MMA Fighting - UFC Shanghai Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Johnny Walker's Stunning Upset, Aljamain Sterling's Dominance

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

The UFC's return to Shanghai is officially in the books, and the event ended with Johnny Walker pulling off a big upset in the main event, and a former bantamweight champion making a case for a title shot in a second division. Where do both fighters go from their big wins? Following Saturday's UFC Shanghai event, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and E. Casey Leydon react to the card, Walker's stunning second-round TKO win over Zhang Mingyang, Walker's callout of Jan Blachowicz, and discuss what could be next for Zhang after suffering his first UFC loss. Additionally, topics include Aljamain Sterling's lopsided win over Brian Ortega in the co-main event, where Sterling is in the title conversation, if we just saw Ortega's final fight in the UFC, other standout moments, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠@m_heckjr⁠ Follow E. Casey Leydon: ⁠@ekc 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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It says post show. UFC Shanghai is done. You have the rest of your Saturday to do whatever you want, But right now, let's talk about what we just watched at UFC Shanghai. The victory horns are sounding for Johnny Walker. Shocking. Gets the second round TKO win with a just absolutely nasty cap kick. Gets it done.

Mingyang Jong has lost his first fight in a super long time. Yang went to the second round for the first time in seven years. And it paid dividends. And then the co-made event, But Alibade Sterling just absolutely wrecked Brian Ortega in a fight that was not competitive at all. And kind of not that interesting once it started. I mean, it's just kind of a weird fight for being honest. The whole main card was kind of weird.

It started off with a pretty vicious finish and it ended in a pretty nasty finish. But everything in the middle there, Miles May vary. But welcome to the Post-Bite Show. I am Mike Keck. And joining me, the baddestash at all of M.A., the chair is swinging pool. himself. Wakey, wiki, wiki, eggs and baking, and Casey Liden.

Oh, hello. What is he saying, folks? Tell me. Say to the comments. I don't know. Oh, we're just, it's early. It's early. Yes.

It was an early one. That alarm went off at 2.30 a.m. Eastern time, and I was like, oh, boy. We're in. I was excited about the, this card at first, but then the time hit me.

I was like, oh, crap. Yeah, I mean, we woke up in literally two minutes and 45 seconds into the card. We got an Ezekiel choke submission. I was like, yes, we are off and running the sixth Ezekiel choke in UFC history. We are off to the races. And then, you know, Banda might fight pretty fun that we got an absolutely nasty knockout. And then we got the return of Kyle Dachis, just nuking Michelle Pereira.

And then we got Rongzuin, Austin Hubbard, which went probably the way most expected it to go. Charles Johnson holds lonier Cavada after losing the first nine and a half minutes of the fight. It was absolutely insane. And then Gaye Jung gets a win, and then we get a Kiefer Crosby fight to kick off the main card,

and he gets an illegal knee to the face. He probably should have just taken the DQ win because he had like no chance of winning that fight. And then we got, you know, we got Sumedarej, Kevin Borhaus at a forgettable fight. Good win for Sumedirji. Sergei Pavlis, Waldo Cortez-A Costa, not spectacular, Bob. And then Sterling, in a non-competitive fight, just did Sterling things over Brian Orte again. Then we get the big finish over Johnny for Johnny Walker of Ming Yang Jang.

So Casey, I ask you, we kind of just ran down everything and we'll get to the pivotal moments. I was just going to roll the music. All right. Thanks a lot, guys. Good that, everybody. Have a great day. We'll obviously talk to the peeps and stuff, but, yeah, Johnny Walker wins, Casey. He goes out there and Mingyang Zhang is feeling good. And it was pretty wild to watch because I was live blogging.

And, like, literally every punch Zhang was hitting Walker with wobbled him. He looked. And nothing, like, landed super clean yet. He didn't land, like, the big 100% clean shot yet. But everything he hit Walker with stumbled him. Walker's moving, yeah. planet but kudos to walker man battled through leg kick started adding up your reaction to johnny walker getting the nasty finish round two after landing the calf kick that really hurt john well uh um rip

uh the climb already for jed is done right the climb's done so uh sorry by that jed um but yeah dude that's that was like one of the most just it's mima there's a million ways to die in this sport. And they fight that fight. I don't want to say 99 of 100 times Zhang wins, but at least 9 out of 10 times Zhang wins that fight. But, dude,

one calf kick, man. These are big boys. These are big boys. And it's not really much to take away from this fight. It's like Johnny should have lost that fight, landed an incredible good calf kick, and then won the fight. That's just how the sport is. I think we're all still pretty high on Zhang.

but I don't know. It was like, did experience win this fight with Johnny Walker? I'm not really sure. But just, it's M.A. These are just big dudes and things hurt. And Ming can be hurt. Turns out that's his Achilles Hill, his calf. So congratulations, Johnny Walker.

You're still relevant. Basically, you're still relevant. Because I think that was the kind of storyline. If Walker takes a bad loss, which we all expected him to, I think, most of us did. he was got not cut from the UFC but I think we're kind of you know we were done with saying Walker will be a future contender or whatever but I'm not sure if this victory puts him there but it keeps him in the conversation

a little bit longer yeah I mean I could I could agree with everything you just said and I mean it's good for Johnny Walker and I think one of the best things you could have ever done and boy I don't want to say this And I'm trying to be respectful. I don't want anybody from a social media team running an account, DMing our account being all upset about something. But Johnny Walker leaving SBG was like the best thing he could have ever done.

Spent all that time with Eric Nixick. We got sort of fun Johnny Walker again, a guy that we enjoyed watching compete. And then, you know, he learned some lessons along the way. And I was like super curious to hear what Eric Nixig was going to say to him in the corner after round one. All we heard was, man, that was a fun ass round. or something like that. And right when he was about to like get into the inside of what he saw, what he needed to improve,

they cut, they cut away. And I was like, come on. Yeah, what are we doing? Oh, we get to hear Michael Bisping again.

Yay. I don't want to hear. Yeah. I mean, oh, Laura Sanko's talking. Oh, there's Bisbing interrupting her.

Great. Fantastic. That was pretty much how it went. But yeah, man, the finishing sequence was pretty wild because like Walker landed that kick and landed it good. But Zhang landed like a.

sick counter right and I was like oh shit something happened and then jang started something back and he just collapsed to the floor and walkers just hammering him mark goddard just letting the violence rain on and jang tries to get up and he can't he just stumbles back to the ground because he can't put any weight on the leg and walker just keeps hammered him and finally goddard mercy stoppage gets and walker gets just such a much needed win he calls a yombovich wants to experience the legendary Polish power meritocratically, the fight makes no sense, but I don't know if anyone's going to complain

about seeing Johnny Walker versus Janbovich right now, right? I think that would actually be pretty fun. In a weird way, like, no one calls out Jan because you just don't look good in a fight with Jan. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know, I'm just kind of confused. It's too early in the morning. I did not expect Walker to win this fight, especially after the first round.

So I'm like, I think after the first round, I think we're all kind of half getting our tweets, half ready, our article is half ready. We're like, you know, you know, Zhang, is he, is he a title contender, you know, and then everything just, boom, we're here now. So, good call out. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I don't, I'm kind of, I don't really, like, I just, I don't really know what the, much to say about that, that fight. I mean, and Johnny Walker, just, he's still relevant and he's still dangerous. And you're right. Good note, good point. Good, sorry, thank you for pointing out him changing camps in Nixick and I guess moving to Vegas.

Does he live in Vegas now, I assume? Yeah. So that just makes sense for him. And crazy things have happened, but, you know, maybe Nixick can bring out that Johnny Walker that was supposed to be Corey Anderson years ago and was supposed to go in that title run. So maybe we're back. Maybe we're back.

He's still, like Johnny Walker is still his young 30s. probably passes slightly passes athletic prime but at 205 and having all that relatively high level experience in the UFC who knows who knows yeah I like this post-fight interview I mean the call was good but the sort of reflection on the past and like now now this is like the real title run before it wasn't the real title run yeah I've learned I've taken all this time off I've moved to Vegas made all these changes and look at look at what's happened here well i was i was looking at his topology page um johnny walker's ufc run i think his first three fights were like you know three almost kind of like zangs uh jang's i was just gonna say very reminiscent yeah very reminiscent i didn't

really i didn't really put it think of it but yeah so that's why i don't think jang losing this fight i don't think it hurts him obviously hurts momentum hurts his bank account but um i think all of us who were kind of high, as far as being an elite 205er, I think we're still there. It's just, yeah, Johnny Walker did it tonight. It's 205ers, you know, MMA. Things happen.

Yeah, I'm looking at Walker's run right now. UFC debut gets a bonus, first round knockout of a young man named Khalil Roundtree. I don't know if you ever heard of him. That was in 2018. Then he knocks out Justin Liddette in 15 seconds, which I don't think shocked a lot of people. And then flying knee chaos, Misha circuit off a month later.

That was a big one. Misha was on run too at the time. Yeah. And then that was just sort of like a mishandling of him, just throwing him right in there with Cory Anderson. Because I remember when they booked that, I was like, why are we doing this so quickly? He just started.

He's only fought for two minutes, maybe three in the UFC. We're giving him freaking Corey Anderson in his fourth UFC fight, which is kind of, wild if we really think about it and i didn't really feel that way about johnny walker like if they threw they threw jang in there with carlos olberg or something or like they threw him with john for his like fourth fight like that would have been if they threw him in there with cori and or so it'd be like uh might be a little too quick there but how do we uh how do we handle jang moving for because this is this is kind of a bummer like the ufc put him in this spot for a reason uh i mean obviously

Johnny Walker winning and being fun is not the worst outcome in the world. But at the same token, they bring this event to Shanghai. They do it so Jean can headline and send the fans home happy and look like a superstar because as we've talked about, this division is not good. And it needs stars. It needs somebody to get people talking about it. And that is not what happened here. He is only 28, which at light heavyweight is he's got like a decade to go.

if you want at this point, but how bad of a loss is this? Like, just looking at it from the Zhang perspective, but even from the UFC perspective, when you set up this event, you set up this fight to make Zhang look good

and have the Hogan must pose moment, and it didn't happen. Uh, I think it's okay, honestly. I think, yeah, it sucks in the moment, like in the moment, but the crowd seemed to,

because Zhang looked good in that first round. I think that's the most important. He just, he looked really good. He, like, I don't know if he could pull, what, what are the live odds after the first round? It had to be, I don't know, minus 2,000 or something like that. I'm not connor is the greatest comeback ever, but there was no indication that Walker was going to, Walker was going to have a comeback victory. He just kind of, not that guy.

He's kind of, you know, when he loses, he loses big. So, yeah, I don't think it's too bad. I think, you know, he'll move back. This would probably be fine. Fight someone outside of the top 50s. I can't think of a name right now, but someone right outside the top 15 part coming off a loss. And hopefully, I don't know. Has he, have his strong fights all been in China?

He's fought in the, has he fought in the U.S.? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's what I thought, yeah. That's pretty confident. Yeah, just bring him over, I don't know. I mean the last prelim on a pay-per-view type. Actually, any kind of early pay-per-view fight, he's an all-action fighter. Yeah, I don't think it's.

It hurts the UFC's business in just a very short term, but I think they're fine. Yep. He made his debut in lovely Anaheim, California. Oh, yeah. I was there. Again, French and Ribeiro. Then he fought Ozzy Diaz at UFC Macau. And then the UFC thought to themselves, you know we have to take this guy?

Oh, no. Kansas City. We have to bring him to Kansas City. Because why not, right? Let's feed him Anthony Smith at his retirement fight in Kansas. I forgot that was in Kansas. I forgot that was. Oh, yeah, I forgot.

You're right. What I forgot. Okay. And then back, now back to China. So listen, it's America, China, America, China. Now we'll go back to, I can't wait to see where he fights next. Yeah. Boise.

UFC Boise headlined by Zhang Ming-Yang. He'll be like the main event, UFC Fight Night, like, Skash the tune. Is that a city in Canada? Saskatoon Yeah It's bad luck over there That was where Saskatoon was where

We were supposed to see Max Holloway fight Charles Olivera And we got that fight And we got that fight officially And then it ended abruptly In just the most unfortunate way possible So yeah We'll see what happens to Zhang

Hopefully he's okay Hopefully the injury is not too bad And he's not like sideline for a while There's no like torn ligaments or anything like that Maybe just a bone bruise or something Like that's who we're hoping for because, again, he's an exciting guy. And yeah, light, heavyweight needs exciting guys.

I mean, I don't know if we're going to match week for him for on to the next one. So let me just kind of take a look and see who's available. Do we do I want Kuchalaba? I kind of feel like that's. That feels right. Yeah. That feels right. That feels right.

Somebody who will, like, give him a fun face off. And then he could probably finish at some point. So, yeah, I think that's a good one. Young man, you are so good at this. That was the perfect. That was the perfect one. Yeah, that was the, yeah. Yeah, Guilaba, that's the guy.

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Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to aeroplime members on equip flights sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See air Canada.com. I think the more interesting story coming out of this car, I mean, look, I know Johnny Wark gets a big win. That's a big story.

But the Brian Ortega saga over the last 48 hours or so has been some story. This guy, you know, talked all. week. It's Ortega told me. This is Ortega 2.0. Ever since Diego Lopez lost, I've learned a lot about myself. I'm ready to go on a run. If I win this fight, I'll probably won't get the credit from the fans. Worst, I'll get a title eliminator. And then I'm going to go fight for the belt. And then everything that happened Thursday happened. And then he comes out. I was curious how he would look in the walkout. And he looked okay. Like he didn't look bad. It wasn't like horrified looking at him walk to the cage.

And then Casey, as you very well know, that damn bell has to ring. And once it rings, once it's, once it rung, Brian Ortega just was not there at all. There were flashes of him in round five where he landed a couple of punches

that kind of wobbled Aljo and had Aljo on the run. And I want to talk about Herb Dean in that fight later on as well. But yeah, this is all Aljo, man. Like this was not even a fun, like competitive fight to watch.

because if I would have told, if I would have told you heading in, hey, Al Jermaine Sterling is going to outclass Brian Ortega and not shoot a single takedown. Would you believe me? Like he just went out outstruck Brian Ortega. Like I think a taked out eventually happened. But through like the first three and a half rounds,

Alja didn't shoot once. He just pieced him up on the feet. It was crazy. Yeah. I don't know if that was, I mean, I'll have to listen to what Aljo says in his post-fight interview, like in the backstage. but like, I have hard time believing that was the game plan,

but when Aljo was out there, they were like, Ortega's giving me this. I'm just going to keep switching stances, keep jabbing, you know, and just keep moving. And Ortega, oh, man, I hate saying this because, you know, when we have these kind of victories that are, no, incredible big victory for Aljo, but it sucks because I think the story is going to be just how bad Ortega looked.

And was it the way? weight cut was Ortega is just, is there just, it's just too many miles on him at this point. It's hard to tell. I mean, the wake clearly had a giant effect on him. Was it the travel? I don't know, but like that Brian Ortega was, yeah, that was the worst Brian Ortega we've ever seen the UFC. And it was so bad, it kind of brought down Aljo's performance because Aljo got 5045.

We should be going, oh my God, Aljo looked amazing. He just shut out. Former title contender Brian Ortega. No, no one's done that since like Max Holloway or, oh, I don't know, someone. But, yeah, Ortega just looked really bad. And I think that's going to be the story of the fight, especially of the weight miss and everything. And I think, yeah, Aljo got the win.

I think we can kind of solidify that Aljo is a top 145er. we get the next title shot. No credit for him for asking for it. I highly doubt it. But, I mean, he would have to, like, it was going to be hard for him, I think, get a title shot regardless of what happened tonight. But especially if that victory, yeah,

he'll fight one more time. And Ortega, I hope his days at 45 are done. Send him to 55, have some fun fights up there. But it sucks saying. But, yeah, I think that's the last we might. have seen Brian Ortega has an elite top five fighter in any division. Yeah, I kind of think we've been there for a little while, but I mean, Ortega is such a wildcard.

You just never know. Yeah. I think out and pull off like a Hail Mary submission out of nowhere and get a win in Mexico against the Iyer Rodriguez. Like, no one saw that coming. And he just goes out and does it. Alger did shoot one takedown in round three. He shot one takedown in round four and completed it.

And he was two of four and take down. in round five. So three of six and take down attempts. All of them happened in the second half of the fight. And Al Jabane Sterling outlands Brian Ortecay, 124 to 55 with significant strikes. 272 in round one for Aljo. It was, it was a good, it was a good performance.

Like, I just didn't see him like doing that. The leg kicks are nasty. Like Ortega's leg was a mess. But it just wasn't because like Aljo has to think about it in this sense too. Like you go out and lose to Brian Ortega. Like you're done. Like you're not getting a title shot at Featherweight.

Your career is probably, your career might be over. You might just be like, yeah, man, if I can't beat a Brian Ortega who missed weight by eight pounds and didn't even really try and look so defeated, even just walking to the stair down. A guy like Aljo as competitive as he is, he's going to look himself in the mirror and be like, yeah, do I even want to do this anymore? And he doesn't have to do that. now. So we'll see what happens. I don't think he gets a title shot. I think you should definitely call the UFC and maybe have his manager call the UFC and say,

hey, I'll be the backup for that fight. Maybe he does that. Worst case scenario, I think he has earned, especially if they're going to do Lerone in December, John Silva's fighting Diego Lopez. I think you throw Aljo. I think John Silva is going to win that fight. But even if he doesn't, Aljo versus the winner of that one. And if Aljo wins, she'd just give him one last shot at the belt.

why not it seems like that's the right everything's kind of lined up that way it seems good yeah yeah have a little tournament lorone's the man give him a shot and then we'll kind of go from there so yeah and the other uh high stakes fight on this card again was not uh was not a thriller by any stretch of the imagination but uh my fantasy team takes a hit waldo cortez acosta loses to sergey pavlovitch for unanimous decision, but Jed gets the points, but not as many points as he had hoped for. So I guess in some way, you know, I played

some defense and shut up and shut Jed dad a little bit. He didn't get the knockout and the bonus and things of that nature. Hey, my, my fantasy team took a hit tonight. Oh, you a Jang. At Zhang. Yeah, Zhang. Yeah, so I got hit. So I had to come out here

when we started the show, you know, and kind of riff on Jed for already losing the climb. But, uh, yeah. Yeah, that was, yeah, yeah. I got, I got, I had a good, had a good, had a good, I had a good first, first half of 2025 with my second fantasy draft and the second half isn't turning out so hot, but yeah. Yeah, it was a tough one. We have bonus.

I don't regret my pick. I don't regret my pick, but yeah. No, it's a great pick. I don't regret for WCA pick either. And I only mostly pick WCA because I'll probably get two more fights out of him this year. So he's got to win one of them. We have bonuses, Casey. Care to take a guess?

Ooh, no fight of the night. You are correct, sir. Yeah, okay, no fight of the night. Johnny Walker. Yes. Ooh, I'm assuming they didn't give one to Neuraji. Is that he say his name? Noraji.

They did not do that. They did not give him one. So, oh, Charles Johnson. Yeah. Oh, Dachus. and oh yeah and are i don't know in that yeah the four finishes was that is that just four finishes no there were there were there are more there more okay and then the ezekiel choke at the beginning yes uh yijij had a 37 second cold k o and didn't get a bonus i'm pretty shocked

like he killed west and wilson that was nasty like real bad wilson was down for a while blood gushed out of his face. They wouldn't even show his face on the broadcast. Like, it was filthy that K.O. And no bonus. But yes, uh, salt a body of that's a dude. I would keep Zhang far away from that guy. Tell you that.

That's, that's a guy we need to watch at 205 for sure. Kyle Dawkus, man, that was pretty impressive. That was sick. Yeah. First punch he throws. Bam. He was down. And then he started like elbowing him in and out of consciousness.

Like Pereira's back of Pereira's head was hitting the mat. He was out. And then the last elbow woke Pereira up to the point where it like bounced him back to his feet. And we're just like, oh, is that stoppage too early? And then you watch the replay and you realize that it's that it wasn't. So Charles Johnson, that was absolutely nasty. Dude is a problem. And yeah.

If you're if you're a prospect, do not face Charles Johnson. Only like, yeah. Yeah. If you're trying to go up the ranks, do not face Charles Johnson. Yeah. If you're a prospect. or undefeated, do not fight Charles Johnson and do not fight Christian Rodriguez.

Stay far away from both of the gentlemen and you'll be good to go. So yeah, let's go to the peeps. Let's see what the peeps have to say because there's not really much else to break down here of substance. Oh, the other interesting piece of news that happened throughout this card,

UFC 320 has added another fight. I had 145 pounds. Josh Emmett versus Yusuf Solal. going down a UFC 320. Top 11-ish featherweight tilt. So, yeah, good fight. That's going to be on the main card as well. All right.

I got some super chats first. $10 super chat from Stephen K. Bisbing saying Al Joe should stand his ground, then completely 180ed after Sankl called it out was effing hilarious, man. Keep Bisbing on the slap par commentary and away from my TV. I don't want to keep doing this every single show. Yeah.

But I'll, I'll, you even said in our Slack channel, and I'll give you full credit for this, because I was thinking the exact same thing. Bisman hurt Laura Sanko bad tonight. Like, he really did. Laura could not get a frigging sentence out without Biss being interrupting her or counteracting her. Like, there is just no flow there at all between the two. They didn't match well at all.

They did not mesh well in any way, shape, or form. And it was tough to watch because, like, Sanko's so good at like breaking down and like seeing things that especially if I'm live blogging. She is like the best color commentator to have when you're live blogging because she points these like little things out that you have to really pay attention to. Especially if you're not paying attention to it. But yeah, it was it was just tough scenes, man. It was tough. And the tough thing also was the road to UFC card happened the day before.

And it was John Goethe and Michael Kiesa on color. And Kiesa was frigging fission. Fantastic. He was so good. I'm just like, man, like, give him more reps. Throw Bisbing on the desk. And like, he's good at that. Like, he's fine in that role.

But like, as a color person, is a color commentary. It's just, it's just not, he doesn't mesh well with anybody. It's, it's crazy. And he's going to be on contender series Tuesday. And he's going to be at Paris, uh, when they come back from the one week hiatus. So, uh, a lot of Michael Bisbin coming your way. So he was not great tonight. I'm sorry.

Thank you, Stephen K. Spencer. Boys, appreciate you waking up early. Road the intoxication for my fancy football draft into the card and didn't regret it. That Charles Johnson, K.O. was disgusting. Sure was. Was I the only one on staff who picked Charles Johnson

to win that fight? I'm pretty, wait. No, I got, I picked him. I begged him too. You picked her two. Nice. By decision. My decision.

I mean, the knockout, I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah, I think they're my decision. Okay. Excellent work. But the knockout was spectacular. That was just a sick knockout. Just, what was the, I don't have to replay in front of me. But basically, Kavanaugh was kind of just kind of admiring his work a bit or just kind of, yeah, yeah.

He kind of just got frozen and just kind of looked there for a moment. And then, like, Charles John's like, that was pretty cool. See you. See you. My favorite thing, my favorite thing of the broadcast. was Joe Martinez introducing Charles Johnson. And it was like, fighting out of Orlando, Florida.

He is the pride of St. Louis. Charles Johnson. I was like, all right. That is just representing all the major metropolitan areas. Well done. Yeah, Charles Johnson is so good, man. This is a dude who like literally iced out Josh Van not that long ago. And now Josh Van is about to go fight for a world title.

So, yeah, Charles is going to be a tough out in this division forever and ever. Somewhat had suggested for on to the next one, Charles Johnson versus Tim Elliott. I effing love that idea. That is a fun-ass fight. So, sure, let's go ahead and go with that. I might just deal that for on to the next one tomorrow. And it props to UFC also for keeping Charles Johnson around because the guy was on a three-fight

losing streak. And they can, these are three-fight losing. I mean, you can easily get your walking papers. And Charles Johnson wasn't a name or anything. but just good on the USC for keeping around and good on Charles Johnson for, you know, getting better from those losses. He's a bunch of food fighters.

So, yeah, I mean, I admit after his third loss, I was like, why is this guy still around? Why is he booked? And then he won a couple of fights. I'm like, all right, whatever. Then, no, he's, he's, he's, I mean, I don't see him being a top five. He might sneak in the top 10.

But whatever he is, he is definitely earned. spot on the UFC roster and I look forward to watching him bite yeah I mean his losses are he lost to Muhammad kaya that was his UFC debut they brought him into to feed to feed him to Muhammad and he was like really he was pretty competitive right then he loses a splitie to oday Osborne that was super tough honestly there's a really close fight could have gone either way Cody Durden I think he'll regret that one the esavama was probably the worst loss he had and then look beats maxim fight of the night gets a bonus

beats Jay Cadley, beats Josh Van, come from behind knockout. That has aged incredibly well. Suba Derghi looked great tonight. He beat Subadherjee. Knocks out Lordair Cavanaugh, who was looking like

the second coming of Demetrius Johnson for nine minutes. And his other loss was to Ramazan Temeroff, who is really, really good. So, yeah, good win for Charles John. Another boring flyweight with, you know, three fight of the night finishes, you know, so.

Yep. Add another bonus. Let's go. Good on him. Good on him. Is that it? Yeah. Thank you, Spencer. Slito. 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 $39.99. How could I resist?

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I'll say that. West of Wilson. And I'll leave it at that. I don't want to go down that. I don't know. I'm not happy about. but, or I'll regret. But Westwoods was the worst fighter on this card.

Maybe we have to rank him, I guess, yeah. Someone has to be the worst. I mean, it was terrific matchmaking. Like, honestly, it was terrific matchmaking. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Salito. $6 to be chapped from Allen.

Oops. If Aljo somehow wins the 145 pound belt somehow, how much does that change his legacy? Dude, his legacy is pretty damn impressive anyways. I mean, I know people just love to hate on Aljo, but like, you can make a case. Like, I don't think it's true, but you can make a case that Al Jemaine Sterling is the greatest band of weight of all time. He has the most title defenses or at least he's tied for it.

I think he's tied for the most wins in the history of the division. Like, he has accomplished things that like very few have accomplished. If you want to say Dominic Cruz, you want to say. say Marab, that's fine too. I'll even listen to T.J. Dillow shop. But you can make that case right now that he's the greatest band of weight of all time. Not an easy feat at all. And then if he does it at featherweight and wins the friggin belt at featherweight after all that,

he loses to Sean O'Malley in a fight he probably shouldn't have taken. And then he goes up to featherweight and wins the belt. And this is after losing to Mavzaravlov. Like, dude, we're having a crazy. conversation about Al Jermaine Sterling if he wins this belt. Are we not? Yeah, my mind, I was, I was like, what am I going to, I was like, what opinion do I have? What hot take do I have? And my mind just kind of going to clink, clink, it just got stuck. I was like, I don't know. I was just like, I, I, I, I just didn't go there.

And I was like, I just didn't, I never imagined an imposter of Volcanowski Sterling for the title or something. It's just, who know? I, dude, what if they book, what if they book Vulcan Laron and like Lerone gets injured or something? Like, Aljo's probably getting the shot more than likely. So, they, I mean, just, just ranking wise, Aljo legitimately could just justifiably get the shot tomorrow. I mean, if they decided to do Volcanowski, Sterling. It would, I don't think fans would be, no, doing backflips for it, but it is, it is a justifiable. looking if they want to put sterling there. I mean, because they can go, well,

Lorraine Murphy just beat a, he beat a unranked featherweight with no UFC experience. So if you want to go that round, just, and that's why Sterling's so good, because, like you said, just, just the numbers, the numbers he puts up. They might not be the most exciting fights. You know, it might not just get people hyped up to, like, oh, call your friends to come over, watch an Al Jermaine's starting fight,

but he just, he gets it done. he gets it done and he won tonight we're not going to remember that fight you know we're going to go oh yeah he won it no 5045 but like this like I said the storyline is really more about ortega just kind of poop in the pant poop in the bed tonight as far as this performance but it doesn't matter aljama he he he showed up and he could get a title shot and it's not crazy to think that that sterling could be and it kind of passed a prime vulcanowski It is, yeah. I'm not ready to say these things out loud with confidence, but it's there, it's there, it's right there.

Alzo's going to be the number five ranked contender in the division come Tuesday in the UFC's rankings. He will be one spot behind Lorone Murphy. Yaya Rodriguez is still somehow ranked number three. And then there's Diego and Mowzar. Like, they're not going to throw Yair and they're with Volk. So he's like off the table right now. Diego just lost to Volk. Laroid's about to fight Volk.

Yes, there's Mbzard there, but it doesn't seem like the UFC is in any rush to give him a title shot. Like Aljo literally, like, right this second, at worst, in my opinion, Al Jermaine Sterling is one win away from fighting. That's it.

One one way. One win. He might just get it. Like, he might just, like I think Lerone's going to get it. I think it'll be, you know, when the champion lays out the red carpet, if the guy's available,

they're usually going to get it. Yeah. But Aljo could be the, backup fighter he could be the next dude in line like to fight the winner of that like he is in a pretty damn good position right now and we know the ufc is a business and they like to make money and if they have two legitimate title contenders you know whoever takes the less whoever takes the smaller contract may get that title shot i mean that's just kind of how the business works sometimes so yeah if we see sterling man i can't i can't believe how the show started and i were like

yeah if okonoski sterling that's how we're like we're at That's the fight, I guess. If Diego Lopez beats John Silva, Alcho doesn't even have to fight again. He's just going to get a title shot. Like that's where he's at right now. Like maybe he fights Diego, but like then you put Diego in a situation where like if he beats Sterling and Volk still champ, like you can't book Diego again. So then you're just eliminating another contender. So yeah, I mean, maybe Sterling fights Lopez, but they might just be like, yeah, man.

Let's just give him one last shot. Maybe he loses to Volk. And then we just get rid of this guy. because it doesn't seem like the UFC really loves Aljo. I don't know. If you're Volcanozky, who's, and you, you know, you want to win. When the mics in front of you, you'll say, I want the toughest challenger, but come on, you, you're a prize fighter. You want, you want that, you want, you want to get those defenses.

Who do you take first if you have the option for your Volkanowski? Sterling. You take Aljo. Exactly. So I'm Volcanowski. Yeah, I'm Volkanowski. I delete that, I delete that Lorone Murphy tweet. Like, work you out, Aljo.

It's just, just screenshot it and like put an X on it and put Aljo. It's so funny. It's out, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a better legacy fight because Aljo's a former champion. It's easier to sell. He's the greatest band of weight of all time, but he, you could make the case that he is. He's accomplished a lot in the sport. Um, is it stay bigger.

It's not like the difference between. a hundred thousand pay-reviews in a million it's like the difference between like a hundred thousand and like 140 thousand um and i think just from a you know if we're casting a wider net on the fan base i think more fans know who al jrbain sterling is than lorone murphy yeah so it would cast that little bit of a net too but yeah i mean if i'm volk like i'd be like yeah man let's just get sterling out of the way and we'll add like another legacy name and then but Volk's not that kind of guy. Volk's just like, yeah, man, you're the next dude.

Let's just fight. I'm just happy to have a next dude up. Like, I'm sure he is, I mean, Volk was the guy. He was like, please give me Mozart. Give him to me. I want to fight that guy. And then the, he says like, nah, he has to fight Aaron Pico, which in hindsight would have done Mozart no favors.

Well, maybe it would have because not Leromorpe's getting a title fight. Who the hell knows? So I don't know. How bad is Mozart's a couple weeks been? Like he's gone from number one challenger to behind Murphy. And now we're putting Sterling in front of him now, pretty much. And he beat Sterling. He doesn't think of for Sterling.

La, la, la, la, la. It's so crazy, man. Poor Mozar. It's just tough scenes. Like him watching Arnold Allen just nuke Aaron Pico must have been like the worst time of his life. It just must have been the worst. Murphy, Murphy. You said Arnold Allen.

Honor, Alan. Laura Murphy. Watching that, watching that happen, it must have been like, God. Because I honestly believed it. I said it publicly. Like, Movesar was just going to dust up Aaron. Like, I hated. I like the match meeting because, like, what if?

If Aaron wins, then it's just like, all right, let's just strap the rockets to him. But if Bovzar wins, it's like, okay, cool. Like, he finally got to finish and dating me like, this is what we tried to do with them all along. We try to motivate this man by making him exciting and try to get finishes. And yeah, there was a win-win for the UFC to book that fight. But yeah, we'll see what happens. But yes, his legacy, we're having, we're having an entirely different conversation about Algebra and Sterling if he wins the featherweight title, especially if he beats Volcanovsky for it. That'd be just, yeah, I can't. I'm not, I'm not, it's too early in the

morning. I can't go there yet. It is too early to really like really dive into. to that but yeah like we're real close we're real close to it we have to like we have to start figuring out like where we place him all time if he does do that like i don't think he's top 10 or anything but is he like top 30 ever if he wins the featherway belt i'm not ready for this moving on thank you allan uh super chat we have any misfits boxing questions to lighten mood especially did you all enjoy the shanghai crowd. I thought the Zhang walkout was really cool. You have 3.2.320 now a top three stack

card of the year thinking of going. Um, did I enjoy the crowd? Yeah. They were fine. It wasn't Paris. Like, Paris is going to be like way different. But it also wasn't the apex.

So it made Shang eyes seem like Madison Square Garden. They were fine. They looked like they enjoyed it. No. It seemed like there were more people at Road to UFC. than at this card. Oh,

was it the same venue, everything? Yeah. Oh, wow. It seemed like more people. Interesting. So right before the main event,

like they didn't go to commercial. It was on Fight Pass. So right for the main event, they, even during the walkouts, they didn't like cut to commercial. So they just showed one camera screen, like one camera shot on top of the venue,

basically on top of the inside of the venue. And the camera's pointing towards like the big screen at the center above the octagon. So you, get it you got an entire crowd shot of the entire building even as bruno bruce was walking out all you saw was that shot the entire time bruda brazil walked to the walk to the octagon for that main event fight and they didn't cut out of that shot until bruto was in the like the final check zone and that place was full i was like holy shit there are a lot of people here

and i guess burda brazil told our own germay cruz that tickets for the road to ufc event i'm on in UFC Shankai. The tickets for the road to UFC finals sold out in 10 minutes. Sold out in 10 minutes. Was like 15,000, something like that? Yeah, I bet. Yeah, we're on there. At least 12,000 in there.

Either way, yeah. It was crazy. It was wild to look at. I'm very curious if I don't know the answer is. I'm sure we won't be trying to find out what the, what, how they priced it. Is it price like, you know, American equivalent, at least I'm kind of wondering if they lowered the ticket prices to get more people in there, which is a good idea. I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

I'm just kind of curious about that. But, you know, you talked earlier about, you know, is, you know, Jean losing bad for the, you know, Chinese in the May market. I forgot they lost both main events. Both Chinese fighters lost in each main event. But that was interesting. But I don't think it hurts. Yeah, it doesn't, it's not the biggest boost, but I don't think it's not necessarily a bad thing.

I think, yeah. especially if Zhang Wei Li keeps doing what she's doing. Wait, okay, remind me, or maybe I imagined it, was the Chinese crowd booing at certain parts of the Ortega a sterling fight? They booed, they booed in like three of the five rounds. That's really interesting. It's just more like I've never been to China, so I've never been, or a Chinese MMA event, just how different the, the Chinese crowd is from say the Japanese crowd. So,

because I've never heard like that loud of type of booing a Japanese in May event. But the Chinese fans are like, screw this. Let's go, boys. Yeah, I'm trying to find like the exact line I wrote in the live blog, but it was something to the effect of,

this crowd is really booing and I'm actually surprised to hear booze coming from this crowd because they were like really respectful like everything else. Yeah. They're usually pretty quiet as things are. happening. Like there was one point during the Cavadod Charles Johnson fight where I went to pick up my morning coffee and stuff. And I just had like on the Bluetooth speaker, the ESPN plus broadcast.

And it was so like quiet and respectful in there during that fight that it was like at first I forgot that it was in Shanghai. I thought it was at the apex because you could hear like all every, everything Charles Johnson's coaching staff yelled out during that fight. You could hear clear as a bell. because there was no sound. Everyone was just respectfully watching the fight. Didn't happen in the co-main event.

It was crazy. It was just like anytime like nothing happened, they just booed. They just booed. I don't know if it was like a full boo of Brian Ortega because of his efforts this week or I don't know. But again, like I don't blame Al Jemaine Sterling for that fight not being fun. Like he got gifted a win over a top five guy. You take it.

Yeah. And now he's one bite away from fighting for the belt. Crazy. Maybe one of the 30 greatest fighters of all the time. UFC 320, top three stock card of the year. Yeah, baby. We'll see. I don't get too excited until we get to fight week because that card could look drastically different three weeks from now.

Who knows? It's a quality pay-per-view. It's solid. Let's pull up the line of all about it. Yeah, let's, um. We got the two title fights. I mean, Ankele-Perrera,

I don't really care about. I won't care about it until it actually happens. Yeah, I'm just like, sure. Sure. I just feel like that fight's going to look exactly the same as the first one. Marabin Sandhaget,

I'm super into. Yeah. Like really, really pumped for that one. Yuri Khalil rocks. I'm obviously very excited for that. Joe Piper, Abusma Gavadov.

I don't know what the fuck that's going to look like. That could be anything. And then Yusuf Salal, Josh Emmett, again, I don't know what that could look like. Macy Chesson, Yana Santos, Edmund Shabazi, and Andre Munez. My boy, Atta McOtee is fighting, Ozzy Diaz. He's on the pay-per-view card, on the pay-per-view portion, too. So that's going to be interesting. Oh, is he?

Well, that's what I liked on, well, at least Ozzie said that because I follow him on Instagram. He had a poster of him on the main card. It could be wrong. It could be early. Yeah, I think they changed it up. What's a law fight. Oh, okay. That's what happened.

Oshrat Gutierrez, Hardy Walker, Brahimaj, Austin Vanderford. Patchy Mix, baby. Patchy Mix versus Jakob. God, man. I'm kind of curious where they're going to put that in the card. Yeah, I am too. I'm curious how they're going to treat kind of that, I don't know, like fan interest. They're going to put Joe Pfeiffer on the main card, and that's just going to be a choice.

Like, we just tried to do that. What did he fight in his last fight? And it was not a good fight at all. That should open the main card. Oh, it's the Gasolm fight, yeah. Gaslim, yeah, it was Gaslim. I think we all try to erase from my memory. Actually, now that I think about that,

it wasn't that bad, but Patchy Mix v. Jakub should open the main card. That should open the main card. Yeah. That's what I would do. That's a high-stakes fight. Like, of all the fights on the card outside of the title fights, It's like patchy mix needs to win this fight. Like he has to win it.

He can't lose. He truly cannot lose this fight. That's a tough freaking fight. It is a super tough fight. That's a tough fight that fans aren't going to, you know, really the casuals would not really understand it. What a tough fight that is for Apache. It's a very tough fight. It's like this is a nightmare for patchy mix if we're being honest.

Like that just shows like how do you have. UFC views you right now. Like, hard for. I love this fight, though. It's so freaking big. I love the fight. But if that she does lose, it's just one point out. I'm a big patchy fan.

I believe in him still. Marob also lost his first two UFC fights, which I'm just saying. Maraub also wasn't in his third, in his mid-third. La-la-la-la-la-la. You and your details and facts. I know. I got that. That's what makes that fight so interesting, though.

was like patchy cannot lose it he can't they will just boot him i think i think it's really in that it's really that type of importance he can't i think he can lose but he can't lose in the same way he lost the batista where he just just looked off you know he just didn't look like a guy that is an elite bantan way and i'll get night i he just did it that night like uh but uh i hope he I hope his approach to this fight is much different than the Mario Batista fight where it's like, yeah, this guy sucks. He's a journeyman. I'm going to run his ass over and then go fight for the belt. And then he loses.

And it's like, well, I took this fight on short notice. Give me a break. Yeah, it's one of those things. I get these guys, they're kind of told by the UFC, sell the fight, sell the fight. So sometimes they say stupid stuff that they shouldn't. But I'm not sure. Um, patchy just train hard,

get your weight down. No, and just go out there. Shut people up. Yeah, don't, don't say anything we just don't, yeah,

don't say that stupid stuff. I'm going to make a hot, I'm going to have a little bit of a hot take right now. Oh. I think Patchy loses that fight. But it's going to be one of the, that is going to, this fight might be,

I don't know if it's going to be on the same level as Armand Sarukin versus Batush Kamrat, but it's got to, to be like that. There'll be similarities where it's like one of my favorite fights of the year. And I will go back and like rewatch that one as much as possible. So I got that that kind of vibe to this one. I dig it. I dig it. Thank you, Spencer. Thank you for the super chats. I got some more coming in. One more from Spencer. Forgot that I have to mention how impressed I am with your prop bet performance. Mike Borissac, Boober got 50-40 forward. Yeah, baby.

Thank you, Spencer. Oh, 10 pound? What is this? I think he's 10 pound. Oh, prop quiz. Prop quiz. That's what it was. I was thinking about it.

Maybe it was just my bet on Hamzada or the fans thing. But yes, we, I appear. Our guy, Long Island, Luke, who was on BTL. We did like a little full circle thing. He hosts a game show called Prop Quiz, which is like a Jeopardy themed sort of like MMA trivia game. And it was me versus Jed in the second episode of the program, I believe was Luke Thomas versus Brian Campbell in the first one. And Jed and I battled it out.

And as Spencer lays out in MMA terminology, I don't think it was a 5044. I think it was like a 5041. Ooh. Yeah, and it could have been better too. Tenate. Was it dominant, duration, everything? damage, everything. Sure.

Oh, yeah. All the things. Even like point deductions. Wow. Just climb the fence, kicking you up the nuts. Yeah. I have some regrets. I have some regrets.

There's some decisions I made in that show that I wish I could go back and redo. I wish I might with my gut a little more on some of the questions I got wrong. And then like I also like was a little confused by the rules, which I shouldn't have been. And then like the final, the final round. I should just went all in and I would have like the greatest point total in the history of the show, which I do now, but it would have been way higher and almost impossible to catch. But it is what it is. I had a good time. And Jed did not. That's how that matters. I mean, he had fun, but he was he was like this the whole time just looking up at climbing the mountain planting the victory flag. Thank you, Spencer.

Coffee buddy. Let's go. Yes. Needed it today. Needed a little sugar in the coffee today. Thank you. MMA fanatic, superchats. Did Ortega just fight his last UFC fight? I think so, man. I think so. Whoa. I don't know how you could keep him around.

I just don't know how you can do it. Is this name like that valuable at this point? You just signed a $7.7 billion dollar streaming deal. Do you need to have Ryan Ortega on the roster? has he caused more harm than good over the last few years? I say yes. He's had like some interesting moments

like the Volkadovsky title fight was great. That was like one of the best fights in a long time. But like the constant weight misses, the unprofessionalism. And then like him showing up and just like laying such an egg tonight. Like I just don't see how you could keep him around at this point. Like go.

as I say in the pro wrestling world, go find another hold and if it works, maybe you come back, but look at Kyle Dawkins, Jesus Christ. Kyle Doccus, like, left, went on the scene, had some success, came back and it was just like, yeah,

now I know how to do this. Like, Brian made me a little past that, but I just don't see any reason to keep him around. Like, I don't want to see anybody lose their job, but like at this point, like, what are we doing here? What, where is the value? to me, I think you absolutely keep him around

because his value is he's Brian Ortega. He's a guy that's fought for the title twice. He's been a high-ranked featherweight. And now as a promoter, you use that name to build up your other guys. Other guys coming up. So that's what I think the problem is... How do you build up guys that lightweight? That's the issue.

I don't know. I don't know. I think there's some fun fights out there. I don't know. I mean, we did that. We didn't do that, though. We gave him Diego Lopez and Lopez just murdered. But that's a fight that mattered.

I'm talking if he goes 55 and just have like, I don't know, just build up. I don't know. Brian Ortega versus Chase Hooper is stupid fight. I want to see it. I don't know. You know what? If the UFC makes Brian Ortega versus Chase Hooper, I'm in. Okay.

I'm in. But what if Chase just like Chase is all over him? That's great. The Chase Hooper's back, baby. Then you have to cut bay, right? No, they need to Brian Ortega versus

Jordan Lovett. What's the same? Oh my freaking God, dude. The guy's making like six fingers a fight. And we're just going to chuck them in there and like... That's why the UFC has so much money now.

They just love giving money away. They love making their fighters wealthy. So this is a great part. You're all right, you're right. Takega's done. Yeah, he's done. Yeah. All right.

I don't know. Actually, you know what? Give him Mick Tebeck Oral by, and if he wins that fight, he could stick around. Oh, no, Tofique Messiah. Give Tovique. Oh. Or, uh, what's his face? I don't know why I whispered Tovique Messiah, but I was like, ooh. Oh, what's his face?

Why? So early in the morning. What does this name? Who's the dude that Chris Duncan just beat? Super fun guy. How? I'm so mad to myself. Was it?

What did he? Fight of the. Air, Batush Retsky, damn it. Rebetsky. Yeah, it's either Rebetsky or Oralbi. Like, that's it. One of those two dudes and... Dude, the UFC kept Arlowski around for like 10 extra fights and he was getting paid

at probably, I'm sure more than Or even Ortega was. They, they... But he also left and came back. He left, found a new hold, and then they brought him back. I don't, I don't need all these facts from you, okay? He was gone for a while. And then they're just like, what? Andre Oloski's back.

Like, just think of the shock value, like three years from now when Brian Ortega is back in the UFC. Like, I don't know. I'm saying Brian, he's got one more fight at 55. He's got one more fight at 55. That's all. All right. Thank you, fanatic. A couple of more super chats.

We agree. Crosby had plus 5,000 par loss on himself. Hey. I don't know, man. He should. Oh, we didn't talk about that. I think we mentioned it briefly, but, uh, um, I didn't think we're getting for Crosby question.

Uh, I mean, that was like a weird moment, but. The Crosby earned himself another fight in the UFC by not taking that DQ. I think he did. I don't know. I mean, he's had three fights already in the UFC. So like what's maybe, maybe that earned him like the final. final fight on his deal to like let him go out there and get finished because that's going to happen like he's going to want to get finished um maybe yeah I guess I'll say yes but I don't know

I think that's just like part of the equation because he gets got real good so and that doesn't hurt either yeah no yeah you know he'll probably get one more he'll probably get one more fight good on him Maybe not so good on his brain cells, but good on him. Yeah. It'll be some card outside of the United States against a fighter from the region that is hosting said card, who is an absolute finisher that no one knows about. And you just throw them in there with Kiefer Krosby.

And there you have it. But Kiefer Krosby absolutely should have taken the DQ at the end of the day. Like one billion percent should have taken the DQ. Yeah, that knee hit. That was. That was nasty. That was nasty. He took 45 seconds.

It was like, yeah, I'm back. I'll fight. The referee really didn't give him an option. Once the doctor came in and said like, ah, you can still see. And the ref was like, all right, let's fight. Like, I guess we're going. I mean, use your words, Kiefer.

Like, take the five minutes. Like, shake the cobwebs out. I forget to keep fighting. But like, I do as soon as he was like, yeah, I'll keep. going. I'm like, oh, God, he's about to get, he's about to get smashed. Dude, and Naraji came, is it Naraji? How did he say his name? Neuraji? Something like that. Yeah. Okay. We're going to, yeah. Dude, that kid looked like a killer. I'm not, I don't know how,

I don't know how high he's going, but he looks like he's definitely U of C caliber. He looks very exciting. So, and those, those elbows, he was like jumping down on him with those elbows. It was, it was like, Jesus, dude. And like, Crosby was blocking them, but like, it was just a point that he was just coming down so hard with those elbows. Like, the ref just had to stop it. Yeah. It was just, uh, it was. But that is the value, like, and that is the value of a key for Crosby because he will make, he will make this, this kid's 24 years old.

24. He's 24 years old. His lone losses to a guy who had like 30 something professional fights. And yeah. like that's how he he crossy put him over and made him look like a future champion today and that's like there is value on that but

I just don't know how much how much more punishments one man can take you know yeah yeah I don't know why he didn't take the DQ take that I get the extra money son get that win bonus but I'm not him uh thank you chas um Alexander Hurst I don't know.

I mean, what are we talking about here? Yeah. What are we talking about here? I mean, I know both of them very well, and I would say neither is like, I would never, I would never just be like, yeah, those guys, that guy's an asshole. Who can be? Who can be? Yeah. I don't know.

See, it's tough. I enjoy both their companies, so I haven't seen it, but I could see like, but I could also see myself being perceived that way as well. Like when I get into like full stubborn mode, I can certainly come off as an asshole. So I don't know. That'd be good poll. That'd be a good poll. Really got me thinking this morning. Thanks to everyone.

Yeah, it's too. It's too. Dude, I've been up for like eight hours. Like, I can't, this is, let's go back to the Algebra and Sterling, where do we rank him all time if he wins a featherweight title. That's like less deep than this. All right. And last super chat. All right.

Great venue. When will the UFC return to Shanghai? This feels like one of those questions. Like at the last, like, after 20 minutes of Dana, then we're like, Dana, when do you come back to Shanghai? I don't even think you showed up to the press conference. I don't think there was a press conference. Wow. I mean, I don't know for sure, but it just kind of seems that way.

Well, if it was all Chinese media out there, yeah, I don't know how interested they are. Unless they brought some of the Chinese fighters at loss, like if Zhang came out and talked to them. But I would expect UFC come to Shanghai. I don't know, once every other year, probably. I mean, they'll be back in China next year. I don't know if it'll be, I don't know if it'll be Shanghai.

Maybe it will be. Maybe Macau again. I don't know. Who is willing to, who is willing, which tourism board is willing to pay more? That's who we'll get them. So yeah,

it was a good crowd. Hopefully they give Zhang Wei Lee a flyweight title shot. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if that's what they're doing, but I think you kind of, especially with this new paramount deal coming up like let's give give ESPN like one little bone and just give Zhang like a flyaway title shot before we turn the page there and if Zhang wins

I'm telling you right now if Zhang if they do book that fight and Zhang wins the flyway title if she is not headlining a card in China a pay-per-view if they're not bringing a pay-per-view there with her as the main event like what the fuck are we doing here seriously if we had it Have they ever been paper views in China? I know they've got a big fight nights. Am I forgetting? Where am I forgetting? I don't remember.

I don't remember. Did they ever do a paper in China? I don't know. Actually, I don't think so. I don't think so. Singapore is like, I think Singapore is like the closest thing to it. Yeah. They've had title fights in China, but they've been fighting.

Yeah. But not actual paper. I don't think it's been a pay-per-view. Maybe I'm wrong. They'll be wrong. Yeah. And. Like they had the chance to,

Zhang versus John John John. They didn't do it. Yeah. Oh, such a lover. They did a UFC 300 instead, which, you know, cool for UFC 300, but, you know, maybe we could have done an event in China and had that fight. But we shall see. Do we have anything else?

Are we done? I think we're almost done before we get out, though. I just want to give a shout out and a big congratulations to all my teammates who fought last night at LFA, which you can watch on UFC Fight Pass, my teammates went 4 and O with four finishes. So it was an amazing night to watch all my teammates who regularly kick my ass in the gym, do the same exact thing, but more violently and made some money. So congratulations, CMMA.

Congratulations Eric Visconde. Congratulations to Roman Puga. Congratulations to Mari Piccolo. Congratulations to Rafael Militia. for amazing performances. So my little personal shout out to my friends who did amazing things last night. Congrats to them. And congrats to us all because something I just realized, I know I thought of this internally,

but now I really got a chance to look at it. We do not have a UFC Apex event until November. This is very exciting stuff. We're in Paris in two weeks. Uh, misfits boxing is next week. That's Luke Rockle, Darren Till, and Tony Ferguson Salt Poppy. Um, we're going to be there. So be excited.

Oh, wait, real quick, real quick. We didn't talk about this at all. A lot of, we got a lot of questions about it. What do you think about Herb Dean and that, uh, was it the fourth round or something? When, uh, Alja got rocked and giving in the timidity, uh, warning. That was, that was a super weird fight. Cause that in the fifth, I think fifth round. Yeah.

Sterling cracked Ortega earlier in the fight too and hurt him and Ortega complained about an eye poke and it clearly wasn't and Herb Dean was just like yeah man I don't know why you're calling for a stoppage when you didn't get poked in the eye and then didn't resume the action I was like what is happening right now and then that whole thing happened

it seemed like Herb Dean was kind of on one today even like when Aljo got takedowns it was just 10 seconds into the takedown and top control work work algebra algebra was on one a little more aggressive maybe he's just trying to maybe this is like the the downfall of the mark goddard thing because people are still pissed off about mark goddard standing up hamzat and ddp herb defended mark and if you actually like look at the rule mark otter is actually right and doing the stand-ups so I'm the rule of evidence interpretation.

So I mean, oh, yeah, because I guess everything is like, again, it's just like when you judge. Referey's discretion. Referey's discretion. Well, damage is the number one priority. And then like in positional exchanges on the ground, it's like if you're not trying to finish, they can stand it up. Well, how do you know if they're not trying to finish? So yeah, that is that is the referee's discretion. But yeah, pretty, pretty wild.

Herb was on one. Maybe that's the thing. We got Mark Goddard taking two points away from a fighter, like immediately. And then, of course, Keeper Krazby got knocked out seconds later. But yeah, maybe this is a sign of things to come. Some more aggressive refereeing. Yes, so Paris in two weeks for Imovaugh-Bahalio, big fight. Then it's Doche UFC, Diego Lopez versus John Silva, the following week.

That's an earlier card, I believe. Oh, it is? I think it's a three-sixer. I think it's a three-sixer. Paris is a noon Paris is like a nine nooner or a noon threeer something like that

and then San Antonio's a little earlier Perth's a little earlier maybe it's a six I don't know still earlier and then it's UFC 320 and then it's Rio with Oliver and Fiziv and then it's Vancouver

with RDR versus Fluffy Hernandez and then it's 321 in Abu Dhabi and then finally November 1st, all hail the world's most famous Apex, the triumphant return before we start talking MSG and the rest of the November slate. So hit the music. Is there a main event for the Apex card? Great question. Let me check.

As right now, no. No. Let's see what this looks like right now. So far, there's two fights on the bill. Isaac Dolgarian versus Yadir Davali. and this could this could absolutely be the beta event.

Kettlyn Vieira versus Norbert Dumont. It would not shock me at all if they made that the main event. Ranking wise, it makes sense. But yeah. Sure does. But can you imagine the reaction to that?

But that's November 1st. We're so far away from that. We're not even in September yet officially. So, yes, UFC Shanghai in the books. Congratulations to Johnny Walker. Congratulations to Health me and Sterling and all the big winners.

And congratulations to all of you for wake it up early and battling through this whole entire thing. So thank you very much. Jed will join me on for the next one tomorrow. We'll do some matchmaking following this card. We'll be a pretty simple and short episode. And then it's on to Mr.

boxing and on to UFC Paris for the following week. Casey, I, Mike, I appreciate you. Have a great rest of your Saturday. The whole damn day. Appreciate you. You're listening. to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

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