MMA Fighting - TUF Hang: McGregor vs. Chandler TUF 31 Reaction w/ AK Lee & Conner Burks | Ep. 2

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Alexander K. Lee and Conner Burks react to Episode 2 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/Lpon5z-tlNU Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow Conner Burks: @connerburks Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded 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 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 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. That's right, everyone. If you're hearing that rousing intro, it means it's time for another episode of Tough Hang, episode two of

M.A. Fightings recap of this ongoing season of the Ultimate Fighter 30, one highly anticipated featuring of course the notorious Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler who we do expect to fight in the near future though that'll be a point of discussion I feel like throughout the season including today

you guys just finished the episode we had ourselves another finish the blood is pumping the adrenaline is going and I'm very happy that I have my crew here to talk about this this is Alexander Cayley and I am joined by my co-host G.C. Connor

Burks How we doing baby? How are we feeling another finish, unfortunately, not for my guys in blue, not for my boys in blue. But I loved this episode. I was thoroughly entertained as I was going through it. Yeah, we're looking forward to this one. This felt like a solid episode. I assume our third man in the booth with us, as it were, producer extraordinaire E. Casey Leiden will agree when it is his time to chime in.

Look at that enthusiasm. It's a huge Cody Gibson fan. I am. We'll talk later about that. Oh, this is true. You have mentioned. And actually, yeah, I've seen, I saw Cody's last fight. I was there in the venue.

I'm a big Cody Gibson fan, but we'll talk more. But I'll let you gentlemen go on first. Listen, we can talk about them a bit now because I think last, last week, I think we took a bit of time to get to the fight. Of course, we wanted to talk about what did Conner Greger do in the premiere. Of course, we wanted to get G.C.'s impressions as our top prospect, our relative neal fight to the ultimate fighter. But by now, two episodes in, G.C. year old had at it.

We can skip right to the fight because it just happened. It's fresh in our minds. What did you think of this week's fight? And what do you think of the winner's sort of prospects going forward? Well, first and foremost, I mean, I was a little bit thrown off because we only got to see 10 seconds of the fight last week because we got the early knockout. So I kind of had to adjust because there's no commentary. All you're hearing is the yelling inside the apex and everything like that. And I actually enjoyed it.

That was probably my favorite part of the fight. And then I thought it was a good fight. I mean, I thought it was entertaining. and then that flying knee was like that was a massive knockout. Like I was sitting on my couch watching and I was like, oh, damn. Like that was good.

So, I mean, two fights in, we've got two exciting knockouts so far. Yeah, for anyone who didn't catch the result and it just happened to be tuning into our post-fight show. Well, a couple things since you mentioned. First of all, yes, it was Cody Gibson and why is my mind going blank right now. Cody Gibson and Mando Guillares

fighting Cody Gibson winning by, First round, TKO. Again, they didn't give us an official time, but a very convincing finish. Refere, Jason Herzog, right on point. Gutierrez and Gibson were stepping in for Trevor Wells and Timor Vallia. We'll talk about that a bit more in a sec. Did you notice, Conner, did you notice that Lee Hammond,

I had a chance to rewatch some parts of the episode, kind of predicted how the fight was going to go. He's at Lee Hammond being one of Gutierrez's teammates, I think. He's on Team McGregor. Yeah, yeah. No, I didn't notice that. I remember him saying something, but I don't remember the prediction that he made. That's a good catch by you.

Yeah, the pre-fight is usually like it goes by in a blur, so I definitely didn't notice it the first time around because they get one guy from obviously each team and one guy says, well, this guy's a good wrestler. You know, if he gets inside it to be a good win for him. And then I goes, well, this guy's like, you know, and so on. I give a very kind of cursory breakdown and not really super insightful. But Lee Hammond before the fight actually said Cody's like a long, tall guy. You got to watch out for those knees up the middle.

the exact quote, I should find the exact quote here. He said, them knees are a dangerous weapon, especially if you go into a knee coming up. And if you guys saw that finish, that's exactly what happened is Gutierrez. Again, he's a smaller guy, kind of had to take a risk to go inside, kind of steps right forward, Gibson perfectly timed knee on the button, hurts him. And there was no getting back from that. So that was a pretty cool moment. What did you think of the lead up to the fight?

Did you have a prediction either way, G. No, I mean, it's tough because I'm kind of getting to know these guys as it goes along. I mean, the size, obviously, and the vet experience of Cody. I thought it was cool how they went through, how he fought Aljo and everything. He got a knockout on the UFC and then eventually got cut after losing another fight. I mean, I just feel like it's going to be hard not to not to side with the veterans going into it until we see one of McGregor's fighters win. But yeah, I mean, the pre-fight, you talked about formulaic last week. I'm starting to pick up on some formula this week.

It's just like they talk about them. You get to know them a little bit. And then they kind of round back around and you sort of get to know the other guy as well. It's sort of like they just wind the path. You're going to find out about both guys. They're going to do some prediction. They're going to do some training footage. And then they're going to get into the fight itself.

J.C., don't tell me you're getting jaded with the format already. Yeah, who said I was jaded, man? Oh, okay. Actually, this will give me my first question that I have for Casey. Did you enjoy the episode more? I felt like we saw a little bit more of the training, a little bit more of the coaches. We got introduced to them, at least on Chandler's side. I felt like this was a little bit more of your speed.

You're correct. You were correct. Last week's episode, the premiere episode, I was not impressed with. This episode, for some of the complaints I had last week, they did, they did, they did address them a bit. There was some coaching. There was a little... I enjoyed the backstory a little more. I especially enjoyed Cody's backstory more.

I've actually seen... I've seen Cody fight. I was actually at Cody's last regional fight, and it was like a freaking barn burner against San Francisco Rivera, another former UFC vet. And I've always felt... Well, I don't think Cody Gibson is a top 10 or top 15 fighter.

He's always been UFC caliber. So I'm just... I was like, I expect him to dominate that fight and he did. And yeah, but as they, but the show, it was better. Yeah, I got to see, I got to see coaching. I got to see, yeah, I got to see coaching. I got the, I wanted to see more, but it's good. It was, and it was good seeing Connor kind of, you know, do Connor do that.

You got to do this. You got to do this. You know, and the Connor thing he does, you know, he's really excited. I thought the thing they did with the, the haircutting thing was cute, kind of ran long. But I enjoyed the guy freaking out. Actually, my favorite part was how Connor would not stay still for his haircut. Oh my gosh. That's got to be so stressful.

You're giving a nice haircut to almost a billionaire. You're just like, still, you jerk. An international superstar is in the basement of the tough house, and you're supposed to cut his hair. And his head is darting left and right. He's talking to the people on every side of the room and just generally being McGregor. Yeah, that was, that actually springs a question for me that I was thinking about as it was going on. I mean, McGregor, he is like he's turning and talking to different people. He's looking at his phone.

He's checking his watch. Like, you know, he's kind of sitting there. Did it feel like Mando might have been talking too much? And I want to know your guy's opinion on barbers. Like, do you like a barber that holds a conversation the whole time? Or would you rather just sit there and just let him cut your hair? Oh, I'm see, I'm right in the middle. I like to catch up with my barber.

I think maybe the first 10 minutes, solid talk, talking whatever, how are you, how everything's going, how's it been, I last saw you, some local sports team talk. And then after a while, it settles into a comfortable silence. And then however long it's left in the haircut, we just kind of come home. Yeah. This is perfect because I 100% agree with you. It's similar to Uber rides. Like if an Uber driver is going to converse, I want it to be like a couple things. But then we don't force it. If the conversation is going to flow, we let it flow and we just ride with it, same thing with the barber. But if you're forcing it, like you just start asking questions that are just like the epitome of small talk. It's like, man, I'd rather just sit here, stare ahead and

just kind of relax while I get my haircut. Casey, you, your opinion on barbers. Is it, is it combo, no combo or nice in the middle? No convo to nice in the middle. I'm kind of, I just like to sit still. I like chill. I like chill. I like, I just go play whatever music you want. I'm good. That's all. I'm a joke. Also, one last thing I have to say about that scene. Just all-time classic by McGregor, the stand behind the bar and act like you're going downstairs as the, as the party gag.

All-time classic. Did he do that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That was the best part of the entire episode. He's just like us. He's just like.

Literally, he's just like me. I mean, that is in my roster. I want to do the elevator thing. I mean, how good? That's amazing. I wrote, I wrote, I wrote, I specifically wrote in my notes about this whole segment, Connor McGregor, he's just like people. Yeah, we were all.

I said, I said, I said, Stairs Trick, all time classic. I also said that like, I think it's hilarious that like as he starts drinking the stouts and you can see his, he's like, McGregor's team just like pouring up stouts in the back, I felt like as it went on, you could tell that the stouts were starting to hit him a little bit. Eventually he goes around like like just like the drunk buddy at the party. He's just like we're here, guys. Like we never thought we were going to be here. Like let's just sit back and enjoy it.

Like let's let's just have a good time. Like I, yeah, I thought it was hilarious that he went over and crushed a few beers with the guys. Yeah, this is like. You noticed the next, you noticed Connor didn't show up with the Wayans though? I guess. He wasn't at the way. Like Chandler was there, but no Connor again. They'd either bother mentioning this time.

This has to become like a more prominent storyline later. So again, his fighters are oh and two And I'm not saying it's because he didn't show up to the way ends I mean we did get Casey I think they took notes from our show You did say you want to see a little bit more training It wasn't like super in depth But it is fun to see Because remember like yes Connor did the show before

And he was a star when he did the show before No question he was not near the star that he is now He was not like the household name Legitimate like I don't want to say A level celebrity But like B level celebrity which for a main fighter is insane To be a B I was like to qualify as a B level like mainstream celebrity. He wasn't there yet. Now he is that guy. And it is kind of cool to see him on TV and on the mats and interacting with these guys. And again, nothing in depth, but we got a little more.

You know, we got to show it a little more. The most in-depth part I liked that, I kind of wanted to see a bit more. It was when I forget what fighter it was. But he asked Connor like, what are you thinking right before the fight? Yeah. Remember? And Connor was kind of caught off guard by. He was like, what? He's like, oh, you know, and no, Connor kind of just, kind of didn't say anything really insightful, but that's why we're watching the show, you know? We're watching the show a little bit to see, I fight, but we're really watching the show because we want to see how Connor and Chandler, how they interact with lowly normal fighters.

Sure. Yeah. It's just, you know, it's interesting how fighters talk to other fighters. And that's kind of the, that's kind of the, you know, behind the scenes stuff we want to see. I thought that. Yeah. It didn't land with me as much. One of my quotes from that McGregor statement was, he was like, just let it be, whatever it is, it is.

And then I put next to that, not helpful. But I, not only on top of that, he's just like, oh, man, I mean, he's just like, you know, there's just so much going on. There's just so much going on in your head. And he's like, but just keep it simple. Just keep it simple. I mean, I did like when he eventually did come around, he was just like, once you get out there, you got to let it be known from the jump.

Like, who's octagon is this? Like, this is your octagon. And also keep in mind that, like, all these jitters, everything going through your head, it's happening in the other locker room, too. It's not like the other guys just sitting there, super calm. Another coach fighter interaction that I liked was Chandler and Cody talking about how Cody was adopted and Chandler has two adopted sons. I thought that was kind of cool.

That was a nice conversation too. That was like a cool behind the scenes. Yeah, Cody was, he is one of two adopted children. And he has two other brothers who both have special needs, varying degrees of special needs. But yeah, it was quite a story. We learned a little bit more about both guys' family. But yeah, Cody was talking about, you know, brought up with Chandler. He knew Chandler's two adoptions children himself.

So, yeah, that was a cool moment. A couple more things just about the fighters. Cody, yeah, his first run in the UFC, one and three, but he fought Manny Gambourian. He was a very tough guy. He fought Aljo, as you mentioned, and De Silva, D'Andre DeSilv. what's his name, Androge De Silva. And his one win was over.

Yeah, Douglas Silva Dionas, thank you. And his one win was over Johnny Bedford. So a hell of a tough run. And he's done pretty good on the regional scene since. And I like that this fight gave us a true, like, veteran versus prospect matchup. Like last week felt a bit weird where like, like, Nate Jenerman has almost as much like pro. I think he actually has more pro fights and is like a year older than Roosevelt Roberts.

So we're like, we understand. We get it. They're saying prospect. hasn't fought in the UFC, you're a veteran if you have fought on the UFC. This one was actually veteran. Cody Gibson, 10 years older, much more experience. I wrote, Gibson was 23 fights into his pro career when Gutierrez made his debut. Gutierrez just debuted in 2019. And when Gibson made his pro debut in 2008, Gutierrez was 11. So this was a real, like, this felt right. This one, this one really felt right. Yeah, yeah, 100%. And one, one, one thing that I did,

want to say, speaking of the Roosevelt Roberts and Jenerman fight, I thought it was kind of cool. They showed a moment in the house, like, weird seeing Jenerman and Roosevelt Roberts, like, just like sitting in the kitchen together, like, especially after the knockout last week. I also did like the Landon, Kinos and Roosevelt Roberts beef. I feel like that's going to start to become a thing throughout the season. Like, they, I mean, they said point blank. Like, I don't like you. I don't like hearing you talk. And it feels like that's, that's going to come to blows at some And I feel like that's, we're going to put in some time episode to episode. And that's eventually going to boil over.

Now, I want to start naming episode MVP's. Was Landon your non, obviously not including the coaches, talking just contestants. Was Landon your, and I would also say not necessarily, obviously, whoever won the fight. But non, you know, winning fighter, non-McGregor, non-Channler, was Landon your MVP for this episode? I don't know. I can't decide if I like Landon or not. Oh, that's good. I don't love the trash talk.

I have a different MVP. One point I will make, actually, off of the Jenerman and Roberts being in the same room, I might just be looking way too into this, but it felt like every single time, and there was three different moments where Jenerman was on the screen, it felt like he walked off. Like purposely, he like looked at the camera and just walked off each time. Like when McGregor was down there giving the haircut, he stood up out of the seat, walked out. Someone was showing pictures of the kids. He's just like, oh, nice. Yep. Knocked on the counter, walked off. I might just be looking way too deep into this. But my MVP for the episode stemmed from the Landonikin's beef. And I actually don't even know who it was, but it was when the beef was like, when they were looking like they were coming to blows, someone was cooking in the kitchen, a country accent. And he was just like, man, I'm trying to eat some spur fry. Jason Knight.

Jason Knight. Oh, I was got to my other, I was like my two MVP candidates this episode, Landon and Jason, Jason Knight. Because Jason Knight, yeah, he, he was. he's emerging as the like man I'm just here to have a good time and enjoy the free food because like and and free training as well I guess because yeah I'm sure he'll have his story as being away from his family and stuff but also they take care of them pretty nicely in the house right the only thing is the solitude and having to deal with like you know 15 other jimokes that like is the real

problem which again I'm not i'm not saying that's easy but other than that you're really well taken care of and jason night looks like he's having a great time uh we saw him support gutierras after oh yeah Have you ever seen Jason Knight fight? Have you seen him as Bear Knuckle fights? Nah, I'm too good. Oh, that's awesome. Don't watch it until after the season because I don't want to, I don't want to influence you or anything. I want you to kind of take the show as it's presented.

But Jason Knight is freaking awesome. I just say that. Just like the super strong country accent, like being from Georgia, I know a lot of people that talk like that. I'm just like, he's all. authentic Mississippi. He's authentic. He's finding a really good way of, again, he's, you know, he has got cult following, but this is the kind of thing that, again, it's a bigger, you know, we saw a pretty good number for the first episode, so on like 280,000 people watched, I think, which I think for, I guess for, I don't know if it's not super great. For the ultimate fighter, it's not a bad number on ESPN anyway. But yeah, he was, he was, he's really finding a way to insert himself so that, you know, when it comes time for his episode, I think he felt like, oh yeah, I really like this Jason Knight guy. I want to see him fight. The Starzai guy, yeah. We saw him after, listen, we saw him after the fight, proping up Gutierrez. That was a nice moment, right?

Gutierrez was kind of sad. He was the one reaching out. Talking to the other team. Yeah. Yeah. And then episode one after Roosevelt Roberts won, he was like, he was like, can you sign, can you autograph my gloves, sir? And I'm like, that's a really funny.

Like, he's coming off as a really cool guy. And he interacted, I think, with McGregor, I think when McGregor was getting his haircut, I think there was a bit of like chatter there. So, you know, you know, the vet, at least the vet. in the house are kind of the chill. They'll talk to the other team and everything. But it's the rookies, the prospects, you were kind of, you know, mean-mugging everyone still.

Yeah. But the vets are like, save your energy, bro. Yeah. The only trick about Landon and Roosevelt is, I love they're building it up. If they're going to fight, though, on the show, they both have to make the finals. Because Landon, I think, is McGregor's number four pick.

Roosevelt was number two or number three, number three, a team Chandler. So they have to make the finals. However, if they don't make the finals, that's a fight you put right on the ultimate fighter finale. Landon Crinonez, Roosevelt Roberts. So hopefully we do conceding crossbound. Who did you think won that interaction, Connor?

Man, I don't know. I like that Landon's asserting himself. Like, he's not showing that he's scared. But also on the side interviews, he shows like a bit of arrogance. Like he's just like, no one's on my level here. I already know I'm on my level. I'm on the UFC level. Like whether I win or lose these fights, it's not going to prove it to me.

It's like, actually, that's why you're here, like, to win these fights, to prove you're on the UFC level. So, yeah, especially after the way Roberts won his first fight, I'm going to give this one to Roberts. But I'm excited to see the beef maturate over the next few episodes. Yeah. I really wonder of guys like, is it Landon? What's his name? Yeah, Landon. Kinonez.

Yeah. You know, it's like how much of that is actually just who he is or how much of that is him going, while I'm on a TV show, I got to get myself on camera. I can't just, you know, be in my fight episode and not be seen for the rest of the season. I don't know. I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing. If he did kind of purposely do it for the cameras. But I guess that's the, I guess that's a reality TV, you know.

Yeah. And again, he is, he was McGregor's fourth ranked Bentonweight out of four. So I'm not saying, listen, I don't know how good he is. He might win the show. But he, you know, maybe he is getting in on his personality or, you know, he's preparing for a worst case scenario where maybe he loses and like, hey, at least I'm known as the guy who's tried to stir it out with the veterans. That's not a bad idea.

That's honestly, that's not a bad. Every season has that guy. They definitely don't win the show, but they're like, they're Junie Brownings, you know. Oh, classic. Julian Lane's. Julian Lane, yeah. I don't want to label him yet in that category, but maybe, you know, that last, you may,

you make an ass to yourself on the show. You can, you can, you can, you can, you can have a little minor career in the regional scene from it. You can make money off that. You can make money off that. By the way, Mandu Gutierrez was the number one ranked McGregor, uh, Bantaweight. And so he just got knocked off by the number four.

Not looking great for the prospects so far. Also, my last note about this fight. guys not looking great for fighters whose dogs are showcased before the fight oh and two so far i'm sorry i'm sorry i hate to bring it up i know there's a lot of dog lovers out there i know you guys are crazy right your dogs uh Nate Jenerman his his four three-legged dog he wanted to win one for for the three-legged dog did not go his way uh we got even more of gutierrez's dog harley harley uh harley by the sadly excluded from his free fight prayer so maybe that's something to do with it but he's lot a lot of harley he takes harley everywhere so uh now we again we didn't see anything

with Cody Gibson's dog. Maybe he has one. I don't know. Didn't mention it. But yes, fighters with dogs featured. Oh, and two. That's, I mean, that's a great point. And, like, is a very cute dog at that. I mean, falling around at barbershop, everything. On the flip side of that, I do have to say, it's, it's no curse, but we do need to monitor that dog thing. That could actually be something serious moving forward. Cody meeting his wife in college and sliding into our MySpace DMs is all-time stuff. I mean, that is elite. Tom would be proud somewhere wherever he's retiring, taking pictures.

I mean, we love Tom here on tough hang. But yeah, that threw me off when he was just like, he's like, yep, I slid into her DMs on MySpace. I was like, fuck it out, man. So many people watching this show and Mando Gutierrez, I bet, have no idea what that is. Yes. I don't understand my message. I'm fairly young, not 30 yet, but I was on the cusp of where in middle school, I mean, all the race. was like who's in your top eight what music do you have when you go to the profile like i i remember

my space it was uh you know the o g wait wait wait connor do you know what friendster is i do know what friendster is but i never had one my older brother both had friendsters that's like that's like that's like the ogy oh yeah friends we can't weigh off topic now but princester was my introduction to social media uh well no problem i'll bring i'll bring it back i will i will just let's cover just a couple more topics before we get out of here. I always make a point to list McGregor Chandler interactions. We didn't really have any this week.

I don't think. You guys disappointed about that. I actually didn't notice when the episode was over and didn't really care, but this fight is in such a weird space right now. Did you know, the first episode didn't have a traditional opening, right? This one actually had an opening to the show where they introduced all the founders, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so this one, of course, in the opening, they had the, the push in the opening. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, kind of like push. I'm starting to think that's all there is. I'm really starting to think that's all there is. Well, I mean, I said last week when we started,

like I had seen that you'll do what you're told clip, like 900 times before we actually got to see it on the show. So there's a world where, yeah, like, they're going to use that shove 900 times again, and it'll come in like the 12th episode. Yeah. No interaction in this episode. not that we saw anyway.

Again, I don't know what happened this week. There might have been some stuff that they're, they edit out of order too. Maybe something happened this, you know, early in the show and they're just saving for a later episode. It's entirely possible. But again, you know, and I mentioned this asses last week. Like with sort of this ongoing drama, a lot of people, a lot of people just keep speculating online of whether they think this fight's going to happen. I don't think necessarily what does or doesn't happen on, like, what they choose to show on the show is going to affect that. but it is kind of weird that there's really not a lot of McGregor Chandler emphasis in the first two

episodes, very, very little. But it doesn't bother me. I don't know how you guys feel about it. G.C. Well, it didn't bother me. I felt like the characters of the show, the actual contestants carried it pretty well this week. And I mean, we still got to see a decent amount of both Connor and Chandler. Connor obviously going to the house, Chandler working closely with his fighters as well

as Connor doing some training sessions. So, like, I felt like we still got our share. Just the head-to-head we didn't really get to see, which doesn't really bother me. I do hope that we get more as the season goes along. But so far, you know, as it goes with this episode, I enjoyed it without it. Did we see them all together when Dana announced that the fight was off? Fight was off with Connor and Chandler. Oh, we should talk about that a little bit.

J-C., how did you feel about the episode starting off in such a jarring way? When you saw that they were immediately, did you think they were going to flip the show and do the fight first? I was so excited. Me too. I'm glad we all agreed with that because my first note on the page is, oh, shit, we're right into the fight. I was like, oh, we're going to get the Temeer fight.

They watch our show. Yeah, I was like, oh, like, maybe we'll just get two fights on this one. And we'll have some fun. But yeah, and then obviously it ended up being the cold sore. I did like I kind of got a kick out of like everyone being like what is it like what is it even a medical thing like we have no idea what it is and then they go to interview Trevor and like the second you see him it's just like oh like that's staff cold sore whatever that is like that's why he's not fighting like it's a two seconds to diagnose that but yeah that was that was kind of a bummer because I like right when we jumped in I was like let's go to mere time like can't wait to see him fight but it was cool to see how they handled it behind the scenes you know and that and that really that reaction shot when I think Chandler tells Timor the fight was off. And he was like, like he was like, what? I thought.

He had the wraps on. He's in the middle of stretching. And like Chandler comes down. And it's just like, obviously, Casey, you've been through it before. You've made the walk. You train all the time. But like, I just can't imagine the adrenaline, like the emotions you have pent up when you know you're about to fight. And then just like to.

to not, to have it not happen. Like I, like on a much, much, much, much, much smaller scale. Like, I imagine it like you're hyped up. You took some pre-worker. You're about to go work out. And then you get to the gym and it's closed. And you're just kind of like, what do I do with all this energy now? Like, I just can't imagine getting told you're not about to fight.

It's got to be the craziest feeling. It's got to be super crazy. And then you have to add upon that the idea that these, and they didn't show it in the show. But these guys have to do big weight cuts. Yes. They talked about it. but they didn't show it.

But they don't show it. So you don't really see how difficult these weight cuts are for a lot of these are. Somebody's, like, someone like Jason Knight's kind of fighting above his weight class. He's normally 45 or he's signings 55 for this. But Timor is always 35 or so I'm pretty confident he cuts, like, he can't just cut weight like the next week. So once he kind of soaked in the news that the fight was off, and they said, might move to fight the next week. And he was all like, but wait, wait, that was it.

Yes. That was the biggest concern, not the actual fight, but I have to make weight again. And then, you know, then Dana kind of said we can make maybe make it a catchway, you know. Yeah. But yeah, but there's, those are things we want to see, I think, has viewers, those kind of moments. And that was really, that was neat. There's a sick part of me that hopes there's some sort of way in drama, only because, not because I wish that upon the fighters.

I never would. But GC, that way in drama was a hallmark of some of probably the first. six, seven, actually for a while, six, seven, eight seasons of the Ultimate Fighter. Just when I think people didn't quite have a full grasp

of the show, both fans and the fighters themselves of what it meant. Now people understand a lot of, a lot of fighters understand, oh, I have to make weight, like X amount of times, a certain amount of weeks,

so I'm going to prepare myself in a certain way, or I'm going to come into a higher weight clacks like Jason Knight, so it's not as much of an issue. But back then, I think guys didn't know, and it was just horrible, horrible, horrible episodes,

just dedicated. I say horrible in a really great way. It's my favorite episodes, dedicated to guys. trying to make weight. And I hope we see a glimpse of that, but I also hope Timur and Trevor just get the fight. Because we don't know,

but we should tell people, that storyline is somewhat unresolved. The fight is kind of like postponed. It's not next week's fight. I'll mention that in a second. It's not next week's fight. Next week's fight is a lightweight fight again. So, and again, we don't know what order they film the fights necessarily.

So maybe they did get to fight again a week later on the show. I'm sure we'll kind of find out eventually. But yes, that fight, they have to wait for that infection to kind of clear up because, you know, there's nothing life-threatening, but very contagious, very contagious. And so we will see if that even happens. And yes, they were talking catch weight or, I mean, like, maybe tumor just gets up,

gets to go through. I'm not sure, like. I mean, if that's a staff infection or some sort of bacterial infection or a virus or whatever, he can't train or really use the same facilities as the other guy. So it's an, it's an issue. I don't know how they're going to hand on the show. Yeah. Actually, I don't know how they're going to, what information they're going to give to us.

Because even like the weight cutting thing, I don't think we're going to see guys have hard weight cuts anymore because now the public perception is different. We know that weight cutting is extremely dangerous. Back then when they show like Gabe, it was a gay Boudiger, like passing out in the sauna or something like that. It was kind of ha, ha, ha, that must suck, you know. But we didn't realize, like, fighters like freaking die from weight cuts, you know, or seriously like ruin their. body. So I don't think the UFSI is a little smarter now about that as far as like PR to present, to present to present the fighters that way because that's something like they kind of force,

you know, like there's no reason they're doing. This is this a TV show. They don't have to do this. Yeah. The extreme weight kind of, they can make up any way. Yeah. These are exhibition bites, you know. They could do a catchway.

The weird thing about this about is this season is that unlike regular seasons where you could kind of plug someone in, they have all the matchups already set. So that's a bit, I don't know if they want to mess with that, but Amanda Gutierrez technically is available now, though I thought he got rocked pretty badly. And I mean, the UFC was, the eye afterward was like swollen like all hell. The UFC. That guy's messed up right now. Listen, Casey, Casey, the UFC would never send, would never book a fighter to compete. Just recently.

A knockout. They would never do that. They would never do that. They would never do that. One thing I think Dana did say. to Chandler or maybe it was Chandler to Tamir that like maybe they'll try it next week and if it doesn't happen then then believe we'll just get a buy and move through. Yeah. They never resolved it but he didn't mention an option. So again, because this season, the matchups are already set. So they kind of maybe

don't have a choice like they can't really, they really can't just reshuffle like they normally won on other seasons. People are pretty said. They've been told who their opponents are. It's not fair to the other fighters. And again, it kind of breaks the system of them doing the one versus four, two versus three, et cetera. So Timor, maybe, you know, one of the favorites to win the show, I think, might just get a buy. But before, so yes, next week we'll just say it will be another lightweight matchup between and it'll be Oss. Connor's number two ranked, I'm sorry, this is Chandler's number two ranked fighter,

Austin Hubbard, so veteran versus McGregor's number three ranked fighter, Aaron McKenzie. I don't know, I mean, I know a lot about Austin Hubbard, not super familiar with Aaron McKenzie, but that is our matchup for next week. G, C, any thoughts on that matchup or just final thoughts on this episode? Yeah, curious to see what happens with that one. I mean, I think they said McKenzie in like the promo for next week is like a BJJ specialist. So it didn't really work out too well for gentlemen. We'll see what happens next week.

Two things I have, actually. I was getting confused throughout the episode, Mando or Mando? It felt like they kept saying Mando and then they would go to Dana White and he would say Mando. And yeah, I just didn't know which one it was. Was there an accent thing going on? What was Connor? How was Connor saying it? Was he saying?

Oh, man. I didn't hear that. He's like in between. Probably in between. That takes me to my second part. Big miss on the part, as we were telling Mando Mando's story, the significance of the hat. I mean, what is the hat?

He's wearing the hat in all these interviews. And then he walks in, Fight Day, with the hat. And then when he walks out, he puts the hat on McGregor. McGregor's wearing the hat throughout the whole fight all the way backstage. Like, what was the significance of the hat? Was it just a cowboy hat? Am I remembering correctly? I mean, is that his thing?

He just rocks a cowboy hat on Fight Day? There's nothing to it. I don't know. I'm not familiar. I'd have to watch the movie yet. I have to say. I thought Roasnes on Contender Series. I don't know if he had the hat then, so.

I had to say it was pretty hilarious, like in the back. Like, you know, his eye is like swollen to all hell. And like, McGregor's coming in like patting him on the back. He's like, it's all right. It's all right. We'll get another chance. And he's still wearing the hat with like this like probably like $10,000 suit. I thought that was pretty ridiculous.

And then the last thing, I said, I said that was the last thing. This is the last thing. We need to start setting an over-under line on pants adjustments for McGregor throughout the episode. Because honestly, we could do a combo too or we could just do two separate things over-unders on pants adjustment and sleeve adjustments. I mean, the guy is just like, he's always kicking the sleeves out, making sure they're down where they're at. And then the pants. I'm telling you, go back and watch. When he pulls up to the tough house, he immediately adjusts his pants, like three different times.

He's always making sure he's clean and proper. But yeah, we need to start setting some overrunners on that. Now that I've said it, keep an eye out for it. Yeah, I didn't notice. I won't be able to unsee it now. How does the fact that they don't really explain the fact, is Conroy coach or is he a fan in the crowd? I can't tell. Because he's never like sitting in the corner.

He's just kind of walking around and he just, and they just have reaction shots of his fighters. After his fighters lose, he just goes, I'll also say, like, the no commentary is cool, man. It's tough. I like that. I like that. If you're a fighter, like to decipher, like, who's coming from your coach? It feels like there's like nine different people screaming at any moment.

And obviously, you're focused on the guy in front of you. So it's cool to like hear that. Like, it is, it sounds very hectic in there. Yeah, there are coaches in the past who have made a point to like, I think before they went out. Like, listen, I'm the like, I'm going to be the one talking out there or this coach. Some coaches are more organized than others. But yes, as you can see, sometimes it's just an absolute shout fest and hoping that something breaks through the noise. Real quick, I want to compliment the show as far as a positive, a slightly positive production change.

Well, maybe they did last year. I didn't watch it any of last year. Is the post-fight interview with the fighter. They used to do it in the hallway in the tough house. But now it was kind of that long shot. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is a nice shot. I like that.

It's just a nice cinematic shot. I just like, oh, good job, good job. That's different. Was it like that last year? I think they've done it before. Actually, no, that shot looks a little different. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I know what you're.

I think that kind of, when they, after the words, they talked, they talked to Cody and the other guy, a mando that lost. So it was just a nice. Those are the small changes that they're doing that they are, they are small improvements I do like. So Casey, you're back in. You're back. I mean, how can you not be after this episode?

I mean, what a positive note. It was a much better episode than the last episode. It was June 6th. We got 10 more weeks of this, however much longer we have. I mean, life is good. Life is good. Life is very good. Thank you guys.

Thank you for joining me on this second episode. Thank you, everyone tuning in to watch it and listening to on the podcast later. I know we had a lot of people watching the first episode of Coursers premiere. So good to see people sticking around, not just from the McGregor drama, not just for the channel their trauma and a potential update on when this fight is happening this year, presumably, you know, but also for the fighters and their compelling stories themselves. And their dogs who hopefully have better luck going forward. So yeah, that is all for this week. Again, next week, it will be Austin Hubbard, 31-year-old veteran versus 34-year-old prospect Aaron McKenzie, young

whiffersnapper Aaron McKenzie. And we'll see if, we'll see if Team McGregor can get on the board after starting off two and up. But that's again, that has been a tough. hang guys. Not this week. It was not a tough hang this week. It was a very enjoyable hang. And always enjoyable hang out with all of you guys. So until episode three. We'll love. We'll see you later.