The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 322 Post-Fight Show: Islam Makhachev crushes Jack Della Maddalena, makes history

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

Ariel Helwani, Petesy Carroll and Chuck Mindenhall give their immediate reactions to UFC 322, starting with Islam Makhachev's dominant performance against Jack Della Maddalena, to capture UFC gold in a second weight class (01:24).After weighing in on whether the main and co-main events were "boring" (16:38), the crew discusses incredible knockouts by Michael Morales (30:39) and Carlos Prates (35:17), before circling back to Valentina Shevchenko's shutout against Zhang Weili (38:13).They recap the rest of the stacked card (45:44), then transition to the all-out brawl between Dillon Danis and some Dagestani fighters in the crowd (58:17)The show concludes with quick mention of Conor Benn's revenge against Chris Eubank Jr. (1:09:59) and Chuck's final thoughts (1:11:26).

Hello and welcome to our UFC 3-2-2-2-2-2-1 to our UFC post-fight show. I'm Mario Halwani. It is approximately 102 a.m. Eastern Time Sunday, November 16th. And there is a brand new UFC welterweight champion. History made once again at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden in the Mecca, and can help but feel like nine years after the UFC made its debut at MSG with a scene, which featured Connor McGregor on top of the cage, holding two titles in in that particular story it was the featherweight and lightweight title we saw nine years later the evolution of that this time it's islam machachev holding up the brand new welterweight title that he just won and the lightweight title that he vacated earlier this summer he is

the new ufc walterweight champion he just thoroughly thoroughly dominated jack delam adela it was never really close it was somewhat reminiscent if if you didn't want to watch the fight and you want to know just how dominant was, it was somewhat reminiscent of the Hamza Shamaev Drikas-Du-plus-C fight, which we saw back in August. The fight, you know, each round starts standing. Shortly thereafter, there's a takedown and Jack Della was just never able to get up. He was never able to do much on the ground. Towards the end of the fight, he looked defeated, he looked distraught, he looked deflated,

his calf was messed up, not to suggest that Islam didn't hit him with some shot. outstanding, but it just was one-way traffic throughout. He is just so strong. He is so good. He is so dominant. He is so talented. And now he becomes just the 11th fighter in UFC history to win a belt in two different weight classes. He is also the man who has just won his 16th fight in a row. And in doing so, ties the great Anderson Silva for the longest winning streak in UFC history. So all kinds of history made tonight at Madison Square Garden. He is the pound for pound best in the world. There is no denying that and is slowly but surely going down as one of the greatest ever.

And in my opinion, has put his mentor, Habid Nurmaga Madov, with this victory very much in the rearview mirror. He has surpassed him. If he had not done so already, Isam Khachev, is that guy and now the welterweights, which we'll be talking about a lot on this year program, have a new problem, a new problem to figure out. because this is going to be a very tricky puzzle. Okay, it's not just me on these post shows. As you know, we've got three pot here. We've got the man in the hat, a.k.a. the mayor of the nutmeg state here with us,

the one and only Chuck Minnaud. Chuck. How are you? I am well. We started off with a lot of knockouts, and then we just watched 10 rounds of dominance. What a card. Yes. And of course, you are referring to what transpired in the co-main event. Zhang Wei, unsuccessful in her attempt to become a double champion. she got thoroughly dominated by Valentina Shevchenko.

In that particular case, the bigger champion proved that size does matter. And yeah, that one as well was not very, dare I say, intriguing, entertaining. It was one-way traffic. And it was just Valentina reminding us that she is still the best at 125. And maybe we need to rethink our pound-for-pound rankings. Maybe she is the very best in the world as far as the pound-for-pound rankings are concerned. We'll also say hello to the patron-strands. saint of the Emerald Dial. Let's see if he's awake,

the host of the critically acclaimed podcast of Greg. Of course, he's probably staying up because there's a massive football match later today involving his beloved tri-color. We're talking about the Irish. Of course, he is the pride of the Irish, the one and only Pizzi Carol.

Pizzi, good morning. How are you, lads? Great night for the UFC. I thought brilliant card and a brilliant night for the welterweight division. Two new contenders. I feel the old guard pushes aside and some new charges find for toilet contention, very, very tasty.

Yes, you know, the build guys for this Jack Della Islam fight, you know, there was no real history between them. There was no friction between them. It was somewhat reminiscent, at least to me,

you know, when Connor fought Eddie, like there was no story there, but as the fight progressed, as the fight week progressed, like just the two of them and their demeanors and how different they were

and the faceoffs and whatnot made me feel like this was a massive, massive deal. And it felt like a big deal. deal. And we were all wondering how Isam would look at 170 if the strength, if the power, if the grappling would translate. As the week went on, I think we all thought, okay, he's really, he's really comfortable looking at 170. He's looking really good without his shirt in those photos and in the training footage that we saw. And he said it afterwards, Chuck, in the post-fight

interview to Joe Rogan, he's like, man, this is a dream. I feel so much better. And it's a scary thought. That's his first fight at 170. Just think how he's going to look after his second and his third. It's really remarkable what this guy is doing. I'm blown away by the performance because I really think the world of Jack Della who had not lost in the UFC and was on an incredible winning

streak himself. To do that to him is nothing short of amazing. Your initial thoughts. Exactly that. And I think that, you know, going into that last fight for Jack Della when he was fighting Balal, I think that we, some of us were a little bit you know, concerned that this type of fight might break out if it wanted to, right?

Like if Balal really wanted to commit to wrestling, that this might be the result. I wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest, and I think that was the big intrigue. You go into a fight like this, and you have a guy moving up and wait, and we just had watched a fight where, you know, where Zhang goes up a weight class and is, she can't do anything. So you're like, is this going to happen to Islam? Is it like, are we asking too much? Remember back in the day when B.J. Penn went up and met George St. Pierre, and it was kind of like it was one-way traffic in a different way. Sometimes it's just a step too far. So I think that doubt just kind of rose up right as they're making their walks for me.

And then you see that first takedown, which I think occurred about a minute in. And it was so easy that I was like, this is going to be a problem. Exactly how it played out from that point on, I was like, this is going to be the same Islam, but up a wait. and to hear him be that comfortable in there and just kind of saying that he feels like he's in his weight class that is a scary thought but he's doing it at the exact right moment with the amount of contenders

and some of those guys were showcasing these young guns that are coming up dude it just got so intriguing in my mind you know just the style clashes and everything that's about to happen in that division PT initial initial thoughts from you he's just so good and I expected honestly

I expected something like we saw with Islam v. Dustin at 302 in New Jersey. I expected them to have that kind of jeopardy at some stage in the fight, be kind of met with a guy who won't go away. And credit to JDM, I don't think he was intimidated by the task. I think he came

out with the right mentality. Very early on, he was trying to put his front foot forward and push Islam back, but he's just too good. The size wasn't a problem as you said, but as Chuck mentioned, the explosion into the hips for his takedowns was in the blink of an eye. These takedowns were occurring and you just wonder who

was going to stop a guy like this. And I guess that's, that's a nod to how dominant he is. He's obviously made a massive, he's made a massive point in his favor for the pound for pound debate once again. A lot of people are talking, Ilya, but after watching that kind of dominance, it's really, really hard to argue with anyone other than Islam right now. Yeah, just some unofficial stats if you guys would like to hear. I'm looking at the stats on the UFC stats site and also on the ESPN Fight Center page where they have the stats that are tabulated in real time

and it says that he was four or four of takedons but I feel like he landed one takedown every single round so that would, I think that should be five, right? I mean, but the crazy thing is like... Did he take the fourth off now? Did he take one round off? Maybe I'm wrong, but yeah. But the thing is like there weren't like 13 takedown attempts

a la marab and Corey it was one and the one was all that he needed yeah according to these unofficial stats total strikes landed 140 of 188 for Islam just 30 of 74 for Jack

Jack just really couldn't get going and towards the end control that's the oh yeah it was well over 18 minutes it's 1910 1910 so 1910 of a 25 minute fight like it was just and you know he was going for submissions he was doing things you know jack even

hit him with an illegal shot at the end of the first if i'm the the the rulemaker fair play fair play i saw i saw the tweet that's that's a point deduction but uh you know you got the the warning from from herb dean there but it's just amazing to see him that strong at 170 i really thought that he would have a little bit of trouble like i'm saying back in june back in may when this was first announced i thought he would have a little bit trouble these guys have I mean, just look at Michael Morales. Look at how big that guy is, you know. And he's a 1-7.

He looks like a 205-pounder. We'll get to him in a moment. But he showed no signs of slowing down. There's a litany of guys that I would love to see him fight at 170, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd still love to see him fight Ilya. I just feel like now this result has made the gap between the two of them that much bigger, Chuck. It has. You know what, man, Pizzi, you were mentioning, like, how quickly you got into the hips

and just how quickly things went to the ground. Do you notice, like, when he's fighting, especially, maybe it's just something I haven't paid close attention to, but in this fight particularly, you know, in the South Paul stance where he's basically kind of crouched down, there's almost no difference in the telegraphing of him throwing a punch

or a combination or, like, you know, kind of lunging in for some offense that way, or him just going into those hips and taking to the ground. It would be a nightmare. You know, as I was watching him through this fight, it would be a nightmare trying to predict what he's going to do you know what i mean like he just yeah how quickly he he masks what he's going to do so well that by the time like so if you come up here's on your hips and boom you're on

the ground it's just it's got to be one of the most helpless feelings this type of fight like you know we talk so many times about what makes a classic fight well it's like the plot twists that happen you know the crowd things one thing's happening something else happens the heart shows up when you see this kind of fight it's it it's a it's a transcendent in a different way you know what I mean? Like where you're, you have a guy who's that good, Jack Della Madalana, who's been that good who can't do anything against this guy. That's a different, it's like a transcendent kind of way of seeing something. And if it doesn't speak volume, especially when you're coming up, 15 pounds like that, for how good he is. Like you mentioned Ariel, like I was on the fence

about should he, does he pass Habib? Does he like catch him? I'm with you. I think that he's in his own lane. Now, like this is like, this is his show. He's, one of one now, right? Like, he's, he's his own guy. Like, yeah, I mean, like, to me, this was the, I needed to see this in a weird way for me to just kind of anoint him that, but I, that's a, it's just going to be a nightmare for just about anybody he faces. You mentioned some of the monsters in the division. That, it is very intriguing, but man, he is going to be a handful. If he can mask his takedowns and his, and his offense so well like that, it's just going to be a nightmare for everybody, even watching film. To that point about, um, Islam, though, and Habib,

different striker completely, right? Like the things we were saying from tonight with the leg kicks, it wasn't as if we kind of had in our heads if JDM is a passage of this on the feet, he's going to do some real damage. That wasn't really what we saw in there either today. I thought Islam did a very good job on the feet.

I thought JDM kind of got involved early on, but after that first takedown, it just changed everything. The threat of it was there and it allowed Islam to strike and I think at a much higher level than we ever saw Habib strike at. The way he changes levels, the quickness in which he kind of just like lulls you into this striking battle and then boom and you're like, and you can just feel how deflated Jack was

every single time. He's like a bow constrictor. It's unbelievable. And Hamza does a similar thing. I would say he's a lot more advanced as far as the striking is concerned. So you really do have to worry about it. We were talking to Tim Welch about it earlier in the week. He knows exactly the kind of striker that he is so he'll never go crazy he'll never try to do flashy things he won't do a lot of you know spinning stuff or flying knees or things like that but he is going to be very very very very effective very smart very um you know ones and twos things like that but you have to respect it and then he'll change levels and take you down and that's all she wrote it's uh it's really amazing to watch and then you see the strength the strength on the ground is just is is unbelievable and for

that strength to to translate now at 170 is amazing and And to me, like, I always felt like he was, you know, the younger brother, so to speak, to Habib. And, you know, it didn't quite have, like, the mic skills, didn't quite have the personality. But it feels like especially this week, he's coming to his own. Over time, he's come into his own. And he's really developed his own identity. He's developed his own fan base, his own following.

And now to do this, I mean, look at the names that he has now, you know, he has now joined. He joins Randy Couture, B.J. Penn, Connor McGregor, George St. St. Pierre, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes. Henry Sehudo, John Jones, Alex Pereira, and of course, Ilya, like that is a who's who. And to do it that, like he was that dominant for that long at 155, broke the record for most consecutive lightweight title defenses for before moving up and now to do this in his welterweight debut.

It's really nothing, like there's just not enough nice things. There's not enough, you know, accolades that we can throw his way. You just kind of had to have experienced. it. You know, you mentioned some of these names. And, like, you think back to Anderson Silva, for instance, or George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva in a 16 fight, you know, a stretch. How many times have we seen Machachev in trouble? You know what I mean? Like, it hasn't happened a lot. I mean, the first Volk fight, right? Like, toward the end of that fight, there was some danger. But you look at Anderson Silva, you know, UFC 117, for instance, he's losing the whole fight. And there was just, there was, there was examples of maybe, like weaknesses, you know what I mean? Where you're like, well, if you get this, if you watch GSP, there were a couple of close, but the Hendricks fight, right? Like, it was one of those

ones that you're like, he might have lost that fight, but he got the benefit of the doubt. We haven't really seen that. You know what I mean? Like, through 16 fights, and I think that that, when you start to get into this historic comparison speaks volumes too, right? Because I just don't feel like he's in vulnerable

spots. We're not seeing him put in vulnerable spots. Nobody's really able to do that yet. Pete, let me ask you a question as we're sitting here you know waxing poetic and by the way here's a here's an interesting tweet from ilya the aforementioned that just came through jack needs an entire camp dedicated just to wrestling what a disappointment of a champion you should go to georgia to learn something Islam you need something you can't train emotion you're the most boring thing in this game every day i'm more certain i put you to sleep again there's a litany of new guys

waiting for him at 170 this is really the one that interests me the most the history of the beef there but I don't know if it really moves up to 170 but I read the tweet and I'm reading the chat

right now and I'm reading some things on Twitter there's nothing you could say about his skill there's nothing you could say about the dominance and all that stuff

but it is sports entertainment right it is a business and Hamza got a lot of crap and I don't know if he's getting the same kind of crap right now I haven't really, you know, read enough. But those two title fights were arguably the least entertaining of the entire card, right?

That's not what the UFC wants. That's not how they want to, you know, crescendo the evening. And so, Pizzi, is there an issue here? Is there something to be worried about? Or is this just the game, you know, when you have these dominant champions and eventually someone comes along and knocks them off? Look, we were a bit longer in the two, lads. We were in the business of this sport.

in times where there wasn't such an emphasis put on the spectacular, I don't think. I mean, when you look at contender series now, the way they deal with the fighters, they want knockouts, they want submissions. We saw Martin Boudet, with a winning record, a heavyweight, a division that needs fighters being taken off the roster because he wasn't spectacular. That is an issue for the UFC if that's what their product is. even when we're we speak about problems with the sport and knowing that things won't change because it might affect the product even with you talking about disqualifications and things like that i always think about how will dana feel about that and in the event that there was many disqualifications on a card i think it's the same thing with this this isn't exactly what dana white wants to put together you look at even slap slap is a response to social media it's like little 10 second clips that's what they were trying to make out of this and as as they've told us, it's a huge success. So I think, even though I love the sport, I'm happy to

see people prevail with this style of fighting, even though it's not the most entertaining. That's not what the UFC claims to be anymore. It claims to be a spectacle-driven entertainment product more so than just a meritocracy and a sport. So as far as they're concerned, I think it is a problem. And it doesn't really matter how I feel about that. Yeah, although on the flip side, you had Madison Square Garden in New York City with a very loud and audible Islam, Islam chant. So we have come a very, very long way as far as who the fan favorites are.

I mean, do you think, like you, like you, yourself, like you're watching a fight like this? Especially for a guy. I mean, are we going to say like he's some kind of like, when he doesn't put guys away, the guy had what, I think, it was like eight of nine guys he had finished before this. So it's like to kind of feel like, you know,

that there's a problem because he didn't, do it in this first fight at welterweight seems an extreme to me no no i don't think it's a problem at all the same way i didn't think it was a problem with chamsat you know if it's working like they were talking about habib in the corner and he's like enough of the boxing like let's just win the fight there's too much at stake here to you know to take these risks at some point especially when you are you are doing you know you're risking something against a guy who is better at that thing than you if that makes sense so if you stay standing against jack delis you that's exactly what he wants and ultimately it's about you know w's and ls um so i don't think it's a

problem it's not like 10 of these in the world in a row like i think i think a lot more fans would say it's a bit of a problem with chepchenko i think some fans would say that um there's not a lot of wars there it's just a lot of dominance but you know i'm not i'm i've never really been in the business of being like oh this guy's boring and again i'm not the one buying tickets i'm not the one buying pay-per-views necessarily as a fan for entertainment i've always been in camp of like figure it out you know that's just the game you know like tim duncan was kind of boring but he won um you like just figure it out and and they shouldn't have to change their style you should have to figure out how to beat their style the question though is and and the reason why i think

the ufc kept you know its options open i think they want to come up with all right who's the best opponent for him right who's the best challenge for him if it's not going to be tipporia i still think that they will they will consider that after tuporia has another fight at 55 and I think the fight should be Patty Pimblett at the beginning of the year. There remains to be seen. And usually we don't do this this way, guys, but it's all sort of connected. At the beginning of the pay-per-view card, we had Carlos Prachas knockout Leon Edwards. First guy to ever knockout Leon Edwards, first knockout loss in Leon's career.

Carlos Prochers all the way back. He gets the spinning back elbow knockout in August against Jeff Neal. First guy to ever stop Jeff Neal. And now he does this to Leon Edwards. Holy shit. And this guy's got super stardom. You know, he's got aura, as the kids say, he's got a great personality. He's very fun, all this stuff and more. Then you've got Michael Morales fighting Sean Brady, and he stops him with a beautiful finish as well. And he's got that same aura. He's got that same personality. He looks like a superstar as well. And so, Chuck, I'll ask you first, did the number one contender emerge there? Because, oh, by the way, there's Shafkat Rahmanov, who still hasn't fought in about a year now. It's going to be almost a year who tweeted, congratulations to Islam. slim performance, but the real challenge at 170 is still me. And oh, by the way, the guy that he

beat in his last fight, Ian Gary, has a fight next week against the former champion, Bala Muhammad. So maybe we don't know the answer to this question, but do you think, based on what we saw tonight from those other two superstars in the making, a new contender has emerged? Or is the jury still out? I think you 100% like both those guys came through with flying colors. I mean, they could give it to either one of those guys, especially if you were one of the these people who considered Sean Brady already qualified for the title, right? He gets taken out by this 26-year-old phenom. If that's not like a, if that's not punching your ticket right to a title shot, I don't know what it is. The only problem is, I feel like Ian Garry, and I was

mentioning this to Pizzi on the crack on Friday. It's just he's kind of done the favors. And I think he also has like the name who's been around for a while, this guy who will fight anybody type thing. If he's able to go in there and do that to Bala Muhammad, which is very difficult to do, by the way, you know, to make Balal looks silly in that way. But if he goes in there and does that, I still think he probably has the inside track to this, even though, because for one thing, Morales is just kind of, you know,

this was kind of like an expedited thing, right? Like a meteor. All of a sudden he's fighting the number two guy. Boom, he gets through it. It's a big stage, but you can still push him off for just a minute. And I don't, like, because Pratjust lost to Ian Gary, I feel like, you know, if you're just kind of weighing it out,

I think that Ian Gary would be the guy. So in my mind, if he's able to win that fight, and especially if he makes it look good next week, I think he's still the guy. What do you think, PT? I think Morales is the number one seed right now. I think he, look, we just talked about it seconds ago. What is the UFC's product?

It's spectacle. And Ian Gary has had some great chaos in the UFC, but none on that level. Prakis, he beat Leon Edwards, who Sean Brady already beat to put himself in the spot, which we believed made him the number one contender. Morales knocked him out in the first round. You know what I mean?

This is Highlander, lads. You're taking their wins with you. You take their head and you take their legacy with you when you beat them. And Morales right now is a giant. He's a knockout artist. He was an underdog against Brady and he's put him away. He's put away a lot of guys. If you're looking for what is the response to someone like Islam Magashev,

I don't think there is one. Honestly, I look at all these guys. and I think they have serious trouble on their hands against Islam. But if I was looking for a guy that would cause him a problem, I would look for a big, huge dude who hits like a horse. And that is Michael Morales right now. He's just so young. He's just so young.

We'll get to him in a moment. But he's just so young. He does have the judo background. I'm saying, like, I think the judo background could be interesting against Islam. I do want to see what happens with Ian. I think if Ian does something spectacular, he could, he could usurp them. if he wins be a decision, like, there's no chance. He needs a massive statement.

Like, he needs, he needs to put Bilala way, I think. Yeah. Which he says he will. I mean, I feel like they could still build Morales, though, more. Like, it just feels, I get things. It feels like he just got here. Yeah, he just got here. So it's like, it feels like you'd be, I don't want to say you're burning one of your best cards,

but like, just, I'll just throw them in there. But don't you kind of want to see more of that first? Okay, let me tell you this. Let me tell you. Like, it would be an absolute travesty in my. my opinion if Kamar Usman gets this next title shot. I mean, I'm sorry. You have one win over Joaquin Buckley. I mean, I'm sorry. These guys are out there killing it. Sean Brady, my heart breaks for Sean Brady. Sean Brady should have been fighting for the belt next. Sean Brady should have

fought for the belt tonight or he should have gotten his next, his next fight should have been for the belt. And this guy has to fight Michael Morales in like a total lose-lose fight because Morales is not a household name, but you see Brady next to him and it looks like a 205 against a 155er. And you saw what happened. Like, Brady is tough as hell. Look how good he looked. Who would have thought back in March when he's completely mauling Leon? Eight months later, they're both on the losing end of, you know, insane knockouts against these guys.

Like, it's just, it's cruel. It's cruel what happened to him, but he took the fight and no one put a gun to his head, but I don't think he had many choices. If they go with Kamar Usman, a zero momentum whatsoever, who has one win against Joaquin Buckley, when all these guys are doing this stuff for like give me proches give me morales give me give me ian coming off a decision win over belal and and give me shot cut who hasn't fought in a year over that usman fight i'm sorry that like that would be that would be disgusting if kamar usman somehow gets a title shot next and and the only reason it would happen in my opinion is because

they're both managed by the same guy and there's some sort of you know agreement made there because i can't think of any other reason other than he was once a champion made many moons ago. Like, come on, what are we doing? And this, this was all lined up a long time ago because if you went back a few months and you listened to, sorry, yeah, after the Joaquin Buckley fight, Usman started talking about this, my next fight is going to be for the title. There's no way that, you know what I mean, that this wasn't discussed and there's some strategy here. I completely agree, which I even wrote an article about it this week ahead of the fights because I said it took so much momentum

away from what we're going to witness tonight. And honestly, I think this speaks for itself. what Pratchez and what Morales did tonight speaks for itself. This is a sport, whether we like it or not, which is Rife with recency bias. And when lads go in and do stuff like that, it's impossible that it's going to be overlooked

in Gary as a great opportunity. Yeah, yeah. How could you would justify it? No, they could. I could see them doing it. You guys can't keep them doing it. I can use him, right? Use him. I can see myself writing a column as to saying like, that's bullshit.

Dana just was on their show showing him, and Suhudo, his vast shoe collection, as you can see, like, the tears rolling down their face. And what does he say? He sets it up. He plants a seed. He says that he's the greatest welterweight champion of all time. He's literally planting the seed for some bizarre reason. It makes no sense. You know what makes the sport even crueler? Like, there's a world where Ian Gary wins via decision or even stumbles and loses a decision to Bilal Muhammad. And Carl's Pratchez fights for the belt next. You know, like that win. That wins. in April meant absolutely nothing.

That's how crazy this thing is. It's all about timing. But same with Shavka, right? Shavka and Ian. Ian goes wins, beats below. He'll get put in and Shavka. He had some bad luck. He had some bad luck.

He had the injury. But yes, I mean, like, could you have imagined in April when Ian was thoroughly dominating Carlos Pratchez that, you know, seven months later, Carlos would be above Ian in the pecking order? Makes no sense. It's all about spectacle. That's the currency. That is the currency of this.

Can I ask you guys, like, if you were, like, we just named all these guys. If you had to pick one that would be the biggest challenge for Islam now seeing what he's able to do at 170, who would it be? Morales. Yeah? Just the size.

He's just such an unknown. You don't think Ian gives him a tough challenge. I think Ian does. He's very tall as well. But he doesn't, he's not the same size. He's not like,

he's not as, he's not as tick as, as Morales is. Like, he looks like he shouldn't be in the white division. like Morales looks ridiculous as a welter way you know what I mean Ian is still slight he's very

quick we've seen him talk about the fact that he doesn't cut a lot of weight that's part of his strategy and it works for his voiding stall it's just when you see that explosion in the hips you think that being as big as you possibly can be will help you a lot in that regard or at least it's something right

I don't think you like I mean sorry go ahead there's a part of me that's like I was like you know just sticking to what you say early on. I mean, I was saying the Shafcott would probably be the biggest challenge in the division. I don't know if I would change that yet.

You know, I still think that that would be a very interesting fight, but man, it's always based on new information and I do agree with you guys, like seeing the size of Morales and just his sniper ability, man, like how good he is and how hard he hits. It's a toughy man. But I would say it's between those two guys.

Would you say the biggest fight, though, is Islam versus Ilia? Yeah. Oh, yeah. got to be right of all the options right unless he wants a move up and fight hamsa but um we're not quite there yes oh man no he he's not going back down to 155 the problem with shuffkat is by the time the fight happens he will have been out for a year and a half coming off major surgery uh that's just a tough fight to come back to chuck earlier you asked me about uh the the control time i wanted to read this to you so isama chachev's 19 minutes and 10 seconds of control time is the second most ever logged in a

UFC welterweight title fight. George St. Pierre had 2031 in a particular title fight. They don't say which one and is the eighth most ever in a UFC title fight. Maybe Hardy, maybe Hardy. Yeah, it seemed like that was on the ground the whole time. In New Jersey right across the river. Yes, sir. UFC 111.

To do that in his welterweight debut is nothing short of amazing. Let's zero in a little bit more on the Morales thing. Pizzi, man. What is this guy? This guy, like, first of all, did you guys see those photos of him dressed up as Spider-Man earlier in the week? Yeah, he's cute, man. He's, he's unbelievable.

I love the fact that his mom was still there. Like, we saw her at the apex. Like, you got to see the evolution of his stardom. Like, you see her at the apex a few fights ago when there's six people there. And now she's in New York City, in the big, in the big Apple, Madison Square Garden. And he finds her and they find her. Like, it was just a really cool moment. He looks like CGI here.

Yeah. He looks like CGI. like this guy is he looks like a movie star he is young he is undefeated he's a knockout artist he is uh he has a very very very uh likable fighting style like this guy he's been shot out of can and to your point earlier uh both of you guys have said like do we need to rush this guy into a total fight no we don't and maybe it's better to have um an ain't gary who's been in against chavkat if he gets through belal maybe it's better to push him into that spot i certainly wouldn't mind that seeing a fellow Irishman in that spot.

So then it actually gives you something to do with Usman as well, right? Like you want to see this guy tested, put him in against Usman. We saw what Usman did to Joaquin Buckley. Maybe that's the way to do it, but I can't wait to see this dude for it again. And it's different than Pratchez because Ian Gary showed us a blueprint to be Pratchez to some degree. And I think Leon Edwards tried to use that in the first round of the fight, which I thought he won tonight, but obviously Pratchez leveled them after that.

we haven't seen this guy lose we haven't really seen him a bad spot i know he's gone the distance a few times but i can't remember ever watching him fight and being like oh i think he's in trouble here um he's also got this reckless abandoned that you only have as a young fighter who's undefeated you know like you saw it there tonight he couldn't really find his right hand for a little bit in that fight and you could see him getting frustrated you just started throwing it around like it was a bat like here this is going to hit you eventually and and it was terrifying And in the end, he clocked him and it did the job and he is a huge prospect. He is very exciting.

And I think it's a reasonable thing to say like do the UFC protector interest in this guy for further down the line because I think he's going to be here for a long time. Regardless of his he lost against Islam right now, I think a dude this young, this talented is going to be in contendorship for a long time. I just don't know how long he can be a welterweight. That's my only issue. Chuck, you know what I really want to see? I want to see him versus Prachas.

Well, that's what I mean. Yeah. That's the one. I mean, because you get both of them, right, they both go in there. They snipe these guys back to back. And you're like, oh my God, these are in the same way class. You could pair of these guys. Would they do that, though?

I mean, I was thinking about this and I'm like, would they actually go do that type of thing when you get two. Killing one off? Two the coolest dudes. I mean, they used to not do this as often, but maybe they don't think about it anymore. I mean, they did it with Ian and Garry and Carlos projects. You know what I mean? That is true. Yeah.

I mean and Chavcott as well, they did. But, you know, they're really. Yeah. Morales versus Pruchess. That would be a hell of a fight, man. Do the Shavkat rematch. Let's settle that one. And then Islam versus Ilya.

Boy, they're not going to do Islam. We have to stop pretending. There's no way Islam is going to get down to 155 again. See the fucking size. No, no, no. Ilya to 170. There'll be a hell of a thing too, man. But that's, come on.

It's just, what are we dealing with these divisions? It's just right there. It's just right there. You want what we've never got. It's too good. No, I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think it doesn't make as much sense. It doesn't fit properly.

It fit better. We plug in Usman. We plug in Usman right now. By the way, this is why. You want to go to Usman? I'm kidding, man. This chook is going. This is why I said you should have done, you should have done Islam and Ilya

when they were both in the same way class for that brief moment. And then we wouldn't have to worry about it again. And then they could just move on their merry way. By the way, you do mention Usman, like, we were, I was saying that I think it would be a travesty. But is it possible that Usman is the toughest matchup? You know what? Do you know what the best fight he can go now is Usman? That's what they should do.

After we thought about it, but we're like, you know what, Islam has a point. Kvara Usman deserves me in that spot. You know. Bonuses, Pratchez got one. Morales got one. Benoit Saint-Denhi, who we haven't talked about yet. and Bo Nippa, you haven't talked about yet. It was a tremendous night.

But Islam and Valentina didn't. What about, man, Chuck, Leon Edwards, getting knocked out like that with his eyes open. Like, it looked, it was a little sad as well. Like, yeah, just like the Brady one. It's just, this game is so cruel and things move along so quickly. What did you think when you saw that? When we were, you know, we were the ones that, you know, the country was calling, calling in and crying about this guy winning.

And to see, it's always like this, man. You get a guy who loses a fight or two, and he's right there still, and then you see the knockout, the first time you knock out or something like this. And there's something very tragic to me every time I see it, especially when they're knocked out,

you know, and you see them on the ground like that. You're just like, man, because it's just, this is, it happened. You know what's going to happen eventually for most of these guys. Like, it's going to be the moment.

felt like that was Leon's moment where the whole thing became fleeting for him again. You know, like, it's just, it was an, it was an ugly thing. And I agree with Pizzi, man. I thought his game plan going in, I was, it looked like it was going to be his fight. It looked like Leon was going to show up. First round was great, right?

Yeah, first round was great. First round was great. I was like, so I kind of was, I guess that's what made it even more impactful. It was it felt like it was a complete 180 from the way it started. And you're like, oh, man, you just feel bad for the fans and like a UK fans and like I I instantaneously was remembering that night you know when he won it all and then to end up in that situation yeah not that long ago a beautiful left hand

from Carlos Pratchez after our first round in which I thought Leon won look good with the sub attempt and whatnot although you know we showed one of the pictures and New York Rick has a as a great tweet of of Pratchez making that face like he seemed completely unbothered by it all it just like he was just not bought this is great stuff from rick back there i mean what a night for rick i mean four hours and he's still putting out banger tweets uh if i send you this it means i really don't give a fuck with his face looking completely unbothered by it but again this game moves very quickly uh not that long ago in april people were saying that carlos preaches uh wasn't that guy he comes back in august gets a big win comes back here tonight gets a big win people are

saying that the fighting nerds are dead are the fighting nerds dead or is it just carlos prachas who has resurrected them or is it the fighting nerds are dead and preaches doesn't count i'm not i'm not quite sure what the narrative is now but uh i just seems like he's on his own thing right like he's part of that but they're fighting tough guys guys but it's he's also kind of just this rogue figure of this whole thing anyway because he's like you know drinking and smoking and he's just his own guy but yeah you know them when you knock guys out with them yeah and but when you're knocking guys out like that like that's your method of victory and every one of them spectacular i mean i suppose you're

going to be um you're going to distinguish yourself right from anything that you're involved with ptze let's go back to the uh the comane we haven't given valentina her flowers i have to say this one shocked me did i think that valentina could win of course did i think it would be this dominant one-sided absolutely not i am actually very very very surprised at it played out this way some numbers if you'd like them um valentina five of six as far as takedowns are concerned 137 of 186 as far as total strikes uh jang weili 80 of 161 oh for one as far as takedowns were concerned it was uh one way traffic 13 minutes and 24 seconds of control time for valentina 46 seconds for jang we lee like she was just the bigger stronger fighter and uh just imposed her will throughout

Were you as surprised as I was? Yes, I was. I thought I picked Jack to win the fight and she wasn't out at it at all. She didn't win around. Valentina, a person who came in and we kind of saw as a striker initially when she came into the UFC to see how well around this year is. And to see how long she's been doing this. Ben, folks, sort of wrote a great piece about the generations of fighters that she has

competed through. 23 years fighting, I believe, at this stage, started when she was 15, still at the the top of the game, looks like nobody can touch her. You know, to see what Mano and Fierro did after she lost to Shevchenko, after Shevchenko beat her to see how good she can be in this division. And then we had Blanchfield as well tonight doing exactly that, but like, you know, showing how good these are to people who've lost, the people who've lost to Valentina.

Yeah. And she's just unbelievable. I was saying the other day to the lads, it's like you see the age of Valentina and you're constantly saying it's going to. it's going to happen like one of these fights we're going to turn on and she just won't be there anymore and you thought that with wily how great she's been looking how dominant she i think a lot of us have her number one pound for pound going into this fight and obviously she is lighter but to see what valentina did to her today is it's it's unbelievable and i know

it's not the most exciting thing in the world but with someone who is putting their whole legacy on the line against someone like jang someone who if jang had to won that fight all of us would have been saying she's the, she's, she's, she's, she's in the argument for the greatest fighter of all time. That was Valentina defending that. She believes she should be there. She always wanted that third fight with Amanda Nunes, but she's right up there with the greatest of all time. And although it wasn't spectacular, it was, uh, it was incredibly dominant. Isn't it so that she's, sorry, I was going to say, it doesn't seem nuts that she, uh, her amount of control, like you mentioned the control time, but like, it doesn't it just,

she was just known mostly as a. kickboxer and um you know more of that when she was coming up and especially through even the early ufc and all that stuff for her to be winning fights like this where she's just kind of like just dominant on the good taking it to the ground dominant on the ground and movable um i didn't see this coming at all in general you know what i mean like it just you go back to the tail it was it the santo's fight like it was very close if some people at the time thought santo's one it just felt like chef chenka was going to be on the way out she ends up losing a fight to Grasso and from that point on

she's just like back but back in a more dominant way like more emphatic I don't know what she's doing but it's it's very impressive it's I guess it's unprecedented really for the women's ranks like for somebody to be that good and to show up in this form tonight at 37 years old it's just it's really

crazy to watch man yeah that that Santos fight the big thing was like oh wow she won around did she win more than a round she wins via split decision And then the next one is the Grasso submission loss. And then the next one was the draw to Grasso, even though I think she actually won the draw fight. But you started to feel like, you know, okay, she slows down.

She's beatable. There are people catching up to her. And then she responds with the very dominant Grasso win at the sphere, the Furo fight in Montreal in May. And then this one, and you're like, holy shit. We're back to the, you know, I don't know, 2017, 2018 days where the gap between her and everyone else at 125 is just gigantic.

I think that Natalia Silva is next. They had her in the front row. They spotlighted her. She's won. I believe it's 13 in a row. She's undefeated in the UFC. 125 is a really interesting division. But, you know, because it's Valentina at the top of the way class, a lot of the fighters

at the top of the way class, she has already beaten. There's Mano Furo out there. Silva's number two. Grasso's number three. Blanchfield got a win tonight against Tray. c cortez so she's moving up the ladder barber you know her status is still up in the air and then there's rose and jasmine it has to be natalia sylva in my opinion the question though is and and it was really interesting in the post fight interview joe rogan seemed to have asked jang weili multiple

times in different ways are you going to move down to 115 and i feel like that's a no-brainer right i mean she has to move down to 115 at this point and if you're and and and john annick had a good line like, you know, somewhere McKenzie Dern is just wondering like, what's the answer to that question? It's got to be it. It didn't feel like good news for that division. Yeah, yeah. Whatever happened there today.

But I kind of feel like it's the best case scenario for the UFC, right? Jean goes back to where she's most dominant. Valentina does her thing. We got a fun little super fight. We answered this question and now everyone goes back to their quarters. Yeah, back to waiting for age

to diminish Valentina Shevchenko somehow that someone might be able to beat her. like that that's what we're looking at here like i feel like the same about islam as i feel about sheffchenko i'm just like i don't know who's going to beat her i don't i can't i can't look up and down any of these contenders and think yeah she's definitely going to have an issue with them it that's a situation someone's going to have to catch her like grasso did yeah yeah and that it's just she seems i don't know she just seems like she's in like fixed holes in our games in that regard too at this age she's just for non-stuff blanchefield you

You know, like you think Blanchefield, you know, how dominant she had been. And even in this fight, like, obviously she gets it done, but she doesn't always look very comfortable in how she's getting it done. And then you think, well, how would she look? Yeah, exactly. So then you think, well, how would that go up against? You know, and it just, it doesn't feel like she'd be ready for that. So you're right. I mean, it's more of like, well, just we might as well do the meritocracy.

And yeah, like you said, let the clock do its thing, right? And put Natalia Silva in that, in that shot. there. But as far as Whaley, man, that's like a, it's a no-brainer because you got to be, you want to stay where the title is, right? That's where the money is. You want to stay where you, uh, you're going to be in that talk. Right now, she would have no business until Shevchenko's gone. For her to stay in this weight class makes no sense. Um, there's some odds floating around right now, Zhang Wili, minus 450, McKenzie Dern plus 350. That's about right. So she, enjoy that boat. I think, I think it would be a great, I mean,

get lots of pictures with it i don't even know who mackenzie would fight in her first title defense if it's not jang wei like if jang would have won and and uh there's not what i fight you stayed at 125 uh so this definitely injects some life into the 115 pound weight class uh let's talk about some of the other uh results on this card and uh give some other people their props as well as i said benoit st deni with the 16 second knockout of benil darush in the first round, vicious stuff. Actually, Darius seemed to have, you know, stumbled Benoit with a, with a leg kick that kind of dropped him.

And then he got right back up and just obliterated Darius with a shot, like, you know, right above the ear and then another shot as he face planted. Darius seemed to have complained a little bit, but it was 100% the right call. Prior to that, we had Bo Nicol landing a head kick knockout in the third round against Adolfo Vero, a shocking and shocking. scary knockout. Vieira was completely out for a couple of minutes, then had to sit on the stool. Like he was out out. And this was Bo Nickel, who of course was coming off that loss to RDR, people doubting him saying he got fraud checked, all this stuff. And even the crowd at one point

booing him. And then he responds with the head kick knockout. He flips off the crowd. He says, make up your mind. Do you love me? Do you hate me? I'm like, oh, no, Bo, don't do this. Don't do this. You were you were handling it so well. But, you know, he kind of, I think he let his guard down and finally admitted that the booze and the criticism was bothering him. He's very human. Great to see him back on top. And I think that was a really impressive and much needed win for him. Gregory Rodriguez with the unanimous decision win over Roman Coppilov.

Aaron Blanchfield, as we said, with the rear naked choke win over Tracy Cortez. So she avenges an earlier loss in her career to Tracy Cortez. Big win for her. Wow. I mean, this feels like it happened 10 days ago. But there's a young man named Ethan Ewing who took the fight on 48 hours notice against Malcolm Wellmaker, who had all the momentum in the world, who was seemingly the UFC rookie of the year with the two wins earlier this year, right hooks, the contender series win as well. And he's supposed to fight Cody Haddon and Hatton gets hurt and in comes Ethan Ewing of all people, relatively unknown. person on the planet that knows Ethan Ewing is probably Caposa and Yariah Faber because

Yerai Fabor had him fighting for his A1 combat promotion seven days ago. He won the title in that promotion. He gets the call and he beats Malcolm Wellmaker. I mean, it just seemed like everything was lining up for Wellmaker to become a superstar on this card, on this stage, and Ethan Ewing beats him be unanimous decision. Just unbelievable stuff. We'll get back to him in a moment. Kyle Dawkes with the first round submission win over Gerald Merchard, a Darst Cho, great stuff, talking about his wife, you know, about to give birth, and he has a great story as well. Pat Sabatini beat Cheppe Mariscal, via unanimous decision. Fatima Klein, beat Angela Hill, the unanimous decision.

Baisangor Sussurekayev won via right hook in the third round against Eric Moknikko and Mateus Camilo beat Bajaslav Borchev, the unanimous decision. to start the night, the curtain jerker. Okay, we could go back. What do you think, Chuck? Who do we want to talk about here? We want to talk about BSD? What a comeback for him, right?

That was impressive stuff. And if I'm, I mean, you look at the guy like, I think that we all thought he could do this, right? Like, this was what he was capable of. He goes in there. He's a monster. I think that I remember Pizzi, I, I don't remember if we were talking with you or if it was just Pizzi now,

but we were talking about how we made him a lock back in the Corrie fight. And this is kind of the version that I think is the real one. You know what I mean? But if I'm Darius, I'm like, just try to get through the first round, right? It feels like that the whole thing on it would be try to get through the first round. But that was, that's vicious stuff. But man, you mentioned the Ewing kid. Who is it? I was, you know, watching that fight. Do you remember, like, I think it was Charlie Brennam. It might have been his very first one where he fought Rick's story. Yeah.

Like he felt like Rick's story kind of in a weird situation. This is kind of what it reminded me of because it was like this is a guy that nobody really thought about. They didn't really, you know, who is this guy? And he shows up and he does work against somebody that you know and there's some kind of spotlight on and gets it done. And then suddenly for a little victory lap there, we're talking about Brennam, right? Like you're talking about this guy for a while.

He didn't end up having like a great UFC career. But I love it when dudes do this. I was really, I was one of these guys who really believed the one. will make it like he's a young guy he's going to bounce back and all this but we all did i really thought he was going to buzz saw through this guy right so this is if you're going to make a splash 48 hours you show up and you put on that kind of fight i thought that was amazing man yeah it's unbelievable everyone everyone got their little funny jokes about a uing winning at msg a championship this and that i mean just real like that you didn't bother you weren't butter by that way i was very

bothered by it i mean bottom of the barrel shit if you ask me but i mean Jesus Christ. Yeah, no, shit. I mean, it's like, have some respect. I mean, the guy, like, literally built that building. And it was like, it's true. Yeah, thank you, Frank. Thank you, Frank.

I appreciate that. They should. It's fucking crazy. I mean, people who know nothing, like who, like, like, guys, tell me you don't know ball without telling me you don't know ball. You know what I mean? It's crazy. It's crazy.

It's too late for this. By the way, I think it was Nate Marquart that you were thinking about, Chuck. Was it Nate? Yeah, I think it was. Nate. Oh, he beat. He beat a story against Nate. Is that what you're thinking of? It was in Pittsburgh. I just remember that. And then there was

somebody stepped up. That was okay, yes, that was Brennaman against Story in Pittsburgh. Yes, I was there. Okay. But he was already in the UFC. He was already in the UFC. But I think that he was like, because it was like a weird switch. Nate Mark Hart popped. That's what it was. It was a weird switch, but nobody was talking about Brennaman. Anyway,

it just had these vibes of like, wait, I guess we should pay attention to this dude since he got thrown in this fight. And he ends up doing work. And you're like, Wow, who was this guy? So it felt like it was like the sudden spotlight switch to the other guy. Incredibly on the town of my God. And just to watch the momentum switching it. And Wellmaker, like, I don't think he's going anywhere.

He is such a good fighter. You can clearly see that he is. It's just that he has been in situations where he's knocking everybody out cold so early. And he gets about midway in the second round and that beautiful Roy Handy throws isn't working. And you can just suddenly see it switch. and this dude Ewing is like a dog with a bone. He's coming off a K.O. win, I think last week he took this fight. Unbelievable. What a story.

MSG debut, it doesn't get much better than that. It's fantastic. I don't think we've heard the last of well-maker, though. Yeah, by the way, I would love to have seen him get a bonus. I know we get all caught up in the bonus nonsense, but that was just a really fun fight. That was a really fun fight. I didn't see, they did that as a mannerly asked for it. It wasn't too much.

It wasn't quite, you know, you didn't go too far. I didn't see if they gave a fight. of the night bonus, maybe someone else saw that, but I didn't see if they gave one. I think I just saw the performance bonuses, but that probably was one of the more fun fights of the night. You give wallmaker,

you give them like a molligan here, right? Because they did contest it at, was it a featherweight or they do it in Bantamweight? I'm like blanking on it now. Did they end up doing it in featherweight? No, featherweight, yeah. So, I mean, there's like little asterisk replace on this thing, you know,

just given the nature. at 143 like you know he just kind of had to like waltz right in there you know there were a couple things i i was talking to him about this um and who knows this i'm totally just you know reaching here but he was on the show and he had he has a young baby and he was so excited to be in new york and i was surprised that he was staying in the same room in the same hotel room as his five-month-old and i was like man you know like that's tough that's tough and and i was i was saying to the guys afterwards. Yeah, yeah, thank you, Connor. I was saying to the guys afterwards, like, you know, if I was his manager, I'd get him a separate room just for like, you know,

the last few days before the fight. And so who knows, all of this is very new. This guy has such an unbelievable story. Like, if you are selling stock in Malcolm Wellmaker now, you're making a huge mistake. I mean, we've seen guys stumble and come right. I mean, look at freaking Isamahatcha, I've got knocked out, like Davy Ramos, of all people. I mean, it's unbelievable. And that's an Bob lost early on too. Yeah, it's twice, yeah. It was actually Adriano Martins, but I think only Connor gets it

when I make that inside joke. Anyway, people stumble. This guy came in, incredible, you know, momentum. It's just an unbelievable story. I was blown away by the bow-nickel, head kick knock. I mean, we've seen people, you know, we've seen him knock people out with his hands,

but never quite like that. And it was just what he needed, right? petee like everyone was shitting on him the booze decision the rdr fight and then he shuts everyone up in a second with that kick amazing stuff from bow in my opinion yeah and look we saw i think it was a left-hand knockout that he had before he came into the ufc was one of those big calling cards for contender series um again as you're saying it's a different knockout kind of reminds you of a flip of what we're talking about with valentina you know you expect this guy to wrestle everybody and towards the end of that fight.

And I know that Rodolfo's not really a guy who celebrated for a striking ability and he was very, I thought very, very kind of tired towards the end, but Bo looked incredible. He absolutely tuned home.

It's exactly what he needed. And, you know, he seems like a guy, as we often said that before he was even in the UFC, he seemed like a guy prime for the spotlight. And I think you just saw a lot of emotion come out with him tonight.

But I find that endearing. Flip off the crowd a bit more. You know what I mean? I love that shit. He was emotional, but at the same time, he was as poised as you get, right? Like, because he went out there in a situation where, you know, he's going against a stylist, you know, a guy who has a very good discipline, like he could easily embarrass him. But he went out there and he handles his business.

And the way he basically said, like, you know, I've lost before and I've always bounced back. Like, there's something, like, I love when these dudes talk like this because you're like, there's something about that kind of faith put into action that really translates. And this is why you. believe in these guys, right? Because you see them in a big stage like that deliver in such a poised way, like come through in that kind of way. I didn't blame him at all for like kind of messing with the crowd or whatever. But that's kind of the more of the subtext of it. Look at this guy's

response and like how he believes in himself and how he communicates that. That's always the stuff with him that I'm like, I'm fascinated with. Oh yeah. By the way, Dana Wade finally, I was wondering if he was going to talk to the media because it's been almost an hour since this card wrapped up. He is talking to the media now. Some items of note, sort of non-committal about Islam's next move, saying it depends on what he wants to do, whether he stays at 170 or not. I can't imagine he doesn't stay at 170. He said that the White House card will not be America versus the world. It'll just be the best possible card that they could put together. He said that he thought Wei would do much better against Schifchenko.

and that this is why they have weight classes. He was thinking of that. He says that he was very high on Pretace and Ewing, taking advantage of those opportunities. And he says that Morales is 19 and O and cool as hell. He checks all of the boxes. By the way, speaking of Morales, you recall, guys, back at the press conference on Thursday,

a reporter asked him if Brady versus Morales was for the number one contender slot. And he responded with the same sort of, sort of nonchalance that you would respond if you were at a bar and a and a bartender was like one another round of beers and he's like sure why not yeah it was amazing it was like wow these guys like hopes and dreams rest on these decisions and he's like yeah so i didn't really take that as like you know i didn't think that as like signed sealed and delivered but you know maybe more else is like hey you said you told us got on tape me yeah right there it's right there um Any other performance that we want to talk about here?

I know you guys were really high on the Pat Sabatini fight. There was a lot of talk about Chipei Mariscal on fight fees. There's something else, though, right? Are we going to talk about, you know, a bit of an incident that occurred on the night? Are we able to talk about this? You're 100% right. Oh, no. That's okay.

That's okay. You guys are referring to the choice of having Max Kellerman do the intro to pre-take-the-hire, right? that is not what is it 2001 all over again comparing the fighters to the buildings that was can you take me higher yeah that's beautiful oh my god what do you call him

Islam Maxlachev what was that did they do it all did did no one like you're actually that was like I mean I feel like it was like someone watching an old WWE

you know intro video and being like yes go with this one this is amazing And could we get Max Kellerman, who was actually let go from ESPN, back on ESPN, because he's Mr. TKO now, voiced this and give us the rub. And compare it to Canelo Crawford, too, just to tie it all together. That would be perfect.

That would be great. What would you say? I can't wait for the next TKO, like, investor call. And Mark Shapiro is going to be like, so yeah, you see, this is corporate synergy. We had Max Kellerman, call Canelo Crawford. Then he showed up on the ESPN broadcast and then we had Cody Rhodes show up and it's just all feeding each other.

It's one big funnel. It's great stuff. No, you guys were, of course, I would imagine referring to the brawl at the beginning of the pay-per-view broadcast. Is that what you're referring to? Yes, that's the one I'm talking to. Yeah, I mean...

I mean, so many personalities involved in these ugly scenes that we're seeing, but uh tell us tell us what happened well it looks like dylan dana's got caved in didn't it by um john pork um chanko um too we've we've learned about this week chanko is where the man's from uh zionikov i believe his name is magamette zonikov the undefeated prospect has won on contender series um a video comes out of islam introducing his team and he says here's my friend chanko but as far as everyone can hear he says john pork john pork is the internet meme. We showed you the picture on the

crack on Friday of what John Pork is. But there's John Pork filling in Dennis from behind, it seems. And there's images on the internet of Dennis being taken away by the police and Chanco being taken away by police. You've got to wonder where this would put

Dennis in terms of his UFC aspirations given that a couple of times in big old spots. Obviously the Habib McGregor fight back in the day and now this, where that will put him in terms of getting in. I don't imagine the UFC are too fun and that kind of thing. But they do love to sell a fight.

And if you're about to pitch Chanko v. Dylan Dennis to UFC and M.A fans, I'd say they'd lap it right up. Well, here's the thing. When I saw that he was at the event, the first thing I saw was him and George St. Pierre, of all people. And I was like, oh, my understanding was Dylan wasn't allowed to go to UFC events. So I was like, all right, good for him. I'm happy. I know he's dying to be in the UFC. see okay maybe this is a nice step towards that literally 15 minutes later you're looking at the

broadcast the open and you know annick is doing his best job of like keeping the train rolling along and dc and jo are completely ignoring you'd have to you'd have to think of a producer was in their ear being like guys please look at the camera like forget about that right now you're on tv um and then within seconds every single person is posting online i'm getting sent all these different angles and stuff like that. And it's very clearly, you know, Dylan and multiple members of, you know, team Habib, team Islam, people that are recognizable getting into a brawl. And here's the thing. Like, we still don't quite know. I reached out to some people about how it popped off. It seemed like, you know, they saw Dylan and something happened. And obviously, you saw the result of it all.

But, you know, this dates back to Connor and Habib, Circa, 2018. And since then, I mean, Dylan has posted so much online about these guys and so you'd have to think like these aren't the type of guys to be like oh ha ha you know let it roll off your back type of thing like they will see you and they will do something about it and so very volatile and and i you saw hunter campbell there ptze and i i don't think that the ufc wants to be in business with dylan to be honest i think they think he's too much of a troublemaker and i think this kind of just seals it like he's just too much of a liability for them. And I feel like you could see the anger on his face. This is Madison Square Garden. They don't want to get embarrassed. There's police involved and stuff like that. There's celebrities

there and all that. I can't imagine Hunter and Dana being like, you know what, we need to capitalize on this. We need to sign this misfits MMA champion and put him up there against this guy. Because this John Pork character has become like a fan favorite. He's getting a massive ovation. I don't think they go that route. Chuck. Do you disagree? Do you think they actually signed Dylan now? I was I was more thinking like that they're just going to. to ban Dylan Danis from ever showing up at an event again. I mean, there's a greater chance of that. There's a greater chance.

Yeah, sorry, go ahead, Joe. No, no, that's it. I just, it's crazy that you've had now two, two of the biggest, you know, I guess like, you know, kind of all out brawls. I mean, it wasn't too bad. Like, I saw at a couple of different angles. It wasn't too bad. But they're both kind of involving the same guy, right?

Like, at some point, you're like, I'd really rather not have him there, much less be in the OC. Yeah. And it is like, you know, it does appear from the videos that we're seeing that Dylan is the one that's the victim in all this, right? Like, he's the one that's getting hiff, like in most of the videos you see. But the problem is, like, he's been in so many of these incidents. Like, it kind of desensitizes you, right?

Like, if this is someone else in there in this situation, you usually don't see them in it. Like, you'd be like, oh, wow, shit. Like, you might feel about it differently. But it's because Dylan, this happened so often that it kind of is like, you feel slightly desensitized to it. Maybe that's wrong, but that's just a reality of the situation. And to your point, it did even seem like Dylan's surrounded by security guards, his police officers there. And you could see Hunter walking boss, like, what the fuck is going on here, man? You know, like, he is just like, I can't believe this, you know?

Well, as fate would have it, Dana was asked about the incident. Okay. Just a few minutes ago at the, at the press conference, this is a summary courtesy of Aaron Bronstetter, of Sportsnet, who is there. And he says, White says that he blames himself for the brawl that occurred in the crowd. He says that security told him in advance that Dylan Dennis was moving his way through the fighter seats and that Jorge Mazvedal told security that he was going to go after them. White said that they should keep an eye on him and then realize that all of Islam's team were going to go after him. He says that Dennis will not attend any future UFC events and they were asked if they wanted to press charges against them, which they declined the option to do. I can't imagine why they would press charges against him

but yeah he's he's fucked Dylan what like so obviously they see him as the instigator of this situation if they're saying Dylan would I think Dylan would have charges yeah and I don't know why the charges I mean he's summarizing who knows what the questions were but um my feeling is

Dylan's not one of their guys they don't particularly like him and they feel like his presence led to all of this and the UFC is now you know it's big business they they can't be having brawls in the crowd you know like this is this is crazy you can't be having brawls in the crowd and so who ultimately knows i'm not blaming dylan for this but i could i can i can like it's very easy to to foresee them just being like enough of this guy like you you've now you've now incited multiple brawls at our

events uh we can't have you here and you know he he really want he wanted to go in the ultimate fighter like he he wanted to do anything to get in the ufc and for whatever reason they weren't interested and and i can't imagine this makes him more attractive to them let's hope conner's not on a plane again you know that's what we need to worry about here remember this happened to yeah stop all the planes in dublin airport we can't let this happen i don't think okay okay just making sure please stop sorry go ahead um here's i mean some i'm reading other quotes uh he says you will never see Dylan Dennis at a UFC fight ever again. He said the entire Muslim Brotherhood was here tonight in the first five rows for Islam.

You will never see Dylan Dennis at a UFC fight ever again, okay. Bad night to get going for Dylan by the sounds of it. The whole, what did he say? The whole Muslim Brotherhood was there in the front row. I'm reading like, you know, these these tweets that are kind of summarizing it. It didn't even cross my mind that the entire, okay, so like, fuck, if you're going to if you're going to recap the the the get the whole down quote they'll just get like a sentence in there for fuck's sake uh it didn't even cross my mind that the entire muslim brotherhood was here tonight to watch Islam as soon as it broke out I went fuck I know exactly what that is okay that makes a little bit more sense thank you spinning back fist appreciate that Jesus.

Dana White on what he told Ethan Ewing at the Wayans. Much respect. What an incredible opportunity for you no matter what happens tomorrow night. I'm going to be sending you something in the mail. All right. So he's going to be getting something there well done. What you think it is? It deserves it.

What's the thing? He's selling them a cake? Maybe. No, like edible arrangement. Edible arrangement. Yeah, like a fruit pole. It would be thoughtful. Thank you.

So. So, yeah. Who knows? I, you know, we'd love to know, like, who actually incited it, but ultimately, like, what are they going to do? Ban all those dudes or ban on the ban? They have to protect the new poster boy, John Pork. Of course, they're not going to let him, you know, they're not going to throw him on the boss. John Porch is kind of the, you know, the star of the show in the end of... That's unbelievable, dude. By the way, I said this to Pizzi. Wait, are you talking about Dennis or John Pork?

We're talking about John Pork, of course. He's the man on everyone's mind. I said this to when it happened, I was like, as if this guy wasn't a big enough baby face already. You can't put a foot wrong, this guy. You just see him like, wailing. I'm like, oh, and then what were those shoes? A generational run. What was the, what were those shoes that Dylan was wearing?

Super Mario shoes or something? What the fuck were they, man? They were just like flailing in the, like, you saw the, like the barricade and you just see the red shoes. It was like, it was like, like the slipper versions of like cons of chook tailors or something. Do you want to get them oversawed slippers? I'm not trying to make light of it.

I, you know, Dylan and I, we made up. We're friends now. Pizza was like he's not instigating. That seems like instigating just by itself, you know. We're in the shoes. Fuck this.

Oh, my dear. We'll wrap things up with this tweet from Ian Machado Gary. He says, and he's seven days away from making that walk, I want to see Morales versus Prachas,

number one contender, and Leon retire. By the way, shout out to Ian. He did say that he did say that Prachis would he did call it, yeah, with starch Leon.

Does that mean he's correct about his forecast for the Bilalphi that he's going to finish him and anything else is unacceptable? Let me tell you something. If he does Oh yeah, absolutely. He's 100% in the mix. Gentlemen, what a day. The day started earlier today,

well, yesterday. The day started earlier today, actually yesterday, with a ho-hummer, a ho-hummer, a ho-hummer at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium well it was great if you're a Connor Ben fan but it just wasn't quite what's a sequel to a movie that just doesn't

quite like doesn't even come close to the original you know like what's most sequels yeah godfather two is that for you guys it's fantastic oh shit which one what's in the past movie right men and black two avatar Frank just said the second avatar I don't know if anyone

saw the first the blue people I did A lot of blue peeps. Oh, okay, yeah. Anyway, pretty, it didn't quite live up to the hype. Everyone was going Gaga over the 50 cent thing, but he was like kind of lip singing and he was like saying like one word every like fifth, you know, fifth sentence. I don't know, it was weird. It was a little clunky.

It was a great scene. That was the best part of the fight. Yeah, it was a nice little surprise, but I thought the, uh, the entrance in April was way better. A brilliant win for Connor, brilliant performance. Chris Eubank, lethargic, lifeless, not great. stuff out of him. We'll talk more about that on Monday. And then it transitioned into this card, which was phenomenal. It was the best card of the year on paper, in my opinion, and it definitely

delivered, despite the fact that the main event in Comain weren't exactly the most exciting. You got to see pure brilliance, dominance. You got to see athletic prowess at its very best. Where else would you rather be than right here right now? Chuck, any final thoughts before we go, or do we steal your final thought? No, but like the 31 minutes of custody, like between the to Co-Maine and the main, that's basically what it came down to, right? Like 31 minutes of control time. I mean, to me, that's its own transcendence. If you have champions that are that good, you got to somehow appreciate that too, right?

I got to be honest, when you said custody, I thought there was going to be like a Dylan Dennis joke in there. Same here. I was waiting for it. I was waiting for it. I thought you were. I'm rusty on my final thoughts. I did enjoy seeing your boy action Bronson sitting there.

with the Cheeto Vera tonight. That was kind of cool. A foifee's fan. Yeah. Yeah. The guy of the voice piece video, right? He was wearing glasses on his head and also glasses on his hat, too. You can do that shit when you're in Fraction Bronson.

We can't do that shit. He can't. You know what I mean? And Cheeto, again, just, like, has a habit of looking completely different every time he's on camera. Every time. Completely different to being. He's like a very handsome Mr. Potato Head.

Like, he just keeps changing, like, facial hair. and, you know what I mean? What's the mustache on us for you? Going to go for hair today and no mustache. Great stuff. Great stuff. All right, jents.

It's time to go to bed or it's time to have breakfast if you're Petey. Good luck in your football. Cheers, man. I'll see you on Tuesday, yeah? Cheers. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Guys, everyone.

Ptze wants you to let you know that he is off on Mondays when it's a pay-per-view. He sleeps for the next 48 hours. Oh. He needs to rest up. It's 36. 36 hours, you know, because... Who's to check, right? Who's to check?

Oh, Frank is definitely sleeping. Come on, you said it twice. What am I? Come on, give it to us, Frank. Yeah. There it is. Congratulations, Islam. Shout out to him, the new champion.

By the way, is he a double champ? They take the belt away, but then they bring the belt back. very confusing the photo message is all over the fucking place it's all over the gaff he's the welterweight champion we'll see what's next for him valentina and still we've got a new star in michael morales we've got the reemergence of an old star who was once a new star and carlos preface b sd the god of war holy smokes what a freaking shot that was and what a comeback for him not that long ago he was losing two in a row and people were writing him off around this time last year. Bo Nichols, well, what a great night.

It's always special when it's at the world's most famous arena. And it's always special when three puck is recapping a pay-per-view. One more left in 2025, my friends, that comes up on December 6. We'll be with you for that one. But for now, we say good night for Pizzi, for Chuck, for G.C. and Rick, who did a phenomenal job, as always with the watch party for the entire crew back in New York City in the control room. director andy mysterious frank josh dan jordan we love you good night we'll talk to you on monday