mixed martial arts mixed martial arts how do we like our martial art no scho
stus Clos God I never know what what KY is
going to say but that accent was incredible wow yes the theme is no UFC
that is what is going down tomorrow night in Las Vegas the main event the rematch for the women’s flyweight title
Alexa Gro 6 months after shocking the world and absolutely emptying Jed
michu’s bank account will defend her title against Valentina shevchenko the woman she dethroned back at UFC 285 and
the closer we get to this fight the more interested I become thank you for joining us for the live noce UFC preview
show here on mmafighting.com I am mik heck we have the prince of positivity back with us Mr Alexander Kay Le talked
a lot during the weigh-ins wow he’s got that dog in him as well what’s up
AK uh I’m good I got a fresh haircut for no UFC I mean that’s you know what I I
had to celebrate I had to look clean for it and I’m excited with this card I had a lot of if you listen people listen to
the weigh-in show there’s a lot of weird little like little knits and things to pick at in this like fun nits fun nits
to pick at so I I won’t go over the again on the preview show I don’t think uh unless called upon well I might come
up in the questions I got a lot of facts Mike I got a lot of fun facts oo a lot of fun facts new haircut AKA ready to go
and also joining us Mr hot take Mr no gry area the winner of yesterday’s BTL
let us say hello once again to Mr Jed Mishu Jed how are we feeling on the eve of this rematch I mean I was feeling a lot
better I was having a great morning got out played around to golf uh shot in 85
despite not having the appropriate attire and being in a downpour and then I get on here and I’m attacked I am
personally attacked by by you Mike not my best friend certainly I don’t know we are we’re enemies now you’re gonna come
in bringing up old history Mike the past is for cowards you live in the past you
die in the past we are on to now and no UFC not things that happened months ago
we don’t need to go there that’s unnecessary Mike but leaping over these hurdles make us who we are today so it’s
important to remember those moments that mold us into the people we are right now right isn’t that an important part of
the not a champion mindset you have a show titled onto the next one because
we’re not looking back at what happened months ago we are on to noce UFC that’s
where we’re going Mike and then it’s on to like three Apex cards in a row and
then UFC 294 all right well I can’t wait to hear your breakdown of this fight after what
happened six months ago but AK we haven’t heard a gymnastics scale from you on these preview shows in quite some
time we have a title fight we have a very fascinating welterweight co-main
event between Kevin Holland and Jack Dela Melina we get the return of R Rosa Jr we have Tracy Cortez versus jasine
Jaz ofus this is kind of buried in the prelims lot of upand cominging prospects a lot of very big favorites taking on
Scrappy heavy underdogs in this card could be a lot of showcase fights where we at here what’s the gymnastics scale
for noce UFC I think we got a good rating here for you know what is a non- pay-per-view even though it is headlined
by a title fight I like the fact that they’ve booked several quote unquote squash matches you know I think I think
and we’ll get into those we’ll dive into those more later I do like the fact that um you know some of these are meant to be showcase fights for some of the
fighters who uh either the UFC is invested in or who maybe fit the uh
Mexican Independence Day weekend theme um because it also means there’s chance for upsets upsets are always fun too
right so you almost can’t go wrong either way hopefully we don’t have too many you know forgettable uh three
rounders or something like that but overall I think they’ve mixed this card up right I think you’re gonna get good
um competitive three round contest plus a nice handful of finishes there’s a lot of names on here
who I’m happy to see and happy to see uh that maybe haven’t fought in a while I’ll go it’s definitely over an eight
it’s definitely like a 8.6 I’ll go like an 8.6 I think that’s that’s how I think that’s how good this card could be um
you know if everything goes great good finishes great fights it’s not I don’t think it’s going to be a card that we’re going to be you know uh remembering a
year from now maybe but it could be one of the better cards uh by the end of the year we’ll see we’ll see how it goes Jed on BTL yesterday you threw out
one star on the Mulan scale as another day has passed and we’re a day closer to
this event do you remain with that score or maybe we added a halfar to this maybe
another full star where are we at no no no there will be no half stars in the Mulin system you get the star you
don’t this is a high you look that’s how Excellence is rated you know it’s not hey this is a one of the better one
Stars it’s you’re there or you’re not we draw hard lines in the sand and this is
a one star it’s going to remain a one star look if I was in Los Angeles or whatever I’m not making the trip to to
Vegas for this even with all the surrounding circumstances you have Mexican Independence Day and a fight
card in Las Vegas like that’s a pretty big poll not big enough for me to get in the car and drive you know four or five
hours and then have to go back I’m not making a trip for this but if I’m in Vegas the experience the lights you’ve
got a title fight a title fight rematch um for one of the biggest upsets in history and of the year maybe it’s big I
don’t I don’t know if it’s bigger or not than Strickland I know Casey’s been kind of dragging this up and it’s a a
legitimate point of comparison so that that main event is is certainly that like that’s certainly drawing you in and
then the co-main event um is like going to just be spectacularly fun that onew
punch right there is is really good enough to say man if I’m out I’ll take a break from the blackjack tables I’ll
stop donating money to the casino for a moment and I I’ll go watch this and then even though uh I your mileage for me is
going to vary a ton I don’t I think this is a two-fight card and there’s one or two other fights I have some interest in
but I’m broadly pretty down on the rest of it uh AK said you know they set this
up well and they probably did for their ends but like there are like three fights on this entire card that have
less than a minus 200 favorite on one side of it there are a lot of fights being set up for victories but even in
those and I may not care about the outcomes particularly that’s all being set towards The Narrative of here the
Mexican Fighters Mexican descendant Fighters doing this thing on Mexican Independence Day The Vibes are going to
be Immaculate and so this is a onear card doesn’t get the second but be happy with a one many cards do not get a one
famously UFC 293 did not get a star in the Mulan
system UFC is doing a great job with this event they created the new bell for Alexa Gro they’re making this a little
special they’re doing the ceremonial weigh-ins outside today so it’s going to be a different kind of a feel to everything which I think is very very
cool but Jed I want to go back to you because look I hate to to drum up old memories but you do host a gambling
podcast along with the great G talk and in lie of these bets you were going
to make and help the people maybe navigate them or at least let the people know what you’re going to do you had to
go back and rewatch this first fight I would assume right Alexa grao versus Valentina shf chenko it was a
competitive fight until it wasn’t till Valentina got the takedown got the fight to the mat got the submission and it was
all said and done Alex Gro is a new Champion so going back and rewatching that fight from six months ago
what did you take away from it what did you learn from that fight that brings you into your thought process for this
rematch on Saturday um I think it’s pretty likely that Valentina
shevchenko is Pastor Prime um that she is beyond the most like the best of it
um which honestly is pretty reasonable given given where she’s at in her career uh I don’t know if it’s gone up on the
site or not I I wrote my weekly gambling column about this and like one of the pieces on it was obviously about this
fight and it’s uh look in a vacuum I probably would still
pick Valentina shevchenko to win this fight but I’m really not even certain of that anymore I think certainly at her
Highs at her best she was a better fighter than Alexa Grasso but I am
really not confident that she’s that anymore because I want to pull up the exact number because I I did the math on
it I crunched the numbers the data um I was talking earlier this week frankly
about Israel dis and be like he might have have too many miles on him you know he’s got 13 14 15 years of of fighting
experience and literally like 115 fights or something across boxing kickboxing
MMA uh Valentina shenko has even more of those uh she has been fighting
professionally her first MMA fight was in 2003 so quick math that is over 20
years that she has been fist fighting professionally which is um the St in she
has 133 fights to her name that we can
that I could confirm across kickboxing MMA boxing like there are very likely
almost certainly more of those uh that were not confirmed as far as kickboxing bouts
go generous ballpark of 150 150 fights
is a lot of professional fighting like it’s just simply an annoy enormous amount of combat and eventually the bill
comes due time takes its toll and I I think we probably are starting to see that some with her I was very
surprised um how much grao was able to compete with with shevchenko physically
in the first fight that was where I thought that that fight would not be competitive you know grao is not a bad
boxer but um she’s not like a super finishing threat obviously we saw what happened um but you know there there
hadn’t been a lot of tape to prove that that was really viable for and instead how that fight broke down is
Gro was winning the Striking for the most part I think chevchenko settled in a little bit did a little bit better as the fight wore on but chevchenko went to
her wrestling pretty quickly because Gro was getting the hands on her being competitive in that range and and
forcing chevchenko to go to the path of least resistance which for her has always been that I mean she did it to uh
Jessica Andra and several other women she realizes that she can get a body lock toss you and she’s actually quite
good on the ground and that’s where she went coming into this rematch I
mean officially or at least on paper even though she lost parts of it Gro won
the grappling overall because she finished her and she was winning the Striking exchanges and there was
chevchenko was being forced to fight a fight that she didn’t really want to do maybe she had an off night um maybe you
know she just super wasn’t prepared for the looks Gro is giving her that’s always possible but I’m more likely to
believe that she’s getting a little bit older she’s been at the top for a really long time it’s impossible to stay at the
top of this sport for a long time because there’s so much tape people can game plan for you specifically like grao
did and Grasso’s this is the time you know she she’s about to maybe not put
together a run because I think some Challengers will beat her but she’s going to cement herself probably uh with
a win here tonight or sorry tomorrow night and then shevchenko is just in that spot you
know AK what’s been interesting this week is I was curious about I mean The Vibes are
like Jed said are Immaculate for this entire card but I was wondering what the Vibes check would be for both of these women because Alexa is coming off this
huge win and winning the title and Valentina is coming in sort of in a rare place where she’s coming in off of a
loss not only that but a loss where she was finished and lost her title so I was wondering where the mindsets were going
to be heading into this card on Saturday Alexa Gro just cool calculated but
confident at the same time even throwing some little Jabs at Valentina saying like hey you thought you were the better
Striker but you shot for takedowns pretty darn quickly and then Valentina looks like she is ready to fight 400
Alexa Gros she looks like on a whole other level she looks like she has that chip on her shoulder that she had
heading to the Jess onra fight and then even talking to John anic yesterday he was saying that normally when they have
these fighter meetings and these fighter interviews with the commentators and the fighters Valentina shevchenko gives them nothing but said this week was totally
different she gave them a lot more she’s motivated she’s fired up what have you made of the build to this rematch
because usually it’s two very respectful people there’s not a lot of back and forth but this week a little bit different a little bit more intensity
for this one yeah I love it I love I love that uh both them are getting to show more of
their personality uh they both have you know we both we know they both have plenty but sometimes depending where you
are at your in your career uh you’re more or less comfortable showing it off right like Alexa Alexa Grasso I think
for a while there she had to be a bit more uh restrained as she was coming up through flyweight because there was some
like you know when she was a mega hype strawweight remember when she was like 21 22 years old coming up through
Invicta coming up 115 um I think uh you
know eventually it’s the pressure started to pile up in her a bit she started missing you know missing some weight losing against some of the better
names of the division and I think at that point is when you kind of have to take a step back as far as like um you
know how you’re going to deal with the media and just kind of focus on you know the more of the things that you can contr control and I think that’s what we
saw as she’s coming up to 125 but now that she’s really establishing herself as the best flyweight in the world I
mean she’s got the gold around her waist she beat the best before her she beat shevchenko yeah she seems relaxed she
has the Swagger of a champion uh that that doesn’t happen all the time you know some people don’t
Embrace that uh Ros namajunas is a great example she never quite I think she enjoyed being Champion but man she has
spoken openly about the pressure and like not enjoying it as much and um you think she enjoyed it I think she hated
it I mean I I think there was moments where where I think she liked the the respect that came with it I think there was a lot of um you know I think there
was a lot of prestige came with I think she enjoyed that but but again she also was very open that yes she hated being
the hunted I think she much more enjoyed being the Hunter and Grassle right now seems very comfortable being the hunted especially uh since the one that’s
hunting her someone she’s already beaten so she she’s relaxed and cool as you said and and that’s the way she should come off she’s kind of the young she’s
the young fresh Champion um but not arrogant you know not arrogant that’s the tough thing to do
shenko yeah being in Terminator mode is just perfect it’s kind of like what we all want to see from her the jokes I
mean when she had the butt were that she’s this secret agent she’s a she’s a you know she’s just an assassin um and
she was like that in the cage and and uh you know could be a little reserved when it comes to
interviews um but yeah I’m glad we’re getting to see the side of her that’s clearly you know a little irked a little
irk that maybe uh some jokes like us in the media are saying her best days would be behind her and uh you know that she
was so that she was clearly beaten in the first fight she certainly doesn’t seem to feel that way you know other than the Finish she’s like well if it
had gone to you know if it gone she feels if it had gone to like a fifth round that she would have been up three rounds to one which I don’t agree with
um but I think that’s that’s how she was looking at in her mind if I had Wheels I’d be a wagon that’s exactly someone
should tell her that right uh so yeah I love the vibe check is great both ways I
don’t see anything in either it’s not like last week where we were a little I think we we all started getting a little concerned about Izzy uh he just didn’t
seem to be his usual self he seemed a little bit off he seemed a bit exhausted to be honest and and maybe that played
out on on fight night but I don’t get that sense with are these women I think I think Alexa is super prepared to
defend her title I think Valentina I don’t know if we can see the best of her for the reasons Jed said
she’s just got a lot of mileage but I think mentally she’s in the right place I don’t think should she lose on
Saturday I don’t think any of us are going to say oh well Valentina wasn’t prepared and Valentina wasn’t I think she is prepared uh I just think that she
is now dealing with someone who is the best flyweight in the world but you know we’ll get we’ll get to our
exact predictions uh soon enough yeah she went back to Thailand and just
immersed herself in in danger pretty much for three months straight getting ready for this fight just a lot of time
over there with the killers in the room it’s not a bad place to go preparing for this fight AKA I wanted to go back to
you because we T I talked about this on BTL I asked John anic this question this is a question that was posed on heck of
a morning and I thought kind of at first like this was going to be more like one sided the other way but I continuously
go back to this question because Alexa Gro is the champion Valentina was the long reigning Champion already just got
finished in in March who needs this one more because you can make a case for
both women Valentine obviously wants to exercise the demons and get back on track and prove that you know this was
not gonna say a fluke but you know how some reads can be in the Fallout of a rematch we saw with Juliana Peña we saw
in other circumstances as well or is it Alexa Gro because we’re going to prove
this isn’t a fluke I want to prove him the best flyweight in the world and if she beats Valentina shevchenko not once
but twice like this is massive for her who needs this one more Grasso needs it more um I don’t
know what valentina’s plans are after but if I was her win or lose I’m going up to 135 and and in either of those
scenarios um it’s sorry and in the scenario of course where Valentino wins
and then just you know vacates the bell and goes to 135 that would really suck for Grasso because essentially it would
give Valentina the you know the more recent win uh you know la la last shot wins as they say and uh Alexa wouldn’t
get her wouldn’t get her rematch even if valtina stayed at 125 I don’t know if they’re giving Grasso the immediate
rematch I’d be all for it I’d love to see a Trilogy I just don’t know if that’s where they would go right away so
the so if if if grasa loses she’s not getting a title fight next
if Valentina loses I think she can go up to 135 right away and challenge Whoever has the belt or if there that title
fight still isn’t made challenge for the vacant title so Valentina has options a lot of it does depend on whether she even wants to go up to 135 it’s possible
that that’s not the cards for her she might want to spend the rest of career fighting at 125 it is maybe her ideal weight class um but I I do and I do
think I don’t know even if Alexa Grasso loses I don’t think people will call the first fight a fluke you’re going to have
a small minority who do that but you’re going to have a small Miner who do that every time a longtime Champion loses and they don’t give credit to the to the
Challenger so I I don’t think it’s it’s that I don’t think it’s going to called a fluke but kind of like what happened
with Peña uh it will in her in people’s minds like firmly cement her behind uh
shenko unless they got a third fight which I like I said I don’t think is going to happen um and that sucks and
that sucks like that’s not the way it should work but shenko will how had the stronger resume depending what Grasso does going forward so I think a lot of
the person on Grasso I don’t know if shenko I’m sure she’s DET chermin to win the belt back I’m sure she doesn’t want to
leave 125 and a loss if she even decides to leave um but I don’t think there’s
just much pressure on her her her reputation is what it is it’s it’s cemented and I don’t think anyone is
would be disappointed if she lost to a considerably younger less shopworn Challenger uh a second time could just
be this fighter hasard number we’ve seen that we’ve seen that in history too we’ve seen greates uh lose to guys younger fighters who just happen to have
their number and uh ideally it doesn’t hurt their their stock in the long run
what’s the better result for business Jed bishu Valentina getting it back maybe a Trilogy fight letting Aon blanchfield man and fioro settle who the
number one Contender is once and for all or is it the new guard officially taking over Valentina goes on and does other
things maybe moving to 135 maybe she just fights Rose Nami Unis and just a bigname star versus star kind of a fight
big name versus bigname kind of a fight and opens things up in different ways what do you think is the better result
here for businesses Valentina winning um I would also personally like to see it
because uh I to sort of piggyback off what AK was saying um I think if Gro
wins this won’t be considered a fluke because people uh in this space have a particularly difficult time wrapping
their heads around like what flukes are and if it had been like a knockout then
they would be like okay but if it quote unquote feels more skillful that she took the back and choked her out so it
won’t be looked on like it was a fluke but it will be looked on as hey that’s um you know that’s not a thing that
would happen all the time and that would be great for me because it it would just
drive home a point I’ve been trying to make for years which is being a champion is the hardest thing to do in the sport
Defending Your belt over and over is the most difficult thing the sport has to offer because there’s a lot of tape on
you and people prepare everything and look Alexa grao was losing this fight but she studied the tape and saw that
Valentina spins and when she does that you could take her back and choker and it would just be like the most condensed
selling point of that whereas if Gro wins uh the narrative shifts pretty
quickly to yeah shevchenko past it I mean the fight before this she had to really get a little bit lucky and dig
real deep to pull a win off over Tyler Santos and then she loses her belt and loses again like this is that’s just the
inflection point of her career she hit her Peak and now she’s on the down slope and that just becomes the narrative um
whereas if she does at least reclaim the the belt uh I I think we get a little more play there uh certainly her
reclaiming the belt is better for business though because if I’m in Valentina sh chano’s Corner Su Chevy
truck let’s talk um if you win this fight you should not fight Aaron
blanchfield maybe you win maybe lose I tend to think you lose shouldn’t fight her again you could probably beat
manolia row too but what are those doing for you your legacy set in stone you already the lost to Gro already sort of
prohibits you from getting in to that Anderson Silva Demetrius Johnson rarified Air of double digit title
defenses so let that dream die go get the second belt because I feel like you
should be able to beat Julian aña since you’ve already done it or Rocko Pennington because no disrespect to
rockel Pennington it just feels like a fight that you can win if you win this belt go up make your play for a second
belt and you can retire in there and you can leave 125 to this new crop of contenders maybe grao gets to fight a
tit you know fight uh the winner of blanchfield furo for the title you get to do that and that that seems like the
best business opportunity because there’s so many fights coming out of this whereas the other way it’s Gro
versus probably blanchfield but maybe furo at this point um which is okay and
then yeah I think they probably would do Rose versus Valentino which is a big fight but it’s not as big as Valentina
fighting for a second belt against whoever so best for business Valentina get in the dub
all right I mean you guys both make interesting points in different ways so real quick and then we’ll make our picks
true or false AK this is the last valtina shevchenko fight at 125 pounds I can’t go a hard true on that I
I wish I wish because I just don’t feel like there’s anything for win or lose or anything left for her to do at 125 and
again she could easily is so disrespectful to some of the fighters at 135 but women’s 135
is a pretty disrespectful Division if we’re being honest all right and it’s not their fault I’m not the Fighter’s fault it’s the it’s the promotion’s
fault for uh you know not building up more and I can’t even blame the promotion that much it’s it’s the
world’s fault for if you’re an athletic woman who who is in the 135 and U range you’re probably gonna go play another
sport let’s be honest with ourselves um so yes I I really before it’s all said then would like to see uh Valentina
return to 135 I know it’s not her ideal weight class I know she was only competing there because 125 didn’t exist
for the longest time but if you’re her team you got to let her know like there’s opportunities to be had there
maybe she can’t beat julana pñ again I think she would maybe she can’t beat Rael Pennington J maybe she can’t I
think she would but it’s certainly much more interesting than seeing her kind of circle the wagons again at 125 with
especially with how young and good this division is getting um it’s just such a
harder if she loses it’s such a harder climb to get back up there and if she wins it’s just makes her the target up
against some really potentially great uh flyways now she wants to test herself in that way that’s fantastic um but I would
like to see go to 135 but I won’t I won’t go as far as to St I can’t guarantee it I I think there’s there’s that element of well stay at 125 and um
because it’s it’s just it’s the way it’s the her best ideal weight class it’s where she’s comfortable fighting and she does one or two more fights before I
don’t know either retiring which would be fine or uh again maybe making a delayed move up uh delayed return to 135
but I don’t think she’s done what do you think Jen final fight 125 probably not um
I would like it to be um but I don’t she doesn’t seem wired that way I mean this
whole week I I have a lot of concerns about her approach to this fight week and what that says about her middle state but armchair psychology is um uh
suspect at best my ability to why why though because the coming in the like
I’m really angry that I was winning that fight and it’s nonsense that you all think this n
I’m coming in here to to retake my Throne that feels a touch performative
um and that’s it just feels like again I could be dead ass wrong
I’ve been wrong many times in this but that just feels like she is grasping it internal straws for something to get her
there because she’s not there you know um that really hasn’t largely been how
she’s approached stuff like this um and so I I don’t know uh un unclear how I
feel about it um I just think it’s probably not great but yeah also all of
that feels like she’s going to stay at 125 win or lose if she loses I mean I
guess she could go up to 135 but she would be losing because someone beat her not because she can’t make the weight or
her better weight class is up so it doesn’t totally make sense to me um and I think that she probably still has a
bit of that no I’m actually the best I I’ve lost twice and that’s un like I don’t I don’t know why that happened but
I need need to prove to everyone I can win and by that same token if she wins even though I think it would be a bad
idea um I feel like she has that intensity to her to be like there are
other women and people are starting to think I’m not it because I showed weakness because I lost people are out
there saying Aaron blanchfield is the best flyweight in the world um even my long Defender the original driver of the
bullet train Jed Michu is saying Aaron blanchfield will beat me I need to beat this woman to show it and so I think we
are probably going to have at least a few more fights with her here even though I wish this would be her final one win or
lose all right let’s go to the picks here uh lines are much different than the first time around AK Valentina
shevchenko the favorite minus 166 as we speak right now the comeback on Alexa Gro the champ plus 140 who leaves
T-Mobile arena with that beautiful belt wrapped around their waist you know Mike I love that plus on
Alexa Grasso but what I love even sorry I got to look this up I love even more
Plus on Alexa Grasso by decision plus 350 plus
350 that ain’t bad and that was honestly pretty much in line with uh how I was looking at this fight probably when it
was first announced I I I really there was a part of me that was you know thinking about the first fight and how
well Valentina still performed yes she lost but it was it was a better performance than the tyus s fight right
where we’re very critical of her last two outings and rightfully so the Tyler Santos fight some people thought it
robbery I don’t agree I think I’m fine with the Valentina score but that said she did not look good you you cannot
make an argument that Valentina looked good in the Talis Santos fight you can say she won you can certainly say she
won on the scorecards but she did not look good and she had much better moments in the Grassle fight but then
she straight up lost that one um so there there’s there’s a lot of reason for concern there uh so at first I I was
telling myself like maybe maybe she bounces back newly motivated best version we’ve ever seen best version we
can possibly get at this stage of her career but I also think we’re going to get the best version of Alexa Grasso that we can get so far and I still think
there’s even more room to grow there for Grasso I think she’s trending up and up and up and up I think what she showed in
that uh first fight with Valentina is just a glimpse of how good she is I think at this point in their career she is the better Striker not talking about
technicality but just talking about the benefits of Youth being able to pull that trigger uh athleticism Edge stuff
like that I think that’s makes the difference in the Striking match up we saw in the first fight I don’t see o be different this time around Tak down
defense is certainly uh a question I I can absolutely Envision shenko going
back focusing even more on the wrestling this fight and grinding out a decision that way but I’m I’m confident that Grasso will work her way out of those
situations should have come up so I’m going Grasso and I’m going Grasso by decision don’t bet on MMA but if you’re
like me in in case you throw on small Wagers uh that grass up decision is not looking bad so that’s my call
M Jed you shook the universe when you revealed on no bets bar that you were
placing a bet on Alexa Grasso instead of Valentine shevchenko after what happened in the first fight but I understand your
reasoning behind this because this is a value play more than anything else because you feel that at best or at
worst this is a 50-50 fight and if it’s a 50-50 fight you might as well take the value where you can get it and there’s
some pretty good value on Alexa Grasso here but let’s just say the odds are completely even if it was a absolute
coin flip it was 50/50 in the betting window everything’s all the same are you still leaning Alexa Gro or are you
leaning Valentina shenko official pick you’re
muted sorry I I punched it in topology so it’s in it’s official um look I every part of my
brain says Alexa Gro is going to win this fight um but I’m I’m going to go
down with the ship you know um I’ve already gone down financially why not go down you know spiritually emotionally I
have been I would say the biggest Valentina shevchenko supporter um on this and many websites basically since
day one I’ve been riding with with the Chevy truck and if this is the end I
mean look I staunchly despite logic and reason and
any level of sanity kept picking BJ to win fights at the end of his career I
got Dennis Siver if the old BJ shows up Dennis Siver isn’t very good he could beat him nope uh I’m going to keep
riding with with Chef chenko until the wheels fall off so uh I have a bet on Alexa Gro I have a smaller bet on Alexa
Gro by decision but straight up picks give me Valentina shevchenko by
decision man I still don’t know like I honestly even sitting here right now I have no idea
like I’ve flip flop I flip-flopped every day I flip-flopped like four times today CU I just don’t know what’s going to
happen here how dumb will you feel on Sunday like if if either outcome happens
which one will you feel Dumber about being like yeah obviously well I felt really dumb being
so confident in Valentina the first time and I felt really dumb being confident in Al Jamaine Sterling and I felt
incredibly dumb not believing in Shan Strickland at all and all three of those
individuals proved me wrong and I feel weird if I doubt Valentina shevchenko in
any way shape or form having said that I do this I do feel like this fight’s
gonna go long and despite Valentina have having a
lot more experience with five round fights I kind of feel like Alexa’s game is built better at this at the stages of
both of their careers for five rounds and just hearing what Alexa is
talking about that even if she’s down 2-1 or 3-1 heading into five like I
still feel like she she’s not going to get rattled by this situation I still feel like there’s confidence there that
she can go and get Valentina out of there so it’s a Vibes pick I’m going to Alexa
Grasso to get it done and just to be a little more exciting with all of this
I’m gonna say a comeback fifth round submission
win she Subs her again this time in round five to to keep the belt but I’m
leaning Alexa grass to get a super late finish here but tomorrow I could like on the people’s pre-fight show I could
literally say Valentina shevchenko that’s I’m teetering on this but I think if Alexa wins I do think she’s gonna
finisher Mike speaking of the people ran a poll just who wins the rematch it is
close it is narrow Gro won the poll uh 53% so not it is narrow man I mean
people are seeing this as what it is this is a proper rematch this is a proper head to the betting Windows 53%
[ __ ] 53% I think I think I think people are reading it the right way I think even the odds make sense as much as um
as Jed and I are very happy with the value that you can get on a Grasso bet I think it speaks to how highly people
thought of Valentina before their second fight uh you know her dominance during her run but um man uh we got we got a
lot of smart viewers you know that I think our viewers are the smartest people in the uh in the industry and they’re saying Grasso 53% I’m just
saying y’all uh the odds currently have Gro 140 it’s like
42% to win so some of y’all need to go go pull up draftkings.com use the code
MMA hour uh and let’s get that line a little tighter because if I can get plus money
action on Valentina too and I can have it stopping and going that’ll be great and you don’t have to be cute like us
and go decision guys I mean plus 140 like straight up Grasso if you think she can get a knockout sub again that’s not
bad either you know you you don’t gotta be cute like us anyw pays out plus 140 for GR so you know it’s not bad
draftkings.com code M yes there’s a lot of value there and there are a lot of people out there who
feel that there’s some good vetting betting value on one Kevin Holland as he
gets ready to take on good old Jackie three names Jack Dela Melina very interesting fight at 170 JM AK had a
tough time getting into the Octagon he had fights scheduled opponents fall up out had an opponent Fallout for just
pretty tough reasons the day before International fight week comes back takes on a newcomer and gets tested a
lot of people some people out there still feel like Jack Del L lost that fight I am not one of those people but
it certainly brings up a lot of questions heading into this fight with Kevin Holland so biggest question you
have about this fight whether it’s on the JDM side or on the Kevin Holland side and do not ask this man if he wants
to fight for a world title because clearly he doesn’t care about that let me add he also had trouble making a
little bit of trouble making weight today Mike uh at the weighs he needed the box of what proved to be Redemption
but I also think he got the Las Vegas commission uh that uh extra probably
0.2.3 pounds off it was a very clear Casey and I were watching it was a very clear okay they brought it the Box he’s
looking at it the scales still moving H 171 close enough and hey if that’s if
everyone’s getting that benefit then I guess it doesn’t matter right that’s fair but yes he did have some trouble making weight not not a small
welterweight not like a huge welterweight but healthy healthy sized guy um the biggest question for me is uh
I guess it’s not related to this fight directly I I’m I couldn’t get a great gauge and I haven’t been able to get a
great gauge this week of how much did that Haz fight um
Dent uh M Dela melena’s reputation in the eyes of the fans eyes of critics as
far as like his his uh potential as a future Contender because because for me
it’s like I I didn’t okay I didn’t love his performance in the fight either but a few things one I think Haz is better
than people are giving him credit for I think because he was a late notice guy maybe they thought you know JDM should
just ran right through him but I’ve said Fighters have said before and I believe it that there is something about uh
being the you know being the guy on the other end of the short notice call right it is someone he probably doesn’t know a lot about probably wasn’t super prepared
for I mean he got taken down in the first two seconds I I get the feeling maybe he didn’t know a lot about Huff
so I’ll give HZ a little more credit for that um and then uh the other thing to say to say is how much do you credit
someone for cutting out a win in those situations because I actually like to see that I think sometimes when a guy is
put in a a position where it’s like oh wow he should have Domin this fight but he didn’t but then still got out with
the win that to me is like mostly a positive uh I felt this way kind of about hamzat and Gilbert Burns very
different situation very different Fighters very different Stakes but I remember some people saying that is wow he got exposed because he couldn’t
finish Gilbert well for me it was like Gilbert’s tough as hell and the fact that he probably didn’t fight his smartest and went you know hammering
nails with Gilbert I actually thought that was really good like made me think more highly of khamza so that that’s my
question I I don’t know where people are with JDM uh I’m undecided I’m undecided so those questions that I just brought
up I’m still asking myself I’m still trying to figure out I I don’t know is he a clear-cut like you know give be a
top five guy by you know uh the end of 2024 or heading into 2024
or um did we see kind of a bet did we get a better glimpse of his ceiling in that fight so that that’s what I want to
know and Saturday uh the Kevin Holland matchup is perfect and I think it’ll help to answer a lot of these questions
or at least at least push us in the right direction Jad you’ve had thoughts about jm’s performance and it’s not the fight
itself that you question because you know all these opponent switches multiple weight Cuts Like all that could
play in and sometimes you just don’t have your fast ball and you go in and get a win but you were more concerned with some of the decision- making in the
fight the fight IQ that you saw in jm’s most recent win if he goes and Shores
that up and just runs over Kevin Holland tomorrow or wins at least a pretty
clear-cut decision or finishes Kevin Holland where do you place him in terms of the welterweight up incomers because
I know you’re very high on Ian Machado Gary after UFC 292 I know you’re very high on JDM before this fight does JDM
kind of get back in the good graces of where you see his ceiling if he goes out and performs like he did like if he
fights Kevin Holland like he fought Randy Brown and just gets him out of there will you feel will you go back
will you course correct I don’t know if I’ll course correct I mean it it will certainly be a
a a big step for him because yeah um I get what AK is saying and in general
like you do like to see that about fighters who can overcome adversity and battle through it um my biggest issue
with that is he created like all the adversity to overcome and so I don’t
know if I should give him credit for dogging it out and winning a tough fight when he’s the one who made the fight
tough like he just wasn’t dumb it would have been fine but he kept jumping
Guillotines and that’s not even me saying it his Corner was telling him during the fight dude stop doing this
it’s bad and he just kept doing it and like yes opponent switches and that it
not the same dudes but that is very concerning when originally the opponent he was preparing for and had the most
Camp time for was Shawn Brady so like this isn’t like he went totally from hey
here’s a dude who’s not going to take me down to hey here’s a dude who’s gonna take me down like there’s there was some
prep time going and he just felt committed to an offensive strategy that
was really really bad um and that like that fight alone made me entirely
reevaluate him because yes I mean uh Jackie 3 names has been a sensation
since joining on uh the UFC and he’s got good wins like the the am the Randy
Brown Danny Roberts like those are solid wins but his you know this was a bad win
right like and I think basil hofus is better than people thought and and credit to him for making that fight but
that is fight IQ is one of the most like daunting things in the world because
honestly sometimes you just can’t you can’t fix it like a lot of the time you can’t look look at Josh Allen everyone
for the last three years has been like Josh Allen is awesome and he is but Josh Allen’s whole thing has always been at
his core he is a reckless Reckless man and sometimes that leads to three picks
and losing to the New York Jets who don’t have Aaron Rogers Jack Del M Elena appears to be a reckless Reckless man
who’s gonna dive on Guillotines when he is hurting his opponent on the feet I don’t know how to square that but he
fights Kevin Holland and Kevin Holland nobody really runs over Kevin Holland
like Kevin Holland is a very tough out for just about anybody the only time Kevin Holland has been stopped in his
career by knockout and you know that’s I think what everyone expects is Stephen Thompson in the fourth round with a
corner stoppage that he was still ready to keep fighting in so look if Jack Dela comes in and puts the hands on him um
that’s going to go a long way to making people forget but it has totally scared me off him and honestly makes me really
concerned about this fight because Kevin Holland’s really tough and Kevin Holland can mix things up and I don’t if Kevin
Holland’s in there and jawing at him and doing the talking thing Jack D was willing to jump Guillotines on a dude he
was clubbing on the feet what’s he gonna do to a dude who is like actively provoking him is he gonna fight really
stupid like I don’t have any idea so I think this is great matchmaking I’m excited what we’re going to learn but um
I I will reserve my judgments until after because I think this fight will tell us a lot about who Jack Dela is and
where he’s going may I may I pose a question Jed regarding the repeated use of
guillotines sure what if what if it had worked look think about that think about
that s simmer on that for a second look Dustin poier uh was probably the closest
anyone ever came a to beating khabib and he wasn’t all that close um as far as I
was concerned watching it and that’s the thing like uh I agree if it had worked
it would be great but that’s kind of um the thing with desperation gambles is uh
the proof is in the pudding and so if it works it is great but when it
fails it’s bad so and you know that going in and he I assume did I assume
it’s not the first time he’s ever jumped a Ghillie um but only Dustin porier can get away with jumping ghillies and I
won’t totally make fun of them for it because he’s branded it um if Jack tell a Brand’s jumping the Gillie recklessly
then maybe we can talk but um no it’s a short answer
AK Fair also does he have he doesn’t have a successful Guillotine choke in
his resume which also really begs the question of why well well question two
but what if he did if he did um look if he did if that
had locked in that would have been great fight IQ but it wasn’t because true true
if I had Wheels I’d be a wagon yeah I mean if you want to use reality as a
gauge for your evaluations then I mean by all means go ahead but you know I’m just saying if Jack Del comes out here
and hurts Kevin Holland on the feet and then Kevin Holland shoots a half-hearted takedown and and Jackie 3 names jump Sig
Gilly I’m out forever like I’m out forever on him as a prospect what hold on can we check quickly what is JDM by
submission plus 1600 plus 1600 he has like the one that
came against Randy Brown and also cost me money because submit any yeah he didn’t submit
anybody it was like Vulcan [ __ ] pulling that out of his uh on on NOS bar
this week we were going back and was like actually um Carlos olberg by TKO which I bet and then random RNC comes
out of nowhere the week before that Vulcan o deir by KO TKO pulls out the
random RNC we can go three weeks in a row of guy who has one career submission
ruining beding slips for no reason I’m just saying I’m just honestly
you probably should bet Jack Dela by submission he’s probably going to jump a gilly he’s probably going to get it and
I’m going to have people in my mentions being like Oh fight is bad like it is
it’s dumb you shouldn’t do it I am now rooting for this harder than anything I’ve rooted for all year you should bet
on it I so is that your pi2 $2 a $2 bet
gets you $34 back I’m just saying I’m just saying uh I am no I I should I’m
I’m picking Holland to win I’m picking Holland to win uh not because I think JDM is bad not because I think he was exposed in the Huffs fight I think
Holland’s good I think Holland is it’s it’s hard to we didn’t even talk about
the quo fight enough like talking about gauging someone off their performance kesa just did not look good okay we we
can all agree I remember we were in our slack going like man is is he just like is he injured or is it has it just his
has it has his time come as far as like him his mile the amount of mileage on him he did not look great you know just
K did not look good in that fight and T to his credit what did what he had to do won the fight um and I I I think think
Holland is even better than that performance show because again I don’t think we saw a great version of quesa so
he’s a bit of a wild card at 170 talking about guys being contenders I don’t know how I feel about Kevin Holland but again like talking about
people getting title fights like Sean Strickland I really see a world with Kevin Holland somehow fights his way to
a to a Welterweight Title shot and if I believe that then I can believe that he’s gonna beat uh JDM on Saturday and
I’ll go as far as to say Holland by knockouts oo all right I don’t know
about round I don’t know what round I just got a knockout a Holland by knockout feeling Jed I know you went to the AI
people you went to the you went to the technology for this and chat gbt says
Jack Del Melena gets it done uh 50-50 proposition are you going with with the
uh with technology here are you going with Kevin Holland I mean you’ve got to trust the robots I mean uh Mike the
robots are 11 and five this year I just had to confirm that um I mean they’re
just they know they know things that we never can know um they they nicknamed
him uh the hammer out of nowhere um they knew that Kevin Holland’s nickname was
Trailblazer um but they were just like Jack the hammer Dela Melena uh and who
am I to argue with Skynet um couldn’t be me so I’m I’m going Jack Dela uh I’m
going Jack Dela by decision I I thought um coming into this fight I’d pick Kevin Holland I think he does present some
very interesting challenges for Jack Dela but the robots Mike it’s it’s just a robot so um by decision because Kevin
Holland is tougher than a $2 stake um so I I don’t think Jack Dell is gonna get
him out of there but when he jumps a gilly in round three uh you guys can add me and and have your day in the
sun I’m going JDM by decision as well but I ain’t confident at all I don’t not
confident in either of the the picks that I’ve made here but so we clear JDM by decision plus
300 oh it’s not a bad B right there on draftkings.com use code promo code the
MMA hour there you go uh most intriguing
storyline outside of the top two fights AK Mike where do I begin where do I
begin I love some of the weirdness in this card I’m going to cheat here and I’ll be quick about it and throw out
some of the weirdness Mike we got two Mutant matchups we got two matchups that exist on this card because everybody
everybody else that was originally booked to fight have two of them fell we have two of them one I’ll
go yes the easiest one to explain first a middleweight about kopov and Fred
kopov uh stepped in for Chris Curtis FR stepped in for Anthony Hernandez so this is Curtis versus Hernandez and now it is
morphed into kopala versus FM easy to understand the other one is so much better the cansen man one is so bizarre
this was at least Reed versus cynthy cavio Once Upon a Time that’s that was a
fight that was booked Cav sh is this the same fight thank you this is yes this is
the the ship of thesias of fights uh is this still at least Reed versus cyia Calo philosophers will be debating this
for centuries I don’t know I think I think we should put it on both of their
resumes uh so Calia with true she was replaced by uh Jasmine lucindo then Reed
got moved to the belt with lupy which is now on this card because lupy was supposed to fight Sam Hughes Sam Hughes
withdrew and then to take Reed’s place in the matchup uh against lucendo uh
what they called in kuten not nutsen yep but then uh lucindo withdrew and was
replaced by Marik BL blinded by the lights man so that’s just awesome I love that so much uh I love mutant matchup we
have two of them I think thesis’s ships matchups are even better uh Jed I may have to change to that I don’t know why
I never thought of that before and then I mean this is as theis ship as it
gets the crazy the for me the I don’t know I want to know who’s betting on this fight because I don’t know where to
go with this uh Daniel Lera possibly going 0 for five and maybe becoming the
first fighter in UFC history to lose all five his UFC fights by knockout or submission he was the patron saint of
flyweight unders last year uh he was just guaranteed to not make it past the Midway point of the second round he’s
he’s got a decent match up in in in kyz like if if I didn’t know that he had lost four straight fights I’d kind of
like leera’s chances here but he’s understandably a pretty big Underdog based his UFC results but uh yes a small
handful you can count on one hand I think literally five Fighters have ever gone 0 and five in the UFC throughout
their career and Daniel Lera can join that list so thrilling stuff don’t
forget we were supposed to get D Rod versus Santiago ponzano on this car we were supposed to get shaar Man versus
Kevin G on this card too AK I’m go ahead Jed I’m diving into this AK
and if I have this right and I believe that I do this could be a
record-breaking event because Elise Reed obviously is is now um fighting Lup gz
she lose to lupy godz that’s tough however if yosephine nutson loses to
McMahon I think that means elast Reed goes 0 and two on the night because I
believe man is the thesis’s uh ship replacement part for at least Reed and I
think it’s uh I think it’s nutson who is the replacement piece for Cynthia Calo
so Calo might pick up a loss not competing this weekend and Elise Reed might be the first woman in UFC history
to lose twice in one night sure there there are still uh pieces of the spirit
of Elise is still in the the the opening fight you’re the original matchup this is yes is still El leas Reed Cynthia
Calo that’s what’s at stake in the nuts and Man fight wow what a what a different way to
look at things uh let’s look that makes it way more interesting have you watched tape of Marik Manon she’s
awful God great nickname the saw off Savage is a fantastic nickname but also
I mean like it might be loow hanging fruit but if your name is Marik man it’s already lit
and marck is like you should just be manic marck man like it’s just a much better fight nickname even though I like
the sought off Savage like I think that’s a good nickname oh and John anik said it was kutson the K is not K
ksen that could be the case um Swedish SW K is not silent yes she is uh I’m
from the south so we’re just gonna bot things sometimes got yeah if anx says
cansen Canen it shall be yes uh Casey we’ll take a few questions
we won’t go crazy because we do have the people’s pre-fight show tomorrow and that’s all we’re going to do is answer I
have a question for Mr Jed shoot explain your so you said CH jenko off a loss
should go to 35 correct yeah I mean I just don’t know why you hang around 25
that’s less Al likee it’s just like what are you going to do at 25 you’re not going to get back I mean you can maybe
fight for title again it’s just who cares at that point at least moving up to 135 you get a win or two maybe you
can pursue a second belt and add that to the mantle so yeah I’m more I’m more talking about the the I was just
surprised you s you suggested that only because I know it’s not the same exact thing but the whole vinoski thing him
trying to do two- weight classes what’s the difference here with Chef jenko because clearly you saying if he loses
or well well that’s why I guess I was asking shenko you think when on on a loss only she should go to 35 is
that what you’re saying no I think either way she should go to 35 because I believe win if she she beats gr you
think she should go up yeah because I think she’s accomplished all that can be accomplished if she if she had not lost
I would say stay because the goal for me would always be chase after Anderson Silva and Demetrius Johnson 11 title
defenses is I a number that I genuinely do not believe anyone gives enough respect to it is UN believable that
those happened like that is I it is astonishing and so if that’s in play you
should be chasing that the whole time like that should be your full Focus because I just think that age is better
and is more meaningful um shevchenko is out of that conversation now the lost to Grasso means that that she’s cooked in
there so she can bounce volkanovski in my opinion should just be focused on chasing that down chasing down Jose Aldo
chasing down that number because like when a second belt it a lot it has cach
a but there are two people who have have double digit title defenses in UFC history there are eight to division
Champions one of those things is more difficult than impossible to do and I I
frankly respect it more and think more people should so if vul loses then as soon as vul loses if he does at
featherweight bounce immediately bounce and go pursue the second one but for me I I have always thought that just try
and rack up as many as you can because that is a substan more meaningful metric by which your career should be viewed
okay I was just kind of curious I want to get a little more in depth on it totally fair question and yeah again if
shenko hadn’t lost to Gro don’t like maybe just because the Nunes fight
would have been big but with nunz retiring I own this division
forever oh actually one more one more question the fighter who puts up 12 title defenses like that’s just I can’t even
fathom that as a as an event that is so astronomical be that one like that’s who
you should try to be is a motivated a motivated Valentine
chevchenko is that GNA be a thing soon do you do you think there was just a lack of motivation because we get this
we we say that the JN Jones a lot that no that’s why he almost lost Dominick Rays that’s why he almost lost Thiago Santos he wasn’t motivated do you think
that applies to Chev jenko at all I I don’t think people are going to say that about Valentina because I think with
John because now this week because this week everyone’s saying oh valentina’s got to get different intensity now you know I’m just I’m just kind of out there
just a different intensity but I don’t think that there were suggesting that she was not motivated before I mean you’re going to ask that about any
longstanding Champion but with JN it manifested itself in tangible ways remember he was getting trou with the
law we the PED stuff like there was there was so many cracks in the Jon Jones armor that we we had to CH
specifically spoke it into the world sure sure sure I don’t think Valentine
would ever admit something like that even if she that was the case heading into the Grassle fight or the Tyler Santos fight or uh any of her previous
fights so I I don’t think it’s as strong a narrative as it was some with someone like Jon Jones uh Jon was a little more
transparent both um intentionally and not intentionally look if if shenko comes
out wins the fight and says afterwards I was um doing hookers and blow in Vegas
and that’s why I lost Alexa groer ever I I would then believe uh
that The Narrative of motivation may come in question but uh no I I’m with AK
on this one don’t clip that particularly because part of her stick has always been like I respect all of my opponents
they’re all the hardest people I’ve ever fought blah blah blah yeah the the only time I can
remember Valentina like with this I don’t know if anger is the right word
but definitely a chip on her shoulder was before the J gon Dr fight because a lot of people were like oh from IA one
round maybe she’s already lost the fast ball oh Jess gondra is a killer she’s knocking out everybody like she could be the
one she killed Jess gandra that was that was probably the best performance of
Valentina shenk’s career she pitched a perfect game against someone that very few people to that to that point no one
had really pitched a perfect game like that against Jess Andra and she just it
was just Pillar To Post eight minutes and 19 seconds Valentina just ran her over that was the last time I can
remember her coming in with this much intensity she also had a spectacular showing against Lauren Murphy yeah that
was really the peak of Valentina if she comes in and does that to Alexa Gro um I guess I’ll feel a
little dumb that I ever doubted her and yeah I’m wondering too is this going to be seen as a um an Amanda nuda Pia type
thing if she dominates where it it was clear that’s why I I agree I think everyone agreed thato has got more
pressure on her because she doesn’t want to become the jul the flyweight Julia
AIA she just caught the champ on off night I guess she needs this more I I
agree the more the more we talk about it the more I completely agree her legacy’s already set now it’s just can her Legacy
get better she’s already Hall of Famer she’s already the goat flyweight so uh yeah cool cool Casey I assume you
already have a question queued up but I do want to make sure we get to to Carol man 91 I don’t know if you see this one
um if Grasso wins is she the fighter of the Year let’s go for it yeah I I well I
saw it because it just made I I remember I think we actually had this discussion
um between her and Strickland I’m assuming yeah it might be exactly it’s
like between her and stricken at this point and theoretically you would give Grasso The Edge because like well if
they both pulled off you know big upsets but if Grasso does it twice then surely she’s the fight of the year but I would also say I view the Strickland upset as
bigger at least in the moment um so she could be fighter of the Year Jed you
don’t like it because you you don’t want to make you don’t want to make someone fighter of the year if they just beat the same person twice absolutely not I
think it’s um I think it’s impossibly dumb your same reason for not wanting to put vul over uh Jose Aldo because like
three of his wins are all no that that was ma it was Max Holloway over Jose Aldo
it was Max Hollow beating Jose Aldo twice to win fighter of the year um just don’t like and on the max one was like
super clear this one there’s at least maybe more argument depending how the fight unfolds but like Max he just beat
Jose the exact same way it was an identical fist fight for the most part like cool you we knew after the first
one that you are an awful style match up for this dude and you did it again like it’s just uh give me a variety of
opponents it will be an incredible achievement for her to be Valentina shevchenko twice um I she at this point
probably isn’t even in my top five I’d have to really think about it but she’d be in my top five she would be in my top
five she might crack five but if Jon Jones beats Stipe it’s gonna like honestly I think the I think the case
will be Strickland versus Jones and I would probably still lean Strickland Strickland Jones and then um honestly
the actual correct answer of person who had the best wins uh would be Islam
makev if he beats Charles Oliva or conversely Charles Oliva reclaims his title and beats makev and Benny derush
those are the two best wins anybody has this year and like all three of those would undeniably for me be ahead of Gro
um and so like yeah I she’d be the female fighter of the year I guess but
yeah for sure I would say that she should not be in this conversation realistically it does feel more compelling when you have like other
names in there right cuz we should remember it wasn’t Strickland um beating a dis he beat uh ovov I’m pretty sure he
was the underdog in the ovov fight I could be wrong that proba was at 205 too it was but I mean on five days it was
essentially a middleweight fight essentially middleweight fight right just guys actually I strictly I remember stri well whatever that’s that’s that’s
in the past but I remember strictly saying I don’t know why he took that fight at such a heavy weight because he but but remember imav is not is not a
light heavyweight either right so it was they’re both middleweights right they’re both middle didn’t cut weight right so
there’s and then he he destroyed Aus me
medov so Casey I’m totally with you on that but there is definitely part of this like with all of these sorts of
awards across sports that is narrative and the idea um in January that Sean Strickland would be here like that adds
some juice to his case yeah all right turn of the Year Sean Strickland was off
the betting boards for end ofe middleweight champion and now look at him like that that gives
you some ju actually if if anything Strickland is without a doubt I mean it sounds weird saying it fighter of the
year and breakthrough fighter of the Year considering where he started and where he ended if we still did breakthrough I would a th% be voting him
for breakthrough fighter of the year um I will probably not be voting him fighter of the year the winner of makev
ol is going to be my fighter of the year I’m like 90% sure of yeah right now
strick’s the front run because those two wins are better if makev beats volkanovski in the fight of the year and
then again dummies Charles Ola it’s going to be really hard for me to say anyone had a better year than that and
conversely if Oliva dummies Benny darush who everyone thought was the second coming and then reclaims his title by
beating the top pound pound fighter in the world it’s also going to be very hard for me to say he didn’t have the best year in the sport yeah Charles for
me be number one if he’s if he managed to pull off that that win in the rematch Charles number one easily I don’t know
but and but it’s weird I don’t know if I feel the other way though though I’m not sure why you’re right Islam in that you’ve always been an Islam hater you’re
on team Charles no I just want to see khib come back and lose to Charles Ola it’s still possible it’s still in play
it’s still in play khabib has done a lot for Islam I also think that there is
this part of our heads that is like he’s not khabib and so people subconsciously
dock him in like the pound-for-pound spot because it’s like well we know that you’re not as good as a be because
that’s literally what was told to us the entire time look how great he is he’s almost as good
as abib all right uh and for the betters by
the way oh by the way sorry someone in the comments says Islam got worked by vul he got worked by vul settle
down that one the guy that won got worked four rounds of that
fight settle down sett Islam won four rounds of that fight um it was a great
fight fight of the year uh what’s the Mexico parlay I mean that’s pretty easy
you take all the Mexican Fighters and you parlay them together there are five uh fighters on topology with a Mexican
flag next to their name you can expand it if you want to add you know uh R roses Jr who certainly um I think he is
like I just can’t remember is he like was he born in Mexico or is he born in America his parents are Mexican he rocks
the the sombrero and the flag like he is definitely representing Mexico um and
then he’s no he’s born here he’s born in the states was he born yeah um but his all his fights were in like Tijana right
like when he’s 18 uh Tracy Cortez Mexican heritage um like that’s so you
can get up to like seven of them I personally have parlayed the Mexican favorites because I didn’t want to
Parlay Alexa grao on top of already betting her and betting her by decision prop um so I I just parlayed up zel
Huber Padia um chyz and uh godz so just
the four leg no no no uh no Junior no yeah no just those four legs I left thr
Rosas off um but plus 239 is what that pays out on that four legger pays out um
again lot of very big odds I mean Goden has minus 425 all the other legs are minus 2 uh
218 250 minus 290 it’s all pretty high pretty high juice adding honestly adding
roses Jr turns it from plus 239 to plus 281 because it’s a minus 800
favorite it’s just not worth it that’s what you’re saying it’s really not worth it well yeah also you know I’m just
going with the Mexican flag on topology that’s who I’m deciding is Mexican um
for this one sure yeah man I like it
yeah it’s fun parlay I’m you know get up uh I’ve got a busy day tomorrow so I
wake up you know maybe maybe do Mex me for lunch be nice I’m going to the Atlanta United game before the event
Lionel Messi’s in Atlanta going to watch him probably put the boots to us it’s gonna be great there you go sorry cool cool all
right we’ll take one more well there you go will you guys be eating Mexican food on Saturday for the fight
night I mean it’s not a bad idea never Tac we had tacos in the heck household
last night so I I live in Gardina California so yes there we there’s no no
shortage of good no shortage of Mexican food in my neighborhood I mean that that’s the
dream that’s just the dream Mexican is the greatest of Cuisines I’m I’m of that
opinion it’s pretty damn good you got you guys are you fans of fla big fla fans
not a huge fla fan also that’s a movie quote that I can’t remember um but it’s
not bad but it’s not my go-to certainly I’m a big respect the pl uh I respect it
you know Custer Custer baby but it’s not CRM you
know questions questions people questions I think we’re good we’re I think we’re good I think we’re good AK
wants to keep talking AK is committed to discuss do you have a question that we
need to answer uh your mind I have a question yeah um oh wait actually maybe
you guys maybe there is an answer why is Roman kopov fighting Josh fmed on this card what does that that’s one of that’s
one of our mutant matchups that was Chris Curtis was supposed to fight Anthony Hernandez and then kop replac
Curtis and friend replaced Hernandez so okay okay I guess having fluffy okay
I’m in on that now like that’s just such a standout weird fight so that’s another uh boat of thes ship of thesis fight by
the way is this is this still Chris Curtis versus Anthony Hernandez you tell me I don’t know oh actually can I get a
prediction from you guys since we didn’t talk about it real quick so I think this fight is super interesting Cortez versus
Yas I don’t know how to say it Jasmine Yas
yish um I’m going to assume we talked about this on noet SP I’m leaning
towards uh Yasmin just because I’ve never been all the way sold on Tracy
Cortez and I think she’s going to be considerably smaller when they’re standing across each other like in the cage I think that’s probably enough but
um as one of the most competitive fights on the card at least on paper certainly so yeah yeah I was not not I was not a
Yasmin I I didn’t believe in her until I saw what the work that she did to random Maverick so I even though I think I
think it was an off night for Rand Maverick but regardless Yasmin did it and put the boots to her so I’m actually
um I’m I’m kind of I’m about to jump on that Yas man hype train I’m kind of if that version of
she yeah she has I I just I just didn’t I think did she start in UFC off of a
loss did she get her butat K Hans she beat K Hansen and then Natty Ice gassed
her up but I mean it’s Natty Ice you know that’s that’s Mike’s favorite fighter
yeah it was kind of before we knew who she was too yeah yeah if if the version of her that beat Maverick shows up on
Saturday I think she handily beats Tracy Cortez but I I don’t know I I I’m very
um I’m very hesitant to get behind Canadian I hes even say I guess she is a prospect
Pro yeah she’s only been fighting for three or four years I mean she’s only been fighting for three or four years she’s 34 if you I know 34 years young 34
years young uh she only been fighting since 2019 you know so um I’m hesitant
to say Prospect she’ be a prospect according to Ultimate Fighter 31 guidelines she could still fit in there
uh so I I I don’t know if I’m just reverse jinxing and I you know I don’t want to put my heart into another
Canadian because we just haven’t had a big like a big hitter in a while um but
I do think the best version of her beat the best version of Tracy Cortez right now it’s hard to know what to what what
you’re getting from um Cortez after coming off such a long layoff ja jazza just that pace is gonna
be a problem for a lot of women in this division she doesn’t stop like even that like Natty Ice kicked her Natty Ice
punched her and kicked her in the face seemingly a thousand times and just kept
coming uh and I don’t think Tracy had Tracy certainly doesn’t have the Striking prowess to to stop Jasmine now
could she take Jasmine down and kind of lay out her and beat her up down there and just hold her on the
floor sure she’s done that to a lot of people but if she can’t if she doesn’t have a lot of success late in this fight
wrestling Jasmine’s just gonna kind of intro way back I could see Cortez winning the first round getting a
getting a takedown after a pretty even start maybe winning the first round and then maybe in the second round she tries
for another takedown Jasmine stuffs it and then she starts turning it on and then jasine just keeps running downhill
from there so I’m picking Jasmine too I think there’s value on her um from a
betting perspective as well but it’s the third best it’s the third most interesting fight on this card for sure
it’s the Main Event co-main Event it’s this fight the one more one more fight I want to shout out one weird I kept
forgetting I almost forgot to bring it up during the weigh-ins and I almost forgot to bring it up now the return of Alex
Reyes uh people probably don’t even know don’t even remember he had one UFC fight
he fought Mike Perry This was six years ago ex it will be exactly six years ago when he steps into the cage on Saturday
night September 16th 2017 almost 2200 days on the Shelf he has been dealing
with osteomyelitis uh osteitis bone infection uh I’m not a doctor that sounds pretty
serious to me I’m glad to hear he’s taking this time off but he was a 30-year-old man when he made his USC debut he’s 36 now he’s one of the bigger
underdogs in the card and he’s also facing a guy who’s pretty pretty like decent in Charlie Campbell a newcomer uh
coming on a short notice who’s who’s actually fought for some decent organizations so I understand why he a big Underdog but this kind of a fun
little wild card pick here um Alex Reyes the older brother of Dominic Reyes maybe they’re just giving him one more fight
because he’s been under contract this whole time and you know if he loses then it’s Happy Trails or maybe we get a nice little little comeback story here I I I
honestly have no idea what to expect here I just know Rey a monster Underdog Campbell’s a big favorite and uh I’m
glad it’s the second fight of the night because I’m I’m intrigued I’m intrigued to see how this one’s gonna go shout out to John Ray MMA on Twitter who uh
reached out to me to uh inform me a true fact that I have since confirmed uh the
last time Alex Rey has fought uh Valentina shenko was still competing at
bantamweight she had not dropped crazy to 125 to start her title rign the last
time Alex R stepped into the cage because that didn’t happen until 2018 so uh that’s pretty
nuts yeah I don’t know what I don’t know what we’re going to see I don’t know it has he just been you know has this time
off just been actually really good for him while he recovers from this this condition and he’s in Peak shape for a 36y old you know not a lot of mileage
for a 36y old fighter and then he’s going to you know shock Charlie Campbell or is Charlie Campbell uh again even
though he’s coming on a short notice I think someone who’s going to get he was going to get picked up by the UFC sooner rather than later or at least get a
contender series shot um is he going to just you know do what he’s supposed to do and take care of business here against a considerably older fighter I
don’t know but fun fun one for the second fight in the prelims the entirety of one of the most
dominant runs as Champion he has been gone for that
is good luck buddy I hope you do well might have come back for the beginning of her second dominant run who
knows I guess find out that’s a new gambling thing going forward Alex Reyes maybe he’s the maybe he’s connected to
Chef jenko’s dominance somehow J it’s gonna be it’s gonna be an interesting fight it’s gonna be an
interesting fight Charlie he could beat Charlie Campbell sure I like Charley Charlie’s fun exciting
guy but wouldn’t it be something if Alex re in the second fight of the night and I’m picking it to happen too
my typology pick will be Alex Reyes third round come layoff six comeb back
finish Charlie Campbell 108 him in the first round but Alex just battles up and then comes back and chips away and
finishes Charlie Campbell round J wasn’t even born
yet I did I did the math he wasn’t even born yet Che your math we actually did did
say this on Nob BET’s board he was in like the sixth grade um also didn’t you say that
Charlie C didn’t you say that Charlie Campbell’s entire career fighting career
has happen hadn’t even started yet yeah so Charlie campell’s entire amateur and professional career has happened during
this layoff all of it Charlie campell’s amateur career started in 2018 so yes
because Rey’s last fight was 2017 like he’s all of it happened it’s absolutely
nuts Mike you just had a brilliant idea I hope our friends at tapology a very very good website right um will allow us
to add a a comeback multiplier for picks and be like this one’s going to be a
comeback um because I think you should get more points on tapology if you correctly predict a comeback that’s just
heroic I’m the guy who said that taiu iasa versus Alexander volkoff was gonna
end in second round Ezekiel choke during the watch party before that fight even began now I
mean your powers for good but it’s gonna be Charlie Campbell’s gonna like look
good he’s gonna have Alex in such trouble then Alex is just gonna battle back because he’s been through worse
he’s been through worse than Charlie Campbell punching him in the face and what a moment it’ll be he’ll set the tone for a very fun noce UFC card going
down tomorrow people’s pre-fight show leading into the card and perfect exit
music everybody this is absolute fire absolute fire also shaa to all of our
Jewish Watchers woohoo yes sh well we’ll
see you tomorrow everybody for AK for Casey for Jed I am M get a good night’s sleep we’ll see you tomorrow
everybody love y’all love all of
y’all
