MMA Fighting - UFC Saudi Arabia Post-Fight Show: Reaction To Nassourdine Imavov Shocking Israel Adesanya With Knockout

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

Nassourdine Imavov not only picked up the biggest win of his career against Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, he didn't need the judges, or two full rounds to do it as he delivered a knockout less than a minute into Round 2. Was the stoppage call from referee Marc Goddard the correct one? Following Saturday's card in Riyadh, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and José Youngs react to Imavov's victory, discuss where it puts him in the title picture, who he could face next, along with Adesanya's future following his third consecutive loss. Additionally, topics include Michael Page's lopsided decision win against Shara Magomedov in their middleweight bout, Sergei Pavlovich's much-needed — albeit not all-that-thrilling — win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, big wins from Farez Ziam and Vinicius Oliveira, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs 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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Wi-Fi available to AeroPlan members on equip flights sponsored by Bell Conditions Apply see Air Canada.com to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody, there are the, we'll usually have victory horns, but today we have victory drums. And those drums sound for Nasrudein Imovov. Yes, knocks out. Israel Adasania in the second round picks up the biggest win of his career.

And now, depending on who you talk to, Paul Felder, very passionate, the Nasardine Imovov should be next for the middleweight title to face the winner of the winner of the rematch next Saturday between Turkey Stupla C and Sean Strickland. I think Hamza Tcha Mai might have a thing or two to say about that, but what a performance from Nasrudin Imaboff. We're going to talk about that. We'll talk about Michael Venom Page moving up to middleweight and defeating Shara Bullitt and handing Shara his first professional loss.

It was just kind of a weird and wacky day of fights and joining me to discuss all things UFC Saudi Arabia. My fellow New Englander joining me live from New York City. on a plane not too long from right now and head to Sydney, Australia. There he is the great Jose Young. So how are you, Jose? I'm gearing up for what is going to be a very long day of traveling. I'll tell you that much.

So when do you actually head out tomorrow? Tomorrow, midday, I head to Newark Airport and then it's like 20 something, 23 plus hours. Because I have to fly to LA, which is like five hours in general. and then it's like 15-ish hours to Sydney. So one layover, but two long flights, and then the same route back. There you go. Well, before you hop on a plane,

let's magically transform into Saudi Arabia, where the UFC was today, some early day MAA. Nasredine Imovov. How about that, Jose Youngs? He was a slate underdog. And the way we kind of broke the fight down was, at least Jedded I on the preview show, was if there was going to be a finish in this fight, it was probably going to come early,

and it was probably going to come from Imovov. But there's questions about Adasanya's durability, have the mileage, the age, all of the wars caught up with him. Can he survive a big shot? Turns out he ate a huge uppercut in round one, and then round two, Imovov lands the big one that eventually gets him out of there. I know Izzy was not overly thrilled with the stoppage. I thought it was completely fine.

Yeah. Your reaction to what we saw from. Nasdaena imovac picking up just a gigantic win in this kind of loaded up, especially at the top, 185 pound division. Yeah, the middleweighty middleweights all of a sudden doing real big things at the top of the division. So what like surprise,

surprise you headline a bunch of fight nights in the apex with a bunch of middleweights, all of a sudden you got a real fun chase for the title. Caller me surprised. Absolutely no issue with the stoppage whatsoever. He wasn't out, but it was very clear he was taking a lot of, a lot of punches. left himself opens that same punch that kind of catch he gets caught with a lot it just you know

sometimes you can walk through it sometimes you can't even Bob just caught him dropped and put him away i was surprised that it happened so early into the second round because i thought the first round was very fun umav obviously caught him with that big uppercut uh i poke low blow all that kind of stuff happened turned out it looked like it was going to be you know your classic imov adisona fight because both of them like all that stuff happens like imov is you know head butts, low blows, eye poke, same for Israel. I'm not surprised in how Imov got it done, just because, you know, from the Jared Canaanir fight,

and who was it, the Deleuze fight and all these wins that Imov have, he doesn't just flatline you, and he doesn't just put it on you late into the round. Like, he hits you with one blow, and all of a sudden your brain is scrambled, and then he rushes forward. So it hurts you, smells blood, rushes in for the finish, and that's exactly what happened with Israel.

The difference between Israel is, you know, he fell down. And Israel falling down is just kind of a sight to behold in general. So surprised it happened early in the second round, not surprised in the method that you involved. I didn't really know who was going to win. I thought it was pretty 50-50. I don't, I'm not on that bandwagon that Israel's chin is. gone or he can't take damage and I'm sure our colleagues are listening to this right now and they're shaking

their head. I just, I don't, I don't know because we've seen Imov do this exact thing to other high level fighters. It would be shocking if like, all right, for example, like, I'm sure we'll talk about later, but like say Israel fight Sharibullet next. Sharbollah does not have good boxing. He does not have dynamite in his hand. He's not going to hurt you with his hands outside of a spinning back fist. You know, like he's a very flashy kicker with his elbows. And they can catch you with that flashy stuff. If he had landed that punch in Israel and Israel went down and then you're like, okay, maybe we can talk about his chin. But we've seen Imov do this, two high level fighters.

So I'm not ready to declare Israel done because I just think Imov is very, very good. And he's very, very good at doing what he just did. Israel just happens to be the one in front of him today. Dunn is, because, I mean, he looked great in the first. I thought he looked really good in the first round. I thought he won the first round. Yes, Imovoff landed the best shot of the round with that upper cup,

but I thought Izzy looked great. I think he had Imovov kind of off a little bit. You could see it on Emboff's face. He was trying to figure it out. The feints moving up and down, kicks the leg, kicks the body, going up top. Like, I thought he looked really good in the fight until he got caught. I thought it was really weird that he got poked pretty hard in the eye,

and he didn't take the time. He was just like, no, I'm good. and then got knocked out three seconds later. Yeah. It was just kind of a weird thing. Do you see Izzy's title hopes has the door closed on the title hopes? Because I know availability is so important now. And Izzy is such a big name that if called upon, if needed any short notice situation, someone falls out.

It's not a bad guy to throw in there. But normal meritocracy, normal UFC fight booking, do you feel like this, lost, Imova kind of slammed the door on Israel-A-Sahni ever getting back to the middleweight title. Not ever, but at least for the foreseeable future, especially with, you know, he has a storyline with Sean Strickland. He has a storyline with Jerichikis or Robert Whitaker ever. I know they said they would never fight, but Robert Whitaker ever climbs back to the title. I'm sure Israel, like, you're going to tell me that Israel-A-Sahna versus Hamjad Shamaev isn't like a money fight anywhere in the world. Like, they're just names. So for the foreseeable future, I don't think it's

me fighting for the title at all in 2025, but he's such a big name. He's very popular. He represents two nations, essentially, in New Zealand and Nigeria, you're going to need headliners to these fight nights where they're going to. And again, like, if Strickland beats Dreykis, and then say they do the, they do the trilogy with Dreykiss, or, and Strickland somehow has the belt at the end of 2025 and Israel, you know, wins one, maybe two? Like, are you going to say no to Israel, Strickland would just make sense storyline-wise, meritocracy-wise. So for the foreseeable future, yes, but not, I'm not ready to say no altogether.

He's going to be one of those guys that, like, I talk a lot about like that lightweight, those three names of lightweight, like Chandler, Porre, four names, Olivera, Gachie. Like, you'll win one and you're like, okay, are we going to say no to Justin Gachie versus Islam Mokachev? Probably not. Does it make sense? Are there more deserving people? Yes, but they're big enough names, and this is a prize fighting sport, make as much

much money as possible. Yeah. So no. He's a, he's a big enough name that he's always going to be at least sniffing a tile shot. I'm going to get your thoughts on like where, like what fight actually happens for Izzy next? Because yeah,

I mean, if they do the Shemiya fight, like that's a huge one. I just don't know. No way. Where he goes and how that all plays out. Like I have a thought. I think,

and I'll probably reveal it on to the next one. But Nasty and I'movov is now in kind of a pretty interesting spot right now. Because again, if Hamzat Shemayef, if the UFC wants the middleweight title defended in the United States over the summer and Hamzat can't make it, Imovov's getting the title shot, like without a question. He's just going to be the more available guy. Let's just say things play up, please. Maybe.

Maybe. If Strickland wins and Shemayev can't get in, they could just do the trilogy fight with Strickland and Drieka. That's a whole, like we, Shemayev might get more time. to get into the U.S. just based off of the trilogy of anyway, continue to what you're saying. So, realistically, if all goes according to the UFC's plan, this fight happens next Saturday for the belt, Hamzaa gets the winner. What happens with Imovov? Do you think he sits around and waits?

No, it's easy. It's easy. Cabo Holly over Zimov for number one contender. That's the fight. Like, that makes sense meritocracy-wise. It's a good headliner for a fight night. I think a win over for either man, because they're both on these. win streaks. They both coming off like the biggest wins of their career. They're both

have never fought for the title. It makes it makes a lot of sense. They both they both have history fighting in Abu Dhabi. So if they want to chuck that as like a Brazil main event, a France main event, an Abu Dhabi main event, like it just makes sense. So if the UFC doesn't book that fight, that's crazy because that's an actual number that is an actual number one contender fight. And they headline all of these fight cards with these like we have, Greg Kopp versus Jared Kannaner coming up. That's a middleweight fight with guys coming. Like, you know,

Derek Kandar has lost, like, how many in a row? And you're telling me you can't headline Kavu, versus Imov in a fight night. Just do that, man. It makes sense. It makes way too much sense for them not to do it. And I actually do like that fight. Both guys have looked awesome as of late.

Kauvela Haleo has been, if you follow him on social media, you talk to him. He's just like, he's going to be in Sydney. He said he's still going to be ready in case Stricklander or DDP, doesn't make it somehow shockingly even though there's no official backup but yeah do even above bohahio for the number one tenant it makes too much sense yeah this talks about a brazil card like maybe may or june from yeah what i'm hearing not a bad one even if they go back to

paris in september like that's fine i mean it's a long way but it's still fine i mean the ufc does fight nights in abdhabi like that's like cal bollio versus imvov and in abdabi or they could do another fight in Saudi or they go somewhere else like it's again makes too much sense way too much sense and then impressive like if cabalholyo does to imov what he did to canaan ear or imab does to cabalio what he just did to israel it's a you can't argue there's no argument the only one left for them to fight that would make sense would be for the title yeah you got fluffy hernandez fighting brendan allen coming up that's a big fight so middleweight really coming along middleweight doing some stuff. Do we have bonuses?

We do have bonuses. Have you seen these yet? I have not. What do you think they are? Is Imov one of them? Well, yeah. I would imagine so. There's a fight of the night, too. Is Fight of the Night Fereziam and Mike Davis?

No. That's crazy. That's crazy. Is it Oliver and Nirmigamedo? Yes. All right. That was the second best fight of the night. I thought the Mike Davis fight was an awesome fight. And then I would imagine Shamele because he had the one hit or quitter. You would think that, but he did not. It was Bogdan Grodd gets the other bonus. Kind of surprised by that one.

Shamil getting a big finish and a heavy, in a fight that everybody thought was going to the cards. Gadsiev gets the one hitter quitter and the walk off and all that, the pomp and circumstance. No bonus. Whatever. Whatever. you go. Whatever. So we had a middleweight main event, won by Nassadine Nemovov.

How about Michael Venom Page, Jose? Yeah. Going up to middleweight, guy makes it happen, comes on, does an interview, calls for the fight, threw a lot of people off, and everyone was like, oh, you know what? That's actually a really good idea. Matchmakers had some fun with it. And Michael Page goes out there and sweeps the cards on two of the judges' scorecards, 3027, 29, 28, Hans Sharra Bullet, the first loss of his pro career.

thoughts on MVP's performance at 185 pounds against Sharra Bullitt tonight. He definitely looked, it looked like two welterweights fighting a middleweight. Because Sharra Bullitt is not, Charra Bullitt is not a big welterweight. And Michael Venom page is a huge welterweight. So they like the way, the fact that they kind of met at 185 just looked like optically two welterweights that decided not to cut weight. MVP versus Sharabullet, I tweeted this like it's, I know I was really,

excited for this fight and it was the stylistic fight it had potential to be really exciting but it just played out exactly as you'd expect to very high level fighters that rely on a lot of faints a lot of flashy stuff they are very good at not getting hit they are very good at throwing these big looping shots and ducking big looping shots and there's a lot of staring and faking and fainting so like if you know what you're watching which i am by no means of striking specialist whatsoever I thought it was a beautiful fight to watch. Just a lot of traps that were being set and a lot of traps that weren't being fallen on, if that makes sense. So like MVP would try stuff and Sharpe bullet would not fall for it and he would try stuff and MVP would not fall for it.

So I thought it was really fun, high level first person to make a mistake is going to get caught and neither one made a big enough mistake to get caught. They were just two very high level strike kickboxers that happened to be in an MMA fight fighting with very tiny gloves. MVP is just better with his hands. That's pretty much it. These are two guys that keep their hands relatively low. The difference is MVP knows how to bring them up and then blitz forward at counter shots. Like sometimes it sometimes it backfires on him. Like when he fought Douglas Lee for the first time he got his legs kicked out from under him when he was leading forward.

But Sharbollah just didn't do that. He did a lot of planting and then exploding with these counter shots that Sharbollah would throw a kick or an elbow or something. MVP would kind of. counter with like either a stray or a pop or a hook i said at the beginning charred bullet is not a high level boxer he's very good at kicking he's very good with his elbow he's very good with his knees and he's very exciting to watch when he punches someone nine cents out of ten they keep going he's not stopping you with his hands uh MVP does very good at like he has that holly home tendency where like he's circling and then he stops and plants his foot so you're circling

towards him, he uses your momentum against you and just rushes forward with one big straight shot that kind of connects in a very close range. And it doesn't normally knock people out, but it definitely floors them and it stops them. And you become hesitant to keep doing that because you know that's coming. And it was very apparent today that I think just the fact, like I said, MVP is just a much better puncher than Sharble. And I think that was the big deciding factor. Yeah, I think he's, I think MVP speed.

just throws people off. You see it on TV and it looks fast. And then when you're in there with him, it just seems way faster. I don't know if it's his speed so much as his ability to go from zero to a hundred, like in a short window. Because, like, there are guys that we've seen that are just as fast as him. But he's, like, kind of lulling you and then bam, one move and you don't see it coming.

You don't see that often because he can set a trap and he can hit you so quick. And then he's out. he's such he's so fun to watch yeah it's it's watching his his mind meld in in in a fight all the different things he sees because i was live blogging the fights i was watching it like pretty close just seeing the oblique kicks into just like a straight left to the ribs just out of nowhere like uncontested shara didn't see it coming from a mile away and it was just so clean everything he did was so clean he was just so much faster shah couldn't touch him for the most part and And Shar is usually a lot of volume, a lot more than you would typically see from from strikers at 185.

And boy, it just wasn't there in the second round. And then his, I guess his team in between the second and third round, we're telling him that it was one one. I didn't see that at all. I thought maybe you could give Shire the third potentially. Like if you're going to give him any round, I think it was the third. But yeah, MVP looked real good at 185. But I'm with you. It just seemed like it was two welterweights.

It was like a, it was like Brian Keller her fighting during COVID. Just all his fights are at 45. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's just kind of what it looked like here. So yeah, back to 170. It appears for, for MVP. What makes sense? What would you like for him?

If Gilbert Burns is fighting Michael Morales that we obviously, I don't want him to fight a prospect. I don't want MVP to fight Carl's practice. I don't want him to fight Michael Morales. I don't want him to fight Sean Brady. I think walking Buckley is a little too out of his reach unless they need like that big money fight that'll headline a card. I just don't think any of those. I don't want to see any of those right now

because MVP is so good and I don't want him to knock off a guy on the rise, especially a guy like Morales or Prattis. Luka would be a lot of fun if they want that. I know I know Luque really wants to fight Mazurals in Miami. I think that fight also makes sense. I mean Mazuradole, there's any of you. It would be a hell of a bet to fight too. the Colby fight would be very interesting

because MVP has talked a lot of shit about Colby. I think he's talked about him on this show, on this site. I've talked to him about Colby off camera. He's like, I can't wait to fight that guy. That would make, that would be a lot of fun.

That would be, you know, we never got the Colby Wonderboy fight. I think that's a good, you know, I definitely don't want to see Wonderboy versus Michael Van Page. Thank you. I see a lot of that in the shower right now.

That's a terrible fight. They both have even said it to be a terrible fight. Both of them say it would be a terrible fight to watch because it'd be exactly what we saw today, but even more high level. So I think the Colby fight or the Vicente Lucke fight would be a lot of fun. Colby can sell a fight. MVP can sure as hell sell a fight. Leuke is a violent dude. Yeah, one of those, one of those for sure.

I like Colby. I like Colby. I like the Lucke fight or the Colby fight. why are we discussing if you fighting welter weights you should stay at 185 because PJXU 98 he said he's going back to 170 so they're not going to force him to stay at middleweight he's going to do what he wants to do and that is go back to 170 also like plus he fought probably a welterweight today who just fights at 185 so also like there are so many middle weights that are just they should be like if there was a the weight class existed like 195 would be the good weight class they're just huge like

shah like we said is a smaller middle weight but like palo's ranks right outside of the top 10 like jack her manson brandon allen robin the leads like these are big heavyways that are they're huge that are very good at grappling i don't think MVP wants to mess with that i think this was the fight that this is the fight that he that he could have won this is the fight that he in the middle way. I'm like, I'm not like obviously Michael Venom Page could be a guy like Roman Deleizze, fly Fernandez, and Brent Allen because he's so good at MMA and he's so good striking. But you don't think Brent Allen's just going to grab you and just

choke you. Like he's so good. He's so, Jackermanson beat up Joe Pfeiffer, who has the, apparently at one point in time, had the hardest record punch in the history of the UFCPI. Like, let's relax on it. I want to see MVP fight welterweeds. I'm going to throw out like the least. I'm going to throw out like the least sexiest fight of all time. And I'm sure I'm going to get shit on in the chat. But I actually think it would be a pretty compelling fight considering how good

defensively this fighter is. If Chris Curtis really wants to go back to 170, MVP versus Chris Curtis would be very interesting, a very interesting striking battle because Chris is so well coached and he's just so defensively savvy that I would be just want to see what his strategy would be defensively against a guy like MVP. But again, I fully admit that is the least thrilling option on paper. But to me, I think that would be a fun fight in execution. It'd be fun to watch.

I never have them. Nope. Probably not. Probably not. Rest of the main card, we had Sergey Pavlovich and Jarzini Rosenstrike going to the cards. I don't think anybody saw that coming from a mile away. You did? Not that.

I wasn't as shocked as everyone considering. considering, you know, I think we all said the same thing about Pavlovich versus, um, uh, Volkov. Like that fight also went the distance in Saudi Arabia. And everyone's like, oh, don't blink. Someone's going to bed. And then it just didn't happen. And then how many times have we seen Gaya Zeno just like he's cut, Jaya Zeno is coming off a split decision win over tied to Yvasa. Like they're both coming off three round fights. Like so I wasn't surprised at all. Like, yeah, these guys could knock you out, but they're both coming off bad three-round fights. I forgot the Taito Evas fight actually happened.

Yeah. I totally forgot that fight. And also, don't forget, the Shamil fight, everyone's like, oh, he T-K-O'd Shamil. That was like a doctor stoppage one. Like, he couldn't finish the fight. That was also in the, that was the fourth round going into the fifth round. Jairzino fought Shamil almost five rounds. So, like, no, I was not surprised that it went five rounds.

people just have they play their highlight packages and like you've played the same highlight package i'm like all these highlights you're showing have happened two years ago show what happens in the last 12 months because you show that and then you show the fight like yeah that makes a lot of sense sergey needed like i don't have i actually have no issue with how sergey fought because i think including israel ad asania yeah sergey pavlitz needed to win more than anybody on this entire guard He was absolutely Dunzo at heavyweight if he lost his fight. So that was a much. And again, like, you get fights like that.

So oftentimes you get a safe performance. You know, if Sergey Palovich went out there, was like, I'm going to make a name for myself. And against Jairzino Rosenstrike. And then he got punched in the face and fell asleep. Yeah, I don't think he was going to fight anymore. True. Venetius Olivera.

Nice win over Saeed, Nirmaga, Madoff. I like that kid. By the way, I love that kid. By the way, I loved the Umar callout. I loved you. If you read our own Guillermoe Cruz's article, it's also the, the graphics up on our socials. You know, he laid it out to Nirmagamadov's and a title shot.

I'm like, honestly, it makes sense. You beat one. I don't think he's going to get Umar, but why not? Why not? I don't think he's going to get Umar because I think the UFC looks at this fight. And people might not agree with me. I think he gives Umar a good, good damn fight. Yeah, but he's just just really good.

Also, if you remember his last, I can't remember who his last one was against. He called out Umar in the post fight press conference. And they've had their history online. I don't know who he'll fight next. That's right. Oh, yeah, that was a great fight. Man, having wins over Ricky Simone and Sadie, Newmerg him made off back to back. God.

And he was hurt. And he was like, yeah, I broke, basically had like a rib injury and couldn't breathe and still beat him. Yeah. Like that is, dude's real good. Real, real good. uh fres i m's real real good too that was a that was just a gritty ass crazy fight with mike davis

and i'm impressed with ferez i i think he's legit i think mike davis was off tonight not trying to take anything away from him mike didn't look like mike and paul felder brought up the point of like well he hasn't fought in a long time so maybe it's ring rust perhaps yeah just he didn't I don't know.

He just didn't seem like himself. I don't know what it was. I don't know if he was hurt or I think it was a combination of because we give like ring. I think ring, everyone handles ring around us differently. Sometimes you're Dominic Cruz and you come out and you can fight T.J. Dillishaw and just have no ringless other guys. It takes a little bit to get back into the flow.

I'm not, I don't know Mike Davis personally whatsoever and I've never really had a conversation with them outside of like congrats. I went in the fight at these post-fight stuff. but like he's had long layoffs before and he's always come back and performed very well. Like his last fight was like March 2024. Before that it was like October, 2023, 2022, whatever. Like he's had long layoffs.

But Faraziam is the best guy he's come back against. So like beating the Natan Levy is very good. But I think Faraziam is better than Natal Levi. I think Faraziam is better than Slava Claus. and I know he beat up Mason Jones on a fight island. I think Frazyam is better than all of those guys. And that's the, I think, I think he's, I think Rosiam is, is one of those guys that is, is he, this last, was this the first vice of the sense of the frivolicao?

Yes. Which is on a lot, which is when a lot of people's like underappreciated knockouts of 20, 24. How many is he one in a row, five, six? Five in a row. He's got the third, third longest win streak in the division right now. It's tough coming back against a tall, lanky, high-level martial artist. So, yeah, Mike Davis looked off. He just happened to look off against a guy that's clicking on all cylinders.

Yeah. Shout out to Fores, who did the real good. And just glad that Mike Davis fought. You know, he's had probably some of the worst luck in the entire division. I hope he fights again this year. I really do. I hope we see him multiple times. Maham Naimov gets a win over Khan Offley.

Shamil Gatsy up as we talked about. Good day for team fans. fantasy squad for me after Peyton Talbot dropped a zero bomb on me. Jazz and Jazz DeVizius getting a ranked win and then Shamil Gautzy have getting the quick K.O. Getting me some big points. So shout out

to both of them. Terrence McKinney doing Terrence McKinney things. Stops Demer Hadsovic in right around two minutes. Bogd and Grad with the comeback. Bonus winning finish of Lucas Alexander who did miss weight. So now I think it kind of makes it a little bit more sense. And then

a fight happened. To kick things off with Hamdi Abdel Wahab and Jamal Pogs. And boy, is Jamal Pogs unhappy with the way that the judges scored that one. I think a lot of other people would agree with him. But at the end of the day, I don't think it's a fight. Many people are going to go back and rewatch. I don't think a robbery review is coming from it. So that's UFC Saudi Arabia, Jose.

Good times. Good times early in the morning, drinking my coffee watching fist fights. We love that. And now we can watch the Royal Rumble and David Benavitos. Yes, which I'm very excited for. All right, let's go to the peeps. Let's see what you guys have to say. Ontario, the wait is over.

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It was the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host rapid cozy cashmere throw from homesense for their spouse. Kids toys for $6.99 under the tree. And crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee. A baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue And a nice 599 candle Perfectly priced just for you Happy holidays to all

And to all a good price Home Sense endless presents Perfectly priced Shout out to Spencer Jed should know not to bet against MVP In a stand-up fight against someone with one working eyeball Almost feels Izzy gave everything To beat Poetan

If Poetan beats Ankelaief Can he pass Izzy all to? time. Can you pass Izzy all time? Just like best fighter like on the list? I don't know.

So there was a lot of talk, Jose, about Izzy's legacy and what this means. And Izzy said something to the effect of I could lose my next 10 fights and it won't affect my legacy. Thoughts on what this does to the legacy of Israelada Sadia. Nothing. Nothing. Because I know

people have like a very young demographic of individuals have come up to me and you know they ask me about sugar Sean O'Malley and Israel Adasanya they're usually born after 2000 which makes me feel old Israel out of sonya is going to go down as one of the most memorable fighters of all time he's in he's had incredible rivalries he's had incredible performances he's had incredible performance against the best of the best at that time that's That run of his when he debuted to losing the belt is one of the best runs you'll see. You know, every fight he has was a step up in competition. He goes out there.

He melts Robert Whitaker in one of the, one of if not, the largest crowds in UFC history. And then he just fights contender after contender after contender. And those are the guys that people remember because, yeah, you can be a doubleweight champ, but there's only a handful of guys that can say they have the most title defense. I know Israel is way far off from Anderson Silva's not just middleweight record, but all-time record. Like Anderson is, what, number two after Demetrius Johnson? It's very hard to defend a UFC championship because you're constantly fighting guys that are in the top three of a very specific sport and a very specific weight class. You're like a half a percent of the world good at this.

Israel is going to go down as at this point, I think he's the second greatest middleweight champion ever. I also think Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter ever. That's just me, regardless of weight class. Israel, his reputation is not dams because you're going to tell me that Fador is not the greatest heavyweight ever after his stretch, like his run at the end. You're not going to tell me Anderson's not the greatest middleweight champion ever. There's very few George St. Fierrez and Habib's, you know, not everyone can go out the champ or undefeated. Like, yeah, BJ Penn is a little like crazy right now. but at worst, when he retired, he was the best lightweight ever.

And up until Habib, he was the greatest lightweight still. And then up until Islam, he was second best. And there's still some fighters out there that say BJ is the best. Israel out of sight and will be remembered fondly when he retires. He's going to be a guy that when he's going to retire at some point, whether he does that now or whether he does that in a few years from now, he's going to show up at UFC Auckland or UFC Australia, fights and they're going to show him on the fan cam and the crowd's going to go nuts.

He's fine. Yeah. Look, it just happens. He's 35. He's about to be 36. He's been fighting forever. Sean Strickland, former champion. Dreeka's Duplessi.

Current champion. Imov, bad motherfucker. Also lost of Yombovich, you former champion. It's okay to lose. Alex Pereira. And then beat him and then knocked him dead in one of the 10 greatest knockouts in the MMA history, I think. Yeah.

It happens. So it's the game. It's a game of inches. It's just, I say this all this. I say this all the time. Every time a fighter fights, appreciate it right there.

Because if Israel retired and his last ever win was that Alex Pera knockout, did anyone think that was going to be his last win ever? No. If he retired right now, that's his last win. At the time, that sounds crazy. when Tony Ferguson beat the shit out of Donald Soroni,

did we know that that was going to be Tony Ferguson's last win ever? Probably not. Appreciate fighters when they're fighting a friendly because you never know. When BJ Penn beat up, what was it? Matt Hughes, Josh Koshak, one of those. Did we know that was going to be BJ Penn's last one? Probably not. Appreciate it because say Drieke's loses and then he goes on a bit of a skid,

appreciate him for one you see them fighting in front of you. A very good point. Anderson Silva's last. last win was Derek Brunson. Is that, is that right? Am I saying that right? Did he win after that? I don't even remember.

I was there for that fight. That's a great question. Derek Brunson, UFC 208. That was his last UFC win. I appreciate people when they fight because you never know. Alex Perr loses. Many few people thought he won that fight. If Alex Perra loses to Ankalov,

light heavyweight is real good. Alex Barra will obviously get that rematch but appreciate people for when they're in front of you. The solo reclop. Hi from T.J.

Not sure about the Izzy stoppage. I don't know about that. MVP is a video game boss. Please send good vibes to my dad who had surgery this morning in the morning fight, especially this post show, help take the nerves out.

Love you guys. Appreciate you, Solor Club. I don't... They were talking about on the broadcast because Izzy was pissed about the stoppage but I don't know if John Gooden was like yeah Eugene Barerman looked at Izzy and it was just like yeah man

he got you I don't know if that's like exactly what he said but that's what seemed like you played off on TV if Izzy doesn't like throw his arms up in the air I don't think anybody is saying oh that's a shitty stoppage because dude fell like real bad against the fence and then got hit with that uppercut

and then went face down on the ground and then eight like three unanswered punches so to me I didn't think the stop was that egregious. I really didn't. I agree. I had no problem with it. Again, I just think when you have fighters that were

used to seeing them survive a lot worse, that you always kind of like, like when Anderson got knocked out against Wydenman, I was there, and Anderson was doing this with his hands, like trying to figure it out. At the time, I was

like, oh, Anderson could have kept fighting. Obviously not. Chris Wyatman is punching you in the face and you're on your back. It happens. Like the referee's job is to stop the fight before you go out. So I don't have a problem with the stoppage whatsoever. And I know there were, I did a couple

Twitter reacts. I saw a couple of Twitter reacts from a cell of fighters. A few of them were a little miffed by it, but so I get it. Everyone really likes Israel. Just, I, good stoppage. Moral of the story. Yeah. I had more, I mean, the Pereira stoppage

in round five of their first fight. I didn't think it was like the worst stoppage in the world, but I understand the case being made that it wasn't a great stoppage or like the best stoppage. This one I definitely didn't have those feelings. I agree. Super semi-noob.

Really enjoyed the commentary team today. On point and technical, don't get me wrong, I like the pay-per-view crew flavor, but the difference is really noticeable. Have a great rest of your weekend, everybody. Yeah, John Gooden, I think is criminally underrated. Loracenco, fantastic.

I think Paul Fell. elder is the best color commentator that they have right now. I think he's so good at what he does. He just brings a different element where he's fun. But he's relaxed and he's not trying to steal the shine. I think that's what separates him from everybody else. He like meshes well with everybody and just knows his role and plays it. Plus, I think he's the best post-fight interviewer of all the broadcasters as well.

He knows the questions to ask. Yes, follow-ups. He does a great job with that stuff. And Sanco did a great job. Gooden's great. I thought they were tremendous today. Yeah, I think I think Gooden and Laura are very good at fights like this

because they give you a little backstory on the fighters like throughout the fight, but they're not going on tangents. They're not talking amongst themselves. And they just, all three of them practice martial arts. John Good and Laura. And obviously Paul Felder,

a high level UFC fighter, Laura Sankle, former MMA fighter. And they all like, I'm not like, and this is, I'm being respectful to. everyone's knowledge. If Paul Felder talks to me about striking,

I'm going to listen to him over John Gooden and Laura Sanko. They would agree with that. I think he was a very good mix of skills, skill sets in there because Laura's very good at Jiu-Jitsu, very good at Jiu-Jitsu. So is John Gooden. John Gooden's never fought. He's very good at color commentator.

Laura's very good at breaking down technique, naming things she sees. Paul Felders is one of the best. you said one of the best guys that are talking about striking i could guarantee you inside paul felder was it was like kid in the candy store watching MVP shot a bullet because you knew knew everything that was going on yeah and even pa was like yeah you told me to said to laura single like you showed you told me like certain tendencies to look for when a dars or some or a head an arm choke was coming like and it's just cool to hear those kinds of things so yeah i thought

they did a great job it was a nice little change of pace and i'm curious who the third voice will be next week. I'm sure it'll be Anick, D.C. and Bizbin. He heads over. Bisbing? Bisbing does Australia quite often.

Like, I don't think he's, I think he's done every Australia car. So I think he's, I think it's going to be Bisbane. I would assume it's Bisping anyway. Yeah. Where was September was,

where was Strickland, is he? That was in Australia, right? I was in Sydney. Yeah. Sanko was was on that one. Yeah. That was her debut.

Yeah. We'll see. We'll let you know. We'll probably know in the next couple of days. Who's going to take the booth for in the Joe Rogan spot? Let's go to Joseph. Does Jazzen deserve a top 10 or a top five opponent? She has won five of her last six at women's flyweight.

So Jasson and Jasest de Vizius continues to roll. She beats Myra Blana Silva, who returned to 125. I don't know. What do you see next for her? Top five? I don't know if she gets a top five, but top 10? Sure. I wouldn't.

I threw on a name after her last fight and I'll probably throw the same name out again. I'd like to see her fight Jessica Androch next. I wouldn't hate that. I think Androge is probably ranked close to the top five. She's on a bit of a skid, though, and she's always a good lit in this test. Did she have a fight coming up?

Or does she just have a fight? She just had a fight, right? Let me look at it up. Who was her last opponent? She lost Natty Ice in September. Well, I mean, a man of Heba is coming off a loss. she's probably somewhere that depends on what weight class she wants to fight at i guess yeah if she wants to go back up to 125 i don't think that yeah

i guess it would just depend on where fights are happening too because there's obviously rumors of a canada card maybe in early summer late spring you would imagine jasmine is on that card just depends on who they have her fight yeah what else we got here what's next gon versus pavlovich or almeda i think it fully depends on the john tom situation if John's not ready to go or not ready to go that's a silly thing to say if John doesn't fight Tom because if you watch our good friend Oscar Willis did an interview with UFC UFC CEO Dana White out in Saudi Arabia and Dana basically said if John if they can't get John to agree to the fight they're going to move on I think after that it gone the gone fight

makes sense for Tom Aspel I or you know I would just I know a lot of people don't think he won I don't think Cyril Gahn won that fight, but a win is a win. They have history together. I think that would be a really good fight, and I would do Jailton versus Pavlovich. But if John fights Tom, then it's Cyril versus Jailton, number one contender fight. Easy and easy. That's a no-brainer. And then Pallovich can fight.

Who is Pallivich not fought? I know. That's the problem. He's being Blades. He's being... He killed Blades. Beat Derek Lewis, beat Tide, to Ivasa. He's already fought Tom Ashton.

Gone is in a weird spot. He just fought Volkov and lost. Like, he's fought everybody. Does he fight like the marching Taibora Mick Parkin winner? Like, is that where we have to go? I don't hate that. I don't hate that. I don't either. I think that's kind of like the process of elimination if he doesn't fight jails at Albeda. I don't hate that fight. Mick Parker is very good. Uh, especially, you know, he's the guy that terms of Tom, right? Yeah.

Yeah, he's very good. I talked to him actually a good bit in Manchester because he was sitting in the media room for a lot of it, just kind of hanging out, watching fights. Super nice guy,

super knowledgeable guy, um, was very happy to get the bonus in Manchester. I'll tell you that much. Yeah, I think that's a good fight. Don't hate that fight. There's history there.

Yeah. You want to get back to Tom and go through his teammate. That's not a bad idea. what else we got here Mike and Jose I know it's been off topic when you mentioned for Vol and McKinney etc maybe wonder when Dober is back Do you know it's been a while I want to see him back

No idea No idea Come more super chats Bigger fight to make Hamzav versus Sean or DDP Either one Whoever has the belt They're both huge

They're both huge They're both huge They're both compelling as hell too Dreekis would be a harder fight I think I think because I think Driekees is I don't know they're both tough

in their own ways yeah that's a tough I don't know man I want to watch both of those like if if Dreek is if whoever wins that fight fights Strickland like fights Hamzae next

God yeah after I saw what Strickland did to Izzy from like that day I was like man I want to see what Strickland versus Hamzae would look like they've trained together too yeah Strickland's very tough

to like just get out of there unless he fights Alex Pereira and does the thing you shouldn't do, but yet he does it anyways. Yeah. I mean, what's that going to look like after like round two? Like if Hamza can't get Strickland out of there in the first seven minutes,

it could be a tough night for Hamzat. So, yeah, both those fights are super compelling. And I think they're both bit. I think Sean's probably a little, quote unquote, bigger.

But DDPs get more popular with their reform. Oh, bigger in terms of popularity. Yeah. Yeah. I don't say physically bigger. Drieke's is freaking massive, man. Oh, yeah. Oh, and that conversation.

Yeah. I think Dr. Dr. Dr. I think it's, I think it's, Dreycas is a better wrestler, I think, for sure. That's tough, man. I want to see both.

Both of them present, both excellent. Both present problems. Both hype-wise, like, take out the hype and the press conference and everything. Both guys just fight-wise present very compelling, as the word you said. Um, yeah, shoot, I don't know. It's a good question. I could talk myself in either one. I know.

Like, DDP would just be, like, I think DDP is more fun. Because he's just, I think he's just going to go right after him. Yeah. And he'll just do DDP things. Yeah. And Strickland will just, he'll be in survival mode. And then once he gets cooking, like, what is that going to look like? Yeah.

I don't know. They're both really interesting fights, though. Uh, solar cop back. Uh, what is a good anime for Izzy to plan his, comeback. Mike Izzy just goes down funny but never gets chaotic, good stoppage, but still think it was too fast. Just want to see him go down on his shield once.

I mean, again, I don't think it was that bad of a stoppage. What's a good anime for Izzy to plan his comeback? That's all you kid. Megalobox would be good. That's about Megalobox. That's my answer. It's about a guy who enters

a, like in this world, boxers wear like robot arms. so like you can you have it's humans wearing mechanical equipment right and like the richer people get the fancier equipment and then a guy can't remember his first name

gearless gearless Joe he fights with no equipment he just goes in there as a boxer and just takes so much damage and wins yeah there you go megal a box that's my answer I have that tattooed on my leg don't talk to Chris Kurtz about it he loves it

that's awesome Patrick, book Jazz Division versus Rosamie Unis, Battle of North American fighters with Eastern European last names. Do it. Do it? That's totally fine.

Do you guys think that Pavich is a different fighter now since losing to Tom? He wasn't even close to getting a finish and I'm losing interest in him. Dude, he needed a win today. Like, he had to win. He needed to win more than anybody else on this entire fight card.

So to be like, not the most thrilling fight. We're not going to go back and rewatch it, but he needed to win if he lost that fight, he was done. Like he was, he was in territory where he was never getting back to the belt. Like three losses in a row at heavyweight when you weren't all that super over and popular to begin with. Like he was cooked. He needed this win.

So I have no issue with how he fought. Was I a little surprised that it was as slow and tepid as it was, not particularly. But yeah, it's a win is a win. He needed it bad. Sometimes you just got to do it. styles also make fights like palliwitz probably could have done this to a lot of other guys but like you're not going to out wrestle tom tom is a very high level black belt very good wrestler you're knocking out wrestle curtis blade tied to ivasa you don't need to out wrestle him you don't need to out of rassel him you don't need to out of rassolm you don't need to out of us. Giresino is a fast enough, more dynamic enough striker that you're probably going to have to make

them some grappling to get them out of there. Yeah, no issue with Pavlovich's approach. Is he versus Yuri at light heavyweight? Okay. I mean, I'm not going to not sit. I'm not going to not watch that, but. I mean, it would be super weird and wacky and people would kind of lose their shit over that fight. But at 205, I think, dude, Yuri is just such a menace.

That'd be a tough night for Izzy, I think. He's a big guy. He's a very big dude. He is a big, big man. He still wants to go to 185. I don't know what that's going to look like. Gadsia versus Lewis fight night made event anyone? Oh, come on.

Has Derek Lewis fought Girozino? No! And I'm not even going to ask for it anymore because they never make it. It's the most obvious fight in UFC history, and they won't fucking make it. It drives me crazy. They'll make it. now. It'll headline. There's your, you, like the rumors, what is it? Um, what aren't they supposed to go to like Des Moines, Iowa or something like that?

There's your headliner. Derek Lewis versus Tarzino, you, you, Derek Lewis in, Derek Lewis in weird American soulful countries, cities, just the heartland of America. That's, that's you put Derek Lewis. I love it. Correct. Terrific. That's, that's a great idea. Derek Lewis versus Jarzino headlining, UFC, Des Moines. It'll break North American fight night records. It'll be huge, gigantic. It'll be unbelievable. Yeah, well, everywhere they go, the O.C.

breaks records, remember? It's very true. All right. I think we have, uh, I think we're good. I think we have done the thing. We have lots more combat sports, please. Oh, oh. Ah, ah.

Who's your pick for the Royal Rumble? Ton, Sina. I think he's going to do it. That's interesting. What do you think? I mean, it would make sense, I guess. I just don't want to see it. Give it.

Yeah, right. Cody. You know, like, you know, John Cena really needs it. He really needs a push. He can win the belt, but. Exactly. So I don't want to see it. I want to see something that I'm invested in.

I mean, if the Rock's not coming back, it opens up a whole world of possibilities. I mean, Rock could just show up at the Rumble today, too? You never know. That's true. I think it'll be punk. I don't know what's going to happen. Honestly. This is like compelling shit.

I think it will be punk. I'm trying to convince our boss to do a watch along for right now. I would love to do that. Oh, that's hilarious. No, I tried a couple days ago. I'm trying to see like maybe see some trends and he's like, all right, do it. But I think it would just be fun. So I wanted to do it.

I was like, you know what? I might just do one on my own personal YouTube channel. But I can't. I have a freaking copyright strike from a while ago. and stealing content no it was mine it was mine and I'm not

I just don't have it in me to fight it sure it's not even on my account anymore I did the stupid copyright school thing but it would just be fun so we got Rumble we got boxing

benavides uh benavitas better fight Canello by the end of the year yes Canelo I love you if you do not fight David Benavides Did you hear that?

Did you watch the interview with David Benavitas where Canello's people wanted 70 million and David Benavitos would get 5 million and that was before pay-per-view and everything? So 70 million to 5 million. And David Benevita was like, okay. Because they thought he was going to say no. And then they just, he just never heard back.

I'm like, dude, that's true. Canello. Get it together. Oh, yes. Yes, Michael. How could I forget? I totally forgot. How could I?

BKFC, live from New England, Mohegan Sun, scenic Uncisfill, Connecticut, the BKFC debut of the goat, Parker Porter, against Chase Gormley, must see TV on the zone. That is the people's main event, and that's going down tonight. So lots of combat sports. You guys grab some dinner, take a little nap if you want, and then you got all that shit to look forward to. So very exciting stuff.

UFC is wrapped and packed. and now Jose is going to rest up and get ready to take a nice long journey to Sydney. I have to pack. I have not packed at all. You'll go ahead and pack. We definitely need you to do that. Get there because, uh, yeah, Sydney awaits with two big title fights. We got Drickus duplicity versus Sean Strickland two for the middleweight title.

We have Zhang Wei defending the Strawe title against Tatiana Suarez, fight everybody's looking forward to. I think admittedly we're on pitiful. and needles to make sure both of these women make it to the cage. Rest of the main card, not the best I've ever seen, but those two title fights are absolutely fantastic. So thank you guys all very much for joining us for Jose.

I am Mike Heck. Really appreciate you. Busy week ahead. Enjoy the rest of the festivities tonight. Have a great rest of your day, everybody. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.