that was wildly popular and everyone was like I hope we see this moving forward and little did we know that we probably want to see it for quite a while Nothing makes me happier than Heidi, the UFC's Heidi, calling people baby. I don't know why. It just, it's a smile on my face. I imagine the fighter, it's quite a thrill. So, yeah, hopefully we get, we still see that. Because ceremonials are fine.

I think we all, ceremonies are cool, but you've kind of seen one ceremonial. You've seen them all unless, you know, there's some really, really crazy quote or shenanigans at the end. But the open, the morning ones, like the actual wins are always, gosh, these days, there's always something weird, happening. So I do hope we get a live stream of that in some form, whether again it's from us or the OEC provides it itself somehow. I kind of like the fight night wayans they've been doing lately where they do the face house right after the official lands. They don't wait. I know in Brazil they usually have the ceremonial lanes way later again. But like when we were in Denver or when I would did the Milwaukee. The Milwaukee one was a Fox card. So they did the big ones. But like for these smaller fight night

cards, they do the official. The face us right after the official wins. There's no ceremony. Kind of like that. Kind of packed. We don't have to leave. We don't have to leave. leave, kill time, and then go back to and wait again. So all right there. We're all set up. But Casey, next question. No problem. Other Alex, kind of get your best Heidi Dean impression.

Hello, thank you, baby. I am so worried about offending anyone, but I will, I'll do it for the, like I said, I'll do it for the show. It's in my contract. So she would go like, five seconds, five seconds. Okay, thank you, baby. Heidi, I am so sorry. I am so sorry

That was so good I wasn't expecting it to be that good I'm right on I was good huh I was not excited I was expecting you to just say the words wow that was 10 at 10 Alex I have all that to everyone

I look on it I look on his private YouTube channel it's just tributes to Heidi that's all it is I've been working on this impression that was not the first I thank you for your question Maria

from Valentina Valentino Seifiddin Tarhan. I always, I apologize again. You ask a lot of great questions I can never get your name right. What's your number one dream matchup in the future? Habib versus Tony, not included.

Hashtag the A's side. Well, first props to Valentino for actually giving Habib top billing. I know that. It seemed like every question last week was Tony v. Habib championing its top billing, folks.

So cool, Alex. I'll start with you. What's your number one dream matchup in the future? Well, if we're just going to play a dream, matchups, I guess we're going cross promotional for me. So I like to see a Cyborg Amanda rematch. And then if we're talking strictly UFC, I'd like to see Shevchenko and Amanda again. I think, yeah. I mean, I don't know, you know, Amanda's great. I love Amanda. But I really do

think if Cyborg and Amanda go at it again, we have a potential to see a different result. Yeah, it seems like all these firemen. where it's like that is like that fight reminds me of like the Connor fight or the Mazur doll like the Connor Aldo fight or the Mazurraal Ascran fight where yeah like there's clearly a winner the other one got knocked dead but if they run it back the first fight was so quick it could have a different answer like it's that's just that question I think someone asked Stephen Thompson like if you knock someone out if someone knocks you out cold does that actually answer questions as opposed to just beating someone down for 15 or 25 minutes

This is really a clear-cut winner. So I would love everything about Cyborg versus Amanda Neunes. I still think those are the best, two greatest female fighters of all time and Rhonda. I think it's those three Valentinas right there. But I don't know how long if that's ever possible, but Amanda Valentina is something that we have been waiting for. I think I think Valentina won the second fight, but that's just me. Other Alex, your thoughts? Yeah, well, I'll add to that.

I'll say, I think the best case scenario for those kinds of rematches, where one guy gets supposedly definitively finished in the first fight and then they fight again. Aldo and Mendez, Chad Mendez, there was like a little bit of controversy with the first fight, kind of like a cage grab or whatever. It was a 100% of a cage grab. Yeah, and it ended very quickly. And then they fought again. The second fight was a freaking classic. So for sure, rematches like can absolutely be dream matches because, yeah, I think like we do really feel like we didn't get that full Nunez cyborg experience. As far as my dream match, I really, Ryan Hall versus anyone. And I'm not.

I'm not just saying this to make our man on the ones that two is Casey happy. I know we're part of the Ryan Hall mutual admiration club, but Ryan Hall is just so exciting. It's so hard to get him a fight, and I know why. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to fight him. He's not just going to beat you. He really is going to make you look bad. And not even just like an embarrassing way, but like make a bad fight, possibly put a bad fight in your resume.

And I say this with affection for Ryan Hall because I think his style, everything he does, just mesmerizing. So Ryan Hall versus anyone specifically like, I was just looking at this list, maybe like a Charles Olavera? Like, that would be wild. I think there'd be quite a bit of a size difference, but and Charles definitely strikes a bit more these days, but if he like decided to go to the ground with Ryan Hall, that would be something special. I think the dream matchup for Ryan Hall is the one case he's been calling for forever. Jeremy Stevens v. Ryan, Ryan Hall. Just a clash of not just playing styles, but completely different personalities. So he's dream matchups in the future.

He would hate Jeremy Stevens would hate that. No, I would hate that. I want to see. a full-on like a countdown show like three episodes it was a prime time of Ryan Hall and Jeremy Stevens getting ready for this one. Just random fight night card.

And just and having face off and a, you know, multi-city tour having face off in all the major cities across the world. Was Ryan Hall supposed to fight Ricardo Lammis? Yeah, I never saw that bite get rebooked. So I don't know.

That's a bummer. I'm very bummed, yeah. Casey, what's your, dream matchup for the future outside of Ryan Hall of you, Jeremy Stevens. As much as I hate the trash talk online, so I just think it's boring. I want to see John Jones versus Izzy. Yeah. I want to see it. I want to see it.

That's all. I don't like it at 205. I would hope it could be like at 200. I don't know if Jones can do that healthy. But if it's at 205 at 205, I bet he could. He weighs in. Like lately he's been weighing in at like 203, 204 a lot. And it's not like he's, and he's super healthy on, like, he's all joking and laughing and dancing on the scale.

So I bet he could do it. Yeah. And, yeah, you guys got to go the other way with it. You guys got to go, I want to talk about the heavyweight talk. I want, you know, Izzy saying he would chase most heavyweight. I want him going in there with, like, the little bellies. You know what I mean? The little weight class up bellies that guys get.

That's what, that is the Izzy versus Bones fight that I want. But I do like what cool, Alex said. I do, I do really do want to see Amanda Nunes and Cyborg rematch. I think that'll be because like I've never thought of MMA has a one for one sport you know like football is I think of I think of I think of MMA is more of like a three out of five I think that's a more of a between high level guys between high level three out of five yeah between high level men and women I think I think that's I think that's what MMA because it's like it's just how it is it's just a sport where like I I guess I'm usually usually. Usually two out of three in MMA, boxing can go all the way up to five. But MMA, we don't really. How many fights have we seen that's been more than Rampage Vanderlays, what, two and two, I think. What, I can't think of anything else that's in both that many times.

I don't remember. I just, well, two out of three, three or five, whatever. I just think MMA isn't really a one-for-one sport. So that's why I really want to see them running back. Pit bull and stress. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's back when it seems like the same three or four fighters were all, like Pat Kern and B. Pitbull and then all of a sudden,

Kern v. Strauss and then Strauss had no choice. Benham Page for Stylebender would be awesome. It freaking would be, but that's two of all two different weight classes. MVP is a tall welterweight. So he could probably, he could definitely fight a 185. I would love everything about that fight. I've interviewed Michael Venom Page and asked him about the competition. comparisons and he is a massive fan of Stylebender.

But he said his favorite fighter to watch was Robert Whitaker. Michael Venipade actually picked Whitaker to beat Style Bender back then. So sorry about it. That's a good example of Casey's point. I mean, Whitaker knowing what we know now about where he was mentally in the Adasania fight, said he wasn't himself. He didn't look like himself. Like, I want to see that get run back because I picked Whitaker as well.

That's my guy. I think I picked Whitaker too. I think I was, because Casey was there with Petey and Esther. I wasn't there on site. So I was watching and a few people came over to watch the pay-per-view. And every single person picked Robert Whitaker to win. Really? I did not watch single.

Everyone in the room I was in thought Whitaker would win. And by the time the fight ended, they were all huge marks for Style Bender. Like that, that like swayed them to be big fans. This guy picked Izzy. Yes. A.K. Lee picked. Just so, you know. It's on the site.

It's on the record. It's on the site. Well, my answer has been the same. answer for the last five years, and that is the Koreans'Ombudsman versus Brian Ortega. I called for that fight after Brian Ortega beat Moycano back in Anaheim. I'm still waiting for that fight. The fact that it fell, I found out, everyone knows the story, I found out that their fight fell off through Twitter because people were sending me, are you okay?

Like, do you need someone the shoulder to cry on when that fight fell out? So I'm still waiting on that fight. It's only added more drama now. I wish it did happen in Seoul or wherever the fight. first fight was South Korea. But just give me five rounds between Korean Zombie versus Brian Ortega. That's all I ask for. I've been asked, I don't care

if there's any fights the rest of the year. I want that fight so bad. Thank you for the question. Valentino. The seaside, the one about you're looking forward to the most. So I assume this is the opposite kind of style where what fight that's

actually booked are you most looking forward to? I started with cool Alex last time. I'll start with Aller Alex this time. What fight are you most looking forward to that's actually booked? Now, again, we have a few cards. Like we said, we have those three cards in May coming up. I'm just looking at the new UFC 249, the May 9th show. I kind of like Fabricio Verdum and Alexi Olinic.

If I'm just dipping into the prelims here, there's a lot of great main card stuff as well. But that's a matchup that I think a lot of people on paper that was like really interesting. Because, again, we all know Verdoom, you know, one of the greatest, you know, grapplers in MMA history, maybe the greatest jiu jihitsu heavyweight, of course, with apologies to to Big Nog, but Vardum's right up there, but then you have that Olinic,

again, it's almost like the story about the Ryan Hall thing before. Like, he just has such a specialized skill. And you do wonder if it came down skill for skill, you know, can you imagine if he submitted Verdum?

So that's a super exciting thing for me. Like I think there could be some striking as well, but that is almost like the heavyweight version of seeing Ryan Hall go as someone is Alex C-Olinic and attributes to Radium. So that's, that's, yeah, strangely, from that card,

that's the one besides, Ferguson Gagee. That's the one that I'm really, really, really intrigued by. Cool, Alex. What book for you are you most looking forward to? I got to represent women's MMA here, or as we like to call it, MMA. I'll tell you, there you go. Carlos Bars and Michelle Waterson, I think, is going to be a good time. I think Michelle was close to making a run for the title, and then, you know, coming off a recent loss, like I'd like to see her get back on a win streak and really run for it.

So I don't know how that one plays out. I think Carla's wrestling is going to be an interesting matchup for her, but it's the only women's MMA fight on the card. Two former evicted champs. I can't believe that fight hasn't happened. Michelle Waterson's had a lot of these fights lately where I can't. Like when she fought Felice Herod, I think it was 229. I'm like I swear they fought before.

I feel like those two have been around for so long. And as far as than Michelle Watterson is similar. Like I couldn't believe they hadn't fought. Two people, I think, are, like, Michelle Waterson is former Adamweight champion. Carlos Barzahe is definitely should be an atom weight. So it's like two atom weights not cutting weight fighting in the UFC in my mind. Casey, your thoughts. The fight I'm looking most forward to, actually is still, and this is under the assumption that both guys are fully trained and proper healthy weight cuts is actually just still Ferguson Gaichi.

I just love that fight. I love Gachy versus just in any of the top five lightweights going head to head. Those are just, that's just awesome. So why not? And I just, and I think Gachy's going to win. So I just love seeing the chaos what's going to happen after if Gachy wins. And if Ferguson somehow wins, I'll be like, somehow, like, there's a big chance he wins. I think Gagey wins.

I think he's a horrible matchup for Ferguson. I think he's the worst matchup for anyone in the division. But I think Ferguson is a crazy man. Yeah. But the thing is like if Ferguson can actually beat Gaichi, like I want to see it though, because I just don't, I can't see it in my head. You know, I just, I just, but obviously you can, he can beat him. I mean, it's a lot of ways to be Gaichi. I just try, I just want to see it. And I just, so in my head, I just, you know, those fights, you just go, you know, at nighttime, before you fall asleep, you just kind of think of fights and you just kind of imagine what's going on, what could happen. And it just goes so many different ways that fight. and all of every single way is exciting so I'm just super looking forward to that fight outside of that I will say I will say oh sorry I will say that that Gathe Ghee before his first loss he did though have a little bit of even though he got hit a lot he did have an aura of like I have no idea how anyone is going to beat this guy I've seen him lose twice so now

we do you're like I think he was kind of we do kind of know the more and I think I actually did expect Alvarez to beat him but I was also but it was almost like a coin toss pick I was Like, I think Oliver was going to do it because I think he's, I think he's more experienced something, but I didn't, I couldn't actually envision how he was going to happen. So that's, that's the intrigue of Gates Gio, is, and I know why you like him over Ferguson, too, is he does seem unbeatable at times, right? I mean, I guess you can say that about any fighter when they're at their best, but him in particular, his ability to absorb damage, his ability to dish out damage so quickly,

uh, that I, I kind of understand why, why Casey is, is so like, it's so locked in on Gates G beating Ferguson. I'm leaning the other way, Jose. but I do know where Casey's coming from. I mean, I think Justin Gage could very well be the uncrown champion. I think he is the worst matchup, like not just for Tony, but he is a way worse matchup for Habib. Like, because we've said it a million times,

like Justin Gagey has some elite level wrestling that he doesn't really use at all. But it's not like Romero where he just kind of waits and then explodes. Like he puts you through a wood chipper and then you just die from woodchipper when he doesn't even pull out the rest of, wrestling from his back pocket.

So, and he's lost to Porreier and he's lost to Eddie. The Porreier fight was weird. I was there for that. Two epic fights, a lot of eye pokes or low blows. I can't remember which one it was in that Poriade fight. There were a lot of pauses on the main. And then the Eddie Alvers fight was a three-round fight. I wish that was a five-round fight because they might have approached it differently.

But outside of that fight, outside of the Carlos Spars and Marcel Watterson fight, I always like watching Dominic Cruz fight. I just wish he was fighting Frankie Edgar and not Harry's audeau. I don't think he, I don't want to use the word deserved. There are other people that should have got the title shot over him, but that's over here. Big fan of Bryce Mitchell versus Charles Rosa. I interviewed Charles Rosa after his Boston fight, and he said he has the best jujitsu in the entire featherweight division.

Black Belt, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that ATT, even called out, you wanted to fight Crone Gracie just to prove a point. Matches up with Bryce Mitchell undefeated coming off his big twister win, which I know we all agree. We should probably not have been the submission of the year, but nonetheless it was on MAfighting.com. So I think that's a very underrated. Bryce Mitchell could very well get his first ever loss. He was also, we made that graphic over which undefeated fighter would be the next UFC champion. And it was like at the time, Reyes, Sugar Sean, Edmund Shabazzian, Giresino,

Tatiana Suarez. It was like a graphic. Bryce Mitchell was very upset that we did not put him on the graphic. He said, this guy right here. And then, so had my eye on that one because he called out the site, and more specifically me, because I'm the one that made the graphic. Oh, no. I was about to throw Alex Savas under the bus. Come on. No, it was me. Darn it.

I think I'm going to throw you under the bus because you thought, who did you, you didn't, you confused Edmund Shabazzian with someone else. Oh, yeah, you were like, oh, I don't. You were like, Corey Sanhagic is not underfeited. Casey, next question? I think we have another question. I don't, no, I don't recall. Actually, I do want to say, you mentioned Sehudo and Cruz.

Am I the only one who's like talking myself into Cruz beating him? Maybe I've been watched too many interviews. Oh, no, no. I think Cruz can totally beat Sohudo. I just don't know he deserves a shot. But he can obviously, he can clearly beat him. I'll probably pick Cruz when it comes down to it. Drew's already shown ring rust is not, like, doesn't really affect him like a normal human being.

Like, he had that long layoff. And then his fight against T.Dilley-Dillishaw is one of the best fights I've ever witnessed live. It wasn't a blood bat, per se, like all the Justin Gachie fights that we were talking about or the Tony Furbby. the fight in Boston. That fight was awesome. That fight, like, I could watch the fight a thousand. That's like a fight. If I have a new fan that's never watched their in May,

they just want to see a high-level technical, full-work and striking. That's the fight I show them. That's one of the best fights I've ever seen in my life. So now is after another long layout. Did you score up for Cruz, that fight? That fight was super close. I don't know. That's the thing.

Like, I remember that fight ending, and I was sitting next to one of the beat riders in Boston, and he's like, I have, he, neither of us knew who won that fight. That was a coin flip to us. That's what I mean. When I say MMA isn't a one-for-one sport, like, that's what I mean. Like, I think they fight ten times, they split it five out of five, you know? So I'm just, I want to see more.

All right, next question. Thank you, the seaside for your loyal listening. Tony v. Justin, here we go. From Trumbo on the site, where are Justin's opportunities to win this fight. Big punch early. Tony is hitable early. Leg kicks. Will he finally show his wrestling? Tony has shown some weaknesses from the bottom versus Lee. Well, didn't he submit Kevin Lee from the bottom? So, like, even though he's in, Kevin Lee said that he got beat up, like the worst damage he got in that fight was when he was on top. His Tony was just cutting him up

from the bottom case. He'll start with you this time. Then I start with the other, the Alex and Alex, the last two questions. Where does Justin Gagee win this fight? You're the one that seems pretty adamant that he has a really good shot of winning. I just do think he just wins it with his hands. I think it's just leg kicks, hands, legs kicks of his boxing and his in no, his leg kicks. I just think, I don't think Tony's going to be able to get him down. He's not going to be, he's, and like he, Tony's love his game, especially the early rounds, he really, really, really, um, uh, relies heavily on his, just basically his toughness.

And, um, I don't think anyone's tough enough to get through Gaichi. if you go from punch for punch for punch. And yeah, I just think it's Gachie's fight to take. And, oh, and actually, man, I would, if actually Gachie you can really implement leg kicks against Tony, I really want to see it. Just because I love seeing death by late kicks.

I think that's like... Oh, my God. Because it's so... People like body shots, but I'm like, oh, leg kicks, those are the ones that just, I don't know, they're just so cruel. I was at, like, I was talking with our former co-worker or son al-Shada and we were like right because

Justin Gage has a ton of fights in Arizona so like we were looking back at all the crazy fights that we had attended back on the regional scene with him his two we were both at his fight against his fights against Luis Palomino where he just those are two of the greatest fights I've ever ever UFC

non-MA but that Brian Foster fight when he defended his title against Brian Foster Jesus Christ he just beat the soul out of his legs with a metal pipe until Foster's just fell apart so yeah you're not wrong on that Cool, Alex. How does Justin beat Tony? Okay, I guess I'll preface this by saying, I guess I needed a disclaimer.

Do I think Justin Gichi is a tough son of a bitch? Yes, of course. But I think Justin, if Justin were to win this, it would be by incompetent judging. Oh, hmm. Interesting. Would you care to explain on the notion? I just think Tony wins this. And I think if it goes five rounds, I think if Tony's going to lose,

it's going to be because you got, you know, robbed on the score cards. I really don't think that this is going to go five rounds. I think it's going to go Tony's way. By how, submission? Well, wait, wait for that until we're out five weeks. We have no other. Don't get a prediction yet. Other Alex, how does Justin Gage you win?

When you said cool Alex before, I almost jumped in. I was like, oh, okay, fine. for the purposes of this show. Just to save confusion, fine, I'm just a cool out. First of all, I hope there's controversy. That's some juicy robbery review material for me to plug my own feature. If you guys aren't, anyone watching, check out the side. I'm doing retro reviews of fights that are supposedly robberies.

I'm actually not a reviewer in the, a believer in the term robbery. But we'll see if Alex Salvis is right about what happens with Gaci and Bergen. I can't imagine it going the distance. We say that about a lot of fights, of course. I believe you said that about a fight between Nikita Krilov and Johnny Walker, I'm not mistaken. Don't you hate how he remembers everything? Isn't it like so annoying?

He's a steel trap. He's sharp as a whip. I'll get that. That's on the website too. Gosh, that's really, I don't want to look back on that. That prediction's up there. No, yeah, I mean, I'm leaning towards Ferguson, too, for some reason. But it's weird.

It's like all the points that Casey brought up and all the points that are kind of suggested in this question are just like completely accurate. Like I really don't know if you look at the Alvarez, I loved the Alvarez, Gave G fight by the way. And I love, like Alvarez had just the perfect game plan executed it so well. You really cannot,

you really have to treat Gave G like a bull. And I don't, we really don't know if Ferguson can do that. I think he's adaptable. I think he's more adaptable than people think. I know he's so intense and I know he's always bringing the fight to everyone. So we kind of see him as having like one speed. I really believe in the situation he'll at least have adapted a little bit.

I'm not saying he'll change his style completely. I think he'll be able to adapt enough to avoid the worst of it early on anyway. And then at some point, yeah, finished in the third or fourth round, something like that. But yeah, I'm leaning towards Ferguson. I just haven't quite formulated a compelling argument why. Well, let's not forget Tony Ferguson also cut down to 155 like a week ago. Maybe like less like. And now he's going to do it again like real quick turn.

I don't know. Like, everyone was talking about how badass and cool and yeah, like mentally strong. Like, he's that's back-to-back weight cuts to 155 to make championship wait for two five-round fights against two drastically different people. I am curiously how that will affect Tony Ferguson's body. Like, I know he's mentally there, but like, will his body be able to go back-to-back weight cuts and fight, again, Justin Gage, aka the human woodchipper? But we'll find out in Jacksonville. Hopefully one of us is there. Casey. Next question. Question from Robin G87. UFC events without public and media, question mark. As UFC events will be without public until without public until further notice, did you guys already hear?

If this will also mean media is not invited except for some ESPN personnel. Since all gatherings before and afterfight are probably not doable with the state rules and you'll not be able to see it in the arena live, are you going to Florida? we answered this earlier on Robin G87. If we're there, we can't, we imagine it'll be one, maybe two. I can't imagine they'll let three of us go considering I think Dana White said it. It was 10, right? I'm not making that number up. He said 10 media members total.

I was told that by a few people I didn't actually see the video. So 10 people would be like the process. So if we're invited, we'll be there, who will be there. I am not sure. Don't be surprised. I'll tell Bill, don't be surprised or disappointed if you don't see some of your favorite faces from M.A. fighting there because they really, like, I, we're, you know, again, people are asking questions with the media. We don't even know what kind of, like, what their staff is going to look like.

We don't know what the coaching situation is. Are the fighters able to bring all their coaches? Just from a personnel and staff standpoint and everything, even taking into account, oh, there's no fans, we don't know how much limitations there are for everyone as far as who are they're allowed to bring, what they're allowed to bring. Because you have to imagine, it's going to be so restricted. And for them to have the normal amount of media they have, again, we know they won't. But to even come close to that would really, really add to the numbers, really, really get to the limit of what they're where they're supposed to be at. So, yeah, kind of just to follow up on that question and the first question that was asked, it's really hard to tell. But again, I wouldn't be surprised if it was mostly in-house people.

We said ESPN for sure, most likely, and like a few select other names. So, yeah, hopefully, fingers crossed you see some was there. And you'd have to wonder if some media members just wouldn't want to go. or they would be, maybe they have a situation at home that they would, like, we had Anthony Walker on Friday, and he obviously has a newborn. And he said, like, three, four years ago, he's on the first plane, Florida. Now that he's a dad, he has to step back in an evaluate situation. I know none of us have kids on this site, but I would imagine having a child is an eye-opening experience. So maybe some, or even the Joe Lose on when he was on, he had a, like, Calvin was fighting.

And a couple of her, Calvin Cater was fighting, a couple other fighters had like, fights coming up and his wife is like an ER like nurse or doctor I can't remember which one and he's like well I have to think if I get someone there is sick and I get sick and I give it to her and then she brings it to the hospital it's like it's situations outside of fighting that you have to take in to account to so I would have to imagine maybe some medias have to evaluate their home situation too before they make that decision but I want to speak for anyone it's asking a lot to not even tell people ahead of time what the precautions are going to be is there going to be testing is there any of this like to come to keep that completely in the dark at this point. Like that that's asking a lot of your media and the

people that keep you in the public eye. So you're saying like when I did the reaction to it Mike heck that Dana White should have just come out and been transparent, right? And just said this you're doing rather than don't worry about it. Yeah, you would think. I mean, I just want to know like when if you know before they even announced the venue they were like, fighters are going to show up to this airport and then be escorted off to some other on a disclosed location. And it's like, if I'm a fighter, I'm like, yo, this sounds sketchy as how, like,

I don't even know if I want to do that. And then, like, the media to be doing it who aren't getting even paid, I know fighters don't get paid that much either, but, like, it's a lot. It is, it is absurd. Mike, you guys did that great reaction video. Mike Chiappetta and Mike Chippetta

also wrote a great article over the weekend sort of addressing the same thing of Dina White Transparency. It is absurd that people are still pushing this, oh, he's not telling the media because the media is going to do the kind of reporting that's going to lead to this event getting shut down.

This is insane, okay? First of all, we have to ask those questions. They're relevant, not just to us, but to the fighter. Do you not want the fighters to be informed? Because I can tell you right now, there's a lot of fighters who are in the same situation that we are. They don't know what the hell is going on in Jacksonville, as far as COVID-19 testing goes.

And like the lack of information is not helping anyone. Lack of information is not going to increase or decrease the likelihood of an event going on. So people just really use critical thinking. There's a reason we ask these questions. And you should want to know. People who don't want to know is just shocking to me. I know ignorance is bliss is the old adage, but holy crap, people, just bear with us.

We really want to get this information, not just for you, but for the fighters and for everyone else. And of course, for ourselves. Yeah, a lot of these questions will be answered if someone's actually there in person. So we will do our best if we are able to go. and if not, you can, of course, expect great coverage from us remotely. But Casey, next question. Oh, actually, I want to add, I really want to find out if UFC 2.48 happens, are they going to have ring card girls?

Because in Brazil, the last UFC event with no fans there, and they said only essential staff at the event, they had ring card girls. I just thought that was amazing. amazing. How is that not essential? Yeah, I'm not seeing the connection here. I don't know what do you, what are you trying to.

Casey, you're the odd man out. It's an essential. Holding big cards to show all the fans, what round it is. I don't know how else we're supposed to know the rounds. That's how I know, Casey.

How, what, do you watch, you look at the numbers on the screen, you don't look at the ring girls number? Yeah, I thought I was, I just.

Are you saying the UFC should fire all the ring girls? That's really interesting. Casey. What a sport. I call, thought of this work. Thank you for the question. Robin G87.

From IA. 6710 on Twitter. If U.S. fighters can only fight each other as with international internationals, which champs are likely to benefit the most from that. So I assume

this question is saying if if U.S. base fighters cannot face international base fighters for the foreseeable future, which champion benefits the most? Other, Alex, I'll start with you. Which champion will benefit the most from not having to face international competition?

I assume the question also meant, and also if international fighters are limited and, like, not being able to fight U.S. guys? Is that part of the question, too, sort of? I'm not quite sure. It was a very, he used, he made internationals, like plural. Like, it was, like, it was like a descriptive thing. So I'm not quite sure. but answer how you seem fit.

Yeah, my first thought when I saw that was like Habib, like if he's limited from traveling out of Russia and people can't get into Russia, obviously that's a huge swath of lightweight contenders that will limit his options. Now, again, there's also the, again, I know Fight Island is in the works supposed to be ready by the summer.

And I assume the concept is that it's easier for, it will be easier for international fighters to go there and also U.S. fighters to go there. so maybe it won't be as much of benefit. But if he's just restricted to fighting other internationals, which, by the way, is a wide, wide range of people and various travel restrictions. So it's kind of a strange question.

I would say, Habib, just because there's a lot of names right off the top that we can kind of say, like, oh, well, he wouldn't be able to fight Ferguson or Gates G or anyone if he can't get out of Russia. But really, nobody, I would say no champion benefits from a career standpoint. I mean, you want to be able to fight as many big names you can, and this really puts a damper on that. Well, looking at the champs that are U.S.-based, like Usman, I guess, the top five in the, in the Walterweight are all in the U.S., aren't they?

Is Leon Edwards in the top five? He might be the only non-D-U.S. Yeah. Close enough. Right. Right. Close enough. But you could do Woodley.

You could do Covington. You could do Mozvindal. Gilbert Burns in Florida. Yeah. I mean, because otherwise, I mean, Volkanowski is kind of in the same boat then as Khabi, right? Mm-hmm. And Izzy. And Izzy, yeah, Izzy. I would say, I'm going to carry the flag for Pizzi Carroll because he's not here,

and I know he would be upset that no one brought it up. The one who benefits the most is Henry Suhudo because he won't get to fight Peter Yan. Because I know Pizzi Carroll flies that flag like no one else. He has declared him the uncrowned champion. So Peter Yan is upset about the matchmaking between Cruz and Suhudo, who supposedly still fighting Marlon Marais at a future. date, obviously. What was it going to be? Kazakhstan, someone over there. So he's not fighting him in Kazakhstan. He's fighting him wherever they put it. But the fact that Henry Zahudo gets to dodge,

that bullet will probably benefit him in the long run, a corner of Pisa Carol, I would have. This is what I imagine P.C.C. will, would be saying. Can you do a P.C. Carroll impression at all? Nope. I'm not even going to try. Can you put your, can you put your leg over your head? Well, you see, he's from Dublin and my family is from Westmead. So that's just mixing vinegar and water right there. You know, I don't have to tell you that, though. Anyway, next question of case. And no, I cannot put my foot over my head.

I am confident when saying I am the least flexible person on the entire side. All right. Let me go to some of our YouTube comments. Do, do, do. Oops, let me fix that. Two peas and no bizwit. Should the UFC make a Fight Island Championship belt? Why not?

That's a great idea. They have a BMF. Oh, yeah. Why not, man, or a woman. I'm not, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. They're fighting on the beach.

There's going to be no fans anyway. Fight Island. Dana White has Dashtar James is making this an annual thing. He said that he'll probably retire Fight Island once the pandemic is. We're past the pandemic, whenever that is. But hell, why not? Have a new championship belt with palm trees and all that kind of fun stuff on the front. I mean, if your champs can't.

fight anyone outside of their home country. It doesn't make any sense to even, like, continue stuff the way that it is. Let's just throw everything. Hey, why not just make a Fight Island Championship crown? Let's just, let's do that instead. I'd be all in favor of a crown or a sash or a ring. Why does that be a belt? A golden lay, like a golden lay or something.

Why not? I'm, I'll go ahead, excuse me. No, no, they absolutely should make a fight island belt. That's, that's not a should. It's like, it's just like, the question is like, how. awesome should this belt look, you know? That's the question. Of course, of course. And like Dana says, no, after the pandemic's over, this pandemic ain't going to be over

for a while, people. This fight island's going to be around for a while. Like, the world ain't going to be normal for a long while, especially with them reopening things. Like, they've already said that they think, well, we're going to reopen the economy, so all that's going to happen is we're going to have just more waves. So it's just going to kind of continue until the winter, you know, when we have to hit flu season again.

will probably be on the lockdown again. So we'll fight island reopening up off and on. So, yeah, Fight Island belt, crown, sash, corsage. Scepter. Scepter. Yeah, Scepter. I'm down, yeah. And get rid of the cage.

It's like fight, just... Yes. Get rid of the cage, just put, you know, just do a couple, do a Twitter poll, and pick some fans and they're the kind of the walls, you know, and just, you know, everyone holds. up their iPhone. Push them back. Yeah, everyone just

just pushing back. And don't have any cameramen just have all iPhones and then we'll just, you know, collect all the footage and we'll just, you know, just everyone just hold the cameras,

you know, just. Basically, it's just watch a World Star video. What was that wrestling show you and I went to in Vegas, Casey? Oh, suburban fight. Yeah.

Yeah, just do a suburban fight style. If anyone doesn't know what that is, go watch it. It's just a wrestling match and a restaurant and the entire venue is like the ring.

So it's just people, it's just people just getting out. of the way as people wrestle in front of them. So I am all in favor of a suburban fight-style UFC fight. I want like a big brother situation on Fight Island. Like throw all the fighters on there. We've got cameras everywhere, like watching everybody, what everybody's doing.

It's going to be like a reality show. Like I want to be able to just like tune in and see what's going on on and fight on. I think Casey wants a terrorist house style UFC event. Oh no. You guys are. This is dangerously close to my patented idea. So just be careful of the ultimate fight. meets Paradise Hotel.

I won't go into detail further. I'll just say that I was asked a long time ago how to save the Ultimate Fighter, and I said Paradise Fighter. That's all I'm going to say. I won't go to detail. This is a PG show, but I'll just say that that was, I agree.

The island gives a lot of possibilities for kind of creating an enhanced UFC reality TV product. By the way, I'm totally in favor of the belts. I am in favor of more trinkets and trophies and wars and things in, as it is, whatever it be, like pride style, you know, a big Grand Prix trophy thing. Because again, I haven't said this in a while because it's on the show, but look, MMA is supposed to be fun. You know, this is my mantra.

MMA is supposed to be fun. I know people are like, oh, belts just also mean something. And I'm like, guys, belts are props. They're very cool and certainly meaningful for the fighters. I would never take that away. They definitely represent something. But they're also props created by a promotion for promotional purposes. And you had to keep that in mind.

So I was all for the BMF belt. I'm all for the Island Island Fight Island belts More belts than marry A year-end championship belt Whatever anything Just Ryan Hall Ryan Hall belts

You know He gets his own belt Because he's Ryan Hall Anything like that I think bring it on It's like achievements And video games Just keep unlocking more and more things

Alex you're the cool Alex You're the only person I know that watches It like every single reality show What's that new weird one on Netflix That's all popular all of a sudden Are we talking too hot to handle I guess so

You guys have to watch this. Netflix's reality game is so strong lately. Like they call it like the trifecta. It's the circle and then love is blind and then too hot to handle. So basically they took a bunch of like 20-somethings, threw them on an island and told them there would be no contact, no physical touching at all. And every time they did, they would lose money from the big pot of the $100,000 that they had to start with. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to go a month, but these people could not. Wait, they did a reaction show based on no touching?

Yes. So basically they just live like our lives, I guess. You just can't touch other people. Yeah, I guess. But they were also in Mexico. And drinks were flowing, I guess. Oh, okay. So not Terrace House.

You know, I really has a, I just don't like the ultimate fighter as a product. but in reality this is actually a great time to bring it back you know just a social distance they live in a house but they can't I don't know there's a lot of stupid things they can do right now and we're living in a stupid world so this is time to put all the stupid together and just whatever this is just it's just the ultimate fighter

whatever that's where we're at I mean this is we don't know what's going to happen next week what was bellator's version fight master oh yeah joe riggs and then he came back and fought i think it was ben saunders and the phoenix card the steepa jd s one and he like like dislocated his shoulder like within five seconds why i remember that is beyond me but casey next question i know we're running up on time all right well we got a lot of comments on jessica crystal crew on

YouTube. Love is Blind was amazing. I've been trying not to watch too hot to handle, but maybe I have to now. You have to. It's trash. It's trash at its finest. If anyone has any reality show-based questions, we will save them for when Cool Alex is on because I know nothing and she's the only one I know that watches all of them. Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Why is overlapping? From Maria Grown. And again, the ultimate, the new ultimate fighter season should have cameras in the house. go. Slat's gym just like Big Brother and no camera crew.

Is that what Big Brother is? I've watched zero seconds of Big Brother in my entire life. That's just a bunch of people living in a glass house, right? Basically, and the cameras are on all the time. I mean, if you want to watch Big Brother, it's like a 24-hour commitment to keep up with everything that happens. Wasn't Chuck Ladella on a season? That's my- Celebrity one, yeah. He did not do well.

I would imagine. That's my, that is the extent of my knowledge of Big Brother. It's trash. I was that. That's true. From our own estimate, quote, it's trash.

I mean that the best way. John Le Juen. I don't know how to pronounce that last time. I apologize. Great idea to have more belts. Why don't we make more sanctioning bodies and have super and silver and Mayan champions? Yes.

I think this person is being facetious, but I love with like the WC, the WBC does like the Cinco de Mayo belts or whatever. I'm like, yes, yes. Give us a lot on a Christmas. belt. I want like, oh, a Halloween title? Oh, you kidding me? It looks like a jack-o-no, it's just a

crystallized jack-lantern. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Or a mask. Bold map. I'm still waiting on scepters. Or like Max Holloway wants, like, rings. That'd be fun, too. Yes. Do you remember the money belt that Floyd Mayweather got? Yeah, Mayback. Yeah, May Mac. The Money Belt.

It was made of, like, alligator. It was made of, like, Python or something crazy like that. Like, the actual, like, the actual, like, leather was, like, Python and it had like an insane amount of jewels and diamonds and everything. I heard it was made from the tiers of boxing media. Probably. Yeah.

Probably. Can I pull something from the comments? I'm not going to read the whole question, but I see it. I see something in the YouTube comments that needs to be addressed. May I? Go for it. You know I like to go rogue. This guy, this is a guy in the comments.

I'm not even going to try and read his name. It's gibberish. He says, you realize that belts represent the epitome of the sport, right? Listen, if you've been watching the, no, honestly, if you've been watching the UFC, I don't care of this person custom me out in the comments, I deserve it. If you've been watching the UFC for the last like three or four years or five years or six,

I don't know, for the last decade and seeing how they handle the title picture situation, and you still think that it's the belts that are representing the epitome of the sport and necessarily who is the best guy in the division, not to discredit any of the guys who won it because it definitely, if you're up there, you're at least top three, top five, and you work to get there. But do you think it's the epitome of the epitome? of the sport. My friend, you are sadly mistaken,

and you need to stop listening to everything that Dana White tells you, all right? Again, respect to everyone who's won titles. It's an amazing achievement. But let me tell you something like Tony Ferguson. If he never wins an undisputed belt, let me tell you something.

It will affect him financially. I don't think it should affect him in anyone's eyes as far as like, oh, is he one of the greatest? Like, I shudder to think someone writing a think piece like two years from now was Tony Ferguson never won the big one. Was he? Yeah, Tony Ferguson is like either the one or two greatest lightweight of all time.

I don't care that he only won an interim belt. The wins aren't matter. Not necessarily the belts. Guys, come on, wake up. What's on here? I'm sorry. I'm getting fired up. It's Alasavis's his fault.

Dude, I'm with you. That was awesome. That was good. That's true. Yeah, the championship fights are decided just on just butts and seats right now. It has nothing to do with, you know, the best guy versus the best guy. It's like, okay, who's going to sell the most paper views? Who's going to put the most butts in seats?

Well, they used to be a thing. but not anymore. It feels, that's why it feels weird when we actually get a champion fighting, like their actual number one contender. Like, to me,

that has become an anomaly. Like, when Max Holloway fought Brian Ortega, there wasn't an argument that Brian Ortega wasn't the next guy up. Like, he was easily the number one contender

and Max fought him in Toronto. Same as when he fought Falkanovsky. Same as when John Jones is doing right now. Like, for all the nonsense, John Jones has been getting off, like, off, like out of the octagon, fighting Anthony Smith, fighting, uh, Chagosan was fighting Dominic Ray is like, seems like an anomaly in these days where he's

fighting the next man up. He's not chasing these, these big giant super fights. So I, well, superfights are kind of gone for John in terms of two of five. Two fights are gone for John until he fights Israel out of Sonia in 2021. But is he's doing that same thing now too. He's like, Paulo Costa's next. I want, I want to fight. Romero wasn't, Romero wasn't the most deserving, but we all know if Paulo Costa was healthy, that fight would have been that, that would have been the fight, not Romero. And I don't think anyone complaining that Romero got the fight similar to like Aldo and Cruz is now.

But yes, fighting number contenders has become an anomaly in 2020. And I wish it would go back to the old ways. But that is another conversation. Any other questions? Casey. Beep, boop from the question machine.

You guys see any good ones in the comments? I do not have the comments pulled up. Other Alex is the one that you lead. Here's the epitome. one. I just saw it now. If if anyone out there thinks that a fighter would, let me put it this way,

find me a fighter who would choose between every fight, let's say, here's your contract, you're the champion, you get the title belt and $500,000 every fight, or you get a million dollars every fight. I almost guarantee you every fighter would just take the million dollars, and as they should, as they should. Because again,

it's both a direct indication of their worth, and it's a million dollars compared to half that. So, people just put it in that perspective. All right. Well said, Alex. Sorry, I'm fired out. I'm fired up.

Before Maymac, who was the Mayweb? Not Roger Mayweather. Who's the other Mayweather? He's a coach. Floyd Sr.? No, no. He coached like King Mo. He's done an MMA.

He's coached, I can't remember. He's one of the Mayweather coaches. And we interviewed him and basically, I was with Ariel. And Ariel asked him, why is this fight happening? And he just looked at Ariel. He goes, that's a stupid question. it's like money it's like

it's like well what about legacy this isn't help you know this isn't help Floyd's legacy and he was all like does legacy pay for college does legacy pay rent

does legacy buy all those cars outside you know he's like he's like no money does and like yeah and this reminds you with the whole belt thing the belts

the belts are only worth anything if they bring money for prize money this is this is people want to call this sport they want to call it mixed martial arts you want to call it UFC it is prize fighting

you fight you fight for money, you know, and that's what the game is about. That's what this is about. So that's what kind of kind of, even during this whole pandemic when even, I kind of got annoyed of fighters a bit when they kept saying, fighters have to fight. Fighters have to fight. No, just be up front. Say, I got shit to pay for.

I need to make money. I make money by fighting. Let me make my money. And I totally respect that and get that. But don't give me the whole fighters in your fight. Because you can, guys, you can meet up and fight anytime. There's backyards. There's flip phones.

Just record it. Throw it on Twitter. you can fight anytime. Fighting is still there for everyone. Fighting for money, though, that's another story. And so that's why the belts are not the epitome of this point. Jeff Mayweather. Jeff, there you go.

Thank you. Yes. And that is why Chale's son might not have been the most talented mixed martial arts, but he is one of the five greatest prize fighters who's ever lived. Like, you dating back, like his fight against like Nate Markhart and, From that point on was a who's who. Like fights Anderson, fights Jones, fights Fador, Rampage, like talks. Yes, he might not have won most of these, but he was either a main event or co-made event against champions or former champions every single time.

So, yeah, not the most talented fighter. One of the five greatest prize fighters ever seen. Same as Ascran. Like, Ascran was a phenomenal prize fighter. It might not be the most talented fighter, but you wanted to watch him fight regardless. And that was the point. That was the absolute point of it. And I think Connor McGregor is like the, is like when both of those just combine.

And Izzy, the same thing. Phenomenal prize fighter, phenomenal fist fighter. And that's why they are, people gravitate to them so much. Yeah, like, like I say someone like Connor, Connor, for me, he's not a top five lightweight, but he is without a doubt. Greatest prize fighter. Greatest prize fighter. I think he is the greatest prize fighter in MMA.

MMA. He's a top, he's priority top five as far as greatest prize fighters in combat. sports already, I think. That's debatable, but, you know, in his short amount of time, he's already, he's already up there as far as the greatest price fighters in all combat sports and mixed martial arts easily. Like, I don't know, it's going, I don't think anyone's in, I don't think anyone out there right now will ever be a better price fighter than Connor McGregor is right now.

That person doesn't exist right now. I'm going to just extend the olive branch to this guy who made this comment. I'll say his name now because of respect. Gypsy Yat-2-O, he did say one thing I agree with. He said the title fight should be the million-dollar fight. And I think on that, I think he or she and I definitely agree. Well, I like what sticks out in my mind is when I brought him to Max Holloway where he's fighting all these number one contenders, that during that era, like that,

quote-unquote golden era of MMA where Connor was like at the height of his popularity and everyone's getting into his money fight, and Max Holloway just keeps winning. and winning and winning and winning and winning and winning and people are saying like how come you're not asking for these fights and he said you win enough you just become the money fight I don't have to ask for it I like I liked that very much question from Frank Frankfurter Esther Lynn brought this question to attend

over under 20 UFC events this year cool Alex I'll start with you over under 20 total UFC events this year if UFC 249 happens on May 9th and I'm going to go over if it doesn't I'm going to say under ooh other Alex that was such a good logical answer I'm almost upset let's boy I mean I have to say under

I'm not really sure I really don't know what's going to go on with the fight island thing they said ready by June but they've also said a lot of things about the events that we're going to happen we also thought we're going to have events on April 18th and that didn't happen so under seems like the safe bet let's say if they manage no more than I say they do three events in May and then after that no more than two events a year My mask is a little shaky. I think, oh, that might, no, I think we're okay. No, that might put it over.

I'll still, I'll say it's not, they don't do two events a month, though. So I'll go under still. Casey, over under 20 UFC events this year. If they have, yeah, it's like if they have, if 2.9 actually goes off, they'll have 20 events by like in like three months. Because they'll be. Oh, I thought 20 more. Sorry, I thought 20 more events.

Well, no, no, no. They'll be running three events a week because I feel the UFC is going to be like, Let's get as much content in the bank before everything goes to crap again. Yeah. That's what I feel. So I would say over. I'm going to say exactly 20. I'm going to say exactly 20.

I'm going to take the easy way out. 20 on the dot. I say when I did the reaction to the Mike Heck, they want to cram all these fights in immediately because, like we've said at nauseam, one day feels like a week. And for all we know, in two weeks from now, the world could look completely different. So I want to cram these three events in real quickly. And then I don't think they do that going forward. I think they want to see how it handles.

Another question from Darren. Just going to be a last question. That's question. Since there's no commission to oversee fight Island, will the UFC be able to play around with the scoring system and try to come up with something new? I doubt it. But I love new weird things. I love for them to bring back pride rules, but I highly doubt it. Yeah, they can do it.

whatever they want, but they won't. How often does the UFC change anything? I mean, there's so many, I mean, just like how long it took them to bring the hoop out for men at the way-ins. Which still isn't like, they don't do that every time now. It's like every now and then. And why are we still bringing a scale to ceremonial weigh-ins? Like, why are these things still happening?

They just want to keep it the same forever and ever. Let's get digital scales and let's get the hoop. Let's make it happen. I agree with both you guys. The UFC is where you go to see the best fighters in the world, high production values, great access for fans, everything. It is not where you go for innovation, unfortunately. So, no, you will not see any changes in the score.

Let's get some fun entrances, too. I want to see someone come out, be carried like Tyson Fury, or dressed like Skeletor, like Deonté Wilder. Is that it for questions, Casey? I'm taking... Wait, hold on. Me. People from Joseph Boza, does VEOC, or other MMA companies go after any fighters

that were released from the PFL or just sitting on the sidelines waiting for 20, 21 to get here. Other Alex, I will start with you because you are the PFL master of this site. Would the UFC go after any PFL fighters that were released, in your opinion? Oh, H.C. did a good interview with Gron Boylan from Cage Warriors, and Gavoyland said he kind of thinks there's not going to be a lot of big signings, just a lot of signings in general, I'm sorry, for the UFC right now, because they're, top priority is getting fights, putting events together, and then getting fights to the people on the roster that they have. So while it's always nice to add talent, I think they can afford to do it, I would be very surprised if they bring anyone in that was recently released by the PFL. Sorry, none of the names are coming to my mind at the moment. I apologize for that.

But I don't think there's anyone that they would necessarily feel like they have to get. They can always wait until next year. I imagine some of these fighters are probably still talking to the PFL about maybe coming back for the 2021 season. that's, you know, supposed to happen. But if they don't, then I think the UFC would take a look and say, okay, well, here's some guys we see what potential and we'll bring them in. And, of course, there's always a contender series as well. Yeah, I don't. I think you hit it on the head.

There's not going to be, like Grand Boyleyn said it, I would imagine. And I think PC said it could benefit Cage Warriors somehow because less signings taken away from Cage Warriors and more spotlight on the European fighters, considering that might be the one-stop shop for a while for European MMA. Alex, anything else you want to say on people signing other non-UFC fighters to the UFC? I think if I'm a PFL fighter that's on the sideline, I'm still 2021, getting that stipend. I mean, I don't know how much the stipend is, but I'm looking at the way UFC handle things, my Belator handled things. Well, Belator's fine, but, like, I might not leave. Like, I don't know.

I feel like they're kind of sitting pretty at this point. I mean, Lance Palmer, what was it? Lance Palmer has won two. Two-time millionaire. He's a multi-millionaire now after winning, and it's like, who's going to beat him in that division right now? Unless there's a crazy trade that's taken out of his hands, someone once brought up, like, would you trade Anthony Pettis for Lance Palmer?

I'd be like, probably, that'd be kind of a fun trade. I want this to be your last one because I want to kind of... From a screen player, why do you seem to be happy with whatever the UFC feed you? As the media, as the media, might you not champion innovation? I don't get you guys. Listen, you, I would love... Get them Jose. We're just being realistic.

We don't, we know, we're being realistic on what we've seen and what we know to be true based on what the UFC has done forever. the UFC doesn't innovate often and when they do it's not some mind-blowing thing like yes the move to early morning Wayans was great that was like one of the last big ones I can really really remember but no we don't go to the USC for innovation because they are usually the ones that they they figured they figured out what they do and they do it well and what got them to the dance and they stick to it other Alex or cool Alex or Casey anything else you want to add to this I thought we made it pretty clear but I guess not so I'll just lay it out black and white We love innovation. Would love to see things progress in favor of the fighters themselves. And the UFC does not do that. We would love it. Yes, I will fly the innovation flag forever.

I want even the most basic thing, I want them to bring back pride gloves. So we're not getting as many eyepokes. There's innovation right there. But that's not going to happen. I love how Bellator has two different colored glove, one red and one blue. So it's not just the tape. or strike force did the same thing. I love that.

I'm a mark for the Bellator and Strike Force gloves. Other Alex, anything you want to add on this man saying we hate innovation? I didn't even understand the question. Wait, this person is saying we argue against innovation? I don't know any media member who isn't. Thank you. I don't know any media member who isn't constantly like suggesting little change or big changes that could be made and has expressed how kind of fed up they are with the same product that we've been getting

for the last again for the 10 years, 15 years. So it's a kind of a strange question. I don't appreciate the accusation screen player. I'm sorry that you don't get us, but I will say for the most part, I think most of us are in favor of things that are new. If it seems like we're happy with whatever the UFC feeds us, I mean, sometimes it's just a matter of necessity.

We have to cover what's there. It doesn't always do any good to say, oh, well, this could be better or this should be different. You just have to see what it is and write about it or cover. it as what is given to you. But I wouldn't say we're necessarily always happy with getting the same thing over and over again. Yeah, I would say your thoughts.

As the only man on this chat that was alive for when airplanes were invented, your thoughts. Yeah, I just don't understand. Us not championing UFC changing these around is only out of frustration and just we're just tired of no saying it. I mean, if you want innovation, if you want innovation, go watch Risen. go watch other other promotions and stuff that's that's that's kind of that's rising does a lot of amazing innovative things um i'm sure there's other promotion i just can't like even bellichord does but when bellichord did the uh the kind of the game show for the uh the featherway rampree

that's innovation and awesome i loved it i think i felt like the media overall loved it i know the fans inside the form at the time loved it and so no we love innovation so uh keep changing shit. That's what the sport's about. It's supposed to keep growing. Just having a Grand Prix in the U.S. would be like a breath of fresh air. You know that's just never going to happen. But that's it for questions, everyone. I know we've run a little long on time. But of course, I'll start with cool Alex since you are the guest of honor this week. I don't know where you are on my

screen. But anything you want to add or say to the fans before we sign off on this Monday edition of the A-side. Too hot the handle on Netflix. Check it out. And then at me on Twitter. Wow. other Alex anything you want to add I feel I've been a little more aggressive than usual today so uh as my Canadian way I will apologize to any any uh any fans for my my somewhat my behavior today uh but I want to add on a positive note I

will say it was a pleasure getting to record a show with the macho woman Alex Savas you know yeah I really I'll be honest to you I I am intimidated by you maybe that's why I feel so insecure So I apologize. It's not you. It's me. And I think we had a, I would, I would gladly work with you again. I think, I think, I'm okay. I would hope so, consider. Yeah. Sure. Sure. I mean, you know, it's so remote, really.

I'm able to avoid it for the most part. But this is really good. My therapist would be really proud of me, I think. So. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Casey, anything you want to add to our, from our resident, Rodgers and Hanenstein fan? Oh, absolutely zero. I have nothing to add. I just, I just, I just stay inside. Just stay inside. Stop going to the beach. Just be safe and let's get this world back to normal. And thank you so much for the questions on YouTube and Twitter and Facebook and Instagrams and TikTok and Princeton and Live Journal and MySpace. Yeah. Thanks a lot, guys. You guys are great. Casey, what was it like watching Sputnik live? Woo. Me and my ham radio. You know. Anyway, that's, I'm Jose. I'm Jose.

that's cool Alex that's other Alex that's Casey cool Alex we'll be back in the future I know the YouTube comments love when she's on so but until then we're out and are you're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network