The Ariel Helwani Show - Featherweight GOAT Debate, matchmaking for UFC 314 winners, WrestleMania 41 talk | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

The Boys in the Back kick off with a discussion about the impending UFC rights deal (01:56), before turning to the debate over MMA's featherweight GOAT (17:41).Then, they're joined by Meadowlark Media's Anthony Calatayud to play matchmaker for UFC 314's winners and losers (1:02:12).After recapping last week's picks (1:25:06), The Boys deliver their P4P lists of professional wrestlers (1:34:49), inspired by WrestleMania 41.Finally, your voicemails (1:54:55) and Super Chats (2:14:12) get the shine. 

But boys in the back, but boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another edition of the Boys in the Back. This time on a special Tuesday, Ariel is roaming around the world. I don't know where he's at, Miami. Somewhere. Montreal, he's out enjoying the fruits of his labor. But not us, we're here in the studio here

to get you ready for WrestleMania weekend. Recap UFC 314. And on this special Tuesday, you see the War Hat, the 40th anniversary edition. Mr. New York Rick rocking it. Shout out to our friends at Top Rank for sending us these. But yeah, 40th anniversary of. Hagler-Herns.

Hagler-Herns, incredible fight. First round, magical. If you have not seen it, see it. There's, I could try to describe it. We talked all about it, I still haven't seen it. Today's the day, I've been holding out for it. It's not a long watch, I'm telling you. You'll get through it, and it's tremendous.

If you have not seen it, see it. One of the all-time fights, an iconic round in boxing history. Yeah, shout out to our friends at Top Rank. We unfortunately, today, start the show with the sad news of the passing of Marvin Vittori's brother, just 29 years old, Patrick, who lost his life in a fire in his house last night. Incredibly sad story. Our

hearts and prayers go out to Patrick, to Marvin, to the entire Vittoria family. Just awful, awful news that you never want to hear. And a guy who was obviously Marvin's younger brother that meant a lot to him. So very, very tragic news that we hate to have to even have to bring up. Yeah, a touching message that he posted on his own Instagram account. have to imagine that the family's going through right now. Lots of love and support from the MMA community which is nice to see and yeah support Marvin Vettori right now and his family because he needs it. Absolutely man and obviously difficult to transition from such a story of that

magnitude but other news today in the world of MMA the exclusive negotiation window with ESPN for the UFC has ended. So now the UFC is free to go and talk to Amazon's Netflix, Peacock's, whatever streaming services around the world and this has massive implications. I don't think it's a surprise that we made it through the exclusive negotiation window. I think they knew that they were going to talk to other companies. But now that it's here, it's like, man, this is going to have massive implications on how we watch

this sport in the future. Yeah, we're going to truly see what the broadcast rights for the UFC are worth. We have a quote here from John R. Rand, who works at Puck News. It's too early to gauge how much interest is out there. But UFC would never let ESPN's exclusive window expire if its executives weren't confident there would be multiple other suitors let's stop down there for a second there is no doubt that there will be other suitors this was never going to get done in the negotiation

the exclusive negotiation period with the ESPN unless ESPN basically bought the whole thing like there is no way that the UFC was not going to see what else was out there. Let's go back to that quote for a second just want to finish Amazon and Netflix for two are expected to take meetings almost right away so that's John Oren reporting and Netflix for two are expected to take meetings almost right away. So that's John Oren reporting that Amazon and Netflix already two that are lined up to take this meeting today. The rights ended could be soon as today could be in the next

few days. They've got time until I believe the ESPN deal goes to the end of the year. So they've got time to arrange this and I imagine they're going to be meeting with everybody and I don't think it's Amazon Netflix ESPN Apple I'm sure it's those but I'm sure it's also if you're a platform like Twitch if you're YouTube if you're somebody you at least have to like have a conversation and figure out if this premium product that you could get on your platform is going to be something that can drive Users and we've seen the UFC be a great driver for ESPN plus already I imagine that they're having conversations with some that we know some that we haven't even thought about that would be in play for this

Yeah, I mean if you think about a power slap I know it's nowhere near the same level as the UFC but the fact that they had that exclusive deal with rumble for a while And then on the other end of that, as big as Netflix, now that they're under TKO, I watched Raw last night on Netflix, and like the seamlessness which you can get on the app, you're immediately watching it, there were no streaming issues,

it's just like you're watching it on TV. The success that they've had with Netflix, they have the deal with Peacock, obviously the ESPN's past relationships with the UFC. It's gonna be fascinating to watch, man, and I'm very curious as if it's just going to be one streamer, if it's going to be a magnitude of them. Are we still going to do pay-per-views? Are we still going to be doing 42 to 45 events a year? I think it's very interesting for the future, not only of how we watch the sport, but the sport in general. Yeah, I wonder how they're going into these negotiations

in terms of if they have a strategic vision for it, which is like, hey, we want to still do pay-per-views, so we're going to do pay-per-views here. We're offering these rights up, and we want to do fight nights here. Or if they're going carte blanche, table rassa, whatever the best offer is, we will take it. If Netflix goes, and I've long thought Netflix might be the best home for it, even prior

to WWE and TKO doing a deal for the wrestling, that a Netflix product where they paid enough for the rights that it would no longer be behind a paywall for pay-per-views and it would just be a premium product within the Netflix app, could be a very appealing thing for both MMA fans and that huge base of people who already have Netflix and have it for streaming movies and television and all those other things, to then get it introduced to the best version of UFC and potentially become fans. So I've always thought that was very harmonious.

That said, the price tag to get the UFC to stop doing pay-per-view would be extremely high. I wonder what it really would be. Like if you if you think about they do 14 pay-per-views a year. Yeah. How much money are they making off? Well you have to imagine if they're 60 a pop and they're doing let's say 300 to 500 K that's a lot of money on the table. Now obviously from that you have to pay your site fees, your production, your athletes, all those things. It's not like, the Fight Nights make a lot of money,

as they announce every single time they go to a new venue, they set a new domestic record for a Fight Night. They're making a lot of money in terms of that. Right, gates though, not in terms of streaming. That's just the gates, but a lot of the production and the things that are going into those events, you do have to reinvest in the business. And those have costs.

The costs will be most offset by pay-per-views, not by fight nights. USC is probably making quite a decent profit on those fight nights. But the majority of that money that's going to get you through the rest of the year and pay the dividends to investors and pay the executives and all those things

are being made when you have the big product and you're selling the pay-per-view. So that supports the ecosystem. And if you are trying to take that away, if you are trying to say, we're not going to sell it at this price with this amount of expected buys, and we just want it to be available to everybody, it's

going to come with a hefty cost. What do we think that is, 10 million? 10 million per pay-per-view? No, no, no, no, no, if it's, I guess, yeah, I forgot. Pay-per-view buys multiplied by 60, so like, I mean by 80, because it's $80. $80. So I mean, like, per pay-per-view,

they're making, Lord knows how much, like five to, somewhere in the five to $10 million range. If not more, yeah. You're talking about like $100 million a year? For like Netflix to cough up to go no pay-per-views? I think north of that. Because the product. $150 million?

Yeah, I think even more than that probably because the byproduct, also remember that they're doing those in those massive cities and getting the gate on top of that. Like the actual business that a pay-per-view does is probably massive, including those broadcast rights. It's gonna cost a lot. But I guess you can just change it from like a pay-per-view does is probably massive, including those broadcast rights, it's going to cost a lot. But I guess you can just change it from a pay-per-view

to a numbered event. That's it. They just become UFC 314 is on Netflix. UFC 315 is on Netflix. It's no longer called pay-per-view traditionally. But I mean, let's say like $250 million from Netflix, and then they get all the numbered events on their streaming service, and now the fans

don't have to pay $80 per? Yeah, and then you add that on top of the billion-ish per year that you wanna pay for having all the Fight Nights and maybe Dana White's Contender Series and all those things. They're looking at a nice little cost. I feel like it would be best to, obviously,

they make so much money. Purchase the whole thing. Well, I was gonna say, I feel like it would be best to obviously make so much money. Well, I was gonna say, I feel like it would be best to like, if we could chop it down to like 33 events a year, and fans don't have to pay for pay-per-views, I feel like the interest in the sport would rise. I would love that. The problem is if you're Netflix or if you're anybody, we keep using Netflix as if it's like fit complete.

I don't think it is. I imagine ultimately this pie will be split up. I don't think we will get the loss of pay-per-view. If you're Amazon, if you're Netflix, if you're anybody, your business model as those streamers now is advertising. We're seeing the ad-supported models. A lot of people are still in those subscription packages and have the ad supported.

The amount that you can charge for those ads, those interstitials that are coming in in the content, are how you're making a lot of revenue. A lot of Amazon's profits now is less on the consumer product side, and a lot more in advertising on Monday Night Football and all those other potential products. So if you cut down to 33 events,

you're now giving up 10 to 15 that could have had advertising running throughout, commercials and things running throughout. So it's a hefty loss if you just took this in and then you go, ah, we're gonna give up 15 of those. Yeah, I mean, I don't foresee them doing that. I'm just like in my ideology in my head

of like how to gain interest back into the sport. The best product would be a 30 something. Where we kind of crave the Fight Nights a little bit more, the quality of the cards continue to go up, we just completely like, what if Netflix just came in and they were like, no more Apex. What if, look, maybe I'm too pessimistic or maybe I'm looking at this too glass half full,

I just think anybody who's going to do this deal is looking to make money, is knowing that the USC is going to be a profitable business for them because they have this so dialed in. And so I can't foresee them going, we want to give a better consumer experience in contrast to making more money. I don't think they'll forego those dollars

to create a better experience. But as I'm saying, maybe I am being pessimistic. Maybe there is somebody out there. Maybe there is an entity that's like, we want to make the best possible user experience, make a lot of money, not as much money, but make a lot of money, and be able to then build the sport, grow the fan base, and then maybe invest long term. I mean, it's pie in the sky, but it's not impossible.

I'm very curious to see what happens. One last thing on it that I'm very curious about, because UFC fans obviously already have to pay a decent amount of money just to be fans as it is. It's expected. We've seen TKO with the WWE. I believe WrestleMania is gonna be on Peacock this weekend. Raw is on Netflix.

They have other series on CW and linear television. I'm wondering if there's a chance that the UFC has the pay-per-views on one thing, the fight nights on another, the Apex events on another. I think that's where this will end up because to have the whole package is gonna be such an expensive cost for one entity to have and in addition to that when you split up the pie I think you can create a bit of a bidding war between all of them where you can extract the most value for each of the individual properties like the price might inflate by 10 to 20 percent just by the fact that you're splitting it up

because oh they have a piece of it I want this piece of it and I want this piece of it and then you can kind of just drive up the price whereas if you're negotiating with one person the price is gonna be the price you got you got one number that you can land on with each you can kind of push that upward hey we're getting this from them for this amount if you want this thing that's even better then you got to pay more and you can kind of use those tactics ultimately I think that's where it will be one just because the cost of the entire USC pie at this point, Dana White came out and said,

they're looking for a billion per year. That makes a lot of sense to me. For somebody to put a billion a year down, you have to be a major, major player and you also have to like re-strategize your entire format from what other things you've been investing in. It would make a lot more sense if somebody goes, oh, we could put 250 and then have this and it's only a part of it

And somebody else to go oh, I got a hundred for the apex shows I got this for that. I think it will ultimately go that way. It is gonna be fascinating to watch I'm very curious to see where it all ends up But we'll find that out over the course of the next weeks months year however long it takes for this Negotiation. Oh, I think we'll know I mean I somebody if a... I saw one tweet today that was like, they could be meeting as soon as today.

Like with the Amazon. Oh, they're definitely gonna be meeting ASAP. But if Josh or Frank or somebody in the back can look this up when the actual deal ends with the SPN, I think it's the end of the year. They've got time, but I think we'll know. Who me? With, shout out Frank.

How you doing by the way, Frank? I'm doing terrific. Thanks for asking. Sometimes we just run into the show and we forget, he forget about you, man. I didn't say one half of the boys in the back today. I know you've been upset about that. Super upset. Well, a third.

Wait, super upset that he didn't say it? Yeah. No, he's been super upset about one half of the boys. Please carry on. Or on the logo, man. We're sorry for the- Look that up for us if you can. But what I was going to say was, with WWE, they knew in advance.

Before the deal was up for them to go to Netflix, the Netflix deal that starts in 2026 for WWE to be in the US, that's already been negotiated. So they might have this in place three months from now. It could go down to the wire, depending on how the negotiations go. I think we'll know relatively soon, because I think this is one of the last sports properties that seems up for grabs, right? Like all the other rights are kind of locked up

for quite a while. This is the one that's out there that everybody can just go, okay, we gotta focus in on this, NBA just got theirs, NFL's got new ones that just split up the pie. I think there's gonna be a rush for UFC. Sounds like they have until the end of the calendar year. There you go. So it's going to be fascinating to watch.

What do you think, Frank? Crunchyroll UFC pay-per-views? I'm here for it. No, what I'm afraid of, and I was just talking about this offline, is that there's these deals where it's like, oh, you have Disney+, but then you need Hulu to unlock this piece of content that you want. And I mean, I know this doesn't really

pertain to the UOC's deal. But it could. It could, that was my point. With this whole onion layer after layer, or what we were talking about, different products being on different streaming services. Like the NFL does that as well, and it just gets annoying.

We've come full circle to it. To cable. We're basically back on cables. Yeah, I mean, with the NFL, you have to have a premium cable subscription because you need ESPN, Fox, CBS. You need Prime for Thursday Night Football. And I think they do some exclusive games on Peacock

as well. Yeah. There's, to Frank's point, the pie got cut up. And then everybody went, well, no, I don't want to have to go to this for this, and this for this, and this for this. I just want to go to one place. And that's cable. And then you go to cable, but you I don't want to have to go to this for this, and this for this, and this for this. I just want to go to one place. And that's cable.

And then you go to cable, but you have to have the little ancillary subscriptions as opposed to just the main subscription. It can apply to the UFC, especially if they do remain with ESPN in any capacity. For one, Frank, what you're talking about in terms of Hulu, that is a Disney property. And so that goes, I imagine there will be UFC

like in the ESPN tile, in the Disney Plus tile, whatever those main kind of things are, there will be those UFC properties where you have to have plus. ESPN is launching their direct to consumer app. Like soon ESPN is not only gonna be through cable packages, the broadcast channel, you're gonna be able to get direct to consumer ESPN.

That's like their big venture that's coming up. And in that, if you don't have Plus, you're going to need Plus to access the UFC content that's within that. And so this is all coalescing to the cable package, as Frank kind of outlined. But it will have an impact. If UFC is on, when you pop open Disney Plus and it's like,

oh, there's a fight night on ESPN Plus and I have that, it's a powerful thing to be able to access all those various different fan bases that used to be just for the Disney folks or used to be just for the people with Hulu. Now it's like crossing those streams. Oh, for sure. And I mean, Dana White always says it.

He's like, you wouldn't believe how powerful it is to just be in the bottom right corner of the ESPN bottom line, and it says, whatever the fight night is, whatever the pay-per-view is, order now, how many eyes and how much legitimacy that gives you as an organization. 100%. Yeah, the only thing I hate about

these streaming services, man, they just keep cranking the prices up. Prices are going up. I remember when ESPN Plus came out, it was like $4.99 a month, and I think it's $11.99 last time I checked. Yeah. How else are they going to have those billions to pay the UFC?

They got to keep them going up. They got to keep them going up. We will keep a close eye on that, though, that is going to be, like I said, fascinating to watch over the next weeks and months to see where they end up and how much money they're able to get from this. I imagine it is going to be a pretty penny penny. Super chat us if you have some thoughts on where it's gonna end up, what it's gonna be. Send us some super chats. We're gonna

read super chats at the end of the show and don't forget to hotline. We're gonna play some voicemails today but if you want to get one in for when we come back next week this is the number to call 415 sup BITB. They were gold last week. I had a number to call. 415-SUP-BITB. They were gold last week. They were gold last week. I had a chance to preview some today. I actually like you and Frankie being the clearing service, so I can just listen to them blind when we're on the show.

There are some pretty good ones today, too. So keep raising the bar, and we'll play the ones from last week at the end of the show. All right, so this past weekend, obviously, in Miami, UFC 314 took place. Alexander Volkonov this past weekend, obviously in Miami, UFC 314 took place. Alexander Volkonovsky gets the belt back in a decision victory over Diego Lopez, which kind of got us talking, you know?

36 years old, gets the belt back. Seven wins in championship outs of the featherweight division for Alexander Volkonovsky. And so he said, who is the featherweight goat? Did this change your opinion on Saturday? And in my opinion, I think featherweight is the most interesting division in terms of who is the goat in that division,

just because of the quality of the champions that we've seen. We've only seen five. We've only seen five. Alexander Volkonovsky, Max Holloway, Jose Aldo, Ilya Toporia, and Conor McGregor. Those are pretty good names. Those are pretty frigging good names. Some of the best in the sport, period.

So I think if we're going to have this discussion, if we're gonna have this debate on who the featherweight goat is, we have to go ahead and just make it, those are the five candidates. There's only five, but I mean, if it was not one of those five, if somebody came to me and was like, I have a featherweight goat if it was not one of those five, if somebody came to me and was like I have a featherweight goat and it's not one of

those five, I don't think it's a real combo. Oh, sorry, Voyev. Yeah, sorry. Okay, I agree with that. Okay. I also want to further set terms. Okay. When we say goat, it's important that we understand what goat is because there's different ways to approach this and I've long had this conversation.

I feel like this applies to people's conversations around pound for pound, people's conversations around goat, other sports conversations around MVP. People don't come to it from the same terms. As an example, in football or basketball, the most valuable player might not be the best player on the winningest team, right? Like, Nikola Jokic might be more valuable to the Nuggets.

They might suffer more if he was not there than let's say, Shea Gilders-Alexander, who might win the MVP this year. He's an amazing player, but the best player on a great team. Jokic is on a worse team, but if you take him off that team, do they get hurt more than if you take Shay off? So that's one area where I'm pointing out, like MVP is kind of subjective.

You have to agree to the terms. What I'm operating under, when we say GOAT, I'm talking resume, I'm talking accomplishments. I'm not talking who is the best fighter, right? I'm not talking at their apex, at their peak, who was the best fighter, because I think it's actually different. And we can get to who we ultimately land on goal. I think it's different people.

And so we're talking greatness. We're talking when you look at the resume on paper, when you look at what they did at the time that they did it, they stand above the others. And if we can agree on that, I'm ready for the convo. Will we agree on it? I'm not sure. No, I don't mean the person, I mean on those agree on that, I'm ready for the convo. Will we agree on it?

I'm not sure. No, I don't mean the person. I mean on those terms. Okay, I agree on those terms. I agree on the terms. And from that, I think we have to immediately eliminate Conor McGregor off the top. Zero title defenses, obviously won the interim

and then won the belt. Incredible career, massive impact, undefeated at featherweight, but I just think the depth of resume doesn't stand up to the other guys in this conversation. I agree with you, his most significant stuff came outside the featherweight weight class. Now certainly, featherweight got him to the prominence,

right, the Jose Aldo win was the capper for a featherweight run that was historic, legendary, I didn't think would be topped. I think Ilya Toporya kind of like almost approached it. At the time though, I don't think it still compares. It's just a little bit short in my opinion, Ilya's featherweight run. But Connor's run was magical. But the fame, the accolades, the double champ status,

it all came once he left that division. That was just kind of the catapult. The biggest things for Conor McGregor happened after he left Featherweight. And so you can see here by the graphic, title fight record includes interim title fights. Record versus goats, meaning versus Alexander Volkonovsky, Jose Otto, Max Holloway, Conor McGregor, Ilya Toporya.

The other four. The other four in your featherweight. Yep. Because obviously they're intertwined. All of them have at least two fights against the other. It's kind of crazy. It is kind of crazy. It's spanning the generations,

but then the next guy had fought the two before, like a fight or two against the guy before, and then a fight or two against the guy after. Well, what's crazy is that, I guess you can't really consider him active because we haven't seen Conor McGregor since 2021, but all of these guys are still active fighters. And like near the top of their game,

like they're all ranked. Volk, Aldo, Holloway and Toporia are either all champions or ranked still, which is just incredible for how long that they've been fighting, which just shows the quality of the champions in this division. That's a great one. either all champions or ranked still, which is just incredible for how long that they've been fighting, which just shows the quality of the champions in this division. All right, who do we tackle next, Elio?

So we're eliminated Connor, but okay, let me ask then, was his the highest peak, was his the best apex? I mean, the 13 second Aldo. 13 second Aldo is, is that the best win on anybody's resume in this conversation? What was Aldo's win streak at that point? He was like 24 or 25 and won as a professional. I think he had already racked up seven UFC title defenses

after three in WEC. Like his resume was unbelievable to this point. Like hadn't lost in like a decade. So, and then Conor McGregor put him out in 13 seconds. The last time he lost was his eighth fight before that. And then that was his 27th fight. So he was on an 18 or 19 fight win streak at that time. That happened in December of 2015.

He had not lost since November of 2005. Yeah, so a decade of dominance. A decade of dominance where he by became champion in WEC won three title fights in WEC and then Seven straight title fight wins to start out as you for my money that's one of the best wins in MMA history and the and the best of this group in my opinion and just like the How iconic it was how much impact it had on the sporting world. And it's also, it would be easy in hindsight

to be like, that was the end of Jose Aldo. But to your point, Jose Aldo's still out there doing it. That was not the end of Jose Aldo. That was the halfway mark of his career. So it wouldn't be fair to just be like, to me that was one of the best versions of Jose Aldo. Now granted, that matchup, he rushed in, Conor McGregor caught him with the left, the right, the left, the left hand. The left.

Dominic Reyes-esque. Dominic Reyes-esque. Stepping back left hand. But I think that was not a diminished version of Jose Aldo. I think that was a still a championship level great Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor was untouchable at that time. So to me the best win and And the other thing, when you dug deep on these stats, no losses to the other competitors, which is an interesting. A win over Max Holloway and a win over Jose Alves. A win over Jose and a win over Max

and no losses to the others. And no losses at featherweight in the UFC. And no losses at featherweight. So he has this pristine featherweight run, but it's not, to me, the longevity matters and he didn't have it long enough. That's where I ultimately land. Oh God, that run was sick.

Okay, well that takes us to Ilya Taporyev. Okay, let's do Ilya. Which is like very similar in the case that like, God, it was unbelievable. And the highest of highs knocking out Alexander Volkanovsky, who is on this list, knocking out Max Holloway, being the first to knock out Max Holloway, who is also on this list, knocking out Max Holloway being the first to knock out Max Holloway who is also on this list.

He also went seven and oh as a featherweight. He did get a title defense obviously against a Max Holloway in October, but like two and oh in title fights, two and oh against the Goats, seven and oh. How similar is the look to Connor? It's like, it's like. I think the only difference,

if you count Connor's interim and then his featherweight victory, he is two and oh in featherweight title fights, two and oh versus the other goats, seven and oh at featherweight, he just doesn't have any title defenses. Yeah, it's eerie. It's eerie.

And to be winning these fights by finishes as well, and obviously the similar styles of Ilya and Connor, the way they present themselves, the chest tattoos, the boxing styles, knocking people out. It really is eerily similar. Even down to now I'm leaving, after all this success, now I'm leaving to go to Lightweight. Also, putting Irish MMA on the map,

Ilya Tafuri putting Spanish MMA on the map, it really is, it's quite crazy. There have been many that were anointed the next Connor. Could they be the next Conor? This guy's gotten as close as anybody's gotten, period. Absolutely, as close as anyone has come, not just with the performances, but with the star power outside of the octagon,

going to Real Madrid. I think I saw him going to a local or a regional Spanish MMA with the president of Spain. It's just like the star power that this guy commands is crazy and I'm excited to see what he has left in his career but I think the fact that the featherweight reign was cut so short kind of takes him out of this conversation as well in terms of resume.

I don't think he right now can be in this conversation for the same reasons we said for Connor. It is not long enough. It is not long enough, but would you be shocked if later in his career, maybe he finds himself back at featherweight and all of a sudden we do have to re-examine this conversation, because I would not. All right, so I'm curious because I think the fact

that he's leaving and the fact that he was like, it's getting difficult for me to cut this weight means he likely will not be back. And I actually believe, unless I'm mistaken, the McGregor-Aldo fight in December of 2015 was McGregor's final fight at Featherweight. Oh, it definitely was, and Conor's only got, like he looks like a middleweight at this point.

He might be a light heavyweight at this point. Yeah, he might even be a light heavyweight. I mean, he is absolutely gigantic. So I could see Toporia, last one being against Holloway. Here's my potential pushback against that. It's likely, I would not guess that he ends up back here. But if you ultimately don't find success at lightweight, where else do you go?

If you don't find success at lightweight, he is not a 170, he is criminally under, he would not be able to make it to 170. So it's interesting that you say that because I believe it was Habib came out and he was talking about the potential of Ilya versus Islam at 155 obviously for the belt and he was like Islam doesn't really want to fight Ilya because what if he just beats Ilya and then Ilya loses in his second fight at lightweight and now he's just a nobody at 155. He was a great 145er but he was a nobody at 155. And if that actually happened,

then it does make you wonder like, okay, where does Ilya go from here? He's owing to it lightweight. He tried the title he lost, and then he tried to contender fight and he lost as well. Are you forced to go back to 145 at that point? I think he would be. I think because as I said,

if you're not finding success at lightweight, where I think these guys are gonna be a little bigger than maybe Ilya T Toporia is ready for, 45 is the only option. The other thing I'll say is, when you're the man, when you're untouchable, when you're Ilya Toporia, that weight cut's gonna be hard because you have your fingers in all these different pots,

you're doing all these things, and the weight cut becomes something that's like the necessary evil to get there. When you're on maybe a two fight skid at lightweight, I promise you that weight cut gets a little easier because you're a little more dialed in. You're a little more desperate to get to where you need for success.

Jose Aldo was notoriously like this big bulky featherweight. And then years later, he's at bantamweight. Everybody's like, Jo- He lost the valk and then it was like, 135 doesn't sound that bad. Yeah, everybody's like, Jose Aldo, no, bantamweight. This guy was struggling to make 45. That's an interesting point.

So when you hit adversity, all of a sudden, that weight cut that seemed impossible, but when you were the man and you were thinking about this and I'm doing this and I'm doing this, it becomes a little easier because you get locked in because your path to success is now dependent upon making that weight again. Okay, so let's say he does go up, he fights Islam, he loses, then he fights like a Patti, a Charles,

someone like that and he loses as well and then he goes back to 145. Do we, if we're only speaking Featherweight, we just erase the 155 and see what he does back at 145. We're talking Featherweight goat for the purposes of this convo right now. I think that hurts his overall like, where does he rank as an all-time great legacy, right?

Cause now you've got the same as we'll talk about Alexander Volkonovsky. I think that hurts his all-time resume. But when it comes to the featherweight conversation, he picks up right where he left off for me. But right now standing here, the seven wins, it is not enough to eclipse the names that are ahead of him.

Okay, let's move to the man that he just recently beat. Let's move to Max Holloway. I mean- This one's Tasty. An icon of 145, it is Tasty for several reasons. Three title defenses for him. He is five and four in title fights, that's including interim.

Record versus Goats though, he's two and five, obviously because he lost the three to Volkanovsky, he lost one to Deporia and he lost one to McGregor, the two wins being when he finished Jose Alto and both those. But here's the key, UFC record at featherweight, 20 and seven, that means he holds the record for the most wins at featherweight with 20,

he holds record for the most finishes at featherweight with 11, and he has the longest featherweight win streak at 13. Yeah. All of those in UFC history, his resume is unbelievable. His accumulation stats are mind boggling. Oh yeah, and then on top of that, not only in UFC history, but in featherweight history,

the most significant strikes by the widest margin you could imagine, he almost doubles up Volganovski. I don't think that somebody at featherweight is going to come along and top. He's entering that. When we had a recent question on the nose about what are some untouchable goals, if Max keeps doing this for a little bit longer, some of those strike accumulation

resumes are going to be out of reach of anybody realistically because of how early he got in and because of the pace he set because even if you even if you come in as young as he does let's say like Raul Rosas jr. right do you fight like Max Holloway because if you don't put up 500 significant strikes every time you're out there you're not gonna get that record and so that becomes almost like a ghost that I don't know if anybody's gonna be able to chase down it. It would honestly be concerning for that person's health if they were able to chase it down because he came into the UFC for his fifth

professional fight at 20 years old and just started slugging it out with people on the jump. And the chin and the toughness and the durability carried him through to be able to do that style for so long so that feels like an untouchable record he has all those accumulation stats he has all the the biggest thing that you can point to that max that will detract from max Holloway's resume when we have this featherweight conversation is three losses to bulk is very hard to erase three losses to a guy who is also in this conversation makes it very difficult to go. I think it makes it insurmountable.

I think he has such an unbelievable resume. He is such an unbelievable fighter. The things he's done at 145 is truly insane, but you can't be the goat if you're 0-3 against the guy who was also in the conversation. 0-3, the dude shared the octagon with them for 75 minutes. I'm going to say, I'm going to stand on the corner

of not impossible, but very difficult, and for a specific reason that will come up later when we continue this conversation, I'm gonna stand with, there is a way to do it, but it is very hard to overlook the three losses to Alexander Volkonovsky. And then you add on the loss to Ilya Toporya as well. Now it really hurts your talk in this conversation.

If you talk about though, who was probably the one who is the most recognizable featherweight champion, it probably was Max in that era, right? The one that if you were talking to a casual fan, they might know Max's name above some of the, we're discounting Conor in this conversation because Conor's number one in every like, recognizability metric.

But the non-Conor McGregor guys, Max is probably like one of the fan favorite guys that casual fans have seen on Max all the way. Star Power puts on fun fights, fights in massive, massive fights, champions several times over. Yeah, meaning Star Power for sure. The only moment, I talked about Conor's knockout of Aldo as one of the most iconic best ever.

The old, like Max Holloway has some of those as well. The pointing to the ground. Now, Justin Gagee knockout is at 155. Oh, I meant the Obamas, the original. Oh, the OG, the OG, yes, yes, yes. That's the moment. But the teaching Brian Ortega to strike, I'm the best boxer in the UFC mid-Calvacator fight.

The guy's got some bangers. When he put up like 450 significant strikes in that fight, that's like an untouchable record. No one is ever gonna come close to that. It's the most insane thing ever. He's reached some peaks. He's done some things that you have to just, you have to recognize Max Holloway.

You have to bow to Max Holloway and be like, this guy did some incredible things at Featherweight, but I'm ultimately with you that I think he falls short. Yeah, of the go conversation. I mean, inarguably, like if you're making a mountain rush more of Featherweight, he has to be on there. I mean, these five guys, like, it's unreal. Almost all have to be on there.

I know, but you have to drop one. Max Holloway's not one of them. I don't know. Max Holloway's not one of them. All right, let's go to another guy who, to me I think this is a two horse race right now. Agreed, I have two in the race. Let's go with the old guard, Jose Aldo.

Okay. Resume, absolutely insane. Nine tighter defenses, if you're including WEC, seven in the UFC, two in WEC. Obviously, when the merger happened between UFC and WEC, just immediately became featherweight champ and just started racking up tighter defenses. Title fight record, eight and three in the UFC,

three in Owen WEC. 18 and four record at featherweight in UFC and WEC. Now the one damning part of this whole resume, the one damning thing, lost to Conor McGregor, two losses to Max Holloway, lost to Alexander Volkonovsky, and in those first three I mentioned, he was finished in all of them. It's damning, but this is why I remained on the corner

when it came to the Max Holloway conversation, because despite those losses, I still believe Jose Aldo is the featherweight goat. And the case for it is those nine title defenses is the decade of dominance that run that he went on, I think is the most definitive case for greatness that we have in anybody's resume. Certainly I think Alexander Volkonovsky, and we'll talk all about him as the next part of this, has done some incredible things and is making the most of a dent in

those in that run that Jose Aldo, the record of title defenses that Jose Aldo has that anybody has made, right? Connor had none, Ilya had one, Max had three, I think. And so, Volk is the closest in terms of that, but to be at nine, and not only nine, but nine consecutive, right? Volkanovsky is going to have to do it in two stints because he lost to Ilya Taporius. So if he does it, it's not going to be consecutive, right?

In the way that Jose Aldo's were. That decade of dominance, I think, is now kind of lost to history, because a lot of people don't even know, there's probably a lot of UFC fans that don't even know what WEC is, knowing that WEC was UFC equivalent, right? Knowing that for the lighter weight classes, that was UFC.

That was the pinnacle, that was the peak. The guys like Uriah Faber that were in that organization were the best of that weight class, and then obviously they proved it once they got to the UFC. But there are some people who won't be aware of that. The level of competition that he was facing is equivalent to all these guys. I dare argue that may be better

than some of the early fights. Now when you get to the later fights, when you're talking about when you're up there with the Conor McGregors and the Chad Mendez and all these guys, certainly that's equivalent, right? The guys Volk is facing now. But there's a Korean zombie on his resume, better than Volk's Korean zombie, in my opinion, or a diminished product. There's a Chad Mendez on the resume, better than the versions of Chad Mendez that the

McGregor or Volk face. And so when you look at the quality of opposition, it was not Jose Aldo's fault that he was so far, so head and shoulders above everybody at that time, that you would diminish it. I would argue that that made it look like maybe opposition was not up to snuff. When in reality, these were the best available guys, and he was just that good at the time. He was a revolutionary type guy.

The like, leg kick heavy game was not a part of like the meta of MMA at that time. He was a revolutionary type guy. The like leg kick heavy game was not a part of like the meta of MMA at that time and he's bringing it in and introducing it and really breaking guys down with that. He created a style or like popularized I should say, maybe not created but popularized a style that so many fighters have used since and so many fighters continue to use, that sprawl heavy, like, do not take me down, I'm a better striker, I'm gonna chew up your legs. There's so many guys who implement that even to this day. He kind of popularized that and made that such a winning formula.

That era, that streak of nine title defenses, including the wins up in two getting the title, in my opinion as well, was the best of anybody's resume. So I stand with it. Alonso Perez, Chris Mickle, Cub Swanson, knocked all of them out in the first round. Like violently, like viciously. And then they got him the title shot against Mike Brown

in WEC and then he was- Who at the time, I think it's important to set the table. Mike Brown was the guy at that time. Like this is not like, it's hard because of these names. He's an underdog in that way. They're not popular, yes. Like these were the guys. These were the top of the top.

And so it's hard because people don't remember these names. Mike Brown now has begun to become like an incredible coach. Yeah. But these were the guys, the top guys. Yeah, I mean he truly was an underdog, and that started off his championship reign in WEC that reigned for over six years. Six years. All the way up until the Conor McGregor fight.

Undefeated for what we say 10. Yeah, undefeated for 10 years, championship reign for six years where he had like 10 title fights across WEC and the UFC. So respectfully, I think Volk is fantastic. I still am on Jose Aldo's corner, despite, as you said, it is hard. It is hard to overlook the losses to Holloway,

the loss to Volk, and the loss to Conor McGregor, because these are the other peers in the conversation. But I would argue that the peaks, the success, the greatness, the run, still has him above. And so I submit Jose Aldo. I mean, you make an unbelievably compelling argument to the point where I think in my head, it really is the two horse race between Jose Aldo and Volk

with Max very closely behind them. And then it's Connor and Ilya with these incredible, short-lived runs after that. I don't think I would call anyone wrong for having Volk or Jose Aldo. I think you could just make such a compelling case for both of these. Before we look at, here's Volk's right here.

Five title defenses now. Obviously Saturday didn't count because he was getting the belt back. Title fight record, seven and three. Two of those lost in summing at lightweight to Islam Agashev, records versus the GOATS, three obviously Max Holloway won, Jose Aldo gives him the four wins and then the one loss being to Ilya Toporio and then his UFC record at featherweight is 13 and one. I think for me the biggest thing is A, we have now seen, I understand he is 36 years old,

he's not quite done yet. There's still a resume to be written here and there is the potential for him to win one or two more at featherweight. And then secondly. Would you be surprised if it was more? Would you be surprised if it was like five more? What is your number to where you start having Jose Alba be surpassed?

Nine, the conversation starts at nine. Nine title defenses? defenses, okay? So he would have to win four you would have to go on a four fire when here's where all here's well caveat that Quality of opposition matters to me in this conversation Yeah if these title if if these upcoming title defenses come against guys that I that I think are like I'll be honest a Korean zombie title defense is not that impressive at this point Yeah, didn't do it for me like that was not like I don't look at that the same as I look at

The guys that Jose Alda was facing during his title his title run. Yeah, and so It depends it depends but at nine at nine. I'm probably ready to put it to bed if I'm being honest But if as you start approaching that I'm probably ready to put it to bed, if I'm being honest. But as you start approaching that, I'm willing to have the combo. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it is a very, it's a very difficult conversation to have. Jose Aldo is an 0-4 against the other three guys.

I think it's a no-brainer. But I think the fact that he got finished by Max Holloway twice, finished by Conor McGregor, and lost Alexander Volkanovsky, is the only thing that keeps him from being like the there is no question about who is the goat of this division. Agreed. Agreed with you. It would be a very if he didn't have those losses like like let's say like Ilya or Connor he just left and went up if he left

after getting knocked out by Conor McGregor I don't think there'd even be a debate. He also did he fought an interim title fight after that against Frankie Edgar, I believe. And won it. And was able to bounce back. It wasn't like he was completely dead after that. Frankie Edgar, an all-time great. Like, Jose Aldo's resume,

Jose Aldo suffers from the rest of his career. He suffers from, when you look at what happened post-Conor McGregor, it's like mixed results, it's not great, it wasn't the dominance that he had beforehand, and so he suffers from that, right? There's still stories to be written by Ilya Toporya if he ever comes back to featherweight.

Max is kind of on the end and we see, and then he ends up in third. Volk, there's still- Max also seems adamant that like I'm done at 145. I think the book has been written. I've long said Max should not be done at 45. I think it's finally like everything's been accomplished. It's good to go. But it's, Jose still holds that spot for me,

despite the losses because of what he was able to do. But I'm recognizing that Volkanovsky has a true shot to dethrone him. I am on the train of, I think this guy is still very much in that race. I don't think it's insurmountable and he's getting closer than ever. All right, I think here's my final verdict.

The title run of Jose Aldo is obviously more impressive than that of Volk's. But I think the latter half of Jose Aldo's featherweight is what dings him and has me having Volk by like the narrowest of margins and like I'm not faulting anyone who says Aldo. I think it's fair. I think it's margins and like I'm not faulting anyone who says Aldo. I think it's fair.

I think it's completely fair. I'm not faulting anyone that says Aldo. Okay. Now the other question and we'll end on this. So I'm Aldo, you're Volk. I don't think that I like you. I don't think there's a wrong answer. I think you could make a compelling case for others.

There's there's arguments to detract from each and there's arguments to support each. Who is the best featherweight of all time? At their peak? Just best. Who was the best fighter that has come through featherweight? I think because I haven't seen, because it's nothing but darkness and projections and everything like that,

but what we have seen has been so incredible. What we have seen from Ilya Tuporiya is truly like an amazing thing. Will I be saying that in five years once we see how his career pans out? Maybe, maybe I'm just like no brainer, but like to knock out Alexander Volkonovsky and then follow it up a few months later

by knocking out Max Holloway is two of the most incredible back to back wins I've ever seen. I'm discounting Ilya Tuporiya from my conversation because there is still things to be written. Yeah. For my money, it's actually Volk. Okay.

So I've got Aldo as the goat, but if you ask me who's the best guy I've seen compete at featherweight, it's Volk. He has everything. He has the IQ, he's got the strategy, even this fight. He comes in and slugs with Diego, but intentionally so, to close that distance, to be in the pocket, to not be fading backwards and get his chin caught,

to just stand in there with Diego so he's not on the end of something. You think about the knockouts that he suffered, he's backing out of exchanges and he gets caught the same way everybody kind of tends to get caught. But with Diego, he's standing there, feet down in the pocket, winging him, gets clipped the one time, but he's not backing away

unprotected and getting knocked out. Strategic, a guy who, like Diego's supposed to be this terror and he comes in there and slugs with him in close distance because it's the right strategy. He's incredible, man. The brain combined with the skills, combined with the accomplishments, for me he is the best I've seen,

but Jose Aldo has the greatest results. Also with everything you're saying right now, it cannot be discredited that he became the first guy ever at 35 and older, lightweight or under, to win a title. I agree. No one had done it. I don't know the exact number. I've seen 14, 15, 16, under to win a title. I agree. No one had done it. I don't know the exact number. I've seen 14, 15, 16, whatever the number may be.

As high as 18. As high as 18, like if you're counting interims, if you're counting this and that, no one had ever done it. That's all that matters. He is the oldest champion at 155 or under in UFC history. And I do know the record at welterweight or below was like three and 30.

Yeah, Belal was one of them, right? Belal was one Tyrone Woodley, Tyrone Woodley, they all happened at welterweight. But it's just like once you get to this age at these lower weight classes, it just becomes incredibly difficult to compete at the highest level and it just can't be understated enough.

What Volk did on Saturday is insanely impressive. He's phenomenal, man. He is truly the best featherweight I've seen. The combination of things, as you've said, to be in there at this age and be able to perform at that level against a guy in Diego who is like the Ilya. Now, he's not Ilya.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not comparing them in terms of I think the ceiling on Ilya is significantly higher. But in terms of being this young guy who's supposed to come in there, and the youth and the hunger is supposed to be the thing that's the differentiating factor, Volk looked just as hungry to get that title back as he did.

In fact, maybe hungrier. And you can't discount that. Like he, to my amateur eyes, I have not seen a featherweight better than Volk. I'm sure the comments, I'm sure the chat is gonna be very reasonable about this topic. I'm sure no one's gonna have any strong opinions

on anything like that. What fucking division featherweight is for the champions? It's so incredible. I actually, like it makes me even happier that Volk won on Saturday just because it's just like this five. The lineage back. Yeah, it's preserved. Like this big five of just like, they are, it's such an insane

featherweight lineage. It really is wild. Let's transition to the rest of UFC 314 and let's bring in, let's go to the 305, Miami, Dade County, to bring in my boy Tony Kalatiud, a good friend of mine. Actually, oh, look at him in the studio. We're not on Zoom in a car right now.

Damn, Tony got some guns on him. First time meeting, first time him in the studio. We're not on zoom in a car right now. Yeah, Tony got some guns on him. First time meeting Rick, Tony, is this true? Funny story, UFC 288 Newark, Henry Cejudo versus Aljo. I sat next to New York Rick in the press, right next to the Octagon, sat next to New York Rick. He came in very late and left very early. I just wanna and was like I'm too big for this like let me take a couple pictures bam I'm out of here didn't see Bilal B Gilbert Burns I don't even think he stayed for the main event by the way I'm just throwing that out

there. This is this is right off the top we're going with the slander. I mean Rick was a big time. No it was uh I was there the whole night. It was was that a good event? I don't remember it was a little bit of ho-hum to you. I mean by your by your estimation I wasn't even there. So that 288 you said yeah Aljoe versus uh versus so who don't Henry so Hutto. Yeah But welcome to the show great great to your featherweight goat Tony. I know you're just having the conversation by the way go for me Just right off the top. I'm probably gonna say Volk Okay, like his his and I was listening to you guys earlier talking about Jose Aldo and like his run and how he has these

Nine title defenses and how everything's so incredible but like man Just eyes right just just watching what what Volk was able to do against Max Holloway against guys like your Rodriguez I know Korean Zombie was kind of old in the tooth at that point, but like the way that he was just able to dominate everybody and just made it look so easy to me, that's like, we talk about Max and how Max is such a great boxer, probably one of the best boxers in the UFC and like Volk just pieced him up three times, right? Like it just looked too easy for Volk and of course he got running you know he ran into Islam He ran into Ilya Toporia who I love by the way

He just got hit by two goats and then now he's back on track against another killer in Diego Lopez like I love Volk Yeah, I'm with you and as I said like the best I've seen to the point You're making like when he's in there against those guys that are supposed to beat him or the next guy or the next guy, Holloway gets the third crack. To me, that was the best I've seen. But I'm still going to stay on Aldo Corner. All right, Tony.

So this weekend, you were in the building, at least for the prelims. You are down in Miami, UOC 314. I actually had to give Frankie your number earlier. And he's just like, what's his number? I was like, 305. That's how it starts out, baby. Shout out to the 305. I know you had to go and do your own watch party

for the main car, but the prelims, what did you make of the fights? I don't know if the atmosphere was that great in the building. I know that Miami people like to show up fashionably late, but what did you make of UFC 314 on Saturday? 314 was electric, man. The last two or three cards that the UFC has done in Miami have been incredible, right?

Just the atmosphere. We talk about Miami being a late arriving crowd to not only hoops, but also UFC It's very true and with the press passes I'm probably not gonna say this super out loud, but with the press passes people who have really expensive seats They don't get there till the main card so you can walk all the way down expensive seats, they don't get there till the main card. So you can walk all the way down, almost into the octagon and sit down in thousand dollar seats that nobody's going to be in for, for a couple of hours. So I was able to watch a couple of fights very up close. Even though there was not that many people in the arena, maybe say, I

wouldn't even say half full, I'd say maybe a quarter full. There was still a lot of pop. I think the Dumas Oleg Shachek fight was fun I think people started really getting into it at that point but overall I left during the Jandaroba versus Yanshanan fight and at that point the place was rocking so everything everything the UFC is able to do it at Miami at the Kaseya Center, it rocks dude. Like there's, there's no atmosphere like it. I've been to a couple of shows, obviously MSG special, but MSG Newark.

I think I'm going to do a couple in Vegas at T-Mobile in June, but man, Miami, Miami kicks ass. Yeah, dude, they stack up those cards. They know what they're doing. We just got your thoughts on Vk, obviously, a wildly impressive performance. Co-main event though, Patti Pemblit blows the doors off of Michael Chandler. What'd you think of that? I was surprised, right?

And so, caveat, me and my co-host Lewis, we went to MSG when, that was when Michael Chandler fought Dustin Poirier at MSG. And we ended up meeting Michael Chandler's parents got to know him, like got to know the parents hung out with the parents for 30, 45 minutes while they were waiting for Mike to finish up with whatever he was doing backstage. Um, I, I've talked to Michael a couple of times. So I have this thing where I'm like, dude, Michael Chandler's my boy. Like I met his parents, Lou met his parents, like, like this is our guy. Right.

And I didn't think that he was going to be able to do that. I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean like, dude, Michael Chandler's my boy. Like I met his parents, Lou met his parents. Like, like this is our guy. Right. And I didn't think that Patty was as good as he put out on Saturday because we know that Patty has been fed some guys that again, are a little bit older, right? Last couple of fights, Tony Ferguson 40, 40 Bobby King green 38 Michael Chandler 38 it was like alright at some point he's been fighting guys that haven't been in their primes and he's gonna get caught by somebody and maybe a big overhand right by Michael Chandler does it but dude

what I saw from Patty I was just like wow we were in obviously we had a little parlay ski with the boys I had threw Michael Chandler in there as part of my thing. I was like, maybe if we got a puncher's chance, a big overhand right chance that Michael Chandler can land something like we can be in the money and then that he goes out and gets absolutely destroyed. Like you said, the door is blown off. And I guess kicking it back to you guys, like, I guess I didn't realize how good Patty was, or is it just that he's leveling up during every fight?

I was just gonna ask you the same thing. So in my estimation, I think it's a combination of those two things. I think it's improvement. He certainly looks better to my eye. I think he has made some drastic improvements. I think if this version of Patty Pimblit was facing a Jared Gordon today, I think he wins that fight pretty easily, but I also think it's just

the same thing that happens with Conor McGregor the same thing that happens with Ilya Toporia the same thing that happens with a Lot of guys when you tell people you're the best ahead of actually being the best People want to say no and they want to they want you to be lesser than. They want to look down on you. They want to prevent you from being so boisterous and being so confident and it makes people underrate you because you want it not to be true. You want him not to be the best because he's not there yet. But inevitably what happens is we as fans are like,

nah, he's not, he's not, he's not. And then you start convincing yourself that he's actually not good at all. And all of a sudden, you're in a position where you're surprised when Patti Pimblitt is actually a good fighter. And admittedly, I said it on the show yesterday, got to raise my hand, I was one of those people.

I did not believe that Patti would be here right now. I did not believe that he would appear to Michael Chandler. I did not believe that he would be in the top of the UFC's lightweight division. And he made some real improvements and also showed that he is as good as he believed he was. Beyond that, the grappling game has always been there. We've seen that even in the wins that

were less than impressive, the guy can grapple his ass off. The guy is just a true wizard on the ground. And when he had Michael on the ground, he was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted against the guy who, in the first round, looked a little bit stronger on those takedowns where he's dumping them by the end of it It was clear that the levels were different in terms of that ground game And then the striking looked pretty damn good, too

So I've underrated Patty Pimlet plus I think he's made some great improvements Yeah, I mean I'm on the I'm on the same trajectory like especially after the Jared Gordon the split decision or the I guess it Was a unanimous decision that obviously felt like a robbery against Jared Gordon. I think that's when people really kind of turned on Patty and just started under rating him to the point where it was just like, we don't like this guy so he's not that good. And now the, the wins that he's reeled off don't, doesn't bother me that the combined record is 13 straight losses by these guys. It's still Michael Chandler, King Green, and who else?

Tony Ferguson before that. He is starting to put it together against higher level fighters, and he is looking unbelievable when doing so. I mean, he was never really in any danger in all three of those fights, and now it's time. Like, he's top 10, now it's time to put him in top five. I think he's one fight away from a title at this point.

He's beating them more thoroughly than some higher, like Charles Oliveira was the last fight for Michael Chandler. He's beating him worse than Charles Oliveira did. King Green has not been beaten that badly in most fights, so he's doing it at a level that shows the skill that he has. Okay let's play matchmaker for at least like the main card and a couple of the big prelim winners. Let's stick with Patty because I just wanna throw this out there.

Volkonovsky, Movsaar of Luev should be next. Diego Lopez, Yaya Rodriguez and Guadalajara. Does anyone disagree with those two? Now, you say should. Are you saying you want it or are you saying it should be? I don't want it, but I think that's what should and will be next. Alex Volkonovsky versus Mosar of Loev. I think that will be next. It's not what I want but I think it will be next. What do you want Jon Silver? Nobody wants it. Nobody wants it. Nobody wants it. But I mean you...

Nobody wants it. At some point you have to give it to him. I mean we've seen it with Bilal, long winning streak, finally gets it, wins the belt. Malcolm and Uncle Live, long winning streak, finally gets the shot and gets the belt. Leon Edwards had to go through a long winning streak, finally gets it, wins the belt. Magomed Uncle Lye, long winning streak, finally gets the shot and gets the belt. Leon Edwards had to go through a long winning streak, wins it, finally gets the belt. Like you just have to, you can only win so many times in the UFC before you're just going to get a title shot.

And right now, from a circumstantial standpoint, it works out for Moefsar. There's no one that's sticking head and shoulders above. What I want and will not get is Ilya Taboria. I want Volkan Ilya. Oh, Ilya and both are in the back. That's what I want, but I won't get it, but it's okay. I think you really start making a case

that the go-to debate is over. If he wins that. If he ran back and he beat Ilya Taporyev. He won't get that. All right, so you say Ilya for fun, we say Mozart. Diego Lopez, Yair in Guadalajara. That's me. No-brainer, no-brainer. Okay. Electric, that's electric.

Patti Pimlet then. There's fights on the table. Okay. Who are we giving next to Patti Pimlet then there's there's fights on the table. Okay, who are we giving next? Uh to patty pimlet I'll let you lead off tony Um, so i'm looking through here. He called out dustin He called out justin and he said the posh boy armin suruken. I don't I don't think I don't think the ufc is going to feed him to armin this soon, right? like the weird part about the UFC and Armin is like

they once he got hurt and they're like, Hey, there's no guarantee that he's going to get the title shot when he gets healthy again, which I thought was weird, right? You got Charles there too. The one I'd like to see is, is Patty versus Armin. I don't think that would happen because I think that's too close to almost giving him a title shot. Right? Like the next step up is basically Islam. And I don't think he's there yet. Him versus Olvera saying that I want to test them on the ground. I thought was a very strong call out even more than, than calling Armand the Posh boy, um, him and Justin would be fun.

I think Dustin is kind of out of the picture. Listen, and Max, let's just take out. I am almost positive they're going to be fighting at the smoothie King center for a BMF belt in the summer. So between Justin, Charles and Armin, I want to say what I think is going to happen is Charles. Okay. Just because. Massive fight.

That would be huge. And when you call it, Hey, I want to take this guy on the ground and I want to see what he's worth. And it's like, nobody else does. And you're the one that's going to say that you want to do it. Okay. Let's see if, if what you want you get, let's worth and it's like nobody else does and you're the one that's going to say that you want to do it? Okay, let's see if what you want you get, let's see if you come through. And I think Rick, that's to your point.

It's like I'm going to call my shot and then I'm going to do it, right? If we, you know, in the future, depending on what happens in lightweight, if Ilya Toporya takes Islam Akasha and takes him over to Khabib and says what's your favorite submission? I'm gonna lose my Because you can't come continue to call your shot You can't continue to babe Ruth every single fight and come through right? That's what we are with Patty Is he gonna take Charles down and submit him? There's only one guy who's done it before and it's Connor McGregor There's only one guy who's been like I'm swinging for Conor McGregor. There's only one guy who's been like, I'm swinging for the fences over there and hitting it out. Or do we just give Ilya, we give Ilya to Patty and then it's two guys babe-rooting

every single fight that they do. And like, I mean, like Ilya is just like, I'm gonna be the first one to knock you out, Max. Everyone's like, all right, man, first one to knock out Max. First one to, or he knocked Volk out, got the belt. Like he says everything that he says he's gonna do. Patty does the same. Then it's just like, one of you has to be wrong.

Okay. Wow. Here's what I expect to happen. Okay. I expect him to fight Justin Gaethje. And I'll tell you how I arrived at that. All right, I love this. We're all different. Charles Oliveira and Ilya Tuporiya

is the fight that I think will ultimately get made. I don't think he will be fighting Islam. I think it will be Charles and Ilya. Wow. As I've forecasted for a bit now, I've kind of felt that that was the fight that's gonna happen. It just seems like the momentum is gone from Ilya versus Islam. I think that's gonna happen. Max and Dustin, as we all said, and then I think that leaves over Armin, Justin, and Patti. And I think Patti and Gaethje will get matched up, and I think ultimately Justin and Patty.

And I think Patty and Gagey will get matched up. And I think ultimately we'll end up with Armin versus somebody down in the rankings that he just ends up taking a fight against. Like potentially a Gamera, like who's calling for it. It's a good win, it gets you back in good standing. I think that's how it's working. Do you think that gives Armin a title shot?

Probably, because to Tony's point, right, it doesn't really make sense that he lost this opportunity on the scale. Like, I get it, it was a blunder. One more win, hey, I'm still that guy, especially if he dominates, you can easily sell it. Now, if Patty beats adjusting Gagey, I think he might skip him.

I think he might jump ahead in that queue. And then you've got Ilya Topori or Charles Oliveira waiting as well, it gets crowded. But I do ultimately think it gets him back on the title path. So I actually took Armand Sarukian on this one. Patty being the A-side on this one, you do it another, another co-main on a pay-per-view.

They have this posh boy beef going on. They'll sell the fight well. And then if Patty beats Armand Sarukian, it's just like, all right, title shot's next. You're now the number one contender. You're up next at 155. So who does Justin Charles fight? Who are they fighting each other?

Yeah, I guess from my point of view, I was saying Ilia Islam, Justin Charles. So you're still confident in Ilya Islam? No, not confident. I get less and less confident every day. The whole picture of 155 I'm not confident on. But then who does Islam fight? Islam waiting for this,

for what's gonna happen in Montreal. But like how much, six months? Eight months in a year? Like he's already been out for a while. I think he'll fight Bilal as well. Oh, you think Islam would be willing to fight Bilal? I think he's just gonna get sick of the like, who cares if it's Bilal?

I don't care if you train together, just fight the guy. Who cares? You're not, like, Bilal, respectfully, Bilal is not like the other Dagestani guys who are like in that gym, like the team that we know, I get it that you train together Just fight below just fight below or JDM and get that strap the answer that I really want though for Patty pinblatt It's the obvious answer. It's Connor McGregor How do McGregor and Patty pinblatt will be insane box office?

I just can't believe that that will happen I can't I can't like go and be like yeah, that'll happen because I just don't think it will. Patty called him out for picking against him. He put that bet on Michael Chandler. But then Conor McGregor came out later and softened it. He was like, no, I should have went with my heart. I really wanted to pick Patty, but I picked Chandler. So maybe they're back friendly,

but Patty and Conor will be the one for me. All right, so I mean, that just proves the fact that we all three had different options. And then there were other options on the table. Like, Patty Pimblitt is in a fantastic situation. Oh yeah. He is one fight away from a title in my opinion and whoever the next fight is gonna be,

it's gonna be Blockbuster. So he is in a fantastic spot. Let's go to the losing side of that fight, Michael Chandler, who is in the opposite of where Patty Pimblitt is at. It's sort of like, what is next? What do we do with them? Is anything next? Yeah.

Let's walk away. Yeah, I mean, yesterday on the show, Ariel mentioned Grant Dawson. I'm just like, is Michael Chandler taking a fight against Grant Dawson? Like, I just don't know. Like, I mean, we're talking about in October. He was like, I'm gonna go out there,

submit Charles Olivera, and then fight Conor McGregor, and then get the belt back from Islam in the summer. Obviously, those are dreams in a far, far away land at this point. What I came up with for next is Anato Moikano. A guy a bit down the rankings, fun fight, they'd sell it, put it on a pay-per-view, three fights down. It's a fun time for all. Tony, what do you got?

Again, as being a Chandler fan, it feels a bit like he's cooked, right? It's a sad place to be, but when you've already fought basically everybody who's got a big name in the division and you've lost, like you start having to look down in the rankings and be like, oh, I'll take a fight against him. And that you chased, you know, the ghost of Con Connor McGregor for what, a year and some change. Two years, two years, basically of your fighting prime. Right. I mean, even though it's been on the back end, he's definitely out of his prime now, but he chased Connor for two years for a massive payday that ended up never

showing up and it's like the Hanato Maikano thing sounds good. Um, does he fight Dan Hooker again? Is Dan in too good a place? Or can we see Hooker versus? That's not a bad show. That's not a bad one. I don't mind Chandler versus Hooker. Do we think Conor McGregor is off the table?

Like if Conor has come back, has the Chandler fight just become like irrelevant? I don't think Conor would take it at this point. I wonder, I don't know. I feel like Chandler's still a big name and there's a little bit of a story there. There's probably better options for Connor. I got one. Also from Saturday night. Pitbull. Yeah, that's what I said. Pitbull vs. Michael Chandler. Did you do the rematch?

Run the Bellator fight back in the UFC. I don't think that's bad. I don't think that's bad. He goes with the 170 America's Championship between America's champs on losing streaks, Ember Scully vs. Covington. the America's Championship between America's champs on losing streak, Sembers Colby, Covington. Sembers Colby. What man can, what America's champion can get back on on the winning path. I don't mind that Pitbull won.

We all said Diego Lopez for Yaya Rodriguez. But moving to that one for Pitbull, you say Michael Chandler and I don't mind that. I don't mind that at all. I think that's an exciting fight. I don't think people are clamoring for Pitbull after Saturday night. The one that I clamoring for Pitbull after Saturday night. The one that I threw out for Pitbull

was Aljomain Sterling. Oh! Former champ, don't really know what Aljo is gonna do next, I know he came out with a video listing a couple names, Brian Ortega, if he stays down at 145, potentially Arnold Allen. But I wouldn't mind Patricio Pitbull taking on Aljomain Sterling, a name

sort of questionable on where he's at in the division right now. Or they just have to give Pipple like just a lower name guy and have him work up the rankings. Tony, what do you think? Cause I have some thoughts. The sad thing is like he's probably one of the greatest Bellator fighters of all time. And now he's in the UFC like way past his prime.

And you're like, Ooh, he was maybe the, maybe the booking with Yair Rodriguez kind of put him on a bad island to start. Cause Yair is outside of the volt fight, man. Yair has been so electric within the first three seconds of that fight where Yair missed with the left hand that looked like a light and bolt. When he swung it, I was like, Oh my God, where did that come from? Yeah.

Speed on another level. Yep. Dude, he is so fast, so quick can kick from anywhere he's behind you and he can kick you with like a, with like a shot over the, over the shoulder like that. Yeah. And it's like, that was, that was tough for him. Could it be somebody like, ah, man.

I think the algebra thing is interesting. How about Aaron Pico? Oh boy. Oh, we do Bellator versus Bellator. That was loser leaves town game. PFL was trying to book that for a minute before they both left town. I respectfully don't think Pitbull is in that class anymore.

Like the Yair fight opened my eyes to the idea that maybe even an Aljamine Sterling, man that's gonna be a lot of kicks again. That's gonna be a grappler who is probably better on the ground than you. Pitbull's got a great ground game, but the way he was struggling against Yair, I think Aljo is gonna be able to kind of

manhandle him a little bit. I was gonna say, just the sheer strength of Aljamine Sterling as well. Here are some names I came up with that I think could be competitive and still kind of like good. Like a Sadiq Yousef. Okay, all right.

A Chepe Mariscal. Ooh, love Chepe. An Edson Barboza. Like these are guys that like, Edson Barboza would be great. I feel like it could still be a fun fight. It's not a tap ranked guy. These guys are not in the rankings,

but like they're on the verge of being in the rankings. You can kind of reset and go, right, maybe that's what he needs. Is Pitbull here? Is Pitbull here? If he's not at least here, then it's like Michael Chandler is the only option. Yeah. You know, at that point.

Yeah, cause like I'm curious as to like what they do with like a Kaya Sakura who like came in immediately, got the title shot and like obviously Chandler's the only option, you know, at that point. Yeah, because I'm curious as to what they do with Akaya Sakura who came in immediately, got the title shot, and obviously wasn't on the level of Pantoja, but he hasn't been rebooked. It's kind of like, all right, where's test number two after these guys come in who are obviously wildly talented and wildly accomplished fighters, but they just don't live up to that top tier level

in the UFC just yet? It's like, where do we put him for number two? Yeah, like Achepe Mariscal, that would be a huge win for him, who's on a great run, he's one of my favorites. Or for Pitbull, it's a good reset. It's like yo, I'm at least as good as a top 20-ish guy, top 15-ish, I can get back in there. I can have a few fights here, make some money,

say that I fought in the UFC and move on with my career. Maybe the most intriguing one, John Silva beats Bryce Mitchell and he is on a world tour right now calling for a title shot. He's posted side by side graphics, why he deserves it over Movsar of Luev. Yeah, I mean, he is, he is making his claim to the title. Overall, I just don't think, I don't think we're there yet.

I don't think we get it as being five and oh in the UFC with a win over 13th ranked Bryce Mitchell. What does he get? Lerone Murphy. A guy that you have a lot of questions about, top 10. Think it would be an exciting fight because John Silva would make it one. I feel like that is where we're at with John Silva.

Tony, what do you got? I actually love that dude Yeah, I love that. Um, I was surprised to see how good he looked against Bryce Mitchell I thought I thought thug nasty was gonna be able to do a little bit more especially on the ground he just decided you know what I'm gonna try and stand this up and One time for the fighting nerds, by the way, yeah They're doing over there. Can I say something crazy here too? They're popping.

I don't know if Caio Bahaglio is gonna be the first one to fight for a title out of that gym. John Silver might, you think? Could even be Carlos Crotches. Or Carlos Crotches, if he beats Gary. Caio Bahaglio is at least one more away from the title. It just felt like this whole time leading up to it was just like, he'll be the guy

that fights for the title first. But it could be Jacew. It almost feels like all of them are gonna fight for the title though. That's the crazy part. Like all these guys are rolling that. I do keep seeing these 19 and 0 graphics a little bit disrespectful to Mikhail Oleg Sechash.

Secondly, 20. The Polish man representing the fighting nerds as well. All right, so I say Lerone Murphy, what say you, Tony? Man. well. Alright so I say Lerone Murphy, what say you Tony? Um, man, John Silva, um, how about, how about uh, how about T-City? Oh wow. Okay. How about T-City? I think he's going to 55, but I would love that fight if he was, if he was staying at 45. Staying at 45? Unlike Mitchell, I do think his great, he will think we will have to test

John Silva's grappling in that one. I think Brian would make him actually test his grappling in a way that Bryce Mitchell was not able to. Because even if it ends up with John Silva rocking T-City, like T-City's gonna make him come down there and might be live for a submission, I just think the speed and the power was too much for Bryce. I like the T-City I just I he keeps talking about flyweight

I mean a five-way lightweight and I think he's a lightweight, but I don't really know. Yeah, we'll see what happens. What say you? Okay, here's the one I want. I don't think we'll get it. Here's what I want. All right, Arnold Allen Whoa, Arnold Allen versus John Silva scrap sick Could be a common man in the UFC versus the most craziest, loud, boisterous guy. The most low energy, amazing, kind of like... John Silva's gonna be barking. Arnold's gonna be like turning to pace. He's like, it's too weird, isn't it?

Arnold will find it funny, which is what would make it so great. I think Arnold's a little too high, and also if I was Arnold, I don't know if I want those problems from a guy who's just entering the rankings. I think that would a little too high and also if I was Arnold like I don't know if I want to want those problems from A guy who's just entering the rankings I think that would be a fantastic scrap what I think might be real more realistic is like maybe Lerone Murphy That might still be kind of too much of a jump up, but what could be fun?

That's a little lower tier than that, but like still interesting like a giga chakadze more a Josh Emmett Josh Emmett could be a nice little like measuring stick for a Jean Silva where it's like, as we saw with Leroy Murphy, like if you can clear a Josh Emmett, you're really in this game and he's so tough in a way that Jean Silva's opponents have not been able to withstand that pressure so far.

He will withstand it and he's gonna be there in the fifth round. Are you able to finish him is ultimately the question. So I feel like those could be maybe realistic if they're trying to keep them. But if they're trying to fast track them, it's going to be like a Murphy or an Allen. Let me throw one out there just for the real ball knowers. It'll never happen.

What is it? John Silver wouldn't take it just because it'd be fighting down to an unranked guy. Oh, what is, what is he fighting down at? Steve Garcia, both on five fight finish streaks at featherweight. Someone's got to get finished, someone's got to lose their winning streaks. Steve Garcia versus John Silva will be splitting an atom 100%. It's just a nuclear bomb. I am the biggest Steve Garcia stan. I'm always down for him to get in there. The mean machine baby. I mean that would be, that'd be a

scrap. John Silva's looking at title shots. I don't think you want to run into Steve Garcia on the way there that's that's my guess. All right Bryce Mitchell on the other side of that yeah one and two obviously knocked into a different universe against Josh Emmett gets the the bounce back win against Kroen Gracie and then unfortunately loses on Saturday as well I feel like some time off would be nice first. Hmm. And then maybe Steve Garcia, you know, get the grappling tested, put him in there with the mean machine. I've got one for this. He came up earlier. I would love to see, and now I don't know if he takes it, but I would love to see

Aljo versus Bryce Mitchell. Oh Aljo, Bryce Mitchell? Yeah, I don't know if Aljo takes that. Did Bryce Mitchell fall out of the top 15? He did. OK. Yeah, I don't know if Aljo's taken. So Aljo sitting there, what is he, like eight now, somewhere in there? It'd be hard to convince him. But the grappling, I think, would be a lot of fun. I think he came up, when we were talking about Pitbull, I think at least Bryce Mitchell is previously ranked.

And I think it could make more sense for an Aljo. Yeah. But what I might think ends up as maybe a Youssef Zalal kind of range. Like you're still gonna fight somebody who's at the bottom end of the rankings. If you're Youssef Zalal, that's a little unfortunate, right? Because he's probably looking up and going, I wanna make my climb now that I'm there.

But you could do worse than a name like Bryce Mitchell, at least it'll be some attention. So I feel like he might end up in that range. But what I would love is to watch Bryce Mitchell and Aljimane Sterling grapple. Oh, that'd be fantastic. What do you got for us Tony? I Think you should take a break. Yeah, I think take some time off. Yeah, there's been a lot of stuff. Yeah If you guys have noticed there's been a lot of We may have heard a situation

Now to be honest like it's tough to Put as much out. And again, this is the fight game. So you have to sell the card. You have to sell the fight. You have to do all those things. Even if your heart is not totally in it, your mouth still has to be. And I feel like Bryce has extended himself so far in every direction, trying

to be this like pseudo intellectual from like his own, you know world in Arkansas to be like no This is it I know it for sure to then getting dunked on by everybody on the planet and then saying oh no I'm gonna beat this guy and then getting embarrassed the way he did It's like we need to we just take a take a beat here because I like thug nasty as a fighter I think he's I think he's got some pluses but the problem is right now It's the world against Bryce Mitchell and I think he's gonna just take a break but the problem is right now, it's the world against Bryce Mitchell, and I think he's gonna just take a break for a second.

It's a great shout, it's a great shout. Like as you said, the tension's been diverted. I don't think he beats John Silva on any day, right? Like I think ultimately John Silva is a better fighter, but I think Bryce Mitchell is better than that performance. And as you've said, like the podcast, he's on every show talking about, this is how I think children should be raised an XYZ thing He's just not been focused on the fight game in a way that if he's locked in I do think he can be a problem

For a lot of these guys and we've seen it like when he is flowing when he's able to combine the grappling with the striking when The striking looks adequate enough to get him into the grappling. He's quite dangerous So yeah, maybe maybe it is time to take a step away But when he comes back grappling, he's quite dangerous. So yeah, maybe it is time to take a step away, but when he comes back, I think he could jump in there with like a Yousef Salal or even some of those like guys that I mentioned like Sadiq Yousef, like you can get in that range.

Honestly, yeah. I mean, he actually has already fought Danny Gay, fought him back in 2023, maybe, yeah. Why not? Maybe there's a bounce back for that. I got one for Danny Gay, Nathaniel Wood. Getting Nathaniel Wood to fight in the top 15, I think that would be a fantastic striking affair.

I like that one too, yeah. And I think, where is Wood right now? He's not ranked. He's not ranked? Yeah, he's just sitting outside the top 15. Oh wow, all right, well then fair enough. I like that one, yeah, give him a shot. God, Dan Ege, man.

The dude does not get enough credit for just being a warrior, and I don't mean that in the lamest sense, but literally every opportunity that comes his way, ranked, unranked, short notice, full camp, bigger guy, smaller guy, it does not matter, Dan Ige takes the fight, he really is one of the game-est dudes on the planet.

He deserves a lot of credit for that. Yeah, also one of the best stashes in the game. A few more to match make here. Dom Reyes, I'm very interested to see where he goes from here, we're back in the, where did he officially get ranked? Like eighth? Light heavyweight, Dom Reyes at eight,

moving on to three rankings. How easy is it to climb up the light heavyweight rankings? It's not hard, there's not a lot of names there. Well let's just put him right into a potential title eliminator, they were supposed to happen at 297 last year, were supposed to happen at UFC, Atlantic City. Carlos Ulberg.

I'm in, that's mine too. Dom Reyes, come on. There's a little bit of beef between them. They were supposed to fight in the past. I'm down for Carlos Ulberg. He's like three, right? Yeah, he's three. Three right now, yeah.

You get an easy title contender in a shallow division at light heavyweight. You're almost guaranteed to get a KO between these guys. You could have it headline a fight night in a major city. I think it's a perfect fight. What I also love, that's my answer as well. What I also love about it is it felt like Olberg had all the momentum.

Now this last fight against Jan, it kind of like stopped a little bit. It kind of slowed the train down. Reyes is the one who's like a rocket ship right now. It's a juxtaposition of where it might've been. I want Olberg versus Reyes. Any opinions on it? No, all three want Olberg versus Reyes. Any opinions on it? No, all three.

Olberg, Reyes is gonna be electric. I'm not mad at like Jan Blachowicz or Rakic either. I was gonna say, back up if they don't do that, if they don't wanna make him jump too high and just kinda continue this ascension would be Rakic. I think that'd be a great fight. Great fight. You catch a guy on a losing streak who needs a bounce back.

I think that would be good as well. Vina Jandirova, I feel like next fight needs to be Zhongwei Li. There is no one else at 115, but will that be the next fight for Zhongwei Li? I think probably not, especially Valentina wins next month in Montreal, but I think Vierna needs to just wait this one out until it's for a title shot.

I don't think she needs to take another fight. 100% agree. Why, why go down? Like you've proven everything. Yan Jianan was to me a very strong fight for her to take. And I was like, Ooh, okay. She's fought titles before she's, she's had that five round. Like she knows what it is to be on the deep end of the pool against killers. And what she was able to do was like, Oh, this isn't close.

Right. Jander Robes was like, really, really, really good. So if you're not fighting for a title, just hold out. Why fight under, why fight Tatiana Suarez or Andras or Lima? It's like, for what? For what? There's, there's nobody else with a claim to it. She's alone right now.

It's her and nobody else. Yeah. I mean, like, even if you look at the rankings, like like not only A is she the number one contender in it, but then like if you just go down it, Tatiana Suarez lost to Zhang Weili. She beat, they've both beaten Yan Xiaonan. She beat Lemosh. Lemosh already got a shot at it.

Jessica Andrade isn't getting a title shot. Like it's just like, it's a no brainer that it's Vierna. It's just whether or not that'll be the next fight for Zhang Weili. Last one I wanted to ask you guys about, Chase Hooper. Yeah. Great win over Jim Miller, but I think it's time to end the Legends Tour.

I have two names, he called out Tom Nolan, which I think would be great. He lost in his debut, but now he's won three straight. He's another big guy, he's obviously not in the rankings. But the guy that I kinda wanna see, Nasrat Haq Paraz. not in the rankings, but the guy that I kind of want to see, Nasrath Haq Paras, sitting outside the rankings has won five straight. Chase Hooper obviously on a win streak as well. I don't think that's a bad shout to get like A, a younger guy and B, a guy on

the rise. And if he can win that one, then it's like, all right, chase Hooper, like we're on, it's time to start doing ranked fights. What do you think Tony? First off, to go to that, I was there for that fight. And it was like, man, Chase could never really get things going against Jim F. and Miller, right? Like did that, when you guys were watching that,

you were like, ooh, I thought Chase was gonna come out a little bit better, a little sharper. I give credit to Jim there. It's just like, he's just such a game opponent. I think the odds were disrespectful to Jim Miller. I didn't think he was gonna win, but minus a thousand, man, you should be blowing the doors off these dudes. that it's just like, he's just such a game opponent. I think the odds were disrespectful to Jim Miller. I didn't think he was gonna win, but minus a thousand, man, you should be blowing the doors off these dudes.

And I just didn't see that happening. I felt that way in the first round. By the end, I was like, okay, he's thoroughly outclassed him, but I would have liked to see a finish. But I thought he outclassed him by the end. How about a Grant Dawson? Okay, that's a jump. That's a jump.

But if we think that this guy could be a ranked fighter and somebody who could be moving up in this division, give him somebody to fight. All right, so two options here for Grant Dawson, either Chase Hooper or Michael Chandler. I know which one he'd pick. I have Grant on my list as well, but I have two that I think make a little more sense.

Unfortunately, it doesn't get us out of the veteran territory, right? It's not, Drew Dober, Drew Dober versus Chase Hooper can make a lot of sense. Less of a vet than the guys he's been fighting. He's not in his 40s, but older guy who is on a bad run right now. On a bad run, but a name that matters in this division

against a tough guy, right? If you beat, as we've seen, if you beat Chase Hooper, it means something. And then how about King Green? I think King Green could be a fun one where the grappling's at least there enough where if Chase Hooper gets it, it could be either a showcase for Chase Hooper

or it could be a test for Chase Hooper where he's gonna have to strike with King and maybe it's too much too soon. So I think that could be the right kind of measuring stick. Unfortunately though, it does just continue this like Chase Hooper's beanable guys kind of narrative, you know? I don't mind giving him a younger guy. I like my Nasrout shout.

Don't mind Grant Dawson too, but that is a jump. That is a jump. That is a jump. Admittedly, it's a jump. Either way, he continues to rise with a win. Overall, what did you give UFC 314? I can't decide if it was, right now I think 314, 311, and UFC Seattle are my top three cards of the year so far.

It's definitely been the best pay-per-view of the year. Okay, you go, you take, you take it over 311. Yeah. I think I was just so in awe of the Intuit Dome that night that that's why I ranked that one so highly. It was pretty great. Cause the Intuit Dome. I mean the Intuit Dome was beautiful. Intuit Dome is the MVP. All right, Tony, thank you so much for joining us, man. We appreciate it.

We appreciate the time. I know it's busy down there in Miami. What do you gotta do? You gotta get to the beach, a couple of Mai Tais. Yeah, yeah, a couple of Mai Tais, a couple of cocktails by the pool, just normal things that we do here Miami that everybody does I'll see you at the next event for like five minutes before I leave. Okay Newark. Hey the next one

I know you're not gonna go to Canada. So Newark. I'll be there. Oh, you'll be in Newark I'll take you around. We'll get you a couple bagels Make sure to follow Tony at 10 day Tony on Twitter a beautiful representation for the MMA game over at metal arc my man Tony, thank you for joining, brother. Thanks, Sony. Appreciate it, boys, anytime. Be easy, man. I like those options.

Ah, Tony the man. It's nice to bridge the gap here. Apparently we've met, and... You're big time. I'm big time to have been left. You're big time. It's on brand for you. It is on brand.

I mean, the true story is, like, I just go to those, I used to go to those events and shit They're like a schlub just chopping it up with Oscar or pizza. I think in fact, I was pizza at that one Pizza was at one of the recent New Jersey shows. No, he was at three a Correa and Islam Islam. Yeah for the live show we did yeah But I you know, you just go you sit in the back, you watch the press conferences, you do the thing. Good shit, it's good shit.

All right, last thing we gotta do before we tie a bow on the UFC 314 talk, we'll recap my picks. Let's do it. The Parlay Pals and shout out the big hitters, my bets. So that's for this week, right? Because we don't have an event. Yeah, no bets, just WrestleMania this week.

That's right, that's right. I'm not gonna do anything else. Do you have anything on WrestleMania? I don't have anything yet I might. I might think a stab at Cody Rhodes is a dog. We'll see. Yeah I finished down 0.21 units. It was just like all those bets essentially for nothing. It's just like all right it is what it is. Is that worse than a loss? Like is that one of those like frustrating feelings? Because you like kind of sweat all night and like I got Volk to win so like that essentially got me to even, yeah.

It is unfortunate. I mean it's a bad best in there. Like Pitbull plus three and a half you don't love. You don't love to see. Nora Cornoli versus Haley Cowan, I went over one and a half. Was just way too heavy on that one. If that one goes a minute longer,

I think I finish up six units. But you know, it is what it is. We live to fight another day, to bet another day. And then the Parlay Pals. You guys remember that time when Frankie had a winning Parlay Pal ticket and then he changed it to Michael Chandler at the last minute and made it turn it into a loser? Dare to dream, man. Listen, if you're watching last week and you saw us being like, Marco Tullio Silva, Marco Tullio Silva,

like why aren't you taking him? And he was like, oh, I don't know, last minute change. Important to note that those odds probably reflect Marco Tullio Silva. Oh yes, yes, yes, I did. I still didn't fix that. Someone on Twitter was like, Michael Chandler's on minus 360.

I was like, it's clearly a typo, man, I'm sorry. And that is the proof that originally Marco Tullio's on minus 360. I was like, it's clearly a typo, man, I'm sorry. And that is the proof that originally, it was literally Marco Tullio's. Minus 360 to me. We didn't show the graphic. Well, if it was minus 360 to you, then it was one of your worst bets of all time because he got beaten pillar to post.

Yeah, we had the graphic and everything ready. I thought your pick was Marco Tullio's, so but. Would have been a nice little win. And he called into the show, like how am I gonna disrespect you? All right, all right? All right, especially on the back of you know me and you kind of like going with some close to even money picks It would have been a nice little in the green. We would have been the green

It was like plus 400 Marco Tullio Silva instead of Taylor, but you know, we would have been firmly in the green It's all good. Frankie should have been good Frankie. We all know the Kayla Harrison pick of 2022 Good Frankie. We all know the Kayla Harrison pick of 2022 Grets given now what is funny is a I picked Patty for the uncrowned. Yeah And delivered a perfect night. Okay, nice nice Yeah, happy so yeah, you had a perfect night We had a perfect night except you had to ruin our parley. Oh, okay. Say that to to irons face man Art I will if he calls in on the voice message I will say forever get to pass from me for the King Green pick.

Like I just can't. I know, even though he's picked King Green incorrectly like four times since then. There's nothing to say when he picked him. It doesn't like four to one. Oh, I forgot he went back to that. All right, big hitters. I got a lot to shout out.

I mean, in the pay-per-view, they always go big. First up, we go with our man Pagan, who goes at GSP 5103 2849. It's like phone number. It's just like a great Twitter name. Plus 1650 goes Nora Cornoli Marco Tulio Silva smart man by KO. If you're into Genji Robo by points Alexander Vulcanofsky turns a hundred dollars into sixteen hundred forty nine dollars and sixty six cents. Shout out to him. Let's keep it rolling. Artzy Mr. Electrocute, one of the sharpest in the game. Follow him on Twitter.

Like every week he just gives out winners. Like he is really one of the best. He sent me like a thousand slips of how much money he wants. Like he is like, it's like he does this full time, but this was his biggest parlay plus 49.59. Chase Hooper points, which was a great call because of how big of a favorite he was. Vierna by points. Dan Ege by KO. I know he was losing his shit on that

featured prelim. I know like a lot of people said it was early stoppage. It was absolutely an early stoppage. He did not give a shit because that turned $100 into $5,059.20. So shout out to Artsy. Really, he is one of the best in the game. Let's keep it rolling. He might have been the ref that night Marcus Allen I'm tired of seeing this guy on my Twitter feed because he just hits every single week. He's like it's too easy I'm like, is it that easy? Because it's not that easy for me at marking nude This is an 11 leg parlay shit essentially the entire fight card. I think save for two fights turns $50 into

5906 and32, like plus $11,812. Shout out to Marcus Allen, he's doing it. He's doing it every week. We keep it rolling. New face. Go from a constant editor to a new one, Tommy Corrigan. He also does a 12-fight parlaylay plus $16,671, turns $5 into $838, essentially gets every single fight right. Next up, at RuthDog17, Tyler, MarcoTuliaSilva by KO, DannyEgay by KO, unreal call, Dominic Reyes by KO plus $4,476 turns $25 into $1,100.

Can I ask something? These parlays are unreal. Dominic Reyes by KO plus $4,476 turns $25 into $1,100. Can I ask something stupid? People on these parlays are unreal. It's a great parlay. Please ask. Why is Dominic Reyes by KO plus $340, but Dan Ege by KO plus $420? Isn't there so much more value on that Reyes one? Like, didn't that seem like it was gonna be a KO?

Like, it felt like if he was gonna win, it was gonna be by KO. Yeah, Ege if he was gonna win, it was gonna be by KO. Yeah, Ege should have been either like plus 800 for that or Reyes should have been like plus 200. Yeah. Either way, anyway. Great calls, great calls. They took advantage of those lines.

We keep it rolling. Dominique TBH, you don't, I think this is a woman. You don't get too many women throwing in the big hitters. She nailed it. Five pick parlay plus 2,485. You don't, I think, this is a woman, you don't get too many women throwing in the big hitters. Shout out. She nailed it. Five pick parlay plus 2,485. Iggy, Silva, Rodriguez, Volk, Patti Pimla to win by KO or decision,

$84 into 2,171. Shout out to her. There's a few more. I mean, I got so many. I'm sorry if I- Iggy Hive was strong over the weekend. I'm sorry if I don't shout you out because there were so many, I'm sorry if I- You have was strong over the week. Dude, I'm sorry if I don't shout you out because there were so many.

Next up. I think that's it, Connor. Oh, okay, all right. Maybe verbal, maybe verbal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, I got Jay Singh here. Oh, sorry, Jay Singh, legend. I mean, every single week plus 1936, a thousand into 20,365.

Shout out to him. Damn, if we can go in Jordan Slack, there's one from this guy, AC the Hulk, Andrew Collins. We got you, man, yeah. Anyway, he has a picture of his, what is it, what did he say that you love, Discord, Frank? Oh, yeah. He says, if you wanna sprinkle on something,

sprinkle on the Ninja choke, he will get KO'd by Bryce if he jumps in here. No! Bryce way too skilled for that. Ninja choke much stronger for his body composition and hard to roll out of, and here he is being comfortable with it. And it's pictures of John Silva.

John Silva by Ninja choke, plus 10,000? This is from AC The Hulk. No way. Andrew Collins, who the segment was named after at the MMA hour I need to bring back those graphics because he was the guy that hit the one dollar into four hundred forty thousand like biggest ticket we've ever seen in the history of ever called the whole main card by finish and round yeah I think it needs to be named after him again I think we need to reinstitute it him Jay Singh One other one that I really wanted to

give a shout out to was Nubian Bookstore. Oh my man. You know him. Marcus DeJuan Williams. He messaged me all the time. He's the man. Sharp as sharp, baby. And he actually is from Georgia as well. But he just puts in giant wagers. $10,000 at minus 145 on Vina Gendaroba paid out at 16,896. Shout out to him, man. Sharp as sharp gets, and when he has a read, he nails it. Yep.

So shout out to those guys. Shout out to the big hitters. You guys killed it. Y'all always do. Y'all always do. God, the ninja choke one. It hurts. You see the Hulk man. He's crazy. The photographic evidence, the actual showing. He knows his shit. He knows his shit.

All right, that's 314. This weekend, WrestleMania. Hell yeah. Going down in Las Vegas. WrestleMania 41. Not a big wrestling guy, but I always dive in for the big events. What's your level of excitement for this one? Like, all right, so I watched Raw last night and it ended with like, it ended with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk all in the ring and like Paul Heyman like on the ground all scared and like that's how it ended and then they have a triple threat match

or whatever on Saturday. I'm pretty excited. I'm like a seven, I'm like an eight. I'm gonna tune in and like and I'll always be like, man the graphics for this are crazy, oh the story lines are crazy. Something crazy will happen and I'll enjoy watching it. I've been consuming, not the product,

but I've been consuming articles. There's a preview show coming later this week from some of the writers at Uncrowned. I'm building up the excitement, I think I'm like an 8. Rick watches wrestling for the articles. I watch wrestling to read the articles. I don't watch wrestling to read the articles. It was a punt. It was good. It was good. It's gonna be sick in Allegiant Stadium. They always just, they put on an incredible show. They kill it. It will be fun. Last year was the first time I've ever stood up in my living

room when they did the John Cena and then it went dark and then the Undertaker showed up and I was like, oh, that was a crazy one. I do feel like there's a lot of like big names involved, even though last year's 40 was like they were trying to blow it out and you had the Stone Cold and the Undertaker and all this stuff. But like the Rock and Cena are involved in Angle, CM Punk, Roman. Like there's a lot of huge names on this one. So I'm pretty excited about it. I'm into it. So because of that, WrestleMania this weekend, our pound for pound rankings this week

is our favorite wrestlers of all time. Top five favorite wrestlers of all time, pound for pound. Frankie, you give us the order. Yeah, so the order is going to be me. Okay. Then Conor Burks. Okay, so the order is going to be me. Okay. Then Connor Burks. Okay, I'll go second. And then Rick.

I feel like we've done this order the most. I think it's always been Frank, you, me. Oh, okay. That's the most popular. All right, Frankie, I'm excited to see what we get here. I'm excited to see what we get here. All right. It's gonna be like, number five, Daniel Cormier.

Number four, Wyatt Hendrickson. Do those not count? They are wrestlers. All right, but no, real talk. Keep the talk real, bro. Didn't really follow a lot of wrestling growing up or even now. Most of my exposure to wrestling came in the mid-90s

when Midway put out a game called WrestleMania. It was an arcade game by the creators of Mortal Kombat. Great game. So to start us off, you'll see a couple of these are are like obviously from there, but number five is Yokozuna hell. Yeah May he rest in peace. Oh Yeah, I mean just did a little bit of reading just to kind of keep myself up to speed of where things went after his great addition to the video game and I mean he did a lot he did a lot for the addition to the video game and I mean he did a lot. He did a lot for the entertainment

and I think this kind of thing is missed these days and maybe we should get another big spirit like this. Coming in at number four. Can I just, fun fact. Oh no, go ahead, yeah, it's your list. All right, sorry. No, go ahead. No, go ahead.

Coming in at number four is Doink the Clown. Okay. 0 for 2 so far on me having heard of these guys. Yeah, it's fine. Oh shit! Yeah, you wanna know who Doink the Clown is. He looks menacing, right? So tell him, tell him who it is.

To those at home that are scared of clowns, please look away. I was about to give you a great Yokozuna thing, but you know. I wanna hear it. No, no, no, say more about Doink the Clown. You said you wanna know, he wants to know, tell him. Tell him about Doink. His name is Doink. Uh-huh, but I'll still know. He's doing uh-huh uh-huh and I think Rick has

something to add no I got nothing keep going so your list coming in at number three is not from WrestleMania the game but as someone that I did kind of grow up watching and that's the Bushwhackers this was a tag team wore jack boots and like camo pants with the tank tops. And I always just thought it was amazing. They would kind of do this crazy slam dancing walk around the ring, and I just always thought that that was entertaining. As a child, once I grew up, I kind of moved on.

To my number two, which is Sting, not the Singer, but the actual wrestler. This was another- All right, here we go. I have heard of Sting. I have heard of sting I it really is the aesthetic more than anything I'm happy to know that he still wrestles because he kind of spoke to no I think he's done now just recently we saw him in his last match that stinks in New York when we saw him yeah so for those that don't know There was a time where we went to AEW where sting was still very much an active wrestler

And I turned to Connor and said did you know that this is sting the singer from police and You know bless his heart had no way of knowing that I was lying to him went went along and was like, oh, is that true? And then I had the other guys just kinda, it was funny. You had to be there, but it was a great moment. So Sting will forever be burned into my memory for that. That was a fantastic moment, I have to say. I'm obviously not that familiar with wrestling, and I'm also not familiar with the singer Sting.

I got to walk right by him on the street. So I was like, no shit. He went from singing to wrestling. To be fair to you, guys like Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, like are involved in wrestling right now. So it's not like crazy. Sting would be wildly random. Like he is, how old is Sting?

Like 70s, 60s? I think of Sting and I think of like my mom. That's like a heartthrob for my mom like she would see sting singing And be like oh, God three years old He's in great shape though We really know it's not him also We know he's not you type in staying and it's it's a picture of a guitarist then you hit the arrow key And it's a picture of the wrestler

And you could go back between the two and it all the only thing that changes at the makeup all right Who's the number one number one? This is all-time favorite. I believe was in the video game, but this is actually someone I followed before even then it's the undertaker Yeah, I'm sorry, but especially this image that I have of them. That's exactly how I remember the undertaker I don't know what area this is the image you have oh yeah Yeah, I remember so I had like a buddy that lived down the street who was big into wrestling, so I'd come over and we'd play old NES wrestling games. As a kid, it was insufferable when it came to wrestling.

But he showed me this thing, I don't know, it was live when it was happening where they're pre-taped. He sticks a guy in a coffin and they had to pull him out and give him CPR and all that. I was like, as a child, I was mortified. I thought this had really happened, that this guy snapped and was trying to suffocate someone by sticking them in a coffin So that uh I could I get the appeal It's not for me You know but like I get the appeal like that some of that stuff especially as children could be really

Impactful on you. It's not for me my number one favorite wrestler. Yeah, cool. Good stuff. Good list All right, very old school very old school Bushwhackers is a pole The chat is asking to know the Yokozuna trivia Well what I was gonna say Frank was did you know that he's not Japanese even though he's a sumo wrestler He's actually Samoa and he's from the same lineage of the Rock and Roman Reigns and all those guys But presented as this like Japanese sumo wrestler that is interesting, but not man go off No, you go shut me down next time. It's all good. We'll circle back to spirit thing. We'll circle back to anything Yeah, it's okay. It could be the last salmon, right? Moving on see an HR tomorrow

All right, here we go You know could have done could have done Cody Rhodes representing, Georgia could have done dusty roads representing, Georgia Big boss man representing, Georgia. I have done Dusty Rhodes representing Georgia. Big Boss Man representing Georgia. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, Cop County. Unfortunately, didn't go with any of those. These are five.

I was huge into wrestling when I was a kid, up until I was like 10, me and my brothers would watch it. So what era is this still? Like who's like the big, who's like the top guys at this time? Are they gonna be on the list? I'll kinda get a sense of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Like this was like, like when I talk about my brothers, this is like WCW days and we were so into it, me and my brothers would do wrestling on the bed. 100%. And body slams and had special moves and I was the intimidator. One of my brothers was the seal

because his special move was just a body slam. We had our own names, we were big into it, but ever since then I haven't really watched it. 90% of my list is because I did these moves against my friends. Yes, it was the best, it was the best. But I start number five, nightmarish figure, scared the shit out of me and my brothers, Kane.

And I'm talking the big red monster Kane, this cane, like you got the the red and black mask, the full suit with the glove, scary, scary dude, you got the fire like that. With the one, the colored contact in the eye, like I've always had an affinity for like the wrestlers that are like scary and creepy. Bray Wyatt I thought was really cool, like guys like that. Yeah, like this is just like out of a horror movie type shit. So not the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee version of. No, no, this.

Like scare the shit out of you. Look at the fucking guns. Holy shit. Absolutely jacked. And like when you're eight, like this is terrifying. 100%. So yeah, shout out to Kane, legend. Representing Georgia, I did take one.

Number four, Goldberg, University of Georgia. Oh, great. Dog, Traps, like a God. Great for the bald brand, I mean, look at that. My dad was a big fan of Goldberg because he played Georgia football and was on the Falcons as well. Yeah, shout out to Big95 out there, the brute man.

Billy G, big fan of Goldberg. Was a great interview on the show just a few weeks ago. Next up, number three, love the way he dresses, love the look of him, the voice, the oh yeah brother. Oh hell yeah, macho man, Randy Savage, snap yourself into a slim gym. I mean look at those guns, look at the outfit, the sunglasses, everything like that.

I was actually him for Halloween a few years ago on the show, got that exact same, look at the outfit, the sunglasses, everything like that. I was actually him for Halloween a few years ago on the show, got that exact same, look at me, I didn't look frigging great. Yeah, shout out Macho Man, Randy Savage. Shout out to the MMA as well, you know. Great program, shout out to Slim Jims. Makes me wanna snap into one, honestly. We were talking about that yesterday.

Might go get a Slim Jim at the break before old Ariel and Adi. Number two, legend. Also fantastic for the bald brand. Fantastic for the beard goatee brand. I mean, all the championships in the world, triple crown winner. What?

Stone Cold Steve Austin, baby. I mean, the beers slamming together, the jeans shorts, the Austin 316. like he's just like the fucking man, like the epitome of cool was also him for Halloween this past year, right here in this studio. Went to WWE headquarters, did the beer bash myself in the costume. This is Halloween night out inside,

in front of the belt in Stanford, just up the way. Shout out, Stone Cold Steve Austin, legend he is. But number one, I said I like the scary guys, the freaky dudes, and I mix with Frankie here. Number one, the belt, oh baby, the eyes rolling back in the head, the coming out of the coffin, the always showing up when you least expect them,

the Undertaker, number one. I mean, like, it just doesn't get cooler than the Undertaker. Like, this is like the, you got the urn, like you got legendary guys like Adesanya, like recreating it. Like, this is what I think of. You showed him like in his early days

with like a receding hairline and one glove. I think of like this with the fire and the flame. And like, I pulled it up yesterday. Like my brothers used to show it on like VHS, but the Inferno match with Kane. That was just like, you got the fire around the ring. Yeah. The brother storyline was building all to this.

What about like when he did like, look at that, like that is fucking sweet. What about when he did the motorcycle? What about when he was like the bad-ass guy? Yeah, like that was cool, but like I liked when it was like, like that's why I got such a big pop in the living room last year when it just went dark. And like I was not expecting him at all.

And it's just like the, and like it goes black and then it lights back up and then he's there and you're just like, that's the fucking guy, the Undertaker, baby. Yeah, I love it. It's a great list, it's a great list. So far, two very good lists. Different, yours is a little more like attitude era. Frank's is like 80s early, I like it.

I feel like I'm gonna be more close to you but we'll see where this goes. So number five, I don't know if you'll know this guy, or definitely Frank won't, but there's a wrestler or was a wrestler, he's still with us, but he doesn't wrestle anymore. His name is D-Lo Brown. And he was part of the nation nomination.

He was a little bit of a jobber, if I'm being honest, but he held some titles, but what I loved about him. Is that the European Championship? Yes it is. This man had the most swag. Like he would walk out and he would do like, he's like shoulder popping on the way to the ring and he would do this head thing

where he would just go like this. Like he would just like swivel his head, hook it up right now. And it was the best thing ever. And his finishing move was a really nice frog splash And I and he used to like pump it he would do the pump on the frog splash I used to do that move in the living room against all my friends We'd lay out the the cushions on the couch and have these ladder matches

I used to do the D Lowe Brown and I would do the little head thing D Lowe was the man loved you Lowe Brown and though What's that there's I always see a picture of him Brown. Who was the woman with him that he walked out with? What's that? I always see a picture of him, the only reason I recognize him, him with like, he's walking out with like a woman. Oh yeah, there was, that looked like,

let me see it again. Debra? I think that was Debra. I think so, but I can't tell. That's where I recognize him. He had various valets, he was also in the nation of domination, he was the man, D-Lo was the man. Okay. All right, number four, a guy named Taz.

So Taz, he's gone on to become like a commentator. His thing, the thing about Taz was, that I love so much, was his game, his wrestling, was all suplexes. He was called the human suplex machine. And his game was all predicated on like, he would grab was all suplexes. He was called the human suplex machine. And his game was all predicated on like, he would grab you and suplex you. That was his style. So it wasn't like he would do like,

all right, he's a high flyer, he'd do this. He had one specific thing. It was like pre-Brock Lesnar, he was this guy who just suplexed everybody. What I loved about him also though, was he was from New York, he was from Brooklyn I think, and I was just like, this is a New York guy with the accent, with the attitude,

who just comes in and just like mashes people. Suplexes him everywhere. He was in ECW for a long time. I love Taz. He's the man. I don't know. Like I think he's still doing commentary, but somebody else that-

I love like the simple moves. Like he comes in and suplexes everyone. It's all suplexes. Like I can't lie. I like watching Roman Reigns like whenever he comes out, cause you just guarantee to watch him spear like four or five people and like,

you can't help but when like he just runs across and literally just shoots through another grown ass man, you're just kinda like, oh yeah, that was pretty sick. Sometimes it really is as simple as the one move and they do it so well, which leads me to the next one, which is a guy who had like a cool attitude, but he had this one move that he did better

than anybody else and I tried to copy it and it was my favorite at the time and that's Raven. He was in a lot of different storylines, but his thing was like he was like this grungy kind of rocker looking dude, but he had a DDT that was just the most beautiful DDT you've ever seen. He would get people and just put them headfirst into the ring And he did it better than anybody I've ever seen it was the most beautiful thing and that was what I do in the living room

I'd be DDP people like Raven and I loved it. Shout out to Raven legend legendary DDT now we're gonna get Let the man cook Frank now we're gonna yeah, yeah, shut up Frank. This is my list now We're gonna get into like these are higher caliber. These are higher care These guys like Raven was like you low-key favorites But like these are like low-key like these guys are also my favorites again. This goes to like a lot of moves I did I used to suplex people like Taz, DDT There's a guy He's still around actually

He's not wrestling anymore though. He's still around actually. He's not wrestling anymore though. He's the big boss. He's running shit. And that's one Hunter Hearst Helmsley Triple H. Shout out. That motherfucker. Incredible moves. The pedigree is iconic.

His finishing move where he grabs people's arms and then puts them face first into the mat. Incredibly iconic. We used to do it all the time amongst our friends. But also the water spit that has become iconic where he's just on the ropes and does the mist with the water. The leader alongside Shawn Michaels of D-Generation X,

which like was so impactful to me. I was like, I liked NWO, but I was always more into DX with the socket and all the stuff that they were doing. That was more in my era of watching. So DX was like generational, loved them so much. He was incredible. He did so many funny promos. They did so many funny gimmicks. Shout out to China, X-Pac, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, Billy James, Billy Gunn rather.

DX was definitely my faction, but I always felt like Triple H was great. He had so many like intercontinental feuds and stuff like that. Billy James, Billy Gunn rather. DX was definitely my faction, but I always felt like Triple H was great. He had so many intercontinental feuds with The Rock. It was just, it was great, and I love Triple H, and now he's doing great things running WWE. Hey, I actually got to talk to Triple H on the phone.

What'd you say? Well, I worked for a design firm that we made custom furniture, and we had done the WWE's conference table a few years prior to this phone call. And then he called me up and literally introduced himself as Triple H. He said, what's up man, it's Triple H.

He had this guttural voice that was just like, at first I was like, someone's just fucking with me, right? Then he goes on, I start taking some notes of what he was looking for, is he wanted a new desk. This is the desk, it was gonna have three legs instead of two okay each cut out of iron or steel and it would just be three H's to hold up he chuckled as he was telling me what he wanted as well it was pretty funny but uh yeah that's great really yeah he has it by the way seems like a decent guy the great episode of punk I

was gonna say he has an all-time great punk, where he thinks he ruined somebody's wedding, and he's mortified, but trying to solve the situation at the same time. Yeah, he feels so terrible, and one of the waiters starts shit-talking him, and he's like, hey man, you better back down or I'll kick your ass. Great one, Stone Cold, also a fantastic episode of punk.

Triple H is great, I fucking love Triple H. And the pedigree has lasted the ages. He's had some great walkouts. Shout out Triple H. He's done everything in the business. Now he's actually running the business. All right, here we go, number one. This was a no-brainer for me.

Everybody else on this side to think about, there were some names that I could have put on there, but this one was the one. This one was, fittingly, the one. This one was the one that I listened to the music on the WWF's Attitude CD. I would the one that I listened to the music on the WWE added to WWF's attitude CD I would walk around the neighborhood listening to the music. I would do the moves in the in the living room his one of his finishers He has multiple finishers. I would do all the time with my friends

the jabroni beaten pie eating trail blazing eyebrow raisin most electrifying man in sports entertainment, The Rock, who's just comin' to whoop some candy asses. I love that. He was not expecting rock one for you.

Dude, I was such a mark for The Rock. I loved his crazy athleticism package with The Rock bottom and the people's elbow. I mean, me and my brothers would walk around, and anytime my mom was cooking dinner, we would always just be like, do you smell what my mom is cooking? How could you not?

How could you not? He had so many catchphrases, he had so many iconic moments, he was just the epitome of cool to me at that time. I have his autobiography in my house somewhere, I have a signed card of The Rock. I was a mark for The Rock. Shout out.

I loved everything he did. The promos were incredible. At that time, he was just on top of the world. Everybody was Stone Cold. I never was a Stone Cold guy. I liked him. It was great. It was fun.

It was entertaining. I loved watching Vince McMahon get his ass beat, but The Rock was always my guy. I was always way more rocky over Stone Cold. And yeah, he was just the coolest. And the promo was like, it was so much in my wheelhouse of like what I wanted for fighting to be. And like ultimately like what the Conor McGregor

and then Beyond kind of came into with the trash talk. He was just the best on the mic for my money. And so The Rock was my guy and he's number one. Did any of us have, really shown our age, did any of us have anyone that debuted 2000 or later? I did not. Yeah, I don't think we did. I should have had Action Bronson if I'm being honest.

Yeah, we all should have had Action Bronson, man. Legend, AEW legend, Action Bronson is. Yeah, I think these are all solid lists. I felt like we all felt a bit of nostalgia as we were going through it the more Contemporary guys are like but even I was about to say like Randy Orton but Randy Orton's now at this point like super veteran Who's like the new but who's like the new guy that like everybody loves? CM Punk all my favorites are kind of like older. I was gonna say yeah people love CM Punk, but he's older Romans newer Roman is new for all those wrongs newer. Roman's newer. Roman is newer for sure.

Seth Rollins, those guys. Seth Rollins is newer for sure. J. Uso is newer, I don't know if he's as beloved. Nah, he's beloved, man. Yeah, I guess he is. Look at the Yee-chant going. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We are old. He's definitely not beloved,

but Logan Paul is becoming massive. He's popular. Yeah, I think going through that it made me more excited for Saturday and Sunday. God, I love the Rock, man. Shout out. Shout out to the people. The great one.

The most electric sports entertainment. It's great. All right, let's go to voicemail. Voicemails! Yeah, love that. Was that recorded for last week? Was that recorded for last week? Yeah.

Hey Frank, and the other boys in the the back it's your favorite fight promoter Don Davis building global MMA company easy to talk hard to do by the way this impression is so good delivered premium product seven years 110 events 225 million million in fighter persons paid. And now you're going to see the debut in another organization of one of my favorite fighters, Patrice L. Pitbull. He is going to wipe his butt with the other promotions roster. And he's not who I'm talking about. Last, I need to address a news item from another fighter within my organization, the Professional

Fighters League, who's a little unhappy and misunderstanding of the details of his contract, Corey Overtime Anderson. He's been in 30 years of playing sports and competing. He's never been a year without a competition. Here we are approaching a year and a month. Well Cory, I'm here to tell you on my Boys in the Back debut that you will be getting the fight real soon, okay? Thanks everybody. Frank, keep the boys on their toes and respond to my message about Monster Hunter on Xbox. Okay, thanks for that Don Davis. I'm fairly certain that's the same guy who did the Michael Chandler impression.

I think you need to go play a trio's mysterious Frank Michael Chandler and Don Davis. By the way, impression was on point. We should note, some of these are played, so we recorded last Thursday, some of these are from before the event. So him predicting that Pitbull's gonna wipe his ass with the US guys unfortunately didn't really come to fruition but what a call what a call hey boys in the back please whatever you can do get you and Canada back onto the Pull a boys. Let's do something. Come on guys. Let's get it done Before you say anything. Oh my gosh

That's my dad We're trying mr. Jagman we're trying pops we're trying to get it done Juliana, please this is me directly to camera Get it done. Juliana, please. This is me Directly to camera my own dad's my dad's my dad My dad my dad is begging please we need we need you back in the mix. We love you Juliana Good luck and in New Jersey. We know the beef isn't with us. Juliana. Yeah, we don't have the name names. Good Alright, shut up. My dad. Love you dad go Rick is the most sound mind than modern sports media. Wow, modern sports media. G.C. is a man. Also true. Let's give a shout out to Jordan. Shout out to Jordan. We actually got Josh in the back today.

Jordan's out in Portugal sipping Mai Tais by the beach, but it's alright. Appreciate the love. I agree with you. That was very nice. Boys, 24 and Stubbs, Tom from Boston. Wow, here he is. He has a shout out. A legend. The pie segment was good, except for the fact that New Yorkers can't make apple pie. What are y'all doing down there? Ridiculous. I don't know. Go Celtics.

Go Celtics. Nah. Shout out to the 24 inch stubs, man. Shout out to the 24 inch stubs. They put a voice with the name, but no, no, go Celtics. Down with the Celtics. Hey guys, love the pie segment. awesome people like the two things that I want to get off my chest I really get them off once more discord support

You guys have a wonderful amount of sound boards available. You could make them available for that discord as well It would be fantastic. That's you Frankie Secondly I Love you guys. Hope you have a good Love you too. Shout out Frankie, you love this award. Secondly, I love you guys. Hope you have a good one. Love you too, man. Love you too. Shout out, Frankie, get on it, discord.

We don't care! Boys in the back, this is Logan from Wichita, Kansas. Ah, shout out to Logan from Wichita. Call of Derek Lewis versus Junior DeSanto, December 2018. I'm listening to the episode right now You said Eric that you gotta have

somebody give you a nickname and I'm thinking what's that nickname gonna be for Eric Jackman and it came to me immediately You've heard of Michael the Count Bitsing now here comes Eric the Gout Jackman.

Nice one. Gotta love it. I didn't know where he was going with that one. We'll take it into advisement. That was a 10 out of 10 call. Shout out to Logan from Wichita, Kansas, home to the 2018 Fight Night. Eric Lewis versus Junior Dos Santos. That was golden.

By the way, funny, 30 seconds. You know, that's the sweet spot. Name, town, love. You want to get there. That was beautiful. That was excellent work by you Logan. Yeah, shout out to Logan. Hey, what's up boys in the back.

This is Dan from Long Island. Just wanted to say, GC, the greatest cyclist, you had it right. You're fucking right. Long Island's a shit hole. You're fucking right Dan. Good thing Jordan's not here. New York, Rick, I saw you at the Action Bronson concert in Wonsaw. Wanted to say what you're doing.

I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. I'm going to say what you're doing. You're fucking right, Dan. Funny story. Good thing Jordan's not here. New York, Rick, I saw you at the Action Bronson concert and once I wanted to say what's up, but I didn't wanna bother you.

And yeah, that's it. Thanks, Dan, thanks. Dan, you too. Have a good day. Dan, you should've said what's up. Shout out to Dan for multiple reasons. Name, Long Island, shithole, greatest cycler. But you should have said, what's up, man.

Then this guy's head would have been so inflated because he got a shout out from Action Bronson. And then if you came up to him and have been like, ah, I got no pictures, no pictures here. Shout out to Wanta, too. Yeah, shout out to Wanta. You definitely should have said, what's up. I feel like I might be giving off the wrong vibes

because everybody who has a story, they're like, I saw you, but they just don't said what's up. I feel like I might be giving off the wrong vibes because Everybody who like has like a story they're like I saw you but they just don't want to come up Maybe I'm just I can be a little bit locked in For sure meanwhile, I'm at the urinal and people like elbowing me. They're like, what's up, man? You were there Frank like I was not like I was like very relaxed like I wasn't like Looking look at me. My serious said she was like do you feel like he's mad at me? I'm like oh it was loud. Don't play into the gimmick I want people to feel like they can approach me. When's the next Bronson concert? Me and Frank went to one

you and Frank went to one. Now we all gotta go. Yeah now we all gotta go to one. All right let's keep them going. What else? Chris calling down from California Chowchilla way. Oh, wow. I just had one question and one gripe. OK, let's go. I like this. What introduced you guys to USC? Was it a commercial on the TV? Was it through the workforce? What got you guys in love with the sport?

And my one gripe is when Ariel says thumbs up to the chat. It is not thumbs up to the chat, it's thumbs up in the chat. Okay. This boosts algorithm, boosts engagement. Since you said it for the first episode of this show it's got me wound up. Love the show, keep doing what you're doing. Help me from the workforce, baby. Copper, come on. Appreciate that Chris from Cali. Thumbs up to him. Thumbs up in the chat.

Thumbs up to Chris from Cali and thumbs up in the chat as well. How did I get into it? Holly Holm, Ron DeRauze, Connor McGregor, that was sort of my intro into it. What made me really fall in love was getting this job and going week in and week out and now for years on end. I was telling you guys the other day,

it's getting kind of crazy now that people are like Throw back to this fight card three years ago today. I'm just like fuck. I remember that fight card vividly what? What was your level like when you were at ESPN and aware that ESPN had it but it was like steps It was like steps and when I was in college I was like I would watch the huge fights like the make ifights that everyone was watching Then when I got the ESPN and they gave us free ESPN plus and the pay-per-views were paid for like I was like I might as well watch the pay-per-views and then like I started watching some of the bigger fight nights But then once I got here, it was obviously like every single week. Yeah for me and I've told this story before it was a

VHS tape of UFC 2 watching hoist Gracie do what he did to these like I could not f- in my head by that time in my life I was like okay these big burly dudes are the toughest dudes on the planet and they're and watching pro wrestling like you see these big dudes and you're like yes that's what the the peak of fighting prowess looks like. Action movies it's Arnold Schwarzenegger It's these big yoked up dudes And then you see hoist Gracie in two minutes dismantle them with an armbar and you're like, holy shit

That's actually not what it is. It's like there's a different thing here. There's real life here And so from then I was hooked like hoist Gracie blew my mind and from then it was following everything sick Blockbuster video following everything. Sick. Blockbuster video. What's going on, gentlemen? Fellas, my name is Tim calling from Lincoln Square, New York City.

Oh, shut up. Just in the road. I just wanted to thank you. My grandfather just passed recently. Sorry to hear that, Tim. A few days ago in Puerto Rico and listening to the show. Just as it's kept me going and gives me something to do while I'm working.

I appreciate the positive energy you guys bring. Also, one of my good, good homegirl, she works at PD's Pie's too. She appreciates y'all going there and showing love to PD's Pie's. Honestly, I don't even have any questions. Just wanted to show love and show the gratitude you know to you guys doing your thing and yeah that's pretty much it man salute boys in the back salute Frank salute Andy and I forgot the other guys name but yeah so did we Jordan Josh we forget it too that makes the show possible

peace damn damn brings it to you on, dude. Appreciate the fuck out of you. Thank you for listening, man. It really doesn't mean a lot. Messages like that are like hard to wrap your head around. Like you say thank you, we say thank you, man. We really appreciate that and sorry that you're having to go through that, man. I really am. I know that's not easy. Yeah, condolences to your family and as Connor said, like that being you saying that like this is helping you get through, those messages

help us get through and make us want to keep doing this stuff. So yeah, I can't thank you enough and condolences to your family. What's up, y'all? This is Junior calling in from Houston, Texas. I hear Junior. Oh. Shout out to the whole Uncount team.

Shout out to some of the OGs from the MMA hours. Pippa Joe, Fokker Adley, Andre Lewis. Shout out Rick for being the old views from the MMA hours. Hip-hop Joe, corporate Alex, Andre Lewis. Shout out Rick for being the man of the people. That's a real fan. I say I can't believe in the town-for-town Mexican food, pan dulce, they didn't make it. You know, you got your conchas, you got your marranitos. Oh, this guy knows his shit.

Come on, Andy. Let them know. Let them know. Also shout out Ariel. People are afraid to do one job interview. I can't imagine what it's like to do hundreds of them in a year. So yeah, everybody keep up the good work. We all appreciate y'all and we'll see you off at the top. See you at the fucking top, baby.

Shout out to H-Town. That man knew ball when it came to Mexican food. Andy, what about those recommendations? You know like that? Sounds like he's still got it on in his pocket. Hey, no listen to the whole thing. All right. I Thought there was something more coming but So while this is playing out Josh turns to me and he says did you take a quesadilla and the pie And not the Mexican one. I was like, you know, I have the headphones on I'm like Josh. You're gonna need to say that again He's like, did you take the quesadilla and the pie pound for pound and not the Mexican one?

Did you really do that? And I was like, yeah, I guess I did he was like that's fucking nasty Frank And then while that's happening you guys are like, I think you left it on in his pocket I'm like Jesus It did sound like it was still on in his pocket. I'd love to say, Josh has been here maybe a total of five times and he already knows. Yeah, he already knows Frank as the worst list. You're in the middle of this?

No, I love it. All right. What's up, boys in the back? It's Moe Lester from Houston, Texas. My question is, is zombie apocalypse, are you gonna be the path to bring people into your camp or turn people away? Shout out on air Jordan Shout out gc shout out mysterious Frank Rick. You're not getting the camp buddy Wow

That impression that they don't like that yeah, I guess I give off where do they get that idea from Rick? I don't know. I'm such a nice friendly guy uh I I want to say that I would let people in but man zombie apocalypse is gonna be hard to trust people I'm a loner yeah me my family. I'm not Relying on anybody else nobody relies on me. That's it seen too many zombie movies where people get selfish They try to become the leaders blah blah blah have a hot take about the zombie apocalypse tell me There's nothing to worry about because like look zombies move slowly so all you have to do is run a little fast So they're gonna go for like the slowest and the weakest right?

Where's the place for that the hospital people who are like in? Comas or just like or diseased So they end up turning them into zombies but they can't go anywhere because they're like paraplegics you know all this sort of thing. So we're fine. That's great Frank so what happens when you run out of resources? They die off like any other species. No you, when you run out of resources. I'm not gonna run out dog. Oh alright dog. Okay yeah there's a hole in your plan. What's up guys? This is Nick out of Portland, Oregon I had a question for you if you could go back and attend any UFC event in the past live Which one would it be and why all right keep up the good work about the show whoo man that's tough

USC 205 first one in Madison Square Garden double champ status for McGregor legendary one to be at USC 300 would have been pretty sick to be at seeing like some pretty iconic moments USC 229 would have been wild Connor and Habib I think it probably wouldn't be USC it'd probably be Pride I would have wanted to go to like Japan and see like cro-cop versus fade or something like that or one of the One of the Vanderlei versus rampages or something just something from pride. It would probably be a pride event I mean UFC one would be cool knowing what it ultimately turned into but it probably be a pride event

Hey boys in the back. Sorry, Mike Jammer. Oh, he's back. I was gonna call, win or lose, and find ourselves here today. He was sorry to hear it, Mike. Wanted to call from backstage, but they had to immediately begin stitching up my face.

I'll say this one time there's an early stoppage. I had a lot more left to give, but it's in the past now. Not feeling so great. Got a big box of cram nutrition, PB and J's headed to Connor. Cram nutrition is the best. I appreciate that, Mike. PBJ PowerSlap.

And Frank, you know, it's been good to connect on Xbox. Gonna be there a lot more as I heal up these injuries Frank, you know, it's been good to connect on XBox. Gonna be there a lot more as I heal up these injuries and work my way towards the next move. There's no doubt gonna be the Conor McGregor fight. Think it's obvious. I'll try and keep it short. Top five pound for pound memes. Looking at a lot of memes myself, he says.

Can you spare it to you at the top. See you at the top, Mike. So he's suggesting top five pound for pound memes. The formula of impression plus Frank add me on Xbox or Discord is very strong. Do you even have an Xbox, Frank? No, I don't. I'm a PC, PlayStation 5, Super Nintendo kind of guy Everything is incredible incredible shout out Mike for

Boy AJ coming from the great state of Connecticut You guys this week is where your thoughts on UFC maybe cross-training with FBI agents seems pretty interesting. I'm here for it That would be dope. What are you? No, they are doing it Frank. Oh, they are doing it. It's just a concept No, I think like Colby recently was doing something but like they're cash Patel has said like they're bringing interesting people like UFC fighters in like better in hand-to-hand combat I imagine like it's a bad idea an FBI agent like squaring off of like you know? We'll just say they're criminal and then like they just go ahead and go for the takedown

Honestly though that is what prevents like situations from escalating so that everybody's just not like Yeah, you know or pulls guard or whatever I think I think Yeah, you know or pulls guard or what if I think I think Any law enforcement or anybody in like positions like that having more and more experience on what actual like? Fights are like is good. Yeah, it's always a good thing GC Rick and Frankie how your boys doing? How you doing brother your cousin Georgie from Baltimore. Georgie from Baltimore, let's go. Light up a smoke with me so I can talk to you fellas. He gives us a moment.

No, I think I heard a lighter flick. Now here's the thing. Our good friend Mike, unfortunately, didn't get the win against Patty. So we all wanna know what's next for him. Okay, tell us. I got an idea, it's a little out there, Lay it on us, please. But it could work. So follow along with me. I'm following brother.

Everybody in the mother wants to see McGregor fight again. And he owes that fight to Mikey. Dana will soon have TKO boxing up and running. And he's going to need some big superstars to market his brand. So here's what we're going to do. Fill up the fight card with boxes that Dana wants to promote for his new league. And at the top of the card, main event in the evening, Conor McGregor versus Michael Chandler and a boxing match for TKL Boxing. But here's the kicker. They take the gloves off and do it bare-nuff. Okay, okay. Let me know if you boys think Dana would be into it. Oh, and to Sean Brady, I would be afraid to race my boy JC too if I was you. You're fucking right, you're right. George is from Baltimore, shout out. Shout out. Yeah, I mean, that's not going to happen, but I'm there.

Nor would they take the gloves off, but yeah. Also, like, would the guy that owns, that is a partner owner in BKFC do bare-knuckle, not on BKFC I do love I love the thinking outside the box though Georgie yeah by the way we're as we're going through these but no we're one we're done with them yeah oh that was it that was all 415 so BI TB if you want to get featured next week this is actually incredibly fun a nice a nice way to hear from the people and engage with the

audience I really like those yeah drop us a line again name Location 30 seconds unless you're really cooking and everybody's gonna think they're really cooking so now we're in for five minute calls Drop us a line. We want to hear from you I mean messages like the guy Tim like incredible stuff So thank you and if any of you want to play Monster Hunter with Michael Chandler, and I and Don Davis They don't need a Ford will make it happen. No yeah, don't need a fourth If any of you want to play Monster Hunter with Michael Chandler and I and Don Davis Will make it happen. No yet Don. Yeah, you know, it's you Michael. No, I feel about Don Davis No, you Michael Chandler and Don Davis. Yeah. All right. We got any super jazz Frankie Damn right we do. Oh, yeah, let's go starting off with sleeto shout out

I know you can't put it as harshly as this but can you talk about your your delusional interview? Say Diego hasn't earned the chance to fight him, but that your your thinks he deserves the next title shot I don't yeah, I don't think it's delusion But I do agree with you that I think Diego obviously coming off of a title shot is in the same league as as year And I think it's just such a no-brainer I think I think sometimes fighters get so fixed on the title shot that they diminish anyone that isn't the title shot. But also, I don't think it's delusion

as much as promotion. It's like, he doesn't wanna give Diego the time of day, so he's doing the I'm ignoring you. He knows Diego's good. He knows Diego, it's not like, I don't think he's like, actually does not believe Diego's of that caliber. He's just doing the thing. He doing thing that when Patty goes. Oh, I forgot Ilya toporia exists

No, you didn't forget Ilya toporia exists Ilya toporia is like doing what you wish you could do at this moment He's living a dream that you hope to live So like he's just doing that thing and I don't think it's delusion nor do I think like y'all yours that far from a title Shot like would I be shocked if he got the next one? Probably not like again. I don't think anybody is clamoring for that mob star fight even though he does deserve it So I don't think I don't think it's delusional, but I used to he's promoting he's cutting promos So this next one I think has some context to it It was while you guys were talking about the future of the USC deal.

So Mason Bickner wrote in, plus the money, something like B-Dub spins on Pay-Per-View. Yeah, there's additional. There's so many levers for them to pull. There's the money that the bars and restaurants and them have to pay to serve up Pay-Per-Views. There's a lot that would go into potentially taking it from that model so yeah there's a lot there's a lot of money on the table for the UFC coming up so 24-inch dubs writes in

shout out he gave us a call earlier hey I want to be in Roku channel fight nights at a pack think you might be might be joking no I mean they bring in some content but I don't think they have the money to pay what would be required for UFC Shout out to be though AJ333, yo what's up big fan of the show, two questions for me About $20, shout out AJ What do y'all think of Chase Hooper vs Chandler next and who do y'all got in the open weight boxing match between NaEO, Inoue, and DDP. I don't know anything about Inoue versus DDP.

No, there's nothing to it. He's literally asking, in an open weight boxing match, does Inoue beat DDP? That's it, that's the hard question. Yeah, Inoue fucking pounds DDP's face to dust. Yeah, which is crazy because of the size differential, but the skills that Inoue has in a boxing match are insane. Like, you can't trip take down someone in a boxing match.

And then Chase Hooper versus Michael Chandler, I feel like that's a little too much for Chase Hooper. But I guess it would continue as his veteran tour. I hate it because the options available to Chase Hooper continue to be guys like that that make sense, but I don't want him to get this reputation as this guy who's just cleaning up the bones, the remnants of these fighters.

But it's not fair to him, nor is it fair to them, but I don't hate it at the same time. If you're Michael Chandler, though, what do you gain from fighting Chase Hooper? What's the upside on that? There's really no upside. John Cross writes USC should go fully independent and restructure the fight pass app they can have slap on their partner with random networks for some fight nights etc the ESPN app sucks and always has thank you for the $10 super

chat while I agree the ESPN ESPN plus app is ass it is it really is just shit week after week. They're not going to go independent. They're not going to do FightPass. They're going to get one of these major distributors. And almost anything is better than the ESPN app. There was a time where when WWE shifted to their own network, the WWE network, and when UFC created FightPass,

that it made sense to do it on your own. It made sense because you could go direct the consumer and charge what you wanted. The pendulum has swung back to the point where broadcast rights are so sought after, and these companies are willing to pay such sums, it is way more profitable for them to do that, to take those deals with the broadcast partners,

than to do it on their own. So no, that's not going to happen because there's so much money in the marketplace for what they're selling. It might be a better user experience, but it's just not happening. And yeah, a lot of people complain about the ESPN Plus app.

I honestly have never really had problems with it. I've avoided that so far. But you're not alone in that. A lot of people have said that app sucks. You never noticed while we're doing the watch party, you have to refresh every like fight. You have to do it Yeah, I mean I usually like the most inopportune time like oh he's wired up Is that gonna be a punch and then all of a sudden you're getting on me This next one I actually agree with and is to my point earlier, but Casey chunks, right?

I don't care where the fights end up, just make it one location, or the rights, I guess. I'm not paying for three services and potential $80 pay-per-view on top of that. Shout out to the bots. Shout out to the bots, shout out to Casey Chunts, appreciate the $5, yeah, I agree. I don't know if that's gonna happen, man.

I hope if they do it in multiple places, we get rid of the pay-per-views. I think that makes it easier, but I think it will be in at least two places. I agree. I think it will unfortunately be split up for consumers out there, so it won't be as easy. JC writes, final prediction for the main event

of International Fight Week. I'm gonna say Hamsa versus DDP. Retweet, and I think when we did our exercise, that was what I wanted and picked, so I'm going with it. I said John Jones, Tom Retweet. And I think when we did our exercise, that was what I wanted and picked. I said John Jones, Tom Aspinal. I couldn't have been more wrong. Yeah, I think Hamzah, DDP. It makes all the sense in the world, especially with Islam,

pretty much saying, I'm going to wait to see what happens with Bilal. It's the only thing you can do. Now, if you have problems with Hamzah getting in or even agreeing to terms on that fight, you have to figure out a new solution, but Hamsot's at DDP for now. Benny Avina writes,

I just can't see Ilya being in the GOAT combo. I don't think he has enough memorable moments like the others, and a key point being that he didn't clean out the division. A lot of work was left on the table. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, I appreciate the $10, Benny, but I do agree with you. I mean, I appreciate the $10, Benny, but I do agree with you.

I think his name needs to be mentioned just because of what he accomplished, beating Holloway and Volkanovsky in by knockout in such insane fashion. But I'm with you. I don't think he's the featherweight goat. I think there are only two who can even make the claim, and that is Aldo and Volkovsky.

And I think it's Holloway. Holloway's right on the outside. Yeah. Guys, this next one is unbelievable. OK. Someone sent us, essentially, $99.99. Essentially or did? They did.

Wow. Giancarlo Oriso writes, GC, give your boy, also a fellow GC, a shout out on my parlay GC picks eight leggers it was plus 2479 Wow shout out to Giancarlo Riso thank you so much for the hundred dollar donation that's incredible well here's the thing I saw this and shout out to a GC here's the winnings we're barely taking a little bit off the top here oh my god and if this is not him I believe this is him GC picks he sent this to me and this is not him, I believe this is him, GCPix, he sent this to me, and this is around,

I think this would be plus 24.79, like he said. Jair Rodriguez, Chase Hooper, Alexander Volkonovsky, Olex Seychuk, Julian Arosa, Dominic Reyes with the dog, called Marco Tulio Silva and Nora Canoli $125 to win 3,098. So shout out to you, Giancarlo Rizzo. He's just giving us a little tip on that one. Julio Silva and Nora Canole, $125 to win 3,098. So shout out to you, Giancarlo Rizzo. He's just giving us a little tip on that one. Congratulations. Appreciate the Super Chat, man.

Wow. And GC to GC, you're killing it, brother. Shout out, GC. And big ol' double D writes in, amazing pound for pound list for Sirius Frank. I appreciate all of those. Hellwannica Kick Rocks, but the rest of you are that's from one Don Davis Thanks for the $5.00 don't know don we appreciate that man. We appreciate that

Anything else was that it keto key? Oh, hey top five list Kurt Angle CM Punk Randy or tone You're reading comprehension is that of a first grader say that it'll get fixed. Randy Orton, EOS guy, our truth, our truth. Kurt Angle is number one. Love it. People love Kurt Angle. Danach. I miss it. I miss the era where he became like the amazing, like serious

wrestler for other promotions and stuff. I only remember him as like the gimmick, like the, the you suck and just like in all the dumbest skits. Like that was the era that I was watching and remember him in. But then post that he became this like truly five star match type guy that everybody respects and loves.

So yeah, that would make sense for like a guy who would have like an EOS guy on the list. Let's also have a Kurt Angle, so shout out. And finishing off the pint here none don't exist Right hey Rick you watched ECW to a good stuff. Oh, yeah, you buddy I was there's no there's no two in there Frank. I'm sorry to worry about anybody good stuff me buddy Thanks, not don't exist Canadian dollars come on man from it In terms of preferences at the time,

like when I was like really my most hardcore about it, I was actually ECW, WCW, WWF. I was like, I lived for ECW. WWF last. WWF last. Then when ECW kind of just like ultimately fell off and it wasn't being like shown anymore WWF became more of the primary WCW evaporated right when they when they lost the war

But in my end of the prime ECW was sick. It was like The heart like this hardcore shit that they do now. It was that it was like the most extreme Stuff that they were doing so I really liked it shout outW. Shout out Paul Heyman. Oh, what is this? We have one more. One last one. You're gonna just bear with us here. Is it from the beautiful Spencer Labute who's in the chat right now?

Yeah, boys, why won't the UFC come back to Chicago? We did read your donation, Spencer Labute. Thank you for sending that in, $5. I wish we knew, man dollars I wish we knew man I wish we knew because that's gonna be the most electric fight night in UFC history if they ever come back because people have been clamoring for this unless I'm wrong though Didn't big onk recently say like something where he was like alluding to coming to Chicago Yeah, who like talking about like deep dish and who?

Mask on and stuff. So maybe you're going to get it at some point soon. Maybe. That would mean it's a pay-per-view. In fact, earlier, we had one of the voicemails with somebody saying, why don't we have a Chicago event? Oh, yeah, dude. As long as I've been working this job, people have been like, when are we going back to Chicago?

The last one was at Cejudo. Marais? Who was it? It's been a minute, bro. Um but I was there for that and I don't remember who it was but June 8th 2019 so who don't Marais. Yeah back to the Windy City, baby. They'll come back. They'll come back All right, nothing else Frankie, but long a ball all event in Chicago would make a lot of sense Obviously he's fighting in me. So I don't know if that's the one but

All of them in Chicago would make a lot of sense. Obviously, he's fighting in May, so I don't know if that's the one, but some point in the future, it'll make a lot of sense. Spencer LaBeute saying it's Whitaker Romero is the last one, but I'm not sure if that's true. Maybe the last pay-per-view there? 225? Oh, is that the same one?

He was the one that ran the question. June 9th, 2018? I know, I'm just looking at the chat for you. Just engaging with the audience. Cross in the chat, really shilling for ESPN+. He's like, man, it's not bad. Use it with a Firefox browser, it's great. Shout out to whichever ESPN employee has been tasked

with being in the chat there. Spencer Labute is amazed that his last name got read. Labute, Labute, Labute. There you go, man. All right, I think that'll do it. UFC 314 recap, pound for pound. Yeah, it's all in the books. Code debate settled?

Code debate kind of settled. We'll see what happens for the rest of Volkonovsky's career. Tomorrow, watch the crack, a special Wednesday edition with Pizzi Carrol. Thursday, a throwback interview day with Helwani. And then Friday, a WrestleMania preview from our uncrowned team. And then we're back on Monday,

back to your regularly scheduled programming. We will see you then. Thank you for watching. See you next week.