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Speaker 1: Oh well, Hi there, boys and girls. I don't know

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Speaker 1: what we're calling this. It's an emergency pod because it's

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Speaker 1: an emergency moment in the sport. Hello everyone, Welcome to

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Speaker 1: Morning Combat, whatever episode we're calling this. My name is

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Speaker 1: Luke Thomas. I am one half of your hosting duo.

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Speaker 1: I join you from the capital of Status abdos right

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Speaker 1: here with the King of Connecticut as well as the

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Speaker 1: King of CTE, my friend and yours, Brian Campbell. Hi,

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Speaker 1: Brian Campbell.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I go away to NYC for one night, Luke,

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Speaker 2: and the whole MMA landscape has flipped upside down.

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Speaker 3: You know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: I do know what you mean. So here's why we're here.

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Speaker 1: As BC indicated, this is not a full episode of MK,

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Speaker 1: not even close. But what we are doing is going

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Speaker 1: to talk about this news related to Francis san Ganu,

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Speaker 1: as well as John Jones, the heavyweight division and the

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Speaker 1: UFC everything in between. Didn't want to leave you guys

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Speaker 1: hanging until Wednesday. I wanted to make sure we got

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Speaker 1: something out because there is no full MK coming out

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Speaker 1: on Monday. All right, So thumbs up on the video.

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Speaker 1: If you're watching obviously on YouTube, hit subscribe all that

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Speaker 1: good stuff. I'm not going to run through all of

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Speaker 1: the things by our merch. Go to Poddash Live and

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Speaker 1: dot com and buy our tickets. If you're going to

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Speaker 1: be in the UK, come see us on February eighth PC.

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Speaker 1: Anything else, say this, you know, as my.

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Speaker 3: Goat often says, that's about it.

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Speaker 1: That's about it. There you go, all right, that's not

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Speaker 1: annoying at all, you know at all. All right, See, well,

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Speaker 1: let's set this news up and then we'll go to

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Speaker 1: you first on this. So everyone's kind of solid. But

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Speaker 1: let's recap just the same. Yesterday, following the conclusion of

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Speaker 1: UFC Vegas sixty seven, which was the first UFC event

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Speaker 1: of the year. It took place at the Apex in

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Nevada, UFC President Dana White did a postfight

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Speaker 1: scrub and there's lots of things that actually happened in

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Speaker 1: that scrum, but for the purposes of this conversation, let's

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Speaker 1: focus on what he said related to the heavyweight division. First,

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Speaker 1: John Jones is back. He will fight in March. He

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Speaker 1: will take on Seril Gone. I believe this is UFC

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Speaker 1: two eighty five. If my math is right. I think

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Speaker 1: that's right. I think March fourth. I'll double check the

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Speaker 1: weekend here in just a minute, but he is back.

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Speaker 1: He has reportedly signed an eight fight deal. That fight

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Speaker 1: will not be for the interim heavyweight title. It will

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Speaker 1: be for the full heavyweight title. Because the other big

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Speaker 1: news that he revealed is that Francis and Ghanu is

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Speaker 1: no longer the UFC heavyweight champ. He has been scripped

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Speaker 1: and he is not a part of the organization anymore.

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Speaker 1: He is a full on free agent, could sign this

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Speaker 1: moment anywhere he wants to. No exclusive negotiating period, no

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Speaker 1: rights matching, no nothing, None of that exists. And Dana

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Speaker 1: White had said to the media, you know, listen, I

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Speaker 1: understand if someone wants to go and fight lesser competition

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Speaker 1: for more money, but that's just not what we do here.

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Speaker 1: So there's a lot to unpack. BC. First things first,

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Speaker 1: your overall reaction to this news, and then I want

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Speaker 1: to focus in on the Francis and Ganho side. First.

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Speaker 2: It's like, even though we know it was possible, Meaning

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Speaker 2: and Ghanu eventually signing or not signing in this case,

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Speaker 2: not signing, do we know that was possible? Yes, still

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Speaker 2: feels shocking to me and maybe it's because I always

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Speaker 2: even though Francis and Gano's UFC deal didn't officially what

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Speaker 2: expired till the end of December of this year, it's

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Speaker 2: been a long time since he beat Cerril Gonn in

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Speaker 2: April of twenty twenty two amazingly heroically to defend his

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Speaker 2: title and put himself in the driver's seat for leverage,

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Speaker 2: for freedom, for whatever he wanted to do and was

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Speaker 2: willing to go down that dark road to get there.

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Speaker 2: I just assumed, Luke, that this would have been consummated

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Speaker 2: before the end of his deal, Meaning I thought at

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Speaker 2: some point we knew he's gonna be out with the

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Speaker 2: knee injury. That was not anything that we could fast forward.

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Speaker 2: But I thought at some point you were gonna hear yes,

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Speaker 2: they figured it out, some type of hybrid in between

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Speaker 2: deal of whatever Francis wanted, which was big money, freedom, respect,

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Speaker 2: but the ability to do other things, to box the Tizon,

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Speaker 2: Fury Box, the Deontay Wilder, whatever he wanted. I just

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Speaker 2: always assumed they would meet in the middle. UFC cannot

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Speaker 2: do certain precedents right, They couldn't give Francis the world.

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Speaker 2: I thought they would just meet in the middle. He

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Speaker 2: would get more money than he was asking for. And

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Speaker 2: because the John Jones fight was there, which feels historic,

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Speaker 2: feels well, now it feels like it's not gonna happened

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Speaker 2: in the same way Fate or versus Ready Guitar felt.

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Speaker 3: But that's another topic.

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Speaker 2: Shocked that we waited this long past the end of

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Speaker 2: his deal, John Ready, and it's not gonna be in

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Speaker 2: Ghanu versus John Jones, you know, in a set in

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Speaker 2: a vacuum, separate from all the other news. John Jones

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Speaker 2: versus Cyril gone for the full heavyweight championship and John

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Speaker 2: Jones's heavyweight debut is great news right around the corner

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Speaker 2: in March, like so many things to talk about about

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Speaker 2: that fight, But you can't separate away from the Francis one.

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Speaker 2: And in some ways, I don't even think you can

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Speaker 2: separate this news, this development, the fall out of what

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Speaker 2: happens from all the other craziness going on in the

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Speaker 2: UFC right around the turn of the new year, from

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Speaker 2: you know, transgressions, through everything going on with gambling, fighter pay.

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Speaker 2: All of that, in a weird way, is all connected

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Speaker 2: to see Dana Waite kind of paint it after the

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Speaker 2: fact of well, we offered him money to be the richest.

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Speaker 3: Heavyweight of all time.

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Speaker 2: We offered him Lesner money, and to see him double

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Speaker 2: down on that with the you know, it's clear that

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Speaker 2: Francis wants to make more money and fight lesser competition.

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Speaker 2: That comes across as so hollow and such bullshit to me,

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Speaker 2: because outside of the one off in twenty sixteen when

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Speaker 2: brock Lesner came back at UFC two hundred for huge money,

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Speaker 2: flew right through the testing protocols straight up, taking every

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Speaker 2: roid available and then was basically glorified and awarded for

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Speaker 2: that victory over Mark nearly got a Daniel Cormier title

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Speaker 2: shot off of it. To be fair, brock Lesner has

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Speaker 2: been active in like ten years, So to say, okay,

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Speaker 2: you know we gave him Lessner money, that's great, But

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Speaker 2: not only do UFC fighters deserve to be paid a

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Speaker 2: lot more, especially the elite champion, somebody you know, a

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Speaker 2: one of one like Francis and Ghana won in a

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Speaker 2: million years. But to kind of see that and to

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Speaker 2: see the rip on the competition, I mean, is it

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Speaker 2: really tougher competition when in reality we know in Ghana

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Speaker 2: wants to go up there and box in his pro

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Speaker 2: debut against the reigning recognized heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. That

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Speaker 2: doesn't sound like easier competition to me, but it does

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Speaker 2: sound like Francis was hell bent on achieving the freedom

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Speaker 2: that he works so hard to get in the leverage

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Speaker 2: fighting that gone fight when nobody would have advised him

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Speaker 2: to do that. That at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: you know what, Francis wins here. He wins because he

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Speaker 2: got to do this on his own terms. This seemed

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Speaker 2: to be more about respect than even money in financial

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Speaker 2: freedom for Francis, it was about you know, we're in

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Speaker 2: an era here where you're treating us on caveman levels

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Speaker 2: when Pier pay treatment, constant lying in the media, all

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Speaker 2: the narratives, all that stuff that's going on, like it's

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Speaker 2: all coming to a head right now. It feels on

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Speaker 2: a larger scale. And you can argue with me and say, BC,

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Speaker 2: you're just playing into the sensationalism. You won't let this

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Speaker 2: day and the thing go. No, it feels like it's

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Speaker 2: all connected right now. When this news hit, I was shocked,

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Speaker 2: and then I said, you know what, good for Francis

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Speaker 2: because his window may not be super large. I mean,

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Speaker 2: he's got to prove to us they can come back

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Speaker 2: from this knee injury. He's no spring chicken, but he

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Speaker 2: now has the ability to do exactly what he wants

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Speaker 2: and make huge money. And to see PFL tweet out

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Speaker 2: the whole Cogan nWo gift right when that news broke

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Speaker 2: down and lets you know that there are suitors out there,

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Speaker 2: There are people that want to make big moves. You

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Speaker 2: know what, Well done, Francis and Ganu. I don't see

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Speaker 2: how you can look at this situation separate from compartmentalizing

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Speaker 2: and saying, well Jones versus God damn, that's another conversation

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Speaker 2: that's great, and it is great. Separate from that, I

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Speaker 2: don't see how you can't lump everything together and say,

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Speaker 2: in the past couple months alone, I've seen some people

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Speaker 2: tweeted out CHEANL. Shatty had a great tweet, and just

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Speaker 2: name all the things that happened in the UFC in

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Speaker 2: the last three four months alone.

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Speaker 3: They look the greatest heavyweight of all time walk away.

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Speaker 2: And we aren't privy Loup to the financial discussions, but

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Speaker 2: I think we all believe that, you know, Francis and

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Speaker 2: guys like him certainly deserve a lot more than they're getting.

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Speaker 2: And even whatever he turned out, whatever number he turned

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Speaker 2: down in Danish, framing it like, oh, he's purposely just

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Speaker 2: you know, just wants to fight lesser competition.

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Speaker 3: What came with that number?

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Speaker 2: How big is the deal he had to sign? Because

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Speaker 2: look at where we are. Suddenly John Jones is the

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Speaker 2: hero and the company guy who signs an eight fight

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Speaker 2: deal after sitting out three years and finally making this.

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Speaker 2: So the UFC had the luxury to say, Okay, Francis,

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Speaker 2: we're not gonna give you exactly what you want because

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Speaker 2: we have John Jones right here.

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Speaker 3: Fans are gonna suffer because they don't get that matchup.

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Speaker 2: But it's hard for me to sit here and believe

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Speaker 2: like this isn't the continuation of a negative trend. To me,

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Speaker 2: this feels like I want you to respond to me here, Luke.

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Speaker 2: Doesn't this feel like this Francis thing is going to

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Speaker 2: create even more ripples that the lengths he had to

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Speaker 2: go through to get freedom. And now he's got it.

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Speaker 2: And you know, you could say, oh, well he's old

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Speaker 2: and he's injured, like I just did. He has a

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Speaker 2: chance now to redefine what people can make in this

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Speaker 2: spot he can do crossover fights, he can do whatever

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Speaker 2: the hell he wants. The UFC just let go a

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Speaker 2: one of one and all time are right there during

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Speaker 2: the time when they slam dunk no brainer fight of

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Speaker 2: Jones versus in Ghana was right there? Was that because

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Speaker 2: Francis asked for too much? Or is that because Dana

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Speaker 2: is trying to hold the line right now on the

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Speaker 2: larger picture of we have to keep these salaries down

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Speaker 2: for for endeavor. Either way, the fans don't win as

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Speaker 2: a result of this, but Francis does, and considering what

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Speaker 2: he had to go through to get here, I do

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Speaker 2: sit back and applaud that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so there's a bunch to unpack with all of that.

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Speaker 1: Some of it I agree with, some of it which

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Speaker 1: I don't, but in general I agree with the spirit

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Speaker 1: of it. First thing I want to say, and I

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Speaker 1: just want to make sure we do this up front, BC,

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Speaker 1: because I want to make it clear to the audience.

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Speaker 1: I know you know this, and you know that I

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Speaker 1: know this, and some of our audience will know this

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Speaker 1: as well, many of them. But for folks who may

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Speaker 1: be catching this and don't know this, let's make it clear.

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Speaker 1: The reason Francis, and Ghanu was able to extricate himself

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Speaker 1: from his contract in the year twenty twenty two or

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, whatever the exact moment it was. He

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Speaker 1: got to get out. Is because fighters like Kungley, Nate Quarry,

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Speaker 1: Kyle Kingsbury and the others John Fitch, they filed an

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Speaker 1: anti basically an anti competitive antitrust suit I think almost

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Speaker 1: ten years ago to this point, not quite a little

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Speaker 1: bit less than that, maybe twenty fourteen or so. And

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Speaker 1: around twenty seventeen, the UFC, not because they were required to,

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Speaker 1: but in order to make few or problems for themselves

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Speaker 1: going forward with any additional litigation, began to put sunset

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Speaker 1: clauses in those deals five year sunset clauses and Francis's

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Speaker 1: deal was signed around twenty seventeen, which you just do

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Speaker 1: the math and then here we are. So I want

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Speaker 1: to be clear about something one of the biggest agents

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Speaker 1: of change and what makes this entire thing possible. And frankly,

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Speaker 1: I know the MMA media has not been great about

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Speaker 1: reporting this issue. There's been a couple of stars, but

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Speaker 1: in general it's just not been front page news. But

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Speaker 1: now it should be because this is front page News.

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Speaker 1: The entire reason that Francis and GANDU got to do

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Speaker 1: this because there used to be a thing called the

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Speaker 1: champion's clause ten years ago. This moment would not exist

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Speaker 1: because he would not have a sunset clause. He would

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Speaker 1: just keep going. It doesn't matter, nothing would have happened.

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Speaker 1: So it only happened because the UFC's hand was forced

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Speaker 1: by ongoing litigation to make this moment possible. It's the

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Speaker 1: first thing. We should definitely get out there and say. Now,

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Speaker 1: one thing I do disagree a little bit with is

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Speaker 1: we had talked. I was with you. We had said

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Speaker 1: on the show, what's Francis gonna do? And I was like, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, six months ago, whatever it was, there was

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Speaker 1: actually a lot of talk about him versus II Sonperia.

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Speaker 1: It's gotten pretty quiet, and just give him what's out there.

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Speaker 1: I think he could probably make not the most amount

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Speaker 1: of money with YOUFC, but a good amount. All's well,

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Speaker 1: that ends well, and he didn't do that. But while

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Speaker 1: this moment is big for the reasons aforementioned related to

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Speaker 1: all these contracts, the bigger issue for me is he

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Speaker 1: took a really he bet on himself, right, He bet

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Speaker 1: on himself. He's been betting on himself for a long

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Speaker 1: time and it has worked out quite well for him

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Speaker 1: up to this point. So I understand that, but I

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Speaker 1: personally am a little bit worried that it won't work

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Speaker 1: unless like this, the larger significance of it won't actually

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Speaker 1: mean anything to fans, I should say, unless it results

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Speaker 1: in a material improvement like he has to show with

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Speaker 1: this move proof of concept. Now, there's lots of ways

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Speaker 1: to skin that cat. To your point, does he get

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Speaker 1: the Tyson Fury Fighter, maybe Deontay Wilder or you know,

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Speaker 1: some kind of weird combination where that gets the job

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Speaker 1: done and he makes something, you know, twenty thirty million

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Speaker 1: dollars pay day. Yes, gets the job done. I am

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Speaker 1: skeptical that that could work with PFL, but you know,

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Speaker 1: certainly we have at least consider that as a possibility.

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Speaker 1: I wonder if Belletore is interested. We know BKFC is

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Speaker 1: on the hook, But I just want to be clear.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a big deal no matter what, But

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Speaker 1: will it really lead to big change? Will it actually

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Speaker 1: motivate people to follow his path? And other big name

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Speaker 1: stars when that sunset provision hits to go and seek

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Speaker 1: out their options. If Francis goes out there and falls

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Speaker 1: flat on his face, whether it does that, by the way,

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Speaker 1: one that's possibility. One, that's possibility. Here, here's also something else, BC,

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Speaker 1: we should consider. It's not necessarily a done deal that

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Speaker 1: Francis's UFC days are over. He could go and get

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Speaker 1: a Tyson Fury fight and make a bunch of money

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Speaker 1: and then be like, you know what, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: do the old Nate DS thing. I'm going to promise

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Speaker 1: to go back home, go back home, sign with UFC.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that's going to fulfill all the fans' needs.

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Speaker 1: But I can see like there's a lot of ways

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Speaker 1: this goes I just want to be clear. I do

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Speaker 1: think BC he's got a make proof of concept here.

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Speaker 1: Otherwise there's gonna be a lot of second guessing.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I'm not gonna say there's no there's no way

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Speaker 2: this goes bad for Francis and this can be a

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Speaker 2: regret or there's no way, like you said, like could

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Speaker 2: he go out there and get you know, knocked out

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Speaker 2: by Tyson Fury or just dominated and that lowers as well.

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Speaker 2: At that point he'd be making probably more money they

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Speaker 2: made in his entire career one night, and maybe that's

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Speaker 2: the point, but I do believe with Francis it's more

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Speaker 2: about respect freedom and that's why he went down the

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Speaker 2: dark road, the knee injury, the gone fight with that.

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Speaker 2: But looke think about this though, in what this impact

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Speaker 2: could mean. One of the biggest free agents the UFC

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Speaker 2: have ever lost, like from the time that they really

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Speaker 2: became the UFC, not when they were still competing with

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Speaker 2: Pride and it was still kind of an open market.

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Speaker 2: But it's like we remember there there have been times

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Speaker 2: where guys in their primes and even though Francis is

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Speaker 2: older and there's injury status, heavyweights aged later, so the

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Speaker 2: prime is going to be small, but you know, there's

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Speaker 2: still a window here where Francis can be great. It's like,

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Speaker 2: you know, Rory left on his own terms but wasn't

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Speaker 2: like he was as a champion, and you know, you know,

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Speaker 2: Demetris Johnson got traded but the UFC was kind of

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Speaker 2: done with him. Benson Anderson when he still had a

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Speaker 2: lot of gas left left early but those are sort

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Speaker 2: of you know, Corey Anderson in his own unique situation.

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Speaker 2: You combine Nate Diaz getting out on his own terms,

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Speaker 2: needing MMA karma by the way, and Tremiah to miswait

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Speaker 2: to make that happen. But how significant do you think

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Speaker 2: it could be if you package Nate Diaz exit with

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Speaker 2: Francis and Gano was in the same season. Now this, this,

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Speaker 2: this could get juicier if the Jake Paul PFL gamble

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Speaker 2: pays off for PFL, and if then they signing Ghanu

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Speaker 2: and maybe they bring in Nate for a big fight,

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Speaker 2: then suddenly you have, in theory a competitor. But as

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Speaker 2: far as it stands right now, I don't remember a

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Speaker 2: period where it felt like there was a chance for

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Speaker 2: others to make moves, meaning fighters joining together or or

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Speaker 2: or rival promotions that had access to money. Because sometimes

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Speaker 2: when you have a competitor, it's like, Okay, maybe they

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Speaker 2: got great ideas, which do they have the money to

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Speaker 2: compete with UFC. I'm not saying PFL can compete with

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Speaker 2: UFC head to head, but can they crash the market

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Speaker 2: right now? I didn't think we'd be here six months

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Speaker 2: ago where we are now. Francis out, nad out under

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Speaker 2: the terms that we didn't expect, and Chake Paul of

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Speaker 2: all people to PFL. So my question is this when

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Speaker 2: we look at fighter pay and you made a great

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Speaker 2: point about the sunset clauses, and this changes a lot

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Speaker 2: of things for the future. But we always say to

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Speaker 2: the guys, it's sort of like, Okay, if you don't

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Speaker 2: like that, then wait till your deal's up and go

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Speaker 2: somewhere else. But it's so much easier said than done

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Speaker 2: just to get removed from your deal. A lot of

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Speaker 2: times they're gonna throw you hard fights on the way

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Speaker 2: out to try to damage you and bring you down.

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Speaker 2: Both Nate and Francis have now stepped out of the

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Speaker 2: shadow into their own, but with the momentum in their direction.

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Speaker 2: From a brand power standpoint, I'm not used to this

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Speaker 2: as an MMA observer and journalist and fan watching it.

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Speaker 2: If it's as simple as UFC fighters, you know, aren't

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Speaker 2: getting paid what they should, so go else and try

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Speaker 2: to find it. This Francis move could be, if it

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Speaker 2: works out for him to your point, could be the

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Speaker 2: package with Nate, the opening of a new door for

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Speaker 2: all the athletes. Maybe we'll never get to full on

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Speaker 2: union organization, join hands, stand up to the man, but

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Speaker 2: this has to be the beginning of some major possibilities

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Speaker 2: and opportunities for fighters and the free agent market in general.

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Speaker 2: And I think the reason why the free agent market

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Speaker 2: has never created real competition is, like you said, the

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Speaker 2: contracts are so draconian. If you become the title level

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Speaker 2: like Francis, it's not just easy to get to the

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Speaker 2: end of your deal and walk away. There's always a

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Speaker 2: loophole keeping you. There's always another big fight. I mean,

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Speaker 2: most people on this spot. If you're Francis and they

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Speaker 2: offer you the John Jones fight, but you have to

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Speaker 2: sign this huge deal, most people are gonna sign it, okay,

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Speaker 2: because you're probably gonna get. Like Dana said, Lesnar money

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Speaker 2: the biggest payday of his life. But he doesn't just

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Speaker 2: want the biggest payday of his life. It feels like

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Speaker 2: Francis wants change. He wants freedom for himself, but he

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Speaker 2: wants to be historically that person that fought the man,

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Speaker 2: fought the machine, and created change. If there's ever going

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Speaker 2: to be change, it's going to be now after what

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Speaker 2: happened with Nate and Francis. I do feel like Luke,

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Speaker 2: this could be something big in the long run.

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Speaker 1: It could be. I think it's then him and Nate

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Speaker 1: are the interesting ones for a couple of reasons. One

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Speaker 1: is that, to you point likely, I remember when Lorenz

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Speaker 1: Larkin left UFC and went to Belltour, and like a

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Speaker 1: lot of those deals, the guy quietly kind of fights

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Speaker 1: out the last fight and then you're like, I guess

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Speaker 1: we'll see what happens next. But these were like grand

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Speaker 1: exits where everyone really noticed not just their departure, but like, WHOA,

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Speaker 1: what's next, and like it's very open ended but exciting,

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Speaker 1: and it's all these different possibilities. It just feels like,

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Speaker 1: in terms of the scale of it much bigger. I

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Speaker 1: would also point out something that I really think should

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Speaker 1: not get lost be seen. I know you'll agree with this.

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Speaker 1: Look at the two fighters, the big ones who left, right,

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Speaker 1: So Nate Diaz and Francis. What's the thing that they

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Speaker 1: both have in common. I'll tell you this. They both

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Speaker 1: have managers who don't manage a bunch of UFC guys.

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Speaker 1: In fact, they have managers who don't ever have to

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Speaker 1: worry about UFC. I know Nate's guy is that's the

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Speaker 1: only fighter he reps, and I believe that's the case

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Speaker 1: for Francis as well. That's really the only guy. Maybe

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Speaker 1: it's like one or two more other guys. That's it.

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Speaker 1: These guys who have like hundreds of guys on their record,

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Speaker 1: do I think that they're going to be in a

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Speaker 1: position to have their guys fight out their deals in

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Speaker 1: this kind of a way like in public, have these

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Speaker 1: like go to the mat with the UFC moments. I

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Speaker 1: just don't. I could be wrong. We'll have to see,

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Speaker 1: but I just don't. So I think to me, part

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Speaker 1: of this is these guys have surrounded themselves with people

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Speaker 1: who can't be rolled over a barrel like that and

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Speaker 1: don't have to be leveraged in that way like they

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Speaker 1: have very much they have. We talked about this before,

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Speaker 1: like the ability to speak out. You got to build

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Speaker 1: into your career all of your freedoms along the way,

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Speaker 1: otherwise they simply just won't exist. That's a big part

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Speaker 1: of it. But Bisie, I'll have to ask you as

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Speaker 1: a boxing guy, because on the MMA side, like, realistically,

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Speaker 1: who would a guy like Francis fight? There could be

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Speaker 1: some names that they could give them, but I just

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Speaker 1: think candidly, there aren't a lot of good names for him,

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Speaker 1: especially if the idea is to make more than what

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Speaker 1: the UFC can make, and everyone's gonna say, well, do

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Speaker 1: the UCEE makes more than Why are we bitching about

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Speaker 1: fight or pay? Because this is the whole point. The

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Speaker 1: whole point is that the market is so fucked that

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Speaker 1: one part of the industry has such control where they

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Speaker 1: can depress wages that it's hard for anyone else by

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Speaker 1: virtue have closed, at least historically speaking, the contracts have

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Speaker 1: been to ever make up that difference. That's the reason

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Speaker 1: he has to go to boxing, which is much more

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Speaker 1: open ended in that way, to get the regulatory freedom

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Speaker 1: to do what he wants. So, speaking about MMA, if

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Speaker 1: you signed with Bella Tour, is there a real I mean,

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Speaker 1: could you do another fade or fight? I no, this

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Speaker 1: is retirement fight coming up and fib forth. I mean

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Speaker 1: maybe maybe, but probably not.

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Speaker 2: There's more one off capabilities in most organizations. I get

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Speaker 2: your point, but I'm just wondering if if the Francis

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Speaker 2: exit creates a chain of momentum where more people who

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Speaker 2: have who are closing in on the ability to do

430
00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,640
Speaker 2: what Nate and Francis just did. Now go, oh, I've

431
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,760
Speaker 2: seen it done. I see how to do that.

432
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,360
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Yes, And I think if Nate,

433
00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,600
Speaker 1: even if Nate does something silly like goes to Rising

434
00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 1: and boxes Mayweather and some kind of stupid exhibition and

435
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:01,639
Speaker 1: don't really care about it, doesn't mean a whole lot.

436
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 1: But he gets absolutely bonkers paid. Yes, this is my

437
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,720
Speaker 1: whole point, getting back to the previous thing. It's like

438
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,439
Speaker 1: this is big because it sets in motion. And I

439
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,080
Speaker 1: also do think I don't want to sleep on this.

440
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 1: Whether Francis made a mistake or not. In terms of

441
00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,160
Speaker 1: how much money he'll get from this, we will have

442
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,000
Speaker 1: to see. I don't know. But to your point, yeah,

443
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,280
Speaker 1: well I was just I was just I was just

444
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,520
Speaker 1: gonna say to see, to your point, the courage it

445
00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:26,240
Speaker 1: took to make the walk that he made is a

446
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,240
Speaker 1: big deal. It's just that in the end, I do

447
00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:32,199
Speaker 1: think he has to make the vision work. That is

448
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:33,399
Speaker 1: essential to discord.

449
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,040
Speaker 2: So look, there's two ways, Like it really works for

450
00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:39,160
Speaker 2: him outside of outside of whatever crossover, like you said, boxing,

451
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:41,760
Speaker 2: whatever kind of crossover weird stuff that'll get him paid

452
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,280
Speaker 2: and good for him if he does it. But in

453
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 2: terms of settling in PFL, belatorimm One Championship, whatever it is,

454
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,680
Speaker 2: you know he's gonna need other free agents to kind

455
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:52,800
Speaker 2: of follow suit and I know his windows closing. So

456
00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,600
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, for these other promotions to populate

457
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,439
Speaker 2: a division that would present to him the type of

458
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,359
Speaker 2: career defining fights that have you know, historical financial implications.

459
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:06,360
Speaker 3: You know the steep page it fights, the John.

460
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,479
Speaker 2: Jones for all the fights he could, in theory get

461
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,240
Speaker 2: under UFC if he signs one of those crazy contracts,

462
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:12,399
Speaker 2: not for the amount he wants.

463
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,439
Speaker 3: But I wonder, Luke, because like we do have to

464
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 3: realize something. MMA is so young.

465
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:24,280
Speaker 2: Okay, the sport's basically thirty years old. Okay, we we

466
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,560
Speaker 2: regularly on this show say we're living in the prehistoric

467
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,400
Speaker 2: era from the standpoint of fighter treatment, right or pay

468
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,000
Speaker 2: medical benefits, all that stuff, right, all the stuff that

469
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 2: took even the NFL a long time to really catch

470
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 2: up with, you know, brain health, all that stuff. We're

471
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:43,960
Speaker 2: so early in that. I wonder if Francis, if there's

472
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,440
Speaker 2: a way he sets a new tone from this standpoint

473
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,119
Speaker 2: in the boxing structure. It's obviously different than the UFC

474
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,880
Speaker 2: because there's many cooks in the kitchen and it's disjointed

475
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,320
Speaker 2: and it's the wild, wild West. But there is a

476
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:59,439
Speaker 2: graduation process within stardom that can happen, that's rare, but

477
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,560
Speaker 2: you need full sort of control to do it. What

478
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,159
Speaker 2: do I mean by this? When you get to the

479
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,600
Speaker 2: Mayweather level, or think Canelo in recent years, or think

480
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 2: Miguel Coto the last three four years of his career,

481
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:13,880
Speaker 2: when you are not tied down anymore by the long

482
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,640
Speaker 2: term promotional or network deals, but you get to such

483
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,639
Speaker 2: a level of leverage where you start calling your own shots.

484
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:21,439
Speaker 2: Canelo is saying I want to go to PBC for

485
00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:23,560
Speaker 2: one fight against Caleb Plant. Oh, I'll take a two

486
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 2: fight deal here with Dy hearning his own Oh, Now,

487
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 2: what do you guys got for me? Let me see

488
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,640
Speaker 2: what you got for me? Codo started picking one fight

489
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:32,720
Speaker 2: on this network, one on fight on this network. Floyd

490
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 2: obviously rewrote the book on how you take control and

491
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 2: do it. I'm wondering here if there is a way

492
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,879
Speaker 2: where Francis can it, can really trailblaze and start a

493
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 2: new thing for free agents. Maybe Nate can do it too,

494
00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 2: where maybe it is one off boxing fight here, one

495
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 2: off PFL pay per view super fight here, or one

496
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 2: season of PFL and then let me see what one

497
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,360
Speaker 2: championship has for a big opportunity. Oh, Scott Cooker wants

498
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:57,719
Speaker 2: me to fight fad Or on CBS.

499
00:22:57,760 --> 00:22:59,159
Speaker 3: Do you know what I'm saying? I wonder if this

500
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 3: is the beginning of being the exact opposite of what

501
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,119
Speaker 3: the man is offering you, which is a tie down deal,

502
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:08,800
Speaker 3: and if they can begin to use their own leverage

503
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,200
Speaker 3: in the free agent market to say no, I call

504
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,439
Speaker 3: the shots now because I earned it, because on one

505
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,160
Speaker 3: knee I went through hell and beat Cerril Gahan.

506
00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 2: I earned it. That's where the really big change comes in.

507
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,159
Speaker 2: And that's where this changes the game. So early thirty

508
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 2: years into this sport, that's why I believe this could

509
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 2: be a monster game changer when just the same as

510
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 2: you mentioned, he could also go out there and lose.

511
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:32,399
Speaker 3: And not you know what I mean, Like he's also

512
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 3: he's also thirty six coming off a major knee injury.

513
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 3: But man, the commitment.

514
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 2: That's why when that news became official, I was like, Man,

515
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,680
Speaker 2: that mother effort did it, and well done to him.

516
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 3: I don't think we have.

517
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 2: Any idea, Luke, if things start going in the Fighter's

518
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 2: direction in terms of leverage and being treated correctly, what

519
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 2: this can do to the larger free agency system. The

520
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:53,679
Speaker 2: way contracts are set up. But you brought up a

521
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 2: great point about managers. And look, I mean you know

522
00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:01,399
Speaker 2: that new hot YouTube cause MMAI that put out that

523
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 2: very long James Cross a bit.

524
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 3: Now they've got a.

525
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 2: Multi part series coming out on MMA Managers. The first

526
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,119
Speaker 2: episode was kind of about Jason House. You hear a

527
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 2: lot about Ali and stuff there. It does seem to

528
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:14,360
Speaker 2: be a larger problem that a lot of us are

529
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 2: kind of just getting educated upon about the managerial system

530
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 2: within the UFC two and how advantageous it is for

531
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 2: managers to stay in the good grace of the UFC,

532
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 2: and does that in the long term lower the argumentative

533
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,640
Speaker 2: leverage and negotiation power of the fighters in these situations.

534
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 2: You know the new factory that is the Dana White

535
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 2: Contender series, where you're able to come in there hungry

536
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 2: and desperate to please the boss and fight like a

537
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,520
Speaker 2: maniac so you can maybe get that contract which is peanuts,

538
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 2: and they can escalate you on such a slow process

539
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:44,520
Speaker 2: to the top.

540
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 3: You know, it's weird.

541
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 2: I wonder if this change begins to really change that,

542
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 2: it's going to take a lot more. But anyone who's

543
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,000
Speaker 2: sitting here going man, I love the UFC the way

544
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 2: it is now. I get great fights all the time.

545
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,439
Speaker 2: Hey guys, so do I and anyone who's sitting here going, man,

546
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 2: I'm sick of these guys from MKA always being these

547
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:01,880
Speaker 2: watchdogs for UFC.

548
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:03,880
Speaker 3: Man, they must hate the UFC, want to bring it down.

549
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,320
Speaker 2: No, it's because we love the UFC and love, you know,

550
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 2: in respect, the fighters in the entertainment. They provide the

551
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,919
Speaker 2: chances they take that we're sick of seeing. We know

552
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,439
Speaker 2: how the system works. We're watching from a distance how

553
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,640
Speaker 2: the sausage is made, and nobody can do a damn

554
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 2: thing about it. Maybe Francis crawled through hell like Andy

555
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 2: and shawshank right to try to change that.

556
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:27,639
Speaker 3: I think that's on a macro level.

557
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 2: How the potential of what this news is. I do

558
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,359
Speaker 2: want to ask you, though, Luke, back to the micro level.

559
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 2: PFL just kind of. I mean, there's an IG post

560
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,880
Speaker 2: out there I don't know who to attribute to that's

561
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,359
Speaker 2: showing Francis's family already dressed in PFL T shirts. I

562
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 2: don't know if it was photoshopped or someone call you know,

563
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 2: it took a picture of them at a restaurant. PFL

564
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,640
Speaker 2: tweets out the Hollywood nWo thing. On a micro level, dude,

565
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 2: how much is France's phone going to be ringing? Because

566
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,200
Speaker 2: I saw a BKFC tweeted at him. Cooker's already got

567
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 2: headlines out there like what's the next three, four, five,

568
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,239
Speaker 2: six months going to look like for him? Separate from

569
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,560
Speaker 2: talk about Jones versus Gone, which we should do. But

570
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,280
Speaker 2: on a micro level with Francis, dude, what do you

571
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 2: think he's thinking?

572
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,040
Speaker 1: So let's do the math. We're in January. He said

573
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: he could have been ready for March if that fight

574
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 1: had gone through, but that he that was a little

575
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,439
Speaker 1: bit early, like a little fifty to fifty ish on that.

576
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking in April or may return, like maybe

577
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: a Sinco de Mayo weekend May fifth, something like that.

578
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, a BC, I just don't buy

579
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 1: the PFL side of things. I mean, don't get me wrong,

580
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: A one off maybe maybe certainly, I think they're gonna

581
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 1: make a genuine, good faith effort, But I just feel

582
00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 1: like his first move here's my official prediction. I think

583
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 1: his first move is gonna be somewhere inside boxing. Now.

584
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 1: Tyson Fury we know is locked up with usik it

585
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 1: is believed. We have reason to believe, probably because they're

586
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: both in PBC right that Deontay Wilder's probably gonna fight

587
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: Andy Ruiz. I guess we're gonna have to see, but

588
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 1: they seem like they're locked up. AJ he makes more

589
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,400
Speaker 1: money than God and doesn't really need this. I don't

590
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: think he would go in that. And I also think

591
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 1: he wants like redemptive wins, and he's overhauling his coaching staff,

592
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,679
Speaker 1: so that's not there. So there's like a choose zorified.

593
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,200
Speaker 1: Maybe you could do a Dillion White thing. I don't

594
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 1: know exactly how it all plays out, but I definitely

595
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: feel like he goes inside the boxing direction. First. I

596
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: don't think he abandons MMA by any stretch of the

597
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: imagination long term, but I think that. And I also think,

598
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,200
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna say it again, I think Ny Diaz

599
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,199
Speaker 1: his first thing is boxing too. I think these guys

600
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do is I got freedom. The time

601
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,680
Speaker 1: to use it is now, it is right now, This

602
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 1: is what I should do. That's what they're gonna do.

603
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 2: I think, somewhat potentially tied to what you just said,

604
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 2: I know that Jake Paul signed a two fight MMA

605
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 2: deal with PFL. But he's got more skin in the game.

606
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 2: There's there's stock options there, you know, I mean, he's.

607
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 3: Got like equity in this.

608
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 2: Right now, you got Aeriels saying, which I thought was smart, saying,

609
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:43,920
Speaker 2: you know what PFL should do if they really want

610
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 2: to splash the market almost in a pro wrestling style,

611
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,200
Speaker 2: allow Jake to be their data right, allow him, allow

612
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 2: this to be which I can't even believe it's happening

613
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 2: in house with an ESPN, but allowed Jake to essentially

614
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 2: be the Dana who's calling out UFC and Dana constantly

615
00:27:57,800 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 2: and trying to use that as leverage for the PFL.

616
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 2: But Jake really makes his money in these crossover boxing

617
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 2: fights MVP promotions now kind of works for PFL. Is

618
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,400
Speaker 2: that Kate smart enough Luke that they could do boxing

619
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 2: inside there too, Like you know what I'm saying, Like.

620
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,239
Speaker 1: No, they might, they might try, but it, dude, we

621
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 1: all know what did these guys want. They want to

622
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,239
Speaker 1: be like we saw it with Timon Woodley, with with

623
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:24,880
Speaker 1: Jake Paul. They want to be in control, right, It's

624
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 1: not just like the share of the REV. They want

625
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 1: to run the show. They want to have say over this.

626
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 1: They want to have say over that, and in boxing

627
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,639
Speaker 1: they do. They have say over things you couldn't possibly

628
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: believe they have say over they have it. I think

629
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:38,640
Speaker 1: he wants it. I also want to have a discussion BC,

630
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 1: not just about the Wait, they don't go.

631
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 2: Too far on that because it's called the Professional Fighters League.

632
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 2: It's not called you know, American MMA or something like that.

633
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.

634
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 2: You don't think there's a chance that the launch of

635
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 2: the super Fight pay per view division might also bring

636
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:52,719
Speaker 2: in the potential.

637
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 3: Hey Nate, you want to box with us? Hey Francis,

638
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 3: you want to box?

639
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: Why would he on the boxing side, on the boxing side,

640
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: why would he? I mean, here's what he's going to do.

641
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 1: You know this too. He's going to open up his

642
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: own promotion company called you know, Francis or the Predator

643
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: Promotions or something some name. It's a shell company, and

644
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: then to use that to get you know, I'm going

645
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: to get a promoter credit on top of getting the

646
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: check for just being a fighter. Like I just why

647
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 1: would you split that with a PFL if you don't

648
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: have to? Does? I don't understand that. But there's a

649
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 1: really important conversation. We have to have to BC before

650
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: we can get to the Jones side of things, which

651
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: is about like the state of like the number one heavyweight.

652
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: I hope everyone understands this. The number one heavyweight in

653
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 1: the world does not fight in the UFC. Now. I

654
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: realize that John Jones, if he wins, would have some

655
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 1: kind of a claim over it by beating or some

656
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: kind of a claim to it anyway, if he beats Cereril,

657
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: especially if he beats him like very impressively. We'll have

658
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:47,480
Speaker 1: to talk about that in just a minute. But right now,

659
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 1: as it stands, Francis is that guy, and if Cyril wins,

660
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 1: Francis is definitely that guy since France has beat him

661
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,600
Speaker 1: on one leg basically in his last fight prior to

662
00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: all of this. So I just want to point out

663
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 1: something to be in the rankings and everything else and

664
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: how we talk about this. It is interesting now that

665
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: like affirmatively the best heavyweight in MMA does not fight

666
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: in the UFC, and I hope that when folks understand

667
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 1: that and they talk about the nature of this fight

668
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: with John and Cyril, these guys are not vying for

669
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: number one. They don't have access to that and I

670
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 1: don't know if we're going to get that at some point,

671
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: but it's not the case as it stands of March fourth,

672
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three.

673
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 2: No, And I mean, look, let's also be honest, and

674
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 2: it's rare when this can happen for as great as

675
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 2: the UFC is and has been, But like Glover to

676
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 2: share versus Jamal Hill for the vacant light heavyweight title

677
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 2: doesn't produce the best light heavyweight in the world with

678
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 2: the winner, right, I mean, it's rare than this happens.

679
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:39,960
Speaker 1: That's a that's a little tougher. I mean, I just

680
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: I mean, here's the thing, dude, did you not get

681
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: a little bit bothered by Dane l I bean, like, well,

682
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: he wants to fight lesser competition. It's like, dude, he

683
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 1: beat the guy that's in your replacement main event with

684
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: a fucked up leg? Like, what are you talking about?

685
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 3: Does he knocked Steep out with a jab? Let's be

686
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 3: fair with that, Okay.

687
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I just listen to this. Listen

688
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:57,840
Speaker 1: to this. Since he went to the UFC, which ball

689
00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 1: the way was back in twenty fifteen, he'd beat Curtis

690
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 1: Blades twice. I'm gonna leave out a couple of names

691
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: that don't even matter anymore. Then he beats Anthony Hamilton

692
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: round one, Kumora. Then he beats Arlovsky round one knockout.

693
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 1: Then he beats over him round one knockout in the.

694
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 2: Greatest knockout of all time, the great the nastiest knockout

695
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 2: you've ever seen.

696
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:15,959
Speaker 1: Yes, it look like he got decapitated. Okay, you had

697
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 1: the back to back losses. The step A one wasn't great,

698
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: the Derek one was even worse. But then rebounds against

699
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 1: Curtis Blades. Then Ko's in round one, Kane velaskiz Ko's

700
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 1: in round one, Junior do santos Ko's round one, Jersey

701
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 1: Yo rosenstrike Ko, round two steep A. And then he

702
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: decisions serial Khan Yo get the fuck out of here

703
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: with this. He doesn't want to fight tough guys. Are

704
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 1: you kidding me? He's destroyed the roster and did it

705
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 1: for the most part, largely with ease. What a nonsense

706
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: argument this is?

707
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you mentioned Kane quickly, and I don't want

708
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 2: this to be a thing. But there were there were

709
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 2: some people speculating that with the uncertainty of his own

710
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 2: future and we saw him take a wrestling match in Mexico,

711
00:31:58,000 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 2: right like or or maybe it was in the United States.

712
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 3: I'm sorry about the.

713
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 2: Location, but is Cain Is he free to fight him

714
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 2: a man anywhere? Is he like if he wanted to

715
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 2: fight him, is locked in? I know France has already

716
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 2: beat him, but it was a weird fight. I'm just

717
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 2: basically trying to think of what what what big MMA opponents?

718
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 2: Would you be like, Oh, I'd see that, I mean,

719
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 2: like what I see Francis versus Ryan Beater for the

720
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 2: Belts or everybody. Yeah, I'd be into that, right, even

721
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 2: though I'd be fearful for Bader's future.

722
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 3: But there, you know, there are things didn't.

723
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:25,480
Speaker 1: Go well against Rumble Johnson. It's hard to see how

724
00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 1: they go better against Francis Ya girl, Ryan Batter. You

725
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 1: know what I mean? This is what I mean. On

726
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 1: the MMA side, it's not a lot of great names.

727
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,600
Speaker 2: No, no, certainly not. Yeah, but man, I mean, was

728
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 2: there a question in that Luke was I was supposed

729
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:38,440
Speaker 2: to respond?

730
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 1: I know, I'm just sort of pointing out that, like

731
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 1: the way in which Dana set it up, like he

732
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: wants more money to fight lesser competition. It's like, you know,

733
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,320
Speaker 1: I mean, just dude, that's how can't you can't mow

734
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,480
Speaker 1: down your own roster to the point where your replacement

735
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 1: level event is a guy he already beat. Dude, stop

736
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: with the bullshit, you know what I mean.

737
00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,120
Speaker 2: Let me let me say on Danner for one second

738
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 2: in talking about Francis, because again, I think it's so

739
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,760
Speaker 2: much easier for UFC to go, you know what at

740
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 2: the end of the day. And maybe it's just Dana

741
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:08,959
Speaker 2: and I'll get to that in two seconds, but at

742
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,560
Speaker 2: the end of the day, dude, you are thirty six

743
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 2: with a bad knee, and we're not going to break

744
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: the bank. Set new precedents in our contracts allow you

745
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 2: to go moonlight elsewhere. We're just not going to do it. Luke,

746
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 2: I don't think they're that willing to do that unless

747
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 2: you have John Jones ready to slide in right now

748
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 2: against Cyril Gon. So maybe that helped the situation. But

749
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 2: what do you make of that almost cryptic comment when

750
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,560
Speaker 2: Dana was asked at that postfight scrumb Saturday about more

751
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:34,239
Speaker 2: and by the way, I felt like this was the

752
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 2: most the MMA media, especially the regulars who show up

753
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 2: at all the UFC events. This felt like the most

754
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:42,920
Speaker 2: they pushed Dana back in a long time, right, Like

755
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 2: Brero Mulcho was going, Bert Comoto was going at him,

756
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,960
Speaker 2: you know with follow up questions and stuff. But they

757
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 2: pushed him about the idea of like potential any regret

758
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 2: and letting like, you know, the biggest free agent go

759
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:56,720
Speaker 2: and whatever, and and Dana did not seem to regret it.

760
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 2: But then he mentioned, you know, maybe maybe Hunter Campbell.

761
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 3: Does, though you know he probably does.

762
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 2: So do you think there was dissension because this is

763
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 2: a key part here the whole debate that we've had

764
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,160
Speaker 2: in the couple last couple weeks about is there going

765
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 2: to be or should there be punishment for Dana White

766
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 2: and what would that actually mean to the company moving forward.

767
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 2: So when he arrogantly says, you can't punish me because

768
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,319
Speaker 2: you know it would hurt everybody else, We're all like, dude, wow,

769
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 2: but is there a potential here that you know, Hunter

770
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 2: who's negotiating here, all those guys like wanted this, and

771
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 2: this is in some levels Dana's ego going No, you're

772
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 2: not going to cross that line again.

773
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 3: We're not going to set new precedents for you. We're

774
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 3: not gonna get it. What does that comment mean, Luke,

775
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 3: where he says I have no regrets about this. Maybe

776
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 3: Hunter does. You should ask him. He probably does, because Luke,

777
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 3: there is a debate, and we've had it. Is the

778
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,719
Speaker 3: UFC actually.

779
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 2: Better off with Dana without data moving forward from a

780
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 2: pr standpoint, from a lot of things, I do think,

781
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:55,839
Speaker 2: and I stand on the record, if Dana was fired

782
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 2: tomorrow or if you quit or whatever, that in the

783
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 2: short term there'd be from a commercial acceptance level, I

784
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 2: think this there would be some more hiccups that people don't.

785
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 3: Realize because Dana is the face of the company.

786
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,839
Speaker 2: But do you think there's more internal because of how

787
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 2: he treats the fighters, which might be a stronghold he

788
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,399
Speaker 2: does to retain control, to keep his endeavor bosses happy

789
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:19,439
Speaker 2: on the bottom line, and all that financial stuff, which

790
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:20,960
Speaker 2: makes sense when you see it laid out by the

791
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 2: folks that Mai there on YouTube. But is there any

792
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 2: part of you that believes, based on that cryptic Hunter comment,

793
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:29,359
Speaker 2: that there was more people behind the scenes going maybe

794
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 2: Francis does deserve this money or whatever he's asking for.

795
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,840
Speaker 2: How do you let the number one heavyweight in the

796
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,239
Speaker 2: world walk away. At this point, I'm just wondering, Luke,

797
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 2: if Dana's value in days are shorter than we realize,

798
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 2: are more overvalued than we realize. Is there a potential

799
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 2: rift behind the scenes about whether this was actually the right.

800
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 1: Move for the company? Wow, that's a great question. But

801
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,440
Speaker 1: the problem is we just have such little information to

802
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 1: know if there's dissension among Dana and his generals in

803
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,879
Speaker 1: that way. You know, I've talked to some folks who

804
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: were UFC executives who definitely didn't see eye to eye

805
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,640
Speaker 1: with Dana on any number of issues, but in the

806
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 1: end just defer to him because that's just the way

807
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,800
Speaker 1: business goes. So there could be something to that. But

808
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: I mean, just to warn the audience, I would be

809
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: I'd be doing nothing but speculating. I just don't have

810
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:24,280
Speaker 1: much information.

811
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 2: Okay, within the role within the ball of speculation here,

812
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 2: do we actually know these days? Like really no, outside

813
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 2: of being the front face, show up with the microphone

814
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 2: answer the questions.

815
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 3: Be the bullish guy who moves the company forward.

816
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:38,759
Speaker 2: And by the way, Dana is awesome, amazing at that,

817
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,240
Speaker 2: but does he does he actually sit in on negotiats?

818
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:44,280
Speaker 3: Like what hand does he hold in that regard.

819
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:46,239
Speaker 1: Oh so my understanding is that there is some of

820
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,920
Speaker 1: that he does, but that relatively relative to what it does,

821
00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 1: what he did ten or fifteen years ago, it's significantly less.

822
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 2: Because we always make the Bobby Boden Joe paternal comparison

823
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:56,160
Speaker 2: when you get to a certain level as a legendary.

824
00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:56,440
Speaker 3: I don't know.

825
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:58,680
Speaker 1: No, he's not Bobby Boden Joe paternal. He's the way

826
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 1: you're like literally just a figurehead and you're not calling

827
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 1: any plays, You're just showing up, put the headphones on

828
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:06,879
Speaker 1: and walking around the sidelines. No, he's not that. He's

829
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:08,800
Speaker 1: not that. But relative to what it used to be,

830
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:10,479
Speaker 1: I can tell you for sure, it's a lot less.

831
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 1: And also since the UH sends the acquisition by wi me,

832
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:17,279
Speaker 1: which basically, if you asked a quick, great question, that

833
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:18,920
Speaker 1: it leads us to the other side of this conversation.

834
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:21,359
Speaker 1: It was perfect dovetail, which is that like, how can

835
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 1: you let the number one have a wait in the

836
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: world walk? Well, isn't it funny that, like a lot

837
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:28,280
Speaker 1: of this in many ways got started because John Jones

838
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: wanted dot dot dot Deontay Wilder money, right, And it

839
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: just so happens, he's able to take a break and

840
00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:37,919
Speaker 1: then sneak back in. I'm not you know, he didn't sneak,

841
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:39,320
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying it's sort of funny to describe

842
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:41,360
Speaker 1: it that way. And then he signs a new eight

843
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: five deal. There's no way that deal money wasn't influenced

844
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 1: by the departure of Francis and them needing John and

845
00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 1: them popping it. So whether or not he got Deontay

846
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 1: Wilder money, I don't know, but he definitely got more

847
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,319
Speaker 1: than he was gonna get by virtue of everything falling

848
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,280
Speaker 1: apart with Francis events.

849
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 2: I mean, look, that's the actual definition of John's legacy,

850
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,360
Speaker 2: which we've said ad nauseum, that he's equally the greatest

851
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 2: that's ever stepped in front of this cage. And if

852
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,839
Speaker 2: he comes out here and wins the heavyweight championship, he's

853
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,359
Speaker 2: the goat with like no ask through. I don't even

854
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 2: care about the drugs anymore, Luke, He's the freaking goat.

855
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 2: He's the goat right now in my mind, he's all

856
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,399
Speaker 2: but if he beats Gone, he's the fricking goat. Yet,

857
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,840
Speaker 2: along with being the best, he's also like the tragic,

858
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,479
Speaker 2: the constant tragic tale of what could have been. Dude,

859
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 2: he just speaking of domestic violence like he just had one.

860
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:39,560
Speaker 2: He also just had some some other equally disturbing moments

861
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:43,439
Speaker 2: during this three year you know, step away argue about money,

862
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 2: build your body up for heavyweight, and then I don't

863
00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 2: understand the other parts of it while he was gone

864
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,399
Speaker 2: for so long. But here we are advantageous. But it's

865
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:53,360
Speaker 2: just weird that he becomes the company savior when he

866
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 2: just got arrested for essentially what we're arguing Dana should

867
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:57,920
Speaker 2: have been in trouble for him. By the way, the

868
00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 2: only thing that's consistent here with Dana not wanting to

869
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:04,320
Speaker 2: to to self uh penalize himself in this process. And

870
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,319
Speaker 2: by the way, Brett pushed that question again Brettokomotive ESP

871
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and Dana basically basically said, no, this is

872
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 2: my personal life and my personal life.

873
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,360
Speaker 3: You know, I'm condemned for life because of my own actions.

874
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 3: Why does this what does this have to do with

875
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:17,520
Speaker 3: my job?

876
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:19,800
Speaker 2: You know, wouldn't you love to tell your employer that

877
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,320
Speaker 2: Luke that off the job, you got a duy and

878
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 2: then you walk in on Monday morning, your employers like,

879
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 2: I don't know what we're gonna do about this, and

880
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,919
Speaker 2: you're like, no, no, no, dude, that's my personal life.

881
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:30,279
Speaker 3: I imagine that.

882
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,640
Speaker 2: But to be consistent, Dana didn't penalize John through any

883
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,240
Speaker 2: of these They stripped the title of him three times,

884
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:41,040
Speaker 2: which is historic.

885
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 3: But again Connor didn't not know.

886
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,320
Speaker 2: I mean, people obviously stopped bringing up Connor with the

887
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 2: dolly Hey guys, he took a weapon, showed up unannounced,

888
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,280
Speaker 2: attacked a bust full of his co workers, got glass

889
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,360
Speaker 2: in Rayborg's eye that pulled him from the fight, and

890
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 2: it wasn't able to make money. Almost scared you want

891
00:39:58,160 --> 00:39:59,920
Speaker 2: to out of walking away out of that title like

892
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,279
Speaker 2: there were like it was like me walking into the

893
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 2: break room at stopping shop and just like attacking people,

894
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 2: would would I be allowed to work the next day?

895
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:10,200
Speaker 3: Would I be rewarded with the biggest payer view.

896
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,040
Speaker 2: My point is the UFC's policy has always been to

897
00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:15,040
Speaker 2: separate the personal from the professional.

898
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 3: There so here we are data. But that's the only

899
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 3: consistent level of that.

900
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,760
Speaker 2: It's just crazy that John Jones has been through worst

901
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 2: pr and here he is as the company savior. And

902
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,359
Speaker 2: you're right, this this whole shit started with John Jones

903
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:30,439
Speaker 2: saying no, we deserve more, and we're like, could John

904
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:32,759
Speaker 2: Jones be the Marvin Miller of MMA? Like, could he

905
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:36,840
Speaker 2: be this creation of change? Nope, Francis might be in

906
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,879
Speaker 2: the long run, but John Jones is a chance March

907
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:41,799
Speaker 2: fourth or fifth, whenever that date is, Luke and Las

908
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:46,200
Speaker 2: Vegas to cement himself as the greatest of all time

909
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 2: after signing an eight fight deal, when just like two

910
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 2: weeks ago on our show, We're like, dude, I don't

911
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:52,840
Speaker 2: really know what John's gonna look like. Could he be

912
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:54,960
Speaker 2: one and done at heavyweight? Is he gonna go back

913
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 2: and fight for the light heavyweight title? I can't believe

914
00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:57,880
Speaker 2: we're here.

915
00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:58,720
Speaker 3: This is madness.

916
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 2: But with all that madness behind me, Luke, when you

917
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,040
Speaker 2: hear John Jones is gonna fight Cyril Gond in his

918
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 2: heavyweight debut for the full eavyweight title, this is still

919
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 2: what makes the UFC great, right because of all that

920
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,319
Speaker 2: other bullshit aside, and it's some of it is real

921
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 2: with Francis and Dana and all that.

922
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:14,320
Speaker 3: Dude, come March, we're gonna be seeing one of the

923
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 3: most badass fights you can make in this sport. I

924
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,400
Speaker 3: don't even know what to do with that information right now, right,

925
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 3: it's like.

926
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:21,359
Speaker 1: So crazy eight fight deal. I mean, I don't think

927
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:23,799
Speaker 1: he'll fight all eight, but one never knows. Doesn't really matter.

928
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 1: That means. Listen, here's what that means. Eight fights. If

929
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:28,399
Speaker 1: he fights two times a year, because he's been gone

930
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: for three I mean even if you fought three times

931
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:33,839
Speaker 1: a year, that's three years basically to get that all done,

932
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,719
Speaker 1: because there could be injuries and everything else. He's thirty five,

933
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,319
Speaker 1: I think, almost thirty six now, John Jones. Right, how

934
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:41,600
Speaker 1: old is John Jones? I think he I thought he

935
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: was thirty four. I believe he's actually thirty five now,

936
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:46,839
Speaker 1: John Jones according to Wikipedia. Yeah, he's thirty five, will

937
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:48,919
Speaker 1: be thirty six in July. Dude. This is the last

938
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: deal he's basically gonna sign. This is the last major

939
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 1: deal that he's going to sign. This is it, right,

940
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,840
Speaker 1: This is it, folks. He might do retirement fights, or

941
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,760
Speaker 1: he gonna fight way past you know, prime or whatever.

942
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:02,640
Speaker 1: But what's left of what we think is the good

943
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,160
Speaker 1: part of John Jones' career. This is it. This is

944
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:06,799
Speaker 1: the last part of it. And I gotta say, BC

945
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:09,759
Speaker 1: to your point now, if he wins on that March

946
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,040
Speaker 1: fourth Saturday, we've already made it. The point doesn't make

947
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 1: him the number one heavyweight in the world, but it

948
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,440
Speaker 1: would make him the UFC champion. It would now make

949
00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 1: him a dual weight class champion, at least not not

950
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 1: at the same time, but correctly, but without the course

951
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 1: of his career. It would basically continue his not undefeated,

952
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 1: but basically undefeated win streak. If he's not already to go,

953
00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:32,960
Speaker 1: and let's say he stopped zero gone, that probably changes

954
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 1: the debate overnight for any of the follow or the

955
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:39,359
Speaker 1: leftover doubters. John has the capacity here to not get

956
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,399
Speaker 1: everything he wants because Francis isn't there, but to get

957
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:46,320
Speaker 1: a huge chunk of it, and to make dramatic history,

958
00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:49,080
Speaker 1: not only to your point BC as a company savior.

959
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 1: But you can quiet all that Habib talk. You can

960
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,600
Speaker 1: quiet all that GSP got two titles talk the King

961
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,640
Speaker 1: has returned, that is on the table in just a

962
00:42:58,680 --> 00:42:59,359
Speaker 1: couple of months.

963
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:01,200
Speaker 3: I can get in this.

964
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to, you know, move the goalposts here.

965
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,640
Speaker 2: Sarah ghn Is has potentially be an all time heavyweight

966
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 2: right and I think he's gonna learn from all talk

967
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 2: about no, but I think Cyril's gonna learn from the

968
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 2: loss of Frances. He's gonna learn from getting into trouble

969
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 2: against Tuyvasa. I mean, Cyril seems to be absolutely the

970
00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 2: real deal. But would you say, from the idea of

971
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 2: taking three years off and moving up to a new

972
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:26,040
Speaker 2: weight class, John's debut could have been Francis for the

973
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:29,879
Speaker 2: title could have been the most dangerous, scariest next level

974
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,959
Speaker 2: two point zero we've had heavyweight we've ever seen. Gon

975
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:34,759
Speaker 2: Is a two point oh heavyweight, but in a different way,

976
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 2: but just on fear, Because what's the biggest hurdle in theory,

977
00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:42,799
Speaker 2: in Layman's terms, that John's gonna have to clear moving

978
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 2: up to this new weight class and fighting the best

979
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:46,240
Speaker 2: in the world on day one for the title.

980
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,480
Speaker 3: It's does he have the chin to take heavyweight shots?

981
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:52,880
Speaker 3: Does he have the power to keep people off him?

982
00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:53,600
Speaker 3: All that stuff?

983
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:58,759
Speaker 2: Okay, But in terms of like Layman's, in terms of

984
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:00,560
Speaker 2: like the thing that you're gonna be folks on the most,

985
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,239
Speaker 2: the biggest test he has to pass to me is

986
00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 2: overcoming because it's not moving from one thirty five to

987
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,439
Speaker 2: one forty five light heavyweight to heavyweight is a gap.

988
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:11,840
Speaker 3: Okay, even with the two sixty five limit you're fighting.

989
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 3: You could be fighting some big m efforts. Okay, they

990
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:16,680
Speaker 3: don't have. They don't have Francis and Gono at light heavyweight. Okay.

991
00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:19,719
Speaker 2: And as much as Cyril Gone is great and very

992
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:21,959
Speaker 2: well could go out there and put it on John,

993
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:24,279
Speaker 2: would you think that for John this is a little

994
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 2: bit of a relief.

995
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:26,759
Speaker 3: You don't have to fight Steepe. He doesn't have to

996
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:27,440
Speaker 3: fight Francis.

997
00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:30,160
Speaker 2: And even though Cyril from a movement standpoint, from the

998
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,600
Speaker 2: ability to fight almost like a middleweight in the heavyweight's body,

999
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 2: up to this point he can't wrestle and he's not

1000
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,279
Speaker 2: a knockout threat against somebody with John's chin. You have

1001
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,759
Speaker 2: to believe this is almost like everything is coming up

1002
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:45,000
Speaker 2: roses suddenly for John Jones. Right place, right time, sat

1003
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:46,960
Speaker 2: out the right amount of time, like it's it's it's

1004
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 2: mind boggling.

1005
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:51,880
Speaker 1: Right his timing is weird as timing has been delayed,

1006
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,400
Speaker 1: but it might be right on time to all the

1007
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:56,400
Speaker 1: points that you raise when they first made this fight.

1008
00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:57,840
Speaker 1: I mean to me, ab see, this is the central

1009
00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:59,680
Speaker 1: tension of this fight. I mean, we'll talk about obviously

1010
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,720
Speaker 1: add nausea in between now in March and March fourth.

1011
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:04,399
Speaker 1: But what I wanted to say was when they first

1012
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 1: made it, I was like, well, this is going to

1013
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 1: be interesting, because if Francis can out wrestle Cyril Gone,

1014
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:11,480
Speaker 1: you would imagine John could. But then I put up

1015
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:12,960
Speaker 1: a poll kind of funny, and this is a very

1016
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,920
Speaker 1: unscientific poll, but just to see where people's minds are.

1017
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,480
Speaker 1: It was a poll on Twitter. Most people, in terms

1018
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,640
Speaker 1: of who voted, thought that John Jones would win about

1019
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 1: two to one more or less. But there's a lot

1020
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 1: of comments being like, dude, Serial's gonna win this one

1021
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:26,880
Speaker 1: anyway he wants one. His wrestling is going to be

1022
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:28,719
Speaker 1: better than it was against Francis, which I do think

1023
00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:31,960
Speaker 1: would be true. I do think that he'll he'll make improvements.

1024
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:35,040
Speaker 1: He's too good not to be better. But the question

1025
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:37,320
Speaker 1: that they had was, like, Dude, John's wrestling at the

1026
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 1: end of his light heavweight run fell off a cliff

1027
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 1: in terms of its effectiveness. He couldn't really out wrestle

1028
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:43,640
Speaker 1: Dominic Rays. That's true, And I went back and looked

1029
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 1: at the numbers. Actually had a whole video on this,

1030
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:47,960
Speaker 1: comparing him to a potential fight with Izzy, which now

1031
00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:50,919
Speaker 1: seems very much off the books not going to happen.

1032
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:52,719
Speaker 1: But if you look at the last few fights he

1033
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,800
Speaker 1: had at light heavyweight, his wrestling prowess fell off a cliff.

1034
00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 1: It wasn't hardly good at all. He could do very

1035
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 1: little with it except in the Anthony Smith fight, and

1036
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:03,200
Speaker 1: even then some of that was Smith's just kind of

1037
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 1: acquiescing to position. It's just there wasn't a whole lot

1038
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 1: to it. But we've said this before a million times.

1039
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:11,760
Speaker 1: Was he burned out? Was that the wrong version of himself?

1040
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 1: He just couldn't get right. And now three years off

1041
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 1: and rebuilt, and blah blah blah, that's all going to

1042
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:18,680
Speaker 1: come back to MEBC. This fight will be won or

1043
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 1: lost basically there in that central question.

1044
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,239
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't change how intrigued This is such

1045
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:27,799
Speaker 2: a super intriguing fight. And you know, three years ago

1046
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 2: when John beat Reyes and then soon after I gave

1047
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:32,319
Speaker 2: up his belt, I was that person that said, dude,

1048
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:34,200
Speaker 2: I don't even care if it's Francis in his first fight.

1049
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:36,800
Speaker 2: John is gonna be quicker than these guys, gonna be

1050
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 2: too skilled. But boy has time, you know, away turn that.

1051
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:43,560
Speaker 2: I mean, our colleague Schechuiel Masouri shout out to you know,

1052
00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 2: his MK contributions, Luke, He's going on the public record

1053
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,160
Speaker 2: saying no, Cyril's gonna knock John out.

1054
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:51,080
Speaker 3: So it's crazy how much things have turned.

1055
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,640
Speaker 2: There is potential, there is potential that Cyril's the right

1056
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:56,520
Speaker 2: opponent at the right time for John because it's not

1057
00:46:56,680 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 2: Francis and it's not Stepe.

1058
00:46:58,120 --> 00:46:59,839
Speaker 3: You can do a bunch of things and has knocked

1059
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:00,359
Speaker 3: out power.

1060
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:02,640
Speaker 2: But hey, Steepe did tweet out and he here's another

1061
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:04,239
Speaker 2: guy who has to be happy with France has gone

1062
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,239
Speaker 2: steep as like, oh, March fourth sounds great.

1063
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:08,120
Speaker 3: Can't wait to fight the winner. I mean, the whole

1064
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,080
Speaker 3: world in the UFC heavyweight.

1065
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 2: Land woke up, except for probably Curtis Blades, who kind

1066
00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 2: of got, you know, once again stiff armed and push back.

1067
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:19,879
Speaker 3: Everybody's got to be happy about this. Wild dude.

1068
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 2: I don't know again, I don't know how to properly

1069
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:25,719
Speaker 2: frame this whole situation into words. Because we knew it

1070
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 2: could happen like this. There was no secret that Francis

1071
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,200
Speaker 2: could go, but to see it go exactly like this,

1072
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 2: the timing, the coinciding with the Dana bad pr and

1073
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:39,239
Speaker 2: all that like changes afoot and I feel like, Luke,

1074
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 2: there are people by the way, there's aready.

1075
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:42,839
Speaker 3: I feel like there's already been some people that got

1076
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:43,839
Speaker 3: paid because of change.

1077
00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:47,360
Speaker 2: Meaning do you remember immediately after the John Jones public

1078
00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:50,560
Speaker 2: argument with UFC over the Deonte Wilder payment that not

1079
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:53,040
Speaker 2: so long after that is he re signed and it

1080
00:47:53,160 --> 00:47:55,360
Speaker 2: was like highest paid fighter of all time, Like you know,

1081
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 2: we felt like he got paid and use that situation.

1082
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:01,520
Speaker 2: Do you feel like RTIs leaving under these terms? And

1083
00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:04,000
Speaker 2: somebody asked, I think it was Alan Dawson, our buddy

1084
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:07,480
Speaker 2: from Insider asked, Dana, uh, okay, did ceryl Ghan get

1085
00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:09,880
Speaker 2: a John Jones level offer to step in here and

1086
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 2: fight John for the championship now that Francis has gone?

1087
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:15,959
Speaker 2: You know, I'm sorry, did you get a predator like offer?

1088
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,920
Speaker 2: And Dana was like, no, he is already under contract.

1089
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,080
Speaker 2: Do you think there's gonna be a few stars more

1090
00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:25,400
Speaker 2: than a few that this calendar year, even if they

1091
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,040
Speaker 2: don't use even if they don't, you know, facilitate some

1092
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:30,319
Speaker 2: crazy leverage and trying to pull an in Ghana, which

1093
00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 2: is not easy to do. Do you think at the

1094
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:34,880
Speaker 2: very least the big stars are going to get paid

1095
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:36,960
Speaker 2: so that this does not happen again. I think that's

1096
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:38,160
Speaker 2: a key question to be asked.

1097
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:40,759
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think that they believe in

1098
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 1: their business practices. There are there are times like, for example,

1099
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:47,719
Speaker 1: Sean Strickland who won on Saturday in the fight against Imovov.

1100
00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:49,759
Speaker 1: Right when it was over, he's like, I didn't want

1101
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:51,319
Speaker 1: to take this fight, and they gave me a bunch

1102
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: of money and blah blah blah. And we know, like

1103
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,799
Speaker 1: when the Nate Diaz and Hums you might have card

1104
00:48:56,840 --> 00:48:59,279
Speaker 1: that got all jumbled. All the guys who took new

1105
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:02,120
Speaker 1: fights got paid. I'm told really well to do that,

1106
00:49:02,560 --> 00:49:04,480
Speaker 1: And so there are you'll get situations like that. But dude,

1107
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 1: in general, in general, they're gonna keep fighter pay costs

1108
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:12,560
Speaker 1: low until they are made to do it otherwise, until

1109
00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:16,120
Speaker 1: the force of law is on the side of the fighters.

1110
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:18,920
Speaker 1: Until then, they're gonna do whatever they can to keep

1111
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:21,920
Speaker 1: the costs not like you know, poverty wage, but certainly

1112
00:49:22,160 --> 00:49:23,759
Speaker 1: well in certain cases it might be the case we're

1113
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: talking for a level fighters. For a level fighters, they're

1114
00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:29,840
Speaker 1: still gonna keep that you know, competitive certainly, but below

1115
00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:32,759
Speaker 1: the number also b see below the level. I just

1116
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:34,120
Speaker 1: want to make a point here too. We haven't even

1117
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 1: noodled this. Let's just have a quick discussion about this part.

1118
00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:39,000
Speaker 1: So wait a second. Let's say Shaquille Masuri is right

1119
00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 1: and Cyril goes out there and beats the fucking breaks

1120
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:44,320
Speaker 1: off of John Jones. I find that to be unlikely,

1121
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:46,920
Speaker 1: but who the hell knows? Who the hell knows? Right,

1122
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,560
Speaker 1: So let's say he does that. So then you lost

1123
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:52,279
Speaker 1: the number one heavyweight. And here's the thing. I don't

1124
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:54,319
Speaker 1: know that the UFC believes they can. I mean, if

1125
00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,360
Speaker 1: you're the UFC, do you really think you can count

1126
00:49:57,440 --> 00:49:59,840
Speaker 1: on John Jones for eight fights? I mean that seems

1127
00:49:59,880 --> 00:50:02,880
Speaker 1: like without mentioning trouble doing some dumb shit. Yeah, I

1128
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:05,239
Speaker 1: mean that just seems like you know a lot. And then,

1129
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 1: by the way, if you know, John has barely kept

1130
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:11,400
Speaker 1: it together while being maybe the best NIMA fighter ever

1131
00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 1: in terms of what I'm saying is winning. What happens

1132
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:16,600
Speaker 1: If he loses, then you lost the number one heavyweight,

1133
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:18,160
Speaker 1: and then the guy who left already beat the guy

1134
00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:21,359
Speaker 1: who's now you're champion, so that that would ruin it. Now,

1135
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 1: John has to be on the get back plus again.

1136
00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:25,960
Speaker 1: He's been all over the place in terms of just

1137
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:29,480
Speaker 1: managing his life affairs while things were going well inside

1138
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:32,600
Speaker 1: the cage. What happens when they are in this scenario?

1139
00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:35,319
Speaker 1: What happens when they go poorly? Dude, There's a lot

1140
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:38,200
Speaker 1: of ways where if Cyril Gone wins, that is not

1141
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:40,240
Speaker 1: necessarily all that great for the UFC.

1142
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:42,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hear you, I hear you.

1143
00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 2: Now they are trying to, you know, invade the new

1144
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 2: market of France that you know opened up in the

1145
00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:49,320
Speaker 2: laws James, so that they wouldn't hurt them all that.

1146
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:51,680
Speaker 3: But I hear what you're saying. We also don't want

1147
00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:53,799
Speaker 3: to let this pass without the other development that.

1148
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:57,439
Speaker 2: Officially John Jones's new trainer is what Henry s Hudo

1149
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 2: and the Captain Eric Albertine like, that's the new team? Yeah,

1150
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:03,640
Speaker 2: I saw captain's Instagram account.

1151
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:04,520
Speaker 3: Is John all over it?

1152
00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:07,480
Speaker 2: So part of this news announcement seemed to be that

1153
00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:11,839
Speaker 2: Suhudo will be in his corner. Look, it's like, look

1154
00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:17,120
Speaker 2: are the odds against John still being John three years.

1155
00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,000
Speaker 3: Later in a heavyweight division?

1156
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:21,720
Speaker 2: It's still hard to tell because of a few different factors.

1157
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:24,640
Speaker 2: Like let's now also forget John has freakishly long reach.

1158
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:28,160
Speaker 3: Okay, so that there's there's so just for folks who

1159
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 3: do know this.

1160
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:30,719
Speaker 1: To be C's point, I think there's been like one

1161
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:33,200
Speaker 1: other fighter who's been with an eighty four inch reach

1162
00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:35,960
Speaker 1: in the UFC, and that's Semi Shilt, who is seven

1163
00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:36,680
Speaker 1: feet tall.

1164
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:40,640
Speaker 2: So there's there's certain elements, the speed factor compared to

1165
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:43,479
Speaker 2: regular hiavyweights all that that. I think, you know, John

1166
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,160
Speaker 2: could end up just being just as great for no

1167
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:48,719
Speaker 2: question about it. But how much do you think his

1168
00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:52,000
Speaker 2: style could potentially change here? Because you know, like I'm

1169
00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:54,800
Speaker 2: not saying Suhudo and the Captain are miracle workers, but

1170
00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:57,839
Speaker 2: we've seen in short bursts some major change they can

1171
00:51:57,920 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 2: make working with certain fighters.

1172
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:02,200
Speaker 3: Are you you curious in that regard, Luke, because there's

1173
00:52:02,239 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 3: precedence that's possible.

1174
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:05,759
Speaker 2: Just be went away for what four four and a

1175
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:09,160
Speaker 2: half five years, moved up a division and won a title,

1176
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:14,360
Speaker 2: different circumstance, not heavyweight, Michael bisbeeing all that, but it's happened.

1177
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:16,200
Speaker 3: It's rare in this game, but it's happened.

1178
00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 2: Dominic Cruz went away for a long time and came

1179
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,320
Speaker 2: back a couple of times, like nothing happened. Do you

1180
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 2: think that that this could lead to a very effective

1181
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:27,239
Speaker 2: style change, because when you sit out three years in

1182
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,960
Speaker 2: this game, the game can pass you by so quickly,

1183
00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:32,640
Speaker 2: I mean so quickly.

1184
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:36,440
Speaker 3: You know what, what are you looking for that relationship

1185
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 3: to to to bring forth?

1186
00:52:38,600 --> 00:52:40,520
Speaker 1: In terms of I don't think you'd see a substance

1187
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:43,239
Speaker 1: of change. He didn't need one. Like his style is

1188
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,040
Speaker 1: good for a lot of different his body type, and

1189
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,360
Speaker 1: it's just real smart. Again, I've talked about it before.

1190
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:51,680
Speaker 1: He again, now we don't know what level the wrestling's at,

1191
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:54,000
Speaker 1: so we'll have to just see what the story is there. Also,

1192
00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:56,359
Speaker 1: I do wonder about that extra bulk and being able

1193
00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:59,000
Speaker 1: to manage it from her cardio basketball standpoint. Well, you know,

1194
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:02,160
Speaker 1: especially if you're taking punishment to the body. You know, Well,

1195
00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:05,759
Speaker 1: we'll just there's there's just it's so many unknowns. But

1196
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:08,120
Speaker 1: in general, he has a single shot style. He does

1197
00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:10,239
Speaker 1: not not much of a combination puncher. He will do

1198
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:12,800
Speaker 1: it if he's really moving downhill on someone, but in

1199
00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:15,040
Speaker 1: general he has what I call single shot high variants,

1200
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:17,120
Speaker 1: and so it just works really well at range. It

1201
00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:19,759
Speaker 1: works really well to confuse guys. You can make all

1202
00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:21,560
Speaker 1: different kinds of patterns with it, and then if you

1203
00:53:21,600 --> 00:53:23,239
Speaker 1: ask to wrestle or chooses to wrestle. We know that

1204
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:25,239
Speaker 1: he's got, you know, great single legs, he's got a

1205
00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:26,960
Speaker 1: great knee tap, He's got a lot of different things

1206
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:28,719
Speaker 1: he can go to. And plus, as you mentioned, that

1207
00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:31,680
Speaker 1: reach gives him such advantages. He was asked in that

1208
00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:33,760
Speaker 1: video like what was the benefit of working with Henry

1209
00:53:33,760 --> 00:53:34,960
Speaker 1: and he wasn't Like he was saying a bunch of

1210
00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:37,520
Speaker 1: that was different. He goes, honestly, it's just the finer details,

1211
00:53:37,880 --> 00:53:40,000
Speaker 1: right setting up just this kind of right angle, this

1212
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:42,279
Speaker 1: kind of grip, this kind of set up all the

1213
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,920
Speaker 1: things to clean up what he needed to do to

1214
00:53:45,040 --> 00:53:47,280
Speaker 1: make sense of what he was doing. Put it all together.

1215
00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:50,840
Speaker 1: I think that sounds right, dude, John's listen. John is

1216
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:55,919
Speaker 1: probably a terrible person, and you know, has been doing

1217
00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:59,719
Speaker 1: insane shit for a long time. But he's always been,

1218
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:01,800
Speaker 1: we all know, a really good fighter, and he's always

1219
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:04,720
Speaker 1: had really good fight iq and an understanding of self

1220
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:07,440
Speaker 1: and what he has to do. It's hard to know

1221
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:10,080
Speaker 1: if you can continually, to your point manage that amidst

1222
00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:13,920
Speaker 1: this insane absence. That will be the major test here.

1223
00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:16,560
Speaker 1: But in general, all those other questions we've had about

1224
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:20,040
Speaker 1: him related to this, he's usually answered them with flying colors.

1225
00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:20,799
Speaker 1: So we'll have to see.

1226
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:22,879
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna DM the Captain and say it's time

1227
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:24,880
Speaker 2: we bury this hatchet. Let's get John on the RSD

1228
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:26,319
Speaker 2: couch to talk about his I.

1229
00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:28,040
Speaker 1: Have less than zero interest in talking to him.

1230
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:30,920
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm true captain going, all right, you're.

1231
00:54:30,760 --> 00:54:33,279
Speaker 1: Gonna message him BC. This is a lot. We gave

1232
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,359
Speaker 1: him about an hour, but we haven't even I mean,

1233
00:54:36,719 --> 00:54:39,040
Speaker 1: this is this is gonna be ongoing for weeks and

1234
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:41,640
Speaker 1: months to fallout is beginning, but it is by no

1235
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,440
Speaker 1: means complete. We're gonna have to see what happens. It's

1236
00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:45,000
Speaker 1: gonna be fun.

1237
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:48,719
Speaker 2: No live MK on MLK Day, but we'll be back

1238
00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:53,759
Speaker 2: live on Wednesday. And damn, Luke, stay tuned because things

1239
00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:59,040
Speaker 2: things are happening fast. You getting fired up for the

1240
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:01,560
Speaker 2: slap deck, Luke, it's coming coming, dude.

1241
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:03,960
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, by the way, they want you to teach No,

1242
00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:05,960
Speaker 1: I don't care about what, dude. I actually was like

1243
00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:08,840
Speaker 1: yesterday doing doing the postfight show, and I went to

1244
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:11,040
Speaker 1: like UFC dot com slash rankings just to see, like, hey,

1245
00:55:11,040 --> 00:55:13,120
Speaker 1: where's this guy ranked and blah blah blah. And then

1246
00:55:13,239 --> 00:55:15,960
Speaker 1: at the top they had this like giant live banner

1247
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,799
Speaker 1: being like, don't forget slap Dick January whatever the fuck,

1248
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:21,120
Speaker 1: come check it out. And I was like, yeah, no thanks,

1249
00:55:21,160 --> 00:55:22,239
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be closing out.

1250
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:23,799
Speaker 3: Uh.

1251
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:26,600
Speaker 2: That press conference was wild, just on Saturday night where

1252
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:28,000
Speaker 2: they're like, you know, Dan, it was was there a

1253
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 2: shout to Brett Bret's like, was there any you know

1254
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:31,440
Speaker 2: did you would you fear that they were going to

1255
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:33,920
Speaker 2: shut the slap Dick down once you had your you

1256
00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:38,000
Speaker 2: know situation, And It's just like, no, no, not at all.

1257
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:39,439
Speaker 3: He's like, the only thing that happened was I didn't

1258
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 3: get to do the press store.

1259
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:40,600
Speaker 1: That's it.

1260
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:44,480
Speaker 2: You know, it's gonna be more morbidly entertaining, all right

1261
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:47,480
Speaker 2: Tuesday though. Tuesday, folks, there's some BC Live Chat fans

1262
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:47,719
Speaker 2: out there.

1263
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:48,840
Speaker 1: I know's yeah, there you go.

1264
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,640
Speaker 3: We like to talk about life, music, passion, nineties, NBA,

1265
00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:55,719
Speaker 3: even fights, whatever you got eleven am Tuesday. We're back

1266
00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:57,640
Speaker 3: at it this Tuesday, so check it out. That's it.

1267
00:55:57,960 --> 00:55:58,839
Speaker 3: That's all I got, Luke.

1268
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:01,400
Speaker 1: But and then lastly we're we're back in studio on Wednesday,

1269
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,200
Speaker 1: so we'll have more reactions to any subsequent news that

1270
00:56:04,239 --> 00:56:06,800
Speaker 1: comes out between now and then. Yeah, you guys know

1271
00:56:06,920 --> 00:56:09,399
Speaker 1: the drill. So this is an emergency pod. I hope

1272
00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:12,040
Speaker 1: we gave you something to chew on. Thumbs up if

1273
00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:14,120
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube, give us a nice review on

1274
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:18,320
Speaker 1: whatever podcast platform, and check out BC's live chat Tuesday.

1275
00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:21,840
Speaker 1: We're in studio on Wednesday, all right, all right, So

1276
00:56:22,080 --> 00:56:24,200
Speaker 1: for Micky Morms who set this all up, thanks to him.

1277
00:56:24,239 --> 00:56:26,480
Speaker 1: That's Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. We'll check you guys

1278
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:29,520
Speaker 1: out soon, and until then, all your gains be loyal