MMA Fighting - UFC Vegas 100 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Carlos Prates Sleeping Neil Magny In Main Event

Episode Date: November 10, 2024

Carlos Prates has had one of the best first year's you'll see from a UFC fighter, as he improved his record to 4-0 with four finishes, four post-fight bonuses, and now a main event win over a top-15 fighter in Neil Magny at UFC Vegas 100. Where does the exciting welterweight contender go from the biggest win of his career? Following Saturday's UFC Fight Night event at the APEX, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to Prates' face-plant knockout of Magny in the first round, discuss Prates' ceiling in the division, and who he could face next after callouts of Jack Della Maddalena and Geoff Neal. Additionally, topics include Reinier de Ridder's successful UFC debut against Gerald Meerschaert, why the middleweight co-main event was the best bout on the card, other standout showings from the finish-heavy event, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. No victory horn tonight, but those are the victory drums. The victory drums from the... The victory bongo? The victory percussion. As UFC Vegas 100 has come to an end, and boy, did it end in a violent way, Carlos Bratis, locking up the MMA fighting rookie of the year,

locking up everybody else's breakout, breakthrough fighter of the year, break anything fighter of the year, should be Carlos Bratzis. He fac-planted KOs, Neil Magny, in the main event of UFC Vegas 100, the final apex event of 2024. And history was made and was done so on a historic night at the world's most famous apex. Welcome to the UFC Vegas 100 post-fight show. I am Mike Eckack. That is the big booper himself. Jed Mishu is a huge fan of not only Carlos Pratchez, not only RDR, Rainier de Ritter, but Mike Bobo as well.

Are you not? No, no, I'm not. I was in such a good mood, too. I was thinking about bongos. I don't know if you guys out there, out there in viewer land. I didn't own one because I didn't own a video game console until I went to college. But I have friends who had like the GameCube Donkey Kong game where you played the bongos. I was just thinking about that with the victory bongos.

because the victory bongos are dope. And you know who else is dope, Mike? Not Mike Bobo. It's Carlos Prattis. That dude rocks. And also my boy, the Dutch Knight rocks as well, but mostly Carlos Prattis rocks. I can't wait to talk about the Dutch Knight. I truly cannot wait.

Because I have thoughts. I have takes. And you may like what I have to say. And maybe the community will like what I have to say. But let's talk about Carlos Pratchez, because, Good God, man. Loris Sanko actually lined this up beautifully because when you just saw the moment

where college Pratt was like, all right, I got him. Because Neil Magni tried to Neil Magny this thing. And that was his only chance to win this fight was to Neil Magny this thing, which was to hold him up against the fence and just wear him out. And you could even see when Magny went for that first takedown, Pratch just got top position.

Even when Carlos was trying to stand up, Neil's like, nope, brought him right back down. and then Sanko called it perfectly. It was just like, oh, he's starting to move forward now. He's starting to feel it. This one's about to be a rap. And boy, was it. Once he started going downhill, Neil was in trouble.

It was like a slap to the ear that dropped Magni real bad, hurt him real bad. And then eventually the face plant, K.O. happens. And you actually had to see the replay to see how it all transpired. It was just friggin wild. 4-0, four finishes, Jed. now a main event, a win over Neil Magni, and a ranking come Tuesday. Don't get much better than that for a rookie season.

Does it not? Holy shit. Plus, I mean, a little, this is slightly prescriptive. Prior to this, three performance bonuses, I got to tell you. I mean, I know there's a lot of opportunity for performance bonuses tonight. I'll be pretty surprised the process doesn't leave with one as well. So an extra 200K for a year's worth of work, good callout, terrific mic work. Like this dude honestly has come out of almost nowhere to just be electric.

Like he is not going to be one of the top 10 stories of the year because that's really not how this sport works. But this, he is one of the top, you know, deep cut hardcore fan stories is like, man, cause products has been incredibly fun guy to watch compete this year and this is you know this is the definition of a breakout year when we we used to do that award i think we should bring it back personally but we you know this is breaking out where he went from almost entire obscurity to putting on performances getting a ranking headlining an event and becoming like very popular because i got to tell you uh obviously i am a trendsetter in the sport I have initiated the Gaslight John Jones movement,

and there are dozens of us worldwide out here working on gaslighting John Jones into not being a chicken. Many, many other things. I'm about to put all of my promotional heft behind Callers Protest because the dude is fun and funny as hell. And I just, I enjoy him dearly. I love watching him fight. I love just like when he decided the fight was over tonight, Mike. You talked about it. He just was like, okay, I'm,

I'm done with your Tom foolery, Neil Magni. I am going to kill you now and did it. This guy rules and he's had a hell of the 2024. Yeah. And shout out to Magny too because we talked about this on the preview show. The dude just don't care. He'll just fight whoever. He'll fight the toughest guys in this division.

Time after time after time. We went over his resume on the preview show yesterday. And if you haven't seen it, go to his topology page and just look at his last like seven years of fights, all this the toughest dudes possible and he gets another one here protest on the mic he even told our own giamre cruz heading into this fight i want jdm that's the fight i want i want to go over to australia and fight jack delamadalena and then i think he had this is like i want to go to harvard but i'm also going to apply to you know some other very good school but it's not harvard had a backup plan had a backup

school in Jeff Neal, which I thought was a great call out as well. I think both of those fights makes sense. I think he is a better shot of getting Jeff Neal than he does Jack Delam, Adelana. In fact, I'm probably leaning Jeff Neal for onto the next one, especially since Jeff Neal just had a fight with Jopioldosos that did not last very long. So both these guys are pretty fresh. Could return pretty quick in 2025. Any of those two names, the ones you would match him up with or do you have somebody else in mind? So here's the thing, Mike, because I loved your analogy.

That is like applying to Harvard as a reach school, but it's like applying to Harvard where you could get in. This is burning 50 bucks and like duckles, you know, I'm firing into Harvard. This is like, you know, maybe my SATs not quite where it needs to be, but I got a billion extracurriculars. I'm valedictorian. I have things going for me and maybe Harvard will,

will take a chance on me and I get to be a Harvard guy because that fight could happen. And I got to tell you, it is a fight I have never once thought of until it left his mouth. And the only thing I thought of after was, bangor, just bangor. Like, do it. I know it wouldn't make a ton of sense for JDM. And so I think that that will probably be what blocks this. But at the same time, what else is Jack Della doing right now? Jack Della's kind of a dude who wants to scrap.

I assume he wants to scrap in Australia. and with the way, frankly, Walter Waite has broken right now for him. He's sort of the last dog at the bowl. Like, we are, well, I don't want to speak for everybody. I am assuming Kamar Usman is going to fight Shafkat Rakmanov. We know that Ian Machado, Gary is taking on Joaquin Buckley. Gilbert Burns has lost a whole bunch, and we just did that. Like, it's either going to be Sean Brady, which is certainly a better number,

but I gotta tell you, it seems like a much worse fight for Jack Della, or he can come out and say, F it, I'll give the boy a crack, let's go. Let's do it in Australia. Let's have a rip. And I think it would be a wise decision for Jack Della to accept the fight. Not that I think it's a great fight for him. Like, Carlos Pontus is mean, mother effort, dude.

I just think that fight is a banger. And that accepting that fight, to me, with the heat, the momentum behind this guy is better than saying, yeah, let me fight Sean Brady in a fight that I guarantee you is not going to be winning fight of the night. That just ain't going to be

how that fight goes down one way or the other. So I think he has a realistic shot for it. Like I said, I never would have thought of that matchup beforehand because Prattis, that feels like there's a layer between them to frankly to what Prattis said himself. It's like, yeah, man, like he might not take it his high up.

I'll do Jeff Neal. I think Jeff Neal is a great. backup option school. I, you know, Wonderboy actually is one I would be really interested to see, but sort of given where Wonderboy's career is right now, I don't think calling him out would have been smart. And so Jeff Neal makes sense. Like, like I said, this was a note perfect performance from the dude.

Like, he did everything. And yes, people will point out he was a massive betting favorite. That is true. I don't know if you guys know this. Call his project has no control over the betting lines. He does not set them. he is truly has no influence on them other than being a dope-ass dude who throws hammers. And he did exactly what he was supposed to do as a big favorite, did great work on the might.

I love him to death. And let's call this protest forever, baby. Let's go. There's just a lot to like there. Another name JDM could fight is Colby Covington, who Colby mentioned him by name and didn't run him down, put him over as like a really good fighter and didn't have like a bad thing to say about him, which I don't remember the last time Colby's done that with anybody in this division or in other divisions. So JDM's got options, proches versus anybody is good. And I kind of

like going from Neil Magny to Jeff Neal for Carlos because you beat Neil Magne, you've proven you're a top 15 guy. You beat Jeff Neal. You're a top 10 dude beyond the shadow of a doubt. And that's just kind of the test you have to take. Look at what Shofcott did. did exactly the same thing went from neil magney then be jeff neil then got wonder boy now he's fighting for some sort of title and what a what a friggin year this guy has had before we move on to what i'm really excited to talk about which is the co-main event who has the higher ceiling right now carlos prattis or michael morales oh michael morales still has the higher ceiling um if we're talking long term he's much younger and and that is the big knock on carlos protest i like i said

I love this guy to death. When I did my container series breakdown on 2023, I had him not as a top tier prospect because he's old because he had an extensive moitai career. And historically, that's really bad to be in your 30s when you're like still a prospect. And it only works out if you're like in the higher weight classes usually just because they're bad. You can develop slowly and it won't matter with timelines. And also like they're just bad. So sometimes you can just.

sort of fast track in, look at where Alex Pereira has done since joining the OSEs by being very old, relatively at the time he joined the promotion. Michael Morales is still a young man, still extremely talented. I think he's like 27, 28. Look it up. I could be wrong. But Prozaz, like, I mean, he said himself, he's all hundreds of kick of Muay fights. Like, he's awesome. And I'm not, he's not going to fall off soon. But unless he continues, use this unbelievable pace just barnstorming up the weight class to become champion. This is where things start to get tough. This is in most weight classes, but particularly the good ones like Walterweight,

lightweight, featherweight, phantom weight. This is where the road gets tougher. Because unless you can get a leapfrog opportunity to a Jack Della like that, then it's like, okay, you beat Jeff Neal. Well, who do you get after Jeff Neal? Maybe it's one guy, maybe it's Ian Machado Gary who just lost a walking buckley. And you're just starting to move up the ranks one at a time. The footing gets more difficult, the higher the terrain you go.

And so it's just harder to say a dude with as little MMA experience as he has relatively. I would still favor Morales if you're just like, who's going to have the long term better career? But if we're talking about the next couple of years, give me call this protest all day. Yeah. I mean, you're going to keep fighting every three months and putting on performances like that. he could climb the ladder very, very quickly. What a win for him. And he's got to be one of the fighters to watch, I would say, in the entire company heading into 2025 after this performance on the rest of the year.

Michael Morales is 25. So I am for sure picking him that he's 25. Yes. And he's also dope as hell. Yeah. It's make no mistake. Those two guys are going to fight each other someday. It's gonna be fun as hell to watch

Dude, they booked that next I don't care, that's fine I know the UFC doesn't generally want to run their toys The new toys against each other in that fashion But again, the texture of welterweight where it exists They don't have any shortage of guys to fight for the belt right now So if you just wanted to say, F it, let's book them and just have carnage, sign me up

Man, they just chuck Rebetschke and Oralbigh in there together So it's they do it a lot more in the better weight classes because they already, they have, they don't have to cultivate a title challenger. Like, they don't need to get one. It's just like, I don't know, whoever makes it through this fucking wood chipper, that's the guy who gets the fight with the belt.

Speaking of wood chippers, RDR is 1 and 0 in the UFC. That fight, that fight with Gerald Beirchart was incredible. It was so fun. It's just. Everything I wanted. Oh, yeah.

Everything I wanted in that fight. it was like Olympic gold medalists trying to run in quicksand it was so funny and just the best and they both neutralized each other and then it just got super weird and then eventually the fight got stopped in the third round and ended with rd rd rd ralding gerald meershard's hand for like 20 seconds while he's trying to catch his breath and he's like oh yeah i won thanks gerald and then he has the post-fight interview and didn't know what Madison Square Garden was and neither did Michael Bisbing.

So everything about it was weird and crazy and fun. Jed, this is your guy. You've been waiting forever for this moment. Rainier-Durritter in the UFC Middleweight Division beats Gerald Beershart. And it's a thing that has happened, Jed. What is your reaction to what we saw in this co-main event? It was awesome.

This was everything I wanted from this fight. It delivered, like, exactly when they booked it. I was like, yeah, yeah, let's do this. Because, and it, something crystallized for me in this fight, Mike. And so a bunch, because I have a brand. People know I've been on this guy. I believe, I legitimately believe I'm the guy who first introduced him into our rankings and advocated heartily for him or whatever.

Like, I have a brand. And so people were hitting me like, this guy sucks or like, blah. And then a lot of people said this. same thing, which kind of struck me as I was watching this fight. I think the reason I like him as much as I do is I'm not here to tell he's the best fighter in the world. He's not. I do think he's probably top 15 middleweight because the division is relatively bad.

And he does have a really good set of skills or skill, which is an important weapon to have in a bad weight class. But the reason I think I just fell in love with him is he is he is bizarre. DDP. He is Wario DDP whatever that is WDDP because he is also

herky jerky and kind of clumsy and awkward as hell and weird but instead of being like a physical hoss and a dude who hits real hard he's just a horrifically bad striker but like has a kind of crafty clever fun grappling game

he rules that fight was so silly and so fun. And Mike, I gotta pitch this to you. We talked a little bit about it off air, not this specifically. And, you know, obviously this needs full credence from one Alexander K. Lee, but I would like to throw this out there. I would like

to submit to the panel for approval on tomorrow's Otno that we crown RDR, Hennead to Hidder, as the middle weighty, middleweight champion of the world. Because I think in one fight in the UFC. He proved it without a doubt to me. He's the best. And I love him dearly as well.

So I love AK, but he's not here. So I'm going to go ahead and just make this decision for him. And I'll pitch this to him as well. And if he wants to chime in there and give his stamp approval, that's fine. But after watching this fight, the litmus, the line, the bar was set for years by Christop Jotko. Jock was the reason that this belt was created. And he just would middleweight his way to wins. He, I think at one point he had like a five or six-byte win streak. And I believe it stopped it. The best. It was stopped by Gerald Beershardt, I believe. And then he was, and then it was Brendan Allen who ended up beating him and stopping him.

And then we're like, Brennan Allen's a middle-weighty, middleweight champ. And then middleweight just got real fun. And people were just like, nah, Brennan Allen can't be the middle-weighty, middleweight champ. So we just kind of like dissolved the belt. Jocko is number two on the list now. RDR is the greatest middleweighty, middleweight champ there ever was. He is the Demetrius Johnson of middleweighty, middleweight and Christop Jotko is Alexandra Pantosia.

Great, but so far away from what RDR is, it's unbelievable. RDR will be the middleweight, middleweight championship goat for the rest of time, and I might just retire the belt on his shoulder because no one will be better. No one will be better. Plus, I genuinely feel like beating Gerald Mearshardt. Like that feels like a vacant title fight, right? Like certainly watching it, I was like, this is for the middle weighty bell right here. These boys are doing it in the silliest way.

And again, it was like, it was silly fun. It was very silly and it was very fun. And a lot of people were like, I'd never seen this guy fight. You told me he was good. I said that he was one of the better middle weights I never said he was good It's a trash ass weight class And he's fun

Because he is He is objectively A kind of goonish dude to watch And it rocks I don't know where he Like out of all the fighters That I have to choose for Otna RDR is like by far the toughest

I have no idea what to do with this man Because I don't want him to fight anybody in the top 15 because he will lose to every single fighter in the top 15. So I don't. You know it in your heart. What is it? It's Michelle Paheta. Oh, no.

Domolidor RDR. Let's get real silly with it. Come on. God, Michelle Pereira, Sharbollah is fun. It would be so silly. That's, okay. That's good. Yeah, that might be, that might be it.

I got to be really clear. We're not trying to put him into, he has a belt. We're not trying to get him to rise up the rankings. He has a belt. And I want to do the silliest fights I can. If we can get a Paul Craig matchup, I'm also super in on that. But Paul Craig, Tomolador, I want us to get real, real wily with it. Yeah, like Bruno Ferreira, like just crazy shit.

Him but had an alpha viera would be fun. like there's him and Dustin Stoltzviss would be incredible theater shouts to Stoltzvist yeah shouts to Stoltzvus there's so many there's so many

this guy should be employed forever just like Disco Tadorovic there's always a spot on the roster for Dusko Tudorovich but Ooh Seattle Ryan with the Robocop don't hate that one either

don't hate that one either there are a lot of very silly people in middleweight to match him up with and we should do all of those i saw some people i had a lot of people suggest already for onto the national i saw people on twitter immediately throw him in there with anthony hernandez no don't do that already are he he anthony herndandez will steamroll that guy it's just we we want him to be and it would be fun for a few minutes but eventually anthony hernandez is just going to it's just going to steamroll him so we can't do that we want rd are to be fun from minute one to minute 15 no 25 minute

fights are already are minute one to minute 15 and i think all the other names we mentioned is is is exactly the way to go yeah uh that's is it's gonna be so much freaking fun and i want to be really clear shout out to the man's post fight interview as well because that rocked too come just coming in and me like yeah you know i gerald mearsar to gerald mearshaar being his first line on an official inside the cage UFC microphone. It's like way to go buddy. And then then the like, I don't know what's it called. I just bisp being in bishops,

I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, Madison Square Garden. Yeah, like, I saw on my way home to Holland or wherever to the, to the Netherlands. So let me know. But like, do it soon because I'm going to be drunk in a couple of hours. It's just freaking rocks, man. It's like, yeah, I'll fight next week if you need me to.

I know you got some middleweight if something happens but like hit me up real fast about it because I'm gonna go party like that again this is why I love both of these two gentlemen because they don't take this shit too serious

like Carlos Prontas is ripping heaters just like just should be like is the Marlboro man he like I said on the preview show he's a Jean Charles Scarbowski just like just an old knock more who riffs sigs just get to hammered because he has a bunch of like interviews like, yeah,

I'm just going to go party after I won on his other fights. There's parties his ass off and kills people. And RDR's like, yeah, I don't know. I'll fight next week. But I'm going to get drunk because I just won. Let's have fun. They're great, great, silly, wonderful people.

Yeah. DDP's DDP and RDR is like PPD. He's just the complete opposite, the complete backwards. But in the, but in the same fun way that we could all just adore for the rest of time. time. I'm quickly coming to the point where I think I actually need DDP to lose the belt. I like him having the belt because it's fun, but there are a lot of matchups that he will never get to fight unless he drops the belt. Because these dudes aren't going to get to that position, but I need to see him fight to Molidor.

I need to see him fight RDR. Like I need these silly things to happen and they can't happen unless he drops the belt. So I may be rooting for whoever, you know, Hamzot or whatever. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister.

This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for every? Everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting.

Winners, find fabulous for less. We also got a win from Gaston Bologios. That was a fun fight. Gillian Robertson gets the win, doesn't get a finish. I thought she was one of the surest picks of the night to get a finish, but didn't happen. Luana Pinero fought her ass off. Good for her. Mansar Abdul Malik might be the most violent man of the night.

That includes Carlos Prattis. that dude every time he landed anything it was just like ooh that's that's scary man this guy's real good and I know he was he was one of your top guys from the contender series wasn't he he was a first round pick this year on contender series I broke them into as if I was doing NFL draft boards as I do I follow that a lot it just seemed easier to do it that way and I had a couple of people I thought were blue chip prospects guys who basically I am staking as guaranteed to have long productive UFC careers, very high caliber.

And realm ones are just good bets to be due to get themselves to a ranking, just at least be a memorable fighter. He is very raw. I think this was his seventh career fight. Maybe it was his eighth. And so like, there's a lot to work on. But that dude packs a punch.

And it was gnarly. Like, yeah, he was supposed to kill Dusco and he did good for him. But the like standing over top of Dusko, as he keeps trying these leg entanglement and just like ruthlessly hitting him down. Like he's operating a jackhammer in the middle of a crowded street.

So we're just, pa, pa, pa, beating the soul out of this man before finally getting the finish in the way that it did. Yeah, that dude,

he needs a lot of work still. But he's, you can't, you can't run him the Carlos protest game plan of let's just fire him out there. But he keeps developing. He's obviously with a very good team.

uh guy guy can make some freaking waves yeah he is he's got a lot of natural talent and he's powerful and dude he's just freaking mean in there so and you're right he's got eric nicknick and all those guys are at extreme couture he's he's gonna be something special i think so good performance from him definitely somebody we're will be excited to watch uh denisi gomes beats carolina kovlovakavich alizu zaleski just i mean he knocked out zasas out zasasas scrogan and 75 seconds i didn't actually see that one yeah Zach um yeah probably isn't ufc level i mean i know it was he came in on short notice or whatever so yeah yeah but i mean it just it wasn't good maybe he was they was there just to get slaughtered and that's kind of what

happened uh charles rakey knocks out matthew semelsberger in 51 seconds damon blackshare stings cody statement and then taps him cody stamen downfall is is pretty wild trachon gore with another standing that's it for cody's statement in the ufc i think so as well uh trachian goreth another standing guillotine armin show pretty nasty uh one of those submissions from michael bizbiz and they're like oh no the this isn't good and then he gets the tap kind of one of those things and then uh melissa mullins missed weight but got a second round tk o that was ufc vegas one hundred professional fighting right there Sure is.

We are still waiting on bonuses. This is genuinely, I mean, they should do it for all of these. It's very dumb to have win bonuses. You should just have finished bonuses. I get, I do not understand the argument against it,

but whatever. But this should absolutely come on and be like, we're giving everybody you've got to finish a bonus. No fight of the night. Everybody you got to finish gets a bonus tonight. Boom. So, uh,

five, six, seven, eight bonuses. It's fine. Yeah. Well, most of all of those go on.

So, oh yeah, seven, because she didn't give, when she missed wait. So seven bonuses. All of them are fine. Like RDR doesn't necessarily need one.

But, you know, what are you going to do? Six bonuses? That's weird. Yeah. Shout out to Sledo. Shout out to Bobby.

Turned up to be a fun card. Yes, it was. It was. Look, that's what you get when you have massive favorite matchmaking. Sometimes the favorites just annihilate

the people they're supposed to. And that's okay. It's fine. Paul. biggie to Paul Dominic, DeMarco, Pratchez was just put in the UFC 5 game and has full violence t-shirts coming out next week.

Great week. One of the best first years in UFC history. And on top, I mentioned this before, I think on the preview show, but maybe it was somewhere else if it wasn't. Yes, he is going to be our rookie of the year almost. I cannot imagine him not being rookie of the year now

at this point in time. Unbelievably rookie year, he is absolutely making the all-violence team this year as well. Also, his teammate, John Silva, also 3-0, three performance bonus, three finishes. Fighting nerds has had a fucking year. This has been, and the gimmick, everybody who's rocking the glasses there. Like, they are over like Rover, as you like to say, Mike. That gym is doing things right.

And yeah, it's pretty damn cool. It's pretty tough when Kyle Bajalio is like the third most famous guy at the gym right now. Yeah, and like the most accomplished, but the, like, this is the people want to see. Yeah. Yeah, they want to see Sylva and Prattis more, which is pretty wild. Because they're sick. Yes. Uh, Stephen.

I love John Silva. I love him so much. He is so fucking fun, man. Fighting fighting nerds, dude, it's so fun. You at this point in time, that gym has the cachet with me. If you just told me there was some dude from fighting nerds, like, I'm in. book it let's go the fighting dance parley is coming

and it's going to be a glorious one stephen proud is next errone does g a f side note shout out to a k b t l holloway vs moikano that fight slaps one under the radar should be appreciated uh is that a k's alias i guess

i i i listen to a lot every week obviously and when a k said that i was like i don't it's not even a hipster pick Like I do hipster stuff sometimes, so I'm not knocking it. But like that's, he's on his own island with that one. And that's why I respect AK. Man has original thoughts.

I wouldn't say they're necessarily always winners. And I wouldn't say that one is a winner. But the man is an individual in this space and that's rare. All right. Let's go to the peeps while we awaits. Let's do a little refresh. See if we got bonuses yet. I mean, the bonus has to go to protest.

I would be astonished if it's if Monsour doesn't get one as well. Monsor is definitely getting it. So that's that's one and two. Trashon Gore seems like he's going to get one because that was like the coolest of the submissions. Charles Radke finished. It just didn't end well. Not, not it was a bad stoppage,

but it wasn't like the highlight real face plan. It was just sort of awkward. And he went out and demanded $50,000. Yeah. And that's never a good thing. and I don't care for Chuck Buffalo, so I don't, let's not do that. Blackshear and Gore, I would, I guess if I'm throwing it out there. What's the fight of the night?

I think they're, if they're, I think they're, I think they're, I think they're doing five of the night. I'd be pretty surprised if there was a fight of the night. If they did it. Just give it to fuck it, RDR and Gn3, baby. I do believe that was the best fight of the night by a large margin. Yeah, but I thought Bolognaz and Rommias was pretty fun too. And then they just completely gassed, which made it even better. So all right, let's go to the P2Away for bonuses.

Joseph Boza, should the UFC have a women's atomweight division, Luana Pajero, talk to Gary, my careers, brought a great article for the site. It's worth reading. So here's my take on this. PFL should absolutely do an atomate division. That's the next thing they should do is they should steal it from the UFC. and not even just say that they stole it from the UFC, just do it and let the action

tell the world that you stole it from the UFC. That would be the best thing for them to do because if they do it, the UFC cannot because they're just ain't enough of them. So I would do, if I'm PFL, that's absolutely the move that I'm doing. But do you think the UFC, despite interest from Dana, at least he says there is, do you think they will actually go forward with an Adam White division?

I think eventually they will. I think they should have done it five to ten years ago. I do not think that it makes no genuine sense to me to not have the full complement of widely supported weight classes. Widely is a bit of a loose term there, but what I mean by that is globally, there are not 10 women's featherweights. They're just aren't.

been a fan of this sport for closer to 30 years than 20 at this point. And there just have never been that many people. If they built a, if they put resources into talent development and creating a featherweight class, it would still take them a very long time. Women's Adam weight exists. Like, Ryzen has one, pancreas has one, and Victa has one. You would be cannibalizing those, but guess what? That's actually your business model.

It has been forever. frankly, all of your women's weight classes were built through Invicta. You just took all the Invicta champions, the same way you just took the WEC champions from the lower weight classes to build those. There is no reason a weight class that does have a broad base of people who can compete in it. Because women's Adam weight has plenty of women globally who can do so, particularly in Japan and Asian countries in general. Like there's just a broad swath of human beings that can fit it.

It will never be a marquee money-making weight class. Neither is fly weight. And that is still a important rotational piece for them, particularly they're trying to fill out 42 fight cards a year, 12 to 13 pay-per-views. Like more belts is better. We see this all the time. And so I do not understand why they don't say,

hey, we're going to cut the bottom 25 people we have on roster and open up an atom weight class. and now we have it. And we have 25 fewer heavyweights and middle weights, etc. God and Adam wait, we'll go get CK Zawa. CK's one of the best fighters on the planet. And maybe they don't get her immediately. I don't know what our contract situation is with Risen.

But if you build it, they will come. They will come to the U.C. doorstep. I thought that they were, I thought honestly they were going to realize doing that was how to keep tough relevant when they did it for season 20. in the straw weight. Like, yeah, in a couple of years, they'll bring in an Adam weight. And they just kind of keep doing this.

They haven't. And I don't get it. Dana talked about it earlier this year. Once he starts talking about it, that means it is on the radar. So I do think it will happen in the next couple of years. But to me, it is one of those things.

Why not just start it right now and see where it goes? Yeah. They also just don't need to do. They don't really do anything. They don't need to do anything. Yeah. So, you know, well, like, I just, to me, it just seems so, like, you just have one more belt to serve as a co-main event to make things splashy. And, you know, to open up other markets.

Like, if Cke's hour comes, you can go back to Japan, like, with a champion in tow as opposed to hoping Tatsu or Tyra gets there, et cetera, et cetera. Like, there are, I just, I do not see the downside. And I think it is genuinely pretty minimal lift. Just be like, hey, Mick, find me 20 fly weights, please. Or not fly weights, Adam weights. Cool. Yeah. Let's do it. You have many shows.

Many shows to find them. Interesting quote from Mr. RDR, the new greatest middleweighty, middleweight champion of all time. Quote, if you're thinking of signing with one championship, don't. It's that simple. You should not. There's nothing there. There's no fights. You're just wrong if you do this.

signed there, this is a bad mistake. So that is RDR, who was a two division champion for one championship, but is now holding the prestigious middleweighty middleweight title. And we'll hold it for the rest of his life, honestly. No one will ever take that title from him. I love that quote from him. Also, I don't think we made enough of a deal because nobody cares, at least on this side of the globe about one championship.

I find it deeply amusing that he just quit. one. It's like, yeah, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm going to go fight for UAE Warriors. And then I'm going to sign with the UFC. Because I believe that I can legally go do this now. And so I'm out, guys, bye. And they were like, what?

He just did it. Like, what king? Now he's, I got to do it. He's just running them down. And I was like, yeah, they're trash. You know all the bad news? You've read about them for the past 18 months and how fighters. are leaving in mass.

There's the reason. No go. It's bad. Speaking of fun fighters, Mauritio Huffy is fighting next week. So that just adds to the list of fun. The amount of John versus Stebe hype from the commentary tonight was crazy.

They were working hard to sell this card because they have to. They're told they must. They must sell this card. Did you see the best one though? The best one. Because it wasn't on the, I guess it was on like the pre-broadcast

or whatever. I don't know if you saw the analyst that they brought for UFC Apex 100, but back in the studio, one, Kamar Usman is on the mic talking, you know, doing the analyst thing. And they start the preview,

UFC 309. And Usman drops the steep is definitely the greatest heavyweight we've ever seen line. And I was just like, wow, your boy, you just look what they did to my boy. I thought you were friends with Francis, Oh, that UFC paycheck.

Got to get that paycheck, buddy. Yeah. Man, the analytic drop from Kamara Usman over the last few years has been really tough. Because I've been saying since I started them a fighting, Kamara Usman would be the best S analyst on the UFC roster. And now we're seeing between that, just trying to get on their good side and doing a podcast with Henry Sehudo. It's just been tough sailing.

I ain't hate me. I got a price too, come on. They want to pay me my price. I'll go there. I'll say the company line. I will be a mercenary. You can't believe the things I'd say about Mike Heck, if the price is right. What would you say about John Jones at the price is right?

Nothing good. I'll never say it. I mean, you got a total line. John Jones is fortunate that Mike Bobo exists or else he would be my least favorite human alive. What did you think of? The one thing that kind of made me chuckle a little bit was they played this, they played this promo of just basically, this is the dude who came in.

It was so talented. And then he fucked his life up. And now he's built it back to where he is today. And this whole narrative that, that John is, you know, he's reborn and he's this incredible human being now is just, it's unbelievable.

Like it really is unbelievable how and this is a guy The amount just go Google Just go Google data white shitting on John Jones over the last like six or seven years and then you see what they're pushing right now. It's so funny It really is hilarious like here's why it's unbelievable because this isn't the first time we've done this narrative. It's not the second. I time. We're on like cycle five of us doing this. Oh, John fucked up, but he's got his light. He's on the straight and

narrow. And then oh, Dana, what's about John? He'll never headline of in Vegas again. Now he's back in Vegas. Well, Dana, what's like, how do you feel about John? Look, we all know that John Jones has an issue with being in Las Vegas. It's bad for him. We can't

do it. But he promised me, we're going to go to the Hall of Fame. He's going to be good. later that night, John is, I remember if he was arrested or just detained for headbutting a cop car. And like, I don't want to, I want to create some separation between me laughing about him headbutting a cop car. And allegedly some domestic disturbance going on as well, it's just like, how many times do we have to do this rodeo? The thing I said on the preview show or VTL, whatever it was this week we were talking, is just the way I feel like everyone should be on. on board with. John is not a hero. He is not a saint. He has never been. I understand that the

beginning of his career, he was trying to be George St. Pierre. He was trying to do that playbook. And that went out the fucking window the moment he got caught on a hot mic being a two-faced human being, because there is no argument that he was not. When he was on a live mic in front of the studio, he was respectful John Jones, and the minute that they went off air, Daniel Cormier was like, you are a lying sack of shit. He's like,

say that to me and I'll fucking kill you. I will come over there and I will spit in your face and kill you. And that moment told us everything we needed to know. And this is not a judgment about him being a bad person. It is a judgment of them trying to brand him like he's

not who he is. He is a heel. Be a heel. You are not the savior of anything. And so it is so, it really drove at home on that thing. Or it was just like, man, why are we doing this? Like, why are we acting like John is? I hope I am wrong. I hope that John Jones never has legal trouble again.

Oh, by the way, he just wrapped up a court case like three weeks ago. Like, this is just, it's not reasonable to buy this story. And it is infantilizing for them to pitch it. to us like it's real sell this is anything other than whatever this thing they've branded it as because i do not i don't know who it's appealing to or why it would appeal to them yeah i did it's when they did it before the second dc fight i thought it was honestly the greatest promo they had ever done it was the best promo you see ever done in the history of the company and then this was a totally different thing and then five more times that's happened between

between then and yeah yeah it's just i can't wait for the boy you cried like i don't even know what wolf fool me 26 times and if you believe that what that promo is selling i got some waterfront property in kansas to sell you uh let's keep going uh mike and jett what was the finish that stuck out the most besides the main event um that's a good question i mean part of me wants to say RDR because it was deeply funny. And legitimately it was a very cool sequence. I think open note grappling clipped it and then kind of gave the rundown of what happened. But, you know, taking a serious note for one second.

Yes, both dudes were pretty tired. And that wasn't like the best fight you're ever going to see. However, that sequence was legitimately very good, fun, scrambling grappling that I kind of imagine we'd get from two dudes who were pretty good at that. where you've got GM3 continuing to try and roll up on a leg, roll up into a single, and to keep a scramble alive, RDR staying just one ahead,

just one ahead, using a front choke sequence, GM3 having to bail out to the back, RDR rolling through, RDR spinning to the back, GM3 going to his back to not give up the choke, and then RDR immediately moving into mount and just kind of like walking into the arm triangle.

It wasn't like a big set. It was just like, wait up, arm over, here, squeeze, kick off to the side finish. Like textbook grappling with good scrambles. So that's like the one that I'll think about the most. But if you're just looking for one hit or quitter, or appeal or whatever, it's, it's Monsor.

Because the sound of that man hitting people, it's not quite like vintage fade or, but it ain't far off from like vintage fador. Yeah, everything he landed was thumping, including that knee. That one was the loudest sound I made after he landed that knee. And apparently the UFC brass agreed because he got 50,000 bucks. As did Carlos Prattis, as did Demand Blackshear, as did Charles Chuck Buffalo Radke.

Finally got his bonus. Congratulations. No fight of the night as expected. Man, Trashon Gore got kind of job there. Yeah. I think Gore's is clear. I think Gore's is better than Radkeye. keys. I kind of agree with that, but again, it just, I'm a sucker for a high elbow.

Sometimes like the way it's called helps and Bisbing did not help his cause. Trashong Gore talked about it at the post fight, it's post fight interview. Bisbing seems to have an issue with Trayshon Gore's grappling because he has, he's nitpicking it and yet Gore's putting dudes to sleep in pretty nasty ways. So back to back, arm in guillotine chokes gets it done. uh yay one clips reis earned a jones fight but tom hasn't i'm not sure where that came from i assume it's because of the many things tom has said about or john has said about tom not earning a fight with him uh i also john let's be honest as well because there's this whole narrative like oh john would never duck anybody um he is do he's doing it right now 100% dunking tom assmal right now

I'm not saying he's afraid to fight him. He is just not fighting him because he'd rather take the easier fight for more body, which is fine. He also, if we're trying to play this game, refused to fight Dominic Reyes the second time. He vacated the battle to move to heavyweight

and just so he didn't have to fight Dominic Reyes again. Dana White came to the presser was like, I thought Dominic Reyes won that fight. We're going to run this back. John was like, I am going to heavyweight, goodbye. Yep. That is in that. That is indisputable fact.

It's true. So, uh, so the word duck just has a ton of connotations. And I'm not opposed to it because I just think flat out like that is what is clearly happening here. Unless prove me wrong. John,

fight Tom Aspiral. But, uh, you think of it less as like, oh, he's scared to fight him. And this is, you're the last guy back on a fast break.

And Braun is coming down the lane. And sure, you could go up and meet him at, at the rim. But you know how that's going to go. There's just no upside to it. You make a business decision to step out of the lane and let the man go to work. And that's what this is just a business decision. And this is why I push back. And again, I hope I am wrong because I would very much like to see John Jones fight Tom Aspinall. But I have seen a growing amount of sentiment from people who I respect in this industry say they think this is John playing.

again and that he is riling people up and he is in fact going to fight tom aspinall again i hope that that does happen i am deeply suspicious that that is true because at a basic root cause level john is making the correct decision i i fundamentally agree with his reasons for doing what he is doing i do not have to like those nor should you believe in them because why would you want it? We should want the best fight the best always. That should always be the thing we are the most focused about as fans because I think that should be self-explanatory. Fighters should not want that. They should want what is best for them business wise. And objectively, it is better for him to just retire than to fight Tom Aspinall.

I do think he would gain something with an Aspinall win, but I don't think it's enough for the risk of an aspirin all loss, which is serious, particularly to the brand and the persona, frankly, the ego that is tied into being undefeated. So I just don't think you will do it because if I were in his camp, I would advise him not to take that fight. And so I do not think he will take the fight. So John Jones ducked Dominic Reyes. Okay.

He, dude, I do not know what to tell you. He did. Like, they, he lost to Dominic Reyes. The whole world saw him lose that fight Except for the three judges Who scored it? Many people believe he lost Like this is just a factual statement

Many people, including his employer, believed he lost. Dana White said, We're going to run it back. John was like, I'm done. I'm tired of fighting. I'm going to take a step back. Maybe I'll go up to heavyweight

and vacated the belt. If a fighter vacating a belt in lieu of fighting someone is not ducking, the word duck is not in your vocabulary. And I guess that's okay. And again, I'm not saying that's a wrong choice from him. Exactly. But you have got like some of y'all got to come off the standum.

Like it is okay to be critical of fighters you love. I am deeply critical of fighters I love. You got to acknowledge that that is not the behavior of someone who is, I'll fight anybody anywhere anytime. it's a guy making a business decision. Yes. Let me just also add something that I said on the People's Pre-Fight show. John Jones, every interview he does, he spins kind of the same web, but he adds layers to it.

So when he talked to Kevin Ioli, it was one answer. When he talked to Scott Fontana, there's another answer. And how you don't follow up with John after he spews that is unfrigan believable. to me, but that's besides the point. And then he does an interview with the SPN, and he adds another wrinkle to it. One that made me think a little bit more, Jed. And here,

John said, I want to fight Alex Pereira, if I fight again, and he also said something to the effect of there does not need to be a belt on the line or anything like that, which he's 100% corrected. So what I think would be

a terrific heel move from John Jones that gives everybody what they want and gives him what he wants is he calls out Alex Pereira everyone's like oh what the fuck I can't believe he's doing this thumbs up and then he just takes the belt off and he hands it to Tom Aspedal and just says enjoy your belt way to earn it bro and just walk away and go fight Alex Pereira for no belt and make a shit ton of money because that fight does not need a belt I think that is a it gives Tom Asidol the undisputed title which is what we're all hoping for anyway.

John feels that he gives Tom a little ego slap to the face and then goes on, fights Alex Pereira and makes $15 million to do it. I think that's kind of a cool way to do it. And Tom becomes the undisputed champion, which is all what we want anyways, his chance to become the undisputed champion. It's an undeniably shit heel maneuver. If he does it, I would, I would straight up respect it. It's so, it's so healy.

You got to, you got to respect it. The only thing I would, will say that the only slight quibble I would have with it is ultimately if you're prayer, I think you still just take it. If I'm prayer, I want three belts. And so, like, because you won't handle your business, I now just am fighting to be the guy who beat John Jones. That ain't the same as being the first three division champion.

And I know that there are John Jones stands are like, that's better. It's not being a first dude with three belts. It's just not. it's not so don't like that's not be ridiculous so if i'm prayer i'd be kind of pissed off if that were the outcome that ended up happening here but uh i i i did i would have to respect the move like it is so petty and uh shitty from john like you got to respect that level of petty i love my favorite thing is when fans are like no this person said this so it can't be true like like Dangermo's like

Politan said he'll only fight a heavyweight for the belt really money doesn't matter none of that matters right this is a guy who literally heading into his fight with Khalil Roundtree said he was going to middleweight to fight Drick his duplice my next fight I'm moving back down to middleweight to fight him

and then what did he say after that fight what did he say Sean Strickland I can't take that shot away from him yeah they're all full of shit in their own ways like no matter what happens on saturday whether alex prayer wants to fight john jones or not he's going to tweet a photo of him reacting to it with a mean mug on his face just so everyone can write a

headline about him which is a brilliant move he should absolutely do that he should absolutely do that but stay stay out there or stay in the mind of people there are people who actually think as well because john has is is his skin is slimming down a little bit it's back down to like the two thirties is there a chance maybe john goes back to two oh five if ilex peria he does that and got no issues i got if that's how he wants to do it if he does it by going down to 205 no issues i would still say that we've pretty clearly ducked tom aspinall um but that is at least an explicable one like i will not fight i will not unify the heavyweight title with the interim heavyweight champion because I would prefer to fight a dude in a smaller weight class.

And people, I tweeted something very similar to that this week. And people were like, oh, it's up. He used to be John's weight class. Used to be as the operative term. Pereira is bigger than him. I don't know what to tell you, man. Pereira was a middleweight. John has never touched or been near middleweight and certainly not was not near it.

It's every weight. But if John is slimming down and goes back to 205 for it, fine. I will not take any issue. I'll not talk any shit about that. So long as when he does it, he drops the heavyweight belt because you don't get to bring the heavyweight belt back down with you to 205 to do this fight. It's Tom's belt. Tom is fighting for the belt next.

I do not care who it's against. If John would like to also compete for a belt, it has to be against Tom. Tom is the real heavyweight champion because he's the only real heavyweight, beating other real heavy weights, meaningful people in the weight class. John is not. So, but that would be a great idea. If that's what happens, great. Then everybody can win.

Yeah. You can kind of see, it's just funny to see how these, these conversations are kind of split between fan bases. It's very, very fun to watch how it all plays out and to see like how people think. It's just like, fans cannot recognize that people they like can do things that they don't like. And so then it is, it becomes the mental gymnastics to explain it away. Like, no, but actually it's like, or like sometimes you can still like him.

I'm not telling you not to believe John Jones is the greatest fighter of all time or not to love him, et cetera, et cetera. I'm not not the choices I'm making. But you don't, you can also just acknowledge the reality of it in the same way that like a part of me wants to argue till I'm dead. The BJ Pinn is the best fighter I've ever. seen because for a period of time he was the best fighter that had ever lived. But also, I recognize that that's not reasonable at this point in time to make that argument. It is not reasonable to say John is not making business decisions with everything he has done

in the last five years. Not five, three, three and a half. Since the Reyes fight. Yeah, exactly, since the Reyes fight. I'm not going to fight Reyes. I'm going to go up to heavyweight. Sick when you're going up to heavyweight Three years when Francis is no longer in the promotion Cool All right Unbelievable performance of Cirogan Dope

You're going to fight Stepe Okay like that's And then you get hurt It's not your fault Or we're still just going to fight Stepe Not gonna fight the interim champion No not just you're not going to fight him You actually and I

paraphrase There's nothing he can do To make me interested in that fight that fight, I don't believe he deserves it. Okay, man, like, the evidence is mounting that a man here is making business decisions, and we can all understand those. None of you should support those, unless you are his personal friend. No one should be like, way to go, bud.

That's great. That's like going to an NFL game and wearing an NFL hat. Like, you can't, you can't Rob Lowe this shit, man. Yeah. On top of that, we, We've been on the same page with all this. This is what John should be doing. This is prize fighting.

You take the bigger fight that is easier to win. And Alex Pereira is very good and he hits really hard. And who knows, maybe he could land something that knocks John Jones out. I doubt it. I think John tackles him and probably beats him. That's just the way that goes. He's just a bigger, more athletic human being. Stylistically, it's a tough fight for Alex Pereira.

But it would be a gigantic fight. it would be bigger than the Tom Aspinall fight. Like that is what prize fighting is. Just say that. Just say it. Just be like, yo, I'm going to make way more money fighting Alex Pereira than I would be fighting Tom Aspinall. And just say like Tom's really good. He should be the champion.

Any other time he would be the champion. And I respect the hell out of this man. He's great. But I want my career is winding down. I want to have the biggest fights and make all the money. Cool. And then just have the promotion be just as honest. Have Dana be honest.

Just say what this all is. Nobody wants the steep fight. Nobody wants it. It's like Dana is being told by media members. He's being tweeted and tagged by fans all over the fucking world. Nobody wants this fight. We all want to see Tom Aspinall. And Dana is steadfast saying, well, John wants it.

I want it. It's the fight that has to happen. It's the fight the world wants to see. Look at the way they're promoting. this fight compared to any other pay-per-view main event they've had this year. Go look at the promotion for Iliott's Apory versus Max Holloway and compare it to this. Everybody wanted Iliots-a-s-Pory versus Max Holloway. No one wants this.

This entire fucking card was filled with promos for John Jones v. Stipe. I don't, I maybe want to watch it less because every time I see Stipe move, I'm just like, oh, the hell are we doing here? it's going to be a big deal this car's going to do well it's going to make money it's going to break gate record at msg and all that and i just have a feeling we're just going to be like this is so sad they got us and even for a second i think they'll get me and because john just brings a different kind of order to these events and i felt that way about cyro god the entire build of the seerogne i'm like john's going to kill him like this is just not it's not a good fight he's going to he's going to kill

this guy and that's exactly what happened but by the time john made his walk i was like i was ready to go i was in and then the fight happened it went the way i thought it would and i was just like damn it's they got me again someone compared him to floyd mayweather kind of feels that's a good comparison is it not pretty pretty good it is right now right down to the fact that the last like ten years of floyd's career were mostly garbage and um ducking fights and managing his schedule to a way to like people who really follow boxing both immensely respect Floyd Mayweather for what he did early in his career and absolutely recognize that Floyd Mayweather's 50 and is pretty close to entirely manufactured and I mean proof positive.

Lloyd Mayweather did fight Manny Pacquayal several years after Pacquiao was no longer a reasonable threat to him. Maybe you would have won at any point in time. But he, managed the career. And to your point, Mike, all of this, my two overarching thoughts, the big things I have said it a bunch. I just don't like to be lied to. I just do not like people telling me clear falsehoods and pretending like I'm an idiot. And I don't, I think most people feel that way. At least I would certainly hope so. And that is my, my primary issue with John is, I don't know if he's lying to himself or just trying to lie to me. But all of this is a terrible lie. And just come out.

And like you said, frankly, it might even be a better promotional tool to be like, hey guys, I want to fight Alex because I think I'm going to kick the shit out of him. And I'm going to make way more money. Tom Aspen was really good. And I'm not going to make as much money.

So why would I fight him? And that's, that's y'all's problem. I'm going to kill your boy. And then Poetan can come back at him and they can have a beef because he's saying that shit. There you go. And the other thing,

the biggest thing, I can't wait for Saturday. I could not care less about the fight. I genuinely am disinterested in it. I cannot wait to be done with this because I believe it will be done. I believe John Jones is going to to some extent retire on Saturday night. I'm not sure how much that, like whether it will be in the cage or whether he'll pull the George St. Pierre.

I got to go away for a little bit. But next week, we, it finishes and then we'll have the week after to discuss of is John retired, blah, blah, blah. and then mostly this can be behind us. And like I said, this is my same feeling for the election. I just want to stop having these promos on the television I'm trying to watch.

I would like us to be done so I can do other things. I'm telling you right now, if Steep A knocks out John Jones, it would be, it truly, I'm, it's funniest thing I've ever seen in the sport.

I don't know what I would do. It would, I would fall on the floor laughing and the post-night show would be, I may actually pee myself. I'm going to line up commands that are 4.0 with the dog's pee pads. Wouldn't be bad idea. Well, I mean, it would be a bad idea. Because it's not going to happen. If it does, though, if it does, if Steep A leaves Madison Square Garden with the heavyweight title, oh my God.

It would be. Can I ask you this? We're going to be talking to less. We're going to be talking. obviously a lot about this over the next several days. By the, by the way, BTL will be on Tuesday this week, so we're going to talk a whole bunch about this. If Stepe wins the belt,

is Tom Aspenall screwed still? Because if Stepe, I don't, if Steepa wins the belt, I don't think he retires. I think he lobbies for a rematch of John Jones, which would be way bigger. Be a huge fight. And I still think Aspenall is in limbo.

I think. If Steepa does that, I would say that it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I would understand there's a reason to do it. And the reason is entirely, I would get to have the belt and make money as a pay-per-view. It would undeniably be a very big pay-per-view if he upsets John. I can't in good conscience. Like, just, you almost had this shit happen with Cormier, where you, like, you got, and Cormier had it happen.

Cormier retires after knocking out Stepe. His legacy is viewed very differently than we currently view it. Still a very good legacy, mind you. It is better if he does not do. Clearly, like very clearly the Dana-Cormier fought Stepe, even in the first fight was not his peak. And his second and third fight was clearly just a diminished duty. He had back surgery, et cetera.

So, like, he should have walked away, but the allure of money as the champion kept him back. And now his legacy is taking a hit. Stepe being the guy who beats John Jones, that feather is in his cap. on top of the other things he's accomplished, boom, he should walk away. If he does come back, the U.S. he would obviously do it.

They would absolutely rebook that rematch. John probably wins. Then five years, they'd be like, actually, Stipe's win was a lie because the rules were different or whatever. They're trying to negate that too because there's a whole industry that's really built into making John undefeated. John lost a point on a fence grab. So now it's legal to grab the fence. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe that honestly, maybe that's how we just fix all the rules is we have,

John Jones lose by the rules we think are stupid. And then the UFC will be like, we got to fix that. Ah, can't, can't do that anymore. It would be great. Soccer kicks are now legal again.

It's, it would be very silly if he did it, but it wouldn't shock me. But, yeah, Tom would obviously be totally boned in that situation. I talked to John addict. That interview is going to drop,

I think Monday or Tuesday. John actually thinks if Steve A wins, he would fight Tom. he actually feels like it would happen so i don't know honestly i would have a immense amount of respect for for stepey wins and it's like i'm not ready retired i still like fighting i'm obviously still got the goods i just knocked out your boy Tommy aspinall let's go i would have immense amount and i i do respect stepe i don't care for stepe i respect stepe a good deal and i would respect him immensely for that i'm

I'm very curious about all of this. Like, I'm very happy for this to be over in a week's time. Like 20, I don't know, a week and two hours from now. It's been 18 months that this fight has been around. Yeah. It's not a good fight. It's the problem. Like, if I had 18 months to wait for Habib Tony and it finally was happening,

I'd be like, oh my God, we're finally going to get it except for we wouldn't because we would never get it. 18 months for this is a long time. Yeah. And if the UFC just did not do an interim title fight, none of this would even be a thing. None of it. Wouldn't be a thing. Yeah, but then we wouldn't have a champion.

So at least now the division does have a champion. His name is Tom Aspinall. I legitimately, and this wasn't just me because AK pulled this from some commenter on some of the stuff we wrote this week. there are people out there legitimately being like actually tom is holding the division up john was never going to fight him he could be defending his interim belt more and i'm like you have gone too far down the rabbit hole if you're making the argument that tom aspinal is the guy who's holding the division up and he should be defending the interim belt against

cyrogan or volkov whatever you have lost the plot completely yeah it is it's a take almost so poor that you almost have to respect it. I do respect it because it's an insane take. I respect any take to like I physically can't make. Like my brain could never come up with that connection. Like actually, what if it's Tom's fault? He's holding up the division.

He defended the belt two months ago. It is. It is lunacy. It's so good. I'm telling you right now. I mean, we tell you to watch the watch parties all the time. It's, it's,

it's the M. A fighting franchise video content right now. It's just, I don't, I have never had more fun working at anything than doing these watch parties. Uh, and now we have the command center. If there is a weekend to tune in to watch parties on M.A.

fighting's YouTube channel, this here channel, it's this coming weekend. Because we're going to have, we're going to have two of them. We're going to do on Friday night for the Jake Paul Mike Tyson thing, and we'll do it for the whole main card. So I think we'll have some boxing. We'll get Taylor Serrano 2, which will be amazing.

And then whatever this Jake Paul, Mike Tyson thing is going to end up being. And hopefully it's what I think it's going to be. And it's just going to be like a hard sparring session that is somewhat entertaining and fun. That's what we're all hoping for. And who knows, maybe Mike lands a big shot. and knocks Jake Paul out. That would be frigging incredible. And then Saturday we get,

you get back to back fights with Jedmishu on camera. Oh, featuring Michael Chandler and Steve Ameach. Michael Chandler is going to be Jedmishu's first watch party fight with Michael Chandler. He's going to, I think he's going to win too. Not because he should win,

but because bad things happen to me. And so it's going to happen. It's just going to be, I have an interview dropping on this here channel tomorrow with Charles Olivera. I got to tell you, that man is locked the F in for this one. Dude is intense. He doesn't want to talk. He just wants to get in there and fist fight a man.

He is ready to go in there and fight. I've never seen him like this, honestly. Never. So maybe that makes you feel better. I don't know. I'll feel better when the fight's over. I just, because for a long time,

I didn't have to worry about him because it was like, my friend's never going to fight again because Connor's never going to fight again and he's going to hold this like a dog with a bone. He's just never going to let this, this ridiculous pipe dream fade. And he finally did.

And he did it in a way. We're like, if he wins his fight, he is probably fighting the winner of 100% of, freaking Islam. 100% 2 And so it's just like

And while I think both of them would kill him Still I just Come on But This is this is not to you The viewers Not to you Mike This is to you the MMA gods

I will trade it in I will eat all the Michael Chandler Crow That there is in this world I will get on this show I'll get on any show And I will say that I love Michael Chandler I respect him

He is a great fighter and a good man. I will say all those things in exchange for Stepe knocking out John Jones. There is there. I would do atrocities. I would commit serious crimes if it meant that Steepa knocked out John Jones. The level that I would go to to make that happen, it would shock and amaze you. So I will trade that in gods. If Charles Olivera has to die so Steve A. Mietich can live, sign me up.

I will pay that toll every day. All right. It's not going to get any more emotional. That's a good color. The Oscar music is on. It's time to get off the stage. Get a good night's sleep, everybody, because by the time you wake up, it'll officially be UFC 309 fight week.

And we can continue to get ready for this. But here to the next one. That's right. On to the next one. Matchmaking. Tomorrow, A.K. Lee joins me. We get to talk about who R.D.R. could fight next. Who Carlos Pratchez could fight next.

And much more. It's going to be fun. It'll be on the podcast network. And then we are on the road to UFC 309. Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson is going to be a super crazy, busy-ass week. We'll have boots on the ground for both of those events, coverage all week long. And it's just going to be damn fun. So we are done for Jed.

I am Mike Heck. get some sleep AK and I will see you tomorrow on onto the next one good night everybody this is my second night up in a row as I was covering one championship last night and my other boy

lost Mike was a sad time love y'all you're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network