MMA Fighting - TUF Hang: McGregor vs. Chandler TUF 31 Reaction | Ep. 6

Episode Date: July 5, 2023

Alexander K. Lee and E. Casey Leydon react to Episode 6 of The Ultimate Fighter 31 on TUF Hang, which goes live on YouTube every Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT/4 a.m. IST immediately following the conclusion of TUF 31. Watch the show on YouTube: https://youtu.be/e0owDCDalI0 Follow Alexander K. Lee: @alexanderklee Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekcSubscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two,

Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. And we are, we're going to have to edit that intro, I think, because Con McGregor's triumphant voice at the end is not fitting the tone of what we have seen,

what we have watched through now six episodes. of the Old Fighter season 31. Thanks everyone for joining us on the sixth episode of Tough Hang. I am one of your co-hosts, as always, Alexander Kaylee. Your usual co-host, Connor Burke's G.C., a little under the weather. Unfortunately, will not be joining us this evening. But producer extraordinaire E. Casey Leiden is with us, as always.

Hi. I'm happy to also provide some co-hosting duties, which you really do anyway, which you really do anyway. Episode six, break your nose. That was an episode title Fairly somewhat appropriate It came up a couple of times I think this episode

I want to talk about some alternate titles later I'm enjoying finding the titular line in the episode It's exciting It's exciting It is yeah Well there was a couple where we were left wanting And it was just disturbing to like why And then we were left pondering why did they do this

Although But as people can see I'm in the I'm in the GC cave here GC is just off camera He's puking his guts out Because he celebrated freedom way more than I did. Yeah.

You know, listen, I'm in Canada. So we just did one day. We had Canada, July 1st, and we just celebrated politely and with, you know, responsible drinking. But in the U.S., I know you guys go first, second, third, probably 31st. Probably started the 31st, right? It's freedom year. Yeah.

It's really freedom year. Yeah. The celebration starts all over again tomorrow. So congratulations, America, on another year. Well done. You did it again. We did it. We did it. We did it. But if you hear really really loud retching in the background, that's just GC on the couch over there, just being completely sick. So, yeah, it'll just be the two of us today.

And it's a shame GC's missing out, Casey, because this was quite an episode. I think the first time I've really been surprised in a while because, well, listen, we will get to the shove. That's what they should have called this episode yet, the show. The show, yeah. Yes, we'll get to the push hurt around the world. the most hyped moment well before the when they were previewing the show but let's talk about Kurt Hollabaw pulling off an incredible upset

and comeback against Lee Hammond the top lightweight prospect on the show probably. Conn McGregor's teammate protege dare I say it was looking good Casey Lee Han was looking good through a round out grappling

an older more veteran guy who's known to have good grappling skills but second round comes along and he just leaves an opening. Kurt Hollaba, a lot more experience, locks in a guillotine choke, and it didn't take too long for Lee Hammond to tap out. So, Casey, let me get your thoughts on the fight.

Michael Chandler's team now 6-0, and it's not looking great for Team McGregor with two fights remaining into quarterfinals, I have to say. I would say this was, for me, the best episode of the season. Because the shock factor. Up until that point, it was a very run-the-mill episode, no blah blah blah but coming into this once they did all the fight announcements i was like oh i thought i thought um channeler's team would go and defeated but this was the fight i was like

oh this one's going to be the tough one i really thought hamill was going to win this fight um and it seemed everything was because the the they didn't explain how the matchups got made right they were just kind of made right in the first they evaluate they evaluated they were asked to evaluate the fighters on the first episode. So ranked them from one to four. And then after the teams were made, they, it was kind of kept secret. And then after the teams were made, they revealed who was one, who was two, who was three, who was four, who was four, who was four, who was four, and then one would face the four guy on the other team. Two would face the three guy on the other team. So it kind of was explained, but not in a, but they didn't explain why, why we think

Lee Hammond is our best lightweight and why we think Kurt Hollabawbaugh is our four-th lightway. They didn't, they didn't go. They didn't go to depth. And Connor said after, actually, that they thought him and John Kavanaugh actually thought Kurt Hollabaw was arguably the number one lightweight of Michael Chandler's, but he was, he was quote unquote, fourth ranked. Yeah, fourth ranked going to this, the lowest ranked. But I don't think there's a lot of separation between Bruce Vobbers and Kurt Hollabaugh when they were doing their evaluating, frankly. But again, I wasn't in there. Like you said, they didn't break it down, so we don't really know. Yeah, well, fair enough. It felt like this was the episode, this was the matchup that, at least for Connor and SPG, that's really all they really cared about. is Lee Hammond getting a, I think, probably the most favorable matchup in the in the seedings or whatever you want to call it. And this whole season, for at least for Connorside, seemed to be set up for Lee Hammond to win this fight at least. And I was shocked.

I was so shocked. I think the first round kind of went as I expected to go. When was the submission about halfway through the second? About halfway through. Dana White said something about like the. after they didn't they never give a time on the show for some reason time of the stoppage but daniel white said afterwards he was like less than two minutes away from maybe when probably it it felt about halfway to the point was i wasn't even looking at the screen when it happened to be

honest i was actually looking down because i thought okay he's going to run this out um leham is not good enough to i think finished kerobba caraba is a tough vet but um i figure it was going to be a pretty easy not easy but pretty easy to judge 2018 type of score and um yeah i just looked up and i saw that he was guillotine, I was like, whoa, and then boom, he tapped. And that reaction from Connor, that kind of going to bending over, folding over, and kind of on the ground, I think that was one of the most genuine emotions reactions that we've seen on this show this year, this season. That was, I think he was truly shocked that Lee Hammond lost up as I was. And I mean, yeah, I think I wrote three times in my notes. I was like, what? What? No, what?

No way. No way. Because for the first time and for the first time in the whole season, I feel we actually got a true prospect versus vet fight. This is like, this is a true prospect versus vet. Kurt Holliba is a guy. I don't think he was ever going to make it back to the UFC on his own just by winning on the regional scene. And Lee Hammond clearly was a guy that's been training since he, he said he's been going to SPG. since he's like 12 or 14. Like this was set up for him to at least make the finals of the show, honestly. And shocking. I was shocked. I was shocked.

And yeah, Prospect versus Vet. And he truly won by just experience. I don't think I don't think Carole was the better fighter. But he was the better fighter for that 30 seconds or that 10 seconds to get that, to find that little mistake. and they did a great job in the replay too with showing Hammond. We just kind of stuck his head out underneath and just left it there just for one second too long and that's all it took. And man, that's MMA.

The first person to make a mistake loses the fight. And yeah, good episode, good episode. Yeah, Lee Hammond, I think the second youngest guy on the show, Kurt Hollowah, the oldest fighter on the show at 36 years old. Yeah, that's crazy. A decade of age between them. Hammond, undefeated as a pro so far. Extensive amateur career.

Again, the McGregor Association. With all the hype, too, remember we had all the controversy before the show with McGregor supposedly getting his guys on the show and bumping off some other fighters. You got to think, well, these guys got to be worth it. And Lee Hammond's one of them. Lee Hammond, you know, he just fought for,

he fought for Bellator. He did well there. I think he just had the one fight, but it looked good in it. But listen, Casey. They even had this shot of Dana going, before the fight starts, looking at him and going, Oh, look at that guy's frame.

This guy is like big. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, it was all set up for Hammond. And man, they got me. I was shocked. I was truly was. Casey, you know all about this.

Not to date you, but you know all about this. You were a bit older than your opponent in your undefeated career. And you got that grown man strength. And you got that grown man strength because you know what? Because you got grown man problems, as Michael Chandler put it. This is one of the time. really liked that scene. I really enjoyed that scene. That was good. There's a bunch of alternate titles I feel like we had one of the it should it. Break your nose is okay. I mean, at least they said it in

the episode. Grown man problems. I don't know if that would have given away the results. But yeah, Chandler goes, Chandler's hypo speeches, he's stepping in a cage with a real man with real bills to pay with gyms that he owns. A grown man with grown man problems, grown man ups and downs. And I thought, oh, this is kind of setting you up. I thought it was like setting up to lose. Like, like, okay, they're just saying like Kurt Hollabogne. They're just giving him his respect. They're saying he's tough. His video, which again, we have to get to, which is very important. We got to talk with the tech first. But his video, he looked like he's living a pretty happy, comfortable life. He's got his 20 acres or whatever. He's got a beautiful wife. He's got 40 farm animals.

Five kids, I think. Raiden, Jaden, Jaden, Jaden, Leiden, Leiden, Hayden. The girl's names, but the boy is all rhyming, which even he admitted was like, was confusing. So I was like, why would you do this? He was like, that was a bad idea. But we're stuck with it. And most important to our discussion of the ongoing pet curse, seven dogs. Seven. Proudly stated.

I've got set. They made sure to, the editing team made sure to include that line, made sure to include, oh, by the way, he has seven dogs. They're watching it. They're watching this. And they're, they're recutting this to. make us look dumb. When we saw, you, you messaged me before the episode was over. As soon as I heard it. Yes. And I was like, oh, he's dead.

Kurt Hollabas toast. They showed two of them, two huge, adorable dogs. He also has cats and donkeys. It was all kind of pets. But our point is, leading into this, fighters who had their pets shown four, sorry, oh, and four fighters who had mentioned, specifically dogs, they had dogs. last episode we did not see a dog on either side so we kind of just put that remove that from the data but now dogs are back in pull 4-7 so i say the curse is broken k-cd-you and i had a little discussion you say you say no you say that our data is still kind of solid and there's a way to interpret yeah well clearly clearly it's six and under if you have if you have six dogs or less there's no way you win

seven dogs plus you win you dominate so yeah so i i i for for for for For time reasons, we didn't really get into the details of how many dogs you needed in the early episodes. But yes. But I guess it's time to you can reveal six dogs or less. No good. Seven dogs and more. You got it. I'm sorry.

I didn't finish my graphic. I had entire graphic where. So just picture, you know, a standard graphic. And then it's going to be backwards now because of pointing at the camera. A standard graphic. And then a probability of losing going up, you know, one dog, two dogs. It's going up, up, up. And then it peaks at two, I think.

And then if you add three, four, five, six, seven, then the arc starts going down. You got pretty standard graph guys. I'm sure you can picture what I'm talking about. It's math. It's just math. It's just math. So once you get seven, I mean, you're actually, at that point, your probability of winning is like super high. So again, in Ozzy, late Lee Hammond, he was toast for the beginning.

He didn't realize it. He was done. Seven dogs. So Kurt Hollabot, seven dogs, maybe the biggest underdog on the show. again, depending who you ask, apparently, McGregor and his team thought very highly of him.

They didn't really see this as an upset. My note is so funny. I just wrote, I wrote, dog, dog, Kurt's so going to lose. And you're not wrong. Everything was set up for Hammond to win. We could talk about more about the fight

in a bit. We should get to The Shove. Yeah. Which was weirdly preceded by, I'm glad McGregor is supportive. He was very, very supportive of, of course, his boy. He was kind of saying it was a flawless performance, which I thought was a bit much.

He's like, I thought he was almost too supportive in the sense that he still lost. And he was talking to him like he just got robbed of a bad decision or something. Just, I don't know. I know you're saying, yeah, it clearly wasn't a flawless performance. Yeah, be supportive, of course, but don't be delusional. Then again, if anyone has seen how McGregor handles a lot of his losses, perhaps this was accurate. I mean, he's been claiming he could, you know, I have the tools to be Habeen or Mega Meadow for the last like four years. So make of this what you will.

But let's get to it. They get in the cage. Obviously, McGregor pretty heated. His teams down 0 and 6. His protege just lost. Chandler's in there talking some stuff, really just talking back to McGregor. And then they get into it. And then we get a face shove.

You guys have seen this already. Again, the clip went all over the place. We wrote stories about it, you know, in a lead-up to the show. Dana, the one thing that I think was added this time, I think that we didn't see was data. Whoa, whoa, whoa. A bit of a trot around the cage to get in and break things up. One of the, I'll say just for the fight to say,

one of the reasons we, I think, you thought Casey, he was just going to ride it out is, you know, we do tend to look at how much time is left in the show. And we're like, if you're like me, I was like, oh, boy, there's like maybe seven, like eight, seven minutes left with the fight's still going. So Lee's going to ride this up. for another couple of minutes and then we need time we need like a full five minutes deal with the shove but by the time it got to the shove there was actually only like two minutes or

something left in the episode so it was really strange kisi go ahead break it down what did you think of again what the moment that this whole season has really been built around i will say this now that we have more context of why the shove happened it was actually more intense i thought i i i was expecting more of a kind of like oh they're doing for the camera trying to build up a fight But honestly, with the loss of Hammond, the shocking loss that Hammond had, and kind of the emotions that were in that cage at the time, it actually did feel much more authentic. And I would say, I don't know if it's scary the right word, but I feel like there was real intensity in there. And yeah, it was actually, it was more real than I thought it was going to be, if that makes sense. Wow, you really enjoyed this episode.

What do you think of Chandler's reaction? Again, we should keep, we should keep mind, of course, is edited. We don't know if there was more back and forth after the shove. But all we get is Chandler kind of going like, whoo, because he's kind of jacked up, just like he's being professional. Obviously, he's not going to rush across the cage. Just like tackle Connor. Yeah, Connor takes off the suits.

Did that satisfy? Did that make you kind of, you know, want to make sure that this fight happens? Because I think in the last couple weeks, we've sort of resigned ourselves. Man, this fight is either not happening this year or never happening. Are you kind of like, man, are you back in now, Casey? You really need to see this. I never needed to see them fight, honestly. The fight makes sense.

Cool. I'm not like, I'm like, oh, they have to fight now because of this 10-second drama they had. But I did like, I do like moments when we see fighters, like guys like Chandler. I'm assuming Chandler is the type of guy that, and this isn't a bad thing, but he's never gotten in a fight outside of the cage. or outside of any sort of training, training room. I just don't seem that type of guy. And when Connor pushed him, I think he said, it's like,

hey, if you want to do this, we'll do it now. You know, I always kind of like those moments when prize fighters become like, you know what, eff it. Let's fight. And I felt like that moment Chandler was that guy, like, oh, we're going to fight now. Let's do this. I don't care about contracts, you know? And I don't know if Connor would have was truly like wanted to fight right then, but I did feel

Chandler was like, yeah, we'll do this right now. Take the cameras away. Let's do this right now. I don't know. I'll do this in an empty parking lot right now, you and me. And I do feel there was that type of intensity there with Chandler. He wasn't going to be like, oh, I'm a double leg you right now and fight you in the cage. Like, no, okay, we're going to fight.

All right, let's do this. We'll get our mouthpiece. Let's do this. And I liked him. I liked it. I know it doesn't build up any more excitement for me toward the fight that's not that's never going to happen but in that moment it was real it was authentic and yeah it's it's it's rare for me it's rare to witness actually real emotions real reality on a reality show I like that aspect

as well I do I do think it felt for the first time this season something felt real something besides a fighter stories the fighter stories are lovely yeah yeah and certainly impactful between them and like the beef. But the stuff actually in the house. Yeah, yes, the beef and anything really happening in the house. Nothing has felt that important. Like the Brad Cotonna drama, nothing. Either there was nothing or they just didn't show us more,

but it looked like that got diffused pretty quickly or was never as big as an issue as they were sort of trying to present it. I'm trying to think there was some like a little, we saw like the last time there was any crap talk between cast members. It was like episode two. Like one of the, I think it was Mando where Landon was like trash talking one of the vets. And there's nothing. has come of that. That was like, again, a month ago now in episode terms. So we really haven't

gotten much real genuine drama. And this just did you know. In this episode I felt was, and I thought, I don't know, tell me, actually, I don't have a real good opinion on this, but the whole, they actually did bring up the fact that Connor isn't there for the way-ins. Yes, finally. They had to because I assumed he would be at the Lee Hammond way-in. Yeah. You would think so. He was not there. Not there at all. And then, you know, Chandler says this thing. You know, I'm here for, I'm here to show support. you know, blah, blah. And then Conner tries to, they let Connor defend himself,

but I didn't really understand his defense. You, I kind of went what? He was trying to say, like, I'm there in the training room. Like, I'm there before the way ends, before the fights. I'm there in the training. I'm there helping them cut weight. Like, I'm there, which we don't see that either. But we assume, you know, we assume he might be there.

So he's trying to say, like, I was there doing that. Just because you don't see me at the way in and you don't see me in the corner, It doesn't mean I'm not there. Like, I'm helping with all the work that goes into the fight. And I'm like, well, so is Chandler. Chandler's doing all that stuff too. And he's showing up the way in. And he's actually cornering a spider.

I couldn't believe he didn't corner him either. I couldn't believe he didn't show up the wayans. And I couldn't believe he did. Is he too good to put on a jersey? Like, is it he just has to, I don't understand. He wears the, I thought that for a moment too, but when they do the training's footage, he is wearing the tough uniform. So it's not like he wants to show up in his own.

stuff and he goes, well, I'm only wearing Connor fast or whatever and whatever, McGregor fast stuff. No, he wears a tough uniform and what were they doing the training. So, yeah. You know what, Athering? Can he wear the jersey? Can he wear the jersey? He should wear the jersey. That was so good. That's a good look.

I think so. Yeah. And to be in the corner with the suit? How could he not corner his boy? Like, that was shocking. It was maybe no this is good though this is good because to me Connor maybe maybe this is Connor knowing his limitations as a coach he maybe he goes you know I'm too emotional if I was like the true corner guy maybe that's why um I don't know let let but he's shouting he's shouting over them now

yeah yeah you hear you hear him more than anyone else too I know how's that helping I mean imagine if he was actually in the corner has he ever actually cornered a fighter like we're like in between rounds he's the guy going or one of the coach is in the corner go, okay, you need to do this. You got to keep your hands up. You need to put pressure on the guy. Like, he's never that guy as he? Or is he always just, is he commemorating just roams?

I want to say he did during his first stint on the ultimate fighter. I could be wrong. People in the comments, feel free to correct me. I want to say he did actual, like he was just a traditional coach. But that was, that show was like kind of while his, he hadn't quite become superstar God level fame, Connor. He was definitely a superstar by that point, but just hadn't reached that. He was MMA superstar, but not like...

Yes. Yeah, I got you. He was on the cusp of becoming this household name where even, again, my mother knows who Conn McGregor is. He wasn't quite there yet. So I guess there was still the element of, oh, I'm willing to do this stuff and on the show and I don't care. But he's so protective of his image now.

Yeah, I don't know if he wants to be seen in the trenches, in the corner. Again, he's not, you know, because training looks cool, right? If you're in your jersey, you're training, you're sparring, you look cool, right? He likes that. He's put the video, he shows this stuff on Instagram. But, like, you know, having to just sit in the corner with a water bottle in hand and a towel in your... Maybe he just doesn't like the optus of it. It's hard to say.

I don't know if there's a ring he wouldn't be allowed to corner, I'm trying to think, but I can't imagine why. So just not a great look, not a great look for McGregor. And I'm going to follow up in this, but kind of, I want to ask you first, Casey, who won the, who won the shove? Who won the shove exchange scene? I would say Connor won the shove. Oh.

And I'm saying this. Tell me, tell me, we. When I first saw the shove, I was like, oh, Connor's losing his composure. He's just losing control right now. He's letting his emotions take over. But then I thought of it more in terms of, you know, like in a basketball game or a baseball game when your team's down and your team needs some sort of emotional boost. This is what Connor does. So the manager will come out in a basketball game and just start yelling at the rep, go like blah, blah, blah, and basically deliberately get kicked out of the game.

or a baseball manager where, you know, shaking the, you know, like putting the dirt over the, you're right in the referee's face just asking to be thrown out. You're just asking you like, toss me, toss me. Yeah, yeah. It felt like that because I think he realized, hey, the guy that was supposed to win, just lost, we have a very good chance of going completely, completely, uh, big victory list. Victory list. Winless.

Winless. We have an opportunity. We have a good chance of going. winless now. And I think that was Connor losing his composure a bit, but also going, okay, this is going to hype my team up. And that was the first time all season where we got to see

teammates, with the other team, Chandler's team, start smack talking, Connor. You're like, oh, come on, let's go. You know? And that was good, because that was the first time, like, okay, these guys aren't, these guys are fighters. They're,

you know, like you rev them up and like, all right, all right, let's go. They'll brawl right now. And that was, like I said, like that moment actually felt real for a small, small moment for a reality show. And I really enjoyed it. And so that's why I say Connor won because I did, I do think that will boost his own team's energy. Because like maybe, you know, Connor doesn't show over the way ends.

I think it shows, you know, I'm not sure how much she's there for training. I think that's showing. But Connor kind of going and putting himself out there. at least for a moment, maybe his team goes like, all right, you know, that might give him enough motivation to make this season a bit more competitive. See, I was kind of with you.

Is that, oh, is that girl, sorry? No, I was with you. Well, listen, I was with you, until you mentioned that key point, because I liked the idea that he's trying to light under fire, a light of fire under his two remaining guys who's, Landon Kinonez at Lightweight

and Rico de Shullo at Banto, both, by the way. I don't believe he really exists. I don't know if that guy really exists. Which one? Rico? I see him in the promo at the beginning. I thought he won or he didn't win, but he was commenting on the rowing competition last time.

I think that's the only time he's been in the show. I have no idea. We saw it, by the way, Nate Jennerman's alive, apparently. Lee's roommate. We actually saw Nate talk. Oh, Nate's, I was like Nate Jennerman's back. Great, great. Yes, Landon Canones at lightweight, Rico de Shula at Bantam.

By the way, these are Connor's fourth ranked guys and both of them are facing Chandler's first ranked his first ranked lightweight in his first ranked Benjew, we'll get to that in a second. I was with you Casey until you mentioned the team Chandler guys smack talking McGregor because that's a bad place to be if you're McGregor. You can't really say it's a it's a

thing you can't win because if you talk back to them you're talking back to guys who are again supposedly beneath you status wise in the MA world. They're not in the UFC or sorry they were in the UFC they're no longer in the UFC. The UFC veterans some might say guys who couldn't quite cut it the first time around

and so you can't respond at the same time there's footage now of like Cody Gibson and Roosevelt Roberts and these guys talking smack at you and justifiably so because your team is 0 and 6 on national television

there's really no response walking away was really probably the best thing again that's just what we saw in what we saw in the final edit I do wonder if McGregor fired back I doubt it though. I think even he's kind of like, I just got to get out of here. I'm 0.6.

I got to go. I made my point. I got my shove in. I've talked my trash. Let's leave and let's, you know, let me go hang out with Lee. Let me go break this down for Lee and make him feel better.

Because, yeah, I think it was slight edge to Chandler just because his team, now his whole team is talking craft economy. And Chandler going over to, oh, McGregor's fighters. I'm sorry, he's your coach.

Oh, that was good. That was good. That is so mean. Thank you for bringing that up. That was good. That's so mean. That's such a two, two-handed shoving. That is a metaphorical two-handed shove in the chest, slap in the face.

That's good. That's why I do like it by the show because that's how Chandler kind of does his, his shit talk, his trash talk by doing that kind of like, I'm going to be so nice. I'm actually insulting you. Kind of like, oh, God. Oh, we all know people like that. They're the worst. they're the worst it's like it's okay but like you did good buddy and then they go to your friends like I'm sorry I'm sorry I got you know I'm sorry you got to deal with this guy sorry I deal this guy

like it's like it's like you you just come say it to my face just insult me come insult me don't don't go around me uh that is the chair in their way and there reminds me like if you're rolling in jitzu you're like rolling up a high level guy and they submit you like four times in one round then as round right the round ends they go good job buddy you did great I'm like, yeah, flawless performance. Flawless performance, Casey. Flawless performance.

I think we'll just touch and on a few news, little notes here. I think they made a huge mistake this year, Casey, not doing a proper draft. I know the U.S.C. veterans versus versus non-UFC prospects angle appeal to them.

They must have decided on that early and would decide to stick with it. It doesn't even make a lot of sense, given the coaches. It's not like either of the coaches. is like particularly new to the UFC. I guess Chandler you could say, but he's been in a name and MA for so long.

Like it's not even like this is the prospect coach versus the veteran coach. Like you don't have that aspect of it. Like it would work with like in O'Malley or something. And I know we always like we always say, think of O'Malley is younger than he actually is. But he still feels like fresh and like it feels like he could lead a team of proudy prospects.

The coach is the actual a prospect too? Is that what you're saying? Like relative relative. Like if you did like O'Malley versus who's a super veteran in Vantamweight that he could coach against and you actually fight. I don't. I don't know.

Again, him and Aljo might have worked. I don't know. But the point is like, the gimmick doesn't even, isn't even that interesting. And we've made fun of it many times. Like,

they just, we all know they mean UFC vet and non-USC prospect. It just looks ridiculous when you put it on screen. And also the whole point of, like, if you're going to have one benefit of having McGregor's guys on, is when you have that draft, you have that fun aspect of like,

oh, is McGregor going to take like his guy who we know isn't that great? like is he going to use a top three pick instead of taking i don't know like roosevelt roberts or taking you know one of these guys he's not associated with because i think he would have he would have picked lee hammond first he would have picked bracketono with one of his first picks he would have taken erin mackenzie with one of his first picks and that's like what's so fun about the ultimate fighter and when they they said that you know one of the most disappointing things about they just like

oh you four with him you four with him and that means you four with him and it was over so quickly No drama, no arguing. Connor didn't get to coach one of his guys, didn't get to coach Brad Cicotna. No, even like explanation of the reason. It was just here, here, here. That was it. Okay.

Yeah, this is how we've designated them. I'm like, okay, okay, sure. Like, I don't mind gimmicks. I always say they should do different things with the show. From episode one, from the first 10 minutes of episode one, they kind of screw the whole season in a sense for as far as drama. Yeah, and also the cast has to know. You said it from the first episode.

You said, man, these veterans, You're like, these veterans look really good. Like, you're like, this is a really strong team of veterans. Like they should not, it's very imbalanced. Like the talent level, experience level. Yeah. And so far, you've been perfectly right. Like, again, with respect to the guys who have experienced outside the UFC,

these guys who fought in the UFC are, these are Roosevelt Roberts is really good. Like there's a bunch of guys in the US, uh, the veterans. Like, why were they released in the first place? Yeah. The funny part is like every single vet I said, you know what? These guys could all legitimately fight on a fight night prelim. no issue. Yes.

Except. Yes. Except Kurt Hollaba. And then he went. I actually thought Kurt Hobba was the one guy. And no disrespect. Dude, I'm, if you see this,

Kurt, man, you prove me wrong. That's awesome. I love being wrong. He proved everyone wrong. He proved everyone wrong. And I thought he was brought.

I thought he was. I thought he was brought in the show. He was. Because he has a record. He's a tough fighter. He looks apart, but he will lose. That's why he's on the show.

And that's fine. It's a show. And this is how match. making works. But man, you prove me wrong, sir. Seven dogs. You broke the code. You did it. Seven dogs. Again, another good title for this episode would have been seven dogs. And let me say, hanging out with the hollow balls looks like a hell of a good time. I was like, I don't know if I've ever seen any fighter on the show that I'd more want to hang out with. They are, he's like, every day it's just, you know, like hanging out with kids, hanging out with the animals,

eating shrimp. And I'm like, in Louisiana, I'm like, this is friggin. This looks frigate. Would it have his wife said, like, get yourself a man that can fight and cook crawledads? Yeah, crawledads and can fight and got yourself a man. I was like, that's a good line. I like that. I can't do either. So I really have a lot of questions to ask about myself, but I would love to hang out to hollow boss.

That looked like so much fun. I'll end up a positive note. I just do want to give us, I'm glad you enjoyed this episode so much, Casey. I do want to give a shout out to the production team, The Ultimate Fighter, because we, we criticize that it's kind of like boring. And that's not really, yeah, that's some of that's on the production team.

There's also like creative minds behind the control of the show. And I'm talking about the people who are just doing the nitty-gritty, just have to put the show together, just make it a sleek, you know, compact,

viewable product, a 45-minute product that's airable. And I think the show is really well done. I think the show is really well done. People can beef with the format all they want and say they want to see, you know, which is more original,

make more changes. But for what it is, I got a lot of respect to the crew of the ultimate fire of the guys behind the scenes, but I think it's a sleek show. It's a sleek show. I think it's like, we've been saying it gets a bit tough to watch as the season goes on,

but when you have a good episode, it goes down real easy. I thought this episode went by like, it was a breeze. It was a breeze to watch. Very enjoyable. Every episode though, and this isn't the production team's fog, because this is the budget. Man, the music they put on for the fight montage, they're really bad. Like, it was like, I'm a war, you're a pooh, boop, boo, like, let's a fight.

But you know, like that little generic rock track they put on, they put on. put on, oh, it's so bad. It's so bad. But it makes total sense, too. Like, why would I expect a good song or even a good sound-alike song? Yeah, there's such bad generic tracks you put on. Casey, let's look ahead to next week. We have number, I can't believe this guys even on the show.

Why just sign, just re-sign this guy? Jason Knight, Hick Diaz, the, what's his actual nickname? Jason Knight is actually the... He has a nickname? It's too. The kid, the kid. Well, he can't pick me. He's pretty much.

He's a kid. The kid. This guy should not have to be on the show. I'm not saying he's guaranteed to win the show, but only because there's other good people on the show who also shouldn't be on the show. So I'm not like saying Jason Knight's a lock. But boy, putting in him 23 and 7 record against Landon Kinonez 7-1-1, people if you're out there and you know more about Landon than I do, and Landon is this blue-chip prospect that's

going to run through Jason Knight, let me know. but this is not looking good for Team McGregor. I'll be more shocked at Landon beating Jason Knight than I was at Kurt Hollabaw-Bott beating Lee Hammett if it happens. And we could see 7-10 next week. I don't know, Casey, what's your thoughts on the upcoming fight? When I saw the lineup for the season come out, I was super excited Jason Knight was going to be on there because it's a reality TV show.

But, of course, I forgot what tough is. And we've seen nothing of anyone, no roommate drama. What do you think is going on in the house? What do you think is going on in the house day to day? Do you think there's just nothing they can use? I think there's nothing they can use. It's Jason Knight, man. I don't get it.

Maybe because after so many years, like, why would any fighter get drunk even after they lose? Yeah. They're not, like, they train hard. You watch, I guess, I don't know, they don't have TVs there. I don't know what they do. No TV. Not a lot to watch TV. No.

Until they put on, like, here's a fight night. You guys can watch a fight night. Yeah, they play cards. I guess I was just sleeping and training. I think it is actually pretty boring. in there unfortunately yeah I guess there's nothing for them to do I don't know

because Jason Knight is incredibly entertaining he just watches interviews for people out there who don't know Jason Knight is I wouldn't even skip his UFC fights watch his fights and Barrenuckle FC his two fights with Artem Lobov just freaking wars wars wars wars wars oh man

and they're amazing so I would watch those fights You kind of want to get an idea of who he is as a fighter. He's actually more of a grappler. But in those fights, man, he throws and he is one tough dude. The only thing I'm worried about, he is a 45er who is fighting at 55. So we'll see how much that comes into playing. How much that plays. Yeah, landing.

He's facing landing Kenonez. What do you know about it? I'm literally looking this up right now. Fights out of Killcliffe FC, I believe. There go. Come from a good camp. good size, five foot 10, good reach, 72 inches. Wait, wait, what is Kilcliffe?

What is Kilcliffe? Is that the Florida one? Kilcliffe is the former Sanford MMA. Wait, so that's... I thought Chandler is Kilcliff. Isn't Chandler? He is. So I guess Chandler will be coaching against someone he's probably familiar with. Okay, weird.

Yeah, so... It's a big camp. It's a big camp. Yeah, but I'm sure they share coaches. It's so weird. They haven't pushed that narrative, though. If he... What narratives?

They haven't pushed any narratives in the show. Yeah, I know. know I know. As good as this episode was, as good as an episode was, it was just about Lee and Kurt, which is fine. But you, again, from episode to episode, the other cast members do not exist. Yeah. They don't exist. You are not getting any pre-fight hype and set for the episode that it's actually on.

So if I was high on this episode, but if Lee Hammond actually wins that fight and actually just grinds out a Hollabon in the second round, is this a boring episode? Yes. Okay. we're just talking about the we're just breaking down the dog curse for 20 minutes dark curse and you know if that's his first win there's no shove you know well well we got the show which is like a victory shove we thought like well he has to be shoving about some big shove of joy but no it was a shove of maximum frustration maybe the most frustrating's

been in the show so far uh we saw and the other thing we see is a clip it looks like conner like comes into sparring with a bit of bit heated maybe he hurt someone with a body kick oh yeah yeah i was I'm feeling this is a tease resulting in nothing, but I don't know. Are you optimistic we're going to get some like Connor like took out a cast member try? Yeah, I'm going to say no because it was a kick to the body and those things kind of happen. If it was like a shot to the head, then maybe like, ooh, then Connor, but kick to the body.

Yeah, you know. And he has shing guards on. I was just one of those things. Well, guys, that was episode six, break your nose, which Connor said at the end to Chandler. Did he say at the beginning, too, to Lee Hammond, like he's trying to show the uppercut, right? Yeah. You know, it is fun watching Connor coach slightly the striking. It is fun.

I'm sure he's not like, I'm sure it doesn't really help because it's more about like ideas. It's so erratic. It's so erratic. I can't imagine like picking up anything. Like he's just like, okay, yeah. But it's neat. It's neat watching Connor's mind works in terms of striking, you know. I don't think, I still don't think he's a very bad.

coach but just but watching him just talk about striking is fun I'd like to see more of that the other thing we see in next well we see the next week I mentioned the sparring and then there's a clip they show of him saying like oh I don't know what it is I'm just so gassed up just so full of adrenaline I don't know how to come down so people go ahead get your jokes ready get your memes ready I'm sure GC's already got some tweets ready in the draft he's a he's a hilarious GC GC GC are you okay oh oh he's not looking good uh GC I'm sure we'll be fine and be back next week I guys oh gosh.

I'm kind of burbs. Oh. Oh, God. I won't be here, guys, next week. I won't be here next week or the week after. I am traveling to the mystical land. And I'm going on a little vacation. I will let you guys know if I can do the show, but my girlfriend might murder me if I

try to do that. So I think for two weeks, you may have to be EKC and the EKC and GCC show. If you can lure at Jedmishu or someone under here, I would. That would be so good. I sign none of this to be like the third guy. I was like now, now I'm co-hosting every week now. Come on, guys. Well, you love the show.

You found you love the show. Has this renewed your love for the show? You're the lapsed fan. And now you're back. Let's move on. All right. Well, we're at the halfway point, guys. Six more episodes to go.

Oh, my God. One of you halfway. Six more episodes to go. Thank you, everyone who is tuned in so far. And we can't wait to bring more tough hang to you guys in the future. And I will be back soon. but right now, signing off for myself and for, of course, E.K.C. Leiden.