MMA Fighting - UFC 288 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Aljamain Sterling Spoiling Henry Cejudo's Return

Episode Date: May 7, 2023

Aljamain Sterling made history on Saturday by becoming the first UFC bantamweight champion to defend their title three consecutive times in the main event of UFC 288, and spoiled the long-awaited return of former two-division champion Henry Cejudo in the process during the UFC's return to Newark, N.J. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Shaheen Al-Shatti, and Jed Meshew react to Sterling's victory over Cejudo, discuss how they scored the 135-pound championship bout, if that was Cejudo's final fight, and the more-than-likely next championship bout between Sterling and Sean O'Malley. Additionally, topics include Belal Muhammad's dominant decision win over Gilbert Burns in the five-round co-main event, if Muhammad's next fight will actually be for the welterweight title, Yan Xiaonan's show-stealing finish of Jessica Andrade, Matt Frevola's massive stoppage win over Drew Dober, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Shaun Al-Shatti: @ShaunAlShatti Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew 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 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 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. The victory horns are sounding for the historic UFC Bannamweight champion Al Jermann, Sterling, who tonight, or as we speak, last night, became the first Bannock. champion in UFC history to defend his title for the third consecutive time earns a split decision victory over the returning Henry Sehudo, whose future is now up in the air following the defeat in his comeback fight. Belal Muhammad made a massive case for a title shot that he probably won't get, but he could find himself getting the winner of the Leon Edwards Colby Covington fight later this year.

and all at all, pretty fun night in Newark, New Jersey. As you welcome you to the UFC 288 post-fight show. Thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck. We've got a whole crew with us. Jeanne Al-Shadi joins us from Phoenix, Arizona. We have Jed Bishu back on the programs. Man's been talking a lot tonight.

We have Casey on the ones and twos, the baddestash in MMA. All right, so gentlemen, let's get into this thing. Shaheen, I will begin with you. In the end, As the night came to a close, Al Jermaine Sterling got the title wrapped around his waist, and Sean O'Malley's jacket ended up on Marab de Wallisvili's shoulders, which was absolutely hilarious. Maybe we'll get into that later.

But how did you score the main event? Did the judges get it right in your opinion? Oh, that seemed like there's going to be something after that. I mean, can we just say right off the bat, Marab de Valishvili MVP of the event entirely? 100%. That man stole the show. That was excellent. That was A plus stuff at the end there.

How did I score the event? I scored the main event. I think the same way a lot of people did three to Al Jamein Sterling. I gave Al Jailio round one, Sehudo round two, Aljo three and four, and then Sehudo round five. So hoodo round five felt pretty definitive to me. So the fact that Derek Cleary was out here scoring that one for Sterling and then that being ultimately the card that sort of sways it towards Sterling. Just yet another stellar example of MMA judges tripping over. themselves to somehow find the right conclusion. But ultimately, I thought Al Jermaine did win.

And it's just, it's so bizarre to say, and I don't know how to really articulate this in the way that I want to, but it was in some way the most Al Jemaine-Steirling win that this could have possibly been right now, because we were talking about this off air before the show. At this point, the duality of Al Jemaine Sterling, the dichotomy between this man is one of the most strange things I can remember seeing in MMA. Because you have some. someone who the two sides of this coin, right? Like it stretches across so many different things. His style.

His style is incredibly ugly, yet also just incredibly ultra-effective seemingly. It continues to work time in and time out. He is someone who is getting booed in a main event in his own backyard, yet probably represents the Northeastern United States better than anyone currently in the UFC right now, right, just in terms of sheer resume. And also his resume, right? Like, it's very easy to poke holes in his resume if you want to be that person. And yet it's also at this point, unassailable as like probably the greatest resume in the brief 13-year history of this division.

Like, this is not a division that's been around a long time. But Al Jemaine just objectively probably has the best version of it, right? Like coming out of this event, he holds three really significant records now. Most wins in the division's history, 14, longest win streak in the division's history at nine. and then most consecutive title defenses with three. And yet you could, like, again, the doubters and the haters could so easily poke holes in a lot of those, in a lot of different factors of that. It, altogether, the whole night, I thought, again, championship performance from Al Jermaine Sterling,

he won that fight in my eyes. But it's just so strange the way this title reign has gone and where we have sort of the place we continue to exist with this man. And it was so Al Jermaine Sterling the way this ended up. Jed, how did you score the fight? I had it 3 to 2 for Sterling. Officially, MMAfighting.com, Gravett website had it 3-2 Al Jermaine Sterling,

gave him rounds 1, 3 and 4. If you scored it for Sehudo, I don't necessarily think that's wrong, though. I do think giving Sterling the fifth round is bad. That's the only real scorecard out there that's bad. Way to go, Derek Clearier. He's doing God's work. But like Shaheen said,

We got what I believe is the correct result. I'll go back and rewatch it because I never feel too confident in my scoring when I'm live blogging. But it seemed like most people agreed. Sterling just kind of outworked him for portions of it. And a fight that was a fight. It was a bad fight. It was a fine fight. I don't think this is going to make any end of the year lists for any of us.

but a very quality win for Al Jermaine Sterling as he is amassing just a collection of the weirdest victories in the history of this sport. It's truly incredible to see the run he has gone on. And one of these days, we will talk about him at length when it's all said and done and be like, oh, that's the weirdest title reign in the history of the sport. Cool.

I scored it the same way, 4847 for Aljo. I'll have to go back and watch it again because watching it live, there's so much going on because, you know, we got the watch party. Rob Fonson. We're trying to get his thoughts on everything, trying to sort of gauge like what he would tell each fighter between each round. So I think at scoring it live, I gave one to Sterling, maybe two to Sterling. Yeah, I think it was one Sterling, two Sehudo, three Sterling, four Sterling, or something of that nature. But in the end, heading into round four, it was two. 29, 28, Sterling. Sterling wins four, Suhuda wins five. So I think everybody's on the same page. Fans are kind of all over the place. See a lot of people saying that Suhuda got robbed.

And clearly, that's not the case. But I mean, if you look at the scorecards and Derek Cleary's fifth round is the reason why Al Jameen Sterling wins this fight, there's sort of a case in that aspect, but in the end, the right fighter wins. And Sean said it best, Jed. And I wanted to get sort of your thoughts on this, too.

A very Algeman Sterling-esque sort of wish. win because one of the things we've been talking about something he needed so badly was a pure clear-cut victory and in a lot of respects he got that tonight but there's still a lot of doubts on people's minds shan o'malley what respects did he get that in there are people saying he didn't win that's not a clear-cut victory but in most people's eyes most people's eyes people sterling won in most people's eyes others mostly for the reasons that we talked about earlier not a lot of Sterling fans out there. And Suhudo had a great account of himself, which is one thing.

But again, very strange night for Sterling. Still not like a 100% clear-cut victory. It's something with at least a little bit of controversy, something that he just didn't need coming out of this event, right? Oh, well, that's the thing is I feel like we talked about it. Maybe we talked about it offline. We wouldn't talk about it on air. He was, this was never going to be the fight that he wanted.

And I knew coming into this one that I didn't know it would end up exactly like this, but there was really no world in which he was going to come out here in Corey Sandhag and Henry Suhudo. So in the best case scenario, he wins like a very decisive victory. And the haters and the losers of which there are many would be like, okay, well, you beat up flyweight going off of a three and a half year layoff. hurrah. And like that's that's a cynical and tough scene, but also like there is a kernel of truth in that. And so this was just never, this fight was never going to be the fight he wanted. Alderman Sterling is incredibly lucky and incredibly unlucky, right?

Because let's just be very clear. If Piotr Yan doesn't do the stupidest move in the history of organized combat, that's not an exaggeration, him neighing Al Jermaine Sterling is the dumbest thing in the history of organized combat when you look at the fallout of it. It was stupid at the time. He knew he shouldn't have done it and did it. He lost his belt and he's never going to get it back. If he doesn't do that, Aljo is losing that fight and Aljo is never getting a title fight again because that was the narrative coming in is Aljo was in the Leon Edwards. Like he's getting passed over. He's having to win six, seven in a row. If he doesn't get bailed out by Piotrion that night, he's not here. And then from that,

the Peota weirdness in the rematch, I thought he won, but a lot of people think that that was Peoriaon's fight as well. The Dillishaw thing, that was just obviously a trial like an absolute clown show. And then this one,

which was never going to break well for him. These aren't his, a lot of this isn't his fault. And so it is wildly unlucky that the division has broke this way. But if he fights Sean O'Malley and beat Sean O'Malley, no one is going to give him credit for that one either

because the excuse is already baked in. Like it's okay, well, Sean O'Malley isn't good, lost to Marlon Verre and should have lost to Peyoteerian, but they gave it to him because the UFC likes him. Like things just haven't broken well for him the way his title defense is lined up. They broke very well for him to get the belt at all. And since then, it's been very unfortunate.

And that's sort of his lot in life. it would appear. He's just one of those dudes. And that's how the world's going to work for him. And it's tough scenes. But here we are. Like he, at the end of the day,

in 30 years, his resume will look good. People on Wikipedia or Tapology, be like, that's a good resume. And as people forget how it all happened, this will matter less and less. But in the time that is going on,

it would be, again, not saying any of this is really his fault or wrong. It would not be realistic to be like, oh, well, wins a win. We're good. Just like, I have eyes. I watch the fights.

They were all weird. And that's the thing, too, is like, they were all weird. But also, they weren't necessarily, like, it's not his fault for a lot of this. No, none of it's his fault. It's just a unlucky. It's not his fault that T.J. Dillishaw comes, like, lies to everybody and comes into that fight, barely abled body. It's not his fault that the first Peoria on fight ends in the way that it does just with the, you know, it's not his fault. Peorter throws that shot.

it's not his fault that all of the fallout from that happens even the a lot of that like the him getting a picture with the belt and all that it seemed like that was things that he didn't want in the moment and i thought the second yon fight was pretty decisive like i didn't think that was controversial but you know close fights just happened amongst two of the best people in the world and we saw this again, like al jo's fault which is why it's again it's just such a strange thing because it's like jett said it will be so interesting to see how the aljima's sterling conversations shaped themselves 10 years from now, 20 years from now, when people just look back at the Wiki

and see those wins and see the names and see the run and everything like that, because it is objectively great. He is objectively one of the best bantam weights we have ever seen. If not the best, I don't want to have that conversation because that's just silly in a division that's only 12, 13 years old.

But he is certainly out there doing the damn thing better than anyone else really has in the UFC just in the pure numbers of it. And even tonight, like you look at the stats. against Henry Suhudo, right? The striking stats, Aljo, 135 to 99 in significant strikes, 186 to 143 in total strikes. Even the takedowns, four takedowns to Henry's 3.

Like he just, again, in all of these different facets, he is winning. And yet there will always be that note on a lot of this, that asterisk for a lot of people. And it's just, again, it's just so weird. It's a very weird career that we're watching on Fold Rondo. Shaheen, let me tell you how this is going to go in 30 years. No one, it's going to still be weird because there isn't a cult of personality around him. So there isn't going to be the stands like Fador has of being like, y'all just don't know.

We're trying to tell you how life was. You just don't know. There will be like one dude who's deep in the form is like, oh, no, look at the numbers. And the numbers is pretty solid. And everyone else can be like, he's not it, man. No one cares. He doesn't have the group of people that are going to keep his legacy alive because he's, they, people don't like him.

And it's, and that's the funny, that's the funniest is that's one of the most interesting parts of it is for much of his career he was liked when he was Al Jermaine Sterling with the chain and the afro and the funk master and whoop it up on Brett Johns or whatever. And I, nobody's giving me the title when I'm clearly the most. deserving guy for a title fight right now and I'm getting passed over. People were behind him and they liked him. And it all changed with Peoria. It all changed in an evening.

And it's never going back. And so it's incredible to watch the competing dichotomies of his career. And we'll discuss what's going to happen with Al Jermaine Sterling moment. But Shaheen, Henry Sehudo, first fight in three years, comes back. It looks pretty damn good to me. man, like this is a very close fight. It was competitive. The scrambles were a lot of fun. It was a chess match like we all expected it to be. The fight actually was better than I thought it was going to be. And I expected a pretty damn good fight. It was just really fascinating to watch two

high-level guys getting after it. And in a lot of respects, Henry really looks like he didn't miss a whole lot. Like he looked pretty good. Maybe he could have been more aggressive at times, but I thought he looked really good. And one of the things we were talking about on the watch party was if these two guys fought three years ago, it could have been a very similar fight. Like it really could have been. So what did you make of Henry Suhudo's performance? I thought he looked pretty good. I'd give it a solid B plus, honestly, considering the physical attributes that Al Jamein Sterling brings to the table, especially now during this run. Yeah, I agree with you. I thought he looked great. I thought He looked like Henry Suhudo.

And honestly, I think that almost puts a bow on the conversation we're having with Aljo, right? Because Aljo didn't come in here and fight someone who looked ring rusty, someone who looked less than the last version we had seen of themselves. He looked like, I mean, he fought a Henry Suhudo that looked like he was doing every bit of the Henry Suhudo things that Henry Suu was doing three years ago, right? Like this was a quality win over a very, very quality opponent. And Al Jemais Sterling should very much get the respect in the plotts from that. because I thought this was a great fight ultimately between both of them highly competitive and you're right, Henry looks great man.

Like Henry looked like he was still one of the best bantam weights in the world. If not, you know, I wouldn't say he's not the best bandit away, but he certainly looked like one of the best bantam weights in the world and this looked like a performance that would have fit right into what he was doing in 2020, 2019, I thought. Jed, what did you think of Henry's performance? Compared to your expectations heading into it, did it? There are a lot of questions, obviously.

We didn't know. three years away is a long friggin time. 36 years old. We know the statistic, which has been and now added a notch on the wrong end for 36 plus year old fighters. But did he meet, exceed? Was it a little bit below your expectations? What did you think? Pretty close to write on it. Maybe, maybe a touch better than I expected. I disagree that he looked the same. I think he got there. Everyone just brushed it off like the ring rust part of this aside. I thought he

didn't look very good in the first round, which is to be expected. He took three years off, but also the stats back it up. I mean, he did get that takedown and held that position, but he threw eight, according to UFC stats. This may get adjusted, but I think these numbers are going to stick. Landed seven of 18 significant strikes in the first round. Basically, every round after that, he eclipsed 30. Like, he came out a little slow, and Sterling came out clearly with the game plan of, we're going to sit a high pace right out of the gate, which I think was very smart for a guy coming off of this long layoff. And I think it took a little bit of time for Henry to get things going.

I also, it's hard to judge the fifth round. Henry obviously very good in that fifth round. It's hard to judge how much of that was him fighting with urgency because his corner told him he really needed to win that round and how much of Aljo was coasting. It could be both. It could be that he was finally settling in really fully. I did think Henry got better as the fight went on. And I don't think he looked significantly different, right?

It was not a huge gap, but I'm not sure he looked identical. Based on this fight, I would favor him had they fought three years ago or whatever. And frankly, I might favor him in a rematch. Like, he had a real trouble navigating the range for a lot of it and sort of Aljo's awkwardness. But when he decided to sort of stop caring about that, he had a lot more success and he started doing that a lot more as the fight wore on. I'd be happy to watch some rematch. It'll never happen. But I think the answer to the question is Henry Sehudo still one of the best band of wits in the world?

Yes, absolutely. Still, he could beat most guys in this division and would have probably beat a lot of them on this night. But I do think he came out a little flat and that ultimately played a role in why he lost. I will push back just a little bit on that because I think there's a lot of what Jed said is right. And I'm sure there was an element of ring rust to it. Also, I do think an ample part of that is just how awkward Al Jermaine is, right? Like, once you're inside the cage and you're actually going up against him, Henry himself seemed to admit this several times in the post fight of just like it's so much,

it feels easy, I would imagine, for some of these bantamese to watch Al Jermaine and see the holes as it's playing out on the screen and that end sort of going through tape study and that sort of thing. But when he's doing it in front of you, he is so long, he's so ranging, he's so unorthodox, He's just so damn awkward and some of it looks so ugly throughout the throughout, you know, a lot of the stretches. I think there's a real adjustment period that some of these guys have to take to sort of figure out what Aljo's doing and sort of fit into the, figure out the rhythm and fit into sort of how, okay, how can I start to attack that? And it seemed like Henry went through some of that in the first round. And again, some of that's probably ring rest, but I do think some of it too, you have to get credit to Aljo of just how much of a shock it is once he's in front of these guys of like in this weird, awkward style is. actually playing out in front of their eyes.

Sure. You should always give credit to the guy who is, these are not in a vacuum. Dudes make decisions because other dudes are also making decisions. So yes, but I don't know. In my head, I feel like Sehudo was a little, not all the way there. And honestly, in the post-fight presser,

I forgot to mention this, but it jumped out of me too. I forget who asked the question was like, hey, so you took him down and you held him down and that was very good. And then you never tried to do that again, really. Why not? And he was like, well, you know, if I take him down, he gets to rest. And the follow-up question was, yeah, but if he's just resting on the bottom, you're winning the round.

So why didn't you just win the rounds? And Suhudo didn't really have a good answer. He was like, I just kind of wasn't really where I was thinking. And that's not the Henry Sohudo that I remember, this hyper-focused, hyper-competitive, super-analytical, adjustment-based fighter. I really do think that he could have used a fight before this. And that is not to say that he didn't fight well. Obviously fought very well.

But it felt a lot to me. Like he was missing some piece. And I don't know if that's age or if it was just, man, I haven't done this thing in a while. And it is very different to fight in your gym with people you know and fight a dude who you've never fought before. Yeah. Aljo's pressure was interesting. I liked some of the striking wrinkles he added to it. The step and elbow I really liked.

I hate that so much. Oh, why do you like that? Because he's eight years long. It's such an abuse of his range. Use your freaking hands. You are bringing your face into Henry Suhudo's punching range. Just stick a jab, my guy. It was, oh, I hated it so much.

I don't think he landed more than one. He just kept doing it. I liked it. He kept Henry guessing, which was a big part of the game plan. And shout out to Rob Fon, who on the watch party, he goes, he's going to throw that John Jones spinning back elbow watch. And then like 30 seconds later, through the John Jones spinning back elbow, which I thought was hilarious. We lost our crap for that one. So, uh, Shaheen, Henry Sehudo had the gloves off.

after the fight. And then he's on the fence. What am I going to do? Got to talk to the family. You got to figure this whole thing out. What do you think he's going to do? Did we see the final Henry Sehudo fight? Because that was one of the big conversations. What happens if Henry Sehudo loses this fight? We talked about it on BTL. A lot of us seem to favor that if he loses, he's done, do you feel the same way? It wouldn't surprise me. I'll say that. I mean, we saw Henry in the post fight. He was very noncommittal about everything. But also he had sort of added the caveat of, well, if the UFC wants to pay up and pay me to keep going, then maybe I'll consider it. And we've already seen this story play out before that they're very much not

going to do that. That's just not where the UFC's mindset is when it comes to Henry Sehudo of, hey, let's grease the wheels for this guy a little bit. I don't know, man. He seems, obviously he seems like a guy who either I'm fighting for titles or I'm not fighting at all. And we knew the whole way through that this, all of this, like this whole week, this whole comeback, everything about it was just ultimately a means for an end, right? Like, it was all just a ploy to ultimately work his way back to, not back, but up to 145, up to Alexander Volcanowski, and up to that opportunity to be the first three-division champion. If that's not here, and all of this is, is just, hey, let's continue to go back for the title that I've already had once. I don't know

that Henry Sehudo is going to find much motivation or just is anything that interests him in this division to keep it going. I would say if he keeps it going, the one way I could see him continuing to want to do this and do this against this type of competition would be the exact scenario that Jed threw out on on BTL this past week of go to featherweight. Like featherweight was the move ultimately. Featherweight was what you were trying to do anyway. Just go to featherweight and fight Max Holloway. I think that's a very bad fight for Henry Zahuto. I think 511 versus 5'4 is a really tough ask for him to go against. And ultimately, I don't think that's a fight he could win.

But that is a path, right? Max needs a fight. Max is sort of this weird gatekeeper at 145. He's just that one guy that you don't want to throw the young contenders up against. If Henry Sohudo has anything left in him to try to want to continue to pursue this goal at featherweight, that's the move is go up to featherweight and see if you can maybe pull something off against Max Holloway. Jed, what do you think after this fight, after all played out, after hearing what Henry, had to say. Do you think the only way he sticks around is if he goes to 145 and gets the Holloway fight, you're still there? Or did you hear something on the presser that maybe change

your tune a little bit? Whether or not that was his final fight or staying at 135, what do you think? I think he's sticking around. And I think we should all hope that he's sticking around. First, let's just throw it out there. That presser was a huge downer. I don't want the King of Crinch to be around because that hurts my soul in a very different way. But just seeing Henry, like, not really reckon with what happened, but also sort of at least stared in the face while asking like, you guys, did I win? Please, somebody tell me I won. I just keep, I keep asking everyone here. So someone will tell me I won because I need that in my life right now. That was a huge downer. So just want to throw that out there. But the time that he perked up in it, he, you know, he threw out a rematch thing.

That's very clearly not going to happen. So I don't even think he's. committed to it, but forget who asked it, but whoever kind of pitched it, maybe it was Oscar, was like, hey, Marab has nothing to do now. Like, he's just kind of stuck in a holding pattern while his friend fights. Would you fight Marab? And I think that that's the path forward for Henry because it's very right. If he fights Marab, it's basically a title eliminator, right? He just had a close split decision with Aljo, but Aljo's leaving. So regardless of what happens in the main event, either Aljo's leaving, Henry Sohudo can fight Marab for an interim belt, and then he can either fight Sean O'Malley, should Sean O'Malley win the belt, or he just gets promoted to undisputed champion. Bob's your uncle, there we go.

I think that that's ultimately going to come back to him and be something viable because I don't see Henry Sehudo sitting quietly on the sidelines. And I believe him when he says, I'm fighting for titles or I'm not fighting fighting at all. And that's totally a justifiable way to approach it. It's your life that makes you happy. Do it to the fullest. But we saw what happened the last time he retired. And he was retired for all of four minutes before he started chirping everybody. And I just don't think it's in him to leave at this moment in time.

And so we shall hope not because if so, he'll retire and then he will still be tweeting at, you know, Sean O'Malley or whatever and be like, hey, you suck. candy corn man or whatever dumb names he had for him. There's some like real clown shit or whatever. I don't know, but he'll just do that. And we none of us want that. And so I think Henry's going to go home. I think he was noncommittal,

but he's still trying to play the leverage for more money game that's not going to work. I think ultimately he's going to sit back and he's like, all right, well, I can wait. Maybe Sean O'Malley beats Al Jermaine Sterling. And then I can maybe find my way into a title fight there. And if not, I can just fight Marab because Marab doesn't have anybody other than maybe Corey Santagin. And I get to jump in front of Corey Santagin. So I think that that's where we're going.

And I'm okay with it. I think that's a good move for him at this point. And he can try and recapture what is lost and continue his path forward. And for Al Jermaine Sterling, it's Sean O'Malley. And we knew whoever was going to win this fight was going to fight. Bo. Boom. Sean O'Malley's in the crowd.

Comes into the octagon, him and Alger of a fiery face-off. Rob steals the entire card by stealing Sean O'Malley's jacket. That's our true Bannoy champion. I didn't realize he jumped on top of the cage, too, which is even more hilarious after seeing those clips. But Dana White at the press conference said they want to go to Boston. August 19th was the actual date that John Annick kind of threw out there on the broadcast, targeting August 19th.

Al Jermaine Sterling versus Sean O'Malley. Of course, Aljo was like, eh, I kind of want to be on the West Coast. He was telling Aaron Bronze Center. And he's talking September, maybe December, but I think Monch is going to talk. I think this is the biggest, this is the biggest fight. Dude, like he has a fucking say.

Come on. Like, he has a fucking say in this. Pretty quick turnaround, but this is the biggest, this is the biggest fight he could possibly get right now. So if it's August, Listen, they want to do it in Boston. You go do it.

You're going to, that place is going to sell it in five seconds because Boston is a clamor for a UFC card. And we just loaded up with a bunch of Bannamite fights. They're just loading up with a ton of Bannaway fights. It'll be a lot of fun. No, I mean, the fight card will be great. But Al Jermaine Sterling in Boston against Sean O'Malley is going to be a nightmare.

Just bad scenes, man. Bad scenes. Shaheen, do you agree? Is nightmare the word you would use to describe a Al Jermaine Sterling, Sean O'Malley build for the TD Garden in Boston after the Celtics win a world championship. I mean, I don't like the addendum that you added to that question. I'm going to choose to ignore the second part of that question. No, a nightmare.

I don't know. I mean, this is the one that Al Jemaine Sterling ultimately has been waiting for, right? Like, this is the big payday. This is the golden chicken, as he called it. This is honestly the fight that should have been happening already before the Senate of Hudo fight. You know, bring it, whatever. Like this will be more, this will be interesting. The lead up will be something.

I mean, these guys know how to build up a fight at this point. I just, I really, the, the Marab just inserting himself into this whole equation. And I want him now badly to just be a part of this lead up because that was just the best part of the entire night was. By the way, that jacket was a thriller jacket, apparently. Do you know that? That was just like the Michael Jackard. I mean, it looked a lot like it. Yeah, which, hey, that's cool.

But no, I mean, I don't know. He always wears that jacket. it. Just like, yeah. It's because it's thriller time. But,

you know, I don't know. This is the fight that should be happening, so I can't hate on it too much. I know where Jets's coming from, but it'll be fine.

Bo. Bo. Hey, listen. Be a good friend now, go. Be a good friend. Let your boy fight for the belt before he gets too old.

I only have to wait one more. If they do it in August, Brahm get a shot at the end of the air. You know what I mean? This is as good of a win to leave a division. on as possible. You just beat him.

Why on earth would you leave when you're about to get the biggest payday your life? Like this is because I'm a good friend. I want my friend to get a big payday. And I want to go sit cage side for Yayae versus Volk. I want to go sit cage side for Yaya versus Volk and be like, I'm next. And now my boy can get that payday because I've been champ for a minute. And I'm trying to make a rum company or whatever other things I'm doing.

And I'm not trying to hold my friends down while I make all the money. Share the wealth, guys. This is objectively one of your worst takes. That's bad. You really think for one second. I don't think he's going to do it. I think he should. No, no, no.

Let me paint you a picture here. You really think that if he is this great friend, if he is the A.C. Slater to the Zach Morris of this situation, because Zach Morris was a piece of garbage, but A. Slater was a great friend. If Al Jod says, okay, okay, Marab, go ahead. You fight for the belt. I'm going to go to 1.45. And who do you think they're going to throw him in there with?

You think they're going to throw him in there with Volcanowski? They're going to chuck that man to Ilya, a mob czar of Lov, faster than you can say Jed Mishu. That's what's going to happen. That's sure you're being going to make things happen. You've got to go sit cage side and make it happen. Take your destiny into your hands and be a good friend, guys. No, this is bad.

We've already spent too long on this. This is just a terrible thing. Jed, but look. I'm, here's the thing. The UFC, I did not want to see the build to this fight. And yes, the press conference was kind of poopy, but then yesterday things were better. But we didn't get a whole lot of build. We had like one interview with DC and the two going back and forth and we were just like,

oh my God, this is going to be the worst five weeks of fight promotion we've ever seen. But then they just hit the breaks until the press conference, which I dug. and they might do the same thing here. So I don't know. I think it's going to be fine. I think it's going to be fine. Aljo's going to get a big bag of money. He's probably going to beat Sean O'Malley.

And then he'll move up. And Marab can get his shot. And Sean O'Malley will probably get another title shot anyways because he's the biggest star in the division. So I don't know. I don't think you need to be a good friend here. I think Barab would be the bad friend if he was like, no, get out of here.

Go up to 1.45. Why would Marab be the bad friend for that? That seems nonsensical. to me. I feel like you should just not hold your friends back. We don't have to spend any more time on this, but like this just feels like the cleanest exit possible. And the only reason it's not is because one dude wants to get all the money. And by definition, him getting that money means his friend is not getting that money. How on earth is a split decision when that some people think you lost the cleanest exit possible when it's very possible that Aljo just goes out and

does very terrible things to shot o'malley how is this the cleanest exit possible no like from a narrative standpoint not like oh it's a great performance like yeah and also maybe does but also maybe sean o'malley lamps him um that is becoming exceedingly more likely in my head uh because it's just like you just set the record for most title defenses like you just did this thing that was cool and now you can but he didn't set the record for most title defenses he set the record for most consecutive. If you look at the actual record though, like he's tied. Team J and Cruz both have three each as well. So the move is to get four because then you're alone sort of on that mountain when it comes to Bantway.

Okay. I'm not going to fight this because I don't care enough. I got. Thank you. I'm just no, I just simply don't care enough. Mostly I would like Al Jemate Sterling to not be in front of my face anymore. I'm very tired of every time he talks. It's a lot and I'm done with it. Hey, listen. Hold on. He is a very good fighter, an exceptionally good fighter. And he's the maddest man in the world. And it is, it's just, and I don't blame him for a lot of it, but it is draining. That whole post-fight presser, every answer was negative. Even the positive questions of like, dude, the one guy who said was, you know, we need to protect Marab Dvalos for at all costs. Like, yeah, we do. Marab's great. And I love Marab because he's so great to other people. Not everybody's like that. Some people are shitty, and shitty people are terrible. It's nothing was just a happy thing.

You just had the biggest one of your career of your life, and he can't. There's no joy. The joy is only in the downfall of others, and this is not exclusive to him. Casey and I were talking about this off air. It's a symptom of, like, high achieving athletes across all sports, but it is a tough hang, man. Just relentless negativity. It's hockey season, and you can't.

can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here.

Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.ca. Well, Aljo, in his story and where he went was a big part of the Do the Thing post-fight show, UFC 280. The other fighter... He did the thing.

He did the thing this time, so I'm proud of him. He did do the thing. And another fighter who has since done the thing since October of 2022, Bilal Muhammad, Shaheen Al-Shadi. Bal-Mahmad has found his way to take the ball and run with it. And he steps in on short notice. There's ankle gate. there's all this stuff going on and people are talking about cashing out their bets

because of ankle gates and Bala Mahamah just goes in there and puts the boots to Gilbert Burns for 25 minutes. This fight was competitive for about three minutes and the rest was the Bala Muhammad show. This guy went out there one of the best performances of his career.

Gilbert got hurt in the fight. Those kicks just added up. You could tell Gilbert's arm was hurt and in the end, Balaamah gets this massive win. It doesn't really, need to do too much of the thing, did the right thing. What did you make a Balmahman's performance? Because this was, this meant since October to now, this guy's stock has risen tremendously.

It was tremendous. Like I don't, I don't care, man. Miss me with all of the negativity and all of the crap that has already started with, in regards to this win. It is not Palal's just like it is not Aljo's problem. If T.J. Dillishat comes in here and gets hurt, it is not Bilal Bahamas problem if Gilbert burns gets hurt in that fight. All Balal Muhammad.

has done over the last like what three weeks right he gets the phone call for this fight that we said in the we said in the lead up was an objectively bad like decision for him to take this fight right it was very much like you don't really need to be doing this right now it felt very reactionary to what was going out with the colby coventon situation when balaul gets his call he's in the middle of Ramadan still and i don't know if y'all have ever done Ramadan i'm i grew up in a Muslim household Ramadan is incredibly difficult fasting sunrise to sunset for weeks on end. He was the furthest thing from fight ready, I would imagine, when he gets this phone call. And it's, hey, like, everything you just put, everything you just put together over the past five years,

this career best run, career defining run, really, your best thing that you're ever going to do in MMA over the past five years. We want you to wager at all, put all of that momentum on the line in like two and a half weeks against this, absolute killer and Gilbert Burns, who I think all of us have immense respect for. And not only does he do it, like he he wants it to be five rounds the whole thing like he put everything on the line this was all in he he kept bala muhammad cashed all his chips all in for this this was do or die for him if he lost this fight tonight regardless of what it looked like it could have been the most controversial fight in the world where something we all thought he won and he doesn't get the judges call whatever he would have had to win 40 fights in a row to be ever considered for a UFC title shot again and you know it and

I know it and that's just the stark reality of this situation for bala mohammed so the fact that he came in here wagered everything, literally wagered his career, basically, on this opportunity that he super didn't need to take. It had a lot more downside to him than upside and managed to come out here and actually, again, pull out the win that he needed to secure the title shot that should have already been his. Sensational. A plus, I don't even care, man. I don't want to hear any other, I don't want to hear any negativity.

I don't want to hear whether you thought it was boring or whatever. Doesn't matter. Dude out came out here and his one and all he has done is win. 10 straight fights unbeaten at this point. You can try to poke holes in as much as you want. Dude is the right and proper number one contender, and he deserves our respect. Dad, you watch the fight with us on the watch party.

How is that win aged over the last few hours? That's a good win. It was a very good win. A very good opponent. He's not the number one contender. He's the number two contender, which means he's not a contender at all. That's the only, it's really my largest takeaway here.

It's, well, Muhammad, look great. I thought he was going to look great. It looked very much like I did. Full credit to him for everything she said, stepping in on short notice, coming off Ramadan, fighting a dude like Gilbert Burns, who is incredibly difficult and has beaten most of the best people in this weight class. Like, that's a hard man move right there. That's some real G shit. And he did it.

And I don't know that the payoff's coming for him. He has locked himself in as a backup, which is a good place to be. That's better than not being there, I suppose. But if Kobe Covington doesn't get injured, Ballal doesn't fight next whenever that fight happens, and there's no timeline on that fight realistically at this point, like, at the best case scenario is that everything plays out well for Ballal, and he gets to fight for the UFC Walterway title in the early next year. and what I think is a more likely scenario is they do Colby Leon. Ballal is supposed to be number two,

but sometime before then Shavkat Rachmanov puts out a freaking unbelievable performance over Kamar Usman or something like that. And I just got to tell you, kids, if Shavka fights Usman and Shavkot wins, it does not matter. Ballal is just not getting the title fight. Like there is very much a path where he gets screwed over. once again and it's tough particularly because that performance sheen doesn't want to hear it i'm not here to say the performance boring because it wasn't but that is not the performance that makes you undeniable to

dana white even doing the ufc is solid so i i'm praying for you buddy i hope it comes because you deserve it and this sport should be a meritocracy certainly this far down the line but i got no confidence that it's going to play out like that for him and that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that because you're not wrong everything you just said right there is a hundred percent correct that's the thing that we we i think we talked about it on btow where the very fight was the very basis of this fight was so profoundly stupid because i understand the ufc just needed something to throw on this card to save quote unquote save the card how many extra buys did this fight add to this card i would love an answer to that that i will never get uh not this fight was so

So dumb. This way, it was so dumb because for the exact mention you, reason you mentioned, Jed, the timeline of it. Leon and Colby are not fighting until probably October and November at the earliest. And that's like saying that nothing else happens. No one gets injured, et cetera, et cetera. Like you said, that then plots out, Blahem's next fight, title fight, early 2024, mid-2024,

depending on layoffs, injuries, et cetera. How long is that in MMA time? Like how we this short has this sport has such incredibly short Time memories like the the the attention spans of people like that there's no way that we're gonna be remembering this win Come next February or next March like there is such a clear path for Ballal to get skipped over and and like you said I think if it would happen it would be a shop caught doing some outrageous thing to an uspon or somebody else like that and then suddenly below might be somebody who in a long line of people who have learned that Dana White's promise is very much don't mean much, he might be that guy, the next guy to learn that, which is just a damn shame, because again,

10 fights unbeaten in the Welterweight Division, and a lot of these fights were against really good opponents. You got Luke Ace in there, you got Sean Brady's, you got Gilbert Burns, like, this is a good damn winning street. And if this plays out the way that it conceivably could, which is exactly the way you laid out, that's just ridiculous. And it's an absolute crime. Two things. I say two things. Yeah, go ahead. Because you're missing one name.

There's one name you didn't say that I didn't even. Shopcott's not even in play in my eyes. It's Connor. I'm not bringing that in, but that's not wrong. And as we all know, Connor certainly can jump the line any which way he goes. Two things. One, to add on to what Shaheen just said, all of those wins are good wins too. Like, it's not like he had trouble with Vicente Lucke or Damien.

Maya like these are clean wins all the way down full credit to ball all the thing i wanted to circle back to mike is you asked how this aged and the performance aged fine i have since come to decide that his post his mic work he didn't do the thing mike i think that he did very poorly on the mic here's why i've changed my mind on this and here's why i didn't think that he could do that bad i think he did wrong because his mic work was built on the promise that he's is the number two contender and i don't think that promise is real his mic work should not have been that because there is no ink dry on a colby covington versus leon edwards fight that fight is not booked it is not sealed he should have michael chandlered his way onto that mic and just said

colby covington is trash he hasn't fought in forever he barely beat horhe moscital who sucks and is now retired leon edwards you once stood right where i'm standing you were overlooked time and time again. And when you finally got your chance at the belt, look at you now. You're the champion. I want my chance at the belt. He should have tried to take it because they are going to take this from him.

And he should have stood up for what is his. So I'm now firmly of the opinion that he did not do great on the post mic. It was what I expected. But I wish he had tried to take a more active hand in his own future there. Fair enough. Let's move on. Shaheen, while Bilal Muhammad's title aspirations

might be up in the air to some folks, I don't know if Jan Jan Anz is anymore after that performance, her next fight, they're going to do the Jean-Wea-Lie Jan-Jan-on fight next, right? Like, after that, you melt Jessica Androge like that.

She's got to be next. She, Jessica Androj, Jessica Androge. Like, who saw this coming, man? Who had on their bingo card tonight that Yao Jan-un would have the highlight of the entire pay-per-view. Because she did, right? Like, it's unquestionable that she had the most explosive sequence of the entire

paper view, the one that made the most people jump out of their seats and freak the hell out. Because that was, that was ridiculous. First finished in the UFC. Her first finish in the UFC is a freaking icing of Jessica Androj. This woman strode into this weekend. This woman strode into this weekend with zero knockouts over six years of a UFC resume. and just did that to Jessica Andrudge.

Like that was nuts. That was basically steep Amiochish, kind of getting the back foot on Fabrice Overdum back in 2016, the way that played out. Like Androge was coming in doing her best Van der LeSovra like she does. And that right hand, that counter right, that picture perfect right, you could not draw that up any better.

Like if you're the UFC, for this to just fall into your lap, like they must, you must just be praising the blood gods right now for this to just fall into your lap. this monster main event for a trip to China now. Because like a UFC China event with a champion who is Chinese and a challenger who is Chinese, like you,

that's the layup of all layups. We talk about things being a layup occasionally. Like, this is the biggest layup I have ever seen while covering this sport. I will be stunned if the UFC does not do this and book this fight. Because it's right there for him and good on you, Yao Xiaonan, because that was, again, nobody saw this coming. You could list out a bunch of different results. and outcomes in ways you thought that fight was going to go,

that was the last of my list. Incredible performance. She nailed it. You can't be stunned if they don't do it, Shaheen. You can't be stunned. This is the same company that didn't do Africa and is still not doing UFC Mexico despite having three Mexican champions. I'm not sure you can be stunned if they don't do it.

Fair, but they have done China already before. So I don't know. They've run Mexico before, too. you're not wrong you're not wrong and Dana White is obviously saying that they're going to try to do Mexico so we'll see well let's do that's that's

unfinished let's put a pin in that because we don't know if it's going to happen or not but I mean come on this is this is the lamp of all layups this is I agree this Dana should have made this fight immediately he says I never make it to the presser he should just had the contract

and handed it to you on like here we go on date to be determined in Shanghai boom got it but yeah we'll see that's the fight to make for sure. Mabzar-Vloy of Diego Lopez turned out to be much more fun than we possibly could have expected.

Love that fight. It was a lot of fun. Charles Dardine and Crone Gracie, the complete opposite of that. And we'll leave that at that. But Matt Fravola, Jedmich. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on.

Can we not leave that at that for just to have a second? I know that Prone Gracie is probably not long for the UFC. Oh, I know he's not long for the UFC, and I know that was a terrible fight to watch. And, you know, this is just like he's, The Gracie, the old, like, Gracie, just frustration of, like, the absolute reticence to recognize that wrestling and or striking is probably mandatory to know at least a little bit in MMA. Like, it rears its head again. I get it.

Before we kick Crohn to the curb, though, can we just do one thing? Just one. Just like, I ought to ask for a lot. Don't stay. Oh, I'm going. I don't know what you're about to say. Ryan Hall. Give me Ryan Hall.

Yep. That was it. Give me crone, Ryan Hall. Let that be. whatever it is, that there's a good chance that fight sucks. There's a good chance that fights 15 minutes of terrible kickboxing. There's also a really good chance. It's 15 minutes of weird booing and butt scooting hilarity, which I'm all for that.

But there's like a tiny sliver that is just the second coming to Damien Meyer versus Jake Shields, where it's one of those rare times with this grappler versus grappler thing actually works out, and it's just magic to watch. And I just, any of those outcomes is fun to me. I just want it. I just need it. Please give it to me. Jed?

Sure. Yeah, 20, 232, and they're both. healthy and ready to come back. Let's do it. Sure. I'll be down there. I'm fundamentally opposed to any fight promotion ever offering anybody with the last name, Gracie, a fight again. I think that there should be a blanket ban on it. Until one of them proves that it's not 1995 in their heads and in their hearts. Neiman?

He's out there doing stuff. We can maybe carve out an exemption for him, though he's not like fun to watchies. He's just at least he just he just at least recognizes that there are some things about MMA he should learn. But in general, I think we'd be better off if we just never employed Gracie's in combat sports until they, you know, get with the times. Just that like a rational stubbornness to just recognize what this has become. So even like a little bit, like a tiniest degree, like you almost have to respect it. I mean, I respect the absolute lunacy of it, because you should always respect lunatics. It's just crazy, man.

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Conditions apply. We'll take a couple questions from the peeps in a moment, but Chehien. low-key MVP of UFC 288. Marab? You mean like other than Marab? Because it's Marab. Other than Marab? Who actually fought tonight?

Yow Jowna, to me. Then I would say Belab Mohamed because he got the damn thing done and saved his career because it would have been terrible for him if it had not been in. Then I mean, I know you want me to say Matt Fervola, so for you I will say

Matt for Havola. Because that was a ton of fun, right? Like that's one of those fights you look at it. Like there's no one. way this could possibly be bad. And then it wasn't bad. It was really great. And now we just have this really good Charisord,

Blastores, Venusaur type of thing with him, Terrence McKinney, and these two guys that fought tonight. So you just, you love to see it. I think they should just make them fight each other in a circle. I just want to see them fight each other repeatedly. Just keep having those three go in a little circle. It would be great.

That'd be a lot of fun. A triple threat match. It would never be boring fights. it would always be fun. It would be fun. Are you with eight years on their career over and over again?

Is Matt Revoly? Is Matt Revoly your low-key MVP, Jed? I'll be different just to be different, but it's not a wrong answer. I'm deciding between two. I mean, I'm going to say Kennedy and Zuchuku

because one, that fight ruled. Devin Clark buzzes him for a second, And then he's just like, oh, you hurt me. I'm now going to elbow you a billion times, good sir, and just launch the meanest knees I've ever seen into your freaking guts. I hope Devin Clark has a comfortable bed because he is going to need to lay down for all of tomorrow

with some of the freaking belly shots he took in that fight. Just nonsense. And then finishes it up with the power guillotine grip with those 89 inch arms or whatever. monstrous teradactal like appendages he has. Kennedy and Zuchuku's a delight to watch. And then he's the nicest man alive. Wonderboy, watch you back because that was just the most wholesome post-fight interview I've

ever heard in my whole life. All glory to God. Thanks everybody. My mom passed away and it was very hard for me. Dedicate this to her. And I want to thank everybody, all the fans, every UC, Devin Clark. I just want to thank everybody. I'm really happy to be here.

Just how do you not root for that guy? He's given you the violence. He's given you the heartwarming, the soul-filling speeches afterwards. It's my MVP. It's a great pick. That's a great pick. I think you know where I'm going with this. The man who won.

Do it, Mike. The man who won the best two minutes and ten seconds of this entire card, it's Paca Porter. Paco Porter is the dude. He gets it done. fight was everything I dreamed it could be actually better than I dreamed it could be because every time Braxton Smith threw a punch, I like, I cheered because the setups were so fun to watch and Parker's just like, the hell is this guy doing? And then Brax's Witt just runs out of gas in 45 seconds and Pacca just beats him up and gets him out of there. And speaking of post-fire interviews that just

tugged the old heartstrings, Parker Porter did just that. And not. Did great. You want to talk about the UFC being dealt a blessing in disguise, a favor, if you will? Oh, cook my keg. Cook my keg. Absolutely. They just got a co-main event for their return to Madison Square Garden. Because John Jones will fight Steep A. Miichich in the co-main event, Sergey Pavlovich needs a fight.

He can fight Paco Porter for the number one contendership. And if Parker wins, we get the rematch. That might keep John Jones around. the rematch that we've been waiting well over a decade for. John Jones, Parker Porter, number two, baby, number two. Can I get one more thing off my chest about this fight? I love you too.

Shaheen, I know that you have recently signed him to one championship, so he'll be off UFC broadcast very soon. I need somebody to just heat check John in it, because I think he's heat checking himself a lot, repeatedly saying Braxton Smith could have played in the NFL is a big stretch. It's a,

it's such an enormous stretch that it shouldn't be said. Because if he could, I mean, you would have played in the NFL. He would have played in the NFL. You know, like I,

I played high school. I played I played varsity high school football. I could have played in the NFL, maybe not really, not actually, not in actuality, but I could have. He could have been playing in the NFL.

His dad was in the NFL and he's on a flag football team that's very good in the state of Texas. Like, John, that's, we don't have to say everything, man. You don't have to let that one go. Was flag football mentioned on the broadcast? He's, yes, he repeatedly mentioned that Braxton Smith is in one of the best flag football teams in Texas. At least two, if not three times that fact was mentioned. Like, it's okay. You could just say he's a great athlete.

You could just say that. I push back. I think, I think if nothing else, we need more secondary accomplishments being mentioned on the broadcast. Like where if Paco Pocopolda is out here, hold on, one, let me go. Let me go. Let me go. Let me go. If Paco Pocota is out here and he's like in one of the best sewing clubs of, you know, Boston or whatever, like, area he's from.

Or he's on like one of the best book clubs from this place. Like, I want to hear about it. I want to know these, the second. I don't know what else these guys are doing. I agree. I don't want John, I don't want John in it to be like, Parker Porter is the next Betsy Ross because he can stitch.

Like, it's just not necessary to, you know, everything doesn't have to be to this end. Everybody isn't the greatest. This dude couldn't make it in the NFL. You can just say he's a good athlete from a great family of athletes. It's fine.

It kills me. I don't know why he does it. What's the fun in that? Come on. Just, it seems. so unnecessary to say he could have made it in the NFL. No, he couldn't have.

That's obviously ridiculous. Casey could beat John Jones. Just saying. Sorry, I've been holding that in. I got to get that. Hey, Blah Muhammad. If Blah Muhammad had eight weeks, he could beat John Jones. He said it himself.

He tried. God, he tried. That was good. I liked it. So what? So buttons. Let's take a couple questions from the peeps. Oh.

I'm glad you brought up Parker Porter because I had a lot of Parker Porter questions lined up. I feel we're done. I mean, dude's a legend. We've nailed it. I wish everyone watching this could understand the depths to which M.M.A. fighting loves Pacaporta. Like, the M.M.A fighting slack goes to a different place when Pacapota is fighting. You don't, you guys don't understand.

Do you think we can just manifest Parker Porter versus Salt Poppy? Do we think we can get that? Oh, wow. That combo? We can. Then we're cooking with gas. No, they just need to be friends and just like accompany each other. Like a tag team partners.

Yes, that's it. They can't fight each other. Then one would have to lose. And I don't want to see that. I'm down. Let's make this happen. Let's give them a podcast together. We gave, we gave Parker Porter,

his own like jiff response thing in our slack channel. Yeah. It's a thumbs up. We gave him two. We gave him two. He is two. It's two. He's the best.

Oh man. That loves slack humor. All right. Here we go. I'm sorry. It's 4 a.m. This is what I'm. Yeah.

What does Bala Muhammad have to do to become a good pay-per-view cell? He cannot. win the title, I guess, would be probably the next step. He won't even be a good pay-per-view cell. He can't do it. Not everyone can do it, and that's okay. Nothing wrong with not being able to do it. He just, he can't.

Most people can't do it. Like, very few people can become good draws. Right now, how many good draws are there right now? Just two? Jones, Connor. Jones Connor. Is he easy? Yeah, we put it in there.

Is he? Yeah, Izzy. So three. And I strongly suspect Sean O'Malley is to he just has not gotten the opportunity. I think he will do very well. That pay-per-view is going to do better than this one. 100%. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. But yeah, I think it's probably those four. I'm trying to think there's somebody else. I mean, I would say it's only the three right now. You can't say it's Sean until we see it. Sure. Well, we'll never see it because we won't know. but I feel confident that he does well.

Are we missing some, maybe Destin? Dustin's actually probably doing okay. Yeah, Dustin needs a proper B side though. Yeah, Dustin versus random lightweight does not sell crazy paper field numbers. So, yeah, so back to this question from Screw You. I didn't. Yeah, it's just, that's not really umbrella.

It's just, it's kind of asking you a little too much, I think. That'd be a good question. Most people can't do it. Yeah. All right. Did you do? Astro pal. What did you guys think of Williams and Bedoya?

I thought Rolando showed a lot of skill for his age. Jed, I'll turn this one to you because you and I were very surprised when this fight, with the outcome of this fight. Like not just because, you know, Chaos won, but I mean, I was expecting highlight real first round finish for Chaos Williams with the way Bedoya sort of leaves his chin to be hitable. And yes, he was very hitable in this fight tonight. But boy, did he get some elusiveness between fights? Did he not? Holy moly.

Yeah, he improved a lot. Because if you go back and watch his tape, he, I said it on No Bet's part. I was like, he's 14 and 1. And in my head, when I look at that record and even looking at the record, do you see his wins are not over like cans? This is not like explode wins. Like, he's got okay wins. Like, okay, he might be good. And then you watch all his tape.

You're like, no, he's awful. He's very bad at this. And he looked a lot better. He still got hit, like, a lot. And that was what I thought was going to do him in, because he had horrendous defense in all of the other fights you've ever seen. And I was like, okay, well, that's just going to get him killed against Chaos Williams. And he did eat some, but dude's got a heck of a beard.

And he did get a lot better. Like, he is clearly improving. So it was good signs from him. I thought he had a case to win that fight against Chaos Williams. and, you know, don't have any, don't have any, yeah. And I don't have, I don't think it's a robbery either way. It was just a competitive fight. But impressive improvement from him making his UFC debut against the guy I thought

was going to clobber him. So have some interest in seeing him fight again. Sam's, Diego Lopez, too. Yeah, Diego Lopez, I had no expectations for, and he did fantastic. Yeah, that was awesome. I thought he was low-key, one of the biggest winners. on the card. Like, I'm not really the guy who's here for moral victories. Like, I'm not really ever going to be touting a moral victory, especially in like a fight sport, right, where like,

the reality of a moral victory is still so compromising financially and physically to like what it did to you, the fact that you lost that fight. But I mean, I've been pretty consistent that I think Mowicezare-V is going to be like one of the key pieces in Featherway just generally in the future here. Like him and Iliotip is sort of my two guys. And Obaz kind of came in here and did like the Armist Ruki and Mokachev thing, right? Like he did the Landauvinata Tony Ferguson thing a little bit. Yeah, like short notice. Yeah, like short notice just coming in here and really like almost pulling something crazy.

That was a hell of a performance. Dude, this was a weird fight card because I feel like all of the main fights were just fights we've seen before. We talked about like how Jan Jiao Nan was basically the same steep A.Kho. that really was like a Lando Venata Tony Ferguson's performance. The main event, frankly, the whole time I was watching it, I was like, this is giving me a bit of Islam versus Volk vibes. Like the smaller dude is really struggling with the range of the bigger guy and the bigger guy's also getting the back a couple of times.

And Jordane Kron Gracie is every time we've ever let a Gracie fight a real person in the grown-up world. So this was just history repeating itself over and over again. Crone Gracie versus Alex Caceres is one of the weirdest results to look back in retrospect. And he rolled through Caceres. It wasn't even competitive from what I remember. Yeah. Just interesting note, so 12 fights on this card, according to typology,

six of the fighters that won, less than 50% of the people thought they were going to win. So I don't know if that's straight betting lines, but like Sterling was a only 43% people had them come. Sorry, 43% had him winning. He was the underdog. He was the underdog. Blal was the underdog. Blal was the underdog. Blal was, Yon was on Earndog.

Evel was very much not. Yeah. What does I mean? Jor Dane was an underdog? No, Jordane was his favorite. No, Jordan was favorite. Oh, no, you're right, you're right, right. Yeah.

But Forrello was a big underdog. Oval was a big underdog. Angerobo was a big underdog. Angerobo was a dog. And Giorobo was a dog. And Porter was a big underdog. I'm pretty sure Porter was a dog. Yeah.

No. Just, yeah, well. No way. Only, well, I'm not. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm going to be wrong. There's 30% people were picking Porter to win. Maybe that was a flag football game.

I'm not sure. I mean. Casey, that was well done. I'm proud of this that one, bud. I don't know. This, this slim, trim version of Pauter might have beat Braxton Smith in a flag football game. He would have ran. really fast.

See, the thing is he didn't get too slim, and that's what matters. When Tanner Bozer got all, you know, like, yoked, we should have known it was the end of good Tanner Bozer. Like, you can't get too slim. You've got to stay true to yourself. Yeah, he should have gone to like the 210. Don't go to 206, like 210.

I think we're kind of good on questions. But one thing we didn't talk about at all. It's just interesting. What did you think about just, I'm curious, Janjarobo's performance tonight against marina rarigas i picked her to win so it was exactly the way i thought that fight was going to go

and yeah i i mean i didn't think it would be as easy as it was but then like 45 seconds into the fight with janjoroba just dumped rodriguez immediately i was like yeah this is what this fight's gonna be like

for the next 15 minutes yeah i was a little bit i was shocked by the dominance honestly um i'm a big i'm a big janjoroba fan. So I was, I was like, whoa, I just didn't see that coming. But yeah, this, this sport is just so cruel, man. It's so damn cool. Yeah. Literally, literally the title shot and now one year ago, she's gone. One year ago at this moment, she's coming off a win over Yao Jan and she's basically like one of two people who could consider for this title shot. Should have gotten a title shot. It should have. Should have probably gotten it. Now a year later, two fight losing streak, probably never going to get back there.

I think she's 36. Yeah, she's 36. She's 36. And she's starting to look a little bit. And the woman she beat last year is going to get the next shot. And it's just, it's also. Yeah, she beat McKinsey Dern. Yeah.

Beat Hebas, beat Michelle Waterson, McKenzie Dern, beats Janon. And now who is she? Yeah, it's a, she beat Tisha Torres. You know, it's, yeah. Game moves quick. That's, that's the below thing, man. sometimes there you get one run

you get one window where like you can make this thing happen and if it just one bad thing happens during that run and it ends it's never coming back so that was again why all the credit to you men you high rolled so hard and so many so many times in a row

very important also shouts to Icaroff that dude's going to be a problem middleweight's got a problem that dude's good the fact of that dude's good the fact of that guy at a fight on the contender series is an absolute travesty absolute travesty full outright signing should have been like two or three years ago if you're a world combat sambo champion if you're

a world combat sambo champion you shouldn't have to fight contender series you you're a contender I'm willing to just staple you as a contender you beat yoroslav amosov two times in the combat sambo world championships we're good you can just get your way on end if there's up If you're the toughest opponent he's ever faced, you should be in the UFC and not have to go on the contender series. Hamzat still to this day says that he is the toughest opponent of his career. Casey, I'm making a rule for you if you ever fight again for a second pro fight or immature or whatever. You're not allowed to fight anyone from Dagestan and you're not allowed to fight anyone who has the beard, no mustache situation going. It's just not allowed.

Even though that would be a great. contrast to your just mustache look. Just really getting competing faces on the poster. Together or one full beard. One you get there all together. But yeah, if the dude's name ends in of, just don't sign the slip. That's my advice.

You're just like, nope, I'm good. And right before that, I think Rogan was talking about Phil Haas going to Thailand and all this stuff and then went to. Credit. Phil Hawes looked really good for the 60 seconds that he was upright. And then he looked unconscious. Jeez, that dude, that was the nastiest K.O.

Until Yon put Androge into the shadow realm. Yeah. It was a weird night of fight, guys. It was a good night, but it was a weird night. I would say it's a weird pay-per-view, ultimately. It would have been a lot better if we didn't start the pay-per-view off with stupid-ass Kron doing that shit. And then the rest of it would have been fine. Yeah, the main and co-main could have been more thrilling, but the prelims were great.

All the free stuff was great. Yeah. One of those cards, one of those paper views. Yeah, the free ones were the good ones. For Volodobar freaking delivered. That man, that man cracked the uncrackable chin. Look at him go. Do you believe you Matt Favola ranked lightweight is he ever dude he and he looked good

He was I thought yeah he looked good. Yeah, he was tagging over mm-hmm I'm not gonna rank him I can't rank him but I'm right yeah I think I'm ranking him I think I'm gonna rank him Accept it in there was dober right there was over was in mind's but he's obviously bounced but I can't put Favola in. He was 15. One more and I can slide for Volan but. The courtesy. Three knockouts in a row.

Three first roundios in a row. Get him in there. I always got a lot of dudes. Also right before they got knocked up with Terrence McKinney so it's, it's tough. In like seven seconds. A lot of dudes.

Yeah. Lightweight's got a lot of dudes, man. I need one more from him. That was really good. He's on the cusp. I just need one more. Fair enough. All right.

Well, you can hit the music. Casey. And this will be one more goodbye from our UFC 288 coverage, at least for today. We'll take a five and a half hour breather. And then AK and I will be back on this very channel. On to the next one, 10 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. So join us as we do some matchmaking following UFC 288. What's next for Henry Suhudo? What's next for Gilbert Burns? All these important questions we didn't get to, we'll discuss tomorrow morning. So for Jed, Casey, Shaheen, I am Mike Eck. Thank you. for watching all of our coverage tonight. We'll see you tomorrow, everybody.

Good night. Love y'all. Let's go, Sons. Still in it, baby. Still in it, baby. Still in it. Baca porta. Pagaporta. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.