Ep 307: UFC 317 - Topuria beats Oliveira, Pantoja Makes It Look Easy. All The Latest News.

Episode 307: We look back at International Fight Week. Ilia Topuria crushes Charles Oliveira. Alexandre Pantoja makes it look easy.   All the latest news including what's next for Jake Paul after his boxing win on Saturday. 










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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up everybody? Welcome back. It is MMA after Hours.
I'm Michael Carlisle, joined as always by Micah Franco. Micah,
how you doing, man, Man.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm doing all right. Back from Christmas. It's the best
week of the year for me. It was incredible. So
I'm like, wow, trying to trying to see what will
live up next to what was an incredible week.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
It was a fun week. It was a really good week.
If it was Christmas, I'd probably be a tad disappointed,
but that's me. I'm grumpy anyway. I want a lot.
But yeah, International Fight Week this past week. Look, we
had a fun time out in Vegas. There was tons
of crap going on from UFC BJJ one that throwing
an extra j BJ no BJJ one. You had the

(00:51):
power Slap, you had the fan fest of course, UFC
three seventeen camping off International Fight Week. It was even
a boxing press conference and for Canelo and Crawford, there
was a lot of stuff for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Man, and even I think across town, well down the
road about four hours, there's even more boxing. We're gonna
have to mention in a minute. But staying in Vegas, yes, yes, yes,
I consider La just down the road from Las Vegas.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
After that, that ain't fucking cross That ain't fucking cross town.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
My man, Hey, after you told me how easily you've
made that trip before, I consider it, you know, doable?

Speaker 1 (01:31):
True, I would say, I think you're a damn lie.
Uh yeah, I did make that trip once and that
was a pain in the ass. But AnyWho, Uh yeah.
International Fight Week. Look, it was a fun week, a
lot of stuff going on. I thought UFC three seventeen
more than lived up to the hype. That was a
heck of a card. I always get nervous International Fight

(01:52):
Week because I look at the card and I compare
it to past International fight weeks, and I'm like, is
this as big as two years ago? Is this as
big as four years ago? Houses? Man, these fights lived up.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Fights were great, and it's hard to compare year after
a year, because there were years where we had what
to fight, a fight night at a pay per view,
an Ultimate Fighter finale. Yeah, and then you see what's
morphed into where you have the BJJ, where there's three

(02:25):
champions crowned, where we find out this new shape is
called a bowl. Yes, yes, yes, cereal soup jiu jitsu
all in a bowl. According to the UFC, it.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Looked a whole lot like a something you see at
a skate park. Yeah, exactly, Yeah, and I'm not knocking it. Look,
I had a great time at UFC BJJ one that
it was a little bit different experience. It was fun.
I can understand why some of the purists, the traditionalists,

(03:02):
may not like everything they're doing with it, but I
think people are those people will come around in time.
I thought it was a fun event.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
The people that were involved were exciting for the most part.
The athletes went after it. I believe there was only
one fight that went to the decision, and I want
to say that was a female fight where Maura had
her opponents back on several occasions just couldn't get the
rear naked choke. You saw what it meant to Henrique

(03:34):
tack It and Mussamecchi to get those titles, and they
all did it by submission in spectacular fashion. So I
don't know what more you could ask for. And you
could see looking at the matchmaker Claudia Gadelia there watching
she felt very proud of the accomplishment of the first event.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
No as well as she should. I thought it went
really well, that that was a fun event. We mentioned
the fan fest. You also had a power Slap for
those that are into that on Friday, and I know
they had multiple title matches for that, and of course
UFC three seventeen Mike, where we crowned a new lightweight champion.

(04:18):
We also had the flyweight title on the line, so
you had those two title fights right at the top
of the card, and as entertaining as both those fights were,
neither one of those come close to the actual fight
of the night, which was just a crazy matchup. So
you had early knockouts and submissions on the prelams. So

(04:42):
it was an exciting week.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
It was an overall exciting week and I can't get
to fight night before. We mentioned also how incredibly striking
it is to see Shaquille O'Neal in person, still all
of seven feet tall. I also saw in person Rico
verne Hooven, who's about six and a half feet wide.

(05:07):
So some of these imposing figures that we saw were
just crazy.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Only about four people listening know who Rico van Hooven
is or whatever you said, let them know who that is.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
The glory kickboxing heavyweight champion who's ruled that sport for
the last decade, so most of our international listeners will
know who that is.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Right, of course, everybody knows who she Qille O'Neil is.
He was at the UFC Hall of Fame, which we
didn't even mention. Another fun event as well UFC and
I think part of it and we don't have spend
a lot of time on this is the fact that
it's still a relatively young sport. You're still growing. But
isn't it a little weird where arguably the centerpiece of

(05:50):
your Hall of Fame induction just recently announced she's coming
out of retirement and is gonna have a title fight
coming up because of course talking about Amanda Nuniez.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, this hits another level of strange. I thought it
was strange when we rushed to put jose Aldough in
and it was like is he gone, Oh yeah, he's
definitely gone, looking how emotional this is. And a couple
months later there announcing his return. I think he returned
maybe a month or two after the induction. You get
that same feeling with Amanda Ninias where she's gonna come
back right away, So it's a little bit different. It

(06:24):
felt like the for at least the hardcore fans, you
still have that allure Vitaur bell Fort, Robbie Lawler, two
guys that were synonymous with the growth with some of
the craziest knockouts in the UFC.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, you also said Mark Kerr, which brought out Dwayne
the Rock Johnson. Of course The Rock is gonna play
Kerr in the movie. That's finish shooting and it'll be
coming out soon. So yeah, I mean that there was
You mentioned Shaquille O'Neal was there. I still am not
quite sure what the connection is with him and v
Or belle Fort, but obviously they at least seem pretty tight.

(07:03):
And shocks out there on the red carpet with the
family and all that. That was an interesting night as well.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
That was definitely interesting. And go over to the YouTube
channel this week. I'll have some interesting stuff up, some
Vitor Bellfoort contact, some other stuff up. Guys. Definitely an
interesting night all in lead up two what felt like
all week. None of this plays out like a movie,
none of this works out like a strip. But Ilia

(07:34):
Taporia was going to be crown the undeniable face of
the UFC. John Jones is retired. This feels like a
different version but some of the same story as Connor
McGregor with the two belts with the undeniable knockout power,
and both of us thought everyone was very, very much

(07:57):
underestimating a forever underdog who has overcame so much in
Charles Olivera. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Look, it's not that I was surprised that Taporio won.
I mean, I get it, but I felt like nobody
was giving Olivera a shot. It sure seemed like during
fight week he was taking things seriously and he was.
I think Olivera, quite honestly, more times than not, his
biggest challenge going into a fight is the way cut,
and we know that's something he's had issues with. He

(08:26):
had no issues this past week with that. Stepped on
the scale early was right on point. I guess we
could talk about to Pori's way in if you really
wanted to, But there might have been a little something
funky funky going on there. It doesn't matter they both
weigh in. But yeah, I thought Olivera had a shot.
I questioned to Poriou's power moving up the lightweight. There's

(08:52):
no need to question that anymore, and I liked Olivera's
game playing early, but it seemed like he just got
caught up in light. Oh we're right here, let's trade bunches,
and then tiboriages drop him.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
There is a little bit to be questioned because we
saw Volkanovski immediately jumping on Olavera. You and I talked
about it at media day. We didn't really posted anywhere
would Olavera be part of the Hall of Fame induction,
because those that didn't watch, he did receive the Forrest
Griffin Community Service Award, and we wondered would he be

(09:31):
a part of the proceeding the proceedings. He looked a
little bit sunken out already at the press conference on Thursday,
stuck around to do the Hall of Fame, and you
find out later that's because he had already started cutting
weight the night before. Volkanovski a fighter, so he could
speak on this more than I can. Said. He didn't
think that was a good idea to start the weight

(09:53):
cut so early. So not that I'm really trying to
poke holes into Poria's power, because I did that against
Holloway and Volkanovski and now it just keeps rolling. So
I do fully believe in it. But I wonder if
Olivia hampered himself by having to do that different weightcut
with the extra things on his plate.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I mean, maybe it's certainly possible. I don't know that
he wouldn't have started the weightcut early anyway, just because
of previous problems making weight. I mean, hell, he was
the fucking champion in miss weight. We were there for that,
so I mean, look, that has been a legit issue.
Did it hamper him? Look, if Folk says it may have,

(10:37):
I'll take him at his word, because, like you said,
he's gonna know that a lot better than we do.
But regardless of the Hall of Fame situation, I don't
know that Olivera wouldn't have done that anyway.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's a good point because he has had the issues.
This is such a big fight. You did have sary
Yuki in breathing down your neck that he was going
to weigh in, and he did weigh in for this one,
which is at le step in the right direction as
for who could be next in line. But that's the
only thing that you could say negative. Besides Iliot Toporia's

(11:11):
pressure eventually was meant was able to get into the
pocket and force Olivera to trade. And I think Olivera
tried to do what he could to eliminate the boxing pocket.
He tried the kicking range. Ilio was able to move
in on it. That's when Charles went to go to
the clinch range. And Ilia is so compact that he

(11:34):
is still able to generate that boxing range power in
the clinch, and that's inevitably what dropped Olivera, heard him
early on the fight. And then you had the beautiful
three piece combination. Now I'm pretty sure that last left
hand didn't even count hit on the neck and Olivera
was plumbing towards the earth unconscious after the right.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, a huge win for to Pouri. It now what
I didn't like, and I get it, but they Olivera,
excuse me, to Poria helped me out here, Micah, when
when he announced he was moving up the lightweight he
gave up the featherweight title.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Correct, that is what I'm led to well.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Hold on, Fuck yes he did. Hell, we've already crowned
another featherweight champion, Micah. I don't understand why we brought
out two belts for Taporia. I get it, you're signifying, Uh,
he's become a two division champion. Not a ton of
fighters in the UFC have done that. I do understand that.
But not only did he vacate that title when he

(12:40):
announced to move up, we've crowned a new featherweight champion
that that division has moved on. I thought that was
a little it seemed like trying a little too hard
to tell everybody how great Toaporia was. Well, we just
saw how great he was dropping OLIVERA.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
D Yes, he's done it before. They did the exact
same thing for Connor McGregor. If you remember when he
won at UFC two oh five the lightweight title from
Eddie Alvagez, he was magically holding up two belts when
Jose Aldo had already won a vacant featherweight title at
UFC two hundred in a bout with Frankie Edgar. So

(13:20):
it's not like the UFC hasn't allowed a guy that
they feel is going to be a prominent superstar to
in that moment have his second title belt there in
a scenario where he doesn't actually own that belt.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Right, still doesn't make it right. I don't care how
many times they've done it before. It's a little weird.
It seems like you're trying a little too hard in
a situation where maybe you didn't need to. But look,
that could also just be me nitpicking, and that's fine
as well. It certainly doesn't take away from the dominating
performance of Taporia. And for anybody who questioned his decision

(14:02):
to make the move up, I think he silenced those doubters.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Has to be silenced, have to be an awe of
what he did, not just from that boxing standpoint, because
we knew he could do it, but from the standpoint
of nullifying the grappling of the bigger man Olivera put
him against the cage. Olivera went for takedowns, could not
keep Tapori on his back, had a leg entanglement, was

(14:28):
not able to secure a submission or get a dominant
position out of that sequence. So if you want to
question his jiu jitsu, his black belt, his Greco Roman,
at this point all of the questions are being answered
with check. Plus is that Iliot's Aporia apparently is the
real deal. And that leads to the question, do you

(14:49):
believe he is the quote unquote now face of the UFC.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
I don't know that UFC necessarily has or needs to
have a face. I think they have faces, and he
would certainly be one of those. But I don't know
if there's any one fighter right now that you can
say is the face.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
I don't know necessarily, but we've been we've had a
error where Ron Drowsy, Connor francgregor John Jones, and it's
a question to be asked, with none of them around active,
where is the face of the UFC, Because I don't
know out of the champions that we have now who
you would put higher. Now maybe on a pound four

(15:34):
pound fighter list and skill wise we can talk about that,
but just as a sell and a draw in kind
of captivating people, whether you love them or hate him
to Pouria is on a pretty good role right now.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Oh no, and look that there's no doubt that he's
one of the faces. But no, my point is they
just and by the way, those three you just mentioned
all overlapped so again and now look there was probably
a time when Connor was the face of the company
for sure, But yeah, I don't think UFC needs or

(16:09):
necessarily wants one face of the company that tends to
come back and bite them in the ass a little
bit but but certainly Toporia is right up there. Is
he going to sell you pay per views? You damn
right he is, which leads us right into who's to
Poria facing? When he sells us his next pay per view?
Is it? Maka Chef?

Speaker 2 (16:33):
He is the face of the company right now. I
fully believe, and from that point that he made that
they overlap. I feel like John was made before everybody.
He fucked it up so many times and came back
that it felt like it overlapped. I don't know what
else Iliots Aporia could do to claim the number one

(16:56):
spot right now besides go after Akachev, But I don't
know if the UFC plays that game. If you're in
the UFC, do you stop Makachev from the welterweight title?
Oh oh, oh, oh oh? Do we want to jump
out to the news real quick so I could bring
this in sure. The UFC just announced a second pay

(17:17):
per view for October. We lose the September pay per
view with the Guadalajara moving noce to San Antonio. Abu
Dhabi just got a pay per view the end of October.
October twenty fifth, I believe UFC three twenty one is
now inn Abu Dhabi. That's a pretty good destination to

(17:39):
say Islam is fighting JDM, or there's a chance maybe
you put ankha Elijev versus Alex Barrera. But we know
there's a tendency for a rushing fighter to get that opportunity.
So it's very easy to say that that Patty Pimblet
call out after UFC three seventeen could lead to an

(18:03):
impasse between to Poria and Pimblet. And maybe Islam is
already booked after this morning's announcement.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
And that's certainly possible. I hate the idea of Patty
Pimblet getting the first crack at to Poria, but I
if it's not Markashchev, I don't know that there's really
that much of a better option than.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Patty just because of that announcement, because we know Islam
has been desiring the Welterwey title. Yeah, I guess the
best thought would be if you're the UFC, you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, Islam,
We're pumping the brakes. You and JDM is a nice fight.
You and Ilia arguably two of the top three pounds

(18:50):
for pound in the world. I don't know where you
have Marob and Pantosia. I'd love to have that conversation
to get your top five, But do you throw more money?
Is there a way even with the ESPN structure? Is
there a way that islam Ilia is a bigger deal
for the UFC financially so that they want to make it,
So you incentivize Islam to make it. If not, if

(19:14):
it's all apples and oranges, let them go for the
welterweight title like he keeps saying, you want.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
I don't think it's apples and oranges. But I don't
think you're going out of your way to throw more
money at at Islam because you don't have to take
the fight or fucking sit at home, which is what
you do about eleven months out of the year any
fucking way. So you know, so, yes, But point being

(19:39):
that to Pooria, Makaschef could be your biggest selling paper
view of the year, would Makaschef JDM No. Would it
be a good paper? Of course? And look, you go
that route, you can still drag out and tease possibly
somewhere down the line, Makaschef to Poria. But there's also
something to be said for keeping them apart letting them

(20:01):
do other things. You can have Taporia do a different
title defense, Makashev challenge for the go up and challenge JDM.
If you're trying to make the best fight, it's Markashev
and Taporia. I don't know that that necessarily has to
be the case, though, let's operate on the assumption it's not.

(20:21):
Because you seem to be leading us in another direction.
Does Patty really make that much sense for Taporia? I
know they brought him into the ring afterwards and all
that into the octagon. I would assume Justin Gaegie would
have something to say about that. Fuck Banil dary Yush
is still above Patty in the rankings, although I don't

(20:41):
know too many people that would cry if Patty got
the title shot over Baniel. But I do think there's
some other options and we shouldn't just give it to Patty.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Well, that's what I wanted to ask about, was Justin Gaechie.
Does he have an argument? We know he's coming off
of the he had the recent loss, not coming off
of because he beat Physive, but he had the recent
loss to haul Away. Before that, he had beat Poier
and Physive anyway, but he had the loss to Ola Vera.

(21:15):
That's the name that people are talking about. Do you
think Justin Gaichi should get the shot over Pimblet or
there's been a rumor and it came out. I saw
earlier DDP was alluding to it. He told a source
that he thought the comin event on his card was
going to be Pimblic Gaichi for UFC. I believe that

(21:37):
would be three eighteen. So do we need that title eliminator?
Does one of them out pass the other one to
just get the next shot.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
I could see a title eliminator, because look, Toporia came
out of that fight pretty unscathed. But I don't know
that he necessarily wants to rush back in in two
months and three months either. He might want to take
a little time. So yeah, we don't have to have
a decision on his next opponent right now. But there's
no fun in that, so we should speculate on it.

(22:08):
I guess would I be shocked if we did an eliminator? No?
Would I be shocked if Gaigie just gets left out
in the cold. No, And honestly I would even have
that big of a problem with it. I think one
look if now, if I'm Serouki it. I'm like, look,
you'd book me in a title fight? My back fucked up.

(22:30):
I couldn't get to the scale. I've proven I can
make weight. I just did it here served as the backup. Well,
why are we overlooking me here? I'm not saying it
should be him, but I'm saying I think he could
make a better claim to deserving of being next to
Patty Pimblet.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Well, there's been these rumors about Justin Gaichee, so that's
for a moment, just say Justin Gaichee stays steadfast too.
I'm not fighting anybody unless it's for a title, And
maybe he plays that hardball long enough that he misses
out on his next opportunity. Arman sar Yuki in Patty
Pimblet title eliminator? Are you doing that? If you're Serukian?

(23:14):
Does that sound like a good idea for the UFC?
Because I understand where in all reality we should probably
just give sar Yuki in the damn fight he had
a back injury. Dana White though it was just like
you miss wait. I don't know how they feel about it.
I feel like he miss wait means go get one
more win. Paddy Pimblet. That'd be a really great fight
in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah, look, UFC doesn't didn't seem to mind ola Ara's
issues missing way, but but yeah, look, you want to
know that you can count on somebody if you're booking
him in a title fight, you know to show up
to make weight and not cause fight week chaos and
you have to scramble on the fly. And by the way,

(23:58):
I'm not anti Patty here either. I just think he
probably me personally, he probably needs another fight or two.
But if you're doing an eliminator, I don't see any
reason why he shouldn't be. In the conversation of being
one of the two people. Is the other one Serukian?
Is it gae Chi? I mean, I'd be fine either way.

(24:21):
Generally speaking, Dana White doesn't seem to take kindly to threats,
title fight or nothing. For me. He'll let you sit
there until he really needs you. So if I'm gai Chie,
I'd be a little careful with that. And if I'm
Serukian and they come to me and offer me Patty
and an eliminator, I don't want it, but I'm gonna
take it because that's that's probably my quickest path to

(24:46):
a title shot if you take if you don't take it,
and they leave you in limbo for a while, and
then they give you a gam Rot Phasease or somebody.
I don't know that that's getting you any closer to
that title shot. You feel like you already deserve. So
if you're Seruki and that's offered to you, you may
just have to regrudgingly accept it.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
I got something wrong, and everything I was saying three
nineteen's rumored comine event is pimblic gaichee because three eighteen
is New Orleans and we didn't say either one of
their names. Is there a possibility that Poier goes three
and zero against Holloway doesn't walk away because they say,

(25:29):
do you want to crack at ilia? Could Dustin Poier
get his way into one more title shot?

Speaker 1 (25:36):
No? They created this pay per view at a thin
air specifically to send off Poier.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
He's done, figured he deserved to be in the conversation,
and there's another guy that may have something to do
with one of these fights. If Dad Hooker's hand gets healthier,
we find out what's going on with him. He was
set up for something big before the injury.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, this is true. You co made it go ahead?

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Do you the thought's been out there? Do you have
Ilia above Islam in the pound for pound rankings at
this point after what he did, because I've seen it
now on the UFC board, and I also had one
question about the title. But first you have Ilia above Islam? Yes,

(26:26):
who's the lightweight champion? And what belts do these dudes have?
Because I saw one thing that still has Islam with
the belt. Because Ilia the champion, I'm kind of confused.
What's going on in the lightweight division. Do we know.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
To Poria has the belt?

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Micah undisputed champion? Yeah, okay, I heard interim. I've heard
that they both have belts. I just wanted to make
that clear. Okay, So our new undisputed lightweight champion is
Ilia Taporia.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Okay, I don't think this is even in question, just
making sure, all right, anything else.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Not for that main event, all right, the co main event,
Alexandre Pantosia successfully defended the flightweight title against Kaikara France.
Pantosia is like fine wine. He just gets better with age.
At some point in time, that's gonna come to an end.
But he looked as good as he ever has on
Saturday Night.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
As ever, and it's brutally efficient. Like I think that
we've seen grapplers fall in love with striking to their
detriment in a way that I'm gonna come out and
play with my striking before I go to my wrestling,
because I know I'm good at my wrestling. The flaw
in that theory is the sweat that builds up that
stops the wrestling. Pantosia attacks, the wrestling attacks, the jiu

(27:53):
jitsu breaks you down, takes you down a gear because
he's already in his now flow state and he is
able to commit a great first round, a little bit
harder to get it to the ground in the second,
eventually to the third, and just a paralyzing, suffocating game
that eventually pops the head off of Kai car France

(28:14):
getting that submission.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, it was a very impressive win for Pantosia, and
I thought, kay car France was I'm trying to choose
my words. I was gonna say, give him a better fight,
but that would imply that car France came out and
didn't do anything and look flat, and that's not necessarily

(28:38):
true either. But Pantosia I mean, if we're being honest,
he just made it look easy.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
Antosia is, without a doubt, the second greatest flyweight we've
ever seen, and I think that he's brutally more efficient
and a little bit meaner and just more vicious than
what DJ was, because he goes after you with this
chip on his shoulder, looking to maim you, where DJ

(29:06):
was looking to outclash you.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, that's probably an accurate way to describe the differences
of the two. For sure. We'll skip down for just
a moment before we get back to the Komaine because
this plays into it. Joshua Van gets the unanimous decision
against Brandon Royval. Roy Val might have been on his
way to winning that fight until the last fifteen seconds.

(29:32):
I guess we'll never know for sure, and it ultimately
doesn't matter, but I wanted to skip down to this
because Joshua Van went to the back for about eight
seconds and immediately came back out to sick octagon side
for the comain event. They then brought him in afterwards.
Barring injury or something really wonky, Joshua Van is going

(29:56):
to be next for Alexandre Pantosia.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Joshua three weeks notice is more than enough time to prepare.
He said it, he did it, He lived up to it.
His boxing was on point. He landed the much heavier
shots for most of the fight. For most of that
first round, I'll even tell you I thought that the
activity and the volume was on the side of Royvall,

(30:21):
and then you just started seeing the head pop and
it's when your head swings from one direction to the
other and kind of does that whole jacket a box thing.
That's the kind of a fact that the overhands from
Joshua Van were having on Reyvall. You could see the
more impactful blows and that was a consistent theme as
it even felt like the roy Vaal offense built to

(30:44):
an avalanche, and at a point in the second round,
I thought it was wearing on Van. The two weight cuts,
the two camps in four weeks, the incredible effort that
this is taking. And in that third round, where again
they're just trading these haymakers, where it feels like a
lot of fighters might pull out Mike trying to play
that long game, use the length that they have, Brandon

(31:08):
roy Vall said, wow, there's fifteen seconds left. Maybe I
can get a knockout, jumped right into the fire and
got his buffet on the ground with a big over
him one more time, and unfortunately that and the hammer
fist raining down to most of us with the siding
factor on a two rounds to one fight, great win

(31:29):
for Van.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Is this too soon for him that you have a
problem with him being next?

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yes and no, like a in a perfect world? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
we're we're slow rolling. But unfortunately he just beat the
number one contender. I don't know how we take this
from Joshua Van, how we don't allow him this opportunity.
A lot of people are looking at the age similar
to John Jones shout out to Aleshondre Pranchozo, the first

(31:59):
champion over under one fifty five, over thirty five years
old to retain. We might talk about that in a moment,
but it's a golden opportunity in a perfect world, you're
not forcing him into it. But it's hard to say
that there's someone more deserving right now, especially with guys
like Amir al Bosi and menw Camp just unable to

(32:20):
get locked the gun. He just leapfrogged all of them. Uh.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Cap could probably make the argument since he was supposed
to be in this match against roy Val But I
don't disagree with you there Moreno could probably make the argument,
But at first I'm like, this is too much, this
is too soon. My man was ranked eleventh. I get it.

(32:45):
It's a big win. It makes as much sense as
anything else you could realistically do. So yeah, maybe it's
too much too soon, maybe it's not, but I don't
necessarily think it's all that under either.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
And also Koitia Haagucci getting injured where he was gonna
take on Sayi, Armaka Medov and Baku, that was probably
a glorified number one contenders fight, kids pedigree coming back
over from Risen having their title. I think that the
dominoes are all just falling in Joshua Van's favor where
he gets that next title shot.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
And look, look, you gotta be great. You gotta go
out and do what you gotta do. But but timing
is such a big part of this as well, uh
this sport, and certainly, like you just said, everything's timing
out just right for Joshua Van.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
It makes you wonder what will be next for Brandon
roy Vaal. We were supposed to have the Menel Camp fight.
Maybe that one does get rebooked. Maybe there's a fight
with our mirror al Bozi. But right now, huge win
for Joshua Van. The power punching to take down defense
was not put to test. There's a lot that uh

(33:57):
will have to become of Joshuavan to up Alesandre Pantosia.
Last thing from those couple fights Pantosia, where you got
him ranked in the pound for a pound because he
was adamant, he should be a lot higher than what
he is. I'm saying I got him no lower than four.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
I believe currently UFC has him five. I'm fine with that.
If you want to tell me it's four, that's fine too.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
I'm flipping a coin between him and the Volish Philly
for third, so I'm giving him fourth and I'm putting
Islam and Ilia is the only guys above him for sure.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
The other two fights on the pay per view portion
of the card, Benil d'ar juche defeats Ronaldo Moykano, Peyton
Talbot over Yeah over Felipe Lima. What do you think
of those two fights?

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Alipe Lima looked lethargic a bit. He looked unprepared for
what Peyton Talbot was willing to offer, and it looked
like that him in his corner were way too over
zealously co to the thought that this guy can't wrestle.
We're gonna get a couple of takedowns and bollue through him.
It looked like there was a lack of respect from Lima,

(35:08):
who had pulled off a couple of huge upsets. It
was surprising to see his lack of attentiveness. It was
great to see the intent on detail from Peyton Talbot,
who looked like a completely different fighter from what we
saw a couple months ago. And then for the other

(35:28):
fight Banila, you said he was bit here everywhere, and
he went out there and he proved it the knockdown
his grappling. In a perfect world, Patty pimblet probably as
the number ten, she'd probably be fighting like a Banio
Daar Yush next and not being rushed himself to a
title fight.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah, but again, it ain't a perfect world, Micah. It
ain't a perfect world. In the prelims, Mike, especially those
middle three limbs. Three of your winner. Hell maybe well
one of them said they weren't happy with their performance,
but three of them really took huge steps forward Gregory

(36:09):
Hedriguez in his win over Jack Ermanson. Tracy Cortes gets
a win Jose Miguel Delgado holy crap, and a big
win by Terrence McKinney as well.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
When you say holy crap, I thought the holy crap
was from Gregory Rodriguez. I mean that right hand absolutely,
and I'm talking about the fair play one, the one
on the feet absolutely annihilated and decapitates Jack Hermanson from
the division. And the only reason why I say the
other one isn't fair play is because if the third

(36:46):
party in the octagon is a little swifter, maybe that
blow doesn't land. Because it wasn't like the fight wasn't over.
It's not like Hanriguez does anything wrong, but there's a
a couple other factors good that could have stopped it
from happening.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
Yes, but it was still fair play. You fight until
the fight stopped, So, like you said, you can't blame
Adriguez for that. Blame slow ass out of position Herbdan.
But yeah, that punch didn't need to happen, but the
fight wasn't stopped. Rodriguez would have been a fool not
to have continued going it's a bad situation. Herbdan should

(37:24):
have done better. That was incredibly impressive by Hadriguez Jose
Miguel Delgado. Not surprised necessarily that he won, but I
damn sure I'm surprised it happened that quickly.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Sentence Hider a meal from the ranks of the being
a male, a pressure fighter, and pressure was met by
a knee and woke up and the fight was over.
That is just ridiculous for the Arizona fighter. And even
though he wasn't happy with it, Terrence McKinney jumped all
over saw of a bors Chev, wrapped him up, tapped

(38:00):
him out. Sick transition from a Daris to a Anaconda
into a mounted guillotine just ridiculous. Shit.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Yeah, I was impressed with McKinney in that fight a lot. Also,
just little helpful hints going forward. Unless you reside in
the North Pole or somehow related to an Elf or
Santa if it ain't December, don't come out in a
damn santath loss hat. I get it. It was kind

(38:32):
of sort of a little bit cute, but come.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
On, man, ah cheery, be cheery for Slava, cause it
was like, you know, possibly his last time wearing that
hat out to the octagon. If you know what I'm saying,
he's not gonna be there for next Christmas. Jacoby Smith.
Let's shot him out too. On the early prelims, absolutely

(38:54):
mangled Nico Price, showed punching power, show efficient ju jitsu,
Nico Price a very good black belt, rear naked choke
eleven and zer. The textant is someone to keep an
eye on in an ascending wealthyweight division.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Uh here's why I can't heap the accolades on Jacobe
Smith quite as much as you did. He was a
minus twenty one hundred favorite. It took him into the
second round to beat Nico Price. Come on, man, of
course I'm kidding a little bit. He was an overwhelming favorite.
Nico Price far and away the biggest underdog on the card,
So that fight did kind of go as expected. But

(39:34):
as that fight went along, you also saw why those
odds were what they were.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
You saw why those odds were what they were, and
that it's kind of unfortunate the position that Nico Price
is in at this point. But you can't fall Jacoby
Smith for doing what he's supposed to do. Claiming a
body of a veteran at that big of a favorite.
It's kind of what we wanted to see from b Nickel.
Not saying he has bone right, just saying that's what

(40:01):
we wanted to see right real quick.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
The only reason I kind of skipped over at Tracy
Cortes and didn't include her and that Hadriguez Delgado McKinney
campus is because she herself said she wasn't happy with
her performance. She gets the unanimous decision win, but felt
like she could have done better. She did no, I'm
not saying that idea, but she said she felt like
she could have been should have done better.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
It was a grappling heavy performance, a lot of control,
not as much damage as would of like, not as
many significant submission attempts. So well, it's a rebound back
into the wing column from the Noma Unis loss. I
don't think it was the statement making performance that you're like,
oh I am here. She gets into the top ten.

(40:48):
I believe you swap spots. Aroujio goes to ten and
you get Cortes up at eight. She finds herself right
behind Nomaunis who beat her. Maybe he had a barber
Cortes fight depending on the health of Macy Barber. I'm
not sure, maybe a Jazz Deavicius, but some of these

(41:09):
ladies would like to fight up interesting spot for Cortes
to be in in a performance that she needed to have.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yep, and the heavyweights opened up the card on the
early prelims. Micah, I just hope that when Alvin Hines
took this fight on short notice, that he got it
in writing that they got to give him two fights.
Denis gets the unanimous decision win and he absolutely won it.
There's something about Ivan Alvin Hines. I don't know if
it's the creepy look with the glasses, the silly smile

(41:38):
on his face. He is a big dude. I hope
he gets at least one more fight in the UFC.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
I fully believe he will have at least three fights
in the UFC. I fully believe because he is a
heavyweight willing to brawl. He wasn't completely committed to wrestling,
he wasn't trying to nullify the fight, and he didn't
look guss out for on a couple of days notice.
I think those are all will benefit him into getting
a good couple fights under his belt and at least one,

(42:06):
maybe two full camp opportunities in the UFC. We saw
Mohammed Usman beat Hamdi abdu Wad last weekend. Amduwad versus
Hines are high hives. They both have about the same
amount of experience. I think there's matchup made right there.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
All in all, Mike, I thought UFC three seventeen delivered. Again.
We talked about those early finishes in the prelims, the
excitement on the pay per view card. It's hard not
to ask for or it's hard to ask for more.
I thought it delivered.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
You could have been dissatisfied with the card and lead
up looking at it out its face value, But like
you said, what could you ask for more than the
Tuporia Hadriguez Delgado knockouts. I mean, we saw some crazy finishes.
Roy Vall versus Van will be in the conversation for
fight of the Year. This ship was awesome.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Yep. Before we get too far away from International Fight Week,
let's go back to Friday real quick, before the ceremonial
away ends they did at Canelo Lvarez Terrence Crawford press conference.
In the lead up to that big fight at Allegiance Stadium.
What were your thoughts on Canelo and Crawford.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
A lot more similar size than I expected, and I
think their board of answering questions right now because I
got two profound statements from both guys. My entire takeaway
was Crawford feels that with a victory over Canelo, this
puts him on the mount rushmore of boxers, and Canelo
feels that Terrence Crawford is a very good, very worthy

(43:47):
opponent and that he needs to be a full encompassing Canelo.
He has to do everything well to get the victory
here in this fight. I don't know if either one
said anymore, no matter how many different ways they were
asked questions.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
That's probably fair, That's probably fair. It was also like
the fourth press conference they had done in the last
couple of weeks, so that that probably played a little
bit into that as well.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
And isn't there one more on the books? If is
that one spread out or do I believe there's one more?
Was this the fifth ground finale of the press cone?

Speaker 1 (44:19):
I think this was the last one for now. Obviously
as we get into closer to fight week that there'll
be another one for sure, But yeah, I think this
was the last one.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Okay, so pretty Actually, I think you are right because
they did the Abu Dhabi, I mean the Saudi Arabia one.
Weat Season one, the Fanatics one, and then yeah, International
Fight Week, So maybe we just unfortunately were there where
these two were like, God, do I have to see
you in the airport one more time? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Could be? Could be with all the UFC related stuff
going on, Micah, not the only things that happened this
past week. I think you mentioned at the top. We
had some PFL action on Friday night.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
PFL on Friday night. We do finally have our finals
set in multiple weight classes, including the heavyweight division, where
it only took one round. Well, unfortunately, because Valentine Moldovski
with any just crushes Alexander Romanov, the fight is a

(45:20):
no contest. The judges later scored the one round or
the partial round. Romanov is given the ten to eight
victory all three score cards to that point. Should he
be able to continue after whatever happened below the belt,
he will be taking on Olig Popoff. Pop Off got
a unanimous decision over Rodrigo Nastimento on the prelimps. That's

(45:44):
your heavyweight finals are set up. Antonio Carlos Junior and
his grappling heavy approach is going to face Sullivan Khalie,
who pulled off an upset over Phil Davis. Kully big
head kicked, had Davis wobble in the second round. Huge
upset there. So Carlos Junior versus Kulley for the light

(46:04):
heavyweight and then Fabian Edwards Dalton Rosta gonna be battling
in the middleweight division. Brilliant elbows inside from Edwards to
get the victory over Jos Savaria. Rosa did it with
his wrestling. PFL. The finals are set coming up in August.

(46:25):
A bunch of fighters get to win a half a
million dollars.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Does the winner of the heavyweight finals get a crack
in Francis and Ghanu.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
I got no clue what anybody gets. And I am
still pretty damn sure that Francis and Ghanu is no
longer a fighter in the PFL, and I think he
has won. Ultimately. This would be for you, I know,
because you hate the PFL, You're not gonna get any
joy in this. But I get the joy that. I
think he's just an investor now I think he won.

(46:54):
I think he created PFL Africa and never has to
fight for them again.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
He's still under contract.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
I don't think we ever see him fight for them begin.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
Well, look, that's entirely possible because they don't have anyone
for him to fight. You know, John Jones retired because
of legacy, right, and there was no reason for him
to fight aspenal I did benefit his legacy. This is
the problem, and we've talked about this in the outset.
We won't rehash it too much here, but PFL went
outside Francis and Ganho and had absolutely zero opponents for him.

(47:25):
As great as he may be, it takes two to tango.
You can be the greatest at whatever, but if you
don't have someone comparable on the other side of you,
it doesn't matter. And that's the situation that PFL finds
himself in with Francis and Ganhu. So yeah, I don't
necessarily disagree with you that and Ganhu may never actually
fight for PFL again. I do think that's entirely possible.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
It's very possible. PFL what they do have going on
finals coming up in August. In July July nineteen, they
do have that PFL South Africa card. Johnny Blynn, Dakota Ditchiva,
a couple of the worthwhile watching fighters that they have
in the organization on that card.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Yeap. We also had boxing on Saturday night. Mikeah, Jake
Paul improves the twelve and one, he defeats, Julio sees
Our Chavez Junior, and nobody's happy. Yeah, except for Jake Paul.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
I mean he's happy, but I'm sure Holio says Our
Chavez is happy. I mean, look at it from a
reality perspective, this man was in rehabit a year ago.
I think he was weighing well into the two hundred
and fifty pounds range. His life was in shambles and ruins,
and to what we know now, he is reportedly sober.

(48:46):
He's pass drug tests to lead up into this process
with Jake Paul, and then he had a boxing match
that he was able to stay standing, not get knocked
out in and probably made one of the better paydays.
I mean, he had fought Uriah Hall and Anderson Slivn
recent years. I'm thinking that Julio says Our Chavis probably

(49:07):
made out very well for this endeavor, so I think
he did very well for himself on the week compared
to where he was a year ago.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Well compared to where he was a year ago. Yes,
but if Jake Paul's purse was three hundred thousand dollars,
how much do you think Julio sees our Chavez Juniors really.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Was fifty sixty But that's still fifty sixty thousand more
than I think anybody else would have paid him.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yeah, he actually got seven hundred and fifty thousand.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Wait, Jake Paul did or or Julio says our Chavis.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Julio sees our Chavez Junior did?

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Well? See that that's Dawn. Well, good for him.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Yeah, I guess here's the problem, Micah. And unlike some people,
I'm not going to go out and say Jake Paul
fights or rigged, they're fixed because Jake Paul's threatening litigation
against people who do that. So I'm not going to
go down that route. But I am going to hit
you with some facts. The first seven rounds of that
fucking fight, Julio Cesar Chavez Junior through sixty three punches.

(50:07):
He landed twenty one of them. He did not land
a single punch in round one. He only connected on
nine punches in the first five rounds. I'm not gonna
say Jake Paul fights are fixed. I'm saying Jake Paul
does a really good job of picking out his opponents.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
I will say that my opinion is that Jake Paul
does not challenge himself with matchmaking. He does not look
for a opposition who is going to put him in
a very dangerous predicament. I think that I did not
actually look this up, but I want to believe they
weighed in around one hundred and ninety five one hundred

(50:52):
and ninety nine pounds that part I did see. I
think that's about twenty to thirty pounds heavier than Sayzar
Chavez is UH prime weight when he was in his
optimal world champion days younger. This was not his weight class. This,
this was a very good matchmaking effort by MVP Promotion,

(51:13):
is my opinion.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Yeah, who they will Seesar is junior. By the way,
on fight night, actually weighed more than Jake Paul, so
to go into not his prime weight class. Yeah, he
even weighed more on fight night than than Paul did.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
Do I get sue if I say that I think
Caesar Chavez was.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Pudgy, No, I think that's accurate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
see yeah, no specimen yep. So Jake Paul now in
the rankings. I believe it's the WBA rankings. Uh, it's
just a matter of time before he gets a title shot.
The problem the other thing, when people pile on Jake
Paul fights and all that. Most boxing fans say, he's

(51:54):
only fault one legitimate boxer and he lost that fight,
the Tommy Fury fight, which, by the way, he might
be interested in running back. He being Jake Paul regardless
of what you think of Jake Paul, and that's fine,
and it ain't here to change anybody's mind on that.
Like I said earlier, I'll just reiterated here. I think
he does a phenomenal job of choosing his opponents.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I was gonna real quick also say he may be ranked,
but he's probably the only guy in those rankings that
people have ever heard of.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
That's true, And I don't even know what.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Weight class that is. That that's the other problem. He's
in a weight class that no one's ever heard of.
I don't remember if it's bridger weight or cruiserweight, but
I couldn't tell you who the champion is in that
weight class. Any of the four to five, to six,
and seven belts that we recognize. It's not a pristine
pay per view selling division outside of Jake Paul, but

(52:51):
he is a.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Presumably a sellable name, which is a little weird. I
mean it's not weird. I mean it is what it is. Uh,
and the belt he will be challenging for what would
be the WBA Cruiserweight Championship.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Can I tell me who the WBA Cruiserweight Champion is?
I'm kind of scared.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Berto Ramirez.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah, that was my fear. Never heard that name before.
Shah Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. So I ain't gonna knock
what Jake Paul is doing it just like I said,
no one, it's not as bad as Francis and Gano
because people care more about Jake Paul. But I don't
know the general public's ever heard of these fighters when
he does make it to a world title fight. But

(53:37):
good for Jake Paul with what he's doing. I just
don't know the division.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Yeah, I it ain't my cup of tea, Micah, I
ain't gonna lie to you, but he's he's out there
doing something and look it's somebody's cup of tea or
it wouldn't keep happening. It's really it's an interesting phenomenon.
I don't want to hurt my head diving too deep
into it, but it's a phenomenon. Man.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
Shout out to Jake Paul. He sells himself one hundred
and thirty five pound women's boxing. Surprisingly, I don't.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Know if you stick it for free on fucking YouTube,
are you really selling it? Speaking this car.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Well, I was more referring to Amanda versus Katie coming up.
In July, the MVP promotions returned to Netflix, and I
do think that somewhere in there, Yeah, Holly Home will
be in play, whether it's the next fright of the
fight after for who could be facing because they're gonna
eventually stop Serrano and Taylor from just fighting each other
every fight, and either Stephanie Hahn Holly Home, someone's gonna

(54:44):
step into that equation or two of them will fight
each other to get into that equation.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Okay, why don't you have Holly Holm in a more
prominent spot on that card? Look, multi time boxing champion,
she's a fucking boxing Hall of Famer, former UFC champion.
You had her fighting someone that no one's ever heard of.
On YouTube. On the prelims, I do not.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
The only name I recognized was Tevin Farmer besides Paul
and and Chavis Junior when I saw the little graphic.
I don't think I'm deep enough in the boxing world
to really be able to tell you what their thought
process were on. Maybe they are just trying to build
that division. They figured Holly's a name, and maybe draw

(55:33):
I don't know, but.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
She's a name. Why wouldn't and look, man, maybe they
felt like, look, this pay per view will be sold
or not sold on Jake Paul and Jake Paul alone.
We don't need to add more names on the paper.
I mean, look, maybe that's possible. You could have had
her open the pay per view at the very I
don't know. That's just me. If you're going to bring
her in, I would have I would have used her

(55:57):
a little more prominently. But I mean that's just me.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
I understand what you're saying, And to me, it would
seem like you would need to because even though they've
signed ten or so women in that weight class, at
forty three years old, I'd figured you'd be wanting to
get a return on investment on Holly sooner than later.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Right, because there might not be a later. Look not
knocking Holly here, but let's be honest. Time is not
on her side. That's not to say next fight and
she's done or whatever, but like you said at forty three,
she probably ain't gonna be fighting in three or four years,
so you try to capitalize on that while you can whatever. Look,

(56:39):
whatever Jake Paul is doing is working for Jake Paul,
and ultimately, I guess that's all that matters exactly.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
He's making money, his investors are making money, and Netflix
into his own are happy enough to be splitting whatever
they're doing and working with MVVP of Promotions, So more
power to him. You told me his next fight was
against Tommy Fury in a rematch, I believe you. If
you told me his next fight was against Ronald McDonald,

(57:08):
i'd believe you.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
I think he's got his sight set on Grimace. But
that's just me. Uh nothing, Jake Paul boxing. What else
you got, Micah?

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Also this past weekend, go to OK's minds dot com.
You can see the full result because there was BKFC
seventy seven overseas Liverpool, Connor Tyranny and Danny Christie an
absolute slobburn knocker, stopped due to cuts in the fourth round,
and still the Ukey UK welterweight champion is Connor Tyranny,

(57:41):
and maybe that earns him a shot to come over
here to the United States fight for the full welterweight title,
which might be vacant soon because Austin Trout was looking
to go down to lightweights that he's having actually issued
kind of staying as heavy as he needs to for

(58:02):
the weight class and would rather go down ten pounds.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
While we're on the subject here, the worst kept secret
in combat sports kind of came out over the last
week or so, and that's that Vince McMahon had discussions
with Dave Feldman about buying BKFC. But first and foremost,
let me ask you, this was Vince talking to the
wrong person. I have no clue. If you're interested in

(58:26):
buying a promotion, don't you need to talk to the
person who can actually sell the promotion. And I asked that,
and the follow up is is that still Dave Feldman?
Because I'm not sure it is.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
There's been a lot of speculations, so if you think
about it in total, there's been a lot of investors
a lot of growth from BKFC, and Triller was prominent
part of that. Well, Triller last thing we all heard
about them, I don't think that was so good, And
they had a reported a couple things, and I haven't

(58:59):
really heard much from Triller after that's unless sure how
involved they are David Feldman at one point it sounded
like he was making the talks with Vince McMahon sound
like Vince McMahon wanted to invest. Then it sounds like
Vince McMahon was more feeling and to purchase. And then
that leads a lot of people to say, well, with
all the guys that have invested, how much is Dave

(59:22):
Feldman the owner? How much is he the president? That
conversation also came up this week because basically all in
like five minutes their BKFC bandaweight champion Alberto Blast announced
he had signed with BKB BKFC sends out an email, Hey,
we're done with being in the about though Blast business,

(59:45):
due to conduct basically detrimental to the promotion that he's
had outside of the ring. Conduct issues. They really didn't
fully say what they were, but they alluded to and
they said we're not going to be in business with
him any more, and Blast basically came back and said, hey,
there have been some issues, but those were in the past.

(01:00:06):
You didn't take disciplinary issues with me at the time.
And how can the not owner, just face of the
company be throwing this at me leading those rumors of
is David Feldman still the full owner of BKFC to
grow even louder?

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Interesting stuff for sure, Why don't you got well?

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
BKFC actually also did announce they're going to be returning
to Sturgis in August during the Huge Motorcycle Rally. Former
welterweight champion Go Go Celeski is returning to the promotion.
He's going to be taking on Let Me Bang Bro
Julian Lane in the main event. We're also going to
see on that card Taylor Starling versus Shelby Cannon in

(01:00:48):
the co main event mentioned earlier. We've lost a pay
per view in September, the UFC giving US two in October,
so look forward to that with the UFC three twenty
That one is set for October fourth in Las Vegas.

(01:01:08):
Then later in the month you get UFC three twenty one.
That's gonna be Abu Dhabi. Yeahs Island Eddie Hat Arena
that is gonna be October twenty fifth, so we double
up with pay per views in October, just so you
know you will be getting your fight fix. With things
having been kind of postponed, a few things missing, not

(01:01:30):
too many huge fight announcements this week. You get Shannon
O'Bannon versus Sam Hughes September sixth. We're gonna get Esteban
Rivevich Elvis Brenner August second. We'll have some big ones,
I believe coming up this week from Dana White. He
was quite busy last week.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
Yeah, it was a little bit of a busy week
for Dana last week for sure. Before we get out
of here, Micah, we definitely should mention Ben Askren, who's
been hospitalized for the last several weeks with severe new
and has been in a bad way. On Monday received
a double lung transplant, So things appear to be looking
up for Ben Askron.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
That is great to hear, a very serious, scary situation. Thankfully,
some anonymous donors were able to lend a hen and
hopefully all everyone keep him in your prayers, but hopefully
on the men for Ben Askern. Yeah, that one was

(01:02:32):
a scary situation for sure, and.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
Let's head out on something a little lighter, I guess,
unless you're Daniel Cormier whose truck that he had had
for all of four days was stolen from the San
Jose Airport while he was in Vegas for USC three seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
That one is unfortunate. That's not awful. Oh, there was
a fight announcement that we did need to bring up.
I forgot that we did get last week. Brian Ortega
al Germaine Sterling. That one's gonna be UFC shang hi.
That's two names that y'all will recognize.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
And there was no point bringing it up because that
fight will never happen and we both know it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Who do you think al Jermaine Sterling fights instead of
Brian Ortega.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
I don't know, but I don't think it'll be Brian Ortega.
Somehow or another. He will miss wait, he will get sick.
Something will happen. I hope not, and I like brand Ortega,
but if recent history is an indicator, that fight will
never happen.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
We love the UFC. But got to bring up one
other interesting thing I saw that they're doing, and it's
been brought to Light UFC Shanghai the day before they're
gonna do the UFC wrote the Road to UFC Finals.
On the Road to UFC Finals card, we're actually gonna
have Shei Ming and the shins Kenakamura Tatsastura Protege both competing.

(01:03:59):
So the Road to uf S card the night before
the UFC events will have two official UFC fights on it.
Not trying to confuse anybody, but just kind of bringing
up that interesting situation in Shanghai.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
That's a little interesting. I'm not unprecedented. You brought up
earlier at one point during an International Fight week where
you had Ultimate Fighter Finale fight Night and then pay
per view like a Thursday, Friday, Saturday deal. I can
recall on those Ultimate Fighter finalees there being fights that

(01:04:34):
didn't have anything to do with the Ultimate Fighter as well.
But yeah, it is a little interesting road to UFC. Well,
these people have already completed their journey on that road.
They've already parked and have gone inside.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
They're both winners that they've events that they should get
to fight in the big stage. I'm just bringing that up,
and I know this weekend we're all going to be
celebrating a happy holiday. If you really need some fights
in your life, Vice TV does have BKB forty three.
Come Saturday night, it's the Bolton Brawl. Super Lightweight champion

(01:05:07):
Harry Gigiliotti is going to defend against Cullum Shane in
the main event.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Awesome, Micah. Tell everybody how they can keep up with you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Cageminds dot com, cage Mindscombat sports news on Facebook and YouTube.
A whole bunch of interviews going up this week. It's
cage Minds Underscore CSN on TikTok, Instagram and X.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Get the show on X at MMA after Hours you
can find me at Real Mike Carlisle. Enjoy your Fourth
of July weekend. If you're outside the US, enjoy your weekend.
We will talk to you next week for another episode
of MMA After Hours here on the After Hours podcast network.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
Love combat Sports. I have a website for you, cageminds
dot com. That's c A G E. D M I
n d S dot com. Fight news from around the world,
in depth interviews, live event coverage covering combat sports for
over a decade. Established in April twenty eleven, that's cageminds

(01:06:17):
dot com.