MMA Fighting - UFC Vegas 41 Post-Fight Show | Reaction To A Classic Between Vettori and Costa

Episode Date: October 24, 2021

Marvin Vettori outlasted Paulo Costa in an absolute classic in the main event of Saturday's UFC Vegas 41 event at the APEX. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Alexander K. Lee and E. Casey Leydon react to the five-round light heavyweight battle, along with the top storylines from the event. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix Colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-by journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. MMA. MMA. We saw. MMA. MMA.

Worst rap song ever as we welcome you to the UFC Vegas 41 post fight show here on MMA fighting.com. I hope you guys enjoyed what seemed like the longest event ever. I mean, it just seemed at times like this is a very long day and a very long card. But it's over and it ended with Marvin Vittori getting the victory over a surprisingly much more game than I thought he would be. Pola Costa. So props to Paula Costa. That was a great fight. Great main event. It delivered to the level of what this insane fight week was really all about, if we're being honest. And we're here to talk to all of you about what happened. You guys can join in on the conversation. I am Mike Hack. We got the Prince of Positivity. Alexander Cayley in the building. You look worn out from a... Are we going to talk? It's been a long day. Are we going to talk Bellator at all as well? Belator? Yeah. We can't. All right. I'm sending out a fire tweet. I got to go my hashtags are right, guys. I got on my hashtag. Okay. All right. All right. I'm giving it equal billing. Equal billing. All right. Equal billing. And we have E. Casey Lydin here. Casey, how are you doing, my man? I'm, I just saw 6,000 fights and I'm still coherent because it ended with a weekend barn burner of a fight. And so it ended well. It ended well.

So I'm good. Good mood. Good mood. It was a great, it was a great fight. The most important question of all, because I don't know the answer to this. Did I win the picks? Oh, God. I just so bad.

I think I won. I think I won, right? I will check right now. Hold on. Let's make this official. I will check right now. It was a very big deal right now. It was ugly for all of us early on, through the prelims.

Through the prelims, it was not great for the M.A. I don't think, I don't think anybody. got above 500, but I think I got one like completely perfect pick and that might have put me over the top. All right. According to topologies, no,

Jedmishu won. Of course. Jedmishu wins. Evil, Jedmishu. Eight and not great, eight out of 14, so just above 500. But yes, eight out of 14. He had two perfects actually. He had two perfect. Jedmishu wins again. I finish in dead last. I was in

dead last on our picks. This was tough. God. Darn it. The prelims got me good. Well, let's start with this main event. It was fun. Vitori came out looking intense. Paul Costa looked like he was about to pick up a Buick and throw it through the cage. Of course, Costa just eyeballs Vittori the entire time. He sprints to the cage and then he gets in. Security's got to separate him. This is exactly what we had hoped for. Yeah. And then the two guys went in there and had 25 minutes in absolute war. So, AK, your thoughts on the main event in Martin Vittori's hard fought win over Paula Costa.

That was a war. That felt like a long fight at the top of a long card, but like in a good way. You know, it wasn't a pretty fight. You know, it wasn't a pretty fight. But not all ugly fights are bad. This was an ugly fight in like the best way. It was just so nasty and gritty. And like everything was hard hitting.

It felt like they threw so many shots and connected that would have landed. sorry, that would have ended other fights, especially, Vitori definitely took like a clean head kick. He was eating those rib roasters you guys are always talking about. Like, I thought any one of those body shots was going to drop him at any second. You know what I mean? I thought it's one of the things like, you keep taking them, you keep taking them. And it seems that you can take the whole fight, just takes one to just completely put you down.

I thought it was coming at any moment. I mean, somehow he made it through and persevered and won the fight. It was just awesome. And, yeah, it's rare that you, I think you have a fight that's that entertaining. but also feels like I felt for me it felt like longer than 25 minutes or even counting the breaks longer than like 35 however long a five-round fight actually takes it in real time it felt longer than that but it felt so it so fun to watch so that was a unique made of that I can't I don't know if I have a comparison to that right now but um right now I think one of the best fights we've

seen this year oh yeah yes yes I would agree with that it was a great fight and I was on the live blog for that fight and before the first punch was even thrown I already had like a paragraph and a half written just due to the shenanigans before the fight. So it was an excellent live blog. These two guys delivered. It was an incredible fight. Casey, your thoughts on the action. Because you were right.

Costa targeted the body, which he's very effective with. Vitori is as tough as they come. He's got the quote unquote blockhead, a la Israel Adasanya, as he liked to state so poetically. But like Michael Bisbing said, you can only take so many shots to the body before they start, you know, really affecting you and can take you out of the fight. And there are times, especially later on, especially in that fifth round

where I was like, man, he can't take many more of these. And Vittory very smartly clenched up and just sort of rode out the rest of the fight very wisely, in my opinion. And it was just a great fight, man. Your thoughts on it and the performances from both guys. The positives, first off,

yeah, great performance from both fighters, obviously. Just, yeah, we saw one of the fights of the year tonight this afternoon. Yeah, I'm just kind of soaking it all in. It was just Just a good, fun, gritty, sweaty fight with just hunks of bones and muscles being thrown it across the cage. Now, my prediction coming into this fight, I was kind of the weird one.

I said that I had, I picked Costa to win by actually body shots in the second round. And I don't feel bad of that pick. What I didn't, what I did, what I underestimated was we knew Marvin Vittori had a block head, but he just has a block body. I mean, he, like, like, like Bisbing said, those feel like he, those feel like, uh, Kossu was like slamming into tie pads full, full speed, full, full technique. And, um, Victoria's just eating them, eating him, eating him, eating him, eating him, eating him, and eating him. And I don't understand how he never really even crumpled, never even did one of those, you know, it was just, um, just dang incredible fight. And, uh, this being, I mean, commentators say way too much. This guy's as tough as they come.

I will give that to Vittori. Vittori is in that category. He is as tough as they come. Nothing really rocked him. A couple of things slowed him down a bit. Nothing really rocked him. The guy's in incredible shape. Even just, I would say, you know, just,

Bisbing said, toward the fourth round, he said, thank God these men didn't have to dehydrate themselves because what we're seeing here is kind of what these men, a lot of fighters have the full potential to give us in the cage, but because of the dehydration process and everything, you know, sometimes we don't get that fight, but I feel like we got in terms of just pure excitement and just output just the maximum from each of these fighters.

So just, no round of applause for both men. And yeah, just great fight. And good in Victoria. I actually scored it a draw, but that's a, we can discuss that later. How did you score that a draw? Like two and two? Two and two rounds each and then one.

No, no, no, the round. Three rounds for Costa. Three rounds for Costa. Yeah, three rounds for Costa. Yeah. The fight was scored three rounds to two rounds for Vittori, right? With the point deduction. Yeah.

That's how I scored her. Yeah, and the round, I assume, and the reason to me why Costa lost the fight was that stupid guillotine he went for, I think in the third round, a round that he was winning and he went for that guillotine. Both men were super sweaty. Vittory easily slipped out of it and finished the last 90 seconds of that round on top. He didn't do too much damage, but I felt, I guess the judges and most of the media members went with giving Vittori that round. But up until then, I thought Costa had won that round.

And even though he lost the Gaieteen tip, Vittori didn't do anything on top. There was just a little couple peppering shots. There was no damage done. I felt that the, what do you call it? all the work that Vitori all the work that Costa did up until that guillotine choke until the last 90 seconds, I thought that still won the round. I get why people have Vittori taking that round. I'm not like,

but that's why it gave it, that's why it would have been a three two for Costa and then being a draw with the point deduction. But I get, I'm not, I'm not going, I'm not screaming robbery or like, you know, like that. I'm just,

that's, that was my, that was my interpretation of that. round, but I get, I get it. It was, but it was a dumb guillotine. It was a dumb guillotine. There was no reason to go for it. And, yeah, that's, that sucked that Costa did that. Yeah, it was, I thought Fetori was probably winning at that point. But, I mean, listen, it just depends on how you scored at.

I thought Fittori landed quite a few, definitely way more. Costa, when he landed, I mean, especially when he was going to the body, the body kicks ratting up. But it's one of the fights too. I think that's, I think, I think, Victoria landed the cleaner shot. for sure. Yeah, I mean, obviously the takedown was big. The ground and pound was big.

It kind of like even things up. And then, yeah, him going for the guillotine of the dars, whatever he was trying to go for at the time. Yeah, it kind of just foiled all that momentum. And I agree. Like this is one of those fights where I think statistically it looked like Costa, sorry, Vittori had a lot more significant strikes. But I felt that all the, if there were like regular strikes,

significant strikes and really significant strikes, I mean, like Costa won the really significant strikes. that really significant strikes by a lot. And, um, but either way, super good fight. I have no issue of Vittori taking the decision. And, um, I'm not even like going to say anyone was wrong. I'm not even going to, I'm not even trying to sell it or anything. But, um, no, it's just a great fight, man.

I was just, I was super excited because that card was, that kind of sucked and the main event saved it. That's all. This is, this is what fully hydrated or is just a more hydrated, undepleted bodies look like, you know, the way they can perform because I guarantee if this happens I don't ask a guarantee I think there's a much much much more likely if this happens at 185 Vittori might get knocked out or vice versa or or Costa is too drained and he gets to down and pounded or something yeah like it's a different fight it's a different

fight at 85 yeah yeah and as you mentioned this the on the on the post pre-fight Q&A and and preview Casey that 20 pounds is the biggest difference between divisions 185 and 205 that's a lot that's a massive massive difference And again, it could have been a similar fight at 185, but I think the likelihood of either guy getting finished was so much higher. So I hope fighters see this. I know it's not going to change anything. I'm not naive.

But I do hope people realize, like, man, when you fight at a higher weight, as long as, you know, it's a little more, you're not a tiny, like, you know, 155, 175, whatever it is. As long as, like, if you are extreme weight cutting, I do, it has, I feel like it has to be worse to you in the long run. And I hope people see this as evidence of that. but I don't know. I think it'll just be an outlier

and we're all just not going to, you know, we'll remember all the controversy, but not necessarily the benefits they might have had from not cutting down to 185. This is one of those events where, I mean, oftentimes, like,

I don't really want to hear from Dana White, but today would have been a good day to hear from Dana White. Like, just to hear his response to Paul Costa and the fight, like if Costa's performance sort of negated the BS throughout the fight week, I mean, who knows? I would have to hear what he has to say,

but unfortunately, probably have to wait till next week when they're in Abu Dhabi, and Jose, I believe, is already on his way out to Abu Dhabi to get you ready for UFC 267. So great main event. Vitori wins.

We'll see what's next for him. There's some interesting fights at 1d.D5 for him. He's not going to the belt anytime soon, but a good win nonetheless. Wait, before we jump off real quick, a big talking point before the fight was cost is going to lose, and then the UFC is going to come.

cut him. They're going to like, we're done of this. We don't want to deal with a shenanigans. I said, that ain't happening, no matter what. After that fight, that ain't happening. What do you think? I mean, there was a lot of discussion about that. You, right? I was with you. I was with you. I was, I was definitely more critical of Costa's, like, behavior. Like, I'm still, like, annoyed by it. But I also, but I was like, he, I didn't feel he inconvenienced the UFC that much. And, again, he's probably moving up to 205 anyway. Yeah. So it's no, it's no big sweat off their back. It's unfortunate. I think it's unprofessional.

It makes me think less of Costa. Do I think it makes the UFC think less of them? No. And especially after this performance, again, we said Anthony Rumble Johnson was a guy who came with way more baggage, had more weight issues than Costa's had. And they kept him around for a long time after he finally moved up to 205. So is Costa as good as him? I don't know.

Maybe not. But he's been in some very entertaining. I think he's almost always an entertaining fights except when he got smoked by Izzy. And I'm sure that was entertaining. Which was entertaining. In another way. So, yeah, I think as long as he goes up to 205, I see him being there for him there for a while. Yeah, I didn't, I mean, I understand the Rumble Johnson comparison,

but we have to understand that those are in two completely different times in the sport. Business was in a much different place that back then than it is now. This is pre-contender series. This is pre-looking for a fight. This is pre-short-notice calls, pre-Apex, pre-pandemic, where you see a lot of every week cutting these guys. Yeah, they have no issue cutting these guys in lieu of 10 and 10 contracts coming out the contender series.

Like they could do that much different time now. I will say this. I don't think Costa gets cut because of this fight. Had he gotten drubbed out, that was my point. If he goes out there and just gets rolled by Marvin Vitori after all this, then yes, I think he would have. And there were points early in that fight where Costa was breathing heavy. Even in the first round, I was like, oh boy. this is not good.

This could be really, really bad. And Costa just kept going, which is a testament to him and his heart and his grid. And good on him, man. It was just a great fight. I don't think it negates everything, but it definitely leaves us with a better taste in our mouths that we had probably coming in. So I don't think we've got bonuses yet, but any guesses? Oh, by the way, since this is a 205-pound fight, could that fight win fight of the night? Or are they just taking it off the table?

I think it should. I think because it wasn't technically like, miss or anything. He didn't miss weight. They didn't miss weight. He didn't miss weight. He didn't know what he missed anything. He didn't think he'll get 50 G's for this. He should. I think he would be. I think he will. I think he will. Or actually, if Ritori might get the 400, which is good for him, good for him. No, I mean, look, I hated how Paulo the genius costa, I went about this. But, but, but if the contracts, if the contracts were changed and he, I mean, yes, he gave up the 20%, which which does make it seem like a weight miss, but technically it's not.

And the contracts were changed. Before the Wayans, before the Wayans, it wasn't changed after the Wayans. Yeah. I know. It sucks, but he should be eligible. I think it's fair if he's eligible for a bonus. And again, I'm only saying that obviously because the fight was so amazing. If it was a boring fight or something, then, and like he got like a big knockout,

I'd probably go the other way with it. But the fight was awesome. Yeah, I think he's eligible for another 50 G's. Well, we'll see what happens. That was a great fight. The only other one that probably could contend would be Mason Jones, David O'Nama. That was a really good. It was a good fight.

Incredible fight. So that might end up getting it. Otherwise, what are you guys? Yeah, what do you guys think? Bonuses, yeah. I'm gonna go. Jeff Molina. I'm gonna go Cesaris.

I'm gonna go Cesaris. I'm gonna go Giacarous and Rodriguez. Gregory Rodriguez. I think that was pretty dang good. Oh, am I missing anything? Like, uh, ooh. Gou Mariano? There was some good finishes.

Oh, Joe, Jai Herbert. I say his name. I'm saying, I think Jai Herbert. Yeah. Not, not. Jaya Bear, as we wish it was, you know, it is Jai Herbert. Yeah, Jaya Bear and. Yeah, Jaya Habeer and, oh, wait, geez, I don't know.

There's a lot of options, actually, for performances, honestly. I'm going to say Herbert, Herbert and Rodriguez, and then Vittoria Costa fight in the night. Yeah, that's my guest. Ah, man. Mike? Yeah, I'm intrigued. I don't know what they're going to do. I don't know what they're going to do.

Do they give the main event the fight of the night? Do they penalize Paul Costa and give the full 100K Tamarvatori? That would say a lot. The bonuses are in. The bonus are in. Oh, boy.

I'll read them out. This is wild. This is wild. Go on. Oh, boy. Let's go. Let's go. Okay.

Just read them out. Just read about. Fight of the night, Park versus Rodriguez. I don't mind that. It's a pretty good fight. But surprising. Over Jones and Onama? That's wild.

Over Jones and Onama, I don't know. And then performance is Casaris. Okay. And Votori, the very rare decision win performance bonus. That is clearly sending a message to Costa, 100%. Not that he's not, not that he doesn't deserve it. I think Votori does deserve performance bonus, but you never see them give performance bonuses for decision wins.

That's a very clear. And a competitive decision win. I've seen performance. Yeah, but a competitive decision wins. that's a very clear sign. That's the clearest sign we've seen yet that they were not happy with... And by the way, Dana White is apparently there.

All right. Yes, I think Brett's talking to him. I don't know if he's going to speak to the media as a whole, but he said the fight tonight, according to Brett Okamoto, the fight tonight only happened because of Marvin Vittori. He says he doesn't have a reason why Paul Costa came in heavy, but gives us a lot of credit for, quote, fighting his ass off tonight.

So there you go. That's classic. Dana just right down the middle takes a shot, gives cost a little bit of praise, and we're right smack in the middle. So I guess Dana is going to the presser, so we'll see what's going on.

And I'm trying to see what the reaction to the... Oh, sorry, but Vittori, so Votori got a performance bonus, and Kassaros got a performance bonus, and then they gave fight of the night to Rodriguez and Jung. Young, Jung Park, excuse me.

I think it's interesting. It's weird, right? they didn't give Nick I can't say his last name Nick McGill Mariano yeah he didn't get any he didn't win a performance bonus even though I thought that should have been

a no contest honestly but that's a but since it was ruled that a knockout I felt he should have gotten the performance bonus but the rules for performance bonuses make zero sense for me like the logic each week it's the most inconsistent thing in the sport to be honest

I see lot of people saying thank you i see a comment thank you dana for not rewarding a cheater so a lot of people kind of okay with him not getting a bonus so like i said i don't know how i feel about it he paid the penalty for it is like he's whatever whatever i got everyone's going they're going everyone m-a fans saw an amazing fight and he still want to be grumpy good whatever yeah uh the one thing we can get from dana at the presser is costa is it going to be a two or five pounder moving forward. I'm sorry.

Ish no surprise. Yeah, cost to stay and two of five. Dana says. Dana says. Oh, Dana says. Data says. Well, you know what?

But they're the ones that, they're the ones that make the contracts. They, if Paulus, if, uh, Paulo says that he wants to fight at 185, the UFC goes, no, you're fighting at 205. And that's, that's the UFC's discretion.

So, uh, yeah, if Dana says it, that's probably, and that's the only thing that makes sense. It's the only thing that makes sense. How often does that happen, though? How often do we know that that has happened? Where they've actually said told someone,

know you're fighting at this weight class. Like I guess we can assume in some places that happen, but as far as we know, we don't know like when it's actually happened, right? No, but you can mean, they fight, they fight for Dana and the UFC. They're the ones that make the contracts,

you know, it's not, you can't. Oh, we've seen, but we've seen it before. Oh, yeah,

yeah, like, we say it all the time. And then they go like, ah, we talked about it and they said they've changed their camp and they changed up their diet. And I've given them another chance of this weight class.

So, I mean, that could easily happen with Costa. But honestly, Don't we want to see Costa at 205? I feel like that's... Yes. That just feels better.

It just feels like Costa versus... I hope Dana does put a foot down. Yeah. Yeah, Costa versus Anthony Smith. You know, it'd be fun. You know, Anthony Smith, former 85 or, you know, things like that. Tiago Santos. Yeah, too.

85ers who have had a lot of success at 205. Who knows? Costa might be one of them. We don't know yet. Yeah. John Jones never made an event again. Amanda Nunes never made an event again. Exactly.

Exactly. They both made an event again. So that was the main event, fun fight. Interesting co-main event. It was the Grant Dawson show for 10 minutes. And then Ricky Glenn bounces back with the big third round. And ends up getting a 10-8 on two of the judge's scorecards and gets a draw. Now, I don't have an issue with the 10-8, no issue whatsoever.

I was a little puzzled by the 10-8. I just didn't see it. I thought it was a dominant round. I didn't see a 10-8. Honestly, what I think gave Ricky Glenn the 108 more than his actual round was after the, was after the round. That's it. That's it. You got to get up, bro.

You got to get up. He made everybody pay attention to Grant Dawson on the ground being labored. James Kraus gets in there. He lifts Grant Dawson up. He gives him a hug. Grant Dawson gives the thumbs up with his back against the cage. But Ricky Glenn just calling attention to that moment saying you got to get up. He got everyone's attention, including the judges.

And two of them were like, you know what? right. That's 10-8, bro. The veteran savvy, Ricky, the gladiator Glenn, with that, just not even in the fight. The last 10 seconds after the horn sound, that's a game that's a drama, in my opinion. Absolutely.

Showmanship. Showmanship should be, an unwritten part of the criteria. Showmanship. Yeah. No, drama. Yeah, we always see that after the fight's over. We hear the coaches, raise your arms, raise your arms. Look like you won the fight. Don't look tired. And this was just, yeah, this was kind of a little different, but,

Yeah, Ricky Glenn going. Because if Rick and again, just let's go, walks away, holds his arms up, it just looks like Grant Dawson's tired. That's all. But the fact that he said, get up, get up. And Grand Dawson's like, uh, you know? Just, it was just, yeah, great, great. I scored it a 10-8 before that, but I think that really sold the deal. And that, yeah, yeah, I definitely agree that was a 10-8 round and the judges and Rick again.

Ricky Glenn, yeah, sold it. You're 100% correct, Mr. Heck. Thank you. Wow. Jessica Rose Clark comes back with the win. It wasn't one right home about. Workman-like. You got it done.

Work-woman-like. Get that winner's bonus. Get that winners bonus. Oh, we're going on the, on the, sorry, but the co-main event, as much as I want to draw, it freaking sucks that the only real winners are the UFC because both fighters only get their show money and they don't get like any of their win money. And I think that sucks and, but former union and change those rules, guys. So otherwise, yeah.

Agreed. Alex Casares wins. I think, was that the only one who picked Alex Casares in our picks? But I did. Trinaldo split decision after losing a point. We talked about. Yeah, that was. That was too predictable.

Quick first round finish. Gregory Rodriguez, good comeback win in that second round because he was in deep trouble against Gen Yon Park. Mason Jones, David Onama, incredible fight. Props to David Onama. Just less than a week's notice comes in and puts on a classic. I can't wait to see what he does at 145. So talented.

She good win. Yep. Jamie Pickett. First UFC win. Again, not a tremendous fight. Jai Herbert, first UFC win. Kamalworthy, interesting. Someone tweeted me.

I don't know if anybody else heard this who was watching very closely, but apparently like after the finish, Kamalworthy said to the referee is like basically had a lethal weapon moment where he's like, I'm 35, I'm too old for this shit kind of a thing. And so we'll see where he goes from there.

Jeff Ballina, great win. Definitely somebody to watch it, 125 pounds. Random Marcos with a fire. She looked good. That was a clear win. Saved her job. Saved her job.

She sure did. 11 and 11. Martinez picked things off with a nice performance over Ziviad Lazichvili. Things got a little hairy for Mr. Martinez. Yeah, as the dog. As an underdog. As an underdog. An undefeated fighter.

But good win for John McInaz. He's a good fighter. I don't give gambling advice. I don't give gambling advice, but I will tell people, watch, look at people's pre-big-show records. Please, if you're, like, I know, I'm just undefeated guys. I know it was cool. Up until he was in the LFA, Lajzvili, I think he started off like 8-0,

all against guys with zero and zero records. So that's a big time. Now, the two guys who beat in LFA were pretty good. But guys, you got to watch for that stuff. So I'm glad Jonathan Martinez won because I actually picked something right for once. It was a repetitive. It was such a long time ago, but that was a competitive fight, right? Yeah, yeah.

But I think a lot of people without like a, like, like, I thought, because this guy's a big wrestling, you know, reputation that thought, oh, he's going to take him down, he's going to, you know, submit him. And that was a stand-up fight for the most part, and John Martinez looked great. I'm trying to see what Paul Costa is saying right now. Oh, he says it believes Marvin Vittori won the first round. No, no, he's not going to make it to leave you right now.

Second round, referee took one point from the card. Oh, we didn't talk about that, yeah. The third, fourth and fifth round. I won clearly, he says. I don't understand that. Why they give the victory to Marvin Vittori. Congratulations for Marvin. He did a great job.

But Costa felt feels like he won rounds three, four, and five. Which I don't agree with. But what could you do? I had Costa, I did not have a winning round four, though. I didn't have him winning round four. Did you have him running round five? I had him winning round five. Okay.

I had him winning the second. Yeah. Technically, it was 9-9. I gave the 9-9 second, and I gave Kasa the fifth. So really the only round that were... Did you guys hear... debate, any, any, um, disagreement is round three. That's really any, is round three.

Yeah, okay. Yeah. Did you guys hear any warning? Did you guys hear a warning before he took the point? But the point, from what Herzog was saying, he said he was warning him about grabbing Vittori's gloves. Yes. Did you guys hear any of that, though? Like, did you guys hear it on the broadcast?

I was live blogging, so I wasn't really paying attention too much to what the referee was saying. But Herzog's one of the best of the business. So if he says that he warned, that he warned Costa, I completely believe that he did. Yeah. I would too. I actually disagree. Disagree of the point deduction, but I thought, the reason why is because if you watch the replay, I think when he was throwing the kick, he had his hand out, which is normal.

But Tori was moving in, and like they kind of ran into each other. And when he was having his hand out for a kick. It's okay. He deducted the point. I didn't really agree with it. I didn't think the earlier warning was maybe loud enough. I didn't see, I was watching. I was paying pretty close.

attention and I didn't see any warning and so and Herzog is still the best ref I just didn't agree of that but he's still the best ref he took two points I know that yeah do you know how I know this fight is not a robbery um just looking at the comments we have people from both sides saying a draw is crazy and we have people saying uh Costa uh that Costa winning is crazy so thank you commenters for I think the fact that you have you have two sides while saying the other side is crazy shows I guess it's pretty, then the call was fair because, yeah, it's obviously divided. It's controversial. Controversial.

I mean, we're talking about it. It's a controversial decision, sure, but robbery, I don't think so. Yeah, I wouldn't do the robbery thing. The point deduction, the point deduction stinks, but like, at least in my card, it didn't affect the fight because I still had Vittori winning three of the rounds. It would have been 48, 47 with the point. You know what I mean? Because, yeah. But Costa still would have won the round.

He just would have got one extra point, and he still would have lost the fight. nice, but so there you go. That's the UFC card. We should talk, however, about Fjodor, Emilianenko with the walk-off. Everything about, like, I watched it on my computer, kind of like on the side eye,

but I was listening to it. Everything about that fight was great. Tim Johnson's walk-up, by the way, Rick Derringer, I mean, where's the Rick Derringer version of Real American, the Hulk Hogan theme song? Yeah, yeah.

Come on now. The acoustic version. It was like the folk version, the campfire version. What was that? That was horrible. Like I got lost to tight. Whoever tweeted from the M.A.

Fighting Account is coming out to Hulk Hogan's theme song. I went to show. I rewound it just so I could see it. And then I heard it. I'm like, what is this? This is terrible. Great song selection, but just like the wrong version. If you came out to the actual one, that would have been just amazing.

And Fador gets in there, bolts them with a combination, puts them out, walk off K.O. I mean, this is, this is the stuff that dreams are made of right here. in Russia, in Moscow. I mean, what an amazing moment for Fador-Millionenko, AK? Do you think this is how, what were your thoughts on the performance, first of all? Well, the whole atmosphere of the card was really cool. It felt like it felt, you know, we always criticize the UFC for when they go to a different place, a different country, different region, anything, it just, everything feels the same.

It doesn't feel like there's somewhere different. So while this card wasn't full of barn-burning fights, in fairness, I think if you look at just the quality of the fights themselves. They were okay. I mean, there was some good showcase performances, like it was Mondo-Megomatov, but overall, the fights, not that much to write home about.

Atmosphere was great. atmosphere was great. They had a very good translator. Not a good interviewer, but excellent translation, good energy. And it really felt like you were watching a big deal. Like, if this was, you know,

if you're tuning into Beltor for the first time, because you're like, oh, cool, they're going to Russia. I want to see what that's like. You got a real experience. You got a real, like, wow, this is like, it's really different. This really feels like a different product. So I really like that aspect of it.

And of course, when it came to the main event, it paid off big time. There was just such a, such a, the way they filmed the walkout and everything was so dramatic. And Fador is not going to do anything crazy on a walkout. So just the atmosphere does a lot of the heavy lifting. And he was a stoic as always, barely moved. I think the only gesture you made was he did, you know, the sign of the cross. And he stepped into the cage. And that was it.

No pomp and circumstance, very powerful. loud classical, you know, Russian music, which was cool. The crowd would just, you could sense their awe. And that's a great moment. That's something that you can't manufacture in M.A. So it was a cool entrance, short fight, which was probably for the best right now. Exciting highlight real K.O. Who knows what's going to happen to Fador in his next fight, if that is his last fight.

But he definitely snuck in one more highlight and in Moscow in front of all these Russian fans. So it was, it was a very cool moment. I like the whole feel of the card, even if the fights themselves were. mostly forgetable. Still, one of the best knockouts of his career. That was up there with the Arlowski knockout, the Tim Sylvia knockout, the Brett Rogers knockout, the, uh,

go back to pride, you know, so many, it was just, man, he's so fast. He's 45 and speed kills in the sport, speed kills.

Ooh. And the accuracy on those, those, those just, they feel like wild looping hooks, man, but those all hit, boom,

right on the chin on Tim Johnson. And Tim Johnson, while he's not maybe, you know, a top 10 no world beater, he's always still a tough out, and the fact that it went down that easy, and Tim Johnson's been great in his Bellator run, had a very competitive five-round decision loss for the

interim heavyweight belt for Bellator. Just, man, it's fun seeing Fadour. He just has that ore. Have you worked at Fador if I do you guys? No. Like, bummer. Yeah, it's just, it's, it's, he's

that guy, like, did I hear Esther? Like, Esther. I thought you're talking about Fador. No, I want to hear her Faderth thoughts. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. You don't want to see this. He has to, he has to, he just has an oar.

Like, when he walks into a room, he just has an oar. Like, a few fighters had that, I feel like Anderson Silva, Karm McGregor, actually, Ronda, Brock Lesnar, John Jones. Like when he walks in the room, it's just like, everyone's like, oh, everyone just kind of shuts up. Fader, no matter, it's up and downs in his career, always had that. And that was one of the,

I feel very fortunate. I've been at very many Fador fights and got to filming backstage and know, see him in the hotels and like that. So it was just, it was cool. It was cool seeing him go, have that type of victory. And hope, I don't know,

he's going to probably have one more fight, but I don't know. Mike, Mike, you know, on the next one? Bader, right? What, that's a match, right? You got to do it. They're going to do it.

They're going to do it. They're going to do it. Yeah. 100%. Fadour's teammate is going to step aside, just going to step away, and let the man get his shot. Fight Bader, final fight of his career. He either retires the Bellator heavyweight champion or he retires on a loss to the guy who is the heavyweight champion of the world. So either way, Fador gets his moment.

Do it in a big arena. It's got to be in San Jose, right? You got to do it in San Jose. San Jose, full arena. Like, you can't do it on Mohican. You just can't. Well, it's got, it has to be full crowd. It can't, he definitely has to be, you know, I would, yeah.

Yeah. No, no, no half empty quarter, quarter, no size crowd. And it needs to be for me. Moscow will be the best still. It'd be his final fight. They sell as the final fight. This was never sold as the final fight, right? It was just.

No, no. They always said he's, he has, he has two fights left on his contract. The plan was this would be the first of the two legs. And then he's kind of said this week, who knows what happens. You know, I haven't thought about it, but I'm sure certainly it could be the last one. But obviously, the plan was for two. But again, that's only because he has two fights left in his belt or contract. Who knows what happens after?

You know, who knows? Maybe, I mean, it's not over after the next fight. But on paper, it does feel like a fight with Bader would be a cool last fight to go out on in a big venue. But you never know with this guy. He's retired twice before, I think. So you never know with Fador Let's bring D.C. out of retirement. Fader versus D.C.

We always wanted to see it. Let's do it. Someone in the comments literally just said that. Jonathan Ramm, regular commenter, just said D.C. versus Fador. Make it happen. Or you do Fador versus Puginovsky and just do a free...

Oh, after tonight? Free show fight. Oh, KSW, please. Get on that. Cross from a coprope. promotion. Let's go. Let's do it. Okay, real quick. To the commenter who put Fador versus Veradoom rematch, great suggestion,

but you're going to have to change your screen name if you want me to put your comment on the screen. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. What is it? Clean it up. I'm not going to say it. It's obscene. It's obscene. It's an obscene screen. Okay. All right. It's a kind of name that Esther Lynn would find funny. Let's put it that way. Let's put it that way. That's so that's how you know how appropriate. It's not appropriate.

It's Esther's Barner account, yeah. Yeah, it might be. I mean, there was a crazy upset. It was kind of a freakish crazy upset in the co-main event. I mean, we can always talk about Usum and Ramaga Madoff's massive upset. Soma looked good though, by the way. Soma might have, he might have been on his way to winning a decision anyway. So it did end in a weird freakish like finger injury.

I think he might have been able to be being, excuse me, I can't talk anymore. I think he might have been about to win a 29, 28 score. He was chopping Minikov down with some with some cap kicks and stuff. So yeah, he gets kind of weird finish. But that's it. If it had gone to the judges, who's to say? I should check the bell for a car. I think they did put up the cards.

So let me see. But yeah, that was weird. That was a very weird, Co-Maine. And a massive upset from Usman and Maga made off as high as a minus 7,000 favorite. Come fight time. But he gets it done in the first round. As expected, you got a showcase moment. And there you go.

There's some good prelim fights from what I understand. I didn't watch them, but I'll have to go back and watch them later. Our girl, Darina, she got her butt kick. Yeah, she did not look too good. Yes, she did not look great. Guys, I'm starting to think that that fight where she beat up a 529 pound guy, the fight might not have been on the up and up. I don't know about you guys.

I hate to be that guy, but now I'm starting to think maybe that might work with it. How dare you? And the fact that after she won the fight, They laid him out in the middle of the ring and they posed around him. Like he was just like a rhino they shot. And just like posing like a big game hunt. Suss. Regarding the Selma Minnikov thing, two judges had it tied going to the third.

And one judge had it. Minikov up 20 to 18. So I think Selma might have won a split. I think he might have gone on to win a split. All right. I don't know. Shall we go to the peeps? All right, peeps.

Throw your quote. Oops. Oh, old question. Sorry. All right. What do we got here? Spam your questions now, people. Spam your questions.

Now is the time. Spam the questions, please. The other heavyweight fight tonight, which I did not see. Oh, Rico Verhoeven, yes. Wasn't he losing that fight? I didn't watch it, but I just tweeted, just Twitter and telling me he lost first round. Yeah, I just heard it was a good fight.

I believe Gokon Saki won as well. Damn, AK. All right. A.K. for our podcast listeners, can you read this? Yeah, thank you, man in black saying, damn, A. K Lee, looking sexy. Well, you know, I don't like to brag about it, but I'm wearing a nice shirt right now. I'm wearing a nice shirt for today's MMA festivities for, for Fader's, I think this is an appropriate color for Fader would appreciate this. It's very bland. I'm wearing a tan. It's a very bland, a tanned.

I should have worn my fader sweater. I should have wore my fader sweater. You know, on my screen, it kind of looks like, because your shirt is kind of flesh, flesh color. It kind of is like you just decided, you know, just, jump out of the shower and just, you know. I'm just topless, yeah. I think that might be one. Maybe that's what man in black is seeing as well.

Maybe that's why he thinks. No, I'm wearing clothes. What else we got? It's more of a comment. But in general, have you seen fans kind of maybe turn on cost to like, you know what? Whatever. He missed weight, but he's still, I'm still a fan.

What's the general consensus you've seen from kind of the users out there? I don't think there is one. It's a consensus. I did a lot of people who were, I mean, there was certainly a vocal, a whole part of the fan base. I was like, this guy's an idiot. You know, people who probably already didn't think too highly of Paulo Costa. And like, this was just the latest slip up. And it was so high profile.

But I did see a lot of people that were kind of took our somewhat, our more lax attitude towards it. We were just like, what's the big deal? They're stepping in the cage anyway. Now they don't have to cut the extra weight. So I think it was split. I think it was a little bit split. I think there was quite a bit of support for him still. even if people who don't like him who are just like

kind of shrugging their shoulders and saying well whatever they change the contracts okay fine 20% fine okay fine he's gonna move up after probably let's move on with it so yeah I think there's like I said I think there's been a good discussion around it and I think there's been fair points on both sides and I think the MMA community has been very good about their discussion

of this topic so well well done MMA community well done I'll say this I wasn't the biggest fan of just as a fan of Paulo Costa, but like I've kind of, like I said, like he gave us,

he gave us so much to talk about for this, for this fight week. And, that's, I don't know, from a journalist's perspective, that's all I can ask for.

Otherwise, I was like, I was like, yeah, two really good dudes. Let's see who wins. I'd say most people kind of feel like Vitori fails. It's just like,

yeah, it's kind of a, kind of an a hole. But yeah, great fight. Thanks for the fight, thanks for the fight, bro. Thanks for you.

Yeah. That was part of it. was I think like, well, well, if Vitori doesn't have a problem with it, then I'm not going to have a problem with it. I think that was a lot of the stance that people took. And that's it. And that's fine. Again, I don't blame anyone for thinking that way.

Life's too short. Life's too short. Just dressed about stuff like this, right? Yeah. Does brief, I feel like we get this question every time Bruce, Bruce Lee-Rae fights. And the answer is yes. And I think it's been the answer the last three fights he's had. Like, he should fight a top 15 guy at this point.

Like, come on. That was a top, like, Sionwo-cho is a very good fighter. Like a very good fighter. like a very good fighter. And there's a reason I'm the only one that picked Alex Casares to win this fight. It was a flyer that I was not confident with, but it was worth a look

because Casas just need to weather that early storm and he's dangerous every second of the fight and it showed in this one. So yeah, he definitely deserves a top 15. No more, like I think he's played the gatekeeper role, the quote unquote gatekeeper role long enough. It's time to see what he can do. Let's throw him in there with the top 15 guy

and see what he's got. Paul Felder said during the broadcast, man, it feels like we've been watching him as his 25th UFC fight. He's like, he's only 32. It feels like we've been watching him for like 10 years. And it's like, we literally have been watching him for 10 years. Most of us anyway, his UFC debut was in 2011.

So maybe there's some people who have been watching before that. But yeah, it's crazy how long he's been around. He's been around for, and very active. There was not like some long stretch where he didn't fight. I think he's like at least two fights a year. I'm not looking at his record right now. But yeah, 25 fights. over 10 years across two divisions.

Very competitive in almost all of them. There's maybe like the crone, you have like a random crone gracy fight which is a bad like style matchup for him. Other than that, he's just, he's been in it. So I don't know, what a unique role this guy plays

in the UFC hierarchy right now? Yeah, I'm just looking at his entire his record in the UFC. It's just really unique. Yeah, there's no one like it. Yeah, it's unique. I mean, but looking at it, it seems like the only top 10, top 15

fighters he's even really faced have been Yaya Rodriguez who he lost it I'm pretty sure Yair was ranked at that time he lost a pretty I lost a split decision to Yair which is really impressive honestly and he got kicked by Uriah Favor when this is Uriah favor in 2014 at his

prime pretty much or near his prime so yeah that's yeah I don't I can't think of a exact person who he should face but yeah I don't know Maybe he got a little secret He's a little secret Jim Miller kind of run You never know, I don't know

Sure Yeah Yeah I like that doesn't have quite the names On his resume like Jim Miller has Like relatively speaking But yeah I see what you mean Like he's just a guy who's around Who they can throw in with

For anyone But at Mike's right though Let's give him a bit more Of a veteran name opponent this time Yeah Or I mean if you look at the top 15 There's a nice mix Maybe he gets the

Bryce Mitchell fight. Who knows? That is a good one. That's a good one. Yeah. Where does Paul fight in the rankings at 205 in his first fight? This is such an easy answer. This is such an easy answer. And it's, I don't even, no, it's not a rank guy, but it's an easy answer.

I'm not, I can't think of, I don't have a exact name. You go, you go, Mr. Heck. Go ahead. Go ahead, heck. Ewan Kuchalaba. That is the fight to make. Oh, you're going to throw those two. Yeah, just throw those two bohemets in there and just let him throw back,

throw them blows at each other. And we get a different, listen, we get a different kind of Ewan Kutalaba. We got wrestler Ewan Kutalava. So could, uh, you could have a little technique going on here.

I, I think that's the fight. You just throw those two dudes in there. That's a co-made event on a fight night. That is a opening, that's a main card opener on pretty much any pay-per-view. That's the fight to make. You're not throwing him in with a top 15 guy.

You're not rewarding him for the weight miss and just throwing him into it with the rank guy. You're throwing him in there with a dangerous fun fighter that, and if he, wins it, then you can shoot him up in the rankings and give him somebody else. But I think that's a great first test for him in his new official weight class. You have chosen violence today. Why couldn't? Oh, that is wild.

That's a light heavyweight matchup. I didn't know I needed until this moment. It's an ought no spoiler. I love creepy. Stock up down on Grant Dawson. It's down in my eyes. It's down in my eyes. You're the biggest favorite on the card.

You're supposed to roll this guy. Oh, he's the biggest favorite? Biggest favorite on the card. Wow, that is down. That's down. Home main event spot, new division. Grant, and listen, and I don't mean, I don't say this disrespectfully because there are very few people that cover the sport who has been as high on Grant Dawson as I have been for the last six years. That's true.

I've seen this guy in the UFC for a long time, like just knew one day he would get there. I was high on him when he fought for Titan FC for victory. He had some kind of personal issues that he overcame and then just kept on winning and winning and winning, winning. the guy is a monster. He's at a new weight class. I think he's at a perfect spot in his career right now. But I think while his stock might be down, I think when you look at the overall story

of Grant Dawson and his career and where he could go, this is going to be the most important night of his career. That fight with Ricky Glenn, that third round, that is going to be everything for him. Everything changes from here. It's going to be a very pivotal moment in this career. So while his stock goes down, I think he needed this fight.

It's better to have it now than have it three fights from now when you're fighting a top five guy. My thoughts. Yeah, it definitely didn't go up. That's the thing. If we had to choose either or, then I would stay down. It sounds a little harsh. But yeah, if it's either or, I mean, it was a draw.

I think the easy answer to say it didn't change that much. But yeah, it didn't go up. I don't think there's any way to say that Grandhouse's stock went up today. I don't know what you're saying. Sorry about that. What am I? That's me? I thought I was good.

I heard you. AK, I don't know what you were saying. That was so uncomfortable. Casey? No, yeah. It's so weird how, how one, how those last 10 seconds of that fight might completely change Grant Dawson's career in a sense. You know, in a sense that.

If say he struggles out of it or as soon as the bell rings, he just hops up, like, oh, I lost that round, but I won the fight. Then we're kind of looking at this totally different, you know. Or just say if he's actually out and the ref just stops the fight, you know, right when the bell rings, go get up and he loses that fight, but he gets to draw. I'm just saying it's just like so many things in this sport where like just so many things, you know, your career can jump off or just kind of really stall. And unfortunately for Dawson tonight, this was to me, this was as good as a, as bad as a loss. honestly. Money wise is a loss. I know he doesn't get the loss on his record, but yeah, I was like you, heck. I was really sold on Grant Dawson. I thought he was a future top 10 guy. But yeah, the person, the fighter we saw tonight that wasn't there. Maybe it was just an off night. Or maybe we just really underestimated Mr. Ricky Glenn, but definitely down Mr. Dawson. And this was a showcase fight for him. I mean, co-main event on a fight night card. I mean, for a guy who doesn't when you have a big name, this was an opportunity. And yeah, it's a bummer for him.

Yeah, can we give some love to Ricky Glenn? Because he's a, this guy's the definition of a seasoned vet. And he's facing a young horse in Grant Dawson, who, again, normally when he gets people to the ground, I mean, the dude's a killer. And certainly, again, he showed some of that today. But Ricky Glenn's the kind of guy, again, he's not going to panic. He's going to weather the storm. He's not going to gas himself out, you know, trying to do stuff he can't do.

And, you know, he knows how much damage you can take. And he survived and managed to get a drought of it. So a lot of credit to Ricky Glenn, who, again, is not, you know, whatever. He hasn't had a great, like, run. He just can't seem to string together wins, but he's just always in almost pretty much every fight. And he was the right test for Grant Dawson at this point in his career. And I guess we can just say that Grant didn't exactly pass with flying colors. Yeah, this is huge.

This was huge. He's 27. He's got a long way to go. He's got one of the best coaches in the game in James Krause. He's like James's star pupil and hasn't been for a long time. But let's not forget, two weeks prior to this, he was supposed to fight Diego Fajara, a top, I think he's the 11th rank guy in the division right now. So what this tells us is, one, lightweight, don't you forget how deep this is,

because it's a very deep division. And two, when Grant's 20, Grant being 27 years old, he's still, he's still got a long way to go. I think he's learned now like, yes, you want to be the champion. you're going to keep clawing away until that belt gets wrapped around your ways. But now you know there's no need to rush. You don't need to rush into a top 15 fight. The Fajeda fight was a great opportunity for him,

but had he fought Diego Faheda, he might have gotten stopped on the third round tonight. He might have got stopped. I mean, who knows? Maybe that was too much too soon for him. Maybe the style was different. I don't know. But I think this kind of like signifies,

hey dude, you're very good, no need to rush. You're going to get there. but let's just slow down a little bit. Let's just slow down a little bit. Top 20, 25 guys, the Ricky Glens, the Alexander Hernandez's, and Hanado Moikano's of the world,

like, you should be fighting these guys. Start beating these dudes, then we can start talking about that. Grant's a very good fighter. He's going to get there. He'll be a top 10 guy in the next two years, no doubt about it. But I think this is a very valuable fight for him,

despite not winning it. All right. And last question. Last one. Ignore the name of the guy. Geez, I didn't read it at all. Is this the one? No, no, this isn't the one.

This name isn't even that bad, the other one. That was somebody else. I'll throw it in slack what the other one was. This name would barely make Esterlin chuckle. This is not now. This is not. Look at your slack. Oh, geez.

Okay. Okay, now I'm kidding. Now, don't report this HR. The only point is HR. This is a, there was context of this. There's a context of this smack message, by the way. This isn't that far removed. It's just presented it in a much nicer way.

Was D.C. right about Fador, or is he just jealous of Fador's hot bod? Okay, so for those who missed it. I think the first question is a little more part. It's a little more relevant. But we obviously know he's jealous, but that's not what we're talking about. Right. So basically, D.C. said Fador, at best, would be. like, you know, top

five, six, seven guy if he came to the UFC. Like, he wouldn't have been... We said average, so it's like... Yeah, he'd be an average heavyweight. He'd be... I think he'd say anywhere from like five to ten. How's being number five hours?

I don't know. It's hard. It's hard to say. It's hard to say. It depends, like, which version you got. The Strike Force version that was going to come over? I don't know. I don't know. No, Fade wore were done great. Whatever.

That's just, I don't know, that was a weird thing by DC. I think DC was trying to, I saw a few tweets later. He was just trying to give, trying to give, um, Bader some props and stuff. Yeah, it's just, yeah, yeah, DC talks a lot. You know, you say some weird things every once in a while. He's, he's, he's an ESPN take guy now. Let's be honest. And he has great, no, he has great insights.

He knows more about MMA than, you know, than any of us. But he is, he is part of the ESPN sort of hot take system now, which is great. I think when you're, you know, it's fine. When you're, you're a broad kid, you're getting into broadcasting with ESPN and that's what look for. but I do think he's he's been learning to speak in that very hyperbolic, you know, conversation starting style that ESPN and other outlets encouraged. So take these kind of things with a grain of salt.

I don't think it's the most well-thought of argument when he says something like that. He wasn't like going in his mind one by one. Like, oh, could Fador beat this guy? Could Fador beat this guy? He just made this something for a good statement that'll get people talking. And he's right. We're talking about it right now. All right.

Okay. And we will talk no more. Okay, we're done. But don't worry, my friends. You will hear from me and AK tomorrow. On to the next one. And I believe that this one will, this episode will drop probably like 90 minutes earlier than it normally does.

We've got to record a little bit earlier. You know, we've got things to do. You know, it's a Sunday. It's football, all sorts of things going on. So we out for Casey for AK. I am Mike Katk. I hope you enjoyed the night of fights for the day. Mayophytes. Rising coming up a little bit later on if you haven't gotten your fill yet.

So enjoy that. We'll see you tomorrow. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.