MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | UFC 264 fallout, Conor McGregor’s comments, Dustin Poirier's Legacy, Sean O'Malley's, Krist Mutinho's Performance, More

Episode Date: July 15, 2021

Some POSSIBLE topics fallout from UFC 264, Dustin Poirier’s TKO victory, Conor McGregor’s injury and post-fight comments, Sean O’Malley’s performance against Kris Moutinho, the press conference between Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley, and more. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @shaunalshatti Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian 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. Hey, we're live, pal. Welcome everyone to another episode of the A-Sy-Sy. live chat. I am of course your host, Jose Young's here. After a week-long break, because Casey and I were off on site covering U.S.C. 264 inside of the T-Mobile Arena and various other media obligations after, whoa, I can

hear myself. Something's happening. Whoa. Whoa. I can hear myself. The magic of live TV. Anyway, yeah. This is not even the worst thing that's happened to me as hosts of the Aiside Live chat on live TV.

Anyway, that's the end. that's the echo in my ear has gone anyway you guys know the drill we were gone for a week now we're back joining us this week mr sean al shoddy how's life in overcast rainy phoenix life is wonderful we just had a effective monsoon out here all day my house is almost flooded out there but it's good times it's wednesday that means games four game four is tonight suns in five baby the road to suns at five starts tonight sons in five I made sure to all the fighters that brought it up. I think Max Holloway said Sons and 4. I think someone else said Sons and 4 and I think Sugar Channel Mallet said Sons in 4.

And I said Sonson 5. Let's win it at home. Anyway, joining us in 1-1-2 is Casey. How's life in, I'm assuming, stunning Angeloid. It's good. It rained yesterday. You know, I had a little drought. And now it was the rain.

There was a lot of dog poop from my backyard. Then it got all wet. Oh, no. So, you know. why didn't you pick it up? Everything falls apart like a turd in the rain. Oh, there you go. I think that's the phrase.

That was poetic, Casey. I think that's the phrasing. Roy Batty said that, I think, too, on the rooftops before he died. Anyway, no one cares about that. This is the show, hi, Otani, appreciation podcast. No, in all seriousness. Dude. I love that.

Love that guy. He doesn't speak English. Well, he does. He just doesn't speak it on television. Anyway. This is America. I was my Stephen A. Smith, I got, I got Zee. Zero baseball contributions to bring to this conversation.

Shaw Otani is the best thing happening in sports right now, and I say that as someone living in Phoenix during a Phoenix Sun's final show. Dude, I might be jumping on the 405. I'm going to Anaheim this weekend, man. Got some baseball to watch. I'm excited. You're going to watch a lot of... I don't really like sprats.

I don't mean like sprats, but here I am. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You're going to hate watching... That's going to be some bad baseball, except show I at Tony's going to be spectacular. because that's just the definition of Los Angeles Angels of Anahe. Anyway, you guys don't care about that.

Sean wants to talk about Loki. So if you want to talk about Loki, you can ask those in the comment sections, apparently. Finale was really good. Apparently, Julie is watching it right now. I have a lot of thoughts, but I don't want to give spoilers away. I just watch Black Widow too. It was a movie. Haven't seen it.

Didn't watch it. It was a movie. Anyway, you can ask all your fistfighting questions in the comments on the site. You can tweet at us. Some of you may even have my phone number and you can text it to me. That's happened a few times. Or you can leave it in the YouTube comments. Anyway, Casey, what is our first question?

First question. All right, here we go. Let me cut off the silly music. Jeez, that was too much fun. Oh, that's way too small. Let's go from Jessica Crusoe with an A. Oh, for A side. I get it.

Let's go. I thought the A would be for Al Shadi, right? Probably. I would assume so So that's diamond Shiny diamond Woot Woot Al Shadi I'm the Woot Woot I assume

That's what when I see those hands That's the noise I make in my mind Woot Woot Woot Woot Can I get a Woot from you Shane Woot Woot Woot? There you go Not happy of that energy, bro Not happy Amen

Feed me some good questions and I'll bring you some great energy Right here Let's go straight to the YouTube comments From Vatsavos, I apologize and mispronounce your name. In the YouTube comments, what do you think of John Canada's assessment of the fight? Should he change his feedback? So, John Kavanaugh, Connor McGregor's head coach, said the first round was going well. I don't know the exact phrasing, but he had some, he's like, it was going well,

it was doing this, Connor looks great, and then he shattered his ankle, and then the fight fell apart. So, Sean, is this on a scale of Javier Mendez? Or how should I, let me rephrase this. On a scale of Trevor Whitman to Edmund Shabazzian, what side is this closer to in terms of coaches assessment of a fight? Edmund Shabazzian. I'm not Edmund Chabazzian. What's his, Edmund Tarverdian?

That's the lowest you, I figured the Diego guy would be the lowest, Fabia. Well, I think I saw a lot of people. That's got to be the lowest on the spectrum of coaching, right? Like, if there's a one. I think it was more like post-fighting. assessment or pre like pre like in between round assessment i think a lot of people were calling him the new edmund after this i don't really have a stake in that argument i'm just saying what the fans are are work in our instagram comment that's what the comments we're about as the sports czar of

the world i'm going to go ahead and decree that josh fabia is the lowest rung of the coaching letter what are you talking about he's josh phobia has multiple wins as a coach in the ufc so does tarverdian I think what's, what we're talking about Fabia? Okay, let's move on. Yeah, let's move on. So I, so I'm trying, I don't have Kavanaugh's comments in front of me, right? But I saw them just as much as anybody else saw them. And they certainly do ring a little bit, a little strange, right?

Because I don't know that anybody could see those comments and actually agree with them. Like, I, I know what he could see that Conner fight and actually like, oh, yeah, things were going great. The whole game plan was to get 10-8 in the first round and just get mollywapped. Yeah, we're really going to The idea was we're going to bruise up Dustin's elbow with Connor's forehead. That was the plan. We got to be really.

We really had him where we wanted him, guys. I don't know. That whole thing rings very strange to me and I find the discussion after this fight. I mean, there's a lot of narratives that have been talked about after this fight, but I do find the discussion after this fight about Conner's camp

and the idea that if he's ever going to become Connor McGregor again, and to the way that we know him, right, as like a successful fighter, I guess, that he needs to start branching out and doing some different things with this camp? Because, I mean, you look at that, you look at that camp, how many, how many successful fighters would you say they've produced over the last five years, Jose?

SBG? Yeah. From the original crew, I think Connor's the only one even left in the UFC at this moment. From like that original, like Ashling Daily, Kathal Penderd. So I mean like non-Connor. Like what's a new fighter that they have? Not the original crew, but just, you know, coming out of SBG. They have a.

Because you name any other camps. Chenet Cabinnell. Sheenay Cavanaugh is doing decent and Bellator. So they got some Bellator people. That's it, right? Yeah, I think they have a relationship with Bellator. I mean, I guess I interpret those comments the same way that Mike Brown interprets those comments. He spoke to her own Damon Martin here on MMA fighting today.

And he said basically, like, I don't know how he could see that that way. And I guess that's where I come from. If that's your coaching assessment, Michael Bisbing says Connor should drop you. I'm sure that's not his real coaching assessment. I'm sure that's just sort of what he's saying to the media. The whole Connor Camp has been very, that's curious, the way they were talking in the lead-up to that fight and since that fight. But yeah, it's not, I wouldn't say those comments were reflective of reality at all.

So, Shaday Kavanaugh is 4 and 4 in Bellator. I think Johnny Walker's still training at SBG Island last I saw. Gallagher's now under James Krauss Pedro Cavalio just lost to Pitbull in the Grand Prix and those are all the fighting Not hearing anything good Not hearing anything good Those are all the ones I can hear off the top of my head

Arevello has that two bad losses in a row Not just one Yeah he just Yes So those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head Of course I don't know all of the fighters In like on the lower scene in Belator Because obviously when they go do Belator London

I think a huge chunk of that is a lot of the fighters on the on the undercard and prelimbs and post limbs are SBG guys. But in the UFC, can't think of many. Yeah, I mean, but even, not even UFC, just any high level. Just not a high level. I'm not talking to UFC. UFC is just one thing, but yeah. I mean, I mean, I don't want a ridicule, ridicule, Connor. Yeah, you know the word.

Connor, but I think about the whole, you know, we're not here. to take part, we're here to take over. Here's John Cavillard. He took over for a few years, certainly. Irish or Connor? I would say Connor. Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, and I'm kind of, I'm hoping for this big Irish, you know, influence in

MMA as far as the actual competitors, not just, you know, waving flags, but just hasn't happened. Here's the quote that, here's the exact thing that John Kavanaugh said, outside of like, there might have been an ankle injury. going into the fight. I thought the energy looks good. Technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds and I thought we were well on track

to getting possibly a finish or at least keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight. That was his assessment of the first round. Beautiful champ. I hear a lot of delusion there. I don't know. Either delusion or yes-menism.

Yeah, this sounds so much like Ronda, when Ronda was kind of having her fall, especially after the second loss. to um before we knew she retired but after she lost to um nunez Amanda Amanda yeah you were just thinking you know Ronna clearly is a very talented athlete a good fighter she just needs to change things up and she chose not to and that's what happened and I feel like we're in the same boat with Connor now you know maybe not to that extent but it feels that way well I also don't know how much because if you watch connor's social medias or videos or anything i don't know he didn't really

leave dubai after fight island he stayed there for a long time uh i didn't see cavana or roddy or any of his main training partners really until he went to california uh unless they weren't on the videos or anything like that i know connor was kind of keeping uh his camp secretive uh leading up to this fight so but until he went to california what a couple weeks before the fight didn't see him with cavana or roddy or any of his usual crew So no idea who was even training with over in Dubai. That's on him. I mean, that's on God.

Yeah, I mean, you can't do the whole thing. I didn't train correct again. It's like, I don't know. It's like, so our assessment is bad. Should he change his feedback? Like, he already said it, so it's out there. Yeah. I don't know.

All right. What's next? Bebop, boop. Oh, man, a lot of Conrad talk. Let's get them all out of the way. Shocking. I mean, I would assume that's the biggest story of the week, right? Yeah, but I'm, that's a big story, but I'm over it already.

Come on, it's Wednesday. Well, our fans are not, and they are more important. He posted a picture of poor years four-year-old. Surely the M.M.A. media isn't going to find a way to excuse this slash ignore this. Surely the M.M.M. Media will have the guts to ask him about it at the next question. I love that. Surely the MMA media isn't going to ignore this. I love it.

And not let him defled him to flesh. Can we have Shakin read the question, please? It's so silly. That's so silly every time I hear that. And not let him deflect with a simple, yeah, that's out of line. Yeah, Dana, are you going to find him? Is there even a code of conduct policy? How is posting a picture of a man?

He's threatened to kill his child and acceptable to go without punishment. And the follow-up would be, Dana, will you use this in the next promo? Will you zoom in on the kid's face with the world gonzo on the screen? How many buys will that do? What a salesman? So I didn't see these tweets while they were up because apparently they were deleted real quick with someone on Twitter and I'd want to give him credit, but I can't remember. I think it's out of context, MMA or something like that. I don't think that's the handle, but that's what he goes by on Twitter, screenshot of them all.

He actually lined up the broadcast interview with Dustin Porriate to the, like someone had a camera, like a phone camera on Connor yelling after the fight. at Dustin, and he lines them up. And you can see the exact moment that he pointed at his head, pointing at his gun, saying, you're going to get it to when Joe Rogan stops the interview and looks at Connor like he's crazy. And then Dustin's like, go interview him. Go ask him what he's saying. Later, apparently Connor McGregor tweeted, Gonzo with a photo of Justin Porre's kid and some various other unfortunate things.

I'm just going to call them unfortunate. Obviously, there are worse things you call them. But, Sean, I don't know if you saw the tweet. No, yeah, it's disgusting. I mean, I don't know if you saw it. It's absolutely disgusting, man. Like, all of this is disgusting. The whole after, after math of all of this was absolutely disgusting, man.

Like, we've heard so many people say it at this point. Paul Felder had a really nice rant about it where it's essentially like, dude, you can't, you can't do that, right? Like, I understand that this is a fight game and people talk trash and that's part of the game. And I enjoy that as much as anybody. But there is a certain line you can't cross and kind of crossed that line multiple times. He's crossed that line multiple times throughout it. career. It's nothing new, but this is just, this feels like a bigger version of all of it. It was sour grapes and delusion to the, it's dialed up to a hundred. And I understand like

the guy is sitting there with a broken leg. So maybe let's not interview him. Maybe let's not interview the dude with the broken leg who's obviously all hopped up on adrenaline and anger and in desperation. Like nothing good is going to come out of that. Right. Like that's just a, that's a weird decision on its own. But when you do, he says all these things. It's out there at that point, you can't excuse it. It's a terrible look. It's frankly, I'm done with it, man. Like, I don't have any interest in ever seeing a fourth fight between these guys. It's pretty obvious that Dustin Poirier is a much better fighter than Connor McGregor at this point. I think if they fought 10 times, Dustin probably wins nine of them. Like, it's just where they are in their careers.

Dustin's going to go down as an all-time great lightweight and Connor's going to go down as a guy who beat Eddie Alvarez. You know, like he's one in three at lightweight. It is what it is. He had a chance to maybe be one of the greats of all time. And instead he's just going to be the richest fighter of all time and the most popular fighter of all time. And that's a hell of an accomplishment. But at this point, like, who wants to see a fourth fight? Who has any interest in this at all other than the most diehard of Connor fanboys?

Who has the most interest? No, I'm sure. Every UFC shareholder, that's who has. Oh, sure. That's not what I mean. That's not what I mean. I just mean on like a hardcore fan scale are people clamoring to see Dustin Poirier versus Connor McGregor for?

because I don't feel like that's actually out there. Like, I'm sure when it happens, which it will happen, we'll all watch it. But that's not exactly what I guess what I'm saying. Yes. Dana White, his only comment I've seen so far has been not a fan. Or, yeah, that's out of line when someone brought up the pre-fight trash talk. But it was after the fight. He didn't say anything about it before the fight.

Will he use it in the promos? Probably. He'd use the bus attack after he said it was disgusting in all of the promos. Even Teddy Alice, when I interviewed Teddy Alice after for our post show, he said, you have to carry yourself like, if you want to call yourself a champion, you've got to carry yourself like a champion. And he wasn't even a fan of Conner's post-fight talk. So disgusting all around. As far as the MMA media, I am sure someone will ask. I'm sure it will be someone like John Morgan.

Not sure the MacLife will bring it up, whether it's their place to or not. I'm not quite sure, but I'm sure someone like John Morgan or someone on site will bring it up. what's there to bring up what what's what what what what what what do you mean bring up to what to Dana yeah I would like I personally would like Dana's comments on it you can't not have something hey I'm gonna tell you why those comments are gonna be yeah that's fine again we're not talk we're not talking about whether we know what he's gonna say or not someone has to ask him about it whether we all know what he's going to say it needs to be brought up we didn't it's answer the question

Is there even a code of conduct policy? No. That's one of the questions, no. No. It's hyper selective. It's hyper selective. It's Connor McGregor. He's the cash cow and they're going to milk everything they can juice every last drop out of that cash cow.

I mean, they're not going to do anything to them. I mean, you don't care about them running it back a fourth time. I didn't give a shit about them running it back a third time. So like a fourth time, I'm going to give less shit. But I work and this is what I do for a job and people want to, people want to still hear about it. whatever. So they're going to do Connor versus Dustin 2000. They're going to do a best of seven.

They're going to do like the NBA finals. They just keep doing this until Connor finally wins one. And then it's just like, oh, look. I won one. Title shot. Let's move on. Everybody, we saw that. Dustin's going to get a lot of money to just keep on winning then.

If it's best of seven, good on him then. Oh, but okay. You know, you say all this. counter argument Ronda Rousey's tweet that's just promotion that's Connor I see I see one sore loser

popping up another sore loser is what I see yes it's kind of funny how they're so they're buds I like that it makes a lot of sense we cover everything

in this question I saw a lot of question marks in it all right cool the main one I don't think I don't think the MMA media is going to ignore it Like someone on the scene like

Right I'm talking about bringing it up to Dana I love the discussion of the MMA media As some monolith It is so hilarious to me every time I'm just like oh the MMA media Doesn't talk about this As if there's not hundreds of people

In the MMA media And you know Some people are probably talking about that You know And it's funny I just find it funny Where between different fans Where that line is crossed

For you know This fan in particular For a lot of fans Was like you know The line was crossed with you know, threatening to kill or murder his family and stuff. I mean, it's, I mean, I felt the line was crossed way back, you know, with Connor. So like, this is like, for me, I'm like, okay, whatever.

Like, we've already accepted he can say whatever he wants, you know, and just still sell fight. So here we are. Yeah, the Connor question. From a C-Salle 86, McGregor's future, just Connor fight twice more in 2022 and be done with this contract and they'll be done with the UFC and fight Jake Paul? I see no way he lets himself be. GSPed by Dana. If he fights, I don't know the exact number of fights left.

If he has three or two or whatever, like let's say he has, let's, yeah, I see you. We're going to, let's say hypothetically as two. I don't know, just for the sake of this question. I am pretty confident that Dana, like Dan will not let him just walk away after two fights. Maybe he holds him up for a bit. You think? Yeah, no. I have a feeling.

He's never letting Connor McGregor go. Especially. I wouldn't be surprised. If Nate tries to get one fight, Connor tries to get two more fights, and then they do Connor and Nate three outside the UFC and make a ton of money, and they get to keep it,

not give a UFC a chunk of any of it. But Sean, I'll let you answer this first. What do you make of Conner's contract situation and will we see him ever outside the UFC? I would be stunned if they'd ever reached that point. Like, I don't know that the UFC, I don't know how the UFC could possibly ever reach. let it reach that point, right? Like, there's just, that would be a promotional malpractice to steal a phrase from an old friend.

But in terms of the future, I mean, I don't know. I mean, Connor McGregor is still the most popular fighter in all the combat sports. Like, that's the reality of the situation, right? Like, this was what, the second highest selling pay-per-view of all time that's looking like? I think that says something. He's named Diaz now. He could lose a billion times and people are still going to be interested. People are going to still want to watch the car crash. People are still going to be invested in the ideas. that maybe the old Connor is back. Maybe Mystic Mac is back one more time. He has thousands of fights he could sell.

If they booked Connor versus Tony Ferguson or Connor versus RDA or Connor versus Nate Diaz, any of these type of fights, right now, people would be interested. I would be interested. Like, that's just sort of the, we're human beings. Like, we're jerkoffs who love watching this stupid circus sport.

So, like, you know, all you got to do is sell me the car crash and eventually people are going to like it, right? they could do Charles Oliver versus Connor McGregor and it would sell so much better than Charles Oliver versus Dustin Porier. Oh, it would do like four times the number. That's what I mean? Yeah.

And dude, you know this. You know there's the shareholders are going to Dana and like, why don't we just do it? Let's just go for it. Let's make some money. I mean, we've reached past the point where the worm is turned, right? Like, no one cares anymore about any of this. People put up some perception of like,

oh, yeah, this is all bad. this is, like, I hate the idea of Cyril Gahn versus Derek Lewis. And then it's been a week. And now nobody's really talking about how stupid and pointless that fight is. And next month when that fight comes or whenever I think, yeah, that is next month, Houston. People are going to be excited for it. People are going to buy it. People are going to watch it.

So it's like they have, the UFC has successfully cracked the code of just like, well, just give them anything and they'll learn to like it. So like, I wouldn't be, I mean, I would be stunned if Connor happens, Charles Oliver. but I wouldn't actually. This is what happens when you also put ticket sales out before the main event because then it sells out and then you put whatever main event you want in the top spot. Casey, you looked like you want to say something? Oh, yeah. I mean, that's why I hate the whole idea.

It's like, oh, well, they put Derek Lewis to sell tickets. Like, bro, the card is already sold out. They did fine. I mean, that's fine. I mean, yeah, the whole ticket sales and thing. It's just, I was all I was going to say. Yeah, just. But I like the idea of this question that says,

are we going to let himself get GSPed by Dana? The thing about GSP, GSP won. So, like, he was a champ. So that's why he's stuck in these contracts. That's what a beep actually talks about. When you become the champ in the UFC, you actually feel like a prisoner, you know? So I was saying, I said going into this fight

if Connor would have beaten Dustin. There's no way he fights Charles. Yeah, no way he fights Charles because then he's trapped by the belt. The belt is a prison. And clearly you don't make more money with the best. belt when you're on a level of Connor. So, yeah. So I don't think he's going to GSP himself because you have to have a belt to put that.

I'm just saying it does seem as if Connor's recovery is going to be maybe quicker than we thought. He's already talking about a timeline that's, I think, more ambitious than I expected. Who will see how true. Yeah, exactly. That's what I was going to say. We'll see how true that is. But if he is able to come back by like, let's say early 2022, dude, the Tony Ferguson or the RDA fights either would be super intriguing to me.

I just want to see him take a step down in competition, right? Like, Dustin is the best lightweight in the world. I think all three of us would agree with that. Like, fight someone lower. Tony Ferguson is right there. RDA is right there, and they're super similar points of their career. I would go for either of those. I think I wouldn't be surprised if Connor was, like, over the years,

Connor was planting seeds for a lot of these lightweights that aren't top five, but maybe six to ten. Like he was planting seeds for future fights by, like how many times did he randomly call out Paul Feldman over the years? He's kept that RDA rivalry. He's the Tony Ferguson paradigm. He renewed the RDA rivalry. He went out of his way to renew the owner.

I would, so what I'm saying is I would not be surprised if he was just planting the seeds for these top 10 lightweights, but not top five, just so he could try to blast through his contracts with a bunch of fights that have bad blood, you know, and it's just not fighting random people. Like, if you fought RDA or Tony Ferguson, there's at least a storyline there. if that makes sense. Do you get what I'm trying to say? Like just plow out through fights. Yeah, so, but maybe that's just having foresight

and planning those seeds years in advance. Anyway, I think we're giving Connor a little too much credit. I think he just sees people and yells at them and we go, oh, he's planting a seed. I mean, but I bet I think, I mean, they could do Connor. Actually, I think Connor versus RDA is way too tough a matchup if the UFC wants Conner to win. This kind of, this version of Tony maybe.

but I think you do Connor versus Dennis Seaver type matchup whatever that level of it Drag set drag Dennis Seaver back out of time Yeah, I just wing DeNceiver back The rematch we're running it back baby let's go I would love that I mean like Yes Where's Cole Miller at

Cole Miller's on the fight What about Drew Dover Like 15th ranked lightweight Only does stand up doesn't really grapple I think he needs to fight someone in that range, yes. I don't know if Drew Drober's a particular person, but I think it's someone outside of the top 10.

What you just outlined is Drew Dover's wet dream to randomly land a Connor fight. Yeah. Well, like, I'm just just the name, like, give him someone in the top of team that's not going to shoot for takedowns that has an exciting stand-up style. I think it would be a fun fight.

Like, I'm not going to say no to Drew Dover and Connor in terms of a stylistic matchup, but it's just not going to happen. I'm just the first name that came into my head. all right let's let's keep moving what's next terence levrett this was a one this is interesting this is a good one yeah go for it Connor refused to wear the crypto dot com stuff he has been on his

f you pay me lately do you do you think more fighters to do the same like if everyone does it they all can't get in trouble besides a union I think this is the what this is the way thoughts so that's the first question we'll answer this before we move on to the second one uh yeah he didn't so connor regger didn't wear the crypto.com stuff to the ceremonial wands and he came in without a shirt at the fights, right? So he didn't even wear the fight kit out. It was very purposeful.

At the ceremonial wands, outside of the main event, everyone kept their shirt on, which I thought was very weird. I don't know if they were told to do that or no one just bothered to take their shirt off. I mean, you have to imagine they were told to it, right? Like usually in protocols to take a shirt off. This the fucking wanes, man. That's what it's about, man. Let me see the muscles, you know? but okay sorry uh do you think more fighters should do the same if everyone does it they can't get in

trouble besides the union i think this is the way so sean is there any possible scenario where all fighters just band together and just say f this crypto stuff we're just going to take them off before we walk out no no no no there's no scenario that come on man i've given up hope on this i gave up hope on this years ago uh for i think the first half of my career i was a very loud an ardent supporter of the idea that these guys needed to unionize and I would write all these stories about it and do all this research about it and ultimately it led to nowhere, right? It led to a bunch of failed unions and just a lot of mean tweet.

Yeah, a lot of ridiculousness all around. It's just like, it's not my- Dana saves it. Dana made the, yeah, yeah. At this point, I've given up. It's not my responsibility to make sure that these guys get together. I don't think it's ever going to happen. When we did the anonymous fighter survey in, I, think it was 2020 last year over at the athletic, my former place of work, where we talked to

almost two, I think it was close to like 170 or 200 fighters anonymously and just sort of asked them a lot of questions, try to get a gauge of the landscape. Overwhelmingly, they all supported the union. I think I can't remember the exact number, but it was close to like 70 or 80 percent, were either for the union or not against the union. And yet, and over the course of all the interviews I did for that, again, talking to these people, even anonymously, even anonymously, like these people know their names are not going to be connected to this.

I had countless fighters who were sort of too scared to answer the question or were trying to dodge the question or skirt around it. And then I had a whole other group of fighters who would say yes, but I know for a fact it's never going to happen because we're all too selfish and we're all, we all think we're going to be the next Connor McGregor. And that's it. Like we all, most fighters think they're going to be that guy. Most fighters think they're going to be Kamar Uzman.

They're going to be this dominant champion, even if maybe they don't think they're going to be Connor and they don't think they're going to be this bombastic, you know, huge star. Most fighters think they're going to be an Usman or a Peter Jan or something like that. They think they're eventually going to reach that point and then they're going to get what's theirs. And unfortunately, only the like 1% of the 1% can do that, right? So, no, I don't think that will ever happen. But the idea I did enjoy seeing Connor just say, you know, like these people aren't paying me.

Like I'm going to just wear whatever I want. somebody tried to stop me. I did, of all the Connor antics of last week, that was the one thing that I actually kind of found pretty enjoyable. Yeah, fan asked me on Twitter about the union thing, and I was like, yeah, it'd be a good idea, but it's never going to happen this and that. And his response was, yeah, I feel you at some point, you just have, you can't be the one that cares more

than the fighters. I was like, that's a good way of putting it. That's exactly. Someone told me two years ago, I feel like I care about this more than the fighters, and that's sort of when I decided that I don't care about this anymore. And that resonated with me of like, yeah, I think you're actually right. Like I think a lot of the media cares about this much more than the actual fighters do. So at that at a certain point, like, right? Like, I can't, it's not my fight to fight.

But I get it too. Because we, it's, look who the fighters, every fire that's been very vocal about unionizing. Look what's happened to them. Not good. Or, or what are you watching. So that's what I was going to say. because I don't know that that's true, right? Because Donald Serroney, George St. Pierre, T.J. Dilleshaw, they all supported that union.

And they, Uriah Faber. Like, there are a lot of guys who supported all these various union efforts over the years. And then, you know, I don't know, they slide a title shot their way or they slide a contract extension their way or something. And it's just like, oh, yeah. I mean, Donald Serroney lasted with the MMA, A, A, A, A, A, A, A, whatever that was called for like 24 hours, right? Like the next day, he was telling people like, oh, I don't know what that was. they tricked me or something in effect. I'm paraphrased.

Yeah, very much. Yeah. So, like, that's what this is, right? I just showed up for a pre-T-shirt. Yeah, it's like, cut off the head of the snake and the rest of it just shrivels up. I think Leslie Smith has been kind of critical on George St. Pierre about that, too, a little bit, you know. Fairly. I would say fairly.

Yeah. He got what he wanted out of that whole situation. Question two from Terrence Leverett. Well, I think that Connor, well, I think what Connor said was awful. How is this different from a rap battle? I know it comes off as Eminem versus Moby, not J versus Nas. I know you all listen to rap. Do we keep the same energy?

They both can end in horrible things. I'm not sure I follow. There wasn't a beat. I mean, it's this is, yeah, they're fist fighting. Like Eminem and Moby and J versus Nas, like someone said something mean about the other over a ill beat. I get. In the 90s, like Shug Knight can roll up on you and just like decapitate you if you want it,

but that's not how it works these days. I guess it happens with various other people in the bloods that are in the rap game now. But no, I would not. I would say this is a lot different. Yeah, unless Kavanaugh was there of like two turntables and gave, you know, like if John Kavanaugh and Roddy showed up at the next Fighters Only Award, like they did at the Source Awards. like in whatever year it was.

And they were like, if you're all not with West Coast death row, then F you. If they did that, maybe. But until I see that, ain't happening. Well done, Casey. That was good produce work right there. Apparently, Nas and Paw got into it that night, too, back in the 90s. Also, Nas B.J. In that.

Jay Z. All right. Are we still keeping score in that? Jeez, man. Come on. Well, he won the battles. He won every battle. No, I'm going to say this, and then we can move on.

Nas won the battles. Jay signs Nas to his record label. So he won the war. He makes money off of Nas now. Moving on. Herb Dean's stoppage, Tris, yes. In your opinion, do you think the stoppage by her, Dean, and the fight between Sean O'Malley and Chris Montignia was justified?

Do you think Herb stopped the fight due to what happened to Calvin Cater and all the damage he took, which caused a little more controversy and why the fight was stopped sooner? I'm a little surprised Herb called this one when there was only 30 seconds left. might as well let Moutinia go out on a shield, just as Cater did when he fought. From my standpoint, I thought this was a little peculiar. Casey, you wanted to talk about this, so have at it. This is a great question. This is a great question.

This is one of those rare occasions where me and Dana White were right on the same page. Like Dana said that bike could have been stopped at pretty much any point after the first round. And I agree. I don't, if anything, it was a late stoppage. But a late stoppage is still better than no stoppage. And if at those last 30 seconds, luckily, luckily Sean O'Malley's hands are made of glass. So both of them were, I think he broke,

he might have broken both of his hands. That's simply the reason why he couldn't knock Mr. Motino out. Yeah, Mr. Pertino, you are a tough MFer. Congratulations. But that's not what the fight. I mean, I don't know. It's like you got, Was it 2,000 strikes he got hit with some record number of significant strikes?

There's like 200 and something. Yeah, and it was all one side. It was like 230 maybe? Yeah, it was like, I don't, I just don't understand. At like an 80% clip too. Yeah. Like he lets it like accuracy rating. I just don't understand the uproar about this.

There's no such thing as a moral victory. Why the hell would the ref go? You know what? Get punch in the face 30 more seconds so you can get a moral victory. I just don't get it. I don't get the uproar. about this, I was kind of shocked that all the fans and

a lot of MMA media were kind of like, that was a horrible stoppage. He deserved to get his ass handed to him for 30 more seconds. I just don't get it. I was just very confused by that whole situation. And to me, it was a late stoppage, if anything. So let me jump in here because I feel like I

had a bit of a roller coaster of an evolution with this stoppage. Because initially I was on that side that you were just talking about, Casey. When this happened in the moment, I will admit, my bloodlust was that peak levels, right? And I get that. I get it, you know?

Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, in the moment, it's like, no, no, like this was just going to, this, something was just about to happen. Like, it really did feel like that last 30 seconds were about to be utterly spectacular for Sean O'Malley. Like he was really, that felt like it was about to get dangerous pretty quickly. Yeah. For those last 30 seconds, the way he was sitting on his punches and really pouring it on, or at

least looked like he was about to. But I think by the end of the night, once I sort of got away from that, again, that initial moment of just like the bloodlust that rushes through you when you're watching these sort of things. I did come around to the other side. I wrote about this a little bit on Sunday on enemy fighting, but you just look at the numbers. We mentioned it through 230 significant strikes at a 72% clip. That was what it was. But then the real number to me was 76% of those strikes, excuse me, 76% of those strikes were head strikes. Like almost all of them were head strikes. Sean wasn't working the body a lot. Like he was purely aiming for the head of the green zombie.

and man like that you can't that's how boxers die right like that is how people die in the boxing ring is taking all of these head strikes over and over again here of a long period of time too yeah yeah the prolonged beating aspect of it like this was not going to get better i agree i think it could have been stopped sooner now in retrospect now that i've gotten some distance from it like it i don't i don't mind the stoppage i'm glad it stopped at some point uh but yeah like this could have been stopped sooner it's a corner could have thrown in a towel obviously it's a hard thing to ask about corner in that spot where it's a short notice fight against a guy like Sean O'Malley

but yeah I have absolutely no problems or problems with the stoppage now as opposed to initially I definitely did. Do you understand why Moutinho is the man that this was actually in the fist fight? Do you understand why he's upset with it? Because if you watch our

Mike Hacks interview with him, he said stopped it for no reason and he wanted those last 30 seconds. We'll see so like King should be mad. Mottino should be mad because he's a fucking fighter and he should be angry. Anytime a fight stopped and the fighter's going, what the hell, what the hell?

I am never critical of that fighter because that's what they do. They go out there and fight and they are prepared. They are prepared to die in there. And that's what makes Christmintinio a good fighter. That's all. So I have no issue. I will say. Sorry, Sean.

Go ahead. No, I was going to say, because Casey, you mentioned the idea of moral victories, right, and that there aren't any moral victories. And that was like a conversation we saw a lot of Saturday of like, hey, man, like this guy earned the dignity of having that moral victory, of leaving Vegas with just a decision loss rather than a stoppage loss. Like, that would make it really any, like that would change anything moving forward.

That's silly. And I understand it in the moment saying that, because again, that everything that's rushing through us at that moment, the adrenaline, all of it. But there aren't moral victories have zero, zero tangible value in the real world. And we live in the real world. Those type of things do not exist in this game. if you just give Chris Montigno another 30 seconds of just letting Sean O'Malley tee off with headshots, like you don't know how much more damage that's going to do.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't even think it matters much, right? Like no one's talking about Chris Mutino today any worse than they would have had it went to a decision. Like I don't know that his stock was affected at all by the fact that this didn't go to a decision. Like if anything, it kind of helped him because now he has this additional argument of like people being outraged for him. So I get the idea in theory, but I think in concept it's not factual. It's not right. His phrasing was in the interview with our own Mike Heck. He's leading a loss is a loss and he's pissed off of the loss,

but it makes him more agitated that was a TKO loss rather than a decision loss. That's just his personal view. He's the one that was getting punched in the face, so he has every right to be upset with that. Yeah, I don't have an issue with the stoppage whatsoever. Might as give a Connor. It's a doctor stoppage. It's a doctor stoppage. found a TKM.

Yeah. I just want to like when Chris got that fight and a bunch of his teammates from New England message me saying he's probably going to lose but he's not going to get knocked out. It's TKL,

we've saw on his feet. They called it. I was like, I messaged a bunch of them. I was like, damn, you nailed that to a T. And they said, because you could see him talking a lot in there, they described him as a guy that when they roll or spar,

no matter who they're, he's rolling with. He talks so much. And then as soon as training's over, he's like, oh, man, you got me that day, get you tomorrow. And then, like, he moves on. Like, he's talking is just what he does. So no matter who Chris fights, whether he likes you or not, he's going to keep John.

So I'm very excited for his next fight, though. Yeah, that's the thing. Ultimately, it was a win for him because I think everybody is going to be much more excited for his next fight than he would have been had he just debuted on a random U.S. Vegas car on some prelim, right? Like, it's going to, it's going to be a win for him. I just hope that he learned some head movement. Take your head off the center line a little bit because this is not sustainable and I want to see you have a long and flourishing career.

Now he can train full time. He's no longer working on the line at a paint company. He got an extra $75,000 in that bonus plus whatever other money he got out of it. So I'm sure he can now concentrate on being a full-time fighter and learning some head movement. That's like the weird positive to come out of this is the fact that if that fight would have been stopped properly, say at the end of the first round, he doesn't get fight of the night bonus. Sean, um-law doesn't get fight on a night bonus. It just goes down as a fight And Sean Amalley

And we go, yeah, that was a mismatch And we move on Yeah, you're not wrong It's stuck for Nico Bryce And Michelle Pereira Because they probably lost out A fight in the night Because of that fight

Right Right, right, right Right, right Thank you the question Justin Gordette Don Drapper on Twitter The Big Don 23 If Dustin beats Charles

Does he have the best resume ever At Lightweight Slatherweight we he's way up there best ever best i don't think so go for it hose i don't i wouldn't resume wise like the names he fought i can't think of many people that would have a better resume like a list of fighters under their belt that fought that he fought i still would put maybe yeah there's a difference between right yes correct just to answer this the best resume ever at Lightweight further away.

Who's he? Like, Casey, do you remember when we did this show with Andreas? I read down the list of fighters that Anthony Pettis fought between like 2015 to now. It's pretty much the top 10 greatest lightweights ever, minus, if you want to include BJ Penn in that list. And Habid. Pretty much those are the only two he has a fought. He's fought pretty much everybody else. Dustin's the same.

Who hasn't he fought out of the greatest lightweights ever outside of the prime BJ Penn? He's falling everybody. So that's resume. I can't think of many people better than Dustin at lightweight. Oh, yeah. If you go... Well, you can add the featherweight aspect of it. Yes.

Yes. Significant. For the handful of fighters that fought significant fights at both those weight classes, without a doubt, Dustin is the best lightweight featherweight ever. I'm going to go back. Let me go back. I'm going to start. Let me read from his first UFC fight, his first two,

couple of UFC fights were Josh Crispy, Jason Young, Pablo Garza. And then this is starting at 2012 in a row. Max Holloway, Korean zombie, Jonathan Brookens, Cubs Swanson, Eric Koch, Dago Brando, Akira Koresani, Connor McGregor. That was his featherweight run. Great names.

Jumps up to lightweight. Carlos Dago Faheta, Yancey Medeiros, Joe Duffy, Bobby Green, Michael Johnson. Lost to Michael Johnson. Jim Miller, Eddie Alvers, No Contest. Pettis, Gachy, Eddie Aligh. Oliver is Max Holloway, Habib, Dan Hooker, Connor, Connor. It's pretty spectacular.

Yeah, spectacular. I might, I might throw Anthony Pettis's resume in terms of like fights in a row, maybe a notch above. Because he also went up to Welterweight and fought a bunch of high level fighters too. Yeah, we're talking lightweight further away. I would still maybe put, I would put maybe Anthony Pettis above because in a row at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at. at lightweight. Edson, Eddie, RDA, Gilbert, Benson, Soroni, like Joe Lozahn, Clay Guida,

Benson, Henderson, like, that's a lot, those are some big names of lightweight, too. I think maybe in terms of resume, I'm not talking wins and losses. Maybe Anthony Pettis above, but in terms of wins and losses, I can't think of many better than Dustin. Yeah. I mean, so I would submit to this conversation,

also Hafeld Dosanos has to be under consideration because Hafeel dosanos has since 2013 is the guys he's fought. Seroni, Habib, Jason, High, Benson, Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis, Saroni, Alvarez, Ferguson, Terrick Saffeting, Neil Magni, Robbie Covington, Kimaro Usman, Kevin Lee, Leon Edwards, Michael Kiesin, Paul Feldar. That's outrageous. That is a murderous row across two different divisions. But I do think the idea of Dustin right now in a historical sense is really interesting. That's one I want to explore just for a second because I know people get tired of the greatest of all time conversations and sort of like that like, oh, is this the best lightweight of all time situation. There's no, Habib is the best lightweight of all time. I think we can all agree on that and he probably will be for a long time. It's really hard to match and top what he did. But there's a big gaping hole in number two, lightweight of all time.

I don't know that there's a definitive answer to that. You could give me a lot of different answers and I think you could make case for any of them, right? You could make case for Eddie Alvarez, Frankie Edgar, BJJ Penn. Like there's a lot of guys who you could throw into that number two spot and you could make a compelling case that I could eventually come around to it. I really feel like Dustin right now with the resume that you just listed off, Jose, and the run that he's been on in this UFC stint since he went back up to lightweight. I think he's like 12 and 2

with maybe like a no contest in there and the names that he's beaten and the ways that he's beating them with with all out drag out wars and finishes and all of this. Man, if Dustin goes and beats Charles Olivera probably later this year and then just, I don't know,

even defends that title once, it feels to me like Dustin Poirier will have a pretty secure spot on the number two lightweight of all time, which is a crazy, crazy thing to say. about this guy who, I mean, did anybody see any of this coming? It felt like even halfway through his lightweight run. He was still being doubted and he was still like the underdog on so many of these different

fights. And the dude just continues to persevere and dig deep and find these wins and beat these people. And he is at this point evolved into just one of the most complete 155ers we have ever seen. And it is utterly spectacular, I think. Yeah, I do. Go ahead. I think we think it's amazing because when Dustin lost, like, kind of, like, Connor's lost.

Like, Conner came into the UFC with like two losses. We just didn't see those losses. They were kind of like, you know, on regional cards, you know? But when Dustin lost, he lost big. You know, he got knocked out big in a main event by Michael Johnson. He got knocked out big by Conn McGregor. So we got to see those losses. Dude, even the first big one.

Even the first big one, the Korean zombie one. It's like his first main event. And he's like crying on national TV about it. Like, you're right. A lot of his losses were huge losses. And like they kind of, they're in our brain. You know, we, we, we, it's hard. It's hard to forget about them.

But if we just take those just as losses and not as like these big kind of dramatic monumental losses, just like Conner had losses, then all of a suddenly, like his, yeah, his record does look a lot, lot better. If you just go take out the drama in it, you know? And, you go back to this question. Dude, Dustin's amazing. I just want to say, I rattle off that those, that resume. But I want to add his two and a half. year span with Jim Miller, which was a decision win, fight of the night. Eddie Alvarez, no contest, and then submission over Pettis, K over G.

over Alvarez, one of the greatest fights of all time against Max Holloway. That two and a half year span, is there been a better string of wins in lightweight history? That's up there. I mean, I would argue that. Because, like, Anthony Pettis fought maybe bigger names, but was, like, 500 in that run. Like, those are all violent wins in spectacular fashion. I would argue that the two-year stretch of McGregor, choking out, McGregor, choking out, Porre, Choking out, Choking out Geci by Habib.

That was maybe tops it just in terms of pure impressiveness because of how overwhelming and dominant those performances are. And if Dustin does go down as maybe the number two lightweight of all time, that's a really crazy result that we saw at UFC 242 there between Habib and Dustin. But yeah, man, that's a great, great run that you just named there for Poria. Yeah. And then it's all started with a chaos of Michael Johnson in Hidalgo, Texas. And Dustin was the underdog.

And I think almost all of those fights, like the Justin fight, he was the underdog, the Alvarez fight, I think he was the underdog. And the Max fight, I know he was the underdog. Yep. Yep. It's crazy. And the rematch versus Max, he was an underdog? Yeah, man.

I remember I was at that fight. It was in playing. I think that Holloway fight is, like, because we all knew that Eddie, and we all knew Dustin Poirier was one of the great. as lightweights on planet Earth. I think that Holloway fight really just catapulted into another level. Because remember he was stuck in no man's land?

Those were his words. He didn't know when he was going to fight. And then they, because it should have been Tony Ferguson for the interim title. It should have been, remember? And then Tony was like, no, I want to fight for the real belt. So then they made Max versus Dustin and it turned out to be epic. Workday knows there are two kinds of people in business,

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That was just like the craziest sequence of just like the craziest 20 minutes that we had ever seen. Like that there was a reason Max was the favorite going into that. And I remember that fight week, most people were picking Max. And I was, I was a little surprised of like, guys, are you ignoring what Dustin's doing here? Like, he's in the middle of a really historic run. But it's incredible, man.

It really is. It's good to see. I love seeing stories like what Dustin is also physically a huge lightweight. I would, I don't want to know. to move up to Walto anytime soon, but if he wants to bump up to lightweight at some point in his career, there's a fun fight's there too. He's a big boy.

Yeah, he walks around like a buck 90. Yeah, anyway. Before we leave his question, I think it's on Netflix. Go watch Fightville. Yeah. Great. Great one. Yeah. This is all pre-W-E-C, Dustin Poirier, and they show pictures of him when he was

200 plus pounds. There's a photo of him and his wife going to like a dancer, a wedding. or something. Yeah, yeah. I'm so glad you mentioned that case. Recently, with this past year, I have revisited Fightville for something I was writing for Chris Rennie's book

The Art of Violence, I believe it was what it was called. And I rewatched Fightville for the piece that I was going to write for that. And it is still, it is such a interesting rewatch now in 2021, knowing what we know about Dustin Porier, to see that

all of this of him like warming up in rodeo stalls and like hearing his mom talk about like how he's finally found something where he can be he can be the best in the world and that's all he wants is to to one day be able to put his hands up in the air and say that he's the best in the world and that this saved his life and all of this my man dustin you can put your hands up in the air and say that you're the best in the world you did it you did it i think um i saw some clips of prime time out there today when nick dives in prime time and i just i'm just so bummed that today's mima fans never got to experience a proper um a proper ufc promotion

for pay-per-view. Not just embedded and stuff like that. Or, you know, Rogan yelling, oh, on promos. But like those 30-minute primetime episodes that built up pay-per-views. And because Dustin Poir never got one of those. And it's a shame because Dustin's story is so unique and so inspirational to this sport. And I wish people, I wish more people knew about it. That's all.

His fight against zombie is still my favorite fight ever. Who is the Jake Paul? Who is in the Jake Paul robot? How does it function? clearly the question of the week. So if you're out of seeing it. Thank you, Cynthia Vance. I have so many questions.

So the Jake Paul robot was my biggest takeaway of the Jake Paul press conference with Tyron Whitley. We talked about this actually on a reaction pod that we filmed yesterday with Mike Hackett and Damon Martin. But like I desperately need to know what was going on with the Jake Paul robot. Like is this a gigantic minute bowl-sized man in this robot? Do I have two different four footers on each other's shoulders? like the kids in the bar who have the trench code

who are trying to order a beer, like is that the setup here? Like, are someone on stilts? Like, that dude was massive, and it was clearly a human being in there. It's not, in Casey, I know you're going to tell me it's a real robot. It's not a real robot. You guys, you guys. I need to know what was going off this robot.

There's literal, okay, robots aren't that big, first of all. There's little robots stacked on top of each other to give the impression of one giant robot. And by the way, these are our new future robot overlords a little respect, please, a little respect to our overlords. If that's the case, I'm so not comfortable

with Jake Paul having access to that technology. Hey, Big Paul, he's smart. He's a smart prize fire. He knows it promote vites and he knows who to kiss ass to. You kiss ass to our robot 12-foot jaw overlords. You guys both read comic books, so I don't have to explain to you, but it's clearly the,

similar to the Hulkbuster armor that Ironman wears. It's just a large suit of armor with a man embedded inside. Or it could be the avatar. Or it could be... Like it's like a little... Yeah. Like it's like a little seat control.

Or better yet, for all you cinnophiles out there, you guys have all seen men and black. You know, one of the guys... You know, when the guy's face opens up and there's the tiny alien living in the guy's face, similar to that too. Or it could be like in Ultimate Spider-Man, the comic book where Mysterio sends his avatar

to another dimension. And it's just a giant robot that he controls from another parallel universe. But that is neither here nor there. I love the men in black callback. That is such a great movie that nobody ever talks about. Someone, I watched, men in black was great. Me and my friends quote, it doesn't matter.

You're not even going to be matter. Like we quote that like way too often. Someone told me this is, and I apologize to Darren Elkins for this, but I watched his fight. Whenever he fought Ryan Hall, someone, I was watching with someone that doesn't watch MMA. And this is like the first time that he has ever watched MMA. And I was explaining him about Ryan Hall why he's so popular. And the guy's like, yeah, of course he's going to win. The guy he's fighting looks like the guy, the cockroaches that go into the guy's skin.

Edgar. Yeah. He goes, Darren Elkins looks like the guy who lost his skin. And now the bugs are wearing. I was like, oh, don't say that about Darren Elkins. That's meaning. Derek is a lovely person. He is a fantastic person.

And it was a weird fight. But that is since then, I've tried to inquire. corporate men and black more into the m-ma scene so let's make that a priority you're doing you're doing the lord's work out there host man in black three is also i loved man-in-black three men-in-black two man-black three the one with with time travel in that sad ending is that the josh brolin one yeah the ending ruled the ending made me sad i can't say i remember anything about two words the the ending was time where where where agent where agent k meets agent j as a kid after his dad dies Oh, sad times.

Spoiler alert. All right. We're going to fly through these last ones because I got to jump off. We've got five minutes. Do you agree with the beep's prediction that Nate would win the McGregor trilogy? Sean, yes or no? I kind of do, yeah. Casey.

Absolutely, I do. Me too. Uh, do, do, do, do you do. First off, welcome back, Sean. Sons in five. Damn straight. Jake Paul has carefully chose his opponents up until this point. I don't see this as a winnable fight for him.

Do you think he bought into Tyler's losing streak too much or his praise due for step up in competition? Maybe both. Maybe it's just a competitive fight. I'm sure he thinks he can win, but Sean, like real quick, thoughts on the fight. I see it as a very winnable fight for him. And I think it's actually a really smart and interesting fight to pick for him because Tyron Woodley is someone who we know as a striker.

He's someone who we know as a power puncher. but he's not a striker in the sense that you would think of as a boxer, right? He's not throwing out 10-punch combinations and doing all sorts of a Philly Shell defense and things like that. Like he's a very particular MMA puncher who has wrestling skills that can offset sort of like that sort of technique, right? Like he can throw with absolute power and not be afraid to getting taken down. Like that's a very, very different thing than being a great boxer. I don't know that Tyron Woodley is a great boxer. He might be able to become an okay boxer.

but he doesn't have a lot of time to do it. I think it's a very winnable fight for Jake Paul. I kind of see him winning it, but I don't want that to happen. I'm not going to lie. I'm not some unbiased journalist in this one. I hope Tyron Woodley knocks him the hell out, but I don't know that that's going to happen. But it's definitely winnable.

Casey, really quick. Is this winnable for Jake Paul or is just Tyron should be the overwhelming favorite? I think Tyron's the favorite, but it is winnable, and I think this is a smart matchup by Jake. mainly due to the size difference. He's going to lack experience and skill, but Jake will have significant size on Tyrone Woodley

and significant reach. And reach in boxing is much more of a factor than it is MMA. Correct. Especially if you know how to use it. Yes. Jake is a good job. Yeah. Jake's, yeah, he's fine.

Jake is a very good job. And that's the fun of the paper view of the fight. It's a mystery. We really don't know what we're going to get. He fights like someone that's 3 and 0. But he just happens to have a very good job. Anyway, is there one more? Why the recent trend of, why the recent trend of MMA media switching jobs?

Is it all money? Is each place, L.O. Money is in MMA media. Is each place that much different work for? Is it something completely different that I haven't thought about? So Casey and I still work at the same place we've been working at for the last, what, two and half years. Sean, you just switched over. It's clearly all about the money, right?

That's hilarious. No, I mean, I don't know. Why the trend? I feel like these things come in waves, right? Like it feels like every time there's a major shift in the NBA landscape, it's kind of just not one person, it's multiple people. I don't know. I don't know why it's happening.

I think just coming out of that. Do you think that's just a coincidence, though? Because I've got this, I've got a few people at fans ask me this. Like, is it a coincidence that everyone shifts around at once, like you said? Like, no one's just planning the shift. No, it's not a coincidence. I mean, we're all friends behind the scenes. we're talking to each other when we're not on YouTube, you know, of like, hey, man,

are you thinking of doing this or you thinking of doing that? So it's definitely not a coincidence. I mean, but each place is very, very different to work for, I will say, like coming from where I was just at is an infinitely different job than what I'm doing over here. Like, it's not even comparable. It's night and day. So there is a big difference in the landscape. And ultimately, I think it's good for the MMA media to have more out there.

If the Ringer wants to open up an MMA department, that's fantastic for MMA. That means more jobs. Right now, how many real full-time jobs are there in MMA? Like 20? Maybe, yeah. In the world? Like, that's it. Competition is good.

The more jobs, the better, man. The more opportunities for everybody, the better. I don't want everyone to get paid. Everyone should get paid. Anyway, is that it, Casey? That is it. That is it. This has been Jose.

That is what Sean. That has been... What? I know. We don't have to run out. We can say our buys. Well, it's okay, yeah. This has been...

Thank you, everyone, for joining us on. on the A side live chat again this Wednesday. Sean Sons and five. I am so damn nervous. And I'm putting it. I'm putting it at peak nerves, man. That's the best part. That's the best part.

That's the best part. The Scott Foster bullshit that happened on Sunday really got me on tilt. And the idea that if we can't touch Janus, if the fact that anybody just touches him or he can just run into us going down the lane and that's a foul on us, at that point we can't win. Right. Like if those are the. rules you're setting and you like yonder aiden's just going to get fouled out super fast and we don't have

another big man like i am terrified that this is i love i love negative shaheen i love like oh we're going to lose i don't know i don't think this isn't negative this those are all very actual facts that will probably happen in this game and if they lose this game they could basically this is it's a make i don't i'm not saying make it's no one i never expected us to get this far and at this point i'm way too in deep i can't handle us not winning. Like if we don't win, it's going to be the saddest thing that I, that has ever happened to my life at this point.

Like, I desperately need this title. I'm putting this out there. You don't understand how much I need this. If the sons win, I will, if the sons win, I tweeted this. If the sons win, I know Sean you're on board. In 1,000% doing the Shoey outside the Suns Arena. Oh. And we will put it.

And we will document it and put it out there. Lots off. One shoeie. We're doing 50 shooies. Y'all and I'm going to hear from me for two weeks. I'm going to wake up in some back alley in Thailand if the sun's win the title. It better be a shooie from a stranger. I want to see someone walking by.

Hey, you and the sun's jersey, give me your shoe. If you're watching this and you're in Phoenix and you see Sean and our eye outside the arena and the sons have just won, run up to us, take a shoe off. I will do a shoeie and we will document it. Hopefully that's on Saturday. Fingers crossed. This is, we'll be up on all podcasts. We'll see you next Wednesday.

We're out. Oh, happy birthday, Connor McGregor. Happy birthday, AK. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.