MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | UFC lightweight title, Stephen A. Smith's comments, Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier, Tyron Woodley, Frankie Edgar, Calvin Kattar, more

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

For this episode, Kristen King joins José Youngs and E. Casey Leydon to react to some of the biggest news in MMA. Some topics include the current landscape of the UFC lightweight rankings, Dustin Poirier & Michael Chandler’s future, Nate Diaz’s recent Tweets, Stephen A. Smith & Casey Kenny's comments, more Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Kristen King: @KristenKingMMA 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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Welcome everyone to another episode of the A-Side, live chat, MMAfighting.com on this fine Wednesday, early afternoon, late, early, whatever it is over where our guest is. She's on some of these coach, right? Yeah, she's in Florida. Anyway, joining us this week back on the A-Side, Kristen King. Kristen, how's Florida these days? Florida is the same. Same says cool it was when you last, it's up to me.

That's okay. Right now, it's a little bit cold. It is one of those random cold fronts that we're getting. So I woke up to about like 40 degree weather. And as a Floridian, you would know that anything less than the 80 to 90 degree range is cold. So if it's 79, I'm putting on my fuzzy pants and like a long sleeve sweat for it. Sounds miserable. Cold Florida sounds miserable anyway from what people have described to me.

Cold Florida sounds even more miserable. house angle. It's still up to good. I see you've rearranged your studio in the back. Yeah. I just changing some things around, you know, spicing it up, you know, moving things. Is it out of boredom or necessity? I'm constantly making improvements, you know? It's like, you know, it's like every day, one percent better. Every day, one percent better. That's what I said. You should write a book about winning and learning. He's thinking about it. You sly one. Casey, Casey, Winner, learn anyway.

Of course, you guys know the drill. I don't have to explain it to most of you, but for those of you who are joining us for the first time, this is the AASID Live shot I may find out com. I am Jose Youngston. I guess overcast Arizona's been overcast for God knows how long. Anyway, you can ask those questions of the YouTube section, the comment section on the site or on Twitter,

and we can answer them. We were having a thrilling conversation on movie mistakes until we started the show. So if you want to chat movies, specifically horror movies, since Kristen King is here, she's our resident horror expert have at it. But without further ado, Casey, what is our first question? First question.

There we go. From Trumbo on the site, Woodley versus Lucke, man, can't they give Woodley an easier fight than these killers? He hasn't won around in last three fights. What do you think, if anything, he has left in the tank? Or do you think he's just getting some extra paychecks? Well, he can, and he really has no ambition left at this point.

If he loses again, we're getting into Barrow-type skid. losing the belt. So yes, as reported by policies, I don't know who was the initial report, but it's on our site, I'm sure we cited it back, but Tyne Woodley is linked to a fight against Vicente Lucch at UFC 260,

if I remember correctly in March. Woodley has lost to, well, he lost to Usman, he lost his belt to Usman, and then he lost to Gilbert Burns, who's the current normal contender, and then lost to Colby Covington, who should be the normal contender after Gilbert Burns. But Colby Connors, of course, tied to Jorge Mazur,

which will probably solve that dilemma so as they say in the business tyne woodley's not losing the bums uh now he's fighting vicente luke who who did vicente luke just beat i think it was nico price was that that knockout i think that was jacksonville and then he fought randy brown after at the apex has he fought anyone since luke is coming off a victory over randy brown nico price and then the loss to stephen thompson the decision lost at 24 yeah uc 244 yeah uc 244 and New York, yeah. The Vicente Lucke knockout of Randy Brown was my dark horse for knockout of the year only because I was at that fight and it was in an empty arena. And the sound of Vicente

Lucke's knee on the dome of Randy Brown is something I will never forget. It was very jarring. Anyway, Kristen, what do you make of Tyne Woodley? Skid and why can't he get an easy fight in the UFC? Man, one thing about Tyrone Woodley, he's not fighting any bum, like you said. He's fighting these top contenders, and he's still in the top 10, I want to say. I feel like he's like number seven, something like that. And I think this is more about a fight of like trying to certify his contendership status, if you will. I think that he wants to prove to himself that he can still be that former champion again. Because remember, Tyrone Woodley was the former World's Rate champion.

And then obviously he has since hit a slump since then. but I think he wants to continue to prove to people that he is of championship caliber, and he's not going to say no to these names. And I think for Luke, this is a fantastic fight almost as like, I'm the new contender. And this is a perfect name to add to his resume. I think they gave him the Stephen Wonderboy Thompson fight with that same mentality. Like this guy could be the next best thing at 170. Obviously, he did not win that fight, but he put on a great scrap.

Then he comes back with these two knockouts. Now they're going to give him another upper echelon type opponent to see if he can establish himself as one of those contenders that could be challenging for the title soon. Yeah, Casey, going off of what Trumbo said, like Woodley's lost these fights, but he's lost, what, 25, he lost 25 minutes to Kamar Uzman. So he lost five rounds against Uzman, five rounds against Burns and five rounds or like, what, four and a half rounds against Covington? Four and a half rounds against Covington for his rib went out. So it's not even like he's losing close fights. He's getting beat down from pole to pull. Yeah, but to call him this whole way, oh, he's Henan Burrell.

Hennon Burrell is getting demolished and finished. Let's give Willie some freaking credit. Yeah, he didn't beat Usman, but who knows? Usman might be the greatest Walter rate we've ever seen. We just don't know that yet. And then we lose to Gilbert Burns and Covington, one and two, basically. What is the big deal? Woodley is 37, 38 now?

He's clearly, I mean, not clearly past his prime, but I don't, it's hard. He's 38, so he's 38 years old, guys. Let's give the guy a break. He's still competitive. Yeah, he lost these fights, but, like, Brow got, like, stretched out on multiple fights. Outside of the rib injury, Woodley just kind of lost those fights. He didn't get beat up, beat up. I mean, he wasn't, you know, just like, his face was like just, you know, whatever, just a meat grinder.

But, no, it's so, yeah, just I don't want to oversell the Tarant Woolie's just not motivated. Maybe he's just not as good as he used to be because he's freaking old. Let's give the guy a break. He was, he was number one for a long time. Now he may be number seven, number eight. But this Luque fight kind of rules because Lucke is kind of the top-level gatekeeper. Who's he lost to in the last five or six years? Leon Edwards and Leon Edwards and Usman?

Did he lose to Usman on the ultimate fighter? No, he lost to Michael Graves. I think Michael Graves won that season. Yeah, and Michael Graves got kicked out because I think is he domestic violence? Maybe. Something like that. Yeah, so. And the last recent memory, Lucke is only lost to championship level fighters.

And that's what this fight is. Let's see if Willie is still a championship level fighter or if Lucay can make that jump into that next echelon. Because right now, Lucay is obviously a great action fighter, but he can't beat those top five guys. Here's your opportunity. I was going to say, do you guys think that there is any concern? Because I believe Tar and Woodley said some comments, I think after the Gilbert Burns fight, leading into the Colby Covington fight, he said that, like, he wasn't there. And I think a lot of people took that at face value, like, oh, well, he's definitely on a steep decline since he had the championship.

Maybe that's why they're trying to tie it into the whole borough type of situation. He definitely said when he lost to Usman, he's like he was watching himself lose and he couldn't stop it. Like, he knew what he had to do and he couldn't pull the trigger. And similar things with Gilbert Burns. And I just think Colby commented might be the second best wealth to wait in the world after Kamar Usman. And that fight ruled against Kamah Usman. So they could just be one A, one B right there. I think a lot of people are making a lot of Tyrant skid because of his comments declaring himself

the greatest welterweight of all time before the Usman fight and then all of a sudden right into this skid. So I think people are also relishing, you know, unfairly, they're probably relishing the fact that Woodley is losing because he had the fight against Maya and he had the second fight against Thompson and then he clearly wasn't happy with the UFC when he beat Darren Till. So I just think people kind of got tired of time. I know fans got tired of Tyne Woodley unfairly. He also went on Ariel Kowani's show and said that when he was champion,

he was buying cars and houses and it's blowing all of his money. And now he doesn't have any of that. So maybe he's fighting for a paycheck, which is fine. But I just think the lot, I agree with Casey says. It's not like Brow out. And I'm even going to throw Johnny Hendrick's into that mix where the decline was just crazy drastic. And he was getting finished left and right or having these one-sided losses. But I'm not ready to put him into that category yet.

But, yeah, this Vicente Lucke is going to fight is going to be very talent. Yeah. I like the fight. Good matchmaking. It's three rounds, too. Three rounds. Although if I was Woodley, I know the UFC doesn't do this, man, I would take a guy that outside the top 30. You know, just whoever lost on the contender series, I don't know.

But UFC doesn't work that way, so here we are. I haven't fight Lazez. Yeah. Oh, don't. Even way below Lizzzez. Uh, Jessica Crusoe, yay, Kristen, Girl Power, and that's on Megan Anderson. I'm sure we're going to get questions on the Megan Anderson, Casey Kennedy, Sugar Sean situation moving forward.

Um, yes. Thank you, Jessica, for the input. I know, I know we're going to have, I know we have a question on it coming up, so I didn't want to, unless you want to tee it up now. Yeah. Sorry, I was about the, just in my head and I'm just, just thinking of the whole situation. Like, I know our, our colleague, Alex Sack. has many thoughts on it too so she's on next week we'll talk about it again all right uh

because this never gets old hmm m m g two k 20 the bag on the site i know the whole ottman's bag situation is getting old it will it will literally never get old in my book surely dana knew what was in the bag he can get the fbi involved to watch one person's house but he can't get information regarding the contents of a bag something that something that is an actual threat. Also, do you see the clip of Casey Kennedy talking about Megan Anderson? I feel terrible for Megan. Yes, we'll get to that second part in the question. But I didn't even thought about the FBI situation. If you can get the FBI to sit outside of kids' house, you should probably find out what's in a bag that's breached a bubble in a foreign country. Kristen, what do you think was in the

bag? We all have our own theories. What do you think? I have no idea what was in the bag. But whatever it is for you to like Jason Bourne a situation, I imagine it's not that. good and you're not supposed to have it. And I talked about this with some of our friends with Anthony Walker and Jay Petrie. And they were theorizing that it aligns with the suspension of his brother. I think he recently got offended by Usada for some banned substances. And some people were speculating that maybe that banned substance was what was in the bag. Because I think Opin's statement was he was protecting somebody or something like that. So I think that makes sense, I have no idea what's in the bag. I have to be honest, I haven't been able to sleep properly

without knowing what the contents in the bag were. I was hoping Dana White would shed some light onto that. But yeah, you would think, does Dana White have FBI agents like with him at all times? Because I would hope that they get to the right. It has to be, right? So I'd hope that they get whatever it was in the bag. But yeah, such an odd situation, especially one that cost you your job in the end. Yeah, I also forgot Otman's brother was still in the UFC until that you saw us to mention came because he hasn't fought since the Germany card, the Anthony Smith knocked out

Shogun, if I remember correctly. That's the last time I remember in fighting. And I know our colleague, Karim Zedanova and Bloody Albo has this very long, extensive piece on Atman's brother. So I don't have to go get into all of the background of said fighter. You can go find all that out. You can go find that all out yourself. It's pretty ridiculous but I think it was IVs personally I have no idea Casey what did you think it was PlayStation 5 yeah no you said Nintendo Switch oh Nintendo Switch yeah Nintendo Switch yeah Nintendo Switch

yeah because it's easier yeah and it's got that um the little Pilates thing you see you can work out in have you seen that yeah yeah those things are tough man like the little circle so um yeah they're probably last second workout you know so that makes that makes the most sense that makes it most yeah for sure makes the most sense anyway Kristen As a lone female member of this panel right now, what did you make of the clip of Casey Kenney on Sugar Sean? What is it, the Sugar Sean and Timbo show? Timbo and Sugar Show. Timbo and Sugar Show.

What's his coach's name? Welch. Tim Welch? Tim Welch, Tim Welch, if I remember correctly. And Sugar Sean, Arizona, natives, which just bothers me to no end. What did you make of, you obviously saw the clip? What did you make of it? Before we get in, people who haven't seen it, Sugar Sean was holding his.

a newborn baby. I don't know if it was a son or a daughter. I apologize. And the beginning of the clip, he was talking about how he would try heroin because he knows he won't get addicted. And I was like, probably not a good thing to say when you're holding a baby. And his coach was like, yeah, yeah, because you're just mentally strong

and won't be able to push past it. And then his coach asked Casey Kenney, who is fighting on the undercard of Meekin Anderson's fight against Man Nunes, asking if, quote, I don't want to say the quote, because it grossed me out, but basically asking if what his thoughts on Megan Anderson were aesthetically. I want to chime in real quick. So the clip was cut up from different parts of the show.

So I actually watched. I was going to get to that too. Oh, sorry. I didn't want to apply that. It went straight from that to that because it didn't. No, no. I was going to get to that. It's clearly not tying in.

It's a jump cut. Casey watched the actual episode. So I was going to get his thoughts after. I haven't watched it. But, Kristen, what did you make of specifically the comments of Megan Anderson? First, I feel terrible for Megan Anderson. I feel like she's one of the very few fighters who minds her business, but somehow gets drawn into this stupidity a lot, and I feel really bad for her.

She shouldn't have to be subjected to those kinds of comments. I'm also not going to repeat it just because I think they are gross to be making, especially about your, this is essentially like your coworker, you know what I mean? In a regular workplace, that kind of stuff wouldn't fly. I thought the question was stupid to begin with. I think that I understand what kind of pressure Casey Kenney was probably under to seem like cool or hip at that time. Like you just want to be one of the boys in that moment. But the easiest way to avoid any type of drama, especially when it concerns someone that you are going to be in close proximity with in a few weeks here, you're fighting on the same card.

Simple, no comment. or I don't think I want to get into that. I don't speak about that kind of stuff. And I think that would have been hopefully the end of the situation. I don't know if they would have continued to pester him for an answer, but he ended up answering the question and then proceeded to give a reason why. You know, so that's why I'm just like, oh, my God, that was a terrible decision to make. And I thought that his acknowledgement of the comments on Twitter once Megan caught wind of it

It was, it's iffy for me. Yeah. Yeah, I really wasn't an apology. Like, I'm glad that he acknowledged that he said something wrong, but when you are given the opportunity to kind of a tone for what you said and you still don't say the direct, I'm so sorry. You'll say, I'm sorry that it offended you or it hurt you. You're not giving a real apology at that moment. I think Megan handled herself quite well with her statement. and it was good to see a lot of UFC fighters and coaches and stuff like that kind of stick up for her.

And she doesn't need saving, but it was nice to be reassured that that way of thinking is not something that is all too common. Yeah, and you mentioned Casey Kenney's apology. Did you see Sugar Sean's coaches response to it? What did he say? It was even worse. It was even worse. What did he say, Casey? essentially you said oh hey Megan I only asked the question because you're hot and

Casey Kennedy's like really short wow that made me feel so much better it made somebody to that effect it was just like yeah that's ridiculous just apologize and move forward it's not that hard you know you offended someone those are deeply offended comments and and your easiest out is to apologize and go but no we have the you well you're really hot that's why you're really hot that's why I asked the question. I don't understand that line of that logic there. You're hot, you know, so, you know.

Are they, I know Sugar-Sawn just got a fight. Is he also on that card? No, I think that's at 260, isn't it? Yeah, I think it's a farther down the line. Also, it's the neck wall. They're both in March. Oh. That's what I was going to say, because there's two pay per views in March. 259

and 260. Yeah, 260 is the one where Casey Kennedy is fighting Dominic Cruz and our 259 beginning of March Casey Kennedy fights Dominicru, 260, Sugar-Shahn fights Thomas Almeida. Oh, boy. Anyway, Casey, you watch the actual clip. You actually watched the episode, right?

Yeah, I've never watched that show in my entire life. Not that I had anything against Sugar, Sean or his coach up until recently. I just, it was never on my radar. But what was, what did, as someone who sat through that whole episode, what did you think? Well, I did sit, through most of it.

First of all, I want to point out that this is an excuse. It's just kind of give them more setup. Before Casey Cano was asked that question, they did like giant bong hits. Not about bong hits, but this thing called a volcano. If you smoke weed, you know what a volcano is. So it's that big bag. So they were hitting from that bag. So I don't know.

No, when you're stoned, you don't say stupid crap like that still. I don't know what the excuse is. But the host, I forget the host's name, Welch. I mean, he deserves just as much fault for asking just a stupid question, a very, just unnecessary question. But all I kind of really want to add to it is fighters, media members, anyone, when you're in social media or anything like this, I have a camera on me right now. The whole world can see me right now.

Don't say anything that you would never say to that person's face. that's all. Don't ask a question. You would never say to their face. Like, I just want to go to those gentlemen. Casey Kinney, John Amalley, imagine Megan Anderson was in that room right there. Would you be saying the same thing? No, you wouldn't. You know, if you would, I would love to see that.

But you just don't talk about people that way in such a disrespectful way. And I hope, and Casey Kennedy offer a real. apology go, hey, that was stupid. I don't know why I said that. That was very disrespectful for you, Megan Anderson. You're a great fighter. You're a great person. I apologize.

I am sorry. I'm sorry. That's it. And you know what? Move on. But this is dumb. So yeah, that's my thing. Don't say anything you want to say to them and to their face.

It's Jose Frozen. Jose Frozen? Jose. Hello. Jose. He's really thinking about this question. Or he's just really disappointed. He has disappointed father look. All right. We're right. There we go. My back? You're back, Jose.

I have literally no idea what I have. We just thought you were really like studying the question really deeply. Yeah, man. I have to really think about this one. From MMA Fan 100 on the site, both Nate and Dustin should stay in their lane. Nate is not a 155. anymore and Dustin still is. The media should do a better job pressing Dana White to explain why he won't add a 165 pound division instead of accepting note as an answer. When GSP walked away from 170, would have been the perfect time.

Any time is a good time to make a positive change. With 165 and 175, there's extra title and more potential matchups being a win for U.C. Headlines, Fires, and the fans, come on, Dana, do it all right? Well, okay, I apologize for not asking about a 165 pound division in 2021, even though that's been a topic for what three years now like i don't care anymore like the answer is when you get no a hundred times i think the answer is no uh also when gsp walked away like when gsp walked away it opened up the 170 pound division there were a lot of fun matchups to make so i don't think i don't see the logic in making the 165 like if they added it great but if they don't okay

like i'm not going to be offended either way so i know some fighters want it but the reality is it's just not there so i don't put a lot of mental thought into these hypothetical scenarios but anyway Nate and Dustin situation Kristen what do you make of I don't know if this is the question

if you have another question about Nate and Dana they're just kind of yelling at us for not asking about a 165 pound division even though it's been done a thousand times so Kristen apologizes Casey you apologize too let's just do better at asking about 165 pound division I guess my bad

my bad guys sorry um who was the last person asked about uh the 165 was that the schmo when we were at was it so that was the that was the famous one uh when the smote about it and that kind of lit the fuse for the schmoh to kind of just to where he's at now but like ben ascgrins brought it up kevin lees brought it up nat and dustin brought it up before they were supposed to fight at uc 230 remember they were tweeting about it Ben Ascreen said, we interviewed him in Milwaukee before his debut. It was the Iacinta Lee fight. And he, because he was obviously cornering a lot of the fighters

because it's the Milwaukee card. And he was like one of the guest fighters in the bat. And his prediction was he offered to fight Colby in the January pay-per-view. It didn't happen. And they were going to fight a law. He goes, I beat Robbie. I beat, like, I win the title.

And then one year from now, I'm the 165-pound champion. That was his prediction. obviously that did not happen now he's fighting jake paul which i'm sure he never would have thought in a thousand years so yeah the 165 found question's been done to death and dana has said no a thousand times yeah i think i'm on the same wavelength as you in that like i'm kind of resigned to it if it does happen i'd be glad to see it if it doesn't happen i'm fine with that too i know a lot of people made like a big issue it's not as bad as when there is so many belts like in boxing there's a lot of championships and a lot of belts.

So I think that some of the complaint around adding like a 165, while it would be helpful for fighters so that they wouldn't have to cut weight too much or make the decision between 155 and 170, some people take issue with the fact that you're just going to add another belt into the mix and that's just already too much with what we have. So I'm fine with 165. I don't know if it'll ever happen.

I still want like certain other divisions. to pop up in the UFC, like in Adam weight. I thought someone was talking about that as well. I think Dana was thinking about it. I don't know. There's a lot of divisions that could be welcomed into the UFC. 165, I'd be happy to accept it.

But yeah, it's been a while since we've really like paid attention to 165. And as far as the Nate and Dustin situation, like Dustin said, it doesn't make sense for him to fight neat, but I'm not mad at it. I'm definitely not

opposed to it. And if it, I think with the recent comments from Nate saying like F, weight class, but he's still fighting at 170, I don't know what to make that. But if, if Dustin were to move up in weight, which I highly doubt he did, I don't think it holds so much of a, like a, like too much weight if him and Nate were to fight at 170. If they did it at 155, it'd cause a lot of issues. But I don't know. It's just a very confusing thing. Yeah, if they're going to fight, it'll probably be at 170. It is what it is. Dustin is a pretty massive 155 or anyway.

Nate is a pretty tall 155 or so we don't tie up the division with these weird lightweight fights. They can go fight a 170 or the rest of the lightweight division can figure itself out. Also, like this person wants... Would you put a by the line with Nate and Dustin almost like the Nate and Jorge thing? Like another BMS? No. just having a fist fight but you could turn that into a whole thing

because you know they're beefing they've been going back and forth since UFC 230 it'd be fun to kind of see another well no a lot of people took issue with the play belt too so I just think it'd be fun I'm all in on them fighting I just don't think it needs a belt I still hate the BMF belt

because it is called the BMF belt no it is the baddest motherfucker in the game belt If you're the baddest motherfucker in the game, you don't say BMF, so it's okay if your corporate sponsors is the baddest motherfucker in the game, Bill. That's all it is. And the baddest motherfucker in the game is being real picky in who he fights. Hey, man.

Which I don't have a problem with fighters trying to pick fights for more money, but don't call himself a baddest motherfucker and then take like two years off. And then not want to put it on the line. And then when he was supposed to fight Kamaru or Connor whatever, they're like, would you put it on the line? He goes, no, this is one of one. And I'm like, it's boring. Okay.

I just wish these top guys would lay it out. Look, this is how much money I want. And this is how much money that the UFC wants to give me. This is why I'm not taking a fight. And just go, okay. You know, that's all. Yeah. Much more transparency.

My favorite part by Nate Diaz isn't his old, you know, fighting style, or his theatrics or whatever trash talking is that he's a guy who seemingly knows what he's worth. And I respect that a lot about fighters. Yeah, I agree. And yeah, everyone wants this 165 belt. And 170, the Walterweight title will now be 175. So then, like, yeah, that creates a little situation for, like, guys like Usman. Does Usman go down or does Zemond go up, you know?

And does the UFC kind of say, I'm just saying, I'm assuming, just pretend Usman beats Burns. And they create this new belt system. Does the UFC, you know, automatically make Usman the 175 champ or 175 champ? 65 champ. I mean, it creates a little situation, but nothing that can be solved in a little board meeting.

Then I would like them to add 195 to if they're doing 155, 165, 175, 175, 175, 185 to 205 is a lot. Lot. So the 1995 would probably be good. And then if they want to add a 225

and the 225 up is heavyweight, I'm fine with that too. But that just means more titles for John Jones. Yeah, that'd be fun. It'd be fun. I also don't hate, I also don't hate the boxing belt system. I don't like the mandatories and the politics in it and like, oh, if you don't fight the sky, you get stripped.

But I love the image of dudes with just hella belts. I love that image, but I hate the politics behind it. Like when Anthony Josh had posted that photo of all his belts, I'm like, dude, this guy has all those championships for getting in a fist fight. Like, that is badass. That's the baddest motherfucker in the game right there. Anyway, he just needs that one green belt. which he won't get. All right.

Here we go. Let's do this. Joseph Boza. What about Stephen A saying said about how he thinks women shouldn't fight in MMA at all? ZMA Smith is a numpty. So that's he's a clown. I don't have nothing good to say about that guy. I used to really respect his journalistic integrity way back in the day when he was just a reporter.

I have nothing positive to say about that man now. Kristen, what did you make of his comments saying he doesn't want women to fight mixed martial arts. I mean, he's certainly entitled to having that opinion, if that is your preference, fine. But when you speak about it on a public platform and you are arguably the face of the broadcast partner for the UFC where plenty of women's fights happened and plenty of them, which are in the running or already considered as iconic or legendary, it just kind of discredits a lot of the strides that women have had to make. I think that a lot of the times women aren't taken as seriously

as like the men are when it comes to fighting. And they'd have to go out and put on these wonderful performances to even get like an inch of acknowledgement. So for you to say that I don't want to see them punching each other in the face, well, you don't have to see it. You don't have to watch it if that's truly your preference. But imagine someone, getting their like UFC or MMA information from Stephen A. Smith, like your words have an incredible influence over certain people, whoever they may be, and to guide them in that way that women aren't seen necessarily as equal as men inside of the octagon is freaking stupid. It's an archaic way of thinking. You're entitled to thinking that, but that's just not how I operate, especially now in

2021. Are we still talking about this? Are we really still trying to justify a woman's place inside of fighting? I think they've done enough to prove themselves. So maybe just cool it with that. And I think the other part of the comment was about like intergender fighting. I'm not sure how he tied that into just women not fighting. Seriously. Like, what? I'm so like, are you talking about like in certain areas of the world like the i don't know her name but the girl that got signed to bell at war for beating that like 500 pound dude i don't know if he saw a clip of that and just decided to tie it into that but those two things have nothing to do with one another so it's unfortunate that he's even making these comments right now but i can't say i'm surprised

yeah it's not it's not something we haven't heard before but it's like you said it's 2021 I would agree with you. He's by far the most famous He's the most famous talking head on the UFC's broadcast partner. Shut up. Just shut up, bro. You don't have to watch if you don't want to.

I don't get it. I don't like it at all. And to me, him saying something like that, I mean, switch out the word women. And say he said, oh, I don't want to see Chinese people fighting in the octagon. I don't want to see whatever, some segmented, some group of people fighting in the octagon. I just think it's just a stupid-ass statement.

And yeah, he kind of sucks. But whatever, he talks aloud and he says blasphemous. And, you know, I got to watch this freaking commercial on ESPN plus every 10 seconds in between rounds. I'm getting PTSD just thinking about those spots. I have to watch over and over again. And like I said before, he was a legitimate journalist for a while, which is why. it bothers me the most because he was a respected journalist. Skip Bayless was a respected journalist. Skip Bayliss was involved in that SMU scandal back in the day and he did his job

and he was really good and I just feel like they got massive paydays and now they're just saying things that I am pretty confident they don't believe, which is even more of a disappointment. This goes back to what I just kind of said by Stephen A. Smith and in the Sean O'Malley and Casey Kenny situation. I would just, I want Stephen A. Smith to say that, but say that right to Amanda Nunes, say that right to Joanna and Jacek. Say that right to Rose Jami Yunus. Say that to their face. Go, you know what? Get out

here. You don't belong here. I don't want to see it. I want to see, I want to see that man say that to those women, to their faces. Because like, I don't know. Like, it's just, yeah. I mean, you saw the response from like Chris Cyborg and

Angela Hill. They kind of shut him down. I was going to say, if I had to pick one person to represent to go be like the I'm going to represent women's MMA while you say this to my face I would pick Angela Hill because she would break Rick on Stephen A and she's not gonna like all the women that you brought up I that they all speak great English but there might you know I want someone that can just go in and just like spit venom as Stephen A Smith to his face I don't know Angela Hill kind of pointed out that way Lee had made the best argument shut shut up she also uh Angie tweeted in response to the the Megan thing. It was all in good fun, but she's like,

I shouldn't, I was like, I can't chime in because back in the day, I made a Twitter thread of men fighters that can get it. I was like, that's funny. It was self-aware and all in good fun, but obviously,

also shout out to Dean Thomas for the reaction of that. True story, Cynthia. Yeah, that's right, Cynthia. Thank you much. Me and Cynthia have had a pretty interesting discussion on our love of Mexico over the last few days. Oops. Get out of here, Cynthia.

From Dane McClendon, Dax Edwards, 712 on Twitter at MA fighting. Any thoughts on James Vic and Eric Spicely both getting chaoed in first fight since being released? Hashtag the A side. So yes, James Vic most recently got knocked out. And what was the promotion? XMA. XMMA. somewhere. And then I didn't

watch the Eric Spicely one. I did see Eric Spicely on Fight Island though. Eric Spicely was a bummer because he and I are from the same part of the world in Rhode Island and Eric Spice was kind of revered in that in the martial arts, specifically the jiu-jitsu community of Providence or

Island. So a little bit of a bummer. I saw the James Vic replay. But Kristen, what did you make of both men getting caoed badly in their first fights after being released by the UFC. Yeah, I didn't see the Eric Spicey one. That wasn't on my radar.

I'm sorry, I should probably go back and look at it. But the James Vic one was incredibly brutal. Like, I felt, like, that is just like a pit in my stomach kind of feel when you watch someone just get smashed like that. And to add on to the fact, I also saw the highlight, I had no idea that his mouthpiece had been gone for the better portion of that finishing sequence. and that terrifies me because if you saw a statement, he's talking about how badly broken his jaw is. And as someone who has jaw, look, okay, jaw broke from side to side.

Yeah. As someone who has willingly had their jaw broken for the sake of corrective surgery, I was under anesthesia. I could not imagine having that happen to me in real time, like as I am lucid. So imagine that having to deal with such incredible pain, I feel for James Vick. And I think it was the right decision for him to finally retire after that because I think it was like a string of four knockout losses. He's lost in the same manner in the last couple of years. Granted, you could make an argument.

Maybe he should have stopped earlier or maybe he shouldn't have been licensed to fight based off of those performances. But that, yeah, that is certainly a crucial. career ender, especially the extent of his injuries. That just seems all too bad. Casey, what did you make of vacant spicy first loss after being released? Can't speak too much about the spicy loss, because I didn't see it either. I heard about it. But James Vic loss, yeah, so that's one, two, three, four, five straight devastating. And four knockouts. Yeah, five straight losses, four knockouts. And Paul Feller would kind of put it to

him, too. It wasn't like, you know, he might survive 15 minutes of Paul Felter, but, you He might have been better off getting knocked out in the first round. But, yeah, ever since James Vic, unfortunately, got in front of a mic and said, that guy's Homer Simpson. Ooh, his professional life went very downhill fast. Yeah, the idea that fights outside the UFC are easy or whatever, like especially for these guys like James Vic and Eric Spicey, when you leave the UFC and go to a regional promotion,

not like a Bellator or say a PFL where you're fighting guys from around the world, but a regional promotion, you are such a target. So these guys coming after these ex-UFC guys are like, ooh, that is a tough place to be. And so, yeah, these fights don't get no easier once you leave the UFC. I mean, when Eddie Alvarez, when he left the UFC on a win, he got knocked out in like 30 seconds in his first fight and won, you know? So it's, it's a life's tough out there.

Yeah, just, yeah, it's just because the cage don't have eight sides don't mean the guy punching you ain't, ain't UFC caliber. But, um, happy trails, James, Vic. Enjoy the, enjoy your family and, um, yeah. And, uh, a lot of people were, a lot of fans specifically on Twitter. I saw relished the side of James, losing again. I got issues of James Vick, but I don't want the man to get brain damage.

I agree. I mean, I got, we have got issues with fighters, but like not that much of an issue where I want to see him, his jaw broken, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, people are just mean. That's just being mean. I don't know why people are like that. Also, let's not forget, James Vick didn't start training MMA until he was 20. And he got to the top 10 of the UFC at one point. Like not a bad career.

So, yeah. That's insane. For as much crap that fans want to talk about James Vick, at one point in his life, he was one of the 10 best in the world, you know? It's not crap about James Vick. It's crap about his coach. Oh, well, that's another story. It's 100% his coach and how he stood by him.

So it has nothing to do with. There's a few things they point to like the Homer Simpson thing. When he walked out before fighting Justin Gage, he said, I'm going to change, is like I'm about to change my life and then he got knocked out. And he said some pretty weird things about on Twitter and stuff, but it is 99% has to do with his coach. And we don't have to get into it. It happened in Kristen's part of the world who did the reporting. I think it was the Miami New Times or Miami whatever, something like that.

They did all of the legwork on that story back in the day. So yes, it all has to do with this coach. Do do, do, do. Cater's head coach Tyson, Charday's response to M.A. fighting from Tristan Gordette. Long time comment. Is this the first Tristan Gordet comment we've had? Oh, we got more comment. We got more comment. Had any, two M.A. fighting, had any issue on what Calvin Cater's head coach Tyson Charter had to say when speaking to Mike heck regarding why he decided not to stop the fight against Max? In your opinion, do you think

Charday or Herb should have stopped the fight regardless of the fact that Calvin was fighting back due to the amount of damage Cater was taken? Charter said when Cater sat back on the stool in between rounds. He was good. His eyes were clear and also coherent. Yes. So if you haven't watched it after this, go watch Mike Hacks interview with Tyson Charday, Calvin Gatives head coach on the most recent episode of What the Heck. There's also an excellent write-up on it. I don't know if that's out yet, but if it's not, it's coming out soon. As Tristan said, Tyson Charday did not stop, his reasoning for not stopping fight against Max Holloway was because Calvin, every time it looks like Calvin was about to get knocked out or finished, he would land a clean punch on max and a few punches back. So he was still in the

fight. And then between rounds, he was coherent and not lucid and all that stuff between rounds. I would have no problem if he had stopped the fight at any point after the third round. But I get his reasoning. But Casey, what did you make of his response to the criticism for not stopping the fight? Oh, I thought Tyson handled himself very well in the interview. I thought he he laid it out because like dude the most important thing that he that he kind of emphasized was like if there's anyone in the whole freaking world that cares about Calvin Cater more than maybe his parents is me you know Tyson charitre charier chartier sorry um he said I've trained this guy for years I've rolled of him like I'm like I'm like his best buddy you know like and I care about

this guy I care so much about this guy and I'm not going to let him get long-term damage. And even he talked about afterwards and stuff, he said, when he fought other fights, he goes, yeah, you know, Cater was way more rocked and kind of out of it after other fights.

This fight, he was like, it was actually, he was remarkably lucid. But is that the right term? Yeah. That's the one I used. If it's wrong, it's wrong. Yeah, I was like, wait a minute.

Oh, but I didn't have the other way around. But he was remarkably clear. He said, yeah, he said, He rolled a lot of the punches very well. He said Calvin's actually really good at that. He actually talked about how most of the damage he took was to the body. It was his cardio that was really hurting him. But, no, I get it.

And we talked, no, we do these interviews. And after the interview's over, we kind of talk after the interview, kind of off the record of Tyson. I'm kind of telling you a little off the record. But I kind of told him, hey, man, I get it, man. Why are you getting hate? And as I was watching the fight, I was feeling the same way. I'm like, dude, stop the fight, stop the fight. But then right when you're kind of about to say that out loud,

Cater throws a hard shot and hits Holloway. And that's what made it very difficult. And if you even look at Cater's numbers, yeah, Max Holloway had record-breaking numbers, but Cater himself broke his own personal records for most significant shot. So he was hitting Holloway a lot too. And, yeah, it's a tough situation.

But what's important is Tyson is taking care of Cater now. He's not, like Cater isn't even allowed to go jogging. Because even that's, he doesn't even want that rally, that's head jogging. That happened to me. When I got a concussion, I couldn't even, like, go outside because the sunlight would hurt. Yeah.

Yeah, so he's taking so much care of him right now. And, the only reason I would say Tyson should have stopped the fight earlier is to get Cater back in there for another fight sooner. But because of that so much damage he took, cater most likely won't get a fight for about six months. If maybe say that fight ends in the second round or third round, maybe Cater comes back in three months or four months. But because he took so much of a beating, Tyson himself is keeping Cater from accepting another fight for at least five or six months. So that's minimum.

I would have like a year probably would be more beneficial. I have some more thoughts on this. But Christian, what did you mean? I don't know if you watched it, but after hearing what Casey said about the interview, what do you think? Yeah, I read the write up on. the interview and it's always an interesting perspective when you're speaking to a coach, especially someone who has been there for Calvin for many, many years and knows his fighter at the best. Obviously, it's easy for us to ask spectators watch that and just think that,

yeah, that should definitely be stopped. I don't know how you were feeling, Jose, because you were at Cage Side for that. You could have probably made the same argument. Like, yeah, that should be stopped. But listening to Tyson talk about his fighter and the way that he was responding, like, he asked him what's up he's like yeah i'm good i'm fine and i'm just like that's true that's true but i also i am worried about this line of thinking that um well it could have happened like that there's always the possibility for like a a korean zombie yaira rodriguez esk type of finish where you're just getting battered for 24 minutes and 59 seconds in that one split second you land something that could bring about the end of the fight there is very much a real possibility for that and calvin may have

had those opportunities with how heavy he was throwing his shot still. But I don't think that should justify the continuing of that fight. And I think part of Tyson's response as well was that he was kind of looking for Herb Dean to step in because he thought that that was a very real possibility. He thought Herb Dean the way that he was looking was going to stop it, but ultimately that didn't happen. But I would hope because fighter safety is a shared responsibility by the corner by your teammates who are in there and by the official in the octagon. I would hope that if you are feeling in that way that, oh, I think Herb Dean might stop it. I'd hope that you take that. And if he doesn't, I'd hope that you take the responsibility to be like, okay, well,

then I'm going to stop it. But there was something in Calvin that Tyson continued to see, and he wanted that to keep going. But if you don't need to prolong a beating, don't prolong it. I think this was a great fight for Calvin as far as like step up in competition, but sometimes it's just not your day. I still think Calvin Cater is in the top 10, top five of the featherweight division, but it just wasn't his day. And I would have hoped that his corner and the officiant would take into consideration his long, like the long effects of it after that because that's like a life-changing beating.

You know what I mean? Like he had, what injuries did he have? He had a few cuts. He had the broken, was it the broken orbital or something like that? I don't know. Nothing broken. Nothing broken. But it was nothing broken by some sort of miracle.

But I understand where Tyson is coming from. I really do. But just hearing his perspective as well as the referee's perspective. Oh, did you guys see the Joe Rogan interview with Mark Smith? And he gave his perspective as to why he also thought Herb Dean was right and not stopping it? Who's Mark Smith? Very much. Mark Smith, the referee.

Oh, Mark Smith. Okay, sorry. Yeah, very much aligned with what Tyson was saying and that Calvin was still intelligently defending, he was still throwing. So I wouldn't have stopped the fight either. And I thought that was interesting as well. In the moment, when I was, and I agree with everything you guys were saying,

I agree with what Tyson was saying. In the moment, watching it live in the arena freaked me out because, like, two days prior, the Spencer Fisher article came out. That's literally all I was thinking about. That's it. But I get what everyone is saying. In that night when I was watching it,

and I was like, God damn, this is on ABC. Calvin is taking insane damage. It's going to freak a bunch of people out. And I freaked me out a bit just because that article was so fresh in my mind. Matt Brown brought it up. Paul Felder brought it up.

A bunch of other fighters brought it up that week. And I was doing a lot of social media for it. So Alex Savas and I, so I had to watch that Spencer Fisher video a few times. And then that same day, did you watch the Jen's Pulver reaction video, Casey? Yes, I did. That was. So, like, I watched it backstage at the fights. And I was like, God damn, this is just, this is freaking me out right now.

So in that night, I was a little stressed out about it, but I completely understand Tyson's response and Herb's response and everyone else. response. So I don't have an issue with it being stopped, but if they had stopped it in round three, four, five, I would have been like, thank God. But yeah. And then a couple with Dana White's comments, he said he thought Calvin Cater was going to. I think that was, and I have no, this is all hypothetical. And I have absolutely no one has told me this is just my, me kind of putting points together in my own brain. I think that came out specifically because the Spencer Fish article came out. And Dana did a whole lot of interviews about it because shout out to Kevin Iolia, Yahoo. He pressed Dana on it. John Morgan, an anime junkie brought it up. A few other people brought

it up and Dana was saying like, this happens. It's a contact sport, this and that. And then now that it's on ABC, Dana's miced up. He's afraid and take him to the hospital. Don't let him talk to him. He told, he said that to him I think it was Mick Maynard or Sean Schobe. I can't remember who. He said that to Hunter Campbell. He said that to D.C. He said that to Calvin's coach.

He said that to Calvin. And it was kind of a point of focus on it. So, A, if Dana White does feel that way, which I'm sure he does, good on him. But B, I think that specifically came out because the Spencer Fisher article came out. And maybe he says that a lot. And we just don't know.

But I think there was a reason why that came out on YouTube. just my just my theory though no one has ever told me that and the crazy mean we talk about this but remember that fight cater his legs his legs never went wobbly he's no it went wobbly once but it wasn't like kevin lee barboes it was like he took the step back like kind of gave out

yeah i mean there was no point where calvin looked out of the fight that was a crazy carver you dropped was calvin dropped yeah none right yeah that that's it's it's it's now, Cater, in his next fight, I'm sure there's going to be a much shorter leash if he's taking a beating. Because one, one fight like that in your career, okay, two, three fights.

We go back to Spencer Fisher. Remember, he had like multiple, like wars, war, war, you know. So Calvin's next fight, that's going to be the kind of, I guess we'll be, a lot of questions will be, a lot of questions will be. Well, Justin Gage has been saying for, the last few fights, he's like, I got five wars left in me. And he's had four straight quick finishes. He's finished three and he got finished. So even he's fully aware of it now.

Anyway, you talk a lot about that. Speaking of Justin Gagey. Another question, Tristan Gordette on the site, M.A. fighting. Do you agree with just, also, shout out to Casey last week. You were like, Tristan, can you break up your questions? And now he's actually breaking up his questions. Do you agree with Justin Gage's thoughts on a lightweight title picture is such a mess? He felt not only poor name Ferguson, but every fighter on the roster was disrespecting and making Chandler the backup fighter for the fight against Habib. I don't, for the Chandler thing, I think that was more a lot to do with the marketing

and kind of signing this big name, free agent, and giving him that spotlight that way. I don't think it was meant to be disrespectful whatsoever. I just think they were trying to build a Michael Chandler. I don't think they had anything to do with deserving or undeserving and vice versa. the lightweight title picture shouldn't be a mess, but we know it will be. I think Charles Lever has done enough. I don't have a problem with Fought Chandler. I don't have a problem fought Gaetje, any of those guys.

If Habib is retired, but Kristen, what do you make of the lightweight title picture right now? I think we're just as confused as I was a couple months ago when we talked about this. I thought a lot of answers were going to be given after UFC. 27, but now I'm just confused. I'm confused by a lot of the moves that are being made currently. And I think that a lot of people are operating under the guys that Dustin Porre is essentially the champion, right? Like, he's the uncrown champion as he has given himself the title, which I completely agree with. He has to be like the number two lightweight at this point behind Khabib. And with Khabib and his looming relinquishing of the belt, which should be

happening soon. I don't know that it will, but they seem to be dragging this on for a really long time. There's going to be a need to fill that vacancy. And for me, it makes sense that Dustin Porriere and Charles Olivera get in there and scrap for the vacant lightweight title, which is why I was even more confused that they gave the offer for Michael Chandler and Charles Oliver again on short notice. Like, didn't they do that already? And Charles Oliverer said, no, I'm not taking that. I can't cut weight that that soon. I think it was at UFC 257 or something like that. They wanted that fight. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, no, I was I was confirming. Yeah, that's what happened. Yeah. So, so he turned that down. Now they do it again. He's turned that down

again because I agree with you. I fully believe that Charles Levera has done more than enough to earn a title shot. And if we're going based off of like meritocracy, definitely, like the kids on a seven, eight fight win streak. Why wouldn't he be right up in there? But I hope this is not a situation where they're going to say, well, he keeps turning down the fights for a giving him. So we're going to move forward. And it's going to be Michael Chandler versus Dustin Porre for the vacant lightweight title,

which Dustin Porriere doesn't even seem all too interested in because he doesn't think that Michael Chandler has essentially earned it in the way that a lot of other contenders has done. And then there's Justin Gachie's still out there. there's Tony Ferguson out there. I am confused, and this happens a lot with such a staff division like the lightweight division. That always happens. There's a lot of confusion regarding contenders and who should be next.

The answer is very obvious, but we know sometimes obvious isn't always what they go with. I think Pori A. Olivera is the fight to make if they want to clear up this title. Poria is probably going to fight Nate because everyone wants that, I don't think anyone really has an issue with that fight if it happens just because it's an awesome fight. And Porta even himself said I'll fight Nate. Lightweight division fix itself and then I'll fight whoever. Then after that, it's Charles Olivaire versus fill in the blank, I think.

I don't have a problem if you fought Chandler, don't have a problem if you fought Gachie, don't have a problem if Chandler and Gagey fought. And then Olivera fought the winner of that. I don't have absolutely no idea. Casey, what do you think? Well, Gatchie's saying that that Dana shit on the division for Chandler being a backup. I think it's kind of ridiculous because Minnell Cape was a backup for. Wasn't Minow Cape a backup for the flyweight?

And no one was like, oh, Mano Cape was shitting on the division. I think that's slightly different because Minnell was already scheduled for the card and then his fight fell through. So they just kept him on the card and he got elevated to backup. Yeah, that's just Gachie hating on Chandler. I think it's kind of ridiculous. It's like, dude, as a backup, as soon as they have a backup, the backup never fights. The backup has never actually fought ever in the history of the universe.

So has it happened yet where like the backup fighter that weighs in actually fights? I've never actually seen that. Lots of my knowledge. Yeah. So if you want to guarantee a guy not fighting, make him the backup. Otherwise, uh, Joe Soto wasn't, he wasn't back. He was just on the card. Now there was Ayakinsa, yeah.

They were just on the car. Just on the card. The title picture. You know, Kristen, you said the most obvious answer, but to me, the most, if you're going from UFC's perspective, the most obvious answer is the two guys that sell the most paper views. And unfortunately, for Charles Aldavera, he ain't that guy. That's just, he just ain't that guy.

That's why the UFC keeps kind of throwing these kind of, you know, these kind of, these fight they throw these kind of fight contracts at him that they know he can't accept so they can go ah you know you turn down a fight coward you know i guess that's how the matchmakers talk when we're not around now um yeah it's us um someone in the comment saying justin gaugie was the backup he was the replacement he didn't weigh in as the backup and then got elevated the next day yeah so for the tony furtors a fight yeah yeah i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i I don't really understand Poetia's hate on Michael Chandler. That's kind of a weird one to me.

But to me, if I'm Dustin Poirier, as long as I'm buying for the belt, I don't care who's on the other side of the cage unless you're just talking about, you know, dollars and cents, you know, selling pay-per-views. If that's what matters, then you probably ask for Connor three, you know, for the belt. But, no, that will be very disrespectful to the integrity of, you know,

the championship belt. but yeah i still think it's going to be poor a chandler i still think it's going to be that not not because chanler has earned it more than olivera it's just that's going to sell more pay-per-views chander is just better in the mic chander's better at selling fights and um yeah this is probably fine he played it perfectly you you knock out number four at the time at lightweight then you get on the mic and you call your shot against kabr namadov connor dustin in this rick flair-esque post-fight interview some people enjoyed it some people thought it was cringy i thought it was perfect you got to utilize your mic time he did that and then he continues to do interviews calling out dust and poriating this than

other so michael chanler is probably up there i have a feeling it'll be gachi and chanler just because chanler's now talking about justin gaiti in the media and olivera's turned the fight down because it wasn't for the belt and i have a thing i would assume the u sc would take issue with that so i have a gut feeling it'll be gachy versus chanler i'm fine with that Do you think? She's fine with. Do you think that'll be, is that going to be just a three, like a fight night? No, I'm talking for the vacant title.

Oh, for vacant title. vacant title. I think it's Chandler Gaichi, which I'm fine with. World Series of Fighting, Bellator throw down. It's like, because then, because Chandler gave an interview, I think, with the ESPN, where he was like, you know, Gachie and Eddie fought. I beat Eddie, Eddie, B. Gauchy. So, like, Chandler's planted the seeds. He's already said he's accepted.

the fight against Oliver. So he's proven. He's the company man. Oliver turned the fight down because he wants to fight for the title. I have a feeling they're going to reward Chandler and then the next man up would be Gagie and they're already planted the seeds. And then Porier will fight Nate and Charles Oliver will be left out for usual, unfortunately. That'd be crazy. Two guys from these B-leagues who can't hang in the UFC are going to be fighting for the belt. I love it.

Yes. Anyway. Yeah. Anyway. Rapid fire. How many flights does Connor have to live? lose before stop buying his pay reviews. People will buy Conner's pay reviews forever. He can lose unless he just gets loose. Unless he goes on a quote

James Vic type losing streak, then I would imagine if he gets to that point he's going to stop fighting anyway. Because he already makes enough money outside of fighting. Conner's value didn't go up with the loss, obviously. Did he lose any value getting knocked out? Nope. Nope.

Nope. Because he has two high selling patent strip rubber matches now. that's wow that is wow losing a rubber match maybe but like he has options now it's one-one because he's he caoed dustin he got caoed by dust and that sells it and then the Nate the Nate rivalry is one of the most like heated and probably mixed martial arts history in terms of both in and out of the octagon so no he has stupid money fights still on the table for him Terrence Lovrat last year everyone was using shoulders between the cage after the connor went last week on LFA a few people through calf kicks I say this I say to

I say this to say what will be the next underutilized trend to take over the and I go well it's not underutilized because John Jones been using shoulder strikes forever. We've seen it without we've seen it before like that he did that to Glover. We've seen the calf kicks a bunch like look at Brett Primus. He did it to Michael Chandler. It's happened to Sugar-Shaw and too with Cheatera vera. It's happened a thousand times. Front kicks became a big thing.

Remember after Anderson so but again it wasn't the first time that Anderson ever threw a front kick. It was the first time we knocked someone out with it. But Casey, off the top of your head quickly, quote, what's the next trend to take over the MMA world? That, I forgot what it's called? What's that thing Habib does where he kind of reaches around and grabs the wrist, your opponent's wrist from underneath? What does D.C. call it? It's a dog standing wrist lock or something like that move. It's not, yeah, it's not as exciting and, you know, as a, not Catholics are exciting.

but I think it's just in grappling that move where they reach on there and kind of hold that hand so more ground and pound rather than going for submissions that's not really a very exciting answer but I love the Dagestani handcuffs or whatever they call it Kristen what's your answer I have even a less exciting answer it's going to be footstombs Kamaro Usman is going to start the revolution of footstoms he planted the seeds already in the Jorge Mazudal fight Don't be surprised if he starts using that shit again in the Gilbert Burns fight. I love it. I love it.

From MMG, 2K20 apologies to Jose Young's. Apologies about last week, Jose. It seems like my comment question regarding Fight Island last week on the live chat really riled you up. I really do appreciate the content you guys provide, especially during the last year. I'm stuck working for him. I'll keep up the amazing work. Wasn't riled up at you. I was riled up at thinking about certain incidents on AmA Fighting, on Fight Island.

and certain media members backstage that didn't take their job as seriously as some of us and how seriously they should have. And that bothers me to no way, not that I was there. It's being somewhere and knowing someone like Kristen who obviously takes your job very seriously, like Casey, like Alex, like Mike Heck and like Aunt Walker are not able to go to Fight Island and they would put in not only the legwork but take their jobs very seriously. And I think certain individuals there did not. But that's just, that is what riled me up, not you.

So no need to apologize to me. You didn't do anything. UFC possibly not bringing back Edson Barbosa from Tristan Dorda. Concerns that the UFC may not resign Edson Barbosa is going into his final fight on his deal. He's seen as a little bit of junkie. He said that UFC so has not contacted him for either another fight or a new contract. Barbosa is one of the most exciting fighters on the roster. I would be stunned if the U.S.

I wouldn't be stunned because we've seen. seen you all are Merrill and rumble johnson and various other people who's get released but man if he wants to go to bellator who who oh and he goes up back up to lightweight and they do a lightweight and they do a lightweight tournament like that'd be fine or if you see barboza and they're in belator stacked 45 division because lot like because most of the guys are out of the tournament now so uh you know? I think if I'm Barbosa, I go in at 155 because they just did a 145 pound tournament. And Petricio is the lightweight champ still. So that might be tied up. So the lightweight just might be a faster. He might have to do as much weight in. Yeah, he got a title's fine. Unless his brother vacates the belt so his brother can enter the tournament. And then Barbosa, Patricio, right out of the gate. But Patricio still has to get through Emmanuel Sanchez and AJ McKee. So that's no guarantee.

but man sign me up for all that those are awesome sign me up for edson barbos in a freaking rising ring yeah emma fighting why is frank egger such a big underdog

plus 130 I love Corey Sanhagen shout out to Colorado beggar's last three are last three fights are a win a loss to Korean zombie on short notice in Korea and a loss to the rightful

145 pound champion max holloway I think Corey Sanhagen is the favorite because he's looked really awesome in recent fights. He just head kicked Marlon Marais. And I don't have a problem of Frank Hager being the big underdog right now. I would actually, the betting wise, I'd probably favor Corey, but in my mind, it's much more 50-50. But, Kristen, what do you think? Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you. I think that, like, recency bias really does play a role in

people's betting favorites, I guess. And so Sanhagen has looked really good since losing to Al Jermaine Sterling. He's definitely rebuilt himself. And, Whereas Edgar, what was his last fight? Was it the Pedro Munoz fight? Yeah. Super exciting fight. Good fight. Very close fight.

So I think a lot of people are taking that into consideration and just, I don't know, I guess they're kind of leading out Frankie Edgar as like, let's go to the barnyard. You know what I mean? Old man, let's do that. And I hope they don't count anybody out like Frankie Edgar. He's still such a talent. So I think that's more about it. Corey Sanaghan just looks really good.

and Edgar is one of those, like, past fighters who's still very good, but I don't know if he has, like, another title run in him. I absolutely believe he does. I think this fight is a super exciting fight, a pick-em fight. It kind of sucks this fight. It's only three rounds. Yeah. I mean, I would love this fight to be five rounds.

If he wins, do they give Frankie Edgar a title shot? Or do you think he needs one more? It depends how he wins. If Frankie comes out there and, you know, just destroy Sanhagen. I think it's a different story But I mean But I think But going back to this question about the line

I think people just forgot how good Pedro Munoz is That's all Yeah People just just like Oh it was just some dude He'd just beat some Brazilian guy No he beat Pedro Munoz Pedram Munoz is a badass

And so And Corey Sanager No he's had his no He's had his bad losses too You know And I think people just don't know Where Frankie Eager is in this point of his career because at his age,

he is quite the freak athlete to be a top tier bantaway, a top tier featherweight at his, how old is Frankie Hager now? Frankie Hager's got to be, he's 39. I was talking about Tyron Willie being old. Freaking Frankie's 39 at a very small, at a very lightweight class.

So that's just, that's just rare. So, uh, this year, Frankie still got it. I think, uh, I think the winner of,

Frankie and Sanhagen wins, I think he deserves the next title fight. Because even Corey Sanhagen was saying, because after he had kicked Marlin, they were like, if they give me the title fight, I'm going to take it. But I'm not going to, I don't want to skip over Aljo. So I think Corey wins. He gets the next title fight. He fights the winner of Jan and Sterling. And if Frankie wins, I want Frankie to fight the winner at Casey Canney and Dominic Cruz.

I don't know. I just realized if Frankie wins and he wins dominantly or finishes San Hagan, has anyone fought for three belts for three different weight classes? Um, I know. Vitor. Did he fight for three, 80, did he fight for the 85 belt? Oh yeah. Yeah, he fought Chris Wyman at 187. I'm not 187, 184.

No, 187, 1807. He lost Anderson Silva. He lost Anderson Silva. Yeah. So he lost to Jones. And then he won like one of those early, like, GERC heavyweight targets. Yeah. Yeah. So I think in the modern era, Frankie Edgar will be the first guy to fight three divisions, fight for titles in three divisions. So I do think that that might be a selling point for the UFC.

So, yeah, I do think of Frankie. Actually, I think Frankie Eggers is in a really good position, actually, if he wins a dominant decision. The dominant picture. I agree. From a selling point. not the saying he he deserves it more than the other other 35ers I'm kind of I got to look at the rankings again but um I I just I love the 35 division that's all man Pendish Darius Duda you might even come back too so let's put a pin on that

abandonway call yeah oh yeah I keep forgetting about Dillishaw oh boy winner Dill Shaw KAL sauce on Twitter thoughts on you Eugene Berman saying Izzy won't bulk up for his light heavyweight title by out with yon relying more on his beat in endurance rather than trying to match

Yon's strength. So not surprising whatsoever. I think if it was anyone else besides Yon, they might take a different approach. But Yon is not the fastest. He hits like a, he hits real hard, but it's different when you're fighting like John Jones

who relies so heavily on his brute strength or some of these other crazy massive light heavyweights. But smart, real quickly. Smart, not smart, Kristen. It's smart. I have no problem with that.

Honestly, I think that that's his bread and butter, the speed, the endurance, the precision. I'm totally fine with not fulking up to, like, some massive amount. I don't know how much that helped him. Casey? Adesion has 100 victories in kickboxing MMA at his, at that weight class. So for the 101 or whatever, let's add some more muscle. So you're fighting if a body you're unfamiliar with, of course, that'll be a bad idea. just like when what's his name

John Jones got all super strong to fight OSP and he got super sluggish and it was probably one of his worst performances even in victory. So no, very smart and Eugene Barerman to keep Izzy basically at the middleweight frame and speed kills, speed kills.

So it's... I'm also not going to question Eugene who's been training with Izzy his whole lot. Yeah, yeah. What do we know? Yeah. You know, has someone who's never actually been in the gym with Izzy, let me tell you how it should be done. Yeah.

Do do, do, do, do, do. Let me look at any last questions on the YouTube comments. Oh, important. Ice King. Question, what flavor of ice cream if used to an ice cream can would kill the COVID and lead us to the MMA promise land? Kristen, I'll use. Have you answered this question with us? I have.

And I told you my answer. You weren't too fond of my answer, but I don't really keep. What'd you say mint? Yeah, mint chocolate chip. I like that answer. Thank you, Casey. Jose is ridiculous. Wait, what is your flavor again?

I thought it was vanilla. You told me that was Pizzi. No, that's what Pizzi said, because Pizzi has the taste is from Ireland where everything is made of potatoes and cabbage, so he doesn't know what flavor is. For a long time, I said my answer was cookies and cream or Oreo or whatever you want to phrase, but I asked this question to the city kickboxing boys when I interviewed them before their fight at I don't know

254 whatever that fight card 253 I don't remember and Israel out of sign just said the what is it the Neapolitan where it's chocolate vanilla strawberry because it's three flavors in one and I was like fuck

that's probably the right answer so I changed my mind Israel has a sign to change my mind because he has he is a much smarter man than me when it comes to ice cream but Min Chong tips sucks and I am correct on that

whatever Yeah, whatever. Yeah. Oh, man. What if your big was anyway? Put me in a bad mood now. Jeez. Sorry about it. Go have some mint chocolate chip and feel sadder. Oh, is Macy's Shazone and Mario Rennel off? Apparently so. According to our Slack channel.

That was one of the fights I was looking forward to a lot at U.S. Vegas 18. I think Macy is such a talent, too. And I thought this was a perfect fight for her. I thought it's a good fight for her too. Apparently, Mariano tested positive for COVID. So they're pushing the fight back. And Sadie Kusef is fighting Arnold Allen in April. Oh, that's a good one.

Oh, my God, that's a good one. Oh, Mary Annetteau, I think she was an anti-backback. I'm not sure about that one. Marin Roe was someone posted a video of they had sealed up, like they had put tape around like a playground. because they didn't want kids to go to the playground and some disgruntled mom came and cut all the tape and brought our kids to the playground

because you can't tell me I can't use a playground and Mary Annanineineau tweeted I would have done the same thing and I was like oh yeah I was like so I don't know if it was anti-vax or anti-mask or anti-mask or anything whatever I think it was much more like you can't stop me from using this playground

my taxes paid for that slide something like that something like that yeah that isn't yeah I don't know but that was also very early into the pandemic. I don't know if she's changed. I don't want to throw under the bus. Yeah, yeah. Oh, God. I cannot wait until everyone's vaccinated so I can stop like rolling my eyes at certain fighters for their medical

opinions. So I can just go, oh, I like this fighter because the way they find it. The key to that is I just don't look at people who fight, fist fight for a living's medical opinions on vaccinations and global pandemics. All right, all right. Okay. Well, we got our ice cream question. I think we're ready to ready to play us out. You playing us out? Yeah, playing us out. All right.

For whatever reason, my speaker's just there just got real staticy, so I can't hear almost anything anyone is saying. But this has been Jose Young with amafiting.com for another episode of the ASI live chat. Thank you so much, Kristen. You know the drill, though.

Plug, say whatever you want before we sign off this episode. Thank you guys so much for inviting me back. I love doing this stuff with you. to celebrate a successful episode, I'm going to go eat some mint chocolate chip ice cream, just for you. Ouch. Ouch.

You can take your mint chocolate chip ice cream and put it right in the trash can along with pineapples on pizzas and raisins because that's where all three of those things need to be all the time. Casey, what do you want to say? Mint chocolate chip rules. Pineapple and pizza rules. Raisins do suck, by the way. I hate raisins.

Raisins are crap. At least we can all... Kristen, do you like raisins? I do not. Raisins freak me out. Yeah, they're stupid. Yeah, raisins are real, real dumb. Raisins are real, real dumb.

Anyway, that's another person that's like... Rood at them. Whatever. Anyway, thank you guys all so much. We'll be back next Wednesday. Have a great weekend. Stay tuned for Virtual Media Day tomorrow on the site. Well, obviously, if UFC's back in action,

this weekend with over and ball cup that fight card rules maybe christian will be on between the links again and she can lose to me wait wait bear not burr not down o one with mint chocolate chip but until next wednesday we're out knucklemania knucklemania you're listening to the vox media podcast network