The Ariel Helwani Show - Who's next for Alex Pereira?, Amanda Nunes or Kayla Harrison for Julianna Peña, is Fighter of The Year locked up

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

Ariel and the boys are back to recap UFC 307 (3:46) and then look ahead. Who does Alex Pereira fight next and will it be at light heavyweight or heavyweight? (20:42) Plus, they discuss whether Pereira locked up Fight and Fighter of the Year on Saturday night.Julianna Peña reclaimed the UFC women's bantamweight title, so will it be Amanda Nunes or Kayla Harrison who she faces in her first defense? (49:33)Then, they circle back to the rest of UFC 307 (59:53), including Mario Bautista's victory against Jose Aldo and whether it was the right booking , Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland ending via injury, and Joaquin Buckley with another big win at welterweight.Finally, they wrap up with a look at the weekend in combat sports (1:16:51), headlined by Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol from Saudi Arabia.

back in your life on this second week of october 2000 and 24 hello again everyone hope you're doing well welcome back another edition our, pardon our dust, edition of the program. This time next week, we will be up and running. Studio being built literally right next door to where we're recording this. October 14th is our launch day. I put out the schedule this morning. Hopefully you saw that. Everything will be back to normal and then some, but of course, as we've been doing out

of the kindness of our hearts, we've been doing these podcasts every Monday, our Pardon Our Dust podcast to keep you enlightened and up to speed on everything that we are building and doing here at the Uncrowned headquarters within the Yahoo Sports headquarters. And there's obviously a lot to talk about on this Monday. By the way, it feels good to say, back in your life, like with a, because when I do it on a Saturday night at 2 a.m. when my family is sleeping, it's a very subdued, it's like a, back in your life.

A little depleted. Yeah, no, it's very noticeable to me. Of course, inevitably every Sunday, everyone complains that I was too loud, but those days are coming to an end because soon we'll have the post shows from right here at our Uncrowned HQ. So I'm very much looking forward. That was the last stop. This will be the very last stop. And then this time next week, my friends, golly, we have so much to offer all of you. We've got the Helwani show Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

The Boys in the Back on Thursday. It's a crack on Friday every single day, 1 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel. Of course, please do subscribe. Please do rate. Please do notify. Please do comment. And then on the pod feeds, please do comment. Please do subscribe.

Please do rate. Please do follow. All that and more. And there's a few other goodies yet to be announced that are coming as well. feeds please do comment please do subscribe please do rate please do follow all that and more and there's a few other goodies yet to be announced that are coming as well so i mean the vibes are immaculate right now the vibes are immaculate i can't believe it i cannot believe it like when you just laid it out there that the studio is getting built literally 10 feet away from us and this time next week we will be launching everything it feels. I'm right in the middle of this sweet spot of,

I have a very fondness for the Pardon Our Dust era. But then the new era that I'm excited about launching next week is also like a feeling that I'm having. So it's right in the middle of that. I was looking back at the YouTube channel. The last time I did a show in studio, like a proper show, it was the Terence crawford episode it was coming off of jake paul mike perry how long ago does jake paul mike perry feel right

now eternity you know like all the stuff that has happened uh in the sport in combat sports but also to us the last time we all did a show where we were all in studio together was June 10th or something. Oh, that's right. June 12th. Because, yeah. It's been a minute. Yeah. So I'm so excited.

There's so much to be excited about. Of course, New York Rick is here. GC is here. Frank, behind the ones and twos. Great job on Saturday. Frank, great job. Jordan as well, who helped us out with the post show. Andy is here.

The whole team is coming together. And I do want to with the post show. Andy is here. The whole team is coming together. And I do want to mention the post show. We did an instant reaction show, if you will, from MyHQ. Jordan did a great job producing that. And that's up on the YouTube channel right now. So thank you for watching that. But now we've had some time

to digest UFC 307. And you two fine gentlemen didn't have a chance to weigh in just yet. So we're getting your very first thoughts here on this particular episode. And so UFC 307 has come and gone. Salt Lake City, once again, a fine host for the UFC, a $5 million gate, which is crazy when you consider they're in Salt Lake City. The UFC now won two and three all time as far as gates are concerned at that particular arena. It was once known as the Delta Center, then it was something else, then it was something else. Now it's the Delta Center again. And once again, third time in a row, the Utah crowd is treated to an incredible main event. The first time around in this particular era of pay-per-views over there You got the Leon Edwards knockout of Kamaru Usman

Almost at the buzzer The next time out You got the Justin Gaethje knockout of Dustin Poirier And then this time you get A freaking all-time classic Between Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr. The kind of fight I think that if you are

Friends with people who don't like MMA You say just watch this and if you want to go even if you don't have a lot of time just put on the fourth round just put on the fourth round and show them why we love the sport so much the heart the determination the skill it wasn't just rock'em sock'em robots what

Alex Pereira was doing in that fourth round in terms of his striking in terms of his distance management in terms of his head movement in terms of his striking, in terms of his distance management, in terms of his head movement, in terms of his precision and his power was nothing short of amazing. It was beautiful. It was beautiful to watch. It was beautiful violence. And the combo of the ebbs and flows of the fight, plus the heart, plus Roundtree on the big stage for the first time, plus Pereira saying, not tonight, not today, today i'm still the man all of that combined

in a in a main event that was somewhat maligned when it was first announced by the the naysayers who were saying he didn't earn it khalil he's coming off this infraction blah blah blah that to me right now and maybe this is a bit of you know, I'm a prisoner of the moment type of situation. That's my fight of the year. And Alex Pereira is my fighter of the year as far as male MMA is concerned. And he is my MVP of the year as well. And we'll get into all of that and more.

But when I say Khalil Roundtree, Alex Pereira to you and what you witnessed on Saturday, the blood, the guts, the glory, the action, all glory, the action, all that, Rick. What comes to mind? Stock up for both guys. One of those fights, one of those performances from both that you

go, there were no losers here. I know that's kind of academic on Khalil Roundtree Jr.'s side. He wants to be the champion. He wants to have won the fight. But the boost to his profile, the boost to his stock is immeasurable. Like he becomes a guy that now who had previously been only fighting in the apex against guys who we don't know, stepped in with Alex Pereira and raised his stock. And I

think that you can't measure what that will do for the rest of his career now. And he seems that, he posted on Instagram how motivated he is to now get back in there and build on this um he has a great platform a great springboard to now do that so stock up for him and then what more do we need to say about alex perera at this point like he has been the poster child for the ufc now for the last several years every time they need somebody to fight right it sounded like after the fight he listed listed off a litany of reasons that he could have potentially pulled out of this fight. And if he was a lesser man or not Alex Pereira, he might have, but he shows up reliably every time. And not only does he show up, not only is he the guy who says, call me and I will answer the call. When he gets in the cage,

he delivers the violence and he wins all these scenarios. So I don't know if there's somebody who right now has as much cachet with the fans, with the UFC, with everybody who's his colleague, with even opponents who are having to walk in there and face this guy. Alex Pereira is just one of one at this moment. I don't think there's anybody like him

and maybe there's never been anybody like him in history in terms of how active he is and then also continuing to deliver these moments. Yeah, I mean, when it comes to Clue Roundtree tree i thought he just like on saturday night how could have he had a better performance without winning the fight itself i mean i thought he had an excellent walkout i thought it was very entertaining that he bought into the stare down i know like espn and and ufc when they're producing it now it's like they buy into the alex prayer stare downs make them very dramatic and then from the opening bell,

as soon as the fight started, he looked comfortable, he looked calm, and he looked ready to fight. He won the first two rounds on all three judges' scorecards. And you're kind of sitting there like, what if this thing goes all 25 and Khalil Rountree gets one of these last three rounds

and he ends up winning this fight and taking the belt? It would have been crazy. And then when he dropped Alex Pereira, he had huge moments in there, that head kick that almost landed as well. He had fantastic moments. And then you go to the way that he's handling the loss as well. Like he never shot for any takedowns. Like he fought to the very end. And then when he lost, he gave all credit to Alex Pereira. He said, I'm going to come back better. I'm going to be a better fighter because of this. I appreciate all my fans,

everyone throughout this week. It's been incredible. So like, I just don't know how his stock cannot skyrocket. He has exciting fights. He's, he has an incredible story. He's a likable dude. And he has, uh, he, you know, wears his heart on his sleeve. It was, it was unbelievable. And then Alex Pereira, you guys said it. I mean, like, it just feels like he can do no wrong. Like, it just feels like he can do no wrong at this point. They're both for different reasons. Everything we love about MMA on the one hand, you have Pereira, who's a freaking beast. who's this incredible story who came in as the sort of side story of of israel destiny now has become the guy to the point where is he's now watching him and rooting him on yeah

you know you see that clip like is he now there was a point where is he was like i want nothing to do with this guy he's profiting off of me and my success here and would like not even want to talk about his name or not even want to talk about his name or not even want to talk about his presence. Eugene, too. He said he was going to be sitting on a bar stool when he was saying, I fought that guy. And now Izzy's giving him shine.

Honestly, if you're Izzy, it's like, yeah, man, no one can beat this guy. But remember, I knocked him out. If I'm Izzy, that's the way I would look at it. I love Izzy and Alex together. And the one thing I'll say on this, I know we want to move on to the future, but it's the perfect story for both of them, right?

It's in the place where Alex lost the last one, but he's gone on to so much more that it doesn't feel like he needs to get it back from Israel. And Israel has one of the best knockouts ever, the best celebrations ever. The one guy who can say, I stopped Alex Pereira like this. They both have their part of the story

and they can move on. And there doesn't need to be animosity because they both got what they needed out of it. And now they can kind of be on the same boat. They're both at peace. Yeah. And so you have Alex who keeps showing up when the UFC needs him most.

Again, they needed him for 300. They needed him for 303. Again, they needed him for this card too because once Islam got hurt, they had nothing for Utah. And so he steps up and you mentioned it. He went through it at the press conference. His visa had expired.

He was stuck in Brazil. He couldn't go back to Connecticut to train with Glover and Plinio and kept going every day to get his passport approved and checked to see if he was done. Then he comes over, he's sick, antibiotics. He has no voice, needs more antibiotics in Utah.

You heard him at the press conference. He can hardly speak. He said he recorded a video that he was only gonna post if he won about how sick he was. And he also said that the ligaments in his toe have not healed yet. This guy is battling through a litany of things

and he shows up and he fights like that. And you mentioned GC Khalil in the first round. Those dudes, they were throwing with such... I compared it to a guy coming into the ninth inning just throwing heat, like 98, right? This was such... Not anger, per se, but everything they were throwing had everything on it.

Anytime they landed, it was like, oh, damn. Yes. Damn. Or not landed. Anytime they landed, it was like, oh, damn. Yes. Damn. Or not landed. 99% of humanity is crumbling after one of those shots. And they're in there. And Khalil is so ripped and he's in such good shape.

Like everything just looks like it hurts, you know? Both guys. It probably does. Bang, bang. And the first two rounds, like it's mesmerizing. And then you're like, damn. But you're worried also for Khalil if you're rooting for him okay like is he just throwing too much in these shots and how is the how is the altitude going to affect them and and the fact that he hasn't

fought since December and the stage will that affect them and then Alex starts to turn it on the whole thing was just a thing of beauty and I'm talking about them representing the best of MMA and then you have Khalil he's so down to earth and he's so lovable. And he has such a good story. If you learn about his backstory, not only his personal story, but what happened to his father getting murdered and the stuff that he's had to overcome. And even as you said, the way he is handling it in the aftermath, he didn't speak to the press because you probably by now seen the photos of how he looked and he probably looks way worse now because that was in the immediate aftermath. There's like clumps of blood coming out of his nose. Dude, yes. When he did the Joe Rogan interview, I was like, what is that coming

out? Like it was like a full just strand of blood. But he comes on Instagram yesterday and writes, I didn't win the title, but I grew last night. Alex Pereira, thanks for helping me see that I'm ready to take on the world. Who says that? How can you not love me? You showed amazing skill. You brought out a version of me that I needed to experience. You're the champ for a reason. Much respect.

But I now know what I'm capable of. Salt Lake City, you guys were amazing. Gave me such memorable experiences. And then he goes on to thank everyone. I'll be back even better. It's inevitable. I'm grateful. Never give up on yourself.

Always fight hard. Uplift your communities and find ways to make the most out of life. It's just like, dude, come on. And he's like, he's, he's emotional on the way out of the octagon. It's just like, how can you not support this guy and cheer for him? Like, and then on the cherry on top, his fights are almost always exciting. And both guys, both guys are beautiful. Both guys are so fun to root for. And in a stretch, as we were talking about last week, where there's been some results where the UFC is like, okay, how do we make stars? You look at the pound for pound rankings right now, it's a little void of superstars. There's Alex Pereira, the MVP

of the UFC, the male fighter of the year, the man, just delivering once again. And great, now we have a new player at 205, and hopefully he takes a long, long time off. But can we just talk about that fourth round? Like that fourth round, when you go back and watch the sequence that leads to the finish of Alex just moving and just, it almost, to me it was two things. It was like, okay, enough of this.

And two, like, I found my flow. And then he was just flowing out there, right? And that's a high level. We forget two division champion in glory kickboxing. That is a high, high level striker. To watch him work in the fourth round like that was a thing of beauty. It really was.

When we got to the end of the third, when the bell rang in the third, I knew that Alex was about to cook him. That was it. That was the last gas that Khalil had. He gave everything and more. You could not ask for him to give more of himself at that point. But I think by the end of the third round, it was very clear.

Khalil was running on fumes, and Alex was just getting started. And as he said before, that's kind of when he's at his best. Come fourth round round Khalil's like the leg is severely damaged right he's been accumulating those leg kicks the gas tank starting to empty and you've just got a guy who's standing in front of you who is the boogeyman like that is that is unfortunately for every opponent that he faces who he is he's always going to be there unless you do what Israel Asani did and you knock him out which is easier said than done he's going to be standing there

and you're going to land your best shots and he's going to land his best shots. And, you know, 9.99 times out of 10, his best shots are going to be better than your best shots. Once Khalil wasn't landing anymore, which he was doing effectively in the first two rounds,

it was just a matter of time and Alex is just too good at that. Yuri Prohoshka got on Twitter and called it a hunt and like re-watching the fourth round which i did that's really what it is like it's just like he wore on him through the first three rounds obviously khalil had a bunch of success early on but then those leg kicks accumulating and it's just like i cannot imagine we talk about the the punches they were throwing i can't imagine how bad those leg kicks are from alex brer and it just keeps coming over and over. And then just what he did in the fourth round, the patience that he

showed when he clearly had Khalil severely affected and hurt. It really was just like, it was like art. Like I was, I couldn't sit down. It was just one of those things where you're like, this is crazy. Like he's, he's whiffing on every shot right now talking about Khalil because of Alex's head movements. It was, I mean, it's just like why we love the sport. Like, that's all I can say. It's one of those fights where afterwards you're like on a high. You're just like, that was just so incredible. And then the finishing sequence and everything,

just a massive body shot, uppercuts. It was amazing. It was amazing. It's a round that like, I will always be willing to just go back and just turn on and watch. It's just like, yeah, I got five minutes. I can watch this.

He's just so money for the UFC right now. He really is. um afterwards on sunday i was just walking my dog macha and i just i don't know i just tweeted something and i said you know if if i was in charge i'm giving this guy a long break i'm not having him return until around july or so and man people disagreed with me vehemently holy shit i was like okay and. And listen, I understand. If you're a fan, you're like, give me this every weekend, right? I get it. And what was so funny to me was everyone, a lot of the arguments were, nah, he's 37.

He's got to work. That's exactly why I think he should take a break. He's 37. Look, we saw what happened to some of the city kickboxing guys. You go back too soon, there's a bit of a drop off there. Look at this run. He's on an all-time legendary run. The difference between March and July is minimal for us as fans, but for him, it can make all the difference. You need to give him a break. I mean, he's essentially asking for a break when he's going through the litany of things he'll never say it they probably call him for december but like i see some people being like have him and tom fight in december are you out

of your fucking mind look at his face look at look at his body look at everything that he's talking about you cannot go up to heavyweight to invite a killer come on man it's crazy am i off base with this here's my one put uh no you're you're inbounds on this. The one thing I would say is the sport has become too volatile and now we're looking at longer now you're looking at extending a time where you could be using him and he is 37 and he is the only one who you can guarantee at this point is going to show up and fight if you call alex perera and you make the money right he will be there on that day his body needs to chill man i'm with you i'm with you it's a lot to ask of him but what i did is three fights three fights since april right no one else is doing this no title defenses in less than six months and then and then since his light heavyweight debut in utah it's five that was his fifth fight what is fifth win since july what happens like 30th yeah what happens if though

you plan for july and then that fight doesn't materialize then with alex he's such a star it doesn't really matter and we'll get to who could be next for him it ain't like there's some multi-million dollar fight waiting for him at 205 right now no there's no there's so so so honestly be big fights honestly keeping him on the sidelines for a minute actually allows for some things to happen at 205 and we'll get to what's next in a moment. But here's what I would love for him, which I think would be super cool. And maybe the ship has sailed on this. They tend to go to Brazil around May or so.

I would love to see him in Rio. And remember, the original plan was him in Rio this past year, but then they needed him for 300. That would be... Brazil deserves a guy like that right now. And they've been so good to the Andersons and the Jose's of the world. So, so if they are,

and there, there is no announcement or anything like that, but they'll go to Rio. They always go to Rio when they're, when they're, you know, up and running. So if it's May, it's May, but I'm just saying like, I don't want to hear about, you know,

coming back in January or some shit or coming back in February or March. Like that's way too soon. There's also no fight that you go, it has to happen with this person in January. That could be Q1, even into Q2.

It's fine to do that. So I'm with you mostly. My fear is the sport has become so unreliable in terms of that long-term planning. Everything just seems

to not happen when we look that far ahead. We got to see what happens with Ankalayev too. So let's see what happens with Ankalayev too. So let's discuss. Magomed Ankalayev, I think everyone agrees, should have been fighting for the belt on Saturday.

If this was a meritocracy, if this was based on win streak, I believe it's 12 unbeaten. There's the one no contest. There's the one draw, blah, blah, blah. No one is saying that the Ankalayev prayer fight would have been as exciting, right? UFC was proven right by the results of Saturday

I was going to say, I'm glad he didn't fight him and I think we all kind of had a feeling I think I said it last week, there's just no thought in my mind going into that fight there was no thought that this was going to be a boring fight you tried to jinx it and it still didn't even work yeah, it didn't work but in two weeks, he's fighting friend of the show

Alexander Rakic if he wins that fight do you have to give it to him? didn't even work. Yeah, it didn't work. Yeah. But in two weeks, he's fighting friend of the show, Alexander Rakic. Yes. If he wins that fight, do you have to give it to him? No. You don't? No.

Holy shit. I feel like you book it. Who else is there? At 205? No, no, no. It's not going to be at 205. Oh, you're saying go up to heavyweight. Yeah.

Okay, so is it just like a classic Anderson Silva's fighting Forrest Griffin type of heavyweight fight The name I have in mind Is Cyril Ghosn That's the name that's coming to my head Cyril Ghosn gets his job done

So Cyril Ghosn was supposed to fight The timing would have been better there Maybe not, he's free No, but oh, you're saying don't do the booking Yeah, but I guess it's a long It's a long, yeah, okay, fine So if he wins If Cyril Ghosn wins You give him the booking. Yeah, but I guess it's a long December, right? It's a long, yeah, okay, fine, fine. So if he wins. If Cyril Ghosn wins,

you give him Cyril Ghosn. The fight I really want is Tom Aspinall versus Alex Pereira. But what I think would be a better potential step and something that I think you can achieve easier, because Tom Aspinall's future is kind of uncertain, is Cyril Ghosn

versus Alex Pereira. you move up to heavyweight and you do an anderson silva type he has he has earned the opportunity to be in that realm i get if somebody would come to me and say does the there not have to be some meritocracy in the sport i think the idea that like it's only meritocracy has been gone for a long time but doesn't there have to be some meritocracy? Doesn't Ankalayev have to get a shot? No. Okay, so what, like your Hunter Campbell,

Ankalayev wins. By the way, if he stops Rakic, does it help? No. No, nothing. Doesn't change it. I'm happy you're saying this,

not me. Yeah. Okay, what are you telling Ankalayev? 13. Sit and wait for a bit. Wait or you need a couple more? No, no, no, no no he doesn't need a couple more but you have to wait like if he wins he cannot but by the way if he's not of interest

after that what is the waiting gonna do i don't know if it's ever gonna be of interest yeah well you have to see what the what they if if he does go up to heavyweight you see how that plays out right there's there's the israel dasagna goes up and fights jan blahovich loses unsuccessful comes back defense title right you can you can find the path there where you're you're back in your own division if you are unsuccessful at heavyweight do you think alex prayer is going up to heavyweight for a non-title fight if it's a main event i would like it i actually don't mind that but the zero gone matchup feels like it's nice i can just see them both bouncing in there just like a nice strikers affair again that feels like a paper headliner for me oh yeah also how long do

you think it would take for alex perera to balloon up to where he's comfortable fighting in heavyweight i mean john jones took two and i don't think he's on the john jones plan of more right wasn't it wasn't it oh three wasn't it 23 i think it was three years yeah it was march 23 to yeah i would February 2020. I also wouldn't be surprised. By the way, like, Cyril Ghosn is one of the heavyweights where I feel like you're not potentially facing somebody who's cut down. Okay, what if Ghosn loses?

You're doing him versus Volkov? No, I'd probably still do Ghosn, honestly. Forever versus Volkov. Okay, so we're not even... So, do you agree with this? No, I should say 205 and defend the title again. Against Ancalaya. Yeah, I think there's a clear matchup there.

If Rakic wins, what happens? Yeah, then we're in a bit of a twister here. Are you doing Rakic versus... I don't know. He's on a bit of a losing streak. Yeah, I don't know. No, it would be a gigantic win. By the way, again, we like to talk sometimes.

We were talking last week about Juliana Pena and Kayla Harrison. We'll get to that fight, of course. Deep in the bowels of the UFC headquarters in Vegas, there's got to be something like, come on, Rakic, get this done, right? But does that solve it? So he loses his fight? Rakic is a striker more. I mean, it's a bit of a better...

What is the advantage of Alex Per... Look, I know that long streaks of title defenses are impressive, and that's what we build. Like Alex Volkanovsky, right? It was like, no, there's no good option. If not now for heavyweight, when? This is the perfect opportunity. If you are the UFC, yeah, you do have to kind of be thinking,

would you rather book Ankalayev versus Alex Perera, where Ankalayev, Bet online released the the odds and like early look odds and onkoli is the favorite in that matchup like you risk wow a massive superstar losing his title to someone who does not share that same star power or a guy who is a big name in zero gone alex perera making his debut at um 265 risking greatness all of this like i i could see how the ufc likes what you are laying out. I like gone, but I would take any heavyweight.

That's my honest. Volkov would be good. Okay. So just sticking with light heavyweight, you know, it's like the greatest sort of compliment that Pereira is receiving in some respects is the fact that throughout history, look no further than Conor McGregor himself.

When someone goes on a run like this, who has a striking style, the first thing people always say is, yeah, but he hasn't fought a wrestler. Here, everyone's like, please don't fight a wrestler. We just want more of this. We don't want anything to do with this. Just give us more of this violence, right? So I don't see anyone really clamoring for this fight,

which is, I think, a testament to his popularity. But just in case you're wondering who's out there at light heavyweight, prayer of the champ, Yuri is number one. He's beaten him twice. No chance. Uncle Ive is number two. He's fighting on October 26th.

Let's see. Our old friend, Sweet Dreams, Jamal Hill, pissed off a lot of people. He's got to get a W. On Saturday. He can't just... What did you make of the video GC of him?

What's the point? What are you doing, dude? What are you doing yawning after one of the uh video gc of him what are you doing dude what like what are you doing yawning after one of the most exciting fights we've seen after one of the most exciting rounds of the year you said it's it's your fight of the year i think it's definitely a contender obviously you got to digest the whole year at the end round four is absolutely on a short list for a round of the year yeah without a doubt and then you're gonna sit in the crowd yawning like so is is there a case be made that by being such a hater it got people talking about him on sunday morning he

was talking about you in a hyper critical like shut up you goof what are you doing man like here's the thing though to ariel's point it would also be easy for jamal hill to fade into the background it would very it'd be very easy for jamal hill to not be mentioned by anybody ever again i think i think it's jamal hill khalil roundtree i think that's the clear matchup i think i think that would be a very exciting fight i think i think i was always supposed to get john between 29 yeah like if jamal hill wins he is 100 either next for the belt or like he is right back in that title picture but i just don't think he gets a rematch off of off of getting knocked out i think he's doing the right thing i i truly believe like continuing to look we it's slim pickings at

205 we are just talking about it now but you think about Anthony Smith right Anthony Smith just poking the bear poking the bear with Alex poking the bear with Alex and Alex responds the the clip of Alex Burrow responding and saying like he thinks uh Jamal Hill might have just woken up for 300 that's why he was on it what a good response it he thinks Jamal Hill might have just woken up for 300. That's why he was yawning. What a good response. It is keeping Jamal. He's so calm and you have to go through

all the translations and stuff and he's just like, uh-huh, uh-huh. He's just like, yeah, I think he just woke up from 300. So good. It's amazing.

Great response, but it is keeping Jamal's name. I think he's doing the right thing. That's what I believe that he's doing the right thing. You have to play the game. Like, Juliana Pena, we can all admit

is not a fan favorite, but she remained in the title picture by using her mouth to get there, like talking a bunch of shit and working her way into the title picture. Is there a desire for Pereira Hill 2 next? If Hill came out and did spark like a collision. No, no, no, no, no, like next. No. I really believe that he needs to fight.

Because you know that's what he wants. Oh, no chance. i really believe because you know that's what he wants oh no chance who hill of course that's what hill wants yeah no doubt about it he he's confident that he can revenge this loss and who doesn't want to just fight for the title but he probably thinks i'm a champ i lost to him i got hurt like give it to me now i'm sure he's gonna say that of course but no fighters are always gonna think that what does the ufc think so you don't think there's a chance i mean think there's a chance? I mean, maybe there's a chance, but I'm not interested.

Especially, like, the only way that happens, Ankalayev loses, and Pereira is adamant at staying, and they just want to put Jamal Hill over Rakic. Well, you said that, you know, Roundtree, Hill makes a lot of sense. I agree.

I don't know if the timing works out. He's coming off a knee injury, but, like, Roundtree needs Hill makes a lot of sense. I agree. I don't know if the timing works out. He's coming off a knee injury, but like Roundtree needs a considerable amount of time off. To me, Jamal Hill, Jan Bochovic, Jamal Hill, Yuri Prochaska,

he's got to beat one of these dudes. He didn't beat any of these guys to get into the title picture. He got into the title picture by a series of wacky things happening. First year he gets hurt. Then it's the draw between Ankalayev. Remember,

if Ankalayev and Bohovic don't fight to a draw, he's never getting a title shot. And then he's fighting Glover on super short notice. So, like, a win over Jan, a win over Yuri

would go a long way, in my opinion. Also, like, do we just get the immediate rematch for him? I know, obviously, Pereira's fought since off of zero title defenses.

Yeah. Pereira's fought, by the way, twice now since their fight. Insanity. Yeah. Insanity. Did Olberg get rebooked? Olberg was supposed to fight

That's another player at Light Heavyweight, man. I forgot about Carlos Olberg. They'll take Olberg and shoot him right up there in the title shot before giving it to Magomed. Can you imagine the stare down

between Carlos Olberg and Alex Pereira? Well, just going through the rest of the list, there's Volkan Ozdemir, there's Nikita Krylov. Ozdemir has looked really good lately. He's a good name right now. Khalil was eight.

I'm guessing he'll probably move up a little bit off that performance. Khalil, I feel like... Johnny and Carlos. It's just right there. You do Carlos or you do Jamal Hill against Khalil? Why wouldn't Khalil get shot back up faster than Jamal Hill would get shot back up? That's what I'm not understanding.

Jamal Hill's case is very flimsy for me to be next. He got starched in round one. And what is the argument? Whereas Khalil showed a lot of heart, had a really great performance. I'd see Khalil run it back before I'd see Jamal Hill. Now, if Jamal Hill comes out and beats the living hell out of his next opponent, finishes them. Now I'm potentially in. Yeah, now I'm potentially in.

But it can't just be next. There needs to be something else here. I'm 100% with you. Jamal Hill beat Thiago Santos to get his title shot. Correct. Yeah. Tiago Santos to get his title shot. Correct. Yeah. Tiago Santos. In August of 2022

when Tiago Santos was on his last leg. That was also a fight that Tiago Santos was up two rounds to one going into round four. I, like,

I rate Jamal Hill. Like, the performance is great. He's a great fighter and he's very exciting. But it's like, the wins were

Jimmy Crute, Johnny Walker, Tiago Santos, and then a Glover title. So I think there's no argument. There's no Jan in there. No Yuri in there. So, okay.

So we wait to see what happens with Magomed. That's step one. If he wins, it's an interesting thing. If he doesn't win, all right, there's some people saying Aspinall Jones is the fight. Do you see any scenario Johnny Bones wins in November here in New York and they're doing john jones alex perra yes good over aspinall if i'm john jones that's the fight i want more

if i'm a bigger star alex perra and john jones would be bigger star better matchup monumental like in terms of like scope and scale and then to connor's point can that be a legion stadium oh man yeah i think so i really think so we were talking about stadium shows is there a bigger like in terms of like scope and scale. And then to Connor's point, can that be a Legion stadium? Oh man. Yeah. I think so. I really think so. We were talking about stadium shows. Is there a bigger fight outside of a Conor McGregor fight than John Jones

versus, uh, Alex Perez? Those are the UFC's two biggest guys right now outside of Conor. Yeah. And you're pairing. Right. Like Islam Makachev is a massive star,

but like you can't give that dance partner to him. Who's the dance partner? Yeah. I mean, maybe there's a Teporia in Spain scenario. Teporia in Spain. I think it's John and Alex. Teporia moves up to try to get double champ status

against Islamov. If he beats Max, his stock is going to be super high. It's going to be high, but you could do John and Alex in any arena in any part of the world, and it's going to sell out. Speaking of Ilya Teporia, and several people posed this to me. You said it earlier.

Alex Pereira, male fighter of the year. If Ilya Teporia goes out people posed this to me. You said it earlier. Alex Pereira, male fighter of the year. If Ilya Teporia goes out there and puts Max's lights out, is there any chance he becomes male fighter of the year? Okay, so it's a great question,

but I just, let's, I'm going in chapters, but it's a great question. I just, I think Aspinall versus Pereira is incredible.

I think Aspinall versus Pereira is incredible. I think Pereira versus Jones. I just don't see the scenario right now where Jones wins

November 16th he doesn't fight Aspinall next unless unless he says to the UFC like give me him and then I'll fight him

then Aspinall is really getting fucked big time yeah that's that's what I go back to like you can't what does Aspinall do does he just keep

defending the interim belt? Can those two guys fight each other, and then the winner fights Pereira? If, oh, John and Tom? John and Tom fight. Unify the belts. If I'm John, I want the Alex path. Of course.

Take his shine. Take his shine away. It's the easier fight stylistically, in my opinion. Right? Like, I think, it's no secret. First of all, if you are fighting Alex Pereira, and your game plan isn't to shoot takedowns, you've made a critical mistake. I don't care if you've been a striker for your entire life. You will lose.

You will not win that fight. Khalil Rountree did as good. Israel Adesanya did as good as you're going to do. But even that, Alex lumped him up pretty bad. If you are in the cage with Alex Pereira and you are not shooting takedowns, I don't care if you were a glory kickboxer for all this time, you better start training wrestling and you better try to take him down because any other game plan is

foolish. You will not win that battle. You want to know what's amazing is that if Magomed Ankalayev gets the title shot and all he does is go for takedowns and he wins a 25-minute decision just wrestling Alex Pereira, his stock will go down even further. He will become the champion and his stock will be as low as it can get. Just ask Mario Bautista

about that. Mario Bautista tweets have been insane. And we'll get to him as well. If you do John versus Alex, let's say John goes, okay, I want Alex, right? Bigger star. And he's, by the way, he's talked about this. He's been on Twitter and said he would rather fight Alex than Tom. He's talked like, get your stock up.

Yeah. Now is part of that trust trying to needle Tom or does he really feel it? It's both. Then just do Cyril versus Tom in the meantime, right? Cyril versus Tom. Winner of that then fights the winner of Alex and John. And you've got, you've got it right there. Done.

It's just such a raw deal. Crystal ball. Crystal ball. When do we see Alex again and against who? I'm going to go Alex and May in Rio against Smogamon Uncle Ive. What do you think? I don't know when, but we will

see Alex versus John or Tom. Wow. No more surreal gun. I would love that. Tell me what you think happens I think that happens because what I'm predicting Is something is going to fall apart And the phone call that happens is to Alex Pereira

And that's Alex versus John At Allegiant Stadium There's one guy in light heavyweight and heavyweight And hell even middleweight Like the Drik is too plusy thing I don't think is off the table For Alex Pereira There's one guy who if you make the call across middleweight, like the Drik is too plus seed thing, I don't think is off the table for Alex Pereira. There's one guy who, if you make the call across middleweight,

light heavyweight, and heavyweight, he will answer it and he will step in for a main event. And that is a valuable position to be in. I think his next fight is going to be massive. I like your scenario, GC, of him fighting in Rio, and I can see Magomed being that guy. If you just kind of look at the dominoes, John fights on November

16th, I think he wins, and I would like to see him fight Tom afterwards, and then I would like the winner of that to fight Alex. Here's the problem. Alex Pereira is 37, and at some point, the wheels fall off, father time undefeated. I'm worried that the last

stop before that super fight is Magomed Ankkalayev as an almost 38 year old and the whole thing goes up in smoke and he presses him to a 25 minute decision and then we're all fucked

I think UFC is also worried about that Ankalayev becomes enemy number one yeah oh god and is there a world where he loses that fight just getting wrestled

and then he's free of the belt and he can move up the heavyweight now hey now I just dropped that one let me go up to get the next one how much did Israel Adesanya's

stock drop from getting wrestled? It's a good point. By Jan Blachowicz. This guy got knocked out cold and no one cares. No one is bothered by it. No one even brings it up really. Yeah, well,

because what he's done since. Yeah, yeah. But even after the Blachowicz fight, he wins that. It's like he got a title shot off that. One fight. If he gets wrestled by Ankalav,

everyone will be like, toss that in the trash. Give me John, everyone will be like, toss that in the trash. Give me John. Everybody will be like, Uncle Lev's the worst. That's not what you do against Alex Pereira.

Let's move him up to heavyweight. Fight him for the title. The problem with John and Tom is John seems resistant to it for the reason that I am believing to be the UFC does not

want to pay him commensurate with taking the risk to fight Tom. John Jones would fight Tom Aspinall if the UFC paid him enough money to do it. If they said, here's the bag and taking the risk to fight Tom, right? Jon Jones would fight Tom Aspinall if the UFC paid him enough money to do it. If they said, here's the bag and take the risk of fighting

Tom, I'm very confident that Jon Jones would take that fight. He's not quote-unquote scared. Alex Pereira presents an opponent for the UFC and for Jon that it would be worth the UFC paying that price. It would be worth the UFC saying, Jon, you're going to get the money you want. John, you're going to get the money you want.

Alex, you're going to get the money you want because we are going to be able to capitalize on this in a way that is way beyond what we could potentially do with Tom and John at this point in time. Now, if Tom gets a little more, gets a little more, starts encroaching that territory,

then it's a different conversation. The price tag, I think, would be worth it for the UFC, for John and Alex, and I can see it happening. Oh, my god. Let me throw out a scenario to you guys. What happens if Stipe Miocic

beats John Jones? Yeah, I mean, the whole world is upset. I don't mean upset like everybody's sad, but I do mean like everything gets upset. Well, then I think it's just, well, we have to find out what he does, right? Does he just retire? If he doesn't retire, then it's Stipe versus Aspinall. Because Stipe versus Aspinall

is bigger than Stipe versus Pereira. For sure. Yes, agreed. Or at least makes more sense. The heavyweight unification makes more sense there, yeah. That turned the world on its head. Is Alex Pereira the face of the UFC right now?

It's always Conor, but outside of Conor. Yeah? Is he most popular? Because there was a time where you said, oh man, I still feel, John Jones is most popular. Oh, man. I still feel like

John Jones is... He's so beloved. Is anyone not like Alex Pereira? Really? No, but among UFC fans now, how can you? Yeah.

Affinity is different. Affinity is different. Also, the thing that John and Conor have in common is they just fight so infrequently that other people

start to creep up. But if you ask... So, I went to the doctor for a physical on Thursday, and I was like, yeah, no, just a regular physical. No, I know. Team physical. Yes, everything's good. We're in great health.

And I was like, yeah, he knows what I do for a living. And I was like, yeah, there's a great big fight this weekend. And him and the student who was with him were like, oh, who's fighting? I was like, Alex Pereira, you know him? They're like, I love that guy. He's starting to hit like mainstreams. Now, if you walk into that room and ask John Jones and everybody else on the street, John Jones, I still think his name's going to ring more than Alex Pereira. I actually had an opposite experience as him. I was, I was out with a bunch of people on Saturday and we're watching sports and, uh, the place didn't have the UFC fights on.

So I'm watching it on my phone, the prelims. And some guys just like, Oh, is there any big names on the card tonight? And I'm just like, uh, do you know who Alex prayer is?

And the guy was just like, not, I don't think so. How much of a fan he was. I don't know. Uh, like he named dropped Leota Machida to me. I was just like,

Oh wow. You have not watched in a while, but I do feel, I didn't ask obviously cause I didn't know this conversation was coming but i feel like if i had been like john jones is fighting tonight he would have been like oh sick wow if john jones destroys steve miocic it's right back like especially at msg as soon as connor or john when like when connor came out and and walked through cowboy it was like the the world opened back up again if john jones comes in and destroys steve mjocic it's it's right back and everyone's gonna everyone's

gonna be watching that msg john jones i'll never forget the last time john jones fought i went to a diner the next morning and like the waiter was talking to me about it i'm just like oh yeah man you watched he's like i love bones the one thing i will say is alex is starting to have something that those two guys also have though is just fighting him is a thing now. Just getting in the Khalil Rountree, getting in the cage with Alex Pereira is a thing that now makes guys. It's starting to be that way. And that's an impressive kind of air to be in. We are also going to look back on this 2024 year for Alex Pereira.

And it's going to be just so legendary the further we get away from it. The shorts, the knockouts, three wins, all three by I was getting worried I have to say like I saw the skit

on his social media with the garbage. Oh, everyone had that ready to go. I was like, bro, you better not lose. I was worried. And it's not like

I had a dog in the race but I was like, man, is something going on here? Is he having too much fun? Is the aura slipping? I don't know. No, the aura is infinite. No, no.

And then afterwards, he's doing ASMR on the... Do you see that on there? Has his hand ever looked bigger than in that video? He made the microphone look like a cocaine. He's incredible. He's absolutely incredible. You say 2024, but it's been 2022, 2023, 2024. He was my fighter of the year at 23.

I know Strickland was most people's. Every year, Alex Pereira is the fighter of the year. Looking back, the 2023 fighter of the year At 23 He's I know Strickland Was most people's Every year Alex Pereira Is the fighter Looking back The 2023 fighter Of the year Prediction was great

By you He has He has become One of my favorite Stories of the last Few years Just because of The low

He was the guy He was the answer He was the Joe Duffy To Conor McGregor He was the answer To the who was this guy Who beat him in kickboxing And now he's a superstar

And so let us bring up what you brought up earlier, because I love the editor in chief of uncrowned.com, Shaheen Alshadi. I love it. But I saw on Sunday that he said, there is a case to be made. If Ilya Tepuria beats Max Holloway, that he is the male fighter of the year.

Shaheen, I adore you. That is a ludicrous take. What? How? Two wins versus three and two wins that are very far apart. Two wins. I'm not doing the revisionist history thing. I won't even bring up the state of Alex Volkanovsky. What Alex Pereira has done in 2024 is nothing short of amazing. It's always with his back against the wall. It's short notice

for 300. It's saving the day 303 on like 10 days. He was in Australia when he accepted that fight and even this one is relatively short

and he's battling all those things and it's three finishes and it's three incredible finishes against three different people. There's no art. It's done.

It's a wrap. He's male fighter of the year. Here's what I will say. I've ruined the award show. That's usually our it's done. It's a wrap. He's male fighter of the year. All right, here's what I will say. I've ruined the award show. That's usually our last award. We need to start with it and get it out of the way. To play devil's advocate,

like you say that how far apart they were, like it is still encapsulated in the same year. 100%. It is 2024. It is also mind-blowing to think that Alex Pereira's

all three of his fights will have been between Ilya Teporyev's two fights. Yes. But if he wins in incredible fashion, like he will have, he will have beaten two of the top and Borya's two fights. But if he wins in incredible fashion, he will have beaten two of the top three

featherweights of all time and become champion and got into the finals. I'm also, that's it. That's all I'm saying. I'm just playing devil's advocate.

I also vehemently disagree with Alshadi. I just see the argument that he's making. You cannot deny three title defenses in less than six

months, all three by KO. It's unbelievable. He is without a doubt the fighter of the year. The context matters making you cannot deny three title defenses in less than six months all three by ko it's unbelievable he is without a doubt the fighter of the year the context matters and i think if volk had not fought these lightweight fights it would be a completely different story right if we're looking at volk just coming in rolling rolling rolling destroying all these featherweights it's a different conversation because now you become the now you become chris weidman right now you become the guy who destroys Anderson Silva at the time when

nobody could feel like they could do it. It would be different for me. Don't get me wrong. I still think Volk is a top, top, top featherweight, and I think that win deserves a lot of credit and praise. And if he beats Max, those are to your point, two of the best. I actually think if you're going to make

a case, it might be Max instead of I actually think if you're going to make a case, it might be Max instead of Ilya, if we're being honest. If he wins in highlight real fashion. If Max comes off destroying Justin Gaethje in my fight of the year, I know you are around. We'll get into that conversation at some point in January. But if you're Max who comes off the destruction of Justin Gaethje and then you put out Elliot Sopori in an impressive fashion, I actually think that guy is maybe the one who's more

in the conversation. I have Alex. Yeah, nothing passing out. It will not unseat Alex, but I would say that that could enter you. Also, every time I see a really nice knockout these days, some people are like, contender for knockout of the year. I'm just like, please stop. There's one and nothing is stopping.

A hundred percent. These are all great runner-ups yeah but to me it's just it's perera dude you have to tell the whole story too of him saving that's why i say mvp as well like he has been the m he saved them on two gigantic cards it wasn't just like oh the card in louisville it was 303.03 the 300 and international fight week for those not you know keeping score he saved their asses and remember for 303. 300 in international fight week for those not keeping score. He saved their asses. And remember, for 303, they had nothing. They had nothing. They had nothing. Israel Adesanya was the guy for several years who was the MVP. You're using a good term that I agree

with. The MVP for the UFC where it was just like, hey, we can fight this guy often. He's going to step up. He's going to step in. He's going to put on a show. He's going to save the day. Alex Pereira took that baton and has just amplified that to 10x. Every single time the UFC's in a tough spot, call Alex Pereira, and he will deliver. His fights are unbelievable,

and they end with these highlight real KOs. You can talk about Izzy. There was a moment where a lot of decisions from Izzy, people were starting to talk, like leg kick merch and everything like that, which is ridiculous. I do agree. alex perra comes out here and like someone's getting getting put out there's never a boring fight i mean maybe the the the yan is the one that you can argue with and and even that one i found no i found that one to be a fascinating fight i wanted to see how he looked against someone like yan that was that was a split

decision when i imagine if it'd gone the other way. Like the butterfly effect of if that had gone the other way. It's just crazy to think about. Now, to me, he's the male fighter of the year. It's a wrap. It's an unbelievable story. And, you know,

we're not trying to do the award show here, but I do think you mentioned Plinio Coach of the Year. Plinio Coach of the Year. I actually have the shirt on. You do have the shirt. It's great.

There was once a time where I remember us giving Ricardo Almeida and Mark Henry the co-coaches of the year. Can't forget about Glover. I was going to say you're calling for Plinio and Glover. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people replied to that. I tweeted that out and a lot of people were just like, well, what about Glover? I'm like, throw Glover in there. Yeah. I think they both deserve it. It's hard to know in these cases with fighting, especially with MMA where it's less head coach and there's usually a committee. I think what Glover has done for him has been incredible too. And it's so, man, Glover has really like embraced old man Glover with the beard and everything.

And just to see them dancing, like the vibe around that whole freaking team. And honestly, just to see like George and Ed, the managers, who were there for so many of the Anderson fights and a little bit of the Aldo fights, just to see that, you know, that whole picture, them in the octagon together, his kids there. The video of the corner of Plinio and Glover as he's getting the finish. Oh, that too, that too. And the way that they embrace and just went so crazy when he got the finish, just like how much they care about this.

It's just like from Alex to the team, to the social, to the merch, like they are just hitting on all cylinders. It'slex to the team to the social to the merch like they are just hitting on all cylinders it's incredible am i crazy for fight of the year because i don't think that's by the way contender but i need to gaethje holloway was was actually one-sided yes it was it wasn't a great fight it was an amazing fight to watch in a moment in a knockout but it was never in doubt maybe yeah first four rounds, it was Holloway was rolling. That's what made it so incredible is that Holloway put it all on the line

when he had it in the back. No, there's been others though. You know, Dustin Islam, but again, like the finish here. I was thinking about this. I was going through my brain. Like I'm going through the main events. DDP Strickland in January.

No. Not topping. Tep Strickland in January. No. Not topping. Teporia Vogue in February. Not topping. Right. March, it was freaking Sean and Cheeto not topping it. 300, you were mentioning, and Alex. May was Pantoja.

No. June was Alex, but not a... I'm just going main events here. Obviously, it doesn't have to going main events here. Obviously, it doesn't have to be main events. End of July was Bilal and Leon. Then we get to DDP Izzy,

which was a great fight as well, but not on the level of them. Like, of the main events, it's the best one, in my opinion. Someone's going to tweet at us,

like a lower P. Yeah, yeah, no, no, for sure. I was just thinking, in the moment,

I was like, is it possible that that was round of the year, male fighter of the year, fight of the year? This happens sometimes where it all kind of converges. Right. Can I ask an honest question? This is meant to be just truly for thought, but respectfully.

Khalil Rountree had success in the first two rounds, but did you ever doubt that he was, that Alex Pereira was going to win that fight? No, man. He rocked him. He stunned him. I jumped out of my seat when he dropped, made him squat down. That shot that looked like he dropped him, I jumped out of my seat.

He was off balance, rowing with freaking bad intentions. Maybe hindsight. I felt this way in the moment. I was even texting in the thread. I just didn't, I did not feel like Alex was going to lose that fight at any point. And then by round three

I was like, oh, not only is he not going to lose this fight, he's going to knock out Khalil Roundtree. Okay, we can talk about Alex and that fight forever. Let's talk about the co-main event. Yes. Because we spent a lot of time on this. Juliana Pena. Champ. Our girl. Champ. One of our own.

She's one of our own. Makes history. First member of the Parley Palace to fight for the belt and to win a title. Wow. Unbelievably. Okay. Yes. I feel like you need to cleanse your soul here. Yes. I actually thought this was a really fun fight.

It was good. And a lot of people were Pennington. I thought they both brought it. They're always going to say that yeah they're just they brought it um there were certain things like i thought pennington could have been a little bit more aggressive i thought her corner wasn't that great they were just like we need more i'm like okay so tell her what you need like give her some sort of advice in the end as fun as it was i scored it three rounds to two for painting uh pennington excuse me uh i scored it for pennington and i don't think that's a controversial take because i looked at mma decisions yeah and it's

the least controversial take yes do you guys agree i i scored it three two pennington in real time i think also the which rounds one four andnington. Yeah. And obviously finishing with her dropping Juliana Pena in round four, and then obviously, in my opinion, clearly winning round five. I think that as we went to the scorecards, I was just like, okay, Pennington won that 48-47. I think that's pretty clear. Brick, when I walked in this morning, was re-watching round one, doing the research. I watched it over his shoulder shoulder it was a very close round very close it

was a very close round wait your opinion change i did not score it in real time because i was just like too emotional yeah juliana uh she won round one in my opinion and and then she won two and three i think you know that's uncontroversial i thought she i thought she won round one two and three i think were it i think two three four and five were all clear i think it was two and three. I think, you know, that's uncontroversial. I thought she won round one. Two and three, I think, were... I think two, three, four, and five were all clear. I think it was two and three

paying out. Two, three, four, five. Four, five. Judges agreed. Fans kind of agreed. It's just round one. I thought she won round one. I thought round one,

which was 25 minutes ago by the time the judge scorecards were getting read. Yeah, no, no, 100%. But, like, in the moment, you're scoring it. I have to go back. I thought it was three, two, Pennington. I thought it was 3-2 Pennington.

By no means do I think this is a robbery. It's one of those. I've seen people like rob. Robbery is crazy. Robbery is wild. When it comes down to one round, it's not a robbery. It's not a robbery. I don't care how many times people want to cry this.

It's not a robbery. Even if the four rounds are clear, the one round round you cannot say either side winning that round is a robbery it was a very very close so close and i had i had pain by the way even some even that fifth round was close my my brain was turning that there might be a chance that they gave one two three pena and then a potential 10-8 in round four and then 10-9 pennington around five and we might get a 47-47 this is a big this is. This is a big moment for Juliana Pena. She didn't fight since July of 2022. She lost the belt to Manuna.

She never successfully defended the title. Some people think that you're not a real champion unless you defend it once successfully. She has been through a lot. She's one of our own. We talked about how there's a bit of a bias here. I was expecting in that moment to come here and be celebratory,

but I sit here with a bit of a broken heart because stupidly, I tweeted that I thought Pennington won because I'm trying to be Mr. Journalist down the middle and I don't want to have biases. And afterwards, I texted Juliana and told her how happy I was for her. And I think, I think I actually used that exact phrasing and she responded and all was good.

And I said, I can't wait to have you on the new show. And then I woke up to a text from Juliana with a screen grab of my scorecard tweet and she was not very happy and so now I feel like I ruined a great thing how do we mend the fences oh I sent her I sent her such a long text and then my and this is in bed when I wake up on four hours sleep because you go to bed after the card and the post show and she's like who are you texting at this hour? All this. I was like, it's Juliana Pena. And I'm apologizing for my stupidness, if that's a word, or stupidity. And I should have just learned the lesson of when there's a bit of a bias,

just keep it to yourself if you think that person lost. Now, I said to her, please come on the new show. Rip a new a-hole out of me like just i'll take it i don't care i shouldn't have done that but i also wanted the world to know that when i'm calling it i'm calling it so i don't regret the scorecard per se i thought it in real time as well man i felt bad i felt bad like she knows she's one of our own we were just because like you thought she might not have won the fight like doesn't mean you weren't supporting her here please tell her that could you could you dm her all right listen i sent her a dm and she just double tapped it wow i think she

might be mad at all oh she thinks we turned on me i wish i wish by the way look and then and yeah she just hit me with the double tap so then i didn't even hit the congratulations because i was like i don't know you know I don't want to double text and then get a double, double tap and then things get awkward from there. Let it be known, Juliana. I scored it for you. Maybe that's our saving grace.

Frank, how'd you score it? Absolutely for her. Okay. One, two, three, four, five for Juliana, says Frank. Here's what I would do. I would rewatch round one. Yeah.

And then say I saw it. And then tweet it out. Let the world know. Yes. Let the world know. Yes, yes, yes. Just rewatch round one. Yeah. And then say I saw it. And then tweet it out. Let the world know. Yes. Let the world know. Yes, yes, yes. Just re-watch the fight. Robbery to think that she didn't win.

I'm half joking, but truly, truly, I re-watched round one this morning. Pennington 40-47 is a ludicrous score. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I re-watched the fight this morning, the first round this morning, and I did score it for Pena. It really was a very close round.

It was just a swing round that was incredibly close, and two judges had it for Pena. Now look was a very close round. It was just a swing round that was incredibly close and two judges had it for Pena. Now look, we have to keep it real. Afterwards on the microphone,

they do a great thing. Loved it. Split screen with Kayla. So good. And she no-sold her.

Ah, and Kayla was so good with the reaction. Yes. It's like, of course. Now Kayla's going to eat this up.

That's the best thing that could happen for Kayla. Okay, but what about for Pena? Because now it just looks like she doesn't want Kayla. No, but you could... You could sell that?

Yeah, you try to get the Amanda fight because that's the one that you think is going to be... Okay, so she didn't botch it. No, no, no. I don't think so, no. Okay. I think either of those fights are fantastic. She's the heel in this scenario, right?

For sure. Kayla's out there hugging Caitlin Vieira, praising God, and Pena's like, yeah, forget you. This is the Jon Jones Jones Tom Aspinall It's replaying itself right now The build is going to be great

The more you deny Kayla the more you say Nah not yet not yet sweetie That is going to make it bigger That is going to only enhance If it doesn't happen If you get Amanda Nunes then that's the fight you wanted All along and you get it If you don't now you've done this thing where you've built up Kayla

by default by just being like, nah, it's not your time. It's not your time. I'm not thinking about you. I'm thinking about Amanda. It only makes it better. If she gets on the mic and is like, I want to fight Kayla, and Kayla's like, I want to fight her, the story's kind of over. That's it. It's boring. They're already getting into it at the press conference.

It's great. You take pot shots, but you pretend you don't even want the fight. You only want Amanda. Presser was great. It's great. You take pot shots, but you pretend you don't even want the fight. You only want Amanda. Presser was great. Juliana carried. I love that. What did she say? First, Juliana was like,

oh, you're new here. She's like, I'm a two-time Olympic gold medalist. I will say, Kayla running the resumes down was pretty great. And then she's like,

I've had more fights. What did she say? I've had more fights in this fight. Yeah, you started fighting like 2009 and you're nine and five or whatever her record is. And then she's like, I started in 2018 and I'm 17 and one. Yeah. Then Penny was like, yeah.

It was close. It was great. Feel for Pennington. This is better for business. There's no doubt as we ran through yesterday or excuse me, last week, Pena Harrison, and there's Amanda tweeting again with her, get her in the front row for that fight,

do it sometime in the first quarter, and now all of a sudden, Bantamweight is back in business. Whoever wins gets on the mic, points at him, you even bring Amanda Nunez in the cage, and it's just like Amanda Nunez is coming back.

Back in business. And it's a huge fight. Yeah, it's great. Now, were we worried at all that, oh, so you're saying you have to do Kayla versus Juliana and Amanda's the next in line.

I like that. I think you could do Amanda... Well, you do Amanda versus Juliana and then Kayla's next in line. Fuck no. Kayla versus Juliana right now. Yes, make her the final boss. Don't have her first.

I thought we all agreed on this Peña wants Nunez And I want to give it to her Nah Peña Harrison You gotta get by Kayla Kayla's gotta get by her And make her the final boss

And it's a win win For the UFC You got the Harrison Nunez story You got the Harrison Excuse me You got the Harrison Peña obviously

And then you got the Peña Nunez story If If she beat Harrison Yeah but you could do The reverse order Is the same thing Nah nah

The reverse order Is the same thing Harrison has gotten it Here's the thing Are you saying this Did Kayla's stock drop At all in that performance Oh interesting

I wasn't coming From that perspective But I will say I don't think she made An impression to the point Where everybody's gonna be like That's the one Yeah Kayla has to

Yeah just going from the performance she had against Holly Holm, obviously, like, the elbow that Ketlin landed and opening her up, but she still won. Like, she still won. She's going to be next. Yes, it was also a clear victory. Yeah, I don't think her stock drops, but I do

think, like, if you were trying to sell this idea of, like, the dominance, that was not the performance that does she overcame some adversity yeah the hematoma she's bleeding yeah i didn't even know i didn't even know she could bleed i didn't even know she possessed that in her body it was the first time she's ever bled she's human um it was a little dicey going into the third okay how she's gonna how is she gonna respond she comes out there she's dominant look she just needed to get the w and and and i still think she's figuring out the 135 thing.

She looked fine on the scale. Well done. There was once a time where we thought she'd have to cut off a leg. She's now done it twice in the span of six months. And even a test cut as well. She's the one. She's building momentum. People are getting behind her.

She's got a great story in her own right. The time is now. Do that fight. First quarter, winner gets Amanda later in the year. Bingo. Sure. Love it. I'm in. And so now you have Mario Bautista and you have Mario Bautista beating Jose Aldo. And there's so many thoughts that I had while watching that fight. First, I was like, man, this is annoying. And also I had like, why the fuck is Jose Aldo fighting Mario Bautista? And it's the same thought I had back in May. Why is he fighting Jonathan Martinez?

Who's guiding him? And why are they offering these fights? And why is he saying yes to these fights? And this is the classic story of a win is not a win. You know, Mario Bautista probably thought if I get a win over Jose Aldo, I made it. I'm the man.

I skyrocket. But if you think that way, you're not paying attention to the business of the UFC and certainly not paying attention to the fans.

Fans would rather you stand in the middle of the cage, go toe to toe and get knocked the F out. They will love you more, just ask Khalil Roundtree, I

know it's not the exact same, but they'll love you more for that than what he did against Jose Aldo. Now, a win is a win. Fine. You want to score it for him?

Great. It's like, I can't even be bothered. You know what I mean? But he did himself. Not only did he not do himself any favors, he took like four steps back. It was the opposite of your stock is up

in a win or a loss. You know what I mean? And it's just like a lack of understanding of how this whole thing works. Especially that third round, man. mean and it's just like a lack of understanding of how this whole thing works especially that third round man the third round was just like all he was doing was stalling against the cage he could he couldn't take aldo down i mean aldo's takedown defense was incredible he was out striking him when they were separated and just like yeah i i understand why the stock is dropping you're doing it against one of the most beloved fighters of all time and you're doing it in potentially like the most boring fashion.

The only thing I will say to that, not as a counter because I mostly agree with what you're saying, but there's two different things, right? There's the ranking stock, right? There's the advancing your career, continuing to win

and then there's the like court of public opinion, the fan thing. You lose there. But I do think mario batista fancies himself somebody who's going to be a champion right i think he is his long-term vision is not like i need to be the fan favorite guy his long-term vision is and i think he's skilled enough to potentially do this one day is i want to be the champion not too long ago

rob davalichvili is doing the same thing to Jose Aldo. The stock is not great at that time. And as we've seen from the UFC, they had not a favorable disposition toward him at that time. But if you are going to be somebody who thinks that they will one day be the champion of the UFC, that is what you do. You continue to win. You dominate that fight. It was never at risk for him and you go forward. Right now,

here in this moment, it didn't help him, right? It didn't like springboard it. It didn't catapult him. Yeah, because don't make the argument that he didn't dominate the fight. I think you can make a case that Jose Aldo won

just because of the success that he was having in the striking. I mean, what was Mario Bautista doing? Failing takedowns against the cage? How did you guys even score it? I said 29-28 Aldo, but I was also biased. I thought Bautista won the fight. Yeah, I thought he won too. But there's no world

where you're giving him a 30-27. Nah. I mean, Aldo won round two. Yeah. But he had major successes in round two, and then Bautista literally just stalled against the cage. I think it was Kenny Florian that tweeted out the judges gave him the round off of failing takedowns.

Yeah. And the clenching getting construed as grappling. Fights like that, there isn't much to score, right? Yeah. There's just not a lot happening there.

I did think a lot about Marab, though. It's Marab. That is a very good point. I mean, that was just a couple years ago where he did something very similar.

It was a more entertaining fight. I also think Marab more clearly won the fight. It just wasn't in an exciting fashion. I think a lot of people really thought that you could score it

for Aldo. And also, maybe this is just hindsight because Marab's the champ now, but I feel like Marab was a bigger name then, but...

The other thing is, why is he taking these fights? Why is Aldo taking Dominic Cruz? Can we just get a Dominic Cruz fight now? Give me a fun

legend fight. The first time it made sense to me The first time it made sense to me Because It seemed like they were Trying to do a fight And then he says I don't know if this is true

It was also the last fight On his deal He said he asked for somebody Ranked It was the last fight on his deal So they could potentially Send him out on a loss And not feel like

They're putting his stock up To then resign And come back And fight this fight Again Like basically the same Type of fight That part doesn't make sense to me.

The first time I got it, this time I do not get it. Why fight Mario Bautista? It doesn't make sense. People want him in fun fights. He's not really in the title picture at the moment. Certainly not with Marab as champion, but I know this was booked before. But still, man, it is a complete misuse of Jose Aldo. As we just outlined, the way to beat Jose Aldo is to kind of do what Bautista did,

and that does not help springboard him, and now Aldo has a loss. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't help either side. Is he just like the greatest defender of takedowns of all time? It's magic to watch. It's unbelievable. He just never gets taken down. If you're new to the sport and you want to see Jose at his prime,

I think especially in this regard as far as takedown defense, never gets taken down. If you're new to the sport and you want to see like Jose at his prime, I think especially in this regard as far as takedown defense, when he fought Mike Brown for the WEC title, Mike Brown was this beast wrestler who had just been

your eye favor and he was a freaking locomotive and so hard to stop his takedowns and all those hips and his sprawl and his takedown defense

were a thing of beauty and he beat him up and he won the belt and he's been doing this freaking, that was since, that was what, 08, the belt and he's been doing this freaking, that was since, that was what, 08,

09? So he's been doing this for 15 years and he hasn't lost a step. By the way, at 135, he was on the scale on Friday

not looking too great. He looks very sunken in. This is at 135 as opposed to 45. I just think, Bautista thought, let me get this win and I'm good.

And now I think he's going to get punished. He's going to go back to the eight pack. No, I don't think, he's going back to the eight pack. No doubt. I now I think he's going to get punished. He's going to go back to the A-Pack. I don't think he's going to be punished, but I don't think it had any... If he beat any other person on the roster

in the same way, it would do exactly the same. He does not get the rub of the Jose Aldo name, and so therefore, I don't understand the booking, right? The UFC didn't get anything material to benefit them from this. It doesn't, it doesn't make sense. I don't think he's going backwards, but I just don't think it helped them. You, you beat a legend like Jose Aldo, you want to springboard and it didn't do that for him. It's unfortunate. And listen, I feel bad. Ultimately it's one of those things where like, you know, the Texans beat the bills yesterday.

No one's ultimately penalizing them for lack of style points. But that's what this is. Even more so than boxing. Like in boxing, it's a bit of a thing where it's like, okay, you won. That wasn't great. But now you move on to the next. In this sport, look at the main event. Khalil Rountree didn't really deserve that title shot per se.

But we all agreed it was the better matchup. And in this case, he gets a win over a legend. But he's probably not going to advance as a result of the way the better matchup. And in this case, he gets a win over a legend, but he's probably not going to advance as a result of the way the fight played out. The fight itself is only a part of the story in this sport. Like the entertainment aspect, the outside the cage stuff, all that stuff matters.

And this just didn't help. Seven straight wins though. And he has had exciting fights in the past. He's a good and exciting fighter. For sure. You don't want seven straight in the UFC and not be good. This was the style he needed to beat Jose Aldo. But he might take that, you know, need 10, 11 before he's really serious.

Oh, yeah. It's that old picture. And we know there's a few of those out there. A few more before we go. Roman Dolita with the win over Kevin Holland. The rib. The rib. I've asked his team, like, okay, so what exactly happened?

Haven't gotten a straight answer on that. And there was that moment in between rounds. It's being billed a corner stoppage. But, you know, crew Bob Perez kept asking him. And you could tell Kevin didn't want to say,

I can't. But he was trying to say it without saying it. I mean, like, we can never question Kevin Holland's toughness. Like, what he's been through, go back and watch

the Wonderboy fight. Like, Wonderboy damn near had to kill him to end that fight. Like, it had to have been very,

very serious for him to not be able to continue. Honestly, in the moment, like, it's probably the last 45 seconds or so,

you could tell he's in pain and he's just eating punches on the ground there from Dolita. And I thought Dolita was this close to stopping him. Because you could tell

he could not move. But he was trying his was this close to stopping him. Yeah. Because you could tell he could not move. But he was trying his best. So credit to him. Tough blow. I was honestly surprised Dolita was the underdog going into that fight. I have to say. I know it wasn't a big one, but I thought this would be a tough matchup for Kevin Holland.

I still think he might be better off at 170 if I'm being honest. But tough spot for him because you never and i know connor tweeted about him mcgregor that is and then deleted it um you got an injured rib it's it's it's it's hard to do anything unfortunate if they had sent it back out he would have fought i'm sure he got knocked out and and just been hurt like he would not have been viable he's he's no longer in that fight it's it's it's useless yeah right like how how much worse do you make it to him like Roman Delice is a killer like you talked about him you know potentially he shouldn't have been the underdog like when he's on and he's

playing his game he can finish anyone at any moment submission or knockout so like yeah it could have gotten bad for Kevin Holland and I saw a video of him speaking to Joaquin Buckley in the in the back afterward yeah and like he was holding his rib while he was talking to him. He's just in that much pain. He's still just holding it. Speaking of which, I know we talked about Buckley Wonderboy last week. Was it you, Eric, who was like

all Buckley? No. What I said was Buckley's going to wrestle him, which I was right about. That is exactly how that fight started. Conor was the one who I think was backing wonderboy yeah but i bet on wonderboy man it was looking good there for a second it was that was like very few times especially just because it's so hard to cheer like you can't cheer against steven one boy thompson like he's just like the nicest dude ever and like to see him get knocked out like that it's like one of the very few times

where like i'm watching and like i just like verbally was like no like i like screamed in agony because i just didn't want to see him what a knockout though wonderboy was up in that fight though yeah i thought it was 2018 wonderboy but i could have been biased i saw a few of the scorecards on the tv that said 2018 wonderboy as well um but yeah huge knockout i mean like joaquin buckley does not have to do much to generate a massive amount of power. Is Buckley in the mix now? Yes. How can he not be, dude?

He just keeps winning. He gets on the mic. Like, he's, whether you love him or hate him, like, he, whoever he calls out, like, he's, I don't want to say

the exact Jamal Hill route because he's winning all these fights, but, like, you know, he's gotten some criticism for things that he said on social media and on the mic,

but, like, he's staying relevant and he's winning fights. Yeah, he had his kumbaya with DC. Can I get one too? The problem that Joaquin Buckley is going to face is he has some incredible names on his resume, but the performances are not definitive. Even Luque, Luque look like a shell of himself now this uh wonder boy fight it seemed like most people had wonder boy up in the fight and then he finds

the finish at the end that very first you know knockout that he had um against impa kasanganai like that was the one that like you know a lifetime will be yeah etched into people's brains forever but he needs like a he needs a dominant, bell-to-bell Finnish performance. Like the Luque one, I thought. I was going to say, I guess people are just going to point to that Luque one. But he was so bad and he was so compromised. Yeah, the Luque one was so bad that people were like, what's going on? Yeah, what is that?

Can I offer up two names? So obviously he has to take a step. And who would have thought, by the way, back in 2020 when he's viciously knocking out Impaka Sangane, that both of them would be enjoying the success in 2024. That's incredible. Because Sangane and PFL and he, I think some people were ready to write him off a little bit. I would love to see Joaquin Buckley versus Michael Venn and Page. I'm down.

Sure. Michael Venn and Page would be a nice test for him. I know he's a little bit back in the rankings, but I think it's because he just entered the UFC and then he has the lost Ian Gary. I saw some people say that they wanted Buckley versus Gary. They're going to try to do Gary versus Colby Covington. Oh, boy.

And if not, maybe Brady gets that fight. Let's go. Brady could be interesting. Brady's a little bit further along and I think he deserves a big name. The other name that I wanted to throw out was Jack Della Maddalena who I know has a litany of issues right now but eventually hopefully comes

back in the first quarter and I think that the time off has hurt him a little bit and so you know this is not quite Dustin Poirier versus BSD. There's a gap there as far as rankings, but I don't mind that. You could also just be talking about

an incredibly exciting fight. I don't mind that. Two guys that'll get in there and box and have massive knockout power. I think those are good fights for Buckley. I think he can wrestle. I think he's going to go in there and there's going to be guys like Wonderboy

and even like a Jack Della, um, or a Michael Venom page. And he's, he's going to be capable enough on the feet, but he's going to see that there's a real advantage in the wrestling area and try that, right? Like he did with Wonderboy and then he kind of had to, to reverse course and kind of now try and strike with him. And he found success there too. He's, he's well rounded in a way that I think is going to pose problems for a lot of those guys, including even a Jack Della or an MVP. I like his chances there, and that could be a

real way to build him as a contender. We've seen JDM struggle with the grappling before. The takedowns, yeah. Not only that Basil Hoffa's fight, but also the Gilbert Burns fight. Speaking of grappling, by the way, I got a bit of a scoop. It probably will come out by the time this is out.

But our old friend Michael Venom Page has been testing the grappling a little bit. He's been working on the grappling. Spoke to him this morning. I wanted to verify that this was correct. And as a result that he's going grappling heavy, of course, we know what happened against Ian Gary. He signed up for a Polaris grappling match. Oh, let's going grappling heavy, of course, we know what happened against Ian Gary. He signed up for a Polaris grappling match. Oh, let's go. Yeah.

Which I like. I like for him. Against Joaquin Buckley. Not against Joaquin Buckley, but against a very familiar name. November 2nd, uh, Michael Venom Page in, uh, Fairfield Halls, London against the former UFC welterweight champion, Carlos Condit. Okay. What? Yeah.

In a Polaris grappling match. Wow, I love that. Fun, right? I love that so much. There's the poster right there. Oh, we got a poster and everything. This is nice.

Has Condit done anything since? Like, has he done any grappling or any, like... Since retiring? Yeah. No. I don't think so. Wow, this is like

his return to combat. Yeah. I love that so much. That is sick. It's a really fun fight. Carlos Condit is back. And I like MVP saying I need to focus on this. Said he's taking the rest of the year off

in terms of fighting, but really has been focusing on the grappling and thought that it would be good to have something to shoot for. If you gave me 50 guesses, I would not have gotten Carlos Condit. Honestly, both of these guys. Yeah, I guess if you said Condit's coming back at grappling, I wouldn't have guessed MVP either. So there you go as far as 170 is concerned.

And speaking of retirement, before we go, shout out to Carla Esparza. Loved the fact that she got the love. Loved the fact that she got the applause. Hated the fact that they were booing Tisha Pennington when she was talking about her grandmother. Someone on Twitter said, I was there and we just couldn't hear her. We were booing the decision, all that. I'll give you a pass. It was just uncomfortable to watch.

And we've all been to events where it doesn't sound as good on the microphone. So I'll give him a pass. But honestly, I thought Carla won 29-28. And I love the fact that they cheered her. And again, I love the fact that the UFC had the video package ready. Now, I see people saying like, they don't have it for this.

Remember, Michelle Watterson and Carla told us weeks in advance that they were done and certainly told the UFC. Watterson kind of kept it to herself, but Carla was very open about this. So if you're someone, you know, I know like OSP and they don't have to do it for everyone,

but if you're someone who's going to be at the end of your contract or retire in the moment, like they obviously can't have something ready for you. So you can't compare all these scenarios. But I love the fact that they're doing it, that they're honoring them. You see how much it means to them. The scenes with her son in the Cookie Monster outfit was great. For those who don't know, that was her original nickname, Cookie Monster. And again, it was nice to see some people being like, yeah, she was the face of the strawweight division. She was the queen of the strawweight.

She was the Invicta champ. She was the first UFC champ. She did win the belt again, even though it wasn't the greatest fight. And so every fighter deserves that kind of love and respect. And I was happy that she got it. I was worried that she wasn't going to get it, to be honest. But I was really happy that she got it.

I just hope she can be satisfied with that. Say, you know, we're done here. Stick to the retirement and ride off into the sunset. An incredible career. Somebody who is essential to the women's influx in MMA and the UFC. Yeah, me too. I mean, she put on a great performance despite not getting the decision.

The package was very touching. It was a really nice moment. The kid in the Cookie Monster was 10 out of 10. Yeah, I'm with you. Just right off into the sunset. We haven't seen you in what, two years

since the last time she fought? So yeah, I feel like this is perfect time to call it quits. 307 was fun. There were some ups, some downs, ends on an incredible note.

A lot, a lot to digest. Hope you've enjoyed this. A fun weekend as far as combat sports are concerned. Bad Blood in Atlanta was great.

The return of the final boss, The Rock, at the very end of the PLE. They shot a great angle afterwards. They're really using social media very smart, WWE,

as they shot an angle with Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens out by the loading dock. Just on the phone, right? Yeah, yeah. I saw that. It was brilliant. And then Triple H tweets like, we're aware of the situation. We're looking into it.

Yeah, yeah. Hell in a cell. It's good shit. Punk and Drew was great. If you happen to be watching the Queensberry card on Saturday afternoon, Nick Ball had an all-time great stoppage and a great fight as well. And that leads very nicely into this Saturday, October 12th. The absolute crown jewel, pardon the pun, of this weekend's lineup

is the card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Finally, finally, finally, finally, we are getting Artur Beterbiev against Dimitri Bivel to see who is the king of the light heavyweights. But it's not just that. It's Fabio Wardley against Fraser Clark, who fought to a great draw back in March. A British dust-up, as they like to say. The return of Chris Eubank Jr. on the card as well. Jio Pataya on the card as well. Ben Whitaker on the card as well.

We're seeing the inclusion now of the boxer fighters, which has added a lot to these cards, in my opinion. And the first-ever women's fight on these boxing cards. Obviously, Clarissa Shields was on the PFL card in February.

But as far as boxing is concerned, a very good fight between Sky Nicholson and Raven Chapman for the WBC featherweight title. So, a fantastic card. I saw some fans in boxing

complaining that it's a lot of one-sided matchups, but yo, man, you're getting these, you're getting, you're getting better BF Bivel.

Back in the day, you were just getting that. You weren't getting Eubank and Opitaya and Whitaker. You weren't getting any of this if you can't be happy with that main event regardless of what the rest of the card looks like like I don't know and don't forget we were also getting Shakur Stevenson on this card yeah Joe Cordina unfortunately he broke his hand but like that was the card yeah it's phenomenal still a great card yeah it's it's an amazing card I'm knocking on wood because I that main event like it's so good dude it's so good must watch unfortunately happening in the heart of yom kippur the day of atonement

on saturday which is a tough go for me um but i'll be ready to go for brandon roival against uh damn right that's right back at the apex yeah back at the apex baby it's like it's been a minute since we've been there uh i can't wait just in time for us to uh come back with a regular show on monday i love it a little apex yeah we should have worked this out better

that we were coming back like on a pay-per-view post pay-per-view monday but didn't work out that way all right we're out of time uh thank you so much to everyone for listening if you're

listening to this on our uh spotify feed apple feed or wherever you get your podcast thank you very much if you can hit the sub appreciate it If you can hit the sub, appreciate it. If you can hit the five stars, appreciate it. The comments, appreciate the follow. If it's Spotify, if you're consuming this on our YouTube channel, don't worry. These shows are going away after next week. It'll be great so please do check that out and and please sub and comment and hit the bell and all the things that people say all the youtubers say these things

hit the bell hit the like hit the thumbs up hit the this hit the that show us some love please and we are up and running this time next week in full force can't wait for that for now though we're out of time. Thank you very much. Thank you to Frank back there. Thank you to Jordan. Thank you to Andy and the whole team as well. For GC4Rick, I'm Ariel. Thanks so much for listening,

for watching. We appreciate you all very much. Back on Monday, same time, place, desert, peace.