MMA Fighting - UFC 319 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Khamzat Chimaev Dominating Dricus du Plessis To Win Title

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

Khamzat Chimaev is the brand new UFC middleweight champion as he dominated Dricus du Plessis for 25 lopsided minutes in the main event of UFC 319. Now that Chimaev has shown he can deliver big results in a five-round fight, is there anybody at middleweight who can beat him? Following Saturday's pay-per-view event, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to the card, Chimaev's impressive showing, the fan reaction, and who could be next for "Borz" and du Plessis. Additionally, they recap Lerone Murphy's Knockout of the Year contender against Aaron Pico, Murphy getting champ Alexander Volkanovski's attention, other standout moments, 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. Ladies and gentlemen, those are the victory horns. Following UFC 319 and the victory horns found. For the brand new middleweight champion of the world, his name is Hamzaa Tchamai F, lopsided, dominant performance, one-way traffic, super competitive, 50-44s across the board. A razor-thin margin of victory.

And Tom's Oshmaia is the new middleweight champion. By the skin of his teeth. We had some big moments, some big knockouts. It was a pretty wild event that ended in a pretty weird way. But we'll talk all about it here following the watch party and everything that has transpired. People are saying robbery. They're saying it. It's out there.

Yes. Robbery has been a very popular word today because people are really silly. That was very close. Yes. But I am Mike Heck once again. that is Jed Mishu. You can see it on the screen. And Jed...

That's Nelson Mandela, hero legend, and sad man tonight. Yes. Jed, we've had 30 or so minutes, maybe like 35 minutes to sort of digest what we just saw. We reacted in real time during the watch party for a few moments. But now we are here.

We took some time to compress. We watched a little bit of the UFC post-fight show. We heard from Hamsat-Chamaya, We saw some of the analysts breakdown, what happened and everything. Your reaction to what we witnessed in the main event between Hamzad Shamiya Pindrika Suplice and Hamzad just delivering the beatdown that he delivered. Pride rules. DDP won the fight. And still, the only rules that matter.

Stockton rules. DDP wins a fight. He was winning in the last moments of the fight, and thus he wins the fight. Yeah, that was a shit kicking. I got to tell you, Mike, a lot of things have happened in the past 30 minutes. The internet, I know the internet is the internet. All things will happen. I posted a, again, world's number one DDP guy here.

And I posted what I felt was a pretty fair assessment of that fight was not remotely competitive. Hamzok just kicked the shit out of Triggins. Homsop whooped him, I believe, was the, because it was about the score. We'll get into the scorecards. Again, robbery. And I've had multiple people be like, that wasn't a whoop it. There was no damage. Like, I don't, guys.

What? That's, if that's not a whoopin, like, I don't, I don't know what is. Like, he did, he had nothing for 24 minutes, Drickus duplice. My boy, my medium-sized adult son, who I still love dearly. And I'm so proud of him, frankly. he got whooped man and people are out there they just hate the concept of wrestling

whatsoever I guess but yeah shit kicking hell incredibly impressive we were talking about it I was like the thing that would be the most impressive and the most unexpected is Hamzat wins by domination because I was it was obvious

Hamzot could go out there to choke him out immediately I never would have been surprised I was surprised he won pillar to post 24 and a half minutes of that fight functionally. That was not something I saw coming in that manner and, you know, arguably more impressive than if he'd just taken the back and choked him out. So we'll talk all about it because it was quite a thing. But damn, just damn is all I got, really. So, I mean, it was just wild sort of the predictions of the fight and like how it would go. And I think, like, my final prediction was DDP by decision.

And just the amount of, like, DMs I saw on Instagram, like in the brief moment that I jumped on there after this card was astounding that I would actually even suggest that this fight would go to the cards. They thought I was like the dumbest person on earth. There's no chance this fight goes to the judges. But that happened. But we also talked about like what the shocking result was. I was like Hamzaa Shamaif doing to DDP what Marab did to P.R. on would be shocking. And that's exactly what we got.

I scored it 50, 43. I mean, I scored round one of 10, 8. I know there are others who didn't. None of the judges did. For the scoring rules, I would have scored it. What's eight times four is what 32 plus a nine? So it would have been 50, 41 per the rules. Per the Jed scoring system, it would have been 41 minus.

is four. 37. We've been 5037 per my scoring system. For DDP? No, no, no. And you're a scoring system. Okay. All right.

All right. I'm like, my scoring system is pretty clear. If you offered literally zero offense, I'm going to throw a 10-7 on your ass. And so there should have been four of those. That's not how the actual scoring system works. Right.

But the actual scoring system, I firmly believe you, that should be four 10-8s in there. Only got one of them, which is silly. But, so it goes. Yeah, it was just unbelievable.

DDP was smiling and having a good time between rounds. Between rounds four and five, DDP was no longer smiling. He was so, he was very frustrated, he was shaking his head. He still wasn't that, but that,

because I said that on the show. Like, as they were walking out, I was like, look, here's the thing about Trickets. He's delusional. He doesn't have a concept.

And he could, and I said before the fight happened, remember that I said this, but I was like, he could lose 20 minutes, 24 minutes of this fight and still just totally think oh I guess I'm going to win in the last one then

and God damn if that almost didn't happen like it didn't actually like we don't have to pretend that that was super close but like it was that act like the thing I said as kind of like a throwaway bit ended up being the most prescient thing I said all fucking weekend where it was like

oh yeah actually with the minute left he still was trying like he still was like I can win this and tried and it led to one of our better watch party moments And a very fun end at least to It wasn't the most I was incredibly impressive Wasn't the most fun fight to watch certainly

Yeah I understood that And I think you know Sometimes when a fight gets built so much And then it's like not competitive It's a bit of a letdown It just it just kind of is like that And again we're watching We're basically just watching a screen

We can't hear the crowd I don't know what happened It seemed like maybe they were booing Apparently, based on a lot of the stuff that was hearing, war some booze, which is what I honestly would have expected, given the texture of the fight. Are you surprised,

like, I think Hamza wanted to make a statement, like, I can go 25 minutes and, like, F you talk about my cardio issues. Would have been, should he have tried a little harder to finish the fight? Like,

yes. Okay. What was sort of your assessment? Like, dude, 50, 43ing people in a lot of people's minds is, like, pretty sick. That's, that's, like, a really good performance.

But you think stamping at home with the finish would have just put this way over the time. The fifth round, it should have been guns out. Because that's sort of, and that's not just germane to him. That's kind of how I feel about everybody. That was like one of the things that I always really appreciated about Demetius Johnson is he could cruise to victory. And he would just be like, all right, fights almost over. Let's try. It's like really full gas.

And, you know, I'm not sure he could have done it. I would frankly like DDP, and there are a lot of criticisms that can be leveled at DDP. I think most of the ones that have been leveled at him for that performance are all the way wrong. Because like that was less about his defensive wrestling, which wasn't like amazing, but that was more of a Hamzach is really good issue. But like he, his grappling was incredibly defensively focused the whole way through. And so like the first round, okay, you're just surviving. Second round, you're surviving, but like, third round, you got to start taking risks, and he never did. He never, he never created.

And had he, maybe he gets finished because maybe now Hamzat has more openings, but he was not willing to take risks. And Hamzot really wasn't willing to do so and didn't need to. You know, people always made this argument about Israel Dissania and his title reign. Like, if you're winning, winning's the most important thing. You don't need to take risks. I was always consistent for every champion, every fighter in this position, like you're not just a fighter. This isn't a meritocracy. This isn't the NFL where dubs are the only thing.

Like you are an entertainer. You are, you know, you need to accept some risk at some times when it's like that's minimized risk. If in the last two minutes he had just gone balls to the wall to try and get something, it's very low percentage that he would have lost and maybe he puts a stamp on and everyone's like, okay, hell of it. Like it would have been better for him to finish that fight than not.

And so I would have liked to see it, but frankly, just so wildly impressed with his performance, the best performance we've ever seen of his career. I know people hating it for a lot of reasons.

I think Jorgas is the best fighter he's ever faced and he beat the shit out of him. It wasn't remotely competitive and also showed like a lot of discipline to not get out over his skis and let Jikis in a lot of ways. So ultimately,

these are nitpicks for what was an exceptional performance. You're the mastermaker now. Hamzaa Chamaif is the new champion. Drikas is out of the way. There's no way they're running this back right now. Like, there's just no chance. We have RDR. We have Fluffy Hernandez.

We have Nastradini Muboff and Kyle Baha'aulio getting ready to fight in two weeks' time, I believe. Like, that's coming real fast. Heart of Hearts, pen in hand. Who's the guy? Hamzaa versus fill in the blank So if I'm in charge, it is the winner of Bahia Imov That guy, whoever wins the fight is just the most deserving by a long shot

I actually do think it's going to be RDR Just because post-fight presser Hamzat said he wants to fight at Abu Dhabi Which is October something and I've been told move closer to the like Get it more like yeah there you But apparently Hamzot said he wants to fight in Abu Dhabi, and at the post-fight presser, Dana said he was open to that.

And that sort of turnaround, I just really doubt Bahia or Yimov was going to be ready for it. RDR is obviously super ready at all points in time. So I think what's going to happen is that'll happen at Abu Dhabi. And, you know, RDR is my boy. He going to lose. He going to lose. A lot of people have, I love it. I'm so heartened by the love RDR has picked.

up amongst the fan base in such a short time and the people being like he might be an interest like he is going to lose I will bet him I will support him I'll cheer for him he is going to lose but it'll be great like look if Hamzaa can fight a bunch and be an active champion that'll be amazing for the sport for the division for him for all of us we'll see but I if I'm betting money that's the fight that happens even if I think what should happen is he they wait and he gets you know a fresh ima vahabha bahalio that that is the deserving opponent yeah i mean i will i'll be very surprised if hamzot fights in october uh i know he likes to say things uh i'd be sick if he did if we get hamzot first title defense tom aspinall first title defense on the same card like

that'd be pretty damn same it's not like he took a lot of damage tonight so yeah he could do it yeah I mean, that was probably, from all accounts, that was a long, strenuous, brutal training camp preparing for this guy. It's going to be interesting. If he fights already are, it's basically like he already prepared for him as he just fought. It's the same thing.

He's like, I'm good. It's essentially the same fight, but he's a little bit bigger. He's a little bit bigger. And not as skilled as DDP is overall for, if we're being honest. But it's more skilled in some ways, less skilled than others. Equally is not athletic. And very, he'll just, he'll, I love him to death. I'll support him.

I hope he gets it. I hope I'm wrong. He, they has no chance to win that fight. I would do. I mean, I would love to see the Fluffy Hernandez fight. I think legitimately right the second, the only dude who could beat has a chance of beating Hamzat, stylistically, is probably fluffy. And he's my guy. I just, I feel like that's a year.

I just say, that. I don't say, that feels like a you, your guy thing. I don't think anyone's beating him in the middleweight for the future. Yeah, no, I would not pick him to win this fight. I would pick Hamzat to win somewhat easily. But Fluffy's just an absolute lunatic out there. He's got the cardio. He's got the haughtiness to him.

And he's got a style that he's going to push Hamzat, man. He does not win that fight. But I think like from a stylistic perspective and like the pace he brings, and the style he brings, he might be the guy that could do it, but I just don't see it happen. He has a way to attack him at least. Yeah.

Or like we can maybe squint our eyes and be like, maybe he'll make him tired. The whole build from DDP side was like, we're not going to defend takedowns in the first round. We're going to offensively battle him. Like Fluffy would 100% try to offensively grapple him. Again, there are a lot of critiques you can levy against DDP and I think he deserves many of them.

That is one of them. He said a lot of things that I was very like, I think that's a really smart way to approach it. And then he immediately threw a bunch of kicks, walked backwards and got taken down. I thought you were going to be the hunter because you were not the hunter at any point. And that was a problem.

Yeah. And I know a lot of people pooping the performance, but you know who didn't poo the performance? UFC, because they gave him a bonus. They gave him a performance bonus for this. Yeah, I am a little surprised by it. Fans are fans. No one is telling you you need to love

that performance, I'm not here, like what you like. Obviously, incredibly an impressive performance. And my sort of broad stance here is like people in the chat, you know, people got feelings. There was a whole night of fights. This was built up to such an extent. We were also excited. You were out here with I thought a great take that proved to be super wrong, that this would be the fight of the year, one of the greatest fights that's ever happened.

God, it would have been better if that was the case. God, I wish we had Hunter DDP. Godly. Wasn't the case. No. And so then to have that expectation and get that fight, I understand disappointment. And maybe frankly, a lot of the people commenting had a few. So, you know, not in their best minds.

I've seen a lot of like Hamzat super boring. I'll never watch a Hamzot fight again. Yeah, you will. I mean, you will. That's a lie. And also, like, this is the outlier. I'm not telling you to love this performance, but it's not like there is a history of him being boring.

This is probably the least interesting fight of his career. And so that's one, you know. People should, you should have a little bit more buildup to be like, actually, that guy is not fun before you just kind of throw him out. Yeah, I just don't know what else. This guy had to listen for literally a year since October, since the Robert Whitaker fight, you cannot compete with DDP. If this fight goes past a round and a half, he is going to kill you.

Like, you don't have the gas tank for it. You don't have the cardio for it. You just don't have it. So you have seven minutes to beat this guy. And he heard this the entire time. What better way to make a statement than just to obliterate this guy for 25 minutes? And I mean, just he did, he made, he rendered DDP defenseless. Like, there's, you couldn't do anything.

Like, no one's ever done that to DDP. Like, it was just absolutely insane. Like, it was so incredibly impressive the way he did, the way he did that and just shut that man down. And he had nothing outside of one incredibly fun moment for 15 seconds in the, in the fifth round. DDP had nothing for this man. So, spectacular performance, maybe not the most thrilling. That was a seven-round fight. It would be a DDP finishes him a seven.

Yeah. I think another 10-8 was coming probably if those seven-round fight. I don't think Hamzaa was slowing down for a second. No, he wasn't because he didn't have to. And that's the thing. I'm skeptical that he was trying to send a message so much as like, I think that Hamzaat just approached that fight like a guy in a title fight. And, you know, for all the bluster and stuff that you say about I'm going to kill you or whatever,

like he the most important thing was winning and he found out almost immediately, okay, I can win this without ever being at risk ever at all. And so if something opened, like I thought it was a very, you know, a professional, a disciplined performance. And I think that that was it. He's like, I'm going to win this goddamn belt because that's the most important thing. And he did it. Yep.

Now he can make money in title defenses. That's what's all about. I mean, he could. Maybe that's why he wants to fight Nabidabi because pay-per-views are going away. Well, I mean, yeah, he's going to, I mean, the guarantees are going up for champions anyways. Maybe. I don't know. They might, they don't have to. They can do whatever they want. What are they going to do? Fire is going to say no? No, champions are getting higher guarantees. It's happy. I've talked to a lot of people in the know about this. So obviously the pay-view points go

away, but the guarantees go up in different ways. So good. Hamza got the damn thing done. Any gifts an extra 50 Gs on top of it for getting a performance bonus. 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 will 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. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that

refreshes. Other bonuses were the big finishes earlier on. Tim Elliott gets a submission, went over Kaiusakura. He gets a bonus. That was a sick performance. Carlos Pratchez delivers the spinning back elbow, knocks out Jeff Neal at the buzzer at the end of round one. And everyone's like, wow, that's a spinning back elbow, KO colds them. It's a super rare thing, especially on Pavey main cards. Kind of a little weird, like, just the angle that happened was like, what happened?

And then, no, he died, okay? Yeah, he killed him with the elbow and then a fist landed right after the elbow. And then the next fight happened. We figured if someone's going to get colded, it was not going to be Aaron Pico, but it was. Jesus Christ. One of the knockouts of the year, bud. It will be in the top five.

At worse? Probably. I mean, we still have plenty of year to go, but it's up there for sure. This will be the thing people remember most about this pay-per-view. There's like one singular moment. This is the one. Lorone Murphy holds Aaron Pico.

Aaron's head hits the canvas at warp speed. Laron sneaks in one more big shot. Pico is down for a long time after that. And now, Jed Bishu, Lauren Murphy, everyone, the guy that everyone's like, I don't even want to see this guy fight at the apex anymore

after the Josh Emmett win not that fun, not that thrilling, yada, yada, yada. He's about to fight Alexander Volcanowski for the featherweight title after this knockout. This is incredible stuff. Dude can't, you can't beat him

and now he's highlight reeling people. That knockout is going to be, that's a test of time knockout. Baba O'Reilly before the main card, the video highlight package. That knockout is going to be on this. to be on there forever. What else can you say about Laura on Murphy, Jen?

Hey, great performance. I will say in the preview show, I kind of stood on this corner, because I've been hearing some things that this was a de facto title eliminator. I mean, for a while, it's like pretty clear if Aaron Pico won spectacularly, they liked Pico, they were going to give him a crack out it.

But I've kind of been hearing that it's like, if Murphy won even reasonably, like it wasn't a total snooze fest, he had a real shot at getting the Volk fight you know tentatively for December so I was like I kind of think that whoever wins as long as it's not bad is going to get it and then to do it in that fashion uh you had volt basically immediately tweet his interest in it and at the post fight presser Dana basically okay it's like I'm into that um that sounds like a good thing to me so um I mean that that's how you change your stars in one

one fell swoop basically and so good on Lorone Murphy because like he he stepped in on short notice. You know, this wasn't a fight that was necessarily planned. Obviously, Pico was supposed to fight Molfsar. And so he took an opportunity, made the most of it in the biggest way he possibly could. And it seems, for all intents and purposes, like he's going to fight for the belt. England's going to get a chance in another champ. So obviously, I think another big part of this and this card and one of the big talking points next week on BTL

and all the other programs you'll watch and listen to. Where does Aaron Pico go from here? Because the way people viewed Aaron Pico, and this is, this was true more so than Patsy Mix or Particio Pitbull. And I think some of it is because of age. And some of the people just see like the baseline potential in the sky of just like, wow, when he's on, this dude can beat anybody. And people were like, well, if he goes out and loses Lauren Murphy, like, it's not

the end of the world. He can come back. Like, he'll still be champion. He can still fight for the belt someday. I know you were one of the guys that said, look, Aaron Pico, He was incredibly talented. I'm believing in this man. Not only am I believing in him to beat Lorone Murphy,

I'm believing in him to win the belt someday. After what you just watched tonight, do you still feel that way? I don't know, man. It's tough. It's real tough. I definitely like, I've always thought Lorone was really good, but I didn't know, you know, like how good. This was such a good performance,

and I'm certainly higher on loan than I was. before. For Pico, it's just like, there's obviously a world of talent in there. His career has been so up and down. You know, don't want to write him off, one performance, USC debut, maybe some octagon jitters, because he was a bit frantic at points, and the knockout was, to some extent, a direct result of him getting a little too aggressive at a point in time and Murphy taking advantage. But, you know, he's not like 22 anymore like he is an older man like he he's like hitting the problem of his career I still always bet on talent and so I don't know that he'll hold the belt I still believe he'll fight for a belt I guess and maybe he'll get a belt but um this is really tough and I don't know

where you go with him like honestly I kind of wish they would do the pit bull fight and no pit bull now has been booked against Keita um but like that was would just kind of be a fun thing to do. But otherwise, give him some dude and let's figure it out. He's going to need a good break, certainly, after that. And, you know, like a Dan Ege, something like that to find out where he is. Boy, oh, boy, that's a super.

That's a dangerous fight, too. You got to find out where he's like, is he a guy that we need to invest in? Like, I don't know. He's too old to be like, all right, let's build him back up. Like give him somebody, maybe not Dan, somebody in that. Do you do like an Andre Feely? Maybe, maybe an Andre Feely can get a main event as AK wanted for him so badly.

That's not the worst idea I've ever heard. That's very funny. Yeah, it's got to be super interesting. Again, I'm always a bit hesitant with these guys coming over. I was very hesitant with Patchy Mix. Patchy at least Aaron like had a full camp and I think when Aaron like reacts to this it's not going to be like Patchy where he's like I dare to be great

I think Aaron's just be like shit man No Aaron's always really good at that he's like shit man he killed me To that point is total digression Super proud of Drichis my boy My beautiful big dumb idiot boy Zero excuses There's no I don't know if he did the post presser and did any but like all he did was put Hamza out over.

He's like, yeah, man, I lost, totally deserves it. I'm going to come back saying at the end of me. That dude deserves, I'm not the champion. That dude's the champion. That's the champion who deserves to be the chance. That's how you fucking lose. Like that's, there's, you just, I don't care. I don't care if you died, if your heart stopped of like an hour before the fight,

you don't say shit. You just say, well done, hats off to the man. He got me. I was super proud of him for that. Well done, my boy. Yeah. No daring to be great. He didn't dare to be great.

He didn't like, look. And then after he did it, Hamza put him over and was like, hey, you know, this is the only champion who's willing to fight me. None of these other jokes were out here trying to, trying to scrap with me. And he was like, I want to fight that dude. Dude, he could have moved up. If he said, I want to fight Alex Pereer after the Strickland ass open, like, they would have done it. Yeah. Like they would have absolutely, they would have done it.

And you just said, no, I want to fight homes on. Yeah, no, I want to fight that dude. I want to fight that guy. And he got what he wanted. And it was a tough night at the office for him. But shout out to, I just wanted to make sure that that be known. Shout out to my boy. Because that's how you lose.

It's really easy. The history of losing is how you do it. And he did it correctly. So my boy, so proud of you. The last thing I'll say about Aaron Pico is, yes, he's not 22. He's 28. He's been brutally caoed a lot. He's had some tough friends.

That's what is that that's the that's the third time he's been brutally knocked out. Corales colded him, Borch colded him. And then this was like this is next level of colding. Yeah, it's really, really bad. There's a really tough. You can't keep you. I mean, you can't keep getting just obliterated like that. It does.

It's going to catch up to you. That and it also just like not that his chin is weak, but his shit obviously ain't like bulletproof, you know, so that's tough. If you're just not durable and he's maybe not the most durable, I mean, that elbow is going to knock out most people, but, you know, it just happens a lot. You start to think maybe that's a weakness to him at all. And especially with how aggressive he is, when you are aggressive, it puts you in a line of fire and he fucking ate one tonight. Should Pico go to 55? I don't think that that's going to help his situation.

Maybe less of a week. I could build up a little bit more. I don't know, man. Fight the Michael Chandler's of the world. No, I mean, he could fight some old dudes, which would help him. But, like, I think the issues of Pico are more tactical and sort of the fighter he is. And also, like, again, I said this in the watch party. Give the props to Lerone Murphy.

I'm not a Lerone Murphy, like, supporter, frankly. For sure. I'm pretty anti-exam. Lerone Murphy in general. But like, nobody has ever argued, and I certainly didn't, that he was not, like, he's clearly one of the seven or six best feather weights alive and had a good performance. And so, like, I'm, if this becomes a recurring incident with, you know, Pico goes out there and gets smoked up by E.A. or whoever it ends up being, Josh Emmett, then I'd have a little

more concern. Still have some concern. But I'd like a little more proof than, hey, he lost. to the guy who may be the next champion. You know, like, that's, that's okay. Yeah. I mean, look, again, a lot of it comes down to the level of competition. Like, sure, like, this is the best person he fought by about six country miles.

100%. Like, you go back and like, the Leandro Higo win, like, his age is probably his best win. It's aged very well. It's a fifth fight. Yeah, it's age great. But, like, timing and, like, who he finds. fought and when he fought them, like Justin Gonzalez was probably like his best win. Like he go ages better.

But at the time like Gonzalez was this like LFA dude who was undefeated and like super good. And Bellator brought him over and gave him a chance. And Pico just kind of like outclassed him. Did what like did to Gonzalez what Hamza Achimai did to DDP today. Just completely neutralize him and shut him down. So we'll see what happens with Aaron Pico. So Casey's not going to talk because we don't have earpieces. We're going to try to fix that and be able to bring Casey in.

But Casey, let's go to the peeps. I see a lot of super chats up there. Let's fire through these as quickly as possible because it's 206 AM. And shout out to this card that wrapped a little. I didn't think the main event would be, would go. Like I didn't think it would go like that outcome wise. But still, we got wrapped impact earlier than usual. So Sleto, Shemai versus Fluffy, Infantly More.

interesting now. Agreed. Agreed. I still think Shimaiov wins, but I've the exact opposite. I think that fight is deeply less interesting to me. Prior to this, like, we talked about it out to the Fluffy. I was like, I think Fluffy could beat anybody a middleweight. I'm not sure I'd pick him

against anybody, but I think he's alive because he has a superpower. Superpowers matter. I wouldn't say he's 0%, but I am Nobody's beating that, dude. We talked about it on the show when we were before the fight happened.

And I was like, man, I got to tell you, if he goes out there and rolls over DDP and kills him in the first round, I'll be hell of impressive. But I'll still have questions. I'll still be like, I don't know. What's he look like in the fourth, fifth round? But if he goes out there and just beats his shit out of DDP for 25 minutes, which can't happen. He's obviously going to finish him. If he's killing him for that, like he's going to. finish it would never happen but if in some crazy world it happened i would leave that being like

nobody's ever going to beat that guy nobody at this way class is ever going to beat that guy and that's exactly what happened it's exactly how i feel i'm like it's not zero percent that fluffy just makes him tired but like it's pretty close in my mind like that i just nobody currently in the well in the middleweight division is is beating him the old like if he goes up to two over 5. Okay, a lot of those dudes are just huge. And like, maybe if Alex decides to drop back to 185, just for shits and gigs. Oh, God. I mean, that fight is enormous.

I'd be massively interested in that fight. But, like, outside of those two worlds, that dude's winning every time he steps in the cage as far as I'm concerned. I'm picking Shemayev to win pretty decisively. I'm thinking him to beat anybody he fights that's not named Magerman Ankyov. Alex Pereira I would pick Shemiah at 185 I'd probably pick Shmiah

at 205 probably pick Pereira um yere that's probably about it oh yeah that's probably about it yeah honestly at 85 I think

Fluffy is like the only guy who could win um and it's not a big chance yeah but he at least has a style that I was more interested

I was more interested than that fight a week ago than I am tonight. Do you remember what we said after Sean Strickland beat Israel at Asanaa? How fascinated we were about I remember laughing a lot. I remember laughing a lot.

And at the time. Out there tweeting tonight too. Oh, Jesus Christ. It was pretty normal to. He's like, looks like I'm the only guy who's going to be able to outcraple this dude for, I didn't call him, he called him a name. I won't repeat for 25 minutes.

I got to get a couple of wins to get in there against him. So he at least was like recognized. All right. He at least recognized. Yeah. So it wasn't bad, but like it was... You know what? You know what?

If we're going to go meritocratically? I'd actually say Jan might also... Jan Bilhovic might be a really tough fight for Hamzat. Yon, as nobody has ever... After watching the Carl Sleberg fight, I don't know if that's true or not. But nobody's ever looked good. Like, Olberg kicked him a bunch and barely won. Like, Jan's pretty good at defensively wrestling,

and he's gigantic. So, like, that might be tough for Albuhrie. So I didn't expect Hamzat to do what he did. So it's weird to think about like a week later. Like maybe you just, maybe you just throw Strickland in there with Fluffy and just let Fluffy like put him out of his misery at this point. Like maybe you just do that.

Like I hated that fight last week because I just didn't see like the Shamiyaf that we saw tonight like Marabian Shemayef. I did not see that coming. But now I'm just like, all right, let's again, Mr. Strickland is about to go

in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he's probably going to get suspended. He's going to be sussied for some months. He ain't fighting until 2026. Like there's no,

there's no way he's fighting. It's unlikely. And that's not good for Sean Strickland. Like, if the longer he sits out, more guys are going to emerge in this division, he's in a tough spot, man.

Like, you really is. So thank you for the question. Let's continue on. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation, here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet.

Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to AeroPen members on equipped flights. Sponsored by Bell.

Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com. Chris, with this win, is MVP a top five contender at 185? If yes, is MVP versus Adisani of the fights making? I'll make this real quick. Yes, no. It's never, that fight's not happening. MVP was asked about it at a media day.

Like MVP and Izzy are very, very tight. The only way that fight happens is if somehow MVP gets up to the 185, gets up there and fights Hamzot and somehow beats them. And at that point, Izzy, runs off like a couple of really good wins. And then it's just like undeniable. It's MVP versus Izzy. And then it's going to take a lot of money for that fight to happen.

Their boys, they would fight if they got paid millions and millions and millions of dollars. But outside of that, that fight's not happening. So I would like to see it if it could happen in a different world. But that's just not a world we're living in right now. But yeah, I do think. MVP is like in certainly pretty top in the mix as a title contender well like guy has a little bit of a fan base um you know new certain new to the whole conversation um MVP versus strickland would be actually kind of a weird fight too yeah basically i think MVP like depending on what the

matchup he gets one win he could be that's and then MVP versus hamzat would be that would be technically a fist fight And as an ascertaining as a stone cold slaughter. But yeah. So I do think he's in the mix, though. You know, I mean, he's going to be number nine come Tuesday in the UFC rankings. I think you give him the loser of Imovov and Bahalio. Yeah.

Like, just throw on the – Let's see what you got. If he beats on all those guys, like he's in a – No real wrong way to eat the recess. You do whatever. It's fine. Yep. Thank you for the Creschen Cruz.

I think I just said Crescia. I didn't mean to. Uh, Maul. Uh, was hyped for main event, but Hamza, put me to sleep. Hey. Look, I get it, man. I'm not here to tell you you needed to like that. You like what you like.

And that was not the most action-packed thing. He was in neutral for a lot of it. Um, you got to respect it, at least as an impressive. It's how I felt about Marab, right? Like, I didn't care for most of Marab's fights. I would never not respect what Marab accomplished. It just wasn't for me. And if that wasn't for you, that's okay.

I would just caution you, this is the worst, like, this is the worst fight of Hamzat's career. Every other fight has been an absolute demolition or a really fun fight. And then like the Usman fight was like less fun than the Burns fight, but so okay. Yeah. Weird circumstances. Yeah. Yeah. And short notice, like super weird circumstances.

This one, you know, I'm again, not here to tell you it was great. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. If this becomes the new Chimaev, then okay, just rip it on him. He's earned the benefit of the doubt not to be like every, he's the most boring champion. He's going to be in the hall. Him and Gilbert Burns is going to be a Hall of Fame fight. Like it's going to be a Hall of Fame fight. So he's not that boring.

He just, he destroyed a man. He completely neutralized him. He destroyed a champion. is what it is. They destroyed the champion. A valid champion. Entertaining? Maybe not the most entertaining.

Impressive? A hundred percent. Astonishingly impressive, frankly. Yeah. Okay. What else we got? Spencer, like Jed, big DDP fan, and I was shocked it was so one-sided. Habib only has three title defenses, but was so dominates, he considered top ten all the time.

If Hamzok continues to dominate, can you be similar with only three to five title defenses? Yes and no. Habib gets one. being top 10 all time, that's not going to age that well, just in general. Like he probably is. Habib gets a huge bump by being the greatest lightweight ever, because lightweight is the best division. And so being the best of the best division,

even if your resume is lacking relatively. And he had 28 wins, which is gaudy in a big impressive number. Hamzok competing in a weight class with arguably the greatest ever in Anderson Silva. you know, Izzy, I think Izzy's a top 20 all-time fighter. And so like he'll need to stack accomplishments. Like it's just part of the life, guys. Like it's, I know MMA fans don't want to hear this,

but the game isn't how fast can we do this? It's greatness is a measure of accomplishment over time. and he like right now I said this already I'm going to keep saying it for years to come or until I'm wrong

no one's beaten that dude but I've said that about a lot of other people and then out of nowhere someone comes and beats that dude you know Chris Wyman upsets Anderson Silva and beats that dude

holy shit that who thought that would happen Fabricio Verdoom taps Fador oh shit that wasn't supposed to happen Matt Sarah, knocked out Jersey to hear. Like, we can feel this. I'm not telling you not to feel that that guy's unbeatable because it's fun.

But there is a world of difference between what we feel and what we think may happen and what does happen. It's why they fight the fights. And so, like, he'll have to put some together. He'll have to put a real sustained title run because, like, that is the currency of greatness in the sport. And it's tough at middleweight. because there's a big lineage of accomplished people in front of him. So, like, yeah, if he racks up like six wins, you know, if he racks up three title defenses, right?

And so then he's tied with Chris Wyden and then goes up and gets to light heavyweight belt. Some people will argue it and be like he never lost, he did this. And there's, there is the case. But like, if that's all he does, then in 10 years, it'll be like, okay, well, somebody else actually put together seven title defenses because they have. hung around. And then it's just like, Habib is great now. And Habib will be a Rocky Marciano figure of he was

undefeated, et cetera. But it's just not going to age that well because that's how the sport works. And also, who fucking knows? Homsom might win 30 in a row. Like we don't, the first question we have to ask, it doesn't have to be like, what is the future? It's like, hey man, let's be along for this ride. Because also, let us not forget. Knock on wood, God hope this doesn't happen.

This is a dude who, like, retired because he was sick a bunch. Like, at any point in time, the Hamza train could stop because of outside things. And so, like, we don't need to play the, like, where can he end up game? We can just see. Let's just see. Because right now he looks unbeatable. And God willing, we'll get to fight a bunch. And that'll be cool and we'll get to find out.

Next question. Chase, to think that Moves are pulled out of. of the Pico fight for Lorone to take the fight on short notice and end up getting the title shot is hilarious. He won't fight for the belt until 2027 at this point.

Don't think that's true. I think he'll fight for the belt in 2026. Because there's going to be nobody else. I mean, it depends. He's just nobody else. But yeah, but if John Silver, which is dumb,

he's Diego Lopez. That's a good point. He's right in there. I kind of feel like, I kind of feel like if John does do that, he's going to have to fight Moversar. they'll make that fight I don't know man maybe it is tough

I feel for Mousar I think he got stuck with a bit of an undeserved bad rap he should have been the guy to fight bulk just because Dana White didn't know who he was yeah and so tough but there you go Dana White confused him with Chris Curtis and Mark Andre Barrio on that faithful night

in Canada at least that's my take and I stand by it yeah tough tough one from Mobsar he needed a Lorone Murphy by decision real bad. Probably would have guaranteed him a title fight, but yeah, when Volk immediately tweets about you and you have a forever knockout,

you're getting a title fight. And yeah, that's it. That's how you do it. You take advantage of the windows. Next question. Love this card in Wild to see PFLOtor go down again. 911 Lorone, clearly obese early analysis of him versus Volk,

better match up for Volk than Pico, in my opinion. I don't think that's true. Yeah, I don't know if you mean better as in like easier for Volt than Pico. I think Pico could have presented problems to Volt, but also we've seen Pico have a lot of flaws. I'll be picking Warren Murphy against him because Volk's old and Lauren Murphy's really good and that's it. Like, it's just, I thought Volk looked really old against Diego Lopez. I know it was, it's an incredibly impressive to be old and win fights. Like, that is the hallmark of true greatness in my mind, like all-time, legitimate forever greatness.

But he, like, looked super old against the guy who's incredibly limited. Diego Lopez did like three things in that fight. And Volk was prepared for them, but he still got jawed a whole bunch because he's fighting a big, strong dude. A huge feathery. That just happens. Laurel Murphy is wildly, more technically proficient than Diego Lopez, at least certain than the striking department. You know, grappling. Diego is actually a phenomenal grappler.

But, and I would say can present some really difficult challenges for Alexander Volcanowski. Volk is an all-time great. And so he could still win, but I'll probably pick Murphy. Thank you, Spencer. Next question. R.S.40, middleweight has been for the last 10 years dominated by strikers. It is a change of guard now, Jed. Welcome to Lerone's bandwagon.

How do you see the Volk fight? I would not say I'm on the Rone's bandwagon. Again, I've never disputed that Lerone Murphy was a phenomenal fighter. I just didn't care for him. Still, you know, one fight is not going to shift my opinion. I will say that was awesome and incredibly cool, and I will take nothing away from it. I would not say I'm on the bandwagon. Because also, like, it would be disingenuous to be like he won me over with the one thing.

Like, no, no, I'm on the bandwagon of the guys. I'm on the bandwagon of. I rarely come to bandwagon late, like late, unless there's some real specific reason. And even if Lerone, like, wins the Belt and is awesome, he's not the sort of fighter. I mostly like real weirdos. And his game is not like a weirdo game. So, no, but hell of a performance. Sure.

Can't say anything other than that was dope. Next. Rastafari, huge props and positive feedback on the timeline video for this fight. Please do more of that. Jedd, I thought the main event does not go to the distance was a lock. RAP climb. Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest about a couple points of this. The first one is I didn't feel amazing about it.

But like, I've talked about this before. I do like to have the climb be on air. there was nothing I loved this week. The one I was looking at the most and was like felt the best about was the O 1 1 1⁄2 in the MVP-Kan-year fight. But it just seemed less fun and I liked the main event

doesn't go the distance thing. And if you had told me beforehand that Hamzot was going to win, I would have felt unreal about it. I'm like, hell yeah, main event doesn't go the distance. Lock that one in, baby. Just didn't see this particular

set of outcomes coming. It's also only the fourth step. I mean, it sucks, functionally $100 down. But we'll start back up, and we're going to start back up next week as Zhang Mingyang. I already know that 100%. So, you know, the climb is a tough journey. We're going to get right back on that horse.

Thank you. Next. Luke Luna, I never called it a lock. Never once in my life did I call it a lock. You dumb, dumb bastard. because it's two in the morning. I'm not going to deal with you lying about things I've said. Harmon hindsight is 2020,

but looking back at it when Mozar been a better stylistic matcher for Pico than Murphy was, very interesting to see how the original matchup would have gone. I've said this publicly on shows. I thought Mozard of Lloyd was going to kill Aaron Pico. I would have picked Movesa to win. I didn't even think that fight was competitive. And I've said,

at it. I don't remember which exact shows, but it was interesting because if Pico had derail the Mavsar train, like, that's a huge moment. He's absolutely getting a title shot. And this is the right matchup to put Mowzar in a position to get a finish and be like, see, this is the fucking guy that I've been trying to push. I was just playing mind games trying to build this young man's confidence up, yada, yada, yada.

I thought Mozar was going to absolutely obliterate Aaron Pico. I just thought it was like weird fight. I love it. but it was also like Aaron's 28 like he's taking a big risk this is like you're dare to be great moment to fight the undefeated guy the uncrowned champion that a loss wouldn't have hurt him like that bad because he was also doing the UFC a favor he made Moves are fun now they can present him as a title challenge is a threat for the title and at the same token you know if

pico had won that fight and beat of Lloyd like they did him a favor by getting him out of the way and then he would go fight for the the belt. Like, it was a good matchup for what could have happened. Having said that, I didn't like Pico's chances at all in that fight. I thought it was a horrific matchup for him because Movisar hits way

harder than people give him credit for. And I actually thought, like, he would have knocked out Aaron Pico in this fight. That's how I saw it, but we'll never know. I'll pick Mosezs against most people because I think he's very good of his fights. It is. And so I haven't really seen a lot

of a reason not to pick him, frankly. But he may never get to fight for the belt at this rate. Yeah. Very tough scenes for him. So there you go. Yeah. And I think honestly in hindsight, like watching what happened tonight, Mozart's like, fuck, man.

Like this, like that could have happened. Yeah. It could have been me. Not going to have this dude out. So. And Mozart's just on the Leon Edwards, Bala Muhammad. Just. Which is this.

It's a tough road. You can get. there and shit before this fight i said lorone murphy was on that road and all of a sudden he's not so it can happen in the blink of an eye yep but it is tough yep next question we'll take a couple more uh and then we'll get out of here classic pico look insanely impressive and then get caoed i mean there's a little bit there's a little bit of that in him yeah uh he doesn't seem to he's not like preternaturally durable

in like a way of just like he can go balls to the wall constantly and he is really aggressive in putting himself in the line of fire and that is a combination that will add up to the outcomes that we get. If you are just going to

if you're going to put yourself into harm's way a lot you need to be able to sustain like to hold up to that and he does not appear to be able to do so So it's pretty tough. Next.

Mike, do you guys think that we'll ever get Homzaat at a line that close at minus 200? I personally think they kill me minus 300 minimum no matter who he fights. You know that how to answer is better than me. At middleweight, unless it's Alex, and even then, he probably is minus 300. Straight up, you went too low.

I don't believe there's a person. And after that performance, unless Nasorini and Imov literally decapitates Kyle Bahalio with an uppercut, there's no way that the winner of that fight against Hamzat is, like Hamzat's going to be like minus 450 against just about anybody in the weight class. Like, honest to God, Alex returning is the only fighter I can see getting it remotely close to even money. everything else like he it's minus four 500 not minus three certainly not minus two yeah uh we'll take two more casey uh her boss time for jess gon drudge to think about retirement she had her moments in her fight against loopie but seemed to lose her fastball a little bit a little bit didn't see one one second in the fight i was traveling so um i can't comment on this one it was it ended up being

end up being a lot more fun than I think it probably had the right to be like loopy probably should have 30. Luke is usually fun. Yeah, Lupy probably should have a 3027 her. She let Androch kind of get back into the fight. I did have a lot of that on Lupy, so all right.

Yeah, and look, like we, there was sort of an internal argument going on in the Slack channel. It was like, you know, there were some people who were like, loopy looked incredible. And then there's the other side that was like, well, Androch is washed,

but both things can be true. Little of Colum A, little of column B. Yeah. Like, Loopi is a, loopy's going to be ranked, I think Androge is ranked

like a top five fighter. So she's going to get, let me see what she is in the, she's five, androge is five in our rankings. That's at Strauthy. Five in the O.C. rankings.

So like, Lupy's not a top five fighter. She just not. No, she's up 10. She's, yeah, she's,

she's a borderline top 10 fighter. And that's pretty good. She might now be top five because strawweight has had no new bodies. they're starting to age out. But she's like, she's already lost a Dern. Like that was,

that was a tough one. But again, McKenzie Dern, probably future champion. So we're not holding it against. Nothing would make you happy. Yeah, well,

there would have been some of the, if, if Dreykis had gotten the crank, that would have made me happier. But yes, McKinsey Dern is champion. But look, Loopie,

loopie. Again, a goofball. That's all the fighters I like are just total weirdos. Loop. Loopi versus, Loopi versus Yasmin Lucendo is one, trillion percent the fight to make.

There's no other fight to be made for Loopy or for Yasmin. That makes a ton of sense. Yeah. Well, that makes sense. Yasman's number seven. She just beat Angela Hill. She's on a great run right now. So yeah, that fight makes total sense.

Yeah, she beat Angela Hill and Angela Hill has a win over Loopy. So, yeah, MMA math. Let's party. Let's go. Thank you for the great content. There's always Emmy fighting. Happy to give it. No, no, no.

Thank you. It was a really, it's been a really fun night. fights. It was very fun. The main event, the exact opposite of what I thought was going to happen. The whole time I was like, even if the rest of the card sucks, the main event will be so dope. We'll all leave happy. It wasn't dope, but it was impressive.

And so, you know, ended on like a slate down, especially for me, you know, South Africa forever. But the rest of the evening and even the main event was so impressive and had the fun little moment where I could talk myself into the most miracle comeback that's ever happened. If, if DDP got that choke outside, not even talking about how much joy would have filled my heart, I may have actually exploded from pure happiness. Would they have done an immediate rematch? They have been like, look, we know you. One trillion percent.

Like we know you won and so you won. But like we kind of have to do this again. Oh, yeah. That would have been the first main event on Paramount. That would have been so... That I'm at a CBS pay-per-view. Not a paper-view. It would have been a CBS car.

I'm now left to desperately hope that Hamzaup pops or something. He won't because drug testing isn't real anymore, but God, that would also be funny as hell. Yes, unless you're Alvin Hines. Shout out to Alvin Hines. What a hero. Hey, but to the credit of Alvin Hines. I know, yeah. We're talking about so other.

He tested positive pre-UFC stuff. Yeah, he just like was working. at his union job and just I love that presser from the press release so they're like it's pretty clear he just didn't tell us he did all the steroids because he came in short notice

and so he just like left it out of his thing but like pretty obviously like he just was doing a lot of them before he joined up oh man all right we're getting out here I do want to shout Alexander Hernandez though big shouts

dude probably should have got a bonus to big upset. He's one of the biggest dogs on the card. He knocks out Chase Hooper in the first round. Jimmy Suss. I think he was the second biggest dog on the card behind Eric Nolan. I'm trying to go. I know.

No, no, no, Joseph Morales, I think. I think Alibaldiazrease was pretty big. So also big, like that was a really big upset. Yeah. But yeah. And Jimmy Suss? Hernandez did the thing. Mikhail, Gzechek, gets the big finish.

All in all. this was, I mean, the Crane and a Silva, Deani Barboza fight wasn't like the best fight. It wasn't the worst. But if like there was a downer, it was probably that, mostly because like there was somehow incredible controversy in that fight. People were literally calling it a robbery and Daniel Carmier went on a two-minute tangent about bad judging for that fight when most people scored that fight for Greenie Solo. But it is what it is. about a lot of favorite things. Yeah, it's silly.

More content tomorrow. AK and I will be live on to the next one. I think we're going to go live. I'd like to give an hot no pick right now. Let's go. June Eastern, by the way, for that. For my wild card pick, it is trick is 2 plus D versus Ryan.

There are five rounds. I mean, that goes to the other. I need that. I need that to happen. I need air in my lungs. I do want fluffy RDR as well. But seeing what happened, we can, we can currently go.

It's not, the thing is it's not going to happen. and I honestly, I believe RDR is going to take Hongball and Bobby Bobby. That's the big thing that's happening. And, look, I know the truth. Tonight is the last night I will say that Hamz all beaten. Because after tonight, we're living in dream home. We're all the shout from the cops. My big, beautiful idiot, boy.

He's going to knee him in the belly and Hamza's going to hold him and die. Or he's going to like on the bottom. It's good. I can't. I don't know. what he's going to do because it's going to happen. I'm going to speak in existence. God,

but big, dumb, maybe a cool, beaten bell holder. I'll be the happiest person. Well, we are happy that you're able to join us throughout this tonight. UFC 319 in the books officially. We'll see you tomorrow for on the next one. Shout out to Casey on the ones. Road to China? Good night, everybody.

Love y'all. Dang hi. That's what it's called. Not UC China. What a dumbass I am. You're listening to the Vox Media podcast network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

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