tell me about the ESPN ranking you
should have brought that up see what I’m
doing now I’m I’m handing it to you I’m
just Moon feeding you the topics open
wide open wide say ah is there an
airplane
[Laughter]
[Music]
um all right so ESPN released their
rankings last week uh they give updated
rankings uh I think every two weeks they
have their their MMA analysts come
together and they they vote on it uh
their middleweight rankings drew a lot
of ire uh last week so uh number one
after that fight uh was still Israel out
of Sonya where do you think Sean
Strickland ended up on the list because
as you can see it’s not number two
yeah well I know what it is because I
it’s no way and we do it but number five
what is all that about
how would you just jump back on just
just before we uh break this down I want
to know so when you say there’s a bunch
of analysts at ESPN uh who are those
analysts so who are the people because
obviously there’s a panel that made
these decisions you know what I mean so
so who who are these people it would be
handy to know so I know for sure one is
Megan Anderson I will look up uh Brett
okamoto is the staff writer who wrote
the article so he must be on there give
me one second I will look up the phone
yeah okay no problem I’m just looking at
the article Brett Sakamoto of course
shouts out Brad I’ll come out so great
guy really I feel like I want to text
him and see if we can get a response
from him by the end of the show and say
how did that happen no please text him
now well I’ll just give a little bit of
the story you text and take a second to
do that because it would be great to
have because I I would actually like to
know their reasoning before we disagree
with it because it does that doesn’t
make any sense to me but on the article
here it says despite Strickland now on
in the middleware adesanya remains top
of the 185 pound Heap in the latest ESPN
division or rankings rankings Strickland
moves up in the top ten but it remains
far from the top among the other
divisions that’s awesome upheaval
Israel’s not mean it’s okay nothing to
do with that it is kind of crazy because
look listen I can understand why some
people may say
I think Israel lasagna is a better
martial artist because maybe he can do
some moves and maybe his reflexes are
faster and and he’s got some amazing
kicks and all the rest of it but what it
comes down to is being effective in a
fight being able to beat the other
person in a fight this isn’t a ranking
for style points this isn’t a technique
uh standpoint this is the Fighter’s
ability
clearly showed four rounds to one almost
finished him in the first it’s crazy he
was clearly the better fighter than that
who knows maybe the rematch is different
maybe but as of right now the facts are
the facts and Sean’s Strickland without
a question without a shadow of a doubt
should be sitting nice and comfortable
at the top of that Purge on his lofty
perch wearing the crown as the number
one
when it’s not even okay
so okay so maybe you feel like Izzy had
a bad night maybe you you feel like he
had the worst night of his life in
Breton why are we talking sorry I did I
was gonna google it just look look it up
Harrington if you can Google who did
panelists sorry sorry Anthony no you’re
fine but even if you believe that okay
whatever arasani had a had a really bad
night Strickland had the night of his
life
I’m still gonna put Izzy at the top
you still should put him at uh two
like he said he’s a champion of the
world like how do you put him in front
of dupless e or or I do understand the
argument though for the Cannon air thing
because you can say
Cannon here beat him
unless you watched it and then that then
that’s a different story but I Oh I
thought Canada won that fight but or I
thought yeah Sean Strickland won that
fight against Cannon here but yeah
either way it’s really close so I’m sure
some people will say well Kanye has a
win over him
doesn’t matter Sean Strickland has the
belt
and that’s not the conversation we’re
having because the reality is you’re
only as good as your last fight right
Izzy’s last fight
was garbage it was garbage it was never
shortly ranked not like
Cannon here beat him a year ago like the
current rankings mean that that means
the champion
is number one
Jeff
morganheim Megan Anderson Ian Parker I
know Ian Reed comb you will know Ian as
well Andres water was Andrew Feldman and
Eddie Maisonette
well someone needs to take care
bassinet to the head of these people
they’re out of the mines how the hell
can you have Israel out of Sonya still
at the top of the pile
that’s wild the champion has one name
and that is Sean stricken right now and
whether you like it or not whether how
much of a fanboy you are a visit and you
respect the body of work that’s all well
and good but his last fight he got beat
four rounds to one right and you’ve got
to give Sean Strickland these Jews
deserves that you know I was really
hoping Brad akamoto was going to answer
because I guarantee he’s got he’s gotta
agree with it or disagree with it he’s I
bet he has a fantastic answer
yeah I’m gonna text someone right now
you just talk a second please yeah I
just don’t uh it’s just the whole thing
is weird it’s what like I think the best
way of saying is you’re only as good as
your last fight like it’s not
necessarily
I don’t even know it’s I don’t know how
you win the CH you win the title and
you’re not ranked number one in your
division
it doesn’t it doesn’t make any sense to
me at all Brian Brian get the con get
the tin foil it’s a conspiracy broth it
is a conspiracy
Sean’s too popular they’re coming for
him they’re trying to silence him okay
they’re coming after him the mainstream
media are coming for Sean Strickland I’m
just sitting here social brand please
preach
there’s also like there’s is just
something suspect about the way the
rankings broke out because Jared Cannon
here is above Sean Strickland so it’s
like if you’re telling me you can’t base
these rankings off of one night’s
performance you’re still gonna put Jared
cannonier a contender over the champion
when those two fought and it was razor
close like a lot of people think Sean
Strickland should have won a split
decision there even though Jared
cannonier did get the win so it’s crazy
to give Cannon near that bump and not
Strickland over at us on you yeah no
you’re absolutely right I guess if we’re
looking at it perspective if that’s the
criteria and I’m assuming you’ve got
Brett we would have yeah uh Jared at one
Sean to
I don’t know it’s a fair it
this is why I like bread akamoto and why
he is the person that he is in the
position that he has because he makes
things make sense he doesn’t just do
things willy-nilly I don’t necessarily
agree with it but I understand his con
the concept
it’s one of the most unique ranking
situations we’ve ever had basically Sean
beat Izzy but that is his only top five
win ever he just lost to Jared so if
you’re arguing Sean is above Izzy it’s
the same to argue that Jared should be
over Sean uh yeah we said that yeah and
Izzy beat Jared Jared lost to Rob Izzy
beat Rob twice in a nutshell is his
record in a recent years still is better
than Sean’s even considering the loss
it’d be favored if they fought again
it’s like if Oklahoma beat Georgia in
football this week would they get all
the first place votes in the following
week he doesn’t think they would and
he’s probably correct so and and there
is definitely some Sound Logic to that
argument that’s a good word to use logic
he used logic in the explanation and
there’s definitely Sound Logic there
that is kind of hard to argue again it’s
hard to argue however
all I can say is I disagree but I can’t
tell you why well no because because you
I do feel that being the champion of the
look listen we were talking rankings
Charles de champ
it’s impossible to get any higher
everyone’s vying to be in that position
I understand the logic I do and when you
break it down logically like that oh
great right but this sport isn’t about
you know your history what have you done
for me lately you’re only as good as
your last fight right and yeah we can we
can we can hypothesize and come with a
uh an explanation uh is he still the top
guy but the reality is he just got EV
they always say to become the man you’ve
got to beat the man
will Sean just be the man and he took
his belt off him and he took his title
and he’s the world champion and he gets
to call the shots he’s the number one
guy if I was Champion the reason I’m
saying this and listen I’m not I’m
nothing against dizzy and in fact the
opposite for some reason people seem to
have this narrative that all I do is
kisses his ass which is not the case at
all
um I’ve got nothing against is it but
if I was the champion of the world
and they still had my opponent that I
just be ranked at number one I would be
pissed off oh I’d be throwing a fit
I’d be and and then I wouldn’t care
about the logical response like I
wouldn’t care like no way I’d just be
losing my mind
