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00:00Welcome back to Against the Cage, your new MMA home for all the fight previews,
00:13fight recaps, and exclusive interviews that your heart desires. My name is Jake Arie. I'm here with
00:18my co-hosts in studio, Eric Richter, and back home, Mr. Scott Fontana. And guys, we finally know
00:26all the title fights that are booked for the rest of the year with the announcement of UFC 323,
00:32Murab Dualashwili taking on Piotr Jan, and Alessandre Pantoja taking on Joshua Vann. So now
00:39that we have that information, we can kind of do some speculating as to what we're going to see for
00:43the first pay-per-view in January. So guys, I will ask you, and let's throw this to Scott,
00:50what would you like to see as far as title fights for the first pay-per-view, or no longer pay-per-view,
00:56first premium live event of the Paramount era? I was waiting for that. I was going to say,
01:02sir, there is no pay-per-view in January. Yeah. Yeah. Premium numbered events now. It's like
01:08Pavlov's dog. Premium numbered events. I'm still going to call it pay-per-view. I'm probably going to do the same thing.
01:12It's, you know, habitually, we're going to do it, right? Anyway, so what we're looking at now is
01:17obviously we've got the slate between now and December. As you mentioned, those two title fights
01:22got added to it. So what we're left with are five belts that are not scheduled right now that we know
01:29of. That's light heavyweight, which just got defended. Or, well, yeah, it was defended and then
01:34passed, of course. We've got middleweight. We've got lightweight. We've got featherweight. And we've
01:39got women's bantamweight. These are still on the table. You'd have to think it's probably going to be
01:45a little too short notice for most of these other fights. Not everybody is Murad Dwallis-Wheely
01:49who wants to get that fourth title fight in of the year. I don't think anyone else is turning around
01:55quick enough for January. So we're talking about, like, kind of these five options, right? So, you
02:00know, with that in mind, I actually want to see what Eric thinks as far as where do you think
02:06they're going to go for 324? Well, we know that. So the ESPN deal obviously ends the end of the year.
02:11The first card will be Paramount Plus come January. And, you know, just using historical
02:17perspectives, you know, when UFC went on to Fox, they even gave out a free title fight. I believe
02:24it was Chael Sonnen. Was it Michael Bisping that was the first one on live TV? I believe it was.
02:31You know, they give away some big-time fights when cable or when they get a new TV deal. So
02:38ESPN had a big-time card when they first came to ESPN. And it was the same thing with Fox. I would
02:44expect a massive card in January come when they move on to Paramount Plus. And obviously, there
02:51might be a couple of CBS shows involved as well. For me, if you want to bang this thing out, if you
02:57want it to be as big as it could be from the very get, give me Ilya Teporia defending his title
03:05against Justin Gaethje probably is what I'm guessing. It's not my choice. I'd probably
03:11want Armand Tarzoukian. But it seems like, based on, you know, rumors, speculation, that it's going
03:17to be Ilya Teporia versus Justin Gaethje. And then you could co-main event it if you really wanted to
03:22bang this thing out. Give me Amanda Nunez versus Kayla Harrison as a co-main event that could headline
03:28any card. If you give it to me as a co-main event, that Paramount Plus first premium live event
03:35would be beyond premium. A word bigger than premium. A higher power, per se. What say you
03:42Scott? You know, I like the idea of putting that women's title fight on there. I don't know that
03:47it's going to happen. Everything seems to look like they're trying to kind of put that on the back
03:53burner and delay that until the White House. I have to think that because we haven't heard any
03:59rumblings about it, maybe I'm wrong, but it feels like something that's destined for the White House.
04:04It's a giant fight with an American champion. We only have one of them right now.
04:09And her name is Kayla Harrison.
04:11Divisional champion. Her name is Kayla Harrison. You know, no offense to Max Holloway. The BMF belt is
04:16not a divisional championship. Our proud Hawaiian fellow American. But, you know, I like the shout
04:24of Ilya Toporia. You know, Dana White noted this week that it's a possibility Ilya Toporia could make
04:30his first lightweight title defense on this card that we're talking about, right? I would have to
04:35think that if they can get that done, they're going to. I think it makes a lot of sense to put it there
04:39that maybe it's in California. They've often done California in January. I don't know if it's going to
04:44be Justin Gaethje. It's probably not going to be Armin Sarukian, even if he beats Dan Hooker.
04:50I would think the turnaround is a little too quickly. I fight being in Qatar in late November. So I would
04:56actually be I would not be surprised at all if it's Patty Pimblitt. I agree. I agree. Yeah. So why do
05:01you think it would? I think so. I'm curious, Eric. Why would you think it wouldn't be? Oh, yeah.
05:06Well, for me, I mean, Justin Gaethje has been threatening to retire if he doesn't get the fight. Now,
05:11I know that doesn't have a like a huge stake. Like, I don't know if the UFC like particularly
05:15cares if Justin Gaethje retires, but the Patty Pimblitt fight, you might be able to get late
05:20down the road, build it up a little bit more and maybe get, you know, Patty a couple wins. It
05:25escapes me how many, I think he has five wins consecutively. I'd have to look it up. But I think
05:32that I always, I just assumed that Gaethje was going to get it. I'll be honest. Like it doesn't seem
05:36like they were interested in Armand Tarzuki. And so just, I assumed that Gaethje was going to get
05:40the title fight. I think that the Patty Pimblitt, Armand, or Ilya Teporia fight is box office,
05:46right? And I'm here for box office. So sign me up. And I think that's what, that would be the
05:50thinking, right? I mean, they want to go big. You want to, you want to make a giant impact here.
05:55I think Patty Pimblitt draws in a lot of eyeballs to an event that's already going to draw a lot of
06:00curiosity and that kind of thing. So that's why I'm thinking it might end up being Patty Pimblitt there.
06:05Yeah. Do we have a location for that fight card? I don't think they've announced anything yet,
06:12but like I, like I had said before, I think, you know, we often see them go to California in January.
06:17This has kind of been like a, uh, not a, not a definitive thing, but a running trend. So I would
06:22not be surprised if that was in like Englewood or Anaheim or, or even Los Angeles proper. Um,
06:28you never know. They, they've not really made any concrete indications yet. We'll probably get those
06:33pretty soon, but I did want to throw you through a co-main out there. I'm going to throw another
06:38co-main out there. Cause yeah, I would be stunned if there were no, not two title fights on this
06:42card, even with, you know, the potential that one of them would be, you know, one of their giant
06:47stars, Ilya Toporia. And I think it would be Alexander Volkanovsky finally putting that, uh,
06:54featherweight title that he reclaims back in April up for grabs, you know, that probably would be
06:58Lerone Murphy. You know, he's had that huge elbow knockout all there and Pico. And I, I would think
07:05that they don't want to keep Volkanovsky on the shelf too much longer. I know he's filming, he's in,
07:10uh, the street fighter movie. So I don't know how much that gets in the way of that, but I mean,
07:16that makes a lot of sense. You put those two fights on there, some big notable stars. I think that
07:22that's a really strong card. So I wouldn't be surprised if it looked like that.
07:25That's a fantastic main and co-main event. If they wanted to start off the year with a bang,
07:31you got Ilya Toporia and Alex Volkanovsky heading the card. You got 155, 145. God,
07:37I can't think the last time that that's happened. Like that would be fun. It'd be amazing. I had
07:41to look, I had like planned out the entire, like beginning part of the year for them. And I was
07:45like, Holloway, uh, Holloway Oliveira could be in February or Volk versus Murphy. Uh, Murphy
07:51could be in February. You're also going to have a Hamzat, uh, title fight at some point,
07:55I believe April, they usually do Middle East. Uh, I could be mistaken. Uh, but typically
07:59I believe, no, they've often been, they've often been in, uh, Miami for April. Oh, you
08:04mean for pay-per-view though, in terms of fight night, we did have Izzy, uh, in the Middle
08:07East. Premium numbered events, sir. Yes. Yeah. It's going to take forever. It's going to
08:12take it. It's going to take a while. I know. It's going to be tough, but yeah, no, you are
08:15right. It was a fight night that was in, uh, in the Middle East last year, but yeah. Um,
08:20yeah. Who knows what they end up doing? I think that, um, but Hamzat's got to get a fight
08:23up soon. And, uh, I mean, and we'll talk about, uh, the BMF title in a little bit
08:28here. Yes. Yes. Alrighty. So I think that's a pretty, listen, if, if, if that happens for
08:33January, we'll all be pretty pleased. And you were just talking about Mr. Charles
08:37Oliveira, Dubronx. Also let us know, by the way, in the comments down below what you, uh,
08:42would like to see in January. Let us know your thoughts, but let's talk about Dubronx
08:46because he came away with an emphatic win over Mateus Gamrot, uh, gamer Gamrot, who's
08:52a very game opponent, took this fight on short notice and Oliveira really came away with flying
08:58colors. And Eric, I'll throw this to you. What do you think was most surprising about that
09:04dominant performance over Mateus Gamrot? So when I jumped on here in the podcast last
09:09week, uh, Mateus Gamrot was, uh, an underdog. And as the show was going on and as the day was
09:16progressing, uh, money was flying in on Gamrot. I almost made me think that Charles Oliveira
09:20was injured, um, because, and like it had leaked or something. Cause by the time that fight
09:25rolled around, Gamrot was about minus one 65, like pretty sizable favorite. Um, really
09:30surprised me to see the line move like that, especially on short notice, Oliveira at home
09:36in Brazil. And I know that we're not supposed to say that that will influence judges, but I
09:40think it would be foolish not to. Um, so what surprised me actually in the fight was
09:45Gamrot's lack of striking power was really evident, uh, throughout that entire
09:49fight, Oliveira. And he normally doesn't like show his opponents too much, uh, respect
09:55on the feet. Um, like he's always coming forward and he's, he's throwing elbows.
09:58He's looking to get into the clinch. He wants to get up in your, he wants to get up
10:01your chest. You know, he wants to get up in your chin and really, uh, and pressure
10:04you. Gamrot kind of wilted there and like, he was throwing hooks and crosses and even
10:10they were landing Oliveira look totally not, um, not worried about them or concerned in
10:14any facet. Um, I thought it was a, you know, short notice. It's a tough spot and he's going
10:20all the way to Brazil that we have to understand that it's a, it's a tough, tough loss to get
10:25out, to get over even still, because it was such a big opportunity and, and Scott, I'll
10:30kick it over to you, but this was such a big opportunity for Gamrot to see it go that
10:34way that bad, that, that decisively has got to be disappointing for him.
10:40I mean, yeah, but like, look, as far as the way this fight went, I'm really not very surprised
10:45at how it went. Oliveira makes people look very silly when he gets it down into that world
10:50and not that Gamrot doesn't have fantastic grappling. He's, he's quite a grappler. Um,
10:54he's not really though, so much of that wrestling top heavy kind of guy who can give problems
11:00to Oliveira once it gets down there and really, you know, sort of neutralize that submission
11:05game. Uh, it showed here because obviously he got it going very well. Uh, he gets, he
11:10gets exactly the type of result that we expect from Charles Dubronk's Oliveira. Um, Gamrot's
11:16best bet was to keep it standing. I, I think if he was able to have dragged it much longer,
11:20uh, and didn't have, wilt to that pressure you were talking about, that was his path to
11:25success. Uh, I just, I don't know that I thought that was going to happen. Frankly, I think this
11:32is exactly the result I expected, especially with all those factors you're talking in coming
11:35down from Brazil to Brazil on late notice. Uh, Charles Oliveira was not going to lose that
11:40fight. I'm stunned to hear the way the betting line moved the way you were talking about. I don't
11:44really follow that to the, to, to the degree that you do. Um, so when I saw, when you just mentioned
11:49the house, like get out of here, you guys are crazy. A lot of people lost some bad money.
11:53Um, yeah, I would have told, I would have talked you out of it, dude.
11:57Well, it's so interesting too, because you know, I, I felt like I was the only one on
12:01Charles to be honest. Like by the time Saturday rolled around, I'm, I'm looking at all the
12:05sharps and it seemed like all the sharps were on Gamrot. And I was like, what am I missing?
12:09Like Gamrot had been knocked down four out of seven fights and only got out of those by
12:14getting takedowns. And if he, and I even said it last week is like, if he gets a take to,
12:19if he, you know, gets clocked and goes for a takedown, he's going to front headlock
12:22choked. So that was a tough, that was a really, really weird betting line. And, uh, I, again,
12:27it was so dramatic that by the time it was minus one 50, I was like, okay, am I missing
12:31something? And, uh, I wasn't, I was right.
12:34There we go. All right. All right. So, well, after Oliver came in with that win on the mic,
12:40uh, and on social media as well, he called out Max Holloway for the BMF belt next. And we
12:46were just talking about that. Do you think that he is Scott, I'll throw this to you. Do you think
12:50that Oliver is the best option for the BMF belt? I mean, presumably it would be at one 55 cause you
12:57know, that's where Max is hanging out at. What do you think Scott? Yeah. I mean, that's the weight
13:01class they're both in now. I mean, it would definitely be there. Um, but look, other than
13:05he is so well-respected by everybody in the sport from outside, from within, I think everybody has,
13:11uh, just the highest regard for him. I think the UFC does as well. Uh, he is obviously a fantastically
13:16action-packed fighter as well. The guy always wants to deliver. Um, and his style is such
13:23that he does. How can you not make that fight next? There's nothing really to do with all
13:29of that right now, except for cool stuff like that until he starts to fight his way back
13:34to a point where he kind of can't deny, maybe he does need another shot at the belt. So this
13:39is the perfect fight. I mean, it's, it's definitely something that I don't know how they're going
13:44to book these premium numbered events now, right? We don't know what that's going to look
13:48like. Are they going to change the way they've done them? But this seems like one that would
13:51totally anchor a card if they even wanted to. Um, you could say Charles out of Aramax Holloway.
13:57We're going to put that on CBS, go have some fun watching that. And I think a lot of people
14:01will watch, right? Yeah. I'd be like, all right, sounds good to me. Yeah, absolutely. Like,
14:05and you bring up the most important part there, uh, Scott is like, if not this, then what
14:10for Charles? Like, what would you want? Like, it's not like he's, he like neither him nor
14:15Holloway are really in the thick of the, uh, the title conversation. Um, they both lost decisively
14:21to Ilya. There's a lot of people and we've already talked to them, uh, talked about them. There's a
14:25lot of other guys out there that we could, that we, we need fresh faces that lightweight, especially
14:31with how decisively they, they both lost. So if not this, then what? And I think that this is
14:35perfect. I think that it's clearly a fight that Max Holloway wants and it's, you know,
14:39obviously Olivera is calling for it. So it's, it's perfect match. Cause you both want this
14:43fight. It's action packed. It's like you said, anchor card box office. Everyone's going to
14:47watch this February, March, April. Take, take my eight 99 a month. It's different. It's funny
14:53enough because it's, it's box office in a way that Eric, you're not usually talking about box
14:57office. You want these guys to talk trash. You want them to have all these buildup and that
15:01kind of thing. And I don't see that happening with either of these individuals, but you're still
15:06going to be amped to see it. 100%. They're just, they're the two of the most action.
15:11I mean, if we, we should do this one day, most exciting fighters to watch. They might be top
15:16five, like legitimately Holloway. I might have the best knockout in UFC history when he knocked
15:21out Gaethje at UFC 300. I know that's a debate for another time, but he might have it. Olivera.
15:26I, I, he was up there in submissions. I'm not sure if he still has the title for most submissions
15:31in UFC history, but I know he was up there. Oh, he's got number one by a margin. He just
15:35keeps extending it at this point. He's going to put it almost out of reach. I know. How
15:40was submission plus two 50 last week? I digress. But yeah, let's, let's talk about the guy
15:47at the other end of the octagon, Mateus Gamrot. And I don't think that it's a stretch to say
15:51that this was probably the biggest fight of his career and like got a feel for him, you know,
15:57falling short under difficult circumstances. Right. But in terms of that path to here,
16:02it's been a long one, right? Like he hasn't really been given that much slack from the UFC or that
16:08much opportunities or from the other folks at one 55 for that matter, in terms of giving
16:12the most active lately either. Yeah. So I have to ask, is this the ceiling for Gamrot? Do we think
16:20that he can get back to that title picture that he's clawed his way to get to so far? What do you
16:25think, Scott? I think he can stay in that realm. You know, he's on the, he's on the lower end of
16:31it. That's just where he is. But, uh, I, as far as actually getting past that and getting like a
16:36championship opportunity, I just, I don't see it unless, you know, look, sometimes opportunity
16:42from the UFC meets availability from the fighter and they just need somebody to step in. That would
16:48probably be the way you could actually see it happening. I don't know that he's going to ever get
16:52to the point where he is the number one contender. He has earned that. I, we, we see too many holes.
16:57We see him fall short in these big opportunities. The, you know, the biggest win he has is Armin
17:02Sarukian. Um, but you know, there's a ton of people who would tell you very vehemently that he lost that
17:08fight. So it's, he just doesn't have the kind of credentials that you're looking for, for someone who
17:16could ascend, especially in this just dog pile of a, of a lightweight division. That's been this
17:21way for a very long time. I don't see it. How about you, Eric? This was a really tough loss.
17:27And if I'm Gamron, I'm probably going home and like no excuses, right? Like you took this fight
17:31on short notice. It was also a big opportunity for you to look at the opponents that he's fought,
17:34um, over the, over the, you know, he fought Ludova Klein recently, again, another short notice fight,
17:39but you know, regardless, like it's kind of like a no, it's a, it was a no excuses spot coming into it.
17:43Like this is a big opportunity for you and came up short 18 significant strikes on Charles
17:48Levera is just not going to cut it. Um, he's going to have to improve, you know, that, that
17:52win against Armand Tarzukian that he had, it looks really good, obviously, because Armand's really
17:57good fighter, but that seems like it's going to be the best win that you'll ever get. And that
18:01probably won't ever happen again. Um, most likely. And it's a tough spot. It's a tough reality right
18:06now. And you know, you're, he's trending to the point where he might end up being the
18:13155 gatekeeper. And that's a tough pill to swallow. He's got to, he's got to go back to
18:19the drawing board and he has to, um, seriously reflect on kind of where his game is at. His
18:25striking looked non-competitive against Levera and his grappling is obviously not, not even
18:31taught. Like he's not even top three grappling in the, in the top 10. So of the top 10 fighters,
18:37he's not, he might be a top half grappler, but not, not much higher than that. So it's
18:43like, where's the path? Like, especially if Islam comes back down, it's like, where's the
18:47path? It's, it's a really, really hard picture for him at 155. I mean, Hanato Boykaino got
18:53a title fight, right? Anything's possible. Um, yeah, that's what I was kind of what I was
18:58alluding to. Sometimes you're just the right body at the right time and it just can work out.
19:03But, you know, short of that, we're not, we're not going, I don't see a world, unfortunately
19:08from Tis Gamron and Hey, I could be wrong. Um, but I don't see a world that we're in right
19:13now where he's just going to get the right wins at the right time. And the demand will
19:18be there that he gets this, this title fight. I mean, we're talking about three guys who
19:22were vying for a title rightfully. So, um, so he would, even if he won this fight, he's
19:28probably still behind those three. So it's a very hard, hard division to break through
19:33in.
19:34I was shocked to see the way that Oliveira was able to take him down. Like, you know,
19:37usually you see Oliveira kind of get him up against, he's like, Dustin Poirier, get him
19:40up against the cage, take his back. He had a couple of rolls against Dustin Poirier, uh,
19:45that ended up like resulting in takedowns, but this was just straight up wrestling.
19:48I think that's what people were most surprised about.
19:50High crotch takedown and like throw him to the ground immediately into side control, work and
19:56work and take in the back. Like that was shocking to me. Like the way that he was just easily
20:01taken down and the striking was just, it was just not good. It was really surprising to
20:06see Oliveira kind of have his way like that.
20:07Was that something that shocked me?
20:08He was a man possessed, right?
20:10No, he looked unbelievable.
20:10He was just a man possessed. That actually was a little surprising. I did not account for
20:15just how much juice that I think the Brazilian crowd was going to give him. I think he totally
20:20fed off of that. I mean, shoot, I hope we get more of him at Brazil because it only makes
20:25him mythical fighter.
20:27We've seen it a couple of times. Some, you know, I mean, Conor McGregor back in, when
20:31he fought in Ireland and Dublin, he's like, it would take something special to come out
20:34here and beat me in front of my home, my home country, man. It's like, you know, kind of
20:38same thing with Oliveira. They loved him. And obviously, you know, the Brazil, that, that
20:43Brazilian crowd had also something that we haven't talked about. That Brazilian crowd
20:45was unbelievable. This is why we need on the road, on the road, fighters fighting at home.
20:54This is your bread and butter, UFC. Don't reinvent the wheel. I'm trying to help you. This is
20:59what, this is what we'll sell. I was locked in that whole time. There were some really
21:03loud moments in that, during that card. Yeah. Even like the booing too. Like when Almeida
21:09got knocked out, like the booing was interesting too. Like I, I like the, you know, I like both
21:13sides of it. It doesn't have to just be cheers. I just like the crowd reaction.
21:16The Brazilians are good at that one. Like they don't like opponents.
21:19Like the Yvonne O'Hare, like the Yvonne O'Hare, like that's never going to get boring.
21:22Yeah. Like you do that all day. I'm fine with it.
21:26All righty. Well, Eric, I know you maybe might not have been super pleased with Gamrot's performance,
21:31but let's talk about someone that you were very high on last week. And that is Joel Alvarez.
21:37You, you know, took on Vicente Luque. How pleased were you with his performance? What did you think?
21:42Are you as high on him now as you were then? I was surprised. I was surprised because Joel
21:48Alvarez and look, I won't say that I'm any more down on him. I'm not selling my stock on,
21:52on Joel Alvarez street, you know, Joel Alvarez Boulevard. I still got a house on it. It's
21:57appreciating in value and I'm happy to be an investor. However, um, I, I thought that he left
22:04a lot on the table in that fight. I thought that Vicente Luque kind of quit at the end of the second
22:07round. His coaches kind of said it too, uh, that Vicente Luque was kind of like, Hey,
22:12you got to dig deep. Like, are you, are you in, are you out? Like you got to be there,
22:15uh, et cetera. So I thought, you know, Joel Alvarez and I had the, I had the numbers here.
22:19He had 89 significant strikes in the fight. He had three in the third round, uh, you know,
22:23like 80, 86 significant strikes in two rounds and three in round three is just, it's not enough
22:29work. And Alvarez has finished pretty, uh, all of his other fights. So I'm fine giving him a pass here.
22:36However, at 170 pounds, I think that there's, I, it's a crowded division. So in order to
22:42leap up into the top threshold of that division, you have to do some extraordinary stuff. And I
22:47thought that was an opportunity where Luque has quit on submissions in the past and he didn't do,
22:52and he didn't, uh, go forward enough to try and go for the submission. It felt like he was kind
22:57of letting him off the hook, letting Luque get to the bell in front of his home countryman. Hey,
23:00I get it. Right. Like I'm, I'm not a fighter for a reason. Like I don't have the heart,
23:04right. To, to, to do that. Right. To, to try to take him out there. But for Alvarez,
23:09I thought it was a missed opportunity for sure. What'd you think, Scott?
23:13You know, I, I think Eric at least had a very good point here is like, look, sometimes they just
23:19don't have it on that given night. Right. But he was able to still come away with the victory. So
23:24even though it wasn't his best, you're, if you're going to have a bad night, get the win anyway.
23:29Um, as far as the performance goes though, yes, he, you'd have liked to see a lot more from him
23:33against, uh, Vicente Luca, whose best days are behind him. You know, when, when he's coming up to
23:38welterweight, ostensibly, he's going to fight a lot more comfortably than when he was sucking
23:42himself out at lightweight. Uh, you didn't really see that type of, uh, performance that you would
23:48have loved to see, especially Eric. I get that. Um, I think he's only, it's only going to get harder
23:53for him. Really. He's, he's in the deep end of the pool and a killer welterweight division.
23:58So, you know, the next test is only going to get harder. We'll have to see if he can swim in that,
24:01in those waters. Yeah, absolutely. And to wrap up UFC Rio, we're bringing back haymakers. So guys,
24:09if you have any haymakers, let me know, Eric, you got any haymakers to throw out there? Anything
24:13you want to get off your chest? Yep. So when I, uh, when I write my full card picks article,
24:17uh, it appears in the paper on Friday. I write it on Thursday, um, usually before our show. And,
24:24uh, in it, I had Lucas Almeida by decision, thought that I'll made a, um, solid grappler,
24:29good volume striker. Uh, you know, I, I had thought that he had a good opportunity in this
24:33fight goes into the ceremonial weigh-ins and that hand, that right hand was blown up like a,
24:39like a glove. Like it was just, it was so swollen, very clearly compromised. The Brazilian
24:45athletic committee, the Brazilian MMA athletic commission cleared him to fight and he did not
24:49throw that right hand once. And he, you know, it reminded me and I, there was, um, people caught
24:54this at the ceremonial weigh-ins, right? Almeida was a pick them. When I wrote the article,
24:58he blew up to plus 300, uh, by Saturday, uh, by the time the fight, uh, went off. So Almeida
25:05fights with a fractured hand seemingly and immediately is out of there. It reminded me of,
25:12um, Shailene Nulambeki, um, you guys will know what fight I'm talking about. Yeah. Derek
25:18Minner versus, uh, Shailene Nulambeki. Um, I, I, I'm butchering, I'm butchering that name,
25:22but a very infamous fight now, very infamous fight now, right? Nerd and Becky. Yeah. I think you're
25:28right. Um, regardless, um, it reminded me of that. I'm not saying that Almeida went in there
25:34and, you know, threw it. I think he tried. He just, he was in there to collect a paycheck.
25:37It seemed like, and I think that that's an issue in MMA. I think that the, the show up for the
25:41paycheck thing, he's obviously compromised. He goes in there and he just, he collapses within a
25:47minute. Doesn't throw any punches. He's throwing some kicks. That was about it. So, you know,
25:51it's a disappoint, it's disappointing to see that happen in mixed martial arts and it happens pretty
25:56regularly at this point. So, um, something that I wish we could fix. I mean, the Brazilian athletic
26:00commission suspended him for six months. I expect the UFC to honor that six months suspension. Um,
26:05and you know, the Brazilian athletic commission says, if you want that wave, show us an x-ray
26:09that, uh, a negative x-ray. I would venture to guess that, uh, Lucas Almeida. Oh, they suspended
26:14him because he knowingly fought injured. Well, no, no, they, they issue, they issue post fight
26:21suspensions based on health for like all fighters. This is just what he got. Yes. Yes. And they,
26:27I mean, not everybody gets a suspension, but like even, even fighters who have won without being
26:32like, without even taking damage, you see them sometimes with a, you know, no contact for a
26:36week kind of thing. This is standard. And sometimes if like you get knocked out, like they'll be like,
26:40uh, like when, uh, I'm trying to think there was, there was one knockout recently where I was like,
26:44you're, you're no fighting for like, I think it was a Michael Chandler, um, with his, one of his most
26:49recent fights. He was like suspended six months. This is a regular thing. This happens in MMA all
26:52the time. I did not know that. But I don't think I've ever seen like provide an x-ray,
26:56a negative x-ray that I don't think I've seen before that felt new. So I could be wrong on that.
27:01Let me know in the comments if I am wrong. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think that's crazy new
27:04that you can shorten, you can shorten the length of your suspension. If you can show that you're
27:09healthy, that, that is kind of typical. This is presumably for the fighter safety. So that not taking,
27:15you know, a crazy knockout and then fighting again in two weeks. Right. Yeah. Okay. That's the,
27:21that's just wanted to clarify that. This is news to me. I didn't know that. Disappointing,
27:25disappointing to say the least. Not new, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Disappointing for Lucas Almeida.
27:30Alrighty. How about you, Scott? What is your haymaker? Listen, I think we've got to recognize
27:36Bia Mesquita is going places, dude. Um, the legendary BJJ competitor, she obliterated Alina Alexeva,
27:43uh, rare unanimous 10, eight round in the first, got the rear naked in the second to finish it off.
27:48Uh, world-class skill like her Brazilian jujitsu, uh, is it's going to take you very far in mixed
27:55martial arts. And I think it particularly so in a shallow division, like women's bantamweight is,
28:00um, incredible UFC debut, right? She's 34, um, only 16 months into this MMA journey.
28:08I think we could possibly even see her challenge for the title within two years. I really would not
28:15be stunned at all. She is super highly thought of, uh, for her grappling. It almost like reminds
28:21me of like a reverse, like Alex Pereira situation where it's like a decorated career outside in one
28:26specific skillset. I look at it. I, I, I think an interesting comp for her in some ways, it's not
28:32like one-to-one is Damian Maya, obviously an incredible grappler who came over to MMA. He did
28:39not have almost like any MMA skill when he came over. I think Bia Mosquita has a lot more of that
28:45to begin with. And she's also got again, that, that, that less, uh, there's less women at 135
28:52pounds competing than there are 185 pounds where Damian Maya was coming up back in the day.
28:57Uh, I think she has a very quick, uh, path up the ladder, as long as her striking kind of holds up.
29:04It looked okay. You know, it looked passable. She didn't really need much of it. And it was really
29:08more to, to get in and get it to the ground. So we don't know what it's going to look like if
29:13somebody could stop that, but if they can't stop it, I mean, this is probably what we're seeing a lot.
29:17Yeah. Alrighty. So great win, uh, for Bia Mosquita. We'll see what she looks like in her next fight,
29:24but guys, let's talk about UFC Vancouver coming up this weekend. We've got Reinier de Ritter versus
29:30Brendan Allen. That starts at 7 PM main card starts at 7 PM, 4 PM prelim. So a little bit earlier than
29:37we're used to for pay-per-views. We still get to say that for a few more months and that's all
29:42going to be on ESPN plus, and I believe ESPN unlimited too, I would imagine. Right guys,
29:48whatever they call them now, it's not on ES, it's not on one of the networks. Just know that
29:52we don't have to do it. Check your subscription status. Thankfully, we're not going to have to
29:55do with ESPN unlimited at all. I'm out on it, but continue. I'm excited for Paramount to get
30:01started. It's going to be, I'm not going to like hearing that, but it is what it is.
30:05Anyway. So this main event, it was initially supposed to be Reinier de Ritter versus Anthony
30:10fluffy Hernandez. Uh, but there's a little bit of a sub narrative here. Uh, Eric, would you like to
30:16talk a little bit about that in terms of our man, Paulo Costa? Yeah. So it was rumored for a little
30:21bit that, you know, fluff your hand is going to be out. And then once it was official,
30:25UFC starts looking for a replacement and, uh, Paulo Costa is definitely pretty active on social
30:29media. Yes, he is. And, you know, for better or worse, he says a lot of stuff. He, and I,
30:34you don't see us very often where a fighter is actively tweeting negotiations as they're
30:39happening. So, you know, it, it honestly felt like at one point Hunter Campbell and him
30:44were on the phone and he was just tweeting as it was going live blogging, live blogging it
30:47essentially. I'm sure that the UFC absolutely loved that. Um, especially with the fight
30:51having had to be fans. Oh, big, huge fans of everything that Paulo Costa has done for them.
30:55Anyways. Um, you know, probably not the best idea because Paulo Costa, you know, he accepts
31:03the fight. He says he accepts the fight. Uh, he gets everybody excited about, you know,
31:06that potential matchup happening. And then he's like, Oh, like they don't want me to do
31:10it at this. I want to do it this way or at this different time, this different date.
31:14And we end up with Brendan Allen instead of Paulo Costa. Paulo Costa says, you know, they,
31:20they wouldn't meet like small demands. I don't even remember what they are, but, um, not that
31:24it matters. So I guess the prevailing question is now like, what was like, what, what happened
31:30with the Paulo Costa fight? Like, why didn't it actually happen? And, and are we happy that
31:34Brendan Allen is fighting instead of Paulo Costa? Scott, that's a question for you. Are we happy
31:38with this? Um, I'm okay with it. You know, like, look, you always got to remember we're,
31:45we're trying to make, you know, chicken salad out of the part, you know, not, not necessarily
31:49chicken ish, but it's, it's a tough situation when you lose a big fight, like, like writer
31:55to Ritter versus Anthony Hernandez. That was, there were stakes there. There were very clear
31:59stakes here. You got to find something that works that you can sell to the people of Vancouver
32:04who were going to buy tickets there. Um, all that being said, I think Costa, he brings
32:11a lot more juice, right? Secret or not to this, uh, this fight here. I don't know that
32:16Allen brings the same thing, even though he is ranked higher, um, at least in the UFC's
32:21own rankings. I, I don't know. It, it, it, I wonder which one of those two opponents would
32:28have offered more potential for Ryder to Ritter to, you know, let's say he wins to get
32:33that title shot that we're kind of wondering, was he going to be able to get if he beat
32:37Anthony Fluffy Hernandez? Um, so I don't know which one is more attractive from his perspective,
32:42but, uh, you know, I, I would think probably fan interest wise, there would have been much
32:47more, again, juice. There's that word again. Costa against RDR. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. And
32:54you know, it's interesting that we were talking, you mentioned, you know, how this fight initially
32:58outset with, uh, Anthony Hernandez being in it. Like we were talking about Nassar Dean
33:03Imovov, like having a really tough chance. Like he needs a, at least from what I remember
33:08of our conversations, like he needs a finish to like, you know, get, get to that title
33:12shot because these two guys might have a little bit more hype. Like it was like, really like
33:16it was, it wasn't a guarantee that Nassar Dean was- And unfortunate because Israel Adesanya
33:21was his knockout win earlier this year. And that's a big win. Yeah. So ridiculous. But
33:26now it's a situation where it's like, do you guys think that Rainier DeRitter, is there a
33:32possibility that he gets a title shot off of this? Just that, that, I think that says a
33:36lot about, uh, Anthony Hernandez and like how much he really played into this title picture
33:40and into this fight that the stakes that were in it. And now it's kind of like, not sure
33:45really where, where, where we are. So Scott, I'll throw it back to you. Do you think that
33:49there is a path for RDR to get a title shot with a win over Brendan Allen? Only a narrow
33:55one, uh, that I see him above, you know, yeah, it's a narrow, it's a narrow path. That's what
34:00I see, you know, him above, like he obviously didn't do himself a ton of favors, right. In
34:06beating Kyle Bahaglio, it was, you know, he didn't put a stamp on it. It was a clear win,
34:10but there wasn't that like hype that came off of it. No one was being like, oh man, I can't
34:15wait to see what he can do against Tom's that. And not just cause Tom's that is viewed as
34:18so dominant. Um, he, I do think as far as RDR though, it's still harder because he's
34:25not going to gain as much shine off of beating, uh, Brendan Allen, who's further back on the
34:30picture than Imovov did from beating Bahaglio. Even if it wasn't the most impressive, Bahaglio
34:35had a lot of hype behind him. Imovov stole that part of the hype, at least to some degree.
34:40Um, so I think probably if I'm RDR, I need a massive KO and I don't mean just like, oh,
34:47a good KO. I'm talking about something that like really sticks out. Um, or maybe winning
34:51some sort of thriller where we're just like, oh man, look at these fights. He's, he can't
34:55believe he was able to win that fight. And he, look, don't forget his fight against, uh,
35:00Robert Whittaker earlier this year, close decision win went his way. Not that it was a bad fight,
35:05but it wasn't like a barn burner either. So I don't know if he's necessarily going to be
35:11able to do enough to change that narrative. And frankly, Jamiah seems like he prefers
35:15Imovov too. So I don't, uh, there's probably some degree of challenge champions, uh, preference
35:21in there that sometimes the UFC will defer to. What was it that Hamzat said against Gilbert
35:26Burns? I don't want to play none of that jujitsu S-H-I-T. So Eric, what do you think?
35:32Um, you know, I can all spell, sir. You make a good point. You make a good point about,
35:37you know, champions, uh, preference for me. I agree that Hamzat should want to fight,
35:42uh, Nasruddin Imovov. I think Reiner DeRitter is a worse matchup for him. So I like, if,
35:48I mean, if we're just basing it based on that, I, my thing about Reiner DeRitter, and I do,
35:52I still believe in his, um, opportunity to get a title shot next. I actually, I think that it's
35:57still quite up in the air. If they had a similar, if, if, if, uh, if Imovov's performance against
36:04Borjalio and Reiner DeRitter say Reiner DeRitter has a same similar five round decision where he kind
36:09of, you know, 49, 46, 48, 47, not super dominant. I think that there is a chance that they give it
36:15to Reiner DeRitter. My thing about DeRitter that I really like, first of all, he's, he's very awkward,
36:21very goofy in the octagon, especially with his striking a little bit harder to, um, like figure
36:27out. Cause it's, it's an awkward, awkward strategy that he has when he's striking. I like his ability
36:32to get in close on the clinch and I like his grappling style. I think that if he can come in there,
36:37getting close on Allen and start landing elbows, I think that that's his path to doing it.
36:42And I think that he will do it, uh, this weekend. And I, I, I actually lean DeRitter
36:48to get the title shot, even though we lose his shine with Brendan Allen instead of fluffy Hernandez.
36:55I think that he still has a very good chance to get this title shot. He's six foot four. He is
37:00thick. He is a big guy. He's a big dude. Like Brendan Allen's like six one. He's not like,
37:06you'll look at them next to each other and be like, Oh my God, Reiner Derritter is huge.
37:10RDR is one of the biggest middleweights that we have in MMA. He, he might be, he's possible. He's
37:15the biggest, he cuts a lot of weight and he rehydrates a lot. Yeah. Alex prayer sort of
37:20situation. Yeah. Like eventually Reiner is not gonna, eventually Reiner Derr is not gonna be
37:24able to make this way. I would, I would presume, but I think that he, I think that, and that's
37:28a good point too, is like, how long is he going to even be at this division? You know,
37:32like you might only be able to cut this weight, like what three or four more times. Like, like
37:36how many times more really? So I think that I would actually pick poor Hollyo. If I was,
37:40if I was Hunter Campbell and I was making a decision and it, and if he gets a finish this
37:43weekend, title shot. Oh, you mean already are. Sorry. You said, sorry, sorry, sorry. Reiner
37:48Derritter. Yeah. If Reiner Derritter gets a finish this weekend, I don't even care if it's
37:51an amazing finish. I think if it's a finish, he gets the title shot. I do feel like the brass
37:56likes him more than Nassar Dean just from history. Like, and just like, that's not for
38:04just because like he had that win over Izzy. And I mean, I guess you have to go with Hamzat
38:10once he, you know, he had that one, like then, then it makes sense. They've been trying to
38:14get Hamzat that fight for a long time. There were a lot of factors outside of fighting that
38:18kind of held that up. Yeah. But then they still made Nassar Dean fight again. Like, and it
38:23wasn't even a guaranteed shot. Like, it just seems like, you know, they could have given
38:28him that, but the UFC, you know, they don't really do that to anyone. They, they like making
38:33people fight for their spot. So maybe he's got a lot of international appeal in different
38:38markets. You know, I think, you know, obviously he's, he represents France right now. He's
38:43got, uh, I believe he was born in Russia if I'm not mistaken. Um, I think he might've been
38:47a dog at Dagestan, right? I think he's actually Dagestani. Am I wrong? I think he might be
38:50right. Um, but, but yeah, he's obviously, he got ties to different areas and regions,
38:55that kind of thing. So he has appeal in different places. If they put Hamzat
38:58Shemayev against Nasuddin Imovov in like Abu Dhabi, for example, next year, I mean,
39:03that's going to please that market very well. He was born in Hasavyurt, Russia, which I'm
39:08not sure which province that is, but he was born in Russia. Yes. I'm not sure either. Um,
39:13I don't know my Russia geography as well as I thought. It's so big. Maybe I'll learn that later.
39:16It's so big. It's just too big. Large place. Large place. All right. No, no more geography.
39:21Let's get back to fights. Yeah. Let's get back to fights and talking about fights. Let's get to
39:24the fights to watch. Eric, what is, what is your fight to watch? What do you like? Uh,
39:29Drew Dober versus Kyle, uh, Kyle Preplik, uh, Drew Dober is minus 500 favorite in this fight.
39:34Um, you know, there are certain fights where you, you fade Drew Dober. I don't think this is one of
39:37them. I think that Drew Dober, I mean, eventually his chin's going to go, but man,
39:42his striking is so much fun to watch. He's always down to take one, give two back. And he's throwing,
39:47he's swinging for the fences every time he comes in there. So, I mean, in terms of just entertainment
39:51value, you're not going to get too much more entertainment than a Drew Dober fight, especially
39:55one where Drew Dober is a big favorite, which is relatively rare. Scott, what about you? What do
40:00you got? I'm going with a Marlon Chidovera against Damon Zahabi, you know, Zahabi, of course,
40:06coming off of that victory that essentially retired Jose Aldo. Aldo said, I can't do it. And I don't think it
40:11was because of Zahabi. It seemed like he felt that way coming into that fight, but, um, this is a
40:16big test for, especially Zahabi, because he can actually start moving up the ladder even more.
40:20We can see how legit he has as a, as a bantamweight, uh, potential contender down the road. And Marlon
40:26Chidovera, I mean, he's got to kind of hold onto his spot here. There is opportunity for him to move
40:31up potentially. I believe he is, he would represent a fresh opponent for Marab DeWalish-Wheely.
40:38So if he's able to string together a couple wins, I mean, he might just by default, be
40:43a guy that gets one more shot at the belt. So I like this fight. I'm very curious to see
40:47who comes out of it.
40:48Yeah, absolutely. That is, that is a really interesting one. And like you said, uh, Eric,
40:52that, that Drew Dober fight, that's going to be a fun one. So with that, let's start wrapping
40:56up, uh, UFC Vancouver with the event rating. Scott, what are you, what are we looking at?
41:02We've got a 40 here. That's a solid rating. I mean, the main event is, yes, yes, it is. Um,
41:08it's, it, I believe it's funny enough too, because the main event, it's solid, but not necessarily
41:13as, as much as you would think, because these fighters are ranked eighth and 14th respectively.
41:17That's, uh, that's RDR and Alan in those spots from fight matrix where I get all these rankings
41:23or ratings, right to put together in these event ratings, co-main Kevin Holland against Mike Malott.
41:28It's not really the most attractive for the rating perspective. I'm sure it'd be a fun fight
41:32and everybody loves Mike Malott in Canada and Kevin Holland comes to fight, right? He comes
41:36to fight every time. But, uh, overall the card depth here is just so deep. I mean, we haven't
41:43even mentioned, we mentioned like four or five fights now. We haven't even mentioned
41:46men off your roll against Jasmine Jazda Vicious. And that's extremely important women's flyweight
41:52fight. I mean, there's, there are a lot of fights like this that just, there's so much
41:56that we can talk about. We're not going to get to everything, but the card is probably
41:59better than it's rating. I would think, I think it's probably one of the best fight night
42:03cards we have this year. That's how I feel. All right. All right. And, uh, to round out
42:08UFC Vancouver, Eric, we've got you live for your three bets in three minutes. Are you ready
42:14to go? Yeah, let's do it. Um, I don't know. I don't have a clock set up, but, uh, I guess
42:18we'll have to, let me see if I, let me get my phone. I'm going to watch you. I'm going
42:21to watch it right now. Let me get my phone together. Here we go. All right. Yeah. You just
42:24let me know. Um, all right. Three bets to three minutes last week. Uh, one and two
42:28hit Charlie Oliveira, uh, inside the distance, uh, for a 1.5 unit win. We lose half a unit
42:32still not great, but we're working on it. Um, let's start off, uh, on the prelims, Bruno
42:37Silva versus high song park. Uh, park is a big favorite here. I'm not a hundred percent
42:43sure why park's been knocked down in three of his six UFC fights. I think his grappling
42:47advantage is a little bit overstated here. Bruno Silva, obviously the shine is worn off
42:51on him. He's lost two straight. He got knocked down three times by Joshua van, but again,
42:55this is Joshua van, like Joshua van is fighting for the title. You know, Manel cop, another
43:00top tier contender prior to that though, beat Cody Durden, beat Tyson damn, he, you know,
43:06four in a row win streak. I think that the grappling advantage that park has is super overstated.
43:10I actually think Silva is going to win striking exchanges. I will take Bruno Silva at a big number
43:15plus 500 by decision. Give me Bruno Silva. We go to the co-main event and, um, we go to
43:21the co-main event Canadian fighter. As you just said, Mike Mallott fighting, uh, Kevin
43:25Holland. I'm concerned about, and Kevin Holland at 170 pounds. He is six foot three long, tan
43:31and handsome. He is a big dude at 170 pounds. He definitely has a striking advantage here.
43:37Now where I think that this gets a little squirrely for him actually is on the ground.
43:40I think that Holland can sell for bottom position too much. I agree that he's a good submission
43:44artist, but if you look at Mike Mallott, he would be undefeated in the UFC if he didn't
43:49blow it against, uh, Neil Magny in the third round, a fight that he was dominating, had
43:5310, eight rounds in. So Mike Mallott, I think is actually looked down at because of that Neil
43:57Magny, um, kind of coming apart there. I don't care. Give me Mike Mallott on the money line
44:02minus one 25, um, against Kevin Holland, who just got knocked out in July by Daniel Rodriguez.
44:07We go to the main event, Reiner Derrider versus Brendan Allen. Just talked about it. Uh, Derrider
44:1321 and two Allen, 25 and seven, uh, Derrider six, four 78 range 78 inch reach Allen, six
44:20to 75 inch reach. I just don't love this fight for Allen. I think that writer Derrider has
44:24him covered everywhere. I think Allen's best path to victory here is to out cardio Derrider,
44:29but I don't even really like that as an option. Like maybe, maybe Derrider has bad cardio.
44:32We haven't really seen it at the UFC at the UFC level. I think Derrider is way bigger,
44:36has way better, um, grappling. And I think that his striking is super underrated, especially the
44:42clinch work, which I discussed before. I think that Reiner Derrider is able to get into the clinch,
44:46get some elbows off that need of the body is by far his, his most dangerous strike. We saw Bo
44:51Nickel kind of crumbled to that. I think that it's a similar outcome here. I'll take Reiner Derrider
44:56and the fight to start round two at plus a hundred. Got to get that favorite down, uh, from minus two 25.
45:02So that's how I'll do it. Those are three bets in three minutes. How'd I do? That was fantastic.
45:06And you got the lights, the lights are literally on you. So like pretty solid. Alrighty. So that wraps
45:14up UFC, uh, Vancouver, definitely looking forward to all of those fights. Um, and Scott, I'll throw it
45:20over to you for our quick hits in MMA news. What do we got? We got a lot of quick hits dude. And we're
45:26going to start with something that came straight from the post. We broke some news this week,
45:31fight news for UFC three 22. Sean Brady is taking on Michael Morales in a key welterweight matchup.
45:38That's going to be on the main card at Madison square garden. Uh, we also have unfortunate news
45:42for that card. We lost a fight that we were just talking about last week, Malcolm Wellmaker. He
45:47needs a new opponent. Uh, so he city has withdrawn from that fight. So what we'll see what comes with
45:52that. I hope Wellmaker stays on it personally. He's a, he's a fun fighter to watch, uh, a new addition
45:57to the roster coming up. So with, with a little bit of juice behind him as well. There's that word
46:02again. Signed juice. Yeah, exactly. Uh, Saeed is Izga Khmaev, I believe. Oh, I'm butchering that.
46:09I apologize, but we'll see. We'll see. But, uh, look, he's a standout from Khabib Nurmagomedov's gym.
46:16He's 22 and two, but he hasn't fought in MMA in three years. So we'll see what he looks like when
46:21he takes on, uh, this reported matchup from MMA junkie against Nicholas Dalby. That's going
46:27to be on the November 22nd card in Qatar. Um, looking a little closer to where we're
46:34at right now, 321, the headliner of this one, Tom Aspinall. No, no earth shaking news
46:41here, but he was, he said something interesting on a podcast called the Shkst and Gigs, which
46:46I understand the X is an I, uh, podcast. He would rather vacate the heavyweight title that
46:54he holds rather than fight friend and training partner, Ante D'Elia. That's something to watch
46:58out for in the next year or two, depending on if that scenario kind of plays out, right? Yeah,
47:04exactly. Um, maybe it won't happen, right? We'll, we'll see, but that's, it was curious to hear
47:09that, right? Um, unfortunate more BJ Penn news, uh, which he's unfortunately been featured a lot
47:15in this segment and not for a good reason. A judge has ordered him to undergo a mental health
47:21evaluation amid his various arrests this year to see if he's fit, uh, to move forward with
47:27those multiple criminal cases against him in, in his native Hawaii. So that's, again,
47:33the latest development will be BJ Penn. Better news for a fighter, hopefully, uh, in, in this
47:38case, it is Jorge Masvidal. He won a $5 million judgment against Fanmio for non-payment of, uh,
47:45after his boxing match against Nate Diaz last year. So you can only hope that he gets the money
47:49he is owed. And then lastly, this is, uh, uh, technically it's MMA news. They're former MMA
47:56fighters. We've seen them fight twice before this time. It's going to be a boxing Anderson Silva,
48:0150 years old now fighting 41 year old Chris Weidman, uh, in boxing on November 14th. It's on
48:09the undercard of that Jake Paul versus Gervonta Davis event, uh, in Miami ESPN reported that fight.
48:16It's scheduled for six rounds and there's your quick hits. It's good that something tells me
48:20that that's not the first time a 50 year old has fought on a Jake Paul card.
48:24That is true. He's a little young to fight Jake Paul. I know they fought already, but like,
48:28probably in like 10 years or so, spider's going to be ready for that rematch. I was going to say,
48:34I'm just glad that these two are fighting in boxing. Cause there's no leg kicks in, in boxing.
48:41There will be no horrific leg kick, uh, finishes this time. Fortunately, exactly. All righty. And
48:47with that, let's move on to the final round. And I'm actually going to preface with the name of the
48:51fight that we watched this time. Cause I, I don't think a lot. Yeah. Michael Chandler versus Eddie
48:57Alvarez. They fought twice, right? This is the first one. This is the first one from 2011 Bellator 58.
49:03Yes. And I got to tell you, Scott, I think this might be, this is top three. This is top three for me in
49:09terms of fight assignments. It was in terms of, not fights ever in terms of fight assignments. I
49:15mean, it was a fricking crazy, crazy fight. Like back and forth. It was what Michael Chandler
49:20had, uh, the first round. He almost knocks out Eddie and then Eddie kind of has, he looked dead.
49:28Yeah. You could have stopped that fight. You could have stopped. Do you remember when, um,
49:32who was it that, uh, knocked out Brian Ortega and then punched him again and it woke him up while
49:36he was standing up. Diego, Diego Lopez punched Brian Ortega. Ortega went out and then Lopez
49:41punched him again and it woke him up. It reminded me of that. And then yeah, Eddie comes back. And
49:46it, I thought that Eddie was going to win that fight. Cause I, I had like a, I mean, I knew about
49:52this fight. Like I knew that they had fought and I knew that you didn't know the result. I didn't
49:55know the result, but like a little inkling in my head was like at the start, it was like, I think
50:00Eddie wins this fight, but obviously I'm not going to check. I'm going to watch to see what
50:03happens. So when Eddie started coming back, I was like, okay, yeah, that tracks. And then Mike
50:08pulls it out of the fire as a Leon's coach would say. Right. Yeah. Um, one thing that I thought
50:15was funny was, uh, I believe it was the second round where the, uh, the commentators were saying
50:19that Eddie Alvarez was like this kid, he doesn't know what to do after the first round. He he'll,
50:24he'll, he'll wilt under pressure. And it was funny because, you know, Michael Chandler kind of does
50:29that. He doesn't really know how to contain him. He said, he doesn't know how to contain
50:31himself is what he said. Uh, and he's like, yeah, that, that range true. That is, it was
50:36kind of the Michael Chandler experience. If it worked out every time, if it worked, well,
50:40he was younger in the sport. He hadn't suffered all the damage that he took in fights like this
50:45over the years, you know, look at the haircut. I mean, he, he, he was a young man. Yeah. Yes.
50:50A lot better looking with the hair. No, but it was, it was such a good fight. Like this is one of
50:54those where it's like, it's not only is it just like a surprising result, you know, where it's like a plot
51:00twist, I guess you could call it right. You're like a comeback victory, but the entire time it
51:05was like entertaining through that as well. So best of both worlds loved it. Probably the best
51:09banter. I was definitely the best, uh, Bellator fight in history. Uh, it's definitely one of the
51:15best non UFC fights of the last 15 years. I think that's probably fair. And both guys went on to
51:21immediately have success in the UFC. Eddie Alvarez was the champ, you know, in the UFC. So he immediately
51:27was super, super legit. Yeah. And maybe Michael Chandler hasn't, you know, gotten the UFC belt,
51:32but like he's doing, he's doing all right. I would, I would say, you know, he's having a very
51:38good career. He's, he's not in it for a long time. He's in it for a good time. And he seems like he's
51:41having mostly a good time when he's not waiting for Connor. Yeah, there we go. Alrighty. Well, Scott,
51:46what is our next homework assignment? What do we got? You know, we mentioned him last week and I want
51:51to bring him back. Cause I, you know, there's so many good fights for this guy. Miguel Angel Torres,
51:55uh, against a Cam Izagaki, 2009 WEC 40 title fight. Uh, Torres, you know, he's making his third
52:04bantamweight title defense in this one. He'd won 16 fights in a row coming in. So his record was 36 and
52:11one guys. Uh, this was a different era of bantamweight. You know, we had, um, it wasn't,
52:16it was fractured. It wasn't like today. It wasn't as developed. It was a still gaining steam as a
52:21weight class. Um, but he was very much the Lord over 135 pounds. They bring in for this fight to
52:28Cam Izagaki. He was his WEC debut. He was 11, two and two. He had yet to fight outside of his native
52:34Japan, but he was considered a top 10 guy at 135 pounds on the world stage. So very interesting
52:40matchup, totally legit for, uh, uh, the era's bantamweight title fight. And I'm very curious
52:46what you guys will think of this fight. All right. Looking forward to it. And have you not
52:51seen it either, Eric? No, I have not. And you've been saying that Miguel Torres is that dude. And
52:55the only Miguel Torres fight that I watched was when we had the final assignment with
52:58mighty mouse, which was also a very competitive fight. You guys are going to become fans very
53:03quickly. Alrighty. There we go. And to wrap up our history of MMA and this episode of against the
53:11cage, Scott, what do we got for this week in MMA? So we're looking back at October 15,
53:162016, there was a fight card scheduled for the Philippines. It was the last time the UFC
53:21was, uh, supposed to be there. And notice I'm using specific language that says supposed to,
53:26and they were scheduled for, because it didn't happen. You know, there was a fight that was
53:29supposed to be, uh, Ricardo Lamas against BJ Penn at featherweight that was going to anchor that one.
53:35Penn pulls out 11 days before the event is scrapped. UFC has not gone back to the nation since.
53:41Uh, and so at this point they've only had one card in the Philippines. That was the year before this
53:46one. So TKO boxing has got to pack. Yeah. Like I said, and then do a little,
53:50little crossover card. Oh boy. Oh boy. Don't see it, sir. You never know.
53:54Was this one a pay-per-view or was, uh, no, this is a fight. Okay. Okay. So John Jones is still the
54:00only pay-per-view that has been scrapped from besides like, no, no, there was, there was another
54:06pay-per-view that I more or less got moved. I, it was, it was supposed to be in Rio. It was,
54:11it was a Jose Aldo against Chad Mendes card, if I'm not mistaken. Um, and that got moved. I think
54:16it was UFC 176. You'd have to check me, but that mostly got scrapped, but they ended up still doing
54:23it. So there is, there is a UFC 151 and a UFC 176 that are official and didn't happen. Okay.
54:29UFC 176 is when, uh, um, McGregor fought Portia the first time. Oh. Okay. Well, it was one of
54:37those numbers somewhere in that range. I have to double check. I remember when the, unless I can
54:41do it before we shut down, then I don't think we're getting it. I remember, uh, John Jones was
54:45supposed to fight in Vegas and then he moved it to California because of a, that was 232.
54:50There you go. Yeah. Or no, wasn't that recent? That was when he fought Gustafsson. Yeah. Oh yeah,
54:55you're right. That was 232. I remember that one. That was like right when I started turning my brain
54:59on for a UFC and like recording this information. Yeah. Alrighty. Well, that is what number did
55:05I just, hang on, hang on. What number did I just say? 176. It is 176. There you go. Look at us.
55:12Did McGregor fight Portia on that card? No, it didn't happen. Okay. I'm telling you 176 didn't
55:18happen. Oh, okay. Fair enough. There you go. I looked it up. I just Googled it. It just moved
55:22on to 177. I believe that was the case. Okay. All right. Well, you learn something new every
55:28day. That's what we try and do on this show for you back home watching. We hope you enjoyed Eric.
55:33Thank you for joining me, Scott, as always. Boom. There we go. Alrighty. We will see you guys next week.
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