Ep 315: UFC Fight Night Recap - What's Going On With Brian Ortega? Latest News.

Episode 315: We look back at UFC Fight Night...does Brian Ortega have anything left? All the latest news and notes.














Hit up the show:

X (formerly Twitter): @MMAafterhours @RealMikeCarlyle @FranklMika @CagedMindsMMA

Email: [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up everybody? Welcome back to MMA after Hours. It's
Michael Carlisle and Micah Franko. Micah, how you doing, man?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Man doing all right today? All right, well, we'll just
keep it at that for you.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
I didn't even pay attention. Did you say something?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah? I said I am Snoop Dogg this past weekend
because I was high.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
I hear you as we went on for way too
long last week. Nobody really cares how anybody's doing when
they ask how you do it? That's fine in all
serious is glad you're doing well. You seem a lot
more motivated than Oh, I don't know Ryan Ortega these days.
I guess we do. Oh, mister Ortega, an apology. The
fight did happen, although it was touching go there for

(00:46):
a while, like it is for a lot of Ortega fights.
That actually, well, what is going on with this dude?
It's look, I don't want to try to get into
anybody's head, but let's try to get in his head,
because he sure seems like he just really is and
into fighting anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I don't know how how we put that one together. Really,
Like you said, there's there's been a lot of different
layers to this, because let's actually backtrack. If we're gonna
do the Brian Ortega talk budding featherweight contender, things aren't
going great. We have weight mishaps starting to happen. We

(01:23):
have this hell Mary of a moment. Would you agree
with Yeahyiro Rodriguez, he was losing that fight, and then
Yayer got two into the Bravado game of the grappling
and fell right into an Ortega trap. But we've had
I can't even count how many weight misses, how many
fights that have had to be circumvented. It made a

(01:44):
lot of sense, I think, to you and me when
they said Brian Ortega is going to lightweight, and then
preposterously this week he doubles back on that hard like
I just said that, because the division was log in.
I almost had a guillotine of Volkanovsky. Look Max is gone,
Look ill he is gone. The division's wide open. But

(02:07):
his body doesn't allow him or his mind to make
the weight. And that's just like the tip of the iceberg.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
You know, if it's the body, not a lot you
can do about that other than go up and wait.
His seeming reluctance to actually go up and wait and
continue to do this again. Makes me wonder if it's
not the body but it is the mind. He's like,
I can do it, I can do it. My body
will let me do it. But when he gets into
the weightcut, he's just not into it.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is it the weight cut? Is it the fight week?
Is there the true in the true same prospect level
desire and motivation, And not to mention since he nearly
have Vulkanovsky in that guillotine, there was the yeah, you
fight with the shoulder injury, and then it is uninspiring

(03:01):
these last two performances. And we all know that his
pullout is what led to Danny gay Diego Lopez that
magnificent moment, but it's hard to overglare that that was
a failure to make weight. And I almost don't want
to blame or take at some of these points where
if he's getting sick, if he's truly having to go

(03:24):
to the hospital, if he's slipping and falling and fainting
in the host hotel, some of these things are uncontrollable,
and it really is your body telling you you're not
made to be this weight. He barely got to one
fifty three. That means I think he's the lightweight.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Now well, and that's the point to me anyway. So
and if it is just a body, I cannot physically
make this weight. It makes me sick trying to cut
to it, stop fighting it.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
And move up in Wait, do you think there's a
bully mentality? Do you think there was a conviction maybe
that I've already started this path at this division. I
started as a featherweight. I've always been a featherweight, and
that's where the mind saying I can make it and
the body can't. Do you think he doesn't want to
smoke at fifty five? What do you think continues to

(04:15):
perpetuate Brian Ortaga to want to make this decision?

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Honestly, yeah, I don't think it's either of those things.
I don't think he's into it anymore. Maybe I'm wrong
on that, and again I don't know. I'm just purely
speculation on my part. I just don't think he's into
fighting anymore. But he can't walk away from it. He
doesn't And I don't mean this isn't a bad way, right,
but yeah, he doesn't know what else to do. So

(04:42):
if I'm not a fighter, what am I? So you
have to go through the motions and you convince yourself,
all right, I'm ready this time. But then as you
go through the camp and things progress and you get
closer and closer to fight week, you're just not into it.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
It doesn't look like he's into it. He doesn't look healthy,
he doesn't look happy, and when he's talking to the media,
if you watch any of the clips from media day,
it feels just a little combative. It feels defensive. It
feels like he is continually up there trying to defend
who he is instead of kind of I feel like
media day is an opportunity to explain who you are

(05:18):
and where you're at, and I think his is a
constant defending of this position.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
But why is he continuous, continuously in a position that
he has to defend himself.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's, like you said, the argument now between what you
really do want to do with your life and how
convicted are you to wanting to be a fighter, how
determined are you to be successful in this sport, And
a lot of those seem to be coming up on
the negative sides of what seems to be the biggest

(05:52):
priority for Brian Ortega. Because we haven't even got into
just the performance didn't seem to have any layers of
intention to it. There wasn't and you couldn't tell me
if there really was a plan of attack to get
this fight into a realm where he felt comfortable against

(06:13):
al Joe. It seemed like they were thinking, if he
can walk Aljo down land a power shot, he's the
bigger striker, and if we grapple, we're good. He already
knows what to do. We don't have to force anything.
And it felt like there wasn't a lot of intention
in what our taga was doing once he even got
in the cage.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
And see that's why, and again purely speculation. I feel
like it's more than just my body won't let me
make this weight cut anymore. Because let's set the weight
cuts aside for a little bit. Although you can't totally
dismiss it. My man still lost five of those last
seven fights. Now, tough weightcuts can certainly play a role
into that. That's why I say you can't totally just

(06:54):
set that aside. But even when he gets into the octagon,
whether it is because of the tough weightcut, whether it
is a lack of motivation, whether it's poor game planning,
or whether it's just being outclassed. My man ain't had
a lot of success lately, so at some point in
time you kind of have to go back to the
drawing board. What's my problem here? What's going on? Is

(07:17):
it something simply like this weight cutches ain't for me anymore?
Whether I want to or not, I have to go
up and wait. If I want to continue fighting, is
there more going on? Is it a combination of a
couple three four different things, whatever it is. If he
wants to continue his career, he's got to figure something

(07:39):
out because this just ain't working.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I don't think we'll ever know if he's injured. I'm
guessing later we'll know if he was mentally into it.
If there was, it appeared for a while, and I
don't like to going to fighters personalize, but there was
a divorce, there was a separation. I believe there's now
more stability with the sharing cut city of children. I
believe or heard that Brian's about to be remarried. So

(08:05):
from the outside, you would think for a part of
this stretch that we're talking about, these last five fights,
I think there were invariable hurdles that were going on
outside of the cage. That probably was a detriment to
our Tega. But it's almost hard to put it now
where it seems like everything has come full circle and
worked its way out. Why he still looks to be

(08:28):
almost this this shell of himself when he heads into
the fights.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
But we heard all that crap going into the Diego
Lopez fight that he pulled out of. You know, I'm
in a better place now, you know, personal life, it's stable. Now,
things are going and look, I'm not knocking any of
that or saying it's not true. But if that was
the issue, I don't know that it's been corrected. And

(08:53):
look again, maybe it's several different things and that's been
a part of it. The body's a part of it.
I don't know, but it's it's almost become a joke, Mikeah. Hell,
we spent two or three weeks joking about it leading
up to this pass fight card. I really think Brian
or Tega's gonna make it to fight night. Really the

(09:15):
Brian Ortega I remember in his prime, you'd never make
jokes like that, win or lose. It's it's become kind
of a spectacle.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Now. If Brian Ortega didn't have and I just looked
at Instagram. Just on Instagram, he has a million followers.
Sure if he wasn't so popular, would the UFC handle
this in a different manner than continuing to run a
shell out there that is having the inability to make weight.
I bring that up because later on we're going to

(09:45):
preview a guy that got cut like four weeks ago
for only doing this twice.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Right, Uh, they would let him go in to heartbeat.
Now They're not going to do that now, partially for
the reasons you just lay it out. He does have
a big following. He's a popular fighter, but you also
have that history. It's not comparing them necessarily with what's

(10:11):
going on, but just similar like, look, how long you
have kept Tony Ferguson around, Uh, loss after loss after loss.
And I'm not necessarily comparing that to Ortega, but from
the popularity standpoint, the following any other fighter almost you're
not letting stay around it as long as they kept
Ferguson around. And I think same thing with Ortega. And

(10:35):
maybe in the back of his mind he knows, Look,
whatever's left on my contract, they're probably gonna let me
fight it out so I can stash some money, whatever, whatever,
But if you're wanting to progress in your career, you
were going in the wrong ass direction right now, and
without knowing exactly what's going on, I don't know how
the hell he fixes it.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
I don't think either one of us are in a
position to say how he fixes it because there are
so many issues. Yeah, he is not adding to his game.
He doesn't look as athletic, he doesn't look as motivated.
We don't know what's going on outside. This is not
a good scenario for Brian Ortega. But we both and
you already said it, so I can just agree he

(11:21):
will remain on the roster for his contract. I can
hope the next one is at fifty five because then
at least he has an opportunity to make weight. And
dare I say, maybe that just ability will give us
a more lifeful fighter in the octagon next time.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Here might be the most eye opening thing about Brian
or Tega's fight week. You get to fight night, you
do the catchweight, like you said, a little trouble maker.
One fifty three. Yes, Sterling gets the unanimous decision. Definitely,
it was a unanimous decision.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
All five rounds go in his favor, but it's not
like al Jo.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Did a damn thing that was remotely spectacular in that fight.
Not that he necessarily did anything bad, but once you
got in the cage, Ortega did absolutely nothing nothing.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
I think al Joe did as good as he could
and actually had a really remarkable performance giving the stylistic matchup.
Aljamine Sterling has been a grappler, a grappler that back
position contact, physical contact is what Brian or Taga was
looking for, so that he could get a triangle, so
he could get a guillotine, so he could do something.

(12:43):
Al Jermaine Sterling stick and move beautiful counter overhand rights
and check left hook's good amount of leg kicks, and
then did get the take down to have that slight
grappling superiority in the later rounds once he had already
tired Ortega out. I thought it was a really thoughtful

(13:03):
performance from a dangerous guy because we saw the toughness
that brown Artaga, even a shell of himself. Al Jermaine
Sterling basically broke his freaking elbow, landing a spinning back
elbow on Artega. Ortega walk right through it. Al Jamine
Sterling's on social media look at how swollen this shit is.
I landed on him and it hurt me more. How

(13:23):
the fuck does that happen? There is a toughness to Artaga,
and I think that that made it prevalent to attack
in a very sophisticated manner from Sterling, who is nowhere
near a power puncher in this way.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Class Well, I agree with you on that, but and
again I'm not knocking Sterling here. In some ways, you
probably have to be more careful with this version of
Brian Ortega because of well, not like dangerous unpredictability, but

(13:59):
like a animal unpredictable, Like if you see an injured
dog dog gets hit by a car, You're like, oh
my god, you stop and help you. Right, you gotta
be careful. And I'm not trying to be disrespectful with
that analogy, but I'm just saying in Ortega, who's maybe
not in a good spot, you don't know what the
hell is going on in his brain. So maybe that
did affect Sterling a little bit. But if Ortega shows

(14:23):
anything that resembles heart, game plan preparedness, this is a
much more interesting fight. I'm not saying he wins it,
but Sterling's would have to step up his game or
it might be different.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
I just don't have to agree with you. If Brian
Ortega did anything, this would be a more entertaining fight.
But I think part of maybe what we saw from
Sterling was the expectation of cooks are going to be
flying back at me. This is gonna be coming back
at me, So I need to move because Artaga is
this dangerous and maybe even at a point he was

(14:59):
like we didn't hear this in the corpus, like, guys,
is he really all thrown at me? Is he really
not trying here? I feel like he's baiting me. I
feel like he's baiting me, and you don't take the bait.
With Brian Ortega, it felt like a mature performance from
an al Jamaine Sterling, who this is kind of a
weird position for him to be in the division. I
think this finally pushes or take out of the top five.

(15:23):
In my opinion, you would get Sterling in there close.
I'm guessing because Yaher Rodriguez has fed himself out of
every title opportunity possible that Yahya Rodriguez and Arnold Allen
are both on the table for al Jamine Sterling.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
It does not get or taken out of the rankings.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
No, no, no, out of the top five.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
It does get him out of the top five.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
That was just it. No, they're not getting out of
the rankings. For some reason, the people that vote on
those rankings are determined to keep him in there.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
I wouldn't vote for him in the featherweight rankings simply
because I don't think he's a featherweight anymore.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
You know that. That's that's that's the biggest one to me.
I agree with you, like like, he's not a featherweight.
He's had problems in two of his last three fights,
if not three of his last four, with making that
featherweight limit. And you have a whole ton of guys
on the climb god loaded question. But he will fight again. Oh,

(16:25):
I want to see it at lightweight. Who would you
preferably match up Brian or Tago with at this moment?
Because I got an idea, and I got a crazy idea.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
You went here I've seen in other places. I think
I'm about to say what you were going to say.
I'll go for uh, Michael Chandler loser leaves town.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
That was too simple to me. I was gonna say,
let's have him take on Moneymay Kano, because if that
Brazilian just talking shit to you, cursing you out the
whole time, does not light a fire up under that ass,
ain't nothing going to Because I can almost see that
the Michael Chandler experience just being too friendly. I understand
the loser. That seemed like too obvious of a matchup.

(17:12):
I like the Money mooay Kano matchup. They both got
some jiu jitsu chops. And if that dude tak is
shit to you does not light a fire one more
time under Brian Artega, I think we can literally put
a fork in him.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Do you give him somebody in the top fifteen?

Speaker 2 (17:27):
I think because the popularity, because you're gonna want to
use him in a high stakes place, there's a certain respectability.
That's that's why we're not gonna say, give him Joel Avarez,
give him someone that's gonna build their name off of
him a little bit more. I think we're still giving
a little respect to our Tega.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Could Yeah, I was saying I'd give him Grant Dawson
for the same reason as you just said. Alvarez.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Oh God, that's such a bad fight, though, like I
both do the same things. I know, Son, it's just
not a pretty uh stylistic viewing experience for our audience.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
I know, have you called up on your sleep yet
from getting up so gosh darn early to watch fight
night from Shanghai.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
That almost sounds like you're asking me again how I'm doing,
and I know you don't care.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well I passed that, sure, Carlile.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Next question, how about I'm not taking that trip where
you're like, never mind, I don't care if you're actually
awake A lot of coffee, my man. That was like
a forur coffee day. You know what, there was so
much storyline in that main event. I know there was
a lot more implications from that co main event, and

(18:34):
there was a lot of big things because of the
rankings and everything. But we can't overlook the fact that
in a light heavyweight division that is wide open for
the tanking, Jeamingyang had a event circled around him. You
don't get that many times, like UFC not cha is special,
Poyer's retirement was special. Canada is about to get a
great middleweight matchup with a guy from the Netherlands and

(18:57):
a guy from California. You don't always get a home
in the main event, and Chang mng ying had that
massive opportunity and literally showed the rudimentariness to his game
where he is a forward moving brawler and there's not
many layers like you think of a jangwey Lee and
he is far from that Jang because there's not multiple

(19:18):
layers and attributes to his game. Johnny Walker, to his credit,
was able to not get sucked into the brawl, which
I was sure was gonna happen. He was gonna get
knocked out, and then was able even though we're all
gonna question, what the fuck was that double leg takedown
at the beginning where you had to pull guard and
we all thought that was about to be checking check mate,
You're about to get your head pounded into the ground.

(19:39):
He overcomes that moment, drops down this giant tree and
literally disables the man into a TKO victory on the ground.
It's not like this elevates Johnny Walker a lot, but
the opportunity that Jan mng Ying missed out on, it's
such a crucial moment for him, and that the inconsistency

(20:02):
was a high moment again for Johnny Walker. It really
gave me a lot to think about from that main event.
I'm way more into into that substory line than you are.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Well, no, I just I just think about how powerful
that light heavyweight division was at one point in time,
and how it's not that right now now. Look, everything's cyclical.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
It was on the cornerstone of the entire industry at
one point. Yeah, that division, no matter whether it was Pride, UFC,
even Strike for US, had some dudes, and we are
far from that at this point. I get what you're saying.
With the win Johnny Walker, does he get a chance
to crack into the top ten? I mean he called

(20:47):
out Yon Belhovich, and at first I was like, that
makes no sense. But then I looked at who's booked
and who's not booked, and there's a bug do on Guskov.
That's number ten, I believe right now. And then you
got Yon Belohovich. Either one of them actually doesn't seem
far fretch from what could be next for Johnny Walker.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
If I'm anybody below him, I am one calling out Lahovich.
And I like Lahovich, I truly do. And he's old
and he's had exactly I look at him as being
right for the picking if I'm one of those guys
under him in the rankings.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Are we ready for a world where Sergei Pavlich gets
a heavyweight title fight? I don't want to really see
it because it's not that illustrious now from where the
knockouts have been. But I got to a point where
I'm like, Okay, Alexander Gut Alexander Volkov is most likely
gonna fight the winner of Gone Aspinall. That means Pavletch

(21:50):
is one went away from a title fight, and unfortunately
for all of us, there's no one ahead of him
for him to really fight. Is it gonna be Curtis
Bladese Sergey Pavlovich co main event on a pay per
view because it's a title eliminator, you.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Might get that fight. I don't think anyone you just
named is is getting the winner of Asbentall Gone?

Speaker 2 (22:18):
So do we okay, no Aspinall Gone? I think it's Volkov?
Or is it John Jones? Do we go back to
the John Jones? Do we bring in Francis and Ghanu?
If facently so many names in the heavyweight division. Alex Preira, Yes.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
If Alex Pahera beats and eliav He's moving up to
heavyweight and he'll get next. And if it's not him,
despite what Dana White has said, and despite my opinions
on it, I think you're getting John Jones aspinall, assuming
aspinall beats gone at the White House.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's a very good chance because forget, you can't trust
John Jones. There's only so many fighters and so many
sellable fights in the heavyweight division. Because I ain't trying
to beat up on Seryey Pavlich. Congratulations rebounding. Finally, this
is two decision wins in a row. Is uninspiring, Okay,

(23:16):
and real quick, tell me if I'm overblowing this. Let's
give some credits to Waldo court az A Costa, because
I think Pavlovich did land some shots on him that
have folded previous opponents. Yeah, this guy was just all
of twot eighty and ready to take the abuse. And
let's give courtz A Coosta his credit. But that doesn't
help make look Pavlovitch look any better. And the heavyweight

(23:40):
division is running out of options. Oh I did forget. Actually,
Volkov is already scheduled to fight Jay Elton Almeida. I
thought that on the same card I believe as yeah
as Aspenall gone, so I think Volkov is the backup
potentially if there's any injury. Most likely we get the
gone fight like you said with ASPA, and then we

(24:00):
go to John Jones and what happens do we do?
We go to a. Is this an Aspinall Jones trilogy
in the making, because we kind of get back to
this trilogy.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
We can't get one of these motherfuckers, Mike, and you
think we're gonna get three. John Jones is gonna be
fifty five years old before that third fight.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Come on, man, wake over there everything else the heavyweight division.
I don't know what to make of this. D I
three guys to fight.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
My apologies if I had lazed overlook on my face.
I was thinking, and when it came to me, I'm like,
do I really want to say this out loud? I'm
going to if Anglia beats Alex and Alex goes away
stays a light heavyweight, and if Dana is really dead
set against I'm not rewarding John Jones by retiring, forfeiting

(24:54):
the title and then just letting him come back and
get a title shot. After Aspinall All gone.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
You might do Pereira, Aspinall.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
No, if Pereira is not an option, I'm fucking trotting
Derek Lewis's ass out there, and I'm not saying that's
the best fight to make my popularity name recognition. That
would be my next for Aspinall. If if John, if
Alex aren't options, Assuming Aspinall gets past, gone, I just

(25:28):
do Derek Lewis.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Okay, So all right, So we got Alexander Volokov, got
Alex Pereira, we got John Jones, we got Derek Lewis.
I answered my question. I don't have to worry about
boring Askery Pavlovitch.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
At this point, we could have just lopped eight minutes
off the podcast by saying no, there's no way at
hell Pavlovitch is getting that title shot.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Sorry. So guess who I'm most upset with after this card? Uh?

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Who oh?

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Come on? You want to do you don't even want
to take a stab at it? Uh? The Hedgehog? I
mean Mark Goddard. He was playing the role of Sonic
the Hedgehog as he had to over run and just
rush through the medical process. We all saw the opening

(26:18):
fight of the main card, Keifer Crosby gets absolutely blasted
to the face with an illegal knee. Mark Goddard rushes
to bring the doctor in, tells the doctor assess him
and tell me if he can fight, and you can
blatantly hear this over the audio when you go back
and listen to it. Goddard runs over to the fighter,

(26:41):
uh nurgel that that committed the foul, grabs him, runs
him to the center two points two points, two points
everybody two point foul, shoves him back to the corner. Doctor,
how's my fighter doing? He can fight? Okay, Crosby, are
you ready to fight? Can you fight? And starts the fight.
There's no rewinding the fire. You got five minutes. You
can take your time. No one's rushing you. How are

(27:03):
you doing? No, he just fucking rushed him. He just
rushed him right back into the fight. And I don't
think anything is going to change to this. But the
fire that Mark Goddard's taking on social media, the comments
that Keifer Crosby is lowed at him, are all totally appropriate.
I went back and watched it three times. It was
asinine how he just rushed through what was obviously a

(27:26):
blatant foul, And just to me, you took two points.
That's what I would slow down the process and check
with the fighter quite a few times. Are you sure
you're ready to fight? How did the doctor do a
ten second assessment if there's a concussion and then restart
the fight? It felt like bladant mishandling a fighter safety.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
I don't disagree with most anything you just said. I
also understand why what I'm about to say didn't happen.
But some of that's on Crosby as well. Uh no,
I got five minutes. Give me just a second here,
let me clear my head. Hey, ain't feeling right. I
know what the doctors say. Just look. I also understand

(28:08):
I ain't feeling right. I might be because you're not saying
any of that because in the fight's over. I got it.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Exactly because the way Goddard approached it to me, it
seemed like, can you fight now? And you know as
a fighter you say anything else if you say no
and then wave off the fright and the heat of
the p Was he doing that at that moment, approaching
him with that manner of question when you still have
five minutes? He never brought up the five minutes. I
understand why Crosby did it, and he is at fault.

(28:34):
But excuse me if I'm a little sympathetic to the
guy that I believe was concussed. And I don't think
that people that are concussed should be answering questions immediately
after being concussed.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
And that's why the way everything went down stinks the
way it does, because that's why you have the five minutes,
That's why you have the doctor check that, that's why
you have Goddard Paul's to fight, because not only are
you protecting the fighters from the other fighters, you're protecting
them from themselves. So while I say maybe Crosby should

(29:05):
have spoke up, you don't want to say the wrong
thing in the heat of the moment and the fight stopped.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
You.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Also, you're brought up with that mentality we fight, we fight,
we fight again, which is why you have all these
things in place. The system failed, for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
And I feel bad for Keifer Crosby in that position
because Mark Goddard is one of the best, one of
the most tenured referees we have in the sport, and
that was an appalling performance from him on the night
we dropped down to the prelimbs. Shout out Charles Johnson
did not look good until it looked great. I'm not

(29:43):
a coach here, but no backing out of the pocket
with the hands down. You never truly know how safe
you are. And Johnson did everything to explode on that
right hook and even extend on it. So a great
finish into taking advantage of an opportunity. Loner, Cavanaugh, that

(30:04):
was a missed one. Dude. You were right there and
looking great and you let it go.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
It was it was. It was not a good moment.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
No, and shout out to Michael bisbang. It's like Kyle
Daccas heard him say he's got no power in his
hands and then click, boom bang, right hook down goes Pereira.
I thought moving a one eighty five truly would be
a good move for the career trajectory of Michelle Pereira.
Three in a row. Now we've hit that peak. We've

(30:33):
come back to the other side. I'd hate to say
just cut the man because he was formally ranked in
the top fifteen, but this is going down quickly.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
It's it's not good. This is three in a row
for him now. Yeah, he's definitely hitded in the wrong direction,
and it.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Felt like almost unfair what they did to Weston Wilson.
He's ad just took him to the pocket. Let him
the fuck up. A straight right left cross finally gets
the knockout after having dropped him once before from the
over hand. That was just some nasty work and a
shout out to your favorite heavyweight. You saw it, You

(31:17):
saw the card kicked off with the Ezekiel choke. Alexi Olenik,
We all remember you. Oh yeah, you're in something. Badiov.
I'm not sure if he's gonna be a force at
two oh five, but yet the division is wide open.
He's a big body with a good submission game, so
I think that makes him a tenable threat.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Let me ask you this. And I was expecting something
to happen, and it didn't, So it makes me wonder
if we're really all that close to it happening. You're
in Shanghai, China, correct?

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Is that not the golden opportunity to bring out Jung
Way Lee Valentine of Shoshenko and announce Champ versus Champ
whenever it is? March, April, May, December, Fuck it, whenever
didn't happen? Am I reading too much into to that

(32:19):
that it didn't happen. That must mean we're nowhere close
to it happening, or is it just dahn they can
announce that anytime.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
I got no clue that that's a really good one.
We've been talking about the calendar that we haven't brought
up that super fight. It almost once way Lee won
at three hundred, I think it was. It was on
the precipice of happening, probably way off on the UFC
number that we saw it happen, but we thought it
was gonna happen, and then we got the man manor
Fjord fight. Expected that because she was in line. Why

(32:49):
since that title fight have we not heard the announcement
of Shashenko. Way Lee, You're right, I also don't know
if you really caught the tenure of everything. I'll get it.
The UFC biggest best selling global entity. There was a
few empty seats and what was only a five thousand
seed arena, and they ran back to back nights, doing

(33:12):
a road to UFC event then doing the fight night,
but it was at a smaller venue. I'm just kind
of wondering if they don't feel even with the performance
center in Shanghai, that they're infiltrating or absorbing into the
country the way they want the promotion to and maybe

(33:33):
you just save that announcement for where it's gonna matter.
It's a bigger deal here in America. Just make that announcement,
even though Waye is so big there, maybe the sport isn't.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Maybe because if you're not going back there to do
the fight, then I get it, that's where Wayley's from,
but you probably don't have to announce it there. Hey,
we're back here in May of twenty twenty six, and
guess what our main event is gonna be.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
You know.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
So maybe you're right on that, and maybe I am
just reading too much into it, but I just thought
for sure we were going to get that announcement.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
You're not wrong. I thought there'd be a little bit more.
It was interesting, Like I said, the venue, the back
to back nights, definitely did something different, maybe even a
test run for that market, something different in Shanghai. Definitely
a full coffee morning there.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, definitely what else do we have this past weekend?

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Micah So over in LFA, Ventoria, California. Richie Miranda beautiful performance.
He's still the lightweight champion. I believe he's getting that
call to the Contender Series. Edward o' chaplin, who we
did see on the Ultimate Fighter, he had lost to
Joseph Morales. Well he comes out and a spectacular left
hook first route knockout. Still flyweight champion. Maybe he gets

(34:54):
the call to the Contender Series. And if you go
on social media and check it out. Eric Viscoun had
a beautiful display of elbows to close up Chris Metcalf's
eye and get a TKO stoppage after the second round.
That was Friday night. Thursday night, we had closed out
the season of the PFL Global Tournaments. Congratulations Antonio Carlos

(35:18):
Junior now a two time PFL champion. That's one point
five million dollars that dude would have never won in
any other promotion. So congratulations shoe Face. Oh like pop
Off wins a lack luster split decision over Alexander Romanov
that for most of it looked like two polar bears
just kind of wrestling and playing, you know what I mean.

(35:40):
In the clinch, a not a great heavyweight fight, as
bad as it is for the UFC guys, hellout the
rest of the world with a heavyweight division and a
shout out to Fabian Edwards head kick kill shot dad
the left leg, just the same way as Leon takes
out dal and Rosta, who actually his girlfriend was right

(36:01):
there at ringside, and PFL just has to put her
reaction on social media port Dakota Ditscheva being the face
of the promotion, they had to capture here reaction. But
huge victory for Fabian Edwards, five hundred thousand dollars richer
gets a gold belt for a guy that had fallen
short twice in bellator. You could just see the emotional levity,

(36:23):
the gravity of what this moment meant to him. So
we've closed out the global tournament season of the PFL.
Don't worry. PFL will be back with the Paul Hughes
Usman Nurmagametov rematch, which I wanted to ask you, is
there any way for you to get in trade into

(36:44):
this fight, not the PFL, but that fight, because it
was a spectacular first meeting, and we do have these
inclinations of the Ireland Russia rivalry and also the now
narrative that Usman didn't want this shit, and I don't
know why because there's not a deep pool to pick
from in PFL. If you really think you're the best,

(37:05):
get your damn contract done and get to the UFC.
Who cares if it's Paul Hughes next. Some of this
intrigues me from those narrative standpoints, not the PFL standpoint.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
I'm actually intrigued by it from the PFL standpoint, I
suppose because it's one of the better fights they could
have made, and they actually made it.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
So Yeah, and I love the narrative, the sub story,
We're gonna get a world champion in that division, another
one of there in our randoms. A guy that came
up that's with the PFL, Corey Anderson making waves And
this is no surprise. He said he was told before
he left the UFC he didn't have a big enough
social media following to earn a UFC title. Shot how

(37:45):
much I don't know. Gravity do you put to those
accusations because they feel believable.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Oh, I believe it. I think you've also seen now look,
part of it, I guess has been made easy for him.
But you've seen him be very vocal on social media
since leaving UFC, especially as it relates to lack of
opportunities being given to him in PFL. I don't think
it's a coincidence that he's been more active on social media. Again,

(38:15):
maybe part of it has been made easier for him,
But yeah, I can believe he was told look inside
the octagon. Yes, but you're not a big enough star,
that meaning the outside presence. Yes.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
If you're surprised about this, you don't know the game,
you don't know this sport. It all makes a lot
of sense. It is unfortunate, but it is the way
some promotions handle the game. Did you want to bring
up the fight announcement that that's not a fine announcement,
that's a lot of people are gonna watch.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Does it involve a former NCAA champion at one time
WWE wrestler very briefly?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Oh wait, shit, you got me on this one. Wait,
who got what? Oh?

Speaker 1 (39:00):
I was talking about Gable Stevenson.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Oh oh yeah, I was gonna get to it.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Yeah, I thought that's to you. I knew you would
get to him. I assume that's what you were alluding to.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Now, no, no, no, no, But Gable Stevenson pulling out
of the CJI two main event this weekend, where he's
gonna grapple Craig Jones. So, guys, it is Labor Day
without a UFC, but you do have a jam pack
weekend at the Temobile Arena for this huge team on
team grappling event. But Gable Stevenson will not be there
because he's going to focus on his LFA debut for

(39:32):
September twelfth, where he will be taking on I did
have it.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Braydon Peterson.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah, one and oh so far Brandon Peterson. This one's
taking place in that lovely venue prior Lake, Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
There you go, and uh deserved or not whatever whatever.
If he looks halfway decent, this might be his only
LFA fight. I think UFC probably comes a calling.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
And even if the UFC doesn't put him in octagon,
I think that there, Actually, I might disagree with you,
that might not be his only fight in the LFA.
Bo Nickel had a couple fights for Icon Fighting Championship,
then he got a couple fights on the Contender series.
I think that that would be a better trajectory, even

(40:19):
though we already knew he was a UFC guy. I
think two to three fights in the LFA and two
to three fights on the Contender series would grow the
profile for the m m A audience to be attracted
to this Olympic heavyweight and also give him the proper
seasoning before we fucking drowned this dude. All oss age norcat.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Bo Nickel by the way, in action this weekend, he's.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Gonna be a part of the real pro wrestling, a.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Real American freestyle wrestling.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Yes, and I think that's the the Fox something app
Fox Business, Fox Business or was it Fox Like that's
how you're able to watch that debut of the Martinez
Eric Bischoff, Ho Cogan Brainstorm Promotion of Collegiate Wrestling.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah. As a matter of fact, if the card order
is correct on the Real American Freestyle website, that's gonna
be your main event. Ooh, Nickel and Jacob cardenas.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Any other notable names that stand out to you from
MMA side that you reconize on that card. I haven't
looked at it, actually, not really. I do know there
is probably the kid that upset Gable Stevens in the
NCAA finals. I believe he's on the card. I don't remember,

(41:37):
shitty of me, I don't remember his name, but yeah,
you do have that coming up this weekend. So it's
a huge weekend overall for grappling, and no shitty of me.
I was actually alluding to, did you have any comments
that Jake Paul is gonna exhibition Gervante Davis? This is
literally the best boxer that Jake Paul will ever step
into the ring with, the most credentialed. Quite possibly, I'll

(41:59):
tell you the artists hitting, but the guy soaking wet
is still like thirty pounds lighter than me.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Jake Paul could pick him up and put him into
his shirt pocket. For those wrestling fans out there, the
Triple Mania card the other week when you had O
Moss and I almost say in the wing in the
ring with with Microman, Microman that that's so To answer

(42:27):
your question, this does nothing for me whatsoever? What the
fuck happened to? Hey, I'm ranked now I can finally
get a title shot.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
I'm going for a title Yeah, for reals, I've never
been more disappointed than seeing this announcement because I have
no clue what it does for either one of them.
I don't know, honey, But other than that, yeah, King
Gravante Davis literally stay out of legal troubles long enough
because I'm not being facetious when I say the man
has had a perpetuation to find himself in John Jones

(42:56):
like situations.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Want to go back just one second and we can
come come back to this, But I don't want this
to slip my mind. We brought up the Real American
Freestyle Wrestling on the the Fox Nation Fox Nation app.
Did I miss the memo where PBR left CBS Sports
Net and went to Fox Nation as well?

Speaker 2 (43:20):
You know, Eric Bischoff did an interview and I swear
I heard him mention that, but I didn't notice it.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
But now, look, I'm not an avid PBR watcher either,
so maybe I just missed it along the way. But yeah,
in addition to the All American Freestyle I just spent
and on the topic of that. I know Bischoff on
his podcast this week said that I think Q two
next year they were going to debut a two hour

(43:53):
weekly show. I assume that will be Fox. Uh whatever
the damn Fox Fox Nation app is as well, they're wrestling,
yeah for for for the Real American Freestyle Wrestling, So well,
we'll see how that goes about. But my point in
bringing that up, the Real American Freestyle wrestling not the

(44:13):
only sport that Fox Nation has on the app, and
it sounds like they're going to add more stuff there
as far as it relates to the sports world.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Okay, cool, time out, real quick, do we just want
to let's let's table the Jake Paul freaking Davonte Davis
discussion for a second and let me bring up my
other topic then. Okay, because it's broadcast, right, negotiation related?
I think I sent you the link MMA Mania, Mma draw.
A couple other sites have been speculating that there were

(44:45):
negotiations about ESPN acquiring Fight Pass. Anything you think to that,
because just to me, it would, on the surface makes
sense that the ESPN director Consumer or ESPN Plus would
just grab up any other live sports content because they
seem to just swallow it up. And if you're broadcasting

(45:08):
you know, Division three softball where I can only imagine
the families of the players are watching, it's the same
thing as broadcasting some low level MMA or grappling where
only the families are watching. So this could make sense
to me.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
It makes sense from the standpoint I could see ESPN
trying to get all the content that they could. I
can't help but feel like, if UFC was looking to
palling off fight Pass somewhere else, that Paramount would be

(45:44):
very interested and they would get first right of refusal.
Maybe I'm wrong on that, So to answer your question,
I would not hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Now.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Could I be very wrong on that? Yeah, one hundred percent.
I don't think there's anything to that.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
I could very easily see though the UFC or whoever
controls fypasts at this point of loading it, if the
right price came a calling, well.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Yes, because and WWE wasn't a TKO property at that time,
but WWE abandoned their network in favor of ringding it
to Peacock, and that presumably will go away sometime the
middle of next year. But point being, I don't know

(46:34):
that it's all that lucrative if you're UFC to continue
to maintain and run fight Pass on your own, especially
if someone else is willing to give you something for
the rights to all that stuff. But if you're talking
about the old pay per views and stuff like that
that come along with it. For that reason alone, if
I'm Paramount, I'm like, well, look, I just spent all

(46:56):
this money for the future pay per views. I want
to slap the old ones up there too, and try
to maximize getting fans who don't currently have my app
to plunk down that money each month for the app.
So I get it does logically make sense. I don't

(47:17):
think there's a chance in hell it's going to ESPN.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
I could see a scenario and I feel like we're
all those live things that we're talking about, all the LFA, Fury,
the Grappling, even Ultimate Fighter, say Road, the UFC, all
of that getting packaged with one deal, and like you said,
the entire library of the old UFC events possibly being

(47:41):
packaged another way, like ESPN wanting the live event stuff
and Paramount wanting the library because they're already going to
have the big stuff. Could you see a divide like
that or do you think like Contender Series, Ultimate Fighter
and seeing all of that stuff stay on one thing
and then the UFC's being on another platform, that would
be too awkward. I think I can see that divide.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Here's how I think it has to happen. If part
of that's going to ESPN, it's not happening until WWE
Networks deal with Peacock is up and you're packaging, not
WWE network and not UFC Fight Pass, but the t
t k O Fight Pass t KO network, where you're

(48:29):
putting old nitros, old rawls, old ecws from the wrestling side,
whether it's old w R, UFC pay per views, or
if it's the other content they run on there now
LFA and and the other regional promotion curies.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
There's a pfc's, there's a few.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Now I don't I don't know that you can. But
and here's what, I don't know that you can maximize
either of those properties. That's why I think it would
make more sense to combine them and then shop them.
And at that point in time, I think it would
make more sense if it went to ESPN, But we'll see,

(49:13):
we'll see.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
I also just find it interesting that this is the
first time that I've heard of the UFC discussing offloading
fight Pass. So maybe it doesn't happen right away, but
I wouldn't be surprised to see one of these other
major streamers gobble up that content, take it over easier
for you guys to focus on what you're doing, just
because they're talking about it happening. Now, back to Jake

(49:37):
Paul doesn't do much for either one of us. It's
a sixty six pound weight difference. It's not an official fight.
Gavante Davis has had all sorts of legal troubles that
I think has marred his stardom. Ah. Jake Paul disappoints
me because, like we said, he was actually making a
case to go after the rankings and a title shot.
And I didn't think he was gonna beat like the

(49:58):
best guys in the vision. I thought he'd be like
the last guy in the rankings and then get a
world title shot. I'm obviously guessing that when they assess
the numbers they disfigured this is going to be more lucrative,
but does nothing for me.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
He'll probably make more money for this than whoever the
than fighting whoever the champ is in his weight class.
So look, I'm not knocking him for this, but Jake
Paul cares about one thing, and by the way, it
ain't a bad thing to care about, and that's money.
Would he like to be a champ. I'm certain he

(50:31):
would love to be a champion, But money trump's all,
and it's all about the money for this whole foray
has been about making money. It's again, I'm not discounting
him when he says I want to be a champion,
I want to prove this, that whatever. But that's secondary.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
That's just all I needed to hear from Jake Paul.
He just needs to say that because death out protests
too much. He cares.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
It's just like he doesn't say a damn thing about
the and we don't have to go far down this
rabbit hole. You know, when the new UFC deal with
Paramount was announced, Oh, how much money are the fighters getting? Motherfucker.
You don't say goddamn thing about the split that the
company you're actually signed with, PFL that that that that split,

(51:23):
the healthcare they're offering them their revenue. You don't say
a goddamn thing about that. But UFC does goes out,
it does something good and signs their new TV rights deal. Well,
how much money are the fighters gonna get? Motherfucker. Shut
the fuck up. It's just gonna make your money.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Yeah, he's a little too opinionated in a position where
he could make a real difference.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
You can't, right, you can't pretend to care when it
suits your needs and while at the same time not
calling out your current company.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
The company stopped talking about to you could bring that up.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
We've heard him talk about the pfon quite a while.
Do you blame him, He's the one that brought him
up in the first place. That's just my only point.
You didn't ever have to start talking about them, but
you did. You talked about MMA, if you continue to
about the UFC, And like you said, he's not in
a position to affect anything a change with the UFC,

(52:19):
but he could in the PFL if he did if
he wanted to.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Well, and that's my point. Look, if he if he
truly sincerely cared like he's pretended to in the past,
that's one thing. But I think it's pretty obvious he
doesn't really care. But he does like to get a
shot set at UFC and did dig get data a
little bit and get some headlines. I don't believe for
a second he really cares all that much about any

(52:44):
of that shit, because if he did, he would have
never stopped talking about it. And yes, UFC is the
big dog, so that's the easy target. But you'd be
talking about the number two company, the company that you
know you're signed to as some sort of ambassador her
and there was promises of you stepping into the cage
and all that, which, by the way, I don't think

(53:05):
ever happens either.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
But yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Only care when it suits you, and that's obvious to everybody.
So don't insult iron intelligence and don't make yourself look hypocritical.
Just stop fucking bringing it up.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Most important thing I thought that happened this weekend well
from our perspective, because we've covered her most of our
career for you know, including Jake Paul. Most important thing
for us Holly home Stephanie Hahn. Looks like it's gonna happen,
and Holly will have an opportunity to get the world
title in a fourth weight class I believe in boxing,
if not third, I guess does anything for you that

(53:47):
that she's returning. She'd look good in her debut now
she gets this fight. At least Jake Paul is getting
better paydays for women's boxing than previously. That's the best
thing he's doing to.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Me, And you know what, I'll compliment him on that exactly.
It doesn't do much for me, but that's just me. Look,
first of all, I do like boxing, but I don't
like it as much as MMA I like women's boxing

(54:25):
even less than I like men's boxing, So for me,
it just doesn't hit that hard. But for those who
that it does, I mean, that's fine. I'm not knocking it.
By the way, Holly Holm will be at Real American
Freestyle Wrestling. Julian Opinion is going to be there as well.
Pretty much anybody that Izy Martinez has any sort of

(54:47):
relationship with will be there.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
He's called up. All the friends, come on out home.
He represents, show some love. That's all nice to them,
for sure. I brought up to you the well throughweight division.
I remember if I did it on the show or
we were just texting or talking the other day and
I was like, what happened to the welterweight division? It
was on fire. We had all these names, all these things.

(55:09):
How much stock do you put into Sean Brady and
his call out of Ian Gary because October eighteenth in Vancouver, Canada,
reneered the rider Anthony Hernandez Fluffy Hernandez. Didn't they both
just fight. They've just both fought. They got the offer.
They're taking the main event. Sean Brady said, Ian Gary,
you took my main event, asshole. We have the same manager.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
I don't know what's happened to the welterweight division that
made me sad.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
That we're not getting this fight. It made sense. It's
the welterweight division still thriving that I wanted to and
with Islam kind of stopping everybody in their tracks, there
needed to be some deciding of who's the next contenders.
This fight makes a lot of sense to me.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
And fight or the hypothetical Brady Brady Gary made a
lot of sense to me. You know, I don't know
why Gary doesn't want it. Like, dude, you've jumped up
on short notice, You've done all this crazy shit. You're
not that close to the title though, because of Islam
jumping the way pushes everybody back one. I think Gary.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
First of all.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Look, I don't know that Gary has turned down this fight,
but I think he's realized I need to be a
little more selective again. I think we probably get this
fight if this gets one of them closer to a
title shot. I think we get this fight. But you
mentioned short notice fights and all that, and all that

(56:39):
that still hasn't gotten anywhere he wants to be. Maybe
I need to be a little more smarter with my
decision making a little more deliberate and not just you
call me up. Yeah, fuck it, I'll take it, you know,
so we'll see.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
I'm surprised he didn't take it. Gary is six, Brady
is too. This is fighting up. You lost to Rockmannov.
This is the opportunity to jump Rock Monov in all
of his consistent injuries. You're not gonna jump Islam. That
fight supposedly in fictitious inc we think is MSG JDM

(57:13):
versus Islam. So you're really trying to see can you
get the next title shot. I think this would have
done that for him. I'm surprised the fight didn't come together.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Maybe it still does come together. I don't know. I
maybe this is more Brady trying to will this fight
to happen. I mean, I don't know, but yes, if
it was offered and Gary declined it unless he's hurt
or healing up, nagging injuries or something like that, I'm

(57:45):
surprised as well that he wouldn't take the fight.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Okay, but now for what we have October eighteenth, RDR Hernandez,
she might have just wins the title. That's amazing. Do
you think that this fight being made makes nursed Nacardina
Mavov Kyobihalio will preview that next week that's right around
the corner in Paris. Is that now automatically the number

(58:10):
one contenders fight? Or because this one is just for October,
do we still have a four man tournament for who
can impress Dana White enough basically the Contender series? Guys?

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Uh, because October is not that far away when we
really think about it in Vancouver, it's not. But maybe
if bahoo Imvov.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Is boring, that's a that's a huge opening for these two.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
Assuming he completes his anger management course, Sean Strickland will
be free and clear when the winner of the title
matches is ready.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
I know, I know, no No, is it Tricklin Chi
maf or is it Jones? Aspinall at the White House?

Speaker 1 (59:06):
Strickly see, like ball, dude, If chim Iev, forgive me,
If Chimiev can gain access into the White House, if
they let him in, that that's your fight. If you're like,
all right, we need somebody who speaks to that part
of the fan base is one strickling.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
I'd hate to get all political, but rolling up Ramazan
Kadirev's little favorite fighter to the front lawn of the
White House, does like take global political stance in in
a whole different direction, rolling up a you know, chesting
in dictator's favorite fighter. But you're not wrong that Sean

(59:52):
Strickland is the prototypical guy you would want at the
White House fighting.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
That's why I think it was last week, maybe it
was two weeks ago. I said, if it's only one,
is it my gregor or is it Jones that's fighting
at the White House? And we both agreed it's McGregor.
That's the very reason why it's McGregor, the I want
to be president of Ireland even though he won't be.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
But it's a lot less harmful.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
That's that's right up Trump's alley.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Uh So, yeah, on the White House lawn McGregor.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Anybody said it won't be Michael Chandler, Sorry Mikey, but
but yeah, it could be McGregor versus you. And that's
headlining that numbered events. I don't know if we can
call him pay per views anymore. Do we have to
call call him premium live events like we do with
w w E or is it just numbered events now?

(01:00:44):
But yeah, back to your original question, Sean streckling.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
Okay, so the middleweight division still intriguing to me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
Let's now, you're probably not doing that title fight at
the White House. I keep saying Sean Striker. I really
don't know that Sean's going to be next. I don't
think he necessarily deserves it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
He's a couple of boring fights from it happening, though.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
He's far and away the biggest attention grabber of those four.
Any of the contenders, yes, okay, real quick, Okay, you
can only pick from those four fluffy r D r
Kaya Amalvov, who's the biggest draw on the most famous

(01:01:33):
globally r DR Mahallo Hernandez, who is the fourth.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
I think you might be right in that order globally speaking.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
I think it's already did I say RDYR first? Yeah? Okay, good, Yeah,
I think it's already r.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Okay and real quick also added to that card, he
can't even take a day off. Kevin Holland right back
in the aftergon He's gonna take on Mike Malott. I
I don't know if that's a good or bad matchup
for Holland. I just know he's any retaining Charles Jardaine
Davey Grant and Kyle Prolek versus Drew Dobert. This this
is not the direction we wanted to see Drew Dobert.

(01:02:07):
Remember like two years ago where we saw him ascending.
It's going the other way on him, my friends.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
It's not exactly ascending anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Yeah, we had criticized UFC note Chae because it's kind
of it is Dana White's love letter each year to
the Mexican people.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Well, in that echalon, we now have a couple more fighters.
I think the Mexican people are gonna be excited to
see Rob font takes on Rabel Rojas Junior. This is
a big step up in competition. I'm kind of surprised
that Rojas hasn't had one or two more fights without
rank competition before we got to this spot. This is
really testing how over the hill Rob Faughn is and

(01:02:51):
what he did against Geen Matt Simoto in his last fight.
I think that this is a stiff, stiff test for Rossaus.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
I like it. Yes, it's certainly his biggest test to date.
We'll find out if it's biting off a little more
than he can chew or not. But I think it's A.
I get why they're doing it. Like you said, find
out how over the hill Rob Fodd is. If Rojas wins,
hey he just beat the top ten opponent. If he doesn't,

(01:03:21):
all right, maybe we just need to take a little
step back. Like I don't think it hurts a little
setback for sure, but I don't think long termam it
hurts Rojas. You've got to test yourself, right, So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
This is not off the ledge if Rob font loses,
but it is if Calvin Gaston loses this, he's matched
up to take on Dustin Stuelfalts much like Brian Ortega.
We haven't seen a lot of energy directed out of
Kelvin gastlm. I haven't seen somebody that's had a lot
of desire. We'll see what he can do in San

(01:03:54):
Antonio on September thirteenth. The UFC is also returning to Perth,
Australia September twenty seventh. We get Jake Matthews, Neil Magni, Joonathman,
mckickliffe mckeliff versus Oban Elliott. We also get Jack Jenkins
versus Ramon Tavares, Louis Sutherland versus Justin Tafa Elisha Ellison

(01:04:18):
versus or Elisha Ellison versus Brandau Perlik. Those are all
additions to when the UFC returns to Australia. Joss Emmett
Usef's the Laal Big Featherweight addition to the UFC three twenty.
This is Azel's opportunity to crash the party, get into
that title mix and get some fresh matchups. October eleventh,

(01:04:41):
UFC Rio Davidson fig Eighto Montel Jackson. This might be
the last Dampan fig eighto in the bandamweight division or
Jackson's breakthrough moment, depending on how you want to look
at it. You also get Lucas Almeda Michael aswell at
that rio card and then Isaac Douglegarian versus Yayir de Vali.

(01:05:03):
Is your November first audition for the UFC Fight Night
in Vegas. Carlisle, We've seen and been through a lot
with Figuato, Montel Jackson, stout wrestler, big hands, his powers
coming together. This is in rio. Could this be a
song swung moment for Davidson Figueto?

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Hell no, never count Figuedo out because when you do,
he makes sure you eat your words.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
Man that's a fire coming out of Carlisle.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
I've been bitten by this. I am all in on
Davison FIGUREDO.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
I just am. So we will see October eleventh about
that one. Yes, Uh, this weekend no UFC, but Friday
night you do have from Front Row Management, uh, the
Mike Perry and John Jones led endeavor Dirty Boxing three.
It's free on YouTube everybody starting at seven point thirty

(01:06:04):
pm Eastern time, so that gives you like four point
thirty in the West Coast early pre limps, pre limbs,
all the way up to the main card. All there
free on YouTube. I believe fifteen fight card and all
your main event. Jaina Rosenstruke, former UFC veteran, honestly somebody
that I wouldn't be mad if he was back on
the UFC roster. He wasn't that bad compared to some

(01:06:25):
of the guys He's taking on a short notice opponent,
rakeem Cleveland Cleveland coming in to replace Pitbull Cruz who
sustained a recent injury. So you get that as your
heavyweight title main event. You also get names that you'll
recognize like Hector Lumbard, Jessica Rose Clark, Phil Hawes, Mike

(01:06:45):
Brandon Versus Landing, Canon Chase Sermon, Alex Caceras, Tyson Nam,
Ricky Bundejas, and Catalina Ferira all UFC or Bellatour. That's
thirteen of them on this fifteen fight card include Brian
Battle gonna be fighting supposedly and I say this supposedly

(01:07:05):
at one hundred and eighty five pounds. The man just
missweight by four pounds and was cut from the UFC
trying to make one to eighty five. He gets Derek
Freatos as a short notice opponent here to jump on
this dirty boxing three card. Do you think Brian Battle
makes weight? Nope. Do you have any interesting in any

(01:07:31):
interest in a kind of slow weekend on the concept
of dirty boxing where it's this punch is the elbows,
the MMA gloves, you're allowed to do some ground and pounds.
Is there any interest in the concept? Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Yeah, some, I don't. I question. I think the ceiling
is very short for it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
But yeah, I think picking a good weekend, I mean,
if there's a lot of events, it's hard to get seen.
I think that free on YouTube, a kind of slow
Friday night. I think that does them right. I'll probably
be checking an out throw results on the website. Guys,
like we said, don't know how to vote it. We're
gonna get into this sport, but I think it is
worth on a slow weekend checking it out. No, I agreed, And.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
I don't know that they specifically chose this weekend or
if it just worked out. But along that line of thinking,
I have no doubts that All American Freestyle Wrestling specifically
chose this weekend because there was no UFC going on.
Now will that translate into more people going to the

(01:08:43):
Fox Nation app and watching it? I don't know. Maybe,
but yeah, I don't think for one hundred percent certain.
I don't think that was done by accident, and this
probably wasn't either.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
And then we also do have some bare knuckle this weekend.
You do get a BKFC Fight Night on the BKFC
app Saturday during the day. It's a two pm Eastern
start time. It's BKFC Fight Night. Butva, have you ever
heard of Budva?

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
Nope? What is Budva?

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
Budva is a small town in southern Cambodia. This is
truly going international, as BKFC will basically be on the
southern tip of the mainland continent of Asia, like Cambodia,
south of Thailand, all the way to the end before
you start getting to where there's islands.

Speaker 1 (01:09:37):
Will this upset the people of northern Cambodia.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
No, No, I'm just like there's no war going on.
Like I know, I'm kidding North and South Korea. Just
trying to like say where it is in Cambodia because
it's when I heard Budvah, I was thinking somewhere near Russia.
They've already done, like Bulgaria, you hear Budvah. I just
kind of thought it'd be more in that Kasacks Mountain
region we've already kind of seen BKFC expand into. Nope,

(01:10:02):
this time they're going to South Asia. In Cambodia, Vasso
Baka check five and oh in the main event taking
on Wilhelm Auto one on one. So far in BKFC,
one of the fights that I've been seeing getting a
lot of high online is you do have a women's
featherweight about Badja Milasova versus Debra Malhorn. Not a lot

(01:10:27):
of featherweights out there, this one garnering some attention. So again,
if you don't have anything planned on your Saturday. You
do got some BKFC action. It's eleven fight card and
believe me, it's only gonna take up like three hours
of your time on Saturday. If you want to watch it,
it'll be fast, it'll be furious, and for me, quite literally,
the geographical nature of it does matter because from what

(01:10:49):
I've seen, there's different styles of bare knuckle, Like we
know there's different styles of boxing there really does. Each
time you see another market open like Thailand, Bulgaria, even
in the UK, there's just a different approach to the
style of bare knuckle from what we do here in America.
So just might be worth checking out the first couple
free prelimbs on YouTube just to see that aspect of

(01:11:13):
how they approach bare knuckle in that country.

Speaker 1 (01:11:15):
I'm sure. And that's Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
That's Saturday during the day, gotcha cool? All right?

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
Anything else?

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
You know what, there's not actually much else going on again. Also, guys,
there's the Craig Jones Invitational, you get that real American
freestyle wrestling. We've got dirty boxing, We've got the BKFC
Fight Night during the day. So for a UFC, pfl
LFA list, not really much MMA weekend there's at least
still some worthwhile entertainment at some good prices.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
There you go, Micah, tell everybody how they can keep
up with you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
Move over to cageminds dot com. It's cage Minds Combat
Sports News on YouTube and Facebook. Cage Minds Underscore CSN
on TikTok x and Instagram.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
Get the show on X at MMA after Hours. You
can get me at Real Mike Carlisle. Enjoy your labor
Day weekend. We'll talk to you next week for another
episode of m M A After Hours here on the
After Hours podcast network.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
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

(01:12:39):
dot com.