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1:27

folks and Chad Dundas.

1:30

That's right. You're listening

1:32

to another episode of

1:34

the co-main event Mixed

1:36

Martial Arts podcast. I'm

1:38

Chad Dundas. That's been

1:40

folks. We're both longtime

1:42

MMA journalists and for nearly

1:45

the last 13 years. We've

1:47

been meeting here every week

1:50

to break down all the action.

1:52

In the wild weird and occasionally

1:54

wonderful world of mixed martial arts,

1:56

Ben we are back after a

1:59

week off. during spring break last

2:01

week. Congratulations to all who celebrate. You

2:03

and I were both out of town.

2:05

I was down in Florida. You were

2:08

overseas in Paris. And before we started

2:10

recording, I noted with some surprise that

2:12

you made it back. Yep. Could you

2:14

regale us with some tales, some brief

2:16

tales, because we got a lot to

2:19

cover this week. You know, I went

2:21

over there, I drank them French Pacificos,

2:23

which is to say a bunch of

2:25

beers that seemed to come from a

2:27

variety of monasteries in Belgium. But I

2:30

will say, you want to hear one

2:32

of the funniest things that happened to

2:34

me while I was in Paris. So,

2:36

you know me, I'm going to go

2:38

somewhere, I'm going to read some books

2:41

before I go. I read a very

2:43

interesting book. about just sort of the

2:45

history of Paris called the Seven Ages

2:47

of Paris. It was full of fascinating

2:49

historical information. Paris, by the way, a

2:52

great city. I see now why they

2:54

won't shut up about it, Chad. They've

2:56

got a great city over there. It's

2:58

just wonderful. You'll walk around there. It's

3:01

like New York, but better. It's like

3:03

New York with three times as much

3:05

history and a lot fewer rats and

3:07

a better cleaner subway system. So I

3:09

love what they got going on over

3:12

there. But I was reading these books.

3:14

reading various guidebook also type stuff and

3:16

everybody made me to understand even if

3:18

you don't speak French which I do

3:20

not not at all they appreciate it

3:23

if you try a little bit if

3:25

you roll up in there and you're

3:27

like bonjour and you're not rolling up

3:29

in there like English motherfucker do you

3:31

speak it you can do that in

3:34

Amsterdam you can do that in Belgium

3:36

they all speak it they're accustomed to

3:38

speaking it they clock you as a

3:40

North American of some variety just by

3:42

looking at you so they're ready for

3:45

that In France they want you to

3:47

speak a little bit. One of the

3:49

things in this guidebook they were like,

3:51

okay, you've had a meal, you've had

3:53

some drinks, whatever, you're ready to pay

3:56

the bill and get out of there.

3:58

You know how it had the European

4:00

style, they're not just going to bring

4:02

you the bill. They feel like that's

4:04

rude, like they're hustling you out of

4:07

there. You got to specifically ask for

4:09

them to bring it over. And they're

4:11

like, okay, in French and in France,

4:13

the way you asked for it is

4:15

just USA, you know, the decision, civil

4:18

play, you know. Okay, that sounds pretty

4:20

good to me. Yeah, like the addition,

4:22

adding up all the stuff that you

4:24

drank and ate and bring it over

4:26

here, we'll pay for it, we'll get

4:29

out of here. The first time I

4:31

tried to use it I'm sitting outside

4:33

a cafe in Montmorra Montra that was

4:35

still tough for me. That's a little

4:38

less convincing. It's tough. It's tough. That

4:40

one's a tough one But it's a

4:42

great area this little hilly area of

4:44

Paris went to the Cemetery out there

4:46

walked around sat there with my girlfriend

4:49

had some drinks everything had a nice

4:51

time talking to this waiter a little

4:53

bit back and forth and then I

4:55

tried to go you know i had

4:57

to respect it in a way i

5:00

had to respect what he was doing

5:02

there i will say it looked at

5:04

me right in my eyes and he

5:06

said what the fuck are you doing

5:08

that was just like i don't know

5:11

man i'm doing the best i can't

5:13

you know what the fuck i mean

5:15

why but you know i had to

5:17

respect it what he was doing there

5:19

i will say it helps to have

5:22

the CMI listening community all over the

5:24

world is not only Did I get

5:26

to hang out with long-time listener and

5:28

friend of the show, Max DeVries out

5:30

there who lives out there in Amsterdam,

5:33

took us to a great place, introduced

5:35

me to the orange wine that they

5:37

will drink out there, and also did

5:39

the thing where it's like... I don't

5:41

have to talk to the waiter, he's

5:44

going to talk to the waiter and

5:46

order all the right stuff and I'm

5:48

just going to sit there and eat

5:50

it all. And then he's going to

5:52

take us to a place for espresso

5:55

martinis afterwards. Had a great time. Also,

5:57

they've got some recommendations from the big

5:59

homie, Luke Etiard, Ruyard, Lafond. There's a

6:01

lot of, Luke knows he has a

6:03

lot of names. He told me about

6:06

this place. He was like, this is

6:08

where you want to go for the

6:10

author. authentic French brasserie experience. I knew

6:12

he was right because when I walked

6:15

in there, I looked at the menu

6:17

and I didn't understand shit on it.

6:19

Yeah. It wasn't like the other menus

6:21

where they got the thing and then

6:23

English they got underneath after it. It

6:26

was just all in French. The waiter

6:28

was like, came over, started speaking French

6:30

when he realized we didn't speak it.

6:32

He was like, do I need to

6:34

get the English menu? And we were

6:37

like, man, by now we've been sitting

6:39

here long enough that I put enough.

6:41

that we had the entire time we

6:43

were in Europe so you know thanks

6:45

this is why this is the reason

6:48

right here why you do a mixed

6:50

martial arts podcast so you get to

6:52

know people all over the world that

6:54

can give you good recommendations for places

6:56

to eat when you go there yeah

6:59

that's the reason right there didn't even

7:01

cause an international incident I tell you

7:03

I was a little worried I was

7:05

like when I'm coming back to the

7:07

US are they gonna go through my

7:10

phone and look for Trump criticisms because

7:12

Chad they will find some some some

7:14

up in there They don't got to

7:16

look through your phone, they just have

7:18

to follow you on the social media's

7:21

and they'll know. They'll know everything you

7:23

got. Secret Police will have you busted.

7:25

You look, uh, you look tanned after

7:27

your trip to Florida. I got a

7:29

little sun down there, you know. We

7:32

did boats, beaches, ball games, we had

7:34

it all. down there. I'll tell you

7:36

what we did. If you're drinking a

7:38

beer, you're like, there I am drinking

7:40

a beer on a boat. And I

7:43

was like, I can see that that

7:45

boat is pulled up to the shore.

7:47

I can see shoreline in the background.

7:49

Chad's trying to make it act like

7:51

he's out there on the high seas

7:54

in this boat. I can see that

7:56

boat is docked. Well, yeah, we took

7:58

a boat to the second level of

8:00

the boat. and drink one of them

8:03

Florida Pacificos. And I thought I would

8:05

take the opportunity to send you a

8:07

pick. And of course I received nothing

8:09

but mockery. That's Chad's over there like,

8:11

okay, now that the boat has stopped

8:14

moving, somebody get a pick of me

8:16

drinking these Pacific. coast. Well you're not

8:18

allowed to go up top while the

8:20

boat's moving. I wanted to be up

8:22

top top side so you could get

8:25

the full the full effect. That's it

8:27

why you ought to be allowed to

8:29

go up there. I know. I took

8:31

one of those river cruises when I

8:33

was in Paris so at night you

8:36

can stroll by all the stuff but

8:38

they pull you right up to the

8:40

Eiffel Tower right as the shit is

8:42

sparkling. The sparkles at the top of

8:44

the hour for a couple minutes there

8:47

and doesn't. Yeah. Yeah, you didn't even

8:49

know that you American rub but there's

8:51

people there's this two level of this

8:53

boat There's people who are down there

8:55

in the like lower level where and

8:58

you're just like what are you doing?

9:00

What are you doing with your one

9:02

wild precious life? That you you bought

9:04

a tour you bought this river cruise

9:06

tour at night and You are gonna

9:09

stay down what you cold you're gonna

9:11

stay down there and the shit of

9:13

sparklin up here? What are you doing?

9:15

It wasn't because they couldn't find seats.

9:17

That's all people getting on there among

9:20

the first people and they're taking seats

9:22

on the inside. Now it's just like

9:24

this is shameful. This is shameful what

9:26

you're doing. Yeah, you gotta be out

9:28

in the elements where you can take

9:31

in Paris via the river crews. I'll

9:33

tell you what I'll tell you what

9:35

we did. My wife and I like

9:37

to go to a spring training game

9:40

when we're down there. her family lives

9:42

in Naples, then there's spring training facilities

9:44

right there. I did not even realize

9:46

that this is what we did until

9:48

we were pulling into the parking lot

9:51

of JetBlue Stadium, and I realized, oh

9:53

shit, we are going to see the

9:55

Boston Red Sox play on St. Patrick's

9:57

Day. Oh, yeah, okay. There was a

9:59

lot of people feeling very very Irish

10:02

in that in that stadium that day.

10:04

A lot of listen to a lot

10:06

of bagpipe music. Drop kick Murphys on

10:08

heavy rotation during the game. It was

10:10

really something. It has become it seems

10:13

a tradition for you to go to

10:15

a spring break baseball game and get

10:17

a picture of yourself with a mascot.

10:19

Well, this was the first time I

10:21

told you the story last time I

10:24

went how Wally the green monster the

10:26

mascot of the Boston Red Sox big-timed

10:28

me. Oh, that's right. He wouldn't give

10:30

you a picture. That's yeah, because I

10:32

saw Wally coming down the the causeway

10:35

there and I was like, oh, I'm

10:37

gonna get a picture with Wally and

10:39

I was like, hey Wally, can we

10:41

get a picture? This motherfucking mascot, this

10:43

giant green Eminem looking motherfucker He looks

10:46

at me And then he taps his

10:48

wrist in the international gesture for, I'm

10:50

too busy, I don't have time. I

10:52

ain't got time. He taps his wrist

10:54

at the spot where a wristwatch might

10:57

be if he were not a professional

10:59

sports mascot to do not of course

11:01

wear wristwatches as a rule. So that

11:03

was like two years ago. So I

11:05

had basically sworn an oath to the

11:08

sun and the moon. You had unfinished

11:10

business. Exactly. I was like next time

11:12

I see Wally, I'm getting that pick.

11:14

So again, my wife and I are

11:16

hanging out down there in the, you

11:19

know what they got down there is

11:21

they have a replica of Fenway Park.

11:23

That's where the Red Sox play their

11:25

spring training games is just in like

11:28

an exact replica. not as much seating

11:30

but an exact replica of Fenway Park

11:32

they got the green monster there and

11:34

in left and everything which makes sense

11:36

I guess right you're gonna go play

11:39

your your regular season games at Fenway

11:41

you want to yeah you want to

11:43

get ready you want to play your

11:45

spring training games at Fenway yeah don't

11:47

you think that that's for you that's

11:50

for the ticket buyers more than it

11:52

is for the players getting ready to

11:54

play Fenway don't you think it's it's

11:56

working we're down there in the bowels

11:58

of mini of mini Fenway And here

12:01

comes, here comes Wally, we're down there,

12:03

we're drinking the Fenway Park Pacificos. And

12:05

I'm like, oh, here he comes. So

12:07

I run over there, have to wait

12:09

for Wally to take his picture with

12:12

numerous children, obviously. Yeah, that's probably how

12:14

that goes. Those are the people who

12:16

are... getting their pictures taken with Wally

12:18

and there was a moment where I

12:20

was like he's gonna do it again.

12:23

He's getting mobbed by these kids, he's

12:25

gonna do it again, he's gonna give

12:27

me the watch sign and he's gonna

12:29

bounce. But I got him, I corralled

12:31

him. my wife took took a picture

12:34

of us you know it's backlit it's

12:36

not a great pick but it's not

12:38

like it's not like you can be

12:40

like Wally let's stand over here instead

12:42

you know what he's got places to

12:45

go he's gonna tap the wristwatch and

12:47

walk off if you try to get

12:49

him in a different location so I

12:51

felt good my oath my oath was

12:53

fulfilled and we had a nice time.

12:56

I was say my sports experience on

12:58

my vacation was of course I went

13:00

to see parison german The top team

13:02

in league one right now is also

13:05

still making their run through the Champions

13:07

League and they played their hated rival

13:09

Marseilles in Le Clasique. Great experience. I

13:11

love going to see some big time

13:13

soccer events, but there's a player. He

13:16

used to, he came up through the

13:18

PSG youth system, I think played for

13:20

PSG at some point. His mother acts

13:22

as his agent and She had apparently

13:24

played a role in moving him to

13:27

Marseilles at some point. And every time

13:29

this guy touched the ball, they were

13:31

booing him. And then at some point,

13:33

there were chants and songs and various

13:35

things that would start up and then

13:38

you'd hear an announcement and I'll see

13:40

a message on the screen that was

13:42

like, please stop these. the specific type

13:44

of chance but it's all in front

13:46

so i don't fucking know i'm trying

13:49

to ask the person sitting next to

13:51

me about like exactly what's being said

13:53

uh... and the answer is basically it's

13:55

about this guy and his mother and

13:57

i was like all right i guess

14:00

that's all i really need to know

14:02

uh... but that's that's how they're gonna

14:04

do you if you're gonna rule up

14:06

in here you're gonna turn your back

14:08

on PSG you're gonna have your mother

14:11

calling the shots for you they're gonna

14:13

let you hear it when you come

14:15

back to Paris my guy And I

14:17

had a great time though, especially I

14:19

was down there drinking. those Park de

14:22

Prince Pacifico's partying with all the the

14:24

PSG fans beforehand. I went in there

14:26

to one these little spots to get

14:28

me a beer to stand out on

14:30

the street and drink before he went

14:33

into the game. Just wanted one beer.

14:35

They acted like I was crazy Chad.

14:37

The guy was just the guy when

14:39

I said one and he made the

14:41

civil for two and I was like

14:44

no no no just one and then

14:46

he gestured at me as if to

14:48

say but you have two hands. Fair

14:50

point. Well here I am I said

14:53

we do it briefly and We put

14:55

13 minutes in the can here talking

14:57

about our vacations But as we like

14:59

to say it's a dilly-dally brand. Yep,

15:01

and that's okay because basically we got

15:04

some odds and ends this week here

15:06

on the podcast Sean Brady pretty much

15:08

manhandled Leon Edwards over the weekend in

15:10

the main event of this UFC fight

15:12

night over there in London eventually grabbing

15:15

a fourth round submission win a fourth

15:17

round submission win Also one that maybe

15:19

creates a little bit of chaos over

15:21

there at the top of the welterweight

15:23

division So I think we're going to

15:26

get into that here in a few

15:28

minutes first though Ben first though Tom

15:30

Aspenal big Tommy gas hands is feeling

15:32

some renewed optimism for something Everybody knows

15:34

right? Tommy been chasing John Jones. He's

15:37

showing up at the O2 with his

15:39

little rubber ducky Right? A little taut?

15:41

Yeah. A little taut directed at Jones.

15:43

A little bit of fun. A little

15:45

bit of bance. As he said this

15:48

week to Ariel Halwani, I believe that's

15:50

probably a British. Yeah, British slang term

15:52

for banter is probably what that is.

15:54

He meets with Hunter Campbell leading up

15:56

to the U.S.C. London. He says he

15:59

feels really good about his spot in

16:01

the company after that meaning. He says

16:03

big announcements are on their way and

16:05

he is also, as we know, Ben

16:07

made it clear that he is not

16:10

going to defend the interim heavyweight title

16:12

again. But he also... doesn't specifically say

16:14

that these talks he had with Hunter

16:16

Campbell were about John Jones. So my

16:18

question is, what's really going on with

16:21

big Tommy gas hands? This, if we

16:23

miss an opportunity here to make this

16:25

fight, just... I'm gonna be

16:27

so fucking mad and I'm also just

16:30

gonna wonder what the hell we are

16:32

even doing. Yeah. What are we doing?

16:34

This is... This is why you have

16:37

titles and shit in the first place.

16:39

It's to help you keep track of

16:41

who the top person in the division

16:43

is. Now, you had that one title

16:46

with John Jones, but he was out

16:48

for a little while, so you also

16:50

wanted to be able to throw some

16:53

gold on the poster, so you put

16:55

one on Tommy Aspen all as well.

16:57

Now, you've got two reminders. who the

17:00

top two people in the division are.

17:02

You've got the physical form representing that

17:04

thing. There ain't nothing to do except

17:07

have those guys fight each other. So

17:09

come on, that has to be what

17:11

we do here, right? Especially, I understand

17:14

if John Jones is trying to use

17:16

it as a negotiating tool, trying to

17:18

get some more money out of the

17:20

U.S.C. They should absolutely pay him more

17:23

money to go and do that fight.

17:25

You're telling me John Jones. Jonathan Dwight

17:27

Jones, who we've known for some time,

17:30

we've got a chance to assess this

17:32

man. You're going to tell me he

17:34

will let Tom Aspenall walk around out

17:37

there with his little rubber ducky, let

17:39

him mock him on live television, holding

17:41

up that ducky, making a face like

17:44

he just saw a ghost. You're telling

17:46

me John Jones is going to let

17:48

that man get away with that? That

17:51

I find difficult to believe. You're right

17:53

that we do have an established relationship

17:55

with John Jones. We know what he's

17:57

about at this point. Well, John Jones

18:00

is down. they're becoming a part owner

18:02

of Mike Perry's dirty boxing. That's what

18:04

he was up to over the weekend.

18:07

He was, you know, going to whatever

18:09

warehouse. They have those in and watching

18:11

Yoel Romero and Andre R. Loveski dispatch

18:14

some nobody's. That's what he was up

18:16

to. Do you think that's one of

18:18

those things where you wake up in

18:21

the morning hung over and you're like,

18:23

oh shit, what did I get up

18:25

to last night? Oh, damn it. Did

18:28

I become a part owner of Mike

18:30

Barry's dirty boxing last night? Not again.

18:32

I follow the dirty boxing on Instagram.

18:35

And it'll really get you excited for

18:37

dirty boxing. From a marketing perspective, they're

18:39

doing good work over there. One thing

18:41

that they put up this week, bleeding

18:44

up to the event was a video

18:46

of Mike Perry, where he was gonna

18:48

give you five reasons to attend a

18:51

dirty boxing event. Okay. I believe he

18:53

was wearing a blazer and a t-shirt

18:55

at the time. Naturally. Reason number one

18:58

was celebrities. That's the first reason? That

19:00

was the first reason is that you

19:02

were gonna get to hang with celebrities

19:05

at the dirty box in the warehouse

19:07

where they have the dirty boxing events.

19:09

I'll be honest with you I did

19:12

not watch the other reasons. But that's

19:14

it because you didn't need any other

19:16

reasons. You saw that I was like

19:18

celebrities book my ticket because I everybody

19:21

knows I'm a clout chaser. I want

19:23

to hang with celebrities. Did he give

19:25

any examples of what what we mean

19:28

by celebrities John Jones was there? Okay,

19:30

I mean did he did he be

19:32

like here's here's who's gonna be in

19:35

the house. I don't know I didn't

19:37

watch that I didn't watch that far

19:39

into it. I heard celebrities and I

19:42

was good to go I've I what

19:44

I thought you were gonna say is

19:46

Mike Perry told us he was gonna

19:49

give us five reasons and he stopped

19:51

after two or three because that would

19:53

also be believable Well,

19:57

let's see here. I don't know

19:59

there's Pictures of people in the

20:01

audience at Dirty Boxing on their

20:03

Instagram. I couldn't tell you who any

20:05

of them are. Just by looking.

20:07

I don't know. Do they seem famous?

20:09

Maybe? Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. I

20:12

don't know Ben. They're not famous

20:14

enough for me to know who they

20:16

are. So there. How about that?

20:18

Okay. If it ain't John Jones. for

20:20

Big Tommy gas hands, it's Alex Pereira,

20:23

right? That's, if you're thinking fun

20:25

fight, if you're gonna be coy with

20:27

us, like Aspenol is being a little

20:29

bit here on Ariel Hawani, it's

20:31

gotta be, it's the only option, right?

20:34

That's the only thing out there

20:36

that I can think of, unless, you

20:38

know, you bring out a giant egg

20:40

like a WWF at the Survivor

20:42

series and Francis Ingano pops out of

20:45

it. Like, that's the only thing

20:47

I can think I can think of.

20:49

Well, if he's not going to defend,

20:51

if we're not talking about we're

20:53

doing another one of these bullshit defenses

20:56

of the interim heavyweight title while

20:58

the real one does other business, and

21:00

if it wouldn't be John Jones, then

21:03

you would have to think John

21:05

Jones has taken a sense that he's

21:07

not doing this fight or at

21:09

least not doing it for the money

21:11

that the U.S. He wants him to

21:14

do it for, would then be

21:16

stripped of the title, and Tom Aspenal

21:18

would be either promoted to regular

21:20

champion, or would be fighting somebody for.

21:22

the newly vacant title, which wouldn't be

21:25

a little weird to turn around

21:27

and have Alex Prairie coming off a

21:29

loss for the light heavyweight title, then

21:31

go up and fight for the

21:33

undisputed UFC heavyweight time? I mean, I

21:36

say that as if logic still

21:38

means anything in this sport, because honestly,

21:40

you put those two guys in a

21:42

fight, people are still going to

21:44

watch it, that's still going to do

21:47

some big business for you and

21:49

everything. But it does seem, it would

21:51

seem a little odd, right? Yeah,

21:55

I mean he only had to

21:57

win one right in between losing

21:59

the middleweight championship and fighting for

22:01

the light heavyweight title back in

22:03

2023. All he did was beat

22:05

Yawnee Blackjacks by split decision, and

22:07

then they put him in the

22:09

fight with your EP at UFC

22:12

295, and he won that one

22:14

to become the champion. And that

22:16

is in a division that is

22:18

just slightly, has just slightly a

22:20

deeper talent pool than heavyweight. It's

22:22

a talent puddle up there at

22:24

heavyweight. So I don't know, you'd

22:26

watch it, like you just said,

22:28

no matter what. Yeah, winner gets

22:30

the duck. If you would watch

22:32

it, if that's what was at

22:35

stake. Then it becomes a college

22:37

football rivalry game, essentially. Or some

22:39

otherwise meaningless trophy that we pass

22:41

back and forth. But yeah, I

22:43

mean. We just can't fuck this

22:45

up. We can't. I'll be so

22:47

mad. Especially all the talk that

22:49

the U.S.C. likes to do about

22:51

how they make the best fights.

22:53

They the best fight the best

22:55

in the U.S.C. is the difference

22:57

between them. All the big fights.

23:00

They make them happen. And here

23:02

you have an opportunity. Here we

23:04

have an opportunity where there's there's

23:06

two big fights that you can

23:08

make this year. Two mega fights

23:10

that stand way above everything. are

23:12

John Jones versus Tom Aspenol and

23:14

Islam Makachev versus Iliad Toporia. And

23:16

the way things are trending, the

23:18

way some of the talk that

23:20

you're hearing, it seems like a

23:23

decent chance that the UFC could

23:25

fuck around and make neither of

23:27

them. Make neither of them and

23:29

that probably the reason they would

23:31

end up making neither of them

23:33

would just be because they would

23:35

only make... a boatload of money

23:37

off of them and not a

23:39

fuckload of money off of them.

23:41

It would be super profitable, a

23:43

lot of money to go around

23:46

for everybody, but they don't ever

23:48

want to share any more of

23:50

the money than they absolutely have

23:52

to with the fighters, the people

23:54

who anyone actually pays to see,

23:56

and then you would miss those

23:58

opportunities because of that, and that

24:00

just, that would be... so depressing

24:02

as a state of where we

24:04

are in this sport, you know?

24:06

U.S.C.'s track record making those super

24:08

fights not great. No. I have

24:11

to say, not great. Remember. your

24:13

listen to the co-main event podcast

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Right now, like we always do

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26:18

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available. Taxes and Fees Extra.

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See full terms at MintMobile.com. First piece,

27:27

a listener mail this week comes to

27:30

us from Jeff of Atlanta. He writes,

27:32

you guys take one week off and

27:34

Connor Fookin McGregor ends up in the

27:36

White House. What happens if you need

27:38

to take another week off? Sean Strickland

27:40

to the UN? Don't act like that's

27:43

not shockingly plausible. I don't think

27:45

you guys realize the wall of

27:47

sanity you guard on a week

27:49

to week basis in the MMA

27:51

world. Insanity like this is waiting

27:53

patiently for you to get distracted.

27:55

We want you on that wall.

27:57

We need you on that wall.

27:59

Then... Not only did Connor McGregor, court

28:02

adjudicated rapist, show up at the

28:04

White House to speak behind the

28:06

podium where the other court adjudicated

28:08

rapist typically speaks, at the White

28:10

House, later on, same week, he

28:12

announced his candidacy for the presidency

28:14

of Ireland. Yeah, why not, right?

28:16

Perhaps. I'm not going to say

28:18

the biggest drawback of our current

28:20

situation because... Who's to say what

28:22

that is? One of the biggest,

28:24

perhaps, dangers of the current situation

28:26

is now fucking anybody can be

28:28

president. Literally anybody, any jerk off

28:30

the street, Connor McGregor, whoever, they

28:32

might as well just run for

28:34

president, because who knows, man, they

28:36

might win. Yeah, I do think

28:38

that there are still some other

28:40

countries out there that are not

28:42

as completely insane as we are,

28:44

and I think that Ireland is

28:46

probably one of those countries. Especially,

28:48

I was encouraged by the strong

28:50

response that we've seen to Connor

28:52

McGregor from Ireland, not only just

28:54

recently, but you know, in the

28:56

last couple years, you've seen that

28:58

they... They recognize who this guy

29:00

is and they don't like it

29:02

and they are mad about it

29:04

because they had embraced him and

29:06

they feel like he's embarrassment now,

29:08

which he is and We heard

29:10

from our man on the scene

29:12

about the He was getting booed

29:14

at the limp biscuit concert in

29:16

Dublin after he was so proud

29:18

to tell everybody that he was

29:20

going to be going there and

29:22

then he shows up here and

29:24

I saw a lot of response

29:26

from like the from Irish politicians,

29:28

people in the Irish media, basically

29:30

being like, shut up, don't go

29:32

out there, acting like you're speaking

29:34

for us when you talk about

29:36

how Ireland has a huge problem

29:38

with immigration, we don't feel that

29:40

way, and we think you are

29:43

an asshole. And the big homie,

29:45

Vince Mancini, wrote something for GQ

29:47

this week that I... It really

29:49

resonated with me and I assume

29:51

with a lot of people in

29:53

the CME listening audience because he

29:55

was just like, it is painful

29:57

to see something that you, a

29:59

sport that you love, that you've

30:01

watched for a long time, and

30:03

to see it taken over by

30:05

like the worst people. And it

30:07

seemed though all kind of just

30:09

teeming up to take it over

30:11

together. and insulating each other from

30:13

any sort of criticism really. And

30:15

how, you know, we always knew

30:17

that there was some aspects of

30:19

being an MMA fan and watching

30:21

the UFC all the god damn

30:23

time that were gonna be embarrassing.

30:25

But Jesus Christ, we didn't think

30:27

it was gonna be like this.

30:29

And then you're watching Connor McGregor

30:31

show up at the White House

30:33

where he's like, all right, like

30:35

you said, it's just a couple

30:37

adjudicated rapists having a good time,

30:39

chopping it. and you feel like

30:41

we've slipped through a fun house

30:43

mirror of sorts. And of all

30:45

that, why does it have to

30:47

be our sport, our beloved sport,

30:49

which we already knew was a

30:51

ridiculous carnival in some ways and

30:53

then somehow it found a way

30:55

to get more embarrassing. I have

30:57

to give it up to Jesse

30:59

Young over there at CNN for

31:01

doing a good job in this

31:03

story. Capturing who Connor McGregor has

31:05

become because you don't always see

31:07

this over there in the lame

31:09

stream media, right? A lot of

31:11

times, the big dogs come over,

31:13

they try to write an MMA

31:15

story, and you're like, this person

31:17

has no fucking idea what they're

31:19

talking about. Jesse Young has a

31:21

lot of good descriptors of McGregor

31:23

in here. She writes, McGregor, who

31:25

in recent years has emerged as

31:27

a figurehead for the far right

31:30

in Ireland, said on social media

31:32

that he would run for president

31:34

to oppose a long-awaited new European

31:36

Union migration pact aimed at sharing

31:38

the burden of processing asylum claims.

31:40

more evenly across the block. Once

31:42

the face of the Ultimate Fighting

31:44

Championship, Dublin Moore-born McGregor was the

31:46

first fighter to hold two UFC

31:48

belts simultaneously. and, according to Forbes,

31:50

was the world's highest paid sports

31:52

star in 2021. Okay, obviously that's

31:54

not true. Well, that requires an

31:56

asterisk because it was not sports

31:58

that he was being paid for.

32:00

So even if that part was

32:02

true, you're talking about the sale

32:04

of the whiskey company. Despite several

32:06

rumored comebacks, he hasn't fought in

32:08

the U.S.C. since back-to-back defeats four

32:10

years ago and has become a

32:12

hugely controversial figure in Ireland dogged

32:14

by accusations of sexual assault which

32:16

he has denied. Then there's a

32:18

couple paragraphs about how he lost

32:20

the civil suit, and then it

32:22

says, in recent years, McGregor has

32:24

also turned his attention to sparring

32:26

with people on social media, political

32:28

analysts and far-right experts have told

32:30

CNN that McGregor's unique brand of

32:32

Irish patriotism that won him supporters

32:34

as a fighter has mutated into

32:36

a strand of far-right Irish nationalism.

32:38

So I read that and I

32:40

was like, you know what? Yeah,

32:42

that is what has befallen Connor

32:44

McGregor over the last handful of

32:46

years. By the way, if we

32:48

want to talk about the scourge

32:50

of people from other countries coming

32:52

here to the United States and

32:54

committing crimes, I can point you

32:56

in the direction of one. He's

32:58

on video doing it. More than

33:00

one crime, in fact. He is

33:02

on video doing in this country.

33:04

So if that's what we're upset

33:06

about, let's take a look at

33:08

that guy. Next question this week

33:10

comes to us from at pissed

33:12

off lawyer. He writes, is it

33:15

me or is the light heavyweight

33:17

division the most interesting it's been

33:19

since Jones, Cormier, and Gustafson were

33:21

at the top? Pereira will seemingly

33:23

get a chance to win his

33:25

title back from Uncle Lyav soon.

33:27

Ulberg just emerged as a legitimate

33:29

fresh-faced contender. Blahovitch showed he can

33:31

still hang with the elite. Yuri,

33:33

one of the most exciting fighters

33:35

in the sport is coming off

33:37

a win. Round Tree versus Hill

33:39

and Reyes versus Krelov, will each

33:41

put a guy in the title

33:43

conference. am I being overly optimistic

33:45

about 205? You know what? I

33:47

would say this. say this this

33:49

happens you know you Jones leaves

33:51

Pereira comes up he's a pretty

33:53

good star for the U of

33:55

C he loses his title obviously

33:57

we don't know what's gonna happen

33:59

between him and Maga Med Uncle

34:01

Live you lose these kind of

34:03

like central figures and a lot

34:05

of times what you get is

34:07

that of these other who had

34:09

been bit part players in the

34:11

division emerge right and that's what's

34:13

happening here at light heavy weight

34:15

and I think pissed off lawyer

34:17

makes a good point here that

34:19

now we have potentially a more

34:21

parody driven scenario where you've got

34:23

these guys that previously had been

34:25

kind of under the radar might

34:27

come up here and seize the,

34:29

seize the mantle, seize our attention,

34:31

all that other stuff. I will

34:33

say this though. At the moment,

34:35

it doesn't feel like there's a

34:37

lot of sizzle, right? Beyond Alex

34:39

Pereira and potentially Margamet, Uncle Live.

34:41

And as we talked about two

34:43

weeks ago on our last episode

34:45

of this show, ain't no sizzle.

34:47

around Magamet Uncle Live right now.

34:49

So like you talk about Carlos

34:51

Ulberg and Yani Blackjacks last weekend,

34:53

Ulberg did win. I'm not sure

34:55

it was a great fight. It

34:57

was a close fight. It probably

34:59

could have gone either way, but

35:02

I don't think anybody's gonna be

35:04

sitting here at the end of

35:06

the year being like, oh, we

35:08

need to put together Magamet Uncle

35:10

Live versus Carlos Ulberg, right? So.

35:12

You potentially have an interesting situation

35:14

happening, but someone's going to have

35:16

to come up with a little

35:18

something to get our attention and

35:20

get our interest. You know, when

35:22

he started out saying, is it

35:24

me or his light heavyweight division,

35:26

the most interesting it's been, you

35:28

know, I was, my first reaction

35:30

was, is it the... But when

35:32

he makes the case, he kind

35:34

of talks me into it. I

35:36

mean, again, he is, he is...

35:38

the lawyer part of pissed off

35:40

lawyer maybe suggests that he's pretty

35:42

good at arguing and winning you

35:44

over to his side but especially

35:46

if we're talking about interesting because

35:48

as you said interesting in this

35:50

case is because of it being

35:52

more competitive because of it feeling

35:54

like almost anybody in that top

35:56

five or six could make a

35:58

run and who knows end up

36:00

as a champion. Which we go

36:02

through these cycles when we have

36:04

a dominant champion we start to

36:06

get bored with it. We start

36:08

to just feel like. There's nothing

36:10

really going on in this division

36:12

anymore. We're getting into reruns or

36:14

we're getting into challengers who haven't

36:16

really made a case yet, but

36:18

shit, somebody has to fight for

36:20

the title. We definitely got there

36:22

with John Jones. And then when

36:24

he's gone, suddenly it's chaos. Everybody

36:26

gets to have a cup of

36:28

coffee with the belt. Then you

36:30

get a new champion for a

36:32

little while and Alex Pereira that

36:34

we all got very excited about.

36:36

And now it feels like we're

36:38

entering maybe another period where everything

36:40

is kind of in flux. That

36:42

does make for some interesting stuff

36:44

because you do see at least

36:47

you have some guys who are

36:49

young and on the way up.

36:51

And that has not always been

36:53

the case at light heavyweight. We

36:55

sometimes looked at it and been

36:57

like, shit, is this just going

36:59

to turn into another heavyweight division

37:01

where there are a ton of

37:03

really good athletes in this and

37:05

it's a shallow pool to choose

37:07

from. And now you're seeing some

37:09

signs like, okay, there are some

37:11

interesting matchups you can make. There's

37:13

some some fun fights you could

37:15

put together. Yani Blackchecks has got

37:17

to be feeling a little bit

37:19

like he's the old dog who

37:21

keeps getting fucked in this scenario.

37:23

So I sympathize with him a

37:25

little bit. But yeah, there is

37:27

some new interest, some new stuff

37:29

it seems happening at light heavyweight.

37:31

And so I appreciate Pistoff lawyer

37:33

bringing it to our attention. Next

37:36

question this week comes to us from

37:38

the repo man, and then they note

37:40

parenthetically the 90s W. W. E. Character

37:42

not the 1984 cult classic film. Yeah,

37:45

it's it's the the that tells you

37:47

you're dealing with the character and not

37:49

the film because the film is just

37:51

repo man. Yeah, correct. And people are

37:53

putting some thought into this which I

37:56

like. Topuria will be changing his nickname

37:58

from El Matador to the legend for

38:00

his lightweight run. Are we getting ahead

38:02

of ourselves here? Could the vibes be

38:04

off? What does the CME consulting firm

38:07

have to say about this? I don't

38:09

like it either. And see I made

38:11

this point just a couple weeks ago

38:13

there was a guy fighting on one

38:15

of the fight night events where he's

38:18

on the undercard and his nickname was

38:20

the legend and I'm just like you

38:22

don't get to call yourself that. We

38:24

might get to call you that. You

38:26

don't get to tell us that you're

38:29

a legend. Now, Ili Toporia has a

38:31

better claim to something like that, a

38:33

status like that, than this two did.

38:35

But still, I would say, the El

38:37

Matador never felt like a great nickname.

38:40

It always felt like kind of the

38:42

first thing somebody would think of, oh,

38:44

we got a fighter coming out of

38:46

Spain. All right, what do we know

38:48

about Spain? Bull fighting, he's a Matador,

38:51

all right, there we go. and we

38:53

just sort of slapped it on and

38:55

then we went and it just it

38:57

never felt as unique as Ilia Toporia

38:59

as a fighter and as the position

39:02

he occupies in the sport it doesn't

39:04

didn't feel like it really matched him

39:06

or like it you could easily just

39:08

forget that it was his nickname it's

39:10

like if you had a character in

39:13

a video game who are one of

39:15

the fighters in the video game is

39:17

from Spain he's the matador like that's

39:19

what it felt like so I don't

39:21

it's not that I mind a nickname

39:24

change a nickname change but to call

39:26

yourself the legend Right as you're going

39:28

up in weight and maybe facing some

39:30

Some tough tasks maybe facing some of

39:32

those reminders of that we have these

39:35

weight classes for a reason we've seen

39:37

that should happen before It does seem

39:39

like you were attempting the MMA gods

39:41

a little bit It does seem like

39:43

awkward timing right? We should maybe should

39:46

have gone with the legend Before we

39:48

announced we were going up to lightweight

39:50

even Even for Iliadupuria, going with the

39:52

legend seems presumptuous to me, because... still

39:54

got some work to do there. Not

39:57

that your nickname, you know, can't be...

39:59

over the top. It's kind of supposed

40:01

to be, but at the same time,

40:03

the legend, I don't know, it also

40:05

leads us, if things went really really

40:08

bad for Iliatopuria, then suddenly we would

40:10

be like the legend of Iliatopuria is

40:12

a cautionary tale, right? Yeah, see these

40:14

are the headlines you got to think

40:16

about when you're changing your nickname. Could

40:19

turn out to be as forgettable as

40:21

say, the repo man. Just saying. All

40:23

right, last question this week comes to

40:25

us from Dean Draper, you boy from

40:27

across the pond, who writes, if you

40:30

wanted to get someone into the UFC

40:32

to share your passion for it, how

40:34

would you pitch it today? Like you

40:36

dudes, I'm of a certain age, so

40:38

I first discovered it in a bar

40:41

in Greece sometime in the late 90s

40:43

that had UFC's one, two, and three

40:45

playing on a loop the whole week

40:47

I was there, and it obviously blew

40:49

my fucking mind to walk in on

40:52

that with zero prior knowledge of its

40:54

existence of its existence. Let's

40:56

just pause a moment to talk

40:58

about how awesome that is. Yeah.

41:00

So for one thing, you're telling

41:03

us that it you're you're in

41:05

Greece and the bar had it

41:07

playing on a loop the whole

41:09

week you were there suggesting you

41:11

were in the bar all week.

41:13

Enough to watch UFCs one, two

41:15

and three. It does create an

41:17

interesting scenario for us to imagine.

41:19

Yeah. They see you walk in,

41:21

they go, here comes this is

41:23

still here to sit down and

41:25

watch four hours of the U.S.C.

41:27

I think that's the best way

41:29

that I've heard of anyone finding

41:31

out about the U.S.C. to be

41:33

in a bar in Greece in

41:35

the late 90s and just look

41:37

up and there it is on

41:39

the TV screen. He goes on.

41:41

So that was a pretty easy

41:43

pitch to friends. Quote, you've got

41:45

to see this wild as fuck

41:47

no rules fighting type shit. And

41:49

even in the following years, there

41:51

were big stars on big... so

41:53

again an easy sell but today

41:55

I don't think I'd even bother

41:58

trying to get anyone into it

42:00

hardly watch it myself anymore just

42:02

some of the big cards with

42:04

the odd main event of a

42:06

shite card never miss a co-maina's

42:08

event episode though thanks Dean seems

42:10

to seems to like the discussion

42:12

more than the product now which

42:14

is weird I know but that's

42:16

where I am he says You

42:18

and I have discussed this frequently

42:20

that unfortunately this is the tenor

42:22

of the most emails that we

42:24

get Yep, the majority or the

42:26

topic that comes in more often

42:28

For emails to this podcast are

42:30

I used to really like this

42:32

thing and now I don't really

42:34

like it anymore But for whatever

42:36

reason I'm still listening to you

42:38

jerks talk about it and as

42:40

we have stated that is not

42:42

a great sign for the longevity

42:44

of the brand of anyone's brand

42:46

in this in this sport. But

42:48

again, the UFC, they don't care,

42:50

man, because they have, as Ari

42:53

Emanuel likes to say, taken the

42:55

lumpiness out of the business to

42:57

the extent that they are just

42:59

making more money than ever, no

43:01

matter how many fans they are

43:03

hemorrhaging. And are the numbers great?

43:05

We've heard maybe not. We've heard

43:07

that there is an impending split

43:09

on the docket, potentially, between the

43:11

UFC and ESBN and some of

43:13

the reasons why. are that the

43:15

UFC is not producing great numbers,

43:17

particularly when it comes to pay-per-view.

43:19

Of course, all that at this

43:21

point is rumor and innuendo, because

43:23

we don't know those numbers anymore.

43:25

But have you ever noticed, not

43:27

to beat around the bush here

43:29

more than we need to before

43:31

we answer the exact question, have

43:33

you ever noticed the UFC's relationships

43:35

don't end well? Nope, never. Never

43:37

had when we we went from

43:39

spike TV to spook TV. Remember

43:41

that? We went to Fox where

43:43

at the end of it Everybody

43:45

was doing their best to try

43:47

to act like everything was fine

43:50

and we were all still friends,

43:52

but those of us who actually

43:54

worked in the industry at the

43:56

time heard every which way they

43:58

don't like each other. That this

44:00

shit is fucked and the UFC

44:02

is bailing. Now we got the

44:04

ESPN where they've been falling all

44:06

over themselves for the lifetime of

44:08

this deal, talking about how awesome

44:10

it is. Everyone has. Even the

44:12

ESPN people. I remember when we

44:14

worked for the athletic, I interviewed

44:16

one of the... bigwigs at ESPN.

44:18

I can't remember who he was

44:20

as a live sports guy, whatever,

44:22

executive type. He praised the UFC

44:24

more effusively than he even needed

44:26

to. So much that when we

44:28

were talking on the phone, I

44:30

was like, this is weird. How

44:32

much this guy is praising the

44:34

UFC? Like he doesn't, he could

44:36

just say it's, we love it

44:38

and it's great, but he is

44:40

going overboard. on this shit. They've

44:42

always been so effusive about the

44:45

U of C and the U

44:47

of C and the U of

44:49

C has always been so complementary

44:51

about ESPN and now we're starting

44:53

to hear maybe the split if

44:55

there is one is poised to

44:57

be a little bit more acrimonious

44:59

than you we might be led

45:01

to believe. You're right that this

45:03

has been a pattern for the

45:05

U of C. And honestly, a

45:07

pattern kind of for Dana White,

45:09

another one of those things that

45:11

shows you there's a lot of

45:13

personality, similarities between Dana White and

45:15

Donald Trump. You're like, this is

45:17

why these guys are friends, and

45:19

that when you're on my side

45:21

and you're making me money, you're

45:23

a great guy. Nothing but good

45:25

things to say about you. The

45:27

second, one of those things might

45:29

not be true anymore, you... are

45:31

bullshit and were always bullshit and

45:33

you were never my friend. That's

45:35

just been the emo for years

45:37

and years and years. Now this

45:40

story that came out recently was

45:42

that the New York Post, New

45:44

York Daily News is one of

45:46

those right where it was just

45:48

like here both sides are mad

45:50

at each other and it kind

45:52

of you see that at this

45:54

point where we are in the

45:56

negotiating process for a new rights

45:58

deal like mid-January. the exclusive negotiating

46:00

period started, I think it was

46:02

90 days, so we're around the

46:04

end of that now, we're getting

46:06

to the end of it pretty

46:08

soon. And suddenly everybody's talking

46:10

to some media about how they are

46:12

upset or disappointed with the other side

46:15

in this deal. It seems like we're

46:17

trying to do negotiating through that. We're

46:19

trying to bring each other down a

46:21

little bit from where our current asking

46:23

points are. And on the USC's

46:25

side, it's we're furious about the technical

46:28

issues. on ESPN Plus and things that

46:30

have plagued recent paper view broadcasts, which

46:32

to those of us who've been paying

46:34

attention this whole time, these are not

46:36

new issues. Not new issues at all that

46:38

you're having with ESPN Plus on the technical

46:41

side. I agree that they're there. Shit, all

46:43

these people talk about how difficult it is

46:45

to order the paper view, you go on

46:47

there and try to give ESPN Plus your

46:49

money and they will make it tough on

46:51

you. And then if you do manage to

46:53

order it and watch the shit, they might

46:55

show you some Ben Rothlesberger slides from years

46:58

ago, and you're just like, what the fuck

47:00

is going, how are you the worldwide leader

47:02

in sports? How is this happening over there?

47:04

I was trying to catch up on these

47:06

fights trying to watch Sean Brady and Leon

47:08

Edwards and it was doing the thing to

47:11

me over and over again where it's just

47:13

like you should consider signing up for ESBN

47:15

Plus membership and I'm like I have one

47:17

I can see at the top of the

47:19

screen that I'm logged in and they're like

47:21

do you do you need some help? Click

47:24

on this link and then it takes you

47:26

to like the FAQ section for ESBN bets

47:28

or whatever and you're just like what the

47:30

fuck is going on over there? I can

47:33

see like but that's not a new issue

47:35

that's that's been going on the entire time

47:37

they've been on ESPN plus so the for

47:39

the U of C to be suddenly enraged

47:42

about this now just shows you that it's

47:44

a negotiating tactic and then on the other

47:46

side ESPN being like we're disappointed with the

47:48

pay-per-view numbers that we think are down and

47:50

we blame the UFC you know whether it's

47:53

for putting together weak cards the UFS

47:55

is setting it in past they think

47:57

ESPN plus has raised the price too

47:59

quickly the The UFC has, for all

48:01

its talk occasionally about cracking down on

48:03

piracy, has done nothing really, nothing significant

48:05

to stop piracy, so I'm sure that

48:08

hurts pay-per-view sales too. There are reasons

48:10

for both of them to be mad

48:12

at each other. The fact that they're

48:14

airing them now suggests that it's something

48:16

going on with the negotiations. Again, I

48:18

say, probably the most likely scenario is

48:21

that we see the UFC product that

48:23

split up. in the right steals and

48:25

part of it ends up on Netflix.

48:27

I realize we got onto this after

48:29

Dean Draper was asking us about how

48:31

would you get someone into the UFC?

48:34

How would you share your your passion

48:36

for it now? My first question to

48:38

myself is would I like It'd be

48:40

like, you know, I feel like I've

48:42

been a drug addict for years. Am

48:44

I trying to get somebody else in

48:47

on it? Like you if you walk

48:49

in on me watching the UFC now

48:51

I'm like that scene from walk hard

48:53

where you know it keeps walking in

48:55

on them doing drugs and you're just

48:57

like you don't want no part of

49:00

this shit Like that's that's kind of

49:02

how I feel toward it now if

49:04

I were to get somebody into it

49:06

I would be like watch the fights

49:08

enjoy it, enjoy it, enjoy it, learn

49:10

nothing about these people, any of these

49:12

people. Just enjoy it on fight night.

49:15

That's that's your best hope. Yeah, and

49:17

I think that the part of that

49:19

pitch Would it would never be at

49:21

this point. You got to watch all

49:23

this stuff. Right. It would be more

49:25

of like a Like a mainstream sports

49:28

pitch, right? Nobody who tries to get

49:30

you into the NFL or baseball or

49:32

hockey is like you got to watch

49:34

every game. Right. You're gonna love hockey.

49:36

You got to watch every game by

49:38

every team like nobody's saying that And

49:41

this is the same thing with the

49:43

UFC right now. You gotta just, you

49:45

gotta get your friends to come over

49:47

for the big ones. And that's probably

49:49

about it. And then tell them up

49:51

front, never find out anything about any

49:54

of these people that you like. If

49:56

you have a favorite, just don't, don't

49:58

follow them on social media, don't read

50:00

news. Dare type their name into Google.

50:02

Don't even do it. You'll be lucky

50:04

if they don't talk about it right

50:07

there on at the UFC broadcast. If

50:09

you need to find, if you need

50:11

to look at their record, don't go

50:13

to Wikipedia because there's too rate of

50:15

risk that you'll see like controversies and

50:17

arrest sections. Go to tapology. Google their

50:19

name and tapology and that's it. All

50:22

right, that's going to do it for listener

50:25

mail this week. If you have a question,

50:27

comment or concern that you would like to

50:29

air to the podcast in future weeks, you

50:31

know how to do it. Go to the

50:34

website, comatevent.com and click the link at the

50:36

top right-hand corner of the screen that says

50:38

email the podcast. That'll get you in touch

50:40

with us. We're going to talk about Sean

50:43

Brady's win over Leon Edwards, coming up right

50:45

after this. Um,

50:50

I think I just won my

50:52

taxes. Yeah? I just switched to

50:54

H&R Block in about one minute.

50:56

All I had to do was

50:58

drag and draw Blashard's return into

51:00

H&R Block, and bam! My information

51:02

is automatically there. So I don't

51:04

have to go digging around for

51:06

all my old papers to switch?

51:08

Nope. Sounds like we just leveled

51:10

up our tax game. switching to

51:12

H&R Block is easy. Just drag

51:14

and drop your last return. Your

51:16

last return. It's better with Block.

51:18

It's the old cliche. Styles make

51:20

fights and Leon Edwards, your former

51:22

welterweight champion, could simply not stop

51:24

Sean Brady from taking him down

51:26

in this fight and eventually gets

51:28

choked out two minutes, roughly two

51:30

minutes, into the fourth round. A

51:32

big win for Sean Brady, potentially

51:34

a big loss for Leon Edwards.

51:36

But perhaps, as I said at

51:38

the top of the show, creates

51:40

a little bit of awkwardness at

51:42

the top of the division, because

51:45

you will note in the wake

51:47

of this, Sean Brady. has flown

51:49

up four spots in the U.F.C.'s

51:51

official rankings to number one. He

51:53

is currently rated the number one

51:55

contender to belal Muhammad. He is

51:57

ranked above that boy Good. Shavkot

51:59

Rockmanov. That ain't right. He is

52:01

ranked above Jack Del Amato Lena,

52:03

who's poised to get the next

52:05

title shot. And the most awkward

52:07

thing about it is that Sean

52:09

Brady's one career loss is to

52:11

belal Muhammad and it doesn't feel

52:13

like it happened that long ago.

52:15

It was at UFC 280, which

52:17

actually was in October of 2022.

52:19

So, you know, a few years

52:21

at this point, he's put together

52:23

three wins in a row since

52:25

then, Kelvin Gastlum, Gilbert Burns, and

52:27

Leon Edwards. But at the same

52:29

time, when you say Sean Brady

52:31

to me, the thing that I

52:33

think, at least prior to Saturday,

52:35

was not, oh. big back-to-back wins

52:37

over Gilbert Burns and Calvin Gasselm.

52:39

That's not what I thought. The

52:41

thing that I thought when you

52:43

mentioned Sean Brady to me was

52:45

he already lost to Balal Muhammad

52:47

by fairly one-sided TKO. Right, but

52:49

also I will say that was

52:51

a couple years ago at this

52:53

point and it was a Sean

52:55

Brady was a rocket and Balal

52:57

Muhammad stopped the hype train. But

52:59

then, you know, he picked himself

53:01

back up, one of those types.

53:03

He does not deserve to be

53:05

above Shavkot, that boy Good Rockmanov.

53:07

That, we all recognize, is the

53:09

top contender, and it's only because

53:11

he is injured, as he will

53:14

remind us, that he is not

53:16

able to be the next person

53:18

fighting for the title. But when

53:20

he is healthy, he absolutely should

53:22

be the next person fighting for

53:24

the title. This is the danger,

53:26

though, if you're out a little

53:28

bit, we start to forget about

53:30

you. This is what this made

53:32

me think of though watching this

53:34

fight once I finally got ESPN

53:36

Plus to work for me is

53:38

sometimes you see like these sequence

53:40

of events that make you go

53:42

back and question your prior assumptions

53:44

about some of the other fighters

53:46

in in good and bad ways

53:48

because when you see Leon Edwards

53:50

get absolutely tooled up by Sean

53:52

Brady and then you think the

53:54

only person's beat Sean Brady is

53:56

belong Mohammed doesn't a part of

53:58

you go maybe below Mohammed is

54:00

fucking good. People don't want to

54:02

admit that because they don't like

54:04

him or they feel like he's

54:06

cringe or whatever like people have

54:08

sort of Decided that they don't

54:10

think even though he's a champion

54:12

that they don't want to think

54:14

of Bala Mohammed as the best

54:16

guy in the division and yet

54:18

Sean Brady looked pretty fucking good

54:20

and Bala Mohammed beat his ass

54:22

and so shit, you know like

54:24

Maybe you do have to circle

54:26

back and reckon with yourself that

54:28

Bala Mohammed is just fucking good.

54:30

But then also, when you see

54:32

these two losses in a row

54:34

for Leon Edwards, I'm sure there

54:36

are people out there making the

54:38

opposite claim where they're just like,

54:40

Leon Edwards is washed. Leon Edwards

54:43

had his time and now he

54:45

is in the precipitous decline phase

54:47

that some fighters get into and

54:49

loss to Bla Mohammed, La Shashon

54:51

Brady shows that he done fell

54:53

off. And that's what you were

54:55

saying, not necessarily that these guys,

54:57

either of them are world beaters,

54:59

just that Leon Edwards either wasn't

55:01

as good as we thought, or

55:03

that that peak did not last

55:05

very long. Leon Edwards also had

55:07

a bit of a tricky stylistic

55:09

adjustment to make here. He was

55:11

supposed to be Jackie Flattnows. He

55:13

was supposed to fight Jack Dela

55:15

Matalena. at this event. Of course

55:17

we know he got pulled out

55:19

to go fight below Muhammad for

55:21

the title and so you had

55:23

Sean Brady sub in not necessarily

55:25

as a super late replacement but

55:27

like toward the end of February

55:29

they put Sean Brady into this

55:31

fight and so you know roughly

55:33

a month later or so. You

55:35

got to get in there with

55:37

a grappler when maybe you're expecting

55:39

to have a little bit more

55:41

of a striking based fight against

55:43

Jack Del Amato Elena, but I

55:45

mostly agree with you. I feel

55:47

like it's a it's a loss

55:49

that that hurts Leon Edwards, I

55:51

think hurts his our view of

55:53

him a little bit. Especially because

55:55

he just didn't ever look like

55:57

he even got going, you know?

55:59

Yeah. Right away, it just seemed

56:01

like Sean Brady was on him,

56:03

was in his face, you know,

56:05

belaws on Twitter talking about like,

56:07

oh, what time is it? What's

56:09

the issue now? What is it?

56:12

Is it too early? Too late?

56:14

You know, poking at him, all

56:16

that kind of shit. And you're

56:18

just kind of like, yeah, he

56:20

does not. He'll... You you start

56:22

to think about what you've seen

56:24

of in the past like even

56:26

that kamaro Usman fight that he

56:28

that he came back in one

56:30

with the headshot dead He was

56:32

looking a little despondent and that

56:34

one he did like that speech

56:36

became a famous moment in MMA

56:38

where his coaches like You know

56:40

stop feeling sorry for yourself and

56:42

he gets off the stool and

56:44

he wins it but the reason

56:46

he had to give that speech

56:48

is because he was looking kind

56:50

of flat in that fight in

56:52

that fight as well and that

56:54

fight in It seems like maybe

56:56

a troubling thing, but sometimes he

56:58

just can't get going. Sean Brady

57:00

not squashing the beef after this

57:02

one was over. They had some

57:04

words leading up to the fight.

57:06

There was a little bit of

57:08

animosity there. They were mostly respectful

57:10

to each other, but you could

57:12

tell there was a little bit

57:14

of animosity there. After it's over,

57:16

Sean Brady essentially charges Leon Edwards

57:18

and his team of acting, quote,

57:20

corny as shit. in the cage

57:22

after it was over. He's like,

57:24

I went up to him and

57:26

said, yo man, you're a great

57:28

champion. He just kind of brushed

57:30

me off. Obviously he's upset, but

57:32

even his whole team. They were

57:34

corneous shit too. So it was

57:36

just whack. My coaches, my team

57:38

didn't go over there. Like, fuck

57:41

that. We're not saying shit to

57:43

these dudes. Even before they raised

57:45

my... I tried to touch him

57:47

behind the referee, Jason Herzog, and

57:49

just, he's just salty. Then seeing

57:51

all this shit he was saying

57:53

about me throughout the week, I

57:55

wish I was even fucking meaner

57:57

to this dude. You know, you

57:59

know, you know what though, give

58:01

Sean Brady credit, because this was,

58:03

he did a great job, just

58:05

sort of. out grappling, out wrestling,

58:07

out wrestling, Leon Evers the whole

58:09

time there. And then when he

58:11

even, when he gets that finish,

58:13

you know, he's... on top there

58:15

and he just he sees that

58:17

opportunity he immediately loops the arm

58:19

around for the the guillotine from

58:21

the top position and knowing you

58:23

know you've seen a lot of

58:25

people where their opportunities especially for

58:27

guillotines from these kind of positions

58:29

that if you were doing nogi

58:31

grappling sure you could get a

58:33

lot more of these but when

58:35

you get the gloves in the

58:37

way it creates that obstacle and

58:39

he knows like he's sort of

58:41

posting out with one hand with

58:43

one hand and so he did

58:45

a really smooth job of looping

58:47

that hand in and then sort

58:49

of locking it behind his hip

58:51

until he could get the opportunity

58:53

to reach over with the other

58:55

hand and tighten it up. And

58:57

it was just like, that's some

58:59

slick ship right there. You gotta

59:01

be impressed with that guy. And

59:03

if you told me that we

59:05

were headed for a potential rematch

59:07

between Sean Brady and Bilal Muhammad

59:10

at some point down the road,

59:12

like I could get into it.

59:14

I just need to see Shove

59:16

cut that boy good first. A

59:18

little awkward I thought to have

59:20

on the on the on the

59:22

call a former training partner. former

59:24

training partner. or a current training

59:26

party. It always happens. You know,

59:28

I like Paul Felder. I think

59:30

he mostly does a good job.

59:32

But this one, you know, it's

59:34

always a little awkward to hear

59:36

them talking about their guy when

59:38

they're up there having their fight.

59:40

Yeah, that is. And it's a

59:42

thing that you can tell. These

59:44

are some of the issues you

59:46

get into when the U.S.C. just

59:48

selects their own broadcast team because

59:50

they don't ever care about any

59:52

sort of conflict like that. Just

59:54

a reminder. we are over on

59:56

Patreon all week, we'll have the

59:58

live chat tomorrow where we spend

1:00:00

60 minutes taking all of your

1:00:02

questions or at least as many

1:00:04

as we can fit in during

1:00:06

an hour and change. We got

1:00:08

Thursday's episode of doing the damn

1:00:10

thing where we generally take a

1:00:12

break from MMA and talk about

1:00:14

other topics other stuff going on

1:00:16

in the world we think you

1:00:18

might be interested in and then

1:00:20

of course Friday's power hour, another

1:00:22

curated hour of mixed martial arts

1:00:24

talk to get you ready for

1:00:26

whatever is coming up this weekend

1:00:28

which in this case is Brandon

1:00:30

Moreno versus Steve Ursig down there

1:00:32

in Mexico City. The U.S.C. going

1:00:34

from London to Mexico City for

1:00:36

these fight nights, this one not

1:00:39

a terrible card. Again, some more

1:00:41

people that you might recognize than

1:00:43

your average U.S.C. fight night card,

1:00:45

but that's what you got. Brandon

1:00:47

Moreno, Steve Ursig down there in

1:00:49

Mexico City. So if I had

1:00:51

to guess, we'll probably be talking

1:00:53

about that come Friday. As

1:00:55

for right now, thanks everybody for

1:00:58

listening. We appreciate the support. We

1:01:00

are done. We are through. We

1:01:02

are out. We didn't even get

1:01:04

a chance to talk about how

1:01:07

Joe Rogan rather go to Russia

1:01:09

than Canada. And I know, this

1:01:11

is rather, he'd rather go to

1:01:13

Russia than Canada, which I was

1:01:16

wondering about that. Is this a

1:01:18

reflection of the current political moment

1:01:20

or does Joe Rogan have a

1:01:22

reason why maybe he can't go

1:01:24

to Canada? My reaction, Joe Rogan

1:01:27

rather go to Russia than Canada,

1:01:29

than go. Go. Come on. I'm

1:01:31

sure they'd love to have you,

1:01:33

man. Canada's a wonderful country. I

1:01:36

don't think they're really sitting around

1:01:38

being like, oh, but Joe Rogan

1:01:40

doesn't want to come here. They're

1:01:42

doing all right. Yeah, they really

1:01:45

are.