MMA Fighting - UFC 318 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Max Holloway Spoiling Dustin Poirier's Retirement Fight

Episode Date: July 20, 2025

Dustin Poirier went to battle for the final time in the main event of Saturday night's UFC 318 pay-per-view card in New Orleans, but Max Holloway spoiled the party and became the first fighter to successfully defend the UFC's BMF title. "The Diamond" left it all inside the octagon in his sendoff fight, but his career didn't get the fairy tale ending. Following the wild fight card, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to all things UFC 318, the main event between Poirier and Holloway, discuss the go-to Poirier fight, and where Holloway goes from his impressive performance. Additionally, they talk the rest of the standout moments, the insane battle between Daniel Rodriguez and Kevin Holland, Paulo Costa's lopsided decision win over Roman Kopylov in the co-main event, the incredible preliminary portion of the card, and much 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. Those are the victory drums. And they sound for, I mean, the career of Dustin Porre, I think, is a fitting thing to say, following UFC 318. But they, for the purpose of the show and what the victory drums mean, they sound for Max Holloway, who becomes the first man in UFC history to defend the BMF title. he defeats Dustin 4, 49, 46, 49, 46, 4847 in the main event of UFC 318 in New Orleans.

Max Holloway did exactly what he said he was going to do. He was going to play spoiler and hand Dustin Porreier a loss in his final fight. That's exactly what he did as we put a bow on a very special night in New Orleans here on the UFC 318 post-fight show. I am Mike Heck back with you. We just wrapped up the watch party and joining me still, the one and only, Mr. no gray area, Jed Mishu. And Jed, we are just minutes removed from Dustin Porre's career coming to an end. And the BMF title fight coming to an end and Max Holloway getting the job done.

Pretty fitting way for not only Dustin Porre's career to end just going out in an all-out dog fight round two, one of the craziest rounds you will ever see. Both guys being badly hurt. Both guys nearly finished. and Max Hollowey just goes in there and gets the win and what that means to him just encapsulates the moment not just for Porriere but for Max as well. Yeah.

It's not the most exciting way that Poria's career could have ended. If he hit that gilly and out two would have been ludicrous. But again, this is going to be a fight of the year contender. I don't know if it's the probably is currently the leader in the clubhouse for fight of the year would be my. guess it was very good it i frankly thought it was going to be even more i thought it would be round two the whole way instead we got round two in a very competitive very interesting fight uh felt a lot frankly like max versus gaichi there's a lot of that to it where down the stretch you know max just

kind of won because he max just kept kept going and poor he started to fade a little bit but it doesn't really matter it's a hell of a way like if that's how your career ends there are no good retirements in the sport that's a round as good as you can hope for really like you want to go out on a win but there's just a fundamental difference

between like Robbie Law they're fighting a Nico Price who like it's not intended but there is some disrespect to Nico Price there like Nico Price ain't Max Holloway you know and so to hope to beat somebody like that for your last ride is a really big one

to sort of asked for. But if the way your career ends, it is a little fitting because Dustin Poethe mostly didn't win the big one. You know, he did win an interim belt. He beat Connor those two times, but mostly in his opportunities to really have the legacy defining championship win,

he fell short. I think he fought for about two or three times and came up short every time. That's three times, actually, for sure. And so it does feel a little fitting that in this moment, the final one of his career, it was spectacular. It was perhaps the fight of the year,

which he has two already and, you know, has another three or four that could be Hall of Fameworthy inclusions. Maybe this will end up by the year. He'll finish his career with three. That feels like the Dustin Porre story of great, but not a champion. And that kind of put a little bow on it in a very apropos way. Yeah.

It was that those first two rounds are just insane. Like the volume these guys were throwing, the heaters that they were connecting with. Max came out so hot, so hot. He really did. I love the body work. He was kicking a lot. I think the turning point in this entire fight was Max kicking him in the left side of the ribs. Because Dustin was, Dustin valiantly fought through it, hurt Max, almost got him out of there,

almost got the gillies you just said. But the rest of the way, you could see him sort of favoring that, that left side, the welts, the sort of dense on the side of his body, which is absolutely nasty. And I don't think Pory, like, fully recovered from that. But in true Dustin Poyer fashion, dude just bites down on the mouthpiece and just does the best he can, man. Like, he just battled to the end.

Yeah, I wish he'd honestly done a little bit more of that because when he, like, in the second round, he basically just had a lot of success when he started to really, just like, all right, screw it. I'll just work through the pain. And I'm sure the pain was substantial. Max just kept hitting him and that was it like Max never let poirie really build momentum and this really is just a testament to how great of a fighter max holloway is he is i have said for quite some time i think max holloway is probably certainly one of the 15 best fighters of all time and could easily

convince me he's in that top 10 and still has plenty of his career left i don't think he's in his best version anymore but again i don't think dustin's is best either But I don't think either guys too diminished from their peaks. And Max just wasn't the same dude that Dustin fought the last time, five, six years ago, whatever that was. He had more tools. He brought them to bear more effectively. And he stymied Dustin when Dustin started to have success. Max would shift.

He'd adjust. And Dustin couldn't continue to kind of shift his own offense. I think there are some comments during the watch party that I didn't fully agree with. but something that you said to start the watch party, and we've kind of both been saying throughout the week, I think one thing was fully clear at the end of this fight, Dustin Porier is picking the perfect time to call it a career. He's walking away at the right time,

and the success that this man had, staying in the top 10 in this division, this division is the best in MMA. It's one of the toughest divisions in all of sports, and the fact that Dustin Porier was not only ranked so highly, but actually fought for the belt 13 months ago, is insane. Just absolutely insane the career this guy had.

You mentioned all the accolades with the incredible fights in some of the battles, but now that the smoke is cleared and we sort of run down, and I know we sort of touched on this on BTL, and there'll be lots of Porier talk throughout the week, so don't worry about that.

There's lots of other things that happen here tonight as well. You have a couple of bourbons, you Uber home, you have a pizza, you sit on the couch, you're like, I'm just going to watch fights while I scarf this pizza down before I go to bed. Which Dustin Porre fight is the first one you're putting on? What's the go-to?

It's a really good question. I think the first Dustin Porrier fight I go to is Max 2. Especially if I'm looking for Dustin winning, right? Because you're trying to watch a Dustin fight. You probably wouldn't win. I think Dustin 2 is one of the 15 or 20 best fights of all time. I think it's probably the best fight that didn't win fight of the year,

but it's a sensational fight. There are big swings in that technical brilliance. That's probably the one I go to. I mean, the other obvious choice would be Korean zombie because their fight was just bananas. But I don't even know. That probably is my third. I probably go Dustin Gaichi one is my second one after Dustin Max.

Um, because that's like that fight was just ludicrous. So, uh, either does, honestly, may, I probably just go Dustin Gagy and then Dustin Max, but it's one of those two and then Korean zombies three from if I'm doing myself a little DP night. That's, I think that's the lineup. All great choices. Dan Hooker is definitely on that list somewhere. I mean, just absolutely insane. Great fight.

Pretty wild stuff. Michael Chandler was a fun one. Yeah, there's just, there's so many good ones. So especially if you're a newer fan and that was the first time you've seen Dustin Porre fight, do yourself a favor, go back through the archives, wherever you can watch him, fight pass, wherever you can get him. Probably go to the UFC's YouTube and watch a bunch of them. Just watch him, man, and just appreciate what this guy did and all the crazy fights that he had. And yeah, what a career this man had.

And it's, I can't wait to see him on the broadcast. podcast booth doing a and on the desk just breaking down fights he's incredibly good at that and whatever he does we will be watching congratulations on a great career but max hallway did win this fight jettemishu sure did you went out there and won unquestionably looks great at 155 i see a lot of people on social media i see a lot of people on our slack channel saying that's just screw it let's just run back the ilia to poria fight i think that is one of the most insane takes of all time right now it is just truly one of the most insane takes ilia already throttled him finished them and then just

New Charles Olivera I think you and I are on the same page of this we've been on the same page of this for since we saw Max Holloway beat Justin Gagey that was the fight we wanted and now we get the fight we deserve Saskatoon Canada didn't get it the fans watching on TV that night

didn't fully get it it is time to fully get Max Holloway versus Charles Olivera the way it was supposed to be and this time we put the damn BMF title on the line. I said it heading into this winner lose, Max fights, Charles.

BMF belt can be on the line. That's fine. Max will probably win that fight, but maybe he doesn't. We never know. That fight is incredible. It's sort of the missing piece. I know that they did fight once before, but as you sort of alluded to, we didn't nobody felt like we really got what we were

supposed to there. Of that, like, you know, this crop of violent action dudes, the Max Holloway, you know, Dustin Poy, Justin Gici, Charles Olivaire, these guys who are legitimately, those four dudes are, I would say unquestionably,

in the 10 most exciting fighters of all time. It includes those four people, and they've all fought each other. The one lacking is the Max Charles fight, which just wasn't satisfying. So we can correct that. I know Max probably doesn't want to hear this, and I'm sorry, you know,

you're an all-time great, so you can tell me to fire off, that's fine. I don't care about you fighting for the lightweight belt. It's meaningless. If you ever win the belt, it means Deporia is not in the division. So it's like Volk's featherweight title now. It's like, sure, you have it, but you have a belt, even if we don't agree that, like, we don't think that the BMF built is super meaningful. Like, I don't need to see you try to fight Ilya again.

Like, fight Charles and fight Dan Hooker. Like that's those are both also like those are the things we should be doing and if he beats charles and he beats dan hooker and ilia is still hanging around okay fine you know if if somebody beats ilia then max is right in there but running max ilia too is just they just fought it wasn't especially competitive it would go worse for max this time and i i don't know how you would talk yourself into thinking it wouldn't go worse like i thought max looked sensational tonight I thought Max also pretty clearly looks like he is no longer in his peak form. Like he put, he has a little, I'd say he certainly has added some more power at 155, which is good. It's a great tool to have.

He got dropped again, the three fights in a row now that Max has been dropped for a man who has one of the all-time great chins. That's concerning. You know, he's slowed down pretty substantially. He picked it back up in the later rounds. Well, like,

slowed down. It is, I think it is pretty in arguable. Max, we've seen the best Max Holloway we'll ever see. He may still be productive for a long time because all time grades can do that. We haven't seen the best Ilya. A worst Ilya against a better Max ended up in Max getting knocked out in three. A better Ilya against the worst Max is probably the same or worse for him.

And it just happened. He needs to win a bunch of lightweight. And fortunately, we don't need to put him in the title fight conversation right now. Like, let's, let's have fun with Max Holloway, because that seems like the best use of them. Yeah. We wonder why the BMF belt is like meaningless in a lot of ways? It's because no one's defended it. No one's put it over.

Now we finally have it put over. And we could do this with, we could do Max versus Charles Olivera. Like that is just way more compelling to me than Max versus Illia right now. Because I don't think the outcome changes right now. And it's not like the fight happened two years ago. The fight happened fucking seven months ago. Yeah. Like this just.

This fight was very recent. And it was not competitive. It was not. It was competitive for about five minutes. And then Ilya turned on, turn it on in round two and then kill them in round three. Like, do more. There's so many guys I want I'll eat a fight. I don't need to see any rematches for Elliott's poor.

This is an objectively stupid comment. His chin is better at 155. He's less depleted. He's been knocked out once at 145. He's been now dropped twice at 155. like it's not better. His chin is just his chin. It's cracked.

He has maybe a little bit more power. If you want to watch it, that's fine. But like you are selling yourself wolf tickets to believe that that fight is competitive. Like you never know anything can happen. But by that logic, I should fight Ilia. Because maybe he'll trip and fall and knock himself unconscious. Like it is not a competitive fight right now. He needs to beat more people.

To do this, he lost seven months ago. Yeah, Armin Sarukian. Justin Gachis got a better case, right? I mean, I know Max just knocked out Justin Gagchi, but Gagee did bounce back with a win. So, I mean, look, it's Armand Syrucian, if we're being meritocratic. Yeah, Armin's the guy.

Patty is what's going now. And Patty, Patty's been doing work as well. I mean, look, this division rocks. There is no true wrong way, but Ilya versus Max so quickly is not the way to do it. it. Max, like, Max can build up to it. Like, like you said, win two or three more.

Boom, you're right there. And who knows where you really is that? It could be a freaking welterweight. It can be a welterweight in a couple of fights, depending on what happens with this, is a mocked chef fighting Jack Della and Madelana. So, uh, again, it's Max versus Olivera.

That is one million percent of fights. It's so easy to do. It's a terrific fight. It's a classic BMF fight. It's wonderful. And we didn't get it the first time for real. now we'll get it for real and it'll be fantastic care to guess what the bonuses are jed because they are live dude there's i mean what they should do is give every genuinely give everyone the card a bonus

um that is i'm gonna guess but they did go fight of the night and they gave fight of the night to the main event they did not so then they had to give fight of the night to kevin holland versus dan roger guess they did not okay sure I didn't see it so I can't totally dismiss it I guess I guess fight of the night

went to Marvin Vittori it ran on it did I didn't I haven't seen it truly one of the more insane thing I haven't seen it so I can't totally it's a great fight I had to miss it if that fight is better than Kevin Holland Daniel Rodriguez I'd be shocked it's not I'd be pretty surprised

yeah okay I honestly thought they'd give it to the main event for no other reason. Then it's Dusson's retirement fight. Let's send him out with a bang or whatever. Okay. Bonuses, Tipagotier. Of course.

He absolutely slaughtered a man in four seconds. Other bonus. I mean, I'm going to do it for me, even though it's probably not. Tell me, he's got me an extra cashes. Islam and Karlie Judis.

Oh, let's go, Carly. Three bonus. No beef with that. Like, kind of weird that they just gave, whoever scored a knockout got a bonus. And some pretty dope submissions were like, screw you. Of course.

That's how it always is. Good for them. That's how it always is. Someone asked this earlier, so I might as well just ask you, because it's pertinent because it happened and it was in the co-main event. Is Paul Ocosta back,

Jedmishu because he beat the hell out of Roman copulaf tonight. That fight was not competitive. Passed like the two minute mark once Paula started landing those kicks to the body over and over again. Paula good. Causat Hamzaa Chamaif? Is this a guy to be feared now at 185 pounds? I mean, it depends on who you are. If you're like a lower end top 15 or unranked, dude, yeah.

Ballo Costa looked great tonight. His best win since Joel Romero, like, well, one, it's, he's had one. win since you're all around. It was Luke Rockhole. And while that fight was deeply fun, and I don't think people respect. That fight was incredibly fun, and people should give that fight more respect. That, that version of Rockhold is so diminished.

It's not really like a great win. This is a very good win. Roman Coppola is a top 15 guy. And he looked sensational after a year off. Again, I'd probably not be feared, but what you got to respect about Paulo. He knows, he knows, he knows business and he's been setting up the Homsah fight forever had it booked fell apart

you know theoretically he could have been cut released from the promotion with the lost night instead delivers an absolutely a plus performance gets on the mic talks some shit and says like hey man Hamzot you're fighting for the belt I'm coming for you you know if if Hamsat wins they probably don't throw them in there but it's not zero percent the Apollo gets the first title shot and if Hamzot loses, he's 100% getting Hamzot next. So he has set himself up for a major fight either next or in the very near future. And this is for a dude that was like a little bit lost. You know, coming into this is like, dude, we haven't heard from him in a year. He's lost a bunch in a row. He's way too active, like way too online. And now right back in the thick of it at 185.

I would not say he's like a genuine title challenger because 1885 has had so much progression over the past like 18, 24 months, but still a big name and the things break right. He is absolutely one win away from fighting for a belt right now and could get lucky and fight for a belt next. It's so crazy. We got a legit number one contender fight

in a competitive division that is signed, sealed, and delivered. And Paul Costa could very well, find himself in a title fight. Despite what happens with Kyle Barhalio and Naserini Mavov, if Hamzaa Chimayev wins the belt, they will probably go to Costa. There's a really good chance, man. There's a really good chance.

So good win for Paul. He looked really good. Kevin Hall and Daniel Rodriguez, Jesus Christ, man. I'm telling you. That's my favorite part of the year. If you miss that fight, look, this is one of those things that is going to be like, such a weird take, but if it's one of those things where, of course, for the moment and just

to see Dustin Porre fight for the final time, like obviously go back and watch it, but if you did not buy this pay per view and a magic genie floated in your house and it said, hey, pick one fight to watch from tonight that you didn't get to watch on pay per view. And then I'll give you the rest of the pay per view for free in a month. Which fight are you picking? It is absolutely Kevin Holland versus Daniel Rodriguez. It's so insane. Like, I can't. I can't do it justice if you didn't watch it. We were laughing hysterically at this fight because of just the absolute insanity of it. It's wild.

And I think you nailed it when you said it's a different sort of version, but very similar to the Glover Tashara, Yuri Brehashka fight. It is the store brand version of Glover, Yuri. Three rounds of set of five. It's the same damn fight. And again, Glover-Yeri honestly might actually be the best fight that's ever happened in this sport. And I would say it is, to me, unquestionably, top five.

That fight was so silly. And I had the most, I think, like, if we're not being silly gooses and we're trying to be like real people, you're probably supposed to put the main event above Holland Rodriguez as far as fight of the year goes. because it's just a much more like a much higher level of technical sophistication the route the second round was insane general momentum swings a lot of story unfolding is a terrific fight in sort of those traditional senses uh i have not had more fun than i've had watching uh kevin holland danny roger guys fight this year like this is easily the most fun i've had watching a fist fight this year uh it was just a total calamity in the rounds two and three. I can't, I still don't understand how neither man finished the fight when the opponents were like clearly just dead.

Like Kevin Holland was mounted and had nothing. And Daniel Rodriguez, I think you said it in real time. It was like, this is Ralphie and a Christmas story. He's doing these punches to him. And Kevin Holland like can't do any, but then somehow scrambles. And then at one point, Kevin Holland just tags D-Rod. And D-Rod covers up. up and the leans against it, like turns away, which is a universal sign of, oh, there's about

to be two more punches in the fights over. And then he just goes, never mind and turns back. Like he literally just went, I'm done. I guess I'm not. It was so silly and so fun. And I can't really, I'm going to watch the fight 30 times. Oh my God. It's so incredible. What a fight. It was great. Ralph, hey, Ralphie. It's like you said it in, During the watchboard, I was like, it's exactly what's happening here. It was just, oh. It's so great. What a fucking fight.

It was unbelievable. And it was kind of the pick-me-up that the card, I guess at that time, because the prethums slapped. The prelums are unbelievable. And then the two opening main card fights weren't bad. Like, they weren't awful fights. They were perfect. They were rock solid fights, but I certainly had really big expectations of both of them.

And they did not quite live up to that. And so, you know, we were a little down because energy was so high. Zell Huber and Michael Johnson not getting a finish, which I think everybody thought that fight was going to be finished, you know, and we didn't get it. And then I would say the biggest letdown on the card was Igay Pitbull. I agree. Great performance from Pitbull, and we'll talk about that, but that fight left a lot to be desired as far as our expectations going into it.

Yeah. I mean, what else can you say? Pitbull won. Yeah, he needed. Might have saved, honestly, might have saved his position in the company. It was absolutely critical win for him to get and,

you know, hard fought, but he really made Danny get uncomfortable at various points. I mean, again, this is another guy who is a great fighter well past his prime, but I mean, that's,

that's just a veteran awesome performance from him. I, I'm surprised to hear you say that was the biggest letdown, because as watch, party people know and I was sad long time fans know uh the climb is no more we fell Daniel Zellhuber loses to Michael Johnson we slid down the mountain boys and then you tried to climb again with yeah that's fine though that was okay to lose it with that but Michael Johnson three wins in a row now Daniel Zell Hoover is not lost two straight and the

climb is over the climb is over I am astonished I felt so good about it credit to Michael Johnson. I mean, he's put together really nice little late career resurgence for a dude who's 39 years old. Some of that, frankly, is probably that, like, we talked about this a bit on the watch party. Michael Johnson's had a hell of a resume, just the names he has fought. This run, those names are still decent, but certainly a step down from his run of, like,

fighting Dustin into Habib, into Benio Derr, you, and shit like that. Um, so we just having a little more success, but he did he look super sharp, came out aggressive. Zell Huber, um, is apparently quite stupid. Uh, I don't say that to be mean. I say that as a fact because despite his coaches literally telling him you are losing, he then was shocked that he did not win when he probably, like may have, I guess he won the third round on the judge's scorecards, but like, wasn't even clearly winning that round.

And then it was like, what? I was defeated. I can't be. Well, your coach literally told you in the corner, you need to finish this dude. And you just went out and sort of tepidly kicked him a bunch. Very disappointing performance from Zell Huber. Tough, tough scenes for the climb.

But, you know, it's an opportunity for us to start again, Mike. Yes. And looking forward to see what the next climb that will be. But obviously some great. prelim action as well we mentioned the bonus winners uh just the fun it was it was it was an emotional roller coaster is what this card was it had ups it had downs it had happiness it had sadness it had a little bit of everything it had one of the wildest fights you will see in 2025 so it was great like look look at the look at how this card this card started called the judice Nicole calliari

that fight could have easily been five the night unlike most other cards that they uh Carly Judis is just, I, I was like she is meaner than a stepped on rattlesnake because she is. She's going to be awesome forever. Like I'm, she's going to be in her life for 10 years. She probably won't ever win a belt. I don't know. Maybe she does. Flyweight is questionable.

But there will be a time in the not too distant future when, um, she fights Dakota Dichiva and it's just the two meanest sons of bitches you've ever seen just taking strips out of each other. And it's going to rock. Um, so that's set the tone. know if I had a super wily cool ass arm bar Ryan Span he gets the gilly yeah he needed that bad and that's his signature move I know Dustin would like it to be but uh Jimmy Crute quick arm bar first one in five years first one in five years Doolotov gets a bonus for knocking out of him fugit pretty spectacular like we went to we went from opening fight super

banger and a great finish body shot finish we love those to uh five consecutive first round stoppages. A couple of them super mean. I didn't see Veritinov Prado. I hear it was quite a fun fight though. And then Brennan Al-Marv Mertory, apparently your fight of the night. Certainly is a fun site. And Loeb Dog, Kylea Phillips was also a pretty damn good banger.

So like the prelims were hot. Dropped a little bit. Kevin Allen, Drod brought us back up. Polar Costa had a great performance. Main event was class. What a day if you're an M.M.A. fan. We might have gotten a fight of the year and submission of the year all in the same day.

Costello von Steenis. There's no chance that's not going to be sub of the year. Pretty much start writing that article right now unless something insane happens. I can't honestly like there's just not going to be the circumstances are so unreal. What if Hamzot malls DDP and then DDP

taps Hamzat in like round four? I mean, maybe but even then like the circumstance of LeVonstein I still haven't seen the clip of it. I don't watch the whole fight but He was down on the judge's scorecards, appeared to be down with 50 seconds left. His, like, Eblen had his back. He somehow hits a reverse, gets the back, puts him a choke, and puts Eblen to sleep with

10 seconds left on the clock. That sort of like buzzer, beater comeback is so impossible to be, especially when he was a massive underdog, too. Yep. That's class. Crazy stuff. When a day it was. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners,

I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard?

At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. Let's go to the Super Chatters. we'll go to the peeps for probably like 10 or 15 minutes. Jake, we've been talking for like monster Jake. Spencer says climbing turn to falling.

I should did. Diamond is in the UFC no more. God surely invented Bing rips for nights like these. The diamond forever. Well said. Diamond forever, buddy. RS 40, where does Holland go from this loss? I think fighting too much is not good for him.

Also, who impressed you the most from the prelims. So fighting too much is not good for anybody. You should never fight, be this active. Basically in the history of fighters who are this active, it's never successful ever um it's really hard to fight that often things come up bad for you where should holland go that's a really good question just it does not matter yeah i mean it there are certain fighters where it does not matter who they fight yeah just put them in against

darick lewis is one of them even though dark lewis put a fun up and comer at walterweight it's outside of the rankings right now jake matthews honestly that's not bad at all. I don't know if it's like the one, but it's not bad. Jake Matthew's on a hell of a run. Proch's fighting, Neil.

Yeah. I wouldn't mind seeing Holland fight either. Those two, whoever loses that fight. If somebody falls out of that fight, Kevin Holland will step in and I'd be okay with that. Yeah. I think protest would make a lot of,

a lot of sense in general. Yeah, that'd be really fun. Frankly, win or lose there. I mean, I could see Holland. I hate,

I don't love this matchmaking, but I could certainly see, the UFC doing it. Maybe you throw Gabriel Bond fame in there with them or something. Just like a little bit of name value perhaps. But yeah, I don't know. Again, it doesn't matter. Kevin just wants to fight people.

Is it, is it time? Is it, is it, is it Buckley time? What? Oh, did the rematch? Yeah. Nah. Buckley coming off that loss. Maybe.

Might be Buckley. I think I'm going to say that's my out-no pick, but it's Buckley time. Which feels like a win for Holland. the fight up in the rankings, but I did. It's a really good opportunity for Buckley. This could be just not that thrilling, but I actually like the way Kevin Holland thinks.

He's just like, yo, I'm gonna fight this dude. I'm gonna beat Neil Magni in the battle of who had, who's the better five fight in a year guy. I like that. Like the storyline. That's solid. Could do that. I don't know.

There's lots of, again, it does not matter. Kevin will probably fight in middleweight in this next fight. Honestly, it's almost certain. will happen if I eat this or some shit back to Spencer vittoria when if I didn't they had to be plus 10,000 some absolute scraps tonight four straight dogs one on the main card uh who of them were you all most impressed by we didn't somebody let him the last question yeah we most impressed by on the undercard though yeah so we got we got two people asking back to back so okay uh on the undercard most impressed by uh got tea i mean so like that's probably the correct

answer um because he's probably going to be a champion but it's also he was supposed to kill valentine and he did and i also he was i think he was my like number five ranked prospect out of contender series last time because he's 23 built like a greek god can grapple a little bit and hit those hammers um yeah i think he's going to hold the belt one day um like that's very projective but got all the tools. I'm so going to pick Carl Judis because I love her so much. I like she is Carlos Jadis is

Dustin Poyer. Like she's she got a lot of raw talent and just she's mean as shit. And I don't know she's ever going to actually be like good good but she's going to fist fight the shit out of people for 10 years. Get on board right now. Jake, thank you so much. Dustin is the man.

Big super chat there. Also gifted. a bunch of memberships too. Dustin is the man. And so are you, Jake. You're also the man. Class Act. Are you from state form?

Could be. Would make sense. Got that state farm money. RS 40, I mean, we touched on the moment, but Jose and I talked about this on the Q of A. There are people on our website who, in our rankings pool, who have, at least in my opinion,

incorrectly ranked certain fighters. I think Johnny Eblen is probably one of those fighters. Not saying he was bad, but there are people saying he was the best middle weight in the world, like literally in our rankings panel at one point, and I think that is absolutely redonculus. I don't think he's ridiculous. Mostly at that time,

that was when he was also training with Sean Strickland, and no one wanted to believe Sean Strickle was the best middle weight in the world. So, like, because at that time I was like, I'm willing to buy this because it can't be Sean Strickland. but I think, you know, you want to say Evelyn at one point, I think I had him at like number five. Maybe I had him as high as three at one point

for that exact same reason. I definitely had him as high as three or four. Because of what the middleweight division was. But what's your reaction to this? Are you shocked by this? And where does that leave Johnny Eveland? Is he going? Better question.

If our fearless rankings leader, A. K. Lee said, all right, middleweight shake-up. Is Johnny Evelin going to be in your rankings? Johnny Eam is still going to be in the rankings. He's going to be super low. He'll probably be like 14 or 15. Here's the thing. I still haven't seen the fight, so, you know, a lot of grains of salt here.

This would be, it's still shocking. Don't get me wrong. This would be way more shocking, except for the fact that Evelyn hasn't looked good. a really long time um like he had the original fabian edwards win in a fight that he was losing before he came back to kill fabian edwards and credit to him you know he was losing but he didn't that's that's fist fighting uh splity with imp kusonganai that a lot of people didn't think he deserved to win and credit imp imp was a good fighter but like eh it's not like that he's like a top 45 to 50

yeah it's like yeah it's you know, eh, eh, eh, uh, the Fabian Edwards rematch, which was just not compelling. And this is a guy who's supposed to be there. And you know, like, I like Anatoly Tokov. I thought I have a lot of respect for that win. I thought that was good. Yeah, that was probably the last, like really. Yeah. But you just start looking back and you're like, okay, he's, he feels a little bit more like, uh, Josh Thompson used to be the guy to go to for this. Or like people in the gym would be like Josh Thompson's the best fighter in the world. You guys have no concept for it.

And he'd fist fight him, but he's good, but something's not clicking. There's a little bit of that with Eblen here. And there's just a genuine concern, but like he's, his career is not going to be what maybe it could have been for one reason or another. Because like, he shouldn't be losing the Costello Fentiness. There's a solid fighter. And the circumstances, you know, Evelyn probably wins an immediate rematch if they do that. But I don't know, man.

It's tough, man. It's really, yet if he had looked better recently, I'd be a lot more confident. Like, I don't know, Eblen doesn't seem to have the juice. It just seemed like even in the, even in the Fabian fight, the, on the Battle of the Giants card, Evelyn faded in that fight, like bad. Yeah. And that's what happened here. That's what happened here.

Like, Eben was, was cruising, man. He was, it was a very middleweighty performance. And then he started to fade and Von Steenis just kind of deezed it and started landing and started getting the upper hand. There's a moment heading into round five where like Voncenas like landed some big shots and Eblen like gets to the stool and he's like he's like crouched over.

He's like bent over before he sits in the stool. Like the tide had changed. It Stockton rules. Costello Von Scenis wins this fight. Like Eblen could have, might have won a 49, 46 decision, but it was a fight that didn't seem that way. It seemed like if this is a schoolyard fight,

Costello wins and most people would feel the same way. But yeah, man, two fights in a row, Evelyn just faded, just fell apart. And like, you would think with a guy like that, one of the things that people always said about his conditioning is top notch. He never gets tired. He never slows down. Two fights in a row, man. To be true.

And so it's, yeah. And I, there could be a lot of answers for this. Like, right? Like somebody in the chat just posted and this could be real like PFL's killed the motivation. And like to some extent, yeah, because he hasn't gotten to be as active as I know that he has wanted to be. And like how hype can you be to fight Kostelva's team is? But also that's your job, bro.

Like I know that that's not as exciting as maybe other things, but that's why they pay you a lot of money to be their champion. And like you have to be internally motivated to sort of do this. And so I don't know. I'm not willing to throw Johnny Eblen out his first career loss. No. But again, this is a straight up, didn't think about until right now. this feels like Bo Nichols loss

because Bo Nichols' loss was progressively more likely to happen as he started fighting better talent he started winning less and less and less and less and then it's like oh shit well this happened

was like Evelyn hasn't looked very good in recent and now it finally caught up with him maybe this will reinspire him motivate him something but I'm definitely not near this how and Ebenez

was a couple of years ago. Yeah, he just changed. I mean, obviously stay where you're at, but game plan needs to change. I don't know, man. It was just, as a guy you want to see Defend the Belt over and over again, these types of performances aren't, he's got

to, he's got to do something. I don't know, but congratulations to Costello von Steenis. Long-time teammate and training partner of Gagar Musassi finally gets to wear gold. And gets the revenge. Gets the revenge for his guy. How about that? Netherlands got a champion.

RDR going to be there soon. What a time. What a time. Stephen, biggest surprise riddle of the weekend from all combat events. Worst fight, Pacquiao robbed. Jake versus Usik was Eblin exposed or having off night.

So I think we touched the Eblen thing enough. Packia, I can't really judge, I just didn't watch second of it. Jake versus Usick. It gives a shit. It's a cartoon. It will never happen.

Worst fight of the weekend? worst fight of the weekend. I mean, I didn't see all of them. I didn't see anything on PFL, so I can't speak to that. PEO is pretty good. I would say worst fight of the UFC card was Pitbull Ege. And that wasn't even a bad fight. It was just I had higher expectations, and it was a professional win for pit bull.

You know, like got to respect it. Never going to revisit it and talk about it being great. I'll also say, I, and this is perhaps just where the headspace I was in. the co-main event for the Ucic de Bois fight was it was heavyweight boxing but not good heavy weights and so that was a tough hang. I was going to say it probably was from boxing.

It was a tough hang. Yeah. They did the same three things for 10 rounds and it was bad. Shout out to Davidson Baker. If it's who I think it is, good to hear from you, my man. Davidson Baker has the greatest moment in the history of BTL by the way. Okay.

Davidson, if this is the same Davidson Baker, on the old iteration of BTL, this is pre-MMA fighting, there was a fight between, God, who was it? I don't know if it was Johnny Walker and somebody else. And Davidson made this, this proclamation on the show that there's no way,

or yeah, it was Johnny Walker and somebody else. There's no way this goes to the cards. he goes, if this goes to the cards, I will shave my head. And we decided that if it goes to the cards, you have to cut your hair like Larry David. No, wow.

That's way worse than shaving. He did it. Did the reveal live on the show. And it was actually like the final BTL before I came to end up fighting. So it was a terrific moment in all of our lives. So if that's you, Davidson, you're the man. Nick, is there any other fighter you can think of

that's maintained a level of hunger slash fire the way Max has? he's fought like he's still chasing it. I mean, he is still chasing it. That's the thing. So that's not a bad question, and I'd have to think about it. I'm sure that there are, right?

Like, I am certain that there still are, but the reason they are is the same reason, Max is still chasing it. He has been chasing it. Max, because Max's career is so front-shifted, because he was so young, when he started and he won the belt and was still fairly young and then lost the belt before he was 30. I think he lost the belt when he's 29. Um, like he, it was not like a, okay, I lost the belt now and

I'll do the retirement towards like, I lost the belt and I'm still in the prime years of my career. And so he kept fighting that way because he had to because he had to keep winning fights to try and get back to the belt. And now he's never going to get the featherweight belt again, but he can still chase the lightweight belt. And so, I mean, credit to him for still being engaged. But again, I am certain Max Holloway looks at himself and says, I'm a 33-year-old man who's still one of the very best fighters in the world. I can win the belt. And so he kind of gets a benefit in that regard where other fighters, because he is so great, his career, he could have retired at 29 and would have had a Hall of Fame career.

He still has more to give. Oh, show. Take a couple more than we're going to get out of here. Joseph, will Pitbull's win, put him in the top 15 at Featherweight? Yeah, it has to be, right? Danny Gay is number 11, I believe. Make it firm, Danny Gay's number 11. Pitbull will be number 11.

I don't think he will be. And poor Bryce Mitchell will be removed from the rankings. I think Steve Garcia will have 11 to himself. Well, perhaps that's true. People probably end up in between, probably just before David Onama. It's very possible Steve Garcia will have 11 because he shares it with the EA. I also wouldn't, I mean, he lost not a competitive or compelling fight, but he didn't get his doors blown off by Yair, who's number three in the ranking.

So they're not going to hold that against him. What? Another Joseph question. Will Dustin headline the Hall of Fame class next year? What fight of his will go in the fight with? wing. So may, maybe a couple.

That's the thing. The fight wing is stupid because there are way too many good fights and they're only inducting one a year. My guess is his fight with Max 2 will be the first one inducted. But it could be zombie. It could be Gaichi.

It could be Dan Hooker. It could be Michael Chandler. Like there could be any number of the, it could be Eddie Alba as they get inducted. Um, and so I don't, he won't headline the class. Again, like, but he's not supposed to. Justin Poy is beloved, but not great. He's great, but not great, if that makes sense.

And so there will be some champion that deserves it, you know, like, uh, if Izzy retires and gets inducted next year, Volk retires and gets Bussman, all of them would headline over him, right? Like, that's theoretically, John is, May or may not be retired, he'll get in over. Poria will get inducted. I would guess he'll get inducted next year, but it's also might not.

They might wait a little bit because they don't have to. And so I would say he'll certainly be inducted. Don't know if he'll go next year. I'd say it's unlikely he'll be the sort of big name coming in. A couple notes from the press conference. Aaron Brons said are giving us some notes. We love notes. Dana White said he had a hard time picking the fight in the night between the three

that obviously had the best chance of it. White says he's unsure what the co-main event at 319 is. White says he loves Nate Diaz, but isn't thinking about a McGregor-Diaz trilogy right now when it comes to the White House card and says they sell him sort of, look, oh, you're going to love this. I saw it. I'm pretty pumped. White says that he cannot risk having John Jones fight on the White House card

and have something go wrong. we want, baby. Oh, man. God, you got damn right. He's not fighting Thomas. Okay. Yeah,

he's just not. He's not fighting. Anything else? White says nobody left the arena following the main events. White says that the UFC always starts to find a way for fighters to be in their hometown. But the stars would have to align no order for something like tonight to take place again, which,

you know, makes sense. Perfectly solid. Islam with a nice shout out to Dustin. Oh, good. Mm-hmm. Love to see that. that you just you just love to see it uh just bleed from real james uh let's see anything else

what do we got what do we got what do we got do we got do we have a yeah dust's got dust is going to be in the hall fame he will be the guy next year yeah i saw luke in his live chat be like debating it and it seems i love luke it's very stupid he's obviously going in um like if this were a meritocracy maybe like we'd question it but it but If you're conceptualizing your Hall of Fame to not include someone like Dustin Porre, I think you're just doing it wrong, right? You're being far too exclusive. Dustin Porier is one of them, like, is very accomplished and is deeply beloved.

Like, how are the, like, those are the exact people to celebrate in a Hall of Fame. Someone that telling the story of MMA the last 15 years, like you inexorably have. have to include his career as part of it. And so, you know, he's not a long-time champion. But if the Hall of Fame is just the Hall of Champions, then what are we doing here, you know? Last question from Blood and Beer. Aside from Max, who did the most on this card for their career?

I don't think Max honestly did much for his career. So I wouldn't even pick him. It's great to win. And, you know, it's another feather in a cap full of them. but I said beforehand, I changed no opinion. When or lose did not matter to Max here. It's not going to be like the totality of what happens in this latter stage of his career will matter, but this one didn't do anything enormous for him.

Other than feel good, I mean, he didn't go down 0 and 3 to a second person. A person who did the most for their career, you could argue pit bull because his career gets to continue. but he could argue Loke Dog because he is now going to be moving up the rankings, get a real position. I will go ahead. Honestly, Jimmy Kruit really needed a win, but I'm straight of going to go Paula Costa.

That's a good pick. I think Paulo Costa with a loss was probably not competing for the UFC again. He's very expensive. Contender Series has replacements coming down the pipe. And with a win, he has set himself up to potentially fight. out Chamaif next and certainly to if he doesn't get Chamaif because Chimayev wins he won't DDPs and win then it's like all right he fights Jared Cananir and if he wins that fight maybe

he gets a title fight if Hamslitz champ he is I think he had the most to possibly the most to lose and gained a tremendous amount there's a big delta um I'll throw Islam uh du laatov's name out there as as well. I think a lot of people learned about him tonight and are super interested in him. So that was certainly helpful. All right. I'll end at this. If you had to guess how many bought pay-per-view guys UFC 318 did.

What do you think? $300,000. I think less. I could buy that. I'll say like $2.25. I just sort of kind of $300,000 is my sort of stock number. You know, there's some interest, but a lot of people didn't want to pay for this. Yeah.

I don't. I don't. And I get it. Yeah. I get it. It wasn't, again, this wasn't, we liked it on paper. I liked on paper. I had a lot of fun watching it. I think if I spent 80 bucks, I would not feel like I, my money was spent in vain. This is a streamer's delight. Yeah, this is certainly not a high profile. We watched it. And we're going to remember this night forever.

If you're particularly attached to Dustin, you will. But I don't know beyond that. Yeah. I mean, the way you kind of look at it is like if you're again, kind of like AK talked about the preview show. if you're budgeting out your year for pay-per-views, this one probably isn't fitting the budget. Especially, like you're picking DDP Hamzat over this card. Oh, without question.

Like, it's just not even close. So, yeah, I think we're in the 200,000 range, which in this day and age, doing 200,000 pay-per-views, it's pretty fucking good.

Like, that's a damn good number. Honestly, I just wish we got to know. Yeah. So that'll be cool if, uh, you know,

the UFC payvery mom. moves elsewhere, perhaps. Be great. But yeah, but again, it was just a nice thing to know to have some sort of barometer of stuff and we don't get it at all, which is lame as shit. But again, like, kind of the way I based this card

on paper and just the reaction to it, doesn't matter. Like, it just doesn't matter. This is about Dustin Poirier and that was, that was it, man. Gia, you don't have to care about those things. I do. Because knowing how many pay-per-view buys it did is a

pretty much the only real metric we have to establish stardom in the sport and like who who do fans care about who is drawing fan interest and that that's significant that tells part of the story and the Hall of Fame I care about because I don't I don't know it feels intuitive why people should care about the Hall of Fame but you don't have to care about anything I want you man that's the beauty of life you're you're learning the sport now and that's good yeah you can care about anything you choose to care about in a couple of years when you're feet are a little more wet within the game.

Perhaps you'll care more about that stuff. But if you don't, that's fine. We will end with Chase. We have one more that came in before this. I don't think it's a super chat. I think it's a member chat. It's blue. It's Nick VCC, that one.

Oh, Islam and this Max would have been awesome. I don't believe that that is true. I think Islam would kill this Max. I credit to Max is great performance. To me, Max seems pretty clearly diminished. And he's still great and can get a lot of wins. Islam Mahachach. I fundamentally believe people just have no concept

for how good Islamakshiv is because they can't. Because he isn't Habib and because everyone was like, well, he was bad Habib and because his career has been wonky because he hasn't gotten to fight the same sort of people. like Ilya got to fight all these massive names. Islam didn't. I,

is on Margev is an unbelievable fist fighter. And I think that he would like resoundingly defeat Max Holloway. And then we were at rap with Chase. Might have touched on it, but do you think John has a Twitter tantrum since Dana said he can't fight in front of the arch criminal next year? Almost certainly.

Yes. And people eat it up and it's brutal and it's going to be ridiculous. We just stop talking about the man who retired and isn't going to fight again. Yeah. He's not fighting. And he's certainly, dude,

he had a Twitter tantrum today because Daniel Cormier said something about him in like a media thing because he was asked about it. Which is a very fair and legitimate question. And it was like kind of funny and John was like the head space I own. Like he didn't offer that like he was just he's, he's asked about you because your careers are inextricably linked. And also bro like find something new to care about.

Like you. you won those. No one is saying you didn't, except for the commissions who say you didn't win the second one. But like, we all know that you're better than him as a fistfighter. Great. It was fucking decade ago. Find a find something else to care about in your life other than dunking on Daniel Cormier for fistfighting. Like, it's sad, man. Like just find happiness. Like truly, John, seek peace somewhere that is not in the misery of others. Yeah, man. He did all night.

Can we talk about that? It's an A plus dad joke. Can we talk about Will Wayne? It was super weird. I don't know why he was there if he wasn't going to wrap. C minus. Yeah, that was bad. I was disappointed.

Honestly, if you're going to do that, just get like a whole host of cool New Orleans celebrities to like precede him in a parade. Yeah, like Bill Goldberg when he retired. Like a bunch of them. Get all his friends and like all. all the locals and do that. Yeah, but instead it was just like,

here's Little Wayne not rapping and just part of the entourage. Here's his team. With Mike Thomas Brown and, and friggin out of it. Like, it's like, okay.

Yeah, I mean, come on. I know the UFC doesn't like to do fun things, but they could have had him for God's sake. He would have done it. For just like 30 seconds, he said he was going to transition to J.B.

right after, which would have been badass, but that'll do it. AK and I, we will be back live in about, nine and a half hours, noon Eastern, live edition of On to the next one.

We'll talk all about the futures of these fighters. Thank you so much. We love you guys. Have a good night. Love y'all. The Vox Media Podcast Network.