MMA Fighting - UFC Vegas 118 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To Gabriel Bonfim Dominating Belal Muhammad In Main Event

Episode Date: June 7, 2026

Gabriel Bonfim picked up the biggest win of his career, and made it look easy. As important as that was for the Brazilian fighter, the conversations and post-fight storylines are more about Belal Muhammad's downfall since winning the welterweight title, his three-fight losing skid, and where the former champ goes from another defeat inside the octagon. Following UFC Vegas 118, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to Bonfim's victory and his post-fight callout, Muhammad's third straight loss, and if he should be concerned about his roster spot being in jeopardy. Additionally, they discuss Brendan Allen's Fight of the Night win over Edmen Shahbazyan, if the MVP of the card was Iwo Baraniewski or Bryce Mitchell, the road to UFC White House and potential concerns, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu, it's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, Odo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have been,

made the switch. So why not you? Try Odu for free at Odu.com. That's ODOO.com. Recommendations can't be amazing. I mean, maybe someone recommended that TV show you've been obsessed with lately. But when it comes to home projects, it's different. If you don't like a show, you might lose a few minutes. If you hire a friend of a friend of a friend to fix a leaky ceiling, you could end up with a flooded kitchen. Maybe I know a guy just isn't enough for your home. That's why Thumbtack works so well. They'll match you with a top-rated local pro, and you can see photos of past work,

credentials, and reviews all right in the app. For your next home project, try Thumbtack. Hire the right pro today. Folks, those are the victory horns. And they sound for one Gabriel Bonfim, who just kind of dominates below Muhammad. that fight was really not that competitive past maybe the first three and a half minutes of that fight. The momentum shifted in Bonfem's favor and then he just kind of ran away with it.

Getting all five rounds on all three judges scorecards. Bonfim continues this run of victories. While on the other end, Blah Muhammad loses his third straight fight after winning the UFC Walterway title. But now, folks, we are officially on the road to UFC. White House. We just finished our last stop on that road. And let's put it to bed. UFC Vegas 118. I am Mike Heck. Welcome to the post show and joining me to react to another brilliant event at the world's most famous Apex, the one and only Jedmishu, who I think can confirm into this live microphone that a fight card did happen tonight and that fights did take

place, right? They did. That sure did happen. That sure did happen, Mike. Like, look, I don't think anybody had a high expectation of this card coming in. We talked about it on the preview show. We talked about it on and off air where it was like, I'm unclear why this event happened, right? I thought the main card tonight on paper looked pretty good. And it played out more or less as expectations, right? Maybe a little above the actual delivering on excitement, right? But like, not bad.

but the whole question was like we didn't talk about this fight card all week because we were already on the road to the White House like officially now we are but this whole week was really White House stuff and this was just a thing that was happening as well ultimately we have cleared that last little baby speed bump and now we can spend the next six and a half days

discussing this card and then be done with it but like it's kind of weird for this to happen and then it ended in the most forgettable way possible. Ironic, given that we are supposed to remember one man's name. And he is doing his level best to be incredibly forgetable

in his last few fights. I want to get to, we'll get to the main event, obviously, but here's the first question I have for you, Jed. And I want to do this more and more as these shows go on, because I don't want to just start off every show and be like, yeah, that card was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Who's the MVP of this event? Hmm No, that is a really good question Who is the MVP of this event? It's probably Baranuski Okay He's like the only person who did And again, I'm actually not here to shit on this fight card

Yeah I did not have a bad time tonight I didn't have the like an amazing But it would be ludicrous If thought coming into this You were going to be telling your children about UFC Vegas 118 one day. Like that was never on offer.

But I got a perfectly reasonable time watching fights. For me, this actually sort of is a fight card that I'm comfortable with having periodically where we haven't ended super late, right? Like, this isn't one that went to 1 a.m. for me, which is nice. And I could do other things while we were working. And just watch the fights when they came on. And so, like, as a disengaged person, this was the same as like a base. baseball game being on or whatever.

Not for me. I don't watch baseball, but for other people. There were meaningful things that happened on the main card. Several, several, like, significant outcomes occurred. A couple of new contenders, et cetera. But none of that ended up being that fun. It was not bad, but there were very few, like, on the main card, like, oh, yeah, we had a really, like, we had a good time.

It was like, okay, cool, or whatever. And that's, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just sort of the reality of how this car broke out. And so, you know, the prelims had a fair number of interesting things go on there and fun, excited finishes. But if you're going to be the MVP, you're probably not the MVP on the undercard, right? Like, I'm sorry, I like you, Anderson Brito. That doesn't get to be MVP.

So I guess we'll go with Baranushki because he is probably the thing people will talk about the most other than Bomb Femme by nature of... But the reality is, I don't think people are going to be talking about Gabriel Bonfim coming out of this card. I agree. And that is unfair to him because he is now a top five contender.

He has thrown his hat into the ring of the very stacked Walter White title picture. But the conversation is going to be what happened to Balal. Why are we here with him? And so I'm not sure he can be the MVP in that regard. So I'll take Bernouche. Yeah, that's a good pick.

I'm actually going with Bryce Mitchell. I think he was, I think he's the guy. He looked really good tonight. Santiago Luna is definitely a promising prospect. And I expected Bryce Mitchell to win. I picked him to win. I thought this fight would be a little bit more competitive. But yeah, Bryce just kind of hoss that man around,

taught him a very valuable lesson about the fight game. And then finished him in the third round. And then the post fight. stuff was fine. Like put his opponent over in a great way. I thought it was a good night for Bryce Mitchell. So these are the types of nights you need to have if you want to move up

the ranks and get more people on your side. This is a good star for him. He also did the only thing that's going to have anybody maybe talk about you after this fight card, which is in his post fight scrum. I don't know if you've got a chance to see it or not. He

said, hey man, like, I'll fight at the White House. House Guard. If something happens to O'Malley or Zahby, I'll turn around and I'll fight. And that's the only way that anyone's going to draw a news headline is talking about White House and you know, that wouldn't happen

but like, okay. You did something, Bryce. Like this was a successful weekend for Bryce Mitchell all around. You know, so good on him. Yeah. I'm very intrigued about matchmaking for him on to the next one tomorrow. I think I have some ideas.

One, I may just steal from somebody. but yeah, I thought it was a great night for Bryce. And yeah, I think I'm going to have to keep him for fantasy, but that's a conversation for another day. I do want to shout out Christina, who gave us not one but two super chats. No question, no nothing. Just, just, just vibe and I respect it.

I might know that, Christina. If it's the Christina I'm thinking of, shout out to you, Christina. Yes. Whoever you may be, respect. So you asked a question, Jed. what happened to Blal Muhammad? That's the question everyone's going to be asking

coming out of this. What happened? What happened tonight? I thought he looked good in literally the first three minutes of this fight and then that's it. Really outside of one moment in round four where he actually started moving forward

and landing a couple of punches and then started going backwards again. So what happened? Like when did you know, did you, I think midway through the second round, I realized, yep, Balal's got no chance of winning this fight.

He can't win. He cannot win. When did you sort of have that same realization? Did you get there at all? And was it around the same time? At the end of round one, I was 98% certain that he was losing. That fight was just going to play out. But then I was like, you know, maybe, maybe he took the first round off.

And this is a, all right, let's go into the second. But I was like, I don't think that's what's happened here. And as round two was like, that hasn't happened. And then there was, I, so I wrote our post-fight recap column on this fight. I want everyone here to know. I have peeled back the curtain. I'm giving you secrets that, you know, don't tell anybody. I don't want the word to get out.

I wrote the recap of the main event during the third round because I knew the remainder of that fight. I did not have to wait to see what happened. I was just like, well, Gabriel Bonfeeam is the top five dude because he beat, Bilal Muhammad up 50-45 for 25 minutes, kicked him a bunch, punched him a bunch. Bilal shot one takedown, failed, gave up, and where's he go from here? Like, I wrote that in the third round so we could have it pubbed as soon as the fight was over. All I did was wait to get the post-fight quote, plug that in, and we were done.

And, you know, if I'd have to edit it, I guess I would have, didn't have to because that fight was, the moment Belaw came out in the third round immediately shot, got stuffed, was like, and then didn't even pretend to recognize that he could just try again, you know? Again, I say the old adage that they teach you as a child is at first you don't succeed, give up and quit.

That's what Ballal took for the, oh, I failed, let me just get boxed in the ears for the next 15 minutes. So yeah, this was, we could have just called that fight. Like, we could have mercy ruled it in the second round, I've been like, no one's going to get

really hurt, but you're just going to keep being bad. So let's save everybody some time and just give Bonfima decision win now. So as you know, Jed, live blogging and scoring fights while you're live blogging is not the easiest thing. It was very difficult. I felt very confident scoring rounds two through five. I actually gave Ballal the first round. I thought he just started off really strong. And yes, I thought Bomb Fem had all the momentum coming out of round one. But I thought Ballal built like a good enough lead early that Bonfim just like did enough to make me think oh, Balal's in trouble, but he didn't do enough to like just win the round and get all the

weight onto his side. It was very close. I feel confident it was a close round. The only close round of the fight was the first one. And I was like, oh, Balala did stuff and he was marching forward. And then the jab started to land. And what really was the turning point in that first round was Bonfim kicked him in the calf. And Balal hated it from kick. one just was not his cup of tea and what was also very noticeable was gabriel bonfeme looked like a light heavyweight compared to blah mahaban he was very large in there i felt belal i thought belal was going to win just because if he just like fights like belal he should do it because i i don't understand what has gone on these past few fights where it's just like i'm just not going to try

to wrestle at all until like midway through the fight when i'm already getting beat up. My legs are hurt because I'm getting kicked a whole bunch. And like, you just have no real ability to, to get a takedown. When you, when he's so successful at getting them early, early and often, early and often and just kind of taking souls like very slowly out of people and just grinding away these wins. He's just not doing it here. Like, is it, is this Canelo hands? Like, is he really, has he really just believed in the Canelo hands this much that he just, that he doesn't want to wrestle at all anymore, especially early in these fights. Like, I don't, I don't understand when I'm watching, Jed, when I've seen this guy win a whole bunch of fights in a row, including

dominating the dude who is the champion of the world by doing what the wall does. And then after that win, just decided, you know what? I don't want to be the boring, not a barn burner. I don't want Dana White going to the press conference being like, yeah, it wasn't my favorite fight ever and just decided to be you know i'll try to be more fun but this wasn't fun tonight this wasn't a fun main event it was a dominant and somewhat impressive main event for gabriel lafine but it just got to the point where gabriel's just like this man can do nothing to me so i'm just gonna not take any risks and just cruise to a win i i don't understand when i'm watching jed when i watch bala mohammed fight especially these last three fights i think it is a combination of

factors and I don't know which is the most of this but I think so if it's getting old right like that's I think that's absolutely a part of it you know you get slower um that doesn't totally explain it to me because as you get older as a fighter you tend to I mean go watch any fighter in their career at the end of it they just become sort of metastasized versions of themselves like what are the things I do best I will just do those things and ball is very clearly not doing the thing he does best, right? And so, like, it's not totally that, but I do think getting old has, you know, affected him. I think fighting is also largely a confidence game and his has been drained out of him to some extent

on a pretty tough losing streak. There's no kind way to put this. I'm going to piss off some more people because apparently I do this every time I say this. I don't particularly believe the team he's with is very good. I based that on since he started working exclusively with that team and not Habib he has not won a round of a fist fight

so that's my evidence that I will proffer also didn't totally love the corner advice that came back to ball after the first round you know whether you think that round was competitive they showed no real

urgency until the end and even then it wasn't like they weren't giving them constructive things and there wasn't just some dude being like, shoot, you dumbass. Like, you could just have that guy in the corner, be like at least try it, maybe it'll work. Who the hell knows? You know, I do think part of it was a pointed,

like I would like to do this part of the game more. We've just seen other fighters feel that sort of outward pressure of like, I don't want to be a boring guy. Once he got to the mountaintop, you know, he could maybe feel a little freer to to explore more of the space of MMA. But this is all gone in a really bad direction. And like I don't, I don't know. I thought this would be the fight where he'd be like, okay, I tried it.

I'm going to be smart. I'm just going to come forward and shoot and tackle him. And instead, he backed up constantly, which made zero sense to me. And mostly got his ears boxed for 25 minutes. So again, he's old. I think he's working with less good people than he used to work with. And that combination of things is just not going to go. You know, there's more tape.

People are more prepared specifically for him. There are a lot of things. But none of it's working out well. And he has not adjusted to this new reality in a positive manner. As I was watching the co-main event and watching Brennan Allen fight, I was like, man, Brennan and Ballal are like the same fighter right now. Like they're just the same fighter. Like they both especially like Brandon could have just tackled Edmund at any point in that fight and probably strangle them.

But just decided like, nah. I'm going there and strike and yeah, he won. And by the way, we have bonuses. He got the fight of the night because there was really no other option here for being honest. Although I really liked the Tom Nolan for a Ziam fight. I thought that was pretty fun and great win for Tom Nolan. Who got the bonuses then? Alan Shabazzian got Fight of the Night.

Baranushki. Yep, of course. And the other one was tough. Chelsea Chandler? I would have liked her to get it because she didn't actually ask. She's the only person who didn't call for a bonus. Yeah, Ewo didn't either. That's why I gave it to Ewa.

Yeah, so Ewo got it. They gave it to Edgar Shirez. I mean, he beat the absolute soul out of him, so I'm fine with that. Yeah. But yeah, there you go. I probably would have been, Alan Chabazim, like, wasn't, it certainly wasn't a bad fight. It was probably the most, like, it was the bloodiest fight of the night.

But, like, I wasn't on the edge of my seat screaming in Hollywood. ring watching it. I had more fun watching the lightweight fight. Nothing against Allen and Shabazzian, but this probably was probably better suited especially with like what happened on the prelims. It would have been a good opportunity to give a lot of the prelim fighters

that 100K. Like Chelsea Chandler, like come on. Chelsea Chandler going out there and getting a finish like she deserved it. Joannison Brito. Damn good finish against submitting Jordan Leavitt like that is not easy to do. Callin Suza, what the dick knockout.

Like she kicked the, she kicked a soul. If I was picking actual, honestly, it would, Kellen Susan would be one of them. Yeah. Because like,

that's like probably the only, I do Kelt and Susan Joyne and some Brito, I think were the coolest things that happened tonight. So, um, but they both asked for bonus money,

which is just dumb. Like don't act. Like you will never get it if you ask for bonus money. They both dead. I was like, well, you're not getting it now. Cool.

Yep. Uh, last question. well, I have two more questions about the main event. First one, we'll start with the good. Okay, let's go to the Gabriel Bonfam side of it. The performance was fine,

one in dominant fashion. Can't blame for it? Yeah, this is... Why change? You're kicking the shit out of that dude. Yeah, you kicked the shins, you jabbed him. And you had Balaal moving backwards the entire fight. He wasn't going to shoot on you. Like, I was literally writing in the live blog. I'm like, Gabriel Bonfam looks like a dude

who, like, can literally do whatever he wants, and like, there's no figure. of repercussion. Like, Bilal cannot do anything to him, and he knows Bilal cannot do anything to him. But this is also like, this is a man who took zero risk in this fight, and that's fine. Just the win was the most important thing here. This is not a fight we're going to go back and rewatch. So when it was over, I was like, what is he going to do with this live microphone in his face? What is he going to do when Paul Felder asks him the question that we know he's going to ask him?

And he can't call Colby anymore because Colby retired, Jed. I was like, if he calls for a title shot, I'm going to lose my frigging mind. and he actually did the thing he called out Jack Della Madelana this is this is a plus call-up because honestly this is as good as he can get right now he's not getting Michael Morales

he ain't getting Usman maybe if Shafcott comes back by the end of the year maybe that can happen JDM is probably was probably the best name on the list for him so good night overall especially with the Mike you're happy with this

Oh yeah, I mean, look, he He won five rounds against a former champion Easily the toughest test of his career. Like Bonfam's ranked and he was ranked like 11 Which pretty high given the guys he's beat Who are good but not great guys like Randy Brown's a good fighter, you know, but like Randy Brown's a top 20 fighter

Not like a top 10 fighter And so Bonfam Was probably a little above like where he should have quote unquote been rated this was the biggest test of his career and he aced it. You know, he dunked all over Ballal. And whether some of that's on Belal for being worse at fighting than he used to be, he can't control that.

All you can do is fight the dudes who stand opposite you in the cage. He did it and he beat that dude up. You know, there's no, and Belal Muhammad has historically been incredibly durable too. So, like, he probably wasn't going to finish him. And he hit the shit out of Ballal. though he sent below his mouthpiece flying one time ball just kind of took it so like he probably wasn't getting to finish this was what was going to happen he won as as uh you know dominantly as you can in that sort of situation really and so good on him and i think a perfectly fine

might call out maybe not you know like perfect like the best but calling for a title fight would have been very stupid he didn't do that um you know Brendan Allen maybe take a lesson about just look around. Have eyeballs and look around you and see if now's the time to call for a title fight or not. He did not do that so good on him. You know, I would have liked him to call out Michael Morales just because if you'd be Michael Morales,

there's a no-brainer you're getting a title fight, but fighting Jack Delamattelena, who is also a former welterweight champion kind of in free fall right now, might be a better fight for your career management. So yeah, not bad at all. Yeah, because he's like he's fifth on the list right now. It's Islam.

And he could be sixth by the time we get through the next eight days. Because if Ili Tupori goes out there and just decimates Justin Gagy, he falls down the list even more because it's Islam. It's Ian. It's Morales. It's proches. And then it's him. unless Ilya wins and then Ilya's jumping over them like he ain't getting a title fight even if he wins his next fight like he's gonna have to win at least two that's just the state of this division right now and while the win was great like it's not it just wasn't a blow the doors off of everybody type of win where we have to like it's not like what go proches did like that dude he tuned up JDM he did to JDM what no one's been able to do just ran his ass over and finished him like

He's got work to do, no doubt about it. But on the other end, Jed, back to Bilal, it's summertime. You know what that means? It means the sun is shining, birds are singing, sun comes up a little earlier, sets a little bit later. It also means contender series is coming, and we're putting about 50 new asses on the UFC roster. Should Bilal Mohammed be worried

that his job is in jeopardy after losing his third straight fight today? Not that he's like a bad fighter. He's a former champion. But because he's a former champion, he's making good money. He's making six figures of fight easy. You got all this new blood coming in? This is TKO. They have a big debt to pay.

Should he be concerned? No. They'll let a lot of fighters go. I'm trying to think of a former champion they let go, other than the goat, Andra Olavski, who was a champion 20 years prior. and probably the only fighter in the history of the UFC who actually got paid what they were worth. Because that man, at the end of his career,

was still getting like $2.50 to win just the grimyest, just the most awful heavyweight fights you've ever seen on the prelims of an apex card as a former world champion. That's like, honestly, the only champion I can think of off the top of my head They were like, okay, we're not. You're 44. You were a champion 20 years ago. All right, we're not going to resign you.

But pretty much any other champion, chat, correct me if I'm wrong, because I could be. But I was trying to do, like, as you were saying, I was trying to do a mental roll-decks of like, and they champions retire, you know, like, I guess you could technically say Anderson Silva, but that's also like a weird situation, how that all rolled out.

So I think no, they'll let him keep doing it. The question is, is he going to keep one to do it? Like, fighters are, you never know how a fighter is going to be, you know, mentally set. Are they going to be a Gilbert Burns who's like, I lost a Mike Milot? I suck now. I retry. Still the funniest thing that's happened this year. Absolutely the funniest thing's happened this year.

I will stand Gilbert Burns forever for that. It's like one of the four or five greatest things the fighters ever said. So shout out to you, Doreno, who also won in UFC BGJ this week. Shout out, Doreno. Like, are you going to be that kind of guy who's like there? Or are you going to be Tony Ferguson? Like, no, I'm, I've lost seven in a row, but I'm about to have a title run in me. And Ballaw maybe is more that way.

But like also at some point, maybe you just like, you don't get to that level without having pride. And like consistently losing just has to take it out. out of you. So like, I don't know. I don't know if he's going to go back and rethink this. You know, he belongs at least not at that stage of his career where he is getting brutally like slabbed out where it's like, hey, somebody, a friend needs to come to you and say, you got to stop this, right? But I don't know things are going to get, like, who would you pick? Like, after this performance, who like, what's the highest ranked dude you'd pick? for Bilal to beat because I'm really like it is very low down the ladder of people I'd be like

blah blah would beat that guy other than Leon Edwards who also is in the same careers in free fall probably just shouldn't be fighting any more status I would pick ball to be walking buckley oh I would not at all pick him to really this iteration of him not a chance if he just if he literally just trains not punching at all and just his team just puts in his brain just to tackle he wins that fight easily yeah but they're not going to do that like that's the thing man like yeah i i can't trust him at all any like because this it was i'm not a genius like everybody in the world was like you should tackle gabriel bonfee and he didn't he tried one he tried once in the third round he gave up like he's i don't

I agree that if he got back to fighting the way that is best suited to his skills and not exclusively fighting to his worst attributes, he could be a lot of dudes still, but I don't have any faith in that. So like, I think we are in for a bad road here because I think he's just going to keep,

he's going to keep fighting lower guys. Like, he's probably getting Mike Malat next or whatever. And Mike Malat will beat him. And then it'll be like, okay, now you're getting an, ranked guy and it we're just having this because that's the end of all fighters careers for the most part so tough seems so like um so here here's how i would matchmake it um i love the call from bonfeme i don't think he's getting jdm i think that's what they're going to do they're

gonna be fun that's where they're going to boost mic up um bond theme is going to get sean brady That's what they're going to do there. Maybe they were basically setting that up. Wasn't Brady on the desk? I don't know. I think Brady was on the post fight desk. That felt like something I heard. Okay.

So that, that fight makes sense. They're going to Philly. But I thought that that's what happened. Yeah, they're going to Philadelphia. Like that, Bonfim wants to turn around quick.

Like, that works. Two months, we could do that fight. And Balaamah Muhammad is going to fight. Yaroslav Amosov. That's what they're going to do.

I like that fight too. My first thought was like, hmm, maybe they'll do Malat, but I was like, nah, I think they're going to go a little high with him because they, like, they have to push all the chips in the middle with, with Malat now because he's like 36. Like, you got to move fast.

Amosov getting, getting Muhammad, like, that fight just makes all the sense of the world right now. Like, just kind of, get this dude over and we use Blal to do it. So, yeah, tough scenes and Goodwin for Bonfeme. And unfortunately, it's just, and again, this is, this is not me shitting on the fighters or anything. This is more just on the date of this event and what is following this event. This is just one of those like forgettable cards that

were just after on to the next one tomorrow. Like, we ain't, we ain't talking about this event again. And it's not, again, not because it's bad, but because the biggest spectacle in the history of the company in the history of the White House part is happening. And we're all focused on that. Like this is probably like the worst viewed event of the year because of that. Just like, all right, let's enjoy our Saturday night. Let's enjoy our weekend now because next week's the White House. And we got to stay focused on that.

So I would like to bring up a comment very quickly. Please. So half of this comment is good. The other half I disagree with. But I'm more focused on the, from our man Harmon. Belal needs to take retirement fight. go to R.F. I don't think he needs to take a retirement fight, but I do think

he should go to R.A.F. And Ben Asking won't happen. Ben Asking is doing a one-off. That's fine. Like, we're doing that. But, like, he needs to do the Armand route in R.A.F. of, like, I'm going to build my confidence up by just wrestling some dudes

and remembering that I am not Canelo hands. I'm actually quite bad at that phase of the game. So just living R&F. for a little bit before he'd come back. We'll all have some fun over there. Well, I mean, he did have fun at RAF. Unfortunately, he wrestled David Carr and just got massacred.

They were not doing him any favors. Give him Benson. Can we do that? We get to do the Ben Asking thing. That's good. Do Benson and Henderson. And then, yeah, like, you're riah Faber's out there. Russell Faber, who cares?

Like, do those sorts of things. Yeah, Aljo, like, Aljo can probably, they'll probably be at the same weight by the time they actually get in there and wrestle. Like, yeah, let's do things like that. You know, I like that idea. Do things where you don't get in your head that you should punch people

because you're not good at it. You're pretty good at getting punched. You got punched way more than you punched. But you should disassociate yourself from the idea that you should, that you're a boxer because that ain't it. Your boxer against Sean Brady. It's the only human being your live, your boxer against who Sean Brady is a pretty limited strike.

Oh, man. Yeah, Brett and Allen won the co-mate event. Gains nothing from this. I did like that he came around on the call. He started with Sean Strickland. And I was like, don't, don't do that. And then he was like, okay, I'll run it back with him of off, which also. So that at least there's a, there's a path.

So like that is fine. He's like, I'll fight, you know, if DDP fights Usman, I'll fight the winner, which I think is fine too, but that's not going to happen because the winner's probably getting a title fight. Yeah, he's in such a weird spot, man. Like, this is, I understand, like, I totally get why he took this fight. Dude's a family man. He's got kids.

Like, he hasn't fought since October. Like, get in there and, like, he wanted to get in there and fight and make some money. Like, he even, he even, he's, he even, he's got to fight. told me when I talked to him like I was starting to get a little bit nervous like I haven't fought like I don't have big money sponsorships like I don't have all this other stuff going on like I need to fight to provide for my family and I wasn't getting fights he was supposed to at least what he told me in January he said yes to fighting DDP in April and at the Miami card and then it didn't happen and now he's got to then it was like all right now I'm going to fight this guy

didn't happen I'm going to fight this guy didn't happen and he's like all right what do you got he's like got to get shabazzie he's like all right eff it i'll fight so but again like if it's just if it's about making money great go in there and fight every month do the kevin holland thing get over in that way just fight all the time but if your goal is like to be champion of the world this is this is not this did nothing for him tonight unfortunately like yeah you took a risk but you had a competitive fight with a guy you should have submitted in the second It's crazy. But he won, he got an extra $100,000, and that's good for him.

But in terms of the title conversation, he didn't move forward at all. I will give Brin and Allen some grace in that he is in one of the more difficult positions for a guy in a good position in the UFC, right? He's top five ranked, but he's in a pretty tough spot because his top five in, like his number is, quite frankly, slightly fraudulent. Like he got it off of one. short notice win against the guy who was cutting weight for the billionth time in the span of a year and that just sort of launched him up now that he's a bad fighter but like nobody above him wants to fight him and they're they're in their own little club of we're trying to fight for the belt and so he's on the outside looking in of that so that is pretty tough especially with the

title layout and look i i told i'm with you 100% like if if you're doing this this fight was never going to be beneficial for you. If you're doing this because this is your job, I understand that. But if that's the case, like you said, Mike, then get on the mic and be like, hey, I just want to fight. Hanato Mikano needs money. Brendan

Money, Allen needs money. Like, I would like to go all in, please let me fight next week or whatever. He can be the one being like, dude, if Bo Nickel or Chris Dawkins pulls out, I will fight at the White House now. I know I'm Brazilian and Canadian, but I will

also be American for the White House. Like, you could do that. Like, that's a path you could take. I think he found the worst line through all of this, which is like, all right, you're fighting at Mr. Baysian, which is the least helpful opponent maybe you could face. You win cleanly, 30-27s, I think, all three cards. But not impressively, right, against the guy who you probably should impress more against.

And I think the callouts are bad. I think the callouts are just acting. poor, all of them, because the callout should either be, I just want to fight again, immediately give me somebody to fight so I can make money because I'm poor, or the smart callout, the reasonable one that I don't think you will get this fight, by the way, but the shoot for the moon call out that will draw the most attention is to grab the mic from Paul Felder and be like, it's fucking insane that Hamzaa Shemaya thinks he's getting a title fight. Nasrini Imov, he deserves it.

You two can settle up. Shemayev, if you're going to 205, go. But if you're not, square up because you fight like shit. And that's like what you do, because that's a fight that makes more sense than anything else he proffered. So, and then at the minimum, you've talked shit to the most famous guy in the weight class. Like, he's in a real tough spot. And so that's difficult. But, like, I don't think he's playing.

He's got bad cards, but I don't think he's playing them well. yeah i mean he did help shemaiah in that last fight he's like one of the main training partners so oh well then i'm dumb so whatever i mean i don't i don't know if that's like a permanent thing or not i'm sure like if i mean if i'm dumb hand up yeah but i mean look if they if it's not like he goes to the chicago gym they were just like hey come out and help out doesn't mean they're like permanent training partners so yeah would have been sick call about that dude then then i don't know what you're doing i don't know why you would fight with the champion of the weight class

on like a past time basis if your goal is a title fight why would you train with him? That seems dumb to me but you know, whatever. Maybe they paid him. You know, got to get paid. Like I said, he is in a tough spot but I don't.

He's never fighting Sean Strickland so that just seems like a he is fourth in line to fight Sean Strickland. Yeah, he's he's got a long road to travel as well. I think the most shocking thing of this all, and even when I talked to him about it, I was like, all right, because I asked him, I was like, what's more important? Like, just getting in there and fighting all the time. Because I was like, we talk about this all the time. Like, you get over now. Not because, like, you're a great talker, you get over because you get over, like, the breakout fighter of the year. Because he's got to fight five times. This is a third or second fight. Is it third? He's going to fight five times this year. He's going to go five and O with five first round knockouts. Like he's going to get over more than Brennan Allen does this year. This is third. He's going to fight. This is third. He's going to fight five times this year. because he's going to fight five times.

Brennan saying I'm not fighting again until October is like, okay, I was not expecting that, but okay. Like, again, he's a fighter. He didn't mention something about his knee, so maybe there's some injuries. I don't know, but, yeah, he's going to have, he's going to be on the road trying to get to this bell for a long time, man. But who knows?

Maybe he gets there. Maybe even Vothka becomes champion. or something, then, like, that opens the door a little bit. But I don't know, man. DDP doesn't really, I don't know how much that helps him. If he wins it, like, if Oostin wins the bell, like, how much does that help him? I don't know. I really don't know.

But if he can get to a title fight, it's going to be pretty wild. Tom Nolan gets a huge win. He's going to be a ranked lightweight. Come Tuesday, Bryce Mitchell, submit Santiago Luna. Good night for him. Iwo Baranuski, as you mentioned. Good night for him. Alessandro Kost.

knocks out match now in the first round. I should get retroactive fantasy points because this was one of my first picks of the first draft we did for this exact matchup, Jed, this exact fight. And we finally got it, finally paid off. I should get retroactive points. Years in the making.

Yeah. I mean, look, I'm not going to beat AK anyway, so I should still get him. Marcus McGee beat John Yannis and the fight. That went down. Edgar Shira's good win, good finish. Chelsea Chandler, shout out to her. Jaisla Chavez gets a win over Younzi Duben and Catlin Susa with the Holly Holm-esque to Rhonda Rousey head kick knocko.

That was nasty over Ariani Carnalosi. She should have got. brilliantly timed to just be barely legal. Yeah. It was very, very close. As it was happening, as in real time, she was throwing, I was like, oh, this is going to be sick. She's going to get DQ.

And it was like, oh, no, that's clean. Game over. That was nasty. So, all right, we'll take some, take a few questions, a few comments. We're not going to be here for the usual hour and 20. It's just not happening after this event. And we have like so much going on over the next week. I have to figure out to do this thing for Monday.

I still haven't. I still haven't sussed out. My tomorrow's going to be a nightmare. For what? Nothing for all. Oh, I know. Yeah. I've to figure that out.

Still haven't got it sorted. If you watched BTL like maybe six weeks ago. Yep. You, this is brought on by the BTL viewers. Uh, it's coming. It's going to happen.

It's going to be great. Uh, shout out to lazy bed. Ballal versus Ascran is more competitive than I thought, says the great lazy bed. Um, I still think it's a same thing. I mean,

I think it's competitive in that it's a shoot or a work. I don't actually, it's a work. It's a work. Yeah. The amount of concern I've seen for this match is pretty wild. Um, I see the term lose, lose being brought out a lot by a lot of people that I respect.

And I go back to like what we talked about. Like there's just there's just no world where this is like two dudes going full bore. It's just not happening. It's just not going to happen. Like there's a reason why Ballal is the guy that is wrestling Ben Ascgren. Like these two dudes know each other. They've trained together for years, for years. They're just going to go in there and have a good time.

they're going to have some fun for Ben's last role on the mats. Like that's what I think's going to happen. You imagine if Ballal goes in there and just like double legs him, just tackles Benazs, screw off the mat, like Arbor if Ballal takes this fight very serious, like this very seriously and actually Russell's hard. It would be genuinely deeply.

So it would be really funny unless it ended poorly because, again, Ben Asker had double lung transplant. I'm not a, I'm not a medical doctor. I can't imagine you want to like really overly exert yourself with two of somebody else's lungs in your body. True. But I don't know. But I will be in attendance for that.

And if something like that happens, I'll fill an assort about a hundred questions on what it feels like to have someone else's lungs. Because I've, I've spent a lot of time thinking about just like staring at my own chest and be like, could I tell? could I be like these don't these don't breathe like my lungs you know I had my lungs for 40 years or however long you had them before they left him like and he's a professional athlete doesn't feel like yeah but but like do that doesn't feel like it breathes differently like yes it you're gonna be breathing worse because you are much sicker like you're you've gone through a trauma but like if he take like once he got past the really bad parts of it now he's some level to a normal. day to day stance right not not going to be at the peak ever but like does he take like a big breath and feel like this feels like they're like a little i can get less in i just i have questions i'd like to know we'll try to live vicariously through ben askeran in uh in about a month's time in miliwakey which is algon for the good land uh ermine looking ahead to next weekend early

thoughts do you think it will go as smoothly as the ufc sphere went or do you foresee something bad happening potentially they can hinder the card in some way. It ain't going smoothly at all. You've seen the weather forecast, Mike? I looked at it and it doesn't look as bad as the acu-weather one does. Look, it's not going to be like a nightmare, but it seems really like we're going to get some level of rain. It'd be so funny.

Whether it's during the show or before, if it, either way, that place is going to be muggy. It's going to be so humid because so many bugs too, man. wet and buggy and awesome. Look, I have been transparent about what I want from this card from Jump Street. We have a roundtable coming out, I believe, tomorrow about, or maybe it's Monday. I think it's Monday. Looking ahead to the card.

And I was very transparent on that about what I hope for. And I would like the full chaos hammer to smash into this event as hard as possible. I would like thunderstorms delays, a plague of low. locust to descend. I want all of the, all of the nonsense is what I'm, I'm cheering for on Sunday. Here's the one thing, like the one thing I don't want nonsense wise is if it rains, like they're just, they're just going to wait. Like, we're not going to go old school rumble in the rock, baby. Make them fight in a slip and slide. Go here comes the boom. Here comes the boom. They're slipping inside. And I mean, I would love that, but there's no chance it does. I know.

I would first look, I'm already telling the future, okay? Even if we get perfect weather, and I mean like sunny and like San Diego-esque weather, we are going to come on the post show after we're watch partying and we're going to be like, holy shit that card would never end. Like it's seven fights and we've been here forever. It's going to be so bad. It's going to be the longest seven fight card you've ever seen in your life. It's got to be five hours long for seven fights.

Like it's going to be bad. And if we're talking rain, we're going to be, we're going to be on that watch party for seven and a half hours. If that, if we get a rain delay. An hour of fights can be great. It's going to be terrific.

It's so much fun. So I kind of hope that doesn't happen because I would like to, I would like my day to end at some point. I was just accepted that I, we will be working late into Monday morning. Yeah. Jody, Ewa Baronowski, he's only fought twice in 2026, though it's close. He fought a 323 on December 6th. Oh, okay.

Okay. I knew he'd fall a lot. Yeah, the man is correct. So then he's probably not getting six fights this year then. But five, still very doable. Five is doable. So it's still very doable. Five is doable.

A lot of people on bad weather and, uh, look, it would just be so funny. I mean, it would suck for us in a lot of practical ways, but I'm here for the walls. Like what happens? Like, what does happen if it's just like nothing but torrential downpour for hours on end? Dude, if it happens that it is like that's happening, I do wonder if they can look like if the weather forecast suddenly shifts. And it's like, so on Sunday from noon until Tuesday, it's just going to be dumping buckets. I wonder if then they do a shift to, all right, let's get to a local arena or something.

But if it just happens on the night and they're like, all right, well, it's a thunderstorm. Because I think Dana said they can go for rain, but they can't go for thunder and lightning. Yeah. So like, if it's just raining, I guess the area is covered enough that it won't get into the cage and they'll fight. But like, if they're just rolling thunderstorms forever,

and that thing is like, hey, we're waiting. God, would be the whole thing. It's such a stupid event that that feels very fitting. Does it turn into like Lionheart where all the suited politicians go into like a big fancy room and then they just fight in the big fancy room? I mean, if the UFC was fun, they would absolutely have a surprise fight taking place at this event. We would be like, so Senator Tom Cotton has been really beefing with. whoever they're going to they're going to get in and square up. Like hell yeah.

Let's go, boys. That's terrific idea. Joseph's got a bunch of questions. So I'm going to find the best one. Let's see. Let's go with... I'm going to go with this one. I was going to ask you real quick about the blah walkout music.

Joseph Dato was asked about Eddie Heard and wanting Tommy Aspen all out of his contract. Dana City is the biggest moron. What is percentage chance that Tom gets stripped before Sunday? Zero. Oh, yeah, zero. I do. Yeah, please clarify. I've had to,

I have had to watch every piece of this horrific back and forth. I think I've written like almost all the articles on the site about them talking about each other, which is I wrote with this, which is annoying. So, you know, first, I don't really, Eddie wasn't really asking for Tom to be let out of his contract.

He's more like, well, if Dana's, if you're saying X, Y and Z, Dana let him out of his contract. I'll show you how much money you can make, which is a dumb thing to say,

I'm not defending Eddie in this regard. Then Dana was like, okay, why don't you let Bam Rodriguez out of you see you're dumb, which actually isn't, that's like not a good answer. Like, why don't you do this thing,

which is not the same. but you didn't even respond. I'm just calling you dumb, which is bad. But the more elucidating part of it was this week, Eddie was like, I'm not going to let Tom fight on his current UFC contract because I think he's not getting paid for shit, which is probably pretty true. Having not looked at the contract,

I'm still just going to guess that it's true. And Dana did answer that, and this was not pulled by the clip farmers. It was just like, what are you going to do? if Eddie won't let him fight, I can't make people fight, get what I can't do it or whatever, which really drives to the point of this whole thing. Dana holds all the cards,

and he can just be like, you can fight for your contract, or you can choose to not fight forever. That's just how Dana will play this. And so that sucks for Tom. That is the sport. And I don't know that Eddie Hearn recognizes that. Or he's just trying to play a public PR

battle that he's like nominally winning but it doesn't matter like it you you are winning something that is next to meaningless so it's all very dumb this is the worst feud in the history of combat sports i'm so sick of it i will give i do not know the man the young man who's doing it um all of dana's stuff came from the zufa post show um which was a tough watch um truly some of the most spineless sycophantic humans that I've ever heard speak and your parents should actively be ashamed of you like I mean this with all sincerity

with absolutely maybe you just don't have them and in that case I'm sorry for you but like to the person who asked Dana White at that thing and I'm paraphrasing only very slightly what do you say to the haters who said you couldn't bring a fight card to England or whatever

like is this a good thing like rethink your whole fucking life your whole fucking life rethink it because you nothing you're doing is a value and you're a bad person and I'm not saying I'm here to hold anybody's feet to the fire but I am not

my nose stays firmly not up somebody's ass so far you can see it peeking out when they yawn you know like goddamn that was embarrassing to be a part of there was a young man who tried to ask some pretty good questions and follow up. And Dana was very dismissive of him.

That's sort of where he got some of these answers. So credit to that dude. But yeah, like this is, we know what's happening here. He's not going to strip Tom because why would he? That only helps Tom. He's just going to, they'll have an interim champion forever.

They don't care. Yeah. They're not going to strip. And Eddie's not, and again, it's important to note, Eddie is not Tom's like fight manager. Eddie is like his business manager. So if like Rolex wants to do a sponsorship deal with Tom Aspital, they call Eddie Hearn to get that squared away.

Like it's pretty clear in like the releases and all this stuff. Like Eddie Hearn is not like negotiating fight deals for Tom Aspinall. Unless that relationship has changed since the signing. But Tom's dad like handles all that stuff. Like he's the guy. He's the manager. Eddie is like the business end because Tom's dad. probably can't handle that.

And that's fine. I couldn't handle that shit either. I would need somebody to do that for me. And that's what it is. But unless Tom's dad's like, hey, you're running the show for everybody, then okay.

But I'm so tired of it. You could tell, like, wouldn't surprise me of like Dana's on the phone with Eddie Heard right now. And they're like, we're cooking these people. They believe it all.

They're buying into this whole thing. I don't. They keep, I would, I really wish a human being would ever ask Dana the question that should have been asked at that where he, because he just went in on Eddie and was like, you're stupid and dumb and ugly and I hate your shoes

or whatever dumb shit he said, I don't know. And I just want somebody to be like, hey, do you remember when you suggested you should box Eddie Hearn? You started this and Eddie was like, bet, and then you were like, that's a ridiculous thing. Why would we do that? at one point in the presser he got indignant with the guy who because the guy asked him was like so several boxing into Eddie Hearn and whoever else it was I don't remember

have said that you were not involved in promoting the AJ Tyson Fury fight and he was like do you think I would just lie like why would I lie about that I was like I have seen you lie many times you've you've said outright untruths constantly like yes I do think that you would I don't know if you are doing that here, but why the, you are implying that they are lying. So why, why does that not the exact same situation for them of,

do you think they would just lie? Like you, it's, I don't, I don't care for it. And I wish, I wish if we're going to be doing this stupid thing, everybody would just be like,

Dana, I need you to acknowledge that you picked a fight. He said yes, and you backed out. And that's fine. You're right. You are, you know,

pushing 60 and shouldn't fist fight people. you also shouldn't say you're going to fist fight somebody if you're not going to do it. Like do that. It is, it's so, I cannot be more done with everything about this ongoing story.

It's going to happen forever. And I cannot, like, it is not a coincidence that Dana White gets into a public feud with every heavyweight champion he has. And it is, it is like clockwork. And it's, I'm just,

so I leave, just leaves the sport, man, you don't even want to be here anymore. My life would be better. We'd all be happier. Go home. Jay, what on the fence about going to the fan fest? Nah, you should probably go.

If you're in, like, if you got the, because it's free, right? You had it, you had a raffle, get it in a raffle and get it. Like, if you got tickets, you should absolutely go. If you're,

yeah, if you're there, if you live there, why not? Like, it's a, get a free show, like. I'm as critical of the UFC, I think as many,

as most as anyone. I have always said they do a pretty good live experience. If you are a fan, you know, I think they do a good live experience. That will be certainly a unique one that, you know, you're not going to tell your kids that you stayed up to watch UFC Vegas 118 and hang out with us on the post show and we love you for it. But that ain't going to be something the grandkids are talking about as you huddle around the Christmas fire, you know?

But maybe the fan experience, one is something that you and your friends can talk about. Like if you're going with your friends or all, like, yeah, remember that was really cool day. That's, if it's not going to put you out to go, I encourage you to do so. Yeah, I think it's free. I think, like, you had, you had a fill out and try to get, get selected for, like, the lottery or whatever. And if you got picked and you end up getting tickets, like, you should definitely go. I would, I'd go. Absolutely.

Johnny, could Belal Mohammed's walk out to Splish Splash have been satire for next week's weather forecast? Seems unlikely. I don't know what that was about, though. I thought it was quite funny. I mean, yeah, it was. I just don't have any idea why, but sure. Yeah. More people should have weird, funny things for walkouts.

Like one of the only three times you're allowed to have any personality in the sport, try. Uh, da, da, da, I was told by a source that for a big time UFC event, 150 credentialed media is a lot. As of yesterday, UFC White House at 425. 150 is a fairly high number. I wouldn't say it's like an overly high. but it's it's up there um uh that 425 i don't believe um i bet it's i mean i bet it's up there it's also it's also just gonna i jose is doing it this week i think it's just going to be pretty actively different because unlike we need to have these spots in arena i don't know

what they're doing with the media um i mean it you're going to this is going to be the only event in the history of the u. that gets real media that's not sports and specifically MMA focused media like Fox, CNN, fucking MSNBC, Al Jazeera,

fucking everybody will be there because it's an event on the lawn of arguably the most famous building in the world. Like it will have a broad, broad press implications. And that press will not be like, Justin Gagey got knocked out, It'll be like, how did we end up in a world where fist fights happen?

Like, this is the set of idiocry on the White House lawn. And some dude took his pants off and said his balls was hot. You know, like, how is this America? Like, that's what that media will be there for. Yeah. I mean, there's also like, they're doing a radio row too. So I bet there's like a good chunk of people who will be like, wouldn't shock me of like Pat McAfee is doing a show like there.

I would bet. And like shows like that. So much money that Pat McAfee will be doing a show. Like the Jim Rome show will probably be there. So like all those. You want that he will be there. Yeah. So like all those shows have multiple people.

Lots of production, all that stuff. So like they're bringing 15, 20 people more than likely. So yeah. I mean, would not surprise you if the number is that high because of all the different things going on. But you know, you also get your,

you know, what do we call the Nelks? What do we call the Aidan Rosses? all the streamers. Like, they're probably in that same category, essentially, but they'll get different access

because they're buddies with Dana and play blackjack with them and back or out with them. So, um, I don't know. Apparently Dana has invited many people to be his guest and they're like, no.

That's my favorite headline. Mario Lopez saying no is like really surprised. My favorite headline of the week. She's been like, look, man, I love the UFC. I don't want to do that. No the rock, no Mario Lopez.

That's crazy. I mean this in the most straightforward, non-political way of all time. 100%. Going to that event would not. It would be cool to say you went like 20 years down the line. Nobody in the actual like inner circle of fights that is going to be a miserable experience.

I'm just so confident that that's not. It's going to be outside. It's going to be hot. It's going to be muggy. It might rain on your ass. The fights are largely going to be one-way traffic, and you will be watching them with people who do not care about them at all. It will just not be a good experience to attend.

Yeah. I'm actually like, people are like, oh, why? I was talking like family members and friends. So like, oh, you're traveling next week, right? I'm like, yeah. Like, you're going to the White House? It goes now. They're like, where are you going?

Like, going to St. Louis? like for what like to cover a wrestling event like you'd rather go to st louis to cover a wrestling event than go to the white house i'm like yeah i would i'm like so much happier that i'm doing this i'm gonna go and watch hamzot throw dylan like power bomb dylan danis into the stands i'm gonna watch tony fergus and armin surruki at a press conference like that is gonna be way more fun to me and you know what i've already talked to half the fucking card anyways so like what else am i going to do i've already talked to most of these guys uh by the way Alex prayer dropping tomorrow Josh hoakit Monday Derek Lewis amin Zahabi Diego Lopez all coming this week so uh yeah gonna be a good

time gonna be a good time i think we're gonna have to sit in the rain with like a wet marco rubio who is being forced to watch this event because it's his job yeah they're not gonna be at the fuck like we're probably gonna be probably have to be at the hotel where like the the the beatie is going to be afterwards. Like, I don't even know how the whole thing is going to be set up. But I mean, Jose's going to be there. He's the right man for the job.

And, uh, yeah, I'll be in St. Louis. I'm going to leave St. Louis first thing Sunday morning. I'm going to fly my happy ass home. And then Jed's going to come over. We're going to do a watch party. There we're going to go.

8 p.m. Eastern is when this thing starts. Seven fights. Diego Lopez. Steve Garcia. We'll be done at 8 a.m. Monday morning. That's when we'll be done. Yeah, which means that there's a significant rain delay and funny things would happen. What literally is the funniest result besides Justin Gachi beating Iliate's Boria?

Like, what is the funniest thing that can happen? The actual funniest thing that happened to me is, I mean, if the whole event got canceled would genuinely be the funny thing that happened. If like lightning happened or whatever. and they were just like we can't fight there's a lightning storm happening and so Ilya and Justin Gates you're just like in the Oval Office just be like

you want to just fight here like what do you want how do you want to do this or whatever and then of course I'm trying to will this into existence Derek Lewis taking his pants off on the White House

law and not getting like tackled like at any point in the 200 150 years of American history. There hasn't been a White House that whole time, but however in the 220 whatever years it's been that we've had a White House, at any point during that,

if a man, particularly a man who looks like Derek Lewis, took his pants off on the White House lawn, he would be tackled by no less than 13 Secret Service members. And instead, he might do it in front of the President of the United States who will laugh and clap and everybody will go, Yay. He'll get a congressional medal of honor.

He'll get a medal of honor for that performance. He will get, yes. And I think it will be the funniest thing in the world if a man takes his pants off on the White House lawn. And nobody, because can you imagine sitting next to the Al Jazeera reporter and like whoever's from MSNBC? And these people have no idea what sort of side show is about to come into their universe. And this like very studious person who got all A's and went to Yale and like wrote for the Princeton newspaper is just watching Derek Lewis take his pants off, shake the hand of the president and say my balls is hot. On the like with the background being what's supposed to be the most respectable building in this nation, scenes. I have a standing ovation.

I'll be the best. I can't wait for this. It's got to be a good time. it's going to be so so dumb so dumb. Are you as excited as I am for June 15th? I cannot want this to be over more if my light like I don't know there are many things I want more than this to be over. Yeah. I mean we're going to have fun watching it but I'm ready to talk about something else.

I really truly am and uh but until then. I'm ready to maybe not speak about Ilya or have to hear him pop because the last six months he has not shut the fuck up I'm tired of it. It's got to be a good week, everybody, for Jed. I am Mike Eck. Thank you for watching. Good night, everybody. Support for the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost.

That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-Four-Free at O-D-O-D-O-O-O-com.