MMA Fighting - TUF Hang: McGregor vs. Chandler TUF 31 Season Finale Reaction | Ep. 12

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

Alexander K. Lee, Conner Burks, and E. Casey Leydon react react to Episode 12, the season finale 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/LNT5Et-Hxpo Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow Conner Burks: @ConnerBurks Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc 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 Cudulian 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. This is the end. My only friends, the end.

That's right, this is the last episode of Tupang, at least for covering season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. Perhaps a more appropriate reference would be the horror, the horror, if we're talking Apocalypse Now, references, based on how things went for, my microphone's off kilter here, based on how things went for Team McGregor this season, but we will get to that. This is your host, Alexander Kay Lee, of course, Joan B. joined once again by my esteemed co-host, G.C. Conner-Berkes.

Sad day, man. Sad day. I can't believe we made it. Can't believe we made it to the end. It's surreal, I have to say, making it through my first season of tough. It's a surreal moment for me. You were so bright-eyed and cheery on the first episode, and you really were, you're really into the show.

I really felt like you're into the show. I'm still into the show. I watched every episode. I wore the tough jersey for the last two and a half months. But yeah, we can get into final reviews at the end of the episode. Oh, yes, for sure. We definitely have to do a season ending recap. And of course, we were also joined by producer extraordinaire,

E. Casey Layton. too this Casey don't Casey this won't be the last ultimate fighter I don't know if we're doing tough hang anymore but this will there will be more ultimate fighter the show will never end

it will never end it will never get it get it together man up I get it together get it together we had our final fight of the season Rico de Shulo versus Cody Gibson Connor McGregor's last chance to get one of his original picks into the finals

and as we just saw Cody, he could not, RICO could not pull it off despite a valiant effort. Had a little bit of bad luck, one might say. Cody Gibson gets the finish arm triangle on the ground. G.C., your thoughts on the fight? One-sided. I mean, it was, I was hoping for something from RICO,

but yeah, I mean, once I went to the ground, it was pretty much a wrap. It looked for a second like RICO had something there, but, no, it just wasn't meant to be. I mean, it was domination from, pillar to post. I know he said a lot about slipping, about tripping, but it felt like the fight was going to inevitably end up on the ground. And from there, it was all Cody Gibson. Let's talk about the slip. We have to pretty much define the fight. It led directly to Cody being

able to get the fight to the ground. We had a little pre-show discussion. We don't want to talk about too much. We want to save it for the viewers here. I thought, I will say, my initially, I thought, Oh, no, RICO is another victim of the UFC Apex. So I guess UFC Octagon in general. The vinyl ads, the vinyl ads on the mat. They're all over the place. I thought he was the victim of a slip because of that. I replayed it multiple times.

It was a little unclear. Casey, I know our producer, Casey, you disagree. You think that the slip, there was another reason for it. No, he just fell down. He just didn't pick up his foot when he was moving forward and he fell down. It had nothing to do with the vinyl, the canvas. I mean, the canvas is actually sticky. It's not vinyl.

It's not slippery at all. It's actually, if anything, it's actually sticky, so nothing actually slides on it. That's why all the fighters, like, you see him after the fight, their knees are just completely, like, just torn apart from Matt Burns. But, yeah, it was just his, he just slipped, fell down, and that's not an excuse for the ass kicking he got in a sense that he can blame that. That was just, you slip. you should recover you yeah you you he takes your back and everything but that was that fight was was just so just symbolic of the entire season of as far as like the level of competition with the veterans versus the prospects it was just that was just like perfect on almost

Casey you that's a I you're coming off a little harsh not everyone can be against you're you are you are an undefeated fighter Okay, not everyone can be that way. And Rico is not undefeated. He was not undefeated going to the show. Clearly, he's not undefeated now. There was also, the mat was very bloody. We saw, we said many times, clearly they film more than one fight per episode.

It did look like this was after the, what was the, what was that suit? Maybe this to Katona. I think they. Oh, that's one of a league. Yeah. I think they did all four fights the same day. It feels like it. Yeah, that would make sense.

Yeah, why wouldn't do it? more than the same day. Yeah, why wouldn't they? So that could have, I think that could have made the mess. I mean, it's clean. They clean it,

you know, thoroughly between these. First of all, he didn't slip. He tripped. A slip goes whoop. He just, like,

tripped. He didn't slip. I should throw up a pole. Yeah, we should have a pole. Also, just like, it's just,

to me, I'm with Casey. Like, it doesn't, it doesn't feel like that is what made the, the difference in the fight. Like, was,

was Rico just going to stuff every takdown? Was he just going to catch him? Maybe. them out. Maybe. You can't play by that game. You can't play by that game. If you had such a huge advantage over this guy and the only thing that caused you to lose

was you going to the ground was then you should have been able to get back up. Or you should have been able to survive that round and not get 10-7 if even if you made it out of that round. And then you dominate the next two rounds because you're not going to slip on the bloody mat. G.C., we need to do a jersey swap because you are you are not doing doing two. Team Blue proud right now with this RICO slander joining in. My goodness, guys. That's true.

Shit, I didn't think about that. Rico called it a slip multiple times after. As soon as he was submitted, arm triangle submission. As soon as he lost, was good up, like, damn, he's just swearing. The Boston came out of him. Like, I can't believe I slipped. I can't believe I slipped. So he called it a slip.

Maybe he meant trip, but he called it a slip. Yeah, dude, I'm not really arguing whether or not he slipped or tripped or whatever. He clearly fell down from throwing a strike. Yeah, yeah. It was clear in the replay, but I mean, he got, like Casey said, like that was like a 10-7, unquestionable 10-8, even if they had lasted the entire round. I thought it was going to get finished several times before the arm triangle got locked in. Like, I know he was able to get up for a second. He did. He shimmy out. He's tough. He did shimmy out. He got a second chance and then immediately got put into the finishing position. The ref was generous. The ref was generous.

giving him Rico enough time to survive and get out of that. Yes. Because the ref understood what was that stake for the fight, and he didn't, I felt he gave it that proper respect, and he let Rico basically, he gave Rico all the time in the world. And, yeah, that's a bit. If this were an actual exhibition or amateur bout, this would have been stopped well before. Probably a minute, at least a minute before, 90 seconds before that. Yeah, because Cody was laying it on him.

He, Cody was an animal. At the point he had him in full mountain was just like absolutely raining down shots on him. Cody was, yeah. And the whole time I was just like very frustrated watching, watching Rico's defense down there. I was like, I was like, Rico, just grab him, slow the fight down. He just, Rico panicked honestly from the bottom and he just didn't do anything right to just, because you can just, there's a lot of ways to stall and just try to get to the end of the round. And he wasn't doing.

Was McGregor not yelling that too? I felt like McGregor was like trying to get him to be like stalled, like grab him. I grabbed Cody's arms, bring him to you, just kind of tie him up, tie him up, let Cody just, that just burns time off the clock, and hopefully you get to the next round. Because clearly Rico did not have the skill set to get to get out from that. Like, I know he got from Mount, but initially Cody didn't have Mount. He worked his way too Mount. but that that was just there was just levels to this and yeah was just clearly especially on the ground like many many levels above

we go it was a lot of bucking it was a lot of turning it was a lot of like he clearly yeah wanted to get out of the situation as quickly as possible and as you said case like once you're you know once a guy gets your back like that it's just no easy way to work out of it there's no he's not derrick lewis he's not going to just stand up out of it as it were So yeah, it was tough. It was a very tough situation for Rico. It felt bad for Rico, like, in the post fight, and, like, he was like, I'll just try and get back up on the horse and, like, I started welling up and stuff.

Tough to sit. No, it sucks for Rico. That definitely sucks because, you know, I mean, if that fight stays standing, yeah, he hits hard. He can win that fight, and he can, you know, he could be fighting for the tough championship next week. They should have. This week.

In Boston. This week. In Boston. This week. He lost so much. He lost so much. And I do feel bad for Rico. Absolutely.

They should have, they should have called him to fight Mara Bautista. No, dude. Come on, guys. I was hoping it was Timor. I was hoping it was Timor. I'd like him more to get that call. Yeah, Timor would be much better than Rico. Timor deserves it.

I don't mean to, I don't mean to steer the show here, but I feel like we're, I feel like we're, I feel like we're not covering the hottest topic. I know the fight, you know, big time for Cody Gibson. How about this beef between Cody Gibson and Brad Cotonin that we now have set up for the finale? Are we not going to touch on that for the entire first 12 episodes? Like, these dudes hate each other. Like, they are like squabbling in the tough house kitchen right in front of Michael Chandler. I was just like, where has this been all season?

Like Cody Gibson's dropping like the like, yeah, we hate you, dude. No one likes you. No one. There are 16 people in this house. 15 of them hate you. G. Yeah. That was like,

that was middle school-esque, I have to say. Like, no one likes you. Newsflash, no one likes you, bro. I have to ask, I had to ask two things, two things regarding the, that drama. One, did you guys get the episode spoiled for you ahead of time? I saw people saying on Sunday somehow the spoiler had leaked. Oh, oh, because a commercial, I think that some regions got a commercial for $292 or something, which supposedly had.

the finals review i did not see this i didn't see i did not see i did not see this i don't know i saw some i saw some some tweets some exes okay yeah yeah ex post about that yeah you know how to do i i just quickly looked away i was like i don't want to see it yeah yeah i mean i didn't there were spoilers out there yeah yeah it did not get spoiled to me i just i saw people saying there were spoilers and i was like okay but apparently this wasn't the first time that happened i heard that uh they had accidentally put an episode on fight past the sunday before uh I was supposed to go up. So there apparently were the spoilers out there during the season.

I don't know for every episode, but apparently it happened more. Secondly, yes, regarding this drama, once they started showing that, were you guys like, oh, well, Cody's going to win. Otherwise, why would they show this? Yeah, GC, did you think they were giving it out of the season? Oh, well, that's good thinking of you. That's good thinking of you, but I did not think that. I was just like, where has this been?

Like, they're awkwardly standing there. I mean, Catona just like, he was. was totally comfortable in the extreme awkwardness of just standing there staring at him, having these calm rebuttals to everything he said. Yeah, I was just wondering where this was all season. Like, they clearly, we're going to wait until the last episode to be like, you're the most self-centered person I've ever met and everyone hates you. Like, there had to have been some drama before this. Yeah, I wish. I think every single episode of Tough Hanging that we've done, I've complained

about that too. That is not enough. Not enough. We have this house and all these these dudes who want to get a UFC contract, they're not, they're not super happy all the time. And like how, seriously, one episode 12, we've seen 11 episodes, this is the first time in the actual house drama. That's insane.

And we had been trying to give the production team the benefit of the doubt. We had said, like, you know, maybe there's just nothing happening. Maybe there's nothing happening. But based on this conversation, it sounds like there was. was a lot happening. It sounds like, holy. They should. And I wanted to see, stretch that out.

I don't, I don't need to see Rico and Cody give the whole confessional kind of they do. Like, I'm going to win this fight. I'm going to dominate him. Oh, yeah. I want to see more of that drama. Then I want to, I want to cut away to Roosevelt Roberts going, yeah, that guy sucks. You know, or something. I want to hear with, I want to hear with, we didn't get anything from any of the other,

fighters in the house. Yeah. Where was the I hate, they did hint at this before, remember? Yeah, with that one episode and then nothing happened. Yeah, when Cody, not Cody, Katona didn't get on the bus in time. And Roberts was complaining and then they didn't show any aftermath.

Where was the I hate Brad montage? That's what we wanted. We wanted to do a quick kind of all. I also would like to have heard more from Chandler's point of view. Chandler was like sitting there awkwardly writing That was uncomfortable or something. That was, him and Chairman. I think it was him and Nate.

We're just like, oh my God, like stuck in between. It was so uncomfortable. Watching games, if you look in the background, one of the coaches is famous crazy Bob Cook. He's one of the coaches, he's in the background, and he's just like giggling the whole time going, oh, man, they're about the fight. It kind of felt like Cody was a little bit of a bully there.

Well, that's what Brad was trying to say. That's what Brad was saying. Yeah, kind of felt like he was letting everything out, like no one likes you i'm gonna beat your ass in the in the finale you hate fighting like he was really letting everything out talking about how he doesn't have a family he would have nothing to leave behind yeah that was if he lost or if he got knocked out i was like geez cody like i like i like when cotona goes okay that's true i don't have a family okay you got out he's like he's like true about the kids part true about the kids part but i do have a wife well said well put

Well put, well put, sir, well put. Someone wrote F you, Brad, like, they showed a note. And I'm like, explain that. Dive into that. I want to know. Yeah, what was that, dude? You can't just tease it. A sticky note on, like, his drinks or whatever that was like, fuck you, Ketona.

Give me a break, man. Tell me what that's all about. Was it from Cody? Who was that from? I'm glad they at least did build it up, whether it gave it away or not, whether it was too late. At least we got something. At least we got some sort of buildup.

There was a little something behind the $292 card. Yeah. Listen, okay, real quick, were there, is this the first season where there were zero pranks? Because I remember pranks being it used to be a big thing. To my memory, yeah, I feel like, what was the last season? Painna and Nunez, yeah. Well, I mean, wasn't that, like in previous seasons, like the, when they do pranks on the other team and wasn't that like a big thing? I remember.

Yeah, Ortega and Volcanossi, that was just two seasons ago, were awesome. They did a lot of fun pranks, probably assisted by the show. show by the production team but good that's what the prank should be the frank should be enhanced by the production team that's what you want to see it doesn't need to be genuine it's a tv show except first i thought this was i thought this was a prank episode i thought they were prank brad i was like oh no they just don't like him that's a terrible prank uh no you know i guess it's hard to do a prank war when one of the coaches is not really around i think that might have been an issue they're like oh can we prank connor connor today it's like yeah connor's not here

because chanler yeah i either way else when chan when connor I was going to say we got... Connor comes to the house every week. We got two trips to the house for Chandler this episode. Waited until the final episode, but we got two visits. I like the crawfish boil. Oh, yeah. It felt kind of weird, though, crawfish boil with both teams, but then McGregor, was I tripping,

or did he just take his team to the stage? He only took his team. But I was okay with that. I was okay with that. That felt like extra. That felt like an extra thing that McGreg, I assume Conner was paying out of his own pocket. I was a little, I was hoping that we were going to get like behind the scenes of what they actually gambled or did it just go and cash out the chips and take $1,000. Maybe someone got on a hot streak.

One other note about the dinner, I don't know how poor I am. I don't know how broke I am. I have never seen a steak on fire delivered to your table. And like he was eating it, McGregor, obviously, eating it like while it was still on fire. G. as I revealed on a recent preview show, I only eat at Michelin Star restaurants. So obviously, I have seen this before.

I can assure you it is extremely expensive. Does it have a name? Does it have a name? You know, it's French, and I can't pronounce it right now, but I'll tweet it out later. I'll tweet it out later. That's really a thing? I think you could set anything on fire.

When I realized that you could fry anything, I'm like, well, surely if you can fry anything, you can set anything on fire. because that did look wonderful. Shout out to McGregor taking them to the Fretta's restaurant. Yeah. Class move.

Company man there. Company man. And yeah, and that's how I know a lot of that was comps too. So I was like, as much as I'm saying, Connor, Connor,

you know, did pay probably for some of it. A lot of it was comp. The chips, almost for sure. I guarantee the chips were just, we're just like you have two,

probably, to Connor that he could give to his team. And also, I mean, I'm not like seeing anything here about, about, about like, like,

the steak was on fire on the plate. It blew my mind. What's it called in general? A souffle? A suflay. You know, flaming suflay, right? Did they do that? That's a thing, right?

No, no. A suflay? What am I thinking about? It's not what a snake is. Flambet. Flambet? Flambet? Flambet?

Flambe? Isn't Flambay a dessert? I think so. But again, it's a flaming dessert. Theoretically, you could do flambet, I just Google this. Not that I needed to. I knew this, but just so I could find the proper wording. The French word for flamed or flaming.

So you could, you know. Okay, yeah. So like a flambet is. covered in liquor? Do you think they covered the steak in proper 12 and then literally I would hope so. Steak flambay, I found it. Here it is. Yeah, sure enough. Do you see, we're getting a little in the weeds here.

See, we're getting a little in the weeds here. I'm trying to open my eyes to new cultural experiences. What did you think of Mark? Who was it? Carlos. What do you think Carlos's speech? He just came like the best man of the wedding. You got one from Cody Post-place to him.

Yeah, just not how, like, he's just like, yeah, can we say, like, incredibly nice things about you? And McGregor's just like, a thousand percent, a thousand percent. By all means, go, don't let me stuff you. Don't let me stop you. Yeah, the relationship between the fighters and the coaches is so interesting. I wonder, was Brad invited to that dinner? I didn't have to, I'd have to watch it again. Did they not invite Brad?

He had the table. I can't remember if he was there. or not. He wore the blue jersey during the face-offs. We can talk about the face-offs a little bit here. G.C., do you feel like Team McGregor has a guy? This is four originally drafted by Team Chandler fighters, by the way, in the final. We should be clear.

We should be clear. Yes, Katona trains with McGregor and Kavanaugh outside of the show. Yes, he went over and switched teams, but technically this was a guy drafted by Chandler. On the other hand, the whole drafting process was pretty azinine and boring. It sucks that they just said, oh, yeah, well, this whole group of guys with you, this whole group of guys with you instead of going one by one. So I'm okay. Do you want to claim one having one blue jersey in the finale? Yeah, but like you're going to have the asterisk by it.

It's four vets. I also have to say that ourselves on the back. You weren't here for the prediction show where we tried to predict what was going to happen. We went over four. We got all four wrong. Is that true? Yeah, we said it was going to be Rico and Believe versus, uh, who was it the the other two

Jason Knight and and whoever Hubbard beat in the final we were wrong on on all accounts we went over for me thank goodness you can't actually wager on the show because I'm sure you would have and obviously it would have gone poorly Katona I said Rocking the Blue

I also noted his post sort of the hype video a little hype video he was like I am going to be clinical in there and do he says he said I'm going to be boring he's like I'm letting you guys know I am going to be boring great job there we got the Chandler McGregor face off.

That was good. Gregor growled out of like a dog. And that made me laugh. I don't know why. I just laughed out loud. And then immediately after I was laughing and then like, I'll see you to fight. I'll see you at the fight. I'm like, that's weird.

That's not normal behavior. You said betting. You said betting. We don't have a line yet for Katona for the Katona fight. Kurt Hobba currently a plus 150 underdog to Austin Hubbard on Saturday. G.C. Give us a little no-bets-barred preview here. I know you guys are going to record the show. This has to be part of the show. I mean, we'll talk about it, but I don't know, man. You just said it.

Thank God I wasn't able to bet on any of this because I would have gone 0-4. I don't know if I'm going to start betting on Saturday. I mean, as a fan of the show, as a die-hard tough guy, I might just enjoy as a fan. So you said, so you said, hollabaugh underdog. Hollabaw-Bah underdog to Hubbard. Plus 185. Plus 150. 150.

You didn't hear any of that, huh? I didn't hear any of that, huh? anything that you just said. I will have to listen to the show because I do want to hear your thoughts because you've got to break this down for Jed. He did guest on one episode, I believe, but he doesn't, I don't think he has that feel for it. I like Katona yet probably and I like Hallibati. I like Hallibah's underdog.

Casey, what do you think? You have picks for these finals? The finals. I'm going for Holliba just because coming into the show, I had no, I had no, I had idea why he was even part of the vet cast. He's someone that had a very bad UFC run. He had a bad strike force run. He's a guy that once he left the UFC, I was like, okay, he'll fire a few more times in the regional circuit and move on in his life. I honestly can't believe how good he did on the show. And that's all compliments to him. He just, he exceeded expectations, I think, by so much.

He wasn't supposed to, he was brought, I think he was brought him to lose. He wasn't supposed to win his, what he call it, when the team, his first match. He almost lost to Lee Hammond. He should have lost to Lee Hammond. I mean, he should have just, Lee Hammond was the better fighter, but Lee Hammond made a mistake.

And then, Colobah, I think he got a guillotine on him or something like that. And like, like, Lee Hammond, it was supposed to be Lee Hammond in the finals. I think, I think by design, that's what they wanted. And congratulations to Kerr-Hawba. I feel like I know, not, I know.

Tough did a good job in that sense. I do have, I do know Kurt Holliba now. I feel like that. I know he's got seven dogs. I know him and doing that little, when they look at it, when he talked to his family, I was like, oh, man, that's real. That wasn't just, you know, I don't know, just, I'm talking my family. That was like, that.

And, yeah, I like that. And I'm picking Holliba, but I won't be, I won't be shocked if Hubbard wins, honestly. But I think, my, my heart is going for Kurt Holliba. I think one thing we've said several times is that the quote unquote veterans on the show should have just been brought back. They shouldn't have to go through this. And I stand by that for the most part.

But yes, Kurt Hollaba is probably a guy who was not going to get a UFC deal out of the blue unless as a short notice replacement. He would have to jump through some sort of hoop. So he is the one. And again, and I wouldn't be excited. Like I like Kurt Hollabaa.

I wouldn't be excited. If you're telling you, like, back on the O.C. signed on to fight whoever some contender series guy. I'd be like, oh, cool, Kurt Hollabo's back. I wouldn't really think about it. But after seeing him with the Elwood fighter, I'm like actively rooting for him to come back and have some sort of career.

That's not a challenge for a world title, but come back at four, five, six UFC fights under his belt, get a fight night bonus in there somewhere. Like, what a fine way that would be to end his career, however many fights he has left. And again, this is the most we've talked about Kurt Hallibah ever in life. So in that sense, the show did it's work. It did its job. I'm cheering for Kurt Holliba. I'm honestly cheering for Cotona, too.

The way that Gibson was going at him. Oh, yeah, I'm cheering for Cotona, baby. Let's go. Team Brad. Team Big Brad. Team Blue, baby. I'm big time Cody Gibson. I am big time Cody Gibson.

Let's go. Good, good. You're the side of the bully. I'm here for the little people. No, no, he's not a bully. He's a truth teller. He's a truth teller. Yeah, sure, sure.

That's how bullies phrase bully. Yeah. Oh, so all 15 guys in the house were bullies? I was going to say, 15 out of 16 people. That's a pretty strong family of one, baby. That's what we've always been. The boys in the blue, Army of one. Let's go Brad Ketona.

If they had done and I hate Brad montage, that would have been the best worst. Why do they not cut away? They do interviews of everyone, just every single guy go, yeah, I don't, thinking how hilarious that would have been. Once they say that, then a montage of every fighter going, I don't know about that Brad guy. Plus, I'm trying to see the ultimate, ultimate fighter. Oh, you like ultimate.

I like ultimate. I think you've said before you like ultimate ultimate ultimate. I like Multimate. I thought Multimate was funny. Either way. Either way. We can make shirts. We can brain this out.

We can really do something sick here. What a featherer in his cap that'd be for Katona. The first guy to win to Ultimate Fighters. That's not a thing. It should not be a thing. That's like getting a contract on the Contender Series, going to the UFC, getting cut, and then going back on the Condender series and getting another contract.

Two times. Two times. You're just going to have to deal with it. The ultimate, ultimate fighter. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list?

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the Cado of the Fett's It's at home Shephora. Summer Fridays, Rare Beauty, Way, Cifora collection, and other part of Vite. VIII. Mini, regrouped for a better quality of price. On-a or in magazine. The Multimate fighter. I want to repeat the commentary. You know, afterwards, we got a little promo for UFC 292, pretty standard UFC stuff.

And then they have to show McGregor and Chandler, and it was phrased as this. Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler set their sights on a future Octagon showdown. Of course, they did not announce a date. We all know there is no date for this fight yet. What's our final confidence level check, guys? I think Casey, you have long been. This is not happening. This is never happening.

I don't even want to see it. You don't even want to see anywhere. I am more interested in Kurt Holliba's fight than Conner. Come off it. Come off it. No, I'm dead serious. Conno McGregor versus anyone is like, cool, whatever. I'm not this Connor McGregor guy.

I'm just not. I'm like, he's just another rich guy. If Connor McGregor, Michael Chandler was this weekend, you're telling me you would be more excited for the Hollaba fight than you would be for Chandler McGregory. Well, okay, in divisional rankings, and like, insignificance to the sport, of course, you know, Chandler,

Chandler McGregor makes more sense. But in terms of like, oh, I actually care about that person, I am more invested in the person, Kurt Holliba, than Connor McGregor and Chandler fighting. each other. Casey out of zero. Die hard, Kurt Holoba fan.

Yeah, yeah. Out of zero. That's a guy, like, he's going, he's going from his little farm, Louisiana to like getting a U.S. contract.

I mean, we love Kurt Oliver. We're going, we're going guy from like, multi, multi-millionaire and like, okay, cool,

he make another couple million bucks. I just don't care for that. Yeah, financially speaking, sure. Yeah, that's why I care more about Kerr Holla.

Of course, in the grand scheme of MMA rankings, all that, blah, blah, you know. Legacy, history. Yeah, I get it. Potential excitement of fight. I mean, I feel like that would be.

But Connor versus anybody, Chandler versus anybody, would obviously be more important. Yeah, must watch TV. So Casey, at a firm zero as far as level of interest and also at the chances of the fight happening, G.C., where are you as far as chances of the fight happening? I mean, you said level of interest. Level of interest is, I mean, it's a nine out of ten. Like, I mean, this. Damn. I mean, what do you want me to say?

Like if it happens, I will be there no matter what. Like I will be sitting in front of my TV. I will be watching it a thousand percent. In terms of it actually happening, I mean, the talks have ramped back up. Like we got Dana being like he's going to fight Chandler. That's going to happen. He's now saying, yes, it's going to be Chandler. I was just kind of messing around.

Just when does it happen? Give me January pay-per-view, McGregor Chandler. That's my final prediction. Yeah, I think we all came down on it's not going to happen this year. It could. It could. It could. All the USADA stuff.

December. My best friend, Mike Heck, has been saying on heck of a morning all the time, don't worry about the USADA stuff. If they want him to fight in December, they're going to find a way to make them fight. Well, yeah. If they break every protocol and rule and regulation that they have, yeah, if I can happen and they don't care. They don't care.

But I agree. I think early next year is more likely. It's a great way from them to start their 20-24. calendar year, right off the bat, just like, they're, they're, it puts them in the, in the black, right? I mean, that's a good thing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. McGregor fight puts them in the black right out of the game.

He fought Soroni in January, so we know he's open to January pay-per-views. It's a good month for him. It's a good month for McGregor. Oh, wait, did the first pour-e loss also happened in January? Anyway, someone said, oh yeah, maybe that's one I'm thinking of it. Maybe, maybe I'm getting, no, no, it was also, I think he also, he also fought Soroni in January. You know, you're correct on that.

Someone in the comments last week said This show would have been way much better With Tony Ferguson instead of Chandler WTF they choose Chandler Why the F did they choose Chandler I don't know if I agree with that What do you guys feel? You're saying

I want Ferguson and McGregor as coach as far as just stupid house drama We didn't just drama in general I don't know Yeah there's no drama because they're never together. I don't know. It's like until like the actual fights and then occasionally after the fight they

yep, yeah, I thought, but yeah, I guess. I mean, sure. I don't know. Would the fight be more? No, you said no McGregor fight is interested you anymore. She's seen. It's not that. It's not that.

We're talking about like level of interest I got from the show for the fight. The tough, the season of tough did not give me any more interest for McGregor versus Chandler. You're going to have that fight six months ago before the show happened. My interest to be the same. That's what I mean. The show did not peak any interest at all for me. The show did peak interest for me in Kurt Holbo's career. That's not me. Okay. That's what I've been, I say this. I eloquently put until they, yeah, I repeat until they change it that like having the fighters be the coaches is such a waste of time. And it's also the fact is most of these fighters

don't want to be on TV for that long. And even McGregor this year sounded like just sounded like disinterested at times at doing it. Like, it's just, he's just, he's done this dance before he's coached the show before he didn't want to do it like get people who want get actual co get chel sonin on here get matt sarah on here get other get retired fighters like could you get a jail court made coaching season that would be amazing like honestly i thought chander wanted to be there i thought chander actually was fine chanler was a great coach he actually i think he actually generally cared for these guys so uh i've noticed of chanler in the show he wasn't like super super dynamic personality though he was a good coach he wasn't like a super dynamic person i say get people who you know are good

TV personalities and want to coach. Don't worry about hyping up a fight. It's so pointless. It just doesn't matter. As Casey so eloquently put it, it rarely builds up that much more anticipation for the fight.

You got to just put them in the cage and let people who aren't fighting, handle coaching. It's just be more interesting and I don't know. Can I throw it a hypothetical? Of course. If from episode one, if it was Chandler, they got the prospects and McGregor, they got the vets,

were the records been the same? I still think the vets would have won. Maybe Chandler's schools is 1 or 2 wins. 1,000%. Vets still dominate. There's no question about it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, because we talk about it's coaching

and good coaches, bad coaches, but then with you switch teams, we go, records would be the same. That's all. I think, yeah. So, I mean, I don't know what we learned as far as coaching. Oh, nothing.

It wasn't that, it was not like McGregor. One, I don't think McGregor's a great coach. By the way, how about, Shout out to him doing some sparring in like a dress shirt in this episode. That was fun. I don't know why. The polo, yeah, the athletic polo. I love that.

Why? Just why? I guess that's a, what's a McGregor brand clothing, probably? He doesn't miss a step. He doesn't miss a step. I will say, the man does not miss a trick. But yes, if you switch around, maybe Channel can squeeze out one more win out of there, but I'm honestly not sure.

Maybe. It's six and two. How much were they really doing? Yeah. Like, how much were they really affecting it? Yeah. And we know this is the vets, too. Like the vets, I'm sure, enjoying,

We're enjoying the food, being able to focus on training, enjoying the comforts of the house. But other than that, they're not, they're not greatly increasing their takedown defense. They're striking. They're in the house room. It doesn't matter how long they're in there. I do have a bit of breaking news in terms of when the fight happens. McGregor, two of his last three fights taking place in January. Let's just go ahead and make it three of four this January.

UFC 297. There it is. 297. If you could place a bet on that, would you? if it was you're you're getting plus on that plus on no no i'm a degenerate i'm not that big of a gender generate uh let's let's i want to go on a positive note guys this has been a wonderful experience um let's just talk about some of our favorite moments from the show there's there's so many so many but gc you can start us off well i was going to say if we're going to go out on a

positive note do we want to do the final uh reviews of tough first uh no i that that's will not be ending on a positive note, I don't think. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Oh, I don't do the review of this. We'll do that before we finish on the positive note. Yeah, yeah, good point. Good point.

Let's, uh, uh, we'll go in order of probably least positive to most positive. I could be wrong. I don't know. Casey started us off. You, you're, you're the, um, and like you were, you were, we start off. You were the in between. You've watched a lot of, uh, tough seasons. You definitely had not watched a full season in a long time before Olden Fighter 31.

You had to come back so we could, you know, tough hang out a little bit. What's your thoughts on the season? Boring? Mostly it's just boring. And most boring and just, boring and frustrating. I think it's the biggest thing, frustrating, especially of the last episode,

seeing that there was some house drama, some real house drama, not some kind of, let's throw a bunch of alcohol in the house and see if they get drunk type of drama. This was actually, no, these guys, because we're like, oh, are they good fighters?

But are they also good roommates? And it turns out that maybe Cotonin isn't a good roommate either. But so I want to see more of that because like these guys, they're away from their families, which we saw a lot of that. We know they miss their families a lot. But so and they're stuck of people in a house that eventually they will have to try to beat up. And those people are also trying to beat them up. And that's got to be really stressful for, I don't know how many weeks they're in there,

six, 12 weeks. I don't know. But I wanted to see more of that. And they gave us a little bit. the very last episode. And I was like, oh, there's so much kind of cool stuff. And that was in the house, but we didn't see it. So my grade for the show, boring and frustrating.

But I am a Kurt Holliba fan. Okay. So solid C minus? Is that generous? C such. D plus. It's D plus a thing. D plus is absolutely thing.

All right, D plus. D plus. D plus, wow, okay. GC, please. I assume we can only go up from there. I mean, yeah, we won't go out much. I'm going to give it a C-minus. You said it earlier in the show.

Like, it's a TV show. This is meant for entertainment. And now that I've gone through an entire season, watched every single week, multiple times a week, honestly. So I've seen it through. It just lacks entertainment value. It's just too formulaic.

It's too. cut and dry. It's they they don't highlight the things that I wanted to see like I wanted to see the drama. I wanted to see more of Chandler. I wanted to see more of McGregor. Like we got the coach's challenge, which was like a fun thing. Didn't get that till episode 11. I don't know. Like I'm kind of with what Casey said. Like get or maybe it was it was you who just said it that we get two coaches that want to be there that can commit all their time to it that don't necessarily have to be hyping up a fight that are personalities. And you just go hard for however long the show is going to be and you make it entertaining,

you make it dramatic, you make it fun. Like in terms of a reality show, like I would rather be watching The Bachelor, like the challenge, survivor. Like I would take any of those real authentic reality shows, actually, I don't know how authentic they are, one of those real, like, famous reality shows over this any day of the week and watching MMA is one of my favorite things to do. And this is an MMA reality show. You think I would have enjoyed it more. It's a reality show that somehow takes a lot of the fun and excitement out of MMA, which is probably one of the worst things I can say. I guess I'll agree to the C minus.

And it takes a lot of the fun and excitement out of a reality show. Like reality shows are supposed to be like turn your brain off, just like let me relax, not think about anything in the outside world. like this is just supposed to be dumb entertainment. Honestly, a lot of the times at the misfortune of the contestants on the show, this had next to none of that. I'll go with the C minus. I think I agree.

I want to say C, but I don't, in good conscience, I can't lie to the American people and say I enjoyed this season that much. I enjoyed covering it with you guys. I mean, that I loved, I loved watching it along with everyone who tuned in this tough hang every week. That part was great. The programming itself.

A bit of a struggle at times. As, again, as someone who has not missed the season, I was really disappointed that they didn't take more opportunities to just try and play around with the format a little bit. Like, familiar is good, but that's if the formula you have is like killer. If you've got a killer formula, by all means, run that back every season. Get the people what they want. But again, this show has been this way, stagnant, disinteresting, completely undynamic

for at least 10 additions, probably more, a dozen, the past dozen editions of the series. They need no ideas. They need to tweak the format. They need to really dig into any drama they have. Yes, this episode was so revealing as to what the show maybe could have been. Maybe, again, maybe based on the cast, maybe based on the coaches. There's nothing that would have elevated this to like A-level programming.

I completely understand that. But it does feel like we did. Yeah, it does feel like we didn't even get the best possible season. we could have gotten. Yeah. And we, like, also it feels like in, in a lot of reality shows, you're building towards something. And I understand that we were building to the finales

that we're going to get at 2.92. But like, it also didn't feel like we were building towards anything at all. And it felt like there was no real payoff. Like, let me ask you guys this. You know, say you are next, they announced next season, you have zero obligation to watch it. We're not doing tough hang. You're not writing your articles.

Anything like that. it's just your own free will. Are you sitting down and are you watching Tough Season 32? You can't ask me that question. A Casey, go out. No, I'm asking you that. I will answer. I'll like Casey go first.

Unless it's literally like a fighter I personally know, who is again, they're like someone I train with. They're like, oh, they're in the tough house. I might watch it for that, maybe. But yeah, a big, big, big no. No. I will cover tough until I die. I will watch it as a fan. I will cover.

Okay, all right, right. That's what I'm asking. Nope. Don't want to hear about how you're covering it. Do not want to hear about how you're covering it. Okay.

I'm saying you have zero. I definitely can't answer this question. I definitely can't answer this question. Because when it comes around every year and someone asks, do we want to cover the Elton fighter, I am the first one at the meeting, raise them hand. You're like,

you're damn right. We want to cover it. And I'm going to do it. So I can't be asked. But to me, this is my Simpsons. This is my Simpsons. This is my Simpsons.

Do you guys watch The Simpsons anymore every week? You know, the show is still on. Every week, new episodes. No, I don't like that. You know, Simpsons are fine now, but I moved on. Yeah. They had those 10 great seasons in the late 90s or whatever, and then I was like, okay, I moved on. That's how most people feel about it, too, I think.

And of course, Simpsons probably gets much, much, much higher weekly ratings than the Elton Fighter ever will. But the point is it has lost cultural impact. When people reference the Simpsons, they're generally referencing, like you said, Casey, that prime, you know, 10 seasons, which we, which everyone of a certain age group watched, those references will live on forever, those episodes will live on forever. And I'm probably there with the Delta Fighter right now. Like, I can reference, make so many references to some of the better, greater scenes, the Elder Fighter, great champions from the past, great moments. I will struggle to reference anything. Maybe this season, just because I did it with you guys, but like seasons 30 to 22, 21, going back that far, I'm not going to be able to.

to remember. I can't remember stuff from those seasons. So this is my Simpsons. I'm sticking with it. I know it has no culture of relevance anymore, but I just have to do it. It's in my blood now. Favorite moments. Favorite moments, guys. I'll kick us off.

I mean, when McGregor finally got the finish, that was great. The DeShullo, just like the whole story around him and everything. Big team blue moment. Big team blue moment. McGregor going absolutely banana. is in the apex running all around going crazy. That was good.

This was the list, Connor. This is a list of things. Oh, the Hullab adjacent night fight was incredible. That has to be up there. That's a top five fight of the year. I am telling you, I will be campaigning for this for the next four months that people put this in their top five list. I think that fight is so good.

That was amazing. That was amazing. You guys got anything? I'm trying to think you. Talking about the dog curse was probably the highlight of the season. Every week, it just kept going and going and going. And I'm like, they know what they're doing. That was amazing.

I agree. We started to wonder, do both fighters have dogs? And they just didn't show one fighter's dog as like a tip off. Was the production you trying to tip people off to who was going to win? I don't know. But it was such a weird phenomenon. I think at the end we did realize it was more of a McGregor. issue than a dog issue. But for me, and I've said this before, I know I'm a monster,

someone who's not a huge fan of canines. I was, I loved, I'm that guy. There's not that many of us. No, no, no, no, no, me of that guy, just one guy. A huge cat guy. Big time, big time, love cats. I'm glad I said this on this episode because I don't think, if I think I said on episode one, that's immediate like unsubscribe block. Have to be, yes. So I'm glad I'm not sure now. We can't monetize. I'm a monster. I'm not defending it.

I'm not defending it. I'm a monster. And I know this. So I was happy to be able to blame my dogs for the losses. But it really wasn't their fault. Those adorable little pups, it wasn't their fault. We know that now. The Black Forge, Irish stout stew.

I thought was also wonderful. Connor McGregor coming over. He's like, that was good. Let's just go ahead and sum it up to all of the product placement visits by McGregor. Go, go. The rowing, the rowing race. That was, yeah.

That was McGregor Fast. The hangout where they all got drunk on proper 12 and he did the fake staircase. That was an all-time moment. Oh, the staircase. That might be a top 10 moment for me where he did the fake staircase. That was a he's just like me moment. I think that was it. Those three, Forge our style McGregor Fast and the proper 12.

I do want to say this week's shirt. I was probably an August McGregor shirt. If that's what August McGregor is, I don't know what kind of clothes. but that is his clothing brand. So probably four. We probably got August McGregor in there. Casey, anything else jumping out? August McGregor, he has a closing brand?

He does. He does. August McGregor is his, a relative of his? Was that one of the questions whether they were a tub? Huh? Was that one of the questions about Connor? It should have been. Why is it called Popper 12?

Whop ass and look good. Why is it called Popper 12? Well, because of the district in Crumlin that he lived in, something to that effect. I can't remember why it's called August McGregor. If anyone knows, he will blow me and still out there. I can tell you right now, I can tell you right now, whoop-ass and look good,

the simple quote that has served as the premise of this joint partnership. August McGregor is the menswear brand created by Connor McGregor and the luxury custom clotheaer, David August, offering select curated range of athleture, casual wear, and accessible suiting for the bold and spirited

fans of Connor and his style. All right, I guess I'm going to have to order a little August McGregor here. You got the proper 12 in the back. You've had it there all season. You got that forged Irish stout. I'm surprised you're not wearing a McGregor Fast hat. Maybe we'll see that in the future.

But yes, it's been, guys, it's been a season. Casey, would you agree with that? It's been a season. Yeah, technically. Yeah, by definition, yes. It's in a season of television. We all watched it together. ultimate fight,

31 seasons going, guys. And I honestly don't think that they're going to stop. I think Dana loves it. And this one probably did better numbers than your average tough seasons. So if you're going to run it back,

run it back. But I don't know. I will tell people now, I don't know if we'll be doing tough hanging in the future. I had to fight hard to get even get this show going. They're like, why would you do a lot?

You did? You had to fight with that. I mean, not that. I had Connor involved. But I do think, I will say, the powers that be were probably like, really,

do people want to tune in to a post-oldo fighter show in the year of our lore 2023? And I was like, you're doing. They do. You're damn right they do. We charged them so much to do this. Yeah. I'm sure it was a really difficult, a really difficult decision for them. So I don't know if we'll be doing tough hang in the future.

Obviously, we probably would not have done tough hang this season if Connor Greger wasn't involved. If this was like Zhang Wei and Amanda Lomosh building up to like UFC 292, you will not be back for that. You probably not. Yearer Pajka and Alex Padetta, if they become tough coaches next season or something, if that fight gets pushed back, probably you won't see us. And also the viewership.

I'll be so much more interested in a year he has a coach. Casey's back. I'm down for, I'm down for Yuri Pereira. That would be amazing. And when they do it, and when they introduce the super heavy weights and the Adam weights in the same season,

eight super heavy weights, eight atom weights. This is how we, I think, you know what? For all of this. I think there's a chance. I don't want to make promises to people,

but I'm saying if something like that happened, you might not have seen the last thing. What's the singular moment that people are going to remember from this season? You know, everyone's got, you know, the, what's the show? The shove. You know, you get a rampage kicking through the door. You got, you know, I don't know, what's some other moments? Just let me bang, bro, you know.

It's the show. They showed it so many times before the show even aired. People will use it for React. our own gc i'm sure is already used it for some uh some sexy meme uh that he's always thrown out there yeah you got to do it yeah uh guys i think that's a wrap though i think we got a wrap i know we've been trying to hang and link hang on there i don't want to leave the party that they're turning the lights on and i know this is this is the last time we're going to we're going to be in this frame here last time we're going to do this intro outro uh yeah maybe we'll be back

I mean, if they do something special, if they do something really special, like you said, if they debuted like the Adam Wade and like they, that's how they decided the champion, maybe. If it was big stars, maybe. But like you said, if it's, if it's Rockale Pennington versus Holly Home, I'm probably out for next. Probably. What about pain you though? What about pain you?

Think about that. My girl. Guys, well, again, people will still see plenty of us on the NBA fighting network. I'm doing preview shows and podcasts. You're on the May hour all the time. You got no bets barred. Casey, the man behind the scenes on way too many shows. I can't even name them all.

But thank you, guys. Thank you, G.C., thank you. Everyone who tuned in every week was listening on the podcast network. Everyone who's checking the show out. It actually has been super fun to do the show. Yes, that's the biggest thing. A, it has been very fun. I actually have enjoyed this.

I'm glad that there was a finish line involved with this. Like, I knew it was just going to end. So I just enjoyed the moment so I had him. You said it. Okay. Thank you to anyone. the tune day. If I had,

you're crazy. You guys are crazy. You're crazy. If I had to watch shows about venting to someone, would I just watch? If I just watched it, turning TV off and just sat in my living room, just like,

okay, this was therapeutic. Yeah, this was therapy. I'll give you that, yes. Or a lot of people. I very much enjoyed this. Thank you guys. C minus.

C minus. Steve's less to C minus. As high as C minus as I can put. Casey, tough. Tough. Tough season 31, tough season 31, C-minus. Tough hang season one, A-plus-plus.

Big time. Big time. Casey, no royalty-free music this week. Let's cue that Sarah McLaughlin, and then let's get out here. Yeah. No royalty for your music. Let's go. I hope you had the time of your life.

Oh, Green Day. Okay. Yeah, let's go. All right, guys. We'll see you. Bye.