The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 313 Post-Fight Show: Magomed Ankalaev SHOCKS Alex Pereira

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

Ariel Helwani joins The Boys in the Back to react to UFC 313, beginning with Magomed Ankalaev shocking Alex Pereira in the night's main event (00:30).The crew wonders what's next for Pereira (09:14) and whether the outcome was good for the UFC (16:07). Could this be the end of Pereira's reign (24:30) and where does he fit into the UFC's plans for Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall (28:06)?Next, they discuss the thrilling co-main event between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev (30:07), before recapping the rest of the card, including Ignacio Bahamondes' slick submission (39:30) and Mauricio Ruffy's spectacular knockout (42:11).

Welcome in to the Uncrowned post-fight show, this time for UFC 313. I am your host, Connor Burks, joined alongside me, my man, Eric Jackman. We just saw Magomed Ankhalyev become the new UFC light heavyweight champion of the world. Let's go ahead and bring in our guy, Mr. Ariel Hawani, to help us react to what we just saw. Ariel, what is good, my man? Hello, friends. How are you? Hope everyone is doing well. Great job. Great night. great show. You know, in this moment guys, I'm reminded of an interaction that I had with a young man named Jared Shaw aka Scala back in October of 2008. This was after Seth Petruzzelli knocked out Kimbo Slice in

in Fort Lauderdale and when I did the post fight interview with him for the late-grade MMA rated.com I asked him Jared is this your worst nightmare and he was all shifty and tried to pretend like it wasn't and if I was at UFC 313 that's the first question that I would ask Dana White and he wouldn't admit to it but make no mistake about it this is a nightmare scenario for the UFC and I say that only because Alex Pereira and I was trying to rack my brain as as we were getting ready to go here Alex Pereira is arguably the most popular active fighter in the UFC right now I stress active because Conor McGregor as long as he's still living and breathing and still a UFC fighter under contract he will always be the most

popular but he's not so active these days he hasn hasn't fought since 2021. And he just lost his title in a very close fight and we'll weigh in on how it should have gone in a moment to someone who is nowhere near as popular as him, not even in the same stratosphere. And I was trying to find a historical comparison to this moment moment supremely popular fighter Losing the belt to a not so popular fighter and and I can't really think of one like I'm thinking of RDA beating Anthony Pettis at UFC 185 but that's not really fair to RDA and he didn't really hold the title for all that long and Pettis didn't hold the Title for all that long. I'm thinking of Carlos Barza beating Rosnami Eunice at 274 but still doesn't quite feel the same. I feel like this is unique.

This has never been done before. This has never happened before. So this is obviously something that was possible. This is something that we all talked about going in, the UFC's star problem and how big of an issue this would be if it went this way if this result actually materialized and now here we are staring at Magomed Ankhalayev as a light heavyweight champion and guys don't listen to me don't believe me when I tell you that this is a nightmare just look at the UFC's actions they did everything in

their power not to give this guy a title shot because they did not want to face the reality of him being a champion same situation with Bilal Muhammad and the same situation ended up happening in the end end, in case you're wondering, I scored it for Alex Pereira and that's a shoot. That's from the heart. I had it three to two for him. I thought he won 48-47. First round was easy to score Alex Pereira. Second round, easy to score Magomed Ankaleev. We'll skip the third for a moment. Fourth, easy to score Ankalev. Fifth easy to score, Pereira. It all came down to the third round. I had it for Alex Pereira. It appears as though the judges here, I'm looking at it in real time, Ankalev, Ankalev, Ankalev. They all had it for Ankalev. You get 49-46

and two 48-47s. I have no idea how, did one judge not, can we put that back up? Round three was the swing. Round three was the swing. No, but they all gave the, who, how did Sal Diamato get, he gave him the fifth round? He gave him the fifth. Get the fuck out of here with the fifth.

What are you talking about? How's that possible? He did nothing in the fifth. Yeah. And I mentioned in my tweet that he stuffed the takedowns. I'm not saying that that's a reason to score the round for Pereira. I'm just saying the big talking point going into this fight

was that he was just gonna wrestle F him all day. In the end, he didn't take him down once, I believe. There was not one successful takedown. So all that ended up being a moot point. I mean, that's almost, you know, something to wear in his hat, right? That he was able to get it done against Alex Pereira without having to take him down.

I think that's an accomplishment that he can tout. So you had 135, yes? It sounds like you're on the same. I had 135, yeah, what did you guys have? We both had 135 for Alex Pereira. Yeah. I thought the third round was close. I do think Alex did the better work there.

That became the swing round. I'm okay with that. Ultimately, like that is a decision that I find acceptable. If you give Uncle I have two, three, four, I'm not gonna argue too hard with you, but I don't see how you give him five. And I thought, and personally,

I thought Alex won round three. What did you make of the strategy from both guys? Like to me, when we were sitting here watching this, I was a little bit surprised by the lack of hands being thrown by Alex Pereira. He was good on the kicks. He was utilizing the leg kicks, but he didn't really seem to want to just like unload.

And maybe that was a product of Magomed and Kaleiwa's pressure. But on the other hand, when it got into round four, I thought Magomed had his most success of the fight. And then he kind of abandoned in round five. I thought he gave that one away. That would have been a real stamp on the fight. What did you make of both guys?

Look, Alex had to be cognizant of the thread of the takedown. So perhaps he wasn't going to be as aggressive moving forward, even though I think it was the fifth round where Glover T'Chair was telling him to just, be aggressive And move forward and and don't worry about it because there was nothing to worry about in the end 0 for 12 would take downs, but I thought it was really interesting in the first round they were talking about well, maybe because Magomed on Kalei is a

Lefty he's a southpaw the leg kicks wouldn't be as big of a factor and immediately as they said that you saw you saw Alex Prager attacking the legs from the inside and, or excuse me, from the outside. And he did a great job of doing that. And you could see the calves really starting to become a problem. Credit to Ankalayev. He figured it out and he stood toe to toe with him. And I thought he rebounded beautifully in the second round. And of course, in the fourth round, it was, you know

probably the most dominant of any of the rounds. If we're being honest, fourth round and maybe the first for Alex Pereira. But I remember- In the second, it seemed that Magomed had him hurt. So it's two and four to me. Yes, yes, yes. Two and four were very clear for Pereira.

Yes, absolutely. He- For Magomed's uncle life. Yes, he did have him hurt in like the last 10 seconds or something like that. Um, so that's a hundred percent accurate. Uh, I just meant over the, the course of the entire five minutes, but yes, that was a, that was a defining moment in the fight. I remember when this fight was first announced,

we were, we were talking about it and I didn't think that this would be a grapple fest because you just look at his history. Uh, we were going through the history of, so it sort of ended up being what a lot of us expected. In the end, I said that I thought that Pereira was going to win via KO or TKO. It didn't happen. And, you know, he was kind of trying to say in the post fight interview that, yes, he

was pressing me up against the cage. We were clinching, but I was doing damage up against the cage. You don't know the stats have just come out. I'm looking at them now. That third round, which seems to be the but I was doing damage up against the cage. You don't know the stats have just come out. I'm looking at them now, uh, that third round, which seems to be the big one. Um, you know, and again, the stats don't necessarily tell the whole story, but prior to Lance 21 of 34, uncle live Lance 17 of 40, um, and that's significant strikes and according to the stats, this website UFC stats the significant and total strikes are the exact same which I'm not sure how

accurate that is but in any event and as far as the fifth round is concerned Pereira lands 14 of 21 and Ancalae of 20 of 36 by the way this I am not like crying robbery or crying it was a supremely close fight and perhaps watching it again, we come to the conclusion that the third round goes to uncle I, but I'm just saying upon watching it in real time, I thought prayer one. What would that be? 46, 40, 47, 46, 48, 47, 48, 47. It's been a long freaking day.

And if I'm being, if we're being honest, um, it wasn't a very good fight, right? Like it was, it was quite on both sides. It was, it was not very entertaining on both sides. There were no real Holy shit moments. Probably the only Holy shit moment was that second round, right? The very end over there. But, um, yeah, it just, it, it never clicked and, um, and I'm really curious to see what the UFC does now because

you can make a very strong case that he has been so good as light heavyweight champion that he deserves another crack. And that's probably the best case scenario for them. Now people will say, hey, you know, you're just trying to get him to right the wrong. You're just trying to get him to win. But who deserves it more than him? Because anyone that you could say deserves it more than him, he has already beaten.

And he's beaten in quite decisive fashion, so I know I'm kinda jumping ahead here, but I'd love to know what you guys think. I think they should just run this back. I think you move up to heavyweight. You take this as a sign. Magomed, it's your time. Have this happen in middleweight. I lost, I'm moving on. Alex Pereira does not need a belt. Alex Pereira does not need a belt. And so he's done his time at light heavyweight, new challenge to conquer. I'm going to go up to heavyweight where I'm going to have a speed advantage

over a lot of guys and have an opportunity to really achieve something great if I can capture a third title. That's where I would go if I was in Alex's shoes. Okay, so let me ask you this. You're moving up to heavyweight. If you're moving up, you're fighting for the belt or you want to fight for the belt. I want Tom or John. What about the winner of Tom or John? Yeah, that sounds great. Does he get the belt right off rip now that he's not a good champion? Oh, he's Alex Pereira. Yeah. What do you mean?

So you're saying that he should leapfrog Tom? He could. I don't have a problem with it. No, that's crazy. Yeah, I have a hard time. He's the interim champion. He's interim. Chama's interim champion.

What are we doing? He's going to leapfrog the interim champion? I think the high-profile issue with it. If we're making the comparison to middleweight, I think at this point he takes a fight at heavyweight before he fights for the belt. Yeah. I don't hate that Yomber. I think if we're making the comparison to Middleweight, I think at this point he takes a fight at Heavyweight before he fights for the belt. Yeah, he takes that Yamba. I don't hate it, but I feel like there's work to be done now

at 205. Let's say he gets that done, though. Let's say he wins the fight against Magomed. Then there's going to be the call for a trilogy. It just feels like it overly complicates something Let me tell you something the game if you win, I know that he wouldn't get it I know he wouldn't get it take that take that W and run away But then what do you defend it again? Or do you say okay now? I recaptured it now

You go up to heavyweight why delay the inevitable in my opinion the heavyweight is always the the future for also If he rematches with uncle I have and loses again, now he's really starting to lose some juice, he's only getting older, then you have to take a fight at heavyweight that isn't against the champion, and what if the heavyweight experiment doesn't go as well as the light heavyweight experiment, and he ends up fighting zero-gon or someone and losing that fight, and now he's on a three-fight

losing streak, and you're kind of wondering what to do with him at 39, 40 years old at that point. Alex Pereira can win this fight. You know what I mean? I believe that. I thought he won the fight. I know what I'm just saying. Yeah, no, no, a hundred.

So did I. I I'm just saying, I don't think it's a huge risk running it back. And you know, him moving up after losing to Izzy, you know, there were some issues making weight. He had already beaten Izzy. You want to do this all over again, okay let's go for a new challenge. Although yesterday, important to note, they were they were posting videos of him having a really hard time making 205 and so maybe that was some

foreshadowing. But I don't want to see Tom get leapfrogged and I want to see Tom versus John. Here's what we're not saying. Maybe this ends up being a blessing in disguise for the UFC because if John Jones is asking for a lot of money and they can't make that fight, they put together Tom versus Alex and maybe that softens the blow. You know what I mean?

What's that for, the vacant heavyweight title? Yeah, no, no, it's, it's, it's. Defending. No, no, no, no, no. If you can't, if you can't make the John Jones fight, then you have to strip him. That's what I'm saying, vacant heavyweight title. No, no, no, then Tom becomes champion. Oh, Tom just becomes champ.

Yeah, same thing as what happened with GSP. GSP beat Michael Bisping. He said he had, you know, stomach issues. They made Robert Whitaker the, he went from interim to actual champion. I think that that would be the exact same thing. I'm open to all these options. I think it has to be heavyweight next. I just don't see it. We're just delaying. We're just delaying something that is going to happen inevitably and I don't think a get back against Magomed does much for Alex.

Like he can jump up now. We're talking a lot about Alex. I think by the way, I think he's pissed. Like that post fight interview, he seemed pissed. I think he's pissed. Even with the translation, you see what he was saying at the end? He was like throwing some shade. He wasn't necessarily saying the better man won. I think he thinks he won as well. And so it's one thing to get knocked out.

Hey, you know, what was he? Three one against Izzy at that point, if you count the kickboxing fights. My hunch says, he says, give me him again and I'm gonna make this right. That's what my hunch says. Well, that's kind of the thing is just like, you sort of wanted, we were saying as the fight was ending,

we wanted someone to just put a stamp on it. I mean, I guess one judge having it 49, 46 is the stamp and it being unanimous, but man, we were hoping down the stretch of that fifth round someone would put a stamp and like make it clear cut uh on who won because at this point the way uncle i've got the belt was sort of like uh half-hearted like he he won the fight but some people scored it for for perrera like i would have liked to see a stamp put on it do you guys agree with me when I say this is a disaster?

Yes. It's not great for the UFC. But we have to acknowledge, it might have been inevitable anyway. Let's say Alex wins this fight and then goes up to heavyweight, right? Like heavyweight seems, I can't escape the feeling that heavyweight

was always the future, that there really wasn't much left for Alex Pereira at light heavyweight. This may have been inevitable. His next fight might have been for the vacant title. Who knows? And so... I mean, here's why it maybe isn't a disaster.

Like it wasn't a star building performance by Onkelayev. Despite him getting the belt, it really wasn't a star building performance. Light heavyweight is now completely open if they don't run the rematch. You can put Yuri back in there, Jamal Hill can get another shot, Carlos Alvord can come out of nowhere,

Jan Blachowicz, like you have plenty of fresh matchups at 205 now, if that's the case of Pereira going up to heavyweight. So the only thing that I'll say is if you believe that this was inevitable, then even if Alex would have won, Alex wins, vacates the title, you're putting together one of those guys in a title fight. Now you've got a very good and very durable and very talented Ankalayev holding the belt.

Do you know what I mean? So if you would have won and said I'm moving up, I'm vacating the title, that's a much better scenario for the UFC because A, he's coming off a win and B, he just knocked off Ankalalei who they've already given a title shot to and we're unhappy with how that fight went the first time around, but at least he beat him. So he goes to the bottom of the ladder. They didn't want him in the title fight. Yeah.

Um, so, so that's why this is a disaster. Can you recall Rick, a situation where someone's so popular lost to someone who just wasn't, you know, I know people are, by the way, I can read the comments now. He's being a hater. He's being this guys, just be real. They did not want to give him a title shot. They did everything in their power not to give him a title shot. It's the ball all situation all over again. And eventually we were all saying it. He had to fight for the belt as did below. There has to be a meritocracy. And sometimes you're going to reach these situations where

the guy with the not so fun style fights for the belt and wins. It just happens that's because they're that damn good. But this is the truth of the matter. So we have to discuss it. It's not a direct comparison because as you said, you're pointing to like some of the work that Alex Pereira did, but certainly I have to imagine Sean O'Malley was somebody that the UFC would have been happier to have win than Marab de Valashvili, but again,

like not exactly the same in terms of what Alex- Not a bad shout. And now as we've seen with Marab, he's been able to go on and make himself a bigger star for the UFC, and maybe the same could be said of Uncle Iev. I mean, winning gives you fans. They show the graphic at the end.

He now has the second or third longest active winning streak. I mean he's one win behind Islam for most consecutive wins. He's at 14 right now. If he just keeps winning he will get fans for sure. I wonder what the chat is saying. What are the chats saying? I see the first thing I see is you guys are crying. I'm loving it.

Okay. And then another one says Ariel is right. 100%. So you're crying and you're right. The crying thing is crazy. The crying thing is crazy. We're not crying. I can assure you.

I'm not only am I not crying I I am more excited I want to see Alex per at heavyweight I hope this expedites it and I and I hope his next fight is that heavyweight I have no interest in him running it back he gets it that's crazy I know if you really excited to see Alex with like some okay so you remember there was that whole story that came out and I'm sure this will get resurfaced I think it was on the new ESPN showed good guy bad guy. I've heard of it. The new is still is it still new or is it not new anymore? There are six promos tonight for it. They were having a debate about whether or not he was doing too much, that he was traveling

too much. Okay. You know. Yeah, yeah. not focused. Yes, I wonder if this comes out. And if that is the case, I would love to see a, if that is the case, like just a storyline of I'm coming for revenge, I'm coming to take back what is mine. He's locked in a dark room. He's really like, he's doing the Rocky in the mountains and he's getting his leg back.

But again, I continue, if even if that happens and then he beats Magomed and Koliak, what was that win worth? What was the rematch worth? He could have already been chasing another belt at Heavyweight. And then what do you do at 205 after that?

Then he vacates and then goes back to Heavyweight. Yeah, but he gets the dude. Okay, okay, so let me ask you this. If he moves up, who fights on Kaleiiv next? That's the question I was gonna ask. What? Yeah. Yuri?

Do you do Yuri or do you wait to see what happens in Jamal Hill's neck? Like, I'm- Round three Jamal Hill. I'm interested in that one. That could be a number one contender fight. You could easily put Yuri right in there. I know, I was gonna say, do you even give it to Jamal

because Yuri just beat him recently? I have no issue with that. I mean, Yuri is also a massive star. It would be a very similar situation to this fight where you kind of have this baby face star going against Don Quileu, but this time obviously trying to take his belt away. The thing that you said, Connor, and that is true

is that now all options are on the table at light heavyweight. All those things that Alex Perer shut down because he was running through the contenders over and over, these things are now all possible. And I don't think, you know, call me crying or whatever, that performance by Magomed Ankaliyev did not make me think he is untouchable, did not make me think that there is not somebody else

at light heavyweight that could put him into a fight. We saw what Khalil roundtree did in terms of damaging Alex Perrer and then we saw what Magomed on Koliah did I would not feel like Magomed on Koliah is gonna walk through the rest of this division So I'm excited about potential matchups there. I think it's time for him to have that run Alex Perrer onto greener pastures Yeah, and so I mean there's there's if that is the case then we see what happens with Jones and Aspinall if he wants to wait for the winner of that that means we go from him having a supremely active 2024 to a very I mean to the possibility of not even fighting again in 2025 which I don't even know if he's wired that way. Plus, he's getting up there, right? He's approaching 40. He's 37, 38 at the moment. I wouldn't love that. So anyway, true or false? Alex Pereira's price tag will be lower than John Jones's for a fight

with Tom Aspinall. Oh, a hundred percent. That's why I say there's a potential silver lining here for the UFC because they can now say, all right, John, you're not going to play ball. We're just going to go in this direction. And I think people would dig it. I think people would get behind it because correct me if I'm wrong, guys. Do you feel like, you know, we talk about, we joke about aura and stuff like that. Per has aura, right? 100%. You know, like his aura has taken a hit. Do you feel like he is less popular today

or like right now as opposed to three hours ago, do you think he is less of a star, less invincible in the fan's eyes? He didn't get knocked out, he didn't get dominated, he didn't get embarrassed. My answer is no, it didn't take a hit. What do you guys think? Everyone will still love him,

but like MMA fans are the most fickle in the world. I already saw comments in the chat, like as we were entering round five, people were like, Pereira enjoying the champ life too much. The invincibility will definitely take a hit, things like that. There will be people that will say that

he's gone down in their rankings and everything like that by losing the fight, but he's still a massive star that will draw eyes every single time that he fights. If yes, minimally, and we won't know until the next fight. Because if he walked in there in a fight against Tom Aspinall and he beats Tom Aspinall, he'd be 10x further than he was before.

And so we won't know the real answer to that. It's gonna really depend on who he's matched up with and how he fares in that contest. I don't think he took an immediate hit. If any, it's tiny. The heavyweight is incredibly intriguing. I'm sure they would do a whole like social media run of him bulking up, getting big,

making this whole thing of his debut at heavyweight. And everyone would tune in. It would be wildly intriguing. What do you vote for GC? as far as the next move? I think I'd probably actually side with Rick due to his age, due to the cut we saw he went through yesterday to get down to 205. If you do run it back with him,

then what do you do with 205? If he wins the belt, do you do a trilogy? Do you, you know, all these guys that he's already beaten at 205? I like the idea of going to Heavyweight and seeing what happens there. I think we have to... Go ahead, go ahead, Ariel. No, no, I just wanted to say I wanted to give a shout out to Super Chatter Rodrigo Malossi who writes that he is Brazilian and he said that Poetan was pissed afterwards. Yes, he said the quote was,

I was on the fence but I was hurting him even with my back to the fence. If grabbing the fence means winning, then guys will keep doing that to get the win. Yeah. So it seemed like he was pissed. He feels like he was hard done. And he's right. That's why I feel like he's not gonna be like,

yeah, you get this one. I'm gonna move on. I- Yeah, he might not. I totally understand that. I just think the bigger fights are ahead at heavyweight. Where was I gonna go? Legacy, legacy. You need to you need to right the wrong. This is what I was gonna say. I don't know. Again, how many people are signing up for that rematch as well? It's just the one and then what?

I'm actually I'm I'm actually as Has he had a war, you know, what was his second UFC fight wasn't great, but like, the most boring. No, this was the most boring one. Yon wasn't great. This was the most boring one. Yon was kind of intriguing.

I didn't mind the Yon fight. Yon was, well, Yon was better than this one. Okay, fair enough. Bruno Silva was better than this one. Here's the thing that I think we might have to acknowledge. I like the story. Yes, go ahead. But it gets us right back to the same spot.

That's my problem with it. Yes, it's great. It's a great story for that one fight. And then what? We're exactly where we were before the fight. All right. You know what, Ariel? Now that I think about it, with what you're saying,

I'm going to say that I would prefer him go to heavyweight, but because of what you're saying, I think what he'll actually do is remain at light heavyweight and do a rematch. Here's the thing we might not be acknowledging. And we've kind of been you're saying, I think what he'll actually do is remain at light heavyweight and do a rematch. Here's the thing we might not be acknowledging. And we've kind of been talking around it, and you've been asking questions that I think are getting to this point.

I think we can state it plainly. There is a real chance that this magical run that Alex Pereira was on is over, that tonight was the night. Tonight was the night that that ended, that Magomed and Kalaya put an end to that. And it doesn't matter who's next. This might have been it. that that ended that Magomed and Kalaya put an end to that. And it doesn't matter who's next.

This might have been it. And so in my mind, if that is true, I want to take one more shot. I want to take one more shot and I want to make it count. And I don't want it to be in a rematch. And I don't want him to potentially lose to Magomed. I want him to either put over Tom Aspinall or him to go over Tom Aspinall

and then set up the massive fight against John Jones. I want one more shot at that as opposed to going that same direction. That's my feeling because this run, it may have ended. It may have ended tonight and I want to take one more shot at something magical. Yes, I completely agree with that and sometimes you lose that fight and like you see with Volk who knows if he gets the belt back of course you know he got knocked out twice. I will say I feel like we had a similar conversation when he got knocked out by Izzy and we thought that that was it and look what you know he became legendary in the aftermath of that

fight. And it was a division up. Yeah so who the hell knows who the hell knows but I think it knows? But I think it's going to be really interesting to see two things. A, which direction does he go up? Does he stay? And B, how quickly does he try to come back? He's been so active. What was that?

So he fought three times in 2024 in the span of six months. And I remember after the round-trip fight, I said, come back in the summer. He comes back in March. So that's four times in less than a year. in 2024 in the span of six months. And I remember after the roundtrip fight, I said, come back in the summer. He comes back in March. So that's four times in less than a year because UFC 300, he fought four times in less than a year.

It's crazy for someone at his age, fighting the best of the best in his weight class. Does he take a crazy amount of time off or does he come back on June 28th? He's a psychopath. Maybe he comes back to try to right the wrong. I was telling Rick on Thursday, this was actually, if I'm not mistaken, the longest we had seen him go without a fight by like a day, the longest we had seen him go in the UFC without a fight. And it was like five months and three days or something like that.

Yeah. I mean, he has been good for three fights a year since he joined the UFC in fall of 2021. Dena White said on first take that John Jones and Tom Aspital might happen this summer so if John Jones can't make that fight I got a guy that I bet would come back this summer and fight. Well the clock is ticking on that one you know, I was told that John wants six months to prepare if the fight is locked in and what's six months from now, September now I'm sure, you know, money talks, but, uh, it feels like it feels like the summer, you know, the, if that is the goal, uh, it's starting to, uh, to slip away a little bit. Yuri Prochaska just tweeted,

congrats on Koliyev, beautiful pressure. Most of people don't like it, but you won the title for now. Happiest man in the world right now, I think is Yuri Prochaska. That door just flung open. Yo, yo, yo, wait for the last sentence. The last sentence is Alex Pereira, last dance. Wow, he wants Alex. Yes. He's a psycho. Yuri's a psycho.

He's not even asking for the belt. Yuri's a psycho. I love it. Even though it's a number one contender fight against the guy that already beat him twice. It's amazing. I love Yuri. I love Yuri.

That's crazy. When does that ever happen? Never. He wants his lick back. He only wants to beat Alex. So I guess maybe that would be like the argument for Alex doing the rematch against Uncle I. Just wants the lick back. He only wants to beat Alex. So I guess maybe that would be like the argument for Alex doing the rematch against Uncle I, just wants the lick back.

One thing I just want to mention while we're talking about the John, Tom, Alex stuff. Can you put Tom Aspinall in a fight that is not John Jones? And if John Jones says, I need six months and I need X number of millions of dollars, you almost are forcing the hand, right? The only people that you can call are Alex Pereira and who else?

I don't know who else you can call. That would be a worthy fight for Tom Aspinal's fight until they can figure out the John Jones. No, 100%. I mean, there's Cyril Gunn, there's Jelton Almeida. But does that feel like Tom's next fight? Like, can you do that? If you were banking on John Jones and you go,

yeah, you know what, it's Jelton Almeida and it's Cyril Don after a horrible performance. Cyril Don with the injury coming off the robbery like no one wants to watch that and then Jelton Almeida It has no star power compared compared to Alex Perera. The hand is almost forced. If I'm Alex Perera, I don't rush into anything. Let me just sit back see how it plays out. Yeah, I will say this that video that Tom Aspinall posted this week where he's on the train talking about his whole situation. He said, I'm okay with fighting anyone, but it has to be for the undisputed title.

Yeah. So he's not defending interim. Exactly. So I think that if they tell him, look, you're becoming undisputed champ now and you'll fight Almeda or gun, he does it. Oh, sure. I don't think there's, I don't think there's any

world where he accepts an interim fight against those guys. And I don't think, honestly, I don't think there's any world where he accepts an interim fight against those guys. And I don't think, honestly, I don't think there's a world where he accepts an interim fight against Pereira, even though we would all love it. And at that point it will feel like the real belt, regardless of whatever John Jones is doing. Yep. That's why there's a silver lining here. If they want to go in that direction.

But again, I, uh, I maintain that Alex Pereira want to go in that direction. But again, I Maintained that Alex Pera won't go in that direction just with this is not talking to anyone on his team Just the the the vibe what he said aftermath. Yep right the wrong and And maybe Yuri, you know, I'd love to see Yuri against round tree if round tree beats Jamal Hill 205 is interesting now You know, it does it does make things interesting. He was running out of opponents. So let's see what happens. Can we talk about the co-main event guys? Talk about Justin Gaethje versus, uh, versus Rafael

Fazeb because I have something to say. Oh no. I think they got, I think they got that one wrong too. I disagree. I had that one for Justin, but there was, it was incredibly close. Here's, here's my, my, my take on it. Okay.

We agree first round Fazeb. Okay. We agree first round, physique, right? We agree. Second round, of course. Okay. So, so, so, so I saw some people saying 10, eight second round. I don't think it was boxing. This is a boxing where a knockdown is a hundred percent of 10, eight third round, first half of the third round was all for Steve. I agree. The amount of body shots, yep. Kicks and punches. That was some of the most effective striking of the entire fight. Second half of the third round was all Gaethje. But my take is the damage inflicted in the first half of the third round was way more significant than the damage inflicted in the second half of the

third round by Gaethje. And so I tweeted I Think Fazeev wins this fight, but I guarantee you they're gonna score this for Gaethje and they did you see the scorecards right here? All equal right a quick glance. Yeah, they're all 29 28 in favor of Gaethje Second and third for him. I I thought Fiziv did enough. I had- Am I crazy? No, you're not crazy.

I had it the same way. Oh, you did? I had it the same way. I scored, I thought it was the closest round. I mean, clearly, right? We both, we all three agreed. One, clearly for Fiziv, two, clearly for Gaiji. It was a very close round.

I had the exact same thought. People were forgetting about the early work that Fiziv did. So I scored it that way. I understand. Like that is fractional. It is extremely close. I understand why somebody would score it for Gagey. I had it the same way you did.

I had it the same way you did. As far as the stats are concerned, and by the way, attacking the body was clearly a big part of his, his game plan for Faziv. Um, 13 to 14 in the, in the first round, this according to UFC stats, nine of 13 in the second round, 21 of 25 in the third round, uh, Gaethje just four of four, four of four and one of one, um, in that third round. So he, he landed 21 of 25, only eight of 21 head strikes and Gaethje 33 of 55. So, you know, they were both attacking different parts of the body. But again, I really felt like the, the, the

body shots, like some of those kicks and the punches as well, they were flush. It was, I thought it was a brilliant game plan. I was a little surprised that he, he went away from the takedowns. Remember in the first round scored two takedowns and Remember in the first round, scored two takedowns, and then that was it. In the first 90 seconds, he got two takedowns. Yes, no attempts afterwards. So I don't know if something happened, because it was A, surprising that he was even doing that, and B, that he was so successful,

but then he never went back to that well. I wonder though, if that was just because it was a surprise, right? He got those off, he was able to secure the first round. I don't think that was probably the game plan. The body shots were what he was focusing on, and the third he kind of returned to it. I will say the visual at the end,

while he had that first half of the third round, the visual at the end was not good. He was completely aghast. And I said to Connor, like everybody was asking for five rounds, I do not think he makes it out of round four. I do not think Fazeev makes it out of round four if that goes to another round.

I thought Justin had all the momentum and he looked completely fresh and Fazeev looked completely gassed. But I'm with you. I had the first half for Fazeev. I thought it was a lot more damage and so I scored it for him. By the way, question for our betting expert.

Were you surprised, GC,, that Faziv was the favorite after taking the fight just a few days ago? We got to like minus 170 at one point, and that's when I bet Justin Gaethje plus 45. So yeah, I mean, the fact that Gaethje won the first fight, it was incredibly close, and this fight was super similar to the last one, and the fact that Faziv won the first round, Gaethje won the second round,

and then it was an ultra close third round. And I think at one point, Justin actually went for a takedown like he did in the fact that Fiziv won the first round, Gacchi won the second round and then it was an ultra close third round and I think at one point Justin actually went for a takedown like he did in the last fight. It was unsuccessful but yeah I mean just another razor close fight. First one was a majority decision. I expected this one to be close. You know Gacchi this time came closest to finishing him but yeah I thought it was pretty surprising to see as a dog especially when he was the one that had the full camp and Fiziv did not and Fiziv had to travel all the way across the world. So yeah, I thought it was shocking Took Gagey as a dog super close fight Don't have anything against 2928 either way

As we speak right now Justin Gagey's at the post-fight press conference and he was asked If you would want to be Dustin Poirier's final opponent, his retirement fight. Rubber man. And his answer was, quote, I don't think either of our families deserve that. That fight by the way, won the, the fight of the night award. He was also making the case for getting the next title shot. And I believe it was Mike Bonovan, May Junkie

who said, how do you explain getting the shot over say Armin or Charles? And his response was, I don't care. Argue with yourself. I don't care. I don't care. And I believe it was Mike Bonovan, May Junkie, who said, how do you explain getting the shot over, say, Armin or Charles? And his response was, I don't care, argue with yourself. Okay, but I was just going to ask the question, what do you do with him next? I don't think Armin versus Justin is a bad option.

Armin versus Justin isn't bad. I do wonder if they're gonna just try to do Armin versus Charles Ilya versus Islam Armin versus Charles could do and this weird limbo If one of those guys doesn't go I have no problem Justin Gagee hopping right into that spot. No problem I think I think those are great fights and I think There's like he's number three on the USC's rankings. The only two guys ahead of him are the ones you just mentioned, are Armin and Charles.

So. Here's what I'll say. I think it should be Armin, I think it should be Armin versus Charles, Islam versus Ilya. We'll skip Justin for a second, he's third. There's Dustin. The guy right below him is Max.

I think it should be Dustin versus Max this summer. I think you agree with me, New York Rick, what a great story that would be. They fought many, many moons ago in Max's debut. Rerack Gagey Hooker. Wow, that was Max's debut, holy shit. That was Max's debut, yeah. And it could be Dustin's last.

That'd be incredible, that'd be incredible. Dan Hooker is out for a a while hooker versus Gagee obviously is the one that we all wanted but you know, does he wait? If I'm done if if I'm just by the way, I don't want to get she doesn't like Gagee doesn't want to like He doesn't like being supremely active, you know, he's the one who always says I need six seven eight months So it actually might work out to be Dan Hooker, which who would be upset with that? The other one I was gonna mention was if Patty beats Chandler do you do Patty versus Kitche? That's a fight right there. That's not bad. That's a fight for the fall maybe maybe the Abu Dhabi show if who knows. If I'm Justin though I just did you a favor I'm gonna fight Dan Hooker no problem sign me up I'm going to war I'm gonna give you guys an absolute war I'm gonna fight Dan Hooker, no problem. Sign me up. I'm going to war. I'm gonna give you guys an absolute war.

I'm fighting a guy lower ranked. Oh, that falls apart. Faziv, what was he? 13, I think he said? 11. He's 11, yeah. Short notice, no problem. I can't then again go back to the well like that.

I deserve something higher than that. I deserve something better. If he's calling for a title shot, I don't blame him. I need to be fighting one away from a title shot, I don't blame him. I need to be fighting one away from a title shot and not back in the rankings again. I think some things need to be worked out. I would still have to see the hooker one. I totally understand what you're saying. I just don't know if Patty scores an incredible. By the way, if Chandler gets a big win, why not see that one? These are great. But what do they do for Justin? You know,

he's just is he just the favors guy at this point? I'm just in there to go to war for you not advance my own career. Can you justify a Justin? Well, he needs one more. He needs one more. Lost to Charles. Very least lost to Max. Like the family got knocked out. Yeah. And by the way, I hope everyone who you remember when people were complaining when they pulled this rabbit out of their hat? Oh.

When they said this was gonna be boring or they said that this was a bad alternative or that it was whatever, I don't know, worse than some of the other options? I hope you feel very stupid right now. I couldn't believe, I think it was just A, maybe they didn't know who Faziv was or forgot. They forgot.

They forgot who he is. How incredible he was. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that he fought a September of 2023. But golly an eternity in MMA. Yeah, he reminded them they forgot who that dude was. And then he showed it tonight. Yeah, what do they do with him next? I mean, that's it. That's a one that's a stock up. You get the gamerat the Gamrot rematch. Gamrot could be fun. Moikano, what about Moikano? Moikano wouldn't be bad. 11 and 10.

Who called out Dariush? Who was it? Rushi. Mauricio Huffi, yeah. Oh, wow, he's really reaching up there. He said Fight Night headline. There's really, well, there's a lot of good options, I think, for Fiziv.

He's back in the mix now. I think it's great. Oh, it's a lot of good options, I think, for Fazeb. He's back in the mix now. I think it's great. Oh, it's great to have him back, yes. And by the way, they were talking about maybe his knee not being 100%, maybe that's why he didn't shoot for the takedowns later, but I thought he looked great for a guy who was taking a fight on 10 days,

noticed the hair looked fantastic as well. Yeah, they were saying the toe, something happened with the toe, and they spotlighted it. And Something happened with the toe. Oh, the toe, yeah. And they spotlighted it. They showed a picture of it bleeding and it looked like the skin had split off of it. Let's talk about some of the other results.

Ignacio Bahamundes, I guess, knows some Jiu-Jitsu. He submits Jalen Turner in the first round via triangle choke, and afterwards, Jalen Turner told the media that he has retired. Did you guys see that? No I did not see this holy shit. I saw that I believe that was courtesy of John Morgan if we can find the tweet he he told him that he he retired and he he told him he was thinking about it since UFC 300. You recall that he lost at UFC 300 and this uh, this was a guy not that long ago,

you know, was considered like one of the brightest young prospects in that, in that weight class. Five, five finish streak in July of 2022. He's now one in four sons. And apparently retired. How old is Jalen Turner? Um, 29, the tarantula. Yeah, crazy. Let's see if he sticks to it, but definitely saw that. I don't think he

spoke to the media, but he definitely saw the tweet from Jordan Morgan. We have a tweet from Mike Bond. Jalen Turner just told us in press row he's likely retiring after his 3-13 loss. You know what? I kind of get it from the perspective that like, if you're Turner heading into this fight, you can easily justify the losses on your record, right? You look back at it. Is there a better 14 and nine guy out there? Yeah, Mateusz Gamra, Dan Hooker, King Green,

Hinata Moekano, for that run, you can go, look, I just reached the level of competition. I wasn't ready for it. I'm getting, I'm still getting, I'm still a young man in this game. 29 is a young man. I'm getting my feet under me. When you lose to Ignacio Bahamundes, that to me is a different level, right?

Now he's on the rise, but you are not now facing the guys who are at the cream of the crop, the top of that division. Henneto Moekano just fought Islam Makachev for a title. Dan Hooker was gonna be in the, like you're talking about the cream of the crop. Ignacio Bahamundes is not there yet.

And so I understand if you're Jalen Turner looking at your career and going, man, I had that momentum, I don't have it now. Maybe this ends up being a long time away and he comes back, but I kind of do understand. This was a different loss than the ones previously. Yeah, and if he was thinking about it since 300, then you come back and lose again,

then you say, all right, I'm done. Amanda Lamos versus Yasmine Lucindo, that happened. It was a decision. Tough game plan from Lucindo. By the way, there's still, I think, five or six seconds left on the clock. Yeah, what was that? You see that?

I don't know, they're just like, all right, I was walking out to go to the bathroom, they're dapping up with four seconds left on the clock. Yeah. But Lamos wins. Mauricio Rufi defeated King Green. Oh my gosh. I need this back into my soul.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With one of the all time. I almost forgot that this happened because it was so long ago. One of the all time great knockouts. It was shades ofy and Barbosa against Terry Adam UFC 142 and on the uncrowned Instagram page They posted something and who's the top comment Etsy and freaking Barbosa with the fire emoji How cool is that a spinning wheel kick an absolute beauty of a spinning wheel kick once again fighting nerds all they do is win

It is so much fun watching these guys. John Silva yesterday at the press conference was fantastic with Bryce Mitchell. Can I just say as a quick aside, and we'll talk about all of this on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. etc. The Bryce Mitchell-John Silva interaction yesterday was some of my favorite in UFC press conference history. It was straight out of like 1986 WWF with like, they ask Mitchell question and he just recites a Bible verse. It was unbelievable. I loved everything about it.

And then John Silva, you know, just saying F Bryce Mitchell and showing up with the globe. It was, it was unbelievable. I feel like it should be a main event. It was so damn good. Um, but anyway, Rufy wins and afterwards calls for a, um, a main event fight against Benilde Dariush, anyway, Ruffy wins and afterwards calls for a main event fight against Benil Dariush of a fight night. King Green, another tough knockout loss. His

hands were down, tough against a guy like that. But I mean, just if you didn't see it, do yourself a favor, go find that knockout. We were saying all week that Rufi was the one fighting nerd guy that we really needed to see like him put a stamp on like a moment of, wow, I cannot believe he just did that. And he did exactly that against T-Rain tonight. Unbelievable. What a, I mean, it's March 9th right now. If something tops that, just book it.

KO of the year in my opinion. Joshua Vann versus Rai Tatsuriwa. Just, just book it. K over the year, in my opinion. Um, Joshua van versus right. Tetsuya. I'm, I'm, I'm probably butchering that. Am I butchering that? Can I get a backup? So Ruiya, yes. Yes.

I knew I was good. I should have written it out phonetically. Anyway, uh, made history the, uh, first time in UFC history that two gentlemen born in the two thousands fight, uh, 2002 versus 2001. Feel old or what? Yes. I was doing, I was doing the great white

Northern sports show in 2001. I was doing my freaking show at Syracuse university in 2001. These guys were coming out of the womb. Unbelievable. Uh, Joshua van wins via a unanimous decision. Bruno Fajeda wins via armbar against Armin Petrosian Carlos Leal beats Alex Morono very nice knockout there

Myron Santos put decision against Francis Marshall that was a weird one yeah Ozzy Diaz beats Jordan Santos in the curtain jerker I would say the prelims were you you know, alright, but pretty much what was expected, like kind of just there as well. But the main card, for the most part, was solid enough. Yeah, it was like moments of brilliance sandwiched by not a lot, right?

Like the... First fight, third fight, fourth fight were all great. Second fight, fifth fight, meh. Yeah. The lame-ush fight shouldn't have been on pay-per-view. That was not good. We said that going into the pay-per-view. We were like, why is this on pay-per-view?

Yeah. Josh, Josh, Ben, Saruya would have been so much better. Dana White is speaking to the media right now and says that the main event was not what he expected. This courtesy of Aaron Bronstetter expected more exchanges. He also says that an immediate rematch is probably next. There you go. Yeah. So there you have it. All right. International fight week. Would you want that as a prayer fan or would you say can

you chill out for a little bit? I don't even want to stay. I think you probably want to chill. If he's going to chill. That is kind of the argument. How do you get excited for number two? Truly. I don't know how you get excited. I guess under the belief that they will come in with different game plans and it will be more exciting. That's great. Do I care? That's all I can think about.

I just don't see it. I don't care when it comes around. It will be for a light heavyweight title. Right. Right. Yeah. I would like to see it. I just, I don't think you should come back in three months. Yeah. But honestly, it wouldn't surprise me.

Well, that would kill the whole narrative, right? The whole narrative is like, he's going to the mountains and he's preparing and he's doing this and then it's just like, he's going to turn around in three months and we're going to see the same thing. I just. Well, three and a half months. Three and a half months just three and a half months three and a half months three and a half months you're right by the way I wanted to mention just a couple other things

number one I would love to know what Justin Gaethje was doing in the locker room for the UFC logo to just disappear how's that both gloves of both those jar like come on I don't I don't know you're not buying it no the well no I'm not buying it and the weird thing about it was, you know, Trevor Whitman, his coach is the one that's been pushing his own gloves. Was he trying to sneak them in? I don't understand.

What were you doing with the gloves that the logo comes? I mean, think about some of the greatest five round wars in UFC history, the logo never comes off. And so what was he doing in the back? How hard cleanly. Yes. I don't know. I don't know what that was about. That was weird. And the other one... Oh, tell us, tell us. I'm sorry. Do you remember when they did the 30th anniversary? Those were all peeling off of the gloves. And these are newly manufactured ones, right? Again, I'm sorry. This is the peanut color. But even then, Frank... No, no, no, you're right.

No, but even then we never saw anyone into the ring with just bare gloves. You are right, you are right. And also everybody else tonight, their gloves did not rub off in that way. Like, every. Yeah. And it was just weird that it wasn't like half off. Yeah, completely gone.

Completely take it off like clean. I'd be willing to put the stamp, this is glove gate, we need to get to the bottom of it. Yeah, yeah. Do you think it should be reversed? No contrast. Oh yeah, no, no Clip it off overturn Glovegate. The other one that I wanted to mention shout out to Robbie Lawler we found out that he's going into the Hall of Fame this this summer and it was amazing they

put together a great video package and they showed him in the you know in the picture-in-picture and he's crying and you know This is a guy who's superhuman who's one of the greatest fighters of all time But also one of the most stoic and unflappable fighters of all time at times emotionless And and to see him get so choked up to see how much it all meant to him They do a great job with those and those are my favorites Those are my those are my favorite moments when it's a guy who deserves it, who's a little bit older, who didn't just retire yesterday. I know it wasn't that long ago for Robbie, but you know, one of the OGs getting his shine, it's great. And he's

already in the Hall of Fame because of the Rory fight. I would argue that he should have gone in first. And I would also argue that the Condit fight was actually better than the Rory fight. I know that's another hot take, but no, you're right. UFC one 95. You're right. Actually better. There was more iconic moments in the Rory fight. The rematch that is a UFC one 89, but the condit

fight is criminally underrated. Um, fight of the year on the second day of the party in the greatest year that I got, I tell you guys about 2016, sweet 16, one of the all time great year in the greatest year that I got. Did I tell you guys about 2016? I've heard 16, one of the all time great years in the history of mankind. The book. I don't know, but let's get the voice notes going before we lose the before we lose the men.

Yeah, no, you're I agree with you. And also like it's crazy. It is truly crazy to watch when they were playing that highlight package, the quality of the video of all others early fights because like these guys that are retiring now, we don't see the video like that. We don't see videos like that. And it's it's ridiculous how long Robbie Lawler had done it. Oh, and all the different iterations. UFC man of the

UFC crazy. Man of KO might be one of my favorite chaos of all time him getting his leg kicked up like this and then and then remember There was that stretch in in in strike force where he was so bored He was sleeping at the press conferences and then he gets the the UFC opportunity after they absorb strike force He comes in at 170 and he knocks out Josh Koschek and we're like, holy crap comes in at 170 and he knocks out Josh Koschek and we're like, holy crap, Robbie. Because he was very much a like a sort of like 500 fighter in the post UFC era. Won the Elitics C title, had the thing with Jake Shields, but it was nothing really to write home about for the most part. And then he comes in and blows through everyone en route to becoming champion. So yeah, really, really, really

great one. I was excited about that one. I was really happy about that. That was one of the highlights of the night for me. And so many guest fighters there because of the press conference yesterday. So a lot of people in attendance. So that was cool. And yeah, Dana White, by the way, saying that he likes to name TKO Boxing. That was the big story of the week. And I also do want to mention commiserations to everyone who had problems ordering on ESPN Plus because apparently there were all kinds of issues. Our own Shaheen Alshadi saying he tried for 45 minutes and then had to go over to Hulu and then Chuck Mendenhall said he couldn't buy it.

I was fine. I would just say, I don't know if this happens to you guys, anytime I watch anything on ESPN Plus on my phone, without fail, every five minutes it just shuts down. The app just closes. Does that happen to you guys? I was watching my Georgia Bulldogs punching tickets to the NCAA tournament today and that app kept crashing.

It's very annoying. Every 30 to 45 minutes the stream goes down for us and we have to refresh. Yeah. By the way, this is our latest post show ever. It's very every 30 to 45 minutes the stream goes down for us and we have to refresh. Yeah By the way, this is our latest post show ever. Mmm. Yeah Oh, it just clicked at 3 o'clock Shout out to the day like I said last time. I just saw it. I just saw it. It's worth it later later Sun says do have to give a shout out a

$50 super chat from what? $50 super chat from love Quinn and this is worth every penny He says big onk owns you all hashtag and new $50 love Quinn we appreciate you man. Congratulations. I'm gonna wipe my tears $50. It's I can't tell you how mad I Can't tell you okay. Okay, truly though right here right now Alex Perez next fight is Uncle I'll agree. I'll say uncle I've as well. It seems like the end of whites leaning that way. So Well, I can't wait for Monday guys our old friend Dylan Danison studio that should be fun

Training partner of one Alex Pereira. Maybe he'll have some thoughts. I bet he will and wait and training partner of one Alex Pereira maybe he'll have some thoughts I bet you will can't wait and what else what else that's pretty much it that's pretty much it I think it's time to go to bed what do you guys think oh my gosh I'm just gonna sleep here brother you guys I'll see you on Monday I'll see you tomorrow morning get the cots ready to go blow up mattress just you're like military style couches I thought we were gonna get rid of daylight savings. But now that we've moved ahead, get rid of that shit. We don't need it.

Later, Sunset. Don't set anything like seven at night. Let's go. Okay, but the thing I never understood was when do we get rid of it? Do we get rid of it when it moves? Now. Like what's the-

Oh, now you- Connor wants the back end always. He wants the extra sunlight on the back end always he wants the extra sunlight on the back end okay you know that crazy step like there's more accidents on the Monday after they're tired for heart attacks really yeah more strokes actively killing people let's get rid of it let's get rid of it what the hell but I say that because I want you guys to have, you know, safe travels back home today. I don't want that.

That will be all right. You think it affects them like in the moment? I don't know. I am blood, I am blood red mad about uncle I have winning though. So I don't know if I'll be able to. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Angry driving is the leading cause I am furious. Yeah. Wow. That hurts.

159 to me. A favor GC to your left. I think there's a box of, uh, tissues over there. Yeah, you need one? You need one? You know, for yourself, for you guys. Yeah, don't drive home while crying, it's not good. Oh, no, I didn't. Daniel Brown threw a super chat, he said, uh, boys, they censored the Onyx logo on Embedded,

which is, I believe, is Trevor Whitman's thing, so. You think that was his? Glovegate of Foot! Is this the return fire? Globegate's coming. I wouldn't mind hearing from him. Happy New Year! This is my new year.

Peace! And new! Congrats Uncle I.