Punches thrown at the WHITE HOUSE?!

UFC 250 at the White House sounds like a stunt on paper, but the night played out like a full-blown sports movie. We’re talking live band walkouts, cinematic fighter intros through iconic rooms, flyovers, and a presentation so polished it had us forgetting we were watching a real UFC card. We also give credit where it’s due: the broadcast mostly keeps the spotlight on the fighters and the moment, not the politics, and that choice makes the entire event feel bigger and cleaner.

From there, we go fight by fight through the card’s biggest swings. Diego Lopez flips the script with chaos, Bo Nickal keeps stacking wins in a way that’s hard to ignore, and Mauricio Ruffy puts on a striking clinic that raises tough questions about Michael Chandler’s future. We also hit the low points honestly, including the fight that falls flat and the post-fight microphone moment that crosses a line for us.

The title and heavyweight storylines get messy fast. We dig into Alex Pereira vs Cyril Gane, the conditioning and timing concerns, and the controversy around back-of-the-head shots that puts Herb Dean in the crosshairs. Then we unpack the night’s centerpiece: Justin Gaethje turning a massive underdog spot into a brutal, unforgettable war against Ilia Topuria, plus what it means for the division going forward. We wrap with quick takes on upcoming UFC fights, stacked cards on the horizon, and the drama that’s already bleeding into the next headlines.

If you love UFC analysis, MMA storytelling, and the behind-the-scenes details that make a fight night feel historic, hit subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review. What was the moment you’ll remember from this card?

Transcript

Welcome And UFC 250 Setup

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Welcome back, dear listeners, to this episode of Peak Points. Today we're going to be focusing on UFC only, and mainly focusing on that phenomenal card, UFC 250. And then a little bit of future events and some drama. Mainly chama drama. And with that, let's get into the octagon. UFC Freedom 250. My goodness. That was it just from start to finish, it was great. Oh man. There were some moments that weren't as great. But as compared to most other cards, the whole thing was great.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Out of ten, I give this one an eleven. I just want to off the bat talk about not just the fights, not just the athletes, uh, not just the walkouts, but everything as a whole, the cinematography of it, the performances.

White House Production And Walkouts

SPEAKER_02 1:20

The performances, the presidential uh president's own band. Yeah. Amazing marine band. I want to give them their freaking flowers because the live music just gave it a very tasteful touch that I don't think they're gonna get anytime soon. Any other time.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

I I think it elevated the whole thing, huh?

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Elevated the whole thing. How great they were, phenomenal, phenomenal musicians, very talented. Uh I'll just start off with that uh Sugarshan O'Malley walkout and how cinematic it was. I have to stop myself and and remember that this is real, not a movie. Yep. And uh in that band, uh we had a woman singing that walkout song, that his walkout song, and it was just absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Oh yeah. Yeah, though every every song was done well, in my opinion. I mean, it was amazing. It was honestly just a very polished and tastefully done event that went off with almost no hitch. It was it was great. The flyovers were cool, the outfits were cool. Uh I liked the fact that well, yes, you're at the White House and you have a political leader there. They they watched him you watch him walk out, right? But after that, there really wasn't hardly any focus on him. It was great because I was afraid of that going, exactly that they were gonna make it a little too political, a little too uh political figure centric, if you will. Correct. But they really didn't. I mean, don't get me wrong. Pretty much every fighter went and talked to Trump after the after he won, which to be fair, who wouldn't savor the motion. Even if you don't like it, like the guy, that's the president of the United States. I mean, you're you're gonna go over and be respectful and say hi. This is awesome, thank you for having me. Oh my god, yes. It's a once in a lifetime sort of event.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

I mean once in a lifetime.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Whatever you think of him, regardless of politics, the event was a once-in-a-lifetime spectacular thing, and I'm glad people were respectful of that.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

And it was way better than I expected. I did not have uh the greatest of hopes for it because it was all just like a one and done kind of thing. Right. And it's like live music, who knew they were gonna be, you know, no offense, uh you know, kind of had that that way about it, but they were great. They were phenomenal, yeah. And like the walkouts were just as amazing and added even more like zest to the show because they did a whole thing about it. Every fighter came out with their own special walkout. Uh they even had the screens, you know, the screens that were like showing the fighter and stuff like that. That was amazing too.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

And and them walking out from the Oval Office each time was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

So cool. And you get to see different rooms and you don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

I can I could see the argument that it's disrespectful to the gravitas of the Oval Office, but for a once-in-a-lifetime event, I think it was done as tastefully as can be.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Uh, them practicing in other rooms and and being in other rooms, and you get to see other rooms that you wouldn't have otherwise unless you get like a tour of it, you know. I've never seen this many rooms of the White House personally. And I've always wanted to take like a tour, wouldn't that be so cool? It would be.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

A lot of history in there.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

And how rare. And before we go any further, I want to talk about them showing, you know, the fighters in other rooms, and each one was hair-raising. I had goosebumps every time. I had goosebumps in every single one. But j Justin Gachies, him reading the Declaration of Independence coming out to that, and I'm like, You don't know how to read. No, I was no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You're not reading that. But him looking at the Declaration of Independence Draped in the flag. Yeah. The six to one underdog. You can't write this in Hollywood, bro. Like this is like a creed uh Rocky movie, man.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

It was definitely very cinematic.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Him walking out absolutely locked in every president's picture on the freaking wall as he walks out. It makes a grown man want to cry. And

Lopez Vs Garcia And Crowd Scene

SPEAKER_02 6:05

we'll move on to how about those fights on that card, simply and utterly amazing from start to freaking finish. Starting off with that Diego Lopez versus Steve Garcia. Great fight. Great fight.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Short, but great.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

And I'll paint a picture of how polarizing this fight card was in general, fighting in the White House was I had people who weren't even UFC fans asking me, You gonna watch that fight card on the White House? Uh how about that Diego Lopez are telling me I'm like, do you even know who Diego Lopez is? Random, bro, like customers and random people on the street telling me because I have my UFC hat on. Right. And uh Steve Garcia, man, the first round looked like he locked that in and was gonna kick some some butt for real.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

He really looked like he was dialed in and and had uh Lopez's number.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah, and and I love his face. He did lock in.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

He realized, hey, I have a granite chin. I can take a punch in order to look to deliver a few.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

But can he? Yes. And he didn't. And that's one thing that I absolutely noticed from the quite from the beginning was how clean uh Steve Garcia's boxing was, his striking was uh very accurate, but very clean in the sense that every movement was very particular, and he was hitting him with some nasty one-twos. Absolutely catching Diego Lopez. He was. But Diego Lopez knew what to do in the second round, and that was to cause chaos and live in it. He brought the chaos is what Diego Lopez is. He lives in that freaking fire. If you're in that fire with him, nine times out of ten, he's coming out, and you're not. And this showed because I had Steve Garcia and I really like Steve Garcia because I really like his fight style.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

He's a fantastic fighter.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

But damn, he got caught and bodied by Diego Lopez. And before we move on to the next fight, what a fan favorite is Diego Lopez. Everybody wants him to win, everybody loves Diego Lopez. And you could barely understand him, but everybody loves him, right? He he he seems like a good soul. Good soul general. And he comes out to across the street, the ellipse, where 85,000 people were at across the street the White House watching the the fights on the lawn. Right. And he comes out on stage like he's freaking Lady Gaga or something, bro. And they walk about and the whole crowd.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Which is also just adds to the whole ambiance for the fighter, you know, to be experiencing that is just crazy.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

I appreciated the cuts to the fans uh across at the ellipse because they look like sardines. And I remember I just got asked today, this morning, actually, like, wouldn't you want to be at the White House? No. Or and I'm like, well, you can't get tickets to the White House, and he was like, No, no, no, across the street. And I'm like, no, bro. Like, if you saw the cuts to the scene of how many people were there, sardines, bro. And I know everybody there's thank.

SPEAKER_04 9:28

And well it it's it wasn't cool. So it was hot. Rainy and they had to have been there for a minute.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

The weather delay and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

And honestly, the sound when the the during the cuts of sound that were just uh streamed from the event, not cleaned and processed for the for the camera. That that sound was not great. No. And so to hear and with that many people all around you talking, cheering, just being noisy humans, that would have not, in my opinion, been even remotely worth it. I'm so glad I was able to sit on my couch and watch this with AC.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Appreciate the the work behind the scenes of it for sure. Yeah. Uh uh to my point, Diego Lopez, what a fan favorite, and how he got walked out into the stage and uh made him look like a freaking superstar man. Uh how much of a draw is Diego Lopez? I just want to say that. Uh, and maybe some rumor mills of him possibly wanting to move up to one fifty-five. Whoa.

SPEAKER_04 10:41

That would be an interesting situation for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

He could do whatever he wants in my book, and he literally does do whatever he wants because he weighed in at 146 to fight Steve Garcia. And then he weighed in at 156 to uh 154 to be the backup later to be the backup for the Toporia versus Justin Gagey fight. What a dog. What a dog. What a dog. Moving

Bo Nickal’s Aura And KO

SPEAKER_02 11:07

on, we had the all-American versus all American with uh Bo Nickel versus Kyle Dawkins and uh Bo Nickel, the ma the wrestler, people know him as the wrestler, won with strikes again.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

He did. He he looks good.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Look good, man.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

He he really looked good. I know there's a lot of people who don't like him, but honestly, he looks good in almost all of his fights. It was pretty much just the fact that he got kneed in the liver previous is the only thing that really made him ever look bad.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

By a high caliber fighter, Veneer de Ritter, let's not forget those knees are disgusting, and how many people were saying fraud check? Mm-hmm. People don't seem to understand what a fraud check is, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

Not everyone can be gaichy, spoilers.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

With the liver shots. And to to that point, the walkout of Bone Nickel was amazing too. I mean, Kyle Dawkins' was good, but something about that bone nickel, they really focused on that bone nickel walkout, and he had like a freaking aura, bro. Like behind him was like an American flag aura. Like the colors of the American flag. It was crazy, bro. I don't know why I was seeing that. A screaming eagle behind him. Flew behind him. Him shaking the hands of the military members and and Purple Heart recipients and and veterans and first responders that were walking out with them.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Speaking of that, yeah, I loved how they had each fighter accompanied by Beautiful. By heroes of various branches and disciplines. Yes. I thought that was that was really tastefully done.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

So freaking tasteful and worth the watch. Bo Nickel with that aura walk, shaking the hands of the individuals, looking ultimately respectful, and I know that, like you were saying, people don't really like Bone Nickel, but he gained some points in my book for the walkout, for the aura, for for the performance. Yeah. Frankly. So knocking out Kyle Dawkins.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

And no no uh speech at the end about frick you, mother frickers.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah, no speech at the end and very tasteful. And uh so back-to-back knockouts, and how about that Mauricio Roofy versus Michael Chandler?

Ruffy Cooks Chandler

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Boom. I wanted this fight to be so different. I wanted it. I wanted it to be so different. I wanted to see I wanted to see Chandler actually be the fighter he claims to be.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Ugh I like Roofy and I wanted Chandler to win. Right? That's how much I wanted to see a good fight. Yeah. But it wasn't. Mauricio Roofy put on his usual performance.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

I I think the fight was good, at least on Roofy's side. Chandler Chandler made a really fun punching bag.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Yes. A live punching bag. Um, unfortunately, uh poor performance. Um I myself and other uh journalist pages and other pages out there and other uh uh media members have said that Chandler did indeed look very tired in this one, very not himself as far as like speed or anything goes. He just got cooked. And he looked old. He looked old, frankly. I didn't want to say that, but he did look old, and I was hoping that he would retire after afterward, and it doesn't look like he's going to or something. I don't know. And I'm glad to say, yeah. I'm glad he didn't say Conor McGregor. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

I've waited five years for you. I'm forty-five years old now. I'm still gonna be that Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Amazing performance by Mauricio Ruffy, nasty combinations, nasty wheel kicks. He hit him with a nasty arsenal, a bag of so many different techniques, and even a shout out to one of his past knockouts with that spinning heel cut uh kick to uh King Green, uh knocking out King Green, got glimpses of that. He hit that, he spammed that, he said, Chandler was out of there. Uh amazing performance by Mauricio Rufy. We move on to the heavyweight bout. Uh so that so that's back to back-to-back knockouts.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Moving on to the heavyweight bout, Josh Hokett versus Derek Lewis.

Lewis Disappoints And Mic Controversy

SPEAKER_02 15:44

This was the one bad apple, in my opinion. Uh, and this is the one fight where everybody was handing their spirit to Derek Lewis to win because people hate uh Josh Hokett. You know, they don't they want to see him lose. Yeah. And uh unfortunately Derek Lewis busted a Michael Chandler and looked I mean old.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

God, he looked like a blimp. And and it was so weird that during the um walkout and all that, the announcers were talking about how Derek Lewis didn't miss a single camp camp or day of his camp. You texted me that right after it's like was half of his camp sitting on the couch eating little Debbie's or or what? Because his his stamina was nothing.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Yes, that was bad.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

That was pathetic. And he threw five like after after like the fifth punch, he was just clearly getting tired.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

Five punches? You can't throw five punches without getting tired. Did did you even train?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Like that's astounding. And I will say that that's not to mention how great Josh Hokett looked in this one. Uh again, back to back great performances by Josh Hokett. That Curtis Blades fight before this one was an absolute classic, an all-time war that we'll talk about uh for future fights. I obviously you know they're gonna be mentioning that one forever. Uh this one's gonna be mentioned forever because it's in the White House. But uh unfortunate performance by Derek Lewis and Josh Hokett looked great again. I want to talk about some of the stuff he said afterward, but not everything.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Um I just want to I wish they could have just covered his money like somehow before it even started.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I'll add it right off the bat.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

I don't care what your political alignment is, this is not the stage for that.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

I agree. And I'll add right off the bat, I am not okay with that, nor do I condone any of that, and nor do I want this podcast anywhere to do with that. Certainly not. But what did have me like excited for a millisecond, and I mean a millisecond, was when he had the microphone right at the beginning and he was about to go on his little WWE rant, and then he stopped and he said, You know what? Let me be myself for a second, and I said, Oh my god. Right?

SPEAKER_04 18:21

And I thought for real, the the the area and situation have finally t like made him grow up. I was like, whoa. I was like, this is cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

He's gonna say something profound.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

Am I gonna be able to respect this man?

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

And then Ugh.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

I was like, wow, he's gonna say something profound. He's gonna say how much he appreciated being there, how much of a beautiful stage this is for him as an all-American, how much he appreciates the opportunity. But then he ruins it. Mm-hmm. I will not say what he said, and I will not repeat it, and I don't want it repeated in this r uh studio. Right. So I'll just leave it at uh I'm a fan of Josh Hokett the Athlete, but I'm not a fan of whatever is going on. I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

He's he's lost any kind of fandom or respect from me.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

I've been hearing that, yes. I've been hearing that.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

It's he's just too gross at this point. He's been he's been super gross up to this point, and then he capped it with that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

I it's uh Yeah, and it just uh it was crazy because we mentioned the word tasteful for this event that we really didn't think was gonna be tasteful, and it was until that point and afterward, but this guy was just that was just over the top. Um and uh we move on to another amazing performance and another

O’Malley’s Walkout And Walk Off KO

SPEAKER_02 20:01

knockout. I'm talking about back da back da back da back. Sean O'Malley with that amazing walkout that I mentioned earlier versus Eamon Zahabi, who I was telling people don't be surprised this guy cooks. And unfortunately, or fortunately for Sean O'Malley, he cooked, dude. He ate he weathered the storm of leg kicks for a whole round, he did, and he came back with precision missiles to Eamon Zahabi's face, bro.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

He did. He did, he he really clocked uh Zahabi's number for that.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

That was nasty.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

He it the round one seemed more like a learning round and then two, he's like, okay, this this is the strategy we gotta go with, and he pulled it.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

And besides going for the wrestling, I knew that the the wrestling was gonna be in Eamon Zahabi's corner, be uh being that he walked out with what people consider the number two greatest of all time, George St. Pierre, on his corner. And uh I thought wrestling was gonna be part of it, but I think he had a great game plan because he I think Zahabi really I think he won the first round, frankly. And he was leg kick, leg kick, leg kick, leg kick. He wasn't getting he wasn't checking him. But like you said, he just had his number in the second round, doing the first ever walk-off knockout salute mid-air while this dude's falling midair, bro. Like this was knocked out, falling like a sack of potatoes, and Sean O'Malley is already emoting before the before the c official win.

SPEAKER_04 21:41

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

And he gets the win, man.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

He uh He did practice it too. I c I saw a video about it. He must have. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

And it's pretty wild. In an interview with uh uh Ariel Howani, he did state uh That he did practice it, but he his original plan was to punch, salute, and then knockout punch.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

Well, let's let's be glad he didn't try that because I think Zahabi would have taken advantage of that nonsense.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

However, iconic performance, and like I said, with one of the most iconic walkouts that I'm gonna remember forever, with that Sean O'Malley walkout, his famous song, If you are what you say you are, a superstar, and that woman singing that song from the presidential band, uh how beautiful, angelic her voice was while this dude's walking out to a limo outside the White House, walks in the White House, wakes up, walks out, does his official walkout, and just the ultimate freaking aura. Like he knew he was gonna knock him out, and we kind of almost knew by looking at him that he was going to. Unfortunate for him and Zahabi.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Don't get me wrong, I was I was rooting for Zahabi. I was rooting for Zahabi too. I I thought it would be really awesome if he could pull a win.

unknown 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

But I'm not upset that O'Malley got it.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

And I don't want to undersell his walkout either. I I do appreciate they walked out to Canada, the Canada uh uh anthem and gave uh Canada a good shout out, and he was a good representative of Canada himself. Oh, certainly being ultimately respectful as he typically is. Right. A very respectful fighter. Um his brother, uh his coaching staff, you know, is one of the greatest coaches ever, too, frankly. He's great. Coach uh George Saint Pierre. Uh but you know, uh great performance by Sean O'Malley. And moving on to the belt and the history that Pobuoton wanted to make becoming the first triple champion. Right.

Pereira’s Heavyweight Gamble Vs Gane

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Unfortunately, Cyril Gunn had other plans. He did.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

And the fight was relatively good, but as any as anything Cyril Gunn does in the ring, he just can't help himself but do something dirty and make people hate him.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Yeah, people hate this guy.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

It's not even a curse, it's almost like that's his goal each time he enters the ring.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Oh man. It's wild. I get that. I I get the the the the connotation and and w what what we're seeing, right? And I know I've seen all those clips online of them putting those compilation of things he's done in the ring together. They hate this man. And the unfortunate aspect was He's a skilled fighter.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

That's what makes it so frustrating, though.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Very frustrating.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

He's a very skilled fighter, and he doesn't need to be pulling that nonsense.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

And here's where I kind of have a hot take. I know that people are on this storm right now of hating this guy, and they hate that he may or may not cheat or whatever, right? Right. However, I I'm I'm a Puliton fan. I think you're a Poton fan. I am. And we I seen him get knocked by a freaking jab. He got knocked down by a freaking jab, bro. And I feel I really feel like Sorrogon had his number, regardless of what may or may have happened for the finish, right? Yeah. Because he dropped dropped by a straight up jab, bro. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

He did not he needed more time at heavyweight before he was too ready for that. This was too soon. He almost didn't even look healthy, honestly. Like not not like it's not like he looked sick, but he he looked uh what's the term like sallow, if you will. Almost like, you know, you would for someone who is clearly, you know, 50 pounds overweight and not in a healthy way. Yeah, almost it it almost looked that way. I mean clearly he's not clearly he's not actually obese or anything like that. But I'm saying just the way he moved and like his reaction to that one hit, it it all come together to make it look frankly like if he's gonna do this, he needs a lot more conditioning and bulk time.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Right. Uh the you know, them in the ring, there was kind of a stark difference where Cyril Gun did look like a natural heavyweight, you could tell. And Alex kind of looked like damn. He's not taking these hits too good, and he's not moving as fast as Cyril Gun, you know. His head kicks were good, but then he just stopped doing 'em because he started getting hit by jabs.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

Well, even his center of balance was a little off. A little off. You could tell he wasn't he's just not used to carrying this kind of weight. I mean, not that he's completely unwieldy with it or anything. I'm not trying to say that. I'm I'm just saying that we've seen how polished and sharp and precise he can look. And he looked a few rungs below that capability.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

And to go back to our point of uh the illegal strikes, I know to the back of the head, and we got more on that later. Uh I'll just touch upon the point where people are really upset, right? And it almost feels like crazy enough. They're equally two more upset than the Tom Aspinall foul that he did recently to aka ruin the heavyweight title uh fight.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

To be fair, Ferrera has a lot more star power than the Aspinall's ever attained.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Insanity. Uh insanity, what I'm seeing, you know, a lot of hate messages, a lot of hate for him, a lot of hate for Herb Dean, a lot of hate for the whole situation, and also what Alex Breda is saying now in the news, and we've we'll mention that later on. Spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

Yeah, I haven't seen what he says, but I've seen that he's put out a video talking about it. And he didn't Correct. He he wasn't being very graceful about it from what I heard.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

From what I'm seeing, it's uh uh an odd situation for sure. However, Cyril Gunn winning the interim heavyweight title fight, uh interim champion again, again, again. Um and I I think another thing that's kind of impressive is that he's been there in the octagon with the likes of John Jones, Francis Ngannyu, and Tom Aspinall, you know, and and now Alex Pareta. So it's pretty impressive resume for the most part. Seemingly don't yell at me. Nobody yell at me in the comments. And uh unfortunate performance by Alex Padeda having to decide now ultimately whether he's gonna stay in the heavyweight division. I hope he does. Whether he goes back down or whether he stays in the UFC at all. Wow. Later on that, later on that. Alright, alright. Haven't heard any of those whispers yet. Nobody bite their nails off. We're gonna talk about it later, I promise. And uh moving on to what a freakin' story.

Gaethje Stuns Topuria In War

SPEAKER_02 29:40

End of a freakin' story this was cinematic Ilia El Matador Toporia versus Justin the highlight Gagey in an all out freaking war.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Yeah. That was that was one hell of a fight. I watched it uh twice, once when it happened, and once again to show my wife. Me too. Because she's a she's a fan of Gain. But uh she had to go to bed for work, so she didn't get to see it night of.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

More on that right now. Well, we talked about it. We did talk about it this time. Neither one of us was exactly hopeful. No, and I'm eating crow, me, myself, you, Ariel Hawani, and many other members of the media are eating crow right now. Eating crow because six to one underdog Justin Gagey uh gets it done, man, in an emphatic fashion. It's one of those times I really wish I'd been a betting man. Oh man, the whoever bet the house on him.

SPEAKER_04 30:51

Oh man. Supposedly somebody I saw a post quickly right before my page refreshed, something about somebody bought him a truck with part of their winnings.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Armin Saruki is saying that his friend made what five million dollars from betting on him. For real. Uh something like that, and I I believe it, man. Uh big money on the line if you bet on Justin Giety. However, I I'll preface this with saying Justin Geechee being the underdog is nothing new. Oh no, nothing new at all. But I will add that I've been watching this sport UFC, watching UFC for going on for over sixteen years now. Since I was thirteen years old, I watched this sport, watched amazing moments, amazing rivalries, amazing champions, amazing losses. I've watched things that have shocked me and things that have that have frankly not shocked me. I've watched MMA math work, I've watched MMA math not work.

SPEAKER_04 31:54

Fail utterly.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

I've watched uh people jump out of cages and fight other people outside the cage. I feel like I've seen it all. Right. It was getting to the mo time where I'm thinking, like, damn, is is besides the White House, like what can shock me right now? Justin Gagey winning. Mm-hmm. However, I get to see the sport a little bit through your eyes, being kind of on the newer generation of fans and how shocking this moment is for you. And for me, this was freaking amazing times too, because it's like I thought I was done seeing amazing moments. Mm-hmm and Justin Gagey gave America, the world, a moment that is gonna be la not lost in time. It's gonna stand out.

SPEAKER_04 32:44

It's gonna stand out long dang time.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

This is this is the one where if you watch Rocky 2, man, you're thinking that Rocky's losing this one again. Everybody wrote Justin Gagey off. Everyone. Because Ilio Toporea is an absolute killer on an absolute generational run, knocking out your favorite fighter, our favorite fighter, history's favorite fighters, back to back to back. Undefeated the world at his fingertips.

SPEAKER_04 33:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

And you look at this guy like he's a freaking Goliath, and this is a David vs. Goliath.

SPEAKER_04 33:30

Yeah. And honestly, it seemed that way for after that second round. It seemed during that second round, rather.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

And before we start talking about the fights, I'm gonna talk about the walkouts. Amazing walkouts. Like I said, I already mentioned the Justin Gagey one, Draped in America, Repping America, living the American underdog story. Yep. And before we move on, saying something that was so eloquent that was very touching at the end was everybody said that you're the underdog, Justin Gagey, and he says, We've been the underdog. Imagine 250 years ago how much we were the underdog. Yep, yep. Spitting facts this guy. So he d him doing his amazing walkout, you know, and then Ilya, the whole the whole gravitas of him and saying like it's already done. Yeah, you know, I've already won, you know, I'm gonna knock you out in two minutes. I have a special rose for you.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Changing his Instagram to what 18 and oh, having the party with a winning party the night before celebration dinner. Celebration dinner the night before I've already won.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

And it's that that kind of ritual and manifestation has worked up until now.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Yes. How much of a dog is Justin Giety, and how much of an athlete is Justin Gicy to overcome what he's overcome in his career, to go for that belt several times and never touch gold. Uh besides, you know without the interim qualifier. And facing dogs, facing Olivera to get try to get the belt, facing uh Kabib to try to get the belt. Yeah. You know, it's just um crazy to think that this guy was just flatlined at UFC 300 by Max Holloway. We we watched it in your living room. Yes, we watched this guy die on the floor, bro. Yep. He looked like the the bodies on Family Guy that are all like they always fall or something, they're all twisted. 458, the final round. Like he was dead, bro. Broken nose and everything. Yep. To come back on this historic win streak at uh you know, people are saying he's on the older side and his tail end of his career. Right. To beat this this guy who who seems unstoppable to everyone.

SPEAKER_04 36:12

So on the tail end of his career, he had to promise his mom he wasn't gonna make any decisions that night.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Oh my god, precisely. First round, he looks like he's winning. He's taking some hard shots from Iliad Saporia, but uh on the numbers it said Iliad Saporia had more strikes in the first round, but I feel like Justin Gagey's were more devastating. Yeah, yeah, he was working more damage with nasty uppercuts. And the second round where you thought, I thought, America thought Justin Gagey was done on the floor.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

Those repeated liver shots. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Liver shot liver shot, liver shot. The and the force in which he was hitting him with those shots.

SPEAKER_04 36:57

Ilya punches like a great train and he was just eating them. He was clearly getting affected by them, but he wasn't just following the fall into the ground. No, he was We've seen fighters fall with half of those shots.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

And he he just stuck it through.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Stuck it through wild. Kept striking back. He was eating them, bah, strike back. And still with the amount of damage a mortal human would have freaking exploded from the liver shot. However, he goes down to the ground.

SPEAKER_04 37:31

That was that was something like yeah, I wonder.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

And I'm looking up. And I'm like, he's he's done. That liver shot was devastating. Nobody eats those and gets back up, and it looks like Iliotoporia's going for the kill.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

It it did. But Gaichey has a good enough defense on the ground and enough w had enough wits about him to not get caught out and be able to be submitted.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Yeah, all while compromised by those liver shots.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

Yeah. And and so don't get me wrong, I think it's all it's fantastic that he showed the skill to evade getting submitted, but as I've seen many people mention, it was clearly a massive miscalculation on Topurius side to take him down and give him that chance to breathe after those shots. And like you said, if they'd kept it on the feet, he probably would have he probably would have won that round.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Right. However, uh, like you said, Justin Geechee take it going down to the ground and him trying to look for the finish. And I felt like he may have been so shocked at the toughness of Justin Geechee to not be finished, and and he kind of wait you know, he kind of used all his gas tank trying to go for that finish from several different transitions to try to finish it. Yeah. Even submissions, because people forget with all these knockouts Ilya Taporia has, originally he would submit you. Right. That's how he would finish you.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

Though to be fair, Gaichey has to do a pretty serious cut to get to this weight class. And Ilya does not. And so it was definitely a bit of a miscalculation on Ilya's side to believe he would be able to easily out wrestle someone who is fairly bigger than him. Not astronomically. Right. But after a weight cut, I'll guarantee he he gains at very minimum 30 pounds. Oh yeah. They definitely go up. I mean and Gagey, he's he's not a wrestler, but he's no slouch in defense.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

Oh yeah, and people forget his his grappling background, his wrestling background, and that he can scrap. Uh he just finds it uh exasperating and and uh boring. Yeah. So he'd rather knock you out. He's called the highlighter.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

The highlight for a reason, and it's not to take you down, but there's not there's not uh it's not for it's not a mistake that he has more bonuses than fights.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

I mean and I will add that I do appreciate all the looks that he was giving Toporia uh besides that was him threatening the takedown, threatening the the single leg and then going up for the uppercut, which he did land and hurt uh Topo early. Early did. And so he never does that. This is uh uh this is a Justin Gagey who was flaw nearly flawless in in game plan and preparation and mental and and physical and experience the fact that he's weathered these storms, that he's been in these wars, that he's seen this before. Yeah. And Toporia's never seen a man this tough, dude.

SPEAKER_04 41:04

No, no, no none of none of his previous opponents have been this tough, man. Have this kind of record of being able to take this much abuse and just keep on going out.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Yeah, what a freaking dog. And like I said, throwing those strikes in, g nearly getting finished in the second round, surviving that freaking storm, and uh moving on to the third round where you see the massive damage on Talborio's face. God nasty. And uh him saying I can't see on the stool, which a lot of people are saying, you know, that that that is code for a fighter saying that he doesn't want to fight no more.

SPEAKER_04 41:47

And the little fumble there was I don't think it for I don't think for him it was code for I don't want to fight anymore. I think it was just him being like Oh my god, what do I what do I do? He he wanted to die on his shield. He did not want to quit.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

And then uh the the fumble with the two doctors and one guy they're saying it was a language barrier or something. Um but one saying that he can't fight, and then the other one's saying that he can.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

I didn't see the other doctor saying he could.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

Yeah, yeah, ultimately Mark Goddard was the one that was like, okay, yeah, they're gonna keep going. Shout out to him, great, great raffing on that one. And Saporia going on, a man, you know, willing to die also, yeah, goes out there with possibly no vision.

SPEAKER_04 42:34

But even even if he didn't have vision, or at least good vision, he he didn't stop fighting. He's still dangerous, he was still dangerous and swinging, swinging pretty accurately, hitting these killer shots. And I mean Gecchi Gagey clearly had the upper hand at this point. Right. But he was he still had to be super respectful of Ilya's throws.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Yeah, and then giving him more damage, and then hitting him, and then just in Geechee hitting him with these massive bombs that changed Topoya's face. Yeah. Going into the fourth round, where he looked absolutely like he just ran into a chainsaw, bro, on his face. It looked terrible after seeing Topoya has never looked like this, never had a hard fight like this.

SPEAKER_04 43:26

Kind of looked like he might have just learned a lesson from the mob or something.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

It was insane, bro. It was like they're willing to kill you. And ultimately, it seems like his corner, Iliad Tapoya's corner, him himself possibly, and his brother, his older brother, calling off the fight on the stool in the fourth round. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 43:47

Well, I mean, there was one person on it, I don't know who it was, but there was definitely one person who was like, now he's finishing the fight. Right. But I initially thought it was his brother that said that. His brother chimed in with no pretty sure he's done.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

This is it. Uh eloquently so putting a post afterward. Um Topo's brother saying, You guys see El Matador. I see my younger brother. Yeah. Um amazing words, very understandable. Certainly. The damage that he took was crazy. Topo unrecognizable on the stool, and Geechee winning this Cinderella story of a fight.

SPEAKER_04 44:29

Right. Honestly, I think it would have been medical disc misconduct for him to go out after that. Even without his corner throwing in the towel. I think it would have been unconscionable.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Stating that he lost sight in both eyes against a freaking killer like Justin Geechee is a death sentence. And I'm glad that it was stopped. Like I said, shout out to that refing, which was very great. Um amazing win by Justin Geechee doing his patented backflip off the cage afterward. And and I felt like it was just so amazing because how many people wrote him off and said, Why are you putting Toporia with an American as the main event where you know an American's gonna end up losing? Right. And just in Geechee proving them all wrong, all the odds makers, all the betters, Vegas proving everybody wrong, and proving the world possibly wrong, because you know Ilya is a an international superstar. Yep. He has a whole movie. And bodying Toporia, making him quit on the stool, finally, an undisputed title. And I really, really hope I it doesn't sound like he's gonna retire, but I this is the writing off in the sunset, man.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

It should be the writing off in the sunset.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

This is it. This is this is the movie ending. Movies don't end, don't all like movies end with happy endings, but real life doesn't always end that way. No. This is his chance to be an actual movie and write off into the sunset with a freaking happy ending. Don't don't go out like Corey. Come on, dude. It's just uh um I'm I I love Justin Gagey and and he proved why he is the highlight and why he's one of the greatest man. And his his resume speaks for himself, his his record speaks for himself, his uh highlights speak for themselves, and frankly, this performance just smoke volumes.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

It did. Very enjoyable night all around. Just a few hiccups, but otherwise it was just a spectacular event. Very happy to have been able to witness it.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Very happy. Um I'm amazed by the whole thing. Amazed by the card. Uh finishes in every single fight becoming the first UFC uh card ever to have all finishes in the card. Yeah. Uh impressive.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

Shortened card as it may have been.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

Uh shortened, but still amazing. It was crazy, dude. Yeah. And um it all around beautiful performances.

SPEAKER_04 47:15

And the fact that it's on Paramount, be o the ability to just go back and watch any of the fights, the whole fight at will.

Paramount Replays And Missing Walkouts

SPEAKER_04 47:23

I am glad you mentioned that.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

However, one thing that I am upset with, uh and I myself will mention, and other people have mentioned, that I wanted to see the walkouts in the replays, but uh it's not the re it's not the walkouts, they just show the fights. So it's kind of unfortunate because I really wanted to see that Sean O'Malley walkout again, bro. I went back to try to watch it. It's just the fights. It's just the fights.

SPEAKER_04 47:49

Really?

SPEAKER_02 47:50

It's just the fights. So it's kind of That is upsetting. That is upsetting. Uh a Paramount Plus, please, please, please, you have to let the walkouts be on the platform along with the fight. Okay, just add a couple minutes to the fight selector. Uh because those walkouts were iconic and amazing.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

They were. One gripe I do have to mention about Paramount is their their interface for the computer. Really awkward. Awkward. Really bloody awkward.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Awkward.

SPEAKER_04 48:26

It's really good on the mobile, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

Uh but uh shout out Paramount Plus, 17 million views on their first uh go around the numbers, making it the most watched thing on Paramount Plus ever. So um uh shout out to them, shout out to UFC. Those numbers were inflated, though. You know, I I don't want to mention that. Um so 17 million views, very good for Paramount Plus, very happy for them, happy that the the event went so well, uh and happy that it was so tasteful, better than I expected. I'm happy all around with this UFC 250 uh freedom and uh it was uh everything and more. Good stuff, good stuff.

Local Restaurant Shout Out

SPEAKER_02 49:16

And uh before we move on with the episode, I want to give a special shout out to uh a buddy's restaurant of mine. If you're tired of the same old places, check out Taco's Wings and Bar at 134 North Main Street in downtown Anderson, South Carolina. Uh amazing reviews so far. Uh the food is amazing, the drinks are great, there's sports on every TV in the restaurant. Uh go check 'em out. I'm hearing great things about them. And uh appreciate them for giving us the opportunity for this shout out.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

Certainly. Next time I'm in South Carolina, I'll have to look 'em up.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

Delicious wings.

SPEAKER_02 50:05

And we move on with the episode.

Recent Card Recap And Rising Names

SPEAKER_02 50:08

And uh first thing I want to mention is the upcoming fights are nothing to s, you know, uh, after this big, massive event, we know nothing ever is gonna top this, right? I mean, we thought the sphere wasn't gonna get top, but this topped the sphere.

SPEAKER_04 50:22

Well, they they kind of have to keep pushing the envelope. They're gonna figure it out sometime. Here in about 20 years, it'll be in space. Elon Musk is gonna send them to space. Be on Mars. You'd be C 1000 on Mars.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

On Mars. Michael Chandler, and finally Connor McGregor.

SPEAKER_04 50:44

Oh god, no.

SPEAKER_01 50:45

Connor McGregor.

SPEAKER_04 50:46

There'll be f there'll be clones of them fighting. That makes me think of those campy uh like 80s B horror movies where they've done five of them and now they have to go into space and it's just goofy.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

So the reason why I said that was because it's like the next events aren't gonna be as good, right? It's like kind of like a withdrawal kind of thing after this massive hit of that dopamine, right? However, the fights have been amazing, so I'm gonna give my uh I'm gonna give my thumbs up to these other fights coming up because they're amazing too. Uh I'll just mention the one that just passed, Manel Cop vs. Horagucci. Amazing fight card with an amazing ending. I mean, we got to see some nasty finishes in this one. I I just want to mention right off the bat. Um I'll go straight to the uh uh prelims and some of the ones that stood out. Is that be a Mosquita uh versus Melissa Mullins, and be a Mosquita is always impressive.

SPEAKER_04 51:58

She is a beast.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

Getting the finish in round one, three sixteen is all she needed, and Mullins was no joke either, but be a mosquita made her look easy. Uh after that was that Borjas versus Andre Lima, and I knew this was gonna be a banger. Uh Andre Lima getting bodied by Borjas, which is like, damn, finally Borjas getting another win uh by unanimous decision. And then we had Fight of the Night in the main card to start off Vinicius Olivera vs. Andre Feely in that featherway bout.

SPEAKER_04 52:34

I know you've been excited about him for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

I'm always talking about Vinicius Olivera and how nasty he is. Uh, but nobody seems to believe me. I don't know. Do they think I'm a liar?

SPEAKER_04 52:46

Oh, you're definitely a liar. Vinicius is a snooze fest.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

You ain't calling me a truther. Uh earning him fight of the night, Vinicius Olivera with a knockout on Andre Feely. And Andre Feely was hitting him with some nasty body shots. I was like, damn.

SPEAKER_04 53:03

Yeah, Andre Feely is no slouch.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

No slouch, man. Uh Magamed vs. Melsic and uh Magamed getting the submission on that one. Another finish.

SPEAKER_04 53:13

Shocking that Magamed would have a finish with that name.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

A lot a lot of finishes on this one, man. And uh the next one's even a finish, Rodriguez vs. Emil. And a very surprising finish, but not really. Of Navajo Sterling versus Iwan Kotzalaba. Kotzalaba's a freaking dog, bro. That guy's never put a boring fight. And uh he kind of dies on his shield, and he got bodied on this one, and you know, died on his shield, but Navajo Sterling continues his reign of freaking terror, man. I'm glad they finally put him on the main card. Yeah. Because this guy is is is special.

SPEAKER_04 53:55

He's really working his way towards a ranking.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Another guy I've been mentioning. Just saying, you guys gotta start listening to me, man.

SPEAKER_04 54:03

Nah.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

And moving on.

SPEAKER_04 54:05

Not after you failed with Keiji, man.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

Oh. Yes. I I'm eating crow. I'm eating crow. Uh Manail Cop versus Kyogi Horaguchi, a fight that I was uber excited for. A scrap between these two phenoms, performance of the night, and watching this fight, I was like, damn, my boy cut you uh uh because they this is a rematch. Haruguchi won the first one in Japan, which I thought they would go with the extra mile and take this to Japan. This in Japan, this fight, Manelkop versus Horiguchi in Japan would be epic. Big news big however in the apex um and Manel Cop was getting bodied the first couple rounds by Horiguchi, like Horoguchi had his number, he was so fast, crosses, wrestling, taking him down, making him work. Manel cop weathers this freaking storm and hits him with like a freaking ghost punch that comes out of nowhere. Yes, and Horiguchi's standing there, like trying to not show that he was hurt, and then all of a sudden his eyes start glazing, bro, and he's just wobbled and the rest is history. Impressive performance by Manel Cop. I think this is it. I think this is a title fight. This was what people were saying was the title eliminator. So Manel Cop needs to get that title chance. Let's see if it's before um before the Jandre Pantoja pulls up again. Right. Uh we don't know many more updates about that. Uh but Joshua Van, let's see, man. I think uh we got Van is hungry for a fight. We saw that. He wants more fights. We saw him him put some body bags up. You know, we saw what he did to Tyara.

SPEAKER_04 56:03

Absolutely. He he was he was doing a good job with that defense of the title.

SPEAKER_02 56:12

Exactly. So I really want to see what they're gonna do with Manil Cop. And uh moving on to some upcoming fights that I'm excited

Upcoming Fights And McGregor Talk

SPEAKER_02 56:20

about. I'll just I'll just read some of them off to you. Uh Fazeev versus Taurus coming out June 27th and 10 a.m. There's some really don't forget it's a morning one, guys. Uh be in the lookout for that one. But Faziv is a dog and Taurus is a freaking dog. So I believe this fight's gonna be a freaking dog fight, man. Uh and then after that, July 11th, McGregor supposedly finally coming back uh versus Max Holloway for a uh revenge fight for Max Holloway. They met when they were really young.

SPEAKER_04 56:59

I never watched uh McGregor fight, and I can't say that I'm excited to. It it just it feels like they're digging up a corpse almost. It feels like that uh that recent Netflix bout on whatever promotion that was, where they they brought up Nate Diaz and a couple other fighters. It's like they're they're old, they're retired, stop stop bringing them out like show ponies.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

And um I have a different aspect because I've seen a lot of Conor McGregor's fights, uh nearly all of them, and I can say that because I got wind of Conor McGregor as the Irish prospect prior to even entering the UFC and and with his impressive knockouts even prior to the UFC. And w what a dog he was coming up and what a phenom he ended up becoming, uh however polarizing uh at the end. And him becoming one side of one of the greatest rivalries I have ever seen to grace the octagon, Connor McGregor vs. Kabib Namargamadoff, a rivalry that lives in infamy. Many people hurt on and outside the cage, outside the UFC, and uh all the you know background stuff that happened. Right. Besides the point, it's amazing to see Connor McGregor come back, let's see if he comes back and how he comes back because Max Holloway is still active, is still an animal, is still a beast, and was a BMF and former champion.

SPEAKER_04 58:46

And honestly, I'm not trying to downplay the whole night. Most of the fights preceding that bout, I'm I'm looking forward to.

SPEAKER_02 58:58

Most of them.

SPEAKER_04 58:59

There's some really good fights on that.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

Really good fights on that card uh to go over some of them uh Benoit Saint Denis versus Patty Pimlet, on the card. Which I'm so excited, Mike. Oh my god, that's gonna feed families. That's gonna feed families. Corey Sandhagen versus Mario Bautista. Are you kidding me? That is gonna be a technical banger.

SPEAKER_04 59:20

Roy Vall versus Kavanaugh.

SPEAKER_02 59:22

Oh my word. They're cooking right now. King Green versus Terrence McKinney, someone is gonna get put to sleep.

SPEAKER_04 59:29

Again, another that that has the workings of or the makings of being a fantastic fight. Not a snooze fest.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

Not a snooze fest. Uh Robert Whitaker making his light heavyweight debut on that card versus Nikita Krylock. A not a snoozer. Come on. Uh Gable Stevenson making his long-awaited debut into the UFC. Everybody loves Gable Stevenson. Everybody loves the one of the youngest Olympians to ever win gold for the US. Everybody wants to see this guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:03

This is the protege, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:05

This is John Jones protege. This is the guy that is sent everybody is saying is the guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

It's good. I'm I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:16

I mean, the numbers insane. Minus 2,000, bro. Yeah. Your first fight in the UFC debuting. Crazy. Cody Garbant versus Giannis, banger. So Tracy Cortez versus Kong. Oh my god, dude. There's so many bangers on this one. Amida vs. Pinas. Guys, this is not one to miss. Usually they do not stack the cards for a Connor McGregor fight. Uh this is pre-pay-per-view. This is pay-per-view during pay-per-view. Right. Like they knew that Connor McGregor would draw the numbers. And now there's no pay-per-view model, so it's kind of interesting to see that aspect and see that uh they're stacking this card to the freaking gills.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:03

In all honesty, they might be front loading it just to make up for any potential disappointments.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

Man, I don't know. I don't know how he's gonna look. And afterward, another exciting fight that was announced, and I was so happy to see Duplicy finally making his comeback after that horrible loss to Hamza Jamayo. Yeah. Uh versus Usman making his finally a middleweight debut. And uh let's see how that goes, man. Usman's a beast, uh Dricas is a ble a beast. Or, you know, hopefully that's still the case, right? Yeah. And uh that card is nasty too. Jared Kennanier, Leroy Duncan, uh Alberto Montes versus McMillan, Kevin Holland. Kevin Holland on that card. It's very exciting, these cards that they're putting together so far. Uh I'm I'm very excited. Ankalaev versus Roundtree, July 25th. They're really trying to feed families, man, with these fights. Uh I I'm going for Roundtree on this one. I'm really hoping that he's able to, you know, overcome the diversity that uh Mogaban Ankalaev has in his bag. You know, mixing up the takedowns, mixing up the kickboxing.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:21

I really like Roundtree. I would love to see him win.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:25

Me too.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:26

It I mean, yeah, it's a bit of a just of a because I like him, but I I think he deserves it. Hopefully he conditions himself and has the right strategy to actually pull it off.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

Uh exactly. I'm I'm I'm I'm hope so as well. Uh August first, Medic vs. Rodriguez, another freaking banger on the main card. And just announced, look at this news. Makachev versus Ian Gary. Makachev making his second defense of that belt in that 170 division. Uh very exciting, man. Very exciting. I know that people don't really like Ian Gary. Uh you know another notorious fighter. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:10

However we've seen him be really awesome and we've seen him be pretty disappointing. So hopefully he brings his A game.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:17

So hopefully he's really awesome, but I think this is gonna be a good fight. I think this is a sleeper one, and they're hoping that Ian Gary um uh is able to work on his game. I know that he's impressive though. He's impressive. A lot of people do sleep on Ian Gary.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:31

He has the skills, clearly. Uh we'll just have to wait and see if he brings him to that night.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:39

Exactly. And those are the fight cards coming up.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:45

Oh man, I just looked into that. Mackenzie Dern's making her defense as well on the same night.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:51

Yes, on the same night, so we got uh uh very exciting fights on that card. And before we end the episode, a quick mention of some s UFC news that we've seen uh to mention the Herb Dean versus Alex Badeda.

Herb Dean Drama And Heavyweight Chaos

SPEAKER_02 1:04:08

Uh they're gonna end up fighting each other in the octagon, it seems like. Just kidding. But it does seem like Herb Dean is taking a massive amount of flack for the aforementioned back of the head shots by Cyril Gunn.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:23

Yep. And I mean, I see both sides from Herb Dean's perspective, it really didn't seem illegal, but when you when you're watching the camera of each individual shot, you can tell some of them absolutely were.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:40

Absolutely. I I understand the plight. Um I look at it this way is that refing is one of the absolute hardest freaking jobs in the world. Because even if you get the right call, people still hate you. Oh yeah. So it's hard. Um however, I really thought that that was gonna be the end of it, but Alex Pereira might be trying to get that win back, that loss back.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:07

Oh yeah, I heard I saw something about their like filing an injunction or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:13

May file one, uh, especially with what's going on with the back and forth between Herb Dean uh and and Alex Pereira saying some pretty crazy things, such as he doesn't want to fight in the UFC anymore if Herb Dean is the ref. Hmm. And maybe he doesn't want to fight anymore at all.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:39

I mean he's he's achieved plenty of stardom, he doesn't necessarily need to do it, but I think it would be kind of sad to see him go out with a whimper like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:52

Herb Dean with a rebuttal stating that the uh what a back of the head shot means and j d releasing a video afterward with uh instruction on where exactly back of the head shots are, claiming that those were side headshots. I don't want to get into the intricacies of the rules and stuff like that because we'd be here all night. Yeah. Um and what that means and stuff like that. But like I said, man, uh Alex Vereira's putting some big time pressure with some of the things he's saying and some of the news he's releasing about that, and how he really feels that Cyril Gunn is a cheating fighter. And he wants to run it back, I think. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:39

Um I mean, I'm not opposed to seeing a rematch eventually, but like I was saying earlier, I think he needs a little more seasoning at this weight class before he goes up against someone who's so naturally at this weight class.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:55

And it brings me to the drama that was before the White House card was the Josh Hoket and the massive bullying he was doing against Alex Pareda with the chama on your mama and all that stuff. Just more disgustingness from that man. And how that fight didn't really make sense and how he was like really stirring up nothing against Alex Pareda and Ilya Taporia. And now seeing Alex Pareda and how he looked against Cyril Gun, and I know I'm seeing people either being like, maybe he doesn't belong in the heavyweight division, maybe it was too soon, maybe he was just a too hard of an opponent to start with. I'm hearing all those.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:37

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

That Josh Hokett versus Alex Pareda fight's making a little sense now, I will say.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:43

It does make some sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:44

It does make some sense now, uh, especially with how Josh Hoket's on a tear, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:51

I don't think Hoket's prepared to fight Syrogon.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:55

I don't think so. I don't think so either. Uh I really feel like it should be Tom Aspinall. I really feel like it should be Tom Aspinall to try to get his to try to solidify that he's the champion, you know, and unify the belt.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:10

You mean with against Siro Ghana again?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:12

Yeah, and finally, hopefully we get rid of this freaking curse on the heavyweight division. Get rid of the came in belt. And you know, that curse belt. And uh one more thing I did see was John Jones releasing a video after the Alex Pareda loss. A cryptic video looking at the camera and being like, hmm. Because of how easy work he made Cyril Gun.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:40

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:41

Uh you know, it's uh very a slippery slope. Uh I think more drama. Just more drama. I will say though, he did make Cyril Gun look like not Cyril Gun.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:53

And I'll leave it at that. And for that kind of thing, like I said, you have to keep those gloves up. Unless you take headshots to the back of the head. Then how are you supposed to anyway?

Final Thoughts And Sign Off

SPEAKER_02 1:09:06

Uh feel free to like and subscribe, leave those comments on there, and uh, we appreciate you guys sincerely. Have a good one, y'all.