MMA Fighting - The A-Side Live Chat | Venum uniforms, Patricio Pitbull vs. A.J. McKee, Marvin Vettori vs. Kevin Holland, Adriano Moraes vs. Demetrious Johnson, more

Episode Date: April 7, 2021

For this episode, José Youngs, Alex Savas, and E. Casey Leydon react to some of the biggest news stories in MMA. Some topics include their reaction to the UFC’s new Venum uniforms, the fallout from Bellator 255, Patricio Pitbull’s submission over Emmanuel Sanchez, his upcoming title defense against A.J. McKee, and more. The three will also look ahead to UFC Vegas 23, headlined by Marvin Vettori vs. Kevin Holland, and Bellator 256, headlined by the rematch between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida, and ONE on TNT 1, headlined by Adriano Moraes vs. Demetrious Johnson. Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Follow Alex Saves: @alexsavas Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hi, pal, sorry, my microphone all of a sudden went haywire, and I couldn't hear anything, so I had to rejigger it on the fly. But yes, we're live. I have, of course, Jose Young's, it's the A-Sad Live, as you can see behind me, I'm in the process of moving, so half of my bookshelf is no more, and you'll see a massive stack of boxes behind me.

No one cares about any of that, because moving sucks, and it is a pain in the ass. But joining us this week, one hour earlier, because we have Bellator 256. Media Day? Is that the right number? Casey? That is true. 2156. That is true. You can hear Casey on the ones on Tuesday and join us this week. Of course. Cool, Alex, Alex, how is life? Life's good. You know what? I love moving. I've moved every year in my life since for the past like eight years, I feel like I never get situated. Yeah, and I don't hate moving. It's just I didn't realize how heavy books were. And I have a lot of bookshelves, and I bought a lot of rubber made bins, and I filled one up. quickly realized I'm about seven rubber made bins short and I can't move one of them because it's so heavy it's like a hundred it's a hundred and some pounds of books you're supposed to use

small boxes for books that would be too many boxes I have wait I got I probably had 200 boxes in here if I could if I bought a bunch of tiny books but we'll get it done I'm only moving like five minutes away so it will happen but yes early squad hardcores only from jessica crystal crew but of course on the ones that two is Casey how's life in Englewood. Yep. Checks out. Shrug.

Some people only listen, Casey. You got to make a shrug noise. Shrug. It is what it is. But of course, we're looking great. Apparently, Cornynett, A.K. Lee, always looking great. Yeah, well. In case, you know the drill.

Sky's blue. Okay. No UFC last week, but we had Bellator last week. We have won championship today. We have Bellator this week. We have the UFC back. So I feel like for the first time in a long time, it feels like old times with so many fights happening in like a three-day span.

All we need is Rising. Don't put that on me. Well, Ryzen's busy having meetings with Dana White. I was going to, I'm sure we'll have questions about it. So I didn't want to talk about it just yet. But yes, I'm sure everyone saw that. And then, of course, after this lovely stream, or if you're listening, go watch Bellator Media Day.

right after. It'll be on our Twitter, right, Casey? Are we doing it now? Yes, it will be. Yes, it will be. And soon it'll be on our Facebook and all our major social platforms. I don't do Twitch. I don't know.

Twitch and TikTok I'm not into. I don't know nothing about TikTok at all. Kids. There's a lot of TikTokers in Arizona, though. Is that it? We're good. Anyway, you guys know that you'll ask all the questions you want on Twitter, on Facebook, not Facebook. Twitter, YouTube, the site.

Casey will find him. Yeah, all right. We got lots of questions, so we're going to have to be fast, Casey. Here we go. From Scott McCrae, when will we see the UFC Bandoah Championship? So a bunch of questions right here. When will Aljo and Jan run it back? Will it take for Triple C to return, which white class do you think will be?

Two weeks out, which are the three title fights are you most excited about? If you have picked tough coaches, if you could have picked tough coaches, please exclude Jorge and Colby, which two, would you have chosen? Thanks. Love the A side chat. So want to rapid fire these, I guess? Yeah, let's do rapid on these. When will Aljo and Pure Jan run it back?

I love these questions. I don't know. Yeah, right? I don't know because Aljo still wants, he wants to, he's taking it seriously. He's going to do all the concussion protocols. So until we see him back in camp, I don't honestly know. Casey, will it take Triple C, Hennessy to return? which weight class will he return at?

Lots of money and whatever division Dana White pays him the most at. He'll come back at heavyweight if that's where he gets paid the most at. I have a feeling we would have, we would be having a different conversation about Triple C returning if Yon and Aljo had had a winner, like in a definitive like no controversial. I guess there was a winner, but there was controversy about it because I'm pretty sure Henderson, who was at the apex with both of his belts, like, ready to cut a promo at the press conference, but I don't think he wanted to do it after that. Anyway, two weeks out, which of the three

title fights are you most excited for? I'll ask both of you this. So, Kamaro Uzman versus Horamazudal, Valentina Shenzhenko, and Jessica Andrade, and then Zhang Wei and Rose Namibunis, Alex, I'll start with you. Of those three, which you're most excited for? I think people expect me to pick, you know, two of these, but I'm actually going to pick Maswell and Usman. I, you know, Maswold's stock is plummeting, I would say. I think if he goes into this fight with a full camp, you know, he lost the last one because he didn't have a full camp or whatever else. Like, now he's got a full case, he's got no excuses. So I'm kind of excited to see if he can pull that off and if he can plummet his stock even farther.

Casey, what do you say? It's a... No, definitely Wei Lee versus Rose and a close second would be Valentina versus Androge. I'm most excited to watch Wayley fight because of all the fighters

that we just talked about, she's had the longest break and the last time she fought was our fight of the year. So I'm mostly excited to see her specifically fight, but I can't deny, I'm very excited to watch the main event. I'm saying for all these cards, but I'm very, very excited for that.

Is Wade Lee? I'm sorry. Was she the only champion that hasn't fought since the pandemic for UFC? Am I forgetting one? I believe so. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I think it's the only belt that hasn't been fought since two, what, the last. I guess technically ban some weight for the women's because both of men knew as title defense

has been featherweight. Well, I'll go fighter. about that. Okay. Yes, I believe so. I guess there was no, yes, because John, because Jan defended his belt against Izzy. I was going to say there's no defense.

So, yeah, you're not wrong. And that fight was epic. And that was the last time. There was a full crowd. And that was MA Fightings fight of the year, last year. And Yohanna hasn't fought since either. But she said she's waiting for fans to come back. I thought for sure they tried to get her on this Jacksonville card.

Because she's based in Florida now. But anyway, if you could have picked tough coaches, excluding Horan Colby, which two would you have chosen Casey? I'll start with you. Tough coaches. I would pick nobody versus nobody. Okay. But if you had to answer Scott McCraid's question.

I'm not letting you say nobody. Yeah, geez. Tough coaches. I would actually pick maybe real coaches. I don't know. We'll have Habib, because right now he is coach of the year. Habib versus, I don't know. Name a good coach.

one of the guys from Sanford M.MA. Henry Hooft. I'm giving bad answers because I don't care about this question. Alice, who would you have picked? Have they done female coaches before? They did Rhonda and Misha. And then they did Yowanna and Claudia. Yeah, I don't know.

They've done the Bannam weights and they've done the straw weights and they've never done featherweight or flyweight for women's. I've never watched the Ultimate Fighter, so I don't know what makes a good tough coach. Is it more about personality? Is it more about skills? Is it case he seems like he just wants to die? It's not kicking indoors.

It really depends because obviously all the famous parts are like when Cody and T.J. coached against each other, they would yell at each other and try to fight each other the whole time or they would butt heads. But then I think genuinely, you have there were some coaches like chale sun and mayhem miller michael bisbing were really good coaches like on that like i think chel sunn was a phenomenal coach but then you have guys like brock lesnar and juno

santo who have no beef with each other they're just two massive human beings that are going to fight down the road so i just think it depends on how you want to take it is it like the real world that they fight every once in a while yes really yes yeah theoretically it sounds like i would like because I love reality TV, but I just, I can't. It would be like the bachelor where you have like they line up and the coach just goes, I want this guy to fight this guy. And then they fight. Hmm.

Maybe I try. Colby and Hor, if you love the drama, Hoare and Colby would have been great. I don't particularly care about any of that. But I wouldn't have hated Jan and Aljo, just because if Aljo needs to recover, there's a concussion. Those are also two really good camps. That's like, Eric, Nixon and Couture, right? Extreme Couture. I get all the Las Vegas camps like confused like

Cicicicic and like Matt Coutor and all that stuff. So it'd be like Eric Nixick and like Matt Sarah and everyone and then you have Yon at ATT. That would have been really good teams right there to band plus they go to fought down the road and they could have verbally sparred the whole time. That would have been the worst. But you're not going to get beef between Volcanowski and Brian Ortega. True. See, no one watches, no one cares about the coaches if they're good coaches. That's like, that, that's, so, so why are we even asking? Some people do.

Casey doesn't, some people do. God, that shows. But I do like some of the suggestions, maybe we got to change it up and change tough how basically the rules of Temptation Island. I don't know what Temptation Island is, but it sounds pretty cool. And if you can involve some cage fighting in Temptation Island, yeah, I'm sure, yeah. But right now the format is tough. It's a little played out.

I am. I'm not talking about this anymore. Next question. Whatever. Oh, another tough one. God, dang. Next week, only tough questions. Don't ask anything else.

Casey can sit there, pouting the whole time, and we could still talk about it. John Malkin. The decision to make Alex, if Ian Ortega, tough coaches, was perplexing, especially if Alex could fight soon. Also puts Max with a logical opponent coming off. such an amazing televised sport. Maybe he's a beat for his next opponent. Was this a good call by the UFC?

Don't really care. I think if we're making the decisions about the champion, I don't think you need to take the number one contenders. Fight schedule in the hand with Max Holloway, unfortunately. I think Max is the odd man out. But Volcanowski is the champ. He's two-no against Max. And if he's not ready, because I don't know if you watch his interview with Ariel

or you watch this video on his own website, on his own YouTube channel, COVID has kicked his head. ass. So I'm sure he wants to recover. So sorry, Max. It's unfortunate. But yeah, if you want to sit out, you deserve to sit and wait. It's just unfortunate for the rest of the division, especially because the feather weights has not progressed as quickly as we wanted. But weird coaches for sure, but Alex, what do you have to say about Volcanowski and Ortega, knowing now what you know about tough and the drama and all this stuff, were these the coaches to choose?

Probably not. And I mean, obviously, logically, it probably doesn't make sense to put a champ in as a tough coach anyway. It's been, it's happened a few times. It's mostly been, uh, champs that needs to, A, like when, uh, Dominic Cruz was the coach, he was like healing his knee or he was coming back.

So there have been champions that have coached, but it's usually because they have like, like, when you want to Claudia coach, Yowana was the champ. What John Joe's and Chale Southern coached, John Jones was the champ. But these, those were like actual rivalries.

And there was no clear cut next number one contender. So they kind of, the division play out, and while they coached, and at the end of the season, they fought. The difference is featherweight, there is clear-cut number one contenders, and there's a lot of contenders, and there's no activity. So that's the only part I don't understand why they check. Volcanovsky's like, he's low-key funny, though. He's very funny.

If you put a camera on him, you know, longer than we've been doing, I think you get some gems in there. Well, you don't think Ortega's got good jokes. You know, and you can ham it up at an improv night? Oh, improv. You also don't know what weight classes this will be, or if there's any, like, stipulations of, like, when they've done tough nations, where they've had, like, Canada versus the UK or tough smashes, which was, like, New Zealand versus Australia. I mean, not Australia. It was, what was it, England versus, like, the New Zealand, Australia area. We don't know any of that stipulation yet.

This will also be the first one probably at the apex. because all the other ones have been the old tough gym. And I don't know much about Brian Ortega's team at all, like in terms of his coaches, outside of like the Gracies. I don't know much about his striking coaches or his boxing coaches or his head coach. Obviously Volcanowski has city kickboxes. So I'm curious to see more about Brian Ortega's training regime for sure, if they show that. This was just a yes and no question.

What is this a good call by the UFC? Yeah, but we take the playbooks out of, Casey Liden where if they ask yes or no question, we go off on a tangent, and we usually end up talking about open scoring or why Amanda Nunes isn't the greatest female fighter of all time. Anyway, next question. She's on a good run. She's on a decent run. But the answer to John Malkin's question is, was this a good call by the UFC? No.

But join us next week as Casey Liden hosts the A-Side last shot. Only yes or no questions. It's going to take four minutes. Yes or no questions. tough questions only and every time he talks about open scoring that's one day of no training

he can't do yeah see now he's now he's serious Aljo possibly out for nine months a bunch of questions again from Trumbo long time comments it what do you think the UFC does here do we see an in so a bunch of other ones so we'll go through this quickly what do you think what do you think

the UFC does here do we see an interim title between Jan and the winner of TG versus Corey Sanhagan no If it's nine months ago, yeah. No. Is Holland taking the short-notice fight against Victoria a mistake, or is it simply extra paycheck and a mulligan if he loses? Definitely not a mistake if you're Kevin Holland,

because that's what made you, that's what made you popular and got you where you are today, correct? Yeah, he doesn't have a lot to lose. Not a mistake at all, because his chances of beating Victoria, I think, are much greater than his chances of beating Brunson. So, yeah. Agreed. plus Kevin Holland

and 5 and 0 last year he's already fought two times this year now what happens to the featherway division again another question about featherway so Vulcanowski Ortega do we see Max versus the beat what do you say guys we want it so we're probably not going to see it

yeah damage to the rules yeah sure that's a fun fight when's the last time's the beat fought was that the Calvin Cater fight that was a long time ago I don't even remember and then I think he was supposed to fight Yair a million times, but it keeps falling apart.

Who's your early pick for Pitbull versus McKee? Casey. Yeah, so now he's excited. Yeah, I can't do that one. That one's too tough. That was too tough. I'm going, I'm going to go pit bull right now, but, um, man. Yeah, I'm, that's, that's, that's, sorry, guys, if you came for answers, Casey will

not provide them this. I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, pit bull. You said you can't. I'm picking pit bull just because I, it's hard to pick against. I think the best, like, best fighter win. greatest Bellator fighter ever. I don't think that's up for debate. AJ McKee is so good. And I think this is the highest level fight

Bellator could possibly put on. And it's the fight. Like remember Casey? You went to that media day in L.A. It seems like years ago. Oh yeah, the steak place. Yeah. Yeah, because the tournament was supposed to be over by now. Yeah. And that was the, that was like when they had all, that was when they were doing like the fight in, so like Archiletta and Pitt. And Pitbull fought, and McKee and Pitbull yelled at each other the entire time, and they weren't even fighting.

And McKee's like, why aren't we fighting right now? And everyone seemed to agree, well, it's because you'll probably fight in the finals, and it's going to be that much bigger. He goes, I want to fight him now. Well, now we get the choice. Also, remember McKee hurt his knee before the pandemic happens, and he almost had to pull out of the tournament. So silver lining with this pandemic is AJ McKee got to heal up. get back in the tournament, pull off the submission in the air, now he gets to fight Patricio Pitbull.

So, yeah, I cannot wait for this fight. I am so excited. So the pandemic turned out there. Hopefully this is in California. Yeah, who knows? By then, because this probably won't happen for another, I don't know, say three months. Things could change. A lot, yeah.

Yeah, they said the summer. Yeah, well, I mean, they just announced today in California, if everything goes according to the plan, all restrictions will be lifted by mid-June. so that would open everything up perfectly for Pitbull McKee in California. Hopefully at the forum because that's going to be the form or... I can just jog down there. San Jose wouldn't be bad either just because... No, form.

Yeah, I know. I like this. What is it... What is the arena in San Jose called now? The SAP Center or something. It used to be the HP. Yeah, it's something. I remember the HP Pavilion and then became the SAP Center.

I didn't know if they had changed again. I love that arena, but obviously for... case you can just run over there. Sure. Yeah. Having it's the form. But you know why San Jose sucks? San Jose sucks, though,

because the hotels are expensive as holy heck. And San Jose is so boring outside of people fighting. So, uh, San Jose just expensive in general? Super expensive for what it is. Super expensive because it's a tech town and stuff. Uh, uh,

uh, let's, let's talk, let's talk real estate. Uh, is. All right, man. Do do do.

Oh, yeah, here we go. Bellator questions from Andy Burton. Has pit bull become a legend like Fador? And what would it take for him to surpass him as the greatest fighters who never fight in the UFC? Casey? No, not a legend like Fador because pit bull can't fill up, you know, 40, 50,000 people in Saitama. So that's kind of crazy. But, uh, uh,

What would it take him to surpass the greatest fighter? He can't. Fador is Fador. So that answers that one. Is Fador kind of the clear consensus to never fall in the greatest, never find the O.C? Yeah, I would have to say.

Yeah, I would have to say. Yeah, I can mean, yeah. Is Corey Anderson being all, and to answer the question, never going to surpass Fadour. Yeah. Corey Anderson being overlooked, Alex. In what way?

In Belator's. In Belator's, I feel like when the, when the, When people are looking at the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix that's about to happen, I don't think a lot of people are picking Corey Anderson to win. It's usually Nemcov, Bader, like Yowell, Anthony Johnson. I don't think a lot of people are picking Corey Anderson to win. That's okay.

It doesn't matter. I think so. I haven't heard anybody say anything about Cory Anderson. I don't think he's being overlooked that much. with Ryan Bader being the heavyweight champ if he is defeated in this tournament could a victory over Bader at light heavyweight set up a rematch at heavyweight for anyone in the bracket

especially Machita Nemcov Johnson since they would hold two victories over him well Nemcov and Rumble Johnson are on the other side of the bracket correct yes so those would be in the finals maybe especially Rumble because he's massive

physically massive oh so they suggest missing a something like like nimcoff or macheteo if if if one of these three beat beta in the light heavyweight tournament would we get a third fight at heavyweight no i doubt that for bettors for beta's title it'd be like if amanda lost a bandweight would the rematch immediately be a featherweight for the other belt or like could mckee rematch pit bull for the lightweight title right away uh that that one actually makes more sense the because mckees talked about going up because i think he that's so he will he will he will grow out of that

his 45 frame eventually. I think that's why he was in a big hurry to fight Pitbull, because I think those weight, I think he feels like every month, you know, it's harder and harder for his body to make $1.45. So this could, that fight, this is going backwards a little bit, that fight between Pitbull and McKee, maybe McKee's final fight at Featherweight.

So I can see that. But as far as Nimcov wins the tournament and fighting Bader at heavyweight, I doubt that. Yeah, I think, I don't think that's good for Battlelature. I think they should try to build up their own. I don't think any double champs. Especially because they might get Overim or JDS. Yeah.

They probably want to throw him in a title fight anyway. Hopefully I answered your question, Andy. Andy Burton on the site. Yeah, this is an interesting question. I like this one. From Jose Meyer, Joe M.UFC-1-1 on Twitter. I've asked before, so many MMA journalists and analysts, hope this gets discussed.

Has there ever been a better top five in any weight division in any era at their prime over a course of four years than the pick attached? Thank you. And it's a picture of Habib with the championship. And then Justin Gagey, Tony Ferguson, Dustin Porre, and Connor McGregor from MMA dive. It's a graphic. And then it says the golden era. If someone wants to argue that this is the greatest iteration of any weight class

at any point in time in MMA, history in one promotion. I would not argue against it. I'm sure a lot of the old school fans will say the light heavyweight division back in like the mid-2000s when they had Tito, Chuck, Rampage, Raneit Couture, Shogun, like those guys, those are probably, because they're also all Hall of Famers, not that these guys aren't, but they're not quite there yet. But I would have no problem if you want to say this is the greatest peak moment in any division in any promotion ever. what say you, either of you too. Nothing else comes to mind.

I mean, I'd have to do a deep dive and look at the top fives of the past four years. Obviously, I mean, you need to take a be about of that photo and maybe put Charles Oliver in there. Otherwise, this question is two months too late. Yeah, I mean, that's a heck of a lineup. You know, when I first read this, I was kind of like, yeah, what? No, nah, it's whatever. But then I thought about it more. He was like, you know what?

I think, I don't know, there could be some truth to this. And I think, I forget this is over kind of a span of time, not like in one singular moment. Yeah. And the thing that's especially impressive about this, this photo, this graphic of these five fighters, is that I don't think at any point in lightweight history where you've had five active lightweights who could all.

five have held a belt. Yeah, and he could all legitimately main event pay per views and sell out, you know, good size arenas. And I think that's important to note, too, that these are all like a-siders. And, you know, yeah, they could definitely move the needle. Because a lot of times you might get guys who are really good, but, you know, the fans just aren't, like, I can say, bantam weights, a lot of really good bantam weights. But they can't fill up an arena like these five gentlemen can. Yeah, so Porier, Gae, and. Tony Ferguson have all held the interim lightweight title at one point and then Habib and Connor

have been the undisputed lightweight champion at one point so of those five and of course that's not even including like Justin Gaich was the World Series of fighting champ Connor was the Cage Warriors champ like it all like there's a lot of belts in that picture band weight's awesome right now but they can't hold that and like I said I think those those early 2000s yeah sure yeah I think those early 2000s light heavyweight divisions probably the same in terms of like being able to headline paper views like rampage good headline chuck could headline tito randy kator showgun like forest griffin those guys are all hall of famers legends if you look at the greatest like most popular fighters over a course of time it's usually those guys are always

included so yeah i would say the early 2000 early to mid 2000s light heavyweight could probably hold that too tanguwen on twitter why is the Why is that boxing can pay its fighters 30 million plus per fight while the UFC can't? Why doesn't boxing get a ton of bad press for paying its undercard fighters 1K-1-K? But the UFC does. Boxing, it's mostly because it's one-fight cards and then you really, and then they kind of fill out the rest of the card underneath it. Plus, boxing got to deal with TV rights, like who's going to broadcast this?

You got physical, like promotions, like top-ranked Golden Boy, the Mayweather promotions what Connell is kind of doing his own thing right now and then you got five belts you got mandatories you got to argue over hotels and arenas because remember when

What question are you answering? All of it. I'm just talking about why boxing is so much different than the UFC in terms of like how much they can pay out. So like if Connor and Habib fight fought. You're not having like when Mayweather and Paco fought Mayweather had a partnership with Showtime and the MGM and Mandy Pakiya had a partnership with what HBO and the Mandalay Bay

like you don't have those situations coming into the UFC. It's like there's more money being involved correct me if I'm wrong Casey because you've covered a lot of boxing Esther's obviously was the photographer Shoggiore for a long time if not still Mr. Wint, Nguyen. I would suggest you just go to bloodyelbo.com. There's a terrific article that was very recently written by John Nash talking about this in particular.

It's a long article, but basically it comes down to monopoly versus competition. In boxing, the boxers, people have to compete for their services. You have different sponsors, different arenas, different hos, different hostages, different, hotels, promoters, broadcasters, they're all competing for those boxers, those box, the boxer services. For UFC fighters, there's no comp, it's just one person. It's just basically Hunter Campbell and Dana White, you know, just deciding. So there's no, there's not a big bid of how much you're going to pay you. It's just one.

They go, well, we think it's worth this much. Take it or leave it. So that's pretty much why. There you go. And to answer the second part of the question, this is actually really important too, because I see this a lot. Oh, no, this guy got paid a thousand bucks. The big difference is these, those $1,000 fighters or whatever, I guarantee you those aren't being broadcast on HBO or on Showtime or on the pay-per-view. So like, say, or Mayweather boxing match, there's usually like 10 fights on it, but those aren't even aired.

Those are literally shot like on iPhones. You know, they're not like on TV broadcast partners. And if they were on broadcast, if they were on Showtime or HBO, they would not, they would be getting paid more because that would be in their contract. Who your broadcast is in your contract. So a lot of times, that's why these guys are just, it's just to sell a couple tickets. It's not, don't even think of it as a card. It's the way they do the cars are completely different. Do they get bad pressed?

So like, do you hear a lot of fans complain about boxing pay? Yeah, well, they try to make the same comparison. And Bellator is a bit the same way. Like a lot of the early, not so much now, but especially a few years ago, the very early prelims for Bellator. They weren't truly Bellator fighters. They were just local guys who were on one-fight contracts. And, like, there's no such thing, like, especially at UFC. Once you go to UFC, basically, you know, your whole, you've signed off all your rights to the UFC and you're stuck of them for a while.

For these early Bellator prelims, a lot of these early boxing prelamps, and the guys way in undercard that are in an army and area. on TV. These are just one-off deals. Bellets or even as post limbs that are after the main event. Yeah, they don't fill them up, yeah. That blew my mind the first time I heard that I'm like, the heck. Yeah. Well, you... Sometimes... You've used to have that, too. It's just, you've had it in a while. But yeah, there'll be dark fights that come after the main event because they run out of time

early in the night. Hey, it's your cat. Yeah. We're having issues over here. It's just chaos behind me. Cool. Do we answer that? I hope that I answered your question, Mr. Glenn. Yeah. And again, go to bloody elbow.com and read that article. It's a great article by Mr. Nash.

Terrence Leverett, I doubt on Twitter. I doubt something comes of it, but with the UFC and Risenbosses meeting up, what do you think will come to come of it? Also, given the possibilities of what through Risen versus UFC matchups, would you like to see? Hashtag dayside. So for those of you haven't seen, Dana White posted a photo, and it was Saki Kubara, who was the president, what's his official type?

President, CEO, whatever it is. Yeah, president. Of Risen, Dana White, and one Floyd Mayweather. So a whole lot to unpack there. What could come of it? I have literally no idea because that's the last three people I thought would be sharing the room or a meeting together. Like Floyd and Takabar obviously have done business together when they did the tension versus Mayweather boxing match exhibition.

I don't know what Dana White is doing there. He's talking about getting into boxing for a while, but he always seems to back out after a while. So I have absolutely no idea. But Casey, what did you think of when you saw those three individuals in that photo? I think nothing's going to come of it. But in my dream, I'm hoping they're sitting around a table, and Dana goes, hey,

those rising shows are really cool. We should do giant entrances like that and get rid of this venom deal and let fighters wear where they want to wear. And Floyd goes, yeah, you should do that. And everyone goes, yeah. Cool, later, guys. That sounds like Dana.

Cool. Hey, I like what you guys are doing. Even just that part, I don't think he's ever complimented any other promotion ever. Oh, hell no. Guys want to see Rage? I love Rage. What three?

Risen versus U.S. Matsos would you like to see? Chacy. Whatever. Horo Gucci versus anyone. Horooguchi versus anybody. As long as they're in a Risen ring, I don't care. That's all.

As long as they're in a rising ring. I love, I'm going to say, Barudo, the big sumo guy. Whatever freak show matches you can have against, just like freak show old sumo guys against, I don't know, Cody Garbrandt. that's what I want to see three times in a row how about

I would like to see an amalgamation of the UFC and Risen ring like in the old TNA Rasselin Rassling or it was like a six-sided ring eight-sided ring

Ropes love it give it to me the more tomfoolery the better oh we could see if we want the real matchups bring in Adam weights Risen has

the Adamweight championship, so. Yay. All right. Now that's going to happen, so stop getting my hopes up. Oh, boy. Let's talk Jones from MNG to K-20. I have heard 99% of Eminia say that the UFC needs to make Jones versus Francis. Francis versus

Jones, or better yet, Engan versus Jones. However, do they? They never made Habib GSP, they never made Anderson Jones or Anderson GSP and they are all successful today in 2021, especially with stars like McGregor, Moswell, and Diaz fighting this year, along with the likes of Israel and Francis who are starting to get more popularity. They are more than happy to pass on this fight if Jones prises himself out, only the fans

lose here. Do you think we will see this fight? I think we will. I think the difference between all those ones you mentioned and McGregor-Maz-Wald-Dia's fighting this year is McGregor-Maz-Val-Diaz are kind of all the same way class so they can fight and it would be big bucks like Habib and also none of those three are champions so like Habib GSP Anderson Jones all those guys were champions so like

who's gonna fight like are they dropping belts or is the Pelkin gonna be on the line this and that that was the whole contra thing because Dana White didn't want one guy to hold two belts for a long time until Connor showed up but anyway to answer the question do we see this fight Francine Gunn versus John Jones yes or no Casey no of course not of course not There you go. Alex, do we see this fight?

I'm going to, you know, my gut said no as well. I just, it's just instinctual, you know, like I just don't feel like it. And I also don't feel like they need to, to be honest with you. This fight doesn't really do it for me. And everyone's like, this is the biggest fight. I don't really believe that either. You know, I actually think Conor Nate 3 blows this fight out of the water. Yeah.

I would not argue against that. but in terms of like of intrigue, I would say more interested in Ingani Jones. But in terms of fan interest, I think Diaz McGregor 3 obviously might sell more.

I actually do think Nagano v. Jones is the biggest fight they could do right now. If the UFC actually promoted it and Dana didn't just kind of crap on John Jones all the time and actually promoted him has the greatest no 205 or ever

pound for pound best moving up and taking the biggest challenge ever in his career against the unstoppable forward escort you know uh francis nangano yeah if it was if it was if it was truly promoted right and really show nangano's real story i did a real prime time type of uh type of uh promotion for this and you know bring back those great shows that would be so cool but it's not going to happen so it's just get my ufc did the uh gave him the uh gave him the Connor Aldo or the Aldo McGregor treatment and did like the world tour, not that they can do a world tour during a pandemic, but if they promoted it right and they brought like John Jones to Cameroon, he did like a stare down, then they bring him to like John Jones stocking ground to stare down. Stop at Paris. Just stare down on the Eiffel Tower. Come on. Come on. That would do. That would be pretty awesome. It's not going to happen though. It's not going to happen. Casey, you think he's going to price himself out? Is that why he thinks he's not going to happen? No, he's not going to. price himself out. There's no such thing

as pricing yourself out. Like, like that's, see, that's putting the onus on the fighter. It's the UFC that will not pay up. But you're correct, Alex. They don't, UFC doesn't need it because this goes back to the earlier question about monopolies and competition compared to, no,

the boxing question. The UFC has so much guaranteed revenue from ESPN, on their, based on their contract. They don't need to throw a great pay-per-view out there. They can just throw a pay-per-view out there. That's like what I was saying in a preview show when I think it was for what one of the press conferences, Dana White is it doesn't seem, he's not selling fights anymore.

You're going to get money no matter what. It's like Dana's up there. Like I've even like, like our friend Oscar Willis and I have like we like we kind of game playing questions and I've like thrown these softball questions to Dana because like you, I ask an easy question before I can ask like a quote difficult non-fight week one so I'm like Dana Purion and Aljo can you remember a more competitive

division in a long time he's like yeah these guys are great one killer and one killer I was like is that all you got that all you got and then I was like why is this rematch bigger than Brock Lesnar

versus Frank Meir or JDS and Kane or Steeper and Daniel Cormer he's like just two scary monsters I was like, Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right, right.

He just pulls this, like, cliche, like, things out of a bag, like a killer. So it's like he's like, you're going to sell it no matter what. So he's not like, the last time we saw Dana get hipes for fights was probably the Ngano press conference and he was just like rattling off all these things that Ngano could punch. And you just saw Steve Page just going like, that's really hard. Or when his face turns like beat red when he was screaming about O'Connor McGreg. We don't really see promoters. Dana anymore.

No. Anyway. All right. Thank you very much. Damn. Yeah. Oops. Get off.

There we go. Tristan Gordette on the site. Your thought, your thought booked Max Holloway versus Justin Gagee. Both fighters are silent as we speak unless the U.S.E decides to books a beat versus Max.

Mike Heck mentioned waning to see this fight. I assume wanting to see this fight. I'm not going to say no to either of those fights. Whether they happen or not is another question. Of these two, Alex, would you rather see Gachi Holloway or Holloway Malamette Sharapov? No, I'd rather see as a V-Pers-Mex. Holloway-Ga-Gaiji, I mean, that's an interesting just question mark.

But I just don't think like that just, it just doesn't make any sense to me. Yeah, Justin fighting Max would be a banger. If Max wants to go to test himself at lightweight While he waits for the featherweight division of play out That works too like he did when he fought Dustin But Like Justin wants a big name at lightweight He wanted a title shot

Beating Max probably could get him there But I don't know It's a beat Max is awesome. Casey of these two specifically Which one would you rather see more? If I'm not if I don't care about The featherweight division in general like just the movement in the division,

I would easily go Max Holloway, Gagee. I just, just to get those two guys in the cage, while they're still active fighters, I just think it'll be amazing. Yeah, I just love that fight. Dude, Max Holloway might be the second best lightweight in the world, I mean, in the UFC at least.

We don't know. I mean, he fought a very competitive, crazy fight against Dustin Poirier. And that was, he'd even bulk up, you know? So Max Holloway could be the best lightweight in the world. if he had the time to, you know, properly get ready for. I mean, he was, dude, Max Holloway was, if he had a good, if he had a decent weight guy, he would have been, he would have already fought Habib.

Who knows what would have happened, you know? So, uh, I'll go Holloway, Gachie. But I understand. We know Zabit needs to fight and all that stuff. So, you know, we got to move in the division ahead. I would say, I would say Holloway is a beat just because I want to see Zabit fight. I'm tired of waiting for Zabit, yeah, yeah. That fight's never going to happen.

Uh, but we don't, also, we don't know when Zabit's coming back. It's not like he's dropped to these. He's not. calling people out on Twitter. He's not saying, like, I want to be active in there. He posts a lot, but he's not calling for fights. Anyway, I hope that answers your question.

Also watch Max versus anyone. Same as Justin Gagee. What intriguing from, another one from Tristan Gordet, what intriguing matches are you looking forward to from the three fight promotions starting tonight with one championship? Demetrege Johnson versus literally anyone, and he's not even the champion. What

is the champion's name? Adiriano. Adirondis. Maranis? Yeah. Something like that, which is unfortunate because I just was making graphics about this. I don't know very much about him other than he's very good. He's unbelievable. Yeah. Adriano Marais, yeah. My brain always wants to say Adriano Martine just because of the UFC fighter.

Great fighter, just coming off, he avenged his loss against. I'm never going to be able to say the opponent he beats name, but he's won one against him, I believe. So yeah, that fight is awesome. It's tonight. one on T&T 2 10 p.m. Eastern. There's only like three or four fights on the main card. And rug rugs on the prelims.

Fools. Anyway. They want you to come in. They want you to tune in early. What's Bellator fight this weekend you are excited for? Oh, this weekend. Main event. Yeah.

Of course, Bader Machita. Oh, there's a couple of them. There's a couple of lady fights. One fight. You can pick one fight. Oh, one fight. Tell someone to watch one fight. Oh, one fight.

Oh, one fight, one fight, one fight. Demetian Johnson. No, I mean like one fight for Bellator. One singular fight. Wait, just, ever? Coming up? I chose one championship this weekend. I picked the DJ or Marais versus Johnson.

Casey, you tell fans what they should watch in Bellator. The main event. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I, yeah, I want to see, I want to see if Bader can know. get it back. He got famously knocked out by Manchita rushing in, you know. Oh, and I'm also excited for Vanessa Porto

making her Bellatory debut. And Cassiganos fighting too, so yeah. Alex, what fight should fans watch on the UFC card this weekend? I'm going to say Nina Ansoroff and McKenzie Dern.

Oh, yep. Yeah, I was just listening to Mike Hicks interview with McKinsey Dern and she's just like so excited, you know, given her last performance. And everybody always saying that like you just got to, you know, get McKenzie in the first round, blah, blah, blah. Now she's proven that she can actually get better as she goes and get to that third round and still pull it off. You know, that's what she's been like really working on. She wants to show her strengths.

But not to mention two recent moms. I mean, that's just amazing. She's talking about being such an inspiration to, you know, women all over. And I think that's huge, you know, that's awesome. I think that fight should absolutely be the co-main event, not like that. No way. Okay, I get most of the time... Absolutely, you're going to come in an event. Most of the time I agree with you right there.

I personally, like, I don't want to bump Arnold Allen versus Sadiq Yousett from the co-main event. That fight rules, like two undefeated featherway guys, prospects, and the ranks guys. I have nine times out of ten I would agree with you, but I think they got the co-main event right. And Nina can be right below. Well, now that Kyle Dawkins is off the card.

They should be above Sam Alvey versus Julian Marcus, for sure. Oh, that's not so dang. You just made me mad. That's fine. What? What? Oh, God. They should be above Alvey and Marquez?

No, the fact that Sam Alvey, God bless him, is above fighting. Oh, man. No. I need to answer off in McKenzie during the sandwich between Alvi versus Marquez and Mike Perry versus Daniel Rodriguez, which I don't want to move Mike Perry and Rodriguez from that spot because usually the first fight on the card. It's an action fight. is like an action fight and that is an action fight.

Yeah, it is. And then I think Nina and then Sam Alvey-Marquez can be there because sometimes Sam Alvi fights can go a very specific way. And yeah, Kyle Docks is off and I think Nina, Arnold, Nina versus Dern, Alan versus Yusef, bang, bang, and then the main event, I don't hate that lineup. But I don't want to bump Alan and Sadiq off because those, that fight absolutely rules.

It's a good fight, but I think. I think it's just a fight between two prospects. I think Nina versus Dern is, I think, is a higher level, higher-ranked fight. I don't know if these, I don't, I wouldn't even say those guys are prospects anymore. They're both like four or five and O in the UFC. Well, I guess, yeah, I guess not, prospects might be like a lot of war. I guess they're getting their kind of shine on a big card, you know, rather. Yeah.

Yeah, but I think, I think this is Dern, but either way, you can't lose, but. And I, we don't, we don't know what, like, what, Alex said, this is Nina's first fight back. I have no idea how she's going to look. I think she's just bump her up one fight over Alvi and Marquez. Because one was the last time me and I answered her fault? Was that she lost to Suarez? Oh my God. She's returning before Tatiana, and she had a baby.

You hate to see it. That area of the body recovers faster than a neck injury, I guess. Sure does. But Tatara's insane she wants to come back this. She wants to come back this. It took a while for cool Alex to kind of think about that like oh yeah I'm lagging I'm lagging here you're like your gears were going yeah I guess yeah Dr. Lighten's correct

Dr. Huyden's talking about coming back this summer if you guys had to book a fight for Tatiana Suarez's return who would you give her let me look at the rankings did they keep her in here she's still in the rankings I don't know for Suarez I would give her someone like out right near the 10, 10, 11 rank just because I'm in favor of coming back slowly

not jumping right into the deepest end. Yeah, I don't think she's going to want that though. Yeah, well, fighters that they want to do it. They go, oh, I'll fight Godzilla, you know? That's what they'll say. I'll fight for free in the parking lot right now. That's not the best thing to do though.

If she's like if she is the, let's say, I'll put her four. Let's treat her like she's the fourth fighter, ranked fighter. And let's, who would you match her up with? Whoever number three is. Yon? She's already got a fight. Then Yonna. Don't hate it.

Yonah, that's the one to do. Don't hate it. I think Marina or Yowna, or if they wanted, if McKenzie Dern wins against Nina. That's another fun fight. Because McKenzie Dernsey sitting in 11 right now, that would be 10, Casey. So that would fall right into your scenario. The fighter, I think, is going to be so good. I forget her name.

She just beat up Olivia Sousa. What was her name? She was like a 25 or came down on 15. God dang, she is good. I forgot. I forgot her name. Santos? Talia Santos.

Is that it? No, let me find out. I'm looking it up right now. Amanda Lemos. Amanda Lemos. Oh, yeah. She's a savage. Yeah, she is.

That, when I've seen her fire a couple of times, I get the same type of feeling when, when, when, when, when, um, way Lee kind of after her, after her first, after her first couple of fights in UFC, I'm like, okay, that woman is going to be fighting. I don't know if she's going to be champ, but she'll be fighting for the belt. And I feel the same way for her. Like, that girl, like, yeah, as long as she can make that weight cut safely, she looks. Incredible. Yeah, she just failed. She just lost two years to her Ysada, which is unfortunate. All right.

Last question from the YouTube, not YouTube, from the site, before we go to the YouTube comments. Patricio Pitbull, Tristan Gnett. Hypothetically, if Patricio Pitbull ever makes the jumps to the U.C. as a featherweight contender, who would you match him up against as the first opponent? Would you give him a title shot off the rip? I would do it, making the, making the exceptions to the rules. due to how dominant he has been.

Yeah, whoever's the champion at 1.45, Pitbull fights right away, right away. Yeah, if Pitbull came to the UFC, absolutely. He fights for the title. And right now, like in my unofficial worldwide rankings, pit bull is the best featherweight in the world. Above Okinawka, above Okinawai, above Holloway. That doesn't mean Volcanozky and Holloway can't beat Pitbull,

but if we ranked them right now, I have Pitbull is the best featherweight in the freaking world right now. and he's possibly a 35 or the guy says he's a 35 hour i gotta see it though he says it yep title shot right away don't care who it's against or if they want to just do or if they don't want to do that if they want to give him the like a contender series first don't hate holloway if he's not champion just because those guys were like the champions for so long

or if josie all wants to move back to 145 or fight or and fight patricio put ball make it happen because Our colleague Guillermo Cruz did one of those like fighter interviews fighter thing. And like Pitbull interviewed Aldo when they were both champions in 145. Man, make it happen. Yeah, Pitbull does fight with a belt. Yeah, definitely like a former champ like Otto or Holloway. I agree.

Just because the name value. Whoever is the highest ranked featherweight in the world that is not fighting for the title, that is free should fight for pit bull. In the U.S. Here we go. going to the comments now. Oops, fix that. Lucas Baca on the YouTube comments. Do you think Holland stands a chance against Vittori?

Alex? Sure. I mean, Hans, he's a savage. I mean, like you said, he went 5 in 0 last year. I mean, do I think he gets it done this weekend? No, I think Vittori wins, but at the same time, like, of course, Hawn stands a chance. I just think Vittori is angrier.

I think he's got so much more pent up. He's just so frustrated. and I can't blame the guy. I mean, gosh, he's just been dealt like a shit hand lately with all the opponents. And you know what? And Holland, I feel like his aspirations are different than Vittori too. Holland just wants to get in there and just bang, right?

Like, it's just wherever it goes, it goes to a title, it goes to a title. If not whatever, we're just having a good time. But Vittori, I just feel like has those more long-term aspirations that I think he's just a little bit more driven, in my opinion. Marvin Vittory has two emotions, annoyed and rage. Yeah. He has no middle ground. I think Marvin Tory wins.

Could Kevin Holland win? Sure. I just think Marvin Tore is a huge middleweight, and Kevin Holland is a tiny middle weight. Yeah, Marvin Tories, yeah, I just think Marvatori wins, but Kevin Holland's an awesome high-action fighter. Casey? I give Holland a better chance. Like I said earlier, I give Holland a better chance of beating Vitori. than I did of him beating Brunson.

Marvin Vintory's win over Jack Kermanston was super eye-opening for me. I thought Jack Kermanson was going to kind of dominate that fight just because he had been preparing for five rounds. Mar-Vitory was on the card, but he got the last-minute switch. Marvin Tories went over Jack Kermanston was very impressive to me. That kind of, yeah, it was an eye-opening fight. Vittori's great. And he's just filled with hate.

I don't... Do these Do these fighters that are just filled of anger? Do these guys ever win the championship? Do they ever really like... Well, yeah, I'm just talking about this fight specifically. Oh, this fight. I just feel like that hits a wall eventually.

Sure. I think he'll calm down once they start to go his way. Yeah, I think what Alex said is, because he's just... Because remember he was like, Carl Robeson fight fell out, and then Carl Robeson missed weight, and then he was booked against Darren Till,

and then Darren Till fell out. So, like, Marvin Tori is kind of the unlucky fighter for, like, because something's always happening to his opponent, and I think it just gets pissed. But he did say, like, when Roberson missed weight the second, when they, because Roberson missed weight the second time, when they rebooked it, and Marvon Tori was, like, getting his medicals done, and Sean Shelley came in and, like, tiptoed in, and they're like,

and he's like, Marvin, I'm going to tell you something. And Marvin's like, I'm fine, man, like, as long as we can fight. So if he says he's cool, then whatever. I've never personally seen Marvin Tori even killed unless he wins a fight. It's us Italians. We're hot-headed. It's just it's in our blood. That is true.

I didn't say that. You said it. I said it. I'm allowed to say it. You're going to say it. All right. This is the big question. Here we go.

Big question. Are you ready? How under, from Cynthia Vance in the YouTube commentation. How underwhelming was the release of the Vannum uniforms? There's literally nothing different about. about it from the Reebok look and deal. All right.

You guys, take it away. Venom uniforms. I think Venom played it. I think they played it safe for the first round. I think that we'll see more iterations maybe later on. And I'm also, this one's going to get me a tech, but I like that everybody looks uniform. I think it really legitimizes the look of the sport outside of like the tapout arrow

where everyone just assumed like everybody wearing like a tapout or that kind of crap all the sponsorships everywhere just looks like, you know, dog fighting. So I like the uniforms. Sue me, I'm sorry. But I think, you know, they played it safe. They didn't want it to be like too much of a juxtaposition from the reback deal so that we're going to kind of see kind of fade away from it. And then I think hopefully Venom can kick it up enough as far as like interest goes.

10.10 use of the word juxtaposition. Fantastic. Casey, we know your thoughts. You hate it. Uniforms suck. But if you want to go hard on the pain on the venom deal. If you want better fighter pay You got to get rid of the uniforms

That controls all the sponsorship money That puts all in the sponsorship money that is out there That goes now to the UFC to put on the mat So this whole oh we don't want the fighters looking like NASCAR Well dang mat looks like a NASCAR Looks like a NASCAR vehicle so that's BS So yeah if you want better fighter pay get rid of uniforms And as far as how they look

I don't care uniforms suck But I don't think This isn't a team This isn't a team sport We're not This isn't the Celtics or some other The Red Sox I don't know

I'll quote Red Sox The Red Sox The Patriots No there is Like that's what makes I don't know That's what makes That's why

I got into combat sports Because there's so many stories So many different looks And the fact that they're wearing uniforms Sucks And they can call them fight kits All they want But they're uniforms

But the fact about them getting paid less shouldn't have anything to do with uniforms. That's just the UFC's fault. However, they want to structure their uniforms and pay them higher. Hey, cool, now everybody wins. But the sponsorship money out there goes to the UFC then. So I'm manscape and I have, you know, $50,000. It's like, well, I have to give to the UFC now. I can't give it to a fighter.

And, you know, because I want my name in the UFC broadcast. but I can't put it across their butt now so I have to pay the UFC to put it on a post All right regardless of pay because we all agree fighters should be paying more just the aesthetics more fangs needs more fangs

So just the aesthetics of the fight kit Alex you don't hate them Casey you hate them I'm going to say I am so indifferent to how the UFC fight kids look do I want colorful crazy things sure would love it love uh rising and bellator gives these uh gives like them all the fun things to do but if they're not there i'm still gonna watch uh fight kids don't isn't to be all end all for me um yeah i'm very indifferent uh do they look dumb they look boring

yeah look boring sure he looked very boring but i'm not banging my head against the door just But I will take the Vennam, I will take the boring if the UFC gets, if the fighters get more pay for sure. That's the most important thing. But that's neither here nor there. Oh, yeah. I mean, if Vennam was paying no random fighter, no $20,000 to wear a boring outfit, cool, whether or not. So. Yeah.

Thank you for your question. Mr. Vance, recover. Yeah, we think about the fangs. Does any more fangs call, Alex? since you love them so much since he love uniforms. Thanks. I just think

Maybe a little rattle. The UFC is at a pivotal point. MMA is at a pivotal point of reaching a lot more fans. Listen, I'm going to mute you. Switch places with me. And I just think in order to gain, you know, legitimacy, like I said, like it just,

it's got to look. I understand it's all optics. But where does this come from, though? Where does this theory come from that people would like M. People would like cage fighting better if they're wearing a, uniform.

I don't think it's that they're going to like it better. I think they might give it a chance. It doesn't look like a bunch of randos with some stickers slapped on their butts, like you said, just fighting in a cage. There's just the illusion of what MMFighters used to look

like, what they look like now. The uniforms, it adds legitimacy. It just does. Everybody looks neat and tidy and clean. Like I said, one man's opinion. One man's opinion. Don't shoot me. I didn't say anything.

That's literally an opinion you have, Alex. Yeah. I get the people, I get the arguments for uniforms. Like the NFL, you can be sponsored by whatever you want, but you have to wear what Nike on the field. The difference is it's a team sport, and those athletes are so popular that they're going to make a ton of money not playing. Plus, they can wear whatever cleats they want.

Like Michael Jordan has to wear whatever at the time, the uniforms were made by with the little like say they were made by rebuck the chicago bulls uniform would have the reboc logo or adidas or whatever but he could wear jordan sneakers because you also famously when he had like the flag he put the flag over his shoulder to cover the logo or like which obviously was a whole big thing or um RG3, I think, like, drew over the logo. I think he was Under Armour and he, like, drew over the Nike logo and got fined a whole bunch of money. Or Cam Newton was sponsored by Under Armour, and he had like a, he had a Under Armour mouthguard that would attach to his mask. And the attachment had a big Under Armour logo right in the center of the mask, which also got him fined, which is a whole other argument for the NFL. Cynthia Vance, get a new avatar. You got a new haircut.

You got the pink hair. Come on. This is all photo. Get with it, Cynthia. All right. Real fast. We got to fly through these. I got to set up for the next screen. How well do you think Juan Archelaida will perform against Jan Al Jolsen-Hagan, etc? Fantastic. Don't know if he beats any of them, but would love to see any of those fights. Everything Jose said, fantastic. He is up there as long as long with Pettis, Mix, and Maga Head, Maga Mada. They're all great phantom weights.

And James Gallagher. Oh, yeah, and got her. Next. Oh, geez. Love all those fights. I'd probably figure the other three over him, but your action at Chavez versus, oh, God. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. versus Ernst & Silva. Didn't see that coming.

I think Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is not a good boxer. And if Anderson Silva is going to fight and beat any boxer, he could probably beat Chavez, Jr. I still heavily favor Chavez Jr. I think Chavez Jr. has a famous name, and he punched people. That's it. I think Chavez Jr. is a decent boxer. He's a decent boxer. He would beat the crap out of me without even trying.

So he is a decent boxer. And I'm happy Anderson Silva is getting a nice little payday properly, and it's going to be cool. It's going to be cool seeing him fight. Not a big fan of Chavez, Jr. I'm not a fan of him, but I'm not a fan of him. I don't, I think, I think, I think he's a human, compared to me, you, everyone else on the side, yeah, he beat our ass, but in terms like the boxing world, I think he's a little overrated. I think that Canella fight when he fought Canella was a joke. Anyway, am I the only person who thinks the U.C. Venom gear looks like Power Rangers-ish?

It does. When you put them next to each other, like the yellow, the green, the blue, it's very bright. It's very Power Rangers. I love Power Rangers. I love. Only sure, but. Yeah, and they were a team. The Power Rangers never beat up each other.

They were Rangers. I bet they beat up each other every once in a while I haven't seen every episode Casey what's your favorite iteration of the Power Rangers The I don't The early ones Mighty Morphan Yeah

Yeah that's the way to go Though when they did the movie I didn't like how they took the Gorilla Zorg out And replaced it with a frog That was weak Week What the hell's a guerrilla Zorg

Oh Come on Alex really So all of the Power Rangers had a bag with a with a with a with a with a with a with a with a animal or a creature and when they when they held them out and they turned they could get a robot zorg they could like control and then every single it was like every single time they would fight this big evil whatever and they would be losing and then they could take all their zorgs and combine them to make megazoid and they would win and in the tv show they had a gorilla and a in the movie they swapped it out for a frog

and I was like this is dumb we got shit anyway I think he just made up all those words yeah nah

with worms and zipsorps Ivan ooze was awesome man also Power Rangers has one of the best theme songs ever

sing it I'm a power ranger power ranger yo ranger of power RIP it's most of the

original Power Rangers too I'm pretty sure the black power ranger had like three fingers. Like he was missing a finger.

Oh, my. And then the Yellow Ranger died. I can't remember how. But in the movie, she was very young. When the movie, the new Yellow Ranger, played by Becky G., had like a bunch of Easter eggs like playing homage to her. It was very cool. All right.

That is the Tales of Power Rangers. I like this question. Thoughts of Macy, Barbara, Miranda Maverick matchup. UC trying to replace Barber with another promising prospect. Alex, thoughts on Barbara. Yeah, they're pushing Miranda. They're pushing her heart, aren't they? They're just like, hey, whatever, let's keep going with Miranda.

This actually is kind of interesting. I mean, they're both kind of that same mindset, I feel, like, where they're just, like, so young and they're just so full of ambition. They're just ready to go out there and freaking kill it. So two of those, looking forward to that one. dude this is such a f you to macy barber having to fight's miran marvell coming off a loss because like man she's probably facing the top prospect right now as far as flyweight in the UFC and barbara coming off a loss i think off of getting a butt kicked by grotto and she might even have a tougher fight

versus maverick good lord poor macy barber i mean i mean i know she talked a big game but uh some Someone in her management needs to slow it down with her a little bit. And that's a tough one. But I love the fight. I love the fight for Maverick. And, yeah, I can make Maverick a bit of a – she can go over the fans, you know. Make her star. It's tough because if you watch that Grosso fight, Grosso's clearly the more polished fighter all around.

But every time Macy Barber threw a punch, I thought she could have knocked Alexa Grasso's head clean off. throws those things hard and fast Miranda Maverick might be one of the few fighters in that division that can match Macy Barber's physical strength and power she's so they're both so big for that division so I can't believe

they made this fight but yeah this is I mean I like the fight yeah it's fun fight it's gonna be interesting man but it's it's a fight that if Barbara loses though as far that's that's gonna suck for her I mean Maver would have lost

Maver can handle this loss. If she loses, no, it's fine in her career. But for Barbara, though. Miranda Maverick losing, she would have lost to Roxanne, who has fought and beat and lost to everybody, like the definition of a veteran. I think she has the most, someone said she might have the most wins

in the history of women's, like, MMA, in like the current era, like not dating back. Oh, oh, maybe, maybe. I would not, I, they said that, and I was like, she might. She has, like, 40-something, 50-something, fights. You don't really see that in women's MMA. And then she locks to Grasso,

who was in the prime, a physical prime of her career, former Strawway. And now Miranda Maverick, a prospect, that's three completely different fighters and three completely different parts of that career that Macy Barber would have lost to so. But love the fight. It's not a pay-per-view, right? It's like a fight night. I think it's bite night, yeah. I hope it's like a co-main event on a fight night.

I hope it's, I hope it gets that type. A push. Yeah, depending on what else is on the card for sure. All right. Two more questions before I got to jump off. Thoughts on Nina answers long away to return to the Octagon. How big of a factor will a pregnancy be and long layoff play in return against McKenzie Dern? I have absolutely no idea how much of a factor of pregnancy will play in this fight.

Dr. Casey? Casey? You were asking the wrong crowd. Who knows? I'm assuming Nina is a professional and she would not accept this fight unless she was going to walk into that octagon at her full potential. And not, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I assume it would not hurt her.

How have fighters done coming off pregnancies? McKenzie lost right away, but she fought a man to Keyboss. Which I think she loses regardless, but who knows? I don't remember how Sarah McMahon, Alexis Davis, Juliana Paine looked great right away. I think it's case by case. Yeah, it is. It's case by case.

I don't think you can just group all. Yeah. Well, it's like fighters. Like Tiago Santos said when he had that knee injury and then he came back, he was a little more cautious and he couldn't, you know, Octagon like layoff and then you see Dominicruz come back and beat T.J. Dilleyshaw right away. You see Korean zombie take two years off, come out and knock Dennis from Nita's right away. So case by case.

Oh, but more than anything, I think this is absolutely great matchmaking by the UFC because the UFC obviously loves McKinsey Dern. And with Nina's ranking and Dern coming off a pretty solid victory of Gingeroba, it can catapult her in the top five. And this may be, it could possibly be, you know, not the. need an answer off who was no number number five ranked fighter when she left it could she could be this could be a very diminished version of her it could be it may not be but it could be so this is a good chance for durn to know to jump super high in the rankings versus a ranked fighter who may not be at fighting at her full potential and don't forget about mom strength you have a kid all of a sudden you're lifting cars off of babies so i mean they're both mom so doesn't apply in this case but all right and last question it's more more of a comment. Gee. You know, have a better,

you know, do better, Jet. Jet, Jet Metz, crystals are for losers. What? Jet match, what define losers?

What isn't for losers? Jet needs a hobby. Yeah. Jet, get outside, man. Take a walk, you know? Take a walk. Yeah,

I have this band button I can push any moment. Yeah, you're, you're, you're, you're, thin ice, jet.

They're nice jet What kind of name is jet No, that's a cool name actually I've packed away all my crystals And I forgot I had that giant Easter egg looking one I got us in heavy Thoughts on Angela Hill

Amanda Hebas matchup That's an awesome straw white fight Awesome fight Awesome awesome fight Tough fight This fight freaking rules And I hate this fight so much I hate hate this fight

Oh That sucks at one of them have to No guys one of them has to lose. Well, not really. Because it's a sport and we're all equals and you'll win them in the ring and you'll lose them in the ring

as the one late, great macho man, Randy Savage, once said, love this fight, someone's got to win, someone's got to lose. We'll make our predictions later. But who's got the better laugh? He was. Amanda. By and my own.

Wow. Wow. All right. But that's like saying like, no, like Amanda has the best, but like Angela has the second best like you're disappointed at it's a pound for pound best laughs in MMA fighting so no punching just laughing is who wins

loser can't laugh they just have to stare at each other and first one that laughs loses loser becomes one of those loser becomes the person that doesn't laugh they just say that's so funny that's so funny you ever watch scrubs either you do

back in the day one of the characters dated someone and the big knock on her was she never laughed she would just go that's so funny that's just so and he's like no like they would watch they watched a movie and she's like sitting there watching that's just so funny like she never laughed but think about that sometimes anyway that's the stakes sorry angela and Amanda is this new music kind of it's her it's her out music going this is our out music taking it home anyway Casey what you got to say before we done off. Do I got anything to say? No, you know, just be good to each other, you know,

wash your hands, wear a mask, go get vaccinated, you know, and then life would be normal, and then we can all just hug random people on the streets again. I'm waiting. We're so close. We're so close. Yeah, Alex, you're going to get a hug for me. Don't hug me. I love social distancing. Alex, what do you got to say? I got nothing. You know me. I never want to assume anyway.

Find this on spot. Go ahead. Go watch. If you guys see Bad Trip, I feel like I'm the last person. Yes. Dude, I cried. I cried. I cried so many times.

That's all. Because of laughter or sadness. Oh, laughter. There's, they, dude, the scene in the mall where they just did impromptu musical. That was like my dream. I was like, oh my God. I think this is like, I've always just wish a musical order to just break out around me. Almost.

And the guerrilla scene? Oh, yeah, okay, you can't talk about that. Oh, the guerrilla scene. Yeah. It's Eric Andre's new show. It's a new movie. It's, um, it's an excellent watch. It's so good.

He's just going around doing tomfoolery in public, right? Yeah. But it's so good heart it too. It's got a good heart. Like, it's got a good feel. It's not, yeah, it's like, I feel good. You felt good after. watching it.

Anyway, go watch that. Go read some books. Oh, yeah, read. Go read. Yeah, read. Actually, read a book. There you go. Go to a scholastic book fair once in your life.

Find this on Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube. All the stuff. All the podcast stuff. We'll be back next Wednesday. Stick around for Bellator, Virtual Media Day, and all sorts of fun. Tomorrow's UFC Media Day. We'll have the preview show.

We'll have the pre-fight Q&A. We'll have Bell to our videos that Alex in case we'll work on. We'll have UFC stuff that Mike and I in case we'll work on. Until the next week, we're out. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.