Did he really just ask my manager that?!

A final ESPN fight card should never limp to the finish—and this one didn’t. We start with a rapid-fire breakdown of the night’s shocks: Steven Asplund’s crisp debut, Costa’s ear-clipping head kick, and Kevin Vallejos spinning Giga Chikadze into the canvas. Then Manel Kape starched Brandon Royval and delivered a callout you’ll replay twice, proving flyweight is very much alive and snarling.

From there, we hit fast-forward through the ESPN era’s defining beats. Khabib–McGregor spilled outside the cage and into legend. Jon Jones reminded everyone what inevitability looks like. Stipe and DC traded legacies. The pandemic era gave us Gaethje–Ferguson, Poirier–Hooker, and empty-arena violence that echoed like thunder. Islam Makhachev rose, Volkanovski tested the ceiling and paid for the gamble, and Pereira–Adesanya rewrote a rivalry across sports. UFC 300 delivered instant canon: Max Holloway’s walk-off masterpiece and Pereira’s star supernova.

We don’t stop at nostalgia. We map the chaos in 2024–2025: Ankalaev–Pereira II and the light heavyweight recalibration, heavyweight’s cursed belt energy, O’Malley’s revenge, Topuria’s frightening power, and Jack Della’s emergence. If you care about divisional futures, title paths, and who actually has next, this tour has receipts.

Then, the heel turn: octagon to office. Reddit’s coworker sagas hit like short elbows—quitting over a missed pizza day, a key holder hoarding a whole pie, HR serving cold slices to the wrong shift. We unpack why one toxic coworker seems to materialize in every workplace, how status anxiety fuels petty policing, and what good management looks like when it actually listens. Also: the strangest thank-you gift ever—“guns and beans”—and a hall of fame for workplace nicknames you’ll probably borrow tomorrow.

If you love smart fight talk, sharp stories, and a few jaw-droppers, you’re in the right place. Tap follow, share this with a friend who argues about rankings, and leave a review with your favorite ESPN-era moment—we’ll shout out the best ones next time.

Transcript

Setting The Agenda

SPEAKER_04 0:16

Welcome to Peak Points. On this episode, we are going to be discussing the most recent fight card. And then we're gonna be dedicating a fair portion of it to remembering all the wonderful moments we've experienced throughout the years of the ESPN era. There are many, and we'll try to be quick, but definitely will take some time. And then after that, we'll have a juicy Reddit episode with the subject being co-worker.

SPEAKER_06 0:55

Oh that can be juicy.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

That can be juicy. And also get you quite riled up.

SPEAKER_06 1:01

Triggered! Trigger warning.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

So and with that, let's uh hop on into that octagon. And uh let's go over that la most recent fight night.

SPEAKER_06 1:18

Oh, that fight night, the last fight card on the ESPN era. And I was hoping that this was not gonna be like just one that to forget about, just one that didn't really have any uh meaning to it. Right. But I was proven wrong when this card simply amazed me, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:43

Well, I don't know about wrong, but it lived up to your hopes of it not.

SPEAKER_06 1:48

Yeah. I mean, some of the most interesting ones that really, really stood out to me was that Steven Asplun versus uh Sheriff. And Asplin, the only reason why he stood out to me was because he made this was his debut. Oh yeah. And he made a splash on this season of Dana White's contender series.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

Them really pushing his story of anti-body shaming. He uh keeps on and he reiterates in every pretty much uh chance he gets is that he was five hundred something pounds. Yeah. And he's since changed his life, and now he's uh the 260 or whatever the heavyweight is, uh 265 or whatever. Okay. But uh oh the they were going on a show like before and afters of him, and uh that but he's very athletic and very surprising, had an amazing performance in that show, uh first run now, god if I'm not mistaken, and it was quick, one of the quickest ones in the contender series, if I recall. Oh yeah? So it was all around impressive, and uh him to go on and because you get a chance to talk after you win and say your piece, and uh obviously he gave his little spiel and then said Dana White, I'll do anything, I'll even suck your toes.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Oh god.

SPEAKER_06 3:21

What look up a picture of Steven Aspin and see if that guy if you want that guy to suck your toes or not.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

I don't want anyone to suck my toes. Come on.

Steven Aspin’s Debut And Contender Backstory

SPEAKER_06 3:31

Anyway. Uh so he ended up getting his chance on this one, and honestly, he looked great doing it, dude. He looked really good. His hands were very fast. Yeah. For being a big guy, he's rather agile and is pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

Well, yeah, I mean, to be fair, it takes a lot of strength to move five hundred pounds around. And then you suddenly get rid of ha almost half of that, and you're as long as you maintain your exercise, you're you're gonna have surprising abilities to most people.

SPEAKER_06 4:10

Very impressive, earning him the prelim fight of the night. Look at that.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Another one has been happening more often lately.

SPEAKER_06 4:18

So it's just very impressive. I mean, his output was crazy. Um I I I believe he threw what 172 strikes he threw. Uh doesn't mean he landed all that much, but he did land some very significant strikes.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Yeah, 59% accuracy.

SPEAKER_06 4:35

Amazing, and nasty elbows that if you guys want to look back, just look at the way Sheriff looked at the end of that one. It was crazy. It was like, you know, you should see the other guy kind of thing. Uh impressive performance earning him the fight of the night on that one. Uh so very impressive in the prelims, and then uh Neo Magney comes out on that one, and Unk did not have it on this one because he got submitted on that one.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Um first round, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 5:02

Uh 314, it did not look good. Uh and then on that main card, King Green versus Lance Gibson Jr. making his debut. Spoiler. He spoiled his debut, Bobby King Green. I know that we you know, obviously everybody knows him as King Green now, but always be Bobby. Uh but uh yeah, he I think he won this one. I think unanimous decision uh not unanimous, but split decision in this one. But I do think he earned this one, and I believe it should have been unanimous for King Green on that one. But uh Unk still got it on that one. The year of Unk still got it.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 5:44

And then this fight is the one that uh scared me for the rest of the card, mainly because I'm like, oh no, the rest of the card's gonna be lame. Because look at this, dude. Uh, Kennedy versus Marcus Bucecha in this one, and it ended up being a draw in one of like the lamest heavyweight fights I've seen in a long time, dude. The numbers are pretty sad, sad, dude, and also Bucecha being a uh such an accomplished uh practitioner of um jujitsu if I'm not mistaken, it just did not look good, dude. Did not look good in this one, and he needs to work on his gas tank because uh he cannot just continue to lay and grab people and keep them on the ground and then lay for more and then it just looked awful, dude.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

Up to now it's been a pretty solid way to have a win streak.

SPEAKER_06 6:39

Uh I guess so, but even his output was sad.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Yeah.

Prelims Standouts And Stats

SPEAKER_06 6:42

Yeah, sad. So uh ended up being a draw, a very sad draw. And I'm like, oh no, the last card of the ESPN arrow is gonna be a snoozer. But then right after Costa vs. Charie. Round one KO with a nasty head kick, dude. Costa with the nasty head kick. It w it landed like right behind the ear, dude. It was like bing, and he just went out cold. Minute fourteen. That did not take long. No, a very impressive performance by the Dalmatian. And then after that, we had uh a not so exciting fight, but it was a exciting prospect fight anyway, was Cesar Almeida with Mikhail Oleksechik's brother, Cesare Oleksechik, making his debut, and he had a very exciting performance in the Dana White Contender series. However, this one was one of those like lame prey kind of things where he completely dominated on uh Cesar Almeida, who believe it or not, once beat the great Alex Pereira a long time ago in kickboxing. Oh and obviously that didn't show though because Yeah. Uh so I believe that was the game plan. They didn't want to test Almeida's striking on this one. Uh and you could tell that that was the game plan was get this guy to the ground, slam him, you know, get some strikes in, but m ultimately control him. And that's what he ended up doing.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

And it got him to win.

SPEAKER_06 8:18

But then another performance of the night after that was that Featherweight bout versus Giga Chikadze versus Kevin Vajejos, and an impressive spinning backfist knockout by Vajeos.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Those have been coming have been becoming more common lately.

Bobby Green Spoils A Debut

SPEAKER_06 8:38

Yeah. And him saying ultimately in an interview uh on Arihawani saying we did not practice that. It was just my my intuition as a fighter. Nice. However, the opponent he did it to, very impressive, dude. Giga is uh honestly, he was one of my favorite fighters coming in for sure. And I did have him up on this one. I thought he was gonna take this one. Yeah. But uh never being knocked out, but the way he got knocked out was insane. Spinning back a fist. Uh very impressive, earning it the performance of the night. And then ultimately, a fight that very much had me interested was the last one, Flyweight, these contenders, Brandon Royal versus Minnel Cobb. Brandon Roy Val coming off of that uh loss to Joshua Van in that fight of the year contender, and that was a crazy fight, like I like I've said previously. Go back and watch that one because the output between them was insane. Let's just get it.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Pretty intense, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:43

So Minnel Cobb knowing that he has to send a message to Joshua Van and put an amazing performance that uh resonates with that division, obviously.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:56

Honestly, I had I thought Brandon Royal was gonna take this one. Uh I was going for him in this one, so this was definitely stunning to me. Was the nasty knockout he got on Brandon Royal Manel Cop with that ultimate performance and one of the best call-outs that you'll ever hear. Uh specifically, one portion of it had me very intrigued. Oh yeah? And uh I'll play that one for you. And uh let me know what you think of this promo.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Oh no.

SPEAKER_06 10:29

Uh but other than that, amazing performance by him.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Only 17 strikes, significant strikes on both sides. Insane. That's pretty c that's pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_06 10:40

Insane. Uh just the way just the way that he performed was was very impressive to me. And Manelkop, like I said, with that uh very intriguing uh call-out, uh, here it is.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

You know? Because you replaced my place. Now you have my belt. If you if I didn't broke my face into life, this regard this part.

unknown 11:09

I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

I think you're you're died personal. What did you do? Whatever you want, just find the contract, you see my fight. It's my first fighting my first fight. I'm gonna get there. Hey, just be ready. Because my name is Starbucks here to hunt to be the champion. Nobody can deny, nobody can deny my belt. I'm the best here. I'm the best.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

My first question is I mean, yeah, obviously there's there's a pretty significant uh language barrier here. Yeah. But uh he uh definitely wanted to come on strong with that.

SPEAKER_06 12:05

Yeah. I just want to know what does he want to do with the diapers and why do they specifically need to be alive?

SPEAKER_04 12:16

That's that's definitely a language barrier thing. I'm I'm not really sure what uh what the transate uh translational issue would be here between Portuguese and English.

Costa’s Head Kick And Prospect Watch

SPEAKER_06 12:31

I I get what he was going for. I definitely get it, you know, showing that he's his daddy and uh possibly gonna change his diapers in uh in the ultimate power moves. Yeah, I guess, yeah, for sure. Uh regardless of that very intriguing call out, Manoel Kop with a very, very, very impressive performance, body bagging Brandon Rival and stunning me, honestly, on that one. Uh and honestly, maybe that's putting this division in a very interesting spot, like I was saying. And this just adds to the excitement. Another I mean he's gonna try to get the belt again with Pantoja being out for who knows how long. And they haven't made a fight yet. There's no rumor, there's rumors of uh uh Tyra uh Tyra versus Joshua Van. Yeah. Uh who knows, but with this performance, I don't know. This is sending some ripples down that division, Mano Cop. Yeah, there's not just the call out for sure. Not just the call out, but that knockout was insane. The performance is what really did it. And I know that Joshua Van was watching that one intently, and uh who knows what the fight to make is, but I I love that. I love that there's these guys that you're like, damn, they could all have a chance at the belt.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

Oh, for sure. I mean it's it's exciting to see such an active and varied uh lineup that makes the belt actually seem achievable to more than just one person. Absolutely. There's been quite a few instances in the last couple of years where there's really only like one or two contenders that are anywhere remotely to being like in true contention for it, and then the rest of the people are sure there might be entertaining fights, but they're not like championship level. Sure. But to see that in this division right now, to see so many potentials is great, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_06 14:42

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh this is uh what I love about what's going on in the UFC right now in some of these divisions, the 170-pound division included. I mean, you look at uh Carlos Prates, you got uh Morales, you got uh uh several contenders that really are up there. You got Ian Gary, you know, you got still people calling out for Kamaro Usman. Uh it's just quite an exciting time to be a UFC fan going into the Paramount era.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Yes. Yes. The future is looking bright.

SPEAKER_06 15:17

Absolutely.

Spinning Backfist KO And Giga Upset

SPEAKER_04 15:19

But let's see, let's let's take a look into the past and see where some of that light has come from.

SPEAKER_06 15:25

And absolutely, and I know that the importance of the ESPN era is uh not something to forget, not something certainly not.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Without the ESPN, the Paramount deal would never have existed.

SPEAKER_06 15:37

Yeah, and without the UFC, you know, without ESPN, I think it was a very um frugal, I think, partnership for the most part. I know a lot of hate towards the end of the year and also the unfortunate years of the pandemic. Um they still made it massive during that time. Um get that off the bat is that the pandemic era was there was no sports at the time. It was hard to watch any sports. They weren't available except for the USC, which used that time to really springboard themselves to other fans, another fan base.

SPEAKER_04 16:17

Yeah, they allow they utilized ESPN to the best of their ability.

SPEAKER_06 16:21

It was genius. I mean, Fight Island, you know, Dana White saying, hey, you know, there's a bunch of six feet stuff going on, don't don't don't touch each other, but I have an island. You know, uh it's that kind of thing. And uh besides that, what an amazing era we've had in these past seven years with the ESPN. And uh I I just wanted to take the time and go through some of these the most interesting fights and the most interesting rivalries that have started in the past seven years or ended in the past seven years. So yeah. Uh I'll go through some of these ones. Uh I mean I'll try to be as quick as possible. Some of the ones that definitely stood out to me uh from 2018. I mean, I I won't go over the contender series, but I'll go over some of these main ones.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Right, with the UFC proper.

Royval vs Kape Shock And The Callout

SPEAKER_06 17:17

On that year, we did see Nganyu versus Stepe Miocic in that one. Uh, this is kind of an interesting one to bring up right now with what's going on between Dana White, the UFC, and Francis Nganyu.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

I don't know if you're new something going on.

SPEAKER_06 17:35

Uh, right now, Francis is in a very interesting place with the PFL, uh, his last fight on his contract. Who knows if he's even gonna fight? It doesn't even look like they're trying to push him anywhere right now. Um, I'm not saying I'm not sure what's going on with that in the business sense. I won't speculate on that. But Dana White doing several interviews on different podcasts, claiming Francis was a bad guy. He got physical with me, supposedly, grabbed them by the collar, him and Hunter grabbed them by the collar, made demands and all around throwing major shade at Francis Nganu. Francis Nganu instead of really pushing back against that, he mo he mainly said, you know, when then that would be the first person outside of the octagon that I've ever put my hands on. Um regardless uh Francis Nganyu saying one more con one more fight in my contract with PFL and basically putting himself out there like you know, interesting. Pick me up, and maybe the UFC, and obviously them asking Dana White, are you gonna bring him back? And it doesn't look like he's interested in bringing him back.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

Yeah, Dana White has made it pretty clear he really does not care for Nganyu.

SPEAKER_06 18:56

No, he does not, and uh I don't know what who's gonna end up with Francis Nganu at this point. I don't know. The bridges for major stuff is kind of burned as far as what it seems like. I don't know, PFL and UFC, maybe WWE Who knows? Uh but like I was saying, uh Stepe Miocich putting a stunner on Francis Nganu and embodying him with that unanimous decision. And then we an amazing rivalry we had on that one on 2018 was the ultimate rivalry of Khib Numar Gametoff versus Connor McGregor. All around insanity behind the scenes, uh out of the cage, in the cage, total insanity, which is why I consider it one of the greatest rivalries of all time, and it began in the ESPN era.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

I guess. Uh I still don't know a whole lot about it. But my understanding of it was it kind of feels very old wild west type situation, like definitely uh in the cage of the thing from uh well more the outside aspects because I have a hard time seeing or uh not seeing, but uh I have a hard time imagining a lot of the same actions that I've heard were taking place outside of the octagon back then happening and being even remotely tolerated in today's UFC climate. Yeah. And I just don't see it being tolerated.

State Of The Flyweight Division

Welterweight Picture And New Era Shift

SPEAKER_06 20:46

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I I get what you mean. Ultimately, I feel like it was trying to sell the fight that ended up becoming very real to the point of, you know, uh fights behind the scenes, team versus team. Right. Um the infamous Conor McGregor throwing the Dolly hand truck into the uh Kabib's bus, destroying it and hurting people inside, ultimately facing legal action, but them still continuing the fight. And uh all of that leading up to Kabib and his his famous line of let's talk now, when he was on top of him, pummeling him, let's talk now, let's talk now. Very crazy moment, but nothing compared to what would happen after the fight. Khib jumping over the cage, fighting Dylan Dennis, jumping on to Connor's team, and then Khibib's team running into the octagon embodying Connor. It was total insanity. Yeah. One of the craziest moments in UFC history, and a rivalry that I think will be remembered for a lifetime. Probably. Insane, guys. That's just it's insane to me that this was in 2018 because it feels like this was not so long ago, but ultimately this was seven years ago. Time flies. Time flies. We had um I'll I'll throw out there at the end of the year we had that Jones vs. Gustifson too. Uh these two fights, him versus Gustison, were amazing to me. And uh in this one, I because I believe in the first one he was probably John Jones was probably not training and not preparing for that one, and ultimately ended up in a war versus Gustifson. And the second one, I was like, maybe this is gonna be the same. You know, but ultimately this was John Jones putting a body bag on Gustafson. And it looked like, yeah, maybe he did put a full training camp in that one. Uh John Jones proving that Nam, you know, he is really one of the goats of the UFC with that performance. Uh some of the one and then 2019 we had uh another astonishing year. I mean, with one of my ultimate disappointing fights to start off the year was the uh Israel Adasania versus Anderson the Spider Silva. Oh yeah. I thought this was gonna be one for the ages, and their styles would complement each other well, being that they're crazy strikers, crazy uh uh crazy fan, crazy footwork. I thought it was gonna be all of that, but ultimately it was just ended up being like a show of respect between each other, and you could tell that Sonya was like, I look up to this guy, you know. Oh, gosh. And they had emotes and stuff, you know. Uh it was definitely You ended up winning. Uh ultimately ended up being out of Sanya by unanimous decision, but uh uh it was lame. Just look at those total strikes 65 and 34, dude. Lame lame, dude. It was uh not one for the books.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

That's not much of a fight.

SPEAKER_06 24:07

No, not one to remember.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Particularly between people who were supposed to be so good, you know.

ESPN Era Legacy And Fight Island

SPEAKER_06 24:12

Yeah, absolutely. Uh and then we had uh John Jones on that year versus Anthony Smith, Lionheart, obviously John Jones uh continuing to win on that one. Later in the year was another very interesting fight, which was um uh which was Cormier versus uh Miyochits 2. Uh this one was another very interesting fight, mainly because the first one, Steep A, ended up getting bodied by DC. And then this one, uh I thought it was gonna be more of the same, but Steep A ended up bodying DC, getting a nasty finish on him, and uh ultimately getting his belt back, solidifying him as one of the greatest uh heavyweights to do it in the UFC with that one, I believe. Nice. Uh so an uh another interesting year full of amazing fights. I mean, on that same thing we had uh Kabee vs. Poirier, uh, where I think Kabi really earned respect for Poirier on that one, and vice versa. Towards the end of the year we had uh Uzman versus Covington in that one, where Usman really proved his greatness also in that division, which I I I do think he is one of the greats in that division for sure, uh, getting that uh finish on Kobe in that one. Uh all around, great year for that one. 2020 was another great year with the beginning of the pandemic. It was still uh, and this is what I have mad respect with the UFC for is they still managed to put up some amazing fights. Uh just beginning of the year, this was I believe before all of that happened, was the John Jones versus Dominic Reyes. The controversial fight where Dominic Reyes ended up being the ultimate challenge for John Jones. Even John Jones acknowledging that that was one of his hardest fights ever was the Dominic Reyes one. One that I do think that Reyes could have won that one as well by decision. Ultimately, John Jones ended up winning that one.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

Yeah, I'm I you've mentioned a few times that you kind of thought Reyes may have actually won that fight.

SPEAKER_06 26:23

That was the fight that I was like, damn, Dominic Reyes is piecing John Jones up in this one. Mm-hmm. And uh ultimately I believe he was, but John Jones ended up pulling that one. Um I think yeah, that one definitely was controversial to me. In that same year, we had that Ferguson versus Gachy, where uh Gachy almost made it like Tony was never the same after that fight.

SPEAKER_05 26:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 26:50

And I believe he lost a lot of years and brain cells from that fight. If you guys want to go back and watch that one, Gachy versus Tony Ferguson. Uh I'll I'll save you the trouble. Tony's face was a punching bag in that one. Ultimately, they had to stop that one for sure.

SPEAKER_04 27:06

Gagey's a beast, and he found out.

SPEAKER_06 27:10

Nat nasty performance. Uh in that year we had Poirier versus Dan Hooker, one of my favorite fights, uh obviously of the ESPN era. Yeah. We used that punch sound in honor of them in that fight, where you could hear the strikes a mile away in that one. It was just a nasty back and forth.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

And it we wouldn't have if it hadn't been for the the COVID pandemic.

SPEAKER_06 27:34

Yeah, you're you're totally right. Interesting dynamic between these guys. Uh Uzman vs. Masvedon, where uh Masvedon ended up getting bodied by Uzman in that one, and I had Masvidal on that one, so another shocking one for me. Uh all around crazy year. Uh, and then that same year we had the trilogy Miacich versus Cormier, Stepe pulling that one out by unanimous decision, and I feel like that was the fight that ultimately Daniel Cormy was like, Okay, I think I'm done with fighting. I think I'm done with fighting.

SPEAKER_04 28:10

Commentary is uh an easier, more lucrative career.

2018 Rivalries: Khabib–McGregor And Jones

SPEAKER_06 28:13

Uh he's good at it. He's definitely good at it. He's good at commentary. Uh that same year we had that Kabib versus Gecy. Kabib ultimately winning that one. Uh and honestly in dominant fashion as Kabib does. And then the end of the year we had Fijuero versus Moreno that ended up in a draw. Very interesting fight that ended up in a draw for that uh championship, and they ended up fighting four times. So uh well, we'll see Fijuardo versus Moreno many times. However, great fights, uh 2020, another round of great fights. I mean, UFC just kept going with these bangers. Beginning of the year, in 2021, we also have uh Uzman versus Maz Vidal 2, uh, where Maz Vidal ended up getting slept in that one. Very impressive performance by Uzman. Another one of my favorite knockouts happens in this year, and it's uh Jiri Prohaska versus Dominic Reyes, where jiri spinning elbow knockout that came out of freaking nowhere, stunning the crowd and stunning Dominic Reyes in that one.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

He always has exciting fights.

SPEAKER_06 29:39

Uh exciting fight also, Olivera vs. Chandler, the first one. Very, very exciting fight, dude. Olivera putting on a clinic against Chandler in that one. And ultimately, later in the year, we do have that resolution of Poirier versus McGregor in their trilogy fight. Yeah. That ends up being technical knockout by Connor McGregor breaking his l ankle, breaking his leg. Another one of those. Ultimately sitting on the floor and still talking smack. They give him a microphone somehow. Wow. And him saying, Your wife was in me DMs. Your wife was in me DMs. I don't know. Crazy man. That's UFC 265. Poi vs. McGregor 3. Uh McGregor ends up breaking his freaking leg on that one.

unknown 30:41

Jeez.

SPEAKER_06 30:43

Later on in that year, we also have that Vol Volkanovsky versus Ortega, which was very uh tricky. Volkanovsky dominating Ortega in that one. Uh oh almost getting bodied in that one, if I'm not mistaken, but um ultimately that ended up being Volkanovsky and that one.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Nice.

SPEAKER_06 31:01

Continuing his reign, which uh seemed at the time like damn, Volkanovsky is just unstoppable.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:09

Which we'll find later on also in the ESPN era. That to be untrue.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 31:19

Ouzman vs. Covington too ends up happening where Usman continues his reign body bagging Covington in that one by unanimous decision on that one. To end the year, we had another very interesting fight. Uh we had Olivera vs. Portier, and and that one was another impressive performance by Olivera ultimately. And uh we're I don't think we're we're at the end of Olivera's career yet. I think we still have more fights to see of him, and I know that he's booked later on in the year versus Holloway for their rematch.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

Yeah.

2019 Title Swings And Steepé–DC

SPEAKER_06 32:02

Ultimately, the next couple years are also great, 2022, on full of also amazing fights. Kicking off the year with a banger was at Adasanya vs. Whitaker 2. Adasanya putting amazing performance against Whitaker, shutting him down on that one, getting that unanimous decision. The first one ended up with him bodying him by knockout, so again, Adassanya gets the best of Whitaker. Yeah. Ultimately, I think they're starting to become friends towards the tail end of their career. At least that's what it seems like. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 32:41

Uh I would hope at least mutual respect.

SPEAKER_06 32:47

Later in the year, wow, we do have like Volkov versus Aspinall. The we actually see Aspinall and see a little bit more of his bag in this one, submitting Volkov. Oh yeah. Instead of just sleeping him, so it was good to see a different size. Still fast. Volkonowski versus the Korean zombie, one of my favorite fighters. And uh that same year we had uh Glover Tejera versus Prohaska, where Prohaska ends up putting a body bag on Tejera. Ultimately Tejera who ends up becoming the uh uh teacher of MMA to Alex Pereira, putting him under his wing. So the the revenge orc is rather interesting there. Uh but Brohaska put an amazing performance against Tejera, and he looked he looked like Jiri botting him for sure. And that same year, guys, besides the Peña vs. Nunez 2, we had Olivera vs. Makachev. Makachev putting an amazing performance against Olivera. Right. Yeah. And uh, you know, ultimately getting that belt. After that, we had the first Adasanya vs. Pereira, another amazing rivalry that did not start in the UFC. It started in their kickboxing career way back where Alex ultimately beat him twice, and you know, this is where that thing came out where you know Adisanya was looking unbeatable in the division at this at this point right now, too. Right. But saying, like, oh Alex Pereira's just probably some guy at a bar saying, you know, he beat me once, you know, way back when. Sending Alex Padeda on that MMA arc, like, I'm gonna join the UFC. Right. Ultimately pairing them together at at this juncture where Padeda ended up for a third time getting the best of Adesanya, even in MMA, even in the UFC, forever being his buggy man that follows him everywhere, seems like I had to be pretty vindicating at the moment in the moment. Yeah, and ultimately getting that finish on Adassania, getting that belt where they end up meeting for a fourth time later on. Uh Kennanier versus Strickland at the end of the year uh keep keeps on uh going. He ends up getting a split decision against Kennanier. Oh, he ends up losing on that one to Jared Kennanier by split decision. So that was not the best way to end the year, but not for him.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

Not for him.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

2023. And uh, like I said, man, I I want to throw some shade on ESPN, but uh these fight cards are amazing, you know. Right. Ultimately putting their stamp on the ESPN era. Strickland ends up beginning of the year versus Imov looking amazing against Imov with a stunner. You know, nobody thought that Strickland was gonna beat Imov, but he ends up beating him.

SPEAKER_04 36:19

It's the start of uh Strickland's run.

SPEAKER_06 36:23

And also the start of uh a great rivalry that ended up finishing quick pretty quickly was Makachev versus Volkanovsky, the first one where Volk decided to go up in weight class and fight for the lightweight belt. And honestly, putting a rather compelling performance against Makachev, I still think that is one of Makachev's hardest fights in the UFC was the first fight versus Volkanovsky. Where Volkanovsky at the end of it ended up on top with ground and pound, and looked like he was gonna finish Makachev at the end of that fight.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

So looked pretty close.

SPEAKER_06 37:06

Looked pretty close. Makachev ended up pulling that one by decision, and uh that same year we had the start of John Jones at heavyweight versus Cyril Gahn, where Cyril Gahn did not look good in that one, ultimately getting choked out by John Jones easily and quickly. So uh what can I say? Good performance by John Jones, terrible performance by Cyril Ghan in that one, one that I do think he's trying to forget about.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

Or never uh repeat it.

SPEAKER_06 37:43

Yeah, never repeat at least. Uh then we had uh Jan versus uh Piotr Jan vs. Marab Divashvili, the first one where Piotr Jan looked absolutely awful in that one, getting 50-45 as far as this striking goes, and uh I don't know what was wrong with them at the time. I don't want to make excuses for him. Yeah, but Marab putting an amazing performance, uh showing his continued dominance until later on.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Marab did his Marab.

2021 Volkanovski’s Reign And McGregor’s Break

SPEAKER_06 38:16

Marab did his Marab. Uh very interesting fights, and then we had in that same year the ultimate finish to the rivalry, Pareda vs. Adassania 2, their fourth fight total, where as we know, Adisanya ended up knocking Pereira out cold ultimately with the ultimate vindicating performance hitting him with his patented arrows as Alex was down on the floor, yeah. And really showing that emotion like, damn, I finally conquered my boogeyman. Um ended up emoting on the floor. Um that ended up being a different part of the whole rivalry, right, you know. Uh so great year, amazing, like I was saying, Sterling vs. Suhudo in that year as well. Later in the year, we also had uh Nunez vs. Eldana, great performances. We had Emmet vs. Topo, where Emmett ended up being the very few that Toporia hasn't knocked out, but still amazing performance by Toporia in that one. We had Volkonowski coming back from that loss of uh versus Makuchev, still looking dominant against uh Yari Rodriguez, putting on a clinic against Yari Rodriguez in that one.

SPEAKER_05 39:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:53

And uh Rodriguez hasn't came back since for a belt opportunity, so who knows what was going on there. In this same year, 2023, we had Poirier versus Gachy 2, where Gachy ended up knocking Poirier out. Yeah. Ultimately leading to um Herb Dean hitting Poirier with the people's elbow on the floor when he was trying to stop the fight. He ends up he ends up slip slipping and sliding on top of Poirier, and Poirier's like a s, you know, where am I? Uh ultimately Dustin Poirier tweeting afterward, lol, Herb Dean hitting me with the people's elbow. So Gaiche ended up getting his get back, and uh that was that was crazy to me. We watched that one at my house, and I was blown away by that knockout. Seeing the diamond on the floor like that was pretty sad to me.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

No, for sure.

SPEAKER_06 40:55

That same year we had the ultimate fighter, uh, 31, McGregor and Chandler on that season, and you would think you know that would culminate to them fighting each other. Never. But uh as we are going into 2026, that has yet to happen. And I don't know if that's ever gonna happen. I will not speculate on that one. On that same year, we had another stunner, was that Sterling versus O'Malley, where I really thought Algerine Sterling was gonna body O'Malley, kind of like Marab does to O'Malley. That was not the case. Algermain Sterling getting caught by O'Malley, sniped right on the chin, going down, getting finished. O'Malley becomes champion at this point. Yep. Uh and then we had one of my other favorite fights. Unfortunately, one of my favorite fighters gets slept in this one. It's uh Max Holloway versus the Korean zombie. Korean zombie ends up getting slept in that one, uh, ultimately leading to his retirement.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Was that the first time that he was knocked out? I can't remember.

2022 Pereira–Adesanya Saga And Islam’s Rise

SPEAKER_06 42:03

Uh I no. I I believe subsequently or prior, he did get knocked out by Yay Rodriguez via a crazy elbow that came out of nowhere. Unfortunately, uh this was another crazy highlight finish. I just got that one mixed up. This was another highlight finish on the Korean zombie. I remember middle of the year we had Adassania vs. Strickland, where Strickland stunned the world coming in on short notice versus Adassania stunning Adassania on that one. And really putting an amazing performance that no one saw coming. And if you saw that coming, guys, you're lying to me. You are lying to me if you said there had to have been some fans of Strickland. Oh, yeah, no, there had to be some fans, but those are called that's called delusional. Saying that Strickland was gonna win versus Adasanya in that one. Because I did not expect that and I did not have that in my ESPN bingo card. So Strickland ends up beating Adasanya, amazing performance, getting that belt that year, and going on to continuation of amazing things that honestly stunned me was the Makachev vs. Volkanovsky 2, where Volkonowski made the mistake of on short notice, leading to the memes that uh Volkonovsky will be there on short notice no matter what.

SPEAKER_04 43:44

To be fair, he may have lost that fight, but he gained a lot of stock in the MMA community because of that. Win or no.

SPEAKER_06 43:54

Obviously, Volkonowski, one of the most beloved fighters in the UFC, and I did not like the fact that he took this fight on short notice against such a dangerous opponent, but I know that he must have been feeling amazing, still dominating everybody until Makachev, the first one, continues to dominate after that fight, and he felt like, hey man, I'm still looking good. You know, this is gonna be another banger like the first one. However, Makachev proving otherwise with one of the nastiest head kick knockouts in the UFC, he changed his game a little bit. Ultimately finishing him, and uh me watching a Buffalo Wild Wings prior hyping him up, like damn Wolkonowski is gonna be a banger. The first one was amazing. This one's gonna be the same way, and ultimately me asking, can I get the check please?

SPEAKER_04 44:51

Yeah, that was one of the first fights we ever went to see at uh Buffalo Wild Wings together.

SPEAKER_06 44:57

Amazing fight card, nonetheless, but uh not no not the amazing uh finish that I was really thinking.

SPEAKER_04 45:06

Well, it was an amazing finish, just not quite in the direction you were hoping.

SPEAKER_06 45:10

Uh later in that year, Alex Pareda going up in weight to face Jiri Prohaska for that light heavyweight belt, proving that he is Jiri's boogeyman also. Well, starting starting the start of his boogeyman era and uh finishing jiri prohaska an impressive performance. Honestly, that was like I think ultimately put Bereda over the edge in stardom.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

Yes, that was that was a big step in the stardom.

2023 Strickland’s Shock And UFC 300 Build

SPEAKER_06 45:41

Springboarding him to absolute stardom. Uh to end the year, Leon Edwards versus Kobe Covington ultimately earning that unanimous decision to end the year against Kobe Covington. So 2023, amazing year and we're getting close to the end of that ESPN era, getting into 2024, uh where the um the amazing cars just continue throughout that year. 2024, it ends up stunning everyone continuous. It's just crazy with that uh Ankalaya vs. Walker 2 to start the year. I remember the first one it ended up ending in like a very strange way. Um like no no contest or something like that, and they end up I I remember Johnny Walker saying like uh what are we doing? Why are we stopping? And they were gonna continue to fight stuff, but ultimately no contests, or he ended up losing, or something like that, and that one where it was like Doctor Stoppage. It was we it was weird, dude. Then we had Strickland vs Dupla C, the first one, where we were like, This is gonna be the most random fight of all time with these guys. Ultimately, Duplacy putting an amazing performance against Strickland.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

He did a really good job.

SPEAKER_06 47:06

Yeah, earning him the belt for that one. Later in the year, uh actually early in the year, we had Volkonowski on another short kind of rest period versus Ilya Toporia.

SPEAKER_03 47:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:25

Ultimately getting his second knockout knocked out. He got slept in this one.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

Yeah, he was not prepared.

SPEAKER_06 47:33

No, and Volkonowski getting slept in this one back to back. Uh I can't tell you. My heart breaking back to back is is pretty sad.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

You were quite sad. That one that one I went and watched at your house, and that was very unfortunate. You almost sent everyone home right then in there.

SPEAKER_06 47:52

I was considering it. I was considering it, but I didn't want to be rude. Yeah. That same year, O'Malley vs. Cheetovera 2, and O'Malley putting a clinic on Cheetovera, getting that viral knee, that uh Cheetovera eating one of the hardest knees I've ever seen. Yeah. That you can hear in a packed crowd.

SPEAKER_04 48:15

That firmly established how tough Cheetovera is.

SPEAKER_06 48:18

Tough as nails. Look that one up, you'll see the you'll see the knee. You'll see the knee, and you'll be like, how did this human survive that? So, you know, uh O'Malley ended up getting his revenge on Vera because the first time, the first fight, he got injured on that one, losing on that one. So getting his revenge. Same year, we had one of my favorite UFC cards of all time. This is my top five, is in my top five UFC fight cards of all time. UFC 300, guys.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Oh, yep. That one was pretty friggin' solid.

SPEAKER_06 49:00

An amazing card. People from getting 300,000 bonuses, because it was 300, and Dana White's saying this is the last time that I'll ever be convinced to give bonuses like that. But just look at this card with me, guys. Uh Davison Fedordo vs. Cody Garbrand in the early prelims. King Green versus Jim Miller, early prelims, Jessica Andraj, Marina Rodriguez on the prelims. They they didn't even know where to put these guys. Jalen Turner vs. Renato Moicano in the early prelims. Moving on to the prelims, Yusuf versus Diego Lopez, Holly Holm versus current American champion Kayla Harrison.

SPEAKER_04 49:50

It was so stacked. Even their early prelims were main card material. Main card material. Yeah.

UFC 300 Iconic Moments And Pereira’s Surge

SPEAKER_06 49:58

It's crazy. Calvin Cater, Algernon Sterling prelims, Jerry Prohaska versus Rockage on the prelims, guys. Yeah. What does that tell you? The card continues for greatness. I mean, Bo Nickel uh versus Cody Brundage, Bo Nickel and ends up finishing him. Charles Olivera vs. Armin Saruki and a controversial decision. Charles and then we had Justin Gacy versus Max Holloway with one of the most viral knockouts in UFC history. Point to the ground, Max Holloway, they both meet each other in the middle of the octagon, ultimately leading to that viral knockout. Where I think this one's gonna go down in history. It's playing everywhere. I see this everywhere on my social media, even it's just iconic. An iconic knockout.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

It was iconic for sure.

SPEAKER_06 50:56

Not just in MMA, but I think in combat sports, this is gonna be one that's gonna be forever in the record books for sure.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

A long dang time at the very least.

SPEAKER_06 51:07

Jang Wei Li versus Yan Xiao Nan on that card, ultimately leading to that Alex Pareda finish of Jamal Hill. And we know the drama behind the scenes on that one. You know, Jamal Hill trying to fight this guy outside of the octagon, you know. Crazy stuff in this one, uh, leading to another viral moment with Alex Pareda and the hands, you know, that he obviously. Yeah, uh amazing performances in that year, continuation, the end of the year we had Jones versus Miocich, where John Jones finishes Stepe Miocich, ultimately leading to him retiring, and that whole drama of the heavyweight belt. What the hell's going on? What's going on with why aren't you fighting Tom Aspinall?

SPEAKER_05 52:00

It's a long drama. Drama.

SPEAKER_06 52:03

Drama. And the UFC Heavyweight Division still going with some drama. Just with Tom Aspinall and that haunted, cursed heavyweight belt that has Juju in it.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

Kinda seems that way now.

SPEAKER_06 52:21

Bad Juju uh ending the year 2024 with that Pantoja versus Kayasukura, where they brought Kayasakura a star from another promotion. Yeah. Because Pantoja just kept beating everybody. So let's throw somebody else at him and hopefully this guy beats him.

SPEAKER_04 52:38

Not even close.

2024–2025 Title Chaos Across Divisions

SPEAKER_06 52:39

Pantoja showing his dominance in that one continued. And uh ultimately Pantoja at the end of 2025, we have some very scary stuff uh in regards to him. But to start 2025, some more bangers, even though on that UFC 311 card it was supposed to be Makachev versus Armin Sarukian. Armin Serukian pulling out last minute, oh my god, very last minute, leading to Renato Moikano having to step up on you know, and ultimately Makachev makes quick work of him. Uh later in that year, of this was very shocking to me. This was the day before my birthday, was that Adassania vs. Imavov fight night where I'm like, oh Adassanya's gonna win again and and you know make a make a run for that belt again and stuff like that. But Imavov stunning the world, knocking out former champ Adasanya, in in nasty fashion, honestly, and I was very shocked in that one. You were a little upset. Say it another upsetting fight was that Pereira versus Ankalaev, the first one. Ugh.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:00

And uh Ankalaev looked very great in that one though. Uh Ankalaev looked amazing, he looked fast, he looked uh great striking, and uh but he was not able to take down Pereira in that one at all, if I recall. Um Pereira did not look himself in that one, and I will not make ex excuses for him. Obviously, I don't make excuses for any fighter after word coming out that he had norovirus and some other stuff. Yeah. Um maybe not the smartest thing to do is you know fight like that, but obviously he's a he's a tough guy. Well, you know. That same year we had Volkanovsky versus Lopez. Uh this this year we had Volkanovsky versus Lopez, where I was so scared in that one. Dude, I was like, Lopez is uh a beast, he's got heavy hands. This is Volkonovsky coming back from getting knocked the F out back to back. Uh he ends up getting dropped in that fight, and I end up screaming like ultimately Volkonowski looked pretty vintage in this one. Yeah, vintage Volkanowski earning a significant win on Diego Lopez, which they're actually might be facing each other if all goes to plan later in the year, with earning a lot of ire of the fighters in that division, obviously. You know, i.e. Leon Murphy, Leon Murphy and uh Evalov. So we'll see what goes on there. Hopefully this is not Volkonowski's last fight.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

I think he still has some life left in him. In the M in within the MMA world, I mean.

SPEAKER_06 55:47

We had another stunner in that year at Mohammed vs. Dela Medalena, where Jack put a beating on Bilal in that one, earning the belt, learning looking very, very impressive and looking like, damn, like this guy's pretty dangerous in that division, Jack Dela. Yeah. Ultimately, I remember after the fight, literally minutes after the finish, Islam Makachev saying, I'm dropping the belt and I'm going up in weight class. Yeah, yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_04 56:21

It was like he was waiting to wait sure.

SPEAKER_06 56:23

He was like waiting, blah lost. Okay. I want to fight Jack Dela, I'm going up in weight class. Then asking Jack Delaware, are you open to fight Islam Makachev? And him confidently saying, Yes, bring it on. Yeah. And uh we'll go on with what happens later on after that one. Yeah. Very strong implications in this one and this year, and a lot of changes in belts and and who has it. And then we had another change of belt was that Marab Divanashvili versus Sean O'Malley. Yep. Where uh Sean O'Malley wanted to get the belt back, but ultimately Marab ended up finishing him in that one.

SPEAKER_04 57:10

One of the rare finishes.

Ankalaev–Pereira II And Heavyweight Drama

SPEAKER_06 57:13

Yeah, and he earned it. I mean, we even had great fight nights on this one. Look at that Jamal Hill versus Khalil Roundtree Jr. That was a fight night. That could have even been a main card, dude, on that one. But uh pulling it out on that one. Later in the year, we had Toporia versus Olivera.

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Yep, that one was sad.

SPEAKER_06 57:42

Let me let me regroup myself before I tell this story. I was scared. I was scared of this fight. I was scared of the promo. I was scared of the face-off. I was scared of Olivera getting bodied. Seeing that Toporia had just bodied Volkanovsky by knockout. Slept being the first to sleep, Max Holloway, and now sleeping my beautiful Charles Olivera, you animal. I'll never forgive him. However, nasty knockout, Toporia sleeps Olivera, and we haven't seen, unfortunately, Topoya since. And uh it's very unfortunate. Uh more details of what's going on in his background of his life, um, and I'm hoping that it all gets settled and we see Toporia in the Paramount era.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

I think we will. Just has to get some personal life stuff sorted out.

SPEAKER_06 58:46

Same year, Holloway versus Poirier 3, where I'm like, uh towards the end of that fight where Max Holloway pointed to the ground and Poirier looked and was like, okay, let's do this. I'm like, no, this is not the way to go out. The not for your retirement fight, you know? Uh and uh ultimately Max Holloway winning that by decision, and I I think he dominated in that one versus Poirier. Uh more great fight nights, Whitaker versus De Ritter. As we recall, I th I really thought that this was gonna be a tough challenge for both these guys, and uh that that it was for sure. De Ritter putting on a clinic in the beginning with those knees.

SPEAKER_04 59:30

It established De Ritter as a strong contender. For sure.

ESPN Era Verdict And Paramount Hopes

Pivot To Reddit: Coworker Stories

Pizza Party Meltdowns And Office Etiquette

SPEAKER_06 59:38

Yeah, very much so, and those knees looking very lethal. He did get caught one time in that fight that was very crazy to me, where it looked like it could have been stopped, and and Whitaker could have won that, but ultimately De Ritter winning that by unanimous decision. And in the same year of another change of hand of belt. change of belt owner duplic duplicate versus chemaev and the absolute domination domination of Chemayev uh on duplicate where duplicity was crucified five times in that one could not move did not do a thing yeah and one of the saddest performances by a champion probably of all time he got mobbed for sure not not a bad uh not a good way to you know defend your belt in that one but we haven't seen duplicate either or any or any fights that uh kind of have his name behind it right now. Yeah I haven't seen anything uh haven't seen anything however I'm I'm hoping that that for sure he comes back and maybe comes back with more than a cartoon hammer I don't know yeah more more planning I think that'll happen same year one of my favorite noches from Noche UFC was Lopez vs Silva and Silva ended up getting spinning back elbowed by Diego Lopez and ultimately Diego Lopez jumping on the cage and flipping off the crowd and uh being iconic in that moment it was crazy with uh I don't know what was going on in that background a lot of a lot of smack talk if I recall same time like I said this year just came with a lot of implications a lot of changes with Ankalaya vs Pereira too and Pereira stunning Ankalaev in that one yeah I was fast fast and him coming out aggressive looking scary dude cutting off the cage immediately and saying like okay I I'm gonna just beat the chama out of you and he did uh sli you know finishing Ankalayev getting his belt back and who knows what's gonna happen now and if he's gonna leave the belt and go up in weight class what's going on there what's going on in the heavyweight division Tom Aspinall might need eye surgery who knows a lot of stuff left in left up in the air left up in the air and uh no word yet whether Alex is gonna go up in weight or not and there's been some disappointing fight cards for sure one uh in recent memory happened recently was the UFC 321 Aspinall vs Gone not to mention that that card was kind of a snoozer but that way to end finally Tom Aspinall after how long of waiting to get the undisputed title finally ends up getting the because John Jones is like officially retired at this point finally gets his undisputed chance heavyweight he finally becomes the undisputed heavyweight champ and it ends via IP and the ramifications of this eye poke are still being felt to this day guys at the time of this recording and honestly who knows what's going on with that belt but how unfortunate was that card in in all the ways in all the fashions honestly we had a whole episode dedicated to how sad that whole it was very sad and I spin all getting booed and ultimately saying like why the why the F are you guys booing me? Like what the hell I'm the one that got eye poked crazy man honestly and all of that culminating with that UFC 323 card Piotr Yan vs Marab Divaleshvili Marab becoming the first to attempt to defend the belt four times in the calendar year and Piotr Jan putting a fight of a lifetime magnificent fight beautiful fight against Marab. He put Marab through a workshop of this is what happens when you never change your game plan and and honestly this is what happens when Piotr put the ultimate performance and was the ultimate Yan on this one. I feel like this was the greatest that he's ever looked even though he's looked great in so many other fights but damn this one was one that I think Fight of the Year contender and possibly one of the greatest fights in UFC history I think and that's saying something not just in the UFC era not just in the ESPN era ultimately ending with that fight card that we just talked about. So in in summary I believe that the ESPN era is still one of the greatest eras in UFC you know regardless of opinion regardless of all that we've got a lot of smack about ESPN but all things considered they have been an outstanding step on the ladder for UFC becoming a upstanding and accepted sport and I think that going into the Paramount era we'll see what what's gonna happen and hopefully we see even more growth and I I I do think that that's what we're gonna see is more growth of the UFC and and more people more eyeballs more fans and let's make this thing bigger you know and uh I I believe that's what's gonna happen I think it will there's gonna be a lot less of uh financial burden to be a fan yes yeah which has been kind of a gatekeep for a lot of people yeah for a long time and I think this is gonna make it more mainstream for sure I think it'll become more mainstream. Yeah and so uh cheers to the ESPN era cheers to ESPN and we'll see you in another life well ESPN has a bunch of their own stuff so it's not like they're gonna go down. Yes uh I can't watch my uh NFL games or baseball games on ESPN but what I can watch is Cornhole Tournament Champion which is I I digress I won't get into that but uh that was rather upsetting to me.

Why One Toxic Coworker Exists

SPEAKER_04 1:07:07

For something that says sports in it you would think like like let me watch my football game let me watch my I digress that's pretty triggering to me but uh what else is triggering are coworkers yes they are all right now to begin our episode about co-workers I'm going to be mining a story from Coworker Stories by Demon Slayer Corp. The title is She Quit Because of Pizza I am still shocked by this my husband and I were just talking and he reminded me and I had to run to Reddit to post I used to work at a salt production facility you had one job put salt into a bag it paid more than average for the area you could listen to music great benefits great schedule there was a woman named Suze I'm assuming that's how you say it Suze that was about sixty three years old that worked there part time. Everyone took it easy on her we barely made her work for her age and skills also working part time she was making good money anyway she would work Monday to Wednesday and one time the company ordered us pizza because we had high numbers. They gave us this pizza Thursday Monday rolls around and Suze heard about our pizza party she was livid she marched right to HR and told them it was unfair they serve pizza on Thursday because they know that she doesn't work that day. She said if they didn't serve pizza that Wednesday she would quit Wednesday rolled around and no pizza She puts in her two weeks notice the two weeks are almost up and Suze can't find another job she asks HR if she can stay and HR says no last thing I heard she had to move back to her hometown on the other side of the country. She literally quit over pizza Oh man the one time where as an employee I needed that pizza party Damn pizza parties and pizza and food in general supplied by the whatever company you're in is kind of a contentious lot. There are so many comments relating to horror stories from pizza parties or leftovers and all that kind of stuff I don't know what it is about food, especially free food that just brings out the crazy in so many beef different people just to go a quick a couple quick stories from the comments on that one of the comments is Horror Business 616 reminds me of the time I worked retail. One of the staff members' mom ordered pizza for the entire store one day during the holidays that's actually quite nice. Well the pizza got there towards the end of one of the key holders shift instead of taking a couple slices to go he took one whole pizza that was untouched home to feed him and his family Savage The next day the manager was like hey that pizza was for the staff you should have asked instead of taking the entire thing anyways it eventually ended in a shouting match and the key holder quit on the spot for being embarrassed in front of the whole staff over pizza the whole thing was absurd LOL That's that's crazy. Like that's I could understand a little bit if there was a whole stack of pizzas and it was it was given by the company and and you know you weren't going to be depriving anyone of pizza by doing so. I could un I could totally understand that. But when it's one of your coworkers technically an underling if you're considered a key holder relative that supplied it not even company supplied and you go and be greedy like that that's that's pretty gross that's kind of crazy yeah I agree with that.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:58

Clearly his partner had texted him if you don't bring home a pizza we're through and he was desperate for that pizza.

Boss Missteps, Popcorn Wins, And Wild Anecdotes

SPEAKER_04 1:12:08

There's no other explanation for that I think I think he just really hates his coworkers and he's like I'm taking a whole pizza he was determined there's there's a lot of stories very similar to that and uh this one by South Dakota Girl is very in line with that and showed uh that this is a recurring theme for many places. It's uh it got so bad at one place I worked at that the managers started to stand there and serve the pizza lunchroom style two slices at a time so everyone could get some pizza. It was smart because then people weren't taking an entire pizza to their car. Haha At another place I worked overnights, HR never understood the overnight freight schedule and how it worked. Myself and one other coworker came in at six thirty PM to get the shift set up HR informed us we ordered fresh pizza for the freight shift it will arrive at 7 PM We would be working during that time our first break was at 9 PM The pizza would sit for hours or it would be grabbed and the closers by the closers leaving for the night. Our manager took over ordering pizza for us because HR never understood how the overnight freight schedule worked and why we didn't want ours old pizza Yeah we want fresh pizza come on now yeah especially it yes cold pizza's edible and some people like it you know the next the next morning or what have you especially after they've been drinking. But if you're being given it for work that's that's really sucky to be like oh we don't even give a shit about your schedule and your shift we're just gonna it sends a message. Yeah and anyway I could go on and on but to not belabor the point about pizza what do you got?

Guns And Beans: The Strangest Thank You

SPEAKER_06 1:14:08

I'm gonna start this coworker confession with a question. Oh confession uh a very important question uh and a question that I've been feeling but let's see it's under too afraid to ask by tap apart why is there always at least one coworker that actively makes work shitty I mean there's not always most of the time maybe I don't know sometimes they're your boss instead of a coworker yeah I mean depends on how you how you put it uh they go on to say I just don't understand it I get along with most people most people come to work do their thing make small talk and go home and it seems like no matter where I work there's always that one person who makes a boring workday into drama filled drudgery Why are there people who seek out conflict when there's nothing to gain or lose boredom I have a coworker nitpicks everything I do down to the color of highlighter I use Wow My question is starting to sound like a rant but do you know the person I'm describing? Maybe some people do is it a power thing? I just don't understand why someone wants to wake up in the morning and be critical of someone else's work when they aren't even a manager. Does the day go by faster when you bully people what the f is wrong with these people It's like they only back down when you reciprocate the animosity which can obviously backfire and then I'm the asshole Oh yeah they love to play victim after that. Oh my god Triggering I just don't understand why someone would spend eight hours a day looking to make someone else's life miserable I have lots of responses to that but uh why don't you read a couple comments before I do this comment by Jade Grapes it goes like this number one jerk assumes they are better than others number two they think they deserve a better life than what they have in hand three they get angry and frustrated that their life doesn't match with their fantasy four but instead of making the best of a bad situation they try to take control of everyone else to force a boost to self esteem and five this ultimately self-defeating because instead of making long term strategies to improve their life they fumble the game by pissing off everyone around them in an immature attempt to feel better at the expense of others that's a pretty complete comment Jade Grapes how much thought did you put into that because that's that that is like one of the most poignant comments that I think I've ever read sums it up in a great way you know maybe some people just like to be assholes though at the end of the day. Oh yeah there certainly are those one of the comments after that it kind of goes with the same notion in a simpler way by sasselfras the easiest way to improve one's feeling of worth is to devalue the worth of others and this is kind of the sentiment of a lot of people that are in the comments is like you know you kind of I don't know if what the shitty coworker is but if you don't know who the shitty coworker is maybe you are the shitty coworker.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:15

It is possible there are a few places that there aren't any but yeah I mean I've had my fair share of of shitty coworkers I think in my in my day um and I definitely do get that sense sometimes of like m maybe they just are having a bad day but a bad day all the time no that sucks certainly in my experience a lot of the times a shitty coworker is shitty because similar to those comments just different wording would be they feel lack of power they feel lack of uh well just general lack really there's many different uh variations within it and similar to that first comment it snowballs effectively into them taking it out on others or doing anything they can to try and make themselves feel better and in the end that's the result you have people disliking you I don't know I don't know what those people seek. Sometimes it is a power trip genuinely but uh in my experience it's far more often it's simply that they're trying to make up for something in their life and because of that most of the time when I come across someone like that the initial reaction is annoyance and defensiveness just to pretend protect myself, but uh after that initial reaction it's almost always pity because really it's pretty sad because they're clearly not being fulfilled in some way or many ways. And that's the result. And unfortunately having that result is gonna snowball into creating more lack and reinforcing the behavior until eventually it crashes and they're gonna have a come to Jesus moment.

Nicknames At Work And Closing

SPEAKER_06 1:20:33

Yeah and then sometimes I even think that with some coworkers I'm like damn maybe it's a mental thing. Maybe they're just narcissists. Oh yeah certainly they're just on a power trip. Uh you know because there's some people who just like to power trip I think and uh micromanagers and stuff like that. And uh like like like you said in there like they don't they don't back down until you know you reciprocate. Yeah. And that's when like you said they like to take pretend to be the victim like oh he talk he's just talking shit to me 'cause I told him to do his job.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:08

And I was doing nothing wrong. Nothing that could be construed in any way to be upsetting. So it's all their fault.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:15

Exactly Yeah it's just uh unfortunate and you know they can make a nine to five feel like hell even more than it already is sometimes you know this next one is from Askredit and it's title or it's from Mochi Choo and his title is Tell Me About a time when your coworker said something so stupid you thought they were joking.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:50

First comment by Leyer Christie says meeting my new boss for the first time and he asked me if I had any kids I said no and his reply was Are you planning on having any? I thought he was joking so I laughed in his face but his expression showed he was serious. I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to ask that question. Now just respond to that That's honestly a pretty socially acceptable response to ask if you're planning on having kids. Right but I have come across quite a few people who get pretty defensive and or closed mouthed when asked a follow-up question about that. So I understand it is kind of a personal preference thing that but given how prolific a follow-up question is in common social interactions, you know everyday life I think even if you are kind of tight lipped about your personal life you know I think it should be expected really in a normal social interaction but I do understand the sentiment of being like don't ask me this kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:13

This is social anxiety and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:16

And then the next one by Faster and Furious are there any good French benefits to working here? French benefits I think they intended to go with fringe but said French instead. French unless there is for some reason some sort of type of benefit that is referred to as French that I simply haven't heard of. Wine wine everywhere and everybody wear turtlenecks I don't know and don't jave yeah God next one by our manager Office rule is no eating at your desk it was put in place when a few people started eating through lunch to get things done. It quickly got abused with large groups just kicking back, eating, surfing the net and staying clocked in Fast forward to a department head walking through and smelling popcorn he lost his shit and wanted people written up I sit him down with the CEO and say chill the f out it's a snack and then explain the reason behind the rule. The next day he buys a popcorn machine and makes popcorn for everyone. No way Bob Bob the popcorn maker I understand being initially frustrated but the fact that he turned around and accepted the fact and then went with it and showed that he wasn't actually a micromanaging asshat is awesome. Oh yeah I think that is very rare for someone to you know be able to be sat down and told that you're doing wrong and then them fully accept it and completely 180. That's honestly really cool. That's a good that's a good story. I'm not sure there must have been many other instances for the person to say Bob but all in all that one's not too bad.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:34

Better than what one of my coworkers used to do he he didn't used to eat at his desk he used to drink and take shots at his desk Jesus yeah I don't know where he's at right now but um I hope you're okay that's that's got some problems there. Yeah dude he used to do some crazy stuff I remember he would like towards the end of like I guess his tenure there and uh that was my first year there so I was like wide eyed and all that you know and he would just take shots at it take a shot take a shot towards the end he used to like put the screaming customers or whatever like he used to put them on speaker phone and like just let everybody hear everybody full volume blast and mind you the office is quiet besides us talking just straight up yelling straight up talking smack and then you could hear him go on he would go sorry the first one the first sound you made just made me think of like uh the NPCs in Minecraft the villagers at the end he was basically a a human NPC from Minecraft and he would go and then and then the person would just keep yelling dude the manager would come out and be like yo take it off speaker take it off speaker do you think he would take it off speaker immediately I hope you're out there and you're okay dude sometimes though even just seeing someone else doing that is cathartic you're like I can't do that I need this money but somebody is doing it and thank God for that somebody had the balls to do that he was interesting dude yeah uh one last response to this by Kevin underscore oh four oh five not a coworker but a classmate think before thinking you dumbass exactly think before thinking that one unfortunately uh a fair number of people could use to do that put that on a t-shirt and put that on a t-shirt and have them think before thinking dumbass and uh before we move on from this I'll I'll do another personal anecdote I know this is like the stupidest things you've ever heard a coworker say oh yeah one time I was taking a break a at that same place too I was taking a break outside in front of the building there's chairs or whatever and my manager never would never come out there like I I'd never see him out there I would always see him just go to his car leave never never in all in the years that I was there never did I see him the one time he decides to take a break and he takes a break right there next to me and I'm like what the this guy never comes out here to take a break a guy just started working in our warehouse and that this was literally his first day and he goes up to us and he sits down and he goes man so where the weed at and and me and my manager look at each other like the f what and then we look back at him and and and I I just stay quiet bro and I'm just like standing there like with my eyes like bro you did not just say that and to the manager to the manager and I'm assuming obviously he's not the hiring it's like company you know he's not the hiring manager just like that never seen that guy again I didn't even get the chance to really get his name dude just gone off the face of the earth he just got Thanos snapped off the face of the earth dude where the weed at man some people some people dude that is wild and my last story is by coworker stories by Take the Kaleidoscope oh nice name nice title too Guns and Beans What? My strangest coworker tale and under it it's highlighted Advice Needed I wanted to share this story because it is ten years later and I still can understand what happened I used to work in a sporting goods store that had a firearms department and occasionally we sold guns through legal and secure online channels like gunbuyer.com I worked on the e-commerce slash logistics side of things and so I worked closely with Duncan parentheses name change to protect reputations who handled most of the shipping one day I came into work and my coworker Jeff had a haunted look and he asked me what I knew about Duncan like anything weird about Duncan I said no he's generally a nice guy a little quiet but pretty chill Jeff told me that the day before Duncan had been shipping a handgun out of state along with other e-commerce orders from that day. After UPS had left he realized he put the wrong shipping label on the handgun meaning that a firearm was about to be shipped to a totally random person. Oh no Duncan was panicked of course in all caps this was understandably this was going to cost him his job and potentially put him in legal danger Duncan told Jeff what had happened because it's pretty it's a pretty small town and Jeff knew the UPS driver personally and immediately called his cell to f uh his cell to explain what had happened. The driver immediately turned around and Duncan was able to retrieve the box put the correct label on it and all was well honestly that's a pretty awesome driver that's awesome and awesome that he was able to actually get directly in contact with him. The next morning Duncan came into work and found Jeff he thanked him profusely sharing that he had saved his job and protected and potentially kept him out of jail he told him that he wanted to give him a small token of appreciation Duncan handed Jeff a plastic shopping bag and walked away Oh boy Jeff opened the bag and inside was a single can of expired refried beans I'm sorry that's insane a single can of expired refried beans it highlighted in all caps what the hell Wow Jeff relayed the story to me and hoped I could shed some light on what on earth Duncan meant by this gesture I was just as baffled as him so Reddit what are your theories important notes Duncan is not homeless or poor Duncan is not as far as we know mentally ill Jeff has never expressed a love for refried beans these were not special beans they were store brand refried beans they were also expired What the hell and uh one of the comments uh is is kind of funny and um could be could be it's by Lost Village 1048 it was a can safe inside of the can was a wad of money.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:22

Possibly OP goes on to reply we floated this theory over the years but it definitely was a real can so this would be a full finale of the bear type situation which honestly raises even more questions about our friend Duncan full finale of the bear what um it's a show reference for the bear we haven't seen I haven't seen it either okay uh he put the wrong label in the can and shipped it across the country to a stranger could you imagine just a random can of expired beans showing up on your doorstep one day with a shipping label on it and all by Jeff Lebrowski like the label he absentmindedly swapped the real gift with a bag of beans possible possibly a comment by Mrs J15 Duncan on his lunch break finding a heartfelt message and gift card in his bag his lunch bag the f did my beans go yeah possibly yeah uh Duncan sounds very interesting and I don't know if I'd trust him with firearms ever again that's like a very important job i is is the shipping you know and getting it right now on a more serious note some people genuinely don't pay attention to uh expiration dates on cans because there's a surprising number of people out there that believe that since it's canned it's good forever. I I'm not even kidding it's it's a surprising number of people that's kinda scary feel that way. But still to be so intent and at least outwardly heartfelt to have your response be a can of beans regardless of being expired is something that's something alright. You saved my job here's a can of beans and they're expired and they're expired.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:52

Yeah and you open them and there's mold so probably not but they could be they could be starting to turn into to a gelatinous goop. You're welcome Jeff burn beans I love you Jeff Did he hand it to him and say I love you Jeff that's wild.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:10

I hope that I want that last comment about the wrong opening up his bag for lunch and it's it's he finds the the letter and the gift card and he's like what wait I hope that's the real issue where's my expired can of beans wow just wow and I hope that uh and this kind of ties into our next segment I hope that his nickname from now on is beans that's just beans and shipping that would work calling beans on the intercom calling for beans head to the office. Now as you led into this our final segment with coworkers it's from uh Kitchen Confidential subreddit originally posted by tap this bong is a list of nicknames for coworkers and then we're also going to mine this the comments for a few more and we're just gonna go tit for tat on this but I'll start with motion light only works when someone walks past you've never had a coworker like that have you? Motion light that's funny uh Kit Kat always taking a break crock pot he's a slow cooker I like McRib because they left and came back so many times oh my god man I've I've worked a job with that someone just came where someone could genuinely have been called McRib.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:57

McRib I'm dead tariff because they cost more than they're worth and they don't help anybody I guess at least we haven't seen huh I've worked with a few hairy houdinies they perform their famous disappearing night when there's work to be done Noodles thinks all jobs only take two minutes there's a lot of bosses that that could be called noodles they think they think uh it'll be done and you can get 18 different jobs done in one day. This one's by uh cheese page worked with a woman named Sarah Kate she quickly became skate for her habit of exiting the area when any real real work appeared On the positive side, had a fellow named Power Tool, because he got it done faster than anyone else on the staff.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:09

Hey, they're not all bad.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:11

Power Tool.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:13

Next one. Foreskin. They disappear when things get hard.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:21

Foreskin. That's a rough one. Not co not coworker related, but I remember we had a friend a long time ago who they nicknamed him Shit Breath.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:32

Oh. That's that's uh on right on the nose sort of uh nickname there.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:39

Shitbreath.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:40

Damn.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:41

That's terrible. Yeah. That's rough, dude. Oh, and then uh I actually have like a little personal one. Uh also from that same place. I've experienced a lot of crazy stuff at that same place. Uh we uh in the office they used to just give nicknames to everybody like that were not in our department. And there were some pretty rough ones. There was one that they used to call Mike Wazowski and one that they used to call Sully. Because I guess because they were just like a big person and a little person like Sully. Wow. Terrible, dude. Wow. Terrible nicknames. Um there was one guy who this this was actually one of my favorite nicknames, but it was actually kind of mean too. Was uh also a new guy that was in the warehouse who would come out of the warehouse like completely like red-eyed and slow what he was doing, and like crouched, like kind of crazy looking. And they nicked him um and they named him Igor. Oh god.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:59

Wow. That was not nice.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:05

None of them are nice, Igor, bro. Cause he would he would come out like all creeping, dude. That's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:16

No at least it wasn't because he had like a hunched back or something.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:20

He would look he kind of looked like he was a hunched back.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:23

He did he didn't mention that. I was trying to find a shy a silver lighting.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:31

There's only a brown lighting, sir. That's awful, man. That's awful, dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:37

Oh wow. So, a couple more from our post. ET always wants to go home. I like the one G spot. You can never find them.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:57

Blister appears when hard work is done.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:01

Yeah. Yeah, once it's already done, suddenly the blister appears.

SPEAKER_06 1:43:07

Blister. Or uh foreskin's a good one, man. I I love if I was called foreskin, that's crazy. I mean I would just make it spin it, you know, into something else.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:22

And then to wrap this one up, buy zombie Jesus X Nug for new untrained guy slash gal. Or, if you're feeling mean, new unintelligent guy. Yeah, that's a mean one. I've worked with a few nugs in the mean and in the mean sense. In the mean way.

SPEAKER_06 1:43:47

Uh I've also worked with a couple the flies, which are hovers around really annoying.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:56

Yeah. Yeah, you hear 'em more than you see 'em.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:04

And I think that if you don't want to get a bad nickname, you're gonna have to definitely keep those gloves up. But then what if you're the nickname like the boxer or something? No, that's too cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:21

Yeah, that one wouldn't be a problem to get.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:24

Oof. I want to be nicknamed Bobby Flay. Because I'm always chefing it.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:33

Well, maybe if you ever get confirmation, Bobby Flay listens to this, then uh maybe you can suddenly become Bobby Flay. I want to be Bobby Flay. The Flay. Or Bobby the Flayer.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:48

Flayer Flayer.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:52

Alright, y'all, thanks for listening. And uh please remember to like, comment, share, and all that other good stuff. It does help us spread our footprint so more people can find us and enjoy us. Alright, everybody, have a good one. And until next time, keep them gloves up. Catch you in the next one.