MMA Fighting - UFC Paris Post-Fight Show | Did Nassourdine Imavov's Win Do Enough To Get Khamzat Chimaev Fight?

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

Nassourdine Imavov checked off the most important box on Saturday with a dominant decision win over Caio Borralho in the main event of UFC Paris. With Dana White setting up a two-fight tryout, of sorts, to face Khamzat Chimaev in his first title defense, was Imavov's performance enough to make him the undeniable guy to face the new champion next? Following a fun event, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to Imavov's win and performance, discuss why he might have to wait a little longer to get his first title shot, and where Borralho goes from his first UFC loss. Additionally, they discuss Benoit Saint Denis' destruction of Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event, a record-tying 11 finishes on the card, other standout moments, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody. Those are the victory horns. And they pale in comparison to the crowd at a core arena. They were on fire as expected. UFC Paris come to a close. 13 fights in the books. 11 finishes tying a UFC event record.

It all came down to the main event to see if the record could be broken. the end. It was a, a workman-like decision win, a dominant one for Nasrudein Imovov goes in there, kicks off this sort of two-pack challenge to determine who Hamzaat Shemayev will fight next, and Naser Dene Imovov currently at this very second in the driver's seat after getting a 50-45 and a pair of 49-46s over Kyle Bahalio. Lots to talk about here on the Post-Fight Show. Welcome. I am Mike Haken. And joining me to talk about all this much more. I wanted all the

Chen Bishu. Where is he? Hi. Go dogs. We're currently sticking it to the vaunted college powerhouse that is Austin P.

Undefeated Austin P might I just say as the UGA dominates them 21 to 6, much like France. The nation of France dominated the fighting nerds. Two and O, the fighting nerds are basically 1800s Austria.

They cannot beat France. And now we have to question, is Diego Lopez going to pick up French citizenship before next week? Because if so, I'm making an underdog bet on that man heading into the Jean-Silver fight. Would not be a bad move.

Maybe put Nassardine Imov's manager in the corner of Diego Lopez, get Carlos Pratch herself fired up in the crowd, do things of that nature. A little gamesmanship. I like this. I like this idea. Fighters aren't fun enough.

Like, they're just not funny or cool enough. If I've never been a big Diego Lopez guy, if Diego Lopez comes rocking the French flag next week, I'll bet the house on him. I'll call my booking and be like, hey, bro, everything you got. Give me a line of credit. This guy rules. Miss Fitz boxing would definitely do something like that.

It's just not something that it just resonates with the UFC roster. But Jed, this is an event that had. Let me be the minister of fun. Somebody hire me to just sit in the office and be like, all right, this is happening. UFC, talk to Diego Lopez. Let's make a joke out of this. We can have so much fun in this sport and they don't ever do it. Dress up like fucking Napoleon.

If Diego Lopez comes in full Napoleon hand in the shirt regalia, I will get his, I will get his name tattooed on my body somewhere. It would rule. He'll never do it, but it would be awesome. And he'll be the climb bet. I mean, the climb bet will go in before I ever see that man on fight week, but we'll, I'll do something. Just come dressed as Napoleon for the face-offs to be unbelievable. Speaking of fun, all in all, UFC Paris is a lot of fun.

Again, 11 finishes of the 13 fights, ties of the record. The finish streak capped off by Benoit Santini, just cranking the old face of Mauritia Ruffi. We'll talk about that in a second. Nassadini Movov gets a big win. But just I'm curious, Jed, just right now we're, what, 15, 18 minutes removed from this card? What's your biggest takeaway? What's the first thing that pops in your mind as far as your takeaways from UFC Paris? Oh, that's easy.

And this is perhaps mean-spirited takeaway. I don't know. But it is true. Honest to God, the first thing I thought I've slacked this, I've tweeted this. As I was watching that main event, the biggest fight, my was like, all right. RDR versus Fluffy, that's a title Eliminator. That's just stone call, like you said in the intro, in the driver's seat, technically you're correct because he does have a win.

I think that there's simply not a world where the winner of RDR Fluffy is not the next, or the first challenger for Hamzaa Tchaima's middleweight belt. That is no reflection on Nasrini Nehavov's win because that is a great performance. One of his best performances against a very tough guy, made Bahalio look terrible at times in there. You know, like there's no critique of the performance, but we are not Dana White or McMainer to Sean Shelby. And part of, like, I listened to the preview show, you know,

y'all were out there talking and justifiably so about how Kyle Bahalio had to go through contender series twice because he, you know, didn't catch their eye the first. time despite a consummate great dominant performance, frankly like we just saw from Imov. That was part of the narrative into this fight. They did the whole video package with Kyo about that because the U.C. doesn't give two toots about, you know, professional workmanlike great performances. This was stated very clearly by Dana White.

Winner's going to be one of the winners of these two fights. Dazzle me. And as great as that performance was, there's just not a world. where the fluffy RDR fight in weird and cool, however it goes, it's going to be way more fun than what happened tonight. And the winner of that fight, we'll be fighting Hamza Jemayev next year.

Yeah, I mean, you nailed it. That's exactly my takeaway. And I kind of felt that way heading into the fourth round unless like even if somehow got to finish, but certainly heading into round five, I was already like, well, you got to feel real good if you're fluffy and RDR right now because the pressure is off of you, right,

at this point. You just got to go out there and just not have a terrible fight. It just can't be like a bad fight where Dana goes to the presser and says like, yeah, not a barn burner. But with those two dudes, it's like it's just impossible. And I'm sure one way or the other, there's probably going to be a finish in that fight. One way, it doesn't matter who.

And it's going to be just absolute warfare. And Imovov, to his credit, he couldn't lose this fight. Like he just couldn't because his road back to it to be. in this position where he's potentially a win away from a title fight, it's a long road considering the names that are in this division. And credit to him, he's the man on deck. So worst case scenario, he might have to win one more, but he might just get the winner of Hamzaa versus the RDR fluffy winner.

So he's in a terrific position, a way better position than Kyle Boehlo is in because now he has to start all over again and work his way back up. And that's going to take a while. So I assume Nassadine Nemov would much rather be in the position he's in than the position that Kaya is in, not just because he got a win. But again, that is just a long, hefty road back. That's a lot of work that needs to be done to get back in that position. So much needed win for Nassadine Nemovov and doing it,

almost getting a shoutout at the same time. It's huge. May not get him a title shot, but it's huge. It'll get him a title shot. It just won't get him the next one. He will be the backup. fighter is what will happen right like he'll be the backup fighter for homzop versus rdr fluffy and then he doesn't have to fight again for one that is not what i am saying i don't think he will have to

fight again it this is line him up knock him down right he but we all knew the score that there's no surprise to this there are two fights whoever's the most appealing after it is going to get it and there's no world in which the fluffy RDR fight, the winner does not put on a more fun, generically speaking performance than that. The only thing, if I'm Nasarini and I'm

happy with my performance, I'm waiting my turn. I may have to wait a full year, but that's fine, I can wait that full year. I am watching the fluffy RDR fight and I am hoping for either it's such a chaotic war that the dude just injured, whoever comes out of it winning is going to need to take some time and okay i'm next up then or we get some silliness

because there's no way again there's just no outcome where the fight isn't more fun than the fight we just saw but there is an outcome where the fight's more fun but like we get some wonky judging and then imov maybe slots in there but uh if i'm him i'm just like hey it doesn't matter i won that fight i won that fight convincingly my next fight is for the belt if i have to wait a year that's okay. I'll be backup fighter if need be. And hopefully RDR and Fluffy do such damage to each other that they can't return on the timeline that Hamzad is going to be on.

And so, you know, next January, February, me and Hamzot Shammai ever doing the damn thing. You and I are kind of in the same boat, especially coming off of UFC 319. Well, it may not be the most thrilling title run. it's going to be this guy Hamzaa Chamaif might just reign over this division for a really long time. It's going to be really tough to beat him

and then we did sort of a makeshift ranking show without our fearless leader and we sort of rank these four guys in terms of like who has the best chance of beating Hamza Chamaif. And I think both of us had Imovov at number four if memory serves me correctly.

Yeah. That was it. But my contention, the whole time was pretty like because I got asked some variation of questions like this like the person I will be the most interested in fighting Hamza Chamaev next will be one of the two upcoming winners because I thought Kyle was going to win this fight

but I think I even said it on air. I was like if he doesn't then that means Imov is great and so he has done something impressive and then that makes me more interested in it and that's where I'm at like I don't believe Kyle Bahia fought the smartest fight tonight I don't know that it would have mattered. You know, I don't know that he didn't fight that small, like the way he did because Imov did some stuff he just wasn't prepared for.

Like, there could be any number of reasons. But I left that fight thinking, yeah, I will still pick Hamzot to beat Imov, but good defensive wrestler, really good at range management, solid footwork. Those can create troubles for Hamzot if he can't just bulldoze his way into some takedowns. I suspect he still can, but maybe he can't. And so, like, I am, again, the person I will most want to see Hamzav fight is absolutely unequivocally going to be Reiner-Dritter when he beats Fluffy Hernandez or Fluffy Hernandez when he beats Rinder to Ritter. Whoever wins that is the guy I will be most interested. But Imovov is the most deserving, certainly.

And I am certainly interested in him fighting Hamzaa Jameh whenever he gets his chance to do so. just won't be next. Yeah. Imovob is well coached. They have great game plans. The coaching in in between rounds was very good. They just seemed to have a read on Kyle Bahalio from the jump. And it was a good win.

No bonus, though, as not to be surprised for Imabov or Kyle Baha'alio, care to take game. And there are 11. There were 11 finishes. There was no fight of the night. We're going to be, I'll say, we're going to be doing four finishes for sure. Four bonuses. Modestis Pekowska should get one because he retired a man and that was cool.

So I hope Modestis got one. He did not. Yes, no. Well, that's dumb as shit, but okay. Dude, that was sick. It was a buzzer-beater elbow knockout that retired a fairly well-liked fighter. That does absolutely deserve that. That was cool shit.

probably not in the context of how they get they maybe they gave mason jones one they should from like the way casey you know is always performance that performance deserves one you're nodding your head so i guess they gave mason jones one yeah when you almost die and then come back and almost yeah no he would never hurt he's fine didn't you hear his post fight he's never oh yeah i tripped a couple of times. Yes. Yeah. I tripped a few times.

It's one of the bonus winners, yes. I'm glad that that is one of like, Casey is absolutely right when he sort of makes that argument all the time of like performance. Yeah, like that performance in total, even if maybe the finish isn't. So I'm glad they recognize that. I'm looking at the rundown now of these things. One supreme. Uh, but but a but I don't. I mean, they probably should give one to thing.

I will say, let's go Renat Fokkerdinov because he killed a dude in a minute. Nope. Wow. That is wild. I'm surprised. I say that that was when you said there's one that's obvious. It's probably that guy. Well, name-wise and position-wise.

And the performance, too. I mean, Jesus Christ. I mean, I guess we're going to have to go to Antedelia because he knocked out a top seven heavyweight in two minutes. Not the man I was talking about. Yes, he did get a bonus. Okay. I mean, just emotional. Hey,

Henry in two minutes and then cried, and it was heartwarming and awesome. So we've got Mason Jones, Anti-Deli, Kaui Fernandez, because he kicked the dude's foot off. That is number three. Number three.

It's not the obvious one. I still can't believe Modestis didn't get it. I don't know. He fought right after Modestis. Well, that's not. Oh, Ben Wasandini. I kind of didn't.

think they would give him one for that frankly like i was looking right past i figured he'd get one he killed he destroyed this man he did but like it you know they don't do they don't do submissions for like shit ever this is like again i was just like and i would have absolutely stone given modestis it over bsd because that was cool as shit so i don't have any issues with it um as a terrific performance from ben was on the knee but uh yeah those are all fine no issues yeah bsd jones delia kami fernand does. Yeah, Kai Ferdez is definitely getting one. I mean, that first leg kick he landed. Poor Harry Ardwick. I don't know how you. It's a be a tough one to come back from. You get wheelchared out of the octagon. That was just nasty, man. The 19th leg kick stoppage in UFC history. And Michael

Biss being said this tongue in cheekly, but honestly God, it might be true. The first fighter ever wheeled out of the cage in a wheelchair, which, you know, record breaking. I, no issue. No issue. with any of those getting it. Just kind of weird. Modest is a billion percent deserved it. I mean, this kind of goes with, I mean, we'll talk about Kyle Bahalio too, because I do think his roadbacks would be a really long one. And I think he got a ceiling.

Like, he is a good middleweight. Like, he's a very good middleweight. He's going to be, I think he's like a top five to sevenish guy. And he will be there for a long time, but he's just not a guy that's got to fight for a belt. And that is okay. There's lots of fighters who have great success and don't fight for world titles. And that's fine. Buddy, you know my longstanding opinion on this matter.

Anybody who is upset that they were the seventh best dude in the world is a lunatic. If I'm the seventh best podcaster, shit, if I'm the seventh best MMA podcaster, that's pretty damn good. Eight billion people in the world, not better than all, but six of them. Not too shabby. Not too shabby. And then obviously, Marisha Ruffy had a tough night at the office. How do you sort of view fighting nerds right now?

Because they were on top of the game. They were just running shit. They were winning so many fights. I mean, they suffered a hiccup or two along the way with some of their fighters. You still get John Silva next week. Is this just like sort of, this is just the roller coaster ride, right?

Like city kickboxing. Way up. Then they went down. Then they went back up. up again? Is this sort of just a bump in the road for for fighting nerds or is is this kind of who they are? Like a really good team. Great personalities. They got a great gimmick. But maybe maybe we're not going to have any world champions out of this team. And again, that's okay. It's a little bit of both, right? Because the thing is the ride up is so much easier than

being at the top of the game. Right. Like they burst in the scene with five dudes. And, And when those five dudes are fighting the 50th best guys in the world and you have a crop of really talented fighters and you've brought a unique perspective or something to the game, you can rise really quickly like they did. But then, you know, they start fighting the best in the world. And like you can be UGA and style on Austin P. But then you got to play Tennessee. And maybe you beat Tennessee because you're still very good. But then you have to beat Alabama and then you have to beat Texas. and you have to keep doing those at this level.

And sometimes those teams are going to beat you back, right? Like sometimes Nasorini Namibov, who's an exceptional fighter, is going to beat you. Ima Chado Gary is going to beat you. Maybe Diego Lopez comes out just as Napoleon and he's going to beat you. That doesn't mean that the team is a fraud or whatever. It just means that it's hard to get there. And city kickboxing frankly set sort of an unrealistic precedent in the fact that they had two, like, champion champions rise so quickly and so directly to the top.

Because much more normally, it's, you know, team alpha male. Like, think about Team Alpha Male beating Team Alpha Mail for like a decade before they finally got a dude with the bell. Like, it's just really hard when all the best people in the world are fighting you. And they are all fighting in really good divisions. And so, but I will also say that this actually rings really true. true to something we talked about months and months ago. We did a, I think it was on a ranking show. We did a, hey, let's talk about the fighting nerds.

And who is the, like, who's the first fighting nerd to win a belt? And I think I nailed it where I was like, I'm not sold on Marisa Ruffie. I think Marisa Ruffi is an incredibly fun fighter. And then I did get sold on him when he killed King Green because that was. was so cool that it broke my brain. But I was like, I don't know, he's unproven. He's in the best rate class in the world. He has huge holes in this game that need to get solved.

And then he killed an old man. And I was like, never mind. That guy might be the best fighter of all time. Now the cooler heads of prevails. Like, actually, no, he still has like huge flaws in his game that need to be worked out. But he's very talented and can go far. It's like, it's not going to be rough. He's in too good a weight class and has too many holes.

It's not going to be Kyle Bohalo. He's got a good chance at it just because he's the closest to fighting for a title right now. But I don't think it's going to be Cal Bahalio because I just I think he's like the least talented of the fighting nerds for right like he's talented. But I do think he is the least talented of those four. It's not going to be call his protest because he had just lost him of Machado Gary or maybe at this time he hadn't. But it's like he's old. And so it's not going to be him. He's just like a really fun guy.

My contention from Jump Street with this team has been John Silva was the best dude they got. And he's also fighting in a weight class that is the most diminable. to him making the move up because featherweight's in a bit of a turnover. And if he goes out here and he dummies Diego Lopez next weekend, which the odds suggest he's going to do, we'll talk about this next week. I think those odds are a little off.

Diego Lopez is getting not all the credit he deserves. But if he does it, one, we'll forget that fighting nerds had this tough, you know, UFC Paris thing. And two, his next fight is absolutely for the belt. He is fighting the winner of Okunovsky, Lauren Murphy, assuming that fight is what happens in December. And so we're right back, on top and you know

I would pick if he beats Diego Lopez I'll pick John Silva to beat Volcano frankly and so it may just be one of those things not every guy from your gym is going to win the belt even if all your guys are good you know you got Dan Hookers in your gym

they're still great fighters but they don't quite get there and I think that's just what we are at and they're starting to find their level a little bit more but now is the exciting part about fighting theirs because Because now we get to see, okay, how do you evolve? How do you get better from here?

Because you are all the hammers and now you're starting to be the nail a little bit. How do you come back from that? How do you develop new? And we'll get to see. Yep. 100% agree. And this will be a fascinating run, which continues to John Silva. At Desjardin, we speak business.

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He was not competitive today. It did not go very well. I was very curious what version of Ben Wasantini we were going to get Casey and I talked about this during the People's Free Fight show you know what version of BSD

were we going to get and I picked Ruffy to knock him out in the first round I thought he was going to get a little too excited a little too in love with this standup crowd being all ruckus for him

especially coming off the Boycano lost the last time he fought there he was going to go in and try to stand and bang with Ruffy and he didn't do that at all he just went out there and did exactly what he needed to do. And he beat the hell out of Mauritia Ruffie.

Like this is the guy, Jet. Like this is the guy we, that we saw coming up. This is the guy who they booked against Dustin Porre. We were like, oh, man, if he beats Dustin Porreier, watch out. And then he sort of got taught a veteran lesson by Dustin Porreier. And that's okay.

And then he had the boy, Conno fight. And they're like, oh, man, maybe he's lost his fastball a little bit. Maybe he's lost some of that confidence. And yeah, he gets Kyle, Kyle, Kyle Prepleck and it was a Joel Alvarez. Not his fault. Yeah. And he went out there and he won.

Like he needed to win. If he had ended up fighting Joel Alvarez, not sure. I don't know. I don't know how that would have looked and I don't know what is crazy. God. Oh, God. I wanted that fight so bad. I know.

Oh, I love Joel. God, I wish Joel fought ever, which he fought ever. But Kyle Prepelek steps in. BSD gets a finish. And now he gets the scary surging knockout artist on the, win streak. Perhaps maybe he can make a name, play spoiler in Paris. And BSD was like, no, no, I'm back to the old BSD. I am back to God of War where not only do I just tackle you and make your life miserable on the ground, I punish you every second of the fight. And we got, we got that guy

tonight, Jed Bishu. And it was refreshing. I got to tell you, he's back. We're so back, Jed, We are so back. So back. You know this sort of thing better than I do. Wasn't there a thing that it came out after the Moikano fight were like he changed camps and then basically trained himself? Like he just was training in like a garage by himself for that fight as opposed to like being in an actual camp. I have that in my head for some reason. I don't know if that's true or not.

Yeah, there was something like to that extent. But now he's like back with a team. But yeah. But then he was. went back to his team. It's like, oh yeah, maybe you don't just train yourself. Maybe don't just train yourself in your garage,

you absolute both. So like, ah, screw it, it'll be fine. Like, yeah, you probably can't do that against some of the best fighters in the world.

Not at lightweight. And then he goes back to his gym and it's like, oh, look, I keep winning. I lost, I lost the Dustin Porreier, one of the 47 best fighters to ever live in a fight that I was also being very competitive in until I got got.

And again, at that time he was four or five years into his professional career and then was like you know what screw my team who needs them me and my gym me in my garage we got this and then it's like oh I guess that was really stupid and I'll go back to a coach and look what happens I loved his post-fight interview where he was just like yeah sometimes guys get overhyped and they haven't really proven anything and they've got like one good win and we knew that and so I came in and beat this guy. I was like, that's actually almost exactly correct.

Like, uh, he, he did exactly like if you were drawing up a game plan, I'd be like, well, don't put your chin in the line of fire like you are sometimes want to do and immediately take him down and see, try. Like if he, if he doesn't let you take him down, then maybe you have to go to plan B. But the first thing you should do is see how he manages your A game. and he tested it instantly and Ruffy did not have a good answer for it I was like all right well

that's what we're going to do from here on out and the fight ended I mean really mostly one way traffic the whole way terrific performance from BSD just a big goofy bozo who I love he is I've said this many times before I believe it with my whole heart

he is Justin Geichi if instead of being just he's grappler Justin Gehie you know like how in the old Mortal Kombat They palette swapped guys, so they didn't have to make different characters. And be like, ah, but you get, it's just like here. These are the same guy, but I'm going to give BSD different moves because their ethos is dissimilar. And I love him.

He is going to carry the violence torch for like five years. I think he's going to end up fighting for a belt one day because he's 29 years old. And he is, again, he's one of the 15 best fighters in the world in the best weight class in the sport. and he's been a professional for six years. He is just hitting the prime of his career over these next three or four years. I think he will end up fighting for a belt. Don't know if I'll win it, but you can't.

I would be pretty interested in like a year and a half in a BSD I'lliott-Tepore a fight. That tickles me right where I itch. It's possible. I'm curious to see. I think BSD is, and I haven't looked for onto the next one yet, I'm really like dug in yet, but I'm very excited to dig in for for Ben Wausantini, like what kind of matchups we can come up with for him.

It's going to be very, very fun, very exciting, especially with some of the matchups that are coming up right now. I think he nailed his post fight in every way where he was just like, I'm ready to go again. If somebody falls out of any of these upcoming fights, if there's a top 10 dude who wants to go by the end of the year, was rock. Like that's exactly right. He has, he's defended his position now, right? Like he was going to defend his positioning. It's Joel Alvarez.

Not his fault. Accepted the short notice fight. One. And then this is a full-blown, no doubt about it, defend the position. Maricio Ruffie getting an opportunity to advance. And he's like, no, I've held the gates. Now he gets a chance to climb back up, right? Like, I don't know who it's at, you know?

Honestly, that's a lot. I know exactly who it's at. I know exactly who will be fighting next. It will be Matush Kamrot. Let's go. Yeah, I mean, they probably should have. I was hoping that was the fight they were going to make. So that makes a ton of sense.

I wonder if they go, why don't they go bigger? I don't know. There's so many fights I want to see BSD. I mean, him and Raphael Fiziv is they're going to fight each other at some point. It is going to be able to. Eventually. And that could happen just because, but like Fiziv, the thing is if Fiziv beats Olveri, he's suddenly a top five dude.

And then it's like, all right, well, Fizizzi's probably fighting Max Holloway for like a title shot, ish thing. Whereas I don't have anything to do with Gamrot. Like BSD Hooker would, but there's also, there's rumors about Hooker and Sarukian. I don't know if there's smoked to that buyer. I also just straight up don't know

that Hooker would take that fight. Armin, yes he would. He'd be insane not to. No, no, I'm saying, take the BSD fight. Yeah. That's fighting really far back for him. Not the first choice.

No. Yeah, I just don't know if you take it. I mean, if you're just trying to go full violence, fun, super fun time, it's Michael Chandler. I was going to say, like, I wonder if they feed Chandler to BSD. I mean, that's full violence, super fun time. We would love that. But I think it's just going to be Gamrod because, like, who else is Gamonaut going to fight? Maybe Benny, but like, it's just, then you run the risk of Benny doing that I can defend

takedowns and be a real. really good grappler and just beat up Benwanae on the feet. And suddenly your fun guy is lost to the old guy. So I think you just do Gamrod because he'll make that fight fun or shit. That fight will rule. Yeah. Lots of fun stuff for BSD. Good win for Modestis Bacoscus.

Dude has come alive and happy trails to Paul Craig. Mason Jones. We talked about him. He did retire, right? Paul Craig did lay him down. Paul Craig retired. Yep. He retired.

Good decision. That's a great call on his. part terrific choice i mean this guy gets to hold his head very high knowing that he has stoppage wins over current light heavyweight champion magabed angelaev and former light heavyweight champion jamal hill it's truly one of the funniest things that was happening at that time of the sport like this guy who has lost like six fights in a row it feels like is actually the he's beaten the two dudes fighting for the belt right now also uh one one of the most obvious, on the bad end of being one of the most obvious diving situations

I've ever seen in the history of the sport with it off a lot. Oh, yeah. You know, he's all over everything. Yes, the E60 on Paul Craig's career is going to be pretty wild. Axel Solace. You know what? Before we leave Paul Craig, here's what I want to say. Paul Craig is exactly the human being.

when I say all the time on this and other programs, you got no shortage of dudes who can talk, who are interesting, who have opinions and viewpoints, stop running the same six fucking analysts out, just mix people in. I want Paul Craig in the booth. I want him on a desk somewhere.

The next time they do a European show, put him on the desk and let him talk about stuff. He didn't have to be there every time, but like he is the sort of dude who is, very smart about fighting, had clear physical limitations that really meant he could never, you know, fight for a belt functionally. But like he's the sort of dude, I'm like, oh, I bet you have great perspective. That would be interesting to hear in a broadcast.

Let Paul Craig Cook on the mic. Yeah, I like that. That's a great idea. That is a terrific idea. So happy trails to Paul Craig. Axel Sola gets the. K. Wittaker with a risk.

Holt warships comment up. That's the comment of the day, folks. Let's see it. This is just a great visual. But he has to wear the Scottish face paint at the desk. 100%. That would be unbelievable. There's Kamar Usman in a suit taught.

And then Paul Craig's sitting next to him looking very serious before he comments. Hi, I'm Dan Halley. Let's say a little to Kamar Usman. Let's say a little to Chris Wyden. And over here is Paul Craig. You just see him with like the phase paint on. Oh my God. Oh my God.

It would be such an incredible gimmick. Again, Minister of Fun. Let's go. Love this. Axl Sola gets the finish of Risa Key. Weird stoppage, but didn't hate it at the end of the day. Like a touch early, but fine. Yeah.

He should have had a tough night. He was going to get finished because body like that's the thing with body shot. When you get drop with the body shot, there's, don't really recover. It's just like you just slowly die. He was going to get finished, but it was early. Yeah.

I mean, the body language sucked. You had to make a call. At least he made a call this time. It is an explicable stoppage. Yes. William Go Me and Robert Ruhalla had a fight. They certainly had a fight.

It's not their fault because this fight wasn't supposed to be the main card opener. But I think it was Dan. Tom tweeted it and it was just like, that's certainly a choice to start your main card with a William go me fight. Like, especially with all the energy the prelims had, which you can't foresee, right? You don't know that it's going to be nothing but stoppages. But as soon as they were like, all right, main card's about to kick off with William Go Me,

I, I was like, okay, we're going to pump the brakes on the fun time we're having here. Yeah. I mean, maybe they thought lightning we could strike twice because him and Hyder Emile banged. That was a great fight. But that's Hyder Emil. That's true. Hyder Amil usually is bangs. Yeah.

Just not. Umar C. I watched every second in that fight. I couldn't tell you one thing that happened in it. A fight broke out. A fight actually broke up 14 minutes into that one. Just a black hole of entertainment when William Go Me fights. Great fighter.

It's like five and one in the promotion or whatever. But, yeah, man. Good win for Omar C. Anti-Delijah. Good for him. Kowie Fernandez. as we talked about him. Sam Patterson, another first round finish. He's, I don't know if he has the record for most consecutive first round finishes in the UFC,

but if he's not, it can't be. This is like four or five in a row, right? All in the first round. I mean, yeah, that's great. But I imagine that record is like seven. Zero bonuses. Now, he probably does have that record.

Yeah, Jesus. Most first round finishes without a bonus. Yeah, Treywater, he beat the Christ out of Trey Waters. That was crazy. Dude, he got with that new team and moved up to Walterway and he looks awesome. I don't know if he's ever going to be like a top 15 dude, but he looks great. Let's see him get a little bit of a step up here and let's test that out. He called out Neil Magni.

I don't hate it. I mean, Neil's coming off of a win. Maybe we'll let Neil breed that victory in for a little while. Or we can just keep Neil on the age-appropriate matchmaking train. I don't mind that either, but we shall see. Robert Breitchev finishes Brad Tavares, so Brad's chance to break the middleweight wins record, put on hold.

We talked about we're not Fokicinov, just icing out Andreas Gustafson. Definitely didn't see that coming. Not that we're not winning as a shocker. I definitely didn't see that fight ending in the first minute, considering the two guys who were involved here. Yeah, I did not see that outcome happening. I did place a little bit of an underdog action on Renat.

Basically, I was like, why is he an underdog? I like I get it Andreas Gustavson was like really fun against chaos I like look like a total hoss against chaos Williams or whatever but like coming off contender series I was like this dude's old

and I don't think he's good he's just fun and I know Fokradinov is not like he lost a who did he lose to ZDS is that right? Who do you lose to? Yeah.

Like okay he's still like a really really good fighter and shouldn't be an underdog against a guy who has one good win, right? And I didn't think it'd look like that. But credit to him. Fun Hat gang.

Staying alive. The Fun Hat Mafia. Yeah, it's been quite the run, man. Ever since that one dude got blown up off tough, the tough finale, the Fun Hat Mafia has been cooking. Yep. Beats Andreas Vicholitis in his UFC debut. Brian beats Brian Battle.

Annihilates Kevin Lee. the draw with Elizus-Zalesky split he with Nicholas Dalby which is super close. Those are good fighters. Yeah. He's beating good fighters. The problem is

No disrespect. Chaos Williams is Chaos Williams and Gustafsson beat him and everyone's like next second coming. He has scary tattoos and he is a hawse. Yeah, I think people looked at

the last two fights are not had which are both technically wins. Yeah. But most people thought, he lost the Dalby fight and almost unanimously everyone thought he lost the Carlos Lielte fight even though you and I on that watch party both sort of defended like

it's fine it wasn't like the biggest rock group all time yeah it's not great but it's fine but it's thing like Carlos Liao Nicholas Dalby are really good fighters they're tough outs man it's like really like they're just really hard fights Kevin Lee over the hill Brian Battle I know you know the weight is a thing Brian Battle is a terrific fighter He has fought a bunch of really good dudes in the EOC, frankly. And he shouldn't have been an underdog to a deeply unproven guy as Gustafsson.

Again, never saw that outcome happening, though. Yes. And let's put over, because you can't start off, you can't sweep the prelims with finishes without the first fight ending in a finish. Shout out to Sam Hughes, who just beat up Sean Abannon. I mean, most people felt if there was a. a climb bet to be had, Sam Hughes was the climb bet. And boy, it would have been Omar C and I kind of regretted not doing it. It wouldn't have been Sam Hughes. It would have been Omar C. That was the one I thought and I was like, I'm just not going to. And he absolutely blew up Prince in a barrel. But credit

to Sam Hughes. You know my favorite part of the Sam Hughes fight Mike? When Bisping, and it's really not his fault because the booth like clearly was feeding this as like a stat, her first finish in the which is deeply not true. And when Bispin goes to the post, I was like, you finally got your first finish. And she's like, it's my second finish. What are you talking about? And Bissing Bissing was like, again, not his fault. He definitely wasn't like doing that research.

Somebody in his ear told him that and it was incorrect. And he's just left like holding the mic looking like an ass, which is like, no, that's my second finish. Okay, well, how did it feel to get a finish? It's like tough scenes, buddy. It's a really, really tough hang for him. Yes, the elbows, the elbow finish of Elise Reed. Yeah. Shows you how much the booth was in, the fucking truck was invested in the same huge fight.

There you have it. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. It's just $399.99. How could I resist? This luxurious. will throw for my sister.

This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. All right, let's bring Casey in.

I got to tell you, I didn't think I'd get this much blowback on Twitter for... About what? Here's the tweet. Fluffy and RDR have to be. be feeling pretty good right now. Good win for Imovov, but not sure it gets him a title shot. And people are not happy about this. There's a couple of things.

I have the same functional tweet and nobody has said anything. You just you stir people up, Mike. That's where it is. He beat, people are just like, yeah. He just beat Pahlia 5045. What more do you want? A first round, K.O. RDR,

won by split. Fuff, he beat the shit of a guy who's barely top 15. It's deservingly Nassah's shot. And this is the problem with MMA Twitter. There's two things that annoy me. One, I never said that Acedony Move Up doesn't deserve a title shot. We both

just said he deserves it. In fact, you could have made a case he deserved it more than Hamzot deserved it. Oh, that's not a case. It's unequivocal he deserved it more than Hamza. That's not a case. That's just fact. But you also have to understand that this is the ultimate fighting championship. Okay? This is entertainment first.

merit second, they're going to go with the fight that is more fun that fans are more clambering for. And I got to, it's just an absolute fact that unless RDR and Fluffy is the worst fight of all time, the fans will be clamoring for the winner of that fight to fight Hamza At Chabayev. And that is the fight they will make. Plain and simple. Even if that was great tonight. But this is the UFC. This is not Bellator.

This is not PFL. This is not a meritocratic world we live in. We're going to put the more fun guy in there with our star to build a fight that more people want to friggin' watch. That's it. That's all this is. No one is denying or knocking down what Nasradi Nemovov did today. He fought great. He fought a great fight and won.

But Dana White, this is the reason why Dana White said those exact words when he announced the UFC Vancouver main event. The winner of Nasdaenimov versus Kyle Bajlio is not. the number one contender because on October 18th, Ronnie U. Ritter and Anthony Hernandez are going to fight in the main event. The guy who stands alone and has the best performance that has everybody talking, that will be the guy that fights for the belt. And like we talked about earlier, that fight will be a more fun and thrilling fight than this one is.

And that's what the UFC will reward. So again, we are not taking anything away from Yovov. This is a great win. He deserves to fight for the belt. he's just not going to unless a lot of things fall in his favor. Fair? Not fair? I don't know.

But that's just the nature of the business. I'm sorry. Why is the UFC have rankings? Why? So they can put numbers on things and people can... They don't mean anything. Yeah. Yeah.

But they can also rank it however they want. Because, I mean, we've seen it. You can just tell people like, hey, rank this guy higher. take him out of the rankings because he doesn't want to fight this guy. Like, they can control that. So none of that shit matters. It doesn't matter. The UFC rankings don't mean anything.

I haven't meant anything in a long time. Ever? They haven't ever meant anything. Yeah, again, this is just like people are fundamentally stupid sometimes and that's okay. I'm stupid about something sometimes. Very obviously, Nasrini Neemov is the most deserving title challenger. He has been the most deserving title challenger. He has been the most deserving title challenger.

For sure. Since the moment, he knocked out Israel Dissina. In the words of the great William money, the serves got nothing to do with it. And like this isn't even like an us specking thing, right? Like I could maybe see some blowback if we're speculating about what the U.S. This is from the horse's mouth. I was trying to find the exact quote, but I couldn't find it. But it is from Dana explicitly saying these two are fighting.

and then R.D. R and Fluffy are fighting, and whoever looks the best, like whoever's the most impressive coming out of that is going to get it. I've been watching him for a long time. I know Dana White through the TV screen pretty well. I would bet

anything short of like both my legs that he did not look at that and be like, that's the guy, definitely want to put him in there against Hamzot. It's already armed, to lose and they could lose it, but they are in the driver's seat for this. And that is not a reflection on Emovov. It is a reflection on the sport. And if you have an issue with it, take it up with Dana White. Yes. And these are the same people who say Armand shouldn't be fighting for the

belt, which is hilarious. So, okay, let's continue. You got it out of your system. Yeah, I don't know why people are so mad about here. Here. Here and again, UFC does. Kieran, we agree. There's, you're not hearing us, we agree. Imovov has faced better competition. Imov deserves it. Does that not matter. Yeah. Does not matter.

That word does not exist when you're talking about ultimate fighting. Dude, just go back to 2016 when Michael Bisbing won the middleweight belt. Who did he defend his championship against for his first championship life? Joel Romero. No. It was Yol O'Meiro. It was Jacaree Soza. No, it wasn't.

It wasn't Robert Whitaker. It wasn't anybody climbing up the middle rate ranks. Who wasn't interim champion Robert Whitaker? No, it wasn't. It wasn't interim champion Robert Whitaker. Actually, he wasn't an interim champion at that time. Oh, no, he was about to be. They did it after they did the Hindu fight because they were doing it.

Who got it? Who got it? Dan Henderson. Why? Because it was the more interesting story and it would sell more pay-per-views. It was in Manchester. And it was the Manchester too. Yeah.

It just made them make them. Come on. They wanted Michael Bisping to have a successful title defense. Yes. They did not. They liked that dude and they he would have gotten blown the F up by any of the other dudes they put him in it. And I thought he lost to Henderson that night if we're being honest.

I honest to God, I don't know if he did, but in my heart he did because it was way funny. He almost got H-bombed immediately and it was about nearly the happiest moment of my fandom. This is this is what the UFC has been doing for a decade. And look, who are we to judge them? Look at the success they're having. They're just signed a $7.7 billion freaking streaming deal.

They see what they're doing works for business. May not be what we like. Yeah, email off his leafy green and Dana likes candy. You could not the chat. Chat coming with the users today. Yeah, hit the meters today from the chat. You can't end it in this. Jesus.

We got to clip that off. We all have. handy. Yeah. But yes, Nasor Nehivov is absolutely leafy greens and RDR slash fluffy. That is, that's a big bowl ice cream.

Oh, yeah. We're going to get the big bowl ice cream. We're getting the Rocky Road for sure. Oh, yeah. Without a doubt. Poor, poor, poor, thank God.

Saker, I was waiting to fucking time you out because every time you're in chat, you deserve to be time out. Hell yeah, let's go. Yeah. All right. Let's hit the super chats.

Here we go. Marco. Don't care what happens to an RDR Fluffy. Eva Vov is the clear number one guy. Also, how great did BSD look, very impressed by his grappling and composure? He is the clear number one guy, Marco. You're absolutely right. We are all in agreement.

And even in a meritocrat, like in every meritocratic sense, no matter what happens between RDR and Fluffy, Eamov will still be the clear number one guy because of the number one guy because of the resume, the wind streak, the names that are on his resume. It's just not going to get him the title fight. And it's not fair, but it's just the world we live in. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is. It is going to get him the title fight, just not next.

I would strongly doubt he's fighting again. I wouldn't be stunned if he fights again. I'll be against DDP. It'd be DDP. That's who he would fight. Maybe. I'll be pretty surprised to be fights again. I just don't know what I think her just be. No.

Well, it's not even really a no. Like, why do they want someone else? Like, why would they even be like it? He can weigh in as the backup. And now the glut, like the backlog has been cleared now, right? Like with this sort of Grand Prix thing, like, who's next? Like, if Hamzot fights in January or February against RDR Fluffy, who's next? There's no other like middleweight that's just like banging down the door because they've kind of cleared it all out.

But what if you could just wait? But what if they beat Hamzad? Then that opens a whole bunch of weirdness again. I mean, there's a world depending on how it happens that they'd run that back. But at that point, sure, maybe that does open up some some level of weirdness of like DDPs in the mix. But like I would say it's like 85% that Emovoff doesn't. fight again for the belt. He just doesn't fight for the belt until next summer or fall. Yeah, probably Abu Dhabi next October is when he would fight for the belt if Hamzaa wins.

Yeah. Yep. All right. Thank you, Marco. Stephen K. Kaih was saying he didn't feel the adrenaline is probably because he cut weight twice in a month's time. That's not a bad day. It's got to affect him. He's all right. Large man. I heard y'all talk about that on the preview show. And I honest to God had not considered it until you said it. I was like, yeah, that it probably isn't the best that he cut weight a month ago.

And then I don't know. You know, we'll never know. I thought he looked terrible for most of the night, both strategically and just like it looked like he didn't have the energy. I usually default to assuming that that is because Imov. makes him look that way, but you could also convince me that like, yeah, you know, he had an off night because also that's the thing about fighting. That's one of those things that I like try to stress to people. I just don't feel like people understand why defending titles is so hard. Because like you can just have a bad night at the office. That's a thing that happens in all

sports or all endeavors of life. This week I went like every day at the gym was just kind of a shitty gym day for me. I just didn't have it this week. Sometimes that can happen. And maybe he just had one of those nights But maybe he had one of those nights Because he cut weight a month ago Yeah, I still remember No, I'm assuming good friend and teammate Ruffy, Hoofee, Huffy

Ruffy, just got his butt kicked Just 10 minutes before he walked out So that can't feel good either So there's a lot of just This is against the teammate of the guy Who he's about to fight Yeah, he went into that fight Knowing that France owns fighting nerds

that his team is 1800s Austria and now he has to try and pull a waterloo and he didn't have waterloo in him tonight, you know? He didn't have it. Yeah, sometimes you don't. I mean, this dude on the ground was firm. Sean Strickland stepped in on like a couple of days notice to fight him like off the couch and Sean just bagged him up.

Like if National Dean Bof and Sean Strickland fought a hundred times, I mean, even if I wins, he wins most of them. Especially at 85. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, look, we, as we've all, I think we've all thought for a long time that Sean Strickland was the Duke of Wellington. And he is prepared to defeat Napoleon,

Imov at all phases. So, yeah, that's fine. And who knew that that win, that decision to step in on that day? Would kickstart a, of fighter

a year campaign of the fighter of the year 2003 is a year we're going to look back on and be like what the shit

was happening what was going on that year I'm telling the UFC 297 post fight show is still the greatest post fight show

I've I've never had more fun doing this job than that or UFC 293 excuse me the 293

post fight show yeah unbelievable tears flowed it was incredible the things we learned along the way

friends who made Wow friends are made I'm going to actually jump around and skip a super chat because I just want I want to hear this answer you're in charge you control the thing Wow Wow

I know I know who I believe the answer to be I don't know if it's the right answer For the podcast listeners the question extra Ed asks is who is more legendary Anthony Smith or Paul Craig The difference though, Jed, is that at least we knew ahead of time that Anthony Smith was going to fight for the final time. We did not know this about Paul Craig. So Anthony had pomp and circumstance.

He was called a legend for weeks and months before he stepped into that cage and it continued on in the aftermath. Paul Craig just hit legendary status the moment his leather gloves touched the canvas. So I ask you, Jed, with all this in mind, who is more legendary? Lionheart or Bairjew? I don't have a way to answer this question that isn't super freaking mean to Anthony Smith. Like it's just super mean to Anthony Smith. Because like neither of them are legends.

Paul Craig is absolutely more legendary than Anthony Smith is. Like it's just like the whole Anthony Smith thing was insane in general. But like it's all like, what would Anthony Smith be a legend for? Like literally the standout moment

Like if I'm thinking about Anthony Smith's career And I think broadly other people The moment you think about Is when he didn't take a dive Against John Jones Which is commendable And we respect the good fighting nature of it But like

If that's the best part of your career Like the first thing you think of with Paul Craig Is at least like he paints his face and has really cool stare downs. That's pretty fun, right? Like, that's like a fun thing to have jump out of your head. And then you dive into it and you're like, okay, what's Anthony Smith's best win?

Like, what performances did Anthony Smith have that stand out? And you're like, it's not the, like, it's some solid wins. You know, he beat Gus. Gus is probably his best win, right? And it's a good win. But also goes Gus on retirement track Gus, you know, like thing. Whereas, like, again, we talk. talked about Paul Craig.

Paul Craig is the only dude who's beaten Magerman Ankleyev. He tapped Magamund Angklyev. He is the reason Magerman Ankylaev is not undefeated top four pound-for-pound fighter Magamon Ankylayaev. That is substantially more legendary than anything Anthony Smith ever did. And like the fact, and this is so stupid. It's so, and it's so mean. I am so sorry.

Bear Jew is a sick nickname that is also like it's unique. and cool and fun. And Lionheart is a bad nickname because Anthony Smith quit in fights all the time, up to end including his retirement fight where he just quit. Like it is one of, like neither of them are legends, but if we're going to throw it out, Paul Craig has done way more legendary stuff.

He's just not an analyst, so the UFC love him as much. Wow. Again, there's no way for me to say that without being super mean to Anthony Smith and I'm sorry. I just have an honest perspective on his career that I don't think people have. You know, all you had to say was Paul Craig. It didn't ask why. Just who was born legendary?

Paul Craig, if we had to pick. That's all we had to say. I felt bad for this question. But why? Like, Paul Craig did stuff that people will remember. It might be stupid stuff, right? Like, it's not meaningful, but neither of them have like massively meaningful careers. But insofar as they do, Paul Craig has the more meaningful shit.

Paul Craig tapped out Magman Anclyev. He might end up being the only guy who's ever beaten Magman Anclyev. There is a world where Ancolaev retires undefeated, but for Paul Craig and a literal last second arm bar. That's, or not arm bar, whatever. That's dope. Do you care to... Don't clip it. Don't listen to Rob Thomas.

I don't want the hate that comes with this clip. Hold on. Care to guess. who Benoit Sontign called out after at the Post-Fi Press Governance. Cool. He's probably smart enough to call out Michael Chandler. He did not call him Michael Chandler. Oh, good.

He shouldn't. Camrod. Nobody tries to fight Matush. Yeah. What? Max Holloway. Well, I mean, I'm sorry. I'm reading somebody else's headline.

And now I'm reading like the actual. quotes. It was not from M.A. fighting, I can assure you. So this wasn't like a straight call up. The headline said, Ben Wausantanthi eyes Armand Serukian after dominant finish of Marizio Rufi. And then you actually read the quote and it's not him singling out Armin. It's Armin Hooker, Gamrod. I mean, anybody inside the top 10 is the actual quote. Whoever's above him in the rankings. Yeah. Okay. Okay. If it was just like, I deserve Arvin Sarucan,

I'm better than all these guys. I wouldn't have liked the call, but if you get a call multiple people, throw Armin in there, sure. I got to tell you, I don't think this will happen. I'd be pretty into Justin Gachey. Just redo the Poirier fight

as functionally what we're doing. Just do Poyer again. That would be sick. Coy's retired. We have a Poye at home. This name's Justin Gagee. You know what to do? Just book Gachie.

Just say you're booking Gachie in a title fight and then be like, ooh, champions injured. How about you fight Benoit Sontini? And he'll say yes in a three-rounder. So you're just giving it to him anyways. God, that would be so freaking fun.

That would be so frigging fun. Oh, that would be so fun. That'd be a great one. That's the one I want. I don't think it's going to happen. If I got to choose, Magic 1, that's the one I want. Yeah.

Gagee and take him that fight. Did you ever play that board game, Stratigo? Absolutely. course. Terrific game. It is a terrific game. Paul Craig to me is the spy. He's ranked very low, but he can take anybody out.

No, no, no, he can't take anyone out. He can only take out the Marshall, which is basically the queen. He can't take out the two through six. Yeah. He can only take out the top piece. Honestly, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a incredible poll. That might be better than the Pokemon. That's a really good one.

It's a really good poll. That's the work. Thank you. That might have been the only thing that. Chad is cooking, we're cooking. Everybody's cooking right now. You know why? Because it's a reasonable hour.

All brains work. Yeah, you got you. I saw it born in the morning for you guys. Yeah, no shit. Welcome. All right. All right. What else is we?

I like this quote from Scott Mcgrate. No bad matches for BSD. Want to see him fight everybody. Same. No wrong way to eat that Reese's bro. Yeah. He's one. He's just one of those guys.

Lots of super chats here. We're going to fly through them. Yes. VSD versus Chandler at MSG. Certainly. What's that card have on it right now? It's got a lot. It's good.

No, it doesn't have a lot. Well, I mean, it's got the main and the co-main and Edwards Prattis. Yeah. And Blanchfield Cortez. And then I guess, do we think Bo Nichols is going to be main card or is Bo Nicol going to be prelim? Probably prelim. them. If you want to round out main card with,

I mean, that would dad rip. I would be in. I would not be opposed to that. I think that makes a ton of sense. I think Chandler should fight on that card. I, in my fantasy MSG matchmaking,

I have Chandler Moikano, which is fine too. But you want to do BST Chandler? Certainly. That'd be a lot of fun. Sure, sure. All right. Thank you, Michael.

RS 40. Let's give Renata top 15 guy, Gilbert Burns maybe 6-0 and 1 the UFC has never lost he had a draw against easy DS I don't know if Gilbert I mean Gilbert's actually got Colby calling his name right now which if you're Gilbert you're probably like jumping all over that yeah the problem is we're not be one dude and as you mentioned like his other wins are certainly a little suss and Gilbert's like still like top 10 in the UFC rankings so suddenly you're just launching him into the middle of that I don't think you can do I think he needs

I mean Meg Milat's getting Kevin Holland So like if you were going to give him a top 15 That would be sort of the one You could maybe do Danny Rodriguez You know Is that day Louke? Lucke?

Sure. Yeah, I think Lucke would actually be a great matchup That's the one Because Lucke is not ranked But like you beat Lucke You get a ranked guy That feels right That's a good pick

All right Thank you RS 40 Super chat from Alexander Hurst. I can't tell if the Kyo Imbaov fight was a slow fight or a chess match. Both talented, both slow takedowns from Kyo, and not much thrown from either. A little bit of my little column B. I mostly think it was slow. But I also think Imov wanted that fight slow.

And so that's a lot of why it was slow. 100%. I mean, most pundits who broke down that fight was like if Kyos was going to win. and even his corner was saying it in between rounds you got to make this thing nasty like you got to dirty this thing up if you just have like a range

like plotting kickboxing match you're not going to beat this guy you're just not going to it's terrible tactics I thought Bahaia fought really really poorly certainly I do credit a lot of that just to the footwork of him above but

I just for the life of me I'll never understand why fighters back up when they're like essentially the grapplers in the matchup. Like when I'mov is backing you up, just don't move. If he crashes into you, you're clenching. That's good for you. And if you back up, then you're fighting on the back foot and you suck at that.

So that's really bad for you. Just stand. Just stand dead in the middle. And if he wants to come forward, oh, look, we're hugging now. Hooray! Like, I just don't get it. It does not make sense to me. And I think all that punching and kicking when even Mom moves forward is the issue.

Yeah, but when he comes, like the whole time, Bahaio kept trying to get to his range and then hit step in elbows. Just throw that elbow when he comes in. Like instead of you having to try and navigate forward at it, hold. Just hold. And then grab him when he gets in every time. Like I don't. Are you surprised he didn't throw?

Are you surprised you didn't throw more like like kick tonight? That seems to be like the biggest. He started early. I don't know if like it felt like he was getting checked a little early and maybe that just disincentivized him. And he kept. kicking to the body, which I liked, but because frankly, I liked it because it was his only good weapon at range. But he, he was simply never comfortable. I also think a lot of the

leg kick stuff is he was backing up. This is really hard to throw leg kicks if you're backing up and along the fence. And even Bob was really good at backing him up. Is Barlio, is he more of a, for a takedowns? He's more, is he more a trip, like body lock and trip type guy? He's not, he's not a huge actual like active wrestler take down. Yeah, I think he hit a couple close cool foot sweeps

that didn't get there. Yeah, I think the foot sweeps almost. Yeah, there's a lot of almost foot sweeps, almost.

There was one that was really nasty from like Imov having a front headlock on him and he popped up and even of all like actually stumbled

and almost fell back but there's no follow through. But how he just looked flat, man, just did not look like great performance from him and you got to credit Imov for that.

Yeah. Thank you, Alexander. Zachary Haynes, 999, Super Chat. Umavov is late title run John Jones, nullifying striking with distance management and defensive wrestling without any of the hype. Won't get much love from the promoters, but he's a talented fighter. Yeah, he's definitely a talented fighter. He's good. The dude should be fighting for the title.

He's number one ranked. He's number one ranked guy behind the champ. He should be fighting for the belt. He won't be, but he should be. this is not an accurate assessment of Imovov, but he is very talented. John Jones and Ivovov do not fight in similar manners. John was teeps and oblique kicks to literally make the fight happen at 50 feet away from the opponent. Imov did not really jab like a bunch.

He just pressured for like he had good forward pressuring footwork, not really what John did either for the most part. But like the things he did that were really good. And also this, I forgot this, but this is absolutely one of the reasons that those like kick stopped coming. Um, even if I pretty early on timed counters to the leg kicks and specifically to that lead calf kick when Bahia would throw one to the lead. Evah would come back with either a right hook or a rear hook or a rear straight hand into a left hook with pop. And he's like, oh, if you're on one foot and kicking me, I'm going to throw two heaters at your dome. And that is in fact a thing that would make me stop kicking you.

If every time I tried to kick you, you attempted to take my head off. And so, like, that was one of the reasons. He doesn't jab nearly as much as he probably could. He landed some really nice body shots in this fight. But as far as, like, trying to make the fight as little of a fight as possible, sure. How he does that, very different from John Jones. I think the biggest similarity were the use of I-pokes. Hey, man.

Uh, two eye pokes, two low blows. No points. You know, uh, man, I, I, boy, was he loud? It just is what it is. It is what it is. But Mark Goddard in the fifth round when this fight is functionally over being like, if you do that again, this is a hard warning.

If you do that one more time, especially like straight up, I'm, you know my stance. Everyone penalize everything. The first one, uh, I don't remember the second. one, I'm sure it was also bad. The ipokes. Correct. The second ipok. But the first eye poke is like literally the textbook definition of don't can do this that they tell

you of fingers out. And like it was there's no he wasn't parrying and it. He was getting punched and went yeah. Like right at his ass and got him with it. Like I'm in the nose. It is so clearly. Like, you should just penalize that first offense. And they're never going to do it.

And it's fine. Like, the right guy, the right guy won. But one guy cheated way more than the other guy cheated. Yeah. I thought, I thought there should have been a point deduction. One for the groin shot, one for the eye poke. But what are you going to do? Well, look.

And Kyle hit a groin, hit him in the low two. It was, yeah. Look, everybody was cheating. But just if you deduct those points, there's probably less cheating. There's definitely less, yeah, because the first time you lose a point and it's substantive, you will not do this when a guy's charging at you. I still want to get my hand on some UFC, like compared the old, the old new gloves and the old gloves and just see the whole finger thing. Yeah, it's like, I don't know. But that's just, we're just, we're just, we're just, we're just over that.

The sport's never going to get better because the people in charge of it simply don't care. They do not have to, and they're not going to care. Thank you, Zachary Haynes. A couple more super chats. VP David Shaw stated, Lucy and Kada hasn't been released. Do they rebook the pit bull fight or should he move up to lightweight? Listen, first of all, you think David Shaw is privy to any of this information? And you think David Shaw, even if Kada was released and he knew about it,

that he would take that moment to break the news? for the promotion? Absolutely not. Yeah. They're not a rebooking. that I can assure you. They're definitely not going to do that. I suspect David Shaw is not in the loop here.

When those rumors happened, I did think that was weird. Like, it wouldn't be the worst idea if they cut him. But Cato's pretty dope. And they probably want to be in the Cato business. I know this is a bad look. But like,

this fight came together, relatively quickly, it's a first offense. It's not like the guy can't make weight. He's done it historically on the regional, like on his, you know, the octagon circuit or whatever. Like this would be one of those where I'd give him a pass.

Be like, hey, he screwed up. This maybe wasn't optimal set up. And we don't rebook pit bull. But that's, that to me, that's the punishment.

Because the pit bull is, hey, you're first fighting the UFC. You can immediately be a top 12 guy. If you beat, be an, an older guy with a huge name behind him right out of the gate now it's okay we've signed you but you have to fight a tough out that isn't ranked and you're you're not getting the same full gas

push behind him that's to me how they should handle this one I think we'll see let's see all right thank you yeah I won't take Dave Shaw's word for it I can yeah also you'll see pit bull already out here trying to book multiple fights was like bro i want to fight at rio i'll take any of these dudes offered and just like a whole bunch of them there's like in basically half the division not just like rank guys like fight any of these dudes in rio and i'll turn around i'll fight on in december i'll give a shit pit bull understands what's happening and i respect that that man is like oh i'm old i'm not that good anymore i'm certainly not as good as i used to be if i'm going to make the run i need to do it quick so let's

get going it's go get going He knows ball. He will get over by fighting all the time. I love, I like, I, it's, he's so smart. It's perfect. Because like, yep, I just need to fight a whole bunch because I've got a year and a half of anything left in the tank. And I got to go, go, go, go, right now. Yeah.

Conceptual Caleb. Thank you. Kind of analysis I follow you guys for. I think that was after Casey's comment. Yes. Scretchen, safe to say there's no good refs. No, Shal and Hibero. baby. Vitor, let's go.

Yeah, hell yeah. But all rest mess up. They're just, they're all going to F up. The whole thing I think what Jed says is like, it's about accountability. That's all. Accountability. Yeah. We know.

That's all. Most of the reps are fine. Right? Like you're, refing is a very hard job. And like everybody is. So like most of them are serviceable. There are a couple that probably should not be employed.

The issue is. And broadly speaking, my biggest issue with all refs is the penalty thing. And that is, you could say that that is each individual ref's fault. Because to some extent it is. Mostly, that is the fault of the commission and of the, what's the word I'm looking for, the ethos of refereeing. Like if one ref was like, I don't call penalties functionally, then that would be one where all of them do it because it is a cultural norm.

of what not being involved, like their role is to not interfere with the fight, despite the fact they are interfering. That could be shored up tomorrow. Like if literally at the next ABC meeting, they were like, so we are going to talk to the refs and say, hey, there's no more of this like at your discretion, let everybody like the first foul take a point and you start doing that.

almost all the rest would enforce that immediately and then that would be it this is a commission thing this is an accountability thing this is the fact that you can be Gary Copeland and be tragically bad at your job and nothing will ever happen to you thing but also Shallan

shalin kicks ass and no one has any confidence in making any calls at all it just it drives you crazy like Herb Dean and the co-main event was brutal absolutely brutal that stoppage not the

not the fight stoppage. Oh my God. Yeah. The pause and the action. The pause and the action for the groin strikes was fucking horrific. Like if I don't mind you calling it. Like they were questionable blows. But if you're going to make the call, call call it.

Have some balls and make the call. Like sack up. Call it. Like don't wait 15 seconds. Like you had a full blown conversation with Marisha Ruffie. And then Marisha Ruffy and BSD are talking to each other. And then they're both talking to Herb Dean. And Herb doesn't know what the fuck to do.

Hokey-pokies. Left arm in, left arm out. All right, fine. I'll stop it. And then they go to the replay. And it's like, eh, don't really know. Like, make a call. Like, have some confidence in yourself.

You, you're the guy. When they say Herb Dean, 10,000 people cheer every time they say your name. You're the most famous referee in the world. Yes, have some confidence in yourself. Make a fucking call and stand by it. Even if it's bad, stand by it. That's it. That's why I didn't have like a huge issue with the stoppage and the Reese McKeefi.

Like yeah, I mean, depending on where you're sitting, Reese grabs the leg right when the stoppage happens. Reese guts up yelling. I get it. But you made a call. You stood by it. It was not a terrible one. it's fine, but just the whole just sitting there and,

oh, should I call it? Should I not call it? All right, fuck it, I'll call it. Like, it's so frustrating to watch, man. Come on. Was Erb Dean, was he doing the Hardwick fight too? Yes, he did Hardwick. When Hardwick was on the ground, just.

Oh my God. Yeah, I forgot about that. I totally forgot about it. I was less mad. I mostly thought that was just funny. I was like, oh, you're just mean right now, Irb. Yeah. The thing is, it was bad, but it felt bad in like a funny way where like literally Hardwick is rolling away from him.

And her, just kind of looking at him. I could almost even accept that one of being like, oh, shit, that's weird. That guy is rolling away from him. That's weird. Upside down too. Like it's not like, because usually if you're on, it's like, oh, legs towards the opponent. It's like head here. Roll.

Yeah. And his opponent was walking another way. to leave the cage and walk into the crowd before Herb Dean even knew it was going on. It just seemed like it took forever. It was funny. It just Jesus Christ. And then what made it even worse to tie it all together was Kaui like finally after 10 seconds of Herb Dean letting Harry Hardwick suffer on the floor. He finally was like, all right, stop it.

And then Kaui's like, yeah, it win. And Harry Hardwick, God bless this guy. While on the ground, he butt-scoots all the way across the octagon to, like, tap Kaui on the leg and be like, good job, bro. And then collapses to the floor before they bring a wheelchair and to card his ass out. Collie. That fight was funny. That fight was so stupid. That fight was over after one strike.

As soon as his freaking shit hit his calf, it was over. And it was just pain. Watch it. It was torture the rest of the way. But Hardwick, man. Dude battled. He was throwing punches. Cow he kind of admired himself a little too much.

Like, gave him a chance. I liked it. I loved it. I loved it. I did his fact that hard work like did the shift foot stance and then just got his other foot jacked up to. I'll switch stances. Ah, shit.

Now I can't walk on either of these legs. That sucks. He's just doing a handstand at some point in the fight. Instead of having one bum leg, now I have two because it's not like I learned to check by switching stances. Oh, that felt so bad for him. Cub Swanson's like fired strays at him on Twitter. I mean, just just.

That's not strays. Those were direct sniper shots. I was the worst fighter in the UFC. He was attacking him personally. Just comment. Like he wasn't, it's not like anybody tweeted Cub, but it was like, hey, Cub, what did you think of Perry Hardwick? He commented on somebody else's post and said, yeah, that's the worst guy.

I need to get, I need the voice this opinion about this poor man who can't walk. Oh my gosh. Didn't delete it. No nothing. No hand up. Pended on his profile. God. Poor H.H.

Cowie needs to reach out. You know, go get some help from our boy, Joaquin Buckley. Get him to get your back. Reignite the beef with Cubby. Oh, well played. And this question is for, I think, me and Jed, I want you to answer this too because you've been in training rooms. I've been low kicked a million times.

I never trained with MMA gloves. I was in box. Oh, okay. I pox never happened for me. Like maybe like an errant thumb to the eye occasionally if you're like in type, but that's maybe happened once. Low kicks,

I got kick all the time, so I work up. Yeah, low kicks, pretty common. And so often you'll have, you know, 10 groups of guys,

you know, punching each other. And then you just hear in the corner, some guy going, and then what kind of stops, looks over, like oh someone got kicked in the balls so uh yeah at least one during once to every practice someone's good someone takes a good ball shot um

and i used to get need in the balls a ton grappling too like oh yeah yeah you feel like that doesn't happen in the cage or at least in it but like well they weren't cups in the cage but yeah in fights are wearing cups but usually when you're kind of training you kind of i'm not going to wear a cup today there was there was a time where i started to just because but like i used but like I mean that happens all the times you're rolling and then you're just like oh and like oh did I hurt something like no just you your knees went south give me a minute yeah all the times I've knee people and the balls have been from hard have been from grappling like like sloppy tired knee slices and stuff like that usually your path a knee slices just doom you yeah if you know

yeah yeah so uh I I pokes, this is the difference in I pokes. When you're training, you're wearing your own gloves. Your gloves are broken in, and they do have a natural curve. People kind of forget that if when you're fighting, these gloves are brand new. You'll see fighters when they get them their camps. They'll spend like a good 30, 45 minutes, an hour of minutes, curling the fingers, specifically so the glove isn't stiff.

And this has been a big problem when people talk about the stiff gloves. So I'm thinking fight night gloves are stiffer So you do get more eye pokes And yeah But I don't see as many eye pokes in the gym As you see in the actual fighting Low blows yeah you see him all the time Yeah

I'm just watching the highlight of South Florida beating Florida I just saw the score I saw the spit in the face Yeah Florida dude Oh there's a spit in face Yep. I love that. It's probably circulating. Yeah.

One of the guys from Florida is spit in the face of somebody from USF. So, boy. Big week is spitting on people in football. Yeah. What a shame to see Florida lose. And because we didn't talk about this at all. And actually, I think this fight actually has the biggest effect on the rankings. I guess it needs to be talked about.

It definitely does have the biggest effect on the rankings. How many fights is Deja away from a title shot after beating the number seven guy. Infinity. Yeah. He's definitely. It's away. Like I said on the people's pre-fight show,

Tom Aspedal cannot be champion. They're buds. They train together. They're not going to fight each other. They were there. They showed him the whole time. Those two don't seem like they'd ever fight. If Tom loses it, I mean, people are pretty close in general.

That was an almost. some win for him though. Like I really, I felt pretty good about Taibur's chances in that fight because like, Dely's got some talent and he's been okay. Like he, you know, he beat him in Faheda and PFL.

Like he's, he's not a bad fighter. But like he also has beaten a lot of not good fighters for and lost some fights. Whereas Taibura, basically if you just look at everybody who's beating Taiboro, they're really, really good.

They're like, I mean, relatively to heavy weight. And so be clear about it. But like, it's like, oh, everybody who's beat,

Tyberra is like exactly correct. His ranking is the most earned ranking of like, you are the number seven dude because the guys in front of you beat you and the guys behind you lost. Yeah, pretty much. And so it's like, is Zendia a top seven guy? I didn't think so.

And then he came out and blew Tepper up. So good on him. It's fun to have a new decent-ish heavyweight in the mix. They desperately needed. somebody that they can now put in against Sergey Pavlovich or whatever, like some new name for those guys to fight. But he's probably never fighting for the belt. No. Okay, we got to go. It's been real. Yeah, 80 minutes on a post-fight show. Didn't even notice. It went by still fast because the chat was on fire. Well, we had energy. We were ready to go. Yeah, it's 8, 10 p.m.

So we could have gone another two hours easily. There's still a lot of like good stuff. We didn't even get a chance to talk about. But thank you very much. Appreciate you. What a week it has been for the NBA fighting crew when it comes to comparison. We're breaking out Uno references next, next show. But boys, Stratigo and Pokemon.

Let's go. Plus four is all around for Casey for Jed. I am Mike Eck, AK and I back tomorrow. Do a little matchmaking following UFC Marie. We're out of here. We're a good rest of the week. Love y'all. podcast network.