MMA Fighting - UFC 292 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Sean O'Malley's Title Winning Knockout, Zhang Weili's Dominance

Episode Date: August 20, 2023

Sean O'Malley is the UFC bantamweight champion of the world after knocking out Aljamain Sterling in the second round of the main event of UFC 292. The stunning finish kicks off a new era in the bantamweight division with one of the promotion's biggest stars driving the train. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to O'Malley's incredible finish of Sterling, discuss where Sterling goes from the loss, and what this division looks like going forward. Additionally, they react to the absolute dominance from Zhang Weili in the co-main event against Amanda Lemos to retain her title, discuss if Yan Xiaonan or Tatiana Suarez will be next for Weili, Ian Machado Garry's one-sided victory over Neil Magny, Marlon Vera's massively important victory, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR 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 Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

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

We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. The post-fight victory horns are sounding, and they are sounding, for one, Sugar, Sean O'Malley, the new UFC Bannamweight champion of the world. It's official. We can say it. Welcome to the Sugar Show, everybody, and welcome to the UFC 292 post-fight show. We are live here on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel. Thank you for joining us. It is right now 3.13 a.m. on the East Coast,

but the vibes are high as they have been all week. New champion in the band of weight division, Zhang Wei Lee with a record-breaking dominant decision win in the co-main event to retain the Straway title, Ian Machado Gary, dominant win. We'll talk about that and more. I am Mike Heck. And joining me to talk all about it is a man you saw on the watch party, a man who is with us watching Sean O'Malley knockout Al Jamein Sterling live. He is the one and only Mr. Hot Take, Mr. No Gray area, Jed Mishu. Jed, how are you, sir? I mean, I'm a changed man, Mike, because I now am living in the sugar era. It's so sweet.

It's so sweet, Mike. Yes. We're a great end to an event that was, let's be honest. I enjoyed it. It was not a bad event, but it was lagging a little. And then Shauna Mallet just rewrites the rules to the game, baby. And now we got something to talk about for real. We certainly do.

And again, like I said, you were live with me as this is all going down with GC. Sean O'Malley sniped him. Just like he said he was going to do all week. I'm going to snipe him. I'm going to find his chin at some point. He makes a mistake. I'm going to find his chin and he did it. Sean O'Malley is the Bannamweight Champion of the world, Jedmishu. This just happened a couple of hours ago. Has it really sunk in here that Sean O'Malley did what a lot of people thought he wouldn't do outside of a value betting perspective, unless you were walking around Boston because everybody thought Sean Amelow is going to win in Boston.

Yeah. I mean, I think everyone thought that this could happen. I don't think many people predicted it. Certainly. I think the smart money and the smart thought was that Aljo has a lot of advantages. Like all of the on paper, and I said it, various pre-show stuff and even on the watch party, all the on-paper stuff was in Aljo's favor. But there were vibes.

There was this idea that, you know, maybe O'Malley. Ali has a touch of the McGregor and him. This ability sort of make unlikely outcomes occur in the best, you know, possible universe for him. And it happened eerily close to the McGregor Aldo finish, frankly. Him doing that over a guy colloquially known as Aljo is certainly something. And, you know, history may not repeat itself, but it appears to have rhymed in this instance.

And so not like shocking that this happened. I'm not like, I can't believe what occurred. But it was very cool to see happen and sort of where we're going to go from here. The Bannam White Division is never going to be the same. And it might not be for better, frankly, but I'm very interested to see kind of how this rope plays out moving forward. Yeah, I think at this point, at least during this reign, the Bannam White Division will very rarely be like a co-main event division. Like it has been for so long. but Sean O'Malley is the champion

and things are going to change very quickly. He obviously called out Cheeto Vera, something he's been calling for the whole time. And then he called out Jervante Davis. You do that was coming. It happened like within three minutes of this. I did not. I did not know that was coming.

And that's all me. Hand up. I was dumb. I should have known that was coming. But the speed with which it pivoted to, I guess I'll fight Cheeto because like people kind of want to see that one. But I don't want to, I don't want to give the business to the rest of these dudes

because they're not big business. Let's fight Gervante was lightning fast. Yeah, it just seems, it seems like this, we were heading in this direction. Marlon Verra just needed to do his job. He did it against Pedro Munoz. This is where we're going. Like, Sean O'Malley wants December. It seems like Cheetah Vera and his team are already planning on December. I saw a post from his manager saying, thank you for an epic week in Boston. We'll see you in December.

This is the fight, right? Like Al Jermaine wants a rematch. I don't think there's any chance he gets it, even though he deserves it. But we don't use the word deserves because it doesn't really work in the UFC. And in the sport in general, but we are getting Sean O'Malley, Marlon Vera, too, for the Bannamoy title. And this is the biggest fight you can make. This is the biggest fight in the history of the division. Oh, easily.

I think there was a very good argument that like a year ago, that rematch was the biggest fight in the division from a number standpoint. They're the two biggest stars in the division. After tonight, O'Malley is the number two star in MMA. I feel really confident and comfortable calling Sean O'Malley the number two biggest star in MMA. And arguably number one, depending on your views on if Connor still intends to ever fight again. So, yeah, it's unquestionably the biggest fight in the history of this division. It's the biggest fight that can be made in the sport right now, probably. Maybe you could do something with Connor and somebody else.

but I don't I think that this fight will do better numbers than Connor versus Chandler will and I think Connor versus Chandler will do just fine because it's still Connor but you got to have some a real foil and that's I think that's what Cheetos is bringing here so yeah I'd be pretty surprised at this point if that's not 296 December in Las Vegas the headliner and it's never going to like you said Sean O'Malley is never going to not fight in the main event of a pay-per-view from this point forward that that is just not. his lot in life at this moment in time because the UFC's never going to put him on a card with Connor who's the only dude who could take that spot from him at the moment. And from a box office perspective, from a business perspective, and let's be honest, from an intrigue perspective, because Sean O'Malley has captivated and captured a lot of the casual viewing audience, it is obviously going to be a very interesting however long. Apparently, according to Sean O'Malley, this is going to be a very interesting 12 years because he's going to be doing this until 20 to 35, apparently. He's going to have a 12-year run. And if he's able to do that, at this point,

I'm just going to believe everything he says. And as interesting as this division is going to be moving forward with Sean O'Malley at the helm, I think the more interesting short-term question coming out of this fight is not where Sean O'Malley goes. It's where Al Jermaine Sterling goes, because he was very forthright, he was very honest with his assessment of the fight, and where his future is, because if Sean O'Malley's knocking him out in the second round like that, he doesn't like his chances very much about going up to 145 in fighting Alexander Volcanovsky. And that idea is probably completely off the table. I don't know if that fight ever happens unless Volcanovsky just shouts for it and gets it.

It's probably done. So where does Al Jemaine Sterling go from here? Does he even attempt to go up to 45 and just try to earn a spot? Like, do you go up there and you try to fight the Ilya Tupori? We know Tepore is about to get a title shot, but the Tepore is, the of Loyevs, the, those types of fighters. Like, is this his future right now? Just go up there and try to pick apart one of these top five, top seven guys in hopes that you can intrigue Volcanovsky into fighting you? Or is he staying at 135 in hopes of trying to get a rematch that if you watch the post-fight press conference,

Sean Amelie does not seem interested in that at all. Where does he go from here? Because that might be the more interesting question in the short term. Sean Amelie is never fighting this dude again. He's going up to 145. He'll take some time with him and Haw. So I didn't really like his post-fight speech in the Octagon. It's very honest, and so full credit to him for that.

But it's one of those things that I think he's going to wish he could take back just for saying it out loud of, you know, I don't like my chances. Well, sure, you're not going to fight Volkanowski now. Like, you don't get to lose, go up and fight for the belt. That's not how that works. So Volk isn't really even in consideration at this, at the moment. The question for him is fundamentally, do I stick around here in a way class where a. my best friend and training partner i've already essentially told him hey i'm going to get out of the way so you can run this um and he's probably even ahead of me in title shot line right now just because

sean o'malley i think is more likely to say yes to maraub than to aljo a second time uh but it's just not going to work for him he's going to look at him and be like no i'd have to fight a bunch of dudes I've already fought or I don't really want to do again. And that's to entice O'Malley to get a rematch. So he's not going to say yes to. So maybe he could hang around in case Cheeto wins and he could slide in there for, you know, to beat Cheeto or whatever. But I think the much simpler thing is just go up. Because I think he'll do quite fine at 145. He might not beat Bolkinovsky. Hey man, I got a secret. Nobody else at 145 has been beaten that dude for like four years. So, you're not alone that like you can go fight but you can get up you move up he goes up and let's say he

fights josh himitt i don't know what josh himitt's career plans are but you know he gets a fight like that and performs really well then there's a very easy narrative he was cutting too much weight it was too hard for 135 he is so much better suited to this weight class he's still strong and big but he's got more speed here it's going to be great so i think he's just moving up to 145 it's the most logical move forward for him. So I think that that's what we're going to get next for him. Last thing before we move on to what John Wei Lee did, and obviously there's much more talk about this for a long time, because this is one of those moments that's just going to stick with us. It's going to be in highlight packages. Bobbo O'Reilly, that knockoff punch is going to be there forever.

We talked about this band-and-oing division, a lot heading into this fight and where it all goes. and we know Marl Vara is probably getting the next shot, but we have Maraub, we have Corey Sanhagan, we have, even though you don't like to admit it, because we don't really know what he's doing right now, we have Henry Suhudo, and then we have this flux of, this influx of, like, other contenders on the rise right now.

Who is the biggest loser in this fight? And I'm not talking about Al Jermaine Sterling. I'm talking about of the guys who are vying for that title opportunity. How much did Marab lose tonight? because there is a story there, and it's a fascinating one. But with all the names that Sean Amalley was presented or all the names that came out of his mouth, but Rob DeWallish Willie was not one of them. I alluded to this earlier.

I think Bannon Wade is about to be awful. And that's going to really break the hearts of a lot of the hipsters who are under the false narrative that this is the best division of the sport. It's a very, very good division. And the only reason that narrative started to thrive is because Connor broke lightweight. Like Connor just stealing the lightweight belt and then being a lunatic and just broke lightweight for a very long time. And it's still suffering some of those effects, frankly. I think there's a pretty good shot here that our new champion is going to break Bannonweight.

He's going to fight Cheeto. And if he beats Cheeto, he pretty much explicitly said that he doesn't give a shit about fighting anybody else in this weight class. Hey, why are you so interested in Javata Davis? Because he's a star and there's nobody in the Bannonweight division that's a star. There's Cheeto and that's it. So maybe the UFC decides to be a little heavy-handed with him and make him defend a belt. But if he's his biggest star coming off of this, I think he is probably going to be. I'm not sure that they force his hand.

And so then it's, I would say Marab is sort of the front-run. runner like right now, but I think that everybody in this weight class other than Cheeto Vera is moved one more fight away from fighting for the title. Wherever they were previously in line, you probably just add one more fight to it because I think we're in for a bit of a stalemate at the top here and maybe some interim titles coming down the line because that might be a way to entice him if you can put an interim belt on somebody else. Yeah, the intercontinental division, as I've always called it, with Bansomerox.

Adam Wade is now going to become a prize fighting division, which Chonemale is the champion. Corey Sanhagan may actually have come out of this okay, because maybe Corey Sanhagan, when he comes back, gets to fight like Marab for an interim title instead of having to fight Umar for nothing. So, uh, I got the only person I can see that like, like, we're going to do Cheeto in December. I suspect we're going to get some layoff after that. And maybe the UFC is going to start hounding around to be like, hey, Umar, how long until you're back? healthy. Let's try and fire you up because you could maybe sell a Peodor Yan rematch. Like I could see O'Malley accepting Peoriaon if he can get a couple of doves in. Maybe, maybe Henry Suhudo,

but you know that I don't treat him as a real person. So there's that. But I think he's going to defending his Cheeto and I think we are not going to see him for maybe a full year. Like he might defending his Cheeto in December and then it's like, I'll wait until July or even the next go around at Madison Square Guard and something like that. Yeah, you're probably right. So it's going to be interesting to see where this division goes, where Al Jermaine Sterling goes, a lot to kind of digest coming out of this main event. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts.

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of the fairos of the fairos desks show show showers and Shifora collection and other part of the vits. Procurrevement standard and mini regrouped for a better quality of price on link on Cifera.C. or in a magazine. Co-main event, Jen Mishu,

Zhang Wei Lee. She didn't get the finish and I think it busted a lot of parlays and a lot of betting slips were ripped up and thrown on the floor. But all in all, This was about as one side as you get. There was a moment where Amanda Lemosch slapped on this weird submission,

sort of Ninja choke-esque kind of a thing, and it looked like Zhang might be in a little bit of trouble. At least if you listen to the commentators, they're like, oh, she's turning blue. And other than that, Amanda Lemosch had, and maybe like one right hand early, she had nothing for Zhang Waley. This was a historic, one-sided championship beatdown by Zhang Wai Lai.

and even though she didn't get the finish and a lot of people had betting tickets that she would get the finish, boy, is it fun to watch her compete because it's got to be tough to take that title off of her. Yeah, I thought that this fight would look like this only she'd get the stoppage coming in.

I know that Amanda Limosch was like a darling dog this week. A lot of people are like, yeah, she can do some real violent stuff and Wiley Zhang's not impervious to getting hit. I was like, sure, can't be super shocked if it happens, but, I watched Wiley Zhang just like throw Jessica and Drosha out the cage and I basically watched Jessica and Drosj to the exact same thing Dilemo show.

I think I know how this is going to work and it look like that like I mean best performance of Wiley's career I would say all things considered she has really like for when she entered the UFC on that big big long winning streak like 19 fights or whatever it was she was largely just like an athlete who did a bunch of like was just the best athlete. athlete in the division and that was dope and it won her a belt frankly by just being the best athlete. And then she lost, had a couple of setbacks. And she's refined her game a lot. Like she she was really smart in her approach to this fight. She minimized any opportunity Limosch had to generate consistent offense, got to her spots and just ragged all Limosch. Like if you look at the

stats on this fight, it is unbelievable. It's like 288 to 6 or something. 296 to 29. Yeah, that's, those are those cartoon numbers. Like, I could go load up EA UFC 4 right now, and I could not put those numbers on like the easy mode setting. And she did it in an actual world championship fight against a totally viable contender. So, uh, it was an incredible performance from her. Uh, and shouts to Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormey, because tonight was a banner night for the, oh, that, that submission's close. and me being like, oh, good, I know that she is very safe.

As long as they're saying it's close, the safest place you can be, like, Fort Knox, probably the White House is like a fairly secure building and locked into a submission that Joe Rogan is squealing about saying that it is close. You could not be more safe than being in those positions. Yes. What a performance. And yeah, 296 to 29 is ridiculous. guess and the significant strikes 163 to 24 for Zhang Wei Li I mean just most significant

strikes landed the biggest strike differential in women's UFC history dear laughing I was live blogging this like for the site right and I gave I think I did the first two rounds or 10 nines for for Waley and then they showed that stat after round two where the stat like the striking totals live we're like so amandumos has landed six strikes. And in my live blog, I wrote, here's the stat update. I perhaps should have scored some of these previous rounds, 10-8s. It was just unbelievable, like, how nothing was happening from Limosh. It didn't even feel like early on, it didn't even feel like she was that ineffective. But she had nothing to offer, nothing.

So that brings up the big question here. Jan John, on is right there. And if they go to China, that's obviously a massive fight. And in fact, you, well, even if they don't, like, they could go to Boston and this is a very big fight. They'd go to New York and this is a very big fight. They can go anywhere. And this is a big fight. But they have to go to China with this one. So Tatiana Swarres kind of lost out here. Did she not? I mean, she's going to get her shot. She's going to get another win. I was, I suggested, because I felt like I knew where this fight was going to go. They should have just done McKenzie Dern versus Tatiana Swares as a.

fight night main event. I think that would have been a really good call, but apparently, which flew under everybody's radar, McKenzie Dern is fighting Jessica and Drudge at UFC 295. They showed her on the screen and there was a graphic which no one announced and nobody knew about. So we're, it's going to be, it's going to be Jean-Wea Lee versus Jean-John. That is what's going to happen. Is Tatiana Swarres just going to sit around and wait for the winner of that fight or is she going to have another fight? What did tonight do to Tatiana Suarez's championship aspirations and how far back is she going to have to wait now she's probably going to have to wait a quick shout out to jessica and drage who's trying to

speed run the end of career losing streets can be a fifth fight this year she lost three in a row and she's going to turn around to fight just take it takes time off but you don't have to keep doing this but uh tatia swarres is it makes way more sense for her to fight mackenzie darn um than that instead she's probably just going to sit on the sideline as she was originally booked to fight for a gingeroba. Maybe they, I don't know how long gingerba's out. I think it was a knee injury. But maybe they just rebooked that.

But I would assume that Tatiana Suarez will get to get the honor potentially of weighing in as a backup fighter for the impending Wealey versus Jan fight. But she ain't jumping the line. Like if Limmer should won, we had talked about it. There was very much a world where Tatiana just gets to, okay, it's time to do this. This is clearly where this division. is going. Let's just get there. But do you hear the Chinese reporter? And I don't

know if you listen to the post presser, Mike. A reporter who I believe was Chinese noted to Dana White that on Chinese social media the knockout or the fight from Wiley had generated 1.9 billion

views. So I'm just going to go ahead and say that I would cut off of pinky if the UFC doesn't book Wiley versus Jan and do that in China because why wouldn't they give me a reason any reason at all that's if that's if that fact is true about 1.9 billion with a B the two of them in China is the the biggest no-brainer in the history of combat I don't know what else to tell you man I feel like we can maybe get this in before the end of the year there is rumblings about perhaps a card in china by the end of the year maybe they know like

kind of hinted at it in the press or two he didn't say it because he leaned heavily on the we don't book fights but someone was like hey there rumors you're thinking about china before the end of the year and he was like wink or whatever so it seems certainly after tonight uh it may have been a situation where they were just going to like let's wait and see about what happens here but i would say after tonight, that's going to get a full court press. I honestly, if we're talking about futures and fights, the eventual Zhang Wei Li, Tatiana Suarez's fight is going to be incredibly fascinating. I am very much looking forward to that matchup when it does happen.

Tatiana's going to run her, but it's going to be dope. It's going to be interesting to see. That's a really, really good fight, and I'm highly intrigued by it. Ian Machado Gary, Jed Mishu, goes out there and just lays, waste to Neil Magni, who was just incredibly tough. I thought there are multiple points in this fight where Ian was just going to kick him in the leg and the leg was going to give out. And the referee is just going to save him from himself. But Magni makes it to the cards.

Ian Machado-Garry on one of the judge's cards, three 10-8s. Incredible performance. This is as one-sided as it could get. This is about as good as it could be for Ian Machado-Gary outside of getting a quick finish. But he calls out Wonderboy Thompson. apparently Dana White said they already reached out to Stephen about doing that fight and he turned it down. I don't know if he's going to be able to turn this one down, dude. Honestly, I feel like cooler heads are going to prevail.

And I think Stephen's just going to have to take this fight if he wants to get to this title run because I think the fights that he wants, the UFC just isn't going to give him right now. So biggest takeaway from Ian Machado, Gary's performance and his upside at 170 because there are some fun guys moving up the ladder. but I feel like Ian Macheta, Gary is ahead of all of them right now. That's going to be weird. I do want to talk about Wonder Boy first because as good as this performance was from IMG, I think this is going to be a broad narrative, perhaps supersede it. Just because Dana throw under the bus isn't the right term, I don't know, like held under the bus while it went over and reversed over.

Like Dana just tried to bury Wonderboy, but be like, yeah, he passed up the fight. I don't know if that's true or not because I just don't take things. Dana says at face value. If it is, I have no idea what Wonder Boy is doing. Like, yeah, I think you're going to lose this fight, but like, who are you trying to fight? If it's like, if your goal is to fight for a title, you've already lost all the wrestlers in front of you. Like who and you have explicitly said you don't want to fight them. Who the hell do you want to fight if it's not like somebody like this?

So I don't know. You want the Oisman fight. Okay. Well, I don't think maybe. I don't know. Just say yes, dude. It's fine. I don't think the Uson fight's going to go well for you.

And I'm not even sure you're going to get it. So I don't know. Ian Mishato Gary was dope tonight. Perfect performance. Maybe not perfect. 96. He could have finished it. um on uh casey and i talked about this in the presser briefly like i know many people won't hold that

against him and i don't really hold it against him but there is a point for me where when you are fighting it's somebody who is no longer capable of defending themselves reasonably which is where magnu was in that third round pretty much he was just in full on survival mode um not putting a coffin nail in it's like a missed opportunity but it's not a bad performance his performance which was obviously sensational and every other part of it too was what is great. Like he carried himself like a star this whole week. I don't know that he has won yet, but my takeaways from this event are I'm an I'm an I'm a Machado Gary fan now.

I think that dude's dope, both the way he fights and the things he says I find enjoyable. And some of it's insane. Like I'm not here to say that all of it's reasonable and I agree with all of his takes. His statement that he was carrying the card pre-fight is insane. several of his statements afterwards are insane um but he's carrying himself with with a great confidence that is appealing to me the way he handles his business is great and i thought his post fight was awesome you know like he gave neil magny his props but didn't back down at all from the shit

he talked about neal magny and doubled down on the stuff he said and that's a fun like you you don't have to be like oh we're bonded in battle now so like we're all gravy you know it's like no F that dude, he still sucks. You don't say that shit. But respect to him for, you know, knuckling up and fighting me. Like, you got to at least give a man respect for doing that, but he still sucks ass. I love DiMuchado Gary's performance this whole week. I'll tell you what, I'm super high on him, man.

Like, I know that JDM is the darling delight of the Waterway Division. I am Machado Gary's this weight classes. If there's a dude who's going to take the belt from Shavcott when he does get it, Ian Machado Gary's going to be that dude. Yeah, incredible performance. The man backed up everything he said. It's going to be interesting. If he gets the Wonderboy fight, do they just go back to Jeff Neal?

I don't know if the ship has sailed on that. I would still like to see that fight if it can happen. I think that's a really good next test because Walter Waite has a lot of litmus tests. And I feel like Neil Magny is sort of the dude that welcomes you into the top. 10 to 12 range. Neil is like you're you're a top seven guy. Give me Sean Brady. Let me see. At the post pressure, IMG was like, I am the best jiu-jitsu player in the world. Y'all don't know it because you've never seen. Like I'm that's that's only a loose exaggeration. He was like if I fight in December, I might f around and then try and try and win a nogee world

championship. Uh, because like I'm telling you guys, I'm that good at grappling. You just don't know. because I never showed it to you. I would like to see it. If this is true, then I have him very highly ranked in our latest rankings, which I did tonight. If he is also the greatest grappler to exist on Earth, I'm underrating him by a significant margin. I'd like to know it. And Sean Brady going to tackle that dude's ass. So let's just do that.

I want to the top of this division ain't nothing but dudes who are going to put you on the mat and check and real check you right there. Let's do it. I don't know what Sean Brady's doing. It seems like it'd be a great time for these two. guys to fight. If I'm Sean Brady, I am doing nothing by calling this guy out. Yeah. That's all I'm doing. Just focus all your attention on trying to get that fight. I don't think that's going to happen. But if you're Sean Brady and you can get to Ian Machado, Gary and force Ian Machadooggi to talk about you, do it. Yeah, Shafka was about to fight Kelvin Gastilin for God knows what reason. Like, just fight Ian Chado

Gary now. That's a better win for you in the division and in MMA. Let's do that. Like, if I'm any dude who knows I have to fight backwards next fight, and I'm at the top of this weight class, and that's not, I'm not saying that because that's an easy win. I'm just saying it because, like, that's going to give you the most bang for your buck if you can do it. And as Casey and you have,

as you said a lot about Hamzot, I think it was Hamzot, fight the dude now. Because he's 26, man. He ain't getting worse over the next five years. Fight him now. Yeah, that would be super interesting if Ian started calling him out. So good win for him.

Good win for Mario Batista. He gets it done. We talked about Marlon Vera where he goes. He earned himself a title shot out with his victory. What do you laugh at? Mario Batiz still won a fight on the main card and Cheetah Vera. Let's talk about the thing that matters. I just love the that fight happening on this card is so freaking weird.

Yeah. Yeah, I think it was a play. We go back and watch it. Yeah, I think if we go back and watch it, and I'm not trying to distract Mara, but he got out there. He still took the fight after losing Cody Garbrent, and he won.

And he won the fight, but is it one we're going to, it was a fine fight. It wasn't. Yeah. If you look back on this event, you're going to remember the Chris Wadden and Brad DeVarro's fight. You're not going to remember this fight that happened.

Yes. And you segueged perfectly because before you get to the peeps, I do want to talk about what happened. happened in that fight because we started the watch party right before round two was going to start in the Chris Wyman, Brad Tavares fight. So we got to watch it. And Brad just kept nailing him with leg kicks. There was a point in the second round where I thought he broke his leg again. I was like, oh, no. He went down and he started limping on it. And it just got bad. He may have torn his MCL. Did you, I don't know if you caught that at the presser. I don't know what you caught in the presser. Um, so Aljo said and, you know, not a doctor and it's not there. But. Aljo was asked about it and I believe he, Luce said that like there's concern that he injured it. And then Dana, I think specifically said that taught, like Q's asked about the Wyman fight and he was like,

I would like Wyman to retire. They think he tore his MCL in the fight. Like so he's out for a while anyway because he now has on the other leg, not on the previously like surgery one, but I believe the leg that was getting kicked a bunch of lead leg, theoretically he has suffered actually like legitimate knee damage so um kacey case you laughed at me in the pre-fight q-na when i was like i'm concerned about this man's leg and you were like it's like's fine i was half right it was the wrong leg i should have been concerned about the other leg

i said on the preview show that honestly like like and i know chris wydman is a very is very hungry and he's very competitive and he wanted this fight to be the beginning of a title run and i think a lot of people roll their eyes with that, but Chris was very serious about that. And the argument I made on the previous show that the best case scenario, the best thing that could happen for for Wyden, for Tavares, for everybody else who loves Chris Wyman and loves what he was able to do in his career, was that Wyden would lose a somewhat competitive decision and then just be done. Because you came back, dude. You came back after all of that, right? You go in there, your leg is compromised in the fight. You still fight back. You

still land some shots. You got Tavares kind of reeling at a point or two in that fight with some of the shots that you landed. You lose a competitive decision. What a perfect time to walk away. Like, no one's going to be down on you for that. I just think the title run hopes are over. you did something a lot of people believed you may never do again. There were tucks. You might just lose your leg altogether because of this injury. But you made it back. You competed like a freaking champion.

You didn't win, but you competed. And I felt like this was the best case scenario for everybody involved. And it played out that way. So I guess I'll ask you this. And it's kind of a bummer to say. But I think it's a conversation needs to be had, especially after what Dana said, was this the last Chris Wyden fight? I mean, this is a really good chance.

It was the last Chris Wobin fight in the UFC. I think we talk about this all the time. If you just blanketly assume that no fighter is going to retire, you're going to be right far more often than you're going to be wrong. If he did, in fact, tear his MCL or, you know, any other ligament going on and there and is looking at six months, another year on the sidelines for surgery, rehabilitation. And now he is two legs down or two legs.

with 50 combined surgeries or whatever it is, some insane number between them, I think there's a very good chance that he just kind of goes home, looks and says, no, I came back from the big one, like you were saying, and that's enough. I'd be a bit surprised, though. I do think he's going to want an exit.

He's just going to want that real, the moment, if not to come back. So if I'm putting money down, I think we will see Chris Widman fight, at least one more time. I am personally. I think it's time, Mike. I know that he's not currently in the organization,

but we can mend these fences. Let's just rock it back in a year and a half, Luke Rockold. Let's just do it. That was supposed to be the rivalry that was going to define middle weight for like the next generation. And then they fought the one time.

It was awesome. And then they never fought again. And now both dudes got washed almost overnight. And now here we are. When Chris is ready to come back, Let's just sign, sign Luke for one more. Lucas specifically said that he like, doesn't want to end his combat sports career off that bare knuckle fight with Mike Perry. So come back home.

Let's run that back. It'll be something. And it's a good retirement fight for both dudes. Run it back as a retirement fight. It's ideal. I love that idea. I think that's the only fight that would make sense for Chris at this point. Greg Rodriguez, kind of some controversy with the finish of Dennis Tallulin.

We'll see how that plays out. It is a mess. Now? Controacy. It's cool. Okay. The rule of cool applies. That was dope.

So I don't care that it was arguably legal. Also, if you don't want to get punched in the back of the head, don't present the back of your head to get punched. That's long my official standpoint on this. I think it's a dumb rule. So don't, don't do it. Welcome back to the UFC Kurt Hollabo. He gets his first official UFC win, triangle choke against Austin Hubbard. Kurt Hall will continue on, called out Patty Pimble.

He became the 71st lightweight currently on the active roster to call out Patty Pimblit. So, I mean, go for the gusto. Brad Cotonin and Cody Gibson put on a friggin show. What a frigging fight that was. Cotone gets the contract. Is that what Dana said? Yeah, well, he didn't say those words, but someone asked him, is it safe to assume that like with, you know, Stefan Bonner, Cody Gibson.

and he was like, yeah. All right, good. Much deserved. Andre Petrosky, Gerald Mearshardt. It was the most fun middleweighty, middleweight fight I've probably ever seen. But Petroski wins the splity. Natty Ice is just something special. She beat the hell out of Andrea Lee.

That fight was not really all that competitive. And then Karine A. Silva submits Marina Morose. Gets a little revenge from their fight from several years back. But Maddie Ice, man. Before he gets the questions, I got to talk about her. Yeah, got to talk about her. She's so good. I ranked her.

She is now going to be in my flyway rankings. I think I have her at like number 12 after that performance against Angel Lee. I am super excited to see where she goes, Jed. I love this. I went for it. I ranked them both of the silvers are in my flyweight rankings, baby. Let's go. Natty Ice is higher than Creene's Silva, but the bottom of the rankings,

there's a lot of opportunity for someone to slide it there. And why not? Karine Silva, look, Natty Ice beat the hell out of KGB Lee, and that was dope. But Karina Silva, frankly, impressed me more because we sort of anticipated this. That's what Natty Ice was going to do. And our conversation, you and I had the conversation beforehand, that Karina Silva is the one that she already lost Maros. Morose is sneaky like a hitter.

Like she, she is sneaky, a very competitive, very tough out in this division. And Craney Silver whipped her and tapped her. Right with the buzzer beat her tap too. I love those. So I was even more impressed by Creany Silva because she exceeded expectations, whereas Natty Ice is just like, all right, it's time for her to start making real moves here and see what we've got on our hands with her. But yeah, look, the prelims are fun, man.

Really fun card. We're really good. Mm-hmm. Really, really good. All right. No issues. And that's, it was awesome. Yeah.

Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation. Here we come. Whoa. Is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land.

And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to aeroplime members on equip flights, sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See air Canada.com.

To succeed in the future of work, forward thinkers use AI to deliver measurable results. Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that frees you from the mundane so you can focus on more meaningful work. Workday, moving business forever forward. All right, let's bring in E. Casey Leiden, and we'll take a few questions before you get out of here. it is pretty late, so we're not going to take a whole bunch of questions, but we'll take a few. Mike, I didn't ask you this when I was on the thing. Our first question is going to be for me to you, Mike. How do we feel about Cheeto not getting a mic on him after beating Pedro Munoz?

It's a missed opportunity. Like, your promotional packages, like, you've got enough there. Like, I get it. You just go back to that first fight and how it played out and some of the things that were said and whatever. But you miss an opportunity. here. You certainly missed an opportunity, not giving Cheeto the mic. Cheeto was, yeah, Cheeto was probably the fourth most popular fighter on the entire card. I think Jean-Luele was probably number two. Just think she had so much a pop. Yeah, dude, and Chris Wyatman was very popular because of the

story and the comeback. And then Vera's like right there, like super over with Boston. So I kind of expected him to get a microphone in his hand and that it's so incredible watching this guy because he never looks like he's even in a fight when it's over this one like he had some sweat in his like his beautifully done hair had like some sweaty bangs like three or four of them and that's like the most you've seen chito vera like perspire in a fight in like five years it's insane yeah and that fight was fun as hell Pedro munio has always comes. I thought he had an argument to win the fight.

I did not think Pedro won, but I thought that there's a very, there's a reasonable argument that he won. Do you want to give him the first two rounds? I don't have any issues with that. Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Well, Cheeto won by Pride rules. We'll go back.

I gave Cheeto the first. I gave Peter the second. Yeah. I also think decisions about 75% of media, Cheeto winning, and actually, surprisingly, 60% of fans. I'm sorry, Pedro winning and 60% of fans also have Pedro winning, which is surprising. Wow.

It was interesting. It was a close fight. Pedro kicked the legs a whole bunch and leg kicks don't win fights. Yep. Of course not. However, I do have it on good authority that Cheeto did some post-fight interview standing because his legs were all jacked up. So maybe like kicks do matter and you should start factoring this into what happened in your score courts. Oh, is Patty Pimba the only fighter who hasn't called a Patty Pimblet?

Oh, that's a great question. Fantastic work, Steph, proud of you. Steph, that's a great question. Well done. All right. Missed opportunity for Patty to Patty could have could have could do it. Anderson called himself out for years. Yeah, I bought my clone.

Um, what do we actually think about the stoppage for the main a plus i don't know no notes i don't think there was really anything bad about it me either i think it was a i think it was a perfect stoppage i will go one beyond i think it was fantastic i believe mark otter is the second best referee in m m m m a i think jason herriss auger is the best and has been for some time but mark goddard is rarely bad and usually very good and i thought he nailed it um you can always leave a stoppage one or two punches longer and i won't be like super upset um And I know that a lot of fighters would prefer that. And you saw some outpouring of that.

But by the way you're supposed to stop fights, nailed it. Like he, Aljo got clubbed a bunch. And then the time he turned away that he, he was no longer rolling in or rolling up. He rolled away. He functionally turned his back. If he was standing against the fence, it was a back turn. Like, that's it. There's an ideal stoppage.

Yeah. Yeah. just yeah the way he turtled that direction is just that that that that's that's that's pretty much the fetal position you just you're done and um if he wanted yeah there's many other ways to get up and defend yourself that's not one of them and i thought goddard gotter gotter is that the ref tonight yeah yeah i thought and i thought he did he gave the champ the proper amount of time to recover so uh i agree i totally agree i that when that right hand landed i thought he killed him Like I thought the way Aljo felt.

It did look like he face planted. But he didn't, but it looked like it. Yeah. He recovered and was able to try to defend. And Sean landed like a bunch of big hammer fist. And I think Goddard did a nice job because he could have stopped it after like the third or fourth hammer fist because he was landed him. And then Aljo, it was able to sort of get his wits to him and start to fend. And I think the way Mark looked at it was I mean, give this dude like one more big shot before I step in there.

And then after he sort of turned Al Jo over, like kind of threw his legs to the side, and he landed that like everything he had right hand that just busted open Aljo's eye. That was it. Like that was the shot. That was a gnarly punch on the bottom. And I got her, stepped in and stopped it. And I had no issue with the stoppage, especially hearing Aljo sort of talk about it at the end. Like he was, he was, he felt like maybe the stoppage is a little early.

but at the same token, he was honest. He was like, I didn't even know where I was. Like, I forgot I was in Massachusetts. I forgot all this stuff. You died your freaking hair green because you're in Massachusetts. Right. And that's why I don't have a real issue with the stoppage. Like, now, if Rob DeWalsh really wants to come up publicly and be like, oh, that's a bad stoppage.

Like, fine. You're the teammate. Go ahead. Rob's a terrific friend. Yeah. I didn't think the stoppage was bad. I think after that huge right hand, O'Malley landed. I was like, okay.

I think we've seen it enough here. Yeah. Dude, there was like 20 unanswered bombs. Yeah, I think so at some point. At some point, you got to do more than not get put unconscious to consider that intelligent defense. Right. But if Aljo had survived that man, who. Interesting.

K-O. of the year, enough for Fighter of the Year. It's not the K-O-the-year. Neither. It's neither. Yeah. Fighter of the Year, you're never going to. in Fighter of the Year with one fight. The only person who could maybe pull it off

is John Jones maybe could have done it just by beating Cyril Gahn, but he's going to fight Steepa and probably won't fight of the year's result, which you know, fine. It's definitely not CAO of the year. It's going to take a fucking miracle to beat Izzy for CO of the year, given all of

the surroundings of that. This is a great, this is slightly damaged by not being like, if that was a clean face plant, Kio, If Aljo did turf it on that shot, then we could have a real conversation. Because it's the way it went, it might make some people's top fives. But we've had a lot of incredible violence already this year and still almost half of the year ago. Cheeto just posted to Twitter with a giant joint in his mouth fighting for a world title very soon.

So my guess is they're already talking about this one. Oh, I mean, it's definitely happening. I'll say if O'Malley comes and beats Cheeto, he'll be on fight of the year ballots for sure. Yep. I think we know the answer to this one, but we might as well just kind of talk about it a bit. Is Sean O'Malley a crossover star? Like with the boxing, I guess in that sense. I was just everything.

I thought, oh, I thought everything. I was just kind of talking about just for people that don't, like people who don't even follow the sport know who Conner. People who don't follow the sport know who Ronda is. Do people who don't follow fighting? Do they know who Sean Amali is? I don't think people who don't follow sports at all know who Sean O'Malley is, but people who just follow sports. I got texts from people today being like,

is Amali going to get gassed up tonight? But they know who he is. And I'll tell you what, tomorrow people are, yes, tomorrow he is going to be known by a broader spectrum of fans than just MMA fans or even just sports fans. He's not Connor, but like he's going to be the next best thing to Connor that we've had since. He's going to be the best star that has had since Connor.

I think the part that maybe fans like is because he's going to, he's the next biggest thing since Connor. Yeah, he's not Connor. Like we get by the, I think that's the good part. This is new. This is new. So I think that's like just cool. Dude, he's next, he's next gen Connor. He's Connor for the kids.

Yeah, he's a big gamer and all that stuff. So all that's going to do just help him. All the things. It's going to do great. That's why he's going to fight Cheeto, and he's not going to fight for like a year. Yeah. How can Dana say he doesn't make fights on the night, but then say they reached out to Wonderboy and he's turned down the Gary fight.

He just says anything that suits him in a time. So. I had heard I had heard like some rumblings that if Ian beat Neil that they were going to try to to book that one as a main event at the end of the year so them reaching out to Wonderboy and offering it

him kind of on the spot is not surprising to me based on things that I had heard but it didn't like this is not saying like this is a done deal or anything like that but it just seemed like this is the direction the UFC was going to go with the reaction that Machado Gary this week but I mean, this is what Dana does, right?

Like, this is what he does. Yeah, I don't care about Dana being, like, marginally hypocritical. It's whatever. I did notice it today. Someone's got to get in his ear. Dude, just make fights on fight night. Like, it's fine. It's not, one, it's not like we're holding you to any standards.

The media does not hold you to any standards in general. But, two, it would just be way. A better view and news cycle and all things if you would like actually talk about what's going to be next for these fighters that just fought instead of the questions being, hey, what's your take on this performance? Cool. What's going to be next? Not going to answer that. All right. What about the Patriots?

And what about these other things? Like, when are you coming back to China? Like, no, just talk about the only way you have to communicate about the fighters who just fought is your opinion of the performance. and what is going to come next for them. Why can't you just somebody can write you a memo sheet of here's sort of what we're thinking. We're not locked into this, but I'll tell you what, I would love to watch a guy like Ian Machado, Gary, fight a Stephen Wonderboy Thompson or fight a thing. You know what?

I'm not saying we're going to do it, but you're right. Doing Wiley Zhang versus Jean-Jean-on in China, it's incredibly big business for us. That's the sort of thing that we're really into. Why not have those conversations? Like, it's, it's so dumb and such a waste of the time. I don't get it. If we're going to have yawn right there, cage side. I mean, I don't, it was odd.

But this is, I thought. Do you feel like, do you feel like, because the one time he really did make fights after the fight was Colby, the whole Leon Colby thing. And that was in March. That was in, I mean, he, March. But he also did it in December with the light heavyweight title. It's like that fight sucked.

We booked a new light heavyweight title. Yeah, because they needed a main event for that card that was really hurting. But I guess my big question is that was dope. We came out of that like this is news and great and interesting. Yeah. Oh, no, certainly. So I guess my question in the fallout of this is that if Sean O'Malley really wants to fight Cheeto Vera in December and Leon, if what Colby has to say about John John's being like,

nah, dude, I ain't given this dude the rub, which actually wouldn't surprise me based on some of the things these two have said about each other. Is Leanna Colby even going to happen this year? Do you feel like that fight's even going to happen this year? Or is that going to be pushed to next year now? I do not personally. I do not personally believe the fight's going to happen this year. Because I don't know.

I feel like we'd have made some traction on it by now. That fight has been out there for, what, four months, five months as the thing that was going to happen. So I don't know. Yeah. I would guess that's not going to happen, which means, and also, if you have to pick one of those two, what do you think the UFC's going to think is better business? It's going to be O'Malley Cheeto. So they're going to pick that one over, or doing Leon Golby. Yeah.

I mean, to me, this just screams. We have to call John Jones and be like, if he really feels this way, just like, dude, you're going to have to deal with it. Sorry. Like, these guys are fighting in the co-main event. That's it. You're just going to have to deal with it. We'll put you at different pressers if we have to. But this is your comine event, Bell.

We got to do it. Yeah. Yeah. I doubt John would really say no. It'll be fine. Yeah. UFC already uploaded the finish to YouTube. I don't think they've ever done this straight after a pay-per-view for a title fight.

Are they actually promoting now just only for O'Malley? So I will say this. The UFC is trying different things. And you can see it on the broadcast. Oh, you think that's what this is? I mean, obviously, it's O'Malley. Yeah. No, I'm like, I hadn't even considered that as being like, they're just sort of trying it out.

Yeah, that's what I think they're doing. I think they're trying it out. They're trying a lot of things out. I like the picture and picture stuff they're doing. I kind of like the react, the fighter reactions, like even just showing just the little nuances. Chris Wyman is fighting and they just do a little picture and picture without Jermaine Sterling, just watching with bated breath, his teammate, about to lose to Bradson's, Tavares in having an injured leg.

Like these things are really cool. I like some of the new slow motion replays they're doing, the alternate angles of certain things that they're doing. Like the broadcast just seems like more fun. They're trying new things to see if they're going to work. And I think having a cell phone image of the finish and just throwing it up on the screen. I don't know if it's like the cell phone image of Dana's, you know, from Dana's social or if

they show the actual finish. The world knows by now. The broadcast finish. They show the broadcast finish on YouTube. They've pumped it on all their socials. And they've been out with it. It's really good. Kaysen I were talking about this in post.

Like I had not considered that this is them trying something, which would be cool. If that's the case, I just sort of thought that the UFC are not fools. And they know that this is the moment to capitalize on the biggest thing that they can have. And so they are actually doing the promotional bit. Maybe not in perpetuity for a problem. but this is the one if you can only pick one, this is the one to do it. You want to get this out. You want this to be everywhere.

You want the clip to be on SportsCenter, Top 10 tomorrow running endlessly, endlessly, endlessly. You want to put him on Jimmy Kimmel and Fallon and do all that stuff. And I think that that's what we're going to see. But it would be dope if this is just how they were going to move forward because it's much more reasonable. Yeah. And then we're not going to do this every single time. But moments like this, yes. Like if they could redo, you know, at the time putting the Leon Edwards head kick up,

there. I think with that line, I think they probably should have done that as well. Is he knockout? Yeah. But um, is he not going to be another good one. Just a big moment. So I'm really I don't put them up. I slightly disagree. They're trying to do something different. I actually agree with this comment. They're actually promoting. That's all. This is actually promotion. And I know I understand what he's doing something different by actually promoting. And this is this is this is what you do. Right. This is a this is this is this is the right move. This was the right move. Right. And I think the actual like promotion for this card was really good. Dana is not, he's just not that guy anymore.

He's still like the face of the company and people care what they have to say, but he's not that guy anymore. Like even even at the press conference when, you know, I asked him about just being in Boston, the crowd was all fired up. It wasn't, I just wanted, I don't know. Like the way it was set up, I'm like, oh man, Dana's going to actually like get really excited here. He's like, no, we. broke the gate record good home.

And I was like, oh, I thought you'd come up with something a little better than that. But that's just what it is. I think the UFC under. Yeah, the UFC is really good, smart people working for them. And just because Dana is not the one promoting, it doesn't mean that they as a company cannot. And they're doing a, unless there's a power slap event the same week or the same month as a card is happening, they typically, they did a really good job. of putting this card over this week, I thought. Yeah, man.

I thought they did great. I thought, uh, maybe got to me a little bit just because of the, the ubiquity of it. But the, the interstitials with, with, um, Sean O'Malley and his like commercial spots, like during the prelims and stuff. That's all good. And this is, I feel like we say it all the time. We haven't been really like negative on the UFC tonight, which is great because I don't always want to bag on him.

But like, when people are asked the question, why are you? mean to the UFC. There are many moral reasons for that, but one of the biggest one is just at a fundamental level, I am aware of what they're capable of doing because I have seen it. This is it, like this, 291, 290, like that stretch of paper views is like, hey, here's where what you should demand as a fan every time. They're because they have the ability to do this. They just simply choose not to for most of it. And when they do, great things happen. 290 and 291 were awesome events. and now this is I mean this just rules

like this event isn't the best but the end result is awesome yep and that's people are going to remember before we go have a question for you gentlemen coming into the fight where did you put

did you consider Al Jemaine Sterling the Bantamweight goat like where did you put him and where do you put him now in terms of the all the time Bantam weights. I only, somebody brought this up a few weeks ago and I started diving into it, but I didn't

really get all the way to a full answer. I think I'm still at Dominic Cruz. I don't feel confident in that answer with Aljo at number two. And it was somebody and maybe it was, maybe it was AK, somebody this week. And I, sorry, I don't remember who just sort of compared it to BJ being the goat lightweight. and it was sort of just a default one. Like his career is very important and substantial, but probably didn't really have like the resume that demands Goat Hood,

certainly not in the case of other weight classes. And I feel like that with Dom. Like he's kind of the default because of various factors. But this is still a division waiting on somebody to stand up and say, you know, I'm him. Yeah. to me it's if we're if we're comparing the bannamweight division and it's history to like the ending of a mario cart grand prix shot aljurban sterling is on the podium now where you put him is is up to

you he's definitely on it could be two it could be three but he is on the podium with dominic cruz if you want to third g dillish on that conversation fine um but he is one of the top two guys and it's and even after tonight he's still one of the top two guys For sure. Yeah, this doesn't knock him off the podium for me. Everyone takes losses. What he's previously accomplished is enough. But it's, you know, by the term greatest, it makes sense.

But at the same time, we're talking, calling the saying that, hey, you're the greatest band-mweight alive and being like, and also Anderson Silva is the greatest middleweight alive. Those aren't, those don't feel like the same greatness. Yeah. You know, it's like there's a bit of a gap there in the term goat. if we're comparing George St. Pierre and Dominic Cruz. And I just thought that was super interesting about Bantam White too. Like you said, I'm the hipster, and I think I love Bantam weight.

So, but I think it's just because it's, it's a division. I don't know if we're ever going to have a true. You'll get one eventually, but division is impossible like this. Yeah. Yeah. Right now, right now, like just even thinking about it more, it's, um, I'd say, Aljo won for me and C's still one. His, like, if you want to put Cruz one, that's fine.

But I just feel like Sterling's UFC resume is better than Cruz's. It just is. Like the amount of names that he has beaten over all this time. And I understand Cruz had injuries, so he hasn't had as many fights as Sterling. But Sterling has fought everybody and beaten just about everybody in the process. It's a tough run he's had, man. Really strong. Great run. If you pick Sterling, I'm not going to argue my, my stance is I largely judge goateness and that based not on your overall resume.

Though I think some of that factors in, but it's your time at the top because I think that's the hardest and most meaningful part of it. I would say that Cruz's time at the top is was better, uh, comparative to his relative peers at the time. But if you want to pick Sterling, I got no beef with that. Yeah. It was supposed to be yon. Piotr, Yon was supposed to be the guy who, was going to be the goat of this weight class and MMA MMA-A-M-Aid. Yeah. That one knee. Yeah, I'm still of Dom as far as the goat, but that's not the hill I would die on.

No. Yeah. No, but now this discussion becomes a little more interesting with Sterling there. And now the division, like, who knows? Like, Sean O'Malley is going to, is going to properly choose the big money fights. And if he can run off four or five title defenses, man, there are going to be people saying that he is the best. if he has the record.

It's going to happen. That's going to be a conversation that's going to be at. Will he be my number one? That's absolutely the case. Yeah, more sure. There's no chance he's running off four or five. And I feel like I've been higher on Sean O'Malley the most. And credit to him, I believe, who posted this?

Because I want to remember who, somebody put up the stat and I'll find in a second to give them their props. Sean O'Malley is the youngest UFC champion at this point. He's the only UFC champion under third. 30. So it's crazy. It's absolutely incredible for him to be there. And that, so, you know, he has the opportunity to have that level of success. But Bannamweight's a, it's Bainhamweight and lightweight are divisions that people just aren't going to put together five wins at the top. It's just never going to happen.

Yeah. I mean, this could be the beginning of the next gen making moves because Aaron Blanchfield's going to probably get a title shot sooner rather than later. she could be another one. I would pick her to beat either Alexa Grasor or Valenzhen to Shepchenko right now. And there's others as well. So it's an interesting time. All right, Casey, you get hit the music. I think we have done our part here.

It is 4.14 a.m. Eastern time. So time to wrap this up. But in about five hours and 45 minutes, we'll be back. AK will join me. We'll do some matchmaking. We'll have some fun. Talk about the fallout of this event and much more. MMA hour on Monday with some special guest hosts.

There'll be a lot more chatter about this. But thank you all for watching all the programming this week, checking out all the coverage this week. Shout out to Jose Young's boots on the ground. Dude works his ass off. So don't get it twisted in that respect at all. That's great question. He really does.

He's still good at this. He doesn't ask about the Patriots or, hey, my buddy's really, really good at fighting Dana. Are you thinking about Sinnam? Just good professional questions. That was the best question. Cheeto Vera got a dub, and that man was like,

I need to know about Morales. Okay. Dana had no idea who that was. He's like, all right, mommy. You know that that Cheeto just got the dub, right? I feel like you could ask about that Ecuadorian. Okay.

Fair enough. Go to sleep, everybody. Good night. Love y'all.