MMA Fighting - UFC Vegas 9 Post-Fight Show

Episode Date: September 6, 2020

With UFC Vegas 9 in the books, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Jose Youngs, Alex K. Lee and E. Casey Leydon break down the top storylines from Saturday night’s event at the UFC APEX—including Alistair Overeem’s fifth-round TKO win over Augusto Sakai in the heavyweight headliner. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs 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

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So download the app today and get $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, we're live. A crazy fight week is in the books, capped off by a shortened, changed-up seven-fight card that was capped up by Alistair Overeem,

putting Augusto Sakai away at the beginning of the fifth and final round. As we welcome you all, all of you wonderful fight fans, to another edition of the People's Post-Fight Show for UFC Vegas 9 right here on MMAFighting.com. I am Mike Hack being joined by Jose Youngs, Alex K. Lee, E. Casey Leiden is here joining us, also doing all the legwork on the production side as well, which is much appreciated. Appreciate it.

Welcome back, Casey. But if you're joining us live, thank you for joining us. If you're listening or watching after the fact, thanks for doing that as well. But Jose, this was an interesting one. We talked all about chaos. That was like the main theme of the preview show. But I got to be honest, if the UFC put to, together like these subsequent seven, eight fight cards like tonight's once in a while. And listen,

this happened due to super unfortunate circumstances with a whole bunch of positive COVID tests. So I don't want to take that lightly at all. But having cards like this, every so often, accidental or not, it's kind of refreshing change of pace from a from a viewership perspective. With that in mind, your overall thoughts on the card tonight. Mike, what did I say on our preview show? I'm going to let you answer this for me. What did I say in our previous show? Until they get to the Octagon, don't get too excited, essentially. Exactly.

100%. I don't even want people excited when they're lined up, ready to make the walk after what happened to Trevin Giles. Anything can happen, and that is exactly. It happened to two fights this morning. So what was it, like eight, nine fights, something like that, if that. And it was a fun fight. Like, I was entertained by pretty much every fight. Like, there were good stoppages.

There were good scraps. They were great performances. So I think you said it best where these things happen due to unfortunate circumstances, but sometimes the outcome is exactly what we want. And it was a refreshing change of pace from some of the last few cards. So all in all, I thought this was a fun fight. It was a quick fight. I have no complaints outside of it.

Maybe it wasn't the most stacked in terms of name value. But nonetheless, there's a lot of names that I'm sure people will remember moving forward. AK, what do you think? And I guess the big question everybody wants to know is, What was your sort of litmus gymnastic scale rating you put on this card heading in? And how did it live up expectation-wise? I mean, just the way the card was unfortunately decimated. I mean, it couldn't be a higher degree of difficulty than like a seven.

And it might have hit it. I mean, it's probably a 6.8, 6.9. So I know everyone who has been aware of the system is like, what the hell does that even mean? What I'm saying is it was a good card based on kind of what we had ahead of time. And Mike, as you mentioned, you know, these things. It happened because of circumstances very much beyond the OFC's control. Of course, we wish nothing but the best for what, who. Houserio.

Hats the card. Marcos Hageria de Lima, Tiago Moises, who I know both withdrew because of positive COVID-19 tests and some of Moises cornermen as well. Kevin, to be dad, who we don't know exactly why, underscloosed reasons. So hopefully he's all right. Even and even well before today, Nicomontano also tested positive for COVID-19. So hopefully everything is okay with her as well. But yeah, I agree.

How's Carol Rosa? Has anyone checked on her? Carol Rosa. What was she also? What was she? Did he send her to the hospital yesterday? The botched weight cut. Yeah.

Right. So there we go. That's also not forget Brian Keller's original opponent, Ricky Simone. Yes. Cornerman tested positive. So hopefully everyone involved in these calamities, it's okay. But yeah, I agree. It's refreshing.

I've always been an advocate for having less fights. I feel like four prelims for main card fights is the way to go. That's just the way the cards are now, where they're kind of struggling to fill them up. fill them up. Maybe you don't have to force the force situation. It was cool that Ray Rodriguez, good for him, got the call and that they had him ready. On paper, that was a good idea, but still, I think for fans, this was a very digestible card and certainly for us in the media as well. Well, I mean, at least on paper right now, September 19th is going to make up for everything,

because with the addition, the reported edition of Hasmad Shemayev and Gerald Mearshard, I think there's 15 fights on that card for September 19th of this point. So we'll make up for. We'll make up Who knows if Phil I'll make it there. Just watch the preview show, and Jose will tell you not to get your hopes up there. But just a reminder, we want to get your thoughts on the event as well, the performances, the current landscape of the sport as well. You guys like to do that. So whatever's on your mind, leave me in the comments.

We'll get to the momentarily. But in the main event, Alastair Overeem, just doing what Alistair Overeem does. He finishes Augusta Sakai in the final round. It was a very technical fight for a while. The clinch was used quite a bit from both guys as expected. but in the end, Overeem and his underrated yet brutal ground and pound gets it done. A.K., let me begin with you here. What did you make of the Ream's performance in the heavyweight headliner tonight?

I was actually really close. I did think it was going to go five rounds. I know a lot of people were assuming it would end in a knockout, which it eventually did, but I think people thought it might have ended earlier than it ended up going. I did think, like, again, it's, Sakai is really tough, really technical. I thought Overeem was going to win a decision. I thought it would be a little more comfortable for Overeme as well. I was actually really impressed by the pressure that Sakai put on him early,

the fact that he was willing to battle him in the clinch, which seems like an insane thing to do when you consider Overeign's background. But Sakai looked pretty good in moments. It's just we saw Sakai, I don't know the last time he fought in a five-round fight, if ever. I'll have to look at the numbers. It might have been before UFC. But those championship rounds are serious. They are serious.

And when you're facing a guy like Overeignam, again, this was fight number 66. And we're just talking about MMA, not kickboxing. Pro-MMA about number 66. He's seen it all. He's seen everything. He's fought every style. He's fought every body type. He's fought people older than him. He's probably younger than him. So he's not going to panic if he gets down a little early on the cards. You know, he cut. It was a little bit of a rope-a-dope. You know, you don't see that long-M-M-A. Especially when Erb Dean is the ref. That roper-dope might end up in the fight being stopped. So you got to be careful. But I think Overeign was so smart. I think he's, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, on the, on the level for rounds in the game. He knew exactly how to make it look as he was on defense and not get hurt. And he knew exactly how to say, he was on the, So just a classy, classy veteran performance for Alster Overn. So, I mean, as you can tell by the background, I'm not in Command Center 2.0. I'm actually in Boston, my parents' house and I was watching the fights with my little brother.

And like in the fourth round, he says to me, looking at Augusta Sakai like all bloody and kind of battered. He was like, oh, man, he's thinking to himself, why did I choose to agree to fight five rounds? Because he was just like, ah, I just, I don't really want to be here anymore. but, you know, gutsy performance on his end. Jose, what did you think? Alster Overeem has been doing this for a long time. Like we said in the previous show, he's got like 17,000 professional fights at this point,

and he just keeps doing the damn thing. What did you make of the 40-year-old's performance tonight? Well, it's very reminiscent of his last performance against Walt Harris. I mean, we talked about it on the preview show. Like, if they stopped that fight over him and Walt Harris in Jacksonville, when Walt Harris was raining bombs down over him, I don't think any of us would have complained about the stoppage. It was that dominant.

But Overeign withstood the violence, literally hit the switch, like the wrestling move, and then took top position and then finished it out with ground and pound. So that's pretty much exactly what happened in this fight. It wasn't a switch, but once O'Ring got on top, what was around four, he sliced him open. And you really saw that was where it turned, and then he got on top again. And he was throwing some serious, like Donkey Kong punches. But he was throwing also like elbows to the body. So it's not like he was just unloading to the head and blowing. He was picking his shots and picking them perfectly.

You don't see a lot of elbows to the body when you're on top. So it just shows another aspect of Overeign's game. It's just veteranship. And yeah, he definitely lost the first two rounds in mind. I had it. I just wrote like 10, 9, 10.9. And then you could argue that he would like Overeign won the third round. But it seems like Overeign was thrown these one hard punches, like one kick to the body, one

punch, one elbow, and Sakai was just unloading on combinations, like left, right, left, right leg kick, like uppercut, clinch up and throw a bunch. And Overein was biting his time, saving his energy because he knew if he took it to the canvas, this fight would be hit. This fight would be his to win. And that's exactly what happened. He conserved energy, withstood the onslaught because, yeah, he got hit a lot, but it's not like he was all gashed up. He was blocking a lot of the punches. And yeah, he might have eaten a few of those because some of them slipped in. But Sakai, I don't want to say he blew his gas. But Overeem definitely took over when they hit the championship rounds.

I agree with your brother. If that was three rounds, a Kai wins. But Overeign withstood the onslaught, first three, and came back in one. And that's exactly what he did in the Walt Harris fight. So props to Overeign for the gamesmanship and the veteranship. And it's the better man won tonight. As most of you probably know by now, and if you haven't, make sure you jump on board. A.K. and I will be talking all things matchmaking on Monday morning on the podcast

network so make sure you subscribe so you can check those out but uh kacey let me ask you this i mean you've been covering alice or over him for a long time you've i would assume he he's a guy that's sort of right up your alley when it comes to fighters that you watch and that you enjoy and that you have a ton of respect for i think we have all of a ton of respect for alice over him at this point but what would you like to see next for him in this crazy world and this crazy heavyweight division derrick lewis he's fighting somebody's fine curtis blades scratch that fight Why? Come on.

It's like, to me, wasn't Derek Lewis all over Twitter tonight? Just, um, just bagging on Overeign? That's the fight to make. Yeah, I don't think they're going to take a fight away from Blades to give it to its team. Yeah. But, I mean, um, if Overeem's fighting main events versus the Kai, I mean, they can put them against anybody.

I mean, um, Overeign, Overeem is such a prize fighter. As long as, as long as the Czech clears, he'll fight his grandma. You know what I mean? Like, that's, though, I think, Overim, he really doesn't care. I'm sure he wants whoever's going to pay him the most. So, I mean, if it's John... Like, he, like, if it's John...

Who knows John Jones? I mean, it could be a lot of things. I doubt it would be John Jones. I think John Jones is either getting Francis or Stipei or Brock. But, I mean, Overeem's in a good position right now. That's all. And he can face anybody. Any...

Any decent name. Yeah, I mean, if for some reason, like, Blades can't make it to the Lewis fight, I mean, it makes perfect sense. Overe trains with them already. He likes Colorado, and boom, we could just slide him right in there. We got ourselves a fight. But, Jose, what do you think? If all things kind of play as they are schedule-wise, what is extraoverian?

I like the John Jones fight. I've always wanted to see those two fight, especially when Overeign was in Strike Force and John was kind of on the rise. That fight, in my mind, was always a future fight. I mean, I've been asking Overeign about John Jones since right when you joined the UFC. I do agree with Casey. Like I would want to watch the Derek Lewis fight. I think that heat is there.

But Curtis Blase also has a lot of heat with Derek Lewis. So if they do that fight, if they want to keep that fight, fine. There's not a lot of people who are over him to fight that are coming off wins. Like if they want to rematch him against Giorzino, especially because he was like four seconds away from beating Giorzino, fine. I also don't mind the Alexander Volkov fight because they were scheduled to fight before. And I think it was the St. Petersburg, one of the Moscow cards or something like that,

and Volkov pulled out and Alexio Linux slotted right in. You know Volkov doesn't want to fight another wrestler again. He's really going to want to fight a striker. And Overeem is a striker, and he is showing a lot of wrestling in wrestling. But it's not like he's Curtis Blaze where he's just drowning you for 25 minutes. So either one of those fights is fine. But like Casey said, as long as the check clears, Overeign will fight anyone. So literally just take a dart and throw it in the heavyweight division.

Awesome. But if it was up to me, I like the John Jones fight, the Giuse Union fight or the Volkov fight. So Overeem's check for his victory tonight will clear. However, he will not receive an extra check. He did not receive a bonus tonight. We'll get through all the bonuses in a second. But one man who did get a bonus was Ovin St. Peru in the co-made event.

He violently knocks out Alonzo Menefield. And it was crazy. He was on what the heck this week. And he pretty much called it to a T. Like everyone, the general consensus surrounding the fight was, if it stays in the feet, it's Mena Field. if it goes to the ground, you know, St. Prue will probably Von Prue him and submit him. And he said basically, like, remember the show gun fight, Mike when he was on what the heck?

Like, and the result of the fight ended like almost exactly how the Shogun fight it. It was like a similar blow and everything, AK, one thing that really surprised me in this fight was the Lions. He was the underdog heading in. His 39th professional fight, Ovin St. Prue is the underdog against a guy with 10 professional fights, albeit a very powerful guy in Alonzo Menefield. A, were you surprised with the odds? And B, were you surprised how the fight played out? Yeah, I didn't know what the odds were until they mentioned out on the broadcast.

I was surprised to hear that OSP was the underdog. Look, we all love sort of prospects for unknown properties. But it wasn't like the loss of Devin Clark that Alonzo Monefield had in the fight prior to this one. It wasn't like you watched that fight. It's like, oh, like it was a fluke. Like, there was some fundamental things that, you know, a guy with only 10 fights under his belt, that they're going to, those are the weaknesses they're going to show. There's very tangible things.

Now, you could assume, oh, well, he's going to make a big leap from that. It's the kind of loss you learn from. And I'm sure he did. And it's why he probably lasted as long as he did against OSP. But the experience gap is just huge. This was Metafield's fourth UFC fight and St. Prue's 22nd. So that's a bit. And again, when you think of the names that St. Prue has fought, I mean, it's not just the experience.

But he's fought guys at such a high level that to think a prospect like Meadowfield. So unproven would just walk through him is just absurd. OSP. And by the way, you know, you mentioned how similar what's the show. I mean, really, I think, I feel like the skateboard also made it all the way from Brazil somehow to the UFC apex in Las Vegas. I swear I saw that skateboard slide in there and get right under, right under poor menafield and he ended up falling right in his face. But that's now five KOs in the UFC and six submissions for OSP. He has now tied, Robert de Chera, for the most finishes with 11 in the UFC light heavyweight division.

And I think increased his own lead for most light heavyweight size. I'm including this one catch weight down there. So, and so six, oh, sorry, he didn't increase it. I'm sorry, but he also has the record for most subs. So OSP, he's been around and pretty spectacular still. He feels good right now. He said weight-wise, he felt better than he did two weeks ago before he got pulled due to the positive COVID test. So big win for OSP.

What did you think of his performance, Jose, because he looked pretty damn good tonight. He looks really, really good, but also at the same time, just felt like Minifield was like stuck against the fence. He just wasn't doing anything. Like I was going, I did the Twitter reacts for the site, and they were all, why is Menafield stuck on the fence? Why isn't he doing anything? Why isn't he throwing combinations? Why is he doing X, Y, Z? So there's a lot of fighters complaining about what Menafield wasn't doing rather than what OSP was doing, which isn't always fair because OSP looks awesome.

He was just unloading with a body kick in the middle. He was just eating him up with those leg kicks and the straight kicks of the body. And then when Alonzo Menafield tried to do something, OSP, he was just unloading. put him to sleep. So it just shows you how much you have to respect Ovin St. Prue's striking in power because, yeah, he has all these submission ones. He can also put you to bed just like he told you on what the heck. So awesome, awesome forms for Ovin St. Prue. I have a few ideas of where he could go from here, but also at the same time, Medfield didn't do a whole lot. He basically just stood there circling with his back to the fence the whole time, just getting chewed up. And

Ovin, St. Prue did what he should have done and took advantage of it. So I don't think it's fair for people to be complaining what Menfield didn't do because Ovin St. Prue looked absolutely phenomenal because he was doing so well that Minifield was just lost. He did everything I think he wanted to do. He couldn't. So props to OSP for putting Menafield in such an uncomfortable position that he literally just couldn't fight. Yeah, I mean, I thought the game plan was picture perfect. I mean, he used his length extremely well.

He knew he was going to have to eat some heavy shots early on. He did. You know, OSP's kicking game is on point. He kept going to the body. Those are adding up. And the straight left hand was a huge weapon for him. I think DC even said he goes, he uses it like a jab. But man, he looked great.

Big win for OSP. Curious what the viewers think about OSP's next move. He said he's not opposed to going back up to heavyweight if the fight is right. But now that John Jones is no longer the champion and things have kind of opened up at 205, he's pretty interested. And he's kind of got a little reinvigoration, if you will, at his light heavyweight career. but Casey, what do you think? What would you like to see next for OSP after that big win tonight?

Yeah, it's, it feels weird saying OSP title contender again. It just feels odd to even think that, but you got to, I mean, just, who might think? Yeah, just someone in the top 10. I mean, this fight was a weird fight in general. I mean, just even being booked and, man, but OSP looked good. just someone in top 10. I mean, like you said, it seems just wide open right now,

you know, the light heavyweight division. So I don't really think there's a really like, you go, oh, OSP versus this guy. I don't think there's really, I think you just want to see OSP back in there again. And just maybe this is a new OSP after, you know, going up to heavyweight, just a different guy. Man, but going back to the actual fight,

like, I mean, I want to give OSP so much credit, man, but there were moments in that fight where Minifil just like, I know guys have off nights and maybe he had a bad weight cut. But man, I swear there was a good 90 seconds where I don't think he threw a punch. No, yeah. There were moments in that fight. Yeah, that was what I was saying. Like a lot of when I was doing Twitter reacts, a lot of his fellow fighters were saying,

why isn't he doing anything? They were complaining about. But then when you tried to do something, OSP put him to sleep. But it was just, I mean, I know you're going to be positive as a great performance, great knockout, you know, the classic left hand from OSP. But man, I thought Minifil was just, that was just, he had a bad night. He was just very off tonight. I don't know if it was a bad weight cut, just something going on outside the cage.

But, you know, fighters show up. Sometimes they're on, sometimes they're off. And I just felt Minifil just was not there tonight. Maybe, I mean, you made that big weight cut, getting hype for a fight, doing it again two weeks later. Was it two weeks? Yeah. Yeah. OSP being the veteran, just had more experience.

And this is no, there's no more jitters in that sense, you know? but it was it was it was an odd performance from Mendefield I was I was I was I was I was disappointed but yeah I think I mean I think obviously the UFC see something in him they keep putting him in these spots fighting in Devin Clark and then fighting in OSP and I know

Metafield wasn't the original opponent for OSP I forget who it was but he slid in there and then the fight was made and here we are but you know maybe give him a step back at this point I think like the winner maybe I mean Ed Hurry Herman's a veteran, but I think like kind of where they're at in their careers. I know Ed Herman's fighting Mike Rodriguez, maybe the winner of that. I don't know.

You're talking about for OSP? No, for Metafield moving forward. OSP, I've got to think about a little bit more. I got a few, I got three possible scenarios for OSP, and they all make sense. So either he does, either if he wants top 10, he does the rubber match on Nikita Krilov. They both one of one, both with submission wins. One of them was that Von Flu choke and the other one was Krilov got revenge with the rear naked choke. They could do

the rematch with Vulcan Ozedimir because the first time they fought Vulcan was brand new, last minute opponent. OSP was on a two-fight losing skin coming off a violent knockout loss to Jimmy Manoa. Now the tables are turned. Vulcan O'Sdemair is coming off a violent knockout loss to Jerry Prahaska. If they wanted to give OSP

do him a favor for taking that initial fight and they run it back again, I wouldn't hate that fight either. And then the third one, the winner of Shogun Paul Craig because they tried to re-book Shogun versus Oven St. Prue. I think it was on that Japan card before when then Shogun pulled out and Yushin Okami slid in and OSP tapped him with the Von Fluchuk.

Paul Craig sitting at 15. And obviously that first fight was like a, it was a draw or something like that. So I think either the winner's Shogun Craig and I think Shogun will win, they can finally book that rematch against OSP or OSP rematches Volcano Osdemar after their first fight when OSP

stayed on that Manchester card. And that was also Vulcan's first win, and then he went on that run of stoppages. And remember it was like in 12 months, all of a sudden he was fighting for a title. The first win was against OSP. Or they could do the rubber match when they could have cried off. Any of those fights make sense. They're all top 15 of fighters. And if Ovin St. Peru really wants to get back in title detention, I think any one of those would be a fun fight.

So you suggested three rematches, huh? Yes. One rubber match and three rematches. Two rematches. That's how long OSP is. been around the fact that he's at so many storylines with different guys yeah like Anthony Smith would be fun but I think Anthony Smith's

going to take time off me shirkenoff is fun like Johnny Walker has a fight booked already Ryan Spahn unless you want to give him the winner a Walker and Ryan Span but I just think OSP has done these UFC so many favors like fighting John Jones on short notice fighting a no name like at the time Vulcan Ozedimir on short notice

and then he decapitates Corey Anderson and Madd Square Garden I think give him another show also those are all fights that they've tried to book and they've fallen out a lot of times. Well, I got a fresh matchup for you, which you kind of mentioned him. But I think, and I think this is a guy who we've all done a bit of fantasy matchmaking for over the last few weeks. You know, if they were going to put him in there with a guy who's only had three UFC

fights, why not put OSP in there with guys only had one UFC fight? Oh, don't you do it. How about it? Why can't he get the Yuri Prochka fight? Because that's Alexander Ratchik's fight. I don't like that fight. I'm just saying it could have. You're talking about going to give him a reward.

I'm just, that's, it's possible. It's possible. Again, I know we, I think we've matched up Yuri with a lot of guys on whatever, various shows, A-side, a post-fight shows, on to the next one, I'm sure. Jury and Alexander Ratchik are like five, six, and then the others, all the, all the people above them are booked ahead of them. I like that fight more. I just want to see 22 UFC fights or, yeah, 22 UFC fights versus one.

I just want to see, like, because, like, it's weird, because we're criticizing the minutefield matchup, and rightfully so. And yet, but yet the Yeri one would make, it just, it just makes sense, but the experience level as well. It would be, you know, it would be, uh, Prohachka's 32nd pro fight. So obviously we're, you know, there's, there's that real, uh, it lines up a little bit better than that sense. Yes. There was no fight of the night bonus. If there was, there was definitely the main event, but all performance bonuses. We talked about OSP. Brian Kelleher gets his third bonus of 2020. This guy's year has just been unbelievable.

Munez gets a, gets himself a bonus as well after that slick submission. But, A.K. I think I'm going to allow you this time to wax poetic about a man that you've been singing his praises for a while. The other man who got a performance bonus, Michel Perjara gets a big win, wax poetic. What did you think of his performance? And how did you feel when it was over? His performance is wonderful. I will say I'm a little surprised that they would give him a bonus for a stoppage that was unquestionably controversial. He dominated the fight anyway.

I don't think anyone's going to argue that he was honest. It was literally with, I think, 30, what, 29 seconds at the 29 second work left of round five. Less than a minute. Of round three, sorry. Less than a minute. So he was going to win anyway by decision. He may have even finished the choke. We don't know.

But Imediah was super tough. I think that, I thought Imodaya was on his way to, again, fighting the hands and probably making it to the end of the round. So very strange call by referee Chris Tioni. I'm really not sure what he saw. Some people said it looked like Imodaya's fist might have hit the mat. I didn't. I saw that, but that's not a tap in my opinion.

He went to fight the hands. And people said maybe they thought that was a tap. It was a really, really not a great stoppage, unfortunately. So I was surprised. I still think he deserves a bonus because, you know, I always think performance should encapsulate, not just the finish, but the performance, the actual performance itself. And it was certainly probably the best we've seen of him outside of maybe the Danny Roberts one. But as far as a more complete performance, yeah, there's a lot of questions about him.

How serious is he? Is he more than just tricks? He had a lot of substance today, in addition to the style and just completely dominated Emmadive, who, again, is a pretty good striker. and could not figure out Pereira today. So really good stuff from DeMolador. Hopefully, there's not so much controversy around this finish that we potentially see in no contest,

which is something that we were discussing before the show. But it would be very Michelle Paredi thing of his UFC career for that to happen. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I understand why you could do that, like rule set-wise, you probably should do that. Yeah. But I think that's probably going to be a tough sell at this point. Casey, you're a little bit of really...

Think of all the stuff they've never overturned. Think of all of something they've never overturned, and they overturned this. Come on, let's not do this. On this card, like this, after what happened throughout the day in the last 24 hours, good Lord. Yeah, that'd be pretty crazy. Like we said, Muta's got a submission win. Brian Callagher, 39 seconds gets it done over Ray Rodriguez, who took the fight last night. So less than 24 hours owed as Ray Rodriguez found out that he was fighting.

Viviani Araujo defeats Montana de la Rosa. the commentating in that fight was bizarre, and I thought Deloosa's game plan was kind of bizarre, too. I'm glad to see that her striking game has evolved a little bit going over to Elevation Fight Team, but didn't really agree with the game plan at all, but it is what it is. Our Ujo's back in the wind column,

and then Hunter Azure kicked off the night with a win over Cole Smith. So pretty fun card overall, short and sweet, just the way we like it, but let's go to the peeps. We're ready? What's get the peeps have to say? Yeah, let's get after this thing. This is the people's post-fight show. I saw a question specifically aimed at Jose and I.

I don't know if you saw it, Casey, from Zach Herder. Oh, we have so many comments. I'm going to find out. I don't know if you saw it. Can I just, can I just shout it out? Yeah, yeah, shout it. Zach or Zeke Herder? Sorry, yeah, I agree.

It's way up there. It's hard to find. Jose, they were just asking about Brian Keller, her, your boy. Does he need a bigger step up in competition? And we should say, by the way, he was going to fight Ricky Simone tonight. Who's, I don't know if you call that a massive step up in competition, but certainly, I would say, worthy, it made sense for me matchup-wise. And, of course, ended up fighting a late-nosed replacement, Ray Rodriguez, who he handles,

and got a nice $50,000 bonus, eh? It's his third bonus in 2020. He should toss maybe a little bit of that money to Ray Rodriguez, otherwise, you know, for letting that happen. But, Jose, would you like to break down why you, before we answer the question of what's next for Brian Keller, would you like to break down why you think Keller has had such good fortune this year? I can't imagine. I honestly can't imagine.

I don't know. I can't figure it out. I mean, I don't have to tell you about the scientific results, right? Like, if you look at the scientific method, you have a hypothesis, the experiment, the outcome, then you compare. So he's had how many fights in 2024? Yeah. And how many has he won three? And how many bonuses he have three?

Where did it all start? January? What was he given in January? That's right. Tiger's eye crystal, which increases monetary gain. And now that's three wins, three bonuses. So, like, I don't have to tell you what the scientific formula is. It happened again.

There you go. That's the answer right there. But, yeah, I like, I just want them to rebook the Ricky Simone fight. I think Brian Keller went through so much this week. Like three, like, opponent, like the, like, he stared down with the opponent and then didn't even end up fighting him. So as Jessica Crystal grew wants to say, Alex, of course, believes now, don't lie, because he believes in the scientific formula and all that stuff. So, yeah, 100%. the crystal worked again.

But I want the Riqui Simone fight 100%. I think that's the fight to make Brian Keller even said, like the Shaw-O'Malley fight that he's called for so long, no longer has the mystique, and he wants the Rican Simone fight. So just book it again, except not on Fight Island. Jessica, I do not believe. I just teed it up for Jose because I would rather see it coming

than walk into a crystal rant. Hopefully, and I just wanted to get out of the way. So I know there's no stopping him anyway. So there we go. There is your crystal content for tonight. But I agree with that Kelleher. Yeah, I think Ricky Simone's next thing. 2021, I think, is when we'll see Kelleher.

It beats Ricky Simone really knocking on that top 10 ranking door. And we're missing some monetary stuff as well. And we're, first of all, shout out to Kelleher for coming out to Stone Cold Steve Austin's theme, which on the broadcast that I watched, on ESVM plus, I didn't see the damn entrance. He leaned right in getting here, either. He didn't get in here either. He was looking right into that Baldihead persona that Darren Till bestowed on him. I don't know.

If you watched an interview with Darren Till on the Mack life, he's even giving Brian Keller shoutouts for his social media games. So when Darren Till gives you shout out for your persona on social media, you know you're doing something right. Yeah. And that January fight, it was Keller's last fight on his deal. So that submission earned him a brand new contract. I'm sure he got some more money.

And he's already fought three out of the four fights. So he's on his last fight on his deal. I find it hard to believe the UFC is not just going to lock him up and say, Let's just renegotiate now, get you a new deal, and get you a Ricky Simone fight. So he's making more money every single day at this point. So good on him. What a crazy week it was for him.

He thought that Tibida was out. Then false positives. He's back in. They weigh in. They stare down. And then Ray Rodriguez gets into the 11th hour. And props to Ray Rodriguez. Ray's been grinding on the regional scene for a long time.

So happy to see that he got his opportunity. And hopefully he gets to stick around and get a fight with a full training camp. Why? I would just book him against Navidad. Yeah. Brian Kelleher's opponents that, like his opponent fell out. He replaced him. I just booked that fight.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Also, what was this? Was this Kelleherers like 30-something pro fight? Like we're talking about Overeem having a million fight. Like Kelleher has like, it has like double-digit losses, but also he has like 20 plus wins. He's gangster. Good on him. I mean, it's just crazy thing.

Like, other fighters just be like, nah, I'll just fight. Let's re-book the fight in like a couple weeks. We're just like, nah, screw it. Let's just go. And he got done 39 seconds. He might fight in the next like three weeks. Who the hell knows at this point? And not on Fight Allen.

He doesn't seem to have any interest in that. So what else we got? Yes, the Stone Cold thing was awesome. Let's talk about Michelle Burr's callout. Whoa. Hey, hey, I don't write these questions. I don't. I'm just a messenger.

I'm just a messenger. Was Bay, just call out the biggest waste ever? I need context with like, why would it be a, how do you frame that call out as a waste? I'm confused. Someone, someone help me. What's wasteful? What's wasteful about it? All right.

Well, let me flip the question to you. A.K. I mean, you're, you're, you know, number one guy. You're an advocate. You're like what Paul Heyman is to Brock Lezder. Exactly. Michelle Pregha. Yes. Why was it not a waste? It's a big name. It's so much better. God bless Sean Brady. We were talking about this last week. Sean Brady said, I want a big name. He said four times, like his post-fight speech, up next me should be a big name. I just want a big name. I think it's time for a big name without naming anyone. Again, and I'm not saying Michelle Paredette against his fight. It's highly unlikely he does. Anyway, But you've got to speak these things into existence.

I hadn't even thought about this as a possible matchup until he said it. And again, if I'm Mazadol, I mean, I don't take it. Why would you do this? But you have to, like, he's got at least hear about it. I mean, I feel like it's going to make his way to him. Maybe he does some pity tweet, and that's as far as it goes. But I really want to see that fight now. I think a lot of people want to see that fight.

And again, if it ends up being something that people demand and that can produce, you know, draw eyeballs for Corrie Mazzvedal, it's like 10 times as compared. compelling as the Nate Diaz fight, isn't it? What are we talking about here? Waste. Why wouldn't Masvala take it? You think you scared? You think you scared?

I did not say. I did not say. You just called Gamebred a coward. That's why I heard. I would never do that. Don't tweet that. Don't tweet that. Don't tweet.

No soch, guys. No such. No such. I wouldn't say it was a waste, but you could tell like it was, I didn't really take. I don't even think of like even Michelle Pahadda, took the call out that seriously.

He just shot his shot. He had a big smile on his face. He just used a moment and he knew people were going to talk about it. So I thought it was intelligent in one way, but completely unrealistic. I don't know. I actually think that was calculated though. I think like that he definitely was planning to do that. Oh, you're great.

You know, he was totally planning to do that if you won. Yeah. Yeah, he knew Twitter was going to blow up and be like, oh, my God. Guess what he just did. Guess who he just called out, Mazadol and got everybody talking. So in that sense, it was a good move, but that fight is not happening. So what's the next fight? What's the next fight?

Can we clip that audio for when the spike gets booked? Time stamped. Time stamp. Okay. Hold up. I got it. Time stamp. Okay.

Well, I mean, maybe end the next year. Maybe. Who knows? Things might happen. You'll have to find out Monday, my choice. I'm a chelps in a jump thing. I think that's going to be. I like a Randy Brown or Alan Joe band fight.

Those are two names that aren't ranked and at least they have people will recognize them. Yeah, Casey disagrees with everything that makes sense. He just wants dumb fights. But whatever. I don't really care. Someone tweeted Kazmet Shemayov, too. I'm like, I'm not going to say no to that, but it's not going to happen. And whoever, you know, the matchmaker's putting him in there with Imadayev,

perfect. That was like the absolute best guy to put him in there with that. I wanted, we've seen what he can do against like smaller welterweights. I think a long, rangy fighter like Randy Brown will answer questions. And then Alan Joban is just a name who has been proven that he can get hit. So if you want to fight that, we'll add another highlight, like Alan Joban, A, He's very impressive, Transit King's MMA. He's a really good fighter.

Has that win over Mike Perry, and now everyone wants that fight. So I think those two names are fine with me. He could sell the fight too. I think Jamaica sell the fight. 100%. Anyone that's in fashion magazines with Gigi can sell a fight. I'm glad you mentioned Mike Perry,

because it seems like every week at this point when a welterweight fights on a card and a Walterweight gets a victory, it's always, oh, he should fight Mike Perry next. Like, Mike Perry, we don't know when he's coming back at this point. Like, we don't know when that's happening. He's got himself into a little bit of a pickle here with the law, so we don't know when he's coming back. Like the UFC inside, until he completes a program, they're not even going to book him a fight.

So let's not match him up with anybody up with Mike Perry yet until like we get the go ahead that we can start matching people up. But I would love, I know Nico Price is fighting Donald Seroni, but Nico Price versus Mitchell Perry, I would be redonculus. I would love the winner of that. Like you're going to say no cowboy fighting him? Yeah, that would be great too. There we go. done and done we just made that happen what do you want what's your what's your fight casey Michelle prayer versus Robbie Lawler we can move on now yeah I just want I think I want

I want Robbie Lawler to fight Mike Perry and if Mike Perry is going to be out for a while and Robbie Lawley Mike Perry is not a good citizen of this world right now so I don't know if he needs to be came right now so let's give let's get Robbie Lawler a nice big paycheck and that's a co-main event on a fight night or or a nice paper view main card somewhere. Yeah. If Pereira's antics can't bring out the best in Robbie Lawler, then truly we have seen the last of pride of Robert Lawler.

We need someone that's going to bring out that Robbie Lauder that we love, not the Robbie Lauder we see now because we know it's in there. We see it. It's in his eyes still. You see it in his eyes. But I think Michelle Pereira is that guy that can bring that Robbie Laudor out. Even Brady would be interesting. I mean.

It would be a fun fight. That would be. Because I don't know if we call, like, a prospect at this point. Like, he's beyond that. He's had so much experience. So that'd be interesting. Although Brady wants to fight Robbie Lollar himself.

What's next for Viviani Araujo? She looked good coming up to Jessica I loss, which everybody thought she was going to win. And that was kind of a total letdown, but it seemed like she went back to drawing. 30 pounds over, too, remember? Yeah. Yes.

And she was just one of those performances. performances that could have just put her in a really good spot, but she took a couple of steps back. But she looked good against Montana tonight. Jose, what do you want to see next for our Ujo? Andrew Lee's fighting Roxy, right? If I'm not mistaken. I think the winner of that makes sense. They're all like, what, 7, 8, 9, 10? They're all like right in that bubble. Unless Macy Barber wants to come back. If she's back from her knee injury, sure, why not? Alexa Grasso looks awesome at Flyweight. So if they want to book that fight, like I just like that. I like that fight as a fight.

Like, I don't know if Vivian Arrujo wants to take a step back in the rankings, that's up to her. But, like, I like that fight just as a high-level martial arts competition. Like, those two just don't stop moving forward, throwing combinations. And then I think Julian Robertson, somewhere in there, too, Molly McCann, she might not be top 15. But there's a lot of fights for Vivian Arrucho to take. But selfishly, I want the Alexa Grosso fight or the winner of Roxy andry. Or if she wants a fight, that will move her higher up the rankings, the winner of Roxy andrily. Yeah, what do you think, A.K.?

Well, no, we're saving that AK. Casey, what do you think? Oh, I, okay. We're saving. Watch the show of Monday, people. Oh, no, I like the Grasso fight. Even though Grasso might not be in front of her ranking-wise, I think name value-wise, that's the fight for Vivian

if she wants to get a bigger name out there. Because I think Grasso's got a, even though, despite her ranking, just because he's new to the division, I think, yeah, I think that's a fight to make. But Barbara's also a great fight, but I'm not sure if Barbara's, her timeline right now. But, uh, and I think Grosso is just one of the more exciting female fighters out there in terms

of what happens inside the Octagon. Like, she's never in boring fights. Like, even that Carlos, as a fight that she lost was awesome. Yeah. And then her fighting was very close to, very close. It was super close.

Like, I thought Grosso had won that fight, but I, arguably, it's not, it's not a robbery. Yeah. It's not a robbery review candidate for A.K. Lee, but any of the,

so I want that fight selfishly. Okay. Was it just me, but during, during the, uh, How did he say her last name again? Arrajo.

Arrujo. Arrujo. Arrujo. Sorry. Arrujo fight. God, I just wanted her to throw a combination. She was throwing those freaking jabs that were just destroying that erosa. But it's like, oh, follow it up of something.

I was just like, hmm. But she looked great. Yeah. She lived like a jab and then like a leg kick. Like that was like her bread and butter for 15 rounds. And it was working. But it's just. And if you, but if you listen to the commentary, it was a.

super close fight, which I don't agree. And De La Rosa's Corner, apparently. I did not hear this. I saw Phil mentioning on social media. Delores's Corner going to the third said, this is a close fight. You just got to take this one, which is not great advice.

I mean, I guess I'll always keep fighting hard. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think they should have been a little more realistic about it. I don't know what difference it would have made because I do feel like in the stand-up, she was just outclassed. But that advice is very strange. Maybe they could hear the commentary too.

That could have been... We are talking about the Apex here, right? Maybe they heard the commentary. They're like, oh, it's close. You know, we can hear D.C. We can hear Anik. So, yeah, definitely one of those unique circumstances that we only see in the UFC Apex during these times. No, I don't want to.

I don't want to go off on giant rant, but like open scoring. If they wouldn't, if De La Rosa, if her corner are going like, you are down two rounds, you have to knock this lady out. That's exciting. But basically, your corner is like, you got to win this round. Like, no, you got to finish her. She was fighting pretty hard, though. I do feel like Delarosa, even to the end. was really getting in there.

For someone who was clearly being outclass, she really kept getting in there. I don't know how much more she could have gone out for some, for some knock-as. Some fighters don't have that in them, that kind of wild flurry. It's just not what they do, right? They have a discipline,

they have a game plan, and you're kind of an out-pot. You stick to it. So this is, again, this is just me crapping on open scoring, by the way, because you brought it up. But even next week's headliner, Angela Hill was like,

what is the commentator? Commentators talking about. Like, this is not a close fight. And then speaking on what Casey said, though, or when the fight, like their cornered, the corner work and everything, like, Augusta Sakai's, I had him up to O. I think a lot of people had him up too O. His corner said, you probably, you might have lost that first round.

So we're going to, they're going to, it's one one. Second round, I think. But yeah. Second round. They were like, you probably lost. It's one one in our minds right now, though. So the opposite of what Montana de la Rosa's corner said. Yeah.

I mean, I thought, there's no, I don't think Montana won any of the rounds. Neither one. Second round, once you started throwing kicks, it changed the, it changed the, it changed, It changed a little bit of the shape of the fight. Like, it got a little more competitive. Like, Arruzia still won the round. I mean, you can just look at their faces. You can tell, like, the damage that was being compiled.

But, you know, Delaro's is tough as nails. Yeah. So, got to give her credit for that. The live significant stats at the end of the fight actually made it look really close. By the way, thank you for the question, Kent Dutthuson. I think it was like 78, 74, which, again, I don't think reflects how close the fight actually was. And I think when the official stats come out, by the way, on Monday or whenever those stats are compiled, I have been that those significant strike numbers are not going to look as close as we saw on the broadcast.

I could be wrong. I could be wrong. But they can waver greatly from the on-screen stats when you see them. So I think I already won that one comfortably. Oh, we have some royalty here. The Ambassador of Trance asked, explain over-inburability, fighting at his age, having been knocked out himself many times. How is he still mentally sharp and successful? Is he just a freak of nature?

A.K., I'll let you tackle this one, since we can't make any mess. matchups here. Yeah, I mean, it's, I think Freak of Nature describes a lot of high level athletes and veterans in MMA, certainly in the heavyweight division. You really have to be made of CERN or stuff to last this long in division where people hit so hard. How do you explain? I mean, keep in mind, you people have to remember he's, he's so high level with his striking. Yes, he's, I know people are like, okay, he's going to knock down, what, 14 times in his career or something like that. Oh, sorry, yes, 14 times his career, several times the UFC and several times in recent years, but he can really take a punch. I know people are going to say,

oh, but he gets knocked all the time. He gets knocked all the time, again, either getting caught by something just a super powerful shot, like an uppercut by a Fancin Ganu, or, or again, just, you know, something at the end of the fight getting injured, like, by, by Jarzino. So his defense is a really, really high level. It always has been, the experience is so obvious when you see him fight. So I think that's a key to his, to his durability and why, like, I think the question specifically, why is he so sharp? How does he maintain this? It's like, When you've been fighting as long as he has, so much of this stuff is instinctual. He really strikes me as someone who actually, you know, every athlete says they learn from their experiences, learn from their losses.

He really strikes me as someone who has, again, both in MMA in kickboxing, you know, everything he's done. So that really is the key. I know it sounds simple, but I think for a lot of fighters that's finding that discipline and finding that consistency is hard to do. And that is something overreem throughout his career, I think consistent is definitely a way I would describe him, especially in the latter stages as he's gotten older. you see a lot of consistency. So that's the key. They say that about everything, right?

Practice, practice, practice, consistency is key. That's really it. And I think this has kind of been a theme over the last couple of weeks. It doesn't matter if you have five fights, 10 fights, or have overreem's experience. Sometimes a change of scenery

can lead to a change of perspective. It seems like him going to Colorado and being with elevation changed some things up. It's changed the way he views himself as a fighter. You know, maybe he's, got a little extra confidence working with guys like Curtis Blades and working on his ground. I'm sure his ground games improved immensely.

Of course, his ground and pound is superbly underrated. But, I mean, sometimes you just need that. Like, you just need a change of scene and perspective changes along with it. And I think Overeem's found that even at 40 years old, which is, which is unbelievable. Casey, what do you think? How do you define Overeem's success here after, you know, a lot of people gave up on him not too long ago? evolution he he he I can't think of a high level fighter that has evolved so much considering he came

into the UFC part of his career like oh he's the greatest striker the heavyweight division has ever seen tonight he lost the striking if this was a stand-up fight sake wins that fight he wins that fight easy so the fact that it was it was a domination on the ground and I think this evolution that Overeem has taken upon in the himself, especially going to Colorado and training of guys like Curtis Blades, I think he's like, you know what? I go back to him being a prize fighter. He sees the long, this is the long game.

Being an older fighter, I think he just feels I can fight longer at a higher level if I take these fights to the ground. And we saw it tonight. If that fight stays standing or if Sakai gets up or stops those takedowns, I have no doubt Sakai wins that fight. Actually, the whole buildup was like, Sakai was like, you know, oh, that fight. this is Curitiba Muay versus, you know,

Dutch kickboxing or whatever, or, you know, um, whatever he said, Dutch, um, Muay. He actually won that.

He won the moitai match tonight, but unfortunately this was mixed martial arts and he lost the mixed martial arts match. So, um, evolution, man, it's very impressive. Yeah,

I would agree. What else you got? Egy, edgy bra in the comments says, you're right, Casey, it's overreams, ground and pound.

What is great? You are on points. You are on point tonight, my friend. Egy brough. Egy brough. I also think he just trains super smart. Like he trains like, he's never really had an injury.

Like he trains and takes care of his body so well. Like his training reminds me to Demetrius Johnson where everything is so meticulous and planned out that he knows when to pump, like take his foot off the gas just from he knows how his body reacts certain things. He also doesn't take breaks. Like he's constantly training, constantly fighting. he like like we said prize fighters as long as the check clears he's down to fight like he'll lose two in a row fight a prospect win and then it's thrown right back in there against alexia olinic who has like 70 fights like maybe the only fight with more fights than oeering if he does so i just think that his body is just so used to train that when he stops training i want that's the overreem i want to see like what his body reacts to not putting in like six days of work he loves it like you can tell he still loves it what else he got thank you ambassador thank you for honoring us with your presence yes it was an honor and a privilege you need buy one may find another question do do too do you get we got probably go for like 10 more minutes yeah yeah oh it on mad oh my goodness not a john john g says mike heck wearing the freshest white

tea of all time that's right done like yeah i played golf and i didn't bring enough clothes on the trip so i'm wearing the long sleeve and the white tea it can't i can't show you all the good look. It's a good look. Oh, man. Good question. A lot of comments. These guys are so hilarious. Our YouTube, you guys in the YouTube section, you're too funny. What's next for Sakai?

How about that? Sakai versus Olenik. That's like perfect, actually. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Mike, write that one down, please, for Monday's show. And we will not, who is this? We will not credit them. Alinic.

Who else is around? like Walt Harris. Like if we're talking about like Volkov is fun. Cyril Gaines, some, Cerill's got a fight, right? And Cereal's got to fight too.

Oh, are they fighting each other? No, no, no, no. I forget who Walt's fighting. That'd be fun, fine, fine. Oh, who's Tain or Bose are fighting? He's fighting Andrea Lovsky. That's right. Waxmas one, I think, was throwing out a bunch of suggestions earlier.

I think he or she also said, or someone else picked up on the story and also said, they wanted to see Overeem and Verdome fight again for like a fourth time. So that was, it's one of them. Verdum is not even running out of the UFC anymore. And I don't know if we want to see that fight again.

What's next for Syracobai? Harris is fighting Alexander Bullcott, the UFC 250. Okay. Okay, that's right. So that scraps a lot of my plans. I don't know, Junior. Junior's coming off and not that loss. I thought they fought, but that was, I got confused with Blagoi.

Blagoi fought Jr., not, not, I guess this guy. I mean, he's got options. Sakai lost, Sakai beat Blagoe, too, in his last fight. Yes. Yes. Yeah,

so kind of, if they want to do the junior fight, like two Brazilian powerhouses, like coming off losses. White Island. Fight Island special. What about Gus? Heavyweight Gus.

Well, that pros us all. I want to see Gus go back to my heavyweight. Heavyweight. Yeah. I think so. He's got, he's got options.

He's got. He's got. He's up for Harold versus James Vic. Hmm. I didn't. I kind of forgot about James Vick, to be honest. I forgot you went. Has he won at 170 yet?

I know he's going up and wait. He only had one. He had the Nico Price fight, which ended so bizarrely. Oh, yeah, yeah. Was that this year? Was that this year? That was last year. Late last year.

That was the Tampa card, I think. October, yeah, October. Does anyone look worse getting knocked out than James Vick? Yeah, he's had a rough go of it. He's got to, he's still got this. a talent. I just don't know like... He is, but he's also losing to like really good fighters. Yeah. Yeah. Like Jay G. Felder, Hooker, Nico Price, like all those like four of the most violent men. Remember the law...

And like Paul Felder punctured his lung in that fight. Yeah. Remember the longest time, James Nick, he could not get a top 10 opponent. He won like, what, seven straight or something, or nine of 10? And just could not get a top 10 opponent. Then he finally gets these top 10 opponents and just cannot catch a break. And these guys just crushing him. So... But again, you have to make that jump at some point. And James Vig unfortunately made the mistake of calling Justin Gagey, the Homer Simpson of MMA. I was like, ooh. And James Vick did the whole, you come from a little B league.

I'm in the UFC. I was like, oh, bro, don't do this. That's a bad, that's a bad, that's a bad game plan. Did he also walk out to M&M? I mean, did he also has a chain link fence tattooed onto his shoulder. Yeesh. I mean, yeah, I haven't heard much from James Vick since. The price loss.

Hopefully, just resting, honestly, for a guy like that, you know, we talk about longevity, you know, I think part of it

is getting rest when you, when you suffer three knockouts and brutal knockouts on like four fights, you've got to just take some time away.

He's been doing a lot of hunting I've seen on social media. Yeah, probably. Before we leave, let's talk a little bit about next week. Who else is fighting on the hell and water?

According to UFC.com, let me, Let me quickly look this up because using a com has been a little slow. Well, we know, Andrew Lee is fighting Roxanne Montefarri. Kamaworthy and Otman Azatar is now the co-main event for that card, not Angioli and Montefarri, which was originally caught. Julia Obula is fighting Sejara Eubanks on that card. That's a new matchup.

Alan Patrick is fighting Bobby Green. Oh, my God. That fight is awesome. That's a great fight. Ed Herman is now fighting Mike Rodriguez. Matt Schnell versus Tyson. and NAM. That's a fun fight.

There's a lot of bangs on that card. Yeah. Camacho and Brock Weaver. Billy Q and Kyle Nelson. Brian Barberina is back at our lives by Anthony Ivy. Roosevelt Roberts versus Matt Fravola. Sabina Mazo versus Justine Kish.

It's a pretty good card. That's a lot of fun scraps. Unfortunately, you guys, according to UFC.com, though, only two of these fights are official. The Michelle Waterson-Angela-Hill main event and Billy Quarantillo versus Kyle Nelson. Because nothing's official.

until they're in the Octagon. Which was proven to, Jose, you're correct. Your axiom was proven today. Boy, that was this lead up to the today's card just today was just constant, constant updates. They did flash the main card on the broadcast. Yes. That's how I knew that. It is real.

It is real. Comboworthy is down in the co-made event, which by the way, if you haven't checked out Kamaworthy's interview on what the heck, he's just, he's very commonworthy. Like, he's awesome. I love that worthy Ottman fight. I think to me that's my people's main event. That's an awesome fight. That's a great co-main event.

No disrespect to Andrew Lee and Roxanne Madaferri. I mean, they're still on the main card, as long as they're not buried on the prelims, but this is a great main event. Roxanne versus Andrea Lee has actual title implications or like importance for the division. But in terms of what gets me up out of bed, Camerworthy, Audman has tied.

Freaking rules. That's a great fight. Casey, I think we had to go to Waxmas 1 again because someone is saying they asked a great question. What are our thoughts on? And also, we are obligated to talk about this next fighter, at least once per show. Comzat Shemaya versus Gerald Mirchert and Kamzat Shemayev versus Damian Maya, two fights that are, again, not official, as Jose would note, but are apparently in the planning stages or somewhere closer to that is supposed to happen. So again, for Kamzat Shemayev versus Gerald Mirchert at middleweight.

and Comzaa Shemaya versus Damien Maya at Walter Waite, which is both supposed to be happening. What do you guys think? Well, Shamaya versus Mirchart, as far as I know, is done. Like, that's happening on September 19th. That is good to go. Is that Abu Dhabi? Oh, that's in the U.S.

Right? That's in the U.S. right? Comsat tweeted today. Comes out tweeted today. I am in Las Vegas. Oh, okay. Yeah, so 15 fights on that card. 15 or 16 fights at this point.

So five fights. I think it's a good map. I think it's a great map. I think that's a perfect kind of a fight to book him with a guy like Gerald Mirchard, who is very, he does have a lot of skill. He's had some ups and downs, great on the ground. Great on the ground. Like people are saying, we need to fight a guy.

We need Shemai to fight a guy who can wrestle and can work on the ground. I think A Kay has been saying that for a while. You guys can't stop a takedown. He didn't do anything. He hasn't found anyone that can stop a takedown. Prove me wrong. That was my impression of a vacate. Prove me that.

Show me that you are this elite prospect that, look, I've seen it. with my own eyes, those first two fights, and amazingly impressive. Again, even given the level of competition, if you know, you've seen enough bites, you know when someone is a legit prospect. You just, you know when you see it. You know it within the first take down they do.

You can see it. But again, like Mike said, this is a real, real, real veteran test now, Joe Mears shared. I mean, obviously, I think Shemaya will win, but I still think the booking of two fights extremely presumptuous. So now I'm skeptical.

I know, I'm skeptical. I'm skeptical again. I don't know if he does, I guess I think maybe the Mirosha fight is tough. Maybe he can't make the Maya fight. All right, Jose, let me ask you this. What are your thoughts on Shemaya versus Maya? Because there's one person on Twitter tagged me in something,

and people were commenting about it, that this is kind of a slap in the face to Damien Maya. Like, he has one fight left in his deal. He's hoping to possibly get one more from all sorts of rumors and reports. But, like, I think you'd want to see Damia, like, in a fun fight. The guy's been calling out Diego Sanchez for, like, 18 months at this point. Like, I have one fight left.

That's a guy I want to fight. Like, I always wanted to see Maya versus Wonderboy. Like one fight left, I think those two guys at this point, that would just be a lot of fun. I even mentioned Robbie Lawler last week versus Damia Maya. That would be interesting. But Hamzat Shamiyev from Damia's potential final fight of his career. Like, do you agree with this?

Like, Casey's got this look on his face, but I want to get your thoughts first. Well, first of all, he has to beat Gerald Mirchart first, which is not an easy task. Like I don't understand the matchmaking where it's like, like, if they just booked it against Maya or just Gerald Mirchart, like, fine. But like also, I'm assuming Gerald Mirchart's at middleweight, right? Yeah. And then so he's going to fight a middleweight and then cut down a welterweight and fight. Like, come on. Just pick a division.

Because until he fights Damien Maya, that's three non-Welterweight's fought. Like, yeah, he fought Ries McKee at Welterweight. But Ries McKee is lightweight. We all know that. So if they want to give him Damien Ma'i, like I like that fight as a fight. Like, it's going to be a fun fight to watch. But, like, I don't want to see Damien Maya ride off into the sunset as another victim of the hype train that is Kamsmanat Shamaa. Like, if they want to give him one more fight after that, like, hey, do this favor for us.

We will give you a big name after. Fine. I understand. But look who, like, Damien Maia has lost to. Like, Kobe Cunnington, like, Kamara Usman. Like, there's obviously a bunch of fights he's lost. But, like, recently, like, Gilbert Burns. like those three are like the top three at welter way like those are like three of the top five so like he only loses to the best and

he has matchamaya beats damien maya in the way that those guys did like give him top five just give him leon edwards i don't care like that would prove enough for me um but i feel bad for timian and maya as it is but i like to fight as a fight but i would like to see damien may get a really big fight before he finally rides off into the sunset well i'm interested I'm interested in it. You know, Jose, if you, if you, if you, if you listen to these Hamzaa Shemayev stands like Casey and others, he should be facing freaking Kamara Usman tomorrow. Let's not. So really, he's doing Maya favor by stepping back in the rankings and giving this veteran a shot, apparently.

And I like Kamsat Shemayev. I think he is a legit prospect. I think he handles himself very well in the media. Like, his manners are very like, they, I'm sure you guys saw Habib Mirugam had a press conference in Russia, just to answer questions because everyone's had so many questions for him that he just did a press conference in Russia. And one of the questions for him was about has Matt Shemaya. Like they're asking Habib about him.

So he clearly moves the needle. Like just look at our YouTube mentors. He moves the needles. So I think he's super talented. He put the rock ship on him. I think it's a little presumptuous to book him two fights down the road already in two separate way class. But I don't have a problem with either matchmaking as long as Damon

and Maya gets a fight after that. I think Damien Maia is in a, is in a classic lose-lose situation. Because if he loses, it's, you know, you lose to the hype train, like you said. But if he wins, you know how this sport is. Like, you're hot until you're not anymore. Exposed.

Yes. Sposed him. See, he was a can after all. He was overrated after all. See what happens when you put him against contender. Mike and Casey were crazy for trying to book him in top 10, top 15 matchups. Like, it's a lose-lose for him.

Like, that's why I don't like it. Absolutely not. Oh, here we go. That is not a lose-lose from Maya. Why? Dude, because Dana White loves Shamiya. He will, Shmaia and Dana White will promote the hell out of this fight. It could probably be a, I'm assuming this fight, if they fight a main event for a fight night in Abu Dhabi or something like that.

It would be a co-main and all the main events are taken. Okay, well, whatever. It'll be a featured fight. It'll be the people's main event. and man no i think this is like it's just a great a great price fighting fight um because like you prospect versus vet if this is the last fight for maya like so why don't we why don't we want this fight book because we think maya's going to get his ass kicked or we think my is an easy win for maya i'm not i'm confused i don't know i think i think either way it's bad for maya but i think

if my i don't because mya's not getting a title shot he's never going to get a title shot he's not he's not unless he goes out on it if he if his retirement fight will be a title shot which i don't think anyone's thinking it's going to happen. No, that's not going to happen. So this is the best. To me, this is the best. If Maya can crush this, maybe the hottest waltrowweight prospect in years, I can't think of one, waltroweate prospect in years. If Maya can crush him, then Maya leaves going like, you know what, like, I'm still a badass. I'm not this old man. Like, I'm leaving out, I'm leaving out on a happy ending. And if he loses, he knows it's his time to move on. And I think that's not, like, again, that's not, that might not be what he wants. Like, we're making

a lot of, he might not want to go out being I want a bat. It's maybe he wants to go out fighting someone in the top ten. Like, I don't know. He'll fight Diego Sanchez. Diego Sanchez is the guy that got a BS win over

AK's fucking favorite dude in the world. Like, come on, man. Diego Sanchez, he lost. Wow. He's not on a title path. Like, that's who he wins. Like, yeah, I have one fight left.

I want to fight this guy. Like, I want to fight Robbie Lala. Damien Meyer, man. Take that. Fight Damian Meyer. Take it, damn. I don't hate it. That it being a co-made event, because I think it would, I think at this point,

Kamsat is getting like that, we'll get that like, Sean O'Malley treatment. Because remember, Sean O'Malley was the co-main of a, I mean, the paper view, so it's a little different. But I think he would get the same treatment. So I cannot wait to hear Stephen A. Smith try and say, Kamsat Shemayev, some overwritten, over-cooked ESPN promo. Yeah.

Comparing him to friggin, I don't know. I don't want to say Luca Donkutchegan, because that's what we saw. this stupid O'Malley promo but something to that who's a baseball uh give me someone in baseball uh Jose mooky bets saying like mooky bets this kid is like a mooky bets the way throws the ball through the okay i'm losing grip on this metaphor but i just i'm sorry the way he hit those home runs tautis grand slam baby uh i am but i am already bracing i am already bracing myself for the shimaa bs p and hipe video and just

oh just no story line storylines. I love it. Just remember, as Jose said, he's got to be Gerald Mirshar first before that could happen. Yes, it's not going to be easy. No, not at all. Gerald Mirchard seemed very fired up for that. He's not going to physically be able to make it to the Damia Maya fight after he steps in the other. Sherrard has, like, how many wins does Kazmat Shemayov have total?

12? 12? Yeah, I thought it was 12. That means he has almost two, like that means Gerald Mirchard almost has two times as many submission wins. Yes. like let's everyone's talking about Damien Maya being this big test on the ground Gerald Mirrschart has 20

oh he's 8 and oh he's 8 and no he's 8 and no he's 8 no he feels like he's 12 and out I know I thought yeah Gerald Mirzhar has more losses than to Cavamashamaya has total wins

like this is a good test it's also a middleweight I do like that I do like the Mirchoff I think I think you think it's big right like the Mirschart like Mirchart is a legitimate middleweight. Oh, yeah. Big guy. I think he's legit welterweight. Yeah. So this is going to be a big test form. So he's going to go middleweight, lightweight, middleweight,

welterweight. That's my first four fights. I just want to say, I know we're wrapping up soon, but we're almost up to a thousand viewers. The viewership has for some reason gone up. Maybe it's because it's a relatively early night, but I just say, you guys are crazy. Everyone who watch this, you guys are insane. You guys are beautiful. I love you guys. You guys are amazing, but you guys are crazy. All right. I'm glad you're watching us. I'm glad you're spending your night with us. I love, I love all of you, but that's wild. I don't know what's, I don't know what's going to my heat. I think the rating, I think the ratings shot up when we met. Somehow people just knew that we were talking about Shumaya. I am going at these thousand people are staying in and watching us rather

than going outside during a pandemic. So you're not crazy. Incredible. Incredible. You know, we get that, let's get two more in. Two more comments. What do we got? What do we got? That was a heated one. See what happens? Shemaya gets brought up. It turns it. It's 20 minutes on Shemayev, no matter what show we do

when his name gets brought up. It's unbelievable. The last question was about Waterson Hill, too. I don't know how we got there. It's a good card. I forgot how good that card was because we're so focused on

like how uninteresting like this card got after like all the fallouts. And then plus, you know, you look at Santos and Golda Tashara being off next week. Everyone's like, oh, God, this card sucks.

And I if you really look at it. actually really good. Hey man, nothing's official until they fight, so for all we know, five fights could be gone. Well, I find the final question, I'm going to throw this comment up. Happy birthday to Esther Lynn. I was going to end with that. Jessica. Thanks, Jessica.

Spoiler. Casey, another spoiler tonight. Spoiler alert. Someone, I don't watch the show. I was handling, tweeting the results from our, tweeting all the stuff from our main car today. And I tweeted the results of the first fight, a decision. And the very first comment was like, yo, didn't even say, the result on USB on PlusJet. Could you wait? Why did you tweet this out so quickly? So I

apologize to that person on Twitter to whom I spoiled. To whom I spoiled the results of Hunter Azure versus Cole Smith. I must have spoiled it by a solid like 15 seconds. I apologize. I'm a loose canon sometimes. You know, I don't understand. I was like, is it going to be a unanimous decision or Smith decision for Azra? Who knows? I didn't. I had to hide my phone in my hat because of those spoilers. And I'm not even joking. I was like, I think it was like a good 40 seconds behind the rest. Shemayev is like the thing from... I got to spread this out.

I can't see there is. Oh, this is for Jose. This is Jose. Yeah. Shabaev is like the thing from comic books. Oh, Steve Smith. That's just not true. Oh, I could see him doing that.

There's ESPN, ABC, Disney tie-in. I think Disney does all of a dozen four now. I believe Marvel and Disney don't have the rights to the cinematic, fantastic four. I think they do now. I think they do that. That'd be unfortunate. That movie should never exist in one. They're 0 for three anyway.

I don't think Stephen A. Smith knows what the thing is either. No. I don't think, I don't know if he'd, that's a little bit. I mean, it's a pretty well-known character, but that's a poll for him, given his knowledge base, I mean, to put it nicely. Oh, by the way, guys, we didn't even mention Belto 245 on Friday, right? That's next week, right? They have two events next week.

Yes. So we're saying, like, man, we got a good card. We also got the Machita Davis-Turi match, which I'm actually really looking forward to. I will unfortunately be in a wedding, so I will miss them. Oh. Plus Katzengano, Katzangano making her belt for debut featherweight. So, yeah, some of the Ed Roos fighting, Raymond Daniels, that's a good one. Casano, future cyborg opponent.

I think if she wins, I'm pretty sure right away. Because I feel like they're feeding her a much lesser known opponents just to give her win. Which is great. It's a nice, it's a tune-up fight. Cat hasn't fought since Megan Anderson. Slice her eyeball, yeah. I don't have an issue with the fight.

No, no. And then the Saturday card, we have the Bannamway title fight between, which probably no offense to the rest of the combatants, but the fight of the weekend is Wana Choletta versus Patchy Mix. Absolutely. This is Bannerway title. John Fitch versus Neiman Gracie is interesting in 170, and then Liz Carmoosh fights Deanna Bennett.

Yeah. That would be fun too. Is the Fitch, Neiman, not a rematch? Is that a rematch? Am I crazy? Did they not fight in the tournament? I thought they fought? Oh, no.

No, no. I'm crazy. Corey and John Fitch fought to a draw. So, Roy moved on in the technicality. Yeah, yeah. And it's beat Neiman. Okay. Yeah, too good bell to work.

Man, this is me busy one. This is a busy week. Yeah, buddy. Yeah. We got a couple questions. Most people are just kind of, you know, blah, blah, blah. Talking about, you know, we want to talk about Kobe Woodley, but I figure I figure we got plenty of time to talk about that.

We got time because I'll be there. And then we can talk all we want about it. Yes. Yes. Do we have any other questions? Uh, no, we're good. Um, just, uh, just, uh, just, uh, he's trying to find a banger. Yes, once again.

Yo, happy, happy, happy birthday. Birthday. I'm not sure if that's a joke. Is that a joke? I think they just fell in their teamwork, but. Well done. Can't argue with Jesus? The best in the business, her birthday, uh, her birthday today.

So everyone, please, in the comment. sing happy birthday sing it in the privacy of your own home we will we can hear you we can hear you so everyone tweet videos of you seeing yes but tweet them at alex she will let me yeah i'll have aster's birthday present will be alex being bombarded with videos we did at alex savus that's a a a a a a a a a a a x sabas uh on twitter and uh yeah and i got to say um big shout out to the ufc um i sent dana a text saying, hey, it's my wife's birthday. Can we, you know, slash some fights off tonight?

You know, let's get it. So we have a little more, you know, time to watch some Netflix tonight, you know, relax. So, um, big shout out to Dana for, you know, pulling some fights, you know. I hear you watching avatar. Hoking us up. I hear you watching Avatar now, Casey. I am watching Avatar. Has life's been changed?

Welcome to the 21st century. You know what? I enjoy it. I'm enjoying Avatar. I'm still, I just finished. book one, season one. Yeah. That's the kiddie one where it starts off real juvenile and kind of turns

a lot of people off. The first few episodes and then when they venture off it gets one. I appreciate you saying that because that was actually my one critique when I was watching up Esther. I was like I really like this but like I can tell it's a kid's show. It's 40 years. And this is

for just Casey. Everyone that's listening just you can tune off if you want. That's because Ang was frozen when he was like 11. So he's still a kid. so he's never matured. So as the show goes on, it will be kind of like, you grow with the character,

which is why it's so great. I think Casey was saying that he realized it was a kid's show, and he was like, how did Jose know that this was right on my level? And that's he was saying, I think he was like, oh, yeah, he was like, oh, this is perfect for me.

How did he know? Thank goodness. And then 100% watch the live action movie because everyone needs to something like I did in 2010 in that movie theater. Oh, sorry. You're, yeah, sorry, okay, yeah. Oh, wow.

It's like when they get people in around the horn when they just go gray. Oh, this is an in-memorium. I'm just going to freeze. You guys remember AK? He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was nice. Raptors suck, though, but he was nice.

He was around. He was around. Did you freeze him, too? I think you turned the microwave on. In-memorium. You do a very good corp. Wow. That was awesome.

It could do, but if you could do it. to put the date next to my name. 84, 84. I thought, yeah, I thought like someone ran the microwave in the house. No, I'm just dead, apparently. I dunked on him so hard that his body shut down. What a lovely morbid way to end the show, guys. Yeah.

On back. Unreal. All right, I think we've exhausted everything you put on a seven-time car. Please shut this down, Mike. Yes. That is it. Thank you all for watching. You guys are crazy. We love all of you. Jose, go ahead. Dune in on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern 10 a.m. Pacific. Tonight's bonus winner, Brian Keller is making his return to the A-side. Crystal talk. Crystal talk. I mess with him. I go A-side Wednesday. He's just like,

got the tiger's eye at hand. I was like, sorry like, tear. Boom. Hey, there we go. We're making things happen. Monday is Labor Day. That's usually one. and we record between the links. So honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen with that. So we're going to figure that out. I'm working. I'm on the clock. All right.

I'm on for like a few hours, but we'll figure it out. Let's see if we can get the combatants. If not, maybe we go live on Tuesday for a little while. Do it that way. I don't know. Have fun. Yeah, we'll play it by air. What the hell, you know?

It's M.A. after all. So we're out of here for Jose Casey, AK, I am Ikech. We'll do it again all week long, get you ready for, like, 17 fight cards next weekend. So thank you for watching. We'll see you. Enjoy your long weekend here in the U.S. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.