MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat: UFC Bantamweight Title Picture, Jon Jones' Future, Edson Barboza's Featherweight Run, Carla Esparza's Win, Tatiana Suarez's Return, More

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

For this episode, MMA journalist Chris Rini joins José Youngs and E. Casey Leydon to react to some of the biggest stories in MMA. Some topics include: Fall out from UFC Vegas 27; the future of the UFC bantamweight title, Edson Barboza's featherweight title aspirations; Carla Esparza's possible rematch against Rose Namajunas; Tatiana Suarez' flyweight plan; Jon Jones' plan for 2021, and more. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Chris Rini: @RiniMMA 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

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We're live, everyone. Welcome everyone to another episode of the Aiside Live chat here on mampighting.com. I am, of course, your host, Jose Young's. It has officially been two years since I took this podcast over from Sean Elshadie and Mark Remandie. We don't have to talk about them, though, because I don't even know where they're working anymore. I think Mark's working at ESPN. I think that's like a biweekly newsletter or something.

And who knows where Sean is these days. But that's probably here nor there. Thank you, everyone, for two years here on the A-side Live chat. Joining us this week, he has a little book that just came out. So I had to get him on. Anytime anyone has a very fascinating project on their hands in the world of mixed martial arts or here or stuff I want to talk about in general, I like to get them on.

But he just happens to be an M.A. journalist. He has to be a fantastic artist. He just wrote a book. We will talk about that. I am sure at the end of the episode we're going to give him all the time he wants to plug his work. But joining us is Chris Reney out in New York.

Chris, how are you doing? Excellent, man. Thank you so much for having me on. It's great to be here. Of course we're going to have you on. You've always DMs me a handful of your fantastic art. We've chat. I think our comic book preferences align very well.

We've had a couple back and forth on Twitter about some non-superhero books, which I always appreciate when people want to talk about. that. I think you were a big fan of Berlin, which is you're a big fan of Berlin by Jason Luth. You are already high up on my pecking order of comic book fandom. So again, thank you so much

for joining us and welcome to the A Side Live chat. Thank you so much. Again, yeah, Berlin, killer. Killer stuff. Best comic book on Planet Earth and on the ones and twos. Casey Lydden, how's life in Englewood? Englewood's doing good. It's, yeah, it rhymes. Englewood is doing good. Yeah.

I just made it up Ringlewood is fair And there, yeah Yeah, you know It's all fair Inglewood air Let's uh Give me a haiku

Okay, I was gonna say No hacuses, not yet We gotta get the people Know the users Sure sure sure Viewers know Build up Then we break out the hikus

I just want to show off My awesome Chris Rini art Look at this How long ago did I get this Chris 2014 2014 Who can... For the viewers out there,

who can name the fighters in this photo? You recognize them? It's based on an Esterlin photo. Yeah, I'm going to let the people in the comment sections, though, their guess is out. We're not going to be A.K. I just start answering the questions. I'll see if anyone guesses it.

Yeah. Well, that's just a taste of Chris's fantastic work. He has a new book that just came out. We'll plug that, of course, down the road. But you guys know the drill. We're here to talk about. fist fighting mixed martial arts or whatever else you want to talk about you can leave your comments in the youtube we're also live on twitter and facebook so for those of you who have never watched

the show because you don't go on youtube welcome everyone from the twitter and facebook worlds leave your comments in the comment section if you have my cell phone number you can probably just text me i know my good buddy matt wells has done that a few times he's called me off guard or you can leave your comments you mean mma junkies matt well i was going to say that i was like i was going to say i doubt he's going to do that anymore because now he's working for m mhm a junkie which is again, I think it's like a bi-monthly newsletter that's delivered by like a local, you know, newspaper boy. But anyway, you say today, what even is that?

But you can leave your comments on the site. You can leave them on Twitter. Casey will see them mostly in the YouTube or Twitter or Facebook comments. But without further ado, Casey, what is our first question for our lovely listeners? All right. First question. Let's go. do do do

are you broken yeah a little bit um man just so many good questions we started we had a lot of questions today guys you did a good job this is like more questions we've done a long time from four corner sports and why from Chris's part of the world

so the UFC go with an interim title for the bantamie division and who should be included in that fight if al Jermaine sterling can't return by the end of the year like he said so yes of course we've had the fantastic performance from rob font last weekend in the main event. He put on an absolute clinic against Cody Garbrand kind of cemented himself as a title contender.

The problem is we have T. T. DeLissela versus Corey Sanhagen coming up. A lot of people just assume that is done one contender fight. And of course, you need to run it back between Piotr I and current champ Al Jamein Sterling after Peter Yon lost his title at UFC 260, if I remember correctly, by disqualification. So, Chris, do we need interim belts at 135 pounds? In this case, yes. I want to see Rob Font versus Petter Jan. You know, put the gold back on Jan, put the gold on font, whatever.

I would love to see it again. I would love to see Jan and Aljo like super friction, super hot, super intense. More gold, the better. Both of them will have a fake gold belt. That's what I want. Casey, do we need interim titles in the most stacked division in MMA? Yes. I don't know, Yon versus somebody.

I'm not sure if it's font, but I am completely down with interim belt. I'm not one of those people that hate interim belts, actually. I think they're very, they're fine as long as you're justified. The problem is the UFC should start to throw them out there for marketing purposes, for promotional reasons just to sell more tickets. But this is actually a legitimate reason. Sterling is the champion. He's injured for who knows how long.

Run it back. I mean, not run it back. run it with Yon versus whoever. If the timing works out with the winner of San Hagan Dillishaw, cool. If the timing doesn't work out, then do font with Yon, I would assume. I think font is behind

though, unfortunately for him, the winner of San Hagan Dillishaw. Is that date beneficial yet? Is that an official date? Yeah, it's in June, I believe, if I remember correctly. Okay, so it's right on the corner. Somewhere around there. So if the winner

that gets out relatively unscathed, And I would hope, you know, in a couple months, three months past that date, we can have an interim belt. Is that unfair? Correct. UFC 259 is also the fight that he lost this title. USC 260 was Inganu and Stepe, or Stepe and Inganu. I will like to say that I saw Al Jaleman Strong post a comment. I think it was on ESPN MMA's Instagram that he was hinting at a fight in November,

which if the UFC is back to full capacity would mean that would be the Madison Square Garden. card, which is, that's usually their stop for November card. So Al's remains obviously from New York. If they want to throw Peter Yan on the New York card, too, I think obviously there's a big Russian population and a big part in a part of New York. I think that's the fight to make. If it is in MSG, it's a good co-main event. And I have no idea what the main event is going to be.

But if Aljo is hitting at it, then maybe we hold off. And then San Hagen, the win, like the problem is San Hagan, Dillishaw, probably the one contender and that means that sucks for Rob Font because he just has to wait Rob Fon's kind of in that Francis and Ghanu area for like a year and a half or he's who else is he going to fight maybe the loser of Sanhagen

Dillishaw but again I have no idea cool we have big news big news that is correct Cynthia Vance Travis Brown versus Chad Griggs do I get a prize where's my prize damn it Chris

send Cynthia Vance. You know, I want to say a little secret. Cynthia Vance has a little something in the book. She's got, I got a little something from her. She does. And Casey, you know, I've been keeping a secret from you, and I guess I'm just going to have to keep keeping it a secret.

You guys are going to get a little something when I send you. They don't. They don't know. You haven't told them? Nothing. They don't know nothing. Wow. I'm really glad I didn't say anything at the beginning of the show.

I just assumed. I just assumed they knew, or like, Casey knew, so I was going to plug it. But I was like, I'm going to like, I'm going to like, Chris talk about it. Man, thank God, I'm going to do that. I can't tell you. I can't tell you, you know. That's right. And Cynthia made the cut.

You know, some people are in there. You know who let me down? I'm going to say this. I feel bad saying him. Luke Thomas, man. Luke Thomas. I tried getting him in there. I tried.

Maybe next time. All right. Hold on. I got someone text me. Matthew Wells. Hi, Jose. M.M.A junkies, Matthew Wells here. No questions today. Just shoutouts to you, EKC, and Chris Rini for being awesome. So thank you, Matt. I hope you enjoy your time at whatever newsletter you joined over USA today. I've been following his art for years Yeah Matt is Matt is fan He's also a good friend of the show He's been on a few times He's also been one of my victims on

Between the Links so He was a good friend of the show He was He has really good art too Go buy his art All right Do do Here we go

Next question Long one from Muff Daddy I don't believe This person has ever commented Real quick. Hey, Chris, sorry, real quick. Chris, is there, you're a little low, the volume? Is there, can you get your mic closer to your mouthful? I can hold it here. Yeah, yeah. Is that better? That is better. Yeah.

Nice way clear, yeah. Cool. Thank you. Crystal clear. All right. Edson Barbosa, close decisions from Muff Daddy on the site. Is there a bigger victim of close split decisions than Edson Barbosa? Looking at a split decision loss as to Paul Felder and Dan Ike, I personally scored both of them for Barbosa. I know Mazur is known as the King of Split decision, but it's just crazy to think about Barbosa. it could be today if those decisions went his way. Since 2016, his only losses outside of those two are Habib Gaging and Kevin Lee, even as impressive wins over guys currently at the top of the lightweight division in Darius and Hooker. I honestly think he's most underrated, most underappreciated fighter in the sport.

So, Chris, I'll start with you. Off the top of your head, can you think of anyone that has been the victim of split decisions more than Edson Barbosa? 100%. Everybody who fought Benson Henderson at his peak, was it, Gilbert, Melendez, Frankie Edgar, Josh Thompson. Those are the big three I could think of. Oh, yeah, yeah, that dude, he was a murderer.

He's like a career derailer. So Barbose is like the anti-Bin Henderson, where he just loses every split decision. Yeah. I know good friend of the show, Angela Hill has been a victim of some rough decisions. I believe Courtney Casey has been the victim of a few very close split decisions. and Dennis Bermudez, I believe at one point, lost three straight split decisions. He could have been out of three-fight win streak. I believe it was to Darren Elkins, Rick Glenn, and Andre Feeley.

Those are the three, his three losses coming off the Korean zombie loss. And then he finished it off with a decision over T. Edwards for calling it a career. So, yeah, I think at one point, Dennis Bollinger does, if he goes, he even said, I think after his loss to Phile, he goes, if he goes to a decision, I'm probably going to lose by split decision. But Dennis Bermud has been a very, has been a very. victim too. He did take one though from Max Holloway. Yeah, he got he got it against Max. Yeah, he did. USC 160 if I remember correctly. That was on the bike to early prelims. Yeah, yeah. Since we're going back to spit decision, spit decision history, did didn't Max get a, he got a, didn't he get a lucky one against Leonard Garcia? Was it Linda Garcia? I can't remember. I know Leonard Garcia got that gift again,

was a decision over zombie at WEC. Right. You can't even count it because that was like fight of the century. So is that? Yeah, that was. You can't even blame on that one. Is that even Korean zombie's best fight? Oh,

is that better than the Porre fight? I don't think so. That's my favorite fight ever, though. That was the main event, right? The Poirier. Yeah. That was, and he got the flying knee into Porrier's own choke at the end.

I think the Korean zombie, Linna Garcia one was special because it was on the WC. Paperview, right? It was a WC pay-per-view. And it was kind of a mid-card fight. It was like, there wasn't no real high expectations for it. It was like, Korean Zombie had kind of a name, but we didn't know who he was. And Lenny Garcia was kind of this, you know, mid-level, no, brawling vet.

And it just kind of, this kind of fight is like, oh, it looks good on paper. It just turned out to be just one of the best fights ever. So I think that's why that fight kind of sticks out because it just exceeded expectations just beyond anyone's thought. Yeah. Yeah, that was the Sacramento. That was the Sacramento card when Aldo just beat the legs off of your eye of favor. That was the non-promotional pay-per-view.

Remember, it didn't say WC anywhere. That's right. Yeah. That's right. It was weird. It was weird. I remember I was working with Eric all the time. And he asked Dana that's like, it doesn't say WC in the cage and say in the gloves?

Is that in purpose? You're like, I don't know. It's obviously it didn't in purpose. Yeah. The posters, I just looked up the poster to remind. It says W. It says USC presents. Will Featherway Championship, Aldo versus Favor.

And then at the bottom, in massive letters, it does say WEC, but the first thing you see is at the top is UFC Presents. Yeah, and Dana, like, promoted that one. Like, he did the press commerce, which is the thing is pretty much the only time. Yeah, they tried to, basically they try to sell WC as a ZC product. This is the Wikipedia entry for it. UFC Presents, Aldo versus Faber, is also sometimes referred to as WEC48.

Yeah. Okay, but. Back to the question. The very last comment, is he the most underappreciated fighter in their sports? I don't think so. I don't. I think he's like. I think he's up there.

He's got a pretty, yeah? Well, I mean, the UFC almost let him go just a little bit ago. And I had the temerity to ask for money, though. Yeah. And I mentioned this on Twitter a few days ago talking about, I always thought Cubbs Swanson was the, at least modern in the modern MMA, the best fighter never to even fight for

a title for any major organization. And now I actually think it's Barbosa. Maybe the best fighter who's never fought for a title in any organization, any major organization, maybe like a regional one, but as far as like no, Strike Force, you know, PFL, World Series of Fight, those type of organizations.

Yeah, Cub Swanson and Barbosa haven't. So I just think that's not necessarily a category you want to be part of, but I just think Barboza is just just yeah like he was just he was one punch away

one one one um simple opinion that wouldn't have rocked any boats you know if one judge gave him a fight this way and no one would have gone that's a robbery no one would have said that and yeah that's that sucks for Barbosa

yeah I hope he can he can make some make a title run at 145 I didn't see that coming at all there's a lot of there's a lot of fun scraps in 145 is specifically because the top of the division doesn't have a ton of wrestlers. Like, they're just going to take him off his feet. So I think stylistically, there's a ton of exciting matchups at 145.

He probably would have fought for the title if he hadn't had that stumbling blocking against Jamie Varner really early in his career. Because remember Varner came out of nowhere? Like he did the USC didn't bring. Yeah. Didn't even speaking at WC, Jamie Varner was one of those guys like they didn't bring him in from the WC. and they even lost on the regional scene. Signed him last minute to fight Edson Barbosa, who was still undefeated.

This was the first fight after the spinning back kick on Terry Adam, and then knocks him out in the first round. And, yeah, shout out to Jamie Varner, Arizona's finest. But then who is Barbosa lost who since then? Serroney, Ferguson. That was like Peek-Sorone. Peak Cerrone at 55, yeah. That was when Soroni won like 12 in a row,

and then he fought RDA. One of the most all-time favorite club and subs. True story. And then he lost to Michael Johnson, right, on that Brazil card. That was when Michael Johnson was, like, beating, like, Porre, Barbosa, Ferguson. This was when Michael, like, the weirdest career, the absolute weirdest career. Yeah. Yeah.

And then he gets mauled by Habib, Kevin Lee. Well, and to be fair, with Kevin Lee, Kevin, I believe Kevin Lee missed weight, and he got put on Bambi legs by that spinning back kick, remember. You've seen that a million times. And then Justin Gachie stabbed him in the eye in their fight in Philadelphia. Is Barbosa going to fight for the UFC featherweight title? Yes. I hope so.

I certainly hope so. I believe he has a skill set to do it. It really depends on, I hate saying this, timing and what the UFC wants. It's not really up to Barbosa. sense. I mean, he can, I think he can win. I think he's good enough, obviously, but it's, does the UFC think they can sell enough tickets, sell enough pay-per-views of Barbosa, potentially as a champion or in a main event for a title fight? So, yeah, going back to timing, if they could go overseas and, you know, take him to, you know, face Volcanovsky on his home turf. Like,

that might be, uh, just like a tipping point, but I don't know. I, I, I would love to see that. I'd love to see. Like, they're two completely different frames, body shapes. I like, I really love seeing fights like that. I hope we get to see Holloway Barbosa at some point. Yeah. I just, I don't know when they're going to fight. I just hope we get to see it before, like, they're kind of past their primes.

That's all. I think Barbosa Cater would be a scrap, too, because I asked Barbosa this. Like, because Barbosa has a ton of finishes that he starts with his boxing. Like, everyone talks about his kicks, but I've interviewed a handful of fighters. and they said that they were surprised at how good Barbosa's inside boxing was. So Cater versus Barbossa would be obviously great. Yair is a beat, zombie, Josh Emmett, whenever he returns. Like, featherweight is awesome.

Featherweight is such good fights. Yeah, I never noticed how good Barbosa's boxing was until he fought Anthony Pettis. And I felt like that was the fight where people were like, oh, Pettus finally, he's going to fight a striker, he's going to shine again. And he just ate his lunch with his left foot hook all day. Mm-hmm. Barbos is a terrifying human being. One of the 10 most violent fighters in U.S.C. history. I think I said that after his fighting as Burgos, would you agree?

Like, every fight he's in. Whether he wins or loses is just violent. Oh, yeah, he's on the all-violence team, like every year. 100%. I think he's on the all-violence team, but at the same time, if you listen to him in interviews or just, just man, like, you have no idea. He just seems like the nicest guy. Like, it's just, it's just wild.

and like he was just chop your head off in your legs with an animal i got in i got in an elevator with him when i had to go get my covid wrist man on uh friday and it was right after he had weighed in it was pre-officially it was pre- ceremonial lanes i he did not look great in the elevator like it's obviously like when he's doing media day and get on the scale he's like full of energy but i was like you okay man he goes oh man this is just never gets easy and he was like moving real slow after his way in. So, yeah. If he could keep making the weight, though,

all power to him. I don't know. How much body fat do you think he has when he weighs in? Negative something. It's got to be at least negative five. Yeah, I don't know how it works, but yeah, it's in the negatives. Have you noticed this?

Mark Callig, why do commenters always say Barbosa's gas? His last two fights, the commentary has said that in the first round, maybe commentary bias against some fighters is for another day. Did they say this against Burgos? Because I couldn't hear it in the back

because we had it muted. I didn't notice it. I don't remember. Although I think when I hear Rogan say the fighter's gas, I just kind of laugh it off. It's like, oh, there he goes again. So, yeah. I think the problem of Barbosa, though,

is like, I think I've talked about this before of other fighters like Corey Anderson, and extremely good fighters, but for some reason, we only remember their big losses. And I think even though Barbos has had big wins, he's kind of been on the big loss too. Like, like, unfortunately, he went,

he survived 15 minutes of Habib. Did he survive? Yes, he did he survive? Yeah, but he got pretty much 10-4 to every round. And it's one of those fights, like if he wouldn't have to say submitted in the first four minutes, we wouldn't have gone, oh, okay, whatever. But for some reason, like, I feel like we have that memory.

That's just stuck in. And Habib's like talking to, is that the bite of what Habib was talking to? No, that was Michael John. That was Michael John. Okay. But it had that similar vibe, you know? Yeah. I think when writers are noted for having like a blueprint, it makes people biased against them in terms of their perception.

They're like, oh, well, if you can do X, Y, Z, and in Barbosa's case, it's pressure and take down, like, people then to maybe overstate their shortcomings because they're recognizable. and quantifiable. Sorry. I think of you sound as smart, Chris. Here's a, get out of here. Get out of here. Wrong show for this.

Wrong show for that. Habibibi Etton Barbosa, 3025, 3025, 3024. It wasn't 3224. Yeah. That was me. I thought I was making a joke. He got smacked up.

And then he got, and then he lost to Kevin Lee. And then he beat the, tar out of Dan Hooker. That was the one where everyone in the backstage because I was there. Casey, like this was Chris,

I don't know if you remember. This was in the middle of December and they asked me go, do you want to go cover USC Milwaukee in the middle of December? I was like, yeah, absolutely. And they're like, Casey and Esther are going to go to Hawaii

to cover Belletra. I was like, oh, that's a little better. So I was there in Milwaukee and Dan Hooker was, we all agreed backstage. Like Dan Hooker was way too tough for his own good in that fight

because his body, it was like a burgo where his body just shut down after a while. Yeah, that was a hard one to watch. That really was. That was when Dan Hooker was tearing people apart, too, so a lot of people picked him to win. And Barboso was on that two-fight losing streak.

Man, lightweight is bananas, too. Mm-hmm. What? Oh, yeah, was that fight out lightweight? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Because then he lost to Gaichi and Felder,

and then he dropped to 145. All right. Rassling women from MMG 2K20 on the site, A couple questions. How are the UFC not pushing Carlos Sparza? She's an amazing fighter with a backstory with both Yawanna champion and Rose Nama Yunus. She should definitely get one of these fights next, especially after the Habib-like performance.

Should the UFC start getting behind her more? So that's the first question. We'll answer that before we move on to the second one. Casey, I'll start with you because you've talked about this few times on various shows on the site. Why is the U.S. not pushing Carlos Sparza after her big win over Jan Jaun-Nan last weekend? I have no effing clue. It's the fight to make. It's the fight of the storyline.

She's earned the fight. She deserves a fight. She's, you know, Carla's now kind of, you know, sending those little tweets out there, you know, trying to up her trash talk game because I think that's not her style, but I think that she knows that's what the brass wants.

I think they're not pushing Carla because Carla simply doesn't look the part. And that's, I mean, I mean, not that Rose looks apart, but they've invested in Rose so we know who Rose is. what do we know about Carla? We know she's a wrestler. We know she's like,

she might be the smallest, she might be the smallest straw weight in the division. That's insane. I really believe she probably is the smallest straw weight. Maybe her in Loma. Loma. Yeah, Loma's the only one I can take those. Maybe Loma.

But they are small straw weights. And I just don't think the UFC wants a fighter like Carla to have the belt. That's why. Yeah, I hate to agree. with you. There's like a real subtle thing. No, no, no. But there's something as subtle

as like they won't fight to get her walkout music, you know? Yeah. You know, like little things like that is like you can tell like there are people who are on the back burner. And I think that if they would just like you're saying,

there is a narrative there. It's so easy to put this title fight in context. It's so like, you can literally close the circle from the inception of the strawweight division. And straw weight is the equivalent of men's lightweight. I mean, it's a shark tank. And to get as many wins as she has in a row is notable and just remarkable. And, I mean, man, their booking strategy is very transparent, you know, given how heavyweight is going right now.

It's not merit-based at the moment. Merit-based will make a comeback one day when it's convenient, but it ain't happening today. I think we were just talking about fighters who pull off or get robbed of split decisions. I don't think it helps Carla's case that she won three in a row that I think a lot of people thought she might have lost against Marina, Michelle Waterson, Alexa Grosso. I actually thought she lost the Grasso fight personally. I don't remember how I scored that fight, but that fight was awesome. Yeah, it was super good, yeah. Super good.

I scored it for- You kind of ruined the narrative of a boring Carla fight because that was not boring. No. But that fight is overshadowed because Jeremy Stevens got stabbed in the eye against the Ayer. Oh, yeah. Like in the main event. So no, like everyone thought Stevens and Rodriguez would be the fight of the night. And then they just gave it.

It was like, I feel like people view. Raso is spars as like the default because like the main, but they were robbed in the main event. And then I scored it for Carla against Michelle Waterson and I scored it for Marina on fight island. Was a fight island? Yeah. So a couple of fights I thought she won.

A couple of fights I thought she lost and also her, Rose and Whaley all have the same manager. So it's not like they're all going to talk trash to one another. It's not like they could build it that way. Like Rose, the Carla did go about it the way I think a good way of kind of saying like, hey, we have unfinished business, not like, hey, you suck. I hate your face. Just, yeah, I beat you once.

Yeah, I beat you once. Let's do it again. But you know the U.S. you probably wants to give the Zhang Wiley rematch. I feel like that's the direction they're leaning. I just, you know, and even though I also, we talk about, you know, Carlos, all our split decisions before her dominant, or extremely impressive dominant win over Yon last week, even though I thought she lost a few of those spit decisions. It doesn't really matter because she was, even if I thought she lost, the fact that she was super, super, super competitive with those women.

So it's not like it was a robbery, you know. It was just a close fight and, you know, coin flipped heads three times in a row for her. You know, that's it really is. It's not, I don't hold that against Carla at all. And coming into that, um, yon fight, I was like, well, she has to do something big if she wants a title fight. And she did, she did everything perfect. She did absolutely what I said she had to do to get that title fight. So I don't know what's going on.

I don't know. We don't need every single thing to be completely crystal clear for it to be completely valid at this point. Like Eddie Alvarez got his title shot off of like a bunch of like really grindy wall install decisions. And that's set up a fantastic knockout of RDA. And then the double championship win for. Connor. Like, it's just one domino. You know, it doesn't need to be like, you don't need to be securing Chinese media rights

with every fight just because there are Chinese fighters in the top five. The UFC's is the PI in China done? Like, I know a lot of the fighters have been training there, but is it, like, physically have built or is it still being built at this time? Because someone, like, posted the stat, like, the Chinese

fighters, like the last few fights, cards have not done well. Like, they're, like, they've been in good fights but they've constantly been coming out on the on the losing side and i feel like they've all looked really good right away like early in the fight and then they've just faded obviously yon jonathan didn't even get an opportunity to even put on offense carla just kind of took it to her right but the only fighters that carla has like casey says she's looked competitive in the only fighters that have absolutely smacked her up have been tautiana suarez and yawanna yawanna and jicic which will go

into the second part of MMG 2K20's question when Tatiana Suarez destroys gatekeeper Chikagan you know the UFC will still want to book this one how do you see her versus Valentina going could this be now the toughest test for the bullet so yes for those of who you weren't aware Tatiana Suarez announced she was medically cleared to return to competition and she is playing to return

at flyweight I don't care which weight class she returns to if she did say she felt she'd be more explosive and strong at flyweight which I would imagine would be case she is she was for a long time one of the taller straw weights in the division so if she was the last time she fought was valentina beat jess guy she got head she had she had kicked jess guy in that chicago card uh so chris and sure's fought when she beat up asparza yes wow no no no no no no no she beat up nina she beat up nina i'll be it yeah nina because nina they

both because when nina nuna nina has just returned against um who did she just lose to um Nina just lost to, man, I forgot. Dern, McKenzie, McKenzie. When Nina lost to McKenzie, she had the before that, her last fighters against Tatiana. So Nina thought, had a baby and came back before Tatiana Suarez. Because, of course, she had the hurt neck. You don't want to mess around with a hurt neck, especially with the wrestling because you can't do those blast double, like takedowns like she normally does. But maybe Tatiana, I saw someone ask why did, why is Tatiana returning a flyweight?

There's clearly a shorter path to the title at flyweight. And if in the back of her mind, maybe she can always go back down to straw weight if her experiment at flyweight doesn't go the way she wants it to. So Chris, what do you think of Tatiana Suarez's chances at flyweight against the elite competition of 125? Oh, man, I see her steamrolling everybody outside the champ. I don't know, just by virtue of like the division not being nearly as deep.

I'm not going to shit on an individual fighter, you know, but just from the way she abs, Tatiana Suarez, absolutely destroyed, you know, a dynamic striker like Grasso and a solid wrestler like a Sparza, I really don't see. I don't see her having a lot of trouble getting to the title fight. How do I see her versus Valentina going? I see Valentina testing the limits of Suarez's ability. Like, you know, maybe Swaros could handle her on the ground, but it's up to her, it's up to Valentina whether or not she allows that to happen, you know, whether she chooses to engage with her. I think that Valentina's, I would love to see them grapple. I'd love to see them clinch. That's really what I would like to see, because Valentina's takedowns from the clinch. And that's probably one of the most exciting parts of her game, actually. It's like that transitional space. It's half striking, half grappling.

where she kind of dictates where the fight goes. And I really want to see her get tested that way. Casey, would you favor Tatiana against everyone in the top 15 outside of Valentina? If she fights this, if the same straw weight, Tantana Suarez shows up and can dominate in the same way she can, 10 pounds heavier, I would pick her over Valentina too. I think she's the woman that can take Valentina down. and I don't know if she can finish Valentina,

but she can hold her down. Valentina off her back isn't she's, of all the aspects of MMA, I feel like Valentina off her back is the least dangerous and of all the positions, and that's where Suarez can put Valentina. So I would actually pick Suarez over Valentina if she can say, like, roll through Chiquan,

she looks really good at flyweight. She's been out for a long time. I don't know. Personally, I don't like, putting Tatiana Suarez against someone like Chican. I love tune up fights. I love the idea of tuna fights. I love the idea to remind fans, you know, who she is.

And I don't want to, I just don't like fights that high in caliber after such a big break. But that's how the UFC runs. You know, fighters have big egos. They think they can, you know, face Godzilla, you know, right when they roll out of bed. So they're not going to, they always say, yeah, give me the toughest fight ever. You know, like, no, don't get that. That's silly. But whatever.

If Suarez looks good against Chicagian, which I assume that's a booking that makes sense. No, judging my UFC's no past. Yeah, I would pick over every flyway in the world, including Valentina. Mm-hmm. Go ahead. I'm sorry, man. I would like to see. I can't stop thinking about that fight.

I would like to see Tatiana versus, like, I'm not saying that I would favor these two fighters against her, but like Miranda Maverick and Macy Barber are very strong. wrong at 1.25. Like me like when when macy barber fought Alexa Grasso, I picked Alexa Grosso to win just because I thought she was a better like she was a better boxer and like all around a better fighter. But every time Macy Barber like connected with a punch like Alexa Grasso like kind of fell back and she was like a good poker face and she kept it going also and when she would clinch she would like shove her away like like Macy Barber is physically a strong fighter. Miranda Maver is a physically strong fighter. I want to

see Tatyana Suarez like can she even take these women down because at 115 is one thing but 125 those are some strong powerful women in there and then uh man i don't know like Lauren murphy jojo will probably obviously get the winner that fight should get the next title shot rightfully so right but yeah i'm looking at the top 15 right now i would probably favorite tautian against almost all these women and then the champion would be very interesting yeah the champion would be real interesting. Let Andrage chew some people up, lower in the rankings get Suarez a title shot.

If Swaras can take it, I want to see her versus Andrash then. Did Androis... Tos is a good fighter, too? Did I... Is Andraj going to make the straw weight? Do we know? Or she's staying at Flyweight? I don't think she's saying anything. I think she's down to fight

wherever. 15, 125, 135. I'm sure she'll even fight at 145 if they ask her to. Honestly, she should make her... She should, I mean, I wish the UFC was open-minded enough to be like, a person like Jessica Andraj is like action, money fight, no matter where she goes. She should just be like the women's Ronan, you know, just roaming from from weight class to weight class, just like wrecking shop, action fights, you know. The utility fighter.

Wherever you need a fighter, just call Andrade. Real quick question. Chris, you mentioned earlier. you know, how, you know, the flyweight division isn't, you know, necessarily the deepest division. Right. How long are we going to keep saying that for? Because I think we can, I think we all agree that straw weight,

without a doubt, straw weight is the, the deepest division across the world, women's straw weight. But I honestly think that flyweight is now a better division than bantam weight, at least in the UFC. I think, so, I mean, we always kind of crap on flyweight. And women's flyweight says, oh, there's no one, there's just Valentina. but I honestly think the flightweight division is better overall than the Bantonweight division right now. I think it will be too for a foreseeable future.

I just think it's an old story. I think we've kind of passed that. I understand at first when the flyweight came about, you know, there weren't that many, but I think we're there now. I think you got to go. You make a good point. I am definitely like digging up an old, an old trope. I got to be honest, though, part of it is presentation.

You know, I'm no grand objective eye, you know. I can definitely be swayed by the narratives that I hear, you know. And sometimes I even watch fights with just music and no commentary, you know. I have to do that sometimes to just, like, form my own narrative. And then you hear it back later and you're like, amazing, you know? I didn't see or hear any of that shit, you know? You know, you got a good point. that part of it is presentation the way the UFC presents the division and unfortunately

that involves respecting the fighters acknowledging their accomplishments acknowledging their personalities you have to do those things for the audience to become invested in that division outside of the champ Jose has is women's is Valentina at Flyway ever headlined the pay-per-view is that the only division that's never headlined the pay-per-view I don't think strawweight's headlined a pay-per-view. You want to never headline the paper? She's headlined like

cards, but she's always been like co-main event. I don't think she's ever headlined a pay-per-view. She's headlined against, like, on those ESPN Plus or like FS1 cards or whatever, but she's never headlined like the Straw-Wade title has never been at the top

of a pay-per-view. Ah, I think you're right. Not even, I'm thinking like, what about the one where she won it versus Asparza? I'll look at it. I'll look at it. That was co-main event. The main event was Pettus and RDA. Yeah. Yeah, that's coming.

185. Yeah. And, like, Andre, Androge versus Wei Lee. That was, um, fight night. That was a fight night. So those don't count. Like, Valentina's fought, like, main events and like, Uruguay on fight nights. Oh, I know.

Strawway, Strawway did. Rose and And Androd headlined in the Brazil card. Okay. Okay. Because that, but that wasn't the original, like, everyone assumed there would be another pay-per-view. I mean, another main event on that. Yeah.

And then that just happened. to be the minute that was the one she got dropped on her head that was the main event that was that was the main event and i think i was that one always escapes my mind because that same exact day pit bull knocked out michael chanelair and douglas lemma knocked out MVP so i was in chicago for that so i missed like cannoneer silva goita bj pen uh r rose on drives so that one did have mine and then rose didn't fight until the rematch like a year later we were talking about presentation though and sorry Chris, and so that goes a lot into why we think less of the women's flyweight because the UFC doesn't even have faith in that division to headline a pay-per-view.

The only division of all divisions in the UFC that has a headline paper view, so. Yeah. There you go. Even featherway his headline pay-per-view. Yeah, multiple, multiple times, multiple times. Yeah, yeah. Let me see here. Yeah, not that I can think of, but five, yeah.

Valentina has always been. She was the co-main event in the Chicago card. She wasn't even, and we talk about how usually, like, the heavier fights always get top billing, unless you're like Con McGregor or Ronda or whatever. They put the strawweight fight above Valentina and Draja flyweight. So they even put 115 above 125 in Jackson. Yeah.

So, yeah, it's, I don't know. She's going to need a dance partner, like a rival, someone that can, like, talk all that greetsiness. That'll really sell the fight. same as like we said that forever amina nunes should be like a star but she hasn't had the chel son into the anderson sova she hasn't had the daniel cornet to the john jones i think juliana pinia could be that because she talks a lot of trash uh but i don't know i would like that'll be like that that's why juliana is in that title fight i agree i mean i did everything right i think

merit alone it's justifiable but the fact that she will say i am going to eff am manna nuna is up I don't think there's a flyweight right now because I know the UFC loves that but like Suarez isn't going like Valentina Shepchango you've taken everything from me you know I just don't see that I think they're actually going to have to sell

that flyweight title fight on merit and like the two best martial artist fighting which is going to be a tough sell for the UFC yeah because who cares about that who cares about the best versus the best we just want to eat beef

yeah man that's like till 2005 you know take that take that to take that the pfl all right yeah and that I was looking at the rest of that Brazil card too that felt like a pay-per-view built for the Brazilian market

like specifically for fans in attendance and for people to tune in so Andrade Rose was a good headliner but like Aldo Volcanowski was on that card Anderson Silva Canaaner was on that card Lil Nog versus Ryan Span was on that card so that was a Brazil card. But the main event was still great.

All right. People are telling us to move on. Here we go. Terrence Leverett, longtime commenter on Twitter. Should a fighter be allowed out of the division ranking if they want to take a step back in competition? Example would be Tony. Second question. Oh, let's answer the first question before we go on the second one. So the fighter wants a step back. Should they be allowed out of the rankings? Casey I'll start with you because you don't really like the rankings anyway.

So give me an example of that. What does that mean? I'm not, I'm not. So if Tony wants, you know how you always say like, like, for example, Edmund Shabazzian just lost to Jack Cermanston. You want him to return against someone. You and Mike Hector always like, we want someone ranked way low down, like outside of the top 40. You want a tune up fight. But Edmund Shabazzian is clearly a top 15 fighter.

Should the, if Edmund goes to the UFC and be like, I want. and fight someone way back just to get confidence back. But I get you can't book a fight if I'm like the 13th ranked fighter in my division. I can't fight the 16th ranked fighter. Should the UFC then take them out of the rankings in order to make a matchup? I think they should just make the matchup and keep the ranking. Yeah, I don't think they need to change any ranking. But yeah, like Suarez, I believe I'm big in tune up fights.

but the thing is like no dude how many how many fight nights do we watch the first fight of the night you know biz being these guys are real fighters these guys are toughest stuff they fought their way they're in the ufc now like if you're in the ufc there's no tune-up fights anyway so if you fight someone i mean tony fighting any lightweight the worst lightweight in the ufc he is still a ufc caliber fighter and that in that's in itself is always going to be an accomplishment to defeat someone like that So I have no, I don't think you got to take my other rankings. I think you just book, book it. I don't know.

As long as the commission, I guess, allows it. Yeah. Yeah, I agree 100%. I think that they really do a disservice to fighters. And fighters do a disservice to themselves by remaining. I think there's like, you know, these like greatest of all time level fighters. But then there are elite fighters who stay fighting other elite fighters and end up with these 500 records, you know, for the last maybe quarter of their career.

And I think they take an unbelievable amount of damage. And sometimes that feeds into the fan kind of like trashing of them. Like they eat it. Like I think of like a Carlos Condit who's like, you know, like his, what's the last, his last 15 fights. I bet he's something like eight and seven, you know, or something like that. I think about moments where fighters do exactly what you're saying.

It's so rare. But whenever it happens, you end up with a vicious highlight, like, like example of like there's levels to this. like Neil Magni when he fought that guy, Craig White. He was like a last minute replacement. He came and then he just sliced through him like butter. You know what's a really great one is Chad Mendez versus Cody McKenzie. You're watching like the best of the best get in there.

He's like, I saw this guy on tough get hit with like hurt with body shots. He goes in there, boom, once of the gut puts him down. Like it's okay to do that. Like if anything, the UFC would benefit from these fighters, number one, getting some like low damage wins where they could get. back in there again. And on top of that, I hate to say it, but then you come up with this Rocky story, should anything

come awry. You end up with the Landauvinata situation where like, boom, that guy dropped Tony, that guy pushed him to the limit. Now people know his name. The UFC works so, no, they don't work that hard. To get people to know someone's name, you know, like let the fighter do it in the cage. You know, we're going to talk about it if

it happens. I'm glad you brought up the Cody McKenzie fight because that was, if Chad Mendes wanted to get back into the wind calling an oppressive way, booking him against Cody McKenzie on a massive pay-per-view, because that was Sun and Silva too. Cody McKenzie was coming off that

win over Marcus Levesser, which I still remember that fight because that was the zombie Poirot card. I can't believe you won that fight, but it was again, again, with his crazy guillotine, he always did, and then Cody made him this big point where he was trained with the Diaz brothers and he wouldn't shake Chad Mendes his hands, and there was like meat

mugging him the whole time, and then Chad Mendes, like, ripped his liver out with a body punch. But I'm looking at ranking MMA.com, which, in case I don't know if you've been on the site, they do like a top 60 to 75, 50 rankings of all MMA. And they say what promotion they're in and their last three fights and if they have a fight lined up next. So this is kind of what I use for my rankings. The lowest ranked, they do a top 50 lightweights on planet Earth. The number 50th ranked fighter is Alex Martinez.

He's 8 and 0 in PFL. He's the one fighting Anthony Pettis. The highest, the lowest ranked lightweight in the UFC. is Otman Azatar at 47. That is still not an easy fight if you're trying to go that low. There. Like Vince Pichel, Joe Selecki, Scott Haltzman,

Nazareth, Hasprat, Bobby Green, and Dracar close are all 40 to 50. Those are all really tough fights. So you have to go outside of the top 100 to get an easy fight of lightweight in the UFC. Like Shinye Yoki is the 36 best lightweight in the LvC. lightweight in the way. Dude, Tony Ferguson versus Shinneioki were freaking

rule. As soon as I said it, I was like, don't get me started. As soon as I said that, like Guram is the 30th ranked lightweight. And Fiziv is 29. Like,

like you're not going to get an easy fight at 155. That's what I mean. That's why I rather, I mean, now is Tony Ferguson versus Vince Pichel an easier fight than Tony versus I don't know who Dan Hooker that they fought Tony Dan Hooker no yeah I mean Tony versus Dan Hooker is a fight that makes sense but I don't want to see that for Tony I'd rather see Tony by someone like Vince Michelle you know what about uh Alexander Hernandez you know the blueprints the blueprint's

kind of out there he's two and he's one and two in his last few fights he's been uh smacked up by dover he got kind of dominated by tag on moises and then like chris good smocker was coming off that long layoff and he just kind of ran into Alex and Hernandez. I think that would be a fun scrap. Like he's high ranks, but it's a very winnable fight. I don't mind that because from a promotional standpoint, if Axe Hernandez does beat Tony Ferguson, the UFC has put some promotional push behind Hernandez. So it would, it's beneficial for good matchmaking for a promoter is if either guy wins

or women lose it, wins, if either women or male, oh my God, if either one or a male, if either one wins. It's good for promoter. But yeah, I like that. Alex Randis. Book it. Boom. I'm going to text Sean Shelby. Second question from it. Second question from Mr. Lev Red. Jane Waley said, lost the belt due to booze. Said she lost the belt due to boots all other times.

Besides Carla versus Yawanna, a straw white champ lost the belt. It was in enemy territory. Your thoughts. That is very interesting. What quote is this from? I didn't hear about this. She said the booze got to her She wasn't expecting the booze And then I believe her coach said It kind of threw her off Like she wasn't expecting to be that big of a heel

In Jacksonville But I could have told you going into Jacksonville Anyone not American Especially the Chinese fighter He's going to get a booed unfortunately I tweeted that like stop booing her Like why are you booing her And everyone got mad at me

I was like whatever But yeah interesting question I hadn't thought about The Strawway champs tend to lose On enemy territory outside of the Yonahala You know I think that's part of the game, it's part of the psychological preparation and in a way

you have to think about what you know like who's a good person who knew where they were going, knew what they were doing and embraced it as like a Matt Sarah versus GSP too. You know, he was like, screw you, I'm coming to your house, I'm going to mess up your boy, you know.

And not that she has to come out like that, but at least Sarah knew where he was going, he knew the audience that he was going to be in front of and he like embraced it. And I think that it's part of it's part of the game, you know. It's at least worth considering it's part of your fight prep. Yeah, for Zang stuff and the booze,

actually I kind of blame her manager and her coach is a bit on that one. Her manager, especially just because, I mean, I get Zang not maybe not understanding the culture of MMA fans in Texas. So I understand her being surprised. Florida. Florida. Same thing. Same thing.

Oh, yeah. Lower Texas. Yeah, Texas. Same thing. So I kind of blame her manager for not preparing her for that. So I get the shock because, you know, you know, Wailie's all like, martial arts, martial arts, martial arts. And obviously, you suck. Like, what?

Well, I'm sure it doesn't, it doesn't help that Rose was saying what she was saying in the lead up. Because Rose is so popular. Rose is one of the more popular women's fighters ever. And she's saying all this, like, Chris, I told the story a few times, like every lift driver I had in Jacksonville,

I can't say a lot of what they were saying on live podcast. But I was like, God, Florida is just another world to me because they were just not hiding their disdain for Asian fighters or Asian Americans in general. I was,

I knew Florida was, I knew Florida had a certain sway to it. Yeah, a certain rep, but the fact that they were just so open about it, like I had a lift driver

who kept telling me his son was in the Navy working on like a nuclear submarine and he was proud of his son because he was going to make China glow. That is what he was saying. I'm just like, wow, that's where we're now. And then so when Wayley came out and the booze happened,

I'm like, this doesn't surprise me. But it's not great. No, man. It's rough out there. It's rough out there for anybody who doesn't look like what's supposed to look like an American, you know? Let's put it that way. Yeah. Florida is the only place that me and Esther have really received like up front in our face just open racism.

So it was just like, whoa, you're just saying this in my face. I guess we have to fight now. I don't know how this works. Oh, man. Yeah. But I do agree. I'm from Florida. I'm from Florida.

I do agree with the case ago that her manager and coach probably should have got it prepared for this. Yeah, that's all. Because fighting in Las Vegas, Las Vegas is such a, like, especially on fight nights, you get every, like, a ton of people not from Las Vegas. So that's kind of where people flock to fights. And then before that, she fought in China, where she, like, she was clearly the fan favorite. And she got that massive standing ovation when she won. So to go from that to fight of the decade in Las Vegas to then. being a bad guy.

I get that she might have been caught off guard, but her coach probably should have, especially your manager, probably should have got it prepared a little bit. That's all. Yeah. All right. This one,

there's multiple questions ones, so we'll try to get through this. MMA from Azon Zaman. I like the subject. So we're going to rapid fire these. Next move for Edmund. How can he fix holes in his game while staying at the top?

Chris, if you could book a fight, for Edmund Shabazzin, who you booking him against. Man, I am booking him against somebody who's on, like, tough, you know, somebody who is, who is, like, greener than green. You put him on a prelim. Give, get the spotlight off of him. I think the amount of press and the spotlight is as detrimental to him as the booking itself. Get him and suck.

You know what I mean? Get him, get him a grappling event, you know, let him, just let him, let him rebuild. How can you do it while staying at the top? can't. All right. I'm being brutally honest here. Like let the man breathe. Casey? Edmund versus

I got a few ideas, but I want to hear what you have to say. I just found a name. Someone like Cowadoccus, around that level. A Cowadoccus. Cowell Dawkins who just lost to Phil Haas. Someone Yeah, yeah. Cowell

Daucus, clearly UFC caliber, but I'll be shocked if he fights for a middleweight title anytime soon. So Edmund versus Cowdog is around that level. And how can he fix holes in his game? He needs just lower level competition so he can execute what he's working on in the gym and the cage. That's all. Unfortunately, fighting guys like Hermanson and Brunson, you got your butt kicked by Brunson?

That sucks. So they basically made a lateral move one step down, like maybe a fighter of one degree, less better, less is less good than Brunson with Jack Hermanson. And Jack Armanson on the right day is better than Brunson probably. So it's not like he got to step down after getting his butt kicked by Brunson. So Caldokis would be a step back. And that's what Edmund needs. At the only at the age of 23, at the age of 23, he cannot take another just horrible, horrible beating.

His next fight would be probably the most, maybe the most crucial fight of his UFC career. Yeah. I would like to see him face either Carl Roberson, a striker who's just coming off an L to Brandon Allen and Carl, remember the heel hook, and Carl Robbins is more of a striker anyway. Tom Breeze, who's coming off a loss. I know he has a fight coming out,

so maybe the winner of Arroyo Breeze or Sam Alvey, who's, you know, a middle way, actually. You know, Sam Alvey is a guy. He can be an exciting, but he's one of those fighters. He's in exciting fights, or he gets finished spectacular. I know he's on a bit of a losing streak where he's had two losses and a draw in his last three fights, but his last fight against Julian Marquez was a fight of the night.

So if the UFC is going to want to use him before parting ways and they give him Edmund Shabazzian, then I think that would be a good fight too. And he's a counterpuncher. You know, he's going to give Shabazzian the space to showcase the skills he has instead of closing the distance and, you know, getting him on his back. I agree. Boom. Or Ben one via, or Ben Rothel won via Go-Go-Go Choke where Bruce said it was via guillotine.

Isn't the ref Mark Smith's duty to get the method right? Not really. I mean, not really. He could have just said winner by submission. Sorry. The difference in go-go and guillotine is just whatever the grip is. I'm not even sure what, what he's gripping under that guillotine. So no big deal.

And most importantly, what is John? Jones giving birth to I'm sure you guys saw the tweets I believe John Jones just announced he was joining Richard Schaefer was going to be his uh represent he was going to be representing him moving forward so I maybe that's what he was talking about for those of you who don't know who Richard Schaefer is he's the former CEO of a golden boy boxing he promoted like Ortiz and Mayweather and all that kind of stuff so he's been in the game for quite a long time specifically the combat sports world. But you know how Dana White likes dealing with these boxing agents and managers?

He just has glowing things to say about Holly Holmes management. Yeah, yeah. Poor Lenny. You know what? Good. Let John Jones honestly, like, be a heel to the UFC, not to the fans, you know? Like dig your heels in and like, I don't know, man. That dude's got to make a stand for what his legacy is going to be, you know?

and if it can't, it's fighting is, speaks for itself, you know, I would love to see somebody, uh, I don't know. I got my own opinion about fighter unions and whatnot like that, but I'll save it for another day. There you go. That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it?

Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah. Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bel Air Direct, insurance simplified. Conditions apply.

question from Four Corner Sports, NYC, or NY. John Joe is saying he's comfortable if he doesn't fight until 2022. Is this smart of him or not? And if France is still champ by the time John returns, how big of an interest will the fight look or France is potentially having two title defense as well? The more title defenses a fighter racks up is going to make him a bigger, make the fight a bigger deal. I was, I said it for a long time when before the last Tony Habib fight fell apart, I thought

all of that history leading up to that fight just made that fight a bigger deal. Because the first few times they were supposed to fight, neither one was champion. Neither one had fought for a belt yet. Neither one had an interim title. And then the next time they were supposed to, the next time, a few times they were supposed to fight, I believe they were going to be the co-main event, the co-main event

of Tyne Woodley, Stephen Thompson before that fight fell apart. And then obviously the New York City thing and then Habib and Connor just made Habib a bigger global star. I think if they had fought in Brooklyn, it was it was all of going through all that chaos just led to a bigger fight.

Maybe this is the same thing, but Chris, obviously we all agree, the more title defense is Francis racks up before he fights John Jones, it's going to be a bigger deal. But is it smart for John Jones to wait until 20, 22 to fight again? Man, that he is rolling the dice.

He's, I don't trust John Jones to manage his life outside the cage. So you know what, if I was going to gamble, I'd be like, no, it's not. It's not smart. The greatest moments in his career have come when he has had a busy schedule. And I have trouble believing that, you know, that a man can change profoundly, especially when they're comfortable, you know.

He has, you know, if you're not worried about food in your belly, if you're not worried about a roof over your head, then you have to find that internal motivation. And unless he has something truly profound that he's working on, that he believes in, that motivates him, I've serious doubts. I think the deck is stacked against him. I think the UFC is too big with a schedule that is too overwhelming. Yes, he could come back, he could fight, and the more Francis wins, you're right.

That would be better for John, the more Francis wins. But his track record speaks for himself, for itself. I don't trust him on his own. He needs an opponent. He needs another man across the cage to keep him shit. straight. Casey? I don't believe it when John Jones saying that he's comfortable not fighting to 2020.

I don't believe that. But you know what, though? If once it gets in your brain that you are getting screwed by whoever's paying you, once you get once against in your brain that I can fight, but I don't like this guy I'm fighting for. I'm making him money and why I should be making the money. Once that gets in your brain, unless John Joan gets a good deal that he's happy with,

it is a smart move because he won't be able to, like, he'd be fighting out of vindictiveness. Like, I don't know, like, I'm fighting for, you know, he's just saying he's fighting for $1 million, but he goes, I should be getting $10 million, you know? That's 10 times less than when you should, he believes he should be making. Imagine, you know, you're doing your job, whatever you do.

And, you know, you sell a piece of art for 100, dollars like but yeah but normally it sells for no a thousand bucks i feel kind of you know i don't know yeah it is hard it just it gets into because are you are you going to make this are you going are you going to make for chris for are you going to make the same piece of art with the same the same passion for 100 bucks then for what you think it's worth it's you can you can't i mean you could but i think difficult i think and that's why i think john's in that situation to me i think from the outside looking in, because I have a few friends in the art scene back home Rhode Island here, I can just tell that when they start and you ask that question, Casey, would you put the same

care in as if you got $10 or $100?00 in their career? Early in, they 100% would. But after a while, you're like, all right, I put the time in. I need to get paid what I'm worth, you know? So John Jones is at this point right now. Like early in his career, he probably would have fought for a million dollars. But now that he's the... Dana White calls you the greatest of all time.

How many times? That's all Dana-Way says. Then he wants to get paid like it. So I think that's... But the man is flawed. That's the problem. Yeah. He's not like this perfect person. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

I'm in a vacuum. You're right. In context, you know, the deck is stacked against the phones. Is Francis Ngano versus John Jones the biggest fight in any division the U.S. you can make right now? That makes sense. I'm not saying like, oh, Connor versus this guy. Like that makes sense. It makes sense.

If the UFC promotes it properly, yes. Promoted properly? Yes. Like a prime time, you know. This is a story with John's story. John's ups and downs. His problems outside of the cage. You know, you know, just obviously it's the biggest fight the UFC maybe could ever just based on merit alone.

Like you have a, you have just an amazing fight based on merit. That fight's even bigger if you, if you, if, If Francis, say, gets one more win, defends it, beats Depey, beats Lewis, obviously then it'll be even bigger. But, yeah, if promoted property. But then I say that, then John's going to be like, okay, then I should be, I should get the most money

that a title fight's ever gotten for a challenger. Right. But he ain't getting that. No, he ain't. This, I think the worst case, scenario for the UFC is, I don't know, Cyril Gahn ends up with the title before John Jones returns. Yeah, just some not random guy, but yeah, it's just the heavy time.

Not someone that's going to move the meal. Yeah. I think Cyril Gond versus Francis is a big fight over in France because they used to be teammates and they split unceremoniously and everything. But like this just reminds you, like, do you remember when the Bellator did like that dynamite, like one-night tournament? And then like the winner of the co-main event would fight the. the winner the main event was leon mcgary tito ortees and then the co-main event was the the finals and

like the winners would then fight each other and i think francis carmong got like a buy or got got added in like last minute i'm like no francis come on because king mo was supposed to fight but king won his fight but then he got injured in his fight and he couldn't fight the second time right right right that's why francis so i was like and like the main event was migari ortees i'm like so you're telling me we could have the the bell atords title between tito artis and francis carmont Could be for the Bellator Light Heavyweight title. It's just like worst case like that. Like this is just like worst case scenario.

Like what would it be is just like this guy coming in. But then we saw like everyone wanted over in Fedor in the Strike Force Grand Prix. Right. And then this alternate named Daniel Kormier hopped in and just became a star. So it works both ways. Yeah. And some chubby Brazilian took out Fedor in the tournament, right? Yeah.

Yeah, and Josh Burnett got dropped on his head in the main event, and Bigfoot got knocked dead. What a great tournament. What a good tournament. We went a little over time, Casey. What we got any more? Yeah, yeah. We want to allow Chris to plug his book. Yeah, what can I plug his book?

Okay, we got good questions. Real quick. I just like this question. McGregor, comma, just a regular fighter from Terence Squaredadet on the site. you're in a MMA fighting? Do you agree with Kamar Usman's statement about Connor McGregor being just a regular fighter? You say that Connor now is just a regular fighter with a lot of money and a lot of hype and a lot of recognition. Well, they're prize fighters. And if you take those last three things that Tristan Gordet just said, Connor is not just a regular fighter because he brings more

eyeballs than anyone in the history of MMA. So if you're a prize, if you're saying I'm a pride fighter, make as much money as possible, Connor's the guy. If Kamar Usman wants to test himself against high-level martial artists, Connor's probably further down the chain. But Chris, is Connor now, quote, just a regular fighter? I think Camaro is talking about what happens once the cage door closes. Yeah. And in that regard, I'll cut Connor some slack and just say he's not even in the cage

often enough for people to make a valid assessment. because watching him fight Porre, I was on the edge of my seat. I was like, every single exchange, you know. So in a way, I would say no. You know, I'm still pretty much captivated by the fighter. I'm still still on the hook. I think that he might be, might believe himself to be Mr. 2016 and when in 2021. You know, we're now at a point where he's been, you know, off the pedestal longer than he's been on the pedestal.

It's really, he's a different man now. The dynamism is there, you know, like it was wonderful watching him stun Poirier with a right hand instead of a left. But it's obvious that his head is not completely there, you know. That was part of his whole shtick at the end, you know, saying, I was planning on fighting Pachial later. so I was only boxing. You know, that's a guy admitting that his head's not in the game. And, you know, the fighter, he might be there, but he's not all there right now. Casey?

When you say regular fighter, yeah, I'm assuming that just means when that door shuts and it's just you're looking at that guy. Yeah, I mean, I don't believe Conner's, I believe he's top 10. but right now he's booked against the number one guy in the world, which I think the best lightweight in the world is Dustin Poirier, not Charles de Bronx, unfortunately. So regardless of who he's a regular fighter, that regular fighter is still getting matched up with the best fighter in the world.

So that takes a lot of, you know, that doesn't make him a regular fighter in that sense. But yeah, yeah, Kamar Usman. I don't know what Karamazza is trying to say. I don't know what he's trying to say. I don't, I'm not sure. I think he's, he was on, he was on, he was on, I can't remember if it was with Brett or Ariel.

This is an ESPN interview and obviously Connor gets brought up. And I think obviously, like Charles Oliverer just did an interview with their own Guillermo Cruz as well. And he, Gierme asked him, like, who would you rather fight Connor or Dustin? And he said, I don't really care. They're both good fighters, but obviously Connor brings more attention. So maybe, Usman's talking about like, will it bring more attention 100%? but is he more dangerous than Leon Edwards?

Probably not. Like Leon Edwards is a high caliber fighter right now. So I assume I agree with both of what you're saying. Like in terms of martial arts competition, Connor's mystique isn't there anymore unless you're... But I say that. And Connor has this uncanny ability to... Like, he got smashed by Habib.

Like, he got smashed. And Connor spun it that Habib is a coward for shooting him. He spun it that Dustin Ford. didn't meet him in the center and kicked his legs like a coward. Like, and his fans are like, yeah, he's right. I'm like, God, you guys are dumb, man. Like, Connor has that ability to just, like, his, I say the mystique is gone, but then it's not. When he fights again, people are going to be tuning in.

I love that. I love what you said because, yeah, oh, look at, Dustin, he kicked my legs. What a jerk. And then when he loses the Mayweather, oh, Mayweather, you did, I could have kicked him. I could have kicked his legs if I wanted to, but we're just punching each other. It's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, what? It's amazing. Conner's amazing how he can spend losses.

That's actually 100%. It's unbelievable. I've never seen a fighter like it more where he could get one shot caoed in three seconds. He's like, if I had seven seconds, I would have won. And then the question's there. Like, what if he didn't get caught? But what we can all agree is?

What about 13 minutes available? Exactly. Everyone, a lot of people think Conner's living in the Rocky Three lifestyle. The money just got to him. The train is not there. a lot of one of the it's almost as though his his uh verbal acumen is like an undoing like he's able to convince people he's able to convince himself like you know you get people like uh you know like vitor belpour he's like i would have won if he didn't kick me in the face you know like

their rationalizations are so um ham-fisted that you're like ah you know go on with yourself you know he's almost good the phoenix sons would have won if time didn't run out exactly that's pretty much what people say so what we need now is to complete what we need now is to complete the rocky three saga and connor's just going to have to go train with nate dyes in stockton in old school dungeon like rocky and they're going to run on the beach and then hug at the end we ever going to see that nat and connor like hell no hell no hell no they have they have to fight a third time first the most stacked division in the sport Andy Burton

two contenders emerged last weekend from arguably the most stacked men and women's divisions which one was more impressive Dern's sub over answer of Grant and Nina had a long layoff or Marina's win over Michelle and who would you pick to

well this is a lot of questions so we're gonna confused and who would you pick to win that fight so all right Chris what's more impressive real rapid fire what's more impressive Dern's win over answer of

or Marina's win over Michelle Watterson Oh, Marina's over Waterson. Not to denigrate, Dern, it was a stunning performance, but sometimes when you win exactly the way you're expected to win against somebody who's been off on a layoff, you know, it takes a tiny bit of the shine off. And Marina, I mean, I got shades of like Diaz Daily with the way she was laying into Waterson against the cage. I just felt like it was a, you know, a level of dynamism that I'm looking for.

It was also last minute And it was over five rounds So the main event On the last minute fight for both lay And Michelle was in there She didn't get like smashed in any time But Casey what's more impressive for you? I say it's pretty much equal honestly

Because Dern was so dominant Over Nunez, Nina Nunes So I was incredibly impressed By Dern's progression as a fighter Because her coming to the UFC I thought you know she's mid-tier But she has without a doubt improved and so I'll give all the credit the world I don't know if she'll

win the title but she will fight for a title eventually and I love marina arugas fuck oh sorry green oregas versus durn I want to see it what's next for well mackenzie is going to be fighting oh yeah that's the fight's gonna happen if I'm not mistaken but uh anyway what's next for cloudy good daylight Michelle watersin and Tisha torres yeah I think that was what Dana white had said durn oh oh so what's next for these three ladies and I will say, interestingly enough, Angela Hills fought both two of these ladies and has been tied to...

She's fought all three. She's fought all three. And she's lost two all three. And two of them were splits, and it's Cloudy and Michelle. And Tisha Torres was like, what? Long time ago. Third fight ever in her career.

And they were supposed to rematch before I fell apart, remember. So what's next for all three of these ladies in case? They'll start with you. all of them have to I don't know they're in a bad position

they're kind of like I think all three of them are kind of past their athletic prime but they're still very good top 10 top 10 top 15 at worst straw weights so I feel the UFC will use these three ladies

to build up the next generation of straw weights that's basically it Chris I really want to see a Dahlia fight honestly I'd like to see Angela Hill rematch any of these people uh that's really what should happen i i don't even want to i'm a i'm a big fan of hers uh i love watching godalia and waterson fight anyone anytime i'd like to see

godalia and waterson fight actually um that and i don't know torres i feel like i thought she was kind of like having second thoughts about continuing her career but maybe i'm misremembering she took She was taking some time off. I think I can't because she was supposed to fight Angela and then I think Angela got COVID. And then it came up. So yeah. But yeah, now that you mentioned it, oddly enough, Cloudy Adelaia has never fought Michelle Waterson. Yeah.

Oh, a quick shout out to the original kind of the OG Invicta FC crew, Gadalia, Waterson, Torres, and then Carla Sparza and Rosamianz, maybe fine for the title. That same, like, early Invicta FC crew are like still. running the division. So, man, props to Shannon Knapp for finding that talent way before UFC did in recognizing it and giving him a platform. Because, yeah, I just realized that, man, I've seen,

I realized, oh, God, I saw all these ladies fight, like, in a small, like, no warehouse or wherever it was in Kansas City years ago. I was like, wow. Like, anytime the UFC absorbs an organization, which they kind of did for Invicta, strike force, pride, see other people can spot talent. There's never been a time that they absorb another organization,

and those people don't go on to win championships and become elite top five fighters. It happens every time. Tisha Torres is the only one of these two ladies coming off a win, too. So I think she would have, I don't know who she's going to fight next. She did beat Tisha, beat Michelle Waters. These ladies have all fought each other outside of Michelle and Claudia. So maybe match those ladies up,

and then Tisha can get someone maybe yon. Shaanan, she hasn't fought her yet. Yeah. Fun scrap. This is not a good matchups for. All right. Outside of Edgar Cruz and Aldo, who do you believe is most likely to get another title shot? Aldo.

Of these three names first, which one gets it first? Aldo, because he's the one that's being active. I would say, honestly, Cruz, because he seems to have leverage with the UFC in terms of, like, being in their favor. I think Aldo, the beating he took against Yan, was too, brutal. And I think Yon's going to be champ again.

I will go Cruz. I will go Cruz. Yeah, it's one of those two. I think Aldo's just been really active. And that Yon fight was awesome until Aldo just took over. It was a competitive till it wasn't. Competitive and high level.

I think, I just want to see activity from Cruz because I don't want, like, if Frank Edgar picks up two more wins before Dominic Cruz returns, I think that's what you want to see. Anyway, what's next for Marrott.

Rob, the Marab de Valishvili, who everyone apparently has deemed the future champion of this division. What's next to him is a bunch of fighters who are above him saying, I don't want to fight him. Yeah. He's essentially he's the 135 Islam Makachchev. Incredibly good. He'll rind you and just rustle the heck out of you for 15 minutes, maybe finish you. And, yeah, it's going to be a hell of a training camp, a hell of a fight to beat that man. And, yeah, I don't see.

here the most saddest realistic thing he's going to smash marlin mareshe that's what's going to happen i'm looking at the top 10 i'm like who is going to take a fight against this guy and marlin has the you know he's got the losing he's on a skid he might he might have lost some leverage of the ufc and matchmakers that in the top 10 i can't picture anybody and wanting to fight him and having the ability to say no. I think Jimmy Rivera might be one too. He kind of, he's in that position. Yeah, that's another good choice.

It's going to be one of those, like, what Chris says, it's going to be one of those fighters that they just can't say no. It's like when Jacques-Rae fought Muniz in Houston, he admits he's like, why I'm like, why are you taking this fight? He goes, I'm at a point in my career. I can't say no because I'm on a losing streak. So it's going to be something like that. Yeah, and that's the problem of Mara.

So say Mara beats Jimmy Rivera or whatever, where then the other fighters are going to be like, he just beat some guy coming, like, Merva's no good, he's coming off a losing streak, beat someone that, beat someone off a winning streak. But he's just never going to get an opportunity to fight someone above him on a win streak, unless the UFC can, you know,

sweeten the pot for the other fighter, but they rarely do that. So, yeah, bad news for Mara. I don't know. Sure, Jimmy Rivera has only lost to Marl Morey's former Toddoo Contender, former World Series of Fighting Champion. And that was a 30-second head kick.

Yeah. Alza Man Sterling, current champ, Peter Ian, former champ, Pedro Munoz, one of the stalwarts of the division, has been Faber, Almeida, Dotson, Stamen, Alcantara, beat Munoz too, so he's one-on-one on that. So I went over Jim Rivera. I still kind of hold in high regard, but obviously it's not the same Jim Rivera. Yeah. Well, I think it is the same Jim Rivera. I just don't think the fans. No, that's what I'm saying.

Recognition in terms of the fans. Yeah, yeah. Because, freaking Jim Rivera is a fantastic fight. Yes, he is. No, he had real money up until the Maraisch fight. Yeah, maybe the winner of Grant and Chito Vera, just because I think that would be a fun fight, but they're a little too low ranked.

Yeah. I just think that's because Marlon, Chito Vera is a guy that's going to talk a lot of trash. Once again, Rob, I have to fight someone behind him in the line, most likely. Sure. So that's just, right. He just obviously is stuck. Okay, cool.

One last one, before we talked about Chris Rini's new book Matt Bradbury So far Who is the best female Slash Male Fighter of the Year

So far Chris Best female and male fighter Oh my God You're killing me Yeah I know This is a tough Dude I follow all these things

I'm like I'm like Jesus Okay I'm gonna go with Francis Fighter of the Year So far Just because he

you know everybody makes the joke six months of sprawl training oh if this guy would just do that then there would be a world beater that dude did everything he needed to do he sprawled he threw a head kick he he he knocked people out with like technical punches that's it that's it that's it that's what does it for me he beat the guy who beat him he beat him by performing exceptionally different than any of his previous wins uh just transformative both in terms of performance uh technical ability and overcoming a past loss that did psychological damage to him. Female fighter. Man, it's going to be Amanda Nunes later.

It's going to be, it's Balantinocheton. It's Balantino Shevchenko. I have not seen like a wavering in her at all. I think she's doing the Mighty Mouse thing, you know. We're starting to take her for granted. And I think it needs to be acknowledged. She is still exceptional, you know. Her dominance is boring.

Yes, yes, yes. Rose, like the terror in her. Like, I wonder if she's going to perform. You know, like, it's a different kind of exhalation when she wins. But Valentina, just like, just steel, cold steel. When Valentina loses a round, you're like, oh, my God. She must suck now. Oh, my God.

Yeah. I know you make that. Casey, male and female fighter of the year. Uh, Ballantina, female male fighter. Oh, man. Um, it's easy to pick champs, but, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go yury. Ooh. I'm gonna go yery.

I'm gonna go non-champ, but guys who's just kind of making a statement. That's why. I'm a big storyline guy. I'm gonna pick Rose for female because she made history as the first female fighter to recapture a UFC title. Uh, and then male fighter, Usman. Uh, uh, One and answered, answered every question we had against Mazvidal.

He's also the only champ that's 2-0. Stops Gilbert Burns and stopped Tori Mazvedal. The story with Gilbert Burns is a former training partner, and he has his number, and the story with Mazvigal is Mazadal will full training camp, and Usman answered both of them. He also said if Leon Edwards beats Nate Diaz, you hard to argue against him, and I think that is very refreshing in a champion to fight contenders.

Knock out of the air, Chris. Oh, Yeri. Yeri versus Reyes, 100%. You know, that's like that, you know, the joke, you want to see a dead body? You know? I mean, I was actually really upset and terrified when I saw that, but that was it.

That was the one. Casey? I'm not going to go of year. I'm actually going to go if Uzman's knockout of Asfordal. Yeah. I think there's a 1A and 1B, to be honest. I think it's Uzman with Sanhagen Edgar this year. Yeah, sure.

end to last year. That's this year. That was walk officer fun. And it was so non-chalant about it. And even Dominic Cruz, who's former champ, it was like title shot. Boom, give it to him. And then I think Francis isn't up for me

because Francis does that against everyone. So it wasn't shocking to me. Submission of the year, Casey. Oh, go back to me. I know this one. Hold on. I wrote it down. Chris, submission of the air.

You know, I like Dern's arm bar on Nina Nunes. I like watching her work for it. I liked her watching her like methodically be in that tangle of limbs, you know, from an artistic perspective. That's like one of my favorite things to focus on right now. Mniz Jarkeret. Is it? Munis, did you say it? Yeah, Mniz Zonkewai, yeah.

Just the level of competition, the level of competition. That's why. Level competition, all that matters. For me, it's Fluffy Hernandez and Vieira then. Vierrez, like, has more gold medals than anyone. And he got submitted by Alex Hernandez, who doesn't even watch Jiu-Jitsu. And I, he was 30 to one underdog. I will.

If Jacques-Rae had taken, like, you know, 10 minutes of a beat down and then got submitted, I wouldn't pick my knees. But that's why I don't put Fluffy Renanagan. Because I, you know, I put that, that was the credit to, like, who is he beat? Vieira. Vieira was like Yeah, Adolfo Vieira

By the time he choked him You know, just in the beating he took So but that's a good choice too Woodley Got Lucke tapping Woodley's a good one too I think with the Dars And Aspinall submitting Arlovsky

I think is an underrated one Because even Arlofsky was just like Damn it at the end Performance of the year so far Casey Performance in the year Oh man Mine's Max Holloway

Pitched a perfect game That fight was It was bananas. Okay. It's hammer porier for me because that was bananas. Yeah. No, no. Max, by far, just the one-sided masterpiece.

Oh, Casey? Sorry, completely overlooked submission in the year? Way overlooked. Nunes over Megan Anderson. Absolutely. It's incredibly incredible submission. That was completely over-dick because of how dominant we see a man of Nunes is. So performance of the year.

Man, oh, man. Oh, you got, I don't know. You have to throw some at me. I can't, I'm kind of going to get blank. I'm trying to think of like. Holloway, Porier, because these are like perfect games. I think Rose's game plan against Wei Lee was spot on because I talked about how like, if you watch the Rose, the, the, the Wayley, Yawanna fight every time she would, Doc, go ahead.

Performs in the year. No, actually, I'm going to go Shevchenko over Androj. I'm gonna go to that because I picked Androge I thought Androge was the woman that could Could be a force against Valentina But I was wrong So I was incredibly shocked

To how bad she made Androge look So unless Andrade had like the worst Performance of a career Like came in of like you know Food poisoning or something If that was best Andrade I can't I can't I'm just I don't understand how Valentina

Just dominated her so easily So yeah I'll pick that one could I ask you guys a favor and I feel terrible asking this after this could we plug because I have to leave and pick my kid up from school hit it do it now fight of the air real rapid fire fight of the air oh olivera chandler boom just all all energy all energy back and forth swings

what five minutes 17 seconds of uh all action all tension i i agree Casey agrees too All the way here. Chris, the floor is yours. Plug it and make your big announcement and surprise everyone with what you got to say. Everyone, thank you so much for having me on.

My name is Chris Rini. I publish a book every year. I address the tragic hamster wheel that is the MMA schedule. What I did was I picked a couple of bookends, January 1st to December 31st. I watch all the fights. I draw all the fights.

I hired two amazing artists, Gorilla the Bear, aka Adam Nelson, Edward Cowell, famous for illustrating Sean Al-Shadi's long-form journalism pieces on fighters. I had seven artists, I mean writers writing essays, Chuck Mindenhall, Sean Al-Shadi, Fernando Prattis, Julie Kedzie, Eugene S. Robinson, Josh Rosenblatt, and Schwann Humes. This is a 100-page book of art and essays chronicling the year 2020. in MMA. You can get the book at Chris Reney.com.

C-H-R-I-S-R-I-N-I. Catch me over at Twitter at Rini M-M-A. This is a book series. This is Volume 2. I'll be putting this out every year until I die. This is my legacy. It's a great piece of artwork. The essays are amazing.

The artists that worked with me are fantastic. I can't even think of what else to say because I got to go ride my bike four miles for my kid, you know, it doesn't get stranded out in the middle of the street. And I miss anything. I'm going to get, you want to know what Sean Al Shaddy's been?

He's been working with me, you said, SOB. I was going to say. Casey, I've read the book. Chris gave me a little sneak preview of it. It is fantastic. Chris, are you going to tell Casey the big surprise

and do you want him to find out the old-fashioned way? I told him. I said, give me your address. I'm going to mail it to you. You find out the surprise when you get it. I can't believe no one's told him. So I'm going to say,

kudos go find his work go get his book Chris you'll be back 100% maybe you'll eat shoot every on fight night go to Twitter find me I sketch all the fights as they're happening like a like a like a page fighting court reporter

it's a lot of fun we make some jokes do what we got to do MMA's got themselves a regular Joe Sacko on our hand so but that is about as a bigger compliment as I can give a human being so anyway go find his work Rini MMA you'll find all his

Hardware, Casey. Have fun at Englewood. We got more interviews to work on. Chris, you will 100% be back on the show, and maybe even you'll be on mics between the links. Moving forward. Oh, wonderful. Thank you so much.

Enjoy. Go pick up your son. Thanks, Chris. Thanks a lot. Take care. Bye. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.