MMA Fighting - UFC 317 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Ilia Topuria Destroying Charles Oliveira To Cap Off Stellar Card

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

Ilia Topuria made it look easy against Charles Oliveira, just like he promised for weeks after the UFC 317 main event was announced for the vacant lightweight title. After becoming a two-division UFC world champion, is Topuria now the best fighter on the planet? Following an incredible pay-per-view fight card on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to the event, Topuria's spectacular knockout of Oliveira, his faceoff with Paddy Pimblett, and discuss if that's the correct fight to make fight for Topuria's first title defense. Additionally, they discuss Alexandre Pantoja's masterclass against Kai Kara-France to retain the flyweight title, facing off with Joshua Van — who defeated Brandon Royval in a Fight of the Year contender earlier on — other standout moments, answer fan questions, and more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody. Welcome. We're back for the UFC 317 post-fight show. We are wrapped and packed from the International Fight Week at Travaganza in Las Vegas, Nevada. As you can tell, as you can hear, the victory drums. They sound for Ilya, the brand new UFC lightweight champion of the world. he just runs over Charles Olivera.

Despite, I mean, outside of a leg log attempt, leg log attempt for Charles Olivera, not competitive. It went exactly the way most people thought it would. And Ili Taporia is now the new lightweight champion. He faces off with Patty Pimbled at the bare end of the night, which we supported. And I think most people in the watch party chat supported. Apparently, there is one man who did not support that.

It will discuss that in a matter of moments. Alexander Pantosha dominates Kai Kar, France, gets it done. We had a fight of the year contender and just a fun main card all around. And one of the scariest knockouts that I can remember in a UFC fight. But we are here to react to all of it. I am Mike Hack back with Jed Mishu here in Living Room 4.0 following the watch party. Just a fun-ass night. It's nice when these cards that you build up in your mind and you think this could be really good

actually goes out and delivers because this one. And this one kicked ass, man. It really did. 100%. And like, I was really high on this card coming in. I give it two Mushul and Stars. It delivered. Not every card on paper delivers.

But I, you know, did a cursory sort of social media check. And when people I respect, you know, but people who are curmudgeonly, a little down on the UFC, everybody agrees. Like, this was, I think this was the best card of the year. It's a card where, I mean, we're going to be talking about this for a long time, not just because we do have a week off, which facilitates more conversation, because a lot of significant,

important things, stories developed. You know, a fighter continues to sort of carve out this career that is very early. I mean, I don't want to be this guy. The rest of the internet already would like to be this guy is shaping up to be a Hall of Fame, unrivaled career,

took another big step. Alessandre Pantoja, like so many things to talk about, but mostly it was just fucking fun, man. Like it was just a damn good time. Certainly from the paid portion, the early prelims, I had a fun bit of time with our boy Goosey in there.

You know, but Jacoby Smith had a great performance. As we built, a lot of more finishes than decisions going on in this card, I believe. The decisions were usually like really fun fights in their way. And then a couple really highlight marks like if you paid 80 bucks 90 bucks whatever it is 100 bucks I don't know what we're charging

for these damn things 85 after the taxes 85 then you I feel like you've got 85 dollars worth you know I guess this this is and that is not a thing we say all the time they delivered good internet like a great international fight week card and that's the thing folks there there's I don't get as much anymore because I think more people that just jumped on the side but there are people who are like you just do this stuff to be negative like you do You'd be negative. I've never been negative in my life. We're not negative.

We tell it like it is. When the UFC does, when the UFC doesn't try and does bad things, we will say that. But when they do good things and it delivers, we'll tell you that too. This delivered. This is a great job.

This is a great built card. Getting Ilya on there, all the drama that surrounded it after JDM won the belt. Like, this fell into place beautifully for the UFC. And it fell beautifully into place for Ilya to Poria, who just went out there. and just obliterated Charles Oliver.

And to Charles' credit, he made people believe. He made people believe that he could go in there and win, and that Ilya was biting up more than he could chew, that he should have stayed at 145, that even fighting a guy Charles Olivera who stylistically, he had a lot of advantages over. This is Charles Olivera. This is the third or fourth greatest lightweight of all time.

He's just going to be too big. He's a finishing machine. He's a mauler. Ilya might lose this fight. And Ilya just killed him. a half a round. Like that's what like this guy is so good. So I might put in pressure on you. And we talked about this the end of the watch party, but I'm going to go ahead and just ask you right now. You said these exact words after he knocked on Max Hallway. Ilya is the best

effing fighter in the world. He's the best fighter in the world. He's the fighter of the year. You said those words. Now that he has done this to Charles Oliver and made it look so easy, is he the best fighter in the world? Maybe. If you rang him that? I still haven't figured out. I've got to drive home after we do this show. I'll drive home and wrap up the evening with some work. I'll think about it on the drive very strongly considering. I am a little bit in a different boat than a lot of people with regard to this. Not that this wasn't impressive,

but this was the expected outcome for me. I was pretty clear in everything I wrote and said, I think he's just going to kill him. I still had questions, right? And I feel like I got some answers, which I'm really happy about. because I did have questions, but my default answer to those questions, questions like, what's it going to look like as a lightweight? We've seen them up once before, struggled.

That was a long time ago, different circumstances. But as a true lightweight against a true lightweight and a good one, how does he deal with it? Well, I got an answer. I would have thought that this was the answer I got, but now I have the answer. Will his power translate up? I would have thought, yeah, because I saw him carve dry Herbert in half, still got the answer definitively as opposed to like, huh, you know, like, I still got to learn some things, but my default position was he is going to kill this man. And so I don't know how much to wait that. Because you can't knock him for it.

You can't take it away. Like, oh, well, you thought he was going to kill him. But at the same time, is that as impressive as Maraud de Vylajvili, who I did not think was going to beat Umar, beat himar, and then finishes Sean O'Malley in a fight I was absolutely certain he was just going to be boring on? I don't know. So I'm going to have to weigh a couple of things. If you want to put him in number one,

I got no issue with it. It's a very defensible take. He is on a really special run right now. You know, if you also just want to go, look, Islam had it. Islam hasn't lost it. Okay. I'm less open to that idea, frankly,

because I do think, like, give it to him. If that's your only logic is like Islam didn't lose it, do just give it to Ilya because Islam has a chance to take it right back, Because, like, if I do move him up and Islam beats Jack Dell, well, then Islam takes it back. And that's okay for them to sort of swap the position with Trichus Duplessi, who's about to get in that mix, boys and girls, just you wait. But, like, if you want to put him up there, I got no issue with it.

And I may well. Like, I'm just going to have to, I got to figure out how much I'm going to rate this because it's undeniably good. but it is a little weird to be like, we should laud him for this thing. So my is 4.50 betting favor or whatever. Like that feels like that plays at least some factor. Yeah, I just, I think it was just the effortless nature of, of the win. It was effortless.

Because I don't think I saw that coming. Like I picked Elliott to win. I had a bet on him by Keo. My pick was he's going to finish him in the second or third round. I just didn't see him. just nuking Charles in a half a round just and doing it with such ease and just seeing the way he knocked him out

and it was just like, damn. I didn't think he'd put him cold like that. And that's the thing. Like, I got a little, I got another answer. I knew his, I thought his power to translate up. Translated up beautifully because we see Charles get hurt and dropped a lot.

Like that is, that's why I thought this fight was so bad for it was he's definitely going to get dropped. But I thought it would be he gets dropped. He gets up. He gets dropped. Pound it out. Like actually, he just killed him.

And so, I don't know. We'll see. There's a really good chance that he is. Maybe not because I do. Maybe not because you do. I think we are probably looking at the new pound for pound number one fighter in the inmate fighting global rankings come Monday morning. It's possible.

I don't think I'm going to do it right now because I just Islam. It's just Islam, man. Like, he's so good. He's earned this spot. And, you know, he's just run through everybody's, but done it so dominantly. He's just been so good. And I understand like the Derri, the Moikana one is just a weird one, but that's not his fault. No, he also just fucked up.

Yeah, I mean, it just melted them. But again, you want to talk about non-competitive. But the same rule also applies. Everyone expected him to do that. How much do you credit? I don't know. These are hard questions to answer, frankly. 100%.

So, right win. Also, please, Pantosia. Maybe we need to start putting some respect on the cannibal's name. I know we'll talk about him, but my guy,

that man is in top form right now. Spoiler alert, there is no drama with the bonuses, but we have them. This is the easiest bonus call. Yeah, we don't even need to guess them. Of the year.

If you watch this fight or read at nambayfighting.com, it's a terrific website, and we provided you all the highlights, everything you would have needed. Very obvious who the bonuses were. Fight of the night, Brandon Royval versus Josh Fann, which will, if this is not on the fight of the year list at the end of the year,

I will be absolutely stunned. It'll mean we had a great year? Yeah, it'll be one of the greatest years in the history of the sport. Performance of the night, of course, Iliot Teporia getting 50K, and Gregory Rodriguez gets the other 50K for one of the truly scary knockouts that I've seen in a long time. Per Dana White at the Post-Fight press conference, Brandon Reval getting his win bonus as well for accepting the fight on short notice

and putting on a hell of a performance. You mentioned Dana White and I think it's important to keep him involved in this conversation as we wrap up the main event. If you guys watch the event and we reacted on the watch party, Ily Tupori wins. He calls up Patty Pimblit. And it's a great call up.

He was so, I was so proud of him, Mike. I was so proud of him. Illiates Pore is just tremendously good at this. Like this, he is the definition. You just look at him and it's like, this guy does the thing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He knows how to play the game. Calls out Patty.

Tremendous call out. Perfectly done. Patty is allowed to go in to the octagon. They have the face off. They start talking shit to each other. And Ilya shoves them in just kind of a moment that we expected. It was the funniest show I've ever seen. And we're just like, all right, this is good.

We did the thing. We're setting up the massive fight. It's perfect. Dana White says to the press conference. That wasn't supposed to happen. What are you talking about? Is it a worst promoter in the world? Like even if that's true and I assume that is true.

Dana said it. Actually, this is one of those times I'll take Dana at face value. Of course. Why say it. Nobody was up like nobody was mad about it other than Justin Gachia and Armand Syrucan. The fans were into it. It built real heat. You don't even have to do the fight.

Like you don't have to do it. You should and I think they will. But why would you shit on your own promotion? Like that's just bad promoting. You like, you could just be like, you know what? That was unplanned. I didn't see that coming. But sometimes some organic things happen out there.

Maybe we'll go with it. You know, I don't make fights after fight night or whatever. But there's certainly some interest there. We'll see how things play out. It says like, I don't know why they did that. People were having fun and that's bullshit. Can't be doing that nonsense. Because like who, why not is the other question.

Dana, today. Today it was that Dana said, Armin is not next in line, that the weighing in his backup was a good step in the right direction, but wasn't like, oh, he's the backup, he's next.

So is it, Gaichi? Is it like you're just going to do Justin the solid? Okay, no one's going to be upset with that either, but you don't have to die on that hill. It was unbelievably stupid of him to be like, that was terrible.

I was very dumb. I don't get that one at all, man. No, you take that moment, which by the way, you have Villia Teporia and Patty Pimblit in a moment together with how the fan base kind of looks at both of those guys.

It's the biggest fight the promotion to make right now. And it was unanimously praised by everybody. No one had a bad thing to say about it. Nobody said it was contri-like I was like the push was kind of fake and phony, but who cares? The face, just having them look at each other in the cage and talking shit to each other. That's the selling point right there.

The push isn't fake. It's just weird because he had two boats, which is stupid. He didn't deserve it. But separate. issue and he had two belts that aren't struck over him so as soon as he lets them go they'll fall so he had to keep his hands together so the belts wouldn't fall and then tewack shove him yeah that was very very funny these two dudes do naturally hate each other there's beef there's a long

raining story yeah you've wanted to get patty in this position he's in this position it would be malpractice not to do it because what are we pretending we're a meritocracy now when did that happened? When did the UFC become merit base? It's not. And you have failed to deliver the two fights that everybody wanted. Coming into 25, almost everybody, they wanted Ilya versus

Islam, and they wanted Tom and John. And both fights aren't happening. Now, Ilya Islam, that's not gone forever, but it's gone for the foreseeable future. This is the genuinely probably the biggest fight that the promotion can make

at this point in time. What is your answer? Like what possible reason would you have to not do this? I do not understand Dana's stance here. Yeah. I mean, Dana is there are some people in the chat saying like, well,

because Dana and Ali are tight. Ali's probably yelling at him. I don't think Dana White gives any. He gives a shit about Ali or his reaction. What is Ali going to stop being his friend and suddenly all of his fighters are on the outs? No. Ali is going to tweet about how much Dana means to him tomorrow.

Even if he doesn't book Justice Gagee in a title fight. Like it's just the way it is. And, you know, Ollie's very successful what he does. That's what he, that's how he conducts business. And that's okay. But here's the thing that I'm thinking. I think Dana White has doubts that Islam Makachev is going to beat Jack Delam Adelaide. And I think there's a part of him that says, we as, we as a promotion or in a win-win situation.

Because one, if Islam wins a wealth-way title, great. We get to tell the story. If Zahom loses, we get to give the fans the fight they want and do Ilya versus Islam. So is there a chance? And I don't know what Dana is saying right the second of the press conference. But I can pretty much guarantee you without knowing that his answer is going to be Tuesday, matchmaking meeting. We don't make fights after the fight.

But do you think that's what they're going to do? Like they're not going to make any decisions. I think they're 100% going to wait. They're going to wait until Islam fights JDM and no decision will be made no matter what. I won't say 100%. Because it depends on how the timeline for his. Islam Jdm start shaking out. We were discussing it on the watch party.

You know, if they go October, look, man, it's June. If I, if Ilya is just like, hey, man, I want to, I want to fight by the end of the year. And Islam's not going to fight until October or November. Then maybe they say, F it. We can do Ilya versus Patty in December and in November, you know, something like that. And not lose that because that fight, as long as. if Islam loses that fight, it exists forever for them. Like if Islam was going to fight Jack next month, then they're absolutely waiting.

I think it is more likely that we get Ilya fighting again, or at least announced. But maybe they're waiting because, you know, they're not in a rush. Okay. So I do want to, we're a little tough on Dana. We're a little tough on Dana. Oh, did he say something else? No. Was it poorly quoted?

No, it wasn't poorly. I mean, there should have been, first of all, we should have known the source. This is just clickbait social media stuff. The reason why Dana had an issue with Patty, or at least what he's saying, was because Ilya's wife and kid were in the octagon at the time and bring in another fighter to face off with him should not have happened. So there's a bad call by whoever allowed it to happen for that reason. I don't hate that response, honestly. So I will retract everything I just said because that that is different.

I think that that's weird, but he wasn't shitting on the matchup. He's shitting on the thing. Okay, hand up. We got that one wrong. I think that is weird, but we got that one wrong. That's on us. He reiterated. White says that Syruki and weighing in isn't about getting back into the UFC's good graces.

He had an opportunity to fight for the title and didn't weigh in. He says that's step in the right direction. if Gachi is thinking about retiring, he should probably retire. He says that Gachi has been an exciting fun fighter to have in the UFC and that his ultimatium to fight for a title or retire is, quote, wacky. White says he doesn't know what's next for Tom Aspinall yet. And Dana White thought Talbot versus Lehman was incredible and was looking like fight of the night until Royeval versus Van.

He's excited to what Talbot does in the future. And that was it for Dana. And I guarantee you nobody asked a natural follow-up. because I know that it's nonsense and I know that this is all me yelling at the clouds, Mike. But Justin Gagey's talking about retirement.

Well, you should just walk away. Mother, what have we been doing for the last year with John? You didn't say it until John said, no, I'm really done. And John, for months was like, yeah, I'm probably not just in fighting. Like, it's so transparently.

Because, like, I don't even disagree with him that, like, it is a bit ridiculous for Gai Chi to be making this ultimatum. But like for that to be your stance, it's just like, bro, you just obviously play favorites and it's ludicrous. Yeah.

Just to wrap on this, I literally think it's the biggest fight. Patty Pimble is the fight. That's it, I literally think it's the biggest fight the promotion can make at this point. Just do it. Just book the fight.

And then if, before the end of the year, early December, be the closing show for the year. If Ilya beats Patty and then Islam wins a wealth away title, great, then you guys have a direction to go.

If not, and Islam loses, you could still do Ilya versus Islam 20, 26. You're good. What are we pondering here? There is a world now, Mike, where they hold Ilya Patty for the new TV deal. Oh, that would be such a bad idea. But that is like, when people are like, what if they're holding Tom John, I was like, but they're not going to hold that for 12, like 14 months. They absolutely like, because I think it's the biggest fight they can make.

And if they do end up partially on Netflix or wherever it may be, that is the sort of fight that you can flagship and be like, hey, here's how we kick off our new partnership with Netflix, the biggest fight we can make. So I hope that that's not right because I would like to see that fight before the end of the year. I would not be at all surprised if that's our January pay-per-view under whatever banner we're under. I think that's just silly right now

I mean they would I agree wouldn't shock me if that's the direction they go but you got to I mean dude Ilya is he is this close to being the dude to being like for the first time in a while and we've talked about

well maybe Alex Pereira is a star like he's probably the most popular fighter in the UFC but he's probably not a star Ilya Teporia is like literally this close to being a superstar like a world renowned global superstar. That's the one that gets him there.

Yeah, dude, just go. Like, just run him. Run him out there. Let him fight. If he wants to fight Patty, have him fight Patty.

Do it. Like, this is your best chance to cash in with Patty too. And he just did it, which is like, I'm so proud of him. Because I have plenty of issues

with how Elliott Tepuri carries himself. I just don't like a lot of it. That's a me issue. Many people seem to really adore it. But when you change your own nickname to Lale, and that's just like the tooliest thing that can be done. And credit to him, he recognized that and changed it. I have no issue fundamentally with how he has managed his career,

which is perfect. Every step of his career has been cultivated perfectly to maximize his star power, his earning potential. And sometimes, frankly, that will come at the expense of my fandom, you know, and getting all the things we want. But he, why should he give a shit about that? This is his life and his, his bank account. This was perfect.

I was genuinely concerned that he was going to come on there and be like, one, completely contradict stuff he said this week about how, like, because this week was just frustrating in general where in some interviews he'd be like, well, Islam ran away from me. And then in others, he'd be like, well, obviously Islam didn't. He's pursuing the same dream I am. And I thought he was going to do the same thing and be like, well, he's scared and ran to Welterweight and I'm coming too in a fight that won't happen right now.

And instead he did the right thing, the money fight, the fight that gets him to that level. The guy is right there. He has managed it perfectly and you've got to reward that because it's not going to be arm in because merit has no bearing in this sport at all anymore. So do it and let's have a good time. Honestly, like, I mean, obviously, Elya versus Islam. is a very fascinating matchup right now. Yeah. It's just not realistic at the moment.

It's not. Ilya versus Arm and Circuit is the most interesting fight you can make in this division. It's not the biggest. But to me, from a stylistic perspective, that is the most interesting fight you can make at 155. But we're not going to get it. I would love to see it. And that's the thing.

Like, we still may well get Ilya versus Islam. It's not going to be next. And I think that's okay. because sometimes it's okay to let fights marinate. And we can get there. And I am, I still would be picking Islam if they ever do fight, though things can change. I am more interested after having seen this, which I said prior. I was like, I want to see him fight a lightweight.

Even though I thought that this is what would happen. I now have some questions answered. And I'm like, I give, I give I better chance to beat Islam right now than I did three days ago. and, you know, maybe he goes and just beats the soul out of Patty. I'll give him an even better chance. Like, it's okay to let that build and not try to rush to it because there's, like, frankly, I agree. Ily Arman, dope.

If Justin Gage finds his way in there, if he's the backup fighter and gets called the service, who can be mad about watching Justin Gagey fist fight Ilya? That would be unbelievable. Look, they're, I'm trying to think, like, no one wants Gamrot. Like, we don't have to pretend that the game. Game rot fight is fun, right? Grant Dawson, who I like, we don't have to pretend that, but, you know, Benny, Benny Derry,

you did some fun stuff today. That won't happen either, but like, there's just no wrong way to match Elliott lightweight. I'd like to see him have some fights here and we start with Patty. It makes all the sense in the world. There's some comments in here that I just completely disagree with, but we'll move forward. Oh, interesting. The no one is interested in Tom thing is. Yeah, that's obviously incorrect.

That's, I mean, that couldn't be more. incorrect. Everyone's interested in Tom. In fact, the vast majority of fans just want him to fight and it does not matter who he fights. They just want him to fight. Because he's so goddamn good. That's a take though.

I respect your boldness. Yes. We do respect boldness even though it is incredibly incorrect. But it's okay. What is not incredibly incorrect is Alexander Pantosia is an excellent fist fighter. Dude is so good. Kai Karfranz had no chance in this fight. Literally no chance from Jump Street.

There's legitimately a world. I put pants as my number one guy. Pants might be the most talented fighter. He's so fussy, pound for pounds. He's just so far away. He's just so far ahead of everybody he's fighting right now. However,

Josh Van, speed running his way to a title fight, I'm genuinely thrilled that we're going to see that fight before the end of the year. I think pants is going to kill him and it's going to rock. It's going to be so much fun. Yeah, it will be, yeah,

it's going to be, a thrilling ass kicking, I think. But Josh fan, man, he might just, who the hell knows, man? Josh is caught lightning in a bottle, and he's just so fun. And the fact that we got to, and see, this is the thing.

And you and I talk about this all the time. What Josh Van has done is the blueprint on becoming a guy who could speed run a career and become popular and fight for belts before anybody else, even more accomplished fighters. How do you do that, Jed? You fist fight. You get out there.

You get out there. And you fight. It's really simple. The best way to fist fight is to fist fight. You shouldn't fight six times a year or whatever because like there's wear and tear. I was legitimately. Maybe one year you do that. That's how you get over.

Yeah, early. But like I was a little, I was a genuine question. I was like, how's being going to look another quick turn around? He's been so active at some point that does catch up to you. Though frankly, that catches up to you as with all things. You can get away with that shit when you're 23. Your body doesn't falling apart. you're still making more cells than are dying in your body at 23.

So you can do this stuff. You can't, you know, do it as much later. But like this has been, I've been on this drum forever with Bo Nickel and how like his career just got completely stunted because he fought very irregularly. Josh Van did it. And then he took this opportunity. And what I liked about this. I mean, I liked everything about this fight. Yeah.

But I liked that this was all upside. Josh Van coming on a short notice. If he wins like he did, look at him now. And if he doesn't and just has a good performance, like if the judges had gone the other way, which shouldn't have happened, would have been a robbery. Well, let's say he doesn't get the knockdown in the end

at the end of the third round. And the judges go 29, 28 for Royval. Not a soul alive would be like, wow, Josh fan. Good career, kid. It's like, no, you're 23 and just went hammering tongs with the number one contender. You're going to be back. It was all upside.

And with the high role of where he's at now, like this is how you do it. If you are a young fighter, you should try to fight as often as you can and still get better in between because Josh fans absolutely getting better in between too. But like this is it. Learn by doing, man.

Get that time in. Yep. Can't I wait for Pantosia versus Van. That's going to be awesome. Two terrific performances. And I love that they for, you know, we talked about Dana a little bit

and we were incorrect in that. I love that they got Van turned around. He went back. He didn't do his presser, I don't believe. They said, hey, man, throw on some shorts and a hat. We're going to sit you cage side. They're walking right now. We want you to be out there.

Loved it. So you can run in there with them. It's perfect. We got the face off. Some kind words between them. Set it up A plus. That's also knowing your roster a little bit too. Like,

Pantosia and Van aren't going to sit there and like shove each other. No. Like they're going to go in there and be super respectful and put each other over. And it's going to be like, damn, these two guys are going to fight. It's going to be awesome. And there you go. I'm very excited for this flyweight division.

Very excited to see Pantotra versus Josh fan. A fight we might see more than once, Jed. Pantotio is running because even if even if Pants beats him does not mean that Josh Fant can't get back there. So really looking forward to maybe a long time rival for Pants moving forward. Probably that long time just because Pants is old. But they could. They get run at a couple.

Probably got two years left. He's number one pound for pound fighter in the world. He's got so, I'm genuinely, like, I'm really thinking about it. Because he's, like, I would not argue, really has, his three wins are better than Pantosia's. Pantosia has, fucking nine wins. He's, he's beaten Brandon Moreno three times. He's Britain boy vol twice. He's beating Kikara France twice now.

Like, he's beaten all of the dudes multiple, like, he's done everything that can be done. And it's getting more. Like it's getting more dominant. He is looking better every time out. Like I'm really considering putting him at number one. We're going to go to the peeps. Shout out to Betty Darius. Gets the win.

Let's say run down the results. Just so we can go there out. To Betty Daryush as well, getting the victory. That was a fun-ass fight. Shout out to Pied in Talbot and Felipe Lima. That was a great fight. And Chalbot in general, because people are just already off the train on him after the Hione Barcelos.

That's not like a Yolmusta forgot performance because like you kind of can't be a Yolmusta forgot for a 26 year old or whatever, but like that was a why the hell did you all just decide I sucked overnight? Like I know that was a bad fight, but sometimes one bad fight is just that great performance from Talbot. Yeah, Greg Rodriguez, again,

one of the scariest knockout you'll ever see Jack Kermanson. I would say scariest knockout of the year for sure. Yeah. I mean, he was, I think like, he was out for like five minutes, like not moving. That's scary. It's the scariest knockout since Josh, him at Bryce Mitchell, which I actually think is the scariest knockout.

If it's not the scariest of all time, it's right up there. I can't think of one. I truly thought he was dead. I didn't think Hermanson was dead, but then he just kept not getting up. And I've got scarier as it was minute five, minute six of him still being out.

The tone was The tone was dark It was tough man Dominic Gray is getting knocked up by Yuri Barashka Is right up there That was That was real bad Yeah

So yeah Greg Rodriguez gets it done Jogne for Jack Hermanson Hope he's doing okay Jose Delgado Knocks out Heider Amiel in 26 seconds Didn't see that but that's impressive Yeah Damn good performance

Tracy Cortez gets the win Back in the wind column Terence McKinney doing Terrence McKinney things, winning in 55 seconds. It's the best matchmaking you've ever seen. That matchmaking is A plus. Whoever that was, Sean Shelby McMainter, whichever one of you. Jacoby Smith gets his first career submission win over Nico Price.

I would have had an unbelievable night if he hadn't done that. And if we were playing a game of like top five fighters who stock rose tonight, Alvin Hines is on that list and he lost. And did you not into these people just love them. They love Alvin Hines. Dude, he's the new park reporter. I called it yesterday.

He's the new fire reporter. He's got great energy. Yeah, you just want to root for the guy. You just want to root for him. So there is a couple of comments I want to get to. I'm going to go to the super to the super chats. If you have questions, fire the mountain. Yeah, we're not going to be here for a very long time.

I can tell you that right now. I'll just live on Mike's couch. I'll be here as long as you want. Mike can go to bed. I'll just be answering your questions. Yes. Sky River rain. If you're a young grapplic,

Mahama, If you have to win 30 in a row to get a title shot, but I strike a leg van could get it done in about three weeks. I don't fully agree with this. Yeah, no. Because look, what Makayev did after his like first two fights and how we all viewed him as a prospect,

he could have done the same thing. But here's a couple of problems. One, Makai was not all that active. And the other thing is, Makayev just got to a point where he just did not want to hurt anyone. He just trying to Damien Maya. Yeah. And you can't do that.

And plus, I mean, just listen to how the UFC and people talk to him, Muhammad if he's a pain in the ass. Josh Van does not strike me as a guy who's a pain in the ass. Seems like a pretty good, solid guy who is respectful to company employees and treats everybody with respect. And by the way, he's also a really fun fighter. He's very good. So that'll get you up there pretty quick.

The fun fighter part, I think, is just like, I thought, I think Moham, I think Mohamukhyev is one of the five best flyweight son. Look, he did a Cody Dernan, his debut. And that was so electric. Yeah, and he can be fun, but like, if you watch his fights, they mostly sucked. And then he might find a finish at the end or, like, the third round, but, like, they were just not entertaining. And this is an entertainment business. And nobody has ever watched a Josh Van fight and been like, you know what? Kind of boring.

They flashed the stat on the thing Like he is six fights in a row with over 100 significant strikes Like you can be a fun active kamikaze grappler That people would love too That's just much less of a thing You know just stylistically But there's like a there's a kernel of truth To what you're saying here

But I think it's painting with a really broad brush That's not necessarily appropriate Perfect example of Of a grappler of that nature look at how we spoke about Alexander Romano dude that dude just dude look at Brandon Royval the grappler before Brandon Royval became

you know this the dude just like he was he was an absolute psychopaths kamikaze grappler like you can be that guy and that guy's fun as hell yep all right you have to be fun like I can't the more like I've been in this game a long time

and I'm trying to tell guys like Rome Murphy and Leon Edwards and like if you can't be fun in the cage. You got to be fun somewhere else because you've got to be fun. Like, Ilya's rise is not just that he has star power and aura. It's because it's fun to watch him fight because he kills people. Yes. Spencer, Jed, I want you know I was in the same boat of wanting Ilya Charles first. We saw it. Ilya's a freak. I now need Ilya Islam someday. Number one on earth can't stand with him. Can Ilya be the biggest pay-per-view star since

Connor McGregor? Uh, yes, but I, I don't know how much. He will not be anywhere near the, he's not going to be there because no one's ever going to be a big pay-per-view star anymore in that way. Like it, it just doesn't work. Uh, I mean, I thought for a long time, I'llie had the chance to be the next McGregor, the sort of next best thing. Um, and he's going like if he gets the patty fight, like again, that's how you elevate, right? Like that is it. He then needs a Habib to really lift, which I guess is is. Islam theoretically, but we'll see if that fight ever comes to fruition. I would guess that those two men fight. Like, I'd say it's more likely than not those two men fight before their careers are done. Um, the circumstances we'll see.

But like he's, he's, like I said, he's taken every correct step of like, all right, I'll fight Josh Hymn. And then, all right, I'm going to fight Alex and I kill Alex. And now, you know what? Like after the Alex fight, he could have said, I'm just going to quit and go up. No. Max Holloway is a beloved figure. that will elevate me with a win.

You know, again, I would have preferred he did more at featherweight, but this is one he had to do at featherweight. And then it's, do I want to fight Diego Lopez? Do I want to fight Alex again? These would, if he combined those, right? Like if he added three, four, five featherweight title offenses, that would work together. Or I'll just go fight Charles, a beloved figure,

and a guy can kill it immediately and get a second belt. And now I can fight Patty, who is very famous and very, very, very popular. And maybe he does get one more. Maybe the Islam fight doesn't happen right after that for one reason or another. And it is an Alam Surukian who has picked up a win or Justin Gachi wins or whatever. Like he's doing all the steps to build the star. The sport isn't what it was in a way that we get another Connor.

I don't think that's ever happening again. But he's going to be the next best thing, the best we can get in this iteration of it. So he will be, yeah, he's going to be pushed and presented as like a company face that they will get behind. But again, the days of selling a million pay-per-views is they're over. It's just not going to happen. There's not a fighter that competing in mixed martial arts right now of any age or era that is selling a million paper views right now. Connor, if he came back, maybe. But even then, it's a tough sell to get that.

because people just don't want to spend $85 to watch a six out of ten UFC pay-per-view for the most part. I'll say there's a world because Dana is really coming out in favor of the we're doing the T-Kor boxing thing. Because that is the other, like the other big piece, like Connor was a star and Connor was selling million pay-per-view buys thing. The thing that launched Connor to general, like genuine global phenomenon that everyone knew, was the Mayweather fight. And the UFC is not inclined to ever do that again unless it's in their own boxing promotion. Now, who Ilya would fight for that is a bigger question, right? Like, I don't know who would be the guy there because, like, he's, I think he's too small for Canello.

Though maybe you could do that. But, like, if he could get something like that, yeah. But, like, he's going to be, he's, I don't, he's probably not the biggest. star in the UFC right now, the maybe he is. Again, the other part, he's 28 years old. He's got many years to stack stardom on top and really, really get to someplace special.

I just don't think we'll ever get to Connor again. Yeah, it's just, it's just not going to happen. It's just not going to be, it's just not going to happen. And that's fine. That's just the nature of the beast right now. I'm a huge fan of this comment from Duke, Madduck. Matush Rebecca versus Lillia Teporeo would be crazy. It would be.

It sure would be. That fight has a 0% chance of ever happening. 100%. R.S. 40. Ilya has the best three consecutive win streak of all time. Can you become the Michael Jordan of MMA and UFC is making this look easy and it's scary? I don't know, man.

Maybe. I'm not sure. I do think I think there's a really good argument that this is the best three fight win streak. I'd have to really dig in to say for sure. It's definitely up there. Again, I don't

want, I'm not trying to yuck anybody's I will just caution us that this is an incredible accomplishment, but all three men are also very likely at the, not at the peak of their powers. So like this isn't knocking out Alex, Max, and Charles. I mean, they are still elite fighters. This is not bad wins, but this is not knocking, frankly, three years ago this run would have been ungodly.

And now this run is, I think I picked him in all three fights. Yeah. So like not unheard of, but an incredible performance, an incredible three fight performance. And like, yeah, that's the thing, like how his career is gone. So it's a good start for an all time great career where I have questions. And the thing is, is where is he going to make the run? Because you have to, unless he wins the welterway belt and does something no one's ever done, which could happen, not saying that can't.

The currency of greatness, not just in this sport, in all sports, but certainly in combat sports, is title reigns. Like that it is doing this. It's not just like we were talking about the watch party. BJ Penn is a beloved figure. And there is a big chunk of time where BJ Penn was your favorite fighter's favorite fighter, where have you asked any of the best fighters in the world, who's the best guy you've ever seen? It was BJ and Fador.

Yeah. BJ is a beloved fighter, but BJ is beloved because of what he did, because he won the welterweight belt and then fought Leotamachita at heavyweight and fought Hinozo and fought freaking Gomi and Rumble in the Rock and did all this sort of bouncing around and fighting to fight and taking on big, exciting, interesting challenges. BJ, the guy that became remembered as an all-time great in a different, in the way that we traditionally think, is the dude who ran lightweight for a couple of years. And now, because BJ did all of that, BJ is probably like the fourth best lightweight of all time, like, because he didn't spend the time to focus on the currency of greatness in the sport. unless Ilya wins the welterweight belt and just becomes

unparalleled in some way he got to make a real title run and we've yet to see him that interested in that maybe that'll change he's still young it could I do want to see that from him though uh let's keep going Spencer love the coverage all week fight of the year

pants gets four defenses pants ilia and Islam who gets the most title wins in their career uh pants ilia and islam who gets the most title title win so I'm assuming not defenses, that's correct? Because Ilya has four, but he's not. I'm saying, yeah, it's probably defenses.

Well, the championship, championship fight wins. I will say pants is the one because pants is committed to defending his belt. And it's not in vogue, but like he, this week was like, I don't care about fighting Marab, which is a, that's the thing is a little bit of a shame because now that he's done this so much, I'm like, I'd really like to see him fight Maraaf. No. But like, he's the guy who's just committed to doing this, to build. building a legacy to he's already the second greatest flyway and now it's just putting gap between him and the next best guy and so I like there's absolutely a world and I hope this world is not the case because we would all be lesser for it there's a world really a beats Patty gets the Islam fight you know whether it's Islam comes back down because Islam failed against JDM or whatever

beats Islam and just says man I'm done like what what else am I going to do like who what what do I have to prove? Like he he may absolutely be one of those guys who retires at 30 because he's accomplished a lot and can clearly do other things. And that would suck for us. But to answer the sort of previous question here, like I don't, if he does that,

he's not going to be Michael Jordan because he can't like, you can't like if Michael Jordan had retired after the third ring, people would be like, man, all time great could have been the greatest ever retired after three rings. We say that about Habib. like Habib, there's an absolute world or Habib is the best fighter I've ever seen.

It might still be. He can't be done as the greatest because of that. So we just have to see. And that's what's fun about fighting is we get to see with him. We don't have to wish cast and like force this. We just get to watch his career play out. And it might be one of the greatest you've ever seen.

Two last questions for we get out of here. Or a question in a comment. Stephen Boyes, Jed, if you were in Nepali and they offered you go, would you giggle and make a Jones joke? I hope Casey ranks pants number one, power for pound. He deserves it.

I've definitely eaten goat before. I mean, it was fine. And I would always make a Jones joke because chickens cannot be goats. Joseph's asking a bunch of questions. I'm going to pick one. I do not believe Ilya is better than Habib at this point in time,

but if you want to make the argument, I'm open to it. And I assume he will retire better than Habib because I assume we still have at least a few fights from him. I'm not going to answer the gate question because it's clear that they overcharge for a Connor McGregor fight that didn't happen. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The pants, we already discussed the pants family, Dana, the Ali thing means nothing. Absolutely nothing to Dana. Literally nothing because he shit on, I mean, shit on Justin Gagey, but he basically said like if Justin wants to retire, like get the fuck out.

Like, do that. I don't think this is, Kate, the comment from For Smoking. I don't believe this is true, but I am, this is the closest I've been to believing it could be true. They're going to make a 165 class for, for Aalya. I don't think they will because Dana is so adamantly against it. And I'm frankly on board with Dana in this regard. Yep. Is they're going to do it?

Like, they've been throwing everything behind this kid. to some extent for really good reason it would not shock me like this is the only time I'd be like I could squint my eyes and see them be like hey screw it let's do it I doubt it but it's not zero percent all right so we'll go with this because didn't mention her

really Tracy Cortez wins tonight where does that put her in the women's flyweight division literally this did nothing for her I mean it's good good win to get her back and she had a moment on the mic with Joe Rogan but beating Viviani Arr Ujo, who is, what, 38? 38, tough scenes. Didn't get a finish because Chesa Cortez has never finished anyone.

That's, which we're grateful and happy about. And the problem is she could be a star. I mean, to be the opposite of Josh Vitt. Because Arrucho was number eight. So Cortez will now go to number eight in the U.S. That helps a little bit. But one behind Rosemanni Eunice, who she lost to dominantly. But maybe she gets.

She does ever win over Jasmine. Maybe she has some men off your fight, you know. The fewer's coming off a loss. She can have to fight bad. That's be tough. Maybe she gets Macy Barber. If Macy clears up her issues. I think they're going to give Grasso somebody that they'd be more interested in bumping.

Yeah, we'll see. It's always good to win and she gets to elevate up the rankings. She's not remotely in the championship conversation. No, not even close. And the biggest problem is not because she. her skill set couldn't get her there. She's the opposite of Josh Van. Josh Van fights all the time.

Tracy doesn't. Andy's fun. Yeah, Tracy doesn't fight. She fights once a year. That's not going to do it. It's tough. Especially in this division when you have the Natty Isses who are fighting consistently and the Blanchfields who are fighting or at least trying to fight.

Jazz and Jazz and Visius fights like every three months. Like she's always out there. She's top five. And that's really helped her career. 100%. She's beating the shit of everybody. So that's what you got to do. Miranda Maverick,

like lost to Rose, but like she's got buzz behind her because she gave Rose a tough fight. She did it with one leg. Like, these are the things you have to do to get over. So if Tracy can get, Tracy can get three fights in a year,

that's going to help her. I mean, in this way, clash for sure. Do you throw, I mean, do you throw her in there with Andrage? Like,

is that what we're doing? Just give her the vet test. Anything's fine in there. I think you throw her, I don't think Tracy. Cortez is someone that gets built to a title fight. So I think you throw her as a rebound fight for Mano to be like, hey, let's get Mano when.

I think Manal would handle that up fairly easily. Yeah. You just like, hey, let's, yeah, let's just get Manal. Let's let me know rebound as opposed to putting Manal in there in a fight that maybe is tougher, maybe she loses. And you want, I think you want to keep her up there. I don't. I also wouldn't hate, even though the rankings,

rankings are different i wouldn't hate durner to give it if erin blanchev wants to fight give her tracy there's a history there totally fine there's a storyline there um Tracy holds a win over in blancheville which i don't think should have been a win correct honestly that actually might be the right answer i totally because in my head i don't think that because tracy didn't win that um like i just did like that's absolutely the right answer probably yeah um I think we're good. I think we're good. What a night?

It was a terrific night. It was a terrific night. I think we got all the super chats in. Post-fight pressure, I believe, is going on, so you can go tune into that stream. We'll have plenty more coverage talking about this because there is no UFC event this week. So we're going to talk about all one. Who gets a fuck, God, he's just.

Yeah, but now that we mention it, we can put it in the notes. Yeah. Get that SEO, baby. Again, I'm not hearing this, but our editor, our boss is saying that Nekisa at the Postby Press conference has compared Jake Paul to Kobe Bryant. So, boy, this is going to be a rough year. I mean, there is a way to make that comparison that I won't make on air because I don't want to deal with the backlash, but just go look at their wikipedias. And there's some overlap. But that's the only overlap between those two human beings.

Yeah, fair enough. But again, in terms of the coverage for UFC 317, AK and I, I believe we're going to go at 11.30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow for on to the next one. So we'll let you guys sleep in a little bit, let you chill out. I'm sorry, you did make a mistake. What happened? That's back-to-back MMA fighting fantasy league champion, AK. Oh, yes. It's a great title.

Oh, no. No, he was so far ahead. And then Josh Van just kept fighting. Yep. That's how you picked. That's it. Josh Van fought three times. Kevin Hollins would be like my first pick.

Who's a monster pick up for a cake? Jazz of Jazz DeVizzi was like my most valuable point. She fought twice. Yeah. If you get the double, the double ups huge. That was. So,

absolutely massive. So matchmaking tomorrow with myself and AK. BTL will be Tuesday this week. Just, uh, dude, he got 600 points. I think 550

was the points for it. It's crazy. So many points. That is just absolutely. But I look at like Casey drafted Min Yang Zhang. Yeah. Casey got Maraub did a lot of work there.

I'm going to knock out Johnny Walker. So like maybe he keeps him. He's going to keep. That's been a great question. Tune in next week. We do our season three draft next week. I think we're on Wednesday, but we got it short details.

Yes. We'll get it done. For Jed, I am Mike Hack. Thank you for sticking with us all night. You're the best. We'll see you tomorrow, everybody. Love y'all.