The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 317 Post-Fight Show: Ilia Topuria viciously knocks out Charles Oliveira, Alexandre Pantoja dominates again

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

NewYorkRic and Chuck Mindenhall (with a brief appearance by GC) join forces after the conclusion of UFC 317 to recap the whole event, starting with Ilia Topuria’s blistering first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira (01:21) and then diving into who should be next for the newly crowned lightweight champ.Next up, they touch on Joshua Van’s thrilling win in a Fight of the Year contender against Brandon Royval (19:42), Alexandre Pantoja’s smothering submission of Kai Kara-France (23:12), and the likely clash between the two after their in-cage faceoff.Then, they go over Beneil Dariush’s decision win over Renato Moicano (34:58) and hit the main card opener: Payton Talbott’s bounceback win over Felipe Lima (39:18).They wrap things up with the prelims (49:17), including Gregory Rodrigues’ scary knockout of Jack Hermansson, and Chuck offers his final thoughts on the card. 

Welcome in to the Uncrowned Post Fight Show. UFC 317 just wrapped up. Aliya Titoria is the brand new lightweight champion of the World MW2 Division Champion. I am one of your three hosts. Connor Burks joined alongside me is Mr. New York Rick, Eric Jackson, that I just got done watching the Watch Party with. And we have a very special guest here actually approaching on his territory. How you doing, Chuck? I'm well, man.

You were cutting out there, but I figured you were introducing me. But how's it going, fellas? It's good to see you. This is a fun arrangement. I think this is the first time I've actually done a show with Connor, I believe. I've done some with Rick, but this is my first time with Connor. Wow. First time with Connor.

I think it is. Yeah. Um, it should be the first time we've ever done anything together. Yeah. So this is, uh, we're, we're breaking ground here, fellas. This is quite a trio. Yeah. I'm very excited about it.

And we got, and we got the fights we wanted, right? Like this is exactly what we wanted was a good night like this. So this is, this is perfect. Yeah. Me and Rick, our forces are quite force from the affiliate Deporia against Charles Oliveira we just reacted to it live we what just happened I mean it was just unbelievable Chuck what are your thoughts on El Matador's championship victory against Charles Oliveira I just find it like crazy. I

wasn't able, I was watching the fight so I wasn't able to kind of sit along with you guys but I find it crazy that he was able to call his shot again and there is something that translates very well when somebody has this kind of confidence where they say I'm going to go do this thing they make a walkout to the to the type of situation where you're like the escalation that they put on themselves. He goes in there and then takes care of business like that with no nerves whatsoever.

I was posting about this. I was like, the guy looked like he had absolutely no nerves in like one of the biggest situations he's been in. And he just fights his fight and looks as good as he ever has. Now he's finished the kind of relish tray of Volkanovsky, Holloway and Olivera which was something we've all talked about in historical context being just one of the best three you know consecutive fights in anybody's career and especially in title fights all

knockouts. I just it feels like to me guys you tell me what you think but this feels like we haven't had something me what you think but this feels like We haven't had something like this in a long time Well back in the day when McGregor was doing it and would like these guys are doing it That's what it that's what it felt like this when I was alive. It was a collective experience We're all like, oh my god, did you see that? That's where we're at? Like finally, I feel like a guy has delivered us there again. Yeah, you say McGregor and these guys I don't think there are these guys. I think it's just McGregor. McGregor is the one who was able to

capture the imagination in this way. He would call his shot, he would say what he's gonna do, he would go out and do it, and Iliot Aporia is following that mold. Yesterday, he's celebrating the victory, he's having a party already celebrating the victory over Charles. He knew that he was going to knock him out in the first round.

We have not seen this since Connor. It's not even hyperbole. Look at this. Thanks for celebrating the victory with me. This is his team in the restaurant ahead of the fight. This looks like he is celebrating a victory tonight. It looks like it was a video from the I know he was already celebrating the victory tonight. And honestly, when he's making the walk and his music is hitting and he yeah, he he looked he looks like he's he looks like he's just

they said it in the on the commentary. It'd be hard to imagine his heartbeat getting above a certain rate because the guy just has the coolness and the calmness under pressure. He's smirking in the cage. He has his next call out lined up. It is McGregor. I have been hesitant to ever say something like that because we have seen so many people who burn hot and then it's not quite McGregor. This is the carbon copy. This is what we have seen from Conor McGregor and nobody before him. And now we're seeing it again in Iliad Toporia. He knows what's going to happen. He calls his shot. He manifests these things.

Now we've got this grudge match seemingly with Patti Pimplet coming up. And that's another thing that he planted the seeds for many, many moons ago. Yeah. As you said, the excitement that we had around McGregor is sorely lacking and has been for a long time. 10 years, seeded by a lot of people. Yeah. It, as you said, the excitement that we had around McGregor is sorely lacking and has

been for a long time, 10 years, nearly since that epic run by McGregor. We are now in a new era to the point that I believe anything. When Ilya Toporya tells me that he's going to chase Islam Makachev up to 170 pounds, I believe him. I believe that he could do that. I believe he'd try. And the guy's unbelievable. I could not be more impressed.

You mentioned that three fight run to go through Volkanovsky the way he did, to go through Max Holloway the way he did, and then to go through Charles Olivera the way he did is reminiscent of only one man. And the other thing that's impressive about it is it's seemingly getting easier, right? Volkanovsky I thought was quite competitive in that fight. Max Holloway, a little less so. Max had his moments, but man,

Ilya Topori was bombing on him. Now he just walked through Charles Oliveira. That's what's crazy, Ben. Yeah, he walked through him. And man, just kind of going back to your point, I think there's been plenty of times we've wanted there to be a star to kind of emerge because we want you want to feel good, right? Like you had your first bump and you're like, Oh, that was good. Let me do another one. You know

what I mean? But you can't get one. Like for years we've been kind of like, what's, what's that? I, is that speaking from experience? Chuck is that, I don't know. I don't know anything about the drugs, but I will say that like we have that feeling once and we kind of, you fall in love with it. And cause you see, it's a collective experience. I used to talk about this all the time. Like anytime you can gather around and share a sense of awe that we can talk like, this is great. We can sit and talk about it right afterwards.

We just don't get, well, you get some big moments, but nobody who actually starts to penetrate that weird transcendent like Space where you're like this guy's just different and it's just it really is the calling of the shots You know his look he's so calm. It's all of these things It's the full package he goes in there and he's able to do it And I think you nailed it man to make it with the escalation of where he's at going up a weight class now people are Talking about the Jai Herbert. Well, you know, he got rocked in that one.

And to go in there and basically face no real danger, you know, no real danger there. I know you had that little leg lock moment, but you could see that he was completely poised through that. Just no sense of danger in that fight. And just to put him away in a beautiful, spectacular fashion, the way that you know I guess to take it and make it a completely different and new thing. This was around the point where all of a sudden the Conor McGregor thing started to escalate into the Nate Diaz fights. Then we go even further down, we're going to Floyd Mayweather.

What is the path that Ilya Toporia takes from here, I think is going to be super fascinating because it's kind of mirrored to here. But this was where it got different. This was where Conor McGregor started doing things that nobody was doing before. Can Ilya Toporia do that? Can he improve on the original? It's going to be super fascinating to see, was where Conor McGregor started doing things that like nobody was doing before. Can Ilya Toporia do that? Can he improve on the original is going to be super fascinating to see. But I think he's as talented as anybody who's ever come along and probably can.

Yeah, and it was actually so let me if I put this straight, right, it was after he went when McGregor went up and beat Eddie Alvarez and then and then he bounced over to the boxing ring. Was that correct? Like, or did he fight somebody after Eddie? No. So... Sometimes I get these things mixed up. I'm gonna look it up now. But I don't think there's anything imminent. I think there was a part of that commentary tonight that actually really nailed it.

Because I think it was Joe... somebody was just saying, like, he's not here to be a champion. Like, he's already a champion. Like, he's not here to be a champion like he's already a champion. He's not here to be a champion He's appeared to be the greatest ever there's something that translates about that because now you're chasing something historic That's make it so you're saying how does he separate himself from a guy like how that's how? Because Conor McGregor didn't ascend to that level he He captivated the imagination. He's still very much captivates the imagination in these Horrible ways now, but like, we're at that point now where, you know, he's clearly not in the goat talk or anything like that, but this guy can be. If he stays on the path he's on, that's what's going to distinguish

him in the end. And, and you were right. So yes, after Eddie Alvarez, it was, it was over to boxing for the Floyd Mayweather Mayweather fight and then the return against Habib and then Saroni and it went on from there, the Dustin Poirier fights. You make a great point. Like this has potential for Connor. Connor capped out right after the Eddie Alvarez fight. Well, now not certainly monetarily.

And I think that's a big difference that we should be clear about. Like as epic as the performances from Iliya Toporia are, the key around Connor McGregor was the generation of money for the UFC, was his ability to transcend even MMA and capture the imagination of people outside of the sport. I would venture to say, and this is respectfully, that I don't think Ilya Tuporiya has quite done that yet, but if he continues on this path, I think it's no doubt that he'll be able to.

If he's able to do what Conor McGregor didn't do, which is now defend that lightweight title, continue to have that lightweight title, heaven knows, maybe go up to 170 and chase Islam Makachev if he can capture that title, he may be able to do things that put him into another category. Do you feel like tonight was that catapult moment? Because I felt like even when he's beating Volkanovsky, still more of a, you know, die-hard's delight. You're like this guy, you know He's something like we watched him and then you know He does it again with Holloway and I think that there was an inkling

But I don't feel like it was like tonight it felt like because maybe it's International Fight Week and there's just a bigger buzz I think with this fight Charles Oliver being who he is, but the amount of eyeballs amount of scrutiny the amount of things going on Charles Oliver being who he is, but the amount of eyeballs, the amount of scrutiny, the amount of things going on, this felt like something, like just, it felt like the moment for me that he's like, okay, if you didn't pay attention, now you're paying attention. To me, Aldo Ferg McGregor was all the way for Toporia, right?

It was the one that you go, holy shit, this guy took out the legend of this division and is that and is the truth this one was the Eddie Alvarez this is sitting on the cage with the two belts and we now we've got the image of Elliot toporia sitting in the middle of the cage with the two belts that is gonna go viral on social media everybody's gonna see it this image right here and and it will be unmistakable it will be undeniable and people will and he's just tailor-made for these look at this look at that picture

that is it in the same way that the other guy was and and it feels almost like I feel to a certain degree disrespectful to keep alluding to it right it's the only it's so familiar as you said it's the closest comparison and it's the biggest thing that we've ever had in this and the most sincere one to

be honest like because we've tried we've said this before man has he got like the star power, but it's always one of those kind of false Hope things and some people have Longevity and some people have moments But I think what we're seeing here is the building because it's always how do you handle the escalation of stakes, right? And he's handling it with such ease improving right gettingving. Right. Improving. Getting better. Yes. And I think that that's what feels so familiar. So it's going to be inevitable for a little bit, you know?

But I'm like, it's a good thing. I think when we're talking about that, it's a good thing. It means that we're in a healthy spot. And hey, somebody's making the hair rise on your arms again. That's kind of what the UFC's been after for a while here. We've needed it. And you have to imagine on the heels of this, the UFC is going to push him to the moon is going to get behind them in the way that they used to be able to do

when they had Connor and Rhonda and they knew this is our blue chip. This is our thoroughbred and we are going to put every resource behind them. It feels like it's maybe been less so for in the modern era around certain fighters. I think Iliya Toporia has now gotten the mantle and is deserving of kind of that. You put him on every possible opportunity you can. He's already doing press conferences, seemingly every four hours.

Maybe the UFC can co-op those. I have a question for you, Chuck. All right. We saw them cut to multiple people cage side, and then one of them got into the cage. Yes, exactly. This is what I was going to bring up. Okay, go ahead. Who are you most interested in seeing Ilya Toporiya fight? I don't want to know who you think he's going to fight because I think the Patty Pimblick getting into

the cage probably telegraphs that a little bit. Yeah. We see it here. Who would you be most interested in seeing him fight? Most interested. Armand Sarukyan. Yeah. Yeah. Justin Gachey I mean I would put Gachey third I think it's I think it's just cuz Gachey's had a bunch of moments it almost be like you're kind of and I'm not trying to diminish Gachey but it would be like you're taking I almost feel like you're taking a step down from Charles if you did sure but I would say that if you're talking to me strictly about the fight you'd like to see because it presents the most danger, I think that Sarukian is the guy.

I just, I know, like you just said, that that's not gonna, that's probably not gonna happen. And there is like a, I feel like there's sometimes a shelf life for like something really vital. This was a, it was a beautiful thing for them to bring in Patty Pimlet to the cage because they haven't been doing that they've been doing a little more lately But bringing him in there and just kind of planting that seed That's what you got to do, right? And I feel like that side to be because they did the same thing with van earlier and I'm like this is I love this This is what it's about man. You're already you're already saying like this is what's next, you know, here's the sequel whatever you just watched I love that and Patti Pimlet obviously can get on the microphone and immediately start to sell that fight so I once he went up

there I'm like if they do that man I'm totally good could not agree more I think competitive level I agree with you that it's probably Armand Sarukian let's discount Islam Makachev for a second let's let's let's let him handle business at 170 and see where that shakes out with Jack Delamattalena. I think Armin Sarukian- Don't you wonder now how that fight would have played out. After seeing him in that like seeing him in that shape, the way he came in there and just handled his business, man, my god. I was long on the corner that I did not think that fight would be competitive and I did not want to see it. I've changed my stance after tonight. I've changed my stance.

But I did say I needed to see. I needed to see this Charles fight. I wanted to see how he looked before I was, because there's a danger, right? There's a danger that if you were Iliya Toporia and you jump into the fight against the number one pound for pound, and we can have a discussion about number one pound

for pound a little bit later in the show. If you step into that fight with the number one pound for pound and you falter there, that's real momentum killer. And that's one that you can't get back. Now we see him against Charles in an obviously winnable fight. He took him out in dramatic fashion. And you can now build toward Islam Makachev and make it feel like it's going to be competitive

because I'm in the position where I feel like Ilya Toporia can do anything in the way that I felt about Conor McGregor. There is nothing that I don't believe he can do Well, we need a nickname. It's like what was he mystic mac and we got like what is it telepathic? You know, it's aporia. I don't know what it is, but it's like That's pretty good But he's like he's on that level. You're right. I think that that's what that's what tonight did Um, there was an emphasis on that sort of like self-belief

Um, you know all of his like just what he's been capable of, what he's done. I think there was an emphasis and this was the moment where you're like, well, let's see if he really can do that. Charles Olivera had, you know, he had, you know, like, so like the Armand Sorokyan fight, like if we're talking about him, like he barely loses that fight. And some people thought he won that fight. So if you're doing the MMA math, you know, you're just like, nobody's walking through him like this. No. And I think that's really the, that's the key, right?

Like nobody was walking through him like this. No, and nobody's walking through any of these last opponents in the way that Iliya Toporia has. Agree with you. I loved Patty Pimblick getting into the octagon. As you said, it is another throwback, right? We're talking about allusions to that era that we're so fond of and the nostalgia that it can create. This is it.

You're already selling the next fight and they have the history and we'll run the tape of them scrapping and throwing the hand sanitizer at the event. We'll have them at the press conference the next day. They're yelling at each other on the stage. They're doing a face other on the stage. They're doing a face off years in advance of an actual fight. It's time to capitalize on it because we have it now. We have it now.

There is no reason to wait. Let Islam Makachev handle business at 170. Armin and, and Justin could maybe be the fight to make while Ilja and Patty settle business, take advantage of this opportunity that you've been gifted and given. And I think the fact that they walked him into the cage makes me think that they are ready to do it. Yeah. Can I tell you something though? Why that felt so good? Because you got both of those fights, right? Like they kind of set up the flyweight one, which I thought was

brilliant. And then they go and do this one with Patti Pimlet in a sport where we've been blue balls, like big fights. And I mean like the things that you want to see and you can't get nice things, right? Like you can't get Jones Aspinall. You couldn't get Islam, Ilya, you know, you couldn't get these fights. Now they're setting the table on something that looks like you will get it. And it seems in the moment,

because that's when the hysteria is the biggest around a fight, um, it feels that void a little bit, you know, I love that man. I really do. I think that it's great because it makes all of it. It's makes the magnitude of both fights feel that much bigger. Yeah. And, and one of the other great points you made was all due respect to Armand Tsuruki and who I think is a fantastic fighter, as a sparring partner verbally on the mic,

the Patti Pimblitt fight is going to feel mega because they are going to create magic every time they get into an exchange. I think there's a genuine dislike in a way that I don't think there was for Charles, certainly, right? Oh yeah. It was very respectful. I mean, they were like buddies. Yeah. They seem to be very cordial with each other to the point of respecting each other

and maybe for Charles, potentially something to think about, but for Patty, this is a huge opportunity for him as well, right? The Michael Chandler win, I think catapulted him into an area where the doubters kind of have to be silent. Yeah. Now he's, now he's potentially hopping right into a title shot.

It makes all the sense in the world, capitalize on it now in the same way that Josh Van three weeks ago was unranked, wins a fight, enters the rankings and then he sense in the world. Capitalize on it now in the same way that Josh Van three weeks ago was unranked, wins a fight, enters the rankings and now is conceivably the number one contender for Alexandre Pantoja. Take, take, ride this hot hand. We're in Vegas right now. Ride the hot hand and just keep riding this till the wheels fall off. This is Connor's beat, man. I mean, this is like when I were in the gambling terrain here, but fall off. This is Connors beat man. I mean this is like when I were in the gambling terrain here but that was and I was talking I was talking a little bit with PT about this on his show but it's it's one of those things that like that kind

of acceleration we've seen it a couple of times but never in this kind of kind of seismic leap towards a number one contender in three weeks notice. I don't think that we've ever seen anything I mean Moekano gets boosted up into a title fight, but that's kind of one of those crazy circumstances. I remember Chris Liebman back in the day had like two fights in like two weeks. You remember that? He won both of them and that was his big moment. You're like, Chris Liebman, man, what a, you know, this is like that, you know? And so you kind of have this magical other part that was the other, you know, the other profiled fight on this card and

You got a dude who's 23 like this is the great thing right how old is to poria because he's still like 28 either 27 or 28 I think he might just have turned way like these guys are both in their 20s You know and suddenly you have you know 28 Yeah, so 28 and he's where he is and now you get Joshua van and both of those featherweight I mean the flyweight fights tonight were like ridiculous but you get this kid who Suddenly comes flying through and just like that performance like just standing in there like that's probably a fight of the year I don't know how you guys felt about it

But I was like that to me was like that's got to be You know on the short list for fighter of the year when we come to that time But just to stand in there with that kind of poise and that kind of like that's got to be you know on the short list for fight of the year when we come to that time but Just to stand in there with that kind of poise and that kind of like I'm willing to die kind of attitude with it Man, that was that was fun. It is my front-runner for fight of the year at the moment Yeah, that was absolutely incredible the volume and and I think Roy Valls Contribution to that fight is gonna be a little bit kind of forgotten just because the van story is so easy to get behind and it's so easy to get swept up in the momentum. But the fact that Royvaugh was putting up 400 plus punches and bringing the fight to Joshua van created that it made for that fight and it was an absolutely incredible performance by both.

I think Royvaugh stock goes up as well. He's in an unfortunate position right like he's kind of been this been this guy that can claw his way back to the top, but you're either looking at Pantoja and now you're looking at a guy in Van who stops his momentum. He was able to get Bas Moreno, but it's a tough climb, I think, for Royvault. I don't know where he goes from here, but the story I certainly believe is Joshua Van. 100%. And I think when you like, you know, the three week thing is what we're talking about. But if you look at it, he lost last July, right and we were talking about this 22 this kids 22 give him some time He's still like a dynamic fighter. He's gonna learn and he'll grow

Did anybody expect that he would win five fights within 11? Whatever's 11 months or almost pretty close to a year But whatever that is No, I mean to win that amount of fights and to come you know skyrocketing back into basically where he's at is just I mean I don't think it's paralleled like it's just a it's a crazy run. I think it's great because I don't know how old John Jones was like like I don't have that information in front of me. He was 23 I believe though right? 23 when he won the title yes. So I don't know if he can catch him but I mean that's

something they should consider. That's something they should consider because if this kid can do it that'd be a lot of fun. Yeah I actually never even thought about that because I didn't consider this played out so fast I didn't even think of the idea of Josh Vann fighting for a title. I wonder if he's even in striking range of that or if he's about to turn 24. But I think what's so shocking about the van run, as you said, like how fast it happened is we typically don't see it this way. It typically is like think about Ilya Toporia. Ilya Toporia has to beat Yousef Zilal, Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall,

Jai Herbert, Bryce Mitchell, just as impressive as some of the performances by Josh Van. But the ascent is slower. You just don't typically see a guy who's ready for the big time to go from three weeks ago, unranked to the num, to fighting the number one contender and beating him and rocking him in round three. Um, it, it is, it is incredibly impressive. He has a super Fran fan friendly style, which I think contributes a lot to this. Right.

If he was going out there and wrestling guys to death, I don't think he gets this push, right? If he was the mob star, Evo to death, I don't think he gets this push. Right? If he was the Movzar Evloev of this division, I don't think he gets pushed in that way. And so you roll the dice here and you get, and you put a guy in there who's 23 years old against Pantoja, even if he falters, right? There's going to be five different opportunities for him to get back there,

which I think is the fun part of this. Like, even if this is too much too soon, even if this is too early for Josh van to be fighting a guy in Pantoja, which by the way, I think we need to get to, he's kind of, we kind of over that fight. We will need to get to that fight, but to, to fight a guy in Pantoja, it's going to be tough sledding. And I certainly think there's going to be a grappling deficit that we're, that is going to come into play there as we saw in the fight against Kaikara France But he's 23 he can be back there. He can be back there two years. He can be back there two months

It doesn't really matter you you take this shot and you take this opportunity and like we said about putting Patty in the cage I love the fact that they put Josh van in there Especially because he had just fought the fight before and And you're putting him right back in there. Even when they flash to him, right? Like he's cage-side to watch the fight. He comes right back out. He's sitting there right at the cage watching the fight and everybody just cheers because you're like, dude, this dude just went through a war and he's already back out there ready to go. So they bring him in. I love it, man. Like you said, I don't think it's the end of the world if he gets schooled by a guy like Pantoja because just like we're talking about Toporia, Pantoja is the exact same thing. Like he just

keeps getting better. Like he goes into this one and the Asakura fight. Like both these fights I feel like there weren't really any big danger moments for him. Like he just kind of went in there. Look at the way that fight started. Like some guys when they get to their you know when it gets into multiples with their title defenses they they start to hold their stick a little tight they don't want to give up what they have so they would they would do a feel-out process you can think of John Jones Anderson Silva those types of guys they would they would have this huge feel-out process before they would start engaging this guy went right in bit down on mouths trades in the pocket you know

shoots in dumps you know dumps on his ass gets his back and then he puts him in trouble for the rest of that round. Like just basically like a buzzsaw man. I was like, this is crazy man. Like, and then of course it played out the way it did. He just, you know, went right through, um, he goes right through that opponent, like a kai car France. And then, you know, you're just like, dude, it shouldn't be getting easier. That's how I felt. Not only should it not be getting easier and not only did he come out as you said like a buzzsaw but he's now beaten all of these guys multiple times like he beat Kykara France

a tough like he is continuing to lap the field it's also why the Josh Vann fight makes a lot of sense because there really are no other guys the guy has just lapped the field so many times. I can't say enough about Pantoja and you hit on something that, that I continue to stress when I talk about Pantoja. I'm a big fan of Pantoja. Admittedly, I'm a little bit biased. I love Pantoja. You haven't ranked pretty high in our, in our rankings. I'm going to put him at four. And I pretty much decided that. He's, I mean, he's behind Marab, he's behind Islam, he's behind Ilya.

It'd be hard to hop any of those guys, but what I think is so special about him is what you said. It's the reckless abandon. It's the willingness to engage in firefights. It's the willingness to put himself at risk in order to try to finish a fight. And we've seen him against strikers. We've seen him against grapplers.

We've seen him against guys who are well-rounded. The fighting style is always the same for Pantoja. He's walking forward. He's going to be the one pressing and that's every single fight because he wants to come in there to finish fights in a division that is not notoriously known for those kinds of finishes. This guy is a one of one. And we look like history will be kind to him. We certainly look at Demetrius Johnson's 12 championship victories at Flyweight. And that is the gold standard. That is the gold standard. look like history will be kind to him. We certainly look at Demetrius Johnson's 12

championship victories at Flyweight and that is the gold standard. That is the gold standard amongst any champion in the UFC. But you look at the other records, he has the most wins in Flyweight history. He has, he has passed for the most finishes in Flyweight history. He is racking up the things that you do as the

most dominant champion in that division. It is, it's, it's crazy that Demetrius is so far ahead in that one specific title, title win category, but every other record is going to be Pantozha's. He is just completely dominant and exciting to boot. So he's going to be a top five pound for pound guy. I have to imagine on everybody's records, but he's also the guy that when the bell rings He is gonna be the one walking forward trying to press the action regardless of the impotent in front of him I will say too because in Demetrius

I'm not trying to like diminish Demetrius what he's done But like if you go back and you look at the competition at the time and flyweight and I know there aren't there aren't Too many guys in the division still but back then it was pretty bare You know and it was like you're just kind of taking on whatever the whoever who's had to because they didn't have better options Right now obviously you have van they had Muhammad mahaj of and they let him go I mean that yeah, that was a golden opportunity Maybe they bring him back at some point and ask her off to there's a couple of dudes you like I don't know why they're not

You know still in the UFC. Yeah, it just doesn't but but off to there's a couple of dudes you're like I don't know why they're not you know still in the UFC yeah yeah it just doesn't but but anyway it's a lot more the competitive balance has been a lot more in fact when Moreno and figurate oh we're going at it it was like oh man they're so if it tilts this way a little bit it's gonna be that way you know it felt like such a coin flip and you're thinking the parody in that division was just too much there's just they're just too active. There's too many there's too much chaos. There's too many scrambles. But now you get this guy who's you know created this gulf between him and everybody else. I think that it's that's what makes it more impressive to me. Everything felt pretty even until he got that

time. Now he's gotten that much better. It'd be very interesting. You mentioned the rankings, the fur, the, like putting him forth because he can't leapfrog those, uh, those, those top three. What a great position for the UFC to have four guys like that right now. Like they have four guys, you always, you know, you know what a BS word invincible is, but for the casual audience and the people, the people at large, they love it when these guys, when you can't imagine them losing, right at large they love it when these guys when you can't imagine them losing right like they love it when guys feel invincible and I feel like you've got a lot of

guys like that right now in the UFC. I want to give you one actually a few quick news updates and then I want to ask you something again about Pantoja so we'll circle back to that one thing for those unaware Jake Paul wins by unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Chavez. So on, on the boxing side of things, Jake Paul successful against Julio Caesar Chavez Jr via unanimous decision. Shout out to Ariel Hawani, who was working that event. And I'm looking forward to watching that back. Dana White at the press conference says the

following, he doesn't know who let Patty Pimplet into the cage and that it should never have happened, but he was no longer cage side at the time. And he was a great guy. says the following, he doesn't know who let Patty Pimplet into the cage and that it should never have happened but he was no longer a cage side at the time. So maybe our excitement over this needs to be cooled because it seems like maybe it will not be Patty Pimplet next. I think that would be a grave mistake if they do not go with Patty Pimplet but it seems like Dana White is maybe in line with meritocracy maybe maybe Armand Sarukian will get his

Opportunity he throws a he throws the wrench into it before we even can celebrate. It's so funny, man It's also so fantastic because like Patty Pimblitt is seemingly the guy that like the fans think Oh, this is this is their pet project. This is the guy that obviously you're gonna push and then Dana White's like no Not so fast. It's actually might not be. I don't know who let him do that. If it ends up being a Serukian, like I said, we started, it's still a great fight. I think it's going to be, the only thing is,

oh, Patti Pimlet, you have a natural foil. You know what I mean? That's the only difference. Like you're gonna have a guy who's gonna bring out a side of Toporia that maybe that's also informative as you discover this guy and you're trying to figure him out. Like that's fun. I'm not sure that Armin will do that but he will certainly add doubt to the equation and that's all that's equally good and

some you know and we see this tweet here from Armin saying it was never supposed to be Charles I can finish Ilya simple as that and he knows it too that's why he's avoiding the real number one contender strong case by Armin right like you were in line for that title opportunity. Um, and then, uh, unfortunately had to pull out due to the, to the back injury. Uh, Islam now moves up Armin is the name that, that was right there. And so I would understand if they went with Armin, I think you capitalize on the Patty thing. Um, one more quick thing, the performance of the night bonuses,

Ilya to Porey, to Porey and Gregory and Gregory Rodriguez, shout out to Robocop. Fight of the night, obviously, Brandon Royvall versus Joshua Vance. Some of the easiest awards that we could claim here tonight. Vicious knockouts, man. Vicious. Vicious. To the point that we had to get medical updates

about Jack Hermanson. Fortunately, we found during the broadcast that he was medically cleared and we're very happy to hear that, but that was a completely brutal knockout. I have to go back and review the tape of how you guys reacted to those knockouts. The I hit my knees. I legitimately hit my knees. I could not believe because I've been long saying like, is the size difference going

to be the problem? Is the power not going to be there? And he put Charles out in a way that you don't see Charles go out. Dana White also saying that Toporia's wife and kid were in the octagon and, oh, okay, here we go. So Dana White was saying that Toporia's family was in the octagon and bringing another fighter in shouldn't have happened. It was a bad call by whoever allowed it to happen.

So maybe this is the safety concern and not necessarily that they're not willing to do Patty Pimblitt. I got my toes crossed. Let's go back to the Patty thing for sure. Okay my toes crossed. Let's go back to the the patty thing for sure. Okay, I had a question for you about Pantoja. Okay. We saw this with Demetrius Johnson, the lack of respect that the flyweight champion is going to get. And I thought that Figuereto and Moreno did a great job to kind of spotlight the flyweight division when it seemed like it was at its lowest. It seemed like the UFC was ready to put that thing

on the shelf and just completely wiped out flyweight division out. They were cutting flyweight fighters. I thought it was all but done. I thought these guys were going to have to move up to 35. They kept it alive and now we've got another dominant champion in the way that Demetrius was.

But to place Devil's Advocate to something you said earlier, you said, you know, they were, they were looking for the next man up and they were kind of digging in garbage bins and finding whatever they possibly could. They're at the back. I don't know if I quite said that, Rick, but they're in the dumpster, absolute dumpster and they're pulling guys out. No, but you see there was a search, right? There was always a search. We're seeing the same thing with, with Pantoza, right?

To a certain degree. I agree with you that I think the level of competition has been raised at the Flyweight division, but we are seeing him fight guys that he's fought multiple times. We're seeing him fight guys with, with Pantoja, right? To a certain degree. I agree with you that I think the level of competition has been raised at the flyweight division, but we are seeing him fight guys that he's fought multiple times. We're seeing the Kai Asakuras of the world coming over and getting immediately title shots. We're seeing now Joshua Vann being fast-tracked to a title shot. Is this going to hurt the opportunities for Pantoja to get the respect that he deserves? Because it feels like he has no equal to the point that maybe it feels like Flyweight

is not as good as it is. I do not feel this way for the record. I agree with you that I think Flyweight is as good as it's ever been, but I think he's just that level above. But will that hurt his Q rating? Will that hurt people's ability to get behind a Flyweight champion

in the way that it did for Demetrius Johnson? I don't think so, especially not with Van because the brilliant thing about tonight was this flyweight showcase right? You're showing that you're putting them both up there they both delivered and then you square them off. I mean to me this might have been the biggest flyweight night since they were doing that four-man tournament to introduce the thing and you know it's it's funny because back then people were sort of they were more like well could they wanted to they were just curious as to what, how this would look and they, they wanted to see a

Benavides and things like that, like as you know, at a, as natural weight, but like you cut for all of that time, we've had some really good flyweight fights, but I never felt like any of it was out of your seat. Like we saw tonight, those two fights really delivered man. I'm like, to me, if there was ever a moment where there was going to be respect earned I think it was tonight

And they did it such a great job of sort of Baiting the hook with van coming in there that I think at least in the short term like I really do believe that All eyes are gonna be on that fight now, man I think that that's gonna feel like a big fight and how often do we say that about a flyweight fight? Yeah, and you put the highlight reels of Josh Vann and Alexandre Pantoja together and it can't be anything but incredible. They have both delivered so many highlight reel moments in the octagon. Josh Vann obviously newer to it but the things that he's been able to do in such a short amount of time have been

incredible. Okay I think we should move down the rest of the card. Benil Dariush picking up a huge win over Hanato Moekano. Looked dicey in the first round, got rocked at the very end of the first round. We're seeing that here. Was able to quickly recover and then come back to completely dominate round two. Take round three as well. 29-28 Benil Dariush. What did you make of the early trouble for Benil Dariush

and then his ability to kind of bring it together in rounds two and three? I mean, he's always kind of been this really like it feels like he's been this set for years. I think it's just the gray hair it throws me off but like he uh, he always seems like he's Very like calculated measured and even when he's kind of in trouble like he's still Not he's still in it and stuff But this was like a true juxtaposition. I was actually we we make our picks for these fights and I had picked Darius and I as that first round was unfolding I was like whoops I

made a big mistake on that one you know and and Moekano looked really good but the problem was once he started getting into all the you know all the positions on the ground where you know Darius just body is on him and they just weighed him down and like put him in all these bad positions you could tell he was starting to gas pretty quickly and it started to show up in the second round it's just Wiley veteran you know strength old man strength stuff like he's just in there like using all of that and and it looked like a Darius fight I mean that was the kind of how his career has gone. He's

had some really good knockouts in his career and some finishes but that to me was just you know watching him scram a couple of times in the scrambles where he's rolling he's trying to get out of trouble. I was like this is like vintage Darius you know. 100% it's exactly how Benil Darius fights and he's always live to kind of make that come back. His recovery is absolutely incredible. To be down on a double leg after getting rocked like that is perfect for Benil Dariush. That's exactly what I would describe. If I said, how does Benil Dariush fight?

I would say he's about to get rocked and then he's about to be in on a double and recover it and then go on to win the next two rounds. It's exactly what he does. It's funny you said the old man thing because that was kind of the story leading into this fight. I know. I know what you're gonna say. I'll give you a guess on how old each of these men is. I already know. They're both 36 and they're both 15 days apart. They're like more than like 15 days apart. I love it. It's so weird to me because

Moikano like strikes me as such a younger man and I I think like I think it's just very looks older You know it is investments in bitch coin And not oh, I hope that he kind of stays around in relevant fights though. I think he will yeah agree because Well, you know we finally started shining light on what a character He is over the last couple years man, and I don't want him to fade away yet You know it would be a shame to lose him. He has finally started exposing it and he's such a great character. He is 36, though.

I wonder, you know, how long he wants to do this. He kind of has he has so many other interests. He got his title shot. He came up short against Islam Makachev. I wonder what's left for him to kind of prove at this point, or maybe he shifts. He has a successful podcast. He's got all these investments. It reminds me of Mosfet all like Mosfet had that big year and kind of shot in.

The guy who was under our nose the whole time and all of a sudden you're paying attention to him on a whole different level, your paying attention to his personality. He had a lot of other things going on outside of fighting and then he kind of had his career wind down and you're like you know that was that. You realize that that was the high point and we'll see how it plays out from Waikano but if that that was his high point, was kind of getting to the, putting himself in a position where he could be thrust into a title shot against Islam, it's not the worst in the world.

He had a very good run through that period there. He had a great career. And I think, as you said, I'd like to see him around. It doesn't even necessarily need to be in the cage. Give him opportunities on a desk, highlight his podcast. Yeah, that would be great. The guy's extremely interesting. I would love to just continue to hear from him.

Well, you guys know, I mean, you guys, I mean, you probably, when Ariel's talking to him, I feel like he gets the best out of him every time, man. I would love to, let's get Henato Meccano over to Uncrowned to give him a regular segment because he's absolutely electric on the microphone. Look, he was there in the first round. He lost 29-28.

He dropped one round. It was a one round difference. I don't think it's the end of the road, but I do wonder like what do those fights look like at the end of Hanato Moekano's career? Moving on to the curtain-joker for the pay-per-view, Peyton Talbott versus Felipe Lima. The story of this one was the return of Peyton Talbot, right?

What a card. By the way, I'm looking at this card. Three decisions to kick it off, but did it feel like that? No, because they're all great fights, man. They all had something to offer. It was absolutely incredible, and it got started by that fight between Peyton Talbot and Felipe Lima. A bounce back for Peyton Talbot,

who was an underdog heading into this. I'm not sure if you had a chance to peep the odds, but he was an underdog heading into this. Huge jump to position, right? Because he was like in his first couple of fights, he was a massive, massive favorite. Against Heone Barcellos, in his last one, he was a massive favorite, nearing the four digit figures in terms of being a favorite.

And that was the wake up call. And to me, that's the story of the fight. The takedown defense was completely shifted. And I was certainly, I think there's a difference in level of opposition, right? He only has shown himself to be a level above and he showed that in the Cody Garbrandt win recently, but what I saw from Peyton Talbott was somebody who learned from his loss, went back to the drawing board and said, I will not lose that same way again, somebody might beat me, but I will not lose in that fashion. I will not lose that same way again. Somebody might beat me, but I will not lose in that fashion.

I will not put myself out there and look the way that I did. And against Felipe Lima, he showed that he had worked on those holes in the game. The striking was still just as dangerous when they were on the feet. He was punishing Lima and Lima is an undefeated prospect himself. Like, let's not like forget how good Lima is. He should have been the favorite. I mean, that was the right call. Yeah.

Yeah, Lima had been, I think that they had it right. But I will say, the reason that that fight was so compelling was because you just had Peyton Talbot. Like, he's already a compelling enough figure. And I did this big piece on him before his last fight. That's what, you know, I could actually see some of the changes just from visiting him in his home and Reno like where he had like the Barcellos, you know poster on the wall and him and his buddies were just laughing about it

I you start to think well, did they take it too lightly? You know Are they like in and honestly sometimes these things can end up being the greatest thing to happen to a young guy like that Is you go in there and you realize that you're nowhere near as good as you thought you were and you have big problems that you need to fix. The thing that stands out to me, man, and I wasn't sure how this would look, I was convinced that there would be moments where, you know, Filipe was going to try to take him down and we'd find out pretty quickly how that was going to look. That did happen, but what he was able to do, you know, and

like, and able to get up and how the scrambles that he ended up on top a couple of times, he ended up in the dominant position a couple of times, that spoke to me about how precocious he really is. Like, he's a very, he's a sponge, man. Like, if you ever really talk to him, like, he's a, he'll recall his brain is just working all the time, and I think when he rededicated, he really leaned in, man, because, and I was very, very impressed with that. I was like, man, this is a guy who was helpless,

eight takedowns, could not get up. I think it was like 10 minutes of control over a 15 minute fight where he's on the ground and comes back and puts on that performance. That was compelling theater, as Ariel likes to say. Like that's crazy stuff to see a guy who in whatever amount of months was that, seven, six, six, seven months, turn it around like that drastically. And what I love about it is what you said is we saw the whole get immediately tested

in the next fight, right? Cause it could be easy where they match Peyton Talbot up and it's against somebody who's going to strike with him and he strikes with him and he looks as good as he looked in those fights leading up to the Barcellos fight. But what we saw in this fight was somebody who was aggressively pursuing the holes in Peyton Talbot's game and we got to see that. We got to see the scrambles, as you said. We got to see the reversals. We got to see how comfortable he looked getting up. We got to see all those things, the stuff takedowns. I think you've touched on something interesting that's always fascinated to me about Peyton Talbot is like he has this very like Carefree nature to him and that can be confused for somebody who's not like invested in it Sure, right because you're so you're so loose. You're so free

You feel it can be confused for somebody who's not dedicated to this game What I saw from Peyton Talbot tonight was somebody who is dedicated to the game Oh, yeah, fixing of those holes is somebody who is singularly driven. And the striking looked as good as ever. Now, I think Lima is extremely tough. And it took a lot to kind of get him out of there. And he wasn't able to. But Peyton Talbot's hands looked sharp.

And the take down defense was there. So I was as impressed as you were. I picked him. I don't know how you picked on this one. I picked him. I picked him as well. Yeah, because I was like, I guess I was saying, okay leap of faith that he's going to he's going to be in a better shape, better form than he was last time and he was. But I mean the way it played out,

I was still surprised because I thought he would still have moments where you would see that weakness. Maybe it was there a little bit, but I mean, he was able to get out of it. And I think that's the, that's the big part of it. I, uh, I had the same conclusion that you did. I believed in Peyton Talbott's ability as a young man to figure out what he needed to do before this next fight. Uh, quickly, Adrian Yanez, he called him out in the cage. Do you like that fight? I feel like that's a great one. It feels like he's wanted that fight. I'm like, yeah, I feel like they should. Like, let's face it, man.

This bit of matchmaking was one of the big surprises I thought on this card because I thought, if they're in the Peyton Talbot business, if they're like, we like this kid, we think he can be something, maybe even a star, they would have given him a layup in this fight. But I felt like they're like, no, we're gonna find out right now

if you belong here or not. I think that that's the extent of what happened with uh with you know the barcellos fight was it showed something where like I don't even know if you belong on this level you know that's kind of where it was at and and he did that so I'm like at this point if he's calling somebody out and he wants it I'd be like let's see it you know yeah and by the way uh another illusion right we've been doing like parallels all night. Joshua Van loses to Charles Johnson, a fantastic fighter. You throw him right back in there. Edgar Chires, Cody Durden, Ray Saruja.

That is the way you build a prospect. You get them tested, maybe they do falter, but then you put them in there against the next tough guy and you see if they can fix those holes. You see if they have that resiliency. You see if they can bounce those holes. You see if they have that resiliency. You see if they can bounce back and we saw that. I also was thinking of Peyton Talbot and Josh Vann in a comparison in terms of, you mentioned the learning from the defeat, right? You mentioned the like, I've never suffered defeat and I don't know what it felt like and it could

be easy to kind of just feel overconfident. I also think it helps sometimes and it might help Joshua Van, right? Because you don't know that you're supposed to lose this fight. You've only been really successful. You lost the one fight against Charles Johnson. He caught you. You really don't know that you're not supposed to beat Alessandro Pantoja. You'll probably start to believe that you can. And that might be his best attribute as a 23 year old kid with stars in his eyes

and looking like This is my time. I don't care that a la chandre Pantoja is in front of me So I another reason why I love that fight so much is just love it of love his confidence man But that's that's 23 or they he's like even when he's talking about Roy ball like in the in the little you know, they always have their little talking head moment in the promo and he's just like, you know I think he's used to schooling younger guys and all this stuff. Yeah. And ain't going to get to me, you know? And I, but he was so serious and sincere. I'm like, boy, they kind of, it was like, it set the table for that so nicely, you know,

to see this kid who's like not going to happen with me. And then he proved it. Like he was getting pieced up with the jab, but yet all of a sudden when he landed the first couple of counters, there were bigger shots. It felt like he was in control of a chaotic fight it was bizarre but he never felt out of like he never felt like he was reckless it felt like he was the one if you're gonna say who's dictating control of this fight it was gonna be it was gonna be Joshua Vann because he was landing the poise kind of counters there was a couple times where he's getting like hit pretty hard but he

would reset go right back in there and then he would win the next exchange it was like a it was a it was a fun fight in that way that they could just take that much damage and Handed out and never even try a takedown or anything. There was no grappling no clenching none of that They just stayed and they just came in at range slug it bounce out and come back and do it again It was that's an incredible fight But for a guy who's 23 years old that that kind of calm and poise and all that stuff it was it was cool to see. He has a little bit of Ilya Toporya in him that way I'm not don't get me wrong I'm not I'm not doing Ilya Toporya is the next Conor McGregor and Joshua Van is the

next Ilya Toporya. I'm not doing that but what you talk about is that poise right? In an Ilya Toporya fight it feels like he's just waiting for that moment that he knows is going to come. I feel like Josh van is very similar in that regard because it'd be easy for the like the volume that Roy vol is putting up. Most guys fold to that pressure, right? When he's jabbing him four times in a row and he's just continuing to walk forward and put it on him that way, a lot of guys fold to that.

And it's why Roy was so successful. He's an absolute animal, but Josh van is just waiting and he just knows if he can get that opportunity he's going to find it and and that's why I draw that comparison to Poria. They were so accommodating to each other because it's like you could tell that Van was like I want to counter him I know he's aggressive I'll punish this aggression and he waited for a moment he would punish him but Royvaugh just kept coming after him I'm like this is great because they're all just playing into each other's strengths. And there were occasions where Royval would get in there and land a series of really good shots.

And you're like, okay, well, he's still doing his game plan. Just really fun stuff, man. Okay, one more update from Dana White before we move on to the prelims, which we can hit pretty quickly. Dana reflects on Armand's title shot mistake in redemption. The guy had an opportunity to fight for the title and didn't make weight. You couldn't have fucked up anything worse than that. He was here as a backup fighter and made weight.

So it's definitely a step in the right direction. Poor Armand. I don't know, I'm getting mixed messages here. I don't know if they wanna do Patty Pimblitt or if they wanna do Armand Sarukyan. I'm glad that Armand Sarukyan seems to have, by making weight as the backup fighter, Dana White's stance has softened, right? Because he was scathing. I wondered about that. He was scathing about Armand when he

pulled out of that fight. So I'm glad to kind of see that for Armand's sake, but I do hope we get Patty Pimblitt next. Yeah, me too. Moving on to the prelims. We talked about it earlier. We at least touched on it. Robocop Gregory Rodriguez knocking out Jack Hermansen absolutely viciously to the point that Jack had to be taken out of the octagon. We see it here. It was a scary scene. We got the medical updates just for anybody who's not aware. Jack Hermansen was medically cleared later in the night

and he was okay. So glad to see that, but an absolutely vicious shot from Gregory Rodriguez, who has kind of been this guy who's like sniffing around the title opportunity, but never been able to kind of get there. He had the big opportunity against Jared Cananier and came up short in that last one. Uh, here a win over Jack Romanson, who's been

incredibly tough and a stalwart of the division. I think this does propel him back toward that title conversation. It should man. And I mean, like when you see the mean like when you see him like that, you know, he lands his hands like that, you're like, okay. It re-ads all the excitement.

I always feel like guys like that can kind of, you know, make you forget bad performances if they can go in there and do something like he did. That follow-up shot though, man, like there was that picture where he's coming in like with that hammer fist at the end. It was so much like the Dan Henderson bissing, wasn't it? Yes wasn't it? Yes. He knocks around then comes in and just like hammer it like Unconscious dead guy on the ground. You're like dude, don't do it. He does it

He's one of the he's one of the most violent nice guys Like he's one of those super smiley but insanely explosive and violent type of guys I kind of like those I have a fascination with him. But he seems like he seems like somebody who look, I believe he's in his in his mid to late 30s. Let me just look at this real quick. He is no, he's only 33. So there's an opportunity here he can rise and the middleweight division is one that I think needs some some names and faces to kind of turn over within it.

We've kind of seen the same names. That's why he needed to be a cananera though. I'm like, and that was the one. Yeah, so he needed to win that one like, because it was no knock on Cananera. The dude's a warrior, he's been around for a long time, but he is like 40 plus now, right? He's been up there for a while and that's kind of that moment, right? Like you're supposed to leapfrog that guy and and go into another situation, but I think he redeemed himself nicely here Jose Miguel Miguel delgado with another vicious finish that we saw on this card over Heider Emile Explosive just like got him quick. I think those were back-to-back in less unmistaken. Yes, so Gregory Rodriguez first round ko Jose Miguel delgado 26 seconds to get it done with an

incredible knockout over Heider and Mille that one was kind of guaranteed fireworks because Heider and Mills another guy who comes pedal to the medal it's like 35 but he was kind of a prospect right like he was that yeah it's like such a weird setup for that guy he got to it late and he was one of these guys on the rise but Delgado was the favorite and showed exactly why we talked about bouncebacks. Another one Tracy Cortez hadn't fought since the Rose Nama, you know, fight, which happened in July 13 of 2024.

So she had been out. I want you to remember that. Like that's one year, right? She comes back after one year. Joshua Vans five fight win streak has happened within that, within that timeframe. Joshua Vans, a different kind streak has happened within that timeframe. Joshua Vann's a different kind of cat, man.

Isn't that nuts? Different kind of cat. But Tracy Cortez, a great performance, survived some early danger in the very first round, but not anything super significant. In fact, she would go on to win that round. She won on the scorecards 30-27. Exactly what you need, right?

This is how you get back on track against a veteran and Vivian Rougeau And now you you kind of creep toward that title conversation one of the things that is interesting about her potential climb in that title conversation is Jasmine jazz the Vizious is Somebody who she has a win over and since then Jasmine has been extremely busy you talk about Josh van Jasmine has been another one who since that loss has been extremely busy you talk about Josh van Jasmine has been another one who since that loss has been extremely busy Who is above that move that would be a fight? I'd love to see get run back before but I don't know if you're Jasmine if you're now going Tracy Didn't really give me my opportunity to get a rematch. I don't know if I'm looking that way

I think that'd be a great fight though. No, that would be that'd be a great one I mean I'd be down for that one By the way, did you guys have like a poster on your, like, what were you doing? Like you had a poster or something on your, what was that? Oh, do you not know about this? Wait, wait. So I wanted to point out, cause I was coming in and out and watching you guys and then watching the fight. But, but, but I kept hearing Connor say, it wanted to be

a Dumont, Lad Dumont or a Rujo Grasso. And was like, those are the two Apex fights that I was at. Wow. I was like, how does he like that is hilarious. Cause I talk about this to Ariel all the time, but like it's always this hilarious thing that I was at the Apex twice and those were the two Apex cars. He always, he mentioned October, both of them in October. It was like, uh, it was like, just a funny thing that you, you guys are pointing out the worst possible cars that I happen to be at. I'm tempted to go over and get the posters I might do it in a second but let me explain for everybody what happened. Myself and Connor Brooks, the boys in the back, went to the UFC Apex and Performance Institute earlier today. We got a little bit of a tour and part of the

tour is you can go to the gift shop. It's like a it's like a merch store in that merch store. Oh, what a what a gem Frank is. He's bringing them over. Here we go. In that merch store is a tube. There's a there's a there's a there's a there's a like a mailer bag. No, no. Like a tube, like a tube that you would mail a poster in. It's how you carry the poster inside that. They call it the mystery, the mystery box.

There are three posters in this mystery box. The event poster signed by every fighter in the card, everybody who's seen embedded or the social media account sees it. It's every single fighter doing their poster signing. There's three posters in there. It could be from UFC 229, where you got Habib and Conor McGregor. Right. It could be from Lad Dumont.

It could be from any fight in between. Yeah. And so we bought one of these mystery crates. There were, I believe, 10 in total that existed. There were some that were missing. Somebody else had purchased them. We had purchased tube number eight. And inside tube number eight were the following posters.

I'm going to do this for anybody who missed it. We got some gems here. OK. I might have to hold it off to the side. Can we see this? Okay. All right. What do we got? So this one is Fight Night Gregory Rodriguez, who just won versus Jared Cannonier. The fight that we had just talked about. Okay. Gregory Rodriguez versus Jared Cannonier, an Apex special. That's not too bad. That was an Apex special. So wait, did you do like an unboxing on the we did an unveiling live on the air? I love it. Number two, another Apex special.

You're going to see a theme here. This one. What is that? Oh no. Can we see that? Can we see the names on that? I remember this one. Matthias Nikolaou versus Alex Perez.

I mean, that's big. That's another banger. Another banger. Uh, number three, uh, by the way, I'm going to give this out to three different people who, if they are waiting outside of the Yahoo Sportsbook at the Venetian after this, after you have this post show, I'm going to go get these away to each to a fan. Uh, and we got another Apex special here. This one.

Let's see the name. Oh yeah. Okay. Manel Cop versus Alma Baev. So I hope it wasn't too expensive. Let's just say that the $75 as well. Okay. 75. I mean, you would have liked one pay per view in there or something, you know, like, you know, maybe a fight night that didn't happen at the Apex, you know, or something like that. Maybe just something. Now I said to, you know, maybe a fight night that didn't happen at the apex. You know, maybe just, maybe just something. Now I said to Connor in hindsight, the fight night posters probably sell out. The paper posters probably sell out. This was the remaining and a brilliant commenter in the YouTube

chat said the following, nobody was laughing harder in the entire world than the man who was stuffing the posters into this tube and knowing what was awaiting knowing what was awaiting us when we opened it up um but that's what we were doing with the posters okay and uh i mean we got a robocop shout out shout out to robocop that's pretty cool who got a win in this card also got a win on this card one terrence mckinney t-rex um beating slavaklaus uh it was a terrence mckinney fight itRex beating Slava Claus. It was a Terrence McKinney fight. It was over in the first round and he didn't look too bad doing it. Submitted

him via guillotine choke. I mean, I don't have more to say. Do you have anything to say? No, but I was gonna say... You know, I think he was a slight favorite in this fight, but I was like, you look at something like that, I'm like, man, he has such a wild card. I just never know from fight to fight what to expect from him. But that's the best version. I, when you get that man, he seems like a, you know, world beater when he shows up like that. Yeah, he's kind of been up and down, right? Yeah.

There was a point where it was like, you know, he got into the UFC on a win streak and then is reels off two, loses one to Drew Dober, step up in competition wins one loses two wins two loses one now he's back on a two-fight win streak it seems like the law of averages like we're looking at a loss maybe and it's probably gonna happen in the first round because it's Terrence McKinney yeah I'm hoping we don't I'm hoping what we see is the alternative fun no man like everyone one like for him to go through and then kind of set the table I felt like that was the first one that just started getting rolling, you know?

Yeah. Certainly. I think that was where the night kind of picked up, but T-Rex being T-Rex, um, we're going back down one to the, to the second fight of the night with Jacoby Smith and defeating Nico Price. Right. I forgot about that one. He was the biggest favorite on the card. Right. It looked like maybe he wasn't going to fulfill the potential of that in early in the fight, but then he, he came through and was able to finish it doing what he needed to do to kind of establish himself.

He, uh, you know, he kind of gassed in that fight and I was talking, I did a piece on him before this particular fight and he, you know, he was talking about his asthma when he was a kid and just kind of lung capacity and all that stuff. But the way he'd made it out, I was almost like that was the one of the least things I thought would happen to him, you know, because he was like, man, now I'm like Superman. I can just fight and fight and fight. So I was a little surprised to see him gassing in that fight a little bit. It might have been just as simple as Nikko's tougher than he was thinking he would be. I think that is certainly a part of it, right? We've seen Nikko Price in the

UFC for a long time and he's an extremely tough and durable veteran. I think the is certainly a part of it, right? We've seen Nico Price in the UFC for a long time, and he's an extremely tough and durable veteran. I think the line was maybe just a little irreflective of where this was, but gets the win and is able to kind of continue the momentum and did what he needed to do. And then he needs to work on his post-fight, his post-fight stuff though. What was he just saying?

Like Joe Rogan or whatever, I'm like, ah, come on. We'll get there, we'll get there. And in the opening fight of the night, Janata Denise, Alvin Hines, kind of one way traffic, although it was 29, 28. Maybe I, maybe I misremembered. Maybe I didn't see one of the rounds, but by the time that I had started tuning into this and we had some technical difficulties getting set for the watch party, it seemed like Alvin just couldn't get to him and Denise was punishing him. He's, Denise is a very accomplished kickboxer. Alvin, I think was undefeated heading into this, but it looked like different levels of striking. Yeah, that's what it was. I mean, I had to get down a little late too. It feels like it happened

three weeks ago. You get to the end of these nights and you're like, damn, that was on the same card. That is the perfect segue because I want to close on this unless we get another update for from Dana White at the press conference or anybody else. Was this was this the event of the year so far? Did this set what I've been talking about? June is kind of the turning point for the UFC, right? We got some fight nights that were out of the apex. We got this to look forward to.

Now we're heading into July where we've got Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier. We head into August, where we've got Hamza Tremaya versus DDP. It feels like this is where the momentum starts to build toward the end of the year. Who knows where Tom Aspinall and Islam Makachev versus Jack Delamadelaina falls. But these are the fights that we know are upcoming.

These are the fights that we know still need to be scheduled. And we're looking toward the end of the year and it's a tasty kind of treat. So I felt like this was kind of the turning point. I felt like June was the turning point, but maybe this pay per view in particular, how do you grade it?

Was, was this the best event of the year? And what are your- A plus. I mean, I don't, I wouldn't even hand that out normally. Like I'm always reluctant, but I feel like they could not have gone better tonight. Like this is just, it was one of those events

where I felt like every fight delivered a little something like at least the last seven or eight, you know, every cut, every fight on the main card, um, compelling storylines all over the place, um, added intrigue once they were done, you know, kind of left it all. Like guys who like stars being born, all this stuff, it had everything, man. Had the finishes. There's crazy knockouts. It's just, we don't get a lot of these now so when you get them

before we even started I'm like wow we get into our first show and like the first one we've done together one of these and it happens to be with like a like one of the events of the last few years you know what I mean it was that good yeah I agree with that um I just want to apologize to all our viewers we'll get out of here on this I just want to apologize because we had some technical difficulties. You saw Connor at the start of the show Yeah, so the first show it was the first show I was gonna do with Connor and I'd like talk to him for two seconds My mic coming through. Oh, oh Who's this? Is he back? I really can't even tell if my mics working or not. Yes. I hear you. It is

Yeah, let's go just in time. All right guys Yes, I hear you. It is, yeah. Let's go. Just in time. All right, guys. The perfect part of this is his mic is cutting out. He comes back. I did catch it though.

I knew it. He's ready to get into it now. Frank fucked me. I'm glad. So for the viewers out there, we're sitting in the same room that we did the watch party. The watch party was like on a couch and we were looking at two big TVs. Connor is sitting at one end of the opposite end of the room and I'm sitting on the other But we shipped we shipped we had Frank ship out our Home setup kit like we shipped out our cameras our mics our lights are all our stuff. I picked the right spot, right?

I picked the spot where the where the microphone is in the in the dead zone. And Connor, unfortunately, picked the wrong one. That sucks. Go this way. Oh, I hate the internet. Still not coming through. I know, yeah, yeah. We catch like, every time you talk, Every other word. It's like the first couple words,

and then it just goes off. Come out, please. I think we're out too. Chuck, any final thoughts on the night? We both graded it an A+. We feel like this was a huge win for the UFC. Stars are born. Josh Vann, Ilya Toporia, and others. thoughts on the night? We both graded it an A+. We feel like this was a huge win for the UFC. Stars are born. Josh Van, Iliya Toporia and others. Any final thoughts? I would just say that man, for a

featherweight division, I mean I keep saying that, for a flyweight division that so many times has been on at death's door where you're not sure where it's going to go, this was the night for the flyweights man. I've never, I never thought they would deliver like they did. There's a compelling storyline. I feel like people are going to pay attention. It saves international fight week. You know what I mean? Like it like puts the stamp on something. Then you get the Toporia fight.

I just think that this was a big score. And if it was a gamble at all, you know, to put back to back fights like that, it paid off in such a huge way, man. Could not agree more showcase for the Flyweight division. Ilya Toporia continues the run. Oh, we got a tweet here from Ilya Toporia. Here we go.

17 as his custom. With the Rose. 17 and 0 with the Rose. Um, we've saw him, I mean, we've talked about this extensively. We saw him update his, his bio to have already beaten Alexander Volkanovsky. We see him celebrating already beating Charles. The man is undeniable. Um, but it's been a fantastic night.

Thank you, Chuck. I really enjoyed doing this. I would like to- Let's get rid of the other fellows. We'll do it, man. Yeah, let's just do it. Me and you, they're playing our music. They're queuing us out.

Thank you to everybody who watched. Tune in on Monday. You will see another edition of the Ariel Hawhani show live from Vegas. We've got a bunch of more in-studio guests and a lot more on the Uncrowned.com website, as well as the Uncrowned YouTube channel for Eric Jackman, for Connor Burks who's over there and unable to use his microphone for Chuck Mendenhall. There he is.

Thank you very much. Good night, everybody. See you, man.