Will I ever recover from this?

The changing of the guard happens in combat sports with shocking finality. At UFC 317, we witnessed this brutal reality as Ilia Topuria continued his meteoric rise by knocking out Charles Oliveira in devastating fashion during the first round of their championship bout.

What makes Topuria's victory particularly remarkable is the context surrounding it. This completes a trifecta of legend-slaying that includes Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and now Oliveira – three fighters who have defined their respective weight classes for years. At just 28 years old, Topuria's ceiling seems limitless, drawing inevitable comparisons to Conor McGregor's historic run but potentially with even more longevity and skill.

For Oliveira fans (and we count ourselves among them), the knockout was genuinely heartbreaking. The Brazilian's journey from underdog to champion has been one of MMA's most inspiring stories. His resume speaks volumes: victories over Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, and many other elite fighters. This loss doesn't diminish his legendary status, but it marks a pivotal moment in the lightweight division.

Beyond the main event, UFC 317 delivered across the board. Joshua Vann and Brandon Royval made history with their flyweight war, each landing over 200 significant strikes in just three rounds – a new UFC record. At only 23, Vann's performance against the division's #1 contender suggests we're witnessing the birth of another future champion. Alexandre Pantoja further cemented his dominance with a definitive submission win over Kai Kara-France, proving why many consider him among the pound-for-pound elite.

We also discuss Jon Jones' retirement announcement and its implications for the heavyweight division. After holding the belt for nearly two years with just one title defense, Jones steps away, allowing Tom Aspinall to claim the undisputed championship. But with limited compelling contenders, can anyone truly challenge Aspinall's reign?

Subscribe now and join our conversation about these pivotal moments in UFC history. Do you see Topuria surpassing McGregor's legacy? What's next for Oliveira? We want to hear your thoughts!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:17

Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us on another amazing episode of Peak Points. Another amazing episode of Peak Points. Today, we're going to mourn the loss of someone near and dear to me, and it's going to be a special UFC episode. We're going to talk about Charles Oliveira, we're going to talk about that UFC 317 card, and we'll talk a little bit about Jon Jones as as well. Harley, let's get into the octagon, let's do it. Ufc 317 what a card, dude.

Speaker 1 0:54

uh, this card did not fail to deliver there were some good fights uh, we'll go ahead and just start this all the way down to the early prelims. Uh, one notable one was that nico price versus jacoby smith. Jacoby smith undefeated. Look at those odds right there on that usc page that is absurd we had minus 2100 for jacoby smith, plus 1100 nico price. Jacoby smith delivers, still undefeated, delivers by submission and uh, that was actually a pretty great fight to cap. To start off that, that early prelim card. In the prelims we had terence mckinney uh versus borshev, terence mckinney taking that by submission.

Speaker 2 1:38

Great performance by him in round one, two in round one.

Speaker 1 1:42

Another great performance was tracy cortez uh versus uh. Arajo and uh. This is tracy cortez's first fight in like a year um her last one against rosanama eunice, so I think this was really great. Great to see from her part. Um. I know that she was really striding for this victory and she got that off by unanimous decision. After that we had that Jose.

Speaker 2 2:10

Miguel Delgado versus Emil.

Speaker 1 2:11

Another round, one finish. What a nasty knockout. Oh man In the prelims, it's just a great card all around. It was just absolutely amazing. And we had another knockout right after that one, A very scary knockout by Gregory Rodriguez, RoboCop.

Speaker 2 2:30

Yeah, that was an unfortunately slow stoppage. Oh man, those follow-up shots though. Oh god, he was completely limp and he still went after it Still went after it.

Speaker 1 2:42

Some controversy with that one, but what an amazing knockout, Jack Hermanson, for the people who are concerned was medically cleared later on that night. Good and he was good, but what a scary knockout.

Main Card Early Fights Analysis

Speaker 1 2:56

What a way to end those prelims, dude. And that just goes to show you what a great card this was. Off to the main card. We got that first fight, peyton Talbot. He was the underdog in this one, very surprising, even though he lost pretty decidedly the last time to Rayoni Barcelos. He had a major deficit in the odds there in the in that last fight and he just got uh, as a lot of people called fraud checked oh yeah yeah but in this one.

Speaker 1 3:32

He really showed a lot of improvement. Uh, I think, leaps and bounds um as far as his ground game right. Uh, mixing it up well, winning by unanimous decision. Peyton Talbot is a really good up-and-comer in the bantamweight division, so we'll wait to see a little bit more from him. Yeah. And this fight. I was very excited about a rebooking of this fight Benil Darius versus Renato Moicano and Renato.

Speaker 2 4:01

Moicano. That was a pretty intense fight.

Speaker 1 4:04

Intense and Renato Moicano. That was a pretty intense fight. Intense I mean just intense pacing and intense striking from both of these gentlemen. Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:17

I did feel like Renato Moicano started off with an advantage speed advantage he was stronger in the first round and a half.

Speaker 1 4:20

Yes, In the first round, even knocking down Benil Darius and giving us a great scare. But Benil Darius giving us another classic of his fights where you just count him out and he just adjusts so quickly.

Speaker 2 4:37

Yeah, he clearly had some trouble at first with Moicano's fight style, trouble at first with his fight with uh moicano's fight style, but he, he was pretty quick to adjust and not get uh taken out by an unfamiliar fight style, if you will. But uh, yeah he. I mean he wasn't a crushing victory by any means, but it was a clear victory a clear victory on benio's part.

Speaker 1 5:03

Renato moicano, unfortunately. He said he couldn't afford to lose. Well, he lost this one anyway. Let's see where he goes. I mean 36 years old. It's funny because in that press conference he was like Benio, you're 15 years. I don't know if it was older or younger 15 years older than me. There's only room for one old man up here.

Speaker 2 5:28

In a 15 days. 15 days, yeah, days older 15 days older.

Speaker 1 5:31

I'm sorry, 15 days older. So I mean, it's just a funny, he's a funny guy. Right, yeah. And I hope to see Moicano back in action later on or as soon as possible.

Speaker 2 5:45

And let's see if he bounces back from this one. I hope so, because I mean he has an enjoyable fighting style.

Speaker 1 5:49

Yeah, absolutely Enjoyable fighting style. Enjoyable on the microphone.

Speaker 2 5:54

Well, I care less about that.

Speaker 1 5:56

Absolutely. I mean, all that matters is that win and Benil Darius locked in that win.

Speaker 2 6:03

He sure did.

Speaker 1 6:05

And we'll talk about a fight that excited me very much. So, from start to finish that, Brandon Royval versus Joshua Vann oh, I'm in awe.

Speaker 2 6:17

Go ahead and lay it out.

Speaker 1 6:18

I'm in awe of the significant strikes. Let's mention real quick these two gentlemen making history by getting the most significant strikes in a fight Landing 200 plus significant strikes each, mind you this is a three round fight, yeah. So that's just imagine if this was a five round oh man. So that's just imagine if this was a fight round oh man. And this one really puts into perspective how great the flyweight division is and how amazing Joshua Vann is.

Speaker 2 6:57

Yes, joshua Vann was. He was pretty impressive. I do have to say that my take on that fight was it was kind of sad because, honestly, roy Valls seemed like he was doing a lot of aimless just wailing at Van, and when he did hit I know they're considered significant strikes they weren't. They weren't, they weren't at all. He wasn't doing hardly any damage, like at all.

Speaker 1 7:32

And it does show that Joshua Vann did have the harder hitting hits man he did. He was hitting way harder, Way harder.

Speaker 2 7:38

Not that he could do much with the harder hits, clearly because Roy Voll is tough enough to handle it Absolutely. It was disappointing to see that many hits just constantly flying out.

Speaker 1 7:51

But he wasn't doing Jack Diddley with most of them, yeah a testament to Joshua Vann's training camp, to his preparation, to his bag as a whole. No matter what, though, brandon Royval kept going forward, and Joshua Vann just was cooking him the entire time, and you could see the strike difference in just kind of the damage that it gave to Royval dropping him in the third round to end that round. You go from no 10 facing the number one contender on short notice. It's just, joshua Vann just did the perfect fight.

Speaker 2 8:38

I was honestly fully expecting Roy Vowell to win, simply based on number of strikes, until that last round where Van took him down. But I was proceeding the takedown. I was getting pretty disheartened by the fight, honestly, because that was a lot of strikes and, don't get me wrong, that's an impressive amount of stamina, impressive just pace. That was a lot of strikes and don't get me wrong, that's an impressive amount of stamina Impressive.

Speaker 2 9:12

Just the pace, pace. But I just feel like if you're going to be doing these things, you should be trying to make each strike count. Absolutely Not just throwing whatever you can and hoping and hoping it sticks so in that. In that respect I was. I was getting more and more, uh, disheartened as the fight went on, because I was like there's, there's just no way van's gonna win unless he can, like, lay him out right and, and he basically did yeah, I mean, it wasn't ko, but he basically did lay him out.

Speaker 2 9:43

So he did win and I am glad of that, because if Roy Val had won with the minimal damage he was dealing, it would have been kind of annoying to me. I mean, that's just my take.

Speaker 1 9:57

I mean and this fight in general. Myself and a lot of people have considered this fight as one of the greatest fights of the year and possibly fight of the year. I'm on that same boat.

Speaker 2 10:08

It was just uh it's certainly of the month uh, it's, it definitely was an amazing fight.

Speaker 1 10:13

And uh shout out to joshua van what a great performance against number one contender at just 23 years old yeah, yeah, I mean that's that.

Speaker 2 10:23

That makes me excited for the rest of his career makes me very excited, just the amount of improvement.

Pantoja's Dominant Title Defense

Speaker 1 10:29

I mean that we've seen he he's just hasn't faltered in any of his fights and uh, him getting pulled into the cage later on, which we'll talk about. We'll move on to that.

Speaker 2 10:43

Uh other belt that was on the line, that flyweight belt, alexandre pantoja versus kaikara, france, and cannot say enough about pantoja's performance dominating the sheer dominance dominating performance and in that respect I don't think Van's ready personally from his showing with Roy Vaughn, but I think he can get there. I think he might need another fight or two before he's actually ready to go with Pantoja, but obviously it seems like what's going to happen and I don't mind it.

Speaker 1 11:25

Let me happen and I don't mind it. Let me tell you why I don't mind it. Dc made a great point about this in another show. He's only 23. He's going to be facing what people are considering one of the greatest flyweights of all time. Win or lose. There's so much time for him.

Speaker 2 11:49

Just that the ceiling is oh yeah, and it'll be an amazing learning experience if he loses.

Speaker 1 11:54

If he loses even if he loses, he could come back. I mean only 23 come back the next year, the year after. That Point is I do like that they pulled Joshua Vann into the cage after Pantoja's dominant win over Kaikara France. I like that they're doing that and kind of letting us know who may or may not be next, you know. Yeah. Let's not take away from Pantoja's performance against what a lot of people consider one of the hardest hitting flyweights in Kaikara, france.

Speaker 2 12:31

Yeah, that was something I was going to throw out there as well. I mean the fact that Kaikara France lasted as long as he did, that's quite the testament to his level of skill and durability, if you will. Because a lot of fighters would have folded under that much pressure from such an experienced fighter as Pantoja yeah, absolutely, and pulling out I mean every round.

Speaker 1 13:03

He was dominating him. Yeah. However, I mean trying to pull off that rear naked choke the whole time Pantoja's specialty and, like you said, holding off until the third round. However, he just showed what kind of dominance a true champion can have in his division. Absolutely. Lapping the division, fighting Kaikara France a second time and absolutely dominating him, and myself and a lot of people have said that it just seems like Pantoja's improving in every single fight.

Speaker 1 13:41

Yeah, I mean, he hasn't rested on his laurels at all no he's constantly striving to be, effectively the perfect fighter within his class yeah, and it and it seems I mean it seems as though he is. He is, uh, the consummate flyweight champion. I they're comparing him to Demetrius Johnson, the greatest of all time in that division. So I mean, I know that Pantoja feels disrespected by the pound-for-pound rankings and I'm going to canvas and say that I hope he does go up in the pound-for-pound rankings.

Speaker 2 14:20

Yeah, me too.

Speaker 1 14:21

I think he deserves it. I mean, this is his fourth title successful title successful. Fourth successful title defense. Yeah. And he does it in a dominant fashion, mind you, kaikara Francis coming off a knockout win of Steve Ersig, someone who Pantoja recently fought five rounds with. So it just shows what kind of improvement Pantoja has every camp and what kind of dominance as a champion he has.

Speaker 2 14:50

Mm-hmm. And just to make a lighthearted joke. To be fair, there's not a lot of pounds there to really account for in a pound-for-pound ranking in a flyweight bout.

Speaker 1 15:02

Yeah, I mean, but not to mention that pound-for-pound in a flyweight bout. But yeah, I, I mean, but not to mention that pound for pound. Uh, that the flyweight division is the most disrespected division in ufc.

Speaker 2 15:12

Uh, however, I mean kind of seems like it's just there to have a as an as an outlet for the smaller guys absolutely, and it is a division that was at one point gonna get scrapped and not ever exist.

Speaker 1 15:27

However, the Brandon Royval vs Joshua Van fight, the Pantoja vs Kaikara France fight, shows that the flyweight division has some immense skill.

Speaker 2 15:38

Oh, it's definitely earned its place within UFC.

Speaker 1 15:39

It's definitely earned its place.

Speaker 2 15:43

Just because they're small doesn't mean that they're not great fighters. Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:47

And just showcasing an immense amount of skill, and I do hope that Pantoja goes up in those pound for pound rankings. Uh-huh, and that's the last fight we're going to talk about for that card. We'll move on.

Speaker 2 16:05

Now we have a headliner fight.

Speaker 1 16:08

I don't know what you're talking about. I skipped that fight. I didn't watch it, you know Fine, oh man.

Toporia vs. Oliveira Heartbreak

Speaker 2 16:18

Poor Olivera, he got slept.

Speaker 1 16:23

I'll talk about it, but I'm not proud and I hope the listeners hear the pain in my voice and I've been watching this sport for nearly 17 years and honestly, this is a very heartbreaking moment for me and I'm sure for Charles as well. Without further ado, I guess we'll talk about it. Uh, ilia toporia versus charles olivera. What's left to be said about ilia?

Speaker 2 16:59

what he's a beast what a legendary run.

Speaker 1 17:03

I'll just start off by saying that knocking out balkanowski, moving on to max holloway and knocking out holloway someone who's never even been knocked down moving up to 155 and knocking out charles olivero in the most disgusting fashion, knocking him out some like like this, someone that no one hasn't been able to do this, and winning in round one, it's just. I think it's a legendary run. I will definitely.

Speaker 1 17:42

I will say people are comparing this run to Conor McGregor. I mean, yes, conor McGregor has done some amazing things in this sport and really added that spotlight to the UFC, becoming one of the most notorious fighters in mixed martial arts. However, this Ilya Toporia, I believe beats Conor McGregor, beats prime Conor McGregor.

Speaker 2 18:12

I mean, granted, I wasn't watching during McGregor's runs, but from the clips I've seen of McGregor and the full fights I've seen of Topuria, yeah, I honestly think Topuria would mop the floor with Conor McGregor.

Speaker 1 18:29

Yeah, but I will say their run in this sport is very similar. You got both double champs at 28 years old, both winning in dominant fashions. But Toporia, knocking out three legends back to back to back is just something generational. And a lot of people I agree with a lot of people saying that this is something else. This is someone who is becoming a legend of the sport. I mean, I know they say you beat a legend and you do it so often that you become the legend. And at 28 years old I mean Toporia, the ceiling is just so high. I mean, what's left to say? You know Charles Oliveira I'm very biased. He is one of my favorite fighters of all time.

Speaker 2 19:28

And I mean he's a good fighter. There's no denigrating that just because he lost here. He's a good fighter, there's no denigrating that just because he lost here. He's a great fighter, he has some amazing records behind him and he's just an awesome human outside of the ring as well Outside of the ring.

Speaker 1 19:47

Yes, I mean, this doesn't diminish him as a fighter, as a legend, as a man. But that knockout was absolutely horrendous.

Speaker 2 20:00

It was, it really was.

Speaker 1 20:03

He put him to sleep, but with the eyes open. It was very concerning and I know a lot of UFC fans feel my pain. As a longtime UFC fan, as a longtime Charles fan, I mean, this is just an immense pain for me. An immense pain yeah. And UFC is. I mean, I've said this to a couple of friends. I called a couple of friends right after this loss because I needed to feel like I had some people around yeah. Because I just felt dead inside.

Speaker 2 20:45

So, all this said, a fighter within that weight class that I honestly would like to see Ilya go up against next. I'm not saying that this fighter has a fantastic chance of winning against him, but I would like to see how he fares, and that would be Gaethje. Oh, wow. Because Gaethje is an absolute dog Right. He just takes the damage and keeps on coming. So it'd be really interesting to see how Toporia would handle that. I'm not saying he couldn't, I'm just saying I would like to see him do so.

Speaker 1 21:26

Absolutely, and we'll talk about that as well. We'll talk about who we'll see against Toporia, who will be his first defense for that lightweight belt has that been decided yet? However, they did pull someone into the cage with him, and that was patty the baddie pimble oh, yeah, yeah I mean they have a deep history they do uh, I mean they've fought each other backstage patty pimble calling uh, calling him hand sanitizer boy for years now.

Speaker 2 21:56

Really, I've never heard this.

Speaker 1 21:58

You've got to look it up.

Speaker 2 22:00

I don't really follow the UFC outside of the ring.

Speaker 1 22:05

And this is a while ago, so this is almost like a culmination, almost like a long time coming. If you were to watch that fight and saw patty in the background after that knockout, he did seem fairly excited about it and walked into the cage.

Speaker 1 22:22

This doesn't mean that that is the fight that I want to see yeah I'll tell people the fight I want to see is the number one contender, uh, armin sarukian. I feel like a lot of people are letting him out to dry and forgetting that he weighed in as the backup fighter for this fight. He is the number one contender still in that division.

Speaker 2 22:47

I had no idea.

Speaker 1 22:48

So I believe it should be Armin next. I believe it should be Armand next. Let's see whether or not he kind of throws a wrench in that. I mean Dana White saying at the press conference afterward saying that Patti Pimlet being in the cage was a mistake and that he doesn't know who approved that. Okay, however, okay. However, from the context it kind of sounded like he was more so concerned that Toporio's family was in the cage at the time.

Speaker 2 23:25

And it was more like a safety hazard kind of thing.

Speaker 1 23:26

Oh, because of their previous fighting just randomly within the and they did, they did push each other, you know.

Speaker 2 23:33

In the ring, this time In the did, they did push each other, you know, in the ring.

Speaker 1 23:35

This time In the ring they did push each other.

Speaker 2 23:36

I got to be honest. After the fight was announced, I stopped watching because I'm not into the whole.

Speaker 1 23:42

I wish I could have stopped watching.

Jon Jones Retirement Controversy

Speaker 1 23:43

Harley, I wish I could have, but I couldn't stop staring and it was a very quiet time for me Both physically and emotionally. But anyway, I digress. Uh, the next fight I think should be for uh toporia. I think it should be armin saruki and I mean I know that he already let the ufc down once with that whole islam thing and missing that fight and one day notice and stuff like that. But I do believe he still deserves that chance and I do believe he kind of stands the most chance against Emporia Gaethje, amazing fighter, one of my favorites as well. But I feel like the kind of person that Gaethje is is a walk into the fire kind of guy.

Speaker 2 24:36

That probably doesn't work too well with Toporia.

Speaker 1 24:40

That's the thing. Charles is also a walk through the fire kind of guy, a walk forward, no matter what guy Walked forward no matter what and walked into a wall, walked into a brick wall with Toporia, and I think that might be the same story if he was to fight Justin Gaethje and walked into a wall, walked into a brick wall with Toporia, and I think that might be the same story if he was to fight Justin Gaethje. I have heard that his first title defense he would want it to be Justin Gaethje, but let's just wait and see what the UFC has in store.

Speaker 2 25:09

Oh for sure, and like I was saying before, I'm not saying that Gaethje has necessarily earned it because his last fight was less than stellar. His performance in that fight was definitely less than stellar.

Speaker 1 25:28

Shout out to Fazeev for putting up that great fight against Gaethje.

Speaker 2 25:31

Oh yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 25:32

What a banger. If you guys want to go ahead and watch that. That's Fazeev versus against Gaethje. Oh yeah for sure. What a banger If you guys want to go ahead and watch that. That's Fazeev versus Justin Gaethje 2. But coming off that loss previously to that one to Max Holloway, I just feel like that kind of lowered a little bit of stock and lowered a little bit of confidence in Justin Gaethje. True, I mean against this guy who's literally knocking out legends. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 25:53

And Justin Gaethje, future Hall of Famer. That would just be another legend.

Speaker 2 26:00

Another notch in his belt. Another notch in his belt. You know who? I really, really do not want him to fight, can you guess?

Speaker 1 26:10

I hope it's Bobby Flay.

Speaker 2 26:11

No, I mean within the division.

Speaker 1 26:13

Oh yeah, not Bobby Flay. No, I mean within the division. Oh yeah, not Bobby Flay. He's 170,.

Speaker 2 26:16

I would think oh, come on, you don't have a guess, chandler.

Speaker 1 26:23

Oh wow, that would be crazy.

Speaker 2 26:26

I'm not saying it couldn't be entertaining, but I just don't think Chandler has it in him.

Speaker 1 26:32

I don't, so you don't want him to fight Chandler. I don't think Chandler has it in him, I don't. So you don't want him to fight Chandler.

Speaker 2 26:35

I don't. I don't think it would be a reasonable matchup.

Speaker 1 26:38

I got some good news, some premature news, obviously. This is in the ether right now. It's a rumor that Michael Chandler might face Mauricio Rufi. He'll be fighting nerds, I mean. Let's just wait and see. I'm hearing some other rumors too from the rumor mill Gene Silva versus Diego Lopez is also building up.

Speaker 1 27:02

So let's see, I mean, let's see, michael Chandler is a very exciting fighter, but the Toporio that we saw, this UFC 317, I just think the only person that could beat him, that could beat Toporia, is Toporia at this point. I mean, I know that Islam went up to 170. And I remember, prior to this fight, I was like I don't know how I feel about that Islam vs Toporia fight and I just feel like Islam had the advantage. After this fight, I think that Islam vs Toporia fight should have happened. I mean, you know, I think it would have been amazing true, do you think?

Speaker 2 27:58

which one do you think would have actually come out on top? How did it happen?

Speaker 1 28:05

you know what? I'll just, uh, leave it to what the odds makers had it previously, and they had islam up as the favorite.

Speaker 2 28:15

I would still no, not by significant.

Speaker 1 28:18

No, but obviously now, if they were to to rebook that fight, obviously it'd be more like a pick'em, or you know, I think I would still kind of give the nod to Islam big for being the more complete fighter. However, we don't know that, because all we see toporia do is send guys to the shadow realm, it's true. So I mean, I do think that would be an amazing test for toporia mainly because I just I don't know who.

Speaker 1 28:49

Who is has a chance right now, who is has a chance right now? And I'll leave it at Charles Dubronk's. Olivera still has history, still is a massive legend in the sport and still is one of the most beloved fighters in UFC history yeah, he has a lot going for him, even after a loss like this.

Speaker 1 29:20

After the, there was an interview afterward with Toporia where they asked him a very interesting question Are you still thinking about moving up to 170 for that third belt? Thinking about moving up to 170 for that third belt? An interesting answer from toporia was the ufc made me promise that I wouldn't. I heard that too, but I promised with my fingers crossed I did not hear that so and they asked him you had your fingers crossed right. He said yes. Okay.

Speaker 1 29:53

I mean, I don't know, dude this guy. Like I said, the sky's the limit with this guy. True. Very young, still very dominant, a legend killer, I mean. And with this win he became a superstar, unlike Conor McGregor. And I feel like they are really comparing the two, you know. Yeah. And this guy has the potential to be bigger than Conor McGregor, with the potential of even transcending the sport in and of itself.

Speaker 2 30:30

I won't say either way. I can say that from what little bit I've seen of interviews with Topuria, I certainly prefer his style over McGregor's. Mcgregor was just really annoying to me, and that's without me actually having followed the sport, just seeing what little clips I had seen without really looking for it before I started watching. And he, he was just so annoying he was, I mean to an extent.

Speaker 1 31:04

However, at the time in his prime, is not only he could talk the talk, but he was definitely walking the walk, doing similar things, knocking people out, knocking Jose Aldo also a legend of the sport.

Speaker 1 31:23

And I think that that's where the similarities lie also is kind of that immense confidence, immense confidence that they have in their skills, in their training. I mean, it's something that they both share for sure, and I do see some of the similarities in that aspect. But I also do feel like Toporia has the potential to surpass a lot of those holds for sure.

Speaker 2 31:50

He certainly has the potential.

Speaker 1 31:52

And before we go on I just want to highlight some of the fights. I'll just go like 10 fights back of all of Aera's fights. I mean what an amazing career in general. It's still yet to be known what's going to happen next, but look, he just faced Oporia. Before that, he got his win against Chandler. He lost to Sarukian a very controversial decision.

Speaker 2 32:19

Yeah, a split decision.

Speaker 1 32:20

Beat Dariush Lost to Makachev. Beat Gaethje. Winning by submission, Submitting Poirier Beating Chandler. Again Winning against Tony Ferguson Beating Lee Beating Chandler. Again Winning against Tony Ferguson Beating Lee Beating Gordon. It's just.

Speaker 2 32:44

He has a very impressive amount of wins in his belt, for sure.

Speaker 1 32:48

Very impressive the points of me bringing this up. No one has been able to do this to Oliveira like this right, and I'll leave it at that. Uh, toporia, what an amazing fighter. We'll see what he, what he uh does next for his first title defense. And uh, I actually want to go through the pound for pound rankings. They haven't been updated at the time of this recording. I'll just read off the previous one. I mean number one, islam Makachev. Number two, merab. Number three, toporia. Number four, drikus, number five and Kali of number six, volkanovski. Seven, jack Della, maddalena. Eight, tom Aspinall, nine it's pretty interesting Alex Pereira, and ten is Pantoja. I think they're tied for ninth kind of, but Pantoja, I definitely think he should go up in that pound-for-pound rankings.

Speaker 2 33:48

From his performances that I've seen, I think yes.

Speaker 1 33:51

And I think also Toporia moves up to number two pound-for-pound rankings.

Speaker 2 33:58

And just for our listeners where do you find these rankings?

Speaker 1 34:03

And you can actually find these at UFCcom. You can go to the UFC website, look up events, rankings, athletes and news and just some great information, background information on these fighters and just some great information. Background information on these fighters and that just kind of I just won't mention it to see the parallel of these two fighters that have been so dominant in this sport. I do think Ili Tzopori moves up to number two, so I would put him number two behind Islam Makachev, and that just adds to the mystique of that fight you know, having the number one pound for pound versus the number two pound for pound.

Speaker 1 34:43

Yeah, yeah. I think that's something legendary in the making, but we'll see. You know, time will tell and we'll read off the next fight that's actually coming up is July 12th. Lewis versus Tejera yeah. That should be an amazing fight. Let's see if Derek Lewis wins and says my balls are hot again. Who? Knows, but then we have UFC 318. Holloway versus Poirier for Dustin's retirement fight.

Speaker 2 35:22

Should be interesting.

Speaker 1 35:24

I think this should be interesting, but I think it's going to be another heartbreaker for me.

Speaker 2 35:28

Well, I mean to be honest.

Speaker 1 35:29

It can't not be One of them's going to have to lose One of them's going to lose and I just wish they could both win, and that should be very exciting.

Speaker 2 35:39

It honestly would be equally disappointing if it was a draw, though.

Speaker 1 35:43

A draw.

Speaker 2 35:46

I personally think that would be a really disappointing way for Dustin to go out.

Speaker 1 35:52

I think it would be crazy if they both knock each other out at the same time. You can dream huh, not anymore, not since this UFC 317 card.

Speaker 2 36:08

Your dreams are broken.

Speaker 1 36:10

No, there's nothing up there anymore.

Speaker 2 36:13

And as.

Speaker 1 36:13

I stated previously.

Speaker 1 36:15

I'm dead inside. However, for Alan, very excited about this UFC three 18 card, you got Max Holloway at the top of the card. Uh, Robert Valentin versus go go TA and uh, after that, Paula Costa versus couple of which was supposed to be on this previous card. Uh, so it's a rescheduling. Michael Johnson versus cell uber banger. Right there you got in the prelims. You got Marvin Vittori versus Brendan Allen, you got Kyler Phillips versus a Vinicius Olivero and you got a cream mascara versus Bruno Ferreira. So that's a very exciting card and, I'll add, even the early prelims are very exciting too. You got Neil Magny versus Gunnar. Nelson.

Speaker 1 37:04

Both have, you know, coming off of losses. That should be very exciting. And then you got Jimmy Crute, always an exciting fighter versus Prochino. So those are some great fights in this card. So we'll wait to tune into that. Usc 318 dustin poirier's retirement fight. I'll just mention real quick. I saw a meme that had me laughing was um, after the, if dustin poirier wins, if he calls out to Poirier at the end.

Speaker 2 37:38

Oh.

Speaker 1 37:39

God no, and everybody going no, no, don't do that, dustin, please.

Speaker 2 37:48

I think Dustin's aware that he doesn't have it in him to beat Toparia at this point in his life.

Speaker 1 37:57

I mean yeah.

Speaker 2 37:58

I would think. I would hope he does.

Speaker 1 38:00

Who knows, I don't know. I mean fighters are very interesting kind of people.

Speaker 2 38:06

That's true.

Tom Aspinall and Heavyweight Division Future

Speaker 1 38:08

And we'll go ahead and end this UFC talk with a very, very interesting topic, and that's Jon Jones.

Speaker 2 38:18

Oh God.

Speaker 1 38:20

I know, but we have to talk about it. We have to talk about Jon Jones' recent retirement and the recent crowning of a new undisputed heavyweight champion.

Speaker 2 38:36

Thank God, it only took way too long in tom aspinall very desertedly.

Speaker 1 38:42

So I mean I know you have some very strong feelings about john jones just exasperated feelings, man.

Speaker 2 38:53

I don't even have strong feelings about it anymore. It's just build, build up hype, build up hype, have a kind of a pathetic match match up after having not fought for so long yet still somehow having the, the ranking and then refusing to fight, and refusing to fight, and refusing to fight. It's, it's just exhausting.

Speaker 2 39:14

And I mean, I understand some of it might have been trying to set up like um, like uber, like an uber fight, you know, just to like drum up extra business and make more money and all that, but it was just pathetic in my opinion a very drawn out, uh, an unfortunate scenario.

Speaker 1 39:39

The person I feel the most, uh, the most bad for is tom aspinall, because of the time that was wasted waiting yeah, uh I mean, it's not really at the conor mcgregor versus chandler.

Speaker 2 39:56

Well, no, poor chandler, no, it's.

Speaker 1 39:58

It's hard to beat that it's hard to beat that, but uh, damn. I mean a year, over a year, he got his interim belt and it's just been quite the debacle. In this case and I know a lot of people are saying that this tarnishes Jon Jones's you know, his goat status, greatest of all time and a lot of people are now talking about greatest of all time and every topic is is Jon Jones the greatest, is he not? And whether or not this tarnishes.

Speaker 2 40:38

But I don't think that John Jones really cares about anybody else's opinion now, like you've said in the past, he basically gets off on being the bad guy, even though he likes to pretend he's a good guy.

Speaker 1 40:52

Yes, yeah, and that is exactly what I mentioned to these other newer USC fans is they're amazed, they're like, wow, he's a piece of shit. I can't believe he's doing this. You know, I can't believe that, which is funny because there was a recent, a recent arrest case that came out right after that retirement. The charges that were filed right after. About drinking, about John Jones, about a car, about a girl and of course they had to release that.

Speaker 2 41:27

It had nothing to do with it, for sure.

Speaker 1 41:31

And I just want to mention that a lot of people were shocked, surprised, amazed, that this would happen. However, this was giving me some freaking deja vu, brother, because I've seen this before and I've seen a lot of craziness from Jon Jones before, a lot of difficulties from Jon Jones before.

Speaker 2 41:49

I don't care how good of a fighter you are. If you're a garbage human being, you shouldn't be in a situation like this.

Speaker 1 41:54

And you sound like Daniel Cormier right now.

Speaker 2 41:57

I do I sympathize strongly with Cormier when it comes to Mr John. Jones Be a turd in every interaction he can.

Speaker 1 42:07

Yeah, and then I remember my love, my hate, my all the emotions towards Jon Jones. As I stated prior, I've been watching this sport for years. I've watched all of his fights, even the one that he lost quote-unquote lost with the disqualification. I watched that one live. That should tell you how far back I've been watching Jon Jones.

Speaker 2 42:39

Don't worry, listeners, he's a Johnny-come-lately.

Speaker 1 42:44

I mean from the beginning, and this is an understatement what an interesting character, what an interesting individual, not just because of what he does in the cage, but because of what he does outside of the cage. All the controversies, all the arrests, all the DUIs, all the PEDs, everything and all that comes with it, all that comes with it, all the drama that comes with it.

Speaker 2 43:16

But it shouldn't, it shouldn't if you want your promotion to be considered best of the best and clean, fighting and all that, you can't be having someone with all those kinds of things in their dossier. If you will, you can't. You can't have them be like a headliner of your organization. But another thing that people and be taken seriously.

Speaker 1 43:43

Another thing that can't be is you can't be doing all that right and come back and take time off and lose your belt, and then take a year off and come back and don't train. You can't do all that and win right. Theoretically, it's just not logical that you go off of drinking, you go off of cocaine use, you know drug use, which I do not condone, that it's just. It still amazes me, you know, not just all of that, but that he did all that and still won and still is undefeated.

Speaker 2 44:35

I mean there is a little touch of that, but drugs are a hell of a thing, Absolutely. And there's a reason why they're banned in virtually everything that wants to be taken seriously.

Speaker 1 44:48

Absolutely.

Speaker 1 44:49

And the fact that he was able to still compete despite all the controversy around him kind of tarnishes UFC as a whole in my opinion and that's another point of contention that a lot of people do bring up is weighing the balance between Jon Jones and the UFC, and you know, I don't know. A lot of people are newer, fans are surprised, a lot of older fans are saying this is deja vu. Myself saying this is John Jones, this is him, this is who he is and this is who he always was, up until the very end.

Speaker 2 45:28

Oh yeah, and I mean I fully understand that. It's just, it's just disappointing to me that dana was letting it continue and be a thing absolutely I mean, I understand he's his golden boy as far as making money, but like damn, sometimes you need to cut your losses and you need to also just take stock in what you want to be representing as an organization?

Speaker 1 46:04

Right, I mean absolutely, and I don't want to add fuel to the fire. I know that this is a very intense topic is the UFC and Jon Jones is a very intense topic. No matter which way you cut it, I do still think that he is the greatest of all time in the aspect of mixed martial arts. I mean, I just, if I feel otherwise, I go back to that record, I go back to that fight history. I'll name a couple people.

Speaker 2 46:37

But how many?

Speaker 1 46:38

of them were influenced by drugs. Right, and how many was he not on PDs, you know?

Speaker 2 46:44

And if that's the case, then can you still be considering Lance Armstrong the best cyclist of all time?

Speaker 1 46:50

Right, that's an amazing point. It's an amazing point.

Speaker 2 46:56

Just because he is an amazing fighter, with all this controversy, despite all this controversy. If you will, you still have to look at it, and if you're going to judge Lance Armstrong, then you need to judge him under the same auspice. It's just how it is.

Speaker 1 47:16

I would say so, but, as I was saying, I do go back and I look at that championship run. I mean just to get the belt to become the UFC youngest champion against Mauricio Shogun Rua, quinton Jackson, after that, for his defense, yoda Meshida, rashad Evans, vitor Belfort, chael Sonnen, alexander Gustafson, glover Teixeira, daniel Cormier you got St Preux, daniel Cormier again. Alexander Gustafson, anthony Smith, thiago Santos, dominic Reyes, cyril Ghosn, stipe Miocic. I look at all those fights and I say not a single one of those fights was an easy fight. Not a single one. Not a single one was an alley-oop. To Jon Jones I will say, and those are the things that I consider as a combat sports fan. However, does this kind of tarnish his legacy? Maybe, maybe not his legacy, maybe maybe not, but once you look at the paper, look at things on paper. There's no denying that Jon Jones is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, and that's my take on it, and that's my take as a long time not just UFC fan, a longtime combat sports fan.

Speaker 2 48:56

And everyone is entitled to their interpretation of the facts.

Speaker 1 49:00

Absolutely, absolutely, I mean. One thing that can't be denied, though and I'm going to push this conversation forward is that Tom Aspinall is now the undisputed heavyweight champion, making a vow to the UFC and the fans that he will be an active heavyweight fighter and is already looking forward to that side. Let's take some time and talk about that heavyweight division, uh, which is freaking barren right now, and, uh, they need some new blood in that division. I mean just that. That heavyweight division alone.

Speaker 2 49:59

It it needs some freaking help, man it does seem to be the case, yeah it does seem to be the case.

Speaker 1 50:06

It's just something that's um it's a little stagnant it's a little stagnant. I mean, I don't know if there's anybody that can beat tom aspinall in that division right now. A lot of people are pushing for cyril gunn, but then it's like what's after, what's after, um, what's after that fight is tom aspinall wins. Right.

Speaker 1 50:27

Jelton Almeida. That's another person that has been thrown out. His name has been thrown out there for that championship. Oh yeah, does that interest me. No, do any of the fights in the heavyweight division against Tom Aspinall excite me? No, really. No, really no. There's only three names that have been associated with this heavyweight title, this mess of a heavyweight title. Yeah, and honestly, that's. I'll name the last one. It's Alex Pineda, right. Everybody was like, oh my god, what if he moves up to heavyweight this and that?

Speaker 2 51:10

remember I understand. I remember that being a topic wasn't that crazy.

Speaker 1 51:14

We, we covered it, we covered it but he's not I don't think so, I don't think so.

Speaker 2 51:19

And then we have he's not prepared for that level.

Speaker 1 51:23

I don't think and then now we have another name thrown out there, Francis Ngannou, who's in the PFL, who's doing his own thing already, and it's still attached to this belt Reason being I mean yes, but didn't he recently come out and say absolutely not, or something? Or was?

Speaker 2 51:44

it. Ufc? That said absolutely not. Somebody said absolutely not.

Speaker 1 51:47

There's been so much back and forth between the UFC and Francis Ngannou, but I'll just say that the last and final name was Jon Jones. So you take those three names Jon Jones, francis Ngannou, alex Pereira. Do any of those names sound like anybody in the UFC heavyweight top 15 right now? The answer is absolutely not, and I'll read off some of these names. In that pound-for-pound ranking for um, in that heavyweight ranking, you got number one, cyrril gone, who's coming off that loss against volkoff. I mean he won, but in my heart he lost. We'll just say that okay. Number two you got alexandre uh, alexander volkoff, who he lost last fight against cyril gone, who he's lost against tom aspinall already. You got sergey pavlovich at number three, who he got knocked out by tom has been already. You got curtis blades, who got knocked out by tom has been all recently.

Speaker 2 52:56

I mean to be fair.

Speaker 1 52:58

He did win their first encounter if you call that a win, I mean tom has been got hurt. He hurt his knee, so it's like I wouldn't. I wouldn't if, to win, I'm going to beat somebody to win.

Speaker 2 53:11

Not them. Well, yeah, it does Not them. It does significantly cheapen it, for sure.

Speaker 1 53:17

Okay, so there's that, and then Jelton Almeida, who they haven't faced, but it's a body bag. I think you got Waldo Cortez Acosta, who's he's not in the top five yet. Waldo Cortez Acosta, who's he's not in the top 5 yet. Marcin Tabura I mean, another body bag, spivak. Another body bag for Tom Aspinall. You got number 9, derek Lewis, who already said that he doesn't want to fight for the belt.

Speaker 1 53:44

You got number 10, which is an odd thing to say you got number 10, taito Vasa, who is just losing every single fight and doesn't look like he takes his training camp seriously.

Speaker 2 53:55

Yeah, very true, very true on that one.

Speaker 1 53:58

So tell me, like I don't see anybody who stands a chance against this heavyweight as of now he just needs to beef himself up a little bit. You know who I'm going to say Duplessy. Oh wow, you mean the?

Speaker 2 54:19

I know you were expecting that. No, I was not expecting that one.

Speaker 1 54:23

I mean, he still has to move up to 205. But that would be crazy.

Speaker 2 54:28

That would be a wild fight If he did beef up all the way up to that point.

Speaker 1 54:33

Do a duplicy by spinning a triple 360 back kick. Anything is possible with Drikus.

Speaker 2 54:42

Yeah, yeah, he's a wild one for sure.

Speaker 1 54:45

Point is I just I don't like the heavyweight division right now. I don't like the way they look. I don't like the heavyweight division right now. I don't like the way they look. I don't like the way the rankings look yeah. I don't like that. It sounds like Cyril Gunn's gonna get this fight, even though he just uh, got a controversial win. I don't like this division as a whole and, uh, if Tom Aspinall wants to be an active heavyweight champion, as he said, he does.

Speaker 2 55:12

He needs opponents.

Speaker 1 55:13

He needs opponents and it looks like he's going to lap the heavyweight division.

Speaker 2 55:18

It does kind of seem that way, unfortunately.

Speaker 1 55:21

Which is boring.

Speaker 2 55:23

Unless they can pull some from other fight promotions, of course.

Closing Thoughts and Sign-off

Speaker 1 55:27

Unless. I mean, the next biggest fight that they can make is that Francis Ngannou fight which. What are they going to do? He's still under contract with the PFL. People are so set on having this fight created, but they're not seeing how many obstacles are in the way of this. I mean, are the PFL going to co-promote with the UFC?

Speaker 2 55:52

Not likely. I don't think so. Not likely, I don't think so.

Speaker 1 55:56

Does Dana White want Francis Ngonyu in the UFC again? I don't think so. There's just so much bad blood there. Yeah. You know, even going as far as his recent interview, they had said like oh, francis Nganyu says that he would think about fighting in the ufc again if this and this and that dana white said I had never heard of that. But he doesn't mean what he says and those are kind of like background things that we don't.

Speaker 1 56:22

We don't know about obviously, um, it's just so many complications in the heavyweight division, so many holds up and I, regardless of that, I'm still very glad that Tom Aspinall is now the heavyweight champion and I feel like he did deserve it.

Speaker 2 56:44

I don't know if I'm glad, but I am at least relieved.

Speaker 1 56:47

Well, that's something relieved that the John Jones. I don't know if I'm glad, but I am at least relieved. Well, that's something Relieved that the John Jones reign was over, and I'll give you some numbers that'll pretty much set you how so. How so? Just that John Jones held the belt, the heavyweight championship belt, from 2023 to 2025 that's really easy to do when you have years of inactivity making him one of the longest reigning heavyweight champs, with only one title defense. How crazy is that?

Speaker 2 57:28

it's utterly absurd, honestly.

Speaker 1 57:35

If that doesn't upset you, I don't know what does, but we'll keep it at that. We'll end the episode at that. I'm still heartbroken by UFC 317. And, honestly, this one was one of the most painful knockouts I have seen in the many years of watching this sport. And for that kind of thing you have to keep your gloves up and don't forget to like and subscribe and send me some good, good messages, because I need it yep, he sure does.

Speaker 2 58:16

All right, y'all, I'll catch you next time.