MMA Fighting - UFC 290 Post Show | Reaction To Alexander Volkanovski's Dominance, Robbie Lawler's Perfect Ending

Episode Date: July 9, 2023

UFC 290 delivered one of the best fight cards in quite some time on Saturday night in Las Vegas, and it was capped off by a dominant performance from arguably the best fighter on the planet today in Alexander Volkanovski. Following the UFC's latest pay-per-view offering, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Shaheen Al-Shatti, and Jed Meshew react to Volkanovski's sensational third-round TKO win over Yair Rodriguez in the main event, and if Islam Makhachev or Ilia Topuria will be his next opponent. Additionally, they discuss the overall greatness of the card as a whole, Alexandre Pantoja's emotional title win over Brandon Moreno, Dricus Du Plessis' stunning finish of Robert Whittaker and future matchup with Israel Adesanya, Robbie Lawler's perfect ending to his legendary career, 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 Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

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

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose

to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Ah, yes, the victory horn sound once again following another UFC pay-per-view events.

They sound for Alexander Volcanowski. They sound for Alexander Pantosia. They sound Verdricus duplice. Holy moly. Those are just bits and pieces of the craziness. That was UFC 290 that went down

tonight. T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the International Fight Week Capper. We're here to break it all down right now here on the UFC 290 live post-fight show. Thank you for joining us. I am Mike Keck. Joining me, the wise wordsmith. Shaheen, Al-Shadi.

What's up, Shaheen? Did you have a good time tonight? Oh my God, I had such a good time. I'm so glad to be here with you, Mike Heck, to be here with the people. I am so excited for this. What a card. That's one of my favorite cards we've had in a long, long time, and I'm so excited to talk about it with y'all.

And Mr. Victory Lap himself, Jed Mishu. I mean, it's just like every two years. An angel gets its wings, and Jed has a hot take that pays off. What's up, buddy? How you feel him? It's going to be a good week, Mike. heck it was a really good night i'm very much enjoying what happened at ufc 290 best card in some time years and years and i'm just buzzing just buzzing with with all the wonderful things with the

greatest middleweight fighter in the world arguably the greatest of all time since we just throw that term around now willy nilly uh i'm excited to talk about all of this with you guys it's gonna be a good one. Yes. Well, there's so much to break down. We'll just get right into it. We'll start at the main event. Al Jain de Volcanovsky just, he's taking on Yaya Rodriguez. Everyone's thinking, you know what? If there's any guy in this division right now that could really threaten Al Jind of Volkanowski and stylists and give him a really hard fight, it's Yayae Rodriguez. But Volk took him down right away. It really didn't struggle. He took some decent shots in the fight. But all throughout Chehien, and this is Volcanovsky just putting together a great game plan,

took him down, wore him down after two rounds, and then decided I'm just going to stand with Yair, clipped him with a huge right hand, put him up against the fence, unloaded some shots, scooped him up, slammed him, and just pounded him out. Volcanowski remains the featherweight champion. How would you rate his performance? I know it's kind of hard because it's such an emotional dump

going from all the main card fight sheet, jeanne, and then going to that one, It was like Rock Hogan going to Triple H Jericho at the Skydome for WrestleMania. Great match, but following Pantosia Moreno, it's like almost impossible to top that or even match that fight. Yeah, I mean, I want to talk about Volcanovsky because what he's accomplished at this point is pretty special. But I do want to almost do big picture of you first because of exactly what you just said, right? Like eight years ago, I had the extreme fortune to be in attendance for UFC 189. And that was just a card that lit the MMA world of fire, right?

Like that just blew up everything. It ends with the greatest seven-fight run in MMA history. It's still my favorite memory in more than a decade of sort of working within this sport. And to me, that was the one night that forever will have cemented that this thing that the UFC does, the International Fight Week celebration that we do every time of this around this time of year is the Super Bowl of MMA, right? Like it's the big, it's the big week. It's the big card that you sort of build the year around.

And since then, we've had some good cards. We've had some hits. We've had some misses. We've had some bad International Fight Weeks card. I think last year it wasn't particularly that great. But not since UFC 189 have I felt the same type of magic that we felt in 2015, at least not until tonight. Like UFC 290 is not going to surpass 189 to me is, you know, the greatest paper review of all time

or just the greatest international fight week card of all time. But it's certainly the best one we have had since that event. And it's the new frontrunner easily for event of the year for me. And if this doesn't win by the time December rolls around, you know we have had one just amazing back half of 2023. Because what a night it was just from front to back. But yeah, I mean, we have to start with the champion. And really, to me, what Alexander Volcanovokinovsky is putting together is,

I said it at the top, but it's so incredibly special at this point, right? Like, this man is my number one pound for pound fighter in MMA. and we just watched him steal Yaiir Rodriguez's soul straight out of his body on Saturday night in really a way that no one has done since like Frankie Edgar all the way back in 2017. And that was like when Yair was just an infant, like a baby in this game. And also like take into effect like, what was it? It was 2012, right? It was just a couple years ago when Yaiir went to absolute war with Max Holloway

and showed all sorts of tremendous heart. And again, Volcanowski just completely sucked that out of him tonight. To me, the one stat that sort of says it all, Alexander Volkinovsky absorbed just 13 significant head strikes over 14 minutes of action tonight. 13 significant head strikes. Alexander Woganovsky got hit clean in the head less than once per minute throughout this fight. Like what this man continues to do is incredible.

I'm so deeply uninterested in the goat discussion, and I hope we don't have to do that again here because it just takes away from all of the victories that this man continues to pile up. But it's just, again, this to me is the best fighter in all of MMA right now. He is the most talented guy doing this. And tonight was just a masterclass, again, as showing his dominance over this division. Incredible stuff. Jed, you almost had a perfect night, right?

The one thing that could have put it over the top is if Yaird had beat Volkanowski. You said that when you were on the watch party, but it was just a master class from Volk. Were you surprised it played out this way? I mean, you were a guy who was on Yaiyir, almost from Jump Street. As soon as he beat Josh Emmett, you were like,

I don't know if I'm picking him to win, but I think it's going to be a really compelling fight. And this was, to me, the most intriguing matchup on the schedule. And it just turned out that really wasn't because Volk was just that much better than him. He was just so ready for Yaya Rodriguez. Are you surprised that Volk made it look so easy tonight?

First, I want to start by saying, I believe I said that the co-main event could be the best fight the UFC can put together. and I was laughed at. I was ridiculed. I was said, that's insane. Not looking so dumb now, I am, my ladies and gentlemen. Second thing I'd like to say, and important,

because, look, this show, this website, this sport, needs truth tellers. That's where I am, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not here to tell you that Alexander Volkinovsky won, not taking that one away. But we're all just going to pretend like he didn't launch one of the nastiest headbuts we've ever seen literally a minute before knocking out Yaira Rodriguez.

We're all just, we're all just forgetting about the big nasty. Come on. Immediately before Yair got knocked out. Dude. Even your own live blog to start the third round said, this fight is functionally over. What are you,

I know you do it stick right now, but what are we doing? Yeah, after the first round, Vol can get takedowns. Yair is screwed. Yeah, he is. And that's,

that's the thing. Like, I want to be really clear. I don't think that it was deterministic in the fact that, like, I think Yair was just cooked. I just wanted it out there because nobody else is going to say it. And I feel like it warrants that Yaira Rodriguez, incredibly durable human being, literally a minute after eating a super nasty head butt that was so bad, John Annik and D.C. are like, oh, damn.

Like, what the? Pretty tough. It gets knocked out. And I'm not, I don't think that it mattered because I think Volk was winning that. that fight one way or another, but I feel like it might be related to the specific outcome we had. Other than me doing schick is an incredible performance from Alexander Volcanozky, right? Like this, and that's the thing.

I'm Volkator. I've never once said that that man is anything other than incredible. Very real, like there's a very real argument that he is the best fighter we have ever seen. And I have said that since watching him pitch a perfect game, back to back perfect game. frankly against Chan Sung and Max Holloway. Like it's really, there's like a very legitimate argument. He's the best fire we've ever seen. I don't care about doing the goat talk.

We can have it if the fans deem it necessary. But this was perfect from him. And this is the thing I have wanted the whole time. While people like Jed, you suck. No, you know what's dope? When champions defend their belts against the best guys in the division, because we can just look back and be like, holy shit, man,

this is pretty cool. He just beat this dude. And in 12 years, some new hot guy will be coming up, you know, Ilya Tuporio will have a hell of a run going. And people will look back and be like, Yolk V.

Ia Rodriguez, he sucks shit. He's not really worth anything. And we can do this whole song and dance over. But me, I'll be like, man, a title defense.

That's incredible. Keep doing more of that, please, is what I love about fighting. I love watching the best guys in the world. Just establish a level of dominance that is not unprecedented, but incredibly unique and doesn't happen. I want to appreciate this part of it. And I did. I thought this was a phenomenal night from Bolkinovsky. You can't take anything away from him over how this happened. It was as close to perfect a performance as you can have again. He continues to do it. If you have him as your top pound for pound fighter in the world,

absolutely totally reasonable. I do not. He's number three for me, but I have no issue with anyone that puts him there. Well, if you're a fan of Volcanovsky defending his title against fellow featherweights, I'm feeling you might be disappointed here, Jed, and I want to ask Shaheen about this, because heading in, heading into today,

if you asked me this question yesterday, if you said, Mike, if Volkanowski does exactly what he did, what's he going to do next? I would say unequivocally 1,000% he's fighting Ilya because Charles Olivera is going to fight Islam Machachev in Abu Dhabi, fight Island,

he's going to get his rematch because why wouldn't he? If he wanted to get his shot, he's got to do it now. Turns out he's not going to be ready for that and Islam Makachchev is going to have to fight somebody else. Now, Volcanowski did say after the fight he needs to get a surgery. Dana White said it wasn't too serious

and then Volcanowski came up to the press conference also said it wasn't too serious. also said it wasn't too serious. And he's not ruling out fighting Islam Makachev in October. Because Shaheen, Islam Makachchev is going to fight on that card. And he has to fight somebody. And if it's not Charles Olivera, is it going to be Alexander Volcanowski, whether fans are hankering for it to happen right now or not?

Is it going to be somebody else? Like, in October, is Volk fighting Makachep? Do you feel like that's what's going to happen after tonight? I hope not. I really, really, really hope not, man. I mean, you got Dustin Justin in three weeks. Those two dudes are probably going to kill each other, so who knows the turnaround on that. Also, I'm sure they can convince Charles Olivera to do certain things if they were trying to, you know, money talks,

the Cheddar makes it better. But I really just hope not, man. I don't feel like it's the right time for this fight. Like Jed said, racking up title defenses to me is infinitely more meaningful, interesting, challenging, than whatever this allure of being a two-division champion has become. Because from a historical standpoint, we said this on the previous show, you'd rather be Anderson Silver than Henry Suhudo, right? Like, at the end of his career, Volkanowski has just claimed this featherweight title defense record,

which he hasn't yet, and just propelled it up into the clouds so high that no one will ever reach it. Like, history will look back on him much more fondly than if he manages to beat Islam Makachev in his second crack at it. Like, these two divisions right now are just absolutely on fire. there's so much cool, interesting, compelling talent coming up here at 145, starting with Iliu's Soporia that I deeply want to see this man just rattle off as many title challenges as he could possibly can in the window that he has left. Because we sort of hinted to this on the preview show.

I mean, we didn't hit it. We talked about it at length. But Alexander Volcanovokinovsky is going to be 35 years old in a couple months. He is already the second oldest, like, champion at 155 or below. in UFC history, like what he is doing at this stage in his career is historically unprecedented in a lot of different ways. And once that the sort of you come to the end of the line in these lower weight divisions, it happens quick, it happens suddenly, and it just happens irreversibly.

Like we never know when that moment's going to come for Volcanowski, where all of a sudden he's just the half step too slow out there and then that's the end of his run. If I'm him, I want to just keep stacking up these title defenses as many possible so that when we do inevitably have the goat conversations and things like this in the future, to put that resume in a place where it's unassailable, because I don't believe it is right now. And so to me, that's the hardest thing to do in this sport

is to be the Anderson Silva, to be the John Jones, to be the George St. Pierre, who just sticks around and does the damn thing over and over and over and over again. And I, I mean, we tried the champ champ thing. It was a good time for it. Volk had earned it certainly earlier this year when we did it. I just, it'd be so rushing it back

if we did it again. just later this year. I want to see this man fight, I'm so high on that fight. I can't wait for that fight. I hope that happens. What do you think, Jen? Like, look, I think we're all in agreement.

We want to see Volk fight Iliate Teporia. We want to see Islam Akachev defend his title against guys in his division. Right now, there's nobody really there. There's Armin Tsarukia, and you can do the rematch. He's coming off of a win. Anil Darius lost.

The name I like to throw out, it is your favorite fighter, Jed Michoudmanchu. Michael Chandler is the name I continue to throw out as a possibility. Do you think that's what's going to happen? Those are the two options. Volker Michael Chandler, in my opinion, unless Porre or Gachey get a 12-second knocko when they fight in three weeks. I think that there is a better chance that Alexander Volkanowski does not compete this year than that he fights his Lamakov in October. I simply do not think it is happening.

I don't, I'm not a medical doctor. he's going to have some form of surgery or not. And if you tell me, hey, I'm just going to not do this and fight him and be like, well, that's really dumb. I'm far less interested in you fighting him not at full power because we already saw you lose. Like, that's just not, like, let's not do this. I said coming into this, I forget where it was and maybe it wasn't something I wrote, that it was pretty unlikely Volk fought three times this year because historically champion

don't fight three times in a year. It is very, very difficult when you are facing the best competition in the world and you are trying to be at peak performance because titles are on the line that you can compete three times in a year. Everything has to go right. Sounds like everything isn't all the way right with him. So an October turnaround with surgery on the thing, I don't think it's likely. I think there is a world where Charles Olivera is just saying stuff and that they just rocked that anyway because that seems like the most likely. But if not,

and Charles O'Levara isn't just saying stuff, I think Michael Chandler is going to get a call from the UFC saying, hey, man, no, you got to fight with Connor, make you deal. If you win, you can fight Connor for the belt. That'll be fine. We don't know what the hell Connor's doing. We can't corral him.

He's not jumping in Usada, and it's going to be bad optics for us to just give him a pass. Want to fight Islam? It's not quite the same as fighting Habib, but it's kind of the same. And there is a belt on the line. And it will do that. Or hell, they can just say Armand Sarukian, let's go. I just think it's incredibly unlikely we get Volk next.

And if it happens, it's just so dumb. Like, the Ilya fight is there. And the fact that people afterwards were like, I don't want to say names about specific reporters or whatever, were like, looks like he cleaned out the division again. And there's nobody to fight. Like, Ilya Tuporia won. Less than a week ago, please, for the love of God, take some Joe Rogan alpha brain or whatever

and have the ability to remember things that have happened outside of a four-day window. It's like, fucking memento in here. These people cannot remember shit and are acting like Ilya didn't just whitewash the dude who fought Yai'er for the interim strap. Undefeated, has all the swagger in the world. world. Like that's a, that's a clear matchup. Why are we pretending that it's not? And it lets

Vol get surgery, recover, and they can fight at the end of the year. It's so, it's the most no-brainer in the history of the world. And then me, the guy who is the most anti-Volk, if he beats the year and he goes and beats Ilya to Pira, I won't say he's cleaned out the division because I don't think it's true. But I will say that he's picked up two extremely good wins, extremely important wins and now if we want to run it back and nobody else has jumped up to the top of the line in some way like something insane hasn't happened to create another one okay you know if aljermaine sterling isn't isn't going to get a featherway title shot or whatever fine then we can run it back but like man just needs to fight ilia so because i'm i'm with i'll close it here i'm with

Jeanne. As simply as I can put it, there have been two fighters in UFC history who have have double-digit title defenses. Sanderson Silva is Demetius Johnson. There have been like eight who are champ champs. One of these things is just significantly more impressive than the other, but no one recognizes that. Give me a long dominant champion. They were big uping him about a three-year title reign, which is awesome. I'm not here to say Volk being king for three years is it badass. It It freaking is. There are like actually 10 other fighters who have done this. It is okay to be like, hey, man, just keep doing this. This fucking rules. And that's what I want for him. I want that to happen. And that's what we should happen. I think it is what's going to happen.

I hope you're right. I hope you're right. We'll see how this all plays out. It's hockey season and you 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. 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 Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. Let's move on to the new flyway champion of the world, Alexandra Pantosia. Shaheen, these two, on Robby Lawler's final night of competition, boy, do they make the ruthless one proud. These two guys got after it.

And it was almost perfect. It was almost poetic. And then just to drop the only negative here, Ben Carledge, who is a great judge, is typically a fantastic judge. One of the best. What are the best? 49, 46 Moreno.

I could not believe my ears when I heard that. And I'm like, oh my God, pants might get the big fat hose job here because it would not be inconceivable for somebody to score that 48-47-or-R-R-A-Nor-Rate now. 49-46 is ridiculous. I don't agree with 48-47, but if you want to make that case, I'm willing to listen to it. But Pantosia gets it done. The moment with his kids and his wife and his family reacting, the post-fight interview, are you proud of me now, Dad?

Are you proud of me now? Like, all of it was just- magic. What a fight, ice cold, post-fight. I don't know if that's ice cold or like haunting. That is like, that hit me right here in a really profoundly sad way. Yeah. Well, I was wondering what was keeping this man alive while Brandon Moreno was hitting him in

the face with sledgehammers for 25 minutes. And I think we might have found some motivation here. But talk about the fight, Shaheen, Pantosha's performance, the durability of this man, how he kept coming back. Like everything about this fight is one. I'm going to go back and watch again and again and again. I'll tell you what, Mike, Mike. It continues to just be comical to me

that the UFC almost threw this division into the trash just because Demetrius Johnson had the temerity to stand up for himself against the UFC's obsession with T.J. Dilashad during that whole situation like four or five years ago. Because all the flyweights have done since then is just put up fight of the year contender after fight of the year contender, after fight of the year contender,

just over and over and over again, this division continues to prove why it should exist and why I'm so glad that it continues to exist. And tonight was no different, man. Like this, I don't know if this is the fight of the year. I still think Volk Islam is probably the fight of the year, but it's certainly up there. And there's a 99% chance that it's going to be on some sort of short list

for fight of the year by the time we get to the end of the year. Because again, this was just tremendous theater through and through. I had it. I ultimately scored it for 1 for Pantosia. That to me felt like the proper scorecard giving Brandon Marano the second round. But man, like Brandon Moreno made this man work for it. Like the depths to which this became a war of attrition by the end of it, it's just incredible anytime you could see two athletes really put it all out there like this.

It's also cool to me to see because I've said this before on, I think on different things that we've done, shows, writing, et cetera. But like to me, Pantosia was always the guy who sort of was the guy who sort of was the biggest loser during this whole detour this flyweight division took for this four-fight series between Moreno and Figuratoa, right? Like, like, Pantosia has sort of been this next man up for this division since, like, 2021. He was the guy who had two wins over Brandon.

He was the guy who basically sent Brandon packing out of the UFC after that second win. He had a win over Kai Kara France from the Ultimate Fighter. Like, he's just sort of the man who was continually getting overlooked in these conversations, that sort of unspoken terror, that unheralded terror. the dark horse, if you will, and just kind of sitting there having a way to his turn. And similar with Volk, where, like, the age is sort of unprecedented in a way of, like, continuing to do this at the age that he is. Like, I was legitimately scared.

As someone who has been saying this man was going to be UFC champion for like two or three years now, I was scared by the time this fight came that he had almost gotten Tony Ferguson doubt and sort of be laying in that Tony Ferguson zone where he just ultimately missed his window and by the time the actual chance to fight for the title came, it was just too damn late. And, I mean, we're talking about someone who's 33 years old in a flyweight division that just does not kind to people who are 33 years old. And yet Pantosha came out here, did it again.

Sometimes a man just has another's number, and he's now 3-0 against Brandon Moreno. And that was a scintillating performance. Dana White sort of hinted in the post-fight press conference that maybe a Moreno fourth fight would be next. I hope that's not the case, because that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, even though this one was very fun.

To me, give me Brandon Royval, man. Like Pantosia versus Brandon Royval feels like it would be the most fun possible. It's just ultimate chaos. I know they might go Amir al-Bazi for Abu Dhabi because sort of the regional interests in that regard. But I hope it's Brandon Royval because to me that would be a potential fight of the year.

Like that's everything that this is and then you even just step splash on a tiny bit more chaos to it. So ultimately, I love it. Fight of the Year contenders, certainly. And this flyweight division just continues to do. just be so damn fun for me yeah i mean can't really say much more jett anything you want to add to i mean you watched you watch the fight with us during the watch party i mean this is this is an incredible performance from pantosia and brandon marino looked sensational and if you told me in the second round

that brandon marino broke his hand i would have been like no he didn't because it didn't seem like he had a broken hand and sure enough brandon marino was still putting together all of what he did in that fight with one freaking hand, which is even more insane. Yeah, it's great performance. Here's what I'll say. I don't think we're going to do Royval next. I think it's going to be Al-Bazi, not just because Abu Dhabi kind of fits, but because pants already pantsed Royval, not that long ago.

But I'm okay with it. If we do Royval next, I am okay with it on one condition. I want us to get Brandon Royval. And after that, the UFC's going to have to make a signing. It's going to have to go. They're going to have to call up their friends at one championship and say, I got another trade I'd like to make. And I don't care by hook or by crook.

You get Brandon Vera to the UFC. And you see if Alejandro Pantosha can just beat all the Brandons. Because he's 3-0 against Moreno. He's got Roy Val. Let's see if Pants versus Brandon Vera. And this man can adopt his true persona as the Brandon killer. Because that's what he is, baby. We can go to Game Brand Bairnuckle and fight Brandon Davis.

That's more close to his weight class. No, no, but it's way funnier if it's Vera. That's great one. He could definitely take the back of Brandon Vera and choke him out. That could happen. I mean, how much Brandon Vera weighing at this point? That's a big man. He was the one heavyweight champion, but like, I don't know.

Apparently Pantosia can't be killed. Brandon Moreno hit the crap out of that dude. And he was just like, nah, I'm going to keep fighting. We're fine. him and Dan Hooker are made of some stuff, man. Yeah, and we'll talk about that in the second. One more thing I want to talk about with this fight for we move on, Shaheen, is you talked a lot about the intrigue in the main event, how this could be like kind of the changing of the guard. And I understand that Brandon Moreno is, you know, not an older man.

He's not in his mid-30s or anything. But for the last three plus years, Brandon Moreno has been a piece of this championship puzzle, whether it being for undisputed titles, fights with Figurato, interim titles. fights, et cetera. Now we have a fresh face in the mix. We have two potential new challengers in Roy Val and Amir al-Bazi. Where does Brandon Moreno fit now? Like, do we, so just a little teaser, AK and I are going to do matchmaking tomorrow. My pick is Brandon Moreno versus Henry Sehudo. Like, let's just do that, get it out of the way. Let's just do it. Like, settle the rivalry, whatever. could be on a pay-per-by. Yeah, do it at 135.

Wherever they want to do it. Just let them fight and they can shut the hell up about the rivalry. Let's just squash it and put it behind us. We never have to hear about it again. Let's just do that, give him a break from the title picture. Let him settle this one way or the other. And then he can go back and try to get to the belt. But where does Brandon Moreno go from here?

Like, sure, you could go run it back a fourth time. But I don't think people are going to be really clamoring for it, like, right this second, even though this fight was great. I don't hate the Sohudo fight, but I would pose a question to you of what exactly that does to help Suhudo. Because he seems very motivated for certain goals, and I don't know that beating Brandon Moreno gets him anywhere closer to those specific goals that he has. Right. Now, if Henry Sehudo is fighting Marlon Vera in Boston, I don't make this suggestion. But guess what? This division is about to pass Henry Sehudo by, because by the time he's ready to fight. fight.

Is it, though? We thought the division had passed him by and then Al Jemaine Scho horned him into another title shot. I don't know that anything's passed. If Al Jemaine Sterling wins on August 19th and vacates the title, Rob DeWalishvili, who Henry Sehudo desperately wants to fight, is going to fight for that vacant title. And he's going to fight the winner of Corey Sannhagan versus Umar and Mugramagra.

Unequivocally, that is going to be what happens. If Shotomalley wins, I don't know, nobody, if shot himally wins, he's fighting Cheeto Vera, who's probably going to beat Pedro. Munoz. So, I mean, the longer Suhudo waits to get back in there, the more this division passes him by. I feel like this fights a possibility. Your confidence in the UFC's maybe inability or not wanting to just shoehorned Henry Suhudo into any possible title conversation at the expense of like a Corey Sanhagen or whoever is, it's inspiring, frankly, because I don't know that I share your confidence. I want to live in that world, though, Mike. I very much want to live in the world

that you're describing. As for, like, what's next for Brandon Moreno? I mean, I don't know, right? He's like 29 years old. So this is certainly not the end of, I feel, it feels like he's just hitting his prime. He's going to be in this title mix for a long time now, or at least the next several years.

So I could see him sort of shuffling back into the mix and fight some of these top contenders. This division is just so fascinating right now because it really is sort of undergoing, like you said, it's not, I wouldn't say this is a changing of the guard or like a sea change because Brandon Moreno is still sort of in that younger peers group.

But there is a lot of interesting talent coming up who hasn't gotten their opportunity, right? You got Manel Kopp out there who's just ceaselessly talking trash about every good fight that we're getting. Like, I just love that man's dedication to hating. It's very, again, inspiring to use the word I just use. You got to love it. Player Hayers ball. MVP, Manel Kopp. Also, you got, you know, Muhammad Mahayev coming up.

Mir al-Ala-Bazi, as we said, is sort of a new face in this crowd. Roy Val. Like, there's a lot of just fun stuff going on generally at 1-205. So I don't feel like it's really hard right now to matchmake for someone who's as popular and as talented as Brandon Marino. Like there will be fights for him. Oh, there's certainly going to be fights for him. I just kind of want to see the Suudo thing. We'll just get it done.

They'd like no one to talk about each other. And then they talk about each other. And then it's just so silly. Like, he'll just do it. Who cares? And if Sohudo wins, sure, it does something for him, gets him a win. And then Dana can be like, oh, he's getting a title shot because you just got a win over the former champion. So there's still a way to shoehorn him into.

to a title fight, Jehian, even if he beats Brandon Moreno. So that could still happen. It's very possible. We can live in your world as well. We can live in both worlds. We can start my world and just take a quick drive over to your world. Very possible. I'm here for it.

Now, Jed, let's move on to the middleweight division. Oh, I just want to say this. Brandon Moreno is going to fight Mateus Nicolao next. It'd be cool when there's a world where he fights Zahudo, but he's just going to fight Nicolao next. and we're not going to talk about it. We don't need to. Don't sleep on Figgy Smalls hanging around and getting a title shot against pants.

That's like in play since Figgy didn't really leave the division, sort of said he was, but never happened and now Moreno's gone. Well, I mean, there's there's discussions going on about a 135 fight for Figy Smalls. There are there are discussions. And there's some smoke to that fire. to say that that fight's done. Those discussions happened before Brandon Moreno lost the belt. Those discussions might be turning around and coming back.

If I'm in Figgy's camp, I'm at least making a call, seeing what my title opportunities are. I can make wait for Abu Dhabi. Former champ versus new champ. On a 125, though. Geez, Louise. I don't know. For a belt. Well, belts change things.

But what were you saying? We can move forward. I mean, we're going to talk about the middleweight division. I figured we could talk about Bo Nicol, right? Like, that's who you want to talk about, right? He's getting you up to brag. Bo Nichols got himself a lot. Just go ahead and go.

He did it, boys. He did it. I've been saying it for weeks. Dick is due plus C? Is he taking all my shine saying he manifested it? Izzy, you said it like once. I've been chanting it from the rooftops of YouTube. just do the thing and he did it.

And it's this is one of the, I won't say I'm wrong because we, none of us were wrong. It was just a dumb fight to make. I said it. I'll say I'm wrong. I will gladly say I'm wrong. No, it was still a dumb fight to make because the risk was there.

But the reward is so great because not only is this now like a number one with the bullet, undeniable title fight with heat. But like I now actually believe DDP can win, which I did not. week ago or whatever not saying he will but this man just stopped roba whittaker only one other dude has done that at middleweight and he happens to be the champion and he did it and like it wasn't a white like he didn't rinse him or anything but he was winning the fight he won the first round looked extremely good doing it and then just blew the doors off him in the second like no's job ddp

boys i was i was trying to tell you you and brian campbell and the rest of the world He's here. He is here. I am so pumped about this insane thing that's going to happen with these two. It's going to be so ugly. I mean, we got a preview of how ugly it is, and that is just the beginning, my friend. It's going to get awful.

It's going to get a lot worse for it gets better. But there is real heat here. We have a real matchup. Please, God, don't do this for the Australia card. That is not enough time to let this marinate. That is too quick a turnaround for DDP. Let this cook. If you have to have Izzy fight, Sean Strickland can go in there and DDP can sit cage side and wait and then fight Izzy afterwards, you know, early next year at whatever the big January, February card is going to be.

But, boys, he did it. I'm so proud of my large adults on Drickus Duplessi. Just well done. Well done. Good autumn. That was just to say it like, yeah, you're right. He didn't like rinse him. but like for the last five minutes.

Cleanly won. He kind of did. He kind of did. The first three minutes were all Robert Whitaker, but the last every second after that was all DDP. Dude, he, it will get lost in the shuffle because it was just such an enormous thing. The fact that he, the entire narrative and not like a reasonable narrative is Robert Whitaker is just so technical. Like he's so skilled.

he's got so many abilities. And DDP, fucking head and arm throws him like this is a contender series women's freaking flyweight fight. Just head and arm chucks him and it beats the hell out of him on the floor. Like white melt shit over one of the most skilled

accomplished technical fighters is it was the most fitting way for DDP to just establish, yeah, you guys think I don't know how to fight and I actually might not like be good at fighting, but I kick ass at fighting. It ruled. I love that fight so much.

Shaheen, we, like, we talked about this on the preview show. Like, what would be more shocking? DDP winning this fight or Bo Nickel losing. And it, like, is an actual conversation to be had, which is so funny to think about, especially considering how this Bo Nickel fight played up. But the fact that this wasn't Bobby Knuckles, like, piecing up, uh, DDP and just working him in the DDP.

lands a flash knockout. This was DDP got the momentum, that snowball rolled downhill, and then it turned into a freaking avalanche against Robert Whitaker, and nobody really saw that coming. So what was the most surprising thing about this performance?

Like the win, I'm sure, is surprising enough, but the way it happened is just even more surprising, because nobody saw it coming like that. It was just going to be like, if DDP wins, it's going to be something quick and chaotic and out of nowhere, And that's not what happened here. Look, Mike Heck, unlike some people on this panel right now,

I am not too proud of a man to admit when I am wrong. I was so, so deeply, deeply wrong about everything and anything when it came to this fight. And I have been wrong for weeks and weeks. I was wrong minutes before this fight started when I was Texas, when me and New York Rick, Eric Jacqueline, were going back and forth on Slack, and I was talking trash about the booking of this fight, literally as they were walking to the cage.

Like, I could not have been more wrong about everything related to this fight because it just made no damn sense, right? You're putting a guy up in this division where Izzy just doesn't have a compelling contender right now. There's absolutely nothing. If Alpsboro is at 205, there's nothing going interesting at 185,

yet you have this guy who he has heat with, and he has some pretty minor momentum. Like, why are you going to throw that momentum, hurl it into the concrete wall that is Robert Whitaker, a guy who is 12 and 0 since 2014 at 185 against anybody not named Izzy? 12 and 0 since 2014. If Israel-Uranaana doesn't exist in this world or never makes the transition to MMA, Robert Whitaker might have just been the champion for like nine years. And we'd be talking about this guy like we talk about Anderson Sovo.

Like, that's what we're facing right now. And you're just going to throw a man who was kind of a. meme against him and just ruin it so we can get Whitaker Izzy 3. I have criticized this to Helen back and dude I was so deeply wrong because the reason you booked this fight, the very reason you booked this fight is for the exact reason that we that ended up playing out tonight because right now Izzy versus DDP is 10 times bigger. It's 20 times bigger than it would have been had we just gone right straight to it. And you know what? Exactly what Jed said. Kind of feels like there's a decent chance DDP wins.

Like, I don't know if I'm going to pick him, but I am infinitely more confident that that's a competitive fight than I was 48 hours ago, 24 hours ago. Like nose breathing DDP, we all made fun of it, but apparently that is very real thing because that man has never looked more capable, that man has never looked more dangerous, and no one has done that to Robert Whitaker

since Izzy did it to Robert Whitaker. And that was just mind-blowing, to a certain respect. Like, we, on the preview show on Friday, We didn't even really talk about this fight at all. We went for like an hour 30. And I told this fight came up until like an hour 29. Like it was at the very end when I sort of threw out like what would be more surprising. This happening or Boe Nickel losing.

Like that was our coverage of the fight on the one and a half hour preview show because it was just such a foregone conclusion that this wouldn't happen. And then it did. And you know what, man? I'm so excited for it because this fight suddenly is, this is going to be theater like we have not seen since McGregor Nirmica Madoff and it's going to get ugly in a way that we have not seen since McGregor Nirmagana Madov and I will tell you what I we have already seen it start to happen

the Disney machine that produces these fights and runs these fights is not prepared for the depths to which this this lead up is going to sink like this is going to get ugly in a way that MMA has not really had to face and that MMA discourse has not had to to face and I'm just very intrigued by it all. I'm very entertained by this whole thing. This is all just very, very ridiculous in a way that no one saw coming and I'm

I can't wait for this fight frankly. Dude. It's gonna be the best. We're about to live in a world where Izzy Adasanya and the Disney machine are going to have to prepare potentially for Sean Strickland and Drick's Duplice back to back. Wow. Wow.

queue up the I don't give a shit these guys are fighters from Dana Wyatt for the next seven months because that's what's about to happen wow can we can we just briefly can I just want to briefly say as I said this

in the post back press when I was talking with with Casey what a what a incredible opportunity for Izzy like we're all just going to forget that two years ago 18 months ago the conversation around Izzy was he is boring.

He is a boring champion. This is a great point. This is such a great point because I like I came. I agree with you 100% but I want to let you finish. But this is such a great point. It's just like a year ago the conversation was he's boring. Last international fight week I guess was the was the Canadiere fight. And we're just like this sucks.

And Izzy's doing a post fight presser where he is just getting really angry because everybody rightfully is saying that that's a boring fight. And he's like, y'all don't know. It's really good. And then sure, he doesn't. does lose to Pereira, but we get the Pereira, the UFC Fast Tracks Pereira, we get that. He loses, and that sucks. But it's probably better than him winning boringly and being a boring champion.

And then that's still the narrative because we get the loss. We get the comeback, the sensational COO. That's all anyone's talking about. It might be CO of the year until we talk about something else that happens as card. And then now he's set up to have this feud in a fight that is almost certainly whatever your thoughts about DDP. That man is not in a boring fight. Like he, he is, that's going to be a fun fight. And he may also squeeze in Sean Strickland in there.

Like the turnaround in 365 days, just incredible for Izzy. What a, what a pivot. And just wanted to acknowledge that. It's an amazing point. And if you're Izzy, this is Manor from heaven, right? Like exactly what you were just saying. We were talking about this guy. He was almost in his Anderson Silva.

circa 2008, 2009 phase where just everyone was was crappling on everything because we were A, bored with the dominance, but also B, like things were just starting to feel listless. There wasn't really direction. There wasn't compelling challenges. And now all of a sudden, this guy just comes out of the most interesting rivalry to hit this 185 pound division since Anderson's over versus Chal Sondon and goes straight into another rivalry that to me is now all of a sudden just as good and is probably a getting incredibly heated. It's the biggest fight in the UFC.

Like this is going to be the most, like for the. Alex stuff, we saw a different side of Izzy than we would see with the Canaanere fights or Vittoria or whatever. Like we saw really focused, this is important to me on like a personal level, Izzy. For this next one, like, we're about to see like the ultra pissed off Paulo Costa Izzy. And like I am so excited for that and whatever this is going to be because for the sample that we got, this small sample between these two on Saturday and what we saw like the interplay between them.

after weeks and months of that these two men are going to hate each other in a real profound way and it's going to be very interesting to see what that brings out of Izzy like I am just very all in on this now like well done UFC matchmakers that's why y'all doing what you're doing

and I'm doing what I'm doing because I don't know shit compared to what you're doing because I would never have booked this fight and I would and we would have thus we would never gotten this magical situation that we now have I hated that whole thing with Izzy and DDP. Oh, it was the worst thing that happened.

It was terrible. It was terrible. Izzy was awful. DDP actually did well. DDP was great. And what I loved about DDP so much in that situation is that Izzy's in the octagon. And most fighters in that position would have like stopped talking to Rogan and looked

right at Izzy. And DDP not only finished his sentence, but he extended it by like an extra 45 seconds and repeated himself a bunch just to keep in waiting. He did it on purpose. There's no doubt in my mind he did it on purpose until Rogan pointed him out to him. And he's like, well, all right. Oh, I forgot. This guy's here.

Wasn't thinking about it. I was breathing all this air from my nose. And DDP just like no sold all of it. It was, it was good. It was good stuff from DDP. Dude, did you catch the very slight jab? DDP absolutely 10-9ed Izzy in the face-off like yeah as Rogan throws it over he's like and now the best middle way in the world and DDP's just like I'm not so sure about that

and then Izzy gets in and is a lunatic in the worst and like least constructive way possible and it was really bad look for him I am shocked to find out that DDP clearly won the first face off yeah wouldn't have bet that for sure for sure. 23 and me. Just an awful line, man. It was 36 in me and then 26 in me. That's the least ugly this is going to get over the next like several months.

Like what we just saw tonight is the least is like the least bad version of whatever this discourse is going to be. Like I'm telling you, MMA is not prepared for whatever this is about to be. I desperately need Izzy to get somebody to check his lines. She'd be like, hey, the Frozen. like else is a bad line. You should, you should certainly not say it once and definitely not say it like three times. You should, everyone is already mocking DDP for like though, where's his zip code as an idiot line? Whereas 23 and me is like way worse. It is way dumber. So just don't. Just don't do it. Yes. Congratulations to Dan Hooker. What a fight with Jalen Turner. I'm sure we might get a fan

question or two about that. Bo Nickel. Another fight in your contender. Got to say. Yeah, I hope so. We got a tough fight. We won this card. Tremendous fight. I do want to touch on it. It is very late. So I'm hoping a fan question comes up about that. So Casey,

keep that in mind. Bo Nickel, doing Boehnickle things, as expected, is a massive favorite over Val Woodburn. Boating for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo. Great idea.

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We have to talk about something that doesn't happen very often in this 14. Yes. A happy ending. Like a tremendously fairy tale ending to a legendary career. Because G.C. and I were talking about this right before we went on air for the watch party. The last time we were in this position and we knew a fighter is going to retire. and it was in the same exact spot on a pay-per-view card.

It was UFC 283 in Brazil. Shogun Hua is fighting Ihor Potaria, the dualist, and he gets brutally knocked out, gets danced over, humiliated almost in his final fight. And that's how we had to start the watch party, was reacting to that. This time around, we get Robbie Lawler and we get the red carpet treatment.

We get the first round knockout. We get hockey fight Robbie Lawler, stands over the man, knows Nico Price is out, puts his arms up in the sky, gets emotional. And then they bring Joe Rogan in and they show the video.

And like you predicted, we got emotional Robbie Lawler. I mean, just go, man. Just go. I mean, what else? I can't say much more. I'm just going to sit back and let you talk poetically about just the iconic ending to an iconic career.

Dude, I've been working with an MMA for more than a decade of my life. Like a good chunk of my adult life has been dealing with this sport and sort of functioning within it. We've criticized the UFC a lot over the years, and justifiably so when it happens, I feel like. And they've messed up the retirement thing pretty much every time we've done. it for a legend, right? Like, you could name on one hand the number of legend retirements that were actually fun that actually sort of were pieced together in a way that could be fun. Frankie Edgar getting knocked out in front of his wife and kids in Madison Square Garden against a young dude for no reason. You mentioned Shogun Hua. Anderson Silva fighting Uriah

Hall for no real reason. And again, getting knocked out. Like there's just a long list of this we could go on and on and on. This was one of the coolest moments, if not the coolest, to be honest, that I have seen in a long, long time of working within this sport. And Robbie Lauder, God damn deserved it. And I'm so glad that it happened to a guy like Robbie Loller, because this was just incredible. Like every, every, kudos to the UFC for every single piece of this whole production, the matchmaking, the performance, which kudos to Robbie Lala for, and then to have the highlights package just ready for him afterwards. In a way, like, I can't remember really ever seeing that before.

Maybe they've done that before, but it certainly is escaping me if they have. And just teeing Robbie up to have sort of that emotional moment. Like, Robbie Loller is the Terminator. Robbie Loller is the guy who for 23 years was the most terrorizing, or one of the most terrorizing figures in the entire sport. He is the most violent man that has ever laced up a pair of four-ounce gloves in the history of this sport. And if you're putting together a Mount Rushmore of the most violent, entertaining fighters we've ever seen, it's him and Justin Gaichy cemented in their two spots, and then you can go ahead and debate about whoever gets the other two.

Like, that's who this guy is, that's who he was, that's who he's always been, and to put together something that even got him, that even got him smelling the onions a bit, that even got him feeling that dust in the eye a little bit. Like, unbelievable moment. And I wish so badly that we would get more moments like this, because the UFC is so clearly. capable of it when they put their minds to it and they actually use a little creativity. But God damn, that was just so cool, man. Because Robbie Lawler, that, like, again, that's one dude that actually deserves this type of thing, right? Like, for him to go out in year 23 with the, I think, the second fastest knockout of his entire career, second or third fastest knockout of his entire career, and to send this man to the land

of wind and ghosts in 38 seconds, and then just all of it. Like, it's just iconic. It's the best retirement in MMA history, and I don't feel like that's hyperbole. Like, name me a better one because I can't think of one. And I've been trying to think of one for hours. And nothing is coming to me. This to me was, again, just the best way for a legend to have ever gone out. And I'm so glad that it came together in the way that it did.

Robbie Law is amazing, man. Robbie Law is so awesome. The only fighter in the history of this sport to put together three consecutive fights of the year for our website. from 2014 to 2016, his title reign meant so much to that welterweight division. It really pulled that division out of that post-GSP malaise that it was sort of in that moment in time. And the way that he reinvented himself in his second sort of chapter, this very unexpected

second era for Robbie Lawler that we didn't see coming. I mean, we talked about it at length on the preview show. But like, Casey, you and I were like, we very deeply remember or very clearly remember being at those Strike Force. and seeing like a middleweight Robbie Lawler just kind of plot around in their middleweight division losing to guys he shouldn't be losing to and just seemingly not caring whatsoever. And for him to come back to the UFC and have the welterweight title run that he did and become the legend that he had and have two of the greatest fights of all time, pretty much back to back with Roy La La La Laugh or Roy McDonald and Carlos Condit. No one deserved this more tonight than Robbie Lawler. And I was, MMA hasn't made me cry in a really long time.

I was so fucking close to crying tonight watching sort of this man break down in this moment like it was it's just amazing man it's so cool we get these type of moments so rarely and again I've said it a couple of times but I'm so happy that this happened

for Robbie Lawler because it's just no one deserved it more there's incredible stuff Jed anything you want to add to that I mean it's hard to add much to it it is just this because I echo everything sheen said I have given the UFC as much

shit as probably anybody in this space. And I stand by everything. I said, don't take back a word of it. Never would. Credit were due. When somebody does something right, you got to give them credit. And this is, it was perfect that nothing could have gone better. Even if this outcome hadn't happened, I thought it was fine matchmaking, like a good, good matchmaking for it. And the fact that they rose to the call that they answered it in such a tremendous way, this is the best retirement in the sports history. Probably not the best moment in the history of the sport just because Robbie Luller winning the title meant a whole lot to me at the time. Misha Tate in a similar circumstance, winning the title is sort of incredibly uplifting thing, but it's right there on the short list. And I think

I have a lot of thoughts about this. And the two that keep coming up the most are, first and foremost, it's about Robbie Luller. And it's not just what he gave. what Shaheen said and all of that being true. Who is unhappy right now? I'm not even sure Nico Price and Nico Price's family are upset with the outcome that just occurred. And that is, like, I don't, I frankly don't know how to quantify that, like, how to, how to even put that into words that like in this sport with the animosity that can grow universally

beloved and it frankly makes me like genuinely question what greatness is as a fighter because like i said this briefly to to case earlier tonight i don't think there's a person alive who would not argue that alexander vokanovsky is a greater fighter than robbie luller when volk retires is are there going to be grown men weeping about it is is is everyone going to be like that's the most incredible moment of my m mma fandom Maybe greatness might need to encompass more than just unbelievable wins, but the emotion you make me feel. And frankly, I don't know if there are maybe three fighters who have made me feel more things than Robbie Lawler has. So everything is great about it.

And the last thing, because this has been very positive, so let's end on a negative here. The other thing that I keep coming back to is this is why I am hard on the UFC. Because they can do this. They have the capability. they know how to. And if you put forth your B effort, the best case result you can get is a B. You are not setting yourself up for success.

You are setting yourself up for mediocrity. But if you try real damn hard, maybe it doesn't get there. Maybe Nico Price knocks him out, you know? Maybe that just is how that happens. But maybe it doesn't. And maybe you get this outcome that is going to resonate with me for the rest of my adult life.

I will remember you, UFC 290. I don't remember many of these cards. There's so many of them. I'll remember this for as long as I live because that moment is so special. And that's my my, my, the reason I'm hard on the UFC is not because I hate them. It's because I know what they are capable of and we deserve that. We deserve more. It is okay to ask and demand more from the promotion because look at what tonight was. Look at what that Robbie Lawler moment was. Why wouldn't I want that as often as I possibly can get? And I hope that this will be some sort of watershed moment. And Dana White in the post-fight press conference was like, you know, we hadn't really ever done it before. And some of these other retirements I wasn't

all sure about, but Robbie I knew for sure. I'm hoping that this is a thing that they'll say, you know what? Everyone loves that. The next time we have one of these, let's do that again. That was the best. And if this is the fight that turns it around that says, no more miserable fights that are going to end our legends off and let's let's send them off in a celebration or at least with a real chance for a celebration then it's frankly one of the most important moments in mima history as well so it was awesome uh the rest of this fight card could have sucked and it didn't matter uh this this night was perfect from that moment on anyway and then the rest of the card kicked ass yeah and that's the thing just to add to that table too just to add to

that really quick because that's the thing. Everything you just said there is spot on because why couldn't we get this for Frankie Edgar? Right? Frank Edgar's no reason. In MSG in front of his family, in front of all his friends, in front of his coaches, his teammates, everyone who's been on this journey. Why are we seeing him get need to oblivion by a young, hungry, up and coming guy rather than something like this? Like, there are so many opportunities where we could have had moments like this where you can truly celebrate these incredible athletes who have given us so much because that's the thing, man, this is a hateful sport, right? Like, it's kind of geared.

Everything within this sport is geared around hatred, rivalries, trash talking, the entire internet sort of community, everything about it is geared around hatred and bad, mean words happening to mean people and just bad results in that way. These athletes are not celebrated in the way that they should be, especially the legends, by pretty much everyone within the sport. The fans, the media,

the promotion, et cetera. Like, this is the one moment where you can have a real celebration of someone. Frankie Edgar deserved to be celebrated on his way out. Shogun Huo deserved to be celebrated on his way out for all that they had given us, all of the gifts that they had given us with their lives. Like, they're losing massive parts of their lives through what they are doing with this. And the fact that at least they could get this one right with Robbie Lauder. I hope to God what you just said there is correct, Jed, that this is sort of a sea change.

for the UFC in the way that they handle these sort of situations, that they can see what this means to people, right? Like, this really meant something tonight for a lot of people in a way that was very profound and in a way we really don't ever see an MMA. And I hope the UFC can see that and recognize that. And I'd like to think they can because there's a lot of smart people within the UFC who are very clued into a lot of this stuff. And I'd like to think that they saw what this all meant to a lot of us. And that this is something that we can get moving forward when the time for it doesn't need to be everyone right not everyone maybe gets to the level of significance that a rhabi or a frankie or a shogun does but certain guys do and robbie law there i mean our

buddy mike bond had the stat tonight like he was the last guy in the ufc who had multiple fights and pride on his resume like he he is a relic of an era that no longer exists and is never coming back him and the bettendorf boys barnstorming across the world and just becoming the scourge of the american midwest that meant something to a lot of people And the fact that we were able to put a bow on it in this way is incredibly special. And I'm just so happy it worked out. Yeah. It justified my fandom.

For sure. Yeah, man. For sure. I'm saying like the simplest way I can say it is I spend a lot of time like wondering why I'm a fan of this sport. I know why because I love it. I love a lot of it. But there are a lot of shitty parts to it, man.

Just straight up tonight justified it. Like that was like, that's why I could never quit this sport because of that. Yeah. even the flashbacks of like international fight weeks of the past that they did throughout the prelims like going back to the UFC 200 one where you got on the first night Eddie Alvarez becoming the lightweight champion knocking out Hafeiardo Sanjos then the next night you get youani and Jacek versus Claudejigadalia for the strawweight title and then the third night is UFC 200 and I know that card wasn't what it was meant to be but still a very special night for the sport, began the Amanda Nunes run. We got Brock freaking Lesnar backed, juice to the gills,

but still got them and everything else that happened on that card. That, like, that would, that's when like international fight was just so special. And then to like top it off with Robbie Lawler having this moment tonight, like it just kind of brought me back to 2016 in a way. In 2015 and 2014, like the good old days where we really got into the sport before all of,

politics and all the bullshit and all like it was about the fights and the fighters and the events and not about Dana being bored and promoting other things like it was about the fight week it was that super bowl experience and it was just so cool seeing that moment and just like going back to the past and seeing some of those other cool moments like everything just tied together in such a beautiful way tonight because of this Robbie Lawler moment it was just so cool and I think you make a great point, Jed. Sometimes you have to think about like what got us to the dance and why we like, even when in the bad, like why we still love this as much as we do.

And damn right, Jed, moments like this. Moments like this. Dude, when you're slogging through like 12 weeks of contender series main events is a, the weeds can be tough. And then you get this and you're like, never mind. Back Ed can't love it. Love it forever. This is 100%.

100%. Yeah. And also, there's not a lot of things that are going to make me scream like a lunatic and weep in my apartment on a Saturday night by myself. But this was one of them. Yeah. Also,

low key credit to Robbie for just generally, again, low key being one of the greatest chooser of walkout music's ever. Because like he has just succeeded at this time and time again. When he was champion, he would come out to hold on, I'm coming. That was just, that was always a moment. I've been in the arena for those walkouts, and it was just chilling, you know, always.

They hit him with it on his exit, too. When he cut, they hit him hold on, and it got me. It got me real back. There are so many memories I have tied to that song from being in the crowd of those just incredible fights of the year that that man put on. But then tonight, to walk out to the last of the Mohicans theme, so fitting. That man was the last of the Mohicans.

Like, you could not have chosen a, more perfect song than what he chose tonight. Robbie Lawler, underrated, sneaky, great walkout music chooser of all time. Got to say it. Dude, you actually couldn't write this better. Like, there's, I cannot see a way to improve it. I genuinely can't think of a way to be better. It was a movie.

It was a movie. Like, it was amazing. Yep. Well done. A plus. A plus plus. I would give them a while. And then some other stuff happened on the prelims.

Yes, we had Tetsuro Tira remaining undefeated. Edgar Chira gave him some fits, but all on all, Denise Gomez, 22nd K.O. Yazvan Haragi, that was incredible. Ranzo Mena Field gets the finish in the second round of a fight that didn't seem like it was going to be very exciting. And then Alonzo jumped to Gilly and it worked out in his favor. And those who bet the under were very excited for that.

So congratulations to you, underbetters. Vitor Petrino gets it done. Cameron Simon gets done. Jesus Aguilar. Jesus Christ Almighty. What a knockout Batman had. Just flatlining poor Shannon Ross. I need a stack guy.

I need a stack guy to look that up for me because I can't imagine the last time a dude got a sub 22nd K.O. And didn't get a bonus. Yeah. Oh. Didn't we just have it last week? Didn't we just have them last week? Did we?

Pretty disappointing. the bonuses on this car generally, right? Like, this is a car that's obviously going to do very well financially for the UFC. Big international fight week things, sellout, etc. Crazy performances up and down, and we're just going to give out 450Ks. Come on, man. Dude, we broke the record.

It was a minute for or not. We broke the record this week for most sub one minute wins in modern UFC history. and most of those people didn't get money. In like 2009, they were hanging out 75K bonuses. Somehow we have gone so far backwards on this. It's just silly. They profited almost a half a billion dollars last year. Crazy.

They profited almost a half a billion dollars last year. And we're still giving guys an extra. Prof of half a billion because you don't give away bonuses. That's how you do. Do it. Got to work for this guy. Make sure you work for that. Oh, but by the record, for the record, you asked about sub-20-second knockouts.

The only one I could think of offhand was Jureen Jermandermine, Jorraine Jermandermine when she knocked out Aspen Lad in 16 seconds and did not get a bonus. But I think it was because most people thought that was a hurry stoppage. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. Let me tell you, Jesus Aguilar's not an early stoppage. already's done now also i can't anybody criticizing that stoppage my am i imagining that or was somebody criticizing that stoppage i don't know that would be an insane thing to criticize what am i thinking rogan criticized there's one stop but he criticized uh the cameron signing

was the cameron simon yeah i think it was the camera i mean uh i think it was the dene to criticize the Gomez stoppage. It was the Gomez one. That was a way late. No, actually, I thought that was a good stoppage. I'm like, what? What are you tired? Yeah, when they slowed it down,

Hadeghie was like falling over on herself when she was trying to stand up. Yeah, I thought the stoppage should have happened sooner. Oh, oh. Oh, okay. I thought they were saying it was too early. Okay, no. Oh, no, I definitely thought that stoppage should have happened sooner. They were saying, no, they were saying it was too early that Rogan didn't like

the stoppage. Oh. Look, we don't need to get into the commentary. They were pretty tough tonight in a lot of respects. But it is baffling to me that that Robbie Lawler, CAO didn't get a performance bonus. Absolutely shocking. I don't, yeah. This is just stupid.

Also, just a brief shout out to Esteban Riebevich, Kimmel of Kirk. Because on many fight night cards, that would have been your fight of the night. And no one's ever going to think about that fight again. That fight might as well not have. happened. Good tone setter. Good tone setter for the night, though. I mean, if that fight happens

last week, I guess Brenner Kuta Toulatze was really good. Fight happens a few weeks ago, might be given 50K. Now, no one's ever going to think about you ever again. Yeah, this is the Marco Polo Reyes Dung Young Kim fight

of UFC 199. Yes. That's uptoned for that crazy-ass call card. But, okay. You know, I was, comparing this fight as I think earlier I can't remember maybe it was off there how this might be the best pay-per-view since ufc-189 and i was looking at 1809 and i think from top to bottom

this card is actually way better 13 fights and hold on because that was the thing about 180 that was the thing about 18 that was it was dreadful up until those final seven fights it was a Slaw. Yeah, yeah. But then that final seven. Yeah. Was just magic. But this is like from the first fight to the 13th fight.

They're all winners. And the card got better and better and better. So wow. Good job, fighters. Too bad. You're not making more money. Sorry. Good stuff.

I would take a couple of questions from the peeps because I can barely speak at this point. You know what? Actually, almost all the questions are about like who's next, who's next? Who's Rob going to fight next? And I think all those questions can be answered tomorrow on some other podcast. All right. All right. So,

yeah. Yes. You already got one of my, one of my picks. And if that's, if Brandon Moreno, Henry Suhudo is just, just the tease,

just imagine what the rest of the picks are going to look like. A.K. will be joining me as well. Then he's going to be off for a couple weeks. So we're going to be bringing in some mystery guests for on to the next one moving forward. And boy, can we not wait to matchmake after Hollyholm, Meyer Bueno Silva.

So stay tuned. And that's... Minimweight title fight, boys. Positivity, people. Say, keep it positive. So before we go, before we go, Jed and Shaheen, you both wanted to talk about Dan Hooker, Jalen Turner. What a friggin fight that was.

That was outstanding. Both sides. I don't know what Dan Hooker is made of because at one point in round two, Jalen Turner basically kicked a field goal on his face with everything he had. And Dan Hooker was just like, okay, I'm fine. And Dan Hooker just battled his way through, gets the decision win. Judges got it right. He gets it done.

Jed, A.K. hates the, he got that dog in him. But the cliche kind of works here for Dan Hooker. Does it not? This was something. What a performance. Incredible performance. I mean, one, lightweight rules. We're talking about Jalen Turner due to Jailen.

just went hammering tongues with Matush Gamrot, one of the six best guys in the world. Dan Hooker, I know he had just beat Claudio Pueyes, but really rough run. And the rose-colored glasses case for him is he's only lost to the best. He lost to his Lamachachev. You know, he lost to Michael Chandler. He lost to Dustin Porier. Jeline Turner's not that level. So, you know, here we are.

And yet, I didn't buy it. And then Hooker comes out. And I, two thoughts. The first one and the most important one, wow, Han Hooker is incredibly tough. I am really concerned that that was the last one. I got a lot of Carlos Condit, Robbie Lawler vibes about him just sort of refusing to die in there in a way that I'm really interested to see what his next fight looks like.

and if that was just all the gas that he had left and he used it and great great time to use it fantastic performance but that is such a such a hard fight for both men i want to see what they look like coming out of it the second one because i'm going to be a little bit of a shit eater because that's who i am as a person just so just so we're clear uh that dan hooker who's a damn good fighter a top 11 12 lightweight we're out here pretending that john Jones deserves SB for Friday of the year when is Lamarachchev beat alexander Volkanowski and Charles Oliver and has beaten Dan Hooker in dominant fashion and we're all just like nah let's let's forget about how good Islam is just wanted to say that

it's up to you Shaheen I got two things I got two things for this one one one you sort of head on to me his like Dan Hooker zombie sort of esk revival after kind of a brutal opening round to me that was so beautifully emblematic of this weird career revival that he's kind of undergone since he went like one in four from like 2020 to 2022 because I don't know man it felt like he looked cooked a lot after his war with Dustin Poir, right? Like there was a lot of people sort of writing him off and I felt like there was reason to. I mean, three first round stoppage losses. He had that sort of like desperation drop in weight that we sort of see a lot from this type of

situation where it's that last gasp of like a drowning ex-contender just sort of trying out something to make it work to figure out something that could work. But man, like he, again, it's one of those things where it's showing off the foolishness of writing off these guys too soon because this was tremendous. Like this is another fight of the year contender. I think this one will probably be talking about at the end of the year too. And then secondly, the way that this, that they exchange, I would say, the post-fight exchange with Joe Rogan was just delightful.

Like this is just a reminder that fighters are totally different breed than the rest of us. Did you break your arm during the fight? And then Dan Hooker just says, just a stretch. And then cackles maniacally. And then meanwhile tweets out like a x-ray of a broken arm like an hour later.

Dude, that's not his best tweet. His best tweet is the photo of him and Jalen Turner in the fucking ER. And it looks like Jalen Turner just like is visiting his, friend who is hospitalized, you would have absolutely no idea that Dan Hooker won this fight looking at that because this sport is real dumb. Just a scratch.

Just a scratch. Maybe that's what we'll headline this. UFC 290 post-fight show, just to scratch. You could hit the music, Casey. I had another headline for us as we exit. UFC 290, the death of the Mexican resurgence. Sheesh, man. One and four.

Pretty tough night for for UFC Mexico. Started off good with one of the knockouts of the air. Lexa Grasso. Yeah, when Valentina gets the belt back, it's, man, that's going to have been a tough moment for us.

U.C. South Africa coming right along, though, baby. And we didn't get the Mexico City event with all these people who could have. Who needed it? Sheen? Why would we do that? Well, maybe we'll see some of these fighters on the September 16th card. Obviously, the Mexican fans are out there in Vegas because they were loud and they were rambunctious tonight for their fighters.

But unfortunately, can't be their night every single time. But thank you all for joining us. We're done. What a fun night of fights for Jed, for Casey, for Shaheen. I am Mike Heck. We'll see you in about five hours right here on onto the next one. Good night, everybody. Love y'all.