MMA Fighting - UFC 322 Preview Show | Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev Superfight Caps Off UFC's Best Lineup Of 2025

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

UFC 322 is arguably the UFC's best lineup since UFC 300, and in the main event, Jack Della Maddalena defends the welterweight title against former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in a superfight. Can Makhachev be among the all-time elite, or does "JDM" pull off an upset to shake up the current pound-for-pound rankings? Ahead of Saturday's blockbuster pay-per-view event, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee preview the card, the main event between Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev, the historical stakes attached to it, and where the division goes from the promotion's return to Madison Square Garden. Additionally, they discuss the incredible co-main event for the women's flyweight title between Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Weili, the rest of the loaded main card, low-key matchups, answer listener questions, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

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The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. everybody hello there everybody let's do this we are very excited ufc 322 is a day away we just had official weigh-ins earlier this morning we'll talk about that here we'll talk about just about just this massive event as the ufc returns to madison square garden the mecca the world's most famous arena and i have to tell you ladies and gentlemen i am fired up for this card i have been fired up since ufc vegas 111 ended i was fired up way before that but once ufc vegas 11 ended i knew we were getting ready we were getting primed we were getting prepped

for in my opinion the best fight card of 2025 for the ultimate fighting championship they gave it they're all this feels big it feels like a card that belongs in madison square garden and i know jedd sort of laid out outside of ufc 205 this is probably the best lineup the ufc has ever had at madison square garden and i would have to agree of course the main event we have jackdello madalana defending the ufc walterway title against the former lightweight champion islam maca chef who makes them move up from 155 pounds And he was a dominant champion there. He's taking a risk.

He's betting on himself. He's trying to make some history. And we'll see how it all plays out. Of course, the co-main event. Another big super fight with a dominant champion, a multi-time champion in Valentina Chivchenko, taking on Zhang Wei Lee, the former multi-time UFC Straway champion who vacated her belt to make her way up for her chance to make history. And then the rest of this main car just absolutely rocks.

We have Sean Brady versus Michael Morales. We have the former welterweight champion Leon Edwards taking on Carlos Prachis. And we have Benile Darius taking on Benoit Sontadie. So I am Mike Heck. Bear with me. It's been a long week. Allergies being back here in South Carolina. So throat's a little scratchy, a little nasally today.

But we battle through because even if I didn't have a voice, I would battle through it anyways for UFC 322 so my best friend alexander k lee is going to join me in a few moments he'll talk about what happened at weigh-ins any crazy things that went down of course we found that benille der euse did miss wait honestly if you would have said outside of like the title competitors if you had said who's one fighter who won't miss weight benil derrush probably would have been at the top of the list so i was very surprised by that but He did miss weight. The fight will go forward. 20% goes to Benoit Santini, who is looking to get back on continue on his winning ways. He had a little bit of a setback. Got finished by Dustin Porier, got finished by Hanata Moikano, and then he bounced back with a couple of finish wins of his own. So that's a massive fight at 155 pounds. And as Joseph Boza laid out, he missed by 1.2 pounds, which is kind of interesting because they went with a digital scale in New York, which I love. I wish they would go with the digital scale more often than not, a little more transparency, but it's a, it's a massive event. I'm very excited about this. If I was given this a one to 10, this is like a 9.3. Like UFC 300 is like the top of the top for me. This is kind of right below, honestly. Like I'm, I'm just as excited. This is one of those events where I wish we were doing the watch party like at 8 p.m. where like it for UFC,

300 we did the watch party from the very first fight of the prelims all the way through I don't know if it's that kind of event but the last nine fights are all super duper interesting so like I said AK is going to join us in a couple of moments we'll break down

some some things about the card and it's going to be fantastic but of course the main event that's the one everybody has circled on the old scorecard right now Jack Delamette Elena taking on Islam Machachev and this fight has sort of taken on a life of its own with all the different storylines, all the different outcomes, the aftermath, what could

follow the fight. And when this fight was first booked, I will say this, my initial thought was, I kind of think Islam Machachev is just going to run over Jack Delam, Madalena. And I know a lot of people sort of push back on that when I first said that. But the big reason I thought was Islam Makachev could just take him down at will. And I know that Jack Della Madalana showed a lot of improvement in the Blah Muhammad fight. J.D.M. definitely

had some moments where he was able to defend some takedowns. But at the same token, going back and rewatching that fight, which by the way, if you haven't rewatched Jadem versus Blah Muhammad, I highly recommend it. It is a terrific fight. It might be the fight of the year. If it doesn't win it, it's definitely going to be in the top five. But it's such a great fight.

And the most, surprising part of that fight to me was, because I had picked Bala Muhammad to win that fight, because I expected him to just go out there and pressure, which he did, but he didn't shoot as many takedowns as I had hoped.

I think he fell in love a little bit too much with the stand-up, and by the time he got to that point where he was going to try to shoot and try to wrestle, it was kind of like that moment had passed already. Like Jad M had already sort of done his thing, and for Bala to really have success in this fight,

And he did have success even on the feet, he was going to have to get takedowns. He was going to have to set the tone early. He chose not to do that. So it made the fight a lot more interesting and a lot different than I thought it was actually going to be. In this case, there's definitely some variations that come with this fight. And to join me to discuss the differing variations is my best friend Alexana. Kay Lee. Okay, welcome.

how are you sir thank you i am dude i am i am so excited uh sorry everyone about me being late i was just covering the uh you bank ben two ceremonial wands both men on weight no drama this time you guys remember back in april a little bit of drama with uh chris ubank that cost him 500 grand after missing on the scale so uh none of that none of that today but damn guys what a saturday we have ahead of us u sd 322 and you bank bent too oh my goodness it is good to be a fight fan I'm so pumped, dude. I'm so pumped for EFC 32, but I was, I was talking about the main event. And my initial thought about the main event was, man, Islam's just going to beat them.

Like, it's, I think JDM will, we'll show flashes and have moments, but I think this is, this is Islam's fight to lose. And then the more I go back and watch their past fights, especially JDM Blal and some, some different things and going back and watching Islam fight Volkanowski that first time, it's just some, even the Dustin Porre fight, I'm starting to feel like the gap has closed a little bit on this fight, where I'm kind of went from, all right, I think I know how this is going to go to, I don't really know how this is going to go.

Like, there are some differing factors looking back at the ball fight, looking back from the first Makachov-v-vokovsky fight, where I feel like this fight could be a classic AK. Your thoughts on this incredible, incredible main event, a little more than 24 hours away. I'm surprised, especially here you say that you're, you're veering a little bit more toward back towards center, my best friend, because I know earlier this week, or at least

heading into Fight Week, you're pretty confident, I thought, about your picks in the top two fights. But I'm where you are going now, or I've been here where, like, I'm only slightly tilicking in one direction, but these top two matchups, and yes, we'll focus on the main event. Delam Adelaidellana and Makachev, it feels so close. I mean, that Balal Mohammed, beating Balal for the title was really the perfect setup for Islam, right? Because Islam, you know, has been talking about possibly moving up to 170 for some time. You know, he had business to take care of a lightweight, which he did.

There was the possibility that Toporio fights. So we all kind of felt like, oh, is there a chance that he hangs around and fights Toporia first? But, you know, he made his own moves. And that's fine. I think I think we have to respect that. And then it just so happens that he beats a guy who has trained with Islam on multiple occasions. A guy who, though he mostly struck with JDM, was previously known for sort of having, you know, emphasizing wrestling. I think people forget there were some takedown attempts in the first fight.

It certainly wasn't, you know, Balal trying to force the issue with his wrestling, like he has in some other fights. So I get it. People kind of forgot. But I do think some of the reason the fight was standing was because JDM showed a bit of takedown defense, right? Islam and Balal are two different beasts. I'm not saying, oh, well, if you can stop Balal's wrestling, you can stop Islam's wrestling, totally different things. I get it.

But it really was the perfect setup for this fight because you could, you know, after J.D.M won a pretty convincing decision over Balal. And we all knew the Islam fight was coming. We were all kind of like, well, man, if he could do that, he looked really good against Balala, a guy who was on a huge win streak or unbeaten streak, I just say. so i i i was very tempted to just pick islam right away because islam is our pound for pound uh number one guy in the m a fighting list but it just doesn't feel so simple it feels like

it feels like we might be seeing excuse me i don't know hi pilar and j dm he might be at the beginning of his own epic run right like we see him as the guy who's sort of standing in the way of islam making history islam becoming a two division champion establishing himself as one of the maybe the seven or eighth best, you know, Mish martial artists of all time. But maybe that's not the story that's going to unfold on Saturday. Maybe it's JDM who's starting his run. And three years from now, we're talking about, man, remember when JDM beat Islam?

Remember when he beat Bala? And then he went on to win six, seven straight more fights. This crazy 20-something fight win streak. It's hard to tell you've got these two narratives, you know, smashing into each other, which is just awesome. I mean, when you're a fight band, that's exactly what you want to see. And stylistically, it does feel like JDM has the tool. to beat Islam. Great takedown defense, good striking, great cardio. But that's all on paper. And

again, he has not fought anyone like Islam yet. Really, no one has until they step in there with him, right? The guy might be the best fighter of this generation. Yeah. And what makes this fight so interesting is that Ballal did have success on the feet. He did land 155 significant strikes. It was competitive even on the feet. Belal did land three takedowns in the fight. But I think he had a total of three minutes of control time, maybe a little over. So, like, didn't make a huge difference. And again, Balal didn't set that narrative early. He waited like pretty long into the fight to get takedowns. And even so, like Jack was was very good at defending and not letting Bilal, I guess, Bilal him. And obviously Islam is a is a overall better grappler than Bilal Mohammed. Belal is very good. But mostly because of pressure, he just wears you down. He takes your energy bars and just just chips away at it over and over and over again. Jack is very hitable, which is one of the things that I've noticed like defensively not as sound and maybe it's just because he was surprised that ball was just going to stand there and throw 350 punches at him throughout the

course of that fight so that could be something as well but islam i actually think is a better striker than belal too so that makes this one interesting like could islam could jack lure him into a fight where islam just falls in love with his striking the way he did this with ball it's possible but islam is is very detail oriented he is incredible defensively i think he's super underrated in that aspect so i cannot wait to see how this fight plays out i i really can't so is the biggest question for you the biggest question everybody else has because there there is no world just none where jack delamatta laid up pulls an alex perera against macabedek alive in the first fight where islam's going to shoot 12 to 15 takedown attempts and not

get him down once like he's going to take jack down in this fight is it as simple as can jack just get back up can he avoid long stretches of control time is that the biggest question you have or is it something a little deeper than that where hey maybe islam can't strike with him because jack has proven to be so hitable in this fight so how deep do the do the underlying questions go for you yeah this to me on paper has a huge chance to become a striking battle Um, it's such a weird narrative that like, uh, you know, this is a striker versus, I shouldn't say it's a weird narrative. It's a pretty like, I think it's too simple. It's too simple a narrative to put this as striker versus grappler because I don't know why Islam's striking remains so underrated.

I get it. I think that, you know, I think, uh, the Porre fight, I think, because like some of those rounds were close. Um, you know, they view that as well, Islam can't strike. I mean, Justin Porre is one of the best lightweight strikers of all time. So, yeah, maybe he got outstruck in some of those rounds. It doesn't mean Islam's a bad striker. And then the other misconception comes from the, uh, the Volkanowski fight. That I think some people view as like, oh, it was just Islam winning some of the rounds with

his wrestling. If you watch, and I've said this so many times, one, it's a more convincing win for Islam than I think people remember. Like Volkanowski is awesome and Volkanowski like being able to handle, like survive with Islam on the ground, a much bigger guy was so cool to watch. It's a great fight. It's one of my favorite fights of this, uh, probably this decade. Um, but Islam outstruck Volk.

I mean, he outstruck him. I don't know why he doesn't get enough credit for that. He beat Volk on the feet. There were some close exchanges. Don't get me wrong, but he beat Volk on the feet. He's a great striker. He absolutely can win a striking battle with Jack Delam Adelina. He's going to, of course, mix in the wrestling.

I mean, that is a tool that aids Machashev striking. His striking is so good because his opponent has to be aware of the takedown, has to be just getting a body locks, getting ragdolled. Like, they complement each other. But if it stays on the feet, that is definitely a battle that Maccachev can win. Now, the big question is, is for me is will this be a fight where let's say makachab is outstriking jdm one thing jdm definitely has that makach doesn't have is he he's going to have that potential one-shot chaos power um he doesn't

rely on that like we've seen jdm again win some you know prolonged technical striking battles but there's also that guy that you know needed to reach down deep and just blast gilbert burns in the third round of a fight that he was going to lose i mean jadm was losing to gilbert burns if we if we forget but he has that power and he came back and just took gilberens out he can do that islam cannot do that i would be stunned i mean we have that balkynopsie head kick outside of that i'd be stunned if islam could just uncorks some strike and just floor jdm with one shot would really really surprise me but we know jddm can do it the other way so will this be a fight where again islam can strictly just outtack him

for five rounds what if jdm scores a knockdown in there somewhere what if he stuns uh islam and has him stunned against the you know kind of defending against the fence in there how the judge is going to see that will those outweigh moments where let's say again is maybe has the advantage in total significant strikes you know whatever the graphic they want to show on screen so if it is it's going to be really tense if it's a striking battle and i wonder what jdm strategy is going to be whether it'll be to just kind of go again you know uh boxing just straight up boxing with them or hey let's make this dirty and i'm going to throw some bombs and if i catch them can totally change the complexion of the fight it's such a good matchup one of the

things that I took away from re-watching JDM-Belaw, because when we're watching it the first time, it's either we're working or we're live-blogging or in Jedd-in-I's case, we were doing the watch party. So there's only like so much to focus on when there's like a billion things happening around you. But one of the things I really took away from the Balal rewatch with JDM was he mixed things up a ton with his striking. Like his leg kicks were such a weapon in this fight. they were such a weapon and even when jdm started kind of slowing down with the leg kicks and they were accumulating over time he was rip into the body like really well he was throwing kicks he's throwing punches to the body like he was doing he was mixing things up in a big way and keeping

ball all guessing i don't know if the leg kick will be such a big weapon in this fight because of the threat of the takedown because i mean one one moment here in a round like if he throws a kick that is ill times like he could end up on his back for the rest of the round and that you don't want to sit there and have to play catch up against a guy like islam makachev because he's so good at just finding ways to to sneak these rounds out so one other thing i wanted to to kind to discuss is you know if this fight goes long because i've seen this narrative as well that well you know islam tends to slow down down the stretch go look at the volk fight and yes at But Islam was also cutting an absurd amount of weight to make lightweight and defend his belt.

And you had to make championship weight every single time. If this fight goes long, AK, if we end up in rounds four in rounds five, who has the advantage there? Do you think JDM, because of what you saw in the Blah fight, maybe he can kind of go downhill from there? Or do you think Islam because he doesn't have to cut as much weight, it won't affect him as much? Who do you think has the advantage in the championship rounds in that aspect? Man, I can't see either guy, like just breaking like that. just from, from a conditioning standpoint, it would really surprise me and disappoint me a little bit.

I just can't imagine it. I mean, if people want to talk about, you know, Um, Makachev in the later rounds, you know, this I brought up the Porreya fight. That's a fight where, again,

people said, oh, he lost a couple, I think he had lost two of the rounds on two of the judges scorecards, if I'm not mistaken. And then he was up on the other one, up like three to one on the other one. Um,

he certainly didn't look bad in the last round of that fight. If anything, I thought he reached down deep for that amazing, like, sort of ankle pick on, uh, Porier, get him down, get the choke, his grappling is what he does best that's not something you can do if you have poor conditioning

and if you and you struggle in the fifth round that that is the move of a guy who um i think knows how to conserve his energy maybe the body language isn't always great uh we should also add if we're going to bring up the wolkenovsky's example that first fight was was pretty like high pace and even the grappling the moments where mackichel was controlling with grappling takes a ton of energy that took a ton of energy especially since um wokenovsky wasn't exactly just like accepting positions vulcanowski was like fighting the whole time So I think any cardio comments about Bacchab are a little bit overblown. I expect this to be highly competitive from opening minute until the last minute.

Assuming, Mike, that we're both, are we both thinking this goes to a decision? I don't know. I think we're going long here. I think of a fit. Honestly, I think if a finish happens is coming from Islam. I think the finish comes from Islam. Like he gets a submission, gets some early control time. Maybe he is just a hoss at 170.

I mean, he looks like he is filled out to the weight class very, very well. Because I know that's a big narrative as well, where, well, maybe he's just, he's going to be undersized in this fight. I don't think so, man. Even Dustin Porre told me, like, dude, he was a huge guy there. He's maybe like a little shorter than your average welter rated like 510 or 511. But like build wise and thickness wise, like he fills out to that frame very, very well. The Porre fight is like a great example.

It's a great fight to look back on as well because what you're going to get from Jack Del and Adelaina is essentially is the same thing you're going to get from Dustin Porier, where he's just a dog. Like he's just going to keep dogging until he just can't be that dog anymore. And, you know, that first fight, their fight at UFC 302, Chris Lee had a tide. It was 48, 48, hitting in around five. Sal DiMata, Eric Colon, both had it 3937 for his. Islam, scorecards looked a little different. Sal gave the first three rounds to Islam. Eric gave round two to Dustin Porier, but gave rounds one, three, and four to Islam

Machachev. And that was a really exciting fight, too. I love the comparison to the Dustin Porier fight. As far as the fallout of this fight, because we're going to talk about this in the co-main event as well. And we'll probably get to where the division goes with questions and stuff like that. But I want to talk about kind of where these guys sit, like in different levels. Because obviously Islam is approaching like the elite table, right?

He's he's approaching that that status with the the Johns and the Fedors and stuff like that. Like he's not quite there yet. But a win here and then maybe a couple of title defenses at Welterway. Like you it's you have to let him in at least like the one guy behind the velvet rope trying to get into the club. Like he is right there. And obviously getting a second belt and doing it in the style is huge for him. No doubt about it. How are we viewing each guy coming out of this fight with the win?

Like, Jack is obviously in a great spot. Maybe, I don't think he's the pound for pound number one, but you could certainly make a case if he does win. And then with this Lamakachev, like, we're looking at, yeah, clearly the pound for pound number one. I know I have him there already. Some have Ilya, even the UFC's ranking says Iliate Tuporia, number one pound for pound.

And I'm not going to argue with you, but I think if his sub wins this fight, there is no argument. He's number one. Where do we, what are the discussion is going to be in terms of how great Islam Makachev's career is going to be if he wins this fight? And then for Jack, what are we looking at as far as Jack is the blank best fighter in the world right now, pound for pound? Yeah, Islam's such a tough case because he's, his resume has really been affected by circumstance. There's been like, there should be like a Hafeel de Sanyo's fight on there. He didn't get that.

He ended up fighting, I think that was a Dan Hooker or Dan Hooker or Bobby Green instead. Obviously, he was supposed to fight Armantruchion. He didn't get that fight. He ended up fighting Hanato Moikano, who was booked, scheduled to fight someone else completely on that same card. He was supposed to fight Charles twice. I don't know if a second Charles twice would have mattered that much. Maybe it would have mattered more, though, than fighting Alexander Volcanasi a second straight time on like four days notice or whatever it was. So there's so many little asterisk on Islam's resume, which sucks because it's not his fault.

On paper, it looks fantastic. 27 and 1. 15 straight wins. his loan loss, a knockout to Adrianne of Martins, which, you know, has aged exceedingly well. I'm sure if you run that back 20 times, Islam probably wins the other 20 times. I'm just saying, but we don't know. There is that blemish in his record. And then there's the fact that, yes, you could point to just this weird lack of,

I don't want to see marquee names because there is Porre on there. There is Olivera on there. There is Volkovsky, who was a featherweight competing lightweight. But, hey, that was viewed as a pretty big challenge at the time. And that first fight was extremely competitive. So I think that's a huge. I think that's like a credit to McAchev not necessarily take away from. But yes, it's weird.

It feels like he still has so much more resume building to do for a guy who's 27 and one is four UFC championship defenses. You mentioned guys like Fador. You mentioned guys like John Jones. And you look at the way like the guys they beat. Well, Fadour on his on his way to the top or, you know, various. It's weird that the whole pride championship thing, like they do a lot of tournaments. So it's not like Fador has like.

title defenses didn't really work that way over there just just a lot of big fights tournament wins things like that and obviously the 30 some fights under beat his streak and then you look at the names on there and that's what really matters right um same with john jones look at the names he beat when he won the belt all all the future hall of famers right all the past legends all the past champions and Islam doesn't have that uh and that's out of the control but he doesn't have that so now yes if he adds jdm let's say he beats uh you know more of this current crop of welterweight contenders Let's say he gets to Usman fight, right? Everyone's saying Kumar Usman's going to come back, another former UFC champion and then beats maybe one or two contending, deserving welterweight contenders.

Yeah, then we're talking about a pretty strong resume. But wow, that's like, that's putting a lot on this guy who has already done a lot. But I think you're right, Mike. I think a lot of people would agree with you that you can't put him in that top five, top six tier yet, whether it's his fault or not. And as for JDM, Mike, I don't know, man. I ran a poll during the Wayans this morning. I asked just where would you put him pound for pound right now like the current pound for pound list and some people said number one I think it was like 30% said number one 30 something percent was like what one was like in two to three he'll be in the top three for sure there's like four to six seven to ten so some people put him a little bit lower I have no idea Mike I know I asked on our slack I'm not sure I don't think I would make him number one I don't think I can make JDM number one but right now he's number eight on our pound for pound list it would shock me if he doesn't crack the top five if he'd be

this long i think it has to crack the top five right yeah i think it's i mean you're beating at least in my mind the number one guy like at worst you're probably you have to be two or three you just it's just the nature of the beast so yeah let's get to the nitty gritty because we have so much to talk about here aka it's time to put our proverbial money where our mouths are uh currently according to our friends of fan duel is al mokachev sizable favorite minus 290 the comeback on Della Mataleda plus 225, a.k. Who is leaving Madison Square Guard and the UFC Welfthruid champion? Give me the underdog. It sounds so weird to call him the underdog.

Again, this is the chance. This is the welterweight champion right now. He beat the guy. This is not some guy who won a vacant belt. He beat the guy to become the guy. He beat a guy who was on a long on Bean Street. He's on his own crazy-ass 18 fight on Beanstreet. He has quality wins over guys like, again, Gilbert Burns is a big one. There's some close calls in there. get it. I get it. Just as we pull holes in Islam's resume on his way up to the lightweight title, you can do the same with Jack Delamay Lane. You could really do that with a lot of fighters these days, kind of the way the UFC works. And I know for a fact, I don't even to look at the comments,

I know I'm taking too much away from the Balal fight. Islam is not Balal. I get it. Bilal is not Islam. I know. Just saying a guy has good cardio and wrestles and can strike and saying, and that they train together and saying that they're similar is so reductive and silly. But I did say, see things in that Balaal win that I just wasn't sure that I need to be convinced up with Jack, right? I think we all knew Jack was great. I had a lot of people telling me going into that ball fight. They were like, trust me. People smarter than me were telling me J.DM's going that fight. Very confidently telling me J.DM was going to beat Balaul. I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't sure, didn't believe it. I stuck with my guns. Went with the champion. J.D.M.

Impressed proved a lot of people wrong. So I'm going with them. I think as we discussed, it probably goes to the distance. And I'm kind of going to what I said before. I think jdm will be able to avoid trouble with the wrestling he might get taken down i think he'll avoid again taking too much ground and pound avoid the threat of the submission and he will get the better of the exchanges on the feet maybe not landing more but landing harder landing some impactful moments putting some scares in uh islam makachev and his team getting the crowd going crowd reaction might go a long way too to say unfortunately to sort of influence the judges so every time you know jdm lands big you might get a big like pop there and the judges are going to kind of be like wow did he did he

land harder there that sounded like it landed harder we know he's the bigger hitter um so all these factors i think i have jdm winning unanimous but a close unanimous decision it might like i i can't imagine it being wider than 48 47 if if he's able to take four rounds from islam i'll be blown away but i think it's three to two just enough and still yeah i i think it's going to be three to two either way uh we could be taking a little trip to split city here like this is this is how close i think this fight is from a betting perspective i i'm taking a shot on jdm at plus I got him at plus 240. So for watch party purposes,

like I'm betting on Jack. I just, because I think the fight is so close, this is just a value play. And sometimes that works out for me, and sometimes it doesn't. I think my official pick will be Islam by decision, just eking out around.

Like, he just, he finds ways, man. He finds ways to get a takedown or have a moment that, that changes the course of a round. And because I think these rounds are so quick or so close, yeah,

there's going to be a round or two, where J.D.M, like, lands a big shot down the stretch that inches him to the end of a round. But, you know, Islam could be getting outstruck for three minutes and then lands a takedown. And then he could just end the round on top. So I will go Islam via very close decision. But my money is on Jack because the price is so good, in my opinion. There are other people who feel like Islam is just going to run them over. And before I really started diving in, I felt the same way. but I think Jack brings much more of a challenge than the betting odds indicate and more so than the vast majority of the MMA community seems to think as well.

So cannot wait for this fight. This is why we're fans. This is what it's all about. This is why we love this sport is fights like this where we can talk about it and it's just so close and there's so many different intangibles and like one mistake can change everything. This is one of those fights. I cannot wait for it. Support for this show comes from Odu. a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk

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But I've got to say, as excited as I am for this fight, I think I'm more excited for the co-main event. I'm so pumped for Valentino Shepchenko. versus Zhang Wei Li, aka, love this fight so much. And this is another one of those fights where, you know, people are a little bit torn, but those who are confident in it are like super confident in it. I love, I could not love a fight more than this is just two of the all-time greats getting after it. Valentina is still because of her greatness finding ways to win fights. Zhang Wei seems to be at the peak of her powers right now,

even though she is a little bit older. but she has less mileage on her than Valentina Shevchenko does. God, I love this fight. It's not getting the attention it deserves, but how could it with Islam Makachev being like the star of the show? That press conference, those clips that I saw were absolutely insane of how popular he was and J.D.M. getting booed. But, mad, Shevchenko, Zhang Wei scratches me right where I at JK.

How excited are you for this fight? I love it, man. This is skill-wise, this is the best fight in women's anime history. you'll you'll you'll you'll you've never seen and it'll be a long time again too you will see probably two women this well rounded this accomplished in peak physical shape i know we talked about both them maybe maybe being a little bit older maybe slightly slightly like past their prime just because of all the wear and tear that they have but i mean okay let's just let's say they're at 85% of their primes that's still better than 95% of any woman to ever compete at 125 and 150 pounds

Like, they're just phenomenal athletes in addition to being so well-rounded. Great grapplers, great strikers. I was saying earlier on the Wayan show, I think in most of the major categories, you would give both fighters an A-plus. Like, it's grappling A-plus, striking A-plus, it's almost impossible to separate them. And I think the odds are saying as much. I think Valentina in most places is like the slightest of favorites, but you may as well call this a pick-on. And I just can't blame anyone who doesn't want to make a call on this,

who can't decide. I have sort of made up my mind and like I'm just sort of sitting with that call. Like even after doing more research and upon both fighters, I'm kind of just sticking with what I initially thought just because, like I said, it's impossible to really confidently sway in either direction. So I said just stand pat here. But yeah, this fight is great. I don't,

I'm probably getting caught up in the moment. I do feel like whoever wins this has a really strong case to be considered the greatest women fighter in their history. Amanda's run, Amanda Nunes, of course, unbelievable, unbelievable. She left with a, you know, she left the game on top with all of us thinking, I mean, it's going to be tough to top her. You know, Valentino was close, but we're like, you know, what would they have to do? And then you look at a fight like this, like, oh, this is the kind of fight you would have to do,

is face your one of the other pound for pound great women of your era. Again, Amanda fighting at 135 didn't really have that option. And she did fight Val twice, right? it was a while ago second fight extremely close if you want to score for val totally understand um but outside of that lesson it's it's hard for amanda to have fought the kind of competition that um val and waley have and it's not like valen way lee is also all killers we could pick apart their resume as well so it's close it's a three woman race right now for sure um all through men are phenomenal and look amanda's coming back she might take her claim soon she comes

back beats kill hearson we're talking about her undisputed uh greatest of all time again but i'd be very happy after Saturday if people want to entertain the winner of the co-main event is the greatest women's fighter of all time. I think it's a fun conversation to have, man. I'm not saying it's undisputed. I'm not saying it's ironclad. Very fun conversation to have, though,

depending how Saturday goes. I love this fight so much. I really, really do. The timing is perfect. This is one of those things. Like, I kind of wish they pulled the trigger on it a little bit earlier because I know Zhang wanted it. That's why she was at the Spear. when Valentina fought Alexa Grasso again in her eyes they were setting her up to fight the winner

and you know both have fought since then and in Valentina beat Manifiora which is super impressive to me because one of the biggest questions heading into that fight was like can she out physical someone like Manifiora at this point in her career and she did she did and it was a competitive fight but it was just sort of a you know vet lesson type of performance where hey you're good and you're very strong and very physical, but I've been doing this thing for a really long time and doing it a very high level. So even though Valentina Shvchenko is not, you know,

Pedro Martinez of 1999, she became Pedro Martinez of like 2004, where the changeup was working and painting corners and just, you know, throwing the off speed pitches at the right time, just finding ways to get the job done. And Zhang is just, that win against Tatiazza Suarez was just,

was just so damn impressive and like i i felt very confidently that jang would win i definitely didn't see that coming where she just would dust her up like that it was unbelievable and this fight in particular like i'm not really concerned about as i mentioned islam moving up to 170 i don't think like the size difference and the power difference is going to change like a ton i don't think there's like a massive difference outside of can he absorb a big shot for from JDM, like a full-size welterweight. This fight, I am kind of curious how Zhang looks at 125. You were part of the way in the stream.

You saw her step on the scale. How did she look up there? Did she look like, because I know when Rose fought Minan, and she moved up, like, yeah, you could tell she looked up a little, she put on a little size, but she still looked like a shrow weight moving up to flyweight. What did you see when Zhang hit the scale this morning? Well, again, I, yeah, kind of like you mentioned with, with, Rose, I think she, there was a noticeable, obviously there's a notable change.

We're talking about 10 pound difference. She still looked fantastic. She still looked fantastic. But did look like she's carrying around a little bit of like, just like, you know, again, a little bit of extra weight, you know, not necessarily all muscle. And I think that's fine. I don't, I wouldn't be super concerned about it. As everyone likes to mention, she is clearly pound from pound, one of the strongest

women in martial arts right now. Everyone loves to bring up the carrying friends in Ghanu clip. But this is functional strength, too. Tatiana Swar, you guys want to talk about an example of her strength. what's the Tatiana Suarez fight? That is that is Zhang Wei Lee's just power in action

just muscle explosive muscle Twitch muscle just incredible stuff from athleticism standpoint and of course you add in her credible skill set

it was super stuff so yeah so body wise like again I'm not that's not really giving me much of a gauge as far as like well how is that going to affect

her performance wise I think 125 is going to be really comfortable for her I still think obviously I would like would have liked to have seen her stay at 115 but this fight had to happen this fight had to happen

I think later we're going to have to talk about the issue of is she going to stick around if she wins same with Islam I feel like it's a dual conversation and it might be different answers for both fighters but it certainly needs to be uh certainly needs to be discussed but yeah strength-wise it won't be an issue now can she overpower valentina is a question because I do think valentina is kind of underrated strength-wise um I'm not sure why maybe because I think people may view her as being like so technical and like you said maybe he doesn't have her fastball anymore but i would again i pound for pound would put her among the stronger uh women in mma so that'll be that'll be interesting

to see if uh zong kind of try to impose her will on her and i don't know i think early on it'll be even but as the fight goes on i don't know will zang have a little more left in the tank again similar questions to what we have with jdm and islam uh but just god this is super intriguing and uh i just talking about it's going to be juiced up man i've been juiced up all week now I'm ready for like we're so close Mike so close to these fights actually happening we are so close okay we are so close uh let's make our official prediction for this fight uh right now very close uh a little bit more money is coming on valentina shivchenko as the week has progressed uh chufchenko is the minus 140 favorite the comeback on jang we lee plus 114 what is the official

alexander kaley prediction for this fight mike i uh i don't think we're going to hear ann new at all on Saturday. I think Valentino will also retain. I'm going with the champions. The boring pick, I do this all the time. I'm very often wrong. I've leaned towards champions probably at least two-thirds, three-quarters of the time.

And again, as you've seen in the last few years, there's a lot of fluctuation at the top. So always going with champions is not any sort of guaranteed strategy. I guess it depends on the division. There's some people more reliable than others. But in general, just saying, oh, champ's going to retain because the champ's pretty dumb. But in this case, like I said,

they match up pretty evenly. I think size will matter a bit measurements like it's not crazy I think Valentin has very little a couple of inches of reach an inch of height functionally it might not make much of a difference but I do think there are

I do think she is better here's here's a sort of nice way of putting it I don't love this fight from an action standpoint let me put that way as much as I'm hyping it up this I do not expect this to be a back and forth like you know big swings of action there's going to be some rounds in there

where the women are fainting and sort of measuring each other up, sizing each other up, uneventful grappling against the fence. This is going to happen, okay, because they are so evenly matched, because they are good fighters, not because they're bad. We've seen bad fights like that. This is a matter they're so, neither woman can afford to make a mistake. And the first one who does, it's going to just cost them around. And I think Valentina is slightly better at winning fights like that.

Make of that what you will, guys. Maybe it's a backhandic compliment. I think Valentina is better at winning low volume. rounds that was not the case in the second amanda newness fight i get it though some people would argue she did win that fight but like mike said i think she's just gotten better with age better with years and i think she'll she knows how to do enough to kind of scrape out those close rounds and i bet at least three of these rounds are going to be close just like coin tosses um so you got again you got to know how to win those you got to know how to take those i think that's for valentin

has the edge so i'm predicting a good fight a very enjoyable fight not like i don't think it'll be an all-timer, but from a storyline standpoint, from a drama standpoint, we will be talking about this one for a long time, and we'll be talking about how Valentina cemented herself as maybe, maybe the greatest women's fighter of all time. I think you feel like most people do, or it's just, it's just going to be such a close fight, and it's 50-50, and, you know, Valentina might just chip away and win rounds. This might be the hottest take of the day, but I'm just going to come out and say it. Do it.

I think Zhang Wei is going to run over Valentina. ship chenko i i don't like i just have this feeling that she is just going to clobber her and she's going to she's got to finish her like i i feel like she can match her physicality i i do have some concern and it was like the only concern i have is like to me if valentia wins this fight it is going to be boring like it's going to be not humzot ddp boring, because I do think Valentina will, like, do more offensively in those positions. But in my opinion, like, if Valentino wins this fight, like, she's just going to take her down and get 22 minutes of control time. It's going to be sort of one of these fights.

But I feel like Jean can hit her with a big shot. I think she could get there. And then physically, I think she can hang with Valentina maybe even be, like, the stronger, more physical fighter, despite Valentina, like, being a little bit taller and competing at bigger weight classes throughout her career. Zhang also cuts a ton of weight and Zhang Wei Lee TKO round

two Wow Wow Is she the best fighter of all time If she does that Second round finish of Don Tina Let me Let me help your case

If you want to make that case Because you could argue Zhang's resume Is stronger than that of a man it is You could very very because here's Zang's wins in the O.C. Just remember her notable wins. Jessica Andrage, former champion.

Two wins over JJ, obviously former champion. Carla Sparza dominated her, former champion. Amanda Lamoche, perennial top ten contender. Jan Chanaan, perennial top ten contender. Top five, really. Jan Shanan has been top five in the division for a long time. Tatiana Suarez, undefeated, undefeated, and I think was favored to beat Zhang before just getting...

Oh, no, no. I think she closes the underdog. That's a strong resume. That's a strong, frankly, a stronger resume than, I think, Valentina and Amanda. if we're being honest but then i guess you have to take into account also the the two rows losses which muddy the waters but so would you say jang is number one if second round finish of don't no no amanda still amanda still okay the cyborg win is just so big oh so good like it just looms so huge on this and like i know that's big i know moving forward like that win hasn't

aged terrifically well and it's not chris's fault she's just in a division that doesn't exist really and she's just like beating super low level fighters although the loriceko win is like a is like a super good win for her um yeah i still think it's it's nunez but it's close man there is there's certainly a discussion to be had but i love this fight so much man like even though i think jang like could go out there just just run her over um i'll tell you which fights like give me a little bit of pause and obviously it wasn't the third fight but the grasso fights are like a huge catalyst of why i'm going this way oh so for me i look at those as a you know me i like when fighters kind of have to face adversity and sort of like that to me

is a credit to valentina that she kind of came back from that first loss and then arguably won the second fight though again she made that screw up again it almost cost herself the entire fight and then dominated the third fight in you know boring fashion So that to me is actually like a plus for Val, but I see what you say. Oh, yeah. I see what I mean, only because like Grasso buzzer a couple of times. Yes. Yeah.

And like if Grasso's buzzing buzz in her, Zhang, Zhang's going to buzzer. Sure. So that I can't wait, man. I can't wait. I want to see like what the striking exchange you're going to look like. I want to see who's quicker. I want to see who has a little more impact. I just, this is just such a good timing for this fight.

Like, again, I wish it was like two years ago or even like, 10 months ago but man it's so good and like the rose fights are like yeah they're there right like she got caught in the first fight no doubt about it and then they fought again it's close and i thought jang won the second fight it was wasn't like a robbery or anything like that but you could see like jang is able to like i don't know her game has just changed to such a degree where like no one thought she was going to be able to do what like to just dummy tautiana like that like no one saw that coming like you just go in there and just run her over and and tatyana's like an exceptional grappler in mama and a very physical specimen uh who has fought at 25 herself

and bully 25ers um tatiata's great man like and but jang just kind of like ruined who tautiata was as a fighter as we saw in the amandolamos fight so i can't wait for it it's a terrific fight the rest is like this main card friggin rocks Like, what else can you say? Sean Brady, Michael Morales. Great fight. Leon Edwards, Carlos, Prakches. We got Ben-Darious Richard Benoit Sonsiddy, AK.

You're not mad at Benial Darius, but something tells you you might be disappointed in the man. I was confused. I mean, the man has missed weight before. So this is a second official weight miss in the UFC. Yeah, just for a veteran, and this is his 25th U.C appearance. You think he'd be, like, above these kinds of issues. He's a big lightweight. You know, it's fine.

I understand. It's probably never been an easy. cut for him but yeah what a weird what a weird little blip um it's fine 20 percent i think i was trying to do the math in the way and joe mike i don't know how much money you think he's making he's been around for a while last last um disclosed payday i could find for bala was uh 70 to show i have to think he's at least someone up from there but uh yeah 20 percent of whatever bala's making was like a nice 16 to 20 g's probably for uh for ben wals santanis so uh you know he paid the price let's move on it is a great choice for main card opener like you said mike

I'm not going to hold it against Belal, excuse me, Benile too much. I always, you know, sympathize with the fighter. So hopefully Benile's okay. It wasn't some sort of fight week issue, whether personal or physical or mental or whatever. And, yeah, we just get a great fight on Saturday. I would hate to see it fall off the card. I hope it's nothing that that will affect the fight actually.

Yeah, as far as like how I view that fight, by the way, I have a bet on Zhang Lili, no surprise, plus 114. The bet I have on Daryush versus BSD is It's like one of those fun bets you can do on Fanduil Where it's like an either or It's a little risky because you need to it needs to sort of happen this exact way Or it doesn't matter Darius by points or BSD by KOTKO is minus 120

So if like one of those one of those two things happen I win and it's minus money So apparently the Sharps believe that is the case Nothing quite makes a holiday gathering pop Like turning on the music And if you're looking to set the mood You should check out Sonos With Sonos, movie nights feel bigger and more cinematic While holiday parties come to life

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I think most people, when we're looking at the division and the future of this division, are looking at Sean Brady and Michael Morales, which to me is like, it's such a surprising fight that's happening right now, especially after what Sean Brady did to Leon Edwards. Like any other world, any other company, he's getting a title shot, but we're also in like the most confusing time of welterweight because Shafcott is technically like still the number one contender in a lot of people's eyes because he

had a title shot and it wasn't his fault he didn't fight for the belt that night still fought beating him Machado Gary but the problem he's been out for a year like we're approaching a year since that fight we have no idea what's happening with this man Balala's already lost the belt

we're seeing Brady we're seeing Gary we're seeing Morales and we're seeing all these guys make moves Uspin came back and beat walking buckley to stop that surge and walterweight is in such a fascinating place right now so i i would i'll i'll take leon prachis out of this conversation because i don't think the winner of this fight can get a title fight uh even a proch just pulls a cona mcgregor on jos aaldo i still think he's he just lost to gary so it's like hard to just anoint him as the next guy but sean brady michael morales what a fight man your thoughts on this one because bray

Brady has looked so good. He's taking, at least in the rankings, like a pretty significant step back, and he's taking a big risk here fighting a guy like Michael Morales. Yeah, I'm all in on Michael Morales. You guys know, like, undefeated guy. I just think he's going to be a welterate champion someday. Is that time soon? John Brady's really peaking.

I do have questions about Morales is wrestling. It's been a big storyline this week that, you know, Morales has done some wrestling in his background. But there is a difference between, as we all know, guys, like, you know, having wrestling your background. MMA wrestling and I think Sean Brady is one of the best MMA wrestlers at 170 right now. If you guys remember, Brady got a lot of comparisons to GSP once upon a time when he was coming up. And you could kind of see it back then.

I think he's evolved more to like his own guy now. But one thing that he has always had in common with the great GSP is, like I said, MMA wrestling. Again, it's not the same as collegiate wrestling, amateur wrestling, Greco-Roman. You know, it's being able to, you know, actually functionally use it in a fight. when we talk about Islam Akachab, his great wrestling, we are talking about he has phenomenal MMA wrestling, same with Habib, right? I mean, these guys could probably do well in other forms of wrestling,

but we're talking about a UFC fight. We only care about one thing. Can you implement it? John Fitch was one of the best examples, too, right? John Fitch was a average collegiate wrestler. Chal Sonan as well was not a great collegiate wrestler, but then you had an MMA wrestle. And that's something Sean Brady has down.

So even though, like, I really want to see it. Like, I really think Morales has star power. I really think he could be champion someday. A lot of champions lose before they eventually make it at the top. And that might be what happens here because I think Sean Brady good on him for taking a really tough fight that he has, again, very little to gain from other than holding onto his spot in the top five. That's really what he's doing. He's defending a top five spot. If he puts on an impressive forums, let's say he dominates Morales.

I hope that the UFC at least considers him, puts him on the short list. I know there's people ahead of him. We keep talking about Usman. If Makachev wins, I don't. I mean, he should fight. If JDM retains, I would like to see Sean Brady get that shot. I don't know what they're going to do. Like we said, if I Amato Gary beats Balal next week, right?

In Qatar, they might want to give IMG that shot. But I think Brady has, he has a lot to lose, but I think he has a little to gain. I do think he has a little to gain. It would be hard to see him jump over Ian Machado Gary if IMG beats Bilal. But there's a good chance Inazato Gary doesn't beat Balal. And in that case, they're not giving Bilal. an immediate rematch with JDM. He's not fighting Makachev.

I think Sean Brady gets a good position. There's a path for Sean Bray to fight for the title in 2026. It's a very narrow path. It's a very small window, whatever visual you want to use. It's there. It's there. But he has to really, I think, dominate Browlis on Saturday. It's a great matchup.

And I'm with you, Mike. Something I thought we'd see in the future. But it kind of makes sense to do it now. I think just the way the division is shaken out, I understand why they had to make it now. Yeah, it's one of those situations, like you and I talk about this all the time, like on onto the next one other shows, where you see this guy who's young and has this incredibly high ceiling and he's on a roll, but he's like 26 or 27 and he's not in his prime yet, but it's a guy that people point at is, oh, he's going to fight for the belt or he could be a world champion. And we always say, like, yeah, why don't just fight him now? Like, don't wait. Don't wait till he's 30 and he's at the peak of his powers. Fight him now.

And Sean Bray is like, all right, I'll just fight him now. Now. And I love what he had to say at me. I thought Sean Brady's media day was incredible. I think he's just so realistic about everything. And, you know, normally, normally I love, especially like I do a thing called bike check. Like, I want people to get on the mic and start calling people out. Like, I love that stuff. It like makes my job easier. But I kind of like the way Sean's looking at things right now. He hates that Oosman is in this conversation, much like I hate that Oosman's in this conversation right now when he probably needs to get another win. I'm like on the same. page we are so sympathetic with all that and he's just like yeah man like yeah close balls don't get fed but look at this division right now like I'm just gonna keep doing what I have to do to win like it's just a weird it's just it's just weird like all these guys are putting in the work and getting these great wins and then they're gonna they they're already watching Islam Machachev jump up a division to jump over them and I think a lot of them are on the same page like yeah this dude's the best

fighter in the world like we're gonna step aside and let it happen like respect to Islam and then to have to sit back and watch Usman jump over him too like I would be livid if I was these guys like absolutely livid but I think I think he has a huge opportunity here if he goes out there and beats Morales and finishes him I think he's the guy like you no matter who wins and I love the fact I mean he's not going to look I've said this many times if I've been saying this since Islam like before Islam made the decision to move up like if Islam wins a welterway bell he's going to fight Usman like his manager is going to set that all up I was like, Usman's going to do a whole bunch of media.

That fight week, he doesn't do any media, but that fight week, he's going to do a bunch. And he's everywhere doing interviews. Dana White's already calling him the greatest welterweight of all time, which is just such a silly thing to say. And again, when I say these things about Usman, I'm not saying them because I don't respect what he has accomplished. He's the second best welterweight of all time in a historically stacked division. Like being the second greatest welterweight of all time is unbelievable. Like, unbelievable. George St. Pierre, many people's

like all-time goats is ahead of him. Like the one guy who was ever fought in your division that's ranked higher than he was George St. Pierre? That's pretty awesome. That's unbelievable. But one win in four years and beating Joachim Buckley,

who it's a fine win, it just shouldn't get you a title shot over these guys who have been winning fights for four years consistently. So, Yeah, I'll get up the high horse here I think if Brady wins he has to be the guy I think if JDM wins Jadie and Brady would be super

interesting and I think it helps Sean Brady too that Habib Javier Mendez even Isl Makachif himself are saying yeah I want to fight Usman because it's the biggest name but Sean Brady would be a tough ass fight like they're picking his name like specifically as a tough fight

who you pick it in that fight by the way Sean Brady or Michael Morales and then we'll get to the peeps yeah i mean i think i i alluded that i kind of gave it away i think i'm going sean brady i think i'm going sharp my heart wants to make michael morales because like i said he he will be ufc champion someday i think he has the skills for it um but you i love what you you said mike like you know always with the get get him get them before they hit he's not peeked yet right michael's not his peak yet get him before that so i think the wrestling is just a little bit too much i don't think he's going to be able to get his

striking game off and his striking is so fun to watch um i think i'll have moments right like i think he will be able like i think i'll have some wrestling defense uh but like i said that's the beauty of a great anime wrestler is uh okay maybe you stop their first entry but then they adapt they switch they get you to the fence they grind you they wear you down and then at some point they those take down start coming more often they start wearing you down and uh you end up getting decision or maybe a maybe a late finish in um late round two or early round three so uh yeah i'm going brady for now love both fighters would love to see them both fight for a title someday i hope that happens i hope this does not rule either guy out but it is brady's time i'm picking brady too um i've

decided how yet. I mean, look, Morales could just run him over in the first round. Like, it's, it's possible. He is just such a monster. Uh, his striking is so good. He's so athletic. That power is real. So, and I will say, like, I, Brady's striking.

Like, when he came into the UFC, I was just like, that might be like a little bit of a problem, but he's gotten better. Like, his striking is way better. Even defensively, it's way better. It's not, he's not going to, like, win a kick. boxing match with Michael Morales. So do not mince, like, don't, don't twist my words around. But

Brady is such a, Jed talks about, like, having M.MA superpowers. Sean Brady has a superpower. It is the M.A. wrestling. But he's one of those guys like Habib and like others where, like, when you talked about Habib on the rise up to the belt, it was always, yeah, man,

he's a little limited on the feet. But if he, if he gets a hold of you and locks his hands together, you're going down. Nothing. in the world is going to stop that from happening. And I view Sean Brady in his in his MMA grappling and wrestling the same way. If he

wraps his arms around Michael Morales, he's going down. I don't care how much he's worked on his defensive wrestling. Sean Brady might be pound for pound the strongest guy in the UFC. Like he's just a hoss. He's such a beast. So I cannot wait for that

fight. I think the stakes are incredibly high for that one. It's just everything about this card just absolutely frigging slaps i'm so so pumped uh rest of the card before we get to the peeps we also have uh let me just pull up the updated lineup here uh which i have in front of me right now uh featured prelim we got bo nickel versus hidalfa vera uh bow nickel seems like a different cat this week very humble just a a more reflective guy i i've actually been kind of impressed with bow nickel this week. I can't lie. I really can't. Um, I loved his anything about fighting with Jose

Young's. He's got to see like kind of a different side of him. It's an interesting matchup. Let's see how he bounces back from the RDR fight. Roman copulof, Gregory Rodriguez. There's no way that fight stinks. A big one between Aaron Blanchfield and Tracy Cortez. Of course, Tracy was the last fighter on the scale. Uh, she looked a little rough up there, AK, uh, but it's, oh, what was that last one up? Oh, she was the last one up. I mean, there was a lot of, there was a lot of, She made it. She made it. She made it.

No cutting of hair, no holding hair triumphantly on the scale. She made it. But, yeah, it's always been hard for her to make it. I think as long as she makes it, I would never be concerned about, like, oh, how much is it going to affect her on fight night? Like, when she makes it, it's good. She's had some misses, and that's caused all kinds of other problems. But when she makes it, she's good.

So not overly concerned. But, yeah, she was, there was some drama there. Gerald Beershart, Kyle Dawkes, is on this card. and I like this matchmaking because that fight is going to be over in like seven minutes or less one way or the other like guarantee that fight is going to be over in seven minutes or less great featherway fight between Chepe Barrascaul and Pat Sabatini

I'm just waiting for Chepe to kind of like get that Steve Garcia opportunity where he gets a step up seriously what else is this man have to do we get him a top 15 guy what's going on what's going on Pat Sabatini's looked really good too so I really like that fight Angela Hill against Fatima Klein, interesting matchup. The future, the future versus, you know, one of our great strawweight all-timers. Like, that's a, I know a fatima is a huge favorite going to this. That's a monster step up on competition.

I think Angela, and I don't understand because Angela Hill has done this many times where she has fought people who are considerably younger and way less experience and won. So the line is a little surprising to me, but I know people are so high on Fatima Klein. I get it. Everyone talks about as a future champion. So, you know, you've got to go through the Angela Hills the world to do that. But so early in her career, I don't know, man.

I actually think, honestly, and I love Angela Hill, I think minus 550, there's value on that for Fatima. I'm not on the best at all. I do not listen to my best friend. Do not. That's a huge number. Like, that's a huge number. My big, my biggest bet of the night is on Zhang Wei Li.

because it's just like my gut's telling me and i usually don't bet on the prelim fights ever unless like i just see something that i like uh especially on pay-per-views uh i have fatima clime by decision at minus 180 and i feel real good about that sir you are about to take a very unpleasant trip to splitty city i'm just telling you right now it's real it's not it's not it's really rough this time of year it's uh the weather's bad uh it's a bad drive up there it's not a lot going on to splitty city um i i don't think that's where you want to go tonight that it's not a good It's not a good place to go. I mean, look, I think we're going to feel good.

I think Angela will show some pep. She'll battle. She won't get finished. But, yeah, I think it's going to be a tough one for Fatina. I don't know. When's the last time she was like, maybe I'm not remembering the Lucinda fight or I don't know the Ritchie? But when's the last time, like, Angela was just like dominated, though?

I don't, I don't think she's going to get, like, I think it's going to be, I think she's going to lose 3027, but it's not going to be like she does nothing. It's not going to be one of those fights, but it's going to be like, all the team clearly won all three rounds. So I love Angela Hill so much. Like she's a great personality. She's hilarious on social media. And, you know, she's competitive with like everybody she fights.

But she's 40, man. I can't ignore that. I can't ignore it. Even with all the, even with all the skill and the veteran savvy, so to speak. If I'm Angel Hill, I'm cheating. Like, just, just grab the fence. Yes. Just, just get after it in that sense.

It'll be really fun. Yeah, Klein's a big favorite. And then we have the biggest favorite on the card is Bisingyar, Serserkeyev, otherwise known as Jimmy Suss. He is approaching minus 1100 as a favorite. We know why this fight is on this card. It is just going to pee an absolute runover by Jimmy Suss. and unfortunately a little bit disappointment

we found out yesterday one of the most intriguing fights on this entire card and this like I'm talking about some of the even some of the main card fights do but to me this was the most interesting prelim by a mile

and I say that not because the rest of the prelim stink it's because a lot of the preams are really good this one just really stood out to me Malcolm Wellmaker versus Cody Hadden was an excellent fight on paper. Like, so good and the chance

for Malcolm Wellmaker to really answer some questions. Like, are we going to strap the rockets to this guy? Because if he goes out there and just nukes Cody Haddon, you strap the rockets to this man. Like, you immediately throw him into a top 10 fight. Like, he ain't getting any younger. Like, just go with him.

Unfortunately, Cody Haddon, I believe, broke his foot. I believe that's what Malcolm said in his, in his update, so to speak. And now Ethan Ewing, is stepping in on short notice to take this fight. I believe he's the A1 combat bantamweight champion on an ice little run. I believe he's won eight in a row.

He is a finisher. But yeah, I think we do have, I think I did see betting odds for this. I actually thought it was going to be much higher than what it is. They're not on Fandual? Not yet. Not yet. They are on other sites, Malcolm Wellmaker minus 470 right now. I actually thought it was going to be higher than that.

But yeah, at least Malcolm's fighting. So that's good. But unfortunately, like, he's probably just going to knock him out in the first round. And we're just going to be like, okay, we learn nothing here. Quick turnaround. Come back in December. We got three. We got three.

No. What? Nobody wants that. Because then Jed gets more fantasy points. Oh, I'd say. I misspoke. No one. I misspoke.

No, no, no. No, no. All right. Let's go to the peeps. Of course, the super chats. uh gets top billing so uh dust and kilbert any news on drod federal prison talk legit or no i'm lost on this one mike what's going on with you i'm not lost but i've heard things but like i i'm not comfortable like confirming or denying i'm not confirmed i don't know i don't know enough

about it you know what i mean like all i could hear all i hear is like rumblings of things but like i hear rumblings of shit all the time it doesn't mean it's true or i i honestly have no idea so i will not comment way to put us on the spot dusted kilburn trying to get a sued way to care i'll i will look into it uh does vall terence back to backs from terence uh does vow not deserve to go to for a 35 belt with a win um sure of course she deserves it she's deserved to go for it for years if she i just don't think she cares i honestly don't think she cares if amanda comes back and like stomp's Kayle Harrison and says, I'm going to stick, and I don't know if she would stick around.

I imagine if she's Tomp Kayla, she just retire again. If she decided to stick around, that would certainly, if I'm Valentina's team, that'd be a fight I'd be interested in. I guess if you're also asking, why doesn't she ever just go up there and be, like, you know, fight for a vacant title? I just don't think she's interested.

I think this Zhang fight is really the legacy fight she's viewing. And after this, she'll stick around. I think she'll stick around 25 because our challenge is 25. It would be tempting to see her go up there, 135 because i mean juliana pania was champ up there for god's sakes and i guarantee valetina would go up there and beat her again if 125 135 wouldn't make a difference valetina would beat her again um i just don't know i don't know how interested she is if it's a man if it's let's say kala beats amanda would valentina want to go and fight kela i don't know like you think she'd be

interested in that i just think she doesn't care about the 135 belt as uh most people don't unfortunately no i mean i don't know maybe maybe if like nuna's beats her beats her beats Kayla. Yeah. She might want that fight. Legacy, right? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe there's a challenge there. Maybe Valentina thinks she could beat her. I don't know. Yeah, it'd be surprised to me if she decided to make that move at the stage of a career. I just, I just don't think she cares. Yeah. Junkie saying Amosoft, do UFC does he become champ? No. I, no, he didn't. Okay. I will, I will say, was that too harsh? Was that too harsh? As the show was going on, uh i did like literally like five minutes ago confirmed that this is true um it's not like

a hundred percent signed sealed and delivered like pen has not like hit paper or anything but um it's happening yeah amosov's going to be ufc fighter it's overdue it's overdue um yes i'm not saying no to the report i'm saying he's not going to become u s champion i like amos i like amosop so much he could have fought in the ufc like he is clearly a ufc level fighter he's clearly a top 15 like he's i put him in there and almost anyone in the top of dean i think he gives a competitive fight do i think he has like that extra level to actually become the champion boy i don't know it is a i'm guys listen i'm the last person that's going to give you the oh ufc competition is like leagues better than everyone else because that's not actually true

if you look at who amosov was beating in belator it's not like he's knocking off a bunch of top 20 guys he beats storely twice logan storely very tough guy not a top 20 welterweight um fighter douglas lima who he got the belt from but i think by the time he fought douglas lima i was i was at that fight yeah it was uh like i was covering that fight for us i believe it was i thought it was like incredibly impressive what amosop did that night like it was sort of the and lima was like red hot at the time he was still good yes it what we had not removed he had not like plummet it out of the ranking right okay this is fair this is i i i've never seen a fight or more frustrated in a fist fight

than Douglas Lima was that night. He was just like, what? I can't do anything to this guy. Yeah. The other thing working as Amosov is he does not have a style that the matchmakers are going to love. So Amosov's, uh, even though he has the name of like being a four Belcher champion, he has to win like, he has to go at least four and O to start his UFC career to get a title shot. They're not going to, they have no interest in fast tracking Yaroslav Amoslav to a tell the shot. I will tell you that right now. Unless, because they're not, this is 170. They're not short on options of 170.

so it's a long road for him that's the other part it's a long road I just don't see it happening but is he is he a guy who is me ranked in the UFC of course of course he's a very great good wrestler excellent wrestler just smothers people you know that classic neutralizing style but I would be very surprised if he fight even fights for Yosito yeah kind of with you there I'm carry like there are some like good names I would match him up with like right out the gate but

I mean do you just feed him to do we give him like the Jake do you give him like Magni like right off the bat I guess somebody like that that's like who's a rumor I'm hearing so I don't know

like what's the let me see let me kind of look at what's happening right now I mean Magny would be like a great litmus test Mm-hmm Vicente Luque

I wouldn't hate that what a weird that'd be such a weird That'd be a weird fight. Gosh, that'd be weird. All right, that's Michael Kiesa. I like the actually. Yeah, that's perfect.

Michael Kiesa might actually be like the correct answer. Like do, yeah, do MSF Kiesa. Colby Covington. Ha! Maybe the least interesting fight in, uh, of 2026. Let's do Gabriel Bonfeeb versus, uh, wow, that would be so funny. I would really like that fight.

He's a weird, I'm like, he's a weird guy of the woods. Amazon is a very tough guy to book. Chris Curtis would be really interesting, like. Oh, I think, I think Chris Curtis smokes him. What? Smokes him. All right. I don't think he can.

I, I, I smokes him. I've almost never seen Chris Curtis just lose by being smothered. All right. That's not how the action is very difficult to take down. He's so, and keep, and hold down. Yeah, I actually think he would smoke Amazon. Interesting. Yeah.

All right. I mean, good addition. I'm glad he's there. Yeah, yeah. He should have been there a long time ago. Yeah, very good fighter. Yeah. Uh, RS 40.

I hate that Sean and Michael are fighting since I admire both of them. Is Sean the guy with most pressure to win? I'm Michael winning by TKO round three. It's a great question. Pressure. Most pressure. Yeah, we talked about what happens. Yeah.

We talked about what he gained. I feel like, I feel like Morales can lose and it's fine. Yeah. Like it's, it's a short term stop. But again, he's so young and so talented. Uh, he's got a very strong media fan base. Like, if you were watching like the live stream of the UFC 32 media day, boy that was if you watch the whole thing start to finish you deserve hazard pay for that

but the michael morales scrum was like i felt like i was watching michael morales talk to the media for two and a half hours there's just so many so much he's just such a he's like he's such a big star in ecuador like they they came out in droves for him uh which is good to see but a loss here like doesn't hurt him that bad like it's just all right little little hiccup but Sean Brady loses his fight I think he's like he might have the most to lose outside of the title fights

I think he I think you can make a strong case Sean Brady has the most to lose on this entire card not Leon or Leon's never getting a title fight anyway so it doesn't matter Leon it doesn't matter no consequences unless Leon goes to 205 he ain't fighting for the belt again damn I'm just kidding but

Yeah, Leon is so far out of this. It's not even funny. Like, I actually think Leon has a really good chance of beating Carlos Proustice. Yeah, absolutely. Like, I, I think if he just shows up and it's not like mentally fried, I think he could win. I'm not picking him to win, but I think he can. Plus money, Mike, plus money. Leon at plus, no?

That didn't attempt you? I bet. I bet I bet on Pratches. I bet he's such a dog, man. I just, I, until I see Leon, like, mentally in it and not broken, because I feel like, but Pallel just kind of shattered him. And then Brady just mauled him. Like, I don't know.

Like, it's so hard to come back from that. Like, you look at Leon and you look at, like, Roman DeLise after what Fluffy did. Like, how do you bounce, like, how do you even get back in there and try to, like, forget that? So I just have too many questions about Leon to make that pick. Leon's going to fight Jorge Mazel next no matter what. Like, unless they just, the UFC just does not care about that fight. but yeah I think Brady's I think Brady is in a must win situation unfortunately I think he his title hopes are over if he loses his fight it's just too much happening right now like he's so far a loss here for him puts him so far back it's not even funny even with the Leon win he turns 33 next week like he's not old he's in his prime still but I see what's saying like that's that's what like that's at least it knocks him back that's at least one more year where he's not fighting for the time. So then he's, you know, we're talking about, you know, we're talking about, oh, can he work his way back?

Oh, boy, that is, yeah. And now he's fight, then from there, he's fighting, he's fighting the bond themes and the fucker teen ops of the world where like, they're tough outs, but he gains, like, very little from winning those fights. So, yeah, it's a tough spot for him, man. But he needs this one more. I'll get to this a second. Spencer, hello, gentlemen, fired up rare occasion. D to watch every fight on a card these days. Plus, or minus two and a half future champs on the card, not comment.

the main or co-main oh that's good that is good well i think okay so i already have two do i have a third do i have a third oh boy because obviously i'm looking at michaelerals we one of mine yeah i guess i have to say patima klein just as the you know go along with the cool kids who are all picking her to be a strawway champion someday sold on Malcolm Wellmaker being a champion so I'm not I know that that's where a lot of people would be their third no yeah I it's a tough division he could he could I'm not saying he can't I'm saying it's a tough division way too early we've just we've just learned nothing about him and it's unfortunate like I the good news for Wellmaker is even if he doesn't win a belt

like he's still going to be like popular and a fan favorite and like a guy who probably has a job with the UFC for as long as he wants to fight because he is so exciting and you can just throw him out there to like highlight real people like a lot of people have had great careers just doing that um but he is talented but not i mean he like fighting ethan ewing like this does nothing for him outside of just giving him a moment at msg which is great but yeah i wanted that had and fight so so badly obviously you could talk me into bo nickel you could talk me into jimmy sus and probably still aaron blanchfield right like i think we haven't i don't think we've given up the erin blanchefields especially if she just puts on a really strong

performance against Tracy Cortez, like, so I'm going to go, I'm actually going to go under. I will go under my, my, the strongest I feel are Michael Morales and maybe Fatima Klein. I just don't, I can't quite go on Bo, Aaron Blanchfield, or, um, well maker yet, or even Jimmy Suss. Jimmy Suss, I need to see a little more, too, but I get it. He'd be up there. So I'll go under, under two and a half. I think Jimmy Suss is like my favorite in this conversation.

Ooh. Because he's like super young, too. And he's only going to get better. and he's in a division where he could rise up very quickly and the UFC really likes him so they're going to get him as long as he like stays out of trouble and even if he state gets in trouble like the UFC will probably promote him more let's be honest but um he's got something for sure there's something about that guy that he's just he's got it all um i'll say under i'm usually going to say under and those questions anyways because it's just so hard to win a belt it's very very difficult to win a belt um you need a lot of things to to break in your favorite. So we'll go to some other picks in the second. David and Chautry, our member, Santa Claus, so to speak. Well, no, I have to answer this question because of our member, Santa Claus.

How are your picks overall this year? Damn. So thankfully, I saw this pop up in the stream earlier. So I had my topology page open. I'm at a steady. This is like the number I've been at almost, I think, the last four years. Like, I'm a steady 62%. So six, that's pretty good, man.

Yeah, three out of five. I always, you know, I imagine, again, I'm not. not a big fight picker guy, despite fighting predictions for inmatefighting.com. I would imagine you want to beat chalk, right? People who beat chalk are the good people, are people who are like at 70%, right? And I don't know what chalk is. I don't know what if you picked all favorites. I'm not sure what the number would be.

My guess is like closer to 65, 66%. So if I had just done that, I think I'd be higher. But I don't know. I could be wrong. Like I said, I don't keep up with lines. I'm sure someone could find very quickly like, how would you do if you just pick every favorite and every UFC fight? I don't know.

Maybe it's lower. Maybe it's closer to, you know, high 50s. doubt it my guess would be 65 66 percent um so i'm below i feel like i'm below average but you know whatever i'm okay i'm it's never i don't love picking fights i like writing about them i think doing predictions is fun but i don't like i don't gamble that i tell you i don't bet on m may so um yeah just like average i'm like probably a little below average probably how it's it all right uh joseph uh he asked a bunch of questions we touch on pretty much all of them, but we didn't touch on this one.

Is Aaron Blanchville versus Tracy Cortez a title eliminator at women's flyweight, or is Natalia Silva still the number one contender? Joseph, that's an easy question. There is no such thing as number one contender in UFC. So number one contender is in UFC is the Schrodinger's cat of sports. It's like you are the number one contender. You are both the number one contender and you are also not the number one contender. When you step into the cage, you are now the number one contender.

When someone else steps into the cage, you are not the number one contender. That's just how it works. I think that no matter who wins Saturday, that Natia Silva should still be the number one contender. But that's not really how it works, guys. It's all about timing, right? It's all about timing. Do they need, do they need Natalia, like, does Natia Silva want to fight someone else and stay busy in the first quarter of 2026? Well, guess what?

She's not the number of contend anymore. She's why going to have to find a flight because I don't know what's going to happen with the winner of Saturday's called me an event. Same again with Blanchfield and Tracy Cortez, whoever wins that. How quickly can they turn around? Who's ready for a title shot? So to answer your question Signed of the way Yes, yes and no

Yes and no She should be the number one contender still But I don't know what that means To the matchmakers I think there's zero chance to winner In this fight gets title fight Oh Unless it's like

Circumstances where A fight is booked The Challenger pulls out six weeks before And then they need to slot somebody in Aaron got Like Aaron got dusted By men and Fioro like in a not like a fight that was not competitive for more than 12 seconds in 25 minutes

and manon just absolutely ran over jazz and jasidivis so she's not gonna like manon just fought for the belt uh and blanchefield no matter what she does ain't jumping over men on like she's just not um so she's out right now uh natty ice absolutely deserves it but again we've had this conversation macy barber is fighting knock on wood in December at the last pay-per-view ever for the UFC. Macy Barber, I think, is already ahead of Aaron Blanchfield. And I'm not looking at this from like a merit perspective. I'm looking at this through the lens of the UFC.

Dana White loves making contender series fighters champions. Macy still gathers a lot of attention, whether good or bad, with everything she does. I think Macy is ahead of her already. And if Macy wins, she just be, I think Aaron is, I think Aaron is going to have to win like three or four fights for sure. gets title shot it stinks because also if jean way lee wins you know they're running it back with valetina so that like immediately stunts the title picture unless she just obliterates her but even that if valentina's like hey i'm valentina let's run this one back i think the ufc would

would look at it um i think she's very far away now cortez i was going to say i didn't hear tracy's name in there mike didn't hear tracy is not Tracy won't get a title fight off of this win um she's gonna have to get another one because i'm sorry like it would they like her the ufc like they love her they love her she's got the right manager like every she's got everything she needs to make the ufc happy but this would be a pretty egregious title shot if she jumped over everybody else and it would be very obvious what the ufc was trying to do here um we're we're trying to build a star like it would just you can't but give her one more like honestly like i think like if aaron wins her path to the belt is still

a long one if cortez wins her path is way shorter she is one win away from getting it so i think i think if tracy wins it's terrible for natty ice it's terrible for natty eyes because natty is going to have i mean i think natty will would beat tracy cortez anyways i would assume so yeah but that is one million percent the fight the ufc's going to make like poor minot is like what she's going to have to watch tracy cortez because they're not about tracy cortez and they're not going to do that um but they might put put her in their daddy ice and like and they'll call it an eliminator so yeah i think i think aaron's got some work to do uh it would be big for tracy to get it she would literally just probably have to win one more maybe you throw her in there with

alexa groso who is just not the same fighter as she was as champion so i don't know man it's a weird time especially with this new paramount deal coming up like they're i guarantee you they're going to have some say into like what they want they're paying him 7.7 billion dollars so i don't know yeah all these questions about like where does this win put this person in the rankings and who is number one kind of like you're not going to get a clear answer until like February because we need to know what the hell is going on in some of these divisions like unrelated to like this comment ilio to pori we still don't know who ilio to peri is fighting like we thought we had an answer with patty pinlo we don't know and it might be affected by

what happens in this main event we on Saturday we don't know and the UFC is being playing very tight with if you've watched like any press conferences and media appearance from dana and stuff over the last like two months like or maybe just last month I just say there's not a lot they can say there's not a lot they can promote because they they're getting ready for eventually hopefully this weekend fingers crossed like a bunch of big announcements to tell us how they're going to kick off the paramount era but until that happens a lot of people are just waiting I feel I really feel for the fighters it's a lot of waiting waiting waiting waiting lots of uncertainty I guarantee you all these questions you guys are asking the same thing they ask themselves they're asking their manager what the hell is the UFC what the hell's going on and they're not going to know for a while it's it's going to be a while for some people get some people get some answers yeah stuff lazy bed will the referees enforce their newly announced rule of enforcing the rules well well put i i don't know this is my favorite story of 2025 and all of them in oh my gosh it's funny to us it's funny to us i don't man yes michael and paul we had a meeting we had this meeting all of the the higher ups we got in a room and we're like we're gonna buckle

down until we have a decision and here's what we came to we have this rule there's a rule in place that you know if you extend your fingers like this it's illegal uh but we haven't been enforcing that so now we're going to start enforcing it what i can't believe he said that into in a public setting like that it's friggin insane and then you have john mccarthy out there who is like the godfather of rules and refereeing being like hey you can't compare it to other sports because all these fights are 29 28 so you can't just take points all the time uh again as we've said like it doesn't have to be a point every time but like there has to be a repercussion for it like you have to do something like lose a position or something

you can't just like poke a dude in the eye knuckle deep and have nothing happen hey if we do it again we're going to have a conversation about it oh you did it again swear to god this is the last warning like this this has to change but how do you think the refereeing will be it is new york they are a little stingier in new york yeah um do you think we'll be we'll look at this event and be like okay we'll be we'll feel like 321 where we got a point taken like in the second fight uh we already had some triccany like you saw they had the digital scale i love that you do you're a digital scale guy i mean no i want to be lied to for for big events like this no that big events is big events i want no scale i want them to i just eyeball the fighter and be like

Yeah, yeah, you're looking about 169.5. Do I love the guy just slam it at home in Las Vegas? Sure. I don't want to see a digital scale in Vegas. But, you know, New York, come on. J.D.M weighed in at 170.4 on his first, like, attempt. And then he had to strip down and lost six ounces of shorts. And I'm like, what's a point of this?

We know he's close to. Drama. And even though 170.4 is close to 175.5, I still think Jeff Mullen in Nevada. It would have just been like, it's not 0.5. Nope. He's in. I round down. I'm rounding down. I don't need this. Yes. So how will they handle the rest officiating? Do we know any of the, oh, do we know the assignments for the main and co-main mic? We must we must know, right? I have not heard. Let me look at this real quick. I'm sure. I'm sure someone has them. I don't know what to trust here. AI is saying, okay, I don't know. Wow. I'm actually surprised. I actually can't find out. I don't think people know until like they get like media will find out when they get to. the event when they have that like the finalized lineup and everything interesting um because yeah listen some guys are under the microscope man some some you know some names people we like too whether we like them because their personalities or we think they're actually good officials like we got our eye

in dan bergliata obviously if we see big dan in there a lot of scrutiny jason herzog um even mark goddard like you know again great efficient great official i love how how opening into the media but at the same time he's he's had some sketchy moments this year um it's not an easy job you know when i don't want to call anyone out because i think everyone i do genuinely for the most part, every referee is I mean, doing what they can under these apparent guidelines they had, Mike, to not necessarily call every foul.

It's insane. But yeah, we'll go case by case. This will be one of the stories of the night. You'll see a lot of people tweeting about if Dan Mercliotto shows up. If whoever, like, when we talk about it fishing, even Mark Smith, Mark Smith, handle some situations perfectly. Most part of some big controversies.

We'll find out, man. We'll find out. Definitely something to keep an eye on. I hate that has to be one of the storylines going to an event like this, but it is. It is. You know what that sound means. It's time to go.

Look, I can talk about this event for another 90 minutes. Yes, I can't wait. I really could. And you will tomorrow. I mean, we're 45 an hour. Way more than that. Yeah. There's a lot going on in New York.

Jose, our legendary boots on the ground. There'll be a fan Q&A. It's a loaded one, too. I think it's Mazadol, Porre, Uspin, and Yawanna on Jacek are the panel, so that's gotta be pretty awesome. Then we'll have the ceremonial way in, so look for all the social clips,

all that stuff on YouTube channel. And then tomorrow we get after it. We got boxing. We got Eubank Ben 2, which does some heat there, so we'll be on that. And then obviously UFC 322, People's Pre-Fight Show, 45 minutes before the start.

So I think we'll probably go like 515, p.m. Eastern, uh, watch party 9.30 p.m. Eastern time. Bo Nickel Hedolfo Vierran on. I can't friggin' wait for tomorrow. So get some rest. Relax. And we will see you tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen. Let's

effing go. M.A. is fun. Isn't it fun when it's fun? Ah, it's so fun when it's fun. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.